Chapter 14: A Reason to Stay
The stars were shining outside, and the moon was high in the sky. Not even one pony was active in the village under the starry night...but there was a single dragon.
Spike took long, dragging steps towards no obvious goal. His eyes were open but vacant, and his arms and tail hung limp. Closer inspection of his expression would reveal that he was staring at a tiny white light in the distant forest and walking towards it. It didn't distinguish itself from the stars in any way other than that it was peeking through the trees, but something about it felt different--almost malevolent, even.
"...Tr..."
At the same time, Twilight was in the Velvet Room. She had never asserted her bond with Fluttershy, and now that she knew about Shining Armor's Persona, she figured it wouldn't hurt to assert that, either.
Margaret opened her compendium, and a Priestess card floated above it. It faded away, bathing Twilight with pale blue energy. "Asserting your bond with Fluttershy has given you the ability to lower the defensive capabilities of your foes."
"Wait, what? Fluttershy can't do that," Twilight replied, confused.
"No, but she can cripple her foes' offensive power. It is possible that the nature of Merlin's own style of combat has adapted the skill to suit his own needs better."
"I see...well, what about Shining Armor?"
An Emperor card appeared above Margaret's book shortly, then disappeared just as the Priestess had. As it faded, Margaret's eyes widened in surprise. "Hmm...well now, this is interesting."
"What is it?"
"Merlin has inherited an adapted skill from your brother's Persona that is usually not learned until much later on in a Persona's...lifespan, for lack of a better term. It is called Mind Charge."
"That sounds nice...what does it do?"
"When used, Mind Charge will focus your mind so sharply that your next magic attack will carry more than twice its normal power behind it. It is the adapted version of your brother's Power Charge--an equivalent skill used for physical attacks, like those that Peregrine and Jack of Clubs use."
Twilight's confused expression was replaced with a wide smile. "That's incredible! I feel like I have to thank Shining Armor now!"
"There is one downside..." Margaret's face went back to its normal stoic nature. "Continual use of Mind Charge is a very good way to tire yourself out. Use it responsibly, and you won't have a problem...but use it too much, and you may find that you're too exhausted to continue fighting."
Twilight nodded. "I'll be careful."
Igor chuckled mysteriously. "Remember, my faithful guest...tomorrow is the time. By the time you awaken in the morning, the next victim will already be gone."
"We've been staying on top of things, don't you worry. Whoever goes missing tomorrow, we'll have them out before lunchtime."
"That is good to hear...but only through experience can this confidence be proven accurate. Good luck tomorrow...you might just need it more than you know."
A loud knock on the front door awoke Twilight the next morning. Shaking off her grogginess, Twilight went downstairs and opened the door. Pinkie Pie was there, and she was panicked.
"TWILIGHT!" Pinkie Pie screamed. Even though she was used to Pinkie being a bit louder than average, Twilight recoiled a few steps. "I just came from Applejack's!"
"Did she find out who's missing?" Twilight asked.
Pinkie's expression became even more frantic. "SHE'S the one who's missing!"
"Jeez, this guy overpowered Applejack?" Twilight rubbed the sleep from her left eye. "Well, don't worry. She'll be out of there before you know it."
"You're awfully calm about it," Pinkie replied, her expression softening a bit. "How do you do it?"
"We always manage against the Shadows, and this time we have Fluttershy to back us up. What's there to worry about?"
Pinkie nodded. "All right, then...good luck in there."
Twilight and Pinkie left the library at the same time. In her focus on the task at hand, she had failed to notice that Spike's basket was empty.
The walk to Celestia's personal library was made in silence while everyone finished waking up. Once everyone had gotten past the early-morning reverie, they began to discuss their strategy.
"I can cripple the Shadow's defense now," Twilight said. "If I use that, and Fluttershy lowers their offense, it'll make the fight a lot easier."
"That reminds me...Fluttershy, just what can your Persona do?" Rarity asked.
"She's a healer," Fluttershy explained. "I can heal everypony at once with her, and I can lower a Shadow's offense, just like Twilight said. She also has fire magic."
"All right," Rainbow said, smirking. "And once its abilities are crippled, I'll go in for the kill!"
"Don't you think an agility boost would be more fitting for a long battle?" Rarity asked, rolling her eyes.
Rainbow's expression fell immediately. "Ugh...yeah, I guess."
By this time, the group had made it to the portal. Twilight grabbed Rarity, and they all entered, the light of the portal blinding them. Their vision returned after a few seconds, and as Twilight continued to hold Rarity, they flew down and landed safely.
"Rainbow, can you see it from here?" Twilight asked.
Rainbow flew above the group for a moment and looked around. "Looks like a run-down skyscraper to me...hey, wait a second...somepony's over there!"
"Applejack?"
"No, no way...it looks like Spike!"
Twilight's eyes widened. She sprinted away in the direction that Rainbow was looking.
"Twilight, you aren't supposed to run off on your own like that!" Rarity yelled as the other ponies followed her.
It wasn't long before the group caught up to Spike. He was shuffling towards the skyscraper, his eyes vacant and his arms hanging by his sides.
"Spike? Are you all right?" Fluttershy asked. There was no response.
"Hey! Answer me, little buddy!" Rainbow exclaimed. Still no response.
"...He appears to be asleep," Rarity said, confused. "I don't understand..."
"That would explain it," Twilight replied. "He's a bit of a heavy sleeper." She grabbed Spike with her magic and nudged him until the vacancy left his eyes, and he shook his head back and forth.
"Whoa, what?! Where--where am I?!" Spike asked, looking around frantically. "Why...why am I here?!"
"Calm down," Twilight said, looking at Spike with a gentle but stern expression. "You were sleepwalking. Are you hurt?"
Spike shook his arms one at a time, followed by his legs. He then shook his tail in all directions for a second. He nodded. "Well, all of my body parts are still attached, at least."
"Yeah, he's fine." Rainbow looked at the skyscraper again. "Well, we'd better get going. Spike, as long as you're here, just try and stay out of the way, okay?"
Spike looked a bit hurt. As Twilight put him down, he rubbed his hands together nervously. "O-out of...the way...?"
Rainbow turned back to Spike, and her expression changed to one of concern. "Oh, no, I didn't mean it like--"
The tomboy was interrupted by a deep sigh. Everyone jumped in surprise and looked around, but saw nothing...until a cloud of blue mist congregated in front of them, forming a copy of Spike.
"Oh boy," Twilight said. "Get ready."
Everyone waited, but even as the Shadow stared with its yellow eyes, it said nothing. The tense silence went on for a few minutes before Spike broke it by scratching his head in his confusion.
"Uhh...why isn't it ranting?" Rainbow asked.
The Shadow closed its eyes. "Because there isn't any point in it."
Spike looked even more confused. "What do you mean by that?"
"There's no point to anything I do. I have no purpose..." The Shadow opened its eyes again. "I live in a town where I have no rightful place. I am the only one of my kind that any of my loved ones knows of. I live a borrowed life."
"Borrowed?"
"I don't know where I came from, or who my parents are. I do think of the ponies as family...but the fact is that we're not related by blood. I have no entitlement to this life, and it is not one I deserve to lead."
"What're you going on about? I don't care about that stuff anymore."
"Wrong. You just aren't capable of searching for the answers." Shadow Spike glared. "You cannot leave this town, despite the fact that you wish more than anything to lift the burden from your friends' shoulders..."
"A BURDEN?!" Spike demanded. "Twilight and the others have told me a hundred times how much I mean to them!"
"And that is what allows you to stay. A fragile, finite bond that will one day cease to exist. And though you wish to relieve them of the burden...this bond keeps you from doing so."
"Wh-what?" Fluttershy's expression was heartbroken. "Spike...you want to leave...?"
"Of course not!" Spike yelled. He walked up to his Shadow. "It's lying!"
"Why delude yourself?" Shadow Spike shot back, causing Spike to recoil. "It's not as if it will offend them. You'd be doing them a favor in the long run! How can you get in their way if you're not around to do so in the first place?"
"S-stop it!"
"You have no place to call your own. There isn't a pony alive who can tell you where you came from! Face the facts!" Shadow Spike's glare intensified, and Spike took another step back. "You know that despite their feelings for you, you do nothing but weigh your friends down! You desire nothing more than to liberate them of this roadblock!"
"STOP IT!"
"Your answers will never come to you...you cannot search for them, either." The Shadow's expression grew livid, and Spike took yet another step back. "There's a way to relieve them right in front of you...all you have to do is say three little words!"
"This is bad," Twilight said. "Spike...stay calm!"
Spike ignored Twilight. "YOU'RE the burden!" he yelled. "You don't know the first thing about me!"
Shadow Spike's glare became a mocking sneer. "Oh, you poor, naive fool...how do you not understand by now? I AM you."
"Y-you...LIAR!" Spike's eyes filled with tears. "You're not even close to me!"
Ominous silence filled the area as Shadow Spike was surrounded by red mist. He let out a chuckle, which quickly escalated into a demented cackle. "Well, then! Looks like I'LL be the one who takes you off their hooves!"
Twilight practically threw Spike onto her back as the red mist exploded outward. It cleared to reveal a pale version of Spike holding a whip. He was sitting in a large chariot, which was adorned with a bindle stick on each side and had harnesses that floated in midair. The Shadow cracked its whip towards the harnesses, as if egging on the horses that weren't there.
"I am a Shadow...the true self!"
All of the ponies summoned their Personas. "Is this really what Spike has been thinking?" Rainbow asked.
"It has to be," Twilight replied. "Shadows don't lie."
"What, are you defending him?" Shadow Spike asked. "He does nothing for you! Why would you want to hold onto something when all it does is hold you back?!"
Staying true to the strategy, Merlin aimed his hand at Shadow Spike as Naravirala's eyes flashed. The Shadow was surrounded by an aura of dull blue and orange. It scoffed and hit Jack of Clubs in the chest with his whip, causing Rarity to buckle with pain.
"Urgh...I thought his attacks were weakened!" Rarity exclaimed.
"He must be crazy strong!" Rainbow replied. "Peregrine, go for it!"
Peregrine and Jack of Clubs flew towards the Shadow. Meanwhile, Naravirala spread her wings, and it was consumed by a fiery blast. It shook off the flames and swung at Peregrine, but she was able to dodge it.
"Keep it busy, guys!" Twilight yelled. Merlin threw his hands into the air, surrounding Twilight with blue electricity. Her mind felt much clearer than it ever had before.
Meanwhile, Shadow Spike easily brushed off a flurry of strikes from Peregrine and Jack of Clubs. He aimed his free hand at the former, and a blast of pale purple light threw her back. He followed suit with Jack of Clubs. Their respective hosts nearly fell over.
"What in the world was that?!" Rainbow demanded. "It wasn't ice, fire, or lightning...and wind wouldn't have hurt so much!"
"I believe it was some sort of pure energy," Rarity replied.
Naravirala's eyes flashed again, and the two ponies' wounds disappeared as they were bathed with warm light. Before they could attack again, however, Shadow Spike wrapped his whip around Peregrine and slammed her into Jack of Clubs. Both were knocked aside, and Twilight saw her opportunity.
"All right, now's our chance! Blast it, Merlin!"
Merlin aimed at Shadow Spike, and a colossal pillar of lightning crashed down from the heavens. He cried out in pain, and the other ponies turned to Twilight, flabbergasted.
"H-how did you just DO that?!" Rainbow demanded.
"There's no time to explain right now!" Twilight replied. "Just keep it busy, so I can do it again!"
Shadow Spike recovered, an intense glare on its face. "You...are gonna PAY FOR THAT!"
Jack of Clubs acted fast as the Shadow swung at Merlin, just barely managing to block the strike. Merlin used Mind Charge, once again surrounding Twilight with electricity.
"I've had enough of this!" Shadow Spike yelled. "Why are you protecting him?! Won't you regret it eventually?!"
"We shouldn't have to explain this to you!" Rainbow shot back. Peregrine flew forward, but the Shadow aimed his free hand at her. She was stopped in her tracks as a magic circle appeared in front of her that glowed with the power of darkness. Oddly enough, it disappeared harmlessly, allowing her to slash into the Shadow's skin with brutal force. He roared in pain and blasted her back with another purple blast.
"NOW!" Twilight yelled. Merlin raised his hands above his head, forming a gigantic fireball in a matter of seconds. He threw it, and it slammed into the Shadow with the force of a freight train. After it faded, Twilight started to breathe heavily.
"Twilight, are you okay?" Fluttershy asked. "I can heal you if you need me to."
"I'm not hurt," Twilight replied. "Just tired...but I think I can do that one more time."
The Shadow recovered a bit faster this time. "THAT'S NOT GONNA WORK!" he bellowed, throwing a purple blast at Merlin.
"Think fast!" Rainbow yelled. Peregrine flew over to the blast and hit it with a swift roundhouse kick, sending it flying back at the Shadow. He grabbed the blast just before it hit him and crushed it in his fingers. Merlin used Mind Charge one more time, and at the same time, Shadow Spike cracked his whip at the harnesses. The chariot started to move, and the ponies just barely avoided it as it rumbled past them. It turned around, and the Shadow was smirking with confidence.
"What's he so happy about?" Twilight asked.
"Got you now!" Shadow Spike yelled. Twilight's eyes widened in realization--she was directly in front of the Shadow now, as opposed to behind the other ponies. The Shadow swung its whip at her.
"No you don't!" Fluttershy yelled (as loudly as she could, anyway). Naravirala spread her wings, and a blast of fire consumed the Shadow's whip, incinerating the majority of its length. The end of the whip flew over the ponies' heads and flopped uselessly onto the ground. The Shadow turned to Fluttershy, his eyes even more furious. He lifted his free hand to prepare an attack.
"Merlin, let's end this!" Twilight yelled. Merlin flew over the flames and up to Shadow Spike's head. The Shadow was surprised by the sudden proximity, giving Merlin the chance to slam his palm directly between its eyes and release a massive electric charge. The Shadow cried out in pain as the sparks coursed across its body again and again. Merlin flew back as the chariot's front left wheel suddenly fell off. The chariot fell forward, and the additional weight caused the other front wheel to fall off as well. The back wheels followed, and the chariot fell apart, causing red mist to flow out of all of the pieces, as well as the Shadow itself.
Spike's eyes slowly opened, and he looked around, confused and groggy. "Where...am I?"
The red mist stopped flowing, leaving Shadow Spike in his original form. Spike looked at it sadly, and Twilight gave him a supportive smile. She put him onto the ground, and he walked over to it.
"I...I know how much you guys care about me," Spike said. "But...I have thought a few times...no, a lot of times...that I really don't have a place in a pony-run society. There's an enormous species divider between us...our species have next to nothing in common. I always felt like a fish out of water." He sighed. "And I know that it must set you guys back a lot to keep buying me gems, and supporting me, and fixing all the messes I make of things...that's why I thought I was a burden."
"We do those things because we care about you," Rainbow said. "How many times do we have to tell you that before it gets through that thick little skull of yours?"
"We love you, Spikey-wikey," Rarity added with a tender smile. "A loved one is never a burden."
"If we ever doubted your place in Ponyville, we would've sent you away after that time you turned into a monster," Fluttershy pointed out.
Twilight nodded in agreement. "Spike...even if we're not around, you'll always have a place in Ponyville. It doesn't matter if you're a dragon--the ponies there treat you like you're no different from anypony else."
A smile grew on Spike's face, and he turned back to his Shadow. "But still...I did think like that, and I probably will again in the future...as much as I know it's not true." He put a hand on his Shadow's shoulder. "Yeah, I get it...you're me."
The Shadow smiled back at its host before being consumed with blinding light. When it faded, there was a small red imp-like creature floating in front of Spike that didn't look much different from Spike himself--although it had no spines, and it had two pointed ears rather than Spike's fin-like ones. Its eyes were closed, and it held a gigantic canvas bag full of grain over its head. After a few seconds, it turned into an Arcana card that depicted a sand-colored star with a human face over a background of purple diamonds and a few smaller stars. Spike watched as the card disappeared, bathing him with light.
"Whew...that was rough." Twilight mopped her brow. "What do you guys think we should do now?"
"We need to save whoever's trapped here, don't we?" Spike asked wearily, turning shakily to the others.
Rainbow glared sternly at Spike. "You're not thinking of that now of all times, are you? You only just now awakened to your Persona! We need to take some time and rest first."
"But Applejack is still in here," Rarity pointed out. "Leaving her in here while we rest is, at absolute best, a risky gamble."
"Actually..." Twilight's expression changed to a thoughtful one. "I think we've confirmed that the victim spends three days in here, and their bodies only appear after their deaths. Applejack might be safe for a day, and we can come back tomorrow."
"We can't just leave her here!" Fluttershy exclaimed desperately. "This place is terrifying!"
"We don't really have much choice," Rainbow replied. "I mean, look at us. Are we really in any shape to be fighting ANOTHER Shadow like that? And who's gonna save AJ if we work ourselves to the bone trying to get to her?"
"I must admit, you raise a valid point..." Rarity looked despondent. "I do not like this at all."
"But...I can help you now!" Spike said indignantly.
"Like I said, you just got your Persona! You're in worse shape than Twilight right now."
"Rainbow is right. We don't have any other options," Twilight said. "Let's head back for now and rest. We'll come back for her first thing tomorrow."
"...I don't like this," Spike muttered. "But...yeah. I am kinda tired..."
Rainbow nodded. "Well, then, let's get outta here before we get swarmed by Shadows."
Twilight put Spike on her back again. "We just have to have faith in Applejack. She's the toughest one of us by no small margin! If any one of us can spend a day in here, it's her."
With that, Rainbow lifted Rarity into the air, and they all flew up to the exit.
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That... wow I am impressed with the way you've been able to bring out each and every character's shadow thus far.... excepting Twilight's of course but still it's impressive.
So Shining Armor is there Emperor, which I think suits not only him as a Prince and Captain, but also a big brother.
And Spike is the Star, focusing on that glimmer of hope off in the distance. Would've liked a name for the persona, but I suppose we'll get that next chapter.
And wow, Shadow Spike is throwing out Megido spells? If that fact that they've had to put off rescuing Applejack wasn't an indicator that things are getting rough, then that surely is. Let's see how this goes.
Eagerly awaiting more.
Spike is definitely Teddie...And I'm just gonna guess King Sombra was replaced by his shadow somehow. That would be so cool.
Yeah. This is pretty much what I'm listening to each chapter now.
We get a Megido/instakill based character this early in the roster? That's both early and amazing, usually these characters are reserved for last. I was expecting Zio.