Personas of Harmony

by EricStarstorm

Chapter 17: The Tower

Twilight was in the Velvet Room again. What with all the chaos surrounding Spike's and Applejack's Personas, she had completely forgotten to assert the bonds, and there was no better time than the following morning.

A Star Arcana card floated above Margaret's book and bathed Twilight with blue light. As it disappeared, Margaret looked her in the eyes. "The magic that Spike's Persona uses is known as Megido. Not many Shadows resist it, but there are even fewer that are particularly vulnerable to it. It is, however, inherently more powerful than elemental magic."

"Sounds good to me," Twilight replied. "What about Applejack?"

Margaret waved her hand over her book, causing a Strength Arcana card to appear. After it disappeared, Margaret smiled a bit. "Another adapted skill."

"How so?"

"Applejack's Persona, Stonewall, possesses the ability to increase the defensive abilities of itself and its allies. This will be a very useful asset, by the way--I do hope you make good use of it. However, Merlin has adapted it so that it increases offensive capabilities instead. Also...I see you'll be able to assert the Devil bond soon. I can't promise that it will do much of anything for you, though."

"Oh, um...there was something else I wanted to ask you." Twilight's excitement died down, and she frowned. "You guys know about Hayabusa already, right?"

"We do indeed," Igor replied. "And it is more important than you know."

"Well...will that happen to me, too?"

"Fear not. You already know the answer to that question." Igor's smile grew. "I see no harm in telling you that you and your friends will all have Ultimate Personas by the time your journey reaches its end."

Twilight nodded. "I'll keep it in mind. Thank you."

"Before you leave, I must warn you...the storm has passed, but your quest is far from over. Relax while you can--your greatest trial yet is just on the horizon, and you will need all of your willpower and energy to face it." For the first time, Igor's smile faltered a bit as he spoke. "You must be on your guard after today. Once Fluttershy's leg is fully healed, that will bring with it a call to arms."

Twilight shuddered at the prospect. Facing Applejack's Shadow had been the most taxing thing she'd ever done--she wasn't sure she would be able to handle another fight like that. Nevertheless, she didn't let these fears surface any more than they already had. "I'll be careful."

"I know you will be." Igor's smile returned to normal. "With that, I'm afraid I must bid you farewell."

---

As Twilight's vision returned to her, she found herself in her room. She heard voices downstairs--one was Spike's, although the other was too quiet for her to recognize. That probably meant it was Fluttershy. She went downstairs to join them, and as soon as she was able to see into the living room, she saw that Spike had been a good host and made tea. As he and Fluttershy heard her coming down, they turned towards her.

"Hi, Fluttershy," Twilight said cordially. "How's it going?"

"Well...Rarity and I were on our way to the spa for our weekly visit, and she noticed that we've barely done anything as a group that hasn't involved the case somehow since it started. So she said I should come and invite you," Fluttershy replied. "She's paying for everything, so don't worry about that.

"Hey, that's a fantastic idea!" Twilight smiled. After a second, though, she looked a bit confused. "Wait, the spa is still open? Aloe told me that she might have to close it."

"We still go every week, and she's adjusted to running it herself. There's nothing to be concerned over."

"Oh...that's good. She seemed pretty worried about it."

"I don't think that's ever gonna happen," Spike said, waving his hand dismissively. "Rarity goes there often enough to put Aloe's foals through college."

"Aloe has foals?" Fluttershy asked.

"No, it was...actually, I don't know if she does or not. Does she, Twilight?"

"No, she doesn't. If she did, we would've seen them when we asked her about Lotus's disappearance," Twilight pointed out. "Besides, you're a regular, Fluttershy. Why would Aloe not tell you about having foals if she had them?"

"Good point...anyway, I'm sure we could all use the chance to relax," Fluttershy said.

"Yeah...you especially. Speaking of, how come you're not hovering?"

"Because I can put weight on my leg now...for a little bit at a time, at least. Anyway, you guys are coming, right?"

"Of course!" Spike exclaimed. "Let's get a move on!"

Spike and Fluttershy stood up as Twilight opened the door. The three of them left the library and went in the general direction of the spa.

---

Twilight, Spike, and Fluttershy were the last to arrive at the spa. To Twilight's relief, Aloe was delighted to see them. As soon as they arrived, the group's services began. Though the services varied, the cost for each pony was about the same, and Rarity was more than willing to cover all of their expenses. Where she got the extra money for that, no one ever found out.

"It feels like it's been forever since we got a chance to relax like this," Applejack said. "It's just like you said, Rarity...everything's just been so serious."

"I hear ya," Spike said. His voice was shaky due to the massage he was currently receiving. "This is probably one of the only times since the case started that I'll have left home and not come back sore."

"I'm glad you're enjoying it," Rarity replied. "I would say you could all join us more often, but this outing has been something that just Fluttershy and I partake in since before we became a group. It's something of a tradition between us."

Rainbow tried to look towards Rarity, but due to the cucumbers over her eyes, she ended up looking a little bit to her left, towards a mud pool. "We understand," she said. "I wouldn't wanna do this every week anyway. I've gotta stay active, y'know?"

Aloe entered the room with a few towels draped over her back. She smiled from ear to ear and nodded in greeting. "I trust that you're enjoying yourselves?"

Pinkie suddenly burst through the surface of the mud pool, wrapped tightly in seaweed. "TENNOUTTATEN!" she yelled.

"...What she said," Twilight added. "...I think."

"I take it she's always like this?" Aloe asked.

"Yep!" Pinkie replied immediately. She jammed a hoof into the mud and pulled out a slide whistle, which she then used to mimic a falling sound effect as she descended into the depths once more. As the whistle was submerged, the mud bubbled like a pool of tar, reminding Twilight of her first encounter with the Shadows.

"So how's the place been runnin' lately?" Applejack asked. "It must be rough with only one of the owners around."

Aloe looked a bit sad at this. "Actually...it's surprisingly well. Almost as well as when Lotus wasn't around, if only for the reduced need for a high income."

Rainbow Dash looked perplexed. "And...that's a good thing, right?"

Aloe nodded. "It means I don't have to leave Ponyville...it's great, even."

"So why do you look so bummed out?" Spike asked.

"Well...Rarity told me how Lotus really felt about her job."

Twilight shot Rarity a look. "You told her?"

"Oh, come now, darling," Rarity replied. "She has a right to know how her sister feels. Besides, we found it in her diary, remember?"

Spike raised an eyebrow. "I don't remember that being--BLECH!"

Rarity cut Spike off by using her magic to throw one of Rainbow's cucumbers into his mouth. She turned to Aloe. "Continue, please."

"Well...I'm just not sure that Lotus had to go through what she saw as torture at all," Aloe explained. "I'm doing just fine without her help...it's almost as if she put herself through this for no reason."

"Nonsense! Her diary was very clear-cut on the matter. Right, Twilight?"

Twilight hesitated a bit, then nodded. "Yeah...we could tell from what she said--uh, wrote...that she knew you were happy to have her working with you. She worked here for you, not for herself."

Aloe smiled weakly. "She always was one for self-sacrifice...I remember that she would give me her lunch every day when we went to school together because I liked to eat a bit more than she did. She stopped doing that only when she started suffering from malnutrition. Of course I tried to convince her not to, but she would never hear of it."

"Goodness...that sounds taxing," Fluttershy said.

"Oh, no doubt...but she would always insist. In fact, when I tried to tell our parents, she stopped me then and told me she was all right. Naive as I was, I didn't doubt it." Aloe's smile widened. "But enough about that. Have you heard about the show in town?"

"There's a show?" Rainbow asked with a grin. "Is it the Wonderbolts?"

"Oh, goodness, no. They're much too busy this time of year. But...this show has been in town before...although the name escapes me. I believe it's a magic show..."

Twilight thought for a moment, and then her eyes widened. "Y-you don't mean..."

Aloe's eyes lit up with realization. "Oh, now I remember the name! It's the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

Pinkie suddenly blasted through the surface of the mud pool again. "Say WHAT?!"

"Oh, JOY," Spike said as he finally spat out the cucumber. "How is that allowed? Last time she was here, she terrorized the town! It was almost as bad as when Discord was freed!"

"And all because Twilight beat her fair and square at magic, no less," Rarity added, rolling her eyes with disdain.

"Well...something's been bugging me about that, actually," Twilight said. "I mean, I think that she was just doing her job up until she challenged the townsfolk."

"You can make a living off of saying you're awesome?" Rainbow asked. "Jeez, if I had known that, I wouldn't have had to sign up for weather duty."

"That's not what I meant...it's part of her act. She plays up her abilities to excite the crowd. Things like that are a bit less common in Ponyville, but they happened once a year in Canterlot at the very least, so I was kinda used to it. She took the bragging to extremes, but that was probably just a mistake based on inexperience."

"Ah guess that does make some sense," Applejack conceded. "And she certainly did THAT right...the crowd was pretty excited 'til a certain point."

"Plus, she learned her lesson after the Alicorn Amulet incident. I doubt she's going to do anything malevolent."

"I guess it couldn't hurt to go see it," Fluttershy said. She turned to Aloe. "Do you want to come with us?"

"Oh, I'm afraid not," Aloe replied. "I have to stay here and tend the place. Plus, I saw it already."

"Let's go check it out when we're done here, then," Rainbow said, her expression brightening again.

The conversation died down after that as the group let themselves be immersed in the reverie of their relaxation.

---

There was a resounding drumroll as the very sky itself seemed to grow dim. The cart that stood before the anticipating crowd was surrounded by a column of light that mimicked a spotlight.

"Citizens of Ponyville! Come one, come all!" a familiar voice boomed. "Witness the awe-inspiring prowess of the New and Improved..."

The cart suddenly unfolded into a stage. Fireworks erupted from each side, and in a burst of pink smoke, a blue unicorn wearing a purple robe and wizard's hat appeared in the center.

"THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!"

The crowd cheered at the impressive display as the sky returned to its normal shade. Twilight couldn't help but smile.

"WATCH in awe as the GREAT and POWERFUL TRIXIE performs the most spec-TAC-ular feats of magic EVER WITNESSED by PONY EYES!"

Rainbow leaned towards Applejack. "Is it me, or did she get even louder?"

Applejack laughed. "Maybe so."

Trixie took off her hat and wrapped it within a magical cocoon. After about ten seconds, it dispersed. The hat didn't change visibly, but Trixie stuck a hoof into it and pulled. After struggling with it for a few seconds, the head of an Ursa Minor popped out of the hat, stunning the crowd into silence. The Ursa began to climb its way out of the hat, and as its stage-sized paw crashed into the ground, the crowd began to panic.

"Fear not, Ponyville!" Trixie boomed. "I will duel this foul BEAST into submission!"

As Trixie faced down the Ursa, she used her magic to put her hat back on and conjure a gust of wind to make her robes flow. The crowd realized that it was all part of the act at this point, and the cheers resumed. Meanwhile, Trixie aimed her horn at the Ursa and let loose a huge stream of lightning. The Ursa reared back in pain, but managed to take a swipe at the unicorn. She jumped over the attack with surprising grace.

"Man, is this even real?" Spike asked in a mixture of awe and incredulity.

"I think the Ursa is an illusion," Twilight replied softly. "But to hold up an illusion like that for so long...that's no small feat."

"An illusion?" Rarity asked. "But...it looks so real!"

"If you could tell it was an illusion, then it wouldn't be much of an illusion."

Trixie used her magic to grab one of the Ursa's paws and hit it in the face repeatedly with it. The sight drew giggles from the audience, but the Ursa was only enraged by the display. It lifted its free paw into the air and roared violently. Trixie looked upon it with a horrified countenance as it descended, and it slammed onto her before she could stop it. The crowd gasped in horror.

"Ah thought it was just smoke an' mirrors!" Applejack exclaimed.

"I-I'm...sure that th-there's a rational explanation for th-this," Twilight stammered.

Suddenly, the Ursa's cheeks puffed out. It put its paws over its mouth, but eventually was forced to open it. The crowd gasped again as they saw Trixie standing triumphantly on the beast's tongue, surrounded by fireworks. She jumped off, and the beast fell backwards. Before it hit the ground, however, it dispersed into stars, which flew above the stage and formed a replica of Trixie's cutie mark before flying towards the Everfree Forest.

There was dead silence as Trixie stood upon the stage, looking towards the crowd expectantly. After about ten seconds, there was an eruption of applause. Trixie looked almost surprised, but she quickly regained her composure and bowed. "Thank you! Thank you all! You have only BEGUN to witness the INESTIMABLE prowess of...the GREAT and POWERFUL TRIXIE!"

---

The show went on for another twenty minutes. After it ended, the group went their separate ways for their own reasons. The crowd had also dispersed, as they had begun to do the second Trixie left the stage. Despite all of this, Twilight was hesitant to leave so soon.

"C'mon, Twilight!" Spike said, nudging her in the side. "I'm all for taking in the scenery, but the sun is going down!"

"I know, I know," Twilight replied. "But...I'm curious about the magic she was doing. Those were top-tier illusions!"

"Hmm...yeah, I hear ya. I certainly wasn't expecting that from Trixie."

"I really would like to talk to her about it. If she could do that when she first came here, then she sure didn't show it!"

"You two are excellent with the whole backhoofed compliment thing, aren't you?" Trixie asked.

Twilight and Spike turned around and found Trixie behind them. "Oh! Hi, Trixie! You were amazing up there. How have you been?"

Trixie scoffed. "Listen, I already know you're more successful than I am. So don't even bother with the whole bragging thing, okay? I'm satisfied with my job, and that's all the validation I need."

"Hey, there's no need to be rude!" Spike replied indignantly.

"Spike." Twilight cleared her throat. "I wasn't planning on bragging. In fact, I wanted to congratulate you."

Trixie's eyes widened in disbelief. "Congratulate...me?"

"It doesn't take a genius to see that you've been working hard for this. Those spells you did were incredible! I don't think I could conjure up illusions that convincing if I wanted to!"

"You...don't know illusion magic?"

"Not much! If I did, I would've used it instead of dressing up my friends when you had the Alicorn Amulet."

"W-well...illusions are, um...practically a staple in my...uh...line of work." Trixie smiled nervously. "...I have to go."

Trixie slammed her front hooves into the ground, kicking up a plume of smoke that concealed her from sight. She then sheepishly walked out from behind it and past Twilight and Spike, headed back towards the stage. As she left, Twilight could've sworn she felt a bond grow between the two of them.

"All right, NOW can we go home?" Spike asked.

"Hmm...didn't get much out of her," Twilight replied. "Well, maybe I can get her to show me some more another time. She seemed a bit jumpy, if you ask me."

"Yeah, but she's a travelling performer. She might skip town before we get to see her again."

At this, Twilight's ears splayed, and a look of sadness played across her features. "Yeah...I suppose." She lifted Spike into the air and put him on her back. "You're right, though...it is about time we went home."

Twilight started walking back to the library, leaving the show and the pony behind it in favor of a relaxing evening.

Author's Note:

Maybe it's because I don't know a thing about how a spa treatment is supposed to go, but writing this one was pretty rough. I bet that it's mostly because I'm pretty excited for what's coming next, though.

Comments

[Grahf]

I would suggest changing

Ultimate Personas

to 'fully evolved personas or something cause there are much more powerful personas out there then the main character ones *cough*lucifer*cough* but that just my opinion cause it does work either way

[EricStarstorm]

4350620 You have a point, but I went with Ultimate Personas because they're the best Personas that the characters have access to individually. Besides, I don't think Igor would be holding the characters to the PC Personas' standards in this case, considering that no one has access to them (except for Margaret).

[shinigamisparda]

I'm going to come right now and say you did this fantastically. Not to mention it looks like Trixie just wants Twilight's approval. Anotehr well-done chapter.

[ZeroChill]

I'm hypothesizing that Margaret was talking about Trixie when she was talking about the Devil Arcana. I liked Aloe's backstory relationship with Lotus as well.

[EricStarstorm]

4352244 Devil is Siren. That was already covered in a previous chapter.

[Jlargent]

Trixie is the next victim.

[ViktornovaMk2]

I'm seeing a pattern here and I'm really liking it, Oh, and this story too.
The only question I have is, who's going to be the Death arcana?

[EricStarstorm]

4355537 ...Good question! That's the main Arcana I'm hesitant to include, because it just doesn't seem to be very easily captured in Equestrian society.