Personas of Harmony

by EricStarstorm

Chapter 25: Uncertainty

After what had happened the previous day, it was strange for Twilight to see the inside of the Velvet Room again--especially in its pristine condition. It was as if she weren't fighting one of its two inhabitants in a battle to the death less than 24 hours ago. This was reinforced by the fact that, as she entered, Margaret greeted her just the same as she would any other day. Igor, as usual, was completely unreadable--his expression rarely, if ever, changed.

"So, what brings you to the Velvet Room this fine morning?" Igor asked.

"...Are we just going to ignore what happened yesterday?" Twilight brought a hoof to her mouth, surprised at the venom lacing her words. She cleared her throat. "Um...what I mean is--"

"It's quite all right," Margaret replied. "I can certainly understand if you're angry with me. I did fight to kill, after all. But there really isn't much for me or my master to talk about on the subject, so we saw no reason to bring it up."

"I have a few questions, though." Twilight kept an eye on Margaret's facial expression. "You said you wanted to fight us to help me and to test our potential...but there's yet another reason, isn't there?"

Margaret grinned ever so slightly. "Quite perceptive. I admit, there was another personal reason involved...it's been quite some time since I last saw battle. Three and a half years, to be exact. While I normally don't miss it, when I see a Persona-user of your caliber...I can't help but be excited. Despite what has happened, you must admit that you find combat somewhat thrilling as well, do you not?"

Twilight had to think about that. "Well...I know that I shouldn't like it, but I do have to admit that it can be pretty fun sometimes."

"So you understand what I mean, then." Margaret pulled something out of her pocket. "I forgot to give this to you on the battlefield, but you have most certainly earned this reward."

Margaret handed over a bookmark. It was blue with a golden circled V on it. Twilight had plenty of bookmarks already, but you could never have too many. She smiled as she floated the bookmark near her.

"Now, then...what can we do for you?"

---

Soon after the group had returned from the other world, Rainbow Dash had realized that the day they fought Margaret had been a day that the murderer would have struck. Rain was scheduled tomorrow, and even now, she and the weather crew were putting a few of the clouds into place. It wasn't going to be as bad as the storm after they rescued Applejack, but it would be quite the downpour in its own right. Rainbow was fortunate enough to go around all of Ponyville because of her job, so she kept stealing glances at the ground for signs of suspicion when the other workers weren't looking. Though she prided herself on her scrutiny, she didn't see anything out of the ordinary, and the job was almost done.

"Rainbow Dash?" Thunderlane asked. Rainbow looked up and turned towards him. "You okay? You seem kinda...distant today."

Rainbow turned back towards the cloud she was tending and shaped it so that it would be ready to put into its position. "It's nothing, don't worry about it."

"It doesn't seem like nothing. You've been watching the ground like a hawk!"

Rainbow resisted the urge to inflict some form of self-punishment and made a mental note to do it later. "You, uh...you saw that, huh?"

"It's hard to miss. I'm surprised the supervisor hasn't called you out yet."

Rainbow thought about what to say for a moment, but nothing came to her. Instead, she purposefully flapped her wings out of sync for a brief moment, wobbling in the air and bringing herself closer to the cloud she was shaping. She waved her forelegs like a pony possessed, hitting the cloud and sending it flying. "Oh, uh, whoops! Runaway cloud! I should go and get that, we'll continue this conversation never."

Before Thunderlane could respond, Rainbow was already gone. Chasing the cloud took her to the edge of a construction site. For the moment, it was empty, since the weather and construction crews often got in each other's way if they worked at the same time. Naturally, she got to the cloud in a matter of seconds, but there were bigger things on her mind than setting new records for cloud retrieving. She stopped to think, keeping a hoof on the cloud so she would know if it started floating away. She wracked her brain, trying to think of a good reason for the killer to skip an appointment, so to speak. She went over everyone who had been targeted previously in her mind.

"Hmph...this would've been so much easier if that second group weren't in the picture," Rainbow grumbled. "It was just us, Filthy Rich and Lotus before they came along...even I could draw something from that. But with another six victims in the picture, there's no way to tell who he's after."

Something caught Rainbow's eye, interrupting her thought process. A pegasus had alighted on the ground. Her coat and mane were either black or very dark grey, but from this distance, it was hard to tell. Her wings covered up her cutie mark, but Rainbow could see a speck of white. After she absorbed the pegasus's details, it turned towards her, revealing themselves to be female.

"What're you doing down there?" Rainbow asked. "This area is restricted to anyone not on the weather team, and if you're part of the weather team you should be up here."

The pegasus didn't respond. Instead, she started walking further into the construction site.

"Hey!" Rainbow exclaimed. She sent the cloud she was tending on a drift course back towards its destination. "I'm talking to you!"

The pegasus still ignored her. That was the sign she had been watching for all day, she could tell. Whoever that pony was, she was hiding something. Rainbow flew down to the construction site, but just before she could cut the other pony off, she took to the air and flew straight up through the frame of an unfinished building.

"You're not getting away that easy!" Rainbow yelled. She had an idea--one that would definitely keep the mystery pony from escaping. She knew that she was probably just being paranoid, but even if this pony wasn't the murderer, she was still breaking a law right now--two, counting the law against unauthorized flying during cloud arrangement. She flew to the top of the building frame to cut her off, but she immediately changed direction, flying straight ahead towards where the weather team was working. Rainbow smirked and flew after her, making sure she was slowly gaining on her.

It wasn't long before the two passed Thunderlane. As they flew by, he nearly lost control of the cloud he was carrying. The wind ended up knocking a bit of mass off of it, and it now looked like a large mushroom.

Meanwhile, Rainbow decided it was time to stop fooling around. She flew so she was just beside the pegasus, who almost lost her course in her shock. "One last chance to explain yourself!"

The other pegasus glared and sharply turned around. Rainbow turned around as well, but simply stopped instead of kept up with the chase. Instead, she grabbed a nearby cloud and threw it as hard as she could. It sailed through the air and, just as it was slowing down, the other pegasus slammed into it with a loud, muffled noise.

"All right! Let's see what we've won."

It only took a second for Rainbow to get to the cloud, but there was still a small crowd gathered by the time she did. The pegasus had apparently impacted the cloud so hard that she had been buried within it. Rainbow dug out a large chunk of cloud with her forelegs and looked inside...and saw something she could scarcely believe. "Derpy?!"

Derpy Hooves looked back at Rainbow Dash, her cheeks and mouth stuffed with blueberry muffins. Her out-of-sync eyes showed intense confusion, but also joy.

"Weren't you just chasing somepony else?" Cloud Chaser asked.

"Y-yeah...I don't know how this could've happened," Rainbow replied.

"Well, there's no point in trying to find them now," Blossomforth said. "They're probably long gone already."

Rainbow stared at Derpy for a moment. She dug out a bit more of the cloud and helped Derpy out of it, after which she swallowed her muffins, smiled sheepishly, and took the cloud away with her.

"...This is just getting weird," Rainbow said to herself. "I should probably tell the others later."

"Enough gawking!" A gruff male voice yelled. "Get back to work, all of you! Rainbow Dash, double-time it!"

Rainbow snapped to attention and flew towards the large pile of clouds that needed positioning.

---

As she pulled her cart through Ponyville's streets, Trixie cursed her schedule fiercely but silently. Whose idea was it for her to go to Ponyville, then Dodge Junction, and then back through Ponyville again to Canterlot? That just seemed counterproductive. Nevertheless, she didn't have much choice but to go through with it. Despite the enchantments she had placed on her cart, however, it was still not the easiest thing to drag around. At least the builders had the good sense to put wheels on it--despite her initial protests, it was making things a lot easier.

Suddenly, she heard a quiet voice coming from nearby. She couldn't quite make out the words, but she couldn't help but be curious. As subtly as someone as flamboyant as her could be, she focused her attention on the voice, cocking her head towards it ever so slightly.

"...and she wants to see us in the barn so she can describe what happened in detail."

"All right, I'll be there soon." Trixie noted that the second voice was a bit louder, but its owner was whispering, so she still couldn't tell whose it was. "Have you told the others yet?"

"Not yet...you're the first one I managed to find. Sorry."

"Well, there's no rush. You go on ahead, I'll catch up."

The voices stopped speaking after that, so Trixie stopped paying attention to their sources. In her peripherals, she saw Fluttershy fly above the roof of the nearest building and keep a constant altitude as she left the area. She started walking a little faster, hoping to avoid running into whichever one of her friends she had just been talking to.

"Oh, hi Trixie!" Twilight suddenly exclaimed.

Trixie froze in place, cursing her luck, before reluctantly turning around. "Hello again, Twilight," she said, putting on a nervous smile. "What do you want?"

"I'm a little surprised to see you. Weren't you leaving town after your show?"

"Yes, and I did...but I have to pass through again to get to my next stop. I'll be here for another two hours or so, but I have to take my cart to the right place."

Twilight's look changed to a concerned one. "That sounds awfully taxing...why do you have to do it that way?"

Trixie rolled her eyes. "Because my manager is a buffoon." She turned back around. "I should get going."

"Oh, wait!" Twilight trotted up to Trixie's side. "Do you want some company?"

Trixie would have said no, but she was a bit tired of being alone with her thoughts at this point. She was too proud to say yes outright, however. "If you insist."

"All right!" Twilight slowed down slightly to match Trixie's pace. "So where did you go after you left?"

"Dodge Junction." Trixie sighed. "That place is so filthy...but the townsfolk aren't too bad. It's just so quiet there. Definitely not my favorite place."

"I take it they liked your show?"

"They did indeed. Apparently the owner of the cherry orchard loved it, because she gave me three baskets to take with me." Trixie floated one of the baskets out of her cart. "Would you mind taking this one? I can't eat them all before they go bad, but no one else will take this one off my hooves. They all say I need it more than they do."

"I think you need--" Twilight stopped herself as Trixie's words registered. "...Um...sure, I'll take it."

Trixie passed the basket over, and Twilight sent it to the library with a burst of purple light. "Thank you. Don't worry about me--I still have two baskets left."

Before Trixie knew it, Twilight changed the subject. "So I've been thinking...I'd really like to learn how you did those illusions before. Do you think we could trade notes?"

Trixie looked at Twilight quizzically. "Trade notes?"

"Yeah! There are all kinds of spells I'd be happy to teach you. I have a spell that gives you wings, a spell that turns you into a Breezie...oh! Do you know how to teleport? That would be extremely helpful for your commute!"

"Let me just stop you right there." Trixie narrowed her eyes. "When did I ask for your pity?"

Twilight's eyebrow raised. "Huh?"

"I know what you're doing. 'Oh, Trixie's not a real magician! No way could she learn magic without my help!' Well, news flash: Just because you're a princess doesn't mean you can look down on me like I'm a foal!"

"That's not what I'm doing at all! I'm just trying to help you--"

"I never asked for your help, and I never asked for your friendship." Trixie shifted her hat so it covered her eyes from Twilight's perspective. "Please...just leave me be."

Twilight stopped in her tracks, surprised at Trixie's outburst. The showpony kept walking, heedless of her reaction. To be honest, she was a bit surprised at herself for lashing out so violently. She felt a little bad as she walked, but she wasn't going to apologize. She wanted to be a powerful magician in her own right, and she wasn't going to get there by piggybacking off of others. As she turned around to see if Twilight was following her, she saw that the bookish mare took the hint and was now walking in the opposite direction. She faced forward, trying not to let the incident bug her too much.

---

After her conversation with Trixie, Twilight went home to get Spike, and they went to the barn together. For the first time in what felt like forever, they weren't the last to arrive--that title belonged to Pinkie, who managed to drag along a huge box full of black clothing and goggles upon hearing what the meeting was about. It was anyone's guess how she got it through the barn door.

"...and then when I dug part of the cloud away, she was gone!" Rainbow had been getting angrier as she told the story, and by this point, she was livid. "Derpy was there, stuffing her face with muffins like she always does!"

"Well, it's hardly fair for you to say that," Rarity scolded. "The poor dear has enough on her plate without you assuming she isn't doing society a service."

"I don't care about that right now!"

"You said she was a dark grey pegasus?" Twilight interrupted before the exchange could scale into an argument.

"Yeah, she was. I got a really good look at her when I was chasing her."

Twilight put a hoof to her chin. "I've run into a pony that matches that description once or twice around town...but she was an earth pony when I saw her."

Rainbow's fury gave way to confusion. "Wait, really? But...not only was she a pegasus, she was flying pretty well!"

"...Could she be a Changeling?" Fluttershy asked. "She could've forgotten what type of pony her disguise was."

"It's possible, but let's not make any assumptions just yet," Rarity answered. "Perhaps you simply missed her wings, Twilight. Celestia knows we didn't see yours when you first became an alicorn until you spread them in front of us."

"That was different, though! We were so relieved to see her again that it was all that mattered fer that second," Applejack pointed out. "She coulda popped outta that star a dragon and we wouldn't'a cared."

"How would we recognize her if she was a dragon?" Pinkie asked.

Spike cleared his throat. "Could it have just been Derpy the whole time? Maybe there was a shadow or something keeping you from--"

"Spike, I saw her up close!" Rainbow said exasperatedly. "Besides, her cutie mark was different. I didn't see what it was, but it wasn't bubbles."

"I'm still going with the Changeling theory," Fluttershy said softly.

"Well, for now it looks like our best option is to try and keep an eye on this mystery mare," Twilight said. "If she can change what type of pony she is, that might make her a suspect for the murders. If she really is a Changeling, that just makes her more suspicious."

"It also makes it harder to keep an eye on her," Rarity muttered. "That doesn't mean we shouldn't try, though."

"Oh, and another thing," Rainbow said. "When we fought Margaret...that was a day that the murderer should've made a move, but there was nopony but us in the Shadow world."

"That's certainly strange, but it was the same when we fought Time Turner and his friends," Fluttershy pointed out. "Maybe the murderer just stopped trying?"

"If that's the case, then we have to act fast," Applejack said sternly. "B'fore the trail gets too cold to follow."

"I'll go check to see if we just missed the victim yesterday," Pinkie offered. She immediately left the barn in a puff of smoke.

"...I'd better go too." Rainbow started flying towards the door. "She'll be in trouble if she gets ambushed while she's scanning."

As Rainbow left the barn, Rarity sighed. "There are just so many things to consider in this case...we don't know anything for sure. All we can do is grasp at straws."

"Hey, at least we have straws to grasp at," Spike replied. "And if we just keep grabbing for 'em, we'll be right eventually!"

"I'm...not sure that's how that works," Twilight said.

"Well, we've gone over pretty much everything that's available to us fer now," Applejack said. "Soon as those two get back, Ah think it's safe to end this meeting."

"I agree," Fluttershy said. "I guess we should still keep an eye on when it's going to rain...but I don't know how much it will help any more."

Twilight sighed. "That's all we have to hang on to. It's all that's keeping us from being in a whirlwind of unanswered questions."

A somber mood overtook the barn. It was only just now hitting the group how little they knew about what they had gotten themselves into...and despite their best efforts, there was no end in sight.

Comments

[shinigamisparda]

Ooh! Things are finally starting to get somewhere!

[RadicalDishonesty]

She wanted to be a powerful magician in her own right, and she wasn't going to get there by piggybacking off of others.

But Twilight became a powerful magician because she had the resources, knowledge, and tutelage of Princess Celestia... Reinventing the wheel will take a very long time.