Fire Upon Strings

by New Dawn

Discord's Tower Of Demise (Pt 2)

I stop in my tracks. The chains were getting closer.

"Anypony else hear that?" Twilight asks.

"Ah... Hear nothing!" Aj shouts.

No... Not that... Not now! It explains why there wasn't that many shadows... Even the shadows are afraid of the Reaper.

I quickly turn to Adrian and poke him.

"Yeah?"

I quickly sign him "The Reaper is coming..."

"Reaper? Is that the thing you would always freak out about when playing that game?" He asks.

I nod.

"Well... Shit." He mutters.

"What's the Reaper?" Twilight asks.

I sign to Adrian "Tell her that it's a near impossible shadow to beat in our current level and we should run."

"Jake says it a near impossible shadow and that we should run like hell." He deadpans.

"It's that bad?!" Twilight exclaims.

Nope. It's worse.

The chains grew louder.

I DON'T WANNA DIEEEE!

I see the beginnings of a chain around the corner.

... NOPE! NOPE! NNNNOPPPPPEEE!

As fast as I can, I book it down the hall. I can hear the girl's hoofsteps following behind me. I hear a roar... The Reaper's roar.

SHEEEIIITTT!!! WE'RE GOING TO DIE IF WE DON'T REACH THE STAIRCASE!

A giant explosion of fire bursts beside me.

OH CRAP! AGIDYNE! Why must the Reaper be so powerful...

A bullet wizzes by my head.

"Orpheus!" I hear Twilight shout.

I turn around and see the creature at the end of the hall. The bag only revealing one eye, The two massive guns in it's hands, The large billowing cloak... It all scared me. It certainly looks like a level Ninety-Nine shadow...

I sigh to Adrian "Don't even think about fighting that thing. It's strong to all elemental, Light and Dark attacks, Not to mention any physical attacks."

"I wasn't. I'm just as scared as you are..." He mutters.

"Then we go to the stairs."

Adrian nods.

"TO THE STAIRS EVERYO-PONY!" He shouts.

We quickly book it to the stairs, not looking back in fear of the Reaper following us. We eventually reach them and quickly run up. We stop and take a break.

"Orpheus... You know more than you let on... About this tower and these monsters..." Twilight pants.

"GIIRRRLLSSSS!" I hear a voice scream.

"That's Fluttershy!" Adrian yells.

Soon a yellow blur speeds down.

"I-I was so scared... Twilight!" Flutters sobbed.

"Are you alright Fluttershy?!" Twilight asks.

"I am now... My new friends helped me find you..." She says, pointing down the hall.

Soon a different assortment of lower leveled shadows walk (Or ooze/fly) out. I see Ravens, Eagles, Hands, Books, Tiaras, and even a Rampage Drive!

That's the one on the Fourteenth floor! Flutters is more hardcore than I thought.

"You befriended all these?!" Twilight shouts.

"Oh yes. The ones near the giant gate at the top were more mean..." She says.

I pat her on her head.

"Oh you two are ok! I was so worried..." She smiles.

I feel the corners of my lips turn up in a smile.

Wait what?! I can be expressionative now!? Wait, is that a word? Never mind.

I hear Pinkie gasp. I look over to see a Pinkie with her colors back.

"I knew you could smile Orphey!!!" She cheered.

"You're back to normal Pinkie!" Twilight shouts.

"I was feeling super sad a second ago but when I saw Orphey smile I couldn't help but smile!" She cheered.

"But we still need to find Rainbow." Adrian reminded.

"Oh look. Rainbow is flying away!" AJ shouted.

"I know that's a lie..." Twilight mutters, walking over to the window Applejack was looking at.

Sure enough a Bright rainbow streak was zooming across the green sky, silhouetting against the green moon.

How'd she get out? Never mind, It's just one of Discord's mind tricks. He most likely teleported her out.

Lightning crackled. The shadows that Flutters befriended all fled.

"I. Win!" Discord shouts, teleporting.

He snaps his fingers and everypony got their appropriate horns and wings back. The black aura disapated from around me. I open my mouth to shout but nothing comes out.

The heck?!

"You're all trapped here forever! If you excuse me, I've got a world to plunge into chaos!" He shouts, teleporting away.

Twilight slides down to the ground.

"We'll find a way out... Don't worry." Fluttershy tries to assure Twilight.

I sign to Adrian "I know of a way out. Access points."

"What?" He asks.

"We need to get to the fourteenth floor- and fast." I sign.

"You know you can talk again, right?"

"I can't, Believe me, I tried." I sign in reply.

Adrian sighs.

"Come on... Jake knows a way out." He groans.

"R-really?" Twilight mutters.

I nod. Twilight stands up and wipes her eyes.

"Alright. Let's go." She says.

I smile and nod.

---

We pass by a lot more shadows but nearly none try to attack us. Fluttershy must have made an impact on them. We eventually reach the Fourteenth Floor, where the Rampage Drive sits. He simply nods his head and lets us pass.

Huh. So this is what Tartarus would have been like if Flutters got ahold of it... It's still strange. But I bet the shadows on the upper levels are harder.

I see the green glowing platform a few feet ahead. I point to it.

"Stand on it." I sign to the group.

"He says stand on it."

Rarity starts to freak out.

"You just want to take my precious Tom don't you?!" She shrieks.

I facepalm.

"Tom will be ok. Stand on the Access point."

Adrian repeats it, replacing Access point with Giant green glowy thing.

Twilight goes ahead and stands on it. In a flash of green she vanishes. I pick up the ponies and place them on to the access point. They vanish as well.

"Guess it's out turn." Adrian mutters, going through as well.

I step on and a tingling sensation rings through my body. I close my eyes instinctually and open them a second later. I was on the first floor.

I point to the giant door across from the Tartarus door.

"The way out." I sign.

Twilight nods and pushes open the door. We all step out and watch as the giant tower collapses into the Canterlot Maze again.

"Come on. We need to get to ponyville!" Twilight shouts, lighting her horn.

One sick to my stomach reaction later, We're in Ponyville Library.

"Orphey!!" Dinky cries, hugging me.

I hug her back.

"That was fruitless." Twilight mutters.

"Hey Twilight! Didja check the element's guide book again?!" Pinkie cries.

"Huh?"

Twilight levitates the book over and gasps.

"The elements were here all along!"

"B-but will they work with Applejack and Rarity acting like this? Not to mention Rainbow gone?" Fluttershy asks.

"I... Honestly don't know." Twilight mutters.

"It's all hopeless..." I hear her mutter.

Her lavender coat starts to fade away.

Twilight...

"Don't don't think like-" Adrian was cut off by all of us being shoved out the door.

"Just go home... we're never going to stop Discord..." She sighs.

She slams the door, leaving us all out amidst the chaos.

"We should stay at Fluttershy's place for the time being..." Adrian mutters.

"Come on... Don't lose hope you guys! Twilight will figure something out!" Pinkie shouts.

"Yeah.. She never lets us down..." Fluttershy says.

I nod.

"You're right." Adrian says.

"I should tell you all the truth of Tartarus... It may help you all understand." I sign.

Adrian repeats that.

"Then we should go to Flutter's place right away!" Pinkie shouts.

She reaches over and pulls something out.

---

WARNING! IF YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THE WHOLE STORY OF TARTARUS TURN AWAY NOW!

What. Just. Happened...

"Inside. Now!" Pinkie shouts.

I reluctantly nod and walk inside. Pinkie slaps down a massive pile of papers and a quill.

"There you go!"

Don't question it.

I quickly begin to write down the history of Tartarus.

"Tartarus is a tower infested by shadows, which you all know. It was the byproduct of a experiment gone wrong back in my world. Shadows are Ponies negative thoughts manifested into solid form. Tartarus only exists in a secret hour that not many ponies know about. The Dark Hour. Any other ponies outside of the extra hour are safe in their coffins. They won't remember a thing about the Dark Hour ever happening or anything involving that. Back on my world, Tartarus was used as a kind of summoning tower. Once a power shadow was defeated, it's essence, for a lack of a better term, will be cast to the tower and used to summon Nyx." I write.

I shake out the cramps in my hand.

"This is all I can explain, unless you all have any other questions."

Pinkie raises her hoof. I nod.

"I'm asking this because I know Twi will, but how do you two fit into this?"

"Shadows are commonly fought with Personas, the façade used to overcome life's hardships. Back in my world people would gain these personas if they're willing to face their own death and can experience the dark hour. But not everyone who could experience the dark hour would have a persona. Many would die. I don't think you're ready to hear how they die... But anyways, there are more ways to gain a persona, such as the more dangerous face your other self. Moving on, Personas and Shadows are basically one in the same. A Persona is a personification of yourself while a shadow is someone's negative thoughts. It is possible to gain more than one persona however... If you're part of the Fool Arcana." I write.

"Arcana?" Flutters asks.

"You know about Tarot cards right?"

Pinkie shoots her hoof up.

"Ooh! Ooh! those are special cards that can tell certain things about your future or yourself!" Pinkie shouts.

"Pinkie's right, So you should know about the 22 major arcanas. In the world of Persona, if you are one of the Fool arcana, you can have many different Personas. By fusing different personas together you can gain new and stronger personas."

And you're commonly the leader of the team...

"Are you two Personas?" Fluttershy asks again.

I nod.

"In a way... To be honest everything I told you never exactly happened. It's a video game back home called Persona 3. I was simply dressing up as my favorite persona, Orpheus. Adrian here wasn't dressing up like Thanatos but he got sent here the same way as me. Through buying a product. Twilight can tell you more on that matter however."

Suddenly the door burst open.

"Girls! I need your help to find Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash!" Twilight shouts.

Waitaminute! Where's Dinky?!

I look around the room until I hear a far off yell.

DINKY!

Author's Note:

There is the Reaper. Yes, I do fear him. He's an insanely strong shadow that will most likely kill you if you're not the right level.

Also about Pinkie being undiscorded I don't believe the spell is the only way to bring back memories of Friendship.

Short chapter, I'm sorry. I haven't really had any good ideas for this until I get into the plans I had for this.

I also realized that when made into an acronym Fire Upon Strings is F.U.S. Maybe I should name a different story to Roh and Dah? I'm kidding.

For those who were disappointed that Jake wasn't mute anymore, He's going to be mute until the end of this arc (Minus one chapter). Yes, It's coming to a close soon. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Selene or Messiah or anyone. Their adventures will continue in a different way. I'm not expecting a third arc or whatever but I'll see where the road takes me.

Comments

[SilentMech]

You don't want to face the Reaper until you have every one hit level 100, and unlocked there second Personas. And a full inventory of revives. And end game equipment. And a rosary for yourself. And then the chances of you living long enough to try and run away in the first turn reach the laudable level of a coin flip.

[New Dawn]

5890620 Well said. That is also why I'm terrified of the Reaper.

Or actually the combo skill that is an instant kill. I need to look that up again. It's been a long time.

[G2PLAY]

If u watched omega he did a solo on expert and he took him out in P4 I don't no if he did it in p3 yet