The Ugly Truth behind the Gold: The fall of the Reign of Vanity!
Flying ship – Phantom Thieves’ Secret Base -
There was a somber silence in the belly of the ship while the Phantom Thieves were giving a last review to their equipment and battle plans.
“Everything is ready, Thorax and the others will swarm Rarity’s base as soon as you others send the Calling Card.” Tempest declared.
“You guys are sure you will be safe?” Ryuji asked.
“Skull, I know we look cute and fluffy from your point of view, but I assure you that our Magic is nothing to sneeze at. I will personally lead the assault, and compared to many others, I have experience in Magic Warfare. Rarity may have all the Power-Ups she can pull out of her plot thanks to her Master, sheer numbers will still be her weakness. She’s no Alicorn.” Tempest replied.
“I am just worried, yah know?” the blond answered, shrugging.
“And I appreciate that, don’t worry.” the mare answered, smiling.
“The Changeling are also not weaklings, Thorax and the others will also help save every prisoner.” Lyra added.
“We have a plan then: we will send the Calling Card and enter the Palace as soon as the Treasure takes shape, while we are in Tempest and Thorax will take position and attack Rarity to save the prisoners before she starts extracting ‘Parts’ for her Ritual. Any question?” Yusuke said.
“When do we start?” Dash asked.
“We are getting close to the shopping district, we’ll be there in five minutes.” Futaba answered.
“You sure you want to join the attack?” Ann asked.
“Rarity is our friend, we’ll be there tha help!” AJ answered.
“Just be careful, okay?” Fluttershy begged.
“Me and AJ are not stupid, have faith!” Dash answered.
“We are approaching the Palace!” a Changeling alerted them from outside.
“Good. Send it, Navi.” Akira ordered.
“Yessir! Transmitting the Calling Card in Three...Two...One...NOW!” the Hacker answered in glee and sending the signal to the hidden speakers around the shopping district Rarity occupied and to the remotely-controlled ones in both Human and Pony side of the Barrier, once again causing Celestia to combust in rage at the knowledge that NOBODY would miss the new message from the infamous Phantom Thieves.
To Rarity Belle, the Vainglorious bringer of Despair posturing in her Palace of Vanity!
A butcherhiding her disgusting vision of Beauty behind her Twisted Delusions as a prophet.
You are the Corrupted Element of Harmony who relishes in the destruction of Humanity to satisfy her bottomless Selfishness.
We have decided to make you confess all your crimes with your own mouth.
We will teach you that True Beauty is not wrapped in Gold.
And we will take your Distorted Desires without fail.
From,
The Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
“We are ready! Remember, guys: this time we are not just stealing the Treasure We have to destroy Nightmare Rarity once and for all!” Morgana instructed.
“You sure we can risk that?” Haru asked, worried.
“I felt it, that Thing is a separate entity from Rarity, they may share a similar appearance or Name, but the two are still neatly separated, no matter how much Nightmare Rarity wants to take over the real one. The Palace is hers only, that is why it is still standing even after the real Rarity awakened her Persona. If we want her gone for good, we’ll need to destroy her inside the Palace.” the cat answered.
“We’ll trsut your judgment, Mona.” Makoto answered with a sharp nod.
“We are above Rarity’s Palace!” the same Changeling guard alerted them as the flying ship stopped moving to hover in place.
“PHANTOM THIEVES!” as on cue, the manifestation of Nightmare Rarity appeared before them in all her mad glory.
“You dare attack the Queen of this world?! Then so be it! Come stealing my Treasure if you think you have what it takes! I shall wait for your arrival and use your filthy skin to create a new line of clothes to celebrate my Ascension!” the projection of Nightmare Rarity declared with a deranged smile before fading away.
“The Treasure took shape! We are off!” Ann said already with her Metaverse App opening.
“Beginning Navigation!” the App said with a metallic voice.
“IT’S OUR TURN TOO! GOGOGOGOGOGO!” Tempest yelled as she and dozen of Changelings with Thorax at the head jumped down the ship to assault the sealed store as soon as the vessel touched ground to land.
The last thing the Phantom Thieves saw before fully fade away was the entrance of Rarity’s hideout being blasted down by an awe-inspiring rain of spells and the Changeling army and both AJ and Dash rush inside before the smoke could even disperse.
Rarity’s Palace – Mountain Pass towards the Castle -
The real Rarity felt a sudden lurching feeling encompass the entire micro-cosmos inside the Palace, and the spike of unbridled RAGE exploding from the far-away Castle to cover the surrounding land like a blanket.
“This feeling...Could it be?...It’s time!” with a victorious roar the mare rushed up towards the path leading to the Village and the Safe House she was told about.
Once there, the only Pony member of the Phantom Thieves found the young humans already waiting for her with an elated smile, and with a squeal she dove for the hug Ann and Haru offered her.
“You are alive!” the blond girl said, happily.
“You too! For a moment I thought Nightmare Rarity managed to get you!” Rarity answered, hugging her just as tight, albeit while also making sure her mane would not lose its pristine appearances. Something that got her a chuckle from her new friends.
“Good to see you are well, Jewel.” Yusuke said.
“More than well, Fox! I managed to get a hang of this wjole Persona thing!” Rarity answered.
“It’s liberating, eh? You feel hella powerful every time.” Ryuji suggested, smirking.
“That it does!” the mare admitted.
“It took some coaching, but she is a natural.” Akira confirmed.
“OOOH! So THAT’S what you and Mona were doing!” Futaba said, surprised.
“Whenever we had a moment of free time while preparing for stealing the Treasure, me and Joker would pop here to help Jewel training.” Morgana answered.
“It was a crash-course, but it was worth it.” Akira added, shrugging a little.
“What’s important is that we all are ready,” Makoto answered.
“I am. You sure destroying Nightmare Rarity won’t hurt me?” Rarity asked.
“I promise, Jewel. On my life.” Morgana answered.
“He is an Attendant of the Velvet Room. He knows what he is doing.” Akira added.
“AND the Vessel of Humanity’s Hope. Don’t forget that!” the cat added, smirking.
“Boy, as if your Ego was not big enough…” Ryuji said with a sigh.
“Stuff it, Skull.”
“Make me, Cat.” the other replied, and both Cat and young Punk shared a smile at that.
“If we are all ready, I believe it’s now time to reach the Safe Room inside Nightmare Rarity’s castle and from there, get to the Treasure.” Yusuke said.
“How will we do it? Security around the Castle will be at its peak now that she knows we are coming for her Treasure.” Rarity asked.
“It’s okay, we’ll show you another nifty trick of the Phantom Thieves,” Haru answered, giggling.
“Uh?”
“The Safe Rooms are all connected to each other, once conquered one, the connection opens. We can easily move from the one here to the one inside the castle.”
“How?”
“Either air vents or underground tunnels. It depends on where and how far they are.” Makoto answered.
“Air vents...In a Medieval Castle?” Rarity asked, unsure.
“Don’t question it, the less you think about it the less headaches the Metaverse will give you. Personal experience.” Futaba answered with a scrunched nose.
“Air vents in a pyramid…” Ryuji muttered with a low voice.
“Stuff it, Skull.” the Hacker answered, and this time not in a friendly manner as her face burned bright red.
A long walk through the Safe Room connection later – Nightmare Rarity’s Castle Safe Room
The room was no longer an abandoned workshop, but a bloody room more akin to the storage room of a slaughter house since now the piles of skins were hundreds and reached up to the ceiling, and not all of them seemed to be of ponies only.
“Dear God, now it’s even worse.” Makoto gagged in disgust as soon as they exited the Safe Room.
“So this is what’s inside Nightmare Rarity’s mind?” Rarity asked in shocked disbelief.
“Mind, Heart, Soul...It’s a bit broader in scope.” Yusuke answered, sighing.
“So her entire being is a cesspool?” Ann asked.
“Why so surprised?” Akira answered in bitter sarcasm.
“Then let’s hurry up, the sooner she is gone, the sooner I will be able to Clean-up myself from her taint.” Rarity answered.
What further surprised them was that except that blood drenched and dimly-lit room, every other room had become a vast expanse of gold, marble and precious stones; every corridor was so bright and excessively opulent their eyes would actually hurt from the reflected light.
Piles of gold coins littered the floor everywhere, every Statue was about Nightmare Rarity, every painting was about Nightmare Rarity, everywhere they looked, the damn mare would look back at them.
“Jesus...I would have never said that I would have seen Too Much Gold, but here it is.” Ryuji admitted.
“A pity that we can’t take any of this outside the Palace. We would have been set for life otherwise.” Makoto admitted, looking at the huge mountains of money carelessly thrown everywhere around them.
“It’s not that much money…” Haru muttered.
“…”
“…”
“Not one word.” the girl hissed with a bright red face.
“Darling,” Yusuke tried saying.
“Hush!”
“Shadows!” Akira alerted them as soldiers wearing gold armors appeared beyond the corner.
“Remember your training, Jewel!”
“I will! PERSONA! Cendrillon!”
Gardens at the back of the castle – Tower – Treasure Room -
“The door to the Treasure Room is open.” Morgana muttered with narrowed eyes.
“There is nobody around either.” Ann added.
“No shadows hiding either.” Futaba added.
“A Trap?” Akira asked.
“We’ll see.” Ryuji answered.
As one the Phantom Thieves carefully entered the Treasure Room together, now even bigger and overflowing in gold, jewels and treasure chests to navigate the place towards the giant marble pedestal holding the Treasure.
To their surprise the Treasure was not a giant crown or diamond...But a simple Tiara that looked strangely plastic in nature.
“The Treasure is a bit...Underwhelming?” Haru commented.
“You mean Cheap?” Ryuji countered.
“Maybe a bit of that too.”
“It does not fit in the setting either.” Yusuke admitted.
“Does it have some special meaning to you?” Akira asked, curious.
“...Never seen it before.” Rarity admitted, unsure.
“Let’s just take it, we might be here to openly fight Nightmare Rarity, but I still want the Treasure as far away from her as possible.” Morgana declared while moving to grab the small thing.
“You came, finally.” a new voice from behind the Thueves said with a tone of finality.
“Nightmare Rarity!” Makoto growled.
“Indeed. Follow me, let’s do things properly.” the voice came from a cloud of pitch-black smoke-like darkness that flew inside the room to circle the Treasure and take it away.
“THE TREASURE!” Haru gasped in horror.
“I will wait for your in the Throne Room. Don’t make me wait.” the formless form of Nightmare Rarity answered with a calm tone before rapidly leaving the room.
“Apparently she too wants to finish this once and for all. Let’s Go!” Morgana answered while running out and up the staircase.
“Chase that Monster!” Ann as well ran forward to chase Nightmare Rarity.
“Let’s go.” on the notes of Akira, the rest of the group as well sprung to action to reach the top floor of the Tower.
Nightmare Rarity’s Castle – Throne room -
Still following the cloud of smoke holding the Tiara in its middle, the Phantom Thieves returned to the Throne Room where Rarity Awakened her Persona to see the place utterly transformed in the opulent, overbearing nightmare of gold and Vanity that was the heart of the entire Palace.
“It’s all so...gaudy…” Rarity hissed in disgust.
“Wow...And here I thought we met self-centered people before...Even Dash was not so much into herself.” Makoto admitted, looking repulsed.
“Her face is everywhere.” Akira said, frowning.
“And way too much gold. Way too much.” Morgana added.
“Such tasteless opulence, it is unsightly.” Yusuke admitted.
“Spare me your drivel! You have no right to judge a Queen such as myself, you are not worthy!” the cloud of darkness hissed in answered while condensing into Nightmare Rarity so that she could wear the tiara properly and sit on the giant gold throne held in the hands of the enormous gold statue of a goddess sculptured in her likeness.
“Time’s up! I am here to take back my body!” Rarity answered, glaring at the Monster in utter contempt.
“Time to kiss goodbye to your Treasure! Your time here is over, we are here to evict you!” Ryuji added.
“Tch! So you really want to oppose me!? You openly challenge a Queen in her own Kingdom?”! Nightmare Rarity said with a snarl.
“Your ‘Kingdom’ as you call it, is built inside MY HEART and MY MIND, and you have long overstayed your welcome! Kindly remove yourself and disappear!” Rarity answered, just as angry as the Entity ruling the Palace was.
“Pfeh! I am a herald of beauty! A prophet of perfection! Believe me, once finished my Magnus Opus I will leave this ugly shell for a better body!” the Monster answered.
“Magno what?” Ryuji whispered.
“Magnus Opus, so to say, her greatest creation.” Yusuke whispered back in answer.
“So this all a matter of creating yourself a new body?” Makoto asked with narrowed eyes.
“I am not going to disclose my Vision to you, simpleton! My goals are wide and beyond your understanding! Gaining freedom from this inferior Vessel is merely the first step! But enough talking! HAVE AT YOU!” Nightmare Rarity answered with a booming voice, soon followed by her body swelling-up grotesquely in boils and pustules until it exploded into a thick cloud of smoke-like darkness from which loud howls and growls could be heard.
“Get ready, Jewel, you’ll need to learn how to fight a Palace Owner on the fly!” Morgana declared as the Treasure and an insane amount of gold coming from the floor tiles, the giant gold statueand fountains went forcefully absorbed by the cloud of darkness along several yards of silk from the drapes.
“I must be beautiful! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” as soon as the last fragment of gold finished joining on the ornate opera mask covering the Monster Mare’s face, the creature released a madness-filled scream that made the entire room tremble.
“Of course she covered herself in gold, God forbid she won’t be so over the top in attitude at any given time!” Haru hissed as the three-meters-tall monstrosity emerging from the smoke loomed over them.
“Palace Owners always are borderline caricatures, but that’s you get from an embodiment of somebody’s Evil side! Now focus!” Ann answered.
The new form of Nightmare Rarity was an absurdly tall humanoid figure fully made out of gold and with horse legs, a living statue of a woman wearing an overly-decorated wide Victorian Dress adorned, to the Phantom Thieves Horror, by what looked like being hundreds of highly-detailed bodies of skinned ponies disturbingly positioned to create the patterns of the dress, even the tall hairstyle of the creature was formed by pony faces with mouths open in a perpetual scream of anguish.
“Once again, break the outside layer to reveal the real body of Nightmare Rarity! They are getting smart and hiding their real body from harm!” Futaba instructed them while boarding her UFO Persona, ready to give assistance.
“Stick close,” Akira instructed as he stood next to Rarity.
“Don’t worry, I will pull my weight,” the mare answered.
“I’ll be counting on you.” he answered with a small smile.
“It’s time for you to join my collection! I will turn your skin into my new evening gown! YAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” the Mad Mare declared with a deranged laugh, and while twirling on herself, her golden dress’ layers rose a bit so to act like the teeth of a giant saw-blade.
“SCATTER!” Morgana shrieked as the spinning monster almost ran them over, turning to shreds every statue or fountain standing on her path as she glided on the floor at high speed.
“That dress is not just for show! Those folds are obscenely sharp, be careful!” Haru warned them with wide eyes.
“So is not ugly just because?” Rarity asked.
“Now’s not the moment for fashion talk! Captain Kidd! Zio!” Ryuji yelled, and summoning his Persona to blast the Monster Mare with a fast lightning attack that made her shriek in pain.
“Ah-HA! Gold conducts electricity! I knew it!” the young man cheered with a smug smile.
“Nice to see you managed to make him study!” Ann said with a smirk.
“He just needs the right motivation, and me giving him the silent treatment apparently works like a charm!” Makoto answered.
“Hoy! Don’t use my fear of getting the cold shoulder against me! You know I can’t say no when you do that!” Ryuji admitted, sounding indignant.
“Squirm and dodge! I want to have fun before harvesting my new leather!” Nightmare Rarity in the meantime had unsheathed her own weapon, an extremely-long gold-made rapier and assaulted Joker with a savage thrust.
“Ah!” it was a close-call, as the young man could dodge it just thanks to Rarity tackling him away from the attack.
“Thank you,”
“As I said, I will pull my weight! Cendrillon!” the new Phantom Thief replied summoning her own Persona.
“Kouga!” with a triumphant cry, the Persona summoned a column of light in front of the golden Monster, pushing it back with a screech of pain.
“ARGH! NO! You shall kneel before your Queen!” Nightmare Rarity ordered as the gold tiles forming the floor turned semi-liquid to trap the Phantom Thieves’ feet.
“Ah!” Haru shrieked in surprise.
“Break free! Stop her! DO SOMETHING!” Ann yelled while trying to pull herself free.
“I’ll mince your flesh! I will cut your skin and turn your bones to dust! And then I will use all that to create a new line of evening dresses for my beloved subjects!” The Gold Monster declared with a mad laugh, momentarily covering herself in enough gold to turn into a towering giant pillar of gold covered in spikes and adorned by five copies of her head showing a maniacal smile.
“Use your Persona to break free! Hurry!” Futaba yelled in panic.
“PANTHER! Use your Persona!” Makoto instructed.
“W-Wha? On ourselves?!”
“Gold is a soft metal! We need to make it softer with your fire!” she answered.
“But-but-but!” Ann stammered, unsure.
“DIE!” as soon as the tower of gold was completed, it started to spin on itself at high speed and then charged forward towards them.
“PANTHER! NOW!” Futaba yelled.
“Carmen! Maragion!” Closing her eyes tightly, Ann summoned her Persona to envelop herself and her friends in a thick wall of fire.
“YAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Nightmare Rarity let loose a long deranged laugh as she plowed through the fire.
“HOOOOT!” only for Ryuji and the others to jump out of the flames barely an instant before they could get run over, rolling on the floor to put themselves out and watch the giant spinning tower demolish a wall and remain stuck in the wreckage.
“That was close!” Yusuke admitted with a sigh.
“Okay guys! Who has Healing Skills use them, who has Fire, Electric and Nuclear Element skill focus on Nightmare Rarity now that she can’t move!” Futaba instructed.
“That’s us!” Ryuji, once fully healed by Akira’s High Pixie Persona, declared with a malevolent grin.
“Leave it to us!” Makoto chorused while revving Johanna with extra emphasis.
“Sorry if I almost roasted you!” Ann added with a sorrowful tone.
“It’s okay, Lady Panther! You did nothing wrong!” Morgana answered immediately.
“Simp.” Akira commented.
“STUFF IT, JOKER!”
“GRAAAAH!” in the meantime Nightmare Rarity was still trapped into the wall, trying to make the tower spin again so to break free.
“FREILA!”
“AGILAO!”
“ZIONGA!”
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Nightmare Rarity shrieked in pain as the three skills covered her in fire, electrocuted her and then removed a big chunk of her tower in a radioactive explosion.
“That’s it! I have had enough!” the Monster roared, breaking free from the giant tower construct to personally assault them with the long rapier in her hand.
“Arsene! Cleave!” Akira yelled, blocking the attack with his own knife and the one in the hands of his Persona.
“Cendrillon: Vorpal Blade!” since the Monster was distracted, Rarity assaulted her from behind and opening a big gash on the back of the Golden Armor.
“Argh! You will pay for this!” the thing bellowed in fury, now assaulting the mare with wild swings.
“Jewel!” Haru yelled, worried.
“I will get you back! I will bury you so deep into my Subconscious you will cease to exist!” Nightmare Rarity roared while summoning a second rapier in her left hand to double her attack rate.
“Milady! Double Down!” Haru intervened, bombarding Nightmare Rarity’s armor in heavy artillery fire.
“That Armor will soon give-in! Keep attacking!”
“Goemon! Rising Slash!” Just as the gold-covered Monster was about to skewer Haru in retaliation, Yusuke appeared from her blind side accompanying the overhead slash of his sword with the one of the bladed-pipe of his Persona.
CLANG! CRAAAAK!
With a dull, heavy sound, one of the rapiers snapped in two like a twig and a cross-shaped gash went opened on the armors chest as the two blades easily cut through the metal.
“Gyaaah!” Nightmare Rarity stumbled back while looking at the stump of a weapon still in her hand.
“Just like your convictions, your armor is all glitter and no substance! Face us yourself if you have the courage!” Haru demanded with narrowed eyes.
“Beauty is delicate, you brute! You are supposed to just admire it, not trying to destroy it!” Nightmare Rarity answered, snarling in anger.
“Delicate? Yes, but also Eternal if you turn Beauty into Art, but yours? Yours is just opulence, a pretty box that is utterly empty inside.” Yusuke answered.
“SILENCE!” Nightmare Rarity shrieked in madness as she swapped weapon for an overly-ornate gold scythe covered in gems, and with a furious roar she started again to spin on herself with the sharp edges of her dress lifting-up just as she twirled her weapon at the same time.
“Don’t believe we will be defeated so easily! Zorro! Pulinpa!”
“Argh!” the Monster groaned in agony as her brain went scrambled heavily.
“Eligor: Double Fang!” Akira ordered, with the spear of his Persona piercing the golden Armor all the way through in a spurt of ichor.
“G-Guh…”
“Gold is nice to look at...But it melts easily! Carmen! Agilao!”
“Kyaaah!” surprisingly, even if made of gold the Monster got completed covered in fire with globs of burning gold dripping heavily on the floor.
“Since when is gold flammable?” Makoto asked.
“Gold isn’t, but her blood apparently is! Look!” Morgana yelled, pointing at the Monster’s armor that was starting to lose bigger and bigger pieces the longer the flames persisted.
“We saw the same thing happen with Pinkie, they both seem to have a weakness for Fire Element Attacks once removed their armors,” Yusuke added.
“Guys? Something’s trying to break out of that armor! Something BIG!” Futaba warned them with a worried scream.
BANG!
With a deafening cracking sound the gold armor exploded outward generating a cloud of miasma that soon grew to huge proportions, forcing the Phantom Thieves to step back towards the entrance so to not be caught fully by the cloud.
“GUUUUUUUUUUUUHIIIIIII! I MuSt BE beAUtIfUL!” a deranged, rasping and booming voice roared from the cloud just before a loud snort blew it away.
“What the EFF is that?!” Ryuji yelled in disgust.
“That must be Nightmare Rarity’s Real Form.” Akira answered.
“What have you done? I was not ready yet to be Reborn! You broke my cocoon before I was done! I WILL KILL YOU!” the deranged monstrosity roared without a shred of sanity left.
“She snapped! Be careful!” Futaba warned them.
Nightmare Rarity was now a real monster: a five meters tall weird, malformed fusion of horse and spider presenting the same round body of the arachnid, but with skin and fur of a horse, very muscled eight legs culminating in hooves, two extra arms culminating in jagged sickles and a giant round head with eight uneven round eyes with golden pupils, even the snout was equine but abnormally short and adorned by a spider pincers, and the two were clearly not meant to coexist as Nightmare Rarity’s mouth could not fully close, forcing her to droll uncontrollably nonstop.
“Now the outside matches the inside,” Makoto commented.
“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” with a deafening roar, the mad Mare lunged forward, utterly demolishing the wall to the outside to land heavily in the gardens below once the teens scampered away.
“Chase her!” Haru said.
“In that form she needs more space to fight, the Throne Room would have restricted her too much, let’s go!” Morgana answered.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Already tired of waiting, the giant Horse-Spider started ramming her head against the base of the Tower, making it shock heavily until huge chunks started falling down, both inside and outside.
“Hurry before she tears this thing down and bury us alive!” Rarity yelled as she easily ran ahead.
“Easy for you to say that! We have only two legs!” Ann replied, huffing in agony while trying to keep up with the mare.
“JUMP!” Morgana yelled with wide eyes, jumping out one of the windows once felt the entire tower starting to topple-over from the attacks so that the Phantom Thieves could run down the collapsing building outside wall.
Gardens -
Covering the last leg to the ground with a jump, the group of teens and their new pony recruit landed at few feet from the Monster Mare that immediately nailed them with a glare of insanity and rage.
The entire surface of the garden was now covered entirely in red flowers with thin petals resembling spider legs pointing upward, at each step of her massive legs, new flowers bloomed around Nightmare Rarity.
“Spider Lilies, they grew everywhere as soon as she landed here and more keep growing at every step she takes.” Yusuke whispered, confused.
“They represent the fear of being forgotten, I think we are seeing what Nightmare Rarity is really afraid of since those flowers follow her close…” Haru suggested, unsure.
“Oh! I will forget about her all right once done here!” Rarity answered with a hiss.
“What have you done to meeeeh?!” the rambling monstrosity demanded as its giant golden eyes turned blood-shot, she was stomping on the ground angrily with her multiple hooves and the sickles while her bulbous spider back started throbbing.
“You did this to yourself,” Akira answered, simply.
“DIEEEEEEEE!”
With a loud roar, the giant spider shoot from its back a giant rope of webs to pull itself on top of one of the remaining towers that immediately started whining under the sudden weight added to its top.
“What is she-”
“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Rarity’s question died in her throat when her Dark Self propelled itself forward head first towards them like a meteor.
BOOOOM!
The explosion at the impact was immense, the full weight of the giant Monster plus the speed of the jump utterly demolished the garden, turning the place into the crater caused by a meteor, scattering the Phantom Thieves away from each-other thanks to the overwhelming shock-wave of the attack.
“COME HERE!” once found Rarity, the Shadow Monster created a new rope of webs to lift part of the destroyed walls around the arena to throw it at the small pony.
“KYAAAH!”
“Jewel!” Ann yelled in horror at seeing the GIANT slab of rock dwarf the mare while falling down.
“MEEEEEEEEEOW!” to Rarity’s surprise Akira rushed towards her while driving Morgana’s Van Form.
“Here!” once locked the steering wheel, the young man opened the car door and leaned outside with his full body and an arm stretched out, catching Rarity’s hoof and pulling her inside just an instant before the attack could land.
BOOOOOM!
“JOKER! JEWEL! MONA!”
CRASH!
“We are okay, Lady Panther!” Morgana answered, bursting out of a near wall and creating an identical hole to the one they made in their haste to dodge.
“They dove into one of the towers!” Haru said in relief.
“COME BACK HERE!” Nightmare Rarity roared while chasing the van towards the other Phantom Thieves.
“OVER HERE! HURRY!” Yusuke called-out.
“What are you planning?!” Ryuji asked.
“Navi! Tell them to repeat the truck trick! We’ll do the same!”
“WHAT?! O-Okay!” the Hacker answered, unsure.
To Shadow Rarity’s surprise the car she was chasing in an instant turned into a cat, meaning that the other two Phantom Thieves could skid safely under her giant belly thanks to the sudden change in size, and once watched the other Thieves do the same and repeat the same trick they used to enter inside the Castle, the Monster Mare had the less-than-brilliant idea to look behind her to follow their movements without stopping her charge.
BOOOOM!
With a loud thundering noise the giant Spider-Horse malformed hybrid demolished the wall right in front of her with enough strength to almost knock herself unconscious.
“She is dazed! ATTACK!” Futaba yelled.
“Alice: Magidolaon!” Akira ordered while summoning the tiny Persona.
“You who dare attack my Onii-sama...DIE!” the girl spirit roared with zero mercy as a humongous explosion of Almighty Power covered the giant monster entirely and turned part of the gardens into a barren wasteland.
“Cendrillon: Kouga! How can something so cute being so horrifying?!” Rarity asked, shocked, as her own Persona skill bombarded the monster mare.
“Just be thankful she is on our side, Persona like her are a bitch to fight!” Ryuji answered while mercilessly hammering away at one of the eight Spider-horse legs of Shadow Rarity.
“A bit crass as a description, but yes, they are tough enemies.” Yusuke added while doing the same at the other side of the distorted mare and covering one of her legs in deep cuts.
“ENOUGH!” Finally growing tired of their abuse, especially the hail of bullets the girls of the group were showering her back with, Shadow Rarity shoot a giant rope of webs from her backside to connect to a tower and forcefully pull herself free.
CRAAAAAAAAAAAACK!
And as she spun around the structure, she actually uprooted the tower and developed a frightening smirk on her malformed snout.
“Please tell me she is not about to…” Futaba whimpered in horror.
“DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” landing heavily on the ground, the monster mare gave a deafening roar and used the webs still connecting her to the broken tower to fully lift the entire damn building and launch it on the Phantom Thieves.
“YOU HAVE TO BE SHITTING ME!” Makoto swore loudly with wide eyes as the tower slowly rose to the sky and was about to fall down on them.
“SCATTER!” acting rapidly, Morgana turned again into a van and forcefully swallowed the group of Teens with Haru being the one ending in the driving seat.
“KYAAAAAAAAAH!” shrieking in horror, the girl flattened as hard as she could the accelerator making the van sprint forward FAST.
“NYYYYYYEEEEEUGH!” half-shriek of pain and half engine roar, the Mona Van jumped forward just an instant before the giant projectile landed behind them.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
It was by sheer Divine Intervention if they actually avoided the thing enough to just be shot forward by the immense wind pressure generated by the tower’s landing, the same could not be said for the part of the castle behind them that instead immediately turned into a vast plain of rubble.
“…” an intense silence fell between the Thieves since the close-call left them a bit shaken.
“...H-Hey...You actually swore, Queen!” Ryuji blurted-out as a way to lift the mood.
“It was an isolated incident nobody here will ever talk about!” the girl replied, bristling.
“I found it hot.” Ryuji admitted, sheepish.
“T-That’s beside the point.” she replied, face a bit redder than before.
“There you are…” a loud growling voice reminded them that they still had not defeated Shadow Rarity that finally caught a glimpse of them between the ruins of her demolished castle.
“RUN!” Ann yelled as the monster gave chase again.
“There must be a way to defeat her!” Rarity yelled while watching the charging form of her Corrupted Self from the rear mirror of the Mona Van.
“I have an idea.” Akira proposed.
“...Dude...No.” Ryuji muttered in horror.
“What?” Yusuke asked.
“Rodeo?” the Leader of the Phantom Thieves said.
“Another idea that is not ‘Suicide with extra steps’?” Futaba asked with a begging tone as she too was forced to drive her Persona in a daring escape around the castle ruins while chased by the charging Spider-Mare.
“Spiders are easy prey once turned on their bellies, and Nightmare Rarity is very weak to fire. If we manage to make her topple over, we will have easy access to her belly, the weak spot.” Makoto said.
“Her eyes are also unevenly distributed, it means that she should have blind-spots we can use to climb on her back.” Yusuke added.
“So you are coming with me?” Akira asked.
“Two riders is better than one,” the artist answered.
“I have a plan too.” Morgana added.
“Do tell us, we need to stop that Monster!” Rarity begged.
“Listen well, this is what we need to do…” the Cat started saying.
With Nightmare Rarity -
The giant monster spider kept charging forward while trampling everything on her path with her multiple muscled legs and her spider-horse snout blew-out big puffs of hot air like a steam engine at random intervals.
“Stop running and die at my feet!” the mad Mare roared.
Suddenly she saw the back of Morgana’s Van Form open to show Ann, Rarity and Haru glaring at her with their Persona already hovering next to the Van.
“Remember to focus on her eyes!” Makoto instructed from the driving seat.
“MARAGION!”
“KOUGA!”
“TRIPLE DOWN!”
“GAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Nightmare Rarity bellowed in agony as the three attacks momentarily blinded her in a sea of fire, blinding light and more bullets-per-inch than air molecules.
CRAAAAASH!
With a deafening crash the giant Spider Monster crashed through one of the last remaining towers that immediately started swaying dangerously back and forth.
“THIS WON’T STOP ME!” Nightmare Rarity growled while pulling her head free from the wall the had broken though, further damaging the tower’s base.
“We are aware of that…” Yusuke said from the Monster’s back.
“That’s why we are here.” Akira added from the same position.
“GET OFF!” the giant spider-horse hybrid bellowed while wildly shaking her bulbous body to knock them off.
“HOLD ON TIGHT!” Akira ordered while holding onto the sparse thick fur covering Nightmare Rarity’s back.
“OKAY!” Yusuke answered.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
“OVER HERE!” In the meantime Morgana, still in car form, appeared from under the mare’s giant body with Haru at the driving seat blasting the car’s horn as loud as she could.
“THAT’S IT! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!” Nightmare Rarity yelled before trying to swallow the car whole in her massive maw.
“Arsene: Cleave!” Akira ordered while focusing his Persona’s attack on the biggest eye in front of him making it pop like a balloon in a small spray of black ichor.
“Gyaaaaah!”
“The eyes are ready to be destroyed.” Akira commented.
“Good to know. Goemon: Giant Slice!”
“GAAAAAH!” Nightmare Raroty shrieked in agony again and again as the two young men kept attacking her weakened eyes until they burst.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
In the meantime Haru kept driving around her while blasting the Mona Van’s horn, forcing the giant spider to stand in place while blindingly stomping down in place to catch her and shake her body as hard as she could to dislodge the two Phantom Thieves clutching her back.
“MEEEEOW!” Morgana would also shriek loudly whenever the blind swipes of the Monster’s sickle arms went extremely close at catching the Van while digging deep trenches on the floor.
“Carmen: Agilao!” and standing on top of the moving van, Ann either shoot Nightmare Rarity with her gun or pelted her in fire attacks.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
What Car’s horn and pain from the attacks where doing was not just annoying her, but covering the noise of what was happening inside the half-demolished tower the Monster Mare had just run through.
Inside the Tower -
“CAPTAIN KIDD!” Ryuji yelled while ordering his Persona to demolish another main wall.
“Good job, Skull! Now the next one, JOHANNA!” Makoto complimented him while pulverizing various walls with the attacks of her bike Persona.
“This one too?” Rarity asked.
“That’s good too! Get ready to bolt as soon as you have done, I will give Noir the signal to take down the Tower on Nightmare Rarity as soon as you have done!” Futaba answered.
“I got it. Cinderella: Couga!”
Nightmare Rarity -
“ENOUGH!” the Monster yelled while trying to catch Haru and Ann into her webs by shooting giant projectiles of webbing from her back.
“Only two eyes remaining!” Yusuke declared once plunged as deep as he could his weapon in the eye in front of him.
“WE ARE READY!” Futaba yelled.
“Perfect timing,” Akira answered.
“Get ready to run, this thing is coming down!” Ryuji bellowed as he, Makoto and Rarity could be seen escape from the crumbling tower.
“JUMP!” Haru, eyes wide, yelled while driving the Van towards them.
“JUMP!” Yusuke yelled at the same time while he and Akira jumped down from Nightmare Rarity’s head.
“Giant Slice!”
“Double Fang!”
And at the same time, thw two summoned their Persona to destroy the last two eyes of the Spider Mare before landing on the roof of the Mona Van.
“GOGOGOGOGOGO!” Rarity yelled in horror as soon as all of them boarded the car to sprint inside the collapsing tower.
“DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” now that she was completely blind, Nightmare Rarity could only follow her hearing to locate the Phantom Thieves, and with a merciless headbutt she gave the finishing blow to the structure in front of her.
CRUUUUUMBLE!
Coming out from a side wall Ryuji weakened beforehand, the Phantom Thieves escaped from the collapsing giant tower and watched from safe distance as the multi-story building fell on top of Nightmare Rarity in a cacophony of sounds and a giant cloud of dust covering everything.
“…”
“…”
“...Is she dead?” Haru asked, unsure, after a couple of minutes of silence spent watching the humongous mountain of rubble that covered even the mare’s giant spider body.
CRACK! Crumble!
Finally, a solitary and normal hoof broke through the cover of broken bricks with a muffed groan of pain, then another hoof followed, and as soon as both found a good-enough grip, the heavily-wounded Nightmare Rarity finally pulled herself out from under the crushing mountain of debris to show her frazzled mane and body completely covered in bruises along her two black eyes and several missing teeth.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Soon after she tiredly pulled herself free, the battered tiara on her head fell off, rolling towards the Phantom Thieves while ignoring Nightmare Rarity’s weak protests before she too tumbled down to ground level from the top of the mount of broken bricks, adding further bruises on top of the ones she already had.
“It’s over.” Rarity declared while marching towards the Treasure, to her surprise she could actually lift it with her Magic.
“You are once again in control, Jewel. It really is over.” Morgana confirmed with a sigh.
“You...Need me!” Nightmare Rarity tried saying with a weak voice while dragging herself forward, unable to stand since her back hooves were bent in strange, and clearly-painful, shapes.
“No, I don’t. I once believed I did need you, even just as a reminder of what I did not want to become, but I finally understand that hanging on you, even just out of guilt, would only hold me back…” the mare answered while showing her the Palace Treasure.
“Do you see this?” she asked.
“That’s...Mine...Mine...MINE!” the Monster roared in madness.
“This is a cheap plastic Tiara one wears when dressing-up as a princess: Cheap plastic with gaudy ‘Jewels’ that are there just to make it shiny. Utter worthless junk! This is what you are and what I don’t want to be: ‘Beauty for Beauty’s Sake.’, all style and no substance, in short: Worthless!” Rarity answered with a snarl while tossing the Treasure away for Morgana to catch.
“I AM NOT WORTHLESS!”Nightmare Rarity roared in defiance as she jumped forward by using the last spark of energy she possessed.
“Just shut the Eff up, Creep!” Ryuji answered with an annoyed growl as all of them pointed their guns at the advancing Embodiment of Corruption.
DAKKA! DAKKA! DAKKA!
The Phantom Thieves all shoot as one, riddling Nightmare Rarity in holes while a single arrow from Rarity’s crossbow nailed her on the forehead.
“I...Am...A Queen…” the demented Parasite gurgled-out a last time before breaking down into wisps of black smoke soon dispersing in the wind.
RRRRRUMBLE!
A soon as the lasts sparks of Nightamre Rarity died for good, the Entire Palace started trembling heavily, soon destroying whatever part of the Castle remained still standing while at the same time the far-away village as well self-destroyed.
“It’s over, Jewel. You are free.” Morgana declared with a sigh.
“I can tell, I feel...Free.” Rarity admitted with a small smile as sparks of light started floating around her.
“The Palace is disappearing.” Akira said.
“Yes, now that Nightmare Rarity has been destroyed, she can’t force Rarity to have one anymore, and since she awakened a Persona, her Heart belongs to her only. Let’s go home, we’ll help her deliver her Change of Heart and take her to safety.” Morgana answered.
“I will wait for you, my friends. And thank you for finally freeing me from this Darkness!” Rarity said, giving all of them a tight hug before fading away from the Palace that now started trembling for real.
“We better go.” Yusuke suggested.
“Yep! Phones out!” Ann answered, and as one the Phantom Thieves used their Metaverse App to leave behind the disappearing Palace.
“NOOOOOOO! Not this Vessel too! Not this one Too! I DON’T WANT TO DIEEEEEE!” the same Shade that had appeared at the destruction of the other Palaces appeared once again to give a last shriek of agony nobody was around to hear, and dying in absolute pain as it disappeared together with the Palace until nothing remained.
Some time later – Floating Island housing Celestia’s Castle – Throne room -
There were no words to describe the ball of swirling, scalding fury that had settled down in Celestia’s stomach as she watched a copy of Rarity’s Confession that had been played everywhere in both Pony and Human territory; and as an added insult, a signed copy had been delivered to Celestia herself.
Only this time, instead of being about a Mare tearfully admitting her crimes, but it showed a fierce-looking Rarity glaring straight at the camera.
“I will take just a moment of your time.
I have recently broke free of the Corruption that was plaguing me, Corruption I fell victim not for my own weakness, but because of the machinations of somepony else.
I am now free thanks to my new friends: the Phantom Thieves, and to be fair, I never felt so FREE as I feel now.
Al thought I understand that at the moment the concept of Freedom may be alien to you others with “Celestia” as your ruler.
But now that I am free, let me be clear:
YOU are fighting a useless War.
YOU are moving forward this Conversion for no other reasin except Greed.
And YOU are destroying an entire race that was just minding its own business before we arrived!
Humanity did not need “Salvation”, especially the one offered by Conversion!
If there is a working brain still in your silly heads, I can only hope you will understand that you are willingly following a Liar.
Conversion won’t help anypony, Human or Pony.
As for Celestia herself…
Don’t feel safe.
They will come for you too.”
Both Luna and Shining stood in silence as they did not dare to make a sound, they just waited for Celestia’s rage to subside enough to safely talk to her without being attacked.
"We found the disappeared soldiers, Civilians and Converted, Your Highness. We have no idea where they were kept or why, and even if questioned, they all have no memory of the time they were prisoners. Between them there were many of the soldiers we sent to protect Rarity as well, but no signs of where she is now." Shining explained.
"My soldiers even swept the area they were found in, besides few stores that had been emptied of their clothes, we found no traces of either Rarity or the culprit behind the ponynappings." Luna added, sighing.
"Just a bunch of very confused ponies wandering around with a splitting headache." SHining finished saying.
"Pricesely what the Captain said."
“...The Phantom Thieves have not been stopped yet either. Why so? Is fooling us so easy nowadays?” the Sun Alicorn asked with a low voice.
“They are surprisingly slippery, your Highness. We still don’t know who they are oor even if they are either human or pony. But since many of their Victims where hiding in our side of the Barrier, we are more inclined to consider the new formation being fully Equestrian. We are still looking everywhere for them, but we still can't find-”
“THEN LOOK BETTER!” Celestia interrupted him with a barking scream.
“I will go immediately, Princess!” Shining answered, gladly welcoming the excuse to hurry out.
“Only one Element Bearer remains, sister.” Luna, once seen Shining leave and slam the door to the throne room closed.
“And they won’t get to Twilight. I will have guards guarding her night and day, and even should they manage to get close, my Student will never betray me! Never!” Celestia answered.
“Then what’s left is finding the Thieves and retrieve the other Element Bearers. With your permission, I too will start organizing my own soldiers to capture those Phantom Thieves. Good day, Tia.” Luna declared before marching out of the room herself.
"Good day to you too, Lulu." Celestia answered, sighing in frustration.
"..."
"..."
“This world belongs to me. Soon all of you will join me.” Celestia, once alone, uttered with a distorted metallic voice and a malevolent diabolic grin on her face.
That mysterious Entity had finally ran-out of patience, hoping for the Palaces to kill the Phantom Thieves won’t be enough anymore, it will soon take care personally of them!
Meanwhile – with the Phantom Thieves – flying ship -
“To our new member! To Jewel!” Ryuji said with a wide smile while rising his glass.
“TO JEWEL!” the other Phantom Thieves answered as one.
“Oh, Gosh! You’ll make me blush now!” Rarity answered with an elegant laugh, she had even created a fake mask like her Phantom Thief one to match the Human teens with them.
“Tch! I was supposed to join them! I am just too cool to not get a Persona!” Dash grumbled in annoyance.
“Not now, Dashie! We have to focus on Twilight now!” Pinkie answered.
“She is right, there is only Twilight left, then we’ll be all back together.” Fluttershy added.
“We’ll save her too, promise.” Akira assured them with a tiny smile.
“Please do, I want Twi back.” Spike begged with a sigh.
“Have no fear, we’ll save her.” Makoto promised.
Somewhere in the Pony Side of the Barrier – secret lab -
“More knowledge...I must know everything…” Twilight muttered alone to herself while studying the struggling ponies in the cages in front of her with the dark rings around her eyes accentuating her clear lack of sanity in them.
Either Converted of normal Ponies, all of them instinctively recoiled away from her to avoid attracting the attention of the Mad Scientist and the newly-installed huge collection of shiny and sharp surgical instruments behind her.
Extra: This is what inspired me for Nightmare Rarity Phase 1
Extra: And this is what inspired me for Nightmare Rarity Phase 2
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10559619
Where can I find the other three accounts?
Rarity is free, and has a Persona!!!! Yes!!!! And hope that Mother F****** Entity that mind f**** Celestia and Twilight (and possibly have Luna/Shining Armor included) DESERVES the Worst Torture and Death in HISTORY!!!! 😈 😈
KO awesome chapter, now Twilight is the only one left for the Phantom Thieves to target and free her heart from the madness of knowledge as it looks like something is going on with Celestia too.
To me this would sound better as “her face is everywhere”
Gold and is should swap places here
Now only one Element remains... Then its other Big Targets turn. Just have to wait for them patiently
10780538
Fixed both!
Thank you for the heads-up! 🙂
10780760
👍
Kindness has been restored, Laughter has been reunited, Honesty has been shown the light, Loyaty has been reminded, and Generosity has shone through the dark. All that remains is Friendship, drowned in the depths of dark knowledge.
There are times you type Rarity's Persona as Cindrella and times where you type it Cinderella. Which is it supposed to be?
10780877
The actual name is "Cendrillon", usually translated as Cinderella.
If I wrote it with "dre" please Ignored it until tonight when I will be able to access the chapter with my PC to correct it, unfortunately on the phone editing is inadvisable for me.
My apologies.
10780860
Daaaamn! That's hella poetic!
Nice! 👍👍👍👍🙂
Dude as always your story is awesome (some of the words need a spelling check) but other than that it's great keep it up and don't mind other people ok
Idea for Twilight's Palace:
Since she had instruments that surgeons use and the fact she literally has ponies in cages, a Laboratory would suit her since she’s actually experimenting on the ponies.
Her shadow:
Maybe like a mad doctor? Or maybe it could be like a crazy scientist, like Doc Brown, but evil.
10780991
I'd think more like puppet Dr. Frankenstein or possibly Jekyll and Hyde since she can almost never say no to Celestia.
10780986
I tried my best. Was hard to think of how I should phrase each one.
10781235
It was still very nice 🙂
Kehehehe... only Twilight remains now...
I love the story I love persona 5 and MLP. You made my day. THANKS 👍
Started working on the new chapter, sorry the wait.
10905960
The images keep breaking 😭
It's "Ludwig the Accursed" from Bloodborne.
And "Hundred Eyes" from Nioh.
Okay, i am 95% sure the big villain HAS to be one of these three:
Nyarlathotep from Persona 2 Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment
Erebus from Persona 3 FES
or Kagutsuchi from Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne
Everything alright? Just thought I'd check in.
10998590
Yes, don't worry. I am slow at writing, but I am writing the next one no problem
10998771
Ah, good.
10998771
It happens man. Just take your time.
Pun not intended
10998771
Hey man hope your doing ok
11009027
Relax, guys! 🤣 I am okay, I just don't have time to write lately, it happens XD.
The story will continue, gave faith.
11009061
Good I'll be on discord if you need me
11009683
Thank you ❤
If only we could half Wolf / Zenkichi here. It fits so well...
"Do you finally see the truth? Do you know the true face of the guilty? They condemn the good to slavery, pretend they do not see their agony... Just as you once did. But another story must begin. Now, show your gaolers that you wear a different chain. I am thou, thou art I. If you yet seek true justice, we will see it done!"
"I know what I have to do now. Condemn the evil and hunt them down!"
Great news! if everything goes as planned tonight Italian hour (it's 17,00 here in Italy as I write this) I will post the new chapter! 🥳 thank you and sorry for the long wait
11012806
No problem. Take your time.