Chapter 18: Twilight's Palace: Knowledge above all else...
Chapter 18. Twilight's Palace: Knowledge above all else: the final Element of Harmony.
Flying ship – Phantom Thieves’ Secret Base -
The group of human teens had just returned from the new secret base his friends and Confidants had built on a solitary island offshore thanks to Lyra and Tempest’s help, and found a distraught Spike crying his eyes out.
“What happened?” Ann asked immediately.
“Twilight is gone, Panther. We have no clue where she is hiding.” Tempest answered with a sigh of dismay.
“What do you mean ‘Gone’?! Gone where? When?” Futaba asked, sounding both angry and shocked.
“We suspect Celestia told her to disappear once heard Rarity’s message after you stole her Nightmare Self’s Treasure.” Lyra answered.
“She is her Student, the one that knows how to produce the Conversion Serum AND the last Element of Harmony still under her control. It was a given.” Yusuke admitted, sighing in dismay.
“I-I-I just went home and found the place empty! She left without even a note!” the small dragon babbled between hiccups.
“She is normally very loyal to Celestia. I can’t honestly imagine what happened to her now that whoever is controlling the Princess has our friend so close.” Rarity, still wearing a copy of her own Phantom Thief mask she made, whispered in dread.
“Any way we can know if she is now beside Celestia at all times?” Akira asked.
“That is the only thing we know: she is not in Equestria. Sunburst could confirm at least that.” Tempest answered, shaking her head a little.
“It doesn’t help much, though. For all we know they may have closed her in some bunker underground in our world, and this planet is Effin’ Big!” Ryuji answered, groaning.
“That may be the case, but what about the Potion then? If Celestia plans to use it on everypony, Converted and Ponies alike, how can she make it without Twilight supervising production?” Rarity asked.
“They will need a lot of it?” Dash asked.
“There are around 8 billion humans on Earth, then there is the Pony Population, even in gas form, it will require insane quantities of that stuff to effect everybody.” Futaba answered.
“YOU GUYS ARE EIGHT BILLIONS?!” Dash shrieked with wide eyes.
“That’s a lotta Humans!” Pinkie echoed soon after.
“Aren’t you...Crowded?” Fluttershy asked.
“As Skull said, our planet is big.” Makoto answered.
“How many ponies are in Equestria?” Haru asked.
“...Twilight could answer that...Around 50 Millions? More or less?” Rarity answered, unsure.
“Something like that. I remember the Princess and Twi wonder if between ponies and other races there were enough resources for everypony…” Spike answered.
“Were they trying to colonize other worlds? It would explain why you others arrived here.” Yusuke asked.
“Maybe? Twi had said that Celestia had found a solution…”
“The same we got for our own resources issue: Find a second world to inhabit to lessen the strain on our main one,” Makoto muttered, thoughtful.
“And your world is de-facto flat, no matter how incredible I still find it, and that means less surface for all of you to live in.” Futaba added.
“Don’t go strutting ‘round with complex stuff now, Navi! Ah never was a champion in geometry!” AJ admitted with a scrunched nose.
“It means that with a flat planet we have less free room compared to a sphere-shaped one like theirs.” Fluttershy explained.
“Ooh! Ah get it now!”
“So maybe we have a theory as to why this mess even started: Celestia wanted to see if she could find another deserted world to inhabit so that ponies and other races won’t have to worry about resources...Something goes horribly wrong and few chunks of Equestria arrive here...And right after that whoever was hiding inside Celestia’s head takes over fully and start this Conversion Crusade.” Ann said.
“Helped by whatever they found here that can access everybody’s Hearts and Desires to Corrupt them,” Haru added.
“That too.”
“Twilight said it was a big spell the one she and the two Princesses were working on…So maybe Celestia and Luna were weak after the first spell and became an easy prey?” Spike added.
“That is a possible explanation.”
“Connecting two worlds far away is no easy task, we are not talking about a simple teleportation, but a stable wormhole acting as doorway between two far-away points in space...Probably light-years away too. Would Magic make it easier?” Futaba guessed.
“Uh?”
“It means creating a door that connects two far-away rooms as if they were close, AJ.” Akira said.
“Hn! That’s sounds hella complicated!”
“Because it is. Unless you are a Reality Warper like Discord, even with Magic that is an insane feat of power.” Tempest answered.
“Who?” Ryuji asked.
“Discord, he is a very powerful Draconequus. A being able to change Reality at his will.” Rarity answered.
“Look at it this way, in his own words, he can do ‘Whatever he wants, whenever he wants’. Literally.” Dash added.
“He made chocolate milk rain once!” Pinkie said.
“And turned living Ponies in plastic flamingos, those things you put in gardens.” Shy added.
“Along playing Ping Pong with the sun and the moon and other absurd things.” Spike finished saying.
“...And where is that guy now?” Haru asked with a VERY worried tone.
“Stone.” the Elements added as one with a sad tone.
“...Stoned? He is a drug addict?” Ryuji asked, confused.
“They said Stone. You mean like a Statue?” Akira corrected him.
“The Elements of Harmony are the only thing that works against him, he is pure Chaos Magic while the Elements are...Kind of Order Magic? Twilight explained it once but she forgot to not use technical terminology so I did not catch most of it. On simple terms we are his polar opposite...And under Celestia’s machinations we were talked into turning him back into a statue before she started this Conversion mess.” Rarity answered, sighing.
“He can manipulate Reality at his leisure?” Yusuke asked.
“Dissy could change everything about everything...I believe he once said he turned Gravity into Gravy as a joke back in the days he was still a full-blown Villain.” Fluttershy answered.
“That...Doesn’t make sense.” Makoto admitted.
“Yes, that’s Discord all right.” AJ answered.
“Then I guess he truly was a threat to Celestia’s plans, he may be able to reverse everything quite easily if he wanted, so in order to not have him standing in her way, you others had to be talked into petrifying him.” Makoto tried saying.
“Yeah, knowin’ Discord, if Shy asked, he could have fixed everythin’ with a snap of a finger, and Ah mean a literal snap.” AJ admitted.
“And where is his statue now?” Akira asked.
“In Celestia’s throne room, hidden right behind her throne.” Spike answered.
“That means we can’t just free the guy...No Plan B then!” Ryuiji admitted once taken-in a hissing breath.
“Let’s focus on finding Twilight for now. Freeing the Elements of Harmony is an important step in dealing with Celestia and the real Entity behind all this, we will need to work together to destroy it.” Haru said.
“Right! Any ideas?” Rarity asked.
“Thorax and the Changelings are still combing the city for clues, but nothing out of ordinary seem to pop-out.” Lyra answered.
“Any idea where they produce the Potion?” Akira asked.
“That too is a secret location, but even then, if I were Celestia I would keep Twilight far away from that place, to protect both production chain and its creator.” Tempest answered.
“And distance won’t be an issue?” Haru asked.
“Twilight can teleport.” Rarity answered, sighing.
“Of course she can…” Ryuji muttered in annoyance.
“We’ll go with the basics then. What is her fixation?” Yusuke asked.
“Uhu?” the ponies answered as one.
“When we needed to find Pinkie, we found her in Akihabara, a focal point of Entertainment, and she was planning to turn it into her personal Park.”
“Don’t remind me, I saw the pictures, that was no Funfair! There was literally NO FUN in there...So it was just a fair?” Pinkie answered, soon turning confused.
“Later, Pinkie.” Rarity answered, rolling her eyes.
“You found my possessed self inside a giant Fashion Store, AJ in a Farm and Fluttershy in her...Nursery.” she then said.
“I am sorry for imprisoning so many poor Converted!” Shy answered, once again ready to cry at the memories of her Corrupted/Distorted Self.
“We know you are sorry, relax.” Ryuji answered with a groan.
“And you found me in-”
“Inside a NIGHTMARE of Egotism and disgusting taste! Don’t remind me of the horrors I saw in your Palace! Those pictures are a testament of your need of fashion lessons!” Rarity hissed in disgust.
“Sheesh, don’t get bent so much out of shape, Rare!” Dash answered, rolling her eyes.
“You did see it! Your face was EVERYWHERE! And clashing colors! And unmatched textures! And statues and-”
“The fact remain that yes, we found Dash in her Secret Superhero Base. So, where do we find Twilight?” Morgana interrupted the Pony Phantom Thief, with Futaba translating what he said for everybody else outside their group.
“Right, sorry.” Rarity conceded.
“It must be a place isolated and easily protected, Twilight’s teleportation means that evacuation is not an issue, so if they fortify everything so that nopony and nobody can get in, she still won’t be trapped inside.”
“She is also extremely hungry for Knowledge now, beside preparing the Conversion Serum, she spent all her time studying something, even more than usual. Especially if related to Humans or the Converted.” Spike added.
“What about a Library?” Dash asked.
“Hard to say. It still has to be inside the Barrier, because both the Imperial Library and the National Diet Library are still inside Human Territory and kind of far from the advancing Barrier. Celestia won’t risk it just to appease Twilight’s need of knowledge.” Yusuke answered, shaking his head.
“And those two places are important?” Fluttershy asked.
“They are basically two of the biggest and most ancient libraries in Tokyo,” Akira answered.
“So it has to be a place inside the Barrier, easily protected or at the very least where it’s easier to conduct studies in secret and probably spacious enough for Twilight to continue working on the Serum or her own experiments…” Haru muttered.
“I’ll draw a list of every library inside the Barrier,” Makoto offered with a sigh.
“Effing amazing, we’ll have to hunt down a bookworm through half the libraries of Tokyo! Wonderful!” Ryuji scoffed in annoyance.
“Skull!” Makoto hissed, annoyed.
“Forgive him, he is not very fond of libraries,” Ann said, chuckling.
“So sorry! I just find libraries boring! If I need something I just Google it.” Ryuji answered, grunting and talking with huge amounts of sarcasm.
“You what?” Pinkie asked, confused.
“One of our inventions: Internet. Basically a virtual reality connecting the entire globe and containing EVERYTHING: the sum of Humanities’ knowledge,” Futaba answered.
“And Porn.” Ryuji added.
“All our music,” Makoto added.
“And Porn,” Ryuji added again, smirking.
“Our History, our Art and our Literature,” Yusuke said.
“And even MORE Porn,” Ryuji added a third time.
“Then everything else: funny and silly videos, recipes, news. Literally everything.” Akira said.
“...Did I mention there is also A LOT of pornography in there?”
“Several times, Skull.” Lyra said with a scrunched nose.
“Wouldn’t be better if the porn was gone, though?” Fluttershy asked, uneasy.
“I'm fairly sure if they took porn off the internet, there'd only be one website left, and it'd be called "Bring back the porn.com”…” Akira answered with a straight face, causing his friends to give an amused snort in answer.
“Not exactly unlikely.” Yusuke admitted, amused even if forcing down his smile for manners’ sake.
“Well, Twilight did say she was looking at that thing to find information about you,” Rarity said.
“Really!?”
“Yep! Does it mean we are lucky Twilight is using that Interdet thing?” Dash asked.
“Internet, and actually, very much so. It means that I can ideally monitor the Data Traffic in the areas inside the Barrier to find the biggest movement of downloads. Many computers have been left running by the people escaping the Barrier’s advancement in a rush, but even if they were running some game online, the data traffic would be pretty much constant, not fluctuating. This if the game did not kick them out for being AFK.” Futaba answered.
“Afk?”
“Basically the game is left on but nobody is playing, in that case the player is kicked out of the game.” Ryuji answered.
“Oh!”
“...Can you do the same with electricity usage?” Akira asked out of the blue.
“Uh?” Futaba muttered.
“Not every place was evacuated in a rush, some places like the hospitals were evacuated ahead of time in an ordinate manner to not kill the patients while I heard libraries went pretty much emptied of the most precious/ancient books just in case Celestia ordered them to be burned.” Akira explained.
“Hey! We are not savages!” Dash hissed in contempt.
“We’re Converting them by force, Ah can’t blame them for thinkin’ we are tryingErasin’ Them for good. Saving their history seems legit, it’s who they’re, yourPast is important, ya know?” AJ said.
“Uhmm...Yes, there were convoys of Art pieces and books deemed irreplaceable that had been moved to a secured location just in case, either from private collections or Museums and libraries several associations salvaged before the Barrier could cover the area they were in. If they also turned everything off, the ones still working are either places evacuated in a rush…” Futaba said.
“Or possible hangouts for Twilight, and if we check them for both energy and internet usage, maybe we can find the place she turned into her Palace!” Makoto finished saying.
“Can you do it, Navi?” Tempest asked.
“The government is still managing the Power Grid of Tokyo to keep everything working as it should, but if I can hack into one of the nodes inside the Barrier, I shouldn’t find much resistance, and once there, with a bit of work I should be able to borrow enough data to see if anything is draining more energy than it should in this situation.” Futaba answered, humming thoughtful.
“And the guys working on that have not noticed it already?”
“Probably they did, but even then, they are mostly powerless about it. Not everything can be singularly turned-off. And turning entire prefectures off indiscriminately would leave Tokyo’s Power Grid with more power than it can manage since you can’t store electricity, and they won’t risk frying everything just to get back at ponies. Not yet anyway.” the Hacker explained.
“You can store lightning and electricity! I work in the Weather Management, we used to store plenty of them when it got out of control and then flushed them out in a safe place once the storm was over!” Dash answered.
“They don’t have Magic, Dash. They can’t do that.” Rarity answered, rolling her eyes.
“Oh! Right!”
“So we may have a shred of a plan: Me and Lyra together with Thorax will keep combing everywhere for possible locations, trying to focus on places where Soldiers congregate more than they should, at the same time Navi will try to see if she can really track the power usage and internet usage of Twilight’s hiding place. What about you others?” Tempest said with a thoughtful expression.
“We’ll probably keep going through or small list of Secondary Targets on our App and Change their Heart before they too develop a Palace, the more people start getting vocal against Celestia, the more we will slow her down.” Makoto answered.
“Feels good to have a plan!” Ryuji admitted, smirking.
“We are still shooting in the dark, but we are taking aim at least!” Ann added, sighing.
“Let’s go then,” Akira answered.
“Be careful. If you need me I will be hacking into Japan’s power grid and study graphs and pie charts and lots of big numbers for the next...Sixteen hours, I believe…” Futaba said with a depressed sigh.
“Have fun!”
“...Screw you, Skull…” she answered.
“I will keep you company, Navi!” Fluttershy offered with a kind smile.
“It will be hella boring for you.”
“If worse comes to worse, we’re gonna play cards, but we’ll still be here if ya feel the need to chat with somebody or somepony,” AJ answered.
“...Thank you.” the girl answered with a grateful tone.
“We will keep in touch, okay? Whatever you need, just call us!” Rarity said while holding onto Ann’s hand as the human girl took out her phone.
“We really need to find you a smartphone for the Metaverse App…” was the last thing the others heard before the Phantom Thieves faded away from the ship’s belly.
“Okay, if things are already started, I will be alerting Thorax and we will start our own investigations,” Tempest declared.
“I am going too, Bonbon is starting to get pushy about my movements and she is getting way too close to find out about me and the Abyssinians, I’ll need to shake her off.” Lyra answered while walking away first to deal with her old friend’s Spy Job.
“Eh! It will be just me and Thorax then, no problem.” the hornless Unicorn muttered to herself with a chuckle, she too moving away to get her own job done.
Street Level – Abandoned Office -
The place was as much a clichè office as one could make it: cubicle after cubicle built to be as small as physically possible to fit hundreds of people in a single floor no matter the feeling of claustrophobia, with the dull grey walls not helping lifting the gloomy atmosphere of the place.
Sitting in one of the empty cubicles was a nondescript brown Pegasus with chocolate-brown mane spinning around on the cheap plastic thing to stave-off boredom, and even adding broom! noises to the spinning with his mouth.
“Feeling bored, Thorax?” Tempest asked as soon as she entered the place to see the spinning pony.
“This place is too dull, I wonder how humans can do it and stay sane while working here for hours at a time.” the pegasus answered, and turning into a colorful bug-pony hybrid.
“To be fair, this entire place is built with ‘productivity’ in mind, unfortunately researches about how to increase production seldom take in consideration that the workers are Living Beings, not automatons. Are you ready?” she replied with a helpless shrug.
“Yup! The guy whose face I am borrowing will wake-up tomorrow night with a splitting headache and very confused memories, so he won’t be around while we do this.” the Changeling answered once hopped down the chair.
“Good, did you find an armor for me too?” Tempest asked.
“Of course!...It may be juuuuust a bit form-fitting though, we could not find one your exact size.” Thorax answered, showing her the Sun Guard armor carefully set in the cubicle next to the one he was playing in.
“...You did not do this just to see me in tight armor...Do you?” Tempest asked with narrowed eyes.
“...Nnnooo?”
“…” as her eyes narrowed further, the Changeling sweating increased to insane levels.
“I will give you the benefit of the doubt, let’s go.”
Once she too wore the armor, using her horn being broken into a stump to pass for an Earth Pony by wearing a more concealing helmet without a hole on her forehead, the duo of rebels carefully made their way through the empty streets of the city in the Pony Side of the Barrier.
“You do know this is very dangerous? What if they see through the illusion changing your Cutie Mark with another one?” Thorax asked with a low voice.
“Sometimes you have to do something both dangerous and stupid to get results, and dressing-up as guards to infiltrate a small outpost and see if we can find Twilight’s location is VERY dangerous and VERY stupid. But it can also help us immensely if we manage to find something. The former Princess of Friendship is not a public figure like the other targets, she has been turned into a recluse, and recluses are difficult to find.” Tempest answered, just as a lonely apartment complex came into view.
It was a small run-down thing, very old-fashioned and with paint peeling-off by itself from both walls and windows, there were signs detailing how it would have been soon demolished, had ponies not arrived, and it was also the only place with lights still on and signs of activities compared to the places around it.
“Looks like it will crumble to pieces by itself any moment,” Tempest said.
“Few Earth Ponies and Unicorns reinforced it, apparently it has a good position to keep the entire road and the sky above it in check.” Thorax answered.
“Makes sense.”
“Halt!” a reddish-pink mare guard with a long horn interrupted the two from the roof of the building.
“Heya! It’s me, Strawberry!” Thorax answered, immediately falling in-character with his borrowed identity.
“Oh, Hazelnut, it’s you!” the mare, Strawberry, answered with a more calm tone.
“Yep! I bought a friend along, she needs a place to stay before joining the squad up in the crystal empire Island.”
“She?” Strawberry asked with narrowed eyes.
“Name’s is Popsicle Sucker.” Tempest said with a sadistic smile.
“You don’t say…” the guard mare uttered in BADLY-restrained contempt.
“And you two have been friends for long?”
“Very good friends, for a very long time.”
“We have no room to spare,”
“I’ll sleep in Hazelnut’s then.”
“No. Just find another place. There is a good one at the opposite side of the city. Go there.”
“Come on, Strawberry! Just for a night!” Thorax begged, confused by the byplay.
“This is not a motel, Hazel!” Strawberry snapped.
“Please?”
“...FINE! But she will sleep with me, there is no place for promiscuity in my squad!”
“Thank you!”
“Ah! So easy.” Tempest chuckled amused while they were being escorted inside.
“What?” Thorax asked.
“Jealousy, it’s just too fun to poke.” she answered, chuckling again.
“I don’t get it?”
“Neither will she, until the real Hazelnut won’t be back, at least.” Tempest answered, smirking.
“Uh?” the poor Changeling muttered, utterly confused.
“Skank! Scarlet mare! Suck on my hoof while I kick your teeth in! Dirty Husbando Thief!” Strawberry thought in vitriolic anger while silently watching the two enter (and glaring at the mare in form-fitting armor), not even pretending to smile at Tempest once she passed by her.
Later that night -
“Good heavens, I get it she is both jealous and Thirsty, but her paranoia needs medical attention.” Tempest muttered once finally managing to sneak out of the room, she had to trick the mare into drinking a sleeping drug since the soldier seemed unwilling to go to sleep and leave Tempest free to move.
“There you are!” Thorax said in relief once seen her join him.
“Yes, yes, sorry. I underestimated that mare’s Hunger for Hunky flesh.”
“She eats ponies?”
“No she...I’ll explain you when you’ll be older. Did you find anything?” she answered.
“Not much, they do have some records, but nothing has Twilight’s name on it.”
“Of course not, they won’t make it so obvious. Let me check.”
What the Changeling slammed in front of Tempest was a tall tower of folders written in tight and curvy calligraphy by the squad’s Unicorn, containing in even too many details the movement of ponies and goods that passed by their outpost.
“Not much: Guards rounds, Converted being moved, crates of medicines...Lots of crates of medicines...Crates of Conversion Serum!” Tempest said in surprise.
“Where?” Thorax asked, mushing his face against hers to read the same folder, all for their annoyance.
“Personal space, you doofus! Here, it’s written here.” she hissed, and once shoved him away, she pointed at a particular entry.
“...It says Toys for the Converted.” Thorax said, unsure.
“That is the Code Word for the Conversion Serum, the Humans managed to get their hands on one of the first crates of Potion to destroy it when this mess started, ever since then they started using code words for the thing to hide it just in case more folders like this one ended in enemy hands. Each garrison has their own code name just to muddle the waters a bit more. Toys for the Converted is the one for the squads in this area.”
“And the others?”
“Luxury Toilet Paper, Relief for the Soldiers, Special Occasion Rations, Sparkle Water, Friendship Lotion...There are many, but luckily I managed to get my hooves on a couple, enough to have a chance at following a crate’s movements. Did you have the camera Navi gave us?” Tempest answered.
“Right here!” Thorax answered smug, taking out a tiny camera he had hidden in the collar of his armor.
“Good. Start taking pictures of everything, we need to follow that crate of potion.”
“Why?”
“Because there are two possible sources of Potion: the one in the labs right in the palace of Celestia, and then the one managed by Twilight herself, if we follow the crates’ trail backwards we may find where she is hiding IF they belong to the labs she works in.”
“Got it!”
The next day, the mysterious disappearance of both Thorax and Tempest won’t be missed by a single pony, partly in thanks to Strawberry shrieking in near-madness at the mere suggestion the two eloped, luckily it also worked as a distraction good enough to hide any possibility of the two being spies.
Flying Ship HQ – the next day -
“That was effing useless,” Ryuji was heard saying just as the Phantom Thieves finished fading back into being in the belly of the ship.
“Not really, the more Hearts we change, the less support Celestia will have!” Rarity countered.
“You’ll have to forgive Skull, he prefers immediate results.” Makoto answered.
“That’s because I like to see my work pay off! I know all about that Bigger Picture stuff, but immediate results are nice too,” he replied, grumbling.
“I’ll have to agree with him.” Ann admitted sighing.
“Nothing new?” Lyra asked.
“The latest target was a pony doctor, he kept saying he was sorry, but did not elaborate further beside crying.” Futaba, still submerged in charts from the Power Grid she had hacked into, answered distractedly.
“He looked like he was suffering from a very bad case of PTSD.” Yusuke added with a sorrowful tone.
“A disorder WE caused, Fox.” Haru added.
“We did not cause it, his Corruption was holding it back, we made him realize it…It doesn’t make it any less bad, though,” Akira admitted while summoning the door to the Velvet Room.
“Where are you going?” Ann hissed with narrowed eyes.
“Persona Fusion, I need Lavenza’s help for that.” he answered, simply.
“I will take good care of him, have no fear.” the short Attendant answered, smugly.
“We all will.” Justine added from behind her, Caroline just gave a nod.
“...Bitch.” the young woman hissed once seen her boyfriend disappear inside the Velvet Room with the three legal lolis.
“Which one? The two halves or the real form of the two fused together?” Makoto asked.
“Yes.”
“Jealousy aside-” Tempest said.
“I AM NOT JEALOUS OF THAT PINT-SIZED LOLI!”
“What did you find?” the mare finished saying, unperturbed by Ann’s shriek.
“Power consumption seems to be in the norm pretty much everywhere...Except in one place. And believe it or not, same going for Internet usage. Apparently Twilight did use Internet fairly regularly.” Futaba said, she had DARK bags under her eyes, but she also seemed unaffected by it, probably thanks to the insane amount of empty redbull cans littering the ground around her.
“...Who filled the small terror in caffeine?” Ryuji asked with a groan of disbelief.
“PINKIE!” Fluttershy, Dash and AJ yelled as one while pointing at the mare.
“TRAITORS!”
“I am Fine!” was all the Hacker said right before collapsing face-down on her desk.
Sigh! “I’ll wake her up, give me a moment.” Tempest answered, sighing in dismay.
One hour Later -
“...Okay, this should have flushed her system of all that garbage.” the mare declared once finished blasting Futaba in wild sparks of Magic from her broken horn.
“...I hate you…” the short girl groaned from the floor.
“The headache will pass soon. So? What did you find?”
“There is a hospital that is sucking electricity like crazy lately. I checked the timeline: it had been between the first places to be evacuated, long before it went swallowed by the Barrier, and after getting covered it went dark for a while, only to then light-up again and THEN increase consumption up to thrice their average, the spikes of higher consumption also happen at regular intervals, as if planned.” Futaba answered while dragging herself to the small bed she had commandeered for herself and had the Changeling move closer to her computer station.
“Maybe the ponies took it over for their soldiers?” Ann asked.
“That may be true, but it would mean properly-trained ponies are there, not just soldiers, and ever since the Humans have started to answer to Conversion Raids with Lethal Force, they have become careful. And yet most of the insane quantities of crates of medicines me and Thorax found in the outpost registry all went to a single place.”
“St. Luke International Hospital maybe?” Futaba asked rhetorically, face buried in her pillow.
“Precisely. Maybe we should investigate it.” Tempest offered.
“I already asked an Abyssinian to take there one of my drones, she answered she will get a Changeling to do it.” the Hacker answered.
“Good thinking.” Akira answered, making her chuckle.
“Joker? I have been a good Hacker...Can you come here and pat my head until I fall asleep?” Futaba begged with a cutesy voice.
Sigh! “Okay.” the young man answered, complying with her request by sitting next to her on the bed and gently patting the girl’s head until Futaba’s light snoring was heard echo in the ship’s belly.
“You shouldn’t baby her that much.” Ann muttered, pouting.
“I can baby you too later.” He offered.
“...I am okay with that!” she replied, immediately switching expression into a wide smile.
“Of course you are. Let me check that drone,” Makoto replied, rolling her eyes, and sitting at the computer herself to access the remote camera on the drone.
“Is this on? I see a red light.” the flying Changeling asked as soon as her face appeared on the computer screen.
“Yes it is. Let it fly and be ready to bring it back if we are caught.” Makoto answered, and the small speaker glued on top of the thing made sure the bug pony heard her.
“Of course, Miss Queen.” the thing answered, setting the drone down on a rooftop so that it could fly by itself.
“Follow us, please.”
“Okay.”
A bit clumsily at first, Makoto managed to get the drone to fly above the giant hospital from high enough to not immediately catch the attention of every pony in the area.
“That is a bit too many guards for just a single hospital.” Tempest said with narrowed eyes.
“We got documents from other outposts too, the guards rounds there are the ones switched more frequently, and Shining Armor himself seems to pop-in pretty often.” Thorax said while studying the pictures of folders other Changelings collected from outposts around the area.
“Do you have any info about wounded moved in and out and the medicines used?” Yusuke asked.
“Yes? Why?”
“What are you thinking, dear?” Haru asked.
“Can we see if there is a discrepancy between quantity of medicines used and wounded brought in?” the Artist answered.
“I do have something about both things. But I don’t now how to find any errors,” the Changeling answered.
“I do know how,” Akira said while whipping-out his phone and going straight to one of his contact in speed-dial.
“...If it isn’t my favourite little Thief. What do you need?” Doctor Takemi’s voice came from the phone’s speakers soon after.
“Do you know enough of pony biology to see if they are gathering more medicines than they need?” he asked.
“Your Target is in a Hospital?”
“It’s possible. She is probably hiding in the St. Luke.”
“That’s a big one. Send me a list, I’ll see what I can do. I am not zoologist or veterinarian, but I can still tell if they are using more Morphine than what they need.” she answered.
“Okay.”
“Why Morphine?” Ryuji asked.
“In order to create variations of the Conversion Serum, you need to experiment. And a narcotic drug would be essential for that. Especially if the ones she is testing her findings on are not there voluntarily.” Yusuke answered.
“TWI WOULD NEVER DO THAT!” AJ yelled, she and the other mares looking at the Phantom Thieves in horror.
“Normally? Maybe not. But now that she is being Distorted?”
“…”
“We must save her.” Rarity said with a desperate expression.
“And we will, but we must find her first.” Akira answered.
“It may take a while for me to go through all this, but I do see a lot of Morphine in this, they did raid several hospitals to collect this much. I’ll be back to you soon, in the meantime see if other possible locations pop-up.” the Punk Doctor declared once received the pictures.
“Ok. We will try to get closer to the place and see if we see anything strange going on,” Akira answered.
“Very well, be careful, though, they are out to get the Phantom Thieves now, they will be expecting anything.”
“We will.” the Leader of the Thieves answered before closing the call.
“With all due respect, you won’t move from here unless we know the hospital IS Twilight’s Palace. Me and few Abyssinians and Changeling will take care of surveillance, you others will stay put here and watch through the cameras we will bring along.” Tempest immediately ordered.
“But-”
“NO Buts! You all are too important! You said yourself: we need both the Phantom Thieves and the Elements of Harmony to stop Celestia! We can’t lose either of the two so WE will be the ones taking most of the risks, end of story.” the mare barked, silencing Haru abruptly.
“Just...Just be careful, okay?” Ryuji asked.
“At the first sign of trouble, just run away, okay?” Rarity added.
“Have no fear, we are experts in covert operations and espionage, we’ll use every trick at our disposal to not get into useless danger.” she answered.
“Just be careful, please.” Fluttershy asked again.
“Yeah, yeah. We will.” the mare replied, walking away to organize everything.
The Next day -
It was Yusuke’s turn to keep track of the cameras feed on Futaba’s laptop and directing the small team in there through the radio.
“The camera number 3, can you please see if you can zoom-in a tad more?” he asked.
“Like this?” Tempest answered.
“Perfect, thank you.”
“Any news?” Haru asked while sitting next to him.
“As Tempest said, the guards around the Hospital change regularly and often, and they all seem to be on high alert all the time. As soon as Navi wakes-up I wanted to ask her to try and see if she can enter Twilight’s computer.” he answered.
“Why?”
“I asked to her friends and young Spike what to expect when we will face her, and they all agree on Twilight being extremely methodical when studying something. My hope is to find some journal or something similar she created with her research.”
“A Journal?”
“A Good Scientist would hold one detailing her discoveries for future review and reference, normally. Finding one could also help us in figuring-out the keywords to her Palace.” Futaba answered with a groggy voice.
“How do you feel?”
“I am coming down from a caffeine and sugar high, of course I feel like Death warmed-over. Scuttle, that’s my computer.” the Hacker answered, talking with a low whisper because suffering from a splitting headache.
“GOOD MORNING!” THAT was the moment Pinkie decided to enter and greet everybody with the loudest happy scream she could manage.
“Ugh…”
“Headache?” Rarity asked with a tone of pity.
“Yes, do you have any aspirin?” Yusuke asked.
“Should have some,” the mare replied.
“I am very, very sorry, Navi!” Pinkie muttered with a very low voice.
“Guuuh…” Futaba replied with a weak whimper/groan.
“I am so very very very very very very very-”
“Pinkie!” Dash hissed.
“Sorry.” the pink menace finished saying.
“It’s okay...It’s okay...I have worked with worse.” Futaba said while valiantly returning to work on the computer.
“Here,” Rarity in the meantime gave her the glass of two fizzy tablets already melting.
Gulp! “Okay, let’s see what Twilight has on her computer,” she said once dwoned the entire thing in one gulp.
“That girl is smart, won’t she have some defense or something? She maybe knows we have a Hacker on our side.” Ryuji asked.
“I hope she does, I do need to trigger them after all!”
“Wha?!” the others gasped in shock.
“Relax, the attack will come from an American computer owned by the Hacker Ali-Baba, I have not used that Alias since the day I became a Phantom Thieves. The IP is still muddled to look like coming from a small apartment complex in New Orleans, and even should the unlikely happen and she tries to still track me, what I am about to use his an IP that has been bounced through half the globe, and even THEN, if she tracks it we can just move the ship elsewhere, she can track the address, not the altitude.” Futraba explained.
“She can do all that?” AJ asked with crossed eyes.
“She hacked Japan once, to deliver our Final Calling Card.” Akira said.
“That’s hard?”
“Technically it should be impossible, but I did it.” Futaba answered, smugness radiating off of her in waves.
“She is our little Deus Ex Machina,” Yusuke admitted.
“Nyehehehehehe!” the short girl, still typing on her computer, gave an evil-sounding cackle at the praise.
“So you believe the Hospital is Twilight’s Palace?” Rarity asked.
“Takemi confirmed that the quantity of morphine and other medicines delivered to that Hospital are way above what they should be considering the little number of wounded actually getting there. Stranger still, the number of patients leaving the Hospital is even smaller than the ones getting in.” Akira answered.
“So…” Dash tried saying.
“So Celestia may be letting Twilight use some of the soldiers that get wounded by the Humans fighting-off Conversion Raids as other Test Subject for Conversion.” Makoto answered with a tense tone.
“Wanna bet that the ones not leaving are the ones not fully into Celestia’s camp?” Ryuji said with a sneer.
“Wouldn’t surprise me, whatever is controlling Celestia may be getting desperate since we keep eating away at their support.” Haru admitted.
“How desperate are we talking about?” Shy asked.
“Ever heard about the dangers of cornered rats?”
“Ooh! I remember a tiny mouse friend of mine having a moment, the poor dear was very wild.” the mare answered.
“Exactly, now imagine a very powerful pony like Celestia doing that, with as an extra the ability to call for soldiers and many other resources.” Akira answered.
“...That’s sounds very bad.” AJ admitted, grimacing.
“Because it is, the more desperate the Thing will get, the more Celestia herself will start using desperate measures. I am in.” Futaba confirmed, and at the same time, her computer switched into a replica of Twilight’s own desktop, one absolutely clattered in pictures, videos and other files.
“All neatly organized, yes, but still, too many icons...It’s the basics! A clean desktop is an happy desktop!” Futaba commented in distaste.
“Computer etiquette later, hacking now. Let’s start looking.” Rarity answered, and at once ponies and humans clamored to get closer to the computer.
“Yeah, yeah.” Futaba replied while rolling her eyes, and looking for the video filewith the most recent date.
“Conversion Journal 3257…” what appeared on the screen was Twilight’s close-up, showing a Mare with a putple fur and a mane tied in a strict chignon and extremely dark bags under her eyes.
“Celestia is pushing her to her limits,” Dash commented bitterly.
“Luckily Spike is not here, he would be devastated to see her reduced like that.” Pinkie muttered, saddened.
“The new airborne formula still is not what I am envisioning, the Conversion Gas disperse too fast in the wind to properly cover the area needed for a proper Conversion. Lord Celestia won’t be pleased.” in the meantime Twilight in the video kept droning-
“Lord Celestia?” Ann asked.
“The hold on Twilight must be particularly strong,” Akira guessed.
“I am more worried about that Conversion Gas thing, she is trying to make something even worse than Dash’ Conversion Rain idea.” Rarity commented, horrified.
“She doesn’t seem to have abandoned that idea fully.” Futaba answered, selecting a new video.
“Conversion Journal 3197. The new formula for the Conversion Serum seems to last long enough once mixed with rain water, the Rain Plan may actually be feasible. I am this close at making it work! I just need more Test Subjects. I will ask Lord Celestia to send me more.” the Twilight in the video looked particularly unhinged as she kept walking back and forth in front of the camera instead of just sitting in her seat and looking straight at the thing.
“Try another one, she just gets into technical talk in this one too.” Makoto asked.
“Let’s see...This one is labeled Phantom Thieves. She should have filmed this few days after stealing Rarity’s Treasure.” Futaba said.
“Personal Journal 332. The Phantom Thieves fascinate me, truth be told. I still can’t comprehend the mechanics of their powers, but I still find what they do intriguing. They seem to get free reign over their Targets’ subconscious. While the mechanics behind it resemble the Elements of Harmony, I wonder how deep their influence actually reach...I want to study them...If they can really get so deep into anypony’s True Self and interact with them...How much knowledge could I gain by replicating it? I could see the real mind and Self of anypony...I want to study them….Ooh, I want to study them so badly…” Twilight said with a deranged moan of Greed.
“OKAY! I HEARD ENOUGH!” Ryuji shrieked, unnerved just like the others.
“She is in a bad place,” AJ said with downcast eyes.
“She wants to vivisect us, that’s a first.” Yusuke muttered, with a bit of green face.
“Try another one, please.” Ann asked with a groan.
“One older that these ones, we need clues to guess her password to enter the Palace.” Rarity suggested.
“An older one...”
“Conversion Journal 1123...Humans make no sense. I tested the Conversion Formula on ponies too, following Princess Celestia’s orders, and as expected they become overly-gentle drones still able to function and act like before, even if there is a small moment right after Conversion were they just act like mindless automatons that lasts only 24 hours.
Then why instead Humans become brainless empty husks? The Potion other than Convert the Test Subjects seems able to suppress the innate Darkness inside the mind and heart of the Converted, and while with ponies that means overly-gentle drones unable to say No to whoever asks, in humans that same power pretty much shuts-down their brain, leaving behind only the bare minimum fundamental skills, like eating, breathing and sleeping, while everything else is turned-off.
Even their ability to recognize threats and dangers stops working...How deeply rooted must their Darkness be for them to be unable to function without it?
Blueblood mentions this as a sign of their Inferiority...But I can’t help feeling like there is an actual explanation to this. I need more Test Subjects. And more room for my experiments.
I will move my Laboratory inside that human hospital, the St. Luke. Shining says that place has two underground floors in its main building; while they keep using the other floors for the wounded soldiers, I will use the two floors underground to continue my experiments on Conversion...There is something we are missing, and I want to know what that is.” Twilight in the video, still with dark bags under her eyes but still looking kind of normal, muttered to the camera while her horn kept flashing to pack everything behind her into giant crates.
“I think we finally got it: Test Subjects, Laboratory and Experiments.” Yusuke declared with narrowed eyes.
“When did Twilight record that?” Fluttershy asked.
“A week after Pinkie’s Change of Heart, if we go by the date under the video. Twilight must have been studying the effects of Conversion on ponies under Celestia’s request, she must have noticed the change in the affected and wanted her Student to see if adding ponies to the list of Converted was feasible.” Makoto guessed.
“But why, though? What does she gains from that?” Haru asked.
“That is a good question.”
“Malleable slaves?” Akira tried saying.
“Yes, but for what, dude?” Ryuji asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Ah don’t like that, Celestia’s tryin’ to turn everypony, well, everybody, into Yes Colts.” AJ muttered with a scrunched nose.
“She wants to rule the world, if everypony does whatever she asks, she can do it easy.” Dash answered.
“Then why I fear that Ruling the World is only the beginning?” Pinkie asked.
“Because it always is. Are we ready to go?” Morgana asked.
“Yes, I think we can try telling Tempest we want to give a try at entering the Palace, they should hopefully know how to help us get close enough to try.” Akira said.
“You’ll be careful, yes?” Shy asked.
“We need to get close to the place only once, once entered the Palace the first time, we will be able to return there from here, without having to sneak in again.” Ann answered.
“I am ready to go!” Rarity said.
“...Imma still going to say I shoulda be the Phantom Thieves between us…” Dash muttered with a loud grumbling.
“A Phantom Thief is an elegant Gentle Thief that steals Hearts with grace and impeccable savoir-faire...You don’t fit in that, tomcolt.” Rarity answered, blowing a raspberry to Dash just as she disappeared through the door following Akira and the others.
“NNNNNNNNGH!” the cyan Pegasus grunted loudly, soon falling victim of her own salty feelings.
“It’s okay, Dashie! We wanted a pony to take the place of Kasumi, and Rarity looked better in that costume.” Pinkie said while patting her back.
“Wha?”
“Nothing!”
Later that day – With the Phantom Thieves -
The group of teens plus mare had just passed through the Mementoes to reach Tempest in one of the empty apartment complexes near the hospital, once again surprising Rarity with their peculiar method of transportation.
“That was...extremely creepy.” she admitted.
“Mementoes always are the first time, for some reason the shared subconscious of ponies and humans is that dark and damp place.” Makoto answered.
“And that towering monstrosity with two guns?” Rarity asked.
“That’s the Reaper.” Akira answered.
“Don’t ask what that is, we don’t know. Neither does Mona know, I just know that we can’t kill it, it always grows back.” Ryuji added.
“I do think it embodies the concept of ‘Fear of Death’ we all share deep down, but I have no intention of actually asking it if that is the case.” Morgana answered.
“Understandable.”
“Here you are, it’s time then?” Tempest said once welcomed the Thieves in her hiding spot, one that had a clear view of the hospital from one of the windows.
“We should have enough clues to try guess the key words.” Ann answered.
“How long would you need?” Tempest asked.
“If we are right? Two minutes at worst, otherwise, if we have to start guessing wildly...We’ll need as much time you can give us.” Yusuke answered.
“Darn it. Okay! I think we can do it tonight, during the changing of the guard.” Tempest hissed in annoyance.
“Just in case me and few Changelings can make a ruckus and attract the guards.” Thorax added.
“Uhn...That would ideally buy some time, but nothing more than five minutes.” Tempest answered.
“We have no other choice, we will try to be as fast as we can.” Haru answered.
“Very well, we have a plan then. There is a small room you can use to rest a little before the attack, try to get some sleep.”
“Thank you, Tempest.” Akira answered, grateful.
Later that night – St. Luke’s Hospital - Garage Entrance -
It was probably around 3 AM, with just a faint chill in the air, that the young guard Pristine Mantle regretted getting on the bad side of her sergeant and captain that gained her the worst shift guarding the Hospital and Element of Harmony...Luckily her fillyhood friend Fried Bean was there with her, at least she will have somepony nice to talk to.
“The 3 AM shift again, I hate this.” the young mare muttered with a long sigh.
“I did not now that those cannoli were the captain’s! There was not her name on the box!” Pristine said with a whine.
“I believe you, what I can’t believe is that you were punished this harshly for just some dessert, and even less that I got punished as well just because we are friends.” Fried answered.
“That mare needs some bucking,”
“Her husband is back in Equestria, it will be a while before she gets some relief, and in the meantime WE have to deal with her!”
“Life is so totally unfair!”
“Yep! Totally!”
“Who’s there?!” A bulky Earth Pony demanded.
“Change of the guard, Heavy Steps. Relax.” Pristine said, rolling her eyes.
“Oh, Thank Goodness! For an Instant I thought it was those Phantom Thieves!” the stallion replied in relief, almost falling sitting on his haunches.
“Did anypony ever told you you worry about stuff too much?” Fried asked.
“...Now that I think about it, yeah, everypony tells me that...Why? Is it a problem? Does it mean that I am sick? Is it terminal?!” the stallion answered, immediately growing concerned.
“No, it means you need to learn to relax!” the stallion’s partner answered, shaking he rhead in defeat.
“Take him to the barracks, a long shower and he will get back to normal,” Fried said.
“A Shower? Why? Do I smell? Am I dirty? or-”
“Just follow me, you worrywart.” the mare interrupted him with a groan while walking forward.
HUEEEE-HUUUUU-HUEEEEE-HUUUU!
It was then that a near car’s alarm started blaring loudly.
“WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!” Heavy Steps shrieked immediately.
“NO, you paranoid idiot! It’s just a car!” the stallion’s partner answered with a tired scream.
“I’ll help you,” Pristine offered, and together with Fried and the other two, the four guards started rummaging with the car to stop its alarm, unaware of the Phantom Thieves sneaking inside the garage behind them.
“THERE! It stopped finally!” Fried said with a satisfied smirk.
HUEEEE-HUUUUU-HUEEEEE-HUUUU!
HUEEEE-HUUUUU-HUEEEEE-HUUUU!
HUEEEE-HUUUUU-HUEEEEE-HUUUU!
As soon as she said that, a dozen more abandoned cars down the street started giving-off alarms of various tonalities, and all deafening in volume.
“Oh, gosh-darnit…” Pristine cursed with a low voice, and Thorax had to fight hard the urge to laugh at her desperate expression while she started going through the various cars to stop the impromptu concert.
Inside the Garage -
Once walked through the half-empty place, and using the various cars abandoned there to avoid the few guards inside the place, the Phantom Thieves finally got close enough to the building representing Twilight’s Palace to gain a faint vibration from their phones.
“Here we are,” Ryuji whispered, checking his phone to make sure and watching the new Metaverse App actually opening by itself.
“This place is still full of guards, let’s be fast.” Ann begged, worried.
“Okay.” Akira answered, and nearing his phone to his mouth a bit more.
“Laboratory. Test Subjects. Experiment.” the PT Leader then whispered.
“Palace Located! Beginning navigation!” the App answered loudly, making them all pale heavily as the metallic voice echoed in the entire garage.
“WHO’S THERE?!” a near guard bellowed, running towards the source of the noise followed by at least another dozen soldiers.
“SHIT! Hurry-up with the dramatic fading away! HURRY!” Ryuji shrieked to his phone while everything around them was changing, like paint peeling away by itself and metal rusting at a snail pace, meaning that they were fading away SLOWLY.
“I CAN SEE SOMETHING! INTRUDERS!” another guard yelled.
“WHO’S THERE!? NOPONY MOVE!”
“Can’t this thing hurry-up?!” Makoto hissed with wide eyes.
“Go faster, my goodness!” Rarity as well begged.
“Navigation completed!” the Metaverse App declared, an instant before any guard could actually see the intruders were indeed humans, in fact, when the guards actually reached their hiding spot, they found nothing, to their confusion.
“…”
“...We did it…” Morgana muttered with a tense tone, glad to see them al wearing their Phantom Thieves clothes and without guards trying to arrest them.
“GAAAAAAAAH!” the Teens and mare released an elated roar as they collapsed on the floor to catch their breath.
“This was too close!” Ann yelled, breathing heavily.
“This stress will give me split hair! Palace incursion can’t be this stressful!” Rarity said with a whine.
“Split hair? I was about to have an effin’ stroke!” Ryuji answered.
“I actually forgot how intense our job was,” Yusuke admitted, panting a little himself.
“What’s important is that we did manage to get inside.” Akira said, as usual the one utterly unfazed.
“How can you be so calm still?!” Rarity asked in disbelief.
“Drop it, that’s just Joker. Even he can’t explain how he does that.” Ryuji answered, sighing.
“I am just collect-”
CRACKLE!
“KYAAAH!” the loud crack of thunder that interrupted Akira caused Ann to shriek in fright.
“Ungh!” and even him to grunt a little in surprise.
“What was that?” Morgana asked while the group hurried outside…
The Hospital had now became a terribly run-down version of itself, rust and paint peeling-off everywhere, broken windows, coppery stench of blood hanging in the air, a little drizzle falling everywhere from the dark clouds above and chilling cold wind rattling the place uncessantly.
There were Shadows patrolling, but they were divided into three groups: pony-shaped living shadows dressed like doctors with their white cloths almost completely covered in splotches of dried-up blood; pony Shadows wearing straitjackets moving their heads erratically…
And then there were Shadows shambling about covered in stitches, as if Twilight had cut a bunch of them to pieces and then played mix-match with the pieces uncaring if those same pieces actually matched with each-other, thus creating deformed, limping Shadows drooling heavily from their unmatched jaws while their eyes (and not all of them had only TWO eyes on their heads) kept scanning everywhere.
“...She got the Horror Hospital Cliche down to a T…” Yusuke admitted, shivering.
“My Goodness, Twilight...What did they do to you?” Rarity muttered with a distraught tone, looking ready to cry.
“Celestia turned her into a mad scientist.” Akira answered.
“And we are here to save her, let’s go!” Morgana added.
“Navi here! I am in the Palace too, ready to give assistance!” Futaba’s voice rang-out from their phones.
“Good. Remember, Jewel! For now we need to explore the Palace, map as much of it we can, find the shapeless form of the Treasure and study an escape route. For now we must avoid fights, especially against the Distorted Version of Twilight that will be in there roaming about. Until we know where the Treasure is and we send the Calling Card, we must be cautious. Got it?” Morgana said.
“Of course, I am ready, Mona!” Rarity answered, steeling her resolve and giving a nod.
“Good. Everybody else ready?” Akira asked.
“We are all ready, Joker.” Makoto answered.
“Good.”
“We will separate in two squads, as always.” Yusuke added.
“Fine to me!” Ryuji answered.
“Perfect, let’s go! Twilight needs our help!” Morgana declared.
“Yes!”
Once found a broken window leading to an empty room on the first floor, the Phantom Thieves stealthily climbed their way inside, and even if immediately assaulted by the atrocious smell of ammonia, dried-up blood and other disinfectants and dust, they all muscled through and entered deeper into the Palace, unaware of the horrors they will find inside.
Extra file – what happened inside that guards’ garrison once the real Hazelnut returned.
“AAAAAAAH!”
“What is happening? I heard screaming!” Shining Armor asked in dread once peeked inside the common room with his head.
“Strawberry is finally bucking Hazelnut’s brains out, Captain!” one of the soldiers playing cards answered immediately.
“Oh! About time, they were dancing around their feelings for way too long. Carry on then, and send my congratulations to the new couple once they are done.” the white Unicorn answered while walking away.
“Will do, Sir!”
“Straight Flush! Pay up!” one of the soldiers declared with a wide grin, and relishing in his partners despair.
“OH, GOSHDARNIT!”
“There goes my paycheck…”
No other thought was given to the couple going at it in the next room, not even when Hezelnut started screaming for help instead of pleasure while under the unrelenting lustful assault of the mare.
End of the extra scene.
Thank you all for waiting for my slow update, I am very sorry about it.
A little spoiler just to apologize:
The Mini Boss the Phantom Thieves will fight is called ‘The Failed Experiment’. I will let you imagine just how gross and terrifying that monstrosity will be.
Have a nice day, and thank you for following my story.
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Persona 5 Royal baby
Twilight is the insane scientist/inventor type. So it's obvious that it's a scary asylum type place.
I'm picturing the bound nurse hallway from Silent Hill being one of the hazards they come across here.
11013233
you are a reader of culture...and also hella good because I did not consider that! I am soooo adding it now!
11013234
I just thought of the creepy hospital scene from the movie. But it sounds like a Silent Hill vibe would work with this place. Haven't played any of the games or watched playthroughs of them.
Dammit, Pinks! The 4th wall is fragile as-is!
Why do I feel like this will be similar to the “Experimental Giga” from Genesis Part 2? Either that, or something even more horrifying…I’m not gonna read the next chapter at night, I’ll read it at work when on break.
I’m imagining a boss version of legion or their colour swap I don’t know of any other personas that seem like they are mashed together from multiple living things
11013533
I’m also thinking either that, or the hecatoncheires(100 handed giant) or maybe both in some patchwork skin...
Just have to wait and see...
Fascinating... this will prove to be... very, very interesting...
11014138
Thank you 😊
11019029
...Are you okay?
Well, this is going to be FUN. I just hope this doesn't permanently scar Rarity or the Thieves from this.
11020501
The Phantom Thieves not much, they have already seen a lot of the "Inner Darkness" Of people to be unfazed in front of most things (they fought a False God, not many things can top that)...I can’t say the same of their pony friends...
Especially since once saved Twilight the other Elements beside Rarity will gain a way to follow the PT as spectators...
11020694
True enough.
I KNEW THE PALACE WOULD BE A LABORATORY!
Also, good to have you back!
11020939
Thank you 😊
Oh boy it's time man I've re binged this story all the way to now and I can't wait to see the rest. P.s. I'm still in discord if you need any help with the rest and hope you continue to use my ideas bro THIS IS GETTING BETTER hehehehe
11025859
Of course I will use what we came up together with! XD
Is this going to be a Hearth's Warming Eve present? I am a fan of both series and I just binged this whole fic!
Hope you had a nice Christmas.
11098541
I had, thank you 😉
I hope you too had a nice Christmas ❤
(I am currently deep in "writers block" on this one...I apologize)