Chapter 3: Fluttershy’s Palace, First Visit and Calling Card.
- Inside Fluttershy’s Palace -
“Find them! Find them for Mama Fluttershy!” a pony-shaped, featureless Shadow dressed like a nurse yelled as “she” and many others flooded the “Nursery’s” entrance hall to look for the Phantom Thieves with clear distress showing even on their faceless heads.
“They must have gone that way!” another Shadow said pointing towards one of the corridors of Fluttershy Palace.
“...”
“...”
Soon the noise of madly running hooves disappeared until absolute silence returned into the empty entrance hall, and it was then that the Phantom Thieves dared to take a peek from their hiding spots.
“Coast is clear.” Akira said as he and Haru came out from under a duo of pink sofa.
“Hop!” Yusuke and Makoto quipped as they dropped from the ceiling.
“Mona? (Morgana) Skull? (Ryuji)” Ann asked once moved away the window curtains she had used to hide.
“Puuuuu…Present!” The cartoon black cat answered once finished spitting out water as he had been pretending to be part of a near small fountain.
“BLARGH! I-I am here too...” Ryuji answered coming out from under the water of that same fountain to take huge gulps of air.
“Okay, We are clearly a bit rusty, we still fought that Shadow into leaving this Palace, but not without it having time to give the alarm and alert everybody of our presence here.” Morgana said sighing.
“Can we still do this?” Akira asked.
“I think...Navi (Futaba)?” the cat asked.
“I can see some of them looking around, but if I can give a guess, it’s a ‘Low’ kind of alert. It should soon be called-back if you are not seen again, we should be able to make them believe you were chased out.” Futaba, the Team’s Navigator, answered from Akira’s phone.
“It’s still somethin’.” Ryuji answered shrugging.
“We will be careful then, thank you.” Yusuke said with a grateful tone.
“No probs!” the young girl replied smugly.
“So! I think we should start from the left wing...” Haru said studying the signs on the wall.
“Playpens...Bath Room...Bedrooms...What do you think would be the place holding Fluttershy’s Treasure?” she asked.
“I would go for the bedrooms, since she is so sickeningly attached to them, guarding over their sleep as well seem to be the next logical step.” Yusuke offered, thoughtful.
“I say to check that Bath Room instead, you saw the real one how happy she was to wash them...Kinda creepy if ya ask me.” Ryuji countered, shivering.
“I was actually going to suggest the Playpens instead, what now?” Makoto said sighing in annoyance.
“Is there a canteen of sort too?” Ann asked.
“Yes, but the sign for that points to the right wing, so if we go to the left one then we will be forced to traverse the whole place to get there and to the bedrooms.” Haru answered, making the others groan.
“Let’s start from the rooms here, we can’t risk missing the Treasure just because we were too lazy to check everywhere.” Morgana said with a clearly unwilling expression.
“What if the Treasure its at the heart of this Nursery? In the main building?” Akira asked.
“Then we will pretend we wasted time looking in every other room just to have a good layout of the Palace so to create an escape route.” the talking cat answered with a forced smile.
“It is a plan like any other, let’s move, before they return!” Makoto ordered as she ran forward.
“Hey baby wait up!” Ryuji yelled as he hurried to follow her, soon followed by the others as well.
- Playpens area -
In front of a bright yellow door adorned by a sun sporting a goofy smile stood a pony Shadow, dressed in jail guard attire and with a plain white mask acting as face; the thing was walking back and fort patrolling the entrance of the playpen area.
Not too far from that Shadow, the Phantom Thieves front-line team (Akira, Ann, Ryuji and Morgana) were studying its movements to find the right opening to attack.
“A guard, isn’t that a bit out of place in a Nursery?” Yusuke, acting as Leader of the back-lines Team, asked with a low voice.
“They are still on the look-out for us, and this is a Prison-Nursery, Fluttershy wants NOTHING to hurt her dears, remember? No matter what she has to do to protect them.” Makoto next to him answered, grimacing.
“What now? That Shadow barely takes three steps before turning back.” Ryuji asked growling annoyed.
“Do you trust me, guys?” Ann asked, having apparently got a brain-wave.
“It depends, does your plan have to do with your acting talent?” the thug-looking boy asked.
“Yup!” she answered.
“Then no.”
“Screw you, Skull! (Ryuji)”
“Go Ann, I trust you.” Akira countered while still looking straight at the Shadow.
“See? See?”
“Tch, he is biased, you two are together.” Ryuji answered huffing.
“Just drop it, Skull.” Morgana replied, rolling his eyes.
“Now watch and be amazed.” Ann said while grabbing a toy robot from a near Toy Box to throw it at the Shadow.
“GUEH!” surprised at the improvised bullet hitting the back of its head, the Guard stumbled forward in a daze long enough for Akira to dash forward, straddle its back and grab its mask.
“Show me your true face!” the black-haired young man ordered while tearing the thing away.
Once deprived of the mask, the pony Shadow swelled like a balloon and then exploded into a thick puddle of sludge of solidified shadows from which a duo of identical white creatures wearing blue shoes and a blue cap emerged with empty black holes acting as eyes and mouth.
“That hurts!” both Jack Frost said in chorus while nursing the cartoon lump on their heads.
“So you planned to hit the Shadow and distract him? Where does acting fits in that?” Ryuji asked, confused.
“...” Ann just blushed crimson at that.
“You actually hit the guard by mistake, isn’t it?” Akira asked simply.
“I-I-It was supposed to fly overhead and attract it, then I would have acted like a kid chasing her toy to distract the Shadow for you to attack, okay?!” Ann yelled in anger, her face getting even redder in embarrassment.
“Maaaan! Your aim sucks.” Ryuji said, impressed.
“It still worked to our advantage, Panther (Ann). We are still grateful.” Morgana tried saying to reassure her.
“Yep.” Akira confirmed with a nod.
“So it was a mistake?! We are still going to make you pay for it!” Jack Frost 1 said with a furious tone.
“Yeah! And for intruding into Mama Fluttershy Nursery! You won’t hurt her little Dears!” Jack Frost 2 added, equally angry.
“Ready for battle! Arsene!” Akira said, taking away his own mask to summon the towering form of his Persona in a fluttering of its black wings.
“MABUFU!” both Jack Frost intoned angrily, making the group scatter to dodge the AoE ice attack that would have caught them all in a small explosion of freezing icicles otherwise.
“EIHA!” Akira countered, enveloping one of the Shadows in a blood-chilling aura of darkness making it shriek in pain from the powerful curse attacking its entire being.
“...Where are you going?” Ryuji asked mockingly as the second Jack Frost ran into the mouth of the young man’s shotgun while dodging.
“Bang!” he intoned happily as his own words accompanied the real bang of the shotgun that launched the creature back.
“Too violent, you take too much pleasure from this.” Ann said smirking as her own Persona Carmen blew a kiss to Akira’s own target, and making the lip mark flying towards that Jack Frost to blow up into a small explosion of fire, renovating its screams of pain.
“Amazing move, Panther!” Morgana cheered while pelting Jack Frost 2 with small bombs he was shooting from the comically-large slingshot in his hands.
“Stop brown-nosing her, she is taken.” Ryuji countered smirking.
“Mind your business, Skull!” the cat replied with a red face.
“Kyaaah!” finally overwhelmed by the bullets, one of the creatures fell back on its ass looking dazed and with a soot-covered face.
“Baton Pass!” Ann said cheerfully as she gave Akira a high-five to take over the finishing blow to the Shadow.
“This brings back memories.” Akira muttered sighing at the small inside joke of their group while he watched the girl in skin-tight leather suit give a savage beat-down to her victim with the whip in her hand.
“Wait! Mercy!” the remaining Jack Frost pleaded once seen its companion run away and disappear to leave the Palace.
“Mercy? Then choose: you either join us or leave behind something, mercy’s not cheap.” Ryuji answered smirking heavily as he and the others now circled the thing with their guns (and slingshot) aimed at its head.
“This is not fair! You first attacked us and now are bullying me while four against one...”
“Unfair would be attacking you regardless or forcing you to choose between death or joining us, we still are offering you the chance of running away in exchange of a small object instead, it’s a way better deal than what the Humans are getting from the ponies.” Akira answered.
“So the Humans cannot choose to live but only between joining the Ponies or death? Nobody should be forced to choose between slavery or death. I will join you. I am Jack Frost! Take good care of me!” the lone Shadow answered nodding in understanding, then its body broke into specks of light that entered Akira’s mask on his face.
“You have not lost your touch as a ‘Wild Card’, Joker (Akira).” Morgana said happily while he and the others holstered their weapons.
“So it seems.”
“Well, the more Persona we can use, the better. So it’s a ‘good job!’ for me!” Ryuji declared, giving one high-five his friend while showing a big smile.
“While you were having fun with those two, we covered your back against another Shadow.” Yusuke informed them as their group joined them.
“Good to see that we are slowly re-learning how to do this, you ready?” Morgana asked, looking at the door with narrowed eyes.
“We are, let’s see what that crazy mare thinks a ‘Playpen Area’ should be.” Makoto answered, making Akira nod and slowly open the door.
“Ah...”
The room was enormous, the floor covered in its entirety by a fluffy bright green carpet simulating grass while the walls had been painted to represent mountains and woods, meanwhile the ceiling was painted bright blue with giant clouds hanging from it.
The light source for the whole room was a giant sphere decorated to look like a sun...And smiles, smiles were everywhere; on the "sun" itself, on the painted trees and flowers, on the mountains, on the clouds...Everywhere the Phantom Thieves looked, they could meet the eyes of dumb, overly-friendly smiles.
Even the gentle music of a near carillon felt "Wrong" as every once in a while a note or two would sound distorted, and together with the ambiance and the cage-like playpens in the room, it was making the teens' skin crawl at each step.
"Guys, I don't like this place," Ryuji said with a shiver of dread.
"Me neither, let's hurry and see if the Treasure is here." Morgana answered.
"It still looks like a zoo," Akira muttered while watching the ordinate row of cages masquerading as playpens at both sides of the room and adorned by baby toys and cushions.
"It's her Corruption, it turned her motherly instinct into...This," Yusuke answered with a scrunched nose.
"I don't know you, but even those Shadows seem unhappy of wearing diapers and pacifiers." Ann said unsure.
"What the?! Those pacifiers have been sewed on their mouths to force them closed!" Makoto countered in horror.
"WHAT?!" the rest of the group yelled as one in shock.
"Now I get it! Those are not Shadows! They are humans!" Haru said horrified as she saw that the silhouettes filling the cages were humanoid instead of quadrupeds.
"The manifestation of what Fluttershy sees them as," Joker added, nodding.
"That mare is so deep in her belief that she doesn't even care who they are! They all look the same, that's why they have not faces!" Ryuji growled furious.
"It still doesn't explain why their mouths are sewed shut..." Makoto said with narrowed eyes.
"I bet we will discover that too once stolen her Treasure!" Morgana answered.
"The Treasure is clearly not here, we better move out," Akira said with a more calm tone.
"Yes, we must hurry," Yusuke echoed behind him.
Once peeked out of the room to check nobody was around, the two teams of Phantom Thieves rapidly hurried forward and towards the other rooms, one of which labeled as "Bath Room", where they saw long rows of the same featureless human silhouettes being forcefully thrown again and again into vats of soap water by mechanical arms so to be scrubbed without stop by floating brushes.
All on the notes of a recording of Fluttershy's voice praising them.
("Get clean for Mommy! Mommy loves when her Dears are sparkling clean!")
("Nopony likes smelly kids! That is why soap exist, to make the Dears all clean and pretty!")
"Oh my God..." Haru whispered in horror at seeing those figures being took out from a vat of soap water just to be immediately tossed in the next one to restart the scrubbing.
The ‘Bath Room’ was a tall circular tower divided in 'rings' with a circular staircase in the middle and each floor holding a dozen vats running along the entire perimeter, this made clear that the hundreds "humans" in there were trapped in a never-ending circle of bath after bath after bath.
"And this is how she actually sees her precious "Bath Time"?" Makoto said sneering once they reached the last, identical floor of vats to see yet again the same scene happen with brutal precision around them.
"The Treasure is not here either, what will it even be actually?" Ann asked unsure.
"Ehm...Guys?" Futaba said with a worried tone.
"Yes?" Joker answered.
"The Alarm has been recalled, but now a bunch of guards are moving towards you! And Fluttershy is with them!" The girl explained, nervous.
"We still can't let her find us!" Morgana said while looking madly around for an escape route.
"The windows!" Ryuji said while trying to force open one of the windows in the room.
"Are you crazy?! We are, like, at the tenth floor!" Ann yelled in answer.
"Actually, it looks more like eleventh," Yusuke corrected her, unsure.
"That's beside the point!"
"Do you want to be found by that psycho, Panther (Ann)? No? Then climb down!" Ryuji answered annoyed, roaring in victory once finally pried the thing open.
"Careful now. Navi (Futaba), tell us when to move down and when to stay still, she must not see us!" Akira said as he helped the girls of the group to climb out.
"Leave it to me!" Navi replied immediately.
“Mona (Morgana), do you still have the rope we used to enter Madarame’s Palace some time ago?” he then asked.
“Of course! A real Phantom Thief is always ready for everything!” the talking cat answered pulling out, somehow, a long length of thick rope from the tiny pouches of his belt.
“One day you will tell me how you can fit it there.”
“You are not ready yet to learn that, Joker (Akira).” Morgana said simply as he tied the rope to the window.
"...Hey...Ehm...Okay, maybe this was a bad idea..." Ryuji admitted once seen how high they were and swallowed hard to try undo the knot in his throat.
"Too late, now please move before they catch us." Yusuke answered unperturbed.
"H-How?!" The other asked.
"There are climbing roots on this wall too like the ones we used to enter, I can see some loose bricks as well and the other windows under us have frames, use them, Skull (Ryuji)." Morgana said while holding both his tiny arms around Akira’s neck and looking like an anime cat backpack.
"And Luck, that too helps." the black-haired young man added.
"If I fall and die, I will sue." The thug-looking young man muttered shivering as the group started their slow descent.
"If you die, suing will be the least of your worries." Makoto answered.
"Then remember me like a dashing hero..."
"God, not even now you can be serious..." Morgana said, rolling his eyes.
"STOP!" Futaba yelled out of the blue, scaring them almost to death.
"Shit!"
"I almost lost my grip..." Haru muttered while still shaking a little.
"A little more gentle next time, Navi." Akira asked gently.
"Sorry, sorry. Fluttershy is inspecting the whole place, vat for vat, you are outside the seventh floor now, as soon as she gets to the eight floor, you can try forcing a window open and get inside and if you are fast you can leave without her noticing." The girl answered.
"And the guards with her?" Panther asked.
"One of them remained patrolling the fifth floor while the others are still following Fluttershy, you can either fight that Shadow or bypass it."
"Okay, thank you, Navi (Futaba)."
"My pleasure!" She answered proud.
“Ssssh! Here she is.” Haru whispered, making the others shut-up instantly and flatten against the wall.
- Inside the Tower – With Distorted Fluttershy -
“Aaah! Here too I can only smell the scent of my adorable Dears getting clean for their Mommy.” The distorted voice of the manifestation of Fluttershy’s inner darkness echoed in the room as she personally walked towards one of the transparent vats of soapy water to watch the various shadowy silhouettes inside.
“Bring one to me.” she asked to one of the six Shadows accompanying her.
“Yes, Mama Fluttershy.” thenurse-dressed Shadow replied obediently, and as on cue, one of the arms grabbed a silhouette, and once took it out of the water, it moved the humanoid figure to kneel in front of her.
“Uuuuhm! You smell so good, my little angel! Isn’t it nice to have mommy take care of you?” Fluttershy said with a happy smile as she caressed the silhouette’s head with a hoof, and ignoring its faint struggling and its sewed-shut mouth.
“You still struggle? A good kid should never refuse their Mommy’s Love! But you all will come along eventually...You all are going to LOVE me.” the distorted mare said watching unfazed as the shadowy figure went once again thrown into the water to restart the endless circle of washing.
“Let’s move to the next floor, I want to be sure ever single one of my Dears is clean and proper.” she then ordered once checked the other vats, passing in front of the window the Phantom Thieves were hanging from while sparing it merely a simple glance.
“Of course, Mommy Fluttershy.” Both Nurses and Guards Shadows replied as one while following her upstairs.
“What about the Intruders?” she asked while narrowing her golden eyes.
“We couldn’t find them, and since nopony else saw them ever since the Alarm was given, we believe they have left, we probably scared them away.” the guard Shadow answered promptly.
“Good, be sure the patrols keep their eyes open, especially at the entrance, my Dears MUST be protected.” Fluttershy answered coldly.
“Of course, Mommy Fluttershy.”
“AYEEEEEEEEEEEE!” a new scream of pain and fear reached them from the lower floors making both Shadows and Pegasus Mare stumble.
“What was that!? Go check immediately!”
“YES, MOTHER!” the Guard Shadows yelled while hurrying down.
Meanwhile – with the Phantom Thieves -
“I told you that an ‘All-out Attack’ was too much!” Morgana said huffing as he and the others ran away as fast as they could.
“But it was down and dazed! It’s not our fault if that bastard screamed like that!” Ryuji countered as they dove for the corridors and all the way back towards the Entrance Hall.
“Well, it did instead! And-”
“Guards at twelve!” Akira interrupted the cat and pointing towards a group of guards they could see patrolling the main doors of the Nursery.
“Eh?”
“It means in front of us!” Ann yelled in answer, grabbing Ryuji’s ear and Morgana’s tail to force them to jump through the same door she and Akira used before those Shadows could see them, the four of them soon followed by Yusuke and his own group as well.
“...”
“...”
“Where are we?” Haru asked, curious.
“Considering the fact that I am watching a four meters tall teddy bear? I think this is the ‘Toy Room’, the first floor of the Main Building.” Makoto answered.
“This place is huge, I mean, a couple football fields could be built here with a lot of room to spare!” Ryuji commented in awe, because as soon as they walked around the gigantic plush toy they could see the seemingly endless room they were in, enormous and painted bright pink, and filled in toys of every shape, form and size.
“Mountains of plush toys, enough equipment to fill a hundred public parks, life-size robots and entire ‘towns’ of dolls...There is everything that can be considered a Toy in here, and in absurd quantities at that.” Ann said in wonder.
“Looks familiar, Noir? (Haru)” Ryuji asked smirking.
“Yes, I have a rich bank account and grew-up with a silver spoon, but pointing that out is not funny.” Haru replied with a scrunched nose.
“...And not even I had all these toys when I was a kid.” she then added muttering.
“Be careful, there are Shadows here too.” Morgana said with narrowed eyes as several Guards Shadow ere seen patrolling the scene.
“The staircase for the upper floor is at the opposite side of the room...” Futaba said unsure.
“Yes, Navi?” Yusuke asked once noted the strange inflection of her voice.
“Can you bring me one of those cat plushy next to you? Pleeeease! They are so cuuute!”
“I don’t think we can bring something out of a Palace that is not the Treasure.” Akira answered.
“Aaaaw! It’s unfair!”
“Forgetting the ones around, we have no choice but to fight the one guarding the stairs. You ready?” Akira asked and getting several nods in answer from his friends.
Creeping close to the lone Shadow, and somehow managing to evade the other guards by standing immobile in simply ridiculous poses and pretending to be life-size action figures whenever a Shadow walked too close, the group of teens reached the lone guard and used a near Giant doll-house to hide behind and ambush it.
“Gah!” the Shadow shrieked in surprise as its mask went torn away in a fast movement of Akira’s hand, making its body melt to turn, to the Phantom Thieves’ horror, into THREE monsters, this time three teddy bears with blood smeared on their mouths and human skulls visible from the loosened stitches on their stomachs.
“Ugh! What were those again?” Ryuji asked with a disgusted frown.
“Bugbears. And be careful, they may be weak, but-” Morgana started saying.
“But-GUEAH!” the skull-masked youth asked when the smallish paw of the teddy bear slammed on his stomach with inhuman fury making his eyes almost pop-out from his mask eye-holes.
“Miracle Punch!” Bugbear 1 yelled with a normally-adorable childish voice.
“But they have a devastating right hook.” Morgana finished saying, grimacing.
“NOW I REMEMBER!” Ryuji squeaked-out from the floor.
“MASUKUNDA!” Bugbear 3 intoned making Akira groan as he felt his legs grow heavy and his sight blurry slightly.
“And now I remember why I hate them!” Ann shrieked in alarm as she barely dodged a Miracle Punch from Bugbear 2 that simply drilled a hole on the floor.
“ZORRO!” Morgana yelled summoning the bulky, black-dressed form of his Persona.
“Go!” the cat ordered making the summon move its rapier in a blindingly-fast manner to generate the sharp gust of wind of its ‘garu’ skill to blow back the monstrous teddy bear attacking Ann.
“You okay, Joker (Akira)?” in the meantime the blond girl had moved to her boyfriend’s side to check on him.
“Y-Yes, Just a bit dizzy, LOOK OUT!” Akira answered before pushing her away to get the Bugbear punch himself and get blown back.
“DAMN YOU! BURN THAT THING DOWN, CARMEN!” Ann, now furious, replied summoning her Persona to assault the attacker with a plethora of fire attacks.
“You okay, buddy?” Ryuji asked while helping their friend back on his feet.
“Yes, I will feel it tomorrow, but at least the blow helped clearing my head.” Akira answered, shaking his head a little.
“Together, then?” Skull asked with a heavy smirk while toying a little with the sledge hammer in his hands.
“Together, I’ll cover you.” the other answered while loading his gun.
“ALRIGHT!”
One Hour later – third floor of the Main Building -
Finally, after fighting their way through the second floor of the Toy Room too, since there the guards were covering every corner to stop intruders from reaching the stairs to the final floor, the group of Phantom Thieves finally reached the topmost floor of the Main Building, looking rather dazzled and bruised, but still alive and kicking.
The third floor had a giant heart-shaped door labeled ‘Mommy’s Room – Keep Out.’ written in bold letters on a giant gold plaque on top of it, and with how unrelenting and numerous were the Shadow Guards on the floor below, they were almost certain the Treasure was indeed inside.
“I swear...If the Treasure is not here...” Makoto said with a growl.
“What?” Yusuke asked, curious.
“I...I...I will be very unhappy.” she answered, once failed to find the right words to properly express her anger.
“Oh! Same here.” Fox (Yusuke) answered while still looking composed and well-mannered.
“Navi? Where is Fluttershy?” Akira asked once fished-out his phone.
“In the Bedrooms area, the second giant tower of this place. She seems to be reading something, I think a bedtime story, but with how much those silhouettes are squirming around, it must not be a ‘Normal’ one.” Futaba answered.
“Thank you.” he answered nodding.
“Then we can enter freely, remember, be always on guard!” Morgana ordered once the giant door went pushed open by the entire group of Phantom Thieves.
- Inside the room -
“Okay, this looks...Normal?” Haru commented as the personal bedroom of Fluttershy was actually pretty normal-looking, albeit still big enough to easily accommodate four football fields.
“Queen-size bed, giant mirror, everything normal...THERE IT IS!” Ann said once found the Treasure in its ‘shapeless form’.
At the right side of the room stood an enormous, easily six meters tall, plush of a fluffy white bunny sitting on its haunches and holding in its front paws a shapeless blob of white light the size of a small car.
“The Treasure! Finally!” Yusuke said with an elated tone.
“Good job, Team! We managed to find it during our first visit...Which is strange...” Morgana said with a thoughtful expression.
“This whole Palace is strange, Mona (Morgana).” Ryuji commented.
“It’s too small and there were not special measures protecting the Treasure.” Akira added.
“Yes, even Kamoshida’s Palace, our first one as Phantom Thieves, was at least three times bigger than this one. If not even bigger!” Ann said unsure.
“And those human figures seem to be trying to rebel against Fluttershy’s will somehow.” Yusuke confirmed as he watched outside the giant window and towards the Bath Room Tower outside.
“...How long has it been since Kamoshida started treating the school as his Castle?” Morgana asked out of the blue.
“Since when?...Ever since he arrived, I guess...Right?” Ryuji answered unsure.
“Yeah, pretty much. It was a couple of years already before Akira and you arrived.” Ann confirmed.
“And Madarame had been manipulating the Artistic World and numerous hopeful artists for even longer, way before I was even born in fact.” Yusuke added.
“Years...Years...I got it! This Palace is ‘New’! Too new! Fluttershy must have been the last one of the ‘Elements Bearers’ to be Corrupted by her wicked desires!” Morgana said with wide eyes.
“This Palace was born from the inner darkness of a being whose inner power is all about being Gentle and Caring. Her ‘Element of Harmony’ is still struggling against Distortion, even if it’s slowly losing the battle.” Akira said while looking at the faint light of the Treasure, fainter than the blinding sun-like light they were used to see in other Palaces’ Treasures.
“Yes. The Palaces we visited in the past were formed through Strong Distortion, deeply rooted in their Owners’ Ego and Wicked Desires, their palaces then had Years to form and consolidate, further adding rooms and defenses and attracting even more Shadows. But here, Distortion is attacking a way purer soul, one that even houses concentrated Kindness, it must be having troubles getting a hold of her, and in the small window of time before our arrival here, the Palace had barely enough time to be formed, that is why the Treasure itself looksnot as shining as the others. We must steal it now that the Palace’s innate defences are still forming, otherwise who knows what we’ll have to do to get it.” Morgana explained.
“So the other Palaces too will be smaller?” Makoto asked, hopeful.
“I would love for that to be the case, but since the Metaverse App lists Fluttershy as the ‘Easiest’, I am afraid the others will have ‘Normal Palaces’ waiting for us, so to speak, ones already formed and perfected. Once dealt with Fluttershy’s Palace we will have to greatly step-up our game, or we’ll fail.” Morgana answered with a grave tone.
“Yeah, don’t remind me. I forgot how hard some Shadows could hit.” Ryuji admitted grimacing.
“First order of business, though, is deciding on an escape route. And I may have already found one.” Yusuke declared while opening the window and pointing at the tower barely three meters away from the window of the third floor of the ‘Bath Room’.
“She must use this to enjoy the view of her Dears getting clean for her...We can move from here to there once secured the Treasure and escape from the Tower! Good Job!” Morgana answered with a proud smile.
“Just doing my part.”
“Navi, what’s the fastest path from the Bath Room Tower to the outside?” Ann asked to their Navigator.
“Since the tower’s only entrance would take you back inside the Nursery, you will have to jump out from the rightmost window at the first floor and you’ll be in the gardens, from there, you should be able to climb the same guard tower you used to enter and get out, sure it will be a twenty meters dash right under the eyes of everybody, but as usual our escape from a Palace can’t be a fully safe one. Up for it?” Futaba asked.
“Of course! A Phantom Thief never shows fear in front of obstacles.” Morgana declared puffing out his chest.
“Then let’s go back, we have a Calling Card to write and send.” Haru answered nodding.
“Extra careful now, everybody, we’ll have to go back the same way we came in, we can’t risk using our escape route now and have Fluttershy discover the hole in her Palace’s security.” Morgana ordered, making his partners nod in answer and silently leave the room to go back and leave the Palace.
The next day – Real World – Soft Air shop “Untouchables” -
It was around noon when the group of teens woke-up, having collapsed into deep sleep as soon as they left the Metaverse and returned to the abandoned shop acting as their HQ for some well-deserved rest.
“Nnngh...Hello? Anybody there?” Futaba asked sleepily at the radio.
“Soujiro here, Futaba. Did you woke-up just now by chance?” the owner of Cafe Leblanc asked chuckling.
“Metaverse is tiring, okay? By the way, we found Fluttershy’s Treasure and we should have a good escape route. Now we only need to send her our Calling Card and that thing will take physical shape for us to steal it.” the girl replied rolling her eyes.
“Uh, that’s good, I guess..Eh?...Wait, Sae-san says she wants to speak with you.” the old man answered amused before talking with somebody else behind him.
“Big Sister?” Makoto, by now she and the others too finally awake, asked.
“Hello, Makoto. I was helping the others moving to another place, soon the Barrier will cover this place too, so we need to switch base. I heard what you said about the Calling Card, and I want to suggest you to wait for two days before delivering it.” the woman at the other side explained.
“Why two days?” Yusuke asked.
“I got wind of a piece of news from some old friends in the Police Department, in two days Celestia will apparently deliver a message to humanity to once again talk people into accepting Conversion and not be destroyed by the Barrier.” Sae answered.
“She is persistent, eh?” Ryuji said sneering.
“Very, and by your words, she has to be. Since the Barrier won’t be able to grow enough to cover the entire planet, she must hurry and talk every human to Convert before her machinations are discovered.”
“And this message she wants to give?” Futaba asked.
“Some agents managed to arrest one of those Pro-Conversion nut-jobs, they have been talked into helping Celestia stream a message from a secret location inside the Barrier; she will talk live with both politicians and various news outlets that will then show it live to everybody, we are also certain that your other Targets will be there with her to further make Conversion look appealing.”
“And you want us to deliver our Calling Card to Fluttershy during that? During a Livestream?” Akira asked.
“Yes. We are losing this battle against Celestia and her ponies, people need hope, and the Phantom Thieves can be that source of hope. If we make the Phantom Thieves return, people will know there are Heroes out there fighting for them.” Sae answered.
“So we will have everybody know the Phantom Thieves are back? Awesome!” Ryuji said with an excited smile.
“And how are we supposed to do that?” Haru asked.
“For that...We’ll have to ask for help to the Police Department.”
“WHAT?!”
“We are in an ‘Enemy Mine’ situation. For all the bad things the Phantom Thieves are considered culprit of, they will never be considered being as bad as Celestia and her plan for the eradication of Humanity.” Sae said sighing.
“I happened to spend time in isolation last time I dealt with the Police, do we have to?” Akira asked grimacing.
“You don’t have to meet, talk or even just see them. What I meant was that we need to send a copy of your Calling Card to the Police Department so that they will deliver it for us, that Card together with a letter explaining what we plan to do, of course: have the Phantom Thieves return and FORCECelestia into a change of Heart that will hopefully stop the Barrier, the Conversion and everything else.”
“And they will play along?”
“I still believe in Justice and doing the right thing. I am sure they will help us, even just because they have no other option beside a Nuclear Attack, and many believe that too will fail against that damn magic Barrier.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“Guys, please. Trust me.” Sae begged after a long silence.
“I know you still not fully trust ‘Adults’, especially the ones in positions of power, but please, just this one time...Give Adults some trust, if they won’t do it then we’ll find another way and we will do it your way, I won’t force my ideas on you anymore.”
“...What should we do?” Makoto asked the others with an unsure expression.
Sigh! “Okay.” Ann said with a saddened sigh.
“Let’s give them another chance, my friends. Not all of them are really that bad.” Yusuke added.
“What do you think, buddy?” Ryuji asked with a defeated expression.
“...Okay.” Akira finally conceded.
“Thank you, you won’t regret it. Trust me.” Sae answered with a grateful tone.
“We will write the Calling Card and deliver it to you personally in your new base.” Futaba said.
“Okay, I will take care of the rest, have no fear.” the woman answered.
- Two days later – Secret Location inside the Barrier -
“Everything is ready, Princess.” Shining Armour said as the black monitor of the computers around them lighted-up to show the face of several politicians and the few news outlets streaming their messages to the general population.
“Everything works properly, Twilight?” Celestia asked with a gentle smile.
“I had those humans explain to me what to do, I should have connected everything properly. It’s really fascinating what they could do even without Magic.” the young purple Neo-Alicorn answered while her horn flashed in purple Magic to fix few loose cables to stabilized connection, her face momentarily flashing some badly-hidden ‘hunger’ that disappeared just as fast as it appeared.
“Do you hear us, Celestia?” one of the Politicians asked.
“Yes, and do you hear us?” the Sun Alicorn answered.
“Yes. We’ll go live in five minutes, get ready.” the same man replied shaking his head in exasperation.
“It’s for the well-being of your people, to give both our races a bright future.” Celestia countered encouragingly.
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say.” a soldier, rank General, answered unconvinced.
“Okay we got the signal from the studio, four minutes and we are online!” the various journalists alerted the others, making humans and ponies straighten their back and train their best convincing smile.
Meanwhile – Phantom Thieves HQ inside the Barrier -
The Phantom Thieves were sitting in front of Futaba’s laptop in apprehension, growing even more restless as soon as the Livestream started, making them look at the monitor with unblinking eyes.
“Good Evening, dear people of Earth.” Celestia said with a motherly smile.
“A bit cliche for an alien invader...” Futaba muttered.
“Sssh!” the others silenced her, making her pout in offense.
“Good evening to you too. Are you ready for this little interview and speech, Miss Celestia?” one of the journalists said with a calm and formal tone.
“Of course, please do ask whatever question you have, I will happy to help, and so my beloved sister and the others too are.” the Sun Alicorn answered, smile never faltering as one of her wings was used to point at Luna, Cadence and the Element Bearers behind her.
“Yes, we have several questions already filling the chat rooms, the more pressing one seems to be about Conversion: is it real that it causes ‘Dementia’, ‘Cessation of more than 90% of brain function’ or even ‘Erasure of Personality’? Many have not knowledge in medicine or Magic, so the absence of details about Conversion is...Disconcerting, for most.” the young woman asked.
“Nice way to put it, most of the chatroom is just filled in death threats towards ponies or humanity, fishing-out a proper question from the flood is not easy.” Futaba commented impressed.
“It must come with the job.” Yusuke answered.
“Ah yes, we heard that and it is indeed true that in rare cases one of those issue pop-out. Twilight? Care to give them some details, finally?” Celestia answered with a contrite expression.
“Yes, Princess. While it is true that those draw-backs happen, they are simply temporary, it seem to be the human brain’s answer to sudden influx of Magic, something it is not used to process, by our estimates it takes two weeks at worst for those to disappear. The brain of the Converted is just being ‘Updated’, to use a term from your computers. It just needs to reboot a little and there won’t be any further issues.” the young purple Alicorn answered.
“Why I have the feeling she is lying?” Akira asked.
“Because if she wasn’t Fluttershy would not have a zoo full of Converted nor a Palace where her ‘Dears’ are not supposed to ever leave; and even then, Igor and the Velvet Room would not have called us if the situation was not rotten deep inside,” Makoto answered.
“Let’s trust that bizarre old man then.” Ryuji commented sighing.
“No, I admit that forcing people to be Converted is bad, there is no denying in that, but if you check the Barrier’s expansion, the area where our ‘Attacks’ happened where the ones that were then covered entirely. You can accuse us of forcing your hand, we won’t stop you, but we prefer that guilt over the Guilt of letting even just one more of you die.” Luna in the meantime answered to a new question.
“Yes, we soldiers are ready to shoulder the Hate, the blame, the spits, the curses and the insults, as long as the ones cursing us for Converting them are alive instead of being the family members of people dead because of the Barrier.” Shining Armour added with a determined nod, leaning a bit too much on fanaticism for the Thieves comfort.
“It should be right about now.” Haru said unsure.
“If they did deliver our message.” Morgana answered sighing.
As if to answer their doubts, the transmission started glitching and giving out faint static noises, soon switching the Livestream with a still image of the Phantom Thieves Logo, and immediately after, the text of their Calling Card appeared on the screen red aloud by a familiar voice.
“LAVENZA?!” the teens screamed in surprise.
“I asked her if she wanted to help and she accepted.” Akira answered shrugging.
“And you met her, alone?!” Ann asked, furious.
“She didn’t assault nor molest me.” he said with an unfazed expression.
“But she could have!”
“Sssh! Let me hear!” Ryuji silenced both while moving closer to the screen.
To the overbearing Mother Fluttershy, the mollycoddling kidnapper hiding her sickening possessiveness behind false smiles and so-called ‘Motherly Love’ that can only treat her ‘Beloved Dears’ as prisoners in the golden cage of her Twisted Delusions.
You are the Corrupted Element of Harmony who aides in the destruction of humanity so to appease her bottomless hunger for Love and Affection.
We have decided to make you confess all your crimes with your own mouth.
We will take your distorted desires without fail.
From,
The Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
As soon as Lavenza’s voice finished reading aloud, the scene switched back to the Livestream, only now showing the shocked faces of both Equestrians and the other humans, all of them looking straight at the camera with slightly open mouth.
The chat itself was in uproar, with the ‘quietest’ messages being on the lines of:
“WTF!”
“PHANTOM THIEVES?!”
“HOLY SHIT THEY ARE BACK!”
And then a downward spiral into way madder ramblings and spamming about the sudden interruption.
“Did it work?” Ryuji asked.
“YES! Look at Fluttershy!” Makoto yelled while pointing at the deadly-pale, fidgeting Pegasus that has started shivering as soon as the message ended.
“...SO YOU WANT TO STEAL MY DEARS?!” it was then that the Phantom Thieves felt the telling shiver up their spine signaling that their Calling Card was taking full effect, making them perceive the projection of Fluttershy Distorted Self glaring straight at them from the screen.
“Come if you dare! You won’t take them away from me! You will JOIN THEM instead! YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE ME!” the Projection of Distorted Fluttershy roared in madness.
Then all of them regained conscience of the real world around them, just in time to see an unhealthy twitch of Celestia’s eyes, then followed by her long horn flaring to life abruptly ending the connection.
“Well, I think it worked, she looked positively mad.” Ryuji said with a pleased smirk.
“And Celestia as well seems to not have took it well either.”
“Very well, Team! Starting now we have three days to steal Fluttershy’s Treasure, let’s get ready!” Morgana declared with burning eyes.
“YES!” the Phantom Thieves answered as one.
With Celestia -
The Sun Alicorn was looking around the silent room with her lips pressed thin and her eyes narrowed.
“Captain Shining, please see what you can discover about those Phantom Thieves and how they managed to send such outrageous message to us. We do not need other Agitators in these hard times.” she ordered.
“At once, Princess.” Shining answered immediately, and leaving the room together with Cadence to start investigations as soon as possible.
“I-I-I-I am not C-C-Corrupted! I-I-I am not evil!” Fluttershy in the meantime stuttered in horror while crying, she looked extremely pale and shocked.
“Those people are just trying to ruffle your feathers, Shy. We’ll catch them!” Dash said trying to calm down her distraught friend.
“Steal somepony’s Distorted Desires...What does it mean? How does it work?” Twilight muttered with a calculative gaze in her eyes.
“I am not Corrupted! I am not Corrupted! I am not Corrupted!” Fluttershy said again, almost looking hysterical.
“Yar not, yar not.” AJ answered patting her back.
“Those brutes are just trying to drive people against us.” Rarity added huffing in distaste.
If only they could see inside their friend’s subconscious, they would witness her Distorted Self roar in defiance as she watched her Treasure take a definite shape and twist restlessly in hatred for the ones daring to challenge her and even declare they will stop her.
End of the Chapter.
And a little extra for you readers, I hope you won't mind. ;)
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Wouldn't Izanami from 4 just fuck up Celestia?
9405731
I am not very familiar with P4 since P5 is the first Persona game I play, so I can't answer that...What Do you Think would happen in that case?
9405766
Izanami gets off her ass and crushes Celestia as the guardian of humanity.
9405792
Wouldn't that be boring to read then? 🤔🤔🤔
9405804
Not really.
Great chapter. As for idea's for AJ's Palace, her distortion, or issue needs to be known, to make a good Palace.
9406387
That is the problem...what are her issues? In the original series, did she ever get a psycho moment like the others?
Shy is telling herself she is taking care of them.
Dash believe to be a super Hero because she is fighting a Winning War.
Rarity is becoming dangerously fixated with Absolute Beauty.
Twi is getting mad scientist like towards Humans.
Shining is stressing so much about military matters to turn into a fanatic robot.
Cadence is holding a "crusade" against humanity inner hatred.
Luna is so afraid of humanity inner darkness to fight it at all cost (she doesn't know that contrary to ponies, inside humans Light and Dark can coexist).
Spitfire is getting sickeningly perfectionist since she and her buddies have to hide the truth to the pony population with their shows.
Blueblood is simply racist against humans and sees ponies as the superior race.
Pinkie is telling herself that everybody is happy about Conversion and that she soon will have lots of friends, so a Super Party needs to be prepared...
But AJ? No idea...help!
After Shy it will be Pinkie turm since she is the second "Weakest" in terms of delusions about Conversion...But then it will be AJ turn, any ideas?
9406441
It's certainly a difficult one. Maybe she knows what is going on, but willingly turns a blind eye to it? Going against honesty, in favour of the conversion.
9406507
So a "Blindness Theme " ? I can work with that!
I like that! It can even play well for her "Boss Fight" and Palace! 🤩🤩🤩🤩
Thank you! You are a Genius! 🤣👍👍👍
9406529
Nah, just the first thing that came to mind. Its works with some issues she has had in the past, and has also been a theme of a canon Palace.
9406529
You know, I'm glad you have a fairly good idea about what you want to do. Because I see a fair amount of Persona fics go unfinished.
9407222
Thanks XD I even have Celestia final fight and form already planned and half written 😎
The only thing I lack is time to write 😭😭😭
And the talent, that too could be a bit more abundant 😢😢😢😢
9407278
From what I've seen, you have nothing to worry about with talent. Just need time to write.
I had a thought, and now a question. Will Fluttershy join the Phantom Thieves?
9409099
As a confidant, like Spike.
Bad idea? 🤔🤔🤔
9409139
Maybe, but you would think she would notice that her friends are acting off, once she has the Change of Heart. And remembering that the Phantom Thieves helped her, she may try to contact them.
9409146
Exactly, she sees that "Ruin " is Corrupting her friends, and helping the humans that can save them looked logical, to me at least 🤣🤣🤣
And Spike loves twilight, watching her go mad should technically push him to look for "alternative solutions " to save her...
9409158
Of course. This will be interesting.
You know it would've been funnier if you had Lavenza wear a mask and livestream the calling card.
9412009
Curious you would mention that ...
😎😎😎😎
9412473 Speaking of Lavenza, are you going to have them meet her siblings?
9412518
Unfortunately I started my experience with the Persona franchise with P5, so I wouldn't know how to do it 😔😔😔
By the way, are the previous ones as good as the fifth? because I am loving it and would like more games like it 🤩 so I might try the older games too of they are just as good
9412568 I've played the Arena games and Persona Q, they're pretty good in my opinion.
They are barking mad
9414153
Who? The ponies, the humans or the Phantom Thieves?
...Or me?
9414748
All the above but mostly the ponies.
9414865
Tough...But fair 🤣🤣🤣
9414977
Had a thought while trying to sleep, will Joker go searching to find his friends which may have become ponies?
9419131
I can't give too many details ( for spoilers), but old confidants will make a cameo, along other characters.
I Will go into more details as the story progresses, have faith in me 🤣😉
9420797
I has much faith. Was just a thought that could be an interesting side story.
9420830
It Will happen, it will happen 😉
They will meet again 😊
Well, if you are having problem about AJ about her distortion, You could think about her forcing her truth on others? Something very narrow minded, that take as evidence only some parts of the whole?
9427309
Not bad! I was already convinced about the whole "She is blinding herself to Truth" I was suggested before, but now you also gave me the rest of the plan! I CAN USE BOTH!
WHAT ABOUT THI:
AJ is so afraid of admitting the Truth behind her actions and the reality of Conversion that she is maniacally focusing on forcing OTHERS to "Conform" to HER Truth, her personal version of things, no matter how very narrow minded and that take as evidence only some parts of the whole like you said!
She is so afraid of seeing the reality of things, and the consequences or her actions, that she tries to turn the lies she is telling to herself into the absolute truth! I like it!
About her monster form and Palace, I will be vague so to not give too many Spoilers, should I make "Blindness" a focal point of both? Blindness and "Lies"...What do you think?
The others were right, you people of the My Little pony fandom are the most helpful ones, I am honestly touched, Thank you
DUUDE THAT CALLING CARD IS SO SICK nice job on it love the idea haha EAT THAT PONIES
9421951
I've played and seen all the persona games they are cool to play just look the up on YouTube
Uuuh, might be a little late, but Futaba's code name is Oricale, not Navi. As someone who got the Platinum trophy on the 3rd playthrough, it hurt to see her named wrong.
Now that was a good calling card.
9703082
I think her name was different in the Japanese version.
10052510
Yep, Oracle is the american version for her alias so you could argue that Navi is her original codename, kinda like how Katsuya Jōnouchi became Joey Wheeler in Yu-gi-oh
Wake I'll be on the lookout for others also I understand saying who is being referred to with the code names the first time they are used in this story but after that even the readers who know nothing about persona 5 would know who is who so please don't assume the reader doesn't know in later chapters because it just breaks the flow of your story
Why do you keep putting the Phantom Thieves’ actual names in parentheses after their code names? We’re not going to forget who they are, and every time I hit one of those sets of parentheses it’s like a speed bump on the narrative road. Your writing’s pretty good, but you should trust your audience to remember a little more than you’re giving them credit for.
Denial isn't a river in Egypt, Fluttershy.
Let the Heist BEGIN!
10422937
For the people that aren't familiar with Persona.
Futaba's codename is Oracle, I don't recall everyone constantly calling her Navi.
11258116
Navi is her codename in the Japanese version