• Published 16th Dec 2018
  • 8,575 Views, 769 Comments

Conversion Bureau: The return of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. - ClearlyNotTremor230



Conversion Bureau storyline. When Celestia started her plans for Conversion, she could not imagine that a group of teens would have come to stop her, and by stealing what she could not defend: the Hearts of Equestria. The Phantom Thieves are Back!

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Chapter 4: Shocking Change of Heart! Fluttershy’s Treasure stolen!

Author's Note:

A bit of a bumpy start, but I still hold hope, I can do this!

For the Main Character of Persona 5, I went with the name ‘Akira Kurusu’, pretty much his “Canon Name”.

The problem about writing a Palace scene is that the game has “Fast Travel” between Safe Rooms (Places where the player can heal the party, save and if they want, leave the Palace) that can be used to immediately reach the Treasure Room when it’s time to steal it, something that I decided to not include in the story because I felt it was “Too unbelievable”, and unwittingly shooting myself on the foot as a result.

Would it be THAT BAD if I add that “Fast Travel” feature to the safe rooms starting from next chapter? To minimize the amount of filler in each Palace parts...What do you think?

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING!

Tokyo – SIU Temporary HQ – Human side of the Barrier -

Sae, former detective and now prosecutor, sat in front of his former boss inside the old man’s office, her expression calm and unwavering as she looked straight at the man she once had been ready to do everything to get the approval of, and that she had subsequently abandoned once the truth about the entire ‘Phantom Thieves Incident’ and the deep, DEEP issues of corruption festering barely under the surface came out.

“I am surprised you are still holding office.” Sae didn’t waste time, and as soon as the two remained alone in the office, she gave her opening salvo to make the man flinch minutely.

“I was not supposed to, but unfortunately my successor did not last long, he was between the first victims of Conversion and is now somewhere beyond that Barrier looking like a pony.”

“And you are not in prison because of personal merits, I suppose.” Sae answered with a scrunched nose.

At that the old man simply took away his glasses to tiredly massage his eyes and sigh in self-deprecation.

“In my later years I have forgotten my values and got swooped-in in matters then turning out to be way bigger than anything I could imagine even in my wildest fantasies, no use in denying that. But I still am the man with righteous values I was when I first started this life-style so many years ago...We all can lose track of the right direction at least once, don’t we?” he said getting up to walk towards the giant window of his office and look at the empty streets under him with half-lidded eyes.

“Yes, but the fact remains that in this instance, there is a great difference in the ‘collateral damages’ left behind from that losing track of your direction. We are not talking about a simple mid-life crisis here.” the woman countered, drawing a bitter chuckle from her former boss.

“Don’t I know that. My daughter now refuses to even acknowledge my very existence, let alone let me see my niece even just in pictures...This was not what I envisioned my retirement to be, you know?”

“Regretting something?”

“I am regretting a lot of things. I planned to slowly drift away, becoming a full-time grandpa, buying a boat to go fishing...Playing chess with my daughter like I used to do when she was a girl. Small things, Happy things...And yet, if not for my being called back to try coordinate this whole pony mess, I would have nothing of that, it would be just me standing there waiting for my time to come.” the old man answered with a far-away look on his face.

“Why you wanted to see me? I am not coming back. I am pretty happy with my new career.” Sae said crossing her arms, and her demeanor still as cold as steel even after that revelation.

“I have nor the right, nor the wish to force you into anything, but I need your help...Are the Phantom Thieves really back?” the man asked, now turning around to look at her with fiery eyes.

“I too saw that livestream yesterday, I am just as surprised as you are.” she answered, nonplussed.

“Please, if you know something, you must tell me. It’s important! One of us got a letter and we did as they asked, we helped once already, but try as we might, we cannot find those guys.”

“Maybe because your old suspects never were the Phantom Thieves? Even then, not even I know who they really are, and the only one we managed to arrest was in that small prefecture that got covered by the Barrier, so he either is a pony now, or he died as a human.” Sae answered, talking about Akira and his past dealings with the police.

“The rest of the Team though may still be around,”

“And what if instead this is a new formation? Or even just somebody trying to emulate them?”

“Both chances are equally valid, that is why ever since we got that Calling Card we are destroying every evidence we have on them along making sure false leads are leaked every once in a while; if the Phantom Thieves are back, Celestia and her cronies MUST NOT know a thing about them besides what the population thinks to know.” the man said walking towards the door to open it for her.

“Follow me, I will show you.”

“You are destroying evidences?” Sae asked, mildly surprised.

“We are at war against unfathomable forces we have very little chances against, any means to achieve victory will be deemed acceptable.”

“STOP HIM! HE IS STEALING PART OF THE PT (Phantom Thieves) ARCHIVE!” A female voice yelled just outside the office.

“YOU WON’T STOP US! FOR HUMANITY’S REBIRTH! LONG LIVE EQUEST-”

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The crazed man’s fanatical scream stopped abruptly when three sharp gunshots echoed inside the department, making him fall to the floor immobile.

Any means, Sae.” the old man repeated unfazed as he holstered his gun and recovered the pen-drive in the traitor’s hand to throw it on the floor and smash that small USB pen into tiny fragments under his feet.

Sae could only swallow her nervousness down hard as she watched her former colleagues drag away the dead man without the smallest crease of guilt on their faces.

“Put him with the others, and tell his family he died as a hero while fighting against Equestria, at least like that his loved ones will remember him properly.”

“Yessir.”

“...I can’t help you, I am sorry.” the woman finally said sighing.

“I suspected it, but it was worth a try. Should you discover or just hear something though, please consider sharing it with me, this time the Police and the Phantom Thieves are on the same side. Thank you for your time, and please, keep this incident a secret, we don’t want to have people wonder if even the ones supposed to protect them have been ‘infected’ with pony sympathizers, we are trying to comb them out, but is not easy.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, good day.” Sae answered with a small bow.

“To you too.” the old man answered with a similar gesture.

Several hours later – Pony Side of the Barrier – Floating Island number 1 (Holding Canterlot and the Princesses Castle) -

Inside the Throne room of Celestia and Luna’s Castle, a giant round table had been installed at the beginning of their war against humanity so to hold a giant map of Japan detailing the expanding of the Barrier and the current influence of the pony forces both in and outside the glowing, impenetrable wall of light.

And now, this very same table had been recently covered by several rolls of thickly-written notes Twilight had managed to accumulate in just the one single day Celestia gave her after the transmission of the Calling Card.

“What did I said about pulling an all-nighter, Twilight?” Spike the dragon said watching his Mother/Friend/Sister-figure with sad eyes.

“To not do that because it is bad for my health,” the purple alicorn answered rolling her blood-shot eyes while swaying a little on her hooves.

“I am actually sorry, dear Spike, but this time it was important for us to get as much information as possible on a short notice. I can assure you this won’t be the norm.” Celestia added with a small smile.

“Uh-hu.” the small dragon answered simply, and nobody seemed to catch the fact that he was not convinced in the slightest.

“S-So? W-Who are they?” Fluttershy, she too looking like she had not slept a minute since the incident, asked in apprehension.

“Eh! There comes the problem...Nopony knows.” Twilight answered with a helpless sigh.

“That’s not very helpful, Twi.” Dash answered rolling her eyes.

“What I mean is that nopony knows their identities! They thought they caught one, their Leader even, but apparently that human was just some random colt that had been framed to cover their escape,” the ‘Princess of Friendship’ answered annoyed.

“Okay, so we don’t know what they look like, anything else?” Luna asked impatiently.

“I asked around, or had some of our sympathizers do the asking for me...And looked through their ‘Internet’ thing, amazing invention that one! They managed to collect the entire spectrum of their Knowledge, the knowledge of an entire species and planet, in a single ethereal/non-physical place! Sure it’s all sandwiched between kitten videos, silly Fanfictions or kind-of-depraved (And yet strangely-fascinating) Pornograp-”

“The short answer, sugarcube. Please.” AJ interrupted her while chuckling.

“Ah, yes! I was going off track...They apparently posses Humanity’s own Elements of Harmony.” Twilight, chuckling and blushing a little, answered.

“...” For a moment, deeper silence could not be found anywhere, not even in the vacuum of space, as the mare’s words sank in.

“I beg you pardon?” Celestia asked with a raised eyebrow, masquerading well the inner horror that answer brought to her.

“Twilight, dear...You do know that such a thing would spell disaster for us, right?” Rarity asked, slowly.

“I was the one discovering this, my shock has waved off a long ago.” the other answered nonplussed, detached, and making Spike look at her in even greater apprehension.

“How can humans have Elements of Harmony? They have no Magic! I mean, they can do cool card tricks, but that is not Magic with capital ‘M’!” Pinkie said, looking confused.

“That is just my theory, but if that is not the case, how can anypony explain what they did otherwise?” Twilight answered shrugging.

“And they did?” Celestia prompted.

“Apparently they CAN steal people Hearts, and they did so several times in the past.”

“They cut open people for their hearts? That sounds nasty!” AJ answered gagging a little, and making her friends turn a bit green on their faces.

“No, it’s more a metaphorical thing, actually. Details are vague, but it seems like any time they target somepony, these people then come out clean and admit whatever sin they had been keeping hidden, asking for honest forgiveness and repent for their mistakes with all themselves. They call it a ‘Sudden Change of Heart’...But doesn’t this sound familiar already? Evil turning into good.” Twilight asked.

“Pretty much what you did with...Nightmare Moon...And many others.” Luna answered with a low voice, and shivering heavily when she talked about her Corrupted self.

“Exactly, they used to have a fan-site too! A board where everypony could ask for their help, they did not attack high-profile people only! Even everyday bullies, stalkers, thugs...Every darkened heart they could lay eyes on, or at least, what they considered ‘Twisted’.”

“And that Calling Card?” Fluttershy asked in apprehension.

“That usually happened when they deemed somepony to be especially worthy of their attention (AKA Seen as Evil). Whenever somepony received that card, after three days at best they would have a Change of Heart and confess everything bad they ever did.” Twilight answered.

“But I am not Evil! I am not Corrupted! I am just helping the New-Foals until they get better!” Fluttershy answered, mid-way between anger and despair.

“I know it, and everypony else knows it, Shy.” Dash answered.

“That got me thinking, exactly. Our Elements of Harmony work through the cleansing of the taint of Corruption or by re-establishing the right equilibrium inside everypony...If that is the case for us, wouldn’t that be the same for theirs? How can they be sure then that it will work on Fluttershy?” Twilight said, thoughtful.

“To be honest, from their point of view, we are evil. We are trying to turn them into a different species, sometimes by force...And Fluttershy holds them in cages, from their side of things, that is borderline evil. Heck! Even from OUR side of things that isn’t that a bit too much?” Spike said unsure.

“I-I-IT’S ONLY TEMPORARY, OKAY!? T-T-They will join us as soon as they get better...I-it’s just taking some time...I-I am just making sure they do not hurt themselves...N-N-Nothing more...” what started as a roar of the normally shy pony, soon died down into a weak whisper that was barely audible.

“Okay! Okay!” Spike answered while rising both claws in a non-threatening way.

“We are just helping them to not die from the Barrier...We are helping them.” AJ added while looking away.

“They will have lots of new friends! W-We will all laugh together once things settle down!” Pinkie said smiling, and her short stutter seemed to go unnoticed even by herself.

“Sure as Tartarus we are helping them! We are big darn heroes!” Dash said puffing-out her chest in utter pride.

“Yeah, heroes...” Spike repeated, uncertain.

“The problem then is if their ‘Elements’ work against Objective Evil like ours, or on ‘Perceived Evil’, Twilight?” Celestia asked, bringing the discussion back on track.

“Yes, Princess. I still have not enough proofs of it, but it may also be that they just brainwash their victims, both options are valid at the moment.” the purple neo-alicorn answered.

“That is even worse.” Rarity muttered with a disgusted expression.

“Exactly, so just to be sure, I think dear Fluttershy will need to stay here inside the Barrier, we cannot risk them really having something similar to the Elements of Harmony or just a really powerful Brainwashing Tool, I will even station more trusted guards to protect her, if she is really their target, we will catch them.” the Sun Princess declared.

“Thank you, Princess.” Fluttershy answered, immediately looking more calm.

“Just in case, why don’t you all spend the night here?” Luna proposed.

“B-But...Those poor dears...”

“I am sure these guards that have been helping you up until now will manage to keep everything under control for a night, tomorrow morning you’ll be free to return there, we still are organizing the new homes for those poor New-Foals, and until they snap out of their ‘Absence’ they will also need a caretaker, and all that requires time.” Celestia answered smiling warmly.

“O-Of course! Thank you, Princess!” the shy mare answered bowing a little.

“In the meantime, Twilight please see if you can discover something else on those humans, we need more details.”

“But...”

“Without all-nighters, of course.” Celestia added, cutting off Spike’s rebuttal with a wink.

“Of course, Princess!” the mare answered immediately.

Sigh! “I am coming too to help you.” the small dragon said while shaking his head and following Twilight out of the room.

Later that night – not too far away from Fluttershy’s zoo -

The group of teens forming the infamous Phantom Thieves were stealthily moving towards the gate to the abandoned zoo thanks to the full darkness of night.

“A nightly infiltration, is almost romantic.” Yusuke commented with a low voice.

“You sure you don’t want us to go to sleep, Mona? (Morgana)” Ryuji asked smirking.

At the time I was just trying to help Joker (Akira) and you others maintain a normal schedule fit for school students, now instead we are having a guerrilla-like operation as a part to a full-fledged War against invaders, the setting is different!” Morgana, at the moment looking like a normal house-cat since outside the Metaverse, answered huffing annoyed.

“I can’t see Fluttershy anywhere, you think she went into hiding?” Haru asked curious.

“Who cares? Is not like we need her HERE to enter her Palace! As long as this place exist physically, we can enter her subconscious whenever we want to steal her Treasure, even should they move her to another planet!” Makoto answered.

“I know that, I was just curious.” the other girl answered pouting.

“Nobody should know the full details of what we do, so hiding her would be a good idea if we were normal thieves.” Akira muttered while taking-out his phone.

“Yep! A pity though we are Super Thieves instead!” Ryuji added smirking proud, he and the others too preparing their phones and the Metaverse App.

“All aboard! Next stop, Hell Nursery!” Ann declared as the worlds around all of them morphed into the Distorted representation of the zoo that was Fluttershy’s Palace.

- Inside the Metaverse -

“There it is!” Morgana, back into ‘anime Cat’ form, said proudly once the tall gates to the Prison-Nursery appeared before them.

“Can you feel it? She is waiting for us.” Yusuke said shivering a little.

“Yep! She is super mad alright!” Ryuji confirmed nodding, they all could feel the sensation of being observed and very much ‘unwanted’ envelop their bodies for a second before settling down to become just a faint prickling in the back of their heads.

The whole place is on maximum alert, both Shadows and Fluttershy are out for blood, if you are discovered either run away or take them down fast, or you’ll be swarmed and that would mean Game Over.” Futaba’s voice resounded from Akira’s phone to warn the whole group.

“Certainly, thank you, Navi (Futaba).” Yusuke answered.

“Remember the plan: we enter the Main Building once sneaked inside the Entrance Hall, then we rush unseen to the third floor to take the treasure, then I will use my slingshot to shot a rope through the window at the third floor of the ‘Bath Room’ Tower, from there we go down to the first floor and jump out of the window there to reach the gardens, from there, it will be a mad dash towards the exit. All clear?” Morgana said.

“Yes.” the others answered as one.

“Let’s hope we won’t have to fight Fluttershy once stolen the Treasure, that was the worst part of every Palace.” Ryuji then begged groaning.

“Sometimes I wonder if they would have had a Change of Heart even without us fighting them.” Ann echoed, sighing.

“Technically speaking, taking a Treasure out of the Palace makes it crumble, and that too can trigger a Change of Heart...We were just unlucky to never see THAT happen.” Morgana admitted while showing a forced smile.

“So we will have to fight our Targets this time too?” Akira asked.

“Probably, if our track record is anything to go by.” Yusuke answered with a defeated tone.

At that every Phantom Thief let-out a long sigh as they could already tell what Fate had in store for them.

At the same time – Distorted Fluttershy – Toy Room in the Main Building -

Something’s not right, I can feel it.” the Distorted version of the mare said scanning the room with her golden eyes.

What do you mean, Momma?” a pony Shadow asked confused.

I am sure we have visitors, tell everypony to keep their eyes open, my Dears MUST NOT BE TOUCHED!” she ordered in answer.

Of course, Momma!” the Shadows present answered, and as one, the two dozen of them rushed out to patrol every corridor.

Come if you dare! I will be waiting...” the mare hissed with a venomous tone while walking away.

With the Phantom Thieves – Entrance Hall -

UGH-YAAAAAAAH!” the pony Shadow that had transformed into a duo of ‘half-horses’ made of algae shrieked in pain as the last of the two Kelpie went forced into running away and leave the Palace.

(Kelpie)

“Okay, this was the last one, how are things on your side, Fox? (Yusuke)” Akira asked.

“We too have just finished, ready to go in?” the other answered as the Jack Frost he and his Team were facing accepted to leave behind a small bottle before running away.

“Uuh! Health Boost! Nice!” Haru said happily.

“Security is not a joke, ready to go?” Morgana asked while pointing at the door.

“Ready!”

Once entered the first floor of the Main Building, they saw the place simply swarming in Shadows patrolling between the mountains of toys in groups in very tight patterns intersecting each other.

“Fuck! What now?” Ryuji asked with a low growl of annoyance.

“...This way.” Akira answered after a long pause of thought, having re-learned to use his old ‘Sixth Sense’ as a Phantom Thief the Velvet Room had gifted him in the past.

“Where?” Ann asked confused, and rising an eyebrow as she watched her boyfriend climb one of the giant teddy-bears so to stand on top of its hand.

“Ah.” a short grunt of exertion and the maskedteen leaped from that giant plushy to the next, and clinging to the long ears of that titanic bunny plush toy so to climb it.

“This is crazy...” Makoto commented as they watched their Leader then use the ropes holding the ‘Toy Room’ banner up to reach the other row of giant plush toys at the opposite side of the room, climb down from the last Toy Soldier and hide in the middle of the life-size town of dolls.

“Crazy it may be, but Joker (Akira) had the right idea for passing the first half of the room! Let’s Go!” Morgana answered as he too started climbing the giant toys to do the same.

Sssh!” as soon as the rest of the group arrived, Akira signaled them to be quiet and to lie on the floor like him to hide under a toy car, what they saw then was Fluttershy herself come down from the second floor to scan the area herself.

Found anything?” they heard her ask.

Not yet, Momma Fluttershy.” a near Shadow answered obediently.

Keep looking, I am sure we have intruders roaming about, if that is the case, I want them captured. she ordered while returning up the stairs.

Of course, Momma!every Shadow answered in chorus.

“...”

“So she will probably protect the Treasure herself?” Haru asked, worried.

“I don’t know. Navi? (Futaba)” Ann asked unsure.

...I can’t find her, I can’t see her from outside, she must be hiding somewhere.” their Navigator answered.

“We have no choice but continue, just keep your eyes open.” Morgana answered as he moved out of their hiding spot.

Traversing rapidly the city of dolls, running fast and ignoring the surprising cry of the few Shadows that caught them, the Phantom Thieves dove for the stairs and rapidly climbed them while behind them numerous hoofsteps clip-clopped deafeningly in great hurry.

“Split!” Akira ordered as soon as they entered the second floor.

Where are they!?” the pony Shadow at the head of the group of pursuers said furious, seeing that now the intruders they were chasing had disappeared as soon as they reached the new area.

Shh!” Akira whispered to Ann, making her nod and follow him deeper into the room.

This way.” Makoto hissed, pulling Ryuji away by an ear before he could try to use the sledgehammer in his hand to bash-in the skull of the unaware Shadow in front of him.

Over here.” Yusuke mouthed while pointing towards the heavily guarded door to the third and final floor.

How?” Haru asked.

That giant nutcracker soldier.” Morgana answered pointing at the enormous toy with its mouth slack open standing by the door.

Are you serious?!

Just push, Skull! (Ryuji)” Ann growled while she and everybody else started pushing on the base of the giant toy.

WHA-BOOOOOM! With a deafening sound, the giant toy forced the pony Shadows to disperse and be confused enough for the Phantom Thieves to sneak past them and up the stairs using the chaos to cover their escape.

Third Floor – Distorted Fluttershy’s room -

“Let’s hope Fluttershy was down there, at least the ruckus will distract her too.” Ryuji said sighing while marching towards the giant bunny plush toy sitting on its hunches and holding the Treasure in its big front paws.

“So the Treasure is a bunny doll?” Ann asked confused.

“There is no mistake, I can feel it, that is Fluttershy’s Treasure!” Morgana said happily.

“Not every treasure is made out of precious materials.” Yusuke commented simply while they watched Akira climb the thing to recover the small bunny.

“I wonder what it does represent.” Haru asked.

“We’ll study its symbolism once back to the base! Now let’s go!” the talking cat answered in a hurry as he loaded a heavy-looking hook attached to a long length of rope to his giant slingshot.

You are not going anywhere!” Distorted Fluttershy’s voice echoed in the room as she entered through the window, demolishing it in a shower of glass shards to slam against Akira’s body and recover the Treasure.

You thought you could stop me?! I am doing a great service to those poor New-Foals! Without me they would be lost! Without a home! Without a Family! she yelled, flying a bit higher just to look at the assembled Thieves from a vantage point.

“They have a family already!” Akira answered, glaring at her in anger.

Not anymore! I am their Family! I am their Mother! And I will protect them FROM EVERYTHING!” Distorted Fluttershy answered.

“That is not protection, nor is it Love! You are just a sick mockery of what a real mother should be!” Yusuke countered.

“You ponies just came and turned everybody into puppets! Brain-dead zombies just to take away our world!” Ann added.

Your world!? This is our world now! I will have the Family I always wanted! The Children I have been denied by Fate will finally be mine! And if Humans have to disappear, then so be it! I WILL BE EVERYPONY’S MOTHER!” the mare roared in clear madness.

“If this place is what you believe means being a Mother, then you do not deserve to be one!” Ryuji answered, just as furious as she was.

HOW DARE YOU!? I AM GOING TO TEACH YOU TO RESPECT YOUR MOTHER! GRAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” at hearing those words, the Distorted mare’s madness simply surpassed every conceivable level, making her mane elongate and her skin get covered in blisters while her body inflated and deformed rapidly.

“Guys? Can...Can you feel it?” Akira asked breathlessly.

“This feeling, you mean? Yeah, I remember it!” Makoto answered with wide eyes.

All of them had wide eyes, but it was not fear, it was excitement! It was the pure, absolute and intoxicating feeling of adrenaline pumping through their veins in industrial quantities! It was the deafening drumming of their hearts beating so strong in their ears to eclipse every other sound! They could finally feel their being the Phantom Thieves return only now, when finally faced with the life-or-death Battle against a Palace Owner! The final spark that ignited their true return!

“BRING IT!” Ryuji yelled with a wide smile as soon as Distort Fluttershy completed her monstrous transformation.

CRAAAASH!

The now six-meters-tall monstrosity landed heavily on the floor, completely demolishing it making her and the Phantom Thieves fall down, through even the second floor and finally landing on the ground of the first floor of the Toy Room.

GRAAAAAAAAAH!

“Now the outside is matching the inside, you monster!” Yusuke declared.

Guooooh!...BaD KiDS muST be PuNisHeD!” Distorted Fluttershy gurgled with uneven and deep voice as her Real Form finally appeared in all its twisted glory: sicken grey skin covered in tumor-like blisters, some of which opening to show monstrous blood-shot golden eyes; her mane not only looking dirty and disheveled, but also long enough to drag on the floor and with flocks of long tentacles taking the place of her wings with extra eyes on their tips sprouting from her back.

Yuck! Disgusting.” Makoto commented at seeing the yellowed teeth in the deformed maw now occupying most of Fluttershy’s mouth and the hundred eyes covering most of her body.

pUniSHmeNt! PunIshMeNT! YoU AlL ArE GrOuNDeeEeD!” Distorted Fluttershy said with a deafening roar that made every Shadow present scatter and run away, and at the same time, a giant rolling pin in half-rotten wood appeared above her to be grabbed by one of her wing-tentacles to hold it in front of herself.

GROUNDEEEEEEED!” she bellowed running forward, flattening whatever was in front of her in her unstoppable charge.

“SHIT!” Ryuji shrieked as he and the others could barely dodge in time, just to see her go straight through the opposite wall without problems.

“The Treasure is hanging from her neck! If we take it we can distract her enough to finish the fight!” Morgana yelled as Distorted Fluttershy came back into the room through the left wall, still dashing towards them with the giant rolling pin in front of her like a hellish steamroller.

“DODGE!” Akira yelled, pulling Ann and Morgana away from the mad mare trajectory so to let her harmlessly demolish the far left wall and disappear.

“...I can’t hear her.” Haru whispered.

“She is trying to catch us by surprise, be careful.” Makoto answered, and it was then that the floor started trembling again.

“Yusuke! The toys!” Akira yelled.

“I got it!”

BOOOOM!

DIEEEEEE!”the Distorted mare bellowed as the last of the four walls went demolished as she re-entered the room with her charge attack.

“NOW!” Morgana yelled, and acting with perfect synchronicity, the two groups of Phantom Thieves pushed down the two giant Nutcracker Toy Soldiers that had not be touched by either crash-landing or charge just in time to have both fall on top of the Giant Fluttershy’s head to make her stumble and lose hold of her rolling pin.

ARGH! Damn you!” the monster roared in fury as she failed to stand back up on her four deformed hooves.

“NOW! Attack with all you got!” Morgana yelled while summoning his Persona Zorroto attack Fluttershy with a storm of wind attacks.

ARSENE! EIHA!” Akira intoned immediately after, making Fluttershy shriek in pain and close a dozen eyes by reflex.

“TOGETHER!” Ann said aiming with her gun, a stockless M1928A1 machine gun, at a cluster of eyes on the monster’s forehead.

“RIGHT BEHIND YOU!” Yusuke and Makoto echoed pointing their own weapons (an AK-74M and a Revolver) at similar targets.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The hail of bullets pelted Fluttershy’s head, making short blast of black smoke and tar-like ichor spurt out of the wounds at each bullet.

“YAAH!” Haru yelled as her weapon, a heavy battle-ax, hacked at one of the eyes on her tentacle-wings cleaving it in half.

GOEMON!” Yusuke yelled summoning his samurai-dressed Persona, and together with it, both assaulted the Distorted Mare with sword slashes and the sharp blade hidden in the pipe the apparition was smoking from.

ENOUGH! IF YOU KEEP DEFYING YOUR MOTHER, THEN I WILL TEACH YOU MANNERS!” Distorted Fluttershy roared as she finally mended her broken hoovesto return standing.

YOU ARE GROUNDED!” she bellowed, making her remaining eyes light-up in ghostly light.

Grah!” Akira and Ryuji growled in anger as they and Makoto felt an unnatural weight settle on their back almost paralyzing them completely.

“I-I can’t move!” Makoto gasped in shock.

I GOT YOU!” the monster yelled in glee as she swatted the three teens away with one of her tentacles.

CARMEN!” Ann bellowed, summoning her Persona and using its fire-based attacks to grab Fluttershy’s attention.

“Go help them, Mona! (Morgana)” Haru ordered while summoning her own Persona Milady that opened the front of its dress like an infernal maw to show an array of ranged weaponry to shame an army: including two Gatling guns, a bazooka, and a missile she then used to storm Fluttershy in attacks.

“Help’s coming! Drink this.” the talking cat said bringing three cans to his downed friends.

“R-Red B*ll?” Ryuji asked confused.

“Don’t you remember? The Metaverse is the world of Perception, everybody knows that Energy Drinks pump you up in energy if you feel down!” Morgana answered smirking.

“Right, so in here that can help against Slowing Spells.” Makoto answered rolling her eyes, but never denying that the drinks actually worked to return them to normal.

INCOMING!” They all heard Futaba alarmed scream as Fluttershy’s mouth opened way more than it should have been possible, almost opening the entire front half her body, to let loose a giant stream of green liquid that melted everything it touched.

“Shit! That is acid!?” Ryuji, he and Ann having barely dodged the stream, yelled with wide eyes as he watched part of his hammer sizzle having been hit by few stray drops.

You won’t escape your punishment!” Distorted Fluttershy yelled brandishing again her rolling pin with a tentacle, and waving it around in random patterns to squash them.

“That thing got even bigger!” Yusuke said, tackling Haru to the ground to save her from a particularly wild swing.

“Thank you.” she said elated.

It’s not the rolling pin that got bigger! It’s Fluttershy that got smaller!” Futaba answered in surprise.

“Smaller? Why?” Ryuji asked confused.

“Can it be because she lost few of her eyes?” Akira answered.

“The eyes...That’s it! You know what they say: Mothers have eyes in the back of their heads! So those eyes must be her weak points!” Ann yelled, shocked.

“So if we destroy those eyes, Fluttershy will lose power, and we will be able to defeat her!” Morgana added.

“At least we have a target then.” Yusuke said nodding.

ENOUGH! IT STOPS NOW! YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE ME...OR DIE!” Distorted Fluttershy bellowed having finally reached her breaking point.

Two of her tentacles grabbed both handles of her rolling pin and spun them in opposite directions, thing that produced a faint Click! Sound, soon followed by the wood of the thing exploding outwards to show that underneath a thin layer of wood were hidden hundreds of saw-blades tightly stacked together.

Clink! The sharp blades chimed dangerously as the giant mare (now reduced to ‘only’ five meters of height) slowly positioned it in front of herself as if to give the Phantom Thieves the last chance to surrender.

Tha-That thing won’t just flatten you! It will shred you! BE CAREFUL!” Futaba shrieked.

“You don’t say...” Ryuji answered tensely.

So? Your final answer? Will you stop actinglike spoiled colts and behave? Will you obey your New Mommy?!” Fluttershy asked growling.

BANG! In answer Akira whipped out his gun to shot and destroy the last eye on the mare’s face, making it explode it in a thick spurt of ichor and thus leaving only the ones on the rest of her body intact.

GYAAAAAAAAH!” Distorted Fluttershy shrieked in agony, and also deflating of few extra inches the more ichor-blood she lost.

“Actions do speak louder than words.” Yusuke said approvingly.

“SPLIT!” Haru yelled as the crazed mare darted forward even faster than before, the saw-covered rolling pin now leaving behind a giant tail of sparks as it destroyed everything in front of her, even the floor.

Crash!

As if to show its now greater attack power, the giant mare destroyed the last remaining giant toy to dust before disappearing beyond the hole in the wall she produced earlier, contrary to before though she was coming and going from the four sides of the room in a random order and at double the speed, forcing the Phantom Thieves into daring dodges barely enough to avoid her charges.

“What now!? Gah! How do we stop her enough to attack?!” Ryuji asked in between dodges as the crazed mare didn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon.

Wooosh! Crash! Always faster, Distorted Fluttershy kept exiting from a hole to re-enter from another immediately after while holding the bladed rolling pin in front of herself in a never-ending charge.

“And if she gets any faster, we won’t be able to dodge!” Morgana added in alarm.

“Gyah!” Ann yelled as the tail end of Fluttershy’s overly-long dirty mane get tangled in her leg to drag her behind the mare.

“H-HELP!”

“ANN!” Akira yelled grabbing her hand to be dragged with her.

“JOKER! PANTHER!” Haru yelled with wide eyes as she saw them disappear inside the wall to return from the opposite side of the room, still dragged by the monster, now though with Akira hugging Ann to use his body to shield her from being dragged to death on the ground while she used his knife to cut her leg free.

“It’s like a bundle of steel cables!” Ann cried-out.

“NOIR! (Haru)” Akira begged.

“Ah!” the girl replied managing to cut both free as soon they passed near her.

“You okay?” Ryuji asked as he and Yusuke helped both to get up and dodge the new charge.

“Y-Yes, more or less.” Ann replied panting.

“I think I know how to stop her now!” Makoto declared.

“How?”

“I say we all grab her hair and make her trip.” she answered.

“She is like a damn speeding truck!” Ann yelled in answer.

“You have a better idea?”

“...Let’s go with the suicide plan...” Ann conceded in defeat.

“At worst we’ll get dragged a little, better than being shredded!” Ryuji added shrugging.

“HERE SHE COME! One...Two...THREE!” Yusuke counted, and on three every one of them grabbed a handful of mane, and as expected, all of them could not last a single second and got dragged behind the crazed mare for several meters before they could let go and tumble to safety away from her.

“T-Told you it was a bad idea!” Ann, looking ready to puke from the short and hectic trip, said whining.

“It was the first plan I could come up with!” Makoto answered huffing.

“WAIT! WHERE IS JOKER?!” Morgana yelled with wide eyes as their friend was nowhere to be seen.

He is still climbing over Fluttershy’s back!” Futaba answered, shrieking in fear.

“WHAT?!” the others replied as they finally noticed their ‘Leader’ Akira stoically holding onto Fluttershy’s mane and slowly climbing his way up to her back.

“What does he plan to do?!” Ann yelled, horrified.

“I have no clue, but we must stop that thing at all cost, if his plan fails and he falls, she will kill him on the spot!” Yusuke answered, taking aim with his gun and shooting at the mare’s legs.

DAMN YOU!” the Distorted Monster replied, lifting the pin up so to turn around and take aim for him.

“She can only move forward while charging with that thing! We can use it to our advantage!”

“One of us should focus on healing Joker (Akira) with their Persona, we others will instead try to wriggle-out as much damages we could until he has done.” Morgana ordered.

With Joker -

The masked teen was in the meantime finally reaching the back of Fluttershy, and finding there the rest of her wing-tentacles waiting for him, and between them, a giant golden eye glaring at him in hatred on par with a second giant one right behind of the mare’s heavily-deformed head.

“Eyes on the back alright...Jack Frost: Mabufu!” Akira commented dryly, and opening his own side of the battle by attacking the eye between the tentacles with a wide area ice attack of the Shadow he took along.

Gyaaaah!” At the same time Fluttershy shrieked in pain, making her charge falter a little.

“Weak to ice, good to know.” Akira muttered as he dodged the wild swipes of the tentacles so to charge forward and thrust his knife deep into the eye behind the mare’s head.

GET OFF!” Fluttershy bellowed in both pain and fury as she stopped her charge and tried to buck-off the intruder, all the while still trying to flatten the other Phantom Thieves around her that kept sneaking attacks on her whenever she passed close to them.

“GAH!” Joker groaned-out in pain as he felt one of the thick tentacles slam on his chest and push him away from the eye he was stabbing again and again.

Joker! (Akira)”he heard Futaba cry out, soon followed by her own healing skill fixing his wounds.

“Thanks, Navi (Futaba)!” the young man answered grateful as he watched the almost-obliterated eye behind Fluttershy’s head close and get buried under her skin, along her body shrinking slightly under him.

What are you trying to do!?” the girl asked.

“I want to take the Treasure away from her, she is holding it around her neck thanks to her hair, if I take it she should be more worried about recovering it than attacking us.” he answered.

Like with Kamoshida? You said he went dispirited for a little as soon as you knocked off his crown.”

“Yes. How many eyes remain untouched?” he asked while diving to the side to dodge a whipping attack of the tentacles.

A couple dozen...” Futaba answered unnerved.

“Shit. I am going to try all the same!” Akira declared.

I’ll tell the others to focus their attacks on Fluttershy’s back to cover you! But for the love of God, be careful!”

“Thank you! ARSENE! Cleave!” he answered, summoning his Persona that physically attacked the giant eye between the tentacles in a flurry of black feathers, heavily damaging it.

ENOUGH!” as the entire flock of tentacles on Fluttershy’s back, minus the ones holding the pin in front of her, moved to strike the teen down all at once, bullets of every kind, small bombs and even grenades intercepted those pushing them aside and shredding several of them, further diminishing the eyes the mare possessed.

“GO! GO! GO!” Ryuji yelled while he and the others, having climbed the tallest toys they could find, kept pelting the mares back in bullets.

Using the short opening the covering fire offered him, Akira ran forward, climbed Fluttershy’s head and dropped down under her chin thanks to her long mane and the various minor wounds on her neck acting as handholds.

“There it is...” the young man said elated as he could see the tiny bunny plush doll deeply buried in the make-shift ‘scarf’ of hair Fluttershy’s transformation created to keep the Treasure safe.

Holding tightly on the bundle of hair, especially since he was standing right above the spinning saws of the mare’s rolling pin, Akira started to wildly hack at the hair to free the Treasure and steal it...And Fluttershy obviously would have none of that even if her face had been previously blinded.

NO! YOU WON’T TAKE MY BABY!” the crazed mare bellowed, stopping her charge to instead wildly bucking around, and spitting her acid attack everywhere, along madly waving around the bladed pin in her blind fury.

“NOW! She stopped running around! Destroy as many eyes you can before she manages to shock Joker off her!” Makoto ordered as her motorcycle-shaped Persona Johanna started attacking every eye she could reach in micro explosions.

“I GOT IT!” Akira yelled as he finally managed to cut a hole in her hair big enough for him to shove a fist in and pry the Treasure away and throw it at Ryuji.

NO! GIVE IT BACK! GIVE IT BACK!” with a scream eerily similar to a scared baby, Fluttershy stopped thrashing around and focused on the blond boy.

“SHIT! WHY ME?!” Ryuji yelled as he started backpedaling away from her.

No! My baby! Give it back! I’ll be good! I’ll be good!” the mare begged, looking like a drug addict being denied its dose, and ditching the bladed rolling pin to chase Ryuji.

“She is distracted! We can finally finish her off!” Morgana said excited.

“But how!? We still need to destroy the last eyes, and those are all on those infernal tentacles of hers! I ran-out of bullets hours ago!” Makoto answered.

“Me too...And I feel too drained to use the abilities of my Persona.” Haru added, looking at the empty grenade launcher in her hands in sadness.

“Me as well, the headache I have suggests that another skill from Goemon and my brain will be liquefied by the strain. But I may have a plan.” Yusuke answered.

“Then be quick, that thing is getting close to Skull (Ryuji).” Ann, once helped Akira get back up from being buckled-off by Fluttershy, said worried.

“Sorry about that, he was the closest.” Akira added with a sorry tone.

“No worries. Here is my idea: there are still puddles of that monster’s acid spit everywhere melting the floor, and she is still paying attention to not step on them while mindlessly chasing him, my guess is that while she can spit it out, her own body is not immune to it, if we can trick her into falling into one of those puddles, maybe the acid there will destroy the remaining eyes for us.” Fox (Yusuke) explained, while somehow ignoring the shrieks and requests of help from the still-fleeing Ryuji.

“May as well try! You up for it, Joker? (Akira)” Morgana asked.

“Of course.”

“Then let’s go!” Makoto urged them as she went first to save her own boyfriend.

With Ryuji -

PLEASE, I BEG YOU! GIVE ME BACK MY BABY!” Distorted Fluttershy bellowed in tears, those too highly-corrosive apparently, while she chased Ryuji without stop.

“STOP CHASING ME, YOU DAMN PSYCHOTIC BASTARD!” Ryuji answered with a high-pitched scream himself, still holding onto the Treasure and begging the old wound on his leg to not act-up in that moment of all times when he needed to run away from death.

“SKULL (Ruiji)! OVER HERE! Throw me the Treasure!” Ann yelled as she came running from the opposite direction.

“THANK GOD!” the blond boy replied in relief as he threw the plushy at the girl, and watching Fluttershy skidding on the floor in her haste to follow her new target.

NO, PLEASE! GIVE IT BACK!” the mare bellowed in desperate need.

“QUEEN! (Makoto)” Ann yelled, throwing the bunny plush toy at the other girl and making Fluttershy almost trip on her own hooves and mane to take the sharp turn needed to chase the stolen Treasure.

“Over here!” Yusuke yelled while hanging from the side of a black van with a set of very cat-eyes-like lights on the front.

“FOX! (Yusuke)” the girl yelled launching the Treasure to him just a second before Fluttershy could catch her.

FLOOR IT, JOKER!” Morgana yelled as soon as Yusuke grabbed the bunny.

“Glad to see you can still turn into our van!” the teen replied starting the engine and pushing the ‘Morgana-Van’ forward at top speed.

Be thankful Miyazaki’s works are still relevant enough for people to believe in cat-shaped cars!” Morgana answered above the roaring of his own engine.

“Please go faster! She is catching-up!” Yusuke asked as he still held onto the back of the van to be visible by Fluttershy.

MY BABYYYYY!” the Distorted monster yelled in answer as she was rapidly catching up to the speeding van.

With Haru and Ryuji -

“You know? That looks identical from that scene of that dinosaur movie...” Ryuji said as he watched the van rapidly reaching their position.

“Please focus! We have not much time!” Haru answered with a tense voice.

Noir! (Haru). Please tell me you are ready!” Futaba asked.

“We are! Tell them to hurry before the cover melts too!” Haru answered while she and Ryuji dove for cover so to not be seen.

Incoming!” Futaba answered a second before the black Van reached them.

“NOW!” Akira yelled as soon as they were above the thin cover Haru and Ryuji had recovered and crafted from the broken giant toys around them.

At Akira’s signal, Morgana undid his transformation to return into being a cat, and propelling him together with Akira and Yusuke forward, avoiding by a hair the giant puddle of acid that had been barely hidden under pieces of broken toys under them.

MY BAB-GYAAAAAAAAAAH!” Fluttershy screamed in agony as the cover broke under her titanic weight, making her fall into the melted floor to bathe in her own acidic spit, and luckily, as Yusuke guessed she was not immune to its corrosive power.

Finally dragging herself out of the slimy muck, Fluttershy finally lost the last remaining eyes (Along a lot of flesh together with them) and even one of her hooves, turning her into an ichor-drenched mess weakly whimpering in pain.

“It worked...” Haru commented with a low voice.

“It’s a miracle she didn’t die.” Ryuji added with a grimace.

“Look! She is turning back!” Ann yelled in answer.

In front of them, as soon as the very last eye disappeared, Fluttershy’s body deflated completely, with her tumor-covered skin becoming completely black and melting away so to leave the original mare lying in the middle of a giant puddle of tar-like black ichor, her butter-yellow fur and pink mane taking back their rightful place along the golden eyes of her being the Distorted version of the original Fluttershy.

“It’s over, Fluttershy.” Akira said calmly while training his gun between her eyes.

I just...I just wanted to be a mother...” the mare admitted with tear-stained eyes, her voice weak and low as she simply lied there, defenceless.

“And you imprisoned people just for that?” Ann asked, she and the others too pointing their guns at the mare, and all of them hoping she didn’t know they all had empty clips in them.

“Yeah! Why not having some kid the normal way?” Ryuji added, snarling.

I-I-I-I...I am sterile...” Distorted Fluttershy said with a pained expression.

“...” The Phantom Thieves could only stand there in silence at that, they really had no answer to that admission.

It happened after our battle against Tirek...He...He attacked me and something happened that-that stole the ability to have foals from me...T-T-Then the Princess brought us here, and Discord had to turn Evil again before he could fix me! Nopony could fix me and the only one that could is now a Statue...I-I-I was desperate!” the mare said, by now her dam was broken, and she was unable to stop pouring-out her grievances.

“But this doesn’t-”

I KNOW!” Fluttershy’s scream silenced Makoto instantly, and new tears started welling in her eyes.

But I focused on helping humans into accepting Conversion so to not think about that...I hated the fact that they were reduced into those poor things...B-B-B-But then I started taking care of them...I saw their innocent smiles whenever they saw me...THEY RECOGNIZED ME! They saw in me somepony that was there to take care of them, to love them, to cherish and love everything about them...L-Like a baby with their mother...

“And you found yourself unable to let them go.” Akira said sighing.

They were filling that hole I knew I could never fill because of my infertility, and the more I continued, the more scared I was that I could lose them...And I left that fear make me close those cages...T-They were supposed to stay open, I first decided to use that park so to let them have a nice place to play in so to keep them occupied...But then one got hurt and...and...and...”

“And this nursery was born.” Yusuke finished for her, by now all of them had put away their guns.

Y-Yes...I-I-I am sorry, b-b-but I just wanted to be a mommy! To hold a foal or a colt and feel them fall asleep in my embrace, to watch them sleep, to hear them call me ‘Mommy!’ and ask me to carry them on my back! W-Why can’t I have that?! Why me!?” the mare answered, finally breaking down into sorrowful, desperate sobbing.

“What about the bunny?” Akira asked, surprising the others with his taking the Treasure and walking closer to the mare.

M-My mother gave me that when I moved to Ponyville, she said that I used to play with it all the time when I was little. She told me that when one day I would have had a foal myself, to give it to them as well...” Fluttershy answered between hiccups.

“Being a mother doesn’t mean keeping your children in cages so they won’t get hurt, it means be there for them along the way, watch them fall and fail and help them get back on their feet and learn from their mistakes; to be there when they have doubts and reassure them they can do it when they feel down, and be there with them to cheer at their successes. You can teach them how to face hardships, not forcefully protect them from everything.” Yusuke said.

B-But!”

“You may not be able to have children the usual way, but you others have adoption too, right?” Ryuji interrupted her, sighing.

I-I-I don’t know...”

“Nobody is born already knowing how to be a father or a mother, but you can ask your mother to help you, she did raise you.” Makoto answered.

But I did all this...

“You were Corrupted by something, this Distortion is just the result, you are the Element of Kindness, don’t you? You have the heart in the right place, you just need to learn when to jump-in and when to let your children do things by themselves.” Morgana answered with crossed arms.

Do I still deserve to be a mother?” Fluttershy asked, hopeful.

“Yes, you do. Everybody deserves a second chance if they really want to change. You can and will be wonderful mother, one day.” Akira answered, handing her the Bunny plush and, once again shocking his friends, hugging the Distorted Mare.

Thank you...” the Distorted mare answered with a small smile, briefly returning the hug and then fading away in a swarm of pure-white lights leaving the teen boy holding the Treasure in his hands.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

As soon as the last spark of light disappeared, the whole construction started to shake violently, making every wall crumble and the towers outside topple to the side by themselves.

“THE PALACE IS CRUMBLING! RUUUUUUN!” Morgana shrieked with wide eyes and turning into the black van to help the other Phantom Thieves leave before getting squashed by the self-destructing Palace.

The Next Day – Run-down shop ‘Untouchables’ -

The assembled Phantom Thieves were sitting at the table occupying the storage room on the shop’s back while watching the plush toy of a bunny the ended-up taking it from Fluttershy’s Palace as its Treasure.

“You know? All things considered, that mare was just desperate to be a mom, and she got Corrupted for it.” Ryuji admitted with a sigh.

“A deep sense of sorrow and helplessness that went used to have her become such twisted creature, in the end, she too was a victim in this.” Yusuke confirmed with a sorrowful expression.

“Igor compliments us for a job well done, he confirmed that part of the Darkness protecting Celestia’s heart gained few cracks, if we keep this up and go through the whole list, by the time it will be her turn there won’t be any extra defence stopping us from stealing her Treasure.” Akira said as soon as he walked out from the blue door to the Velvet Room that had opened in their secret base.

“And with the help of the Elements of Harmony, whatever Evil that came here with them and is bringing Ruin and Distortion everywhere too shall be destroyed.” Lavenza added while she stood by the door.

“Two unknown evil entities joining forces to destroy Equestria and Earth, this mess is too big.” Makoto answered groaning.

“Me and Master Igor know you can do this, we have faith in your capabilities.” the short girl answered with a gentle smile.

“How long do you think it will take for the results of Fluttershy’s Change of Heart to show up?” Haru asked.

“That is a good question, a week maybe? Or less?” Futaba answered humming thoughtful.”

“Results will show soon, we know that Fluttershy’s Heart has been stolen and purified from Distortion, you just have to be patient.” Lavenza answered.

“Nobody asked you.” Ann countered bitterly.

“Are you afraid of competition, perhaps?” Lavenza countered with narrowed eyes.

“Not from a doll-like bimbo.” the young girl answered growling.

“I am over a thousand years old. At best, I am the perfect ‘Legal Loli’, Miss Ann.” Lavenza countered haughtily.

“Tch!”

“Dude, you are not intervening?” Ryuji whispered.

“...” Akira simply shook his head in the negative as an answer.

“I believe he is indeed valuing his life more, I fear it will be detrimental to get between those two at this moment.” Yusuke supplied.

“Yes, what he said.” Akira confirmed nodding.

A week later – Human Side of the Barrier -

“Glad to see you are still alive.” Sojiro said sighing as he saw the Phantom Thieves enter the apartment Sae left them use to meet the teens.

“Always the positive guy. Let me check on them instead.” Tae, the punk back-alley doctor, answered shaking her head while moving to give a rapid check-up to the teens.

“Any news from the ponies?” Makoto asked.

“Not much as they keep everything close to their chests, and even if they catch some human supporters, the calm ones keep their mouths shut while the more zealous are perennially hyper, so telling when they are excited about something serious or not gets complicated.” her sister replied with a tired sigh as she sipped her coffee.

“The change in Fluttershy should happen any moment now, if it didn’t happen already.” Yusuke supplied helpful.

“And you are sure it will happen?” Sojiro asked, unconvinced.

“We did exactly the same thing we did in the past with our other targets, we are sure it will work this time too.” Ann answered, determined.

Driiiin! Driiiin! Driiin!

“Uh? Who’s now?” Makoto asked curious as the plain ringtone echoed in the room.

“Ah...It’s one of my old colleagues at the Police department...Yes?” the girl’s sister replied while finally answering to the call.

“...What do you mean ‘I knew I was right’? I said I have no connection to the Phantom Thieves! Why are you even using this number?!...Of course I would not have answered if I saw YOUR number...Yes...Yes, I will check it out. And no, I don’t know who the Phantom Thieves are, nor the old or the new formation, if there is one...No, I was not aware you saw our old suspect escape with his parents from the Pony raids, I seriously thought...No, I am not lying!...Good! Glad to see you finally believe me. Yes, yes, good day to you too.”

“Who was it?” Ryuji asked, curious.

“My old boss in the Police Department, apparently he expected me to not answer shold he call me with his own phone so he coaxed a friend of mine to lend him hers.”

“Okay, and?”

“And dear Akira should learn some subtly.”

“It was an unplanned daring escape.” Akira answered shrugging.

“We were more worried about me bleeding to death and the ponies chasing us.” the young man’s father added showing his bandaged stump.

“I’ll let the matter drop, this time. By the way, the reason that old man called me was that yesterday a group of fanatics managed to get in touch with that Fluttershy’s mare to interview her...You can guess how ‘Eye-Opening’ her words were.” Sae answered with a meaningful look on her face.

Augh! We missed her confession? How did I miss it?! I scouted the internet ever since we did steal her Treasure!” Futaba said groaning.

“As far as I know those very same groups tried their best to cover it, but as anything that ever went online, it can’t be erased completely.”

“Internet never forgets!” the short girl said, smirking.

“Exactly, since it happened just yesterday, the thing still had not enough time to be divulged beyond the normal channels of those maniacs, but it will probably become public knowledge soon enough, especially if Police and politicians WANT that to be seen by as many people as possible so to destabilize Celestia and her plans. DO you want me to ask for a copy?”

“If you don’t mind.” Haru asked gently.

Sigh! “I’ll make a couple calls...”

Meanwhile – Pony Side of the Barrier – Twilight’s ‘Lab’ in the occupied human territories -

“...It is all a lie! I lived a lie and helped everypony spreading it! Conversion doesn’t get better, it never does! Those poor dears remain stuck like that a-a-and can barely fend for themselves! I-I-I was...I was just just so desperate to be a mother that I ignored the truth and kept those poor New-Foals prisoner so to be my “Dears”, my children, all because I cannot have foals anymore...I-I cannot do this anymore! I cannot lie to me, to you humans, or Equestria anymore! I only wish for you to forgive me, even if I do not deserve forgiv...”

Twilight and both Celestia and Luna were watching the recording of Fluttershy’s admission in one of the hundreds of monitors filling the neo-alicorn’s main lab, replaying again and again to record any possible change in Fluttershy’s mannerism that could suggest brainwashing or foul play.

“It’s the tenth time I watch this, and everything suggests that Fluttershy is saying this on her own volition...Those human ‘Elements’ worked like we suspected, they found what to them was Fluttershy’s ‘Inner Darkness’ and removed it, making her go through a Change of Heart that had her talk like this.” Twilight finally decreed while narrowing her eyes, still showing signs of lack of sleep.

“I would have preferred the truth about Conversion staying hidden until we found a solution.” Luna answered frowning.

“I am still working on it, but I have not enough data to find a cure for the dementia our potion causes to humans, even if the Tests I ran suggested that this should not have happened at all.” Twilight answered without moving her eyes away from the various monitors.

“I will ask Cadence to send here few more Nwe-Foals to help your experiments.” Luna supplied.

“Thank you, Princess. What will happen now to Fluttershy?”

“We have reports of Fluttershy’s releasing the New-Foals she had in her care back to the humans, along delivering herself to their authorities just one hour ago. We cannot locate her, so we guess they are keeping her hidden somewhere so to deprive us of one of the Elements of Harmony...IF she also told them about that.” Celestia explained, looking grimly at the video as soon as it started again from the beginning.

“No clue about who the hay those Phantom Thieves are?” Luna asked.

“Nothing, Princess Luna. The usual voices and rumors that lead to nowhere and even contradict each other, even their ‘Phantoms Aficionados Site’ returned online full-force and is swarming in old and new followers...Again, no traces about who manages it.” Twilight answered grimacing.

“So the humans posses magic, they could still steal Fluttershy’s Heart even while she was hiding behind the Barrier...I was not expecting this.” Celestia said with narrowed eyes.

“No, sister, they managed that while she was inside our very Castle.” Luna corrected her bitterly.

“WHAT?!” Twilight asked in shock.

“How can you tell?” Celestia instead asked more calmly, albeit with a chilling tone.

“Because I was personally guarding her Dream Realm just in case, and at a certain point I saw it ‘Shatter’ like glass and forcefully kick me out. It was not merely her waking-up, it was something BIGGER shocking her mind down to its core.”

“Something as big as a life-changing ‘Change of Heart’, perhaps?” Celestia asked rhetorically.

“Precisely.”

“H-How!? The Barrier is impervious to Magic and Human Weapons! The Royal Castle is extremely Magic-resistant and an Alicorn was personally on guard against intruders! How can this happen? Humans cannot survive even the smallest touch of the Barrier nor can they live inside it!” Twilight asked.

“I was also monitoring the castle, there were no intruders detected by the wards, and once interrogated the guards, I know we had not infiltrators helping them.” Celestia added.

“So it means that even we cannot stop them from Stealing the Hearts of everypony they darn well want?” Luna demanded, furious.

“Do not fret, sister. This time they managed a small Miracle, but there won’t be a second time, should they feel so bold as to try again, they will find us ready and waiting for them.” Celestia answered, unafraid.

“I cannot wait.” the moon Alicorn answered eager.

“Dear Twilight, please see if you can discover something about them or how they did it, we still cannot rule out that they are simply brainwashing their victims, we are racing against time before the Barrier covers this entire world, and I cannot live with the thought that our coming here by mistake may cause the extinction of an entire race. We cannot let fear mongers stop us from saving Humanity.” Celestia begged with a concerned tone.

“I will do my best, Princess! I will tell the others to be always on guard! And I will do everything in my power to know everything we need to help humanity!...I will know everything.” Twilight answered promptly, and the two Alicorn sisters missed the strange clouding of her eyes, especially since that came and went too fast even for them to see while they left her alone with her studies to return to the floating island holding Canterlot and their Castle.

And of course, none of them saw the small dragon stealthily leaving the room unnoticed by the three Alicorns, neither they saw his utterly worried expression about Twilight’s well-being and strange behavior.

A little extra to help my readers, and fill the void of my not-so-outstanding talent!

Akira and his Persona: Arsene

(Unfortunately I cannot add a picture of Carmen (Ann's Persona) because of her revealing dress making her slightly NSFW, if you are curious about her, I am afraid you will have to google her yourself, my apologies...

Captain Kidd (Ryuji's Persona)

Goemon (Yusuke's Persona)

Zorro (Morgana's Persona)

Makoto's Persona: Johanna

Haru's Persona: Milady (Normal)

Haru's Persona: Milady (Weapons Out)

Morgana Car Form

Fluttershy's Monster Form? Just imagine the unholy fusion of these two, their mind-scarring daughter

Plus this:

Charming, isn't she?...