You, Minato Arisato, have met your friends and given your last goodbyes but, it wasn't the end. The dark hour still exists and only you can help the citizens fight against the darkness... But how?
**Slight Spoiler regarding ending of P3 and P3P. You have been warned.**
You have been given another chance to once again save others from the dark hour. Will you accept this chance? Arisato Minato?
Tartarus, the dark hour and the shadows don't just exist in the human world. It exist everywhere as long as there are others who have darkness inside them. And only you, Arisato Minato can help defeat the darkness. Now take up your mantle as the fool and help others to their paths.
Well here's my first shot at a second person pov using my favorite persona game. I also made this to get myself out of the writer's block I'm having... This might help me make new chapters for my other stories..
The darkness inside you was defeated by your friends thus, you were able to have a conversation with them albeit one-sided, it was nice to see their faces once more. You rekindle the almost forgotten memories you threw away when you sacrificed yourself. Remembering the memories, emotions and trust with your team, your friends. The tears once again fell even though your form is that of a statue, the emotions were true. And it is with heavy heart and even heavier burden that you gave up your life and future for the lives and futures of your friends, and if fate so wields it. You will do so again. You chuckle in your mind as you slowly and silently drift away into nothingness, once again returning to a seal and nothing else.
"You have given your word. That the future that happens is because of your own choice and nothing else, But I regret to inform you that your services may once again be needed, and if so, will you once again take up the mantle and be a protector once more?"
You remember this voice, it was the very same voice that has pulled you in, that helped you to get stronger, the master of the velvet room, "Igor", you are not sure if that is even his name. You doubt that he lies to you but, he is shrouded in mystery and as such, nothing about this person can be surely true but if there's one thing you can be sure of its that regarding the darkness, as long as he told you then it's true. You want to help others, release them from their darkness but how? For as long as you know, you cannot move from this very spot. You are the seal that stops the darkness from getting through. You are what protects the world from sure death and destruction. How can you help?
"I understand your worries Master Minato, that I along with my previous master, now colleague have a plan, and who knows? If you succeed once more, you may not need to sacrifice yourself anymore... Ahhh but that is all in due time, for now, we seek answers, but act fast, your consciousness will soon fade once more."
He was right, you feel yourself slowly slipping away, but you still think to yourself, will everything be alright if you leave? Can you really trust their plan will work? You forget about these questions, though your face shows passiveness, inside, you are more than ready to take on whatever challenge awaits to help others in their plight. That darkness you once held, you don't want anyone else to feel it. You strengthen your resolve and gave them your answer.
"It seems you are ready? That is good. It is time for you to once again sign the contract and be the fool once more, will you once again accept full responsibility for your actions?"
You did as what was told and the procedure went smoothly, and as soon as he got a hold of the contract, a man with a mask came and lead you to somewhere.
"I hate to be the bringer of misfortune but, the powers and strengths that you have gathered here in this world will stay on this world only. Your wits, smarts and physical prowess earned by hardworking will however, go with you, but even then, things may not go according to plan."
All those power you got were going to be useless wherever you were going but, you are not afraid, you are ready to keep on going. You have seen the death of a friend, you will not let anyone else carry the burden of the darkness gained from grief. You will be fine. You hear the man beside you chuckle as you near a door of some sort.
"You are not afraid? That is good. For the very world you will go to will not be the same one right now. That world may change your form but will you be ready? They are what you can view as purity unblemished, let me warn you now. The world you will go to is a world of Fantasy and equines, those of the legendary dragons and unicorns that were once living in ours. Will you still be ready then? "
The world you are going to will be that of the same as those of the books given to you by Fuuka, one were magic and magical beings exist. That world will apparently change your form, but none of those issues matter. As long as you can help others. As long as you have that one thing that helped you from the start to the finish. Before all this, you wouldn't even bother. But now you are willing to help. Now you are ready. You nod.
"Indeed you are, but if I may ask, why and how are you ready? Is it perhaps because of what you have right now? If so, will you tell me what it is before you go?"
You feel as if he already knows what it is, but you decide to humor him and yourself by telling him directly what it is that gives you courage and hope. You open your mouth and yell.
"PERSONA!"
A bright light then shone from the door and your consciousness soon is no more.
However unbeknownst to you, in the land where you are now headed to, appears a very dark, creepy and dangerous tower. And a lone figures far away looks at the tower with both awe and fear as it cowers from the phenomenon.
"W... What happened?! The water changed into blood, the moon turned green... And the tower of evil appeared... What could this possibly mean Princess?!" Worry and distraught carrying over the voice, as it searches for comfort
"I do not know Twilight Sparkle, but this may very well be... The biggest problem Equestria may face." As the princess tried to soothe the figure named Twilight, it should appear that she herself was also worried
You regain consciousness and look around noticing the absence of everything except yourself. You are surrounded by darkness that strangely feels welcoming rather than out of place. Taking time to think of the current situation, you sit down crossing your legs and listening to your device at it makes music, you close your eyes for better concentration when...
"Well, well, well... What do we have here? You are once again on the realm of the living my master?" a booming sound, almost screeching. You recognize this voice as it slowly gets closer to you as it somehow appeared from the darkness from out of nowhere. It tries to grab and get a hold of you with it's left hand when it was suddenly struck with a harp. The booming voice reeled its hand back in pain as it hissed towards its aggressor.
"You have no right to touch the master. You should know that right now, you are nothing but danger to him in his current state." another voice called out, as it's figure came out of nothingness
Before anymore damage can be dealt by the two gigantic figures in front of you, you decide to stop them. You explain to them your current predicament and how weak you are right now in terms of power and force. The damage of wielding someone as savage as Thanatos would be suicidal right now without proper strength and experience. It would seem like a weak thing to say but, as it stands you are too weak to even use Orpheus in his unsealed form. You decide that using Orpheus would be the ideal thing to do.
The place around you soon start to crack as you then suddenly notice the searing pain covering your entire being. You scream out into the air as both Thanatos and Orpheus vanish into thin air.
?????
You wake up seeing a dark sky... Or what should suppose to be a dark black sky, now green and eerie together with an even creepier green moon. You scoff at the sight, remembering all the memories you had with this very same predicament. You then tried to get up and ultimately failing as you flail around like a toddler on his first try to walk, even falling face first a few times. You then soon grumble as you lift your face of the ground and suddenly pushed with all your might to stand up, succeeding for a few seconds and then miraculously losing your balance and landing head first on the ground. It wouldn't really hurt normally but you feel a surge of pain coming for the top of your head. A protrusion that one would normally call a ['horn'] exists on top of your head.
You would normally panic right now but, now is not the time. Lives are in danger and you plan to save them. If only you can actually stand up and walk. You gave up trying to stand up and question why you couldn't even do it in the first place. Giving it some careful planning and thought, you found yourself... Well... Not yourself! You notice your hands and feet were missing but instead were replaced with hooves. You thought of the most basic things of how to stand up now, you act as a four legged being, such as a dog or a cat or in this case, a horse.
You give it a few minutes of practicing with your newly transformed body to understand how to stand up better and after a few tumble and back flops did you finally succeed into standing up, giving yourself a pat on the back you decide to go to the nearest place that screams 'danger' but you then unceremoniously slid into a dive to the dirt as you haven't yet mastered the basic bodily functions other than standing up. Groaning, you give another few minutes of practice on how to walk and run with this body.
Covered in scratch and bruises that were not even gained from fighting big, masked monsters. You can't help but crack a smile at your current predicament. This was not cool in the least.
Charm - 5 > 3 Courage - 5 > 2
Shaking your head and removing those thoughts, you look up at the sky and wonder why it was still the dark hour. You were sure that it's already over an hour since you came here when suddenly...
"GROOAOOARRAAHHH!" a monstrous growl from the south followed by a scream. You decided that now is not the time to wallow in self pity but a time to help those in trouble.
?????
As soon as you got to the site, you saw two figures, the same as your current figure, both were, if based on earth mythologies that you so loved to read, would be an Alicorn. A being that ascended from both Unicorn and Pegasus, a being of pure magical prowess. If so that would make you a unicorn?! A being that was said to be strangely connected to Gaia, the earth Titan.
You would delve deeper into this thought if it weren't for the fact that their colors were a little bit too... 'Bright' for no better word and also that those two Alicorns were under attack! They were able to navigate through the giant beast but it was able pin down the smaller Alicorn under its grasp and held one of its claws above, ready to strike...
"TWILIGHT!!!" The larger Alicorn wanted to help but it seemed to be hurt from a wound sustained by the dark being, you frantically look around for something, anything! That can resemble a weapon. Of all the mistakes you could make, it was forget to bring the Evoker or at the very least, bring a worthy weapon, hitting the ground in anger you grabbed a stick, albeit small was enough to be a makeshift sword. You almost spit it out in disgust but now is not the time
You ran and galloped as fast as you could, hoping that you'd make it in time, you saw the claw being brought down to the unlucky captive and in a last ditch effort, you gave your back legs a strong insert of energy as you jumped towards the monster! You spun your airborne body around and used the stick in your mouth as a makeshift shield, evidently getting it crushed and your body getting wounds, but this was nothing you couldn't handle. You've gotten worse before.
Only now noticing you, the monster and the two Alicorn were surprised by your sudden intervention. You didn't pay them any mind as you began to stomp at the limb that was holding the purple Alicorn and as it was supposed to, the monster reeled back and clutched its appendage in pain, causing both Alicorns to once again be surprised.
"How... How were you able to hurt it...?" Normally, anyone can hurt it. Guns, swords, axes, staves, even a good old one two punch can hurt it, but of course you'd have to be able to carry inside you a persona or else you'd be 'playing dead' inside a coffin. And seeing as these two here was still lively and energetic, then they have the possibility to summon their respective personas. So why couldn't they be able to at least damage the shadow?
"Aargh!" you scream out in pain from being blindsided by the enemy, apparently what you did wasn't enough to make it go away, you see the two going near you, but you yelled at them to find a safe place to hide.
"What about you?! You're injured!" The purple Alicorn worriedly asked you but you still told them to go, hesitantly, they nodded and went farther away from the monster, dodging all attacks from the monster until you could no longer see the two. Once they were far, you decided it was time to fight back, but how? You don't know. But you will try! That's why you went here in this world in the first place.
Courage - 2 > 3
As soon as you resolved your will to fight, you suddenly ducked away from a swipe from the lupine like arm that went swinging to you and stepped backwards from a smash from those very same arms. You can fight back easily, but damaging it was a far probability. You can only deal small amounts of damage using your Han... Hooves but as far as doing any real damage, it was still impossible without being able to summon your persona.
"Princess Celestia! What should we do?! The stallion that saved us is in trouble!" Though frantic, and even borderline close to passing out, the purple Alicorn was worried for the safety of the pony that saved them, however the other Alicorn was in grief knowing that there was nothing they could do at the moment.
"We tried, Twilight. We tried as hard as we could! We used all sorts of magic! Binding magic, elemental magic, even destructive magic were nothing to that monster! All we can do now is gather our strength and take that pony away from danger once we get our strength back." Grimace showing on both their faces, they could do nothing but wait and rest to help the savior to escape... But nothing could have prepared them for what would happen next.
You were in trouble, grave trouble, but even then, you felt yourself getting lighter and lighter, faster and faster as if the strikes, swings, jabs and bites aimed at you were nothing but a slow moving bug in the air. You dodge and dodge continuously but, even you know your dexterity wouldn't last long under your current wounds. You need to find a way to end this fast. Not paying attention to the geography of the land, you accidentally slipped and the shadow saw this as an opportunity to strike as it swooped in for the kill, minutes, seconds, milliseconds away and everything around you slows to a halt.
"Thou art I, and I art thou. From the sea of thy soul, I cometh... I am Orpheus, master of strings, call my name and I shall come to thy aid." hearing this voice, you suddenly grinned as you wasted no time in yelling out.
"ORPHEUS!" and as what was said, a bright light soon then flashed from between you and the shadow, momentarily stunning the shadow and stopping its attacks.
As soon as the light dimmed down, a being larger than you and a little bit smaller than the shadow was now floating above you. It was a relief to know that you needn't the evoker anymore but it would definitely be harder to summon other personas if you don't have the evoker. You grin while looking at the shadow thinking to yourself 'It's time'. Taking advantage of the still stunned shadow, you wasted no time yelling out a command.
"Agi!" the large being above you then strummed its harp gently as a ball of flames the size of a watermelon appeared just right above your face, it came from your horn which was now glowing slightly bright. You instinctually threw the ball of fire towards the enemy hoping it would at least do decent damage and as it hit, the shadow screeched out in pain indicating it caused more damage than what you hoped for. If only Fuuka was here to scan the enemy. You yelled out another command hoping it would once more do damage.
"Bash!" you feel your muscles in your hooves contracting, gathering power as Orpheus itself was holding the large harp as a club, you ran to the left side of the beast as Orpheus ran to the right side of it and you both delivered the final attack as Orpheus bashed it with the harp, so did you with a well delivered kick.
The damage was too much for it as it suddenly burst into small particles of darkness and into nothingness, you felt yourself grow stronger as your persona once again gains battle experience and both you and your persona grew stronger once more
You often see these numbers before, and it often baffles you about what they could mean, you remember these exists on games you've previously played but this is no game... This is all real... You thought this but the thought was cut off as the pain caused you to lose strength and black out, and Orpheus putting its harp to its back before vanishing.
The two that you had previously saved, now slowly and cautiously walked towards you.
"Princess..."
"I know what plagues your mind Twilight Sparkle, but for now, we need to help this colt and tend to his wounds. We will deal with Tartarus and whatever transpired here when he wakes up. For now he needs help." The now named Twilight wanted to argue but nevertheless agreed as they lifted you up and carried you away towards a certain direction, a few minutes later and the weirdly long time of 'The Dark Hour' has finally ceased and the normality of everything came back once more.
You once again wake up and stare into nothingness. You know this is somehow connected to the rifts of space, yet you wonder, why is your body like this? Why has your body changed? A small blue butterfly appeared in front of you and you stared at it with little to no interest other than boredom. It transformed into the masked man, Igor's colleague if you remembered correctly.
"It seems you have questions? Tell me what troubles you and I shall answer when possible. But be wary, this will not last as long as possible. You are currently asleep and as soon as you wake up, the connection will automatically be cut." he explained thoroughly, no mistakes and perfectly given to you. You ask him the first questions that comes to your mind.
"I explained to you before, your body will change but, as to your power. I regret to inform you but, since you have changed your body in accordance to this world's rule, you are currently 'back to level one' so to speak." the man before you just made a game reference but, it seemed to be the perfect explanation on how something as weak as that was able to last long and hit hard. You once again ask another question.
"Only a few choice belongings were brought here, normally those within you are brought here, your gadgets for example, are here in this world as it has never left your body. Weapons and the like however are not brought here as you yourself did not have any when you traversed here." now that he explained it, it did seem that was the case. Well even if you have no weapons right now, it doesn't matter, as long as you have your portable music player that charges using the solar powers of the sun. It was made especially for you by the kirijo group. You think to yourself, you should probably thank her when you meet her again.
For the other gadget however, was a gift from a teammate, Fuuka Yamagishi, she was a shy and sweet girl, who was not that good in cooking now that you remember. Though cooking was not her forte, never giving up was a strong point of hers, add to the fact that she was quite the techy girl. She made the headphones you were using in battles. It was styled especially for you, durable to sustain any fall and not break. You bet that the headphones are a lot stronger than the current you right now. Chuckling at the thought, you ask the man another question.
"As you suspected. There are others here with the power to summon one's persona from the sea of souls but, having the potency and doing it are two different things. Normally, having potency would guarantee one would be able to damage the shadows. But something from the other side is messing up the natural order. Something else is happening." this caught you by surprise. What was happening over the other world?
"Sadly, I am no longer a part nor a relevance to whatever is happening but fear not. Other chosen ones are 'on the case' as they called it. Worry not about the other side, they have experienced combatants such as your former allies, here however, right now only you are able to fight back against those monsters and with the appearance of Tartarus on this side, things are about to go downhill." you wanted to ask more but the person in front of you started fading as he shook his head.
"I will answer your other questions in due time, for now, it is time for you to awaken." as if it was a magical phrase you woke up, lying in a bed inside a room, you deduce that you are currently in a hospital room or the like. You try to sit up only to be greeted by pain. If only you had some bead chain or maybe a diarahan spell.
Without any immediate danger, you use this chance to assess the situation, you've already accepted the fact that you are now an equine being, a unicorn at that. Taking the time to look at yourself, you notice a tattoo near your... Er... Buttocks, for no better term, it was the shape of a number. Zero to be precise, you pay it no heed as you look around once more. You notice your S.E.E.S. Uniform was missing, you remember from yesterday the feeling of cloth was vaguely touching you yesterday, now you feel the cloth missing. Even though covered in fur, you find yourself strangely, naked for some weird reason, you give up trying to feel comfortable as you rummage around the bed searching for your music player, trying and failing to find it. You deduce that it, along with your uniform was gone.... NOW you really are naked.
You chose to ignore the facts of reality as you calmly looked outside the window, thinking of what you should do now? You hear steps coming nearer, your senses seem to be stronger right now, you ignore them and continue lazing on. The door opened and came in seven equines, this room is quite big now that you think about it. You look at them with half lidded eyes and then looked back to the window paying them no attention. They seem to be talking to one another, you'd rather not get in their way. This doesn't have anything to do with you being lazy, nope. Not a thing. They however, think that you are needed in the conversation.
"Umm, excuse me, sir? I am Twilight Sparkle and these are my friends, along with Princess Celestia. We need to ask you about something." You notice she was beating around the bush, you turned your eye towards their direction, still looking bored apparent by how it was half lidded. You already know that whatever she wants to know was about what happened last night but you decide to humor her. You raise your eye as if telling her 'What?'.
"Well, I never! We are here to ask you of something, the least you could do is look at us while we are talking to you." You look at her, unable to comprehend what she means, could she not know your current status? You sigh. You try to get things over with as you grunted to change your position so you can directly look at the group.
"O-oh. I'm sorry, I never expected you to be under that much pain." All your years of being passed around from family to family, you've learned to read the expressions of people but, could you read the expressions of the equines? You have two choices, you can try and read the white equine's facial expression and tell her something, or you'll just ignore it.
You decide to gather your courage and read her expression, if you fail this, your charm might just lower and possibly your first impression as well. You looked at her intently even though your eyes remain at half lid like you always do. You discern her expression as regret or humility? You waved your ha.. Hoof! Hoof! This could get really confusing, you waved your hoof at her and reassured it was fine.
"Oh, sorry, and thanks." She was somehow caught off guard, maybe she thought you'll be angry? She was thankful nevertheless and that's all that mattered.
"I'm Rarity." You were asked a question but, you guess this is a better start than a question? You see her holding her hoof out. Normally you'd do a shake, some sort of handshake except with hooves but, you've already gathered your courage to be a bit more daring, so instead of the shake. You stand up and slowly grabbed her hoof and planted a kiss. Something that Bebe taught you was more courteous towards other females. As you let go of her hoof, you tell them your name.
"I-I see... Forgive me Mr. Arisato Minato, I have not expected you to be quite the gentlecolt." You see her a bit flustered. You guess what you did was a bit too much but you thank Bebe for the info anyway.
Charm - 3 > 4
She seemed truly happy to have met you and you the same.
Thou art I... and I art thou...
Thou has established a new bond...
The Empress has given you her blessing, go forth on your path...
Thou shall be blessed to find those of the Empress Persona.
The Empress Lv.1
You hear the faint sound that you memorized as the voice that tells you of your connections. It seems this unicorn in front of you is more than meets the eye? But what do they mean about 'find'? Aren't you supposed to create them instead of finding them?
The two of you got acquainted with one another and you thought, all the equines have unbelievable colors. You look from one to the other, from purple, to orange. There was even a Pegasus that had technicolor hair! You ignore the fact of the colors and just go straight to business and it seems so did Twilight.
"First of all, I'd like to personally thank you for saving my life last night." You understand where she wants this talk to head so you nod your head and listen to her. It may seem as if you don't really care however since your eyes still bore the same expression but, you already told them that this was normal for you.
"Before you came, the princess and I have fought with that monster and no matter what we do, it seemed to be a futile action since it was not getting hurt at all, however as soon as you came, you were able to hurt it. With your hooves! There was also something about that big creature besides you at the time. We think you know something about it and if so, we'd love to hear everything about whatever is happening right now." Based on her voice, you know that she wasn't asking, she was commanding. You're the type of guy that would rather resolve things peacefully to avoid further trouble so you decide to walk outside of the room but before then, you look back at them as if to tell them 'follow me'.
You arrive to an area far from others, you look at each of them and then looked back to Twilight. You asked her important things regarding the issue at hand.
"This phenomenon has started around a month ago, it kept on happening ever since then and it got worse, those dark things started coming out from nowhere and attacking everypony in sight! Some of the ponies tend to be stuck in some kind of coffin and they were safe from the creatures but us... We aren't a part of those coffin ponies. And now we are one of the targets. Please we need answers." Even though she was still in her commandeering voice, you pick up the faint sound of hesitance, grief and sadness. She's on the verge do breaking down, it was normal, it even happened to Junpei!
You sigh inwardly as you told them about everything basic, the shadows, the tower of Tartarus and most importantly Personas. You explain to them those that are not inside the coffins are holders of a Persona, and these holders were able to hurt the shadows.
"But me and the princess weren't even able to damage that 'shadow'." You tell them you don't understand either but you tell them that something is changing and whatever that change is, is affecting this world and the shadows.
"Then how are we going to fight back?! We can't just sit still and wait for whatever dark fate is going to happen!" You tell them the only way you know how to fight back against a shadow right now. Summon your Persona.
"Is that the same creature from before?" You nod. It would seem faster to just show them rather than explain so you silently called out.
"Per-So-Na..." a sound of shattering glass then resounded in the area, as Orpheus came out and held its harp and played soothing music for the atmosphere. They were startled and a bit frightened but were also marveled at the sight. You then decide to tell them. The truth about you. Needless to say they were stunned at what you said.
"You mean... You were once 'Human'?" It was your time to be surprised this time, you ask her, she knows what you are? And she nodded. This would be a fun chat but you currently have to explain to them more information.
After explaining about yourself and how you ended up here in Equestria, they thanked you for coming to help but you tell them you helped others once, you're willing to do it again. It was your turn to ask them who they were in this world now.
"We are the Elements of Harmony. You could say we're like the S.E.E.S. of this world. And now with you here, we're really thankful that you're willing to help our world. And about your clothes and that weird device with you, we have it in Rarity's home." You got acquainted to the group and learned of their somewhat 'original' names. You nodded, at least your clothes and music player and headphones were fine.
"Uhh dude? I just wanna ask... What do you call that thing? That persona of yours." It was Rainbow, she seemed to want to know about Orpheus, you decide to humor her. You tell them it's name was Orpheus, a mythos or mythology of humans. You also tell them it was under the fool's arcana.
"Arcana? What the hay is that?" You wanted to ask her if she was serious but, she didn't seem to be the type who'd do fortune tellings and the like.
"Arcana? As in fortune telling?" Rarity however was into it. As you expected. You nodded, confirming her belief.
"So do you have any idea on who my Persona could be? Or what arcana I represent? Please don't tell me it's death." You chuckle at her unexpected giddiness about arcana but, you chose to lie for now. It would do her no good even if she knows what arcana she is. She needs to know it herself after all.
"Oh boo. Well on the bright side, at least there's still a chance I'm not death." You chuckle again but you soon heard a distinct bell sound, it was vaguely familiar... Your eyes widen in realization. It's Gekkoukan's bell! The dark hour is starting! As soon as you noticed it. Everything turned into what happens every dark hour. The creepy and dark look.
"I will never get used to this." The seven of them huddled together, while you stood on your position.
"eep! I-I'm scared." the pony named Fluttershy hid behind her friends as she cowered, you understand her, even you would act like that if you weren't so used to it. This pony sort of reminds you of Fuuka, albeit more scared than her.
"Remember my words Fluttershy, you gotta stand up tall, learn to face your fears!" The pink one called Pinkie Pie tried to reassure her friend, you notice that she was also afraid but, you decide that telling them that would only lower the morale. This one was kind of Junpei-ish. Not as stupid as Junpei mind you, but helps in raising morale.
"Don't ya worry Fluttershy! We'll be here with ya!" The orange one named Applejack was not afraid however and was ready for anything, she sorta reminds you of Akihiko-Senpai.
"I'll protect you my little ponies. Do not worry." The bigger Alicorn Princess named Celestia. Calm, cool and collected. Leader type. Definitely like Mitsuru-Senpai.
"Yeah! Don't worry! You have me!" Rainbow screamed out. Way to go, telling the enemy of our current location. If anything she's like Kenji mixed with Junpei's brashness.
"Don't worry girls. We've been put to tough situations before, we can do this." Twilight reassured the group. She reminded you of... You. You both don't know how you became the leader of the group, you just are. You chuckle at them and told them to trust you and that you'll start your mission for coming here in this world starting with them.
They smiled and thanked you for the reassurance.
Thou art I... And I art thou...
Thou have established a new bond...
Thy journey starts now with the fool... Find your path...
Thou have been blessed to find the Fool Persona.
The Fool Lv.1
You get into a fighting stance in front of the girls and called out...
This is not good. Not good at all. You got too careless and didn't even expected an ambush from other shadows while you were busy fighting a different pack of shadows. Being out of commission for too long may have made you a bit rusty, and due to a moment's error and miscalculation caused the ragtag group to disperse. Normally, this would be the best choice of action but as things stand, only you can defeat the shadows, the other ones in the group being live target to the shadows.
Gritting your teeth in frustration, you venture towards the closest one you see. You get to your destination, thanking the gods that your search wasn't fruitless as you see Rainbow Dash and Applejack trying to fend off the would be attackers away from Rarity and Fluttershy, the shadows were backing away but they were obviously doing little to no damage at all. If it were possible at all to split up with Orpheus, you would send him out to search for the others but, the longest distance you could be away from your persona was ten to twenty meters before you start having a minor headache.
"Agi!" you yelled out as you garnered the attention to you as both you and Orpheus shot out flames towards the group of enemies. They were caught off guard as two out of the five were hit, unluckily, it wasn't strong enough to kill them off as they were now circling you as target. You call out towards the others to find those who were missing as you dodge attack after attack while countering back with a kick. Five versus one is not a good odd but the safety and well-being of the group takes place first and foremost.
"Ya can't do this on yer own!"
You continue evading and counter-attacking while you gave out orders to the group. Even though hesitant This would be a lot easier if you had a weapon of some sort but you'll have to do with brute force and maneuverability. Of course, even you have your limits as you keep getting him from time to time, you hurry to end this fight before it wears you out.
Finally getting the hang of fighting again and getting more experience in this new body, you finally dwindle their numbers into nothing but at a cost. You notice yourself out of breath. Probably shouldn't have fired off so many Agi spells. Things would be different if you had a viable weapon, well, no use thinking about the past. You still have to find the others, hopefully, they found each other.
You continue to search left and right, finally finding them in a clearing in the forest, you see a river of blood, made by the adverse effects of the dark hour. Near the river was something you thought you'd never see anymore.
"Tartarus..." You stare at the hulking tower in disbelief for a few seconds before gritting your teeth in anger, you ran as fast as you could towards the group. If things are going as you think... things may get a bit dangerous very soon.
"What do we do now?! Those monsters may very well be closing in on us and we're sitting ducks out here!" a hysteric purple pony cried out to the others.
"My student, please relax. Panicking will do nothing but hurt you and the others around you, so relax."
"The princess is right Twilight. If we follow what Mister Minato has said then all these is about to end soon."
"R-Right. The dark hour is just as he said. If we follow what he told us, then all this will only last for an hour. Right. Relax Twilight, you've been through tougher times than this. Relax." trying to reassure herself was the only thing they could do when someone or somepony suddenly came into their midst
"Sister! We are glad you and the others are safe but, thy troubles seem to only be getting bigger." the pony that just arrived was a purple pony with purple wavy hair.
"Luna!/Princess Luna!" the others called her out
"Hello little ponies. Whilst we would love to chat, 'tis hardly the time nor place. We feel danger approaching." she then looked towards your position apparently noticing you running towards this group. "And we are ready to fight back." the others seem to notice what she meant but before they were able to stop her in time, she has already gone off towards you.
You seem to notice another ['pony'] as they call themselves coming towards the group, you thought it was another shadow going after the group but, they were soon conversing with it so you decided that the pony was not a threat. Perhaps you decided that too soon?
She suddenly trotted towards you and then teleported to your side. Not expecting a fierce attack from the new pony, you were a little too slow to dodge as she got a good kick straight to your torso.
"Oof!" this pony was stronger than she looks! That kick probably cracked a rib or two. Well, so much for 'First Impressions'. You spat out blood that collected from your mouth due to the kick as you stand up towards assailant, expecting another attack, you braced yourself for impact as you stood up on your back legs or hooves and crossed your front hooves together to form a block but nothing came.
You looked up and notice the attacker was gone until...
"Agh!" You felt a good hit from your back. You got sent forward a meter or two before you flipped back to face the attacker, it was a she, but that doesn't change the fact that she was completely hostile towards you, while she was completely friendly to the group. You decide not to hurt her and play defensively until someone here could explain what was going on.
You see a bright flash of light as she was soon gone in front of you. Using your honed senses, you notice she was now above you as you quickly jumped away from the attack, resulting the ground were you were before to crack and get destroyed. Defensively might be hard after all... Telerportation, cheats...
The two of you spent a good two to three minutes wasting time playing cat and mouse, and with every time you were caught off guard meant a good punch,kick and beating to come, before the others got to your positions and able to stop the rampage that was being given to you.
"Forgive us. It was our grave mistake, that all this was due to your existence and will. We cannot atone for what we've done but we pray for your forgiveness!" you were told that she was the younger sister of Celestia and apparently, she was more brash in her actions. You assure her it's fine as you lay down and rest.
"No! It is not 'fine'! We will atone for our sins. Maybe not now, but we will somehow do it! So please do not say something like this is 'fine', our honor is on the line." you assure her that it was an honest mistake but, if she wanted to pay you back sometime then you're fine with it.
"That wasn't the best of first impressions but, this should do." you see Celestia chuckling as she said this, much to her sister's ire and dismay as Luna blushed in embarrassment causing you to laugh as well
"Tis not a laughing matter! Cease at once!" even her attempt to stop the laughter was funny and not working as she said this line with the blush still on her face.
Thou art I... And I art thou...
Thou have established a new bond...
The moon has shone it's light to thine path...
Thou have been blessed to find the Moon Persona.
The Moon Lv.1
But the triviality of the moment was soon destroyed by booming howls from two different beings coming from the tower.
"Everypony, to arms! The beasts cometh." they got ready for whatever was coming but from the looks of it even Luna wouldn't be able to hurt the shadows. You get ready as you hope the shadows are low on numbers. Contrary to what you were hoping, the shadows were plenty in numbers. Ranging from around five to ten, not counting the two larger beings that bore strange marks on their masks in their respective collar. Marks that were strangely resembling the sun and moon arcana... Could the minor shadows have their own arcana?
The pack of wolf shadows were slowly going towards the group as you stood in front of the group with both the princesses doing what you plan to do. Protect the others. With a large howl from the two larger beings, the other smaller ones taking it as a command went and ran straight towards your group. As you and the princesses get ready to receive and counter the shadows back, they did something unexpected, they circled around you and went after Twilight and the others! You gave chase as you told the two to be careful.
"Here they come everypony. Let's all give it our best shot!" Applejack yelled out as she kicked away the shadow, of course not doing any damage but worked in driving it away.
"These stupid dogs are tough, I'll give them that. Hah!" Rainbow Dash ducked as she landed to the ground barely dodging the pouncing wolves. They were slowly being cornered but, the shadows were too focused on the group as they failed to notice you were coming near.
Thankfully, this was a forest and the place was abundant with sticks, though brittle as weapons, they still count. With stick in mouth, you jumped and delivered a well aimed stab to one of them causing it to evaporate as it died leaving you and the group with only nine more wolves to take care of.
"Mighty nice of ya ta drop by partner!" you gave her a smirk as you nodded to the group. Killing one of the wolves seemed to have garnered the attention of the other ones and in your current condition? You need to finish this fight quickly but, spells would be impossible right now as you feel yourself drained, maybe using dia on yourself was a bad idea?
"Kuh!" you ducked down and then jumped back as two suddenly lunged at you, they were weak but they had the advantage in numbers, you notice one of them getting ready to lunge at you so you ready yourself to evade and counter, as soon as it lunged, you waited for it to be closer as you dodged to your left and spun to get a powerful momentum for an even powerful kick towards it's side.
Two down... Eight to go, this may not be so bad after all...
"I hate this feeling..." Twilight and the others looked at the one who said that, noticing it was Pinkie but, something was off about her, her hair wasn't it's usual gravity-defying puffy hair instead it was replaced by a straight, slightly discolored.
"Pinkie..." they all looked at her sadly and it seemed she notice the looks she was receiving as she suddenly smiled and her hair and color going back to normal.
"I'm fine girls! It's just... I feel so useless right now... I can do lots of things but... I can't do anything right now to help everypony..." they all shared the same thought as they looked towards you in your struggle, by the time they were talking with another it seemed you were able to defeat a large number of the enemies side.
Good. Playing defensively worked quite well in THIS battle, receiving only a few scrapes here and there, now leaving it a two versus one, not being able to use Orpheus was bad enough, you had no weapon except for the brittle branches you were picking up from a tree whenever you get near one.
The shadows decided they would go with an all or nothing attack as they both lunged directly towards you. You took a step back, expecting this very thing to happen.
"Agi!" you summoned Orhpeus to attack the shadows that were currently tangled with one another, you and Orpheus sent out a ball of flame each and roasted the remaining two.
Spiritual power seem to slowly recharge in this world. Just charging for an agi spell took too long. You decide to put this thought on hold as you looked towards the princesses, they were both on par with the shadows but, since the shadows were receiving little to no damage, the princesses held the disadvantages as they were slowly but surely being backed away.
You begin to run to their aid but...
"Aaaaargh!!" you weren't expecting another shadow to come out and attack as you were blindsided and got slashed as you flew back towards Twilight and the others, thankfully it wasn't too deep, as you lay to the ground
"Minato are you okay?!" the group concernedly asked but instead of answering them, you look at the direction of the additional enemy and noticed that this was larger than the two that the princesses were fighting, this one was more feral and bloodthirsty. You decide to connect the dots together...
Wolves, sun and moon arcana, large wolves hunting down the gods that govern the sun and the moon... you open your eyes in distress... you told Twilight to get the others and the princesses away from this place as possible!
"Wh-Why?!" you explain your deduction based on your earth mythological know-how, If this big wolf in front is stronger than the other two that the princesses were fighting then it would automatically be the leader, a wolf with two other wolves are a dime a dozen in the case of mythologies but two wolves with markings of the sun and moon arcana was a gigantic hint.
You told them the one with the moon was named ['Hati'] and the one with the sun was named ['Skoll'].
"What is their connection towards this big one and why do you want me to get the princesses away from those two?" strangely enough the big wolf in front of you was not moving from it's spot but that only further solidified your reasoning. The big one is called ['Fenrir'] the parent of ['Hati'] the moon devourer and ['Skoll'] the sun killer... they gasped and looked at the two frightening wolves that were circling their princesses.
You continue to tell them that these are not the real mythologies but if the shadows were trying to copy them then the princess were in grave danger. You tell Twilight to go get the princesses while you guard the others. She argued but you told her now is not a time of argument but of actions.
You both ran towards Fenrir as you dodge swipe after swipe that was aimed to break your bones and cut you in half, losing too much blood from your wound has suddenly caused you to sway a little in a weakened state, you gather your bearings seeing Twilight was now being targeted by Fenrir. You ran as fast as you could, ignoring your own body's pain as you pushed her away from the pouncing she was about to receive, causing you to be the one who was pounced or would be as you quickly dodged back.
"Oof... Hey!" you gave her an apology as you dodge but once again getting dizzy as you tumbled forward.
Fenrir saw this as a sign of weakness and lunged, mouth open, fangs and all... This is it huh... One persona against an army of shadows was impossible after all... you start to lose consciousness when you suddenly heard a scream
"Noooooo!!!" Twilight screamed out as a bright flash of light came out from her horn... a dazzling light almost as bright as the sun causing to three wolves to hiss in pain... wait. Pain? Could it be?! You open your eyes to look at Twilight and you see...
Twilight looking up from above her, was a woman, garbed with white and purple cloths, around her were two floating vials with a blue and green liquid on them and on her hand was a wand, in her hair was a sun shaped clip...
"Cir...ce..." Twilight muttered out, a little bit out of it as she stared at the woman, her own goddess, her own Persona. ['Circe'] the daughter of Helios, greek god of the sun. Circe, the greek goddess of magic. She couldn't have any better persona than the goddess of magic herself.
Not letting anything get in their way, Fenrir called out to the other two wolves as they went straight to the still out of it Twilight. You called out to her to look out but she paid the wolves no heed as she continued to look at Circe. She muttered a word softly and barely audible.
"Maragidyne" you fail to hear her but you know for certain that she used a very high level spell as flames suddenly erupted from the ground and burnt the wolf trio causing them to reel back in pain. Stunning them in the progress.
Twilight having seemed to have snapped out of it, noticed Circe waving goodbye at her as she vanished. You cast a dia spell on yourself, once again depleting your SP reserves but healing your wounds a little in the process as you go near Twilight.
"What... What just happened?" you told her of what happened, what she did and everything in between. You congratulate her on unlocking her persona, she took notice of the faces the others were making, mixed with surprise were those of hope and amazement. You ask her if she wanted to help you wrap this up.
"How?" you looked at her with half lidded eyes as you told her to use her magic.
"But magic doesn't work!" you remind her that she has already awakened her persona and if theory was correct, then damaging the shadows were now possible for her and she said "Oh... right." she blushed embarrassingly and chuckled, you asked her if she's really smart the way she was air-headed like this.
"Sorry." she smiled, blush still on her face, apparently she admits being an airhead from time to time. You sigh and asked her once more. She nods. It's time.
You both ran towards the two as Twilight was positioned at your back running right behind you, you jumped up and delivered a swift kick towards Fenrir's Jaw and as you land, jumped straight towards Hati with your hooves in front of you, putting your power into the bullet dive, pushing it backwards in pain and quickly jumping up delivering an axe kick to Skoll's back, pushing all three together as you gave Twilight the signal.
Taking your signal she unleashed a powerful fire magic and burned the shadows down.
As soon as the three wolves vanished you let go of the tension you feel, you plop down to the ground, heaving heavy breaths... the others soon went towards the both of you and congratulated and thanked both of you for your deeds.
You were too tired to listen to anything else as you kept heaving, all the tension vanishing caused your body to realize how tired it is and using this as a chance to finally get some rest, you decide to close your eyes... but before you close them you notice a blue butterfly... You guess that you'll be having another guest in your dreams once more as you finally closed your eyes...
Somewhere far away from the area, blood red eyes were staring towards the scene.
"So, those weird goo thingies can be killed after all! Finally, a way to be safe..." the eyes held hope "I'm tired of being on the run from those things' endless hunts... If there's a way... I need to know how." the area suddenly shimmer as the dark hour vanished and the surroundings returned to normal. The Blood red eyes turning into purple.
"First and foremost, I congratulate you for earning an ally in this new world." You have been talking to Igor's acquaintance for quite a while now and still you don't know his name but it doesn't matter, if he wants to tell you, then he will. For now, for the limited them you have with him, there are better things to talk about.
The man looks at you, as if studying you. An awkward silence envelop the both of you until he decided to speak again.
"Ah I see. I understand that you know. As you assume, I am not here for idle chatter. I... We of the velvet room regret to inform you that our plan to stop erebus ended up in a slight failure." What?! Then could it be that all this would be for naught? Would earth really perish?! You glare at the man to explain what he meant.
"Relax. As I said, we ended up in a slight failure. Rest assured that our plan was sure to work. Until that is, something happened in the other side. We will try to fix and mend things back together and put the plan back in action but if things do not go well as planned. We would need you back to act as a seal once more until we fix everything back." his voice was laced with a slight venom, he must also be distraught by whatever it is that derailed the plan. You ask him for how long you'll have in this world.
"As ironic as it sounds. Should the plan fail, we would require your assistance in exactly a year's time. Forgive us for the sudden interruption. We know that you have your own duties to fulfill here, as well as your original duties that we promised to hold for you. It seems our interruptions have only caused to make things worse for both worlds. Again I ask for your forgiveness." you ran all this information in your head, everything seems right and normal... or as normal as it could be at the very least. You reassure him that it's okay.
"Ah. Thank you for your kindness Mr.Minato. I would love to tell you about the other side but it seems best that you awaken posthaste before your newly found comrade makes a mistake in terms of persona handling. A little [Agi] spell would probably hurt quite a bit wouldn't you think?" You wonder what he means until you feel a sudden itch, an itch that turns into a specific hotness and finally... You wake up and screamed out in pain!
You jump around searching for the nearest place that could soothe the pain around your backside, it was a feeling as if you were being burned, you soon find a bucket with water in it, doesn't matter whether it was drinking water or muddy water or if it wasn't even water at all! As long as it could release the pain you feel, you dived straight for it and *SPLASH*
"Pfft! Bwahahaha! That was hilarious Twilight!" Rainbow Dash told her friend while laughing out loud at the spectacle, Pinkie Pie beside her was also giggling a little.
"Ah tried ta warn ya Twilight, but ya didn't listen now did ya?"
"Hey! I was curious okay? This is a whole other magic, unknown to Equestria! Think of all the experiments and possibilities that could cause an impact! Not to mention the fact that, I didn't expect a fireball to suddenly shot out straight in front of me!" You were now standing a few meters away from the group as you cleared your throat to gain their attention and semi-glaring at the laughing ones, as they turn to face you, you looked at Twilight with the same bored expression except this time, there was a slight twitching of your left eye. You ask them what the sudden and rude awakening was for.
"Ah tried ta warn her but she just wouldn't listen." Looking around, you notice the only ones here are Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. You already see who the perpetrator was as you then accusingly look at Twilight, who, under your stare only shrunk back as she said her apologies
"But I couldn't help it! I was curious about this new magic! Also I wanted to see my persona again but... I couldn't get her to come out." she sounded dejected as she said that last part, with her looking like this you couldn't really stay mad at her could you? You sigh as you decided to forgive her, but still you were curious about how and why she used the spell, or if it was really the [Agi] spell. So you decided to ask her about it.
"Well, I tried using your fire spell first but I couldn't make or do it, when I kept on trying, a ball of fire albeit small suddenly shot out and you know the rest... it still makes me wonder why I couldn't control it as easily as you do? Probably has something to do with what you call the magic or maybe some kind of incantation. I do however, partially remember saying the name of that one spell when I first summoned Circe... strangely enough, it was as if Circe told me what it was called... I think it was called [Maragi--" you cut her off before she can cause any kind of damage. If she was able to shoot out an agi spell without calling the persona then who knows what she could unconsciously do? You explain your reasoning of why you cut her off.
"I understand. Can you at least enlighten me on this whole [Persona] thing?" you open your mouth to say something when you remember that you were asking the questions around here. You easily got led to her pace but, you were used to it. You'd rather go with someone's pace instead of against it as it would only make things harder.
You tell her that you don't know much about the personas but she was fine with what you can tell her and the others. You look around noticing the other three spectators were also listening quite intently, bearing different facial expressions. Curiosity, Excitement and something that looks... Amazement? It's a little awkward that you thought they'd be scared of the power, but this world and the previous world you were from are similar yet very, very different after all.
You notice Twilight prepping up as she levitated a quill and pen as she looked intently at you. You smile nervously as you chuckled at her antics. Mitsuru-senpai would love a studious person like her... or pony in this case. You tell them everything you know about persona such as they are a being that is part of one's psyche and soul. While leaving out some of the facts like yourself being able to wield other personas, you'll tell them once you can use other persona but for now, you decide to keep it a secret. Just like the other information that you kept a secret from them... the fact that describe more of the more 'Outlandish' looking ones. You shudder as you remember 'that' undeniably strong yet grotesquely wrong looking [Mara]. Not to mention other less grotesque looking yet very similar personas. No, you decided to spare these girls from that horrible monster or it might just steal their sleep tonight, or every other nights to come. You just hope that if they ever awaken their personas... it wouldn't look like an abomination that would scar the persona user and others around it for life.
You contemplate on never using Mara and other grotesque lookalikes would be the best option. If you remember correctly, even Elizabeth was somehow keeping her distance from you whenever you had 'it' as the current persona. Sighing at the distant and slightly disturbing memory, you continued to tell them what you know, just for the fact that it may steer your mind away from any thoughts about... 'that thing'.
"Hmm... So in other words, they are somewhat a 'self' with powers? Or something like the power of one's soul or something?" you think about it for a while before nodding. Twilight just kept writing on her paper. Rainbow Dash was the one who summarized about the personas and she seemed very interested about it.
"Dude! I am so jealous! I want to get mine now!" she reminds you of a child waiting for a present. You slowly shake your head in amusement as you looked around, as was told, Rarity had to take care of her little sister so she had to go home, Fluttershy was the same with her animals while the princesses had duties to do. Same as the old world, everyone else had something to do about their own lives other than getting swept away by the [Dark Hour]
You ask them about the surroundings, the city and the landscape in general. If you were going to be living here for a while, you should at the very least know about the place you're staying at right?
You notice Pinkie Pie gaining a sudden burst of energy were just moments ago, she was dozing off.
"Gotta go. Need something to do right now." and she soon upped and away, leaving a small pink smoke of dust? You notice the three remaining girls in the room looking at one another and saying stuff like [it's got to be that] and the likes. You ask them what 'that' is.
The three of them only gave you vague answers that were more excuses than answers itself
"Just relax partner! It'll come when it comes. Just take yer time!"
"Yeah! And if you need a tour for the town then, I'm the best one to give it, Also the fastest in town."
"I'll come as well, just to cool off from this whole 'Shadow' thing." the other two giving her sympathetic looks as they heads towards the door that leads outside of this room. You decided to just follow them for better land understanding. You walk around town with the three girls leading you and telling you about the here and there of the town... It struck you as odd.
Even though the town was quite small, it seemed odd not to see one citizen outside.
The others with you either seemed to notice and just chose to ignore it or they haven't noticed at all... or it could be like this normally?
You all spent a good five to ten minutes walk around town, you find the town quite well sustained even at the small size but it only made it odder that not one pony from this town were outside. Could something have happened?! You look at the three worriedly but they were instead wearing smiles on their faces? Are they not worried that something could be happening right...
"Surprise!!"
Now...
You heard a multiple voices formed by shouts from different ponies. You were on a fighting stance for a good second or two before finding out what was happening and you sigh. You have been on battle mode ever since you saw Tartarus... and it might stay that way for quite a while so surprises like this might be a good idea...
You see Fluttershy and Rarity chatting up near the table as you nodded in their direction and they did so too. Apparently, they didn't want to take your time on them as it is currently your welcoming party, you understood what they meant and said your goodbye.
You say your thank yous as they welcome you and introduced their selves, you see the ponies with their friends and families... Bonds, these are a great and special form of friendship with one another, friendship can be broken and bonds severed but they will be and can always be mended... currently right now... you have a good starting bond with the others... You head towards the main attraction of this so called 'surprise party' to thank her.
"Aww Shucks, it was nothing! I mean, I do this for everypony in town! After all what better way to be happy than with a new friend right?" she held a great and sincere smile and you thought that she's a very friendly girl. You smile back and she smiled even wider as she suddenly inhaled a good amount of air... apparently to bombard you with a lot of questions and her answer to said questions and then some.
"So are you liking the party I threw for you? I didn't know what you like so I got everything I like and everything everypony likes so everypony will like the party thus, liking you and you liking everypony back!!" you decided to ignore her rambles at the start and just pick up keywords that may be helpful into conversing with the bubbly pony in front of you.
You answer her a little bit awkwardly as you failed to decipher half of what she said mainly because you still haven't gotten used to the pony equals person thing but, your answers seem to be sufficient enough for her as she smiled and squealing a bit in giddiness. She inhales some air again but you stop her before she stampedes another load of words onto you. You tell her to take it easy since the party has just started, she saw what you really wanted to say but she smiled back as if to give you a positive answer.
"So what kind of food do you like?" you answered straight away, no delays, no mistakes. You told her... "As long as I can eat it." she made an 'ooh' sound as she suddenly, out of nowhere, gave you three different colored cupcakes.
"Taste them. They're delicious. I made them." she smiled once more as you put down the other two and held one in your hooves... you bite into it and didn't expect such a good flavor! Cinnamon. It was the faint yet delicious taste and fragrance of cinnamon, it was so delicious for you that you found yourself finishing it within a fast moment. You looked around for the other two and ate them as well. All cupcakes were different but they held one similar taste... they were a little too sweet? You guess that the saying 'The food reflects the cook' was actually true as you find Pinkie Pie smiling happily as you devoured her cupcakes, you found her and the cupcakes... in a lack of better term 'Sweet' as you smile back.
You gave her a sincere thank you for both the delicious cupcake and the great surprise birthday and told her if she ever needed help with anything in anyway, you'd be okay to help her.
Thou art I... And I art thou...
Thou have established a new bond...
The goddess have spun her wheel...
Thou have been blessed to find the Fortune Persona.
The Fortune Lv.1
The party went on until the DJ, who was apparently a friend of Pinkie felt awful and told the crowd she's retiring for the night, guess that's the end of the party for tonight.
Everypony around said their goodbyes as they head on to their homes, you really haven't been introduced to the lively, and busy town because of the surprise party but, this should be good as well, you can always go have a tour tomorrow.
The night was nearing it's time and they all asked you a question... "Is it coming?"
You tell them that, yes the dark hour is and will always come unless it is stopped, but no shadows will venture out of the tower as one of the ['Prime'] shadows had been dealt with. All in all you told them that tonight is a safe night for them. Understanding your explanation, they all heaved a sigh of relief.
You all said your goodbyes to one another but before anyone could go anywhere they remembered something quite crucial at the moment...
"Where does he sleep?" everyone in the vicinity was silent, and here was Rainbow Dash breaking that silence, you thank her silently as this was also a question bugging your mind... all of you spent minutes talking with one another about where you should be sleeping right now.
You now lay down on a bed as you yawn, you currently reside at the library for now until you find a suitable home for yourself, you might need to get a job and an inn or some sort sooner or later as you feel you're leeching off Twilight.
The talk about where you should sleep took more energy away from you as you though... quoting the most ridiculous thing you've heard tonight...
"Well, he could always stay with me at my house... but then he'd go Crash and Splat since you know... I live in clouds and stuff..." you sigh remembering that comment... suddenly, Junpei might not be so bad when it comes to jokes...
You gain consciousness as you wake up in an unfamiliar place. You open your eyes to see the ceiling, you missed this feeling of waking up in the morning... Then again you really weren't much of a morning person to begin with and since school isn't really a part of your problems in this world you decided to once again close your eyes to get some more sleep.
Or at least you planned to before you got slammed into the ground. Hard. You groan as you stand up, groggily glaring at whoever forcefully woke you up in a barbaric way. All you see though is Twilight with an apologetic smile. It seems she didn't mean to do this much of a wake up call in the beginning. You sigh as you greet her "Good Morning." as you head down towards the kitchen.
"Look, I'm sorry! I didn't expect anything like that to happen with a little playful tug!" 'playful tug'. You repeat these words in your head before you sighed once more as you told her that you already forgave her. It's noisy in the morning right now, but at least it reminds you of the days back in the dorm. This thought unknowingly made a smile appear on your face as you continue to walk towards the kitchen.
You stopped walking once again, thinking about whatever food was compatible with the new form you have right now, will you still be able to eat the previous food you eat before you got in to this world? Or will you have to eat something else? Guess you'll just have to wait and see then. You're ready. You eat a lot of things as long as it's edible, even Fuuka's cooking. Though you did eat her 'Dishes' just for her sake.
"Well? Aren't you gonna eat?" Twilight looks at you with expectancy in her eyes. As soon as you got to the kitchen, you were led to a seat and told to wait and so you did, a few moments later as you waited, the mare in front of you levitated a plate towards your direction. It seems she cooked for you? It would be rude not to eat it right?
When the plate was place in the table in front of you, you soon then see what was inside the plate and lo and behold. It was a sandwich... With visible hay sticking out from it's sides.
You continue to stare at her to discern whether she was serious or not. The expectant stare told you that she was indeed... Serious about this. You steel your resolve and lowered your head to bite at the 'sandwich' as you don't know any other alternative to eat the sandwich without having to hold them.
Not to be rude, but you've eaten Fuuka's cooking, a little hay sandwich wouldn't be that bad would it? Humans were omnivores, horses and or ponies are herbivores, so by that count... You should be fine? Let's hope so. You steel yourself one last time and bit the sandwich...
And surprise! It wasn't really that bad. You would rather eat something else preferable next time but this definitely isn't as bad as you expected it to be. It might be because of your current form? Either way, you're just glad that you wouldn't get food poisoning on your first day in this strange new world.
By the way, you notice Spike was gone. You ask Twilight where the little dragon was.
"Spike? He's stuck pony-sitting three fillies." that answers that, maybe? You tell Twilight you're going for a walk as you opened the door.
You walk along the way, looking at the place like a tourist, since you have nothing else to do you figured, why not take a walk around town.
This is a small but lively town, the people... or ponies in this case are really friendly towards others, more so than your own kind.
You recall all your new social links in this world as you idly walk along the dirt road.
[The Empress] with Rarity. [The Moon] with Princess Luna. [Wheel Of Fortune] with Pinkie Pie. And of course, where it all starts... [The Fool]
Just like last time, it all has to start somewhere... Then again, you know next to nothing about this world. It doesn't matter though, you'll learn about it in due time, if worse comes to worst, ask Twilight.
You wander off to nowhere in particular as you just look at the sights, since the town has been shown to you yesterday, you can more or less remember the way to go from one place to another.
The ponies of this world all seem nice, far from Mutatsu, then again old man Mutatsu turned his life around. This memory brings a smile to your face as you stop and look up at the sky, reminiscing at old memories when you suddenly heard screams. You snap out of your day-dreaming and looked at the direction where the screaming was heard strongest.
A moment later... "Oof!" you got tackled by a wooden sled. In the middle of summer. It is summer right now in Equestria right? You don't know and right now, it doesn't matter. You tumble in the ground from the sudden impact and force of the slam.
You didn't move from your spot after your skid on the ground, trying to determine whether or not a bone or more are fractured. Also because you feel pain emanating from every spot in your body. You deduce that this week just doesn't agree with you. Though now that you think about it, you notice that you've been under lots of painful instances in this world... It hasn't even been five days since you've gone here and your body is already under so much pain.
You heard hoof clops, lots of them, going near you.
"Uhhh, what do we do now?" A little girl? Wait, that's wrong. Uhh let's see, 'mare'? Close but not so correct... What was it? Twilight said something before.... Ah! 'Filly' right. A filly's voice entered your hearing range, possibly and more than likely, talking to another pony.
"Whatever we do, we must NOT let Spike see this. We'll be in big trouble!" another filly enters the scene with a scared voice, obviously you know why.
"Girls, Ah have a plan!" another voice exclaimed before all three voices proceeded to whisper before carrying you and putting you on the very same sled that crashed into you as they curry you away from the scene of the crime.
Wait, did they just say Spike? Then these three must be the fillies he was supposed to look after!
It's been half an hour more or less since you've been brought to a shed? Maybe a barn? Either way, you've been here for quite a while and since you've had some rest, you decide it's time to go. You heal some of your aches and wounds using the [Dia] spell before opening the door.
Right in front of you, staring cautiously at you were three little fillies.
A purple maned orange furred pegasus, a purple and pink curly maned white unicorn and a pinkish red maned yellow earth pony. According to the stares that they were giving you, it was easy to deduce that these three were in fact your hitters and kidnappers... Or ponynappers in this case.
You dully look at the three in silence as they look back, slowly inching further and further away from you before stopping a few inches far from you.
"Uhh, hey. You were the pony from the party from before right? Um, we're sorry about what happened so if you could please not say a word about this to anypony... That would be great. Please?" the white unicorn told you, in a cutesy manner, she knows how to use her childish charms but unluckily for her, you already faced off against a similar one from before. Maiko. Wait, you always said yes those times anyway, damn it. Whatever, it will be more troublesome if you didn't agree so you just sighed and told them yes.
They jumped up and group hugged one another before looking back to you.
"Hey, we're really sorry about that, how bout we make it up to ya? We're on mah family's farm and all. If yer hungry we can get ya something ta eat, my big sister won't mind... Probably... Maybe?" she wasn't really sure if her sister would mind if she fed some pony they just met, who in this case, they attacked with a sled. You figured, it's food so why not? Breakfast was already digested and you were hungry for more, you always were.
You accepted the filly's kind offer? Or maybe bribery? Either way, you accepted it wholeheartedly as you approach towards her home.
"By the way, mah name's Apple Bloom."
"I'm Sweetie Belle."
"And my name's Scootaloo, don't wear it out."
"And together, we're the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders!'" you look at them and their pose as you noted their names in your mind and their little club name, or at least you think that's their club name? You don't really remember much of your childhood other than being passed on from family to family.
You tell them your name and told them "Nice, to meet my ponynappers personally." they suddenly wore surprised and distressed faces before you burst out laughing and told them it's a joke... A good one for you, not so much for them.
"That wasn't so nice mister." Sweetie Belle told you as the other two bobbed their heads in agreement, but you just kept a smug smile in your face.
"By the way, you know our names. What about yours?"
Oh yeah, you forgot to tell them huh? All the ponies from this town only know you as the 'New pony' in town.
You introduce yourself to them and they took a while before they got the whole name correctly... Or at least two of them anyways, one of them was still struggling.
"Aris... Arisato? Your name is very confusing you know that?" You chuckle at her statement, you tell them that you get that a lot and to call you Minato instead.
"Uh huh. So, Minato, where did you come from?" you told them you came from somewhere far from here, it's true anyways, you turn the tide around as you began to ask them your own question on what they were doing before they accidentally attacked you with a sled.
They visibly cringed at the remembrance of the event before telling you.
"Well, we were trying to find our cutie marks." cutie marks? cutie mark crusaders? this can't be a coincidence. You ask them what a cutie mark was, all you got were incredulous looks from all three before Scootaloo broke the awkward silence.
"You're being serious aren't you?" you nod.
"How can you NOT KNOW what a cutie mark is? You have one yourself!" she pointed at your flank and as you looked, you see some sort of mark, a tattoo or something of the kind. It's shaped like a... Zero.
You told them that this mark wasn't of any significant value back from where you came from as you asked them why they were trying to sled in summer just for the said mark. They replied with something you didn't quite expect.
"Well, we don't know how it works from wherever you were from but here, it's some sort of coming of age thing and having a cutie mark means you're good at what that cutie mark is. Something like this, uhh, do you know my sister Rarity by any chance?" you were surprised, you didn't know Rarity had a little sister? You nod at her question.
"Well, her cutie mark is about fashion and glamour or at least that's what she always tells me? All I know is, her cutie mark is made up of three shimmering diamonds and that she's good at finding gems." you open your mouth and said an 'Oh' sound as you understand what they were implying.
"We've been through a lot just to get our cutie marks, sadly, we still don't have them, but we aren't giving up! Right girls?" the three of them put their hooves together as if some kind of inspiration to themselves as they nodded their heads in agreement. Apple Bloom then proceeded to look at you before talking about the cutie marks again.
"So, speaking of that, why is your cutie mark an 'O'?" the curious Apple Bloom asked you and the other two listened intently.
You tell them that it's not an 'O' but instead, was a zero.
"And what does that mean? Unless yer implying that yer not good at anything?" you chuckled at her interpretation of the number and you told her your own interpretation. They were awed by what it meant to you, and if possible, you hope that would change what they thought of it too.
"I see, so a zero could both mean nothing... And everything. Both end and beginning. Now that you mention it, on countdown's the end is always the zero which means nothing is left, but at the same time when a pony counts it normally starts with a zero and that's where it all begins... Wow. You're some kind of philosopoper!" you correct the little filly at her mistake of the word 'philosopher' as you then explain what the number has anything to do with you.
Your explanation. Tarots.
"Tarots?" they all wondered what it means, until you tell them what it was.
"So, it's some sort of fortune thingie?" you nod and the three suddenly talked to themselves before facing you and telling you what was on their minds.
"Do us a fortune!" you were caught off guard for this sudden question but quickly regained your composure and thought of how to do this. You didn't have any tarot with you, but you remember the numbers and meaning of each card, the meaning of the combinations however is still hard to grasp. Maybe it's best if you just use the meaning of each card and start from there? Though it would still be hard without the tarots themselves, you decide that the easiest thing to do is ask them a simple question.
You told them "From number one to number twenty one. Pick one number each, it could be the same as the other or your own." this divination will only include the major tarots since adding the minor ones will be too hard without a full deck.
The three once again talked between themselves, leaving you to look around and wait for them to finish, a few moments later and they all shout their chosen number or numbers together.
"Seventeen!" you raise one of your eyes in suspicion and wonder as to why they chose that number of all the possible ones to choose from, they explained.
"Well, we chose numbers twelve, two and three but since we're a team we decided to add it up and choose that as our number!" you asked them, what if their numbers went over twenty one? They were unable to answer. You chuckle at the group as you nodded and told them what they got.
You used your hooves to draw out something in the ground. It was the symbol of the Star Arcana. Number and all.
You explain the best possible meanings of the arcana by itself, the meanings that you can associate to the three energetic little fillies.
What you got were, [Trust], [Pure], [Hope], [Inspiration], [Joy] and most of all [Faith].
These words seemed to fit them the most from what they seem to have gone through just to get their cutie marks.
They look at you in amazement and then looked at each other and with renewed resolves yelled out "We're going to get our cutie marks soon! Together!" before they suddenly head off to somewhere, you reminded them about the food thing and so you all head towards Apple Bloom's home for some food.
The four of you chat happily with one another before they asked you to check their fortune some time again soon, you agreed, you figured why not? By that time, you'd be prepared to have a deck of tarot. Let's just hope you finally know what means what in a combination by that time.
Thou art I... And I art thou...
Thou have established a new bond...
The stars have shined to accompany thee in thy journey,
Thou have been blessed to find the Star Persona.
The Star Lv.1
You guess, there's more than meets the eye about these three little fillies, but for now, food.
It's already dark, somewhere around Eleven fifty. You remember what happened this day, the fillies, along with Applejack and their family couldn't believe how much of an eater you were. Then again, they gave you fritters, pies and apples! Fruits and sweet baked goods are always delicious... Fuuka then showed up on the back of your mind, carrying a plate of pie. Okay, maybe not all the times, but Fuuka should be getting better soon! At least, you hope she is, for everyone's safety.
Thinking about today's event were suddenly put to a halt as a sudden ringing of the bell was heard. Ponies were transformed into coffins, the clear river water turning blood red and if memory serves you correctly, it really does turn water into blood. The dark black sky turned to a sickly, pale green. All in the span of twelve bell rings, and after the ringing stopped, a hulking tower appeared out of nowhere.
You stand up as you glare at the tower, this may be a new world, but you're sure that this tower was in fact, the same tower from before, the tower of [Tartarus].
You ventured forward towards the tower, it's now or never, time to find out the secrets as to why this tower resurrected in a different world.
Unbeknownst to you, a pair of blood-red colored eyes was once again watching you, but unlike last time.
"I'm not safe here alone, best choice I got to surviving this is with that new pony." the owner of the eyes followed you.
