April 24th - Tuesday

Evening

Vivid Dreams hadn’t been this nervous since the day he joined T.A.R.O.T. two years ago. Today was the day he stopped being a grunt and got to move up in the world, but first he had to prove he could handle it. He ran some magic through his horn and adjusted the device around his neck as it hummed gently, like it was trying to relax him and keep his mind off of what would happen if he screwed this up. He looked up to three sets of eyes who were watching him sternly from the third row of seats in what looked like an arena. Behind them were dozens more, some looking uninterested, others looked comforting and supportive. Vivid gulped as one of the front three finally spoke.

“You are Vivid Dreams, formerly of the Eastern Isles, correct?” said the red Pegasus mare in the center, her voice rough and loud.

“Yes Madam Short Temper,” Vivid responded, tension finally broken and the silence lifted.

“And you are here to apply for the title of ‘Moon Arcana’?” Asked the Unicorn to Short Temper’s right, Sharp Reflection, his eyebrow lifting slightly. “The title formerly held by one of the most respected members of this organization, Starlight Mist?”

“Those are mighty big horseshoes you’ll have to fill,” said the earth pony to Short Temper’s left, Silent Voice, her face still stern even if her voice conveyed interest. “Are you sure you’re up for it?”

Confidence building, Vivid looked her in the eye as he gave his response. “Yes Ma’am.”

“Very well than,” Sharp said as his telekinesis took hold of a document and brought it up to his eyes. “Let's begin your evaluation. It says here you were able to summon your Persona on you first try?”

“Yes Sir,” Vivid responded, proud of this accomplishment.

“And then you proceeded to spend almost a month in the infirmary afterwards?”

“Yes, Sir.” Vivid responded, slightly less proud.

The three took their eyes off of Vivid for a moment to shoot each other a look of doubt. They then gave this look to Vivid before speaking again.

“I trust you realize that this organization is no joke,” Short Temper said simply. “T.A.R.O.T. was founded for the purpose of protecting Equestria from forces that no ordinary pony, gryphon or even a dragon could possibly understand. Let alone fight against. As one of T.A.R.O.T.’s top officers, you’ll need to show the utmost discipline when wielding your Persona, lest it harm you or someone else. Is there someone here who can vouch that you have obtained a sufficient level of control over your other self?”

“I can!” Came a shout from the assembled audience. A grey Pegasus with emerald green eyes stepped down into the arena. He walked over to Vivid and gave him a confident smile and wink before turning back to the three ponies above them.

“State your name and position please,” said Short Temper.

“I am Gust Strong-Wind, of the Lovers Arcana.”

“And you claim you can vouch for Mr. Vivid’s strength of will?”

“I do, I’ve known Vivid since he got off the boat at the age of thirteen. He’s brash and impulsive, and if I might add has a bad habit of wearing his emotions on his sleeves, but you’ll be hard pressed to find a more honest pony anywhere short of the Princesses. What’s more, I’ve never seen him stiff on his work, he always does what is expected and then some.

“But most importantly, and most relevant to our current gathering, he knows himself. He has his doubts, who among us doesn’t, but he searches for answers with the same vehement drive that Starlight Mist did. I say he’s ready to carry the facade used to overcome life’s hardships."

There was a bit of muttering in the audience, even the three forward ponies began to discuss the situation with each other. Finally, the room quieted down and the three judging ponies smiled down at Vivid.

“Show us.” Silent Voice said.

“S-Show you?” Vivid stumbled, slightly confused.

“Your Persona.”

After a bit of hesitation Vivid nodded and then took his stance, bracing himself as he closed his eyes and focused. Gust backed off a ways, confidently keeping his eyes on Vivid as the device on the unicorn's neck began to hum even louder. The air around Vivid began to glow a light blue and his clothes began to flutter, before he took in a deep breath and shouted out a single word.

“PERSONA!”

The device sparked with new life as the hum increased to a full on rev. Vivid gasped as it felt like his spirit was being pulled out of him, his head snapping back as the device seemed to explode, light beaming out of the gemstones attached to either side. The room filled up with wind as the light seemed to form a shape in front of Vivid, the audience looking on unperturbed. The light began to solidify itself into the form of a bipedal creature, its body shrouded in a black cloak wrapped tightly around its body. The figure’s face was covered by a mask, with one eye closed and the other wide open, that stretched past its ears and nearly hid all of its spiked black hair. floating on either side of it were two more masks, one depicting a white dragon with blue eyes and gold trim around the edges, the other was a changeling with red eyes and silver trimming.

As quick as it all began, the light show ended and Vivid’s head fell back down as he gasped for air. The figure stood tall, glaring at each face in the small crowd, some of whom reached an uneasy hoof up to their necks to feel at devices similar to Vivid’s. No one moved or spoke for a good long while until Silent Voice stepped forward.

“Who is this, Vivid?” she asked.

“This – gasp – Is Ikelos” Vivid said, struggling to maintain the figure for as long as possible. Silent Voice joined Vivid and his Persona at ground level and eyed the beast as it eyed her.

Her face scrunched up in thought as she voiced her observation. “It seems to have taken a lot out of you.”

“Yes,” Vivid responded, legs starting to shake.

“Are you certain you have control over it?”

“Yes, I – gasp – I do!”

“Let’s put that to the test then, shall we? Mr. Firebrand!”

Vivid glanced up as a unicorn with a deep red coat and slicked back yellow hair made his way down from the stands and joined them in the arena. The stallion had a rather jovial smile on his face, and nodded to Gust as he passed him. When he stepped in front of Vivid, Silent Voice spoke again.

“Vivid, you and Firebrand will engage each other in combat with your Personas. We’ll see then if you have the control you and Strong-Wind claim you have.”

Silent Voice turned and left to rejoin the judges panel. Gust however, walked over to Vivid and whispered into his ear.

"Relax, you're letting your mind focus on too many things. Drop the disguise and-"

"No," Vivid responded. "There is no disguise. This is who I am, so I either do it like this or not at all."

"Alright, your funeral." Then Gust also rejoined the audience, albeit in a much closer spot than before. Firebrand, stepping carefully around Ikelos, even as the Persona glared at him, approached Vivid and then held out a hoof. Vivid, still a little jittery, lifted his own hoof and shook Firebrand's.

"Good luck man." Firebrand said.

"Thanks, you too."

"Oi! Firebrand!" Gust shouted from the sidelines. "Don't break him, please!"

"You really think I'd give him more than he could take?" Firebrand responded as he took a position opposite Vivid in the arena. "I was a member of the Royal Guard! I know how far I can push someone before they break!" There was some laughter in the audience, then Firebrand turned to face Vivid and gave a friendly smirk. "Seriously though Mr. Dreams, you're in good hooves. Go ahead and make the first move."

Vivid was rather surprised by that offer, especially given that Firebrand had yet to even summon his Persona, but he also wasn't going to say no to it.

"You asked for it! IKELOS!"

The cloaked Persona leapt at Firebrand, its masks glowing brighter and gathering energy. Then the masks began to rotate around until the dragon mask was in front, and then it unleashed a mighty torrent of flame.

"HELIOS!" Cried out Firebrand.

A tall figure wearing light armor and a Spartan helmet exploded out in front of him, raising a shield with an inverted V on its front to defend Firebrand from the assault. The helmet had what looked like a massive swath of hair made of fire sprouting from the back, and the armor itself had a sun insignia on its chest. Helios pulled a short sword out of a sheath at his side and then braced himself as Ikelos' attack connected.

"Shoot!" Vivid yelled as he realized his mistake.

"Really?" Firebrand laughed as the blaze flared harmlessly over Helios. "My name is Firebrand! Did you think my Persona would be ice based?"

"Fine! Then try THIS!"

Ikelos halted its barrage of flame and then switched the masks around. The changeling mask took point and then a blast of cold air erupted outwards, freezing the floor in front of him. Firebrand and Helios both jumped to the side as icicles began to shoot upward from the spots where the ground had froze.

"So you can use two different elements," Firebrand mused. "Not bad! Not bad at all!"

Helios charged forward, dodging around as Ikelos continued to spray ice across the floor. The fiery haired Persona slashed with its sword, trying to catch Ikelos in the side. But Ikelos bent almost entirely in half and avoided the blade's tip, then began back stepping away and preparing another icy blast. Helios chased after, swinging his sword in every direction, but always just barely missing as Ikelos bent in seemingly impossible ways in order to evade his attacker.

"Ughh!" Firebrand growled. "It's like a wet noodle!"

Jumping back as far as he could, Ikelos brought the changeling mask forward again and unleashed yet more freezing air. Helios raised his shield, but it didn't take long for crystalline shards of ice to form around it and poke dangerously at his skin. Then the attack stopped, and not a moment later Ikelos leapt into the air once more and then dropped on top of Helios' now brittle shield, shattering it into pieces.

"Yes!" Vivid shouted.

However, in his preemptive celebration, Vivid allowed Helios a chance to recover, and the warrior brought his now free arm around and backhanded Ikelos right across the face, sending him spinning like a top and sprawling to the floor. Vivid felt the impact in the side of his own face and was almost sent flying as well. He gasped out, trying to regain focus and keep Ikelos from fading out, but his brief lapse in concentration caused something else to flicker and fade.

"Curious," Short Temper said to the other judges. "The boy seems to be struggling just to take in breath, and yet his Persona is well under his control."

"He's multitasking," Silent Voice said. "He isn't just trying to keep his Persona going, he's trying to keep his disguise from falling. Look, you can see it in his eyes."

Vivid's eyes, normally a dark brown, started to flicker and briefly flash a distinctly purple hue. Shutting his eyes tight and shaking his head, Vivid took back control and got Ikelos to pick himself back up. Ikelos got ready to shoot more ice, but Helios was already upon him, swinging his sword down and slicing the changeling mask in two. Then Helios jumped up, bringing a leg skyward and kicking Ikelos square in the jaw, once more sending him to the floor.

Vivid was forced to flip backward as the link between himself and Ikelos transferred the force of the impact to him. Ikelos nearly imploded right then and there with how badly Vivid's focus was shattered, but by some miracle he managed to retain enough concentration to stop it from doing so. Vivid picked himself up, his violet eyes glaring over at Firebrand, who no longer had a joyful smile on his face.

"You fight well," the veteran Persona user said. "But I just took out your only weapon against me. Are you ready to surrender?"

"Not yet," Vivid grunted as he forced Ikelos to stand once more. "I'm not done yet! Or did you not notice that Ikelos has three masks?"

Firebrand looked confused for a moment, before he looked back at Ikelos and saw that the mask he was actually wearing had started to glow purple. A dark sigil appeared beneath Helios, with purple fire rising from the edges.

"Darkness," Firebrand said with annoyance. "You are just full of surprises, aren't you?"

"MUDO!" Vivid shouted out.

Ikelos' open eye flashed and the sigil surrounding Helios flared up... only to then shatter catastrophically a moment later.

"W-what?!" Vivid stuttered as he and Ikelos' last ditch spell failed.

"Full of surprises," Firebrand said, his smile returning. "But maybe not luck." Helios raised his sword, and a blinding gold sigil appeared beneath Ikelos. Exorcism slips appeared and surrounded the masked Persona, and their glow combined with the sigil's nearly blinded all present. "HAMAON!"

Helios' spell did not fail as Ikelos' had, the sigil's light shot upward, obscuring the persona from view for a brief moment before Ikelos shattered into a thousand tiny blue shards. Vivid himself started to spasm as if he were being electrocuted, and when it all finally stopped, he was forced to listen to one more taunt from his opponent.

"Game. Set. Match."

And with that Vivid collapsed to the floor. The sound of clapping from the audience reached his ears, but it was muddled and felt very far away. He felt like he had just run three miles nonstop, he could barely look up to see Gust leap back into the arena and rush over to him.

"Oi! You alright?"

Firebrand approached as well, a bit of worry on his face. "Sorry about that," he said. "But you sort of escalated it to that point and I couldn't help myself. Need a hoof?" Vivid grunted appreciatively, lifting a hoof to take Firebrand's as Dust brought a wing around to help hold him up.

"I thought I said don't break him," Gust said sternly to Firebrand.

"You don't give him enough credit," Firebrand shot back. "This stallion is a tough one. He'd be great in the Royal Gua-" He stopped as he looked back at Vivid, or more specifically, Vivid's eyes. "Hey, your eyes."

Vivid blanched and quickly shut his eyelids, trying to get his eyes to change back to their regular brown.

"You have a point," Gust said, ignoring Firebrand's last comment. "But I guess that's just his mother's influence."

"Alright, we've made our decision," came the voice of Sharp Reflection, drawing the three's attention back to the audience. Firebrand and Gust, after insuring Vivid could stand on his own, let go of him and allowed him to walk forward and receive judgement.

"Vivid Dreams, the Ten of Cups, you have displayed a great amount of control over your Persona, to the point of keeping it stable after several major blows to both it and yourself. Normally this would assure you a spot as one of the Major Arcana... However, it is clear to us that Strong-Wind's claim that you 'know yourself,' is more than a bit of an exaggeration." Vivid could hear Gust shuffle uncomfortably behind him as Short Temper continued. "Whatever burden you are carrying in your heart right now, is a weakness our enemies will not hesitate to exploit. What will happen when you first face a Shadow, and you hear the voices of your own self doubt being shouted at you? Will you be able to accept them? Or will you fall into misery, just like Starlight Mist did? The three of us believe that the risk is too great, and that you are not ready to carry the facade used to overcome life's hardships."

Disappointment wracked through Vivid's body, deafening him to the sound of another pony coming down the steps and approaching him. He had failed, and he’d have to wait until the next Moon Arcana had died before he’d get another chance. The tears were beginning to flow down his muzzle when he felt a hoof come to rest on his shoulder. Vivid looked up to see Court Drama, leader of T.A.R.O.T., smiling down at him.

"That being said," The greying earth pony declared. "I think we need to make an acceptation in this case." Court removed his hoof and looked up to the three confused judges, as well as the equally confused audience. "Times are changing. Ten years ago we would have ran and hid from the monsters beneath our hooves, but now we are more established in our position then we have ever been. We haven't lost a single civilian to the Shadows in nearly two years, and that is because of hardworking ponies like Starlight Mist, Strong-Wind, and Firebrand. Ponies who knew the risks and still ran headlong into their own fears and sadness, knowing it might cost them their lives." Court Drama's face turned stern as he eyed each and everyone in the crowd. "But the Shadows' reach is lengthening, their strength growing all the time, now more than ever. Something is on the horizon, and we need to be ready to face it. We need every able bodied Persona User out there protecting Equestria. Even when some of them might not be ready."

Court Drama turned back to back to Vivid and looked him dead in the eyes. "There aren't enough ponies with the Potential to be picky when one has a few... anxieties. T.A.R.O.T. is always willing to help, to lend you our strength, when you ask for it, but we can't wait for you to figure out yourself. So what do you say? Are you ready to lend us your strength in return?"

Vivid looked back at Court Drama, and after the briefest of hesitations, nodded. "Yes Sir."

Court smiled, then placed a hoof on Vivid's shoulder.

“Welcome to the Major Arcana,” He said in a congratulatory tone. “Vivid Dreams of The Moon.”

Author's Note

I wanted to have a short little bonus bit dealing with the other group of Persona users, but "short" ended up being almost the lenght of a regular chapter.

This chapter was based off of one of my original ideas for this story. It focussed more on a large group of OCs rather than any of the show's characters. However, as much as I like writing original characters, I wanted to do something with the mane 6. So I shifted gears and went more towards what we have now. However, I still like the idea of T.A.R.O.T., so they'll get their chance in the spotlight of the main story soon enough. So yes, for all intents and purposes, this Chapter is canon, just not really all that important to the story at large.

Special thanks to my good friend Josh Scorcher for letting me use his OC, Firebrand. I liked the idea of the Sun Arcana clashing with the Moon Arcana, as well as getting the chance to pit two greek gods against each other.