Persona X: Shadows of the Everfree

by Fossil-Dragon-Messiah

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Crossover, Human, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Original Character, Spike
Length: 4468

When a new threat leaves the element bearers powerless, they must awaken to a new power to save all of Terrasteed.

Eclipses are one of the most sacred events in Equestria, symbolizing the union of night and day. As such Twilight gathers the element bearers to observe the event, but instead of a beautiful crossing of the sun and moon, bizarre monsters, the likes of which never before seen by pony kind, crawl from the Everfree just as Twilight and her friends lose the powers that they each hold. Luckily, A group shows up with their own powers, powers that the ponies themselves begin to awaken to. The power of Persona.

Cover art by JazzyQ

Published 2015-04-25 23:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-05-03 16:15:41 UTC

My Mind is a Loaded gun

Twilight found her self in a strange room. It was dimly lit and all the furniture was made of some sort of blue velvet. Where she was or how she got there was the first question that came to mind, that is until a voice brought her out of her musings.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room."

Twilight turned towards the voice emanating from the other side of the table in front of her. She wanted to gasp but for some inexplicable reason she could not make a sound.

For sitting across from the pony were two humans. One an aged balding man with an absurdly long nose wearing a suit, the other a beautiful young woman with silver hair cascading down her back wearing a blue dress.

"This is a place between dream and reality. Between mind and matter," The man said. "Only those who have or are soon to be bound by a contract of some kind may enter this place."

Dream and reality? Twilight thought. Surely if this place was some sort of dream realm than Luna would have known about it. This was all too strange to be some fantasy conjured up by Twilight's subconscious mind.

"Ah," the man continued. "But where are my manners. My name is Igor. This is Margarette."

"Hello," The woman said coldly. "like my master, I am a resident of this place."

"Now... Might you tell us your name?" Igor asked.

Twilight, confused, found herself in control of her vocal cords once again. "Twilight Sparkle."

"Splendid!" Igor spoke. "You are quite an unusual guest. Never before have we entertained one of your kind before. But that is irrelevant. Now if you would be so kind, Miss Sparkle, I would like to get to know you a little bit better." Igor waved his hand over the table and seven bizarre cards materialized. "Please point to a card, Miss Sparkle."

Twilight obeyed, pointing at a card close to herself. Igor snapped his fingers and the card flipped over.

"The fool, in the upright position... Yes. I expected as much."

Igor waved his hand again and seven new cards replaced the old ones. "Now let us take a look into your future, shall we? Please point to three cards."

Scanning the cards Twilight pointed her hoof towards three, each one flipping over as she pointed to it.

"The first card is that of the moon in the upright position." Igor explained. "This card represents... Hesitation. The next card is the lovers in the upright position. This card represents decision making. Finally we have death, representing transitions and changes."

Twilight looked over the cards, inspecting them closely. She had heard of a type of fortune telling like this before. Tarot cards, she believed it was called.

Igor looked up at Twilight with his big, bulgy eyes. "It seems sometime in the near future, a great mystery will be thrust upon you. Over the course of that mystery, you will have to make a choice of some kind that will lead to some sort of dramatic change for you." He explained. "It is our duty as residents of the Velvet Room, to guide you along this path."

Margarette reached into her pocket and handed a bizarre key to Twilight. "Hold onto this," The woman explained. "In time, it's purpose shall be revealed to you."

"It seems we have kept you here long enough" Igor said. "We shan't hold you any longer. Go forth young guest and discover this path."

Twilight felt her mind begin to cloud. Her vision began to darken as she felt herself lose her grip on consciousness. Something latched onto the young alicorn's shoulder and began to push her out of the bizarre room.

"Twilight..." A familiar voice began to call. "Twilight.... Twilight..."

Twilight opened her eyes and founder self lying in her bed. To her left was Spike trying to shake her awake.

The young alicorn stifled a yawn as she patted Spike's head. "Mornin' Spike."

"Man, Twilight," The young drake said. "You were out cold!"

Twilight turned her head to the clock on her nightstand. Nine thirty A.M., an hour later than when Twilight normally rose from the grips of sleep.

Slowly, Twilight's mind began shaking off the mugginess that comes with just waking up and remembered something very important. "Spike," She began, "did you get all the eclipse glasses ready?"

Spike nodded his head eagerly. "Yep! They're all on the kitchen table ready for this afternoon."

"That's great Spike. Good work." Twilight said as she pulled the tiny dragon into a hug. "What about are friends? Do they all know where to go?"

"Yeah. Dash and AJ are already at Fluttershy's place, and I saw Pinkie heading there a couple minutes ago." Spike explained.

"What about Rarity?"

"She said she'll be there later. Had some massive order to finish up or something."

Twilight nodded and kicked the sheets off her legs. Today was scheduled to be the first total solar eclipse in Ponyville in over three hundred years. There was no way in Tartarus Twilight was going to let anything stop her or her friends from viewing this once in a lifetime occurrence.

"Okay then, Spike," Twilight said, smoothing down her mane. "Let's get some breakfast and head down to Fluttershy's. If everypony's arriving early than so should we."

The young wyrm nodded and said, "There are some waffles in the oven. They'll be ready in a couple minutes."

Twilight nodded and stretched lazily before climbing out her bed completely and getting ready to face the day.

Shadow World

Twilight wentwent downstairs in silence, unable to shake the thought's of her bizarre dream from her head. What in the hay was that dream about? She asked herself. Why would I be thinking of humans? I haven't talked with Sunset in at least three weeks... Maybe I should check in on her later.

The young alicorn found herself in her castle's dining hall where Spike was placing two large plates of waffles on the table and removing a box from it. "Breakfast's ready." The wyrm called to Twilight. She offered Spike a gentle smile and sat down at her spot, taking a fork and knife up with her magic.

As she was about to dig in, Spike asked, "Hey, Twi? Are feeling alright?"

Twilight put down her silverware and turned to her assistant. "What do you mean, Spike?"

"I dunno. You just seem kinda out of it today. Did you not sleep well or something?" Spike inquired.

"Well I did have a weird dream, but I slept fine for the most part... I think you're just imagining things, Spike." Twilight said as she began eating. "Anyway, you should start eating. You don't wanna watch the eclipse on an empty stomach, do you?"

Spike laughed and sat down at his plate. "I guess you're right. Speaking of which, when did you say the eclipse was gonna happen?"

"Around noon." Twilight answered with a mouthful of waffles. "We got plenty of time. Don't you worry."

Spike nodded and began to consume his own breakfast.

The rest of the morning was relatively uneventful. Twilight took inventory of the eclipse glasses she would pass out to the spectators and Spike helped make sure the castle was spic and span.

At around 10:30, the two left the castle and headed towards Fluttershy's cottage, which was situated so it would just so happen to be in the area where the eclipse would be most visible.

With the glasses in tow, Twilight and Spike arrived at the little cottage at the edge of the Everfree forest. Twilight's friends were not the only ones to arrive early. Among the crowd gathered was the Hooves family, Derpy making small talk with her sister in law, Rose, Dinky playing with an extremely patient lizard, while Amethyst and Time Turner were laying down a picnic blanket. Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were playing while Big Macintosh watched over them. Lyra and Bon Bon were kissing behind a bush where they thought nopony could see them. Vinyl Scratch was bobbing her head to some music blasting from her headphones while Octavia sat beside her, reading some novel Twilight couldn't see the title of.

Scanning the crowd for her friends, Twilight saw a cyan hoof beckon over. Moving towards the waving hoof, Twilight and Spike found Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Rarity lying on a red and black checkered picnic blanket. "Heya Twi," Applejack greeted with a big smile. "Glad ya could make it."

"Please, Applejack." Dash said, rolling her magenta eyes. "As if Twilight would miss something like the first total solar eclipse in Ponyville in over three hundred years."

"Ooh! Ooh! Can ya believe it, Twilight?" Pinkie shrieked. "It's gonna be like night during the middle of the day." The enigmatic pony was bouncing up and down with excitement as usual.

Rarity smiled. "Oh, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity! I should make something to commemorate this when I get back." Rarity looked back at Twilight and saw the box she was carrying in her magic. "Twilight, dear, What is in that box?"

Twilight placed the box down in front of her and Spike opened it up, pulling out a pair of eclipse glasses. "These are eclipse glasses. I'm gonna hand them out to everypony in about an hour." Twilight explained.

"What do we need glasses for?" Dash asked.

Applejack smirked and leaded over to the prismatic mare. "If ya'll wanna go blind starin' at the sun, be mah guest."

"The sun's gonna be blocked out by the moon, ya idiot." Dash retorted. "It'll be dark enough to look at."

"Actually," Twilight began, "even during eclipses, it's dangerous to look at the sun."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and took a pair of glasses from the box. "Fine... Whatever." Slowly, the cyan pegasus placed the glasses on her snout, letting the tinted lenses cover up her magenta eyes.

"Ooh! Can I have a pair, Twilight?" Pinkie asked exuberantly.

"Of course you can, Pinkie," Twilight said with a smile as she handed her energetic friend a pair.

Pinkie put on the glasses and started giggling uncontrollably. "I look just like Arnold Schwarzeneigher from Exterminator!" She squealed.

One by one, Twilight gave her other friends their glasses when Fluttershy approached the group. Her mane was disheveled and it looked like she had just been through one of those intense cardio-workouts Dash was going on about. "H-hey everypony... H-how are you...?" She panted.

Twilight eyed her buttery friend up and down. "Fluttershy are you feeling okay?" She asked in a concerned manner. "You look kinda frazzled..."

"Don't worry about me, Twilight." Fluttershy said with a weak smile. "I just had to help a little argument between some of my wasps and bees."

Concerned, Twilight asked the buttery Pegasus, "Did you get stung? Do you need anything?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "No, thank you Twilight. I just need to lay down for a few minutes. A the bees caught a few wasps trying to steal some honey and a fight nearly broke out." Fluttershy explained. "I managed to break them up after a few hours..."

"A few hours?!" Rarity cried. "Fluttershy dear, when did you wake up?"

"Five..."

Pinkie burst up in front of Fluttershy's face. "FIVE?!?!" She shrieked. "Fluttershy. You should know that a pony needs her rest! Especially for a party like this!"

"Oh, Pinkie. I'm fine!" Fluttershy assured. "Besides, I normally wake up around that time anyway."

Applejack nodded her head. "Same here. Ah gotta wake up early and git everything ready. Feed the critters, ready the plow, make breakfast. That kinda thing."

Fluttershy smiled warmly at her farmer friend and turned to Twilight. "I just wanted to make sure everything was perfect for today. Nopony would want something as silly as a little argument between my animal friends to ruin this once in a lifetime opportunity."

"Well, thank you, Fluttershy." Rarity said with a gentle grin. "That was most considerate of you."

The buttery Pegasus nodded with a content smile before plopping down on the picnic blanket, exhausted. "Would you girls please wake me when the eclipse starts? I-I man that is... if you... Ya know... remember?"

Pinkie Pie bent down to her tired friend's face, and nodded exuberantly. "Don't ya worry, Fluttershy! There's no way in Tartarus we're gonna let you sleep through this!"

With those words, Fluttershy was out like a light. Snoring cutely as she gained some much needed rest.

About an hour passed, and, true to her word, Twilight, with some help from Spike, began distributing eclipse glasses to all spectators present. Once everypony had received their glasses, Twilight and Spike donned their own and went back to their friends picnic blanket, Where Pinkie Pie was violently shaking Fluttershy awake. Twilight handed Fluttershy and the rest her friends their glasses and sat down, eagerly anticipating what was to come.

From that point forward, everypony watched with bated breath. Time seemed to move in slow motion as everypony waited for the black orb to appear in the sky and block out the sun.

After about five minutes of waiting, the moon finally became visible. Twilight stared in awe as it slowly crept towards the sun. Seemingly inch by inch, the two celestial orbs came closer and closer together, until finally the moon just barely began to overlap the sun.

Everypony's attention was focused on the two spheres, slowly fitting together like puzzle pieces.

After seemingly an eternity of waiting, the moon finally completely blocked out the sun, forming just a tiny ring of light around the edge of the black orb.

Twilight was in a state of utter rapture. Everything about what she was witnessing was completely and utterly majestic. The two most prominent celestial bodies coming together in unison to create such a wonderful phenomenon, and here Twilight was; standing as an observer to the whole event.

Suddenly, the dark tint in Twilight's glasses became impossible to see through. As the young mare was about to take off her glasses, she heard a scream from right next to her. Hurrying, Twilight threw off the lenses and looked to her side.

What she saw was incomprehensible.

Aside from her self, Spike, and the rest of her friends, everypony who had gathered to watch the eclipse had disappeared. In their places were giant coffins.

Rainbow Dash took a step back as Fluttershy whimpered in fear. Applejack and Rarity looked around them in awe as their surroundings began to warp. The sky gave off an eerie green glow, the trees became warped and crooked, and puddles of what appeared to be blood began to well up at random points on the ground. "WHAT KIND OF MESSED UP TARTARUS IS THIS?!?!" Dash screamed.

Spike hugged at Twilight's legged as he quivered in fear. "T-Twilight, What's going on?"

Twilight shook her head. "I... I have no idea..." She whimpered. "T-this is... unnatural... This doesn't make any sense!"

"Silly Twilight!" Pinkie cried, brightening the mood (If only slightly. "Isn't it obvious?"

Everypony stared at Pinkie as she began a long winded explanation. "Obviously, Lauren Faust the Almighty is displeased with her children and has decided to bring the end of planet Terrasteed!"

An awkward silence hung in the air. Everypony just stared at Pinkie with the most "What the buck is wrong with you" faces they could muster. "Joking!" Pinkie cried. "C'mon, girl's. You all know I'm atheist! I have no clue what the Tartarus is happening. Hehehe."

Before anypony could say anything, a loud shriek was heard not to far into the forest. From the direction of the cry, something emerged from the thicket. Or rather, a lot of things.

Some of them appeared to be giant orbs with mouths while others were black puddles of some viscous fluid wearing masks, slowly crawling towards the ponies (and dragon) with gooey arms.

"What in the name of Celestia's mane are those things!?" Applejack cried out as Fluttershy backed up, shaking in fear.

Twilight didn't answer but instead tried to blast at the monsters with her magic, but for some inexplicable reason, all she could do was lift up a small rock nearby. "What the?"

Fluttershy tried to fly away, but just like Twilight and her magic, she seemed barely able to get off the ground.

Something was robbing the ponies of there abilities. Applejack wasn't as strong as she should have been, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were unable to fly, and the most magic Twilight and Rarity could do was lift small objects.

Suddenly a larger monster burst from the trees, but something was off about this one. It was to... Streamlined compared to the others. It was some sort of black humanoid robot wielding a giant golden lightning bolt and with a human skeleton painted on the front. The robot swung it's lightning bolt at the smaller monsters, smashing them and turning them into some kind of blackish red mist.

Then, a group of creatures emerged from behind the robot. There were fifteen in all. One was obviously a dog, while one appeared to be some kind of cartoonish bear, but the other thirteen only Twilight and Spike were familiar with.

"Twilight!" Spike cried. "Are those...?"

"Humans."

One of the humans stepped forth. He was a tall muscular male with bleached hair. "Take-Mikazuchi," He cried. "Maziodyne!"

The black robot raised the lightning bolt above it's head and giant pillars of electricity rained down on a good chunk of the monsters.

A crimson haired woman stepped forward and pulled a gun from her waist. "I summon thee! Artimesi-AGH!"

A blast of flame knocked the woman forward. She dropped the gun which landed right at Twilight's hooves. The woman crawled onto her elbows. Her eyes widened as they fell upon Twilight, who was lifting up the gun.

"Mitsuru!" A silver haired boy in a red vest cried.

Twilight raised the cold gun to her face as the crimson haired woman stared in awe. Turning the weapon to the side, Twilight found four simple letters carved into it. S.E.E.S.

On pure instinct, Twilight pressed the metal barrel again against her forehead, just below the base of her horn and muttered three simple syllables, all the while keeping a mad smile on her face.

"Per...So...Na..."

Suddenly, the lavender alicorn used her magic and pulled back on the trigger, forcing a sound that she likened to shattering glass resonated as a massive blue fog erupted from the ground behind her.

In this dense fog, a silhouette appeared and a voice almost identical to Twilight's resonated.

"Thou art I... And I am thou... From the sea of thy soul, I cometh... I am Hecate... Queen of the arcane."

The fog cleared, revealing the figure that once hid in it. It was humanoid, a metallic lavender body with a head almost the exact same as Twilight's when she visited the human world, the only difference being it's eyes were a single shade of emerald. Attached to it's hips and shoulders were thin metal bars with hinges on the ends. Resting on these hinges were four cloth covered cylinders. Its feet were some kind of combination of hooves and high heel shoes. On the back of it's hands were five pointed, inverted stars, and resting in each hand was a bayoneted musket. A design of a crossroad formed where the creatures breasts would be and below that was Twilight's cutie mark. A massive black cape blew behind the entity's back.

Still grinning madly, Twilight stuck her hoof towards the crowd of monsters and shouted, "MARAGIDYNE!"

Hecate leveled her muskets at the monsters and pulled the triggers. Suddenly, bursts of flames began to engulf some of the monsters. Twilight turned around and saw her friends staring in awe at her.

Before she could say anything, one of the mouth monsters latched onto Hecate's neck. Twilight yelled in pain. It felt like the monster was actually on her. "GET OFFA ME!" She cried as Hecate savagely tore the orb from her and stuck her musket's bayonet into it, causing the monster to explode in a shower of black goop.

"Izanagi!" One of the humans cried. A grey haired male stuck his palm out as a card materialized above it. The boy clenched his fist, shattering the card. A humanoid figure wearing a strange mask and holding a weapon that appeared to be a cross between a spear and a sword collected the crimson haired woman in its arms and flew back to the group of humans. All the while, Hecate was slaughtering the monsters without mercy.

Twilight turned to her friends once again. This time her eyes widened as she saw blue cards materialize in front of all them except Spike and Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy held her hoof out to the the card in front of her, shut her eyes and screamed, "Hestia!" The buttery pony clenched her hoof, shattering the card. Behind her a human female with long pink hair, wearing a dress made of flames appeared.

Applejack bucked her card, shouting, "Demeter!" the creature that she summoned was also female. It had long blond hair and wore an amber silk dress. On its head rested a crown of wheat and in its hand was a golden scythe.

Rarity sliced her card with her horn. "Calypso!" She cried as yet another human female appeared. This one was almost exactly like the human version of Rarity, wearing a long white dress with a slit that went up to its mid-thigh. Calypso brandished a staff with an ivory white unicorn horn on the tip.

"Tiresias!" Pinkie shrieked. This time, the human that appeared was male. It wore an armored plate on it's chest and a cloth over its eyes and had two jagged daggers in his grip.

Twilight grinned as all the summoned human-esque creatures rushed at the monsters, eviscerating each and every one. Hestia would increase everypony's strength, Calypso attacked with giant blocks of ice, Tiresias shot blasts of lightning from his daggers and Demeter hacked away with her scythe.

Dash and Spike stared in awe as one by one the crowd of monsters thinned until none were left. Evidently so did the humans who had appeared earlier. Well, they were probably tending to the injured woman and had no time to gawk.

Finally, Hecate stuck her bayonets into the last monster. As it disintegrated, Tiresias, Calypso, Demeter, Hestia and Hecate all disappeared in a flash of blue.

Twilight felt her knees wobble. She couldn't stand anymore. Whatever she just did had utterly exhausted her. Slowly, the young mare felt her grip on consciousness fade, until Twilight completely blacked out.

Author's Note

Okay a few clarifications.

First off: Marie isn't going to be appearing in this story as I absolutely can't stand her.

2: Just assume guns are canon in this Equestria

The Contract

Twilight felt as if her body was being thrown about in some current. The only thing that seemed to exist at the moment was herself and the pure darkness surrounding her. She felt queasy, her nausea growing in her gut until the young mare thought she would hurl.

Suddenly, a light penetrated the darkness. Twilight looked towards the brilliant light and saw a faint silhouette of a key. Desperate, Twilight reached for it with her hoof. When the lavender mare reached the key, her vision was assaulted by a blinding light.

The light faded as a familiar voice penetrated the silence.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room."

Twilight's full vision came back to her, revealing Margarette and Igor sitting opposite her once again. This time, Twilight observed the room more closely. It was obvious she was in some kind of stable or holding pen of a barn. Albeit a very classy and well decorated stable.

Interrupting her musings, Igor spoke once more. "It seems you have stumbled upon the mystery as foretold and awakened to your power. Splendid!" Twilight was lost. She had no idea who these humans were or why they spoke as if they knew what was happening to her. "Now," Igor began, "We can help you hone this power. However, as mentioned earlier, you must agree to be bound by a contract."

As Igor finished, a piece of paper materialized on the table in front of Twilight. It read "I, Sign Here, agree to accept the responsibilities of my actions and chooseth this fate of mine own free will."

For the first time, Twilight noticed the pen resting on the table beside her. Taking it up with her hoof, Twilight signed her name on the contract. As soon as she was done signing, Igor snapped his fingers, making the pen and paper disappear.

"Now that that's out of the way," Igor began, "let's discuss your power."

Twilight leaned in, eager to hear whatever this Igor person could explain.

"You have awakened to an ability called 'Persona'. Igor explained. "Think of it like a facade of determination you wear to overcome life's obstacles. However you have the most unique ability, known as the 'Wild Card'. You, along with a select few others are capable of harnessing the bonds you have formed with those close to you to summon multiple Personas."

Margarette stood up holding a book. "You are most unusual case, even without taking into account your species." She explained. "Where as the last two wild cards we hosted developed their bonds after coming to us, you already have forged a great number of bonds."

"Indeed." Igor said. "Your heart is ready to accept the power of Persona, but your mind is too fragile at the moment to house your full potential. We cannot in good conscious allow you to utilize all the Personas you have awakened to right now, for fear of your psyche being damaged beyond repair. We can, however, give you these three in addition to Hecate."

Igor spread his arms and concentrated hard. Visages of three figures appeared above him and Twilight recognized each one. Sunset Shimmer, Fluttershy and Maud Pie.

"The Magician, Priestess and Empress Arcana. Contained with in them are the Personas Siren, Diane, and Gaea respectively."

The three ethereal images condensed into card shapes which floated towards Twilight. As they got close to the mare, the three cards glowed a bright blue before fading away.

"Now that our job is done for the moment," Igor said. "it is time for you return to your reality. We shall be here within your mind should you ever need to call upon our assistance."

"Farewell" Margarette spoke politely.

With that, Twilight once again felt her mind slip into unconsciousness.

Author's Note

Hey guys. sorry for the short chapter. Please Please don't hate me.:pinkiesad2: