Chapters

Chapter 2: Secrets and Lies?
Chapter 3: Visions From The Sun
Chapter 4: Apples, Diamonds, and Shattered Hopes

Chapter 2: Secrets and Lies?
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MLP x Persona: Bonds are Magic

Chapter 2: Secrets and Lies?

You open your eyes at the sound of Igor's voice. You find yourself in the same room as a few nights ago. Igor and Sonata are sitting in the booth in front of you again. You lean up in your chair to listen.

"Only those bound by a contract and have forged bonds may enter this room." Sonata adds, casually. "Congratulations, you have unlocked your hidden power. It is the power of the Wild Card." Sonata smiles as she continues to explain. "It's ability is like no other. Like the number zero, it's possibilities are endless."

"I am quite curious to see how you will use these new powers you have obtained. In the meantime, I would like you to have this." Igor presents you with a small key.

"This is the contractor's key." explains Sonata. "From here on out, you will be our guest here in the velvet room. You may visit anytime you want."

"Now, it is time for us to go, for now." says Igor, cracking another disturbing smile. "But do not worry. We will travel the road of your destiny together. Only one true destination lies ahead. That is for both of us to find out soon."

"Where we left off...in the dungeon of Spoiled Rich.

September 4th, Saturday
Noon

"Shade! Shade!! Wake up!"

Shade opened his eyes. Twilight and Starlight were standing over him. Shade groaned and rubbed his head. "What happened there? For a minute, I felt like I was somepony else."

"You kind of seemed like it." said Twilight. "Umm, quick question though. WHAT, IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA WAS THAT 'THING' SUPPOSED TO BE?" Twilight's voice sounded so loud that the walls shook a little. Starlight and Shade had to cover their ears just to minimize the noise. Then, Twilight managed to calm herself. "Sorry, I've gotten into a habit of using the royal Canterlot voice at times like these. Enough time around Princess Luna will do that to you."

Shade stood up, brushing off some dirt on his jacket. The dungeon's floors were not exactly sanitary. "I don't know." he replied. "I just felt something and I guess I have this power now."

"What did you call that thing again?" asked Starlight. "A 'Persona'?" Shade nodded. "I've never heard of such a thing before. Twilight, do you have any clue what kind of magic that was?"

"Don't ask me! That wasn't a summoning spell or teleportation! I sensed a different kind of aura coming from it. Whatever it is, it's like nothing I've ever seen or heard of before." Starlight walked up closer to Shade, like she was about to interrogate him.

"So, do you mind telling us what's with this 'Persona' you have now?" asked Starlight. "What kind of magic is it?"

"I told you, I don't know." replied Shade. "I heard a voice calling my name and asking me whether I wanted it's power. It came to me when you guys were in danger." Shade felt around his face. The texture of the black mask was still there. "It must be because of the mask I got."

"Yes, but where did it come from?" asked Twilight. "It just came out of thin air? No teleportation or anything?"

"It looked like he had seen the mask before when he put it on." commented Starlight. "Have you been hiding it or something?" Starlight looked suspicious of Shade now. "If so, then who are you?! Tell us!"

"Starlight, please. He probably doesn't know."

"Then explain to me why he didn't seem too fazed when he summoned this 'persona'!" shouted Starlight. "You heard you moved here to find a normal life, but this is anything but normal! Who are you?!"

Shade was a little intimidated by Starlight advancing on him, but he kept cool. "I said, I don't know. I just heard a voice calling to me and I got this. I never had a mask like this before." Shade spoke calmly and firmly. "Yet, when I put the mask on and unleashed this power, something about it felt familiar to me."

Twilight looked at Shade. The look in his eyes told her he wasn't lying. "I believe you." she said. "But, I need answers. We need to find a way to get back home." Starlight backed off from him, the energy from her horn dying down. She still didn't seem fully intent on trusting Shade.

"Where are we now?" asked Shade. "We're not in the dungeon anymore."

"We managed to escape." said Twilight. "Spoiled forgot to lock the cell door when she left. We're now hiding inside a separate room. Thankfully, nopony's found us yet." Shade sighed a sigh of relief.

"I've visited the store before. It was never this big." said Starlight. "A lot of stuff here doesn't make sense."

"I think I might have a theory on that." said Twilight. "Spoiled is acting way too violent, the store has entirely separate rooms and floors, and the map was glowing red before we were sucked inside a portal." Twilight gasped. "This must mean that we're in another world now! It has to!"

"Another world?!" asked Starlight. "The map's never done that before. What could've happened?" Then she turned to face Shade directly, again. "It never did this until it called You! Doesn't that seem awfully strange?!"

"I've never even seen the map before. I have no clue why it transported us to wherever this place is. Maybe it was an accident."

"No, I know this has something to do with you!" yelled Starlight. "Back then, you were a problem when I was-" Starlight covered her mouth. "Sorry, ignore whatever I was about to say. My point is that there's something off about you and it's like you're hiding it from us! Tell us what it is!" Starlight's horn started spewing energy in response to her anger.

Shade was about to speak, but his headache came back. "Rrrrgh!! Not again!" He knelt down in pain. Another image flashed into his head and then a voice.

"Where were you last night?!!" yelled the voice, in a tone Shade could've sworn he'd heard before. "Answer me!!"

Shade felt like he was getting a faint flashback. But what was with these images and voices he kept getting? Why had he been able to control this new power so well? Starlight was practically right on top of him, waiting for him to answer. Shade didn't even know what to think. Starlight was acting like she was about to pass judgment on him. Yet, it felt like he had gone through a similar situation before. He braced himself for a blast of magic, but thankfully, it didn't come. Starlight took a few deep breaths.

"Sorry, it's just that you seem like you know something and you're keeping us in the dark about it." Starlight backed up a little. "Anyways, this isn't the right time to be asking you this."

"That's right." said Twilight. "We need to figure out a way to get out of this crazy place without running into any more guards."

"One thing puzzles me though." said Starlight. "Why have we been able to hide from them so long? We've been talking pretty loudly and still they haven't found us."

Shade took another glance at the room. The walls and floor were all colored blue. There was comfortable furniture laid out, giving the room a feeling of comfort and safety. "Just a guess, but maybe this room is like a safe point?"

Twilight and Starlight turned to him. "That's highly probable." said Twilight. "But it doesn't make sense. If those guards know we're here, why are none of them looking in here? It's like these rooms are designed to give intruders like us a chance to escape!"

Shade just shrugged in response. "So, any of you guys got a plan for escape? We can't just hide here forever."

"How should I know?" asked Twilight. "I've studied plenty of magic, but nothing about this kind! A good deus ex machina would actually come in handy now!" As soon as Twilight said the words, the table in the middle of the room began to glow. All three ponies rushed over to the table. Shade noticed something about it.

"It's glowing red."

"And that doesn't bother you?" asked Starlight. Shade could practically feel Starlight's doubtful eyes piercing through him. He wasn't hiding anything and yet he still felt uneasy. The map glowed an even brighter red and the image of a pony appeared on the table, like a spell recording. The image was blurred a little, but Twilight still knew who it was immediately.

"Starswirl?!!" exclaimed Twilight, like an excited child. "Is that you?!" The image nodded. Twilight began to jump around in excitement. Shade just stared at her, perplexed. Twilight calmed herself down and walked back over to the table. "How are you here?!" she asked. "And if you know, can you tell us where we really are?"

The image began to speak. "Twilight, I can#####I don't have####much time####but, I can####get you####back. Just stand######table####I'll#####.." Twilight couldn't make out what the pony was saying. Neither could Shade and Starlight.

"I think Starswirl's trying to tell us to get on the table." said Twilight. "I'm just guessing, but I guess you can blame weaker spell reception for that." Shade seemed to be pondering this possibility. Starlight didn't seem too convinced by this.

"Are you sure about this, Twilight?" asked Starlight. "You're unusually trusting of 'strangers' today."

"I've learned to develop my trust ever since my journey outside of Equestria." replied Twilight. "Besides, if we don't know any other way to get out, we should at least give my theory a try." Shade nodded.

"I agree. This is pretty much the only room in this place that I can trust now." He and Twilight climbed up on top of the table. Starlight let out a sigh and got on the table as well. A huge flash of light erupted from the table and a bell portal appeared above the table. The three braced themselves, as they were sucked into the light again.

With a loud thud, the three ponies landed on another table. Starlight stood up and took a look at the table. "It's the map!" she exclaimed. The three wanted to celebrate, but nopony was sure if they were in the right place.

"Thank goodness. I was worried you might not return." Twilight and the other two heard the voice and looked to see a pony standing in front of the map table.

"Princess Celestia!" exclaimed Twilight, jumping off the table. She flew into the white allicorn, embracing her, tearfully. Celestia comforted Twilight and patted her on the head. "I'm so glad to see you! We have so much to talk about!"

"It's okay, Twilight." said Celestia, "You're safe now." She turned to the others. "I got here as fast I could. Tell me everything that happened."

Shade, Twilight, and Starlight did their best to explain what happened. They had just assumed everything had taken place in another world, so they based their descriptions off of that. Celestia didn't even comment the whole way through. She listened attentively. "And that's pretty much the gist of it." said Shade, as he finished telling her.

Celestia stroked her chin, thinking about the story. "I see. It's just what Starswirl told me."

Twilight froze, as if she was a robot and she briefly lost connection. "You mean that image we saw in that world was Starswirl, in the flesh?!" Celestia simply nodded.

"Ooh, I have so many questions to ask him! If he knows about that place, it would be great chance to study under him and-"
The other ponies in the room just gave Twilight unimpressed stares. "And you know, find out more info about what we went through." said Twilight, awkwardly.

Shade couldn't help but crack a smile at this display. "Anyways, do you have any info on this strange world that we should know, your highness?" he asked as politely as he could. Ticking off one of Equestria's princesses was not high on his agenda.

"Starswirl only had time to contact me about some of the details." said Celestia. "But, I know some facts. Anypony here up for a quick story?" The three nodded.

Just then, Spike walked in the door. He noticed that Celestia was sitting down with three at the map table. "So, what did I miss?" asked Spike, taking a seat at his own throne. A worried look crossed Twilight's face.

"Actually, this is something private, Spike. Could you just go somewhere-" Celestia gestured to Twilight, saying that it was okay for Spike to listen. "Never mind then, you can sit down there." Spike seemed confused, but he took a seat anyway.

"Wait a minute." said Starlight. "Couldn't you just make a spell call to Starswirl and bring him up so he can explain to us?"

"I'm sorry, but he's a little busy now." said Celestia. "Ever since he heard about the incident you three ended up in, he's been working hard on deciphering it's hidden meanings. Now, is everypony and dragon ready to hear my info?"

"Yes, your highness."

Celestia cleared her throat and began telling the group what she knew. "The world you were all transported to was apparently a world reflecting the distorted mind of a pony. According to Starswirl, the map called you to that location because the Elements must have responded to a strong distortion or disturbance in the balance of magic." A serious expression crossed Celestia's face as she continued to talk. "Equestria is normally filled with light and hope, but if the map called you and transported you to a world like that, something has clearly gone wrong."

"How does that work?" asked Shade. "Is the map that powerful to be able to transport us to alternate worlds?"

"Unfortunately I have very little knowledge on how the map works." replied Celestia. "This is quite a mystery indeed."

"So, the Elements are sensing negative magic." said Starlight. "But doesn't Equestria have bad magic going around a lot these days?"

"Yes, it does." replied Celestia. "However, this new force of magic is something quite different. It's an ancient kind of chaos magic that even Discord himself isn't familiar with. Whatever it is, Starswirl told me that it was one of his early hidden studies. He even developed a spell that would allow him to detect the presence and disturbance of that magic."

"So that's how he knew where we were." said Twilight. "He really is amazing!"

Celestia just smiled and nodded at her excited student. "He most certainly is, but sadly, that is all I know. After all, it was a 'secret' project."

"It's kind of weird why Starswirl would keep this kind of information a secret." said Twilight. "You and Luna studied under him for a while. I wonder why he wouldn't even tell you two."

"That is unfortunately beyond my knowledge." said Celestia. "Starswirl didn't tell anypony about this study. Not even his closest supporters and friends. At least, not until now."

Starlight and Twilight seemed to be taking this in, but Spike didn't seem to have a clue what they were talking about. "So let me get this straight. You guys visited another world while I was out?!"

"Pretty much." replied Shade. "I know it sounds crazy Spike, but it's what really happened."

"No, no, I believe you." reassured Spike. "I'm just really surprised. Nothing like this has happened before. Except for that time Starlight opened a portal to the past and her actions ended up creating alternate timelines and worlds where Equestria was destroyed."

Starlight just eyed him. "You just have to bring that up over and over, huh? I know, I was evil back then. But, it's starting to get a little old."

"Sorry, it's just a little hard to forget."

"Clearly."

"Those facts aside," said Celestia. "It is likely that this will happen again. If that is the case, you must be prepared." She turned to Shade. "Because you seem to be the only pony capable of fighting in that world, Shade, I think that it is best for you to stay with Twilight in the castle."

Shade just nodded. "Yes, your highness. I'll do what I can."

"Glad to hear that." said Celestia. "I have already asked Starswirl to come to Canterlot so me and Luna can gather more information with him. We need to figure out the secrets of this supposed magic that the Elements detected."

"Until then, I think that's best for us to wait and see what happens." added Twilight, getting up from her throne. "I need to get cracking on researching this. We can never really tell when we may run into this world again."

"For once, I would not recommend studying Twilight." said Celestia. "Remember that this magic is secret and no other information about it has been recorded. Starswirl hasn't shared it with anypony."

"True, but I would like to do some referencing and see what kind of magic this might be." said Twilight. "Ever since Starswirl gave me access to more of his spells and older journals, I've been able to find even more secrets about magic that I never knew before. In fact, watch this! I only created this spell a day ago." Twilight got up and shot a blast of magic from her horn at a random vase on a counter. The smaller vase popped out of it. Then another one popped out. Then another. Soon, there were ten different sized vases lying out on the floor, all in different colors and with different patterns.

The other ponies were pretty impressed. "That must be Starswirl's early studies on chaos based magic." remarked Celestia. "Discord would be proud."

She turned to Shade. "I don't mean to put too much pressure on you, but I'm counting on you to protect Twilight and the others. Please, help them. You hold the only method of defeating the forces of evil in that world."

"I promise I will." said Shade. "I'm glad that you trust me with this."

"I'm just happy that these two are back safetly thanks to you." said Celestia. "I wouldn't put my trust in any other pony for this kind of situation now. But please be careful. Starswirl must have hid his studies on this new magic for a reason and I doubt it was just privacy. Celestia looked at the clock. "Forgive me, but I have to get back to work. My schedule is packed with meetings and local appearances. I only had time for a quick break."

"I understand princess." said Twilight, bowing to Celestia. "You and Luna must be lucky to get any breaks at all these days."

"Quite true." said Celestia, giving Twilight one more comforting hug with her left wing. "Good luck." In a burst of bright light, she was gone. Starlight waited for a little before speaking again.

"We should just go about our normal lives for now." she said. "If we stress about this weird, distorted world stuff, we might end up dragging other ponies into this mess."

"You make a valid point, Starlight." said Twilight. "I think we should just keep this a secret for now."

"Sounds good to me." said Spike. "Can I tell our friends about it?"

"No way!" cried Twilight. "I don't want anypony else getting involved. Even if we have Shade and his weird 'Persona' magic helping us out, we can't take any chances."

"Got it. I'll keep quiet about it." said Spike. "In the meantime, I'm gonna go out for a little. There's a sale on 'Ogres and Oubliettes' booster packs at the toy store today." With that, Spike left the room, leaving the three ponies to talk amongst each other.

"What time is it now, anyway?" asked Shade. "It felt like we'd been in that place for hours." Starlight looked up at the clock.

"It's two after noon."

Shade gasped. "I'm late for my new job!!!" He jumped up and ran out the door, his black coat streaming out behind him. Twilight and Starlight just stared at him. Starlight gave Twilight a smug and playful look.

"He seems to be taking after you a little Twilight."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing." said Starlight. "But I still think there's something weird about him. Why are you suddenly so trusting of him?"

"I guess my journey outside of Equestria taught me that every pony or creature deserves a chance to earn trust." replied Twilight. "Besides, he did save our lives in there. Celestia put her trust in him too. If she trusts him, so do I."

Starlight shrugged. "I guess so, but I need to know more. I feel like I've seen him before."

"How so?"

"He just looked a lot like somepony I knew when I was evil. He didn't seem to know me though, so I guess I was thinking of a different pony."

"We can think about his origins later." said Twilight. "We should be grateful he's even on our side. Imagine what would happen if he could use that power against us."

"That's a small possibility that I'm afraid of."

"Well, we shouldn't be. For now, let's take your advice and just go about our normal lives. I have less work on the weekend, so I'm going to the library to make the most of it."

"Alright, I'll be back later tonight. See you later!" The two ponies waved goodbye and headed off in different directions.

Shade could only hope that he was as laid back as the other two. Being late on the first day of work was not something to be proud of, at all. He dashed all over just looking for the store. Finally, he reached the store. Payload was waiting in front for him.

"Well, well. Look who finally decided to show up." said Payload, clearly unimpressed with Shade's arrival time.

"I'm so sorry!" gasped Shade, panting from exhaustion. "I ran into some...problems on the way here."

"Were you falling asleep a lot?"

"Ummmm...Yeah, but how did you know?"

"Lucky guess." replied Payload. "Trust me, a lot of workers love to sleep in."

"So I can still work here?" asked Shade.

Payload sadly shook his head. "I'm afraid not. My boss is pretty strict about being on time, let alone on your first day." Shade's ears drooped and his head hung.

"Sorry Shade, but it's not up to me. I would've been lax and said 'hey it's okay. Just don't be this late again.' But it isn't, so I can't really help you with it. Besides, this job gets boring after a while. It's just looking after the same old and dusty things day after day."

"I just wanted a job." said Shade, sadly. "Honestly, I just jumped at the first opportunity. There goes my luck."

"It's okay, Shade." said Payload. "I'm sure you'll find some other job here that's even more exciting." Payload then reached into a barrel he was packing. "But my boss has made a rule that all ponies who don't make it on the first day get one of these things." Payload handed Shade another small package. "My boss said that you need to open it and put it on as soon as you get back home."

"Why?"

"It's just a policy we have. If you're late on the first day, my boss orders me to give these out."

"How many ponies have this thing?"

"Only you so far." Shade groaned.

"Thanks, you just made my day."

"Look, I didn't mean to insult you or anything but these are just the rules. Please just put it on when you get back." said Payload. Shade didn't exactly know what to think about this. Why would Payload's boss care so much about him even after firing him? He just said his goodbyes and left to look for another job.

"Oh well, might as well see what it is." said Shade as he opened the box. Inside was a red and black watch. Shade was surprised. Watches were not cheap in Equestria but Payload's boss had just given him one for free without him even paying for it. Happy to at least get something out of his failure, Shade strapped on the watch. Suddenly, a holographic menu display popped out in front of him. In the middle was a button with the words "lock in" on it. Curious, Shade reached out to press it. Surprisingly, the hologram responded. A wave of transparent red light surrounded Shade. Shade took a look around. Everything looked the same, just if he were wearing red night vision goggles. Then, he jumped at what he saw.

Some buildings were beginning to turn an ominous purple. Something, which Shade could only describe as black ooze was leaking out of some of the buildings. Shade gasped in shock as some buildings began to disappear from his sight in a burst of flames. He watched as the whole world around him began to burn. Then, new buildings began to form around him. But, these were not the same simple yet comfortable structures Shade had been seeing for the past two days. The new structures were glamorous, overdone buildings with too many decorations and jewels. Shade was all for a little bit of style, but these were the same disgustingly gaudy buildings he had seen in the other world.

"..Wait a minute...The other world?" Shade's thoughts about this were interrupted as the terrible images around him vanished. With that, he was right back in the real Ponyville. Shade turned to look at his surroundings. Everything was just the same as before until he got the message from the watch. Or was it the watch? Shade decided to test this theory by pressing the button on the watch again. In a few seconds, he was surrounded by the flashy sculptures once again. Shade pushed it again. He returned to Ponyville. He didn't even know what to think now. He had pretty much seen another glimpse of the alternate world. Shade was confused on whether the watch actually transported him there or if it was just a hologram.

"I need to tell Twilight about this." he said as he turned toward the castle.

"Umm, are ya feeling okay there?" came the voice of an orange pony with a western pony hat. She was hauling a large wagon of apples. Shade shook his head back and forth, trying to get a grip.

"No? You're not okay?"

"Oh, sorry. I, um, just had something on my face." said Shade.

"Yeah, sure. I was just on my way to make some apple deliveries and I just caught you standing here with a shocked look on your face." Shade groaned. If only he could see the images, then it would make him look like a complete fool in front of other ponies.

"I was..just thinking thoughts." replied Shade, some sweat coming down his forehead. "What's your name?"

"Oh, my apologies. I never did introduce myself." said the orange pony. "I'm Applejack. You must be that new pony that's staying with Twilight now. Shade, was it?"

"Yup."

Applejack smiled. "Well, I know we didn't meet on the best terms, but let me just say, welcome to Ponyville." Applejack held out her hoof and Shade gladly shook it. "I'm sorry I never got to meet you earlier. Coincidentally, I had to head off to Appleloosa to work on something private."

Shade grinned a little. He was feeling unusually curious. "What was it?" Applejack just raised her eyebrow.

"If you recall, I said it was private."

"Just a guess, but did it have something to do with the map?"

Applejack's eyes seemed to pop open. "How did you know?"

"I've seen the map before." replied Shade. "Twilight and Starlight informed me about it earlier today."

"Alright then, you got me." said Applejack. "I went out to solve a 'friendship problem'. The map's been calling us one at a time more often now." She looked Shade over a little. "I'll just assume you know what that means, right?"

Shade just nodded. "Well, that's good. I wouldn't want this situation becoming anymore awkward than it already is."

"I'm relieved." said Shade in a playful manner. "But why keep it a secret?"

"If any random pony knew about the map we'd have to deal with even more fan attention." Applejack shuddered just thinking about the old experience. "I could honestly do without that for a while."

"So, where are you headed off to now? I'm kind of bored and just poking around town for fun."

"Just heading back to Sweet Apple Acres once I finish these here deliveries." replied Applejack. "You can stop by if you want. Any friend of Twilight's is a friend of mine."

"Thanks Applejack." said Shade. He looked at his watch. It was already afternoon. "Oh, that's right. I have to go talk to Twilight about something." He ran off back to Twilight's castle. Applejack just watched him head off. She scratched her chin.

"He seems like an interesting guy." she remarked as she headed off with her wagon. "There's something about that pony that feels weird though."

Shade burst in through the door. "Twilight? Where are you? I need to show you something!"

Twilight flew down to meet Shade. "What is it?" Shade presented her with the watch.

"I got it from Payload. He just said to wear it because of his boss' policy." explained Shade. "But when I put it on, I saw images of that world we were in before."

Curious, Twilight took the watch and observed it. It looked like just an ordinary wrist watch. "I know what I saw." said Shade. "After the events this morning, I'm sure that this might have a connection to the mystery of this alternate world.

"Don't worry. I believe you." said Twilight. "I just don't know how this works."

"Me neither." said Shade. "All I know is that it seems to only work for me." He pressed the button a few times. Nothing happened. "I passed Applejack on the way back here and she didn't see anything weird."

"Interesting." commented Twilight. "Could you let me borrow the watch for a little? I'll need to run some analysis on it."

"You have an analysis lab?" asked Shade.

"You bet." replied Twilight. "I don't use it that often these days. Science can't explain everything in this world. Besides, the library is where I do most of my research."

"Makes sense." Shade thought to himself. "Sure." He handed Twilight the watch. "I'm gonna head out again." said Shade. "I need to find a new job to pass the time."

"Got it. Good luck!" called Twilight from upstairs. She had just teleported. Shade sauntered off to find a job, again.

Shade looked around but he couldn't find any jobs that might need his assistance. He saw Payload stacking some more boxes and then dropping a few. He looked pretty busy and stressed out. Then, Shade remembered what Rainbow Dash had told him yesterday. "Well, I might as well go check out the school and see what they can offer me." Shade said, talking to himself.

Shade reached the school. It was a pretty small building, at least, compared to some of the schools he'd seen it the city. Shade couldn't remember where he had received his education, but that wasn't important to him now. Shade knew the school was closed, but if he could leave a note in the mail, maybe he would get lucky with a job. Fortunately, he made sure to carry around some paper and a pencil in his jacket pockets. Shade levitated a piece of paper out with his magic and wrote a message. He folded it up into an envelope he had brought with him and dropped it in the mailbox in front of the school.

"Worth a shot, I guess." He headed back into town. As he was walking, he saw a little filly leaning against a corner. She had light pink fur and a violet mane with streaks of white. Shade could see her whimpering. Standing in front of her were three other fillies. One of them was Sweetie Belle. The other two were an earth pony and a pegasus. One was orange and had a purple mane The other one was yellow, had a red mane, and a big red bow that seemed to be her defining feature. They were talking to her. Shade knew it wasn't the best idea to listen in on a conversation, but he couldn't help himself. He hid behind a wall right next to them.

"C'mon Diamond Tiara. You don't need to hide anything from us." said the yellow one.

"Yeah, we're here to help you. You can tell us whatever's going on with you." said the orange one.

"We won't judge. Helping other ponies is our job." said Sweetie Belle, leaning in a little closer to Diamond Tiara. The violet earth pony just shook her head.

"I'm fine. Just have a lot of work to do these days." she mumbled. The three fillies in front of her just shook their heads.

"We know you're upset Diamond, but hiding your problems won't solve them." said Sweetie Belle. At this, Diamond Tiara just stood up and ran.

"I told you I'm fine!" she cried out. "You guys should just leave me alone!" Shade saw her running away crying. He could've sworn he saw a bruise on her head. Suddenly, he was caught off guard by a turqoise aura of magic pulling on his tail. Before he knew it, he was dragged into the street corner, right in front of the three. Sweetie Belle looked suspicious at first but then her expression changed.

"Oh, it's only you." she said. "Nice to see you again Shade! These are my friends." She pointed to the others to introduce them.

"Howdy! I'm Applebloom." said the yellow one.

"Nice to meet you! My name's Scootaloo." said the orange one. "We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

"So I've heard from Sweetie Belle." said Shade. "You guys apparently help other ponies?"

"Yep." replied Applebloom. "Did you see us?"

"Of course he did Applebloom!" said Sweetie Belle. "I knew he was there the whole time!"

"Wait, how?" asked Shade, a little startled at Sweetie's observational skills. The white filly just grinned in response.

"No offense, but I heard your hoofsteps. You were a little loud." Shade chuckled a little at his own incompetence.

"So, I heard you guys talking to that filly. What happened?"

"That was Diamond Tiara." replied Scootaloo. "She seemed pretty sad today. It started today at school."

"That's right." said Sweetie Belle. "I noticed that she looks a little droopy these days. But today, she just didn't look well at all."

"How so?" asked Shade. "What's she usually like?"

"Well, she used to be a real bully." replied Applebloom, turning her head a little. "But, she's really changed since then. Now, she's a good friend and does a lot to help our school." Shade stroked his chin, taking in the information he was receiving. Some ponies noticed them and started to whisper. Shade could tell this wasn't the right environment for this kind of conversation. The alleyway just screamed, "scheming."

"Mind if we take this conversation somewhere else?" asked Shade.

"Not at all." replied Scootaloo. "We can show you our clubhouse if you want."

"Sounds good to me."

"Well, here we are!" announced Applebloom. Shade was impressed with the structure of the tree house. It was definitely professional.

"You guys build this entire thing on your own?" asked Shade. Applebloom nodded. Shade hesitated a little, taken back by the filly's talent for building. He found a comfortable seat labeled, "clients chair." He straightened himself up "So, could you guys please continue? You were on Diamond Tiara acting a little off lately."

"Oh, right." said Applebloom. "Well, yeah, her behavior has seemed weird these days. It's not like she's being mean all over again. She just seems way too gloomy nowadays and we have no idea what it could be."

Shade took a mint from the jar. "When did this first begin?" he said, sucking on the piece of candy.

Scootaloo shrugged. "We don't really know what goes on in her personal life. It's hard to tell when this first started." She stretched out her wings a little. "We started talking to her yesterday, cause that's when we knew something was wrong with her."

"Only problem is that she refuses to tell us anything!" added Applebloom. "We don't know what to do now. Forcing her isn't gonna help!" She paused and her eyes grew a little wider. "If our life's purpose is helping other ponies, what does that mean if we can't help her?" Shade felt a sharp pain in his heart. He barely knew Applebloom, but seeing her sad face wasn't pleasant. He stood up from the chair and walked over to Applebloom and the other two.

"What if I go and talk to her?" he suggested. Applebloom looked up in surprise.

"You would do that for us?" she asked, excitedly.

"Yeah, sure." replied Shade. "I don't know you guys that well, but I can't just sit by and watch you try to work this out alone. Lending you guys a helping hoof just..feels like the right thing to do." Applebloom gave Shade a hug.

"Thanks a lot Shade! I'm just so happy that you care!" she cried out, tears of joy falling down her cheeks. Then, she broke away. "Er, I mean, thanks for helping." Shade just smiled and gave her a pat on the head.

"It's okay. I won't let you guys down." he said, reassuringly. "Now, where does she live?"

"Oh, she lives in the Rich's house next to the jewelry shop." said Sweetie Belle. "Good luck with talking to her."

"Yeah." added Scootaloo. "She may be reformed but she can still be pretty stubborn sometimes."

Shade said his thanks and headed out. The route from Sweet Apple Acres to Ponyville was long on hoof, but Shade was able to make it back on his own. As he walked back, his mind seemed to fill up with thoughts and theories. Shade often talked to himself aloud to get some ideas off his chest. "Diamond Tiara lives in the Rich's house, huh?" he said to himself. "Doesn't that mean her mother is-" He stopped walking for just a little. It was already 6:50 PM and he was just in the town square of Ponyville. "Spoiled Rich." Shade pondered. "Is she having issues with her parents?" The words escaped his mouth but thankfully, nopony seemed to be listening. "No, come on. I can't just jump to conclusions." said Shade. "I mean, the Spoiled Rich I know was the one in the alternate world. The two can't be completely the same."

"The world you were transported to was apparently a world reflecting the distorted mind of a pony."

"Wait a minute." said Shade. "I remember what Celestia told me. A world reflecting a pony's 'distorted mind'? What's that supposed to mean?" Shade looked at a nearby street clock. "I should at least grab a bite to eat. It's about that time again." He walked over to the nearest restaurant he could see, ordered a salad and some chips, and just ate on his own while thinking about the details of his conversation with Celestia. His day had been all over the place. He had gone from one task to another.

"So much for a relaxing environment." Shade thought to himself. "Now I see what Twilight and the others meant." He took a few more bites and paid the bill with the few bits he had in his jacket pockets. "Distorted mind." Shade was still thinking about this odd statement. What did it mean? Shade did a little more thinking as he walked back. He tended to do a lot of thinking as he walked. He reached the castle and knocked on the door. Spike opened it for him.

"Hey Shade, Twilight needs to talk to you about something." said Spike. "She's in the throne room." Shade let Spike lead the way. There, he found Twilight waiting for him. She was levitating some books and the watch he'd given her.

"You're here. Thank goodness." said Twilight. "I've been digging for answers and I think I might have got a few."

"What did you find out?" asked Shade, coming a little closer. Twilight handed him his watch.

"I analyzed it thoroughly and I got almost nothing." said Twilight. "It just seems like a regular watch." Shade slapped his forehead. "Although, I did find one weird thing about it." said Twilight. "Take a look at this." She levitated a paper in front of Shade. He read through it.

"What's so strange about it?"

"Do you notice that the analysis shows one unidentified material?"

"Uh, no I didn't." replied Shade. He looked over it again. "Wait, I see it! I don't know what it means though."

"Exactly." said Twilight. "I analyzed the watch multiple times to get the most accurate results and that popped up in the scanner every time. Whatever this watch has in it, my scanner can't properly identify it."

Shade looked closely at the watch. He just strapped it back on. As soon as he did, a flash of red light came out. The two ponies stumbled back, rubbing their eyes. "What was that?" asked Twilight.

"I don't know. When I put it on, it just flashed." Twilight thought about it. "It activated as soon as you put it on?"

"I guess so, but what could it mean?" asked Shade. His thoughts were cut off as he and Twilight found themselves in Ponyville's town square. Shade and Twilight watched in shock as the buildings began to burst into flames one by one. The same brash and showy structures that they had seen in the alternate world took the place of the buildings. Above them, the sky turned darker and a feminine voice called out to them.

"20 days left." it droned. In a few seconds, the two were right back in the castle room. Twilight was shocked about what had just happened. Shade wasn't too surprised but he was puzzled by the fact he had gotten the same images from the watch as before. He knew they were images and not the alternate world itself because he had ended up in the exact same place as he had the last time he saw the image.

"What, in the name of Celestia just happened!?" yelled Twilight. Spike ran over in an attempt to calm her down, but to no avail. Shade just stared at the watch. He bumped it a few times with his horn. The watch seemed to respond to his tapping.

"You Have 20 Days Remaining Till Collapse Begins." came the mechanical voice. Shade froze at this. That was a disturbing statement. Then, the map began to flash again. Twilight and Shade's cutie marks hovered above it, flashing as well. The map began to turn a dark shade of red again. Twilight stopped her rapid pacing and ran over to look at the map.

"It's happening again!" yelled Twilight. "It's just like before! What should we do? Shade stepped back and watched as the blood red energy from the map floated up. The energy formed the shape of a huge bell, right above the map. Shade felt his watch vibrate. When he looked at it, several signs appeared in front of his face.

One of them said, "Your nightly raid is now open. Proceed?" The "proceed" button appeared below the first one. Shade knew something was different than before. For some reason, the bell portal from last time wasn't forcefully sucking the two in anymore. It was just hovering there, waiting for a response. Twilight noticed as well. Her mind cooled down a little. She was still understandably confused, but she wasn't shouting and jumping around anymore.

"That's strange. It seems like it's waiting for us to do something or step within its range." she remarked. Shade saw some more holographic signs appear below the "proceed" button, like a miniature pop-up menu. They were labeled, skip for today and return to previous landmark. Shade didn't know what these meant. Was this watch connected to the magic he had experienced? Twilight teleported over to Shade. "Did your watch cause this?"

"I have no clue." replied Shade. "But it seems like we should go in. If these are the same signs as last time, we don't have much of a reason to skip it. Our goal was to find more information on this place and we have a free passage there right in front of us." Shade swallowed hard. "I hope."

"You hope?" asked Twilight, who was getting a little shaky. "Well, I hope you know what you're doing."

"Me too." replied Shade. "By the way Twilight, what were you going to say before we were interrupted?"

"Huh, oh right." mumbled Twilight. "I saw something else before you got here."

"Yeah? What was it?" asked Shade. Twilight sat down on a cushion to explain. Spike had already exited the room. He wasn't gonna hang around a massive portal above the map. Not after the last time that had happened when Starlight had done it.

"Before you came here, I could've sworn I heard some voices calling to me. I looked around and heard the noise coming from the map. What's even weirder is that the sounds were coming from Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres, on the map. It's like the map was literally calling to me. I couldn't make heads or tails of it through just hearing so I used a translation spell. Here's what I got back. 'Help, help us please! She's the reason for our suffering!' The rest is a blur." Twilight sighed. "Some help I am. It's like this new magic is designed to troll with the magic I've been studying and refining for years!" Shade gave her a pat on the back.

"You've been trying your best Twilight." he said, trying to make her feel a little better. "I've been thinking about the details of this world for most of the day. I just can't completely put it together though." Then, his expression became serious. "Look, we made it in there once and this was what happened before. Now that there seems to be some control over the way we can enter, we should go in." He held out his hoof. "Come on."

Twilight wiped her face off a little. "Okay, let's give it a try." She took Shade's hoof and the two climbed up onto the map table. Shade's watch buzzed again and another message came out.

"You Have 20 Days Till Collapse Begins." said the voice again. "Do You Wish To Proceed?" The watch suddenly began to morph into a miniature screen. It showed the time in digital numbers above and revealed two buttons asking yes and no.
Shade didn't know what to make of this, but his gut told him that he should just go along with it. He pressed the "yes" button. The screen then displayed, "restart at last landmark?". Shade pressed yes on that one as well. As soon as he did, the portal began to buzz and vibrate. The two ponies cried out as the portal pulled them into the unknown.

----(Red waves)

Shade and Twilight stood up and looked around. They were in a blue room with comfortable furniture. Twilight recognized the place. "This is the same room we hid in last time."

Shade noticed as well. "Yeah, it is. And I think I know why we ended up here. It must be a landmark."

Twilight looked at him. "You mean that thing that the weird 'watch' asked you about? If that's the case, this is our safe zone and we must have warped back to it."

"Seems like that." said Shade. "We're here now though which means it worked."

"I don't know if that's entirely a relief or a bad thing." said Twilight. "I'm glad our hopes about traveling back here are confirmed, but a dangerous place like this is not somewhere anypony would want to end up in."

"We need to dig around here for some clues and info." said Shade. "Let's just be careful though." He walked to the door.

"We wanted to come to find out more." said Twilight. "I'll just stay behind you. My magic couldn't do anything to those monsters when we came here before and I'm not risking another near death scenario like that again." Shade nodded and slowly cracked the door open.

He poked his head out and glanced around the outside space. No enemies were in sight. "The coast is clear." he whispered to Twilight. The two ponies slowly crept out of the room and across the dark hallway. Faint creaks and screeching noises were starting to become detectable. Twilight huddled up close to Shade, trying to avoid even the slightest chance of getting herself caught. Another loud screech echoed in the hallways. Shade and Twilight turned around quickly to see where the noise could've come from. The two began to continue their descent down the long corridor of jail cells.

Shade and Twilight could see ponies inside on their knees, grasping at the bars, begging for freedom or something to eat. "Please, let me out!" screamed an earth pony in one of the cells. "I'll give you all I have! Just please let me out!!"

"Help me!" screamed another one. "I don't belong here! Help!!!" Shade and Twilight looked around in horror at the endless hallway of screams and pleading. Just as they thought the imprisoned ponies were terrible enough, a guard leaped out in front of them, his weapon raised.

"You don't belong here! On your knees, intruders!" yelled the guard, levitating his spear. Shade grabbed Twilight and pushed her out of the way of the spear. He ducked and rolled away to keep his distance. The guard's eyes turned red and his body burned away to reveal a shadowy figure with a sword and shield.

"Oh no!" cried Twilight as the monster raised its weapons, ready to crush her and Shade. Shade focused and a wave of black energy swirled around him blocking the blow of the sword. The same fragmented black mask formed above him.

"It's here." said Shade, sighing in relief. He grabbed the mask out of the air and slammed it to his face. "PERSONA!" he called out. Mordred appeared right in front of him and swung his sword at Shade's command. With an unpleasant chunk noise, the monster's body split in half and burst in a mess of splattered black goo.

Shade gestured and Mordred lifted his sword. The weapon split in half and two long gun barrels emerged from the center. He was just in time because a group of monsters were charging down the hallway. Mordred fired several shots at the monsters. They screamed in pain as the dark flames engulfed them. They dragged themselves towards Shade, fully intent on killing him. Mordred unfurled his huge black wing and sent a huge gust of black wind across the room. Twilight had to hold on to the prison bars to keep her balance. The wind sent the creatures flying away. Their bodies shattered against the hard walls. "Let's go!" yelled Shade. "I can take you guys on!" He ran down the hall, Mordred at his side still firing some shots from his gun sword.

"Hey, wait up!" called Twilight as she flew after the two figures in black.

"Sorry, it's kind of hard to control this power."

"I'll say. Just don't go too overboard or you might collapse like last time!"

"I'll try, but no guarantees!" Shade ran at a speed to which Twilight could keep pace with him. The hallway of ponies seemed to go on forever. Finally, the two reached a long winding staircase. Shade and Twilight stopped to catch their breath, but Shade kept his persona out. He wasn't taking any chances with security until they found a room they could rest in like the last one.

"I know this isn't the real world, but this is insane." remarked Shade, pointing down the long hall of cells.

"Please don't talk about it!" cried Twilight. "It's terrible just to think about it! All of these ponies are trapped here and we couldn't even save one of them! I made a promise to look out for my subjects and my friends."

"I'm sure we can come back for them later, Twilight." said Shade, grabbing her hoof again. "For now, we need to find a new safe zone!" He ran up the long flight of stairs, Twilight running right behind him. With a crash, Mordred broke down the huge door blocking their path.

"Well, hello there, my lovely little intruders!" came a familiar voice. Shade and Twilight angrily turned towards the voice. It was Spoiled Rich. She was sitting on a large throne, hoisted by other ponies, wearing a long flowing purple dress, and eating small morsels from a bowl. "So, you fools have come back." snorted the arrogant pony. "I didn't think you'd actually return. Lucky for me, because you peasants owe me something from last time."

"And what is that, exactly?" asked Shade, defiantly.

Spoiled grimaced at the rebellious pony standing before her. "Your lives." she growled. "Any who dare to oppose me must be eliminated. I only have room for servants and upper class."

"Just try it."

"Guards!" commanded Spoiled. "Kill him now!" The guards shed their skin and turned into their monster forms. They charged at Shade with their swords outstretched, but Mordred simply aimed his gun sword at their knees and blew them apart. The guards lost their balance, giving Mordred enough time to blast the ground with an energy shot. The guards were propelled upward by the force and Mordred delivered a few kicks and sword slashes to his prey. In an instant, the monsters exploded into black slime.

"I came here to investigate, not to play around with your servants."

"Whoever said that was all I had?" sneered Spoiled. She clapped her hooves and a large bulky pegasus soared down in front of her. The pegasus roared and shed its' skin. A towering behemoth appeared right before Shade and Twilight's eyes. It was carrying a huge club. A steel helmet with spikes covered its' head and plates of armor covered its' right arm. It took a huge swing at Shade and Mordred. Mordred blocked the blow with his sword and unloaded a few blasts of dark magic on the giant. The giant didn't flinch and swung at Mordred again. This time, it knocked Mordred back with a solid punch. Mordred went flying into a wall and Shade felt the same pain.

"Agggh!!"

"Shade, no!" cried Twilight. She turned to face the monster and fired a few blasts of magic at it but the blasts just harmlessly bounced off it. Shade motioned with his hoof and Mordred leaped towards the giant. Mordred swung his sword and slashed at the giant's body. He managed to leave a few scars and slash marks. Unfortunately, the giant powered through Mordred's attacks and slammed him into the floor. Shade groaned in pain. It felt like his body was pinned to the ground by an invisible hand.

"I'm not done yet!" yelled Shade, trying to motion to his persona. The giant only strengthened its grip on Mordred. Shade cried out in pain. All Twilight could do was fire a few more shots at the giant, but her magic was helpless against it. Spoiled let out a 'toxic' laugh.

"Not so powerful anymore, are you?" she asked in a mocking tone. "You've had your fun, but this is over." She turned to face Twilight. "As for you, I want you to savor the last moments of your poor, pathetic friend."

Tears dripped down Twilight's face. "No, stop!!" she cried again. "Why are you doing this?! We have no reason to keep fighting!! We don't even mean any harm!"

"Do you really think that is an excuse for lowly commoners like you to just waltz into my kingdom?" asked Spoiled. "I am now a ruler in my own right. All must submit to me here!"

"This isn't real! Nothing here is real! It's all a fantasy!"

"Oh, I beg to differ. I was given the power over this world by Him. HE is the reason why my dreams can and will come true!"

"Who?!" asked Twilight. "Answer me!" Spoiled just gave her opposition an uninterested look.

"Even if I told you, a common pony like you would never understand what HE can do!" crowed Spoiled, puffing out her chest to show her superiority. "I didn't have enough power before, but HE granted me my wish! Now, even if this world isn't the real one, both will be one and the same in a matter of time!" Spoiled let out another laugh. Shade had managed to get Mordred to push the giant's hand off. He was still struggling to hold off the colossal beast.

"What's that last line supposed to mean?!" yelled Shade.

"Hmph, since you're all going to die anyway, I might as well tell you what I mean by that." said Spoiled. "This is an alternate world where all my desires can be granted. Thanks to HIM, I was able to gain control of this world. Now, my thoughts and wishes are all stored in this grand palace of my creation. Soon, my visions and desires will become a part of the real world!" Spoiled's malicious grin grew even larger. "I serve HIM now, in gratitude for the gift he gave me. And soon, the miserable town of Ponyville and many other areas of Equestria will come to serve me in your reality!"

"But how?!" asked Twilight. "What kind of insanity is that? No magic is powerful enough to let your fantasies become real!"

"HE has the power to do it! HE can do anything with the world of Fantasia!" Shade and Twilight were dumbstruck. Neither of them had ever heard of this kind of magic.

"There's no way magic that powerful doesn't have a catch." said Twilight, shooting at the giant over and over. "Think about what you're doing!"

"I already made up my mind a long time ago." replied Spoiled. "Too bad your student hasn't made up her own."

"Leave Starlight out of this!" demanded Twilight.

"Oh, but it's true. I know all about your student's refusal to leave or change herself. She's merely content with staying to rot in this slum of a village!" Twilight began to burn with anger. "She could be so much more if she went to a beautiful place like Canterlot!" continued Spoiled, now marching around Twilight. "But no, she insists on wasting her potential, just like you."

"Don't let her get to you Twilight!" called Shade, prying himself from the giant's grip. "I know you can fight it!"

"No she can't." replied Spoiled. "I jumped at an opportunity for more power. This 'princess' here lives in a castle surrounded by good for nothing commoners! She's no princess at all! She's a mockery of what elite standards should be! If anything, the royal sisters don't deserve to be called princesses either! They waste their time interacting with common ponies, when royalty should only care about the very best quality!"

"Shut up, you little witch!!"

Spoiled turned her attention to Twilight, who was no longer shooting magic. She was standing completely upright, her eyes burning with rage and her wings completely unfurled. "How dare you insult my home, my friends, and my teacher!"

"Pffft, you too?" said Spoiled, in as snooty a tone as she could muster. "You aren't strong enough to defeat me! I am ruler of this world!"

"No, I don't think so." said Twilight, coldly. "All you care about are your own selfish interests. You're just a cold hearted tyrant." Twilight grimaced and energy began to swirl around her. "Don't ever speak about royalty like you're an expert on it and never insult my best friends! Those are my single words of advice to you." Magical energy spewed from her horn. "But if you think you can get away with any of this, I won't let you! Not now! Not ever!"

Twilight had never been so angry in her life. It was even more than the time Tirek had destroyed her old home. Then, she heard a voice.

"I've been waiting for you to make your decision."

Twilight felt a sharp pain in her head. It felt like her head was going to explode. She knelt down and screamed in pain. The voice continued to speak to her.

"Your name and friends have been sullied already. This is truly an unjust situation. If that is the case, why not open a new chapter of knowledge in your life? True power is knowledge and wisdom. Your 'other self' desires to be free of fame and glory. It seeks only to be with the ones you love and to find the right path. Now, let us form a pact.I am Thou. Thou art I.It has been decided. You're are ready to pursue your true path! All that's left to do is to break the obstacles holding you down!"

Twilight grinned. "I hear you and I'm ready." A purple mask with a six pointed star in the center appeared above Twilight. She levitated the mask onto her face.

"COME, MINERVA!!"

In a flash of white light, a beautiful lady appeared before Twilight. She was clad in purple and dark blue garments. She was carrying a vase with a small tree growing from it. A large brown owl was perched atop the branches of the tree. In her other hand, she was carrying a long spear with a six pointed star symbol at the spear's end. The handle was decorated with rings and purple feathers. Beside her was a rectangular case with a collection of thick books. Her long, dark brown hair flowed behind her. She wore a silver helmet with streaks of pink and purple across it.

"Now I'm not so helpless anymore." said Twilight. "Let's go, Minerva!" Twilight raised her hoof and Minerva shot a blast of purple energy at the giant. This time, the blast knocked the giant off balance. Mordred took advantage of this and lifted the giant's hand completely off of him. Shade got up and signalled to Mordred. The warrior took aim and pinned a good shot right between the giant's eyes. Crying out, the gigantic beast collapsed. Spoiled had to jump out of the way to avoid getting crushed. Twilight and Shade stood next to each other. "I'm ready now." said Twilight. "I don't know how I did it, but I have a persona too."

"I'm proud of you,Twilight." said Shade. "Let's save the compliments for later though. We have some monsters to crush."

"You bet." said Twilight, smiling in excitement at her first real time at using a persona. Minerva flew across the hall and fired off multicolored shots from her spear. The giant seemed to be weak to the shots because it was crouching down, using its shielded arm to attempt to block. Shade saw his chance.

"Go!" Mordred swooped down and slashed the giant right in the eyes. The beast stumbled backwards, blinded. Minerva held out her vase. Several beams of light emerged from the vase and penetrated the monster. Some more guards were entering the room, but they were no match for Minerva's ranged attacks. Mordred slashed his way through three our four more guards and aimed another charged shot from his gun sword at the giant.

"Twilight, now!" yelled Shade. Twilight saw her friend's gestures and stepped next to him again.

"PERSONA!" both of them yelled. Minerva and Mordred both extended their weapons and raised them up. Dark clouds and flames followed by rainbow colored light surrounded the giant. Both personas brought their weapons down. The light and darkness consumed the giant, burning its body away for good. Spoiled just stood there, gaping at her beast's demise.

"You...Now there's two of you who can use it?!" she sputtered, angry that her enemies were getting stronger.

"You'd better believe it." said Twilight. "I won't give up until I find out the truth about this place and you're brought to justice!" At this, Spoiled just chuckled. "What's wrong now?"

"Oh, it's just that you think you can stop me?" she snickered. "Finding info about this place is one thing but you will never defeat me! I control this world! Just like I control my husband and daughter!"

Shade paused. "You mean Diamond Tiara?!" he shouted.

"That's right!" sneered Spoiled. "They are my property and nopony else's!"

"You think of your own family as toys?!" yelled Twilight. "How could you?"

"What's it matter to you?" asked Spoiled. "You can't stop me! Nopony can!"

"Hello there Darling. Are these lowlifes troubling you with something?" came a stallion's voice.

Twilight and Shade turned to see another pony entering the room. He was a tall white unicorn with a blonde mane and a fancy outfit. "Prince Blueblood?" gasped Twilight. "He's here too?"

"Why yes I am, your 'highness'." said Blueblood, putting an especially vile lisp on the last word. "My sweetheart has been complaining to me about intruders earlier today. I never could've thought you would sink even lower than you already are Twilight."

"You have no authority or power over her." replied Shade, keeping his cool.

"Soon I will." replied Blueblood, a disgustingly smug grin creeping up his face. "Oh correction. We will control a great deal of Equestria, thanks to HIS gift."

"There it is again." thought Shade. "Both of those ponies have mentioned a certain pony but they haven't revealed his name. Who could it be?"

"I knew you were spoiled and bratty but taking over Equestria because of your own selfish greed is sickening." said Twilight. "We won't let you two do this." Shade nodded and stepped beside her. Both persona wielders were ready for combat.

"Darling, shall we leave these two sorry folksponies out here and call maximum security?" requested Blueblood.

"Of course. I could use a good spa treatment after dealing with these filthy common ponies." replied Spoiled. The two left the room together.

"Hey, come back!" yelled Twilight. "We aren't-"

"Save it for later, Twilight." said Shade. "We've already burned through a lot of energy fighting off monsters. "We need to find a safe room and review our info."

"Good point." said Twilight. "Lead the way." The two ran for the nearest door.

"Heh, they'll be back." said Blueblood.

"Yes and we won't let them escape next time." said Spoiled Rich, giggling a little.

"Whew, we actually made it." said Twilight, gasping for air. "That was too close."

"Tell me about it." commented Shade. "We barely escaped those monsters." He plopped down on the sofa. Twilight sat on the opposite side.

"Man, this place is more dangerous than any of us could've thought." said Twilight. "We had another close call with death there." She looked at her hooves. "I still can't believe I was able to summon a persona."

"Well, you did. I'm glad you can fight alongside me now Twilight."

Twilight blushed. "Oh, stop it. I just got lucky."

"Or it seems like you awakened your persona when you were provoked enough."

["That seems logical, but I wonder if other ponies could do what we did. It would be cool if my friends could help us out with this."

"We can't risk putting them in danger. We need to keep this a secret from other ponies until it's the right time."](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAk32g5bcAM&list=PLkEWWbyS3nIgFIryf0moadIgDYu7Q05pe&index=21)

"I guess so. Now what do we do?"

"I don't know. We know how to get in from now on, but not how to get out, without Starswirl's help." Shade was about to say more, but he was interrupted by the table in the middle of the room glowing light blue. Another bell portal appeared above the table. Shade's watch lit up and displayed more buttons. This time they read, "return home and save" and "refuel".
Shade just went with his gut and pressed the first one. The two braced themselves again as the huge portal sucked them in for the fourth time that day.

Crash!

Twilight and Shade landed on the hard map again. "We should cover the map with pillows from now on." commented Shade, rubbing his side.

"Oh, thank goodness it's you guys!" exclaimed Spike, who was sitting in front of the map. "I was worried that you guys weren't gonna make it back!"

"Well, we're back and we're still alive." said Shade. "No need to worry now Spike."

"That's good." said Spike. "Cause I was about to ask the rest of Twilight's friends to come over and help."

"You what?!" exclaimed Twilight. "Even if you didn't tell them, we said to keep it a secret between us, Starlight, Celestia, and Starswirl! If you told the others, they would be put in danger!"

"Sorry Twilight." said Spike, hanging his head. "I was just worried."

Twilight felt sorry for yelling at Spike. "Sorry Spike, but you know how important this is. We can't involve the others until the right time." Twilight sat down next to the little dragon and put a wing around him. "I appreciate your concern though." Spike felt better after hearing his owner's reassuring words.

Shade and Twilight sat down in his room to talk. Shade gazed over at the clock. "Yikes, it's already 9:48 PM! We were in there for even longer than I thought."

"I've had to stay up later, but I know what you mean." said Twilight. "Anyway, we have some stuff to talk about. Spoiled kept mentioning something about a pony giving her power over that world. Now we know Blueblood is with her on this."

"Who is Blueblood anyway?" asked Shade.

Twilight sighed in frustration. "He's been a pain the flank ever since I got promoted to a princess. He's arrogant and snotty and doesn't care about equality or rights. He doesn't do anything except sit down and indulge himself."

Shade rolled his eyes. "Sounds even 'better' than Spoiled." he said sarcastically.

"Actually, they're both pretty rotten in that world." said Twilight. "It's like they belong together."

"Because they're both rich snobs." said Shade. Twilight nodded and just laughed. The two laughed together for some time.
"Thanks for having my back Shade." said Twilight. "Princess Celestia was right about you."

Now it was Shade's turn to blush. "You're welcome Twilight. I'm just here to help."

"Alright, let's get back on topic." said Twilight. "Our original job was to gather info, but this has become bigger than just that. If what Spoiled and Blueblood said is true, then our town and more of Equestria will suffer."

"Yeah, I heard what they said in there." said Shade. "I'm still not entirely convinced. An alternate world is one thing, but fantasies becoming reality just doesn't seem believable."

"I agree. No villain I've faced has had that kind of power. Then again, I doubt they'd be bluffing about something like that."

"Now that we know how to get in and out, through lucky guesses nonetheless, our mission just got a whole lot more interesting."

" It sure has and I know that with you by my side, this problem won't be nearly as hard to fix." said Twilight. "Are you with me?" She held out her hoof.

"Absolutely." replied Shade, shaking hooves with her. Somehow, Shade felt like he had developed something a little deeper with Twilight. Before, he wasn't really sure whether to call her a friend or not. She had let him stay in her home, but that didn't feel like an equal deal. Now, he wouldn't know what else to call her.

"Good night Shade. See you tomorrow!" said Twilight as she was walking out.

"Good night Twilight." Shade fell upon his bed, exhausted but also feeling content that he had a friend.

I Am Thou. Thou Art I.
Thou Hast Established a New Bond.
It Shall become the Wings of Rebellion That Shall Break Thy Chains of Captivity.
With the Birth of the "Magician" Persona, Thou Hast Awakened Thineself to New Power.

MAGICIAN ARCANA: RANK UP!
RANK ONE.

To be continued.

Author's Note

I've been working hard on this story. With my schoolwork and homework, it takes me some time to get these in. Still, I finished earlier than I expected. I originally thought that it would take me another month to get the next chapter out. Glad that I could give you guys what you wanted sooner.

By the way, I have some things to say on the social links/confidants. I made Twilight represent the magician arcana because I see her as the secondary protagonist in this story. Rule of thumb in the Persona series is that the secondary protagonist's social link is the magician. It represents power, skill, talent, and resourcefulness. Twilight is known for her intelligence and skill in magic, so this made sense to me. I was considering making her social link, the fool, but it just didn't seem to fit when I had tons of other characters who could fit other social links. Expect some odd characters to pop up later in the story.

I chose Minerva as Twilight's persona, because the goddess of wisdom and crafting just felt right for somepony like Twilight. You can always visit Minerva on Wikipedia if you want more answers. I'll try to post some fanart on Deviantart with more details on possible symbolism for each persona. I hope I can get the next episode out in the two weeks to a month. Key word is, "I hope." These things take a lot of time and effort.

Chapter 3: Visions From The Sun
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MLP x Persona: Bonds are Magic

Chapter 3: Visions From The Sun

The blast of a fog horn wakes you up. You sit up and find yourself in the same blue room as the last two times.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room."

Igor stares at you, displaying a pleased, yet still creepy smile. "The power of one's personas are driven by the power of the heart. The power of bonds is what satiates this power."

"It was only through your personal interactions and subsequent bond that formed, that you were able to obtain a new arcana." says Sonata. Above her, a card of light appears and falls into an open page in her compendium. "It is the Magician Arcana." she explains. "And as your bonds deepen, your powers will continue to grow." She turns to face you. "I urge you to always remember what you have learned here." She closes her compendium and turns to face you directly. "For there is a powerful force unlike any other that threatens the existence of your world. You must be ready to face it head on."

"Now then, it is time for us to bid farewell." says Igor, lowering his head. "That is, until we meet again."

The room vanishes right before your eyes.

"Where we left off. It is now Sunday."

September 5th, Sunday
Morning

Shade sat up and rubbed his eyes. It was just another day in Ponyville. Strangely, it was only his third day and he already felt like he had lived here for a while. Aside from finding a new job, he had some new tasks to complete. He rushed downstairs for breakfast, washed up, and headed to the throne room to meet up with Twilight. The two of them had organized a meeting last night to discuss their current information. Twilight figured a fresh start would help them both think clearly.

"Good, you made it." said Twilight, peering up at Shade from one of her books. Twilight was usually surrounded by reading material whenever Shade first saw her each day. She set down her books. "We have some stuff to talk about."

Shade sat down on a chair next to the map. "This seems like a good meeting place for our mission discussions."

Twilight shook her head. "I don't think this place can work for us regularly though. My friends and I meet up here a lot and that will make it hard to keep this whole thing secret if we keep talking in here." She propped herself up on the chair. "We just got lucky and met in here on the days when most of them are off working."

"How often do you guys see each other now?"

"A lot, but I know my friends can do their own things. We don't have to spend every minute together."

"I know a thing or two about privacy." said Shade. "I usually spent my time in Manehattan on my own."

"That doesn't seem to fun." said Twilight. "But we're getting off topic. We're here to discuss what we know about that world."

"Are we going to give this world a name?" asked Shade. "It's getting kind of annoying to keep calling it, 'the alternate world'."

"Well, I was thinking of calling the alternate world Fantasia." suggested Twilight. "Since that's what Blueblood and Spoiled seemed to call it."

"Hmm, I like the sound of that." said Shade. "Let's go with that."

"Okay then, let's go over what we know." said Twilight. "Fantasia is apparently an alternate world that contains the 'desires' and 'wishes' of certain ponies. So far, we've only seen Spoiled Rich and Blueblood in there. But why are both of them-" Twilight stopped and her eyes widened in fear. "What if there are other ponies or creatures like them? What if we have to deal with more than just them?"

"It could be highly likely." said Shade, as calm a tone as he could muster. On the inside, he was shaking at Twilight even suggesting such an idea. "They kept saying HE had given them their powers over Fantasia. If you ask me, it seems like they're working for someone else."

"That can't be a good sign at all. If there are more ponies or other creatures that have control over that world, we're going to have an even harder time with this than before." Twilight gave an annoyed groan. "Though, in truth, it got worse as soon as Prince Blueblood revealed himself in Fantasia. Now, who knows what else we could encounter in there?"

"I know what you mean Twilight." said Shade. "We've only been in there twice in one day and I already feel like it can't get any worse. Did you even see the prison hallway?"

"Please, don't mention that." begged Twilight. "I had nightmares about it last night."

"Like it or not, we have to go back there again. There could be secrets about that world that we don't even know exist until it's too late. If we could avoid this and think of another way, I'd be all for it, but-"

"I know. We can't" said Twilight sadly. "But, no matter how painful it is, I'm not going to run and hide from this anymore. I now have a persona, like you do." A bit of light came back to her face. "I finally feel ready!"

"Yeah, I'm sure you'll do well." said Shade, non sarcastically. He usually didn't show strong emotions and often answered sentences casually.

Twilight and Shade were about to continue their discussion, but they were cut short by a knock at the castle door. "Hold on, I'll get it." said Twilight as she rushed up to answer.

It was Princess Celestia. Twilight happily led her mentor into the throne room. "I'm glad you're here, Princess." said Twilight. "But why?"

"I was fortunate enough to get another break today, Twilight." replied Celestia. "I'm just happy that I get to spend a little time with you again."

"Good, because we have a lot to talk about with you." said Twilight. She hesitated and then rubbed her neck sheepishly. "If you're okay with it that is."

"You don't have to request for me to talk with you. That's why I came in the first place."

"Whew! I thought you wouldn't have time."

"I'm doing my best to make time from now on. So, did you two gather any new information?"

"Yeah, I'm curious to know too." called Spike who was just passing by.

"Oh hey there." said Shade. "How's it going?"

"I'm doing well. I just overheard you talking so I decided to see if I could join in."

"Of course you can, Spike." said Celestia. "We were just about to start."

Spike happily took a seat.

"Now, would you care to explain what else you saw in the alternate world?" asked Celestia.

"Yes, your highness." said Shade. "By the way, we call it Fantasia now."

Twilight cleared her throat and began.

"Last night, Shade and I were sitting by the map and discussing some of our new pieces of info about Fantasia. Shade had gotten a new watch from one of the antique stores in Ponyville. I analyzed it but something about it didn't seem normal. Then, the map just started flashing red again, the watch kept sending us weird voice messages talking about a 'collapse', and we just ended up in the world again. Only this time, we started from a different area that the watch called a 'landmark', we got some control over when to go in and out, and Prince Blueblood was in there too." Twilight was huffing and sweating from her rapid fire rounds of information. "So, (pant) did you guys get all that? I can repeat."

"No thank you Twilight. I believe I got it all." replied Celestia. "That's definitely interesting and I think I might have some answers to those paradoxes."

Twilight let out a large gasp. "You do?"

"Now, now. I said I 'might'." said Celestia, politely raising a hoof to show there was no need for Twilight to immediately get excited. "Hopefully, this will suffice." She levitated a scroll out of her bag and laid it down on the table. "I discovered some secrets last night. I recorded them down here, but I will need to borrow your watch, Shade." Shade removed his watch and levitated it over to Celestia. The allicorn gladly took it.

"Now, would you all care to hear my account of last night?" The three other ponies nodded. Celestia began.

Previous Day:

September 4th, Saturday
Nighttime

Celestia stretched out her wings. She was exhausted, as usual. It had been another long day of talking with higher class ponies, consulting with event organizers, and signing documents. Talking to her pupil and her friends was the only thing relaxing for her all day. She just wanted to hit the hay and go to bed.

"I need to rest up. Even weekends are hardly merciful in terms of scheduling." sighed Celestia. "Nevertheless, tomorrow will be the same." She fell into bed and pulled the covers over. Living for thousands of years could take its toll. Celestia couldn't help but think about the new problem that had arisen. She often acted calm and orderly, but deep down she had Twilight's instincts; rushing to get work done and trying to fit in time for other activities. Slowly, the princess of the sun faded off to sleep.

"Do you desire freedom for your people?"

Celestia was awoken by the question. She stood up and looked around. There was fog covering most of the land around her. The ground was beautifully decorated with flowers that glowed in the mist. They were the only light providers in the area. Celestia knew she was in a dream but was still confused. Ponies had control over what kind of setting their dreams took place in. Yet, this was not something she had dreamed up. Plus, the voice was quite perplexing.

"Who's there?" asked Celestia.

"Why It's me. I'm you." came the voice. The voice came from a pony with her body but it was covered in black mist, concealing its' identity. "I am a shadow, of your true inner self." it murmured to Celestia.

"You're me?" asked Celestia, puzzled by the being's statement.

"Of course I am. I'm everything you secretly want to be." replied the shadow. "I know everything about you, including your fears and desires."

"What are you talking about? I don't even know who you are! How can you know?"

"Oh, I'm crushed 'other me'! How could you forget who I am?" replied the shadow in a melodramatic tone. "We've met before in your dreams. Remember? Hmph, of course you don't." The shadow revealed a wicked smile. "Only because you don't ever want to!"

The shadow's whole body came into view. It was a white pony with streaks of orange and yellow all over her body. Her mane was a scorching flame and her eyes seemed to contain small lightning bolts in them. Celestia gasped in horror at the arrival of the familiar foe.
"Daybreaker!?"

"About time that you recognized me! Ignorance is such an annoying thing to deal with."

"But I thought I got rid of you last time! You were just a part of Starlight's dream!"

"And yet you seemed so scared and confused. Even if you had no clue on how to work in the dream world, you didn't seem to completely ignore my existence."

"That's because I-" protested Celestia, but she could think of nothing to say.

"Am insecure about my position as a princess and hide my darker feelings?" Daybreaker interrupted. Celestia froze.

"That's not true!" she yelled, kneeling down. "You don't know me!"

"Oh yes I do." sneered Daybreaker, hovering around Celestia, her mane expelling flames and sparks. "You can't run away from me no matter what you do! Allicorns like you can never hide from their inner chaos!"

"What do you mean?" questioned Celestia.

"You don't know? All allicorns have another side to them, including your sister and your precious student!" screeched the flaming allicorn.

"I know about Nightmare Moon, but I don't understand how you can be real or why Twilight may have something like you inside her!"

"Stop fooling yourself Celestia. You know that I am not a dream or something that can easily be extinguished. I am a part of you! Like it or not!" Daybreaker's mane seemed to explode outward, sending flames everywhere. The beautiful flowers became bathed in the flames and burned away. The light from the flames illuminated the rest of the area. The world became surrounded in fire. "There's a seed of darkness that exists within all of us! Even somepony such as yourself can't avoid this inevitable truth!"

"But I still don't understand how you can exist here in my dream." said Celestia. "Starlight dreamed about you and Nightmare Moon. You were only able to exist because of her imagination!"

Daybreaker just let out a hysterical laugh. "That doesn't change a thing! Anypony can dream up what they want but I was never born from Starlight's imagination alone! It was you!"

"What?!"

"You heard me! I know everything about your sister and her job as well. She is the master of the dream world. When you switched roles with her, you got her magic. But, because of your inexperience with her magic, you ended up contributing to Starlight's nightmare!"

Celestia was baffled. She didn't even know what to say to that. "Oh, I'm sorry if you can't get this through your head but Luna's magic gives her the ability to gain partial control over what happens in other ponies' dreams. That's how she saves them from nightmares. But such control comes at a price. Your sister apparently has to remain completely reserved and disciplined in this skill."

Celestia sighed. "I always wondered why my sister was always so socially awkward. Even after I learned my lesson about her work on that day, I still didn't completely get some signs of her behavior."

"That's right. Because she has to focus on her work. She's just as busy as you are! She focuses on control and discipline. You and me are about energy and power."

"Why are you telling me this?" asked Celestia. "What do these minor little details about my own sister's life have to do with anything?"

"Oh, don't erupt just yet." said Daybreaker. "I'm getting there. It all started when you entered Starlight's dream. Because you were never very good at suppressing your emotions, you couldn't keep control of your power and your innermost desires and wishes formed me! All allicorns have another side to them that they want, deep down, to escape and control them when the time is right."

"Nightmare Moon was born from Luna's jealousy and envy." deduced Celestia. "However, you were just in a dream! That doesn't make you a possibility for real life."

"You are truly pitiful, my other half." snorted Daybreaker. "When your desires formed me, I became a permanent part of you. You can try to banish me from your dreams over and over again, but nothing you do will ever get rid of me!"

"If Luna can get rid of Nightmare Moon, I'll have no problem getting rid of you!" Celestia stood up and charged up her horn. Yellow and white energy flowed through her horn.

"Wrong! Luna still has Nightmare Moon inside her as well! She never got rid of it completely! Good thing she's far more disciplined and cautious than you." said Daybreaker. "I know the reason why she created the Tantabus."

"Yes, I know." said Celestia. "Luna told me about her plan as soon as she was reformed and joined me again. She said it was to punish herself for her past crimes as Nightmare Moon. What does that have to do with anything?"

"The Tantabus was Luna's dark half." replied Daybreaker. "She feared that Nightmare Moon would come back again to take over again. She created a seal for the creature to limit its influence over her." Daybreaker just strolled around her speechless counterpart. "Too bad it was never meant to last. Caging your own magic energy like that will only result in it growing more and more out of control. The Tantabus grew restless and tried to find a way into the real world to satisfy Luna's inner desires. When Twilight and her friends helped Luna realize that she should learn to forgive herself for her past and not try to deny that part of herself, she remerged with Nightmare Moon and it exists in her once again. She just knows how to control that side of herself."

"You know this?" asked Celestia.

"I said I know everything about you, your sister, and your student. I'm more powerful than you in every way that counts,
including your vision and perception abilities. I can see things you can't, such as the deep corners of your sister's mind."

"But when?! When could you have done these things?"

"All the time. I live inside your mind. I am your dark half, where you hide your deep secrets and hidden abilities." said Daybreaker. "You pretend to act modest and wise, but you hold back what you truly want. And that is to be powerful! To be free of your role as a princess!" Daybreaker shot a huge wave of flames from her mouth, burning a hole in the world itself. It was like she was ripping a hole in dimensions with just her fire breath. "See what I mean? You want more from life than just simple royalty. You hide what you're truly capable of, including your real powers! If I know this much about you that's enough proof that I have always been a part of you!"

Celestia's horn stopped glowing. She kneeled back down and buried her face in her mane. "No, I don't believe this." she cried. "You can't possibly know all this about me! None of it is true!"

"Ignorance must really be bliss for you. You still continue to deny me? You're still hiding behind walls, restraining yourself. When will you start to be who you truly wish to be?"

"Because I would never go and hurt the ones I love!!!" screamed Celestia desperately. She then clapped her hooves over her mouth, in disbelief of what she had just said. Daybreaker turned to her with an evil grin.

"I knew it. You do know I'm real! You just admitted to why you hold yourself back! It must be tough. Sometimes, you just feel like you want to see the world burn."

A tear streamed down Celestia's face. "..You got me." she said sadly. "I was just denying it the whole time, but you are a part of me. I hid my true thoughts on you after the day me and Luna switched roles. I defeated you but I just couldn't get you out of my head."

"That's what I wanted to hear." smirked Daybreaker. "Are you finally ready to give me control over you?"

Celestia gave a smirk of her own at this remark. "I never said that, did I?" She stood up again, facing directly towards Daybreaker. "I just admitted that you're a part of me. I didn't say I was ready to submit to you. Even if you are a part of me and know my secrets, there's one thing you don't know about."

"And what exactly would that be?"

"That I care too much about my subjects to ever put my desires before their own." replied Celestia. "You think you have me all figured out, but you don't understand how much I love Equestria. I won't let you control me just for the petty purpose of 'more power'. I'm above that. It may be something I wish for, but to me, wishes are not meant to be granted at the cost of my own citizens."

"That's madness. You can't seriously think your own suppressed power is less important than the land you've lived in for thousands of years!

"I don't care how long I have to live to see it through. To me, no amount of time is too long to be living in Equestria. It's my home and it always will be." Celestia's looks of fear had completely vanished. She was standing completely upright, her eyes filled with determination. “Sometimes, I have days where I deal with ponies I can’t stand. I honestly feel like I should just vanish.”

“Exactly! So why don’t you just submit to my power and rule how you really want to? You know you can do it.”

“I could, but no matter what, the day I surrender to you and let you control Equestria is the day I give up on ponykind. I’ll wait another millennia if I have to!" For once, Daybreaker actually looked surprised.

"You would choose to protect the lives of a withering and flawed species than strive for true power?"

Celestia firmly nodded. "That's right."

"Your choice is...incomprehensible."

"Say what you will." said Celestia, standing against her corrupted self. "I will keep living to protect my people and I'll do it in my real form."

Daybreaker eyed her counterpart. "So, you've made your decision? You're fine with just living on and granting these other ponies freedom?"

"Yes, I know it sounds crazy to you, but I am not one to succumb to your influences." At this Daybreaker just sighed.

"You're making a mistake rejecting my power." she spoke, as red flames began to envelop her body. In a flash, she was gone. All that remained in her place was a brightly colored mask with a symbol of the sun in the center.

"Not at all.." said Celestia, speaking to herself. She wandered over to the mask lying on the ground in front of her. She used her horn's magic to levitate it up.

"You want to find out what it means, don't you?" came the voice of Celestia's power hungry counterpart. "Well, put on the mask if you're so curious. If what you want is to help your people, don it."

Celestia wasn't enthusiastic about hearing Daybreaker giving her more 'advice', but she was curious either way. Plus, it was a dream. Celestia donned the mask. A bright flash of white and orange light blasted out. A tall figure in a white robe surfaced before her. "Arise." said the mysterious form.

Suddenly, it all disappeared and left only a view of the wall paint in Celestia's room. The allicorn sat up in her bed, gasping for air. "Are you okay sister?" asked an allicorn with a flowing dark blue mane. She was sitting beside Celestia, trying to comfort her.

"I'm fine now. Thank you Luna." replied Celestia, pulling off the covers and getting out of bed. "I just had the strangest dream."

"I saw." replied Luna. "I saw you were having an argument with that flaming copy of yourself. I tried to help, but something was blocking me from entering your dream."

"It's fine now." said Celestia. "It was all pretty confusing but I remember my dream ending with a creature extending a 'hand' to me."

"You mean those 'things' you get when you enter into the alternate world?" asked Luna. "Could this be related to the mirror world?"

"It seems unlikely that a magic like the one I encountered could come from a world with no magic of its own." said Celestia. "The only times that Sunset has informed me and Twilight of such an occurrence was when magic from our world was leaking into her world."

"But what other explanation could there be for the origins of the world that Shade, Twilight, and Starlight ended up in?" asked Luna. "We have to think of some of the possible outcomes."

"Please Luna." protested Celestia. "I just have a clinging feeling that this magic is from our own world. I just need answers."

"Sister, it's midnight. You need to rest up for tomorrow."

"I'll go to bed soon. Just give me a little time please." Celestia was roaming around her bedroom, looking for some clues on what she had witnessed and heard in her dream. "I need to find some kind of magic that could be related to my dream."

"You want to find out why Daybreaker still exists?" asked Luna. "I heard your conversation with her and I agree that there are some loose ends. But, why are you looking in here?"

"I keep some hidden archives on magic in my room every now and then." Luna just eyed her. "I need to read every now and then." replied Celestia to Luna's expression. "I keep a few scrolls in here for security and to work on my magic. I feel like I'm letting myself get weak in terms of my power."

"Why are you concerned about such a thing sister?" asked Luna. "You don't need to worry so much about your skills in magic. It's not like Equestria needs you to fight against evil all the time." Celestia turned to face her sister, hurt by that statement.

Luna immediately felt guilty for her careless statement. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way."

"No, it's okay." said Celestia, the calm tone in her voice returning. Even if it sounded like she wasn't hurt, Luna could just sense the sadness coming from her older sister. "I have no need to really strengthen my magic that much. My age must be resulting in my power decreasing. Besides, Twilight and her friends are the heroes of Equestria. I don't need to concern myself with defense and fighting."

"Please, don't let my words break you." said Luna, walking up to her sister to comfort her. "I care about you. I just don't want anything bad to happen to you."

"I understand." said Celestia. "But I know that this new magic Twilight and Shade told me about isn't something I can just spectate on. It's my duty as her teacher and one of the royal sisters of Equestria that I do what I must to help."

"But how?" asked Luna who was still confused. "How can we find info on a world that only Starswirl knew about? Even so, his knowledge is limited about this new world and we don't have the means necessary to pinpoint any info on this place."

Celestia knew her sister was right. She had no info on this place. "I guess I'll have to contact Starswirl and Stygian and see what info they can offer us." Celestia was about to get out her spell caller, but a bright shine from underneath her bed caught her eye. Curious, Celestia peeked underenath and levitated the object out. When she saw it, she had to hold back a shocked exclamation. It was the same mask she'd seen in her dream. "This can't be!"

"What is that?" Luna wanted to know.

"It's the same mask I found in my dream." said Celestia. She was examining it, trying to make sure this wasn't just a fake prank. With Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie pulling one over on her every three weeks, Celestia had to stay on guard. But there was no way this was a prank. Rainbow and Pinkie didn't even know about the alternate world. Furthermore, why pull a prank this oddly specific? It didn't make sense. Celestia looked it over and then put it on. A flash of white light covered the room, just like in the dream. Luna wasn't very good with bright lights so she had to duck and cover herself from the radiant blast. When she looked up, she couldn't believe her eyes.

A creature in the form of a tall woman was standing behind Celestia, blue light spilling out over the room. The woman was covered in long, flowing white robes lined with many colors. She wore a large crown with gold outlines and carvings in the shape of the sun. She was holding a large mirror, also shaped like the sun in her hands. Her body gave off a beautiful yet soft glow. Luna just gaped in awe. Celestia seemed to be more fascinated than frightened of the magic surrounding her. "Is that a-" began Luna.

"Persona." Celestia finished. "This is what the others told me about."

"I can't believe it's real." remarked Luna. "But if that's the case, how can you use it in the real world?"

"I don't know." said Celestia. "But the specific details don't matter now. I must learn how to control this new power." She looked up at her new persona. "Things just got a lot more interesting."

"I'll leave you to it then." said Luna. "If you're sure everything's fine, then I'll leave you to it." She left the room, leaving Celestia to talk with her persona.

"Okay, let's get started." The allicorn turned to face her persona. "I need information on an alternate world. Can you provide it?"

"I most certainly can princess." replied the persona. "But you may call me Amaterasu." Celestia just nodded in response. She had tons of questions for Amaterasu but it was already past midnight. She would have to find a way to contain herself and ask only a few.

"What can you tell me about the alternate world Twilight and Shade ended up in?" Celestia began.

Back to the present

September 5th, Sunday
10:20 AM.

"And that's what happened last night."

Celestia took a deep breath out as she finished off her story. Twilight's mouth was hanging wide open. She was too shocked to even speak. Eventually, she mustered up enough control to talk but all that came out were a few stammers. "Y-y-you got a persona?!" she sputtered out. Shade was just as surprised but he couldn't help but laugh a little at Twilight's overreaction. Spike was just sitting in his throne as if he had nothing to do with this conversation. He barely understood what Celestia had just talked about.

"So you somehow unlocked a persona in the real world and managed to control its power?" asked Shade. "Are you sure you weren't still in your dream?"

"Shade, you need to trust her!" yelled Twilight. "Don't question Celestia's word!"

"Sorry, I can believe that you have the right info but we could only ever summon our personas in Fantasia. Yet you summoned one last night in the real world?"

Celestia nodded. "Please, you must trust what I say. If you don't believe me you can ask my sister Luna."

"Well, that's a good point." said Shade. "I'm just curious about this whole thing."

"So am I!" Twilight blurted out. "I have a lot of questions right now. How much did you find out about Fantasia?"

"I was just about to get to that." replied Celestia. "Amaterasu gave me quite a bit of info on the matter." She cleared her throat again. "I learned that 'Fantasia' is a world created by a lost magic called 'order'. Only around eight beings in our world actually have this kind of magic. None of them are born with it or inherit it from parents or family. It's a type of magic that is given to them from a source. Apparently, this magic gives the wielders the ability to access and edit the fabrics of alternate realities. This one reality, which you both call Fantasia, is the reality with the highest concentration of magical energy. But magic doesn't work the same way in Fantasia as it does here. Magic can be used in that world but it will not have an impact on the world or any of its inhabitants."

"So that must be why my magic couldn't affect the monsters in that world." said Twilight.

"Indeed." replied Celestia. "But that also means nothing in Fantasia can connect to our world except the ones manipulating its power."

"The ones who have 'order', right?" asked Shade.

"Yes, these beings could be ponies but they could also be dragons, changelings, griffons, or demons. Amaterasu informed me that the beings who have control over 'order' are all corrupt and have their own distorted views and ideals. Unfortunately, nopony can simply tell if one possesses the power of 'order' through observation or behavior. It takes a strong balance of magical unity to be able to track down a possible bearer of 'order'."

Twilight and Shade turned to each other. Both of them just realized something. "The map." murmured Twilight. "The map was able to send us to Fantasia and could sense the ones controlling its magic. Since this castle was created by the tree of harmony which had the elements in it that would mean our map is the only way to find the ones who use 'order'!"

"I think that's correct." said Celestia. "Good observation Twilight. Anyways, Fantasia has a few more secrets you should know about. According to Amaterasu, Fantasia is an unfinished reality with an overdose of magical energy. That's why it's still being shaped and edited by the ones who use 'order'. Anything they want to picture in the world, Fantasia takes that form. It can become anything the controller wants it to become, with limits. It takes the form of what they want in the real world and not what they want in Fantasia. This means that they can't just suddenly wish for a room to become a death trap or the place to vanish. The bearers of 'order' are not aware that we can enter their worlds. They can only create or picture what they want to happen in the real world."

"What does that mean?" asked Twilight. "Blueblood and Spoiled briefly mentioned how they would gain the same power from Fantasia in the real world. They also talked about how their fantasies would become reality eventually."

A sense of nervousness swept into Celestia's mind. "Oh no. Then it's already beginning. The collapse is going to happen soon at this rate."

"What is the 'collapse'?" asked Shade.

"That's short for the controllers warping our world." said Celestia in a serious tone. Twilight could just tell from her expression that her mentor knew that the stakes were getting high. She knew that look from Celestia all too well. It was the same look she had given her when she was about to send her out on a dangerous task or a serious world threatening crisis was taking place. This could not be good.

"Warping our world?" asked Shade. "Does that mean that they could turn our world into what they have in Fantasia?"

"Sadly, that is true." said Celestia. "Amaterasu supplied me with a lot of info. When a bearer of 'order' shapes a part of Fantasia that magic is so immense that it needs to spill out somewhere. That 'somewhere' is our world. Within the time limit, their desires and thoughts from Fantasia will spill out into our world and corrupt it. The things you witness in that world could become a part of our world. Our reality and our lives as we know them could all be changed into what they want. They'll have complete control over parts of Equestria and even beyond if they can."

"That sounds absolutely terrifying." said Twilight, shivering in fear. Shade was afraid as well. He didn't even know how any of this could be possible.

"It sounds impossible but Amaterasu made it clear that she wasn't lying or feeding me false info." said Celestia. "Once the 'collapse' begins, Equestria will begin to fade into the control of evil and absolute chaos. The only beings that can stop these monsters are ones who bear the power of 'persona'."

"Us?!" Twilight yelled again. "Why us?!"

"Those who possess a strong will of rebellion and desire for moving forward to true freedom can utilize personas." said Celestia. "Though the power has to be awakened by someone first before others can truly harness it."

"I unlocked my persona when I was in Fantasia." said Shade. "I must've unlocked it when I saw Twilight and Starlight's lives in danger."

"Is it that simple that anypony can unlock that power in Fantasia?" asked Twilight.

"I'm not sure." replied Celestia. "I didn't ask Amaterasu about that. What did you feel when you unlocked your persona Shade?"

"The first time I used my persona I remember getting some weird images in my head and then passing out." replied Shade. "However, the second time I used it, I felt fine when I came back."

"Interesting, no information on ponies unlocking a persona has been recorded before." said Celestia. "Did this just happen out of nowhere?" Shade nodded.

"Starlight finds that to be suspicious." added Twilight. "I don't think so but it is kind of weird how Shade just happens to get a persona out of thin air and nopony else has done so before then. Magic has to come from some source. It doesn't just strike at one random moment."

"I don't know how I got it." said Shade. "My memory of my childhood is pretty foggy. I doubt my parents ever knew about it."

"Even Starswirl has no early written accounts on this magic." said Celestia. "Where exactly were you born Shade?"

"I can't really say for sure, but I remember it was a small village. Can't remember the name though. I don't know where or who my parents were either."

"That seems to be a bad case of amnesia." remarked Spike, looking up from one of his comic books he had just gotten.

"Sorry guys. I just can't seem to remember much about my childhood." said Shade. "All I seem to remember is that I can't go back and I need to move forward. It's just an instinct."

"You don't remember your childhood at all but something's telling you not to go back and to find a new place." said Twilight. "If you ask me, that sounds like you either got mind wiped or have amnesia."

"Can we please move on? I don't want to cause you guys any unnecessary stress. All that matters is that I got a persona, a major disaster is on the horizon, and we possess the only magic that can stop it. It's clear what our focus should be."

"You're right." sighed Twilight. "We got off topic. We need to discuss more about Fantasia."

"Okay, I only had time to ask a few questions last night so I only have about two more important facts." said Celestia. "Did any of you encounter something called a 'landmark' in there?"

"Yes, that's what my watch started humming when we were about to enter." said Shade.

"Good, if you can, always make sure you teleport to your last landmark. Amaterasu informed me about Shade's watch." Celestia used her magic and briefly took apart the watch. A small red card was revealed to be inside the watch where the power source should've been. "This watch is apparently a device infused with magic from Fantasia." said Celestia. "Whatever this card is right here, this should be the source of the watch's connection to the magic and the persona. It somehow can connect to Fantasia and let you travel through it by accessing landmarks. These landmarks are what you would call safe rooms. They are areas created by the watch in Fantasia to provide temporary escape from the enemies you face in there."

"The watch did all of that?" asked Twilight. "But if it did, then why did we find a safe room before Shade got the watch?"

"That's because you probably got lucky and found the one landmark in the whole world of Fantasia." replied Celestia. "In truth, it's the power of the persona that creates these safe rooms. However, this can cause a huge strain on the body with that much magical energy. That's why this watch exists. It contains some kind of magic that counters the fatigue from wielding a persona. It's like a regulator or container for the magic power. Since Fantasia is filled with unnatural and real magic. Too much exposure to it without a limiter can be dangerous."

"Then if I had stayed in there any longer without a persona I would've been in real trouble." remarked Twilight. "So Shade's watch acts as a limiter for the magic spilling out?"

"Right, it's keeping too much energy from blasting out. Without the watch's red card inside, it would just be a regular watch." Celestia carefully removed the red card from the watch and levitated it over to Shade. "You should hold onto this and conceal it somewhere safer. This watch was actually pretty flimsy. It's lucky that it didn't shatter by accident in Fantasia."

Shade just slipped the red card into his jacket pocket. It was the safest place for it at the moment. "I guess my last encounter in Fantasia was based around luck. If Twilight hadn't unlocked her persona I probably wouldn't have made it."

"Oh, well, it was nothing really. I kind of got lucky too. I guess." said Twilight, some color going to her face. Shade, Spike, and Celestia turned to look at her. "Um, why are you guys looking at me like that?"

Spike just gave her a grin and winked at her. "What are you trying to say?" asked Twilight uneasily.

"You LIKE him, don't you?"

A huge burst of color came over Twilight's face. "NO!!!!" she screamed, levitating Spike out of his seat and pitching him out the door with lightning speed. Twilight gasped in exhaustion and turned to face the two ponies who had just witnessed the entire scene. Celestia was silent for a while and then, out of nowhere, burst out laughing. Shade tried to hold it in too, but it was no use. Twilight was the only one in the room who was not amused.

"Can you guys please stop that?" she sputtered.

Shade wasn't laughing as hard as Celestia, oddly enough but he had to cover his mouth to hold back his faint chuckles. "Nothing at all Twilight." Shade giggled. "Nothing at all. Let's get back on topic."

"Anyway." said Celestia, wiping her face a little. Twilight rarely saw her teacher express this much emotion. It was nice to see every now and then but not when it was directed at her. "Fantasia is our main priority now. Back to what I was saying. The bearers of 'order' each control a different part of Fantasia. Think of it as different rooms in a castle. Each one has their own realm that they control. Amaterasu calls them 'palaces'. Each 'palace' can last for a certain amount of time in Fantasia before the collapse begins. When it does, the palace will vanish from Fantasia and will slowly assimilate itself into our world."

"We can't afford to waste a single minute." said Twilight. "We have to finish this as quickly as possible."

"Rushing in and blazing through the palace doesn't sound like a good move either though." added Shade. "We have some time to get this done. I think the watch said it would take 20 days or something."

"Then we have less than three weeks to stop Spoiled Rich and Blueblood." said Twilight. She looked highly determined to get the job done.

"Ah, Blueblood." said Celestia, speaking with distaste. "I knew he was a spoiled brat but I didn't think he had the kind of power to control 'order'. He's usually off on his own most of the time. I barely ever see him and when I do, he's demanding and shows few manners towards mares."

"Tell me about it." growled Twilight. "I still hear Rarity's complaints about him flirting with her and making unwelcome visits." Shade didn't know who Blueblood was but it was clear that the princesses were not fond of him.

"Just when I thought Spoiled Rich was bad." he thought to himself. Just then, his left jacket pocket began vibrate. It was the red card. It seemed to be 'calling' him again. Shade put it down on the table. As soon as he did the map started flashing red again and the bell portal popped up over the map. The card turned light blue and brought up what looked like a digital screen spell. Shade saw the exact same options on it as last time. There were the "enter", "return to last landmark", and "save for later" buttons. "It's back."

"Wow you were right Celestia! It was the card." said Twilight excitedly. "Looks like that's our ticket in. Should we?"

"I think so." said Celestia. "I've requested that Luna briefly fill in for me. She's slowly developing her social skills." Twilight smiled as she thought back to the time Luna would always use her royal Canterlot voice as her main voice when speaking to other ponies.

"We have no time to waste. We should look through the palace right now." said Twilight. "Are you gonna come with us princess Celestia?"

"I see no reason why I can't." she replied. "Now that I have a persona I can help you two out against the monsters in there."

"Alright, let's go." said Shade. He and the two other ponies stood on the map table. Shade pressed on the 'return to last landmark' projection in front of him. The portal opened wider and let out some energy.

"Wait!" called Spike. "What should I-" The portal cut off his last few words as it sucked the three ponies inside.

"Tell the others about this?" They were gone long before he finished his sentence.

(Red Waves)

Twilight, Celestia, and Shade landed on soft carpeted floor. They had arrived in the same room as before.

"We made it." said Shade.

"I'm happy we made it here with no problems just like before but I'm also a little scared." commented Twilight.

"Don't worry. It's only natural after what we saw yesterday. But remember, we can defend ourselves if any danger comes our way here."

"Let's proceed with caution." warned Celestia. "There's no telling what enemies we could find here." Without further ado, the three ponies exited the room, ready to take on the dangers ahead of them.

Shade and Twilight passed some unpleasantly familiar sights as they ran. They made sure to pass the long hall of jail cells. Even so, Twilight could still hear their screams and cries for help and it made her even more nervous. Celestia didn't like the look of the area one bit. Even the Canterlot jail wasn't this dark or cruel. Nopony deserved to be in here even if they were illusions created by Spoiled and Blueblood. The thought of it just made her grit her teeth. Despite their efforts, the group couldn't find a way out of the dungeon besides the hall of cells and they both knew how pleasant that experience was the last time.

"What do we do?" panted Twilight. "We can't find another way out. Maybe saving our progress at the last landmark in here wasn't the best idea."

"Don't worry. I can help." said Celestia. She focused hard and in response a white mask with light green and blue markings and a marking of the sun manifested in front of her.

"Persona!"

Celestia donned the mask and her persona rose from the floor, carrying its sun shaped mirror. "Please, show us a path."

Amaterasu nodded and flipped her huge mirror around. The surface shined a powerful beam of light across the dark dungeon. Shade and Twilight watched in awe as the light revealed several hidden items and objects hidden behind walls and a weak point in one of the walls.

"Nice job!" Shade ran over and used his magic to pull the loose stone out. The wall slowly crumbled away when he pulled it out. It was a small passageway but it mattered a little. He crawled through followed by Celestia and Twilight. Shade popped his head out on the other side of the wall to get a view of the surrounding area. The room around him was smaller and had a large gate with gold locks on it. The non stop bling was getting on Shade's nerves.

"That's a pretty handy ability." said Twilight to Celestia.

"Well, my persona focuses on analysis and finding information. Sadly, it's not suited for battle."

"That's fine. Discovering hidden areas like this one will really come in handy here."

Shade was looking over the gate. It was locked tight. Without any more hesitation, Shade summoned his mask from out of thin air.

"Persona!"

Mordred appeared from behind Shade and swung his sword at the lock. The sword slashed through them like a hot knife through butter. "We're in."

The three walked through only to be greeted by an unfamiliar room. It was a large chamber with an even more disgustingly regal look to it than even the outside decor Twilight and Shade had seen at the Ponyville townsquare. This looked exactly like a castle.

"This brings new meaning to the term, 'bigger on the inside than on the outside'." remarked Shade. "I know this is an alternate world that some can shape to their liking but this is crazy."

"There's a door over there." said Twilight, pointing over to a large gate. "We should get out while we can. I just sensed some enemies approaching." Sure enough, several guards were coming down a large flight of stairs just as Twilight was speaking. The three hurried out the door. When they got out Shade looked up at the building. It wasn't the same small shop they had seen before. It was a huge mansion.

"Did she just change the layout and design of this place while we were gone?" asked Shade.

"I don't think so. This looks just like where Spoiled Rich actually lives in real life." commented Twilight.

"Unbelievable. She lives in a mansion in the real world and she dreams of having the whole town of Ponyville at her beckon call?"

"I knew she was naturally a glutton but not this much." Twilight had to use a small shield spell to keep out some of the blinding light from the mansion's decorations. "The real mansion doesn't even look this flambouyant."

"It must be her cognition of her home and business." commented Celestia. "Remember, anything in this world represents Spoiled Rich's desires and how she views things around her. We're basically just seeing her real thoughts and feelings locked away inside a world she can shape to her desire."

Shade and Twilight were listening but they were still stunned by how much waste and mindless consumption there was around them. It was too much. The townsquare view had been irritating enough for them. Twilight was immediately reminded of her meetings and encounters with other snotty rich ponies, none of which were pleasant for her to go through.

"This is likely Spoiled's palace of desires." said Celestia, trying to adjust her eyes to the bright lights. "It's huge on the outside, but as Shade said, most likely larger on the inside. It's just the right place to hide the key to power over this world."

"Then we can go in and find the source." said Shade. "What is it called again?"

"I like to call the sources of power in this world 'hearts'. If we can find the one belonging to Spoiled we can take it and break her control over this world."

"That's great news. We just need to figure out how we wound up here and how we can keep getting back here."

"I'm just guessing now." added Twilight. "But we probably traveled here through that door that Shade opened in the dungeon."

"Yeah, that was a lucky move on my part." said Shade. "I wonder what would've happened if we hadn't accidentally found the door."

"Those are portals." said Celestia. "Funny, I don't remember hearing about those being a hidden source in Fantasia. Even Amaterasu never informed me of these being here."

"We can worry about that later." said Shade. "As I said, it was a lucky move and now we know where the likely source of Spoiled Rich's power is coming from."

"It's just a guess. Don't get your hopes up Shade."

"We won't know until we start looking." said Shade. "Something tells me that this place is important to Spoiled's control here."

"A good thought, but I think we should take this slow." said Celestia. "I've heard that the enemies in this world can be rather tough. We can't take them all down at once. We should pace ourselves and spread this out over time."

"But we can't wait until the last minute." said Twilight. "I believe everything your persona told you back there Celestia! If we don't make it in time this world will begin to merge with our own! Spoiled will get just what she wants!"

Celestia patted her student on the head with one of her wings. "Don't worry. I have faith that we can figure this out. But remember, these things take time." Twilight calmed down a little.

"I understand your highness. I'm just nervous."

"Who wouldn't be? You and Shade are dealing with a foe that could spell the end of all Equestria. You've fought against these kinds of enemies before though. I know you won't fail."

"Thank you your highness."

"So, should we go in and keep exploring or should we wait until later?" asked Shade. He was removing his persona mask and had attached the red card to a piece inside the mask. It was oddly convenient how the mask had a card holder inside it. It was like the card was designed to fit in the mask. "Personally, I think we should find a way to save our progress here and go later."

"Alright, I guess we can go in later." said Twilight. Celestia summoned her persona and scanned the area for a possible landmark or safe area. Something caught her attention.

"Follow me. I think I found something." She led the two over to a corner of the mansion. There was a glowing blue bird flying right above a row of hedges right next to a window. "Amaterasu sensed that this could be a safe zone."

"Let's test it out." said Shade. He walked over to the area and levitated his mask off. It started to vibrate when he stepped into the area. Then a virtual screen, just like before, popped up with a few options.

"You were right your highness. We can save here." He scrolled through. An image saying "save and exit" appeared at the bottom. Shade had seen it before and he knew what it did. He pressed it and in a flash, the three were sucked in by another bell portal.

(Travel Back)

With a thump the three ponies landed on the table. Spike was sitting in front with Starlight waiting for them. "That was quicker than I thought." remarked Spike. "Thank goodness."

"Yep, we're fine." said Twilight, brushing herself off. "We just went in for some minor investigating."

"What happened in there?" asked Starlight. "And why is Celestia with you?"

"It's a long story that I can tell you about later Starlight Glimmer." said Celestia. "For now, we should just go about our normal lives and come back later."

"Yeah, I need to get going." said Twilight. "Tomorrow's the next Friendship Summit and I need to start my prep work on that!" She ran off to the library. "See you guys later!"

Celestia couldn't help but chuckle at her student's obsessive study habits. Shade was about to head out, but Celestia stopped him. "Shade, can I please talk to you in private for a little?" Shade didn't know what to make of this but he accepted. Starlight and Spike sauntered off to do their own things, leaving Shade to talk with the princess.

Celestia and Shade sat down at the table. Celestia's calm expression suddenly changed to a nervous one. "Shade, I need your advice!" Shade was taken back by the ruler's often calm personality suddenly shifting. It felt fairly jarring.

"Um, okay. What did you need to ask me about? If it's about politics, I don't have much."

"No, no. It's not like that." said Celestia. "I'm just feeling uneasy now. So much is happening at once. My own nephew apparently has a new kind of dangerous magic in his hooves, my schedule's jam packed, and I met Daybreaker in my dreams! It feels like more pressure than usual!"

"So deep down, you're just as nervous as the rest of us. Am I right?" Celestia nodded.

"I usually keep my stronger emotions hidden. I have to remain professional as one of the rulers of Equestria. But now I don't know what I'm even getting myself into!"

"I'm nervous too your highness." said Shade reassuringly. "But we can't let it get to our heads. If we stay strong we can put a stop to the ones possessing 'order'." Shade stood up from his chair and walked over to Celestia. "I can't even remember most of the details about my past. It eats me up inside just trying to think about what could've happened to me when I was a filly. I'm a full grown stallion now and I still have trouble with figuring out where to go or what to do in life."

"I understand." said Celestia. "But me and my sister been around for many many years and it's starting to get to me. What if what Daybreaker said was true? What if I really am tired of ruling and just want to escape from everything? Am I really sick of it all?"

"No way. I've barely known you face to face and I don't see you as the kind of pony to let fear take ahold of you. I may not have lived for nearly as long as you have but I know what it's like to worry about the future. I've just been wandering now for a good portion of my life. I only came here to find a place to settle down. But in only a few days, I've encountered something more amazing than anything else in my life." Shade's reassuring words gave Celestia some more spirit. "I'm sure you've seen a lot more than I have. I know you can help us and get through this."

Celestia smiled warmly. "Thank you Shade. I'm glad I could talk to you about this." She got up and put a wing around Shade. "I won't let the pressure get to me. I'll do what I can to help you and Twilight."

"I promise I won't let you down your highness." said Shade.

"Oh, you can just call me Celestia now." she responded. "I feel like I'm more comfortabe talking with you now."

Shade could sense a strong feeling of trust coming from Celestia. She was easily his superior but he couldn't help but feel like she was on equal ground with him now.

"Goodbye Shade. See you later!" called Celestia as she exited the room.

"Goodbye Celestia!" called Shade. He felt like had just gotten something important from his talk with the monarch. It gave him some satisfaction.

I Am Thou. Thou Art I.
Thou Hast Established a New Bond.
It Shall Become the Wings of Rebellion That Shall Break Thy Chains of Captivity.
With the Birth of the "Sun" Persona, Thou Hast Awakened Thineself to New Power.

SUN ARCANA: RANK UP!
RANK ONE.

With a relieved sigh, Shade turned towards the door to look around town a little more. Little did he know that behind him, the black mask for his persona was lying on the table.

To be continued.

Author's Note

So yeah, this story is getting darker now. You have to add some of that to a fanfic crossover with a rated M game. No matter what happens in season 8 this is the plot I'm sticking with. I might consider adding a new location to the story in the future, if I find one in season 8. I'm definitely having fun with writing this. It just feels good to finally get many of my ideas out in a story. It's not easy writing these and I have to keep doing research on possible deities and mythological characters to act as personas for each of the mane 6 and eventually some side characters.

It was really a no brainer in deciding which bond, or arcana some of the characters would represent here. Celestia is obviously the Sun arcana. For the CMC, I actually leaned towards temperance for a little, but I decided to make them

One more thing, I recommend that you guys click the underlined sentences in the stories. They lead to some links with Persona music. I thought they fit the mood for the scenes pretty well. Until then, see you guys next time for Chapter 4!

Chapter 4: Apples, Diamonds, and Shattered Hopes
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MLP x Persona: Bonds are Magic

Chapter 4: Apples, Diamonds, and Shattered Hopes

You open your eyes again. It's the same room as the last few times. The fog horn sounds loudly as you clear your vision.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room."

You turn to see the familiar face. Sonata is sitting right beside him. "I'm quite impressed with the progress you've made." Igor says. You know he's probably pleased but his tone is just hard to figure out.

"Congratulations, thanks to your new interaction, you have unlocked the Sun Arcana." says Sonata as another light blue card hovers above her compendium and falls into another open page. You start to wonder if the whole book is blank just for your destiny. "You are making great progress and it's only been a few days since you moved to Ponyville. Now that you are aware of the looming threat against your world, you know what you must do to prevent it. You must fight against the fate of imprisonment. I'll be cheering you on every step of the way."

Igor smiles at you, his white teeth gleaming in the moon light. "As will I. For now, it seems that it's time for you to awake. May you make the most of your time here."

Once again, the room vanishes right before you.

"Skip ahead. It is now Wednesday."

September 8th, Wednesday
Morning

Shade's morning began like every other morning. He woke up, got his jacket, had breakfast (courtesy of Spike), washed up, and headed out to town. Today was slightly different though. Yesterday, Shade had gotten a letter from Mrs. Cheerilee. Apparently, she accepted his help. He could only work on weekdays but that was fine by him. Shade needed time to relax or fight off some shadows in Fantasia. Twilight was off at work. Her hours of cramming last night were proof that she was back at work. It only made Shade angrier to think of how royalty was viewed by Spoiled. She treated it like a luxury and a great opportunity for pampering. She had no idea what being a ruler was all about. Shade already missed her. But he knew that she had things to do. Until they could return to Fantasia, Shade knew that he should just live a normal life. Shade headed off into town. He had made sure to map out most of the town yesterday. It took nearly the whole day but it was worth it. He headed off to the school, his spirits high.

Shade headed downtown. The shops were fairly packed that day. He would've gone shopping if he had money. Shade made sure to take his mind off of distractions. He had to live in the present. Soon enough, Shade entered the school. Mrs. Cheerilee was waiting in the hallway for him. It was a relatively small school with only two or three classrooms. "I'm glad you could make it, Shade."

Shade bowed in respect. "I'm happy that you could accept my request for a job. I really need it."

"Oh, it's no problem at all." said Cheerilee. "I could use some help with taking care of the kids. More and more fillies join every year."

"I know what you mean. I'm just happy to have some work."

"Well then, I can put you in charge of playground duty." said Cheerilee. "I can't always be outside to make sure they stay safe."

"Sounds good. Mind if I just wait outside in the back? I won't cause any trouble."

"I never believed you would. The fillies should be ready in about two hours." Shade just walked over to a bench outside near the playground and waited. The weather was beautiful that day. The sky was clear and the flowers were blooming. It felt nice to gaze at the beautiful nature. He never got this kind of view in Manehattan. Central Park sure, but it didn't do this justice. There was just something more comforting about this.

A few hours later, the fillies came running out. Shade noticed the CMC were among them. He also saw Diamond Tiara and a gray filly with a silver mane standing next to her, trying to comfort her. Shade had forgotten that he needed to talk to Diamond Tiara. He had promised the CMC that he'd do that.

"Oh, hi there Shade!" came the voice of Scootaloo. She seemed to be in a hurry to meet up with him. "So, did you talk to her yet?" she asked excitedly.

"Sorry, not yet." said Shade. "Why are you so excited about it in the first place? I would think meeting your life hero would warrant this."

"Sorry, I get excited about helping other ponies. Besides, I've known my life hero for a while now."

"Who is it?"

"It's Rainbow Dash of course! Do you even know who she is?"

"I've talked with her briefly but I don't know her too well. I've heard she's a wonderbolt."

"I know! I go to all of her shows! She gets better and better every time!"

"Cool, so what did you want to talk to me about? Mrs. Cheerilee put me on playground duty so I can't spend all the time in the world with you."

"Oh, right." said Scootaloo awkwardly. "I got distracted. I just really want to hear what's wrong with Diamond Tiara. I don't have any personal problems with her, at least not anymore. I just want to help her and see what's going on."

"I'll do my best to talk with her." said Shade. "By the way, where are your other two friends? I got the impression that you guys hung out a lot."

"They're off doing some brainstorming on how to help our next few customers. Our job is helping ponies without cutie marks!" She turned to Applebloom and Sweetie Belle working on what looked like a map. "But our jobs are getting a little harder to solve these days. We need time to figure out the problems."

"You've got a point. Helping other ponies discover the destinies isn't always something you can complete in a day."

"Applebloom asked me if I could see what progress you'd made on talking with Diamond Tiara. We're pretty worried about her."

"I won't forget, Scootaloo." said Shade. "I'm free later today so I can stop by her house and ask her myself. Ponies might get suspicious if they see a stranger like me talking to her in an alley or other corner of town.

"Don't worry. I have faith you can find out her problem Shade!" said Scootaloo. "We all do."

"Hey Scootaloo!" called Applebloom. "We need your help with charting this out please!"

"Whoops, gotta go!" said Scootaloo. "Good luck Shade!" She ran off to meet up with her friends, leaving Shade to watch over the rest of the fillies on the playground.

September 8th, Wednesday
Afternoon 2:25 PM

Watching and supervising the fillies outside was easier than Shade thought. He was expecting some kids to be a bit wild or hard to control. He'd had to deal with those kinds of city fillies back in Manehattan. Was it even fair to compare Manehattan to Ponyville now? Ponies here were completely different. It wasn't a bad thing for Shade but it was taking time to get used to. It gave him some satisfaction that he had some friends to support him. In his last few homes, Shade had to deal with a lot of different ponies. Here, it felt like he could relax and just live life. At the end of his shift, Cheerilee congratulated him on his dilligence. She promised she would pay him at the end of the week.

Shade was satisfied with the work he had put in and headed off, but not before thanking Cheerilee for his job again. Shade took out the map he had drafted yesterday. He had managed to get to most of the town but he was still missing a few areas. Mapping out a whole town in a few hours wasn't an easy task. He remembered something about Spoiled Rich's actual house being a mansion. He looked over the map. He hadn't gotten to that area yet.

"Just my luck." Shade grumbled. He had figured the best place to talk to Diamond Tiara was her own home. It would make the situation a little less awkward. "Guess I'll have to wing it." said Shade. Following the roads he had mapped out and using the process of elimination to get to the house was his best bet now.

September 8th, Wednesday
two hours later

"....."

Nothing. Two hours and he'd found absolutely nothing. Shade was beginning to wonder if the mansion was buried underground or something. Either that or his sense of direction was even worse than he thought. Shade remembered getting lost a lot in Manehattan but he had managed to adjust to it because he had full scale maps. Here, every building just looked the same to him.

"..You'd think a mansion of all things would be pretty noticeable in a town like this." He said to himself. He had his face buried in the map for most of his walk and only looked up from it every 20 seconds to make sure he was going the right way. Maybe this wasn't the best tactic for navigating. Shade looked around for somepony who could help him get to the mansion. Luckily, he saw Payload walking out of the antique shop pushing out some crates.

"Hey Payload."

"Oh, hi there Shade. I was just getting some crates out for shipping. Who knew books could be this heavy?"

"Sounds stressful. I need your help with something."

"Sure, what did you want help with?"

"I'm trying to find the Rich's family mansion. Do you know if you could give me some directions to it? I've just been aimlessley wandering around so far."

"No problem. I'll get you a map with specific directions if you want."

"That might be asking too much. I don't want to interrupt your work schedule."

"Oh no, it's fine. I happen to have guide maps for all of Ponyville stashed away." Payload ran into the store and he came out with a small sheet of paper. He gave it to Shade.

"Thanks Payload." said Shade.

"Any time." Payload was about to head back to work but then Shade remembered something.

"Hey, wait. I have one more question."

"What is it this time?"

"Well, it's just that-" Shade reached into his jacket pocket to fetch the red card, but for some reason the pocket was empty.

"What?" asked Payload, confused by Shade's hesitation.

Shade was panicking on the inside. The red card was extremely important to his mission in Fantasia. If he had already lost it, who knew what could happen if he tried to get back to Fantasia?

"Um, never mind. Thanks for the directions." Suddenly, Shade felt a strange glow coming from underneath his jacket. He took a look and saw his cutie mark was flashing again. Then, a projection of his mark seemed to jump off of him and float towards the castle. Not only was this completely unexpected at a time like this, but Payload was watching the whole thing. For some reason, he wasn't as surprised as Shade thought he would be.

"Um, I've gotta go. Thanks again." Shade said quickly as he ran off in pursuit of the floating symbol. Behind him, Payload grinned.

"So it's true." he whispered to himself. "He's beginning to understand it." Paying no attention to the large crate he was supposed to be moving out, Payload walked back inside the antique shop, an emotionless look on his face. Shade hadn't seen him or heard what he had said, but if he had, his journey would've played out a little differently.

"Looks like the day will come sooner than I thought, Shade Caller."

Shade had followed his floating cutie mark all the way back to Twilight's castle. Twilight had told him that the map called them every now and then to solve friendship problems but this was the same flashing as the last few times the map allowed him to enter Fantasia. Shade still didn't understand how the map could get him to Fantasia, but he didn't have time to worry about those details now. The flashing was coming from the center of the map. Shade saw the image of his mark embed itself into the center of the map. When the light around the map cleared, Shade saw his mask in the center of the table. Then, the map Payload had given him flew out of his jacket pocket and folded into the shape of a card. Shade recognized the shape. It was exactly the same as the card Celestia had fished out of the watch Payload had given him. Shade didn't know what to say. Somehow, his mask for summoning his persona was in the real world. It was just like Celestia's experience that she had told him and Twilight about. Shade was even more surprised when the mask flipped over and seemed to 'suck in' the new card. Shade noticed that the red card which he had supposedly lost this afternoon was in the back with the new card/map. Now Shade was even more confused than before. The map had called him back to the castle to show him his persona mask? On top of that, the red card that allowed him to navigate through Fantasia was in the mask and the map he had just gotten had gotten sucked inside the mask too?

"What in the wide wide land of Equestria is going on here?" Shade wondered aloud. Nopony else was in the castle, not even Spike. The mask fell to the floor, beside Shade's hooves. He used his horns' magic to levitate it up. He looked it over a few times. The two cards were in a slot, in the side of the mask, which seemed designed to hold them. Suddenly, a huge holographic map popped up in front of him. The same droning voice as before called out to him.

"Hello there Shade. Please attach the mask to continue." Shade saw no harm in doing it. The weird voice had been right about the last few things. He put the mask on and it immediately transformed into a smaller necklace. The necklace fit perfectly around Shade's neck and had a black crest symbol in the middle of it. The voice called out to him again.

"Thank you for accepting your gift. I am Mordred, your other half." boomed the voice.

"Wait, Mordred?" asked Shade, who was more confused than ever. "How are you here and why?"

"I am here to assist and guide you as best as I can." replied Mordred. Shade couldn't see Mordred but he could tell that his persona was nearby.

"Where are you?"

"I'm inside your necklace. My powers aren't usable in the real world, so I must stay contained within the item you use to summon me in Fantasia."

"Ok, but how are you here?"

"I sensed you were in trouble so I used my few remnants of power in this world to contact you here and make sure you are staying on top of your mission."

"You mean my mission to stop the bearers of 'order'?"

"Precisely, I exist to help you in this journey. I am the other 'you' that resides inside your soul. If I cannot fight for you in this world, I can at least help guide you." A large holographic map popped up in front of Shade. It was a full view of Ponyville, with perfect quality. The best part was that the route to Diamond Tiara's home was marked to make it easier to find.

"Whoa, you can help me with navigation like this?" asked Shade.

"It would not have been possible without the new card you received today. I believe it was a map."

"The map I got from Payload?" asked Shade. "This is the second time that he's given me something that connects to Fantasia. Is this just a coincidence?"

"I cannot say that for sure." replied Mordred. "What matters now is that you have my spirit to guide you. I can help you with traveling and your tasks in this world. It is the least I can do."

"Ok, thanks a lot Mordred." said Shade. "I trust that you can help me here."

"You do not have to worry, my other half." said Mordred in a sly tone. The persona let out a slightly creepy laugh as its voice faded out.

"That was incredible." said Shade. "I have to let Twilight and Celestia know about this."

"Know about what exactly?"

Shade turned and saw Starlight standing in the doorway. "Did you see it?" he asked sheepishly.

"Saw it all." said Starlight. "Don't worry. I know how to keep secrets."

"I thought you didn't really trust me."

"Nah, I just had some suspicions that day. If Celestia and Twilight trust you, I trust you too. I just have a lot of unanswered questions."

"About me?"

"Yeah, for some reason you feel a little familiar, like I've met you before." said Starlight. "You probably just look a lot like some other pony I met back when I had my issues."

"What issues were those?" asked Shade.

"I don't want to talk about it now." said Starlight. "I get why you came back here but what were you planning to do today?"

"I was just about to head off to Diamond Tiara's house and talk to her about something." said Shade. "I'm doing it for the Cutie Mark Crusaders or CMC. You know them?"

"Of course." replied Starlight. "I've talked to them a bit before. They may just be fillies but they're pretty good with therapy. Anyway, it's nice of you to help them out. I'll just be here, studying some new spell books Twilight bought."

"Cool, see you later tonight." said Shade. Starlight waved and headed to the library. Shade grabbed his jacket and took off to get to Diamond Tiara's house. The new holographic map coming from his necklace was a huge help. It even had a symbol on it which showed exactly where he was walking. Knowing which direction he was moving in saved him from getting lost multiple times. No thanks to the hastily drawn, half done map he had put together. After only 20 minutes, he arrived at his lcoation. Shade took a deep breath in, mentally preparing himself for his discussion with her. He was mostly worried about Spoiled Rich. If she was anything like she was in Fantasia, he was going to have a 'few' issues.

Shade took a breath out and rang the bell on the side of the large gate. The mansion was pretty big and yet, it had a different feel to it than the one in Fantasia. Shade had to wait a few minutes before he got an answer. A dark tan pony with a pompadour and a suit walked up and opened the gate for him.

"Hello there. My name is Filthy Rich and who might you be?"

"My name's Shade. I assume you're Diamond Tiara's father?"

"That I am." replied Filthy Rich. "Why do you ask?"

"I came here to see if I could talk to her."

"Oh no, you're another one of 'them', aren't you?" groaned Filthy Rich. Shade was expecting him to say 'a lowly commoner', but he was surprised to find that Filthy Rich was actually a decent pony. "You're another one of those ponies that came to help with my daughter's homework, right?"

"What? No, no, I just need to talk with her, if that's okay with you."

Filthy Rich sighed in response. "Okay, how much do you want?"

"What are you talking about? I'm not that kind of pony. I just want to talk to her." Shade was puzzled by the earth pony's words.

"Sorry, I'm just so used to hearing ponies asking for my services or coming here to work. You wouldn't believe how many workers we ended up hiring lately."

"I''m not here to work for you. I just want to talk with your daughter. Its for the Cutie Mark Crusaders. You know them, right?"

"Oh, I do. I just wish my family and I could be on better terms with them." sighed Filthy Rich.

"What do you mean?" asked Shade. "Do you have a problem with them? They seem nice enough to me."

"I don't but I'd say my wife, Spoiled Rich does." said Filthy Rich, shivering a little.

"So I've heard." replied Shade.

"It's okay. You can come in and talk to her. Just please don't be too harsh on her. The poor filly hasn't been doing well lately."

"I understand. I don't intend to interrogate her or anything like that. I just need to ask her a few questions."

"Well, don't let me stop you. Just be careful around Spoiled." advised Filthy Rich. "She hasn't been very friendly lately."

"Thanks Filthy Rich." said Shade. Even if he'd seen a similiar place in Fantasia, Shade couldn't help admiring the layout and design of the house. It felt like more than one pony contributed to the design, unlike the other one he'd seen. Filthy Rich led him down a long hallway of paintings and sculptures to Diamond Tiara's room.

"Go ahead."

"Thanks, I won't take up too much of her time." said Shade. Filthy Rich knocked on the door.

"Diamond, you have a visitor." The door creaked open and the earth pony peaked outside.

"Umm, who are you?" she asked in an irritated tone. It sounded like she was addressing to a romantic rival.

'Oh boy, this may take longer than I wanted it to.' thought Shade. He could tell just by listening to her tone of speech that she wanted to stay cooped up in her room alone.

"My name's Shade. I just came to talk with you about something." said Shade, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. Where was he supposed to begin with her?

"That's what you came here for?" asked Diamond. She wasn't exactly thrilled that a complete stranger wanted to talk with her personally. "I've never even met you before. Why would you want to just talk with me in my home?"

"Please sweetheart, Mr. Shade just wanted to speak with you about some things." pleaded Filthy Rich. "He doesn't mean you any harm."

"I didn't say that, dad!" snapped Diamond. "Who are you anyway and why do you want to talk?"

"I..I'm the playground supervisor at your school. Mrs. Cheerilee hired me."

"..Doesn't ring a bell."

Shade groaned. "Never mind, I just came to talk with you. The Cutie Mark Crusaders have a few questions for you. I just wanted to help them out."

"So those fillies decided to send a messenger?" growled Diamond. "Why can't they leave me alone?! Nothing's wrong with me!"

"Come on, they want to help you." said Shade. He put a hoof over her head. "I do too."

"That's right, sweetheart." added Filthy Rich. "Just please at hear him out. He came here just to talk with you."

"Alright, just come on in." sighed Diamond Tiara. She opened the door all the way and let Shade inside. "Oh, and dad, no listening in on her conversation." she added, poking her head out one more time to remind Filthy Rich not to listen in on anything. Obeying his daughter's words, the well dressed pony left to go downstairs. Shade stepped inside. The room was filled with tons of elaborate jewelry and items Shade assumed were too expensive for ordinary ponies. The room gave off the vibe of a spoiled hoarder. Diamond Tiara gestured to a chair in the room. She sat on her bed and Shade took a seat.

"So what do you want to ask me?" Shade hesitated for a little, trying to think of the best way to start the conversation so it didn't come off as too direct.

"The CMC are pretty worried about you." said Shade. "They seem to think you aren't 'yourself' these days. They think something's wrong with you. Could you talk to me about that?"

"I don't what you mean!" snapped Diamond, rising up as if she had been provoked by Shade's question. "I'm doing fine! Just tell them to leave me alone!"

"Please, tell me what's going on." said Shade. "I observed you at recess today. You looked upset."

"It's not your business!!" she yelled. "Why would you listen to those three anyway?! They snoop around in other ponies' business all the time!"

"Please, you have to calm down."

"Don't act like you know me!" she cried out. "You don't need to know!"

"But that proves you are hiding something that you don't want to talk about." said Shade. "I don't even know the CMC that well, but they seem pretty nice. They make it their job to help other ponies, including you. I'm just giving them a helping hoof by talking to you."

"I just don't want to tell them about it!! I won't tell you!" the earth pony cried out, a few tears streaming down her face. "Please, stop asking me about it!"

"I need to know!" Shade said firmly. "They need to know!" He calmed down a little. "We want to help you!"

"Forget it!" wailed Diamond. "None of you should even care about my personal life! I won't tell you! I can be silent!"

"Please, trust me. I need to know. They need to know." said Shade, in a much calmer tone. He was trying his best to speak gently but it wasn't easy when the filly was pushing him back so much.

Diamond Tiara sniffed a little. Shade levitated a box of tissues over to her. She took a few and blew her nose. "What proof do you have anyway? You don't know if I have a problem or not. Yet you put all your trust in those three?"

"Of course." replied Shade. "And I trust that you can be honest and tell me what's been going on with you." Diamond Tiara snickered at this remark.

"You don't know them..You don't know me..Just.please.." Diamond whispered.

"Now I know you're hiding something." said Shade. "And it's obviously something you're not comfortable talking about. But I'm here to listen. I won't judge you and I won't tell anypony else except the CMC. They don't seem like the type to gossip. So please?"

"I have a right to be silent." said Diamond Tiara weakly. She wasn't even speaking confidently anymore. She just sounded tired. She was obviously trying to hide something and she looked like she was doing everything in her power to stop Shade from getting the answer out of her.

Before Shade could ask her again, his persona necklace began to glow a light tone of green. The room became bathed in green light from the necklace. Shade and Diamond Tiara had to block their eyes from the light. When Shade cleared his sight, the same luxury filled room was no longer there. Instead, he saw a room with an eery glow of red. It was odd because this was the same color lighting that Shade had seen in Fantasia. Shade reached out to touch his chair he was just sitting in but his hoof went right through it.

"What is this?" Shade wondered to himself as he continued to feel around for objects. Nothing he touched was solid. Not even the floor, which felt more like he had gained the ability to walk on a half made cloud. In front of him, he saw Diamond Tiara, except she was chained up to the floor.

"Now we can investigate her thoughts from here." came the voice of Mordred.

"Mind telling me what's going on here?" asked Shade.

"Relax, this isn't Fantasia. It's just an image of Diamond Tiara's inner conscience. From here, it will be easier to find out her problems." replied the persona.

"Why does that sound effective but also kind of wrong?"

"Believe me, it's perfectly safe."

"Mother, why?!" Diamond Tiara screamed out. The chains around her were somehow shocking her body. She was writhing in agony.
Shade was mortified by the sight of the poor filly in anguish right in front of him, but all he could respond with was an annoyed groan. "What were you saying again?" he asked Mordred.

"Nothing that happens here is actually real." said Mordred. "It's an image of Diamond's inner thoughts. My, she seems to feel quite beaten down."

"Why does this look like something from Fantasia?"

"I'll explain later." answered Mordred. "I projected this image here for you to make it easier to find out her problems that she's buried."

"What can I even work with in here?" asked Shade. "All I see is that she's a prisoner being tortured. At least, that's what it looks like."

"Exactly, if this is a view of her inner self, then what does that say about how she's feeling?" Shade began to piece the thoughts together in his head. It was unpleasant imagery, to say the least, but it seemed to be emphasizing the fact that Diamond Tiara wasn't happy with her life here. He had also heard her scream about her mother. Did she have something to do with this?

"What are you waiting for? Go talk to her."

Shade obeyed and walked towards the bound up Diamond. A look of fear appeared on her face as Shade approached her. "What are you doing? What do you want?" she asked tearfully.

Shade didn't even answer this time. He just walked towards her and looked over her, trying to figure out where to start with unravelling her secret. "I can't even speak normally here." Shade said to himself, irritated. "If this world is based around her inner self and hidden feelings, exposing it to her in the real world would just sound crazy."

"Are you going to speak with her or not?" asked Mordred.

"I..don't think I should just yet." said Shade. He had been watching over the cognitive version of Diamond Tiara for some time. She wasn't even making eye contact with him. All she was seen doing was struggling to escape from her chains. It didn't even seem like she knew he was there anymore. Then, the image around Shade vanished and he was right back in the room with Diamond Tiara. This time, she was lying down, seemingly unconscious.

"What in the name of Celestia happened to her?!" exclaimed Shade, just noticing the filly's slumped body on the floor.

"Relax, she's not dead. She's just unconscious. She should wake up in about 10 minutes....I think"

Shade was starting to sweat now. If any of her parents came into the room and saw their daughter in this state, who knew what they'd assume?

"I think you're kind of missing the point here!" snapped Shade, annoyed at his persona for his inability to understand his predicament.

"Am I?" chuckled Mordred. "If so, what will you do?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"Just a simple one. You must think these things through if you wish to stop the bearers of 'order'." said Mordred, his voice growing softer and almost robotic.

"Are you two almost done in there?" came the voice of Filthy Rich from outside the room. Shade began to sweat even harder.

"Just give me a minute please. I'm almost done!" he called out. Without thinking too hard, he ran over to a desk, borrowed a pen, tore out a sheet of paper from a nearby notebook, wrote a message as quickly as he could, and laid it down on the chair he had sat in. "Don't know about you, but I'm leaving for now and coming back when I've boosted my social skills and charm level." he whispered sharply to Mordred.

"Tartaros knows you need it." snorted Mordred. "You have all the swagger of an exhausted cat."

"Gee, thanks. Not like you helped me out too much in there except conjure up another image of nightmares for me to remember."

"My pleasure." All Shade could do was let out yet another frustrated groan. He seemed to be doing that a lot today. Despite being a part of him, his persona could be quite the wisecracker.

"Are you almost done?" called Filthy Rich. "Spoiled is coming home soon and she doesn't like seeing my daughter with 'lesser' ponies."

"Yeah, I am." replied Shade. "I'll just exit from here to save you some trouble." With that, Shade opened up the window and lept out. Thankfully, there were some bushes below to catch his fall.

"Smooth. Real smooth." said Mordred in what seemed like the most sweetly sarcastic tone he could muster.

"Must you loudly scoff at my inability to convince a filly to talk with me?" asked Shade, annoyed. "She was stubborn. Once I build up my charm, I think I'll have a better chance at talking to her."

"Good, but right now, you should just go about your normal life here," said Mordred. "I'll stay inside your necklace and give you some guidance along the way, my other half." The dark cloud surrounding Shade returned back inside the center of his necklace. Shade decided it was best for him to return the townsquare and just take the day off. He had been running around, stressing about Fantasia and its secrets for the past few days. He figured he could just look around and buy some things for his room. Ponyville did seem to have some interesting antiques and items he could put in the castle room for now. Despite the fact he had only been living there for less than a week, Shade felt like he had developed a real sense of home from the castle. Not that he was feeling more entitled now but the place had really grown on him. He wasn't even spending much time there. He only went there to get food and sleep. He didn't ask for anything extra.

Shade was just heading out when he caught sight of a magenta earth pony walking up to the gate of the mansion. She was walking with the kind of entitled strut you'd expect from upper class snobs. Shade decided it would be best to avoid her. He ducked behind some bushes and did his best to sneak by, but he couldn't make to the walls without making a loud rustling noise. Spoiled turned to see him hastily trying to escape unnoticed.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" she asked Shade in a condescending tone.

"I'm just passing through. I, um, just needed to ask Diamond something..." Shade stammered, fighting for words. Then he realized what he had just hastily blurted out. Though he couldn't see him, Shade could just sense Mordred slapping his face in frustration. He wanted to face hoof himself, but that would only make the situation even more awkward. Yet, inside he couldn't help but laugh at his hasty move. Spoiled, on the other hoof, didn't look amused in the slgihtest.

"What business does a commoner pony have here with my family?" asked Spoiled, annoyed with the fact that there was a stranger that had apparently wanted to talk with her own daughter. "She is none of your concern. Only my own. Now please leave and do not return unless you have something actually important you need to discuss with us."

'Is that supposed to be a polite way of speaking?' Shade thought to himself angrily. She was unbearable in Fantasia, but Spoiled wasn't exactly pleasant to be around in the real world either. Shade had seen enough of the Fantasia version of Spoiled to detest her with a passion. However, he minded his manners and just walked away to the gate without another word. Spoiled just snorted and strutted back inside. Even the way she carried herself was snooty.

"That..was a waste. I didn't learn anything about what could be bothering Diamond Tiara."

"Not entirely true." came Mordred's eery tone again. "Didn't you notice something odd about the image I sent you?"

"Yeah, it showed a cognition of Diamond chained to the floor, crying for help just like the other ponies in Fantasia." replied Shade. "Aside from a few indications that she feels imprisoned here, I don't have enough details about what could be wrong with her."

"You can always ask somepony else about her," suggested Mordred. "In the meantime, I'll just go back in and rest for a little."

Shade gave a deep sigh. He didn't even know whether having his persona in constant communication with him was good or bad. He was already exhausted from trying to talk to the thick headed filly. More alternate world magic and exploring Fantasia were the last things he wanted to delve into today. He decided to just grab a quick bite to eat, head back home, and go to bed. "I may have found a new home, but stress levels aren't getting any smaller here than they used to."

September 9th, Thursday
Afternoon

"Howdy there, Shade!" It was Applejack. She was just hauling a large wagon of produce as Shade rounded the corner. "How's your time here going?"

"Great, thanks," replied Shade. "I just finished my job at the school. Those fillies aren't too hard to look after during recess."

"Well, it's mighty kind of you to offer your help there." said Applejack. "How's my sister doing? You having any problems with her?"

"No, but why do you ask?"

"Sorry, I just assumed that since you're still kinda new here, her over-enthusiasm would rub you the wrong way."

"Her personality never bothered me that much. Does that happen sometimes?"

"Yeah, she's just been so desperate looking for other ponies to help these days." said Applejack, smiling at just the thought of her little sister all grown up and actively looking for ponies in need. "She's almost always hanging out with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, so much that I barely see her at all during the day."

"She seems pretty busy."

"She sure is. I'm so proud of her." The orange pony blushed a little, thinking about her sister. "I'm glad you're getting along with her and the others."

"They're a fun bunch," said Shade. A thought suddenly crossed his mind. "Say, I heard that the three of them are struggling with one of their clients." He tried to keep it subtle, because he didn't know how Applejack would react to the statement at first. If he came off as somepony who knew too much, that would make him sound suspicious

Applejack frowned a little at this statement. "You mean Diamond Tiara? Quite frankly, I'm not the least bit surprised. That filly used to be so much trouble for my sister. She was a real rotten apple back then."

"So I've heard. I tried to talk to her about what could be bugging her, but she was pretty stubborn and wouldn't listen."

"Even after my sister and the others befriended her, that filly can still be as stubborn as a mule." Applejack looked around after saying the sentence. "Hmmm, guess he ain't here today."

"Who?"

"Never mind, it doesn't really matter." said Applejack. "I was just strolling around here to drop off a few deliveries. Fancy meeting you here."

"It was nice to see you too." said Shade. "I was just going to head off to see your sister and her friends at their clubhouse, if you're okay with me seeing them that is."

"Of course I am! I think it's great that you're making friends with my sister so quickly. She seems to like having you around."

"Cool," said Shade happily. Before leaving Applejack, he decided to ask her a question. "Oh, one more thing, if you have the time."

"Sure, I ain't got a huge time limit on these deliveries," the farm pony replied. "What did you want to know?"

"I hope this doesn't really come off the wrong way," said Shade. "But do you know anything about Diamond Tiara that could help me find out her possible problem?"

"Not really, I guess she's just kind of nicer now. I always remembered her most for being a bully to my sister, but now that she's reformed, I don't have to worry about her nearly as much." AJ hesitated to think for a few seconds. "Although, her family has been doing business with my family since the founding of Ponyville and her family owns a few shops across Equestria."

"Across Equestria?"

"They're pretty rich, I know, but I'd give my left hind leg if I said that her family wasn't faithful in their business with the Apple family." said Applejack. "And that's kinda the best info I can give you on her. A lot's changed since my sister got her cutie mark."

"Well, thanks anyway," said Shade, happy to at least know some of the history behind Ponyville. "I just really want to help them."

"I understand." said Applejack. "I reckon I should get going now. See ya some other time, Shade!"

Shade felt a sense of satisfaction from that interaction with AJ, like he had gained something important from it, besides just a little info on Diamond Tiara in the past and her family's business with the Apple family. He felt like he'd possibly gained another friend. With positive thoughts on his mind, Shade headed off to the CMC's tree house.

"You still haven't found anything?!" asked Scootaloo. "Can't you just do a simple-" She was cut off by Sweetie Belle who had to cover her mouth to make sure she didn't spout out anything rude.

"Sorry, what we meant to ask," she gave Scootaloo the stink eye, "was why you were having so much trouble. Is she not talking to you or something?"

"Pretty much sums it up." groaned Shade. "I just can't talk to her properly. If only I had something I could use to make her talk."

"Now you make it sound you're going into an interrogation." commented Sweetie Belle.

"Sometimes, I see you getting a little too 'energetic' when you're handling stubborn ponies." said Applebloom. "Y'all know what I mean, right?" Scootaloo nodded, Sweetie Belle just ignored it, but Shade was afraid to ask what that meant. He'd already had an unsettling interaction with Sweetie Belle on his first day. He knew she was joking, but she almost seemed to have a dark side to her otherwise polite and friendly personality.

"Again guys, I'm really sorry that I can't get any info out of her," Shade apologized. "I won't give up though. I promise."

"You mean it?" asked Scootaloo, her attitude changing when she heard Shade's words of generosity and strength. Shade nodded. At this, Applebloom ran up to Shade and gave him a hug.

"Thanks so much!" she cried out. "Nopony's ever been this devoted to helping us!"

"Alright, alright, it's okay. You don't have to cry."

"I'm not! I'm just real happy that you care so much about helping us!" said Applebloom. "You're pretty great, Shade." Shade stroked the back of his head, a little embarrassed by Applebloom patronizing him.

"We really appreciate your help, Shade." said Sweetie Belle. "Just don't go too far with it, please?" Scootaloo nodded in approval. Shade didn't need to hear her say anything to know that she trusted him.

"Thanks guys. I won't let you down." said Shade. At least, he hoped he could keep his promise to them.

"So, how did your first week in Ponyville go?" Twilight asked Shade across the dinner table. She had gotten home from her work early that day and had managed to join her friend for dinner at home. Spike was also sitting at the table, just listening to the two ponies talk.

"It's been pretty good." replied Shade. "I've had some trouble with helping the CMC though."

"You mean with Diamond Tiara?" asked Twilight. Shade nodded.

"She's impossible to talk to. Every time I tried to get her to tell me her problem, she jus refused and turned away."

"She's actually a nice filly once you get to know her history a little more." said Twilight.

"I can believe that part. I just don't know why she's so stubborn about telling me the truth. It's like she's hiding some huge secret she doesn't want me to know about."

"Who knows? She might feel threatened that somepony she doesn't even know is trying to extract personal info from her," commented Spike. "No offense to you or anything, Shade."

"None taken, but she seemed to be okay with talking to me at first. She suddenly got reluctant to speak when I asked about what was bothering her lately."

"I don't know what could be going on either." said Twilight. "I can't really imagine a filly as lucky as her to be having emotional problems. I remember her getting past all that when the CMC helped her find her place."

"She does live in a huge mansion with a ton of luxuries and she has more friends now." said Spike. "I'm sorry Shade, but I don't see what could be wrong with her either."

"It's a mystery to be sure." said Shade, taking another bite of his hayburger. "Although, it would help if you gave me some more info on Diamond Tiara's past life, Twilight."

"I don't know too much, but I know she was a bully back then." began Twilight. "She only had one friend and she spent a lot of time bragging about herself. Even I almost gave up on finding a redeemable quality in her, until the day she lost the class president election."

Shade stopped eating for a moment. "What happened that day?"

"Well, Sweetie Belle told me the story, but apparently, Diamond was trained by her mother to act the way she did." Spike shuttered at the memories of the obnoxious mare.

"Diamond was pretty cruel, but who woud've thought there was somepony pulling her strings the whole time?" he said.

"I was surprised too," added Twilight. "But her mother was in control of her for some time, until Diamond actively rebelled against her and found out her true purpose in life."

"And that was?"

"Telling other ponies what to do." sighed Twilight. "It sounds selfish, but it's a power that lets her control her own life. It helps her move forward without being controlled by somepony else. She realized this all when the CMC helped her."

"We know that her mother is still pretty despicable," said Shade. "But if Diamond's cutie mark represents her ability to control other ponies, she shouldn't really have a problem with her mother again, right?"

"It's possible, but you're right. It doesn't seem likely, unless her mother has even more dominance over her than before."

"Are you suggesting that she's stronger now and has gone back to controlling Diamond?" asked Spike. Shade and Twilight turned to him.

"Wow, I never even considered that." he remarked. "I just assumed that she had some sense of care towards her daughter. Filthy Rich even seemed like a nice guy."

"Oh, he is." said Twilight. "He's the complete opposite of Spoiled. It leaves you to wonder why he married her in the first place."

"We may have to chalk that possiblity up for debate." said Shade. "But other than that, we don't have enough decisive evidence to really understand what's going on with Diamond Tiara."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Shade jumped at the sudden voice of Mordred. "You still have that image I showed you, right?"

"Who the heck was that?" asked Twilight, also startled by the voice.

"You can hear it too?"

"I guess so, but what is it?"

"I see," Mordred chuckled. "It appears other persona users can see and hear me. Well, I shall introduce myself, princess." A shadowy figure shot out of Shade's necklace and appeared in the room. Twilight was so surprised at first that she fell backwards in her chair. Spike was so scared by the shadow that he lept out of his seat and hid under the table. Twilight took about a few seconds to recover.

"I-I-Is that your persona?" she stammered. "Why is it here?" Spike was still hiding under the table.

"I don't know. He just said he'll be here to help me." Twilight calmed down after hearing Shade's words.

"It's so strange though. This is really similiar to how Celestia described her encounter with her persona."

"Kind of, but for some reason, mine just rests in this necklace here," said Shade, holding out the piece of jewelry around his neck. Twilight looked over the necklace, examining it closely.

"Odd, it looks similiar to one of the necklaces from the Elements of Harmony," remarked the purple allicorn. "What are the chances of that?" Spike peaked out from under the tablecloth.

"So, does that mean it's safe to come out?" Twilight giggled at Spike's overreaction.

"Yes Spike. This is what we were talking with Celestia about, remember?" Spike breathed a sigh of relief and crawled out of his hiding spot.

"Sorry if that came off the wrong way. I've just never seen anything like it before."

"Quite frankly, no other pony has," said Shade. "We had the same reaction when I first summoned him in Fantasia, somehow. I still don't know how I got this power."

"Me neither," said Twilight. "But I've been thinking about some reasons behind it for these past few days. I even did extra studying and research with the source materials Celestia gave me."

"She gave you more info?"

"Yep, her persona is pretty amazing. I've been able to get past details about Fantasia that we talked about before."

"Considering Twilight's study habits before and even now, you should get used to hearing her talk about reviewing info a lot," said Spike, portraying that he'd seen this a million times before and was just used to it now.

"Did you find out any new info about our target in Fantasia?" asked Shade. Twilight sadly shook her head.

"Sorry, but keep in mind that this is a type of magic that was lost to the records of time for centuries. Only Celestia's persona knows the answers, and not even all of Fantasia's secrets for that matter."

"But doesn't that seem a little odd?" Twilight continued. "I mean, I get how Celestia could get her persona, but it doesn't make sense how it would just happen to know all this info! Have you guys ever thought of that?"

Spike stared up from his comic book and just shrugged. It wasn't like he would know much about the situation. Shade just brushed it off too. "I don't intend for you to think I'm not taking this seriously, but it never really crossed my mind. These 'personas' came from a source of magic that's been lost to the winds of time for ages now. Is it really reasonable to question the extent of their powers?" Twilight paused, taken back by Shade's thoughtful, yet calm response to her question.

"I guess we shouldn't worry too much about something like that," said Twilight, finding new comfort in Shade's words. "If her persona knows about that place, we should spend less time worrying about the origins ourselves and use the abilities it has to the best of our ability."

Spike was only listening to about half the conversation as he kept his nose buried in his comic book, but he could still hear Twilight. It made him happy to hear his owner handling problems in a strategic way and not just freaking out and cramming late at night, like she often did when princess Celestia gave her another 'test'. Spike was all for being prepared, but in his years with Twilight, he'd learnt a thing or two about overkill. "Glad to hear you're not freaking out over this," he remarked. Twilight shot him a slightly annoyed look, to which Spike responded by only looking back inside his comic.

"Anyways," sighed the purple allicorn. "As long as your persona can partially exist in this world too, we can stay up to date on Fantasia and its whereabouts." In response to her statement, the shadow of Mordred slithered over to Twilight and extended a finger torwards her chin.

"I've always been here," replied Mordred in a voice that sounded disturbingly soft. No matter what mood the persona was in, Shade always found it gave off a misleading sinister tone. "I was faintly calling out to Shade to give me a vessel for me to stay in. My physical form can't last in this world, so I merely gave some faint cries for help to him, and now I rest with him."

"That's..great..I guess?"

"Don't feel too uncomfortable in my presence. I seek only to serve my master, nothing more." With that, Mordred made one final gesture with his hand and vanished back inside Shade's necklace.

"I know he's a part of me, but I hope he doesn't come popping out too often."

"Yeah, imagine how awkward it would be if you were in the middle of town, he came out to speak with you, and nopony else could see him."

"Actually, I had a close call with that, one time, but that happened about three or four days ago."

"So, what were you planning on doing today anyways?" asked Twilight. "Should we inflitrate Fantasia and see if we can make more progress on traversing the palace?" Shade raised an eye, considering Twilight's suggestion.

"You know what? Yeah, it wouldn't hurt to dive in and look through the palace today," he replied. "I don't have much else to do right now and there's something I need to figure out."

"Alright then. Let's go!" Twilight took out her own necklace and put a pulse of her own magic through it. The necklace radiated with purple light and in response, the map table lit up. With one final nod, Twilight and Shade climbed up onto the table, right beneath the bell portal, and waved to Spike.

"Wait, Twilight! I forgot to ask you something!" called Spike. "What do I do about the-"

Twilight and Shade were gone long before he could finish his sentence.

To be continued.

Author's Note

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I had a busy few weeks and a long break. Anyway, I'm still alive and hopefully I'll be able to post these chapters more frequently now. I've really been trying to post these but I always keep getting new ideas or concepts that I want to put in. I've planned the next 25 chapters or so. It's going to be fun getting my ideas out online.

I decided to make this chapter a little more mellow. I need to do a few "slice of life" chapters every now and then. I aim to have something for every fan of MLP here. Just not the haters. I don't do well with that. Next chapter should be a little bigger. I plan to have a new persona awaken next chapter. I just "need to keep in mind my pacing" (Art of the Dress quote). I hope I can get some fan art of the character's personas on deviantart later.

Thank you for all the people viewing and supporting this project. It really helps me out. By the way, if any of you can get some other bronies like RarityDash, Applegeek, or BlankSlate to read this, I'd really appreciate it. I aim to please. See you guys next time!