Tuesday 4/12
Sunset's deep and easy sleep turned out to be good, because her day got weird faster than she'd expected.
As soon as she got out of the shower and dressed, she checked the time on her phone. She had some to spare, but the screen had a notification from a program she'd never used before, with a little word balloon icon. She consulted the manual and saw it was the text message icon, so she opened it up, finding a message from "Unknown Sender." The name was accompanied by some kind of cartoon, a picture of a black oval, featureless save for two pointed ears and a grinning, toothy mouth.
You need my help, the message read.
Sunset fumbled with the keypad, and with her confusion about how to reply to this.
Who are you? And why?
The reply appeared nearly instantly, and Sunset wondered how anyone could type that quickly.
Call me Alibaba. Your phone is compromised. I stopped it from reporting. But you need to remove the evil program. Follow my directions exactly.
Sunset pondered, starting a half-dozen messages and abandoning them. She had so many questions, but already had a suspicion she wasn't going to get answers. Just trusting someone who communicated like this seemed questionable at best. Still, she had her own concerns about Akechi, and her friends had told her about spyware. A device he provided, that she didn't understand, but that she knew could listen to her...when she thought about it that way, she felt like maybe she should just throw the phone away.
But it had the mystery app, and didn't want to lose it.
She finally went with, How do I know I can trust you?
Ehehehe, you don't! Paranoia's good if someone's bugging your phone! But do you trust me more than the person who gave you the phone?
Before Sunset could reply, more messages flashed out rapid-fire.
I know what you talked about in the cafe. I've heard of a metaverse. I want you to find out about it.
So I'm going to share a secret to earn your trust. I have ears in Leblanc. Don't talk there if you don't want me to know, but if you do, I'll hear it, even if no one else is around. If you tell me what you find about the metaverse, I'll help you keep your secrets.
At first, Sunset didn't think this was much of an offering. On the other hand, Leblanc seemed like a good place to meet, so they likely would have kept using it without that information. And there was the Akechi issue. He'd helped her, sure, but it was a lot of resources to dedicate to helping one girl, in a world that looked increasingly unlikely to spare resources like that. If Akechi suspected the truth, or otherwise thought she was more than she seemed, that would explain his willingness to help. And it would make spying on her via her phone a likely move. Realistically, her position here was terrible, and she was going to have to make some risky choices.
So she committed. All right, deal. But I don't know anything about cell phones.
Some kind of strange face picture appeared, that looked like it had one eye closed and a grinning mouth.
Don't worry, I got you a picture guide! Press the letter icon, that's your email. Press the message with my name on it, it'll show you what you need to do.
The process was convoluted, and Sunset had to do it in stages, following several instructions before going back to look at more of the pictures, but thanks to rising early, she managed to get through the whole thing before she had to leave for school. As soon as she'd done the last step, another message from Alibaba popped up.
Good job! I'll be in touch. Remember, if you need me first - Leblanc.
Sunset typed back a thanks, wondering why they couldn't just talk this way, but the message didn't go through. Her phone claimed, despite all recent evidence, that Alibaba didn't exist.
Sunset muddled through her classes again. She'd had no time to follow up on her notes from earlier, so she just accumulated more things that seemed like common knowledge among her classmates that she'd have to look up before her proper notes would start to make sense. The math class that followed remained blessedly comprehensible in comparison. Still, by lunchtime she felt like she was drowning, and was wondering if she could just ignore school, claiming amnesia, and focus on her friends.
Ann and Akira met her at lunch, to the scandalized glances of some passing students, though Sunset wasn't even sure why - they were all scandalous, so surely hanging out together shouldn't be a surprise.
"You okay, Sunset? You were writing up a storm in history," Ann asked.
"Don't even start. I know nothing. I need to make notes about what I have to look up before I can understand my actual notes."
"Oh, yeah, wow, you're basically starting second year high school just knowing how to read and write, huh? Ouch."
"I'll get through somehow. Look, I have something more important to talk about."
She filled them in on her experience in the morning, and showed them Alibaba's messages. Ann gave a big grin.
"Ooh, a real super hacker! And they're helping you out! That's so cool!"
"Are you sure I can trust them?"
"I'm not," Akira said. "But do you really have much choice?"
"That was what I thought. They did seem like they could hear us in Leblanc, and I don't trust Akechi. The more I learn about how much help he and this Shido gave me, for nothing, the stranger it seems. Plus, the instructions did something, and Alibaba could tell when I'd done them."
"Can I see them?" Akira leaned over her shoulder. "I'm not an expert, but I can tell if they look plausible."
She shrugged and handed him the phone, and he scrolled through.
"That's advanced. I didn't know you could do most of this stuff. It removed something, and didn't add anything, though, so it's plausible."
"It feels kind of creepy, knowing someone was listening to us, even though Sojiro was outside," Ann said. "I wonder if he knows?"
"I'm not going to mention it," Akira said. "He's scary when we're alone."
"If we told him and he didn't know, Alibaba might think we'd betrayed them," Sunset said. "I don't think I want that."
"Yeah," Ann said. "But like, can they hear Akira's room? Are they watching him sleep?"
"Maybe we should ask," Sunset said.
"I'll think about it," Akira said. "I hope I don't say anything embarrassing in my sleep."
"Yeah, and I guess we'll just keep them up to date and see how the deal goes," Sunset said. "But let's talk after school. Where can we meet up and get some privacy?"
"We could go to the bottom of the stairwell," Ann said. "The basement's locked, but there's a landing outside the door. No one really goes down there after school."
They all agreed, and Sunset returned to class. At least her post-lunch schedule was mostly languages.
As a secret hideout, the stairwell did have some unfortunate features. For one thing, there wasn't a door, leaving them in view of anyone who might look down from higher in the stairwell. Even more importantly, with everyone gone after the end of classes, sound echoed, leaving a constant fear of eavesdropping.
Of course, they knew for sure that Leblanc wasn't secure, and everywhere else in the school was locked or occupied, so Sunset wasn't sure what their other options were. Doubly so if they wanted to try out the mystery app, which clamed to require proximity. So she spent an awkward few minutes feeling horribly exposed, huddled against the wall under the lowest part of the stairs to maximize her cover, before Ann and then shortly after Akira arrived. Then all three of them huddled, speaking in whispers, ears pricked for the sound of the door opening.
"Okay, this isn't as good as I thought," Ann admitted. Sunset just shrugged.
"I couldn't think of anything better, at least not close to school," she said. "But it's going to be hard to talk much here. Should we just see what the app does? Then we can go to my dorm or something and talk more."
Akira already had his phone out, and nodded. Ann waited a bit, then nodded too. Akira pressed a finger to the screen.
Sunset felt the difference even before she saw it. A powerful spike of magic washed over her from Akira's phone, making her feel like she could almost float or glow. Before any such thing could happen, though, it faded to a pleasant background hum, a feeling of ambient potential she'd forgotten she was missing. As it did so, the school faded and vanished as another world snapped in above it - one that was much more familiar to Sunset than the industrial architecture of Shujin. It was a dungeon, complete with irregular masonry walls, uneven stone floors, torchlight, and barred cells. In the distance she heard rushing water.
"Wow," Ann's voice was still a whisper. "I didn't expect it to work..."
Sunset felt a pang of guilt for not telling her new friends about the magic she'd sensed from the app, but she replaced it with resolve. Once they were done here, she promised herself she'd tell them the whole story.
And, now that she thought of it, the background buzz of magic meant that should probably be soon. Without her horn she wasn't sure she could manipulate it, and from the lack of reaction on the part of the others, she assumed they couldn't feel it at all. But if anything lived here, presumably it would have no such disadvantage. She pulled out her own phone and opened the app. Akira and Ann looked over her shoulder.
Kamoshida's Palace, flashed red at the top of the screen. Below was a stopwatch counting up labeled Subjective Duration, along with a second timer, External Duration, that seemed to be counting up significantly more slowly. A single large button labeled Return was greyed out, much as the Enter button had been the night before. Sunset pressed it, but an error box appeared: Distortion too strong. Try again at the edge of the distortion, or in weakly distorted location.
"We can't get out?" A hint of fear crept into Ann's voice.
"We can't get out from here," Sunset corrected. Her mind raced trying to interpret the unfamiliar terms, but her background in magic at least gave her clues. "If the location was Shujin, maybe the edge of the distortion is around where the school grounds would end?"
"Huh," Akira said, "that's a good guess. You got a lot from that cryptic error."
Sunset felt a flash of guilt.
"I wanted to tell you--" she cut herself off as a metallic clanking echoed off the stone walls.
"W-what's that?" Whispered Ann.
Sunset was already looking desperately for cover, but none seemed forthcoming. She grabbed Ann and tried to scrunch them both behind a pillar that didn't really seem big enough, while Akira pressed against the wall, optimistically hoping for cover from a support beam.
"Keep up the patrol," a harsh but familiar voice rang out. "We can't be too careful with these new delinquents around."
Sunset and Ann shared a wide-eyed look - it was unmistakably Kamoshida's voice.
The metallic sounds drew closer, now unmistakably accompanied by footsteps. The strange short hairs on Sunset's forearms stood on end and she could swear she felt a tingle where her horn should be - the ambient magic was increasing.
Ann pressed tight against her, motionless. She tried to breathe silently. The footsteps were close now - clearly coming their way.
Sunset caught Akira's eyes, and he turned his head down the hallway. It sloped down, which seemed like a bad sign, but there was an open passage visible to the right at the end, and no one in sight. She gave him a nod and Ann a nudge, tensing herself to run. Akira held up three fingers, seeing both girls watching him, then lowered them one by one.
When the last fell, they all broke and ran. Kamoshida's voice echoed behind them, but Sunset ignored it and went flat-out, hoping her unfamiliar limbs wouldn't let her down at speed.
So far so good, but the metallic clanking behind her was disturbingly familiar from her experience with Celestia's Royal Guard, and the growing magic made her concerned that Kamoshida was somehow using it. She just hoped that the passage ahead of them would offer a way out. She turned the corner...and nearly ran into Akira, who'd hesitated.
It was a dead end, an open cell, larger than the others, but still without other exit. Lacking anything else to do, Sunset let her momentum carry her to the back wall, letting Ann stumble into the room with her. She turned to watch the door, but without much hope of what she'd see. Along the wall, Akira raised his fists. Sunset tried to mimic the pose, though she was painfully aware that her already nonexistent close combat skills couldn't possibly be enhanced by her new body.
With a metallic clank, their foe entered. It was a massive figure clad in plate armor, though Sunset felt the magic seeping off of it, and her focused attention caught the wisps of dark mist drifting out from the armor's joints. The power made her itch, particularly around her eyes, which felt strangely familiar.
Akira launched himself at the figure, clearly hoping to take advantage of the element of surprise, but the size differential alone was ludicrous. He seemed to be trying some kind of hold, rather than an outright attack with his fists. Sunset, of course, had no understanding of wrestling, but it at least seemed more sensible than slamming a fleshy appendage into metal armor.
Either way, he didn't get far. The enemy was briefly caught off guard, but wrapped a massive armored hand around Akira before he even managed to find a grip. Casually, the figure deflected him and slammed him face-first towards the ground. He caught himself with his arms, but there was a sickening crack and he groaned. He rolled over to face upward and raised one arm in defense, but the other hung limp, and he seemed unable to rise.
It was so fast Sunset had barely begun to consider intervening before Akira was on the ground, and the shock of the sudden, casual violence left her reeling. She shrunk back instinctively, pressing against Ann. The armored figure moved aside, and Kamoshida entered, bringing with him a wave of magic than nearly sent Sunset, already staggered, to the ground herself.
"What the hell," Ann whispered.
The figure before her, she decided, was not the Mr. Kamoshida she knew. For one thing, his eyes were a rich gold, a color she'd never seen on a human, certainly not on dark-eyed Mr. Kamoshida. For another, this Kamoshida wore an ornate crown, a luxurious fur cape...and nothing else. It was appropriate attire for a pony, but, she realized, nothing like she'd seen anyone wearing in this world, and judging by Ann's wide eyes and Akira's averted ones, not something anyone should wear.
But she quickly lost that thread, drowned in the itchy feeling of the high magic, and in her growing fear. She still wasn't an expert at human expressions, but nothing about the smirk this Kamoshida wore could possibly be good.
"Useless," he tilted his head at Akira. "If that's the best you can do, it doesn't even deserve to be called assault. Not that you'll get a chance to try again, of course. I suppose I could be merciful, as thanks for bringing me these wonderful new slaves...but I won't. You!" He gestured to the soldier closest to Akira. "Take out the trash."
He stepped aside, allowing two more soldiers to enter. Sunset dimly registered Ann's eyes locked on them in horror, and some unfamiliar objects in their hands that might have been restraints, but her attention focused rapidly on the one looming over Akira. From some unseen space, they pulled forth a massive sword, and raised it high.
"No," Sunset thought, numb save for the skin around her eyes, which now felt scorched. "It can't be like this. This is my fault! I should have told them..."
As she was about to descend into self-hating despair, she heard another voice, soft, quiet, but familiar.
"When things look hopeless, call my name, and my aid will find you."
"Luna..." she whispered.
In the near silence of the unfolding horror, Sunset's whisper nearly echoed. Everyone stopped and turned to her.
The skin around her eyes felt like it was melting. She reached up, desperate, and felt...cloth? No, harder. Somehow she wore...a mask? It felt so wrong, she knew she had to be rid of it. She curled her fingers around the edges, nails digging into her flesh. More pain bloomed, but she knew, knew she had to remove it. She pulled. It felt like it took skin and flesh alike with it. She pulled harder.
"Luna!" She yelled in defiance and pain, and power answered. She felt it in her bones, washing over her still-unfamiliar body in a familiar way. She even felt a horn, bursting forth from her forehead where she'd just pulled off the mask, though she had no idea if it was really there or not.
Then the power burst forth, and unlike unicorn Sunset, she couldn't shape it. It lifted her off her feet, her hair rising to the ceiling in an unseen wind. A massive compression wave slammed out from her, throwing friend and foe alike to the floor or wall - the result of a large object appearing beneath her. She settled, and found herself sitting on the pony from her dream, dark as night, mane flowing with stars.
Only...it wasn't that pony, not really. Even as she touched it, Sunset understood that it was her, or part of her. Almost like the horn she now lacked, this pony-seeming was a way to manipulate magic. And she knew at least some of what she could do with it.
"Luna," she said softly, "take care of them."
The spectral pony reared. Sunset knew she should be thrown, but felt completely secure, riding with ease. Luna's hooves fell, impacting the chest of the fallen armored figure that, until recently, had been threatening Akira. Instantly, it vanished into smoke. Sunset gestured, an instinctive action, and Luna turned to face the other two, who were struggling to rise and form up in front of Kamoshida. Luna lowered her head, and a beam of light sprang forth from her horn. It struck each figure in turn, and they too evaporated.
Kamoshida, though, rose, and threw off his cloak. He looked, if anything, even more muscular than the coach, and still he was sneering.
"So one of you has some spine. Fine. I don't mind a girl with spirit. But I'm the King here. You can never defeat me alone."
Sunset looked aside. Apparently without noticing, Akira and Ann both now wore masks. His had a striking, jagged outline, and was white, with black edging around the eyes. Hers was pure red, with stylized catlike ears atop it.
"I'm not alone," Sunset said. "Ann, Akira - take off your masks! If a name comes to you, call out to it!"
Kamoshida's grin faded.
"I've seen enough anime," he said, "I won't give you the time!"
He launched himself at Akira, but as easily as moving her own body, Sunset caused Luna to leap forward, interspersing herself between them. Kamoshida's fist landed on her side, a heavy blow, and she gasped for breath, but she found staying on Luna easy, and checked back with her mount's flank, knocking him off balance.
"Arsene!" Akira's pained voice sounded from beside her, and a figure in a dapper red suit and tall hat appeared behind him, hovering on black wings. A burst of darkness launched forth from it, arcing over Luna to drive Kamoshida back.
"I'm done with you, you pervert!" Ann jumped up, hands around her mask. To Sunset's shock, blood flowed around it, though Ann stood unbowed. "No more! No more for Shiho, no more for me, no more for anyone! Carmen!"
A roaring inferno burst forth around her, and both Sunset and Akira jumped back. Through the flames she could see a figure in a dress, standing confidently. Then Ann strode forth from the flames and pointed at Kamoshida. Fire raced down her arm to her finger, leaving her apparently unharmed, and there was no trace of the blood on her face. Then it lanced out, and Kamoshida fled headlong from it, barely making it out of the room ahead of the inferno.
"Yeah, you better run!" Ann strode towards the door. "I'll never forgive you! Never!"
Before she reached the door, though, Carmen and the flames faded, and Ann sagged. As she did, Sunset realized just how much of her own reserves she'd burned, as her adrenaline started fading. Perhaps because of her training in magic, or just her own increased sensitivity, she didn't immediately sag, but she let Luna vanish, and felt her own fatigue creep up as she did so. She felt as drained as if she'd just finished an advanced magic lesson. She felt Akira sway next to her, and reached out to support him.
"How...how did you know to do that," he managed.
"I promise I'll tell you," Sunset said, "but I don't think that King is the kind to give up forever, and I don't think we want to have to do that again. Let's get out of here first."
Akira nodded, and she felt Ann sag against her from the other side.
"I hear that," she said.
They didn't make very good time. Akira's left arm still pained him, and Ann was breathing heavily.
All of their clothes had also transformed to fit the scene. Sunset now sported what she considered a quite dashing blue long coat with golden buttons over a white undershirt and brown trousers, complete with an odd triangular hat, and her own mask was an unadorned one in midnight blue. A long leather case hung from her belt - Akira called it a scabbard, but sadly it didn't come with a sword. Akira had a black outfit featuring an even longer coat and striking red gloves. And Ann had a suit of skintight red leather, matching her mask. Sunset thought this last didn't fit the castle decor, but Ann herself seemed pleased with it, though she blushed at the tight fit.
Sunset found this development worrying. Some magics, she knew, became harder to escape the more embroiled you became in their world. Still, it wouldn't do any good to worry the others with that thought - they'd make it to the entrance then take what came.
There were at least two silver linings - first, that they were able to follow passages that generally sloped up, and second, that putting King Kamoshida to flight seemed to have driven off his soldiers as well. The dungeon halls were eerily silent. They talked in hushed voices as they walked, both out of respect for the silence, and a desire for stealth, but it stopped them from saying much. They wondered at their new outfits and the situation, and swore to discuss it fully once they escaped.
Finally they reached what seemed to be the end of the dungeon. Ahead the passage opened into a circular chamber containing a large spiral staircase; Sunset assumed it was the bottom of a tower. To the, right, though, was a heavy wooden door, and something about it gave Sunset pause.
"Hold on," she held out a hand, stopping Ann and Akira, who were moving towards the stairs.
She stood still for a moment, listening, in case she'd heard something, but the silence held, broken only by an occasional plink of water dripping. Then she realized it wasn't what she was hearing, but what she was feeling - the background tickle of magic was slightly weaker near the door. Could that mean it was an exit?
She was pretty confident she could bring Luna back if she needed to, but still, she held the name and feeling in her mind, ready in case some monster waited for her on the other side of the door. She pushed it open.
Inside was a guard room with a table in the middle, and chairs gathered around it. Only...it wasn't quite that. Everything in the room, even the walls, was slightly translucent, and below she could barely make out one of Shujin's library meeting rooms. As she watched the wooden furniture and stone walls faded, until they were only barely visible "behind" Shujin's industrial equivalents. After a moment, the fade reversed.
"What the heck?" Ann shied away from the door, but Sunset walked in. She felt the magic fade as she did.
"The app said something about 'weakly distorted locations,' right?" Akira said. "Maybe this is one?"
Sunset pulled out her phone. Indeed, the app looked the same, except that the previously grey Return button was now green. She pressed it, and let out an involuntary heavy breath as the magic drained away. Her outfit faded to her Shujin uniform, and the dungeon decor fell away for the solid and familiar meeting room.
"Whew," Ann said. "I'm beat."
Sunset nodded. "I still have something I have to tell you, though. I feel like we have a lot to talk about. Where can we go?"
"Leblanc," Akira said.
"But that hacker said they could hear us there," Ann said. To Sunset's surprise, Akira nodded.
"Wait," she thought it over. "Alibaba also said they knew what the metaverse was. We're still clueless, only now we know it's dangerous. So...maybe we want them to hear?" Akira nodded again. "And telling them about what we found was in the deal, after all. If we want to talk in private we can go somewhere else after."
"Smart," Ann said. "It's still kinda creepy, but let's do it."
They made their way to Leblanc lost in their own thoughts, eyelids sagging. Even used as she was to harnessing magic, Sunset felt the toll on her body and mind. She hoped that if they kept doing this, they'd all get better at it in a hurry.
They arrived right in time for dinner, though even so the café was deserted. Ann ordered curry and coffee for all of them, and insisted on paying.
"It's from modeling," she said. "Even though I'm not at the top, at least I get a bit of spending money."
Sojiro served them and excused himself again to "smoke," though Sunset was pretty sure he was doing no such thing.
"Hello Alibaba," Akira started. "We're talking here because we're hoping you can help us. We went to the Metaverse today and nearly died, but it was a heck of a trip. If you know anything about it you can share, please help. And feel free to listen in on the rest of what we say, maybe you'll understand something we don't. Speaking of which," he turned to Sunset, who felt herself blushing.
"I almost told you right at the start," she started. "It's not that I didn't trust you, only I wasn't sure how you'd react, because everything here is so strange. But I didn't forget my past. I came here from another world."
Ann started, and even Akira's face twitched a little.
"You mean...the metaverse?" Ann said.
"No, but my world seems to have some things in common with it. For one thing, there's magic there. Whatever was happening in the metaverse shares some logic with it, as much as magic has logic, anyway. That helped me figure out how to help you use the power there. And I could feel it too, prickling on my skin, even though I don't have my horn here."
"You have a horn in your world?" Ann looked confused. "But wait...your hair isn't a dye-job at all, is it? Does everyone in your world have such cool hair?"
Sunset blushed harder.
"In my world, I'm...not human. I'm a unicorn. I'd never even heard of a human before I came here. But yeah, this is my natural coloration, and we seem to come in a lot more colors than you do."
"So, wait, that horse you rode on in the metaverse..."
"Yeah, that's the kind of body shape I have, though I don't have wings."
"So what happened? Why are you human now?"
Sunset slumped.
"I have no idea. As for how I got here..." She filled them both in on her abbreviated tale, which still took some time. "I hope it's okay that I didn't tell you right away," she finished. "I wanted to get a feel for people before I told them, and then I was getting a feel for the world, and it seemed like it'd be unbelievable."
"Yeah, before today," Ann said. "Now...I believe you." She reached over and squeezed Sunset's hand, an unfamiliar but oddly comforting gesture. Akira just nodded.
"So, do you have any other ideas?"
"Well," Sunset said, "magic doesn't exactly make sense. That's what makes it magical. And just because I can sense the magic in the metaverse doesn't mean it's the same. It certainly isn't, actively shaping magic like that requires a specialized organ in my world, like a unicorn's horn. Instead it felt like we were invoking something about ourselves that in turn let us shape the magic in limited ways, which I've never heard of.
"But one thing that's usually true of magic is that it follows feelings, not rules. Maybe your feelings, maybe someone else's, maybe even its own, or feelings from something we can't even understand. But strong emotions can influence it, like friendship, or anger, or hate.
"So that's why I sort of understood that app jargon, like what it was looking for. It feels like the metaverse, or maybe just that part of it, is somehow connected to Kamoshida. That's why we had to look him up in the app, and why his thoughts about the school seem to influence it."
"And that's why he's king there, the creep!" Ann said.
"I don't think that was him," Akira said. "Did you see his eyes?"
"Yeah and he was incredibly magical, way more than any of us, even when we were channeling," Sunset said. "I think Akira's right. I think it was a fake, or a reflection, or something."
"So...what's the point, then?" Ann said. "Why is there an app to let us go there if none of it's real and it's dangerous? Or is it even dangerous? Could that weird guard really have killed Akira?"
Sunset shook her head.
"I don't know. Magic can certainly hurt or kill in my world, but if that's a parasitic world it works by its own rules, and we just don't know them. But we're still tired here, after exerting ourselves there, so it's not purely an illusion. How's your arm, Akira?"
Akira rolled up his sleeve, revealing a nasty bruise. "Not great," he admitted, "but I think it was broken there, and it just feels like a bruise now."
"I got hit pretty hard," Sunset said, "and I'm not really feeling that at all. So it seems like it was worse there than here, but that might not apply to death. And there are lots of ways to be not-dead that you still really wouldn't want."
They sat in silence for a moment, considering that, then Ann sat up a bit.
"Wait...not dead, but still bad...like...a mental shutdown?"
"I guess maybe?" Sunset said, but Akira had also perked up. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh right," Ann said, "you just got here. Look," she pulled something up on her phone and handed it to Sunset.
It was an article from the day before school started, April 10th. She'd been with Akechi's helpers that day, though he'd not been there himself. She was getting situated in her dorm, getting her uniform, and so forth. Apparently a train had gone off the rails when the driver suffered an unexplained mental shutdown going into a station, causing extensive injuries and several deaths, including the driver. She thought it over more.
"Sympathetic magic can be powerful, in my experience," she finally said. "If the metaverse contains reflections of real people, and those reflections are injured or killed..."
"Like a voodoo doll," Ann said.
"It's all just speculation," Sunset reminded them.
"Maybe Alibaba can help," Akira said. "But if it's a coincidence..." he shrugged rather than finishing, but Sunset could tell he didn't think it was likely.
"So, wait, if I'd burned that King Kamoshida up..." Ann said.
"The real Kamoshida might have burned," Sunset said. "Or maybe had a shutdown. But we don't know."
They sat in silence for a long time.
"I want to stop him," Ann said. "He's going to go too far. Maybe he already did with some other girl. But I don't know if I want to...kill him..." She paused and thought. "I might, if he did anything to Shiho. But it's a lot, you know?"
Akira nodded, and Sunset returned the hand-squeeze.
"If the metaverse is the source of the shutdowns, though," Akira said, "then maybe we aren't the only ones with this app."
"Should we go to the police? Or that politician of yours, Sunset?" Ann asked.
"I've had enough of the police," Akira said.
"I don't trust him," Sunset said. "Besides, we know nothing about how we got this app, or why. And...I think there's more going on here. Luna, the construct I used there...I saw her in a dream last night. That's how I knew to call out to her."
"I had a strange dream, too..." Akira said. "But I don't really remember it. There was a prison, and something about rehabilitation?"
"I slept like a baby," Ann shrugged. "But I'm glad you don't want to, anyway. It feels like this is on us. But...what can we even do?"
"We just don't know enough," Akira agreed.
"Maybe Alibaba will come through," Sunset said. As if on cue, her phone pinged, and the familiar image popped up.
I think I can get something for you. But it'll take time. Will message this time tomorrow.
She showed the message to the others.
"I want to go back," Ann said. "Or, I want to be able to, anyway. I don't know how bad things with Kamoshida will get, but if they get too bad..."
Sunset nodded. "It might be your only hope. If it comes to that, I want to help."
Akira waited a bit, then nodded.
"Besides," Sunset said, eager to lighten the mood, "Alibaba might turn up something better. Sympathetic magic can be very flexible. We might be able to use this King Kamoshida to get through to the real one, or to make him back off, in some non-lethal way. Friendship and harmony can have a magic all their own. I don't want to just experiment with it unless we don't have any other choice, so we should wait on Alibaba first."
"Right," Ann said. "But I don't want to just do nothing."
"My outfit had a sheath, right?" Sunset looked at Akira, who nodded. "Maybe we should get weapons, then. Using our powers is exhausting, it wouldn't hurt to have a backup. And we might be able to use them together, too. Can we buy swords?"
"Not legally," Akira said. "Unless you have a special permit. Maybe Ann could get one, but I doubt you or I could. And they're really expensive anyway."
"What about fakes?" Ann said. "If the metaverse is about how people think, would it matter if the sword was real?"
"Maybe not," Sunset said. "Worth a try, anyway. Where could we get something like that?"
"Shibuya, maybe? They've got a lot of shops," Ann said. "Want to go after school tomorrow?"
They agreed, and just as they did, Mr. Sakura returned.
"It's almost nine," he said, "don't you have a curfew, Sunset Shimmer?"
"Wow, thanks!" Sunset had totally missed how long they'd been talking. "I'll see you two tomorrow, then."
"Wait," Ann said, "let's exchange numbers so we can text."
They did, then Sunset hurried to her train.
Her fatigue fought with her desire to tell Hifumi about her incredible day, and even as she reached the door to their suite common room, she hadn't decided how much to tell the other girl before turning in. But for better or worse, the decision was out of her hands - Hifumi wasn't in.
She'd left a note, though.
Dear Sunset,
I was hoping to hear more about you tonight, but I just got good news! There's a shogi tournament this weekend I was on the waitlist for, and someone bowed out, so I get to play after all! I'm excited, but I need to be ready, so I'll be practicing in the evenings for the rest of the week. I'll catch up with you next week.
Hifumi
Sunset considered staying up and doing some studying, but after less than an hour her eyes were glazing over and she could barely stay awake. Her long experience of magical fatigue meant she knew better than to fight when it got to that point. She sent a quick text to Akira and Ann letting them know they shouldn't either, then turned in for the night.
Author's Note
I had a lot of trouble with Sunset's persona. Akira and Ann's are canonical and I was confident I would keep them, but I wanted Sunset to have one that hinted at her true nature, as well as tying in to the themes of rebellion. I also wanted to tie it more fully to rebellion against tyrants, being more directly political than the roguish outlaws the canonical thieves get. I also wanted her persona to be from roughly the same era - early modern to "high" modern (1500 - 1900 or so).
I started with the (undeservedly) lesser-known counterpart to Paul Revere, Sybil Ludington, due to her horseback antics. Sybil was a teenager who rode a similar route to Revere, warning the American colonists about British movements near Boston at the opening of the American Revolution.
In a later draft I decided to go with an even more obscure figure in the service of using an actual horse: Palomo. Palomo was Simon Bolivar's (primary) horse. Bolivar (1783 - 1830), also known as El Liberatador ("The Liberator") was one of the most widely-traveled and veteran commanders of all time, fighting over 450 battles and 79 major ones. He drove the Spanish from large parts of South America, freeing modern Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Panama. Like all military leaders of his time, he rode several horses, but all told covered almost 125,000 kilometres on horseback, thrice Napoleon's count, making Palomo a well-traveled steed.
Of course, both of these are deep cuts even for Persona. Bolivar is generally well known, but Bolivar's horse less so. And while Ludington might not deserve to be less well-known than Revere, she certainly is. I thought about Bucephalus, probably the best-known warhorse ever, but the fit wasn't great - Alexander both way predates the rest of the crew's personas, he wasn't much of a rebel, and all the canonical personas have a gender match with their users. (This was a reason I didn't want to use Paul Revere for Sunset. It seems reasonable that Equestrians might care a lot less about this than human teenagers, who are often legendarily gender-insecure, but if Sunset's perspective is all that relevant, that raises a question of why she gets an Earth-based persona at all.)
Fortunately it all sorted itself out when I realized that I wanted Sunset to have a bit more of an ongoing connection to home via a Velvet Room analogue, and I decided to just give her an Equestrian persona. I hope it also works for you!
This version of Shadow Kamoshida is slightly different from the version in the game, for those who haven't played. Canonical Shadow Kamoshida wears boxer shorts under his cape, but it's always struck me as a concession to censors, who always react strongly to visual depictions of male nudity. Luckily in text I can just be vague in my descriptions, and I think this version makes a stronger link to the classic "sex pest" concept of a coat and nothing else, which IMO strengthens the scene's impact.
Those who are P5 pedants (welcome, fellows) will note I deviated in some ways from P5 canon that aren't explained by the presence of a new character in the mix. (For example, there's no safe room in the dungeon section in normal P5.) The major departures are all for reasons that may or may not become clear, but I plan to continue to play fast and loose with minor variations like this as they are helpful to the plot, or just because I like them. (Ann's slightly different attitude towards her costume falls into the latter category, but I like to think her immediate reaction to it might have been colored by being with a bunch of dudes, something that's not true in this fic.)
Interlude: The First Night
Sunset was exhausted, but she desperately wanted to talk to Hifumi before she went to sleep, so she knocked on her suitemate's door immediately on getting back.
"It's open."
Hifumi was a slender girl with long, straight brown hair and bangs. Normally she wore two hair ties, making a dangling bundle of hair in front of each of her ears. Now, though, it was late enough that she was wearing something like the sleeping outfit Akechi's men had provided for Sunset, and her ties were on her bedside table. She herself was sitting on the bed with some kind of game board.
"Oh, I didn't mean to interrupt," Sunset said.
"You aren't," Hifumi said. "I'm just practicing moves. It's not very useful without an opponent, but I like to think about the game anyway."
"I see," Sunset said, though really she only did in broad terms. "I guess we didn't have much time to talk about our hobbies."
"It's not a hobby for me," Hifumi said, "I'm going to be a professional player."
"Sorry," Sunset said. "I didn't mean to imply--"
"I know you didn't mean anything by it. I just didn't want you to get the wrong idea. I try to keep balance in my life, but this is my passion."
Hifumi reminded Sunset of nothing so much as a pony talking about her cutie mark, though she already knew humans had no such things.
"I wish I knew how to play," Sunset said, "I'd love to help you."
"If you mean it, maybe I'll teach you," Hifumi gave her a small smile. "It's called shogi. But let's see how our schoolwork goes first. Sorry, I'm sure you had another reason for coming."
Sunset nodded. "Do you have a moment to talk? I don't mind if you play at the same time."
"Of course, go ahead."
"I was wondering, uh, how people feel about magic."
Hifumi turned from the game to stare at her.
"Magic? I assume you don't mean stage magic. Or the card game."
Sunset shook her head. "No, I mean a paraphysical or psychic connection to the aether allowing it to reflect a p-creature's nature or will."
Hifumi gave her a long look she couldn't quite interpret. "That's a very...precise definition, for something that doesn't exist. Every culture has stories about magic, but none of them really agree on what it is, other than things we don't understand. Sometimes people use it, sometimes gods or spirits or other supernatural creatures do. A lot of people have some superstitions - do you know the word?"
Sunset could, of course, parse it, because she was the beneficiary of actual magic. But she wasn't sure she understood it right in context. "Little luck magics?"
Hifumi gave her another odd look, but nodded. "That's an unusual way to put it, but it works. The idea that there are rituals you can do that make things more likely to break in your favor. Almost everyone has a few, even if they know they're ridiculous." She blushed. "I often eat katsu curry before an important match. I know it's silly, and shogi doesn't even have luck like a card game. But it makes me feel better."
"And some people believe in God or gods or other supernatural religious entities, and think they intervene in the world to help believers. But these days what we mean by magic is powers people can use that we don't understand, and belief in that is almost unheard of here in Japan. We have a lot of ways to look for it, and no one can find much evidence at all, let alone anything strong and convincing. It's the same with strange creatures like lake monsters. We all have cameras all the time, on our phones, and lots of governments have done studies. If there's magic around, it's subtle. Personally, I think if there is a God, He's decided we're grown up, and left us with a universe we can solve."
Sunset knew she'd be unpacking that for a long time, but still considered for a little while. The snap of the pieces hitting the shogi board was oddly comforting, and each one made her feel like she'd bracketed a thought. If nothing else, it seemed like her friends had the same view of magic Hifumi did - that it was a myth.
"So the phones are, what, machines? You just solved the universe enough to make them work?"
"That's right."
"Then why are they so quiet? And how do they get energy?"
Hifumi finally looked up from her board.
"I don't want to be rude," she said, and Sunset's blood froze, worried she'd somehow given up the game, "I know you really have memory problems, and I'm sympathetic. But it's fascinating too, because it seems like you have some idea of what a machine should be, and it's at least a century out of date."
Sunset nearly dropped her bag. Hifumi had caught her red-handed. Between her long, eventful day and sleepless night, it was getting harder and harder to keep her secrets. Her brain raced trying to figure out what she'd do when Hifumi called her out fully.
But instead, she just laughed, and snapped another shogi piece into place.
"I think it must be all this talk of magic. The human mind is a kind of magic, I think, to do such amazing things, even when it goes wrong. But sorry for rubbing it in. I don't really know how cell phones work, though. They're really complicated. They run on electricity, which they store in batteries and get from the electrical grid. That's why you have to plug them in. You could probably look it up on the computer if you're interested. It's complicated, but if you get good at it you can build your own electronics. Some people do it as a hobby."
Sunset had tuned out the second half of what Hifumi said, after it was obvious she wasn't going to call Sunset out. And of course, that made sense - she'd just been describing how the idea that Sunset was a magical alien was completely beyond belief.
But with that relief she also felt an unexpected disappointment. Sunset was, of course, a practiced liar. She'd spent years, after all, plotting revolution against the immortal monarch who personally instructed her. What she was finding now, though, was that it was different lying to someone you hoped to befriend, and even harder to maintain lies of this complexity while also trying to learn how to deal with an alien society. On some level, she'd hoped Hifumi would figure it out, so that she could come clean.
And with that realization came the temptation to just do it anyway. After all, she was pretty sure the app was going to do something supernatural the next day, and if it did, she planned to come clean to Akira and Ann. She didn't have the same kind of bond of adversity with Hifumi; as far as she knew, there was no tyrant at the heart of Hifumi's life. But they would be living together, or at least in close proximity, and Hifumi had already been so kind and helpful. She didn't want to feel like she was keeping secrets. But how should she best raise the topic?
She must have thought too long, because the predictable clank of Hifumi's moves stopped, and Sunset looked up to find the other girl staring at her.
"Too much information?"
Sunset shook her head.
"No, I...want to tell you something, but it's hard to find the words."
Hifumi nodded and blushed slightly. "Okay. Take your time." The clacking resumed.
This response only solidified Sunset's resolve. Finally, she decided to go with a basic technique - give Hifumi an out if she needed it. It wasn't even an unreasonable out. If she couldn't feel the tingle of magic every time she brought up the mysterious phone app, she might have been only a few weeks from doubting herself.
"You're right about the brain," she said, and Hifumi stopped again to look up at her. "And maybe it's just all in my mind. I didn't want to tell you, because I didn't have a good feel for things, and I didn't know if you'd believe me. I'm not sure I can believe myself. But I don't really think I have amnesia."
Hifumi's hands were folded in her lap now, and Sunset seemed to have her full attention. She had a twinge of her old paranoia, and felt compelled to probe a little, hoping that the human-reading ability she'd been growing more confident in over the course of the day would serve her well.
"Sorry, but I just have to ask first, you don't know Akechi, right?"
"You mean, will I tell him what you tell me?" Hifumi cocked her head. "Interesting. No. I don't and I won't. He has some relationship with the school, I think, to get you in here so quickly, but this was just an open room appropriate for a girl." She chuckled. "I think if anything he expected you not to see much of me. I spend a lot of time practicing off-campus."
Sunset's instincts were telling her this was the truth. It was the best she could do. She took a deep breath.
"Okay. Sorry for asking, I just wanted to be sure. You had it right when you noticed the thing about machines." She gathered herself again, and Hifumi waited patiently but intently.
"Akechi didn't tell you, which is one reason I don't trust him, but he found me at midnight in Shibuya station, and couldn't figure out how I got there. The truth is, I come from another world..."
Sunset proceeded to fill Hifumi on on her background as Celestia's student, her original form as a unicorn, her failed revolution, and her flight through the mirror. She summarized heavily, but didn't hold anything back.
Hifumi took her own long silence, but it didn't seem an unkind one. Finally she nodded.
"It's hard to believe," she said. "I don't know that I exactly do believe it. Not because I think you're lying! I know you're telling me your true memories. Just, I have to consider you might have a different kind of messed up memory."
Sunset nodded. She'd left that option intentionally, after all.
"But I want to believe you. I had a cryptid phase in middle school. I may not believe the world is a magical place, but I'd like to believe some worlds are, and that we could visit someday. Of course, you're not a unicorn here. So sadly, it probably doesn't matter if it's true. I don't see how you can get back, and you don't know any more about this world than you would if you had no memory at all. Less, really, since you've got all these false assumptions."
Sunset nodded. "And I don't know why I'd want to go back. I can't fight Celestia, and she's not going anywhere. I'd hoped to tune the portal to people who could help me, but with the friends I made today, it seems more like it found people who need my help. And that's okay! I'd like to go back someday and bring justice to Equestria, but she's ruled there for thousands of years, and this world matters too. If it takes a long time to find my way back, maybe that won't be so bad. Anyway, thanks for taking me seriously."
Hifumi nodded.
"Thank you for trusting me. It's a big thing to share with someone, even if there's not much practical effect. I assume you'd like me to keep it a secret?"
"Please. I might tell a few classmates tomorrow, depending on how things go. But I don't want everyone to know. Especially because of what you said about people trying to find magic. I don't want people studying me, and now that I'm thinking about what happened when I first got here, I think Akechi and his crew might be the types to try."
Hifumi nodded again, then met her eyes and, finally, gave a smile. It was a little thing, and seemed intensely private. But it was no less pleasing for it, maybe more, and Sunset found she couldn't help but return it.
"Can I make my own embarrassing confession?" Hifumi looked down, but her smile remained.
"Of course."
"I know we just recently met, but I don't have any friends. You wouldn't know, of course, but I'm what we call a 'D-list' celebrity. My shogi skills aren't where I want them to be, but they're unusual for a player of my age and especially for a young female player. And some people seem to think I'm attractive, which sadly means a lot here. They call me the 'Venus of Shogi.' I hate the title, but even more, I hate that people get close to me because of it. It makes it hard to trust their motives, and I've been hurt before. So even though I sympathized with your memory loss, I was sort of relieved to have a suitemate with no idea who I am. That you asked me for my thoughts, valued them, and chose to trust me with your secret...it means a lot to me." She giggled, and Sunset found herself blushing. "Especially since I can't imagine I look very pretty to a unicorn. I feel like you know me as me, and like me anyway."
Sunset thought about Hifumi's secret little smile, and wasn't so sure about the beauty angle. But she wasn't anywhere near ready to unpack that one, so she let it lie.
"I'm really lucky you're the one who had an open room. I'd never even have made it to school on time," she said instead. "Would you mind if I gave you a hug?"
"Please do."
Hifumi was shorter than Sunset, like most Japanese women seemed to be, and was already sitting hunched on the bed, so Sunset wrapped her gently in her arms, savoring again the close contact she'd taken for granted as a pony. Hifumi turned into her, resting her head on her shoulder, and sighed.
Eventually, Sunset's fatigue overcame her, and she shifted.
"Sorry," she said, "this is nice, but I didn't sleep at all last night. I need to go to bed."
"Oh, of course," Hifumi's faint blush was back. "Can I ask you a favor first?"
Sunset nodded.
"I want to get to know you better. When you have time at night, will you come by and tell me about your world?"
Sunset hugged tighter, and felt a matching tightness in her chest.
"Of course. Thanks for asking." She chuckled. "Besides, it seems only fair, you've been telling me about yours. Maybe you can teach me shogi while we talk." At that, Hifumi hugged her closer and nodded.
She stayed a little longer, then finally let her fatigue win, bid Hifumi goodnight, and headed back to her own room. Her heart felt light, and the hug still lingered. She fell into sleep nearly as soon as she hit the pillow.
For the first time since arriving, or the first time she remembered, Sunset dreamed.
At first she wasn't sure that was what it was. She felt lucid, remembered falling into bed, even. And something felt so right that it took her a moment to realize it was that she was in her real body, her hooves firm beneath her, her horn tingling with ambient magic.
But, in the way of dreams, she became aware of her surroundings, and her breath caught. Under her hooves was black marble, reflecting the light of countless clear stars. But the light on her coat was strong, nearly as strong as daylight. She looked up and the sun shone brightly in a black sky, and opposite it, suspended among the stars, she recognized the shape of Equestria and its surrounding continent. She glanced to the horizon and saw only grey rock, shining in the sunlight. She looked the other way and saw she stood on a structure, a massive slab of black marble, surrounded by four pillars. From each of the pillars stretched a chain, and they were bound firmly around the barrel of an apparently sleeping pony.
Her face and body shape made Sunset read her as a mare, though she was larger than most stallions, nearly as large as Celestia, though lacking the tyrant's unusually willowy proportions. And, like Celestia, she had both wings and horn. Even sleeping, the power radiating off her made Sunset's horn and coat tingle, but she stepped forward, and the other pony stirred, then rose.
"Hello, Sunset Shimmer," she said quietly, and Sunset stopped.
"You know me?"
"I know every pony, but few remember meeting me. Only in dreams can I aid you now."
"Why are you bound here? Is it that tyrant's fault?"
"We do not have time for exposition, Sunset. Find me again, when I do not need to bridge worlds to speak to you. Now, please approach. I have a gift."
Sunset hesitated.
"Please."
It was so humbly said, so plaintive, that Sunset couldn't believe it hid ill-intent. She stepped forward, her hoofbeats echoing on the dark stone, until she was close enough to touch. The dark pony leaned towards her, pressing her horn lightly between her eyes, and she felt an outline of power around them, like a blindfold, though there was no observable effect.
"My power can no longer stand the light of day," she said, "but I believe you will soon find yourself in a half-light realm. When things look hopeless, call my name, and my aid will find you. Now go. The link fades, and unfriendly eyes seek us."
The dream grew misty around the edges, the once breathtaking view already dimming.
"Wait," Sunset cried out to the vanishing mare, "what is your name?"
"Luna."
The name echoed in her ears as she awoke. A sliver of moon hung in her window, and she stared at it until sleep took her again.
