“PONY FEATHERS!” Celestia cursed, shooting a blast from her horn and slicing clean through the tree, sending it down with a crunch of broken branches and rustling leaves. “We had him RIGHT in front of us and we let him get away!”

“We can deal with him later!” Wayfarer shouted, getting up from the ground and rushing to Celestia’s side. “Right now we have to get into the castle and get Pinkie Pie out!”

Celestia paused, stifling her heavy breathing, and inhaled deeply as her posture abandoned her aggressive stance. “You’re right. Save Pinkie, THEN kill that no good son of a diamond dog!” Celestia’s horn flashed suddenly and immediately they found themselves outside of the castle. The guards’ heads snapped up in surprise as they went for their spears before realizing who had just appeared.

“Princess Celestia!” One of the guards shouted, coming to full attention.

“We need to get through.” Celestia told them. The guard nodded and quickly turned to yell at the guards on the wall before Celestia waved dismissively at him. “Don’t bother with the gate, we’re going over.”

“O-over?” Wayfarer said before he was suddenly hoisted into the air by Celestia’s magic while she flapped her wings down once, shooting the two up and over the wall, passing right through the dome. Celestia landed gracefully in the grass as Wayfarer stumbled slightly when she let her magic go a moment too soon. “Warn me next time you do that!”

The two galloped into the castle, almost tearing the doors off their hinges, then made their way into the cellar. The silence that permeated the room filled with rows of empty wine racks almost seemed to try and worm its way into their skulls as they made their way to the back and looked into the blackness of the Crevass’s depths.

“PERSONA!” Celestia shouted as she leapt into the crack in the earth. Gnowee appeared over her and began shining light from her staff all around them.

Wayfarer followed right behind her, landing on the cold floor of the labyrinth just as Celestia was running off. “Hey wait a minute!” He shouted. “Consarn it, PERSONA!” Ekchuah appeared as Wayfarer rushed to shorten the space between him and Celestia. “Let me take point!” he yelled. Celestia growled at this, but slowed her pace to let Wayfarer catch up. “How far down is she?” Wayfarer asked.

“... 30 floors.” Celestia said simply.

“What?! Celestia stop!” The two halted in the middle of the distorted hallway. Celestia looked down at Wayfarer with some degree of irritation. “30 floors?! We can’t go that far on our own!”

“Of course we can!” Celestia declared. “We have to!”

“Getting ourselves killed isn’t going to help Pinkie Pie!” Wayfarer pointed out. “We need Twilight! Tartarus, even with her we might not make it!”

“You don’t know that,” she said.

“I’m not dense!” Wayfarer yelled, stomping a hoof to the floor. “I noticed that the Shadows got stronger the farther down we go last time we were in here. How am I supposed to take them down by myself?”

“You’re not by yourself! You’ve got me!”

“Yes, I do. But your Persona isn’t capable of launching an offensive, is she?”

“...no, Gnowee’s power is strictly analysis of creatures and landscapes.”

“Meaning you’d be almost useless when the fighting starts.”

Celestia seemed to shake with anger as the direness of their situation truly hit her. “Then what do you propose we do? We can’t wait for Twilight because Pinkie will be dead by then!”

“We don’t know that!”

“We don’t know anything!” Celestia shot back, then her eyes got wide and fearful. “I… I don’t know what I’m supposed to do… Oh godess this is worse than the last time. At least back then there were others I could depend on, but here? I just… don’t know…”

Wayfarer sighed and shook his head “Let’s just calm down and think…” he said. Slowly he began to pace back and forth, wracking his brain for some solution. They needed help, but Twilight was probably at Canterlot by now. Discord still didn’t have a Persona, so he was almost as useless in this situation. They needed answers, and Wayfarer couldn’t think of anywhere they could get them. Except... “Help.” Wayfarer whispered as desperation and despair started to close in. “Somepony help us.”

“Is there anyway I might be able to assist you?” Came a voice from behind them. They spun around to see where the voice had came from, Ekchuah brandishing his spear and pointing it down at the perpetrator. The spear ended up aimed right between the eyes of a very relaxed looking pony with red hair, wearing a blue suit and hat with a smug smile on his face.

“Who- What?!” Celestia sputtered. “How did you… WHO ARE YOU?!”

“Just a simple servant my lady. And bound by a contract with young Sir Wayfarer here, I am here to give him whatever help I can give him.” Wayfarer’s jaw dropped as he finally recognized the blue suit as the same one the brother and sister in the Velvet Room wore.

“AGERO?!” Wayfarer said in disbelief.

“At your service.” Agero said. “We told you we’d give our help if you just asked.”

“You two know each other?” Celestia asked, her gaze flicking between the two stallions. Eventually she sighed in frustration and started to walk off. “By my Grandmother’s Reign, this is becoming too much.”

“Is this a bad time?” Agero asked with genuine concern.

“No!” Wayfarer shouted. “I mean, no, we really do need your help right now! Our friend is trapped somewhere beneath us and we need to get her out, can you help?”

“...ehh… help get her out?” Agero asked. “No, that’s not within my power to do so.” Wayfarer groaned in irritation as well. “What I CAN do is tell you that the pony known as Pinkamena Diane Pie is not in immediate danger.”

“Not in immediate danger?” Celestia growled, spinning around and marching right in front of Agero, bending down her neck so she could look him dead in the eye. “She’s about to be fed to a fifteen hundred year old monster and you tell us she’s not in ‘immediate danger’?!”

“Well she isn’t.” Agero said simply. “She’s currently unconscious on the thirtieth floor down, and in her comatose state she’s completely invisible to the Shadows.”

“And how do you know that?” Celestia demanded.

“Because I exist between the realms of consciousness and unconsciousness. My master won’t shut up about the intricacies of the mind and how it affects the world around it. Pinkie’s mind is at an almost complete black out, she might as well be a corpse to the Shadows at this point. They’ll only start to converge on her once she awakens, which if my calculations are correct, she will do so on the night of June the First. You have until then to get to her.”

Wayfarer and Celestia stared at Agero for a moment, then looked to each other.

“June first. That’s a week from today.” Wayfarer said. “We have time to work our way down.”

“That’s if this friend of yours is telling the truth.” Celestia said, tossing a glance at Agero

“I cannot tell a lie to a guest of the Velvet Room.” Agero said.

“I’m not questioning your own truthfulness,” Celestia said. “I’m questioning whether or not what you believe to be the truth is actually the truth.”

“Ahh Princess, surely you should know by now that the truth isn’t always the same from one person to the next? Yes, what I say IS what I believe to be the truth, only because this is what my master has said, and as cryptic as he sometimes is, he’s never been wrong. ”

“And if your master is wrong?”

“If he’s wrong, then Miss Pie will be lost.” Agero said. “But he’s never wrong.” Celestia sighed and looked once more to Wayfarer.

“You’re right.” She said. “As we are right now it would be next to impossible to save Pinkie. Twilight would help us even the odds in our favour, but how can we be sure that Pinkie will last that long? Should we trust that she will?”

Wayfarer hesitated, doubt filling every fiber of his being.

“This is your decision then Wayfarer.” Agero said “Just remember, you are obligated to accept responsibility for all of your actions and decisions. So what will it be?” Wayfarer looked at Agero and his confident face. The contract bound the denizens of the Velvet Room to help him in any way they could. He didn’t know why, but he knew that they would uphold that agreement and wouldn’t steer him or his friends wrong. Wayfarer inhaled deeply, his decision made.

“I trust your judgement Agero. We can wait until Twilight returns.”

“Good, I’ll have my sister deliver a message to her immediately. Until next time Wayfarer.”

“Wait a minute.” Celestia said stepping forward. “I want to see this ‘Velvet Room’ with my own eyes, take me there.”

Agero smiled as he began to fade away into the darkness, his voice echoing as if being spoken from a distance. “Maybe one day Celestia. You seem like you’d make an interesting guest.”

“Oh this is going to marvelous!” Rarity swooned as she looked out the window. Canterlot had just come into view, and she, Twilight and Fluttershy were bouncing up and down in anticipation. Then the sound of squeaking wheels interrupted their giddiness. The train began to slow down and the chairs began to shift backwards and forwards.

“What’s going on?” Fluttershy asked, looking about in confusion.

“Oh we can’t possibly make an emergency stop NOW!” Rarity cried. “We won’t make it to the show on time!”

“Calm down Rarity.” Twilight said, getting up from her seat. “I’m sure it’s nothing.” Rarity pursed her lips and stared out the window as their destination stopped getting closer. Then she slowly turned her head back to Twilight.

“Say, Twilight?” She said. “Do you think you could send a letter to the Princess and ask her to send assistance?”

“Do you see Spike around anywhere?” Twilight said, rolling her eyes.

“Does SHE need a magical dragon to send you letters?” Rarity asked, rolling her eyes back.

“Well… no,” Twilight said, blushing in embarrassment. “But she hasn’t taught me that spell yet. And I really haven’t had a reason to learn it yet.”

“Well you certainly have a reason to know it now!”

“Okay! I’m sorry! I’ll ask Celestia about it when we get back to Ponyville.”

Rarity raised an eye at that. “You mean when we get to Canterlot, right?”

Twilight’s eyes dilated for a half second before she answered. “...yes.” Rarity and Fluttershy looked at their friend with confusion, Rarity going so far as to scrutinize Twilight’s expression for the faintest trace of something amiss. “I’m going to go talk to the conductor.” Twilight said quickly as the train finally came to a halt. “You two stay here I’ll be right back.” The other two shrugged and nodded as Twilight made her way to the door to the next car. Passing through, she was recognized by several ponies who started asking her what was happening.

“I’m going to go talk to the conductor.” She said over and over again. “Please remain calm.” Eventually she made it to the front of the train and entered the engineer’s cabin. A single earth pony mare with deep red hair wearing a blue uniform was staring out the window and past the front of the engine

“Excuse me miss?” Twilight said. “Why has the train stopped?”

“My apologies Princess.” The Mare said without even looking at Twilight. “But we’ve run into a bit of a road block.” The mare stepped back from the window and let Twilight take a look. They were traveling along the side of a cliff face, and a little ways in front of them was what looked like a chunk of earth and trees that had been cut from the top of the cliff and dropped right in front of them.

“Oh, I think I can help with that.” Twilight said with a sigh of relief as she went to open the door. The other mare stopped her with a hoof on her shoulder however.

“I wouldn’t go out there just yet Princess,” the mare said. Twilight turned to look at the pony, finally noticing her eyes which were as yellow and had the same pinprick pupils as her shadow self. Twilight’s own eyes grew wide at this.

“Who… are you?” Twilight asked softly.

“That’s not important right now. Just know that I’m here to assist you, as per the request of Wayfarer.”

“You know Wayfarer? I… I don’t understand. What do you mean he requested you to assist me?”

“Well the original intention was for me to tell you that your friend Pinkamena Diane Pie has been kidnapped, is being held beneath the castle in Ponyville, and will be devoured by shadows in approximately seven days.”

“Oh… wait WHAT?!”

“Now however I am here to make sure you and your friends get to Canterlot in time for your show. I’m sure you three will have a lovely time.”

“But… Pinkie… YOU HAVE TO TAKE US BACK!”

“And have you miss one of the best musicals of the last few years? Certainly you jest.”

“I don’t care about the musical! You just said one of my best friends is in danger!”

“I also said she had seven days until said danger is actually a threat to her. Trust me when I say that, at the moment, Miss Pie is perfectly all right. Now about this landslide…”

The blue suited mare stopped talking as a glowing purple horn started pointing at her face. The owner of said horn looking ready to tear the train in half.

“Who. Are. You.” Twilight said as she pushed more magic into her horn.

“Ughhh, fine, if it’s THAT important to you. My name is Agatha, Denzine of the Velvet Room and keeper of The Compendium. I’m currently in a contract with your friend Wayfarer, and therefore duty bound to assist him in his journey so long as he accepts responsibility for his actions. Is that an adequate summation of who I am?”

“No, because half that I didn’t even… wait, did you say Velvet Room?”

“Yes, that is where I am from.”

“He… he mentioned the Velvet Room before…”

“Yes, I’d be surprised if he didn’t. I mean why would he keep the most powerful resource available to him and his companions a secret? That would be rather counter productive.”

“But… I… ugghhh! What am I doing! I have to get back to Ponyville!”

“Miss Sparkle please, I am telling you there is no rush. Pinkamena will still be among the living after your show is over. If you really MUST rush to save her, you may do so after you and your friends have seen Volante Frost sing about how bright her future is. I’m sure they’d be VERY disappointed if you just decided to leave them here and go home.”

“They won’t if I tell them Pinkie’s in trouble.” Twilight growled, heading for the door back to the passenger cars. “Don’t know why I let Celestia tell me not to tell them.”

“She told you not to tell them,” Agatha said “Because they would insist they come with you.”

Twilight froze at the door, hoof hovering just above the handle.

“I admire your loyalty to your friends and their loyalty to you. But that exact loyalty will spell doom for them if you let them in on what exactly is going on. You know they have no protection from the Shadows, they WILL die if they follow you.”

Twilight dropped her hoof to the floor, then dropped her head to the door. She closed her eyes as tears began to leak from them. She was stuck and she knew it.

“You promise Pinkie will be alright?” She mumbled.

“By my master’s incredibly long nose, I swear it.”

Twilight took in a deep breath and lifted her head. She wiped away the tears as she turned back around to face Agatha, who was smiling in a very comforting way.

“Alright.” Twilight sighed. “But we’ve still got that landslide to deal with. I’m sure I can lift it all away if I could get closer.”

“And I’m sure you could.” Agatha said, walking back to the window. “But that’s not a natural shift of earth and trees Miss Sparkle. Someone caused it with the intention of blocking the tracks.”

“Why?”

“Probably to lure you out.”

“Lure me… why me?”

“Umm, maybe because you’re a Princess?”

“...Oh, right.”

“Still, If it was a group of ponies, they probably would have attacked the train by now. Which means it’s more than likely just one pony waiting to ambush you.”

“How would they know I’d be the one to go out?”

“They must know you, about how helpful you try to be to your fellow ponies. They’re probably hiding in the rubble, waiting for you to come out by yourself and then take you by surprise.”

“Hmm… then why don’t you come with me?”

“I can’t do that! Someone has to stay at the control of the train!”

“The train isn’t going anywhere.”

“Maybe so but this is my post, I can’t just leave it!”

Twilight gave a very annoyed stare at Agatha and briefly wondered if pulling her Princess title would do anything. Somehow she doubted it and just snorted at her, walking to the door out of the train and pulling the handle.

“Princess please.” Agatha started.

“Don’t worry.” Twilight said as the door slid open. “I’ve got a detection spell for this sort of thing. Thank you for warning me, that’s all the help I’ll need.”

Twilight hopped down from the train, the gravel crunching beneath her hooves. She looked around her, then casted the motion tracking spell. She then became acutely aware of a pony pacing in the passenger car, telling her that the spell was indeed functional. Slowly and carefully she began to make her way towards the large amount of loose ground and foliage that had piled up in front of the train. Every few steps she stopped and looked all around her, until she was standing directly in front of their obstacle. Breathing deeply, she reached for more magic and started surrounding as much debris as she could in her mystical aura, trying to shift it up and away from the tracks. After almost a minute though, the tracking spell started to warn her about something approaching from the right very quickly. Immediately she halted all of her magic and ducked, just in time to feel something fly over her, grazing her wings. The sound of more gravel being displaced told her that whatever just attacked her had landed, so she lept up and spun to get her assailant into view.

“I’m impressed Twilight Sparkle.” The dark turquoise pegasus said in a holier than thou sort of voice. “Or should I call you Princess Twilight Sparkle now. Not that you deserve it though, you’re HARDLY what I’d call ‘Princess’ material.”

Twilight continued to glare at this pegasus, something about her feeling off, and not just the fact that she attacked her.

“Who are you?” Twilight demanded “Are you the one Wayfarer said was looking for me?”

“I don’t know who this ‘Wayfarer’ is, but yes. I’ve been SO anxious to meet you again Twilight Sparkle. Now be a dear and stand still.” The rouge pegasus smiled and revealed a pair of sharp fangs glistening with a toxic looking substance. “My venom needs to be injected in a specific vein in order to effectively paralyse you.”

The pegasus once again lept at Twilight, who instinctively shot a bolt of magic at her to try and send her flying. But the bolt never found its mark and instead rebounded off a fiery green barrier that briefly appeared in front of this fanged fiend. In surprise, Twilight hesitated too long and was sent onto her back as her attacker made contact. Twilight felt hooves against her chest and looked up just in time to see a demonic set of teeth plunge toward her neck.

“Get away from her you Ruffian!” came a shout as a powder blue bolt of magic blasted the Pegasus off of Twilight, saving her from being injected with whatever foul concoction was laced into those fangs.

“Rarity!” Twilight coughed as the fashionista rushed to her friend’s side.

“Twilight darling are you alright?”

“I’m fine! just get away from her! It’s me she wants!”

“Well than she’ll have to go through me and Fluttershy. Though I doubt we’d have to provide such a challenge for her, as she seems to be in retreat.”

Twilight, now getting to her hooves, looked up to see Rarity pointing to a rapidly shrinking dot approaching the horizon. She then felt a pair of hooves quickly running over her neck as her vision was filled with a very distraught looking Fluttershy.

“She didn’t get you did she?” Fluttershy panicked. “I didn’t think vampire ponies were real! Oh that was the most horrible thing I’d ever seen!” Once she was sure Twilight didn’t have bite marks, she pulled her into a tight embrace. “I thought I lost you!”

“Fluttershy, I’m alright!” Twilight gasped “But I won’t be if you continue cutting off my air flow!”

“O-oh sorry.” Fluttershy said as she released Twilight.

“What in the name of Equestria was THAT all about?” Rarity said, scowling in the direction the attacker had fled.

“She… She said she met me before.” Twilight said.

“I’d hoped you wouldn’t keep such horrid company as that Twilight.”

“That’s just it! I’ve never seen her before in my life!” Twilight racked her brain for a memory of anypony she might have met like that pegasus, but none came to mind. But those fangs and that horrible smile DID remind her of something. “I think… I think that might have been a Changeling.”

“Good gracious!” Rarity said, lifting a hoof to her mouth.

“B-but that means,” Fluttershy mumbled as she started to shake. “It might have been one of her’s!”

“Yeah… HER’S.” Twilight said. “The Changeling Queen’s!”

“You know I don’t believe we ever got that horrible witch’s name.” Rarity said. “She loved talking so much I’m surprised she didn’t mention it.”

“Not like it matters,” Twilight huffed, moving back in front of the pile of earth and wood. “She doesn’t deserve any name other than ‘Witch’ after what she did. Now come on,” She looked behind her to her friend’s smiling confidently at them. “We’ve got a Musical to see!”

Twilight, now filled with adrenaline, made quick work of the rest of landslide. The three walked back to the train and got onto the engine.

“Alright Agatha! We’re ready to go!”

“Agatha?” said a burly stallion in a blue and white striped shirt at the controls. “Who’s that?”

Twilight froze, then looked all around the compartment in surprise. “Where’d she go? She said she couldn’t leave her post.”

“Who Twilight?” Fluttershy asked.

“Agatha! She said she was the conductor.”

“Uhh, nope.” said the very confused looking stallion. “That’d be me your majesty.”

“But she was here when I came up from the passenger cars!”

“Your Majesty, I was the only one up here.” The stallion was now looking very worried now. “I told you about the landslide and you went out to go and clear it. Then your two friends rushed in and out the side door.”

“Darling are you sure that brute didn’t hurt you?” Rarity asked.

“I’m fine! Look, there was a mare here when I came up, she was wearing a blue suit and hat!”

“Blue suit and hat?” Rarity said, looking to Fluttershy, who looked back at her, before both looked back to Twilight. “Did she also have bright red hair and yellow eyes?”

“Yes! You saw her?”

“Well, yes. She came into our passenger car and said you needed our help and told us to get to the front of the train as fast as we could.”

“But… but that’s… not possible!”

“Uhmm, miss?” the Conductor said. “Thank you for clearing the debris, we can get back under way now. Maybe you should go back with your friends and lie down for a bit.”

“I… yes, I guess I will do that.”

Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy made their way back to their car as the train once more came to life and began chugging forward to Canterlot. Twilight stared at the floor the whole way back, completely lost in thought. When they got back to their seats, she looked around, hoping to see Agatha somewhere around, but there was no sign of her.

“When we get back to Ponyville,” Twilight thought “Wayfarer’s going to have a lot of explaining to do.”

“Say it.”

“No.”

“SAY IT!”

“GET OUT OF MY MANE YOU PEST!”

“I’m not leaving you alone till you admit you screwed up!”

“Petulant child, if you recall we BOTH screwed up! YOU put them on their guard, and I failed to be aware of my surroundings! I’d say yours was the bigger botching of a mission!”

“At least I got my sacrifice into the castle before they realized what was going on!”

The two hooded figures continued to bicker to one another as they trudged through the forest. Night was only just beginning but with how dark it was it might as well have been midnight on the darkside of the moon. Their hoods were down, but both wore masks. The taller one wore the mask of the emperor, still damaged from his run in with Celestia. The shorter was wearing a rosy coloured mask with gold trim in the general shape of a heart, with an expression of despair that contradicted the changeling’s giddy demeanor.

“So Emperor,” she sneared “How are you going to explain this to Judgement and the others? Your wife already thinks you're to blame for my less than stellar results, what do you think she’ll say when she hears about you ruining your own plans?”

“She won’t say anything.” The Emperor said. “She’ll just bludgeon me to near death.”

“And I’ll be there to make you feel all better, right?”

“Humph.”

The two continued to walk until they entered a small clearing. At first glance, and probably at a few glances there after, it looked no different from the half dozen other clearings that they’d passed through already. The Emperor walked over to a tree and pulled down several branches in a seemingly random order, until the ground began to shift and the grass lifted up a few feet away from them, revealing a staircase down into the darkness.

“After you.”

The stairway took them deep into the earth, their way lit by black fire torches that lit up when they drew near. After about five minutes they entered into a long hallway with large ornate doors on either side. Each door was marked with a picture of a mask like the ones they were wearing and a roman numeral. Odds on the left, evens on the right, and increasing as they went further down the hall. At the end there was one last door, bigger than the others and marked with a Roman Numeral Twenty one. In front of the door was another figure in a cloak, facing away from the two and pouring over a very thick leatherbound book.

“You two have certainly made a mess of things.” The figure said.

“Apologies Judgement.” Emperor said. “We’ve just had a string of bad luck is all. Celestia still remains as prudent as ever when it comes to the safety of her subjects.”

“And you are just as egotistical and heavy hoofed as ever. I am dissatisfied by your efforts, both of you are relieved of duty until further notice.”

“Hmph, very well than.”

‘Judgement’ turned another page, remaining silent for a time before speaking again. “This pursuit of ours requires tact and cunning, something I mistakenly believed the two of you had. As such, ‘Death’ and ‘Moon’ will take your place.”

“What?!” Emperor said indignantly. “Those two don’t even have physical forms anymore!”

“Exactly why they are such perfect agents for this task. And I believe they deserve a chance to shine given recent events.”

Emperor grumbled, turning away and heading for a room back towards the entrance.

“Empusa.” Judgement said to the cloaked changeling as she too turned to leave.

“So rare to hear that name nowadays.” Empusa said. “What’s the occasion?”

“As you are no doubt aware, Queen Chrysalis is becoming active once more.”

“So soon after her dismal failure. I’m surprised my kin are even still around.”

“What will you do?”

Empusa remained silent for a while, then she turned to face Judgement, lifting up her mask as she did so to reveal two mismatched eyes, one fushia, the other turquoise, both widened with barely repressed glee.

“I will lead the swarm back down the right path to glory, and I will insure that she is punished for her crimes… if, of course, that pleases you.”

“It does. Empusa of the Lovers Arcana, return to your kin with my blessing, and the blessing of Miseria.”

Empusa bowed low to Judgement and turned to leave back up the staircase. Judgement, whose attention was still on the book, turned another page to reveal an illustration of a many faced monstrosity.

“...the Arcana is the means by which all is revealed.” Judgement whispered with a smile.

Twilight entered her home after waving good bye to both Fluttershy and Rarity, who both walked away humming one of the songs from the Musical. Wayfarer and Celestia were sitting next to the fire, and looked up at Twilight when she entered with somber faces. She looked at both of them and sighed before sitting down between them.

“What happened?”

Wayfarer and Celestia brought her up to speed, from the moment she left to now. Twilight remained silent through the whole thing, but glanced at Wayfarer several times before attempting to avoid eye contact with him. When they were finished, she told them about what had happened on her way to Canterlot.

“So that door you mentioned seeing.” Twilight said after their summary came to a close. “That was real?”

“Yeah, but apparently only I can see it.” Wayfarer confirmed

Twilight nodded. “Agatha called you a guest, and you signed some sort of Contract?”

“It was something about accepting responsibility for my choices. I didn’t really understand it, but it seemed simple enough.”

“Contracts rarely are so simple Wayfarer.” Celestia said. “I want to see this deal you signed with my own two eyes.”

“Admittedly I thought I was dreaming when I first entered the Velvet Room, and the next few times there after. I didn’t start thinking it was real until I managed to summon a second Persona.”

“Perhaps they are the reason you are capable of doing so.”

“That’d be my guess, but the head guy, Igor I think he’s called, is just as cryptic as Agero said.”

All three of them remained silent for a while, until twilight inhaled deeply and brought up their biggest concern at the moment.

“Well now that I’m back, we should go get Pinkie Pie out. I don’t care if she DOES have a week before she’s in any real danger, I want to get her out now.”

“No.” Wayfarer said simply. “I’m sorry Twi, but you look completely frazzled right now. What we need is a good night’s rest, tomorrow we’ll prepare ourselves a little better and round up Discord. Then we’ll go get Pinkie out.”

“But… ughh, you’re right. I’m beat right now, and I was worrying so much that I almost couldn’t enjoy the play.”

“Almost?”

Twilight smiled in spite of herself. “Almost.”

Pinkie Pie was dreaming. She might have appeared lifeless to the shifting dark forms around her, but her mind was gently humming even in her comatose state. She dreamed of being back on her family’s rock farm, her curly mane bouncing in time with her as she moved rocks onto a cart along with her two sisters. She was humming a merry tune, trying to lighten up the atmosphere created by such a dull and meaningless chore, but her two sisters just glared at her.

“Pinkie.” The sister known as Inkie said. “Why do you always have to be so ‘happy’ all the time? It’s getting annoying.”

“What kind of question is that?” Pinkie responded with a smile. “Why SHOULDN’T I be happy all the time?”

“Because you work on a rock farm Pinkie.” The sister known as Blinkie said. “You’re not supposed to be happy.”

“Well that’s silly!” Pinkie said. “Everypony has the right to be happy no matter what they do for a living! You two seemed to like being happy whenever I threw my parties!”

“Those...’parties’ made us feel weird.” Blinkie said. “It was like somepony else was trying to get us act like fools, against our wills.”

“That’s called happiness!” Pinkie said, smiling at her two siblings. “That’s when you forget about your troubles for a bit and just enjoy being with other ponies!”

“And then what happens when the party’s over?” Inkie said, with a bit of bile in her voice. “You get us all ‘happy’ and then we go right back to doing what we’ve been doing, only now we’re doing it for longer because your party went and delayed us. You can’t just forget about your troubles Pinkie.”

“Well no, not permanently.” Pinkie muttered. “But maybe for a little while.”

“What’s the point then?”

“Th-the point?”

“There’s no point! No point to fun! Or happiness! They’re just distractions from the reality of the world! You’re cruel Pinkie, teasing ponies with pipe dreams like that! What would your friend’s think of you!”

“M-my friends?”

Pinkie felt something behind her and she spun around, her straight mane flipping around with her, until a very furious looking Rainbow Dash came into view.

“YOU CAN’T SOLVE EVERYPONY’S PROBLEMS WITH PARTIES AND CAKES!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

Pinkie’s body shivered, and this small movement caught the attention of some of the Shadows. But when she failed to move again, they went back to crawling about aimlessly.

By mid day, everypony in town seemed to have realized that Pinkie Pie had disappeared. No one was more distraught than Mrs. Cake though, she’d actually closed up Sugarcube Corner, though everypony could still hear the occasional wail of despair when they walked past. Which made Wayfarer, Twilight, and Celestia flinch when they did. Discord just looked annoyed when he looked up and the upper floor window of the life size gingerbread house.

The four of them had spent the day gathering what would hopefully be unneeded medical supplies for their journey. Celestia had even sent a letter to her sister last night, asking for some Mana Crystals to be sent to her.

“They give unicorns an extra boost to their magical abilities.” She explained. “I thought it might not hurt to try them with our Personas.”

Twilight’s other friends, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy, had once again formed a search party to look for Pinkie, but in order to keep them out of the loop, Twilight had to decline joining them in the actual search. She said she would be coordinating the search alongside Sunny Days, which for some reason made Applejack look really annoyed but didn’t seem to phase either of the other two.

Either way, the assembled group were now gathered inside the castle, ready to begin but distracted for a moment by an unexpected guest.

“Ready to go on your little rescue mission?” Agero said from the bottom of the stairs. “Then let me give you something to maybe lend a hand.” He waved his hoof and a large green and gold archway appeared on the opposite side of the foyer from the Velvet Room door. “This handy little thing will bring you back here if you decide you’re too tired to carry on. Even better, it can bring you back to any floor you’ve already reached, so you won’t have to go quite as far every time you need to come here.”

“That’s… amazingly helpful.” Twilight said with a grin. “Thank you!”

“Anything for such a cute little pony.” Agero said, making Twilight blush something fierce.

“Oh… well thank you…”

“Wasn’t talking about you.” Agero said as he locked eyes with Wayfarer and gave a VERY lecherous looking smirk.

“Oh… my…” Wayfarer thought.

“Best of luck you lot!” Agero said before fading away to nothingness.

“He seems like a swell guy.” Discord said. “Creepy, but swell.”

“Regardless,” Celestia said, examining the archway. “If this thing does what he says it does, it will undoubtedly save us some frustrations in the future. Now come along then.”

The journey down started out unremarkably. The few Shadows they saw during the first three floors scurried away at the sight of them. Discord wanted to chase them down, but after last time he decided against that.

When they hit the fourth floor things started to pick up again. A few Shadows that looked like tables ambushed them on floor six, and on floor ten they ran into a shadow that took the form of an armored knight riding a legless horse. After both these battles, the group had to stop and try and catch their breath. Celestia passed around water and a few Mana Crystals. The Crystals it turned out actually DID help their Personas, as after casting so many spells of their own it was making their summoners feel… not tired, but drained.

“Ughh.” Wayfarer groaned after chugging a bit more water. “How much more?”

“It’s floor ten, another twenty to go.” Celestia said

“I don’t think I can do it. And even if we get there tonight, we’ll be in no shape to do anything if Pinkie DOES happen to be in danger.”

“Are you suggesting we just give up?” Twilight asked, slightly angrily.

“No, I’m suggesting we go back and recuperate ourselves, then pick back up from where we left off tomorrow.”

Twilight gave Wayfarer an irritated look before responding. “Another five floors, then we’ll call it a night.”

“You just hate it when he’s right, don’t you Twilight?” Discord smirked at her.

“Shut it. You’re not being very helpful yourself you know!”

“It’s not MY fault if my magic doesn’t affect our squishy hosts!”

“Then why do we bother bringing you? We haven’t gotten you to summon your Persona in all the times we’ve been down here, instead you just make snide remarks at all of us!”

“Maybe I’m just too content with my life. Yes I’m bored, but I don’t have any crippling mental problems like the rest of you.”

“Enough.” Celestia said. “Five more floors sounds reasonable. Let’s go.”

Wayfarer felt exhausted the next day, which Cheerilee seemed quick to notice the moment he walked in.

“Goodness Wayfarer, you look awful.”

“Yeah, I was up till almost midnight helping look for Pinkie.”

“I’d heard she’d gone missing, oh dear. Do you think she might have gone back to her family’s rock farm?”

“No, we’re pretty sure she’s still… wait, Rock Farm?”

“I was a little confused when I’d heard that too, but yes Pinkie Pie used to live and work on a Rock Farm before she came to Ponyville.”

“That’s…” Wayfarer didn’t know what to say. First off the very concept of a farm for rocks baffled him, and secondly the idea that Pinkie Pie would even be associated with something that sounded so boring as a rock farm REALLY baffled him. “That sounds so UN-Pinkie Pie.”

“Well apparently she felt the same way. Well, I’m sure she’ll turn up eventually. For now, I have a lesson to get to. I found a book on understanding magic, and I thought I’d try sharing it with a few of the students.”

Wayfarer nodded and got straight to work. Even if he was feeling a little lethargic at the moment, he was determined to put his all into his tasks.

“PERSONA!” Wayfarer shouted at the approaching serpentine creatures. A sharp gust of wind rushed through them as Ekchuah swung down his spear right out of the starting gate.

“PERSONA!” Twilight echoed, sending tyche to follow up with several bolts of lightning, which the serpents seemed to just shrug off. “Electricity doesn’t seem to work on them!” Changing tactics, Twilight then commanded Tyche to support Ekchuah, boosting his strength with a spell. The resulting followup attack from the masked warrior tore through whatever was left.

“Nice one Twilight!” Wayfarer yelled.

“Three more incoming!” Celestia yelled. Another two serpents came around the corner, followed by a large flying paper fish.

“Looks like one of those old Neighpanese kites.” Wayfarer remarked.

“Give me a second,” Celestia said, shutting her eyes as Gnowee shined her light on the flying fish monster. “I’ll see if it burns like one.”

“Right, EKCHUAH!”

Ekchuah once again blasted a current of air through the corridor, tearing up the serpents but leaving the fish kite, which took this opening and sent ice crashing down on Wayfarer.

“Grahh!!” Wayfarer flinched, bracing his front legs to try and keep himself standing. “COLD! VERY COLD!”

“LIGHT A FIRE UNDER IT ALREADY!” Discord yelled swinging his arms around as if he was actually fighting.

“Agreed!” Celestia shouted. “It’s weakness is Agi skills!”

“What skills?” Wayfarer yelled back, still trying to shake off the layer of ice coating him.

“Fire! Agi is fire!”

“Oh, right! CHANGE!”

Ekchuah’s form cracked and shattered before being replaced by another serpentine creature, this one pure white with wings.

“QUETZALCOATL!”

“Bless you!” Discord shouted.

The flying snake creature inhaled deeply before hissing loudly and shooting a spray of fire at the paper fish, igniting it immediately before it disintegrated into nothingness.

The corridor was silent once more save for the sharp intakes of breath from both Wayfarer and Twilight.

“So...huff… how close are we?” Wayfarer asked.

“We’ll be hitting floor twenty five in a moment.” Celestia said.

“Five more…” Twilight whispered. “Are we ready for it? Or do you think we should turn back for the moment.”

“No, we’re on a roll now.” Wayfarer said as the battle high caused him to grin. “We’re as ready as we’ll ever be, so let’s plow through this thing.”

Twilight smiled and started dashing forward, quickly being followed by the others. “Hang on Pinkie Pie!” Twilight shouted. “We’re on our way!”

Pinkie heard something. It sounded like her friend Twilight. She could hear her, feel her approaching. Pinkie wanted to see her, and her mind started to fight against the comatose state she was in. The Shadows, already restless from all the commotion going on in the floors above, took notice to this. A consciousness was making itself known, right in the midst of them. They slowly began to surround the presence as it continued to grow stronger, the structure of the room shifting as they began feeding off the emotional energy Pinkie was radiating off of her, and even more started to show up as the struggling mare began to awaken.

Pinkie's eyes fluttered open, but it was so dark around her that at first she wondered if she'd opened them at all. Her hair covered over her right eye as she rose up from the ground and she tried to flip it back and out of the way. As she did so, the darkness suddenly lifted and her eyes were filled with an eerie reddish glow that seemed to come from every direction. The room she was in seemed like a large ball room, with banners and columns stretching the entire length of the hall. at one end was a large statue of an alicorn, surrounded by a still pool of water.

"W-where am I?" Pinkie whispered to herself as she got to her hooves. Slowly she moved toward the statue, looking at it with both fear and curiosity. "Hello? Is anypony there?"

"Is anypony there?"

"Who's that?" Pinkie said, her head darting around.

"Who's that?"

"Oh," Pinkie said, ears drooping a bit. "I'm just talking to myself again."

"You really need to stop doing that."

"I know, I wouldn't want to scare my friends again."

"You already scare them quite a bit you know."

"I... scare them?"

"Hm hm heh heh... I think it would be more accurate to say WE scare them. After all," A figure stepped out from behind the statue, walking along the edge of the pool until she came into the light, revealing it to be a doppelganger of Pinkie Pie. "I am you."

“Hold on a minute.” Celestia said. The party stopped and turned to look at her as her face started to fill with fear. “I’m feeling something. Something powerful. On the 30th floor, with Pinkie Pie.”

“What?!” Twilight shreeked. “B-but I thought… those Blue Suited snakes LIED to us!!”

“Really?” Discord said. “Because I didn’t see any of those serpents wearing suits. They DID make the male and female symbols look rather dashing though.”

“SHUT UP!” Twilight yelled at him.

“Reign it in Twilight!” Wayfarer yelled. “Nothing’s changed! We’ve just got to double time it now!”

“They said seven days!” Twilight said, almost balling at this point. “They said she’d be safe!”

“TWILIGHT!” Wayfarer shouted, getting right up in Twilight’s face. “We can deal with them later! But Pinkie’s in danger NOW! So let’s go!”

Twilight stood motionless for about five seconds before she turned and started bolting down the halls, completely ignoring several Shadows as they appeared until one dropped from the ceiling right in front of her. She didn’t even stop when she commanded Tyche to send lightning right through it and several other Shadows behind it. The others followed as closely behind as they could, or dared. Wayfarer tried to aid her by cleaning up whatever survivors she left behind, but she was like a freight train going at full speed without any breaks.

Pinkie stared at her other self in disbelief, and the Shadow looked back with cold, half lidded eyes as she jumped off the edge of the fountain. Her hooves clacked against the floor slowly approaching Pinkie with an air of ill intent.

"Oh what's with the frown? What happened to the smiling little ball of energy that everyone loves to laugh at?"

"I... I don't..."

"Oh look! I've made her speechless!"

"Who are you? Where am I?"

"I told you, I am you... you are me. As for where we are, isn't it obvious? We're at a party!"

"Party?" Pinkie said in confusion, her head twisting around to look at the still empty and barren room. "What party?"

"Why, your party of course silly! Everywhere’s a party with us around! Warzones, political court rooms, funerals. We take our enjoyment of life where ever we go!” The shadow laughed at this. It wasn’t a cheery laugh like Pinkie was used to hearing with her voice. It was… evil. That was the only word Pinkie had for it: Evil.

“I don’t understand.” Pinkie said. “How could you be me? Did I use the mirror pool again?”

“Pfft, no silly! Those were just poor quality replicas of the genuine article. Me? I AM the genuine article.”

“N-no… I’m the real Pinkie!”

“We’re BOTH the real Pinkie! The only difference being that I actually know what others say behind our backs!”

“W-what are you…”

Then Pinkie started hearing voices around her. They were echoing as if said from a distance, but Pinkie heard them loud and clear.

“I, I had to tell someone.” said the voice of Mr. Cake. “But when I told her, about my doubts about Pound and Pumpkin, she just laughed at me. Consarn it. Why did I pick PINKIE of all ponies?”

“ANOTHER party? Jeez we just had THREE yesterday! And even one the day before that! Doesn’t she realize that someponies have things to do?”

“Why isn’t she taking any of this seriously? Ponyville’s in danger and she’s making popcorn!”

Pinkie’s head was sagging down and her eyes were slowly getting wider and wider. “No… that’s not… it can’t be… how they feel…”

“She left us.” said the voice of her father. “Her grandmother isn’t even buried yet and she goes running off to Celestia knows where. Someday she’ll have to learn that life isn’t the party she thinks it is.”

“D-daddy?” Pinkie whimpered. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry… i’m sorry…”

“I should have told her before I left.” Came one more voice, one that Pinkie immediately recognized.

“Dashie?!” She gasped. “W-what did you want to tell me?”

“I should have told her… Pinkie… she’s such a pain in my flank.”

Pinkie’s mouth almost dropped off her face.

“I really thought I could be friends with her. But other than a good laugh, what has she actually done for me? She’s… like the comic relief in a Daring Doo book. Rarely helpful, and more often than not the cause of a lot of problems. And worse yet, I have to keep acting as if I like being around her all the time, or she’ll feel bad and then suddenly I’LL be the bad guy.”

“I’m a… pain?”

“She’s just… so… RANDOM! I can never tell what she’s thinking, and when I ask her for help I can’t always get a guarantee she’ll take what I want seriously. She’s… just so difficult to be a friend with. Sometimes I wish she’d just disappear.”

“No, no that’s a lie! This can’t be… Dashie’s not like that!”

“Awww… so sad. I feel so sorry for myself.” The Shadow said, faking tears. “Actually it’s kind of funny when you think about it.”

“How… how is this funny?!” Pinkie yelled as tears started to fall from her face.

“Don’t you see? They all think that you CARE about what they think. They think you CARE about their problems. But we both know you don’t. You just want to have a good laugh or twelve and hope that the reality of life doesn’t come interrupt your wild rumpus.”

“No… that’s not right… I DO care about other ponies! I want to make them smile!”

“Yeah right, how long are you going to keep THAT lie going? You just want to drag all of them down into your madness so that you don’t have to be so alone. But everypony goes back to reality eventually, and you’re stuck wondering how to get them to stay put.” The Shadow was now circling around Pinkie, smirking down at her and occasionally licking her lips. “You can’t bare to think about reality, so you run away, but you hate being alone, so you try and get others to ignore the pain of life and come join you. I’m sure Granny pie would approve of how you’ve laughed in the face of what frightens you most: the pain of reality.”

“S-shut up!”

“Heh! Yeah, just go ahead and try to pretend like what I’m saying isn’t what you’ve been thinking for the last eight years! Go ahead and tell me that you HAVEN’T been running away from the loss of the ONLY member of your family that you thought truly understood you!”

“I’m not running from anything! You’re lying! Who are you?!”

“Heh heh ha ha ha!! I already told you! I’m you. Your Shadow. And there is NOTHING I don’t know about you.”

“...no… NO! That’s not true! You CAN’T be me!!”

The doors at the other end of the ball room exploded open at that moment. Pinkie flinched and turned to look at the direction of the blast, while her Shadow just smiled psychotically down at her.

Twilight, Wayfarer, Celestia and Discord all ran into the ballroom, slightly haggard but no worse for ware. Twilight took a moment to catch her breath before looking up to see the two Pinkie Pies in front of her.

“Pinkie Pie!” She shouted.

“Oh look, our friends are here! Hello everypony! I was just telling me about how I’m not her, isn’t that right me?”

“I… I…” Pinkie stammered.

“Pinkie! Don’t listen to her!” Twilight yelled, rushing forward.

“No? Well how about you tell them the REAL reason Rainbow Dash ran away?”

“What? N-NO!!” Pinkie screamed. “I made a Pinkie Promise I wouldn’t say anything!”

“Well looks like I’M going to break that promise. Rainbow Dash deserves it for snapping at her best friend like that! What a miserable excuse for a Wonderbolt! Why doesn’t she just forget all her dreams and have a nice batch of cupcakes with me! Forever, and ever! Like the good friends we are!”

Pinkie had finally had enough of this as her fear turned to rage. “NO! You’re not me! You’re NOTHING like me!”

“PINKIE!” Twilight cried out when she was almost within foreleg’s length of Pinkie, just in time to get blasted back by the Shadow as an aura of darkness began to spin around her. The wind roared around the room, tearing the banners as the maniacal laughter of the shadow reverberated all around them.

“Yeah that’s right! I am me now! I’m not you anymore! I’M MY OWN SELF!”

The cloud of darkness enveloped the shadow, shielding it from view, as it gradually got bigger and bigger. Wayfarer had rushed over to Twilight to help her up from being knocked to the ground, and now both he and she were staring at the blackness with fear. Then the cloud lifted and a monstrous many armed being emerged.

“I am a Shadow! The true self! Life will be filled with either Misery or Happiness, so drop your pathetic lives and join me in bliss!”

The creature walked on two very thick legs that carried a body with almost a dozen arms sticking out of it. The top two limbs were covering up the monsters eyes, leaving only a lipless smile visible on its face, framed by long pink hair that flowed all the way to the floor. The next six arms each carried a cage with what looked like stuffed recreations of Pinkie’s friends, including Wayfarer, all tied up with what looked like streamers. The bottom two arms were carrying two large blue cannons, both of which were pointed at Twilight and Wayfarer.

“Oh SHOOT!” Wayfarer yelled, throwing himself over Twilight as the cannons fired. Before they could get blown to bits by two balls of fury confetti, Celestia grabbed them with her magic and pulled them safely away.

“Where’s Pinkie?” Twilight yelled as she frantically got to her hooves and looked around. She finally spotted her back behind the Shadow, laying against a column she’d been thrown against.

The Shadow began to lurch toward them, it’s cannons glowing slightly as they took in energy for another attack.

“So many Friends, all suffering from life. But I’ll protect them, just like any good friend would do!”

“She’s going to let off another fireball!” Celestia shouted. “Lay down the beating now while she’s charging it up!”

“Right! PERSONA!” Wayfarer and Twilight yelled together. Ekchuah and Tyche erupted forth, flying at the Shadow and avoiding the cages as it swung them around to try and land a hit. Ekchuah ducked under one swing and managed to jab his spear into the arm that aimed for him.

“Got her!” Wayfarer yelled.

“Is that right?”

The Shadow pulled its arm down quick and pinned Ekchuah against her chest. The opposite arm came around as well and both started to try squeezing the life out of both Persona and summoner. Wayfarer howled as the pain transferred to him. Tyche rushed around and tried to get the arms to let go by repeatedly striking them, but eventually she got swatted away by a cage, leaving Wayfarer to collapse to the floor.

“Gha!” He grunted in frustration. “You want to put the squeeze on me? Fine, we’ll play it that way! CHANGE!”

Ekchuah shattered and was replaced once again by Quetzalcoatl, who was thin enough to escape the Shadow’s grasp and then wrap itself around an arm, biting down on the wrist and constricting the limb. In response, the Shadow brought up one of it’s cannons and pointed it at the winged serpent at point blank range.

“Time to get bake’n!”

Fire engulfed both the Persona and the Shadow’s arm, but instead of seizing up in pain like he expected, Wayfarer only felt a tingle. When the fire halted and the Shadow realized that all she’d done was burn the stuffed figure in the cage, she howled in frustration and slammed the captured arm into the same column Pinkie was under. Debris began to fall while Wayfarer flinched from the impact. Tyche landed over Pinkie and attempted to shield her as the pillar finally snapped in half.

“Twilight get her out of there!” Wayfarer yelled.

Tyche swooped Pinkie up in her arms just as the top half came down on her. She braced her legs and just barely managed to stop herself from being crushed, but now both her and Pinkie were pinned.

“You see!” The shadow boasted. “Look at all the pain and misery you could have avoided! Why do you cling to a life filled with sorrow?!”

“Because that IS life!” Wayfarer shouted. “CHANGE!”

Quetzalcoatl shattered and turned into the red armored knight and black horse. The knight jumped from his steed and went to help lift the pillar off of Tyche. The Shadow barely noticed this as she directed her attention to Wayfarer.

“Life is sorrow? Then why do you even bother?”

“Because it’s not just that!” Twilight said, stepping over to join Wayfarer as her Persona began to rise back up again. “Life is excitement and disappointment! It’s meeting some and saying farewell to others. It’s being happy sometimes and sad other times. Life is ups and downs, and it’s because of these ups that we keep fighting through the downs. And nopony knows about the ups better than Pinkie Pie!”

“T-Twilight?” Pinkie murmured from within Tyche’s grasp.

Both Tyche and the Red Knight were standing up completely, a large chunk of the pillar held above them. Pinkie looked at the scene around her, from the Shadow, to the Personas, to her friend’s standing defiantly in front of their foe. Then she saw the cage that the Shadow had burned earlier, and though the stuffed figure inside was still heavily charred, she could still tell it was Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow Dash… She’s going through some down times…”

“No, life is either misery or bliss! It can’t be both!”

“Yes it can,” Celestia said as she too walked forward “And yes it is. I see it all the time, when my subjects lose somepony they care for, they are sad, but they still try to remember all the joy that pony brought to them. And I would be shocked if Miss Pie didn’t have hundreds, nay, THOUSANDS of ponies remembering her for generations to come.”

“Jeez, you all sound like a self help book right now.” Discord bemoaned. “Yes, Pinkie’s the light in the darkness, the joy of ponies everywhere, the living embodiment of sugar and caffeine! Can we just throw the pillar at this thing now?”

“Wait, what?”

The Shadow turned around just in time to let a large chunk of stone collide with her with the force of a locomotive. The pillar sent her down to the floor, giving them an opening for another attack.

“Let her have it Eligor!” Wayfarer shouted

“You too Tyche!” Twilight yelled.

Both figures lept into the air and came down on the Shadow’s face, swinging their weapons in a wide arch as they did so. When they made contact, the Shadow cried out in pain and exploded in a cloud of darkness, leaving only the original Pinkie look alike in its place.

Everyone gathered around the Shadow, Tyche dropped Pinkie down next to it, and it opened it’s eyes to look sadly up at her.

“Pinkie?” Twilight said. “Are you alright?”

“I- I don’t know yet.”

“You’ll never know.” The Shadow said. “Misery is always there, no matter what. To fight it is meaningless it seems.”

Pinkie, for the first time since she woke up, allowed herself a small smile. “But… that’s why the world needs ponies like me.” The smile disappeared as she sighed, closing her eyes she continued. “Yes, I’m afraid of losing the ponies I care about, I want to surround myself with friends to keep out the pain of being alone. But that pain isn’t even there anymore, it hasn’t been there for a long time.” Pinkie sat down next to her shadow, looking down at those piercing yellow eyes. “I have friends who love me just as much as I love them, and I work hard everyday to make sure that they have a silver lining to even the worst of bad days. Yes, there will be bad days, for me, my friends, and everypony else, but that doesn’t mean every day will be bad. And… I want you to know… that this day doesn’t have to be bad for me or you… or us.” Pinkie brought her hoof to the Shadow’s face, lifting it up slightly. “Chin up, I don’t like seeing my face all sad like that. You’re me, I’m you, so start acting like it.”

The two Pinkies smiled at each other as light enveloped them, leaving only one Pinkie and a towering figure in front of her. The figure wore a party hat with a long flowing ribbon, and a wreath around her neck and face, hiding all but her eyes which were filled with boisterous glee. Her outfit was somewhere between a ball gown and a sailor’s outfit, and over her shoulder she carried a large anchor that, on closer inspection, turned out to be a party cannon slash crossbow combination.

The figure faded away into a ball of light that then bonded with Pinkie Pie, her smile widening her face and her hair slowly inflating back to its usual curly and uncontrollable self.

“Laetitia.” She said. “That’s a really pretty name.”

Pinkie then chose that moment to fall over, landing on the floor as she started to snore loudly. Twilight rushed to her side and checked her, sighing when she decided her friend was alright.

“She’s alright…” Twilight whispered. “Thank goodness.”

“Not only that,” Celestia said. “But she’s awoken her potential. She can summon a Persona now.”

“Okay, now I’M irritated at my lack of progress.” Discord said, making a face of mock disgrace. “I mean seriously? SHE get’s a persona before me?”

“All the more reason to work harder at it.” Wayfarer laughed. “Now come on, lets get out of here before the rest of us fall over.”

Author's Notes:

Aaaannnd Part 2 of 3! I seriously didn't think this arch would take this long, but for the first time it's as if the words just came to me, and they just kept coming. I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere, and hopefully that means more frequent updates that I feel more sure over. So I guess that means I can stop throwing pity parties for myself.

However I'm STILL looking for harsh but fair criticisms from you lot. I'm considering sending this fic to EQD after the next Chapter, but I want to make sure it's up to snuff before I do so. So come on guys, lay on the reviews!