Sunday, April 10, 2016 / Morning
Today's Horoscope (Virgo): Peer pressure isn't always something you can see or hear. Sometimes it's there and you don't even know it.

Shortly after breakfast, Applejack and Apple Bloom leave to visit their dad. Rarity makes some suggestion to Sweetie Belle to get her out of the dorm. The rest of us gather in the lounge.

"Okay, so...today's the first time Fluttershy's going in with us to train," Twilight says. She glances at Fluttershy. "You're...you're okay with this, right?"

Fluttershy nods. "I...need to adapt to my new Persona," she says. "I know—knew—Eris inside and out, but this new one..." She shakes her head. "I need to get used to it before I have to deal with anything serious. And..." She sighs. "Sooner or later, we'll have to face Sunset Shimmer..."

Rarity glances at Cadance with a mild frown. "Ah...Nurse Cadance," she says, "not to be indelicate, but...I believe it may be time for you to part ways with our little group."

Cadance blinks. "What?" She looks hurt. "You...you don't want me helping anymore?"

"You're pregnant, darling," Rarity says. "It's...it's simply too great a risk."

Twilight's eyes widen. "She's right," she says. "You—"

"She can't avoid being pulled into Zodiac any more than the rest of us," Fluttershy says, shaking her head.

"What if she turns off her phone?" I ask. "You got ejected from Zodiac that one day when I broke yours..."

"Guys," Cadance says, "you need me. I'm the only one who can do what I do. Anyway, I don't have to put myself in danger like the rest of you." She smiles. "Besides, I know you kids won't let anything happen to me."

We all look around at each other. Twilight looks decidedly unhappy.

"Look, just...just trust me, alright?" Cadance pleads. "It'll be fine."

Twilight sighs. "Okay. But if anything happens that looks like you're in danger, that's it."

Cadance sighs and nods. With that settled, we head for the mall. Once we've parked, we look around to make sure the coast is clear, then enter Zodiac.

Sunday, April 10, 2016 / Zodiac

As soon as we're in Zodiac, Cadance staggers. "What...?"

"Cadance? Are you alright?" Twilight asks.

Cadance clutches her head. "I'm...not sure," she says. "I feel..."

"We're getting out of here," Twilight says.

"No," Cadance says, shaking her head. "It's not that, it's..." She swallows. "Persona!"

With a crackle, a spray of multicolored crystals shoots up out of the ground, surrounding Cadance. A massive, glowing crystal heart forms in the air above her; encased within the crystal heart are two figures that appear to be Cadance and Shining Armor, entwined in a passionate embrace. A gleaming gold ring serenely circles the crystal heart.

Everyone stares.

"Okay...that's new," Rainbow says.

"Cadance...your Persona...!" Twilight gasps.

//I know,// Cadance says. //It's incredible...it's like the whole world is open to me! I can sense so much more!//

The area around us suddenly becomes much brighter.

Something else changes as well...

When's he gonna make a pass at me?

She won't even let me touch her ass...

I should just go for it...I should just pull his dick out and go down on him...

Just one look up her skirt...

What's the point of saving yourself?

God being a virgin sucks.

As far as the eye can see, the bizarre green text is drowning out all the usual blue text. Almost all of it is somehow related to sex. What isn't about sex is about anger, frustration, or jealousy.

"What...what's this? Twilight asks, eyes wide.

"I...I don't know," Fluttershy says, blinking in surprise. "I've...I've never seen this happen before!"

"Where'd all THIS come from?" Rainbow wonders.

//Hold on, I—// Cadance trails off. //Guys? I...I think this stuff was always here, but...well...we couldn't see it. Not like this, I mean. I'm not detecting any changes in Zodiac itself, nothing that could explain this. But...Eros can scan a lot deeper than Aphrodite. Maybe...maybe this is just something we didn't see before, but my new powers made it visible...//

"Like shining a UV light on a cum stain?" Fluttershy asks. She pauses, then blushes. "Yikes, why did I say that?"

"Probably because you were just reading something about cum stains float by," Pinkie says. "See, right there?"

"Oh."

Rarity coughs. "Cadance, dear...you couldn't perhaps...turn this off again, could you?"

//I don't know...I'll try, but in the meantime, you all should just get started training. Just...just ignore the texts, like you always do.//

"That...might be hard-on," Twilight says, her eyes drifting across something floating past. "Hard! I mean hard! I mean...gah!"

Rainbow snickers. "This is gonna be interesting..."

//Okay, I'm scanning for Shadows...// Cadance pauses. //There's lots of Shadows in the mall. Most of them aren't too strong, but there's a few that are, so be careful. I don't sense that...thing...// She trails off, then gasps. //Oh...oh my God...//

"What is it?" Twilight asks.

//I'm...I'm sensing...// Cadance pauses. //I think that's Sunset Shimmer. There's one other active human in Zodiac, three miles east of here.//

"That's...about where her house is, yeah," Fluttershy says.

//How have I never detected her before?// Cadance wonders. //She feels...wrong, somehow. I can't explain it...//

"Don't worry about it," I say. "Let's train." I activate Black Butterfly; the others follow suit.

Fluttershy looks around at the other girls and shakes her head. "Okay, we've gotta have a talk about your battle outfits..."

Once we're inside the mall and run into our first group of Shadows, Rainbow surprises the others with her new Persona.

"Oh wow! Your Persona changed too?" Pinkie exclaims. "We've so gotta throw a party for you and Nurse Cadance later!"

Twilight frowns. "What's...what's going on here? Both of you?"

Rarity tilts her head. "I wonder..." She taps her phone. "PERSONA!"

Rarity's Persona, Bastet, appears. She sighs. "Nevermind." Bastet gives her a dirty look and disappears.

Twilight gives Rarity a confused look. Rarity blushes and glances at me. "I, err...thought perhaps it was..." She mumbles sheepishly, "Something we caught from Flash..."

"EWW! RARITY!" Pinkie exclaims, laughing. "That's NASTY!"

Fluttershy shakes her head. "Good grief..." She frowns. "Still, it IS strange that Rainbow's Persona just suddenly changed too."

"Who cares why? It's AWESOME!" Rainbow exclaims, grinning.

"Okay, let's get to work, people," I say.

Unlike her original Persona, which—honestly?—was utterly useless, this Persona is powerful, and Rainbow is finally as awesome as she thinks she is. The group of Shadows surrounding us are blown back by a tremendous, prismatic shockwave generated by Nike Invicta, which leaves them all twitching on the ground. A massive blast of wind from Nike's powerful wings finishes them all off, and we move on.

As for Fluttershy, her new Persona has the same wind attacks Eris had, only much stronger. She's no longer immune to electricity, which we learn the hard way when a Shadow unloads on us with lightning attacks. The most interesting thing about her new Persona is its ability to erect reflective barriers against both physical and magical attacks. The bad thing is the barriers only repel one hit, then they collapse, and casting them seems to take a lot out of her. After noticing this, Twilight tells her she should really save those barriers for when we really need them.

After about half an hour of fighting, we run into a giant, chained minotaur.

//Careful, this one's no pushover!//

"Time to see what Coach gave me," I mutter to myself as I slide the Emperor Arcana onto my phone. "OPTIMUS PRIME!"

From all around us, we hear the roar of a powerful engine.

A huge red semi truck, pulling a long silver trailer, appears out of nowhere, speeding toward us. Without warning, the trailer detaches and the cab launches into the air, transforming into...

Rainbow's jaw drops. "Whoa."

Twilight blinks rapidly. "Uhh...Flash? What the heck is that?"

"I waaaaaaaant ooooooooooone," Pinkie says, drooling slightly.

Fluttershy stares at me. "Okay seriously, what the fuck?"

Optimus Prime unlimbers a truly massive rifle and takes aim at the minotaur Shadow. Two searing ion pulses rip forth from his rifle, tearing through the Shadow. It reels and bellows in pain. Prime's left hand transforms into a huge glowing axe. He charges forward and decapitates the Shadow with one swift, sure strike, then transforms back into a truck and drives away, fading from existence.

As the Shadow dissolves into black mist, we all stare in the direction Optimus Prime departed.

"That...was awesome," Rainbow says.

Later still, we encounter a group of Shadows which simply refuse to die. They don't seem to be weak to anything, resist most of our attacks, and are pressing our defenses. We're all hurting, and none of us seem to be able to do enough damage. Even with Rainbow's new Persona knocking them down like crazy with her new skill, it's like we're not even making a dent.

"This...is starting to suck," Rainbow says as she leans on her knees, panting. "Flash, you got...anything else new in your bag of tricks?"

"Let me...try something." I slide the Lovers Arcana onto my phone. "SERENITY!"

A graceful golden-haired beauty with a distinctive hairstyle, wearing a flowing white gown with huge, sail-like cloth wings appears, clasping a large, faceted silver crystal to her breast. Her bright blue eyes open, and a shining silver wave of energy washes out from her, sweeping over us and the Shadows. The Shadows recoil from the silver light, visibly weakened; at the same time, I feel renewed strength flood into my being. The others are also recovering; they all look less wounded and fatigued. Serenity fades away with a small, reassuring smile.

//Whatever that was, it severely weakened the Shadows! Go for it, guys!//

"It healed us up, too," Twilight comments, stretching an arm as she summons Athena to scorch the Shadows with lightning.

"Yeah, but it took a lot out of me," I say. "I've got a headache like you wouldn't believe..." My stomach growls. "And I'm hungry."

"Well, maybe we can break for the day and grab some chow after this?" Rainbow calls as she summons her Persona, whose odd prismatic shockwave attack knocks the Shadows down again.

Finishing off the Shadows is no picnic, but we persevere until the entire horde is gone. We stand around for a minute, getting our breath back.

//Good job, team. Head for the exit—//

A ring of Magus-type Shadows surrounds us. Rainbow groans.

"I've got this," I say. "I've got one more new trick up my sleeve..." I swipe Chariot onto my phone. "GAMERA!"

"It's a turtle," Fluttershy says.

"It's a flying turtle!" Pinkie observes.

Flames gather in Gamera's mouth. Tucking in its legs, it begins spinning in midair, unleashing torrents of scorching flames which incinerate the Shadows.

"It's a fire-breathing flying turtle," Twilight says in disbelief.

"Goodness," Rarity says, "Flash's head certain is full of interesting things..."

We make a beeline for the exit. Once we're out of the mall, we leave Zodiac, pile into Cadance's SUV, and head for that pizza buffet.

Sunday, April 10, 2016 / Daytime

When we return to the dorm, everyone wants to rest up from a hard day's training. I try to take a nap, but I can't sleep, so I head downstairs. I find Fluttershy in the lounge, playing with Spike and Zoe. "Hey."

"Hey," she says. She looks at me, blushes, then goes back to scratching Zoe behind the ears.

I sit down and let Spike jump up into my lap. "So...good work in there today," I say. "You don't seem to be having that much trouble with your new Persona."

Fluttershy shrugs. "It...wasn't as hard as I thought it might be," she says. "Still, you...you do that trick with all those different Personas so easily..." She frowns. "You had three completely new ones today. How do you keep doing that?"

"It's complicated." I shift. "Fluttershy, what was all that weird text stuff in Zodiac today? That...that wasn't the usual crap we see."

Fluttershy's face turns red. "I...I don't know," she says. She looks down at Zoe.

"You have a thought about it though, don't you?"

"Well...maybe," Fluttershy says. "See, the...the thing is, Zodiac is kind of...it's kind of like...the mind of everybody at CHS, you know? And the junior high now too. It's not just...it's not just the nasty stuff kids text at each other, it's...it's more than that. It's like..." She frowns. "It's kind of like all our minds are creating it. All of it. Like we're all...wired into it, subconsciously." She shrugs. "I know that doesn't make any sense.

"Anyway...all that new stuff we saw today, I think Cadance is right about it having always been there and we just couldn't see it before." Fluttershy plays with her hair. "Kids have dirty minds...we can't help it. It's just puberty and stuff. I think all that green text was...all the stray thoughts we all have, all piled up like..."

"Garbage?"

"More like water behind a levee." She sighs. "I...I've been thinking," she says. "You, Twilight, the other girls...you guys didn't start going all fuckweasels until you started spending a lot of time in Zodiac. If that stuff's been there all this time and you couldn't see it, but...but maybe you were aware of it..." She looks at me. "It'd explain a lot about how all of a sudden this whole dorm turned into one big orgy waiting to happen."

I frown. "But...it hasn't affected you," I point out.

Fluttershy bows her head. "Umm...actually...today, it...it did," she says. She gives me a sheepish smile. "Honestly? Right now part of me wants to fuck you right here on the couch, just like Sonata did. Oh, but I'm not going to. We're...we're not there yet..." She coughs and turns her face away, playing with her hair. "Anyway, it...it started getting to me today, and...I think the reason it's never bothered me before was because of Eris. All I could feel for so long was...hate and anger and bitterness and...and..." She bows her head. "I think all that hate I had burning inside me was protecting me from the pervo plague." She stands up suddenly. "I need to go upstairs...see you later..." She hurries up to her room.

I shake my head and go back to my room to try to get a nap in. Tonight, I'm going out with Pinkie Pie...

Sunday, April 10, 2016 / Evening

I'm borrowing Coach's car tonight for my date.

I put on a nice suit and head down to the entrance to wait for Pinkie. She comes downstairs wearing a nice scarlet evening dress and high heels, as well as tasteful makeup and earrings that make her look more mature. Her hair is straight and shiny and beautiful, and she's clutching a small red leather purse.

Twilight takes a picture of us and smiles. "Have fun, you two."

"Thanks," Pinkie says, squeezing my hand.

We have reservations at a hotel restaurant. We have a nice, fancy date, making pleasant conversation over an expensive meal. Pinkie is behaving in a very subdued manner tonight...

"Hey, are you okay?" I ask.

Pinkie shrugs. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just...tired. It's been a long weekend."

"Pinkie...you don't get tired. Not like this."

She smiles. "Yeah, I do," she says. "I'm just really good at hiding it. I'm only human, Flash. Even I can't be as wild and crazy and full of energy all the time as I act." She shakes her head. "I'm okay, really. I just...need a quiet night out with one of my favorite people."

"Your parents showed up and made a scene, didn't they? At the tennis matches."

Pinkie's face falls. "How'd you know?"

"I know you only look this upset when they're involved."

She sighs. "Yeah, my family was there at the matches. That's..that's why my game was off. They were just...sitting there, watching me, judging me." She shudders. "I know I'm...I'm not part of the Pie family anymore, and...and I don't really care what they think of me, but..."

"Yeah, I get it," I say. "Just them being there..." I frown. "Why were they there?"

"Probably just to hurt me," Pinkie says, stabbing her chicken breast viciously with her fork. "Before I got a new phone from Twilight's mom, I had to block my sisters. The only member of my family that even has my new number and e-mail is Maud."

I'd almost forgotten Pinkie got a new phone for Christmas...she kind of had to after her dick of a dad stopped paying the bill. She decided to make a clean break of it and start all over except for her music and stuff.

I reach across the table and take her hand. "Don't let them get to you," I say. "You know they don't matter anymore."

"But they do matter," Pinkie says sadly. "They're...they're my parents. And my little sisters. I can't just forget that. They'll...they'll always be part of me." She looks down. "It's always gonna hurt. I just...I didn't realize how much until yesterday." She sniffles and shakes her head. "Sorry. I wanted us to have a good time tonight, and—"

"So what's stopping us?" I ask. "We're here, we've got all night to do whatever...just me and you, no distractions. You've got me all to yourself for once."

She laughs. "I never have you all to myself," she says. "But I'm okay with that." She wipes her eyes and gives me a sultry look. "But yeah, I do have plans for you..."

After dinner, Pinkie surprises me by revealing she reserved a room at this hotel for tonight. She takes me upstairs; there's already two small bags—one of hers and one of mine—in the room.

"Cadance...helped me plan ahead," Pinkie says with a coy blush as she turns her back to me and brushes her hair away from the zipper on her dress...

Author's Notes:

Social Link Status:

0. FOOL (Zodiac Investigation Team): rank 8
I. MAGICIAN (Twilight Sparkle): MAX!
II. PRIESTESS (Fluttershy): rank 3 (Level UP!)
III. EMPRESS (Rarity): rank 4
IV. EMPEROR (Coach Shining Armor): MAX!
V. HIEROPHANT (Vice-Principal Luna): rank 8
VI. LOVERS (Nurse Cadance): MAX!
VII. CHARIOT (Rainbow Dash): MAX!
VIII. JUSTICE (Principal Celestia): rank 9
IX. HERMIT (Coco Pommel): MAX!
X. FORTUNE (Apple Bloom): rank 6
XI. STRENGTH (Applejack): rank 6
XII. HANGED MAN (Octavia Melody): rank 8
XIII. DEATH (Sonata Dusk): rank 6
XIV. TEMPERANCE (Sweetie Belle): rank 5
XV. DEVIL (Juan the Janitor): rank 8
XVI. TOWER (Chrysalis): rank 6
XVII. STAR (Pinkie Pie): MAX!
XVIII. MOON (Trixie Lulamoon): MAX!
XIX. SUN (Vinyl Scratch): MAX!

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It's Cadance's Analysis Time!

EROS
Arcana: Lovers
SKILLS: Full Analysis Maximum Range

Escape Route Relaxing Wave

Third Eye

Healing Wave

ECHO
Arcana: Priestess
Nullifies: Wind
Weak against: Dark
SKILLS: Garula Diarama

Recarm Mediarama

Tetrakarn Magarula

Makarakarn Traesto

NIKE INVICTA
Arcana: Chariot
Nullifies: Wind
Strong against: Slash, Strike, Light
SKILLS: Garudyne Magarudyne

Matarukaja Sonic Rainboom

Masukukaja Victory Cry

Vorpal Blade Heat Riser

OPTIMUS PRIME
Arcana: Emperor
Strong against: Slash, Strike
Weak against: Electricity
Nullifies: Light, Dark
SKILLS: Mighty Swing Regenerate 3

Primal Force Victory Cry

Akasha Arts High Counter

Auto-Mataru Endure

SERENITY
Arcana: Lovers
Repels: Light, Dark
SKILLS: Salvation Healing Escalation

Mahamaon Spell Master

Hama Boost Makarakarn

Samarecarm Enduring Soul

GAMERA
Arcana: Chariot
Nullifies: Strike, Wind
Absorbs: Fire
Strong against: Slash
Weak against: Ice
SKILLS: Maragidyne Fire Amp

Akasha Arts High Counter

Gigantic Fist Regenerate 3

Auto-Maraku Arms Master

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Signature Skills

Orgy of Death (Euphrosyne): Heavy Strike damage x2 to all enemies; occasionally fails and becomes Slam Dance (Medium Strike damage x2 to one enemy)

Sonic Rainboom (Nike Invicta): Heavy Strike damage to all enemies + Knocked Down

Healing Escalation (Serenity): 1/2 HP damage to all enemies + 1/2 HP restored to all allies

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(The LTE version of this chapter contains unrated additional content.)