Monday, April 18, 2016 / After School
Today's Horoscope (Virgo): If you spend your entire life facing the setting sun, you'll never see the beauty of the sunrise.

After school, I decide to go into town and do a little shopping before I head home. My parents just put a little extra money in my account...and for once, I don't feel like it's just something they're doing in lieu of actually caring.

I spend half the afternoon searching for a suitable birthday present for Applejack, then head back to the dorm.

Monday, April 18, 2016 / Evening

After dinner, Celestia pulls me aside as I'm carrying plates to the kitchen. "I need to speak with you in private once you're done here," she says.

I finish washing dishes and head upstairs. Celestia is waiting outside her door. She opens the door and ushers me inside, then follows me in, closing the door behind her.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

Celestia shakes her head. "Nothing's wrong, I just..." She sits down in the desk chair; I sit on the bed. "I wanted to talk to you."

I nod. "Alright."

"First thing's first," she says. She pierces me with those intimidating principal's eyes. "Be honest with me, Flash. The hacker that caused all the problems for this dorm was Fluttershy, was it not?"

I freeze. "Umm..."

She holds up a hand. "I won't confront her, and she won't be punished...for now. I've been observing the way everyone in this dorm has interacted for some time. For most of March, you were all giving Fluttershy the cold shoulder, and her behavior changed noticeably. After Spring Break, you've all become much more friendly towards her, and she seems to be more...open?" Celestia shrugs. "So...tell me the truth. Was it her?"

I sigh. "Yeah."

"Sunset Shimmer put her up to it?"

I nod.

Celestia sighs. "Alright. As the principal, this is the point at which I should get involved, but I trust you and your friends. I'm going to assume there's a reason you haven't come to me with this yet." She leans forward. "I've watched you, and...you've become a natural leader. It gave me a warm feeling inside when I saw the way your friends stood up for you with your parents. It's been a long time since I've known anyone who could inspire such loyalty and devotion from so many different people from different walks of life.

"I want you to know that I'm going to be pushing very hard for you to be able to graduate from Canterlot High. You've done so much good at my school this past year, I'm not ready to give you up without a fight."

I feel my cheeks heating up. "Thanks."

Celestia shakes her head. "I've never seen one kid stick up for so many different people the way you do. You're an inspiration, and it's for precisely that reason I'm trusting you and your friends to deal with Sunset Shimmer. I do hope that one day, you'll confide everything in me."

I nod. "As soon as Sunset Shimmer's no longer a threat, we'll tell you everything."

"Fair enough." Celestia reaches into her pocket and pulls something out. "I wanted to give you something as a token of my gratitude for all you've done for both my school and for me personally." She offers me an old class ring with an opal stone. I take it, looking at it in confusion.

"It's my class ring from when I went to CHS," Celestia says. "This school's been important to me since I went here, and...I can see that it's as important to you as it is to me. That's why I want you to have this."

"I...don't know what to say. Thank you." I look at the ring.

"Of course, you won't be able to wear it, but...keep it for good luck," Celestia says. "And...keep being the amazing, inspirational young man you are."

She stands up and smooths out her blouse. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get ready for my date with Blaze."

I stand up and slip the ring into my pocket. "How's that going?"

"It's going wonderfully," Celestia says. With a smirk and a wink, she adds, "I found out where Rainbow Dash got her leg fetish from."

"Too much info!"

Celestia laughs. "Goodnight, Flash."

I head back to my room. At the door, I pause, then knock on Twilight's door.

She opens it. "Hey Flash, what's up?"

Without a word, I grab Twilight and drag her into my room...

Author's Notes:

Social Link Status:

0. FOOL (Zodiac Investigation Team): rank 9
I. MAGICIAN (Twilight Sparkle): MAX!
II. PRIESTESS (Fluttershy): rank 3
III. EMPRESS (Rarity): rank 5
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): MAX! (Rank UP!)
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 7
XIV. TEMPERANCE (Sweetie Belle): rank 5
XV. DEVIL (Juan the Janitor): rank 8
XVI. TOWER (Chrysalis): rank 7
XVII. STAR (Pinkie Pie): MAX!
XVIII. MOON (Trixie Lulamoon): MAX!
XIX. SUN (Vinyl Scratch): MAX!
XXI. THE WORLD (Family): rank 1

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The School Principal Social Link has reached its maximum level!

Flash Sentry has mastered the School Principal Link!

The power to create Personas of the Justice Arcana has reached its maximum!

Flash Sentry has forged a bond that cannot be broken!

Flash Sentry can now summon Amaterasu, the Spirit of the Rising Sun!

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(The LTE version of this chapter has additional content.)

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A note on the new Persona revealed in this chapter:

Zef picked Amaterasu as the Justice Persona. Specifcally, we're using Amaterasu from Okami. I have not yet played Okami (for longer than 20 minutes about 5 years ago), so I'm going to have to ask you to be respectful and properly mark Okami spoilers just as you would Persona spoilers. Thank you.