*think her season 5 hair style

**if this were a game, this would be where you go to save

September 2^nd, 2019
Sunday
Rain

Afternoon

play song

The rain was heavy that day. According to the forecast, it was scheduled to rain the whole day like this. Most people in the city didn’t care for rain, so days like this were depressing. Yet, to Starlight Glimmer, the weather was perfect. She loved it when it rained. Honestly, she loved it when it was sunny more, but sometimes it was nice to have a bit of rain. It was a lot like the world itself was crying when it did so, and she felt she could give it a sense of comfort just by being.

She knew it was silly, but she didn’t care.

She looked out at the city she’d be calling home for the next year at least while she waited for her train to stop. This was going to be the first time she’d be going to a regular school since her episode 6 months ago. The city was very pretty, with buildings designed straight out of a fairy tail. She could almost feel the magic in the air.

Which was appropriate. Her akashic records told her she’d find her destiny in this city, and attending the boarding school here.

She adjusted her legs a bit, and sat down in her seat to get more comfortable. She didn’t know how she wanted to present herself, but her style of clothing seemed appropriate. She settled on a dark purple dress that stopped to her knees and looked frayed around the bottom of the skirt and around the ends of her wide sleeves, brown boots with a two inch heel, and of course her most prized possessions on her. One being the blue and white key, which currently dangled at the end of a chain a bit over her well endowed breasts, and the second being the odd silver ring with the indigo gem and pentagram etched inside of it. For make-up, she wore red lipstick and dark purple eye-shadow, and she wore her long purple and light blue hair in a somewhat fancy manner that was almost retro in design*, but matched the gothic look she was going with perfectly.

She was an aspiring witch after all. Had to dress the part, right?

Starlight looked at the ring she now wore on her right ring finger. She wondered if “he” gave that to her as well. She knew that he had given her the key, but she had no idea how beyond it being magic, which was the explanation she accepted. She never told anyone the power this ring had, but she learned it when she tried something on a whim, and slept with it still on her finger. Whenever she wore it, she felt an odd power envelop her, and she found that if she went to sleep wearing it, she’d find herself in an odd space. An endless library filled with an almost infinite supply of books. Books that seemed to possess knowledge on anything she could ever want to learn.

Naturally she read any book she could there on easy to learn magic.

Quickly, she discovered that if she woke up holding the books, she’d have the abilities in her waking world. She didn’t want to overtax herself, so she settled on books on psychic abilities for now. Thanks to that, she’d learned psychic empathy, and could feel a person’s deep emotions when she touched them and reached out to them. In some rare occasions, said person’s emotions would reach out to her from just a minor touch, but only if their inner emotions were truly strong.

None of this she shared with her case worker though. She had a hard enough time convincing him that she was ready to attend a normal boarding school, and she was still on suicide watch. If she told him that her ring gave her psychic abilities, she’d be condemned for sure. In the end, they settled on her attending Canterlot Academy Boarding School for a whole year, and then seeing where her mind was. She’d be joining as a junior, staying in the Starswirl Dorm, named after the great scholar Starswirl the Bearded.

The public thought he was a tad crazy, as he had long proposed the idea that the collective unconscious wasn’t just a mere Jungian concept, but rather it was a place one could enter and explore. It was his works on the subject along with others that lead Starlight to believe that library she entered was some aspect of this collective unconscious.

Starlight had read multiple books on the subject, and discovered a few incidents that seemed to match up with his findings. Three in particular all stood out to her. The first was a journal published by a mysterious author who just used the pen name “Aigis” who spoke of an incident surrounding a hidden hour in between every day. The second that stood out to her spoke of an urban legend surrounding a small town called Inaba, where if one looked into a blank TV on a rainy night they’d see their soulmate. Finally was a more recent account written by a high schooler who was said to be a supporter of these thieves who stole people’s hearts and forced wicked adults to repent for their sins. That one was a bit hard to believe at first, but doing a bit of research showed multiple accounts of criminals being completely unapologetic about their crimes one minute, only to then randomly be overcome with so much guilt that they confess their crimes openly, actually BEGGING for punishment.

It was magic. It had to be magic. Those thieves were already doing what she wanted to do with her life. Meaning the secret to the power she sought after for so long was in the collective unconscious.

It was almost time for her to get off, so she stood up from her seat, grabbed her luggage, and made her way to the nearest entrance to the train. On her way, she noticed a newspaper with the headline Nightmare Epidemic Continues.

She’d heard a bit about that, but since she didn’t watch TV she didn’t know too much about it. She shrugged and continued out of the train. Not like that applied to her at all.

Now off the train, Starlight began making her way to the address she copied in her phone. The Starswirl Dorm wasn’t the closest to the school itself, but it was only a train ride away. Thankfully she was supposed to get a pass that would let her ride the train for free, so fair wouldn’t be a problem. The head of her dorm, who doubled as her homeroom/history teacher, offered to drive her to school on the first day since she didn’t have the pass yet. Starlight wondered what sort of people she’d meet in her dorm. Was the head of the dorm nice? Would she like her dorm mates?

Would they like her?

It didn’t take long to find the four story building that she’d be calling home for the next year. Standing in front of the door, she took a deep breath. Her destiny waited for her beyond this door. Once she was certain her beating heart was calm enough, she walked up the stairs, lowered her umbrella, and opened the door.

end song

Inside was quiet and humble. The first floor looked like a large living room, with three couches joined in a small circle, a door leading to the kitchen in the back, what looked like a restroom off to the side (probably one of many in a building like this) and a front desk next to the front door. She also saw stairs leading up to where she assumed the bedrooms were.

Lying on one of the couches was what Starlight assumed was one of her dorm mates. The best way to describe this girl was “fun”, due to the air she gave off. She had long, wavy pink hair, baby blue eyes, and was wearing a pink top, long blue skirt that fell to her ankles, a gold and white jacket over top, and black shoes. She also wore blue earrings shaped like balloons, and for make up just wore light pink lipstick.

She was also currently reading what looked like a manga.

Starlight cleared her throat to get the girls attention. Immediately the girl sat up, and when she laid eyes onto Starlight she perked up immediately.

play song

“Oh! You’re the last one we’re expecting today!” the girl chirped, her voice somehow sounding pink. She set her book down, and stood up walking over to Starlight, “Hiya! My name’s Pinkamena Diane Pie, but all of my friends call me Pinkie Pie!”

“Starlight Glimmer,” Starlight said shaking the girl’s hand, “It’s nice to meet you, Pinkie Pie.”

Immediately Pinkie Pie beamed, shaking Starlight’s hand so quickly that she swore their hands blurred for a second, “Nice to meet you too, Starlight! Can I just say that I love your style? The whole gothic look really works for you.”

Starlight thanked Pinkie Pie, giving her a kind smile. She had a feeling she was going to like this girl.

Pinkie Pie escorted Starlight over to the front desk, “This is the sign-in sheet. Students have to sign their names here every time they enter and exit the dorm.**” Pinkie Pie explained. Starlight looked at the book on the desk and saw that sure enough, there were two different pages. One was for coming in, where she saw quite a few names above where she’d sign hers: the first was the name “Twilight Sparkle” in kind of sloppy handwriting, underneath hers was Pinkie Pie’s name, next was someone named Rainbow Dash, who's name was also on the out section, and the final name was someone named Beatrix Lulamoon, who dotted her “i” with a heart.

Lulamoon? Where had Starlight heard that name before?

Starlight shrugged it off internally and signed her name underneath Beatrix’s name. As she did so, Pinkie Pie leaned forward a bit, looking at Starlight intently.

“That’s pretty,” she said, catching Starlight’s attention, “That key you wear around your neck. Can I see it?”

Starlight was a bit reluctant, and had to fight the urge to clutch the key possessively. Still, this girl didn’t seem like a bad person, just curious. She decided to trust Pinkie Pie, and slowly removed the key from her neck and handed it to the pink haired girl. Starlight felt so naked without it.

“Oooh, this thing feels mysterious,” Pinkie Pie noted, “What does it open?”

“I don't know,” Starlight said with a shrug, “It was given to me by someone I met six months ago who saved my life.” As she spoke of him, a flash of the long nosed man sitting at his desk appeared in her mind’s eye.

She wondered how Igor was doing.

“That sounds so cool,” Pinkie Pie said handing the key back to Starlight, “You’re so enigmatic. I love it!”

Starlight was wide eyed as she put the key back around her neck. That surprised her. Most people were kind of turned off by the gothic vibe she gave off.

“Don’t be too shocked,” Pinkie Pie said, quickly running over to her book and then back to Starlight, showing it to her, “I’ll admit it right now, I’m a huge anime buff, mainly the magical girl genre.”

Starlight looked at the manga, titled “Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon”. The blond haired girl on the cover had the same bright eyed expression as the girl holding it, almost like they could be the same person or something.

She told Pinkie Pie that the main character looked similar to her, making said pink haired teen gush visibly.

“You have no idea how happy that makes me! I really look up to Usagi. A lot of people say I’m like her, for better and for worse at times,” she giggled rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. Starlight didn’t know much about Sailor Moon sadly, but she did know a bit about anime, and this girl did kind of feel like a living anime character.

“Come on,” Pinkie Pie said taking Starlight’s hand earnestly, “I’ll show you around the dorm while we go over the rules!”

Starlight wasn’t used to such immediate or intimate contact, but she couldn’t help but smile when she looked into Pinkie Pie’s eyes. Somehow, she just felt like this girl loved her from the moment she laid eyes on her. Starlight nodded and allowed Pinkie Pie to escort her around the dorm.

The dorm was quite comfortable. On the second and third floor were mostly bedrooms, one bedroom on the second floor having a clear “do not disturb” sign on the front, which Pinkie Pie told Starlight belonged to Twilight Sparkle. She was also advised to keep noise to a minimum around the door, which Starlight found a bit odd.

Was she asleep in there or something?

Just as Starlight thought, there were bathrooms on each floor, the ones on the second and third floor being where the showers were. It sounded like someone was in the second floor shower.

As they walked, Pinkie Pie filled Starlight in on the dorm rules, which were pretty easy to follow. The dorm was an all girl’s dorm (Starlight was thankful for that) but boys were allowed in as long as they were invited by one of the people in the dorm. That surprised Starlight a bit, but she assumed that the headmistress, who she eventually learned was named “Celestia” trusted the girls.

Starlight would be careful not to ever breach that trust.

Curfew was at eight on week days and Sunday, and on Friday and Saturday was at eleven. Beyond general rules of respecting the fellow dorm mates, not leaving a mess on the first floor or kitchen, and no blasting music through the dorm, it was pretty easy to follow.

“So, what do you think?” Pinkie Pie asked when she and Starlight went back into the kitchen, “Pretty simple, right?”

“Honestly, I feel less like I’m in a dorm and more like I’m in an apartment,” Starlight said.

“That’s the idea. Miss Tia said she wants us to feel like this is a home and safe haven. You’ll love her. She’s really nice, and a fantastic cook. She cooks breakfast every morning.”

That made Starlight really happy. Of all the things she was, a cook wasn’t one of them. Starlight asked Pinkie Pie if Celestia was in at the moment.

“I’m not sure, honestly,” Pinkie Pie said thoughtfully, “She kinda comes and goes. She’s nice, but a bit of a mystery. A lot like you, actually.”

Now Starlight was really curious about this Celestia. She hoped they’d like each other.

“Will I have a roommate?” Starlight asked Pinkie Pie.

“Yep. Thinking about the order you came in, that means your roommate is-” her eyes widened, and then she looked at Starlight almost apologetically, “Oooh, I’m sorry Starlight.”

When Starlight tilted her head in confusion, Pinkie Pie continued.

“Well, we agreed that we’d decide who got which room based on the order we came in. Twilight has her own room, so since I was first and Rainbow Dash was second, she and I are roommates. You came in after Beatrix, so that means you two are roommates.”

Was that a bad thing? Starlight asked Pinkie Pie, her heart racing for some reason.

“I mean, she used to be really sweet, if a tad over the top. Sometime last year though, she well…” before Pinkie Pie could finish, the door swung open and someone stormed in.

play song

“Out of my way,” the girl said, shoving Pinkie Pie out of her way and into a wall.

“Ah!” Pinkie Pie cried, catching herself on the wall and giving the new girl a stern look, “You know, you could say "excuse me", Beatrix.”

“Whatever,” Beatrix said walking over to the refrigerator and looking inside, "I swear to God, Rainbow Dash better not have eaten my leftovers."

Starlight looked at the girl and frowned. She was really gorgeous, with long light blue hair with a white highlight, sharp purple eyes made up with blue eye-shadow, and rose red lipstick. It was her clothes that threw Starlight for a loop though. A skimpy blue top that showed a lot of cleavage, matching mini-skirt that was way too short, fishnet stockings that were slightly torn on the left leg, and blue high heeled boots.

That wasn’t all that caught Starlight’s attention though. The vibe she gave off seemed wrong. Dark, and somber, almost like she had a dark cloud over her constantly.

Beatrix looked up from the refrigerator at Starlight and raised an eyebrow, “What do you want, freak? See something you like? Sorry, but I’m taken.”

Starlight wasn’t sure how she felt about being called “freak” or Beatrix’s harsh tone. Part of her wanted to be offended, but something was seriously wrong with this girl, she could feel it.

“I’m actually glad you’re seeing her, Beatrix,” Pinkie Pie said, walking over to Starlight and putting her hands on her shoulder, “Starlight, this is Beatrix Lulamoon. Beatrix, this is Starlight Glimmer, your roommate,” she emphasized with a smirk and narrowed eyes. Beatrix’s eyes widened, and then her expression twisted into a bit of a scowl.

“Wait, this is my roommate?! Ugh! Why did I have to get the wicked witch of the west?!”

Well… she did get the witch part right. Still, this girl’s attitude was not going to make it easy to have friends. Starlight thought hard about what to do in this situation, as part of her wanted to call her out for her attitude. Instead though, she chose to be the bigger person.

“I… don’t know what it is you dislike about me, but since we’re going to be roommates, I’m hoping you and I can become friends,” Starlight walked over to Beatrix and held out her hand, feeling a bit more graceful from that action. Beatrix looked at Starlight oddly, almost like she wanted something, but didn’t know how to ask for it. In the end though, she sighed and reluctantly took Starlight’s hand.

“Nice to… meet you I guess…” Beatrix said as their hands met.

HELP ME! PLEASE!

Starlight’s eyes were wide from that, and she swallowed nervously. It felt like Beatrix was… screaming for help? That’s the first time she felt something like that.

“What's wrong with you?” Beatrix asked harshly, bringing Starlight back to reality, “You’re really freaking me out, you know that?”

Starlight apologized and released her tense roommate’s hand, still trying to process what just happened.

“Whatever. Look, I’m not looking for a friend. So don’t get involved with me. Seriously, just leave me alone, okay?”

Starlight didn’t like what she was feeling, but she relented, walking back over to Pinkie Pie, who sat down at the table.

“Yeah… sorry about that,” Pinkie Pie said as Starlight sat down, “Like I said, Beatrix used to be really sweet. These days she's kind of unbearable to deal with.”

“You know I can hear you,” Beatrix said, pulling out a tin of what looked like left over Chinese Food and putting it in the microwave.

“Oooh, does that mean you’ll take what I said to heart and stop being such an antisocial bitch?” Pinkie Pie asked with a genuinely hopeful smile on her. When Beatrix flipped her the middle finger as a response, Pinkie Pie sighed, “Well, a girl can dream.”

Starlight’s eyes went back to Beatrix, who she suddenly noticed looked really uncomfortable waiting for her food to heat. She held her arms under her bosom, and at one point she looked like she tried in vain to pull her skirt down a bit. If Starlight didn’t know better, she’d assume Beatrix felt… uncomfortable dressed so provocatively.

Odd. Why dress like that if she didn’t want to?

Starlight looked back at the table, where she saw another newspaper talking about the Nightmare Epidemic.

“Pretty scare stuff, huh?” Pinkie Pie said, reaching over to grab the newspaper, “Looks like there was another death concerning that last month.”

Wait, death?!

“What’s the Nightmare Epidemic?” Starlight asked. Beatrix snorted dismissively.

“Oh my God, do you live under a rock?” she asked rolling her eyes, “That’s like, common knowledge.”

“I don’t watch TV,” Starlight explained, choosing to ignore her roommate’s bad attitude, “We didn’t have one where I was staying before here, and there’s too much manipulation in the media.”

“Fuck, one of those New Age freaks…” Beatrix said under her tongue.

“You stay over there,” Pinkie Pie scolded, “Ignoring the dragon, the Nightmare Epidemic is this weird phenomenon going on all over America. Apparently, you start having the same dream every night, which eventually becomes a nightmare. After I think a week or so, the victims die in their sleep.”

“Jesus Christ…” Starlight breathed out, placing a hand over her heart, “They haven’t found out why this is happening either?”

Pinkie Pie shook her head, “Nope, and the scary thing is that it doesn’t seem to spread through any known means. Also, the people who have these dreams can’t be awoken until they wake up on their own. I hear their bodies are like corpses while they sleep.”

This… was starting to freak Starlight out a bit, and she oddly found herself nursing the ring around her finger.

“It’s fake,” Beatrix said immediately, pulling her food out of the microwave, and flicking her wrist lightly, making a pair of chopsticks appear as if out of nowhere, “Probably just some new mental illness or something, or the people were sick before hand.”

“No way,” Pinkie Pie shook her head, “My sister Maud is a nurse, and she’s seen a number of patients who report suffering the Nightmare Epidemic. She says they’re all perfectly healthy, if not obviously stressed out.”

“Well, sucks to be them, I suppose,” Beatrix said, “I’m going to eat on the porch before I go see Blueblood. Tell Ms. Tia I’ll be back by curfew.”

Beatrix passed by Starlight’s chair, brushing against her lightly.

NO! DON’T LET ME LEAVE! YOU HAVE TO STOP ME!

“Um!” Starlight shot up from her chair on impulse, making Beatrix stop and turn to Starlight with a clearly annoyed expression.

“What is it now?” Beatrix groaned. Starlight didn’t know what to say to her, or why she felt like she needed to say something. It was clear that this girl had no intentions of opening up to her, but still… she felt that if she did nothing…

“M-maybe you shouldn’t go out right now…” Starlight said nervously, “It’s um… raining pretty badly, and… uh…”

“My boyfriend is expecting me,” Beatrix fussed, “So unless you’ve got a good reason for me to stay here, I’m leaving.”

On one hand, she didn’t have a good reason. She was going solely off of what she felt. However, she just had a feeling that something really bad was going to happen to her roommate unless she stopped her. Sadly, try as she might, she couldn’t work up the courage to speak up again, so she closed her eyes and sighed.

“That’s what I thought,” Beatrix said turning toward the door and leaving without so much as a goodbye. Starlight bit her lip nervously, wishing she knew what was going on. Why was she getting the sensation that Beatrix was in serious trouble? Was this just her being paranoid?

Or was her intuition telling her that she needed help, and fast?

“Are you okay?” Pinkie Pie asked, taking Starlight’s hand and squeezing it gently, “You seem really pale?”

Starlight nodded, rubbing her eyes. Maybe she was just tired. She remembered that she left her luggage in the living room, and hadn’t unpacked yet. She turned to Pinkie Pie and said she was going to head up to her room to rest.

“Okay. I’m probably going to head back to my room and wait for Dashie to come in,” Pinkie Pie hugged Starlight from behind, “Don’t let Beatrix bring you down, okay? You and I are definitely friends, so I’ll look out for you.”

Starlight smiled and thanked Pinkie Pie. She was still a bit taken by how affectionate she was, but she didn’t mind at all. At least she had one friend so far.

play song

She went back to the living room to get her bag, but stopped when she saw someone sitting next to her bag. This time she met an older woman in her late twenties to mid thirties. She had impossibly long multi-colored hair almost like a pale rainbow or aurora, pink eyes that almost looked red in the light, and was wearing a white kimono with a fancy flower pattern that rested off her shoulders, showing off her unbelievably large bust line, golden heeled sandals that were tied up her shapely legs, a red band in the middle keeping the kimono closed, which gathered into a large red ribbon behind her, and for make-up she wore black eye liner and rose red lipstick. She looked almost like a goddess.

When the mysterious woman looked at Starlight, she on instinct stepped back a bit. This woman’s aura was stronger than any aura Starlight had felt since becoming a witch in training. It almost hurt looking at her, like she were staring at the sun.

“Don’t worry,” the woman said, her voice almost too normal sounding for her appearance, “I don’t bite. I’ve been waiting to meet you, Starlight Glimmer.”

How did this woman know her name? She must have read it on the sign in sheet or something. Did that mean she was…

“Are you… Celestia?” Starlight asked, slowly walking over to the couch to get her bag.

“Please, call me Ms. Tia,” Celestia said with a gentle smile, “That’s what all of my children call me these days,” right when Starlight reached for her bag, Celestia leaned over it and held out her hand, “It’s wonderful to finally meet you in person, Starlight Glimmer.”

Not wanting to be rude, but still taken aback by how forward this woman was, Starlight shook her hand, immediately feeling something come over her. As she looked into Celestia’s eyes, she couldn’t help but feel like she did know Starlight somehow. Almost like she always knew Starlight.

She almost felt… like a mother.

“While you stay here, I don’t want you to think of me as just your teacher,” Celestia said gently, “If there’s anything at all that you need, don’t hesitate to ask me. I’ll do everything in my power to help you, okay honey?”

Starlight nodded slowly, lightly pulling her hand away and grabbing her school bag. As she went upstairs to her room, she couldn’t stop the racing of her heart. Like with Beatrix, she felt something very powerful from Celestia. But unlike with Beatrix, she didn’t feel a sensation of someone crying for help. It felt more like Celestia had somehow spoken to her heart itself.

“So that’s the one I’ve been waiting for,” Celestia said, folding her arms and smiling thoughtfully, “She clearly has the potential, but it's still asleep. I wonder, will you be the answer to God’s prayers, Starlight Glimmer?”

end song

Nighttime

Once she finished unpacking, Starlight took the time to lie down on her bed and meditate on the day behind her. She felt the room’s energy, and he could honestly feel like it was a home of sorts. She did feel something akin to a barrier from the other side of the room though, like something was repelling her.

That just made her even more worried about her roommate.

She heard someone else come up the stairs at around 6 o'clock, entering the room next to her. She assumed that was Rainbow Dash, since she knew that was where Pinkie Pie’s room was. She figured she’d wait till tomorrow to introduce herself to Rainbow Dash, since it was so late. Besides, she was starting to get sleepy.

Her thoughts then drifted to Celestia, who she heard moving around the dorm a bit before disappearing upstairs. Just who was that woman? Starlight still wasn’t sure if her suspicions of her seeing her name on the sign-in sheet was accurate or not. Sure, it made sense, but the air of familiarity she used when they spoke made Starlight wonder. Did she know her from somewhere?

As far as Starlight could remember, they’d never met in her life.

Before Starlight could drift off, Beatrix walked into the room. She stopped when she saw Starlight laying there, and quickly narrowed her eyes.

“Oh, right. You’re here now,” she said with a sigh.

“I think we got off on the wrong foot,” Starlight said sitting up, “I don’t know why you hate me, but if we’re going to be roommates then we should try to become friends at least. It would be easier to live together that way.”

To Starlight’s surprise, Trixie held her arm and turned away, looking pained and apologetic.

“Look, you seem like a really nice girl, and it’s sweet that you’re reaching out to me so much, but don’t bother. I can’t be friends with you, or anyone right now, so just leave me alone, please,” she practically begged.

Starlight didn’t understand what was going on with Beatrix. It seemed like she was adamant about pushing her away, yet at the same time clearly didn’t want to be alone right now. She wanted help with something, but why was she so guarded?

Realizing that she wasn’t going to get anywhere with her right now, Starlight once again just relented with a sigh and nodded. Beatrix walked over to her bed, grabbed what was apparently her towel, and went off to shower, confusing Starlight as to why she was going off to undress out of the room. They were both girls, after all, so it wasn’t like it was an issue.

Starlight shook her head, choosing not to think about it right now. Tomorrow was the first day of school, so she needed to make sure she was well rested. Once Beatrix finished her shower, Starlight took her shower and then went to bed to prepare for tomorrow.

play song

When Starlight opened her eyes, she wasn’t where she thought she’d be. Normally she ended up in the Akashic Records when slept with her ring on. This time however, she was somewhere else. The sky was pitch black save for a single white full moon in the sky, and she was in a dark forest. She looked around a bit, but then gave a shudder. Wherever she was, she didn’t feel safe here at all. In fact, she felt like she was in constant danger, almost like she was being watched by something or someone.

She knew she was dreaming. Her physical body was asleep, but the spiritual body could exist independently of the physical. She learned a while ago about something called “Astral Projection” and “Lucid Dreaming”, and quickly learned that whenever she wore her ring, her body was sent outward into the Astral Realm. She’d never been anywhere else, but she loved the Akashic Records. So many books there, and she could read them in the library, or just take them with her when she woke up and she’d be able to recall their knowledge herself.

But she wasn’t there right now. There Starlight always felt safe. Here though… she felt like she was in constant danger.

Silently questioning where she was, she looked ahead and saw what looked like a carnival and circus. The tent seemed a lot larger than a normal tent in the distance, and there was something about the rides that made Starlight uneasy. Still, that was the only place she could think to explore right now, so she chose to head in that direction. Maybe she could get some answers there. Something within her subconscious wanted her to be here for some reason, and she had the feeling that she wasn’t going to return to familiar sights until she understood said reason.

“That's odd…” a young girl said, adjusting her glasses as she looked at the image on her monitor, “Ms. Tia, someone is in Lulamoon’s Dungeon right now.”

“Is that so?” Celestia said in a manner that hinted at a lack of surprise. She leaned forward close to the monitor herself, standing next to the purple haired girl, “I’m certain that’s the one we're waiting for. Watch her, but don’t reveal yourself just yet. We can’t afford to risk waking her prematurely.”

“Until she awakens to her Persona, I know,” the girl said with a sigh, “How do you know she’ll even awaken to a Persona?”

“Trust me, she will,” Celestia said folding her arms thoughtfully, “I saw it in her eyes. She has the fire needed to call forth one, but right now it’s still a small ember. It was strong enough to send her into the Phase though, and right into Miss Lulamoon’s dream. She’ll awaken, Twilight. Trust me.”

“I just wonder if it’ll be in time to save this victim,” Twilight put her full focus on the monitor, “We’ve had such good luck so far, after all.”

“Try to have a little faith, my student,” Celestia urged. Twilight shook her head and just focused on this new person in the Phase. She didn’t believe in Gods or miracles per say, but she did know that Personas were real, despite not having one herself.

All she could do was hope she was about to witness one awaken very soon. Lulamoon was running out of time.

As Starlight approached the circus, it became really apparent she wasn’t in a place that was safe. The carnival rides all looked incredibly dangerous, with spikes and flaming hoops everywhere. The games all seemed to be reminiscent of various means of torture. Finally, the snacks on sale didn’t look appealing at all, looking like either bugs or rotten food.

It was like she was in a carnival from hell itself.

That wasn’t the only thing that stood out to Starlight though. As she walked, she noticed all of the patrons around her, and they looked off to her. Despite all wearing normal clothing, all of the patrons had black skin, red eyes, and were wearing masks that completely covered their faces.

Were these… demons?

She stopped when she saw a poster for the main attraction for the day. It showed Beatrix, wearing a skimpy blue leotard like a playboy bunny that showed off a truly indecent amount of cleavage, fishnet stockings, and the same make-up she wore in the dorm. The picture was a close up, but it was apparent her wrists were being held above her head by something, and her expression was one of both pain and fear. Behind her was a shadowy figure with red eyes and a sinister grin.

Starlight’s thoughts went back to when Beatrix touched her before, and the panic she felt from her. Her expression on the picture felt like it matched the urgency in her voice. Was she having a dream based on that experience?

Looking around, it was clear that the dream environment was fixed, so she figured her best bet was to go see this main attraction herself. It took a while, and she wasn’t about to ask anyone there where the show was being held, but after a bit of searching, she found what appeared to be a stage surrounded by a bunch of bleachers, enough to almost tower over the stage itself.

play song

It was the stage itself that showed Starlight what she really wanted to see though. On the stage she saw Beatrix wearing the skimpy outfit on the poster, along with blue high heels. Her wrists were in shackles held above her head by a wooden support beam, and her back was turned to the audience. Starlight saw a number of painful cuts on her back, and it looked like Beatrix was practically hanging from her wrists, but still trying to keep standing.

Pacing behind her was a young man with blond hair, yellow eyes, and pale skin. He was dressed like a ring master, wearing the red jacket, black pants and dress shoes, and top hat to fit the role, and in his hands was a bloody whip which he gripped the other end tightly in his other hand.

“Don’t give out on me now, slut,” the man said with a slight British accent, his voice slightly distorted and sounding demonic, “You’ve been doing such a wonderful job, it would be a shame if you expired on our fans at this point. They all want to hear your screams of agony and pain.”

“Y-yes Master…” Beatrix said weakly, “I… I can keep going…”

“You’d better,” the man said, “Not like you have much of a choice!!” he shouted, lashing out with the whip and striking Beatrix’s back. Based on both how bloody the wound was, and how loudly Beatrix screamed, he was intentionally striking to cause her pain.

Starlight winced slightly turning away. She was familiar with BDSM, and she knew that some people liked this sort of thing. She had nothing against that sort of thing, and sometimes even fantasized about it herself. This felt off though. More like Beatrix was just being tortured.

The ring leader struck her a few more times, each strike earning another loud scream from the girl front and center on the stage.

“Tell me what I want to hear, Beatrix,” the ring leader commanded, gripping Beatrix by the hair.

“Ahh!” she screamed in shock before catching herself, “T-thank you Master… please strike me more...” as she spoke, she closed her eyes and broke down a bit. It was clear to Starlight that she did not want to be here at the moment.

“That’s a good whore,” the ring leader said smacking Beatrix on the butt, “This is exactly where you belong, after all. Under my command, and doing what I say. Without me, you’ll never amount to anything.”

Beatrix whimpered weakly at what the ring leader said.

“Isn’t that right?!” he shouted to the crowd, “Isn’t this much better than any weak performance she puts on herself?!”

Much to Starlight’s disbelief, the crowd cheered loudly in confirmation. She looked around at the people, and then looked back on the stage at Beatrix. If she was seeing her expression correctly, she looked completely defeated. Like someone who had completely given up on fighting back, or on life in general.

Just like herself six months ago...

Are you just going to stand there and do nothing?

She’s given up on herself, but you haven’t given up on her yet, have you?

That voice again. It was the same voice Starlight heard six months ago. It was the same voice that urged her to keep living. It sounded like her voice, just stronger. At the same time, Starlight felt something inside of her change. Her heart was racing, and she was having somewhat dark thoughts, unlike any she’d ever had. Thoughts of running onto the stage and yanking that whip out of his hands. Thoughts of taking said whip to him, and showing him how he liked it. Thoughts of setting this entire circus ablaze.

Yes… Yes…! Yes!

That’s what you want to do, isn’t it? You want to make them suffer for hurting your roommate!

Why don’t we?

“Why… don’t we…?” Starlight asked, holding her hand to her heart as it began to beat out of her chest, almost painfully so. Surprisingly though, what this dark voice was saying made sense.

These sadists are nothing but scum! They’re the lowest of low!

I hate them, and I know you hate them too!

It’s okay to hate them. They’re monsters, after all.

“I… I do…!” Starlight gripped her chest and gritted her teeth. Something inside of her felt that she needed to be afraid of these thoughts running through her mind, but she slowly lost the ability to care. These new thoughts, that felt like her own yet foreign at the same time, were beginning to invade her mind.

Then let your hatred for them consume you!

Don’t stand by and watch this! Take action!

Do something! Anything!

END THIS CHARADE RIGHT NOW!

end song

“LEAVE HER ALONE!” Starlight screamed at the top of her lungs.

And almost instantly wished she hadn’t.

Everything stopped in that moment. The ring leader lowered his whip and slowly looked around with narrowed eyes. At the same time, every person watching the demonic show turned to look at Starlight, and she almost felt a few people who weren’t watching the show were looking at her. It was as if the entire dream itself had become aware of her presence.

That burst of courage she had before was giving way to an incredible fear.

“Who… said that…?” the ring leader said, his eyes landing on Starlight’s and pointing to her, “You… you’re not from this world, are you?”

Not from this world? What was he talking about? This was her dream, wasn’t it?

“Answer me!” the ring leader shouted, now walking toward Starlight, “What are you? How did you get into this place?! Are you… one with the gift…?”

Gift? What did that mean?! Where was she if she wasn’t in her own dream?! Why did the ring leader act like he could fully perceive her?! Was she in some sort of danger now?

“You don’t have one, otherwise you’d summon it by now,” the ring leader said, “Still, why did you interrupt my show?”

“B-because… what you’re doing is w-wrong…!” Starlight said, trying to gather what little courage she had left. The ring leader laughed arrogantly.

“I’m just giving it to her just how she likes it! Isn’t that right, Beatrix?” he walked back over to Beatrix, and turned her around enough where she could see Starlight and gripped her by the cheeks, “Tell her how much you like it.”

“I… it’s true…!” Beatrix said, closing her eyes and trembling as tears streamed down her cheeks, “I… I love Master… and the sweet pain he… blesses me with…!”

No… no that was wrong. Starlight could see it on her. She didn’t love this at all. She remembered the voice she heard that was screaming for help, and she could easily see this person crying out to her just like that.

“I don’t believe you!” Starlight said tightening her fists, “Let her go NOW!”

The ring leader narrowed his eyes, “I see. Seize her! She’s not one of us, but maybe she could be fun to play with too!”

play song

Starlight looked around her, and noticed a few bouncers also wearing masks approaching her. She didn’t know what to do. Part of her wanted to run, but if she did, then Beatrix would…

“Run!”

Starlight turned to Beatrix suddenly wide eyed.

“Please, save yourself!” Beatrix begged, “Don’t let them-”

SLAP

“Shut up wench!” the ring leader commanded, “I didn’t give you permission to speak!”

That was sadly the opening she needed, as Starlight used that opportunity to book it away from the stage.

“Don’t let that one escape!” the ring leader commanded in the distance. Starlight didn’t stop running though. Still, she had no idea where she was going.

“Ms. Tia, the shadows are going to attack her! She hasn’t awakened yet though, and I don’t think it’s going to happen this!”

“Damn it, we don’t have a choice!” Celestia said urgently, “Twilight, get her to the entrance! I refuse to lose her to the shadows!”

“Understood!” Twilight said, now typing furiously on her terminal.

“Hey! You in the purple dress! Can you hear my voice?”

Starlight turned a corner and looked around. She thought she heard someone calling out to her. They sounded almost like they were talking to her from some sort of machine.

“Good, you can hear me. Listen, I’m going to get you out of there, but you have to do exactly what I tell you to do, okay?”

Starlight nodded in confirmation, her heart beating so fast that she wanted to cry right now. This was easily the most terrifying thing she’d ever experienced.

“I know you’re scared, but everything will be okay. I’ll get you back to safety. Now, move forward until you see the snack stand, and then turn right. Don’ t stop running, no matter what, okay?”

Starlight nodded and took off in the direction the unknown voice said to. They sounded like a girl about her age, give or take a year.

“I see her! She’s over there!” one of the masked men shouted, catching the attention of a few others there.

“Don’t stop!” the mysterious girl requested, “No matter what, you can’t let them catch you! If you do, you’ll be trapped in the nightmare too!”

Starlight didn’t know what that meant, but she had no intention of figuring out. Once she reached the snack stand, she turned right like the voice said. The men in masks were closing in on her, and she could see two more masked men waiting for her.

“They won’t catch you!” the girl said, “Right in front of the water gun game, turn left!”

Starlight did as was requested, and not only did the men waiting for her miss, but the ones chasing her bumped into them knocking them over. Up ahead, Starlight saw the black forest she entered from, and a silver door that almost looked to be glowing.

“That door will get you out of there! Use that to return to the Akashic Records! There you can wake up normally!”

Starlight wasted no time, jumping through the door to freedom right before another mask wearing mask grabbed her foot.

play song

Starlight fell to the ground and looked up around her. Instead of being in a dark forest, she was instead in what looked like a large library. She shot to her feet and ran to the end of the platform she stood on and looked around. She was in an endless library, filled with what was probably an infinite supply of books, probably on every subject in the world, both minor and major.

The Akashic Records. She was safe now.

Starlight fell to her knees still holding onto the railing in front of her for support, and let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She then broke down and cried deep, loud, and heavy sobs. The only time she ever cried this hard was when her mother died six months ago. She didn’t even know why she was crying. Was it because she was so terrified of what just happened?

Or was it because she had a terrible feeling that her roommate was still stuck in that horrible place right now?

Starlight calmed down as much as she could and turned to see where she came from. Behind her she saw a black barred gate in front of a red vortex. That was where she just came from, wasn’t it? Even from here she could feel the sense of wrongness from that door.

But the scary thing was, part of her wanted to go back there.

She couldn’t keep her eyes open. Rather than find a book to calm her nerves, Starlight fell to the ground and let the darkness take her. She’d worry about leaving the records when she woke up.

end song

Twilight sighed in relief and sat back in her chair, “She’s safe, Ms. Tia. I don’t know when she’ll get out of the Akashic Records, but she’s not on the run from Shadows anymore.”

“That’s, good Twilight,” Celestia said distantly.

“So what now? She clearly didn’t awaken. Maybe she doesn’t have the potential after all,” Twilight shrugged.

“No, she does,” Celestia said, “I know she does. This wasn’t enough to push her to awaken this time, but I know she has the potential. She just needs more time.”

“Being completely honest Ms. Tia, I don’t know if Lulamoon has more time,” Twilight said, “The shadows know that someone entered her Dungeon now, and right before that girl ran off, I think Lulamoon called out to her. She’s going to be effected a lot more now.”

“She won’t die, Twilight,” Celestia pressed, “I have faith in both Starlight and Beatrix. Beatrix will live, and Starlight will be the one to save her.”

Twilight folded her arms and sighed, “How do you know? How do you know this Starlight won’t succumb to the nightmare just like Lulamoon?”

“Because I have faith in the strength of humanity,” Celestia turned to the door and walked off, “I know she has the power, and she will awaken to it, even if I have to find a way to force it.”

Celestia left the room, leaving Twilight by herself with her thoughts. Why she was so adamant she had no idea, but based on how many symptoms Beatrix was showing now, she didn’t have much time left. She needed someone to rescue her now.

She needed, a Persona User.