Birthday Horoscope (Sagittarius): You are going to die today.

Zodiac

Gimpy little dyke

I was afraid this would happen...

How much dick do you think Pinkie sucks?

Twilight cheated to win Fall Formal Princess

LOL yeah no way she won legit

But damn, those tits

Yeah

Rainbow looks around. "Uhh...what's goin' on?" She looks freaked out; even in the dark red-black of Zodiac, I can still see the uncertainty in her eyes. "You guys are seein' this too, right?"

"This is bad...I'm unarmed," I say. I look to Pinkie. "We need to find something to protect ourselves with before the Shadows show up."

"I'm good," Pinkie says. She reaches up under her shirt; a moment later, her whip is trailing around her ankles.

"How did...? You know, nevermind." I look around. "Where's Flash?"

"Hey, Cadance? Can you hear us?" Pinkie shouts to the sky. "Nurse Cadance? ...yoo-hoo, Nurse Caaaadaaaaaaaaaance!" Pinkie scratches her head. "Huh. You reckon she hasn't pulled out her naked fun side yet?"

I can see Shadows starting to circle around us. "Pinkie, focus! We're in real trouble here!" I pull out my phone. I call Flash...

"Twilight?"

"Flash! We're in trouble!"

"Where are you?"

"Still in the stands. We were waiting for Rarity to come back from the bathroom."

"I'm on my way," Flash says. "How's Rainbow holding up?"

"She's a little freaked out, but we're with her."

"I'm more than a LITTLE freaked out here, Twi!"

"Flash...Cadance isn't here."

"What?"

"She left to take a call a half hour ago and never came back."

"If we're in Zodiac, she has to be here too. We just have to wait for her to contact us...look, sit tight. I'm on my way."

The ground starts to shake, and Pinkie lets out a scream.

"Hurry...it's coming!" I hang up and brace myself, looking around.

"What the HELL is THAT?!" Rainbow cries, pointing out onto the main court. I follow her finger...

Ahead of me, on the main court, I see an enormous black centaur with insectoid legs and chitinous armor. Each of its arms ends in a large black longbow, and a crossbow is sticking out of the joint between its human half and its horse half. It doesn't have a face; instead, the symbol for Sagittarius is engraved into its featureless black head. Massive, curved black horns jut upward from the sides of its head, and a large ball of fire is burning between them.

"That one's REALLY REALLY SCARY!" Pinkie shrieks, her hair deflating.

"Sagittarius...the Archer..." I shake my head. "Without Cadance, we'll have to figure out its weaknesses ourselves."

"What the FUCK'S going on here?" Rainbow yells. "No, wait, nevermind. We gotta get outta here!"

"That won't do any good," I say. "You're the target. Until either that thing's dead or you are, none of us are going anywhere."

"Whaddya mean I'm the target?" Rainbow demands. "Twilight, what the hell're you talkin' about?"

"We've been dealing with this stuff most of the school year," I say. "These things show up about once a month to attack someone on their birthday. Flash, Pinkie, and I have all been targeted by these things...we think the entire dorm is being targeted, one at a time."

Rainbow's jaw drops. "You're kidding..."

"LOOK OUT!" Pinkie screams, pushing both of us to the ground.

Cruel Attack

A thick arrow of light shoots over our heads.

"This isn't happening," Rainbow says. "This isn't happening..."

"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, but this is real," I say. "We're in trouble..." I look at Sagittarius. "Pinkie...I don't think we can handle this thing without Flash."

"Well call him back and tell him to hurry up!"

I try to call Flash again, but I don't get an answer...

Arrow Rain

Sagittarius unleashes a hailstorm of arrows on us. We scatter, jumping down the stands onto the open court. Sagittarius raises a hoof and stomps it, shaking the ground. I stumble; Pinkie flails and falls down, but Rainbow jumps up into the air just before the ground starts shaking. She lands and runs over to Pinkie, pulling her to her feet.

I run over to them. "Are you alright, Pinkie?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Pinkie says, rubbing her butt. "Stupid horsey-demon-thing!" She pulls out her phone and taps the screen. "PERSONA!"

Euphrosyne appears, skating toward Sagittarius, weaving between arrows.

"Wh-what the HELL?!" Rainbow shouts.

Slam Dance

Euphrosyne hip-checks Sagittarius in the side, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Euphrosyne skates back to Pinkie, fading away halfway toward us.

"My turn," I say, sliding my own Persona app onto my phone. "ATHENA!"

Zio

Athena appears above me and unleashes an electrical attack from her spear, striking Sagittarius right in the "face". Sagittarius thrashes and bellows. The fireball between its horns flares...

Agilao

Athena takes a direct hit; I feel like I'm being burned alive. I drop to the court and begin rolling around, screaming.

"Twilight!" Pinkie yells. She crouches next to me. "Are you okay?"

"It's no good! This Shadow is too strong!" I manage to sit up; the pain is fading, but...I don't think I can take another hit like that. "Where's Flash? Why isn't he here with us?"

"What's up with those big glowing chicks?" Rainbow asks as she kneels next to us. "What the hell's going on here? Please, just...just tell me!"

Pinkie takes a deep breath.

"They're called Personas and they're a power we have inside us that we can summon to fight Shadows like this thing so that they don't kill us because there's no way out of here until the Shadows are all gone and if we get killed here then probably nobody will ever know what happened to us ever and then all our friends and family will be like trying to figure out where we went and it'll just be a really big mess and we'll all just be dead in this scary dark place!"

Rainbow stares at her. "What?"

I sigh. "We can...fight back against the Shadows," I say. "You just...you just have to look for...something." I try to think of a way to explain it. "You need...you need to find a reason to stay alive. The will to fight...to protect yourself, or the people you care about..."

"The will to fight, huh?" Rainbow asks, staring at Sagittarius. It's watching us calmly. Why isn't it attacking?

Rainbow grins. "You know...after all the shit I've been through lately, and...and all the shit I'm still goin' through, gettin' back in shape to play soccer..." She stands up. "I ain't about to let some big overgrown FREAK stop me!"

She pulls out her own phone. The Persona app appears on the screen!

"You wanna kill me?" Rainbow shouts. "JUST TRY IT, BITCH! PERSONA!!"

Assault Dive

Rainbow's Persona explodes into the air on rainbow-colored trails of fire, slamming headlong into Sagittarius. The Shadow staggers from the impact.

"OH YEAH! HAVE ANOTHER, PUNK!"

Garu

Rainbow's Persona unleashes blades of wind that buffet the Shadow, forcing it back.

I stand up and ready my phone.

Come on, Flash...hurry...

We'll do our best to hold out until you get here...

"ATHENA!"