I look around the locker room for anything that I can use as a weapon. I don't think a tennis racket will do much good against a Zodiac Shadow...

My phone rings. It's Twilight.

...our phones work in here?

"Flash! We're in trouble!"

"Where are you?"

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

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

"She's a little freaked out, but we're with her." A pause. "Flash...Cadance isn't here."

"What?"

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

Damn...! "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."

"Hurry...it's coming!"

Twilight hangs up. I frown as I look around again. There's no time to find a weapon...

I head for the door to the locker room. I have to cross the practice court to get to the main court. I can't see the stands from here.

As I'm running across the practice court, a hexagonal red-and-black barrier suddenly forms all around me, cutting off the practice courts from the rest of the world.

Where do you think YOU'RE going?

Suddenly, the Persona user from that night is standing in front of me. Only she looks...different. Where before, she was shrouded in a loose, ill-fitting mish-mash of black cloth and leather, today...

She's wearing knee-high black leather boots, a short black skirt, a black crop top, and black leather gloves, as well as a hooded black cape. Her legs, arms, and midriff are covered in dark grey nylon. Her figure is trim, fit, and toned. Her face is hidden behind a blank white mask with narrow red eyeslits.

She's holding a metal staff in her right hand.

Without you, those girls are dead. They don't have a hope in hell of beating Sagittarius. But YOU...you're dangerous.

She twirls her staff like an expert.

So I'll just deal with you myself.

"Who ARE YOU?" I yell. There's nothing around here I can use as a weapon...it's just me, my own strength, and my Personas...

I'm your executioner.

"Are you Sunset Shimmer? ANSWER ME!"

You're STILL stuck on her? What, do you have a boner for her or something? LOL...

"Well if you're not Sunset Shimmer, then who are you?"

Like I'd tell you.

She tilts her head.

I guess you can call me Eris. Not that it's going to matter in about five minutes.

Strike Attack

Eris charges at me, swinging her staff. There's nothing I can do except...

"ARAHABAKI!"

The massive stone form of Arahabaki appears between me and Eris. Her staff impacts it with a loud clang.

As Arahabaki fades from view, I lunge forward, punching Eris in the midsection. She doubles over, but tries to sweep my legs with her staff.

It hits with the same loud ringing noise. I don't even feel it.

She backs away warily. I fold my arms.

"I don't actually have to use my Persona," I explain. "As long as it resides in my mind..."

You share its strengths and weaknesses.

Eris mocks my folded-arm pose.

Clever. So you've managed to learn how things work in here.

She pulls out her phone. In a flash of red, her Persona appears.

Garula

A powerful gust of wind buffets me. I cross my arms in front of my face, grunting against the force of her attack.

Hm. Looks like your Persona isn't immune to wind.

"No, but this one is! GARUDA!"

I switch Personas just in time; Eris' second powerful wind attack rebounds, scattering as it strikes her.

Arrow Rain

Garuda soars up into the sky and rains down a storm of arrows. Eris covers her head with her arms; her Persona moves to cover her, shrieking as she takes multiple hits.

"One more!" I yell.

Megido

Garuda lets out a triumphant cry and unleashes a white-hot torrent of pure mana, which blows Eris' Persona away and knocks her off her feet.

My head feels like it's about to split open. I can't use that attack again...

I walk over to Eris, picking up her staff, and jab it into her chest. "Who are you really? Why are you doing this?"

I feel my legs go out from under me. I realize, too late, that Eris has swept my legs. She stands, retrieving her staff, and raises it to deliver a deathblow. I barely roll out of the way, grabbing her ankle and yanking her leg out from under her. She crashes to the ground, her staff rolling away. I straddle her and try to pull off her mask, but she lets out a piercing shriek and tries to claw my eyes out. Then, she summons her Persona again. There's a tremendous wave of pressure...

Tentarafoo

Even though I don't have my Persona out in the open, I can feel the scrambling effect...I look down at my phone, which I've dropped, just in time to see the Persona app glitch out.

You're mine now.

Eris throws me off of her, surprising me with her strength.

Garula

I feel the wind from her Persona buffet me, driving me into the ground. Black spots are dancing in my vision.

I struggle against the wind, barely managing to rise to my knees. I glare up at Eris, who is standing over me. She places the end of her staff underneath my chin.

It's a pity I can't let you live. I was going to upload some very interesting videos of your girlfriend to Canterbook...

I grab her staff and yank hard, knocking her off balance. I punch her right in the face; her mask is very solid, and it hurts my hand.

You'll pay for that.

Strike Attack

With two quick strikes, she slams the end of her staff into my chest and groin. She just barely misses my nuts...it hurts almost as bad, though.

I'm in a lot of pain, and I need to end this fight so I can get to the girls...

If Eris is going to fight dirty, then so am I.

Strike Attack

She lashes out again, a strike that would probably shatter my sternum if it connected. I manage to stagger out of the way, then grab her wrist and twist, trying like hell to snap a bone. She lets out a cry of pain and drops her staff. Her thumb is flying across the screen of her phone in her other hand...

Her Persona is fading into view...

I reach past her shoulder, grab her breast, and squeeze as hard as I can.

Eris shrieks, pulling free of my grip and covering her chest. She drops her phone, which clatters noisily on the clay surface of the court. I stagger over and crush it under my foot. Her Persona vanishes abruptly...

...as does Eris herself.

The barrier around the practice court falls apart, dissolving into black mist. My Persona app returns, and I can feel my Personas in my head again. Despite the pain, I pick up Eris' dropped staff and run as fast as I can for the main court and the stands. Shadows are gathering around me, but I don't have time to deal with them. I have to keep running...

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.

Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash are standing in a loose semicircle, facing it. I can see Athena, Euphrosyne...

...and one other Persona I've never seen.

This Persona looks like a girl in a skintight blue spandex outfit with racing stripes up the side. However, she has no arms, and her legs end at the knees; from there down, she has gold afterburners for feet, and instead of arms, she has massive, glowing neon blue wings. Her head is encased in a purple helmet with a gold breath filter; bright white eyes glow from behind the light blue visor. A rainbow crest and two glowing lightning bolts top the helmet. A rose-colored scarf trails behind her as she flies around the Shadow, strafing it with wind blasts.

I run up to the girls. Twilight notices me. "Where the hell were you?" she cries.

"Fighting Eris over on the practice court!"

"Eris?"

"The bitch that attacked us last time! She ambushed me!" I look up at Sagittarius. "How are you girls holding up?"

"Not so good," Twilight says. "Even though Rainbow awakened her Persona, it's still..."

Poison Arrow

An arrow hits Twilight and she screams, dropping to the ground. Athena bursts into fragments of light. "TWILIGHT!" I kneel down next to her, checking her over. There's no blood or any sign of a wound, and she's breathing, but she's out cold.

Burning with rage, I switch Personas. "UNDINE!"

Bufula

Undine appears, unleashing a freezing torrent of water at Sagittarius. Sagittarius staggers as thick ice spreads over his torso. The fireball burning above his head begins to dim.

"Whoa, dude," Rainbow says as she runs over to us, staring up at Undine. "Your Persona's a naked chick made out of water?"

Ignoring her, I change Personas. "TAKE-MIKAZUCHI!"

Zionga

Take-Mikazuchi appears, pointing his sword at Sagittarius. A massive column of blue-white lightning explodes forward with a tremendous thunderclap that shakes the ground, striking Sagittarius in the chest. Sagittarius collapses to his knees, chunks of seared, frozen Shadow falling to the ground. The ball of fire between his horns is almost completely gone now...

Rainbow Dash stares at Sagittarius, then at Take-Mikazuchi, then at me. "What...the..."

Twilight sits up, groaning. "Ugh..."

"Twilight!" I kneel beside her and help her up. "Are you alright?"

"Just...a little stunned..." She looks at Sagittarius, eyes wide. "Did...did you do all that?"

"Yeah, but..." I grimace. "That's all I've got..."

Sagittarius pushes itself back to its feet. The fireball is growing stronger...

Pinkie rushes up to me. "Flash? Can you summon your naked water lady one more time? I've got an idea."

I frown. "I'll...try..." I tap my phone. "UNDINE!"

Undine hovers in the air above us.

"EUPHROSYNE!"

Euphrosyne appears next to Pinkie, who crouches down and wraps her arms around my neck. "SEXY REFRESHMENT!" she yells.

Euphrosyne jumps up into the air and wraps herself around Undine. The rainbow drink flowing from her gold pitcher pours into Undine, turning her into a glowing rainbow naked water chick. Undine lets out a loud moan of pleasure and explodes, showering the four of us in a colorful, glowing rain.

The fatigue begins to ebb from my mind and body. Pinkie stands up and backs away. I stand up, helping Twilight to her feet. Twilight looks uninjured, but seriously disturbed.

Rainbow looks nauseated. "Uhh...did we just get like, drenched in cum?"

"Healing cum!" Pinkie says cheerfully.

"Pinkie...we're having a very long talk about this later," Twilight says.

"Can we please finish dealing with this mess and go home?" Rainbow asks. "I wanna open presents and eat barbecue, not get splattered in girl cum or...or fight big ugly monsters...even though the fighting big ugly monsters part is kinda cool..."

"Freezing it and then shocking it seems to work," I say. "Twilight?"

Twilight nods. "Ready!"

"UNDINE!"

"ATHENA!"

Bufula

Undine unleashes a relentless torrent of freezing water, completely soaking Sagittarius even as it locks onto Twilight to fire another killer arrow.

Zio

Athena appears, lightning dancing from her spear, coursing along the stream from Undine. Sagittarius bellows in rage as it begins to freeze over, even as electricity courses over its body. The fireball between its horns abruptly swells; I can feel its heat from the ground.

Then, the fireball explodes, taking the entire top half of the Shadow with it. The rest of Sagittarius explodes into chunks and shards of black ice.

Our Personas disappear, and the sky of Zodiac is replaced by the sky over the tennis court.