Persona EG LTE | Mythril Moth Creations

Today's Horoscope (Virgo): Take care not to let Death find you today.

Daytime

Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow, and I leave the dorm on the pretext of Christmas shopping, then walk over to the school.

We find Cadance parked on the street, waiting for us. "Is everybody ready?" she asks as she opens the back of her SUV and pulls out her phone.

"Let's do this!" Rainbow says confidently, pulling out her own phone. We all take our phones out...

Zodiac

Still don't see what's so special about that dyke

did u hear? pinkie's parents kicked her out

Can U blame them? LOL

I'm glad Rainbow Dash got beat up, she needs it again

twilight only won fall formal b/c celestia likes her

Rainbow is watching all this float around; her eyes are full of anger. "Ignore it, Rainbow," I say.

Yes, Rainbow Dash, ignore it. Why should you care what other people think and feel? You just say and do whatever you want...

I groan. "Hello, Eris. Why don't you come out so we can kick your ass again?"

"While you're at it, you can tell us who the FUCK Mephistopheles is!" Pinkie shouts.

A fight? Sorry, not in the mood today. Oh, but we'll meet again soon, Flash Sentry. I owe you for that little stunt you pulled. Why don't you stick to grabbing your girlfriend's chest and leave mine alone...

The girls stare at me. Twilight's jaw drops. "WHAT?"

I had bruises for a week...you're gonna pay for that.

"Stop jerking us around, Eris! Who's Mephistopheles?"

Aww, you're still mad about Pinkie's family cutting her off? That's so cute...

Go away! I'm handling this!

I'm sorry, did you just try to tell me what to do?

...

That's what I thought. Don't forget, you're MY bitch.

...

The text messages abruptly vanish completely, plunging Zodiac into darkness.

"What...was that?" Pinkie asks, eyes wide.

"I think that was Mephistopheles," I say.

Twilight shoots me a look. "What was Eris talking about?"

The others look at me. I suddenly feel like a worm under a microscope.

"It's not like that!" I say. "I couldn't outfight her, I needed to get to you girls! She tried to hit me in the nuts, she could've done some real damage..." I wave my hands around. "I needed to get rid of her, so I did the only thing I could think of!"

"What, you grabbed her tit?" Rainbow asks skeptically.

"Girls," Cadance says tiredly, "Eris is trying to drive a wedge between us. Let's...let's just ignore this whole thing and do what we came here to do, alright?"

Twilight crosses her arms. "We're having a long talk about this later," she says icily.

We each retrieve our equipment packs from the SUV. I grab my axe, Twilight grabs her saber, Pinkie grabs her whip, and Rainbow grabs a belt with two sheathes, from which she produces a pair of short, wicked-looking knives. She straps the belt on, then juggles the knives for a minute, looking around at us with cocky grin. "Pretty sweet, huh?" She sheathes her knives.

Cadance closes the SUV, then sits on the ground beside it. "Persona!"

Aphrodite appears above her. Rainbow stares. "Umm...wow," she says. "And you guys complain about me?"

//Hmm...this is strange,// Cadance says. //I'm not detecting any Shadows at all...//

"What? But...Zodiac is always crawling with Shadows!"

//I know. It doesn't make any sense...Rainbow, would you summon your Persona so I can scan it, please?//

"Sure thing!" Rainbow says. "NIKE!"

Rainbow's Persona appears again. Aphrodite glows more brightly for a moment. //Got it. Thanks.//

Nike vanishes. We look at one another awkwardly. "Umm...so..." Rainbow begins.

"I don't understand," Twilight says. "There are always Shadows..."

"Does anybody hear that?" Pinkie asks suddenly, looking around.

"Hear what?" Rainbow asks.

And then I hear it...

Faintly, from the direction of the school...

The sound of chains rattling.

"What...?" I ask. "Chains?"

Cadance suddenly lets out a loud, piercing scream.

"Cadance!" Twilight yells, rushing over to her. "What..."

//We need to go! NOW!//

The doors to the school burst open, and something glides out. It's wearing a long, tattered suede trenchcoat. A pair of steel chains are crossed over its torso. It has a blood-covered cloth sack tied over its head, with only one baleful eye visible. It's holding a pair of revolvers with barrels as thick as my arms and twice as long.

I can feel a sensation of dread piercing me to my core...

The cold, quiet, cloudy December sky returns. Cadance slumps over, shaking and hugging herself. Twilight crouches next to her, wrapping her arms around her.

"Huh?" Rainbow asks, looking around and blinking. "That's it? We're done?"

"I...I used Aphrodite's power to pull us out," Cadance says, shivering. "That...was close..."

"Didn't we go in there to fight monsters like that?" Rainbow asks. "Why'd we run away?"

Cadance stands up with Twilight's help. A fine sheen of sweat stands out on her forehead. "Because that thing would've killed all of us," she says shakily. "It's...it's more powerful than anything I've ever seen..."

Pinkie's hair is wilting. "What...what was that thing?"

Cadance looks around at us. "I don't know," she says. "All I know is...that thing is why there were no Shadows."

"They were...afraid of that thing?" Twilight asks.

If the monsters are afraid of that thing...

"Let's get back to the dorm," I say. "Cadance needs to rest."

I drive us back to the dorm. Luckily, we don't run into anybody else; Twilight heads over to Cadance's apartment with her to take care of her. The rest of us meet up on the third floor.

"Seriously, we didn't even try to fight it?" Rainbow asks.

"Dashie...this isn't a game," Pinkie says. "Didn't you feel it? That thing was...terrible."

"I've never felt a presence like that in Zodiac before," I say. "That...whatever it was..." I swallow. "We're lucky to be alive right now."

Rainbow looks between us. "So...that wasn't normal?"

"No," I say. "No, it wasn't."

Rainbow sighs. "Well this sucks," she says. "I was lookin' forward to kickin' some ass..."

Twilight enters. "Cadance is lying down resting," she says. "I think she'll be okay. She's just...really freaked out." She frowns. "Well...we didn't get any training done today, but at least we learned something." She looks at me. "Now, about this whole thing with Eris..."

She's not letting this go...

I explain, in detail, what happened when I fought Eris.

"Ouchie," Pinkie says, wincing and crossing her arms over her chest.

Rainbow shakes her head. "Eh...it makes sense," she says.

Twilight sighs. "I don't like what you did," she says, "but...you're right. You were fighting for your life...and our lives. You did what you had to." She raises an eyebrow at me. "At least...I'll just tell myself that." She shakes her head. "So any ideas about that thing we saw today?"

"Just one," I say. "As long as that thing's there? We can't go back." I sigh. "Which...is a problem."

"We'll have to check again later in the week, see if it's still there," Twilight says. "If we can't go to Zodiac to train, we're in real trouble."

"Hey, why don't we go play some two-on-two?" Rainbow suggests. "I gotta do somethin' today."

The four of us head around back, where there's a basketball hoop and a small patch of blacktop. We spend a while playing...

Evening

After dinner, everybody gathers in the lounge for a group study session. With snacks, music, talking, and general goofing around, we don't get much actual studying done, but at least we have a good time...

Fluttershy seems to be easing up on Rainbow Dash a little bit, but still isn't really talking to her.

As I get ready for bed, I spend some time thinking about everything that happened today.

That person Eris was arguing with...was that 'Mephistopheles'?

Whoever it was, Eris seems to answer to them...

That thing we saw...was it a Shadow, or something else? Did the enemy send it after us?

There's still so much we don't know...