Zodiac

Sonata's eyes widen as the texts begin flying all over the school courtyard. "Ignore it," we all say tiredly.

Sonata shudders. "You've been putting up with all this for months?"

//Focus, everyone,// Cadance, who already has Aphrodite out, says. //I'm detecting stronger than usual Shadows inside the school. You should be fine if you stay focused and stick to that strategy you all worked up.//

"Right," Twilight says. "Let's all gear up!"

We all access Black Butterfly...

The same black suit and axe I had on Sonata's birthday appear.

Twilight's wearing short, tight red gym shorts and a white T-shirt, as well as gym socks and running shoes. Her hair is tied back in a ponytail.

Rarity is wearing an elegant black dress and high heels.

Rainbow is wearing fatigues, combat boots, and a green beret.

Pinkie's wearing an obscenely tight dark blue one-piece swimsuit (with her name across the chest) and rollerskates.

Sonata's wearing a wine-colored high-collared tank top and loincloth...skirt...thing with a dark purple cloth sash tied around the waist, calf-high black boots, a fishnet stocking on her right leg, and dark purple armbands. For some reason, she also has enormous, tufty rabbit ears. She's holding a butterfly-shaped crossbow.

We ALL stare at Sonata. She blinks innocently at us. "What?"

//You all look ridiculous. You do know that, right?//

"HEY!"

//Well, Twilight and Rarity are okay. More or less. And Flash. The rest of you, yikes.//

"Let's...just do what we came here to do, okay?" Twilight says.

We enter the school, assuming our agreed-upon formation, with me, Twilight, and Rainbow out front, and Pinkie, Sonata, and Rarity behind us. We coach Sonata through the basics of fighting Shadows and Persona use; when she gets tired, we take over most of the fighting.

After twenty minutes, we run into a pack of over a dozen Shadows. "Let me handle this," I say. "I've got a new Persona I want to try out."

"ANOTHER new one?!" Rainbow cries. "Dude, how many do you have now?!"

"I've lost count," I say. I slide the Sun Arcana onto my phone. "ASURA!"

"Okay that has WAY too many heads and arms," Rainbow says.

"Ooh! Ooh! I wanna hi-five him all day!" Pinkie giggles.

I shake my head as Asura unleashes a massive wall of fire which incinerates all the Shadows around us.

"Whoa!" Sonata cries. "That was awesome! When do I get to learn that spell?"

"I don't think that's how it works," Twilight says. "Our Personas all seem to have a fairly specific skill set. Don't expect your Persona to be able to do anything except more powerful versions of what it can already do."

"Yeah, pretty much what she said," Rainbow says. "Heck, mine hasn't grown a whole lot at all."

//Flash is different from the rest of us,// Cadance explains. //For some reason, he's able to summon multiple Personas. None of the rest of us have that ability.// She pauses. //Although...Twilight and Pinkie...their Personas have changed from their original forms. I still can't explain that...//

"Oh, that's simple! They evolved!"

Rainbow groans, pulling an exaggerated facepalm.

We train for another two hours after that, by the end of which all our Personas have strengthened, and Sonata's gotten the hang of her role in the party. Once we're done training, we head outside and return to the real world.