Zodiac

Shining Armor and the younger girls abruptly disappear as Zodiac forms around us. The SUV starts to swerve off the road...

I jump into the now-empty driver's seat and wrench the van to the left, then slow down and pull over, stopping on the shoulder and killing the engine. Behind us, the other SUV comes to an abrupt halt.

"Are you alright?" I ask Twilight.

"SHINING ARMOR!" she cries, eyes wide and alarmed. "Where is he?!"

"Still in the car...in the real world," I say. "So are the others." I open the door and climb out; Twilight follows suit. We walk back to the other SUV, where the girls have all just gotten out. Applejack looks like a deer in the headlights.

"Son of a BITCH!" Rainbow snarls. "Seriously, what the FUCK?!"

"Is everybody okay?" Cadance asks. She looks at me and Twilight. "Shiny—"

"Still in the real world," I say. "The girls too. Which means me and Twi are either gonna have to hurry to get back in the SUV after we fight Taurus, or...we'll have to ride the rest of the way with you."

Cadance frowns. "I...just wonder what's going to happen to the other car when we actually get out of here," she says.

"That's...an interesting question, actually," Fluttershy says. "I have no idea what happens when an entire car gets pulled into Zodiac."

"Whut...whut...whut..." Applejack is staring around, stuttering.

"Remember that something terrible we warned you about at breakfast?" I ask. "Well...this is it." I glance at Cadance. "We need to know how screwed we are, and fast."

"Right!" Cadance pulls out her phone. "PERSONA!"

The crystals form around her, and Eros appears. Applejack's jaw drops and her hat falls off.

//Taurus is three miles away, approaching fast,// Cadance reports. //Sunset Shimmer is still in Canterlot. I'm sensing some other Shadow activity in the area...you'd all better get ready.//

"WHUT TH' HELL'S THAT?!" Applejack yells, pointing at Eros.

"It's called a Persona," Twilight says. "We all have them. It's..." She pauses. "It's kind of..."

"It's an awesomely cool super powerful imaginary friend that protects you from icky bad stuff that tries to kill you in here!" Pinkie says cheerfully.

"It's a little more complicated than that," Fluttershy says, "but...basically what Pinkie said."

Applejack's gaze wanders from Eros to the texts floating around.

Inbred hick

Can't stop jacking off

Boo-hoo, hillbilly girl's daddy is dying

Tits tits tits tits tits

Guess she's a widow now lol

Wonder if they know I've sucked off half the baseball team

That accent, OMGWTF

That dorm must be an all-you-can-eat pussy buffet

Always wearing that shitkicker hat

Applejack clutches at her head, her hat falling to the dark red asphalt. "No," she cries. "No..."

"Applejack, calm down—"

"NO!" Applejack screams. "All this time, y'all been LYIN' TO ME, keepin' shit from me..." She crouches down. "Y'all don't trust me...y'all all think Ah'm some dumb hick, don't know nothin'...why bother tellin' AJ anything, ain't like she'd understand, all she knows is apples..." She looks around at us, burning fury in her eyes. "It's like Ah don't even MATTER none! Like Ah...like Ah should jes' go back t' th' farm...y'all wouldn't even care..."

"Applejack, no," Pinkie says, tears in her eyes. "That's...that's not it at all..."

"LIES!" Applejack screeches. With the sound of glass shattering, a Persona explodes out of her head...

It's like a giant Applejack, except made out of rocks and plants. Parts of her are lush and healthy; other parts are withered, like trees in winter. The apples spilling out of the enormous basket on her back are rotting and decaying into mulch as they drip to the ground.

"Whoa," Rainbow says.

"Uh-oh," Fluttershy mutters, eyes wide.

//Guys, be careful...I don't think Applejack's in her right mind...//

"NO SHIT, YOU THINK?" Rainbow yells.

Strike Attack

With a wordless yell of rage, Applejack rushes at Rainbow and slugs her right across the jaw, dropping her like a sack of flour.

Heat Wave

Her Persona, whose serene expression abruptly becomes one of unbridled fury, drives a fist into the ground, and rippling shockwaves pass through the road, driving chunks of asphalt up into the rest of us and knocking us off our feet.

"YOU WERE NEVER MY FRIENDS!" Applejack screams.

Fluttershy frowns as she stands up. "Perso—"

"NO!" Twilight cries. "Don't hurt her!" She summons Athena to heal us all. "Applejack...please, listen—"

Strike Attack

Applejack yells and rushes at Twilight, aiming a powerful kick at her ribs.

"ARAHABAKI!"

Arahabaki falls from the sky, landing between the girls; the force of Applejack's kick is completely absorbed. With a cry of rage, she throws her fist into the air.

Gigantic Fist

Her Persona smashes Twilight against the side of the van. Twilight screams as she goes down.

"TWILIGHT!" Furious, I start to draw out my axe...

//Everybody...she's confused and in a blind rage,// Cadance says. //She doesn't know what she's doing! Don't hurt her! Just...just calm her down...//

"Oh, I'll calm her down, alright," Rainbow says. She dives on top of Applejack and wrestles her to the ground. Applejack struggles; her greater strength overcomes Rainbow's leverage, and she throws her off.

Meanwhile, Rarity attends to Twilight. Fluttershy summons Echo and erects a barrier; when Applejack tries to mule-kick Rainbow, the force rebounds, knocking her flat on the ground.

"Somebody DO something about her!" Twilight cries. "She's either going to kill one of us or get HERSELF killed!"

"I'm on it!" Pinkie declares. "EUPHORIA!"

Amrita

Euphoria appears and sheds a brilliant rainbow glow over Applejack. Applejack picks herself up, blinking slowly. Her Persona fades from view.

Rainbow hauls Applejack to her feet and slaps her twice across the face. "You gonna stop actin' like a horse's ass now?" she says.

Applejack scowls. "You gotta lotta nerve," she spits.

"Applejack, calm down," Twilight says as she walks over. We all gather around Applejack. "Look...stop and think for a minute." She gestures around us. "If we tried to tell you about any of this...would you have believed us?"

Applejack frowns. "Well...probably not," she admits. "But y'all still been sneakin' around an' lyin' an—"

"We had to!" Rainbow cries, throwing her hands in the air. "What, you think we were just gonna walk up to you and say 'Hey, AJ! We're all gonna go fight monsters in some crazy twisted other world now, we'll be back in a little while, don't wait up!' You'd have thought we were completely nuts!"

"Yeah, this is pretty much something you had to see for yourself," Sonata says. "I mean, how do you even explain this? I sure can't."

Applejack stares at her. "You can talk," she accuses. "All this time, playin' with yer little tablet—"

"She can only talk in here, Applejack," Fluttershy says. "And she isn't really talking. It's...kind of a hack. Her thoughts are being picked up as text messages, which are instantly being translated to speech in what used to be her voice."

Applejack stares at her. "Whut th' hell's that mean?"

"It means in this place, Fluttershy can hack reality," Sonata says. "Just like she hacked all the computers in the dorm and Flash's horoscope."

Fluttershy sighs. "Up until a couple of months ago, I...did a lot of Sunset Shimmer's dirty work, and maybe tried to kill some of my friends a few times."

Applejack stares at her. "You...?" She shakes her head in disbelief. "Is...is anything anybody ever said true? A word of it?"

Twilight sighs. "Applejack...even if we could've told you about all this...we wouldn't have put this burden on you. Not with...not with what you're already going through. This is one problem you didn't need." She tugs at her shirt. "I know...from your perspective, it must seem like the rest of us have all been getting closer and having a good time without you, and...and maybe you felt left out and abandoned, but..."

"That's just not the truth," I say. "The truth is, the rest of us? Have been through hell together. We've all fought side by side against things you can't even imagine. We've protected each other, we've helped each other...some of us have even died here." I shrug. "Yeah, what we've been through brings people closer together. But...that doesn't mean we aren't your friends. It just...it means this was something we couldn't let anyone know about that wasn't involved."

Applejack takes a long, slow look around and lets out a shaky sigh. "Yeah, Ah can...Ah can kinda believe that..." She shakes her head and looks down at her hands. "But still...Ah dunno...can Ah...can Ah really trust any o' y'all ever again?"

Twilight takes her hands. "Yes, Applejack," she says. "And we trust you. You're our friend. Please...don't shut us out. And...and forgive us for all the times it seemed like we were neglecting or ignoring you."

Applejack looks away, tears in her eyes. "Ah...need some time..."

//Sorry, but that'll have to wait!// Cadance says. //Get ready to fight, everyone! Taurus is almost here!//

And with that, the ground starts to shake as a demonic bellow fills the air. We all turn as a massive black bull, easily the size of a semi, with two long, blood-red horns and three flailing tails, charges at us. Its burning red eyes glare at us from beneath the sigil of Taurus etched into its forehead.

"Whut th' HELL'S THAT?!"

"That, Applejack, is a Hunter Shadow," Fluttershy says, "and it's come here to kill you. But we're not about to let that happen." She frowns, then adds, "and since you already awakened your Persona when you went apeshit on us, you can help us kill this thing."

"Let's gear up, everybody!" Twilight calls. The girls nod. We all ready our phones and tap Black Butterfly...

Fluttershy's usual "Eris" outfit, sans mask and cape, appears, and her staff forms in her outstretched hand. The rest of us are wearing matching uniforms consisting of light, loose, breathable black cargo pants and sleeveless royal purple knit tops, with black basketball shoes and fingerless gloves.

The girls look around at each other, then at Fluttershy. "What the hay?" Rainbow cries. "What'd you do to our gear?"

"I reprogrammed your battle outfits," Fluttershy says. "You needed something more practical and less thrown-together."

Rarity frowns. "You took the fun out of it!" she whines.

//Girls! Complain about your clothes later! You're about to get trampled by a giant freaking bull!//

And with that, Taurus plows right through us, forcing us to scatter. As we surround the Shadow, it lows threateningly, pawing the ground and snorting steam.

"Where's a matador when you need one?" Pinkie quips.

I feel something stirring inside my head...

I slide the Death Arcana onto my phone and tap it. "PERSONA!"

"Holy shit, dude, you actually had a bullfighter in there?" Rainbow says.

"Is THAT your new Persona from the other night?" Twilight asks.

"No, it's...something that just woke up," I say.

Provoke

Matador swirls his cape, drawing Taurus' attention. It bellows and charges.

Poison Skewer

Matador deftly steps aside and skewers the Shadow with his saber. Taurus bellows in pain as it goes down on one knee, dark purple foam issuing from its lips.

//It's been poisoned!// Cadance reports.

"Then what're we waitin' for?" Rainbow yells. "PERSONA!"

One by one, the girls call forth their Personas, unloading on Taurus with everything they've got. It bellows and writhes and tries to fight back, but Matador's poison has weakened it.

//It's almost finished!// Cadance says. //One more good blow should do it!//

Strike Attack

I rush in, hefting my axe, and cleave Taurus' head from its shoulders. It lows plaintively as it slowly dissolves into boiling Shadow-stuff.

"YEAH!" Rainbow cheers. "Who's awesome? WE'RE awesome!"

Fluttershy frowns. "That was way too easy."

"Something isn't right here..." Twilight says.

"Come on, you guys!" Pinkie says happily. "We're just getting way too good at this! It's over, we can go to the farm and party down, right? Right?"

//LOOK OUT!!//

With a thundering roar, SOMETHING screams down the road toward us.

"PERSONA!" Fluttershy screams desperately. A reflective wall covers all of us; we huddle together behind it.

The approaching Shadow stops, two burning red lights glaring from its front. What sounds like a massive diesel engine rumbles menacingly.

"Oh COME ON!" Rainbow yells. "We beat the big bad bull! What the hell?"

You didn't think it was going to be that easy, did you?

Fluttershy's eyes narrow. "This was a trap," she says.

OF COURSE IT WAS A TRAP! Jesus FUCK, you're supposed to be the SMART one here!

//Applejack was never the real target,// Cadance says suddenly, dread in her voice. //She was just the bait. That's why...that's why Taurus was so weak. Taurus was never a threat...//

That's right, Nurse Happy Cunt. All this was to arrange a little execution. Come on out from behind your little forcefield, Fluttershy. You too, Flash Sentry. It's time we finished this. Or maybe I'll let you live long enough to watch your little friends die, one by one.

Fluttershy trembles. "Sunset Shimmer, leave them alone! There's no sense in any of this!"

I DECIDE WHO LIVES AND DIES IN CANTERLOT!

"No, you don't," I say. "You're just a pathetic little bitch who throws a tantrum when she doesn't get her way."

You really wanna go there with me, Flash Sentry? I can make your life a living HELL.

"STOP THIS, SUNSET SHIMMER!" Twilight yells. "Nobody here ever did ANYTHING to you!"

Didn't you, Twilight? Didn't you?

"NO!"

Hmm. Maybe not. Maybe I just don't like you. Maybe I just enjoy seeing you suffer. But you know what? There's not one fucking thing you can do to stop me.

"Wanna bet?" Rainbow challenges.

HAH! You're the most useless and pathetic THING here, Rainbow Dash! You and your little gay crush on Celestia. God, what a loser.

"That's ENOUGH, Sunset Shimmer!" Fluttershy yells.

You're right. Taunting you losers is fun, but watching you die is even more fun. I hope you enjoy this little surprise I put together for you. I based it off one of Flash Sentry's Personas. You do know you're a freak, don't you Flash?

"How about you cut the shit and face us yourself?"

Haha. Didn't Fluttershy tell you? You're LUCKY I'm not there to kill you in person. At least this way, you'll have a fighting chance...and it'll be fun watching you suffer.

Nemesis? Annihilate them.

The roar of the engine is replaced by another familiar sound as the Shadow bearing down on us changes, growing taller and taking on an eerily familiar form...

Rainbow's eyes widen as she cranes her neck. "Oh fuck," she whimpers.

Applejack stares, slack-jawed. "Is that...is that a giant robot?"

"Oh god WHY," Pinkie moans.

"Flash? That...that's your Persona," Twilight says.

//No, it's a Shadow,// Cadance says. //An incredibly powerful Shadow with the same skills as Flash's Optimus Prime Persona. It's...Nemesis Prime.// She pauses. //Kids, I...I'm sorry...I don't know if you can win this battle...//

"Then we won't fight it," Fluttershy says. "We'll outrun it. Everybody back into the cars!"

"What?" Twilight asks.

"DO IT!" Fluttershy snaps.

We all stow our weapons and run back to the cars, narrowly avoiding the hot black bolts of blaster fire Nemesis Prime is raining down on us. Fluttershy is shielding us the best she can; Twilight grabs Cadance and helps her over to the SUV, then follows me to the other car. As soon as I buckle in, I gun the engine and take off down the road; Cadance's SUV is right in behind me.

Twilight's phone rings. She puts it on speaker. "It's chasing us!" Rainbow cries. "It turned back into a truck and now it's chasing us!"

"I'll give us some cover!" I yell, fumbling my phone out and sliding the screen while keeping my eyes on the road. "OPTIMUS PRIME!"

Optimus Prime comes roaring down the road in the opposite direction, overtaking us before drifting, gunning his engine, and coming alongside Nemesis Prime. We hear a tremendous crunch of metal; the road shakes, and I nearly lose control of the SUV.

In the rear view, I can see Optimus plowing into Nemesis, trying to force him off the road. Nemesis is replying in kind; the two truck-robots are weaving all over the road.

"Holy fucking SHIT this is awesome!" Rainbow screams over the phone.

"Fluttershy, do you have a plan for getting us out of this?" I ask.

"I'm working on it!" Fluttershy yells back. "Something's blocking me!"

There's a massive THUMP from the roof of the SUV, nearly forcing me off the road. Above us, I hear a loud, angry bovine bellow.

"Oh, THAT'S what's blocking me."

"Oh CRAP, don't even tell me—"

"Flash, you won't believe this bullshit!" Rainbow yells. "That stupid bull is back! It just landed on you—"

"I KNOW!" I shake my head. "Okay, think, think..."

"Y'all hold on tight up there, y'all're about t' buck that bronco!" Applejack calls. "PERSEPHONE!"

Heat Wave

And suddenly, the entire SUV lurches. I slam on the brakes and swerve into the oncoming lane so Cadance won't crash into me; Taurus, much smaller than before but twice as angry, goes sailing off the roof. It bounces twice on the pavement, rises to its hooves, and turns, snorting and pawing the ground. It starts to charge...

I have to risk doing something really stupid. I know I can summon two Personas at once...

I hope...

Because if Optimus goes away when I do this, we're REALLY screwed.

"AMATERASU!"

With a sky-splitting howl, a white wolf tumbles down into the road, landing right on top of Taurus.

Sunrise

Amaterasu leaps up, the tip of her tail shining with celestial ink. At the apex of her leap, she does a somersault, drawing a circle high in the air, which transforms into a blinding sun that illuminates Zodiac. Taurus bellows and starts to dissolve again; behind us, Nemesis Prime veers off the road.

Primal Force

Optimus transforms and fires two blasts into Nemesis Prime; the black truck rumbles angrily, turns, and drives away into the darkness beyond the light of Amaterasu's Sunrise.

"We're clear!" Fluttershy says. And suddenly...