Zodiac

As soon as we're in, we all gear up. Applejack has the same outfit as the other girls, except she still has her Stetson. Rather than a weapon, she has padded leather gloves and steel-toed cowboy boots.

"You didn't select a weapon of some sort?" Rarity asks.

Applejack shakes her head. "Reckon Ah'm good with these here trusty legs," she says.

Cadance summons her Persona; the green text appears alongside the blue. //I'm detecting a lot of Shadows inside, and most of them are pretty strong. I don't sense the Reaper, but be careful!//

"Let's do this," I say, tightening my grip on my axe.

The girls all nod in agreement, and we enter the school.

"So how many new Personas do you have today?" Rainbow asks.

"Two."

"Just two?" She sticks her tongue out at me. "You're phonin' it in, dude."

Fluttershy shakes her head. "I still don't understand how you keep doing what you do."

A group of spinning Shadows surround us. They look like those old puzzle cubes that used to be a big fad, except all the squares are shining gold.

"Time to get to work," I say. I slide the Hierophant Arcana onto my phone. "TANTABUS!"

With a dark, bone-chilling chuckle, a spectral figure appears, limned in a writhing violet nimbus of power. It looks like a man with long, wickedly curved razor blades on the fingers of one hand. His dark body is full of twinkling stars and rippling whorls of astral energy.

"GAH!" Pinkie hides behind Rainbow Dash, trembling. "Scary!"

Mamudoon

Tantabus expands to a massive size. His claws burn with evil black fire as he slashes through the Shadows. One by one, they implode in bubbles of inky darkness.

Rainbow's jaw drops. "Holy fuck."

"Put it away, PUT IT AWAY!" Pinkie wails.

Tantabus laughs menacingly as he fades from existence.

We move further into the school. Many of the Shadows we encounter, we can handle with physical attacks; we let Applejack get in some practice. Between her own strength and her Persona's repertoire of physical attacks and buffs, she's invaluable against Shadows that rely more on (or succumb to) brute force than magic.

On the second floor, we run into a small herd of tables.

"Oh HELL no," I complain. "I hate these freaking things."

"Dude...they're just tables."

I glance at Rainbow and make a sweeping gesture. "You wanna test that? Be my guest."

Rainbow laughs. "Wimp. PERSONA!"

Magarudyne

Rainbow's Persona appears and whips up a wild windstorm that tears through the table Shadows...

...and does absolutely no damage.

"What the...?"

"Let me try," Rarity says. "PERSONA!"

Mabufula

Bastet appears, unleashing a freezing hailstorm...that does nothing to the Shadows.

"Well...poo," Rarity complains.

"My turn," Twilight says. "ATHENA!"

Maziodyne

Athena's lightning does nothing.

//Guys, something's seriously weird about these Shadows!//

"WE NOTICED!"

The Shadows start fighting back with slashing attacks, debuffs, and the occasional wind attack. We're able to defend against everything they throw at us, but nothing we do hurts them. We try everything we can think of—magic doesn't work, none of our physical attacks work.

//They nullify EVERYTHING! What's going on here?!//

"We need to break down their resistance!" Twilight says.

"How do we do that?" Rainbow demands.

"Well...here's something I've never really tried..." Twilight summons Athena.

Elec Break

A swirling yellow-white column of light engulfs one of the tables. It shudders.

"Flash! Try an electric attack!"

Ziodyne

I summon Merlin, who calls forth a massive lightning bolt upon that one table. It shudders and explodes violently.

"Nice!" Pinkie cheers. "Do it again!"

Fire Break

I draw out Tantabus again. He stretches out his claws over one of the tables; a spinning red-white vortex wraps around it.

"I'm...gonna have to break them down one by one before I can attack," I say. "Cover me!"

Fluttershy creates a protective barrier, while the others do what they can to shore up our defenses. One by one, I strip the tables of their protection against fire. When the last table's defenses are down... "NOW!"

Maragidyne

Tantabus swells to a massive size. A deep, blazing hellfire fills the starry void of his chest. He inhales deeply, then exhales a tremendous amount of fire at the group of Shadows.

They instantly burn away into ash.

"WOOHOO!" Pinkie cheers.

I stumble. "That...took a lot out of me."

//Are you okay? Can you keep going?//

"Yeah, just...just give me a minute..."

"I really, really hope we don't run into any more of those," Twilight says.

After I take a minute to rest, we continue on our way. For the next hour, we fight Shadows that are largely more powerful than anything we've encountered to date, but we persevere and grow stronger as we battle.

//That's enough for today. Head back—//

From out of nowhere, a tremendously huge, multi-armed, grotesque giant seated astride a rocking horse drops into our midst, scattering us.

"What...what the heck?!" Rainbow cries.

//Be careful! This one's extremely powerful!//

Twilight immediately summons Athena, whose lightning is absorbed by the Shadow. One by one, the girls all try their luck at fighting it—but every spell or attack they try is absorbed.

"It's the tables all over again," Rainbow groans.

Primal Force

The Shadow suddenly moves faster than any of us can see. Before any of us know what's happening, Rainbow is lying on the ground with a massive hole in her chest.

"RAINBOW DASH!" Pinkie cries.

Applejack stares in shock. "Whut...no..."

"PERSONA!" Rarity yells.

Samarecarm

Bastet appears; glowing white threads rapidly knit through the hole in Rainbow's chest. We're treated to a nauseating spectacle of Rainbow's body repairing itself from the inside out. Then, she glows white and rises to her feet.

Rainbow shakes her head and groans. "Ugh. That...really hurt..."

Applejack's jaw drops. "How in th'—"

"Worry about it later!" Fluttershy snaps. "We need to do something about this thing!"

We all stare warily at the Shadow, which is slowly rocking in place.

"So...any ideas?" Rainbow asks.

"I've got one," I say. "I do have one more new Persona..."

I slide the Fool Arcana onto my phone.

"SON GOKUU!"

A tall, broad-shouldered, heavily-muscled man with spiky black hair appears, riding a golden cloud. He leaps from the cloud, somersaulting in midair, and lands between us and the Shadow.

He glances back at us and grins.

Yosh'...makasete!

Gokuu turns to face the Shadow, and his easygoing grin is replaced by a hard frown. He clenches his fists and lets out a battle cry. A blazing golden aura explodes around him; his black eyes turn a sharp, piercing green, and his hair flares upward and turns from black to pale gold. He cups his hands at his side, and a blinding, strobing ball of pale blue-white energy forms.

Kamehameha

After a long moment, he thrusts his hands forward, and a massive shaft of pure energy lances through the Shadow. We all have to shield our eyes from the glare; when the light, heat, and wind from the attack fades, the Shadow is just...gone.

Gokuu turns, gives us a jaunty salute, and vanishes.

Everybody stares at me.

I scratch the back of my head. "Uhh...Fluttershy? How about getting us out of here?"

Fluttershy frowns and nods.

Traesto

A golden orb surrounds us, and we find ourselves outside, next to Cadance.