Persona EG LTE | Mythril Moth Creations

Today's Horoscope (Virgo): A beautiful and mysterious stranger will change your life today.

Early Morning

The tennis team is having its end-of-year party after school today.

After School

After school, I meet up with Pinkie and we head out to the tennis courts together. Several picnic tables have been set up on the court, with folding chairs around them. Snacks and drinks are spread out, along with paper plates and napkins.

One entire table is covered in baskets of muffins. There are blueberry muffins, chocolate chip muffins, banana nut muffins, iced muffins...

"I see Derpy helped with the party planning," Pinkie says.

I glance at her. "You didn't?"

Pinkie shrugs. "Hey. Every once in a while it's nice to take a break and let somebody else plan the party."

As others begin gathering, we start loading up plates with snacks and take a seat at the table where Coach Chrysalis is chatting with Coco. Coco smiles at us. "Hey Flash! Hey Pinkie!"

"Hey, Coco."

"You guys are gonna be on the team again next year, right?" Coco asks.

"You bet we are!" Pinkie says cheerfully.

"Good." Coco gives me an uncharacteristic serious look. "I'm gonna put you and the other guys through all kinds of hell next year." After a moment, she starts giggling.

I grin. "I can't wait."

"I still can't get over how much you've changed this year," Pinkie says to Coco. "Back in September, you were so shy and mousy and nervous all the time, and look at you now! You take apart every single opponent you face like it's nothing!"

Coco blushes and rubs the back of her head. "Well...I owe it all to Flash," she says. She smiles at me. "If you hadn't...you know...helped me to have confidence in myself, I wouldn't be where I am now." She ducks her head. "Suri would probably still be making me get drinks for her and making me run around in front of the ball launchers while they were turned on and laughing at me."

I shake my head. "You just needed a friend, that's all."

"Flash is amazing at helping people," Pinkie says. She hugs me tightly. "He sure helped me! If not for Flash and his quick thinking, I...I wouldn't still be here at all..." She looks at her plate. "Gee, I wonder where I'd be. Would I be with Maud? Would I be...out on the street?" More quietly, she adds, "Would I even still be alive?"

I hug Pinkie tightly. "Twilight and I would never let anything like that happen to you. Ever."

Pinkie smiles at me and sniffles. "Thank you," she says quietly.

Chrysalis coughs. "Well, Flash certainly helped me," she says. "I can honestly say that I'm very much enjoying my new life. Coaching you kids is rewarding, fulfilling in ways my old career wasn't." She smiles. "I used to be at the top of the ivory tower...then I had it knocked out from under me. Thanks to Flash here, I realize that a humble log cabin is as tall as any ivory tower, so long as you have the love of your family and you feel like you're making a difference."

"Wow, that was really corny," Pinkie says, giggling.

Chrysalis laughs. "Well, it's true," she says. "By the way, the twins—you know Katy and Cricket, right?—they're trying out for the team this fall."

"What about Papillon?" I ask.

Chrysalis snorts and rolls her eyes. "She hates to sweat."

Tennis Match and Derpy join us, and we spend the rest of the afternoon having a good time. We talk, laugh, eat muffins, and make plans for next season. When the party starts to wind down, Pinkie and I say our goodbyes to Coach Chrysalis, Coco, and everybody else, promising to keep in touch over the summer and come to summer practice when we're able.

On the way back to the dorm, Pinkie wraps her arm around mine. "I really am lucky to have you and Twilight as friends," she says.

"And we're lucky to have you."

Evening

It turns out half the dorm is out shopping for our trip to Canterlittle, so Pinkie and I sit down and play Uno with Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Silver Spoon, who apparently asked for the afternoon off. When Twilight texts me saying everybody's staying at the mall late to watch a movie, Pinkie and I decide to order pizza. Silver Spoon gets permission from her dad to sleep over.

"You mean they're actually going to a movie and Sunset Shimmer is with them?" Apple Bloom asks in disbelief.

I shrug. "It was her idea, apparently."

"Huh," Pinkie says. "That's weird." She sorts through her cards. "I still can't get used to her even being here."

"Who the hell can?" I shake my head. "She's definitely...not herself, though. I mean, she's not...you know..."

"Yeah..."

When the pizza arrives, we all find a good movie to watch on TV. We're still watching TV and having a good time when the rest of the girls get back. They mostly look like they had a good time, although Fluttershy still looks tense. Sunset waves at us and goes upstairs, clutching a couple of bags.

Twilight walks over and snags a pizza crust that's been sitting on the table for about two hours and nibbles on it. "Having fun?" she asks.

"Yeah, we're having a good time," I say. "How about you girls?"

"Eh, the movie was okay," Twilight says. "Wasn't as good as we thought it'd be. Most of us bought new swimsuits. Sunset...didn't try to start anything with any of us. Heck, she paid for the movie tickets. Well, all except Fluttershy. She insisted on paying her own way." She sits down next to me and grabs another stale crust. "Flash, I don't get this game she's playing. It...it doesn't feel like a game." She wipes her hands on a napkin and sighs. "If...if I didn't know what a complete monster she is, and she was just another girl that moved into the dorm?" In a small, uncertain voice, she says, "I...I think we'd be friends by now."

I sigh and shake my head. "Friends...that's one thing we'll never be with Sunset Shimmer. Not after everything she's put us through."

"Yeah..."

Twilight sits to chat with Pinkie and the girls for a bit. All the pizza on top of all the snacks from the party has made me pretty sleepy, so I decide to head to bed early.

Shortly after stripping down to my boxers and stretching out on the bed, I fall asleep...

"Good evening, and apologies for disturbing your rest. I have important business to discuss with my guest."

The Velvet Room...

Zecora is the only one here. There's no sign of Igor.

"Much time has passed, and two signs remain, then you'll reach the point where you began again. But before you can lay your affairs to rest, you must yet face your greatest test."

"Sunset Shimmer," I say. "I know. We have to face her and defeat her."

"If what you say is true, then what is stopping you?" Zecora gives me a measuring look. "I will tell you what stays your hand. There remains a truth you do not understand."

I groan. "Can we dispense with the cryptic rhyming? You're giving me a headache."

Zecora frowns at me. From somewhere deeper in the Velvet Room, I hear a throaty, sultry chuckle.

"You'll have to excuse my newest apprentice," a sensual voice says. "She is wise, but she has even stranger quirks than my younger sister."

A pale, elegant, gorgeous woman in a blue uniform steps into view from...somewhere. She fixes me with a piercing gaze.

"In the interest of explaining what you are about to face clearly and with no confusion, I will take over from Zecora for a moment.

"In the weeks to come, the bonds you share with your friends and loved ones will be tested. You and your friends will be asked to confront the darkest nature of each individual with which you have forged an unbreakable bond.

"This series of trials will be unlike anything you have faced to date, and yet the strength you have gained from your repeated conflicts with the Shadows will serve you well. Overcoming these trials will yield rewards that will bring you closer to achieving the ultimate victory you seek...or perhaps doom you to an inescapable fate." She chuckles ominously. "Which path your destiny follows depends entirely upon you, as always.

"Beginning tomorrow, you and your friends will be brought to the place between dream and reality once every three or four days to undergo a trial. The one you view as your enemy will have no knowledge of these events unless you choose to make it known, as the trials will not take place within the plane you refer to as Zodiac."

The pale woman steps into the darkness and vanishes. Zecora watches her go, then turns to me. "Rest well, for when tomorrow comes...you and your friends must face The Sun."

As the Velvet Room becomes indistinct and hazy, I hear a younger, teasing voice giggle. "That didn't rhyme, you know."

"Motherf—"