Ponysona 4, the Campaign.

Wraith is able to get some good distance between him and the incensed(and literally inflamed) Zeela. He's unable to get away without minor burns, but avoids the core of the flame. "Stop it, Zeela! Just put. The bomb. Down." He readies himself to flee at any moment, not wanting to actually get in a fight with her. Maybe if I can get back to my body, she'll listen.

Realizing his coat is still burning, he looks down for any sort of water source. Water tower? Pool? ANYTHING!

Spoiler:

"Will, you talk now? And explain what the buck is going on? I know you're, something... Linked with Soul, most likely... And the fact you just said my name, proves there is more to this then I know... All I want is answers..." Zeela asks staring daggers at this unknown pegasus getting ready to throw said bomb the second this Green Stallion tries to leave, but doesn't try to close the small gap that has been made between them, yet...

As the pain itches through his ethereal coat, Wraith has trouble concentrating on Zeela's words. This is his friend, but she's attacking him!

A stray thought goes back the previous night, where he thought that George was his enemy and he was the one who needed calming down.

Something clicks then...He hasn't used his possession against somepony ever before, not like this. It's always been willing, or not a "somepony." Not even a "somebody." Well, first time for everything.

Wraith begins the motions for a downward dive, but immediately breaks into a lunge for Zeela, proving the dive to be a feint. He ignores anything that comes his way, including the heat, and dissolves as he reaches her...and touches her mind.

Spoiler:

Zeela on reflex to seeing this Green Stallion move to charge at her, she trys to fling her bomb at him... And missed... Then there was impact...

skill checks:

Zeela can feel her body's control leave her, and it feels as though she's manacled in the corner of her mind, watching as someone else controls her... Just as a familiar looking tail wraps itself around her/Wraith in a hug.

"My Faithful Student, I'm so proud of you! Oh I always wanted to say that after hearing Celly say it a few times. You've been quite the bundle of chaos since you came here haven't you?" A soft boop against Zeela's nose from a claw, and a serpentine creature grins from in front of her, sipping a glass of what looked to be bananas. Not juice or a smoothie, actual bananas."
-----
Shiro shrugs, watching the spider again. "This little guy forgave me. I'd be a bit of a foal not to forgive you for a mistake." Shiro leans over and nuzzles Melody, whispering. "Don't have to starve yourself. I'd have let you eat if you asked."
-----
Alice trots over to the door after a quick hug to Tilt. "Come on. Want to go visit the 'School' Shiro was in, or the "Carnival" You were? Might be able to meet Arachne or Mars to ask about Daisoujo and Alice..."

Dai coughed and Alice's eyes widened. "Oh, er, I..."

Melody nodded a bit, returning the nuzzle. "Thanks, I-" She froze for a moment, stepping back and shaking her head for a moment. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, really, I wouldn't have-I mean I...P-Please don't tell anypony else!" Her eyes were wide, her voice was hushed, and her ears pinned back against her head as that panic surged back full-force. Had he already called for someone to come for her? Was it genuine? Soul and Zeela hadn't minded, but they weren't normal ponies either...Shiro was a normal colt...And she had-Maybe she was getting worked up over nothing, but she was used to having to leave town if someone found out.

Tilt gives Alice a toothy grin. She was caught now, Tilt didn't need to say anything!

"Oh many thanks George-sensei." Icing gives a slight bow. "It's just a side project I was asked to work on, nothing too big, I should have it back to you by tomorrow."

He gives a winning smile and checks his phone. No messages. Excellent. Never good to leave a phone running during class.

He pings Full Tilt a text.

"Hello Full Tilt, Maria wanted see you in Shadow world, she should be by usual landing spot as Velvet is locked. Going there myself too. If you unable no worry."

Aaaand... Send. Back to George.

"I know you are busy and all, I need to check up on the Shadow world for a second, my harpy gets lonely without a playmate so I am heading there for a short visit. If you do not see me tomorrow I will likely need another rescue, just FYI." He says the last in a joking tone. After all, he surpassed his shadow, no worries.

George gets up.
"If you're going to the shadow world I may as well go with you, I wouldn't sit right with me if I let you go in alone."

Shiro tilts his head, blinking curiously. "Why would I tell anyone that I had a spout of anemia?" The earth pony glanced over at Soul for a moment, then back at Melody, smiling. "I passed out, you brought me home, Alice found me, then I went to the hospital." He stared down Melody again, sighing slightly. "Whatever happened between when I passed out and Alice found me? I only can guess, but I should be thanking you for bringing me home.'
---
Alice's eyes dart around quickly as she gulps slightly, looking between Dai's disapproving glance, and Tilt's slightly smug grin as she tries to figure out how to save herself. "Er... they're other ponies with the names of Personae?"

"Alice..." Dai shook his head at her obvious lie as she sweated slightly. "Really, you should watch what you say."

The unicorn filly pouted. "Can you-"

"No. You made your bed Alice." Dai's stare made her step back and she sighed, looking at Tilt.

"Personae, actual personae at least not just temporary ones, have some sort of... Tie to the realms that they created. It more or less means that, well... They can speak and live in those place when not called for or summoned by the person who's persona they belong to."

"As mine, and Alice's, personae are more or less temporary and not our true selves, we can't quite ask them anything. Directly at least. It'd either be going to Kuro and speaking with him, which I'd rather not do..."

"Or go to where the personae are. That rather than having you, Icing, or Shiro summon your personae, since they don't stay around too long after summoned for fights."

Dai lightly tapped the card used to summon, and Daisoujo appeared in the air, though unlike before the pony had a bit of flesh and skin on him.

Alice summoned her persona, the young filly having a few feline traits rather than simply being equine.

"We were hoping some of your persona could tell us why this was happening to them."

"Zeela" freezes at the touch. A shiver bolts down the shared spine, the only thing keeping them aloft being the serpentine hug. no. The voice pulls their shared head shakily to the source. No. The grin in the mismatched equine head stares back, bringing older memories to the forefront. "NO! Not you! Tilt said you were gone!"

"Zeela" does her best to squirm out of the grip of the draconequus, and is able to get away with some effort. "Get away from me, Demon!" Watching her own body begin to dive away, Zeela can hear Wraith's mind screaming in terror. She can see glimpses of his past encounters with Discord, none of them ending well for the pony or his friends.

"HEY, WHOEVER YOU ARE! CALM DOWN! Recall the phrasing that he just used.... He called you a "student" of his... This imply something... Possibility... Like a non-hostile intent?" Zeela tries to argue to the panicking pony-thing that was also in control of her body, for the moment... Feeling Wraith's panic, calmed Zeela's anger down instantly and only brought out her own impulses to help others. "I mean really, from what I know, Discord isn't meant to be predicable, so this shouldn't always play out as one fears?"

Tilt giggles, placing her hoof over her mouth in amusement before starting to walk towards the far door and open it. "Tell me, are you familiar with the idea of 'lying with the truth'? I'll bet they are you," Tilt looks up at the personae, "- Hello, Alice! Hello, Daikon! - just forced to look like you so they don't attack you, because you haven't faced them and accepted them properly yet. Now they're trying to change back into who they are."

She unlocks the door from the inside and pushes through, "Come on, I've got to go tell the other me to hang out someplace cooler than some weird carnival."

---

Discord reaches out and pinches Zeela by the back, holding her in midair. "Aw, going so soon? At least stay for tea!" He sweeps around in front of the fleeing pair and holds up a cup with the letter t in it.

"See... He's being weirdly... Civil..." Zeela notes, this fact now really starting to make her worry a little, but she tries her best to hide that for now... She still wants to see where this is going.

Melody looked at Shiro for a moment, trying to figure out what his game was...Did he know or not? No, he certainly knew. So why wasn't he angry at her? It didn't make sense! She looked at Shiro for a moment. "Hey, uhm...Look, it doesn't make up for...You know...But...As it turns out, Soul actually met the mare that the Arachne legend came from...Arachne's pride wasn't her downfall, it was Discord tricking her like he did everypony else..." She looked down, a bit confused...But...She remembered that had been worrying him...She could try and put his mind at ease about that, at least...She'd give back his desperation if she could, but...She had no idea how.

Alice and Dai look at one another for a short moment, shocked at Tilt's deduction before following after her, both of their personae smiling at the runner before dissipating.
...
The carnival of lies seems to be almost completely deserted, the eerie, creepy, clown-like music nowhere to be found as a small note in red caligraphy floats from the floor.
I believe that you have questions for me.
Fire when ready, Fu-Senshu. Top Floor.
Mars.

Alice peeks over Tilt's shoulder at the note. "... That's really pretty writing. And old fashio- is that a 'seal'?" Alice points at the red circle surrounding a male symbol used in place of end-punctuation.

Dai does the same on Tilt's other side, slightly squishing her. "It appears so. Interesting. He chose to use mostly chinese characters instead of their japanese counterparts..."
-----
"Her pride wasn't her downfall, hostile trickery was?" Shiro blinks, tilting his head as he watches the spider. "Huh... Well that's good at least. I was worried that somepony would intentionally get me to act pridefully adn lead me to my downfall, but instead I just need to worry about ponies tricking me." Shiro smiles again, looking at the spider. "I was hopeful that was the case... Funny. Last night I was feeling so desperate for it, but today I'm hopeful. Two sides of a simliar coin. Do feel a bit of that desperation getting stronger though..." Melody can slightly feel something tickling the back of her mind. Not her mane, her mind.

Wraith's mind calms down a little bit, but he still tries his best to flee. As he realizes again that he is controlling Zeela, his mind turns toward hers. You don't know Discord like I do. He's all tea and cake in his speech, but he has no compassion for ponies and no sense of restraint! He will turn on us if he thinks it'll be funny, Zeela.

"Go suck a lollipop, Discord." Zeela's body kicks off and dives down into the city at Wraith's direction. They zip through the streets avoiding obstacles as they go. Hopefully, Discord would be distracted my something shiny and not give chase...

"Yeah...Odd, isn't it? Nngh...You feel that...? Like something's..." Melody looked over her shoulder, blinking in confusion...What was...It was like something crawling over her brain...It gave her the creeps...Still, he was feeling desperation...? Was she giving it back, or was she just deluding herself on that front? "But...Yeah, I guess you're right...Two sides of the same coin...Hadn't...Really thought of it like that before..." She was a bit distracted, wondering what was up with that feeling at the back of her mind...A warning? Her making herself sick with worry? Someone trying to read her thoughts?

Discord yawns, taking a sip of the teacup and snapping his talons. With a 'pop', Zeela and Wraith's wings disappear and they crash to the ground with a whump, crashing into a garbage bin and knocking it over. He flies over and tut tuts. "Going somewhere, my little ponies?"

"EWW!!! CLEAN IT WITH FIRE!" Zeela yells as she forces her body to do it's special lighting up on fire trick.

(OOC: Another usage of Soul of Fire (Flame On!) used.)

A pair of sunglasses appear on Discord's face and he holds a sausage over the burning Zebra. "See? Zeela knows how to be polite."

---

"I'm Canternese, of course I'll write a note in Manedarin." explains Tilt, tucking away the note and trotting onwards, looking over to the siblings. "Call me old fashioned, but I'd like to not fight anypony while I'm a guest in my home."

Then she looks up. "Let's meet, Fu-Shōgun."

Zeela chuckes. "Ok... That was actually pretty funny..."

"Not a problem at all George. At least, I do not think it will be. She is friendly and loves playmates." Icing smiles at the comment and the two go off to Junes to enter the TV world, temporally speaking before the others would have gotten there, but technically it has been three moons, seven suns, and yet only part of one teatime since Discord showed himself inside the shadow realm, so the whole "time" thing doesn't hold too much weight, best not to overthink it.

Wraith follows Zeela's will in setting the fire, if only because he's just as grossed out by the garbage. When the fire dies out, he leaves Zeela to the control of her own body, knowing that Discord is still only one god-like creature. "Don't fall for his act, Zeela, this thing is only amiable as along as he thinks we're funny," he says before turning back to Discord.

"What in the name of Tartarus are you doing here, Fiend? Twice not enough for ruining my life for you?"

"Hey... To be honest... He's been the more civil one between the two of you... And I know who Discord is, unlike yourself" Zeela comments to Wraith with a glare. "After all which one of us took control of another pony by force?"