Ponysona 4, the Campaign.

"That was too awesome..." Zeela said backing away a little as she tries to quell the impulse to run screaming from insane action that she just witnessed.

Melody blinked, staring at Tilt, and making a very pointed mental note never to tick her off when she was around weapons. Ever. "Okay, you never told us you were good with something like that...Wow..." Though, she realized Tilt seemed as confused as she was about where the sudden burst of martial arts mastery came from, and blinked. "Well...Your persona's Mars, right? War god and all? I dunno, maybe its choice of form is affecting you a bit as well, being your true self or something...? I dunno, I've been trying to do a little more research on the personas and stuff when I can...Found an interesting story I'd like your opinions on when we're done here..." She blinked, thinking. "But no, seriously, very impressive. The Shadows don't stand a chance if they try to fight us now...!"

Wraith's mind finally catches up to his body regaining coherence in time to see Tilt's display. "W-woah. That was...beautiful."

Tilt stares at her new weapon in a mixture of fear and awe, "I... I don't understand it. It was like... walking. I just picked it up, and it was like I'd known it my whole life." She trails off a little, then looks at everypony else around her, then back at the weapon. Part of her being screamed to throw it away, throw it away before she remembered anything more. She looks back up at the others. And it was cool, wasn't it? She looks down to the filly at her chest and smiles for her, giving the weapon a spin and putting it over her back. "Yeah, like Melody said! Those shadows aren't going to stand a chance!" she replies, arguably more for her own benefit than Alice's.

George HAD a question for Daisoujo about where he had gotten those weapons and the scalpel in particular but that was forgotten in the face of Tilt's display with the polearm.
"...Wow."
He settled for taking out the Persona compendium Marie had wanted and looking at it, letting an idea settle into his head.
...I wonder...

As he warms up a little more, Wraith approaches Tilt and lifts a hoof at the shaft. "I've seen seasoned warriors less proficient in their favored weapon than this. It kind of reminds me of...no, that doesn't make sense. Have you heard of a pony called Red Hare?" His mind seems to freeze for a second, before... "That's it! Your persona, that shrine! It's all the same as that musclehead we saved from that giant lion-thing. Ended up shipping him east with a bunch of villagers...


"Your style is just like his."

"WHAT? Ok... I swear I'm going to bucking faint if another shocking revial relating to Wraith/Soul's past being here with us.... Happens today..." Zeela said just with an eye starting to uncontroalablely twich a little.

Daisoujo and Alice glance at one another, than at Zeela. "This is almost certianly his shadow."

"It's a given that /something/ about him is going to be revealed here."

Rumor shudders at the thought, moving back beside Tilt carefully and worriedly and Shiro unsummons Arachne with a quick flick of his tail.

"Also that was something I already knew..." Zeela mutters with a sigh.

"Sure, we can roll with reincarnation or something..." Melody murmured. With all the other craziness, she couldn't rule it out just because Wraith had been out of it. But she looked around. "Uhm...We should...Probably get moving, though. I mean, the Shadow is probably running amok as we speak, you know...?" She took a few steps forward, taking a deep breath. She'd done this before, she could do it again.

"Maybe it's just because he's my personal hero?" suggests Tilt, not sure what to think just yet. "Well, everypony, let's go meet destiny. I'm not sure whether that means I'm a reincarnation of Red Hare or that it's just my true self manifesting his ability, but for now at least it'll help us get to Wraith's body."

"Let's go."

Tilt steels her expression and starts moving on, screwing her courage to the sticking place - she didn't have the heart to not act with resolve. George had said as much.

Entering the red and black swirling portal, the group finds themselves into an elegant, lavish hallway, two long cobblestone walled passages stretching on either side of them, the ends of which are visible. The ground seems to have a greenish blue glow but upon closer inspection, it's a thick pane of glass over a layer of the same goop from the hospital room, the same exact sort of thing above as a ceiling. On the walls there are various things that Wraith can identify as things from his past; portraits of his friends from the War of Discord, portraits of his new friends and things that he holds close, all slowly dissolving away, and drip down onto the ground in a greenish-blue goop, splattering against the floor right before it vanishes. Wraith sees a small blue marionette, the strings reaching up into the ceiling, dart into the the door to his right.

A few small shadows float along, but dart into the rooms to the left. There is a closer door about halfway down the corridor, and another- a set of double doors one at the end of the hall, right before it turns to the right. To the party's right, there is only one door other than the one that they came in from, at the far end of the hall before it takes a left turn. Shiro summons Arachne once again, flipping through his scans of the floor. Rumor, Alice, and Daisoujo all lean over the colt's back and look at it.

Alice pokes a one of the screens, Shiro pushing her hoof away for a moment as she sheepishly smiles. "Seems like it's one big rectangular hallway, with rooms all around it."

"There's one on the other side that's got a second room inside of it, though. I can sense something that'd help Wraith there, and I think the stairs are on that side as well. There's also a few presences, but I can't get a good read on anything other than the Major Shadow a few floors down."

Dai nods and looks at the rooms that they can see. "While I am curious as to what's inside of the rooms, but we do have a primary goal."

Rumor steps onto one of the shadows, grinding it into the ground with a disgusted face. "I'd rather not be in here longer than we have to be. I'm not really prepared to fight a massive amount of these things, I've got eighteen bullets "

The marionette catches Wraiths eye after he marvel at the room, still very much disoriented after his close call. "This is all...I can see why you guys make sucha big deal out of Shadows now..." His gaze wanders over the images strewn about the room for a moment, then, his minding cathing up again, he darts after the puppet, taking the bait. "I dunno about you, but I wanna know more before we move on. Save your bullets, just let the fighters take care of the small-fry!"

Zeela shurgs, sighs, then follows Wraith's lead and goes to fighting...

Melody nodded, following the other two. Best to let them take point, they probably knew where they were going, more than she did at any rate. She remembered the 'corruption' vibe she'd gotten previously, but this seemed...different, somehow. Perhaps Wraith had changed a bit? Regardless, she kept her weapon ready for now, eyes darting back and forth.

"With this many of us, we shouldn't have to fight too many." Tilt looks down at a second shadow slowly creeping towards her and Rumour, and attempts to glare it into submission. "Isn't that right?" she asks, it, daring it to make the first move. After a moment, it creeps forwards and she kicks it through the roof.

"Guess not then. Well, either way with so many of us here we probably won't have any trouble dealing with them while we explore. Lead the way, Wraith. It's not going to be easy, so we'll take as much time as you need."

She follows after Wraith.

George makes sure he has the broom and follows.

George does find that he has the broom.

The door that the marionette went into opens easily, and inside the party can see what appears to be a mostly normal unicorn mare, orange coat and a main of green and gold electrical tape, literally. The mare is looking out of a makeshift window in the cobblestone wall, opening out into what looks to be an upside-down sky. The mare doesn't seem to respond to the door opening, and a soft giggle comes from the Soul-like marionette as it collapses to the ground. The mare blinks, looking over and shrugging before going back to looking out the window. A single shadow leaps at the party but it doesn't take even a single hit from George's broom smacking flat into it's masked face before flying. right into the window beside the mare. The window itself shatters outwards, some glass falling to the ground without the unicorn responding.

Other than the marionette and the mare, there doesn't seem to be anything else in this room.

George wiped his forehead and sighed in relief.
"I didn't think it would come in useful so soon."
He glanced around at the rest of the group and squared his shoulders, he felt something was neccessary.
"I think it is safe to say that thing was 'Griffon the Brush-off'? Eh?"
The griffon then grinned.

Tilt groans and falls backwards on the floor with a thunk.

"H-Hotstick? Hotstick, how did you get here? How can you be here?" Wraith stumbles toward the orange pony, completely focused on her, not noticing the antics around him. He reaches out to her, on the verge of panic. "This place isn't safe, you need to join us!"

Zeela tries to stay as close to Wraith as is possible and warns. "Ah... I don't think, that's really who you think it is..."

Melody looked at George, blinking a bit and shaking her head. That pun had been...Almost physically painful...But before she really responded, she looked over at Wraith, blinking and moving close to Wraith, worried for him. "Hey...Don't let this place get to you, it might be a trap..."

Wraith's words, and everypony else's, don't seem to register with the mare as she looks out the window. A noise comes from above, a speaker that wasn't there before. "Hotstick? Come to the main deck please? We need your assistance."

Hotstick calls out. "I'm coming." And walks right on by Wraith, effortlessly dodging his outstretched hoof and trotting out through the rest of the party. The mare shuts the door behind her, and not even a second later Shiro, Alice, Dai, and Rumor walk in.

"Why's everypony just standing around in here?"

"Doesn't look like there's anything."

"And Why does Wraith seem upset?"

Tilt slowly rolls over and stands up silently. She walks slowly over towards Wraith, wanting to say something but with no words forthcoming. Perhaps that, in the end, was the best thing to say.