Ponysona 4, the Campaign.

It's not hard to see that Daisoujou didn't give the expected response in the unicorn's expression, and Tilt mentally notes that Alice probably hadn't gone into depth. Well, that was her prerogative and Tilt wasn't about to pre-empt her.

"Well, you have my apologies all the same. How'd you like the curry?" she continues, shifting the topic.

“Oh, um...” The pudgy pegasus blinks and looks at the mare, curious as to how she knew, that was evident enough. “It was wonderful. Alice made quite a lot of it, and I still have some for my lunch if you’d like to join me.... On the roof.” Daisoujo flaps his wings and lightly flies into the air.

“Ha, knew it was the right call to wait a little longer. It’s always so much better with fresh fish. I’ll race you there!” Tilt vaults over the slowly taking off pegasus and gallops off towards the stairwell. (Aths 1d20+25 = 35 gotta go fast. Daisoujou probably still has the advantage though, it’s a lot faster to fly, after all.)

(Yeah, he does. +5 to his roll for a faster path. He got a 33 total.) Daisoujo flies remarkably quickly for such a large pony, reaching the roof just after the runner.

Tilt skids to a halt, laughing, “Beat you!~” she teases good-naturedly, holding up a leg for a hoofbump, one sportspony to another.

The pegasus lightly wing-bumps her hoof, shaking his backpack off of his back and fiddling in it “You’re about as fast as the rumors say.”

“You’re not so slow yourself, Daikon,” replies Tilt, “And I’m glad it turned out well - we spent a while picking out the good ingredients.”

Dai nods a little bit, pulling out eight rather large thermoses from his pack, eliciting a whistle from Tilt when he holds one of them out. “Thank you for helping Alice, by the way. I didn’t know she snuck out to buy food.”

Tilt levitates over the thermos and takes a seat on one of the air ducts. “She cares a lot for you, you know. She bought one of the big 20 kilo bags and took it with her like a champ, even.”

Daisoujo flies beside her, pulling off the top of one of the thermoses and smiling. “She’s stronger than she appears. Even without her magic.” He eats a small bit of the curry, sighing happily at the taste. “I love her. But she doesn’t know her limits.”

Tilt takes a mouthful of the curry and chews slowly, swallowing, “Mmm.” she agrees, “The only way to find your limits is to push them, I reckon. And besides, she’s doing it for all the right reasons, we just have to be there to back her up when she does find her limit.”

Dai nods, already done with the thermos and moving to the next.

Tilt takes another mouthful of the curry, chewing contemplatively and swallowing it. “Say, how did you get dragged into this mess, anyway?”

“Simply put, we were in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Dai noms more. “Kuro was the one who found us when we got trapped, and he gave us the power to protect each other.”

Tilt taps at her chin, “That seems to be a recurring theme. Me, I got dragged in and was rescued by Arcana’s group. Far as I can tell, he’s mainly interested in stopping Kuro. Any idea what Kuro’s after?”

“Revenge and empowering shadows, as he’s one as far as I know. The shadow of some really bad dude who had good intentions.”

“You think maybe he’s like Star Power? Somepony who faced their shadow... wrong?”

“I think he’s some pony who failed to face it.”

“As in you think he faced it and lost? I guess that could be the case - I don’t think I’ve seen anypony who outright lost to their shadows. I’d just assumed that would have gotten them killed.” muses Tilt, finishing off her curry and setting down the thermos, “I’ve been thinking, actually, Alice did make a good point about trying to help ponies, and I’m beginning to think that we’re really not doing ourselves any favours being the cavalry of Arcana and Kuro in their feud.”

“It isn’t Arcana that Kuro feuds with. It’s Shiro. Due to something about Shiro.”

“And yet it’s Arcana calling the shots. Shiro’s at the heart of this, but Arcana’s the one marshalling ponies to oppose Kuro.” Tilt blinks and looks out over the roof, “What’s your take on it?” she asks, probing for Daisoujou’s opinion. (Persuade 1d20+6 = 22)

“My take is simply that Shiro doesn’t care much about the conflict, and it appears that Arcana’s the one who wants to protect him. The foal has both the weakest and strongest self-preservation instincts I know of, if his shadow was any indication”

“What was his shadow, anyway?” asks Tilt, “I wasn’t around to see it.”

“Desiring somepony else to save and protect him, since he couldn’t do it for his mother and himself.”

The unicorn nods, it made sense, “I’m not surprised, all things considered, but I suppose that’s what a shadow is.” Tilt pauses for a bit, and looks to Daisoujou, deciding to venture a little, “Suppose, if you will, that Arcana and Kuro aren’t nearly as vital as they make themselves out to be. Suppose a pony could get the persona power without the intervention of one of the two?”

“Well, there’s no real certainty. Did you get yours from Arcana? Did Shiro? They may have indirectly, but it’s not one hundred percent.”

At that, the unicorn smiles knowingly, and levitates out a faded looking card from her vest, emblazoned with the image of a bison. “Supposing it was possible for a pony to get a persona for herself without the intervention of anypony else, then perhaps we don’t need to divide ourselves along the lines Arcana and Kuro would prefer?” she suggests, levitating the card towards Daisoujou.

Daisoujo stares at the tarot card, a bit curious and glancing at her. “That’s... Rather interesting. I think I might want to see if I can find my own self. I’m a bit worried about my shadow, however...”

“Everypony is. Even if I got a persona on my own, it still took the help of others before I could face my own shadow, your shadow isn’t ever easy to face. But we can all help each other - you, me, Alice, anypony else we can convince to join our team, we can all help each other make it there. It’ll be harder, but we’ll be fighting for each other.”

Daisoujo glances at tilt, then at the persona card with a small smile, tucking it into his school jacket. “I’ll be in the TV after afternoon.”

“Junes at eight then? I’ll see you there.”

“Probably earlier. I have a bad feeling that somepony should be there quickly.”

“You may be right - the Midnight Channel’s been active lately. I’ll see you at seven.”

..."I am sure. Discourse is still intercourse, if that is your primary concern. What is your purpose?"

---

The feminine voice in the air gives a short laugh. A laugh not unlike the chime of bells, left out in the rain and winter to grow cracked and rusted. Her tone becomes a bit more husky as she continues to speak to Icing. "Ah, my purpose is your purpose. To serve. To follow father. And to cause pain."

The hallways around Icing seem to blend one into the other, despite different wallpapers and sizes, they quickly become just one mass of sense-overloading colours. There is a barely perceptable breeze though, which Icing follows, coming to a stairwell up to a further floor.

---

Icing tilts his head at the message, and quickly checks his cell phone for his time remaining; if the rules of ten minutes were the same here he still had a bit of time, though he forgot to check when exactly he walked in. Hopefully it wouldn't be an issue.

Halfway up the stairs, he stops and addresses his target once more. "I do not believe that to be my purpose, though I feel for whomever's dark side you represent. A pony's purpose is to spread happiness and success, not pain. That is in the realm of the shadows it seems."

He crests the top of the stairwell and pushes aside the out of place rickety wooden door blocking further passage into the Shadow's lair.

"I do not suppose I would get an answer beyond base acts were I to ask where you came from, why shadows like yourself come to be?" He was keeping his composure fairly well, though he knew he had to pick up the pace. Going carefully allowed him to avoid any shadow minions thus far, but that time limit was pressing him onwards.

---

The shadow laughs again, a little more huskily. "Oh, I came because of you, dear Icing. I'm your subservant attitude. Your desire to... harm. And the little itch at the back of your mind that a mare would be better suited for me."

She seems to appear in the reflection in some armor and gazes at Icing with half-lidded eyes. "As for why we come to be, somepony just wants to... release, a bit of tension in their hearts."

---

Icing turns his back to the shadow to buck the armour, but stops at the last moment. 'Professionalism, Icing. That accomplishes nothing. Keep yourself calm.'

He didn't want to lure any shadows after all. Well, he did, but only one of them in particular. It was annoying to hear the double-entendres coming from that just-barely-recognizable voice that his brain just couldn't register as being more than 'I should remember her' familiar. He looks at the reflection, and his own reply takes on a wry tone. "You must be busy keeping such a wide array of dark secrets. The past few have only had one. Are you sure you are me? I already know I acquiese to the desires of my family, and of course a mare would be suited for me, if by you you mean me. I am a stallion, after all."

He picks up a piece of clothing resting in the same room. A negligee, as it happened, of course, given the locale. He tosses it across the Shadow's reflected visage, pointlessly obscuring its view. "Maybe whomever summoned you made a mistake. Mister Kuro seems to have major flaws in picking his champions."

---

The reflection moves to one of the lights overhead, once again laughing a daintier one. "Aw, you really want to see me in that?" She smiles down at Icing, half laying in the reflection. "It's rather simple. I am the you you don't want to admit exists. That's why it's too easy for a shadow to be denied. I'm the you that wants to harm. That wants to be a mare. That wants to be a little maid." In another reflecton, a 'Sugar' with a maid's outfit bows.

---

Icing looks up at her reflection, keeping an eye on her was important to get any facial expressions, even if she was a bit disconcerting to look at. That did not mean, however, that he had to look at her other farcical illusions. It had nothing to do with being embarassed at the image, it was just a psychological mêlée return blow, that's all, meant to shock him into doing something stupid or regretful.

"A Prench cut for the outfit? Now there would be a dark secret, that anypony could like Prench fashion in this day and age." The cotton candy coloured colt chides. Was he being too caustic? Well, there were no witnesses, he supposed it didn't really matter if he was a bit gruffer than usual, considering the nature of the task, and that his friends were too weak to help.

He squints to look at the reflection, the light harsh on his eyes. "So you claim to be me, but not 'me' me, merely an aspect. An aspect that most would find reprehensible. And I am led to believe that had I not came to confront you, you would have made me come... Likely by wrecking my place of work. Why?"

---

"Oh, I would never ruin my father's workplace. What would he say. How would he punish me~" She laughs again, smiling a way most ponies don't. "I would simply do like Shiro's shadow. Called you and brought you into your place." She gestures at the half dungeon half not-so-appropriate area. "After all I'm just his loyal little child."

---

"Shiro's shadow wrecked a good deal of an electronics store. I do not think you comprehend your own nature." Icing surmises to the reflection.

"After all, father would merely look crestfallen and give a 'I am not mad, merely disappointed'. You are not loyal, by my views so far."

---

"Oh, but wouldn't that hurt him most?" She laughs her tinkling laugh again, moving between reflective surfaces almost whenever Icing focuses on her. "His loyal, lovely little son causing the most pain possible, ruining Daddy Dearest's business? But I won't do that. I'm his servant. No matter how much I wish I could just buck it all."

---

"You would wreck it, should you be my shadow to face. Hence one part of my presence." Icing looks away from her, not giving her the satisfaction of the chase. He checks his phone's time once more, instead. Talking was fast, but it would be too easy to lose track of time, especially since he didn't know exactly how long he was inside for.

"The other part is to discover your biology and telos. I will not be shaken by your actions, I wish only for the knowledge to aid our efforts in doing the right thing." The stallion looks up from his phone. "If you could help there, it might be worth it for you. What do you desire?"

---

"Oh, you want to know my body?" She laughs and a small ashake in her walk, appearing in front of Icing for real this time. "As for what I desi-"

The shadow freezes, a rush of cold wind coming from behind icing as the blade of a scythe rests against his neck.

---

"Oh buck me with a rake." Icing's back twitches and he tries to throw out something useful to escape the situation.

(Using Element of Laughter: rolls 1d100: 80)

---

((roll 1d4)) ((1d4+0: 3))
---

Icing promptly throws a smoke bomb at the reaper, and when the smoke clears, the reaper has been replaced by a skeletal kitten, that promptly coughs up a miniature scythe. His shadow stares at the kitten, slack jawed.
((3 hours of kittenness))

---

Icing looks back at the shadow, a bit confused.

---

"Well, that was convenient. You might want to follow me." She flicks her tail and beckons Icing forward, leading him. "After all, there's more than one reaper in exitsance. Do pick up the weapon he left for you."

---

Icing wasn't about to give up the opportunity that random chance offered him. He picks up the tiny scythe, and seeing her flagging her tail, back turned to him, he also gives the skeleton kitten a shove to knock it over (because he could) as he turns to follow her. "So you have somewhere safe to finish our more friendly discussion before I start needing to really force you for answers? I guess I have no choice but to follow as you lead, for now."

---

"The topmost floor. My... playroom, for lack of a better word. And you don't need to force me to do anything~ "

---

Icing facehoofs. "You are far too casual, far too open. Are you certain you are not Melody's shadow and have made some mistake?" He asks as he follows her.

---

"I'm what you want, Icing. You want to be able to show this side of yourself." She slows back, running her tail along Icing's cheek and neck... before promptly placing a collar in it and forming a leash, sending a shock thorugh it. "But for now, let me have my fun."

---

Icing startles at the contact, but doesn't rear away fast enough. The collar was fine to him, in a way it was expected, but the shock certainly wasn't, and as his body registers the event he blanks out.

((Fade to black))

Tilt pauses for a second and hurries over to the edge, watching Soul leap out a window in a clearly suicidal (for anypony but a pegasus pony anyway) manoeuvre. “I’ll meet you at Junes in a bit, I think I need to talk to somepony. Bring Alice too.” she tells Daisoujou, before turning back to the skinny pegasus. “Hey! SOUL!” she calls out.

The pegasus startles high above the school-grounds, a bit cooled off, but still not expecting anypony to call her out. She barely hears Tilt, and can barely see her either. Soul angles toward the pony far beneath her and touches down lightly. ”Hey.” She looks about ready to nuzzle Tilt, but stops herself.

“What’s got you in a hurry all of a sudden?” asks the unicorn - if she’d noticed, she wasn’t showing it except through the concern in her voice.

Soul ‘hmms’ to herself, before answering, but with another question. ”Who is Discord to you?”

“You mean the...” Tilt pauses a little, mulling over the name, “The draconequus? He, hm, well, if I’m remembering right, he was a really powerful creature that lived long ago, until the Princesses locked him away for good.”

”Locked him away...”

That’s what Melody said. Where did he send me?

”And how long ago was this?”

“Well, this is the town of Ineighba, in Neighpon, and Discord was sealed away, um, over a millenium ago.” explains Tilt, rubbing at her head and trying to remember, “This is the second year of the Sisters’ Era.”

Soul Spinner’s legs lock in place when she hears the number. ”O-over a millenium? That can’t be right. I just saw him a few days ago.”

Tilt begins to move to catch Soul, but pauses when it becomes clear the mare wasn’t about to er, tilt. “Where were you then? Maybe he teleported you? But... if he’d gotten free again, there would be something in the news, wouldn’t there?”

”G-gotten free? Again?” A manic grin tugs at one corner of Soul’s mouth, almost reaching her eye.

“It was all over the news last year, somepony accidentally let him out of his prison, but these ponies called the ‘Elements of Harmony’ caught him when he was attacking a town and turned him back into stone. They said they were putting him somewhere safer so it wouldn’t happen again.”

”Safer?” A myriad of expressions flash across her face this time, and she finally settles on a slight frown. ”Nonono, you don’t understand. There were no Elements of Corn or whatever. There were no Princesses after he killed Platinum! It was just us and him! He killed hundreds of ponies when he got Canterlot, and-and-”

Tilt puts a hoof on Soul, trying to calm her down as she tries to explain things. “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna came after that, and Canterlot’s on the other side of the world from here. They used the magic of the Elements of Harmony to beat Discord and seal him away, and he hasn’t been able to do anything since - not even when he got free for a little while.”

”But none of that ever happened!” Soul shouts, tearing Tilt’s hoof away from her mouth. ”He sent me here just a few days ago! He attacked us, and I came through that teevee!” Tears are streaming from her eyes now. She could not accept what the Unicorn was saying.

“I- I...” Tilt searches for the words, and they don’t come. The name, it seemed so familiar, she’d thought nothing of it last night but... “What was your name again?” she slowly inquires.

”M-my name is Soul Spinner. And I’m going to be the greatest writer Canterlot has ever seen,” she says through clenched teeth.

“I think Discord hasn’t just taken you away from your where, he’s, well, taken you from your when,” a noticeable change in Tilt’s voice is readily apparent as she opens her bag and takes out a somewhat tattered handout, stapled in one corner. She flips it to about halfway through.

”That m-makes no sense! And what is th-that?”

“We’re studying ‘Two for One’ this year,” she turns around the handout.

The distraught pegasus wipes her tears on her fetlocks and takes a closer look. ”This is my-I never published this story! I barely finished the final act before-How did you get your hooves on this?!”

“It’s our handout in Literature class.” The page is festooned with bright yellow highlighter and (as usual wildly inaccurate) interpretations of lines scribbled into margins.

”Literature, as in, learning-about-past-authors literature.” She says this with a little surprise. It’s finally dawning on her that this might not be some big lie. The unicorn’s response is nothing more than a slow nod. ”But that means.... But that means that everypony I knew is-”

Tilt says nothing, pulling Soul into a tight hug and nodding. The pegasus does not resist her touch this time, instead embracing her quietly. The unicorn remains just as silent, letting the hug remain for as long as the pegasus needs.

Eventually, Soul pulls out of the hug, wiping her eyes. ”Thank you. I guess this means I’ll be staying a little while longer than we thought,” she jokes. It mostly falls flat.

“Haha, yeah. Looks like we’re going to have to figure out a schedule for the bed.” replies Tilt, laughing anyway.

”Heh. Looks like. I’ll probably have to find a job. My parents aren’t arou-” She stops there, frozen. ”Uh, I mean I’ll have to get used to your Neighpon. Going back to Equestria could work, but it wouldn’t be my Equestria anymore, would it?”

“No, I suppose it wouldn’t.” agrees Tilt, looking a little distant for a second as she wonders what her hometown would be like after all this time, “Well, we’re going back into the TV tonight, do you think you’d like to come along? Maybe we can find some clues as to how you might be able to get back.”

Soul gives one final sniff, then nods in agreement. ”That would be nice. I suppose that explains a few of the, uh, ‘advancements’ I’ve seen. But that might just be the difference between Equestria and-oh stars and horseapples.” A sudden mood swing(this pegasus seems to be good at those) leaves her with a dumbstruck face, eyes wide with realization.

“What? What’s wrong?”

”You... wouldn’t happen to know a ‘griffon,’ would you? Pleasesaythey’recommon.”

“You mean the school nurse?” replies Tilt, cocking her head for a moment before she works it out. “Oh. OH! Oh yes. There’s not a lot of them out here in Neighpon but it’s been a very long time.”

”Aha. Yes. I may have sort of... assaulted your school nurse,” Soul squeaks, making herself small.

Tilt snorts and stifles a giggle. “What did you do to him?”

“I may have used the library. In a way. A way that involves half of the room.”

It’s too much for the unicorn, and she bursts out in laughter. “Ahahaha ahaha a-hooh. Poor George.” she manages finally, wiping a tear from her eye. “Come on, let’s make ourselves scarce before somepony comes looking for you. We can pick up some drinks from home on the way there to give him as an apology.”

”Okay. You got any good ales around here?”

Tilt opens her mouth to protest, then pauses to consider the circumstances. “Let’s check the fridge.”

NB: Conan, gimme a shout tomorrow if there's anything you'd like changed, I figure it's easiest to move us both as a pair.