Hello and welcome back everyone to My Little Phantom Thief!
If you're reading this, you made it past the first chapter and decided to go along with this mess for at least another chapter. So yeah, I really do like this fic idea and I definitely want to continue doing this. I tried to make sure to clear any continuity issues that were possible in the first chapter so I wouldn't have to worry about some specific questions.
I've also gotten a few questions as to my old fic: Buccaneer Turned Hunter, the main one being if it is ever going to return. And I regret to inform you all that as of right now, I have no plans to continue that fic, I left it in a place where I sort of dug myself into a hole where I kinda knew what I wanted but didn't know how to get there, and the more I waited, the more the show moved on with different plot elements that just didn't match up with the feel I wanted my story to have. So I left it, and I still feel like writing that fic was one of the best things I've ever done. I had a lot of fun with it, but I don't think there's anything I could do to tell Jarryd's story effectively. If anyone wants to try and keep going where I left off I would gladly let someone adopt that fic, but keep in mind I started writing that while I was in Middle School...so just let me know!
One thing I should mention about this, I will be making Confidant ranks for the characters Joker meets at Canterlot High, but I will be reusing the Arcana's just so it's easier.
But anyways I've talked long enough, let's take you down to Akira and Morgana's first time entering Canterlot High.
LET'S GET ON WITH IT!
Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own Persona, My Little Pony, or any of the characters in this fic. Those are owned by Atlus and Hasbro respectively.
My Little Phantom Thief: Equestria Girls Chapter 2
Canterlot High - Main Hall
Akira opened up the door to this "Canterlot High" very carefully, the hostility shown to him at Shujin made the "fearless leader of the Phantom Thieves" shaky at the knees. He looked just past the door and saw the main hall, which seemed to be empty at the moment.
"Class must be in session, huh?" Morgana said as he popped out of Akira's bag and started looking over his shoulder.
"Sure looks like it…" Akira replied as he slowly entered the hall, taking in all the sights he could see, which had a lot of the same letter "C", which he now knew must have been Canterlot High's school logo, along with the repeating theme of horses being plastered everywhere as far as the eye could see. As Akira looked down the hall, he noticed something that was not commonplace in both Shujin, and his hometown school, lots, and lots of lockers. Akira was curious at this site, as lockers were usually just a place to store your belongings while you were in a PE class, why were there so many of them down each hall? Before Akira could ask any more questions to himself, he heard something he had dreaded the thought of hearing as soon as he entered the building.
They heard the bell ring.
Before Akira even had true time to process all of this, he noticed that both halls on each side were starting to fill up with people heading his direction. Akira made the assumption that these were the students of Canterlot High. Morgana quickly hid back inside the bag, as Akira stepped back towards the set of doors, being careful not to be run over by a stampede of students trying to get to their next class.
This also allowed Akira to observe the environment of the school, and there were two things he noticed about many of these students. Firstly, there was no defining school uniform to be found, many males he could spot were wearing graphic-tees and hoodies. While females seemed to be following suit, except most of them were wearing skirts. And secondly, these students all had way different skin and hair colors! Now Akira had nothing wrong with people of other skin tones, but never in his life has he seen a man with a light blue skin tone, and dark blue hair, or a girl with bright green hair having very light-pink skin.
Morgana had popped his head back out of Akira's bag and was able to see the same things his partner was observing.
"What the heck!?" Morgana cried out as softly as possible, but still made his shock clear. "I've never seen humans like this before...they are human, right?"
"I think so...They look human enough" Akira replied back. As he was still in the middle of experiencing culture shock, two girls started to walk by, but quickly stopped as one of the girls pointed out Akira to the other. Morgana quickly noticed this and hid back inside the bag. Akira turned to find what caused Morgana to hide, looking to see the two girls staring at him. Akira had no idea what to do, so he just held up his hand, gave a small smile, and waved at the two. This reaction caused both girls to start blushing, giggle to each other, and then they ran off presumably towards their next class. Akira just dropped his hand and gave a sigh.
Realizing he would get nowhere in this investigation if he just stood around waiting for something, Akira took a deep breath, and merged with the crowd moving down one of the halls.
'Might as well explore this place…' Akira thought to himself, failing to notice that the crowd had already started to disperse as many students were reaching their classes, but Akira kept walking, taking note of every type of class he could see. Each hall seemed to specialize in a specific subject. Akira found a hall for science, math, history, art, and he just had to smell the air to be able to tell he was in the home-economics hall. After exploring most of the building, Akira heard the bell ring again, signaling the start of the next set of classes. He took this time, and space in the empty hall to pull out his phone and check to see if the Meta-Nav was still installed on his device, and sure enough he found the same red-eyeball staring at him on his home screen that has been there ever since he first arrived in Shibuya. Knowing that Akira was alone, Morgana then popped out of Akira's bag and took a big whiff of air through his nose.
"Ahhh...This place smells wonderful…" Morgana said, taking in every scent that came to him. Akira just looked around and chuckled.
"That would make sense, we are in the home-ec hall." Akira told his companion, who looked down at his phone, seeing Akira opened the Meta-Nav app.
"Alright! At least we know the Nav works over here. First we need to get the name of our target, and since the distortion is right outside this school, I'm almost certain that our target goes here one way or another!" Morgana said confidently. Akira thought about it and the cat's logic made sense, although he had hoped it was not another pervy PE teacher.
"Yeah. And knowing that, it's fair to assume that the location of our target will be 'Canterlot High', but we need a name first." Akira replied, leaving Morgana impressed at the deduction skill from his best friend, though it wasn't truly a surprise as Morgana has witnessed Akira's Knowledge increase immensely ever since they first met, which he would love to take credit for, but knew it was due to the hard work Akira put in himself. Morgana would have praised Akira if he hadn't noticed one thing on Akira's phone.
"Hey! Look at the date at the top-right…" The cat pointed out to Akira, who looked on his screen and saw the date.
"November...11th?!" Akira said surprised, but he then remembered that Igor had told him that time passes by faster in this dimension. This made Akira calm down, as back in their dimension, they would be closer to sending Sae Niijima's calling card.
"Hmm...In this world, time must pass by faster than in our own. That means we have quite a bit more time than we originally thought!" Morgana said excitedly. Akira just nodded and put his phone back in his pocket.
"But we can't slouch either, we don't know just how much faster it passes. So the sooner we steal that Treasure, the better." Akira said back to Morgana who simply gave a 'meow' in response.
This moment of relief quickly died down when the two thieves heard a crash over to their right. They quickly turned their heads to see the aftermath of two female students crashing into each other.
One of these girls was wearing a black leather jacket with a purple t-shirt underneath, an orange skirt, black boots with a purple design on them, and had red hair with yellow streaks going down it, almost like fire. The other girl had been wearing a white blouse with green at the collar, a denim skirt with a belt-buckle around her waist in the shape of an apple, this girl was also wearing a pair of leather cowboy boots and a matching cowboy hat, Akira took note that the girl's hair was blonde enough to even rival Ann's own locks.
Akira then noticed a blue crate down on the floor next to where the girl with the cowboy hat had fallen down, and it looked like a lot of bright red apples had spilled out of this crate that the hat-wearing girl must have been carrying. Akira was about to walk over and help the two girls up, when the girl with bright red hair shot up and angrily stomped towards the other female.
"Watch where you're going, country girl!" The red head yelled out towards the blonde, who just got up and dusted herself off. Akira was surprised to know he could understand English this well.
"Where I'm going?! You're the one who ran into me! And you even made me spill all those apples!" The blonde, who had a surprisingly deep southern accent, gave her retort.
Akira looked down and that statement then made sense to him, looking at just how many apples were now on the ground. A few other students that had just entered the hallway stopped to view the commotion, Akira noticed that many of them had a look of terror in their eyes while gazing at the conflict in front of them, but why?
"Look here, you yokel...this school will soon be set for my coronation at the Fall Formal. Why don't you make yourself useful and see that these apples are good enough to even be eaten within my presence…" This red head, who was now starting to get on Akira's nerves as he hated bullies more than most things, bent down and grabbed one of the apples next to her feet and took a bite out of it. The girl's eyes then widened as she quickly spat out pieces of the apple to her side.
"Disgusting! You know what, maybe you should keep your filthy apples away from me if you know what's good for you." Akira started to get even angrier when he noticed that even though the blonde girl was trying to stay strong, she had started to tear up from these insults being hurled her way, and Morgana knew what was about to happen so he hid back in Akira's bag. Akira then decided enough was enough, and he walked towards the two girls.
"It now makes sense why Dash would ditch a loser like yo-" The red head was stopped dead in tracks when Akira wedged himself in between the two girls, staring down at the green eyes of the bully in front of him. Many of the students watching this unfold gasped when Akira stepped in between them. The red head looked up at the glasses-wearing student with anger, the bully then sized Akira up and then looked back in his eyes.
"And just who are you…?"
"Someone who thinks you've said enough." Akira replied, causing everyone present, including the bully and the girl behind him to stare in shock at his actions. The red head's eyes started to flare with anger.
"Do you even know who I am?" The girl asked angrily of Akira, who calmly shrugged his shoulders.
"No, and to be honest, I don't care." The students witnessing this couldn't believe what they were hearing from this guy they had never seen in this school before. Akira could hear the whispers coming from all directions.
"Yo! Who even is this guy?"
"Did he honestly just tell her off like that?"
"That makes two people who've stuck up to her this week! Maybe the princess is finally being brought down a peg?"
Akira paid these whispers no mind, they were way better than the ones he heard about himself around Shujin anyways. The boy then turned back to the red headed girl, who was starting to get even angrier from these whispers from the other students, and Akira spoke once again.
"How about you just leave this girl here alone? And don't make me ask again…" Akira said, staring the girl down, as she was just standing there in shock. The hall had gone silent, and stayed this way for a few seconds, until the girl just scoffed, looked Akira in the eyes and replied to him.
"You'll pay dearly for getting in my way...I swear to you, you'll pay." The girl said before turning around and walking away down the hall, any student in her way quickly moved to the side as she rounded the next corner.
The hall went silent again, every student nearby had been staring at Akira. It was just then he realized the attention he just drew to himself, he mentally cursed before finding the easiest way to get the students to leave. Akira turned to his new audience.
"Well, what are you still looking at? Go to class." Akira told everyone nearby, who quickly collected themselves and kept walking, still in disbelief at what they witnessed. Akira gave a sigh as he turned back around to see the much more calming set of green eyes of the girl in the cowboy hat who was still surprised until Akira spoke to her.
"Are you ok?" Akira asked the blonde, who shook herself out of her stupor and looked at Akira.
"Yup. I'm all good, Partner." The blonde replied, looking down at the ground in embarrassment before looking back up at her savior. "I sure am thankful for what you just did there." The blonde said with a blush, taking her hat off and putting it in front of her, letting Akira get a full glimpse of her hair, making Akira think to himself that this girl was pretty cute.
"It's no problem at all. I've dealt with a lot worse, believe me." Akira then looked back down at the blue crate and apples spilt all over the floor. "Do you need some help with those?" Akira asked, pointing down to the apples.
"Ah, that'd be mighty kind of ya, sugarcube!" The girl said, giving Akira a big smile, which he flashed his own in return as they both picked up all the apples from the hall and put them back in the crate fairly quickly.
"Thank ya kindly once again, Mister. Canterlot High needs more people like you." The blonde said, causing Akira to rub the back of his head in embarrassment.
"That's very nice of you, Miss…?" Akira asked, realizing he never got the name of this girl before.
"Oh, where are mah manners? You can call me Applejack!" The girl now known as 'Applejack' answered while reaching out to shake Akira's hand, which he accepted and found out that this 'Applejack' seemed to have a lot of hidden arm strength.
'Apple...jack? What a weird name...but it makes about as much sense as anything else happening right now.' Akira thought to himself before being brought back to reality by Applejack.
"And what can I call you, sugarcube?" Applejack asked, letting go of Akira's hand for him to answer.
"I'm Akira. Akira Kurusu." The boy answered with a smile, causing Applejack to look slightly confused.
"I'm sorry, Partner. Aki-what-now?" Applejack asked again, obviously she must not have been used to saying japanese names so Akira gladly repeated it.
"Akira Kurusu." He said again, slowly so she could understand it. "But just call me Akira!" Akira said with a thumbs up. Applejack smiled in response.
"Sounds good, sugarcube!" Applejack said with a wink, causing Akira to sweatdrop.
'If you're just gonna call me that, why even bother with my name…?' Akira thought to himself, but realized it didn't matter in the long run as he wouldn't be staying here for too long.
"Say there...Now that I think about it, I haven't seen ya around here before...Are ya new here?" Applejack asked as she picked the crate full of apples up. Akira had a feeling this question was coming, but knew he could use it to his advantage.
"Yeah, I just transferred today as a matter of fact." Akira said with a smile, allowing his overwhelming Charm to carry him through the conversation.
"Ah knew it! That makes two transfers in one week...never thought I'd see that happen." Applejack said triumphantly. As much as Akira liked talking to Applejack, he knew that he needed to truly start his investigation into the Palace at Canterlot High, and now that he just said he's a new student at this school, he might as well start things off by going to the principal to register.
"Speaking of which, since I'm new here I actually don't know where things are in this school. Do you know where the principal's office is?" Akira kindly asked.
"Principal Celestia's office? Why it's just down this hall and to the right, couldn't miss it if ya tried." Applejack said again with a smile, Akira gave a quick nod as he pushed up his glasses.
"Great! Thanks, Applejack. I'll see you around." Akira said as he started to walk off towards the office of this 'Principal Celestia'.
"Don't be a stranger, sugarcube! Thanks again for scarin' away Sunset!" Applejack said to Akira before walking off in the opposite direction.
'So Sunset was the name of that other girl, huh? Hope we don't see too much of her…' Akira thought to himself as Morgana then poked his head back out of Akira's bag and spoke up.
"While I do commend rushing to save a damsel in distress, it already seems like you've got a target on your back!" Morgana told his partner, who just shook his head.
"I couldn't just sit by and watch that happen…" Akira said in a low-tone voice. Morgana then sighed in response.
"I know, but just make sure to be careful around that 'Sunset' girl." Morgana stated. Both of them were stopped when they heard Applejack's voice again, making Morgana sink back into the bag.
"Pardon me, sugarcube, but did you just hear a cat coming from somewhere?" Applejack turned around to ask the black-haired boy, who tried his best to play it cool.
"I didn't hear a thing! Oh well, see ya Applejack!" Akira said, turning the corner of the hallway before speaking to Morgana. "What was that about being careful?" He teased the cat, who just gave a muffled 'Shut up!' from inside the bag, causing Akira to chuckle.
Back with Applejack she turned around again to look at the spot where Akira had disappeared around the corner. She looked on with a small blush on her face.
"Akira, huh? He's a handsome fella, that's for sure...But I feel like I've heard that name before...Oh well." Applejack said before she walked into her Granny's home-ec room.
Canterlot High-Principal's Office
Akira was able to find the Principal's Office fairly quickly thanks to the directions from Applejack. He walked up to the door and noticed the nameplate right next to the door and read it off to himself.
"Principal Celestia…" Akira whispered to himself, Morgana could tell his partner did not want to go inside since their last encounters with a principal turned out very bad in the long run, he then poked his head out again to hype up his friend.
"This is the place. Remember to play it cool and to stay calm, no matter what." Morgana told the nervous student.
"Gotcha…" Akira replied as he held his hand up to the door, closed his eyes tight, and knocked three times.
After a second or two passed, Akira was met with a voice from the other side of the door, who he assumed was Principal Celestia.
"Come in!" The voice said to him. Morgana then pushed himself back in the bag as Akira took a deep breath and opened the door and walked inside. The boy shut the door behind him, turning around to see an adult female figure sitting at a desk, hand moving as fast as it could while writing down who-knows-what on a sheet of paper. The first thing he noticed about this woman was her hair color...well, more like plural colors. Her hair seemed to be a mixture of pink, blue, and green, which along with her overly pink skin, made this woman stand out the most in this strange place. This woman then looked up from her work to see Akira just staring at her, at first she narrowed her eyebrows at him, but then softened up once she made a realization.
"Ah! You must be the new student I've heard about!" The woman said with a smile, causing even more confusion in Akira's brain.
'Wait...she's heard about me? How is that possible? I had only dealt with that Sunset girl a few minutes ago, and even in high school word doesn't travel that fast!' Akira thought to himself, but he quickly forgot it and nodded in response.
"Excellent, I'm so happy to meet you!" The woman said, flashing a kind smile towards the boy, who was not used to this level of hospitality in any aspect of life, much less a school principal. "I'm Celestia, Principal of Canterlot High." Celestia said in a very calming tone of voice that allowed Akira to relax a bit.
"It's...Nice to meet you." Akira replied, slightly bowing his head to the Principal, who kept the same smile on her face.
"And if I'm not mistaken, your name is Akira Kurusu, correct?" Celestia asked, the confusion in Akira's brain, along with Morgana's as he was hearing this, growing even more.
'She already knows my name, too!? What is going on here?' He mentally asked himself before just nodding in agreement.
"Then it's nice to meet you as well, Akira. I've read through your transcripts from Shujin Academy quite a few times before you arrived." If the boy and that cat were alerted before, there were now full on sirens going off in both of their heads. Akira's thoughts immediately went to the thing that made his time at Shujin Academy a living hell, his criminal record. That assault charge he had received seemed to be following him wherever he went, he couldn't get rid of it even in an alternate dimension. Akira started to ball his fists before Principal Celestia finished her thought.
"While at the start of the year, your grades were less than stellar...You ended up having some of the top exam grades in your class in your most recent tests! That is amazing dedication to your studies, Mr. Kurusu." Celestia finished, making Akira relax again, surprised at the lack of a mention of his assault charge. The boy stared wide-eyed at the Principal, and couldn't even perform a coherent sentence.
"I...Uh...Isn't there…" Akira started but he just kept stumbling over his words, Celestia started chuckling as she raised an eyebrow.
"Huh, is there something else I should know about?" Celestia asked, making Akira vigorously shake his head 'no'.
"I just...didn't expect the compliment. Thank you." Akira replied, showing gratitude towards the Principal, who shifted her focus to her computer.
"I suppose we should get your schedule to you, yes?" Celestia said with a grin, to which Akira simply nodded and Celestia started to type on the computer. Akira titled his head to the side, trying to catch a peek at what Principal Celestia had been typing, when she started to speak again. "You know, during my entire career here at Canterlot High, I've never had two new students transfer to CHS within the span of a few days of each other. Quite a coincidence…" Celestia told her new student.
'I've been hearing a lot about this other transfer student...maybe if I find them, they can give me a clue as to who here has a Palace…' Akira planned, deciding it couldn't hurt to ask Celestia about this.
"About that other transfer student...who are they? I've heard a bit about them, and I hoped I could at least befriend them since we're in the same situation." He asked the Principal, who looked up at him with a smile.
"You mean Twilight Sparkle?" Celestia replied, making Akira sweatdrop again
'Ok, these names just get stranger and stranger...and something tells me it's not gonna get any better from here.' He just nodded and pretended like he knew.
"She transferred here only two days ago, we don't quite know where from but we're happy to have her. Even if she is a bit strange…" Celestia said with a sigh but quickly picked up her attitude. "Twilight actually came into my office and decided to run for Princess of the Fall Formal!" This statement caught Akira's interest pretty quickly.
"Fall Formal?"
"It's Canterlot High's big fall dance, it's coming up quickly on the 21st of the month." Celestia said, pointing over to a row of photographs, but something was off about the last three, they were all the same person, who just happened to be the red headed girl he butted heads with earlier.
Celestia gave off another sigh "Sunset has been princess of the Fall Formal three years in a row, then again, she's always run unopposed. It would be something special to see someone new take the crown this year, but who knows?" Akira looked at the photos, and took in the story Celestia told him. Akira, now flashing his 'Joker grin', had one thought going through his mind.
'I think we've found our first lead…' The Phantom Thief thought, now knowing his next move, he had to find this Twilight Sparkle girl and get her to explain the situation. Akira was brought out of his thoughts when Celestia handed the student a sheet of paper, which he took and noticed it was his schedule for the day.
"Your homeroom teacher will be Ms. Cheerilee, we're nearing the end of 2nd period so that is where you'll be heading next after the bell rings." Principal Celestia said as Akira looked over his new schedule that he would be following over his time at CHS.
'Start the day with history, then go to home-ec, homeroom with lunch right after, then finish the day with science and math...seems like a simple schedule.'
"And there is one more matter I need to discuss with you, Mr. Kurusu…" Celestia once again snapped Akira out of his own mind, paying attention to his new Principal. "While you have transferred here, you currently have no place of residence in Canterlot, correct?"
Akira mentally smacked himself, he hadn't thought about his living situation here. He really did not want to have to sleep on a park bench or something of the sort. Celestia noticed his internal panic and chuckled.
"I was correct then. But there is no need to worry Mr. Kurusu, I have managed to find a household here in Canterlot that is open to taking you in for the rest of the year." Principal Celestia stated, making Akira look up at her in surprise.
"Really? Where would that be?"
"There's an apple orchard near the outskirts of the city called Sweet Apple Acres. I had called many of the families of current students enrolled at this school, and it just so happens that the kind folks at Sweet Apple Acres chose to help you out." Celestia said with a soft smile.
Akira wasn't sure what to think of this revelation. He was grateful that he and Morgana had a place to sleep, but he wasn't too sure about living on an apple orchard, a Café's attic was already rough. Celestia then handed another piece of paper to the boy, which had an address written on it.
"There's the address to Sweet Apple Acres, it should be within walking distance of the school." Celestia said, watching her new student look over the address with interest. All of a sudden, the bell rang, signalling the end of the 2nd period. "Well, I've kept you long enough, Mr. Kurusu, I hope you have a good first day of classes." Principal Celestia said with a smile, cueing Akira to head to his homeroom class. He then got up and bowed towards Celestia.
"Thank you for your help." Akira said before leaving the office, leaving Celestia to laugh to herself.
"Two pretty strange transfer students showing up in a matter of days...something tells me this will be a fun week."
Canterlot High - Main Hall
Akira tried to maneuver through the crowd to find a spot where he could stand by himself. He's sure he would raise suspicion if someone found out about Morgana riding his bag, along with looking insane to the students by being seen talking to the cat. After about a minute of walking, Akira found a secluded spot which wasn't too far from where his homeroom was supposed to be, so he looked around and pulled out his phone to try and avoid standing out. That's when Morgana popped his head out of the bag so he and Akira could talk.
"You got all of what Principal Celestia told us, right?" Akira asked the cat, who scoffed in reply.
"Of course I got it all, what kind of Phantom Thief would I be if I didn't?" Morgana replied, his voice entering it's 'high-and-mighty', making Akira laugh softly. "Whoever this Twilight Sparkle girl is, she must know something about this place that we don't. Why else would she run for a royal position at a school dance when she just arrived here?" Morgana told his partner, who simply nodded in understanding, as the theory seemed to make sense to him.
"The one thing that stood out was the pictures of past Princesses of this Fall Formal on the wall...The last three pictures were ones of that Sunset girl that we ran into earlier." Akira said with a hand on his chin.
"And she's running for the position yet again this year...and unopposed as well...she's definitely suspicious...but we also don't know her full name so we can't try to put it in the Nav yet. But for right now let's at least try and eliminate one suspect, enter Twilight Sparkle into the Nav." Morgana suggested. Akira thought this was a bold move to try this out now, but he supposed it couldn't hurt to try it.
Akira then opened up the Meta-Nav app and entered in the name 'Twilight Sparkle', Morgana peeked over his shoulder to see the result.
"No candidates found" The Nav said through the speakers, both Morgana and Akira slightly frowned at this.
"Well, at least we know who it isn't now…" Morgana stated, Akira just nodded while staring at the screen. "Even though she doesn't have a Palace, Twilight still may have some information that could be useful to us. And once we have the full name of that Sunset girl, we can try her name as well." The two thieves looked each other in the eyes and gave both a smile and a nod towards each other. Morgana then looked up to a nearby clock and noticed the time.
"Hey, it's almost time for your first class, don't wanna be late on the first day!" Morgana said with a smile before sneaking back into the back, Akira just gave a sigh before walking to his new homeroom.
'Wouldn't be the first time…'
Canterlot High - Ms. Cheerilee's Class
Akira opened the door to his homeroom class, and wasn't too surprised at what he found. The room itself seemed to look like a normal classroom. There was a blackboard at the front of the room, a stand for the teacher to use while instructing, along with rows of desks and chairs for the students to sit in. It seemed very similar to Kawakami's class at Shujin, though Akira highly doubted this Ms. Cheerilee was secretly working for a maid service after school like his own teacher.
Speaking of students, there were quite a few of them already in the classroom. A few students had already sat down and had some books out, while others were leaning on their desks talking to their friends. Akira continued to observe his classmates, where one girl stood out to him in particular.
This girl, who was sitting near the back of the class, had one defining adjective that Akira could notice. Pink. He was referring to the fact that this girl had pink everywhere all over her, pink skin, bright pink hair, pink heart on her white t-shirt, and a pink skirt. The only non-pink colors he could see on her came from her blue jacket with matching blue boots, a purple bow on the hem of her skirt, and a design on her skirt that had two blue balloons with a third yellow balloon in the middle of them.
Akira also noticed that this girl seemed to have a lot of energy, practically bouncing up and down in her chair with an almost contagious smile on her face. Something about this girl just made Akira want to laugh, he never saw someone with this much positive energy radiating around them before. But when Akira looked back at the girl, he then noticed her blue eyes staring at his own black eyes, her mouth was slightly open, but then closed as she turned her head to the side, almost like she was analyzing him.
Before the Phantom Thief could acknowledge this girl, he heard a female voice aimed towards his direction.
"Ah! You must be Akira!" He heard as he looked straight ahead to see a woman that was about it height, had long purple hair with a pink streak down the middle, wore a white blouse with a brown sweater vest, and had a green skirt with floral patterns on it, completing the outfit with brown boots that had green laces.
"I just got a call from Principal Celestia saying you've been placed here. I'm Miss Cheerilee, and I'll be your homeroom teacher from now on!" The teacher said with a smile and closed eyes. This school continued to surprise him, not just by the strange people here, but just how kind everyone has been to him, with one exception of course. At Shujin, he was met with hostility from day one, but that was mostly in part to Mishima leaking Akira's criminal record while under pressure from the first target of the Phantom Thieves, Kamoshida. Akira replied to his teacher quickly.
"It's... nice to meet you." Akira responded, still unsure about how to act. That's when they both heard the bell ringing again, from the hall behind them. Signalling the start of class.
"Oh! Looks like it's class time! But in order to get these students familiar with you, I'm going to introduce you and you can say something to the class, then I'll tell you where you'll be sitting. Sound good?" Ms. Cheerilee told her student, who just nodded to himself.
'She's just like Ms. Kawakami, except Ms. Cheerilee actually seems to like her job somewhat…' Akira thought to himself as Ms. Cheerilee stood in front of the class and cleared her throat, causing the rest of the students to quickly sit down in their chairs and look at their teacher. A few of them noticed Akira and gave him a few quizzical looks, but he didn't mind at all, they just didn't know who this stranger standing in their class was. That's when Cheerilee spoke to the class.
"Hello everyone! I hope you've all had a great day so far. Now I won't have too many announcements for you today, but we do have a new student joining our class today!" Cheerilee said, putting her hands together with a smile on her face. Right then, every student in the room drew their attention toward Akira, who just stood still, waiting to be introduced. "I'd like to call up our newest Wondercolt to introduce himself. Please welcome Akira Kurusu!" Cheerilee motioned in the Phantom Thief's direction, before she started to clap.
As he walked up towards the front of the room, he noticed that the rest of the students were basically emotionless...except for one, the pink-haired girl in the back he made eye contact with earlier, who was giving applause with even more energy than Ms. Cheerilee had been giving. Akira just smiled towards the girl, then looked back to Ms. Cheerilee, who then motioned for him to say something. Akira looked forward and spoke to the class.
"Hello, everyone. I'm Akira, it's very nice to meet you all, and I hope we get along this year." Akira spoke with dignity, putting his arms at his side, and bowing to the class. He stayed in this position, waiting for any kind of reaction, receiving none until he heard some whispers from his classmates.
"Uh...what's he doing?"
"Is that some sort of foreign tradition…?"
"Why do we get the weird transfer students…?"
'I should've known japanese traditions would be found strange here.' Akira thought as he stood back up and looked towards Ms. Cheerilee, who still had a bright smile on her face.
"Wonderful, Akira! We're happy to have you! We'll have you take a seat in the empty corner over there, right next to Pinkie Pie there." Akira then looked in the direction Cheerilee pointed towards and saw an open seat in the back corner of the class, which was coincidentally in the same spot his desk at Shujin was located. He then realized that the girl he made eye contact with was the one next to his new desk, he now knew her name was Pinkie Pie, which Akira thought made sense, given her color choice.
Akira then gave Cheerilee a nod and walked toward his new seat, passing by the other students who didn't give him another glance. He quickly took off his bag and put it in the desk space, allowing Morgana to exit and stretch his legs a bit. He then sat down as Ms. Cheerilee began to speak again.
"All right everyone, now that Akira has settled in, I'll move on with announcements. Or I would if there was much else to report, but the only thing I have here says to remind you all the Fall Formal is coming up next week!"
There it was again, he's heard so much about this 'Fall Formal' that it was starting to get irritating. Akira kept listening to Cheerilee's words. "As such a few students here are helpers in setting up the school for the dance, and after today, homeroom can be used as a time for those students to prepare. But as for today, I'll go easy and let you have a study hall today. I'll let you get to it!" She said before moving to her desk, and in a matter of no time, many of the students were back to their positions they took when Akira entered the class, either working on schoolwork or talking to their friends.
Akira was about to lean down and talk to Morgana, until he felt a pair of eyes lock on to him. He turned to the right to notice that girl, Pinkie Pie, staring at him with wide eyes and a bright smile. Even when Akira turned to Pinkie, she never said a word, so he decided to break the ice.
"Uh...Hi?" Akira greeted her with a half smile. Little did he know, this opened Pandora's Box.
"Hi there! I'm Pinkie Pie! Well I suppose you already knew that since Ms. Cheerilee just kinda said it out loud but I thought you should know just in case you forgot! One thing you should know about me is that I LOVE parties! Do you like parties too? Ah what am I saying, who doesn't like parties that would be totally weird! I thought you might be lonely since it's your first day and I love making friends, and since we have some time I thought we should get to know each other and become best friends since we're in the same homeroom and we'll be spending a lot of time together, well not this week because I have to help set up the gym for the Fall Formal but I'm sure we'll find time to hangout eventually! But anyways lets see, what's your favorite color, favorite food, subject, ice cream flavor, letter of the alpha-"
"Woah! Slow down there, Pinkie Pie…" Akira said, holding his hands up to stop her, trying to save himself from getting a headache. Pinkie Pie just rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.
"Oh! Oopsie! Kiiiiiinda got carried away there, didn't I…?" Pinkie responded, making the boy sweatdrop over the hyperactive girl's antics.
"Yeah, a little bit…" He told her bluntly, but he couldn't lie and say it didn't put a smile on his face, as he was chuckling quite a bit before he spoke again. "But if I got one thing out of that it's that you wanna be friends, and seeing as I need someone in this school to talk to, I'd be happy to be your friend." Akira said with a smile, causing this girl to gasp, get out of her chair, and wrap Akira into a hug.
"ThankyouThankyouThankyou!" Pinkie said while hugging Akira tightly, making him try to gasp for air, but with her being so close, Akira had to admit she had soft skin, and smelled really, really good. Almost like a bakery. As pleasant as this was, he really needed to breathe again.
"Pinkie...can't...breathe…"
"Oops! Got excited again!" Pinkie said as she let Akira go, who quickly refilled his lungs, before Pinkie Pie spoke up again. "I actually do have a question for you though." Pinkie told him, giving him a soft smile.
"Fire away…" Akira said, ready for the question she was about to ask. Or so he thought.
"What's the cat's name?" Pinkie asked.
Akira's eyes went as wide as dinner plates.
'D-Does she know about Morgana...There's no way she saw him at all, so how does she know?' Akira quickly looked around the room as he could hear shuffling from his desk, he knew Morgana was freaking out about this as well.
"How did you know I had a cat with me?" He whispered to Pinkie, who just shrugged her shoulders.
"Lucky guess! But don't worry, I won't tell anyone if you tell me it's name…" Pinkie said, holding a finger to her chin and giving a somehow mischievous, yet cute grin. Akira merely sighed as he tapped on his desk, signalling it was ok for Morgana to appear. So then the black cat with a white muzzle poked his head and paws out of Akira's desk and looked at Pinkie, who tried her best not to squeal at how cute the cat was.
"His name's Morgana." Akira said, patting his partner on the head.
"Stop treating me like an actual cat-Meeeooow!" Morgana started to say, before the head pats from Akira sent the feline thief into a state of pure bliss. Pinkie Pie was nearly jumping up and down from the sight.
"Ohmygosh, he's so adorable!" Pinkie said, watching as Morgana started purring from the petting Akira had been giving him, quickly making him stop this action as Akira didn't want any attention drawn to them from the noise. Morgana then snapped out of his state, looked at Akira in embarrassment, and hid back under the desk. He then turned back to Pinkie Pie.
"You promise not to tell anyone about him?" Akira asked, but when he did, Pinkie started doing a weird series of hand motions before putting her hand over her right eye.
"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" Pinkie said, finishing the pose with complete seriousness in her eyes, something Akira would never have thought he would see out of the girl. This also left Akira hopelessly confused.
"Um...What was that?" Akira asked, making Pinkie smile again.
"That's my Pinkie Promise! And I never break a Pinkie Promise!" Pinkie stated to her new friend, who was slightly scared at her use of the word 'never'.
"Alright...Well I'm glad we could agre-"
"Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut there might be something you could do for me in return…?" Pinkie said, drawing it out for dramatic effect, Akira just gave a blank stare at Pinkie Pie.
'Of course there's a catch…' He thought to himself.
"You see, the Fall Formal is coming up pretty quick and since I'm the head of the Party Planning Committee, I'm in charge of setting up the gym for the big dance. But, the trouble is that I usually have to set it up by myself since I don't have that many friends, so I always feel lonely while putting everything up and it usually doesn't take too long but by myself it usually takes every homeroom period in the week and I often have to come after school to finish my job for the day-"
"Pinkie Pie!" Akira said loudly, snapping Pinkie back to reality.
"Oops, lost control again!" Pinkie replied, Akira had actually managed to understand everything she had told him and could guess where she had been going with it.
"So you won't tell anyone about Morgana, if I help you set up the gym for the Fall Formal this week? Am I right?" He asked, causing the pinkette to smile widely and vigorously nod. Akira thought over the proposition.
'If word got out about Morgana being here, I could get in serious trouble with Celestia. But look at her, would she be the kind of person who would snitch on a student…? But she seems really lonely, and would just like a friend to help her out so she doesn't have to do this all by herself...and hey, doesn't hurt to have some allies here.'
"Soooooooo whaddya say?" Pinkie asked the boy, bringing his attention back to Pinkie Pie.
"You've got a deal." Akira said, plain and simple. A wide smile appeared on Pinkie's face, and she was about to shake his hand to solidify the deal, before she seemed to remember something.
"Wait! Can I get a Pinkie Promise so I know you won't flake on me?" She asked of the new student who just looked at her with annoyance. He remembered what weird set of movements Pinkie had just done a minute ago.
"You want me to say that whole thing, hand movements and all?" Akira asked, making Pinkie nod her head up and down excitedly. Akira sighed, realizing he had no other option. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye…" Akira said, waving his hands in the motion Pinkie had done a minute ago, ending the pose with his hand over his right eye.
This promise from Akira received two reactions, Pinkie had run up and hugged Akira again, thankful to have a friend, and Morgana, who Akira could hear snickering under the desk at the ridiculous cantation the leader of the Phantom Thieves just made.
"Yay! We'll get started tomorrow!" Pinkie said while still holding the thief, who just laughed to himself.
'Seems like I've made a promise to Pinkie Pie…'
CONFIDANT ACQUIRED - Pinkie Pie: The Fool, Rank 1
As Pinkie Pie finally let go of Akira, she then had a look of surprise on her face.
"Oh my gosh, you just got here so you're probably gonna be behind in most of your classes, right?" She asked, Akira just shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't really know."
"Well I'm not gonna let you fall behind at all, so I'm gonna give you a super ultra-fast lecture with everything we've learned so far this year, so pay attention!" Pinkie said, and before Akira had any chance to protest, she started her lecture.
'This may take a while…'
Canterlot High - Lunchtime
After Pinkie had drilled what had to be near a semester's worth of information into Akira's brain, the bell had rung again and now it was time for lunch. Normally Akira would stay in his homeroom class to eat, since he was always used to having a packed lunch with him, but he could tell this school was different when all the other students left the class and went in the same direction.
Pinkie was about to leave too until she turned around and saw the boy with a look of confusion. She then waved him over to follow her.
"Come on, Silly Billy!" Pinke called out, Akira just looked down at Morgana, who shrugged in response. Akira then put Morgana back in his bag, strapped it over his shoulder, and walked with Pinkie Pie out of the classroom to a new section of the building he hadn't seen. The 'Cafeteria'.
Walking through the big set of doors, Akira set foot into a large room that was giving him his biggest culture shock so far. There in the room, was every student in the school, sitting down and eating together, having food that was served to them from school staff! Akira had never seen anything like this back home, or at Shujin, it seemed to be one big cluster of students after another scattered throughout the room. He was snapped out of reality when Pinkie Pie spoke to him.
"OOOOH, it's fruit salad day! Come on, Akira!" Pinkie said before rushing off towards the lunch line, Akira followed after her, thinking one of the easiest ways to figure this out was to follow her lead.
Akira followed along as best he could with how Pinkie Pie had went through the line, which seemed to go as simple as 'Take What You Want', so the Phantom Thief grabbed a sandwich that looked to be peanut butter and jelly, one of the fruit salads Pinkie Pie had mentioned, and a cup of water before walking with her to a table, unable to think of anywhere else to sit.
As they both walked through the cafeteria, Akira noticed that all the students separated into different groups, all seemed to have the same kind of style, and same kind of actions. He had been in high school long enough to know what these groups were…
'Social cliques…' Akira thought to himself, hating the thought, but he couldn't really speak, as the only group he hung out with at school were the people who were his teammates in the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. And even before then, there seemed to be only one group he belonged in at Shujin.
'I feel like we're gonna get along just fine as "Troublemakers."' The memory of what his best friend, Ryuji, had told him after they had first infiltrated Kamoshida's castle and forged their bond. The two had a bond that was basically inseparable.
Akira's thoughts were then drawn to his friends, how they're doing with him and Morgana gone, how much time has passed for them, how even though he hasn't been here for half of a day, he already misses them all dearly. That was when Akira saw a pink hand being waved in front of his face.
"Yoo-Hoo! Earth-to-Akira?" Pinkie Pie said, taking her hand away. Akira looked back at the girl and gave a smile.
"Oh! I'm sorry. I was just lost in thought for a second…" He told the girl with a fake chuckle, but Pinkie could see right through it as she sat down at an open table.
"What were you thinking about…?" She asked the boy, who looked at her in surprise as he sat down across from her. Akira wasn't sure if she should really trust this girl, but he knew that she wouldn't take no for an answer here.
"It's just...even though it hasn't even been a full day here for me, I just miss my home, I miss my friends." Akira told Pinkie, who started to give him a look of sympathy. He then put his bag down on the seat, tore off a piece of his sandwich and put some in the bag for Morgana, who nearly jumped outside of the bag to grab it. "Morgana here is really who is keeping me together, he's been there with me since day one at my old school, and with him keeping me company, I should be fine. I just miss everyone back home." Akira finished his thought, not knowing Morgana had been looking at him through the bag with a look of surprise, and one of happiness. He was happy to know he had been keeping Akira together right now, and that he couldn't have found a better partner.
Pinkie Pie then took a bite out of her own sandwich before speaking to her new friend.
"Akira...I'm sure no matter what your friends back home are doing now, they miss you too. And even though you can't see them right now, I'm sure they wouldn't want you to feel sad about this all right now, they'd want you to be happy. So all you can really do...is smile!" She told the boy with her head cocked to the side and a smile plastered on her face.
Akira looked at Pinkie with wide eyes, not expecting those kinds of words from someone so...bubbly. But he was appreciative nonetheless.
"Thanks Pinkie Pie, I needed that. I think having you around will make it easier to get through this as well." Akira said, flashing a smile back at the girl, who gave a small blush in return.
"Oh, it's no problem at all! I'm happy to have another friend here at CHS!" Pinkie Pie said before diving back into her meal. Akira decided he should do the same and quickly ate his entire lunch.
As Akira sat eating, and giving bits and pieces of it to Morgana, his thoughts trailed off of his sorrow, and went back to his mission as he kept eating.
'We need to find this Palace Ruler and change their heart, and fast...maybe I can find this "Twilight Sparkle" after school and ask some questions.' Akira thought as he kept eating, steeling his resolve for the classes ahead.
Canterlot High - After School
After slogging through his last two classes of the day, which were fairly simple to catch up on due to Pinkie Pie's rundown, the final bell rang and the students had all rushed out the door. Akira picked his bag back up with Morgana in tow and walked out the door, one mission on both of their minds.
Find Twilight Sparkle
But the main problem was that neither Akira or Morgana knew where to find her. The duo decided to parooze the halls of Canterlot High trying to find a girl that fit the description Pinkie Pie gave him when he had asked during the lunch period.
"She's this girl with long purple and pink hair, blue blouse, short skirt with some design on the front. Couldn't miss her if you tried!' Pinkie had told Akira, who kept that description in his memory banks as he searched every corner of the school he could think of, and could not find anyone fitting that description. After realizing he would get nowhere searching through the school, both Akira and Morgana decided to give up and head out for the day.
As Akira walked towards the schools entrance through the now empty hallways of Canterlot High, Morgana had popped out of the bag to speak to his partner.
"Nothing today...But I'm sure if we get to school early enough, we could scope out the entrance for this girl!" Morgana stated, giving his two cents on what to do.
"That might be what we have to do, I've got no other good ideas…" Akira told his feline companion, who gave a small smirk.
"That's why I'm the brains of this operation!" Morgana said with pride, causing Akira to shake his head with a chuckle, but once they reached the school's front doors, they could hear a female voice outside.
"I still don't know what makes you think you can just show up here and try to take MY crown from me…" They heard a familiar voice say from outside the school. Akira poked his head around the corner to see that Sunset girl they had stopped from bullying Applejack earlier in the day, she seemed to be yelling at another girl he hadn't seen before who had been holding a backpack at her side. They were standing in front of the statue Akira and Morgana had come through earlier to reach this world.
"It's NOT your crown, it's mine! And I plan on taking it back with me to Equestria!" They heard this other girl yell in retaliation to Sunset. These words caused some confusion for Akira and Morgana.
"Equestria? Where is that?" Morgana asked the boy, wondering if it was a real world location he had no memory of.
"I don't know, never heard of it…" Akira replied as he took out his phone and opened the Meta-Nav app to see if it could pick anything up before they listened back in on the conversation.
"Oh please, there's no way you can win enough votes to beat me out. I know this school like the back of my hand, and you stick out like a sore thumb…" Sunset told the other girl, who just looked at her hands in confusion, like she didn't know what they were. She looked back up to Sunset who then got in her face. "Face it Twilight, you're out of your element, both figuratively, and literally. It's astounding to think that you were the best Princess Celestia could find to replace someone as bright as me…" Sunset said with a smirk on her face, making the other girl start to grit her teeth. Morgana and Akira just stared in surprise.
" 'Princess' Celestia? I thought she was just the Principal…" Akira said to his cat, who nodded in agreement.
"I guess there's more to her than we know. But did you hear that? That other girl's name is Twilight! That's probably the girl we're looking for!" Morgana replied as they both kept watching and listening, they now saw that this other girl matched the description Pinkie Pie had given them to a 'T'. This had to be Twilight Sparkle! Twilight then replied to Sunset.
"You may have the upper-hoof for right now…" Twilight started to say. "But we'll find a way to win that crown back, I'm sure of it!"
'Upper-what?' Akira thought to himself, but the mood quickly shifted when Sunset gave a quick shove to Twilight, causing her to fall over onto her back, and her back was sent flying out of her hand, and out of her bag flew something neither of them expected to see, but didn't seem to affect Sunset at all.
It was a little purple dog, with green hair and ears, along with a spiked collar to go with. The dog quickly rushed to Twilight's side and started to growl at Sunset.
"Guess I'm not the only one with a furry companion…" Akira said, looking up at Morgana, who just snarled.
"Cute, except for the fact that I'm a human, not a cat!" Morgana softly yelled before they shifted their focus back to the two girls, as Sunset started to walk away.
"You wanna be a princess here? Please…You don't know the first thing about fitting in." Sunset said before walking away from the school grounds, leaving Twilight laying on the ground, who covered her face with her bag as her dog seemed to try and cheer her up. Akira and Morgana knew that it would be now or never if they wanted to get some answers out of this girl, so Morgana slipped back into the bag as Akira walked towards Twilight and spoke up.
"Excuse me?" Akira called to Twilight, who took the bag off her head, looked at him and sprung to her feet. Her dog quickly ran behind her legs to try and hide from him.
"Who are you?" Twilight asked him, Akira noticed how on edge she seemed to be, but who could blame her.
"I'm Akira Kurusu, I just transferred here today. Are you Twilight Sparkle?" Akira asked her after his introduction. Twilight just stood there in surprise.
"Oh! So you're that other transfer student I kept hearing about today. But yes, my name is Twilight Sparkle, it's nice to meet you…" Twilight replied with a small smile. Akira then noticed the girl start to relax as he continued.
"It's nice to meet you too. I wanted to ask you some questions, if that was ok?" He asked Twilight, who seemed unsure for a second. And it didn't help that her dog seemed to sniff the air, and noticed a peculiar scent coming out of Akira's bag. The dog started to growl and bark at the bag.
"Huh? Spike, what's wrong?" Twilight asked her dog, who Akira now knew was named Spike, which made his collar design make sense. Akira quickly connected the dots as to what Spike could have smelled in his bag.
"I think I know what he smells…" Akira said, causing Twilight to cock her head to the side in confusion. Spike then jumped up and bit onto the end of Akira's bag, causing Morgana to jump out of the bag and land on Akira's shoulder with a yelp.
Twilight and Spike both looked in surprise at the black cat that jumped on Akira's shoulder. Akira just smiled towards Twilight.
"This is Morgana...I guess we're kinda in the same boat." Akira joked, getting a chuckle out of the purple-haired girl. Who looked back to Akira and Morgana with a smile.
"Nice to meet you too, Morgana. I think you've already met my dog, Spike…" Twilight said, gesturing towards Spike who wagged his tail at Akira, but still gave Morgana a look of suspicion. Twilight turned her attention back to Akira. "You said you had a question for me?"
"That's right. I've heard that you were running for Princess of the Fall Formal this year, and I'm guessing that's what that whole argument earlier was about…" Akira stated, causing Twilight to look surprised, but then ashamed at the scene she must have caused, even though she knew only Akira and Morgana saw it. Twilight gave a quick nod to show he was right. "Good to know...what's that girl's deal with the Fall Formal, anyways?" Akira asked of Twilight, who quickly gave Akira a look of annoyance, but he could tell it wasn't directed towards him.
"Basically the crown that is being used to crown the Fall Formal Princess this year is actually my crown that I...uh...lost when I got here. And I wanted to ask to get it back, but that wouldn't exactly work so I had to sign up to run for Princess of the Fall Formal to get the crown back!" Twilight started to ramble on and he knew she wasn't telling the whole truth, but Akira paid close attention, and so did the app on his phone.
"And since Sunset Shimmer has run unopposed every year since she came to this school, she wants that crown more than anything, and sees anyone who runs against her as a threat to her rule over Canterlot High!" Twilight took a deep breath before finishing her thought. "I swear that girl thinks of this school as her own castle, it sickens me!" Twilight finished.
Before Akira could respond to this, he heard a beeping noise, and felt a buzz coming from his phone. He looked down at the device and noticed that every key word on the Meta-Nav had been filled in.
Sunset Shimmer, Canterlot High, Castle. Those three words filled the bars on the app's interface. Akira and Morgana looked wide-eyed at what they saw, and they both thought the same thing.
'Oh crap…' They both thought as a voice spoke up from Akira's phone.
"Palace located! Beginning navigation…" The Meta-Nav spoke, causing the whole world to start to darken up as the world around them began to change. Akira and Morgana knew this phenomenon all too well.
When everything seemed to stop shifting, Akira took a note that his clothes had changed again from his normal outfit that he had worn the whole day, back to his outfit that he was wearing before he came to Canterlot High, the outfit that made him feel confident in his abilities. The black coat and red gloves felt good to have on again, and his bird-like mask reappeared on his face. There was no mistaking it
Joker was back.
A smirk quickly formed on Akira's face as he looked up at his shoulder to notice now that Morgana was up on two legs and in his usual Phantom Thief attire as well. They both gave a nod as they knew what just happened.
They were transported to the Metaverse.
Before either of them could talk, they heard another voice aimed at them.
"Who are you two!?" Both Joker and Mona heard. Looking up, they noticed Twilight had been standing in front of them, no doubt having been sent to the Metaverse with them due to being in such close vicinity, and they both looked down to see her dog Spike looking at the two in awe. Twilight spoke again. "Is that...A monster cat!?" Twilight yelled out in fear. This caused Joker to chuckle, and Mona to have a tick appear on his forehead.
"Why do I have to say this everytime...I. AM NOT. A. CAT!" Mona yelled out while jumping off of Joker's shoulder and landing on the ground. Causing Twilight to look at Mona with even more fear,
"It...It...It-It-It talks too!?" Twilight managed to get out as Joker just gave a sigh towards his fellow Phantom Thief.
"This is going to take a bit of explaining, isn't it…?" Joker asked, not expecting any reply. Twilight looked back at Joker and recognized the voice.
"Wait...Akira is that you!?" Twilight asked the leader of the thieves, who simply nodded. Twilight's attention then turned back to Mona. "Then that must mean you're...Morgana?" Twilight asked again, receiving a nod from Mona.
"Well at least you recognize us…" Mona said with a cringe on his face. Twilight just then put her hands to her head.
"Ughhhh just what is going on here? First you ask me one question, next you've changed clothes, are wearing a mask, and there's a talking cat!?" Twilight started to yell as she spun around "None of this is making any sense at all-" Twilight suddenly stopped her confused rant when she looked in front of her. Joker, Mona, and Spike all followed her gaze to notice the building that was now ahead of them. Joker looked on with wide-eyes to see something that reminded him of his first day at Shujin, but on a much grander scale.
In front of the group was a very large castle in the place where the school would have been, with spires coming out of each corner that were nearly as tall as skyscrapers. All of the golden horse busts sitting outside the school were slightly altered, instead of a horse, they were golden busts of Sunset Shimmer's head, which sported a regal tiara on top of it. While Twilight and Spike stared on in confused, Joker and Mona knew exactly what this was.
'This must be Sunset Shimmer's Palace…'
AND DONE!
Wow that took way longer than expected, but that was some of the most fun I've had in a long while. I forgot just how much I actually like writing until now that I've finished these two chapters. Are they perfect? Hell no, not in the slightest, and I'll look to improve the more I write, but this was just a blast to think about, and I really wanna keep working on this. So please let me know if you want me to keep writing, I probably will anyways but if people tell me it's garbage I'll just scrap the story.
Also, as much as I hated using a reused theme for a Palace, what else would Sunset have her palace be. I recognize the similarity between this and Kamoshida's palace, but just be patient.
But in case you all DO want a next chapter, the next one will be all about Joker, Mona, Twilight, and Spike all taking the first steps into the Palace of Sunset Shimmer! And I'm just putting it out there, I will most likely give the new members of Joker's party their own Persona's even though that could be a risky move.
But really that's all I got, I hope you all enjoyed this and I hope to see you all again in the next chapter.
See ya!