//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: What is the heart? // by Skiddlez //------------------------------// Fluttershy woke up when she heard creaking outside. Angel looked out the window and quietly scampered over to her. What he told her made her shoot right up out of bed and out the door. Ulquiorra surveyed the little town before him. The human cities of the living world had been far, FAR larger than this. Then again, the creatures that inhabited it were only half the height of an adult human, so maybe their idea of scale was different. For all he knew, this might be the normal size of city for a pony. His keen eyesight detected something on the distance. It looked like an orchard, where humans grew fruit for a well-balanced diet, so maybe ponies had similar dietary requirements. Calculating the distance and not being seen, he activated sonido and vanished with a small ‘BOOM’. Fluttershy saw him disappear in a blur, leaving that loud noise behind him. His footprints were the only indication that he had ever been there. “Please, be careful…” Pinkie Pie suddenly started twitching. Spasms racked her whole body as she felt the greatest sensation that ‘Pinkie Sense’ could predict. “OOH! This is a doozy! Feels like fun!” Pinkie Pie’s grin suddenly became a lot more disturbing. Lyra was just sitting around on the park bench with her roommate, when suddenly… “HUMAN SENSE TINGLING!” Bon-Bon sighed. “As I have explained to you about EIGHT times- you do not have a human sense, as HUMANS DO NOT EXIST!” “But Bon-Bon,” Lyra cajoled, “This time it’s real! Can I please take the human home with me?” “NO! You can clean your half of the house for once!” “Awww…” Lyra looked down for five seconds, and then got up. “And where do you think you’re going, missy?” “I’m cleaning my room so’s I can get my camera! And then, I’m gonna photograph it, so I’ll prove to you and Cheerilee that humans DO exist!” Bon-Bon got up as well. ‘Wait, Lyra! I forbid you from cleaning your half of the house! You just come right back-“ Lyra had already galloped off to the house. This farm wasn’t devoted to just growing apples. There were cornfields as well, and what looked like a pigsty. Ulquiorra had his own views on farming- it was completely pointless. The seasons changed, as regularly as clockwork. There was no fighting it. Food withered. People aged. Only despair remained. Hmm, nice rhyme. “HEY, MISTER!” He turned, and saw a brief flash of orange, yellow and white, before he was buried in little ponies. “So, are you okay, whitey? We haven’t seen you in two days! Fluttershy washed you pants for you. Did you like that?” He pushed the little ones off of him. “Well, that explains it.” Though he looked outwardly calm, his mind was reeling. I slept for two days? Then again, I was always a heavy sleeper. He carefully examined an apple tree. Applebloom was watching him warily. He was looking at the apple tree with an intense fascination. He turned to her. “How do you get the apples down from the branches?” “Oh, ya jus’ get yah hooves in position, and buck the tree!” Ulquiorra reached up and took an apple down. The loud whine of a camera and a bright flash filled the air. Lyra grinned. The human had reached up to the tree, and had taken an apple with his hands. Hands were brilliant. They could do just as much as magic in that range. He seemed to be a bit pale, but she’d assumed that humans would have a large range of colours- maybe not as wide as ponies, but still large. Ulquiorra immediately turned around to the camera flash, but was blinded by another picture. The pony taking it was a sea green horned pony, with a harp on its behind. It seemed to be grinning at him with an expression that reminded Ulquiorra of the Quinta Espada, Nnoitora Gilga. Something called a ‘rape face’, whatever Orihime had meant by that. It was levitating what looked like a camera in a gold aura, the same colour as its eyes. It was looking at his hand, for some reason. He moved his hand to the left. The ponies’ eyes followed the movement like Grimmjow sometimes did, with that ball of yarn he thought no one knew about. He took a bite out of the apple, and then… ‘BOOM.’ Lyra blinked. He’d vanished! Just into thin air, with a thunderclap. Maybe humans had mastered teleportation where they came from. The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked depressed. “Hey, girls, what’s wrong?” Applebloom glared at Lyra. “Ah think ya scared him off.” Lyra looked a bit guilty at that. ‘Sorry, it’s just that… I’ve ALWAYS wanted to see humans, as they influenced so much of our culture-“ “Did you ever read Daring Do as a filly? Because that sounds like one of the earlier books in the series- ‘Daring Do and the temple of humans.’ Did you read that?” “Maaaaaaaaybe.” Ulquiorra was standing in the shade behind some of these tiny houses. They weren’t so small that he wasn’t completely hidden. The winged ponies would probably see him, but they didn’t look down, just flew right overhead. A grey and yellow one had seemed to see him, but its eyes looked slightly wonky, so maybe she hadn’t focused on him. He could relax here. No new ponies to unnerve him. “HEY! WHAT’S YOUR NAME?” Pinkie Pie giggled when he stiffened then turned around slowly. She’d usually gotten a jump of terror when she said that. He looked at her, then disappeared with a ‘BOOM.’ This was going to be fun. She started to hop around, following in the general direction he’d gone in. Of course, she knew where he was- she’d read ahead of this part. Ulquiorra was now hiding in a large tree, with what looked like windows. The pony couldn’t follow him at that speed- He was standing on the pony’s head. Another sonido took him to a two-storey flat on the clouds. The pony was drinking a glass of chocolate milk and sunbathing. Impossible… how is it DOING this. This. Is. IMPOSSIBLE. He finally decided to use Sonido to get the hell out and back to his home. Pinkie Pie had enjoyed the game, but it was time to take a sojourn to another place for all her fun surprises. Grapping a bit of the sky with her teeth, she ripped a portal to the Party Dimension, where everything remotely connected to a party was kept in the whole multiverse. She stepped through, and closed the door behind her- she didn’t want other ponies discovering her secret, now did she? Twilight Sparkle was just relaxing from a hard days work with her friends, when a familiar, sea green blur hit her full in the face. “Lyra, what is it?” Lyra was grinning in an unsettling fashion, and she had a camera in her magical aura. “Twilight, you and the other neigh-sayers are gonna eat your humble pie! For I have… THESE!” She flourished the pictures in front of Twilight’s muzzle, inviting her to take them. Twilight looked at the pictures, first in curiosity, then in wonder, then finally in amazement. The pale white creature in the photos was taller than an average pony, standing up to an alicorn in height. It seemed to be gripping an apple in its claw like appendage. Those eyes looked soulless, with a slit pupil, and that colour couldn’t be a healthy human shade. Nevertheless, it was conclusive proof that Lyra was right. Humans existed. Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment as to what you think, criticism helps!