HiE - A Hollow in Equestria

by Charlie_K


Chapter One Hundred One

Chapter One Hundred One

To say Nightmare Moon was faring poorly against Ulquiorra in his released state would be a gross understatement.

She'd found out firsthoof that she couldn't compete with him in terms of physical strength, as he could easily bat her about and away without even really trying whenever they clashed with their weapons.

Even her teleportation was no longer benefiting her in this skirmish, as his already impressive speed just seemed to have increased substantially. Whatever boost she might've gained previously had been entirely wiped out by his seemingly appearing right beside her wherever she went, only to strike at her again.

In very short order, he had easily knocked her offensive approach to the wayside, and forced her to quickly retreat to a purely defensive approach, as she hunkered behind her shield. Both to avoid further injury, and to try and get her bearings straight while trying to figure out a plan.

Not that he was going to be giving her the opportunity to do that, however. Something like that would be counterproductive in all this.

He could've appeared next to her in a burst of sonido and physically smacked her all about the Everfree Forest in a twisted variant of pinball until her shield finally cracked under the strain. But instead he chose to demonstrate to her, the power of his Cero Oscuras, to further hammer home the fact she was completely out of her league.

His aim had been off the first time, his Cero just grazing the outside edge of her shield, but it had served to crack its structure regardless.

The second Cero Oscuras had been more on point, and had fractured her shield further.

Then, just to mix things up while she was recovering from her previous exertions, he hurled his Luz de la Luna straight at her, and shattered her shield entirely with a sizable explosion on impact that sent her flying/tumbling from the force. Were it not for her skill in magic, and her ability to self-levitate to keep her aloft, she would've wound up slamming against the forest floor as a result. But it was no matter, as it would be rectified soon enough.

He could've easily appeared next to her in a simple burst of sonido and beheaded her on the spot.

He could have, but his approach was far more methodical. Far more predatory. A slow, deliberate walk across the distance separating them, each step taken causing ripples to appear in the air like the surface of a lake being disturbed by stones. A pace that wasn't fast, simply because there was no need for it to be fast. It was a fact that he understood. It was a fact she understood. And he knew that she understood such, as he could see it in her eyes when she finally looked back up at him when he was mere feet away from her.

"Three minutes, twenty-one seconds. Such has been the sum total of your so-called "unrestrained strength" in this fight," he stated simply. "You have no chance of surviving this encounter, no hope of coming out on top. Do you now comprehend the true scope of the futility of your efforts? The utter hopelessness of it all?" he asked.

"In terms from your own aberrant language... fuck you," Nightmare Moon panted. "I don't know if that's the correct term, nor do I even care. I refuse to surrender and submit myself to you, you aberrant monstrosity. I refuse to give you the satisfaction..."

So that was it then.

"So be it then," he replied. She refused to understand the true hopelessness of the situation she was in? Then she would be made to learn. "You will come to know what true despair is, and be made to comprehend your own insignificance for what it is."

Nightmare Moon just grunted in response. "If I'm truly so insignificant, then why do you care so much about what I think?"

Ulquiorra's reiatsu stilled in response to the question. Out of everything he could've anticipated Nightmare Moon saying, that had definitely not been among them.

"What did you just say?"

"Why do you care so much about what I think?" Nightmare Moon repeated. "You seem rather fascinated with what a supposedly insignificant thinks about themselves. Almost like asking an ant to evaluate it's place in the world. So why do you care? What's it to you anyway, whether or not I accept my own perceived insignificance?"

The question shouldn't have carried the thought-provoking impact that it did. And yet despite that fact, it had done such regardless.

He was going to kill Nightmare Moon, regardless of whether or not she acknowledged the truth before her. That fact was the indisputable constant in all of this. So why did he care? Why did he care now, and why did he care with Ichigo Kurosaki back in Hueco Mundo? What difference was ultimately made? It wasn't as if accepting their fate made them any more dead than if they were killed while denying it.

So why did beating the optimism out of an opponent feel so important? Why did hope have to be crushed into dust along with the body?

"You're right," he admitted.

Nightmare Moon looked up at him once again. Out of everything she could've anticipated Ulquiorra saying, that had definitely not been among them.

"You're absolutely right. It really doesn't matter. I've wound up allowing my priorities to become skewed in this situation, and lose focus of what's important. That won't happen again, I apologize," he clarified.

Nightmare Moon blinked, completely taken aback by the sudden cordiality of the exchange. It was even more surprising than his admitting that she was right about something.

"Oh. Well thank-"

"I'll simply kill you now, and be done with this matter entirely."

Segunda Etapa wasn't warranted in this situation. The immense power and strength it commanded would be utterly wasted and trivialized against a being such as Nightmare Moon. At this close of a proximity, a single Cero Oscuras would be enough to obliterate her from existence, to the point not even her ability to recorporealize herself would be enough to put her back together again.

But the charging time for a Cero Oscuras was long enough to be exploited if she had some last trick in mind. Just as she had demonstrated previously. That simply wouldn't do. Luz de la Luna would work just as well in this case, and with much greater speed.

"Farewell."

If only things were truly that simple.


Applejack's sole contribution in the fight against Nightmare Moon so far, had been little more than serving as a spring board for Fluttershy, literally throwing her right at Nightmare Moon, so she could fly much faster and hit much harder, and basically act as a distraction to let Rainbow Dash get Ulquiorra's sword back to him. All in the hope that he could do what none of them had been able to do on their own.

She didn't like it. Not one single, stinking little bit! She and her friends were the ones who possessed the Elements of Harmony, they were the ones who were supposed to be stopping evil threats and putting Nightmare Moon in her proper place. They weren't supposed to be outsourcing that responsibility onto others! It didn't matter if that responsibility fell on the withers of one who could punch a dragon hard enough to make it go cross-eyed, or could uproot an entire tree with a single kick, she still didn't like it!

But what could they really do about it? Regardless of how she felt about the situation, she had to face facts. Nightmare Moon had returned without any of them them knowing, and had effortlessly picked them apart, making them question themselves and each other, and rendered the Elements of Harmony utterly useless against her. It'd all been done faster than she could rope an ornery calf, easier than she could buck an apple tree, and all without any of them having a clue what was going on until it was already too late.

Right now, Ulquiorra was their best hope for success.

No siree, she didn't like it at all. In fact she downright hated it.

The only thing she hated worse than that, though, was how she was feeling right now. She was a mixed up jumble of unpleasant emotions that she couldn't even put into words. But then again, the middle of a battle for the fate of the world was hardly the right place to be thinking over how you felt at the moment; especially with shock waves and explosions going off above them.

She sighed, resigning herself to the fact that, whatever she was looking for, she wasn't going to find it out here.

Off to her left she saw Zecora out of the corner of her eye, still quite curious about Pinkie's roll of duct tape they'd used for securing Ulquiorra's sword to the back of Rainbow Dash's armor. Even in her current state, she couldn't help but chuckle a little at her friends' bewilderment at encountering an entirely different sort of magic.


"Something's not right."

Slowly, more and more ponies were congregating in the clearing. Some to find those they'd come with, others to simply watch the latest development in the battle between Ulquiorra and Nightmare Moon.

There'd been pandemonium when he'd transformed and cast the entire area into darkness, obviously. But that had more or less settled down, thankfully. Right now it was pretty much spectator sports, as everypony watched for glimpses of the two clashing in brief flashes of visibility. Some of whom were more rowdy than others.

Spike was simultaneously terrified and having the time of his life as he watched. Up until now he had only had stories of what Ulquiorra was capable of, but now he was seeing it live and in dragon. Quite frankly the stories didn't really do justice to the accounts he'd heard, even when Pinkie was the one telling -and potentially embellishing- them.

Despite some of the rowdier members of the crowd being loud and obnoxious at times, and even his own focus on what was happening, he'd still managed to hear Twilight's statement. And that statement now had his full attention as he turned to the side to better face her.

"What do you mean? What's not right?" he asked.

Twilight shook her head uneasily in response. "Well... that's sort of the problem. It's not something I can actually quantify in round terms. Something about all of this just... feels wrong to me..."

Spike really didn't like the sound of that. Whatever the problem at hoof was, Twilight could always find a way to explain it in a way that made sense. Or at least in a way that didn't leave it sounding like it was an irrational sort of gut feeling trying to express itself.

"Twilight, Nightmare Moon has been torturing every one of us for what feels like years, and had Equestria at her mercy. There is literally nowhere for things to go for us except up! Things can't even get any worse for Nightmare Moon, because she's already dead, she just doesn't realize it yet."

He knew the statement about how things couldn't get any worse was borderline jinxing their situation, but in this case it was highly appropriate. Nightmare Moon was facing Ulquiorra's full might in this battle, and he wasn't going to stop until she was dead. Her circumstances were at the pinnacle of how bad things could possibly be for anyone, while they had already crossed past that point and emerged on the other side to where things looked up.

"Ulquiorra's got this situation well in hand, hoof, claw, and whatever other extremity you wanna use to describe him having everything under control. Nightmare Moon can't throw anything at him that he can't deal with. If she were a stallion, Ulquiorra would have her by the balls right now," he continued.

"... When this is all over, we're having a very long talk about your use of language, mister," Twilight eventually replied. "But you're right. I'm overthinking this. I'm so used to us being the ones who have to solve a crisis when it appears, I honestly don't know what to do with myself in a situation when that's not the case."

"Yeah, welcome to my world," Spike muttered not-so-quitely in response.

It a way it was kind of funny, how he and Twilight were both on the same side of the useful/useless divide at the moment. For so long-

"Behold, Ponyville!"

All introspective, existential thought was immediately ceased by the bellow, causing all eyes to look forward and up as something was thrown to the ground with a mighty thud. Something that turned out to be the crumpled form of Ulquiorra currently lying on his back, and making no apparent effort to get back up again.

"Your "champion" at the epitome of his strength, and he still couldn't kill me! You pinned your hopes on his success, and now you can watch as they die right along with him!"

Spike didn't even have time to process the sequence of events before Nightmare Moon opened fire on Ulquiorra's position with a beam of magic that even he could feel.

He must've blinked without realizing it, because the next thing he did realize, he saw Twilight flashing into his field of vision as she landed on top of Ulquiorra, and proceeded to shield him with a combination of her body and her own magical shield, about a split second before Nightmare Moon's blast could make contact.


A serious miscalculation had been committed on his part. That was the only conclusion that readily made sense right now.

He had allowed himself to prematurely conclude that he could easily read and deduce the totality of her strength, simply because what he currently faced was nothing more than a shadow of the true Nightmare Moon. He simply hadn't considered the possibility of her actually being able to outlast him after everything she'd been put through by the others.

He had underestimated her strength, just as he has underestimated the strength of Ichigo Kurosaki's fully Hollowfied form. He was starting to sense a pattern.

Nightmare Moon didn't possess the strength necessary to overpower him in direct combat, regardless of what she might believe to the contrary. The matter was truly as simple as that. She simply couldn't defeat him through sheer brute strength, nor could she even overcome his ability to simply brush her aside like she was nothing more than trash.

What she did possess, however, was vast reserves of endurance and stamina; reserves of such depths that her stamina was proving sufficient to outlast even him in this battle. Reserves that his pesquisa had failed to pick up on when he'd scanned her. Had he known such, he would've approached the matter differently.

Such was ultimately what led him to his current position on his back on the forest ground, staring up as Nightmare Moon prepared to open fire on him. He simply hadn't been able to consider the possibility of this sort of development happening.

But then again, he hadn't been able to consider the possibility of Ichigo Kurosaki being able to surpass him to the degree that he had back in Las Noches, either. That was twice now that he'd made such a costly mistake.

Arrogance, overconfidence, shortsightedness, whatever the reason behind it was, it made little difference right now.

Twilight Sparkle entered his field of vision, silhouetted against the light of Nightmare Moon's attack as she teleported at him with outstretched forelegs, more or less tackling his prone form against the ground, and deploying her shield just in time to intercept the attack and prevent it from connecting.

Her shield was holding for the moment, but he knew it was only a matter of time before that was no longer the case. Her reserves had already been strained and drained significantly, to the point she'd never be able to outlast Nightmare Moon in a battle wills. Even now he could both feel and see it beginning to crack under the strain of what it was tasked with holding back, despite her best efforts at maintaining its structural integrity.


Twilight knew, intellectually, that attempting to shield Ulquiorra from harm was both unwise and unnecessary. He possessed far greater physical durability and resiliency than any of them, and could withstand far more damage without being harmed when subjected to it.

But whether it was wise or not, her heart made decisions faster than her mind could compensate for, and she found her hooves driven forward as she teleported and leapt to Ulquiorra's defense. Leaving her to realize just how bad of an idea it was only after she felt Nightmare Moon's assault bearing down on her.

Her shield had weathered what she'd considered to be truly monumental burdens before in the past. Not like what Shining Armor could withstand, but still respectable in her own right. But all of those paled in comparison to this. And the fact that she'd already been weakened from her lightning attacks wasn't helping any.

She tried. Oh she certainly tried to keep Nightmare Moon's assault at bay, but she simply couldn't feel any signs of it letting up, and the strain of trying to concentrate and keep her shield together was quickly reaching the point. If she'd come into this fresh, rather than being subjected to week's worth of mental strain as she sat and watched helplessly as her friends were picked off one by one around her, she might've stood a chance at outlasting Nightmare Moon's efforts.

But such wasn't the case and she quickly found herself overwhelmed by the white hot sensation of sensory overload as her shield gave way and she was consumed.

She felt the sensory overload, and then she felt nothing at all. Which was really odd, because she should've been feeling something at this point since she was in the direct line of fire.

Once her senses cleared she found out the reason why that was; Ulquiorra was currently using with his wing like a shield and intercepting Nightmare Moon's attack himself.

It made sense, now that she was actually thinking about it rather than just reacting. They had spoken at length, often discussing a great many details about Ulquiorra's unique physiology. She knew that he could concentrate the reiatsu within his body and increase the density of his reiatsu within his skin to harden its defensive qualities, leaving it much like a thick plate of hardened steel, but she simply hadn't thought about that fact at the time. If she had...

Well if she had thought of it, she still might've dove into action like she had. She didn't know for sure. He was still her friend, after all.


It didn't work! It didn't work! It didn't work!

Nightmare Moon was furious at this development; at this meddling! Why did these ponies continue finding the courage to get involved in her affairs?

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she had little choice but to shrug it off, lest she do something rash. She had to remember that she currently had full control of the situation. She could work with that. And if she could crack Twilight's shield once, she could do far worse the second time around.

"Enjoy your moment of defiance while you can, little pony. You won't enjoy what comes next, either for you, or the others..."

A purple light down below suggested Twilight was attempting a retaliatory move. Even after that, she still had the strength and will to fight? Or was it the arrogance to believe that she stood a chance?

Regardless, she still strafed to the side to avoid contact with the incoming bolt of magical energy, just in the event it was a distraction attempt that would weaken her control of the situation.

The smugness died before it could even be fully formed as she felt something hit her from above. Something wet and warm, sticky and viscous, and a very slimy green as it practically dripped everywhere on her. Her vision was obscured by the stuff dripping down over her eyes, to say of where else it went, before she felt it actually set up and harden against her.

She couldn't see. She couldn't hear. She couldn't smell. She could barely even breathe. All she could do was scream in what was most certainly NOT surprise as she tried to get the sludge off of her face, all the while trying to fire off whatever spell came to mind.

This unfortunate fact left her quite vulnerable to Flitter and Cloudchaser swooping in to deliver a double uppercut to her chin, while Bulk Biceps came up and hit her from behind immediately afterward.


"Changeling goo," was all Twilight managed to get out.

She wanted to elaborate further and explain how she'd been experimenting on the substance off and on ever since the second invasion in Ponyville, and how this application seemed a far more worthwhile endeavor than just keeping it around indefinitely. But she didn't do that. Right now there were far more pressing matters to address.

"What happened up there?" she asked as she sat up on Ulquiorra's lap.

"A serious miscalculation," Ulquiorra replied as he pushed himself up into a sitting position.

Twilight's brow furrowed in confusion and concern over what Ulquiorra meant. What sort of serious miscalculation was he talking about?

Before she could press him for further details and an explanation on what he meant, she was treated to the sight of his wing disintegrating into dust all the way to his back.

That in itself wouldn't have been too concerning, except for the fact that she wasn't seeing a new wing sprouting into existence. What she wasn't seeing was proving to be far more disturbing and unsettling than what she was seeing.

"Twilight Sparkle. I need you to get off of me."

The fact he had taken the time to actually ask her to move, rather than simply moving her himself, was even more concerning. She found herself so stunned by it all, she hadn't even realized she'd done as he'd asked until he was already climbing back to his feet again.

"What sort of miscalculation?" she finally asked, as she was certain he wouldn't be volunteering such information on his own. "I'm very good when it comes to calculations. Tell me what I can do to help, please."

The silence only lasted a second or two. But it felt like it stretched on for an eternity before Ulquiorra finally spoke again.

"The Luz de la Luna is incredibly fast to deploy, faster than even a cero. But it comes at the cost of requiring considerably more reiryoku to manifest," he explained. "I thought this could be compensated for, by being in close enough proximity to Nightmare Moon, to shorten the duration it would have to be maintained. I was wrong."

The information contained within the sentence was scant. But it had told Twilight all she needed to know about the situation, and leave her quite horrified by what he was saying without even saying it.

"But... b-but you recharged back in Canterlot! Luna said so! You-"

"Princess Celestia could feel Princess Luna's strength fading quickly," Ulquiorra stated, effortlessly shutting down her protests. "In her condition, she wouldn't have survived travel to Canterlot at top speed. Time was of the essence, necessitating that certain sacrifices be made. And as Princess Celestia wasn't a viable option for that sacrifice, there was only one logical course of action that could be undertaken."

Ulquiorra hadn't come flat out and stated it, but the implications of what he had said were easy enough for Twilight to read and piece together the series of events that'd transpired. And while it was entirely possible she was wrong, she certainly doubted it. Ulquiorra was far too precise in the manner he spoke to suggest something he didn't actually mean to say.

He had been exhausted from his last fight with Nightmare Moon, likely further exhausted from taking Celestia back to Canterlot, and hadn't even stopped to catch his breath before hurrying back into the fray to face off against Nightmare Moon yet again.

On the one hoof, that sort of dedication was admirable. But on the other hoof he looked like he could barely even stand up under his own power! His wing wasn't regenerating, and if he couldn't even make use of his attacks then they were in big trouble. They had to do something!

"Then do it here. Get somewhere and recharge, we'll keep Nightmare Moon stalled like we have been. We'll buy you whatever time you need to recuperate," she stated as she tried to focus on just how to go about accomplishing such.

"At this point that wouldn't do any good. The reiryoku currently within the area is far too thin to be of any use for such purposes. It would take hours of effort to accomplish, and it's quite doubtful everyone acting together would be able to stave off Nightmare Moon for that long," Ulquiorra elaborated.

Twilight frowned as her ears folded at hearing this. She supposed it made sense to some extent; with all of the magic they'd been casting throughout this battle, and with Luna's own efforts at trying to recharge herself, it would make sense if the latent mana in the area would be considered as too weak to use for more advanced techniques. She had felt the power drain for herself whenever Ulquiorra was in the area, so she had some idea of what he was talking about.

"At this point, proper revitalization in an expedient fashion would require devouring souls," Ulquiorra continued.

"... Then, if that's what's needed, then do it," Twilight replied, "take my soul. Use it to stop Nightmare Moon."