//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: What is the heart? // by Skiddlez //------------------------------// “I think we’re lost.” Grimmjow and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders stared at Scootaloo incredulously. “Well, I thought YOU had the map, so it’s your fault we’re lost!” “HEY!” “It’s a big castle in the distance, Scoots! How hard can it be to get lost here!” “VERY HARD! There’s manticore’s, Ursa Minors, Timber wolves, and Angel bunny to go through!” As one, all the ponies shuddered. “How hard can this ‘Angel’ be?” “Let’s just say that he went into a cage-match with twenty Timber wolves… and only Angel came out.” Grimmjow grinned. “Sounds cool. Anything else?” “Well, he did face down some mean ponies in armour around a cave filled with treasure, but he got hit with a magical projectile. I think he got better.” ‘Right…” Grimmjow decided to just follow his instincts. “Alright, girls, ready to go FAST?” “YAY!” Ulquiorra was being introduced to art, along with Twilight Sparkle. Large, intricate paintings hung on the walls of the treehouse, even though they shouldn’t be there. “This is an illusion.” “Well, yes,” Twilight had a small blush on her face when she said this. "It’s not as good as one pony I knew- I’ve never gotten the hang of illusions myself. It deceives the senses, it’s not real, not tangible! Illusions don’t even exist, yet we still see them! It’s like magnets-“ Pinkie Pie hit Twilight over the head with an oversized squeaky mallet. ‘Sorry, Twily, but we don’t want another ‘Twilight goes crazy episode’, now do we?” ‘What do you mean?” “Well, Twilight occasionally has an ‘episode’ where she goes crazy! It’s really when the writers of the show want to feature Twilight in some way, but are a bit plugged for ideas, or they don’t have enough ideas and they’ve just shown the Cutie Mark Crusaders, so they can’t feature another episode with them!” “Yeah… what she said.” Not for the first time, Ulquiorra wondered who was truly the more intelligent of the two. “Well, anyway, this is Ponyville art. Like it?” “It’s not my standard of beauty, but it’s good by your standards.” Twilight looked at him. “Well, what’s your standard of beauty, then?” Ulquiorra rummaged around, and pulled out a piece of white paper. He held it up. “This is beauty for me. The emptiness of pure white. It’s soothing when there is nothing.” Twilight tried to bridge the gap between them. “Why is that you standard of beauty?” Ulquiorra looked down, before speaking. “When I was in my world, I represented an aspect of Death: Despair. My true form instills despair in all who witness it. I won’t show you, as despair shouldn’t be unleashed here.” Ulquiorra looked away, and didn’t seem to be opening up any more. “Anything else?” “No. That’s all I feel comfortable with.” Twilight opened her mouth, but closed it, after realizing that there was nothing more to be dragged out of him. Grimmjow and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were speeding towards Canterlot when Sweetie Belle remembered another problem. ‘Girls, what about the barrier?” “Barrier?” “Yeah, I read a bit-“ “Wow, you’re an egghead!” “Oh, shut up. Anyway, that barrier is put up to defend Canterlot from stuff.” “Huh. That’s cool, but not really good for us at the moment. You say that the best donuts in Equestria are in here?” “Yep!” Grimmjow frowned in thought. “I’VE GOT IT! We’ll need some stupid, stuck-up ponce, and a megaphone.” “Celestia? It’s Grimmjow. He’s at Sector 2-0-1 of Canterlot.” Celestia groaned. Bad enough that he was free now, but here he was, coming back. She sighed. "What is it? Can’t he see that the city is now on lockdown?” Luna hesitated for an instant. “He’s captured Prince Blueblood.” “Really? I thought that it was a bit less annoying around here. That’s good, right?” “The thing is… he’s threatening to put him back into the city if he doesn’t get… donuts.” Luna looked away awkwardly. Celestia put on her thinking face, and reached her decision in record time. She turned to the nearest guard. “Go to Pony Joe’s and get as many donuts as fast as possible.” He saluted and ran off. ‘UNHOOF ME!” Grimmjow hit the pansy on the horn again, and he collapsed, and started to drool while singing a song about an alicorn’s horn. “Who would’ve guessed that he’d just walk out of a forcefield that protects ponies from outside threats, without telling anypony about it?” “You tell me.” “Ah knew aristocrats were stupid, but that bucks tha apple, alright!” “It’s the inbreeding. The inbreeding really does it.” Grimmjow looked up at the guard who’d walked up, with a large box on his back. “Well, thank you. As per our deal, we will not release Blueblood.” “Princess Celestia-“ “CELERY!” “-has asked you to kick Blueblood in the plot for her.” The guard smirked a little, then leaned forward, and said, in an unprofessional tone of voice, “Would you mind kicking him into the desert? It’ll take him at least a fortnight to get back to Canterlot, even with magic.” Grimmjow grinned. “Alright, Blueblood, it’s time to go blasting off!” He picked up the prone unicorn, aimed him away from Ponyville, and dropped Blueblood on his foot. As Blueblood soared over the horizon while screaming bloody murder, Grimmjow and the fillies opened the box of donuts. The sweet smell of tasty, sugary confectionary rose into their noses. “We don’t tell Twilight and the others about Blueblood, right girls?” The Cutie mark Crusaders looked at him. “Who?” They all grinned, and started to eat donuts. By the time they came back to Ponyville, Ulquiorra was glaring at Grimmjow. “Grimmjow, what were you doing?” “Nothing, Ulqui, you’re not my mom!” Twilight was about to retort, but stopped when she saw the look in Ulquiorra’s eye. “Doubtless we’ll hear about it when the guard comes to arrest him for whatever he did.”