//------------------------------// // Chapter Fourteen // Story: HiE - A Hollow in Equestria // by Charlie_K //------------------------------// Chapter Fourteen Spike's ears were bleeding right now, not literally but figuratively. He was certain after yesterday Twilight had given up on that tune she'd been alternating between trying to sing and trying to hum to herself but he was very, very wrong. Right now she was in the middle of hitting all the wrong notes and it just made him flinch harder, and harder, and harder. He didn't know how much longer he could take it before he had to scream at her to stop for the sake of all things holy and melodious in nature. Vinyl Scratch would have none of this, so why should he have to tolerate it? Fortunately he was blessed with the sound of knocking at the library door. A knock meant a visitor and a visitor meant a reason to interrupt Twilight's musical inabilities. "I'll get it!" he called as he dashed across the room as fast as his stubby little legs could carry him, rushing right past Twilight without another word. Without another word was quite accurate in this situation. Twilight had heard Spike open the door but nothing after that. Now curious she spoke up to get to the bottom of this mini mystery. "Spike? Who is it?" she asked. "Twi' I think you'd better come and see for yourself," Spike replied as he stood unmoving at the doorway. Now she was really curious. What would be so surprising to Spike that he couldn't relay a simple message? Upon seeing for herself, she was much more understanding. Ulquiorra was standing in front of them, his left hand tucked into his pocket while his right hand was at his side and clutching a scroll. "Greetings," he said simply upon making eye contact with her. "Ulquiorra? What're you doing here?" Twilight asked and blinked. Looking around she didn't see any signs of a royal chariot or members of the royal guard being present. This was all striking her as very weird. "Official business," he replied and held out the scroll to her. He watched her puzzled face for a moment before her horn glowed and the scroll was levitated over and unrolled to be read. Dear Twilight Sparkle, It has come to my attention that a dragon has once again taken up residency in one of the caves of the mountain region to the east and is apparently settling in for a long nap. I know that I don't have to explain the severity of the situation to you as this incident has occurred once before and was dealt with marvelously. I must ask that you gather your friends and once again persuade the dragon to leave. At present time the upper wind levels are keeping the smoke from heading westward and blanketing Ponyville, but I have it on good authority from the weather bureau that these winds won't last more than a few hours. I know that you also have questions about Ulquiorra's presence and his delivering of this note rather than it coming through Spike. In order to assist his studies on friendship, I've allowed Ulquiorra to join you on this outing so that he might witness what Fluttershy can do and what wonders a little kindness is truly capable of. You're in charge of this mission my dear student. Please proceed with caution. Signed, Princess Celestia Twilight read the note silently, and then read it over again just in case there was something she'd missed on the initial read through. She had more questions than she had answers right now, and while finding the answers could be enjoyable this wasn't one of those times. A sleeping adult dragon was a hazard and they all knew that. But right now there were other matters that were nearly as pressing and needed to be addressed. "Ulquiorra? Where's your escort? How'd you get to Ponyville?" she asked. "Due to the severity of the situation Princess Celestia has provided me with the rare opportunity to travel solo as time is of the essence. That is all that must be known right now," he explained calmly. "Where are the other Elements of Harmony? More specifically where is Fluttershy?" he asked bluntly. One thing was definitely for certain as far as Twilight could tell, Ulquiorra was consistent in being straight to the point. "Well the girls are all over Ponyville so it's hard to tell just where they are. But Fluttershy is likely at her cottage near the edge of the Everfree Forest and tending to her animal friends," she explained. "Lead the way," Ulquiorra stated and stepped aside to let them exit the library. Twilight wasn't certain just what was going on. Ulquiorra being able to find the library and not having questions about how the tree could still be alive when hollowed out, she could pass that off as being the work of Princess Celestia possibly explaining it to him on where to find her. But as she stepped out of the library to show him the way to Fluttershy's cottage...she wasn't certain. There was something to him, something subdued beneath that calm and orderly veneer that just felt...antsy and impatient. It was like he was trying to suppress a desire to find the dragon and quickly. Whatever it was this definitely wasn't right. It wasn't a long walk to Fluttershy's house from the library, but with the degree of silence present it certainly felt long. The atmosphere felt tense around them as Spike rode on Twilight's back, Ulquiorra walking with them at an even pace. They both knew for certain now that something was up, but they really couldn't tell what it was. There was just something about his posture and movements that seemed...off...compared to the past two days. It was like some herky jerky motion interfering with the otherwise smooth flow of his body, like he was struggling to contain some inner force that was threatening to tear him asunder if he were to lose his hold. "So...Ulquiorra," Spike began in an effort to break the silence, "How'd you get to Ponyville without an escort? It's an awful long walk from Canterlot to here." "Using sonido it only took three minutes to travel from Canterlot to Ponyville," Ulquiorra replied as they walked along. "Three minutes?" Spike asked in disbelief, nearly falling off of Twilight's back as he rode along. Had he really said three minutes? "Seriously, three minutes? That's...that's impossible, even Rainbow Dash can't travel from here to Canterlot in just three minutes. She tried it once and it took her five minutes at full burn to get there!" he stated. "I've got to admit that's really impressive. More like outstanding really. I thought Rainbow Dash was at the peak of non-teleportation travel speeds but that theory's just been blown out of the water. Better not let her find out about that or she's really gonna be upset," Twilight pointed out. "At present time I have no reason to be concerned if one suffering from extreme narcissism is displeased with the fact they're outclassed." Twilight frowned at Ulquiorra's words. On the one hand...hoof...he was right about Rainbow Dash being narcissistic, what with always bragging about how awesome she was. But then again she'd proven that she did live up to her own legend or was at the very least capable of doing so with a little effort. But on the other hoof, he was being quite blunt about his statement and it was bordering on cruelty from what she could see. Then again maybe he was right to not be concerned. There really wasn't much that Rainbow Dash could do in retaliation even if she tried; it wasn't like she could pound him into jerk cider or anything like that. Officially as far as her friends were concerned, Ulquiorra was still a visiting dignitary and even Rainbow Dash wasn't hotheaded enough to try and launch an attack against him, regardless of what he might say to upset her. Afterall she was hotheaded, not stupid. "Two for the price of one." Twilight was snapped out of her thoughts as she heard Ulquiorra's voice again, bringing her attention forward to see that they'd arrived at Fluttershy's cottage. And from their position she could see Fluttershy was in the front yard and tending to her birds, while Rainbow Dash was chatting with her about something she couldn't quite hear. "Looks like we got lucky," Twilight commented. Or at least was in the process of doing so before Ulquiorra disappeared from sight, all that was left behind was the booming echo of static. "Where'd he go?" The sudden sound of Fluttershy's terrified shriek was a good indication he just used sonido to cross the distance quickly. "Fluttershy." It had started out as such a nice day when Fluttershy got up. The birds were singing, all her little animal friends were happy and getting along so well, and her friend Rainbow Dash had shown up to tell her about some new confection Pinkie had dreamed up overnight and was currently in the middle of. From the description she thought it sounded absolutely delicious and something she should look into the next time she had to go into Ponyville. However that all changed when a white blur appeared in front of her, startling her so much her heart nearly burst out of her ribcage as she fell back with a scream. "Flutterhsy!" she faintly heard Rainbow Dash call as she quickly made her way over to her. "What the hay do you want?" Looking back up she saw the white blur was more accurately Ulquiorra standing before her, still in the same standing position as yesterday and looking down at her, still with the same gaze as last time but lacking the overwhelming intensity. Right now she could hear Rainbow Dash being upset with him. Ulquiorra paid Rainbow Dash no mind and continued focusing on Fluttershy instead. "Princess Celestia requires your presence on a mission of great importance. It pertains to your ability with animals," he explained calmly. "There's a dragon slumbering in the caves east of Canterlot in the mountain region. You're needed to convince the dragon to move elsewhere in order to prevent it from blotting out the sun with a century's worth of smoke." A...dragon? Fluttershy's mind seemed to turn off after being informed about that part of it all. A big, mean, scary dragon? "Nonononono," she shrieked/whispered and darted behind Rainbow Dash for protection and cover. She couldn't go face down a dragon no matter who was asking her to, she just couldn't! Ulquiorra blinked. Did Fluttershy truly believe she could cower behind Rainbow Dash and be hidden from view? Such ridiculousness in this world. "Ulquiorra! Hold up!" Twilight called as she came charging up the path, Spike clinging to her to avoid getting bounced off. She knew nothing good was going to be happening when she heard Fluttershy's shriek of terror, and that was only confirmed when she saw Fluttershy duck behind Rainbow Dash and start trembling. "She heard?" Spike asked as Twilight came to a stop by them. "Indeed," Ulquiorra replied and turned his attention back to the two pegasi, one currently in terror and the other in confusion. "Twilight what's going on here? What's this about a dragon? And what's he doing here?" Rainbow Dash asked as she gestured to Ulquiorra standing before them. After yesterday she really hadn't expected to see him again, especially not so soon. And she really hadn't wanted to see him either. "Ulquiorra's here to see firsthoof just how Fluttershy can make the dragon leave its caves and go elsewhere, just like she did the last time. Princess Celestia gave it the green light," Twilight explained before turning to Fluttershy. However before she could speak Fluttershy spoke up. "I can't do it," she whispered, "dragons are big, mean and scary, I can't face one again I just can't." Rather strange. An animal care expert who was afraid to tend to animals? And how exactly did she explain her lack of fear around Spike if he was a dragon? Perhaps it was safe to conclude the fear wasn't based on the entire species, but rather specific specimens of such. "But Fluttershy you have to!" Twilight stated, "Princess Celestia needs you, Equestria needs you! If you don't make that dragon leave he'll blot out the sun for a century!" This was beyond ridiculous. Was Princess Celestia aware that her loyal subjects weren't quite so loyal? Were those that held the Elements of Harmony always like this? Would the Elements of Harmony even function in such a state of chaos? The four voices were almost unending in their nonsense and it was quite distracting. Glancing around he quickly began formulating a plan. "You care for your animals, correct?" he asked. Through whatever means his voice seemed to reach Fluttershy and make her look up at him and nod in response. "If you don't fulfill your duties to Princess Celestia in this matter you will be directly responsible for their deaths. The only question will be whether they die slowly through starvation by the loss of plant life, or painfully from asphyxiation by breathing in the dragon's smoke." Fluttershy didn't even hear the shocked gasps from her friends at Ulquiorra's words, her world had just faded away to her immediate surroundings and the animals before her. Her mouth hung open and all the color drained from her face as she considered his words. Her little animal friends were going to die if she didn't act? Her mind immediately began conjuring disturbing images of all the poor little animals slowly starving away to skin and bones, or choking in the thick clouds of black smoke, and eventually being replaced by an extensive graveyard filled with tiny wooden crosses. She couldn't let that happen, she just couldn't! Her little animal friends were all depending on her for their survival, she couldn't let them down just because she was afraid. "I'll do it," she stated. However her soft voice wasn't heard over the argument that seemed to start up while she was distracted. "Are you always this much of a jerk or are we just special or something?" Rainbow Dash yelled and threw her forelegs about wildly in Ulquiorra's direction. "I'll do it," Fluttershy repeated but was still unheard. "I'm inclined to agree with Rainbow Dash. That was pretty harsh just now," Twilight added. "The direct approach was necessary. If we do not act immediately many will likely die. If Fluttershy is unable or unwilling to participate then I will have to report back to Princess Celestia and kill the dragon myself," Ulquiorra replied calmly. "I'll do it," Fluttershy repeated but still no change. "HA! You kill a dragon by yourself?!" Rainbow Dash asked is disbelief and amusement. "Nopony short of one of the Princesses could kill a fully grown dragon on their own, and you're definitely no pony and no Princess!" Twilight wasn't sure how much of Ulquiorra's statement to believe. Slaying a full grown dragon -especially if it was a male dragon- was a...serious endeavor to engage in. It sounded more like the stuff of legend and adventure rather than a real event. "QUIET!" The loud scream was enough to silence the bickering that was going on between the four of them, the fact that it was Fluttershy who had raised her voice to such a level easily catching them off guard. "I said I'll do it," she said in a far more normal tone than just a moment ago. Her animal friends were counting on her, she couldn't leave them hanging. And then when they were actually talking about...about killing the dragon...scared or not the dragon was still just a living creature, and she really couldn't just sit by and watch as one of them was senselessly harmed, it would go against her very cutie mark! "I-I'll talk to the dragon and convince it to go find another cave to stay in." "Alright awesome 'Shy I knew you could do it," Rainbow Dash replied and turned around to hug her friend. Ulquiorra said nothing at the display as Fluttershy's friends congratulated her for deciding to fulfill her duties to Princess Celestia. Instead he chose to ponder how such a ragtag bunch could reasonably be trusted with Equestria's safety. "I-it looks really steep..." Ulquiorra hadn't been anticipating the delay he'd encountered here. He assumed once Fluttershy had been located, informed of the pending emergency -and convinced to fulfill her duty to Princess Celestia- that they would be off to where the dragon was currently nesting. Instead he'd been treated to what was surely the most useless waste of time to ever be encountered. Rather than immediately setting out to deal with the dragon that was threatening to plunge Equestria into a poisonous darkness they had insisted on gathering the remaining three members of their group beforehand. Had the intent been to make use of the Elements of Harmony to combat the dragon it would make sense to maintain group unity, but that simply wasn't the case in this matter. He saw no beneficial purpose to the hour that was wasted in seeking out Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity, informing them of the situation -going into minute detail much to his chagrin- and gathering supplies for the long journey before setting out. Were all of these ponies -sans Spike who was staying behind to handle their pets for the time being- truly necessary to act as an escort to bring Fluttershy to the cave where the dragon currently nested? Surely not. And now he found himself being held up by a pegasus that seemed afraid of heights. What was he destined to encounter next, a fish that was afraid of deep water? "Fluttershy we've been through this before, it's a cliff, it's gonna be steep," Rainbow Dash replied, clearly annoyed with her friend's timid nature. At least he wasn't alone on the matter. "Wouldn't it be easier to teleport?" he asked as he looked up the cliff face, seeing several of the others already a considerable distance ahead. "Normally yes. But teleportation is a highly demanding spell and requires a significant level of mana, the cost going up when things like distance and mass are increased. Trying to teleport over a thousand pounds of ponies, gear and...you...would limit my maximum range to only fifty feet and leave me exhausted," Twilight explained. Uselessness. Utter uselessness. He could tell that this was going to be a very long, very trying day to experience. Perhaps he should have simply remained in the library and ignored this event. "Hey dude..." The initial rough patch of getting Fluttershy to start up the mountain had been just that; the initial rough patch, for many more laid ahead of them on this long, difficult journey. More than once Ulquiorra found himself tempted to forcefully grab her and sonido far ahead of the rest of the group in order to speed things along. It was only because of the possibility that he might scare her to the point she couldn't function that he refrained from doing such. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the entire journey so far was the fact that Rarity was present. Yesterday he'd made the evaluation that her fear of filth and disorder rendered her useless during a time of importance. And yet here she was trudging along with the rest of them, her complaints relatively minor. Perhaps he'd misjudged her and when the chips were down she could rise to the occasion as well as anyone. Being confronted with one's own impending death tended to motivate individuals to do things they never would've done under normal circumstances. His attention turned to Rainbow Dash, who unlike her yellow counterpart was hovering about openly as her wings flapped rather than sticking to the ground like an earth pony. It seemed she was addressing him, although "dude" was hardly the correct title for such. "My name is Ulquiorra, not dude," he replied as he continued following the others, paying little mind to Rainbow Dash as she hovered about like an annoying overgrow mosquito. "Yeah well your name's kind of hard to pronounce," Rainbow Dash pointed out. "Nevermind that though. Look there's something about you that's struck me as weird ever since I met you, and for the longest time I couldn't figure out what it is. Sure you look different from anypony else, but then again so does every species. And after spending the night wracking my brains out it finally hit me early this morning." At her silence he was beginning to wonder if she was waiting for him to speak up before she informed him about what required such an exercise of whatever limited degree of intelligence she possessed. Fortunately that didn't seem to be the case as she began talking on her own again. "It's that sword you've got at your side. It's a katana isn't it?" she asked. Rainbow Dash was not a pony Ulquiorra found much interest in. She was a source of annoyance to him and the less he had to interact with her the better. But right now she had managed to capture his interest with the question. It was true that his zanpakutō did bear visual similarities to the katana-class swords of the human world, just as nearly all zanpakutō did. Now that he stopped to think on it, it seemed curious as to why that was. Regardless of continent all earthbound souls eventually became Hollows. Why were these so few zanpakutō that were anything else? It was a question that was best saved for another time though, right now he was curious as to how this pegasus knew anything about an aspect of his world's culture. "I read about them in a book "Daring Do and the Seventeen Samurai" and it described them pretty well. Long, thin, curved, handles wrapped in fabric in a crisscrossing manner," Rainbow Dash explained. "So is your sword of Neighponese origin? Are you like some sorta samurai or shogun or something?" she asked. Neighponese? Yet another question to be saved for later. "I am familiar with what you refer to. While it's true my zanpakutō possesses visual similarities to a katana that's where the similarities end. They are both constructed in two entirely different manners and not properly comparable to each other," he replied. "Zanpakutō huh?" she asked, repeating the word slowly as she rolled it about to try and get an understanding on it. Finally she just shrugged and decided to fly on ahead with the rest of them, leaving him with a stretch of satisfying silence. "Hey Ulqy!" So much for satisfying silence. Somehow the strange earth pony Pinkie Pie had managed to appear right next to him without him noticing her absence from the larger group, her strange manner of bouncing/hopping keeping pace with his strides. "What do you want?" he asked bluntly. What was with all of the interruptions all of the sudden? "You mean besides a piece of Mrs. Cakes' awesome super delicious double chocolate chip cake?" Pinkie asked, "If you're a visiting foreign dignitary thingy isn't this the sorta thing you should stay away from? Dragons are big and mean and scary and above all dangerous! You can't make 'em laugh for nothing and most of them wouldn't think twice about swallowing a pony up in a single gulp!" She was still very annoying to deal with. But this time her annoyance was focused on his own wellbeing. Commendable even if it was pointless. "I'll take my chances in order to see what Fluttershy can do. She's referred to almost as if she were a deity amongst the animal kingdom. Such a feat much be witnessed to be believed," Ulquiorra commented. The one she should truly be concerned for was the dragon if things went south. The detectable reiatsu levels of the dragon weren't particularly worrisome at present time and he had little reason for concern. From his current position the reiatsu level felt on par with Zommari Rureaux, that was hardly enough to inspire concern. Suddenly the ground was shaken for several seconds before the tremor finally passed, leaving the ponies concerned and him curious. "What precisely was that?" "The dragon snoring," Twilight answered back. A single snore being enough to cause the entire ground to shake? Perhaps his pesquisa truly wasn't working properly in this strange world. Perhaps the mana that permeated the area was many times more dense than reishi and those adapted to it were much more capable of dealing with it on a comparable level. More disturbingly...perhaps Pinkie Pie was right to be concerned. "Rest break y'all," Applejack spoke up. The journey from Ponyville up the mountain had been long and quite tedious in nature. And apparently the affects of the journey were catching up with the rest of them as each of the ponies were slumping against something for support and looking exhausted, Ulquiorra being the only one unaffected by the long walk and climb. Sometimes it was hard adjusting to the world of the living. Those with physical bodies made of flesh and bone had such finite stamina compared to Hollows. Looking upward he could easily see which hole the smoke was coming from, it wasn't more than a few miles from their current position. Why they didn't simply continue trudging on was beyond him. They still had the advantage of daylight and the dragons' snoring hadn't caused any further rock slides. Now was the time to be traveling. "Hey Mr. Cifer, catch!" His attention was drawn back to the group, more specifically the earth pony Applejack tossing him an apple that was easily caught in his hand. "Ya'd best eat too, yer scrawny enough as is an' ya ain' eaten all day," Applejack stated. He briefly considered explaining that he didn't need to eat to sustain himself, that he could survive on nothing more than the reishi in the atmosphere. But if he did then he'd have to spend more time answering more questions and it would only delay them further. The southern winds were no longer holding back the dragon's smoke and it was wafting its way over Ponyville and towards Canterlot. Right now the easiest thing to do was simply shut up and comply for the time being. "Very well," he replied and bit into the apple, mildly surprised at the amount of flavor found within it. Were all the apples in this world like this or were they specific to Sweet Apple Acres? "The Shinigami would likely raid her orchards if they found out about these..." "Really, Applejack darling, it's rude to inform someone that they're scrawny. Ulquiorra isn't scrawny, he's lean, he's sleek, he's svelte," Rarity replied, supplying a list of more appropriate terms to describe the Arrancar's physical build. "He's---" "The smallest in stature to hold the rank of Espada," Ulquiorra interrupted before taking another bite of the apple. "Applejack's observation is quite accurate." "...Espada? I'm afraid I don't know that term," Rarity stated after a moment's thought. "A council of ten as it were. That is all that needs to be known," Ulquiorra replied. Now was definitely not the time to get into the finer points of Hueco Mundo and his dimension. They'd be here all night if the five of them were even half as curious as Twilight Sparkle. The sun would be setting within two hours. It had taken most of the day to climb the mountain and avoid the hazards caused by the dragon's slumber but at long last they were a mere fifty feet from the cave's mouth where their quarry rested, blessedly ignorant of their position and existence. "Crud that stinks!" Rainbow Dash choked out. Unfortunately the same could not be said for them. Being in such close proximity to the dragon one thing above others became very apparent; the sulfur stench permeating the air from the dragon's breath. The closer they got the more intense and stifling it became. Each of the ponies was having their own trouble breathing normally, the only one showing no signs of affect being Ulquiorra. Twilight Sparkle, much to Ulquiorra's mild curiosity, seemed the be the only one who had planned on such a potential development and was currently wearing some sort of breathing apparatus over her face. This world had gas masks? "We're not gonna get anywhere like this, we need fresh air," she stated in a somewhat mumbled tone. "Rainbow Dash! Do your thing!" "On it!" Rainbow Dash coughed and hovered off the ground, beating her wings with a great deal of force until she was churning up a huge amount of wind to blow the sulfur gasses out of the area so they could all breathe easier. Unfortunately it was only a temporary success as the gasses would return in short order until the dragon left the area and they all knew that fact. "Let's get going everypony, it's going be dark soon," Twilight stated as she pulled off the breathing apparatus, trying to muster the troops onward into battle; or more accurately hostile negotiations. The dragon had to leave and there was no two ways about it. They'd all come so very far today, they just needed to go a little further and let Fluttershy do the talking. "The dark is scary," Fluttershy commented nervously. "Then let us not procrastinate any further," Ulquiorra stated somewhat forcefully. Right now all he wanted to do was sonido his way up to the cave and deal with the dragon himself. But he wasn't allowed to do that. He had to wait for the others to do what needed to be done. It was strange how a mere fifty feet seemed to take longer than the entire rest of the journey. Despite climbing steep inclines and having to cross unforeseen chasms this last stretch of their journey was dragging on as if invisible weights were dragging them down. Of course Fluttershy's fear of the dragon and the darkness of the cave didn't help motivate her to move any faster. The only reason they'd gotten this far was him pointing out how many lives hinged on her succeeding in her mission. "Somepony's gotta go in first," Applejack commented once they reached the mouth of the cave. After the last time of trying to chase out a dragon they realized the safest option available was to simply escort Fluttershy in rather than trying their hoof at it first. Her connection with animals made her the best candidate for such a mission, they just served as distractions. Perhaps Twilight should've seen it coming, it was such an obvious setup and Ulquiorra had been acting strange all day. The minute Applejack pointed out that one of them needed to advance first, he had silently stepped ahead and began walking towards the dragon's cave as if he was devoid of anything even remotely resembling fear. His stride was like he was looking forward to this and had been the entire day. Was he really serious when he'd told Rainbow Dash he was going to kill the dragon himself? She'd been positive it was just boasting to try and motivate Fluttershy into action, but right now she wasn't sure one way or the other anymore. "Ulquiorra wait up it could be-" she was in the middle of saying but stopped when she wound up crashing face first into the back of him when he suddenly stopped walking without any warning. Her muzzle hurt and she was disoriented now, wondering what had just happened. "The dragon is currently awake," Ulquiorra stated as he turned his attention back to Twilight Sparkle over his shoulder. "And it would seem currently, it's very angry." If she hadn't already come to a stop Twilight would've frozen in her tracks at hearing this statement. The dragon was awake? Granted her knowledge on dragon's was rather limited but she didn't ever recall anything that talked about dragon's waking up during their naps for no reason. Right now her mind was reeling with questions and possibilities as to what just happened here. Had Rainbow Dash's clearing the sulfur away disturbed it? Had they made enough commotion that the dragon had been awake the entire time? These were just some of the questions to consider. But right now there was a much more serious and pressing question that needed to be answered. "What now?" Ulquiorra said nothing as he stood facing the cave, observing whatever it was he was observing that Twilight couldn't see. And how had he known the dragon was awake to begin with? She'd really like to know that right about now. However it seemed he had other ideas because instead of answering he knelt down to ground level and began using his finger to sketch something in the dirt. Twilight blinked as she tried to figure out what he was drawing. It looked a lot like ancient cave paintings that dated back to the mesoponic era of Equestria's history. There was a large semi-circle with a squiggly line in the middle and two dots near the open area. An arrow was drawn from one dot toward the squiggly line while another arrow was drawn from the other dot to a group of five dots. Then an arrow drawn from the five dots, taking a long curve around to near the open area of the semi-circle, then around the semi-circle and then into it behind the squiggly line into the enclosed area to a group of six dots. What exactly was Ulquiorra doing? She looked at him in confusion as he glanced over at her. He looked back down at the crude drawing and gestured at it with his hands, indicating there was importance to it. But for the life of her she couldn't figure out what it was...until he drew out a six pointed star by one of the dots. After that everything clicked like a finely crafted and properly oiled machine and everything made sense. Nodding she dashed back to where her friends were standing and waiting. "Wha's goin' on Twilight?" Applejack asked. She was feeling quite confused right now, having not been able to make out what they'd been talking about after Twilight had chased after Ulquiorra only to crash into him. "Change of plans, girls, Ulquiorra's going in the front way, we're going around. Drop your saddlebags and follow me," she explained. She was about to elaborate on the plan as it was presented to her when her ears perked out at the booming echo of static again. Looking back she saw Ulquiorra was nowhere to be seen. "I've got to figure out how he does that..." The plan was quite simple and easy to follow even if the instructions weren't presented on a full color spread sheet. The dragon was awake and aware of his surroundings. Ulquiorra would approach the mouth of the cave, evaluate the situation and provide a distraction while Twilight Sparkle and the others approached the long way around before teleporting into the cave at the back and approaching from behind. His sonido had allowed him to approach and enter the cave undetected, only to come face to face with the dragon as if it'd been waiting for him the entire time. From what he could see in the dim light it was a considerably sized dragon, easily the size of a Gillian-class Hollow regardless of its crouched position. It frame was as heavily muscled as it was scarred, suggesting a male of considerable experience in combat, its skin dark and a row of bony points running down it head and along the spines like a mohawk, its golden eyes glaring down at him at it scowled through the darkness. From where he stood it appeared to have a quadrupedal frame, but he couldn't rule out the possibility of bipedal capabilities; the unicorn Lyra Hearstrings had demonstrated the significance of that fact yesterday. "I wasn't expecting one so large," was all Ulquiorra could think to say. He was operating under the assumption that dragons weren't simply mindless beasts in the same manner as Hollows, and the only way to test that out was by talking to it and seeing how it responded. The dragon continued glaring at him, blinking a few times and uttering a low growl, the noxious sulfuric fumes from his breath blowing past him. Much as he hated to, he had to agree with Rainbow Dash; the dragon's breath truly did stink. Reaching out with his pesquisa he could feel the others approaching, slowly but surely getting into position. This would require some stalling in order to pull off properly. Unfortunately procrastinating wasn't one of his strong points. Continual talking to one that wasn't responsive wasn't something he was particularly skilled in; Princess Luna was better suited for that. "I don't pretend to know your reasons for venturing so far into the territory of Equestria. Nor is it of any interest to me. However I am under orders to remove you as your smoke poses a serious health hazard to the ponies that live in the town below," Ulquiorra explained calmly. The dragon simply continued looking at him and blinking. Perhaps the vocal approach wasn't the best way to go. Perhaps the best course of action was to engage in a stare down and see which one of them would yield first. "E-excuse me...sir?" Ulquiorra was the first to blink at the voice. According to his pesquisa the six were now behind them near the back of the cave and slowly making their way forward. He'd focused so much attention on staring at the dragon to try and distract it he'd failed to notice the teleportation into the cave. Now though he was aware of Fluttershy's close proximity as she tried to address the dragon with whatever measure of courage she could manage. The dragon seemed equally aware of their presence as he turned away from the stare down to face the new voice. "Sir...I know that you're really tired and all, and that all you really want to do is settle in for a long nap...but could you please...m-maybe find somewhere else to sleep? You see you're awfully close to Ponyville and a lot of ponies down below are---" The dragon didn't allow Fluttershy to finish whatever she was saying and cut her off by violently -and loudly- roaring directly in her face, sending her flying backwards and crashing against the cave wall along with her friends who were unfortunately in the path with her. That hurt a lot! All six of them were groaning and in pain from being tossed about so easily, each of their bodies more or less crumpling limply on the ground. "That went bad," Rainbow Dash commented as her vision was swimming right now. How could an animal resist Fluttershy's nature? It didn't make sense to her, she'd managed to tame Discord and make him good so how could she not do the same with this dragon? None of it made any sense. Ulquiorra wasn't surprised to see things proceed the way they had, he hadn't been expecting anything resembling a success from the meek pegasus addressing the dragon. However being right wasn't his primary concern right now, but rather the aggressive posture the dragon was taking toward them. That simply wouldn't do. "Get your flank out of my face!" "Move your leg!" "You're squishing me!" Things had gone from unfavorable to just plain bad in such short order that nopony could tell just what went wrong. The dragon had not only completely ignored Fluttershy's attempts at managing it, it went on the offensive and blew them out of the way with a single roar, leaving them in a pile on the cave floor, disoriented and trying to untangle themselves from one another. "Real great plan Twilight! Whoever heard of sneaking up on a dragon?" Rainbow Dash asked sarcastically, unaware that the dragon was no longer paying any attention to Ulquiorra and instead was making its way over to them, a hungry look in its eyes as it licked its lips. At least that's how it was until something caused them to stop fighting, a loud commotion erupting above them. They looked up just in time to see something shatter against the dragon's head in a cloud of smoke. "I can't allow you to do that," they heard Ulquiorra say. Looking back as best they could they saw him standing with his right arm extended, some sort of red static energy dissipating around his hand and extended finger. "I have no personal care for their wellbeing. But I'm under orders not to allow any harm to come to them." The dragon slowly turned away from them to face the original intruder again, giving them the time needed to untangle themselves and get back on their hooves. "Cuatro Espada Ulquiorra Cifer. Fourth strongest Espada under the command of Sosuke Aizen. First strongest Espada under the command of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna." The dragon stared down at Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra stared up at the dragon. It was another stare down just like a few moments ago. However this time the dragon reacted first by drawing in a deep, deep breath, and unleashing a torrent of flames that easily engulfed Ulquiorra before he could react or respond. "Ulquiorra!" Twilight shouted in horror at having seen the entire display. He'd just saved them from the dragon only to meet the fate that was meant for them? The utter cruelty of it all! Now she turned to the dragon and was filled with rage over what was lost: someone who had never been blessed with knowing what friendship was, someone who had never known true kindness or what it was like to laugh, someone who was the greatest discovery in all the centuries of Equestria's history! How dare that dragon do something like that? "Impressive." At the sound of the voice all eyes turned toward the front of the cave and what remained of the fire and the burning rocks. What should've been present should've been nothing more than a pile of cinders and soot. But strolling out of the flames was none other than Ulquiorra, looking like he wasn't even singed and merely dusting his jacket off. How was something like that possible? He'd taken the full force of the dragon's attack and was completely unfazed; he didn't even look like he was suffering from an adrenaline high! "You nearly managed to singe through my hierro in that attack. I was unaware that a living beast could generate such an intense heat. It is truly applause worthy that you were able to perform such a feat," Ulquiorra said calmly. He then proceeded to do what nopony had ever expected him to do and clapped. Three very slow and sarcastic claps of his hands before he put them back in his pockets and began walking forward again. The dragon seemed confused at how such a puny thing had survived being burnt, but that confusion quickly turned to rage as it actually began mocking him with its clapping! Who did this runt think he was!? Letting loose a deafening roar, another stream of fire was let loose and completely engulfed the pale figure. "Too slow." From their vantage point the ponies were seeing the whole mess unfold and not believing a second of it. He'd been completely engulfed in pure dragon's breath fire that was known to be able to melt rocks in high enough concentrations. From that he'd emerged unscathed and actually went onto mock the dragon and anger it into attacking. At which point he'd disappeared in a flash of sonido speed and reappeared atop the dragon's head and was currently looking down on it as if with contempt, informing it that it was too slow to keep up with him. The entire display was something that went completely over their heads. How could such a thing be possible? How could Ulquiorra be showing up such a vicious dragon -vicious enough even Fluttershy couldn't get through to it- and be doing it all in such a casual manner that it was like foal's play? The amount of questions they had just kept adding up, every new display and every new sentence just adding to the mounting pile. Without further discussion Ulquiorra calmly lifted his left foot and brought it back down fast, stomping on the dragon's head with a loud crack, hard enough to send it toppling to the ground, leaping off almost casually and landing in front of it as it groaned, before reaching out with his left hand and grabbing it by the nose. "You have displayed a limited measure of intelligence. It is likely you are intelligent enough to realize that you're incapable of harming me no matter how hard you try. You should be equally intelligent enough to understand the best course of action is to leave now while you're still able to move under your own power," Ulquiorra calmly explained as he kept his hold on the dragon's nose and tightened it. To the others it was hard to watch. Ulquiorra was delivering an ultimatum to a monster of a dragon as he held onto its snout with one hand, seemingly trying to stare it down when his head didn't even come up to its nostrils, and bragging that it couldn't do anything to hurt him. "He's...he's crazy..." Rainbow Dash stated. The dragon seemed inclined to agree with her statement and violently pulled its snout free from Ulquiorra's hold and roared at him, before pulling back a massive fist and bringing it down and forward right on top of him. The proper response to such an attack would be to dodge, as anything caught in its path would be reduced to a bloody paste in short order. Ulquiorra however, failed to do so. As the dragon's fist came down on his position he instead held his hand upward and caught it on the descent. The act effortlessly stopped its advancement, the force of the impact traveling around him and damaging the stone floor in the form of large cracks radiating outward from his feet, and chunks of debris flying in every direction as it gave way to the laws of physics that demanded such. "That...that jus' ain't possible!" Applejack stated in disbelief as her mouth hung open. "Nopony's strong enough ta do somethin' like that! How can such a scrawny fella pull off somethin' like that?!" Twilight watched in silence, stunned at just how many things were...wrong...with physics for such a display to be possible. How could Ulquiorra be displaying more strength than a fully grown dragon despite the sheer differences in their size and mass? The dragon had to weigh more than three hundred times what Ulquiorra did and was easily ten times taller at the shoulder, so why couldn't it do anything to overpower him? This was all very, very physically wrong...and not wrong like when Pinkie did something that seemed to defy physics, this was much worse than that! His skeletal and muscular structure shouldn't have been able to withstand that impact while the hard stone cracked beneath him. And even if it could there was no way his shoulder should've been able to remain in place with such a jarring blow; especially since the dragon had enough room to actually pull its claw back before throwing it forward for greater momentum. What was his world of Heuco Mundo like for him to be able to do something like that!? "He really is a monster..." she whispered in disbelief. "Worse than that," Rainbow Dash stated, unable to turn away from what she was seeing. They all immediately remembered how Ulquiorra had said he was the smallest of the Espada. And yet his small stature was proving to be more than the dragon could deal with. If he could do that all on his own then none of them wanted to see what the largest of Espada could do in a similar situation! And as if that wasn't bad enough on its own it only got worse the more it was thought on. In addition to being the smallest of the Espada Ulquiorra claimed he was only the fourth strongest of the Espada. That meant where he came from there were three others even stronger than he was right now. And if that was the case it was a truly terrifying thought to give consideration to. "As I have said you're incapable of harming me," Ulquiorra stated calmly, showing no visible signs of exertion at keeping the dragon's fist above him. "Simply by looking at you I can measure your strength. No matter how hard you may try to do so you'll never succeed at physically overpowering me. Your best and only course of action would be to leave the caves now. If you don't do so then I'll kill you..." Whether it was because the dragon comprehended his words and took offense to them, or simply because it had become frustrated at the display of strength in its opponent Ulquiorra would never know what had triggered its rage. All he knew was that the ensuing roar in response to his statement was deafening. From what he could tell of the dragon's detectable levels of reiatsu and its increasing density it was preparing to direct its full fury against him. And based on these new readings this fight could indeed prove to be quite difficult. It was safe to say that the shit was about to hit the fan.