HiE - A Hollow in Equestria

by Charlie_K

Chapter One Hundred Twenty Eight

Chapter One Hundred Twenty Eight

"I'm beginning to worry about the current state of my own mental health and well being."

In the short time she'd been in their world, it wasn't unusual to find Princess Twilight Sparkle in the library of Canterlot palace at any given moment when she had free time.

Her presence was becoming so common that Ulquiorra had stopped regarding her to any greater degree than he did any of the palace staff who had ventured inside the library due to having janitorial duties in need of being tended to.

But the statement had been enough to warrant his attention, and bring him out of the book he was currently reading, in order to regard him as she approached the lounge area, looking rather fatigued while levitating what looked like a makeshift scroll behind her.

Whatever she and Tempest Shadow had discussed over the better part of yesterday afternoon and evening, it had apparently been just what she'd needed to hear, to convince her that proceeding with lending her assistance to this reality was the correct and worthwhile thing to do.

Her return from the infirmary had been marked by a significantly more upbeat attitude, and all but diving back into drawing up notes about events that'd already transpired in her reality, all but writing continuously throughout the night with what could only be described as a renewed sense of purpose.

But now, well into Monday morning, it was looking like her night owl tendencies were finally catching up with her.

"I've only been in this reality for four days now. Technically only sixty-seven hours, give or take the matter of a few minutes," she continued as she all but trudged her way over to what was unofficially her table and bench. "And already I'm starting to contemplate lines of thought that feel more indicative of this reality than my own."

Ulquiorra said nothing as he observed her finally climbing up on the bench and sitting down at the table, looking like the mere act of physically resting her legs would be enough to tip her over the edge and send her into unconsciousness.

He knew he could ask what she meant, but he chose to wait and see if she intended to proceed on her own, or instead wait to be prompted before continuing.

In turned out to be the former, rather than the latter.

"It was... sometime around three AM, I think, when the idea first popped into my mind," she stated, pausing as she tried to suppress a yawn, before setting the scroll down on the table and unrolling it to reveal its contents for him to see.

Looking over what the scroll had to reveal, the majority of its contents were presented in what he'd come to learn was pointy style pictographical fashion, with the occasional odd scribbling next to one illustration or another to provide clarity.

"As we've already established, there's a number of variants and differences between our two respective realities. Some of them minor to the point of being easily missed like the shade of a particular pony's mane, and some so unimaginably different it's impossible to note any real similarities. As it turns out this works both ways," she explained, while pointing to a particularly aggressive looking picture. "In this particular case, Chrysalis. In this reality she's dead and buried, but back in my reality she's very much alive. Not only alive, but still a significant threat we have to deal with."

Ulquiorra continued to maintain his silence and observe, opting to allow her to set the tone and pace for whatever this discussion was going to entail.

"No matter what we do, she refuses to accept defeat, and is always scheming or planning something to harm us. Even when her entire hive abandoned her and reformed their ways, she still refused the opportunity to stop being a villain. If anything she just became worse after that. For the longest time I've been at a loss for how we should proceed in dealing with her. It's not like I can just ask you to come back with me to my reality and deal with her like you did this one, even if getting back home wasn't a problem in itself to address.

"I mean, I suppose I could ask that of you. But if I did that, it would basically amount to abandoning our world's teachings that've seen us through a number of other crises in the past. If I make an exception of that magnitude for her, and say that our standards have to be abandoned because of how dire these circumstances might seem, then it becomes that much easier to do the same for another threat down the line. And another after that. It would all lead down a very dark path that I'm not ready or willing to see us go down, just because Chrysalis wants to play hardball. We'd basically be letting her win if we did that. We might as well just hoof Canterlot over to her if we go that route."

Again, no comment from him. This was essentially a rehashing of what they'd discussed Friday night when the subject of help had first been broached and she'd objected to the possible killing of threats.

"So it's a bit of a quandary on what we should do with her. We can't just kill her, but at the same time she refuses to concede defeat after everything she's lost. So I think it's time we try something different, a third option that feels like it belongs more in this world than mine. I'm going to offer her a bribe. In fact I'm going to offer her a bribe she couldn't possibly turn down."

That was a statement he hadn't expected to hear before, especially not from her of all ponies.

"It's obviously going to take a lot of work to get everything just right for this plan to actually be feasible; it's not something I can do exclusively by myself, even if I had the legal authority to proceed on my own. That's where all this comes into play," she continued unimpeded as she swept her right foreleg across the entire length of the scroll to gesture to what the plan was. "Changelings feed on love, so we've already established what the food source is, the currency of negotiation if you will. That's the easy part, and where things become progressively more complicated the further in we go.

"After her hive overthrew her, Equestria had access to far more information on changelings than ever before; in fact we had access to a hiveful of reformed changelings who're willing to ally with us. Once I get back to my reality I intend to have a meeting with Thorax, their current king, and inform him of what the plan is."

She paused to gesture to another picture on the scroll, that Ulquiorra could only guess was meant to represent the aforementioned king changeling.

"I'm going to ask him to help me with some tests, the first of which will be determining just how much love a changeling actually requires if they go twenty-four hours between feedings. Specifically I intend to determine just how much love is needed for a changeling to feel full over that twenty-four hour period. To that end I'm going to let him siphon my love, so nopony else will be put at risk from this idea. Once we can extrapolate this amount and measure it in terms that have a numerical basis, we classify it as a single unit of love. From there we determine just how many units could safely be harvested from a pony without putting them in danger. If possible I plan to ask if he can determine what percentage of a pony's love goes into a single unit. I know Chrysalis drained a great deal from Shining Armor, but he didn't suffer any negative long-term effects from it; not that we've ever been able to discover."

A sliding of her right hoof across the parchment surface brought it to the rough representation of two figures, one likely Thorax and the other being her.

"Granted, there might be some inconsistencies in the consumption rates between a reformed and unreformed changeling. But that can be addressed later; Thorax may know that better than any other creature I can ask, with the exception of his brother, Pharynx. But I'm getting distracted from the original point I was trying to make. Back on topic!

"In this reality, and even in mine, there are countless texts that can be found relating to the magical manipulation of gems; including information on how they can used to store magical energies and properties, and even how they can be used to harvest these properties. Once we find out how much love is in a unit, we divide and break that amount down over a sizable number of ponies; specifically a population size. Obviously the forcible harvesting of too much love from a single pony can be dangerous and put them at risk. But if only a minute amount is passively acquired from each individual pony over a large enough group and pooled together in some sort of repository, then the same results can be achieved without harming anypony in the process.

"The biggest hurdle we'd have to cross is actually selling the idea to everypony to make it feasible. We're basically talking the equivalent of a street sweeper brooming up the loose hairs that a pony might shed over the course of their day as they walk down the street of any given town. But even if the amount is minuscule, I'm not about to propose forcibly taking from anypony. It has to be something they'd willingly do voluntarily, like giving a minute amount to a charity that also provides a return on their investment. In this case the return investment would be one less villain putting Equestria at risk.

"Put into terms you might be more readily familiar with, we'd be talking about the equivalent of every human in a city the size of Manehattan willingly putting one nickle each in a collection box each day. That'd amount to... what's that conversion rate again, ten thousand dollars a day? Maybe twenty? Let's go with ten for simplicity's sake. If this was done over the course of a month period that box would hold three hundred thousand dollars, and none of those humans who participated in giving would be out more than one dollar and fifty cents of their own money."

There was a lamppost illustrated, with various lines around it and leading to and from in various directions.

"Once we determine an exact method of harvesting and storing love, and getting enough ponies to agree with what's being proposed, the hard part is going to be getting in touch with Chrysalis, and convincing her to listen to the proposal, to hear what we have to say. Which in this case is basically telling her we'll give her so many units of love periodically so long as she stops trying to take over Equestria. The exact amount can be determined later, once all the other factors are worked out, but I'm thinking a sizable amount that she wouldn't be able to gain otherwise. In fact, if circumstances allow, I'm planning on pulling the comma/decimal point switcheroo tactic on her.

"We offer her so much love up front, which will be fair for her even on its own if it's taken. But if she rejects the amount as being too paltry we tell her the decimal point near the beginning of the amount was actually supposed to be a comma, which will be the amount of units we were really willing to give her in the first place. And all she'll have to do to earn it is just leave us in peace. We can all stop fighting, she can be contently fed for the rest of her life, and she can claim the meaningless victory of gloating over the fact we couldn't defeat her and had to instead resort to buying her off, while we can claim the actual victory of being the sole proprietor of her uninterrupted food source and keeping her on the equivalent of a leash since she'd have to abide by our rules if she doesn't want to be cut off."

The explanation concluded with her hoof sliding over to gesture to the illustration of a fat -bordering on obese- smiling Chrysalis. Followed by Twilight slowly turning her head to look up at him directly.

"This isn't at all what my world would do. But at the same time I guess you could argue that it kind of is? We have what Chrysalis needs, what she wants, and we're willing to provide her with it so long as she meets us halfway on this metaphorical two-way street of cooperation. It could be argued that this is just a simplified interpretation of friendship's teachings, boiled down, tailor-made, and carefully structured towards a very specific individual with a very precise outlook on the situation. Couldn't it?"

Those eyes. The look she was giving him right now was one of tiredness and desperation, practically pleading for him to agree with her outlook. To assure her that she wasn't making a mistake by considering her plan.

Before any such answers or discussion regarding her plan could be had, they were interrupted by a flash of fire as a scroll materialized in front of him, hanging briefly in the air before dropping as he reached out and plucked it up with his right hand before it could actually fall to the floor.

Without so much as a word, he set his book down on the table in order to unroll it and read what it had to say.

Not two seconds later, he was already setting it down on the table, leaving Twilight curious about what he could've read in that short amount of time.

"A situation has come up. I apparently have to go to Ponyville," he said simply, answering the unasked question hanging in the air.

Rather than ask for further clarification, Twilight turned her attention to the letter. Since he'd just left it out in the open, it was considered fair game for her consumption... right?

Dear Ulquiorra,

I've just been informed that the situation with Bonbon is getting worse.

I'm well aware this isn't your area of expertise. But could you please come to Ponyville, so we can try and rectify this matter? I'm genuinely worried about what might happen if this goes unresolved for much longer.

Signed,
Twilight Sparkle

Reading the letter hadn't done any good. It just left her with more questions than she'd had previously.

"What sort of situation is she talking about?" she asked as she turned back to him, only to find that he had already been walking away from her.

In a flash, she teleported ahead of him to block his path.

"What sort of situation is she talking about?" she asked again.

"One you need not concern yourself with," he replied dismissively.

"I'm already concerned, and only growing moreso as I don't get any answers," she quickly pointed out. "The letter stated "the situation with Bonbon" so that means you and others know what's going on, and what this is all about. You'd save the both of us a lot of time if you just inform me of what's going on in this reality."

"Very well then," Ulquiorra replied. "When Nightmare Moon returned, she took Bonbon's little sister not only as a hostage but also as a host, binding her essence to her body. The Elements of Harmony were taken out of commission through an orchestrated attack against your counterpart and her friends, which resulted in severing Rainbow Dash's connection to the Element of Loyalty. Without the Element of Loyalty, the rest of the Elements of Harmony were rendered useless as a result. To stop Nightmare Moon I had to kill her. To kill Nightmare Moon I was forced to also kill Twist, as there was no available way of separating her from Nightmare Moon."

Twilight could do little more than stand there, listening in horror and disbelief at the utterly casual recollection of equally horrifying details. The cold, clinical, detached tone just seemed to magnify the horror of it all. How could he speak of such things with all the zest of reading a laundry list, as if it were just one of those monotonous day-to-day things!?

"And... w-what're you going to do?" she asked, barely able to force the words out for fear of what the answer was going to be.

"I won't know the answer to that question, until I determine just what is actually going on. Once I know that, I'll have an answer on how to proceed from there."

Somehow that just made the whole situation feel worse to consider. But that degree of horror aside, there were more important matters to tend to.

"I'm coming with you," she said quickly as she moved to intercept his path once again. "I know this isn't my reality, but if I'm going to help out, then I might as well do something to actually help, rather than leaving everything to you and the others while I just sit back. I might not know all of the details, but this sounds like a friendship problem to me. And friendship problems are my area of expertise. Something like this is where I shine."

"Mourning the death of a loved one goes far beyond being a simple "friendship problem" as you put it. This is far outside of your league. You're not qualified for getting involved in this matter," Ulquiorra pointed out.

"Neither are you, but you're still going to get involved," Twilight pointed out in turn. "I might not have a lot of experience in consoling those grieving for the dead, but I can still help. And besides that, even if I'm out of my league, you still kind of need me right now. I can teleport us directly to Ponyville from here, a whole lot faster than you could make it there on your own."

Left unsaid was the fact that if he still refused to accept her offer of assistance, then she fully intended to teleport to Ponyville regardless of what he said, and get involved from there.

"Very well then," Ulquiorra conceded. "I still have matters to tend to before we can depart. Find Princess Celestia and inform her of our plans to depart, so she's brought up to speed about what's happening. After that inform Tempest Shadow as well, so she'll know that you'll be out of the palace and won't be available for some time. Once done, go to the palace gardens and wait there. Once I'm finished with my business, I'll meet up with you and we can depart from there," he instructed.

Twilight nodded and smiled, thankful that the discussion was over and he'd agreed to accept her help. That made things so much easier to tend to.

"Right then. I'll see you there," she replied and teleported out of the room to find Princess Celestia.

Comments

[hydra30]

It may not be as potent as sharing love for changeling's but feeding on love still gives them power. All Princess Twilight's plan would do is give Chrysalis ammunition to use against Equestria.

FIRST

[Fireeaters]

Oh yeah, I forgot about twist. Sadge

[Kevin shough]

He's not taking her Is he he leavein without her

[grochek1]

I imagine that Ulquiorra said that to Twilight to get her away from him and give her something to do so he can go to Ponyville quickly and try to take care of Bon Bon himself. I imagine that he has already figured out that if Princess Twilight accompanied him, that would create a lot of issues and may make the situation with Bon Bon worse. Thus Ulquiorra will try to help Bon Bon while Princess Twilight sits quietly in the gardens

[sirraf]

"Here, we will give you this high yield nuke if you promise not to use it on us!" poor Twi...

[Black_Knight]

Typical Twilight to rant out her theory/plan/worries for a good chunk of time, only to focus back once duty calls.

[Shisarakage]

Trust Twilight - Princess of Friendship, Overthinking, and Extreme Over-Analysis - to come up with a plan that boils down to "We'll buy a Peace Treaty! Just leave us the hay alone!". As for Bonbon... well... it's my opinion that while Ulquiorra may be the only individual who is able to at least alter the situation, he's also the absolute last creature of any kind that Bonbon would want to see. It's possible she may have a mental break and attempt to kill the Aspect of Nihilism (failing horribly in the process, of course), or she could break in another way, and instead ask him to kill her so she can be reunited with her sister. Either way, this is going to be one interesting journey back to Ponyville.

[byayan]

Haha! i hope he dupes her.

[Dirty Bit]

You gotta love diplomacy, even if it's a bribe with possibly middling success.

Alt!Twilight will be in over her head once she sees the situation with Ulquiorra.

[A Soul In Limbo]

I'm impressed and somewhat excited that you managed to take up roughly 75% of this chapter with nothing but Twilight's sleep-deprived egghead ramblings. XD