HiE - A Hollow in Equestria

by Charlie_K

Chapter Seventy Seven

Chapter Seventy Seven

Rainbow Dash was in the middle of panicking right now, despite her best efforts to not be doing just that.

Her chest felt tight and hurt. Her heart was pounding so hard, it felt like it was actually going to punch through her ribcage at any moment. Her throat felt like it was constricting, and cutting off her airway. She was hot, sweating, her eyes were watering, her breathing was labored and struggling, her wings bristling... in simple terms, she wasn't enjoying herself one bit. And why should she be? She was trapped in an enclosed, restrictively small, completely dark closet, without even a trace of light creeping in through the cracks in the doorway. She really didn't even know where the door was right now.

"I can't take it anymore! Lemme out of here! Please!" she yelled frantically, desperate to get out of her.

Her pleas, thankfully, hadn't fallen on deaf ears, as the small room was flooded by bright light as the door swung open. She bolted immediately, not wanting to be in there even one second more.

On the side of the doorway opposite of the hinges, Corners watched as Rainbow Dash collapsed on the floor, gasping for air as if she'd just run the most physically exhaustive marathon of her entire life. Considering what she was attempting to do, she likely felt that way too.

And what could he do about it? What assistance could he possibly lend her as she struggled? Little more than offer up a fresh bottle of water for her to drink, once she got her breathing back under control. Although some might say his assistance did a lot of good, considering how eagerly the bottle was accepted as she finally sat up.

"How long did I last?" Rainbow Dash asked, before guzzling almost half of the bottle's worth down.

"... Thirty three seconds," Corners replied, waiting until after she was finished with her drink before telling her.

"Damnit," Rainbow Dash grumbled, before sighing, and taking another -smaller- drink of water. "That's not gonna cut it."

"I still don't see why we're doing this," Corners replied. Actually there was a lot about this that he didn't fully understand, like why Rainbow Dash had actually approached him of all ponies, to help her with... whatever it was she was trying to do. Or how she even got the diarchy to green light this idea of hers. Or any number of other things going on. The few answers she'd offered up had been scant on details, with most of them basically boiling down to her telling him to shut up, and let her worry about all that.

"I can't go through life being afraid of the dark," Rainbow Dash explained, before pausing to take another drink of what water was still available. "I'm not going to either. And since that quack is dead, and I can't kick his worthless flank, I'm gonna have to settle for kicking what he put me through," she continued.

"But shouldn't Malar be the one helping with this? I'm just an orderly, if you go into cardiac arrest doing this, there's not much that I can do about it," Corners pointed out. That wasn't even an exaggeration just to get the point across either. With the stress she was putting herself under, it was entirely possible that a cardiac event might occur. "Isn't there an easier way you could do this? Like all those therapists that were called in to help you?" he asked.

"No good," Rainbow Dash replied and shook her head, before taking another sip of water. "All they wanna do is talk, and ask me how I feel. It's gonna take months to get over this if I go with that. I need to do it in days, if not sooner. As to why you, you don't need to know that. Just help me get past this, and I'll let you off the hook, alright?"

Corners knew that he wasn't the brightest of available bulbs. But he highly doubted that Rainbow Dash was going to be able to force herself back to normal after everything she'd gone through. There was a lot of trauma involved with what Thrush had put her through, and he knew it full well. She could tell herself whatever she wanted to, but he still didn't see it as working; one didn't get over significant trauma like that, simply by trying to force it to happen.

But there was little that he could do to stop it from happening. If he didn't stand by to help out however he could, he suspected that she'd be doing it on her own, and putting herself at greater risk. That was something he'd rather avoid, so he had little option but to stay and play along as best he could.

"Alright," Rainbow Dash stated, before finishing off the last of the water in the bottle. "I'm gonna hit the bathroom so I don't wind up peeing in there. Then we're gonna try again."

Corners didn't say anything in response, as he really didn't think there was anything he could say, that would motivate her to change her mind about this. He was positive that what had happened, had set the trauma too deep for her to recover on her own. She'd been bound in her own body, and left unable to move anything except for the muscle groups that were required for breathing, before unceremoniously being tossed into that dark closet, with the staff being told to ignore her no matter how much she might scream, cry, beg, or plead to be let out. Just thinking about it all made him wish Thrush was still alive, so that he could kill him himself.

But trying to explain the futility of it all, would likely do more harm than good here. She was determined to get over her trauma through sheer stubbornness, and she was going to go about trying just that, either with or without him.

"Rainbow Dash," he spoke up as she walked past him, causing her to pause. "I'm no expert on pegasi. But maybe you'd have better results if you tried flapping your wings while in there? You know, since you're not paralyzed and such?" he suggested. If he couldn't talk her out of this insanity, then the least he could do was try and suggest something other than just sitting in the dark, and waiting to see how long she could keep her composure before freaking out.

"Yeah... maybe that'd work," Rainbow Dash replied, before she started walking again. Maybe it'd work at that...

---

July 6th, 0002 ANM

Today

The sound of the front doorknob being jiggled broke what little concentration Spike had managed to get going this morning. How was he ever supposed to keep his journal -definitely not a diary- up to date with everything that was going on, if he had to stop every time he tried to get started? Quickly he snapped the book shut and slid it under the sofa, along with the pencil he'd been using, before hopping up just in time to see Twilight stepping through the front door.

"Hey, Twilight," he greeted, before actually taking note of her displayed posture. The way she moved as the door shut behind her wasn't exactly indicative of a successful morning, but he couldn't tell if she was disappointed with today's results, depressed about something else entirely, or merely just tired. Having not gone along to White Tail Woods to observe how class progressed today, he had no way of automatically knowing what was up. And as he watched her posture, he started to wonder if the decision to stay home and tend to his own -possibly juvenile- endeavors had been the wrong approach, to spending this Saturday morning.

Then again, he had to remember that his attendance at the teaching sessions wasn't strictly necessary. There was very little that he could do to be useful on his own. And Twilight would often leave him behind to tend to the library, just as she'd done today. But watching the slouch in her walk, he was left wondering if he should've tried insisting harder on coming along, if for no other reason than for basic moral support.

Then again, he had been getting some water boiling so she could have a nice cup of coffee when she got back home, so it wasn't like he'd been totally goofing off all morning. Although it would probably be more appreciated if they weren't reduced to instant coffee, as they waited for a fresh shipment of beans to be made available.

"Did..." he started to ask, pausing as he watched her levitate her saddlebags off of her back, and carefully set them down on the table. "Did something go wrong today? Is... is everypony okay?"

"I'm tired, Spike," Twilight replied as she turned away from the table and sat down on her haunches. "That's all."

Spike listened as Twilight spoke, but he really didn't believe what she was saying. He had seen her tired before, and knew what it looked like. This wasn't it. He really didn't know just what this was, going by what he'd experienced while in her company before.

He was going to need to start digging to get to the bottom of it all. So he'd best make like it was a gem hunt with Rarity.

"So how did class go today? Did everypony show up for your teaching?" he asked, figuring it would be as good of a place to start as anything, what with her love of all things academia.

"Most of them did," Twilight replied simply and left it at that. However simply leaving it at that was a short-lived exercise in futility, as she felt compelled to go into greater detail. And after a brief struggle that she had no hope of winning, compulsion won out, and she began explaining the results of today's session.

Lyra, despite her peculiar character quirks, was proving to be at the top of the class in terms of magical aptitude, and managing her assigned spell. Compared to when they first started these lessons weeks ago, and she would be almost exhausted from simply trying to even cast the spell, the changes in both her aptitude, and her degree of stamina were amazing.

Vinyl was a close second in terms of overall skill. While an untrained and casual observer might immediately classify her as being the superior student compared to Lyra, a closer inspection of the facts would debunk such a notion. Vinyl's magical aptitude had done little to grow since the first class, and what growth there was, was much slower. This could likely be explained as a matter of her simply having more aptitude to begin with, and didn't need to grow as much for properly managing the magic she was learning. She had picked up on her own with greater ease compared to Lyra, but Lyra had earned her own level of advancement through hard work on her part.

Despite her younger age, Sparkler was managing to hold her own when compared to her older peers. She wasn't necessarily learning more advanced spells like the others were, but she was certainly working to build the endurance and concentration, that would be necessary for doing such when she was ready.

All things considered, the unicorns who were attending these classes were showing a great deal of promise when it came to what they were learning. That gave her a sense of confidence that, should Ponyville come under attack again, the aftermath would be more in their favor than they had been last time.

And then came the matter of Dinky's attendance... Twilight really didn't want to be mean when talking about any of those that had become her students, but there was just nothing positive she could say about the foal. She possessed no magical aptitude whatsoever, and couldn't even work basic levitation yet. Since the start of her impromptu classes, twice she'd sent Dinky back home, only for the little filly to return the very next time, determined to learn anything that she could. Despite her age, Twilight couldn't help but notice the mile wide stubborn streak Dinky had about her, as she went about trying to learn with the rest of them. Something had hurt her mother, and she didn't want to let that happen again.

It was a degree of commitment that Twilight could respect, but commitment without skill meant nothing. In all truth she was just slowing down the others by being there, and refusing to listen to facts about her own shortcomings; even Sparkler couldn't get her to go back home. In the end Twilight had simply relented and let her remain, as it was more expedient than trying to talk any sense into her. So long as she just stayed out of the way, she stood little chance of getting hurt in some accident.

And being totally honest with Spike, she'd admit that part of the reason of not wanting Dinky present had to do with just how pitiful it was to watch her futilely struggling, and concentrating as hard as she could, trying with all of her might to even get her magic to activate on command. For all of her efforts, she could barely even get a single spark to materialize at the tip of her horn. It was all very disheartening to watch.

"I feel like I'm a failure, Spike," Twilight sighed and closed her eyes as she hung her head. "I'm a teacher to these ponies. I should be helping Dinky learn, not sending her home because she can't learn. But the others need me too, I have to pay attention to what they're doing. I need to focus on what they're learning, and trying to learn, because this is important. Not that Dinky isn't important, but... it's the expediency of it all. Even if she could muster enough magical aptitude for levitation by tomorrow, she couldn't possibly undertake any of the spells we're going over; no filly could possibly learn how to use pyrokinesis, it takes too much concentration and mana."

Now Spike was understanding what was bugging Twilight so much. She was taking the role of educator far too seriously for these circumstances, and confusing what she'd set out to do, with what she wanted to do. He'd agree that helping Dinky develop her skills was a worthwhile endeavor; but not right now. Right now they had to focus on keeping Ponyville safe, and unless Dinky was some sort of savant with enormous untapped potential, it just wasn't worth the time and effort that Twilight was trying to devote to her right now. Even if that was true, and that potential could be brought to the forefront right now, it would still take years for her to learn how to control it.

He was understanding this, but he was still left wondering if Twilight understood it. Maybe he should try and explain that to her, just in case she hadn't yet comprehended it on her own.

"Today it got really bad. She was straining so hard to try and force her magic to work, she wound up bursting blood vessels in both eyes," Twilight stated.

Spike flinched, both from how painful that sounded, and the sympathetic pain in his own eyes from hearing that, and knowing what it was going to look like. Just thinking about it made him want to squeeze his eyes shut as they watered; just as he'd done when Twilight had suffered the same fate only a few weeks ago. The only positive to hearing that was how he didn't believe Dinky would be experiencing much pain, based on how Twilight had responded to her own incident.

And if Scootaloo's reaction was any indicator, Dinky might be the talk of the school for a while.

But on topic though, he needed to get Twilight to stop beating herself up about her skewed priorities. And he needed to go about doing it in a way that wouldn't make her defensively resist his point.

"So... what about Rarity? Did she ever come back for more lessons?" he asked, deciding that would be the best place to start.

"No," Twilight replied and shook her head. "Rarity stopped showing up after she figured out how to get the long ranged summoning spell under control. And considering the condition Sweetie Belle was in when she brought her by, I'd say we're lucky to even be seeing her at all."

"Oh. Right," Spike replied as he scratched the back of his head, embarrassed that he'd forgotten about that detail. When Rarity had brought Sweetie Belle to them, the day after the containment lantern had self-destructed, the poor filly had been nearly catatonic from whatever she'd experienced in the night. And from what he'd been hearing about town, she really wasn't getting much better. But in his own defense, Sweetie Belle was Rarity's sister, and she did live with her parents just outside of Ponyville; it wasn't as if Rarity was the sole caretaker in this case.

Still, not exactly the best move for distracting Twilight from her perceived shortcomings as an educator. Better try something else.

"And... what about your efforts with your own learning attempts? Are you getting any further with that lightning spell?" he asked.

"No I'm not," Twilight replied and shook her head again, before moving to sit down. No wait, she forgot that she was already sitting down. She really was out of it. "I've been practicing, and practicing, and practicing, and I'm not getting any better at what I'm trying to do. No matter how much effort I put into it, I can't shorten the prep time from one whole minute, and still hit what I want to aim at. And if we actually have to fight, a full minute might be a luxury we don't have," she explained and grumbled to herself. "I'm gonna let everypony down, I just know it..."

"... What did you mean when you said hit what you want to aim at?" Spike asked, figuring it was better than watch Twilight swirl down the drain into depression right now.

"It's difficult to explain," Twilight began as she finally straightened herself up and opened her eyes. "The spell is incredibly complex, there are so many variables that have to be taken into consideration. One of them is the need to actually aim for a specific target, considering how much destructive potential is involved with summoning bolts of lightning. That's part of why it takes so long to actually cast the spell, because it takes so much time to actually center it on the intended target," she explained as she stood back up again.

"Oh..." Spike replied. That made sense to him. "And if you didn't aim it?"

"If I didn't bother with aiming it, I could cast the spell in as little as five seconds. But there would be no way of guiding it safely. There would be no way of ensuring that I didn't wind up severely electrocuting, or even possibly killing myself in the process. If I was going to be doing a quick cast, I'd need to mark the target beforehoof, with something that would actually attract the lightning through virtue of its mere presence. And that's a lot of complicated steps to get involved in," Twilight explained. She briefly wondered if she should go into further detail by explaining how a specific marker would be needed, as it would need to conduct the lightning to the target, but without allowing the target to be bypassed due to the natural electrical current that would be involved with it all.

But before she could give the idea any further consideration, her thought process was interrupted by a terrible commotion coming from behind them, as the front door was violently forced open; she was actually surprised the door hadn't been shattered from all the noise of it slamming into the wall.

"Twi', we got another one!" Applejack yelled as she bolted into the main room. She was quickly followed by a very distraught looking Rarity, and -much to Twilight's surprise- Ulquiorra bringing up the rear.

The surprising part about Ulquiorra coming in wasn't simply his presence, but the fact he was actually carrying Fluttershy on his back, as she held onto him with her forelegs wrapped around his neck.

To say that this situation couldn't be good, would be such an exercise in pointless redundancy, Twilight felt she'd have to punch herself in the face if she even bothered to consider the statement, even if it was to herself.

"What happened?" she asked as she watched Ulquiorra turn of use his foot to shut the library's door, the motion giving her a clear view that he was using his hands to support Fluttershy's legs, rather then just letting her dangle limply.

"I don't have the slightest clue," Rarity began and shook her head. "One moment we were all simply talking in the market, and the next thing we know, poor Fluttershy is screaming and on the ground, shaking like a leaf."

Twilight was certain that there was more to the story than just that. Granted, that wasn't completely out of the norm for Fluttershy when she was scared of something. But she doubted she would've been brought here -and in such a manner- if this was the usual run of the mill "scared by something mundane" sort of episode the pegasus was known for experiencing. And she seriously doubted that Ulquiorra would be carrying her -on his back no less- if this was just Fluttershy being her usual self.

Her questions on the matter, however, never found the chance to be voiced, as she watched Ulquiorra relinquish his hold on Fluttershy, allowing -or perhaps expediting- her to slide down to the floor, and stand on her own hooves. But it was short lived, as she collapsed onto the library floor almost immediately, and started trembling again, mumbling incoherently in a high-pitched squeaky tone.

"What happened?" Twilight asked again, this time directing her attention straight to Ulquiorra. If anyone would know what had happened, it would be him. "Did you see it? Were you there?"

"I was," Ulquiorra replied simply.

"Then show me," Twilight stated. She still remembered Ulquiorra's brief explanation of his Solita Vista technique, and how it could convey findings that mere words couldn't cover. If he'd witnessed what happened, then perhaps he could show her what had gone down.

Unfortunately what Ulquiorra hadn't explained to her at the time, was how the technique involved him ripping his eye right out of his own head, and crushing it like it was a piece of cheap glass. She didn't even have time to scream in surprise at watching it all unfold, before suddenly being subjected to the part that came next.

---

---

As was predicted, the levels of reiatsu that saturated the entire area of Ponyville were in a state of flux, and inconsistent with what conclusions he'd drawn earlier. Some areas had far greater concentrations than others; concentrations that didn't match up with those he'd been aware of as little as three days ago. Some areas were more heavily saturated with the specific reiatsu texture, while others were either static, or reduced in saturation terms.

These findings weren't surprising. Nor were they entirely unexpected. Individuals who commanded vast amounts of reiryoku possessed highly inconsistent reiatsu, especially when they lacked the adequate skills to control such. Ichigo Kurosaki was one such individual, especially in the beginning of his career as a Shinigami, and would often try and substitute quality for overwhelming quantity; and often with mixed results.

Not entirely unexpected, but rather unusual. Even if a single individual had vast amounts of reiryoku -vast enough to fill an ocean- that still wouldn't be enough to hide their location; not from him anyway. Perhaps from someone whose detection skills were far below his own, but that was a different matter.

The unusual part of it all was the degree of saturation that was present. This wasn't consistent with an area being well-frequented; no amount of traffic from any individual could yield the degree of saturation he was seeing. It was like the reiatsu belonged to the entire area; almost as if Ponyville itself was alive, and unconsciously exerting reiatsu all on its own. But such a notion was utterly ludicrous to even consider. Towns and cities were simply physical locations, and -local flora and fauna notwithstanding- didn't have the ability to qualify as either alive, or even sapient. There was no way this reiatsu could belong to Ponyville itself.

Or at least... he didn't think so. Perhaps it was premature to be ruling that possibility out. Now that he thought about it, he was recalling memories that dealt with hearing about some town in that far away continent of North America, that supposedly possessed the ability to bring a person's worst fears to life, and use them as a source of torment for its own sadistic amusement.

The exact mechanics of how that all worked was something he didn't know; for what knowledge he possessed, it could've merely been a legend, designed to lure in idiot tourists.

There was also the fact that Princess Celestia had allowed Applejack's ancestors to settle this land decades ago. It seemed unlikely that she would've allowed such, if there was something in the general area that could've actually been orchestrating these acts on its own; something like that eluding detection by one half of the diarchy for centuries seemed highly unlikely at best.

And speaking of Applejack, even at his current altitude high over Ponyville -and even when she was surrounded by countless other ponies in the marketplace- he could still easily detect her reiatsu signature. Along with the nearby signature of Rarity, indicating the two were in extremely close proximity to one another.

The preliminary information gathered from such long-range reconnaissance techniques was yielding nothing that could be used. Perhaps it was time to take a closer look, and gather firsthand information through direct interaction with those who were closer to the center of everything.

A quick burst of sondio, and he was down in the marketplace, standing in the midst of a number of ponies going about their day-to-day business. But they -and their accompanying conditions- were of no interest to him at the moment; only Rarity and Applejack possessed any relevance at the moment.

"Oh, Ulquiorra! Oh I'm so glad to see you right now!"

Somehow, somewhere in between his decision to conduct an on-the-ground investigation around the marketplace, and his actual arrival on the ground, Rarity had managed to become aware of his presence. Perhaps it had been the characteristic sound of his sonido. Or perhaps he had appeared within her peripheral vision. Whatever the cause of her being alerted to him so immediately, it was neither of relevance, or of interest to him right now.

"What happened?" he asked simply. Generally anytime some pony was glad to see him, it tended to mean that something bad had happened.

"I'm afraid I don't know all the details about what happened. Last week, late at night, I was awoken by Sweetie Belle screaming. When I found her she was in the shower, soaking wet, shaking, and crying almost nonstop. And since then she hasn't gotten any better; whatever happened to her has left her traumatized, she's almost catatonic. She won't speak to me, she won't speak to anyone. Even Mother and Father can't get a word out of her," Rarity explained, before pausing to catch her breath, as well as recompose herself. "Ulquiorra... I know that it's a long shot, but you seem to have bonded with Sweetie Belle and her friends. Do you think that possibly you could talk to her? See if you can get her to tell you what happened to her on that night?" she asked.

Bonded? That was an unexpected interpretation to be presented with. Thinking over each of his interactions with the Sweetie Belle, and her two fellow members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, he couldn't readily recall anything that would amount to actual bonding. Answering questions, explaining a number of details, and putting a stop to several crises was what came to mind, but no bonding.

Then again that estimate was based on his own perspective. Perhaps he needed to look at it from their simplified perspective instead, in order to understand their concept of things. Despite knowing full well that he could kill everyone in the town if he felt so inclined, these ponies still considered him to be a friend. It was bizarre.

Even more bizarre was how, despite having so little interaction with him, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had taken it upon themselves to venture into the Everfree Forest, putting their own lives at risk in the process, to personally acquire him the cure to poison joke affliction. They hadn't even asked for anything in return.

"Foal psychology isn't an area I'm well-versed in. But in the off chance that my presence will somehow be beneficial in this case, I'll try," he replied. Perhaps this had to do with Princess Luna's assessment about ponies viewing him as a source of strength. "Once my efforts here have concluded," he added, making it clear that he wasn't about to drop everything he was doing, just to try and tend to one pony who -by all accounts- was currently safe with family.

"If ya don' mind mah asking, Mr. Cifer, jus' wha' are ya doing here anyway?" Applejack asked as she looked in his direction.

"Following up on some leads that were discovered yesterday. New evidence has come to light, and needs to be properly investigated," he explained, doubting that they would adequately understand the intricate details he had to contend with on the matter.

"Yeah? Ya mean ya might be gettin' closer ta figurin' out wha' happened ta me, an' RD, an' all the rest of us?" Applejack asked, a look of suppressed excitement coming across her face in the process.

"Possibly, but not definitely. There are still a great many variables to take into consideration," he explained. Already he knew that it would be necessary for him to explain how what he was looking for couldn't be quantified in terms they would be readily familiar with, and how they wouldn't be able to assist in the investigation.

But before he could do that, he would likely need to address whatever questions Fluttershy had to ask regarding their gathering, as he could sense her approaching their location. The Apple family's marketplace stall, was quickly becoming the Equestrian equivalent of Shinjuku Station.

"What is it, Fluttershy?" he asked, deciding to neither mince words, nor wait for her -or one of the others- to begin striking up a conversation. The sooner the formalities were out of the way, the better.

Behind their current location, they could each hear the characteristic squeak Fluttershy had a tendency to utter whenever she was caught by surprise. As was expected. Not bothering to concern himself with the amount of displeasure being displayed by the others over his manner of approach, he turned around to face the yellow pegasus, and discern whatever needed to be addressed, before he could proceed.

However that would prove simpler said than done, as she -unsurprisingly- flinched as his gaze landed on her.

"What is it?" he asked again, recognizing that it would be necessary to shake her out of her current stupor, and move things along in a more orderly fashion.

"Oh. Um, nothing really. I only came around to see about buying the usual groceries," Fluttershy eventually responded, voice as soft as ever, indicating that she likely expected something to be wrong about the manner of approach he'd used.

The way some of these ponies acted around him, it was like they expected him to start yelling if they said something wrong. The foolishness of it all.

"But then I heard you talking about possibly finding something. Does that mean it's good news?" she asked, her timidness still strong, but slowly abating.

"Potentially. But a great deal more work will need to be done on my part, before anything can be confirmed," he explained. Briefly he considered illustrating the fact that he would have to work alone, with the comparison of how them getting involved would be like Applejack trying to learn magic from Rarity. If that parallel didn't help to convince them of what they would be up against, he truly doubted that anything would make them understand.

But all thoughts on his own cleverness suddenly came to a halt, as his pesquisa started picking up on something; the reiatsu in the immediate area was starting to increase. But this wasn't the type of increase that could be attributed to an increase in the number of ponies being present, as it wasn't simply a multitude of varying patterns that needed to be sorted through; rather it was one single pattern increasing in detectable volume. And it was the pattern that he'd detected back in Canterlot, and had been tracking since his arrival in Ponyville. The entity was here with them!

He grasped Murciélago with ready and instinctual familiarity, eyes rapidly darting back and forth in an effort to try and locate where the enemy currently was, which would in turn allow him to determine where an attack might come from.

There was a certain degree of ingeniousness in this meeting, and it wasn't lost on him. The marketplace was crowded with numerous bystander ponies, any one of which could amount to collateral damage, or a potential target of attack, and he would have to account for each and every one of them. Forcing them to leave would present significant complications in the form of causing panic, and potentially obscuring his line of sight when he needed it to be open.

What was it, that was currently in the marketplace with them? Where was it right now? And why couldn't it be seen; not just by him, but by anyone? Was it disguised as one of these random ponies ambling about like they didn't have a care in the world? His zanpakutō was useless to him right now, if he couldn't locate what he needed to use it against. He couldn't just swing about wildly, in the blind hopes of possibly hitting something. Nor could he discharge his Cero in Ponyville. such a reckless tactic on his part would ultimately lead to countless deaths that he'd rather avoid; both because of Princess Celestia's fury, and because he had no true desire to actually kill these ponies.

Regardless of what his desires might be, however, his hand may soon be forced. If only he could locate some trace of what he was sensing. Even a transparent outline would give some clue of where he should be focusing his attention.

Without any warning as to what might've happened, the next thing he became aware of was the shrill scream of Fluttershy, as she immediately fell to the ground, trembling as she grasped the sides of her head with her forelegs. Whatever had happened, he hadn't even seen it occur, despite it being in his very presence.

The next thing he became immediately aware of, was the reiatsu in the area was starting to decrease. And as it decreased, like a tide receding, he found himself faced with a choice that had to be made; focus his pesquisa, and attempt to pursue the source of the mystery reiatsu in hopes of finding the source, or stay and tend to Fluttershy, and attempt to gather whatever information could be had.

Ultimately the best course of action to take would be the former, rather than the latter. There were no guarantees that engaging in a hot pursuit would yield any beneficial information, or bring him face to face with the one responsible for all of this. Even if he did attempt such, it could simply be a diversion like two nights ago, leading him away from the marketplace in order to allow for a followup attack of much greater magnitude when he was elsewhere, and unable to respond. There would be no way for him to prevent it from doubling back, since there was nothing physical for him to try and track down. Departing now would just leave Fluttershy -and the others- at risk. Not that it made much difference at this point, considering his inability to do anything about this sequence of events.

By this point the others had come over, with Rarity tending to Fluttershy in the usual melodramatic manner, doing her best to assure the yellow pegasus that everything would be alright.

"Ah reckon we should get 'er over ta Twilight's an' let 'er know 'bout this," Applejack suggested.

"Agreed," he replied. Twilight Sparkle would need to be brought up to speed on what had happened here.

---

---

Twilight blinked and shook her head, trying to clear her mind as the whole... for lack of a better term, process, came to an end, and she found her attention back in the library. Now she understood why Ulquiorra had been so certain in his abilities, and how they would've been able to help Rainbow Dash understand what the truth was. She hadn't simply seen what he had seen, she'd also felt everything that he'd experienced at the time; physically as well as mentally.

But she needed to stop. She could feel herself getting distracted by this new discovery, and all that it entailed. She had to focus on Fluttershy rather than what Ulquiorra could do with his eyes... or the process in which his eye was actually regrowing itself from some dark, viscous liquid. That was equal parts amazing, and disgusting.

And she definitely didn't need to get distracted with his account of that... stuff... that was all over Ponyville; not now anyway. She'd ask later.

"So that's what happened?" she asked as she looked at Ulquiorra for clarification.

"Correct," Ulquiorra replied, before turning his attention back to where Fluttershy currently laid.

"... Spike..." Twilight spoke up slowly as she turned to face her assistant, who was currently standing stock still, and looking very uncertain of just what he should be doing at the moment. "Would you mind staying with Rarity, and helping her try and calm Fluttershy down?" she asked him.

This matter was going to require some serious discussion before they proceeded any further. Even with all of the input Ulquiorra had given her -and in the span of just a few seconds from what she could tell- there was still a lot that needed to be hashed out, before they could actually draw any conclusions.

---

The loft, while a cozy setting, didn't particularly strike Applejack as being the most secure of locations to be having a briefing about important matters. Maybe Twilight knew what she was doing when she insisting that they come up here to talk. Or maybe she forgot that there wasn't really a sound buffer between here and the first floor. Considering how flustered the mare could get at times, it could easily be either one of those options.

What left her scratching her head in confusion, however, was why she herself was up here. Twilight and Ulquiorra, that made perfect sense. But what good was she supposed to be up here?

"Alright," she heard Twilight say as she turned her attention away from the loft's edge, and back on the two of them. "The sound dampening spell is in place. We can talk without being disturbed," she explained, the tip of her horn flickering with a glow, before fading out entirely as she spoke.

She should've trusted the unicorn to have something in mind. But considering the track record that was being taken into account... well she really couldn't blame herself for skepticism.

"A wise approach," she heard Ulquiorra speak up. Maybe it would be best to let him do the talking, while she just waited in the background until she was needed for something. Maybe just take a couple of steps back, and let the two intellectual giants duke it out; she could do her speaking when she actually had something worth saying.

"Okay. First up, that technique is utterly horrifying to witness, but absolutely amazing at how much information it can convey, in such a short amount of time," Twilight stated. It didn't feel right to not comment on the sheer depth of information that he could so easily share with someone. Sights, sounds, smells, and the sensations... it was like actually being there, but while simultaneously having access to input she never would've thought possible. She had felt...

"Focus!" she mentally shouted at herself, commonsense cutting through the haze of new discoveries. "Crisis now, science later," she scolded herself.

"Never mind," she muttered, getting her head back into the game. "Alright, so that happened. But just what was that anyway? What happened to Fluttershy?" she asked. Maybe if it was explained to her in words, she might be able to understand it better.

"With the current information it's difficult to be certain. Although there's a significant possibility that Fluttershy was the latest victim of attack," Ulquiorra replied. The only thing keeping him from being certain about that possibility, was the lack of an account of what Fluttershy had experienced at the time. An account of what she'd been subjected to would be needed, once she was able to speak coherently again.

Applejack had resigned herself to speaking up only when she had something worth saying. But also that was being put to the test by Ulquiorra's outlook on things. She had been present for Fluttershy's episode, and she'd seen what had happened. She remembered how things had been when she'd been attacked herself, and she knew how similar it was to what Fluttershy had experienced. The only difference is that Fluttershy had come out of it all without needing to be cleaned up, and without smelling like barf afterwards.

"That's not good. The fact that it happened when you were present, that would suggest that whoever -or whatever- is responsible, is growing more daring in its approach," Twilight stated. For so long now, they'd been operating on the theory that whoever was behind all this, was intimidated by Ulquiorra's presence. But now that theory had been shot straight to Tartarus, or Hell, or wherever was most appropriate right now.

Going by what Ulquiorra had sensed, the enemy had pretty much presented itself to him, making its presence known, before going ahead and targeting Fluttershy directly. It was making the bold and boastful statement that Ulquiorra couldn't stop it from doing whatever it had set out to do. And there was nothing that they could do about it either; nothing that she was realizing yet anyway.

"That's certainly one possible explanation for what's occurred today. But there are other explanations, and they're as equally viable. While today could be chalked up to arrogance, it could equally be explained as a matter of desperation," Ulquiorra pointed out to offer a dissenting view.

"Desperation?" Applejack asked, now finding reason to speak up. "Ya mind runnin' that by us again? Because Ah seem ta remember suggestin' that we mighta spooked whatever was doin' this sorta stuff, an' ya said it wasn't likely," she pointed out, wondering not only what had changed, but when it had changed.

"Unlikely isn't the same as impossible," Ulquiorra replied, not bothering to point out that Applejack was correct in her recollection of details. "Recent discoveries and developments, would suggest the likelihood is much greater than originally suspected. The method of attack has slowly been shifting away from cloak and dagger, and towards shock and awe. While today's incident could be considered a flaunting of arrogance, it could equally be considered an act of desperation."

Twilight nodded in agreement with what Ulquiorra said. "That actually makes sense right now, if you look at everything in the proper context. It let you become aware of its presence, and actually waited for confirmation of being known, before turning its attention on Fluttershy. It actually lingered like it wanted to be caught, rather than performing a hit and run type of approach, to try and escape your detection."

"So we did manage ta spook whatever it is?" Applejack asked. Through all of the fancy words and speculating, that's at least what it sounded like they were getting at.

"In light of everything that's happened, it's a distinct possibility. But at present time we have no way of determining the intricacies of how this development occurred, or even who is responsible for it occurring in the first place," Ulquiorra explained. Which brought him back to questions raised yesterday; was Thrush murdered because of something he'd stumbled upon? Was he murdered because he was planning on talking about what he'd discovered, in hopes of obtaining a reduced sentence? Or had he ultimately been nothing more than a pawn for this entity to conveniently demonstrate its superiority over them?

And if they really had managed to "spook" this entity -as Applejack was so fond of referring to it- to the point it felt the need to try and spook them -or him- right back, why had it chosen to go after Fluttershy of all ponies? The logistics behind it were... lacking.

"If Fluttershy is calm enough to talk, maybe we should ask her what she was forced to see? I mean, if we really did manage to startle this enemy, and force them to lash out defensively, wouldn't there be some underlying element in what she saw, that might support this theory?" Twilight asked. If they were going to theorize that the enemy had suffered an unexpected setback, she wanted at least some evidence that would corroborate that.

"Ah'd be surprised if we can get more than two words out of 'er. Ah don' recall ever seein' Fluttershy quite this bad before; not even when she had ta face that first dragon," Applejack pointed out.

"I know, but unless we actually ask something, we're not going to learn anything just standing around here," Twilight replied. She knew that trying to get answers from Fluttershy might be like trying to get water from a stone -granite rather than aquifer- but they still had to try and see.

She just hoped that Ulquiorra didn't get... enthusiastic... when it came to the questioning. She knew that the Espada had his own brand of delicacy, and he exercised it when he deemed it necessary. But that did nothing to change what else she knew about him. And if Fluttershy wasn't already traumatized, she had the uneasy feeling that the meek pegasus soon would be...

---

Spike made a mental note that he really needed to thank Zecora -again- for that blend of tea she'd given him. The sedating effects that proved so useful when he needed to get Twilight to go to bed, looked to be doing wonders for soothing Fluttershy's beyond frazzled nerves. And he was really thankful for that, since neither he nor Rarity were trained professionals in this field. When Twilight had suggested he stay and help, he was pretty certain that they'd been given an impossible task.

But through a combination of their efforts, it looked like they were doing some good. Now that she was on the couch, and wrapped in a blanket -even though it was summer- and had gotten some of Zecora's tea in her, she looked visibly calmer than before, She wasn't trembling like a leaf, or whimpering in terror anymore.

He just hoped that the results inside matched the outside, as he really didn't know what to do otherwise.

Right now he was watching as Rarity went about massaging Fluttershy's right wing that stuck out from beneath the blanket, putting her front hooves to work on the feathery surface. He really didn't see how it could be all that comfortable, but he wasn't seeing any reaction from Fluttershy that would indicate it was painful. So at least there was that.

"Are you feeling any better, Fluttershy?" he asked as he reached out to take the now empty cup she'd been sipping from. The only response he got was a weak nod. Or at least he thought that it was a nod; now that he stopped and thought on it, he really couldn't say for certain.

As he watched, able to do little else at this point to help out, he couldn't help but wonder just what he should be doing right now. Maybe he should join in, and try to massage Fluttershy's left wing? Or maybe rub her stomach? Or maybe just sit on her lap and hug her?

All of his experience in dealing with Twilight and her meltdowns, and he couldn't come up with a single useful idea for how to tend to Fluttershy. That was a real kick in the butt right now; all of his years in doing stuff like this, and he didn't have a clue how to address the matter that they were facing.

Then again he had to remember that Twilight's meltdowns weren't exactly the same as what Fluttershy was going through right now. Fluttershy had been attacked, her mind subjected to whatever dark influence was roaming about right now.

But he wasn't sure how much longer the matter was going to stay relevant, as he could hear the others coming back downstairs. And that most likely meant that they had something in mind for dealing with this situation themselves. Considering what he was up against, he wouldn't complain if he was getting removed from the case. Right now he'd be far more comfortable following than leading.

"Has she said anything?" he heard Applejack ask as they descended the stairs and came back into the main room.

"Not so much as a single word, I'm afraid, the poor dear," Rarity spoke up as she continued to stroke Fluttershy's wing.

"Then we'll need to motivate her to talk, and tell us what she witnessed," Ulquiorra stated as he approached with the others.

Spike, having been present for when Rainbow Dash had flipped out at the boutique, knew that this motivation Ulquiorra spoke of wouldn't be involving torture. So he could at least relax about that part.

Then again, this was Fluttershy they were talking about. What might not amount to torture for one pony, might not apply the same to her. Whether or not Ulquiorra was taking that into account remained to be seen.

"This isn't going to hurt her, is it?" Rarity asked. She would certainly like to know what happened, but not if the cost was too high.

"I can't make any guarantees, either one way or the other on this," Ulquiorra replied as he stepped forward. These ponies and their fixation of whether or not something might cause them discomfort... understandable, certainly, but it was getting tiring. There were more important things to focus on than the temporary concept of pain.

"Before we begin. There is certain information that must be kept confidential. Not a word of what you're about to witness, or even hear, is to be uttered to anyone," he stated, making it clear how things were about to proceed. One by one, he observed as each of them nodded reluctantly, agreeing to the terms they were put under.

And then he stopped as he reached the couch where Fluttershy sat, and slowly turned around.

"You are not authorized to witness what's about to proceed," he stated bluntly, not leaving the matter up for debate.

---

"... It was terrible. I-it was so terrible..."

Despite being present to witness everything that had happened, none of them could really bring themselves to actually believe what they'd just seen. And if they hadn't been present, and were instead being informed about the recounts of someone that had been, they wouldn't have found it at all possible to believe what they'd just heard; not without a great deal of skepticism and dismissal on their parts.

But regardless of how unbelievable it all was, it had apparently happened regardless of such. Even more unbelievable was the fact that Ulquiorra's actions had actually led to Fluttershy talking, and he'd done it all without there being screams, or blood, or the sound of breaking bones.

It was a weak, quiet whisper of communication -even moreso than what was usual for her- but it was still a manner of communication that was audible to them.

The explanation had been delivered through broken sentences, lots of pauses, and a very unsteady speaking voice, as Fluttershy detailed what she'd witnessed during her episode. It had also taken a significant amount of time for her to fully cover what she'd been put through. But despite the delivery leaving a lot to be desired, it had been more than adequate to paint a picture. And that picture was a truly desolate one.

According to Fluttershy's -disturbingly vivid- recollection of everything, Ponyville and a good portion of the rest of Equestria had been reduced to a burnt out, smouldering wasteland, with the sky perfectly matching the landscape in harshness, and absolutely no signs of life anywhere; not in the form of other ponies, or even wild animals. And therein laid what Twilight regarded as the most traumatizing aspect of everything.

Being ponies meant that they were a very social species, with a strong sense of community, and an almost inborn need for companionship with others. Granted there were some individuals who preferred isolation over interaction, so it wasn't exactly a hard and fast rule. But even they still experienced the need to associate with others at least some of the time. Even if they tried to exercise total isolation for extended periods of time, it would never work out, and they would fail miserably -and painfully- at their attempts. It would... it would almost be like trying to give up on breathing, comparatively speaking.

And then came Fluttershy's recollection of weeks worth of memories of being totally alone, in a burnt out ghost town, without so much as even a stray animal for companionship. And all the while, surrounded by nothing but skeletons in a grim and macabre reminder of what life was like. It was utterly amazing -or even miraculous- that she hadn't been psychologically destroyed by her experiences, and reduced to an incoherent, trembling mass of butter jelly. Although she had possibly come close.

By the time Fluttershy managed to finish with her recollection of events that transpired, she was crying uncontrollably, unable to get anymore words out, as she just utterly collapsed on the couch.

"It's alright, darling, it's alright," Rarity said as gently and soothing as she could, as she stroked Fluttershy's shaking back, it being the only thing she could really do under the present circumstances.

Throughout it all, Twilight listened patiently, and silently, taking in everything that she'd heard, doing her best to process all of the information that she'd been presented with.

Slowly, she turned around to face Ulquiorra, Applejack, and Spike as he now stood by them instead of by Fluttershy.

"I think that theory of ours, about desperation, has just been confirmed by all of this," she stated slowly.

"Wha' makes ya think so?" Applejack asked, wanting to know what about Fluttershy's story had lead her to that conclusion.

"In simple terms, ponies and loneliness don't go well together; not as a general rule anyway. It's been theorized, and even scientifically proven, that long-term isolation can lead to a severe deterioration of mental -and even physical- health. And according to Fluttershy's account of things that happened, she was exposed to weeks of being by herself. I seriously think we got lucky on this one, the results could've been much worse than they were," Twilight explained. Catatonia, insanity, coma, or even death... all of them were possible outcomes that could've occurred. Either they were extremely lucky that it hadn't happened, or Fluttershy had a far stronger psyche than any of them had ever given her credit for.

"Every other attack that we've come to learn about has been bad in its own right. But out of all that have been reported, this has by far been the worst. No other pony has been subjected to something of this magnitude before, either in terms of content, or perceived duration. That in itself could be interpreted as a sign of desperation on the part of what or whoever is responsible; things aren't going according to plan, so it has to step up whatever timetable it's working on," she continued.

"But what is that plan anyway?" Spike asked, unsure of whether he should feel scared, or confused, or just plain angry. What was this thing hoping to achieve from inducing a bunch of terrors all over Ponyville?

"I don't know, Spike, I just don't know. There's no rhyme or reason to anything. If it was just the six of us, it would make sense. But it's not just the six of us, it's practically everypony," Twilight replied, huffing in both exhaustion and anger. There was just so much going on right now, she couldn't even begin to get a bead on where to focus her attention first. She was seriously feeling very overwhelmed right now.

"Girls," Rarity spoke up after clearing her throat, bringing everyone's attention to where she currently stood. "I understand that the situation is quite bad. But could we please not be having this discussion at the moment? Fluttershy has been through so much already, I really don't think it's wise to be burdening her with anymore stress right now," she pointed out.

Rarity understood that what they were discussing was important, she really did. They'd uncovered new information that -as best she could tell- suggested that they were drawing closer to whatever was ultimately going to happen, suggesting the end to these atrocities was actually in sight.

But absolutely none of that meant that Fluttershy had to be hearing this right now. She didn't have any idea how much the poor dear was actually comprehending, but that didn't mean she needed to be subjected to it.

"You four are free to talk freely amongst yourselves about whatever. But as for myself, I'm taking Fluttershy back to the boutique with me, and give her the opportunity to calm down. I can't, for the life of me, see any constructive purpose in us remaining present any longer," she explained, before fully turning her attention back to Fluttershy, and gently lifting the sobbing pegasus off the couch with her magic.

Twilight watched in silence as Rarity ended the conversation there, levitating Fluttershy over to the door as she walked along, before finally exiting the library. Now it was just her, Spike, Applejack, and Ulquiorra.

"... Okay. So that happened," Spike stated slowly, breaking the silence that seemed to overtake the library. "Now what? Where do we go from here?" he asked, confused by it all. Sure it was good news that they might actually be getting somewhere. But where was that somewhere leading them, and how were they supposed to respond?

"Ah wish Ah knew, Spike, but this is outta mah field," Applejack replied and gave a shrug. "We're not facin' an animal tha's jus' gonna react. Obviously it's thinkin' an' respondin' ta what it encounters; it's like we're facin' off against another pony er somethin'."

Twilight tried not to frown too hard in response to Applejack's statement, even though it did nothing to advance them any; it was just a simple restatement of facts that were already in evidence, and went without saying. She had known ever since Applejack's attack that they were dealing with an intelligent -if insane- mind that could not only think, but also reason, just like any of them. And therein laid one of the primary problems they were facing; how were they supposed to deal with someone like that, when they had no idea who it was, where they were, or how they thought?

---

The afternoon was hardly a prime time to be awake. That was Luna's take on the matter as she walked down the hallway at a tired pace, noting how it was far too early for her tastes. But with everything that had been happening, sleep was simply not on the menu for the time being. Between yesterday's ordeal, and going over the reports from Ponyville General Hospital, it would be a miracle if she could even relax her mind enough to take a nap.

However her thoughts on rest were soon discarded, when she heard the unmistakable sounds of vomiting coming from around the corner. That was a sound that would jolt anypony out of a tired state. And it was enough to make her decide to reverse course, and take a different route to where she was heading.

"This is hardly a productive use of our time."

"Oh shut up."

However that decision was put off when she realized that she recognized those voices. Curiosity eventually won out as she made her way around the corner, and witnessed as Rainbow Dash was in the process of gargling, and rinsing her mouth out in a pail held in Corners' magic.

Curious, and more curious. This required investigation.

"Might I inquire into what is going on here?" she asked as she fully rounded the corner, keeping her voice soft, and her approach slow so as to not startle Corners. The poor stallion was, unfortunately, still rather uneasy when it came to being around either her or her sister, due to a number of reasons that were all perfectly understandable, but entirely unnecessary as far as she was concerned right now.

It was during times like this, that Celestia's favored incognito spell proved to be so convenient. Its use probably spared the poor stallion an untimely heart attack.

"You'd have to ask her, Your Highness. She's the brains of this operation, I'm just here to provide support," Corners stated as he turned to face her, before turning back to grip the water bottle sitting in front of Rainbow Dash in addition to the pail, muttering to himself about how this was still preferable to being stuck on bedpan duty as he walked by her to tend to clean up, leaving the two of them alone in the hallway.

"... Are you ill, Rainbow Dash?" Luna asked. Although in light of everything, it was now striking her as being a stupid question to ask. She'd chalk it up to her own tiredness.

"Probably just something I ate," Rainbow Dash replied as she used her foreleg to wipe the back of her mouth. "I think Corners has been giving me expired water to drink, or something."

For a moment, Luna found herself actually wondering just when during her absence, water of all things had become a perishable item that could actually go bad. But then she remembered Celestia's advice upon her return, about not taking everything so literally, since figures of speech were rarely intended as they sounded.

Perhaps it was time to do a little digging for more information.

"Yes, I could see that being a possibility. Pre-bottled water is a concept that I still have much trouble wrapping my head around," she replied and nodded. "Might I ask what your morning has consisted of?"

"Getting over being afraid of the dark," Rainbow Dash replied, "well, sort of anyway. It's a lot tougher to actually do than it sounds."

Luna tried so very hard not to shake her head at hearing Rainbow Dash's explanation. While it was brief, it had been enough to build on what had happened earlier, to give her an idea of what had been happening. Rainbow Dash has likely been shutting herself in the utility closet -evidenced by it hanging open- to try and cure herself fast, and the stress she was putting herself under, had made her physically ill.

There was just so much that was wrong with how she was going about it. So much that was painfully obvious, and yet the cyan pegasus was oblivious to it all. Just looking at her, Luna could tell the poor mare didn't realize what she was missing. She didn't understand that the darkness wasn't the true source of her fear, but rather a subconscious trigger that reminded her of the abuse she'd suffered under Thrush's watch.

Or at least that's how she was interpreting the matter, based on what she'd read in those psychology books, in an effort to better familiarize herself with anything that would be useful to Rainbow Dash's care and well being.

If that actually turned out to be the case here, however, getting better wasn't something that Rainbow Dash would be able to force herself to do. All of her stubbornness and bravado wouldn't be enough to see her through this, and achieve the desired results.

Granted she could be wrong about that evaluation, what with having only recently started reading up on psychology, but she just didn't see Rainbow Dash's actions having the desired results. She couldn't simply expose herself to the same psychological trigger repeatedly, and expect to get over it like it was the common cold, or something she could build up a resistance to. No amount of stubborn determination was going to be enough to see her through this, and achieve the results that she wanted.

But Luna also knew that suggesting Rainbow Dash abandon her endeavors in order to seek help from the psychologists, psychiatrists, and various counselors that had been retained for the case, could potentially make things worse, despite her commitment yesterday to actually seeing them, and getting the help she needed.

It was so strange how the paradigm had shifted. Two night ago she was being chewed out when Rainbow Dash had interpreted her statement, as suggesting she wasn't getting better, simply because she didn't want to get better. And now here they were, with her finding out that Rainbow Dash was attempting to force her recovery in her own way.

"And how goes your... immersion efforts?" she asked. If she wanted to be of any help, and avoid a repeat of her earlier failure, then she would have to approach delicately.

"Not good," Rainbow Dash admitted as she hung her head. "I've only managed to stay in there for about forty seven seconds, before needing to get out again."

Forty seven seconds. The way Rainbow Dash was talking about it, she didn't consider her results to be anything stellar. And knowing so little on psychology, Luna really couldn't say one way or the other. To her it at least sounded good, considering what she'd seen in the first few days away from the hospital.

"Do you plan on attempting again?" she asked.

"Totally," Rainbow Dash replied without missing a beat. "I've gotta to better than that."

"Then might I join you in the closet?" Luna asked.

"... Huh?" Rainbow Dash asked as she looked up and blinked in confusion. Where had that come from?

"Having a friend present may yield better results than attempting to go it alone. And, when confronting a fear of the dark, what better friend to have at your side than the Princess of the Night herself?" Luna asked. It was a gamble on her part, as there was little that she could actually do in this case. She wasn't a therapist who could help Rainbow Dash through her ordeal. She couldn't help her come to terms with what she'd experienced, and move beyond them. But she could offer moral support, so this endeavor -poorly thought out as it was- didn't have to be done alone.

And if she approached properly, she might even be able to guide Rainbow Dash in the proper direction needed for recovery.

"You think so?" Rainbow Dash asked as she tilted her head to the side. However she didn't give too long of a time in which for Luna to offer up an answer. "Sounds good to me," she added and gave a shrug. Maybe she was onto something there, strength in numbers and all that.

Ulquiorra had advised her to take her life back, rather than waiting around for somepony to come along, and give it back to her. As far as she'd been concerned, that had been good advice and all, except for the simple fact that he'd neglected to advise her on just how to go about actually doing that. She was more or less flying blind right now, as she tried to sort everything out, and figure out what would work best. So there was really nothing saying that she had to go about doing this all alone.

"It might be a tight squeeze though. There's barely enough room for me to flap my wings in there without rubbing the walls," she explained. And if it was snug for her, she didn't want to think about tight of a fit it would be for Luna, and her considerably bigger frame.

"That can be easily remedied. Once Corners returns, we shall proceed to find a larger closet in which we can both fit," Luna declared, not seeing how it could be anymore difficult than that.

Sometimes ponies simply made things far more complex than they truly needed to be.

---

It wasn't really that late in the day when the library was empty, save for Spike and herself. But by the time Ulquiorra had departed to continue his investigative efforts, and Applejack returned to the market stall, Twilight couldn't help but feel utterly exhausted. So much had gone on today, so much that she'd -willingly or otherwise- been at the center of. Endless discussions and theorizing, drawing up and laying out maps, and entertaining countless worst-case scenarios that may or may not come about.

There was even mention by Ulquiorra about having scientists come into Ponyville tomorrow to start taking air, water, soil, and other various samples, in an effort to see just what could be found, if anything.

By the time they were gone, she was just about at the point where one had to drag their frame along for any locomotion. Even if she was physically alright, she was mentally exhausted.

A nap was definitely in order right now. All she wanted to do was just collapse face first on her bed, and not be woken up for a few hours. That was her game plan for today, and nothing was going to get in the way of it.

"Ow!"

Or, before that, maybe she could investigate just what was under her bed, that she'd managed to stub her hoof on. Whatever it was that was being obscured by the comforter touching the ground, it was hard, and it had hurt.

Crouching down to examine, her horn glowed as the covers were lifted up, allowing her to peak under. But what she saw wasn't what she'd expected to see. And confronted with the unfamiliarity, she gripped it in her magic, and dragged it out into the light to better examine it.

It was a length of thick walled, galvanized piping, long enough to come up to her snout if she were to stand it on end. One end was left bare, exposing the threading. On the other end was ninety degree elbow made from the same galvanized metal, and tightly screwed down to the point she doubted ever being able to undo it on her own without the assistance of some tool. At the other end of the elbow was a plug with a square end to it, and as secured as the elbow itself.

All of that, she could quite possibly comprehend its presence there. But what she couldn't make any sense out of, was what was attached to the pipe, and how it was attached. It looked like somepony had dismantled a set of dressmaker's sheers, with the points pointed away from the plug, and secured the two halves of the sheers onto either side of the elbow with duct tape of all things!

What was this thing? Why was it even here in her room? Why was it hidden under her bed? Who had even put it there in the first place!?

Stupid question. Even she knew that one.

"Spike!" she called out, wanting to get to the bottom of this mystery immediately. Whatever he'd been up to -or even thought about being up to- she wanted to know about it. She was just about to call for him again, before she heard the sound of his approaching footsteps coming up the stairs.

"What is it, Twilight," Spike asked as he came to a stop at the head of the stairs. However his demeanor took a drastic change upon seeing what Twilight was holding aloft in her magic. "Oh shit..." he muttered and turned his gaze to the floor, not wanting to look her in the eye. "Look, just... please don't yell, okay?"

"Yell? Spike, I'm not going to yell. I just want an explanation about... this," Twilight stated and gestured to the pipe with her right foreleg. "Where did you get this thing? For that matter, why did you even get it?" she asked. Yelling right now would serve no purpose, other than being counterproductive to them.

"From Barnyard Bargains. Well... the stuff to build it with anyway, I still had to do that part myself. But you can find just about anything there, if you just know where to look," Spike explained.

"Alright then," Twilight replied. That at least took care of where the parts had come from. "Why?"

"Uh... why?" Spike asked.

"I asked first. Why did you build this... thing?" Twilight asked.

"Oh..." Spike paused in thought, tensing up at how things were going. "Well... remember when I went with Applejack to get the wood to patch the hole in the wall?" he asked and glanced over to the side, noting the discoloration from where the supplied wood had been transmuted into a new portion of the wall. When she nodded, he continued. "Well I asked Applejack if I could borrow the corn knife she had in the barn, but she said no. And Filthy Rich wouldn't sell me an axe or anything like that; I should know, I tried to buy one. I don't know how to make something like a sword on my own, and I sure don't have enough allowance to get the blacksmith to make me one. So I... had to make due with what I actually could get..."

"That's not what I meant, Spike," Twilight replied and frowned, not appreciating the lack of honesty he was exercising as he avoided the question. "Whatever possessed you to actually build this... this... thing?" he asked him as she against gestured to the pipe.

At first, Spike didn't say anything, as he tried to think of not only what to say, but how to go about saying it. Despite Twilight insisting that she wasn't going to yell, he could still tell that she wasn't all that happy. And he also knew that how something was said, could be even more important than what was said; meaning he had to approach cautiously if he wanted to avoid this situation blowing up in his face. But considering how their luck had been lately, that might already be a foregone conclusion.

"Because I wanna be ready when something happens. I wanna be able to do something when -not if- push comes to shove. And I need that "thing" to do it with. You've got your magical aptitude. Applejack has the strongest hooves in all of Ponyville. Ulquiorra... is himself. But what do I have? A stocky build, and fire that doesn't always work when I get excited. I can't fight and protect anyone like that. Face it, Twilight, I need to improvise if I'm going to be of any use to you or the others," Spike stated.

Twilight didn't know how to immediately respond to this news. She was horrified at the notion of Spike believing that he, like the rest of them, might have to step up and face a hostile threat that was intent on causing them great harm, to the point that he was being proactive about it all. But at the same time she couldn't help but feel touched by the idea that Spike had believed he needed to be the one doing the protecting, rather than the other way around. His heart was certainly in the right place during it all.

"Oh, Spike," Twilight replied, features softening as she set the pipe down on the ground, and stepped over to where he stood to pull him into a hug. "I'm glad that you want to help out. But you really don't need to be doing this. We-"

"Don't," Spike stated, interrupting what Twilight had to say. He didn't want to hear it right now. He didn't want to hear it, and he wanted her to look him in the eyes. He wanted to be talked to rather than at. "Don't give me that, Twilight, any of it. Just because I'm a baby dragon, doesn't mean I'm a baby that needs to be protected. I don't know if you're aware or not, but I'm older than any of the Cutie Mark Crusaders are. I've been helping you for years, and I'm big enough to be helping out here with this."

"Spike..." Twilight spoke up, trying to get a word in edgewise. But Spike was on a roll right now, becoming evermore animated as he spoke, to the point she could no longer maintain a hold on him. By now he was gesturing with his arms to emphasize the points he was trying to make.

"Ulquiorra's Cero is gone, remember? What if another manticore comes to town to finish what the first one started, and nopony's around to stop it? What if it's timberwolves next time? What if it's something even worse that comes creeping out of the Everfree Forest, and into the middle of Ponyville? What then? I at least wanna know that I can at least try and do something other than hide with everypony else! And... a-and there's nothing you can do to stop me either, short of sending me back to Canterlot! And I know you won't do that, because you need me here to be sending and receiving messages to keep Celestia up on what's going on!"

By now Twilight was starting to feel a bit scared at how Spike was acting. He was becoming increasingly frenzied in speech, physical movement, and emotional disturbance. He was starting to act less like her assistant, and more like a rabid animal. She could tell that his heart was beating a whole lot faster right now, and he was starting to look like he was either going to suffer a full-blown panic attack, or start crying hysterically if he was allowed to continue without interruption.

She was going to need to do something -and do it fast- before he wound up doing something that might hurt himself.

"You're right, Spike," she stated. Or rather she lied. She honestly didn't believe that Spike was correct on his outlook about the situation. The last thing she wanted to think about right now, was the idea of Spike trying to face down a manticore -or some other threat- while wielding his highly improvised -and downright hazardous- implement like it would actually do some good.

She really didn't want to consider what might happen if he actually tried using it in actual combat. Those scissors were never going to stick, no matter how much duct tape he used. Whether or not that was the intended point of the setup, she really didn't want to know right now.

But what she was comfortable with right now, came second to the need to get Spike to calm down. And even though she hated lying to him, it really was for his own good. If she tried to argue with him, no matter how tactfully she approached, he'd just resist her, reasoning that she was dismissing his concerns out of hoof -dismissing him by extension- and become more combative. She'd seen it before, and she really didn't want to see it again.

The first step right now was getting him calm. She'd go about debunking his position later on, when he wasn't on the verge of hyperventilating. After that she could tend to damage control if necessary, should he find out that she was lying to him.

"You're absolutely right, Spike," she repeated again, "I didn't think about that. I never considered the idea that you might be left alone with the task of trying to protect Ponyville all by yourself. I never really wanted to consider that being a possibility. I'm used to us being the ones having to do all the dangerous work ourselves, due to us possessing the Elements of Harmony. I... I guess I need to start thinking more outside of the box," she explained, doing her best to get Spike to calm down, and actually consider what she was saying. She wanted him to understand that she was talking to him as another individual, rather than talking at him like he was a piece of furniture.

And from what she could see, it looked like it was working, as Spike was starting to calm down a little.

"You... you mean it?" Spike asked.

No. Of course she didn't mean it. She didn't want to put Spike in such a dangerous position. But right now she needed him to believe that she meant it. Calm him now, address the details later.

"I do. And I'll see what I can do to help you," she replied, doing her best to appear supportive, rather than in pain. And right now she was in a great deal of pain from having to lie so much to him. "Starting tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? But why not today?" Spike asked.

"There's still a lot of work that has to be done before we can actually try something like this, Spike," she pointed out. In truth, however, it was just a stalling tactic on her part, in the hope that if she could just delay him long enough, his youthful state would take over, and make him lose interest in the whole notion. But just in case it didn't, she was prepared with an explanation as to why the delay was warranted. "What texts are available on the art of physical combat were devised with ponies in mind, not dragons or other bipeds; I don't think they'd translate well for you. I'll have to make a check and see if any minotaur literature is available, and what, if anything, it says about combat. If push comes to shove, Ulquiorra may need to be brought in as an adviser, or even an instructor. Which means having to wait until he concludes his latest investigation," she explained, running through the list of whatever conceivable explanation just happened to come to mind on the subject.

It really wasn't all that bad, considering that she was doing this all on the fly, listing the various reasons for why Spike would realistically have to wait, before being allowed to actually start any form of combat training.

"And then there's this..." she paused as she reached out and levitated the pipe off the ground again to reference it. "No. Just plain no. If we're actually going to be doing this, Spike, then you're going to need something that's actually proper for the job; not this... this... ad-hoc collection of junk. No offense, Spike, I'm sure you did your best and all, but this just won't work. I'm sure it might stand up to a few hard blows, but the threaded ends are structurally unsound for what you'd be asking of it. I mean, one particularly hard blow at the wrong angle, and the entire portion being used as the head will be snapped right off," she explained.

There really wasn't anything wrong with improvising when the circumstances demanded it; some of the greatest discoveries and inventions in history were the result of improvisation, and trying highly unconventional approaches to standard -and even nonstandard- problems. And if worse came to worse, Spike's concept of a weapon might serve its intended purpose of stopping an attack. But none of that meant this approach was the correct one to be engaging in right now.

"Seriously, Spike, where'd you even get an idea like this? From a comic book?" she asked as she again looked at it.

"Something like that..." Spike mumbled uncomfortably as he slowly turned his gaze away from her and towards the floor, twiddling his fingers as he did.

"Well no matter. We'll get some research done, and figure out what will work best in this situation," she stated and set the pipe aside, making a mental note to see about returning the individual components -or what she could of them- to Barnyard Bargains later on. The shoddiness of it all, and it being here in her home, left her feeling uncomfortable.

"Thanks, Twilight, I appreciate that," Spike said as he turned his attention back up to her.

"In the meantime, Spike, could you head back out to Barnyard Bargains, and see about picking up a quart of kerosene?" she asked, deciding that now would be an appropriate time for changing the subject to something less serious.

"Kerosene?" Spike asked curiously. "What for?"

"I just want to make sure we have enough on hoof in case we need it. We have been using the lantern a lot more frequently as of late," she explained.

Ever since Applejack had started spending her nights at the Golden Oaks, for whatever reason, she didn't -or simply couldn't- rest easily unless they had a lantern going on the nightstand next to the bed. Whether it was due to some unmentioned fear of the dark, or whatever trauma she experienced in the orchards weeks ago, Twilight couldn't figure it out. All she really knew was that the dimmed, flickering light of a kerosene lantern helped Applejack relax and sleep.

Consequently, the jug of fuel that was kept in the cellar was being drained much faster than it would've been, when she was just running her oil lamp for illumination when doing some late-night reading down in the library. And although they weren't yet out, she really didn't want to wait for that to happen first.

"Oh. Okay. Yeah that makes sense, sure," Spike replied, "is there anything else? Maybe something from Sugarcube Corner since I'm heading out anyway?" he asked, considerably more perked up than he had been just a short while ago.

"... Not that I can think of. But if you want to stop in and pick up something for yourself, that would be alright," she replied. She considered telling him no after everything that had happened today. But she just couldn't bring herself to do it in light of how badly she'd lied to him in the past few minutes; it was going to hurt him bad enough as it was, if he ever found out the truth. The least she could do was cushion the blow a little, should it ever come.

As she watched Spike's excited reaction to the news, followed by his enthusiastic descent down the stairs, she couldn't help but feel bad about herself. It wasn't like this was the first time she'd ever been dishonest with Spike, but this was an entirely different magnitude for her to be engaging in. She'd stood there, lying right to his face about doing something she really didn't want to do, for the sake of soothing his nerves. And he'd bought her story, because he trusted her.

At best she'd managed to buy herself a little time. She would actually need to locate any combat-oriented literature before they could proceed, so that helped her out a bit. And she certainly wouldn't refrain from trying to locate it. But if it couldn't be found -at least not readily- then all the better as far as she was concerned. She couldn't very well go about teaching Spike about something for which they had no information on.

Still. None of that did anything to assuage her guilt right now. Truth be told, just thinking about her actions was making her feel a little ill.

"Urp."

Change that. Make that a lot ill!

Like a shot she was off for the bathroom.

---

Big Macintosh knew that he should be asleep right now. It had been a hard day of work on the farm, and tomorrow would be equally hard. He was exhausted, and his body was begging for rest.

But his mind wouldn't allow that to happen. For whatever reason, the mind was at odds with the flesh, and wouldn't let him rest peacefully. That left him restless, and continually tossing or turning when he got uncomfortable from laying in one spot for too long.

Not that this was the first night he hadn't been able to get a good night's rest; this had been going on ever since he'd found Applejack in the orchards, crying and babbling about what she believed she'd done. And ever since then, things really hadn't been getting much better. Ever since then, his sister had been spending every night at the library with Twilight for one reason or another. Granted she came back in the mornings to do her share of the farm work, but for whatever reason, she didn't seem to want to be on Sweet Apple Acres when the sun started setting. He couldn't recall ever seeing his sister so... spooked before.

There were so many things to be contemplating right now. He'd heard what Applejack had said she'd been put through, and he'd been horrified by it as well. His sister had been put through an unacceptable level of suffering, and he couldn't imagine how bad it was for her. Nor did he really want to consider such horrors. He had enough to deal with when it came to facing what he already was; namely how there was nothing he could do to help her out. Applejack wasn't a little filly who he could hold in his forelegs, and assure her that everything was going to be alright. He could do that with Apple Bloom, some of the time, but definitely not Applejack.

Well, technically he could, but she really wouldn't believe him. And the way she'd been lately, she might see him as trying to patronize her.

Of course Applejack wasn't the only pony keeping his mind running currently. Just down the hall were two others, in the form of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo currently having a sleepover. He'd been a bit wary of that ever since this morning when Apple Bloom had asked about it. But there really wasn't much he could do about it. The Crusaders had been experiencing enough of their own difficulties as of late, without him adding to them by being a hard flanked son of a nag about it.

Sleep. He reminded himself that he needed to get some sleep. Being a farmer, morning always came way too early; especially if you were up at all hours of the night. He'd have all day tomorrow to worry about all these things going on in his head, when he was plowing the fields. He just needed to close his eyes, and go to sleep.

Unfortunately that didn't pan out, as a loud scream suddenly sounded from somewhere within the house. Like a shot he was out of his bed and already through the door, adrenaline coursing through his system, and making him forget all about being tired, as he searched for the source of the commotion.

It didn't take him long to discover the location of the screaming, as it was still going on as he got out into the hallway. It was coming from Apple Bloom's room. He crossed the distance in the blink of an eye, slamming the door open with enough force that it nearly broke in the process. If something was hurting his little sister, then Faust have mercy on their miserable hide, because he sure wouldn't. He stormed into the room, prepared to fight what might be a predator from the Everfree Forest that had managed to sneak into the house.

What he didn't expect to find, however, was Apple Bloom in the process of flicking on her crystal lantern, looking both confused and scared at the fact that it was Scootaloo screaming next to her in bed, and there being nothing in the room to warrant such an outburst.

Had this whole episode been from nothing but a nightmare?

"Wha's goin' on in here?" he asked, still feeling his heart pounding.

"Ah don' know! One minute Ah'm asleep, an' the next Scoots is screamin' like she's been set on fire er somethin'," Apple Bloom stated as she turned around to face her distraught pegasus friend, who had moved beyond screaming, and was now whimpering and shaking.

And then she felt something against her fur that she hadn't expected to feel. Something that was both warm and wet...

"Eww!" she shrieked and backed up quickly, disgusted.

Big Macintosh didn't need to ask what had happened, as he could smell what was wrong. Already his elder sibling instincts were switching over from protect, to more relevant matters of providing care.

"Ah'll tend ta the bed, Apple Bloom, ya see about getting Scootaloo an' yerself cleaned up," he instructed. It had been a good many years since the last time he'd had to do something like this, but some experiences could never truly be forgotten.

---

Big Macintosh had tended to the bed, making sure it could be slept in again, and dealing with the issue of the linens.

Apple Bloom had tended to the issue of the bath for herself and Scootaloo, seeing to it that they were both properly bathed, dried, and refreshed.

By the time their respective tasks had been seen to, both of the Apple siblings were wound up from all the physical activity, and seriously doubting that sleep was going to come to them anytime soon.

Then again, under the present circumstances, that might actually be considered a good thing. Right now there was still the issue of Scootaloo to deal with, who was -much like themselves right now- sitting at the kitchen table. But unlike them, she looked about halfway between hysterical and catatonic. It was a look that was made all the more disturbing, by the flickering light provided by the currently lit kerosene lamp currently resting in the middle of the table, and it left Apple Bloom very uncomfortable. The entire time she'd been getting the two of them cleaned up, Scootaloo hadn't said so much as one word. She'd barely even looked up at her the entire time. And knowing what she did about her friend, she knew that it wasn't the least bit right; it was downright eerie.

"Apple Bloom..."

Her attention on her friend was broken at the sound of Big Macintosh's voice behind her, and the feeling of his hoof resting gently on her back, just above her tiny withers. Curiosity won out, and she turned around to see that he was smiling. It was the kind of smile she usually saw him use, when he wanted to assure her that everything would be alright, because he was there to do what he could.

"How 'bout ya try an' get some rest. Ah'll look after Scootaloo an' make sure she's alright," he stated softly.

Apple Bloom thought on the matter. On the one hoof, she really wasn't feeling anywhere near tired right now, and she didn't feel like leaving Scootaloo. She wanted to do something to at least try and help her friend out. But on the other hoof, Big Macintosh was a lot older than she was, and a lot more knowledgeable about stuff than she was. Maybe he knew about something she didn't, that would be able to help Scootaloo out. Plus is wasn't like he'd ever lead her wrong before.

"... If ya say so," she replied as she slowly got up from where she sat. Maybe she'd go lay down on the parlor's couch for a while.

Big Macintosh watched as Apple Bloom left the room, before slowly making his way around the table to where Scootaloo sat, and slowly stroked her back, much like he had Apple Bloom's just moments before.

"Wanna talk about it?" he asked. He got a response in the form of her shaking her head, indicating that she was at least hearing what was going on, and able to respond in turn. But she was apparently unwilling to communicate. This was going to be more difficult than he thought.

"If ya don' wanna talk, Ah won't make ya," he said as he continued to gently stroke his hoof along her back. He briefly considered an older routine that he had used in the past when Apple Bloom wasn't in a talking mood and something was bothering her; that usually involved trying to bribe her with a bit if she would talk. And if that failed, he would tell her that he'd show her where Applejack had bitten him. which usually got her laughing at least. But after some consideration, he doubted that the humor would be appreciated right now.

"Ya don't have ta talk. Ah jus' thought ya might like ta unload. Keepin' things all bottled up is harder than most ponies think it is. They don' know how much it actually hurts 'em. Or they think they're sparin' others somethin' right terrible, 'cause they don' wanna burden 'em. Believe me, Ah know," he explained as he continued stroking her back.

His efforts at making Scootaloo feel more at ease were rewarded with a squeak. Or rather a cross between a squeak, and a shuddering breath being drawn.

"If ya don't wanna talk, that's fine. Ya don't have ta talk, Ah won't make ya. But will ya talk?" he asked. This time the response came in the form of a weak nod.

Big Macintosh listened silently as Scootaloo tried to talk, her efforts hampered by shuddering and stuttering the whole way. All he could do was continue stroking her back, and wait to see if she could compose herself enough to get out whatever she was trying to say.

"She hurt me..." she finally managed to get out. Big Macintosh wanted to ask about the who, and the what, but at the same time he didn't want to cause Scootaloo to feel like she was being pressured. He opted to maintain his silence, and to just continue stroking her back in a comforting manner, figuring that if she wanted to elaborate, she would.

"Rainbow Dash..."

This time it was a whisper. At first Big Macintosh didn't know what exactly he was hearing, and left him wondering if he'd misheard something. Curiously he leaned in closer to better hear what she was saying.

"Rainbow Dash..." Scootaloo repeated.

"What about Rainbow Dash?" Big Macintosh asked, curiosity winning out in the end.

"I don't wanna say," Scootaloo whimpered as she trembled. "Please don't make me say..." she pleaded.

"What'd Rainbow Dash do ta ya, Scootaloo?" he asked. She'd come this far in opening up, so she might as well continue with saying whatever she had to say. He wasn't going to force her to talk, but he wasn't just going to drop the whole thing either. He was just going to give her a friendly little nudge, and hope that she would do the rest.

More stuttering and shuddering breaths followed as she tried to talk further, trying to get the words out.

"Rainbow Dash, she, s-s-she..." Scootaloo whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut tight as she gulped. "She cut my wings off!" she shrieked, before proceeding to break down crying.

The next thing Big Macintosh knew, Scootaloo had flung herself at him, and buried her face against his barrel, clinging to him desperately. That prompted him to stop rubbing her back, and instead wrap a foreleg around her. He'd managed to get her to open up about what had frightened her so bad, and now there wasn't much to do except let her ride it out, as she wailed against him.

"I begged her to stop, but she just kept cutting! It hurt so much!" she screamed, her cries muffled by how firmly she had her face pressed against Big Macintosh's chest.

So that was it then. Big Macintosh knew he didn't need to have a fancy education to understand what had gotten Scootaloo so upset; especially if the nightmare hadn't been of her own construct, but rather the same thing that had hurt Applejack and the others.

He had no idea how long he sat there in the kitchen, whether it was minutes, or even hours. All he knew for certain was that it was as long as it took for Scootaloo to finally calm down enough for her crying to amount to sniffling. He knew that he was going to need a bath after all of that, but right now he had more important things on his mind.

"Nopony's gonna be hurtin' ya now, Scoots. Ah won't be lettin' 'em do it," he said gently as he held onto her. Leaning over the table, he blew out the kerosene lamp, before turning to leave the kitchen, walking as best he could on three legs, while still holding onto the distraught filly.

Ascending the stairs wasn't easy, but he still managed to do it regardless. But once he was at the top of the stairs, he had a bit of a quandary on his hooves; return Scootaloo to Apple Bloom's bedroom, and put her down for the evening, or take her back to his room, and let her rest there.

It might've been a quandary. But that didn't mean it was a particularly hard decision to make. Without a second thought, he set off towards his room.

"Ya can stay with me in mah room tonight. Ah'll make sure nothin' gets ya," he said, doing his best to assure her that everything would be alright.

He'd certainly wanted to make himself useful. But not like this; not if that desire had somehow set this whole thing into motion. If that had been the case, then he really doubted that he'd ever be able to forgive himself. But he'd worry about kicking himself later on.

"Here we go," he said as he made his way back into his room and eased Scootaloo onto the bed. Pulling away was a bit difficult as she clung to him, but eventually he managed to step away, and look at her again. "Ya think ya can go back ta sleep?" he asked her. It was a weak nod that she gave in response, but it was a nod nonetheless. He smiled and gently tussled her mane, before going over to the closet, and fetching a second pillow for her to use.

He would keep an eye on Scootaloo tonight so Apple Bloom could rest. Then in the morning he'd take her to see Twilight, so she could be brought up to speed about what had happened, and hopefully make some degree of sense out of all this. With that thought in mind he made his way back over to the bed and shuffled the pillows, before gently guiding her down.

"Don't go," Scootaloo whimpered as she reached out and took hold of his hoof with both of her own, holding onto him desperately, yet weakly.

"Ah won't. Ah promise Ah'll be right here," Big Macintosh replied. That earned him a small but noticeable smile, allowing him to fully withdraw his hoof from her grasp, and move around to the other side of the bed, before climbing up on it, and laying down beside her.

What he didn't expect to happen as he did, however, was Scootaloo rolling over, and pressing herself up against his barrel as he laid down. That caught him a little off guard. But when he looked, he saw that she was already fast asleep, so it was best not to disturb her. He knew he wouldn't be rolling over and squishing her in the night; he'd had plenty of experience in avoiding that, after years of fulfilling certain eldest sibling responsibilities.

"Try an' sleep well, Scoots," he whispered as he laid there, just observing her as she slumbered.

And as he observed her slumber, he made a silent resolution to himself. If he ever found the one that had been responsible for all of this, then may Faust have mercy on them, because he sure wouldn't...

Author's Note:

I hate to say it, but this chapter doesn't mean we're back in regular production, it just means I'm not dead. Although I'm pretty close to being such, because this chapter was excruciating to write. Excruciating because this was possibly the hardest chapter I've ever had to write. I've lost track of how many revisions to the structure I made, before finally settling on the finished product. I'm still not at all happy with most of it, as it was supposed to be so much more than it currently is. This took the longest time to actually write out of all my chapters so far, and more than once it nearly made me lose interest in the project entirely. I very nearly gave up.

But now it's done, even if I don't like it. And I couldn't in good conscience just leave it sitting here. I had to upload this thing, and get it out of here, before moving onto the next chapters. Hopefully I can start approaching some semblance of regularity with updates in the near future. But don't hold me to it.

And now it's time for some deleted scenes!

The first one is an idea that I've considered doing for a while now, and I tried really hard to fit it into the chapter, but it was a lot harder than I thought, and was taking too long. So I decided to just cut it out, and put it here instead.

Deleted Scene One

Staying with Fluttershy was, perhaps, not the wisest of decisions he could have made. Despite her status as bearer of the Element of Kindness, and thus her resulting intrinsic importance to Equestria overall, there was still the fact that she was a single pony out of millions that needed to be considered.

Ulquiorra knew he could argue the case that his interpretation of orders from Princess Celestia allowed for significant flexibility in protecting Equestria from harm. He could make the case for how he could have left Fluttershy in the care of Rarity and Applejack, to try and track down the source of the reiatsu that had drastically increased in his presence, and then departing quickly after making itself known.

He could have indeed make such an argument. It would be a very sound argument, and it would be grounded purely in logic, to the point no one could fault him for departing.

That wasn't how things had played out, however. Rather than making an effort at tracking down their first viable lead, he had chosen to remain behind with the others. He had opted to secure the scene of the crime, rather than chasing after the one who had metaphorically poked them in the face with a coup stick. Whether or not it had been the correct decision on his part, he didn't know yet.

Twilight Sparkle had her own assessment of the facts on the matter. According to her interpretation of the matter, he had made the correct decision in staying with the others, asserting that if Fluttershy had gone into cardiac arrest in response to her ordeal -which according to her, was a very real possibility, due to the amount of mental stress that was experienced- he would have been able to get her to the hospital the quickest. In her mind, he had made the correct decision in how to proceed. She had thanked him for staying with Fluttershy. She had hugged him for staying with Fluttershy.

Regardless of whether or not he'd made the correct choice, he was now having to address the fallout of the decision; such as the lack of a detectable trail that would show him where the entity had departed to. And with all of the hoof traffic in the area, both previously and currently, it would be difficult even for him to discern it all. Whether or not it could be blamed on a matter of timing, was an entirely different question.

His thoughts on the matter, however, were interrupted as he felt something bump into his right leg from the side.

"Ow!"

And a sudden yelp of discomfort.

"Watch where you're going, bubblehead!"

At hearing that, he turned to see who or what had bumped into him, and saw that it was a pink, blank flanked, earth pony filly with blond mane, wearing a pair of sunglasses, and in the process of rubbing her snout with her foreleg. That would account for the congested distortion that was heard.

"I have been standing here for several consecutive minutes. You were the one not looking at where you were going," he replied.

"Is that supposed to be a joke or something?" the filly asked, not bothering to look up at him as she set her foreleg back down again.

Strange. Few ponies actually possessed the nerve to talk back to him, particularly when he was looking at them. The fact that it was a foal who was doing it was even stranger. According to those that willingly addressed the issue, and actually talked to him about it, they were uncomfortable with how he looked at them; like a predator staring at a potential meal. Factually speaking, it wasn't all that far away from the truth, even if he wasn't looking to hurt them, intentionally or otherwise.

She wasn't even looking up at him. It was more like she was looking past him, or even through him, like he wasn't even there. It was like...

"I've never seen a blind pony before," he commented.

"What a coincidence, neither have I," the filly quipped.

Ulquiorra had to admit to himself at least, he had walked right into that one. He hadn't expected one so young, to be so quick when it came to the issue of wit.

"I don't get how I missed you just standing there. Usually when somepony is close by I can hear them or smell them," the filly commented.

"Not being a pony, it stands to reason that you wouldn't be familiar with the signals my body gives off, and thus less likely to pick up on them" he replied.

"Not a pony? Well if you're not a pony then what are..." the filly asked, before pausing in thought. "You're that thing that killed the manticore that came into town, aren't you?"

How that conclusion had been arrived at so quickly was something Ulquiorra couldn't really figure out. Nothing he had said would readily confirm that he wasn't native to this dimension. And the one who was questioning him about it, had no idea what he looked like. Had it all been a matter of a random guess, based on his statement that he wasn't a pony?

"Correct," he replied.

"You don't sound nearly as big, or as strong as I thought you would," the filly commented.

"Not everything is as it seems," Ulquiorra replied as he refocused his attention elsewhere. As she was blind, there was little point in focusing on her for however long the conversation lasted.

For a brief moment he'd actually considered remarking that appearances could be deceiving, but that struck him as a matter of petty bickering. It would also be something else the filly could deliver a quip to, and how it didn't apply to her because of her blindness.

"That's fair I guess," the filly replied and shrugged her withers. "So what're you doing here, just standing around like that?"

"In simple terms, searching for clues pertaining to the recent attacks on Ponyville. Anything that might be out of place, with there being no reason for it to be as such," Ulquiorra explained, simply for the sake of expediency.

"Oh," the filly replied and nodded once in understanding. "Well if I see anything like that, I'll be sure to let you know."

Ulquiorra nearly asked the filly how she expected to see anything when she was blind. But he stopped himself short of actually asking. He'd been caught off guard, simply because he was so accustomed to ponies being straight with him. This one, however, wasn't.

"Your sense of sarcasm is more developed than that of most adults I've dealt with in my time here," he stated.

"Wow you catch on quick. I'm gonna have fun with you!" the filly stated enthusiastically and grinned.

"Good fortune continues to shine down upon me," Ulquiorra replied in a dull tone, unamused by how things were developing.

"Wow, you can give as good as you get. I think I like you," the filly replied and continued to grin. "My name's Shady."

"Ulquiorra Cifer," he stated, completing the impromptu greeting.

"What the hay kinda name is that?" Shady asked.

"Mine," Ulquiorra replied simply. "Has this battle of wits concluded? Or do you still have a few barbs left that you'd like to trade?" he asked.

"Eh, I guess we should stop now," Shady replied and shrugged. "I promised a friend I'd stop by his house later, so he can give me a play-by-play description of the exciting spectator sport, that is watching paint dry."

That... that was actually a good one, as far as Ulquiorra was concerned.

"I assume there will be popcorn?" he asked.

"It'd be sacrilege if there wasn't," Shady replied.

That one nearly broke his focus, as he felt compelled to ask how one so young -especially in this reality- had any concept about what sacrilege meant. But then he stopped himself from asking, as he simply didn't want to know; it would be just his luck that she was misusing a term she didn't understand, and would inquire about what the proper context was. He'd rather not get into that one right now.

"Hey... I've got a question. Can I trust you?" Shady asked after a pause.

"Is that the question? Or are you merely seeking clarification before actually asking the intended question?" Ulquiorra asked back.

"Uh... the second I guess," Shady replied, her voice faltering for the first time since her arrival. "What I mean is, if I ask you a question, you'll be honest in answering, right? No nonsense or nothing like that?"

"Your question is quite foolish. You ask someone you have just met if they can be trusted, as if they are duty bound to answer honestly, and you have no method of verifying whatever answer they give you," Ulquiorra pointed out.

"... You're the first one to ever actually point that out. Everypony else is like "Oh sure, Shady, you can trust me, I'll be honest" because I'm blind," she stated, surprised by the answer that she'd gotten.

"What is the question?" Ulquiorra asked, deciding to cut through the nonsense before she had the chance to start blubbering about how his honesty was a change from the usual pace.

"What's it like to actually be able to see?"

That was a question that actually got Ulquiorra to turn his head, and regard Shady directly, rather than just passively. She was currently making an effort to look at him, even though it was a pointless effort on her part. If he was being set up for another round of snark, then it was being done in a way that he was missing. As best he could tell, she was genuinely serious in her inquiry.

"Simultaneously very informative, and potentially distracting. There's far more information to take in, that must be accounted for, and processed, in order to arrive at a decision. It's very easy for someone who can see, to not take in their surroundings, and miss what is blatantly obvious, and should have been to them," he replied, doing his best to be informative, and to the point about the topic of sight.

"Oh..." Shady replied, "so am I missing out on much by not being able to see?"

"Yes," Ulquiorra replied bluntly. There was no use in denying the fact that she was devoid of twenty percent of her full senses, and thus was experiencing a significant shortness of the full spectrum that could be experienced.

After a brief pause, he continued in his explanation. "But not everything that's missed out on, is of actual importance. A great deal of the world is filled with nothing but utter nonsense."

"Yeah? Like what? Gimme a for instance," Shady insisted.

"The general antics of the earth pony known as Pinkie Pie," Ulquiorra stated bluntly. She was as much utter nonsense as anything he could reference right now.

"Hey now bud, watch what you say. I happen to like Pinkie Pie," Shady replied and frowned. But her efforts at maintaining the frown proved to be futile, as she soon started snickering. "She's so easy at times."

This filly had a highly developed mean streak about her. That was the only observation Ulquiorra could make at the moment. He could see her setting Pinkie Pie up with one example of snark bait after another, and the pink earth pony hopelessly falling for the trap time after time.

He couldn't deny the fact that he was finding this foal rather interesting. Her personality stood in such stark contrast with the rest of the ponies he'd had dealings with, that a part of him wondered just how easily she could deploy sarcasm at a moment's notice, and just what that sarcasm consisted of.

But for the time being, there was work that needed to be done. He would further evaluate her later on.

---

The next scene is one that I really wanted to include in the story, but I just couldn't find a way to make it work. Modifying the flow of the story to include it would've been incredibly awkward, and would've slowed down everything. But I didn't want to discard it completely, as it provides a great deal of character insight into some of the previous chapters, and would've made more sense if it had been included. So here we go for a nice bonus. Canonically this was set between Rainbow Dash's outburst in the infirmary, and her meltdown in the hallway with Ulquiorra. You might see why.

Happy reading!

Deleted Scene Two

Rainbow Dash cringed, feeling as small as a bug right now, as Luna glared down at her angrily. This was so, so much worse than any of the times in the past that she'd managed to make her parents mad. Even as angry as they could've been -or at least as angry as she'd perceived them at such a young age- was absolutely nothing compared to the fury that the Lunar Princess commanded, and was on the verge of unleashing upon her frail body.

"Princess, please, I'm sorry," she whimpered and cowered, finding no place to run and hide. She was alone in this long, poorly lit stretch of hallway, with no manner of escape open to her, as she was backed against the side of a pillar. Even if she did try and bolt, Luna would be on her in a second with her longer stride.

"As thou should be, thou impudent little foal," Luna growled as she glared down at her furiously, her stare of such intensity that it would boil water. "And thou will be, as it has apparently fallen upon us to teach thee thine place in this world..."

Rainbow Dash cringed as she watched Luna rear up on her hind legs, knowing what was going to come next. She clenched her eyes tightly shut, and brought her forelegs up to shield her head, in the hope that she wouldn't be totally crushed by Luna's powerful hooves connecting with her.

But nothing happened. She didn't feel bones being shattered by the impact of shod hooves crashing against her body. In fact she didn't feel anything. Out of morbid curiosity, she cracked an eye open to see just what was going on.

And what was going on, she couldn't really believe it.

Standing just off to the side was Ulquiorra, intercepting her hoof with his right hand, and holding it -as well as her- at bay with apparent ease.

Once again, he'd come in to save her miserable flank.

Luna, caught off guard by this development, went from looking shocked, to looking angered, as she turned her attention to Ulquiorra.

"Remove thy hand from us at once," she ordered in a very firm, very low tone. It was a tone that managed to send shivers up and down Rainbow Dash's spine.

"No," Ulquiorra replied simply, unfazed by the tone of Luna's voice.

"Thou impudent cur," Luna growled and narrowed her eyes at him. "We didst give thee an order. It is thou's duty to obey what we say! And thou dost dare to tell us no!?"

"Correct," Ulquiorra replied as Luna attempted to press her assault and overpower him. "Princess Celestia instructed me to protect these ponies from harm, however it may be determined necessary. And if I deem it necessary, I will interpret her orders to include protecting them from the likes of not only her, but you as well," he explained calmly as he pushed back against her, his outer stoicness concealing the amount of force he was actually applying to hold her at bay.

"Very well then. If thou doth wish to commit treason against thy Princess," Luna practically hissed, "then thee shall be punished accordingly!" she bellowed, wings flaring outward, and eyes glowing bright white.

Rainbow Dash felt herself hit by a shock wave of alicorn magic, the intensity of it nearly flooring her in the process. She'd seen Luna plenty mad before, but it was never anything like this. This was making her feel like her fur was about to catch fire any second. This was making her feel like her chest was made out of lead.

And then things went from bad to worse, as a second shock wave rocked her. But this time around it was from Ulquiorra, rather than from Luna. This felt just like it had during the changeling invasion, but much worse due to the proximity of it all. She honestly felt like her body was going to be blown apart like dust in the wind any second now. And making it all the worse was the fact that she couldn't move; all she could do was watch, as their respective powers started to become visible to the naked eye as they arced off each other; teal green for Ulquiorra, and midnight blue for Luna.

Suddenly Ulquiorra pulled his left hand from his pocket, and brought it forward to grab Luna by her throat, before swinging her around to slam her into the wall, and pin her there. Once she was pinned, he let go of her foreleg with his right hand, balling it up into a fist as he pulled it back, and then slammed it forward into the side of her head. The impact of his fist against her skull -and by extension the impact of her skull against the wall immediately behind her- caused a massive plume of dust to explode outward from the point of impact, completely obscuring the area.

Rainbow Dash coughed, flapping her wings to try and clear the air to some degree so she could breathe again. This was getting really scary, really fast, and she didn't know how to deal with it.

As the air cleared, and the dust began to settle on the ground, she could see that the punch Ulquiorra had delivered, had been enough to completely obliterate the wall behind Luna, creating a huge opening to the outside. And as best she could tell, that was where they were duking it out right now; that was the only thing she could think of to explain the flashes of light she was witnessing in the distance.

And then Luna came flying back through the hole in the wall, crashing against the floor in a manner that suggested she'd been forcibly thrown through the opening, rather than entering of her own volition. She landed with such force that not only did the marble flooring crack from the impact, but she also bounced, and went rolling as she landed the second time.

The only conclusion Rainbow Dash could come up with, was that Ulquiorra was kicking the crap out of Luna... who was currently groaning in pain as she picked herself up off the ground.

"Thou shalt pay for that," she stated.

"That remains to be proven..."

Rainbow Dash had been so absorbed in trying to understand everything, she hadn't even heard Ulquiorra return, which caused her to jump at the sound of his voice. And then she jumped again when she saw that he had returned in his released state, just as when he'd faced Celestia.

Without so much as a word, he pulled his massive wings in as he stepped in through the hole in the wall, ready to continue the fight.

"The amount of trouble thou art in, is no laughing matter, Ulquiorra Cifer. The consequences for thee's actions will be truly significant," Luna warned as she got back up onto her hooves and cracked her neck.

"Explain to me, precisely why I should bother exerting the effort that would be needed to actually care," Ulquiorra replied as he stepped closer.

Luna stared in disbelief at just how casually Ulquiorra had shrugged off her warning about the consequences of his actions, and so had Rainbow Dash. She knew that the Espada could be disinterested as all get out at times, but even she hadn't seen this one coming.

"Oh thou shalt be made to care, when we art stripping thy flesh from thine's ghostly bones!" Luna bellowed, shaking the walls of the palace in the process.

Ulquiorra remained unimpressed as he stepped forward, his pace never slowing as he made his way to where Luna stood, each step an exercise in authority, even if they weren't being slammed against the flooring.

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and covered her ears, desperately trying to shut out everything that was going on before her. She didn't want to see anymore, or hear the sounds that were bound to be happening. She didn't want to be present for those two beating each other to a bloody pulp; and certainly not when it was over her. She wanted out of here!

And then there was silence. Nothing but total silence. Curiosity eventually won out over terror, and motivated her to open her eyes, and see what was going on.

Everything was frozen in place, completely unmoving. Ulquiorra and Luna were just feet away from each other, each of them ready to trade what just had to be devastating blows with one another. It wasn't even like they were pausing, but more like she was looking at a highly detailed picture.

"Greetings, Rainbow Dash..."

Rainbow Dash had been so focused on trying to figure out what was going on, she'd nearly jumped at the sound of her name being spoken. Quickly she whirled around to see who was addressing her... and came face to face with Luna! Oh this was so not good! Immediately she wanted to scream and back away as far as possible.

But before she could even start to do just that, she couldn't help but notice that there was something... different... about this Luna. This wasn't the same Luna that Ulquiorra had been beating up on just seconds ago. This Luna's features weren't hard set, looking like they'd been chiseled out of hard marble; instead they were much softer, and comforting, and conveyed a sense of concern, rather than fury. Nor was she towering over her to such a degree. Nor was she wearing any of her fancy regalia.

"P... Princess Luna?" she asked hesitantly/fearfully.

"Just plain "Luna" will be sufficient, Rainbow Dash," Luna replied as she sat herself down on the floor. "This is technically a dream that you find yourself in. Just so you know," she explained.

"A dream?" Rainbow Dash asked. That... well that certainly made a little more sense than what she thought was going on here. But there were still a lot of questions that she couldn't even begin thinking about getting an answer to.

But then another thought occurred to her, and it sent a shiver up her spine. Luna was here, in her dream, with everything in full and blatant view; like the fact that her dream counterpart was getting the shit kicked out of her by Ulquiorra!

"I can explain-" she quickly stated, only to be silenced as Luna gently pushed a hoof against her mouth.

"No, Rainbow Dash, allow me to speak first. What I have to say is of much greater importance than anything you might have to say," Luna stated, her voice quite firm, but at the same time quite caring. "And that, is that I am very sorry for earlier."

"You're..." Rainbow Dash paused as Luna withdrew her hoof to let her speak again. "You're sorry? But... But I..."

"Did nothing wrong, Rainbow Dash. I am the only one at fault here, not you. I should not have snapped at you as I did earlier in the day; it was absolutely uncalled for! Truly I did not mean to yell at you as I did. Even if my actions might be seen an understandable, that does not make them reasonable," Luna stated, before letting out a huff of exasperation and shutting her eyes.

Right now she hated herself. Rainbow Dash had only been trying to talk to her during a time of need. And what had she done in response? She'd viciously snapped, and proceeded to yell at the poor pegasus, all because she'd been tired from all of the strain she'd been under. Rainbow Dash didn't even know what had hit her, before running off in tears, and leaving her behind with the realization that she'd been absolutely horrible to a friend in need.

And glancing around at the dream, she felt all the worse. She had managed to make Rainbow Dash afraid of her, and view her like a violent monster bent on hurting her for some pointless transgression. It was bad enough when some pony unfamiliar with her took such a view, but when one of her own friends viewed her as such, that was a deep cut that simply wouldn't heal anytime soon.

"I deserved it though," Rainbow Dash muttered as she looked down at the ground. "You were busy, I could've waited until you weren't..."

"No, Rainbow Dash," Luna stated as she reached out with her right foreleg, and gently lifted her head back up again. "You and your well being are among our top priorities. Right now you take precedent over other matters. Even if that were not the case you are still one of my best friends. And one friend should never have to see another as... this..." she finished, sweeping her right wing out to gesture to the dream before them. Again, she sighed and hung her head. "I have failed. Not only as a friend, but also a Princess to our subjects. It would appear that I do not possess the same motherly characteristics that my sister does."

The next thing she knew, Rainbow Dash had not only approached and sat down right in front of her, but had leaned in, working her wither underneath her chin, as she wrapped her forelegs around her in a hug.

"Rainbow Dash?" she asked, finding herself curious at this turn of developments. Just seconds ago, the consoling efforts had been the other way around.

"We've both screwed up. Can we just call this even?" Rainbow Dash suggested. "You regret yelling at me, and I'm really regretting having this dream right now..."

"You have nothing to regret, Rainbow Dash," Luna replied as she gently returned the hug. The fact that she was on the receiving end of the embrace had been a surprise, as she had doubted that Rainbow Dash would've been up to exercising such a gesture on her own accord. The mare was certainly full of surprises. "I scared you, it is only natural that your dreams may reflect such facts."

Looking around the dream again, Luna wanted to obliterate her counterpart then and there. It hurt to look at, and hurt to consider that she had put that out there with her actions.

However her counterpart was only one aspect of the dream that had managed to catch her attention. Beyond that, and the presence of Ulquiorra Cifer, there was the overall sensation of this having been a lucid dream to at least some extent. To some degree it was easy enough to figure out what had happened; she had scared Rainbow Dash to the point her dreams had been affected, and Rainbow Dash had unconsciously responded by materializing the Espada to shield her from perceived harm. But then that lucidity had apparently failed, and she'd lost control of how things were proceeding. That was... quite unusual to experience. Intermittent lucid dreaming was not something she had seen too often.

Then again, Rainbow Dash using the Espada's name back in the infirmary -for the first time ever from what she'd heard- had been equally unusual. She figured the two were linked, but the exact details remained a mystery at the moment.

"Fair enough I guess," Rainbow Dash eventually replied and shrugged. "Now can we just call this even, say we both screwed up, and stop feeling bad about what we did?" she asked.

"If that is what you wish, my friend," Luna replied, finally relenting on the matter. If Rainbow Dash wished to drop the issue, then who was she to keep hammering away at it?

"It is," Rainbow Dash replied, nodding as her chin rubbed against her. She had enough to feel bad about right now, without adding to the list with making Luna feel bad about herself.

For a while the two just sat there, neither one of them feeling particularly motivated to break the hug that they were sharing. After all of the stress and anxiety the day had brought, the small measure of comfort that they were experiencing was all that they could bring themselves to care about right now.

"Luna?" Rainbow Dash spoke up, breaking the silence they'd been sitting in for who knew how long. "What were you saying about being a mother?"

"Motherly characteristics," Luna corrected, "they are something Celestia seems gifted with. Despite my best efforts in following her lead, they seem to be something that I am lacking. I cannot seem to properly emulate the same warmth in my own interactions with our subjects," she explained.

"Oh," Rainbow Dash replied. That kind of made sense. Or at least she guessed it made sense. "Maybe you're cut out for the big sister role instead," she suggested.

"Big sister?" Luna asked and blinked. That was a notion that she hadn't really considered before. She'd been so busy trying to put ponies at ease around her, that she hadn't even considered the idea of not having to keep up with Celestia in the public perception department. Perhaps there was some validity to the idea. "I will take the matter under consideration. Perhaps it is an approach that is worthwhile," she replied as she pulled back to look Rainbow Dash in the eyes.

And as she did, something of a wicked thought came to mind. Not terrible that should cause her shame for thinking it, just... wicked in its own little way that made her grin to herself.

"Tell me something, Rainbow Dash, are you making a proposition to become our little sister?" she asked, barely able to keep from pulling her lips back as she did. And Rainbow Dash's reaction made it all the harder to resist doing so, as the poor pegasus began stammering in surprise. Immediately Luna burst out laughing, unable to hold back her own mirth any longer.

And as she did, Rainbow Dash slowly began to laugh as well, finding herself caught up in the good feelings that were radiating off of Luna in her current good mood.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash," Luna breathed, using her wing to wipe her eyes. "That was a good laugh to be had. I thank you greatly."

"Heh. Anytime," Rainbow Dash replied and shrugged, uncertain of what else to really do right now.

"As to this dream of yours..." Luna paused, her voice taking on a strong tone. Rainbow Dash tensed up, certain that things were going to suddenly go very bad. "It is still many hours before waking up would be appropriate. I believe a change of scenery would be appropriate. Along with a change of participants. If we are to watch Ulquiorra Cifer engage in a no-holds barred battle, he will need an appropriate opponent to face down. The only question is; who should that be?"

Rainbow Dash didn't even hesitate before answering the question. "Slender Mane."

"Hmm..." Luna muttered and rubbed her chin in thought. "Yes. I believe that will work well indeed. Slender Mane it is then."

With that, Luna tapped the floor with her hoof, and sent ripples spreading outward from their position, warping the castle hall into a more appropriate location for the match up; that being the Everfree Forest. Along with that change came the addition of snacks appropriate for a spectator sport such as this. Even if they weren't real, that didn't mean they couldn't have fun as they watched.

As her dream counterpart was replaced with the appropriate villain to be faced, Luna got up and hugged Rainbow Dash from behind, holding her against her barrel. The cyan pegasus barely even flinched before settling in against her, making herself comfortable as she reached for the popcorn in anticipation of the coming fight.

"Have pleasant dreams from here on out, my dear friend," Luna thought as she leaned down to kiss Rainbow Dash's forehead. Being present every single night simply wasn't a possibility for her, as there were countless ponies in need of her services. But perhaps she wouldn't need to be in this case.

She couldn't bestow lucid dreaming capabilities to her subjects, as that would be very... complicated... for so many reasons. The ability to control dreams was something that couldn't be tossed about with disregard. But if one already possessed such talents, even if they were of a diluted nature, there was nothing to stop her from nurturing their growth in development. Given enough time, and the right support, as well as guidance, perhaps one day Rainbow Dash could take back control on her own. Perhaps one day she could finally stop her own nightmares, and truly rest peacefully.

Comments

[forrest yuchnitz]

Two things 1:how did ulquiorra lose his cero and 2:this may have been easier to write if the plot was simpler and not so long and complicated

[La Barata]

Yee

[La Barata]

5825226 1. They kept one of them in a spell container but it exploded. HE didn't lose it, but they lost the one they had just in case.

2. So would just about any work of fiction, but that doesn't mean that they'd be anywhere near as good if the author took the easy way out and made things uncomplicated.

[Ether Space]

Oooooooh, t'was a pity that neither of those scenes made it in.
I really like Shady already.

[RanmaChaos]

Another enjoyable chapter. And please don't give up. I know you can finish this story.

[Dirty Bit]

Loved it when Ulquiorra broke the 4th wall

I personally liked the first deleted scene rather than the second, even if it wasn't entirely focused on the story.

[bloodwolf432]

I like this story, but it feels like its gone into rinse and repeat mode. They try to figure out what's going on, someone else gets the hell scared out of them, they try to figure out what happened, and then promptly move on without much actually being done.

[Jarimor]

he hugged her didnt he?

[forrest yuchnitz]

5825312 oh from the way it sounded i had thought he had lost his cero ability somehow

[proverbs]

Faust Damnit! Charlie_K, when will we learn the identity of the- for lack of a better term- Shadow! When will it actually stop these cowardly- but effective- tactics and actually face Ulquiorra like a man!
I get it. By doing this mental torture, it has rendered the Elements unusable and inert, and by doing this to every citizen in Ponyville it has created distractions to keep it's true plan in the dark.
But why kill Thrush and the possessed guard? Further distraction or just to serve as an annoyance? So many questions. So little answers. But with every answer, creates new questions.
Now, one last thing. Why did Discord bring Ulqiorra to Equestria? What was Discord's reason?

[xbox432]

Whatever this thing is, it's REALLY good at guerrilla warfare. Small fast strikes to followed by fading away and leaving no trace, or hardly any trace, behind. The way it's fighting really reminds me of the terrorist attacks common in the middle east, I can't help but wondering if this was intentional or not or your part.

One thing I can't help but continually notice is that RD has yet to make mention of how she "kicked out" the voice that had taken up residence in her head, I can't help but think if she told them about that rather than thinking the voice was her subconscious or something, that they'd be closer to solving this. I am happy to see that she's going forward with trying to take back control of her life, I didn't enjoy seeing her in the state she was in. And while some might say that you took too long in getting her on to the path to recovery, I can't help but disagree. So many authors disregard how long it can take to get over mental trauma. Rather than her "recovering" after two or three chapters, her progression towards recovery has been far more realistic in my opinion.

And Spike's development is going good as well. Showing that as both a dragon, tween/teen, and a little brother, he is growing up and wanting to protect what he views as his. HIS friends, HIS mother/sister figure, HIS. Instinct doesn't really do deep thoughts and maturity, but by focusing those protective instincts he is doing what's most important to him right now, protecting the ones he loves. As my favorite president once said: "Sometimes it's best to walk softly and carry a big stick"... to, you know, pummel things you don't like with.

As for the deleted scenes, I think they make quite the nice little omake. Personally I enjoyed the second scene better than the first, not only do we get to see Luna and RD make up after their last encounter, we also get to see how RD views Ulquiorra. As a total badass that will always try to protect her, I can't help but think of that as both adorable and amusing at the same time.

Below are the edits for this chapter:

*that estimate from based - that estimate was based
*him away for the marketplace - him away from the marketplace
*she was needed to something. - she was needed for something.
*without cleaning, and without smelling like barf afterwards. - Not too sure about what you should do here, but something is missing from the "without cleaning," part. Maybe "without needing to be cleaned up,"?
*Now that she Fluttershy was - Remove either "she" or "Fluttershy"
*than before, She wasn't - than before. She wasn't
*Intermission? You troll. Though considering this chapter is longer than most people's entire story, you wanting to cut the size down a bit is understandable.
*had actually lead to Fluttershy - had actually led to Fluttershy
*explanation had delivered - explanation was delivered
*timetable its working on," - timetable it's working on,"
*was Luna's taken on - was Luna's take on
*their frame alone for - their frame along for
*her with a bit in she would - her with a bit if she would

Deleted scene edits:
*indeed much such - indeed made such
*Nothing had had said - Nothing he had said
*fury that the lunar princess - fury that the Lunar Princess
*She was along in this long - She was alone in this long
*consequences for thee's actions - consequences for thine actions

[Thelykenking]

What if ulquiorra used segons etupa

[Yozen]

Well I just had an idea of how they could lure the thing out.
A "genocide" of ponyville.
Whatever it is it is located there, as this is the only town having the problem.
It definitely has sentience with the strikes, and somewhat show boating approach.
So maybe, it will come out if it thinks it drove the princesses to decided, "there is no enemy, this is a disease from the everfree, we'll just have to keep it contained."
...Actually know what, why don't they ask Zecora about what's going on if she has any insight its probably a great leap, she is also a shaman so can probably do some enchantment to make malicious magic harder.
So maybe what they can do is, either
A Get discord to transport all the ponies to canterlot, apploosa, some other town, etc, but put near, near implying that the only thing different is they aren't intelligent, they can only follow a routine, not make a new one, identical duplicates in their place, so it seems like the town is still running.
A2 Then Ulquiorra announces his presence by killing off the "ponies"
A3 The enemy comes out of hiding to gloat that "I drove you so crazy you killed off an entire town of innocents!"
A4 Ulquiorra catches him.
Or if Discord is unavailable, or can't get involved, they haven't tried so far.
B The princesses have a lot of magic, they could command a curfew for the all the ponies to be in their houses, and they visit them one by one
B2a They can work as bait if the thing thinks it can get them, which they should still be a reasonable match for
B2b They visit each pony one by one, interrogate them with ulquiorra, and if he gives the go ahead, teleport them to canterlot.
B3b This could bring the thing out in a panic, or make it think they did a systematic sweep and killed of the ponies.
B4 Thing comes out and gets caught, and would make ponyville nice and empty if needed for a battlefield.
Another thing I noticed is that it seems to only work once, while rainbow dash only had a voice, afterword no one else has this symptom, and I'm erring on the side that she is hollowfying, which would put her probably on an equal level if not greater to Ulquiorra's base form, which could be that the thing actually is a two step attack, 1 posses the main pony 2 give nightmares to other ponies and fuelling a madness that makes the main pony have some kind of insane power increase.
Enemy X could be a mad scientist thats been experimenting on himself, giving him the static reiatsu, just as a side effect. and possibly explain his cautious behaviour "you're not supposed to get involved with the test subjects, it ruins the studies."
Which could also make a good contrast to twilight, someone completely alone but super advanced in magic, and scientific minded like the first episode, like a "This is how I could have turned out."
Just a WMG tho, I'd be perfectly fine if things worked out in it.

[Epic Brony 4 Life]

"You are not authorized to witness what's about to proceed," he stated bluntly, not leaving the matter up for debate.
img.photobucket.com/albums/v444/hasanbeensober/Monster_Movie_intermission_zps6zc50cut.jpg

Ulquiorra....broke the fourth wall!?!?!?!

[Goneaway]

This 700k+ word story has become a overly verbose loop of boring grimdarkness that makes it hard to care what happens to the characters anymore. Much like Bleach, it doesn't seem to know where to go.

[Charlie_K]

5825226
1. Turns out Luna was wrong in her observation about how good he'd be at poker.

2. True. But the plot becoming complicated is a staple of all great shows. Bleach did it, Farscape did it, SG1 did it, etc.

5825368
Shady was fun to write. But just because a scene was cut, doesn't mean it didn't happen in the story canon.

5825447
Thanks for the vote of confidence.

5825449
Pinkie has been a terrible influence on him.

BTW, love the new avatar. Now everyone can tell you're an author who really gives a buck about stuff.

5825578
I suppose it could be seen as that. Sometimes the followup is something alluded to for the sake of expediency. But this time around things are different. By Twilight's assessment of things, Fluttershy was nearly killed, rather than being left traumatized. There's no way that won't have consequences and repercussions down the line.

5826273
Perhaps. Or perhaps he massaged her hooves.

5826309
Now there's an interesting turn of events. I might have to look into that.

5826357
When? If I can actually stick to the set schedule of chapter writing, and not deviate in response to sideline developments, four to five chapters from now.

As to the chapter itself, it wasn't about breaking Fluttershy. Rather it was to help further build and establish our players, and flesh them out in greater detail; the villain included.

5826758
I can't really comment on the similarity to terrorists. I wasn't really aware of it until you pointed it out.

Technically Rainbow Dash told them about the voice the first time it showed up. And after that, she got put in the hospital. She's got reasons to be keeping silent about certain things.

As to her recovery. Originally things were going to be far different, with Rainbow Dash being far more broken than she's been portrayed as. Originally when Luna disguised herself as Rarity, she was going to go to pieces and be terrified. But I just couldn't do that to her. It would've seriously slowed down everything, and it wouldn't have done her character justice. So I revamped things a bit.

Now there's an interesting line of thought regarding Spike. I might just have to use that.

Troll? Me? You're darn right I am. It was damn funny. I was tempted to make it a video with elevator music.

As to the deleted scene, it was set well before Luna and Rainbow Dash had that faithful meeting. Canonically this was set right around after she got out of the infirmary. The scene that inspired the nightmare never got drafted, and I regret that fact.

5827320
I don't think he knows that technique.

5828250
It's an interesting approach. Unfortunately as of last chapter, Ulquiorra, Luna, and Celestia have to contend with the possibility that Canterlot is the true target. So bringing ponies to Canterlot would just complicate an already complicated situation. And spreading them out to other towns would just widen the area they have to watch.

5828561
Pinkie has been a terrible influence on him.

[Dirty Bit]

5829048 Well, it was about that time

I just couldn't decide on a pose

[bloodwolf432]

5829048 It's pretty much like having the same meal served at school everyday with the occasional student getting sick. It's the same classes with the same teachers, but at some point in time some kid is going to be shooting it out both ends by the end of the day with every kid asking themselves 'Am I next?' Eventually parents get tired of it and pull their kids out to find a different school who won't make kids play Russian roulette with their food.

. . . man this comparison got weird.

[UseFistNotMouth]

Spike can bite through diamonds and is almost impervious to injury. If he actually trained to remain calm and use his flame tactically I doubt he'd need more than his natural advantages in any situation.

[Emperor of Jurai]

-Smashes head against desk- Gaaaahhhhhh I could have gone without this chapter if just waiting a few more months would have given us one that actually pushed the plot along. All that changed was oh guess what even with our favorite Arrancar around he couldn't stop the thing....guess what that was the case for the past few chapters. All this did was make it even more annoying cause now we can't even hope for Ulqui to beat the shit out of the thing if it gets caught in the act...great.

I'm saying it now, the thing is going to be something akin to or is Nightmare moon I bet. Why I think that...every time it makes them have a `nightmare` that nearly shatters them, and guess what I am pretty damn sure the thing is attacking through the dream realm. Or whatever it is that Luna runs around inside when she watching over dreams. Another reason why that works is because Ulqui has no way to actually interact with the dream realm...he is a spirit not a psychic or magic user.

Other than that I got nothing and this monster is just a Giant Space Flea from Nowhere of sorts.

FYI I said AKIN to Nightmare Moon as well, as in not her but something a lot like her. Cause it been so long I have forgotten if the Author assured us or not that N.M. is totally without question dead for good.

[Barbecue Sauce]

5829629 I stopped reading many chapters ago because I just couldn't keep going with how dreadfully slow the pacing was. Unfortunate to see that that's still the case. I still have this favorited. I'd like to try and read through what I've missed, but working up the will to is very difficult.

[Rutter]

5834035 *Shakes cane*

[Charlie_K]

5829978
Well I'm sorry that the pace is moving slowly, but I've discovered issues that I'm having a hard time resolving.

The way I see it, I had three different ways of progressing in this story.

First, the constant game of cat and mouse where the storyline drags, but makes for great establishing character moments, and easter eggs of humor just waiting to to be uncovered, as the players try and uncover the truth behind the mystery, and find out who the villain is.

Second, drop the bomb and reveal who's behind everything, but then have to deal with the obvious questions of why Ulquiorra can't just locate and kill said asshole with all of the badassitude he has at his disposal, and simply be done with it.

Third, reveal said villain, and have them killed off brutally, which would either require ending the story, or reveal that said villain was working for an even bigger bad, which would necessitate the question of why this bigger bad has never been heard of before.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like the closer I get to wrapping up everything, and moving onto the beat down that everyone wanted to see, the closer I get to the point of having to wrap up everything, and either draft the final chapter of HiE, or continue with little snippet chapters showing how Ulquiorra is adjusting to life in Equestria now that there are no threats in need of slaying, until it comes time to address Tirek.

That's pretty much the dilemma I'm faced with. And I don't know how to best proceed.

[Yozen]

5840344
Well there is just the arc thing.
Like Villain X's arc ends but can do a few things
Follow the show for a while but changing how things happen, like Fluttershy becomes vampire, and ulquiorra teaches vampiric lore "undying, can turn into fog, bats, etc" possibly use it to make the character's even stronger for a harder Tirek fight.
You can also do that tournament arc with the philosopher’s stone/ hogyoku esqu mcguffin.
I also had a few other ideas.

[Blindteller]

Dat silent hill reference though

[Isshiki Kotonashi]

he found himself faced with a choice that had to be made; focus his pesquisa, and attempt to pursue the source of the mystery reiatsu in hopes of finding the source, or stay and tend to Fluttershy, and attempt to gather whatever information could be had.

Ultimately the best course of action to take would be the former, rather than the latter.

Departing now would just leave Fluttershy -and the others- at risk

Based on the context I assume you meant "the latter, rather than the former".

[Zeynelse]

5852699 For a second I thought you where making an awesome nod at paragon and renegade, not pointing out grammar issues, I think I will just keep thinking that.

[Isshiki Kotonashi]

5868154 Darn! Opportunity lost.

[Galerians]

You know, at first I thought this story was interesting. Really interesting, in fact. Fast forward several hundred thousand words later, it became annoying.

I understand if some authors prefer slow paced story, but at such a snail pace? Really? I admit, the amount of detail is astonishing, but is it really necessary to advance the plot? What good does it serve if it makes the story too convoluted for its own good?

You know what? I had enough. I had such good hope for this fic, shamefully it didn't last. Goodbye, and godspeed to you.

[hellcatte]

While the pacing of this story may be a bit slow, the sentences flow well and the character depth is superb. Your ability to give each character a unique feel when writing from their perspective is something I've not seen many authors pull off as well as you do.

I was sorta expecting that upon the switch to Big Mac's point of view he was the one that was going to be targeted. Bleh, poor Scootaloo. Whatever is pulling the strings here seems to enjoy pitting people against each other.

I for one suspect the antagonist to be Sombra, due to it's apparent formlessness and the fact that it attacks by inducing, and perhaps feeding on, intense negative emotion.

[Alondro]

"You are not authorized to witness what's about to proceed," he stated bluntly, not leaving the matter up for debate.

Alondro's absolute power allowed him to pierce the curtain with his All-Seeing Eye. He grins, "How delightfully atrocious that was."

fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/120/c/9/freaky_fred_by_sattar-d7glf44.png

[Nikolas]

5842587 Yozen has right, you must not restrict yourself to one villain. You can do that, what the animes, after the fall of the Big Bad Guy you can show other situations. If you have not ideas search up some anime or other series for inspiration.

I have the guess that the analyzing style is not for exclusively Ulqiorra is in the fic, but also because you have like this personality. You in think analyzes the things...
Or not.

I like this fic, never give up, Rainbow Dash must yet get revenge on the enemy for attack Scootaloo.
So i please not end this fic without finished the story or else

[stephen51991]

no filly could possibly learn how to use pyrokinesis, it takes too much concentration and mana.

[stephen51991]

"What's it like to actually be able to see?"

Damn, that was the perfect setup to use the Solita Vista technique, 'looking though the eyes of another' and all that.

[Charlie_K]

7137752
That was actually considered as an option. But then I stopped and figured something like that would be too cruel for Ulquiorra to engage in.

[Midknight Defender]

7135896 bah, that dubbed version is nothing like the original.

"Katon! Goukakyu no-Jutsu!!" *flamethrower noises*

[Genesis1212]

Or at least... he didn't think so. Perhaps it was premature to be ruling that possibility out. Now that he thought about it, he was recalling memories that dealt with hearing about some town in that far away continent of North America, that supposedly possessed the ability to bring a person's worst fears to life, and use them as a source of torment for its own sadistic amusement.

That Silent hill reference is legendary! Honestly in the Bleachverse I can see it making sense since it's built over an ancient Indian burial ground.

[AmlpfanREADER]

According to Fluttershy's -disturbingly vivid- recollection of everything, Ponyville and a good portion of the rest of Equestria had been reduced to a burnt out, smouldering wasteland, with the sky perfectly matching the landscape in harshness, and absolutely no signs of life anywhere; not in the form of other ponies, or even wild animals. And therein laid what Twilight regarded as the most traumatizing aspect of everything.

Huh sounds like Fallout equestria.

[Ghost Pony Rider]

Oh YES!
I want some Ulquiorra as a kenjutsu teacher! 😁