It’s almost Midnight…

Ichigo has been up for an hour now, the meeting with Discord has caused some worrying damage to his body. He tried to pour some water to a glass, he noticed that his hands were shaking like crazy. He almost spilled the water on the table. He tried talking to Mūnroau, yet he didn’t hear a response from his hollow.

Ichigo wanted to ask him why exactly did he choose Shiro as his name when Discord asked for it. Discord is a dangerous force, if he could get unconscious by just talking with the dude telepathically. What can Discord do to him if he would fight him? Kill him or worse, Discord is closed in a statue and his raitas full potential is blocked by the stone.

Discord however had to first localize him and see him in order to speak to him, if Discord wouldn’t be restricted by his prison, he’d find his presence in seconds after he entered Canterlot or maybe even after he appeared in Equestrian. For now, Ichigo has the high ground. But will it stay like this forever? He hopes so, and the more he hopes Discords punishment will last forever.

Ichigo tried to sit, squat and lay on his bed but he couldn’t find a comfortable position for himself. Either the bedsheets were to soft or he sunk to quickly in his pillows. Ichigo’s medical condition all in all has improved, he had nothing to entertain himself with other then some old newspapers. He could ask a guard or any one of the staff to point him to a library, doing research on Equestria might proof beneficial if he still wants to lie about his origins and that he came from for away.

Learning about Equestrian culture wouldn’t only give him knowledge about the local traditions the Pony’s have, but it would also help him adapt to their culture and maybe even find some resemblance with Japanese culture, who knows maybe there will be something! After all, Equestria is a copy of Europe. Something inspired by Japan must be here, and he hopes its not fucking Hentai.

There’s a plan, now he needs to execute it. He’s been good at learning stuff, it won’t be hard to memorize some of the information he’ll get if he gets his hands on the books. Not now, as it is almost midnight, he promised to see the minister of defense in his chambers to discuss about Blueblood. Bluebloods behavior is quite suspicious.

Ichigo looked around his chamber before going out, he seeked clothes, a new attire he might use, his Jacket is comfy but staying in the same clothes all day is not unsanitary. He walked up to one to his giant Ikea wardrobes in his room. The wardrobe was made from the same wood most of his furniture was. There was a mirror attached to the rectangle doors.

He opened it, as he thought. The wardrobe was full of very expensive looking clothing, both for females and males. The clothes hang on hangers, the clothes for females and males were separated by a thin wooden partition. Above the suits and dresses, various other clothing’s there was a shelf, it was empty.

No shoes or any other footwear was located by Ichigo, it could be it wasn’t here, although he thought it would. Ichigo open a few cupboards and was more than happy to have some socks for him to change, there was plenty of them, different sizes for different individuals, he a pair with his size and threw them at his bed to change them after he gets something new to wear. He also found some underwear; simple red boxers are enough for a teen like him. He threw them towards the socks to give them some company.

Ichigo looked over some of the vestures that he found, long and made out of very slippery material. He took two out to look at them and potentially find something good that would suit him. He didn’t look that bad in white, then again why care? Clothes for nobles are noble and therefore always are good.

Ichigo to his surprise has found nothing simpler than Jeans! Nothing better than that, simple dark blue jeans are enough for now, he threw them on the bed. There was still the question what to wear instead of his jacket, he didn’t see any t-shirts or clothes that resembled them, he is forced to put whatever he finds on his naked body and hope it will be comfortable.

‘Hmmm…’

He pulled out from the back of the wardrobe a very nice regalia, it had something middle-eastern in it; Calling it Muslim would be too much, it was like a mixture of Indian and Arabic design. It had a turban inside, already he got some mixed feelings about it, but overall, he could wear it. If anything, he’d put it back inside of the wardrobe and walk without it.

The material had creamy color and golden patterns of flowers and stalk making circles. Also, a very long half cape was stitched to the shoulder of the vesture. It doesn’t have to be necessary called a half cape, but he doesn’t know the exact name for something like this. That was about it, he tried to maybe find something more suiting it then Jeans he took out, yet he only found more eastern European looking pants. His dark blue Jeans would be hardly visible and the attire he’d would wear would get attention not what he has on his legs.

“Good enough”

Ichigo of course had to find something more suitable than his Black Zōri. For sure he has something hidden inside of his room that might look good on him. Maybe something else then Eastern looking shoes would do. Ichigo once again searched thru his wardrobe, he didn’t find a thing. Sadly, he was running out of time again, so he got more serious and started to look around his apartment.

Walking to another much smaller closet he opened it, finding of course more clothes that were meant for rich folks. Under the clothes or behind of them there was nothing worth of attention. Ichigo scratched his head and proceed to look in the lower parts of the closet.

It took him three minutes, but he succeeded. He found…Made from black leather, western renaissance style knee long boots. Not exact knee long ‘cuz they ended just before his knee but hey, its something. It won’t look bad, its night anyways it’s probably colder than in the morning. Ichigo threw them beside his bed and they landed with a bang louder then Ichigo imagined they would land with.

Now that he had his clothes ready, it was time to put them on, firstly he took his Zōri off his feet and together with them the tabi. He put on the socks he took out of the wardrobe and after that he managed to put on the boots he found in the other closet. He walked two times across his room to check if they are good, they were just perfect.

Ichigo took off his jacket. Raveling his hollow hole, looking at it made him a little sick. But because it was a damn hole in his chest, but because it was reminding him he was a hollow if the mask on his face wasn’t enough. Then he took off his hakama and put it right next to his jacket. He changed his underwear.

He put on his jeans, sadly they were to big, he had to find a belt. Without much effort Ichigo managed to find one in the wardrobe he took his jeans from. The belt was made from leather like most belts and the belt plate was in shape of a horse. That was all about it. Now came the worst part, putting on the goddamn middle-eastern looking thing.

Ichigo unclipped the button, then he tried to put the thing on. It went quite easy, of course to a certain point, because of the collar that was insanely hard he had limited space and couldn’t exactly look up or down. So, buttoning up was harder than he thought it would be, the holes were also very tiny, and the button just wouldn’t get in, yet due to Ichigo’s enhanced strength he managed to do it quickly and without breaking his clothing.

“Never again will I choose to wear something like this!” Ichigo spouted in annoyance

He was done, he officially has made it! And it five past midnight, he still had much time before two am in the morning.

Ichigo walked up to the mirror on the wardrobe, these damn high-class standards will kill him eventually. Why does the western world have to be so complicated?! Not to mention everything is so full of gold and shines so furiously blinding you with all that silver or sunlight being reflecting from the surface of something metal!

He covered his face with his right hand and sighted painfully.

“I look ridiculous.”

Indeed, especially with the turban on his head, his orange hair plays along with the colors quite well but the rest? Nah, it isn’t the worse thing in the world, its just for now and later he could focus on finding something more suitable for himself. Or ask for anything less expensive and simpler then this!

‘ZZZzzzZZZzzzzzzzz’

Ichigo quickly clapped his hands just above his head, killing the mosquito that dared to fly inside of his room. He tried to locate where it fell but of course probably it flew away because why not? It's not like it will bite him, only annoy him. Ichigo exited his chambers, dressed weirdly, going to visit the minister of defense.

Now, the only remaining objective he has is to go unnoticed or noticed to the minister of defense room and talk about blueblood as they agreed to. That will be a hell of a chat, he’ll learn more things then he should about Equestrian military forces. From all things, the Canadian friendliness of the pony’s is the weirdest.

It took Ichigo ten turns and five comebacks to find the minister of defenses room. The whole fucking castle was a giant maze, how did they even operate inside of this building? Not to mention this literally is a village sized palace. Ichigo knocked on the wooden doors to the minister’s room, he awaited a response, he didn’t get one. He knocked again, this time he could hear something moving inside.

The sound of slippers being rubbed against a carpet was more than familiar to the Arrancar. He heard the locks to the doors being turned, three at least were opened, whatever this old pony hides inside must be valuable. Of course, by valuable we talk about ancient plans to build weapons of mass destruction that were made on the premise of old ones written by some sort of ancient civilization or some shit.

The have opened to reveal the old pony in his stripy Pajama. Red, white and light blue were the colors of the stripes, he had a nightcap on his head too. Ichigo looked at the pony with a questioning look while the old pony looked back with a tired gaze.

“I came he-“

Ichigo couldn’t finish as the pony dragged him inside of his chamber shutting the door and closing the three locks. Ichigo has been pulled inside, he almost fell over. The old pony had a lot of strength! Jeez, he thought that old people are weaker and here’s a surprise, this pony didn’t lose his strength over the years.

Ichigo regained his balance, and now he could look around, the first thing he noticed of course was the smell of old people. The minister of defense had a large bed, most things had beige or any shade of brown similar to coffee. Dark military green also played a role in the minister room, the whole room was rather dark, there was only two candles lit that shine light at the doors and one was on a wide round wooden table.

Ichigo could not notice that the floor wasn’t covered by many carpets or in fact anything, the floors was wooden and the only thing laying on it was a red carpet closely to the doors. Ichigo also noted that there were some writing feathers in a mug on the previously mentioned round table, together with various notes written with Calligraphy.

There was a simple wooden chair, a few tea cups and also a small pot with what it seemed to be strawberry glaze remaining on it after a sweet dessert. The minister windows and balcony were closed, and that’s about everything what he could see. The light didn’t shine brightly enough to give him the ability to see the rest of the minister room in details.

“For a minute I mistook you for somepony different.” Said the minister with a tired voice

“I’m the only…Arrancar in this palace, it would be quite hard to not recognize me.”

The old pony turned towards the orange haired teen, he inspected him from the tip of his turban to the bottom.

“Are you gettin’ married?”

Ichigo was visibly taken back by that question, what kind of question was that even?!

“What kind of question is that? Of course, I’m not!”

“Then why are wearing a wedding attire? I forgot the name, but it started on S…”

That’s why it looked so familiar, it was a Sherwani after all from India or maybe this one is from Pakistani area. Or Bangladesh, to hell with all the things, it looked good that’s what matters.

“I think its common is Saddle Arabia, or somewhere from there.” Mussed the Minister

‘Yep, Pakistani sherwani, and a horse pun at the same time’

“Can we get to business?”

The old minister’s years perked at that. “Yes, yes right away” He said quickly, he placed the candle on the round table.

The minister of defense played around in the dark, Ichigo took one of the candles to shine light towards the minister. He kneeled before his giant bed, from under it he pulled out a big chest. Not a normal chest, this chest had a weird lock. The lock was round, and it had three gems in it. Red, blue and green.

“Give a few seconds lad.”

“Sure.”

The minister stood up and with a simple hand gesture requested that Ichigo gives him the candle back, Ichigo obliged. The minister burned the upper side of the lock at the same time warming up the red crystal, after it begin to glow the minister stopped.

“Ichigo, there’s a small bag with power under all those writing feathers in the mug, please hand it over.”

Ichigo did as the old pony did, he put out the feathers and took out the small bag, in movies they’re used to store gold and inside of this there’s some kind of powder? Ichigo threw it to the minister who caught the bag and opened it, he then took some from inside. The powder was dark blue in color, the minister sprinkled the candles flame with the powder.

The flame turned at first purple then dark blue. The minister did the same thing this time burning the blue gem that seemed to be covered by ice with every second. Ichigo looked at it with interest, after all it's magic he that isn’t fake but real. Tight noticed Ichigo staring at the process he rubbed his eyes with one of his hands and after that answered.

“True ice, it’s a powder made from the icicles that grow on the homes of the crystal ponies, one pinch of it is worth two thousand bits.”

Ichigo’s eyes widened “No, you’re lying for something like this?”

The minister chuckled “I recommend going to a theater or maybe a history class for newcomers, then you’d know why it’s so expensive.” The pony smiled.

“Still, I can’t believe it, how and why? There has to be another powder or spell that makes the same effect.” Ichigo sat on the wooden chair that was next to the round table

“There are, but this one is the most effective, and strongest, besides, it also changes the way fire works.” The minister stopped freezing the blue gem after it started to glow

“What exactly does it do?”

“Fire can burn without oxygen, it can’t be extinguished by water, it also can’t spread on paper or any other material.” Tight stopped “It lasts forever.”

“That’s all? For something like this? Two thousand bits? I would understand three hundred or a little more, but two thousand?”

“Well, there’s also only seven ounces of it left.” Tight gave him a serious stare.

“Oh, that changes a lot. Can’t you produce more?

The old pony looked around the back of his room to find something, he turned to him.

“Well, we need it to be winter and we need the crystal homes to be back.”

Ichigo didn’t quite understand what it meant, but it has to do as the pony said with crystal homes and crystal ponies. Ponies made out of diamonds? Maybe ponies that look like crystal, or perhaps a race of ponies that are far better and greater then Normal ponies. Like a higher race of one species.

“What exactly are the crystal homes?”

Tight has stood up with a small box that had something inside. The box looked like it was meant to hold candy inside. Tight opened it and from inside of it he took out a white pill, it could be that he was taking his medicines, but he held them in an unmarked cartoon box. How is he able to tell if he takes the right medicines?

The minister put the box away and held the pill in his hand. He looked around and seemed to look for something, but he didn’t see it. The he hit himself in the head and opened one of the windows. Ichigo watched with interest what in the hell is this he is doing. Outside of his window there seemed to be a canister, that was standing on a plank nailed to the brick wall in an amateur manner.

The minister seemed to have bad luck as the has his windows right next to a gutter, this gutter could be opened so that the water from the rain could flow somewhere else rather than straight down. In this case, inside of the canister.

Tight reached for something, as Ichigo has thought it was a glass, to which he poured the rainwater. He then closed the window and dropped the pill into the water. The pony approached him, and with his finger he begin to stir. So that the pill may dissolve and do something to the water.

“What are you doing now?” Ichigo asked, a little surprisedby what was going on.

“Preparing something, while at it, what do you think it will be? We had fire, and freezing fire, both were loyal to their colors, now we have green what do you think it is?”

Red meant warmth and fire, in most cases it's like this. Blue may mean cold and water, here he has seen freezing fire. Probably the effect he wanted to achieve was cold. Now green, its has to be linked with nature, maybe earth, but he doubts it. It could be that now he is trying to do something connected to plants.

“Nature for sure, but what exactly I do not know.”

“You’re close”

What could he do with some sort of upgraded water? Give it to some plants and make them grow quicker or instantly and these plants will mutate, thanks to this they will make some sort of acid he will drop on the green gem and the lock will open? Too many possibilities. But he’s more then sure it has to do with plants.

“Something to do with plants?”

“No, the answer is blood”

Ichigo looked at him with shocked eyes.

“Wait what?!”

The pony walked over to the lock and he poured the red liquid on the lock, the gem glow green after the substance met with the surface of the gem. The lock begin to glow, and the chest was illuminated with light. The chest that was covered by the light was slowly stopping glowing as the light was sucked into the lock. Once the shield that covered the chest was all gone the lock gave up and fell down.

“It was the blood of a Pigasus, mixed together with the pollen of Lunar flowers, they can turn stale blood into a liquid again. Or anything that turned stale into liquid for a small amount of time.”

‘Makes total sense!’

Tight picked up the chest, he had some troubles to pick it from the ground as he couldn’t get a good grip, but eventually he did succeed. He brought the chest to the round table and put it on it. He took one of the candles on the table and walked across his room to lit candles on. The atmosphere became less dull and grumpy after some light illuminated the room.

Ichigo now could see that the minister had a battle with chores, and apparently the third side-laziness-has won the battle. His room was all messy, he saw two additional smaller doors, probably towards the bathroom and the kitchen or perhaps a different room. He had his uniform on a standing hanger. Well reserved and clean with all the medals on the uniform.

There was a bookshelf, with a lot of books on it, many of them looked like professional books meant to educate yourself. Not fantasy books like Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit, but philosophical books. They also were quite old and looked destroyed.

There were some maps rolled up and put against the wall, some weird paintings partially covered with a blanket, one showed a pony being stabbed with a spear. While a hand of a lizard held him up high like a banner. The pony had his hand reaching for something, having a dapper meaning that perhaps the pony wanted to touch his homeland by trying to catch the horizon?

“Now we may start discussing”

The pony opened the chest and put out documents, notes, post, even actual photos that looked like the ones made in the eighty’s or the ninety’s. Ichigo took one of them. On this photo was Blueblood that hit, a maid in her face. Ichigo’s blood pressure raised significantly at that point. It was hard to tell if the pony was pretty or not.

“He hit a maid?’

“He has done worse things, believe me.”

“Celestia allows this?”

“She doesn’t know, even if she knew she wouldn’t do a thing Ichigo, because punishing Blueblood for doing such things would only anger him, besides, it’s not worth it, it’s a minor border crossing.”

Ichigo stood up and slammed his hands into the table.

“That’s abuse, back home if this escaped to the public, his career would be dead for good”

“Then your home is much better than Equestria, here such things are censored for greater good”

“I see.” Ichigo responded annoyed “Tell me you at least threatened him to show this?”

“I wanted too but I thought twice before doing something, Blueblood has too much power. I support Celestia with all my efforts, she’d get the response rather then me and I cannot allow this to happen”

“What response?”

“Blueblood is a good manipulator” The pony gave Ichigo a letter.

Ichigo unfolded the paper and read it while the Pony explained.

“Blueblood always seeks the support of those high that have problems, he firstly tries to inject with his own force some sort of addictions or habits to then record them and under the pressure of showing it to Celestia order them around.”

The letter:

I know that you don’t like to help orphans, you despise them, you think of them as less intelligent pony’s because their parents couldn’t teach them family values. I know that you are one of the main reasons some were against inviting Rainbow Dash to the gala as she is befriended with that orphan undeveloped Pegasus…it would be sad if someone got to know about it. May I offer a deal? You show support every time I will call for the appointment of Silver Leaf as the governor of Manehattan. Nothing will get heard by Celestia…

“Here he wanted to use a less valuable pony for his own political influence, Silver Leaf is a mare, she is addicted to a special branch of drugs, these drugs are Legal in the Gryphon Empire for medicine production. Shipping them here and then manufacturing a stronger version of the drug is a very risky but also an astronomically profitable business.”

“You allow this to happen?”

The minister just turned the other way “I can’t do much, or else they’ll come for me.”

“You let others suffer because you are scared of you own life?! This is enough for her to at least do something!” Ichigo stood up

“Sit down and calm yourself, you don’t understand I-“

“I understand way more than you think I do! This is some straight BS!”

Ichigo begin to look at other notes and letters Blueblood has send. How did Tight even get them was irrelevant. Ichigo quickly scanned the letters, more threats and deal offers. All had something to do with gaining seats or perhaps making an alliance and therefore giving Blueblood more space to operate in the parliament. His radical views are unacceptable, there were two letters with responses, one pony tried to reason with Blueblood, but Blueblood seemed to ignore the letter, as he didn’t find a response letter to the response.

“Why from all you choose me to share this with you?”

The pony moved his head right and left, he lacked words. The old minister had troubles finding the rights words or else he might trigger Ichigo even more. The pony opened his mouth a few times, after a moment he sat down. The silence between the both characters was intense, and the atmosphere was cold and deadly.

“Doesn’t your reaction say for itself?” The old pony shrugged his arms “You helped us in defending Equestria and didn’t demand anything from us. You talked about your past. Besides, I was once almost exactly like you. Overprotective towards my friends and beloved ones. To the point where I lost a very precious pony. Who knows, maybe if she was still alive I would constantly refuse the title of minister of defense and serve in the army instead…

I always wanted my friends and family to be happy, so I tried to protect them from harm that would cause them to suffer. I bought presents, fixed things and helped as much as I could. After they passed away, I was only left with objects and memories that remind me of them every now and then. More importantly I was left with my country.

I am a patriot Ichigo, this land is the home of my mother and father, of my friends and it shaped me the way it did, it shaped them, and it gave them the happiness. This glorious country is ran by Celestia who made it so that we could leave in peace and Harmony. I can’t allow that the star of my families and friends home will get denigrated because I choose to do something wrong!”

Tight Grip stood up and looked Ichigo straight into his eyes.

“The only way to end all of this, is to somehow eliminate Blueblood, and it can’t be done by showing all this to daylight” He said with a malicious, angry and cold tone.

“Would this really have such impact? Others would realize she didn’t know, th-“

“Exactly because of this, she doesn’t know, what will the citizens think of the ruler of this country when they get to know such monstrosities are happening under her nose? They’ll lose hope!”

Tight Grip walked over to his windows, and he slowly moved the hangings away to look outside.

“It is my fault, if I reacted earlier maybe it wouldn’t be that bad…Equestria was always guided by powerful leaders without them or believe in them Equestrian national unity is at its lowest.” Tight Grip forced those words out of himself, his voice partially broken.

“What part do I play in all of this? You are right I won’t allow others to be hurt, and I will help you, but what part do I have in this?”

“I-I…” The minister sighed “I needed somepony popular, that would serve as a counter force against Bluebloods popularity in the public, a war hero like you would also keep the spirit in the ponies for at least a few days if anything would go wrong.”

Ichigo felt stabbed in the heart by those words, he felt weak right now. Again, abandoned and alone. This was it? Being used as a shield so that this…To have more time if something goes wrong? That was insane, that was not fair. Not after what he had to live thru, that is not fair!

“You intended on using me!” Ichigo took a few steps towards the minister.

“Wouldn’t you do the same god damn thing?!” The minister snapped

“No! I wouldn’t, because I have the strength to change most things, so that the outcome may be to my liking!”

“I reached out towards you because I thought you’d understand my worries! If you have the power, then use it! Defend all of ‘em! What power is it? Fear? Magic perhaps? Some sort of woo do magic to take over the minds of the ponies?”

Fear struck Ichigo the most, because that’s exactly what would be the outcome if he used his powers, to imagine what his full powered Getsuga might do to living beings now that he is half a spirit half a being that lives in the living world.

“What would Blueblood gain by the Changeling Victory?”

“Two things, either absolute power if the Princesses died, from which one is either way hated. Or he’d take over and Celestia would be brought down to a mere representative level to keep the fire in the hearts burning.”

“She is a God from what I learned, she can’t be controlled.”

The minister nodded “Perhaps, or perhaps not, she loves us, she would give up everything for us, and if Blueblood had the power he could do anything to us, therefore with fear control Celestia.”

Ichigo understood what he meant, she loved her ponies so much she would die for them. Celestia is a good leader, protective and warm, he begins to like more and more.

“One thing bothers me however…”

“What is it? Maybe I will be able to explain.” Tight encouraged him with a hand gesture to speak.

“Why is Luna so hated, what did she do?”

The minister stood in Front of the teen and looked at him with all seriousness, he had a cold look, at his pupils burned with anger after he heard him mentioning Luna. He hates her too, he should have a point if he truly hates her, or else his hatred would be unjustified.

“As much as I love Celestia’s rulership, I don’t like what she did.”

The minister of defense approached his book shelf, he pulled out a rather new book, it looked more like a school book then a reading material. He approached Ichigo and handed the book over.

“Page forty-seven to fifty-one”

Ichigo took the book, and eyed it, he didn’t want to open it yet.

“It's your choice if you want to help me. If you want to act on your own I’m more than happy to cooperate and share my information. But if anything happens, never say my name. Do you understand?”

“Yeah, I do…”

Ichigo took three steps backwards, and turned away, he opened the doors to the hallway and exited the ministers chamber. While closing the door he could see that the minister was really tense and worried what he will do now. One thing for sure, he won’t stand and watch as innocent are being hurt.

“Please, Luna don’t turn out to be a monster.”

Author's Notes:

Well? Good enough? I hope...Sorry for the grammar.

Support me on Fanfiction under the name of TheOPstoryTeller