The Elements of Harmony met up at Fluttershy’s house to comfort her.

“So, Sugarcube, can ya let me get mah facts straight.” Applejack pushed her cowgirl hat up and rubbed her eye.

“You’re saying you saw a ghost.”

Fluttershy, trembling, nodded. Applejack took that as a sign to continue.

“And the ghost was Derpy, only she was chained to her house.”

Another nod.

“Listen, Fluttershy, I know you’re upset-“

“I saw her. I actually saw her! Please believe me!”

Applejack was slightly unnerved by Fluttershy’s outburst. She was usually one of the most reserved members of their small group of friends, and to actually have her speaking above her normal tone was usually a sign that she really meant what she said.

“Alright, then…” Applejack wasn’t entirely convinced, but she wanted Fluttershy to be at ease. Twilight was ecstatic at this discovery.

“But there’s been no recorded instances of ghosts existing before! This is a new discovery that could change how we view life and death!” She was bouncing around like a happy schoolfilly. She then paused, as a thought struck her.

“But I don’t think that ghosts really exist, but if I can see Derpy, then I can confirm that she exists as a ghost, if you don’t mind, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy squeaked and buried herself in her blankets.

“Alright, Fluttershy. I’m sorry about that. Really.” She looked at Rainbow Dash.

“Could you stay with Fluttershy, Rainbow? I think it’d really help her get over this.” Rainbow Dash nodded. There was no way she’d abandon a friend in need of support, even if she wanted to see if Derpy was still alive as a ghost.

“I still can’t believe that we’re in a new world! Pretty cool, huh, Captain Hitsugaya?”

“Just be quiet, Lieutenant.”

“Geez, you’re on edge today. What’s up?”

Hitsugaya glared at Renji Abarai, lieutenant of Squad 6. He was a good officer- unlike his own lieutenant, Matsumoto- and was almost full captain class, apart from his lack of skill in Kido. But he was almost annoyingly casual in his duties, like now.

“We’re in an unfamiliar plane of reality and you’re just treating it as if it was some sort of holiday, Lieutenant.” Renji just made a ‘humph’ noise and continued taking photographs with the camera that Mayuri had given him, while Hitsugaya started writing up a report for the Seiretei Communication.

This world is extremely colourful, unlike other planes, like Hueco Mundo, or the World of the Living. Everything here- the water, the grass, the trees, even the sky are brighter, as if the whole world is a Childs colouring book- almost unnatural compared to normal colours of trees and the environment in the Soul Society. The local wildlife in the forest where we first entered this new world appears to be similar to the World of the Living mythology- we saw a creature that could turn whatever living creature looked at it into stone, known as a cockatrice. We also saw what looked like manticores, huge beasts that I wouldn’t feel confident about fighting if it could see me. There was even what looked like a migration of dragons, flying overhead. After leaving the forest, we have decided to keep far away from settled areas in the distance. The closest area appears to be a small village of some sort.

Hitsugaya put his pen down. It was a start on what was going to be a long report. The small hut in front of them appeared not to hold anything hostile, but he had personally requested to the Head Captain to refuse Gigai, as if it was a physical plane, nothing normal should be able to see them. Then the door opened, and a female voice said, “Alright, girls, let’s-“ and, too late, did he realise that these beings had spiritual awareness. Then he realized what he was looking at, and stared at them, unable to believe what his senses were telling him.

Twilight, Rarity and Applejack stared at the… creatures in front of them.

The taller of the two was slightly taller than Princess Celestia, and was carrying in its forepaws some sort of leech-like creature, with a large, organic lamp. It had a strange-looking, bright red mane, pulled back into a spiky ponytail. Its brown eyes were narrower and smaller than a normal pony’s eyes, and it appeared to have no fur to speak of, and a flatter face than a pony, with no muzzle. It wore some sort of loose, black garment, tied with a white sash at the middle, with something long sheathed on its left in a brown casing.

The other one was closer to a normal pony’s height, and was similarly startled. It had a straggly, unkempt white mane, sticking upwards with a lock hanging over its face. It had large turquoise eyes, and a similarly flat face to its companion. A pen loosely dangled in its paw, over a piece of paper on the tree stump next to it. It wore the same black garment, but it wore a white, short-sleeved coat as well. A dark-green sash went over its right shoulder, with some sort of grip sticking up, with a four-pointed piece of carved wood on the end. The two parties stared at each other, trying to work out what they were seeing.  Then Pinkie Pie bounced over to the shorter one and held out her hoof.

Hitsugaya stared at the pink … pony. That was the only word he could use to describe it as. It was almost offensively pink, like the time the lieutenant of Squad 2 had worn a pink leotard on a day, which all shinigami who had witnessed it preferred to refer to as ‘The Unspoken.’ And it was holding a hoof out at him, and it was looking at him. He looked back at the hoof. It tilted its head at him in a curiously human fashion, and then it spoke.

“Silly Shinigami, you shake it!”

It speaks. And it knows what I am.

“Uhhh… Captain Hitsugaya? The pony just talked.”

The rest of the Elements of Harmony mentally backpedalled. The creatures could talk! They had assumed that these creatures could speak in their own language, as they evidently understood civilised concepts such as getting dressed. But for them to actually talk Equestrian so fluently… it was unheard of. Plenty of creatures could speak Equestrian, true. Diamond Dogs, dragons, griffins, they could all speak it, in varying degrees of fluency. But these creatures were foreign to Equestria- no mention was made in actual pony history, but there were similar creatures in pony mythology- unnamed creatures that walked on their hind legs, wore loose black clothes and could speak Equestrian.

Known as balancers.

“Oh. My. Sweet. Celestia.”

Next Chapter: Visitation Part 2. Estimated time remaining: 9 Minutes