"My name is Ichigo Kurosaki... and I am just an average guy." He puts his hands behind his back, laying in his bed, closing his eyes and remembering the good days, before he lost his powers defeating Aizen...
(Knock,knock,knock at his door, as Karin says)"Hey, Ichigo, it's almost midnight, go to bed already and shut off your light, dad atleast pays the bills around here, ya know?"(then she walks away from the door and down the hallway, as he gets up, turns the light off, and lays in bed again, watching the moonlight come in through his open window, and he sighs, thinking to drift off into a deep sleep so he can be rested and go to school tomorrow, as just another normal, teenage boy, with no special powers...)
Suddenly, he hears a voice, and when he opens his eyes, he's in his mindscape somehow, and he looks around, somewhat freaked out, since theres just the one building from his old inner soul, and everything else is pitch black, no sky or anything. Looking up, he see's 6 shadowy figures, standing apart from each other, each one on all fours and slightly different looking just from their outlines. Suddenly he notices a 7th figure behind them, standing taller than they are, yet this one is actually able to be seen, as it suddenly jumps high up into the air, sprouts wings and hovers using them, then shouts, "ICHIGO KUROSAKI, WE HAST BEEN AWAITING THOU!"
"Whoa, why are you shouting, and what are all of you?" he says, quizzikal expression on his face as he looks over each shadow below, then the one above him, and gets a serious, albeit inwardly confuzed, expression on his face.
The shadow above the others merely retorts with, "ONE OF THESE 6 MARES ARE TO BECOME THY NEW ZANPAKTOU, ICHIGO!"
He flinches, and thinks, 'Wait, did I just hear that correctly?!', before shouting a reply, "What do you mean, 'New Zanpaktou'?! I thought a Soul Reaper could only have one in their lifetime!"
The shadow above suddenly flashes it's big eyes angrily white, as a bolt of lightning flashes behind it, before it goes back to the way it was before, saying, "DOST THOU NOT WISHETH A NEW LIFE?!"
Ichigo, hearing that, finally understands that this is real, and that his choices now affect everything he does from this point onward, and says, "Hey, I need to choose one of those 6, right?" starting to look determined, with a renewed sense of hope coming into him.
"YES, KUROSAKI, NOW CHOOSE ONE, FOR WE MUST LEAVE!" the shadow commands, making to leave his inner world via a portal made from blue magic, but Ichigo, seeing her turn to leave, asks-
"Hey, what's your name?" to wich the shadow slowly turns around, and taking the form of the Princess of the Night, Luna, she replies-
"We were once part of thine former technique, thy so called, 'Lunar Fang'. Though we hast a new life, all our own now.", then leaves, with a knowing smile, since she can guess as to his choice, the portal instantly closing behind her.
Ichigo, understanding of her words, nods as she goes, then somberly begins deliberating in his head which one to pick from, then suddenly hears a voice, like an over-excited girl's, coming from the one farthest to the right, "OOH, OOH, I AM SOOO EXCITED!", she seems to turn her head to Ichigo as she takes form as a Pink Earth Pony, with a poofy pink mane of slightly darker color, and poofy tail to match, plus blue eyes that contrast to her color, and 3 Ballon shaped marks on her flanks, two outer blue ones and the one in the middle being yellow, as well as a golden necklace inset in the middle with the same Ballon mark('s) as on her flanks, with a very happy expression on her face, continuing with, "Are you excited-cuz I'm excited-and I haven't been this excited since that time,"(She mouths a word or two, but Ichigo misses it somehow),"-came to town and I said,"(Sharp Intake of breath, and then laughter, as the one closest to it on the right, beginning to take form says-
"Oh, um..."(mouths a word or two but Ichigo misses it, again),"-I think you shouldn't be so loud, my ear's still kind of ring from Luna's Royal Canterlot Voice." She appears to be a Pegasus Pony with a yellowish coat and a Pink mane, although this one looks normal compared to the poofy curls of the other one, with a matching tail of pink that stretches to the ground, and 3 Butterfly shaped marks on her flanks, colored pink and yellow, and having eyes, which are green, that almost constantly say, 'sorry', and having a simaler shy expression on her face, reminding him immideatly of Orihime for some reason, and notices the simalerly marked necklace around her neck.
The one closest to the middle on the right side, taking form as a Cyan colored Pegasus Pony with a Rainbow colored mane and tail and a determined expression on her face, with Violet colored eyes, "I bet Ichigo chooses me, the fastest flyer in Ponyville!", she does a quick somersault through the air, then lands with a prideful pose and facial expression, he notices a Cloud shaped mark with a lightning bolt of Rainbow under it, as well as a simaler necklace around her neck.
The one to the left of her, turning up as a Purple colored Alicorn Pony with two different colored streaks in her otherwise purple Mane and tail, which are Violet and Pink, with a large violet-pink colored Sparkle Mark on her flanks with a Tiara instead of a necklace tipped at the top with her mark, and with warm, friendly purple eyes, says, to the Rainbow one, "Hey,"(a word slips his ears again)"-don't gloat before he even chooses who will be his Zanpaktou, atleast not yet." She gives him a ,'Yeah, I'm pretty powerful, myself.', look and raises her left hoof halfway into the air, spreading her wings in an act of getting his attention, before he notices the one to her left about to speak.
"Well, if I didn't know any better, I'd say he's going to choose some-pony a little more regal than any of you girls.", says a White Unicorn with a Purple, curly mane and tail, plus large, slightly siamese-like blue eyes, with a sea-green eyeliner above them, and 3 blue Jewel marks on her flanks, complete with a necklace with one of the Jewels inset into it, and a simaler expression to the Alicorn's, for some reason she reminded him of Uryu Ishida, she had an affected accent, like she was of some sort of higher class or something.
The last one, all the way over to the left, who reveals herself to be an Orange Earth Pony, with a straighter Yellow Mane and tail, simaler in style to the Rainbow one, but longer and cinched at the ends with a Red-colored ribbon, a Stetson Hat, 3 Apple-shaped marks on her flanks, and a simalarly adorned necklace, speaks up, with a prideful, yet strong-or is it determined?- facial expression, "Well, girls, as the Element of Honesty, ah say we should just let 'im figure out who's the best for his-self, instead 'o tryin' to show out like yer in one 'o Trixie's act's."
And Ichigo immideatly notices the accent on that one, funny, yet truthful at the same time.
The other girls suddenly turn to her with facial expressions that seem to say, 'Wait, what?', as she looks intently, yet with a warmness that comes from years of experience, towards Ichigo, and he makes a mental note of her, stashing it away for a moment, before looking away from them all, sitting down cross-legged, putting his right hand on his chin as he leans back on his left and stretches his legs out, looking up now at the spot where Luna had left, as a flashback happens...
-"We are the remnants of thy old technique, thy 'Lunar Fang"-
And he thinks of another time, just 2 day's ago, when Uryu came to his house to speak to him in his room, odd even for him to come to Ichigo's home, let alone want to be in his room, but anyway...
-"Ichigo", Uryu starts, standing next to his window, looking at the sunset coming over the city, before pulling the curtains over it, and getting the most serious expression he's ever had, turns to face his comrade,"I know a few things about you that you need to know, right here, right now, and," He looks dead into Ichigo's freaked out eyes, blocking off a response from Ichigo, "If anyone asks, I was never here, got that?"
Ichigo nods, slowly but trying to process his words, now with just a confused expression, as he decides to sit down on his bed for what's about to come next...
Uryu looks down and sighs, knowing that his next words could end his friendship, "Ichigo Kurosaki," He says, resolving to telling his friend a deep truth and looking into Ichigo's eyes, he continues, "You have more than one heritage, stemming from your mom-"
Ichigo interrupts, almost yelling, "Wait, what the hell are you-?!" As Uryu puts a hand on his shoulder and looks calmly at his friend, telling him to shut up, and just listen, he goes on-
"Your mother was a... Quincy..." Ichigo hears this and looks serious, trying to find any lie in his words, and upon finding none, Uryu continues, "And you can unlock this, if you would rather walk the path of an enemy of the Seiretei."
Ichigo just flinches at that, saying, "What...Uryu, what do you-?" again, Uryu gives him a stern look telling him to just shut up, as he goes on-
"From what I've also learned, your old man's true family name is one you might remember from our time in the Seiretei, when we went to go save Rukia, and I lost my powers... though I got them back, eventually." Looking at his Quincy Cross, he continues, before Ichigo bombards him again, "I believe you could ask Urahara about that, though, since my time away from home is... limited, so to speak, before my father comes home, and don't you dare ask me about that, Kurosaki, it's bad enough that you've been lied to about your life, I don't wanna lie to you about mine, too." He goes to exit the door and leave, noticing on his watch the time, but 'drops' a note on his rug as he leaves, Ichigo about to scream at him, but letting him go, too shaken to say much, inwardly thinking, 'What the hell was all that about?! What the hell is this all about?!... DAMNIT, Uryu!" then he notices the note, and moves across the room to pick it up...
The note says, in a scrawl, "Ichigo, if you're reading this, then know that the only way to unlock your TRUE heritage is to come to my house, 3 day's from now, Saturday, at 11 P.M., and DON'T bring anyone else with you, it could bring disaster on whomever you do..."
On the back, there was one sentence, only one, and what it said made ichigo's spine tingle. as if Uryu were there saying it to him right now, it read, "The Quincy War isn't over yet, Ichigo..."
-End Flashback-
As he recoils a little from the bad memory, the girls take notice and murmur amongst themselves as to what he's doing, Pink one thinking about throwing a party to cheer him up, Yellow one being concerned for his well-being, Rainbow thinking of doing a Buccaneer Blitz almost does, before being chastised by Purple about potentially harming his inner world if she did, to White looking around at the dark and empty world around her and thinking of how she'd 'spruce it up a bit!', Orange simply watching all of her friends react to him, does the one thing that the others didn't think to do, and reaches under her hat to retrieve a bottle of her famous Apple Cider, before walking over to him, whilst the others either bicker, complain, or worry about something or other.
She trots over to him and sits down, Ichigo noting now that her friends had seemingly started to quiet down, looking on in wonder at what the Orange mare was about to do, so when he notices the bottle next to him, he immideatly picks it up, looking at the label, surprise very evident in his face, and looking at her friendly face, he asks, "2 things, one is, how can this exist in my inner world? and the other is, why did you give this to me, espescially since I've never heard of one being able to take anything from the inner world, other than a Zanpaktou, out of it?" confusion and wonder evident in his face, as he awaits her answer.
She ponders the questions for a moment, then raises a hoof as if to explain, "Back in my world, we made these 'lil things so ponies from all over the town, and some from outside of it, could come an' get a taste o' all the hard work an' pride we put into our Farm-work. An' because some of'm really needed it," The Rainbow one interrupts, "Yeah! But SOMMMME PONY KEPT GETTING IT ALL!" looking at the Pink one, who giggles, and the other girls do as well, before the Orange one continues and the others come closer and listen to her explanation, "Right, well, anyway, to answer yer other question, ya can so long as the item in question is about that size AND belongs in the real world, which in yer case is probably a refridgerator." she smiles, as the other girls laugh at that one, Ichigo thinking, 'Ok, Orange, you've got my attention the most, and since you seem to have some very good qualities that I'm looking for in a partner, then...', he breaks the thought, standing up, putting the Cider in his pocket, and turning to leave, looks back at the 6 mares standing in front of him, confused at his walking away.
"I'm gonna sleep on it, if that's ok, girls?" They all agree the way one would expect, and disapear into the shadows, but not before each one also gives him a gift from their world, Pink giving him a cake with his favorite flavor in it, Yellow giving him a parting hug which definitly reminded him of Orihime, Rainbow giving him her special one-off copy of the first Daring Do book signed by Daring Do, even though she was kind of pained at losing it, White giving him a Black-leather jacket sewn in with Emeralds around the waist and shoulders, as well as a studded 'Substitute Soul Reaper' Logo on the back, and Purple giving him the strangest gift of all, a book that apparently had all of their adventures and thoughts in one huge volume, which he almost struggled to carry, when combined with everything else, before they all left, him feeling strangely sorry to only be able to pick out one from the group, and not knowing what else to say or do, he returns to his normal body, and surprisingly, the gifts he just recieved, other than the Yellow One's Orihime-like embrace, were sitting on the top row of his open closet, which he immideatly thinks of two things, one being about how Rukia used to sleep in there, and the other being how the darn thing got opened in the first place, before deciding that he'd just see Urahara about a few things tomorrow, and then decide on the thing that Uryu wanted him for at his house in after being at Urahara's, since tomorrow was Saturday.
As he drifts off to sleep, he thinks, 'Man, what have I found myself in now?'...
Unbeknownst to him, a certain Princess of the Night was watching him from a portal that her and her sister, Celestia had made, using the same magic also found in the Humanized World that Twilight had visited not so long ago, and upon seeing him sleep, Luna feels content, patient enough to wait on his decision for now.
Celestia, looking on at this chain of events unfolding before her, was somewhat nervous, but happy for the girls nonetheless, since this was a once in a lifetime chance that wouldn't happen again until another 100 years could pass, smiling down at the napping Ichigo, preparing for something that no-one but herself knew about, thinking, 'Hmmm... tomorrow is going to be full of surprises, I see.'
"Good-night, dear sister." Says a sleepy Celestia, as her sister nods and watches the sky, slightly giggling at who she expects will be chosen tomorrow, since all of their powers can potentially evolve into something greater than what the late Zangetsu's limited range of attacks and abilities were.
Author's Notes:
(TLPH) "Holy crap, that took what felt like a HOLE FRIGGIN' DAY, just to get out of my head AND INTO A... viewable?...yea, since it's not necessarily a physical substance..." (And DAMN all typo's to Silent Hill!)|(Then, to Luna) "Hey, Luna, you think I should bring back the Hollow side thing? Maybe even one based off of the dark side of the Pony Ichigo chooses?
(Luna) "Oh yes, the fun should be DOUBLED!" (Seeing this major idea start to look like a true success, she is happy.)
(TLPH) "Alrighty then, folks, see ya'll next time... with or without a Hollowfication!~