I do not own Bleach or My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

Chapter 7: Neightown Never Sounded So Good

Sugarcube Corner was packed with almost everypony in Ponyville. It had been sometime since Pinkie Pie hosted a party of this magnitude, not since Princess Celestia visited a few months before this celebration.

Everypony was busy chatting, but the guests of honor, all except Orihime, stood quiet in a corner. They had always been used to staying quiet and under the radar, so this was a strange experience.

"What are you doing?" Orihime asked Pinkie.

The pink party pony tipped the red bottle in her mouth to cover a pink frosted cupcake. "What does it look like, silly filly? I'm putting hot sauce on my cupcake."

She ate the treat in one bite.

Orihime looked on, amazed. "Wow! I'd never thought of that! Can I try one?"

Before she could move, Pinkie shoved a coated sweet into the orange-maned mare's mouth. She chewed on the cupcake for a few moments before she spoke.

"Oh, wow! That's really good!"

Uryu witnessed the exchange and sighed. "It figures Orihime would like something like that."

During their short time reunited, the others explained to Chad what was going on. Now, the giant colt stood quiet next to Ichigo.

"So, where were you yesterday, Chad?" The pegasus asked.

Chad didn't move. "I was feeding some bunnies, and then I stayed with Fluttershy."

Rukia smiled slyly from the other side of Ichigo. "Oh, so SHE's your type."

The brown earth pony blushed slightly. "N-no, it's not like that."

"Don't get too attached, Chad," Uryu interjected coldly, "we are going to have to leave sometime. Besides, these 'ponies' are an entirely different species than us."

"And long distance relationships usually don't work, not to mention inter-universal relationships." Rukia added.

Chad nodded. "I know; we're just friends."

Pinkie suddenly appeared in the middle of the group, wrapping her arms around Rukia's and Ichigo's necks. "Come on, everypony, time to meet the guests of honor!"

A large group of ponies gathered around them.

Applejack, Twilight, Rainbow, and Fluttershy stood on the other side of the room, away from the mob of ponies eager to meet new friends.

"Has anypony seen Rarity?" Twilight asked her friends.

Applejack shrugged. "Ah talked to her 'fore comin'. She said she'd be here. Ah'm more int'rested in Fluttershy and the big guy, though."

Fluttershy blushed and looked at her hooves.

"Wait a minute; I thought you liked Big Macintosh." Rainbow leaned in towards the yellow pegasus.

"Um, is it that obvious? I mean, um," Fluttershy stammered, "Chad likes animals, too, and he was just so helpful when I fed the little bunnies."

Twilight stared empathetically at her shy friend. "Fluttershy, listen, Chad and his friends aren't going to be around for long. They're, um, just visiting for a while."

She wasn't lying completely; the five new ponies were going to have to leave eventually, after all, this wasn't their universe.

"What're ya'll talkin' 'bout, Twi?" Applejack eyed the violet unicorn.

"I talked with Ichigo and his friends earlier. They're just passing through." Twilight answered with as much confidence as possible.

Twilight wasn't a bad liar, but it was hard to slip anything passed the pony that represented the Spirit of Honesty.

"Alright, Twilight," Applejack conceded, "if ya'll say so."

The unicorn relaxed slightly, she hadn't realized how tense she was during the brief interrogation.

"Anyway, where IS your brother, Applejack?" Twilight changed the subject.

The farm pony turned to look at the large group of ponies surrounding Ichigo and his friends. "Well, somepony has to stay and look after the farm, and it shore ain't gonna be Granny Smith."

Rainbow was looking at Ichigo flying above the group. Uryu was yelling at him. Ichigo tried to fly away, mocking Uryu the entire time, but was stopped by a group of pegasi.

She turned to look at Twilight, her voice laced with sadistic intent. "Isn't Caramel in town?"

Twilight felt her face turn red, it wasn't very noticeable, but she was aware of it.

"Ha! Ya'll couldn't pay me to let Caramel look after the farm. He wanted ta come in town anyway." Applejack laughed as she explained.

"I wonder why." The sky-blue pegasus' voice overflowed with sarcasm.

"I-" Twilight started, but was stopped at the sound of a collective gasp.

Everypony looked at the crowd, and then turned their gaze where the large group was staring. What they saw caused the four mares' jaws to drop: Princess Celestia was standing in the doorway. All of the party goers, except for the five new ponies, bowed.

The princess was magnificent and royal looking. Her snow-white coat; her long, pale-rainbow hued, flowing mane and tail; and her sun Cutie Mark and matching necklace shouted elegance. Ichigo and his friends looked on in awe.

"Wait," Uryu whispered, "she has a horn AND wings? What does that make her?"

He was 'shhed' by Orihime, who was then bowing next to Pinkie Pie.

Twilight smiled and trotted up to her mentor. "Princess! What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Twilight!" Celestia nuzzled Twilight's cheek. "We're here to meet the new ponies, of course."

"'We?'" The violet unicorn echoed.

Princess Celestia side-stepped to reveal an indigo pony of the same breed behind her; the smaller filly's mane and tail were light-blue and her black-cloud Cutie Mark with moon matched the necklace she wore.

"H-hello." The other pony whispered.

The crowd gasped as one again, this time Orihime joined them, though she didn't know why.

"Oh!" Twilight's eyes widened. "Princess Luna, how…nice to see you."

"Who are they?" Rukia whispered.

Uryu kept his voice low. "Twilight said 'Princess Celestia.' She must be the one who wrote the letter."

"What about the other one?" Chad tried to whisper, but his voice still rumbled despite his best efforts.

Nopony had time to guess as Princess Celestia spied the four across the room. "Ah! You must be them."

"Y-yes, your majesty." Rukia answered.

"No need to by shy. Come here." The regal alicorn said.

Rukia nudged the still bowing Orihime with a hoof before the five started in the direction of the two royal ponies and Twilight.

…..

The party had started again after the two princesses greeted Ichigo and his friends. It took a bit of convincing by Celestia for Luna to introduce herself. They all, Twilight included, sat around a large table away from the main room where the party was still taking place.

"So," Ichigo's voice was hard, "you know Hat-n-Clogs?"

Princess Celestia looked confused. "Do you mean Kisuke?"

Rukia glared at Ichigo. "Yes he does your majesty."

"Then the answer is yes."

The tan pegasus became even more tense. "And you knew we were coming?"

The alicorn nodded.

"And you agree to this plan of his?" He continued, his anger ever rising.

She nodded again. "I felt it was a good opportunity for learning."

Ichigo exploded into a fit of cursing and yelling.

"ICHIGO!" Rukia shouted at the top of her lungs. "You are in the presence of royalty. Sit down and shut up."

He sat on his haunches, his front legs crossed in front of his chest and his wings extended out of anger.

"I'm sorry, Princess." Rukia apologized for Ichigo.

"No need. Kisuke told me he was quick to anger." Princess Celestia smiled and waved her hoof.

"Since you know Urahara," Uryu spoke up, "maybe you can tell us why he sent us here."

The princess faced the colt. "Didn't he already tell you? You're here to learn."

The white unicorn sighed as he continued. "He told us that much, but I want to know; why."

"I can't tell you anymore," Celestia went on, "for two reasons; one, Kisuke made me promise, and two, that's all there is. He wanted you to learn about us and our ways without merely hearing it from me."

"Um, Tia." Luna interrupted.

Celestia turned to the indigo alicorn. "What is it, little sister?"

"Remember what you told me? About the monsters." The small filly continued.

"Oh, that's right! Kisuke told me to tell you something." She said to the group. "He said let you know why we don't have Hollows and for you to tell us about your afterlife. The answer to the first part is because we don't know anything about after death. It's a mystery. Once a pony passes on, that's it. We don't know anything else."

Rukia closed her eyes. "Hmm. Well, I suppose it's our turn."

She pulled out a pad and crayons from out of nowhere.

"She must've learned that from Pinkie." Twilight thought out loud.

Ichigo grimaced. "No. She does this all the time."

Rukia drew with a few colors, holding the crayons in her mouth to use them. "You see, we actually have three worlds in our universe. Well, four, but Hueco Mundo is still a bit of a mystery. Anyway," she held the drawing in her mouth, causing her voice to sound muffled, the picture depicted something that looked like Earth and the Sereitei with a dark-purple in between and crudely drawn rabbit heads encircling the entire thing, "here's Erf, and ofer here is the Soul Society; and, thif if the Dangai Prefipife World. When a perfon dies, their soul begins to trafel between the Soul Society and Erf using the Dangai Prafipife World."

"Um, why don't you just put the pad on the table?" Celestia smiled.

Rukia did as the princess suggested and continued with her explanation. "As I was saying, there's always a balance of souls between the two worlds. These souls spend time on Earth and then return to the Soul Society, but there are also Hollows that stalk these souls." She drew a skull-like rabbit head on the next page. "Hollows feed on human souls. They come from Hueco Mundo, and the souls that are devoured turn into Hollows themselves. However, human souls may also turn into Hollows if they resist Konso, the process Soul Reapers use to send the departed to the Soul Society."

Celestia looked on, very interested in what Rukia was teaching; Luna's eyes spiraled from all of the facts; and Twilight mimicked her mentor's expression.

"Even as a pony, you still suck at drawing." Ichigo said.

The draw pad was suddenly implanted in his snout and he fell over.

Luna started to chuckle as Celestia stood. "I think that's enough for today. After all, we still have a party to enjoy. Come on, everypony."

They entered the party again as a group, everypony in the room bowed again as the princesses walked in.

"Maybe we should leave. This is your party, anyway." Celestia looked at the five strange ponies. "It was a pleasure to meet you."

Rukia, Orihime, Chad, and Uryu all bowed. Rukia pushed Ichigo's front hooves out from under him so he'd be forced to do the same.

"Thank you your majesty." The white mare said.

After the two royal ponies left, Pinkie jumped in the middle of the crowd.

"Come on, everypony, it's time for Pin the Tail on the Pony!"