Author's Note

Hello everyone! Welcome to what I hope will be something all of you will enjoy. First things first, however. *clears throat* I, Uzusora Yukisho, do not own either Bleach, which is the beautiful masterpiece of Tite Kubo, or My Little Pony, which is the hard work and love of Lauren Faust. However, if I did, Spike wouldn't be just comic relief, and Ichigo wouldn't be an emo twat.

Right then! Let's get going!

The Day Magic Disappeared

Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, Exam Room 1, Canterlot

Ten year old Twilight 'Twily' Sparkle danced in place, her frayed nerves disallowing her the ability to stand still. Beside her, her parents watched her with worried and wary eyes. She had studied for months for this, and by the Gods, she would pass! In fact, Twily had made a mental checklist of things to do today. First, pass the exam, and become a student at CSGU. Second, go to Pony Joe's for a celebration. Third, go home and crash due to only five hours of sleep every three days, coupled with some of the best donuts in the wide Kingdom of Equestria.

"Twilight, don't worry. If anypony is going to pass, it would be you." Her mother, Velvet Rose, assured her. Twilight turned, a sheepish grin on her muzzle. She knew, logically, that calming herself and remembering that she had spent countless hours reading every single book on science, history, magic, and every other subject that she could get her purple hooves on. It had even gotten to the point that, to make her take a break, they had to threaten to burn her Smarty Pants doll, backed by Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, who agreed that young fillies shouldn't spend all their time inside with books not even adults would fully understand.

"Twilight Sparkle, please come inside." The elderly proctor said, his gravelly voice breaking Twilight's panic-induced trance. The young filly trotted inside, and watched as a cart was wheeled out to the middle of the room. "Alright, young miss Sparkle. Try and pour enough magic into this egg to hatch. Take as much time you need, and don't worry about failing. This test is to evaluate just how much magic you actually have." It actually wasn't. The 'egg' was really a fake with a stuffed toy made to look like a baby dragon or a phoenix. The test itself was meant to judge how well the prospective student took an impossible task, allowing professors to see what they would need to work with. If a student calmly said that a child could not logically hatch a dragon's egg when it would normally take Princess Celestia or a team of twenty trained unicorns, then they would simply move on. If a student became frustrated, then steps would be taken to curb any anger issues. If the student simply gave up and lost hope, then the professors would know to encourage the student more.

Twilight, however, did not know this, and poured practically her whole mana reserve into the egg, a look of sheer concentration on her face. Sweat began to run down her forehead, and her legs began to shake. Finally, she broke off the spell, gasping for breath, head swimming. "Alright, miss Twili-"

A loud, booming roar shook the building, startling Twilight into wildly unleashing her magic, now devoid of any control. Outside, a halo of rainbow fire could be seen, but no one in the room noticed. Twilight was in pain, the feeling of white-hot needles piercing her entire body filling her with silent agony. She could feel her magic, once tame, now slipping away in a ceaseless torrent that she could feel slowly becoming darker, as if the pain was corrupting the normally comforting power that thrummed in her very core. She could vaguely hear what sounded like panicked screams, but distorted, as if heard through water. 'It hurts! Oh, Celestia, it HURTS!' The magic stole away any tears that fell, leaving her unable to even cry.

Outside the burning sphere of energy, the other ponies in the room screamed as they felt the wild magic, now corrupted by whatever darkness had swallowed the young filly within, tearing away their souls, forcibly draining away mana and vitality from the onlookers who had only wished to see a filly with big dreams succeed.

Princess Celestia tore across the sky to her school, the feeling of dread freezing her heart. She had observed from afar, of course, the unicorn filly who was to be tested today. Celestia had seen into the child's future, and had seen she would wield the Elements of Harmony, and could save Nightmare Moon from the darkness that had corrupted her. The princess hated that she must do this, of course. She always felt disgusted by the mere thought of the chess match she would turn the poor filly's life into, but it was necessary. If she could have, Celestia would have merely harnessed the Elements of Harmony on her own, and Twilight Sparkle would never become more than an excellent student, would never be forced to face foes both ancient and powerful.

However, it would seem not even the Sun Goddess herself could truly know the future, as a dark aura began to taint the energies that flowed throughout Canterlot, and Celestia knew that something terrible had happened. Taking flight from the balcony, she sped with all her might to the place where innocent lives could be lost in the chaos of magic without any direction or purpose.

Upon landing, Celestia's eyes widened, and tears threatened to pour from ancient eyes. The parents of the filly who would save the world were naught but dried husks, as were the proctors that tested every new applicant to her school. In the center of the room burned a ball of black energy, pulsing like a heartbeat. Celestia could just barely make out the faint soul trapped within, but was unable to do more than watch as, with the chiming of some great funeral bell, the sphere vanished, leaving no trace but the mummified corpses of five innocent ponies whose lives were cut short by nothing more than cruel chance.

And Celestia wept for the losses that day had seen, for she was the only one there to weep.

Karakura Town, Japan

Eleven year old Kurosaki Ichigo walked down the darkened street alongside the park, mind murky with a long day stuck with annoying people at school. He had a habit of walking at night, one he had ever since his mother had died three years prior. The strawberry blond boy looked up at the night sky, and heaved a sigh. On one hand, he was content. It was a warm night, and quiet, good for a walk on a Friday night. On the other, part of him was still broken. He refused to even go near the canal, and sometimes awoke, his mind replaying his mother's death again and again. 'Che. Old Goat-Face is gonna do somethin' stupid again. I just know it.' He merely kept walking, turning into the park. "Ichi, I got a feeling something's gonna happen." A voice spoke. Ichigo looked behind him to see what appeared to be a white-haired, pale clone of himself with golden irises and black sclera.

"Hey, Shiro. What'dya mean, something's gonna happen?" Ichigo asked, cocking his head to one side. He regarded his clone with a keen eye. Shiro, short for Shirosaki, was kinda-sorta Ichigo's twin, born from his own soul. His dad had explained that Shiro was what's called a Hollow, or a soul that has lost its heart. Afterward, Kurosaki Isshin, better known to his children as Goat-Face, had explained everything about Shinigami, Hollows, and even the now-forgotten Quincies, like Ichigo's cousin Ishida Uryu. Urahara Kisuke, an old friend of Isshin, had personally trained Ichigo after awakening his latent Shinigami abilities, as well as giving Shiro the ability to manifest whenever he got bored of hanging about in Ichigo's Inner World.

"Dunno. Wanna check it out, though?" Shiro asked, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. His ability to predict things was strange, but Ichigo and the others had long since learned to simply go along with whatever he predicted, no matter how unlikely. It was why Ichigo had never had an issue with pop quizzes in school. Shiro would warn him, and he would tell his best friend Arisawa Tatsuki.

With a shrug and a nod, Ichigo and Shiro walked further into the park, enjoying the sounds of the trees rustling in the autumn breeze. Suddenly, Shiro darted forward and let out a cry, and Ichigo dashed forward to meet him. Looking at the sight, he saw Shiro kneeling down, gently lifting a girl of about ten with pale skin. She wore jeans and a black shirt with a purple star on the front, and was barefoot. Her hair was indigo, with two streaks in it: purple and pink. The two boys nodded to each other, and they ran back to their house, which was also the family clinic.

The two reached the door and threw it open, and Ichigo batted aside his father's flying kick and shouted "Focus! Shiro and I found this kid, and we don't know if she's hurt or not!" Immediately Isshin grew deathly serious, and Shiro laid the girl on an examination table. As Isshin began to work, Shiro let out a dry chuckle and said "Well, I did say somethin'd happen. Che. Figures it ain't somethin' good, like findin' money."

"Hey, at least she'll be alright. It's not all bad."

"I suppose not."

"Where... Where am I?" They heard. The two looked over, and saw the girl slowly sit up. She opened her eyes, and they were the colour of amethysts, but had a ring of obsidian around them.

"Kurosaki clinic. We found ya in the park, an' brought ya here so Old Goat-Face can make sure nothin's wrong with ya." Shiro explained, hoping to not accidentally scare the girl. Both he and Ichigo could sense a good amount of reiatsu, or spirit energy, on her, and they didn't know how. "My name's Shirosaki, an' the guy who looks like a coloured-in me's Kurosaki Ichigo. The old man's our dad."

"M-my name is Twilight." She answered. "W-who are you? W-what are you? I don't understand!" Who or what were these... creatures? Why did one of them sound like a ghost? Did they mention a clinic? Twilight could feel a panic attack rising, and she began to hyperventilate, her mind rushing at a speed only physicists would be able to fathom. Tears began to well up in her eyes, and she recalled the pain of the magic surge.

Ichigo's eyes widened, and he began to think up acceptable answers. "Well, I'm Kurosaki Ichigo, and the guy who patched you up is Kurosaki Isshin. Whitey over here is Shiro, my... brother. And how does a ten year old girl not know what a human is? I'd think you'd learn that in school..."

"H-h-human? What's a human? And why does Shiro sound like a ghost?" Twilight demanded, eyes narrowed with disbelief. The eyes of the other three occupants of the room widened with shock. She truly didn't know what a human was? And how would she know how ghosts sound? 'Somethin' ain't right here...' Shiro thought to himself, now wary. Even the dumbest Hollow knew what a human was. For a girl who he could tell was smart for her age to not know, then, was like an alarm going off in his mind.

Isshin cleared his throat, and asked kindly "Erm, Twilight? Where exactly did you live, and how would you not know what a human is?" He mentally hummed in thought. If he could learn where she came from, it might explain why she wouldn't know her own species. Her answer, however, confused him even more.

"I'm from Canterlot, the capital city of the Kingdom of Equestria, ruled by the Alicorn Princess Celestia. And I don't know what a human is because they don't exist in Equestria. Why would I know about something that doesn't exist?"

All three males froze at that. Using a technique they developed, they connected their minds through Kido, and Shiro immediately asked "She ain't for real, is she?" Ichigo shrugged, and replied with an answer that amounted to 'How should I know?'

"Do you think she's lying, Shiro?" Isshin asked, eyeing the pale girl with unsureness. Shiro shook his head. Either the girl was telling the truth, or merely believed she was telling the truth, but he could sense no deception from her. No child that young could pull off a lie that well, and Shiro had refined his ability to sense when people lied to a fine edge, using his judgement to weed out the fake people in life, and surrounding himeself and Ichigo with those who actually cared.

"I don't think she's crazy, guys. Scared, yes. Confused, most definitely. Crazy, no. Somehow, she actually comes from this 'Equestria', and doesn't know where she is." Ichigo reasoned, watching the subject of their discussion carefully. She was curled into a ball on the examination table, knees drawn up to her chest, and her eyes were watery with unshed tears. The protective brotherly instinct in Ichigo was practically demanding he hold her close and comfort her, and both Shiro and Isshin could tell that the only reason Ichigo hadn't yet was he didn't know how she would react.

Breaking the connection off, Isshin turned to Twilight and leaned down, and asked "Well, Twilight, I don't know where Canterlot is, and I know this isn't Equestria, but would you like to stay with me and my family? I know it seems strange, but we can give you a home here in Karakura Town. Would you like that?"

Blinking slowly, as if waking from a trance, Twilight looked up in shock at the offer. 'A home? But they barely even know me! Why would they want me to stay with them? But, then again, it wouldn't be bad, would it? Having a home would be nice, and they did save me...' Twilight came to a descision, and looked into Isshin's warm, hopeful eyes.

"If you truly want me to... yes."

And in Twilight's heart, a tiny flicker of warmth appeared, even if she didn't know it yet.