Ladies and Gentlemen, I welcome you to what IS the last chapter before the climax of the story! Much thought and deliberation was put into this chapter as it will highlight and explain several things to you the audience.

As I was going through this piece of literature, I had more ideas for stories and pairings for those stories. It was a weird thing to know that I've written over 50k words and I'm not finished yet. It's highlighted the fact that I really like writing and that I'm happy to have picked this back up. Writing that is.

Just for your wondering minds, here was some things I've been a pondering:

- Secret Monster Service Fox / M3A Tendencies
- OPieto (Name play)
- Crippled Aero Instructor
-Time Traveling Performer
-Mafia against Fashion
-Gangster's CH

Just a couple keywords. I'll let you guys take a couple shots at the pairings as well as who would be involved, and what the main focus of interest would be in those prompt keywords.

Onto other news, it’s November and shit is getting real in a bad way on my end, school wise. Lotsa financial aid nonsense with college and I'm probably going to have to get another job until things tide over. Hopefully things won't go pear shaped for too long and I can relax easy in the coming weeks.

Now for the Disclaimer, which I'll actually do in this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own the property rights to Naruto or MLP. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Hasbro/Lauren Faust respectively. This is done for fun, and to help move my creative juices onto paper. Thank you for reading.

~X~

He focused hard, his goggles over his eyes, as he inspected the metal contraption in front of him.

"Wrench."

"Wrench...Got it." He felt the tool fall into his hands. He brought it forward, and applied rotational force. He laid it to the side, before calling out once more.

"Inscriber and chisel."

"Chisel and...Inscriber?" He felt the chisel fall into his hand, before an unsure hand handed him another implement. He looked at the second item, before nodding, getting a sigh of relief in return. He felt the Inscriber glow light orange, as he used it and the chisel to mark around the grooves of the contraption. He finally let out a sigh, as he leaned back, and took off his goggles.

"One more touch and it's done Scootaloo." He announced to the orange Pegasus filly to his side, who was currently wearing a heavy smock and goggles. She leaned over in anticipation.

"Are you sure? I mean couldn't it use a few more, marks or something? Make it super dynamic or awesomely light?" He gave her a look.

"It's just a scooter, Scoots." The blonde said, as he stood up and cracked his back from long time position over his desk. He looked down at the scooter on the desktop and felt the pride of a work well done set in.

"Yeah, but it's my baby! Plus we gotta make sure it's at least 100% more awesome than it was before! We must bring it back from its fatal injury in the field of battle." She said with as much charisma she could muster. He gave her a flat look.

"You mean before you basically broke the front wheel off, cried to Spike about it, before he brought you to me instead of a real mechanic just because I could, in your own words, "Make it 100% more awesome after its fall in the line of duty"?" He stated, adding air-quotes as he came the last portion of his sentence. She turned her head in a huff.

"It was a dire emergency!" She said with the utmost urgency.

"It was a wheel." He said with the utmost deadpan, before sighing and placing his hands on the scooter itself. An application of magic later saw the metal joy vehicle light up with small streams of electricity-like lines of magic. They died off, leaving the scooter with several lines of light green on it’s from and back tires. The frame holding a spiraling helix going up the flat of it, in orange. Plus it's new addition of s flipper like extensions were lines by red spirals.

"My baby!" The filly immediately started cooing the contraption, leaving the blond to just shake his head.

"You can come in now Spike." The Unique said to the door, kind of loudly, as he went about cleaning up the work area. A reptilian head popped into the room, before glancing around.

"So you're finished? It's been like an hour! Wasn't it just a wheel?" The drake commented as he let himself in. Taking stock of the spiky blonde's room for the first time. He noted Scootaloo currently babying her scooter in a corner in a smock, but gave his attention to the blond packing up his tools. The drake helping by sweeping up some dust and stray metal shavings to the blonde's gratification.

"Thanks, and yeah. Scootaloo wanted her scooter to get an upgrade, and well I do enjoy a little tinkering ya know?"

"Hmm, true, I doubt she would have let you leave without something being done to it." It was at this point that they finished cleaning up the small amount of debris that Scootaloo entered the conversation.

"Spike, you gotta just look at it! The smooth feels, the grip, the control! It's all so beautiful!" The filly gushed, as Spike himself inspected the joy ride. The drake nodded, taking in the lines and commenting with a claw to his chin.

"You do some really good work Naruto, I think I might have to get a skateboard made by you if this is what just fixing a scooter entails." The small dragon said with a grin. A grin that was all of a sudden matched by a certain Pegasus in the room almost an instant later once the concept of "Spike wants a skateboard" came to mind.

"YES! Yes! A million times yes! We can run over designs right now! Quick Spike! Get the drawing board!" The filly's excitement seemed to erupt. It seemed to be contagious because the drake found himself getting pumped, before he dashed off into the household followed by the sole winged CMC. The blond just smirked, taking a seat at his desk. He looked skyward, removing his own smock.

Nothing like his youth, or even his second one when he first came to this world.

13 Years Ago...

Everything hurt. His chest, ribs, legs, stomach and head hurt so badly. He let out a groan as he felt a flaming pain travel between his heart and navel. He could feel bandages on his person, but something was...off. His body felt awkward.

He let out another groan before slowly opening his eyes. His orbs flickered to and fro, catching sight of trees. Yet, these trees were unfamiliar. They were nothing like trees around Konoha.

"I see you're awake. Good then, it would do you some good to be able to feed yourself." A voice spoke, causing the injured blond to turn quickly, which caused him more harm than good.

"Careful, your wounds are still somewhat severe and I wouldn't want to have to patch you up again." The voice was slightly low, but sharp. The sound calling his attention to a figure at the entryway of this room he was in.

It was a male figure, with slight long spiky orange hair with two teardrop like markers going down the bottom of his brown eyes to his chin. He was wearing a short dark red jacket with the buttons near the navel undone, allowing for his stomach to be shown to the world. For bottoms he wore a pair of maroon pants, finishing off with a weird pair of shoes.

The genin looked over this person and was finding the only positive of his situation that there was an even a person here.

"Now I'm sure that you must be filled with questions, but I think you'd want to fill your stomach first." The person said, right as the blonde’s stomach let out a loud growl, to Naruto's embarrassment. He scratched the back of his head with a bandage-wrapped hand. He idly noted that his hand felt kind of off but attributed that to the wrappings themselves.

A moment later, after leaving, the man from before came back with a pair of fruit.

"Apples?" Naruto questioned, to which the man gave him a curious look before smiling.

"Yes, I feel that maybe fruit would be better for your stomach right now." the orange haired man offered the ninja an apple, to which he reached for with reckless abandon. Once the fruit was in his grasp though, he froze for some reason. He noted that the apple was kind of large. He took in the fact that the apple was big enough for him to have to hold it with both hands, and he felt something cold settle in his stomach. He looked down to his bandage limbs, seeing that they seemed kind of thin and small.

"You'd best eat. Growing boys need their food, one your age especially so." His words kind, but confusing to Naruto. What did he mean "...one your age especially so"? The blond did follow his orders on the account that he was hungry. Though after the first bite into the apple, he had little control of his mouth as it bit and tore into the delicious red fruit. He smacked his lips, the juices being lapped up to dance flavors across his palette.

There was no way that was a normal apple. That was too delicious for some random fruit this guy had just found. Yet, as he looked over and saw the man enjoy his own treat, he was envious. This guy probably had fruit like this for all his life.

"Even a year here, and the fruit is as delicious as always." Hearing those words, kind of relieved the blond, but also confused him. Was this guy a traveler? Where could he have come from if he'd only spent a year in the Elemental Nations? Better yet, where did he find such delicious fruit in the Elemental Nations that it wasn't already being sold?!

"Now I believe that we've filled our stomachs, we can get down to business." The obvious elder of the two of them said, turning in his seat by the bed that the blonde was laid up in, towards the spiky head in question.

Naruto shot up.

Time to get some answers.

"Where am I...!" He spoke up, but his mouth shut close in alarm.

What. The. Hell.

He brought his hands to his throat, before he spoke once more.

"What...?" The sound of the voice coming out of his mouth was higher pitched than it should have been. He brought attention back to his throat before he looked at his bandaged hands. His eyes shot open in alarm, before he frantically asked.

"Do you have a mirror?!" His voice squeaked, the man in front of him giving him a curious look before he nodded, leaving and returning to the room with a life sized mirror in tow. The blond shot out of the bed to stand in front of the mirror, before he froze.

His reflection...What the hell had happened to him?!

He brought his hands to his younger face. The small digits pressing prodding at his round cheeks. His now slit like pupils trailing down to his bandaged upper body, before going downward to his messed up orange pants, where he noticed the lack of shinobi sandals and in their place were a large pair of paws. The fox tails that moved behind his person froze upon his catching sight of them. He almost didn't want to even think about the uproar such things would cause in Konoha, much less everyone who hated the Kyuubi and him, by extension. How could this be...Wait was this...

Orochimaru!

The boy turned on the man who sat next to the bed with raging fury. He snarled at the other person before pointing angrily at him.

"Where is he?! Where's Orochimaru?!" At the sound of his exclamation, the man frowned before tilting his head. This action only seemed to spur the blonde on more as he held up his fists, and took a more aggressive position.

"..."

"Don't fuck with me you bastard! Why? Where's Orochimaru?! Where's Kabuto?! Where's SASUKE?!" He roared, before launching himself over towards the orange haired occupant of the room.

The man did little more than tilt his head to the side, watching the small child's punch push past his face, before he brought a hand up into the blonde's abdomen. The boy froze, before he started to scream bloody murder, as he fell to the floor, hands over his stomach.

"What. The. Fuck...the hell did you do to me?!" He gasped out, his body spasming rapidly as he tried to move. The man gave him a stern look, before speaking.

"I do not know of who you speak. I know not of this Orochimaru, Kabuto nor Sasuke. All I know is that a child I found in the depths of the Everfree Forest has raised his hand against me and I defended myself." He spoke in precise language. His eyes roaming the small child's form, even as he got closer.

Naruto flinched away, trying and failing, to make some distance from the man who obviously, in his eyes, wanted to do undue harm to his being. Yet, he found his body unresponsive. The blow to the stomach had done untold amounts of damage for some reason, and he couldn't help but feel that the Kyuubi was delaying his healing for its own sick amusement. Though the thought was strange, for it rose within him two questions:

Why would the Kyuubi refuse to heal him now of all times, when they were in the midst of Oto territory??

And

Why did he feel a slight emptiness in his stomach? It wasn't the sort of emptiness from hunger so much as a more spiritual one.\

By the time the man had come up to his position on the floor, he kneeled before he reached into his coat and brought out what looked like a weird piece of plate. The symbols and patterns on it meaning little to the blond, though that didn't stop him from concluding it was a piece of vile equipment that someone like Orochimaru would create just to test on him!

So it was with a snarl that the blond glared up motionlessly at the man who was probably about to administer some serious pain to his body. And he was partially correct, once the smooth plate made contact with his abdomen, he all but howled out tortured screams. It was then that he felt something else through the haze of misery and curses he was spewing at the man mentally.

...Comfort? Relief?

He unclenched his eyes, taking in the soft glow coming from the small seemingly metal plate. The man in red stopped, and let up, the blond almost whimpering form the leaving warmth but feeling better than he did before.

"So you really ARE him, but at the same time..." The man trailed off, causing the blond to look at him before he slowly got to his feet (paws?) before he had to steady himself on the wall. He eyed this man who healed him, and grimaced. He healed him and the man didn't truly have too if he didn't want to.

Great now he felt like an asshole!

"Come sit, and you may continue asking your questions."

So he did. Over the next few hours he asked, and asked. Each question's answer doing nothing but bringing more and more confusion and dread to the blonde’s soul.

Konoha? Head shake.

Elemental Nations? Frowning shake of head.

Orochimaru? Hokage? SHINOBI? Nope, nope but he did know what a "ninja" was now, but the description left him bereft of any real clue of WHERE he was.

What the hell was Everfree Forest? Who the hell were Celestia and Luna?

Where the fuck was EQUESTRIA?

His next question was his last shot.

"Can you take me to where you found me? Please! I need to get back!"

~X~

They had walked through the forest for what amounted to an hour. The pace wasn't as quick as the blond would have wanted. Due to his new...limbs, he had to get used to balancing on his own two feet (paws?!) again! Not only that but the blonde, with some more time than he wanted, he pondered his predicament.

Where was he? The forest around him seemed so much like the Forest of Death, yet the trees were barely half the length of that foliage. He made sure to keep an eye on his feet (PAWS!) to not stumble over them, since he still had trouble getting use to them.

The farther they walked it seemed the forest would dim more and more. To begin with the place was dark enough as it was, but it got worse with each mile. They'd finally stopped once they entered an area by the side of a mountain. Unlike the trail before getting here, this area was devastated.

The ground was bare, with what looked like vile red vapors tapering off at 8 ft. up. The mountain side held a large scorch mark over its side, with the ground near the wall suffering from a crater of strangely molten, red rock. He took careful notice of how there was a seal of some sort over the area. Symbols, letters that he couldn't read and other such markings decorated the ruined floor and it seemed to contain the area.

He wasn't sure why but the area brought up a dredge of emotion.

Sadness. Why? Why, why, why, why?!! Why was there sadness to be felt here?! Why is it that the area of his entrance making him sad?!

His voice was flat, but trembling. He asked the question.

"How?" The man to his side looked at his face, and frowned sadly.

"It was a portal...Not unlike the one that brought me here, but not the same."

"A portal?" His mind going a mile a minute, but the sadness hadn't left yet. If anything it grew stronger the more words that fell from both their lips.

"When certain conditions are met between two corresponding forces of energy, it is possible to rip one's way to another dimension..." He trailed off, watching as water built near the tips of the blonds eyes.

"And to get...back?" The child's voice was heart-wrenching, but he answered all the same.

"...You can't."

Tears fell. Angry raged, words were spat and curses were roared to the clouds. The blond broke down, he thrashed with his now tiny fists.

Everything...He'd lost everything! His years! His life! His home! His promises!

A ninja that never goes back on his word! That's is my ninja way!

All...Gone.

*Sniff* "D-dammit...It's all...gone." The blonde's sobs took hold of the clearing. The orange haired man who had brought him here, did nothing but stand back and allow him to vent. Hours passed, as the blonde’s cries slowly died down. The elder of the two walked over to the blond, who now took stance on all fours, head down with dried tear marks crossing the ones over his cheeks. He took a seat to the blonde’s side, looking forward away from the blond to the forest surroundings.

"Come, we must leave."

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
The vapors in the area churned and flickered. The red waives of "smoke" listed to and fro. They had nothing, they felt nothing and were nothing.

Ever since the weird being came through the rip in space and time, they existed. Remnants of a greater force. They were all that remained of the transfer. They did not think, they did not feel.

At least they didn't originally.

That all changed when the weird being came back. They didn't "watch" so much as sense his presence, and when they did they reacted. They felt, they sought and they thrived as the being became more recognizable. Yet, they only truly came into being, when the dimension moved being lashed out.

Rage, anger, sadness, shame, guilt, betrayal, envy...WRATH.

These emotions caused the "smoke" to churn and flicker endlessly.

Host.

That word. What was this feeling of being incomplete? They felt it, yearned for it, sought after it, but they could not move. The other thing that came with The Being, took him away before they could move.

So they sat there. They themselves felt lost.

A host. They needed a host. They could not thrive! They needed-

"GGGGRRRREEEEAAAAHHHH!" A sound! Something alive. It could feel the absolute, raw presence of the being nearby. It was not unlike the presence of the area, but stronger! More intense!

It was here that the lingering intent and power of the Kyuubi no Yoko, found itself slowly but surely, seeping into the body of its new vessel. The waives of energy vapors encircling the creature silently, before embedding itself into the being's body.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
~X~

The return had been a quiet affair. The blond hadn't so much walk, as he was dragged by the shoulders by the stronger gentlemen. He'd lead the genin to his temporary place of rest, before leaving him to his own devices.

What was he to do now? His life of before, gone. No more shinobi, no more Konoha, no more Hokage. Dammit, no more promises can be kept!

It was that last one that caused his eyes to burn once more. He promised Sakura he'd bring back Sasuke! Damn it all. She had to make him promise that! He had to make that last promise!

She loved Sasuke and not him.

The very idea of it had occurred to the blond on more occasions than one, but that one promise had been the straw that broke the camel's back. He'd known that she had no feelings for him after his first few years of chasing after her affections. Yet, he'd thought that if he just kept at it, kept trying and maybe she'd see him, even for just a moment in a more affectionate light.

Once more another dream brought down by this change in circumstances. He'd brought his hands over his heart and clenched.
What did he have to live for? He had nothing! No ninja, no nindo, no Hokage! Nothing!

Before he could continue this train of dangerous thinking he was disrupted from his mental processes by the entrance of the orange haired man from before. With him he carried what looked like soup of some sort. The blond former-genin did not outwardly react to his presence. The man settled into the chair by the blonde’s bedside before setting the bowl of soup by him on the nightstand. They sat there in silence, with the blond wondering what this unknown wanted with him after he lost everything.

They sat in silence. Each passing second was permeated by the breathing of one individual in the room. The blond was growing irritated with each passing second of silence. He knew it was unfair to be angry at this man who knew nothing about him, but come on! Say something! He looked up over at him, finding the carrot-top's hazel eyes staring intently at him.

"What?" It came out sounding more harsh than necessary, but he felt little for this person he didn't know. Yet the man remained silent, ever watchful.

"What? What is it?! Don't just look at me and say nothing! Say something! Say anything!" He began to shout, but the man remained unmoved, causing the blond to have his hackles raised.

"Do I look like some sort of attraction to you?! Is that it?! I'm some sort of show for you, dammit!"

"..."

"Fucking say something! What do you just plan to sit there and have me shout at you?! Do you think this will make me feel better?! I don't WANT to feel better! I want to go home! To my friends, my team, my village, my dream, my FAMILY!" He shouted, voice going hoarse, before he broke down once more.

"I don't want to be...alone. Not anymore, not again. I want my friends and family."

"...You must realize that that's not possible. You must learn to accept the past, and move on." The first words out of his mouth, and the blond wanted to do nothing more than just beat it closed.

"Don't fuck with me! This isn't like losing some pet! I'm never going to see my home again! I've lost everything!" He shouted at the carrot-top, before he finally noticed a change in his disposition. The man's eyes while calm held a hint of animosity, before he stood up abruptly shocking the blond. The next moment he placed his hands on Naruto, and the two of them were in another room accompanied by the sound of moving land.

Naruto looked around, and found them in some sort of underground cavern. The room was empty save for a small mound with a stake of wood at its center. The blonde’s mind took a few moments to process this, as they walked over to the mound. They stood over it, and the blond finally noticed just how small it actually was. The grave was at most 2 feet long.

...Who was buried here?

Question in mind, he turned his head to the now sad looking elder man, before he turned his head away in shame.

"There are many things in the world that we wish we could get back to. Many things we wish we could change, just to make a better outcome, but we can't. That is what I've learned of life and it has never stood more true to me than looking at you now, and thinking back to a year ago." He moved his hand over the grave, gesturing to the mound.

"This was a life I was unable to protect after we were ejected from our home. I made an oath to protect this life, and I failed not even a week after coming to this dimension. I wanted to do as you did. I wanted nothing more than to fall into despair and ignore everything around me. For a time I even wandered this forest and killed anything I possibly could, just to make myself feel something. Yet, at the end of my wandering, I remembered something I was told by a great pair of people."

"What did they say? How could anything anyone says make any of this feel okay?" The blond looked down and clenched his hand over his heart.

"The soul is masterpiece of all living things. When born it starts as a blank canvas and with each new experience it's painted a new shade."

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"...When we experience suffering, it's like dragging a paintbrush heavily across the paper canvas with a new color. It will either gain a new vibrant shade or rip down the new mark. I asked him the same thing you just asked me, and his partner said. We endure suffering because it's what helps me us unique, it's a part of life that all beings will receive, but it's only those who can let their suffering not destroy them that can value life." He had a sad smile, even as he turned his eyes to the crying blond at his side.

"Bu-but it hurts so mu-much!" He watched the blond for a moment, before he turned his head skyward.

"I won't ask you to move on, but for yourself, try and release that sorrow one day. Garner a purpose to follow after, and one day you might find your own version of what I did." He saw the blond rub at his eyes, before he looked to the grave.

"What was their name?" The question lead the orange haired man to smile, if not chuckle.

"His name was Naruto." He said, causing the eyes of the blond beside him to widen.

Present...

He chuckled at that portion of the memory. Not much longer after that, he'd taken up being the man's apprentice. He introduced himself as Yahiko, and taught him what it meant to be *snort* Unique.

The man never seemed to understand puns.

The blond shook his head, before walking out of his room, and going down stairs. He idly noticed Spike and Scootaloo in the kitchen, eyes and hands running over a large piece of parchment. The two sat side by side, throwing out ideas, some of which were completely asinine but they thought he could do. Which with some time he might be able to, but he wasn't going to go promising that. Scootaloo's hand on Spike's shoulder as she leaned over his side with the drake taking the time to slowly map out their little project.

He gave the scene one more look, before going outside.

He felt the rays of sunlight hitting him from up above. He felt like taking a small stroll through the acres, and went off in some random direction.

~X~

"Who’s a good tree? Don't you worry none, you'll be just as big and strong as every other tree in this orchard. Yes you will! Yup!" He had come upon the sight of AJ babying a young tree.

Rupert was his name. Yes apparently it was a "he", the Unique figured it was better for his health that he not worry about the genders of foliage before Jackie hit him with some arbitrary knowledge on the how's of tree gender equality or something.

Not enough love in the world to make that conversation go anywhere but down.

Though thinking on his target of affections, brought to mind the first "meeting", so to speak, between him and the Apple family.

10 Years ago...

It had been three years since he'd come to this strange plane of existence. It was weird to have to grow up again, but he dealt with it with the grace of a shinobi...

Not really, but he got better after a while...And some explosions.

It was a long session of burying himself in new things. Learning about Everfree and Equestria as a whole was time consuming. Then there was the revelation that there were other living beings in this strange world, but the kicker was that they weren't human.

Ponies, griffins, manticores, minotuars, zebras, lions, bats and so much more. The very idea of such things had nearly sent the blond into a tizzy once Yahiko had shown him the undeniable truth. Anthropomorphic ponies lived in a settlement a couple of miles from here. When the blond asked if he could go to see them when he first learned of it, back when he was 9, Yahiko had said no.

When asked why, he responded with the fact that Naruto needed to get stronger first. He'd given him a weird look when his teacher had said this, but the orange haired man responded with a paragraph.

"You're young, currently, not only that but the magic in you has been acting very volatile the past year. I believe it's this "Chakra" you said you had harbored. It along with the new magic system in your body are trying to find equilibrium. They want to mesh, but currently have a rocky settlement."

So with those reasons in mind, he trained and (ugh) studied. For the next two years, he would be under constant supervision. Whether it be his studies or training. Once he had progressed far enough, after 2 and half years, the man had started him on learning about his new body.

"A Unique's body is special, besides the obvious. Each part of your body while that of an average animal's gains special properties over time." He had said, and the blond was up for believing him. An example was that the blonde’s paws were immensely good at softening impacts and sounds. He marveled even now as he traveled alongside his master, towards the settlement.

3 years and Yahiko had decided that he was capable enough to keep up with him and stay out of sight, at the most. The blond kept his rabbit ears perked and ready. They were to keep moving, and keep silent. Yahiko-sensei had filled him in a little about what lurked in these woods. There were some things in here that he described as "Primal" something or another, though the blond couldn't help but want to meet one out of morbid curiosity.

They had come to what had to be the weirdest thing Naruto had seen in his time in Equestria, which wasn't much all things considered.

It was, for lack of any flowery prose, a big river with a giant black, stone sphere in the center of it. The blond and his teacher stopped at the riverbed, where upon his teacher leaped across with the grace of a jounin. The blond followed after, the shift in atmosphere the second he crossed the middle causing him to flop into the water just short of reaching the other side. HE could hear his teacher's laughter as the blond swam to shore.

He glared at the smiling visage of one orange haired man, looking all the more smug at seeing his student look like a wet rat. He pat down his wet, patched up, adjusted orange tracksuit pants. The only things that had survived the blonde’s entry into this world were his pants, necklace and, funny enough, his underwear. He'd been given a red shirt and green cloak with a hood by his teacher.

"Oh haha!"

Yahiko just smiled at him.

~X~

The blond couldn't help but gape at the town before him. This place, full of bipedal, walking, talking, anthro ponies. Ponies!

He needed to see it all. His eyes running over the sky, from their place in the treeline. He spotted assortments of color you'd never see on a normal horse, much less most animals. They traveled from tree to tree, something that plucked at his heartstrings. He found them getting farther and farther away from the town before they ended up at what looked like...

"A farm?" He spat out, before taking notice of what was on the trees in the orchard out back, before he began to drool. He was moving before he knew. He could hear his master calling out to stay hidden so they didn't cause a fuss, but the blond went farther into the apple garden. He moved his eyes to and fro, form moving about the trees in glee, before he stopped before a clearing holding one of the biggest trees here. This one was more comparable to something from his own world, a large one for sure.

He grinned, before he leaped onto the bark, scaling it with reckless abandon. He made it to the first branch and took a seat. His black hands darting out to snatch up some fruit to fill his gullet. He held the fruit in his palms before he dug in, savoring the rich taste. He did this a few more times, never feeling that the taste would ever be considered bad.

So delicious.

He continued his little buffet of deep reds, before he heard the sounds of something from the bottom of the tree. He looked down to see the form of one of those ponies. He could hear them talking, and he thanked his lucky stars for his master teaching him the Equish language, otherwise he'd be on a boat without a paddle.

"Come on Big Mac! We gotta go and check the apple trees in the deeper part of the orchard!" The voice came from a young, orange pony with white freckles, green eyes and blond hair held underneath a weird hat. He was dressed in an orange t-shirt and tan shorts. Small bandages adorned his fingers, as he called out to someone (pony?) else.

"Calm down Applejack! Hold yer horses, them trees ain't going nowhere." This time a taller, and slightly lanky form of another pony stepped into the area. He was adorned in white shirt and blue jeans. His fur being deep red, with his own set of freckles, not unlike the orange male (colt?), with strawberry blond hair and green eyes.

The blond up above in the trees, watched as the two discussed one thing or another about their produce, before he decided that it wasn't his problem. He turned back to his meal, he was honestly done with bonds to this point.

It was (un?)fortunate for the blond that this meeting would be one he was going to have. Whether he wanted it or not.

~X~

Applejack couldn't do much else but grumble at her big brother as he took his time walking towards her. Once he reached they began to argue some about the importance of making sure to check for the trees just in case anything happened to 'em.

Not that he was making it easy.

"All Ah'm saying AJ is that ya need to calm down. Ya'll literally just got ya fingers burned from yer first time baking, ya taking to this with just a smidgen more enthusiasm than is necessary." The stallion said, his eyes lazily drifting about the orchard, not noticing the perched blond up above. Naruto while not obvious, made sure to bring his hood up over his head just in case, before he made sure to take quiet bites of his apple.

"And all Ah'm saying is that you shouldn't worry 'bout me none. Ah can handle this. Ah got the treat cooked right anyway, so what's it matter if my hands got a little hurt?" The orange filly said, hands tucked into her pits as she crossed her arms, eyes closed as she turned her nose upward and away from her brother. She made sure to pack her back pocket, feeling the bulge of the treat as it was half shown out the back pocket near her tail. Big Mac just shook his head.

"Man you go to the city for just a little bit and ya'll start acting like that Rarity filly that visits the town every now and then. Also, why'd ya bring the dang treat out here, if yer gonna lose it?" This comment caused her eyes to snap open, before she turned on her brother with a snarl.

"One, no Ah ain't. Two, Ah can't believe my own brother would think of me being anything like Rarity!" She made an disgusted face before she found Big Mac walking past her. He merely shrugged, before going on his way.

"Now you hold on one second! Get back here Big Mac, ya better take back what ya said!" She chased after the form of her brother walking deeper into the orchard. Never noticing that the treat in her back pocket, covered in paper towel, fell to the floor of the clearing.

~X~

And there goes his show, leaving him with his meal. He shrugged before going back to his latest apple conquest, finding that the seeds inside were edible was a pleasant surprise. He finished off the treat with a last bite, before leaning back. Arms rested behind his head, he looked out over the clearing towards the high-in-the-sky sun. He sighed in thought.

So long since he'd seen some proper civilization, but he'd been away from it for so long. Not like he was a social bug to begin with, at least as he grew up. Well that was kind of spat on, when he realized he had friends in Lee, Gaara, Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji and so on. Even Sasuke. Man the blond hadn't thought about him in two years! He always wondered whether he did get the Uchiha to stay down in the end. He like to think he did, so that his last promise would be achieved and he could be remembered for keeping the "Last Uchiha" alive and in Konoha. He let out another sigh, and realized.

If he were to ever leave the forest, he'd probably just keep coming here to this tree, and nowhere else. It was quiet, nice and high up, and smelled delicious.

Wait what?

He looked around, nose sniffing at the air, before his gaze was brought downward. An object of interest at the base of the tree, brought the blond to his feet before he jumped down and landed with a soft "thud".

"*sniff* Well, well, what do we have here?" He asked, as he picked up the baked good. Unfolding the paper towel his eyes shone from the delectable looking treat in his grasp. He cautious took a bite, before his world seemingly sung.

Oh Kami, this was beyond delicious. He looked down at the treat with a blasphemous look.

Could this be even better than...Ramen?

He cringed at the thought, but he made slight reconciliation with the thought when he remembered that there was no ramen in this place. He shivered at the memory.

Only a sick and cruel world. He was lucky that Yahiko-sensei knew how to cook, otherwise he'd be-

"Oi! Who the hay are you- Is that my apple treat?!" A very familiar voice shouted, causing him to freeze, before he slowly turned himself to the location of the sound. He saw the kid from earlier. Now that he was looking closer, the pony was maybe a year younger than he was. That is if ponies here aged the same way humans did. His thoughts were interrupted by his immediate personal space being invaded by an angry 10(?) year old.

"Who are you?! Did ya steal mah treat while Ah wasn't looking? Oh you're going to get it you varmint!" The apple owning kid seemed to have it out for him. What was with those jumps in logic?!

"Hey AJ, what’s got ya running yer mouth so loudly over he-?!" In came a running tall red stallion who, upon sight of the scene, turned his running into a charge towards the blond former shinobi.

"Whoa!" He let out a shout, before he jumped over the rushing male. He skipped back a step or two, setting him in between the brother and his sibling.

"Now hold on a second! I think we can all come to a very peaceful understanding." The blond tried diplomacy. Not much of a user of it himself, on most occasions, but he could try and appeal to their (Read: the elder stallion's) sense of decency.

His words caused the taller stallion to pause in his attempts to ram him into some bark, giving the hidden blond some relief. Though the orange one, why did it betray him, made it clear of his dislike for Naruto.

"Big Macintosh, what’re ya doin'?! This here varmint done stole and ate mah baked goods!" Those words caused the strawberry blonde's eyes to turn to the hooded male in slight contempt. Naruto sought to fix this before it got any worse.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on a minute! I didn't steal any treat of yours! It was on the ground when I came outta the tree." The blond quickly explained, gesturing to where he found the food, and where he had come from. This line caused the older brother to ease down for a second, looking over to a flustered AJ.

"Let's not add to the fact that, if I DID want to steal it, which I don't by the way, why would I stay around?" The blond laid on the additional logic, sending a metaphorical arrow into Applejack's previous statement. Big Mac turned his deadpan expression towards his sister, who at this point was feeling a good bit of shame.

"AJ..." Big Mac drew out the younger sibling's name, causing them to look up at his frown. Naruto crossed his arms and nodded sagely.

"You should really teach your little Jack to hold onto things more carefully." He added, only to get stumped when the younger "brother" started fuming, while the elder gave him a confused look.

"Jack?" The big stallion asked, all the while AJ's fuse was set to blow.

"Well yeah, you call him Applejack, so I figure. Just call him Jack." Naruto commented, never noticing the steam pouring out from atop the farm “colt’s" noggin. Big Mac gave him a sheepish look.

"Jack?"

"Yeah Jack. What, do you guys, like, not use nicknames around here? In Ponyville I mean."

"Well, not that we don't. It's just that...You called Applejack, well, Jack."

"I'm not following."

"Ya see the thing 'ere is-" Big Mac started before he got interrupted by his sibling's shout.

"Ah'm his SISTER you igit!" The revealed farm filly shouted, her face red with rage and embarrassment. The cloaked blond took a few seconds to process this, before the two saw the mouth of the mysterious intruder gape wide open.

"You're a girl?! Since when?!" The blond exclaimed pointing at the once more fuming filly.

"Ah've always been one you stupid rat!" That got the blond to flinch back, before he, presumably, glared at her.

"Well maybe if you looked like one, we wouldn't be having this problem!" He smirked at the shocked look she gave him, before her face burned in rage. She looked one second away from blowing up and just rushing him, to which he would have welcomed if only to knock her down a peg.

"Now all ya'll hold your horses, we can settle this like calm, civil folk. Better question mister why were you in our orchard in the first place?" The question caught the blond off-guard. So off-guard in fact, that he answered truthfully by mistake.

"Well I was hungry and I was digging into some of the apples on these trees," he stated as he smiled, before he froze after realizing what he'd just said.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...Thief! Big Mac! Get 'im!"

~X~

The two watched as the three blonds, one unknown included, went at it. Big Mac and Applejack doing their absolute best in trying to physically restrain Naruto via any means. They even went about trying, and failing, to use some spare rope AJ had found to catch the blond. Sadly AJ wasn't skilled in rope-play yet, and Big Mac was far too slow to even bring the blond in close. In all actuality, it ended with the two of the siblings tied together instead.

The cloaked Naruto taunted them for a moment before raising a single black finger from within the cloak. He set about, making a circle around himself, while the Apple siblings made progress in freeing themselves. He finished making a circle while also drawing a smaller circle in the circle, before the two broke out. They looked murderous, or as murderous as these young ponies could look, before it looked like the blond was explaining something to them.

Yahiko sighed. The blond was so childish for someone who, supposedly (he kind of doubted it now), was mentally the age of a fifteen year old.

"He's quite the nimble, that youngin'," came a comment from his side, as he and the elder Apple matriarch watched on as the new Unique dodged Applejack and Big Mac left and right. All while staying in the smaller circle.

"He's young, but foolish. Otherwise he wouldn't be in this situation in the first place. I can only guess what he did to get your granddaughter all wound up." He responded.

"Applejack's always been the rowdy sort. She's made of tough stuff, but she's got a temper on 'er. Probably got called a boy by yer one over dere." This observation made the orange haired man sigh. She was probably right. If anything the blond had probably got into some sort of verbal dispute with the young farmer. Though this interaction made him curious. The blond had been ducking and hiding everything around Ponyville pretty cautiously.

Yes, he did it too, but not to the degree the blond did it. He seemed to go above and beyond to not get seen, by anyone. It spoke of a habit the boy had, more so than just experience as a ninja. He watched the blond interact with the two farm kids, and it made him wonder. The blond never took off his hood, and kept s much of his body hidden as possible...

Ah, his curiosity was peaked.

They watched as the blond finally took some action besides dodging. He twirled as AJ came past, and caught her under the arms, leading her into the incoming Big Mac, sending both of them out of the larger circle. Seems like things were coming to a head.

"It seems I should get prepared to get us home soon." Yahiko got up from his position besides Granny Smith's rocking chair, the old mare smiling up at him.

"Good bye, Mrs. Smith."

"All the same to ya, Yahiko."

~X~

The siblings did nothing but stare up at the evening sun. They lay on their backs after their defeat at the hands of their apple thief. The thief in question sat in his circle still, fist presumably on his cheek, as he gave a cheeky grin. He was about to speak to them, before he flicked his ears. His head turning towards the far off forest, seeing his teacher in the distance in the trees, beckoning him over. The blond nodded, before turning to the defeated siblings.

"Well guys," he got and dusted himself off, "it's been fun, but this guy has got to go." He finished, before he began to walk away, though not before being stopped by a petulant Applejack.

"No! We're gonna catch you, and you're going to pay for dem apples!" She announced, before she fell back to the floor exhausted. The blond just stood there for a moment and looked at her down form. He looked up for a moment, before he grinned.

"You say that, but you can barely stand. You wouldn't be able to catch me for as long as we're out here right now." He stated, causing her to growl and look at the ground. She was about to refute his words, before the cloaked blond took up a small rock.

He walked over to the large tree in the clearing, before he started marking something. It seemed like a circle, with several ?'s in the center, 6 in total. At the left of the circle was Applejack's name written in an oval shape, while Big Mac's was at the top. He turned to them with a grin, tossing the rock up and down in his palm.

"So I'll give you the chance. I'm going to be, giving you the chance to get me back! Over a set of games we'll compete, and if you can figure out my full name by the end of it...I'll stop taking your apples and pay you back 3 times as much for each one taken." He offered, though the two look offended.

"And what's to stop us from hogtying your hide and sending you to them government officials?" Stated Big Mac, though the blond stayed smiling much to their consternation. He simply raised an eyebrow to them, with a smug smirk.

"Do you honestly believe that you could catch me? Like really? You're going to have to try real hard to catch me Mac 'n' Jack" He waggled his eyebrows, before he started to walk off.

This would be the day the Apples gained an arch-nemesis (?). This was the day Naruto gained something to look forward to outside of his isolated life.

"Keep an eye out for me, guys. Never know when I'll show up."

~X~

Yahiko couldn't help but smile softly, as he carried his charge back to their little home in the Everfree. He had to snort as he heard the blond snoozing away the trip backwards.

He had expected this of course. The blond, while energetic, was probably already feeling the drain of being out of Everfree for so long. His body was still adjusting to its magic, and being around the magic intensive area of the deeper portions of the forest was doing wonders for his adjustment. It wouldn't be long before the small blond could make these trips on his own, without worry of being drained after being out of it for a while.

The blond jostled for a moment before settling back down.

"Sasuke...Sakura-chan wants you back so badly. I'll do anything to get you back, dattebayo."

That line caused him to grimace. The blond while more expressive around him was a lot more subdued on the topic of his past. Yahiko had done his absolute best with trying to get the blond to open up and move on, but he remained steadfast in his stubbornness of the past. Rearranging the blond onto his back as they crossed back into the territory of the more dense area of Everfree, he vowed.
He'd do what he could for the blond on his back. If not just for him, but in replacement of failing the one that didn't have the chance to live before him.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
It flicked its bony claws outward. It could smell the blood of its latest meal on its sharp fingers. A quick shake of its head threw the carcass from its mouth onto the cave wall. The corpse of the strange lower being, for nothing was greater than itself, was quick to slide down the wall with its form lacking any kind of appendage above its shoulders. The insides being open to the world, revealing what was left of the organs inside. The rib-cage was half-bitten, diaphragm and stomach devoured, legs ripped off and swallowed. It was a sad excuse of a corpse, but one nonetheless.

It felt more flesh pulsate on its own form. Replenishing. Growing. Covering another small portion of its skeletal form. The flickers of energy visible inside its own body, regardless of the small amounts of flesh starting to enclose its main body.

Its head had changed. From the weird primate like shape to a more canine like one. Bony skull with some flesh over the vertebrae and its more recent eyes, were great new accommodations. The fleshy orbs hadn't grow eyelids yet, like it had seen on so many other creatures, but it gave it time.

Yet, with all this, it still felt empty. This vessel had been all of just a bare bone thing. Strong, almost euphorically so, but still empty. Its own new emotions lashed out with its long bony right arm, crushing the corpse into the wall into mush. The wall was cratered, but it paid the concavity little attention. It curled in on itself for rest. Its two tails flickering side to side.

Soon. It would hunt for its true vessel. Crystallize this power within it, and move onto crushing the world under its palm. To do nothing more...

Its eyes red irises in the center of pulsating black sclera.

Then watch the world BURN.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Present...

He moved behind Jackie with a quick application of soft steps. He waited until she was on her hooves, before he caught her unaware with some fingers to her sides.

"EEEP! HAhhahaa! Naruto stop! Please eeek!" She squealed under his nimble digits. This went on for a little bit, before they tumbled backwards, the spiky blonde’s arms wrapped around the farm mare's mid-section. They tumbled for a bit, before they ended up with Naruto on top of her, arms on each side of her head. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment before the blond tapped her once on the muzzle/nose, causing her to blink before he got up and offered her a hand. She moved to take it, and was pulled up with ease.

They chuckled for a minute before the blond moved on to help her with Rupert. They moved the small tree onto a different section, with Apple mare thanking him for his help, offering the idea of apple treats. Next second had her in his arms as he raced back to the orchard, Applejack holding onto her hat and yelling at him to slow down and to put her down all the while. He hold onto her tighter and wen faster just to spite her.

Though this reminded him of another occasion where he had to carry her back to house in a hurry.

9 Years ago, a few months after Naruto turned 12)

The blond couldn't help but grimace as he trudged through the snow, his paw pads on the bottom of his feet doing wonders for getting through the lumps of frozen winter.

He wondered what the new game of the day would be. It was only a few months since the blond had entered this routine. Though this is one of the times where he would be going alone. Yahiko-sensei had started allowing him to go out on his own to the orchard, whenever the blond felt the need to.

He let out a breath of frost air, cloak billowing around him. He raised an arm, before focusing on it for a moment. His eyes scrunched in concentration, before he saw three lines run down his arm before blinking out. He sighed.

So much for Reinforcement. He'd been practicing this trick for a while now, and he could get it to work maybe, 25% of the time. Teach had said it would be a while for him to get it, but the blond was notorious for being stubborn and had made to accomplish this before the end of the year.

Back on track, the blond had been quick in coming up with games for the trio of them to play in his away from them. He'd been working over having a game theme for every month. It was weird, but the blond enjoyed spending time with the siblings. The relationship had been antagonistic for a bit, but he felt that they were starting to warm up to him. Especially since he had been chasing away those stupid bats that kept trying to come into the orchard.

He finally started getting into the clearing where he spotted a standing AJ, with herself being wrapped from head to hoof in warm clothing. An orange vest, over plaid sweater and sweatpants. The girl gave him a narrow-eyed look, before she started tapping her hoof at him.

"Come on, ya'll need to hurry this up so Ah can get this over wit! Freezin' out here!" She turned herself towards him, arms on her hips. He wondered where Big Mac was, and she must have saw his confusion and decided to give him some info.

"Big Mac is busy with the farm round-up since it's heading into winter." She provided, before she set herself into a crouched stance. He nodded his head at her. Before he started walking a circle around her. Once the circle of footsteps was done, he walked back into the center with AJ.

Game on.

~X~

He looked down at the wet and defeated farmer. Her clothes clinging to her legs with wet spots all over.

Another win in the bag for the Unique Challenger!

He looked down at her with a cheeky grin, to which she responded with a rude expression.

"AJ!" A voice called out, causing her to freeze, metaphorically, hiding her finger behind her. The coming form of her big brother doing giving her a disappointed look made her look away in defiance. Big Mac settled into a trot as he came up beside the fallen form of his sister with a frown, nodding his head towards Naruto. He turned his head back to the wet farm filly.

"Ya'll should know better than to be using such language!"

"Ah didn't even say anything!"

"Those fingers of yers say otherwise."

The blond in between the two just shook his head, and walked over to a downed AJ. She gave him a grimace before getting up and shivering from the cold wind air. She reached into her pocket, bringing out a wrapped up apple tart, begrudgingly handing it over to the Apple Thief. HE took it with a grin, before chowing down.

"I'll be back in a couple days’ time! Don't wait up for me Jack." He announced before he started off towards the forest once more. HE was barely out of range of them before he heard some talk between the siblings.

"AJ come on, time to go in and get yourself dry and warm. Maybe you should lay off the feller for a bit."

"No! Ah'll beat him yet! Any day he comes here, Ah'll be ready fer 'im! No matter how many days it takes or that Ah gotta wait out here!"

He'd never realize until later on how much he regretted making his return so vague in the coming week.

~X~

He trudged through the snowy land of Winter. Cloak tightly wrapped around his form.

Seven days to get back here. All because some of the more agitated Primals in the Everfree were getting rowdy. Luckily they usually calmed down just as much in the winter. Typically you could call the Everfree's Deeper Depths, patent pending, were bound to silence come winter.

He landed down from a tree, kicking the snow off the branches as he touched down. He walked forward a little bit, finding a spot to wait by the tree. He'd come a little early, just to wait on AJ. The blond waited for some 10 minutes before he heard the sound of coughing, and turned towards the form of an entering AJ. He was set to start off with the usual taunting (she always gave some good responses), before he stopped as he got a good look at her.

She was set up in the same clothes as last time, but she herself was looking worse for wear. She had slight bags around her eyes. Her eyes closed as she held a hand to her head, with the other covered her mouth. She took slightly off steps, and he came closer out of concern when she listed off a bit.

"Uh Jack, you sure you should be out here right now? You're not looking so hot." He pointed out, though he noted that she glared at him.

"Ah'm fine ya igjit. *cough* Just a little tuckered out. Now get on with the game!" She said irritably, her form crouched slightly. He gave her a glaring look. Before he started up an again. She never took notice of the fact that he didn't make the circle as usual.

~X~

He grimaced as she stumbled past him once more, before caught her. Moving away slowly as she lethargically swung her arm out at him. He moved only a short distance away before she repeated this action again. Never noticing that they'd traveled somewhat farther out away from their usual spot.

He didn't like this. Not one bit. She wasn't taking her health seriously here. She was barely even trying at this point. It had been all of five minutes, and he could already tell just how out of it she was.

She would move like a zombie. She tilted at times and made him worry she'd fall, before straightening. Sometimes she'd stop to hold her head, headaches probably. She even at times would swing her arm out to try and catch some kind of phantom of himself.

He had to put an end to this farce of stubborn idiocy. He did nothing as she came forward this time, it seemed as if she was going straighter this time, but he held no hope for her to be feeling better. The second she came close, he stepped forward encircling her in his arms. She didn't even seem to realize she had caught him yet. He held her close, before bringing his forehead her own. Her eyes widened at this act, cheeks burning before he pulled away turning an angry look at her. She flinched for a moment, before she found herself lifted and carried.

"LE-let me go darn it. Wha-what game ya playin' a-at?!" She tried and failed to fight his arms once, before giving up to loss of energy. She'd fainted in his arms, leaving him in a panic, before he started rushing towards the Apple home! His steps hard, and his speed slower than he'd wanted. He'd felt himself trip slightly, before he turned to his side, keeping Jack close as he took the brunt of the fall. Her hat fell off, before he got them both back up and continued running. The hat left behind.

~X~

By the time he got back to the main home of the Apple family, he was greeted by the frowning form of Big Mac. The stallion lead them in, where the blond shook off his body any snow falling off his shoulders and AJ's head on his shoulder. They trio of ponies and Unique were quick to put her onto a couch, and throw a blanket over her. A cool rag splayed over her head.

They took her near the fireplace, before watching over her. Naruto had long since pulled his hood down, to the utter bewilderment of those awake and in the room. Granny Smith merely gave him a once over before turning her eyes back to Applejack. Big Mac gave him wide eyes, before the blond asked them a question.

"Why is she out there when she's like this? What could possibly possess her to come out into the freezing cold like this?! Why is she even looking like this in the first place?" He wanted to know. How could this possibly even happen?!

Big Mac gave an emotionless look to him, before motioning to the kitchen. They moved from the living room to the kitchen where the else teenager sat in a chair and held his head in his hands. He looked up at an expecting spiky blond, and started talking.

"AJ...Applejack is a bit...A might stubborn. She's hardheaded to a fault and don't take too well to words of concern." He said at first, the Unique nodding his head to this info.

"Ever since we...We lost our parents, she always saying how she want to be a farmer to impress 'em. To make them think we're alright and even better because she's around to keep things in shape. Thing is, she ain't ready for farm work just yet, so she takes to anything she can with a gusto," here he smiled before he continued.

"She'll take even the smallest task and put her all into it. Whether it be egg picking, planting seeds or trying to carry the basket of apples," here he chuckled before he frowned.

"Thing is, that's just not enough for AJ at times. She's always trying to push herself to take up more chores, but we don't let her because she's still a kid. She should be out there and being one, but AJ is stubborn so..." He trailed off with a wave of his hand, Naruto taking the hint. Jack was obsessed to the extreme. The blond didn't comment on the parents thing, all things considered. Mac continued.

"Then you come all of a sudden after she done made her first baked goods, and you know that story. Point is you became a new challenge. Something to keep up with when it comes to the farm. Didn't help when you were the one who chased away the bats, something she couldn't do and that didn't help. You inadvertently helped out on the farm, and she didn't take too well to that." This line caused the blond to feel slightly guilty. He'd only chased off the bats because they were eating the apples he was going to eat.

"She's got you in her sights, and she ain't lettin' go anytime soon. Though if Ah had to be honest...Ah'm kind of glad you showed up," he stated to the shock of the Unique.

"Applejack...You're playing games, but Ah can tell ya don't mean any true malicious intent. You play games and taunt us, but you never go too far, and it's not like your challenges are very difficult. Ah mean tag, really?" He rose an eyebrow to the other blond who just rolled his eyes, to the amusement of the older blond, who then sighed and stood up before traveling to the next room, though not before leaving one more piece of advice.

"No matter what, please keep being her friend. Ah can see it in both yer eyes, you and AJ, ya'll seem to fancy each other just fine and Ah appreciate AJ having someone her age to mess around with every now and then. The teenager then left, leaving Naruto to his thoughts. Later on the Apples would find the blond gone from the house.

And a few days later, they'd find him with a small pouch of herbs on their doorstep.

~X~
Some days later...

AJ found herself waking up slightly groggily. She looked around the perimeter of the living room, taking in the forms of her four family members...

Wait four?

She counted again. Big Mac slept in an upright position on the edge of the couch she lay on. In his arms was a book, opened to some random page with a bookmark in it. To her left on the two-seater was the small form of her little sister Apple Bloom. The smaller filly had been only recently walking, so she laid curled up on the smaller couch with a blanket underneath and over her.

Granny Smith sat in her rocking chair, eyes closed yet she rocked the chair involuntarily. Her snores came out in small cackles, which brought a small smile to the farm mare's face.

All her family members accounted for she turned to the last occupant of the room.

It was their thief for sure. She’d recognize the white cloak anywhere. He looked like he was posted up near the fire place, with a various array of leaves and plants strewn about in front of him. A bowl full of some kind of water and a grinder sat by his crossed legs, showing his orange, patched pants and large canine like feet. She couldn't see his face from where she sat on the couch, and from how she was feeling, didn't have the energy to try anyway.

She made to make herself comfy, the couch squeaking every little bit, before she let out a small expulsion of air at the sight of two sapphires looking up at her. Naruto's head snapped upward to attention, taking note of Jack's new take on being conscious before he let out a relieved sigh. He stood silently, making nary a sound, before he made his way over to her position. Kneeling by her bedside, he'd laid his hand to her head and held his to it too quickly for her to process.

If one were to look in on the two, it was like the upper half of AJ's face had entered the shadowy depths of the blonde’s hood. Naruto pulled back with a smile, never noticing Applejack's slight flush, before he narrowed his eyes at her.

"What you did was really stupid, you know that, right?" He whispered angrily, the tone catching her off-guard before she retorted with a huff.

"Ah don't want to hear that from a no-good thief." She whispered hotly, to the irritation of the blond across from her.

"This same thief is the main reason you don't have something worse than a fever right now!"

"Maybe if you didn't steal from us in the first place, Ah wouldn't be in this situation!"

"I didn't think you were stupid enough to get sick, and still come out into the freaking cold!"

"What do you care?! You probably enjoyed the fact Ah was barely able to do somethin'!" She whispered with venom, to which he had to restrain himself from outright yelling, lest he awaken the rest of the family. He breathed in once to center himself, before he turned on her with a fierce gaze. Intense enough to get her to flinch back, the overwhelming feeling of his eyes causing her to look away.

"Don't try and pull that shit with me! You want to play tough gal, fine! But don't go running your mouth and then causing others to worry about your well-being when you make a stupid mistake! You think it was fun for everyone else involved to look after you? You did more harm than good doing what you did! Look around you!" This got her to look further down in shame, before the dressing down blond caught her expression and drug his hand down his face with a sigh. He moved and took a seat next her on the tip of the couch cushion edge, pulling her face up with two fingers and catching her gaze with her own. Strangely enough, all she could see from this close was his eyes and lower mouth.

"Jack you gotta understand they are your family. No matter what you do, they'll love you and help you. What you need to do is make sure you don't hurt them with that love, by going off and doing stupid stuff like this." The explanation brought her eyes downward once more, before she opened her mouth.

"...Ah'm sorry. Ah didn't want to cause no one, no trouble but this was something Ah had to do. Ah was the only one who could go and continue the game with Big Mac busy." Her response reminded Naruto of the words of her older brother's words from before. He scratched the back of his head, before he gave her an even look.

"Choose a letter."

"Huh?" She looked up with a confused look.

"Choose a random letter, any letter, I don't care." He repeated. She gave him a weird look before just complying.

"X."

"Choose another one."

"Wha-Mmmm!" She started before he shoved a finger over her lips, causing her to glare at him with a flush to her cheeks. He gave her a mock-glare, before he repeated.

"Another one." He removed his finger, to which she simply huffed.

"S"

"Nope." His response caused her to growl.

"O!" This time he stopped for a moment, before he nodded and got up. He moved over to the front door, leaving her confused. He looked back to her with a sly grin. Before he opened and slammed close the front door upon exiting. Causing the entire house to erupt into noise. Applejack had only one phrase t put to this action.

"Darn varmint!"

~X~

It was a couple days later after she had fully come into good health, and got a dressing down by her family on the matter of her stubbornness that she found herself out by the tree again. This time with her emerald orbs bound to the tree's base, where one of the ? marks in the center had been crossed out and replaced with an "O".

"Like what you see?" A voice from up above asked, causing her to look skyward and catch sight of a certain thief in white cloak grinning down at her.

"Everypony gets one, Jackie."

Present...

He looked up over from his place on the living room couch. Applejack having left earlier, after giving him his fix of baked goods for the day. He lazed around for a bit, saying goodbye to Mac and Apple Bloom as they passed him to the front door. Winona seemed to pick up on his lazy mood, and decided to not give him hell for the day and went about her own business elsewhere.

He could hear the two in the kitchen still going at it, though he could also imagine them eating some of the baked goods that AJ and Spike had made. The young dragon knew his way around a kitchen, who knew? He'd complement the drake later on his smooth baking skills, before grilling him on his lady luck skills in other areas.

He decided that he would just laze about, thinking back on some memories that gave him a laugh. His mind went to a rather particular memory. A short one, but a goodie.

7 Years Ago...

He moved with calculated leaps. He tugged on the new rusty red cloak, arms wrapped in bandages to conceal his colored digits. This was a mission of silence. He'd slipped past another tree, taking but a moment to check his surroundings.

He'd been keeping on the down low of night, as he approached the night-lit city of Manehatten. He slipped in on top of a carriage, his form shadowed by the dark lights of the city. He came here for one thing, and one thing only.

Fabric.

Now one would ask why he'd come all the way out here for fabric when he could just get some from Ponyville. Well, well-informed stranger it was because the fabric of Ponyville wasn't exactly up to snuff for the things he needed it to do. He needed better quality fabric, and Manehatten had been the place his master had said was the best place, next to Canterlot, to get some.

Fashion designers from all over came and went. There impressive lines of fabric and thread coming and going with them. IT was here he was to attain some good materials for his supposedly future garments and working clothing.

He dashed from atop the carriage to above a street lamp, eyes prowling down upon all moving ponies in the city. He looked over and over every which way. Once he had some targets in sight, the blond scaled the side of a building before getting to the rooftop. He called upon the energy swirling within himself, and with a muttered "Kage Bushin" he felt his magic/chakra energy slip from his form before separating into four separate bodies. Clones of himself looked at him with grinning expressions matching his own. He gave a nod to all, each of them bringing their hoods over their heads before they were off.

The blonde’s idea for getting fabric had differed from his teacher's who wanted to get Granny Smith to buy some for them. Problem was that the blond didn't see that not being suspicious by the rest of the Apples. So the blond had recommended this one. His teacher had called him slightly crazy for it, but the blond had supplied that he could easily do this without being caught.

Then Yahiko-sensei would bring up his failure with keeping hidden form AJ and Mac, and the blond would play dumb. That wasn't important right now! What was important was that he needed to get in and out of this city before dawn.

He just finished grabbing a swash of cloth from another clothing store before he caught sight of a newspaper. Normally he wouldn't care for the printed word, but this one had a very interesting headline on it.

FASHION FROM ALL OVER! DESIGNERS COME TO THE MANE HIGH HOTEL FOR THE CONFERENCE OF THE CENTURY!

His eyes read over the title multiple times, before he grinned.

Jackpot!

~X~

He looked down on the large exquisite building, before he began his plan. He and his clones had moved in form the roof and decided to work their way down. He couldn't help the excited grin that formed on his face, as they went about scoring slight amounts of fabric. Testing some for quality before deciding whether to drop or keep it. Of the 20 floors, they'd gone through about 6 from the top. With some holding rolls of very nice blue and orange fabric. Others having pouches to fill with sewing materials in them.

The original blond hadn't found anything yet, but he was working his way through the 12th floor, on the prowl.

"Ah gee, Ms. Suri *yawn* sure runs a tight shift. It's been a while, and ever since we decided to work together after being apart for so long she seems to have been getting more and more obsessed with winning. Oh I hope she doesn't do anything too severe, we were supposed to enjoy working together. Maybe Big Sis, might have some ideas." The voice of a wandering teenage mare into he dim hallways, caused him to jump and stick to the ceiling.

The hallways were dim and dark, but he could see perfectly fine the drowsy form of the moving light blue maned, light tan furred mare wandering down the hallway by the staircase. He watched as she listed slightly off to the side, dangerously close to the staircase itself, eyes unfocused. She made to open a nearby door with a key, but missed it at every point. It was getting to the point that it started to irritate him, before he decided to take things into his own hands.

Coco Pomel missed the mark with the key once more, before she found her hand steadied. The key being input into the door lock and opening it. Her unaware mind looking to the side to see a blurry figure helping her with her door, and rationalizing it away with a stray thought of bellhops. He watched her go into the room, and watched as she left the door open as she stumbled her way over to one of the two beds in the room. He watched this display for a moment before he groaned. He entered into the confines of the room and caught the stumbling mare before she ran into the wall.

He idly noticed that she was just barely above him in height, him being 5'1, so she couldn't be that much older than him. Maybe a year or two at most. Deciding to get this over with, he silently lead her to one of the two beds. The other one being occupied by a mare wearing a sleeping mask. He led her to the mattress slowly, but surely, getting her to lay down.

It was here he would have been on his way, making sure to lock the door behind him as he left.

Fate didn't like his plans going straightforward, oh no, fate loved fucking his day up. It was here where, just as he was about to release the mare from his arms to lay on the bed, that he found a pair of slender arms wrapping themselves around his form and dragging him into the bed with her.

His eyes widen in panic, before he saw that she was still asleep. The blond was quick to call upon his last clone in reserve and switching places with it.

Naruto couldn't help but look at the scene with a sense of exasperation. That clone was supposed to be for emergencies! How! Why?! This was not a part of the plan!

Now he was down an emergency clone, until this chick went to sleep! He groaned silently, before signaling his clone to abide by his orders. The replica nodded his head slightly, making sure not to move too much lest he awaken the mare holding onto him. The real blond left the room, but not before flashing the clone a thumbs up.

Left alone with the sleeping mare holding onto him, the clone surveyed the room to the best of his ability. He saw it was pretty pricey looking, and saw the rolls of cloth all around. His night-vision doing good work in inspecting some of the fabric in the corner of the room, identifying the quality somewhat and deciding it might be worth trying to go for it.

He move a bit, and felt no resistance. A couple more movements had him going face to face with the teenage filly and he idly noticed that she was cute. Well Jackie was cute too, but she was special (Not that he'd ever admit that). This mare was cute in a sort of normal way, and it didn't help his hormones that she was close to being bodily pressed up against him.

He made to move some more, but found his progress impeded by her arms. He was about to take a shot in the dark and move away before she spoke in her sleep, tightening her hold on him into her own body. His eyes went wide, as she started to mumble.

"Oh Bale Baget, you didn't have to bring out here to Paris. I would have been fine with just a walk through the park." It came out in small mumbles, but it sent a chill down his spine as she let her fingers trail slightly down his back. He was starting to sweat, and shake.

This situation just entered into some dangerous territory! Play it cool! Play it cool!

It was on this night that the blond would forever scorn (thank?) his teacher for teaching him Prench.

"Ma dame il n'y a rien que je ne ferais pas pour vous. Je voudrais voyager les étoiles pour apporter you la lumière du jour si je pouvais." He hammed it up for good measure. Not like this mare could understand Prench, right?

"Oh Baget~ that was so romantic, but I don't need stars. I just need you~" Holy shit, she understood that?! That was his first surprise of the night.

Quickly came the second.

He didn't know how he didn't notice. All he knew was one second, they were just face to face, the next she was pressing against him with her lips over his. His body went stiff, for more than just metaphorically. He felt soft lips upon his own, and he damned his teenage hormones for making him kiss back. He'd have been slightly guilty if it had ended there, but no it got worse.

He felt her still developing body press against his own. The feel of her form compressing against his own sent his testosterone into overdrive. Where the hell was this dream going?! This wasn't as innocent as he had pegged her to be!

The clone would forever remember that night as the night of almost lost vigilance, discipline and chastity. The less said, the better. It would be later on that night that one Uzumaki Naruto would be hit with a veritable fountain of testosterone filled fantasies. The likes of which felt too real, almost like memorie-

Holy shit, was that tongue?!

~X~

After leaving his clone alone in the room, the original went off on his own once more. Scouring the rooms and hallways. Pick-locking his way into rooms, tumbling through fabric and surprisingly stopping a kidnapping from even starting, but that was for another time.

~X~

He was on the fifth floor and he decided it would be the last. The sun was due in maybe two hours and he wanted to be out of Manehatten by the time dawn hit. He made it to the last door for the night, getting into it was easy. He looked into the room, eyes picking out all the smallest details, before getting to the fabric in the corner. He idly noticed a strip of light coming from the bathroom. He could hear talking, an older mare and a younger one. He was struck frozen.

He couldn't stay here! This was bad! Why were these frickin' ponies awake?! Didn't matter, he needed to exit the premises pronto.

It was in the middle of this tizzy of thought processes that he tripped over some cloth on the floor. He stabilized himself a second before he hit the floor with all the strength his tails were worth. He sighed in relief, before he felt the feeling of fabric on his foot. He looked down at the blue looking material, running his paw over it, before his mind complimented how good and strong this one felt. He bent down and picked up the roll he tripped on, and felt the same quality from before.

Oh ho~ this was damn good fabric! Maybe some of the best he'd felt tonight! He was admiring the fabric for more than necessary when the door of the bathroom opened up.

"I'll be a moment mother, just keep waxing, and enjoy your music!" The accent he couldn't place, but it was slightly snobbish, but eloquent all the same. He was quick to leap towards the ceiling with the roll in hand, looking down as he saw a pristine white pony, with dark violet mane, walk out in a dark opaque teddie. She was definitely older than him, if the curves were anything to go by. Three years at the least.

"Now where is that-ah ha! Here it is! ~" She reached around for a bit in the dark by one of the beds, finding an object before heading back into the bathroom.

He waited a moment, hesitant to come down lest she come out once more, before he detached from the ceiling. He landed softly, before turning to the window ASAP. He wasn't going to stay around for any longer than necessary. He'd literally made it to halfway to the window, before disaster struck. And it came in the form of bars on his way out of here quickly. Rushing to them, he felt his luck was bad enough.

Now this wouldn't be so bad, if the same mare from before didn't come out just at the right (WORST) time to catch him by the window, and freezing in place.

They looked to one another, time coming to a slow, before he rushed her, quick to cover up her mouth with a hand. He gave her a serious look, pointing to himself with one finger, before pointing to her and making a silencing motion. She nervously looked at him for a moment, as he let go of her. Slowly but surely, he walked backwards to the door. He was about several steps away from it, his tail reaching out and opening it, when she saw the roll of fabric in his hand. He froze as he heard the sound of something growling at him, and turned up towards the former-scared mare.

She sported eyes like ghastly flames, as she now held in her hand a hair-straightener. A glow of her horn was all he needed to see before he decided to screw all pretense of silent exit, and tossed a pre-made paint pellet towards her. It would be harmless, and came off easy with water, but it was more for distraction than anything.

He was out the door and down the hallway, before a horrified shriek awoke the whole building. He could hear doors opening from up top and didn't doubt that there were some to soon open on this floor as well. He made it to the door of the stairwell and dropped straight down all the way to the first floor. He was greeted to the sight of the rest of his clones following after him. Exiting out and moving past the main lobby, where a set of tied up stallions and mare sat in the center of it. He gave them a salute as he and his copies made tracks out the hotel.

It was barely a minute later that found the tied up group of kidnappers surrounded by hotel staff and policeponies. Not only that, but a group of enraged fashionistas as well, with one sporting murder in her eyes for those in the center of attention.

Present...

He blushed at first, before snorting at the memory.

Definitely one of his more memorable nights. He was quick to get up and enter the kitchen.

Maybe those two had finally finished their little project by now. If not, well he had time to spare.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
It opened its eyes. It would be soon that it could move once more.

It's form broken, but not unfixable. The large outburst of magic from some months ago was a hearty meal to help bring it back to full strength. The following months had been spent fixing, and enhancing its current state. Specifically after that damn object got in the way of its hunt the last time. It felt the flickers of electricity move about its form.

It had lost flesh. Too much from that one encounter, its defenses were weaker now, but its power was greater. It was smarter now. And its obstacle was corrupted and should have been dead for some time by this point.

So close. So close, the hunt would be on. And no one, person or thing would stop it from being complete!

Uzumaki Naruto...Your time for hunt would be soon. Soon.

An eye flickered in and out inside a cavern decorated in symbols. Yet, the symbols would flicker with light before petering out periodically.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

~X~

Author's Note

Finally we're hitting the last obstacle. The sort-of full backstory for this story. The games, the thievery, the connections, and the moment.

Damn his chapter came out to be long! I wasn't expecting it to break past 10k honestly, but it did and it was chock full of delicious continuity. So enjoy the hell out of it!

We're now on the final chapter of the main storyline! Are you guys as excited as I am?! No?! Well you better! Cuz we're going to tackle my own version of Boast Busters!

Featuring a competent Trixie, so look forward to that.

I'm just gonna lay this out here, just to keep everything straight. AGES:

Celestia/Luna (1000+)
Granny Smith (100+)
Big Macintosh (23-25)
Rarity Belle (23-24)
Naruto Uzumaki (21)
Applejack Apple (20-21)
Rainbow Dash (20)
Twilight Sparkle/Fluttershy (19-20)
Pinkie Pie (18)
Spike (13-14)
CMC (11-12)
Winona (4)
Time Turner (Unknown)

NRK Out