Adventures of the Equestrian Ninja

by hussbek

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure, Derpy Hooves, Princess Celestia, Crossover, Main 6, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Romance
Length: 248764

Watch Naruto who died to retrieve his best friend have adventure with his new friends after being reborn in a new world.

At the Valley of the End, Naruto and Sasuke clashed with their best jutsus only for Naruto to miss with his rasengan and have his heart pierced by Sasuke, resulting in his death. Kami sends him to a new world to live a new life. join Naruto in his adventures with the Mane 6 and others through the land of Equestria.

Published 2015-11-06 17:40:03 UTC
Last updated 2024-12-06 16:27:21 UTC

Learning to walk before running

Chapter 1: Learning to walk before running

When he opened his eyes, Naruto noticed that he was in a cave with crystals embedded in the walls that glow brightly with energy that feels foreign to him. Speaking of which, he noticed that he couldn’t feel his fingers or toes for that matter. When he tried to stand, he rather stood on all four legs instead of two.

“Okay, this feels weird,” said Naruto trying not to freak out but when he looked at a crystal that reflected at him. Well, let’s just say that people are lucky not to be near him for they would have gone deaf from his screaming.

“WHAT HAPPENED TO ME!!!” yelled Naruto panicking all over place while tumbling around. After ten minutes of senseless screaming did he finally calm down, then he remembered what Kami told him earlier before.

“Hold on, Kami-sama did mention that I would be in a different form when I come into this dimension,” said Naruto. “Well then, I’d better learn how move in this new body of mine,”

He attempted to walk by imitating how the horses from his dimension walked, soon he became more proficient in walking, trotting and galloping. Afterwards Naruto went to one of the biggest crystals to look at his reflection.

His form is of a pony with an orange coat, he retains whisker marks on his cheeks, has a yellow spiky mane, a horn on his forehead with a shape like the tip of a katana and a long bushy tail like that of a fox.

“Hmm it feels weird to have a tail, I wonder how to use it,” pondered Naruto. He tried waving it around and the tail responded accordingly to his commands. He even began using it to grab rocks laying around the cave floor without dropping them and could even throw with pinpoint accuracy. “Whoa, I could get used to this,” he thought with glee.

“Okay, I got the hang of moving around in this form, now let’s see if I can access my chakra and find out more about my upgraded bloodline,” thought Naruto.

He sat on his rump, closed his eyes and began to meditate. As he searched within himself, he began feel a sensation similar to when he normally gathers his chakra but feels much easier to interact with. The sensation got stronger and Naruto let it flow through him and soon his body began to emit white chakra that represents the purity of his soul.

When he opened his eyes, Naruto saw that his body is covered with a white cloak of chakra and it made him feel stronger and enhanced his senses. “Wow, this must be the chakra that Kurama gave to me, let’s see about my bloodline,” said Naruto.

Naruto began to concentrate on his chakra and willed it to form arms, it took several tries but he successfully created the arms. He then tried to use them to pick up the rock and was able to even lift boulders but noticed that the more arms he creates or the heavier the object, the more chakra he requires.

“Let’s see, I wonder if I can channel chakra to different parts of my body,” thought Naruto, He approached a boulder and sent chakra to one of his front hooves and punched the boulder which broke into small pieces. Naruto looked surprised for a minute then he began to laugh out loud.

“HAHAHA if Ba-chan saw this, she would be sooo shocked,” said Naruto happily. “Now let’s see what’s outside this cave,”
When Naruto reached the entrance of the cave, he was amazed by the scenery of the land as the atmosphere is serene and calm. Naruto wanted to explore the place but his ninja instincts told him not to go just yet as he is not yet used to his new body, and so he returned to the cave.

“Now that I think about it, where is the Kosei no Ha?” Naruto wondered aloud. No sooner he said that than the glaive appeared on his back glowing as if happy to be called upon. “Now how do I use you to fight?” thought Naruto, the glaive glowed brightly and information flowed into his head. He tried to will the glaive to swing left and it flew off his back and swung at its imaginary target before returning to his back.
“Whoa! Now that is epic!” said Naruto with excitement. Soon he began to practice with the sword until he was familiar with it. “I think I need to train before going to any town to gain information about where I am,”

Time skip Two Weeks

After training in the cave, Naruto became attuned to his body, bloodline and wielding the glaive.

For his pony form, he developed a form of freerunning (Parkour) with techniques like wall running, sliding, flips and spins (Fleetfoot from Okami) and applying chakra improves his mobility. He also created his own taijutsu he named *Poniato which he adopted the principle from Rock Lee’s taijutsu.

With his chakra, he created many variations to adapt to any kind of situation like arms, tendrils, claws etc. he was also able to create his own tailed beast cloak which goes well with his Poniato and is still learning to create more variations.

With the Kosei no Ha, Naruto mastered it to a level that he could give his opponents a very hard time when fighting him. He also discovered that it could transform into different weapons during his time in the cave and is yet to discover more.

He also collected a large amount of the crystals and put them in a satchel he made from the fur of dead animals in the forest and found a cloak as well.

During his training, Naruto’s mane grew longer and his tail grew in length due to his constant use of it.

“Okay, now I am all set, it’s time to see what this world has in store for me,” said Naruto as he got himself ready to leave.

When Naruto stood outside the cave, he took in a deep breath and shouted out “LOOK OUT WORLD, NARUTO UZUMAKI THE PONY NINJA IS COMING, BELIEVE IT!” before sending chakra to his feet and dashing into the distance.

Glossary
Poniato = Pony Arts

Getting friendly with the locals

Chapter 2: Getting friendly with the locals

In the middle of the day, a figure is seen running along the road leaving behind a trail of dust. A closer look reveals none other than our favorite ninja, Naruto Uzumaki. He had been running ever since he left the cave where he woke, feeling the wind blow in his face.

“This is getting boring,” thought Naruto with a dull look on his face, “Let’s go through the forest and keep my freerunning skills sharpened,”. With that thought in mind, Naruto dived into the forest and began vaulting over trees and rocks.

Applying his old ninja training, Naruto was jumping through trees and sliding under tree trunks. He created a new technique where he applies chakra to his feet to slightly repel against the ground to slide without losing speed which he named the Terra Drift (Like Sonic Drift in Sonic Unleashed) which he could also use on walls as well.

He kept on going until a ravine came into view, smiling at a crazy idea, Naruto applied more chakra to his feet and leapt across it. At the arc of his jump, Naruto released chakra at the bottom of his feet to form a blue rune (Like a magic circle) and kicked off it to get higher and further. Upon landing on the other side of the ravine, Naruto smiled at the creation of his new technique and named it Pegasus Dash (Like Dante’s Trickster style on Devil May Cry 3) before continuing on.

After an hour of running, Naruto stopped at the top of a hill which displayed a view of a town before him.

“Wow, this looks like a place I wouldn’t think twice of staying in, after all it makes me feel close to nature and I feel that I will have a lot of adventures and memories here,” thought Naruto with happiness. Naruto folded his cloak into his satchel and had his glaive sealed within himself.

As Naruto walked into town, he saw a sign written 'Welcome to Ponyville' and thought “Okay Ponyville, surprise me with what you have,”. Like the old saying goes ‘Ask and you shall receive’.

“HI!” a voice came out from behind, making Naruto jump 8 feet into the air before landing on his rump, turning around to see a mare with a pink coat and a darker shade of pink for her mane and hair and has a mark of three balloons with curled strings on her flank. “My name is Pinkie pie and I can tell that you are new around here, as I know everypony in Ponyville which means I have to throw a party for you so you have to come!” said the pink mare who was bouncing with excitement at meeting a new pony.

“Wow and here I thought I was a hyper person or should I say pony now?” thought Naruto while sweatdropping before getting up.

“My name is Naruto Uzumaki and you’re right that I am new around here, so can you tell me about this place?” said Naruto with a smile.

Pinkie pie began hopping with happiness before telling him “There are looooooots of amazing things in Ponyville that I prefer that you discover it for yourself while I prepare for your welcome to Ponyville party!” Before Naruto could say anything else, Pinkie Pie already ran off leaving behind a trail of dust to who knows where. Naruto stood there stunned for a minute before he started to laugh

“That hyper personality of hers makes her kind of cute… wait where did that come from?” thought Naruto before shrugging and moving on.
Naruto was trotting along the road when he heard a voice from above, “LOOK OUT BELOW!!!” no sooner he raised his head than a blue blur crashed into him. When the dust cleared, it revealed Naruto sprawled out on the ground with swirls in his eyes and a blue mare right on top of him.

“Owww, sorry about that and thanks for the soft landing,” said the mare. Naruto got up and then took a closer look at the mare, she is a Pegasus with a coat of cyan and a rainbow like mane and tail, she has a mark of a cloud with a slightly curved lightning bolt.

“No problem after all, any landing you can walk away from is a good one although it’s at my expense, by the way, my name is Naruto Uzumaki, what’s yours?” said Naruto.

“My name is Rainbow Dash, the fastest pony in all of Ponyville!” said the mare with a lot of pride in her voice.

“Oh really? For some reason I don’t feel quite convinced,” said Naruto with a smirk on his face. He could tell that Rainbow Dash had a competitive nature and wanted to have some fun with her.

“Oooooohhhhhhh, sounds like I have a challenger for my title,” said Rainbow with a grin. “Okay then, we’ll start from here and the finishing line will be at the town square,”

“Okay, you’re on!” said Naruto, already liking her zeal being similar to his own.

As they took their positions, Rainbow counted down “On your marks. Get set. GO!” the two ponies were off. Rainbow Dash was surprised at Naruto’s ability to keep up with her as they blazed through the road, Naruto was using his freerunning skills at half level because he could tell that Rainbow wasn’t going all out. They were both neck in neck as they drew close to the finish line before a cart came out nowhere. Naruto had to jump to avoid it which reduced his speed and gave Rainbow Dash the win.

“HA, I win and successfully defended my title!” said Rainbow Dash with a grin on her face.

“Hey no way! That cart slowed me down and gave you the lead since you were flying,” Naruto pouted which Rainbow laughed at.

“Okay then how about a rematch the next time we meet. I have to take care of the weather so catch you later,” said the Pegasus before flying off.

“With a pony like her like around it’s never a dull moment, I am pretty sure she would be a great pranking partner,” thought Naruto with glee before continuing on his way.

Continuing along the road, Naruto was enjoying the scenery when he came across a blue jay that was hopping on the ground. Wondering why it wasn’t flying, Naruto approached with caution so as not to scare it away.

“Hey there little one, is there something wrong?” said Naruto in a gentle tone. The bird looked at him for a while, deciding to trust him, showing its wing that was bruised. “Well then, if there is a place you can go to get it patched up, how about I carry you there?” suggested Naruto to which the blue jay nodded happily. Naruto lowered his head for the blue jay to hop on who found his spiky mane to be comfortable to sit on. “Since I am new around here, you will need to direct me to the place, if that is okay with you,” said Naruto which the blue jay tweeted in confirmation.

As they went along the road, Naruto decided to name the bird Ao which meant blue. After being explained to about the meaning, it immediately liked its new name. Soon they reached a house which was situated near a forest that gives Naruto a sense of mystery and danger. Naruto knocked on the door which opened to reveal a mare. She is a Pegasus with coat of yellow with a pinkish mane and tail, she has a mark of three pink butterflies on her flank.

“H-Hello how can I help you? Said the mare in a timid tone.

“She reminds me of Hinata with the way she acts," Thought Naruto. “I came with this blue jay who had a bruised wing and it seems to me that you take care of injured animals right?”

“Y-yes so please bring her in so I may treat her,” said the mare opening the door wider for Naruto to enter.

“Okay then,” said Naruto “Wait a minute, Ao’s a she!?”

In a few minutes time, the mare whom introduced herself as Fluttershy had bandaged Ao’s wing. In the meantime, the animals that were at Fluttershy’s home were playing with Naruto with smaller ones swinging from his tail while the birds settled on his mane much to the envy of Ao. Naruto didn’t mind at all as he is also having fun playing with them. Fluttershy watched from a distance, too shy to approach the blond pony until he called out to her.

“Hey Fluttershy, come and join in on the fun!” said Naruto before using his tail lift the shy Pegasus from the ground and bringing her over to play with and the animals. When she felt Naruto’s tail wrap around her, it felt fluffy and soothing which calmed her down and made her less shy. After an hour of playing, Naruto told Fluttershy and the others that he had to go which made them sad.

“Don’t be sad, I promise to come back and visit. When Naruto Uzumaki makes a promise, he always keeps it, believe it!" said Naruto with a foxy grin. Hearing this cheered them up and made them look forward to his next visit. “I hope to visit Fluttershy soon as it’s difficult to leave her alone and she is kinda cute that way,” thought Naruto.

Trotting through town, Naruto looked at the buildings until he came upon one that caught his interest. “It looks very colorful to say the least, it makes me wonder what the inside is like?” thought Naruto. With curiosity getting the better of him, Naruto entered only to realize that it is a clothing store (That’s what I think), as he wandered around he came across a mare who seems to be focused on a dress. She is a unicorn with a coat of white and indigo mane and tail, she has a mark of three diamonds on her flank.

“Excuse me-“Naruto began before he was interrupted.

“Hush now, I’m in the middle of a breakthrough,” said the mare who had her undivided attention on the dress while writing something on a notepad which was floating in the air which got him curious at what it is. After she finished, she turned to talk to Naruto. “Hello my name is Rarity, what might your name be dear sir?”

“My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I just came into town to find a place to stay,”

“You can go to our mayor for accommodation as well as-“ Rarity spoke but soon had a stunned look on her face. Naruto wondered why she had that look but didn’t have to wait long as she moved to his tail and began to cuddle it. “What an amazing specimen of a tail you have, how did you get it to be like this?” Naruto didn’t answer as he was purring to her cuddling which enticed her to continue.

It took everything Naruto had to resist and snap out of it, “Rarity, could you let go of my tail, it’s sensitive,” said Naruto while blushing.

Rarity soon let go with a sheepish smile, “Sorry about that, I sort of got carried away,”

“It’s okay, thanks for telling me about the accommodation. By the way I’ll come around later to request for some clothing to be made,” said Naruto before waving goodbye and leaving the shop. ”She is very pretty, I’d like to visit her more often,” thought Naruto.

After visiting the Mayor mare who gave him the key to the library to temporary reside in until he gets a permanent home, Naruto decided to walk around a bit more before settling in at the library. Walking along the road again, he came across a wooden gate with the picture of a red apple and decided to take a look around. Naruto was trotting past the entrance of a barn when he saw a mare that was trying to get a Stetson hat that was stuck in between two bales of hay. She is a pony with a coat of orange and a blond mane and tail, she has a mark of three red apples on her flank.

“I’m getting kind of curious of these marks these ponies have?” thought Naruto before going in help the mare. “Hi, my name is Naruto Uzumaki and I was hoping to help you with your problem,” said Naruto.

“Howdy there, mah name is Applejack and I’ve been trying to get mah hat out of there but can’t reach it,” said the mare.

“Allow me to try to get it out of there,” said Naruto before using his tail to go through the gap and grab the hat after which he put on Applejack’s head. Applejack blushed at the contact with the blond stallion before gathering her wits.

“Thanks for the help, I never thought of using my tail but then again, it’s not as long as yours,” said Applejack
.
“Don’t mention it, but it seems like you’re going somewhere,” said Naruto.

“Yeah, Big Mac and I are going to the Evertree forest to gather firewood,” said Applejack with slight fear in her voice.

“Mind if I come along, I’m sure it will be safer with a larger group,” said Naruto having noticed the fear in her voice.

“Are you sure? That place’s kinda dangerous,”

“All the more reason for me to help you and your brother, besides I’m pretty strong in my own right” said Naruto with a determined look.

“Okay then, come along and I’ll introduce you to mah brother” said Applejack to which Naruto nodded.

They walked out of the barn and into the yard to meet a large red stallion with a horse collar who getting himself latched onto a cart.

"Naruto, this is mah brother Big Macintosh and Big Mac, this is Naruto and he will be helping us to gather firewood,”

“Hello it’s nice to meet you,” said Naruto with a smile.

“Eeeyup,” Big Mac replied with a smile as well.

Soon the three ponies set off for the Evertree forest, Naruto was on guard by using his senses to detect any kind of hostile creatures which he had encountered on his way to Ponyville. After gathering a sufficient amount of firewood, they were about to leave when Naruto sensed a group of wolves emerge from the bushes with ill intent to the ponies.

“Applejack! You and Big Mac should get out of here while I hold them off!” shouted Naruto.

“No! We can’t leave you behind, you could get yourself killed!” yelled Applejack not wanting to leave the stallion behind.

“You need to protect Big Mac on the way back in case any wolves come after him and don’t worry I’ve dealt with these guys before!” said Naruto. Applejack soon consented and led Big Mac out of the clearing.

Making sure that they were gone, Naruto turned to the pack of wolves and grinned which made them a bit nervous. “Now that they are safe” said Naruto taking a pouncing position “It’s SHOWTIME!!!” before dashing towards them.

Naruto launched a wolf into the air with an uppercut and followed after it then executing a tail slam, sending it flying into another wolf. Upon landing, he quickly spun to the left avoiding a claw from behind and using his tail to grab the tail of the wolf performing a 360 spin on his front hooves knocking the wolves back before slamming the grabbed wolf into the ground.

“Now for the Climax!” Naruto shouted out, before channeling chakra to his horn making the energy to take shape of a much longer horn. “Take this! *Chakurahonsurasshu!” he called out and slashed at the wolves, leaving them in pieces. “Heh show’s over” Naruto smirked before going to meet up with Applejack and Big Mac.

Upon setting eyes on Naruto, Applejack galloped over to him and began checking for injuries and was surprised to find none. “I told you that I would be fine, but I am sorry if I worried you” said Naruto.

“Okay, I’ll accept your apology if you come around help us buck apples, how’s that?” said Applejack.

“Sure thing, I’ll come around later. See ya Applejack, you too Big Mac” said Naruto before waving goodbye.

It was now late and Naruto was heading to the library to turn in for the night. When he opened the door, “SURPRISE!!!” He stood there stunned at the sight of the balloons, confetti, ponies that were waiting to surprise him.

“Welcome to your party Naruto!” said Pinkie Pie who was there along with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy who had Ao on her back, Rarity and Applejack. Naruto still stood there in surprise before he smiled.

“Thanks everypony! And I am happy to be here in Ponyville” said Naruto and everypony cheered and the party commenced. It was full of fun and Naruto stuffed himself silly with snacks since he hadn’t eaten throughout the day. After an hour of partying, everypony left for their homes and Naruto cleaned up the place with the help of Pinkie Pie and the others. When they left as well, Naruto went upstairs and settled himself in the bed and got ready to sleep.

“Wow, so this is my new life, I’m looking forward to the memories which I will make with the others but I feel that should be ready for an incoming battle” Naruto thought not knowing how right he was.

Meanwhile on the moon, the silhouette of a mare begins to pulse in purple light before fading.

Glossary
Chakurahonsurasshu = Chakra Horn Slash

The Calm before the Storm

Chapter 3: The Calm before the Storm

As the sun rises over Ponyville, it shone its morning rays through the window of the library where Naruto Uzumaki sleeps.

“Damn, why must Celestia raise the sun now,” he grumbled, pulling the sheets over his head to block out the sun in order to continue sleeping. It wasn’t even ten minutes when there was a tapping on the window. Unable to ignore the annoying sound, Naruto woke up to look at the window only to see Ao the blue jay pecking at the window.

“Good morning Ao, I see you came to wake me up as usual,” chuckled Naruto after he opened the window to which the bird nodded. Ever since they met on the first day, Ao had been hanging around Naruto and is often seen flying next to him or sitting on his head which Naruto claims is her seat.

“Well thanks for the daily wake-up call Ao, let’s go around town and see if there is anypony who needs help like always,” said Naruto, Ao tweeted in agreement. The two friends set off for the town after locking the library.

It had been a week since Naruto first came to Ponyville, since he didn’t have any money to support himself, Naruto took up odd jobs like delivery, painting, babysitting, gardening, etc, he mused that his experience with those D-rank missions actually came in handy. Soon he was well known throughout the town as a very kind and helpful pony, but he always spends most of his time with Applejack and the others.

“Hey Ao, this might sound weird to you but I have been having this feelings of foreboding and it seems to have something to do with the Summer Sun Celebration," said Naruto. Ao tilted her head in confusion and then tweeted as if to assure him that everything would be fine. “Maybe I am just being paranoid,” said Naruto thinking back on what he read at the library two days ago.

***Flashback begin***

In the hall of the library, Naruto was reading on the history of Equestria after going through the other books where he learned of the economy, politics and legends of the world he now lives in. What caught his interest was the existence of magic which seemed to replace chakra and decided to learn about it since him as a unicorn can utilize it.

As he read, Naruto learnt of the two royal Alicorn sisters of Equestria, Princess Celestia who raises the sun and brings forth day and Princess Luna who raises the moon and bring forth night. During the course of time, Princess Luna became jealous as she felt unappreciated for her duty and transformed into a corrupted pony known as Nightmare Moon. Seeing no way to stop her, Celestia had no choice but to use the elements of harmony to seal her sister in the moon and since then took charge of raising the moon and the sun.

“Hmm, it has been a long time since Celestia sealed her sister away, wouldn’t it have grown weaker as the years gone by? This feeling seems to stem from that and the Summer Sun Celebration is around the corner” Naruto thought to himself before closing the book and going to sleep.

***Flashback end***

“Enough of the thinking, let’s see if Rarity is done with the stuff I requested,” said Naruto shaking his head, slightly irritating Ao who was sitting at the current time.

When Naruto reached the Carousel boutique, he knocked on the door which opened to reveal a young filly, she has a coat of white with a grayish mulberry with pale light grayish streaks mane and tail.

“Good morning Naruto, it’s great to see you!” said the filly happily.

“It’s always great to see you too Sweetie Bell, I hope you aren’t causing Rarity any kind of trouble,” said Naruto with a knowing smile.

The young unicorn flinched slightly, “Not this time, I can tell you that,” Naruto smiled and walked inside, he often looks after Sweetie Bell whenever he comes and helps her out as well as keep her out of trouble which she seems to always get into, soon she saw him as an older brother.

“Hello Naruto, it’s always good to see you dear,” said Rarity with a smile, she liked having Naruto come around since she enjoys his company, and most at times they work together creating ideas for making new clothing for ponies, she was surprised at Naruto as he didn’t look like somepony with a fashion sense but seemed to have ideas that she never thought of.

“Hi there Rare, I just came to see if you finished with my request,” said Naruto with a foxy grin.

“Yes I have, just let me go and get them,” said Rarity before going to open a box and pull out a satchel and a black headband with the symbol of a leaf on both of them. Naruto gave it to her to give some finishing touches and requested for her to make a headband for him. When asked why he said “To remind me of my will of fire,” which confused her.

“Here let me put it on for you,” said Rarity before using her magic to tie the headband onto his forehead.

“I must say that it looks good on you, I am sure you’ll attract a lot of mares,” giggled Rarity at Naruto who was blushing.

“D-don’t say that Rare! It’s embarrassing, any way I’ll see you later, you too Sweetie Bell, thanks for everything,” said Naruto before leaving.

While walking through the town, Naruto was admiring the handiwork that Rarity did to his satchel, “Now I’ll apply the seals in the interior to increase the space as well as not weigh me down when I carry, it’s a good thing I convinced Ero-sennin to teach me about seals when we went to find Ba-chan,” thought Naruto, ever since he was introduced to the art of sealing, Naruto discovered that he had a talent which he believed that he inherited from his parents.

While deep in thought, Naruto heard a loud voice from behind him. “EXCUSE ME! GET OUT OF THE WAY!” the voice yelled.

Naruto quickly back flipped just in time avoid a collision with a filly who was riding a scooter. She is a Pegasus pony with a coat of slightly dark orange and purple mane and tail. Although she was relieved to have avoided the pony ninja, she failed to notice a rock on the road which flung her into the air. Naruto quickly leapt after her and used his tail to catch her before landing on the ground.

“Geez Scootaloo, does this always have to happen whenever we meet up,” said Naruto with a smirk at the young filly.

Naruto met Scootaloo a few days ago in the exact situation, Naruto learnt that she is an admirer of Rainbow Dash and aspires to be like her. When he found out that she is also an orphan, he took upon himself to watch over her as he could relate since he is also an orphan. He also began teaching her the lower levels of his free running skills which she had a talent for, soon he became her brother figure as well.

“Sorry about that Big bro, somehow I lost control of my scooter along the way,” said Scootaloo rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment, a habit that she got from Naruto.

“No problem Scoots, tell you what let’s head over to the Sugarcube Corner and get something to eat,” said Naruto.

“Okay Big bro, race ya!” said Scootaloo while zooming off on her scooter. Naruto chuckled softly before following after her. When they reached the sweet shop, Naruto had won the race.

“I’m impressed Scoots, for you to apply Terra drift while on your scooter is a stroke of genius,” said Naruto with a foxy grin.

“That’s because I have a great teacher,” said Scootaloo smiling brightly.

When they entered the shop, Naruto had hardly taken a step when he was tackled to the ground by Pinkie pie.

“Hiya Naru, I missed you!” said Pinkie pie, Naruto had been helping her out in the shop as well as planning out parties, he often has to properly name her parties much to the relief of the other ponies that attend them. Naruto also has to keep himself on alert because of her ‘Pinkie sense’, every time Pinkie’s tail twitches he has to get out of the way of falling objects ranging from flowerpots to ponies mostly Rainbow Dash.

“Hey Pinks, Scoots and I came to get some snacks, you’re welcome to join if you want-“ said Naruto, he barely finished talking when Pinkie pie had already set up the snacks on the table and was waiting for him, surprising Naruto and Scootaloo.

“What are you waiting for? They won’t eat themselves,” said Pinkie enjoying the look on his face, she always likes to surprise him often saying it livens up her day.

After eating and saying goodbye to Pinkie pie, Naruto also said goodbye to Scootaloo. When he turned to leave, he heard Scootaloo speak softly to herself “Sometimes I wish you were my real big brother,”

He smiled inwardly and thought “I can do something about that but in due time,”.

“Now where should I go next? Maybe Fluttershy’s,” thought Naruto walking towards the edge of Everfree forest.

As he was walking, Naruto heard a voice from above “Hey Naruto! Heads up!” instead of listening to the voice, Naruto quickly flipped backwards in time to avoid a shower of rain which fell at where he was standing.

“Nice try Dash! But it will take a lot than that to surprise me!” said Naruto smirking while looking up to see Rainbow Dash sitting on top of the cloud. He and Rainbow Dash have been competing in different challenges just to get one over the other with both sides getting an equal number of wins, losses and draws.

“True but that’s what makes me strive to get the jump on you,” said Rainbow Dash while descending from the cloud she was on. “Where ya going anyway?”

“I’m heading to Fluttershy’s place to see if she needs any help for the Summer Sun Celebration,” said Naruto before suddenly smirking “How about a race?”

“Sure, I need a warm-up before I go and clear the clouds before tomorrow,” said Rainbow Dash. Both got into a starting position before they took off leaving behind a cloud of dust. By the time they reached Fluttershy’s house, the result was Naruto winning.

“Yeah I won! That makes 125-124 with me leading by one point,” said Naruto with pride while Rainbow Dash pouted.

“Well it won’t be like that for long, anyways see ya later,” She then flew to take care of the weather.

“She acts like that but she having as much fun as I do,” thought Naruto. He was about to knock the door when Ao flew over and began pecking his head, upset for being left behind. “Sorry about that Ao, I’ll make it up to you,” Naruto apologized.

Naruto knocked on the door which opened to reveal Fluttershy. “Oh h-hello Naruto," said Fluttershy while trying to hide her blushing. She have been enjoying Naruto’s company as well as the animals, they always come around him wanting to play or just relax when he sleeps under a tree. Naruto speaks and encourages her to overcome her shortcomings, being by her side makes her more confident in herself although she still acts shy around him.

“Hello Shy, I came here to see if I could help you in preparation for the Summer Sun Celebration,” said Naruto smiling brightly, He often comes to see Fluttershy and the animals as he feels calm and relaxed when with them.

“Y-yes well I am planning on teaching the birds some songs for when Princess Celestia appears, could you watch over the others while I teach the birds?” said Fluttershy with Naruto nodding his head in affirmation. After a couple hours and Fluttershy was done teaching for the day, Naruto bade farewell promising to visit again soon.

“I never seem to get why Shy blushes when she looks at me but it doesn’t bother me, it rather makes me happy,” thought Naruto as he moved along.

“My next stop would be at Sweet Apple Acres to help AJ buck some apples before meeting Mayor Mare,” thought Naruto before trotting towards his location.

After walking through the gate and into the barnyard, Naruto felt somepony coming up from behind but pretended to be unaware as the pony jumped onto his back. He turned to see Apple Bloom, the younger sister of Applejack. She is a filly with a coat of light-grayish olive with a red mane and tail and a big red bow.

“Howdy Naruto, I was wondering when you would show up, Big sis has been waiting for ya,” said the filly with a smile. She met Naruto when he was bucking apples with her sister, she was shy at first but soon became friends and often rides on his back when she gets the opportunity as well as swing from his fox like tail, she also looks up to him other than Big Mac as a brother.

“Hello Apple Bloom, I’ve been around town helping out that’s why I took so long, let’s not keep your sister waiting any longer,” said Naruto returning the smile before trotting out of the barnyard and to the apple fields with Apple Bloom enjoying the ride. Reaching there, he saw Applejack kicking the tree and knocking down the apples with Big Mac carrying baskets full of them.

“Hiya AJ! You too Big Mac, sorry for taking so long, I had to help the other ponies in town before getting here,” said Naruto while setting Apple Bloom down with his tail which she seems to enjoy.

"Howdy there Naruto, well better late than never since we’re in charge of the catering for the Summer Sun Celebration,” said Applejack grinning at the blond stallion. Naruto often helps her with the bucking of the apples as well as selling them at the stall. Although both of them get embarrassed when Granny Smith frequently tries to convince them to get married. Aside from that she likes being around him.

“Sure thing let’s get started,” said Naruto approaching a tree to knock down some apples from. After a few hours of apple bucking and having lunch with the Apple family. Naruto set off for the Mayor’s office to discuss something with her.

“Good afternoon Mayor Mare, there’s something I wish to talk to you about,” said Naruto to the amber mare with the grayish mane and tail with a mark of a scroll tied with a blue ribbon.

“Hello Naruto, what is it you want to talk about?” asked Mayor Mare smiling gently at the blond stallion. He had built quite a good reputation among the residents of Ponyville.

“Well I want to build a home and here are the blueprints and I hope these would cover the cost of the building materials and other things,” said Naruto bringing out the blueprints and some shards of crystals.

Mayor Mare was stunned at the sight of the crystals “Where did you get them Naruto? These should cover the cost and still have money left over,”

“I found them in a cave on my way here, and you can give the rest of the rest of the money to the orphanage,” said Naruto.

“Okay, it should take at least two months to build so you will have to wait until then,” said Mayor Mare to which Naruto nodded before saying goodbye and heading to the library.

When he reached the library, Naruto said goodbye to Ao. As he laid down to sleep, Naruto thought to himself“I feel something big is about to happen tomorrow,” before falling asleep.

Way to the Dawn

Chapter 5: Way to the Dawn

Mayor Mare yelled out, “Seize her! She is the only one who knows where the princess is!” Immediately a group of Pegasus in golden armor belonging to the royal guard of Princess Celestia flew in to the air and charged at Nightmare Moon.

“Stand back, you foals” yelled the dark Alicorn, her eyes glowed and lightning was fired at the Pegasus putting them out of commission. She began to laugh arrogantly, “Hahahaha! Is that all you sun lovers can-“Nightmare moon didn’t finish the sentence when she received a haymaker punch by courtesy of Naruto Uzumaki in the jaw, drawing a bit of blood.

“I don’t know about this plan of yours but you are going to make a lot of ponies suffer because of your selfishness so I am not going to let you do what you like,” said Naruto glaring at the evil Alicorn.

“You are an interesting pony, different from the others,” said Nightmare moon while getting up from the floor. “However you must know your place which is underneath me!” she then launched a bolt of lightning which slammed into Naruto, sending him flying into the air and crashing through the wall where he fell to the ground and lost consciousness.

“Naruto!” shouted the mares who went to check if he is okay while Nightmare moon once again laughed before turning into the purple mist and flying out of the town hall towards the Everfree forest in the outskirts of town. Rainbow Dash saw Twilight Sparkle run towards the library and suspected that she knows what is going on, so she followed after her with the others close behind while Rarity carries an unconscious Naruto with her magic.

Twilight was using her magic to look through the books stacked in the shelves and discarding them when they do not contain the information that she is looking for.

“Elements…… Elements…….. Elements…. argh! How can I stop Nightmare moon without the Elements of Harmony!?” she said while frustrated.

“And just what are these Elements of Harmony?!” Rainbow Dash said bursting into the room with the other mares right behind her while Rarity laid Naruto onto the couch. “And how did you know about Nightmare moon!? You are a spy aren’t you!?”

Applejack grabbed Rainbow Dash by the tail with her mouth in order to hold her back. “Simmer down, Sally. She ain’t no spy and I’m sure Naruto wouldn’t want you reacting like this,” she said, Rainbow Dash calmed down but she was visibly upset at Naruto being hurt by Nightmare Moon. “I’m sure that she knows what’s going on, don’t you Twilight?”

“Before I came here, I read about the prophecy about the return of Nightmare Moon and that some mysterious artifacts called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her. But I don’t know what they look like, where to find or how to use them!” said Twilight while still looking through the remaining books until Pinkie pie spoke up.

“The Elements of Harmony, a reference guide,” Pinkie read aloud from the other side of the library and was pushed away by Twilight when she ran over to confirm much to her surprise that it was there.

“Where did you find it and so quickly!?” asked Twilight who was stunned that Pinkie pie found the book much sooner than she did without any problem.

“It was under ‘E’!” said Pinkie bouncing in excitement which made Twilight feel embarrassed at missing something so obvious. Twilight opened the book and began to read out loud.

“There are known to be six of the Elements of Harmony which are Kindness, Laughter, Loyalty, Honesty, Generosity but the sixth is unknown and their last known location was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters in the Everfree forest.

“The Everfree forest is to the south of Ponyville and we are coming with you,” said Applejack surprising Twilight.

“Wait everypony, I appreciate the gesture but this is something I should do on my own,” said Twilight, although the promise that Naruto made echoed in her mind.

“No can do, Sugarcube. We ain’t letting any friend of ours go into that place alone so we’ll be sticking with ya like a caramel on an apple,” said Applejack while Pinkie pie was jabbering about the possibilities of candy apples being in the forest.

“W-what about Naruto?” asked Fluttershy who was watching over the blond stallion who was still unconscious.

“Well we can’t take him with us, so he’ll remain in the library so that he can recover,” said Rarity. With that the mares set off for the ancient castle to acquire the Elements of Harmony in order to defeat Nightmare Moon.

When Naruto opened his eyes, he realized that he was back at dreamscape where he met Luna and the dark being. “If I am back here then that means that Princess Luna is somewhere close by, I’d better hurry and find her to check if she’s alright,” thought Naruto and galloped off in search of her. When Naruto found Luna, he was horrified to see that she was restrained with chains that seem to emit dark aura which prevents him from getting any closer to her.

“Princess Luna, what is happening to you?!” asked Naruto who was still trying to get closer to the mare but to no avail.

“Naruto, is that you? These chains are slowly draining my magic and sense of will, I don’t know how long I can resist but it takes control of me,” said Princess Luna, it is visibly seen that she is struggling to keep herself in control.

“Damn, I can’t help her here, the only to save her is to use the Elements of Harmony to purge Nightmare moon from her body!” thought Naruto. “Princess Luna, I need you to hold on for just a little longer while I help my friend find the Elements of Harmony in order to save you and I promise you that I will definitely save you” said Naruto. When Luna looked into the blond stallion’s eyes and could see the firm resolution which gave her the hope she thought she lost years ago.

“Okay, I’ll try to resist for a little longer for you to get the Elements,” said Luna.

“Thank you, I am hoping that we would have a nice conservation under better conditions,” said Naruto with a foxy grin making Princess Luna blush. “And don’t worry, when Naruto Uzumaki makes a promise he always keeps it,” After saying those words, Naruto faded from the dreamscape leaving Luna to hope for his success.

When Naruto woke up, he saw that he was in the library and the books were scattered about except for one book that lay open on the table. Reading through it, he figured out where she was heading to.

“Knowing Twilight, she would be going to the ancient castle to find the Elements of Harmony but will have to go through the Everfree forest which is very dangerous especially at night” thought Naruto who immediately dashed out of the library and jumped to the roof of the tallest building.

Closing his eyes, Naruto channeled chakra to them before opening them to reveal that they were glowing. Naruto called this technique the Aura sight which allows him to see far distance as well as see the aura of any living being. Looking In the direction of the forest, Naruto picked up a trace of Twilight’s aura as well as that of five other ponies with her.

“It seems like Applejack and the others followed her to help and this can’t be coincidence since there are six mares and six Elements of Harmony but I better catch up before they go in too deep,” thought Naruto before jumping off the roof. Landing on the floor, Naruto took a running position and channeled chakra to his hooves till they emitted white aura. “Ready, GO!!!!” (I couldn’t resist using the Sentai Go-Busters catchphrase) and took off leaving a small crater behind in his wake.

Music start: Sonic Unleashed OST; Jungle joyride-Day

Galloping through the Evertree forest, Naruto using his free running skills to the fullest to dart through the trees while evading any hostiles that come in his way, then he reached a cliff where he jumped off and used the Terra Drift to descend on the cliff wall while swerving left and right to avoid the rocks jutting out,. Continuing along the way, Naruto saw a manticore sleeping peacefully and knew that Fluttershy’s kindness calmed it down and continued on his way. When he reached a river, Naruto saw a serpent admiring his reflection and noticed that one of part of his moustache had a familiar color.

“It must be Rare’s tail, she must have cut it and given to him in order to cheer him up, she is really the most generous pony I’ve ever met,” Naruto thought fondly before jumping over the river and moving along. As he drew close, a pack of Timberwolves jumped into his path intending to attack.

“Get out of my way!!!” shouted Naruto, running faster to create a white barrier and slammed into the wolves, sending them flying into the air. He kept on moving until he finally caught up with the mares who were standing at the end of a bridge.

Music End

“Naruto!? What are you doing here, I thought you were unconscious!?” asked Twilight who was surprised to see him here.

“Well I have always been known to heal fast and I still intend to keep the promise I made,” said Naruto. “Where’s Dash? I don’t see her here,”

“She’s at the other end of the bridge tying the other end for us to cross,” said Rarity who looked a bit down and Naruto knew why and thought of how to cheer her up after all this. After crossing the bridge, Rainbow Dash was surprised as well as happy to see Naruto.

“Whoa Naruto!? How did you get here so fast?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“What would you expect from the fastest pony on land Dash?” said Naruto grinning to which she smiled sheepishly.

“Let’s get moving, we are almost at the castle,” said Twilight but before she could take a step, a large purple mist materialized in front of them and grotesque forms of black ponies appeared. “These must be the offshoots of Nightmare moon’s dark magic” thought Twilight, she was about to tell the others to retreat when Naruto stepped forward.

“I’ll take these guys on!” said Naruto who took a pouncing position.

“But Naruto, this is different from when you were fighting the Timberwolves!” said Applejack with a worried look.

“That’s because I didn’t go all out on those wolves but with these guys, I might have to get a little serious and I’ll explain everything to you when all this is all over,” said Naruto.

“What do you mea-“ Twilight began to ask but stopped when she saw Naruto release a white aura from his body. “What is this!? It feels like magic but at the same time it doesn’t,” she thought as the other mares looked on in surprise while pinkie pie was excited

“Naruto is glowing like a sun, this calls for a party when we get back!”

“Kosei no Ha! Battle stance!!” Naruto called out, a sea blue glaive appeared on his back glowing brightly as if happy at being summoned after being so long dormant. Naruto turned to look at the dark ponies and grinned widely. “It’s SHOWTIME!!!” then he dashed towards them.

Music start: Naruto Original Soundtrack; Strong and Strike

Naruto began forming a chakra arm to grab one of the dark ponies and flinging it into the air and raised his fore hoof “Chakra bullet!” a white rune appeared and released a white orb which sped to the target and slammed into the pony, destroying. He quickly flipped over the next target while channeling chakra to his tail “*Chakra tail whip!” it glowed white before stretching and wounding itself around the pony, Naruto proceeded to lift it and slam it into the dark pony coming in from his left and dashed towards them “Glaive joust!” and rammed them with the glaive covered with chakra at high speed causing them to dissipate.

“Who taught you guys how to fight?” Naruto taunted making three of the dark ponies charge at him, Naruto knocked one back with a double kick and unleashed a 5 hit combo with his glaive on another. He then formed chakra claws at his front hooves and unleashed a flurry of slashes on the third before finishing up with a cross slash causing to disappear. Naruto spun around and used a chakra tendril to grab the pony “Get over here!!” (I’ll borrow a line from Scorpion) and pulled it in. Channeling chakra to his horn “Chakra horn thrust!” rammed it into the pony’s chest making it fade away.

Soon Naruto was surrounded by the remaining four but he didn’t look worried. “Time for the climax!” said Naruto as the Kosei no Ha glowed brightly. “*Stellar gear change; Chakram!” then it faded to reveal a three pointed cyclone blade with curved edges on his back (Aquila from DmC: Devil May Cry but a bit larger than normal) “Take this! Chakram cyclone!” then he used a chakra tendril to throw the chakram which flew in an orbit, striking all of the dark ponies before returning to his back and reverting to the glaive. Naruto smirked “Heh, show’s over,”

Music End

After making sure that there no more enemies around with his Aura sight, Naruto was approached by the mares.

“Naruto, you were so amazing when you fought those baddies,” said Pinkie Pie while hugging the stallion

“Indeed, the way you fought was truly beautiful and artistic,” said Rarity with a look of admiration.

“I-I am glad that you didn’t get hurt,” said Fluttershy who was trying to hide her blush with her mane.

"So that’s how you fought the Timberwolves back then,” said Applejack with a look of understanding.

"AHA! I knew that you were holding back in our race but I can’t blame you since I was also not going all out either, we’ll have race soon but this time we’re going all out!” said Rainbow Dash with a grin.

"What kind of energy was that? I’ve never seen anything like it!” said Twilight who had a look of curiosity.

Naruto smiled at the mares “Like I said before, I’ll explain everything after we defeat Nightmare Moon,” he said and got a nod from them, then led the way to the castle.

When they got to the castle and entered inside. Naruto used his Aura sight and sensed different auras within the castle.

“I sense the potent energy of the Elements to the right while I sense Nightmare Moon at the top of the castle,” said Naruto after ending his technique.

“So what do we do then Naruto?” asked Rarity, feeling that he is suited for the leadership role.

“I’ll go face Nightmare moon while you and the others go and get the Elements,” said Naruto, the mares looked at him in surprise.

“Naruto, I don’t think I like this plan of yours, you could get killed fighting against her,” said Applejack with the others nodding in agreement.

“Don’t worry, I intend to stall her so as to give you time to find the Elements and think of a way to use them,” said Naruto, but they didn’t look convinced. “How about this? After all this is over, I spend a whole day with each of you,”

“Okay then, since we know that you always keep your promises no matter what then we’ll go with your plan, just don’t do anything stupid,” said Rarity.

“Sure thing, and Twilight remember that you not alone in this,” said Naruto leaving the mare deep in thought.

Soon they went their separate ways, with the mares going through a door on the right and Naruto galloping up the stairs to the top of the castle. Reaching the top, Naruto came face to face with Nightmare moon who stood in the throne room.

“Looks like this pony still hasn’t learnt his lesson” said Nightmare moon with a look of haughtiness to which Naruto smirked at.

“Well that time I underestimated you, but this time I’m gonna buck you off your high horse” Naruto taunted which worked as Nightmare moon looked at him with anger in her eyes.

“You will pay for your insolence with your life!” she said angrily releasing dark magic from her but was stunned when she saw Naruto release a white aura from his body.

“Kosei no Ha! Battle stance” Naruto called out summoning the glaive once before looking at Nightmare moon “It’s SHOWTIME!!!” dashed towards her.

Music start: Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 OST; Boss battle-Mephiles

Nightmare moon fired bolts of lightning which Naruto darted left and right to avoid, he leapt at her and spun to use a Chakra tail whip to attack but she dodged by flying into the air.

“Grovel before me, foolish pony!” yelled the dark mare, releasing a shower of meteorites upon the ninja, Naruto quickly fired a barrage of chakra projectiles at the incoming meteorites destroying all of them much to the mare’s surprise. “Where did he get this power?! It doesn’t feel like magic but something else,” she thought but quickly had to dodge when Naruto threw his chakram at her, barely clipping her mane. “Try to avoid this!” Nightmare moon shouted out, releasing another shower of meteorites only that they are much bigger than the first one.

Thinking quickly Naruto formed two large chakra arms and began to pummel at the meteorites, breaking them into many pieces before forming two chakra tendrils to wrap around the last one, he swung it round before sending it back at the Alicorn landing a hit (Think of Spiderman’s hammer throw). Nightmare moon got up and charged at Naruto with her horn glowing with a dark aura and he responded in kind with his Chakra horn thrust with both sides clashing and being knocked back by the ensuing explosion from the two energy.

“You are an interesting pony, why don’t you join me and together we shall rule over Equestria,” said Nightmare moon, trying to tempt the ninja.

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m happy with what I currently have,” said Naruto while sticking his tongue at the mare.

“How dare you refuse my offer!!” shouted Nightmare moon who then released a beam of black magic at Naruto.

Knowing that there is no way that he could this attack, Naruto called out to his glaive “*Stellar gear change; Shield!” the glaive glowed brightly and faded to reveal a red shield with the symbol of a white maelstrom, the shield immediately hovered in front of Naruto and deflected the attack. Naruto smiled as he got an idea to use a technique and got ready to execute it.

When the smoke cleared, Nightmare moon to find the ninja only to see no trace of him. Then she heard a sound and looked up to see Naruto diving towards her with hoof that formed a chakra hand and was holding a spinning orb of energy. “Rasengan!” Naruto called out his attack before slamming into her and sent her crashing into a wall.

“I will not lose to a pony like you!” Nightmare moon yelled out releasing the largest amount of aura that she has.

“Whoa I don’t think Luna has much time left so I have to hurry. I guess I would have to use that” thought Naruto, he began to channel his chakra from within himself before raising his head to the sky and yelling out “Chakra burst mode!!!!”

Immediately, his body seemed to explode with white aura creating a pillar of light that could be seen from a far distance. When it died down, it revealed Naruto to have changed physically, the color of his mane and tail had changed to white and had become longer and flowing in the wind, his eyes are glowing with a white aura and the shield had reverted to the glaive but this time there were two that hovered in midair by his sides (Like Sora’s keyblades in Final form but in parallel) “Now then let’s continue from where we left off” said Naruto dashing towards Nightmare moon.

Nightmare moon wasn’t exactly having the night of her life as she is constantly launching her attacks at the enigma and only getting a few hits in while he is laying the pressure on her with his. The evil Alicorn unleashed black orbs that surrounded Naruto to strike him down, but he spun with his two glaives “Glaive windstorm” destroying all of them before they could make contact.

“Wait could he be delaying me so as to let those mares get their hooves on the Elements!? I won’t let them succeed!!” thought Nightmare Moon before transforming into purple mist and flying off.

“Damn! She figured out the plan, I gotta get to the others fast!!” thought Naruto before running after her.

Music end.

Meanwhile, Twilight and the others had found the Elements and was focusing her magic on them trying to find the spark needed to activate them. She continued trying to do so when Nightmare mare busted in knocking them all back to the other side of the room.

“I won’t let you use the Elements against me!!” shouted Nightmare moon launching a bolt of lightning at the orbs, shattering them into pieces.

“No!! The Elements of Harmony!” Twilight cried out.

“HAHAHAHA!!! With the Elements destroyed, the night will last forever!!” laughed Nightmare Moon.

Twilight was about to fall into despair when the voice of Naruto rang inside her head “You are not alone,” and she turned to look at the mares before standing and glared at Nightmare Moon with determination in her eyes.

“You think you have destroyed the Elements of Harmony? You are wrong, for the spirits of the Elements are right here!"

“What!!!” shouted Nightmare Moon with fear in her voice.

Music start: Naruto Shippuden OST; Douten

“Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of Honesty!”

“Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of Kindness!”

“Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of Laughter!”

“Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with meaningful gift, represents the spirit of Generosity!”

“And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart’s desire, represents the spirit of Loyalty!”

The broken shards began to glow and flew to their respective owners. “The spirits of the five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us!"

Nightmare Moon took a step back in fear but still spoke up to hide it “But you still don’t have the sixth Element! The spark didn’t work!”

“But it did” said Twilight “a different kind spark, I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you” turning to look at her friends “the spark that ignited inside me when I realized that you all” then looking at Nightmare Moon “are my friends!”

A bright light shone above drawing everyponies attention to see an orb which is revealed to be the sixth Element of Harmony as it descended and hovered above Twilight’s head.

“You see Nightmare Moon, when the Elements are ignited by the spark… The spark that resides in us all, it creates the sixth Element. The Element… of Magic!”

The shards glowed brightly and transformed into golden necklaces with gems resembling their respective owners’ cutie mark and the orb transformed into a tiara with Twilight’s cutie mark on it before settling on her head.

Nightmare Moon tried to attack with a bolt of lightning, but it was deflected by a white projectile which was fired by Naruto who landed front the mares surprising them with his current appearance.

“You!? Just who are you!?” she shouted, Naruto smirked and declared in a loud voice.

“I am Naruto Uzumaki, former ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village, Former container of the nine tailed fox!” as he said those words, a glow appeared on his flank and faded to reveal the mark of a white vortex and soon after the necklaces as well as Twilight’s tiara glowed and specks of lights came out of them. They floated to Naruto and formed another necklace with a gem bearing the image of his newly acquired cutie mark, he heard a voice in his head and smiled before continuing “And I, who strive for love and salvation, represent the spirit of Purity! Now it’s time for the climax!!”

Naruto levitated above the mares and held up his front hooves where a rune containing the colors of the Elements of Harmony. The magic of the Element bearers gathered at the rune before Naruto took aim at Nightmare moon and called out the attack “Take this! Harmony blast!” before firing a rainbow colored beam at the Alicorn who cried out in dismay. When Naruto landed on the ground, he reverted back to normal and chuckled “Heh, shows over,” before fainting along with the others.

When he woke up, Naruto saw that the mares are waking up as well and turned to where Nightmare moon was to see a familiar Alicorn on the floor. Naruto quickly galloped over to check if she is alright.

“Princess Luna, are you okay?” asked Naruto, nudging her awake.

“Naruto? Naruto!!” said Luna before getting up and hugging the blond stallion much to his embarrassment.

“I told you that I would definite save after all I promised,” said Naruto while blushing from the close contact with the princess while the mares felt a bit jealous at the display.

Suddenly a bright light appeared from one of the windows, everypony looked to see the sun finally rise on the sun, and the light changed its form to reveal a tall and slender white pony. She is an Alicorn with a coat of pure white and mane and tail with the colors of the rainbow different from Rainbow Dash’s, she wears a golden collar with a purple gem embedded in it and a golden crown. She has a cutie mark of the sun on her flank.

Realizing who she is, Naruto bowed down along with the other mares while Twilight approached her happily.

“Princess Celestia!” said Twilight joyfully while hugging the Alicorn. Naruto stood by Luna who looked happy as well as worried.

“I believe that is Princess Celestia, your older sister?” Naruto asked Luna who nodded. “You shouldn’t be worried about what happened back then because I’m sure she understands,”

“Princess Luna,” said Celestia as she approached Luna. Luna hesitated but walked up to her sister after receiving encouragement from Naruto. “It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this,” smiling gently “time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister. Will you accept my friendship?”

Hearing this this, Luna teared up and hugged Celestia “I am so sorry! I missed you big sister!”

Celestia also teared up as she embraced her sister “I missed you too”. Naruto smiled gently at the scene and thought of how it would be when he and Scootaloo become family. Celestia turned to Naruto and the mares. “I wish to thank you all for saving my sister especially you” said Celestia looking at Naruto.

“It’s nothing really, I mean I promised to help her,” said Naruto rubbing the back of his head before giving the white Alicorn a foxy grin which she thought to be cute.

“My, aren’t you a modest pony, what is your name?” asked princess Celestia.

“My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I am the new bearer of the Element of Purity” said Naruto, Celestia was surprised at hearing of a new Element. “I think we should return to Ponyville to check on everything then I’ll tell you my story,” with that, everypony was transported to Ponyville with Celestia’s magic.

Visiting the Memories of a Past Life

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 6: Visiting the Memories of a Past Life

Upon returning to Ponyville, many ponies of the town cheered at the return of Princess Celestia as well as the revival of Princess Luna as they rode in the golden chariot followed by Naruto and the other mares. Naruto was feeling a bit uncomfortable since he had never received praise from a large number of people. Looking away from them, Naruto noticed that Twilight Sparkle had a sad look on her face as they walked to the town hall.

“Twilight, why are you feeling so down?” said Naruto, drawing the attention of the others.

“It’s just that after finally making friends with you and the others, I would have to go back to Canterlot,” Twilight said sadly. Hearing that, Naruto became depressed as well since he enjoys having her around despite the short time they spent together, looking at Applejack and the other mares, they were also feeling sad at the thought of being separated.

Hearing what Twilight said, Celestia told Spike to take up a pen and paper to write, “I Princess Celestia, hereby decree that my student Twilight Sparkle is to remain in Ponyville to learn about friendship with the Element bearers as well as study on the new Element of Harmony and send reports about her research,” said Celestia smiling gently as Twilight hugged her in happiness.

Naruto and the mares were happy at not having to be separated, Pinkie Pie was about to dash off before Naruto used his tail to grab her,

“Now hold on there party planner, remember I said that I would tell you my story after the battle with Nightmare moon,” said Naruto, bringing their attention to him. “But before we leave, I will need Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo to come along, they should also hear of this as I don’t like keeping secrets from those I care about,”.

As soon as the fillies arrived, Princess Celestia used her magic to teleport them to the royal castle. The mares especially Rarity were excited to be there but calmed down since they wanted to learn more about their friend. After being lead to the throne room, everyone turned to Naruto to begin his story.

“So tell us about your life before coming to Ponyville,” said Celestia with Luna standing next to her wanting to learn about the stallion who saved her.

“Geez I don’t know where to begin-“ Naruto was saying when his glaive appeared in a flash of light. “Kosei no Ha?! But I didn’t call you out!” the glaive glowed brightly forcing everypony to close their eyes, when they opened them, they were standing in a forest with a large tree at the center of it.

“Where are we?” asked Rainbow Dash looking around.

“This is my mindscape, Kosei no Ha thought it would be better that I show you my memories of my past life so it drew all of you in,” said Naruto who stood at the bottom of the large tree.

“You mean you had a past life before you came to Equestria?” said Rarity with a look of surprise.

“Yes back then, I used to be a human in my world like this” said Naruto transforming into his human form, surprising the others.

“I read about creatures called humans in the books, there used to be some in Equestria but they all disappeared without a trace,” said Twilight.

“It would seem that they disappeared to other worlds, I was there when it happened,” said Princess Celestia with Luna agreeing.

“Well in my world I used to live in a land called the elemental nations and there are villages called the five Shinobi villages where ninjas live,” said Naruto.

“You mean those warriors who fight in the shadows, use smoke to hide and all those cool stuff,” said Pinkie Pie bouncing around excitedly much to Naruto’s amusement.

“Yes and I used to be one, I lived in the Hidden Leaf Village which is one of the five Shinobi villages,” said Naruto as a large mirror appeared and displayed an image of a village, as the ponies looked closer, they saw the stone faces on the mountain was painted with doodles and that a younger Naruto was running away from two older humans whilst carrying a can of paint to which they all laughed.

“Naruto what was that all about,” asked Rainbow Dash while laughing, with the others wondering the same thing.

“When I was still at the village before I became a ninja, I used to play pranks on the village to get attention and even the high ranked ninjas could never catch me,” said Naruto with a smirk.

“But why strive for attention? I’m sure your parents were there to support,” said Applejack, hearing that, a look of sadness appeared on his face which gave the mares a bad feeling.

“Well to tell you the truth, a demon fox had attacked the village had attacked the village and my father who was the village leader along with my mother sacrificed their lives to seal it away in a newborn baby which was me and died believing that I would be treated as a hero but the villagers believed that I was the reincarnation of the fox and mistreated me since then” said Naruto.

Upon hearing that, the mares were shocked, Fluttershy, Pinkie pie and the fillies began to cry wondering why something like that should happen to a pony like him.

“So that’s why you always support me because you know the feeling of loneliness,” thought Scootaloo.

“It’s a surprise that you didn’t fall to darkness like anypony would have, how come?” said Celestia to which Naruto smiled gently.

“It’s because I met people who saw me for who I am and not for what I contain, they also taught me that when I want to protect those precious to me that’s when you gain true strength,” said Naruto while looking the mares especially Luna who nodded in understanding.

Afterwards, Naruto showed them his memories from his first mission, the invasion which frightened Fluttershy a bit when they watched him against a boy who was also a container like Naruto, the battle against Orochimaru until they reached his last memory.

“What happened here Naruto?” asked Rarity who was pointing at the image of Naruto facing off against his team mate.

“Back at the ninja exam, Sasuke had received a cursed seal from that snake which gave him power but corrupted him as well and with his desire to avenge his clan, it made him leave the village to join Orochimaru in order to gain more power,” said Naruto.

“I believe you went after him in order to bring him back to the village since he is your friend as well as your team mate,” said Twilight, Naruto nodded in response.

“I was assigned to a squad to bring him back and we split up to face each of Orochimaru’s elites till I was the last one to catch up with Sasuke, I tried to reason with him but he wouldn’t listen so we fought,” said Naruto as the memory of the battle was displayed. “The battle escalated when he used the power of the cursed seal forcing me to use the power of the nine tailed fox to fight back and in the end we clashed with our best techniques with him killing me but I knocked him out,”.

“Then how did you come to Equestria?” asked Luna trying to hold back tears along with the mares who were sad at how things turned out for the blond stallion.

“When I died, I met Kami-sama who is the god of my world, she asked me what I wanted to do with the soul of the nine tailed fox which I requested to be sent back to its own world as I found out that the fox was under someone’s control when he attacked the village. That’s also when Kosei no Ha appeared and chose me to be its wielder and the fox unlocked my power as a sign of apology before I was reborn in Equestria,” said Naruto.

“B-but Naruto, don’t you miss them back in your world,” asked Fluttershy worriedly.

“It’s true that I miss them, however I have you all who are precious to me and I will be with you forever and that’s a promise,” said Naruto with a foxy grin, making the fillies run up to Naruto and hug him. The mares were also happy to hear that he cares about them very much.

“What is the power the fox gave you the one you used back at the Everfree forest?” asked Twilight.

“Yes it enables me to use my chakra to form anything as well as enhance my physical abilities also I can use magic but I need to learn how, I’m sure you could teach me,” said Naruto to which she nodded. “My Kosei no Ha is a special glaive that can transform into anything I wish during battle and I am still training to master its power,”

Soon the glaive glowed brightly again and they were back in the throne room and returned itself back to Naruto.

“So what will you do now Naruto? Will you travel throughout the land?” asked Applejack with a hint of sadness that is mirrored by the other mares and fillies. Naruto shook his head in negative.

“No I am rather happier staying in Ponyville with you all as you are all precious to me, besides I promised to spend a day with each of you,” said Naruto with a foxy grin, making the mares blush at the thought of spending time alone with the stallion.

After giving Princess Celestia the Elements of Harmony, Naruto and the mares were transported back to Ponyville not before he promised to visit every once in a while.

Days with the Mares

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 7: Days with the Mares

It had a couple of days since the battle against Nightmare Moon, things had settled down at Ponyville. Since Twilight Sparkle and Spike now live in the library, Naruto took a temporal residence at the Apple family’s home much to Applejack’s joy and the envy of the other mares.

Naruto is currently on his bed thinking deeply about what he plans on how he will spend the days with of the mares. “I wonder what I should do, hmm,” thought Naruto, then he looked at the crystals and scrolls that lay on top of the table. Whenever he got time, Naruto would practice on his fuinjutsu and study the crystals that had piqued his curiosity. Normally the crystal would be transparent but when he channels his chakra into them, they change colors and then revert back to normal.

As for his fuinjutsu, he would normally use his chakra arms to draw but lately started using his tail as it is more accurate and clearer. He came on a dead end when he realized that only he could properly use the seals but theorized that magic could serve as a substitute but needs a medium which he found in the crystals. “Maybe using fuinjutsu on the crystals would give them a special effect like storage, heating and much more,” he thought but decided to think about it later since he has to spend time with one of the mane 6 tomorrow.

*Next Day: With Pinkie Pie*

The next day, Naruto headed to the town square to meet up with Pinkie pie to spend time together, when he got there she was nowhere to be seen. “For Pinkie not to be here must mean that she is going to surprise me from out of nowhere since I always fail to detect her despite being a ninja,” Naruto signed in resignation, sure enough he was tackled to the ground by a pink blur which revealed to be the excitable mare.

“Hiya Naru!! I’m so happy to see you, so what are we going to do today? Plan a party? Run all over the place? Huh, huh, huh?” said Pinkie Pie, bouncing around.

“Actually Pinks, I was planning that we have fun cooking something for each over. After all, you always treat me to the snacks at the Sugarcube corner so I want to do the same for you and I want you to try out the food from my world although it will be a bit different from the original,” said Naruto while using his tail to lift Pinkie from him in order to get up from the ground.

“Okay Naru! Let’s go to the Sugarcube corner since it’s closed for the day, I’m sure whatever you cook will taste great and I’m also going to bake a cake so that we can eat together, so let’s go!” said Pinkie Pie before grabbing Naruto and dragging him to the sweet shop much to the amusement of the ponies around.

When they got to the shop, Pinkie immediately began on preparing the cake while Naruto watched from a distance. “Whoa, Pinkie really knows how to work her way around the place that bears testament to how skilled she is at baking,” thought Naruto as he looked on for a while but then got up and approached Pinkie. “Hey Pinks, mind if I lend a hand? I’m that it will be quicker and more fun that way” said Naruto and was then hugged by Pinkie.

“You’re right Naru, it will definitely be more fun that way so let’s get started!” said Pinkie Pie.

Soon, they went on at the preparations, it was going smoothly but chaos reared its head when Naruto playfully flicked a bit of batter from the spoon at Pinkie which landed on her face. Retaliating, she flicked a bit of batter back at him, soon the exchange turned into all-out war resulting in a messy kitchen and the duo laughing at each other. Feeling curious at how the batter tasted, Naruto licked it of Pinkie’s face which left her blushing making him blush as well.

“Sorry about that, my curiosity got the better of me,” said Naruto while rubbing the back of his head.

“It’s okay Naru, I would have done the same just for fun,” said Pinkie smiling although her heart was beating very fast. After cleaning the kitchen, the duo continued until they put it into the oven.

“Now that it’s in the oven, watch me cook the greatest dish gifted to humans by the gods; RAMEN!” said Naruto with pride while Pinkie watched from a distance. Thanks to helping Teuchi and Ayame in cooking the ramen at Ichiraku, he was well knowledge in cooking the dish and soon the soup was bubbling on the stove and is about to work on the dough. “Now watch a master at work!” Naruto called out to Pinkie Pie who looked on in excitement.

Naruto formed a Rasengan with a chakra arm which amazed Pinkie and slammed it onto the mixture which began to spin and stir until the technique faded away, “With the spinning of the Rasengan, the ingredients would be evened out and make to noodles more tasty,” said Naruto.
Then he formed another chakra arm and proceeded to pound it until it was tough, “With that the dough is now firm enough to be made into strings without breakage” said Naruto. Then he began to twist and stretch until it’s in strings before using the Chakra Horn Slash to cut them.

“That’s so cool with what you did Naru, I’ve never seen anything like it!” said Pinkie Pie who was amazed by the display.

“Thanks Pinks, now all we have to do is boil the noodles in hot water and then we are all set,” said Naruto smiling. After the ramen was ready and the cake had cooled down, they carried them to the table. “You may have the first taste Pinks, I’m sure it will be unforgettable,” said Naruto with anticipation. Pinkie took a bite of the ramen and have a shocked look on her face which worried Naruto until he saw sparkles in eyes.

“WOW! This has to be the tastiest I’ve ever I had aside from muffins, the others have to try it!” said Pinkie who was barely able to contain herself.

“Sure but for now it’s just you and me, so let’s have some of the cake that you made,” said Naruto, after eating the cake and ramen, He bade farewell to the excitable mare and went back to rest for the next day.

*Next day: With Rainbow Dash*

Naruto was heading towards the highest hill in the town where he and Rainbow Dash often meet up to chat and have fun, as he was trotting to the meeting place, Naruto sensed a slight disturbance in the air and spun to the side and he use his tail to stretch out to catch a blue blur before it introduced itself to the ground.

“You really need to work on your landings after all you are the best flier around,” said Naruto with a smirk at the Pegasus who was blushing in embarrassment.

“Sorry about that Naruto, I was trying to surprise you before you get to our usual spot,” said Rainbow Dash with a grin. “You know if you were a Pegasus I wonder who the fastest in the air would be since you’ve proven to be the fastest on the ground,”

“I’m sure that I would lose to you, besides it’s not like I would form my ow- hold on this gives me an idea!” said Naruto as a look of realization appeared on his face. He closed his eyes and focused on his chakra before calling out Chakra Wings, then a pair of wings made of chakra appeared from his back. After flapping them wings to get a feel of them, Naruto turned to Rainbow Dash who had a look of surprise,

“Can I get some flying lessons from an accomplished flyer such as yourself?” said Naruto with a grin.

“Sure thing, come on let’s get to the hill and I’ll show you the basics,” said Rainbow Dash with excitement and dragged him to the hill.

“Why do I always get dragged around?” thought Naruto but wasn’t bothered about it much to his surprise.

Soon Rainbow Dash had Naruto learning how to use his new wings to fly and after a few tries, he was able to take off and learned how to glide, ascend and land although he crashed on his first attempt, making Rainbow Dash laugh at him calling it karma. After some more training, Naruto became proficient in the ability to fly which surprised Rainbow Dash.

“Whoa Naruto, you aren’t a Pegasus and yet you are flying like one who has been do so his whole life,” said Rainbow Dash who was flying beside him.

“I was thinking the same thing but it feels right, hey Dash I just got some ideas on aerial acrobatics which I’m sure the Wonderbolts have never come up with,” said Naruto.

“Really?! What are these ideas of yours?” asked Rainbow Dash with excitement.

“Just follow my lead and do what I do,” said Naruto who then picked up speed and rose to the sky.

Music Start: Super Mario 64 OST; Powerful Mario
Rising to the sky, Naruto flapped his wings and tucked himself in and flipped forwards several times and then looped backwards to maintain his flight. Rainbow Dash did the same and was able to pull it off with little error. Naruto then tucked his wings, making him go into a free-fall while doing a barrel roll, then he quickly pulled up and ascended to the sky with great speed.

“Now you try it out but be careful with the free-fall,” said Naruto.

“Sure thing Naruto, I’m sure I’ll get it in the first try like the other one,” said Rainbow Dash with confidence. She tried the maneuver but then Naruto realized that she won’t be able to break out of the free-fall early enough so he quickly dove after Rainbow Dash and caught her on his back before she crashed to the ground.

“I’m sorry about messing that move up,” said Rainbow Dash sadly, but Naruto shook his head.

“It’s not your fault, that move was tricky so all we need to do is practice at it until you can even do it in your sleep,” said Naruto with a foxy grin making the mare blush at his smile and the close contact with his body.

“He feels quite warm to the touch,” thought Rainbow Dash.

Resuming on the practice, Naruto came up with the idea of having Rainbow Dash fly behind him and then overtake him like a slingshot which he called drafting which he told her is great strategy to use in a race or competition. Then the duo began to create combination moves, one such example is the dual tornado where they fly in circles at high speed which creates a tornado capable of drawing in anything within its range.

“With these moves, I’m sure that we’ll be in the Wonderbolts, I’m sure they will let you join since you can form your own wings,” said Rainbow Dash happily.
Music End

“Maybe, but right now we need to perfect them, anyway it’s getting late so I’ll see you later,” said Naruto who decided to walk back. After saying goodbye to each other, Rainbow Dash and Naruto headed back to their homes to rest.

*Next day: With Fluttershy*

The next morning, Naruto had arrived at Fluttershy’s home carrying a picnic basket and Ao the blue jay was sitting on his head as usual who also wanted to spend the day with the both of them. Knocking on the door, he waited until it was opened by the shy mare.

“H-hello Naruto,” stuttered Fluttershy although she was happy to see him. He was about to reply when he was suddenly tackled to the ground by the animals who were happy to see he blonde stallion. ”P-please be c-careful or you might h-hurt him,”

“Hello Fluttershy, I was hoping that we would go out and have a picnic, oh and the others can along as well since I’ve packed enough for everyone,” said Naruto happily. Unable to say anything since her shyness took over, Fluttershy could only nod while the animals were ecstatic at being allowed to come along. Later Naruto led the group to a large oak tree that grew on the top of tall hill overlooking the town. “This is one of my favorite spots as its view reminds me of the view I would get when standing at the top of the Hokage monument back at the Hidden Leaf Village,”

“D-do you miss y-your old home?” asked Fluttershy.

“Yeah, I miss my old friends and there are times I wish that I would visit it once,” said Naruto with a look of sadness which made the shy Pegasus feel a little guilty until she saw him smile at her “But I am happy because I have bonds with you, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie pie, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle and everypony else here. But enough reminiscing, let’s have some fun!”

Naruto had brought along a ball to play with the animals and soon they played a game of catch, they were able to convince Fluttershy to join in which made her happy. But then one of the birds had injured on of its wings and Fluttershy had forgotten to bring her first aid kit, she was about to fly back to the house when Naruto stopped her.

“Hold on Shy! I should be able to heal this level of injury,” said Naruto, then he channeled bit of his chakra to his front hoof over the bird’s wing healing it within a few seconds, it tweeted happily and flew to his head making Ao glare with jealousy. “Baa-chan had taught me how to use my chakra to heal small injuries when I don’t have a first aid kit,” said Naruto, Fluttershy signed in relief as she was worried for the bird’s health. After eating the lunch Naruto brought with him, Fluttershy saw him bring out a strange instrument which piqued her curiosity.

“Naruto w-what kind of instrument is that?” she asked.

“This is an ocarina, it’s like a flute but with more holes, I like to play music as it calms my nerves and makes me relax and I’m good at different types of music, would you like to listen?” Naruto said, Fluttershy and the animals nodded. Then he formed his chakra arms to hold it and began to play a tune (In your Belief from Asura’s Wrath OST) from the ocarina. As he played Fluttershy and the animals began to relax and the winds carried the melody throughout Ponyville and anypony who heard it felt at peace, a certain light gray Pegasus who was at her home heard it as well.

“This melody makes me feel calm as if there is nothing to worry about, I wonder who is playing it? I hope to meet the pony,” she thought. Meanwhile upstairs a filly looks out of a window when she heard the song as well.

“I feel warm and happy listening to this song, I wish mom and I would meet this pony, I hope it’s a stallion,” she thought happily before going to bed, using the song as a lullaby. Elsewhere a dark gray earth pony listened to the song with interest.

“Whoever is playing this song is quite talented, I hope to meet this pony at an opportune time,” she thought before trotting away.
Back with Naruto, when he finished playing the song he looked around to see that all of the animals had fallen asleep, then he saw Fluttershy sleeping while leaning onto him and his tail had subconsciously curled around her. It didn’t take long until Fluttershy woke up and noticed how close she is with the stallion, she let out an ‘eep’ before hiding behind the oak tree trying to hide her blush.

“S-s-s-sorry about sleeping on you Naruto,” said Fluttershy while peeking from behind the tree.

“Its fine Shy, I’m okay with it,” said Naruto with a foxy grin. “Her behavior is just like Hinata but it doesn’t bother me at all,” he thought.

“Let’s wake the others up and I’ll escort you home,” Fluttershy nodded in agreement, soon Naruto saw her off at her home before heading home.

*Next day: With Rarity*

Naruto had arrived at the Carousel boutique to meet with Rarity, knocking on the door it was open to reveal the white unicorn.

“Hello Naruto, it’s good to see you I was just thinking of you,” said Rarity smiling happily.

“Hi Rare, good to see you too and please stop teasing me,” said Naruto while blushing in embarrassment. Rarity giggled softly at the blonde stallion’s reaction.

“Anyway, I will need your help in making some clothes for a special event at Canterlot and I hope to learn of your clothes from your world,” said Rarity.

“Sure thing Rare, I even need your help in making some clothes plus I’ve got some ideas for you,” said Naruto getting himself ready to help out Rarity. Later on, Naruto served as Rarity’s mannequin as she used her magic to use her tools to fit the fabrics as well as measure them and cut to size.

“So far so good but it seems that we are low on gems but we are close to the deadline,” said Rarity with a look of worry.

“Don’t worry Rare, I know just the substitute just wait a bit,” said Naruto before galloping out of the shop making the white unicorn wonder what he is up to. It wasn’t long when Naruto returned with his satchel which he opened to reveal the crystals.

“Where did you get such beautiful crystals Naruto? I’ve never seen them before whenever I go out gem collecting!” asked Rarity who looked mesmerized at the sight of the crystals.

“I found them in the cave I woke up from and it seems like they are special cause when I channel either my chakra or magic they change color so I am researching on them but I can spare these,” said Naruto with a smile.

“Thank you Naruto! With these crystals, this would be one of my greatest works yet!” said Rarity who jumped at Naruto and hugged him and nuzzled his face which rubbed his whisker marks making him purr. After a minute, they separated from each other blushing bright red. “W-w-well let’s get back to work shall we?”

“Y-yeah let’s hurry so that we can start on the ideas I have,” said Naruto shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts. They resumed on making the clothes then they finished and wrapped them in parcels for delivery. “Now that we are done with the requests, I needed your help in making some clothes”

“Of course dear, so what are we making?” said Rarity with a twinkle in her eye. Soon the duo had made a hoodie jacket which was black and orange with a red spiral on the back (Consider the base design from Naruto’s shippuden outfit), a long coat with a hood with a black color with red flames and a kanji for purity (Naruto’s coat from sage mode), and a pair of goggles which he now wears around his neck. These clothes look very good on you, makes you quite the handsome stallion”

“Then that makes me the most handsome stallion alongside the most beautiful mare of Ponyville” Naruto teased playfully making Rarity blush at the thought of it. “Anyway, I’ll see you around,”. After leaving the boutique and on the way back to the house, Naruto thought to himself “I’ll need to get back to the cave to get more of the crystals and place a seal on it to prevent trespassers from discovering it,”

*Next day: With Applejack*

Naruto woke up early next morning to spend the day with Applejack so he put on his new jacket went downstairs to have breakfast with the Apple family.

“Good morning everypony,” said Naruto, everyone turned and smiled at the appearance of the stallion, ever since he moved in, it was never a dull moment with him as he always liven things up with his personality and antics, Granny Smith often says that he could become part of the family for real by marrying Applejack which embarrasses both ponies, making them blush red like the apples in the farm.

“Howdy Naruto, aren’t you looking dandy today? You got those clothes from Rarity right? Cause she is the only one to do so,” said Applejack admiring the new look on the blond stallion.

“Thanks AJ, Rare and I made them together since I felt that I need a wardrobe change since I didn’t have much choice of clothes back at where I came from,” said Naruto making the mare nod in understanding as they don’t need anypony to learn of his origins. “Ready for the usual apple bucking?” said Naruto as he headed for the fields with Apple Bloom riding on his back as usual.

“Sure thing Naruto, I’m right behind ya and there is something I want to ask from you,” said Applejack who was close behind.

“Okay, after we finish with the chores then you can ask me what you need,” said Naruto taking position under a tree to buck it in order to knock down some apples. After Big Mac joined in bucking the apples. The trio worked on gathering the apples and then they went to the stall to sell their daily wares and when they were done, Applejack led Naruto to the field.

“So what is it you want to ask of me AJ?” asked Naruto with a look of curiosity.

“Well the thing is that I was hoping that you could teach me how to fight with your fighting style,” said Applejack nervously. Naruto looked surprised but then asked seriously.

“Why do you want me to teach you Poniato?”

“It’s because I want to be able to protect ma family and friends from harm because I care about them,” said Applejack while looking determined to which Naruto smiled brightly.

“Then my answer is yes,” said Naruto happily and found himself in a bear hug by Applejack who was happy to be taught.
Later on, Naruto was teaching the mare the basic katas of the fighting style since he knew that she was fit to do it.

“Applejack, you must remember that when facing an opponent, you must be aware of your surroundings as anything can either help or obstruct you in the battle. You must also know when you must attack, defend or better yet counter as attacking an opponent deals more damage than normal. When against an enemy who uses long range attacks then he must be weak at close combat, a close range opponent is helpless against long range attacks,” said Naruto, he knew how to teach due to spending time with Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon when he didn’t have any missions.

“Is there anything else I should be aware of?” asked Applejack who was listening with rapt attention.

“You must be very careful when fighting against enemies who have a lot of experience as they will make it difficult for you to get a hit on them, I’m sure you remember seeing that in one of my memories,” said Naruto, Applejack nodded remembering the battle he had with Kabuto. “And another thing, I want to tell you what my teacher back then told me; those who break the rules are trash but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash, let’s get going before we’re late for dinner,” said Naruto helping Applejack up with his tail and the duo headed back to the house eat and sleep because of the training.

*Next day: With Twilight Sparkle*

Naruto was at the front of the library where Twilight and Spike now reside, knocking on the door it was answered by the young dragon.

“Hey Naruto. It’s great to see you!” said Spike happily, the baby dragon had taken a liking to the blond stallion as Naruto often drops by when Twilight is out to keep him company and treats him to the gems he finds from the caves during his explorations and enjoys the stories of Naruto’s pranks from his dimension.

“Yo Spike, how’s it going? Is Twilight around?” said Naruto smiling at the dragon.

“Yeah, she is inside waiting you and I can tell she is excited to learn more about you and your powers,” said Spike.

“Thanks Spike, oh I almost forgot, here is some of your favorite gems I found in a cave just be sure to hide from Twilight or she will fuss about me spoiling you too much,” said Naruto winking at Spike who winked back before entering inside to meet with Twilight who reading a book.

“Hi Twilight! How are things going for you?” said Naruto smiling at Twilight who smiled in return.

“Hello Naruto it’s good to see you, things are okay with me and I was hoping to talk to you about your powers and other things,” said Twilight.

“No problem, so what is it you want to know?” said Naruto who sat across the table ready to answer her questions.

“Well I wanted to know about this energy that you call chakra as I’ve read a lot of books but found nothing helpful,” said Twilight who had a pen and paper ready using her magic.

“Well Chakra is an energy created by combining physical energy and mental energy, it enables anypony who uses it to perform feats that no normal pony can perform and it also serves as a source of life so should one completely exhaust his chakra, they die,” said Naruto.

“Okay then, what can you do with chakra can you give me some examples?” said Twilight writing on the paper.

“I’ve seen ninjas from different villages use their chakra to execute techniques with the elements like shoot fire, wield lightning, control water and other things. I used to create solid copies of myself in battle and a certain elite ninja could perform illusions, however all of these techniques require us to use our hands to form a string of certain signs to perform but there are some techniques that don’t require hand signs. For example, now that I am a pony I can’t use clone duplication anymore but I can use my father’s technique the Rasengan,” said Naruto forming a chakra arm to create a spiraling ball of energy which amazed Twilight.

“Thanks for telling me Naruto, I’m to learn more from you later on so is there anything that you want know?” said Twilight putting the pen and paper away. Naruto thought deeply before remembering something that was at the back of his mind.

“Actually I wanted to know more about magic since it is foreign to me, I already know about the basic information and how to channel it to my horn but I need your help on how to use it,” Said Naruto.

“I can teach you about levitation and other basics, but magic is capable of doing of doing a lot of things as new magic is discovered everyday,” said Twilight displaying an example by levitating a book from the top of a bookshelf. Naruto tried it as well and was able to levitate a book from the shelf thanks to training on his Chakura no sosa gijutsu which made it easier to use his magic.

“Since Twilight says that you can create your own magic since there is no fixed element on a pony unlike back at the elemental nations then I wonder if?” thought Naruto then he asked Twilight “Twilight can you take me to where there is a lake?”

With a look of curiosity, Twilight teleported the both of them to a nearby lake. “What do you plan to do Naruto?” He didn’t answer but channeled magic to his horn, making it glow orange and then a stream of water rose from the lake and slammed into a tree surprising the mare. “What was that!?” she shouted.

“Well I thought of using magic to create of a stream of water and it worked, I got the idea from a certain ninja I met on a mission, I think I’ll call it Aqua Stream,” said Naruto rubbing the back of his head.

“Is it possible for me to learn it?” asked Twilight with a look of excitement to which Naruto nodded.

“Yeah, the magic is in a way that a lot of unicorns with good control of their magic can use it and if I come up with anymore then you’ll be the first to know,” said Naruto, Twilight blushed at being able to learn new magic with the blond stallion. “Let’s return, it’s been a long day for the both of us,”

Soon after leaving the library, Naruto checked out the Apples ‘mailbox and saw a message addressed to him from Mayor Mare. Then he went to his room and opened the letter to read and by the time he was done reading, Naruto was smiling happily. “With this I can finally commence with my plan for a certain somepony,” he thought. Taking off his Jacket, Naruto went to bed thinking of how happy a certain pony would be.

A New Home and A New Family

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 8: A New Home and a New Family

It is a sunny day in Ponyville and everypony is going on with their regular duties, however they feel as if there is something missing and after a minute of thinking everypony realized that a certain blond stallion hasn’t been seen recently as he would be seen trotting through the street greeting everypony with his cheerful personality. This has been noticed by Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle as they spend the most time with the blond stallion so they decided to meet up at to discuss this mysterious occurrence.

The next day, the mane 6 met up at the Sugarcube Corner where they gathered at the table with Pinkie Pie bringing in muffins for them to snack during the meeting.

“Have any of you guys noticed that Naruto has been spending less time than usual when hanging out with us?” said Twilight while thinking deeply “Whenever he comes to the library to study magic with me, he seems to have his mind wander and is always in a hurry to leave saying that he has some urgent matters to attend to and he won’t reveal what they are every time I ask which makes me suspect that he is up to something, even Spike says that Naruto doesn’t come around these days,”.

“You’re right about that Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash “Whenever I challenge Naruto to a friendly competition or want to just hang around, he always refuses saying that he doesn’t have the time to waste and he has something to do, but I don’t see him doing anything for anypony in the town, Scootaloo says that Naruto has been seen carrying something in his satchel and makes sure that nopony sees what’s inside which makes me believe that he’s got something going on,”

The Mares were surprised as they all know that Naruto is not the kind of pony who would turn down a challenge especially from Rainbow Dash who both are alike in so many ways since they both have a competitive nature.

“I’ve not been seeing Naru either,” said Pinkie Pie who was munching on a muffin “He hasn’t been coming around the shop to help with the orders or to assist in planning on the parties, whenever I find Naru and try our usual surprises he just disappears which is strange as I was always able find and surprise him without getting caught which is different from the normal routine so he must be planning something maybe a secret party!” The mares shook their heads to the conclusion that Pinkie Pie came up with but were shocked that Naruto would be able to hide from the pink mare as everypony knows that it is almost impossible to detect or hide from Pinkie Pie who is practically a master at surprising ponies.

“I-I haven’t been seeing him too,” said Fluttershy timidly “He hasn’t been coming around to visit for a while and all the animals miss as him they really like playing with him, the birds told me that they have been seeing Naruto going in and out of town, sometimes carrying his satchel or pulling a cart that is covered with a blanket. He came around once and told me that he would be busy and let us know when he is done, even Ao the bluejay hasn’t been with him either,” Everypony knew that all of the animals enjoys Naruto’s company which Fluttershy describes as soothing and makes them feel safe so it must be serious for him to be visiting them.

“Well Naruto has been coming to the boutique” said Rarity with a depressed look “But only when I have a deadline to meet with the ponies who ordered some clothes to be made, but after he is done he would leave immediately saying that he has some things to collect, Sweetie Belle would ask for his whereabouts as he usually helps with her designs as she normally messes them up,”

“Well the same could be said on my side,” said Applejack “Recently I’ve noticed that Naruto would wake up early in the morning and eat his breakfast like he is in a hurry and would leave after he is done with the apple bucking, he even postponed my training in the Poniato saying that he has something going on and that we could pick up on my training later, Apple Bloom often asks what he is up to and he would always say that it is a secret and that he would reveal it in good time as he doesn’t want to spoil the surprise but sometimes I would notice him carrying papers containing drawings which I’ve never seen,”

Hearing the statements, the mane 6 came to the conclusion that Naruto is secretly doing something that he doesn’t want anypony to find out which has something to do with his going in and out of town, the strange drawings, what he carries in his satchel and the amount of time that he spends with them, they want find out what he is planning whether he likes or not.

“Well I say that we keep an eye on Naruto and follow him to whatever secret he is hiding as we are his friends and are concerned” said Rainbow Dash to which the mares reluctantly agreed seeing as they don’t have any other ideas.

The next two weeks didn’t go too well for the mares as Naruto always slips out of their radar. Whenever Pinkie tries to stalk Naruto, he would quickly disappear from her sight and leave behind a note saying 'better luck next time'. Rainbow wasn’t having much luck either despite being the fastest pony around as Naruto would outrun her and hide in different places making her give up the search. Fluttershy would try to have the birds and animals follow his trail and scent but it often leads to wild goose chases as it sometimes makes them go in circles. Twilight tried to talk to Naruto in order to make him slip up about what he has been up but he was extremely tight lipped about it and wouldn’t talk about it. Applejack didn’t do anything however Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo tried to talk to Naruto about what he has been up to but he would always tell them that it’s a secret and would always smile at Scootaloo before leaving, this continued for a while until they finally gave up in following the blond stallion.

One morning, Applejack woke up to somepony knocking on her door and went to open it only to find nopony there but a letter on the floor.

Opening the letter it read out Meet me at the town square and I’ll reveal the secret as I am well aware that you have been following me and trying to find out what I’ve been up since I haven’t been spending much time with you and for that I apologize. Be sure to bring along Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo as I have a nice surprise for them as well, I would write more but I prefer to wait until you show up to see it.
Naruto

After reading the letter, Applejack immediately left for the town square with Apple Bloom since there was no school today, when she arrived she saw the other mares along with the fillies’ who just arrived as well. “I guess y’all received the same letter I got?” they all nodded to confirm.

“Yeah, Naruto wrote on the letter that he would tell about this secret that he was able to keep from us,” said Twilight with Spike riding on her back.

“It’s about time that we FINALLY find out he has been hiding, it’s been nagging me for a long time that I even have trouble sleeping,” said Rainbow Dash much to the agreement of the others.

“Hey guys!” said a familiar voice, the mares looked upwards to see the evasive blond stallion galloping towards them, no sooner had he drew closer when he was tackled to the ground by Pinkie Pie with the fillies following suit.

“Oh Naru, we really missed you! We haven’t been seeing you much at all, where have you?” said Pinkie Pie who has wrapped Naruto in a tight hug, making it difficult for him to breath Twilight had to use her levitation spell to lift the overexcited mare from the barely alive stallion.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and said “Well I wanted to surprise you all with what I had planned but I didn’t want you to spoil the surprise which was why I prevented you from following me as well as asking me questions about it, although I’m sorry about not spending much time with you guys what I’m about to show you will more than make up for it. So follow me and I’ll show you!”

With that, Naruto walked out of the town square with the mares following close behind curious about where they are going. It took a while until they arrived upon a sight which stunned them as they've never seen anything like this before.

“Welcome to my new humble abode, I call it the Uzumaki mansion!” said Naruto while dramatically showing them the new home that was built near the outskirts of town. It is a two story building with an eastern country design, there is a stone path to the mansion with a lawn of grass at both sides and an apple tree on the left side.

“Come on in, I’ll give you a tour,” As the mares toured through the new building, Naruto revealed to them that there are two bathrooms located on the two floors and several guestrooms on the second floor (Hint hint) and a balcony, a living room, library much to Twilight’s excitement, a training room at the basement, a kitchen which had door leading to the back of the house to reveal a small garden on the right side and a very large oak tree which had a wooden spiral staircase leading to a tree house built at the top.

“I had it built so that you girls could have your CMC meetings there or to just come and hang out,” said Naruto with a smile, he was tackled to ground by the fillies who were muttering thank you repeatedly. There was a lake at the center with a summer hut built over it, there are also some small trees and flowers planted around. “There is one last room I need to show you as there is some I want give you all,” Naruto led them back into the mansion to a room opposite the entrance to the training room. It is a room where there are tools, materials and other items on shelves and a table at the end. “This is my work room where I make special items and examine any artifacts I might discover when I move around Equestria every once in a while,”

“Wow this place is amazing! Where did you get the money to build it?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“I went to Mayor Mare with the blueprints I made and gave her some crystals which I’m sure you are familiar with Rarity,” said Naruto pointing to the crystals on the table with his tail.

“Are those the crystals you gave to me on that day?” asked Rarity to which Naruto confirmed by nodding.

“I’m sure you remember about how I study the art of fuinjutsu?” asked Naruto to which the mares nodded “Well normally you need chakra to be able to use it but I discovered that magic can serve as an alternate option and these crystals produce special effects when I draw a seal on them and can recharge themselves by absorbing magic in the atmosphere,” The mares especially Twilight were surprised at what Naruto was telling them as this could really help a lot of ponies.

“What are the special effects when you apply these seals on them?” asked Twilight excitedly.

“Well so far I’ve discovered that the crystals can produce heat or light, storage without weight and I just discovered that it can produce a barrier to guard against physical as well as magic attacks, I have even fitted them already so hold and let me get them,” Naruto went to a closet and brought out a box and placed it on the table, he took out a bracelet with a white crystal that has a symbol drawn on it attached and gave it to Twilight who wore it on her hoof. “All you have to do is call out ‘Protect!’ and it will do the rest”

“Protect!” said Twilight immediately the bracelet glowed and a transparent dome appeared surrounding her amazing the mares who were watching.

“Wow that’s so cool!” said Pinkie Pie bouncing excitedly. Naruto gave the other mares more of the bracelets and went back to the closet to bring another box.

“I’ve got something made for you girls specially made” said Naruto, he gave Rarity a black hairpin with flowers and a violet crystal, for Fluttershy is a hairclip in the shape of a butterfly and a yellow crystal, for Pinkie is a string of beads with a pink crystals, for Applejack and Twilight is a medallion with an orange and red crystal respectively. “These crystals have the ability to store any amount of items no matter the size, all you have to do is be near the item and call out ‘Store!’ and when you want to bring out an item then call out ‘Release!’ then the name of the item," Then he gave Rainbow Dash a pair of goggles which is similar to his own but the crystals have been formed into transparent lenses “These goggles grants you the ability to see in the dark and locate magic signatures,”

“Thanks a lot Naruto, this will really help with my flying,” said Rainbow Dash wearing the goggles around her neck.

“Thank you Naru, now I can pack more of my party stuff!” said Pinkie hugging the blond stallion.

“She’s right, I can always keep my books nearby when I need them,” said Twilight.

“T-thank you for the gift Naruto,” said Fluttershy while trying to hide her blushing face.

“Thank you dear, this hairpin makes me look more beautiful,” said Rarity happily.

“I’m really happy to receive this from you so thanks Naruto,” said Applejack.

“You’re all welcome and before I forget I have one more surprise and it’s for you Scootaloo,” said Naruto to which the said filly looked at him in surprise. “Read this,” Naruto gave a piece of paper to her to read, after reading through it, Scootaloo started to cry and tackled him to the ground.

“What was it you read Scootaloo?” asked Rainbow Dash to which she replied happily “It is the adoption papers from the orphanage meaning that Naruto is now my big brother!” Upon hearing that the mares were shocked for a moment and then they were happy that Scootaloo finally has a family. After hanging around the mansion and testing out the crystals the mares left leaving Naruto and Scootaloo as he had packed her belongings secretly to surprise his new sister.

“Erm big bro?” asked Scootaloo while fidgeting.

“What is it lil sis?” said Naruto curiously.

“Can I sleep together with you tonight?”

“Of course, I was just about to ask you the same thing,” said Naruto happily, soon they went to his room and slept. “Now I have a new home, a new family and a new life. I’m looking to what adventures I will have in the future”

Meeting a Ditz

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 9: Meeting a Ditz

It is a beautiful morning at the Uzumaki mansion in Ponyville when Naruto woke up from the rays of the sun although slightly annoyed at waking up from a nice dream. “Why did I have to wake up at the moment I leapt off the springboard and was about to splash into a giant bowl of ramen, sometimes I hate you sun,” thought Naruto pouting at the sun. “Anyway I’d better go wake up Scootaloo for breakfast or she will be late for school,” he trotted upstairs and quietly opened to door to his sister’s bedroom to her still asleep. He went over and nudged her awake,

“Scoots wake up, you have to get ready for school and you don’t wanna be late,”

Scootaloo woke up and rubbed her eyes before turning to her brother with a smile “Sure thing bro, I’ll take a bath before coming downstairs to have breakfast,” Naruto smiled back and went downstairs to the kitchen and began to prepare breakfast which was a plate of sandwiches, orange juice, apples and salad. Then he went ahead to prepare a lunchbox for Scootaloo to eat at school and one for himself as he plans to have lunch at the park after his daily run in the town.

After preparing breakfast, Naruto willed his chakra arms and used them to carry the platter to the summer hut and waited for Scootaloo who showed up wearing a pair of goggles on her forehead and a medallion around her neck, Naruto had made some more of the items and gave them to the fillies excluding the goggles which was for his sister.

Since she began to live with her brother, she was very happy as he would care for her and play with her and others especially when they formed the Cutie Mark Crusaders as they searched for their talents in activities and he is around to guide them as well as keep them out of trouble although he is not above playing pranks every once in a while. After a hearty breakfast, Naruto packed their lunchboxes into his satchel and went to the entrance of the mansion where he turned to Scootaloo with a grin.

“Wheels or wings?” asked Naruto.

“Wings, besides I've already stored my scooter in my medallion, I planned to hang out with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle at her place after school” said the young filly who jumped onto Naruto’s back.

“Alright then just hold on tight, Chakra Wings!” said Naruto as wings made of energy appeared then he leapt into the air and flew. It was a fun flight to school for Scootaloo as Naruto was performing tricks along the way before finally landing at their destination much to her disappointment. “Alright, have a good day at school and I’ll pick you up at AJ’s place later in the day,” after give her the lunchbox which she sealed into her medallion, Naruto trotted off to the Sugarcube corner in order to buy some snacks to add to his lunch. “Can’t have a picnic without muffins otherwise it’s a crime,”

Meanwhile a certain mare felt happy all of a sudden, “It felt like someone is appreciating the taste of muffins, I hope to meet the pony soon,” she thought happily as she waited for her daughter to come downstairs. She is a Pegasus with a coat of bluish gray with mane and tail of pale light grayish green, she has cutie mark of two large bubbles and five smaller ones surrounding them on her flank, what is most noticeable is her grayish yellow eyes which are crossed. “Dinky doo aren’t you done yet?”

“Coming mom!” a voice called out as a young filly came down the stairs, she is a unicorn with a coat of pale purple, a blond mane and tail and yellow eyes. “I’m ready!” she happily approached her mother.

“It’s my day off from mail delivery so how about we go for a walk around before we go and get some muffins from the Sugarcube corner” said the mare. With that they left their home not knowing of the special encounter that they would have with a certain blond stallion.

Naruto was galloping excitedly to the Sugarcube corner while greeting everypony along the way until he finally reached his location. When he entered the shop, he tackled to the ground by a pink blur but he smiled happily knowing who it was behind the tackle.

“Hiya Naru, it’s been a while since I last saw you here!” said Pinkie Pie, bouncing happily.

“Geez Pinks, we only met yesterday so it hasn't exactly been a while, anyway I wanted to buy some muffins for lunch,” said Naruto as they walked to the counter.

“Coming right up Naru! You know I’m sure if you met my friend, you would get as she also likes muffins,” said Pinkie as she packs the muffins into a paper bag.

“Really? Who is this friend of yours as I would like to meet her,” said Naruto who received the bag and placed some bits on the counter.

“Her name is Derpy Hooves, she is a Pegasus who works as a delivery mare and often hangs out with Rainbow Dash and she absolutely loves muffins!” said Pinkie Pie.

“Alright then one of these days, I will follow you to meet this friend of yours, see ya later Pinks” said Naruto as he waved goodbye to the pink mare before leaving the shop and going on his merry way. Along the way, he heard somepony calling his name and turned to see Rainbow Dash flying towards him.

“Yo Naruto, how’s it going with you and Scootaloo?” said Rainbow Dash as she landed next to the blond stallion.

“Hey Dash, everything is fine with Scoots and I, I’m busy keeping her and the others out of trouble as they search for their cutie marks but it’s never a dull moment with them. Anyway, Pinks told me that you are friends with a pony by the name Derpy,” said Naruto with a smile as he walked along with the tomboyish mare.

“Oh I know her very well, I sometimes help out with her delivery, she is a bit clumsy and tends to crash into ponies whenever she flies,” said Rainbow Dash while laughing.

“You can’t laugh at her as you also tend to crash into ponies too, with me being your favorite landing cushion,” said Naruto with a smirk to which Rainbow blushed with embarrassment.

“Well at least my crashes are lower in number than hers, anyway I’ll catch ya later for our daily challenges,” said Rainbow Dash waving goodbye before flying to the clouds to perform her duties.

“Well I’d better take a walk around before heading to the park to relax and then pick up Scootaloo at AJ’s place,” said Naruto before trotting away to the neighborhood.

As he was walking through the street when he felt something close to him, it was a feeling of distress. Ever since the battle with Nightmare Moon, Naruto noticed that he had the ability to sense the emotions of ponies around such as anger, sadness, joy and others but he learning how to use it by meditating but sometimes the ability triggers without warning. Feeling curious, Naruto went in the direction of the source of the emotion to see if he could help the pony out. After tracing the source, Naruto came upon who was emitting the emotion which was a young filly who was sitting on the ground crying to which he called out. “Hello young one, why are you crying?”

10 Minutes Earlier
Dinky was walking with her mother, all the while talking about school and other things when she met with one of her mother’s friends.

“Hello Rainbow Dash, how are things going for you?” said the gray mare.

“Heya Derpy, is today your day off?” said Rainbow Dash as she landed on the ground.

“Yeah so I thought that I should spend the day with Dinky and we are just on our way to the Sugarcube corner to buy some muffins,” said the newly named Derpy.

“Okay then, oh I almost forgot to introduce to a friend of mine, he is a unicorn who goes by the name Naruto and I’m sure you’ll like him as he also likes to eat muffins just like you,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Really? I hope to meet this pony soon as I’ve heard of a stallion from the post office that he comes around to help out with the deliveries, most of the most of the workers say that he is one of the fastest ponies in Ponyville,” said Derpy.

“Well he has to be the fastest since he is my friend and rival, he's even been helping me out with my tricks as well as teaching me some new ones, I'm sure that when the Wonderbolts show up they might have the both of us join them” said Rainbow with a smile proud of the blond stallion.

“But I thought he is unicorn so how can he join the Wonderbolts?” asked Derpy who was confused.

“Let’s just say that he is a special pony,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Okay then I have to get going so I’ll see you later, come on Dinky let’s-“ said Derpy turning to her daughter only to see that she is gone. “Where did she go!? She was right next to me!?” she began calling out for her only to receive no reply.

“Let’s search from the sky, she can’t have gone too far!” said Rainbow Dash, the two Pegasus took to the air to begin their search.

What they didn’t know was that when they were talking, Dinky was distracted by a butterfly and chased after it in order to catch it, she kept following it through the town until she lost sight of it much to her disappointment.

“Oh well, I guess I’d better get back to mom,” she tried to go back the way she but kept taking the wrong way which resulted in getting more lost, she tried to look for a familiar face but to no avail adding more to her distress, adding hunger to her problems made her break down and cry. Dinky kept crying until she felt a shadow over and heard a gentle voice call out to her.

“Hello young one, why are you crying?” said the voice, she looked up to see a male unicorn with an orange coat and spiky blond mane and a foxy tail, and she also noticed the whisker marks on his face which piqued her curiosity if they are real. She didn’t know this stallion but felt that she could trust him.

Back to present time
The filly looked up to Naruto without talking making him feel shy so decided to draw her attention to why she was crying.

“My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I moved to Ponyville a couple of weeks ago, what’s your name little one?” said Naruto giving the filly a foxy grin which calmed her down and made her smile as well.

“My name is Dinky Doo and it’s nice to meet you Mr. Naruto,” said Dinky Doo. “I have heard of that name from mom’s friend, this could be him, he looks nice and those whisker marks remind me of a fox,”

“Please call me Naruto, being called Mr. makes me feel old and distant,” said Naruto with a smile.

“Okay well the reason I was crying is because I got lost from my mom. My mom and I were out for a walk since it’s my mom’s day off when we met a friend of hers, they were talking and I chased after a butterfly and ended up getting lost,” a growl came from her stomach causing her to blush “And I’m hungry too,” Naruto chuckled softly before coming to eye level with the filly.

“Well I can help you on both cases, I can help you find your mom and I can get some food into that stomach of yours,” said Naruto with a gentle smile.

“Really?! Thank you Naruto!” said Dinky happily.

“I can tell that you look tired so how about you climb onto my back and then we head to the park as I’ve packed lunch and it should be enough for the both of us,” said Naruto as he crouched down for Dinky as she climbed up to his back.

“Wow his back is firm and warm, it makes me feel protected,” thought Dinky as she made herself comfortable, with that the duo went towards the park have a picnic.

Meanwhile Derpy and Rainbow Dash were still flying over the town looking for the missing filly but to no avail and Derpy is getting more worried. “We’ve been all over the place and still no sign of Dinky,”

“Maybe we should get help from Naruto” said Rainbow Dash.

“Why is that?” asked Derpy.

“He recently told me that he could sense the emotions of the ponies around him so if we can get him to sense the emotions of Dinky, then we should be able to find her,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Then where can we find him?” asked Derpy, already desperate look for the pony who could help find her daughter.

“Well he should be at the park as it’s where he likes to meditate, so let’s head over there,” said Rainbow Dash, then the two mares flew over to the park.

Back with the blond stallion, he was currently enjoying his picnic with Dinky who was happily eating a sandwich that he made.

“Wow Naruto, all of your food taste delicious, I’m sure that mom would like to eat your cooking,” said Dinky after she had finished eating.

“Thank you Dinky, how about some music before we go and look for your mom?” said Naruto bringing out his ocarina, after receiving a nod from the young filly he began to play with his chakra arms (Okami Ost – Shinshu Fields), as Naruto played his ocarina, the song was heard throughout the town giving everyone the feeling of calmness and serenity which even calmed Derpy as she approached the park.

“He was the one who played that song that day” thought Dinky as she closed her eyes and listened to the sound the music. After a bit of playing the music, Naruto stopped playing much to her disappointment as she wanted to listen to and told just that.

“Hehehehe I would love to continue to play but don’t forget that we need to find your mother first,” said Naruto to which Dinky consented, they were about to start packing the food when two Pegasus landed before them to which they were familiar with.

“Mom!” shouted Dinky as she ran to embrace the gray Pegasus which Naruto assumed is her mother.

“Dinky I was so worried about you!” said Derpy then she turned to the blond stallion “My name is Derpy Hooves and thank you for finding my daughter,”

“My name is Naruto Uzumaki and you’re welcome, I’m sure anypony would have done the same thing in my place. I believe Dash led you here so that I could help you search her right?” said Naruto with a foxy grin which led to both mares to blush.

“Of course, you are the pony for the job which was why I brought her to you, any I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” said Rainbow Dash who took off for her home.

“Since that’s case, let me pack up then I’ll escort you to your home,” said Naruto.

“I appreciate the gesture,” said Derpy, then the three ponies walked home with Dinky riding on his saying that she finds it comfy. After seeing them home, Naruto turned to leave when Derpy called out to him. “I would like to thank you again for what you did and I hope to see you again,”

“Of course, I’ll invite you and Dinky to my place for lunch, she wants you to try my cooking. Anyway I’ll see you around,” said Naruto waving goodbye before trotting to Applejack’s home to pick up Scootaloo.

Later that night as Derpy tucked Dinky to bed, she listened to how her daughter spent her day with the blond stallion. “It seems like you really like him?”

“Yeah, he’s very nice and likes to joke a lot and he was the one who played the song that day, I hope to see him again with you and Sparkler, he also gives me the feeling of having a father which makes me want to spend more time around him,” said Dinky.

“That would be nice for all of us, goodnight and I’ll see you in the morning,” said Derpy kissing her daughter before leaving the bedroom to her own. As she lay down to sleep, her thoughts strayed to the blond stallion and thought “He’s an interesting pony, I hope to meet him again as well,” then she went to sleep.

Meanwhile at the Uzumaki mansion, as Naruto was about to sleep his thoughts also strayed to the gray mare and the filly and thought “I hope to meet them again as it’s fun to be with Dinky and I want to get to know Derpy a bit more,” then he went to sleep as well.

A Ninja in the Big City

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 11: A Ninja in the Big City

It was another day in Ponyville and the mane 6 along with Sweetie belle, Apple bloom and Spike decided to hang out with Naruto and Scootaloo at the Uzumaki mansion as they had the day off to enjoy, Naruto was very happy to have them over as he had nothing going on for himself. The CMC members were having a club meeting at the tree house for their next activity to find their cutie marks, Pinkie Pie was at the kitchen following a recipe which Naruto had written down from his home dimension, Twilight was at the library reading the scrolls that Naruto had written about chakra as well as the history of the Hidden Leaf village and other legends thanks to the help of his Shadow clones. Meanwhile Rainbow Dash along with Fluttershy, Rarity and Spike were watching Applejack have a spar with Naruto in the underground training room.

“Come AJ! You’ve got to strike more quickly and accurately in order to catch your opponent off guard!” said Naruto as he ducked under a double kick from Applejack, she had been improving in the art of Poniato as she was able to connect a few hits unlike before.

Applejack nodded in affirmation as she took in a deep breath before dashing at Naruto with a thought out plan, she started launching punches at Naruto to which he weaved in and out of the attacks, then she launched a sweep with her tail to the blond stallion’s surprise as he raised his fore hooves to avoid it but was unaware that he had fallen into a trap and was unable to avoid the punch when she quickly spun and executed, sending him skidding back with an aching jaw.

Applejack was about to continue the assault when she saw Naruto raise a hoof to signify that the spar is over, then they faced each and bowed in a form of respect like he taught her. “I have to say AJ, you’re getting better at bringing up strategies in the midst of battle to be able to catch me off guard with that move, it won’t be long until you become a master of the art of Poniato,” smiling at the blushing mare.

“Thanks Naruto, but I still got a long way to go,” said Applejack feeling happy at being praised by the blond stallion, making the others a bit jealous.

“Naruto, you think you can also teach me those moves of yours too?” said Rainbow Dash with Rarity nodding in agreement.

“Of course I can, I’m also coming up with several fighting styles which are suitable for Pegasus and Unicorns which I call *Tsubasa atsu which teaches Pegasus how to fight in midair and *Majikkuatsu which teaches Unicorns how to use their magic to fight from close range to mid-range in battle although Alicorns can use both fighting styles. I’m still in the process of creating them but I’ll let you know when I’ve finished formulating the techniques,” said Naruto after walking to the library and carrying out two scrolls with his chakra arms to show them several illustrations of the fighting styles, Applejack, Fluttershy and Spike came over to look as well.

“Wow these moves look soo cool! I can’t wait to try them out!” said Rainbow Dash after looking at the illustrations of the Tsubasa atsu scroll.

“I would have to agree with Rainbow Dash, they certainly look beautiful, quite suitable for a pony like me,” said Rarity looking at the drawings of the Majikkuatsu. They were still looking at the scrolls when Twilight came out of the library carrying a pile of notes with her magic.

“Thanks for letting me read through your scrolls Naruto, I’ve learned quite a lot about your old world and chakra as well,” said the mare looking at the notes with joy then she saw them looking at some scrolls and got curious “What are you all reading?”

“These scrolls contain instructions for fighting styles meant for Pegasus and Unicorns but Naruto is still in the middle of creating new moves, I’m sure you would also like to learn,” said Applejack which made Twilight have a look of excitement.

“Would you like to learn Tsubasa atsu too Shy?” asked Naruto but the shy mare shook her head in negative.

“I-I would like to b-but I don’t like to hurt anypony,” said Fluttershy sadly to Naruto nodded in understanding because of her kindhearted nature. Then Pinkie pie came in with a happy look on her face.

“Heya Pinks, by the looks of things, it seems you were able to cook one of the recipes that I copied down on the cookbook,” said Naruto with a smile.

“Yep, and I’m sure you’ll all love it, I’ve set up at the summer hut so let’s get Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to join us!” said Pinkie bouncing excitedly.

Later on everypony had gathered at the summer hut and it was revealed that Pinkie was able to cook a rice and cabbage hotpot (Without ground beef) and Naruto brought a jug of juice which was of mixed fruits (Think of your own style of flavors) and they began to eat to which they found very delicious to eat, Rarity called it a high class recipe although she was surprised when Naruto told her that everyone can cook it. After cleaning the dishes, they sat at the balcony to enjoy the view when Applejack decided to ask him a question.

“Say Naruto, I know that you always go around helping everypony in town but I was wondering when you would actually get a job,” said Applejack, Naruto thought deeply before responding to the cowmare.

“Now that you mention it, I was planning to make a shop to sell the crystals that I made and a dojo to teach ponies the art of Poniato, Tsubasa atsu and Majikkuatsu as a form of self-defense if anything the incident with Nightmare Moon has taught us that anything can happen and we need a way to avoid such danger,” said Naruto.

“That’s actually a good idea, I’m sure that it can help many ponies in Ponyville, but do you have anything else planned aside from that?” asked Twilight, Naruto was about to reply when Spike suddenly belched up a flicker of green flames which faded to reveal a rolled up parchment sealed with a red ribbon which floated over to Naruto “It’s a letter from Princess Celestia! But I wonder why she wrote a letter to you Naruto?”

“Who knows? Let’s see what’s it is about,” said Naruto as he used his chakra arms to carefully open the letter and began to read out lot for everypony to hear.

Dear Naruto Uzumaki,
How are things going for you at Ponyville? I read from Twilight’s letter that you had built a home for yourself and had adopted a young Pegasus filly by the name Scootaloo to which I extend congrats to you. It has been quite a while since we spoke and that was when you told us of your past and once again I wish to say thank you along with your friends for saving my sister. The reason I am writing this letter is that I hope you would pay us a visit to Canterlot as we hoping to have a conversation with you, we would have come to Ponyville but Luna is still learning to adapt to the current lifestyle since she had been sealed for a long time. If you decide to come to Canterlot, the seal on the letter will allow you to enter the royal palace. My sister and I hope to see you soon.
Princess Celestia

Sure enough when Naruto looked at the bottom of the letter, he saw the royal crest much to the surprise of everypony even Twilight as she had never thought that Princess Celestia would want to invite Naruto to the palace, but summed it up because he was an element bearer and he was from another dimension.

“I was about to tell you guys that I wasn’t having anything planned but it looks like I do now, I’ve always wondered what kind of city Canterlot is but now I have the chance to check the place out,” said Naruto who had a look of excitement.

“Well when you come back from Canterlot, be sure to bring back souvenirs for us Naruto,” said Rarity.

“I’ve also heard that the Wonderbolts have their main headquarters there too! You’re so lucky to go there,” said Rainbow Dash.

“I’m sure they have lots of parties there too!” said Pinkie Pie bouncing excitedly.

“Well how do I get to Canterlot?” asked Naruto looking a bit lost at the moment, it was Twilight who answered the question.

“Spike and I came here using the royal chariot but you can get to Canterlot by taking the train,” said Twilight.

Thanks for telling me Twilight,” said Naruto giving Twilight a smile then he turned to Applejack “AJ, I was hoping that you would let Scootaloo stay over at your place while I’m gone as I would be worried about leaving her at home alone,”

“Sure thing Naruto, it’s no problem at all” said Applejack smiling at the blond stallion.

“Thanks AJ, now all I have to do is tell everypony that I’ll be gone for a bit and then pack my things tonight as I’ll set out tomorrow” said Naruto to which everypony nodded in agreement.

Later on, Naruto went around town telling everypony that he’ll be gone for a while, Octavia and Vinyl Scratch wished him a safe journey, Derpy wished him the same as well with Dinky having him promise to come back soon so that she can play with him again then that night, he packed his hoodie jacket, red coat and several of the crystals as gifts. Next day, Naruto was getting seen off by the mane 6 and Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Ao the blue jay (I had completely forgotten about her) “So I’ll be seeing you guys later”

“T-take care of y-yourself Naruto,” said Fluttershy blushing from Naruto smiling at her.

“Be sure to tell us great stories from your time in Canterlot, okay big bro?” said Scootaloo with the other fillies nodding in agreement.

“Be sure to exhibit good manners over there or I will be most displeased with you,” said Rarity making Naruto rub the back of his head sheepishly.

“Don’t forget to bring some gifts on your way back,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Please send my regards to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,” said Twilight Sparkle.

“And don’t you worry about Scootaloo, my family and I will be sure to take care of her,” said Applejack.

“Thanks everypony,” said Naruto smiling at them then the train whistle blew signaling that it was about to leave “There’s the signal so I have to get on the train, goodbye and try not to miss me too much okay?” then he entered the train as the door closed and began to move, Naruto stuck his head out of one of the windows and waved goodbye at the mares and fillies as they waved back until they lost sight of each other. Naruto went to sit on one of the seats and looked outside the windows to view the scenes that were passing by and thought “I can’t wait to see what kind of place Canterlot is,”

After a bit of watching the scenery, Naruto got bored and took to researching on a special fuinjutsu project which would serve him greatly especially in combat in the near future (Take a guess) along with other side projects which were almost complete, then he took a nap which lasted for a few hours until he was woken up by the attendant who announced the train’s arrival to Canterlot, he took a look outside the window to see the city which was bigger than he thought.

When the train finally reached the station and he stepped out of the station, Naruto took a true look at the city and was in awe at the beauty of the place and saw many ponies of different types which look to be of nobility. “As much as I want to stroll through the boulevard and check out the place, my first stop would be at the royal palace to meet with Celestia and Luna to let the know that I’ve arrived” thought Naruto as he looked around until his sights set on the castle built by the mountainside “Well that makes it much easier to locate” and he began to move along the street all the while drawing the attention of the mares and stallions to himself which him feel a bit uncomfortable but proud as he heard a few mares whisper that he looks good in his hoodie jacket “Rare would be proud if I told her that the clothes we made together has drawn the attention of many ponies in Canterlot,” Soon Naruto had arrived at the palace gates where two Pegasus in armor stood at opposite sides, one of them stepped forward.

“Halt! State your business!” said one of the Pegasus in a deep voice.

“I’ve been invited by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for an audience,” said Naruto bringing out the letter from the pocket of his jacket and presented it before them, upon see the royal crest, the armored Pegasus nodded to the other and ordered for the gates to be open, Naruto thanked them and he continued inside, then he met one of the servants and was guided to the lobby and was told wait, he was called upon to enter the throne room where he saw Celestia sitting on a white throne while on the right Luna was sitting on a dark throne, both mares looked happy to see the blond, especially Luna.

“Your highnesses, I would like to announce the arrival of Naruto Uzumaki from Ponyville,” said the servant, Celestia gestured for the pony to leave to which he did, once the pony left, Naruto smiled brightly at the two mares.

“It’s great to see you again,,” said Naruto as he got closer to them.

“Indeed it is Naruto, the last time we met was when you showed us your memories,” said Celestia then she had a mischievous look “Although I wonder why you became so informal with us now,”

“Well that’s because I don’t like being formal with those I like and I can tell you do the same thing,” said Naruto, Celestia chuckled softly.

“You’re right about that, so how are things at Ponyville?” asked Celestia.

“Things are going fine there, I’m planning to open up a shop to sell special accessories and a dojo to teach ponies different styles,” said Naruto to which the mares became curious.

“What do you mean by fighting styles?” asked Luna, with Celestia wondering the same thing.

“When I first came into this world, I created a fighting style based on the principles of a good friend which I named Poniato that is suitable for earth ponies, then I created two more styles, Tsubasa atsu which involves aerial combat for Pegasus and Majikkuatsu which is about magic combat for unicorns and I believe that Alicorns are capable of using all three of the styles,” said Naruto to which Celestia and Luna had a look of understanding.

“That makes a lot of sense and it would help a lot of ponies to defend themselves but what is it that you are going to sell at the shop when you open it?” asked Celestia.

“Well in the cave which I woke up from, there are some crystals with special properties that are capable recharging by absorbing magic after being used, when I apply fuinjutsu to them, they are able to perform many functions like this medallion is able to store many items” said Naruto pointing at the medallion around his neck above his goggles “Let me show you, release box!” the medallion glowed and an orb of light came out and landed on the ground before transforming into an orange box. The mares were amazed at the demonstration.

“That was amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it before!” said Luna in an excited voice which Naruto blush and rub the back of his head to which they found cute, he then opened the box to reveal several more items which have crystals embedded in them.

“The crystals can do more than just store things, so far I’ve that they can produce light to illuminate dark areas, produce protective barriers or serve as a source of heat and I’m still discovering more about them,” said Naruto.

“I am sure that many ponies would love have these crystals as it would make things easier for them, well you’re here, why don’t you take a stroll through the castle? Then later tonight, we would continue our conversation,” said Celestia as she took a sidelong glance at Luna who was looking happy at being able to spend more time with the blond stallion.

"Sure thing, then maybe tomorrow I’ll check out the city and buy a few souvenirs for Applejack and the others, anyway see you later,” said Naruto before walking off to explore the castle.

“So you have a strong interest in Naruto huh?” said Celestia teasing Luna who began to blush.

“W-w-well that’s because he saved me and he’s kind, strong, and handsome-“ said Luna rubbing her front hooves together.

“Oh and he’s handsome too huh?” Celestia continued her teasing further confusing her sister.

“W-well you should talk, when you were talking to him I can tell that you were thinking that he was cute and you can’t hide it from me!” said Luna, now it was Celestia turn to blush.

“H-how about we focus on something else?” said Celestia, meanwhile Naruto was walking through the castle until he entered an area where he saw a lot Pegasus and unicorns training.

“I guess this must be where they train new recruits,” thought Naruto as he walked along many ponies saw him and waved as Celestia and Luna told them of his battle with Nightmare Moon and being the bearer of the new element of harmony, Naruto kept walking until he saw a certain unicorn fight against multiple opponents.

He has a coat of cyan with deeper shade of blue for his mane and tail and his cutie mark is of a shooting star. He saw the unicorn knock all of his opponents with his magic which caught his interest and decided to approach him. “Hello there, my name is Naruto Uzumaki may I know yours?”

“My name is Luce Astro, a recruit for the royal court, I’ve heard about you, you are the pony who fought against to a standstill,” said the unicorn looking at Naruto with interest (An OC Character that will appear in future chapters).

“That may be true but it was I along with other element bearers who worked together to defeat Nightmare Moon, anyway I saw your battle with the other recruits and I was to spar with you,” said Naruto surprising the ponies around especially Luce.

“I would be happy to spar with you,” said Luce smiling happily at being able to battle against the stallion, they went to the battlefield and faced off, when the referee called the match, Luce started off by launching magic bolts at Naruto began to dodge by sidesteps and short dashes, then retaliated “Fire Lance!” several spears made of fire appeared shot at the unicorn who quickly leapt into the air and fired a beam Naruto slammed a hoof to the ground and called out “Terra bunker!” the ground rumbled before forming a dome around Naruto and crumbled away after withstanding the attack. Many ponies that were watching were amazed at how the blond stallion fought, they were unaware that Celestia and Luna were watching from a window at the throne room.

“This pony knows how to move around in battle, he just needs to get some experience then he’ll be one of the best guards yet,” thought Naruto as he backflipped to dodge another energy when he tried to get in close.

“Try dodging this!” said Luce as he jumped into the air, his horn glowed brightly “Shooting stars meteor!” he then fired a volley of projectiles shaped like shooting stars (As if the name doesn’t say it all) which raced towards Naruto, everypony wondered what he’ll do, whether he’ll summon the earth barrier or do something else entirely even the princesses watched bated breath.

“Using Terra bunker won’t help this time, let’s try out this combo I came up with back at the train,” thought Naruto then concentrated on his magic and called out his new magic technique “Lightning firestorm!” immediately a pillar of fire burst around him then the wind picked up, turning the pillar of flame into a whirlwind and finally a bolt of lightning fell from the sky and coursed through the blazing whirlwind, the projectiles made contact with the lightning and burning whirlwind and were easily deflected surprising everypony as they knew that nopony has ever emerged unscathed until now.

After the attack had stopped, Naruto cancelled his technique and called out “Windflaw dash!” he sped forward with his covered with wind and slammed into the unicorn before he could react, sending him skidding along the floor. When the referee called the end, Naruto went to help the unicorn up from the ground “You did pretty well in the spar,”

“But I lost to you, I was too weak,” said Luce feeling a bit down.

“There is something I should tell you, you win some and you lose some but you will live to fight another day and at that time you’ll be much stronger than before, besides I can tell that you along with the other recruits will go a long way” said Naruto smiling at the young unicorn then he started to leave but stopped and turned to talk to everypony “I should also tell you what my teacher told me, those who break the rules are trash but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash, I hope that you consider these words in the future,” then he left to explore the rest of the castle leaving everypony to consider his words of advice. After a while it was night, it was time to meet Celestia and Luna and he was led to the balcony where they were waiting.

“Good evening Naruto,” said Celestia with smile.

“Good evening to you too, I was hoping that we would have night flight together,” said Naruto much to their confusion.

“How can we do that? You can’t fly without wings,” said Luna, Naruto simply smiled at her.

“On the contrary, I can, Chakura no Tsubasa!” said Naruto and his wings appeared surprising the mares.

“That is quite interesting,” said Celestia to which Naruto grinned.

“Well they don’t call me the number one unpredictable ninja for nothing,” said Naruto “Come on, I know a good spot!” then he took to the air the princesses following close behind, after a while they settled on a large cloud that he made with his magic, then he turned to Luna “The reason I brought us out here from the castle was because I could sense worry from you Luna, so I thought to bring you out here so that we could talk” Luna looked surprised for a minute before looking sad.

“Well it has be many years since I was sealed away and so many things has changed and I don’t know if I can get used to the change, I’m also worried if I were to change back into Nightmare Moon again and hurt everypony,” said Luna with Celestia looking at her sadly before hugging her.

“You don’t have to worry about that as you have your sister and me along with the others to stand with you, also should you ever change into Nightmare Moon, then we’ll be there to help you no matter what, as I along with your sister and the others care deeply about you,” said Naruto, Luna began to cry tears of joy before hugging the blond stallion with Celestia looking on happily. “Now that you are reassured, how about I treat you to a few snacks, release food pack!” a medium sized box appeared before which he opened to reveal a small three colored balls that are skewered, which there are several inside and a flask with a few cups inside.

“What are these?” asked Celestia picking one up with her magic and Luna doing the same.

“They are called dango, they’re sweets made from rice flour and are quite tasty and they also go great with green tea which I have some here so give it a try, I’m sure you’ll love it,” said Naruto as he poured some into the cups (It’s Gyokuro check Wikipedia). Luna gave it a try and was amazed at how great it taste with Celestia thinking the same after trying it with the tea.

“It tastes amazing! Is it from your world?” asked Luna taking another skewer of dango.

“Yeah, another friend of mine was quite an addict and had me make some for her ever since she found out that I could cook so well,” said Naruto remembering a certain Kunoichi who had an affinity for snakes unlike a certain psycho “Maybe when you come and visit Ponyville, I would treat you to some more of my world’s recipes,”

“We’ll be looking forward to that,” said Celestia. After eating the snacks, Naruto and Celestia returned to the castle while Luna set off to perform her duties, the next day, Naruto strolled through the city and bought a few gifts for the mares back home and sparred with Luce again. He gave Luce a scroll to learn how to use Poniato, telling him that he would come back again to spar with him in the style. Soon it was time for him to return to Ponyville.

“I have to get going, but before I forget, release Necklaces!” said Naruto, two necklaces appeared, one which is dark blue and the other which is golden “These are necklaces which I customized myself, if you need my help just channel magic into it and it will alert me”

“Thank you for the gift Naruto and I hope to see you again,” said Luna then she came up close to Naruto and kissed him on the cheek, making him blush bright red which made her smile shyly “I hadn’t thanked you saving me,”

“O-okay igottagobye!” Naruto said the next works quickly and took off, making the mares chuckle in amusement.

“He’s really cute when he acts like that,” said Celestia with Luna having to agree. Meanwhile on the train, Naruto’s face was still red from the kiss Luna gave to him.

“Why can’t I stop thinking about that kiss? I haven’t felt this way before with Sakura-chan,” thought Naruto, in the skies above, someone was watching the blond stallion with a smile.

“Naruto Uzumaki, you will be needed soon to help save other worlds from destruction,” said the figure before disappearing in a white light.

Glossary

Tsubasa atsu = Winged combat arts
Majikkuatsu = Magic combat arts

Getting Tricky with Trixie

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 12: Getting Tricky with Trixie

It has been several hours since the train that Naruto is on had left Canterlot and its way back to Ponyville. Naruto was bored out of his mind while he was seated window and looking at the scenery.

“These are one of the reasons why I don’t like trains,” Naruto grumbled when he remembered the mission back at the land of snow, where he had to outrun the train whilst carrying princess Koyuki. He shuddered at the memory.

Finally the train arrived at the Ponyville train station, he got out of the station and let out a yawn and stretched his muscles to remove any cramps. “Now I have to find the girls and let them know that I’m back,” Naruto then took off in search of his friends. Walking along the road and greeting the locals, Naruto saw Twilight and Spike ahead of him. He was about to call out to them, when two foals known to everypony as Snips and Snails came running by.

“Gangway coming through!” Spike got tackled by them, Naruto quickly used his tail to catch him before he got hurt and walked over to Twilight.

“Hi Twilight! Spike! How’s it going?” Naruto smiled at the mare and drake who smiled in return.

“Hello Naruto! How are Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?” asked Twilight.

“They’re fine and sends their regards,” said Naruto then he turned to the foals “Now why were you boys running all over the place and ended up tackling Spike?”

“There is a new unicorn in town!” said Snails.

“Yeah! They say that she’s got more magical powers than any other unicorn ever!” said Snips excitedly, Naruto and Twilight exchanged looks of curiosity at the rumor, Spike spoke up while hanging from Naruto’s tail.

“Aw, no way, the honor goes to Twilight here,” Naruto nodded in agreement, all the time spent with her, Naruto knew she had great talent for magic.

“Where is this unicorn?” asked Twilight.

“Oh, she’s in the town square. Come on!” said Snails pointing in the direction of the said location before running off with Snips following.

“Yeah, come on!” said Snips, Twilight and Naruto with Spike riding on his back followed the two foals to meet with the rumored pony.

The group arrived at the town square where they saw a caravan with a stage set up and ponies had gathered around it. Naruto was able to see Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy among them.

As they drew close, a unicorn appeared from behind the curtains of the stage, she has a coat of brilliant azure, a mane of pale blue with pale cerulean stripes and a cutie mark of a magic wand with a trail magic dust. She also wore a conical hat and a cape, both adorned with blue and yellow stars. She spoke in a loud voice to gain the attention of the crowd.

“Come one, come all! Come and witness the amazing magic of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” said the mare, the crowd looked on with curiosity while the Applejack and the others seemed a bit skeptical. “Watch in awe as the Great and Powerful Trixie performs the most spectacular feats of magic ever witnessed by pony eyes!” there was an explosion of fireworks and a fanfare was being played.

“Oh my, what boasting!” Rarity was unimpressed, she turned to the voice which spoke in agreement with her.

“I’ll have to agree with you, Rare. Nopony likes a showoff,” Naruto waved at the girls when they turned and smiled at his return.

“Hey Naruto! It’s good to see you’re back!” Rainbow Dash excitedly flew over to him.

“I-I’m glad that you came back safely,” Fluttershy spoke softly while trying to hide her blush.

“Howdy Naruto! Scootaloo is currently at school, so you can pick her up later,” said Applejack.

“It’s good to see you again, I hope you got the latest fashion news while you were there,” said Rarity.

“Hiya Naru! Did anything exciting happen while you were there?!” Pinkie was hopping before him, making Naruto hold her in place with his tail.

“I had a great time in Canterlot!” Naruto smiled before turning to look at the unicorn on stage “Although I am not impressed with the way she present herself,” Spike nodded in agreement.

“That’s right! Nopony is better at magic than Twi-” Spike started, but stopped when he saw Twilight glaring at him “Uh never mind,”

“There is nothing wrong with being talented, is there?” Twilight asked the others nervously, Naruto could sense the unease within her.

“Nothing at all, except when someone goes around showing it off like a school filly with new ribbons,” Rarity agreed with Applejack which only increased the uneasiness in Twilight.

“Indeed, just because one has the ability to perform lots of magic does not make one better than the rest of us,” Naruto decided to speak up to ease Twilight’s worries.

“What they say is true, but there are some talented ponies that don’t show off their gifts,” Naruto said this directly to Twilight, which cheered her up a bit.

“Yeah! Especially when you’ve got me around to be better than the rest of us,” Rainbow Dash laughed out loud, but that stopped when she saw the mares glaring at her and Naruto shaking his head “Uh, I mean, yeah, magic schmagic! Boo!”

“Well, well, well, it seems we have some neighsayers in the audience,” Trixie had a look of arrogance on her face “Who is so ignorant as to challenge the magical ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie? Do they not know that they are in the presence of the most magical in all of Equestria?”

“Who does she think she is?” Rarity stuck her tongue, Naruto snickered at how unladylike she was acting at the moment, which made her blush in embarrassment.

“Yeah! Since we all know that Twilight here is-,” Spike spoke up, but he was silenced by Twilight “Twilight, what’s wrong?”

“You saw the way they reacted to Trixie? I don’t want them to think that I’m a show-off,” Twilight looked worriedly at her friends, but didn’t notice that Naruto overheard her and thought to speak to her later. Rainbow Dash flew up to Trixie on stage.

“So, ‘Great and Powerful Trixie’. What makes you think you’re so awesome anyway?” she asked.

“Heh, why, only the Great and Powerful Trixie has magic strong enough to vanquish the dreaded Ursa Major!” Trixie told the crowd of how she defended the ponies of Hoofington from the beast while using her magic and fireworks to illustrate. Everypony were amazed, especially Snips and Snails but Spike was still skeptical. “HAHAHA, that’s right! Trixie is the most talented pony in all of Equestria!” her declaration was met with silence.

“Don’t believe the Great and Powerful Trixie?” Trixie laughed haughtily “Well then, I hereby challenge you, Ponyvillians. Anything you do, I can do better. Any takers? Or is Trixie destined to be the greatest equine who ever lived?” Once again with fanfare and fireworks which was really getting on Naruto’s nerves, Spike desperately clung onto Twilight.

“Please Twilight! Ya have to show her what you can do! I can’t take it anymore!” Twilight still refused to stand up to the arrogant unicorn. Naruto knew that she was more concerned about her friends than about Trixie. However, she caught the attention of the unicorn.

“Hmm, how about you?” Twilight gulped nervously. “Well? Is there anything you can do that the Great and Powerful Trixie can’t,” Trixie continued to taunt her until Applejack finally had enough and stepped up.

“That’s it! I can’t stand anymore of this!” Naruto and Spike cheered her on as she stood on stage to face Trixie “Can your magical powers do this?” she brought out a lasso and started to perform many tricks to the amazement of the ponies around. Then she rounded up her show by using her lasso to snare an apple from a nearby tree and pulled it over to take a bite out of it. “Top that, missy,”

Trixie smiled arrogantly before taking of her hat to reveal her horn “Oh ye of little talent. Watch and be amazed by the magic of Trixie!” Her horn glowed purple, and one end of the rope started to move in front of Applejack like a snake while the other end went to grab an apple. The rope proceeded to hogtie the orange mare and shove the apple in her mouth. Everypony laughed at the spectacle except the mares and Naruto who helped Applejack get free of the rope, then he looked angrily at Trixie for humiliating his friend. “Once again, the Great and Powerful Trixie prevails!”

“No need to go strutting around and showing off like that,” Rainbow Dash was next to take the stage. “That’s my job!” Then she took to the air at high speed, going around a windmill and making it spin. She ascended to the sky, punching through the clouds in different patterns before performing a nosedive and landing on the stage with a rainbow floating above her. “They don’t call me ‘Rainbow’ and ‘Dash’ for nothing!”

“Hmph, when Trixie is through with you, the only thing they’ll call you is loser,” Trixie used her magic to manipulate the rainbow, transforming it into a whirlwind and surrounded Rainbow Dash with it. The whirlwind took her for a spin in midair before landing back on the ground, where she laid on the ground both dizzy and sick. “Seems like anypony with a ‘dash’ of sense would think twice before tussling with the Great Trixie,” Trixie summoned a small thundercloud which struck lightning on Rainbow Dash, making her yelp in pain and the crowd laugh. Naruto’s anger was reaching boiling point.

“Come on! We need a unicorn who can face her on equal grounds!” Spike spoke up with Rainbow agreeing with him.

“Yeah! A unicorn to show this unicorn whose boss!” Applejack followed up with her own statement.

“A real unicorn to unicorn tussle,” Naruto was about to finish up by saying who it should be.

“That’s right, a unicorn like-,” but he was interrupted by Rarity.

“Enough, all of you. I take your hint, but Rarity is above such nonsense,” Naruto facehoofed at how wrong she was at thinking that they were talking about her. “Applejack and Rainbow Dash may behave like ruffians. But Rarity conducts herself with class,”

“Ooo, what’s the matter? Afraid that you’ll get a hair out of place in that rat’s nest you call a mane?” Naruto let out a gasp, with the time spent with the mare. He knew to never make fun of her sense of fashion as it will lead to trouble.

Rarity had a look of anger on her face “Oh, it. Is. On!” She climbed to the stage and brushed by Trixie. “You may think you’re tough with all of your so-called powers, but there is more to magic than your brutish ways. A unicorn needs to be more than just muscle. A unicorn needs to have style,” Rarity used her magic to grab a curtain and spun it around her, and in an instant she wore a beautiful dress and a new hair style which even stunned Naruto. “A unicorn is not a unicorn without grace and beauty,”

“Rarity won’t let Trixie get the best of her! She’s strong, beautiful, she’s-,” Spike was cheering for her when Trixie cast a spell on Rarity’s hair which caused everypony to gasp, making her feel very uncomfortable.

“Oh Kami,” Naruto whispered softly.

“Someone get me a mirror! What did she do to my hair?!” Rarity started to panic.

“Nothing,” said Twilight.

“It’s fine,” said Rainbow Dash.

“It’s gorgeous,” said Applejack.

“It’s green,” Naruto quickly wrapped his tail around Spike’s mouth while the others glared at him, but it was too late as Rarity had heard it and ran off crying.

“Hahaha, that’s what you get for challenging the great and powerful Trixie! Is there anypony else that would like to face me?” She then turned her attention back to Twilight “Or maybe a pony like you could even stand a chance against me?” Twilight took a few steps back in fear of the attention, this caused Naruto to finally snap.

“That does it!” Naruto shouted, he climbed up to the stage whilst glaring at Trixie which made her feel a bit uncomfortable. “I’ve had it with the way you humiliated my friends just to show off how good you are! Let’s see you face me instead!” Twilight and the others were surprised, as they had never seen Naruto this angry before.

“Humph, then why don’t you show me what kind of magic you can do?” taunted Trixie.

“Gladly,” said Naruto, he raised a fore hoof to the air and called out “Chakra Cannon!” a rune appeared at his hoof before firing a large orb into the air, this surprised everypony except his friends who knew about his abilities. “Not yet, Chakra Bullet: Rapid Fire!” he launched a barrage of smaller orbs into the air as well, then he used a telekinesis spell to manipulate the orbs, making the smaller orbs orbit around the larger one “Let’s see you handle this one,” Naruto smirked at the unicorn.

“Oh, we’ll see alright” Trixie used her own telekinesis to wrest control over the orbs from Naruto, much to his and the others surprise.

“How can she do that?! It takes a lot of magic power to do that, and she did it with no problem!” Twilight was stunned at what she was seeing. Trixie then changed the orbit of the orbs before clashing them together which resulted in a small explosion, knocking Naruto off the stage from the blast and to the ground. The mares went to check if he was alright.

“Naruto, are you okay?” asked Twilight worriedly, Naruto shook his head to clear his thoughts.

“Yeah I’m fine, but-” Naruto looked dejected “-I failed. I could have defended you girls but rather made it worse,” Naruto got up and left the town square sadly. Twilight felt guilty for what happened and left as well, Trixie was boasting upon seeing that there were no more challengers.

“Ha! Once again, the Great and Powerful Trixie has proven herself to be the most amazing pony in all of Equestria,” She strutted off the stage “Huh, was there any doubt?” When she got off the stage, Trixie thought of the blond stallion “That unicorn had a lot of power, it took a lot of magic to take control of his spell from him. I’d better keep an eye on him,”

Naruto was walking alongside Scootaloo who was happy to see her brother towards the Uzumaki mansion, he was thinking back on his encounter with Trixie. “I guess I can’t deny her talents, maybe she did vanquish the Ursa Major,” He stopped in the middle of the road “Now that I think about it, what is an Ursa Major? I’d better it out in the library at home,” Naruto broke from his thoughts when Scootaloo called out to him.

“Big bro, aren’t you coming?” asked Scootaloo in curiosity.

“Sorry, I’m coming,” Naruto trotted to catch up and continued on their way home. Later that night, Naruto tucked Scootaloo in bed after talking to her about the things which he had seen and done at Canterlot over a hearty dinner. Then he went to the library to read on the Ursa Major, but he wasn’t able to find any info about the creature.

“Maybe I should check up with Twilight on it tomorrow at the Ponyville library,” Naruto said to himself, he walked out of the library and to his bedroom. He was just about to fall asleep when he heard an earthshaking roar, causing him to jump from his bed in surprise. “What the hay was that?!” Scootaloo came barging through the door.

“Big bro, what was that roar?” asked Scootaloo, looking scared. Naruto wrapped his tail around her for reassurance.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll go and check out the source of that roar. So just stay in your room until I come back, okay?” Scootaloo nodded before running to her bedroom and locking the door. After exiting the mansion, Naruto took to the rooftops to locate the source of the roar. Sure enough, he saw what looked to be a giant blue grizzly bear but it’s body looked it was made of stars and is currently chasing Trixie much to his confusion.

“I guess that must be the Ursa Major, but is it doing here? And most importantly, why isn’t Trixie dealing with it like she was supposed to?” Naruto frowned slightly as he watched Trixie run from the beast and he noticed Snips and Snails standing nearby watching. Naruto landed next to them.

“What’s going on and how did that Ursa Major get into town?” Naruto looked at the foals sternly.

“We brought the Ursa Major to Ponyville to see if Trixie can vanquish it like she told us before,” said Snips, Naruto have a look of shock before it turned into anger. He was about to yell at them when he heard Twilight come up from behind.

“You did what!? As much as I want to issue a punishment, we have to deal with the current situation,” Twilight took off with Naruto right behind her. They soon came upon Trixie being corned by the Ursa Major as it swung its claw, intending to crush her. Without thinking, Naruto gathered chakra to his hooves and ran to stand in between them.

“Protect!” a barrier appeared to block the claw, but it started to crack under the weight. “Whoa, this bear is stronger than I thought,” When the barrier finally shattered, Naruto launched a chakra infused uppercut at the claw, causing it to stumble backwards before wrapping his tail around Trixie and jumping away. “What do you think you’re doing?!” Naruto was glaring at Trixie, by then a crowd had gathered around “Aren’t you supposed to vanquish the Ursa Major like before, or is there something you aren’t telling us?”

“We don’t have to worry, I’m sure the Great and Powerful Trixie will save us,” said Snips, Trixie look at the ground guiltily which Naruto and others noticed.

“I can’t,” a collective gasp could be heard from the crowd “I had never vanquished an Ursa Major, I just made it up to make myself look better,” Naruto looked at her sternly.

“You mean to tell us that you lied this whole time?” Trixie nodded sadly, then the Ursa Major let out a roar and charged at them. Naruto reacted by launching a full body tackle on the head of the bear which sent it skidding back, this annoyed it as the Major started to swing at the blond stallion who was dodging left and right to avoid the attacks. “What can I do to contain the Major? Should I expose my secret?” Naruto was torn between exposing his abilities to the town and stopping the bear, then he heard a melody from behind.

“What is that sound?” Naruto turned to see Twilight using her magic to play a lullaby on some broken reeds, the song was making the Ursa Major sleepy as it rocked back and forth was a calm look on its face. Naruto was also affected by the lullaby but his ninja training kept him awake, he then heard a creaking sound and looked up to see a water tower floating above while surrounded by a purple aura “It must be Twilight’s doing,” She then levitated the water tower through a barn full of cows, filling it with milk before hovering before the Ursa Major. It soon feel asleep while sucking on the milk from the water tower like a makeshift baby bottle.

Soon the crowd cheered for Twilight upon seeing her stop the rampage of the Ursa Major, Naruto along with Applejack and the other mares walked up to her.

“Unbelievable!” Rainbow Dash was impressed at the display.

“That was amazing!” said Spike, ecstatic at Twilight finally showing off her magic in front of everypony.

“Heavens to Betsy! We knew you had ability, but not that much!” Applejack looked at Twilight with admiration.

“I’m sorry. Please, please don’t hate me,” Twilight looked worried, much to the confusion of the mares.

“What do you mean by that?” asked Rarity.

“Well, I know how much you all hated Trixie’s showing off with her magic tricks, and I just thought--,” Rainbow Dash cut her off from her line of speech.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Magic has got nothing to do with it. Trixie’s just a loudmouth” said Rainbow Dash with the others nodding in agreement. Twilight looked at them in surprise.

“So, you don’t mind my magic tricks?”

“Magic is just a part of who you are, we like who you are and we’re proud of having such a powerful, talented unicorn as our friend,” said Applejack.

“And after whuppin’ that Ursa’s hindquarters, we’re even prouder” said Rainbow Dash, Naruto added his piece as well.

“Besides, we can proudly tell ponies that we’re best friends with a unicorn who can subdue an Ursa Major,” said Naruto with a foxy grin, Twilight smiled happily at their reassurance.

“Actually, Naruto. This isn’t an Ursa Major but an Ursa Minor, a baby in other words,” Everypony were surprised upon hearing this piece of information.

“You mean that was just a baby?!” said Trixie.

“If this was a Minor, then I’d hate to meet the Major,” said Spike, shivering at the thought of it.

“Now let’s get it back to the cave,” Twilight was about to walk away along with Applejack and the others, when they saw Naruto standing there and thinking deeply with an uncomfortable look on his face.

“What’s bugging you Naruto?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“It’s about what Twilight said, if the Ursa Minor is a baby. Wouldn’t that make the Ursa Major its mother and that it would be out looking for its child?” The mares paled upon hearing his statement.

Soon they heard a loud roar from outside the town. Naruto jumped to a roof while Rainbow Dash flew upwards to look, their eyes widen at what they saw. Approaching the town was a grizzly bear that looked similar to the Ursa Minor but bigger with long fangs and purple in color. They quickly descended to meet the others.

“There is an Ursa Major coming this way!” said Rainbow Dash frantically.

“What should we do?” asked Rarity.

“Well we can’t have it come any closer to Ponyville, so we have to get the Ursa Minor back to its cave,” said Twilight.

“I have an idea, but you are not going to like it,” the girls turned to Naruto who was looking back at them with determination “I’ll go and distract the Major while you girls get the Minor back to its cave, then I’ll lure it there as well,” to say they were surprised would be an understatement, even Trixie spoke up after hearing it.

“Are you crazy?! Even the Royal army wouldn’t be enough, and you want to face it on your own?!” Naruto looked at her sternly.

“Well we don’t have much options right now, so we have to make do with what we got,” Naruto turned to meet the giant bear “I’m going on ahead so don’t worry about me,”

“Alright Naruto, just don’t go doing anything crazy, ya hear?” said Applejack with Rainbow Dash agreeing with her.

“Yeah! We still haven’t had our daily challenge yet!” Naruto grinned at them before running off.

“Naruto, please be careful,” Twilight looked at the departing stallion before heading out with the mares following her. Spike was about to head back to the library when he noticed that someone was missing.

“Hey, where’s Trixie?” He looked around to see that the unicorn was gone.

Naruto was jumping through the trees at a quick pace until he finally arrived in front of the Ursa Major, “Whoa, it looks bigger than Gamabunta!” he marveled at the size of it but prepared himself for battle “Hey big dipper!” How about I help you back to the starry sky since you look lost?!” the bear fell for the bait as it roared at Naruto, which would have sent him flying had he not applied chakra to his hooves to anchor himself to the ground. “Alright, let’s get it on!” Naruto took off, with the bear close behind him.

Music Start: Naruto Original Soundtrack; Raikiri (Thunder Break)
Naruto was darting around the trees while making sure that the bear has him in its sights, he could hear it roaring behind him but didn’t’ turn around to look. Sensing an incoming attack, he jumped into the air to avoid a swipe which barely nicked his tail before turning in midair to fire a Chakra bullet. However, the attack merely bounced off its skin and the Ursa Major continued its attack as if nothing happened. “Damn, this is tougher than I thought,”

Naruto formed a chakra arm to parry a swipe from the bear, but the force was too strong and he was sent crashing through several trees which inflicted bruises all over his body. Naruto leapt into the air to avoid the jaws of the Ursa Major before angrily yelling “Hey! Pony ninja isn't on the menu tonight!” he received a roar as an answer.

“I don’t know how long I can last with holding back on it,” Naruto thought furiously as he ran towards a cliff wall, He quickly dashed alongside the cliff while using Terra Drift on the wall. Then he spun around and shot a chakra cannon at the bear which only left a small bruise. “I’d better use my speed to confuse it,”

Channeling chakra to his hooves, Naruto sped towards the bear while using Terra drift to strafe and chakra bullet to get its attention. The Ursa Major got irritated and went completely berserk, it started swinging around wildly which forced Naruto to be on the defense. “I think I’ve gone too far with getting its attention,” Naruto had to use his freerunning skills to the fullest just to keep up with the bear.

It swung its claw, Naruto jump into the air and then used a Pegasus dash to change direction in midair to dodge the second attack but he got hit by a backhand which sent him crashing into the cliff wall. The impact caused the rocks to fall, burying him underneath. The Ursa Major sniffed the air before moving in direction of its child, leaving the pony to remain buried underneath the rubble.

Music End

Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were running through the forest to meet up with Naruto, they had successfully left the Ursa Minor in the cave and wanted to inform him of it.

“I hope Naruto is okay,” said Twilight worriedly.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” said Applejack.

“That’s right! This is Naruto we’re talking about!” said Rainbow Dash, there was a loud roar and the mares turned to see the Ursa Major heading towards them. “What’s it doing here?! I thought Naruto was distracting it!”

“We’ll worry about that later! Right now, we have to get away!” said Applejack who was already running with the others behind her.

The Ursa Major chased after them and soon caught up with the ponies. As it swung its claw to hit them, a small burst of light flashed in its eyes, stunning it. While the bear was recovering from the surprise, a chakra arm appeared and landed a powerful punch at the side of its head which made it fall to the ground.

The mares turned see Naruto standing nearby all bruised all with Trixie next to him, they were relieved to see him but angry to see the unicorn who gave them so much trouble.

“Naruto! Are you okay?! And what is she doing here?!” asked Rainbow Dash staring angrily at the unicorn who shied away from them.

“The bear got a few shots at me, which got me buried underneath some rubble,” The mares’ eyes widen at what he said “Then Trixie came and helped me out,”

“May we ask why you’re here?” asked Applejack.

“Well, you see….” Trixie told them why she came.

***Flashback***

“This is all Trixie’s fault!” The unicorn was running through the forest while trying to find the ponies who went to face the true Ursa Major. “If Trixie hadn’t boasted so much, none of this would have happened,” she kept on running until she arrived at the scene where she saw the blond stallion fighting against the Ursa Major.

“Amazing, and to think that this is the same unicorn I beat at the show. He must have been holding back on me,” she continued to watch but her heart clenched in fear when she saw the bear hit the male unicorn with its claw, and sent him crashing into the wall of a cliff and was buried under a pile of rocks.

After making sure that the Ursa Major was gone, Trixie rushed to the rubble and used her magic to remove the rocks. “Please be okay,” she muttered over and over, she pulled him out and was surprised to see his wounds already healing “Just who is this stallion?” Trixie wondered as he got up and looked at her in surprise.

“Trixie? As much as I want to thank you for helping me, why are you here?” Naruto looked at her questionably.

“Well you see, Trixie wanted to fix the mess that Trixie made. Trixie really didn’t mean for anypony to get hurt,” Naruto looked at her for a while before smiling.

“I believe you,” the mare looked at him in surprise “I can tell that you’re sorry for what happened, so let’s go and stop that Ursa Major,” Naruto walked off with Trixie flowing him, he turned and spoke to her again.

“I haven’t told you my name, it’s Naruto Uzumaki,” said Naruto with a smile, Trixie looked surprised before smiling back.

***Flashback End***

“… and that’s what happened,” Twilight and the others looked at her with a bit of doubt.

“We’ll talk about this later, as we still need to deal with the Ursa Major,” said Twilight.

“The way things look, we’ll have to knock it out,” said Naruto looking at the bear that was still recovering from the attack.

“Then why don’t you use that form which you used against Nightmare Moon?” Naruto shook his head at Rainbow Dash’s suggestion.

“I can’t, that form puts a lot of strain on my body after a couple of months. So it’s more like a trump card in a bad situation,”

“I remember you seemed sluggish back then,” said Applejack.

“Damn, if only I can use my Shadow clones again. But with this body of mine, I can’t perform handseals,” Naruto thought back at the night he used it to protect Iruka from Mizuki. As he thought on the handseal, Naruto heard a familiar poof and turned to see his clone staring back at him to the surprise of Twilight and the others.

“Hi boss!” the clone called out cheerfully.

“How did you get here?!” asked a confused Naruto.

“Well you created me or have you forgotten what Kakashi-sensei taught us?” asked the clone, Naruto thought deeply before his eyes widened in realization.

“Of course! How could I have missed it?” Naruto then smirked at the bear.

“Naruto. What’s going on?” asked Twilight.

“I’ll explain later, right now I have the means to beat the Ursa Major,” upon saying that, Naruto released a large amount of chakra and called out “Multi Shadow clone jutsu!”

There was a large puff of smoke and when it disappeared, it revealed a multitude of Naruto clones surrounding the Ursa Major to everyponies’ surprise.

“Wow, I’ve never seen Naruto do anything like this before!” said Applejack with Rainbow Dash agreeing with her.

“Yeah, but this is pretty cool!” said Rainbow Dash.

Music Start: Naruto Original Soundtrack; Naruto Main Theme
“Sorry to keep you waiting, it’s time for me to bring back the Naruto Handbook. Only this time, it’s the pony edition so get ready!” said the original Naruto, the Ursa Major kept looking around in confusion. “Alright, it’s ShowTime!”

At his command, the clones charged at the bear. “First chapter: Army clone firing squad!” a group of clones aimed at the bear and randomly fired either Chakra Bullet or Chakra Cannon, forcing it back. It tried to fight back by swinging its claw at the clones, making some of them disappear in smoke. But the rest managed to get close to launch their next attack.

The clones formed chakra arms and started using uppercuts, forcing the Ursa Major to its hind legs while calling out “Second chapter: Na, Ru, To, 2K!” several others dived at it from the sky with chakra arms as well “Uzumaki Barrage!” The Ursa Major got pummeled with punches from all directions but still stood.

“It’s still standing!” said Trixie.

“Not for long, Look!” Rainbow Dash pointed upwards, the mares looked up to see two Naruto holding a large blue spinning orb with their chakra arms as they dived at the bear’s head.

“Take this! Giant Ball Rasengan!” Naruto rammed the attack into the Ursa Major, sending it crashing to the ground and not moving. Naruto smirked as he landed on the ground “Heh, show’s over,”

Music End

Later, Naruto and his clones used a levitation spell while helped by Twilight and Trixie to move the Ursa Major into the cave. On the way back to Ponyville, he was being questioned by Twilight.

“How were you able to perform the Shadow clones again? I thought you said that you need to perform handseals,” asked Twilight.

“The thing is that I had forgotten that my teacher told me that when you become proficient in your jutsu, you can even execute it without using handseals as you can picture it in your mind,” said Naruto.

“How could you forget something so important?” Naruto rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

“I have to say that it’s a pretty useful thing to have, it might make bucking apples easier if I could learn it,” said Applejack, Naruto turned to Trixie who was silent this whole time.

“What will you do now Trixie?” the others turned to look at the unicorn.

“Trixie doesn’t know, since the caravan is destroyed, Trixie has no place to go,” said Trixie sadly, Twilight and the mares look at her with sympathy, although they had a rough start in the beginning, she came to help them with the trouble which she caused.

“You can stay at my place if you want,” Trixie as well as the others were surprised at what Naruto said.

“Are you sure about this Naruto?” asked Applejack.

“Yeah, and remember that I’m planning to open up a shop to sell my crystals so she can be hired to work. So this helps both of us,” said Naruto.

“But why would you help somepony like Trixie?” she asked the blond stallion.

“That’s because everypony deserves a second chance, even you Trixie” Naruto was then hugged by the unicorn who kept muttering her thanks. “Come on girls, let’s go home. It’s been a long night and we need some shut eye,” With that, the ponies headed back to Ponyville to get ready for the next day.

How to evict a Dragon

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 13: How to evict a Dragon

As Celestia’s sun rises over Ponyville, Naruto was currently in the kitchen thinking about what he should make for breakfast and what to pack for Scootaloo’s lunch at school.

“I wonder what I should make?” his line of thought was broken when he heard hoofsteps descending the stairs and turned to greet them.

“Good morning Scoots, Trixie, I hope you two had a good night sleep,” said Naruto with a smile.

“Good morning big bro! I slept well,” said Scootaloo smiling back at him.

“Trixie enjoyed her sleep as well,” said Trixie.

“That’s good to hear, I’m currently planning on what I should make for breakfast so I’m up for suggestions, got any?” said Naruto.

“Anything you make is delicious so I’m okay with whatever you make,” said Scootaloo.

“Trixie also approves of whatever delicacies that you make,” said Trixie.

“Alright then, you two can go and prepare the table, this won’t take long,” Naruto headed to the shelves to take out the ingredients while Trixie and Scootaloo went to set up the table in the summer hut.

It had been a couple of weeks since the incident with the Ursa Minor and Ursa Major, Naruto helped out with the repairs of the damaged buildings. Fluttershy was quite upset with him for hurting the Ursa Major but forgave after hearing the reason.

Many ponies were mad at Trixie for what she did, although a majority were able to forgive her after hearing about her helping Naruto and the others as a form of making up for her mistakes but a few were still upset. Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity had also forgiven her when she came to apologize for her actions and got along, especially with Rarity due to their shared love for clothes.

Due to her caravan being destroyed by the Ursa Minor, Trixie stayed with Naruto at his home and was able to get along with Scootaloo even though it was a shaky start. There were times when Naruto would speak with Trixie that she wouldn’t talk in a third person which displayed how comfortable she was with the blonde stallion although she was aware that the others liked him more than a friend and didn’t want to lose as she had also developed feelings because of his kindness and forgiving heart.

“Okay girls, here’s what I’ve made,” said Naruto as he walked towards the summer hut while carrying a tray with his chakra arms. “I’ve made omelet, toast, a pitcher of orange juice and tea for you Trixie,”

“Thank you Naruto,” Trixie smiled happily.

“Yeah thanks big bro,” said Scootaloo.

After a hearty breakfast, they got ready to head out, Scootaloo decided to go alone on her scooter while Naruto and Trixie walked towards their new place of work.

With some assistance from Mayor Mare, Twilight and the other mares, Naruto was able to construct a shop in the marketplace which he named the Whirlpool where he sells his customized crystals. Ever since the grand opening which was a week ago, many ponies came to buy the crystals which ranged from storage medallions to light bracelets. Most customers comprised of nobles from Canterlot and he sometimes make deliveries to their residence sometimes but he always makes time for the others, especially when he can just leave a clone in charge of the shop.

Along the way, many ponies waved at Naruto and Trixie but a few frowned at the mare which disheartened her, Naruto noticed this and quickly spoke up.

“Cheer up Trix, I’m sure that it won’t be long until everypony comes around and forgive you for what happened back then. You’ve got me and the others so don’t worry,”

Trixie cheered up a bit from hearing his words “Thank you Naruto, you always know how to cheer me up,”
After reaching the shop and putting up the ‘we’re open’ sign, Naruto went into the workroom while Trixie was at the counter to attend to any customer that were to enter. Every now and then a pony would come in to purchase a crystal but aside from that, it was business as usual.
“Naruto, we have an order from a noble from Canterlot for several storage crystals,” Trixie came in holding a note with her magic. Naruto took the note and read through it before speaking up.

“Okay, I’ll package the items and get ready to set out for Canterlot while you watch over the shop,”

“Okay but Trixie doesn’t understand why you don’t like taking the train but rather prefer the road?” Trixie was confused with his odd choice of transportation.

“Let’s just say that I had a bad first impression with trains and I get bored to death riding in them. Besides, I can get to Canterlot and back thanks to my ninja skills,” Naruto sealed the package inside his medallion and got ready to leave “I’ll see you later,”

Naruto reached the outskirts of town and got ready to jump through the tree when he started to cough for a bit before it stopped.

“Why did I start coughing like that? Never mind, I’d better get move on,” Naruto took off, unaware of the smoke which started to rise from a nearby mountain.

Meanwhile, Twilight had gathered the other bearers of harmony at the library to discuss a mission which was given to them by princess Celestia.

“What in tarnation is a dragon doing around here?” asked Applejack.

“Sleeping” the mares were confused by Twilight’s answer. “According to princess Celestia, the dragon slumbering in a cave at the top of the mountain close by but his snoring is what’s causing the smoke,”

“Well what are we supposed to do about it?” asked Rarity.

“I know! We’ll just go up there and kick him out of the cave!” said Rainbow Dash confidently.

“Or we can simply persuade him to leave and sleep elsewhere because if we fail this mission, he’ll be sleeping for the next hundred years. So you’ll have to gear up meet back here in less than an hour,”

“Alright girls! Let’s show that we can do!” said Rainbow Dash, flying out the window and the others going to get themselves ready, but Fluttershy stayed behind feeling unsure of herself.

Later on, they met up with Twilight in front of the library with their saddlebags.

“Alright girls, the dragon is located in a cave at the very top of the mountain. I’ll plan out the route so we’ll be able to make it there within the day,” at hearing Twilight mention the mountain, Fluttershy felt even more scared.

“Uh T-Twilight, I wanted to ask w-why Naruto isn’t here with us,” said Fluttershy.

“Now that you mention Fluttershy, I haven’t seen him for a while now,” said Applejack.

“I tried to look for him at his shop, but Trixie told me that he had gone to Canterlot to make a delivery to a noble and won’t be back for a while, so we’ll have to go on without him,” hearing this made Fluttershy feel depressed, she was hoping that his presence would reassure her.
“Oh darn, if I knew that Naruto was going to Canterlot, I could have asked him to buy some fashion catalogs for me,” Rarity whined at a missed opportunity.

“Twilight, are you sure that you want Fluttershy to come along? The mare looks like she could be scared of her own shadow,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Fluttershy is probably nervous, I’m pretty sure that she’ll calm down on our way to the mountain,” Twilight and Rainbow Dash heard a squeak and turned to see Fluttershy actually duck in the bushes to hide from her own shadow. Rainbow Dash gave Twilight a look that said ‘I told you so’.

“Alright girls, let’s move out!” said Twilight.

With that, the mares took off towards the mountain while carrying a squealing Fluttershy.

Meanwhile, Naruto had already arrived at Canterlot is currently trying to find the address on the note with no luck.

“The note says that I’m supposed to meet someone here to deliver the crystals,” Naruto was looking around while levitating the note with his magic.

“Excuse me, but are you the pony who is supposed to deliver a package?” Naruto turned to the voice and saw a pony in a butler’s outfit whom he was familiar with.

“Hey! I know you,” said Naruto in surprise.

“Ah you are the pony that I met back in Ponyville, it’s a pleasure to see you again,” said the pony.

“Same here! So you’re the one I’m supposed to deliver the crystals to,”

“And I believe you are the pony who has been selling those crystals, many nobles had developed quite a fancy to them, which must be why the master and mistress ordered for them. I haven’t introduced myself the last time we met, my name is Jonathan Clay but you can call me John for short,” said the pony.

“The name’s Naruto Uzumaki, you can just call me Naruto. Here’s the package, release parcel!” an orb floated from the medallion and faded to reveal the parcel.

“Thank you, and here’s the payment. I do hope that we meet again in the future Naruto,” John received the parcel and gave Naruto a bag of bits which was put in the pocket of his jacket.

“Me too, see you around!” Naruto waved at the pony before walking off.

Naruto was walking through the street, thinking of what to do before returning to Ponyville when he heard someone calling out to him from behind.

“Hey Naruto!”

Naruto turned to see that it was none other than his good friend Luce Astro.

“Yo Luce! How’s it going buddy?” said Naruto happily.

“Everything’s fine, I was hoping to see you,” said Luce.

“What is it that you want to see me for?” asked Naruto who was a bit confused.

“I wanted to introduce you to my captain, he wasn’t around the last time but he’s currently present in the barracks,” Naruto got curious about who this captain was and decided to come along.

“Alright Luce, let’s go meet this guy,” Naruto followed his friend to the barracks and was led to the training grounds.

“He’s over there,” Luce raised a hoof to point, Naruto looked in his direction to see a pony supervising the cadets.

He is a unicorn with a light gray coat and a sapphire blue mane with cerulean and phthalo blue streaks, his cutie mark is of a deep blue shield with a pink star at the center and three stars above it. Naruto noticed that he was wearing armor which was different from the others.

“Must be how they show rank,” thought Naruto as they approached the unicorn.

“Captain, I’ve brought the pony whom I was telling you about,” the unicorn turned to look at the new arrivals and his eyes locked onto Naruto with interest.

“So this is the pony I’ve heard so much about, what’s your name?” asked the pony.

“My name’s Naruto Uzumaki,”

“I am Shining Armor, captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard. I’ve heard from the cadets about the match you had with Luce which piqued my interest,”

“What do you mean?”

“I was hoping to have a sparring match with you,” Naruto wasn’t the only one who was surprised by what Shining said, everypony nearby were stunned.

“Why would you want spar with me?” asked Naruto.

“Like I said before, you caught my interest and I want to see how you stack up to me,” said Shining Armor.

Naruto thought deeply for a bit before looking up with a foxy grin “I’m up for a match, so what are the rules?”

“It’s just a clean and fair fight, hoof to hoof combat and magic are allowed,” said Shining Armor to which Naruto nodded in agreement.

Naruto followed Shining to one of the training grounds waited at the other side for the match to start, many ponies gathered around to watch. Some of them who had witnessed the match between the blond stallion and Luce knew that this match would be just as interesting.

“Battle Begin!” said Luce who was the referee.

Play Music: Kingdom Hearts OST; Working Together
Naruto dashed at Shining in a zigzag pattern to throw him off, but Shining kept a close eye on him to make a move. Naruto launched a straight punch which was blocked and received a hook in the jaw which dazed him, leaving an opening which the unicorn exploited to blast him with a magic beam.

“Damn, this guy is good, I’d better be careful,” Naruto charged in again, but this time he twisted his body while sliding to perform a double kick. Shining quickly jumped in the air to avoid when Naruto used his tail to wrap around the unicorn and slam him to the ground before throwing him to the other side of the ring.

Shining Armor quickly recovered in midair and landed on his hooves “That’s pretty impressive,”

“Well you haven’t seen anything yet! Fire lance!” Several spears of flames appeared around Naruto before towards Shining who quickly put up a barrier and fired magic beams back at him.

“Terra bunker!” Naruto was protected by an earth dome from the beams “Windflaw dash!” then he burst out of the dome while covered in the wind and charged at Shining Armor.

Thinking quickly, Shining teleported out of the way right before Naruto slammed into him. Naruto used his ninja senses and quickly backflipped to evade a punch from his left, then he lashed out with his tail which connected successfully.

Shining jumped back and then summoned spears of light and fired at Naruto who leapt out of the way but was surprised when they changed directions and pursued him.

“They must have the ability to home in on their targets, then if that’s the case,” Naruto turned to face the spears with his horn glowing.

“Bolt chain!” a stream of lightning surged out of Naruto’s horn and struck one of the spears before arcing towards the rest, destroying them in the process.

The spectators were amazed at the battle before them.

“They’re really going at it,”

“The orange pony is no slouch,”

“I’ve never seen anypony use magic spells like those before,”

“The captain looks to be enjoying the battle,”

“I can’t tell who’s going to win this match,”

“Here I come! Pyro breath!” Naruto took a deep breath and released a stream of flame at Shining who quickly put up another barrier to defend himself.

Naruto ran in for an uppercut but Shining dodged it and punched him in the gut. Not giving in, Naruto spun around and used his tail to knock Shining off his feet and stood over him with his horn glowing.

“Give up?”

Shining Armor stared at the blond stallion for a while before sighing and looking back with a smile.

“Yeah, I give up,” Naruto smiled back and helped him up while the ponies applauded at the match they had witnessed.
End Music

“I’ve never seen a fighting style or magic spells like those before, who was your teacher?” asked Shining.

“Actually, I created the fighting style myself and it’s called Poniato, I got the idea from a good friend whom I can proudly say is a genius when it comes to hard work and hoof to hoof combat. The magic spells are also an original with the help of another friend of mine,” said Naruto, thinking about his friend Rock Lee.

“That’s quite impressive for a pony like you, I really enjoyed our match and I hope to spar with you again. I can tell that you didn’t go all out,” said Shining Armor with a smirk.

“The same could be said for you,” Naruto smirked back at him “Although I can rank him to Jounin level like Kakashi-sensei,”

“See you later!” Naruto left the barracks with Shining Armor looking at him with interest.

“A pony like him might catch my sister’s attention due to her love for learning new things, I’d better keep an eye on him if that ever happens,” Shining Armor thought deeply.

Naruto have already left Canterlot and was currently jumping through the trees but then started coughing again, forcing him to stop for a moment.

“Why am I coughing again and why does the air smell strange?” Naruto looked up and saw plumes of smoke floating above him “Where did this smoke come from? I’d better get to Ponyville quickly just in case” Naruto took off only moving faster this time.

Upon arriving at Ponyville, Naruto headed to the shop to meet with Trixie.

“Hey Trixie, I just got back from delivering the package at Canterlot,” said Naruto upon entering.

“Welcome back Naruto, oh Twilight came here looking for you,” said Trixie.

“Really, then I’ll head to the library to see her and here’s the payment,” Naruto placed the bag of bits on the counter before leaving for the library.

When he reached the library, Naruto saw Spike arranging the books and called out to him.

“Hey Spike, Trixie told me that Twilight was looking for me at the shop but I wasn’t around,” said Naruto.

“Oh Naruto you’re back, princess Celestia had given her and the others a mission to go and wake up a sleeping dragon,” Naruto was surprised upon hearing what Spike said.

“Wake up a sleeping dragon?”

“Yeah, apparently it’s unconsciously releasing smoke in its sleep and if they don’t wake it up and get it to leave, it will sleep for the next hundred years,” said Spike.

“That explains the smoke I saw, then I’d better catch up with them, which way did they go?”

Spike pointed at a tall mountain through the window, Naruto could see the smoke originating from there.

“The dragon is sleeping in a cave up there, that’s where they’re headed”

“Thanks for the info Spike, I’m heading out,” Naruto dashed out of the library and in direction of the mountain.

When he reached the foot of the mountain, Naruto used his Ora kokei to locate them.

“I’ve found them and they’re halfway up the mountain, I’d better step it up,” Naruto started running up the mountain after channeling chakra to his hooves.

As he was making his way up, Naruto heard a loud voice shout out.

“Avalanche!”

Soon after, the ground started to shake and large boulders fell from above. Realizing the danger that the mares might be in, Naruto galloped even faster all the while dodging the falling boulders and sometimes shattering some with chakra infused punches and kicks.

Naruto finally arrived to see Twilight and the others dodging the boulders for their dear lives, he swung into action by summoning some shadow clones and they proceeded to shatter the rocks until they finally stopped falling. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief and joined up with the others.

“Naruto, you’re back!” Twilight and rest of the mares were happy to see him, especially Fluttershy.

“Yeah, Spike told me about you’re up to when I got back and here I am,” said Naruto.

“We’re really glad that you came when you did darling,” said Rarity.

“Yeah, none of this would have happened if Fluttershy hadn’t yelled,” Fluttershy was depressed at hearing what Rainbow Dash said.

“Take it easy Dash, I’m sure Shy didn’t mean it,” Naruto smiled gently at Fluttershy, well aware of her timid nature which cheered her up a bit.
“Naruto’s right Dash, so let’s get a move on,” said Applejack.

After a few hours of climbing, the group finally reached the top of the mountain. Naruto could see the smoke which was coming out of the cave and turned to see Fluttershy hiding behind him, quivering in fear.

“Here we are, now Fluttershy, you’ll go in there and try to persuade the dragon to leave and to go and sleep elsewhere,” but Fluttershy didn’t move as she was still quivering. Twilight tried to make her go along with Applejack and the others except Naruto but she won’t even budge. “Fluttershy, why won’t you go?”

“I-it’s j-just that I-I’m scared,” said Fluttershy.

“Scared of what Shy?” asked Naruto with concern.

“I-I’m scared of d-dragons,”

“How can you be scared? we saw you walk up to a Manticore like it was nothing,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah, and you aren’t scared of Spike,” said Pinkie Pie.

“That’s because the Manticore is not a dragon and Spike is a baby dragon,” Rainbow Dash looked like she was about to lose her patience.

“Well we can’t force you to do what you don’t like,” said Applejack.

“R-really?”

“Yeah, we’ll just have to find another way to get the dragon to leave, I’ll go in first,”

Twilight went in first, after a few minutes she came out looking annoyed.

“How did it go?” asked Naruto.

“He completely ignored me, didn’t listen to a word I said,” said Twilight.

“Now what do we do?” asked Applejack.

“Allow me to talk to him, this requires a feminine touch,” Rarity walked in cave, in another few minutes they heard a loud roar and Rarity came running out.

“Darn I was soo close,” Rarity whined.

“Close to getting the dragon to leave or getting the diamonds?” questioned Twilight.

“I was hoping for both,”

They heard a kazoo and turned to see Pinkie Pie wearing a costume which made Naruto want to laugh.

“What in tarnation are you doing, wearing that getup Pinkie?” asked Applejack.

“I was hoping that getting him to laugh would have him on our side,” Pinkie went in and a few second later, she came out with some of her costume missing.

“I’m guessing that he doesn’t have much of a sense of humor huh Pinkie?” asked Naruto.

“Yup,”

Rainbow Dash had finally hit the limit of her patience. “That does it! We’ve tried everything and they didn’t work, so I’m going in there and kick him out myself!”

Naruto immediately formed a chakra tendril to wrap around Rainbow Dash, stopping her from going anywhere.

“Why did you stop me Naruto?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Calm down Dash, if it was my old self I would have done the same thing. But we’re dealing with a dragon here, irritating it would lead to even bigger problems,” said Naruto.

“Naruto has a point, but what do we do?” said Applejack.

“I’ll go in and see what I can do to convince him to leave,”

Naruto was about to go into the cave when he felt a tug on his tail and turned to see that it was Fluttershy.

“P-please be careful, I-I don’t want you to get hurt,” said Fluttershy with a look of concern.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be okay believe it!”

Naruto went into the cave and kept walking until he came upon the sight of a large red dragon who was currently sleeping on a treasure trove.

“This guy could get along with Shikamaru as they both love to sleep,” thought Naruto as he drew closer. “Excuse me, I know that we might be annoying you but we’re really hoping that you would sleep somewhere as it’s causing major problems for my friends in the nearby town. We would really appreciate it and if you would comply, what do you say?”

Naruto received an answer when he got slammed by the dragon’s tail and sent flying out of the cave and crashed into a boulder.

“Damn, I couldn’t dodge since I still sore from that spar with Shining,” Naruto gritted his teeth as he endured the pain.

“Oh no Naruto, are you okay?!” while the mares ran to the fallen stallion, Fluttershy had a look of shock before it turned to anger and faced the dragon who had come out of the cave to laugh at them.

“How dare you… How dare you! Listen here, mister. Just because you’re big doesn’t mean you get to be a bully. You may be bigger, stronger and scarier than anyone I know. But you do not and I repeat not hurt those I care about! You got that?!”

Twilight and the others were stunned at how Fluttershy spoke to the dragon when she was being timid a moment.

“I must say that I’ve never seen this side of Fluttershy before,” said Rarity.

“I’ll say,” said Rainbow Dash

Naruto smiled gently as what he saw reminded him of when Hinata stood up to Neji during the Chuunin exams.

The Dragon was stunned for a moment and then had a look of anger.

“How can I let a pony talk to me like this?! I won’t stand for it!”

When Fluttershy turned to check on Naruto, the dragon let out a breath of fire at the ponies.

“Watch out!” Twilight shouted out.

They closed their eyes to brace for the hit, but that didn’t happen when they heard a voice call out.

“Kosei no giachenji: Shirudo!”

When the flames died out to reveal that a shield hovered in between them as if defending. The shield disappeared in a flash of light to show Naruto standing there and with a look of anger on his face.

“We tried to be nice to you just so you can leave, but you had the guts to attack those I consider precious to me huh? Well you can pat yourself in the back because you just made it on the list of someone to be beaten up by me!”

Naruto slowly walked towards the dragon who began to feel uncomfortable from the glare that the orange pony was giving him while the mares were once again stunned at what they are seeing.

“Have you ever seen Naruto get this mad before?” asked Applejack.

“I don’t think anypony has ever seen Naruto get mad before,” Twilight.

Instincts told the dragon not to cross this pony but his arrogance overwrote that thought.

“And what is a little pony like you going to do?”

No sooner he said that then large chakra arms appeared from Naruto’s back made the dragon tremble in fear.

“You got anything else to say?” asked Naruto with a look that promised pain.

“Um mercy?”

“Sorry, that flew out the window the moment you attacked us, now clench your teeth cause it's gonna hurt!”

With those words, Naruto proceeded to pummel the dragon till he was black and blue before he went back to check on the others.

“Are you all okay?”

“We’re okay but remind us never to get you mad,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Hahaha! There’s no way I’ll ever get mad at any of you but it’s rather the opposite,” Naruto gave them a foxy grin which made them blush.

“Let me finish what we came here for,”

Naruto turned to the dragon who flinched when he saw the stallion look at him.

“Alright you overgrown lizard, here’s what you’re gonna do. You pack up your stuff and sleep elsewhere, if I ever see you again, keep in mind that you’re still on my list. Are we clear?”

Dragon nodded meekly and in a few minutes was flying away with his treasure.

“I guess that was a mission accomplished,” said Twilight.

“Yeah, but we give most of the credit to Naruto and Fluttershy,” said Applejack.

“Yeah, they were so cool!” Pinkie was hopping around happily.

“Indeed, Naruto was like a knight in shining armor,” Naruto blushed at Rarity’s compliment.

“I-it was n-nothing, I didn’t like how the dragon was being so mean,” said Fluttershy.

“Me too, I’ll never let anyone hurt my precious ponies,” said Naruto.

Later, the group arrived back at Ponyville and Trixie was surprised at what happened.

“Trixie still finds had to believe that Fluttershy stood up to the dragon,”

“Well you’d better believe it Trix, Fluttershy was very brave right Shy?” Fluttershy used her mane to hide the blush on her face.

A falling leaf landed on her back, causing Fluttershy to squeal loudly and jumped into the air before landing on Naruto’s back.
Both ponies jumped away from each other blushing while the other mares looked at them with jealously, wishing that it was them in her place.

Meanwhile in a void, the mysterious figure was watching over the other dimensions before setting eyes on one of them.
“The time has come, I can only hope that he is ready for the trials ahead,”

The mysterious figure disappeared, off to meet the ninja turned pony.

Dimensional Tales: Monster in my Pocket Pt 2

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 15: Dimensional Tales: Monster in my Pocket Pt. 2

“Wow I never knew that there was a world like that, I wish I could have seen it,” said Brock, the group were sitting on the bench in the middle of the city after making sure that they weren’t near any place that had a reflection. Ash, Dawn and Naruto after introducing himself, told Brock what they had experienced when they had passed through the portal.

“Then you would have seen how dangerous that place is,” said Dawn.

“She’s right, that place isn’t where you would want to take a nice stroll through,” said Naruto to which Brock nodded in understanding.

“Well it was thanks to me that you all got out safely,” said Shaymin, looking proud of itself.

“If I remember correctly, I had to save you from getting ‘eaten’ by Giratina,” Naruto smirked upon seeing Shaymin deflate at his statement.

“Let’s not forget that you got us in that mess from the beginning,” said Ash, adding his two cents.

“But what’s important is that I have to get to the flower garden right away,” said Shaymin.

“Then why don’t you tell us where it is instead of yammering about it,” said Ash, Shaymin jumped to his head and started twisting it to different directions.

“The flower garden is this way, or is it that way?”

“How we supposed to get you to this place when you don’t know which way to go,” thought Naruto with a sweatdrop.

All of a sudden, a group of what Pokémon which closely resembles magnets surrounded them and barred their way. Naruto and the others looked to see a white haired man riding on an air scooter and was looking at them with an evil grin, Naruto could sense the greed emitting out of him.

“I’ll be taking that Shaymin off your hands,” said the man.

“You’re popular,” said Ash.

“Do you have a fan club or something? It seems like everyone is trying to get their hands on you,” said Naruto keeping his eyes on the man, he could tell that his intentions are not good.

“He must want to eat me too,” Shaymin quivered in fear.

“I doubt that is the reason why he is here,” said Brock “But it’s obvious that he’s not a trainer,”

“Who are you and what do you want with Shaymin?” asked Dawn.

“Humph, I don’t find your question worth answering. Magnezone, use mirror shot,” the Pokémon floated forward and shot a blue colored beam at them.

“I don’t think so! Pikachu, use thunderbolt!” shouted Ash, Pikachu quickly shot a lightning bolt to cancel out the attack while Naruto swung into action.

“Everyone get down!” Ash and the others crouched low as Naruto jumped into the air “Chakra tail whip!” he quickly performed a 360 spin while using his glowing tail to smack the Magnemite away from them.

“Thanks Naruto, let’s get out of here!” Ash and the gang took off into the city with the Magnemite and Magneton in pursuit. They kept weaving through alleyways, but the pursuers stayed on their trail.

“Piplup, use whirlpool!” at Dawn’s command, the penguin Pokémon launched a large swirling mass of water at the Magnemite, trapping them inside for a moment and giving the others time to get away.

“Good thinking Dawn, that will slow them down but we need to find a way to lose them!” said Naruto.

“Quick, into that train!” Ash lead the group to a nearby train station and quickly boarded the train right before the doors closed and it left the station.

“It’s a good thing that we found this train to hide in,” said Dawn feeling relieved.

“That’s true, but we don’t know where this train is taking us,” said Naruto who was looking out the window with Ash and Brock. “For all we know, we could be going in a whole different direction,”

“Then let’s ask the passengers in the train,” said Brock with Ash and Naruto agreeing, they walked in to see Dawn among some and children sitting to together. Naruto noticed the man holding a basket of flowers which look similar to the ones one Shaymin.

“Which flowers are those sir?” asked Dawn.

“These are Gracidea flowers, since they look like Shaymin the gratitude Pokémon, you can send a bouquet of them to someone as a sign of gratitude,” said a chubby woman who was sitting nearby with the children.

“Gracidea flowers huh,” Naruto looked at the flowers thoughtfully.

“That’s correct, I once went mountain hiking and actually had the chance to come upon the Shaymin’s flower bearing,” said the man holding the flowers.

When Dawn went closer to the flowers, some of its pollen made contact with Shaymin which resulted in a bright light and then it faded to reveal Shaymin in a different form much to everyone’s surprise. Shaymin now had a canine like appearance with a few of a small reindeer, the fur on its back changed into a Mohawk and has a red petal on the left side of its neck like a scarf. Naruto noticed that Shaymin now had an aura of confidence which was a direct opposite of its previous form.

Shaymin stretched its body a bit before jumping into the air and started to fly around.

“What just happened?” asked Dawn curious at the change.

“You see Shaymin change from land form into sky form when they come in contact with the pollen of Gracidea flower, which is why the Shaymin gather at the Gracidea flower garden so they can change forms and fly off,” said the man.

“You see, that’s why I’m in such a hurry. If I don’t make it in time, I’ll get left behind,” said Shaymin.

“Can you tell us the way to the garden? We’re looking for it,” said Brock.

“Of course, I can even show you, come along,” the chubby woman led the group to a map posted on the wall and pointed at it “If you transfer to a boat at the next stop, it will take you straight to the garden. And you have a perfect timing as the flowers are about to bloom,”

“I would love to see it,” said Dawn.

“Me too,” Ash agreed with her, Naruto smiled at them before he sensed something coming their way and it felt familiar.

“Guys stay sharp, they’re back again,” just as he said it, the glass shattered and everything turned to see the Magnemite and Magneton floating towards them.

“What do they want?” asked the man in alarm.

“They’re after Shaymin,” answered Dawn.

“Huh, well they’re not going to catch me!” Shaymin flew into air right as two Magnemite tried to tackle it but ended up colliding with each other, then it launched a green sphere which knocked several of the Pokémon back.

“Pikachu, get in there and use iron tail on them!” Pikachu quickly dashed at them with his tail taking on a white glow and swung at the Magnemite, dealing some damage on them.

“Piplup, help them out with bubblebeam,” Piplup opened his beak and fired a barrage of bubbles to back the others. Pikachu then covered its body with electricity and slammed into them, followed by a whirlpool from Piplup, two Magnemite tried to attack Pikachu from behind but they sent away by an energy ball from Shaymin. Soon enough, their combined assault forced the Magnemite to retreat and everyone cheered for their victory until Brock called to their attention.

“Hang on guys, we still got one more left!” Brock pointed at the Magnezone that was trying to force itself inside, Naruto stepped forward with a smirk on his face.

“Heh, you guys had your piece of the action, but this one’s all mine,” a chakra arm formed from his back and everyone saw a blue rotating sphere appear on the hand. Then Naruto dashed forward and rammed his father’s signature attack in the Pokémon “Rasengan!” Although it was low powered, the technique was enough to send Magnezone flying into the distance before the train entered a tunnel.

Naruto turned to the others with a grin that would make one think of a fox, “What do you think of that?”

“That was amazing Naruto! Was that an aura sphere?” asked Shaymin, Naruto shook his head in a negative.

“No, that was one of my father’s most powerful techniques called the Rasengan. It was taught to me by my godfather,” said Naruto to the awe of everyone around.

Soon the train reached its stop, Ash and others boarded the boat while saying farewell to passengers who were seeing them off.

Along Dawn got about how this river and valley came to be, Brock read through the tour book and told them that there’s a glacier in the mountain which is wearing away from a very long time ago and that the flower garden is located very close to it. Then they watched several water Pokémon swim underwater sometimes jumping out before falling back in, Piplup decided to jump in for a swim.

“Hey, check this out!” Shaymin took to the air while performing tricks to impress Ash and the others. Naruto noticed Pikachu watching Shaymin as if he wanted to join.

“Hey Pikachu, you want to join in with Shaymin?” Pikachu turned to nod at Naruto who grinned at the lightning mouse Pokémon “Then climb onto my back and I’ll take you into the air,” this drew confused looks from Ash and the others.

“You mean you can fly? But I don’t see any wings on you,” Naruto simply smirked at Dawn’s question.

“Never judge a book by its cover, especially when it comes to me. I’ve always been known as the most unpredictable ninja. Let me show what I mean, Chakra Wings!” wings of energy appeared on his back to their surprise. Pikachu excitedly climbed on his back and Naruto put on his goggles and took to the air, where he met up with Shaymin who was surprised to see him fly.

“Whoa, you can fly?” said Shaymin.

“Yeah, now let’s have some fun, tag you’re it!” Naruto tapped Shaymin with his hoof and took off with it in pursuit. Soon it turned into an aerial game of cat and mouse with Naruto employing some of the tricks which he came up with Rainbow Dash and Shaymin was finding it hard to tag him sometimes while Pikachu was enjoying the wild ride.

“For someone without physical wings, you sure know how to fly,” said Shaymin smiling happily although it faltered a bit when it though of when they would separate at the flower garden.

“Well I learned from the one of the best fliers from my town,” said Naruto proudly.

Meanwhile in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash was relaxing on a cloud when she suddenly sneezed “Somepony must be talking about me and I feel proud of it,” she shrugged and went back to sleep with a smile on her face.

Back with Naruto, he was still playing with Shaymin and Pikachu as the sun was setting, “Let’s get back to Ash and the others,” when they got close to the boat, Naruto saw a familiar portal open close to it.

“Isn’t that the portal to the Reverse world?” asked Dawn.

“Then we better get out of here,” said Brock, Shaymin landed next to them and glared at the portal.

“Well I’m not going anywhere,” then a vortex of wind came out of the portal and sucked them in, Naruto quickly flew in after them before it closed, unaware that the white haired man had returned with his Pokémon and followed them into the Reverse world.

The gang were able to land on solid ground after passing through the portal as Naruto hovered above them with Pikachu on his back.

“So this is the Reverse world, kinda amazing as you look around,” Brock.

“That’s true, but we have to get out of here before Giratina shows up,” said Dawn.

“Then we have to find Newton, he’ll help us get out of here,” said Ash.

“Hey guys, don’t look now but Giratina’s back!” they turned to see the master of the Reverse world was approaching them, but before it could get any closer, an energy ball hit and everyone turned to see that it came from Shaymin.

“Giratina, I’m challenging you!” Shaymin swooped in and launched another energy ball, but Giratina used shadow force to dodge and reappear behind Shaymin, sending flying out of control.

“Oh no, this is what I was worried about,” Dawn looked at the battle with worry.

“Pikachu, use thunderbolt to help Shaymin!” shouted Ash.

“I’m pitching in as well, Chakura no dangan!” Pikachu launched an electric attack with Naruto backing him up with a volley of chakra bullets which made contact, although Naruto’s had more of an effect than Pikachu’s due to the difference in energy.

Naruto flew up next to Shaymin with a foxy grin “You aren’t doing this alone, Pikachu and I have got your back!” Pikachu agreed with a thumbs up to which Shaymin smiled at.

They then charged at Giratina while launching their signature, but during the battle, Naruto had noticed something strange.

“Why hasn’t Giratina been fighting back? Could it be after Shaymin for something else?” thought Naruto while focused on Giratina. Throughout the battle, the sun was setting and when it was night, Shaymin glowed and reverted to its land form. Naruto quickly flew under Shaymin as it started to fall for Pikachu to catch it.

“I guess I didn’t want to be eaten,” said Shaymin in its timid voice.

“Shaymin, what happened? Why did you change back to your land form?” asked Naruto.

“I’m not so good at night,” Naruto was confused at its statement before flying back to the others.

“Do you guys have any idea what just happened?” asked Naruto, to which Brock responded.

“It seems like Shaymin can only be in its sky form during the day,”

“Don’t look now, but Giratina’s headed this way!” Naruto and the others started to run with Giratina close behind, it launched a will-o-wisp at them but Naruto shot a chakra bullet to deflect it.

Looking for a way to escape, the gang heard a familiar voice calling out to them.

“Ash, Dawn and Naruto, over here! Come this way!” it was Newton with his Shieldon waving at them from a cave. They quickly ran into the cave and were able to get away.

“I wasn’t expecting you show up here with an additional guest,” said Newton with a smirk.

“And we weren’t expecting to get dragged back here again,” deadpanned Naruto.

“Whatever, you’re still taking me to the flower garden right?” said Shaymin nervously.

“Giratina’s still out there, we can't just walk out into the open,” said Newton.

“Then you’ll just abandon me, I just know it,”

“Don’t be like that Shaymin, we said that we’ll help you and meant it. We’ll never leaving you hanging,” said Naruto with a smile.

“He’s right about that, what happened to all that confidence when you were in sky form?” asked Ash.

“I left it in the sky,”

“I should have known,” Said Ash while Naruto snickered.

Without warning, a pair of Magnemite swooped in and grabbed Shaymin before taking off, much to everyone’s surprise.

“What the hay?! Get back here!” Naruto chased after them with the others close behind, soon they reached the exit of the cave and saw the man hovering before them with Shaymin being restrained by the Magnemite.

“The Shaymin is mine now,” said the man with an evil smile.

“Shaymin!” Dawn cried out in worry.

“You again?!” Ash was about to bring out one of his Pokéballs when he and the rest got grabbed by the Magnemite, but Naruto was able to dodge them and rushed to help.

“Hang on guys, I’m coming to get you out of there!”

“I don’t think so, Magnemite use thunder wave,” Naruto got hit by the jolt of electricity before he could react, and collapsed to the ground.

“What’s going on? I can’t move my body!” Naruto kept trying to move his body, but his muscles are too numb to respond.

“It’s useless, thunder wave is a move that will paralyze your body, preventing it from moving at all,” said the man, the Magnemite grabbed Naruto as well and moved him to where Ash and the others are.

“How could you Zero?!” shouted Newton in anger ad surprising the others.

“Wait, you know this guy?” asked Naruto.

“Yes, Zero used to be my apprentice,”

“It has been quite a long time, my former teacher,” Zero sneered.

“What are you doing here?”

“Humph, you should already know, I’m going to make this wonderful world all mine,” said Zero.

“You’re still on that?!”

“Of course, especially you want to keep this world to yourself,”

“That’s not true, the Reverse world is what keeps the real world in balance with each other,” said Newton.

“I already know that,” Zero hovered to a nearby purple cloud and glared at it “However, people from the real world pollute and tarnish the beauty of this world,”

“You got it all wrong, don’t you see that is the purpose of this world?” Newton tried to reason with his former student.

“Oh and one more thing, I’ve just finished building that machine which you created,”

“You did what?!” Newton was alarmed upon what Zero said which caught Naruto’s attention.

“It seems like Newton created something that wasn’t supposed to be built but Zero went ahead and built it,” thought Naruto.

Then the Magnemite started to swirl around the cloud, blowing it their direction.

“Don’t breathe it in, otherwise you’ll get poisoned!” Ash and the others quickly held their breath but they don’t how long they can hold it in.

“Darn it, I still can’t move,” Naruto tried to free himself, but the paralysis is still in effect. Then the Magnemite holding Shaymin carried it close to them.

“Oh no, hold on I’ll help,” Shaymin started to draw in the cloud, Naruto noticed that Zero was smiling at what Shaymin was doing.
“It’s as if that’s what he wanted Shaymin to do that but for what reason?”

Everyone heard the familiar screech and Giratina appeared before them, much to Zero’s joy.

“Ah Giratina, Dialga may have prevented you from going into the real world but you won’t have to worry, I will help you,” said Zero. After Shaymin had finished inhaling the cloud, the Magnemite carried over to Giratina.

“Now I know what Zero intends to do, he wants Shaymin to use seed flare,” said Newton, Naruto also caught on.

“Because if Shaymin uses seed flare, it will rip a portal to the real world for Giratina to pass through,” said Naruto.

“But I thought that Giratina wanted to eat Shaymin?” said Dawn.

“Giratina never had any intention to eat Shaymin from the very beginning,” said Newton.

Giratina started to drive away the Magnemite but when it approached Shaymin, it got frightened used seed flare to unleash a large explosion of purified energy which forced open a portal, drawing everyone into it and Giratina followed afterwards.

“Hahahahaha! Now I can carry on with my plans to gain ultimate power!” Zero laughed maniacally as he flew through the portal before it closed.

In the real world, Naruto and the others were recovering from passing through the portal.

“I can finally move again,” Naruto stood up and stretched his muscles, he still retains his healing factor but it had weakened since he doesn’t contain Kurama anymore. “Is everyone okay?”

“Yeah we’re fine,” said Ash as he got up from the ground with Pikachu on his shoulder.

“Hey guys look over there!” Brock pointed, everyone turned to see that Giratina had landed nearby but had changed into a different form.
It now has a draconic form with golden half rings circling the back of its head. Its head has a crown like surrounding it with two large horns pointing sideways and has two large black ghostly wings with red tips that can resemble claws.

“Why does it look like that?” asked Dawn who went to pick up Shaymin.

“It must have something to do with the gravitational changes,” said Newton.

All of a sudden, a red beam shot up and struck Giratina, stopping it from moving. Naruto followed the trail of the beam to see a large airship approaching them. A red cage detached itself from the airship and traps Giratina before floating back and reattaching itself back to the ship with Zero who had jumped onto the cage, then he enters the airship. A prism appears and surrounds Giratina, red energy surges around its body, making it cry out in pain.

“Newton, it seems like you’re familiar with that machine, can you tell us what’s going on because I’m sensing Giratina’s powers being drained,” said Naruto, everyone turned to Newton for an answer.

“You’re correct as I was the one who designed it, it was created to absorb all of Giratina’s powers so that I can enter and leave the Reverse world at will,” Ash and the others were shocked while Naruto looked angry “However, I realized that Giratina would have to be sacrificed, so I deleted all of the blueprints and terminated the project,”

“But then Zero went ahead and built it without your knowledge,” said Brock.

“Yes, and if the machine works the way I designed it, then Giratina will soon be no more,” Hearing this surprised everyone especially Naruto.

“It sounds just like what the Akatsuki would have done to me if I still had Kurama sealed in me,” thought Naruto as he looked up to Giratina who was screeching in pain. “Well we can’t stand here and do nothing!”

Newton looked around and saw the air scooter which Zero had discarded across the river, he quickly ran over and started to operate it, Ash and the gang came up to him.

“Newton, where are you going?” asked Ash.

“This whole thing is my fault, so I’m going to make sure that Giratina is safe,” said Newton.

“Then we’re coming too!” Ash jumped onboard the scooter with Pikachu.

“Me too, Shaymin it’s best that you stay here” said Dawn, placing Shaymin on the ground.

“But I want to help,” said Shaymin sadly.

“But you’re currently not in your sky form,”

“I think that can be remedied, Shaymin look over there,” Everyone turned to where Naruto pointed to see that they were standing next to the Gracidea flower garden. Shaymin quickly went to one of the flowers and changed into its sky form.

“I’m going on ahead,” Shaymin flew around them a few times before heading towards Zero’s airship.

“Alright let’s do this! Chakra Wings!” Naruto formed his chakra wings and took off with Newton, Ash and Dawn following after them in the air scooter.

“We can’t allow him to do this to Giratina!” said Ash.

“We’ll all help Giratina!” said Shaymin.

“Then let’s this show on the road!” said Naruto as they draw close to the airship.

Zero saw them and merely scoffed “Get rid of them,” then he walked into the cockpit.

The Magnemite and Magnezone charged at them and started to launch electric attacks, forcing them to evade. Shaymin was moving quickly around the airship with the Magnezone in pursuit, then it performed a barrel roll to avoid the shockwave and used energy ball which landed a direct hit before moving on to the others.

Naruto was using flips and rolls to avoid the Magnemite but they weren’t making it easy for him with their numbers. “See how you like this! Chakura no Dangan: Sokusha!” He quickly ascended and launched a barrage of chakra bullets at a rapid pace, knocking down most of the Magnemite to the ground below. “Ha! How do you like that? All Naruto baby!”

Then he heard a cry from behind and turned to see that Shaymin had been hit by Magnezone with a mirror shot and was about to launch another attack.

“I don’t think so, Chakra Horn Slash!” Naruto took a nosedive at Magnezone with chakra gathering at his horn taking its shape but was longer, then he slashed at the Pokémon and sent it flying before using a chakra arm to catch Shaymin.

“Thanks Naruto!” said Shaymin happily, Naruto smiled back.

“Anytime buddy, now let’s go save Giratina!”

Naruto and Shaymin met up with the others as they headed towards the cage.

“Alright then, Pikachu use thunderbolt!"

“Piplup, you use bubblebeam!”

“Chakra Cannon!”

They all launched their attacks with Shaymin using energy ball as well, but the attacks merely bounced of the cage.

“Darn it, we can’t break through that shield!” said Ash, gritting his teeth.

“Then I’ll just have to shut it down manually!”

Newton flew the air scooter and landed on the bridge, the Magnemite tried to approach but they were warded off but Naruto and the other Pokémon’s attacks.

“Newton, you go on ahead, we’ll hold them off!” said Ash.

“And hurry, I can sense that Giratina already has half of its power drained!” said Naruto with urgency to which Newton nodded in affirmation.

“Got it! Shieldon use flash cannon to break down the door!” Shieldon fired a white beam at the door, breaking it down for Newton to pass through.

Soon enough, the Magnemite had recovered and were coming in to attack again in a large group. Naruto smirked at them.

“If they think that they could win with numbers, then two can play at this game! Shadow clone jutsu!” in several puffs of white smoke, Ash and Dawn were surprised to see many copies of the pony ninja. “Let’s take them down guys!”

“Yes Boss!” the clones started shooting chakra bullets while Shaymin assisted with energy ball.

“We’ll help too, Buizel and Chimchar I choose you!”

“Ambipom and Buneary, you too!”

Ash and Dawn called on their Pokémon who joined in with attacking the Magnemite, soon enough they heard the engines shut down and looked to see the cage holding Giratina had disappeared. They were relieved but then the ship started to rumble and descend at a rapid rate.

“What going on?” said Ash, then Newton showed up with a sheepish smile.

“I was able to stop it, but I had to shut everything else including the engines,”

“In other words, let’s get out of here!” shouted Naruto after getting what he meant.

Ash and Dawn quickly called back their Pokémon to their Pokéballs and boarded the air scooter with Newton while Naruto and Shaymin flew with them. They saw Giratina fall from the cage and into the water but Naruto noticed something fall from the ship but focused back on Giratina as the airship crashed into the water.

When they landed, the gang looked around for any sign of Giratina when they heard Dawn call out.

“Guys look, Giratina is over there!” they turned to see Giratina crawl out of the water and collapse to the ground and they quickly ran over to check on it and several wild Pokémon had gathered.

“Is Giratina okay?” asked Ash worriedly, Naruto placed a hoof on it and focused on his chakra.

“Giratina is fine but it has lost too much energy from the drain,” said Naruto to their relief that it wasn’t dead.

“Then what can we do?” asked Dawn.

Then Shaymin landed on top of Giratina and started to emit a green aura which covered it, Naruto could sense that Shaymin was transferring its energy to Giratina which was working as Giratina got up to show that it has recovered. But Shaymin was still frightened of Giratina and hid behind Naruto.

“Giratina, it was Shaymin who made you feel better,” said Ash.

“You shouldn’t be scared of Giratina, it never had any bad intentions,” Naruto said to Shaymin who then flew up to Giratina and saw that Naruto was right. Naruto smiled happily as he sensed the gratitude from Giratina.

All of a sudden, something bursts out of the water and everyone turned to see zero sitting in a smaller airship which was designed to look just like Giratina.

“It’s Zero!” shouted Newton, everyone tensed for battle.

“I could care less about what you have done, but no one gets in my way!” Zero fired an attack that looks similar to will-o-wisp at them, but Giratina uses its own will-o-wisp to counter.

“That’s enough! Pikachu, use thunderbolt!”

“Piplup, use bubblebeam!”

“Shieldon, you use flash cannon”

“Chakura no dangan: sokusha!”

Zero was able to dodge the thunderbolt and bubblebeam, but the flash cannon and chakra bullets were able to make contact with the ship.
“Grrr, I told you to stay out of my way!” Zero then shot airwaves which formed a portal for him to pass through.

“How is Zero able to cross into the Reverse world? I thought we were able to stop the drain!” said Naruto.

“It seems like Zero was able to acquire all of Giratina’s powers!” said Newton. Without warning, a shockwave slammed into them and sent them flying.

“What just happened?!” shouted Ash as he got from the ground.

“Zero is attacking the real world from the reverse world!” said Newton.

“These are one of the people whom Kami-sama told me about, their greed could even destroy the balance of worlds like now!” thought Naruto angrily.

Giratina roared angrily and took to the air, then it shot a clear beam from its mouth to reopen the portal and entered the Reverse world.

“We’re going too!” Ash quickly boarded the air scooter with Pikachu.

“Yeah, it’s time for a showdown!” Naruto formed his chakra wings.

“Me too!” Shaymin flew up next to them.

Then the trio flew through the portal and into the Reverse world. They arrived to see Zero using the tailfin of his ship to the break the ice pillars.

“What is he doing?” said Ash, they turned to see a crystal showing that the glaciers were breaking and moving through the lake towards a nearby village.

“How could he?! If those glaciers were to crush the village, many lives of both humans and Pokémon will be lost!” Naruto glared angrily at Zero.

Giratina fired an aura sphere at Zero which was followed by thunderbolt, energy ball and chakra bullet from Pikachu, Shaymin and Naruto.
“Zero, give it up right now!” shouted Ash.

“Why don’t you understand that I’m protecting this place!” yelled Zero.

“Your way of protecting the Reverse world is putting many people and Pokémon in danger, we won’t let you do this!” said Naruto.

“Then just try to stop me!” with that, Naruto and the others charged at Zero in his ship.

Meanwhile back at the real world, Newton, Dawn and Brock had the wild Pokémon use ice beam to freeze the lake in order to slow down the glaciers’ approach, although it was having little effect.

Then Regigigas, one of the legendary Pokémon appeared alongside a herd of Mamoswine. Together they tried to hold back the glacier even it was still moving but at a slower rate. They could only hope that Ash, Naruto and Shaymin would be able to stop Zero.

Play Music: Pokemon Platinum OST Battle! Giratina
In the Reverse world, Giratina attacked with a dragon claw and clashed against the ship’s tailfin, but Zero activated the boosters and sent Giratina crashing into one of the ice pillars.

“It’s useless, I have all of you powers! There’s no way you can defeat me!” Zero said with a sneer. He then tried to fire an aura sphere, but Giratina dodged it by using shadow force to disappear and then reappeared above him to fire an aura sphere which connected.

Ash then swooped and had Pikachu use thunderbolt, Shaymin and Turtwig use energy ball and Chimchar use flamethrower. Naruto performed a nosedive and executed a low powered Rasengan as he didn’t want to kill Zero and sent him flying but was able to regain control.

“I told you to stay out of my way!” Zero shot another aura sphere at Giratina, sending it falling to the ground. Then he shot at the ice pillar, making several large pieces fall on Giratina.

“Oh no Giratina!” shouted Ash.

“Giratina is still weak from the energy drain despite Shaymin transferring its energy,” said Naruto. They both dove in to help the phantom Pokémon just as Zero was about to finish it off.

“This will end you, and the Reverse world will finally be mine!” he was about to fire when Naruto and the Pokémon launched their attacks to interrupt him. “Grrr, you little brats!” Zero used a part of his ship to knock Ash and his Pokémon off the air scooter as they fell onto the ship, Naruto quickly flew next to them.

“Are you guys okay?” asked Naruto and received nods from them.

Clawed cables popped out of the ship tried to grab them, but Naruto moved in to intercept and used chakra horn slash to cut most of them apart while Ash returned Chimchar and Turtwig to their Pokéballs for their own safety. But a few latched on to his body and delivered a nasty shock, making him cry out in pain.

“Naruto hang on! Pikachu use iron tail to free him!” Pikachu destroyed the cables as Shaymin helped out with energy ball.

“Thanks for the save,” said Naruto, still recovering from the shock.

“You’re welcome,” said Shaymin smiling happily.

“Zero, stop destroying this place!” Ash turned to the cockpit which Zero sits in.

“If anything, it’s the real world that’s destroying this place,” Zero hovered the ship to a nearby poison cloud “Don’t you see? It’s that fault of the real world that this world is being polluted so I’ll protect it no matter what it takes!”

“This guy is delusional!” said Naruto, then he saw the cloud approach them “Shaymin, we could use a little help!”

“Got it!” Shaymin flew into the cloud and started to inhale it, this gave Ash an idea.

“Shaymin, use seed flare to open a portal, then we can knock Zero out of here!”

“I don’t think so!” More clawed cables came out but Naruto and Pikachu destroyed them. Zero then tried to throw them off, and Giratina grabbed the tailfin to hold the ship in place.

“Thanks Giratina, hold just on for a little longer!” said Naruto after destroying what’s left of the clawed cables.

“I’m ready!”

Shaymin flew in to the air and unleashed the purified energy to open a portal but got sucked in it, Naruto formed a shadow clone to grab Ash and Pikachu to get out of there.

Giratina shot a will-o-wisp to further damage the ship and Naruto followed up by forming his chakra arms to grab the ship and throwing it to the portal and finishing up with a Rasengan.

“No! all of my precious dreams are ruined!” shouted Zero as he was flung through the portal, upon crashing on the frozen ground, Dawn had Swinub and Buneary freeze the ship in place and prevent his escape.
End Music

Ash and Pikachu were riding on Giratina’s head with Naruto flying next to them as it flew through the realm and used its powers to restore the ice pillars back to their original state. This in turn stopped the glacier from moving any further. Then it opened the portal to the real world and flew through it.

“Hey guys, we’re back!” said Naruto as they landed on the frozen lake and met up with the others, Naruto noticed that Shaymin had reverted to its land form.

“We’re so glad that you’re okay,” said Dawn.

“Yeah and Giratina was able to repair the damage in the Reverse world,” said Ash. Giratina gave loud roared and flew towards the sky, Naruto heard Newton murmur something about it going after Dialga but decided to think about it later.

As the sun rises on the next, Naruto, Ash, Dawn, Brock and Newton stood before the flower garden and watched as the Gracidea flowers go into full bloom.

“Hey guys, look over there,” they saw movement among the flowers and noticed that they were all Shaymin.

“Are those your friends?” asked Dawn to which Shaymin nodded.

“Yes and it’s thanks to you all,”

“Yeah, and I’ve got to say that this place is truly beautiful,” said Naruto looking at the flowers.

“Does that mean that you’re grateful to Shaymin?”

“Of course we are,” said Ash with a smile.

Shaymin jumped off Dawn’s arms and onto a rock.

“Ash, Naruto and everyone, I must say that I’m grateful to you too,” They watched the Shaymin change into their sky forms and got ready to fly off. “Here is where I say goodbye,”

“We know, but as long as you keep us close to your heart, you’ll never forget the good times we had and the same goes for us as well, believe it,” said Naruto as they watched Shaymin change into its sky form and fly away, then he turned to the rest.

“It’s time for me to hit the road as well,” said Naruto sadly.

“Will we see you again?” asked Dawn.

“You’d better believe it, we’ll definitely meet again,”

“We’re really gonna miss you,” said Ash.

“Yeah but this isn’t goodbye, rather a ‘see you later’,” Naruto formed his chakra wings and flew off, with his new friends waving goodbye at him.

Along the way, Naruto saw something on the ground below and smiled upon recognizing it, then he swooped down to get closer to it.

Dr. Whooves was waiting in the TARDIS when the door opened to reveal that the blond pony had returned.

“I see you’re back and by the looks of things, your mission was a success,” said Dr. Whooves.

“Yes it was, now we can go home,” at his words, Dr. Whooves initiated the controls and the machine headed homeward towards equestria.
Upon reaching their dimension, Naruto was about to leave when Dr. Whooves called out to him.

“Naruto, you must keep it in mind that when Kami-sama has a mission for you, a scroll will appear in your medallion and release itself when nopony is around. When you get the scroll, you report back to me so that I can transport you to the next dimension,”

“Okay Doc, and I’m looking forward to working with you,” Dr. Whooves simply smiled and waved goodbye at him.

“That pony is truly special, I wonder what effects he will have on other worlds,”

Naruto was at home after having Spike send a message to the Celestia and Luna, he knew that Luna will show up in his dreamscape tonight to hear of his adventures. While he was putting some finishing touches, he heard hoofsteps and turned to see Scootaloo and Trixie had come home.

“Big bro, you’re back, I’ve missed you,” Scootaloo jumped and hugged her brother.

“It’s great to see you again, Trixie was a bit worried,” said Trixie, then she noticed something on the window “What is that Naruto? Trixie has never seen a flower like that before,”

“This is a Gracidea flower, it has been known to resemble a creature known for its gratitude, it’s a custom where I went to that you would sent a bouquet of Gracidea flowers to those whom you truly appreciate,” said Naruto while watering the flower.

“I have already placed some in your rooms, so I hope that you would take care of it,”

“Of course we would, Trixie appreciates everything you have done for Trixie,” said Trixie while blushing a bit “And your kindness as well,”

As it turns out Naruto had sent a bouquet of Gracidea flowers to Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie (She loved it since it was also her favorite color), Rarity, Fluttershy (she made sure that no one even got close to it), Derpy and Dinky, Vinyl and Octavia, and the princesses all of whom were grateful to the blond stallion.

Meanwhile in a certain dimension, a dark figure was reading through something before finally finding what he was looking for.
“Soon you will finally be free Lord Moryo,” then the figure started to laugh evilly.

Solo Harvesting

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 15: Solo Harvesting

It has been a couple of weeks since Naruto had his first adventure in another world, he decided to relax at his favorite spot which is at the top of a grassy hill overlooking the town after working on his latest project at his shop the Whirlpool.

“Now I see why Shikamaru always liked to lay back and stare at the clouds all day, it makes one relax and forget all about their troubles,” said Naruto as he laid on the grass and stared at the clouds in the sky while feeling the breeze blow through his mane. Luna had visited his mindscape a few nights ago to hear of his adventure in the other world and was quite excited to hear it. She also thanked Naruto for the Gracidea flowers as she and Celestia loved them before leaving.

Naruto continued to look at the clouds for a while until he started to feel drowsy, his eyes were slowly closing until he heard a rumble and felt the ground shake which startled him awake. He quickly scrambled to his hooves and looked around, “What’s going on? Is it an earthquake? I’d better head back to the town and find out,”

Naruto galloped back into town and saw many ponies running around in a panic with some locking their doors and others their windows. Naruto saw Pinkie Pie moving along the street while being carried by the vibrations of the ground shaking.

“Hiya Naru, say doesn’t this make my voice sound silly?” asked Pinkie pie.

“I have to admit that it does but what’s going around here?” said Naruto smiling a bit, Pinkie was about to answer when Rainbow Dash flew down and spoke.

“It’s a stampede Naruto!”

Naruto’s eyes widened as he thought back to when he was being chased by a stampede of bulls on his way to the Chuunin exams back at Konoha, it gave him nightmares for couple of weeks until he finally got over it. Naruto peered into the distance and saw that it was a stampede of cows heading towards the town.

“What should we do to stop the stampede?” asked Naruto, he could see Mayor Mare trying to get the ponies to calm down but to no avail.

“Wait, look over there!” Naruto and everypony turned to where Rainbow Dash had pointed and saw a familiar orange mare wearing a Stetson hat with a dog running alongside her. “It’s Applejack and her dog Winona!”

“Yeehaaw! Alright girl, you know what to do!” said Applejack, Winona barked in affirmation as she moved to one side of the stampede while AJ was at the other side. Naruto noticed that Trixie and the other element bearers had shown up and were watching.

“This is the best rodeo show I’ve ever seen,” said Pinkie as she munched on a bag of popcorn, Naruto shook his head in amusement.

“You can always count on Pinks to make a bad situation look like fun,”

Everypony watched as Applejack took out her lasso, twirling it around before latching to the cow in front of the stampede. She then pulled with all her strength and was able make the cow to veer off the road and away from the town with the other cows following.

“She did it!” Naruto and everypony cheered with Pinkie waving a flag with an apple drawn on it much his confusion but shrugged it off that she may brought it out of the beads that he had given her.

After talking to the cows and seeing them off, Applejack and Winona went back to the others as they stood on top of a hill with the sun behind them to form quite an interesting heroic appearance before galloping away with everypony cheering her on.

“If I had a backdrop like that, I’m sure that I would have impressed the others back at Konoha,” thought Naruto as he imagined himself standing on top of the Hokage monument with the sun behind and the crowd chanting his name, “But then my jumpsuit would have ruined it,” Naruto trotted over to Twilight and Rarity who were talking to Mayor Mare.

“That was quite brave of Applejack, we must do something to thank her for single-hoofedly saving the town,” said Mayor Mare.

“I know, let’s have a party!” said Pinkie Pie, hopping up to them.”

“That’s a great idea, we’ll also present an award to her that way,”

“You can leave the party planning and decorations to Pinks, Rare and I to handle,” said Naruto.

Later on, Naruto and the others had decorated the town square with balloons, streamers, ribbons and other things.

“Are we all set?” asked Twilight.

“Not quite,” Rarity used her magic to lift he banner and hang it in place, “Now we’re all set"

“Perfect, is Applejack all set?”

“Actually, I haven’t seen her all week,” said Rainbow Dash who landed next to them with Naruto, Pinkie Pie and Trixie following.

“Not since the stampede,” said Pinkie.

“Trixie hasn’t been seeing her around town either,” said Trixie.

“As a matter of fact, I don’t think anypony has seen her even before the stampede,” said Naruto after thinking back on the past few days.

“Don’t worry about it Naruto, she’ll show up for sure, Applejack is never late,” said Rainbow Dash.

“You’re right Dash, Applejack has never left us hanging,” said Naruto with a smile.

An hour later, everypony had gathered at the town square and were standing in front of the stage as Twilight walked over to the podium, she took out a stack of paper from her medallion and arranged them with her magic.

“Leave it to Twilight to plan things to the smallest details,” thought Naruto with a soft chuckle.

“Hello everypony! Today we are here to honor a pony we can always count on to help in matters great and small. A pony whose contributions to-” Twilight was then interrupted by Rainbow Dash who flew up to the podium much to Naruto’s amusement.

“Did you see Applejack’s slick moves out there? What an athlete! This week, she’s gonna help me with my new flying tricks, and I know it’s gonna be awesome,” said Rainbow Dash before she was ushered off the stage.

Naruto wondered why she didn’t call for him as they always come up with tricks together but concluded that she didn’t want to bother him since he’s working now.

“Now as I was saying-” Twilight resumed her speech only to be interrupted again by Pinkie Pie.

“This week, I get to run the Sugarcube Corner for the first time,”

“What does that have to do with Applejack,” asked Twilight, Naruto knew exactly what Pinkie was talking about since he had been living with Applejack before moving to the Uzumaki mansion.

“That’s because Applejack, who is one of the best bakers ever, is gonna help me. Applejack makes everything great, so there will be free samples for everypony!” Naruto and the crowd cheered loudly at the announcement.

“Okay then, now if I could make a point without being inter-” this time it was Fluttershy who came to speak up, Naruto could see one of Twilight’s eyes twitching in annoyance.

“Sorry Twilight, but I just wanted to mention that Applejack will also be helping me with the official bunny consensus, where we count up all the baby bunnies that were born this year. She will be most helpful with her wonderful herding skills,”

After Fluttershy left the podium, Twilight was looking among the crowd to see if anyone else would interrupt her speech.

“Now is there anyone else who has something to say? Okay, now I was saying-” Twilight noticed that Naruto was pointing to her right and turned to see Mayor Mare standing next to her “Ugh, fine!” she walked off the stage and stood next to Naruto while pouting.

“I worked so hard on that speech,” said Twilight with her cheeks puffed out.

“I’m sure that it would have been a great speech Twilight. Maybe I could come by and listen to you read it,” said Naruto with a foxy grin.

“Thanks Naruto,” said Twilight with a bright smile, then they turned their attention to Mayor Mare as she gave her speech.

“And so, with no further ado, it is my privilege to give the prize, Pony of Ponyville Award, to our beloved guest of honor, a pony of the most trustworthiness, reliability, and integrity. Ponyville’s most capable and dependable friend: Applejack!”

Naruto turned his attention from the golden trophy to the curtains as they were raised only to reveal an empty space much to the surprise of everypony.

“AJ not being here? That’s pretty unusual of her,” said Naruto, the others nodded in agreement as they know very well that AJ is never late for anything.

“I’m here, I’m here,” they heard Applejack’s voice as she moved through the crowd until reaching the podium, Naruto noticed that she was carrying baskets full of apples which were spilling on the floor and saw the bags under her eyes which piqued his curiosity.

“Miss Mayor, thank you kindly for giving me this award,” said Applejack who was continuously yawning while swaying a bit.

“Well, we wanted to thank you for saving us from the stampede from before, and being a pony whom we can count on,” said Twilight.

“It’s no problem at all, I always like helping out everypony and other things, so thanks for the award,” said Applejack before grabbing the trophy with her teeth, and dragging it back to her home with everypony watching her leave.

“Hey, doesn’t Applejack seem a little-” said Twilight.

“Tired?” said Rainbow Dash.

“Dizzy?” said Fluttershy.

“Messy?” said Rarity, receiving looks from the others “Well did you see her mane?”

Twilight then noticed Naruto walking away and went after him.

“Hey Naruto, where are you going?”

“There seems to be something going on with Applejack since she is not being her usual self, if her tiredness is anything to go by, so I’m heading to Sweet Apple Acres to find out,” said Naruto.

“Then I’m coming along too, I want to find what she’s been up to the past few days for her to look like that,” said Twilight.

The two ponies soon reached the farm, there they saw Granny Smith at the porch relaxing on her rocking chair.

“Hello Granny!” said Naruto.

“Oh howdy there Sonny, I haven’t been seeing you come around in a while. You should visit us more often,” said Granny Smith.

“Will do Granny, we came here to see Applejack,”

“Well she’s over at the orchard at the moment, I hope you can get some sense in that young filly as she’s as stubborn as her mother,”

“Thanks Granny Smith,” said Twilight.

They went to the orchard where they saw Applejack trying to buck apples from the tree only to knock over a bucket of apples. Naruto quirked an eyebrow at this since it’s not like her at all.

“What is that pony doing?” asked Twilight.

“I was wondering the same thing Twilight,” said Naruto as they approached Applejack who was drooping off to sleep.

“Applejack,” Twilight called at to the mare several times but she didn’t respond so Naruto stood in front of her and called out loudly.

“Hey AJ!” Applejack quickly woke up with a startled look on her face.

“Oh Howdy there Twilight, Naruto,”

“What’s going on here?” asked Twilight.

“It’s applebuck season,”

“What season is that?” asked Naruto, during his time at the farm, he hadn’t heard of it.

“It’s what we Apples call the harvesting time, we gather all the apples from the trees so that we can sell them,” said Applejack.

“If so, then why are you doing it all alone?”

“Because Big Mac had gotten himself hurt,”

“But what about all the relatives we saw when I first came to Ponyville?’ asked Twilight.

“They were just here for the family reunion, they actually live all over Equestria and are busy harvesting their own orchard so I’m on my own,”

“Are you sure about this AJ? you don’t look like your normal self,” said Naruto feeling concerned for her.

“Don’t worry about me Naruto, I’ll be just fine,”

“Don’t you need help?” asked Twilight.

“No I don’t need your help,” said Applejack.

“But AJ, with the help of my Shadow clones we can harvest the entire orchard in no time at all,” said Naruto trying to reason with Applejack.

“Nuh uh, I won’t be needing your clone thingies for this, I can handle it on my own,”

“But there’s no way you can do this alone,” said Twilight, Applejack walked up to her with an angry look on her face.

“Is that a challenge?”

“No it isn’t,”

“That’s what I thought, now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got apples to buck,” Applejack walked away from them while trying to keep her balance.

“What do you think we should do Twilight? Even I who is known to be hyperactive can’t possibly do this alone,” said Naruto.

“Maybe we should leave her for now, when she gets too tired she will ask for our help,” said Twilight.

“I’m not so sure about that, remember that Granny told us that AJ can be stubborn but I hope you’re right,” said Naruto as they left the orchard and were about to go their separate ways “I’ll be coming around later to return the book which I took from you,”

“Okay, I’ll see you later,” said Twilight before walking off.

After passing by his house and collecting the book, Naruto was on his way to the library when he saw Rainbow Dash standing on a fence and thought to say hello.

“Hey Dash, what’s up?” said Naruto waving at her.

“Hey Naruto, I’m waiting for Applejack to show up and help me out with my ideas for my tricks that will surely grab the attention of the Wonderbolts,” said Rainbow Dash with stars in her eyes to which Naruto chuckled softly at.

“So how are you to do it?”

“You see that contraption?” Naruto turned to where Dash pointed and saw a wooden structure placed in the middle of the street “With it, Applejack will be able to launch me into the air much faster than I can on my own, then I will perform my newest tricks,”

“That sounds good, maybe next time I’ll come around and help you with your aerial tricks,”

“Are you sure Naruto? I mean won’t you be busy with your shop?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“I won’t be so busy that I wouldn’t help someone close to me achieve her dream,” Naruto was then hugged by Rainbow Dash much to his surprise.

“Thanks Naruto, you’re the best!”

“Don’t mention it Dash, I’ll catch you later,” Naruto continued on his way to the library where he met Spike at the door.

“Yo Spike, is Twilight in?” asked Naruto smiling.

“Hi Naruto, Twilight is at the balcony reading,” said Spike.

“Okay, I was going to return the book which I took from her,” said Naruto, the he walked up the stairs and until he arrived at the balcony where he saw Twilight sitting on the floor with books around her.

“Oh hey Naruto,” said Twilight.

“Hi Twilight, I brought the book back so I thought I should let you know,” said Naruto.

They kept on talking until Naruto sensed something heading towards them at a high speed, his instincts took over as he formed a chakra arm and caught it when it got close. They took a closer look to see that it was Rainbow Dash who looked a bit ruffled.

“I know I said ‘Catch you later’ but I didn’t mean it literally,” said Naruto with a raised eyebrow.

“Can we help you?” asked Twilight.

“I think somepony else needs your help,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Does it have something to do with Applejack?” asked Naruto.

“Yeah, she launched me into the air before I was ready,”

“I’ll go talk to her while you help Rainbow Dash,” said Twilight before teleporting away.

Naruto escorted Rainbow Dash back to her home in the clouds before walking to the park to clear his mind and think of ways to convince Applejack to let them help her. He was deep in thought when he heard someone call his name.

“Mom look, it’s Naruto!”

Naruto turned to see who called out to him and smiled upon seeing Derpy and Dinky who was running towards him and jumped onto his back.

“Hello Dinky, Derpy, I haven’t seen you in a while,” said Naruto with a smile.

“Well you haven’t been coming over to play with me,” Dinky pouted to which Naruto chuckled softly.

“Sorry about that Dinky, I was busy at my new shop making crystals like the one I made for you,” Naruto poked at the necklace around Dinky’s neck with his tail. “So what are you up to?”

“We were on our way to the Sugarcube corner to try out the free samples when we saw you and Dinky ran towards you,” said Derpy.

“Well since you’re here, why don’t we have some fun before going to the Sugarcube corner,” said Naruto, Dinky started bouncing on his back excitedly at the prospect of playing with him since she wasn’t able to do that in a while.

Naruto and Dinky played a game of tag followed by Hide and Seek, they were playing tic-tac-toe when Naruto saw Twilight running past them with Spike on her back.

“Where do you think they’re going off to?” asked Derpy.

“I don’t know but it looks serious, let’s follow them,” Naruto had Dinky climb onto his back and ran after them with Derpy flying close behind.
Soon they caught up with them at the Urgent Care, and were shocked upon seeing many ponies in sickbeds with buckets close to them, even Pinkie Pie was among them. Naruto walked up to Twilight to find out what going on.

“Twilight what happened here?”

“I don’t know, I was called by Nurse Redheart to come over here,” said Twilight, then a female earth pony walked up to them, she has a coat of white with a pink mane and tail and a cutie mark of a medical red cross.

“Miss Redheart, what happened here?” asked Naruto.

“It was a mishap of baked goods,” said the nurse, they turned their attention to Pinkie Pie when she spoke up.

“No, not baked goods, baked bads,” Pinkie moaned before throwing up in the bucket.

“But how? I thought Applejack was supposed to help Pinkie at the Sugarcube corner today,” said Derpy, Naruto and Twilight’s eyes widened in realization of what really happened.

“Applejack must have mixed up the ingredients, which is possible in her current state of mind,” thought Twilight.

“Makes me glad that we didn’t show up early,” said Naruto to which Derpy and Dinky nodded rapidly in agreement.

Later, Naruto and Twilight went to the orchard see to speak to Applejack again. They found her walking in her sleep and ended up hitting a tree.

“Applejack we need to talk,” said Twilight.

“I know what you’re going to say and the answer is still no,” Applejack walked to a nearby tree and positioned herself next to it. “I’m going to prove to everypony that this Apple can buck these apples,” then she started kicking the tree only to kick harder when no apple fell “Come on apples, start falling already,”

“Those apples would have fallen if you weren’t hitting a dead tree,” said Twilight, Applejack looked up to see that it was true.

“Oh, I knew that all along,” Applejack walking off to the next tree.

“Sure you did,” said Naruto sarcastically before following her along with Twilight.

Applejack you need to listen, Naruto and I have just come from the Ponyville Urgent Care and-” Twilight was saying but was interrupted by Applejack.

“You know, I’m too busy to be listening to your lectures,”

“But AJ, if you let us help you, it would be a whole lot easier for you,” said Naruto.

“How many times do I have to say it Naruto, I don’t need any help from anypony,” said Applejack walked faster, leaving them behind.

“Ugh, that pony is just too stubborn,” Twilight groaned in frustration.

“Tell me about it, now I know how the others felt back at Konoha,” said Naruto, thinking back.

Later on, Naruto was at home in his workroom, working on some new sealing formula. He was inscribing some seals into one of the crystals when the table started to shake and the items fell to the floor much to his surprise.

“What the hay is going on?!” Naruto quickly dashed out of the house and into the streets to see the ponies panicking again. Twilight then ran up next to him.

“Could it be another stampede?” asked Twilight.

“It seems like it,” Naruto peered into the distance to see a stampede of…..baby bunnies?!

“Baby bunnies?! What could possibly have them stampede into the town?” asked Twilight.

Bunnies raided the gardens and consumed all of the flowers before anyone could stop them, Naruto and Twilight saw Fluttershy trying to stop the bunnies and walked over to her.

“Shy what happened here?” asked Naruto.

“Well Applejack came over today to help me with the bunny consensus, but she ended up frightening them and they ran off,” said Fluttershy.
Upon hearing this, Naruto had a look of seriousness and noticed that Twilight shared the look.

“This has gone on far enough far Twilight, it’s either she lets us help or we stop her from doing anymore to have her rest,”

“You’re right Naruto, let’s go,” Twilight used her magic to teleport them to the orchard.

When they see saw Applejack still bucking apples like her life counted on it.

“AJ, enough is enough you have to let us help. You’re about to pass out from exhaustion,” said Naruto.

“Not now Naruto, I’m almost done,” said Applejack.

“Applejack, your applebucking hasn’t only caused you problems but it has over-propelled Pegasus’, poisoned ponies and even terrorized bushels of baby bunnies. We don’t care what you say you. Need. Help,” said Twilight.

“Now I don’t, as you can see I was able to harvest all of the apples without your help,” said Applejack with pride “How’d you like them apples?”

Naruto looked to see that she had harvested the apples like she said but when he continued to look, his eyes upon what he saw and noticed Big Mac walk up to with a knowing look on his face.

“Think we should tell her?”

“Eeyup,” said Big Mac, they turned to Applejack.

“Uh Applejack, there’s something we need to tell you,” Applejack turned to Naruto.

“Um, how’d you like them apples?” Everypony turned to look at where Big Mac pointed only to see more apples ready for harvesting.

“It seems like you were only halfway done,” said Naruto.

Applejack mumbled incoherently before fainting much to the worry of the others. Later, she woke up to notice that Naruto had used his tail for a makeshift pillow.

“AJ, thank goodness that you’re okay, you really had me worried there,” said Naruto smiling.

Applejack knew that Naruto cared for her and the others and felt ashamed for having refused his help.

“Now Applejack, we completely respect the Apple family ways and you’re always there to help anypony in need, so maybe you could a little bit of your stubborn pride aside and let us help you,” said Twilight.

“Okay, Twilight,” said Applejack after looking at the apples in the orchard.

“And we not taking ‘no’ for answer--- what did you say?”

“Yes Twilight, Naruto. Please, I could really use your help,”

Naruto smiled gently before helping Applejack to her hooves and giving her a hug.

“Jeez, all you had to do was ask,” said Naruto.

“Sorry Naruto, and thanks,” said Applejack while trying to hide her blush.

Later in the day, Naruto called Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Rarity over to help out with the harvesting. Naruto used his Shadow clones while Twilight used her magic to pluck the apples from the trees and deposit them in the buckets. They were able to harvest a large amount of apples before Applejack called out to them.

“How about y’all take a little break? I’ve got some fine apple juice waiting for ya,” said Applejack, they all gathered at the tram, Naruto closed his eyes and said ‘Kai’ then they heard several poofs and noticed that Naruto stumbled a bit before regaining his balance.

“N-Naruto, are you okay?” asked Fluttershy worriedly.

“I’m fine Shy, it’s just that when my clones dispel, not only do I gain their memories but their exhaustion as well,” said Naruto.

“I guess even a technique like yours has side effects,” Twilight having unsealed a scroll and was writing it down before sealing it back into her medallion.

“Everypony, I want to apologize. I was being a bit stubborn,” said Applejack.

“A bit?” asked Twilight while Naruto smirked.

“Okay, a mite stubborn, and I’m really sorry. I know the town gave me the Prized Pony award, but the real award is you all as my friends,” then she glanced at Naruto “And maybe something more,”

“Phew all that applebucking has made me hungry,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Then I’ve got the perfect treat,” said Spike carrying some muffins in his claws.

“Eew, Spike I threw all those away where did you get them?” asked Pinkie.

“From the trash,” Spike replied.

“Spike, that’s gross!” said Twilight.

“Spike, can I take a look at those muffins?” asked Naruto, Spike held them out to him. Naruto grabbed the muffins with a chakra arm and tossed them into the air.

“Pyro breath!” Naruto projected flames to burn the muffins to nothing, much to the relief of the mares and the ire of the young dragon.

“Awww, why did you do that Naruto?” Spike whined.

“That’s because they’re bad and besides, I can treat you all some ramen,” said Naruto.

“Yay ramen!” Pinkie Pie bounced around excitedly.

“I’m definitely up for some!” said Rainbow Dash who was just as excited.

“Alright then, let’s go,” Naruto led the mares to his house to cook for them as Celestia’s sun sets.

Treasure Hunting: Ninja Style!

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 16: Treasure Hunting: Ninja Style!

Near the outskirts of Ponyville, is a wild wooded area called the Everfree Forest. Many ponies say that it is a mysterious place which serves as a home to many varieties of plants and animals. It is also known to possess a quality which allows them to thrive on their own without the intervention of ponies, something that they consider ‘unnatural’.

Many of those who entered the forest never came back out, with only a few able to return to tell the others their stories of things which they have never seen or heard before.

At the moment, if one has a good sense of hearing, then they would have heard the sound of thumping coming from the forest as if there is a fight going on.

The scene changes to within the midst of the forest where a pack of animals resembling wolves but made entirely of wood known to many as Timberwolves surrounded an orange unicorn wearing a black and orange hoodie jacket and a black head headband with a leaf design on it.
Normally a pony would have been quivering in fear, but not this pony known as Naruto Uzumaki the pony ninja and the element bearer of purity as he stared at the Timberwolves surrounding him with a smirk on his face.

“So you guys think you got the jump on me?” Naruto took the fighting stance and the wolves tensed, neither side moved until a leaf fell from a branch and floated to the ground, when it touched the ground they charged at each other “then think again!”

Naruto ducked under a swipe and responded with an uppercut, launching the wolf into the air. “Chakra Tail Whip!” he channeled chakra to his tail which glowed before whipping it at the air born wolf and pulled it towards him.

“Take this, Rasengan!” Naruto rammed the sphere into the wolf and kept on going until slamming into a tree, shattering it into pieces.
Naruto backflipped just as two more came from behind with their claws stretched out, then he pointed his fore hooves at them. “Chakra bullet: Rapid Fire!” two runes appeared and unleashed white projectiles at a rapid rate, destroying the wolves.

“Kosei no Ha, Battle stance!” Naruto summoned the glaive to his back as he turned to face the remaining Timberwolves. “Here I come, Windflaw dash!” Naruto charged at them while surrounded by the wind, knocking some of them into the air.

"Stellar gear change; Chakram!” his glaive transformed into a chakram, “Chakram Cyclone!” then he formed a chakra tendril and threw it at them. The chakram zipped through the wolves repeatedly and his horn crackled with lightning.

“Now for a combo, Bolt chain!” a stream of lightning shot out and struck one of the wolves before arcing off to the rest before falling to the floor charred and in pieces. The chakram returned to his back and reverted to the glaive.

A wolf attacked from above in hopes of surprising the blond stallion, but Naruto was aware as he used a chakra tendril to wrap around a tree and pulled himself over to evade. He landed on the tree trunk and then bounced off it right back at the wolf “Glaive Joust!” and ran it through with his glaive which was radiating with chakra.

“Shadow Clone jutsu!” Naruto summoned five of his clones who stood next to him and faced the wolves. One of the clones rushed forward and punched a Timberwolf, the original Naruto stepped on the clone’s back launched himself into the air, “Na...ru...to!” the remaining three clones all performed a double kick simultaneously, sending the wolf into the air towards the original. "Uzumaki Barrage!" Naruto stomped on it, sending the wolf crashing to the ground creating a crater.

Naruto turned around quickly, with chakra flowing through his fore hooves to form claws and raised one of them to block an incoming strike from the last of the Timberwolves.

“Time for me to wrap this up,” Naruto unleashed an onslaught of slashes on the wolf with his chakra claws at a speed that is comparable to when Neji used the Trigram 64 palms on him, then he jumped and channeled chakra to his horn, “Chakra Horn Slash!” taking the shape of a longer horn, Naruto sped forward and went past the wolf, then stopped behind it with his horn lowered.

The Timberwolf stood still for a few moments before finally collapsing to the ground and laid unmoving, Naruto exhaled as the chakra receded into his body and stretched a bit before looking back and smirking at the fallen wolves.

“Nothing like a good workout for a ninja like me,” said Naruto while grinning, he had been venturing into the forest to train by fighting against the creatures. Doing this sharpens his skills as well as prep for any challenges or opponents in the future. “But they weren’t kidding about this place, a normal pony wouldn’t be able to survive this place. Luckily, I’m not a normal pony,”

Naruto took a look at himself and saw that he was covered in tree sap from the wolves and grimaced a bit “I’d better get back home and wash up, I don’t want to smell like a tree,”. Then he leapt from tree to tree in the direction of Ponyville, completely unaware that someone was watching from behind the tree while wearing a black cloak.

“This is a first time for me to see someone wandering in the Everfree,” said the pony before walking away.

Naruto was leaping from tree to tree, when something bright glinted from the corner of his eye. He stopped and backtracked and saw something sticking out of the ground.

“Well what do we have here?” Naruto dug around the strange item a bit before pulling it out of the ground. He was holding a stone tablet with a shiny ruby embedded in it, it also has a picture of an earth pony holding a scepter in her mouth and is surrounded by flames. “What is something like this doing here in the Everfree forest? I think I’ll take to Twilight, maybe she has a book or two which can tell us about it,” Naruto was about to take off before looking at himself again “After I take a bath,”

After heading home and taking a bath like he intended, Naruto headed to Twilight’s place and knocked on the door, only for Spike to open it.
“Hi Naruto, how’s it going?” said Spike.

“Yo Spike, nothing but the usual. I’m just checking to see if Twilight is around,” said Naruto.

“She’s at the library reading,”

“Thanks buddy,” Naruto walked and soon found Twilight reading a book like always.

“Hi Twilight,” said Naruto happily.

“Oh hello Naruto, what brings you around here?” said Twilight, smiling upon seeing him.

“Actually, I found something interesting during my ‘walk’ and I thought that I could bring it over and see if any of your books could have information about it,” said Naruto.

“Okay Naruto, but let’s see it first,” said Twilight.

Naruto then approached the table “Sure Twilight, Release Stone tablet!” a white orb came out of the medallion and floated to the table before transforming into the tablet and laid itself on the table.

Twilight looked at the tablet with a critical eye “Hmm, an earth pony holding a scepter, I think I know which book to learn about it,” She then called out to Spike “Spike, could you bring the ‘The Equestrian Chronicles’?”

“Got it, Twilight,” Spike climbed up a ladder and took out a large leather covered book before bringing it over and placing it on the table.
Twilight proceeded to flip through the pages until she finally stopped on a page which had an illustration bearing similarities to the image on the stone tablet.

“Here it is, according to the chronicles, we looking at none other than Pyro Flare, otherwise known as the Mare of Flames,”

“The Mare of Flames? Why do they call her that?” asked Naruto with curiosity.

“It says that with the use of a scepter call the Infernal Flower, she can conjure up flames and manipulate any source of fire to do her bidding,”
“Wow that sounds so cool! It’s almost like she’s a dragon,” said Spike who had stayed behind to listen.

“According to history, she appeared in the battlefield to assist Equestria against the griffons of Griffonstone during the Great War, many soldiers spoke of how Pyro Flare used her Infernal Flower to go up against a legion of griffons and emerge victorious,”

“I’ve read about the Great War, and I’ve also read that Equestria and Griffonstone are under a ceasefire treaty,”

“You’re right about that Naruto, even before I came to Ponyville for the first time, Princess Celestia has been attending meetings in order to gain an alliance with the griffons,”

“Anyway back to the story, what happened to Pyro Flare?” asked Spike.

“Well when the Great War ended, she left to where nopony knows but before leaving, she gave us a mysterious riddle,” said Twilight reading from the book.

“What is the riddle?” asked Naruto.

“These are the words of the Mare of Flames, ‘I shall lay to rest at where the flames will never die out’ it seems like she was telling us where she would be buried but at the same time not revealing its actual location,” said Twilight.

“That’s a weird riddle, ‘where the flames will never die out’? I mean a flame on a candle will go out when all of the wax melts, the same goes for forest fires when they’re put out, kitchen stoves or even dragons when they breathe fire,” said Spike.

“Spike, what you’re thinking about are flames made artificially, Pyro Flare meant natural flames but which-” Twilight was then interrupted by Naruto’s sudden outburst.

“I’ve got it, the answer to the riddle!” said Naruto with a look of realization.

“What do you mean?” asked Spike who was a bit confused “What is the answer?”

“The answer is in the riddle Spike, the only place where flames will never go out… is a volcano!” Twilight’s eyes widened in realization upon what he said.

“You’re right Naruto, no amount of water can even put them out especially when it’s an active volcano!”

“But the question is which volcano?” asked Spike. Twilight used her magic to bring out a scroll from the bookshelf and unrolled it on the table to reveal a map of Equestria.

“According to the map, there is a volcano around here,” She pointed at a mountain on the map “It has been active for a very long time, that must be where the tomb of Pyro Flare is,”

“Then that’s where I’m going,” said Naruto with a look of excitement.

“Are you sure about this Naruto? It could be dangerous,” said Twilight worriedly.

“Of course, the Infernal Flower must have been kept there and I’m going to get it. It kinda scares me if other ponies were to figure out the riddle and try to find it especially those who have ill intentions,” Twilight slowly nodding at the logic and shivered at the thought of anypony using the scepter for their own gain. “Besides, I can’t sit out an adventure like this!”

Twilight giggled at his excitement “You almost sound like Daring Do,”

“Daring Do, who’s that?” asked Naruto with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m sure you would like her, she’s an adventurer and treasure hunter who explores ancient temples and ruins in search of rare artifacts, an author by the name A.K Yearling writes about her adventures and I’ve even got all the books in the series,”

“Whoa, I think I’ll read some of those books when I get back,” Naruto turned to leave before looking back “Wish me luck,”.

“Go get em Naruto!” said Spike.

“Good luck Naruto, and come back safely,” said Twilight, the blond stallion nodded in affirmation and headed for his home to gear up.

Later on, Naruto stood at the outskirts of Ponyville in a different attire. He now wears an all-black jacket with the hood up and a facemask on to hide his identity. He also sealed a few crystals, supplies and a map into his medallion and strapped a ninja pouch to his side then told Trixie that he is going on a trip for a while.

“I’m all set so let’s get this adventure started!” Naruto crouched down a bit, channeling chakra to his feet before taking off down the road leaving behind a small crater and a cloud of dust.

After a couple hours of running along the roads and sometimes leaping through the trees, we find Naruto perched at the top of a pine tree overlooking the forest while drinking from a canteen and looking at the map levitating in front of him with magic.

“Hmm, according to the map the mountain should be right over there,” Naruto looked up from the map and looked to see a large mountain with smoke coming out of the top. Sealing the map and canteen back into the medallion, Naruto leapt off the tree and headed towards the mountain.

“Darn, can’t seem to find any hidden entrance. I’ve been around the mountain twice and still nothing,” Naruto stood there deep in thought until he had an idea, he started tapping the wall. He kept moving along the wall until the sound changed into a hollow one. “I found it” Naruto created a chakra arm which formed a Rasengan then he rammed it into the wall which exploded in a cloud of dust, it cleared to reveal a tunnel leading inside. He was about to enter, when he heard a whipping sound before quickly jumping out of the way of the attack, then he turned to see who had attacked him.

She is a Pegasus with a body color of dark khaki with a mane and tail of six shades of grey, she wears a dark olivine vest and a pith helmet with a dark olive band, her cutie mark is a compass.

“Who are you?” asked Naruto.

“I should be the one asking you that question,” said the mare brandishing a whip.

“Well I asked you first,”

“Fine, my name is Daring Do,” said the mare, Naruto’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Daring Do? As in the famous adventurer and treasure hunter?”

“That’s right, now will you tell me your name and what you’re doing here?” asked Daring Do seriously.

“Whoa, what’s with the attitude?” thought Naruto “My name is….Hokage,”

“Hokage? That’s a strange name,” said Daring Do with a raised eyebrow.

“It means Fire Shadow from I came from,” said Naruto “I came here to find the Infernal Flower of Pyro Flare,” Daring Do’s eyes narrowed upon hearing what he said.

“And what do you intend to do with it?”

“I plan to keep it at a safe place so as to prevent anypony with evil intentions from getting their hooves on it,”

“Even with that reason, I can’t trust you and I won’t let you take it,” said Daring Do.

“What is that supposed to mean? What are your reasons for suspecting me?” asked Naruto angrily.

“First you hide your identity behind a disguise which makes you look suspicious, second I’ve just met you but it doesn’t mean that I should trust you just like that,”

“You may be right but I have my reasons as well, first I hide my identity so that the ponies whom I care about will not be in danger, second I could tell that you’re a pony with good intentions and I could trust you which was why I told you my reasons,” said Naruto.

Daring Do looked at him a few moments before her whip away and walking towards the tunnel without looking back at the stallion. “I don’t care about your reasons, just don’t get in my way,” then she entered the tunnel.

“What’s with her, it’s like I’m dealing with the pony version of Gaara except she isn’t a killing psycho, I’d better go after her,” Naruto grumbled before entering the tunnel as well. He kept moving along the tunnel until coming across Daring Do standing before a straight passage.

“Why are you standing around here?” asked Naruto, the mare turned around with an annoyed look on her face.

“What are you doing here?”

“Well you told me not to get in your way, but you didn’t tell me to leave, so there,” said Naruto with a smirk.

“Ugh, fine but like I said, don’t get in my way,” Daring Do turned to face the passage “I suspect that there’s a booby trap set up here,”

“You may be right, a straight passage like this would not raise suspicions if you’re an average pony,” Naruto picked up a rock with his tail and tossed it ahead, it hit a hidden panel and flaming arrows shot out from the wall before sticking on the other side, confirming their suspicions.

“This is nothing for me,” Daring Do flapped her wings and quickly flew to the other side and then turned to see how the stallion would get across “So how are you getting past the trap?”

“I just don’t have to touch the floor,” Naruto took few steps back and channeled chakra to his feet before running along the wall and jumping to the other, repeating the motion until reaching the other side much to the mare’s surprise “Like that,”

“At least, I won’t have to worry about you taking care of yourself,” Daring merely snorted and walked up with Naruto close behind while looking a little annoyed.

Upon exiting the passage, the duo came upon a large stone platform which is held up by four large chains, they also saw a stone golem sitting in the middle, Naruto looked down to see lava below them.

“There’s something over here,” said Naruto pointing at an inscription on the wall, Daring Do took a closer look and slowly read it out loud.
“In order to proceed, one must emerge victorious against the guardian of the earth,” said Daring Do.

“I guessing it means that we have to break that hunk of rock in order to continue, no problem,” Naruto walked out to the platform before Daring Do could stop him and stood in front of the stationary golem. “Hey rocky wake up! You have a date at the quarry so let’s get moving!”
Then the eyes and runes on its body glowed red and it slowly stood up and approached the pony ninja with the intent to attack.

“Hokage are you insane?! It’s far too dangerous to go up against a golem!” shouted Daring Do.

“Don’t worry, I’ve handled stronger opponents than this walking boulder,” said Naruto, then he charged at the golem.

It launched a punch at the stallion, but Naruto flipped backwards and quickly ran up the arm all the way to the head and delivered a chakra powered punch, shattering it into pieces. Naruto smirked, thinking that it was over but it dropped when he saw the head reform. The golem stomped on the platform, causing the chains to loosen and drop it to just a few feet above the lava.

“I guess you don’t me running around too much,” said Naruto keeping an eye on the golem.

“Hokage are you okay?” Daring Do called from above.

“Yeah I’m fine, things just got a little harder,” Naruto ducked under a swing from the rock giant and ran between its legs and turned around with his horn glowing “Icicle shot!” Then fired ice projectiles at the feet, holding it in place. Naruto jumped into the air and dived at the golem with a spinning orb in his hoof “Take this, Rasengan!”

Naruto grinded through the stomach and landed on the other side and turned around only to see the torso regenerate itself as if the attack never happened in the first place.

“Darn it, no matter how much I damage it, it just keeps on recovering from my attacks” thought Naruto.

The golem then fired its stone fists at Naruto, forcing him to dodge left and right before returning to its body. Naruto was contemplating on a plan to take the golem once and for all when he heard Daring Do call out from above.

“Hokage! Drive the golem off the platform and into the lava, it won’t be able to reform that way!”

“Thanks for the tip!” Naruto turned to face the golem again.

It launched its fists at him again, but Naruto dodged them again but this time took aim at them “Icicle shot!” fired ice projectiles, freezing them in place then he shattered them with a few chakra powered punches and kicks. “Windflaw Dash!” he charged at the rock giant and rammed into it, sending it stumbling to edge to the edge of the platform.

While the golem was trying to regain its balance and not fall off, Naruto simply walked over and gave a small tap with his fore hoof, sending it falling into the lava and sank into its depths. With the absence of the golem’s weight on the platform, the chains slowly lifted it back to its original position and Daring Do went to meet up with Naruto.

“Are you okay?” asked Daring Do.

“I’m fine, but I thought you said that you won’t need to worry about me?” said Naruto.

“I was just making sure that I don’t have to watch over you,” said Daring Do walking past him and to the next area with Naruto looking at her with a calculative look before following after her.

They entered the next room to see lava flowing in front of them with the entrance to the next room at the other side with no way to cross, Daring Do was about to fly again but Naruto stopped her.

“Why are you stopping me?”

Naruto pointed upwards, she looked to see stalagmites that look ready to fall at any given time.

“By the look of things, this trap was set up to stop Pegasus from passing here, so we need another way to cross,” said Naruto.

“Then how do we get across, it’s not like we can just make a bridge to cross,” Naruto’s eyes widened at hearing what she said and smiled.

“Or maybe we can,” Daring Do looked at him in surprise, Naruto stared at the ceiling as he used his tail to go through his pouch and pulled out a deep green colored crystal.

“What is that and what are you planning to do with it?”

“This is an impulse crystal, it releases a non-lethal burst of magic stored within it, and I intend to knock down some the stalagmites which we can use as stepping stones to get across,” Naruto threw the crystal the ceiling and there was blast of magic which dislodged some stalagmites to fall into the lava with some parts sticking out. Naruto threw more of the impulse crystals until there were enough sticking out of the lava.

“Let’s get across quickly while we have time!” Naruto jumped on each of them until he finally got across with Daring Do close behind and they turned to see the stones melt into the lava. They continued along the tunnel until Naruto decided to break the silence.

“Why is it that you work alone and refuse to accept help? You don’t seem like the kind of pony to do that according to what I’ve heard from a friend of mine,” asked Naruto.

“It’s because I prefer to work alone, it has always been that way in my adventures and it always will,” said Daring Do “Even working with you is a risk I didn’t want to take,”

Naruto stared at her for a while before speaking “From the way I see it, you’re afraid that if you become friends with others, they would get hurt during one of your adventures, that may be why you refuse to work with others,”

Daring Do stopped walking in surprise as Naruto continued on as she thought on his words “Could that be the reason why I don’t like working with others? Because I don’t want to see anypony get hurt?” Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Daring Do quickly caught up with the stallion.

They soon came out of the passage and followed a ledge which spiraled downwards to the bottom, then they stood before a large platform where a statue of dragon sits at the center. Curled around the tail is a crystal and inside it is a pony with a body color of red with a mane and tail of crimson, she also had a cutie mark of a flame.

“That must be the body of Pyro Flare, the mare of flames,” said Naruto.

“The crystal must have been preserving her body, but where’s the scepter?”

“Daring Do, look up there,”

She looked at where Naruto was pointing and saw in the jaws of the dragon a small golden staff with a red gem in the shape of a rose and it was glowing.

“Okay then, I’ll go and get it,” said Daring Do, flying up towards the scepter.

“Be careful of any traps,” said Naruto.

Daring Do flew around the statue several times to find any signs of a booby trap and found none, then she proceeded to slowly pull the scepter out. Naruto was looking at the scepter and was curious about why it was glowing.

“I wonder why the Infernal Flower has been glowing all this time as nopony has been holding it. According to history, it has the ability to control any type of flames and yet-” Naruto’s eyes widened in realization and tried to warn the mare “Daring Do, don’t pull it out! The scepter itself is a trap!”

But it was too late as she had already taken the scepter out and the glowed faded away. The mountain started to rumble and shake as the duo looked around.

“What’s going on?!” asked Daring Do.

“It has been said that the scepter is capable of producing and manipulating any type of fire, so the scepter must have been the reason why the volcano was active for a long time and why it had never erupted,” said Naruto.

“And since I’ve taken the scepter, the volcano is about to erupt, we need to get out of here!”

Music Start: Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 OST; Crisis City

The duo quickly ran back up the spiraling ledge all the while dodging the falling rock along the way, Daring Do took to the air while Naruto pumped chakra into his hooves to keep up with her. There was a rumble and they turned to see the lava rising before entering the passage.

“We have to hurry, there’s not much time left!” said Daring Do flying faster.

“I guess that comes from personal experience,” said Naruto running next to her to which she nodded in affirmation.

Several boulders fell in their path, blocking their way. But Daring Do was able to fly through the gaps with Naruto using his freerunning skills to maneuver through them as well, but when the larger rocks were to block their way, Naruto would throw a few impulse crystals to destroy them in order to pass on through.

As they were running, a plume of lava suddenly shot out from the ground right in front of them, Daring Do quickly performed a barrel roll to get out of the way and Naruto ran along the wall while using chakra to stick to it and they kept on going.

“Whoa that was close, something tells me that we really need to step up before this place blows up!” said Naruto.

“And something tells me you’re right,” said Daring Do.

Without warning, a rock fell from above and struck one of Daring Do’s wing, causing her to fall two the ground and Naruto quickly doubled back to check on her.

“Are you okay?” asked Naruto.

“My wing is sprained, I don’t think I can fly with it,” said Daring Do.

“Then get on my back,” said Naruto, she looked at him in confusion “Well you won’t be able to keep up with me and we’re short on time,” Daring Do nodded at the logic and climbed to his back, Naruto wrapped his tail around her so as to make sure that she stays on. “Just hold on to the scepter and I’ll do the rest” Naruto pumped chakra into his hooves and ran even faster than he did before.

They kept on going until they were almost at where the flowing lava and stalagmites are.

“Hokage how are we going to get across, we won’t have time to make stepping stones with the stalagmites,” said Daring Do from his back.

“I thought of that, which is why I’m going to use my abilities,” said Naruto much to Daring Do’s confusion. When they got there Naruto jumped off the edge to her shock.

“Has he lost his mind?! We can’t jump all the way to the other side!”

Naruto shot out a chakra tendril to latch onto a stalagmite and swung then he released before shooting out another one to swing again and kept it up until they reached the other side, then he continued to run.

“I guess that’s one of your abilities?” asked Daring Do and received a nod in return.

“Yes, and only I can do it, few ponies know about as it’s a secret,” said Naruto as he kept running, another boulder fell in front but Daring Do quickly grabbed an impulse crystal from Naruto’s pouch and threw it at the boulder to destroy it and clear a way.

“I must admit that these crystal are pretty useful,” said Daring Do.

“Well I got them from a friend of mine who lives at Ponyville, he owns a shop called The Whirlpool which sells different types of crystals,” Naruto replied.

There was a larger rumble from behind them, they turned to see lava rushing towards them.

“Hokage hurry, it’s coming!” shouted Daring Do.

“I got it! Windflaw dash!” Naruto ran faster with the wind flowing around, this helped them pull away and knock away any falling debris and soon they were to escape from the mountain.

Music End

Later, they were standing on a hill and were watching the volcano erupt as Celestia’s sun was setting and Luna’s moon slowly rose.

“I guess it’s another day in the life for you Daring Do?” asked Naruto.

“You’re right about that Hokage, but this has to be one of the most exciting for me,” said Daring Do.

“So what happens now, will you take the Infernal Flower with you?”

Daring Do looked at the scepter a few moments before holding it out to Naruto, much to his confusion.

“I think I’ll give it to you,”
“But why are you giving it to me?” asked Naruto.

“From what I’ve seen, I can tell that you can keep it safe from others. Besides ‘It’s first come, first served’ since I met you at the mountain,” said Daring Do.

Naruto looked at her for a moment before taking the scepter “Okay but if it’s any consolation, Release stone tablet!” an orb floated out of the and transformed into the tablet, then he removed the barrier bracelet from his hoof “You can take these so that you won’t return empty handed,”

“Thanks, and maybe we’ll meet again,” said Daring Do with a smile.

“I hope so too,” said Naruto with an eye smile since he’s wearing a mask. They parted ways and returned to their homes.

When Naruto returned to Ponyville, he took off his disguise and wore his normal clothes. Then he called Twilight and Spike over to his place and told them of his adventure. Twilight was quite excited to hear that he actually partnered up with her favorite heroine to find the Infernal Flower.

“I can’t wait to see how the next book will turn out!” said Twilight excitedly.

Naruto then sealed the scepter into a scroll which can only be opened with his blood and hid it away in his workshop, Twilight and Spike promised to never reveal its existence until the situation called for it to be used.

Somewhere in another part of Equestria, a pony sits at a table, looking at a manuscript with a satisfied look on her face.

“This has to be one of my best works yet,” said the mare as she placed the manuscript on the table and left the room.

We look to see the title written Daring Doo and the Scepter of the Mare of Flames with a Mysterious Shadow.

Birds of a Feather

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 17: Birds of a Feather

It was another normal day in Ponyville as Naruto along with Twilight and Pinkie Pie were at the park. Naruto was reading one of Daring Doo’s books with interest, Twilight was reading a book as well although he didn’t bother to ask what she was reading about, and Pinkie was being quite descriptive with how Rainbow Dash performs her tricks.

“And then Rainbow Dash was like swish, zoom, swoosh and flew very high into the air,”

“Uh-huh,” said Twilight while she continued reading without looking up from her book.

“And then she looped around and was like whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo,” Pinkie twirled around a bit before falling to the ground from dizziness, then she got bounced over to Naruto “Don’t you think so Naru?”

Naruto looked up from his book with a smile “Of course Pinks, Dash is an amazing flyer and we all know it. Speaking of who, isn’t that Dash flying over us?”

Pinkie Pie looked up to see that it was really Rainbow Dash flying over them and bounced off after her much to Twilight’s relief.

“Finally,” said Twilight.

“Come on Twilight, you know that’s just Pinks being amazed by Dash’s flying skills and wants us to know about it,” said Naruto turning a page on his book and continued to read.

“I know Naruto, but I really wanted to learn more about the history of your world,” Twilight then closed the book and sealed it away in her medallion.

“Where are you going?”

“There are some books that I want to pick up at the bookstore,”

“Oh, then I’m coming too,” Naruto placed a bookmark on the page before sealing it away in his medallion as well, then they walked into town when Pinkie Pie showed up again.

“Hey Naru, can you help me find Rainbow Dash? I’ve been looking all over for her,” said Pinkie Pie.

“Isn’t that not her right up there?” Naruto pointed a hoof upwards for them to see a rainbow colored tail sticking out of it.

“Rainbow Dash!” shouted Pinkie Pie, but then Rainbow Dash took off at high speed with Pinkie Pie bouncing after her.

“Dash had better give up and listen to whatever Pinks has to say, as she’ll always find her no matter where she hides,” said Naruto with a look of amusement.

“What makes you say that?” asked Twilight.

“It’s because Pinkie Pie always seems to find me no matter where I try to hide, so in way it turned into a game of who finds who with her finding me more often,” Twilight simply shrugged as she never tried to figure Pinkie Pie out.

Later on, Naruto was at the mansion writing some sealing formulas on a scroll when he noticed that he was out of scrolls.

“I’d better head to the shop and restock on more scrolls,” Naruto left the house and was almost at the scroll shop when he saw Rainbow Dash moving a cloud above the entrance and Pinkie Pie was hiding by the side of the building “What are those two up to?”

Then he saw Spike come out of the shop carrying a heap of scrolls in his arms while humming to himself. Pinkie gave a signal to Rainbow Dash who then kicked the cloud and a loud crash of thunder came out of it. The sudden sound startled Spike and led to him getting the hiccups.

“I get it now, they wanted to play a prank on Spike,” Naruto laughed as he approached them.

“Oh Rainbow Dash, we startled Spike into getting the hiccups,” said Pinkie Pie with Rainbow Dash chuckling.

“So you guys were planning to prank Spike, you should have invited me as you know how much I love playing pranks,” said Naruto with a mischievous grin.

“You’re right Naru, I can’t believe I forgot about that,”

“Good one Pinkie *Hiccup* Pie. *Hiccup* You’re always pulling a fast one *Hiccup* on me,” Spike tried to pick a scroll, but he hiccupped a green flame and it disappeared.

“You’re not hurt are you?” asked Pinkie Pie worriedly.

“Don’t worry about it Pinks, dragons are fireproof. Right Spike?” said Naruto.

“That’s *Hiccup* right,” Spike picked more of the scrolls but he hiccuped again, sending the scrolls to Canterlot “Although I wish the same thing *Hiccup* were true with scrolls,”

Meanwhile in Canterlot, Princess Celestia was reading the first scroll that was sent to her and was surprised when a ton of scrolls appeared and fell on her.

Back at Ponyville, Naruto and the others were laughing at Spike who kept trying to pick up the remaining scrolls but he kept hiccupping flames and sending them to Canterlot.

“Have you ever seen anything more hilarious?” asked Pinkie Pie while laughing.

“I can think of one thing,” Rainbow Dash kicked the cloud again, startling Pinkie Pie to also get the hiccups but they all laughed. “You know Pinkie Pie, you’re not as annoying as I thought. So you wanna hangout?”

“*Hiccup* That’d be *Hiccup* I’d really*Hiccup* When do *Hiccup* I mean *Hiccup* When would you *Hiccup*,” Pinkie Pie’s hiccups kept throwing her all over the place much to Naruto’s amusement until Rainbow Dash stopped her with a hoof.

“A simple nod will do,” to which Pinkie Pie complied.

“You guys can count me in, there’s no way I’m missing out on this,” said Naruto excitedly, he hadn’t done a good prank in a long time and was just itching to do so.

“Then welcome to the club,” said Rainbow Dash.

Later on, the trio were seen carrying baskets full of items for their pranks. They were hiding behind some bushes in front of the Carousel Boutique, Naruto sent one of his clones to drop a bouquet of flowers at the doorstep and rang the doorbell before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

“Is she even home?” whispered Rainbow Dash to which Naruto nodded in affirmation.

“Yeah, since I can sense her aura,” he replied.

“This is gonna be gold,” Pinkie Pie snickered.

Rarity opened the door to see the flowers on her doorstep “Now who would be so nice to leave these beautiful flowers for me?” she bent down to sniff them but a pink powder covered her snout and started to sneeze a lot.

“Gesundheit,” Rarity turned to see Naruto and others standing nearby laughing with Rainbow Dash holding a can of sneezing powder. They ran off with Dash dropping the can in front of Pinkie Pie making her fly backwards from her sneeze with Rarity looking at them with a smile.

In the library, Twilight was experimenting with some chemicals. When she was focusing in the chemicals, a yellow tail holding a blue bottle appeared and poured a clear liquid into the ink pot before quickly disappearing. Twilight turned and used the quill to write some data on the scroll before returning to her work. But when she turned to check, everything that she wrote was gone and her experiment exploded.

“You can’t read what you can’t see,”

Twilight traced the voice to the window and saw Naruto, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie laughing with Naruto holding what seems to be a bottle of invisible ink with his tail, Twilight simply smiled at the harmless prank.

Applejack was bringing a cart out of the barn when froze stunned at what she saw, all of the apples in the orchard had been painted in various colors and patterns.

“Land sakes!” She then heard snickering and turned to see Naruto, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash wearing black berets, each holding a palette of paint and a paintbrush.

“It’s quite artistic, wouldn’t you agree AJ?” Naruto didn’t get his answer as he and the others had to hightail it out of there with Applejack throwing apples at them.

When one of the apples fell into a barrel of water, Applejack noticed the paint washing off and the apple returning to its normal color and chuckled upon realizing that it was just a joke.

Fluttershy was at the pond feeding the fishes and other animals, although one of the turtles looked suspiciously fake and there was a hidden hose in it connecting all the way to the other side of the lake and behind some bushes where Naruto and the others hid.

“Is someone over there? Who’re we gonna squirt? Who’re we gonna squirt?” Pinkie Pie was bouncing excitedly with a button in her mouth ready to press for the toy to shoot out water while Naruto sat nearby wondering the same thing.

“Fluttershy of course,” said Rainbow Dash looking through a telescope.

“Whoa there, we can’t do that to Shy,” said Naruto worriedly.

“Naru’s right, she’s so sensitive and it will hurt her feelings, even with our most harmless prank,” said Pinkie Pie with Naruto nodding in agreement.

“I guess you’re right, then we need to prank someone else. Someone who’s made of tougher stuff, so who’s it gonna be?” said Rainbow Dash, Pinkie’s shoulders were shaking and Naruto put up a poker face.

“We’ve got someone in mind,” Pinkie giggled.

“Really? Who is it and do I know them?”

“Of course you do, but before that you might want to look at the lake,” said Naruto.

Rainbow Dash looked at the water to see her reflection which had ink around her left eye, that was when Naruto and Pinkie Pie finally broke into laughter “Good one you guys, I didn’t see that one coming,”

She held out a hoof for Pinkie Pie to slap it only to pull it back each time for her to, but Naruto was quick enough to do so and smirked at her.

“Not so fast are ya Dash,” Naruto laughed with the others joining in while Fluttershy was poking at the toy in curiosity as the sun went down.

“That was fun!” said Pinkie Pie bouncing around excitedly.

“You said it Pinks, I hadn’t enjoyed myself like this for a while,” said Naruto with a foxy grin.

“How about we do this again tomorrow?” said Rainbow Dash, receiving nods from the others before they left for their homes.

The next morning, Pinkie Pie was walking towards Rainbow Dash’s home while wearing funny glasses, a fake arrow and mustache, clown nose and blowing a party horn. Then she stopped before a house on top of a cloud.

“Hey Rainbow Dash wake up! It’s a beautiful day and we’ve a lot of pranking to-” she stopped in midsentence when a birdlike creature popped out and stared at her “Ooh,”

“Oh hey Pinks,” Rainbow Dash appeared from the roof of her home and landed before Pinkie Pie with the creature landing afterwards. “Gilda, this is my gal pal, Pinkie Pie,”

Pinkie looked closely and saw that Gilda looked half eagle and half lion with her eagle head covered with white feathers, yellow talons and large brown feathers.

“Hey, what’s up?” said Gilda dryly.

“Pinkie, this is my griffon friend Gilda,”

“What’s a griffon?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“She’s half eagle and half lion,”

“And all awesome,” Gilda and Rainbow Dash did their signature greeting.

“Gilda’s been my best friend from my days at Junior Speedster flight camp. Hey remember the chant?”

“Of course, they’ve made us recite it every morning, I don’t think I’ll ever get it out of my head,”

“Sooo?”

“Oh alright, since it’s for you Dash,”

They both flew into the air and started saying the chant, although Gilda wasn’t so enthusiastic about it.

Junior Speedsters are our lives,
Sky-bound soars and daring dives
Junior Speedsters is our quest,
To someday be the very best!

Then they landed back on the ground.

“Oh that was awesome and it just gave me some ideas for a prank, would you like to join us Gilda?” asked Pinkie Pie while blowing her party horn.

“Well, I’d love to play a prank as much as the next griffon but Dash promised we’d get a flying session this morning,” said Gilda while Rainbow Dash looked apologetic.

“Yeah I hope you don’t mind Pinkie, since Gilda just got here and I wanted to show her around,”

“But what about Naruto?” asked Pinkie knowing that he would be a bit disappointed.

“You can tell him to meet up with me later, so see ya,” with that Rainbow Dash took off with Gilda, leaving a saddened Pinkie Pie to trudge back into town.

Pinkie Pie was walking along the street when she heard someone call out to her from behind.

“Hey Pinks! I’ve been looking all over for you,”

She turned to see Naruto trotting up to her with a smile on his face.

“Are you ready for our pranks? I’ve even made some crystals last night which can produce some flashy effects. Hey where’s Dash? I thought that she would come with you,” asked Naruto looking around for her.

“She’s hanging out with her griffon friend Gilda,” said Pinkie Pie.

“A griffon?”

“Yeah, they’ve been friends since flight camp and said that she’ll hang out with us later,”

“I see, if that’s the case we’ll wait around a bit before we can have our fun,”

Hearing that cheered Pinkie Pie up as she hugged Naruto “You’re right, I’ll come and get you when the time comes, see ya later,” she then bounced off with Naruto smiling after her.

“Since I have a lot of free time, maybe I can do some odd jobs from the request board until then,” Naruto muttered to himself before trotting towards the post office.

Meanwhile Rainbow Dash and Gilda were above town while performing loops until landing on top of a cloud to rest.

“That was sweet, just like old times,” said Gilda.

“Yeah but only faster, so now what?” asked Rainbow Dash, suddenly Pinkie popped her head through the cloud.

“Hey there. It’s later. And I caught up,” turns out, Pinkie Pie was using a trampoline to reach up to them.

“Oh Pinkie Pie, you’re so random,”

But Gilda looked annoyed at Pinkie for showing up. “Hey Dash, got any gas left to race up to that cloud?”

“A race? You’re so on,”

“Ready? One, two, three, GO!” they both took off, leaving Pinkie Pie behind and passed through a cloud.

“I won!”

“As if, I won dude,”

They both started to quarrel over who won the race, not noticing Pinkie Pie who had risen up to them while having a dozen of balloons tied to her waist until she spoke up.

“The race was really close, but I think Rainbow Dash beat you by a teeny weeny itty bitty hair, or a teeny weeny itty bitty feather,”

“You see? It’s a good thing Pinkie Pie’s here to keep you honest G,” said Rainbow Dash, Gilda wasn’t amused at all.

“Hey Dash, last one up that cloud is a gnarly dragon’s egg. Go!” they took off in a cloud of dust, but when it cleared it showed Gilda who remained behind and was glaring at Pinkie “I think the altitude is making you dizzy,” she proceeded to pop a few balloons with her talon, forcing Pinkie Pie to descend to the ground.

“But wait, guys,”

Gilda landed on the cloud next to Rainbow Dash, but didn’t expect to see Pinkie Pie show again this time riding some sort of contraption.
“Wow guys, you almost got away from me that time,”

The griffon was really getting annoyed by the pink mare, then she spoke the Rainbow Dash “So Dash, you got any new moves on your tricktionary, or are you still 100% old school?”

“Are you kidding? I’ve got lots of tricks, even ones you’ve never seen before thanks to a friend of mine, let me show you,” Rainbow Dash then flew off, giving Gilda an opportunity.

“Hey Pinkie, c’mere,”

“Yes?” Pinkie Pie came closer.

“Can’t you take a hint? Dash doesn’t need to hang out with dweebs like you, so why don’t you make like a bee and BUZZ OFF!” Gilda then grabbed onto the propeller, causing Pinkie’s contraption to spin out of control and plummet to the ground right before Rainbow Dash came back.

“Try to beat that, hey where’s Pinkie Pie and her crazy contraption?” She asked.

“She left, something about being busy as a bee,” said Gilda looking down with self-satisfaction.

Pinkie Pie got up from the ground while her contraption laid there wrecked and pouted at being snubbed like that.

Later on, Rainbow Dash and Gilda were flying over the town when she heard her griffon friend speak up.

“Hey Dash, what do you think is that?”

She looked down to see something moving across the road at high speed while leaving behind a cloud of dust and realized who it might be.

“It must be my friend Naruto!” said Rainbow Dash excitedly flying towards him.

“Naruto?” Gilda quirked an eyebrow before flying after her, as they drew close Rainbow Dash called out to him.

“Hey Naruto,” it skidded to a stop and the cloud cleared to reveal a unicorn with an orange coat and a spiky yellow mane with a cutie mark of a white maelstrom on his flank, he was also wearing a black and orange hoodie jacket, a black headband on his forehead, a pair of goggles and a medallion hung around his neck.

“Oh hey Dash, what’s up?” Naruto smiled happily, then he turned to face Gilda “And you must be Gilda, it nice to meet a friend of Dash, a friend of Dash is a friend of mine,”

“Gilda, this is Naruto and he’s a good friend of mine, he’s been helping me out with my tricks and we often race each other,” said Rainbow Dash excitedly.

“Hold on, you mean that you actually race against him? Are you sure that you haven’t been taking it easy on him?” asked Gilda who was a bit skeptical.

“We don’t hold back on each other at all, why don’t I prove it by having a race,” said Naruto with a competitive look.

“That sounds like a fun idea Naruto, first one to reach the town square wins,” Rainbow Dash settled on the ground and lined up with Naruto and Gilda.

“There’s still time for you to back out,” Gilda smirked.

“I’d advise not underestimating me, most ponies that did that ended up losing to me in the end,” said Naruto with a grin.

“Alright then, ready, set, GO!”

The trio took off at high through the streets of the town. Gilda was stunned upon seeing that Naruto was able to keep up with them as she had expected him to left behind in their dust but here he was maneuvering through the obstacles and not losing any speed at all.

“I’ve never seen a pony who can run that fast before, no wonder why Dash is so friendly with him,” thought Gilda.

They quickly banked right around a corner and Naruto sent chakra to his hooves to drift into a street where there were a lot of ponies walking around. Thinking quickly, he ran towards an empty cart and used it to launch himself to the rooftops. Then he slid down the walls and caught up with the others. They were neck and neck as they drew close to the town, when Naruto suddenly fell behind. Gilda smirked thinking that the stallion had ran out of gas, then Naruto quickly overtook her and reached the finishing point in first place, Rainbow Dash in second and her in third.

“Looks like I win,” said Naruto with a foxy grin.

“Hold up, how were you able to pass me when I saw you fall behind?” asked Gilda.

“I think I know what Naruto did, he must have slowed down to behind you to reduce wind resistance before overtaking you like a slingshot,” said Rainbow Dash.

“That was fun, but I gotta go now since I have to complete some deliveries for the post office so I’ll see you around,” said Naruto before trotting away.

“Okay see ya,” Rainbow Dash waved at him while Gilda was glaring at him with jealousy.

Later on Naruto was strolling through the town market when his senses suddenly picked up sadness and he recognized it to be Fluttershy, quickly galloping towards it to see Fluttershy crying.

“Shy what happened?! Why are you crying?” asked Naruto worriedly.

“It was Gilda Naru, she was being a big meanie and bullied Fluttershy,” said Pinkie Pie, walking up to them.

“Gilda did what?!” Naruto was shocked that a friend of Rainbow Dash would do that.

“Not only that, she played a mean trick on Granny Smith too,” Naruto got angry upon hearing this as he doesn’t like anyone precious to him get hurt, either physically or emotionally.

“Which is why I’m gonna teach her a lesson, Pinkie Pie style,”

“I hope you don’t mind if I join in on this?” asked Naruto with a mischievous smirk, something Pinkie Pie mirrored before nodding as they started to plan.

“Is this your idea of a party?!” Gilda roared out in anger.

That night, Naruto and Pinkie Pie who were throwing a party at the Sugarcube Corner had invited everypony including Gilda. However Gilda had been falling for pranks like lemon drops coated with pepper, dribble cup full of punch, spitting snakes and even trying to blow out relighting candles, all of which she suspected Pinkie Pie to be responsible for. Naruto was wondering when she was going to blow a fuse, it was finally the pin the tail on the pony that she did.

“I’ve never seen much lamer dweebs in all of my life and you Pinkie Pie are the queen lame-o with your weak little party pranks. Did you really think that you could make me lose my cool this way?” said Gilda, not noticing the look of shock which was on Rainbow Dash’s face. “Rainbow Dash and I are much cooler than all of you! Come on Dash we’re leaving,” Gilda turned to leave but noticed that Rainbow Dash wasn’t following her.

“Actually Gilda, the one who set up all of those pranks was me,” said Rainbow Dash.

“What? You’ve got to be kidding me Dash,” said Gilda who was shocked.

“So I guess I’m the queen lame-o huh?”

“No way, it has to be Pinkie Pie! She must have set up all those pranks to make a fool out of me!”

“Me? I thought a good party might ease your mood, I should have known that dribble cup had Rainbow Dash’s name all over,” said Pinkie Pie innocently.

“I fell for the lemon drop trick, Dash got me good that time,” said Naruto.

“You surely didn’t need any help to make a fool out of yourself Gilda. I never thought that my old friends would treat my new friends this way, if being cool is all you care about then you should go and find cooler friends elsewhere,”

“Fine then! When you stop being lame and want to be cool again, then you know where to find me!” shouted Gilda, turning around and leaving.

“Not cool,” said Rainbow Dash watching her leave then turning to the other ponies “I’m really sorry about this everypony, I never thought that she would act this way. And Pinkie, I’m sorry that she ruined the party that you prepared for her,”

“Hey, if you wanted to hang out with party poopers then that’s your business,” said Pinkie Pie.

“But I’m pretty sure that you would rather hang with us,” said Naruto with a smirk.

“You’re right about that Naruto, so let’s get this party rolling!”

Everypony cheered out loud and continued with the party, Naruto took a glance at the door and saw a yellow tail disappear before walking up to the others.

Meanwhile, Gilda was walking along the road and kicking some pebbles in frustration. “I can’t believe Dash chose those ponies over me, after all that we’ve been through since flight camp,” then she heard someone approaching her from behind to turned to see that it was Naruto “And what do you want, here to gloat?”

“I’m rather here to find why you did that when you were different from the first time I met you,” said Naruto walking up to her side.

“Why would you want to know? You don’t know how it feels be alone, ignored by everyone!”

Naruto smiled bitterly, remembering someone saying those words before he became something like a brother “Why don’t you try me?”

Gilda sat down on a hill and looked up to the night sky “When I was young, I entered flight camp thinking that it would be fun, but I was the only griffin there and no one wanted to befriend me because of what I am,”

“I guess it’s because of the Great War,” thought Naruto as he continued to listen.

“But then Rainbow Dash walked up to me, wanting to be my friend. At first I thought that she was pitying me but as time went I started to enjoy hanging out with her as a friend. So when I came and saw her having fun with other ponies, I got scared thinking that she had forgotten about me,”

“So you started being rude to others just to spend more time with Dash,”

“Yeah, but I ended up having her hate me instead,”

Naruto looked at the griffin for a moment before facing the night sky “Y’know back in my village, everypony hated me for something that was out of my control, they refused to look at me and if they do then it would be with hatred, no one wanted to be friends either and I was so lonely, I would have fallen into despair if it weren’t for my teacher who reached out to me. Soon others joined him and I considered them to be precious to me as they saved me from myself, so I swore to protect them no matter what the cost,”

Gilda looked at the pony in surprise, she thought that all ponies lived in a no worries world “If so, then why are you here in Ponyville instead of your village?”

“I had to leave under certain circumstances, never to return. But my bonds with them shall never be broken,” said Naruto while tracing a hoof on his headband.

“But I broke mine with Dash and I’ll be alone again,”

“I wouldn’t say that, I’m pretty sure that Dash still cares about you as she wanted you to hang out with us so that you would have more friends, so you just let this blow over for a while for everyone to calm down. Plus you already have another friend,”

“Really, who?” Gilda turned to see Naruto grinning at her.

“You’ve been talking to him, remember what I said back then ‘A friend of Dash is a friend of mine’ and I meant it,”

“B-but I was so rude to everyone,” Gilda stammered in surprise.

“Then let’s start over, my name is Naruto Uzumaki and I’m a unicorn, it’s nice to meet you,” said Naruto holding out a hoof, Gilda looked at it before she smiled and grabbed it with a talon and shook it.

“My name is Gilda and I’m a griffon, it’s nice to meet you too,”

“Before you leave, I want you to have this,” Naruto took out something from the pocket of his jacket and held it out for Gilda to see. It was a pair of goggles similar to the one Rainbow Dash wears around her neck. “I made it after I left you with Dash, consider it a sign of our friendship,”

Gilda took the goggles and wore it around her neck “Thanks Naruto, and I hope that the next time we meet then we’ll have a race again,”
“Of course, train hard until then,” said Naruto as he watched the griffin fly off into the night sky. “Guess I’d better return to the party while my clone is still around,”

Naruto walked back into town while thinking of how he could help Rainbow Dash and Gilda become friends again.

The Humorless Joke

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 18: The Humorless Joke

It was one fine morning in Ponyville and Naruto was happily taking a stroll through the streets as he made his way to his shop the Whirlpool.

“Ah what a fine morning, a great start for another day in Ponyville, makes me wonder what will happen today,” Naruto wondered as he walked, then he caught sight of Twilight and Spike who was riding on her back before walking over to greet them. “Good morning Twilight, you too Spike,”

Twilight smiled happily upon seeing Naruto show up “Good morning Naruto, it’s nice to see you too especially on a morning like this with no clouds in the sky,”

“I guess Rainbow Dash woke up early this morning to clear the skies,” said Spike while looking up at the sky and Naruto was nodding in agreement then he started to look around.

“Of course, which makes it perfect for everypony to enjoy the sunshine,”

“That is if there’s anypony actually around to enjoy it,” said Naruto as he continued to look around much to Twilight’s confusion.

“What do you mean Naruto? I’m sure everypony is outsi-” Twilight trailed off when she followed Naruto gaze to see that there nopony around, almost as if it’s a ghost town to point that they saw a tumbleweed roll by “Where is everypony?”

“Could it be some sort of pony holiday?” asked Spike.

“Not that I know of,” said Twilight “Plus we would have heard about it the day before,”

“Does my breath stink?” Spike let out a belch of green flames before sniffing the air.

“Not like before, I see you have been eating those cyan colored gems which you said tastes like mint,” said Naruto with a smirk only for Spike to copy his habit of rubbing the back of his head when he’s embarrassed.

“But then could it be zombies?”

Twilight rolled her eyes at the question “That’s highly unlikely Spike,”

“Not likely but possible?”

“Well you have to admit, nothing is impossible here in Equestria,” said Naruto “I mean two Alicorns raising the sun and moon is the norm around here, the same could be said for my own world where controlling the very elements or even summoning giant animals is a normal day in the life of a ninja,”

Then they heard someone whisper as if calling out to them, Naruto looked around until he set his eyes on the Sugarcube corner where he saw Pinkie Pie poking her head through the door and waving a hoof at them to catch their attention.

“Twilight, Spike, Naru come here. Get in here before she gets you, Hurry!” said Pinkie Pie.

The trio looked at each other in confusion before they quickly ran into the shop and closed the door behind them. The room was dark so Pinkie Pie used a flashlight to light up the room a bit.

“What’s going on Pinks, why are you here alone in the dark?” asked Naruto.

“I’m not alone Naru,” Pinkie replied, Naruto squinted into the darkness to see that Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack along with Apple Bloom are also inside with them.

“Okay, so what are you all doing here in here in the dark and who are you talking about that will get us?” asked Twilight.

“We’re hiding from her,” Applejack moved the curtains at the window and pointed outside.

Naruto and Twilight looked through to see a pony wearing a dark brown cloak with the hood up and was digging at the ground. Due to the cloak covering most of the pony, all they could see was mostly her snout. When the pony glanced their way, it made everyone flinch away from the window with the exception of Naruto and Twilight.

“Did you see her Twilight, Naruto? Did you see Zecora?” asked Apple Bloom, but she got snapped at by Applejack.

“Apple Bloom, I told you never to say that name!”

“Well, we saw her glance this way,” said Twilight.

“Glance evilly this way?” said Pinkie Pie walking up to Twilight before she was pushed back by said pony.

“And a bunch of you flipped out for no good reason,”

“No good reason? You call protecting your kin no good reason?” said Applejack while holding Apple Bloom close to her “As soon as my sister saw Zecora walk right into this town, she started shaking in her little horseshoes so I swept her up and carried her here,”

“I wasn’t shaking and I walked here by myself, I’m not a baby and I can take care of myself,” said Apple Bloom breaking free of her sister’s grip.

“Why are you guys so scared of Zecora? I don’t see or sense anything off about her from here,” said Naruto as he turned away from the window after looking at the pony digging at the ground.

“She’s mysterious,” said Fluttershy.

“Sinister,” said Rainbow Dash.

“And spoooooky,” said Pinkie Pie.

This had Naruto quirk an eyebrow at them before he turned to look at the window with Twilight only for the others look over them as well. They let out a gasp when they saw Zecora pull down her hood to reveal her other features.

“Well would you look at those stripes, it’s so garish,” said Rarity.

“She’s a zebra,” said Twilight.

“A what?” everypony asked, even Naruto was curious about it.

“A zebra, and her stripes aren’t a fashion choice Rarity, she was born with them just like Naruto was born with those whisker marks of his,” said Twilight although Rarity fainted dramatically over it.

“But born where? I’ve never seen like that in these parts, except her,” Applejack shuddered at the thought of there being more of her.
“Well she’s probably not from around here, and she’s not a pony. My books say that zebra come from a faraway land but I’ve never seen her in Ponyville, where does she live?

“That’s just it. She lives, in the Everfree forest,” said Applejack, then there was a boom of thunder oddly followed by a clutter of pans, then turned to see Spike holding a candy cane and a muffin with pans lying about in the kitchen.

Spike was looking sheepish “Sorry about that,”

Naruto looked surprised upon hearing where she lived “So she lives in the Everfree forest huh? There might be a chance that she saw me during one of my ‘walks’,” he thought “But I don’t see what’s so bad about her, she doesn’t look bad to me,”

“But Naru, she is evil,” said Pinkie Pie, Naruto frowned a bit at what she said “I even made a song about it!”

“Oh boy, here we go again,” Rainbow Dash signed with exasperation as Pinkie Pie started to sing her song and when she finished, Naruto looked really annoyed.

“I don’t like the way you guys are treating her, has she done anything to anyone here in Ponyville that you’re judging her like that?” asked Naruto.

“No but-” Applejack began but interrupted by Naruto.

“But you judge her just because she looks and acts different, you’re doing the very same thing that the villagers did to me back in my old world,”

“Naruto’s right, we all saw how they treated him like he was the nine tailed fox when we watched his memories and this is no different. Imagine seeing Naruto in Zecora’s place right now,” said Twilight, the mares looked downcast when they thought about it.

“Sorry Naruto, I guess we were too scared to approach her and just based things off what we saw,” said Rainbow Dash, making Naruto smile a bit.

“It’s okay, how about we meet Zecora and get to know her better?” said Naruto.

“Sure I would like to get a new friend even if she’s a zebra,” said Pinkie Pie.

“I’m all for it,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Alright let’s go, she couldn’t have gone far,” said Naruto, he left for the Everfree forest with the others following him. But he noticed that not all of them are here “Where did Apple Bloom go? Maybe she stayed behind at the sweet shop?”

Soon enough they had entered the forest although to Naruto who has been entering to train or explore but the mare don’t know that. After passing through the forest and stopping on a field on blue flowers, they finally caught up with the cloaked zebra but they also saw someone whom even Applejack is familiar as well as angry with.

“Apple Bloom what are you doing here? And more importantly, you get back here right now!” shouted Applejack angrily.

“I thought she stayed behind at the Sugarcube corner, why didn’t I think to sense her before we left,” thought Naruto.

“Beware, beware you ponyfolk, those leaves of blue are not a joke,” said Zecora before she backed away into a mist and disappeared from their sight. Applejack immediately went over to Apple Bloom and scooped her up to her back.

“Well you keep your crazy mumbo jumbo to yourself ya ’hear?” said Applejack with the others agreeing with her except Naruto who simply shook his head in disappointment at their behavior and Twilight.

“And as for you, why didn’t you listen to your big sister. Who knows what kind of curse Zecora would have put on you,” Apple Bloom felt ashamed at being told off, then Applejack turned to Naruto and Twilight “And you were wrong about Zecora, who knows what would have happened if we hadn’t come in time,”

“Well I still believe that we shouldn’t judge Zecora based on rumors,” said Naruto.

“And besides, curses aren’t real and are nothing more than a fairy tale,” said Twilight.

“Well you two better wait and see that some fairy tales do come true,” Applejack then turned and left with the others following her, leaving Naruto and Twilight.

“Maybe we should go home and try to sort this out with the others tomorrow,” said Naruto.

“You’re right, I could check through the books to prove to them that curses don't exist,” said Twilight, then they both left the forest to their individual homes.

The next day, Celestia’s sun had risen to begin the start of a nice peaceful morning “KYAAAAAAAA!!!” Well not so peaceful when one hears a scream which strangely came from the Uzumaki mansion.

Meanwhile Twilight got up from her bed with a groan, she had a dream about the arguments which she and Naruto had with Applejack and the others “What a dream……Curses schmurses. Whoa!” said Twilight went to look at her reflection on the mirror to see her bedhead “Heh maybe Zecora cursed my hair,” when she levitated the comb to fix her hair, she saw something was wrong and it had something to do with her horn which was floppy and covered in blue polka dots “Or she cursed my horn!”

Later Twilight and Spike were browsing through every single book in the library to find out what going on with her horn “No, no, no, no, no! None of these books have a cure!” Twilight groaned in frustration at not finding the answer “There has to be a real reason for this, an illness? An allergy?”

“A curse!” said Spike who was holding a green book with the picture of an herb on it.

“I meant a real reason, something that points to something real like a fact,”

“How about this one?” Spike held the book for her to read the title.

“Supernaturals?” Twilight then stared at Spike with a deadpanned expression “Spike, the word supernatural refers to things like spirits and ghosts and zombies which is make believe curses, nothing but a bunch of hooey!”

“But what if you’re wrong Twilight? What if it is a-“

“Ah pfurse!”

Twilight and Spike turned to the voice to see that it was Pinkie Pie but the strange thing is that her tongue was swollen and covered in blue polka dots as well.

“A purse? How can it be a purse?” asked a confused Spike.

“Pinkie! What happened to you!” asked Twilight with concern.

“Pee pah Zthecora! Sthe put a cursthe on me!” Pinkie Pie tried to talk but her swollen wasn’t making it easy and was sending saliva all over Spike who was wiping it off.

“Hey, say it, don’t spray it!”

Then they heard something hitting the window and saw that it was Rainbow Dash who was constantly crashing into it. It took a few minutes before she broke through the door and ended up getting stuck in a stepladder.

“She’s trying to say that Zecora slapped us with a curse?”

“I’m afraid I have to agree,” the next pony to show up was Rarity, well what looks like her since the hair rather has a dreadlock appearance and covered her from head to hoof.

“I hate to say I told you so Twilight, but I told you so!” the group let out a gasp of surprise when the high pitched voice belonged to Applejack who had shrunken to a miniature size and is currently standing on Apple Bloom’s back “It’s a curse I tell ya!”

“But….Fluttershy seems fine!” Everypony turns to look at the shy mare.

“Yes, there doesn’t seem to be a thing wrong with her,” said Rarity.

“Fluttershy….are you okay?” asked Twilight only to receive a shake of the head from her “Is there something with you?” a nod “Would you care to tell us?” a shake “Sooo you’re not going to tell us?” a nod “Yes you’re not, or yes you will?” a nod.

Applejack finally had enough and squeaked out “Good gravy girl! What’s wrong with you?!”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” said Fluttershy in a rather deep masculine voice which they’ve never heard. Then they heard a feminine voice from the doorway.

“Looks like I wasn’t the only one who woke up looking strange,” they turned around to see a mare with a coat of orange, but the strange thing is that she has the same whiskers marks, wears the same clothes and even bears the same cutie mark that Naruto has. The only difference was that she has her hair in twin ponytails and her eyelashes are a bit longer.

“N-Naruto? Is that you?” asked Twilight.

“Yeah it’s me, I found myself looking like this when I woke up. At first I thought it was my sexy jutsu and tried to release it but it didn’t work so I decided to come here and find out what’s going on, only to find you guys looking like this,”

“Sexy jutsu?” asked Rarity.

“It’s something that I created on my own as a way of pranking perverts, although the girls would try to beat me up whenever I use it,”

Spike started laughing at how they look now “This is hilarious! Look at all of you!”

“We got….” He pointed at Rarity “Hairity,” to Rainbow Dash “Rainbow Crash,” to Pinkie Pie “Spitty Pie,” to Applejack “Apple Teeny,” to Fluttershy “Flutterguy,” but he had a confused look when pointed at Naruto and Twilight “And I got nothing on the both of you, I don’t even know where to start with your names,”

“Well you can call me Naruko, it’s what I usually go by when I’m in this form,” said Naruto with an amused look on his face.

“That name actually fits your new look,” said Spike nodding in agreement.

“Naruto, Spike, this is no time for joking around now help me find more books so I can start on looking for a cure!” said Twilight, Spike gave a groan before walking off to do as he was told.

Rainbow Dash managed to get herself free from the stepladder “I think we’ll find a cure to this curse at Zecora’s place!”

“It’s not a curse!” Twilight quickly spoke.

“I agree with Dash! We go to Zecora’s and force her to remove this hex!” said Applejack

“It’s not a hex either!”

Soon enough everypony started to argue with the exception of Naruto who was watching with a frown on his face. “I don’t know much but aren’t curses cast by using chants or potions? What Zecora said didn’t even sound like a chant, best thing to do is go to Zecora’s place and find out what’s going on,” Naruto was about to speak up when noticed that somepony was missing amongst them “Where did Apple Bloom go? Don’t tell me she went to the Everfree forest to find Zecora again, I’d better go after her!”

Naruto quietly left the arguing ponies and then dashed towards the Everfree forest in hopes of catching up with Apple Bloom before she gets herself into trouble and maybe learn more about Zecora while he’s at it.

“I don’t care what you say Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash “I say we confront Zecora! I’m sure Naruto agrees with me, right Naruto?” They all turned to the genderbent pony only to see that he was nowhere to be seen.

“Where did he go?!” asked Rarity.

“No only that but Applejack and Apple Bloom’s gone too,” said Twilight.

“I bet they went after Zecora,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Well we better go after them, come on girls,” Twilight led the way with the others close behind, although in Rainbow Dash’s state she was trying to follow them despite her messed up flight coordination and had to be helped by Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Spike stayed behind to ‘look for a cure’ among the books.

Meanwhile Apple Bloom was galloping through the dark forest, she skidded to a stop when she heard a familiar from the top of her head.
“Stop right there!” Applejack popped out of Apple Bloom’s mane with a frown on her face “Turn around right now missy!”

Apple Bloom smirked after coming up with an idea “No!”

“No?! You can’t ignore a direct order from your big sister!”

Apple Bloom nodded her head hard enough to tossed Applejack before catching her in her mouth, then she walked over and dropped Applejack onto a branch which is hanging over a ridge “Sorry Applejack, I’m the big sister now,” then she walked away with smile on her face.

“Apple Bloom, you come back here right this instant! I’m gonna tell Big Macintosh and Naruto on you!” Applejack yelled after her only to be ignored, then she started to pout at her current situation “Aw pony feathers….” Then she saw something dart through the trees and felt uneasily “What was that? I hope Naruto and the others have noticed that we’re gone and will come to find us,”

Meanwhile, Twilight and the others had just entered the forest and were on their way to Zecora’s place. Rarity kept tripping on her hair and ended up getting twigs and mud on it. Rainbow Dash wasn’t having it any easier as she kept crashing into bushes and trees until she crashed into the tree that Applejack was on.

“Rainbow! Thank Celestia, there’s no time to lose we’ve got to get to Apple Bloom fast before it’s too late!” Applejack quickly made a makeshift muzzle out of a twig and vines and forced it into Rainbow Dash’s mouth before climbing on her “Giddy-up pony!”
Rainbow Dash was a bit miffed at being treated like a ride “Ex-CUSE me?!”

“YEE-HAW!” Applejack gave a jerk with her hoof and had Rainbow Dash taking off after in a bit more controlled flight. Soon, they reached a hut which was built into a tree with some tiki masks at the doorstep and several gourds hanging from the branch while tied to vines.

“Ugh, I look horrible,” said Rarity as she came up to the others while covered in dirt.

“Plis place plooks horrible!’ said Pinkie Pie while raising Rarity’s bangs for her to see more clearly.

“Oh my, that place really does look horrible!” They all snuck quietly to the window and took a peek through it, inside the hut were more masks, gourds and some candles “Nice decorations, if you like creepy!”

Then a door opened to reveal Zecora walking through it. She was a zebra with black and white stripes with a bit gray of gray there, her mane is shaped like a Mohawk and wears jewelry in the form of golden bangles around her neck, left hoof and hoop rings on her ears, and her cutie mark is a gray stylized spiral sun. She walked to a large bubbling cauldron with a container in her mouth and poured purple sprinkles into it, then she started speaking in a language that the ponies don’t recognize.

“Sthe sthole my sthong! Sthe sthole mm mm!” said Pinkie Pie with a voice of accusation.

“She stole your song?” said Rarity with Pinkie Pie nodding in affirmation.

“But it doesn’t sound anything like your song,” said Twilight.

Pinkie tried to prove by singing the song, but her swollen tongue made it impossible to do so. So she turned to Fluttershy with a pleading look as if asking to sing the song for her, Fluttershy sighed in resignation before she started singing in that deep voice of hers.

“Well now that you’ve seen all those terrible things, do you now believe us Twilight?” asked Rarity.

“Well scary looking masks, confusing incantations, and a great big bubbling cauldron? It all points to Zecora being bad or maybe she’s just making soup,” said Twilight as an attempt to deny what she was thinking but at moment she heard Zecora say something that pretty much crushed it.

“Mmm! The perfect temperature for ponies, I presume. Now where is that little Apple Bloom?”

“Or maybe she’s making Apple Bloom soup,” hearing this had the ponies to start screaming.

“Then maybe she ate Naruto first!” said Rainbow Dash,

Applejack snapped the reins and had the Pegasus perform a nose dive for the door “I’m coming for ya Apple Bloom!”

They broke through but they ended crashing into many things with Zecora shouting in that strange language as if telling them to stop what they’re doing, then the others barged in looking very angry.

“Alright Zecora, what did you do to Naruto and where’s Apple Bloom?!”

“No, no!” Zecora was still yelling that unknown language, Applejack brought out her lasso, using it to latch onto one of Zecora’s ear before jumping at it at and started to wrestle. Meanwhile an out of control Rainbow Dash crashed into the cauldron, spilling its contents to the floor. Zecora knelt over the content looking very upset “No! You know not what you do! You’ve gone and spilled my precious brew!”

“We’re onto you Zecora, Naruto and I didn’t want believe you cursed us, but the evidence is overwhelming!” said Twilight.

“You made look ridiculous!” said Rarity.

“You made me sound ridiculous!” said Fluttershy.

Pinkie Pie tried to talk but the tongue was still making it hard for the other to get what she’s saying.

“You ruined my horn!” Twilight finished the line of complaints.

But it was Zecora’s turn to be angry with them “How dare you! You destroy my home, destroy my work. Then rudely accuse me of being a jerk?” indeed the room had been pretty much trashed from Rainbow Dash’s flight problem.

“Well you put the curse on us, so now you’re gonna un-curse us!” said Rainbow Dash although she still has the muzzle in her mouth.
“It is unwise to venture down this road! Your action will make my anger explode!”

But Twilight stepped forward and butted heads with Zecora “Where is Naruto and Apple Bloom?”

“What the hay is going on here?! And why is the whole place messed up?” A feminine but familiar voice rang out and everyone turned to see Naruto standing with Apple Bloom who was carrying a bag by his side and they both looked confused.

“You guys are okay!” Applejack exclaimed.

“Of course we are, what makes you say that?” asked Apple Bloom.

“We thought Zecora is an evil enchantress wanted to make soup out of you two!” said Twilight, there was a moment of silence until it was broken by laughter from Naruto, Apple Bloom and Zecora.

“I guess Applejack and the others finally got to you Twilight, there’s no such thing as a curse,” said Naruto after he stopped laughing.

“Naruto, you can’t just tell us that all this including yourself isn’t because of a curse,” Twilight pointed to the others before pointing at Naruto.

“It’s not a curse, it never was to begin with,” said Apple Bloom as she walked over to Zecora.

If you all remember back, the words I spoke are just exact,” said Zecora, then the pony recalled her saying something about blue flower.

“Yeah, I remember that we were walking on them,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Zecora was trying to warn us of the plant not curse us,” said Naruto.

“The name of the plant is poison joke,” said Apple Bloom.

“The plant is much like poison oak. But its results are like a joke,” Zecora explained.

“What the hay does that mean?” asked Applejack who was standing on top of Zecora’s head.

“It means this plant does not breed wrath. Instead this plant just wants a laugh,”

Applejack was silent for a moment before finally speaking up “Will somepony please speak normal?”

“I think what she’s saying is that when we ran into Apple Bloom, we ran into the poison joke. All of our problems were nothing more than little jokes played on us,” said Twilight.

“Little jokes?! Haha very funny,”

“It makes me wonder what kind chaos that I would have created if I had these plants back home, I’m sure my name would have gone down further in legends as the ultimate prankster,” said Naruto with a mischievous grin, many citizens felt a chill run down their spine at that moment.

Then Rainbow Dash spoke “Okay, but what about the cauldron?”

“And the chanting?” asked Fluttershy.

“And the creepy décor?” asked Rarity.

“Treasures of the native land where I’m from,” Zecora pointed at one of the masks “This one speaks ‘hello’, and this ‘welcome’,”

“Not very welcoming, if you asked me,”

“The words I chanted were from olden times. Something you call a nursery rhyme,”

“What about the cauldron, the Apple Bloom soup?” asked Twilight.

This time it was Apple Bloom herself who spoke “Twilight listen, when I ventured into the Everfree forest to speak with Zecora. Naruto caught up with me and we both went to see her together. When we told her what happened, Zecora gave us a list of herbs for us to collect in order to make a cure for the poison joke. So what you call soup was nothing more than a bubble bath for you guys to take to cure yourselves of the poison joke,” then she pointed at an open book on the table which Twilight went to read and instantly found the cure.

“But I tried to find the cure in all of my books and couldn’t find anything,” said Twilight, then Zecora closed the book to reveal an all too familiar title.
“Here is the book you see. Sad that you lack it in your library,” said Zecora.

Twilight felt disappointed in herself as she looked at the book “Actually I do have this book, but I didn’t look inside because the title was so…… weird,” then she looked at the title again “Supernaturals: Natural Remedies and Cure-alls That Are Simply Super. I…I….I’m so sorry, Zecora. I had the answer the whole time, if only I had bothered to look inside,”

Zecora chuckled softly as she looked at the other ponies who felt the same way “Maybe next time you will take a second, and not judge the cover of the book,”

“That sounds just like what my teacher says “To always look underneath the underneath,” said Naruto as he reminisced the past.

“What do you mean by that Naruto?” asked Twilight.

“During the beginning of my career as a ninja, my teacher taught me that there’s more to things than meets the eye so you have to learn more about it from different perspectives. At first I didn’t get it since I was just starting out with my team mates, but I slowly understood as time went on,”
“That definitely sounds like good advice,” then Twilight turned to Zecora “Zecora? Would you be kind enough to mix up another batch of the herbal bath?”

“Mix it up I certainly will. Yet I am missing a herb from Ponyville,” said Zecora pointing to one of the pictures on the book.

“But every time Zecora comes to town, all the shops are mysteriously closed,” said Apple Bloom.

“I’m sure we can fix that easily right girls,” said Naruto with a knowing smile.

“Definitely,” Twilight smiled back.

Later on, Naruto and others explained to the ponies of Ponyville about Zecora’s true origins to get rid of the silly rumors and they welcome the zebra into the town. They were also able to gather more of the ingredients needed for the cure and the ponies who owned the spa agreed to let them make the bubble bath there.

“Ah, it feels so good to be my beautiful self again,” said Rarity who had her hair restored to pristine condition.

“You said it Rarity, I’m not so little anymore,” said Applejack back to her normal size.

“Oh, my gosh! I never realized how horrible it is not to talk. I mean I love talking so much, and when I couldn’t talk anymore, my tongue was all ‘ehhhhh’! It was the worst! Don’t you agree, Fluttershy?”

There was a pause from Fluttershy before she finally spoke “…..Yes,” in her normal voice. Naruto smiled happily as he stood outside after taking the bath but he could hear the ponies laughing, but he quirked an eyebrow when he heard Rarity say something.

“You know, when I saw Naruto as a girl I had some fabulous ideas for some dresses. Too bad he’s a male again,”

“But didn’t Naruto say that he created that jutsu? So that must mean that he can change into a girl again,” said Twilight.

Naruto felt a chill crawl up his spine and started to sneak away when he heard a voice from behind.

“Oooh Narukoooo~ could you help me with something pleaseeee~?” Naruto slowly turned around to see Rarity right behind him with a glint in her eyes.

“Uh….well you see…..uh….. I think I left my ramen on the stove, wouldn’t want it to burn. See ya!” Naruto took off with Rarity chasing after him while trying to use her magic to catch him with the others watching them and laugh.

“Come back Naruko! There’s this dress I really want you to try out!” shouted Rarity.

“I’ll pass on that and stop calling me Naruko! I’m not a girl anymore!” shouted Naruto as he darted left and right to avoid Rarity’s magic “I can’t believe that I’m agreeing with Iruka-sensei when he says that the sexy jutsu is a stupid one!”

Common Sense vs. Pinkie Sense

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 19: Common Sense vs. Pinkie Sense

“Phew, what a day,” said Naruto as he walked back into town, apparently he had gone to make a delivery to a noble over at Canterlot today and had just returned and was making his way back to the shop “At least, Rare’s inspiration had died down a bit, I thought that she would never stop chasing after me to put on some new dress that she made,”

Ever since Rarity learnt of Naruto’s jutsu to change his gender, she had been dragging him to her boutique to serve as a mannequin for her latest projects much to his embarrassment and the amusement of the others, especially Rainbow Dash whom he knew would never let him hear the end of it. Then he glanced to the side and saw Twilight, Spike and Applejack. Although the weird thing is that Twilight was climbing out of a ditch and Applejack was hiding under a vegetable stall and looking at the sky in fear.

“What’s going on with them? I’d better go take a look,” said Naruto before trotting over to them “Hi girls and Spike, what’s going on here that one is coming out of a ditch and the other is hiding under a stall as if something will fall on her head?”

“Hi Naruto, well thing is Pinkie’s tail started twitching and then-” Spike started to explain, but when Naruto heard the words Pinkie and twitching tail, he immediately started looking around him and was prepared to use his barrier crystal “It’s okay, the prediction already came true so it’s safe now,”
“Wait a minute, don’t tell me that you believe in this stuff that Pinkie says too?” said Twilight with a look of disbelief.

Applejack came out from under the stall and dusted her hat before speaking “I know that it doesn’t make much sense, but most of us who live in Ponyville have learnt that if Pinkie starts twitching then you’d better listen,”

“AJ is right Twilight, back then I was just as skeptical like you are. The first time Pinks’s tail twitched, I simply shrugged it off as a habit of hers and I ended up paying the consequences,” said Naruto.

“What happened?” asked Twilight curiously.

“A barrel full of molasses fell on me, it took me a lot of showers just to get the stuff of me. Since then, I’ve always had to keep my guard up whenever Pinks starts twitching,”

Right then, Pinkie Pie showed up and hers ears are moving around “My ears are flopping! My ears are flopping!”

“What does that mean?” asked Spike while cringing in fear at what might happen, the same going for Naruto and Applejack although Twilight was still doubtful, then she noticed that Pinkie was staring at her.

“I’ll start a bath for you,” said Pinkie Pie, this had the others slowly back away from Twilight.

Twilight chuckled softly “A bath? This keeps getting more ridiculous by the minute!” at that moment, a donkey pulling a carriage passed behind her, passing over a mud puddle and splashing it all over her. Twilight growled angrily at what had just happened.

Later on, Naruto was standing front of the Sugarcube corner waiting for Twilight and Pinkie Pie to come out. He had secretly sent a Shadow clone to deliver the money to Trixie at the shop so that he’ll come by later. He heard the door open and saw the girls come out before walking over to them.

“Had a nice bath Twilight?” asked Naruto with a playful smile.

“It would have been if there wasn’t an alligator in the tub at the time,” said Twilight.

“Oh so you met Gummy, Pinkie’s pet alligator,”

“You know about the alligator?”

“Yep Naru met him back when he was helping me out in the Sugarcube corner, Gummy always bites his tail whenever he sees Naru,” said Pinkie Pie hopping next to them.

“And I’m pretty lucky that he doesn’t have any teeth or it might have hurt a lot,” said Naruto with a smirk.

“Well, I still don’t believe in this special power stuff, it’s nothing but a bunch of mumbo jumbo,” said Twilight.

“What’s not to believe? You use magic and Naru uses chakra so what’s the difference?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“You have no idea, there’s huge difference. Magic is something you study and practice, it only happens when you decide to do it, and it’s meant to make something specific that you choose to happen happen, but with you Pinkie, it just doesn’t make sense at all,” said Twilight.

“Well you can’t apply common sense to the things Pinks does, it won’t work no matter how hard you try,” said Naruto.

“And that’s soo not true Twilight, sometimes it’s a funship random things happening to my body at random times that supposedly predict the future. I call them combos,” said Pinkie Pie.

“Combos?” asked Twilight curiously as she walked in direction of the Ponyville library.

“That’s new for me Pinks, what do you mean by combos?” asked Naruto walking alongside them.

“Yeah, like ear flop, knee twitch and eye flutter. That means the sky is about to be graced with a beautiful rainbow,” said Pinkie Pie.

“Yeah sure,” said Twilight still sounding doubtful as she neared the door.

“Uh oh, I feel a combo coming,” Naruto turned to see what combo Pinkie will have “Ear flop, eye flutter, knee twitch,”

At that moment, the door flew and hit Twilight in the face to reveal Spike backing out of the door while holding a stack of books. Naruto quickly ran over and helped Twilight.

“I thought you said that combo meant beautiful rainbow,” Twilight moaned out in pain.

“I saw Pinks do a different combo than the one she said earlier,” said Naruto.

“That’s right, what you were thinking was ear flop, knee twitch then eye flutter. But this one was an ear flop, then eye flutter, then knee twitch which usually means to look out for opening doors,” said Pink while demonstrating the combos.

“I’ll keep that combo in mind since I don’t want a headache from getting hitting by doors,” said Naruto before turning to Twilight “Are you alright Twilight?”

“I’ll be fine, but don’t believe this,” said Twilight with walking up close to her.

“You don’t believe what you don’t understand,” said Pinkie Pie which had Twilight get a thoughtful look on her face.

“Uh oh, Twilight is about to enter her research mode,” though Naruto with a sweatdrop.

Sure enough, he followed them into the library and went down a flight of stairs to where her laboratory is. There she placed some sort of helmet on Pinkie’s head which had some cords connected to a machine that was printing out graphs and strapped her forehooves down to another machine.

"Okay then, now when you get another twitch, we’ll all kinds of scientific information,” said Twilight.

“Okey dokey lokey,” said Pinkie Pie. Then they waited for a twitch, and waited, and waited.

“Any twitches yet?”

“Nopey dopey,” they waited some more and still no twitches, Naruto started to wish that he kept a Daring Do book in his medallion if he knew that they were going to wait this long.

“Anything?” asked Twilight who was beginning to get annoyed.

Pinkie squinted her eyes as if in concentration before shaking her head in negative “Nope, I got nothing,”

“Are you kidding me, after a day of nonstop twitching, now that I’ve hooked you up there’s not even a single one?” said Twilight.

“I don’t control it, they just come and go,”

“That makes no sense!”

“Sometimes you just have to believe in things, even if you can’t figure them out,”

“She’s right Twilight, there are many things that one can’t always figure out so you just have to accept them as it is,” said Naruto thinking of how he was able to defeat Neji despite everyone believing that he would lose to the Hyuuga prodigy.

“I will not believe in anything I cannot explain!” said Twilight.

“Wait I’m getting something,” Twilight excitedly quickly ran back to the machine in anticipation, but they didn’t get a twitch but rather heard a growl “It’s my tummy, that usually means I’m hungry,”

“Now that you mention it, I could go for a bowl of ramen right about now,” said Naruto as his stomach also growled.

But Twilight wasn’t happy at all “Argh, you know what? Just forget it! I don’t need to know if this is real or not, I don’t need to understand it, I don’t even care!” she walked away in a huff so Naruto went over and helped Pinkie Pie off the machine.

“Let’s go eat” said Naruto.

“Okey dokey lokey,” said Pinkie Pie as she hopped up the stairs past Twilight and towards the door with Naruto behind them. When they reached the door, Pinkie started to twitch again but Twilight ignored her and passed on, Naruto recognized the combo and tried to warn Twilight. But it was too late as the door flew open and slammed into Twilight to reveal Spike behind it.

“Naruto, Pinkie, have you seen Twilight?” asked Spike.

“Uh huh,” said Pinkie before leaving through the door which closed to reveal Twilight behind it and Naruto went to help her up again.

“Twilight, what were you doing back there?”

Twilight was glaring at them “Did the three of you plan this?”

“We didn’t plan anything Twilight, I saw Pinkie twitch and tried to warn you but I was too late about it,” said Naruto.

“Argh, this is ridiculous! This can’t be happening, this makes no sense! I have to figure this out,” said Twilight, then she turned to Naruto “And you’re going to help me Naruto,”

“Looks Twilight’s research mode is in full blast,” thought Naruto as he followed Twilight who went to collect certain items.

Later that day, Pinkie Pie was happily hopping along the road and a bush was quietly following her from a distance before stopping and a pair of binoculars. It was Twilight who is wearing a pith hat with a pencil in her mouth, then she started writing notes on a small handbook but was surprised when she heard someone call out to her from behind.

“Twilight?” she turned around to see that it was Spike, then she quickly dragged him into the bush.

“Honestly Spike, don’t you better than to sneak up on ponies?” said Twilight.

“Oh sorry, but isn’t that what you’re doing?”

“No I’m doing scientific research, I’m observing Pinkie Pie. Other name: Pinkius Piecus in its natural habitat,” said Twilight.

“Pinkius Piecus?” asked Spike confusedly.

“You’re making it sound like Pinks is some sort of wildlife that you’re observing Twilight,” a voice spoke, Twilight and Spike traced the voice and looked up to see Naruto standing on a tree branch.

“There’s something fishy going on with the whole twitchy prediction thing, and I’m getting to the bottom of it,” said Twilight, she peeked out of the bush and saw Pinkie Pie hopping away “Come on, Pinkius Piecus is on the move,” Twilight picked up the bush and followed after her with Naruto close behind as he leapt from one tree branch to another.

They followed Pinkie who was playing around the playground in front of the schoolhouse, Twilight watched through her binoculars and saw Pinkie rub her nose “An itchy nose,” then she saw Pinkie Pie hid under a large horseshoe “Ah ha! That makes no sense,” then she turned to Naruto and Spike “See? She’s hiding like something’s about to fall from the sky, but a twitchy tail means something’s gonna fall from the sky, not an itchy nose!”
Naruto and Spike peeked over to see what Pinkie would be hiding from, their eyes widened when they saw a swarm of bees appear from the sky and was heading in their direction.

“Uh oh, run!” said Naruto as he and Spike ran for cover, leaving Twilight behind.

“Naruto, Spike, where are you going while I’m the middle of explain-” Twilight didn’t get finish as the bees swooped in and started to sting her. The duo poked their heads from behind a tree and winced at the thought of being stung.

“Well I have my own conclusion, if a twitchy tail means something will fall from the sky, wouldn’t an itchy nose mean something will appear from the sky?” said Naruto.

“That actually makes sense Naruto,” said Spike while writing some notes on a small handbook.

Next they followed to Pinkie Pie to Sweet Apple Acres and were spying from behind a bale of hay which was placed next the barn.

“What’s she doing now?” asked Spike.

“Smelling some flowers,” said Twilight who had a lot of Band-Aids on the bee stings.

“Holy guacamole! I wonder what that means?”

“I don’t think it has anything to do with the twitching Spike,” said Naruto.

“Wait I getting something, ear flop, eye flutter, knee twitch,” said Twilight.

“Hang on, that’s a combo that means to watch out for opening doors!” said Naruto as he and Spike quickly moved away from the barn.

Twilight was laughing at them “You guys believe in this stuff don’t you? Let me show you that there’s nothing for you to be afraid of,” she walked up to the bran door and leaned against it “There, you see? There’s nothing for you to worry about,”

“Maybe she’s right,” said Spike.

“I don’t know, that door was already open,” said Naruto with a thoughtful look, “But I do seem to recall AJ telling me that she was building an apple cellar around here but I can’t seem to remember where exactly,”

They heard Twilight scream and looked to see a red door which was open on the ground and there was a flight of stairs, then they heard Applejack’s voice.

“Twilight! You came to visit my new apple cellar, how nice. Um Twilight, are you okay?”

“Naruto, do you still have that First Aid kit in your medallion?” asked Spike.

“Yeah, but I think we’re gonna need more than that,” Naruto replied as they looked down the stairs with a wince.

Then they traced Pinkie Pie to the park and were spying from behind a bench although one won’t consider that since Twilight is sitting on a wheelchair with her forehooves all bandaged up and was in a bad mood.

“Alright, write this down,” said Twilight as she looked through the binoculars “Twitchy tail,”

Naruto tensed at what he heard but thought to ask just in case “What did you say?”

“Oh she said twitchy tail,” said Spike, then his eyes widened at what he said “Twitchy tail?!”

“Be quiet, we can’t let Pinkie know we’re here!” said Twilight.

Naruto was slowly backing away and Spike had already ran for cover “Twilight, the first two times you were caught unawares. I really think you should use the barrier crystal that I gave you,”

“Naruto, I really think you’re overreacting on th-” Twilight started, but then a flowerpot landed on her head, followed by an anvil, a carriage carrying hay and finally a piano.

“I can accept having a barrel full of molasses falling on me back then, but where did these ones come from?” said Naruto as he looked up to the sky.

“Sorry boss, I didn’t know what went wrong,” said Derpy smiling sheepishly with her friend next to her, they were trying to offload some items from the moving truck in the sky but dropped them by mistake.

“You have to be more careful,” said the Boss with a stern look.

Meanwhile Pinkie Pie met up with Applejack who was carrying a bucket full of apples.

“Hey Applejack, whatcha doing?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“Taking more apples to my new apple cellar, how about you Pinkie? What are you doing?” said Applejack.

“Oh letting Twilight secretly follow me all day without me knowing,”

“You mean you knew all along? Why didn’t you tell me?” asked Twilight as she walked up to them while covered in bruises and Naruto came with Spike on his back.

“No silly, that would have spoiled the surprise! Oh hey Naru, I didn’t see you there!” said Pinkie with a smile.

“Wait, how come you knew I was following you but you didn’t know that Naruto was there too?!”

“Uh Twilight, you forgot that I’m a ninja. We were trained to be stealthy and not let anypony know of our presence, and to tell you the truth, it’s pretty hard to hide from someone like Pinks,” said Naruto, he could see that Twilight was trying to control her temper.

“I-is the tail still twitching?” Spike asked fearfully.

“All done, clear skies from here on in as far as I can tell,” said Pinkie, then she started twitching all over.

“What was that all about Pinks, I’ve never seen you twitch like that?” said Naruto.

“I don’t know Naru, I’ve never got anything like it before. But whatever that shudder was about, it’s a doozy. It said something you’re never gonna expect to happen is gonna happen,” then Pinkie started twitching again “And it’s gonna happen at Froggy Bottom Bogg.

“That’s where Fluttershy’s headed!” Applejack exclaimed.

“What’s Shy doing over there?” asked Naruto.

“Fluttershy was transferring the frogs from the lake since it was getting overpopulated,” said Twilight.

“Is it about her?” asked Spike.

“I-I’m not sure,” said Pinkie.

“We better go and make sure that she’s okay,” said Applejack before galloping off with Pinkie following her.

“AJ is right, twitching or no twitching, we have to go see if she’s alright,” Naruto before running after the others with Spike on his back.

“Calm down everypony. All we know is that Pinkie Pie just got a case of the shivers. That’s all,” said Twilight, but there was no one around to listen. She rolled her eyes before running after the others and caught up with Naruto and Pinkie Pie.

“I thought you don’t believe in this stuff?” asked Spike from Naruto’s back.

“I don’t, I just wanna be there to see the look on Pinkie’s face when we find out nothing’s wrong,” said Twilight.

“Okey dokey,” said Pinkie Pie as they entered the forest.

They were running through the dark forest and Pinkie Pie was still twitching.

“Feeling cold? Need a jacket or something?” asked Twilight.

“Nope, I’m fine. Or maybe I could use a nice warm furry scarf,” said Pinkie as she grabbed Naruto’s tail and wrapped it around her neck which startled him a bit.

“At least ask before turning my tail into a scarf Pinks?” said Naruto with a playful glare which Pinkie returned with a grin.

“Okey dokey,”

“Darn, I wish I could do that too,” thought Twilight with a pout.

“So what do you think happened to Fluttershy?” asked Spike nervously.

“I hope nothing happened,” said Applejack.

“I know but, what would you think might happen?”

“Spike let’s not go there, as long as we believe Shy is okay, then she will be,” said Naruto.

“Naruto is right Spike, she’s fine, I’m sure of it,” said Twilight.

“I hope you two are right, for Fluttershy’s sake,” said Applejack, then she looked ahead “Look! There’s Froggy Bottom Bogg!”

They started looking for Fluttershy while calling her name, Naruto activated his Ora Kokei and looked around a bit before finding her aura nearby.

“Hey girls, I’ve found Shy! Follow me!” Naruto led the way and they found Fluttershy guiding the frogs into the bog.
“Fluttershy you’re okay!” said Spike happily.

“Of course,” said Fluttershy.

“Phew, what a relief,” Applejack.

“It’s just that we were worried about you and came to check,” said Naruto with a smile.

“I’m so glad that everything is alright,” said Pinkie Pie.

“Sorry, I know it’s not nice to gloat but…Aha! I told you there was nothing to worry about, and I was right,” said Twilight, Naruto noticed something was moving through the bog and a green smelly mist appeared, his eyes narrowed at what he saw as the others hid behind him, it started to raise its head or should we say heads from behind Twilight who was completely aware of what’s going on.

“Pinkie Pie said whatever she was shuddering about was a doozy, and the only doozy here is how right I am,” said Twilight.

“Um….Twilight?” said Applejack, trying to get her attention.

“Pinkie’s made a lot of predictions today but ugh, what is that smell? But what we’ve learned is that we can’t believe in anything that we can’t see for ourselves,”

“In that case, you might wanna look behind and upwards, said Naruto as he took a fighting stance, Twilight turned around and her eyes widened in fear at what she saw, it was a four headed serpent looking down at them.

“I see it, but I don’t believe it!”

“Is that a hydra?!” said Pinkie fearfully.

“We have to time for questions Pinks! We have to get out of here!” shouted Naruto as he and the girls started running with the hydra in pursuit.

“Pinkie run!” shouted Twilight, Naruto turned around to see Pinkie standing there frozen in fear and the hydra were about to attack, he quickly doubled back to get her while sending chakra to his feet to increase his speed, but he realized he won’t reach her in time so he called out to her.

“Pinks, use the barrier crystal!” Naruto shouted out, it seemed to have snapped Pinkie out of it as she called out.

“Protect!” a transparent dome appeared around her and knocked back the head that attack, making it roar out in pain. But when the barrier disappeared, the other heads saw it as an opportunity and swooped in to attack again. By then, Naruto had gotten close enough to stretch out a chakra tendril which wrapped around Pinkie Pie and pulled her away right before the jaws came upon her.

“Come on, we gotta keep moving!” they kept running as the hydra continued to attack them, they were able to evade the jaws thanks to the barrier crystals and using the environment to their advantage, but soon they reached a dead-end and they heard a cry and turned to see Spike stuck in marsh with the hydra closing in.

“Spike hold on, Water Stream!” shouted Twilight as she used her magic, water churned underneath Spike before shooting out like a geyser, launching him in their direction and Naruto jumped and caught him with his tail. “Quickly, up that hill!” they started running up and the hydra was about to follow them when used his tail to reach into his ninja pouch and brought out a white crystal, then he threw it at the heads. When the crystal got close, it let out a bright flash of light which forced the hydra to stop and close their eyes in pain.

“What was that Naruto?” asked Applejack while they were running.

“That’s flash crystal that I made, it releases a flash of blinding light which makes it perfect for distractions, it’s also good for pranking too,” said Naruto.

“We almost made it!” said Twilight.

“But Pinkie’s still shuddering,” said Spike, and like he said Pinkie was still shaking all over before it stopped only to start up again. They reached a cliff with only thin stone pillars to serve as stepping stones to the other side. They felt the ground shake and turned around to see the Hydra climbing the hill as it had recovered from the flash.

“He’ll be up here in no time! We have to cross quickly, one at a time!” said Twilight.

“I distract it in order to buy you some time!” said Naruto as he prepared to meet it.

“No Naruto, it’s too dangerous! Why do you always keep doing this?!”

“Because I don’t want my precious ponies to get hurt, now go!” Naruto ran down the hill and stopped before the hydra who was glaring at him “Hey Hydra, I have a question. Which of the heads does all the thinking while the others just stand there looking dumb?” the four heads looked thoughtful before they roared angrily at him “Since it took you so long to figure it out, then all of the heads are dumb,”

One of the heads attacked him with jaws wide open, but Naruto jumped back and let the head hit the ground before slamming the top of it with a chakra arm, burying it further into the ground. He dashed forward and ran up the neck of another head before jumping it and at another head “Chakurateruhoippu!” Naruto spun around slammed it with a glowing tail, but then two of the heads came in from different directions with the intent to crush as he was in midair with no way to dodge.

“Shadow Clone jutsu!” a clone appeared next to Naruto and wrapped his tail around him and threw into high into the air before disappearing with the two hydra heads getting nothing but a headache each. Naruto reached the height of his throw before he started descending towards the ground, the hydra opened their mouths wide thinking that he would fall into them, but Naruto simply smirked as he used Pegasus dash to change direction and stretched out a chakra tendril to wrap around one of their necks and swung around in an arc, then he formed a long chakra arm and performed a clothesline on three of the heads which knocked them out.

“I’m sorry about this, but I didn’t want you to eat me or my friends. So I’ll take my leave and bid you adieu,” said Naruto before he ran off and heard the remaining head roar at him angrily. He crossed over the stone pillars and met Twilight and the others with Pinkie hugging him happily.
“Naru, I’m sooo glad that you’re okay!” said Pinkie.

“Sorry for worrying you girls,” said Naruto looking apologetic.

“That was pretty darn dangerous Naruto, you shouldn’t be making us worry like that,” said Applejack, making Naruto bow his head.

“All that matters is that we all okay, and I’d say we just had ourselves one heck of a doozy,” said Twilight, but then Pinkie started shuddering again.
“That wasn’t it,” said Pinkie.

“What wasn’t what?” asked Spike.

“The hydra wasn’t the doozy,”

“What?! How can it not be the doozy?! What on earth could be doozier than the hydra?!” asked Twilight who looked like she was about to lose her temper.

“Dunno, but that just wasn’t it,” it was the final straw as it mad Twilight so mad that she practically lit up in flames much to the surprise of the others

“Ooh…I give up,”

“Give up what?” Spike asked curiously.

“The fight. I can fight it anymore. I don’t understand how, why, or what, but Pinkie Sense somehow…makes sense. I don’t see how it does, but it just does. Just because I don’t understand it doesn’t mean it’s not true,”

“You mean you believe?” asked Pinkie while shuddering.

“Yes, I guess I do,”

Then Pinkie stopped shuddering just like that and it didn’t even start up again “Oooh that was it. That’s the doozy,”

“What was the doozy?” asked Applejack.

“Twilight believing in the Pinkie Sense. I never expected that to happen. That was a doozy of a doozy it was!” then Pinkie walked off while singing to herself as if what happened the past ten minutes didn’t happen at all.

Fluttershy noticed that Naruto was thinking rather deeply “Um Naruto, what are you thinking about?”

“If I don’t know any better, it seems like the Pinkie Sense was upset at Twilight for not acknowledging it and did all this to change her mind,” said Naruto.

“When you say it like that, it makes sense,” said Spike which had the others to start laughing.

“Alright let’s go home since we’ve enough for one day,” Naruto walked towards Ponyville with the others following close behind.

The next day Naruto was heading to his shop and saw Twilight walking with Pinkie Pie, both are wearing umbrella hats. Chuckling softly, he walked over to say hello.

“Hey girls, what does the Pinkie sense say today?” asked Naruto with a foxy grin, at that moment Pinkie’s tail started twitching.

“I wonder what’s gonna drop out of the sky this time?” said Twilight as they all looked up.

“You’ll never know,” said Pinkie.

“Just be sure to keep the barrier crystal this time,” said Naruto with a wink, making Twilight blush at what happened back then.

What they didn’t know was that Spike opened a window to the library was about to send the letter to Canterlot, something fell out of the sky and landed before him who was none other than Princess Celestia herself. “Twitchy tail?” Celestia simply took the letter and flew off “Holy guacamole!”

A Guide For Bird Care

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA

Chapter 20: A Guide for Bird Care

Scootaloo was currently sitting on a couch in the Uzumaki mansion waiting for Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom to show to that they can plan their activities for the day on how they can get their cutie marks. She was trying to think of one, but something else happened to get her attention which was a unicorn with orange fur and a spiky blond mane. It was none other than her big brother Naruto Uzumaki who was currently walking up and down the sitting room, looking impatient.

"What's the matter big bro? You look like you're in a hurry," asked Scootaloo curiously, after being adopted and living with him for several months, she learnt that her brother is not exactly the most patient pony and doesn't like to stay in one place while not doing anything.

"Well you see Scoots, I'm waiting for Trixie to come down from her room so that we can head on over to the Sugarcube corner and I don't want us to be late," said Naruto sitting alongside Scootaloo on the couch.

"What's going to happen at the Sugarcube corner?"

"Celestia is coming over to Ponyville and we were invited to have a brunch with her,"

*Ding, Dong, Ding, Dong* Naruto and Scootaloo turned to the sound and looked out the window to see that the clock tower had struck four o'clock.

"Oh no, we're late!" Naruto galloped to the bottom of the stairs "Trixie hurry up, we're already late!"

"I'm coming Naruto!" Trixie came walking down the stairs in her cape and conical hat, the same ones that she wore when she first came to Ponyville "Sorry to have kept you waiting, but Trixie is ready to have an audience with her majesty,"

"That's great Trix, but we gotta hurry!" Naruto turned to Scootaloo "See ya later Scoots, have fun with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, and try not to make a mess,"

"Okay big bro, see you later," Scootaloo saw them out of the door before closing it as they headed towards the Sugarcube corner. After walking for a while, Naruto and Trixie finally made it to the sweet shop only to see Fluttershy walking away from it.

"Hey Shy, what's the matter and why are you leaving Sugarcube corner?" asked Naruto, looking confused.

"Trixie is wondering the same as she recalls that Princess Celestia had invited you to the brunch as well," said Trixie.

"Oh hello Naruto, Trixie, well you see the guards wouldn't let me pass and I didn't want to be a bother," said Fluttershy.

Naruto shook his head, knowing how timid Fluttershy could be "Then it's a good thing that we're here, come on," he beckoned her to follow him to where the guards stood at the entrance "Hey guys, my friends and I were invited by Princess Celestia, and she too has been invited,"

"Very well then, you may pass," said the guards as they stood aside for them to pass through, which they did.

"Thank you very much Naruto, Trixie," said Fluttershy happily.

"Anytime Shy, I'm always happy to help out a good friend of mine," said Naruto with a foxy grin.

"Indeed, Trixie will never hesitate to assist her friends," said Trixie with a smile.

"Naruto, Fluttershy, Trixie!" they turned to see Twilight walking towards them "I'm so glad that you all made it, the party wouldn't have been the same without you,"

Naruto looked around to see a lot of ponies with some having conversations while others are snacking on some pastries. Spike was using his fiery breath to bake some pies before Mr. Cakes carries them off to serve the guest. Mrs. Cakes was currently speaking with Princess Celestia and making me sure that she was served.

"Sorry I'm late, I had to finish taking care of a patient first," said Fluttershy.

"And I had to make myself look presentable, unlike a certain pony," said Trixie before glancing at Naruto with a knowing look.

"Hey, you girls know that I'm not one for formalities all the time, and besides I like the way I look," said Naruto.

"There's no arguing with that," the three mares thought simultaneously.

"It's all right since you're all here, I'm sure that Princess Celestia would love to get to know you. I hope she will…I mean, of course she will!" said Twilight, although they saw her right eye twitching and was looking very nervous.

"Wow Twilight, I thought I was the only one who got nervous at social gatherings," said Fluttershy.

"It's not that, I just want the princess to approve of my friends,"

"But she's met us all before,"

"And read about you in my letters, but this the first time that she spent any real time with you. I want everypony to make a good impression,"

"So I guess that's why she wanted to have this get together with us, so as to know us better," said Naruto, unaware that Princess Celestia had been sneaking a few looks at him.

"Well, I'm sure that you have nothing to worry about,"

"Don't touch me! Watch the dress!" they turned to the voice and saw Rarity in a fancy dress, trying to prevent anypony from doing that might end up staining the dress "Careful you're going to spill that on me!" Then Mrs. Cakes came by carrying a tray of cupcakes "Oh that looks delicious. What is it? Oh, does it stain?! Keep it away from me!"

"Or…perhaps not that casual," said Fluttershy.

"Rarity can be quite vigilant when it comes to her clothes," said Naruto with a sweatdrop.

"Well Trixie would do the same thing if she wants to make an impression in gathering such as this," said Trixie nodding agreement at Twilight's actions.

Naruto looked around and saw that Applejack currently has a dilemma, she just can't seem to decide what to eat first

"Which is the salad and which is the appetizer again? And which am I supposed to first?" Every time Applejack wanted to start on a snack, she would hesitate. This happened a couple times before she finally got fed up "Oh never mind, I'm not hungry,"

Fluttershy could see that Twilight was becoming more and more nervous and tried to calm her down "It's okay Twilight, so our friends' manners aren't perfect. I doubt the princess would notice,"

"Uh have you girls forgotten about a certain pony whom manners don't apply to and knows how to grab one's attention in a matter of seconds?" said Naruto.

"Really who?" asked Twilight thoughtfully before her eyes widened in realization "Wait you mean?"

"Eeyup, Pinkie Pie," no sooner Naruto mentioned the name then they heard a loud whoop and turned to see the said pony jumping excitedly all over the place and eating anything she could get her hooves on.

"Whoo-hoo! Cupcakes, candies and pies oh my! Oooh! Chocolate fountainy goodness!" Pinkie Pie dipped her head in a chocolate fountain before licking it off her face.

"Oh no!" said Twilight worriedly.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure Mr. and Mrs. Cakes got it all under control," said Naruto, sure enough Mr. Cakes grabbed Pinkie Pie just before she got in over her head and pulled her away.

"We're heading to greet Princess Celestia, are you coming Naruto?" asked Twilight.

"I'll come by later, I want to take a look around a bit," Twilight nodded before she and Fluttershy went to sit next to Princess Celestia while Trixie went to talk with Rarity.

Naruto began to walk around and greet everypony as he passed by, he came upon two familiar ponies to who he happily walked over and called out to them "Hey Vinyl, Octavia, long time no see!" the said ponies turned around and smiled upon seeing him.

"Hello Naruto, it's good to see you again," said Octavia.

"Hey Naruto, we haven't seem you for a long time, where've you been?" said Vinyl.

"Sorry about that, I've been busy with the shop, what's been going since we last met?" said Naruto, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Well I've been standing as a DJ for several house parties and Octy came back from a concert that was held at Canterlot. You gotta join me one of these days, I'm sure that we'll rock the place the next time I'm called play to music at a party,"

"I'll be looking forward to it,"

Octavia cleared her throat to gain his attention "I also wish to invite you to one of my concerts when you aren't too busy,"

"Okay, anyway I'm going to meet up with Twilight so I'll see you later," Naruto waved at them before walking towards the table where they sat with Princess Celestia ""Hello Princess Celestia, it's nice to see you again, although I'm wondering why Luna didn't come with you?"

"Hello Naruto, it's good to see you as well. Luna has been rather busy dealing with paperwork which is why she couldn't make it," said Princess Celestia with a smile.

"I understand, paperwork is the bane of all leaders no matter which world one ends up in," said Naruto, but inwardly Celestia was smiling mischievously.

Meanwhile in Canterlot, Luna is in her room with stacks of paperwork surrounding her as she was signing them as fast as she can "Why did big sis have to leave me with all this paperwork to sign? She said that she had some business at Ponyville, and I wanted to come along to see Naruto too," she continued to sign and then paused in the middle of it, she began to get suspicious "Big sis looked like she was in a hurry to leave, could it be that she dumped all this on me so that I would stay behind while she went alone to see Naruto?! That's not fair!" Luna started to whine.

"She must have noticed the little trick that I played on her by now," Celestia giggled to herself as she sipped on her tea before placing it on the table.

"Empty teacup at four o'clock!" Mrs. Cakes called out in alert.

"I got it honey bun!" said Mr. Cakes as he quickly moved in to refill the cup with tea.

Naruto was stunned at what he just saw "Whoa, that's some teamwork that Kakashi-sensei would have been proud of,"

"Oooh um, thank you," said princess Celestia.

"No problem at all your majesty," said Mr. Cakes, Celestia took another sip only for Mrs. Cakes to show up and fill it up again.

"Thank you again,"

"Oh but of course your majesty," said Mrs. Cakes, this kept on going for a while until Celestia pretended to sip which produced quite a comical result.

"Gotcha," Celestia giggled while Naruto was laughing.

"That was a good one, I approve of it," said Naruto after reining in his laughter.

"Naruto!" said Twilight.

"Sorry about that, the prankster side of me couldn't help but compliment the trick," Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly while Celestia giggled softly.

"Thank you for the compliment Naruto," Celestia then turned to Fluttershy "And what about you dear? Fluttershy was it?"

"Me? Oh yes, Your Highness," said Fluttershy.

"I understand from Twilight Sparkles letters that you enjoy tending to the needs of woodland creatures,"

"Yes, I love to take care of them,"

"As do I. As Princess, I care deeply about all creatures, great and small. Nothing means more to me than the wellbeing of my subjects,"

Naruto smiled warmly as he remembered the Third Hokage when he was alive "That sounds just like the Hokage of my village,"

Suddenly they heard someone coughing and turned to see a birdcage and inside it was the mostly sickly looking bird they've ever seen with its feathers falling off every once in a while.

"Ah Philomena, my pet. You're awake. Do say hello to our esteemed guests," said Celestia, Philomena started to cough and sputter in response to them.

"Oh….my," said Fluttershy.

"That has to be the most sickly looking bird I've ever seen," thought Naruto as he didn't want to appear rude.

"She is quite a sight isn't she?" said Celestia.

"I…I…I've never seen anything like it," said Fluttershy, Naruto's sensing abilities kicked in and he could feel the worry emanating from her. Then one of the royal guardsmen came over and whispered into Celestia's ear.

"Really? Well if I must," said Celestia, then she turned to the crowd "I'm sorry everypony, I'm afraid I have to cut the party short," Twilight almost spat out her tea when she heard it "The mayor has requested an audience with me. Royal duty calls. Thank you for a wonderful time and it's been a joy getting to know all of you better," With that said, the princess left with the guards following her.

"Phew, now I can eat something! I'm starved!" Applejack was about to eat if only Mr. Cakes hadn't cleaned out the table much to her disappointed, Naruto thought to make it up her by treating her to some of his cooking later. Pinkie Pie was performing cartwheels on her way out through the door and ended up crashing into somepony.

Rarity was being ever vigilant as she slowly backed towards the door and keeping an eye out for anything that might stain her dress "Stay right where you are. All I want is a clear path to the exit, nobody move and my dress won't get hurt! Stay back! Back, I say!"

"Was she like this whole time before Princess Celestia left?" Naruto asked Trixie when she walked up to him.

"Yes she was, but Trixie was impressed that she could keep her dress clean without getting a stain," said Trixie, with Naruto shaking his head in amusement. Then they left as well with Twilight sighing in relief.

"Well Spike, I don't know for sure how things went with the princess, but at least no big disasters happened," said Twilight, but it seems she has forgotten that Murphy's Law is always present to mess with anything and everything.

Later in the day, Naruto had escorted Trixie back to the mansion and was heading towards Fluttershy's house to talk to her "Shy did seemed worried about Celestia's pet bird with the way she looked, maybe I should check on her and sees if she's okay," When he finally reached her home, he knocked the door a few times before letting himself in "Hey Shy, I wanted to talk to you about…." Naruto trailed off when he saw Fluttershy with Princess Celestia's pet on the couch "Shy what's going on, and why is the princess's pet here?"

"Oh Naruto, um well you see. I wanted to nurse Philomena back to health since the princess must have been busy with her royal duties to care for her properly. Um I'm sure that the princess would appreciate the help," said Fluttershy.

Naruto simply shook his head, knowing that Fluttershy can be a bit of a mother hen when it comes to animals and other creatures "She could be right though, since I've seen how busy Celestia and Luna are whenever I visit during my deliveries,"

"Okay then Shy, I'll help you," said Naruto with a smile.

"A-are you sure Naruto, I don't want to bother you," said Fluttershy.

"It's no problem at all, I'm sure with the two of us working together we'll be able patch Philomena up,"

"Thank you," Fluttershy smiled happily, then Philomena started to cough loudly again "Oh my, we need to get you to bed right away!"

Naruto carried Philomena with his tail and placed her on a small bed before covering her up with a blanket, Fluttershy came with a thermometer and placed it her beak. Suddenly Philomena started to burn up with thermometer displaying a high temperature. Naruto quickly took off the blanket and Fluttershy placed a water bag on her head to cool her down, which it did as the temperature went down.

But the bird started shiver with the cold, Fluttershy took off the water bag and Naruto put the blanket back on her only for Philomena to start burning up again, this cycle kept on going until the thermometer couldn't take anymore and shattered.

"Whoa this bird must be sensitive to both temperatures," said Naruto.

"You're right, what she needs is some medicine," said Fluttershy and received a cough in reply. Naruto carried her to the table while Fluttershy came in with a plate that had a medicine tablet on it "Here you go Philomena, this will fix you right up," Philomena sniffed the tablet and gave a look of disgust.

"Well I understand that you don't want to take the medicine since it will obviously taste bitter,"

"Don't worry Naruto, I planned for this," Fluttershy brought in a bag of bird seed and poured it over the tablet, Philomena gave it a lick before it started pecking at the food rapidly "See, it works every time," Fluttershy looked at Naruto with a smile, then they turned only to see that all of the bird seed had been eaten but the medicine tablet was left untouched "I guess not this time,"

"Well, we haven't met an animal or bird that could eat so accurately, it even makes me wonder what kind of bird she is," said Naruto.

Later Fluttershy cooked a bowl of tomato soup and carried it over to where Naruto and Philomena are "Here you go, there's nothing like a bowl of soup to cure what ails you," the bird simply took one look at the soup and refused to eat it,"

"Come on Philomena, I'm sure you'll like it. All the other animals enjoy Fluttershy's cooking, and I'm sure you'll like it too," said Naruto, making Fluttershy blush.

"Please give it a try, it's good for you," Fluttershy held the bowl forward, but Philomena turned away. She kept trying and the bird kept turning until she got dizzy and fell into the bowl "Oh dear, don't worry, I know what will make you feel better. Wait right here," Fluttershy walked off.

"This is getting harder than I thought," said Naruto, and got a cough in reply.

Fluttershy came with a hummingbird whom Naruto recognized to be Hummingway, as he met him during his visits.

"Look, I brought a followed feathered friend by to cheer you. Hummingway was once sick too, but he let me help him and got better in no time. Didn't you boy?" said Fluttershy, the hummingbird nodded before flying over and settling on top of Naruto's spiky mane "They really like sitting on your mane Naruto,"

"I know, but it doesn't bother me much," said Naruto, Hummingway started to hum a tune which Fluttershy was quick to join in "That sounded very nice Shy,"

"Thank you Naruto," Fluttershy turned to Philomena "Give it a try Philomena, you can do it," but Philomena ended up coughing a ball of mouse food in her face, Naruto used his tail to wipe it off.

Later Fluttershy took Philomena to the bathroom wrapped up in a towel, "I know what will clear up the tickle in your throat, a humidifier," said Fluttershy as she went over to the device and turned it on, releasing water vapor into the air "How's it feeling for you now?" Philomena took a long deep breath, Fluttershy thought it was working but it ended with a cough again.

"I'm beginning to think that there's something rather solid in that throat of hers," said Naruto from the door.

"It's okay Naruto, there are still other remedies like-," said Fluttershy as she carried the bird to another room with Naruto close behind.

"Aromatherapy?" Philomena sneezed at the scent.

"Warm bath?" the bird absorbed all the water and swelled up like a sponge.

"Ointment?" Pimples rather started appearing all Philomena's body.

Fluttershy and Naruto tried everything to the point of even using surgical tape to put the feathers back on Philomena who even looked more sick than before.

"What haven't we tried that would work on Philomena?" said Naruto.

"I know, I thought that it would be easy to nurse her back to health and we tried everything. But now she even looks much worse than before," said Fluttershy.

"Well we can't give up now, we'll definitely find a way to make her feel better," said Naruto "It's times like this that I wish Grandma Tsunade was here, she would have figured out the problem and solved it in a matter of minutes,"

Suddenly they heard knocking on the door, then it opened to reveal Twilight coming inside "Uh oh," was what they both thought.

"Hi Fluttershy, Naruto, I just wanted to drop by and say thank you very much for making a good impression on the princess today…" she trailed off when she saw Philomena sitting on the stool "What is Celestia's pet doing here?!"

"Well I couldn't leave her just like that, she needed my help and Naruto wanted to help too," said Fluttershy.

"Oh no, nonononononono! This is very bad!"

"But Twilight, Shy just wanted to help her," said Naruto.

"But without telling anypony?! Without permission?!"

"You've got a point there,"

"I know that Fluttershy had good intentions, but you've got to return the princess's pet!"

"She's right Naruto, let's just return her before anything bad happens," said Fluttershy, they quickly strapped on a basket on Naruto and then placed Philomena inside it and closing the lid.

"Great, now all we have to do is put her back inside her cage before anyone realizes she's missing," Twilight ran to the door and opened it only to stop in fear when she saw the royal guards before.

"They must have noticed that Philomena was missing," thought Naruto panicky.

"We were told that we could find Twilight Sparkle here," said the guard.

"We regret to inform you miss, that the royal pet has gone missing," said the other.

"Really? You don't say," Twilight was trying to act surprised, without warning, Philomena started cough from the basket much to their fear of being found out.

"Uh oh, think fast Naruto!" he started to cough so as to draw the guards attention "Sorry about that, I got something in my throat, so don't mind me," the guards simply gave him a curt nod and then turned to Twilight.

"Thanks for informing me, I'll be sure to help in the search of the princess's pet," said Twilight, the guards nodded again before leaving.

After they were gone, Fluttershy spoke up "So should we return Philomena now?"

"We can't do that just yet! Do you have any idea what she would do to you if she finds out that you're the one who took her pet?!"

"Do you?"

"Well not really, but it can't be good,"

"Like what?" asked Naruto.

"She might banish her from Equestria or throw in the dungeon. Or she could banish her and then throw her in a dungeon in the place that she banishes her to!"

"Twilight calm down, you're exaggerating. Besides, there's no way that Celestia would do that,"

"You may be right, but do you want to take that chance?"

"Well, all that matters to me is that Philomena gets well," said Fluttershy.

"That's very noble of you, I'll write to you when you're banished. Unless I'm banished too somewhere there's no post office. Then you'll have to write to me, deal?" said Twilight.

"Please Twilight, just help us get Philomena better and then we can return her to the princess. Then everything will be fine,"

"Didn't you give her any medicine?"

"We did, but she wouldn't take it,"

"Then you have to make her take it, sometimes you're too nice for your own good. You need to show the patient who's boss. Make her straighten up and fly right!"

"Looking at her, I doubt she can fly," said Naruto.

"No excuses!" Twilight picked up the medicine tablet and had Philomena swallow it "Good, what's next?"

"Well she keeps pulling her feathers off, aside from the ones that haven't fallen off from all that coughing," said Fluttershy, then Twilight fitted a funnel over Philomena's head much to her dislike as she tried to get it off "I don't think she likes it,"

"Well you wanted her to get well right? Even if she doesn't like it, she needs it,"

"O-okay, she desperately needs some bed rest but I can't get her to stay put,"

"Don't worry Fluttershy, I'm all over it,"

A few minutes later, Philomena was exactly happy as she was put in a cage just so she can sleep.

"I'm sorry Philomena, but it's for your own good," said Fluttershy.

"I have to admit that even I won't be able sleep if I'm put in a cage like that," said Naruto.

"What's this soup over here, it smells delicious," said Twilight as she stood next to the table which the soup was on.

"Shy made the soup for Philomena, but she refused to eat it,"

Twilight raised the bowl into the air with her magic and smirked "Oh she'll eat it alright,"

"I don't like the look on your face Twilight," said Naruto worriedly, Twilight went over to the cage and opened it, but no sooner she did than Philomena jumped out of the cage and through the door "Runaway bird!"

"Wait Philomena, come back!" said Fluttershy as they all ran out of the house in pursuit of the bird.

"We have to catch her before the guards see her!" said Naruto, they chased after the bird throughout town and lost sight of her when they followed her several times around a tree, they saw someone sitting on a bench while reading a newspaper and went over.

"Excuse me, but have you seen a bird that's losing its feathers running around here?" asked Twilight, the reader then pointed to the left "Thanks for the directions!" they ran off, but Naruto stopped for a moment to think.

"Hey wait a minute," he turned around only to see a discarded newspaper on the bench and Philomena running away "That was Philomena all along!" the mares heard him and rejoined the chase, Philomena ran around a corner of a house with Naruto, but he quickly came back and stopped Fluttershy and Twilight with his tail.

"Why did you stop us Naruto?" asked Twilight, Naruto raised a hoof to his lips as if saying to be quiet and pointed where he came from. Twilight peeked round the corner and pulled back when she saw the guards looking around. "Let's sneak around them so they won't notice us,"

They crossed the street with Twilight on the tips of her hooves, Fluttershy flapping her wings silently and Naruto using his stealth training to get by.

"Now where did she go?" said Twilight as they looked around.

"She's over there!" they looked at where Fluttershy was pointing and saw Philomena poking her head out the door of a house, she saw them and went back in as they quickly followed. She came out through another and entered next, soon it resulted in them running through doors randomly until Naruto, Fluttershy and Twilight crashed into each other.

"Ouch, that bird is really hard to catch. It's almost like I'm chasing myself," said Naruto.

"Let's just keep looking she couldn't have gone far," said Twilight.

They were running along the street when Rainbow Dash flew over them "What are you guys doing? Are you having a race? Oh can I play? One, two, three, go!" then she sped off before they could explain to her. Soon they reached a fountain where Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were standing nearby.

"Excuse me," Fluttershy lifted Pinkie and looked underneath her.

"Hi!" said Pinkie Pie.

"Beg your pardon," Twilight also lifted Rarity to look underneath her as well.

"Put me down!" said Rarity to which Twilight complied. Naruto went and dipped his head into the fountain before pulling out much to their confusion.

"What in tarnation is going with you three?" asked Applejack.

"Oh nothing too serious, we're just looking for-" started Naruto but he was interrupted by a voice from behind.

"The Princess's pet bird!" they turned to see that it was the guards who were looking upwards, they followed their sight to see Philomena standing on top of the fountain statue having lost all of her feathers.

"Philomena, come down here! You'll hurt yourself!" said Fluttershy. Then Philomena started exaggerate its death and collapsed on the statue for a few moments only to get up and resume before finally falling off "I'll catch you!" Fluttershy ran forward and tried to her only for Philomena to burst into flames and land on her hooves as a pile of ash much to everyone's shock.

Fluttershy started to cry while Naruto just stood there stunned "No way,"

"What's going on there? Twilight?" they both flinched when they heard Celestia's voice from behind them.

"Yes, your majesty, there has been a terrible accident," said Twilight.

"It's all my fault," Fluttershy spoke up.

"No it wasn't, you didn't know any better and you were just trying to help,"

"Some help I was,"

"I also played a part in this, so I'm just as responsible for this like you Shy," said Naruto, walking up to them.

"But Naruto," Fluttershy started to speak.

"But nothing, I'm not going to let you take all the blame while I go scot free. That will be going against what my sensei taught me,"

"Why don't you two let me do this? She'll go easier on me," said Twilight.

"Thanks for trying to protect us Twilight, but we have to do this," Fluttershy and Naruto stepped forward to speak with Celestia "Princess Celestia, I'm the one who took your pet bird. I wanted to help her feel better,"

"And I came and saw her taking care of Philomena and wanted to help her. We intended to return her back to you, for this we're willing to take any punishment without hesitation," said Naruto, the others were watching nervously at what the princess will do next.

Celestia walked over to the pile of ash that was Philomena….and spoke to it?!

"Oh stop fooling around Philomena. You're scaring everypony,"

Suddenly the ashes rose to the air and started swirling around. Then in a burst of light, a majestic bird with red and orange feathers flew in the air much to everyone's amazement.

"I don't understand! What is that thing? What happened to Philomena?" asked Fluttershy.

"I'm just as confused as you are Shy," said Naruto as they approached the princess and the bird flew down and perched on Celestia's fore hoof.

"This is Philomena, she's quite a sight as I said. But nothing unusual for a phoenix. Isn't that right Philomena?" said Celestia, Philomena let out a squawk in reply.

"A phoenix? That sounds familiar," said Naruto, then he remembered Sasuke using a fire jutsu called the Phoenix Flower jutsu during their fight at the Valley of the End and shook his head to clear his mind before turning to the others.

"A phoenix is a majestic and magical bird. While it appears healthy and happy most of the time, every so often it must renew itself by shedding all of its feathers and bursting into flame," she leaned over and whispered into their ears "Rather melodramatic if you ask me," then she spoke out loud again "It then rises from the ashes, fresh as a daisy. All just a normal part of a life cycle of a phoenix. I'm afraid little Philomena here took the occasion to have a little fun with the both of you. Tell them you're sorry young lady,"

Philomena squawked quietly to them as if saying 'I'm sorry,' But Naruto just gave a foxy grin "It's alright, and I have to admit that chase we had was lot of fun, And your feathers is of my favorite color orange!" Philomena squawked happily and then flew towards Naruto who brought his tail forward to serve as a perch, she landed on it and rubbed her head against his.

"So you aren't going to banish us? Or throw us into a dungeon? Or banish us and then throw us in a dungeon in the place that you banished us to?" asked Fluttershy.

"Of course not, my little pony. Where on earth would you get such an idea?" asked Celestia.

Naruto quickly spoke up "When one has a lot of free time in their hooves, we tend to have wild imaginations to pass the time,"

Twilight smiled gratefully at Naruto before speaking up as well "Fluttershy and Naruto really did everything they could to help Philomena for you,"

"And I truly appreciate the help from you two. But all you had to do was ask and I could have told you that Philomena was a phoenix and saved you the trouble,"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly "Yeah but then we wouldn't have had this much fun either, right Philomena?" the reborn phoenix squawked in agreement with Celestia giggling.

"Next time I shouldn't jump into conclusions and take matters into my own hooves," said Fluttershy.

"Should I write a letter about that lesson, Princess?" asked Twilight.

"No, that's quite all right. I think I can remember," said Celestia, then Philomena flapped her wings and two feathers came off and stuck themselves in between Naruto and Fluttershy's ears with one being orange and the other red respectively.

"Thank you Philomena, it's beautiful and no hard feelings," said Fluttershy, Philomena squawked happily and Naruto was smiling. Then he noticed that Rainbow Dash was staring at the guards who were bringing the cage walked over to her with Philomena still perched on his tail.

"Hey Dash, what's up?"

"I've been trying to get the guards to react to something but everything I do doesn't seem to work," said Rainbow Dash.

"Really?" Naruto thought deeply for a while, then he had an idea which he whispered to Dash who smirked and nodded giddily. Then he moved his tail forward and whispered a few words to Philomena who also nodded and she flew over to the cage. She used her wings to tickle their noses which made the guards laugh out loud "Alright, once again the pranksters plus one have struck again!"

Naruto, Rainbow Dash and Philomena did a group high five and started to laugh as well with everypony joining in.

In an Unknown Dimension

In a valley where an ancient shrine is built, several guards lay on the floor dead with four strangers in white attire standing at the entrance as they wait for the return of their leader. Inside the shrine, down a flight of stairs, a man in a grey attire and black trench coat stood before a large stone door.

"You have been waiting here all this time Lord Moryo, but now you shall wait no longer!" he raise his hand towards the door and shot a purple beam to it which shattered it into pieces, inside is a dark void and an evil voice echoed from it.

"Who are you and why are you here?" said the dark voice.

"Lord Moryo it is I Yomi, a descendant of the man that once used your dark powers to create the ghost army. The time has come to join forces once again and finally create the thousand year kingdom,"

"But where is my physical body? Without it my soul will scatter into the winds," said Moryo.

"I offer my body to serve as your vessel, I should be able to take hold of your soul and transfer it into my body," Yomi then opened his coat to reveal his bare chest then he used surgical tools to open it "Now come, enter my body!" a dark aura shot out and went inside, then Yomi quickly stitched it back up.

He started to laugh evilly and shouted out "Arise my army!" the ground started to quake as many mounds of earth shot from the ground before taking forms of armored soldiers "Now we shall embark for where our master's body lay sealed away,"

"Not yet, there is an enemy whom you must destroy first. Seek out the priestess only she has the power to undo me," said Moryo. "And once she's dead, I shall align all the great nations and establish a single kingdom to rule over all the world," then he started to laugh evilly into the night as the ghost army began to march.

Dimensional Tales: A Nostalgic Return and Fighting the Prophecy Pt 1

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA

Chapter 21: Dimensional Tales: A Nostalgic Return and Fighting the Prophecy Pt. 1

*Thump, thump, thump,* that is a sound which one would hear whenever they pass by Sweet Apple Acres which means that a member of the Apple family is hard at work bucking apples from the trees in order to sell or use them to make cider.

Inside the orchard, Applejack was standing with her brother Big Mac with a look of concern on her face as they listening to the thumping of the trees as they were bucked for the apples to drop in the buckets laid near them.

"He's been like this for a while now, hasn't he?" asked Applejack.

"Eeeyup," Big Mac responded, they were watching their good friend Naruto buck the apple trees with no problem, but the issue is how he was doing it. Despite bucking the trees for the apples to drop, Naruto had an absentminded look on his face which is quite unusual for someone like him.

Then Applejack decided to call out to him "Okay Naruto, that's enough for today!"

Naruto stopped and gave a nod affirmation "Gotcha AJ!" he walked over to them, Applejack was silent for a moment before finally speaking up.

"Naruto, Is there something bothering you?"

Naruto looked surprised for a moment before replying "No, nothing that I know of. Why do you ask?"

"Well you've been looking kind of lost in your thoughts, and you've been like that for the past three days. I and the others are a little bit worried about you,"

"Sorry if I worried you, if there's anything I need your help with, I'll let you guys know," Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

"Sure thing Naruto, I'll see ya later,"

Naruto waved goodbye to the two ponies and made his way back home. Trixie had gone to Canterlot to get a new spell book while Scootaloo was hanging out with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, which made him the only one in the house. He walked to his bedroom, taking off his headband, goggles and medallion and putting them on the cabinet before laying on the bed and staring at the ceiling.

"I know I told AJ that there's nothing bothering me, but I keep getting this feeling of foreboding that something is bad is about to happen and I should be there. I had this feeling when Nightmare Moon made her return and now I'm feeling it again," Naruto mused to himself, suddenly the medallion started to glow and an orb floated out of it much to his surprise "I didn't command the medallion to release anything….unless it's," the orb floated over to him and turned into a white scroll.

"I think Kami-sama has a mission for me in another world, I'd better get ready and head over to Dr. Whooves to transport me," Naruto resealed the scroll and quickly geared up, then he wrote a note to Trixie and Scootaloo and pasted it on the front door . He galloped over to Dr. Whooves house and knocked on the door.

Dr. Whooves opened and smiled upon seeing who it was "Ah Naruto, it's good to see you again. I guess you're being here must mean that Kami has given you a mission right?"

"That's right Doc, and I need your help to get to the next world. Is the TARDIS ready to go?" asked Naruto.

"Of course, just let me input the coordinates from the scroll into the TARDIS and we'll be on our way," Naruto unsealed the scroll and handed it over to the doctor. Then they entered the machine and were soon travelling through the void to their next location.

"So what information do we have for this world that we're going and what is the threat?" asked Naruto as he was looking over his current gear and crystals in the pouch.

Dr. Whooves reopened the scroll and started to read through it and then had a quirked eyebrow "Strange, it doesn't say anything about this world,"

"Really, that's weird,"

"What it does say is that many years ago, a man used the power of a demon called Moryo to try and conquer an entire continent by raising an invulnerable army. This army went from one country to another, devastating everything in its path and putting the whole world on the brink of destruction. Then a priestess appeared and used a powerful ritual to separate Moryo's soul from his body and sealed them far away from each other,"

"And now someone has gone and set a part of Moryo free right?" asked Naruto.

"That's right, somepony has gone and freed Moryo's soul and raised the ghost army again, and plans to reunite it with his physical body. And if that comes to past, then nothing will be able to stop him," said Dr. Whooves.

"So what is my mission?"

"Your mission is to escort the descendant of the priest to the shrine where the body is sealed, and seal Moryo's soul away again. But you must be vigilant as Moryo will be sure to send his forces to kill the priestess in order to prevent being sealed away,"

Naruto gave a nod of affirmation "Alright, so who's the hero that I'll be helping out?"

"It doesn't say in the scroll either, but it says that sometimes a world would change your body into a form suitable to move around in it," Dr. Whooves turned to look at the controls "Looks like we're almost there, so be ready,"

In a deep forest where a stream flows nearby, the TARDIS appears in bright flash of light before settling on the ground with a slight bump. The doors opens and Naruto steps out to look around, he suddenly feels his magic power being cut off but feels his connection with Kosei no Ha and his chakra. He began to glow brightly and felt different, Naruto looked at himself and was surprised to see that he actually stood on two feet and had fingers again.

He ran over to the stream to look at himself, he was wearing his hoodie jacket which was black and orange with a red spiral on the back with orange pants and black ninja sandals. He also wore his medallion and goggles around his neck and his headband around his forehead, the Kosei no Ha materialized and stuck to his back while glowing a bit.

"Why am I a human again and why does this place feel so familiar like I've been here before?" Naruto thought deeply before coming upon a conclusion that shocked even himself "Could it be that I'm back in the elemental nations?!"

Then Dr. Whooves stepped out and called out to him "You'd better get going Naruto, the scroll says that you should head east which is where the priest could be located,"

"Got it!" Naruto then took to the trees and headed in that direction as fast as he could in hopes that he makes it soon before anything bad happens.

A group of four in white attires stood on the edge of a cliff overlooking a castle with evil smiles on their faces.

"Come on brother, let's get this show on the road!" said the one white hair and a cloth covering his mouth.

"All in good time," said the one with violet hair, then three black snakes came out of his body and inserted themselves into the others, then purple chakra burst out of them as their eyes changed to pitch black, hair became wilder and markings appeared on their faces "We now have the chakra strings as promised,"

"Now let's get down there and get busy!" said the white haired man, hey all leapt into the air towards the castle.

"Alert! Alert! Four intruders have invaded the castle, protect Lady Shion at all costs!" shouted one of the guards. A squad readied their bows and let loose a hail of arrows at the intruders. One of them moved forward and started spinning like a propeller, breaking the arrows while the other took out shurikens, kunais and other tools to return fire before smashing through the roof as they proceeded to make their way to where the priestess slept all the while taking down any guards that tried to stand in their path.

Another squad were making their way the priestess's sleeping chambers as fast as they could until they finally made it to the entrance of their destination, they opened the door and ran inside "Lady Shion we have intruders! We have to flee!" but then the roof came down and crushed the guards with only two to get out of the way.

Then from the cloud of dust, the white haired burst out and punched one of the towards the priestess's bed, knocking off the screen and started toying with the other guard who tried to fight back before knocking him to the ground while laughing maniacally all the way "Hahahahaha, so there you are!" the rest of the group appeared and immediately threw shuriken at the priestess, but the first guard moved in to intercept and took the hit.

"Taruho…take care of…Lady…Shion," the guard fell to the floor and laid there unmoving and the priestess sat there with a blank look on her face. The newly named Taruho grabbed his sword and stood in their way to protect her.

"Pretty little priestess, your life is ours now," said the purple haired man as they slowly approached.

"I don't think so!" a figure flew through the entrance and jumped over their heads and landed before them. It was a male ninja dressed in orange and black with a sea blue broadsword with an outward motif for the guard and in the center is a white swirling energy attached to his back but without a sheath or harness, they couldn't see his face since his hood was put up "None of you guys are going anywhere near her!"

"Who is this guy and why did he just charge in like that? Could he be as strong as we are?" asked the orange haired girl.

"Could be, or maybe he's just an idiot," said the blue haired man.

The unknown ninja turned his head towards and spoke "You get her out of here while I deal with these guys," Taruho nodded in affirmation, he ran over to the priestess and carried her away before passing through a secret passing which Naruto quickly moved in to block "None of you are getting past here,"

"Are you kidding me, how are you supposed to stop us by yourself huh?" laughed the white hair man with the rest of the group joining in.

"You guys will soon learn that it's never a good idea to underestimate Naruto Uzumaki! Let's take this fight outside!" four chakra arms shot from his back and each raced towards a selected target, and punched them in the face with enough force to send them smashing through the ceiling and out into the courtyard.

"That guy certainly knows how to prove a point, he's better than we thought," said the violet haired man, they got up and looked to Naruto jump out from the castle towards them, then he crossed the index and middle finger of each together and called out.

"Multi-Shadow Clone jutsu!" In a large puff of smoke, many copies of Naruto appeared and surrounded the group in a fighting stance.

"Gitai, Setsuna, Shizuku! Bust out an earth, fire and wind combo!" said the violet haired man as he jumped back for the whited hair man known to be Gitai step forward

"With pleasure! Earth style: Earthen Corridor!" Gitai slammed his large fists on the ground which began to shake as it started to rise over Naruto and his clones, creating a cavern.

"Darn, we gotta get out of here!" they spotted an opening and made a dash for it.

The orange haired girl known as Shizuku made her move "Fire style: Fire Run!" she spun around a few times to form a circle of flame before kicking towards the opening. Naruto saw the incoming attacking and jumped through the circle to avoid the flames.

"What was that supposed to do?" said Naruto as he and the clones kept on running for the exit.

Then the blue haired man known as Setsuna followed up with his next move "Wind style: Divine Down Current!" he blasted a vortex of wind into the makeshift cavern.

Naruto's eyes widened upon seeing the incoming wind and turned around to see the flames still present if those two elements mix together!" Naruto raised his left hand which had a bracelet with a bracelet with a white crystal that has a symbol drawn on it attached "Protect!" a transparent dome appeared around him and shielded against the blazing inferno although the clones were forced to disappear due to the flames "I gotta get out of this makeshift oven!" then he heard a girl shout above him with a voice that was all too familiar to him.

"Chaaaaaaa!" he felt the top of the cavern break open and quickly jumped out to see someone whom he had thought he would never meet again. She wore a sleeveless red top with a zipper in the middle, accompanying it are black gloves, low-heel, knee high boots, black shorts underneath a short grey apron skirt, and pink elbow protectors. He also noticed that she changed the cloth of her headband pink and is carrying a pouch different from the normal one.

"Sakura," Naruto whispered softly so that she wouldn't hear him, she turned around and spoke to him.

"I don't know who you are but you look like you could the help, Lee and I will help you fight these guys," said Sakura.

"Bushy Brows?!" thought Naruto, he turned to see someone engaging the group. He has his black hair in a bowl-cut style with very thick eyebrows and wears a green jumpsuit, orange leg warmers and a flak jacket of the Hidden Leaf village "Dude hasn't changed since then huh," Naruto gave a silent nod before jumping in to assist his old friends.

"Chakra Bullet: Rapid Fire!" Naruto aimed his palm forward and a rune appeared before releasing a barrage of small white orbs at the group, forcing them to jump back in order to avoid the attack, He moved in to engage Setsuna in an exchange of kicks and punches

Lee dashed forward and launched himself at Shizuku "Leaf Hurricane!" he aimed a high kick which was evade and quickly switched to a low kick that connected successfully, knocking her back.

Gitai charged at Naruto with a fist raised to strike "Take this you twerp!" Naruto kicked Setsuna away and turned around to charge at him with a fist covered in chakra. They both clashed with either trying to overpower the other for dominance "Looks like that's all you got?!"

Naruto smirked underneath the hood "On the contrary," he pulled his fist back with the chakra arm holding back Gitai's fist in place and punched again, driving his fist into Gitai's gut and sent him skidding backwards "There's more where that came from," he was about to attack again when they got up and took off.

"Hold it!" shouted Sakura as they pursued them.

"Hey bros, I'm gonna need some more chakra to deal with that twerp!" said Gitai.

"He's right, we wasted too much on that combo," said Shizuku.

"Alright, let's find Kusuna," said Setsuna, they leapt to the rooftops of the castle and saw the violet haired man known as Kusuna "Brother, we need more chakra!" but they immediately jumped off the roof just as white orbs impacted with the roof before Naruto and the others landed on it.

We have to retreat, there's no way they'll give us the chance to replenish," said Kusuna, then they leapt over the waterfall and ran away.

Naruto, Sakura and Lee jumped to the bottom of the waterfall where he saw the priestess, Taruho and another familiar face "Neji," he now wears a white kimono-shirt with long, loose sleeves, matching pants, a navy-grey apron tied to his waist, and black Shinobi sandals.

"I'd like to thank you all for protecting lady Shion," said Taruho, then he turned to Naruto "Especially you," Naruto simply gave a silent nod as he was feeling nervous around the others "I'll take lady Shion back to her sleeping quarters and we shall meet in the throne room," then Taruho carried the priestess away, leaving the rest behind.

Neji stared at the stranger "I'm grateful that you helped to protect the priestess, but we'd like to know who you are,"

Naruto was silent for a moment before finally speaking "It has been a long time since we last saw each other," he took off his hood to reveal his face, much to the shock of the others before they started glaring at him angrily.

"I don't know who you are, but you better drop the disguise before I break your face in," Sakura cracked her knuckles as Neji and Lee took fighting stance.

"Guys wait, it's really me Naruto!"

"The Naruto we know is dead, and we buried his body back in the Hidden Leaf village," said Neji coldly.

"We won't let you desecrate the death of our friend!" said Lee.

"Then how can I prove that it's really me?" asked Naruto.

Sakura was silent before finally speaking "What was the last thing Naruto told me before he died?"

"I promised that I would bring Sasuke back no matter what," their eyes widened as no one aside her and the assigned team heard those words.

"N-Naruto? Is that r-really you?" Naruto nodded in affirmation "But how?"

"When I was stabbed by Sasuke's chidori and died, I met Kami who gave me a chance to be reborn in another world so that I can live a new life,"

"If so then why are you here instead of being in the new world?" asked Neji.

"Since it's you guys I can tell you. Kami-sama requested my help to travel to different worlds and stop evil forces alongside the people of those worlds,"

"Then that means you're here to help the priestess seal Moryo away," said Neji with Naruto nodding in affirmation.

Let's head to the throne room since we're supposed to meet the priestess," Naruto walked into the castle with the others close although Sakura looked deep in thought.

Later, the group sat down with the priestess who was now wearing a lavender kimono with her hair kept tied back with a golden crown.

"Behold Shion, the priestess of the land of Ogres," said Taruho.

"I am Neji Hyuuga my lady, captain of the Leaf's team seven," said Neji.

"I am Rock Lee," said Lee with a salute.

"Hi Sakura Haruno," said Sakura with a smile.

"The name's Naruto Uzumaki, nice to meet you," said Naruto with a grin.

"We've come to escort lady Shion to the sealing shrine," said Neji.

"A lot of lives were lost in the assault last night. And just as lady Shion foretold, Suski was among that number," said Taruho.

Shion simply looked like she didn't care "Humph naturally, but as you can see that I still breathe. I'm sure they shoulder no regret,"

Naruto gritted his teeth in anger as he remembered the bodies that laid dead when he arrived to help, and that she simply shrugged off their deaths like it was nothing "How could you say something like that?! You should show respect to the people who died for you!"

When Shion looked at Naruto, her glazed over for a moment before coming back into focus. Then she stood up and walked over to him "You're going to die…very soon,"

"Could you repeat that? I don't think I heard it clearly the first time,"

"You're going to be pierced through the chest and die soon,"

Upon hearing her words Naruto looked surprised while Sakura and the rest were horrified, someone whom they had just reunited with has just been told that he was going to die again.

"So that's what I heard and all I can say is…NO WAY! I already died before and I have no intentions of dying again!" said Naruto before walking away in a huff, this brought confusion to Shion and Taruho with what he had just said.

"Wait, you mean he died some time ago?" asked Shion, Sakura and the others simply gave a silent nod.

"Yes, a few years ago, he and I were assigned to a team to retrieve a member of the Hidden Leaf village. We encountered enemy ninjas and split up to face each with Naruto being the last to continue the pursuit. But by the time we found him, he laid on the ground with hole in his chest and Sasuke was unconscious nearby," said Neji.

"Then how did he come back?"

"From what he said, he was reborn in another world and was given a mission to help you seal Moryo away. This was the first time that we met again," they were all silent Neji and the others excused themselves and Taruho escorted them to one of the rooms where they found Naruto leaning back against the wall.

"How did I get stuck protecting someone like her?" Naruto grumbled.

"Please forgive her, lady Shion often sees visions of people's deaths. But please, you shouldn't let it worry you," said Taruho.

Hearing this, Naruto relaxed a bit "Oh so that means she doesn't get it right all the time right?"

"Actually no, she's always right a hundred percent most of the time,"

"Then why did you just tell me not to worry about it?!" said Naruto with a tick mark on his forehead.

"Because worrying wouldn't change anything,"

"Well then let me tell you something, there's no way I'm gonna let any prophecy decide whether I live or not!" the others simply smiled as this is Naruto they're talking about, he's too stubborn to accept things as they are.

"Very well then, I'll go and gather the guards so that we can escort lady Shion to the sealing shrine," Taruho got up and left the room and Neji went after to try and change his mind.

Naruto turned to the others and asked "So what has happened since I was gone from the Hidden Leaf village?"

"When everyone heard of your death, we were all sad about it. Lady Tsunade kept crying about how the Hokage necklace claimed another loved one, master Jiraiya fell into a depression and Kakashi-sensei visited your grave and Hokage monument more often now," said Sakura sadly, Naruto felt guilty since he promised her that he wouldn't die until he became Hokage.

"What about Sasuke?"

"Ever since then, Sasuke had changed. He became more withdrawn and won't let anyone get close to him, ANBU keeps watch over him to make sure that he doesn't leave the village again and Tsunade decreed that he would never be promoted to Chuunin or Jounin,"

"What about Gaara?" asked Naruto, he wanted to know how his friend has been doing since then.

"Gaara became the Kazekage of the village, but then he got captured by two members of the Akatsuki. We immediately went to his aid with one of the elders of the Hidden Sand village by the name lady Chiyo. But by the time we got there, Gaara was dead. Sakura and lady Chiyo defeated one of the members while the other performed a kamikaze attack when we were about to defeat him. Lady Chiyo then used a jutsu which brought Gaara back to life, but she ended up offering hers in exchange," said Lee.

Naruto clenched his fist in anger "Damn that Akatsuki, at least Gaara came back and Kurama is in the Makai world, so I doubt they'll succeed in whatever plans that they have for the bijuu," thought Naruto, then the door opened to reveal Neji with a look of annoyance.

"This is ridiculous, Taruho insists on taking more of their forces with us. We're to wait until preparations are complete," said Neji.

"We don't have that kind of time, we have to get Shion to the shrine before Moryo does," said Naruto.

"Then let us be off," they turned to the voice and saw Shion but she was wearing a different clothing. She wore a bra-like white top, with a mustard yellow jacket which looks a little big for her and red pants.

"Are you sure that you wish to leave without Taruho?" asked Neji.

"I am the priestess of this land, if I want to leave my attendants behind I will," said Shion, she led them back to the waterfall which she says is where she purifies herself and it also has an escape route.

They passed through the waterfall and began their journey to the shrine to seal the spirit of Moryo away.

Dimensional Tales: A Nostalgic Return and Fighting the Prophecy Pt 2

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 22: Dimensional Tales: A Nostalgic Return and Fighting the Prophecy Pt. 2

Upon leaving the castle in the land of Ogres, Naruto and the others were leaping through the trees making their way to the sealing shrine with Sakura carrying Shion by piggyback.

"Your back is uncomfortable, you should try to keep your body more feminine," said Shion, her comment pretty much irritated Sakura as a tick mark could be seen on her forehead and her fists clenched in anger.

Naruto sweatdropped at what he was seeing "She's lucky that she a girl, if it was a guy. She would have punched him to the next nation," suddenly, an arrow shot out from the trees and struck where he had landed, then the group landed on the ground and heard someone land near them. They immediately recognized who it was.

"Oh, it's you Taruho," said Naruto, they saw that he came equipped with a sword, a bow and a quiver of arrows.

"What are you doing here?!" said Shion angrily.

"No matter where you go, it is always my duty to watch over you lady Shion," Taruho responded blankly.

"You're nothing but a burden to me! Now go back to the village!"

"I will not,"

"Go back home!"

"I will not,"

"Go! I mean it!"

"I will not,"

Naruto leaned over and whispered to Neji "This is going to eat up more of our time, isn't it?" he got a silent nod from the stoic Hyuuga.

Eventually, Shion gave in as the group were seen running through the mountains as quickly as they could. They stopped for a moment and turned to look behind them, and they could Taruho running a bit far behind which was impressive for someone who hasn't been trained to become a Shinobi. They looked at each other and nodded before continuing through the mountains. Soon the sun had set and night had fallen as they were now situated on the edge of a cliff in a forest.

Neji was currently standing near the edge, using his Byakugan to scope the landscape for any signs of the enemy which they encountered before "No sign of the enemy," his eyes returned to normal as he turned to speak to the others "We'll make camp here,"

"But I thought we're pressed for time here?" asked Naruto.

"Normally if it were us, we would be able to go for several more days," said Sakura, they turned to see Taruho massaging Shion's feet in a nearby stream "But they have reached their physical limit,"

"I told you I'm fine!" said Shion indignantly.

"Lady Shion, the sealing jutsu is very taxing. Please, you need to make sure that you get enough rest tonight," said Taruho.

Shion simply turned away with a huff "Humph, I'm hungry! Make me some food!"

"How picky can this girl be?" Naruto grumbled, he would soon find out when they served for her to eat, he took one look at them and threw them away much to their dismay.

"The soup is too cold and I can't eat these or that!" said Shion haughtily.

Lee was crying anime tears at the sight of the wasted food "I would have eaten those anyway,"

"Me too," said Sakura.

"I'm sorry my lady," Taruho bowed in apology.

"Lighting a bonfire would alert the enemy to our location," said Neji.

"Don't you have anything else to eat aside from those things?!" asked Shion, Neji was about to answer when Naruto spoke up.

"I can provide some food, that is if you still want to eat,"

Shion looked at him with a quirked eyebrow "And how are you going to do that? Last I checked you don't even have a backpack. All that you carry is that weird sword," On Naruto's back, Kosei no Ha pulsed a bit to show that it was annoyed at being called weird.

Naruto reached for a medallion with a smile "I have a way of carrying my stuff, release food pack!" everyone was surprised to see the medallion glow brightly and a white orb floated out of it and towards the ground before transforming into a medium sized container.

Sakura was the first to snap out of her surprise "H-how did you do that?"

"During the time Pervy Sage and I were looking for Grandma Tsunade to become Hokage, he taught me a little about Fuinjutsu," said Naruto as he walked over to the container and was about to open it.

"But I read that fuinjutsu is one of the most complex arts which only a few people can properly understand," said Neji, he would know a bit about it since he was branded with the caged bird seal which he hides behind his headband.

"I discovered that I had a real knack for it, so I can create seals for storage, barriers, illumination and other stuff, but I still have a lot to learn," said Naruto, "It's a good thing that I packed some food before I came," he opened the box and reached inside to pull out a couple of containers and a flask with a few cups inside.

"I don't recognize any of these food, are they from the other world?" asked Taruho curiously.

"Yeah, sometimes I work part time in a sweet shop with my friend Pinkie Pie, and we bake pastries like pies, croissants, quiche, macaroons and muffins which are my second favorite. I even have some right here so you're welcome to try it,"

"Humph, I can only hope that they're better than the last ones," said Shion, Naruto opened the containers for Shion to try out. She picked a muffin and took a bite out of it, only for her eyes to widen in surprise before she quickly finished eating it and went for another.

Naruto was smiling inwardly "Looks like we got another muffin lover," soon the others joined and Naruto opened the flask to pour iced tea into the cups for them.

"I have to admit that they taste good, but that's all you'll get from me," said Shion, drinking from a cup of iced tea.

"I'll be sure to tell Pinkie what you said," said Naruto with a smirk.

"You know, Choji would give anything to eat these kind of food," said Sakura.

"You're right about that," Naruto laughed at the thought of Choji going on an eating frenzy if he were to go to Equestria, except that he would be dismayed if he hears that they don't eat meat which means no barbeque.

After the meal, Shion went to sleep with Neji, Sakura and Lee stationing themselves around her. Taruho sat on a rock near the near the cliff and watched the landscape, he heard someone approaching from behind and turned to see that it was Naruto walking up to him with a cup of iced tea and muffin in hand.

"I noticed that you didn't back at the camp, so I saved these for you. You'll need the strength to keep up with us since we're going to be running all day," said Naruto with a smile.

Taruho accepted them with a smile "That is very kind of you," they sat in silence as he ate until Naruto broke it.

"Hey Taruho, about these predictions…how do they work?" asked Naruto.

"She can only see someone's death if they are an attendant or someone close to her," said Taruho.

"But if you know what's going to happen, then can't you find a way to avoid it?"

"No matter you try, death cannot be cheated in the end. Except in your case, you were given a second chance to live," Naruto just sat there silently "Although every vision she's ever had had centered on people who were honored to die for her, and did so without question. If they had to fight fate and then tried to live, I'm fairly positive that lady Shion would have died herself," Naruto turned to look at him in surprise. "But lately the people of our land have begun to fear her foresight, going out of the way just avoid her,"

"So you mean that they got scared thinking that if they stayed near her, she would predict their death?" asked Naruto, Taruho nodded in affirmation.

"Yes, I can't say that all her visions will all come true. Maybe it depends on the people revealed in them,"

"I see, this whole time she was so lonely. So she hides her sadness by acting spoiled," Naruto thought back to when he was younger in the village, people would look at him with hatred in their eyes and keep their children away from him. To fight the loneliness, he plays pranks just so that people would just look at him "She and I aren't so different, "

"It is indeed a sad story for her,"

"Then what if she said you were gonna die?"

"My clan is deeply indebted to lady Shion's mother. I can repay that kindness by safeguarding her life, then I would gladly give up my own," Taruho smiled warmly "Nothing can change one's destiny, as long as the heart remains true.

By the time that they finished talking, the sun had risen and its rays of light shone upon the land. Naruto got up and patted his clothes to remove the dust and made sure that Kosei no Ha was still on his back.

"Alright Taruho, are you ready to get back on the road?" Naruto turned and was about to meet up with Neji and the others when he saw Shion standing behind them "She had it rough just like me, maybe I can get her to open up to us," so he smiled and waved at her "Good morning Shion, enjoyed your sleep?" Shion simply looked away from him with a huff to which he almost face faulted at "It's gonna be a long process,"

Shion walked towards Taruho with a sullen look on her face "Taruho, I don't need you. Go back home,"

Taruho was surprised, but he remained steadfast "You'll have to forgive me milady, but I can't leave your side,"

"You'll be nothing but a burden Taruho!"

Naruto was really getting annoyed by this "Will you stop being such a spoiled brat?! Can't you see that Taruho has been working really hard and doing everything he can just to protect you from the bottom of his heart?!"

Taruho was silent until he finally spoke "You had a vision, didn't you lady Shion?" they noticed that she winced when he said that "It's alright, you can be honest with me milady,"

"When my pulse races and I hear the tone of the bell, visions of the future are revealed to me. I heard the chime again last night and your future became clear. If you don't turn back now Taruho, you're going to die," Everyone was silent after she spoke, no one expressed any emotions and Naruto's senses did not even kick in to help him.

The scene then changes to a valley with two large mountains with a river flowing in between them, there are rocks sticking out of the water. Naruto and the other Shinobi could be seen leaping on top of them and Taruho was nowhere to be seen, although someone doesn't seem to be enjoying the ride and was very vocal about it.

"Look out! Will you stop?! I'm going to fall! Put me down! Put me down now!" shouted Shion, eventually they had to stop on top of a large rock with a flat surface which was when Shion frantically got of Sakura's back "Are you crazy?! This path is too dangerous! Are you trying to protect me or kill me?! There has to be another way we can go!"

"Neji, should we take another route?" asked Lee.

"No we can't, these springs here are the only source of fresh water in this region. Our enemies' group attacks are fire style," said Neji.

"In other words, the water around can be used to hinder their attacks," said Sakura.

"Correct, lady Shion. Once we make it through here, the sealing shrine is only a short ways away. Please endure a little longer,"

"Fine then," said Shion.

"Unfortunately, our enemies get to strike first so stay alert. And no individual initiatives, you got it Naruto?"

"Well that will depend on what happens," said Naruto with a smirk. Suddenly they heard a loud rush water of water "Did you guys hear that?"

"Yeah, and it seems to be coming from behind us," said Lee, they turned around to see something heading towards them, a large amount of water in the shape of a giant dragon was flying towards them.

"A water dragon?!" said Neji with a look of surprise.

"They're coming after us with water, not fire. You were dead wrong!" said Shion.

"Never mind that now, come on!" Sakura carried Shion on her back again and started to jump on the rocks with Neji in the lead on the rest close behind.

"We've got to get to higher ground!" said Neji as they ran. they ascended up the mountain through the use of ledges until they finally reached the top, they placed Shion down and immediately surrounded her from four sides "We don't know which way they'll be coming from, protect lady Shion!"

"Perfect, good thing we got all this water huh? I thought you were the smart one in the bunch Neji. You might as well give up!" said Shion.

"Someone must be controlling that water dragon," said Sakura.

"then we just have to find the user," Naruto closed his eyes "Aura Sight!" then he opened them to reveal his eyes covered in white chakra, he looked around for a moment before he located two auras situated on top of a ridge not too far from here "I found them, they're on that ridge!"

Neji then used his Byakugan to take a look as well "Hold on a minute, that Kunoichi was using fire style chakra before. Although it is not unusual for a Jounin to wield different elements, I didn't sense any water based chakra from her chakra points at all,"

"I'm going after them!" said Naruto.

"No Naruto, we must stay right where we are,"

"We're sitting ducks if we stay here, but if I move in on them then I can cancel that water jutsu!" Naruto ran off as fast as he could.

"I can't let Naruto face them alone, I'm going to back him up!" Lee took off after Naruto as well.

"Naruto has a point, I just hope that he would make it in time," said Sakura worriedly.

"You mean that bushy brow guy and the blond haired annoyance?" said Shion.

On another side of the ridge, two people watching the group, "Two of them are headed this way," said Setsuna.

"Well that makes it a lot easier for us," said Kusuna.

At the other part of the ridge, the other two saw Naruto and Lee getting close to their location.

"Here they come," said Gitai giddily.

"Yup, looks like it. You take care of the taijutsu user while the blonde haired kid is mine," said Shizuku.

"Are you kidding? I wanted a rematch with that twerp. Oh well, he's all yours then," Gitai leapt forward while laughing maniacally.

Naruto was running towards the ridge when he caught sight of them "There they are!" he reached behind his back and took out Kosei no Ha before leaping high into the air "Stellar Gear Change: Chakram!" the glaive transformed into a large three pointed cyclone blade, he flipped in midair and then threw at them. They jumped away just in time as the chakram sliced through the rock they were standing on before it flew back to Naruto who caught it before it reverted back to the glaive.

At that moment, the water dragon had risen from the valley and was about to attack Neji and the others when it suddenly dispersed itself without warning.

"The jutsu is broken, Naruto must have done it!" said Sakura. Neji nodded in affirmation before he walked over to Shion.

"Lady Shion,"

She looked at him confusedly "What is it?"

He reached out and poked her forehead which made her slump over as she lost consciousness before he caught her in his arms "I hate to do this, but I need you to take a short nap, " then he turned to Sakura "While Naruto and Lee keep them busy, we'll continue moving on. So I'll be counting on you,"

"Understood," said Sakura before she carried Shion and they took off into the forest with two of the enemy ninjas in pursuit.

Lee saw Naruto about to engage an opponent and was about to move in to assist when the earth started shaking which made him jump back and saw it rise from the ground and the white haired ninja stood on top of it.

"Hey twerp, I'll be your opponent today. This will be interesting, let's how much you fist can take," said Gitai with an insane look in his eyes as Lee took his strong fist stance.

Back with Naruto, he watched as his opponent stood on the tip of his toe and the raised the other one high into the air which confused him a bit but he didn't let his guard down.

Music Start: Naruto Shippuden The Moive OST; Water Above Cut

Shizuku smirked at him "Water Style: Surface Slicer!" she brought her foot down on the ground which created a fast jet of water to run through the ground towards Naruto. He quickly jumped into the air over her head and aimed a palm at her.

"Chakra Bullet: Rapid Fire!" a rune appeared and a volley of white orbs shot out towards her. Shizuku quickly moved out of range by gliding on a stream of water, almost if she was ice skating. Upon landing, Naruto quickly thought of a plan before turning around and running into the forest with the Kunoichi in pursuit. Naruto was moving around and vaulting over the rocks to stay ahead of while shooting a chakra bullet at any given moment.

"Do you really think these rocks and trees will shield you from me? I think you're taking this lightly!" Shizuku launched two jets of water at the blond ninja. Naruto landed on a rock with his hands and pushed off it to launched himself into the air just as the two jets sliced through the rock

"Shielding is not the only thing these rocks and trees can do, let me show you!" Naruto was about to land on a slanted rock when he channeled chakra to his feet to perform a Terra Drift as he slid down the slope, then he spun around and aimed his hand at her "Chakra Bullet: Rapid Fire!" another volley of white orbs raced towards her, which she glided out of the way and responded with two more jets of water. Naruto slid out of the way and shot back "Chakra Cannon!" he fired a much larger ball of chakra which destroyed on if the jets but the other one was still coming.

Naruto took out Kosei no Ha and held it in front of him "Stellar Gear Change: Shield!" then it transformed into the defensive armament, he successfully blocked the attack and used the impact to slid backwards to a slanted rock which served as a ramp for him to jump into the air towards the treetops.

"Nice try kid, but don't think you're safe up there!" shouted Shizuku before firing more of the water jets which launched upwards, Naruto used Pegasus Dash to jump higher before crossing his index and middle fingers of each hand together.

"Multi-Shadow Clone jutsu!" several puffs of smoke appeared around him before they dissipated to reveal copies of him which proceeded to attack but were surprised to see the Kunoichi standing there with a huge orb mad out of water hovering above her.

"Water Style: Dragon Water Whip!" many sharp whips emerged from the orb and raced towards Naruto and his clones, they pierced through many of them and even changed directions to attack many more.

"Guys, defend yourselves!" Naruto shouted out, the clones then used their shields to deflect the water whips while Naruto used a chakra tendril to latch onto a tree branch and pulled himself over to it to get some cover from the water attacks "I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one having a slight problem with my opponent,"

With Rock Lee

Naruto had no idea how right he was as Lee was engaging his foe in close combat, Lee launched a straight kick at Gitai who leapt high into the air, but he was quick to follow and appeared above him in mid-flip.

"Severe Leaf Hurricane!" shouted Lee as he launched his attack.

"Earth Style: Petrifying Jutsu!" shouted Gitai right before he got it in the head by a flip kick, sending crashing onto a boulder.

Lee quickly descended towards him while spinning "And now to end it!" he slammed a heel drop kick on Gitai's forehead with enough power to crack the boulder underneath them, but he was surprise when he heard a chuckle from his opponent as he raised an arm.

"We're not in the school yard, you better step things up a bit," said Gitai, his arm morphed into a rock club which extended to hit him, Lee backflipped several times to dodge but still got hit and was sent tumbling across the field. Gitai jumped up and launched his rock club at Lee again "is this your idea of getting serious?!"

Lee quickly got up and jumped away just in time to avoid being crushed "Such density and power, but I cannot afford to lose!" he bit into his bandages and pulled to loosen them "Primary Lotus!" he charged forward and ducked under the club flung at him, he performed a handstand and proceeded to kick him continuously which launched the both of them high into the air. Then he whipped out his bandages to wrap around, he grabbed Gitai and dived headfirst towards the ground while rotating at a ferocious speed which led to a large crater and a cloud of dust before Lee jumped away while thinking it was over.

"This is boring, so let me get this straight. So you don't know any ninjutsu?" the cloud of dust cleared to reveal Gitai with over half of his body encased in rock like a golem with only his head uncovered "You really think that rinky dink taijutsu of yours can take me down,"

"What are you saying then? Your body is unaffected by taijutsu?" Lee jumped out of the way when a rock fist was swung his way and started dodging the attacks which followed afterwards.

"I don't know who your teacher is, but he's gotta be one big loser!" Gitai was able to connect a punch on Lee, which sent him flying before moving in to finish him off.

Lee got up to his feet and glared angrily at his opponent "Say what you will about me, but I won't let you badmouth my sensei!" He jumped and kicked him in the face before leaping high into the air and then crossed his arms "Forgive me Guy-sensei, but in order to stay true to my ninja way I would have to use that technique!"

His body began to emit large amounts of chakra, his eyes turned completely white and his skin color changed to red "Third Gate of Life, open!" his chakra increased and he dashed forward "Fourth Gate of Pain, open!" his power increased further, he lashed out with a straight punch which broke through the rock armor and was leaving cracks on it.

Gitai was shocked at what was happening "W-what the?"

"I am only getting started!" Lee pulled his fist back and jumped into the air "Fifth gate of Closing, open!" he came down with a chakra infused punch, Gitai crossed his rock arms to try and block it but it was easily broken through and the armor was shattered.

Gitai burst out of the rocks with a hidden smirk behind his mask "Now this is fun! You got stronger all of a sudden huh?!" but I'm not done yet! I still have a few trick up my sleeve!" He tighten the muscles on his left arm, something was moving along it before tearing out of his skin to reveal some sort of purple snake with a single eye. He grabbed its head and tore it off before removing his mask and squeezing hard enough for a droplet of green liquid to fall into his mouth.

He swallowed it and suddenly his skin became a tannish color and green markings appeared on his face as purple chakra exploded from his body, then magma rocks shot out from the ground and covered his whole body before exploding outwards, Lee had to avoid the flying rocks and looked again to see that Gitai had transformed again, he has six-arms, three faces and a tail.

"He transformed again and his chakra has increased as well, could it have something to do with what he drank?" thought Lee.

"Now this is what I'm talking about!" he slammed his hands on the ground and some red projectiles raced along the surface, Lee jumped away just before where he stood exploded. More of the projectiles pursued him, but he was able to evade the explosions with little trouble thanks to his boosted speed "Nice dancing moves there! Let's see you handle this!" Gitai encased his body in armor but the only difference is that the armor is darker in color, had extended arms and had a demonic appearance. He swung a rock arm at him to dodged it only to be surprised where Gitai had struck exploded

"If I hope to prevail, I might have to open the next gate but that will put my life at risk," then Lee reach into the pocket of his flak jacket and pulled out a chocolate ball wrapped in foil "Guy-sensei told me only to eat this in a serious pinch, and this qualifies as one!" he unwrapped the foil and ate the chocolate, but then he started to feel rather woozy and hiccupped a bit "Why does this taste familiar? It almost like that medicine I had to take,"

"Hey twerp, what was it you just ate?" asked Gitai, but the moment he blinked, Lee had disappeared from his sight and suddenly he felt himself being pulled upwards. He looked to see one of his arms wrapped up in bandages and Lee was on the other end spinning rapidly with bandages to pull Gitai towards him, then he flipped over and rapidly punched the armor to expose his back.

"Hidden Lotus: Chocolate Bomb!" he landed on the ground and bounced back with a drilling kick. It seemed to have an effect as cracks appeared on the rock armor with purple light shining through it, Gitai screamed out in pain before he exploded and left no trace and Lee laid on the floor all worn out.

With Naruto

Back with Naruto, Shizuku had cleared out all of the clones and there was no one in sight except for the one she guessed is the original.

"Looks like you've gotten bored of playing hide and seek with your clones eh?" said Shizuku, several more whips shot out of the water orb and raced towards him.

"You're only half right," said Naruto, two chakra tendrils popped out from his back and started attacking the water whips but one of them got through and pierced, Shizuku smirked only for it to drop when she saw Naruto disappear in a puff of smoke like that of a Shadow Clone. Then she noticed a shadow loom over her and looked up to see Naruto descending with spinning ball of chakra in his hand "Rasengan!"

"Water Attack Gorgon!" the water orb changed into that of a serpent charged with its jaws wide open. Naruto went right into the mouth but the rotation of the sphere broke through it and he drew nearer to Shizuku, but when he got close enough, Shizuku noticed that he was smirking before he disappeared in a puff of smoke as well much to her confusion "A clone? But why didn't it attack me?"

"Because it was its job to distract you," she turned around just to see Naruto attacking with a Rasengan while another aimed a Chakra Cannon at her. "Rasengan/Chakra Cannon!" They both attacked which resulted in gaping holes on her body, but the only thing wrong with the scenario was that she wasn't bleeding but rather dissolved into a puddle of water.

Music End

"Ninja Art: Water Substitution, nice try kid but you're going to have to do better than that," said Shizuku tauntingly.

"Man this is taking too long, I've gotta rejoin the others. Hold on, if Bushy Brow and I are each facing an opponent and there are four of these guys, then..." Naruto's eyes widened upon realization.

"Looks like you figured it all out, we were keeping you away from each other," said Shizuku with a smirk.

"Dang it, you're gonna pay for this next time!" Naruto ran off to catch up with the others as fast as he could.

"There's not gonna be a next time, the whole world will soon come to an end!"

Naruto ignored and kept on running "I hope I'm not too late," along the way Lee joined in the run.

"Naruto, what's going on that you're running so fast?" asked Lee.

"Those guys were serving as a distraction to keep us away from the others, we've gotta hurry back!" Together they ran through the forest until they saw Neji and Sakura standing in a clearing "You guys are okay, we found out about their plans and quickly came back, so where is Shion?

They neither answered nor looked into his eyes when he asked them about, fear slowly edged its way into his heart when a certain thought passed through his mind "Where is Shion?" they still didn't answer him and he looked around until he saw someone laying on the ground, his heart turned cold upon recognizing who it was.

It was Shion, and she is dead.

Dimensional Tales: A Nostalgic Return and Fighting the Prophecy Pt 3

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 23: Dimensional Tales: A Nostalgic Return and Fighting the Prophecy Pt. 3

Naruto slowly walked towards the still body of Shion, he was finding it hard to believe that she was dead but it laid out for him to see.

"How could this have happened?" asked Naruto.

Sakura looked down at the ground sadly "I'm sorry Naruto, I tried everything I could but I was too late,"

Naruto angrily walked over to Neji and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt "What happened Neji?! Where were you when Lee and I were fighting those guys?!Why aren't you saying anything?!"

"Stop it,"

Naruto turned to the sound of the voice and was surprised to see something unexpected, Shion was walking towards them, alive and well. Naruto looked away and still saw the Shion who was dead much to his confusion.

"Shion?! B-but h-how? If you're the real one, then who is that lying over there?" asked Naruto confusedly.

"It's Taruho…he's dead," said Shion.

"What happened to him?"

Neji was the one to answer this time "When we parted ways, he said that he would take a different route to the shrine, in case that he could be of help to us when we arrived there,"

"But we never would have thought that he meant it like this," said Sakura sadly.

"What do you mean Sakura?" asked Naruto.

"When you and Lee were fighting, two more of those ninjas came after us, Neji stayed behind to hold them off while I continued onwards. But along the way I met Taruho performing some sort jutsu which he calls the Shadow Mirror Body Transfer, he used it to transform into Shion's doppelganger and told me that it cannot be reversed. No matter what I said to change his mind, Taruho remained adamant to take her place,"

"But why didn't you at least try to force him to go back home Neji?"

"It was for the sake of the mission," said Neji "Naruto think about it, the fate of the world is hanging in the balance and we have to do whatever is necessary. Had Taruho not done this, then Shion would have been killed and your reason for coming here would have been null and void,"

"I…I understand, but it doesn't mean I like it," Naruto walked over to Taruho's body and knelt next to it "Don't worry Taruho, we'll be sure to give a proper burial,"

"Taruho was a fool," said Shion, Naruto turned to glare at her for disrespecting someone who had such strong loyalty that even Rainbow Dash would have acknowledged "Death was his choice, there is no need to mourn the idiot,"

"So you mean to tell me that you have forgotten whom he sacrificed his life for?!"

"Be quiet! Just leave me alone!" yelled Shion before running into the forest.

"Hey wait!" Naruto ran after her with the others staying behind to look after Taruho's body "How could you say those things when you know full well that Taruho was willing to protect you that he would even offer his very soul just to do that! And you wouldn't so much as show a sign of gratefulness or even shed a tear for him or anyone else?! Does your heart not feel anything, not even pain?!"

Shion finally stopped before a large tree and leaned against it, Naruto noticed that her shoulders were shaking "How can I not feel sorrow when somebody close to me dies?!"

Naruto was taken aback at seeing Shion cry "Then if so, why don't you?"

"I can't allow myself to cry as that will desecrate the memory of the many that gave their lives for me,"

"But why?"

"Foresight is the power that ensures the life of the priestess. When she perceives her own death, the soul leaves the body and shows her past self the image of her demise as well as the people who are near in that final moment. She then tells her attendants who believe that they have to die in her place so that she may live. That is the power of our foresight, to sacrifice the life of others so that we may live,"

Naruto thought back to what Taruho said, about the people would give their lives for her and that if they don't then she will die "So you mean that all of these visions that you receive are warnings of your forthcoming death?"

Shion tearfully nodded "There are times when I think to myself that I should just so that no one will have to sacrifice their lives for me. But if I did, then there will be no one to seal away Moryo and the world will be lost. No matter the amount of pain and sorrow I feel, more would have to die so that I may live,"

"But that doesn't make any sense, why does your people have to sacrifice themselves?"

"That's how it has always been, it's our fate which we must endure,"

Naruto was silent for a moment before he spoke "Do you really accept this? Are you really fine with such a fate?" Shion simply turned away from him and cried silently.

Later that night, they all stood in front Taruho's grave, prayed for his eternal peace "Don't worry Taruho, I'll protect Shion in your place and that I can assure you," thought Naruto.

"Naruto, I need you to take lady Shion to the sealing shrine while Sakura, lee and I will wait for the enemy," said Neji.

"But Neji, she saw his death, maybe one of us should go instead," said Sakura.

"No, I'll go," said Naruto.

"But Naruto-," Sakura began but she was interrupted by the blond.

"Sakura, I came here to help Shion seal Moryo away to protect the elemental nations which also includes all of you,"

"B-but I don't want you to die again!" Sakura was close to tears at the thought of him dying again "Ever since that day I heard of your death, I always felt that it was my fault because I made you promise me that you would bring Sasuke back, but I didn't mean for it to cost your life!" Naruto walked over and gave her a warm hug as she cried.

"Sakura it's okay, it wasn't your fault that I died. Sasuke is someone I also care about, so even if I hadn't made that promise, I would have still done everything to bring him back to us,"

"J-just come back to us this time," said Sakura wiping her eyes.

"Of course, this is me we're talking about!" Sakura, Neji and Lee smiled.

"Alright then Naruto, shrine is close by so we're counting you," said Neji.

"Make the most of your springtime of youth!" said Lee.

"You got it!" said Naruto "Kosei no Ha, you'll have to be at my waist now," the glaive glowed a bit before it floated to Naruto's waist and latched on. He carried Shion on his back and quickly made for thee sealing shrine as fast as he could.

Neji turned to Sakura and Lee "With what Lee saw during his battle, I figured out their weakness,"

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura.

"If there was jutsu which can replenish chakra externally, then it is possible to also absorb different types but for only short bursts of time, which is why they often jutsu which consumes large amounts of chakra. However, forcing foreign chakra into one's body comes at a great risk,"

"So how do we take them down?"

"Here's the plan,"

Later on, Lee and Sakura were leaping through the trees as fast as they could to avoid the lightning bolts which were raining down on them from a dark cloud which was floating from above. This kept up for a while until the cloud suddenly turned into water and fell to the ground. Shizuku and Setsuna landed nearby and fell to their knees, panting in exhaustion.

"It's no good, I'm running out of chakra," said Shizuku as the markings on her body faded, and the same could be seen for Setsuna. Kusuna landed on a tree branch near them "Brother we need to replenish on more chakra!"

"Hang on, I'm coming!" Kusuna was about to move in to help them when he heard something and turned to look behind, only to see Neji standing on a branch in a Gentle Fist stance.

"I don't think so, Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" Neji swiftly moved forward and proceeded to deliver quick strikes on Kusuna's body with the pace increasing steadily.

"Two palms!"
"Four palms!"
"Eight palms!"
"Sixteen palms!"
"Thirty-two palms!"
"Sixty-four palms!"

With the final strike, Neji sent Kusuna crashing to the ground below much to the dismay of Shizuku and Setsuna.

"Brother!" shouted Setsuna worriedly.

Kusuna struggled to get up but his body wasn't responding "Why isn't the…chakra prescription working?" he panted out.

"I was able to strike all of your chakra points arresting the flow of your chakra," said Neji before he called out "Sakura, Lee, now's the time!"

"Chaaaaaaa!" Sakura appeared from the trees and dashed towards Shizuku with her fist cocked back, punching her with such strength that the tree which she crashed into was torn off its roots.

Lee also appeared before Setsuna and proceeded to inflict a barrage of kicks, sending the both of them high into the air "Severe Leaf Hurricane!" before finishing up with a heel drop kick to drive him to the ground below. The three enemy ninjas laid there unmoving to signify their defeat and the Leaf ninjas' victory.

"Naruto, it's all up to you now," thought Neji as he looked into the distance.

Naruto leapt through the trees with Shion on his back until they stopped a few distance away from the foot of a mountain where they could see the entrance inside.

"Here we are Shion, the entrance to the sealing shrine," said Naruto.

"Have you been here before?" asked Shion.

"Nah, I had sudden vision which led us all the way here," Naruto replied with a foxy grin, only for Shion to turn away with a huff "Now let's get you in there so that you can seal Moryo away, then you can follow your own path of destiny,"

"You can't change your fate,"

"Someone told me that before, and I proved him wrong. So I guess I have to show you too," Naruto jumped off and was making his way towards the entrance when suddenly the ground started quaking beneath his feet "What the, what's going on?"

The mounds of earth around burst in a cloud of dust only to reveal soldiers entirely made of stone with yellow glowing eyes peering through their helmets, wielding spears and swords.

"Those are the terracotta soldiers! If they're on the march right now, then that means Moryo is somewhere nearby," said Shion.

Naruto grabbed Kosei no Ha and quickly spun around to block an overheard slash from the sword of one of the terracotta soldiers but he was slowly pushed back from its strength, then a chakra arm shot out from his chest and dealt a punch strong enough to send it flying back and knocking into the others. He leapt into the air to avoid a stab from behind.

"What do we do?!" asked Shion.

"We'll blow right through them, so tug your legs and hold on tight!" Naruto, as he descended towards them, he let go of Kosei no Ha which floated by his side and thrust his palm forward "Chakra Bullet!" shot a white orb at one of them and landed a clean hit, but the soldier stood there as if nothing happened "Man, these guys can take a hit. I need to try something else,"

Naruto landed on the shoulders on a soldier and aimed a palm at it "Chakra Cannon!" and fired a point blank shot which blew its head clean off, then he leapt into the air again to launch another attack, but Shion suddenly lost her grip on him and fell off the ledge to the bottom below "Shion!"

"Am I going to die here? But if I die, then Naruto and my people won't have to give their lives for me," thought Shion as she plummeted to the lake below, then she felt two arms wrap around here and turned to see that it was Naruto who had dived in after her. Before they could hit the water, Naruto flipped in midair and used Pegasus Dash to change directions and landed on the shore instead. He carried her over to an oak tree and sat her against it.

"Phew, that was a close one," said Naruto as he walked to the lake and took off his headband, and started to rinse his face with water.

"You shouldn't have saved me, that way you wouldn't have to die. Well, at least until Moryo has found a way to destroy the world," said Shion, looking downcast.

"Maybe so," Naruto shook his head to get the water off his hair "But there's no way I'm dying, you can count on that!"

"Then that means I'll be the one to go,"

"I won't let you die either,"

"One of us will be dead, it's just a question of who!"

"The future isn't set in stone, we can still change it!"

"I keep telling you can't chan-" Shion was suddenly surprised when she raised her head to see Naruto's face close to hers.

"I'll protect you no matter what happens!" said Naruto with a foxy smile, this made Shion turn away from him, which made him quirk an eyebrow at her unusual reaction.

"But how? It's impossible," said Shion without turning to look which she found odd since she had been talking to him however she likes until now.

"If you put a little faith in me, then we'll definitely pull through this. Trust me on this,"

Shion finally turned to face him "Trust you?"

Naruto gave a her a warm smile "Yes, and besides I haven't gone all out on them yet," Naruto turned around and went on one knee "So let's go Shion,"

Shion got up and walked over to him before climbing onto his back "Naruto," he turned his head to show that he's listening "Do you promise?"

"Of course, I promise on my ninja way," said Naruto.

The terracotta soldiers were patrolling the entrance when they heard sounds of footsteps approaching them and turned to see Naruto holding Shion in a bridal carry and several of his clones running towards them.

"Hey rockies! Sorry if I kept ya'll waiting, but now it's Showtime!" shouted Naruto, the stone soldiers stood ready to attack them once they got in close to them "Hey guys, clear a path!"

"Roger boss!" two of the clones got in front and an arm to the side, then chakra arms appeared from their shoulders and started to swirl around the hands before a white spinning sphere appeared on their hands "First strike, Rasengan!" the first clone slammed his sphere into a soldier which grinded into it, sending it flying back into the others and pushed them over the cliff and into the water below. The second clone quickly followed up with his Rasengan and gained the same result, clearing path for Naruto and Shion to pass through, although more came and stood in their path to the entrance of the shrine.

"Why don't you blow them all away?" asked Shion.

"That jutsu takes a lot of chakra, I can't just fling them left and right like I want to!" said Naruto, the one of the clones got in front of them, then he cupped his hands together. Naruto stepped on it and was thrown high into the air "Chakra Wings!" white chakra shot from his back and took on the form of wings, then he glided over the stone soldiers before landing right before the entrance. He placed Shion down and turned to face the terracotta army "Get inside while I hold these guys off!"

"Are you sure?" asked Shion worriedly, Naruto turned and smiled at her.

"I promised didn't I?"

Shion smiled back before she turned and ran inside, Naruto turned to face them again, then he crossed his middle and index fingers, and made several more Shadow Clones "Alright guys, none of these pieces of rock are getting past here!"

"You got it boss!" Naruto led a few of his clones to engage the terracotta soldiers while the rest stayed behind to provide cover fire.

Shion was running as fast she could towards the center of the shrine where Moryo's physical laid sealed away, she was feeling nervous about leaving Naruto behind as she was still feeling fearful about the prophecy coming true.

"No, he promised that he won't die. I have to believe in him," thought Shion, suddenly the vision came back and this time in more details. She saw Naruto being pierced through his heart by a purple tendril, she nearly fell on the ground panting from receiving the vision. She got back up to her feet and continued to run until she arrived at the center of the shrine which there were many rocky pathways leading to the center with lava calmly flowing through the gaps. "This…this is where Naruto dies,"

Ahead of her, before the platform sits a man who raises his head and smiles evilly at her "You look just like Miroku," then the stone soldiers appeared next to him "Go and make her feel welcome," the soldiers marched towards Shion with a few more appearing from behind. Shion ran off to keep away from them, turning left and right to escape them. "My name is Yomi. A long time ago, your mother stood in the way of my ambition, I even wonder if you remember that day? We had resurrected Moryo to aid us with his power and the thousand year kingdom was right within our grasp, if only your mother wasn't there to ruin everything,"

Shion ran as fast as she could from the terracotta soldiers, but then she ended up being cornered to the edge of a cliff with lava at the bottom. She fearfully turned around and saw one of the soldiers raise its blade to strike "No, stay away from me!" suddenly her charm bell flashed brightly and shot several beams of pink light which cleanly sliced the soldiers into pieces.

"Hmmmm, it looks to me that you have learnt nothing this whole time," said Yomi.

"You're wrong, I've been preparing for this very day. I finally mastered the ceiling jutsu!" said Shion with a look of defiance.

Yomi chuckled darkly "If you say so, then by all means come and seal me away….if you can that is,"

Shion clutched her charm bell nervously, but then she remembered Naruto's words before walking forward towards the sealing area "You promised that you would protect me didn't you Naruto?" she was almost close to it when he spoke again.

"There's something you must know, I don't have the power to kill you. But at the same time you don't have the power to kill me either, because originally we were both one of the same entity,"

Shion was shocked for a moment before yelling at him "I don't believe you! You're lying and I won't fall for you tricks!"

"I have no reason to lie, truth is that the sealing jutsu's sole purpose is to join you and I together. Your mother knew of this but still accepted it, that's right….your mother exist within me," Shion let out a gasp at what she just heard "In order to prevent the abuse of such power, we were split into two entities with different beliefs and hearts and we faced each other forever at odds. But along the way, one of us became the evil Moryo and we are not bound by words like good, evil, light and dark,"

Shion pressed on and stepped into the center of the circle, she formed a single handsign and the floor lit up in purple light to reveal a symbol on the floor with a barrier being created and the four purple spheres inside the circle slowly revolved around her as Shion levitated above the ground. She went through several more handsigns, then a gate-like stone door which seems to be lying on its back.

Suddenly Yomi burst through the barrier and laid himself over Shion's shoulder which led her to scream out in fear.

With Naruto

"Take this!" Naruto brought his glaive down and cut a soldier into half before jumping away to engage the next one, he and his clones had been pushing back the terracotta soldiers with their current arsenals of techniques but the soldiers have proven themselves to be quite persistent "Man, these guys keep on keeping on, but there's no way they coming through here!"

Two of his clones landed on both sides, then he stretched a hand to each of them as they started forming the Rasengan. Then he charged forward towards the ghost army "Rasengan Barrage!" then he slammed the attack into them, destroying a majority of the stone army. One of the clones cried out in pain as a soldier was able to strike him down and was about to pass through the entrance "I don't think so!" Naruto threw his arm out and a chakra tendril shot out of it and raced towards its target, wrapping it up. Naruto pulled it back and started to spin around with the soldier serving as a makeshift wrecking ball before letting go to send it flying elsewhere.

Naruto crossed his fingers to create more Shadow clones as they all armed themselves with glaives with a few of them switching to chakrams or shields. Naruto charged in and started to slash at them with his clones close behind "Glaive Joust!" he dashed and thrusted his blade forward which pierced through two of the soldiers before pulling it out and kicking them away. He sidestepped to right just in time to avoid a slash but it left a shallow cut on his side.

"Hey! Rare worked hard on this jacket!" Naruto complained angrily before retaliating with a chakra punch to the head. More soldiers moved in to surround him, Naruto held Kosei no Ha with the swirling energy on the hilt of the blade glowing brightly to the side and got ready to execute his next technique "Glaive Windstorm!" he spun on his axis and was cutting down all of the surrounding enemies with his blade covered with chakra "Now back off!" Naruto stretched his hand and a chakra arm formed out of it, only that it was much bigger than normal. He swung his hand with the chakra arm doing the same which sent a large number of the terracotta army back.

But he fell on one knee and was panting heavily, he may have large reserves of chakra in him but doesn't mean his body can handle the strain when channeling it. He got back up to his feet and was ready to attack again when he heard one of his clones call out to him.

"Hey boss, we need you to get back here and find some cover!" shouted the clone, Naruto nodded in affirmation and quickly retreated back to the shrine entrance before vaulting over the rocks. The remaining clones raised their palms and pointed them at the terracotta army "Let's do this! Army Clone Firing Squad!" then they randomly fired either a Chakra Bullet or Chakra Cannon which resulted in a cloud of dust from the impact. The cloud cleared to reveal most of the soldier turned into rubble while the remainder were still advancing "Dang it! They still keeping coming!"

"Keep it together guys, we can't let them get past us," said Naruto, he was about to charge in again when he heard a familiar voice and saw arcs of lightning tearing through the army from behind them.

"Lightning Blade!" it was a man with spiky silver hair with his headband slanted to cover his left eye, wearing a flak jacket, dark blue pants, a long-sleeve shirt, and a pair of finger-less gloves with metal plates on the backhand

"Hey it's good to see you again Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted happily, Kakashi's eyes widened in shock upon seeing him.

"N-Naruto?! But how?! You were supposed to be dead!"

"Let's save the reunion for later! I've got to go and check up on Shion!" Naruto turned and ran into the shrine with his clones dispelling before Kakashi would call out to him.

"Naruto wait!" shouted Kakashi but Naruto was already gone, then he heard someone land behind him.

"Who was that Kakashi-sensei?" a male voice spoke up.

"Someone we thought that we would never see again," Kakashi replied.

Shion was shivering on the ground, looking at the dead body of Yomi "He killed him to get inside the barrier!"

"You were too hasty young priestess, you should have waited until he was dead before you put up the barrier," Moryo chuckled darkly, then a purple mist burst out of the body and raced towards the stone gate.

"Oh no! He's going after his body!" Shion got up and tried to stop him from getting any closer but Moryo blew her aside, sending crashing into the barrier which in turned shocked her a bit.

"Once the barrier has been put up, neither of us can escape. Until one consumes the other which will be decided by our chakra," said Moryo, then the gate opened "Finally I've reunited my body at last, nothing can stop me now! I have you to thank child, and that wretch is no longer alive to get in my way," Moryo cackled evilly as the barrier faded away.

Shion fell to her knees and began to wallow in despair "What have I been doing all these years, were they all for nothing?"

"Shion!" She turned around to see Naruto running towards her with a smile on his face "How did it go?! You sealed Moryo away right?!"

"Na-Naruto…I didn't deserve to be protected…by you…or anyone else!" said Shion amidst tears.

"Shion what happened?" Naruto was about to approach her, when the ground started to quake and suddenly something shot out from the ground. Naruto looked up to see multiple heads shaped like dragons with red eyes and a lighter purple aura which are all connected to a large purple body. The ground around Shion broke apart as she fell into a dark void below "Shion!" Naruto raced forward in an attempt to rescue her, but one of the dragon heads rushed at him with its jaws wide open only for him to leap high into the air to evade it.

Naruto grabbed Kosei no Ha and descended with a downwards slash "Get out of my way!" he stabbed the blade deeply, causing the dragon head to thrash around wildly in order to shake him until it finally succeeded, sending him flying into the air. Two of the heads came charging straight at him "Stellar Gear change: Chakram!" the glaive transformed and he threw the cyclone blade at one of the heads which cut its head off, then used Pegasus Dash to jump over the second and proceeded to slide down its neck in direction of the pit where Shion fell.

But then, another dragon head appeared before him and attacked, forcing Naruto to jump off and land on the ground "Dammit! Shion, just hold on for a bit. I'll save you soon enough," he stretched a hand out and caught the chakram which reverted back to its glaive form before creating some Shadow clones and charging forward to engage the demon.

Shion was floating in a void surrounded by darkness, then her bell glowed brightly as if shielding her from the darkness.

"As long as you possess that light, I cannot absorb you. But do you truly want this? You might not like what you'll see, like the end of this world perhaps?" Moryo cackled loudly as his voice echoed throughout the void.

"Wait, I'm still alive. But if I'm still alive, then that means Naruto is about to die!" thought Shion worriedly, suddenly a memory of her past flashed through her mind. She remembered back when she was a little that her mother gave her the bell, saying that it will protect her no matter and that she must remain true to herself. But then Moryo appeared with ill intentions to acquire her mother's power, that time Shion didn't have her bell and was attacked, but her mother used her powers to protect even to sacrifice her own life and past through time just for her.

She opened her eyes and found herself sitting near the lake and that she was glowing faintly with Naruto standing in front of her like before "I must have travelled back to the past,"

"Hah!" Naruto swung his blade and sliced off another head with the help of his clones, but then one of the dragon heads transformed into some sort of whip which lashed out and slammed into them, sending them crashing to the ground with the clones dispelling and the original climbing out of the crater "I'm not finished yet!" then all of the dragon heads attacked to finish him off "Chakra Wings!" he quickly took to the air, and performed barrel rolls and flips to evade them.

"You're too slow! Chakram Cyclone!" he transformed the glaive into the cyclone blade again and threw it as flew in an orbit and slashed through all of them. However he failed to notice that one of the heads regenerated itself and transformed into a sharp pointed tendril and shot towards his defenseless back.

"So let's go Shion," said Naruto as he went down on one knee.

Shion smiled softly as she got up, but then she took off the charm bell from her jacket "One's fate cannot be changed,"

"Ya, you keep saying that," She climbed onto his back again, but this time secretly pinned the bell to the collar of his jacket.

"Naruto?"

"You must…live!"

Right as the tendril was about to pierce Naruto from behind, a barrier in the form of a large charm bell appeared and blocked the attack much to his surprise. Several more of dragon heads attacked, but the barrier blocked all of them as Naruto fell to the ground although recovered at the last minute and landed properly.

"Where did that barrier come from? Could it be that Shion…?" Naruto's eyes widened upon what he just realized, he got back up to his feet and crossed his arms "That does it! I'm pulling out my ace! Chakra Burst Mode!" his body seemed to explode with white chakra then his hair changed from blond to white with chakra radiating from both his hair and eyes which strangely enough have his irises taking the shape of vertical fox-slits. His clothes have changed due to the white chakra, making them have six blue magatama markings around his neck, with blue lines along them with a swirling symbol on his stomach (AN: Think of Naruto's first chakra mode but white with blue lines and markings) Again two glaives hovered in midair by his sides.

He grabbed the glaives and connected them but the ends of the handles which melded together to form a double sided nagitana, then he twirled it before taking a stance "Here I come!" he sped forward to fight again.

Shion was still in the void, but this time she was without the charm bell to protect her and Moryo was laughing at her "I've seen that power once before, is that what you wish for though? If so, then I shall absorb you as you watch the people who had tried to protect you perish and the world of man rot away to nothing,"

"I would have been fine with this if I had known that the people who gave their lives for me wouldn't have had to die," Shion sobbed quietly "Isn't that right…mother?" a sparkle of light appeared in the darkness and took on the form of a woman whom she immediately recognized as her beloved mother.

"I'm so sorry Shion, all I wanted was for you to live the rest of your days in peace. Which is why I sealed your power into the charm bell, it has the potential to surpass even that of mine. I thought that it was too great of a burden for you, but it only meant that I didn't have faith in you. Do you hate me?" asked Shion's mother Miroku.

"There's no way I could ever hate you, I love you too much for that!" said Shion she started to glow brightly throughout the void, much to the surprise of Moryo.

"What?! How can this be?!" said Moryo in shock.

"Now I know why I have this power, and it's to destroy you! Release!" then her body changed form as she access the power sealed deep within herself. Her skin gains red markings, her hair turns pink and stands on the end, a blue cloth hovers behind her and covers her arms and her clothes changes to a thin yellow dress that is nearly see-through.

"Now I see, your true power was held in that bell of yours!" shouted Moryo angrily.

"Now I know my true destiny. Naruto, I'm leaving the protection of the world to you and the others now," said Shion, she could hear the words which Naruto said to her before.

"I won't let you die either! The future isn't set in stone, we can still change it! I'll protect you no matter what happens! Of course, I promise on my ninja way,"

"You're a terrible liar," thought Shion as tears flowed from her eyes, the light radiated further with Moryo screaming out in pain "You and I will disappear together!" suddenly she heard the familiar sound of a bell and a voice which she never thought she would never hear again.

Music start: Naruto Shippuden OST; Heaven Shaking Event

"Shion! Wake up!"

She reverted back to her normal self and looked up to see Naruto only to be surprised he looked different from before. He quickly had her in a bridal carry before forming chakra wings on his back and flying out of the void and into the air.

"Open your eyes and breathe!" shouted Naruto "What is that your heart is trying to tell you?! Do you truly wish to disappear from the face of the earth?!"

Shion was too stunned to say anything "I…..I….,"

"Come on Shion, say it! Say what your heart wants you to say! Yell it out for the whole world to hear!"

"I…want….I want…..I WANT TO LIVE!" Shion shouted out so loud that echo carried the sound throughout the cave.

"That's right!" said Naruto with a smile, then he held his hand out with Shion holding hers above his. The charm bell floated in between and a spiraling ball of chakra took form around it, and change color to a lily violet as well as grow in size "If you don't like the hand fate has dealt you, fight for a better one! And if you don't feel that you're strong enough to do so alone, then my friends and I will be there to fight by your side!"

Then the cavern floor broke apart to reveal the giant serpentine body of Moryo as it tried emerge from the lava.

"You're too late!" shouted Naruto as he held the huge spiraling sphere above his and Shion's head "Experience the power of Shion's and my Super Chakra Rasengan!" he folded his wings as they dived down towards Moryo and slammed their attack into it. The demon screeched out in pain as it felt its body being torn apart from the severe power of the jutsu.

The power of the attack was so strong that it awakened the once dormant volcano as the cavern floors broke apart, the ceiling was coming down, and the lava was quickly rising.

Music End

Later on outside the mountain, Sakura, Lee, Neji and the other ninjas were watching the eruption with interest and amusement.

"Looks like they ended up creating new volcano huh?" said Lee.

"We should have expected no less from him," said Neji with a smile.

"Yup, Naruto is still Naruto," said Sakura.

"I still think you guys are hallucinating, there's no way that troublesome blond would still be alive," said a boy with black hair and tied to a pony in shape of a pineapple.

"I know I saw him Shikamaru, we'll just have to wait and see," said Kakashi, looking around carefully.

They all heard the flapping of wings and looked up only to be shocked at what they're seeing. They saw the priestess being carried by someone who had wings made out of chakra coming from his back and descending, but what was most familiar was the spiky blond hair and the whisker like marks on his face.

"Hey, long time no see!" said Naruto with a foxy grin, most of those who hadn't seen the first time were too stunned to say anything, but it was Kakashi who spoke up.

"How is it that you're alive when we all saw your body being buried, and we know that it couldn't be a fake corpse,"

Naruto signed deeply as he put Shion down on the ground "A lot happened since that day I died,"

"Do tell, I would like to know. As much of a drag it would be," said Shikamaru, Naruto proceeded to tell them everything that had happened to him with the exception of Kurama not being sealed in him anymore "As I thought, you're just too much of a drag to figure out all this time since I've known you,"

"So what happens now Naruto? This is a chance for you to come back to the Hidden Leaf village with us, I'm sure everyone will be happy to see you again," said Sakura.

"As much as I want to, I can't," said Naruto with sad smile,

"But why?"

"Because my life here is already over, and I've been given a new life in another world where I have bonded with people I've considered precious to me and I can't just leave them," He could see that they really wanted him to come back with them and smiled warmly at them "But that doesn't mean I won't come visit every once in a while just to say hello. Should the Hidden Leaf ever get into any trouble, I'll come running to help and that is a promise!"

Sakura smiled tearfully before walking forward and giving him a hug "We understand, just come and see us from time to time, otherwise I'd come over to where you are bash your head in,"

Naruto smiled back and nodded, then he walked forward and took out six scrolls, giving one to Temari and the rest to Kakashi. "Those are letters that I want you to give to Gaara, Pervy Sage, Granny Tsunade, Iruka-sensei, Sasuke and the others," Kakashi took them with an eye-smile.

"There's something I'd like to talk about before you leave," Naruto nodded in affirmation, knowing what he wanted to talk about

He turned to see Shion staring at the mountain and walked over to her "So what happens now Shion, are you going to retire now that Moryo has been defeated?"

"No, there will always be a need for one," said Shion "When I was in there, I realized that Moryo was born from the darkness of people's hearts so who knows if he won't return again and again,"

"Then if that happens, then I'll always be there to help out," said Naruto with a smile.

"Thank you Naruto, and I won't curse my fate anymore. After all I'm a priestess and it's my mission, right?"

"You're right about that!" said Naruto.

Suddenly Shion's eyes glazed over as she was having a vision and images flew through her mind. She saw one of Naruto looking like a pony and fighting a dark shadow, running across the plains as a fox alongside a white wolf with crimson markings, facing down a creature that looked like a centaur, fighting alongside a purple dragon, and finally walking down a road with mares by his side and smiling together.

Naruto took notice and called out to her "Hey Shion, are you okay?" she snapped out of it before replying to him.

"I saw…a vision of your future," this earned looks of surprise and some of worry.

"What was it about?"

"I couldn't tell clearly, but what I can say is that you have a long journey ahead of you. But I know that you'll persevere through it all," said Shion and Naruto simply smiled with everyone else feeling the same way.

Later on, Naruto was back at where the TARDIS was situated and slowly approached it. He reached for his pocket and took out a scroll to take look at it. He remembered the farewells from his friends and Kakashi giving him the scroll after their discussion.

"No matter how far apart we may be, my bonds with them shall never be broken," Naruto said to himself before he sealed the scroll into the medallion and resuming his walk to the TARDIS in order to return to his new home that is Equestria.

The Reminiscence of One’s Talents

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 24: The Reminiscence of One’s Talents

It has been weeks since Naruto traveled to his old world and had a reunion with some of his old friends as well as help them defeat a demon. Right now he is sitting in a forest holding a leaf in between his hooves and eyes are closed as he concentrated on his chakra to cut it in half.

Naruto opened his eyes and opened his hooves to look at the leaf which had a slight cut at the side and let out a sigh, he turned to look at a scroll which laid out unraveled as he read the instructions for the current training.

“According to the scroll which Kakashi-sensei gave me, I should produce an image of my wind chakra slicing through the leaf in my mind. If only I could use my shadow clones but my body is still recovering from the strain of using the chakra burst mode although the recovery time has reduced from a couple of months to several weeks since I’m getting used to it,” Naruto thought back to the conversation which he had with Kakashi before he returned to Equestria.

**Flashback**

Naruto was standing with Kakashi at a small clearing away from the others for a private conversation.

“Naruto there’s also something that I wish to know about, if you were reborn in another world then what happened to the Kyuubi?” asked Kakashi.
“When I met Kami, she asked me what I wanted her to do with his soul. I simply told her that I wanted him to be sent back to the Makai world where he belonged,” said Naruto.

“But why ask for that when you could ask for it to be destroyed? It’s what it deserves for attacking the village and making the people hate you for something you weren’t responsible for,”

“If it were any other case then I would have said that, but the thing is that he wasn’t doing it of his own free will,” said Naruto which confused Kakashi.

“What do you mean by the fox not attacking on its own? You’re making it sound like it was controlled to attack the village,”

“That’s exactly it, think about it Kakashi-sensei. Has there ever been records of a Bijuu actually attacking villages just like that?”
Kakashi thought deeply and realized what Naruto meant, there never has been any word of that happening before their own.

“Not only that, Kami told me that Kyuubi was sealed inside my mother but someone attacked her when she was giving birth to me and extracted him from the seal, before controlling him to attack the village,”

Kakashi’s eye widened in shocked at what he had just “Wait! You know who your mother is?!”

“Yes and I also know that the Fourth was my father and that he sealed the Kyuubi inside of me. There’s no way he would sacrifice another parent’s child for the sealing aside from his own. Which brings me to ask why no one told me?” asked Naruto while looking sternly at Kakashi who was looking away from him.

“The Third ordered us to keep the knowledge of your legacy a secret, as your father had made many enemies during the war. Should they have heard of your existence, they would have done everything just to kill you for revenge,” said Kakashi.

“I figured that out as well but still had you told me, I would have kept silent about it. You should have known that there’s nothing more important to an orphan than to know who their parents are and if they loved them,”

“I’m sorry, but I was under orders as much you needed to know,” said Kakashi sadly, Naruto continued to glare at him and before he let out a sigh and a small smile appeared on his face.

“Well it’s all in the past now, and like I said before I’m living a new life,” said Naruto.

Kakashi looked relieved at that before frowning again “But what about the Akatsuki? Won’t they go after it?”

“I thought of that too, but they don’t know that Kyuubi is in the Makai world and I doubt they can get to him since Kami was the one to send him there,”

“Hopefully that will interfere with whatever they are planning, I’ll be sure to let lady Tsunade and master Jiraiya know,” said Kakashi, then he took a piece of paper out of his ninja pouch and gave it to Naruto who looked at it confusedly.

“What’s this for?”

“That is called chakra paper which is made from a special type of tree, one uses it to learn of the affinity that his chakra has to an element. Let me show you,” Kakashi took another piece of the chakra paper and held it out, Naruto was surprised to see the paper suddenly wrinkle before his eyes “The chakra paper has different reactions to what type one is. For example, for fire it burns and turn into ash, for wind it will split in half, for lightning it will wrinkle, for earth it will turn to dirt and crumble away, and for water it becomes soggy,”

Naruto nodded in understanding of what he said “I think I get it, let’s find out what elemental affinity I have,” he channeled his chakra into the paper and it split in half.

“Well this is interesting, you have an affinity for wind,” said Kakashi.

“What do you mean by that?” asked Naruto.

“Well most ninjas in the Hidden Leaf have an affinity for fire, but for you to have an affinity for wind makes you the second wind user with the first being Asuma Sarutobi who is the Third’s son,”

Naruto grinned excitedly “Dude I sound so awesome right now!”

Kakashi simply smiled at him “There’s something else you should know about the Rasengan. As you recall, it took your father three years to create and master the jutsu, but the thing is that the jutsu itself is incomplete,”

“What you mean by that?”

“The reason I’m saying that is because he wanted to infuse his elemental affinity into it which could have resulted in a jutsu that could be higher that an S-rank. I tried to do the same, but I failed and rather ended up creating the Lightning Blade jutsu. But I believe you can do it since you’ve been known to make the impossible possible,”

Naruto thought deeply about it “To make an already powerful jutsu even more powerful, now that’s something I can work for!” Kakashi nodded in approval before they returned to the group.

**Flashback End**

The day he left, Kakashi had used his summons to collect a few things from the village and put them in the scroll which contained smaller scrolls for wind manipulation exercises, wind jutsus, a few photos, a strange looking knife which he says was a gift which he received from his father but felt that he deserves to have it. He sealed the photos and odd kunai away in a hidden compartment in his workshop until he feels ready to bring them out later.

“Well I guess this all I can do for today, I might as well head home and rest a little bit more. The sooner I recover then the sooner I can train more seriously,” Naruto got a sealed the scroll into his medallion and made his way out of the forest. Along the way he heard voices through the trees which sounded familiar “I know those voices, I wonder what they’re up to?” He broke into a gallop in direction of the voices until he came upon Scootaloo riding on her scooter with a wagon hooked to it and Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom sitting inside “Hey girls,”

“Hi big bro, we haven’t seen you at home. Where’ve you been today?” asked Scootaloo while the other fillies waved at him.

“I was doing a little training in the forest and was on my way home when I heard your voices, so I thought to come and see how you’re doing,” said Naruto and he galloped alongside them.

“Well, we tried to find out if we could get our cutie marks by zip lining but it was another dead-end. So Scootaloo came up with this great idea that we should ask Rainbow Dash about how she got her cutie mark so that we can figure out how we can get our own,” said Apple Bloom.

“How about you come with us Naruto? I’m sure you’re curious about it too,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Now that you girls mentioned it, I’ve always been curious about how one gets their cutie marks. So you can count me in on this,” said Naruto with a thoughtful look before breaking into a smile.

“Yay!!” the Cutie Mark Crusaders cheered happily,

At that moment, a trio of rabbits hopped appeared in the middle of the road while holding apples forcing Scootaloo to hit the brakes to avoid a collision.

“Phew! That was close,” Scootaloo wiped the sweat off her forehead as a sign of relief, then they heard something rustling through the bushes as the rabbits quickly hopped away.

“Get back here you thieving varmints!” a familiar voice yelled out.

“Doesn’t it sound like-,” Apple Bloom didn’t get finish talking as somepony burst out of the bushes and was about to crash into the fillies had it not been for Naruto to quickly use his tail and grab her in midair to prevent that from happening.

“Hey AJ, what brings you around here?” asked Naruto with a quirked eyebrow as he placed Applejack gently on the ground.

“Oh hello everypony, I was chasing after those darn rabbits who made off with my apples from the orchard when I almost ran into you girls,” said Applejack looking sheepish, then Apple Bloom noticed her cutie mark.

“Hey sis, how did you get your cutie mark?” asked Apple Bloom.

“You mean I didn’t tell that story?” said Applejack.

“But I thought we were going to ask Rainbow Dash?” said Scootaloo confusedly.

“I thought that if we hear her story aside from Rainbow Dash, we might learn more about how we can get our cutie marks,” said Apple Bloom.
“That’s a good idea Apple Bloom, plus I kinda want to know about it too,” said Naruto.

“Okay fine,” Scootaloo grumbled.

“Well it all started back when I was a little filly, even littler than the three of you,” Applejack began her tale,

(Note; the Voice-overs will be in bold for the flashbacks)

**Flashback Start**

Young Applejack is seen walking away from Sweet Apple Acres while carrying her belongs in a bundle of cloth with Granny Smith and Big Mac sadly watching her leave with tears in their eyes.

“I didn’t want to spend my life in a muddy old farm. I wanted to live the sophisticated life, like my Aunt and Uncle Orange. So I set out to try my luck in the big city, Manehattan! The most cosmopolitan city in all of Equestria,” said Applejack.

Young Applejack soon found herself in Manehattan as she looked the sights in awe, although she had to move out of the way of a stallion who called her a rube.

“I knew I’d find out who I was meant to be in Manehattan,”

Then she followed the address on the letter which she received from her aunt and uncle, she found herself knocking at the door which opened to reveal her relatives who smiled upon seeing her.

“Aunt Orange! Uncle Orange! Thank ya’ll for letting me stay!” said young Applejack happily.

Aunt Orange laughed a bit “’Ya’ll’, isn’t she just the living end?”

Uncle chuckled in agreement “How quaint,”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be having you acting like a true Manehattanite in no time,”

And they started by changing Applejack’s hairstyle, taught her how to speak and act around high class ponies as well as their mannerism. Afterwards, they brought her along to a dinner party in order to mingle with their guest.

“And how are you finding good old Manehattan?” asked a gentlestallion who goes by the name Tall Order.

“Oh, it’s simply divine,” said young Applejack in an aristocratic tone.

“Very well said, my dear,” said Aunt Orange while smiling in approval.

“Although I must admit the city noise took some getting used to. Where I’m from, nights are so quiet, you seldom hear a peep until the rooster wake you,” this statement drew looks of confusion from the ponies at the table while Applejack started to sweat inwardly.

“The…what?” asked a mare.

“I say my dear, what in the world is a ‘rooster’?” asked Tall Order curiously.

“What’s he talking about? What do I say? I don’t wanna look like a fool,” said Applejack.

Fortunately, it was at that moment that the servant came in while levitating platters of food, much to Applejack’s relief.

“Dinner is served,” said the pony as he set the plates on the table.

“Thank goodness, being a city pony’s hard work. I’m so hungry I could eat a…” she trailed off when the serving dome was lifted for her to see a miniscule amount of food on the table much to her surprise and dismay.

Later that night, she sitting in her room and looking out the window as she watched the sun rise from behind the mountains “Oh I wonder how Granny Smith and Big Mac are doing right now? Probably apple bucking their through the red delicious trees. Oh what I wouldn’t give for just one bite…,”

“I had never felt so homesick in all of my days as I did right then,”

Suddenly she heard an explosion and looked up to see something amazing.

“What I saw right then was a rainbow that was pointing right back to home,” young Applejack then had a look of realization before smiling happily as she galloped out of her room and homewards “It had all become clear to me, I knew right then just who I’m supposed to be,” Soon she got to the gates of Sweet Apple Acres and jumped into the welcoming hooves of Granny Smith and Big Mac, and it was at that moment a cutie mark of three red apples appeared on her flank.

**Flashback End**

“And that’s how this here appeared, and I’ve been happily working in the farm ever since,” Applejack finished her story before looking at her cutie mark happily.

“That was a great story AJ, and I’m happy that you found something which you’re good at and content with,” said Naruto with a smile.
“Thanks Naruto,” Applejack smiled then she saw the bunnies from earlier blowing raspberries at her before running off “Get back here you thieving varmints!” she ran after them while Naruto looked on in amusement.

“Aw, that was such a sweet story,” said Sweetie Belle.

“I’ll say,” said Apple Bloom.

“Sweet? Try sappy! Come on, let’s go find Rainbow Dash and learn the cool way to earn a cutie mark!” said Scootaloo as she got on her scooter with the other two getting into the wagon before they took off with Naruto running alongside them. They moving along the road when Naruto suddenly called out to them.

“Hey girls, slow down! There’s somepony ahead of us,” said Naruto. They were confused at what he said but decided to listen to him as they slowed down, and it was at that moment when Fluttershy appeared in the middle of the road before they stopped completely just as a family of ducks walking across the road to the side.

“Whoa, how did you know that Fluttershy was around?” asked Scootaloo.

“As a ninja, I was trained to always be aware of my surroundings at all times, which was I told you to slow down since I sensed Fluttershy ahead of us,” said Naruto.

“And it’s a good thing he told you that or somepony could have gotten hurt. Where are you all off to?” Fluttershy asked curiously.

“We’re trying to find Rainbow Dash, so that we can hear how she got her cutie mark,” said Scootaloo.

“Oh that would be interesting. You know, I wouldn’t have gotten my cutie mark if it weren’t for her,”

“Rainbow Dash? Really?” Scootaloo was the only one interested as it piqued Naruto’s as well.

“Can we hear about it Shy? We’d like to know,” said Naruto.

“Of course, it all started back at Summer Flight Camp…” Fluttershy began her story.

**Flashback Start**

“You’d never guess, but when I was little I was very shy. And a very weak flyer,” said Fluttershy.

Young Fluttershy looked around the camp to see her fellow Pegasus flying through the obstacle course with speed and skill. She looked up to see a loop made out of clouds, she flapped her wings as hard as she could until she lifted off the ground and was able to reach the loop. She smiled at her achievement, but then her fore hooves hit the loop with made her lose her balance and ended up sliding down a cloud and got entangled in a flag before hitting the bottom. Two male Pegasus saw what happened and began to laugh at her.

“Nice going Klutzershy! They gotta ground you permanently!” said the dark brown pony who goes by the name Dumb Bell.

His friend Hoops added in “Ha! My baby brother can fly better than you!”

“It was the most humiliating moment of my life. And then, out of nowhere...”

They suddenly heard something zipping through the sky before somepony landed before who turned out to be Rainbow Dash when she was young.

“Leave her alone!” said young Rainbow Dash with a glare.

“Ohh what are you gonna do? ‘Rainbow Crash’?” said Hoops tauntingly.

“Keep making fun of her and find out!”

“You think you’re such a big shot? Why do you prove it?” said Dumb Bell.

Rainbow Dash smirked at them “What do you have in mind?”

Later on, they were standing at the starting line with young Fluttershy holding the flag and many other ponies were there to watch.

“You’re going down!” said Hoops.

“In history, maybe. See you boys at the finish line!” said young Rainbow Dash.

When Fluttershy waved the flag to signal the start of the race, they took off but sped by so quickly that sent Fluttershy spinning off the cloud and plummeting to the ground below. Try as she might but she couldn’t even flow down her fall despite flapping her wings as hard as she could. She closed her eyes and braced for impact, then she felt herself fall on something soft. She opened her eyes to find herself on top of a large swarm of butterflies.

“I have never seen such beautiful creatures. Butterflies don’t fly as high as my cloud home, and I’ve never been near to ground before,” said Fluttershy.

She didn’t know what came over her, but Fluttershy began to sing and many animals gathered around to listen to her with looks of content. Then all of a sudden, there was loud explosion which frightened the animals, causing them to run and hide. Fluttershy was at first surprised before a look of determination appeared on her face, she walked over to a nearby bush and lifted it to reveal a trio of bunnies quivering in fear.

“Shh, it’s okay, there’s nothing to be afraid of. Everything will be just fine,” Fluttershy coaxed the squirrels in the oak tree, the frogs in the pond, and the birds in the sky. They all gathered around her having been completely calmed from the sudden noise, it was then a cutie mark of three pink butterflies appeared on her flank.

“Somehow I had the ability to communicate with animals on a different level,” said Fluttershy.

**Flashback End**

“Wait, wait, wait. What happened to Rainbow Dash? What happened to the race?” asked Scootaloo.

“If you were listening to the story Scoots, Shy wasn’t there to witness the race so she won’t know what happened back then,” said Naruto, then he started to frown “But those two ponies better not run into me, cause I’ll be sending them into a school of hard knocks,”

Fluttershy tried to calm the blond stallion down “It’s all in the past now Naruto, there’s no need for you to do that,”

Naruto frowned a bit before letting out a sigh and smiling at Fluttershy “Okay Shy, if you say so,” but then he thought “But that doesn’t mean I won’t prank them, I’m sure Dash would want in on it too,”

“Come on crusaders, big bro, we’ve got to find her and know more about it! And I don’t think I can take anymore singing,” said Scootaloo as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle got on the wagon.

“Maybe my sister knows,” said Sweetie Belle, then they headed towards the Carousel Boutique “Bye Fluttershy!”

“We’ll see you around Shy!” said Naruto before galloping after the girls.

“Bye,” Fluttershy waved as she watched them leave.

Although the group found Rarity at her shop, the girls ended up serving as her mannequins since Rarity had a sudden inspiration to create a certain style of clothing for young fillies, and Naruto watched silently not wanting to get dragged in.

“How did we get roped into this? We’ll never hear Rainbow Dash’s story,” Scootaloo grumbled.

“Are you girls still obsessing over your cutie marks?” asked Rarity.

“Of course, most of the fillies at school already have theirs,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Now that they mentioned it, how did you get your cutie mark Rare?” asked Naruto with a tilt of his head, Rarity fought the urge to glomp him at the cuteness which he was displaying which gave the impression of a cute fox with his whisker marks.

“I was just like the girls when I couldn’t figure out why I didn’t have my cutie mark…” said Rarity as she thought back to her days as a young filly.

**Flashback Start**

A play was to be held at school, and young Rarity was in charge of the costumes for the cast to put on. At the moment they were rehearsing while she was backstage with her teacher as they watched.

“Well done Rarity, your costumes are very nice,” said the teacher, but Rarity wasn’t so easily convinced.

“Nice?! They’re supposed to be spectacular! And the performance is tomorrow!” said young Rarity.

Later on, she was at her workroom trying to make the perfect costumes for the show, but none of them seem to live up to her expectations.

“I tried every trick I could think of, but none of it seemed to work. The costumes weren’t right, and the play opened that night,” said Rarity.

Young Rarity let a sigh as she felt very depressed “Maybe I’m not meant to be a fashionista after all,” Suddenly her horn lit up and proceeded to drag in certain direction much to her surprise “What’s going on?!”

“I had no idea where my horn was taking me. But unicorn magic doesn’t happen without a reason. I knew this had to do with my love of fashion and maybe my cutie mark! I knew that this was my destiny!”

After being dragged to who knows where, the horn stopped glowing and young Rarity found herself standing in a craggy area, she looked up to see a large rock towering over her.

“A rock?! That’s my destiny?!” young Rarity said angrily “What is your problem horn? I followed you all the way here for a rock?!” she glared at it “Dumb rock!”

Then there was a loud explosion which made her yelp in surprise, there was a crackling sound and Rarity looked up to see the cracks run through the rock before it broke apart. With her curiosity getting the better of her, Rarity looked inside the rock to see a trove of gems which sparkled in the sunlight, making her smile as it gave her an idea.

Later that night, the play had commenced. Audience watched in awe as the cast were wearing the costumes which Rarity had as they had the sparkling gems attached to them. Rarity watched from the backstage with her teacher who was smiling in approval, then she noticed a cutie mark of three diamonds on her flank.

**Flashback End**

“Ugh! These namby-pamby stories aren’t getting us anywhere close to our cutie marks! They’re all about finding out who you really are and boring stuff like that,” said Scootaloo.

“But isn’t that what having a cutie mark means? To find something that you’re truly good at?” said Naruto with a quirked eyebrow “It makes me sometimes wonder what mine means since it appeared during battle with Nightmare Moon?”

“That right dear, that’s exactly…” Rarity didn’t get to finish as Scootaloo is seen shoving Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle out of the room.
“Come on, girls! We need action! We need Rainbow Dash!”

Naruto turned to face Rarity and rubbed the back of his head while looking sheepish “Sorry about that Rare, but you know how much Scoots looks up to Dash aside from me,”

“It’s no problem dear, but I do hope that you come back soon. I have some dresses which I hope you would try on for me,” said Rarity with smile while Naruto turned away to hide the blush on his face.

“Come on Rare, at the rate you keep making me wear those dresses. I might end up forgetting my original gender,” Naruto whined before leaving with Rarity trying not to giggle at how childish he was acting. Naruto came out of the boutique and saw that the girls had already left without him “I might as well find them, Aura Sight!” his eyes glowed white as he looked around before picking up three familiar signatures in a restaurant along with another.

He galloped over to where they are and entered the restaurant just to see the fillies at the table listening to Twilight, although Scootaloo looked bored out of her mind.

“Oh there you are Naruto, I was just telling them how I got my cutie mark,” said Twilight
.
“Sure thing Twilight, let’s hear it,” Naruto sat by the others to listen to her story.

“Now as I was saying, as a young filly in Canterlot, I always wanted to go to the Summer Sun Celebration…,”

**Flashback Start**

“And it was there I saw the most amazing, most wonderful thing I’ve ever seen,” said Twilight.

At the fair grounds of Canterlot, many ponies were having fun like playing games, riding on carousels, and eating snacks from stalls. Then the royal guards blew through large golden trumpets and everypony had gathered before a large platform with a statue of the sun on it, young Twilight was making her way through the crowd in order to get a better view. She got excited upon seeing Princess Celestia appear on top of the platform and front of the statue.

As Princess Celestia slowly rose to the air, the ponies could see the sun rise in sync before releasing a heavenly radiance which made them gasp in awe, more so on Twilight.

“I poured myself into learning everything about magic,” said Twilight.

Young Twilight could be seen in her room surrounded by huge stacks of books which obviously contains information about all kinds of magic and was even practicing a few of them.

“Thus I spent every day and night reading through my books, learning many new things!”

Then she heard her parents coming in and went to meet them, she saw her father holding an approval letter.

“My parents decided to enroll me in Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. It was a dream come true!”

Twilight started jumping for joy at being accepted to such a prestigious school and couldn’t wait to go there.

“Except for one thing…I had to pass an entrance exam!”

Young Twilight is now seen standing in the middle of a classroom looking very nervous as one of the teachers wheeling in a cart which had a dragon egg on it.

“In order to pass the test, you have to hatch from the egg,” said one of the teachers who were serving as the proctors of the entrance exam.

Young Twilight gulped nervously and took a glance at her parents who were smiling to give her encouragement. She smiled a bit and turned to face the egg, Twilight closed her eyes as she tried to focus her magic but only tiny sparks came out of the horn. She kept trying to use her magic but to no avail.

“We don’t have all day,” said the teacher.

“I knew that this was the most important day of my life, that my entire future would be affected by the outcome of this day and I was about to blow it!” said Twilight.

After many tries, young Twilight let out a sigh of resignation “I’m sorry for wasting your time,” suddenly there was an explosion which startled her, causing her magic to surge out of control as her eyes glowed and she levitated from the ground. Streaks of magic shot out of her horn, hitting everything like the dragon egg which hatched the baby dragon but increased his size to massive proportions to the point of breaking through the school building, her parent got turned into potted plants among other things.

She felt somepony place a hoof on her shoulder and turned see that it was none other Princess Celestia herself, this in turn calmed her down enough for the magic to undo itself and the surge to stop.

“Twilight Sparkle,” said Princess Celestia, the young filly was a bit frightened because of what happened earlier.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean…” she was about to apologize.

“You have a very special gift, I don’t think I’ve ever come across a unicorn with your talents,” the princess said instead.

“Huh?”

“But you need to tame these abilities through focused study,”

“Huh?”

“Twilight Sparkle, I’d like to make you my protégé here at the school,”

“Huh?!” this time Twilight was truly surprised.

“Well?” asked Princess Celestia, Twilight took a glance at her parents who were nodding excitedly for her to accept.

“Yes!” young Twilight jumped round happily at being accepted.

“One other thing Twilight,” she stopped to see Celestia pointing her hoof at something and turned to look, only to see a cutie mark of a star pattern.

“My cutie mark! yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes…”

**Flashback End**

“Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!” Twilight was jumping just as excitedly.

“Twilight calm down, you’re getting too much into your storytelling,” said Naruto as he used his tail to wrap around her, everypony in the restaurant were watching them.

Twilight finally became aware of her surroundings and her face turned red from embarrassment “Oh sorry about that, I guess I got carried away,”
“I understand how you feel, since I felt the same way when I received my headband,” said Naruto, though he felt a bit sad that he didn’t have it with him anymore “Anyway, the girls and I have to get going since we’re still looking for Dash,”

“Okay Naruto, I’ll see you later,”

Later on, Naruto and the fillies were moving through the streets in search of Rainbow Dash.

“Why don’t we ever crash into Rainbow Dash?” said Scootaloo.

“How about we ask our newest passenger since she knows everypony and where they could be,” said Naruto, the fillies turned to see Pinkie Pie riding in the wagon with them.

“Looks you found me again Naru, but he’s right. If I was her, I would be at Sugarcube Corner, of course I was anyone I would be at Sugarcube Corner. Hey I have an idea, wanna go to Sugarcube Corner?” Pinkie Pie had leaned back to far and almost fell off the wagon had it not been for Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to catch her in time.

“We could pass by there, we’ve been moving around a lot so we’re a little bit hungry,” said Naruto.

“Well we’re sort of looking for Rainbow Dash so that she could tell us how she got her cutie mark,” said Sweetie Belle.

“A cutie mark? Come with me and I’ll tell you how I got mine!” Everypony turned to look at Scootaloo for the final decision, she let out a groan and finally nodded in agreement as she turned her scooter in the direction of Sugarcube Corner “Alright!”

**Flashback Start**

“My sisters and I were raised on a rock farm outside of Ponyville, we spent our days working the fields. There was no talking, there was no smiling, there were only rocks,” said Pinkie Pie.

Young Pinkie Pie could be seen rolling a piece of rock towards a pile that she made only that she looked gloomy and her mane draped over her shoulders. She was about to move another rock onto the pile when she heard a loud boom and a strong gust of wind blew over the fields and even made her droopy mane curly. Pinkie Pie looked up to see clear blue skies and a beautiful rainbow which brought a smile to her face after a very long time.

“I’d never felt joy like that before! It felt so good! I wanted everyone to learn how to smile too, but rainbows don’t come along that often. I wondered how else could I create some smiles,” said Pinkie Pie.

Young Pinkie Pie was deep in thought before coming upon an idea as she ran off to somewhere else. The next morning, her parents and sisters came out of their home for another day of work at the rock farm.

“We’d better harvest the rocks from the south field,” said the father who is Igneous Rock Pie, suddenly they heard music coming from the silo.
“Pinkamena Diane Pie! Is that you?” said the mother Cloudy Quartz.

The door opened and Pinkie Pie her head out to talk to them “Mom! I need you and dad and the sisters to come in. quick!” she darted back inside for her family to follow.

They entered the silo and were surprised to see colorful streamers, balloons and cakes all around “Surprise! You like it? It’s called…a party!” she blew a tweeter, but then they just stood there with blank looks which made her smile fall a bit “Oh, you don’t like it,” young Pinkie Pie looked up again to see their lips quivering before they broke into smiles “Oh you do like it! I’m happy!” then they all danced to the music and a cutie mark of three balloons with curled strings appeared on her flank.

**Flashback End**

“And that’s how Equestria was made!” said Pinkie Pie. Scootaloo stopped the scooter and even Naruto almost tripped himself as they both turned to stare at Pinkie Pie in disbelief.

“Wha…huh?” said Scootaloo.

“Look! We’re here!” Apple Bloom spoke up, they looked to see that they’re standing right in front of Sugarcube Corner.

“Maybe on the way home I can tell you the story of how I got my cutie mark. It’s a gem!” Pinkie Pie got off the wagon and happily hopped inside.
Scootaloo was about to say something when Naruto beat her to it “Don’t bother Scoots, trying to figure Pinks out is an impossibility. Let’s just go inside,”

“Okay big bro,” said Scootaloo, they entered the shop and saw that Twilight and the others there including the one whom they had been looking for all this time which made Scootaloo brighten up “Rainbow Dash! You’re here!”

“I hear you’re looking for my cutie mark story?” said Rainbow Dash as she walked to towards them.

“You have no idea what I’ve been through today to hear that story,” Scootaloo sat on the floor.

“That was pretty much their objective today, though we also got hear how the others got their cutie marks as well. And you happen to be the last one,” said Naruto with a smile,

“Well it all started during the race at Flight Camp….,” said Rainbow Dash.

**Flashback Start**

“…where I stood alone against all odds to defend Fluttershy’s honor,”

Young Rainbow Dash stood at the starting line alongside Hoops and Dumb Bell ready to race. The moment Fluttershy waved the flag to signal the start of the race, the three Pegasus took off in a blur and sent Fluttershy spinning of the cloud.

So far Rainbow Dash ahead and looked back to see Dumb Bell and Hoops keeping up which made her want to go even faster. She passed through a cloud ring and quickly took a right sharp turn, but Dumb Bell was a little too slow to react and ended up crashing through a pillar.

“I’ve never flown like that before! The freedom was unlike anything I’ve ever felt! The speed, the adrenaline, the wind in my mane…I liked it…a lot!” said Rainbow Dash.

Suddenly Hoops came out of nowhere and knocked her out of the way “HA! Later Rainbow Crash!” then he dived for the final cloud ring.

“Hey!” Rainbow dash dived for the goal as well and was catching up with him.

“Turns out the only thing I like better than flying fast… was winning!”

She easily brushed past Hoops and was just going faster and faster, but still didn’t stop pouring it on. Right when she passed through the final cloud and pulled up into the sky. Rainbow Dash had actually broken through the sound barrier which resulted in a loud explosion and a rainbow appearing across the sky.

“Most ponies thought that the sonic rainboom was just an old mare’s tale. But that day… the day I discovered racing…I proved that the legends are true,”

As young Rainbow Dash was flying with a grin on her face, a cutie mark of a cloud with a slightly curved three colored lightning bolt, and everypony was cheering for her.

“I made the impossible happen!”

**Flashback End**

“And that little ones, is how you earn a cutie mark,” said Rainbow Dash with pride.

“Whooooaaaaa….” The crusaders simply looked at her with stars in their eyes.

“That’s pretty cool Dash, but I’ve noticed something interesting about your story as well as the others,” said Naruto.

“What do you mean by that Naruto?” asked Twilight curiously.

“I’ve listened to all of your stories, and I’ve noticed that you girls either saw a rainbow or heard a loud boom. AJ, Shy and Pinks saw a rainbow and heard a boom while Rare and Twilight heard a boom before they got their cutie marks,”

“So if Rainbow Dash hadn’t scared the animals, I never would have been able to communicate with them and gotten my cutie mark,” said Fluttershy.

“If she hadn’t made that rainbow, I never would have learnt how to smile and make others smile too!” said Pinkie Pie while hopping around.

“I wouldn’t have thought of going home if I didn’t see that rainbow,” said Applejack.

“My true calling as a fashionista would have never come to be if not for that explosion!” said Rarity.

“If it weren’t for that boom, I would have failed my entrance exam and never got taken in by Princess Celestia as her apprentice. That means we all got our cutie marks because of you Rainbow Dash!” said Twilight.

Rainbow Dash was surprised to hear that “Really?” she turned to Naruto who nodded with a smile to confirm it.

“Yeah! We all owe our cutie marks to you!” said Pinkie Pie.

“We all had a connection before we even met,” said Fluttershy.

“We’ve been friends for a very long time and didn’t even know it!” said Rarity.

“Awww c’mere y’all,” Applejack had them all in a group hug while Naruto stood beside the fillies and was smiling at them, then he heard Apple Bloom speak out.

“Too bad, we don’t get to hear your cutie mark story Naruto,” said Apple Bloom.

“Yeah since we already know how you got yours,” said Sweetie Belle.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders before smiling again “True, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a story to tell,”

“What kind of story big bro?” asked Scootaloo curiously.

“I can tell you of the adventures of when I was still in my old world,”

“But I thought we saw everything back when you showed us your memories,” said Twilight confusedly.

“What you girls saw were the milestones of my life before I came to Equestria. And I’m sure you’ll love this story I’m about to tell you,” said Naruto with a smirk.

“Tell us, tell us, tell us, tell us, tell us!” said Pinkie Pie hopping excitedly.

“One day, my team mates and I had just completed a mission and were leaving the Hokage tower after reporting in…” Naruto began his tale.

**Flashback Start**

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were walking along the street away from the Hokage tower, Naruto’s face was scrunched as if in deep thought before speaking out.

“I believe the time has finally come,” said Naruto.

“What are you talking about? What time?” asked Sakura.

“For us to see…Kakashi’s true face!”

“Why would you want to do that?”

“Come on Sakura, I’m sure the first time you saw him you wondered what was underneath that mask,”

“Well I can’t deny that I want to know what was under that mask,”

“Please, that sounds so lame. We finished our mission for the day so I’m going home,” Sasuke turned and was walking away from them.

“I knew that Sasuke wouldn’t be interested, but I had a way to draw him in hook, line and sinker,” said Naruto.

Naruto whispered out “What if he has lips…like a blimp?” this made Sasuke freeze in mid-step, Naruto snickered when he saw him twitched as if indecisive of what to do next and knew that he just needed one more push “Or maybe buckteeth?”

Then Sasuke did a U-turn and walked back “On second thought, this could serve as training for when we should gather information from the enemy,”

“So does anyone have an idea?” asked Sakura.

“I do!” said Naruto.

Later on, they invited Kakashi to eat with them at Ichiraku ramen where they paid for the meal for him.

“You three treating me to lunch? That’s pretty unusual. You guys up to something, aren’t you?” said Kakashi as he looked at them, they stiffened a bit due to how accurate the question was.

“W-what do you m-mean by that?” said Naruto.

“Y-yeah, we just wanted treat you as a way of appreciation. So go ahead and eat,” said Sakura.

“Oh well, I suppose I should just dig in,” said Kakashi as Teuchi served up the bowl of ramen “This certainly looks delicious,” they pretended to look forward but their eyes solely on him as he took a pair of chopsticks and slowly reached for his mask and was about to pull it down…

“Hi Sasuke! What a coincidence,” Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji came in, completely obstructing their view.

“Aaaaaaaaaaagh!” they all screamed as they tried to move them out of the way.

“Get out of the way Ino-pig!” shouted Sakura.

“Oh man! I can’t see squat!” shouted Naruto.

They finally got them out of the way and looked only to see the mask back on and bowl completely empty.

“I’m all done,” said Kakashi.

“Whoa that’s fast!” said the trio simultaneously with looks of surprise.

Kakashi looked at them curiously “Is something wrong?”

“Oh nothing at all, what makes you say that?” said Sakura.

Then they noticed that Teuchi and his daughter Ayame were looking at Kakashi with blushes on their faces which meant that they had seen what was underneath the mask.

“Okay now I’m curious!” they said simultaneously again.

“Afterwards, Sasuke suggested that we tail him around for the day, that he might take off the mask and we’ll be there to see it. The first time was a failure as we ended up getting found, so we decided to shadow him individually this time,” said Naruto.

Naruto was the first, he was using the buildings and other objects to hide while following Kakashi who was reading a book along the way. But when they reached a junction, Kakashi disappeared leaving Naruto clueless as to where he went.

Sakura was next as she staked him out at the memorial stone on a rainy, she was getting impatient as she noticed that he was barely moving a muscle which raised suspicions. She jumped out of the trees and ran to check on him only to see that it was nothing but a dummy the whole time.
Well for Sasuke, he gave up after shadowing him for who knows how long.

“The next day we got a mission to help out at a farm, that wasn’t a big deal since our true mission was too see Kakashi-sensei’s real face. Along the way, we made a stop at an inn to rest and were served a delicious banquet,”

Kakashi noticed that his students weren’t making any attempt to eat the food “What’s the matter with you guys? No one is picking up their chopsticks,”

“Oh it’s nothing Kakashi-sensei, don’t wait up on us. Go ahead and eat,” said Sakura.

“Actually, I’m kinda on a diet right now,”

“Playing hard to get huh? Well that mask is coming off one way or another!” thought Naruto, he reached for a kettle of hot tea “Ah~ my hand slipped,” then he tossed in a way that was anything but accidental. When it drew close, Kakashi quickly flipped the table over to block it, but that in turn spilled all of the food to the floor.

“Are you out of your mind?!” Sakura yelled angrily.

“Sorry about that, my hand slipped,” Kakashi rubbed the back of his head while looking sheepish.

“What do you mean your hand slipped?!” the trio yelled at him.

Then they gathered in another room to discuss their next move.

“So any ideas?” asked Sakura.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan,” said Sasuke with a small smile, Naruto and Sakura listened in on his idea.

Later on, Naruto and Sasuke were in a hot spring waiting for Kakashi to show, unfortunately for Sakura, she had to go to the women side of the bath which means that she won’t get to see Kakashi’s face.

“This is a great idea, there’s no way he’ll come in here with his mask on,” said Naruto.

“Of course he won’t,” said Sasuke.

“Hey guys, I’m coming in,” upon hearing his voice, the two boys turned their attention to see a silhouette and knew that it was Kakashi. They rose out of the water as the mist cleared only to reveal him wearing a towel around his face “Phew it’s hot in here, just coming in for a minute,”

Naruto and Sasuke fell backwards into the water “You’ve got to be kidding,” they both said at the same time.

“Afterwards, we left the inn mentally exhausted and continued our way to the farm where we began the mission,” said Naruto.

The trio gathered around for another meeting.

“I don’t think I can take any more of this,” said Naruto.

“I’m reaching my limit too,” said Sasuke.

“Me too, and that makes three of us,” said Sakura.

“Then in that case, desperate times calls for desperate measures!” said Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura looked at him in curiosity. A minute later, they were wearing gray camouflage ninja outfits although they appear to be a bit too big for them.

“What’s with the clothes and where did you get them?” asked Sakura.

“We’re posing as rogue ninja and there’s no need to wonder where I got them okay?” said Naruto, the truth was that he stole them from the changing room back at the hot spring.

“So what’s the idea with the outfit?” asked Sasuke.

“We rip the mask off, by force if we have to!”

"Then we charged in and attacked Kakashi-sensei, but then someone else showed up from out of nowhere,” said Naruto.

“Hold it right there!” a trio of ninja wearing the same outfit which Naruto swiped stepped in with one of them holding a purple bottle with a yellow label “The time has come for you to pay for your transgressions Kakashi! With this elixir, you will cry uncontrollably until y-,” he didn’t finish his sentence when he saw Kakashi holding up Naruto and the others who tied up with one hand.

“I was wondering when you guys would stop hiding and show yourselves said Kakashi before putting them down “But first things first, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke. Why on earth are you dressed like that?”

“We knew that we had to come up with an excuse, luckily Sakura was able to come up with a good one,”

“Aha! We knew that you were targeting Kakashi-sensei, and you fell right into our trap!” said Sakura.

“You mean you knew of our intentions from the very beginning?!” said one of the ninjas.

“Of course we did, all this was to lure you out and you fell for it hook, line and sinker!” she continued.

“Drat, we underestimated just because they were kids!” said the other ninjas.

“I don’t really get what’s going on, but whatever,” said Kakashi as he walked towards the trio who were backing away from him before falling backwards.

“Oh please forgive us, forgive us,” the three ninjas said as they bowed to him.

“Words aren’t going to help you here,” Kakashi leaned forward ominously which made them cower in fear, and in the next ten minutes they were beaten and hung up like a piñata.

After finishing the work on the farm, the team were on their way back to the village.

“Hey Kakashi-sensei, what are you hiding under that mask?” asked Naruto.

“Oh, so you want to know what’s behind my mask?” asked Kakashi.

“Yeah,”

“Well if you wanted to know, I would have shown you,”

“You mean that you’ll let us see it?” asked Sakura excitedly.

“Sure, I don’t mind,” said Kakashi. They gathered closely together with their eyes wide in anticipation.

“Although it felt like we wasted this whole time for nothing, we didn’t care as we finally got to see his true face!” said Naruto.

Alright, behind this mask is…,” Kakashi reached up for the mask and was about to bring it down.

“Is it blimp lips?” Sakura thought.

“Or buckteeth?” Sasuke thought.

“Or a tiny mouth?” Naruto thought.

Kakashi pulled it down to reveal a faded mask underneath “Another mask! Pretty cool right?”

“WHAT!?” Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke screamed out loud before collapsing with a loud thud and Kakashi was laughing.
“Are you kidding me?! What the heck kind of ending is that?!” Naruto said angrily.

**Flashback End**

“After that we went through, we never got to see under that darn mask,” said Naruto with a dark cloud over his head, he looked up to see everypony laughing out loud. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were rolling on the ground while the rest were trying to contain their giggles, even the fillies was among them and Naruto joined in with the laughter.

“That was sooo funny Naru! Can we hear another one?” said Pinkie Pie while she was still laughing.

“Maybe next time Pinks, and besides it’s getting late,” said Naruto.

“You’re right, I need to head back to the farm and make sure that those thieving varmints don’t show up to steal my apples again,” said Applejack.

“I need to make sure that the animals are okay,” said Fluttershy.

“I have a deadline to meet for an important customer,” said Rarity.

“I have to recheck my schedule for the week,” said Twilight.

“I have to plan for another party in the future,” said Pinkie Pie.

“And I gotta head home and rest so that I can practice my tricks tomorrow,” said Rainbow Dash.

After bidding each other farewell, they all went to their homes and Naruto with Scootaloo to theirs where they met Trixie who had just closed from the shop.

Naruto tucked Scootaloo into bed before walking to the workshop he placed a hoof on a seal drawn on the table and applied chakra to it. There was a puff of smoke before it cleared to reveal a stack of photos, he picked one up with his magic and smiled warmly at it. It was a photo of team 7, showing him scowling at Sasuke who was looking away from the camera, Sakura standing in the middle smiling and Kakashi eye smiling and placing his hands on his and Sasuke’s head.

“Like they said, we all share a connection which even transcends worlds and have memories to remind us of the good times we had back then,” Naruto before closing his eyes to reminisce of his time back in the Hidden Leaf village.

In another dimension, a raven haired boy stands before a large stone with many names inscribed on it and has his eyes focused on a particular name. In his hand is a scroll and he looked up to the night sky and spoke one word “Naruto…,”

Party Time for a Party Animal

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA

Chapter 25: Party Time for a Party Animal

It was another beautiful day in Ponyville as everypony were going about their daily activities with smiles on their faces.

Naruto was currently at home reading from one of the scrolls that he received from Kakashi about wind manipulation "According to the scroll, wind style jutsus have an advantage against lightning style jutsus but is very weak against fire style jutsus since it rather empowers the flames. Better keep that tit-bit at the back of my mind," then he heard someone knocking at the front door and got up to answer it "I wonder who it is?" He opened the door only to be greeted with a shower of confetti much to his surprise, then he saw Pinkie Pie and her pet alligator Gummy wearing clown costumes as she started to sing.

This is your singing telegram
I hope it finds you well
You're invited to a party
'Cause we think you're really swell

Gummy's turning one year old
So help us celebrate
The cakes will be delicious
The festivities first-rate

There will be games and dancing
Bob for apples, cut a rug
And when the party's over
We'll gather 'round for a group hug

No need to bring a gift
Being there will be enough
Birthdays mean having fun with friends
Not getting lots of stuff

It won't be the same without you
So we hope that you say yes
So, please, oh please R.S.V.P
And come, and be our guest!

After Pinkie Pie finished singing, Naruto stood there stunned before finally catching on to what she meant and smiled happily at her.

"Of course I'll be there Pinks, be sure to expect Trixie and I to show up at the party. Believe it!" said Naruto.

"Okey dokey lokey, I have to go and give Twilight and the others my singing telegram for the party. Ta ta for now," Pinkie hopped away happily with Gummy clamping onto her puffy mane so as not to fall off.

"I hope she doesn't tire herself out if she's going to singing to everypony whom she wants to invite to the party," Naruto closed the door and was making his way back to the workshop when he heard hoofsteps and turned to see Trixie coming down the stairs while levitating some books on magic spells.

"Oh Naruto, Trixie was wondering who it was at the door," said Trixie.

"It was Pinkie Pie, she was inviting us to a party at her house to celebrate Gummy's birthday," said Naruto.

"In that case, Trixie will need to get herself ready for the party tonight," said Trixie before going back up the stairs to her room to freshen up a bit while Naruto went back to the workshop to continue reading the scroll.

Later on as Celestia's sun had already set and Luna's moon was rising over Ponyville, Naruto and Trixie had left the house and had arrived at the front door of the Sugarcube Corner. He knocked on the door and it wasn't for long till opened up to reveal Pinkie Pie who was happy upon seeing them.

"Naru, Trixie! I'm so happy that you made to Gummy's birthday party!" Pinkie was hopping happily.

"Come on Pinks, there's no way I'm going to miss a party that you invite me to," said Naruto with a smile.

Trixie was also nodding in agreement "Trixie agrees with him as she also enjoys your parties as well,"

"Well come on in, everypony is here!" Pinkie ushered them inside, they could see that the place was decorated with colorful streamers, bunting, and a banner which says 'Happy Birthday Gummy'. They could also see the tables were laden with snacks, pastries and punch.

"Hey Naruto!" he turned towards the voice to see Applejack and Rainbow Dash standing around a large barrel of water and figured that they were playing bobbing for apples before walking towards them with Pinkie in tow while Trixie went to chat with Rarity as well as help herself to some of the snacks.

"Hey AJ, Dash. I can see that you two are having a good time right now," said Naruto.

"We sure are, Pinkie has really planned for this party," said AJ.

"I'll say," said Rainbow Dash.

"Thanks guys, just to let you know there are a few surprises in there," said Pinkie Pie.

"What kind of surprises?"

"It can't be a surprise if you already know about it Dash," said Naruto with a smirk.

"Yes indeedy, you just have to find out on your own," Pinkie Pie walked away, leaving Rainbow Dash and Applejack to look excitedly at the barrel before dipping their heads in it. AJ pulled out an apple that had a spring attached to it which yanked her into the water, and Rainbow Dash pulled her head out with Gummy latching on to her snout much to Naruto's amusement.

"So there's the birthday alligator we were looking for, happy birthday Gummy," said Naruto, then Gummy let go and went to bite him by his tail. Naruto flicked his tail to send Gummy into the air before it landed on top of his head where it started to nip on his mane. Then he walked over to RARITY AND Trixie who were drinking glasses of punch from the table.

"This punch is simply divine if I do say so myself," said Rarity.

"Indeed it is, Trixie believe this is the recipe which was used for the 'Spring has sprung' party some time ago," said Trixie after finishing her own and going for a refill.

"Nope, it's rather something new and Gummy loves it," the moment Pinkie said that, Gummy made a dive for the bowl but Naruto quickly caught him with his tail.

"Now now Gummy, we can't have you hogging it all to yourself okay?" Naruto smirked as Gummy started biting his tail while the mares breathed a sigh of relief at what had almost happened.

Then the music started to pick up as everypony began to dance to the tune, although there were a few times when Pinkie Pie in her excitement would bump into the others and send them crashing into a wall with Twilight being the first and Naruto the most frequent victim but he simply shrugs it off. Soon enough it had gotten very late and everypony were making their way towards their homes while Pinkie Pie was looking at them from the window of her room.

"Whoo wee! I'm beat, I've never danced this much since…well since your last party. Thanks for the invite," said Applejack.

"See you later birthday alligator," said Rainbow Dash.

"Bravo for hosting another beautiful soiree," said Rarity.

"It's been lovely," said Fluttershy.

"Trixie is very happy to have been invited to one of your many great parties," said Trixie.

"This has to be one of your best parties yet Pinks, and I'm looking forward to your next one," said Naruto.

"Naruto is right, it was a great party. We should do this again soon, bye Pinkie Pie," said Twilight before walking away towards her home.

Pinkie Pie waved as she watched them leave "Bye guys!" then she thought on the words which Twilight said "We should do this again soon!"

The next day as Celestia's sun had risen over the horizon, Naruto was at home sleeping peacefully and dreaming about ramen when he was awakened from his sleep by loud knockings at the front door.

"Man what a party last night, I expect no less from Pinks," Naruto rubbed his eyes as he felt the sleepiness go away before he heard knocking on the door again "Alright alright, I'm coming," he headed downstairs and opened the door to see Pinkie Pie behind it and wearing a basket full of pink envelopes "Good morning Pinks,"

"Hiya Naru, do you know what time it is?" said Pinkie Pie excitedly.

Naruto was confused at her statement "I don't know, especially since I just woke up from bed,"

"It's…party time! I'm giving out invitations for Gummy's 'After-birthday party' which is this afternoon!"

"You mean we've having another party?"

"That's right! We had a lot of fun on the previous one, and now we'll have lots more fun in this one. All of our friends will be there, and there will be dancing, and games, and ice-cream, and punch!" Pinkie then noticed that Naruto was reading the letter quite thoughtfully "Or will you be busy? I hope you could make time for it,"

Naruto snapped out of his thoughts before waving a hoof in a placating manner "Don't worry about it, I'll be sure to make time to come,"

Pinkie Pie smiled happily upon hearing that "Great! Well I'm off to give out more invitations, catch you later," then she happily hopped away.

"Well now, let's see what we have on today's agenda," said Naruto as he went back inside the house to take a nice warm bath and have breakfast. Then he headed towards the Whirlpool and was looking through a list of orders for where the crystals are to be delivered before experimenting on some new seals. He was currently drawing a seal on a paper tag when suddenly the door was slammed opened which startled him to make a mistake on the seal.

"Naru I need your help!" said Pinkie Pie, but Naruto wasn't listening as he saw the tag beginning to sizzle. He quickly grabbed the tag and threw it out through an open window, and moments later a loud bang was heard outside the shop.

"Phew that was close," said Naruto before turning to Pinkie Pie "You have to be more careful, fuinjutsu can be quite dangerous if not handled cautiously. I almost blew up the shop,"

"Sorry about that, how about a muffin as an apology?" said Pinkie Pie.

"It's not much of a big deal, so what's up?"

"There's something suspicious going on. When I went to hand out the invitations, they all said that they couldn't make it to the party since they have plans for the afternoon. Twilight was behind her studies and had to hit the books, Applejack needs to pick apples, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are housesitting for a vacationing bear, and Rarity had to wash her hair. As I thought about it, I came upon one conclusion…they were making excuses not to come to Gummy's party!"

Naruto raised his eyebrows in surprise at what Pinkie Pie said "What makes you so sure that they were making up excuses?"

"I saw Twilight sneaking into the Sugarcube Corner from my window and overheard her and Mrs. Cakes talking about something that they didn't want me to know about which is very strange since we're friends, then I saw her sneak away with a white box,"

"That does sound suspicious," said Naruto.

"Which is why I came to ask for your help so that you can do your ninja thing and find out what secret it is that they don't want me to know about and why they won't come to Gummy's party,"

Naruto thought deeply for a moment before speaking up "Okay Pinks, I'll help you out. Are you ready for a stealth mission?" then he saw Pinkie put on a pair of eyeglasses with a pair of thick eyebrows and a mustache attached to it.

"Yes sir!" said Pinkie Pie with a salute.

On streets, Twilight was seen walking on the tips of her hooves as she made her way across town. She passed by a tall tree and failed to notice that a few leaves fell before a head wearing a black mask poked out and was staring at her silently before it dropped to reveal a pony in blacking clothing, the pony quickly hid behind the bushes as he continued to follow Twilight until she reached the Carousel Boutique, there he saw Rarity come out and seemed quite sneaky about it when she saw Twilight.

"She didn't see you at the sweet shop did she?" asked Rarity.

"I don't think so," Twilight replied.

"Oh good, I'd hate for her to ruin everything,"

"Me too,"

The pony squinted his eyes as he listened to the conversation, then he saw Twilight pass the white box over to Rarity who carried it with her tail and snuck away. He took out an empty can with a string attached to it and spoke through it.

"Pink Puff, this is Bushy Tail. Twilight has passed the mysterious package over to Rarity who is making her way towards your location," said the pony who turned out to be Naruto, we trail the string all the way to a rectangular bale of hay where a pair of eyes could be seen peeping out of it.

"Roger Bushy Tail, this is Pink Puff over and out," said Pink Puff who was Pinkie Pie, then she saw Rarity tip-toeing by and hopped after her while still in the bale of hay. She followed her to an alleyway where she saw Fluttershy poke her head out and was looking around to see if anyone was watching and listened in on their conversation.

"Have you seen her?" asked Rarity.

"Not since this morning," Fluttershy replied.

"Me neither, can you believe she was planning on throwing an after-birthday party today?"

"I'm just glad I was able to come up with an excuse for why I couldn't be there,"

"Me too, this is obviously going to be so much better,"

"As long as we keep her from finding out about it, it will,"

Hearing those words made Pinkie Pie sad that they didn't want to come to her party when they tell her that they always enjoy her parties. She felt something bump into her and looked to see Fluttershy had walked into her who screamed out loud upon seeing a pair of eyes staring back at her and took off with the white box.

"I thought everypony loved my parties," said Pinkie Pie sadly, at moment Rainbow Dash passed by while carrying some saddlebags.

"Hi Pinkie Pie," she went stiff upon realizing who she was talking to "Uh-oh!" then she took off at high speed.

"Rainbow Dash wait!" Pinkie Pie took out the can and spoke through it "This is Pink Puff and I'm about to pursue Rainbow Dash who is carrying bags of unknown content!"

"Roger Pink Puff, I'll be joining up with you soon," said Naruto, then Pinkie Pie jumped out of the hay and ran after Rainbow Dash.

She chased after Rainbow Dash throughout Ponyville as she tried outrun her or hide in places like the school bell but couldn't shake her off until she made her way over to Sweet Apple Acres where Applejack was walking to the barn.

"Applejack! We have a problem!" said Rainbow Dash, Applejack let out a gasp when she saw Pinkie Pie close behind, she let Rainbow Dash into the barn and quickly entered it while closing the barn door shut behind her.

Pinkie Pie was at the door and bonking it with her head, then she heard hoofsteps and turned to see Naruto approaching her "Rainbow Dash and Applejack are in there!"

"Now to find out what they're up to," Naruto walked up to the door and knocked on it, then the upper door opened up slightly to show Applejack who looked twitchy.

"Howdy pardners," said Applejack.

"Hi AJ, Pinks and I were wondering what you guys were up to," said Naruto.

"Nothing really, we aren't up to anything at all,"

"Then you won't mind if we take a look inside the barn," said Pinkie Pie, trying to poke her head in but Applejack was blocking her view which made Naruto quirk an eyebrow at her behavior.

"Uh no, not really, you can't come in, uh right now,"

"But Rainbow Dash just went in there and was carrying a bag,"

"Oh that? She was just uh bringing in some uh…supplies! Yeah she was bringing some supplies for some uh renovation! And there's a lot of construction going right as you can hear it," they listened in and could hear the sawing of wood and hammering out nails "Like I said before, we are doing some serious construction,"

"If it was construction, then I should be able to help out since I know a bit about it from my old world," said Naruto as he took a step forward.

"No! Uh I mean I appreciate the offer but I'm sure we can manage on our own, and uh I'm sure that you're busy with your shop and all that," Applejack smiled but was visibly sweating as Naruto and Pinkie Pie were staring at her quite intently with a slight frown on their faces.

"Okey…dokey…lokey," said Pinkie Pie.

"We'll be off then, just let us know if you need our help with the construction," said Naruto.

Applejack let out a sigh of relief as she watched Naruto and Pinkie Pie leave, Naruto turned his head slightly and saw Twilight and the others peep through the door and squinted his eyes a bit, soon they were back at Naruto's shop and having a discussion.

"It's obvious that they're hiding something from us, cause we all know that AJ is really bad at lying," said Naruto.

"That's right! It's nothing but secrets and lies with them, they're up to something and they don't want me to find out. Well I'm going to find out about it big time and I know just who to ask!" said Pinkie Pie.

"Really? Who?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Whoa! Nice spread!" said Spike who was sitting at a table with a large plate of gems, Pinkie Pie and Naruto at the Sugarcube Corner where the party was taking place.

"Yup and it's all yours Spike, all you have to do is talk," said Pinkie Pie.

"That's it? Okay… well uh what a beautiful weather we're having today eh? I love a sunny spring day, don't you? The birds chirping and the flowers blooming and-"

"That's not what she means Spike, Pinks is asking about our friends," said Naruto with Pinkie nodding in affirmation.

"Oh okay, though I find it weird since Pinkie knows about everypony. Well there's Twilight Sparkle, she's a unicorn, good with magic and a real brainiac. Then there's Rarity, a total knockout-," Naruto's left eye twitched upon hearing that though he can't seem to figure the reason why before focusing his attention back to the conversation "- and there's Fluttershy, a Pegasus who's afraid of heights. Heh what's up with that?"

Pinkie was shaking her head in negative "You're not understanding me! I want you to confess!"

"Confess?" Spike looked confused, then the room went dark with only a lamp pointing at him.

"Confess!" Pinkie was staring at him intently and Naruto was nearby with a pen and a notepad ready to write down whatever he says.

"Okay okay, I'll talk! I'm the one who spilled juice all over Twilight's copy of 'Magical Mysteries and Practical Potions'!" said Spike with a cringe.

"And?" asked Pinkie while Naruto was writing the statement down.

"And I'm the one who used up all the hot water in Ponyville yesterday when I took a seven-hour bubble bath!"

"That explains the cold bath I had back then," thought Naruto, he had to use a Pyro Breath to heat up the water in the tub after jumping in and getting the chills.

"Aaand?" Pinkie asked again.

"And sometimes…when no one's around…I do this," Spike brought out a tall mirror and started flexing his muscles and admiring his reflection "Looking good Spike, looking real good!"

Naruto quickly put a hoof over his mouth to keep his laughter from escaping "Not what we wanted to hear but I'm definitely writing this down," then he flinched upon receiving a from a shadow clone which he left behind at the shop, then he called out to Pinkie Pie "Hey Pinks, there's something I gotta go and get from the shop. I'll be right back,"

"Okay Naru," said Pinkie as she saw Naruto leave before turning her attention back to Spike who was intimidated by her stare.

"So w-what is it you want to hear? Tell me want you want me to say, and I'll say it!" said Spike.

"Tell me that my friends are all lying to me and avoiding me because they don't like my parties and they don't want to be my friends anymore!" said Pinkie Pie.

"Your friends are all lying to you and avoiding you because they don't like your parties and they don't want to be your friends anymore!" Spike repeated after her.

"Ah-ha! I knew it!" but then she felt depressed and even her puffy mane sort of deflated and draped over her shoulders "Oh no, my friends don't like my parties and they don't want to be my friends anymore,"

It went to the point that after Spike had left, she actually created imaginary friends with a bucket of turnips, pile of rocks, clump of lint and a bag of flour whom she calls Mr. turnip, rocky, sir lintsalot and madame le flour respectively. She was chatting with them when she heard someone knocking on the door "I wonder who could that be? Maybe Naru? He had been taking too long at his shop," But when the door opened up, she frowned when she saw that it wasn't Naruto but Rainbow Dash.

"Hey Pinkie Pie! Sorry I was in such a rush earlier. Had some place to be and couldn't slow down and say 'Hello', you know how it goes," Rainbow Dash walked in while looking apologetic.

"I know how it goes all right," Pinkie grumbled angrily, Rainbow Dash flinched a bit from the reply.

"Yeah…so why don't you come with me over to Sweet Apple Acres?"

"No thanks, I'm spending time here with my real friends and another real friend will soon be coming to join us. Isn't that right, madame le flour?"

"Oui! Zat iz correct, madame," said madame le flour with Pinkie acting as its voice.

"Uh...Pinkie Pie?" Rainbow Dash was bit weirded out by her behavior.

"Another slice of cake, sir lintsalot?"

"I'd love one," Pinkie mimicked for the clump of lint.

"Alrighty, what do you say we get out of creepytown and head over to Applejack's-" Rainbow Dash tried to approach her when a stool with a bucket of turnips got in her way.

"She's not going anywhere," 'said' Mt. turnip.

"I certainly am not, I'm having a wonderful time right here and Naruto will soon join me," said Pinkie Pie.

"You really should just come with me,"

"You heard the lady! She ain't goin' noweheres, chump!" 'said' rocky, which annoyed Rainbow Dash.

"Who you calling a chump, chump?!" Rainbow Dash paused upon realizing what she just did "That's it, party's over. Come on Pinkie Pie!"

"No!" Pinkie Pie turned away from her.

"Pinkie Pie, let's go!"

"I said no!"

Then Rainbow Dash to push her towards the door "You have...to come…with me!"

And Pinkie Pie refused to budge "No…I…don't!"

"Oh you wanna do this the hard way?! We'll do this the hard way!" Rainbow Dash grabbed her by the tail and dragged her out of the house with Gummy along for the ride, all the way to Sweet Apple Acres until stopping before the barn "We're here!"

She opened the door for Pinkie Pie to look inside and saw that the whole place was decorated with balloons, banners, and streamers. She also saw Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack wearing party hats and smiling at her.

"Surprise!" they said happily, Pinkie Pie still didn't want to go inside but Rainbow Dash pushed her in despite that.

"I really thought that she'd be more excited," said Fluttershy since Pinkie Pie wasn't reacting like they thought she would.

"Excited? Excited?! Why would I be excited to attend my own farewell party?!" said Pinkie Pie angrily.

"Farewell party?" Twilight and the others were confused by what she said.

"That's right! You don't like me anymore, so you decided to kick me out of the group and throw a great, big party to celebrate! A 'Farewell to Pinkie Pie' party! And you dragged me away from my party which Naruto said he would attend and there's no one there!"

"Why in the world would you think that we didn't like you, sugarcube?" asked Applejack which pretty angered Pinkie Pie.

"Why? Why? Why?! Because you have been lying to me avoiding me all day, that's why!"

"Uh yeah! Because we wanted your party to be a surprise. Like Naruto said 'It can't be a surprise if you already know about it'," said Rainbow Dash with a smirk which made Pinkie Pie raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"We'd be planning this party for a while now for such a long time, we had to make excuses for why we couldn't attend Gummy's party so that we could get everything ready for yours," said Rarity.

"And if it's a farewell party, why does the cake I picked up from Sugarcube Corner say 'Happy Birthday Pinkie Pie'?" said Twilight as she pointed at the cake.

Pinkie Pie took a long look around the barn more clearly and saw that there were even presents on top of a table including the cake before it finally dawned upon her as her mane puffed up "because it's my birthday! Oh how could I forget my own birthday?"

"Because it's just like you Pinks," a voice spoke out, everypony turned to see Naruto leaning against the barn door with a foxy grin on his face.

"Naru? You knew about this?" asked Pinkie.

"That's right, when we learnt that you were getting suspicious and tried to find out about our surprise party. Naruto quickly sent a shadow clone to alert before creating more and turning into us to lead you on a wild goose chase," said Twilight.

"Although we almost had our cover blown when you saw the real Rainbow Dash and chased her to the barn, so my clones who were there made those sounds to throw you off," said Naruto, Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"Then why did you leave when we were talking to Spike?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"That's because I wanted to get your present ready, as well as invite other ponies to the party,"

"So all of you liked me so much that you decided to throw me a surprise party,"

"Of course Pinks, what's not to like about you? Your cheery and excitable personality, and your tendency to act randomly always puts a smile on our faces,"

This made Pinkie Pie smile happily as she scooped everyone into a group hug "You guys are the best friends ever! How could I ever have doubted you?" she looked apologetic.

"It's alright Pinkie Pie, it could have happened to any of us," said Twilight with everypony nodding in agreement.

"Happy Birthday Pinkie Pie!" they turned to see that the ponies whom Naruto invited had finally arrived. They were Trixie, Derpy and her daughter Dinky, Vinyl Scratch, Zecora, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Mayor Mare and Big Mac.

"Alright everypony! Let's this party started!" said Naruto and everypony cheered out loud, then he turned to Vinyl "You know what to do Vinny,"

"Gotcha! Release sound system!" then several orbs came out her new medallion and transformed into loudspeakers, sound mixer and a CD player "You're on Naruto!" then she tossed a microphone towards Naruto who used his magic to catch it and started to sing as the music began to play with everypony slowly nodding to the beat.

Pharrel Williams - Happy

It might seem crazy what I'm about to say
Sunshine she's here, you can take away
I'm a hot air balloon, I could go to space
With the air, like I don't care baby by the way

Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like that's what you wanna do

Here come bad news talking this and that
Yeah, give me all you got, don't hold back
Yeah, well I should probably warn you I'll be just fine
Yeah, no offense to you don't waste your time
Here's why

Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like that's what you wanna do

Happy, bring me down
Can't nothing, bring me down
Love is too happy to bring me down
Can't nothing, bring me down
I said bring me down
Can't nothing, bring me down
Love is too happy to bring me down
Can't nothing, bring me down
I said

(Everypony joined in on the chorus with Naruto)

Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like that's what you wanna do

Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like that's what you wanna do

Happy, bring me down
Can't nothing, bring me down
Love is too happy to bring me down
Can't nothing, bring me down
I said

Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like that's what you wanna do

Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like that's what you wanna do

End of music

Everypony was cheering once the song came to, Naruto simply grinned and walked towards Pinkie Pie "Hey Pinks, I have got a nice presence for you. Release present!" an orb came out of his medallion and transformed into a parcel.

Pinkie Pie excitedly took opened up the box and took out an embroidered ball which had lots of colors and different pattern "Ooooh, what is it Naru?" the others came to listen as well especially Rarity.

"That is a Temari ball, it's pieces of silk fabric wadded up to form a ball before being wrapped with strips of fabric. They are known to symbolize deep friendship and loyalty, and whoever receives it will be blessed with a brilliant and happy," said Naruto.

"Thank you Naru! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Pinkie Pie hugged Naruto so tightly that he was finding it hard to breath, he took a glance towards Dr. Whooves and winked at him before receiving one in return. Turns out that he had the doctor do him a favor and transport him to his old world and buy the gift.

"I must say that this Temari ball has given me ideas for a new fashion," said Rarity with a twinkle in the eye.

"Hey guys, you wouldn't mind if we celebrate Gummy's after-birthday too, would you?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"Of course, I did say that I would attend," said Naruto.

"Alrighty then, let's have a party for Gummy!" said Rainbow Dash, the said alligator was seen chewing on a balloon in an attempt to pop it.

An 'Eventful' Night in Canterlot

An 'Eventful' Night in Canterlot

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 26: An 'Eventful' Night in Canterlot

"Looks like tonight's the night," said Naruto as he looked at the calendar which was hanging on a wall in his room, majority of the days in the month have been crossed out with a red marker except one that was circled and had the initials G.G.G "The Grand Galloping Gala will be held this evening over at the Canterlot Castle, but I don't see why everypony would be making such a big deal about it. I mean it's just a party like any other but that's just me talking since I'm never one for formalities,"

Then he glanced at the drawer where a golden ticket laid on top of it "Let's not forget that I was invited by the princesses personally to come along with Twilight and the girls, though it was funny what happened when the tickets first showed up in Celestia's letter," Naruto snickered as he recalled a few months ago.

When the letter came, there were two tickets attached to it, one for Twilight and the other for whomever she wants to bring along. This led to the others doing everything they can to impress Twilight so that she will take one of them along to the Gala for their own reasons. Applejack wanted to raise enough money to improve the farm, Rainbow Dash wanted to impress the Wonderbolts to let her join them, Rarity wanted to have a chance encounter with her prince charming, Pinkie Pie thought that it would be a bigger party than the ones she puts up and Fluttershy wanted to see the animals in the castle garden.

However the competition led into total chaos especially when everypony in town heard about it and wanted to go as well, Naruto had to help Twilight and Spike out by using a smoke bomb before creating two shadow clones who transformed into them to serve as distractions for them to escape to the library. But when they got there, it turns out that Applejack and the others had been waiting but were there to apologize for their behavior.

Then Twilight wrote a letter to the princess that she can't bring herself to choose one of her friends to bring along to the Gala and so won't be able to attend, but the funny thing was when she received a reply from Celestia saying why she didn't simply tell her the problem and so had attached four more tickets to the letter. It was even funnier when they realized that Naruto didn't have a ticket until he told them that he already has a ticket which he received personally from the princesses when he went to visit them during one of his deliveries over at Canterlot.

Naruto chuckled as he remembered the girls looking at him with their mouths gaping open in surprise before asking why he didn't tell them to which he responded that they didn't ask until now. "Well I better head over to the Carousel Boutique and get ready to put on my tuxedo since Rare wouldn't let me bring it home, saying something like I might ruin it and there would be no time to fix it,"

With that said, Naruto left the mansion and soon found himself over at his destination and found the girls already waiting there, Pinkie Pie was playing on a trampoline, Twilight was sitting nearby and reading a book with Spike watching her, and Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were just arriving.

"Hiya Naru! Are you excited to be going to the Grand Galloping Gala tonight? I know I am! And Twilight, and Rarity, and Fluttershy, and Applejack, and Rainbow Dash!" said Pinkie Pie as she continued to bounce on the trampoline.

"Keep it down Pinkie Pie, I can't concentrate on my reading with you being so loud," said Twilight, looking up from her book.

"Come on Twilight, you can't hold it against her for being overexcited since she's been looking forward to it for a while now, I'm sure the same could be said for the others," said Naruto.

"You're right about that pardner," said Applejack.

"I can't wait to meet the Wonderbolts! They'll definitely let me in when I show them my skills!" said Rainbow Dash with stars in her eyes.

"I'm looking forward to seeing all kinds of animals in the castle garden," said Fluttershy.

"What about you Naruto?" asked Spike curiously.

"I'm not one for formal parties and stuff like that, but doesn't mean that it hasn't piqued my interest so I'll still be coming along," said Naruto "Especially since the majority of ponies in Canterlot are so full of themselves, they are similar to the nobles back in my old world with that 'You're below me attitude',"

"That's great, I just know that we'll all have fun together," Spike spoke happily to which Naruto smiled in response to the young dragon.

Then Rarity came out of the boutique and saw Pinkie Pie bouncing on the trampoline and trotted over with a small frown on her face "Pinkie Pie stop that right now, it's almost time for the Gala and I won't be letting you put on your dress when you're all sweaty," hearing this made Pinkie Pie stop bouncing and jump off the trampoline with a pout.

"Okay, I'm all set. Spike you can bring it out now," said Twilight, then Spike took out an apple and placed it on the ground before everypony much to their curiosity.

"Ooooh, are we going to make apple pie?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"I don't think so Pinks, maybe Twilight is going to perform a spell on the apple," said Naruto.

"You're right about that Naruto, just watch," said Twilight, then she closed her eyes in concentration as the apple glowed brightly before it grew to a large size and the light faded away to reveal an apple-shaped carriage in its place.

"Whoa, that's pretty cool. Somehow it feels as if I read something like this from a storybook though I can't seem to recall the title,"

"Well this is just the start of things, we just need one more," Twilight turned to Fluttershy "Did you bring your friends Fluttershy?"

Then four white mice popped out of Fluttershy's mane and hopped to the ground "Yes but, will they be okay?"

"They'll be just fine," Twilight's horn lit up again and the mice were transformed into carriage horses, the odd thing was that they still had whiskers and large front teeth. The others just didn't know what to say about that "And you won't have to worry as they'll turn back into mice by midnight,"

"I read like something this from the book too, why can't I remember?" Naruto snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a loud yowl and looked up to see Rarity's pet cat Opalescence pouncing the mice turned horses.

"Opalescence, no!" Fluttershy called out but she was too late as the cat had frightened the mice-horses to run away.

"Oh no, those horses are supposed to pull our carriages. How will we get to the Gala?" Twilight felt worried about the current situation.

"Oh whatever shall we do? My dear Twilight, you seem to have forgotten about a certain pony who can be in more than two places at once," Rarity glanced to the side with Twilight following it to see Naruto before her eyes widened in realization of what she meant.

"Of course! Naruto can create shadow clones to pull the carriage to the Gala," said Twilight.

"Well if it's shadow clones you need, then I can help out with that," said Naruto with a nod.

"Now that our means of transportation has been resolved, let us go inside and prepare ourselves for the Gala tonight," Rarity led everyone into the boutique and through a door leading to another, but she closed the door and locked it before Naruto and Spike could come through which left them standing there and looking confused.

"Hey Rare, what gives? Why did you lock us out?" asked Naruto.

Spike was banging on the door "Yeah, let us in already!"

"Sure thing guys," they heard Rainbow Dash's voice as she was approaching the door, but then they heard Rarity protest.

"Heavens no! We're getting dressed!"

"Uh beg your pardon Rarity, but we don't always wear clothes," said Applejack.

Rarity groaned before unlocking the door and opening it for Naruto and Spike to enter "I'm sorry you two, some of us do have standards,"

"It's okay Rare," said Naruto with a smile, he looked around to see Twilight and Pinkie Pie standing underneath hairdryers, Rainbow Dash sitting on a large cushion with a towel wrapped around her mane, Rarity putting on fake eyelashes, and Applejack polishing Fluttershy's hooves.

"But I still can't believe that we're gonna be at Canterlot tonight! I know you've been there many times Naruto, but it's where Twilight and I came from, and I can't wait to hang out with all of you!" Spike looked very excited to which Naruto smiled at.

Rainbow Dash looked a bit unsure "Uh…I don't know, Spike,"

"We'll just have to see," Rarity blinked her eyes to make sure that the fake eyelashes won't fall out.

Applejack spat on Fluttershy's hoof and resumed polishing much to her discomfort "We're gonna be a mite busy,"

"Busy having fun!" Pinkie Pie took the hairdryer off to reveal her mane straightened and draped over her shoulders before puffing up back to normal immediately afterwards.

"Oh okay," Spike sat on a couch while feeling down.

"Cheer up Spike, I'm sure we'll make time to hang out together so don't be so down in the dumps," Naruto prodded Spike's shoulder while grinning, making Spike smile a little.

"Naruto's right, we'll all get to spend some time together," Twilight as she used a small brush to apply makeup to her muzzle from the makeup kit.

Spike smiled widely upon hearing that "That's great!"

"Now then, while we're getting ourselves ready. You and Naruto should go and put on your suits, and you can find them in the next room. Also don't come out until we're all in the carriage," said Rarity before using her magic to levitate Naruto and Spike out of the room and closing the door.

"Something tells me that she just wanted us out of the room," Naruto with a deadpanned expression.

Spike simply shrugged his shoulders "No matter, let's go and get ourselves ready for the Gala,"

Then they went into the next room and found the suits worn by mannequins, later on they're sitting on chairs both wearing a tuxedo tops over white collar shirts and bowties, although Spike's bowtie is red and Naruto's being orange much to his fancy but he had to put away his headband and goggles knowing that Rarity might put up a fuss about it clashing with his attire. Then they went to sit on the driver's seat with Naruto's clones already strapped on to the reins and the girls were inside the carriage chattering excitedly.

"I can't wait to show them my insider's tour in Canterlot. I wanna show Rarity the crown jewels, Applejack the princesses' golden apples, and Pinkie Pie will definitely love the donuts at my favorite donut shop," said Spike.

"Those sound like pretty cool places to check out," said Naruto.

"Yup which is why we need to get moving! Hiya!" Spike whipped the reins to spur the clones to move faster.

"Yeow!" one of the clones cried out before vanishing into puffs of smoke, Naruto winced a bit from the phantom pains of his clones before turning to give Spike a look as if saying 'Seriously?'

Spike rubbed the back of his head while looking embarrassed "Heh heh heh, sorry about that…I got too excited,"

A few hours after creating another pair of clones to pull the carriage, they finally arrived at the Canterlot castle. Naruto and Spike got off the driver's seat and opened the door of the carriage with a bow, they looked up and were mesmerized upon seeing what the mares are wearing.

"Whoa! You all look amazing! Don't you think so Naruto?" said Spike, when he didn't hear an answer he turned to see Naruto staring at the girls with a dazed look on his face. He shook Naruto, snapping him out of his reverie and look around in confusion.

"Huh what?" then he saw the girls giggling at him and turned away to hide his blush "Uh I think I'll park the carriage while you girls go inside, I'll join you soon," he walked off with his clones and after parking the carriage, he returned to the entrance and passed through to the interior of the castle "No matter how many times I come here, this place always amazes me," he looked around and saw many ponies walking around and having conversations with each other. He turned to a flight of stairs in the middle of the hall and saw princess Celestia at the top with Twilight by her side and went to meet them.

"Good evening princess Celestia and Twilight," said Naruto with a bow.

"It certainly is nice to see you here at the Grand Galloping Gala, Naruto," said Celestia with a smile.

"Thanks, but I was wondering where princess Luna is at the moment?"

"My sister had just returned from raising the moon and is in her room getting herself ready. In the meantime, why don't you walk around and meet with other ponies until she arrives?"

"That sounds like a good idea, I'll see you two later then," Naruto turned to leave.

"I hope you enjoy your time here," Celestia waved as she and Twilight watched him walk back down the stairs and disappear into the crowd "I must say that he certainly looks handsome in that tuxedo,"

"I know, although he was whining that it wasn't orange except for the tie," said Twilight to which Celestia giggled at.

"I've always wondered why he is so attached to that particular color,"

"Naruto himself says he doesn't know either, just that he felt a connection with it,"

"We may speak about it later as the guests are arriving," said Celestia, bringing Twilight's attention to see a long line of ponies coming to greet them.

Meanwhile Naruto was walking amongst the crowd as he watched many earth ponies and unicorns in fancy clothing chatting while others are having a drink at the buffet table. He felt awkward since he doesn't know how to start up a conversation with any of them, then he overheard to couple of ponies talking and listened in out of curiosity.

"I'm telling you my friend, it was an outrage! I just walking along the street minding my own business when a carriage passed by and ran over a puddle, splashing mud all over my new suit which I had custom ordered on that very day," said pony #1.

"What an outrage! That no good scoundrel deserves to be arrested and heavily fined for such a travesty," said pony #2 with a look of disgust.

"Truer words couldn't be spoken my friend," said pony #1.

Naruto walked away from the ponies with a sweatdrop "I don't think I could ever understand the mindset of these aristocratic ponies," he was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard someone call out his name.

"Could it be sir Naruto?"

He turned around to see a pony in a butler's outfit approaching him and immediately recognized who it was "Is that you John? It's been a while,"

"It is indeed a pleasure to see you again," said Jonathan with a smile.

"If you're here, does that mean your master and mistress are here too?"

"That is correct as I am accompanying them to the Gala. Why don't I introduce them to you? I'm sure that they'll be pleased to meet the inventor of the crystals,"

"Sure, I would like to meet them. Since I don't have anything to do right now," said Naruto "Or anypony to talk to at the moment,"

"Splendid, now if you would follow me this way," Jonathan walked off with Naruto right behind him, they walked into another hallway until he finally stopped and gestured ahead of them "There they are," Naruto looked in the direction and saw two ponies standing just a short distance away.

One is a male unicorn with a white coat, and azure mane and tail, Naruto also noticed that his horn is a bit larger than that of other unicorns aside from his bladelike horn. The unicorn is wearing an expensive looking tuxedo with a light purple bowtie and an ID card attached to it, he also wears a monocle on his left eye, and his cutie mark is three crowns with a purple diamond embedded in each.

The other is a female unicorn with a light gray coat and a pale pink with whitish streaks for a mane and tail. She wears a white ball gown, but Naruto could see her cutie mark which shows three flowers whose petals are joined together, two small purple flowers hover above each side of the large golden one.

"Whoa, those two look really high class," thought Naruto as he approached them with John by his side, the male unicorn turned and smiled upon seeing the butler walking up to them with someone by him.

"Ah Jonathan, who would this young stallion be that you brought along with you?" asked the male unicorn.

"Master, I would like to introduce you to Mr. Naruto Uzumaki, the owner of the Whirlpool over at Ponyville and the inventor of those crystals," said John before turning to Naruto "And this is my master, Mr. Fancy Pants, and my mistress Miss Fleur Dis Lee,"

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Fancy Pants," Naruto held out a hoof to shake which Fancy Pants complied with a smile.

"And it is a pleasure to meet you as well, I never would have thought that my butler was familiar with the one who created those wonderful crystals as they are quite favored among us nobles,"

"I must agree with him, your crystals has made my shopping so much easier for me, no longer would I have to worry about lack of space in my shopping bags," said Fleur Dis Lee with a flick of her long mane.

Naruto felt a bit embarrassed since he rarely receives compliments from others much "Thanks, I'm just glad that my crystals could help so many ponies,"

"Indeed they do, and I'm curious to ask how you were able to come with such beneficial creations?" asked Fancy Pants.

"Well during my travels, I discovered these crystals in a cave and noticed that they contain certain amounts of magic within. Then after much studying, I discovered that applying fuinjutsu to them could produce various effects depending on what kind of seal I place on them,"

"Fuinjutsu?" asked Fleur Dis Lee with a look of curiosity.

"It means sealing techniques, it is the art of sealing many things like objects, energy and quite possibly living beings within another object. However it is a very complex art, and making a slight mistake could result in disaster so only those with a lot of experience can use fuinjutsu," said Naruto.

Fancy Pants looked at Naruto in wonder "Astounding, but if you say that only the experienced can use such art. Then how can someone as young as you be able to use it if you could excuse me in case I'm being rude,"

Naruto simply nodded his head in understanding "It's quite alright, that would be because of my clan the Uzumakis. We were well known to be highly proficient in fuinjutsu and can easily understand complex seals at a mere glance,"

"I've never heard of such a clan in here in Equestria,"

"That's because we're from a faraway land so you wouldn't have heard of us," said Naruto "Especially since I'm from a different dimension,"

"If you won't mind me asking, but what are those markings on your cheeks?" asked Fleur Dis Lee.

Naruto rubbed the whisker marks on his cheeks "Oh these? They're actually birthmarks,"

"Really? Well they certainly give you a unique appearance,"

"Thanks, you're actually the second to say something like that to me," Naruto smiled happily.

"As much as we enjoyed this conversation, we must go and meet some of our acquaintances. Though I do hope that we meet again over a cup of tea," said Mr. Fancy Pants.

"Sure, anytime at all," Fancy Pants nodded in approval before walking off with Fleur Dis Lee next to him.

"I hope to see you again soon Mr. Naruto and have a good time in the Gala," Jonathan turned and went after his master and mistress as Naruto watched them leave.

"I like those guys, they're completely different from the other nobles and much nicer," Naruto started to look around and thought of where to go next "I wonder how the others are doing? I'm sure they're having fun right now,"

What Naruto didn't know was that he was only half right, apparently when the girls split up things started out okay but then it didn't go the way they expected it to be. For Applejack, she set up a stall at where there are ponies around to sell her food. It started out okay when a member of the Wonderbolts came by and bought a large apple pie much to her joy but then that was her only customer so far as no one else had come to purchase any more of her food.

Rainbow Dash spotted the Wonderbolts and was thinking of a way to get their attention, when one of the members who was the same pony that bought an apple pie accidentally let go of it much to his distress. She moved quickly and was able to catch the pie before it fell to the ground, this impressed them to the point that they invited Rainbow Dash to the VIP section of the Gala much to her joy. However that was just it and they didn't pay attention to her anymore.

Fluttershy was at the castle garden to make an acquaintance with the animals living there, she could hear them in garden but no matter how much she tried to coax them to come out and meet her, they would just avoid her much to her disappointment.

Pinkie Pie had wandered into a hall where she saw the dance floor, a live band and a lot of ponies. This made her so excited that she started to sing and dance aloud, wanting everypony to join in with her. But none of the ponies shared her enthusiasm and simply ignored her.

For Rarity, she was currently with a handsome unicorn by the name Prince Blueblood whom had caught her eye and was hoping to get to know him better. But she learnt that he wasn't quite what she envisioned her prince charming to be. It was when she was admiring a red rose in the garden then Blueblood plucked it up but instead of offering it to her like she expected, he rather attached it to his vest while saying that it made him look even more handsome much to her disappointment.

And for Twilight, ever since she arrived at the Gala, she had been by princess Celestia's side but can't seem to spend the time together because the guests just keep arriving and offering their respects to the princess, not giving them the time to even exchange ten words.

This wasn't what they had hoped for when they came to the Grand Galloping Gala, but they were determined to make this the best night ever.

Meanwhile Naruto was still walking around the halls, but he had a small frown on his face "I never thought that most of these high class ponies can be so darn fussy," after meeting Mr. Fancy Pants and Miss Fleur Dis Lee, he tried to mingle with the other ponies in the party, however he got snubbed for his 'inability' to hold a conversation or his whisker marks which they claim to make him look roguish. He found his way to a balcony and sat there looking at the scene before him, then he looked up to the moon illuminating the night sky "Well at least the moon looks beautiful tonight,"

"Thank you for the compliment," Naruto turned around to the source of the voice to see Princess Luna standing there with a smile on her face.

Naruto smiled upon seeing her "Luna! It's great to see you again!"

"Hello Naruto, it's also good to see you here at the Gala. I hope you're enjoying your evening here,"

"Yeah, I met some ponies who were really nice to talk to, but the rest weren't so nice to me with their fussy attitudes," said Naruto "But I'm sure Twilight and the others are having more fun than me,"

"Well some nobles do have certain standards. But had they known who you were, they would have acted differently towards you," said Luna.

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto with a look of confusion.

"I don't know if you have noticed, but your crystals have made you quite the celebrity in the royal circles. But then who would have thought that the pony who made those wonderful crystals is the very same one delivering them," Luna smiled knowingly at Naruto who was rubbing the back of his head while looking sheepish.

"Well I'm not one for staying in one place for too long and I like to check out new places most of the time,"

Luna giggled a bit "So how are things in Ponyville? And did Kami give you a mission to another world?"

"Things are okay, and I did get a mission from Kami-sama," Naruto turned to stare at the moon again "And the world that I went to…was my old world,"

"Oh…I see, what happened?"

"My mission was to protect the descendant of a priestess who had sealed away a demon by the name Moryo, the demon had tried to use an invincible army to conquer the elemental nations. But the priestess stopped him by separating his soul from his body and placing them in two different places. Later on, somepony went and released the Moryo's soul and raised the army again with the intentions to reunite it with the body. Then he sent a group of ninjas to kill the priestess in order to avoid be sealed away again,"

"Oh my, so you had to protect the new priestess from danger,"

"I quickly moved in to protect her, and it was there that I reunited with my friends from the Hidden Leaf. At first they were hostile towards me thinking that I was an impostor since they saw my old body being buried back at the village but I was able to convince them that I was the real deal. They were really happy to see me again, especially my team mate Sakura," Naruto smiled softly.

"I'm sure that they really missed you," Luna smiled gently.

"They weren't the only ones," then Naruto continued to tell her how he met the priestess whose name is Shion and how she has the power to foretell the future and the deaths of the people close to her. Luna was horrified when he said that she foretold his death but was able to calm down since he's alive right now in front of her, he spoke of his battle with one of the ninjas all the way to his final battle against Moryo "…then Shion and I combined our chakras to form a Rasengan which was different from normal and used it to defeat Moryo once and for all. Then after the battle, I met up with more of my old friends. Shion revealed to me that Moryo was born from the darkness of people's hearts and that he might return but I assured her that I'll always be there to help when that time comes,"

"That is quite an adventure Naruto, but I feel as if you would have wanted to return with them to the village," said Luna.

"You're right about that, I really wanted to go back with them but…," Naruto trailed off as he looked at the night sky.

"But?"

"I didn't want to leave you all behind, because you're all precious to me. Besides I can always revisit them at any time," said Naruto with foxy grin, Luna also smiled happily at what he said.

"Even when he had to opportunity to go back, he still choose to come back to us. You're really one of a kind Naruto," thought Luna "But Naruto, when are you going to reveal to Twilight and the others about your missions to other world?"

"It's eventual they'll know, but I just need the right time to tell them about it," said Naruto "But enough about me, how are things going for you and Celestia here in Canterlot?"

"Things are going quite well for us, although the nobles still act wary around me," Luna looked down at the ground when she said the last part.

Naruto let out a sigh, knowing that she's going through what he had back in the Hidden Leaf "Give them some more time to look past what happened back then, and they'll see you for who you really are. Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria and Alicorn of the moon,"

Luna gave Naruto a heartfelt smile "Thank you Naruto, that truly means a lot to me,"

Suddenly they heard a loud commotion going on below and looked at each other in confusion.

"What's going on?" asked Naruto.

"I don't know but let us make haste and find out," said Luna.

They hurried down to where the party is held and came upon a rather interesting scene, they arrived to see a large Alicorn statue fallen over with Rainbow Dash underneath as if trying to hold it back.

"With this, I'll definitely be with the Wonderbolts!" said Rainbow Dash, but the statue was heavier than she thought since the weight was making her teeter back and forth.

"Dash, watch out for that pillar!" Naruto was too late with his warning as she bumped into the pillar, causing it to tip over and collide with another pillar resulting in all the surrounding pillars to break apart and the statue itself broke into pieces.

"Oh my,"

They turned to see Celestia and Twilight coming through the door to see all this, with Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity looking worried.

"Well at least it can't get any worse," said Twilight.

Naruto let out a groan upon hearing "Twilight, you just invoked Murphy's Law by saying that, and now things will get a whole lot worse,"

As if confirming his statement, the ground started to shake and the doors leading to the castle garden burst open with many animals and birds of different varieties rushing in and Fluttershy was behind them with an angered look in her eyes which was a surprise to Naruto.

"You will love me!" Fluttershy yelled out.

Everypony were thrown into a panic as they ran helter-skelter to escape the chaos and animals.

"I kinda hope that Fancy Pants, Fleur Dis Lee and John aren't around to witness this," thought Naruto, then he saw Celestia whisper to Twilight that they should run, and she whistled to catch the other's attention.

Applejack and the others turned to see Twilight and Naruto gesturing for them to come this way so that they could get out of here. They all ran through the door and down the staircase when they heard Pinkie Pie call out to Rarity.

"Oooh! Rarity, your glass slipper! Now your prince will be sure to find you!" said Pinkie Pie.

Rarity let out a horrified shriek before quickly running up the stairs and crushing the slipper with her hoof much to Naruto's surprise and confusion "Let's go!"

"But where do we go from here?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"I know a place we can go to, come on," said Twilight before leading the way for Naruto and the others to follow.

"Yo Pony Joe, another donut over here," said Spike who was currently sitting on a stool at a counter in the donut shop which he told Naruto about, turns out he was there the whole time since Twilight and the others split up in the Gala.

"Haven't you had enough?" asked the shopkeeper known as Joe.

"Dude I want another donut, and this one with sprinkles!"

"Mind if you order up for us too Spike?" Spike turned around to see Naruto grinning at him with Twilight and the others entering the shop.

"Hey guys! How did the Gala go? How was your best night ever?" Spike ran over to them, wanting to know what happened at the Grand Galloping Gala.

"Actually Spike…," Twilight then told him all that happened at the Gala with the others telling their story as well.

"Whoa! Sounds like the worst night ever!" said Spike.

"It was!" everypony said simultaneously before breaking into laughter.

"I just hope Princess Celestia and Princess Luna isn't upset with us for ruining the Gala," said Twilight worriedly.

"I don't think so Twilight, I'm pretty sure that they rather enjoyed it," said Naruto, since he knew how they are.

"You're definitely right about that Naruto," everypony turned to see Princess Celestia standing at the entrance along with Luna and both were smiling.

"I must agree with Naruto, tonight's party was much more interesting than the previous ones," said Luna.

"But Princess, tonight was just…awful," said Twilight.

"Oh Twilight, the Grand Galloping Gala is always awful,"

"And quite boring as well since it's always the same as the previous ones," said Luna with Naruto nodding in agreement.

"That was why we were so happy that you would all be attending, we were hoping that you could liven things up a bit," said Celestia.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at hearing that "Really? Then if that was the case, I would have let myself loose all over the place instead of acting all chummy with all those nobles,"

Luna giggled "Indeed you would had you known,"

"Although the night didn't turn out the way you wanted it, but you must admit that it wasn't all that bad for you and your friends,"

"You're right Princess, friends at times can make the worst into something pretty great," said Twilight with a smile.

"Yeah like hanging out with friends," said Rainbow Dash.

"Making new friends too," said Naruto with a foxy grin.

"Talking," said Fluttershy.

"Laughing!" said Pinkie Pie.

"You mean doing exactly what I wanted to do the whole time?" said Spike with a smirk.

"That's right my draconic buddy, we should have followed your idea from the get-go," said Naruto.

"Well as horrible as our night was…" said Applejack.

"Being together here has made it all better," said Rarity.

"In fact, it's made it…" Pinkie Pie began.

"The best night ever!" everypony said it simultaneously before breaking into laughter as they began to have their own fun in the donut shop.

A Chaotic Awakening

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 27: A Chaotic Awakening

Naruto was currently in the training room at the basement and was facing the training dummy which was made of straw with a bull's-eye at the center of it. Naruto's horn lit up with orange aura as several kunais floated out of his ninja pouch and hovered overhead.

"Here I go!" Naruto quickly moved as his tail poked through the hoop of one of the kunai and flung it towards the dummy, but he didn't stop there as he continued to grab the other kunai and throw them as well until all of them had hit the target with none missing the straw dummy "Bolt chain!" a stream of lightning shot out of his horn and raced towards the dummy as it hit one of the kunai before arcing towards the others before it was turned into nothing but charred remains.

"Whew, that was a good workout," said Naruto as he wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead with a hoof then he levitated the kunai back into his ninja pouch "Man I'm thirsty, time to get a drink," he headed upstairs and made his way to the kitchen, there he opened the fridge and levitated a jug of orange juice out and placed it in the table.

Naruto went to the cupboard to bring out a cup before walking back to the table "It's kinda quiet around here with Scoots being with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to write an essay about their field trip to Canterlot, and Trixie is busy with something else. All in all, it's just another normal day," Naruto levitated the jug over the glass and tipped it over to pour the juice out…only for nothing to come out?

"Huh?" Naruto tried it again and still got the same result, thinking that it might be empty he placed it on the table and used his tail to lift it only to notice that it felt a bit weighted much to his surprise. He turned the jug upside down and started to move it up and down to force the content out "Will…you…come…OUT!"

Sure enough something came out of the jug as it plopped into the cup with a wobble, Naruto approached cautiously with a spoon and poked it as it wobbled from the contact "What's this, I know very well that it was juice when I put it in the fridge so why this?" his curiosity got the better of him as he scooped a bit with his spoon and put it in his mouth, his eyes widened in surprise at the taste "Jelly? But how did orange juice turn into jelly?" he took another scoop and ate it "Not that I really mind anyway…this stuff taste good!"

After eating the juice turned jelly, Naruto opened a cookie jar and took one out to eat "Might as well eat a cookie to accompany the jelly," he took a bite and his eyes widened again only this time he was spitting the cookie out and ran to the sink to rinse his mouth before looking at the cookie jar with shock "What the hay?! Why did that cookie taste so salty?! This is becoming too weird for me, I think I better walk out to clear my head over this,"

Naruto walked out of the mansion after distastefully getting rid of the cookie in kitchen. Naruto was thinking about the oddity in the kitchen, then he looked up to find himself standing in front of the library "Maybe she might have an idea of what happened this morning," Naruto walked over to the door and knocked on it, after a few moments it opened to reveal Twilight who smiled upon seeing him.

"Oh hey Naruto, how's your day?" said Twilight.

"Hi Twilight, my day has been pretty weird though," Naruto replied.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Twilight curiously, then Naruto told her of what had happened in the kitchen "That does seem quite unusual, are you sure that you didn't leave the cookies for them to go bad?"

"Twilight, I bought those cookies from the Sugarcube Corner yesterday and we both know that Pinks or the Cakes would never make a mistake like this," said Naruto.

"You're right, but still-"

*Drip* something splashed on Naruto's muzzle much to their surprise, they looked up to see a pink cloud hovering above them. Before either could say anything, brown droplets started to fall from the cloud. Naruto licked a droplet from his cheek and was surprised at the taste.

"It tastes like…chocolate milk? Seriously, what's going on today?" said Naruto.

"I don't know Naruto, maybe one of the books in the library can explain this phenomenon," said Twilight before she dashed back into the library. Naruto noticed that a large cluster of pink clouds hovered over Sweet Apple Acres and even caught sight of a streak of rainbow.

"Twilight, I think we should head over to the apple orchard. I think Applejack and maybe the others are over there," said Naruto.

"Okay Naruto, let's go," Twilight came out while levitating a spell book before her.

"Hey wait for me!" Spike came running out of the library after them.

The trio made their way to the Sweet Apple Acres and came upon a rather strange sight before them. There were large heaps of popcorn kernels, the apples had grown so large that the trees sagged to the weight and several animals were eating. Rabbits with abnormally long legs were seen running around with Fluttershy watching in disbelief and let's not forget that it's raining cats and dogs with the pink clouds with Rainbow Dash chasing after them.

Naruto saw Pinkie Pie enjoying herself as she dived from one heap of popcorn to another while eating and drinking from the chocolate rain "Are you seeing this Naru? Popcorns, chocolate rain and cotton candy clouds! This is paradise!"

"Only for you Pinkie Pie, but this is a disaster! Does anypony know how to stop this?" said Applejack.

Rarity walked up to them while dressed in a fancy raincoat and carrying an umbrella "I certainly do agree with Applejack, these weather conditions are certainly not good for my beautiful mane,"

"Don't worry everyone, I've just learned a new spell that'll fix everything," said Twilight as she sealed the spell book into her medallion.

"Go for it Twilight," said Naruto.

Twilight closed her eyes in concentration as her horn lit up before unleashing a large purple wave of magic as it spread throughout the area and enveloped the oddities in a bright light. As the light faded away, everypony looked around only to see that…nothing had changed in the least bit! Twilight was in disbelief at what didn't happen.

"My failsafe spell…failed? What do we do?"

"Uh give up?" said Spike to which Twilight frowned at.

"We can't give up on something like this Spike," said Naruto.

"Naruto is right Spike, I'm sure Twilight will come up with something. She always does," said Rarity with Naruto nodding in agreement.

Twilight thought deeply about her next plan "Hmmmm, time for plan B. Rainbow Dash could you corral all those clouds in one corner of the sky?"

"All over it!" Rainbow Dash flew off as she grabbed each every one of the pink clouds and gathered them in one place, she swirled around them to meld into one large cloud.

"Applejack and Naruto, I need you two to bring those high-strung storm clouds down to earth,"

"Got it Twilight, let's do it AJ," said Naruto as he focused on his chakra.

"You got it pardner," Applejack took out her lasso and was spinning it around.

Naruto shot out a chakra tendril as Applejack threw out her lasso with both snaring the large pink cloud and proceeded to pull it towards the ground, Naruto held it in place while Applejack tied the other end of the rope to a fence in order to anchor it to the ground before Naruto let the chakra tendril disappear. Twilight moved on to the next phase of her plan when she whispered something into Fluttershy's ear who nodded in affirmation and spoke out loud

"Oh dear, I hope that none of the animals see these delicious chocolate-filled cotton candy clouds. I'd hate to have to share them," said Fluttershy.

"You and me both sister," said Pinkie who was taking a bite out of the clouds, but then all the animals rushed to the clouds and started to eat them much to her annoyance "Hey!"

"And when ya'll are done with that, feel free to have some popcorn for dessert," said Applejack while she walked up to the others.

"You see Spike, you should never give up. There's nothing we can't overcome if we all work together," said Twilight confidently.

"You got that right Twilight," said Naruto.

Suddenly Spike belched up a flicker of green flames which faded to reveal a rolled up parchment sealed with a red ribbon, Twilight levitated the scroll and opened it before reading.

"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna wants to see us all in Canterlot immediately!" said Twilight.

"Maybe they know something about the strange stuff that's been happening around us," said Naruto.

In Canterlot castle, Celestia was pacing up and down the throne room with worry and Luna was trying to calm her sister down.

"Sister please be calm, Naruto and the other bearers are on their way to help resolve the situation," said Luna.

"I know Luna, but I can't help but worry. Our spell was supposed to have been permanent and now he has returned to resume his rule over Equestria,"

"I know very well Celestia, which is why they coming to help stop that before it begins,"

At that moment the doors to the throne room opened to reveal Naruto and the other mares running inside towards them much to their relief.

"Princess Celestia, we came as soon as we could!" said Twilight.

"Thank you for coming," said Celestia.

"Is it about the weather? Or the animals' weird behavior? What's happening out there and why isn't my magic working?" Twilight would have continued talking had Celestia not held out a hoof for her to stop.

"Follow us," Celestia and Lunar walked into a hallway with Twilight and the others followed close behind.

Naruto looked around and saw that the stained glass windows were displaying different sorts of pictures, he saw one of Celestia and Luna with the Elements of Harmony surrounding them. Another showed Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie wearing their signature elements. Naruto saw a picture of himself wearing Kosei no Ha while when his around his neck to show that he is the first bearer of the new Element of Purity. Then he saw a picture of all of them defeating Nightmare Moon, after watching for a bit Naruto turned his attention back to the princesses.

"We called you here in a matter of great importance, it seems an old foe of ours someone we thought to have defeated long has returned," said Celestia.

"Who is it princess?" asked Twilight curiously.

"His name…is Discord," Luna said the name with distaste in her voice.

Naruto heard Fluttershy let out a squeal of fright before she hid behind him and was quivering, he turned to what scared her and saw a stained glass window which displayed a picture of an odd looking creature. It has the body of a brown horse, the head of a gray goat with a white beard, an ivory deer antler and a turquoise goat horn, a black donkey mane, a long fang and an orange snake tongue. The rest of it consists of a right paw of a lion, a left talon of an eagle, right leg of a green lizard. The left wing is of a purple bat and the right one is of a blue bird, and it has a red dragon tail with a white tuft at the end.

"Whoa, so this guy must be Discord. Talk about a walking zoo," thought Naruto.

"Discord is a mischievous spirit of disharmony. Before my sister and I stood up to him, he rules over Equestria in an eternal state and unhappiness," said Celestia.

"I remember it as if it was just yesterday, many Pegasi, earth ponies and unicorns suffered under his twisted rule over the land. It angers me just remembering it," said Luna with a frown on her face.

"The guy sounds just like Gato, ruling over others with fear and making them fall into despair," said Naruto, the mares knew whom he was talking about from watching his memories.

"Indeed Naruto, so after discovering the Elements. We combined our powers and rose up against him, turning him into stone," said Celestia.

"All right, Princess!" said Rainbow Dash.

"We thought that the spell we cast would keep him contained forever, but since Luna and I are no longer connected to the Elements, the spell has been broken,"

"No longer connected?" Twilight was confused at what her teacher said.

Soon they reached the end of the hallway and stood before a multicolored double door which has the image of the sun at the center of it.

"This is Canterlot Tower, where the Elements are kept inside since all of you recovered them. We need you to wield the Elements of Harmony once again and stop Discord before he thrusts all of Equestria into eternal chaos,"

"But why us Princess Celestia? Since you two were able to defeat Discord with the Elements, then you should be able to do it again," said Twilight hesitantly.

"Remember what Celestia said Twilight, that they are no longer connected to the Elements. Then that means that they can't use them anymore," said Naruto.

"Since we are able to use the Elements…" Rarity began.

"Then that means we're the ponies to kick Discord's butt!" Rainbow Dash finished by punching the air.

"You're right, you all showed the full potential of the Elements by harnessing the magic of your friendship to defeat Nightmare Moon, and with the addition of the new Element I know that you can defeat Discord,"

Hearing this convinced Twilight as she stepped forward "Very well, you can count o-,"

"Hold on a second Twilight! Eternal chaos with chocolate rain, you guys. Chocolate rain!" said Pinkie Pie looking desperate.

"Pinks, that would also mean no more laughter or parties," Naruto deadpanned.

"On second thought, Discord's going down!"

"Please ignore her Princess, we would be honored to use the Elements of Harmony again," said Twilight.

Celestia nodded before turning towards the door, she inserted her horn into a hole located at the center of the sun which began to glow before it slowly opened to reveal inside a box studded with colorful gems, placed on top of a pedestal.

"Ooooh, you can keep the Elements. I'll take that case!" said Rarity with glitters in her eyes while Naruto shook his head in amusement.

Celestia levitated the box from the pedestal towards them "Have no fear ponies, we have total confidence that you will be able to defeat Discord with these!" she opened the box to reveal…nothing?

Everypony let out a gasp while Celestia dropped the empty box in shock that the crucial tools needed for their victory were missing.

"Oh well, if anyone needs me. I'll be outside in the chocolate puddles with a giant swizzle straw," Pinkie Pie was trotting off when she got pulled back by a chakra tendril wrapped around her courtesy of Naruto.

"Not so fast Pinks, we need to focus on the new situation here," said Naruto.

"The Elements are gone! How's this impossible?!" said Twilight worriedly.

"That chamber is protected by a powerful spell that only Luna and I can break! This doesn't make sense!" said Celestia.

Suddenly they heard a dark voice echo throughout the hall "Make sense? What fun is there in making sense?"

"I recognize that voice anywhere," Luna gritted her teeth upon hearing the voice.

"Discord…show yourself!" Celestia shouted in anger while Naruto activated his Aura Sight to locate the source of the voice, he scoped the area until he settled his eyes upon a certain part where he detected something unusual.

"Over there!" Naruto pointed a hoof for everypony to look towards one of the stained glass windows where they saw a picture of Discord actually moving!

"Celestia and Luna, it's has been so long since we last met. Although it wasn't so pleasant then since both of you turned me into stone which was a poor taste in humor," said Discord.

"It is the least we could do to stop you from causing more misery for the ponies back then!" said Luna.

"Stop being a coward and show yourself! What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?!" said Celestia.

"I simply 'borrowed' them for a little while," said Discord.

"You'll never get away with this!"

"I almost forgot how grim you could be, which is quite…boring,"

"Hey! Nopony insults the princess!" shouted Rainbow Dash angrily who then flew at Discord only for the Draconequus to disappear for her to crash into the window and pry herself out.

Discord reappeared on the window only larger than he was previously with a taunting look on his face "Oh so you must be Rainbow Dash, famed for her loyalty, the Element of Harmony you represent,"

"That's right! I'll always be loyal to the princesses!" she replied with determination as Discord disappeared again.

"We'll see about that,"

"I can't believe we're wasting time talking to a tacky window," said Rarity then Discord appeared in a window close to her.

"The beautiful Rarity, representing the Element of Generosity, if I'm not mistaken," said Discord.

"So you know who we are, big deal," said Applejack.

"Oh I know more than that, honest Applejack,"

"You seem to know our strengths too," said Twilight as she walked up to them, Naruto was just looking at Discord with wariness, the fact that he knows about them despite the fact that they had never met bothers him a lot as the Draconequus might know about his origins.

"Yes Twilight Sparkle, and yours is the most powerful and elusive Element, Magic. Fluttershy's is Kindness and Pinkie Pie is a personal favorite of mine, Laughter,"

"I guess it means that you know about me as well," Naruto finally spoke up.

"Of course I do, Naruto Uzumaki, a being from another world and the first bearer of the new Element of Harmony which is Purity. I find it intriguing about your Element's ability to connect with the other Elements of Harmony, though I'm rather skeptical about you representing it given where you came from," said Discord to which Naruto frowned upon hearing.

"Enough stalling Discord! What have you done with the Elements of Harmony?!" said Celestia angrily.

"Oh so boring, Celestia. Really? Fine I'll tell you, but I'll only tell you my way. To retrieve your missing Elements, just make sense of this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan. Then find the Elements back where you began," said Discord before disappearing, this time for good while laughing evilly.

"Oh great, just what we needed to hear. A riddle," said Naruto with a groan of annoyance.

"Um can we go home now?" said Fluttershy fearfully.

"What do ya'll reckon he meant? Twists and turns and ending back where we started?" asked Applejack.

"I don't know AJ, it could mean anything just from hearing it," said Naruto.

They were all thinking about the riddle when they heard Twilight call out to them

"Hey guys, I've figured it out. I bet Discord hid the Elements in the palace labyrinth!" Twilight pointed through a window for them to see the maze made of tall grass hedges.

"Sounds like a good place for us to start the search," said Naruto, then he turned to Celestia and Luna "We'll be going to get the Elements back and defeat Discord,"

Celestia and Luna nodded in affirmation.

"Good luck my little ponies, the fate of Equestria rest in your hooves," said Celestia, they all bowed before turning to leave towards the labyrinth.

Naruto was about to go as well when he heard Luna call out to him, he turned around to see looks of concern on their faces.

"Naruto, please be careful when you go up against Discord. He is known to be very cunning," said Luna.

"Don't worry, I'll be careful around him. Wish me luck," said Naruto before he ran after Twilight and others.

The pony ninja caught up and they finally arrived at the entrance to the labyrinth which for some strange reason looked quite ominous in appearance.

"W-we have to go in there?" Fluttershy asked while looking frightened.

"Nope! Dopey Discord forgot about these babies!" said Rainbow Dash while flapping her wings proudly, then she took to the air over the hedges "I'll just do a quick fly over and we'll have the elements in no time flat!"

Suddenly there was a flash of light and to everyone's surprise and shock, Rainbow Dash's wings had disappeared. A now wingless Rainbow Dash plummeted towards but Naruto quickly channeled chakra to his hooves and ran to where she's was going to crash and she safely landed on his back.

"Thanks for the catch Naruto," said Rainbow Dash.

"Anytime Dash, but what happened to your-" Naruto was about to ask when they heard Fluttershy screaming, they turned towards her and were shocked to see that her wings were gone as well. Naruto suddenly felt the connection to his magic being cut off.

"Naruto, your horn is gone!" said Rainbow Dash as she pointed a hoof at his head.

Naruto felt for the horn on his forehead and confirmed that it was gone like she said "What the heck is going on here?!" he also saw Twilight and Rarity panicking over the disappearance of their horns as well.

There a bright flash of light before it faded away to reveal Discord who was laughing loudly at the spectacle.

"You should have seen the looks on your faces, it's so priceless!" said Discord wiping tears from his eyes.

"What did you do to our wings and horns?!" said Naruto angrily letting his chakra flow through his body, ready to attack the Draconequus.

"I simply took them away to prevent any cheating in this game," Discord replied.

"Game? What game?" asked Twilight.

"A game which the prize are the Elements of Harmony. The first rule is no flying and no magic,"

"First rule?" said Rainbow Dash looking confused.

"The second rule is everypony has to play or the game is over, and I win," Discord smirked mischievously "Good luck everypony!" then he disappeared with laughter leaving the others to look worried.

"Never fear everyone, we still have each other," said Twilight with a smile.

"Yeah! It's like Twilight said, we can do anything as long as we work together," said Rainbow Dash,

This made the rest straighten up with confidence, they trotted up to the entrance of the labyrinth.

"Alright guys, let's do this!" said Twilight with everypony nodding in unison.

"Together!" they said as they took the first step into the labyrinth.

From out of nowhere, the hedges suddenly rose from the ground between each of the ponies completely separating one from the other.

"What the?! Girls hang on, I'm coming!" Naruto turned to face a tall hedge and channeled chakra to his fore hoof to form a claw and proceeded to slash a hole in the hedge till he saw Fluttershy, he was about to reach out to her when the hedge rapidly regrew itself to repair the hole he made. Naruto tried again but still got the same result. "Fine then, I'll just get over it! Naruto performed a chakra enhanced jump over the hedge but then vines suddenly shot out and wrapped around his body before tossing him back to the ground.

"Naruto, are you alright?" Naruto heard Fluttershy's worried voice and quickly replied.

"I'm okay but it seems like Discord intends to keep us separated,"

"Then we should all head towards the center of the labyrinth and regroup there!" said Twilight.

"Got it, but you girls be careful. Who knows what else Discord has in store for us," said Naruto.

After hearing voices of affirmation from Twilight and the others, Naruto dashed forwards as he made his way further into the labyrinth with none of them noticing Discord hovering in the air above with a smirk on his face before disappearing in a flash of light.

Meanwhile Naruto was running through the labyrinth towards the center as fast as he could while taking left and right turns, sometimes hitting dead-ends and having to double back to take another route.

"I hope Twilight and the others are okay," thought Naruto as he ran.

Suddenly he happened to find himself standing in a wide open space of the labyrinth, Naruto walked slowly and cautiously through the area, then he stopped in midstep and looked around with a frown before speaking out loud.

"Come out Discord! I know you're here!"

There was a puff of white smoke before it dissipated to reveal Discord wearing a stereotypical black ninja outfit with a mask on.

"Oh ho, so you were able to find out that I was here. Quite impressive despite being ranked a Genin before arriving in good but currently boring old Equestria," said Discord before he snapped his fingers and the outfit disappeared.

"You seem to know a lot about me, how is that possible?" asked Naruto.

"I'm a spirit of chaos and disharmony, so of course I would know a lot of things. Like how you failed your graduation exams three times in a row, your being a king of pranks in your village which I personally approve, the very first mission out of the village, oh and let's not forget that you used to be container for a rather gigantic fox with rabbits ears and nine tails I'm wondering how they managed to squeeze it into you," Discord held out a notepad and was checking things off with a pencil while wearing a pair of reading glasses.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at what he heard, it's almost as if he was watching him as it all happened.

"What intrigues me is the fact that you represent purity despite your background and past lifestyle, surely you didn't like how they treated you and yet still you smile at them,"

"That's because I understood why they hated me even if I was the wrong target of their hatred. Besides, playing a few pranks on them turned those frowns upside down which is an okay in my book," said Naruto. "Now let me ask where the Elements of Harmony are?"

"What makes you think I'm going to tell you? Do you have any idea how it feels to be turned into stone? Your joints would feel all stiff, take it from someone who experienced it" asked Discord stretching his body that one could hear his bones cracking.

"Well you better work out then cause when we find those Elements, we sending you back to the Stone Age,"

"Oh really? I wonder how your friends would feel about that though?" said Discord.

Naruto frowned at the statement and closed his eyes to sense where Twilight and others, he was surprised and then worried when he sensed their emotions being negative especially from Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy with the exception of Twilight. He opened his eyes to glare at Discord who was drinking a glass of chocolate milk from a straw.

"What did you do to them?!" Naruto demanded angrily.

"Whatever do you mean? I was here with you the whole time," said Discord with a golden halo hovering over his head.

"Cut it with the innocence act! I know you have something to do with it!" Naruto looked ready to attack the Draconequus.

"Okay, I simply helped them see that not everything is as it seems," said Discord.

"In that case…I'm going to help you see the consequences for messing with those close to me!"

Naruto raised a fore hoof to fire a chakra bullet at Discord who conjured a tennis racket and then swung it at the incoming projectile and sent it flying back at the blond stallion.

"I guess it's timeout for this game, I think this new game would be just as exciting," said Discord taking a few practice swings with the tennis racket.

"We'll see, Shadow Clone jutsu!"

There was a puff of smoke and several clones appeared before charging at Discord. One of the clones got close enough to throw a punch, then Discord disappeared and reappeared from behind with a golf club which he swung at the clone to send it flying before it dispelled. Another clone leapt into the air as its tail was covered in chakra and elongated.

"Chakra Tail whip!" it swung the tail downward but Discord quickly moved out of the way leaving the attack to create a trench on the deep.

Discord wiped an imaginary sweat off his forehead "That was close, you have let me put on my aftershave first,"

Then he heard a sound from behind and turned to see Naruto quickly approaching him with a blue spiraling sphere

"Instead of a shave, how about I shred that beard of yours! Rasengan!"

As the technique drew close, Discord arched his back just enough to allow Naruto to fly over him, Naruto saw this coming as he cancelled the jutsu then he wrapped his tail around Discord's neck and pulled over before slamming the Draconequus hard on the ground. Naruto drew close to the prone form of Discord only to realize that he was looking at a straw dummy.

Naruto felt the ground shifting a bit and leapt backwards just as a pit suddenly opened up at where he once stood, Naruto turned and saw a net falling towards which he quickly formed a chakra claw to cut apart.

"This game is a real tough cookie," said Discord who appeared while dressed in a hunter's outfit and holding a tranquilizer gun.

"Then how about a little role reversal?" said Naruto with a smirk.

Discord only had a few seconds to quirk an eye brow in confusion at what Naruto had said when the ground burst from underneath him and several tendrils of white energy appeared and wrapped around his body tightly, completely restraining his movements.

"Now I got you," said Naruto feeling victorious, but then he noticed that the Draconequus was smiling instead of looking worried or angry.

"On the contrary, I got you,"

When Discord snapped his fingers there was a flash of light and Naruto noticed that he couldn't move, he looked down at himself to discover that he was wearing a straitjacket which was wrapped around his body and he fell over to the ground. Naruto struggled to break free from the jacket but it didn't so much as even stretch from the strain.

"Now that I've reduced your craziness to a docile level, I can now began with the operation," said Discord dressed in a doctor's uniform with a medical mask on.

"What are you talking about?!" shouting Naruto who was still struggling against the straitjacket with no positive results.

"Haven't you wondered when I said 'no wings and no magic' I didn't include no chakra? That's because I know full well that you would die if I took it, but that's not the only reason I have,"

"What is this other reason?" asked Naruto defiantly.

"You seem to have a little secret hidden away in your closet and I can't help but feel extremely curious and want to find out what it is," Discord's left talon glowed with magic "Now hold still, this might tickle a little,"

"What do you mean Discord? You know that I no longer have Kurama inside of me!"

"True, but who says you're empty?"

Then he thrust it into Naruto's chest who watched in shock as the talons phase through it, his body suddenly felt strange as the talons grabbed something and was pulling it out which resulted in a bright flash of light, then a dark chuckle was heard but the strangest thing was that it wasn't Discord laughing but someone else.

"I have reunite with Naruto and Rainbow Dash, together we're a team. Rainbow Dash won't let us down and I know how strong Naruto is, then we can figure out where the Elements are and why everypony is acting so strange," said Twilight.

Like she said, ever since they were separated, Twilight managed to regroup with the other mares but then she noticed their color had changed to grey and were acting differently. Applejack was actually lying, Pinkie Pie displayed a distaste for laughter especially when she thinks it's at her, Fluttershy was acting rudely and Rarity was being extremely possessive of a large boulder which she claims is a beautiful diamond and is what Twilight is currently carrying on her back for her.

"I hope they're okay, I wonder what that explosion is all about," thought Twilight.

Then Applejack pointed at the sky and spoke up "Well looky there, Rainbow Dash is flying away…she abandoning us,"

"Okay, now I know that's a lie," Twilight looked up to the sky and was shocked to see that Rainbow Dash was actually flying away and leaving them behind "No…it can't be!"

Suddenly the ground started to shake as all of the grass hedges sank to the ground, leaving behind a large crater which the ponies are currently standing in.

Then Discord appeared with a victorious smirk on his face "Well, well, well. Somepony broke the 'no wings, no magic rule' which means that you lose and I win," he snapped as the horns and wings returned to their owners.

Twilight looked around and saw that somepony was still missing "Wait where's Naruto?"

"If you looking for him, he should be dropping in right about…now" said Discord while looking at a wristwatch.

Suddenly a loud thud was heard and everypony turned towards the source of the sound and were surprised see Naruto who had bruises on his body and there were some rips on his jacket, then another pony landed close to them but what was shocking is that…the pony looked exactly like Naruto! Only that his eyes were black with red iris and was grinning darkly.

"W-who are you and why do you look like Naruto?" asked Twilight.

The lookalike turned towards and smiled darkly "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Dark Naruto or you can simply call me Yami. Unlike my weak opposite Hikaru over there. I represent the pain, sorrow and hatred which he hides within himself. In other words, I am the real Naruto Uzumaki!"

"No you're not, there's no way that you're the real me!" said Naruto while glaring at the doppelganger who simply scoffed at him

"We'll see about that Hikaru, soon we'll find out who is the one and true Naruto," said Yami Naruto.

Meanwhile Discord was laughing out loud at the spectacle as storm clouds appeared overheard and unleashing thunder and lightning.

"Aaaaah, what perfect weather to release chaos!"

A Chaotic Awakening Pt.2

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 28: A Chaotic Awakening Pt. 2

"What do you mean by we lost this game?!" said Twilight while glaring at Discord who was sitting on a couch and eating popcorn all the while laughing at them.

Ever since they ventured into the maze in search of the Elements of Harmony in order to bring down the Draconequus, weird things had been happening to them and Twilight noticed that her friends had been acting strangely as well as their body appearing gray except her and Naruto. Applejack has been lying a lot, Pinkie Pie disliking anything and everything, Fluttershy being rude, Rarity acting all possessive on a large boulder that she claims to be a diamond, Rainbow Dash abandoning them and Naruto facing down what appears to be his dark side.

"Whatever do you mean my dear Twilight?" asked Discord pretending looking clueless.

"Stop playing around Discord, you haven't been playing fair," said Twilight angrily.

"I'm not playing fair? I believe that you've forgotten a certain small detail. I am a being of chaos and disharmony, all part of my job description so duuuh!"

"How are we supposed to find the Elements of Harmony when you took the labyrinth before we could get to the end?"

Discord looked at Twilight with surprise "Hold on, you actually thought that the Elements were in the labyrinth? Hahahahahahahahaha!"

"What's so funny?! You better not be laughing at me!" Pinkie Pie said angrily.

"Not to worry, I was finding it amusing that your friend thought the Elements were in the labyrinth," said Discord while laughing.

"But it's like you said 'Twists and turns' which describes the labyrinth," said Twilight.

"Goes to show that you weren't exactly paying attention to what I was saying before," Discord took out a tape recorder and pressed the play button for Twilight to listen "Twists and turns are my master plan. Then find the Elements back where you began,"

Twilight had a look of realization upon hearing those words "Then that means…"

"That's right, I never said that they were in the labyrinth. But don't worry, I'm sure that the magic of your friendship will help you, in the meantime I have a tight schedule of chaos to attend to," Discord snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash of light.

Then the pink clouds loomed overhead and began to rain chocolate milk on the ponies

"Chocolate milk?! I hate chocolate milk!" said Pinkie Pie with a look of annoyance.

"Think Twilight think, where could Discord have hidden the Elements?" said Twilight thoughtfully.

"Don't you dare touch my diamond!" Twilight turned to see Rarity carrying the large rock on her back and glaring at Applejack.

"Why not? You said that we could split it between all seven of us," said Applejack while looking anywhere but at Rarity.

"That's a lie and you know it, so back away from it!"

Then Fluttershy flew over Rarity and touched the rock with a smirk on her face "And what if I don't back away?"

"Then you're gonna be in big trouble!" said Rarity.

"You girls stop that! Ugh this is giving me a headache, wish I could just go home and get some-" Twilight stopped in the middle of her muse when a certain thought crossed her mind "Home…'back where you began'…that's it! That's where Elements could be…in Ponyville!"

Twilight turned to get the attention of the others "Hey guys, I figured out a part of Discord's riddle. The Elements must be in Ponyville so we need to get going!"

"You girls will have to go without me," said Naruto, everypony looked to see him staring intently at his doppelganger who looked amused.

"But Naruto…," Twilight began.

"Right now I get the feeling that my dark side wants to have a one-on-one talk with me, so you girls go on ahead and find the Elements, I'll finish things up here and then catch up with you,"

"Okay, come on girls let's go!" said Twilight.

"And what if I don't want to?" Fluttershy snorted.

"Argh, just come on," Twilight walked off with the rest begrudgingly following her.

Once they were gone, the doppelganger let out a dark chuckle "I thought that they would never leave,"

"I'm kinda surprised that you didn't attack me while Twilight and the others," said Naruto.

"And for you to get distracted during the fight? No way, I want this to be an all-out fight without any distractions,"

"In that case, let's get started," Naruto took a stance as his body emitted white chakra.

"I couldn't agree more," Yami Naruto took a similar stance only that his body was emitting black chakra.

Both sides stared at each other intently without moving as they waited for the other to make the first move.

Music Start: Naruto Original Soundtrack; Raikiri (Thunder Break)

The one to make it was Naruto as he raised a fore hoof and pointed it at Yami Naruto before calling out

"Chakra Bullet: Rapid Fire!" then a white rune appeared and small white orbs shot out if it straight towards Yami Naruto who then formed a pair of chakra tendrils that whipped in front of him rapidly deflected the incoming projectiles into random directions before lashing out at Naruto.

Naruto jumped to the left to avoid the first tendril and leapt into the air to dodge the second but the tendrils changed directions and continued to pursue him, Naruto quickly channeled chakra to his front hooves to form chakra claws before somersaulting in midair to face the tendrils and proceeded to slash them apart.

"Not bad but not good either Hikaru,"

Naruto heard Yami's voice from above him and turned around just to receive a punch to the face which sent him plummeting to the ground below. The pony ninja right himself just in time to land on his hooves and glared at the doppelganger who landed not too far from him.

"Why you- Shadow Clone jutsu!" several clones appeared alongside Naruto as he charged forward at his opponent.

"Typical strategy as always, you haven't changed a bit. Well two can play at that game, Shadow Clone jutsu!" a similar number of clones appeared at Yami's side before they charged as well.

The clones of each side picked an opponent to fight against while the originals engaged each other in close combat as they threw punches and kicks with neither side gaining an advantage. Naruto was able to land a few hits but in turn received a few hits from Yami. Naruto and Yami leapt backwards just as their clones disappeared in puffs of smoke upon fighting to a draw.

"Chakra Horn thrust!"

Naruto sped forward as his horn was covered in chakra which elongated into a long sharp version, the same could be said for Yami who charged as well with his black variation. Both sides clashed at the same time and struggled for dominance.

"Dammit, this guy's countering me move for move!" thought Naruto angrily while pushing back against the doppelganger.

"Hey Hikaru, if you're thinking that I'm countering you with your own moves then you better get rid of that thought cause I'm just as original as you are. Let me show you just what I mean," Yami Naruto pushed Naruto backwards before raising a hoof as a black rune appeared "Chakra Shotgun!" a dark blast of chakra shot out of the rune and slammed into Naruto which sent him flying backwards and tumbling along the ground before finally skidding to a stop.

Naruto struggled to his hooves and looked at a smirking Yami Naruto in disbelief "What sort of technique is that?! I never created a move like that, how did you know it?!"

"It goes to show how you waste the potential on foolish things like friends, friends that could betray us just like Sasuke did when he killed us!"

"Sasuke did not betray us, he wasn't in his right mind. Like Neji said to us, Sasuke was in the darkness and everyone entrusted it to me to bring him out of it and back home. Had we failed and Sasuke went to Orochimaru, he would have ended up like Gaara was or even worse!" said Naruto.

"At least Gaara had the right idea back then, because of that people thought twice before they tried to mess with him. Something we could have done instead of you playing those stupid pranks just to get their attention and scorn," said Yami Naruto while frowning at Naruto.

"And to truly be alone? Not a chance!"

"Then I'll just have to make you see the benefits before getting rid of you!"

"Like I'm going to let that happen! Pyro Breath!" Naruto opened his mouth to unleash a stream of flames at Yami.

"I don't think so, Aqua Stream!" Yami Naruto's horn glowed in a black aura as the rain from the pink clouds converged to form a stream which collided with the flames resulting in steam covering the area.

Naruto looked around in the steam to catch any trace of Yami, then a chakra bullet come out of nowhere and almost hit Naruto had he not tilted his head to the side for it to graze his cheek. Several more shots pierced through the steam and pelted his body despite efforts to evade them.

"Enough of this, Windflaw Dash!" Naruto started to run in circles while covered with the wind at high speed, then the steam was blown away to reveal Yami Naruto standing before him with a hoof raised and a magic rune active.

Naruto glared at his doppelganger before holding out a hoof to the side as chakra converged around it and took on the form of a white spinning sphere, Yami Naruto smirked as he did the same except that his was a black spinning sphere.

"Rasen…!" Naruto launched his attack.

"…gan!" Yami Naruto launched his as well.

Blasts of wind blew throughout the area as the energy from the collision of the two spheres raged like a miniature storm with streaks of black and white flying around.

"Give up now while you can Hikaru, you can't win against me!" shouted Yami Naruto.

"I'm not gonna lose to you Yami!" yelled Naruto.

An explosion occurred from the clashing techniques which sent both ponies flying far away in opposite directions leaving behind a much larger crater than earlier before.

Music End

"We found the Elements, they were here the whole time!" said Twilight happily,

She and the others had arrived at Ponyville which had completely changed and everything didn't look right or even make a bit of sense thanks to Discord's chaotic magic. They made their way to the library where Twilight had Spike retrieve the book that helped them find the Elements of Harmony in the beginning. The book was found but apparently Fluttershy and the other mares decided to fool around with it much to Twilight's annoyance, they had a short scuffle which resulted in Twilight finally getting her hooves on then she flipped through the pages before finding all of the Elements of Harmony safely stored inside.

"This is great, we can finally defeat Discord now that we have the Elements!" however Twilight didn't receive a positive as everyone just ignored her completely "You girls don't even care do you?"

"Nope!" they all responded.

"I can't believe that my friends…have turned into complete jerks! Now put on your necklace and let's go!" Twilight used her magic to place Elements on their respective bearers and was making her way out of the library when Spike ran up to her looking worried.

"Twilight wait, aren't you missing somepony?" asked Spike.

"Well we've got the liar, the grump, a hoarder and the brute which just about covers it," Twilight glared at the girls as she said so.

"But what about Rainbow Dash?"

Twilight thought for a few seconds before coming up with an idea "Congratulations Spike, you're the new bearer for the Element of Loyalty, now let's go!" Twilight placed the said Element around Spike's neck and walked away.

"B-but what if she finds out I was impersonating her…it definitely won't end well, and what about Naruto?"

"Well that's too bad, you're Rainbow Dash now and Naruto is busy dealing with his evil twin brother and might show up late anyway. Since six of the Elements were able to defeat Discord, then we should be able to do it without Naruto showing up beforehand. The sooner we do it, then the sooner I won't have to talk to them again!" Twilight walked away angrily.

"For once we're in total agreement," said Fluttershy with a smirk as she followed Twilight along with the rest.

They had come out of the library where they saw Discord waiting outside while enjoying the chaos which was going on around him.

"I see you've found the Elements of Harmony," said Discord.

"That's right, we figured out that lame riddle of yours and you're in for it now!" said Twilight.

"Oh no, my time of defeat is at hand. Whatever shall I do for I'm doomed," Discord feigned terror "Very well, you may strike me whenever you're ready," then he had a bull's eye appear on his chest before leading against a nearby tree.

"Gladly, alright girls let's do this!"

Twilight's tiara let out a bright glow of energy with the same going for the others…except Spike, however before the Twilight unleashed the power of the Elements, the magic dissipated just like that without any kind of warning much to her shock and confusion.

"What happened? Why didn't it work?" said Twilight confusedly.

"Mine is working alright, the problem must have come from you!" Applejack pointed accusingly at Twilight.

"I hate the Elements of Harmony!" said Pinkie Pie.

"I knew that it was garbage," Fluttershy tossed hers away without a care in the world.

"Mine!" Rarity quickly snatched it up.

"Uh Twilight, I gotta get back to the library since I have a lot of cleanup to do," Spike nervously placed the Element next to Twilight before scampering back to the library although he got tripped up by Fluttershy.

"Oops, sorry about that," said Fluttershy not looking sorry at all.

"Congratulations, you've just proven that harmony is dead and chaos rules. Which means Discord's the winner and Equestria is the loser. I bid you all adieu," Discord flew away from them laughing all the way with Twilight glaring at him.

"I hate all of this! I'm out of here!" Pinkie Pie hopped away from the group.

"Pinkie Pie wait, we need to wait for Naruto to come and help us take down Discord!" said Twilight.

"Why should we wait for him, for all we know he could have abandoned us just like Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy snorted before flying away as well.

"That could be true, besides I have things to do at the farm where I have better friends," Applejack was the next to go.

"I'm not taking any chances in case he comes after what's mine," Rarity was the last while taking the rock with her leaving Twilight all alone.

"I can't believe that you girls would…fine! See if I care, I don't need any of you either! With friends like you who needs…enemies," Twilight looked down sadly as the color on her body slowly turned to gray and walked away.

Discord was watching from above the clouds with a victorious smirk on his face "With this I've truly won and there's no one who can stop my reign of chaos,"

Meanwhile Naruto was dragging himself out of a crater which resulted from his crashing to the ground due to the explosion from the double Rasengan, he looked at himself to see that his hoodie jacket is now in tatters.

"And here I thought that Sasuke's chidori and my Rasengan could cause an explosion, guess a double Rasengan could do the same," Naruto muttered,

Suddenly he sensed something rapidly approaching from above and dashed to the left just in time to avoid something hitting where he stood, he looked up to see Yami Naruto flying above him with wings made out of black chakra from his back.

"Peekaboo, I see you," Yami Naruto, Naruto simply glared at the doppelganger before activating his own chakra wings to take to the sky and face him "Now that break time is over, let's pick up where we left off,"

"You're right, but I intend to make this short cause Twilight and the others are waiting for me to help defeat Discord," Naruto closed his eyes as he concentrated on his chakra "Chakra Burst mode!" he prepared for the chakra be unleashed from his body…but nothing happened "Huh? Chakra Burst mode!" he tried again but the power still didn't come like it always did "What's going on?!"

Yami Naruto looked amused and decided to speak up "I forgot to tell you this but when Discord let me out, I happened to take half of your chakra along with me in order to sustain myself. So in other words…you can't use Chakra Burst mode anymore,"

"What?! Give it back!" Naruto yelled.

"Make me," Yami Naruto sneered.

"Shadow Clone jutsu!" a large group of clones appeared and surrounded Yami before rushing at the same time to attack.

"Humph, predictable. Bolt Chain!" Yami's horn glowed for a moment before a stream of black lightning shot out and struck a clone then arcing off to hit another which continued until a majority of the clones disappeared from taking too much damage. The remaining swooped in with their horns glowing as they prepared to launch a magic spell.

"Icicle Shot!" sharp pointed ice projectiles appeared before racing towards Yami whose horn was glowing again.

"Fire Lance!" several spears made entirely of flames appeared and shot towards the icicle causing them to melt away from the heat and turn into the steam which surrounded Yami Naruto.

Yami sensed something burst through the thick steam and darted to the left to avoid an attack from a shadow clone before another rushed in for an attack. He kept dodging until suddenly something grabbed him from behind, it was a chakra arm courtesy of the original Naruto. He spun around a few times before throwing Yami towards the ground which resulted in a crater being formed.

"Take this, Chakra Bullet: Rapid Fire!" Naruto held his front hooves forward and proceeded to launch a barrage of small white orbs towards Yami which kicked up clouds of dust as he kept firing "And now to end it, Chakra Cannon!" then he fired a large chakra sphere with the recoil pushing him back a bit creating an explosion upon impact. Naruto descended towards the ground and looked at the crater to see any signs of movement from his opponent and let out a sigh of relief.

"Now that's over with, I better get back to the girls and take down Discord once and for all," Naruto turned to leave…and received a haymaker punch to the face which sent him flying back a few feet. He painfully got back up and looked up only to be shocked to see Yami Naruto standing before with a smirk on his face "How were you able to evade my attacks?"

"It's really simple, I used the Terra Bunker to shield myself within the dust cloud and used the chakra claws to burrow underground and take you by surprise. You should recognize this strategy as it's the improvised version of the one you used on Neji during the Chuunin exams," said Yami Naruto.

Naruto was panting and looked fatigued "Damn I'm running low on chakra, what else can I do to beat this guy?"

"I can see that you're exhausted Hikaru, but it just goes to show that-" Yami Naruto rushed forward and punched Naruto in the face "I'm stronger than you-" a hit to the chest "better than you-" another hit to the face "-and most important of all-" an uppercut which knocked Naruto into the air before plummeting towards Yami who had a Rasengan ready "I'm the true Naruto!" he rammed the spinning sphere into Naruto who screamed out in pain and was sent flying very far away.

Yami Naruto smirked before activating his chakra wings and fly after Naruto…in direction of Ponyville.

Twilight had returned to her home and headed upstairs to her room with the intention to pack her belongings and leave for Canterlot, but she was surprised to see a large heap of scrolls and Spike laid on the floor looking quite worn out.

"Spike what's going here?" asked Twilight confusedly.

"The Princess had been sending these scrolls ever since I came back upstairs," Spike moaned before belching out a green flame for another one of the scrolls to appear and fall on the heap "Please make it stop,"

Twilight levitated one of the scrolls over and opened it to read the contents, her eyes widened upon seeing what it contained.

"This must be one of the letters I wrote to Princess Celestia since I arrived to Ponyville about friendship, but why would she send them back?"

Regardless, Twilight started to read them one by one and as she read, she recalled the good times she had and the lessons learnt along with her friends, the gray was slowly disappearing and her original color was returning.

Twilight looked up from the latest scroll and saw something sitting on top of the dresser, it was a picture of her and her friends. Naruto was in the middle grinning like a fox, Rainbow Dash hovered above him and was leaning on his spiky mane while grinning as well, Pinkie Pie was on his left side and hugging him while laughing, Twilight was on his right side and smiling at the camera, Rarity was next to Twilight while wearing a fancy purple sunhat with flowers, Applejack was next to Pinkie Pie and looked like she had tossed her Stetson hat into the air, and Fluttershy was at the far left smiling bashfully at the camera.

"I remember that day, we were having a picnic at Naruto's favorite spot…"

**Flashback**

They were all sitting in the shade of the large oak tree that grew on the top of tall hill overlooking Ponyville, they were relaxing after playing a few games and eating which Pinkie Pie brought from the Sugarcube Corner and the ones Naruto cooked and brought over from his home.

"Woo-wee! That was a lot of fun we've had today guys," said Applejack while taking a bite of dango from the stick.

"I must say that today was perfect for relaxing after all those deadlines I had the in the past few days," Rarity was sipping a cup of green tea.

"And the birds really like it here," Fluttershy looked at her bird friends perching on the branches of the trees looking comfortable.

"And I got to show off my sports skills!" said Rainbow Dash flying overheard.

"This is the perfect place to read too," Twilight was currently doing the said activity.

"We need to plan a picnic party after this!" Pinkie Pie hopped around happily, everypony shook their heads in amusement at hearing this.

"All in all, I have to say that being friends with you girls has been one of the best things to have happened to me. I'm sure I can say the same for you right?" said Naruto with a smile, the mares smiled in return and nodded in agreement.

"You got that right Naruto, I wouldn't have found my fellow speedster if we weren't friends," said Rainbow Dash.

"I really liked spending time with you," Fluttershy spoke in barely a whisper.

"I love making friends, we would always have different sorts of fun!" said Pinkie Pie.

"I have to agree that meeting you has been one of my happiest moments," said Rarity with a smile.

"Me too, we've been having a pretty good time ever since we met," said Applejack.

"When I first came to Ponyville, I thought that there was no need for friendship. But it's because of our friendship that we were able to defeat Nightmare Moon and rescue Princess Luna, I also learnt so many things whenever I'm with you," said Twilight.

"Yeah, we now share a bond which will last for a very long time. Like my friend Haku once told me 'When a person has something precious that they want to protect, then they become genuinely strong' those words made me come a long way since then," said Naruto with a warm smile.

"So what exactly is precious to us?" Rainbow Dash curiously.

"For me, it's each and every one of you and I promise to protect all of you no matter what happens,"

"You won't be the only one pardner, I'll also protect our friendship," Applejack held out a hoof, Naruto smiled and placed a hoof over hers.

"You can count me in, the fastest pony in all of Ponyville!" said Rainbow Dash while putting in a hoof.

"And I as well," said Rarity placed hers as well.

"Me too Naru, me too!" said Pinkie Pie happily placing a hoof over theirs.

"M-me too," Fluttershy timidly joined in.

"And I promise to protect our bond, after all friendship is magic," said Twilight with everypony nodding in agreement and afterwards took a group photo to commemorate it.

**Flashback End**

Twilight smiled happily from the memory as her color was fully restored "That's right, we all promised to protect our friendship because we cared for each other and were always there to provide support. It all makes sense now!"

"What do you mean Twilight," Spike groaned.

"Whenever one of us works alone, they can barely accomplish but together we can do anything. Discord knew of this and that's why he separated us in the labyrinth and messed with our heads to prevent us from using the Elements of Harmony. So right now I'm going to restore the bond with my friends, they're all counting me and show Discord how strong our friendship really is. Naruto is counting on us too,"

"Well good luck Twilight, in the meantime I'll be taking a nap," Spike crawled over to his bed and laid there exhausted.

"Sure thing Spike," Twilight galloped out of the library and was making her way towards the Sweet Apple Acres "Don't worry guys, our bond won't be so easily broken by Discord,"

"Gyah!" Naruto cried out as he crashed into the ground and tumbled along before finally skidding to a stop. He slowly got back to his feet all the while pain shot throughout his body and exhaustion made it feel heavy. Then he heard something landed before him and looked up to see Yami Naruto walking slowly towards him and had a look of disappointment.

"Look at yourself, all battered and beaten. I told you that I would make you see how strong you would have been had you cared for no one but yourself and that you wouldn't be betrayed," said Yami Naruto.

"And I told you that I don't want it if it meant that I would be alone for the rest of my life," Naruto replied.

"Even after all this, you still refuse to see what I'm trying to show you. What a disappointment, then I might as well put you out of your misery," Yami held out a hoof as a black rune appeared and prepared to fire and Naruto looked at him defiantly "Goodbye Hikaru, Chakra Cannon!" a large black sphere shot out of the rune and headed straight towards Naruto.

"Dammit, it can't end like this! I can't lose here, everypony's counting on me to help defeat Discord!" thought Naruto feeling frustrated as the dark drew close to finish him off.

Suddenly something appeared between him and the incoming projectile then he heard a very familiar voice call out.

"Protect!"

A transparent dome appeared and deflected the projectile, Naruto looked at who appeared from out of nowhere to protect him from the attack and recognized who it was.

"Derpy, is that you?!" said Naruto in shock.

It was indeed Derpy the Pegasus who had stood before Naruto and defended him against the attack from Yami with the barrier crystal which he had given to her some time ago as a gift for her and a smaller one for her daughter Dinky.

"What are you doing here?"

"I had taken Dinky home for safety and was on my way to find Carrot Top when I saw that you were about to be hurt then I suddenly found myself standing here and used the barrier crystal that you gave to me to protect you," said Derpy.

"I'm thankful for what you did but you need to get out of here, it's too dangerous!"

"You better listen to him and get out of my way if you don't want to get hurt, that imposter behind you needs to disappear as I'm the real Naruto," said Yami Naruto in a smug tone.

"No I won't, I refuse to believe that you're the real Naruto!" said Derpy angrily.

"And what makes you so sure about that? Who do you think is the true Naruto?"

"The real Naruto is a nice and kind pony whose friends with everypony and is always willing to help without a second thought. He always keeps his promises and never turns his back on a pony in need, everypony smiles when they see him. That's the real Naruto, not you!"

"Derpy," Naruto looked at the cross-eyed Pegasus in awe.

Yami Naruto glared angrily and raised a hoof to attack "Then I'll just have to force you out of my way!"

Music Start: Naruto Original Soundtrack; Strong and Strike

*Ba-bump*

"What's this?" thought Naruto.

* Ba-bump, Ba-bump*

"This feeling…it's so familiar,"

* Ba-bump, Ba-bump, Ba-bump, Ba-bump*

"I remember now, I felt likethis when I fought against Gaara. This overflowing strength burning through me as if I'm on fire, the feeling that I have to win this battle no matter what even if it puts my life at risk!"

Yami Naruto got ready to fire "Out of my way, Chakra Cann-" something blurred right in front of him and before he could even wonder what it was, he felt a powerful blow slam into his face which sent him flying. He got and looked only to be shocked that it was Naruto who was supposed to be exhausted had actually countered his move with a powerful punch and was emitting white chakra from his battered body "Looks like you still have something left in the tank,"

And he wasn't the only one surprised as Derpy was looking at Naruto in wonder "Naruto…"

"You showed me how strong you are when you're alone, now it's my turn to show you the strength that comes from my bond with others!" said Naruto.

Then he dashed forwards in a zigzag pattern and engaged Yami in close combat and was throwing punches and kicks and even included his tail in the mix, Yami was deflecting and blocking the incoming attacks but he noticed that for some strange reason that the strength behind them were stronger than before.

"What's going on?! He wasn't this strong before!" he thought frantically.

"Chakra Horn Thrust!" Naruto charged forward with his horn covered in chakra, Yami sidestepped hastily to avoid the blitz attack but Naruto wasn't done yet "Shadow Clone jutsu!" a clone appeared who then launched a chakra tendril to wrap around him and whirled about to launch him like a slingshot, Naruto curled up into a ball and slammed into Yami to send him skidding backwards from the powerful impact.

"I never would have thought that he would come up with a combo like that, I should have seen it coming," thought Yami smarting from the pain, he looked up to see Naruto launching a punch and quickly blocked it but then Naruto closed his eyes and opened his mouth wide to reveal a white crystal which unleashed a bright flash of light, forcing Yami to close his eyes and leaving himself vulnerable.

"Shadow Clone jutsu!" Naruto summoned five of his clones who stood next to him and faced Yami. One of the clones rushed forward and punched the doppelganger, the original Naruto stepped on the clone's back launched himself into the air, "Na...ru...to!" the remaining three clones all performed a double kick simultaneously, sending the Yami into the air "Uzumaki Barrage!" Naruto stomped on Yami, sending him plummeting to the ground where a clone waiting with his hoof held out and white rune active "Chakra Cannon!" a large sphere shot out and made impact as Yami was sent tumbling away.

"This is impossible, you can't be this powerful!" Yami yelled in anger and disbelief while getting back to his feet.

"This strength comes from my desire to protect my friends from both the Elemental Nations and Equestria, I've got the best of both worlds," Naruto spoke happily.

"You're lying! I refuse to believe that your strength came from making friends, it's completely useless,"

"Then let's put it to the test with our strongest attacks," Naruto held out a hoof and started to form the Rasengan but he didn't stop there as his horn glowed and orange aura which flowed into the sphere causing streaks of orange to appear in it.

"Gladly," Yami Naruto held out a hoof to form his Rasengan.

Derpy stood from a safe distance and watched worriedly as the two ponies prepared to clash "Please be careful Naruto,"

Then they dashed towards each other at high speed before thrusting out their spheres to collide once more.

"Rasengan!" shouted Yami Naruto.

"Magical Rasengan! Yelled Naruto.

The struggle was at stalemate before Naruto's new variation of the Rasengan began to dominate much to Yami's shock.

"No! This can't be! No, no, noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Yami Naruto was blasted away in a white and orange streak of light very high into the sky until any sight of him was gone.

Music End

"I won," Naruto smiled wearily at his hard earned victory over his dark side, then he heard flapping of wings and turned to see Derpy approaching with a smile on her face.

"You did it Naruto, you won!" said Derpy happily.

"Yeah and it was thanks to you, you helped rekindle my Will of Fire,"

"So what happens now?"

"Right now I have to go help Twilight and the girls settle things with Discord once and for all,"

"Okay but please be careful,"

Naruto nodded in affirmation, then he activated his Aura Sight and looked around before locating their aura signatures and was happy upon sensing that they're back to normal "Hold on girls, I'm coming," he took off down the road in order to meet up with them.

Discord was currently sitting on a throne and drinking a glass of chocolate while enjoying the sight of flying pigs, dancing buffalos dressed in tutus and such.

"Aaah, chaos is a wonderful, wonderful thing," said Discord.

"Not as wonderful as the power of friendship!"

The Draconequus looked to the source of the voice to see Twilight and her friends standing by her side.

"You're back with this again?"

"That's right! You couldn't break our friendship with those dirty tricks of yours for long," said Applejack.

"Unless you've forgotten that I'm the one who made you a liar, I see that none of you have learnt a thing from what happened before,"

Discord used his magic to drag the Elements along with the mares towards him, but Twilight quickly teleported in between them and used her magic to create a purple forcefield which carried them away from the Draconequus.

"We didn't need to learn anything, all you did was help us remember the promise that we made a long time ago. To always be there for each other even in difficult times, our bond is what makes us strong and it's definitely worth fighting for!"

Discord let out a yawn "Enough with the boring speeches already, and from what I see you're all still an Element short, Purity to be exact,"

"Naruto will show up, there's no way he's gonna miss out on kicking your butt!" said Rainbow Dash.

"That's right!" said Pinkie Pie.

"Truer words couldn't be spoken," the very pony whom they were talking about had landed before them although they became worried upon seeing his current condition.

"Naruto are you okay? You're hurt," said Fluttershy.

Naruto turned to smile at the shy mare "Don't worry Shy, I still have enough energy left to deal with this walking zoo,"

"How were you able to defeat your dark side?!" asked Discord who was in shock.

"Let's just say that my Will of Fire was too hot for him," Naruto smirked "But now it's time to end this!"

His Element floated away from Twilight and settled itself around his neck before glowing along with the other Elements. Naruto leapt high into the air and then felt something like a voice at the back of his mind to form a Rasengan, recognizing it from when he faced Nightmare Moon Naruto complied and formed the technique then streaks of magic shot out from the girls' Elements and floated into the sphere along with Naruto's to form a spiraling vortex of multiple colors.

"What's this?" said Discord confusedly.

"This…is the power of our friendship! Harmonic Rasengan!" Naruto dived towards Discord and rammed the collaboration technique into the Draconequus.

"Nooooooooooooooooooo!" Discord screamed out right before turning back into a stone statue, the magic continued to radiate throughout Ponyville, reverting everything back to normal.

Naruto, Twilight and the others approached to look at the statue of the defeated Discord with smiles on their faces.

"You lose Discord," said Naruto.

"And that means we won! Let's have a party!" said Pinkie Pie hopping around.

"We totally kicked butt!" Rainbow Dash pumped a hoof in victory.

"But first we need to check if everypony is alright and also get Naruto to the hospital for treatment," said Twilight with the other mares agreeing.

Normally Naruto would stubbornly disagree but right now his fatigue was taking its toll and so allowed himself to be taken to the hospital.

A few days later, the group returned to Canterlot castle. They entered through a doorway where they saw a large crowd of ponies waiting for them with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna standing at the end of the room with smiles on their faces. While making their way to the end, Naruto saw Derpy standing amongst the crowd and winked at her, causing the Pegasus to turn away with a blush.

They climbed up the stairs and turned to face everyone before Princess Celestia began to spoke for all to hear.

"We are gathered here today, to once again honor the heroism of these seven friends who stood up to the villain Discord and saved Equestria from eternal chaos!"

Everypony cheered out loud, Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie Pie smiled, Rainbow Dash and Rarity felt at home in the praise while Fluttershy felt a bit timid from all the attention and stood close to Naruto who was waving at them. Princess Celestia pointed at some closed curtains before Princess Luna used her magic to open them which revealed another one of the stained glass windows. This one showed Twilight and the girls facing down Discord with Naruto attacking with the Harmonic Rasengan to finish off the Draconequus.

"This was our victory, as long as our bond with each other stays strong, we can accomplish anything," thought Naruto while standing alongside his friends.

Somewhere over a hundred miles away from either Ponyville or Canterlot, we see a large smoking crater and noticed a long trail of hoofsteps leading into a dark forest. A dark chuckle could be heard from within it, who does this evil laughter belong to?

All Aflutter

All Aflutter

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 29: All Aflutter

It has been several weeks since the return of the god of Chaos Discord as well as his defeat by Naruto and the mares, things have pretty much gone back to normal with everypony doing their day to day activities. Speaking of which, let's turn our attention to one such pony who happens to be Ponyville's veterinarian Fluttershy as she's currently at her home taking care of the sick animals.

"Now make sure to take a pill after every meal and you'll be better in no time at all," said Fluttershy after giving a small bag of medicinal tablets to a small raccoon. The animal chittered in thanks before taking the small bag in its mouth before making its way out of Fluttershy's home. She let out a sigh as she watched her recent patient leave "That would make my thirteenth for the day but I'm glad that they're feeling better now,"

Fluttershy felt something poking her leg and looked down to see that it was her pet Angel Bunny who was trying to grab her attention.

"What is it Angel Bunny, do you need something?" asked Fluttershy curiously.

Angel nodded and pointed upwards, Fluttershy looked in his direction until her eyes set upon a calendar hanging from the wall, she noticed that one particular date was marked with a red marker and had several butterfly drawings around it, her eyes widened upon realizing what it meant.

"Oh! Tomorrow's the day of the big butterfly migration and I almost forgot about it, thanks for reminding me Angel!" Fluttershy gave the bunny a hug though he was struggling to break out of her grip "Maybe I should bring one of my friends with me to watch?"

She heard thumping on the ground and saw Angel flapping his arms rapidly as if trying to fly, Fluttershy caught on to what the bunny was trying to say.

"You mean Rainbow Dash? I brought her along with me to watch last time and she'll be busy with the weather tomorrow, I should go and check to see if the skies will be clear tomorrow,"

Then Angel proceeded to hop around in long strides.

"Pinkie Pie? She's making plans for a surprise birthday party for a filly this week and she even gave me an invite,"

Angel then picked up a nearby thread and swung over his head like a lasso.

"Applejack's going to be very busy with the applebucking and I heard that applebuck season is coming around again,"

Angel wrapped a handkerchief around it and walked around daintily.

"Rarity might be a little busy to join since she'll be focusing on her next big project,"

Angel was then seen reading a book.

"Angel, we both know that Twilight will be too busy with her studies to join us. I'm thankful for all those suggestions, but they won't be able to make time to come and watch the butterfly migration with me," said Fluttershy, but Angel Bunny shook its head "Huh, you mean that there's someone I could ask but who?"

*Knock knock*

Suddenly there was knocking on the door, she walked over to it and opened up only to be taken by surprise upon who was behind it.

"N-Naruto?!

"Hi Shy!" said pony waved at her with a foxy grin and Aoi the blue jay tweeted in greeting.

"What brings you here?" asked Fluttershy.

"Actually…" Naruto began to tell her what happened before making his way to her place.

**Flashback Start**

Naruto sat within the shade underneath the branches of the great oak tree at his favorite spot with his eyes closed as he was currently meditating. His chakra calmly emitted from his body before receding, he opened his eyes but frowned a bit.

"I still can't access my Chakra Burst mode and my chakra doesn't feel complete, could it be that…no that's impossible, we had sealed Discord away and his spells were broken so it should mean that Yami's gone for good. Maybe I should wait to recover a bit more, till then I could use this time to practice on my wind element," Naruto summoned a couple of shadow clones who stood before him in attention "Okay guys, time for a little training. Each of you should pluck a leaf and try to slice it in half with your wind chakra,"

"Okay boss!" the clones spoke in unison before performing a chakra enhanced jump to reach the branches and pluck a leaf with their mouths before landing back on the ground, then they each held a leaf in between their hooves and closed their eyes in concentration in order to channel the wind chakra through the leaf.

Naruto raised a hoof before him and channeled his chakra to form a Rasengan and watched as it spiraled around in its spherical form "If I were to infuse my wind chakra into the Rasengan, I can barely imagine the kind of power that would result from it," he stopped channeling chakra into the sphere for it to dissipate and turned to look at Ponyville then his mind strayed to his battle with his dark side "What he said couldn't have been what I felt deep within, it might be true that I didn't like how they treated me but I understood their reason even if it was partially wrong but I don't really hate the village…do I?"

Naruto was so deep in thought that he didn't hear the sound of wings flapping from above, even when something settled on top of his spiky mane. Though he did notice when the something made itself known by pecking his head a few times.

"Ow, ow, ow! Who did that?!" Naruto looked up at the perpetrator and his eyes widened in surprise at who he saw "Aoi?! Is that you? Where have you been all this time?" Aoi tweeted in response but Naruto couldn't make heads or tails of what she's saying "Sorry Aoi, I don't really understand what you're saying, maybe Fluttershy could help translate what you're saying,"

Aoi let out a tweet as if agreeing with what he suggested, then he turned to call out to his shadow clones.

"Okay guys, let's see what you've got,"

All of the clones grinned at him before opening their hooves to reveal that all of the leaves have been cleanly sliced in half.

"We finally got the hang of it so we plucked up some more leaves to completely master this exercise boss!" said one of the clones.

Sure enough, several pieces of leaves strewn all around the place to testify to that.

"Good job guys, this means that we can advance to the next wind manipulation exercise so you can all dispel now," said Naruto, the clones all nodded in affirmation before disappearing in puffs of smoke although he flinched a bit from the memories

"Alright then, let's head on over to Shy's place," then they made their way towards Fluttershy's home.

**Flashback End**

"…and that's when we came here," Naruto finished his story.

"Oh, I have been wondering where Aoi could have been as I haven't been seeing her around for a while," said Fluttershy.

Aoi tweeted a few times while Fluttershy nodded repeatedly in understanding before turning to speak to Naruto.

"She says that she had been out of Ponyville and travelled over to Hoofington to visit her parents,"

"That's nice, be sure to send my regards the next time you go and see them Aoi," said Naruto to which the blue jay chirped in affirmation.

Fluttershy felt Angel nudging her leg and looked down to see him pointing at Naruto, realizing what he's suggesting.

"Um Naruto?"

"Yeah Shy?" Naruto looked at her attentively, making her feel a bit nervous.

"I was wondering if…um you weren't too busy, that you would…," Fluttershy kept hesitating in asking the question making Angel do a facepalm while Naruto looked a bit confused.

"What is it you want to ask me Shy?" asked Naruto.

"I was hoping to ask…if you could…comewatchthebutterflymigrationwithme!"

Now Naruto was really confused "Uh Shy? I didn't catch what you said, could you repeat it a bit more slowly?"

"I was hoping that you come and watch the butterfly migration with me?"

"A butterfly migration? This is the first time that I've heard of it,"

"It's the time when the butterflies travel north for warmer climates before making their return later in the year, it's really a beautiful sight with many butterflies of different colors flying together," said Fluttershy.

"That sounds like a must see and you said that it's happening tomorrow right?"

"Yes, that's is if you're not too busy," Fluttershy nervously waited for his answer.

"Sure I can come, even if I was busy I could always leave a shadow clone behind to take care of things,"

Hearing this made Fluttershy smile happily "Really? That's great, we could meet up over at town square then I'll show you the way to the spot where we can watch,"

"Okay Shy, I'll see you tomorrow then," Naruto turned and left through the door as Fluttershy saw him out.

"Bye Naruto," Fluttershy closed the door and let out a breath which she didn't know that she was holding this whole time, then she noticed Angel Bunny standing before her with a smug look on his face as if saying 'I told so' "I don't know Angel, suddenly I feel even more nervous now that Naruto agreed to come along to the butterfly migration with me. I just hope that I don't mess things up when I'm with him,"

Angel hopped up to her head and patted it as if to cheer her on.

"Okay Angel, I'll be sure to do my best tomorrow. Now I need to get things ready," said Fluttershy before moving to another room to pack the things needed for tomorrow's outing.

Meanwhile after leaving Fluttershy's home and saying goodbye to Aoi, Naruto passed by the Whirlpool to check in with the shadow clone that he left behind to look after the shop. After checking the sales, Naruto closed up shop and made his way home. He was making dinner when he heard the front door open and he could hear Scootaloo call out.

"Big bro, I'm home!" said Scootaloo loudly as she walked to the kitchen.

"Hey Scoots, how was your day?" said Naruto while using his magic to control the wooden ladle to stir the pot on the stove.

"It was pretty much the same thing like any other, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and I tried a few activities to see if any of them could help us our cutie marks but they were all dead-ends. So what about you?"

"I was doing some training with my wind element and I've just completed the first exercise. Soon I'll be moving on the next step,"

Hearing this made Scootaloo look at Naruto with stars on her eyes "That's so cool! It means that you can blow away any bad guys that get in your way!"

Naruto smiled at her enthusiasm "Well that's not all the wind can do Scoots, remember Temari from my old world?"

"You mean that girl with the giant fan?"

"She too has an affinity for the wind element and from what you saw, the wind can do more than just blow stuff away as it can even slice through anything even rocks,"

"Whoooa, so what was the first exercise before you can do all that cool jutsu stuff?" Scootaloo asked excitedly.

"My first exercise was to cut a leaf in half with my wind chakra,"

"That sounds rather easy to me," Scootaloo looked a bit stumped.

"It's much tougher than it sounds, normally it would have taken weeks if not a month to fully master it. but with my shadow clones, I was able to reduce that amount of time in half though it would have been done sooner were it not for certain events popping up,"

"Okay, so what's the next step and can I come watch? Maybe I can get a cutie mark for training supervision,"

"I haven't read the next step yet, I'll be sure to find out and maybe you can come along too as long as it isn't too dangerous. But for now we should focus on more important things,"

"Like what?" asked Scootaloo curiously, then a rumble was heard from her stomach making her feel embarrassed much to her big brother's amusement.

"Like getting our stomachs filled up with food, they must have been bored with our conservation," Naruto chuckled before Scootaloo ran off towards the dining table to set it up for dinner.

The next morning, Naruto had woken up early to some food which he then packed into a cooler and sealed into his medallion after making breakfast and lunch for Scootaloo and Trixie and storing them in the fridge before making his way towards the town square where he was supposed to meet up with Fluttershy.

It wasn't too long that Naruto waited as he heard flapping of wings and looked up to see Fluttershy flying towards him from the sky and landing before him.

"I hope that I didn't keep you waiting Naruto," said Fluttershy nervously to which Naruto shook his head.

"Don't worry about it Shy, I just got here a few minutes ago since I had to cook breakfast and lunch for Scoots before coming here. So where will we be going to watch the butterfly migration?" said Naruto.

"We can watch from a certain spot which is on the way to Winsome Falls, the butterflies will be passing through there so that's where we'll be waiting for them," said Fluttershy.

"Okay Shy, lead the way," said Naruto.

Fluttershy nodded in affirmation before flapping her wings to lift herself into the air as Naruto activated his chakra wings and followed after her. It was a long flight but they soon arrived at the place which Fluttershy had spoken about, along the way Naruto had looked into the distance and was stunned at the scenery that was far ahead of him.

He saw several mountainous with numerous waterfalls some that even has all the colors of a rainbow with many streams and lakes all around the plains.

"Whoa, so that place far ahead of us is Winsome Falls?" Naruto asked Fluttershy while descending together towards a tall hill a few miles from the place.

"Yes, Applejack sometimes invites Rainbow Dash and I to camp out with her every once in a while," said Fluttershy.

"That sounds nice," said Naruto "I get the feeling that I'll be going there a lot for training,"

While they sat down to wait for the butterflies to pass by, Naruto unsealed a small blanket as well as the cooler where he brought out cups and plates first then he pulled out a couple of containers and a flask of iced tea before placing them on the blanket. As he did so, Fluttershy had unsealed a large hard cover encyclopedia, a pair of binoculars and a camera for taking pictures.

"I can't wait to see the kinds of butterflies that would soon pass here," said Fluttershy while looking excited.

"How many types of butterflies are there Shy?" asked Naruto curiously.

"There over 28,000 known butterflies in the world Naruto as there are still more to be discovered," said Fluttershy.

"Whoa there are that many?!" said Naruto while looking surprised.

"Yes and there are many that aren't commonly seen around Ponyville like these ones," Fluttershy opened the encyclopedia for Naruto to see pictures of many butterflies with multicolored wings as Fluttershy pointed to one of the pictures "This one is the Blue Morphio butterfly, they're known to drink the juices of rotting fruit and live in rainforest," she pointed to another butterfly "And this one is called the peacock butterfly, the book says that when it rubs it wings together, it makes a hissing sound and it happens when it is alarmed such as seeing a bird,"

"Wow, you know I'm pretty sure that my friend Shino would have loved to hear about this since he has a love for bugs," said Naruto.

"That would be nice," said Fluttershy.

While eating the snacks that Naruto brought along, they waited, and waited, and waited, and waited…and waited but there was no sign of the butterflies appearing from the horizon which worried Fluttershy greatly.

"Are you sure that the butterflies are coming Shy? Maybe we're a day too early or we had missed it?" asked Naruto confusedly.

"It couldn't be, I had made sure to check when the butterflies would be migrating which is today and I also know that the route of migration would cross through here. Something must have happened to them," said Fluttershy, she flipped through the pages to show a map with a few arrows representing trails that the butterflies are believed to follow and Naruto saw that one of the arrows pass over the spot that they're currently at.

"So maybe we should follow the trail and try to find out what's the problem," said Naruto.

Fluttershy took to the air and looked around for a bit before setting eyes on an eagle which was flying by, then she flew after it.

"Umm excuse me sir, but had you seen a swarm of butterflies during your outing?" asked Fluttershy, the eagle screeched a few times as Fluttershy nodded in understanding "I see, thank you for telling me and have a nice day," the eagle nodded before flying away while she returned to where Naruto was who was packing up the food back into the medallion.

"Did you learn of anything?" asked Naruto.

"That nice eagle told me that the butterflies were last seen flying over a forest not too far from here but the strange thing was that they were descending towards it and not coming back out,"

"Sounds like there's something in that forest which is the source of the butterflies' strange behavior, let's go check it out but I'll leave a shadow clone behind just in case," said Naruto.

"Okay Naruto,"

Following the directions given to her by the eagle, Fluttershy and Naruto arrived at the forest and are currently walking around trying to catch any sight of a butterfly but to no avail. Naruto activated his Aura Sight to pinpoint any of them but got nothing. Suddenly he caught sight of something fluttering among the trees and focused on it.

"Shy over there!" Naruto pointed out with a hoof, Fluttershy followed his direction and saw a butterfly with yellow and black wings flying through the forest.

"That's a Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, the rest mustn't be too far then," said Fluttershy happily.

They were about to approach it when something burst out of the bushes and landed before the butterfly much to their confusion. It is rather small in size but has the body of an emaciated rooster with green scaly skin and a long serpentine tail.

"Isn't that a cockatrice, like the one that you told me about?" asked Naruto, he remembered reading about it on a bestiary in the library, apparently it has the power to turn anyone into stone should they look into its eyes.

He recalled some time ago when Scootaloo and the girls went for a sleepover at Fluttershy's place but had ventured into the Everfree Forest to help retrieve her missing chicken where they encountered a cockatrice who had turned Twilight into stone earlier before. However Fluttershy had arrived to save them as well as forced the monster to release Twilight from her stony state. When he heard of it, his first thought was to go into the forest to find the cockatrice and teach it the consequences of messing with those close to him had it not been for Fluttershy to persuade him to leave it alone.

"Yes and I recognize it to be the very same one, but what is it doing out here instead before living in the Everfree forest?" said Fluttershy confusedly.

The cockatrice stared at the butterfly with its red eyes and they watched in shock as the butterfly was turned into stone before falling into the ground with a thud. It even got stranger when it picked up the butterfly and ran off back where it came from.

"Let's go after it, I get the feeling that where it's going might be where the other butterflies are kept," said Naruto.

"Okay Naruto, we need to go and save those poor creatures," said Fluttershy.

Then they followed after the cockatrice and the captive butterfly all the while making sure that didn't attract any attention to themselves. Soon enough they trailed the monster all the way to small cave.

"That must be where the other butterflies are kept," said Fluttershy.

"Shhhhh, I think I heard some voices inside," said Naruto holding a hoof to his lips.

They quietly walked over to the entrance as the voices got louder and peeked inside, there they saw something which worried Fluttershy and angered Naruto. There are a trio ponies with two being male earth ponies and the other being a female unicorn who are currently putting the petrified butterflies into brown sacks.

The first earth pony has the body color of brown with a shaggy mane and tail of black, he has cutie mark of a brown path with rocks on it. The second earth pony has the body color of grey with a mane and tail of black and has a cutie mark of a ragged looking ace of spades playing card. And the female unicorn has the body of amethyst, her cobalt with a cool grey streak mane and tail is cut short and draped over to the right, and she has a cutie mark of a purple rose with black splotch and stars as a background.

"Hurry it up you two, we're behind schedule here!" said the female unicorn angrily.

"Take it easy Midnight Rose, we're moving as fast as we can," said the grey earth pony.

"Wild Ace is right, there are a lot of petrified butterflies to pack up here but this has to be the greatest idea which you've come up with," said the brown earth pony.

"Of course it is Rocky Road, all we had to do is control a cockatrice from the Everfree forest to turn certain creatures into stone statues to sell them as figurines to any pony with the right amount of bits. Easiest money we ever made," said Midnight Rose with a smirk.

Back at the entrance, Naruto and Fluttershy had heard everything and were quite displeased with what they were doing.

"How could they do something so horrible to those poor creatures and now they want to do the same to the butterflies," said Fluttershy sadly.

Naruto looked angry, seeing this reminded him of his encounter with Gato during his mission at the Land of Waves "Anypony could do anything just to get their hooves on money, but right now we're stopping them from doing anymore,"

"O-okay Naruto,"

Naruto stepped into the cave while Fluttershy timidly hid behind him as he made their presence known to the others.

"Hey, stop what you're doing and leave those butterflies alone!" Naruto spoke angrily.

The trio turned to the sudden outburst and were surprised upon an unknown unicorn and Pegasus standing at the cave entrance.

"Who are you two and what are you doing here?" asked Wild Ace with tension.

"It doesn't really who we are, just know that we heard everything and are going to stop you from doing anymore," said Naruto.

"Those butterflies are supposed to be on their migration, what you're doing isn't nice at all," said Fluttershy while peeking out from behind Naruto.

"Like that should be of any concern to us," Rocky Road scoffed.

"And since you intend to interfere with our gig, then might as well silence both of you permanently," the mare's horn glowed with a violet aura before a beam shot out of it and hit the cockatrice which jerked a bit before charging straight at Naruto and Fluttershy.

"Be careful Naruto, looking into its eyes will turn you into stone and please don't hurt it!" said Fluttershy worriedly.

"Got it Shy, Terra Bunker!" Naruto's horn glowed an orange aura as he slammed a hoof onto the ground which rumbled before forming a protective dome around Naruto and Fluttershy, knocking the cockatrice back away from them.

"As if a little dirt is going to do anything, I can just knock it down!" said Midnight Rose as she prepared to fire a magic beam to knock down the earthen dome.

Then a part of the rock dome burst open and something flew out and landed before the cockatrice who looked down to see that it was a white crystal with a strange writing on it. The crystal glowed for a moment before unleashing a bright flash of light, making the cockatrice and opposing ponies to cry out in pain while covering their eyes to block out the sudden flash.

Naruto shot out of the dome and threw out the picnic blanket over the cockatrice then quickly brought out a pair of chakra arms to grab the edges and wrapped it up all over before tying a knot and left the monster squirming to break free but to no avail.

"Why you…get him!" Wild Ace shouted out angrily.

Both earth ponies charged at Naruto, Rocky Road launched a straight punch at Naruto's head but the blond stallion ducked under the attack and spun around to use his tail to wrap around one to the hooves, then he pulled hard to lift him into the air and tossed him into the cave wall which left him stunned. Naruto turned to face Wild Ace who launched punches and kicks, dodging them with sidesteps and short dashes.

"Not bad moves dude, but check this out!" Naruto immediately dashed to the left side and launched a double kick to send Wild Ace flying away from him, then he channeled his chakra from within and called out.

"Shadow Clone jutsu!"

Two clones appeared in a puff of smoke then he created a pair of chakra arms to grab them and throw at the still airborne Wild Ace. The first clone tackled into the grey earth while the second clone flew past them and towards the cave wall, there he somersaulted to land on it with his hooves before kicking off and flying to slam into his target's back

"Clone Body Blow!" both clones called out before disappearing in puffs of smoke, leaving an unconscious opponent on the ground.

Naruto turned to look at Midnight Rose who stood there in shock upon see a seemingly pony take down both of her cohorts "Now that they're out of the way, you best surrender if you don't want to end up like them,"

The violet unicorn took a step back as her mind raced quickly thinking of her next course of actions at that moment "I've got to do something to get away from them, but what?" she glanced to the side and saw Fluttershy standing nearby looking worried "That'll work," Midnight Rose took aim at Fluttershy and shot a beam of magic from her horn.

Naruto's eyes widened upon where the beam was headed and immediately swung into action by moving to intercept

"Fluttershy watch out!" He called out to the mare who stood there frozen in fear, he pumped chakra to his legs for a speed boost and managed to get there in time to tackle her out of the way just as the beam shot by and destroyed a part of the cave wall.

Fluttershy snapped out of her fear and looked up to see Naruto standing over her protectively "Na-Naruto?"

"Shy are you alright? You weren't hurt were you?" Naruto asked with concern.

"N-no I'm fine," Fluttershy responded with a pink tinge on her cheeks due to how close he was to her, then they heard galloping and turned to see Midnight Rose running out of the cave.

"Darn it, she's getting away!" Naruto got ready to pursue the unicorn when Fluttershy called out to him.

"Naruto wait, we'll need to find a way to reverse the spell,"

"Okay Shy, but I'll send a couple of clones after her while we tie up the lackeys," Naruto created a group of four clones who then ran out of the cave in pursuit.

After tying up the still unconscious earth ponies, Naruto and Fluttershy cautiously untied the blanket from the cockatrice. They noticed that the monster was looking around confusedly before setting its eyes on them and stiffened upon recognizing Fluttershy much to Naruto's amusement.

"I'm relieved to see that you're free of the mind control spell, but could you dispel your petrification on the butterflies so that they can continue their migration?" asked Fluttershy kindly.

The cockatrice nodded in affirmation and sounds of rocks shattering were heard, soon the place filled with colorful wings fluttering before slowly making their way out of the cave.

"Thank you very much, now you can make your way home at the Everfree Forest now," said Fluttershy, the cockatrice squawked in response before walking away. Then Naruto received the memories of his shadow clones but frowned at what he saw which Fluttershy noticed "What's the matter Naruto?"

"My clones had cornered that Midnight Rose but then she threw out some sort of purple dust which messed with their senses before making her getaway," Naruto turned to the earth ponies propped up against the wall "As for these two, my clones will send them to the royal guards over at Canterlot,"

"Okay, let's hurry back to the spot before we miss the migration," said Fluttershy.

Both ponies quickly made their way back to where they were originally at as Celestia's sun was slowly setting. Naruto watched the butterflies fly over them in awe of the scenery, Fluttershy was also admiring them while feeling happy that everything was going the way she wanted after all.

"Wow, I never would have thought to see something like this. I'm glad that Shy invited me to see this," thought Naruto happily, then a butterfly descended and landed on his snout while fanning itself. He noticed that this one looked quite different from the ones that he saw on Fluttershy's encyclopedia. It has wings in the color of pink and yellow, there is some sort of pattern almost looking like a bow and arrow "I've never seen this one before, maybe Shy will know about it once I show it to her," Naruto turned to tell Fluttershy.

It was at that moment a butterfly of similar appearance landed on Fluttershy's snout too, she was quite taken with its appearance especially with its pattern.

"I've never seen this butterfly before, maybe Naruto would like to see it before I search on it in the encyclopedia," thought Fluttershy before turning to speak to Naruto.

"Shy you need to see this…" Naruto began while turning.

"Naruto, I would like to show…" Fluttershy spoke while turning.

Both sides faced each other, however neither could finish what they were saying as something else was going on…their muzzles were currently touching each other with the unique butterflies still on it while looking into each other's eyes with surprise. Naruto and Fluttershy were actually kissing each other.

"I can't believe that I'm kissing Naruto/Fluttershy!" Both thought at the same time frantically.

In Ponyville and Canterlot, a certain group of mares stopped whatever that they were doing upon feeling a tinge of jealously as if somepony had gone and done something that they had wanted to do first.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Fluttershy stood still for several moments before finally moving away with their hearts pounding against their chests and the butterflies flew off.

"This feeling again, the very same one when Luna kissed me. Why am I feeling this way?!" thought Naruto.

"I still can't believe that I kissed Naruto, I feel like I'm going to faint," thought Fluttershy.

"Um…Shy…" Fluttershy looked up with a start to see Naruto looking away with a blush on his face "I'm really sorry about that. I didn't mean to do that, I must have made you feel uncomfortable,"

"I-i-it's okay Naruto, I really don't mind," said Fluttershy in a placating manner

"Oh okay, maybe we should pack up and go home," Naruto suggested, Fluttershy could only nod in agreement.

It was a very awkward trip back to Ponyville and Naruto escorted Fluttershy back to her home.

"Um goodnight Shy," said Naruto.

"Y-You too Naruto, I'll see you tomorrow,"

"Okay," Naruto then left with Fluttershy closing the door.

Feeling that she was alone, Fluttershy ran up to her room and jumped into her bed before covering her head with a pillow to hid a full blown blush on her face upon recalling the memory of the kiss.

"Now that I think about it, I didn't check up on that butterfly," Fluttershy unsealed the encyclopedia and flipped through the pages until finding a picture matching what she and Naruto saw, then proceeded to read the information.

The Cupid's Fluttering Arrow

This butterfly is an extremely rare with only a select few being lucky enough to even catch a glimpse of it. This creature is noted to be a strong flier, capable of flying through strong winds with the least effort and loves to drink nectar from pink and red flowers. Rumors has it that when a pair of these butterflies were to land on the snouts of a male and female pony and they were to kiss, it would mean that they were destined to be together as a couple.

By the time she was done reading, steam could be seen coming out Fluttershy's ears. She couldn't take it anymore and simply fainted on her bed, dreaming of her and Naruto walking through a beautiful forest with numerous butterflies flying overhead.

Diving into Fiction…literally

Diving into Fiction…literally

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 30: Diving into Fiction…literally

"And…there! I'm all done," Naruto spoke with satisfaction as he looked at the neat stack of papers placed on top of his table in the office over at the Whirlpool.

Business had been going slow for him and he was bored out of his mind, which was when he had a sudden brainstorm to relieve him of his boredom by rewriting one of his favorite stories that he loved to read during his younger days back in the Hidden Leaf village due to his love for adventures.

"Now that I'm finished with the script, I'll take it over to Twilight for her to help turn it into a book. I'm pretty sure that she'll want to be the first to read it," said Naruto, then he sealed the papers into his medallion making his way towards the library after locking up the shop.

While walking along the streets of Ponyville and responding to the greetings of ponies as he passed by, Naruto let his mind wander into the recent events to while away the time on his walk, however a tinge of pink appeared on his whiskered cheeks upon recalling what happened between him and Fluttershy when they watched the butterfly migration together despite the run in with those ponies. Ever since that awkward kiss, Naruto had that funny feeling again just like when Luna kissed him on the cheek though he acts normal around them he can't but feel a bit weird and was getting the same vibe from some of the others.

"I really need to talk to somepony about this, maybe Doc or Kami could help me out," thought Naruto to himself.

Suddenly he bumped into someone and heard a yelp which snapped him out of his thoughts to look at who it was that he bumped into only to see that it was someone whom he was familiar with.

"Oh Derpy! Sorry about walking into you like that, I was thinking about something and I just lost my sense of awareness," said Naruto apologetically.

"It's okay Naruto, it must be something serious for you to do that, need any help?" said Derpy.

"You have no idea," thought Naruto "It's okay, I'll be sure to figure it out,"

"Okay, where are you going to since you're not in your shop right now?" asked Derpy.

"Actually I was getting bored in the shop since there weren't any deliveries to be made today. So I had the idea to write a manuscript on one of my favorite stories that I used to read by in my old home when I was young and I was taking it to Twilight over at the library for her to help turn it into a book," said Naruto.

"Really? Is there a chance that Dinky could read it too? I'm sure she would like it since it came from where you were before coming to Ponyville," said Derpy.

After the battle with Discord, Naruto revealed to Derpy and her daughter who he really was except that he travels to other dimensions since she had seen the battle between him and his dark side. They were at first surprised but accepted him nonetheless and Dinky had taken to having him show off his techniques from time to time saying that he looked very cool to her.

"Sure thing Derpy, I'll be sure to bring it over once it's done. See you later Derpy," said Naruto before walking away.

"Bye Naruto," Derpy flapped her wings as she flew off towards her intended destination.

It only took a few more minutes before Naruto finally arrived at the library, he knocked on the door but didn't have to wait long before it opened up to reveal Twilight behind it who smiled upon seeing the blond stallion.

"Hello Naruto, what brings you here?" asked Twilight.

"Hi Twilight, I came because I need your help on making a book," said Naruto.

"Making a book? What is it about?" asked Twilight with interest.

"It's actually an old folktale that I used to read back at the Hidden Leaf, I thought to rewrite it into a book," said Naruto.

"What's the story called?"

"It's titled Momotaro the peach boy,"

"The peach boy? Why is he called that?" Twilight asked curiously.

"That would be spoiling the story, let's finish making the book then you can read about it," said Naruto teasingly.

"Then let's make the book already, I can't wait any longer to read it!" said Twilight excitedly before walking quickly towards one of the bookshelves in search of a spell book, she had always liked reading things relating to Naruto's old home.

Naruto unsealed the stack of papers from his medallion and placed them on the table and Twilight walked up to him while reading from a book which was being levitated with her magic. Then she closed the book and placed it elsewhere.

"Okay, I've gotten just the right spell for the job. Let's give it a try," Twilight closed her eyes in concentration with her horn emitting a purple aura, then the papers were covered in the aura as well before lifting into the air and swirled around like they were caught up in a twister. The papers converged towards the center and stuck together then a brown hard leather cover materialized before attaching to the papers and binding them together before placing itself on the table.

"The spell worked just like I hoped," said Twilight turned to Naruto with pleading look on her face "Can I read it Naruto?"

"Sure thing Twilight, I did say you could read it when you help make it into a book," said Naruto.

"Thanks Naruto!"

Twilight happily walked towards the book when all of a sudden it shot up to the air while covered in a white aura much to their surprise.

"Twilight what's going on?! Could it be the side effect of the spell that you did?" asked Naruto.

"I-I don't know, I didn't read of any side effects from the spell book," said Twilight looking confused as well.

The book opened up as the pages flipped through quickly before stopping in the middle where a bright flash of light shown throughout the room, forcing Naruto and Twilight to close their in order to block it out as the brightness steadily increased before finally dimming. The book closed itself and landed back on the table with a thump…but the strange thing was that neither Twilight nor Naruto were to be seen in the room at all, it was as if they disappeared into thin air without so much as a trace of their presence.

"….,"

"….,"

"….ugh,"

Naruto let out a groan as he slowly opened his eyes and blinked them a few times to clear them before realizing that he was laying on his back and felt the grass through his skin which instantly snapped him to attention then he abruptly sat up, surprising himself at how he did so.

"What the hay?" Naruto raised his front limbs only to see hands instead of hooves before him and looked at himself to see that he was wearing the same clothes from when he revisited his old home "I'm human again? What's going on here and mostly importantly where am I?"

As he looked around, Naruto noticed that he was standing on top of a grassy hill and several rows of mountains could be seen in the horizon. A little bit closer to him is a dirt path with one side leading into a forest and the other leading further into the grasslands.

"I don't how I got here but I better find a town or village in order to find out where exactly I am," Naruto was about to take a step when he heard a moan right next to him and turned to see the source of the sound.

Laying on the ground was a girl about his height while wearing a light purple kimono with star patterns on it with a dark purple sash, a pair of long white socks and wooden sandal. What caught Naruto's attention the most was that the girl had long dark blue hair with a violet streak that reach her upper back.

"Could this be Twilight in her human form? She looks beautiful," Naruto blushed as he stared at the mare turned human in awe. He knelt down and shook Twilight's shoulder gently to wake her up. She finally stirred awake and began to look around in confusion.

"Naruto? Is that you? Why are you in your human form…why am I a human?! My horn is gone again! What's going on?!" Twilight asked panicky.

"Calm down Twilight, calm down. Just take a deep breath," Naruto watched Twilight do just that and appeared to have calmed down.

"What happened Naruto? The last thing I remember was the book releasing a bright flash of light before I lost consciousness and then I woke up looking like a human," said Twilight confusedly.

"Same here, I don't know where we are either. Maybe we should find a town so that we'll learn of where we are and find a way back home, but I need to teach you how to move around while in human form," said Naruto.

"It shouldn't be too hard, I've seen Spike do it a lot,"

"Well there's a difference between seeing and actually doing it, I had to practice moving around when I first arrived in Equestria as a pony" Naruto held out his hand for Twilight to grab which she did before gently pulling her up to stand on her feet, she was a bit unsteady and almost fell over a few times had it not been for Naruto holding her up.

"Now just move one of your feet forward then move the other ahead of the first one," Naruto held both of Twilight's hands as she took one step after. With each step taken, Twilight slowly got used to her new feet and soon was able to walk on her own without Naruto's help but didn't try to run given that her new dress wasn't really meant for that.

"Okay, I think I've gotten the hang of walking now but how can I use my magic without my horn?" asked Twilight worriedly.

Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment "I don't know, but if magic comes from within one's self like my chakra then maybe you try channeling your magic through your hands,"

Twilight looked around for moment before setting her sights upon a rock laying nearby, she pointed her hands towards it and closed her eyes as she concentrated on a basic magic spell. From Naruto's point of view, he noticed that Twilight's hands were covered in a purple aura then rock was covered in the same aura as it lifted into the air. Twilight opened her eyes and smiled upon seeing that her magic still works despite her lack of horn, whichever direction which she moves her hands then the levitating rock would hover towards it.

"I can still use my magic, what a relief. Being unable to use magic one time is enough for me," said Twilight with a smile.

"Now let's go find ourselves a town," said Naruto.

"But which way should we go?" asked Twilight.

"Let's go through the forest,"

With that said, Naruto and Twilight ventured into the forest, all the while taking note that the forest wasn't so different from the ones back in Equestria. They continued along the dirt path when Naruto suddenly stopped Twilight from walking any further with a frown on his face.

"What's the matter Naruto? Why did we stop?" asked Twilight confusedly.

"We're not alone…someone has been following us for quite a while now," said Naruto before speaking out loudly "Come out and show yourselves, I know you're there!"

There was no response for a moment then dark chuckles were heard as the bushes rustled before parting to reveal something which surprised Naruto and frightened Twilight.

It resembled a giant with red skin, wild black hair with two long horns jutting out from it and fang-like tusks jutting out from its mouth, it also wears a loincloth which appears to be made from the furs of tigers. Naruto and Twilight took note of the large iron club with spikes at the end.

"N-Naruto, w-what is that thing?" asked Twilight with fear in her voice.

"It's an Oni, an evil monster known to perform evil acts, one of the worst being that it devours humans," Naruto spoke grimly for Twilight to gasp at what he said.

"Well, well, well, today must be my lucky day as I've found two humans just in time for lunch," said the red Oni while smacking his lips hungrily.

Naruto stood before Twilight protectively while taking a fighting stance "Sorry to disappoint you buddy, but we're not on the menu so you're going home hungry,"

"Like you have any say in this matter, you're both lunch and that is that," the Oni raised his iron club above his head and brought it down on them.

Naruto quickly turned to grab Twilight into a bridal carry and leapt out of the way before the club smashed where they once stood. He placed Twilight on the ground and dashed towards the Oni while crossing the middle and index fingers of both hands together before calling out his signature jutsu.

"Shadow clone jutsu!"

There were puffs of smoke at both sides of the blond ninja before dissipating to reveal clones running alongside the original much to the shock of the red Oni.

"I don't know what magic this is, but you're only prolonging your death!" the Oni swung his club at the clones, some of them jumped out of the way of the attack though one of them got hit and disappeared in a puff of smoke. The first pair of clones quickly around to position themselves behind the Oni and simultaneously kicked at the back of his legs, forcing him to his knees, the clone ran up the iron club with a kunai in hand which he then used to stab the hand, causing the Oni to let go while crying out in pain.

The red Oni looked up to see Naruto diving towards him from the air with a blue spinning orb in his hand "If you're that hungry, then how about you chew on this?! Rasengan!" then he rammed it into the monster to send him flying backwards in a spiral while crashing through many trees before tumbling to a stop and laid there unconscious.

Naruto stood vigilant to see if the Oni would get back to his feet but the demon remained still before relaxing his guard, then he heard Twilight approaching him.

"Thanks for protecting me Naruto," said Twilight happily.

"No problem Twilight," said Naruto with a foxy grin.

"That is certainly quite an accomplishment to defeat an Oni especially a red one at that," a voice spoke out from behind them, Naruto and Twilight turned around to see whom the voice belonged to.

It happened to be a boy with black hair which is tied into a ponytail about their height wearing a white headband with the picture of a peach while carrying a flag on his back. He also wears a purple undershirt, with a red shirt and a pink vest coming over both while having a katana and a brown pouch attached to his belt. Also Naruto and Twilight noticed the white dog that is almost as large as a colt standing next to him.

"Thanks but who are you?" asked Naruto curiously.

"My name is Momotaro the peach boy, and this my companion Dog," said the boy while the dog nodded in greeting.

Naruto and Twilight's eyes widened in surprise upon hearing his name and turned towards each other having coming upon a shocking conclusion as they now know exactly where. It appears that the book had sucked into a world which is based on one of Naruto's favorite folktales! They snapped out of their shock before turning to respond to the boy.

"It's nice to meet you, my name is Twilight Sparkle," said Twilight.

"And mine is Naruto Uzumaki, so where are you and your friend going to?" asked Naruto despite knowing exactly what it is.

"We're on our way to subdue the evil Oni in their island stronghold in the northeast of Japan, these hateful beings had been invading this land to kill and rob the people, and carry off all they can find. It is the reason why I left my dear mother and father but I promised to return after taking back the plunder which they have robbed of this land," said Momotaro.

"I wish you luck on your mission," said Twilight.

"Actually I was hoping that you would accompany me to the Oni stronghold and help defeat the monsters,"

Naruto and Twilight were surprised to hear such a request from the peach boy.

"Are you sure about this? I know that you're a pretty strong guy," said Naruto not wanting to divert the story off its original path.

"Of course, after seeing you battle that red Oni, I can tell your participation in the upcoming battle would help us greatly. I hope that you would say yes,"

Feeling torn between helping his favorite hero and finding a way back home, Naruto turned to Twilight for her opinion in the matter. The mare turned human thought deeply for a minute before responding to Momotaro.

"We'd like to help you, we can't refuse after hearing your story," said Twilight.

Momotaro smiled happily at their answer "I'm forever grateful for your help,"

"I'm happy to work alongside you," said Naruto.

"Likewise," the dog spoke up for the first much to their surprise since he mentioned a word throughout their conversation. Then a loud rumble was heard and it happened to come from the stomachs of Naruto and Twilight much to their embarrassment while Momotaro chuckled.

"Of course you two would be hungry after what had happened," he reached into his pouch and took out a dumpling which he then split into two before holding out half to each of them "Here, this happens to be one of the best dumplings in Japan courtesy of my mother. I'm sure you'll love it,"

After giving their thanks, Naruto and Twilight took the halves of the dumplings and ate them before discovering the exquisite taste behind them.

"Whoa, it's as tasty as the story describes it!" thought Naruto.

"Well then, let us be off! We still have a long way to go," said Momotaro.

With that said, the group continued on their way with Momotaro leading them through the path until they were out of the forest not before tying up the red Oni with very strong rope to a tree. Along the way, Naruto and Twilight were having a private conversation between themselves.

"I'm a bit surprised that you wanted to help instead of looking for a way to get back home," said Naruto.

"Well I did before, but after seeing what that monster tried to do us I couldn't leave it like that so I wanted to help then we could work on getting back to our world," said Twilight.

"I'm totally fine with it, it's not every day that you get to work alongside your favorite hero!" said Naruto with stars in his eyes, making Twilight giggle.

Suddenly something jumped out from the branches of a nearby tree and landed on the path before them, it was revealed to be a monkey with brown fur who then walked towards the group mainly Momotaro and waved cheerily.

"Hello Momotaro! I welcome you to this part of the country, I also wish to ask if I could accompany you to the Oni stronghold?" asked the monkey in a chipper voice.

The dog stepped before the monkey while growling at it "This group already has a dog to help them to fight the Oni, so there's no need for a monkey to come along. Now go away!"

Hearing this caused the monkey to glare at the dog "What gives you the right to send me away you mangy mutt?"

"What did you call me?!"

"You heard me, or are you deaf?"

This led into a fight with the dog biting at the monkey who was using its acrobatic skills to dodge and strike back with its sharp claws.

"I read from the library that dogs and monkeys had always disliked each other, but I never saw it in reality until now," said Twilight.

"First time for everything Twilight-san, but I'm not going to let this play out any longer," said Momotaro.

"Same here," said Naruto.

Both boys approached the fighting animals and pulled them away from each other with Momotaro holding back the dog and Naruto doing the same with the monkey.

"That's enough dog!" Momotaro spoke sternly.

"But it's not all dignified for you to have a monkey accompany us on our journey," said dog.

"And what do you know of it?" Momotaro turned to the monkey who appeared to have calmed down "And why do you want to come with us monkey?"

"I didn't like what the Oni has been doing to this land so when I heard of your expedition to the Oni stronghold on their island, I decided to follow you when you appear here. Nothing would please me more if you were to accept my request," said the monkey.

Momotaro looked thoughtful for a moment before replying "I admire your courage and so I've decided to allow you to join us,"

Hearing this made the monkey happy but the dog protested against this.

"But Momotaro…" he began but was interrupted.

"I understand your dislike of each other but that won't be allowed in this group. Anyone who begins the argument will be sent away, understood?" both animals nodded meekly not wanting to be sent away.

After giving the monkey a half of his dumplings, the group continued on the road however Momotaro had the dog walk ahead of them with a flag and monkey to be behind them while walking in the middle and holding a war fan made of iron.

"So is this the group that will be going to fight the Oni?" whispered Twilight.

"Not exactly Twilight, there's one more to join us," Naruto whispered back.

"Really who?"

"Just wait and see,"

The group arrived at a large rice field, here a bird flew down and alighted on the ground just before them. It was the most beautiful bird they had ever seen, on its body were five different robes of feathers and a scarlet cap covered its head.

The dog immediately ran towards the bird and lunged at it with its teeth bared to attack, however the bird quickly took to the air before diving to peck at the dog's head before following up by attacking with its talons. Naruto and the others were watching the fight with awe especially Momotaro.

"Both beautiful and fast, I'm sure that Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash would have loved to meet it," said Twilight.

"That's true," Naruto nodded agreement.

Then Momotaro went up to the animals and pulled the dog back while looking at the bird sternly to stop.

"That's enough out of the both of you! Especially you as you're hindering my journey, cease this fight and I might consider letting you join us. If not, then I'll see you as an enemy and let dog attack you again!"

The bird was frightened from what he said and immediately alighted to the ground before bowing to them.

"I have no excuse for attacking a member of your group and sincerely apologize for doing such a thing. I am a bird called a pheasant and I'm thankful for your forgiveness, and to take me with you," said the bird.

"I congratulate you on your surrender as well as I accept your humble apology, you're allowed to join us on our raid on the Oni stronghold," said Momotaro much to the pheasant's joy then he turned to speak to the group "Now all of you must listen to me, the first important thing in an army is harmony. Union among us is better than any earthly gains, when we're not at peace amongst ourselves it's no easy thing to subdue an enemy. From now on, all of you must be friends with one mind. The one who first begins an argument will be discharged on the spot!"

"You won't expect that from us, Twilight and I often work together with our friends so expect full co-operation from us," said Naruto with Twilight nodding in agreement.

"Then I too will work with the others," said the monkey.

"Me too," said the dog.

"I as well," said the pheasant.

"Very well then, let us be on our way," said Momotaro not before giving the pheasant a half of the dumplings.

Afterwards they resumed their journey, bravely traversing through the tall mountains, long valleys and deep forests. Although the way, everyone got along nicely with each other and looked up to Momotaro as the leader. After many days of traveling, they all stood on the shores of the North-Eastern Sea where nothing could be seen as far as the horizon, not even a spot of land with the only sound being the crashing of waves upon the shores.

"Looks we'll be going by boat in order to get to the island," said Twilight.

"Seems like it," Naruto glanced to the side and noticed that the dog, monkey and pheasant were fidgeting around a bit "Hey guys, what's the matter?"

"We've never been to the sea before so we're feeling a bit unsettled by it," said the monkey.

Momotaro heard what monkey said and responded to them "Is that hesitance I hear in your voice? What cowards you are to be afraid of the sea especially since we came so far. I have no use for such cowards so it's best that I discharge you three at once!"

Everyone was taken aback by his declaration, especially the three animals so Twilight spoke up in their defense.

"But they came so far to help you fight against the Oni," said Twilight.

"That's exactly my point, if they came all this way only to be frightened of the sea then what if we were to arrive at the enemy stronghold and fear were to take a hold of them. That would lead to our deaths and all this will be for nothing but a waste of time and lives," Momotaro replied.

Naruto was unable to say anything to defend them due to Momotaro bringing up a valid point, recalling when he and his team went out on their first C-rank mission and were attacked by rogue ninjas. He froze with fear when he thought that Kakashi was killed and had it not been for Sasuke quickly reacting to the situation, he and Sakura would have been killed as well however he proved himself when he overcame his fear when they went up against the infamous Zabuza one of the most feared swordsmen known.

He was about to speak up when the animals clung to Momotaro's sleeve with pleading looks in their eyes.

"Please don't send us away!" said the dog.

"We came too far to back down now!" said the monkey.

"We don't fear the sea at all, so please take us with you!" said the pheasant.

Momotaro looked at them with a frown before it broke into a smile.

"Very well then, you three can come along. It's even a good thing that you were afraid," said Momotaro much to the surprise of everyone.

"I don't understand, but you almost sent them away because they were afraid," said Twilight confusedly.

"The reason they're afraid is because they know of the dangers ahead of them. It is often the fearless ones who often find themselves in all kinds of danger, you wouldn't climb a mountain without knowing the risks,"

"I see, so you were testing them," said Naruto in realization.

"Of course, but I would have sent them away had they failed so that they won't have to lose their lives,"

The animals bowed their heads in gratitude and admiration of his strict yet kind actions.

"He really acts like a great leader, he reminds me of Princess Celestia," said Twilight with a smile.

"Same here, except he reminds me of the third Hokage," said Naruto.

Later on, Momotaro had managed to acquire a small boat and they all got on board before setting sail for the island. The pheasant, dog and monkey were a bit frightened by the waves but Naruto calmed them down by telling them stories about the pranks he used to pull off back in his village as well as the mission he went along with his friends, making them laugh and feel excited with Momotaro watching in amusement.

They sailed across the blue seas for quite a while until one day the group heard the pheasant call out to them from the air.

"Everyone, I see an island in the distance!"

They ran to the bow of the ship, Momotaro took out a telescope and peered through it, there above the precipitous shores looking out to sea he saw a large castle and instantly knew that it was the Oni's stronghold.

"So what's the plan of action Momotaro?" asked Naruto with the others standing behind him attentively.

Momotaro thought deeply for a few minutes with his head leaning on a hand, before looking at the pheasant.

"Pheasant I'll need you to fly ahead and engage the enemy, we'll follow soon after,"

The pheasant nodded in confirmation and was about to take flight when Naruto spoke up.

"I'd like to follow pheasant as well to keep the Oni occupied while you catch up with us," said Naruto, the rest nodded recalling in his stories that he could create wings to fly.

"Very well then, but stay safe along with pheasant," said Momotaro.

"Naruto please be careful," said Twilight worriedly.

"I'll be Twilight, I promise,"

Naruto channeled chakra to his back and formed wings before leaping into the air, taking flight alongside the pheasant as they headed towards the castle with the others watching them go from the boat. They soon reached and landed on the roof of a tall tower in the middle of the castle where pheasant called out loudly for the Oni to hear.

"All of you monsters listen to me! The great general Momotaro has come to fight you and take your stronghold from you, surrender to us now or suffer the agony of defeat!" the pheasant declared.

The Oni looked up and saw the bird and human before breaking into laughter.

"A little bird and a human, it is ridiculous to hear such a thing from you! Wait till you receive a blow from one of our iron clubs!" said a blue skinned Oni haughtily with the rest bellowing in agreement.

Naruto simply shook his head at their naivety "Just like what Momotaro said earlier, because they aren't afraid so they ignorant of the consequences. Why don't show them what it means to be afraid of something?"

"With pleasure," said the pheasant who took off to the air before swopping towards the Oni at high speed.

Naruto stretched an arm out to the side where there was a flash of bright light and when it faded, it revealed a sea blue broadsword with an outward motif for the guard and in the center is a white swirling energy hovering in the air. He jumped off the roof and dove towards a red Oni who swung his spiked iron club at him, Naruto slashed at the incoming weapon cleanly splitting it in half much to the monster's disbelief then he reared a fist back and thrust it forward for a large chakra arm to shoot out and smash the Oni into a wall.

The pheasant flew left and right to avoid the heavy but slow swings of the iron clubs from the Oni and retaliating by peaking at them with his sharp beak and slashing with his talons before flying around them so fast that the Oni are even wondering if they're actually fighting a single bird or more had arrived to help it while the others are at their wits end wondering what the warrior fighting them is for he fought so inhumanly with strange magic.

Meanwhile Momotaro and the others had brought the ship to land on the shore and quickly made their way to castle before stopping before the castle entrance which was heavily fortified with high walls and large iron gates.

"I can use my magic to carry us over the walls and into the courtyard so we can get to Naruto and pheasant," said Twilight as she prepared to do just that.

"Hold on Twilight-san, I hear someone crying from over there," said dog pointing a paw in a direction.

They walked to where the dog pointed and saw two beautiful damsels washing in a nearby stream, they saw that the clothes were blood stained and that the maidens were crying as they washed. Momotaro stepped forward and called out to them.

"Who are you and why do you cry?" asked Momotaro.

"We're the daughters of a feudal lord but the Oni kidnapped us from our homes and into this island, threatening us to be his servants or be eaten by him," said one of the girls tearfully.

"That's terrible," said Twilight sadly.

"Don't cry anymore for we're here to rescue you, as of now two of our comrades are inside fighting the Oni, so if you would show us how to get into the castle in order to help them," said Momotaro.

"We would be glad to show you the way," said the other girl.

Then the girls led the way with the group following them until stopping before a backdoor which was built into the lowest part of the wall, however the catch was that the door was so small that none of them could even squeeze through.

"How can we get through the door now? It's too small for any of us," said the dog.

"Hold on, let me try something," Twilight directed her hands towards the door it was covered in a magical aura before suddenly enlarging to a size which is more than enough for them to pass through freely.

"What was that?" asked the monkey.

"It was an expansion spell which I cast on the door, it makes things increase in size," said Twilight.

"That was convenient, now let us hurry in to help Naruto and pheasant," said Momotaro while opening the door and running inside with the rest soon following after.

"Rasengan Barrage!" Naruto was currently charging at another group of Oni with a Rasengan on each hand before ramming them into the guts of two unlucky targets, sending flying back and crashing into the others then swiveled around to point an open palm at an Oni approaching with a white rune appearing before him "Chakra Cannon!" then he fired a large chakra sphere with the recoil pushing him back a bit to blast the Oni away from him.

Naruto turned to see more Oni approaching to attack, he stretched his hand and the Kosei no Ha which had latched on to his back earlier before floated over for him to grab it and took a stance while the pheasant landed on his shoulder.

"These guys keep on coming," said Naruto.

"Not to worry Naruto-san, I'm sure Momotaro-sama and the others are almost here," said the pheasant.

"They better if they don't want to miss all the action,"

They both got ready to resume their offense when large boulders and wooden beams flew overhead and smashed into the Oni. They turned around to see Momotaro and the group behind them with Twilight's hands glowing with her magic.

"Sorry for taking so long to get here, but the time has come to overthrow these monsters!" Momotaro drew out his sword and charged at the Oni with monkey and dog running along him while Twilight used her magic to levitate the rocks and wooden beams before launching them at the Oni. Not wanting to be outdone, Naruto and the pheasant joined in the battle.

It was a total nightmare for the Oni who were wishing that they could wake up from it. things were already bad enough when the pheasant and odd human were attacking them, now it is a whole lot worse with monkey slashing at them with its claws, the dog biting with its powerful jaws, the human girl using strange magic to attack and the second male human cutting them with his sword making it an utterly one-sided battle.

The dust finally cleared to reveal the once numerous and arrogant Oni now laid defeated while Naruto and the group standing victorious over them. They turned to faced what appears to be the last red Oni who appears to be much larger than the rest so they identified him to be the leader.

The Oni leader humbly stepped forward and cast his iron club to the ground, then he went down on his knees at Momotaro's feet and broke off his horns as a token of submission.

"I truly fear your might," the Oni leader spoke meekly "I know now that I stand no chance against you and your army, I will give you all of the treasure hidden in the castle if you spare my life,"

Momotaro replied sternly "It is unlike an Oni like you to beg for mercy, however I can't forgive you for all the atrocities you and your cohorts have done to the country for many years no matter how much you beg,"

Then they tied the Oni up, with Naruto's clones to help the group searched throughout the castle from top to bottom, and set the grateful prisoners free and gathered all of the treasures in the rooms. Afterwards everyone made their return to their individual villages with some of the treasure which was stolen from them. Momotaro escorted the two maidens back to their homes and delivered the Oni leader to the feudal lord to be judged for his crimes. The whole country rejoiced upon hearing that the Oni were defeated and hailed Momotaro and his companions as heroes.

As of now the group stood in the middle of the road with dog and monkey pulling a wagon laden with treasure and pheasant perched on the railings. Momotaro smiling sadly at Naruto and Twilight.

"Are you sure that you have to go? I'm sure that my parents would have loved to meet you two," said Momotaro.

"We'd love to but now we have to be getting ourselves home, our friends are waiting for us," said Twilight sadly.

"Yeah but it was truly an honor to fight alongside you and the others, that's something we'll never forget and that's a promise," said Naruto with a thumbs up.

"It was an honor for us to be companions with you two," Momotaro walked over to the wagon and reached into the pile and brought out a few items to give to them "Please take these as a token of our friendship," he gave Twilight a small Japanese hair barrette which was adorned with colorful gemstones and for Naruto it was a ceremonial sword with a red and gold handle in a red sheath embossed with a golden dragon curled around it several times, he pulled the sheath back to see a single edged blade gleaming in the sunlight and there was something etched into the blade which was a kanji for 'Hope'

"Are you sure that you want to give us this?" asked Naruto.

"You both actually deserve more than this but I know you wouldn't want that," said Momotaro, seeing them nod in confirmation.

"We'll treasure these forever Momotaro, I hope we can meet again," said Twilight.

"We're really going to miss you two," said the monkey.

"Me too," said the dog.

"I'll never forget the fun times we had," said the pheasant.

"Us too, like I said before I promise to never forget the good times we had," said Naruto.

With that said, Naruto and Twilight waved goodbye at Momotaro and the animals who in turn did the same. The duo walked quite a distance before stopping to rest a bit under an oak tree.

"So have you thought of anything that could get us back to Equestria?" asked Naruto.

"I was actually thinking of…what is that?" Twilight pointed towards the sky and Naruto looked up only to be surprised to see some sort of magic circle spinning above them.

Suddenly the magic circle shot out a pillar of light which hit them before they could react and proceeded to lift them in the air towards it, Naruto grabbed Twilight and tried to create chakra wings in an attempt to escape but the pull was too strong and they ended up getting sucked into the magic circle.

"Twilight! Twilight where are you?" Spike called out while looking around in the library, but there was no sign of the mare "That's weird, normally she leaves a note behind before going anywhere for me to know where she was headed. Maybe I should go ask Pinkie Pie and the others, maybe they might know where she is,"

Spike turned and left through the front door in direction towards the Sugarcube Corner. The moment he shut the door, the brown leather book on the table radiated a white aura again and floated into the air before flipping itself open and a magic circle appeared only for Naruto and Twilight to fall out having turned back into their pony forms.

"Oooowwww, I think we're back in Equestria," Naruto rubbed the back of his head to ease the pain.

"Yeah it just proves that we really were transported into the world of the book, you even still have the sword that Momotaro gave to you," said Twilight.

Naruto looked down and saw the ceremonial sword lying next to him and he saw the hair barrette pinning up a part of Twilight's mane making him blush at how it made her look beautiful, Twilight noticed that Naruto was gawking at her and blushed as well. They both approached the book and noticed that there was a picture on the front cover, it showed the dog, monkey and pheasant with Momotaro walking ahead of them with the title of the book above them.

"I never would have thought that I would experience a story in reality," said Twilight.

"Me neither, but I'm glad that we got to have something like that together," said Naruto with a smile.

"Me too," Twilight smiled back.

"Let's go have some snacks over at the Sugarcube Corner, I could come back later for the book after you read it,"

"Sure thing, I really loved experiencing the story but nothing beats reading for me,"

"Hahaha, that's true,"

After sealing away their gifts, Naruto and Twilight left through the front door. What they didn't know was that the picture on the book changed to reveal Naruto and Twilight walking alongside Momotaro with smiles on their faces and the title changed to 'Momotaro and his Amazing Friends' for a moment before reverting back to normal.

Dimensional Tales: A Draconic Legend Pt. 1

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 31: Dimensional Tales: A Draconic Legend Pt. 1

It's another day in the life for Naruto as he's to be found in the kitchen in the Uzumaki mansion currently packing some food into a cooler for a little 'trip' to the Winsome Falls alone in order to proceed with the next step of his training with his wind affinity.

"Okay then, just a little bit more then I'm all set for Winsome Falls. Better send a shadow clone to let the others know where I'm going to," said Naruto, he took out a flask from the cupboard then took the kettle of green tea off the stove with a chakra arm and was about to pour it in when his medallion started glowing on its own before a an orb floated out of it and turned into a white scroll before placing itself on the kitchen table.

"Looks my travel plans have changed, guess I better gear up and get ready to leave," Naruto left the kitchen and made his way to the workshop downstairs, there he packed up on different varieties of crystals, ninja tools and not to forget a certain trump card which might help him along the way given his current situation "Guess that's everything…except for the food, I almost forgot about that,"

He returned to the kitchen and sealed the cooler away before leaving the mansion towards his next destination which is Dr. Whooves' home. He knocked on the door and didn't have to wait long as the said pony opened up and smiled upon seeing him.

"Ah hello again Naruto," said Dr. Whooves.

"Hi there doc, I just got another mission from Kami-sama," said Naruto showing him the scroll.

"I see, well then off we go to another world then. I'll go and make preparations for the trip," Dr. Whooves went inside with Naruto following him as they went to where the TARDIS is kept. Pressing a few buttons, the TARDIS hovered in the air as a rift opened up before them and they flew inside in direction of their next destination.

Naruto was looking through the window as they passed through the void when his stomach rumbled loudly as if to remind him to fill it up much to his embarrassment and Dr. Whooves' amusement.

"Sorry about that Doc, I forgot to eat breakfast this morning," said Naruto sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"It's quite alright, I myself had forgotten to restock the pantry yesterday and so didn't have breakfast either," said Dr. Whooves.

"In that case, I can share some of mine with you,"

"There's no need to bother yourself, I can manage,"

"No it's okay, I packed a lot so it's no trouble at all,"

"…very well then, I'll be happy to oblige," Dr. Whooves finally gave in.

"Great, now then release food pack!" Naruto's medallion glowed brightly and a white orb floated out of it towards the ground before transforming into the cooler which he had packed the food inside. Naruto reached in with a levitation spell and began to pull out the containers "Let's see, we got apples, muffins, quiche, green tea, Spike, sandwiches, apple pies...wait a minute," He trailed off before quickly looking inside and his eyes widened in shock along with Dr. Whooves "Spike?!"

Indeed it was Twilight's baby dragon Spike whom they found in the cooler.

"How did he get in here, what's he even doing here in the first place?!" said Naruto panicky.

"He appears to be unconscious," said Dr. Whooves, like he said Spike is currently lying in the cooler with swirls in his eyes.

"Even so we need to take him back to Ponyville before he finds out about this,"

"I don't think that would be the case as he's waking up," Dr. Whooves pointed at Spike who's currently waking up.

"Oww, what hit me…huh? Where am I?" he looked around and saw Naruto and Dr. Whooves whom he recognized upon seeing him at Pinkie Pie's birthday party "Naruto and Dr. Whooves? What's going on here?"

"Spike, how did you get into the cooler?" asked Naruto.

"Well I came by to visit you and couldn't find you anywhere so I went to the kitchen, I saw the open cooler and my curiosity got the better of me so I took a look inside. Then the next thing I knew was that something hit me in the head hard enough to knock me and I woke up to see all this," said Spike, Naruto then recalled seeing a frying pan on the ground next to a closed cooler that he put away without a second thought.

"What do we do now doc?" Naruto asked Dr. Whooves worriedly, he doesn't want Spike to get involved due to the potential danger his friends may find themselves in, his venture in the Pokémon world and former world is just one of the many dangers that he would encounter in the future.

"I believe we might have to tell him," said Dr. Whooves much to Naruto's shock.

"Are you sure that it's a good idea?" asked Naruto feeling unsure of the suggestion.

"I can tell that he's a trustworthy fellow and you know him best out of the both of us," said Dr. Whooves.

Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment before letting out a sign in resignation "Alright we'll tell him," then they turned to face Spike who was still looking around confusedly "Uh Spike, there's something we need to tell you so please listen,"

Then Naruto told him everything, from when he met Kami within his dreamscape up to when he went to his old world.

"So let me get this straight, you were requested by Kami to travel to other worlds and help the heroes there right?" asked Spike.

"That's the gist of it and the princesses also know of it, but all this is to be kept and nopony should know of this," said Naruto.

"Why's that?" asked Spike curiously.

"Should the knowledge of multiple dimensions or the TARDIS fall into the wrong hooves, it could lead to the complete disruption of everything that we know which is in other words the end of all worlds," said Dr. Whooves making Spike shiver fearfully at the thought of someone like Discord finding out about this.

"But what about Twilight and the others? I'm sure you can trust them with this secret too,"

"Princess Luna suggested the same thing, but I just the right timing to tell them about it," said Naruto.

"Okay Naruto, and I promise to never tell anypony about this," said Spike.

"Thanks Spike, I remember that we were in the middle of having breakfast. Wanna join in?"

"Sure,"

With that the trio helped themselves to a hearty breakfast and were soon drinking cups of green tea to while away the time.

"So what's to know about the world that we're headed to?" asked Naruto.

Dr. Whooves opened up the scroll and was reading through its contents before looking up to answer Naruto's question.

"The place we're heading to, is called the dragon realms where there are many magical creatures and animals with high intelligence and dragons were proud and just, revered among the inhabitants of the realms,"

"You mean there are nice dragons in that world?" asked Spike with a look of surprise.

"Quite right, there are even a group called the guardian dragons who take on the role of raising and training young dragons as well guarding the dragon eggs, most of which are in a place called the dragon temple," said Dr. Whooves.

"Sounds like a cool place to be, I've never met any other dragon before in Equestria," said Spike with looks of excitement.

"However an evil being known as the dark master led his army of dark forces with the intention to rule over the realms, dragons immediately rose against him and fought valiantly but it was a losing battle especially when there were numerous raids on the dragon raids which resulted in the dragon eggs being destroyed, endangering their very existence with the worst being the one at the dragon temple,"

Spike gasped in shock and hid behind one of Naruto's in fear, the thought of the dragon eggs being destroyed frightened him a lot, Naruto wrapped his tail around the young dragon to comfort him.

"So all of the dragons are gone?" asked Naruto, inwardly was very angry at what the dark master and his army had done.

"Not quite, there are a few surviving guardian dragons who are in captivity and a young purple dragon by the name Spyro whose egg survived the raids is on his way to rescue all of them," said Dr. Whooves.

"What else is there to know about this dark master?" asked Naruto.

"According to the scroll, the dark master was sealed away in a dimensional prison by the ancients so it's his generals that are currently commanding the army for him," said Dr. Whooves.

"So what's my mission?" asked Naruto.

"You're to help Spyro rescue the three remaining guardian dragons from the dark master's army and push them back. We're currently over Dante's Freezer where one of them are imprisoned,"

Dr. Whooves opened the door to reveal them hovering over a large island covered in ice and snow surrounded by an enormous fortress which appears to be slowly crumbling apart.

"Okay then I'm heading out," Naruto jumped out of the TARDIS as he descended towards the ground, he didn't feel any of his magic, chakra or the sword "I guess that this world is allowing me to use all of my gear," Naruto activated his chakra wings and was slowly gliding towards the ground when he felt something land on his back and turned around to see that it was Spike much to his surprise.

"Spike what are you doing here?" Naruto asked rather sternly.

"I wanted to come with you and help a fellow dragon out," Spike responded.

"It's going to be very dangerous out here, you should have stayed in the TARDIS with doc where it's much safer until we get back home,"

"No need to worry about me, I can defend myself with my dragon breath and I have the barrier crystal that you gave to me and the others," Spike held out a claw to show the bracelet which he had given out to them.

Naruto was deep in thought, he has to meet up with his partner but he can't start searching Dr. Whooves and the TARDIS in order to send Spike back which leaves him with only one option.

"…Fine, you can come along but you are to remain on my back at all times unless I say otherwise, okay Spike?" said Naruto.

"Crystal clear," said Spike.

The duo had landed on one of the inner courtyards of the fortress, looking ahead they saw a giant wooden gate. Naruto and Spike cautiously approached the gate when it suddenly opened up and several creatures walked out before the gate closed behind them. They appear to be a group of apes with white fur and standing before them is a much taller ape wearing armor and wielding a one-hand weapon with a shield.

"It's bad enough that a purple dragon is tearing through our forces and now we have a pony and another purple dragon showing up here. The dark master will not stand for this!" said the much larger ape angrily.

"Then would you mind telling us where he is? We happen to be looking for him," said Naruto, Spike snickered at his taunt.

"Do you really think us to be that stupid to just tell you where the dragon is and let you go scot-free? Soldiers capture them!" said the ape commander, the soldiers rushed forward to attack Naruto and Spike.

"If you have the illusion that you could beat us then yes," Naruto spoke with a snarky tone.

One of the apes leapt in the air in an attempt to pounce, Naruto darted to the side and launched a double kick to the sending it flying away then he pointed a fore hoof at it "Chakra bullet!" a white magic circle appeared before a white orb shot out of it and slammed into its target as it crashed into a wall. Another ape soldier came from behind with claws bared to catch him off guard, however Spike saw it coming and quickly turned and launched his green fire breath to char the enemy as it yelped trying to put out the flames.

"Take that you monkeys!" said Spike smugly.

"Stay focused Spike and hang on!" Naruto ducked under a swipe and spin around while using his tail to perform an uppercut which sent the ape into the air, he quickly leapt after it with a chakra arm at the ready before delivering a powerful straight punch to take it out. In his descent, Naruto channeled magic into his horn to cast a spell.

"Fire lance!" Several spears of flames appeared around Naruto before shooting towards the ape soldiers and inflicted critical damage. The ape leader raised his shield to block the flaming projectiles before roaring out in rage and charging forward with his sword raised to strike down the pony and baby dragon.

"Naruto watch out!" shouted Spike.

"I got this, Kosei no Ha battle stance!" the azure broadsword appeared in flash of light and immediately moved forward to clash with the ape leader's sword. Spike breathed his green flames to attack but the ape leader raised his shield to block it.

"Your flames are too weak to burn me!" the ape leader sneered at them.

Naruto formed a chakra arm to grab the shield and wretched it out of his grip before throwing it away, then Spike launched his green flames again this time inflicting damage.

"Not so cool without your shield now huh?" said Spike with a smirk which is mirrored by Naruto who held out a fore hoof as a blue spinning orb took form then he quickly stepped forward and rammed it into his gut with the force sending him crashing through the wooden gate.

"That's them taken care of, now let's go find Spyro," said Naruto.

They jumped through the open gap of the gate and walked along a long corridor which ended with a spiraling staircase for them to ascend to the top, once there they saw a long stone bridge which is built over a deep chasm to the other side. Naruto and Spike proceeded to cross the bridge and were halfway when they heard a loud shriek which seemed to come from above and looked up to see what it was.

It was an enormous bat-like beast that is blue with purplish blue wings with a white brown fur, they also saw an ape riding immediately making it an enemy. The beast had already seen as the ape spurred it to perform a nose dive straight at Naruto and Spike. The duo got ready to retaliate however the beast opened its mouth to unleash a scream far more loudly than before making them cringe in pain.

"Aaaaah! My ears hurt!" shouted Spike painfully while covering his ears with his claws.

"Hang in there Spike!" Naruto looked up to see the beast almost upon them with its jaws wide open so as to chomp on them, he reached into his pouch with his tail before taking out a white crystal "Spike close your eyes!" then he threw it at the flying beast. When the crystal got close, it let out a bright flash of light which forced the ape and beast to close their eyes in pain and crash on the bridge.

"An eye for an ear! Windflaw Dash!" Naruto rushed forward with his body covered with wind and slammed into them with enough force to knock them off the bridge and into the chasm below.

"What a relief, that almost burst my eardrums," said Spike.

"Me too, let's get a move one before any more of those screaming bats show up," said Naruto before continuing to cross the bridge until reaching the other side where they descended down a spiral of stairs and through a corridor once more.

"Hey Naruto, look up," said Spike, Naruto complied with his friend's suggest and was surprised to see numerous icicles sticking out from the ceiling throughout the corridor.

"Yikes, we better be careful to not do anything to make them break off and fall on us," Naruto whispered with Spike nodding in agreement. They treaded lightly while keeping an eye on the icicles in case they would fall, suddenly the ground shook rather violently much to their shock but that was the least of their as they quickly looked up to see the icicles shaking before breaking off to fall towards them.

Spike used his fire breath to melt the ice "Naruto run!"

"One step ahead of you!" Naruto channeled chakra into his feet and took off at high-speed with the icicles falling behind them as if in pursuit, some of the icicles would ahead of them but Naruto would use the blade to slice them apart while Spike uses his fire breath any remaining before finally reaching the exit and leapt through before skidding to a stop in the center of a courtyard. Both looked back at where they just came from and left out a sigh of relief.

"That was too close, we almost got skewered," said Naruto, with Spike nodding in agreement. Looking around, the duo took note of numerous apes, more of those flying beasts sprawled out on the ground and strangely enough pieces of red and black armor clearly not belonging to any of the enemies around

"Looking at all this, it's safe to say that Spyro was here,"

"I bet that he went inside that cave after fighting them," Spike pointed at a dark cave entrance close by then the ground shook again and this time they heard a loud roar "And are fighting whatever that roar belonged to,"

"Then might as well join him in the party," Naruto ran into the cave and through the icy tunnel with the rumbles becoming louder as they drew close. Soon they reached the end of the tunnel which led to a large circular and came upon an interesting sight.

A small quadrupedal purple dragon with yellow medium-sized wings, large curved horns, a spiral-shaped spike on the tip of his tail, and spikes that resemble a Mohawk running along his spine. With him is what appears to be a yellow dragonfly that is currently hovering close to him.

Attacking them is what appears to be a humanoid covered in red metal armor, above its big armored helmet lie two horns made of ice, and wields a sword and shield also made of ice.

They watched as Spyro flapped his wings to quickly move backwards to evade a horizontal slash from the enemy's sword before opening his mouth to launch a fireball, the armored being raised its shield to block it but was shattered when the fiery projectile exploded upon impact.

"Spike, I need you to stay here where it's safe while I go and help out our soon to be friend," said Naruto before using his tail to place Spike on the floor.

"Okay Naruto, be sure to show em what you're made of!" said Spike.

"Sure thing bud!" Naruto dashed forward and leapt into the battlefield with orange aura emitting from his horn "Fire Lance!" he summoned more of the spear shaped flames around him before launching them at the armored enemy with all hitting their target and causing him to stumble backwards as he landed next to Spyro who looked at him in surprise of his sudden appearance.

"Hope you don't mind if I join in to help you," said Naruto as he stood at the ready with Kosei no Ha positioned on his back.

"Who are you?" asked Spyro.

"Oh sure, we just ask the guy who he is without worrying that he could be trying to kill us like ice king over?" said the dragonfly sarcastically.

"The name's Naruto Uzumaki and I'm here to help you guys out, can't say much more since that guy over there wouldn't give us the time," Naruto pointed a hoof at the ice king who made another shield out of ice and was charging towards them.

"Got a point there, don't wanna die in the middle of a conversation. For now you can call me Sparx and the big purple lizard is Spyro," said the now named Sparx.

The ice king let out a roar as he stomp the ground for shards of ice to fall from the ceiling above to fall on his enemies.

"Look out!" Spyro and Naruto quickly scattered to evade the incoming ice projectiles as the purple dragon opened his mouth to unleash a fire breath at the ice king who raised his shield to block the flames. Naruto dashed forwards with a chakra powered haymaker punch to shatter the ice shield into many pieces, the ice king attacked with a vertical slash at the orange pony.

"Shadow Clone jutsu!"

A pair of clones appeared alongside Naruto, the first clone darted to the front while transforming the blade into a shield to block the sword strike, the second channeled chakra to form a claw as he moved in between and sliced the sword into two. Naruto leapt over both clones and proceeded to perform a 5-hit combo on the defenseless ice king damaging him enough to knock off some parts of the armor.

The ice king roared out in rage as he opened his mouth to let out a blast of ice to hit Naruto and his clones who were too close to dodge, freezing them solid instantly. Then the enemy made a spiked mace out of ice and approached Naruto with the weapon raised above his head ready to smash.

"Naruto hang on!" Spyro rushed forward and shot a fireball with the explosion successfully knocking back the ice king, then he turned around to breathe fire onto the ice, instantly melting it for Naruto to break free although the clones disappeared in puffs of smoke.

"Phew, thanks for getting out of there. Now I know my food feels like when they're frozen in the fridge," said Naruto while shivering a bit.

"Other than seeing a pony use magic and swing a sword around, can we please focus our attention on the problem at hand?" said Sparx pointing at the approaching ice king.

"Yeah yeah, sure sure,"

Naruto raised a hoof for a white magic rune to appear before him "Chakra Bullet: Rapid Fire!" and small white orbs shot out if it straight towards the ice king, Spyro followed suit as he opened his mouth to fire a stream of electricity however the ice king raised a hand out and a transparent dome appeared around him with the attacks bouncing off much to their surprise, then he once more summoned ice shards to attack them but this time the duo were ready.

"Pyro Breath!" Naruto opened his mouth to unleash a stream of flames while Spyro did the same with his fire breath to combine to form a powerful flamethrower to melt the ice projectiles before they got any closer to them.

"And here I thought only dragons can breathe fire, guess it's a trend now," said Sparx.

"I'm going to end this with a fury attack!" said Spyro.

"Fury attack?" Naruto asked confusedly.

"Let's just say that it's one of his super moves taught to him by a big red dragon, so you might want to be somewhere else right about now," Sparx flew away right as Spyro slowly hovered in the air with fire gathering around him.

Getting an idea of what's going to happen, Naruto slammed a hoof on the ground and called out "Terra bunker!" the ground rumbled before forming a dome around Naruto, at that moment Spyro unleashed his attack as the fire rose up and exploded outwards. The ice king attempted to summon another forcefield to block the attack but he was too late as the flames quickly struck him before he could react, resulting in his defeat.

"Whoa, that was pretty cool," said Naruto once the earth dome crumbled away for him to see the ice king on the ground unmoving.

"Naruto!" the group turned to see Spike running towards and were surprised to see the color of his scales.

"Another purple dragon?! And here I thought Spyro was the only one!" said Sparx in disbelief.

"Well the thing is that Spike and I are not from around here, right now shouldn't we focus on helping the guardian dragon?" said Naruto.

"You're right," said Spyro.

The group went ahead to revive the yellow guardian whom they found out to be quite the motormouth much to their growing annoyance and a fast one at that.

"…miraculous, incredible, stupendous…a dragon and pony your size defeating that…that thing. Thank you, ah, ah…" the dragon named Volteer trailed off.

"Spyro," said Spyro.

"Naruto," said Naruto "Man this guy could possibly give Pinkie Pie a run for her bits,"

Volteer resumed talking "A purple dragon named Spyro along with the orange pony named Naruto, amazing. Of course there were substantial rumors of a purple dragon countless generations ago, then there were no records of a pony capable of performing such unique magic and I'm most curious of the baby purple dragon here with us…"

"No wonder they gagged this guy," Sparx muttered.

"Ditto," said Spike riding on Naruto's back.

"…and so much time has passed, so many things have been, but seeing all this tells me that I still have so much more to learn…" Volteer was still going on.

"Uh Mr. Volt sir? Shouldn't we get going?" asked Sparx.

"…Oh of course, but where to?" asked Volteer confusedly.

"Well…back to the dragon temple," said Spyro.

"A friend of yours is waiting," said Sparx.

"Ignitus?" asked Volteer.

"That's the one,"

"Of course! I've so much to tell him, many hypothesis to pose. I believe that…"

"Are all dragons of this world weird?" Spike whispered in Naruto's ear.

"Can't say for sure except for this one," Naruto responded.

With all things said, the group made for the dragon temple with Spyro leading the way, there they met a red dragon by the name Ignitus who was quite surprised to see the new additions especially when he saw Spike on Naruto's back. Naruto briefly explained to them that they weren't from around here and that they came to help them.

At the moment, Ignitus was having a conversation with Volteer…on the receiving end.

"Yes, yes, Volteer, it's good to see you as well but we don't have time to waste on sentiment. Back to Cynder…she was doing WHAT to you?" said Ignitus.

"Cynder's a chick?" asked Sparx.

"That's what caught your attention?" asked Spike.

Naruto and Spike were told that Cynder is a black dragon who was the reason why the war turned in the dark master's favor as she captured each of the guardian dragons off the battlefield until Ignitus was the only one left before he went into hiding.

"It's hard to be absolutely sure, Ignitus, but it seems she was using me as some suspended, organic power source," said Volteer.

"Huh?" Sparx looked confused at what he said.

"She was using him as a battery," said Spyro

"Why didn't he just so?"

"He did, but you didn't get it," said Spike.

"How did you understand?" asked Sparx.

"Living in a library with a pony who reads a lot can increase your vocabulary,"

"Not only that, she left with a glowing yellow orb and I believe that I somehow powered it. Does it mean anything to you Ignitus?" said Volteer.

Ignitus looked deep in thought "Perhaps…perhaps, what I do know is that we need to rescue the other guardians before Cynder can power anymore of those orbs,"

"I agree Ignitus, but first I'd like to impart some useful knowledge to Spyro vis-à-vis his recently-acquired electricity based device,"

"What?" once again Spike was confused.

"Must be talking about electric breath that Spyro used when we fought the ice king," said Naruto.

Sparx sighed in annoyance "Why didn't he just say so?"

"That's the second time you said that," said Spike.

Then Volteer and Spyro went to the training room with Naruto, Spike and Sparx coming along to watch but from a safe distance. There Spyro learnt to use his electric stream attack to shock enemies and throw them around like ragdolls, then he learnt how to suspend them in a makeshift electric cage in midair called the electric arc. And then he was taught the elemental fury attack based on electricity to summon dark clouds from the sky that will rain down thunderbolts everywhere.

"Whoa, so that's the power of a dragon…" said Spike in wonder.

"Kinda makes the dragons from our place look tame," said Naruto.

Afterwards, everyone made their back to the meeting to speak with Ignitus.

"Spyro and Naruto…Cyril the ice guardian was taken to Tall Plains," said Ignitus.

"Tall Plains?" asked Naruto.

"The Tall Plains was once home to a proud ancient tribe called the Atlawa,"

"Bless you," said Sparx.

"Sparx…" said Spyro with Naruto and Spike frowning at the dragonfly.

Ignitus continued with his explanation "The Atlawa were a people in tune with the rhythms of the seasons. Focused on their relationship to crops, their surroundings, their gods. They've all been driven underground by Cynder and her forces who've taken over the tribe's shrine,"

"Sounds like we could help the Atlawa by taking back their shrine as well as finding Cyril," said Naruto.

"Indeed, that's where I sense Cynder is keeping Cyril, trying to power another crystal. You must find him before she succeeds.

"Right, it's never easy, is it?" said Sparx.

"Nothing worthwhile ever is," said Spyro.

"Besides sometimes easy is kinda boring," said Naruto.

"You both being wise guys now?" asked Sparx.

"Let's just get going Sparx," said Spike before jumping onto Naruto's back.

With that, the group set out for Tall Plains on their mission to rescue the next dragon guardian and liberate an ancient tribe from the dark master's army.

Dimensional Tales: A Draconic Legend Pt. 2

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 32: Dimensional Tales: A Draconic Legend Pt. 2

Naruto, Spike along with Spyro and Sparx were currently standing on a tall cliff with thick white mists down below them as they gazed upon a large rainforest ahead of them.

"So this place is the Tall Plains where one of the dragon guardians is kept prisoner," said Spike looking over Naruto's head from his back.

"Pretty much that Spike," said Naruto.

"We need to hurry to where Cyril is and free him before Cynder powers up another crystal like Ignitus told us," said Spyro.

"Off we go to our potential doom to save a dragon," said Sparx.

"You really need to be more positive Sparx," said Spike.

"I'll be when there's nothing to be negative about,"

Spyro rolled his eyes over from his brother's wisecracks "C'mon Sparx,"

Leaping on the miniature islands sticking out before them, the group made their over to the rainforest where three giant stones formed an arch to create an entrance of sorts. Standing at the entrance was one of the ape soldiers except that the color of their fur was colored red. It had seen them as it turned around and ran into the forest.

"He must have gone to alert the others, we need to go after him!" said Spyro.

"Right!" Naruto responded in affirmation.

They ran after the ape soldier into a tunnel and soon caught up with the ape soldier, however he howled loudly and more of the soldiers including an ape leader jumped out from the trees and landed before them. Spyro lowered his head and charged forward before ramming into the ape leader then spinning around to strike him with his tail before firing an electric arc to knock him into the air while suspended in a makeshift electric cage and finished him off with an explosive fireball.

Naruto punch an ape soldier in the gut to force him to recoil backwards in pain then planted his fore hooves and spun around to buck another in the face while Spike used his green fire breath to burn any enemy which tried to attack Naruto's blind spot and kept them at bay. Naruto punched the ground and the area around an ape soldier burst open to reveal a chakra arm which performed an uppercut to launch him into the air "Cook him Spike!"

Said dragon opened his mouth to launch a stream of green flame at the airborne ape, inflicting serious burns as it crashed back into the ground. Soon enough, all of the apes laid on the ground defeated.

"These guys are the first of many more to come, we need to get a move on," said Naruto.

They moved along and descended down a huge hollowed tree trunk and exited to find themselves in an area surrounded by tall cliff walls. Then more ape soldiers jumped off a tall ledge above them and landed on the ground before them as an Ape commander remained on the ledge and looked down at them with an evil smirk on his face.

"Well what do we have here? Enemies of the master," said the Ape commander.

"Correct and I don't need to guess that you're going to try to kill us," said Naruto.

"Not try, will! Get them boys!"

Two ape leaders appeared by his side and jumped off the ledge while several ape soldiers came out of a nearby giant hollow tree trunk from the left side of the area. Spyro launched a stream of electricity at one of the soldiers, shocking it before jerking his head to the side to send the shocked ape crashing into one of its comrades. He heard a hissing sound and turned to see a lit dynamite land close to him, Spyro quickly used his tail to knock it away from him just in time before it exploded in midair then he looked up to see the ape commander holding another lit dynamite with a smirk on his face as he threw it at him.

Naruto was punching at the ape leaders which were attacking him in a pincer formation but he was ready for them "Kosei no Ha, battle stance!" the azure broadsword appeared by his side in a flash of light "Hold on Spike, Windflaw Dash!" a wind swirled around him before taking off at high-speed, the ape leaders looked around confusedly for the pony however they began to feel something like a blade cutting every part of their body and have no way of putting up a defense before being slammed in the gut hard enough to take them down. Naruto stopped in between them with the wind dying out to signal the end of the spell.

"Naruto, there's more coming at us!" Spike pointed behind them as the ape soldiers charged at them.

"Got it, Shadow Clone jutsu!" Naruto concentrated on his chakra then several copies appeared in a puff of smoke "Get em!" the clones nodded in affirmation before charging at the enemies. That was when Sparx flew towards.

"Hey Naruto, my purple bro over there could use some help with a certain ape that has a love for blowing stuff up!" said Sparx.

"On it!" Naruto galloped over to where Spyro was currently knocking the dynamites throw by the ape commander away from himself.

"Hey! Why don't you come down here and fight like a…uh…an ape!" Spike called, Naruto and Spyro could only sweatdrop from what the young dragon just said.

"How about you make me come down!" as soon as he said those words, the ape commander felt something wrap around his hand and saw some sort of tendril made out of white energy before tracing it to where it was coming out of the orange pony. Naruto smirked mischievously before pulling hard for him to fall over the ledge towards them, Spyro jumped towards him and flapped his wings hard enough to send him crashing into the rock wall.

Naruto raised a fore hoof with a white rune appearing before him "Chakra Cannon!" he fired a large white orb to smash the ape further in and knocking him unconscious "All you had to do was ask," he made a witty comment.

They looked around the area for a bit and were about to move on when Naruto noticed a stone block nearby and approached it curiously.

"What do you think it is?" asked Spike.

"Don't know, might be some sort of switch or something. Maybe we should press and see what happens?" asked Naruto.

"I'm kinda curious myself,"

"Okay then," A chakra arm came out of Naruto's back and slammed down on the stone block as it was pressed down, then the group heard a rumble and turned to see a stone totem rise from the ground.

"Well that did something maybe we should find more of these stone switched and activate them," said Spike.

"So you want to solve a puzzle instead of searching for a dragon?" Sparx looked skeptical.

"These switches might help us get around to searching for Cyril," said Naruto.

"I seriously doubt it,"

"Let's get going Sparx," said Spyro.

They went through where the ape soldiers came from, there they saw an ape jump through an opening and quickly went after it. Luckily enough, it had led them to another switch which was immediately activated before continuing on their way. Climbing up a few ledges the group came upon several apes standing guard around some miniature islands which had wooden cages with what appear to being anthropomorphic llamas and one of those bat like creatures now identified as Dreadwings came and carried on of the cages away to who knows where.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," said Spyro with Naruto nodding in agreement.

"Is that what I think it does?" asked Sparx.

"Yeah, we've gotta help,"

"It's pretty much a given, since the Atlawans are obviously no friends of Cynder," said Naruto walking over as well," said Naruto.

"Oh brother," Sparx grumbled.

Spyro and Naruto went ahead to fight the apes with a few being knocked over the edge to the unseen bottom below…let's just hope for them that the saying 'Lends one wings' is actually real cause they're gonna be needing in their situation. Spyro charged forward and rammed an ape soldier into the remaining cage hard enough to break the lock for the Atlawan.

"Watch it, would ya?" the Atlawan grumbled as he walked out of the cage.

"I was just trying to help," said Spyro.

"Well, the Atlawa and Kane need no help," said the now identified Kane.

"Normally when a prisoner get saved, they say thank you," said Naruto with a frown.

"Well no one asked you to save me!"

"Rarity might not like this one," Spike muttered.

"Forget this guy, Spyro. Come on," said Sparx, wanting to get away from the grouch as soon as possible.

However Spyro ignored him "What did they want with you anyway?"

"It's none of your business. Now move…I have a tribe to save," Kane walked past and away from them rather rudely.

"Oh you're welcome!" Sparx shouted after him.

With nowhere else to go, Naruto and the others doubled back and took an unexplored path to the right…only to find themselves standing on the very ledge which the ape commander was on.

"So we pretty much walked in a circle…next time we bring a map with us," said Sparx with a twitching eye.

"Not exactly Sparx, look," Spyro pointed at the four raised totems ahead of them.

"Guess pressing those switches wasn't really a waste, was it Sparx?" Spike smirked at the dragonfly.

"…no comment,"

They jumped from one totem to the other before landing on of the first hollow tree trunk which they went up on and found an opening on the left for them to go through. Suddenly two large round balls rolled round the bend before stopping before them and uncurling to reveal animals resembling armadillos with large hind legs.

"Those are Armadillos!" said Spyro.

"Then that makes them an enemy in the meantime," Naruto took a stance with Spyro doing the same. Both animals curled up into balls and rolled towards them quickly with the intent to bash them, Spyro flapped his wings a bit to float to one side as he unleashed a blast of fire to counter the attack which seems to harm it greatly.

Naruto waited for the second armadillo to get closer before making his move "Stellar gear change; Shield!" the glaive glowed brightly before transforming into the shield, then he slammed it to the ground and tilted for the armadillo to roll into it and launch itself into the air "Chakra Bullet: Rapid Fire!" he aimed a fore hoof at it and shot a barrage of white orbs, juggling it in midair before crashing to the ground before they resuming their journey to the shrine.

"How much further do we have to go?" asked Sparx, so far they had gone through the forest, crossed long bridges and even fought several stone golems called Stone Brutes along the way and right now they had just exited an ancient ruin.

"Can't say for sure, but I know we've come a long way though," said Spike.

They heard a rumble and turned to the top of a nearby waterfall, there were a group of Stone Brutes menacingly approaching Kane who was backing away, completely unaware that he was close to the edge of the waterfall.

"Kane watch out, behind you!" Spyro yelled out, but the warning came out too late as the Atlawan fell over and into the water with the current carrying him towards the edge of the forest.

"Yeah, I know the guy's an ingrate, but you guys gotta do something, and fast!" said Sparx.

"No need to tell us, I'm already on it!" Naruto channeled chakra to his fore hoof and was about to launch a chakra tendril at Kane to pull him to safety. But Spyro beat him to it by breathing out a stream of ice to freeze the edge of the river which prevented Kane from going over.

"Buddy, you're getting weirder and weirder by the second!" Spyro had to nod in agreement to Sparx's statement.

"You can call it weird, but I call it convenient. Now let's get down there and wreck those guys," Naruto jumped off the ledge and charged at the Stone Brutes with Spyro soon following after.

Naruto channeled magic to his horn in preparation for a magic spell "Water Stream!" water then shot out of the river and hit them with a high pressure.

"Zap them Spyro!" Spike called out, Spyro did just that as the golem continuously spasm from the electricity coursing through their rocky body before finally collapsing in heaps of stone. Naruto and Spyro had learnt earlier that these guys can easily shrug off their melee attacks but other techniques are effective.

"Where did Kane go?" Naruto looked around for the Atlawan.

"He must have left during the fight," said Spike.

"Like I said earlier, the guy's an ingrate," said Sparx.

"We'll definitely run into him along the way, and hopefully he wouldn't find himself in danger," said Spyro.

And sure enough, after traversing more parts of the and defeating more of Cynder's forces, the group found themselves standing before a cluster of miniature grassy pyramids and Kane is currently bashing up a couple of Ape Soldiers. He turned and saw them with a frown.

"You again? Why don't you get outta here and leave me in peace. I'm the boss here…nobody else!" said Kane.

"Boss of what?" Sparx retorted.

Spyro raised a paw and shushed him to be quiet "So you're all alone?"

"Only until I kick these bums out. Which reminds me, I can't stand around chatting with purple dragons, horses and mosquitoes…"

"Woah, woah, woah. Okay, who are you calling a mosquito?" asked Sparx indignantly.

"And for your information, I'm a pony not a horse!" Naruto looked annoyed.

"Besides, it's not safe for you here," said Kane.

"Like you're one to talk," Spike muttered.

"Oh, concerned about our welfare now?" said Sparx.

Spyro spoke up "No need, we can take care of ourselves. Anyway we need to get to the shrine,"

Kane simply and walked away "You'll never make it," then he dealt a backhand at an Ape Soldier, knocking it off the pyramid.

There was a bit of a puzzle for the group to solve if they wanted to get past the pyramids, it involved them having to roll four stone balls into curved holders in order to open the wooden gate ahead. Naruto made solving this puzzle a lot faster and easier with the help of his Shadow Clones as well as dealing with the Ape Soldiers that got in the way. Then they climbed to the top of the tallest pyramid and glided past the open gate where they met Kane once again.

"The Shrine god has not been appeased since Cynder's forces came…he is not happy," said Kane.

"So is anyone fun around here?" said Sparx.

"You can't possibly face the god of the shrine alone,"

"You might be right, but if you had been watching. None of us tried doing anything on our own throughout our venture here," said Naruto.

"Naruto is right, not all of us are loners, Kane. I'm not going alone," Spyro walked past Kane with Naruto and Spike following him "Maybe someday you'll learn that two heads are better than one…even if one of them is a pinhead,"

Sparx nodded in agreement "Yeah…what?!" he turned to glare at Spyro who was smirking along with Naruto and Spike was snickering.

They dropped along a couple of platforms before stopping before a large ship made entirely of stone and wood. Naruto and Spike suspected that magic must have been used to help it fly.

"I'm not sure I like the looks of thing," said Spyro.

"Now you tell me," said Sparx.

"Well we don't see any other path to follow, so we might as well hitch a ride," said Naruto.

With that said, they hopped aboard and the ship starts to slowly move away from the island and across the across the sky. Suddenly the cabin doors opened and several Ape Soldiers ran out and attacked them.

"And here I thought it was going to be a relaxing flight," Sparx muttered to himself.

"Shadow Clone jutsu!" a couple of clones appeared by Naruto's side before charging back at the enemy with him in the lead. Naruto swiveled around and bucked an ape in the face to send it flying away from him "Chakra Horn Slash!" chakra was channeled into his horn and took on the shape of a longer horn then he lunged at another Ape Soldier and slashed through his armor several then dealt a chakra infused punch to finish him off.

"Take this!" Spike opened his mouth and launched a fireball at one of the apes which exploded upon impact much to Naruto's surprise.

"Whoa, that's just like Spyro's move. Where did you learn to do that?" asked Naruto.

"Back at the temple, Ignitus was a bit curious about my green flame and decided to teach me a bit about how to use my breath although I'm too young to be able to perform a fury attack," Spike explained to him.

"That's pretty cool, though you might want to keep it a secret from Twilight about where you learnt it. Let's get back into fighting these apes," said Naruto before charging at the next opponent.

Spyro was currently slashing at an Ape Leader with his claws before using his horns to knock it into the air and jumped after it before unleashing a combo of attacks and finishing up with a tail slam to the ground "These guys just keep coming, I'm going to clear them all out with an electric fury attack!"

"Got it, protect!" Naruto activated the barrier crystal as a transparent dome appeared around Naruto and Spike as they watched Spyro slowly rise to the air and dark clouds began to appear above them before unleashing bolts of lightning down upon them and taking out all of the enemies. Naruto disabled the barrier now that the ship is clear of apes.

"Well that was fun, and it looks like we've arrived at our stop," said Sparx.

Just like he said, the ship had docked at the next island to which they got off and went on their way. There were more enemies and booby traps, but they were able to deal with them as they traversed the forest before finally exiting it before finding Kane yet again, standing before a long bridge leading across to the shrine where Cyril is supposed to be.

"Am I the only one wondering how he got here before us without taking the ship?" Spike whispered into Naruto's ear.

"No you aren't," Naruto quietly responded.

"I have to admit, you've done better than I thought possible," said Kane.

Sparx looked at the Atlawan smugly "Saying that had to hurt,"

"More than you can imagine. There are some things you should know about the shrine before you enter…"

*Shriek!*

Everyone turned to the sound which came from the shrine to see a dragon-like figure ascend towards the sky and fly away to who knows where.

"Something tells me that we were too late and that Cynder has already powered up another crystal from Cyril," said Spike.

"In that case, we're done here," said Sparx.

"Not before we save Cyril," said Spyro.

"It's the main reason why we came all this way," said Naruto.

"…the Atlawa Shrine has been desecrated, and the god of the shrine has not been given tribute since Cynder's forces arrived. But if you can subdue his anger, the balance will be returned. And my people can come home," said Kane.

"That's fine, but we came to free Cyril," said Spyro.

"You must go through the god of the shrine to free him,"

"I knew you were gonna say that," Sparx grumbled to himself.

"Guess this is 'killing two birds with one stone scenario'," said Naruto.

The group went across the bridge and had arrived at the entrance of the shrine, there they saw a large ice blue dragon lying unconscious on a slab of stone with numerous piles of rock all over the place. Sparx was flying ahead of them.

"Be careful Sparx, remember last time," Spyro warned.

"I know, I know, but Cynder left and don't see any Ice Kings hanging around here," said Sparx.

Suddenly the piles of rock started to shake violently and converge towards one point where they began to piece themselves together with thick vines weaving through them as Spyro and the others watched with wide eyes. It slowly stood on it two stony feet to reveal a golem far larger than any off the Stone Brutes that they had encountered in the forest.

"ROOAARRRR!" The golem roared angrily before taking one ground shaking step after another towards them.

"When will I ever learn? When things look good, run for the hills!" said Sparx.

"I guess that's the god of the shrine," said Naruto.

"Yeah, and we'll have to defeat it if we're to save Cyril," said Spyro.

"Okay then, things are going to get dangerous again Spike, so I'm going to need you off my back and at a safe distance,"

"Okay Naruto, just be careful," Spike before jumping off Naruto's back and standing close to the entrance of the shrine.

"Okay Spyro, let's go!" Naruto leapt into the fro with Spyro close behind.

"Chakra Bullet: Rapid Fire!" Naruto raised a fore hoof and fired a barrage of white orbs at the golem only for the projectiles to bounce off its body upon its body, the golem reared one of its stone fist back before thrusting it forward as it sped with the vine allowing for longer range but Naruto jumped to the side to evade the attack for it to hit where he had been "I guess this one is tougher than the others, so I'll have to hit harder,"

Spyro strafed along the right side of the golem and launched a fireball as it exploded on impact with the stone giant roaring in pain before turning its attention to the purple dragon and retaliating with another punch with him jumping away to avoid it before firing another fireball at it.

"Shadow Clone jutsu!" several clones appeared alongside and charged forward to attack, they all leapt into the air and charged up a Rasengan as they rammed it into the golem's body with the spheres slowly breaking the rocks. The golem refused to stand idly and be attacked by spinning its upper body like a top and knocking the clones away from it as they hit the ground before disappearing in puffs of smoke "I guess that won't work much,"

"I got an idea!" Spyro waited for the golem to launch another one of its fists at him before jumping back to hit the ground, then he opened his mouth and used his recently ice breath on the golem's fist, anchoring it to the ground. The golem roared out angrily as it tried to break out of the ice with cracks appearing on it.

"Good one Spyro! It's my turn now!" Naruto used his tail to reach into his pouch and took out a couple of impulse crystals, he threw them at the golem's hand as they unleashed blasts of magic, causing it to shatter into many pieces. The god of the shrine charged angrily at the blond pony to make it pay for the loss of its arm. Naruto ducked low under the swing of the stony arm and used the Windflaw Dash to quickly run in between its legs to appear behind it. he created pair of chakra arms as they came close together to perform a Rasengan which is larger than normal before thrusting it towards the stone giant's back "Giant Ball Rasengan!" the attack grind into the golem's skin with the force causing it to skid forwards a bit.

Spyro was currently employing the hit-and run tactic while using fireballs and ice breath to inflict damage. He created a sheet of ice on the ground as the golem slipped on it and fell on its back, then he jumped above it and used the fire breath to inflict further damage before landing at the other side.

The golem tried to get back onto its feet but then noticed that it has been restrained somehow, it turned to the side to see tendrils made of white energy wrapped around parts of its body courtesy of the blond pony and his clones, then it looked up to see what appears to be the original diving towards it.

"Sorry about this, Magical Rasengan!" Naruto formed another spiral sphere whilst channeling magic from his horn into it for orange streaks to swirl around it before ramming the technique into its chest inflicting enough damage to knock it out.

"I'm sure that did it," said Spyro.

"Pretty much," said Naruto.

"Hey guys look!" Spike had ran up to them and was pointing elsewhere, they turned to see that the Atlawa had returned and were bowing before them much to their confusion as Cyril slowly regain consciousness "What are they doing?"

That's when Kane walked up to them "You have subdued the god of the shrine, restored balance to the seasons, the land, our world. The Atlawas want to worship you now,"

Sparx smirked at hearing that "Worship? Okay, now that's what I'm talking about…I have never gotten the respect I deserve, the praise that should be mine,"

"We appreciate the gesture but this isn't something for them to worship us about," said Naruto.

"He's right, and we also need to get back to our own home to figure out how to stop Cynder for good," said Spyro.

"My dear Atlawas, I am the mighty Sparx, scourge of despots…" said Sparx.

"You're really milking this for all its worth Sparx," said Spike with a quirked eyebrow.

"Yes, yes old boy, we'd like nothing more than to stay and be part of your primitive barbaric society, but duty calls…duty calls," said Cyril after finally recovering.

"Geez, talk about a sharp tongue," said Naruto.

"If you must, you must. But know that you're now part of the Atlawa tribe, one of us"

"Thanks Kane," said Spyro.

Sparx was still prattling on "I am the mighty Spar—whatever," he gave and flew after with Spike snickering at him, the group started to walk away from the shrine with the Atlawa still bowing in gratitude.

"By the way, you were right," said Kane.

"About what?" Spyro looked a bit confused.

"Maybe two heads are better than one after all…even if one of them belongs to an annoying mosquito,"

"You're right about that," Naruto smirked in agreement.

"Mosquito, me?! Is that…oh," Sparx looked flabbergasted.

A few hours later, the group had returned to the dragon temple and were having a discussion of what had happened during Cyril's imprisonment.

"…yes, yes, Volteer. I see that months of tortured captivity has done nothing to slow that electric tongue of yours incessantly wagging," said Cyril with a look of annoyance.

"It's just that it's all so exciting, exhilarating, enchanting, enthralling…" Volteer stumbled a bit in his speech.

"All right, no more thesaurus for you pal," said Sparx.

"Ditto, if only I can say the same for Twilight," said Spike.

"Do that and she'll not let you have any gems for a week," said Naruto, making Spike shudder at the thought of it.

"All of you please be quiet! It is certainly encouraging that Spyro and Naruto have been able to free two of you to allow this reunion, but haven't we forgotten someone?" said Ignitus.

"Yes, yes, of course…Terrador," said Cyril.

"Precisely, now how do we proceed?"

"I believe I can help Ignitus," Cyril turned towards Spyro "Well young chap, since you learned a few things about ice on Tall Plains, I suggest we adjourn to the Training Room so that I can teach you some more. The legacy of the ice dragons of yore…my ancestors, who come from the best of the best of this somewhat bedraggled lineage…is long and storied. With my help, rescuing Terrador should be a certainty,"

"This guy sure loves to hear himself talk," Naruto muttered under his breath.

"Your pomposity, arrogance, and pretentiousness are odious to the extreme," Volteer groaned in annoyance.

Cyril simply ignored his fellow guardian dragon and spoke to Spyro "Shall we?"

"Yes sir," said Spyro before walking towards the Training Room to learn how to use the Ice Breath properly.

With the training from Cyril, Spyro was able to master the Ice Stream to the point that he could quickly freeze his enemies to a standstill before taking them out with melee attacks. Next was the Ice Shards which Naruto took note that it shared similarities to his Icicle Shot spell as he fires sharp pointed ice projectiles at his enemies. The last lesson was learning how to use the Ice Fury attack which enables him to instantly freeze surrounding enemies and shatter them into pieces in one move.

After the completion of Spyro's training, they returned to the meeting room to discuss their next plan of action where they heard Ignitus bring up a rather queer theory.

"So what exactly are you saying Ignitus?" asked Cyril.

"Yes, your hypothesis is an intriguing one but is perplexing to the extreme," said Volteer.

Sparx was confused "Huh?

"He said that he doesn't know what he's talking about," Spyro explained.

"Dude, I never know what he's saying,"

"And I doubt you ever will," said Spike with a smirk.

"What I'm saying is that Cynder is harnessing the Guardians' power to unlock a portal that must never be opened," said Ignitus.

Those words caught Naruto's attention as he thought back to the briefing in the TARDIS before he left with Spike tagging along "Hang on, I remember doc telling me that the Dark Master was sealed away in a dimensional prison by the ancients. I'm sure that's the portal she's trying to open,"

"Why? What's behind this portal?" Spyro asked curiously.

"That doesn't concern you right now, what does concern you is getting to Munitions Forge and freeing Terrador before she can create another crystal from his powers,"

"…and before the volcano blows it's-," Volteer began to talk but was interrupted by Ignitus.

"That's enough Volteer, there's plenty of time…plenty of time,"

"So what's to know about Munitions Forge?" asked Naruto.

Ignitus proceeded to explain "Munitions Forge is an island dominated by Boyzitbig, an unstable volcano that makes life on the surface very dicey. The locals, who live underground, have been forced to mine the metals that Cynder uses to forge her army's weapons,"

"What are the locals called?" asked Spyro curiously.

"They're called Manweersmalls,"

"Do I need to write that down?" asked Sparx.

"Sparx pay attention," Spike spoke with a small frown.

"Rumor has it that Cynder is holding Terrador somewhere in the mines, we know she's using him to power the last of the crystals she needs to open the portal. Free him before she gets the chance," said Ignitus.

"Concerning you telling us that we have more time relates to when the volcano blows up right? Man, why didn't we just stay in Tall Plains? Oh, I'm a big deal there," Sparx grumbled.

"Sure you were," said Spike with clear sarcasm in his voice as he jumped up to Naruto's back.

"Quit complaining Sparx, maybe there's a tribe on Munitions Forge you can save too," said Spyro rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, but there's always something special about the first tribe you save. Ya know?"

"Now that you mention it, I remember the country my team and I saved used my name for their bridge," said Naruto.

"See what I mean?"

Later on, the group had landed on the shores of the destination and looked at the environment. Far ahead was a large, very active volcano spewing lava and brimstones, where numerous machines in operation at work with large metal pipes pouring lava into the sea and rails leading in and out of mine shafts, and pools of molten magma could be see everywhere.

"Boy is it big!" said Sparx in awe of the mountain.

"You're calling the mountain by its name or describing it?" asked Naruto with a quirked eyebrow.

"Both actually,"

"Boy, it's big. But no time for sightseeing Sparx. Time to get serious, let's go," said Spyro.

"Ohhh…not again,"

"Times like these, I'm really glad I'm fireproof," said Spike.

They charged forwards and encountered a pair of ape soldiers who appear different from the last two as the color of their fur is gold. Spyro used his ice breath to freeze one of the apes into an ice ball for Naruto to quickly move in and give a hard kick to sending into the other ape, then Spike launched a green fireball which exploded upon impact, taking them down.

They heard chattering and turned to see several ape soldiers and an ape leader run out of a mine shaft and straight towards them. Spyro and Naruto charged back at them and responded with melee attacks until they were all taken down. Then they ventured into the mine shaft where small flying insects called fire beetles came out of their hives and attacked them, forcing Naruto and Spyro to destroy them and their hives to prevent more from spawning.

Moving further down the tunnel and taking down apes along the way, the group ran into what appears to be a bipedal mole with a long moustache and wearing an iron hat topped with a lit candle.

"Man…is he small!" said Spyro.

"I'm beginning to get confused whether we're describing or simply calling them that," said Spike.

The mole yelped and turned towards their voices "What's that? Who's there?!" he started sniffing the air.

"It's me Spyro,"

"And the former god of Tall Plains, Sparx," said Sparx, puffing his chest with pride.

"And ignoring him, I'm Naruto with my buddy here Spike," said Naruto.

"Hi there!" Spike called out on greeting.

"You don't carry the stench of Cynder's beasts, so you must be friends," said the Manweersmall with a French accent.

"We are…and who are you?" asked Spyro.

"I am Mole-Yair, leader of the Manweersmalls, but I'm not much of a leader anymore. Those of my people who aren't mining for Cynder are holed up in the caves, scared out of their wits, waiting for Boyzitbig to blow," suddenly the ground quaked for a moment before stopping "Which shouldn't be long. If you would help me free them, perhaps there's something I could do for you?" said Mole-Yair.

"I don't know, we're here to rescue a big friend of ours,"

"Is he a mighty dragon?"

"Yes…why?"

"Because I know where he's being kept…in the mines near a large labor camp, where my own brother Exhumor toils away. We can help each other,"

"You have a point there, so what should we do?" asked Naruto.

"Oh, it's simple enough, but we've got to hurry. Boyzitbig is getting more unstable by the minute. We must clear these caves before we can help your friend," said Mole-Yair.

"You're asking him for directions? Wow, talk about the blind leading the blind," said Sparx with a roll of his eyes.

"Forget him, Mole-Yair. We're in!" said Spyro.

"Then we should split up, it will make things easier and faster this way," said Naruto.

"Okay Naruto,"

Spyro and Sparx went into one tunnel while Naruto and Spike went through another, they took out the guards that were enforcing the Manweersmalls to dig before freeing them by destroying the purple crystal that were producing a purple electricity which served as shackles. After freeing about four of the Manweersmalls in the cave, Mole-Yair burrowed towards them after making sure that his people were safe.

"Ha ha! You did it, you did it! A thousand thanks!" Mole-Yair tried to kiss them, but Naruto held him back with a fore hoof.

"It's no problem…just hold back on the man kisses," said Naruto, accidently kissing Sasuke was a memory he sealed away and he definitely doesn't want to remember it for the rest of his life.

"Well…you did your part, now I'll do mine, your friend is being kept in the center of the, past the labor camp where my brother Exhumor is working. Find him and let him know we're friends, and he'll tell you how to proceed," said Mole-Yair.

"How will we know Exhumor?" asked Spyro.

"Yeah, all you Man-are-we-smalls look the same to me," said Sparx.

"He's right about that," Spike spoke in agreement.

Mole-Yair chortled in amusement "Oh you will know him, trust me. He's the most cantankerous, hard-nosed Manweersmall around. Whatever you do, don't get on his bad side,"

"We'll keep that in mind," said Naruto as he watched Mole-Yair burrow underground.

Suddenly a wall behind them exploded to reveal another cavern as a few ape soldiers appeared to attack them. Naruto channeled chakra to his fore hooves to form claws before pouncing at them and proceeded to slash at them, then he used the Kosei no Ha in its chakram form and threw it at them as it ricocheted upon impact before returning to his side with the apes down and out on the ground.

The gang went in further and happened upon a large pool of lava where something jumped out of it and landed before them. It is a large worm with scorpion like characteristics as it sports a pair of pincers which snapped at them. Naruto recalled Ignitus calling these creatures Magma Worms, two more shot out of the lava and approached them. They opened their mouths and spat globs of magma at them, but Naruto and Spyro moved out of the way to avoid them. Spyro used his ice breath to freeze then Naruto created two Shadow Clones as they each picked on a target and used the Kosei no Ha to slash them multiple times until they fell to the ground.

The group left the area through a doorway into another room where they saw an ape soldier riding on what appears to be a giant insectoid creature that resembles a scorpion and are known to be called Buffalo beetles. Naruto took to the defense by summoning the Kosei no Ha in its shield form to block the stream of fire shot from its stinger, Spyro jumped over him and was rapidly firing Ice Shards at it, forcing the Buffalo Beetle to recoil back from the effective elemental attack. Naruto quickly followed up by having a chakra arm stretch out from his back with a Rasengan and rammed it into a wall with enough force to dent it.

"What is this doing here?" Spike wondered, they were currently standing in front of what appears to be an old small temple with a large bell at the center.

"I bet you can't ring that bell Spyro," said Sparx with a smirk.

"Why would I want to?" Spyro looked at Sparx with a quirked eyebrow.

"Oh you're scared,"

Spyro frowned a bit "I'm not scared,"

Sparx shook his head in a faux disappointed manner "Oh, the big special dragon is scared of the mean old bell…oh I didn't know, I'm sorry, oh no. I'm sorry baby, why don't I get your pillow all laid out,"

"Knock it off Sparx, now isn't the time for silly challenges," said Naruto with a frown.

Spyro walked over to the rope connected to the bell and hit it for it to ring as well as make the whole cave to quake, then the bell dislodged from its holder and fell right on top of Spyro much to the shock of Naruto and the others.

"Spyro!" Naruto rushed over to help. He couldn't risk using the Kosei no Ha or jutsus in fear of hurting Spyro inside and tried to pull the bell out with his chakra claws but it had embedded itself into the ground.

Sparx was just as worried "Can you hear me?! Are you okay buddy?! Hey listen, forget about those cracks about your fatness and your…being purple and stupid and fat all right?

"You said fat twice Sparx," Spike said with a deadpanned expression.

Suddenly the bell shook wildly and continued to do so, making Naruto and the others back away right as Spyro blasted his way out by fired a green, cone shaped blast of energy much to their surprise and relief.

"Looks like you gained another elemental breath, and with good timing too," said Naruto happily.

"That's a relief," said Spike.

"Did you say something Sparx?" asked Spyro.

"Me? No, no. I was just talking out loud, thinking of my day, I gotta do…," said Sparx.

"Oh, I just thought I heard something before I blasted my way out,"

"Oh, that's funny. Yeah, no. must be hearing things," Sparx flew away from them.

"That's strange, cause we heard you apologizing for all the cracks you made at Spyro," said Spike.

"You two must have been hearing things too," said Sparx in denial much to their amusement.

The a group of apes showed up from another tunnel, apparently they had heard the sound of the bell and came to investigate, Spyro took this chance to try out his new earth breath and it served to be quite powerful compared to the other elements while Naruto and Spike provided backup in the fight. They moved along into another mine shaft where they saw a large train engine with a caboose loaded with purple crystals hooked to the back. there were two ape leaders standing before an ape wearing a brown belt and a tall purple hat resembling a drum hat like that of a conductor.

"Come on you worthless waste of flesh…let's go. We've got to hop on Steam ad get back to that flea bitten dragon. The crystal is almost ready and the volcano is right on the brink," said the conductor before jumping into the train as the other two apes boarded the caboose.

"They're heading to where Terrador is, we've got to catch them!" said Spyro, they ran towards the rails. But then three ape soldier pulled a few levers which closed the gate.

"We've got to push those levers to reopen the gate, you take one while I'll take the other!" said Naruto.

Naruto ran up to the first platform and use his Shadow Clones to take down the apes on it before pushing the lever to open the first of the three locks. Spyro was on the second platform, using his fireball to knock them off before pushing the second lever. They went down to the last one guarded by an Ape Commander and made short work of him to push the last lever, therefore opening the gate.

Spyro and Naruto ran over to a nearby operable three-wheeled mine cart and hopped onto it, ready to give chase.

"You don't know how to drive this thing?!" said Sparx.

"How hard can it be? It's on rails," Spyro replied.

"Oi! Famous last words,"

"Plus we don't have time for tutorials right now!" said Naruto.

Spyro started up the mine cart before passing through the gate and were speeding along the rails, soon they were able to catch up with the train. The ape leaders saw them coming as they moved to the back of the caboose with lit dynamites in their hands and threw them. Naruto and Spyro quickly tilted the mine cart from left to right in order to evade the dynamite then they retaliated firing a fireballs and Chakra Cannons while Spike provided support by flinging impulse crystals at the crystals at the caboose.

"Hurry, they're gaining!" shouted Conductor increasing the train's speed.

"Don't let them get away!" said Naruto using the Bolt Chain spell to zap with the apes on board

Then single rail track splits into two with Steam on the left and the group on the right.

"Hurry up you wretches, they're gaining!" the apes continued to throw dynamites but Naruto uses the Chakra Bullet to detonate them in midair before they got any closer and Spyro continued to launch fireballs at them. This continued before the tracks joined together with the train once again in front and the mine cart behind in pursuit "Okay that's it, playtime's over!"

"Let's we were playing to begin with?" Spike asked sarcastically.

The exchange of fire between them resumed through the rails until the tracks split up again, but this time Naruto fired a well-aimed Chakra Cannon which was able to blow up the caboose along with the ape leaders aboard it. Suddenly the conductor slowed down the train right as the tracks converged back into one with Spyro and the others in front of him.

"I gonna run you brats right off the track!"

"Uh oh, Spyro you better speed up before he rams us!" shouted Naruto.

"I know!" Spyro responded as he increased the mine cart's speed with the conductor pursuing them. They turned left and right until the tracks divided again for the third time as the train went the other way, not before they heard the conductor saying something strange.

"End of the line," said Conductor evilly.

"What does he mean by that?" asked Spike confusedly.

"I think we're about to find out!" shouted Sparx pointing ahead, they looked to see that the track had ended and they were about to go over.

"Everyone get off the mine cart now!" shouted Naruto.

Spyro and Naruto jumped off the mine cart and slowly glided towards the ground safely with the mine cart falling into a pool of lava.

"I don't think I'll be riding any rollercoasters for a while," Spike muttered to himself.

"We've lost them for now, but we need to keep a move on," said Spyro.

They moved on ahead and climbed a few ledges in order to get on top of a railroad which was elevated above them earlier, but they had to make sure to avoid any incoming mine carts onto other platforms nearby. Soon they went inside a tunnel and emerged at the end where they met another one of the Manweersmalls, when they drew closer to talk to it, the Manweersmall quickly turned around and raised his shovel to attack them.

"Wait, wait, wait! We're on your side!" said Spyro.

"More like spies for the Conductor…or that flying beast Cynder!" said the elderly Manweersmall.

"You should be able to tell us from Cynder's soldiers by our scent, Mole-Yair said that we don't smell like them," said Naruto trying to defuse the problem.

"You know my brother? He's alive?!" said the Manweersmall.

"Then you must be Exhumor," said Spike.

"Yeah, your brother is all safe and sound. But I gotta say, he's the friendly one in the family," said Sparx.

Exhumor looked apologetic "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. In these dark times, one can't take chances. So Mole-Yair is alive. Wonderful news, but why did he send you here?"

"Well, he said that you might be able to tell us where our friend Terrador is," said Spyro.

"If he's a big dragon, I certainly can. The majority of the Manweersmalls are kept here in this camp, forced to live above ground and mine for Cynder…and there are rumors that your dragon friend is being kept somewhere inside…in the dark pits of the volcano. All of us are doomed…"

Spyro frowned a bit along with Naruto "Not if we have anything to say about it!"

"What do you mean?" asked Exhumor, looking surprised.

"Yeah, what do you mean?" asked Sparx.

"I mean we're going to free the Manweersmalls, venture to the darkest pits of Boyzitbig, and find Terrador," said Spyro and Naruto nodded in agreement.

"That's pretty much the activities for the day," said Spike.

"And then it's off to karaoke!" said Sparx, everyone just looked at him like he was crazy.

"Alright, time for a little prisonbreak! Shadow Clone jutsu!" Naruto created a large number of clones as they charged into the labor camp with Spyro following them from behind. Some of the clones engaged the apes while the other worked on breaking the cages around and freeing the Manweersmalls inside, Naruto and Spyro employed melee attacks to fight and Spike provided backup with his green flames.

Before long, they had accomplished their current objective and returned to see that Exhumor and Mole-Yair had reunited with each other.

"Well I see that you two crazy kids found each other," said Sparx.

"Yes, at last. Thanks to you," said Mole-Yair.

"We're just disappointed that you didn't leave any fun for us," said Exhumor, making Naruto sweatdrop.

"Maybe next time. So now…which way to Terrador?" asked Spyro.

Exhumor pointed over to an open doorway and spoke "That way…but be careful the Conductor and his maniacal locomotive will surely be nearby,"

"When you say be careful, does that mean try not to die…I'm trying to do that anyway," said Sparx.

"We've been doing that from the very beginning Sparx," said Spike.

"Come Exhumor, we must get all the Manweersmalls underground…where they belong," said Mole-Yair.

The ground quaked again, this time more violently than before.

"Yes, it won't be long now," said Exhumor before leaving together with his brother to where the Manweersmalls probably are.

"We better hurry and find Terrador before the volcano erupts," said Naruto.

They passed through the doorway which suddenly closed shut and refused to open back up, but they continued on nonetheless. Eventually they reach the center of the volcano as they went up a spiraling slope leading all the way to the top and fighting enemies on the way and passed through another door which sealed itself shut just like the other one from before.

They looked around the area and saw a giant green dragon trapped in a cage which was floating midair surrounded by purple energy that came from the purple crystals around it.

"Is that…Terrador?" asked Spyro.

"Big dragon being held prisoner in the center of an explosive volcano? I'm guessing that's Terrador," said Sparx.

"No need to point out the obvious, we need to get him out of here," said Naruto.

"Just be careful…it's never this easy," said Spyro.

"After the last two times, you're not gonna get an argument from me chief," said Sparx. Suddenly the train drove in the area before them "Oh, here we go again!"

"You're a little late fella, the crystal's already charged and the volcano's ready to blow! But before it does, me and Steam here are gonna take great pleasure in running you down!" said the Conductor.

"Sorry but nopony is going to your roadkill!" said Naruto

"We'll see about that horsey,"

The conductor restarted the train as it quickly moved around the area in an effort to run over them, Spyro and Naruto jumped out of the way, this time he didn't tell Spike to get off his back.

Spyro took to the offensive by firing Ice Shards at the train to inflict a decent amount of damage with Naruto joining in with his Icicle Shot. Spyro got an idea and went to stand at the center of the track and stood still, the conductor saw this and steered the train towards him.

"Prepare to be rolled!" the Conductor.

Spyro waited until the last minute before jumping out of the way for the train to skid on its brake and crash into the wall and almost knock the Conductor off, Naruto took this opportunity by pounding it with the Chakra Cannon and Spyro launching Electric Arcs at it to zap both the Conductor and the train until finally righted itself and was on the move again, picking up speed as the Conductor shoveled more charcoal into the engine.

Spike continued to throw more impulse crystals and launched fireballs, Naruto positioned himself on the outer lane and called out to the Conductor.

"Hey Banana-addict, come and get us or is your train modeled after a tortoise?!"

That taunt caught his attention and ticked him off as well "You little brat! You and you lizard friend are pancake when I'm through with you!" then he steered the train towards him and sped forward. Naruto turned around and channeled chakra to his feet and took off with the train behind him. He turned right and ran across the center before calling out to Spike

"Spike, do it now!"

Spike took out a white crystal from the pouch and threw it at the Conductor which suddenly released a bright flash of light forcing the ape to close and for the wall to crash into the wall yet again. Spyro moved in and repeatedly shot Fireballs at it to burn them.

The train righted itself and went even faster while shooting streams of fire from its multiple exhausts on both sides, Spyro looked around to get another idea to attack the Conductor and his train until his eyes set upon the rails and a plan came across his mind.

"Naruto, help me zap the rails!" Spyro shouted out before using his electric breath.

"Got it Bolt Chain!" his horn crackled with lightning and shot out a stream into the rails.

Both combined electricity coursed through the tracks and made contact with the train before continuously electrocuting them. The train started to produce black smoke from all over and was unable to move, the Conductor tried to remedy this by shoving in more coal which proved to be a grave mistake because it exploded from both the damage and overload of steam. That in turn also destroyed the cage which Terrador was imprisoned in.

The gang approached Terrador as he slowly got back to his feet and looked at Spyro in surprise and was stunned upon seeing Spike.

"The purple dragon lives…and I never thought that there would be another one!"

"He has a name, you know. Plus the little guy doesn't classify into what you think he is," said Sparx.

"Yes, my name is Spyro and those are my friends Naruto and the younger dragon is Spike…you must be Terrador," said Spyro.

"Yes, yes I am, and I must say I never thought I'd live to meet you Spyro as well as your special friends," said Terrador.

"Look, I'd love to sit here and hug everybody and chat. But how about we leave before the volcano blows up?" said Sparx.

"You're right, I've got to tell the others what Cynder is up to,"

"Let's go, I'm right behind. Actually, I'm right in front of you,"

They were about to leave when something burst out of the lava and rose to the air and cleared the flames to reveal a black and magenta dragoness with multiple horns, scythe-like tail, silver bracelets and chokers.

"I-I-I-it's Cynder," said Spike fearfully.

Naruto took a step back in worry, he may have dealt with a dragon back at Equestria but this is a whole different level.

"Run!" Terrador shouted out to them.

"Look, when the guy says run, I think he knows something!" said Sparx.

"I hate to admit it but you're right," said Naruto.

Cynder swooped to the ground and grabbed the crystal nearby before ascending to the sky with Terrador in pursuit. The dragoness saw him coming and spun around with a backhand to send him crashing to the ground much to their shock.

"Terrador!" Spyro called out in worry.

"Run away from here! Fly like you never flown before! I'll go back to the temple for help!" Terrador spoke out to them.

The group felt fear crawl up their spines when Cynder stared right at them, they turned to flew with Spyro spreading his wing and Naruto activating his Chakra Wings with Cynder chasing after. They flew through the tunnels of Boyzitbig over the sea of magma. They veered left and right to avoid the lava flowing from above and dove down into a tunnel, Cynder fired her breath at them which possessed a dark aura around it but they dodged the attack before it could hit them. Some apes riding Dreadwings came charging in from the front, Naruto used his Chakra Bullet to shoot them down and clear the way.

"Shadow Clone jutsu!" the duplicates appeared and turned around to attack Cynder, but she launched her breath at one of them which before exploding and taking down the rest of the clones "Damn, not even my clones can slow her down,"

"Naruto, fly faster! She's catching up with us!" said Spike.

"I know, and I'm going as fast as I can!"

They flew through the tunnels until reaching the exit of Boyzitbig right as it erupted, they pulled off every single maneuver they could think of but Cynder stayed on them regardless. She almost caught them when a red blur crashed into her, Naruto and the others turned around to see that it was Ignitus who was currently struggling with Cynder before tackling her as they both fell into the darkness below.

"Ignitus!" Spyro cried out in worry. He flew around with Naruto and Spike as they looked around for any traces of the red dragon guardian, Naruto even used his Aura Sight but to no avail. Terrador appeared before them and was blocking their way "We've got to find them…help Ignitus!"

"We have to rescue him before he gets captured!" said Naruto in agreement.

"They're gone Spyro, there's nothing we can do," said Sparx.

"I don't care, Ignitus wouldn't leave us…"

"Spyro, he's right," said Terrador.

Sparx looked a bit surprised "I'm right? Oh my god, that's a first,"

"Whatever," Spike muttered, obviously worried about Ignitus who had taught him a bit about using his flame.

"Yes, you'll never find them in this mess, and you're not ready to face Cynder. Let's us not forget about your recent battles before she appeared. The time to fight will come…but it is not now,"

Naruto wanted to retort, but Terrador spoke the truth as he could feel the exhaustion slowly taking its toll and had no other choice but to comply.

"I guess you're right. Let's go," said Spyro.

They all flew towards the Dragon Temple with Naruto turning to look back at Boyzitbig and grit his teeth in frustration. Despite accomplishing their objective, the enemy gained a consolation prize in Ignitus and that truly stung with the feeling of defeat as the situation has now taken a turn for the worst.

"Dammit! Why am I so powerless?!" he thought to himself as he flew back to the Temple.

Dimensional Tales: A Draconic Legend Pt. 3

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 33: Dimensional Tales: A Draconic Legend Pt. 3

In the main hall of the Dragon Temple, everyone had gathered around and depression could be felt in the atmosphere due to what had happened over at Munitions Forge. Naruto and the others were able to rescue Terrador but failed to stop another crystal from being powered and to make things worse, Cynder pursued them and almost got to them had it not been for Ignitus arriving to intervene but got captured instead.

"It's all my fault…I failed Ignitus when he needed me the most. But it's just that the sight of Cynder so close just…just…" Spyro trailed off.

Sparx flew up to him "…made your heart stop? Put ice in your veins? Scared the crud out of you?"

"Yeah…something like that,"

"Me too, I wasn't this scared ever since I first saw Nightmare Moon," said Spike with a shudder.

"I hate to admit it, but we wouldn't have stood a chance against since we were exhausted from the fights we had at Munitions Forge especially against that conductor and his locomotive," Naruto grudgingly admitted to the truth.

Terrador then spoke up "All warriors feel fear at one time or another, Spyro. There is no shame in that,"

"Yes, it's a proven scientific fact that the quotient between adrenaline and trepidation…" Volteer would have continued yammering on had he not been interrupted.

"Volteer, please, I believe that our good friend here was trying to make a point," said Cyril.

Terrador nodded in affirmation "Thank you Cyril, what I was going to say is that all warriors feel fear, Spyro. But only the most valiant among us can face that fear…and master it. From what I saw of you and Naruto on Munitions Forge, both of you are such warriors,"

Naruto understood exactly what Terrador meant by those words, he remembered how scared he was when he faced Zabuza and Gaara but overcame his fear in order to protect his friends from danger and was able to emerge victorious with some help from Sasuke and Gamabunta respectively.

"Young dragon, now is the time to complete your training…now is the time to face your fear. Come," Terrador walked towards the Training room with Spyro scampering after him.

"Am I the only one still petrified?" asked Sparx.

"Pretty much, I need to get some training too," Naruto turned to leave the main hall and go outside the Dragon Temple.

"Can I come and watch Naruto?" asked Spike.

"Sure," Spike jumped onto Naruto's back as they left.

In the Training Room, Spyro learnt to properly harness the power of the Earth Shot to the point of inflicting serious damage with just one attack, next was the Earth Bomb where he launches a green orb emitting leaves which explodes into a large green tornado sucking up the enemies and twirling them high into the air, making it similar to that of the Electric Arc. The final was the Earth Fury where he learnt how to summon six tornadoes to swirl around in circles before massive boulders would fall from the sky and crush any enemies nearby.

Meanwhile, Naruto was within the forest close to the temple, training on his spells and techniques with Spike watching close by. He was contemplating on whether or not he should use certain techniques which he was still working on in the forthcoming battle but then decided to think it over until then.

"I think that's enough training for now, we should head back to the temple and meet up with the others in order to discuss our next move," said Naruto.

"Okay, let's go," Spike hopped onto Naruto's back as they made their way back to the Dragon Temple.

"Spike, I want you to stay behind this time," said Naruto.

Spike was shocked upon hearing what he just said "But why? I've been helping you out ever since the beginning, so why now?"

"That's because where we would be going could be potentially much more dangerous that the last three places plus this time we would encounter Cynder with no running away this time. If anything were to happened to you, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself and I don't know how I can face Twilight,"

"Isn't there any other way, I can change your mind?"

"No Spike, this time you have to stay where it's safe until it's over,"

Spike frowned but eventually nodded "Okay, I'll stay behind,"

"Thanks, I'm glad you understand," said Naruto with a smile as they drew close to the temple.

"I see you've returned from your short training, Naruto," said Terrador upon seeing the pony along with the baby dragon coming through the doors into the main hall.

"Yeah, I needed to be prepared for Ignitus' rescue and the eventual battle with Cynder," said Naruto.

"A wise strategy for someone as young as you, Spyro has completed his training as well,"

"Yes yes, pat on the back, good going, all that other rubbish. But we've got to get moving here," said Cyril, looking a bit impatient.

"Cyril is being terribly obnoxious, but in this case he happens to be right, Terrador. Ignitus is the final piece to Cynder's puzzle, if that last crystal is powered, the portal will open and we'll all be done for," said Volteer worriedly.

"I know, I know. When I was on Munitions Forge, I overheard the conductor say that Cynder's final preparations would take place at her lair, where she lives in solitude among the clouds and the towers. I am certain that's where she's taken Ignitus," said Terrador.

"What's to know about this place?" asked Spyro.

"Cynder's lair is where hope goes to die, Spyro. A dark foreboding place in which Cynder broods and skulks and plans her next assault. It used to go by the name Concurrent Skies which was a private for Electric dragons like Volteer to learn and harness the powers of electricity until the dark forces came and took over. You two must make your way to her fortress where I'm sure Ignitus is being held,"

"Then we have to go…come on," said Spyro.

"I don't think that Terrador would be able to come along, Spyro," said Naruto.

"He's right, that crystal has sapped the last of my will. I fear my fighting days are over," said Terrador.

"Every generation must pass the torch to the next, Terrador. Our time is done," said Volteer.

"Yes, it is Spyro and Naruto's time to shine, go to it young chaps!" said Cyril.

"Yes sir!" Naruto and Spyro spoke simultaneously before scampering towards the entrance with Sparx fluttering after them.

"Wow, you guys make me wanna face Cynder…did I say that out loud?" said Sparx.

"Pretty much," Naruto replied.

"Why isn't Spike coming with us?" asked Spyro.

"I wanted him to sit this one out since where we're going is obviously way more dangerous than the previous ones," said Naruto.

"How come no one tells me to stay behind because of dangerous stuff?" asked Sparx.

"That's because you would follow us whether or not we tell you," said Spyro.

"You got a point there,"

It was a long flight from the Dragon Temple, but the trio had arrived at their destination which turns out to be a landscape covered in giant crystals and the skies are darkened with lightning striking everywhere undeterred and unchecked. There was a flash of lightning with which they could make out a silhouette of a gigantic fortress in the distance, Naruto and Spyro landed in a clearing and proceeded to follow a path towards the fortress.

"Next time I say I want to face Cynder, why don't you go ahead and punch me in the mouth," said Sparx.

"No problem," said Spyro.

"Ditto," said Naruto.

Suddenly, they heard a loud shriek and looked up to see a silhouette of Cynder flying around.

"At least we know that she's around, now let's get a move on,"

They moved further down the path and saw an Ape leader with white fur and wearing armor covering the shoulder whilst wielding a serrated sword and shield. The ape saw them and took off down the road.

"Terrador made it sound like this place was uninhabited," said Sparx.

"Now what would that be? Come on, we gotta take them out," said Spyro.

"Besides, we could use the warm-up before facing Cynder," said Naruto before running down the path with Spyro close behind him.

They continued onwards until they saw the ape leader yet again who roared at them before jumping away and smashed through a weathered iron gate, they made to follow but them several ape soldiers appeared from behind the large crystals and charged at them. Naruto charged forward and began to unleash a barrage of punches and kicks on the ape soldiers with Spyro joining in by using his improved Earth Shot to send them flying into the crystals as they slumped to the floor and laid there unmoving. They went through the broken gate to see the ape leader still on the run from them.

"Enough of the keep away, Windflaw Dash!" the winds surrounded Naruto's body as he took off at high-speed to overtake the ape before turning around and raising a fore hoof with which a white rune appeared "Chakra Cannon!" a large white orb shot out and slammed onto the ape leader, taking it out with a critical hit.

They climbed up the ledges and arrived at another clearing to see a pair of large eel-like leeches with blue skin and pink underbellies with four pincers around the mouth, and they were swimming in a small white pool of water. The leeches saw Naruto and Spyro and charged at them, the next thing they knew was that a green aura and orange aura was flowing out of them respectively into the leeches. The duo quickly jumped backwards in alarm of what was happening.

"Those leeches were draining our energy, we should attack from a distance," said Spyro.

Naruto fired several Fire Lances at one of the leeches whilst Spyro used the Earth Shot on the other which proved to be particularly effective on them. The trio proceeded through yet another smashed gate and stopped before a tall tower. They drew close to the large doors which suddenly opened for an Ape Commander to pass through before closing itself shut behind him, the Ape raised his weapon over his head as a pair of purple beams shot out of it and formed a barrier to bar the way behind them with a group of ape soldiers appearing by his side.

"Here we go again," said Sparx.

Naruto took a fighting pose "It's fighting time, Hoshi no ha battle stance!" the azure glaive appeared on his back ready for battle, he charged straight towards the Ape Commander who slammed his crystal mace on the floor to induce a shockwave but he quickly jumped into the air and twirled to plant both of his hind legs into his face for a double kick to knock him. the ape angrily got up before charging at Naruto with a shoulder barge, the pony ninja leapt to the side to evade and stuck out his tail to trip him up then he jump into the air as he formed a blue spinning orb with a fore hoof "Rasengan!" then he rammed it onto the ape's defenseless back with sufficient impact to create a crater underneath.

Spyro was clawing at some of the ape soldiers and performed a 360 spin with his bladed tail to knock back any that tried to surround him, he flapped his wings hard enough to dash backwards before launching an Earth Bomb which exploded into a green tornado and was juggling them in the air, then he followed up by using his Ice Stream to freeze them before gravity brought the apes back down to earth and shattered upon impact. An Ape leader ran at him with his blade raised high, but Spyro turned around to use his Electric Stream to render him immobile then he jerked his head to the side to fling him into the wall of the tower.

They heard a screech and looked up to see a Dreadwing carrying some sort of cargo, then it dropped it to shatter and reveal more ape soldiers who joined in the fight.

"They just keeping coming!" said Sparx.

"And we're pressed for time here, might as well go with quantity instead of quality. Shadow Clone jutsu!" several puffs of smoke appeared around him before dissipating to reveal his clones who instantly split up to take on the opposition. The fight was shortened and soon all of the apes laid on the ground in defeat "Time to make an entrance!" said Naruto as he created pair of chakra arms as they came close together to perform a Rasengan which is larger than normal before thrusting it towards the doors "Giant Ball Rasengan!" They broke off the hinges and flew inside the tower, crushing the apes which were standing behind them.

"An open doorway, that's more like it," said Sparx nodding in approval.

"Thought you would like that," said Naruto.

The trio entered the tower though they had to watch out for electric fences along the way before arriving in a tall metal room where they had to defeat all of the enemies present in order to activate crystal platforms to get to higher ground. They had climbed to the third floor where they encountered what appears to be a blue eye-like crystal orb that walks around on tendrils made out of electricity. The conduit shot out a red beam of light around itself until the light settled on the trio which changed to yellow before moving towards them with the intention to attack.

It shot an arc of electricity at them but Naruto jumped forward and activated his barrier crystal to deflect the attack then Spyro launched a fireball which exploded upon impact, damaging it. Then he lowered his head and charged at the conduit, ramming into it with his horns and knocking it into the air. Naruto was already above with a Rasengan to drive the conduit to the ground as it shattered upon impact. Three crystal platforms rose from the ground floor to the top, forming a bridge to the other side where a door opened up to reveal an exit.

The trio ventured through a mazelike area where they encountered golems similar to the ones at Tall Plains but made up of crystals with electricity keeping their limbs together, Naruto and Spyro took them down with little issue as they made their way through another tower into the next clearing. Sparx flew ahead of them to scope the area when all of a sudden, Cynder swooped by right in front of him!

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" Sparx screamed out as he fell to the ground in shock at the sudden appearance of the dark dragoness, Naruto and Spyro rushed over to check on him.

"Sparx, are you okay?" asked Naruto worriedly.

Sparx raised a hand towards the sky "I can't talk…heart…breaking up…,"

This drew deadpanned expressions from both Naruto and Spyro as the latter simply rolled his eyes over at this.

"You're just fine, only got scared out of your wits,"

"Come on Sparx, Ignitus is waiting," said Spyro.

*SMASH*

"Well it's about time that we finally made it here!" said Sparx.

Spyro and Naruto had just broken through a gate which led into a large area with long steps leading up to a massive black building in front of them. Suddenly the doors opened and a squad of ape soldiers and leaders being led by an Ape commander who raised his weapon into the air to launch a pair of purple beams to form a barrier behind Spyro and Naruto.

"Let's clear them out so that we can get into the fortress," said Spyro.

"Guys, you've got Ape Gunners on both sides!" Sparx called out.

At that moment, Spyro and Naruto leapt high into the air just before two arcs of lightning struck where they originally stood, Spyro glided to safety and out of range while Naruto landed with a thump and glared at the Ape Gunners.

"I'll take care of them!" Naruto reached into his pouch and took out several impulse crystals and flung them at one of the Ape Gunners to destroy it before turning to the other with his horn emitting an orange aura "Fire lance!" Several spears of flames appeared around him before shooting towards their target and successfully taking it down.

Spyro was currently being surrounded by the Ape Soldiers and Ape leaders, then he focused on his inner power as he slowly rose to the air and unleashed his fire fury as it exploded outwards and shot explosive embers for extra damage, wiping out the surrounding enemies. He turned to see Naruto trotting up to him with the Ape Commander sprawled out on the ground with his shattered armor around him.

"I guess that's all of them, let's go inside and find Ignitus," said Naruto.

"Right," said Spyro

Both ran up the stairs and drew close to the doors when it opened up again and something walked out all the while making heavy clanking sounds on the floor. It was an armored knight who bore heavy resemblance to the Ice King back at Dante's Freezer except that purple lightning could be seen coursing through its body as it wielded a metal shield and a large mace.

"Oh great, now we have to fight the electro version of the Ice King," Sparx groaned out.

"Maybe so, but we got the advantage. This time, I'm using quality instead of quantity," Naruto formed a pair of chakra arms from his back. the Electric King swung his mace to launch a volley of lightning bolts straight at them, the chakra arms proceeded to weave through a series of handsigns quickly "Wind Style: Breezing Wind jutsu!" he took a deep breath before opening his mouth to blow a strong gust of air which cancelled out the electricity before slamming into the Electric King, knocking him back a few feet.

Spyro followed up by launching his own volley of Ice Shards to inflict damage, the armored being roared out in rage as he raised a foot before stomping hard on the ground for large purple crystals emitting electricity to appear and shoot towards his targets. The duo immediately leapt out of the way before retaliating with Fireballs and Chakra Cannon, but both were blocked by a projected forcefield. He conjured a cluster of purple electric crystals and launched them only for the duo to move out of the way whilst biding their time for the forcefield to disappear which it eventually did before swinging into action.

The Electric King swung his mace at Naruto who quickly brandished the Hoshi no Ha to parry the strike before launching a 5-hit combo to shatter the first layer of the armor and the shield, Spyro wasn't far behind as he jumped into the air to perform an aerial attack before finishing up by flapping his wings for a knockback.

Again Naruto performed another series of handsigns "Wind Style: Wind Arrow!" he breathed in and molded chakra within his stomach, then he blew out an arrow made out of wind which zipped towards the Electric King and pierced through his armor and emerged on the other side. The armored warrior dropped his weapon to clutch the gaping hole but the damage was done as he collapsed to the floor and laid there unmoving with the electricity petering out.

"Well that takes care of him, but what just happen?" asked Sparx curiously.

"I learnt that the wind has an advantage against electricity but weak against fire as it rather enhances the flames," said Naruto.

"That explains why you said that you had the upper hand," said Spyro, the trio entered the building completely unaware that a large shadow was flying in the air and watching their fight with interest before disappearing into the darkness.

Meanwhile, Naruto and the others found themselves in the center of where an elevator was locked by purple crystals in a hexagon formation and guarded by an Ape Commander. They quickly took care of the enemy and destroyed the crystals which enabled the lift to be activated, gradually carrying them to the top of the fortress. However there were several more crystals and enemies to impede, however they were able to arrive at the top. The group looked around a bit before seeing Ignitus being held aloft in a cage made entirely of purple electricity and another crystal was draining his energy like with the other guardian dragons.

"Um…guys," Sparx spoke rather quietly.

"What is it Sparx?" asked Spyro.

"I don't like this…it feels like she's baiting us. I'm getting smarter,"

"By saying that, you just admitted that you were dumb before," thought Naruto while keeping an eye out for Cynder, he saw something move among the spires but couldn't catch a clear glimpse of what it was as they approached Ignitus.

Ignitus groaned out weakly "Spyro…destroy the crystal…quickly…,"

"Let's get him out of here before Cynder gets back!" said Spyro.

"And I'll take care of the crystal," Naruto brandished the Hoshi no Ha.

They hardly took a third step when the said dragoness landed before them, obstructing their path.

"If only it were that easy, little ones," said Cynder.

Sparx quivered in fear "S-s-s-s-s-s-so…b-b-b-b-big!"

"Time you learned how complicated life can be," Cynder swung her head around before aiming to smack Spyro away.

"Spyro watch out! Stellar gear change; Shield!" Naruto moved in to intercept as his glaive transformed and blocked the attack, but the impact had sent both of them flying back and tumbling on the floor.

"Are you guys okay?" asked Sparx.

"Yeah, we're fine," Naruto responded.

"Run you two…save yourselves," said Ignitus.

"Not this time, this time I fight!" Spyro proclaimed.

"That's right, we came all this way to save you and running away is out of the question," said Naruto.

Cynder chuckled evilly "Bring it," before charging straight at them.

She reached Naruto first and swiped at him with her claws, Naruto still had his shield so was able to block the attack before leaping towards her with a punch, however she angled her head to evade before using her left wing to smack him away. Spyro joined in the fight with an Electric Arc which made contact but failed to encage her. Cynder turned around to use her bladed tail to whip at Spyro who dashed backwards to get out of rage whilst launching a fireball to counter.

"Windflaw Dash!" Naruto sped around Cynder in circles before channeling his chakra "Chakra Cannon!" he launched a large white orb from the left side.

"Hmph, how weak!" Cynder flapped her left wing to bat the incoming projectile aside towards another direction.

"Then let's see you handle this! Shadow Clone jutsu!"

He created a couple of clones as he ran before they charged altogether. The first clone got in close before throwing a straight punch which was parried and got backhanded hard enough to be dispelled, the second came in from behind and lashed out with a chakra arm which successfully hit her back only for Cynder to retaliate with a swing of her tail to take it down. The next two clones each fired a chakra tendril from a distance as they wrapped around her neck while latching to the floor with chakra. From the corner of her eye, Cynder saw what appears to be the original rushing for the crystal with a blue spinning sphere in hoof.

"Not so fast, little pony!" she forcefully pulled on the tendril, wrenching the clones from the ground and launched them towards Naruto.

"Rasen-aaahhhh!" Naruto was just about to ram his jutsu into the crystal when he got blindsided by his thrown shadow clones, knocking him off the platform.

"Naruto!" Spyro called out in horror as he watched Naruto fall over the edge.

"Calm down bro, remember that he can fly," Sparx quickly spoke up.

"You're right," Spyro let out a sigh of relief before turning his attention back on Cynder who was chuckling in amusement. He fired an Earth Shot to get her attention and charge at him. She swiped at him with her claw but Spyro jumped into the air twirled with his tail out to hit her a few times before gliding away and using his Fire Breath to attack. Cynder simply flapped her wings to blow the flames away as she laughed arrogantly.

"It's so sad that it must end this way," said Cynder.

"No it won't!" Spyro charged at her again only to be backhanded a few feet away with Sparx checking if he was okay.

"Yes it will, now…where was I?" Cynder approached the crystal, taking it with the electric prison disappearing and Ignitus falling to the floor before she took to the air by smashing through the glass roof and flew away.

"Dos she ever use doors?" said Sparx.

It was at that moment when Naruto appeared with his Chakra Wings active and landed back on the platform with a frown on his face "Darn it! And I was close to destroying that crystal too," then he noticed that Spyro was deep in thought "What's on your mind Spyro?"

"There was something in her eyes Naruto…something familiar," said Spyro.

"There should be Spyro," They turned to see Ignitus hobbling up to them "You and Cynder share more than you know,"

"What do you mean Ignitus?" asked Naruto.

"It's time that I told you the truth…all of it," then Ignitus began to tell them what happened in the past "You see…after I took your egg to the silver river, I returned to the grotto to find utter chaos. The guardians had been overrun and all the dragon eggs had been smashed by the Dark Master's forces…all except one. You see, the Dark Master was torn. He wanted to destroy all the eggs to prevent the birth of the purple dragon…but he also needed a dragon,"

"Why would he need a dragon?" asked Spyro confusedly, having already gotten the idea of the Dark Master's hatred of dragons.

"Because, Spyro, only one born in the Year of the Dragon could open the portal that served as the Dark Master's prison,"

"I think I get it now, he needed Cynder to free him from his prison but he also needed the power of the guardian dragons as well in order to open the portal," said Naruto with a look of realization.

"But if we came from the same place, why is she so, so…?" Spyro trailed off, not knowing what else to say.

Sparx spoke up as always "Evil? Monstrous? Big? Sexy? Oops, did I just say that?"

"Because, Spyro, after the night of the raid, she was corrupted by the Dark Master's poisonous powers…twisted by his evil lores. She became the Dark Master's puppet," Ignitus spoke sadly.

"Just like what Orochimaru did to Sasuke, though I was able to stop him from going to that snake…it cost me my life to do so," thought Naruto with a sad look.

"But why? What does this Dark Master want?" asked Spyro.

"If he's anything like some people I've met before, then my best guess is to rule the Dragon Realms with an iron grip," said Naruto.

Ignitus nodded in affirmation "Indeed you're right Naruto, and if Cynder gets there…he might just succeed,"

Suddenly there was a thunderous sound, everyone turned to see a large white swirling portal appear before them.

"I'm afraid we might be too late,"

"No I refuse to give up, I'm going to stop Cynder and the Dark Master," said Spyro with determination.

"Same here Spyro, I've got your back," said Naruto looking just as determined.

"Whoa wait a minute, you heard the big guy. He said too late, we'll get him next time. You guys did a great job, so let's take five," said Sparx.

"As long as there's a chance to win, I'm willing to take it than just let it slip and regret for the rest of my life," Naruto spoke up with Spyro nodding in agreement.

"Okay okay, you're right. At the very least, you have to try. If the Dark Master escapes, a shadow will fall over the land, who knows what will happen then," said Ignitus. The duo nodded in affirmation before taking to the air and entering the portal in pursuit of Cynder "May the Ancestors look after you, may they look after us all,"

After flying through the dimensional tunnel, Naruto, Spyro and Sparx exited the portal to find themselves flying in an endless iridescent void with large groups of floating rock platforms and many giant creatures bearing resemblance to jellyfish, whales and snakes.

The group landed on a nearby rock platform and surveyed the area only to note of what appears to be purple energy converging on an ancient building structure in the distance and also caught a glimpse of Cynder flying towards it.

"Judging by where Cynder's heading, that must be the Portal of Convexity," said Naruto.

"Then we have to get there before she does, come on," Spyro took off with Naruto close behind.

The team utilized the floating rock platforms and at times the top of the giant jellyfishes to glide from one place to another which took some time but they eventually arrived at the portal only to see Cynder insert the final crystal into it.

"Finally, my master returns," said Cynder.

"We're too late!" said Spyro.

Cynder turned towards them "Hmmm, persistent little fellas aren't you? This is where it really ends,"

"Let's do this then!" Naruto took a fighting stance next to Spyro.

Cynder flared her wings "No mercy this time,"

Spyro started things off by launch an Electric stream which made contact with Naruto using a Bolt Chain spell to increase the voltage, causing Cynder to screech rather angrily before retaliating by opening her mouth to unleash dark orange flames upon them but Naruto and Spyro quickly jumped out of the way to avoid the attack.

Naruto formed chakra arms to weave through a string of handsigns "Wind style: Wind Bullet!" he took a deep breath before firing a series of small bursts of wind in the form of condensed ball to continuously bombarding the dragoness. Spyro rushed up to her and started to melee as much hits as he could before Cynder smacked him in the head hard enough to stun. Cynder jumped high into the air and was about to land on top of Spyro.

"Spyro, watch out!" Naruto focused on his magic as Spyro was covered in an orange aura before being lifted into the air and was carried away right as Cynder landed, resulting in a miniature tremor. Spyro shook his head to clear his mind from the daze.

"Thanks for the help!" said Spyro.

"Don't mention it,"

Naruto created a group of shadow clones that immediately charged at Cynder, the dragoness took to the air and flew around the battlefield as she unleashed her flames upon the clones with some of them taken out while the others evaded the attack. Naruto and Spyro used the Fire Lance and Ice Stream respectively in an attempt to bring her down but she dodged the attacks and continued on with hers.

"Let's see if she can dodge this, Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" he took in a really deep breath with his stomach bulging a bit as he brought a chakra arm to his mouth before blowing a massive gust of wind. Cynder was unprepared for the technique completely messing with her flight as she was blown backwards and crashed into part of the portal. Naruto was panting a bit in exhaustion from constant use of jutsus which he hasn't fully mastered "Whale at her while you can Spyro!"

Not needing to reply, Spyro attacked Cynder with every single elemental breath with all of his might, not wanting to give her a chance of recovery or retaliation with the remaining shadow clones adding in their own attacks. Cynder got back to her feet and shook her head to clear it before glaring at the duo with rage.

"You impudent insects! I shall not be defeated here!" she yelled in anger, Cynder hovered in the air whilst gathering purple energy within herself, Naruto and Spyro realized what she's about to do.

"She's going to use a Fury attack!" Naruto ran over to Spyro's side and quickly used his Terra Bunker spell to form a protective dome of earth around them. At that moment, Cynder unleashed a massive dark flame which exploded outwardly, taking out the clones and impacted the earth dome with such force that it broke through the defense and knocked the duo away with burns on their body.

Spyro got back to his feet and looked up at Cynder with eyes of determination "Same could be said for us…we won't lose here either!" he opened his mouth to fire a beam of purple energy landed a clean hit on Cynder with a lot of damage. Naruto had gotten up as well and watched the exchange of attacks between both dragons with neither side giving in.

"Only one attack from either of them will end this showdown," said Naruto.

As Spyro continued to fight, he felt something stirring from within as if wanting to be unleashed.

"Now, it's time to unleash the true dragon within you," Ignitus' voice suddenly sounded in his mind.

"Ignitus…okay…let's see what I can really do," Spyro concentrated on his new power as purple energy burst from his body and swirled around him before gathering over his head as the ground quaked. The energy took on the form of a spiraling void before multiple purple projectiles in the shape of Spyro's head shot out and raced towards Cynder.

"What?! What is-aaaaaaahhhhhh!" Cynder hardly got time to react before the dragons proceeded to pummel her consecutively from every direction with no time lag. This kept up until the attacks finally dissipated and Cynder plummeted to the ground.

Naruto walked up to Spyro with a smirk on his face "Way to go Spyro that was an awesome finishing move!"

"Yeah man, you're the top dragon around here!" said Sparx.

The trio turned to see Cynder's body glowed faintly before suddenly shrinking to their size much to their surprise.

"She is just like me," said Spyro in wonder at the sight of the now younger dragoness.

"I think your attack must have somehow released her from the Dark Master's power, since I don't sense any negative emotions in her anymore," said Naruto.

The ground started to quake again and the portal seemed to sucking in everything in sight which includes the trio and the unconscious Cynder.

"Dude we've got to get out of here…now!" said Sparx in a panic.

"I can't leave her behind…I've got to save her!" said Spyro.

"What? Save the beast that's been trying to kill us?!"

"That wasn't her fault…she was being used by the Dark Master!"

"If you were listening before, Cynder hasn't been doing any of this of her own free will. Blame the puppeteer not the puppet!" said Naruto.

Spyro dove into the portal after Cynder when she got sucked into it, a few moments later, he came out with her in his clutches as they flew away.

"Now we can go!" said Spyro.

"Couldn't agree with you more!" said Naruto, activating his Chakra Wings and took flight.

The group had made their way back through the portal, it becoming increasingly difficult due to the fatigue from the continuous battles finally taking their tolls upon their bodies. They barely exited the portal before crashing to the ground with the last thing Naruto hearing before blacking out was Sparx saying something about having his mother fluff his pillow.

Naruto finally regained consciousness and looked around to see that he was back at the Dragon Temple with Ignitus, Spike and the others looking at him with relief.

"Naruto, you're okay!" Spike was ecstatic.

"I am now, I think I recovered some of my chakra and magic back," Naruto heard a groan and turned to see Spyro slowly getting up.

"Feeling better, Spyro?"

Spyro responded weakly "Not really, Ignitus. That battle drained every last bit of my strength, I can hardly even lift my head,"

"Yes, it will take some time for your powers to return. Especially since it was your first time using the power of aether, but they will in time young dragon," then Ignitus turned towards Cynder with a look of relief and regret "Cynder, ever since I failed the night of the raid, I've dreamt of this day,"

"It wasn't just you, Ignitus. We all failed," said Volteer with the others nodding in agreement.

"Be that as it may…we're together again now…thanks to Spyro with help from our new friends Naruto and Spike. Well done, young ones,"

"It's no problem at all Ignitus, we were glad to help," said Naruto.

"He's right, and I got the chance to meet with other dragons," said Spike.

"Thanks Ignitus, but we still don't know what happened to the Dark master," said Spyro.

"No matter Spyro, there will be time to talk of the Dark Master later. Now it's time to be grateful of your success," said Terrador.

Sparx spoke up "His success? What about me? Just because a bunch of weird stuff doesn't come out of my mouth, doesn't mean I didn't help, ya know?"

"You were a big help Sparx, no doubt about it. but for the record…a lot of weird stuff does come out of that little mouth of yours," said Spyro.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Sparx asked indignantly.

Naruto quickly interrupted "Before you start ranting, I need to inform you guys that Spike and I will be returning home for now,"

"Really, but why?" asked Spyro.

"Remember that I was sent to help you rescue the guardian dragons. Now that mission is complete, I'll be returning home to fully recover and continue with my training. The last battle showed how much work I'll need to master my jutsus and elemental affinity, but I'll be back to help you settle things with the Dark Master and that is a promise,"

"Very well then, we bid you farewell and hope to see you again in the near future," said Ignitus.

"Walk bravely young warrior, and may our paths cross once more," said Terrador.

"I hope to see you again Naruto, Spike," said Spyro.

"You better come back man, we can't be the ultimate team without you," said Sparx.

"True that, goodbye everyone…I'll see you later," Naruto turned and left the Dragon Temple with everyone watching him in hopes of his return.

Meanwhile back in Equestria, a pony wearing a black cloak with the hood covering the head was silently walking through a dark forest. Suddenly a pack of Timberwolves burst out from nearby bushes and surrounded the pony all the while growling. The pony looked around before a dark aura started to leak out from it. Seeing this disturbed the wooden lupines a bit but shrugged the potential threat off as they all pounced at the same time.

But before they got any closer, spikes made of black energy shot out from the ground around the pony, impaling every single one of the Timberwolves before they exploded into many splinters all over the forest floor. The pony then let out a sigh of disappointment before continuing on its way.

"Things are really getting boring, it's kinda hard to find something worth doing while waiting for him to get stronger for a second round," said the pony, then he looked up to the moon and saw what would appear to be a black wisp before it disappeared "Well now…I guess I won't have to wait too long for some entertainment. I wonder if you're ready for what's coming…try not to disappoint me…Hikari,"

Catch if Catch Can

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA

Chapter 34: Catch if Catch Can

*BOOOOOOOM!!!!!*

Normally when one hears that sound, it means something just exploded and it’s bad for everypony both far and near the source of the sound. Well that’s not what is going on despite hearing that, we locate the sound which came from Canterlot where at the Royal Palace within the barracks, the soldiers and cadets stood a very safe distance away from the training ground which is currently occupied by two combatants engaged in a heated spar.

Naruto kept jerking his head left and right to avoid incoming punches whilst backing away from the relentless assault from his sparring partner Luce Astro who suddenly stopped the assault and spun around to lash out with his tail towards his head like a whip. Naruto quickly ducked under the incoming strike and launched a chakra tendril to wrap around the tail, then he pulled back to fling Luce over his shoulder across the field.

Thinking quickly, Luce called upon his magic with the horn emitting a cyan aura as he called out “Escape Velocity!” a transparent dome surrounded him and levitated in midair as he came to a stop. Naruto quirked an eyebrow in interest of the new spell but snapped back into focus when he saw his opponent’s horn glowing again “Stellar Wind!” a star appeared overhead before a powerful gust of starry wind burst from it towards him.

Naruto formed a pair of chakra arms and weaved through a series of handsigns before calling out “Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!” he took in a really deep breath with his stomach bulging a bit as he brought a chakra arm to his mouth before blowing a massive gust of wind. Both gusts clashed in the middle, resulting in a strong shockwave that nearly blew the spectators away.

“Whoa, these guys are really going at it,” said a cadet.

“Tell me about, I kinda doubt anypony would want to face either of them in the field should they get any stronger,” said a soldier.

“Speed Star!” Luce shot off with a white aura radiating from his body like a comet at high-speed, Naruto summoned the Hoshi no Ha and transformed it into a shield to block the strike, however Luce continued with the onrush and began to inflict hits which Naruto wasn’t able to block in time.

“Shadow clone jutsu!” Naruto called upon a large number of clones around him only for Luce to take them down one by one until there were none left, however the original wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Luce stopped to look around, then he heard Naruto's voice right above him “Chakra Bullet: Rapid Fire!” he looked up to see Naruto launching a volley of white orbs down towards him.

“Circumstellar Disk!” a ring-shaped accumulation of stone debris swirled around Luce to block each and every one of the incoming projectiles before he retaliated with another spell “Binary Asteroid!” he conjured two large boulders that revolved around each other before launching them.

“Giant Rasengan Barrage!” Naruto summoned a pair of clones to help form two large spiraling spheres before diving straight towards the incoming boulders and rammed his technique into them, grinding both into pebbles before landing on the ground “Fire Lance!” multiple spears of flames appeared around him before shooting towards their target.

“Comet!” Luce conjured a gigantic ball of ice and rock and fired it, the comet slammed into the flaming spears which melted the ice but the rock part of it was in motion, Naruto formed large chakra arms and proceeded to rapidly punch at it, shattering into smaller pieces then he used his magic to pick them up and fling back at Luce who quickly set up a barrier to deflect them. The two were about to reengage in the spar when they heard a voice call out to them.

“Alright you two, that’s enough sparring for now,” they turned to see Shining Armor walking towards them with a smile on his face “But I gotta say, both of you really tore up the place,”

Naruto and Luce looked around to see craters and heaps of rocks surrounding them as well as the stunned looks from the cadets and soldiers that were watching them before turning back to Shining, feeling sheepish.

“Heh heh, sorry about that. I kinda went overboard there,” Naruto rubbed the back of his head, feeling a bit embarrassed.

“I wish to apologize as well, captain,” Luce bowed his head in apology.

However Shining simply waved it off “Don’t let it get to you, this even tells us that the cadets have a lot of ground to clear if they want to keep up with you two. We hope to see you spar again, hopefully with me taking part,”

“I’m ready for you at any time, Shining!” said Naruto with a smirk which Shining responded in kind before walking away.

Luce turned towards Naruto and spoke “I’ll be going to rest for a bit,”

“Sure thing Luce, I’ll catch you later,” Naruto headed for the exit of the barracks, he glanced to side and saw most of the cadets swarming around Luce with looks of amazement and admiration “Just like how I used to look at Pervy Sage and Kakashi-sensei, because I wanted to be strong just like them,”

Due to the princesses being too busy to able to hold a conversation with earlier before the spar, Naruto was currently walking along the streets of Canterlot towards the exit whilst contemplating whether to fly and run, he snapped out of his thoughts when his ears picked a queer conversation between two aristocratic ponies whom he was passing by.

“Can you believe it? That rapscallion has made his appearance here in Canterlot,” said pony #1.

“As unbelievable as it is, the rumors are true. My brother just had his 24 karat carrot stolen last night, and the rascal actually had the nerve to leave behind a calling card of his thievery,” said pony #2.

“And apparently, your brother isn’t the only pony that has been robbed of their possessions,”

“I believe the scum’s name is…,” Naruto leaned a bit closer to hear more of this interesting story when one of the ponies suddenly hailed a nearby cab and they boarded it before leaving.

“Hmmm, sounds like a thief to me and a good one at that. But seriously…a 24 karat carrot? These high-class have some weird preferences,” said Naruto, he shrugged his shoulders before forming his chakra wings and making for Ponyville with the intention of getting some food to sate himself.

“Ahhh, now that hit the spot,” Naruto was smiling in satisfaction, having lunch over at Café Hay and was currently walking back to The Whirlpool to check up on sales as well as update a few of his pet projects “I better put a raincheck on revisiting Konoha and getting some more fuinjutsu scrolls from Pervy Sage without anyone seeing me though,” he had arrived at the door of the shop and grabbed the doorknob with his tail, ready to open it.

“I can’t believe that guy!”

Naruto was startled by the sudden outburst from within the shop, he even recognized the voice too. He opened the door and went inside to find Rainbow Dash hovering in midair with Trixie looking rather irritated for some reason much to his curiosity. Dash can be irritated for several reasons, like someone bullying her friends, proclaiming to be faster than her, long speeches, anything relating to slow, etc. etc. Admittedly the list is long.

Trixie perked up upon seeing the orange stallion enter the shop and smiled “Oh hello Naruto, how was your visit over at Canterlot?”

“Heya, it was okay…so what’s with the sour mood Dash?” asked Naruto as he approached them.

“Hi Naruto, it’s just that somepony stole something important from me last night,” Rainbow Dash grumbled out clearly upset.

Naruto was taken aback from the news “What? How did that happen?”

“Well, it was after I did some nighttime aerobatic training and I was on my way home…” Rainbow Dash began her story of what happened.

***Flashback***

It was night in Ponyville and Rainbow Dash was lazily flying low over the roofs of buildings after doing a few timed sprints to break her own records as well as brushing up on her flying skills.

“What a perfect time for a workout after that power nap today…I never would have thought of doing this kind of training if Naruto hadn’t given me these custom goggles of his, and I heard that the Wonderbolts requested for custom goggles too. And to think that I possess the second of its kind…I’m so lucky!” Rainbow Dash fondly prodded the goggles worn on her forehead.

She was currently flying over the town hall when suddenly a black silhouette leapt out from behind its spire straight at her. Rainbow Dash stopped in midair and was about to back away from whatever it was when she felt her goggles being grabbed and pulled from her hair much to her surprise which was soon replaced by anger. She turned to look at the perpetrator as Luna’s moon shone overhead to reveal that it is a male unicorn, though he seems to wear a black mask, a black vest with a gray shirt underneath it, a black fedora and trench coat long enough to be a cape.

“Hey! What’s the big idea?! Give it back, and who are you anyway?!” Rainbow Dash yelled out.

The mysterious pony seemed to shake his head whilst uttering ‘tsk tsk tsk’ in disapproval of the question “I should have known that a town like Ponyville wouldn’t be aware of me, but I guess I was hoping too much. Very well then, allow me to introduce myself…I am Umbra Yegg, the thief extraordinaire and the best escapologist in all of Equestria!”

Rainbow Dash momentarily stunned but her anger returned “A thief extraordinaire? Then why steal my goggles since it’s not exactly diamonds or any kind of jewelry?”

Umbra Yegg nodded in agreement while twirling the goggles in one of his hooves “True I wouldn’t have had a second thought about stealing a pair of mediocre goggles? But after overhearing a filly talk about its features, how could a thief like me ignore such a perfect tool?”

“Well I’m not going to let you take them!”

“I would like to see you try,” Umbra Yegg stuffed the goggles into a pocket on his vest.

At those words, Rainbow Dash shot straight at him with great speed, wanting to take him by surprise and grab her goggles. However Umbra Yegg simply stood there with barely a flinch then at the last moment took to the air with a backflip as Rainbow Dash passed right underneath him before he landed on the ground and took off with her in pursuit. Umbra Yegg turned from one street to another with Dash closing in, she was merely a few meters within when the thief stopped in one place for her to pass by yet again and ran into a nearby alleyway where he jumped up several wooden crates to reach up to the roof of a house there he leapt from one roof to another.

Rainbow Dash rose to the air looking absolutely livid, she flew after but this time was ready for any of his tricks “You can’t outmaneuver me forever! I’ll get you yet!”

Umbra Yegg flipped off the roof which he was on, sliding down from wall to wall before hitting the ground and was on the run, he continued to jump and flip whenever Dash gets close to him which only serves to anger her more. This continued until they found themselves in the middle of the park when Umbra Yegg suddenly spoke up.

“I believe it’s time I took my leave,” said the thief.

“Not with my goggles you won’t!” Rainbow Dash sped towards him faster than normal, suddenly his horn emitted grey aura and black ropes shot out from under his trench coat as they lunged at a surprised Rainbow Dash who couldn’t avoid them in time, wrapping her up before she crashed to the ground and skid to a stop before Umbra’s hooves.

“On the contrary, I will…oh? I see that you’re still not giving up,” Umbra was mildly impressed, seeing Rainbow Dash struggle to free herself from the enchanted rope.

“I want them back, you no good thief!”

“Hmm, to value this item so much…tell you what let’s have a game,” said Umbra.

“A game?” Rainbow Dash was confused at what he’s talking about.

“That’s right, if you’re able to catch me in my home turf. Then I’ll give them back to you, but you have only three tries and so far you used one,”

“I don’t care, I’m getting those goggles back!”

“We’ll see, till then…I bid you adieu,” Umbra Yegg then took out a grey ball and tossed it to the ground which released a cloud of smoke, then it cleared to reveal that he was gone and a card laid on the ground.

***Flashback End***

“…and it was an hour later that those annoying ropes disappeared, this was the card he left behind,” Rainbow Dash finished her story as she took out the card from her medallion and placed it on the counter for them to look. It was a grey card with a black silhouette of a unicorn wearing a fedora and trench coat, and a white moon as the background. Naruto took note of a heart drawn on the card with an arrow piercing through it, causing his eye to twitch rather quickly and a growing urge to unleashed an Naruto 2K barrage on him multiple times.

“There’s something else written here, meet me at Manehattan for another nightly date, my Rainbow Pursuer,” said Trixie.

…okay forget the 2K barrage, make it a 4k Rasengan barrage!

“Grrrr, that guy’s totally asking for it! I’m going to Manehattan and get my goggles back!” said Rainbow Dash.

“I’m coming along too, I don’t like the fact that the fact that he stole from you and tied you up either,” said Naruto.

“It’s no biggie Naruto, I can catch this guy on my own,” Dash protested.

“But neither of us have actually been in Manehattan, so we’ll need to learn more about the place before heading there,”

Rainbow Dash wanted to say more but remained quiet, seeing that Naruto had a point on what he’s talking about.

“Well if you two want to get to Manehattan, you’ll have to take the train to the northeast of Ponyville across a long railroad bridge to the city which is built on an island,” said Trixie.

“Thanks for the info Trixie, did you go there before?” asked Naruto.

“No, Trixie was planning to go there after her ‘performance’ in Ponyville,” Trixie looked depressed at the end of the sentence, Naruto felt bad for bringing up what happened when she first came to Ponyville. She still blames herself for that incident with the two Ursa, despite Naruto always telling her all is forgiven.

“Now that we know where and how to go, let’s start packing then head for Manehattan right now! I’ll meet you at the train station in twenty minutes!” said Rainbow Dash as she started flying out of the shop.

“Hey Dash wai-,” Naruto called out to her but she was already gone by then, he let out a sigh and turned to Trixie “Guess I’ll have to go and pack too, will you and Scoots be okay while I’m gone?”

“We’ll be fine, since you won’t be gone for too long. I’ll watch over the shop and keep records of any custom crystal requests,” said Trixie.

“Sure thing Trix, I’ll see you later,”

Trixie watched as Naruto walked out of the shop and let out a sigh “I wish that we get more time together if not for Twilight and others preoccupying him most of the time,”

Back as his home, Naruto went up to his room and packed up a couple of his clothes before descending towards his workshop to pick up some crystals as well as a few items which might serve as useful, sealing them all into his medallion. He wrote down a note for Scootaloo to inform her where he was going and reasons why before leaving for the train station. There he found Rainbow Dash there already waiting for him.

“What took you so long?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“I had to pack a few stuff and leave a note for Scoots to know where I’ve gone,” Naruto replied.

“Well I’ve got the tickets, so let’s get going!”

“All aboard, train leaving for Manehattan!” the conductor called out as said train let out a loud whistle.

Naruto and Rainbow Dash quickly got on the train along with the other passengers, a few moments later the train slowly pulled away from the station and was soon along the rails with the duo watching the passing scene change from forests, plains for several hours until noticing that they’re moving across a very long railroad bridge over the sea. The conductor spoke up for the passengers present to hear him.

“We’re now drawing close to our destination, so please remain seated until the train comes to a complete stop at the Maneway Station. We hope you enjoyed the ride,” said the conductor. Naruto looked out the window and was surprised to see a large green statue of an earth pony standing on a small island, it depicted a mare wearing a robe and crown while holding a stone tablet in her left hoof and a raised torch in her right.

“Whoa, that’s pretty cool!” thought Naruto.

Sure enough, the train made it stop and the duo got off and marveled at the sight of the station’s interior with numerous ponies going in and out of the building. They made their way out by passing through the entrance, however the sight of the city truly stunned them. There are tall buildings and skyscrapers as far as they could see, asphalt streets with pony-drawn taxi carriages, elevated railways among others things they’re yet to see.

“Whoa, this is a pretty place. But how are we going to find Umbra Yegg?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Well the first thing we should do is find a place to stay while we’re here,” Naruto took out a brochure from the pocket of his jacket “Let’s see here….hmmm…here’s one, Manefair Hotel. All we have to do is follow the map here,” It took them a while along with a couple dead ends but they eventually arrived at the fancy establishment, there they paid for a twin room and settled it before taking to the streets.

“Ok so what’s next, how do we find this guy?” asked Rainbow Dash.

Naruto thought deeply, trying to recall something that Jiraiya told him when they were searching for Tsunade for her to become Hokage. He snapped back to attention upon hearing a growling sound, he turned to see Rainbow Dash clutching her stomach with a blush on her face.

“Sorry about that, I skipped lunch today. Let’s go find a place where we can get a bite to eat,” said Rainbow Dash.

That statement caused Naruto's eyes to widen in realization “That’s it, I remember now! Pervy Sage once told me that places like taverns or even restaurants are one can pick up all sorts of information, we’ll be sure to learn more about Umbra Yegg and how to find him,”

“Then it’s thanks to my gut that we have a plan,” Rainbow Dash spoke with smugness.

“More like reminding you to fill up your stomach,” Naruto smirked in reply, then a growl was heard but this time it came from an embarrassed blonde stallion.

“Same could be said for you,” said Rainbow Dash amusedly. The duo followed the map on the brochure map to locate a diner where they sat at a window seat and were looking through the menu when a mare lemon green coat and vermilion mane in a waitress uniform walked up to them with a smile on her face.

“Hello, how may I take your order?” she asked.

“I’ll take a coleslaw sandwich and orange juice,” said Naruto.

“For me it’s tomato cheese sandwich and a milkshake,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Coming right up!” the waitress walked off, it took about several minutes before she returned with a tray of their ordered food which she placed on the table before them “Here you go,”

“Thank you…by the way, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask,” said Naruto.

The waitress looked at him confusedly “Yes, what is it?”

“This is the first time my friend and I came to Manehattan from Ponyville and we’ve been hearing rumors about a thief who goes by the name Umbra Yegg,”

“Oh! So you’ve heard of him, Umbra Yegg is a thief well known for his ability to steal valuable items and never get caught no matter how hard they try. I hear he alerts the place that he’s going to rob ahead of time and then leaves behind his calling card after doing so,” said the waitress.

“I see, thanks for telling us about him,” said Naruto with a foxy grin, Rainbow Dash’s eye twitched in annoyance as she saw the waitress blush before walking away. “Okay then, let’s eat…Dash what up with the look?”

“It’s nothing! Let’s just eat and get out of here so we can find that guy!” Rainbow Dash started on her meal in a rather angry manner much to Naruto's confusion before he began on his own.

Later on, the duo were moving along the street in direction of the Manehattan Museum of Art. A place like that would definitely attract a thief like Umbra Yegg. They made their way inside and took in the sights of the many artifacts on display with one in particular being a golden scepter adorned with multiple gems.

“I bet Umbra Yegg would go after this scepter soon,” said Rainbow Dash.

“You might be right Dash, something like this would be too good for him to pass up,” Naruto nodded in agreement.

Then a pony wearing a black suit ran out of his office looking distress as he called out “Security! Security!” then a pair of Earth ponies wearing guard uniform ran up to him and stood with a salute.

“Sir, how may we help you?” asked one of the guards.

“I just received a message from Umbra Yegg, saying that he’ll be coming to steal the Gemmed Scepter tonight!”

“Not to worry sir, he won’t be able to get past us,” said the other security guard.

“That’s what you said last time and he got away with that priceless painting!” said the apparent curator.

Behind the hallway, Naruto and Rainbow Dash were listening in on the conversation attentively then they looked at each other and nodded in affirmation as they left the building back to the hotel.

“So he’ll be coming tonight huh? That’s when we’ll catch him!” said Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah, so we’ll be staking out the museum tonight,” said Naruto.

Hours later and Celestia’s sun went down with Luna’s moon rising into the night sky. Naruto and Rainbow Dash were perched on top of a building and looking down below at the museum where they saw a lot of the security guards patrolling the area with searchlights around the place.

“Whoa, these guys really came prepared,” said Rainbow Dash.

“True, though it would have been easy for me,” said Naruto amusedly.

“Heh, we both know that your ninja skills would have gotten you in and out without a hitch,”

Next thing they knew was that the power was suddenly cut off and lights went out, covering the place in darkness. Naruto immediately activated his Aura Sight and saw multiple magic signatures running around confusedly, telling him that those are the security guards. But there was one magic signature that was moving in a well-coordinated manner away from the others which piqued his curiosity, he saw it move around and stopped in one place before moving again but this time at a much faster rate and was soon out of the building which was more than enough to tell him exactly who it was.

“Dash let’s go! Umbra has stolen the scepter and is on the move!” Naruto took off, leaping from one roof to the other.

“Gotcha!” Rainbow Dash flew after him in anticipation of her second encounter with the thief.

Elsewhere, Umbra Yegg had just landed on top of a skyscraper with a black satchel at his side. He pushed up the goggles to his forehead and turned to look at it with a nonvisible smirk of his face.

“Once more a successful operation, these goggles certainly make my job much easier than ever before. Too bad that they weren’t able to give me a good chase since I wasn’t seen. Oh well, I’ll return to the hideout and get ready to cash it in,” said Umbra, he was about to leave when a voice suddenly called out from behind.

“Not so fast, Umbra Yegg!”

He turned towards the voice to see a familiar Pegasus, he was about to greet her when somepony landed next to her. It was a male unicorn with an orange coat and yellow spiky mane while wearing an orange and black hoodie jacket, a medallion, headband, and a pair of goggles similar to the one that he stole from the Pegasus.

“Ah my dear Rainbow Pursuer, you came just like I thought and I see that you brought along company. So pray tell, who might he be?” asked Umbra.

Rainbow Dash was about to introduce Naruto but he beat her to it “The name’s Naruto Uzumaki and Dash just so happens to be my best friend, I came along to help catch you and take back her goggles,” he glared at the unicorn heatedly especially for that nickname he gave to Rainbow Dash.

“Ah so you must be the famous Naruto Uzumaki, the owner of The Whirlpool as well as the creator of those special crystals. They may not be gems but they certainly possess great value amongst the nobles, not to mention that you made these goggles which I must say is of great help in my work,” said Umbra.

“Yeah well not for long, we’re gonna get my goggles back and return the scepter to the museum!” said Rainbow Dash.

“Like I said before, I would like to see you try my Rainbow Pursuer,”

“Stop calling her/me that!!” both Naruto and Rainbow Dash yelled simultaneously.

“Oh my, did I strike a nerve?”

Both ponies decided to stop talking and charged straight at the thief who turned to run and jumped off the roof onto another one, Naruto did the same much more easily since it’s nothing compared to what he does back at Konoha. They moved around any obstacles like water towers or vents while jumping from roof to roof, Naruto saw for himself how Umbra’s movement shares similarities to his freerunning skills. Umbra Yegg vaulted over two rows of vents before finding himself at the edge of the building, however the gap between it the other building ahead was too big for him to jump across.

Umbra gazed downwards for a split second before taking a running start and jumping of the edge, Naruto skidded to a stop to see Umbra land on a fire escape and proceeded to climb up before diving into an open window. Naruto was impressed but performed a chakra-enhanced jump as well then used a Pegasus dash in dive into the window too and resumed the pursuit through the hallway of the apartment so Rainbow Dash remained outside but flew around to the other side of the building in hopes of heading the thief off. The duo crossed through the hallways whilst somersaulting and vaulting over card boxes and luggage obstructing the path. Umbra fired a magic bolt to blast open a window which he jumped through then he shot out an enchanted rope to latch onto the edge of roof and zipped up to it

He heard the sound of flapping and quickly jumped to the side right as a rainbow blur passed by before slowing down to reveal that it was Rainbow Dash “You’re not getting away!” she launched a straight punch at Umbra who ducked under it and retaliated with a punch of his own, she flapped her wings hard enough to move backwards and out of range before planting both hind legs on the ground then kicked off to lunge at him. Umbra fired a rope with the intention of binding her but this time Rainbow Dash was ready as she performed a barrel roll to evade before landing a punch on the chest. Umbra grunted in pain from the impact, he raised a hoof and several ropes shot of the sleeve at her but then something whizzed past and sliced the rope to bits before embedding into the wall revealing to be black metallic throwing stars, he glanced to the side and noticed Naruto running towards them.

“Fighting both of them at the same time won’t end well for me, I need to keep away from them,” thought Umbra, he flicked his sleeve a bit for a grey ball to fall out and suddenly release a cloud of black smoke to impede their vision.

Naruto formed chakra arms and weaved through a set of handsigns “Wind style: Wind Blast!” he breathed in before opening his mouth to expel a gust of air to blow away the smoke to reveal only Rainbow Dash but no sign of Umbra Yegg. He looked around sharply until he caught sight of the thief swinging away on one of his enchanted ropes “He’s heading that way, come on Dash!” Rainbow Dash flew after him and for Naruto, he jumped off the roof and landed on the side of a building using chakra to cling onto it before running after them whilst jumping from one side of the building to the other.

The chase took them all the way to a major commercial intersection which is brightly adorned with billboards and advertisements. Umbra continued to swing and took to the left with Rainbow Dash close behind, with the gap between buildings being too wide Naruto jumped off the side which he was currently on towards on then he channeled chakra to his fore hooves to form hands which grabbed onto a streetlight to swing from one to another till he was back on top of the rooftops. Umbra was at the arc of his swing when something whizzed by and cut it, forcing him to land roughly on the ground. He got to see Naruto and Rainbow Dash standing before him with frowns on their faces.

“I have to admit, nopony has ever given me such a chase unlike you two since the start of my career,” said Umbra.

“Thanks for the compliment but we’ll be taking back my goggles and the scepter,” said Rainbow Dash.

“I would like to but…”

“But what?” asked Naruto cautiously.

*Hooooooooot*

“I have a train to catch,” Umbra took a step back over the edge of the roof.

“Oh no you don’t!” Rainbow Dash and Naruto lunged forward in an attempt to grab him, however Umbra took out a yellow ball from his vest and threw it at them to release a yellow cloud, Naruto got ready to blow the smoke away but Rainbow Dash suddenly flew through it and started moving around sluggishly.

“Dash what are you-whoa!” Naruto shot out a chakra tendril to wrap around Rainbow Dash and pull her back before she crashed into a building and watched as Umbra Yegg landed on top of a train which sped along an elevated railway as he made his getaway with a nonvisible smirk on his face. Naruto looked back at Rainbow Dash to see that her eyes were glazed over and started to shake her “Hey Dash, snap out of it!” she finally came back to normal and looked around confusedly.

“Huh what? Naruto, what happened and where’s Umbra?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“He used some sort of powder that you jumped through and it made you start acting weird, I had to catch you when you were about to crash into a building so he got away,” said Naruto.

“What?! And we were so close too! We need to go after him!” she yelled in frustration.

“No, right now we’ll need to return to the hotel and rest before planning our next move. Who knows what side effect that powder would have on you,”

“But-” Rainbow Dash wanted to protest but Naruto's look of concern placated her to nod reluctantly and they made their way back to the hotel. Naruto checked to make sure that she was okay before going to bed, but Rainbow Dash remained awake and was looking out the window for a little while longer before finally going to sleep as well.

Morning had arrived and Naruto woke up feeling refreshed, he turned to greet Rainbow Dash only to see that she was gone much to his shock.

“Dash? Dash where are you?” Naruto ran out of the room and into the streets, quickly activating his Aura Sight to track her down, it took him a while but he finally located her magic signature and it was situated on top of a tall skyscraper with a giant sculpture of a horse’s head on top “What are you doing up there?” he started running at moderate speed towards the building to avoid attention from the passerbys. Upon arrival, he started running up the side of the building not knowing that a young filly saw him and wondered if he was a superhero who was missing his costume. He finally got to the top and found Rainbow Dash sitting there, sensing the depression from her “There you are Dash, I was looking for you,”

“Oh hey Naruto, I just wanted to be alone for a bit,” said Rainbow Dash.

“I understand, but you shouldn’t let this bother you. We’ll be sure to catch Umbra this time,” said Naruto, he was surprised when she turned to look at him with eyes full of frustration.

“But this is our last chance! If we lose then he gets to keep my goggles. They were a gift from you and it really upsets me that a thief is using it to steal stuff,”

Naruto walked over and sat next to her before using his tail to wrap around as a sign of comfort “Don’t say that, this isn’t the confident speedster of Ponyville that I know. Now isn’t the time for you to lose your confidence but the time for you to get yourself fired up like you always do. We may have seen what he can do, but it’s time for him to see what we can do. Besides he got lucky since we couldn’t really go full force or we might end up damaging part of the city,”

Rainbow Dash looked at Naruto's look of confidence and faith with wonder, then a smile slowly appeared on her face as she stood up and punched him lightly in the shoulder

“Yeah, you’re right! I wasn’t being myself until now. Time to show Umbra why I’m the fastest pony in all of Ponyville!” said Rainbow dash, full of her usual confidence.

Naruto smirked in agreement “You got that right! Now let’s go get some food and prep for tonight,” he started running back down the skyscraper with Rainbow Dash following him.

Night fell once more over Manehattan, Naruto and Rainbow Dash were sitting on top of a building once again in anticipation of Umbra Yegg’s next move.

“You got anything from your clones yet?” asked Rainbow Dash curiously.

“Nothing yet Dash,” Naruto replied, he had created Shadow Clones to stake out areas of great importance like jewelry stores, banks and others since the museum had already been struck. So far he hasn’t gotten any feedback from the- “Hang on, I got him! He’s on the run after stealing a large diamond from a jewelry store!”

“Okay then, lead the way!” she followed after Naruto as he used the memories from the clone to trace Umbra for the final pursuit. It took a couple jumps and wall runs but they soon located the evasive thief running along the rooftops, he skidded to a stop when they landed before him, looking ready as ever.

“Back again eh? You do know that this is your third and final attempt in capturing me and regaining your goggles right?” asked Umbra.

“Yeah we know, but there’s no way we’re going to let you get away this time!” said Naruto.

“That’s right, this time we’re going for broke!” said Rainbow Dash.

“Very well then, let the final chase begin!”

The chase started once more and it was apparent that Umbra had been holding back on their last pursuit for he began by throwing red balls towards Naruto and Rainbow Dash whilst a rope shot out from underneath his coat to latch onto another roof and was pulled towards it, Naruto formed a chakra arm to knock the red balls away with a backhand before they went after him.

“Dash, curl up for a fastball!” Naruto called out, Rainbow Dash immediately did so as he formed a chakra arm to grab her, then he took aim and flung her straight at Umbra. However he seemed to have noticed as he darted to the side and was about to attack her but then noticed a white rope made of energy attached to her. Rainbow Dash grabbed onto it and pulled as hard as she could and Naruto came speeding towards Umbra and sent him flying with a shoulder barge.

Umbra Yegg flipped in midair and connected the magic from his horn onto the trench coat, causing it to harden and was gliding away from them. Then he reached into his vest and started throwing multiple colored balls at them. Naruto and Rainbow Dash darted from side to side in order to avoid with the pony ninja using the chakra tendrils to whip them out of the way before they discharged the powder, however some had already discharged and a gigantic multicolored cloud hovered between them and the thief.

“How do we get past it?” asked Rainbow Dash worriedly.

“Don’t worry Dash, I got a jutsu just for this! Wind Style: Wind Tunnel jutsu!” A large gust of wind swirled around Naruto before he thrust his fore hooves forward with the gust following his command to pierce through the cloud of power and forming a tunnel straight at Umbra “Go get him Dash!”

“Got it!” Rainbow Dash flew through the tunnel as fast as she could, unexpectedly the wind tunnel actually increased her velocity rapidly to the point that no sooner did she exit from the tunnel that there was a loud bang and a vibrantly colored ring expanded from the shockwave and a rainbow wake trailed behind a surprised Rainbow Dash “Did I just do the Sonic Rainboom?” then she smirked “Sweet! No way’s Umbra getting away from me now!” she was immediately upon a stunned Umbra and slammed right into him, sending the thief crashing into a rooftop.

Umbra painfully got up to run again when he heard someone land in front of him and placed something on his forehead, next thing he knew was that his body felt numb and he collapsed back on the ground, only able to look up at Naruto with Rainbow Dash landing next to him with smirks on their faces.

“What did you do to me?” asked Umbra.

“That’s one of my seals, the paralysis tag. Anything it’s placed on will lose the ability to move unless it is removed,” said Naruto.

“How was I able to go fast enough to perform the Sonic Rainboom?” asked Rainbow Dash curiously.

“That’s because of the Wind Tunnel jutsu, the space within it eliminates all friction in the air and seriously reduces the gravity, therefore increasing the velocity of any objects or creatures within. So you must have been able to perform the Sonic Rainboom much sooner than normal,” Naruto explained.

Rainbow Dash looked excited upon hearing the explanation “That’s so awesome! I can’t wait to show the others when we get back to Ponyville!”

Umbra chuckled softly “After many years, I’ve finally been caught and yet it doesn’t irk me. This is the most fun I’ve had in a long time. Well a deal is a deal, you may have your goggles back,”

Rainbow Dash gingerly reached over and took off the goggles before wearing it around her neck with a look of contentment “Finally…back where it belongs,”

“Now then, to take you to the police station,” said Naruto, using his to lift Umbra into the air.

“Quite so, just know that when I’m free, I hope to engage you both in another chase,” said Umbra.

“We’ll be waiting to take you on at any time,” said Rainbow Dash with a look of competitiveness.

Hours later, Naruto and Rainbow Dash were back on the train and returning to Ponyville. They had turned Umbra in at the police department where the staff were stunned to see that the most evasive thief in records has been captured by two civilians. With Umbra actually approving that he was caught by them, the staff rewarded Naruto and Rainbow Dash with a large bag of bits, strange thing to note is that they couldn’t take off the mask no matter how hard they tried. Back on the train, Naruto could see that Rainbow Dash had dozed off while leaning on his shoulder but was clenching her goggles tightly causing him to smile softly at her.

It just goes to show him how much she valued his gift which touched his heart rather deeply “Even though I was mad at Umbra for stealing the goggles and even calling her that nickname, but to me you’ll always be Rainbow Dash the fastest pony in Ponyville…and my Speed Queen,” Naruto mumbled out a nickname which he had come up for her but kept it a secret, knowing that she might be a bit embarrassed to hear it. Soon enough, he too fell asleep and leaned back against Rainbow Dash with their heads touching each other as the train rumbled along the tracks back to Ponyville. 9

The Apple of My Eye

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA

Chapter 35: The Apple of My Eye

It is another day in the life for the residents of Ponyville as everypony go about their daily activities once Celestia’s sun rises horizon and is currently marking the time of noon as everyone is hard at work. One of them happens to be Naruto who was currently walking down the street whilst levitating a small notepad and pencil with magic from his horn and reading some things off of it.

“Let’s see, help Rare with some of her clothes design…check, assist Pinks in baking pastries at the Sugarcube Corner…check, deliver packages with Derpy…check, race against Dash in a daily…check,” Naruto let out a sigh before chuckling to himself “Twilight must have rubbed off on me if I’m actually using a checklist to know what I’ve done and will be doing,”

Normally one would ask why the spiky maned stallion isn’t at The Whirlpool selling his custom crystals or even delivering them. He certainly has no trouble doing any of those things at all, but there are times when Naruto would want to get up and actually do something while on the go due to his nature or the strangely warm feeling that he gets when with Twilight and the others, with the same going for the princesses whenever he’s over at Canterlot.

Naruto snapped out of his musings and turned his attention back to the notepad for a quick once-over “Ok what’s left is applebucking at Sweet Apple Acres, helping Shy care for the animals, and finally book arrangement at the library with Twilight since Spike’s bedridden from a stomachache…dude really needs to watch how he puts away those gems. Anyways, I better get a move on,” he proceeded to trot in direction of the Sweet Apple Acres.

Upon arrival, Naruto was greeted with the sight of Granny Smith at the porch and reclining on a rocking chair with a look of contentment, so he happily called out to her “Hiya Granny Smith,”

The elderly mare perked up to see the stallion waving at her and responded just as happily “Well howdy do sonny! I reckon that you’re looking for Applejack, she’s over at the orchard with Big Mac,”

“Thanks Granny, I’m heading over there right now,” Naruto was about to trot away when Granny Smith called out to him again.

“Oh and be sure to come over for dinner tonight, I’ll be cooking up my special recipe of apple pies,”

A long trail of drool leaked out from the corner of Naruto's lips before slurping it up as he nodded mirthfully “I definitely will, be sure to save some for me!” he trotted away, giddy at the thought of eating one of Granny Smith’s scrumptiously cooked meals. He trotted past the red barn and found his way into the apple orchard where he saw Applejack currently kicking her hind legs against an apple tree, causing the apples to be knocked down into the buckets placed below and Big Mac pulling a cart along, Naruto approached whilst calling out to them “Hey guys!”

Applejack turned towards the voice and smiled upon seeing who it was “Howdy Naruto, good to see you,”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac nodded in agreement to his sister’s words as he chewed on his straw.

“Me too, had to do some activities before coming over to help out with the applebucking,” said Naruto.

Applejack quirked an eyebrow in confusion “Really, I reckoned that you would send your shadow clones to help,”

“Nah, makes me feel kinda lazy so I preferred to do it on my own. Don’t want to be as lazy as my former sensei,” Applejack nodded in approval of Naruto's statement.

“A fine reason if I do say so myself, let’s get to bucking,”

“Sure thing,” Naruto strode towards an apple tree with buckets placed around it. He shifted his weight to his forehooves then spun around before lashing out with his hind legs to kick at the trunk with the impact strong enough to make the apples fall into the buckets neatly. Naruto smiled in satisfaction but knew that there are more apples to harvest as he turned towards the numerous trees ahead. After a couple hours of applebucking, it was time for Naruto to carry on with the remaining activities.

“I gotta go now guys, there’s still some more tasks for me to carry out,” said Naruto.

“Okay, but I reckon that you’ll be coming back later right?” said Applejack.

Naruto nodded in affirmation “Yeah, Granny invited me over for dinner tonight. Definitely can’t afford to pass up the chance of eating one of her special apple pies,”

Applejack giggled quietly at the dreamy look in the stallion’s eyes even Big Mac chuckled in amusement “Okay, but you better be early or we just might eat it all up,”

Naruto feinted shock at her joke “Oh no AJ, please don’t take away my piece of heaven,” Applejack laughed out loud with Big Mac and Naruto himself joining in as well for a few moments before calming “Ok, I’ll catch you later,” he waved at them before trotting away to his next destination to meet up with Fluttershy at her home to help out with the animal.

Later on when Celestia’s sun had set and Luna’s moon rose, Naruto was back at Sweet Apple Acres and sitting at the dining table with the family. After eating dinner and having apple pie for dessert, everyone were exchanging stories with each other and most came from Naruto as he’s been around a lot today. Everypony was currently laughing at what Naruto had experienced over at Fluttershy’s place.

“…I’m telling you every time I look away, one of the birds would sit on my head with one actually trying to build a nest on it!” said Naruto.

“Maybe one of them wanted a mobile home,” Apple Bloom giggled out loud.

“Maybe if you cut your mane down a bit, they might leave you alone,” said Big Mac in amusement.

Naruto protested “No way! I like my mane the way it is, Rare already tried to make me take a cut and I wouldn’t allow that!”

“I gotta admit, Naruto would look weird with his mane cut short,” said Applejack, Naruto nodded in agreement with her statement.

“Exactly! Even Dash told me I looked cooler with my mane spiked up,”

Granny Smith was watching all this and laughed out loud “Ahhh to be young and active, makes me look back when I was a filly and caused all sorts of trouble. Which reminds me…have I ever told y’all about the Scarlet Apple?” Everypony turned towards the elderly mare with a look of confusion and mild curiosity.

“Ya never told us of any scarlet apple Granny,” said Applejack.

“Eeyup,” said Big Mac.

“So what’s the deal about this scarlet apple?” asked Apple Bloom.

“This tale dates back to when your great-great-great-grandmamma, there were legends about a forest where spirits of nature live and deep within is an apple tree which grows apples so delicious that not even the princesses’ golden apples can match could match a bite of them,”

Everyone’s widened at such a proclamation, Applejack mostly. If these apples were so delicious, how come she hadn’t heard of it? Her interest in the story has grown immensely as she paid rapt attention.

“What is the name of the forest that the scarlet apple grew in?” asked Naruto curiously.

“It is called the Whispering Woods because of the voices belonging to the spirits being heard whenever a pony goes inside,” said Granny.

“But Granny, if this apple is so great then how come we don’t have it?” asked Apple Bloom.

“That’s because many years later, the voices were no longer heard and whosoever enters the forest never come back out. Which is why the name Whispering Woods changed into Whispered Woods,”

“Hmmm, sounds like something bad had happened to the spirits inside the forest,” said Naruto.

“Right you are sonny, and because of that the scarlet apple’s existence became nothing more than a fairy tale. But I can tell ya, they exist,” said Granny “Though the strange thing is her grandma had forgotten about the story sometime ago,”

After a little more conversation, it was time for Naruto to make his way back home to catch some sleep for the next day as always “Okay, goodnight everypony. I’ll see you all in the morning,”

“Eeyup,” said Big Mac in affirmation.

“Goodnight Naruto!” said Apple Bloom.

“…yeah goodnight Naruto…” Applejack responded rather distractedly, Naruto blinked in mild confusion but decided to ask later for the reason. Till then he left Sweet Apple Acres and made his way back home.

The next morning, Naruto woke and performed the daily routine of taking a bath, cleaning up the rooms with a few shadow clones pitching in, making breakfast for Scootaloo, Trixie and himself. At the moment, Naruto was taking Scootaloo to school while Trixie headed for the shop to open it up for business.

“Alright Scoots, I’ll see you later okay?” said Naruto.

“Ok big bro, I’ll be at the CMC clubhouse after school,” Scootaloo waved at him before trotting into the schoolhouse with Naruto watching on before turning to leave when he saw Apple Bloom and Big Mac walking up to him.

“Morning guys, say where’s Applejack? Doesn’t she normally come along?” asked Naruto curiously.

“My sister’s been acting weird since last night’s dinner, and this morning she rushed through the chores before running off saying that she has something to do which I find kinda weird,” said Apple Bloom.

“Eeyup,” said Big Mac.

“That does sound unlike her, I’ll check up on AJ when I run into her,” said Naruto then he thought “Could it be about the story Granny Smith told us about?”

He said his goodbyes to both and headed over to The Whirlpool and began work on creating custom crystals and overlooking the requests and delivery of the ordered crystals. After a while of organizing, he was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Trixie call out to him.

“Naruto, Twilight wants to see you!” said Trixie.

“Okay, I’m coming!” Naruto got up from his seat and strode over to the counter where he saw Twilight having a short conversation with Trixie “Hi Twilight, so what’s up that you wanted to talk to me?”

“Well I was at the library this morning when Applejack came in and asked for maps concerning the Whispered Woods, she was so focused that I don’t think she even heard me asking her what it was that she was looking for before leaving. So I came over to ask if you know what’s going on with her?” said Twilight.

“It might have to do with that story that Granny Smith told us over at dinner last night, she was really paying attention to it,” said Naruto.

“Story? What is it about?” asked Trixie. Naruto proceeded to tell them about the scarlet apple which of course surprised them, mostly Twilight.

“How come I’ve never heard it? I’ll need to check on the books to learn more about this! I’ll see you later,” Twilight left the shop in direction of the library to do just that.

“What do you think Applejack might do?” asked Trixie.

“I’m not too sure, but I might need to check up on her just to make sure,” said Naruto.

“…Say Naruto, Trixie wanted to ask if you would be willing to escort her to Canterlot to get something when you’re free?” Trixie looked nervous when she asked.

Naruto simply smiled “Sure thing, when I’m done I can have a shadow clone watch the place and we can go together,”

Trixie’s heart was beating fast as she nervously waited for his answer and had to keep herself from leaping with joy when he responded positively to her request “That’s great! Trixie will be ready when you’re done!” Then she thought “This is perfect! Now Trixie has a chance to spend time alone with him,”

“Okay, I’ll see you later,” Naruto left the shop and took the route to the Sweet Apple Acres, then he used his Aura Sight to look search for Applejack and found her magic signature over at the orchard, he heading over there and found her looking at the map which she had taken from Twilight’s library “Hey AJ, what are you up to?”

Applejack looked up to see Naruto approaching her “Oh howdy there, Naruto. Just looking at this here map,”

“Yeah, Twilight told me about, and she also told me that you acting a bit strange. Even Apple Bloom and Big Mac said the same thing when I met up with them,” said Naruto.

Applejack looked a bit sheepish at that “Sorry about that, it’s just that Granny’s story has got me thinking. If I were to go and find the Scarlet apple, it would really help the farm. I guess I wasn’t really paying much attention since I was thinking so much,”

“Surely you weren’t planning to go alone, were you? Remember what Granny said, those who go into the Whispered Woods never come back out,” said Naruto.

“Oh no no, I wasn’t planning on going there alone. I’ve learnt my lesson already, so I was going to ask you to come along with me to search for the scarlet apple together,”

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise “But won’t it help that Twilight and the others come along to help?”

“No problem, I’m sure we can handle this on our own. Besides we can handle whatever could be inside the forest,” said Applejack.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, feeling rather unsure of himself. He was able to take care of himself whenever he trains in the Evertree Forest with Applejack being able to handle most thanks to his training, however this is a new area both haven’t been to before with little knowledge of the place. This might require some serious preparations if he’s to go there.

“Fine we’ll go, but we’ll need to prepare carefully because this might be more than evicting a dragon. That’s for sure,” said Naruto.

“But I know we can handle whatever comes our way,” said Applejack confidently.

“So when you plan on us leaving?” asked Naruto.

“We’ll leave tomorrow, the Whispered Woods is three days away from the west of Ponyville by walking,” said Applejack.

“In that case, I’ll go and prepare my gear for the journey then. See you tomorrow AJ,” said Naruto “I’ve a feeling that there’s more to this than we might even know,”

“Okay Naruto,” Applejack resumed looking at the map as Naruto left.

Back at home, Naruto was currently in the workshop looking over the table which his chosen equipment are laid out. Those were his ninja tools, scrolls, seal tags, crystals of varying functions, camp gear and etc. He was halfway through storing the selected equipment into his medallion when the door opened up and Scootaloo walked in.

“Hey there Scoots, how’s your day been?” asked Naruto while still storing the items away.

“Hi big bro, normal as always and still no good leads to getting our cutie marks,” said Scootaloo before looking at Naruto curiously “Are you preparing to go out on another adventure?”

“Something like that, Applejack and I are in search of something extremely rare,” said Naruto.

“Can I come along this time?” asked Scootaloo.

“Sorry Scoots, but no. Where Applejack and I are going, neither of us know it very well and there’s the high potential danger there,” Naruto had finished storing the equipment away and looked up to see filly deflate in disappointment “Hey now, there’s no need to be so down. Remember that I promised to bring you along to Winsome Falls to watch me do my ninja training,”

That rose her spirits back up “Yeah, I almost forgot about that!”

“That’s right, I needed to get back into training anyways. So when I’m free, we’ll go together,”

“Great, I can’t wait for that to happen! And I’ll also be waiting to hear of your expedition with Applejack when you get back,”

“Sure thing, Scoots. Now go back upstairs and wash up, my shadow clone has just finished with dinner right now and has set up the table too,” said Naruto upon receiving the memories of his dispelled clone.

“Okay, I’m totally starved!” Scootaloo galloped up the stairs in direction of the dining room with Naruto close behind as they joined Trixie for dinner. The former show mare was a bit letdown upon learning that he was travelling again but cheered up when he reassured her that he’ll accompany her when he returns.

The next day when Celestia’s sun slowly poked out from beyond the horizon, Naruto was woken by a preset alarm which got smashed before being tossed into a growing heap of them, he took his bath then went for a cup of coffee to erase any trace of sleep. Afterwards he bade Scootaloo and Trixie farewell before leaving the house and leaving for the outskirts of Ponyville to find Applejack already there waiting for him.

“Howdy Naruto, ya ready to go?” asked Applejack.

“Yup, I’m all set so let’s get moving,” said Naruto. Both ponies nodded towards each other before turning to walk down the dirt road away from Ponyville towards their destination which is the Whispered Woods.

It has only been a day since Naruto and Applejack left Ponyville, they traversed through many prairies, mountainsides and many more. Right now the duo are currently making camp next to a lake with Applejack cooking dinner and Naruto setting up the tents with some help from his shadow clones. After pitching in the last one, Naruto wiped some sweat off his face with his tail.

“Phew, it was a real scorcher out here,” said Naruto.

“You’re right about that, a dip in the lake will cool us off,” Applejack looked up from the pot which she was paying attention to over the fire.

“In that case, I’m going in first,” Naruto took off his jacket, headband and goggles before leaping into the lake with a splash before floating back to the surface with a look of contentment “Ahhh, this feels so good,”

“Better not stay in for long, the food is almost ready,” said Applejack.

“Sure thing AJ,” Naruto swam around for a bit before finally climbing out of the lake, Applejack turned to see Naruto shake his body rapidly as droplets of water flew off his mane and sparkled in the sunlight, giving him an alluring appearance.

“Sweet Celestia…” Applejack’s face was bright red and her heart was hammering against her ribcage very hard at such a breathtaking scene that she wasn’t aware of Naruto approaching her while using a towel to dry the rest of the moisture off his body with his magic.

“Hey AJ I’m done with the…” Naruto noticed that she wasn’t paying attention and waved a hoof over her face “AJ are you okay?”

Applejack finally snapped back to normal and her blush grew even more with Naruto standing so close to her “I-I-I’m just f-fine and d-dandy Naruto, n-nothing to worry about! I’m taking a dip too while you dish out the food into the bowls!” she ran past Naruto and jumped into the lake with her hat still on much to the confusion of the stallion “I always thought that Naruto was good-looking, but I never thought that he would look so…so…I can’t even bring myself to think it!”

“I don’t know what’s up with AJ, but I gotta admit that seeing her so flustered like that is pretty cute,” thought Naruto with a pink tinge on his cheeks.

Later that night, Naruto and Applejack were having dinner but it was a pretty awkward one with both ponies throwing glances at each other while trying to be unnoticeable about it. This kept on going till they finally finished eating and quickly went into their tents after cleaning the utensils and bidding each other goodnight. The next morning, they woke up and packed their camping gear then sealed them into their medallions before resuming their journey and they could talk to each other like they normally would. Passing through several more prairies, rivers and valleys. Applejack and Naruto stood on a tall hill as the former looked through the map.

“Hmmm, according to the map. The Whispered Woods is straight ahead from here,” Applejack looked up from the map and pointed ahead for Naruto to look, there they saw a rather huge woodland several miles ahead from where they stood.

“Guess that’s the place, huh?” asked Naruto, looking at the place with caution.

“Yep, the scarlet apple must lie deep within it,” said Applejack.

It took the duo a while to walk but they eventually arrived at the very edge of the forestry, it was a bit dark for them to peer through within it and so far they haven’t heard of any sounds of ‘whispering’ from the spirits.

“We should be very careful once we’re inside AJ, there might be something more than just spirits inside the forest,” said Naruto.

“Gotcha, we’ll watch each other’s backs in there,” said Applejack, Naruto nodded in affirmation before the two walked into the forest with tempered determination to face down any oppositions they would encounter.

It has been about an hour sin their entry into the Whispered Woods and so far there was nothing out of their perspective of ordinary, the atmosphere was very silent and slightly nerve-racking. Naruto's ears twitched to listen for any unusual sounds nearby and scoped their surroundings just as well, his tail waved around but ready at any time to reach into his ninja pouch for a ninja tool or crystal for defense. Applejack was just as twitchy, the silence was really hard to get used to as she kept her trusty lasso close by for use…

“WAIT!”

Applejack was startled when Naruto used his tail to wrap around her and quickly pulled back to his side without warning, she turned towards and noticed that he was staring at something with a frown on his face, she looked to see a layer of fallen leaves ahead of them.

“What is it Naruto? Did you see something?” asked Applejack.

“Something like that, hold up a minute…Shadow Clone jutsu!” Naruto created clone which strode towards while grumbling a bit about paranoid originals. When it stepped on the leaves, something burst from the ground without warning and scooped the clone up in a net to hang from a rope overhead.

“What the hay?!”Applejack was stunned at the sight, she wasn’t expecting anything like that at all!

“I noticed that the leaves weren’t lying ground like they had fallen from the branches, but more like someone laid them there,” said Naruto as his shadow clone disappeared in a puff of smoke.

“Hold up a minute, you mean that there’s somepony living in this forest?”

“It makes sense because I pretty much doubt that spirits would have need for traps,”

“Then the question now is who lives here?” asked Applejack, Naruto was about to reply.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!,”

The duo were surprised to hear what sounds to be the scream of a female and Naruto's sensor ability suddenly picked up two emotions, one of fear and the other of hatred.

“I think we’re about to find out, come on AJ!” Naruto took off with Applejack galloping next to him as he led the way to the source of the sound, they drew close to the source which happened to be in a small clearing and there they saw something that the duo had never encountered till now.

Leaning against a tree and quivering in fear is what appears to be a feminine humanoid with a greenish skin color, her arms and legs are plantlike appendages that look like wood and her hair appear to be made of green leaves, her state of dress appears to be a green sundress with the skirt reaching just below her knees which seems to have been sewn from a giant leaf. Looming is a creature with the upper body of a man and yet possessing the brown furred hind legs, head and grey horns of a goat. It wears a loincloth made from animal skin as it wielded a tomahawk.

“What are they?” asked Applejack curiously.

“Don’t know, but we need to help her out. I reel him then you go for the knockout,” Naruto replied with the mare nodding in affirmation. Naruto then shot out a chakra tendril which wrapped around the arm holding the tomahawk, much to its surprise. He jerked it back as the creature was pulled towards them while screaming all the way, then Applejack spun around to lash out with her hind legs to plant a double kick into its face, resulting in an audible crack and the second unknown creature to slump to the ground and laid there unmoving. The duo quickly moved in with Applejack using an extra rope to bind it while Naruto slapped a paralysis tag for total immobility before turning to the second unknown creature who was looking at them in shock.

“You two are ponies, we haven’t seen your kind for so many years since that day. Oh thank you for saving me from that satyr!” said the plantlike creature happily bowing to them.

“Uh you’re welcome, so that there’s a satyr but who and what are you?” asked Applejack.

“Oh! My name is Ptelea and I’m a nymph,” said the now introduced Ptelea.

“A nymph? I’ve never heard of ya’ll before,” said Applejack.

“What? You haven’t heard of us? Well it shouldn’t be a surprise with what the satyrs did,” Ptelea looked down sadly.

“Hang on, I had Twilight make a copy of an encyclopedia on the mythological supernatural. Release encyclopedia!” a white orb of light emerged from the medallion and transformed into a large volume book which he levitated with his magic and started flipping through the pages much to the nymph’s awe “Let’s see here…aha! Nymphs…spirits of nature and protectors of springs, mountains, grottoes, and trees, the sea and rivers. They’re known to be kindhearted and caring but would punish any that would harm nature. Is that right?” asked Naruto after reading.

Ptelea nodded happily “That’s about right! Back then we got along with the ponies, especially the earth ponies since they interacted with the earth just like we do,”

“Sounds pretty dandy, then what’s a satyr?” asked Applejack, seeing Ptelea frown from the question.

Naruto flipped through the pages then stopped to read “Satyrs…while also connected with nature, these creatures share an enmity with nymphs due to their selfishness and overbearing obscenity,”

“They just don’t know how to take ‘No’ for an answer and leave us alone, plus they take food from the earth ponies out of greed and drink wine which is forbidden in our presence! We nymphs always made sure that the Satyrs stay away from the Whispering Woods…until that day came,” said Ptelea, angry at first but became sad in the end of her sentence.

“What happened?” asked Applejack.

“It was many years ago, we nymphs were preparing for the arrival of the saplings for the young nymphs with Epimeliades, our queen of the forest when the satyrs came into the forest with ill intentions. We rose to fight back but then some of those abominable brutes held some of the saplings hostage and threatened to harm them unless we surrendered to them, our queen had no other choice but to comply with some of us fleeing to escape capture. We waited in hopes of the ponies coming to our aid, but the satyrs revealed that they had used a special concoction which erased any memories of our existence with the ponies,” said Ptelea sadly.

“Why those no good…” Naruto gritted his teeth in anger.

“How could they do something like that?” Applejack was just as angry.

“But what made you two come here if we were to be forgotten?” asked Ptelea curiously.

“My granny told a story about you and the scarlet apples, so I invited Naruto along to see if the tale is true and if it’s possible to find some of the apples,” said Applejack.

Ptelea’s eyes widened in surprise “Our queen produces those apples but she’s in captivity and can’t fight back as long as the saplings are still held hostage,”

“Then we’ll just have to save those saplings and give everyone that chance,” said Naruto.

“Y-you’ll help us?”

“We already started helping when we saved you from that satyr, and we ain’t stopping now,” said Applejack with Naruto nodding in agreement.

Ptelea bowed to them with tears flowing “Thank you very much!”

“Okay, could you lead me to where the saplings are held? I’ll have AJ and a shadow clone search for the satyrs’ hamlet,” said Naruto then creating a shadow clone which stood next to Applejack.

“I can’t go too far from my tree, but maybe placing a part of it on your person can fix that,” Ptelea waved a hand and a vine adorned with flowers grew from the tree behind her and wrapped around Naruto's left hoof before detaching from the main body. The nymph transformed into a green orb and floated ahead of him “Come this way,”

“Be careful Naruto,” said Applejack.

“I’ll be okay AJ, I’ll be over soon,” said Naruto before following after Ptelea.

“Let’s get going then,” C-Naruto nodded in affirmation Applejack’s statement and activated his Aura sight and began the search for the satyrs.

Naruto and Ptelea silently traversed the forest whilst keeping an eye and ear out for any patrolling satyr. Naruto wanted to use the trees but Ptelea alerted him that some of them belonged to the hidden nymphs so he resorted to the old fashioned walking for the meantime. It took them a while but Ptelea suddenly stopped and transformed into a much smaller version of herself as she pointed ahead.

“Over there, that’s where the saplings are kept prisoners,” said Ptelea. Naruto looked ahead to see several satyrs standing guard in front of a barricade made out of large stones while equipped with tomahawks, spears and daggers, Naruto's ears could pick out sounds of crying which truly enraged him to no end as memories of when Gato suppressed the Land of Waves came across his mind.

“I’m getting them out of there,” Naruto went several steps back and formed his chakra wings and took to the air till he was right above the forest itself “Shadow Clone jutsu!” a squad of clones appeared flying next to him “Half of you guard the saplings and the rest of you guys are with me, let’s go!”

“Roger boss!” the clones responded.

Down below, one of the satyrs with the spear yawned loudly before taking a swig of wine from the gourd strapped to the waistline of his loincloth.

“This is so irksome, we’ve have been guarding these saplings for years now,” said the satyr.

Another satyr with a dagger turned towards his companion with a quirked eyebrow “What would you expect when a perfect plan results in no true opposition towards us? It’s not like something will drop out from the sky,”

At that moment, something did fall from the sky and land on the ground right in front of them while forming a small crater and dust cloud. Next thing they knew was that something flew out of the dust cloud and slammed into the face of one of them to be sent flying, the cloud cleared to reveal something they never thought to see again.

“A pony?! That’s not possible!” said the satyr.

“Quite the contrary, and you might want to look up,” said the orange pony.

The satyr pointed his spear at the enemy “Like I would fall for such a…aaaaahhh!!” he felt something impact the back of his head which drove it straight to the ground, knocking him unconscious which turned out to be another pony similar to the first.

Naruto heard the sound of running and turned to see a group of satyrs running towards them whilst brandishing their weapons, he smirked as his tail reached into the ninja pouch and took out a flash crystal which he threw at their feet, unleashing a flare of blinding light that forcing them to halt and close their eyes in pain. Then the rest of the clones landed next to Naruto before charging straight at the satyrs and unleashing an onrush of punches and kicks, Naruto himself joined in as he lunged at one of the satyrs and slammed a haymaker punch on him then used his tail to wrap around the hoof of another and swung around to throw him into the cohorts.

Soon enough, all of the satyrs laid on the ground in a heap while being tied up in ninja wire and paralysis tags placed on each and every one of them. Naruto and clones turned their attention towards the stone barricade with chakra arms emerging from their backs as they proceeded to tear it down piece by piece until there was nothing left. Beyond it were Ptelea and the clones comforting the much younger nymphs who were cheering happily and the saplings appear to be in good conditions despite not having been properly nurtured all those years.

“It looks like everyone’s okay now,” said Naruto, looking relieved.

“Thank you very much for saving us, Mr. Pony,” said one of the young nymphs with a smile.

“I’ve sent a message from my tree to the other nymphs, telling them of the good news so they’re on their way here,”

“I thought you guys can’t leave your trees a far distance?” asked Naruto confused.

“Some of them are actually able to do so unlike me since I’m still younger in a certain perspective,” Ptelea replied.

Naruto simply shrugged “I’ll leave my clones here to make sure of your safety while I go and give those satyrs what for,”

“Be sure to add in a few for me,”

“With relish,” Naruto turned around and took off at high-speed after channeling chakra to his hooves for a boost towards where Applejack and his shadow clone had headed off to in search of the satyrs’ hamlet.

Meanwhile, Applejack and C-Naruto had been tracking down the location of the satyrs until they eventually found where they were. Hidden behind the thick shrubs so as not to be seen, they could see multiple tents strewn throughout the large clearing with the largest tent at the other end, many satyrs were dancing around a large bonfire while playing reed pipes and drinking wine in a festive atmosphere. They also another of the nymphs but this one is taller than Ptelea with pale skin color and actual hair long enough to reach the ground and is as white as the apple blossoms, she wears a laurel wreath adorned with many flowers , a red gown covering her feet and could trail along the ground. As of now, she looks down at the ground in sorrow while shackled from the left leg to a large boulder next to her

“That must be the queen of the forest Epimeliades. How much longer until Naruto and Ptelea rescue the saplings?” asked Applejack.

“I just received memories from my fellow clones that the rescue is a success and the boss is already on his way here. He’ll strike the campsite any minute from now,” said C-Naruto.

“He better be here soon, I can’t take any more of this watching,” said Applejack.

Not a moment too soon that an orange blur ran past their hiding place straight into the camp, there were some satyrs which had the misfortune to be in its path and got slammed into and sent flying into the air before crashing back on the ground. The blur slowed down till it revealed to be a pony much to everyone’s shock except Applejack.

“So much for a dramatic entrance,” said Naruto nonchalantly.

“What is a pony doing here? They weren’t supposed to remember this place!” said one of the satyrs.

“Guess your plan wasn’t exactly a 100% foolproof,” Naruto quipped which annoyed them.

“Seize him!” the satyrs charged at him with weapons in hand.

“That would be a problem because….Multi Shadow Clone jutsu!” in a poof which cleared to reveal a multitude of clones much to the shock of the opposition “Which one of us are you going to seize?” then Applejack walked up next to the original.

“Ya’ll ain’t leaving me out of this one!” said Applejack.

“No problem AJ, there’s enough to go around!” Naruto turned towards the satyrs with a hoof pointed at them and uttered a battle cry “Charge!!!” He and the others rushed forwards with the satyrs rushing back at them with both sides clashing in the middle.

Music Start: Naruto Original Soundtrack; Sarutobi

It was a full-scale battle with both oppositions fighting to get an edge over the over but so far Naruto's side is gradually gaining that edge. Naruto himself was rapidly punching at some of the satyrs with his chakra arms then he quickly jumped high into the air to avoid thrusts from multiple spears aimed at him from all directions. He reached into his pouch and took out several impulse crystals which he tossed below to unleash a chain of nonlethal blast to knock them. He landed back on the ground and formed a pair of chakra arms which proceeded to weave through a set of handsigns and the air started swirling around him “Wind style: Divine Wind!” four pillars of spiraling wind conjured around Naruto before he directed in different directions as they swallowed the satyrs who are unable to escape from the elemental ninjutsu.

With Applejack, she was putting Naruto's training to good use as she evaded the incoming attacks before countering with powerful strikes of her own, she heard something whistling in the air and quickly ducked to avoid a thrown tomahawk then turned to charge at the thrower to deal a powerful punch to knock it down for the count. Applejack reached for a lasso and started twirling over her head “Yeehaaw!” then she flung it to snag a satyr which was pulled over before she dealt a double kick to send him flying into his cohorts.

Back with Naruto, he was wielding the Hoshi no Ha to slice the satyrs’ weapons apart to disarm before either punching or kicking them for the knockout. Suddenly he saw a large shadow looming over him from behind and quickly dashed away to evade an overhead blow which struck right where he stood. He turned around to see a satyr much larger and burlier than the other, in each hand he wields a battle-axe while donning steel armor over his loincloth.

“I’m guessing that you’re the leader?” asked Naruto while remaining in his fighting stance.

The armored satyr nodded in affirmation “Indeed, I am Zrac the leader of the satyrs. It was foolish of you to raise your blade against my tribe, and now you shall pay the price with your life!”

“Can’t do that, especially since this actually my second,” Naruto retorted.

Zrac let out a roar before charging towards Naruto and swung a battle-axe at him, but the stallion jumped away from the first swing and then deflected the second with the glaive. Naruto spun around with his tail low for a sweep only for Zrac to jump into the air and come down with a double descending strike, two chakra tendrils shot out to hook the ground then pull Naruto away from the attack before launching him back like a slingshot as he slammed into the satyr’s head and somersaulted away to avoid potential retaliation.

The armored satyr in his rage flung one of the tomahawk straight at Naruto who channeled magic from his horn and called “Terra Bunker!” he punched the ground as he was enclosed in a dome made of earth in time for the airborne tomahawk to bounce off and clatter to the ground. Zrac rushed forward and proceeded to punch wildly at the dome until it crumbled to the ground but there was no sign of the pony anyway. Suddenly he heard a sound from behind and then felt something latch to his back before agonizing blows began to pelt at his head. He flailed wildly in attempt to grab the cause of the attacks then it jumped away to land elsewhere, Zrac turned around to see that it was Naruto who smirked with mischief.

“You’re truly becoming an irritation, little pony!” said Zrac angrily.

“I seem to get that a lot from my opponents, so you’re not the first,” Naruto replied.

Elsewhere, Epimeliades watched the battle with worry as well as hope when she heard something land next to her and turned to see that it was one of those duplicates that the orange unicorn had created using his magic “Who are you?”

“The name’s Naruto Uzumaki, my friend Applejack and I came here looking for the scarlet apple after hearing a story from Granny Smith when we found one of your nymphs Ptelea about to be captured by a satyr and we rescued her. Then she told us what’s been going on, also you don’t have to worry about the saplings cause they’re safe now,” the Clone turned towards the shackles and took out a kunai which he channeled his wind chakra through then proceeded to carefully cut through the shackles.

Epimeliades looked at the clone in surprise “You mean the saplings are safe from the satyrs?”

“Yes, we made sure to rescue them first so that they wouldn’t have any leverage over you…there! You’re free now!” the clone finally broke the shackles as Epimeliades got to her feet with a soft smile.

“Thank you very much, now the time has come for these goats to learn a lesson that has long been overdue!” the queen of the forest stood up to glare at the satyrs before thrusting her hands out, the ground began to rumble and many vines adorned with thorns burst out from the ground as they lashed at the unsuspecting satyrs and were inflicted with multiple bruises on their already battered bodies.

Back with Naruto and Zrac, the satyr looked around in shock as his fellow kinsmen are relentlessly attacked by thorny vines and then tied down regardless of the agony. He looked back to see Epimeliades waving her hands around for more vines to grow and attack more of the satyrs.

“This can’t be! She shouldn’t raise her hands against us?” shouted Zrac in disbelief.

“That would be the case if your trump card was still available,” said Naruto.

Zrac turned towards the orange stallion who had an innocent look on his face with a golden halo hovering over his head “You…you had something to do with this!!”

The golden halo disappeared as red devil horns sprouted from both sides of his head as he smirked mischievously “Like Dash would often say…Duh! Of course it was me, you’re pretty slow to catch on,”

The satyr saw red as he tossed aside his tomahawks and charged at the stallion with the intent to snatch him up and rip apart. Naruto looked unconcerned as Zrac drew close when a lasso suddenly wrapped around the satyr’s neck and jerked him back, revealing it to be Applejack who’s currently holding him back.

“He’s all yours Naruto, bring em home!” said Applejack.

“Right on!” said Naruto, then he held out a hoof as chakra around it and took on the form of a white spiraling sphere, then he quickly closed the gap between him and the satyr “It’s over with this Zrac, Rasengan!” Naruto rammed the sphere into Zrac’s torso as he was sent flying backwards in a spiraling motion with Applejack jumping out of the way for him to skid along the ground before slowing to a stop.

Many of the satyrs saw their leader go down hard and laid down their arms in a gesture of surrender

Music End

Later on, all of the satyrs knelt before Naruto, Apple, Epimeliades and the other nymphs while bound in rope or ninja wire with paralysis tags placed upon them.

“As you can see Zrac, this is your loss and our victory. You’re have not been welcome to this forest for the longest and will never will, which is why I’ll say that you will leave this place and never appear here…for there will be no second should you do otherwise,” said Epimeliades, if not for the paralysis Zrac would have looked back at the nymph with defiance.

Then Naruto was the next to speak “If you’re even thinking of coming back here, you should know that the Alicorn princesses will be informed and place this forest under their protection along with my friends and I ready to answer their call for help. So you better think twice before going through with a dumb plan you might come up with,”

“And ya’ll wouldn’t want to mess with them,” Applejack added in.

Zrac and the other satyrs started sweating nervously, it was bad enough that the stallion is willing to protect the nymphs but should Princess Celestia and Princess Luna be involved, then the consequences would be too high for them to risk. They begrudgingly agreed never to return to the Whispering Woods and left once free of their bindings.

“I can’t thank you enough for helping us gain our freedom from the satyrs, you have our eternal gratitude,” said Epimeliades as she along with the other nymphs bowed to Naruto and Applejack, making them feel a bit shy.

“It’s no problem at all, we’re glad to help,” said Naruto.

“Same here,” said Applejack.

“Even so, I still wish to give you something…ah yes, I believe you two traveled here in search of these…” Epimeliades waved a hand as an apple tree instantly grew then bore apples which were the red like that of rubies, none of which they had ever seen “I hope that these will suffice for now,”

“A-are you sure?” asked Applejack, slightly in shock.

“Of course, these fruits would benefit your family as well as serve as a link between us should you cultivate them. And furthermore, as the queen of the Whispering Woods, I proclaim you two allies of the nymphs!” the nature spirits cheered loudly at their queen’s proclamation.

“Whoa, this is quite an honor,” said Naruto who was overwhelmed with surprise.

Epimeliades smiled warmly at them “No, the honor is ours to have met you two,”

After a couple hours of celebration, the time had come for Naruto and Applejack to return to Ponyville as well as inform the princesses of what happened much to their disappointment. Ptelea had them promise to visit again along with their friends soon with the duo acknowledging her, and so they left with the nymphs seeing them off with gratitude. Along the way, Naruto and Applejack were having a small conversation of their own.

“I never thought that I would be taking part of a rescue when I started this journey with you,” said Applejack.

“Me neither, but I kinda expected it with how my missions often went back in my old world. But I gotta say thanks for having my back against Zrac, as expected from my Ace-High Cowgirl,” Naruto's eyes widened upon what he just said and quickly clamped a hoof over his mouth.

Applejack looked at Naruto as her face turned red from what he just called her “W-what did you call me?”

“A-Ace-High Cowgirl, it was a nickname I came up with but I didn’t want to say it out loud and embarrass you,” said Naruto fidgeting a bit while blushing.

“Ace-High Cowgirl? That’s a really nice nickname he made for me,” thought Applejack with a soft smile, she could feel a sense of warmth in her heart as she approached a flustered Naruto and kissed him on the cheek with the stallion staring at her with wide eyes “It’s a reward for helping me and also saying something so nice. Now come on, we’re burning daylight here,”

Naruto watched Applejack walk ahead as his heart bashed against his chest, feeling the lingering sensations of the kiss on his cheeks. He felt so at peace as of that moment, something he rarely felt back at Konoha. Just why does he feel that way when with them and want more of it? He just can’t seem to figure out an answer!

“Naruto, ya coming?” Applejack called out, snapping Naruto out of his musings.

“Y-yeah, wait up!” Naruto galloped to catch up with her “I seriously need some help to figure out this feeling,” soon he was next to her as they continued on their journey back to Ponyville.

;�;��x

An Unwanted Visit of a Dark Past

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA

Chapter 36: An Unwanted Visit of a Dark Past

“Well, looks like we’re back at Ponyville,” said Applejack as she gazed ahead to see the town just a couple kilometers ahead of them.

“Yup, we weren’t gone for that long and yet it made us feel like we really missed it AJ,” Naruto came up next to her.

It was a couple of days since they left the Whispering Woods where the nymphs are now freed and the satyrs were banished. Naruto looked sideways at Applejack and felt heat rise to his face before quickly looking away, the trip was a slightly awkward one ever since the kiss he received on the cheek from Applejack as he has been finding it very hard to get it out of his mind, not to forget the ones with Fluttershy and Luna too. He snapped back into focus when he heard Applejack call out to him.

“Hey Naruto, whatcha standing there for?” said Applejack with a quirked eyebrow as she stood a fair distance away from him and was wondering why he wasn’t following her.

“What-oh right! I’m coming!” Naruto quickly galloped over to the cowmare and both continued their approach to the town, upon entry they were happily greeted by the residents while walking along the streets with one of them being Derpy dressed in her work-clothes who flew close to have a small chat.

“Hello Naruto, Applejack! Welcome back,” said Derpy happily.

“Hi Derpy, it’s good to be back here,”

“Howdy Derpy!” Applejack greeted too.

“Where did you two head off to? I passed by your place some time ago and they told me that you both went out on a trip,” Derpy tilted her head in curiosity.

Applejack spoke up “We went looking for some special apples to serves as a new addition for the farm and were lucky to get some,”

“New apples? Will you use them for apple cider?”

“Who knows? We’re gonna have to test them first making any plans to put them on sale,”

“Can’t wait for that day to happen, I’ll have to get on with delivering of the letters so I’ll have to see you guys later,” said Derpy before she flew away to her next destination.

“Bye Derpy, and tell Dinky I said hi!” Naruto called after her.

“I will!”

“Let’s get this here apples to the farm, granny and the folks are gonna be so surprised to learn that the story is true!” said Applejack excitedly.

“I’ll send a couple of shadow clones to call Twilight and the others over too. Knowing Twilight, she would want to take notes about them and also inform Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to come over,” said Naruto before channeling his chakra to create a couple of shadow clones to perform the task assigned to them, then they continuedtheir walk to the Sweet Apple Acres. They had just gone past the front gate when they saw Apple Bloom galloping towards them with a smile on her face.

“Naruto, big sis! You’re back!” the filly went to hug Applejack and received a hug in return “So did you find the scarlet apples like you said you would?”

“That we did,” Applejack replied.

“Let me see! Let me see! Let me see! Let me see! Let me see!” Apple Bloom was hopping up and down excitedly that Naruto had to hold her down with his tail.

“Not yet, you go get Big Mac and come over to the house, we also called Twilight and the others to come too so we can show you the apples,” said Naruto.

“Okay, don’t start without me!” Apple Bloom took off towards the orchards as fast as she could.

Applejack and Naruto walked up to the front and found Granny Smith dozing off on her rocking chair at the front porch, Applejack then called out to wake her up from her slumber.

“Granny wake up, we’re back from our trip!”

Granny Smith woke up with a start and looked around before setting her eyes on the familiar pair before her “Ah you young’uns are back from your road trip, so how was it? Hope ya’ll weren’t having any hanky-panky on the road,” she smiled playfully when she saw Naruto and Applejack blushing beet red.

“N-nothing happened Granny!” Applejack shouted, though she recalled when she kissed Naruto on the cheek and felt her heart thumped harder.

“Aaah, to be young again. I remember how my mammy asked me questions like these when I introduced your gramps to her,”

“Granny!”

The old mare chuckled at how embarrassed her granddaughter is acting and the blonde stallion was no better in that scenario “I was just pulling your hind legs is all, so did ya’ll find the scarlet apples while ya’ll were out there?”

Applejack nodded in affirmation “Yes indeedy, we found them and even met voices of the forest!”

Granny Smith raised an eyebrow in surprise and then interest “You did? What were they?”

“Hang on Granny, we’re waiting for the others to arrive so that we’ll tell you what happen…” said Naruto, then they heard knocking on the door “…that must be them right now,” he created a chakra arm to stretch over and open the door for Twilight and the others mares with Apple Bloom and Big Mac following from behind.

“Naru!” Pinkie Pie flew across the room and glomped Naruto, almost knocking him down to the ground “Welcome back, this calls for a party!”

“Yeah man, you and AJ have been gone for a while,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Your clones told us to come over here, though I’m guessing that you both were able to find the Scarlet apples,” said Twilight.

“You’re right that we did, and more,” Applejack took off her saddlebags while Naruto brought in a platter from the kitchen and placed it on the coffee table, then she poured the apples onto it for everypony to see.

“Woow, so these are the scarlet apples…” Apple Bloom looked at them in wonder.

“Eeeyup,” Big Mac replied.

“Well I’ll be a llama’s auntie, so these here are the apples that gran-mammy used to talk about,” said Granny Smith “Wish she was here to see them now,”

“They’re redder than well…red,” said Rainbow Dash quizzically.

“Rubies is more like it, Rainbow. Their luster is certainly to behold,” Rarity admired the apple’s shine as she spoke.

“If they look good, then they’ll taste better. Let’s try it out!” said Pinkie Pie excitedly at the thought of making baked goods from them.

“Pinkie has got right idea, this is a great chance to update the information in the library,” Twilight nodded in agreement.

“Then hang on a minute, while I go for the knife,” Applejack went back into the kitchen and moments later came back with the knife. Twilight carefully manipulated the knife with her magic to cut some of the apples into pieces for everyone to have a piece each.

Naruto put a piece into his mouth and chewed on it but the moment his tongue made contact with its juices, he left as if his mouth had just been hit with a sledgehammer of a sensation which made him want to keep chewing and not swallow at all, he willed himself to swallow and felt it slide down his throat as smoothly as water flowing down a stream, then there was a tingly and yet pleasant feeling in his stomach.

“A-amazing…I’ve never tasted anything like this before in my life…or should I say lives. It’s lusciousness is just beyond what I can think to rate it!” thought Naruto, glanced to the side and saw some sporting the same stunned look and others were still chewing on theirs.

“Woooweee, eating just a piece makes me feel twenty years younger!” Granny Smith burst out in excitement.

“You said it granny, it tastes beyond amazing!” said Apple Bloom.

“Eeeyup!” Big Mac was in agreement.

“I-it’s really delicious,” said Fluttershy softly.

“It is simply divine!” said Rarity.

“It kinda gives me the shivers when I think of you guys making cider out of them,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Its tastes far surpasses that of the Princesses’ golden apples,” Twilight was currently taking notes after eating her piece of the apple.

“How about we go and plant the seeds now?” asked Naruto.

“I’ve already marked the spots for the planting before we left Ponyville,” said Applejack “In the meantime, we’ll tell you guys what happened in our search for the scarlet apples,”

The group exited from the house and were walking towards the orchard, along the way, Naruto and Applejack were telling them of their encounter with the nymphs and how they helped them rescue their queen and drive away the satyrs from the forest, then were later given the scarlet apples as part of their thanks before making their return to Ponyville.

“So nymphs really exist, it makes me wonder if the creatures I read about from the books are also out there too?” said Twilight as she recorded Naruto and Applejack’s story into a scroll before sealing it away in her medallion.

“Man, I should have gone with you guys. Would have had some fun kicking the rear ends of those satyrs,” said Rainbow Dash.

“But it was nice that they’re all safe now,” said Fluttershy.

“Well we won’t be seeing them again, that’s for sure,” Naruto replied.

“We’re here,” Applejack spoke to catch their attention, there was a large empty field ahead of them with a couple of small holes already made. It could be figured that Applejack had prepared this place in advance before leaving with Naruto “Now to plant this here seeds and have them grow up into a nice scarlet apple trees,” she placed on of the seeds into a hole and covered it up with dirt before watering it with a watering can that she brought along with her, she was moving on to the next hole when suddenly the ground began to quake violently, much to the surprise of everypony in town.

“What the hay is going on?!” Rainbow Dash cried out.

“Guys look over there!” Pinkie Pie pointed for the others to see, the group looked and at the spot where Applejack had just planted a seed is now a plant already sprouting. They watched in fascination as it rapidly grew from a young sapling to a giant tree towering at heights surpassing that of a great oak tree as white flowers blossomed before bearing fruit for all to see.

“Whoa, I’ve never seen an apple tree or any other tree grow that fast before,” said Naruto in wonder.

“Me neither, I’ve never read about any of this back in the library,” Twilight nodded in agreement.

“Maybe it’s a super tree!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

“Looks like we’ll be getting that apple cider sooner than I thought,” Rainbow Dash drooled at the thought of it.

“Um, there’s a large hollow hole in the middle,” Fluttershy spoke up.

They looked to see and sure enough, there was a large hollowed out hole in the trunk of the tree. The group wanted to take a closer, but then there was a bright light erupting from the hole which forced them back. Then there was the sound of footsteps and someone familiar to Naruto and Applejack stood in front of them. She is a feminine humanoid with a pale skin color, her arms and legs are plantlike appendages that look like wood, hair long enough to reach the ground and is as white as the apple blossoms, she wears a laurel wreath adorned with many flowers , a red gown covering her feet and could trail along the ground.

“Queen Epimeliades!” Applejack called out in surprise.

“So she’s a nymph!” was the universal thought of those unfamiliar with her.

Said queen of nymphs smiled fondly upon setting eyes on the two saviors “Why Applejack, Naruto, it’s good to see you two so soon again…and I believe that these are your friends, hello,” she waved at the stunned audience who could only wave back in shock.

“But how did you get here?” asked Naruto.

“I simply blessed the apples so that the first seed planted would grow very quickly and serve as a gateway from here to the Whispering forest and back. This is mostly Patellae’s idea and most of the nymphs supported it, wanting to see you all again and meet the ponies as well,” said Epimeliades with a smile.

“Will the other seeds do the same when we plant them?” asked Applejack.

“No need for worry, the rest will grow at a normal pace,”

“Well allow us to introduce you to our friends, this is Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Granny Smith, Big Mac and Apple Bloom,” Naruto gestured to each as he called out their names.

“Greetings Your Majesty, it is an honor to meet you,” Twilight bowed in greeting.

“Hey, what’s up?” Rainbow Dash raised a hoof only to get prodded by Twilight for her lack of respect.

“Hi! It’s nice to meet a new friend, I hope to you can come to your welcome to Ponyville party!” Pinkie Pie hopped about excitedly.

“It certainly is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, though I must ask who designs your clothes? They are quite stylish,” said Rarity with an appraising look at the queen’s robes.

“Hello,” Apple Bloom waved a hoof with Big Mac bowing his head.

“In all my years, I’d never thought I would meet anything out of my grand-mammy’s stories,” said Granny Smith.

Epimeliades smiled back in return “It is a pleasure to meet you all, Naruto and Applejack had spoken of each of you during their time in the Whispering forest, I am hoping to meet the princesses so that we can speak of an alliance,”

“Then I’ll have Spike send a letter to the Princesses right away!” Twilight made to leave for the library when they heard the flapping of wings and a familiar voice called out to them from above.

“There’s no need for you to do that, my dear student,” they all looked up to see that it was Princess Celestia and her sister Luna.

“Celestia? Luna? When did you get here?” asked Naruto looking surprised.

“We sensed the surge of energy from Ponyville and quickly flew over to find out the source of it, we never would have thought to meet a nymph after all these years,” Luna explained as they landed on the ground before them.

“It is a pleasure to meet you Queen Epimeliades,” Celestia bowed to the leader of the nymphs who bowed in return.

“The feeling is mutual, I came here to propose an alliance with you,” said Epimeliades.

“Then perhaps we could use Twilight’s library to hold our discussion,” said Luna.

“By all means, lead the way,”

“In the meantime, I’ll be heading home to check up on Trixie and Scoots since I was gone again for a while,” Naruto spoke up.

“Very well, we’ll be seeing you then Naruto,” said Luna, Naruto nodded in affirmation then walked away and left the farm before making headway to the Whirlpool which was currently open. He went inside to find Trixie sitting behind the counter with a bored look on her face, she perked up and beamed happily upon seeing the blonde stallion.

“Naruto, you’re back!” said Trixie.

Naruto smiled back at her “Yeah, sorry I took so long, AJ and I got involved in some serious stuff but we came through and we’re about to get some new friends around here soon,”

“New friends?”

“I’ll tell you and Scoots all about it over dinner tonight, I’m heading to see Scoots before resting since it’s been a long journey,” Naruto turned around for the door while withholding a yawn when Trixie called out to him.

“Naruto wait!” Trixie appeared nervous when said stallion turned to her “Um…do you remember about what I asked before you left with Applejack a few days ago?”

“Oh about me escorting you to Canterlot? I haven’t forgotten about that, we can go this weekend,” Naruto replied.

Trixie smiled at that “I’ll be ready by then!”

“Okay, then I’ll see you at home,”

Minutes later, Naruto arrived at the Uzumaki mansion and passed by the tree house to check if Scootaloo was there and sure enough she was. The filly must have seen him coming for she ran down the wooden spiral staircase and went to hug him tightly.

“Big bro, you’re back!” said Scootaloo happily.

“That I am, how were things while I was gone?” asked Naruto with a smile.

“It’s the same old boring stuff, and we still haven’t gotten our cutie marks from the stuff we’ve been doing. So were you and Applejack able to find the scarlet apple?”

“Yup, that and even more, I’ll tell you more about it over dinner tonight,” Naruto walked towards the house with Scootaloo following as the sun slowly sets.

“Did you fight some monsters during your search?” Naruto turned his head and gave her a wink.

“Who knows? You might find out when I talk about it over dinner,” sometime later, Naruto along with Scootaloo and Trixie were at the dining table having their meal while the blond stallion told them of his adventure with Applejack in the Whispering Woods again “…and after that, we were given the scarlet apples and made our return here,”

“Whoa, that was so cool! You and Applejack fighting a whole tribe of satyrs is totally hardcore, and this queen sounds pretty powerful,” said Scootaloo with stars in her eyes.

“I must agree with Scootaloo, this is quite a feat though it pales in comparison to your battle against Nightmare Moon and the Ursa Major,” said Trixie.

“True, but it was a thing of its own,” Naruto shrugged his shoulders in reply, he glanced at the clock hanging from the wall to check the time “It’s getting late, you should turn in for the night Scoots since tomorrow’s another day of school for you,”

“Hmmmm, fine I’ll be going to bed then,” Scootaloo pouted as Naruto used his magic to levitate the dirty dishes to the sink to be washed.

“Awww, don’t be like that Scoots. I am planning to teach you some new freerunning techniques after school,”

Scootaloo perked with eyes full of hope “Really?”

“Yup, I’ve noticed that we haven’t been spending time together like we used to before so I want make up for the time lost,” Naruto nodded with a smile.

The filly ran to hug her brother joyfully “Thanks big bro, you’re the best!” then she went upstairs to her room to sleep.

Trixie watched Naruto with a soft smile, ever since she began to stay with him and work at him, she learnt a lot about what makes him tick. Naruto is hardworking and warmhearted to those close to him, he’s also forgiving once he understands the reason but can be very fierce to anyone that poses ill intent towards himself and loved ones. Naruto is always cheerful but can also be dense around girls who really like him like Twilight and others, even Princess Celestia and Luna were being affectionate with him…however she began to notice that he has been acting rather shy around them lately which is giving her a cause for worry, and so decided to invite him to escort her to Canterlot so as to get closer to him.

Soon the weekend finally came, Naruto and Trixie took the morning train to Canterlot with the trip taking a couple of hours before arriving at their destination. The duo walked along the streets and taking in the ever-changing scenes of the city.

“So which place is it that you want to go first?” asked Naruto curiously.

“I have a few places in mind to purchase certain items, I thought to have some opinion in the matter if you wouldn’t mind,” said Trixie.

“Sure, if you want me to,”

Trixie led the way to a shop close to the street, from the looks of the signboard, it happens to be a perfume shop. They went inside and saw many shelves ladened with bottles of perfume in different shapes and sizes that Naruto himself wouldn’t know where to start. Trixie strode down the aisle, scanning the rows of perfume before setting eyes on one which she picked a bottle full of brown fluid off the shelve with her magic. Trixie took off the cap and squirted a bit to her fore hoof and sniffed with a contemplative look on her face.

“What do think of this one, Naruto?” asked Trixie before holding her fore hoof out to him, the blonde stallion was a bit nervous at what he was about to do but reluctantly complied and took a sniff…it smelt like a mix of musk, amber and cinnamon which is heavy and strong scent.

“It smells pretty good, it has a rich scent,” Naruto responded, he didn’t that when he was sniffing, Trixie was blushing a bit from feeling his warm breath blow her hoof.

“O-okay…how about this one?” Trixie put the bottle back and took out another one to sample it.

“This one smells like sandalwood and spices, they’re okay,”

“Hmmmm, he didn’t really like it,” Trixie looked through the shelves much more critically “Maybe this one,” she took the selected bottle, and sprayed it on her hoof “How about this one?” Naruto took a sniff and this time she was surprised to see him smile.

“I like this one, it smells like a combination of flowers and fruits! You should take this one!” said Naruto happily, the scent reminded Naruto about the forest back in Konoha which made him feel nostalgic.

“Then I’ll buy it,” Trixie took the perfume to the counter while cheering inwardly at acquiring something which could attract Naruto. After making the purchase and sealing it into her medallion, the duo went window shopping at the Best of the Best Boutique to marvel at the clothes on display Naruto had to admit are masterfully tailored, but he strongly believes that Rarity will eventually reach that level and even go beyond it.

“I’m getting kinda hungry, what about you Trixie?” asked Naruto.

“Well it has been a while since we last ate, so I am a bit famished,” Trixie replied.

“That’s perfect, Rarity recommended me to a place sometime ago when she came to Canterlot to acquire a few catalogs for references,” Naruto walked off while using his tail to pull Trixie along lightly.

“What kind of place is it?”

“It is an outdoor café called Cinnamon Chai’s Tea and Cake Shop, I passed by once during one of my deliveries and memorized its location,”

Naruto and Trixie arrived at the place and went to sit on the chairs underneath one of the shaded tables then one of the waitresses, not knowing what exactly they would like to buy, the two decided on ordering shop’s main attraction which is it’s a chocolate cherry cake with custard filling and buttercream rosettes along with some tea. They found the baked good to be very delicious that Naruto ordered for one to take home for Scootaloo and the other fillies, and another for Pinkie Pie and the rest too. He sealed the baked goods, they continued with the walk around in the streets of Canterlot.

“So where else are we going?” asked Naruto curiously.

“We’re going to the Library of Magic so that I can return the books which I had taken sometime ago and acquire some more,” Trixie replied.

“But why not go for books over at Twilight’s place?”

“I had checked earlier before but they weren’t available, so I had to come here for them,”

“I see what you, maybe you should tell Twilight later so she can make an update,” Naruto suggested.

“I think I’ll do that when we get back,”

Naruto and Trixie reached their next stop and went inside, Naruto walked off to find any books with an interesting title which could catch his fancy whilst Trixie went towards the spell book section to place the books back and went to browse for the ones she needed. It took them a while before meeting up at the counter, apparently Naruto found some books about certain tribes which shared certain aspect of a ninja and wanted to find out more, and there’s another about ancient civilizations which he wanted to check out in due time since his last adventure with Daring Doo had him get the urge to go treasure hunting at times and Twilight would definitely want to study about them too.

“I believe I have what I came here for now…but um,” Trixie glanced at Naruto “…would it be okay for us to walk around for a little while longer before returning to Canterlot?”

“Sure, I don’t mind…but can you wait a bit? I need to pick out the latest issue of power ponies for Spike and Scootaloo over at the House of Enchanted Comics,” said Naruto feeling sheepish about nearly forgetting their requests.

“Okay Naruto, I’ll wait here for you,” Trixie watched Naruto gallop off with a smile on her face “He can be so considerate of others, it’s one of the many reasons why I like him,”

Suddenly there was a strong breeze which blew Trixie’s hat off her head and away from her, Trixie ran after it and tried to catch it with her magic but it seemed as if the breeze wasn’t allowing her to do so. The chase took them all the way into an alley where the hat finally settled on the ground, Trixie picked it up and dusted the dirt off before plopping it back on her head.

“I better hurry back before Naruto notices I’m gone,”

“Awww, why are you in such a hurry to leave? Don’t you have time to see an old friend?” a female voice suddenly spoke up from Trixie, a chill raced down along her spine and with heart thumping hard against her as she slowly turned her head towards the source of the fearfully familiar voice to see a pony dressed in a black cloak with a hood covering the head as it approached her.

“That voice…it can’t be! Please anyone but her!” Trixie stepped back with a growing fear in her heart as the pony slowly approached.

“It’s been a while…” the pony took off the hood to reveal a face which only confirmed her worst fears “…Trixie,”

“M-Midnight Rose,” Trixie replied fearfully “W-what are you doing here?”

“Well I was passing through when I saw you standing in the streets and thought to say hello in a much seclude setting. It’s been a while since we last saw each other. The rest of the gang had been wondering where you’ve been since you ran out on us?” Midnight rose smirked evilly.

“I didn’t want to be a part of it anymore,” said Trixie.

“But why not? We both shared something in common and that is deception. Pretty sure you still do so,”

Trixie glared in defiance “No I don’t, now leave me alone so I can leave in peace,”

Midnight Rose smiled darkly “You seem to have forgotten, all those that join Kaleidoscope can never leave and those which attempt to do so…will be severely punished,”

Trixie’s eyes widened in realization of what her old ‘friend’ implied and prepared to use her magic to fight her way, but then she began to notice that her eyelids felt very heavy and her body was losing strength quickly “What’s…happening…to me?” her legs wobbled before buckling from her weight as she fell to the ground, Trixie just barely raised her head to look up at Midnight Rose who towered over her.

“I had used that breeze earlier to spray your hat with a concoction which induces paralysis and sleep, we have a looooot of catching up to do when you wake up,”

Trixie couldn’t do anything to resist, before completely losing consciousness she mumbled out “Help… me…Naruto,”

Seeking Out Undesired Answers

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA

Chapter 37: Seeking Out Undesired Answers

"There we go, got the latest issue of the Power Ponies," Naruto came strolling out of the House of Enchanted Comics with a paper bag containing the comics being held by his tail. He himself was also interested in the comic, having been reading manga back in the Elemental Nations. Naruto sealed the comics away into his medallion and began making his way back to where he had left Trixie earlier before "I hope I didn't keep her waiting too long,"

Naruto finally arrived at the junction but then he noticed that Trixie was nowhere to be seen much to his confusion "I wonder where she is, could she have gone somewhere else?" he thought deeply about the most likely scenarios at the moment, one of the few were that she might have forgotten something in one of the shops, wanted to buy some more items or maybe…went to the fillies' room, that last one had him blush a bit before whacking his head hard to be rid of such perversions, ain't no way in Tartarus is he going to be the pony version of Jiraiya! "Maybe I should wait here for Trixie to come back, I'm sure she won't take long anyway,"

In another part of the city, a cloaked figure is seen walking through a narrow alleyway whilst levitating a black bag overhead with her magic, she stopped before a backdoor and used a key on her person to unlock it then went inside before locking it behind her. The pony took off the hood to reveal that it was none other than Midnight Rose who turned towards the black bag with a wicked smirk on her face and opened it to reveal an unconscious Trixie.

"Never thought I would see you again after all this time ever since you deserted us," Midnight Rose muttered loudly, then she heard hoofsteps approaching from behind as the other door in the room opened up for a pony to enter.

He is a male unicorn with a coat of ash grey and a wavy mane and tail possessing two shades of ebony black, he wears a monocle on his left eye with a long chain attached to a black tuxedo and a top hat placed atop his head, and a cutie mark depicting a ball of twine completely entangled but what is most notable is the large amount of strings wrapped around his hooves and neck along with the crazed look in his eyes.

"Ah Midnight, I was wondering when you were going to return from your walk. I wanted to tell you of my latest idea for my next puppet show," said the pony.

Midnight Rose rolled her eyes in annoyance, this pony always gets on her nerves with his obsessions of puppet shows "Like I would have time for that Tangled Twine, though I happened to have brought along an old friend of ours,"

Tangled Twine looked over to see Trixie and his eyes widened in surprise and then a maddened glee "Why if it isn't our dearest friend Trixie, it's been over two years since she left! Ahhh seeing her face again gives inspiration for a new puppet show!"

"You can save that for later until after we learn of what she has been doing all this while, we might get some worthwhile information from her before teaching her what it means to abandon the Kaleidoscope," said Midnight Rose.

"Oh I can't wait to hear some nice stories!" said Tangled Twine with a mad cackle, the duo lifted Trixie up with their magic and carried her further into the hideout and wait for her to awaken so they can proceed with their interrogation.

Back with Naruto, the blonde was becoming more worried with every passing minute. He has been standing at the junction for over ten minutes and Trixie still hasn't returned, surely whatever she was doing isn't supposed to take this long at all.

"What's keeping Trixie so long?" Naruto looked around for over the hundredth time for the mare in question and still couldn't see her "Maybe I should go looking for her," he got up and left while leaving a shadow clone behind just in case she were to come back. He went to the previous places which he and Trixie had gone to earlier in the day and asked if she had passed through but they all told him that she didn't come by for the second time today. Naruto then decided to make his way to the train station in the off chance that Trixie might have taken a train back to Ponyville which is kinda unlikely given that they bought a pair of two-way tickets and he has them in his possession. He went to ask the conductor about whether the mare whom he described had been through here but he received the same answer as the others which was a no.

Naruto dashed out of the train station looking very worried about the current situation "I'm getting a really bad feeling about this, time to pull off drastic measures!" he quickly ran into a nearby alleyway and channeled a large amount of chakra through his body as he called out "Multi Shadow Clone jutsu!" with consecutive puffs of smoke, his copies began exiting from the alleyway and taking different directions as they began their search for Trixie. Naruto himself was leaping along the rooftops with his Aura Sight active as he was familiar with Trixie's energy signature, so far he searched the city in a wide radius and is currently flying around with his chakra wings active but he just can't seem to be able to locate Trixie at all.

"Darn it! Why can't I find her at all?!" frustration began to get a firm hold on Naruto as he continued with his search, it was at that moment that one of his shadow clones dispersed to transfer its memory about something strange to him "What is it that my clone has found?" he flew towards the place his clone was before it dispelled and landed before an entrance to an alleyway, Naruto cautiously made his way through the alley till he stopped at a dead-end then carefully looked around the area for any sort of clues "…hmm? This scent is…" he sniffed around a bit then took notice of a torn piece of fabric which he instantly recognized to come from Trixie's cloak and the scent was the perfume which she had tried on before back at the shop "Trixie is always careful about the state of her clothes and to find this lying here where nopony would think twice of venturing inside could only mean…Trixie's been kidnapped!"

Naruto desperately looked around further for anything in addition which could give him an idea at least of where he could possibly find the missing mare, he felt his hoof hit something and then there was the clinking of glass which caused him to look down and see a vial on the ground and something yellow was inside it. Naruto picked up the vial and shook it lightly to see that it was a powdery substance before carefully putting it away along with the piece of fabric into his ninja pouch, he took one more look around but didn't find any more clues before leaving the alley "I better get these over to Ponyville ASAP for Twilight and the others to analyze so we could find a way to track down Trixie and the kidnappers!" Naruto activated his Chakra wings and took to the air before flying towards his next destination as fast as he could, knowing well that every second counts from now.

…

…

…

"*Groan* what happened to me?" Trixie stirred from her sleep and began to look around from her position "Where am I and how did I get here? The last thing I remember was that," her eyes widened in realization as she quickly scrambled to her feet and tried to move only to feel restricted and hearing clinks of metal, Trixie looked down to see shackles on her hooves which were linked to the wall behind her "She must have brought me here when I was unconscious,"

Then a voice spoke up "Astute as always Trixie, you certainly haven't changed all that much over the years since you left us," Trixie turned to see Midnight Rose reveal herself from the shadows along with a pony whom she was all too familiar with as well.

"It is most certainly a pleasant surprise to see you again after all this time, Trixie!" said the unicorn with a mad look in his eyes.

"Tangled Twine…," Trixie shivered at the sight of the mad unicorn, he was the last pony whom she wanted to see as well due to his obsessions with puppetry.

"Now that we're all reunited and everything, how about you tell us where you've been and what you have been doing all this time?" asked Midnight Rose with a smirk "And don't even bother trying to use your magic cause we've placed a spell on you to disrupt any use of magic,"

"And what makes you think that I'll tell you anything?" said Trixie defiantly, there's no way that she'll betray the trust that her new friends have in her!

"I was hoping you would say that," Midnight Rose smirked evilly and took out a syringe containing a clear liquid from her cloak and held it out to be seen "Surely you recall my specialty in alchemy, well this is here is a truth serum which will make you answer any question that we ask, so it's not like you had any choice in the matter to begin with,"

Trixie took several steps back in fear till her flank hit the wall as she gazed at the syringe drawing to close to her, she tried to move again but found herself being held in place courtesy of Tangled Twine's via his magical strings, leaving her helpless as the syringe pricked her skin before injecting the serum into her body.

"I can't wait to hear the tales of your travels, my dear Trixie," said Tangled Twine.

"Same here," said Midnight Rose in agreement.

Naruto arrived at the outskirts of Ponyville and quickly descended to land on the ground with a skid as he ran into the town with his destination being the library which he is sure of Twilight being there at the moment, Naruto then channeled his chakra and created multiple shadow clones to run alongside him.

"I need you guys to go and call Applejack and the others over to the library ASAP!" said Naruto urgently as he ran.

"Roger boss!" the clones responded simultaneously before splitting up in different directions either by running or flight.

Naruto continued along the pathway until the library was in his sights as he put on a burst of speed and barged right through the door, surprising Twilight to drop the scroll which she was reading and Spike to lose his balance and drop the tall stack of books which he was carrying.

"What's going on Naruto? You surprised us," asked Twilight before noticing the look of worry on the stallion's face "What's the matter?"

"Twilight, we have a serious problem on our hooves!" said Naruto urgently.

"What is it?" asked Spike confusedly.

"We need to wait for the others to show up, a lot of help is going to be needed,"

A couple minutes later, the mares arrived at the library and took note of the worried look on Naruto's face which they had seen earlier on his clones before they dispelled themselves which instigated them to hurry over and learn of the reason why.

"We got here as soon as we could Naruto, so what's going on that you called us over?" asked Applejack.

"Trixie's been kidnapped!" said Naruto getting gasps of shock from the mares.

"What happened?" asked Rainbow Dash, Naruto proceeded to tell them what happened when they were over at Canterlot before his return to Ponyville and calling them all in for help.

"…and these are what I found at where she might have been kidnapped," Naruto took out the piece of fabric and vial before placing them on the table for them to see, Twilight and Rarity examined the vial and fabric respectively with a critical eye while the rest watched on in silence and waited for answers.

"Hmm, it appears that a part of the cloak had caught on to something and torn off when she was being taken away…and I'm also seeing some yellow dust on it too," said Rarity.

"Don't breathe it in Rarity, that must be the same one in this vial here. I'm guessing it's what was used to sedate Trixie before carrying her away," said Twilight cautiously.

"Anything else you can figure out?" asked Fluttershy worriedly.

"Not at this moment, I'll take it down to the laboratory to analyze the formula and find out more about it," said Twilight as she walked towards the lab with the vial.

"Please hurry so we can find a way to track down Trixie and her kidnappers," said Naruto.

"I will,"

Applejack then spoke up "But the question now is why Trixie would be kidnapped and by who?"

"That's what I've been thinking about the whole time on my way here and all I could come up with so far is that the one behind the kidnapping must be very familiar with Trixie," said Naruto thoughtfully.

Pinkie Pie raised a hoof as if she was a student in class "Ooh ooh, I know! I know! Maybe it's someone from her past who has finally found her after all these years,"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at that "Come on Pinkie, this is serious!"

"Hold on, maybe she's on to something. As far as we all know, Trixie was a travelling performer before she came to stay with us and work as Naruto's assistant, but we never knew of her life before then and she never speaks of it herself," said Rarity.

"That may be true but we're still low on clues about where she could be and how to find her, not even Naruto's Aura Sight could find her," said Applejack.

"It could only mean that she might have been put somewhere where magic is blocked off, so we might need to find another way to locate her," said Rarity.

"They're right but how? Maybe I should work on a seal which could track her down, but that might take too long to do so,"thought Naruto, the mares continued to think of ways to find Trixie when Twilight reentered the room with a sheet of paper containing written, Naruto saw her approaching and spoke up "Did you find anything Twilight?"

"I did, I've analyzed the formula and discovered that it was created to sedate and paralyze the victim should it be inhaled. The thing is that the chemicals used for this is quite complex for a regular pony to be able to make one like it, this tells me that we're dealing with something more serious than any normal kidnapping here," said Twilight.

"Is there anything else?" asked Rainbow Dash impatiently.

"I also discovered the scent of a perfume on it too,"

Naruto's eyes widened in realization "I remember, Trixie was trying on some perfumes when we were shopping,"

"Ummm I have a suggestion, maybe we could trace the scent of the perfume to where Trixie might be kept," said Fluttershy.

"Then what we need is a bloodhound!" said Pinkie Pie excitedly.

"In that case, I know just who is right for that job!" said Applejack proudly.

"Now that we have a plan, let's get going already!" said Rainbow Dash.

"I'll go and get my gear, just in case of emergency," Naruto as he dashed out of the library towards the Uzumaki mansion.

"I'll get a couple of spell books too," said Twilight, everyone else went to their homes to get themselves ready for the search.

Back at the hideout in Canterlot, Midnight Rose and Tangled Twine were back upstairs with Trixie still in the basement though the former has an expression of anger while the latter has one of interest about the current subject at the moment.

"…so she's friends with that darn pony who got in the way of our operation that time, and to think he's actually the creator of those crystals which we've been seeing and hearing about," said Midnight Rose with a frown upon recalling her encounter with Naruto and how he detained her partners.

"Indeed, and to think that he is also a bearer of the Elements of Harmony and this energy of his…to be able to actually defeat even an Ursa Major makes me feel so inspirational!" said Tangled Twine excitedly.

"There's no time for that! It's obvious that's he is searching for her right now and has already called for help from the other bearers, so we need to leave Canterlot as soon as possible," said Midnight Rose.

"But with our magic runes disrupting magic, he wouldn't be able to locate us with that eye ability of his," Tangled Twine recalled the list of abilities gleaned from Trixie.

"Maybe so, but I wouldn't put it past him to utilize other methods of search like with that annoying duplication technique of his. So make preparations for our departure,"

"As you wish," Tangled Twine bowed in affirmation before leaving the room and into the next one with a glint in his eyes and a manic smile on his face"I'm rather hoping that they find us as it's not every day that I can get these kind of ponies as an audience for my puppet shows. I'll need to tune my puppets for that,"the smile only grew wider when he opened a door to a dark room where black silhouettes of oddly shaped objects hanging from strings could be seen.

Meanwhile, there was a bright flash of purple which then faded away to reveal Naruto and the mares along with an extra, having been transported to Canterlot courtesy of Twilight's teleportation spell. Naruto looked up to the sky and saw that Celestia's sun has almost set and Luna's moon is halfway up to the dimming sky.

"We need to hurry, the kidnappers could use the cover of the night to escape from Canterlot, so we gotta be fast," said Naruto.

"Okay Naruto, Winona c'mere girl!" said Applejack, receiving a bark in reply as her pet scampered up to her with her tail wagging "Alright girl, we brought you along cause we need your to find Trixie by her scent. Think you can do that for us?" Winona barked again as if saying 'yes' to them "Atta girl!"

Twilight presented the piece of fabric before the dog, though earlier beforehand she had removed the paralytic sedative from it with the scent of the perfume remaining on it. Winona sniffed the fabric a couple of times then started sniffing around the area for a similar scent then her ears suddenly perked up as she began moving in a certain direction.

"I think she got the scent," said Applejack happily.

"Great, then let's get going," said Rainbow Dash as she took to the air with Fluttershy following after her.

Naruto, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity followed Winona by foot but kept a certain distance to avoid attracting too much attention to themselves, Winona continued with the tracking and led them through many streets and dark alleyways.

"I hope Trixie's alright," said Twilight worriedly.

"I'm sure she's fine, she's just got to," Naruto spoke up firmly believing his own words.

"Me too," said Rarity.

"Hey guys, I think Winona is getting closer to where Trixie is!" Applejack called out to them, the group saw the dog scamper ahead of them into another alleyway so they quickly followed after her with hope in their hearts. They arrived at a door which Winona was scratching at with her paws whilst barking "She must be in there!"

"And probably along with the kidnappers," Twilight added.

"Good, cause I'm in the mood for some answers," Naruto grinded his fore hooves on ground in anticipation for a fight.

"Same here," Rainbow Dash hovered close to him whilst bumping hers in excitement.

Naruto reared a fore hoof back and lashed out to punch the door clean off its hinges and jumped into the room and took a fighting stance with the others following after him to help out. But there was nopony inside the room much to their confusion.

"Hmmm, nopony is here," said Twilight.

"They're probably hiding somewhere, let's split up and search," Naruto along with Rainbow Dash and Twilight went through one door with the other mares pairing up and going through the other doors. Naruto cautiously kept his eyes and ears open for any signs of the enemy or traps to obstruct them. The trio climbed down a flight of stairs and stopped before a door at the end of the passageway "Now let's see what's behind door number 3,"

They cautiously opened the door and went inside only to find darkness so Naruto reached into the ninja pouch and took out a flash crystal and activated it to illuminate the room, there at the end they saw a familiar pony with her hat and cloak with her head slumped down.

"Trixie!"

The trio quickly approached the mare to check on her condition and free her from the shackles, Naruto used his tail to take out a kunai and channeled wind chakra through it and began to carefully chip at the shackles to break them, but for some strange reason…he couldn't help but feel that something is way off about all this.

"Hey Trixie, are you okay?" Rainbow Dash placed a hoof on the mare's shoulder and shook it so as to wake her up "Huh, have you lost weight lately…and what's that creaking sound?" she wasn't the only confused as Naruto and Twilight were also hearing the creaking which was similar to that of wood, but the door behind them wasn't moving at all.

Twilight looked at Trixie and felt suspicious about something"Why is the creaking sound coming from Trixie?"so she reached for the hat and pulled it off only to reveal something absolutely shocking to them "What is this…a puppet?

Indeed what was before the trio is nothing more than a wooden puppet made to look like a unicorn and wearing Trixie's clothes nonetheless, Naruto and Rainbow Dash gritted their teeth in anger at the ploy with the former stomping the ground hard enough to form cracks.

"Darn it, It's a decoy! They must have left it behind while knowing that we would be coming to look for Trixie," said Naruto angrily.

"They must be gone from Canterlot to who knows where by now," Rainbow Dash with a frown "Now what do we do?"

Twilight was silent the whole time as she was thinking very deeply about a solution to their current problems, she suddenly snapped back into focus and turned to speak to the others "I just came up with an idea for how to find Trixie!"

"Well let's hear it, anything is better than standing around here right now," said Rainbow Dash.

"Okay, here's the plan…," Twilight gave the two the outline of what she has in mind "…and that's how we can find Trixie,"

Naruto nodded in full agreement of her idea "So far, this is one of our best shots so I'll be going on ahead to start it up while you quickly rally the others and catch up with me," he quickly left the room and ran back up the stairs to exit from the hideout towards the next solution to finding Trixie.

Racing along the pathway leading from Canterlot to an unknown direction is a carriage being pulled by earth ponies wearing black cloaks, inside was Midnight Rose and Tangled Twine while Trixie was still unconscious.

"I'm sure by now that they have discovered the decoy," said Tangled Twine mischievously.

"*Heh* By that time, we would be long gone and they'll be too late to save Trixie from her well-deserved punishment," said Midnight Rose in a smug tone.

About a mile away from Canterlot, the carriage gone quite the distance when suddenly something struck the path ahead which forced the ponies to skid to stop, almost knocking two of the three passengers off their seats. Midnight Rose and Tangled Twine came out of the carriage with looks of annoyance on their faces as they went to interrogate the ponies.

"What is this meaning of this?! Surely you are aware that we're in a hurry?" asked Tangled Twine.

One of the cloaked ponies bowed his head in cowered apology "Forgive us sir, but something struck the ground ahead of us and we had to stop to avoid it,"

At the pony's statement, the duo turned to look at the path and were surprised to see what appears to be a cluster of diamond shaped knives stabbed into the ground and glinted in the moonlight. They barely had any time to think when something or rather someone descended from the night sky to land on the pathway before them, Midnight Rose's eyes narrowed in recognition of the pony.

"I finally found you, and I wasn't expecting to see you again," said Naruto.

"Do tell, ninja," Midnight Rose responded, getting the stallion's eyes to narrow upon hearing her mention his title when he knew that only a handful of ponies are aware of it. They heard the flapping of wings and looked up to see that the Mane 6 had just arrived with Naruto's shadow clones carrying Twilight and the other flightless mares with large chakra arms and placing them next to him.

"That was a fun ride, let's do this again after this!" said Pinkie Pie happily.

"So these are the guys who kidnapped Trixie, now we can finally kick some butt!" said Rainbow Dash, bumping her fore-hooves together.

"So who are you and why did you kidnap Trixie?" asked Twilight stepped forward to interrogate them.

"A pleasure to finally meet you all, my name is Tangled Twine and this is Midnight Rose…proud representatives of Kaleidoscope," said Tangled Twine with a slight bow "Though I'm curious to ask how you were able to find us all the way out here despite the decoy we left behind to throw you off,"

"We sought help from Princess Luna to locate Trixie via her dreams since there was a high chance that you would keep her unconscious…but you still didn't answer my second question of why you kidnapped Trixie,"

Midnight Rose simply scoffed "And why should it concern you?"

"That's because Trixie's our friend and why we're here to save her," Rarity replied with a frown.

"Well if you want to know so badly, Trixie used to be a member of Kaleidoscope until she deserted us a few years ago. According to the code of the guild, deserters are to be punished severely,"

Naruto stepped forward with an audible growl as he used his magic to pull the kunai out of the ground and returned them to his ninja pouch except for one being held by his tail "And do you really think that we're simply going to stand and do nothing?"

"Of course not, it's how you all are just like Trixie 'told' us," a crazed smile appeared on Tangled Twine's face "And truth to be told, I've actually wanted an encounter…so I can have you be an audience to my puppet show!" a brown aura radiated from his horn as a compartment from the carriage burst open for something to emerge from within and float close to the male unicorn for everyone to see.

"P-puppets?" Fluttershy spoke confusedly.

Like she said, there were life-sized wooden puppets, there were many varieties such as unicorns, Pegasus, griffins and even a manticore. Each and every one of the puppets happened to be covered in the same brown aura from Tangled Twine's magic.

"They don't look so tough," said Rainbow Dash.

"Stay sharp, I don't think they're ordinary puppets in the least," said Applejack.

"Ah, one of you sees the quality in my beloved puppets. Now let me hear the rest of your views!" Tangled Twine cackled loudly as he commanded his puppets to attack the group.

Music Start: Naruto Original Soundtrack; Raikiri (Thunder Break)

"Whoa! Guys watch out!" Naruto quickly dashed backwards to evade a swipe from the Manticore puppet which continued to slash at him with its claws and used a kunai on his tail to block an attack from its scorpion tail, then he retaliated by hopping into the air with a half spin and perform a double kick with his hind legs to knock it back from him then checked to see how the others were doing.

So far, Rainbow Dash was battling against a Pegasus puppet and holding her own very well, Applejack was using her training with Naruto to counter the close range attacks from a unicorn puppet. Pinkie Pie was busily having fun hopping around and easily dodging attacks from the puppets whilst Fluttershy was keeping a safe distance and avoid being attacked. Rarity and Twilight were attacking from a distance as they launched blasts of magic to knock the puppets away from them, Naruto snapped back into focus and jumped away in time to avoid getting crunched by the puppet manticore's jaws then again kicking it away from him.

Naruto then heard the sound of clopping and turned to see the carriage being pulled away from the fight "Guys, Midnight Rose's getting away with Trixie!"

"What do we do?" asked Fluttershy worriedly.

Naruto leapt into the air to dodge another tail attack for a few seconds of thinking before landing back on the ground and calling out to the others "Twilight, you take Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie with you and go after her while Applejack, Rainbow Dash and I deal with this crazy puppeteer here," he created a few shadow clones which immediately activated their chakra wings then used chakra arms to carry the mares before taking off after the carriage, leaving the others behind to engage the enemy.

"Did you call me crazy? I rather prefer the term professional," said Tangled Twine, looking offended as he frowned at the group.

"We beg to differ," Applejack retorted, Tangled Twine manipulated his puppets to attack the group once more.

Rainbow Dash quickly ascended to the air with two of the Pegasi puppets chasing after her whilst using short flaps of her wings to evade the punches and wing swipes from her opponents, she performed a loop-the-loop and used the momentum for an all-fours strike on one of the puppets before kicking off it to land a double punch on the other, however the puppets were quick to recover and soon reengaged Rainbow Dash in close combat once more. Rainbow Dash frowned at this as she flew up to a nearby cloud and punched it hard enough to discharge bolts of lightning which struck the puppets but they merely emerged from the attack with scorch marks.

"Hey what gives with these things? They're supposed to be toast with that attack!" said Rainbow Dash, quickly performing a barrel roll to the side and evading a full body tackle from one of the Pegasi puppets.

Applejack was also having problems of her own, she kept ducking and weaving around the incoming attacks then countering with strong punches and kicks, she quickly ducked under an overhead punch then spun round on her fore hooves to perform a powerful double kick which sent one of the puppets away from her and crashing into a tree before turning round to raise a fore hoof and block a punch from another before pushing back and punching it very hard in the head for the knockdown. Applejack stepped back a bit to catch a breather, then she noticed that the puppets are back on their feet and charging at her once again.

"Darn it, these puppets refuse to break no matter how hard I hit them," said Applejack, defending herself against the onslaught of attacks from the puppets.

Naruto was continuously attacking and defending against the Manticore puppet, he deflected the scorpion tail again with his kunai held in his tail and quickly dashed out of the way of a pounce attack which it followed up with several swipes of its claws. Naruto skillfully flipped over the Manticore to the side and stomped hard on the ground with one of his fore hooves upon landing, suddenly something burst out of the ground underneath the Manticore, revealing it to be a chakra arm in the form of a giant fist as it launched the puppet into the air with an uppercut. Naruto leapt after it with chakra emitting from his fore hooves in the form of claws as he proceeded to strike it consecutively with a barrage of slash attacks then performed a Pegasus dash to maintain altitude to continue the barrage before finishing it off with a cross slash to send the large puppet plummeting down to the ground.

"Chakra Bullet: Rapid Fire!" he pointed his fore hooves at the manticore for two white runes to appear before launching white orbs of chakra at a fast rate, then the runes fused into a larger one "Chakra Cannon!" he fired a much larger sphere of chakra at the target, throwing up a cloud of dust upon contact as he landed on the ground "That ought to do it, now to help the others," Naruto turned to leave when he noticed movement and was shocked to see manticore emerge with not much damage save for some battered parts and scorch marks "Still? What will it take to destroy that puppet?"

"Wonderful aren't they? My beloved puppets are far more special than those cheap toys you're familiar with. Allow me to show you their true potential," Tangled Twine flared his magic for moment, then blades emerged from several parts of the puppets which then attacked the group with more power.

"You're so much like a certain guy I know that it's not even funny!" Naruto jumped away to avoid the slash attacks from the manticore's now sharp metallic claws, he formed the chakra claws on his fore hooves once more and went into the offense. He would be able to inflict hits on the puppet but barely leaving anything more than scratches, the manticore opened its mouth and fired a volley of knives at him "Terra Bunker!" he channeled his magic to form a large dome of earth around him to block the incoming projectiles then he burst out to dash at the puppet with a blue spiraling sphere in his chakra arm "Take this, Rasengan!" he rammed it into the puppet and struggled as it grinded upon contact with sparks flying everywhere, but it eventually began to bore through much to the mad puppeteer's shock before suddenly expanding to blast the other side into pieces.

"My beloved puppet! How dare you hurt it?!" Tangled Twine raged at the stallion.

"Hey, you guys are planning to do the same to Trixie so I don't wanna hear that from you," Naruto replied with a snort.

"We'll just have to see about that, come my puppets! Avenge your fallen comrade!" the puppeteer pony manipulated two of his Pegasi puppets to attack the stallion.

Elsewhere, Twilight and the other mares catching up with the carriage from above with help from Naruto's shadow clones.

"Get us a little closer, Rarity and I will make a grab for the carriage!" said Twilight.

"Got it!" one of the clones replied in affirmation, they picked up speed and were soon directly above the carriage. At that moment the roof opened up and Midnight Rose emerged from within the carriage and stood atop it as she stood atop with a saddlebag attached to her and was glaring at the ponies.

"You all are just as annoying as that stallion! I won't let you rescue the deserter!" Midnight Rose used her magic to take out what appears to be round-bottom flasks containing purples concoctions from the saddlebags and shook them violently before flinging them at the mares. Instinct screamed at the clones to move out of the way and they did so just in time as the flasks suddenly exploded to release purple gas from within them.

"I'm guessing that she must be the one who created the concoction," said Rarity.

"Yeah, so we should watch out for whatever she throws at us," said Twilight, Midnight Rose continued to throw multiple concoctions at the group and they constantly evaded the potentially deadly projectiles till she finally ran out of it then she resorted to firing beams of magic. Twilight projected magical shields to deflect shots which almost hit her and the shadow clone with the rest using their barrier crystals to do the same "Now to stop it!" Twilight closed her eyes in concentration as she began to use her magic to levitate the carriage, no sooner was the carriage enveloped in the purple magic aura did it disperse without warning much to her shock.

"What happened, Twilight?" asked Rarity.

"I'm not sure but I think something disrupted my magic when I tried to levitate it, it must be the same wards like the one we found at their hideout," said Twilight with a frown "We'll need another way to stop it.

"Oh oh, I know just what to do!" Pinkie Pie looked up to the clone carrying her "Hey Naruto #3, can you carry me ahead of the carriage?"

"Uh sure," said the clone confusedly, then he picked up speed and bypassed the carriage till they were ahead whilst evading the magic projectiles fired at them.

"Now this is the job for…the party cannon!" Pinkie Pie activated her crystal beads to unseal said cannon, then she took aim and fired what appears to be large white globs of sticky cake batter which stuck on to the faces of the ponies pulling the carriage, causing them to fumble around before tripping over themselves and finally stopping the carriage.

Rarity swung into action by using her magic to levitate the ponies into the air and activating her crystal to unseal several fabrics and a sewing kit, she skillfully and swiftly used one of the cloths to wipe the batter off the ponies then followed it up by sewing jackets with overly long sleeves which she then put it on them and tied the sleeves into cute bows on their backs like straitjackets.

Rarity stood back to admire her handiwork "Cute and functional, quite the idea if I do say so myself,"

Midnight Rose feeling enraged took aim at Rarity and was about to fire a magic beam at her when a blast of purple magic flew past right in front of her face, she turned to see Twilight frowning at her with her horn emitting a purple aura.

"That's far enough, Midnight Rose. Surrender now, you're outnumbered here!" said Twilight, Rarity has her materials floating around while Pinkie Pie has her party cannon reloaded and ready to fire with the shadow clones on standby and Fluttershy floated nearby.

Midnight Rose gritted her teeth in frustration, everything was going according to plan and yet for it all went awry because of Trixie's connections with these ponies. She should have prepared more but was too hasty ad ill prepared for these scenarios, so right now she has to cut her losses.

"Very well, you can have her…for now. But know that you all have made Kaleidoscope your enemy because of this!" Midnight Rose took out yet another flask of concoction and shook it before throwing to the ground to create a large cloud of green smoke, the mares quickly pulled away from it then one of the shadow clones used a wind jutsu to blow the gas away only to reveal that the mare was nowhere to be seen.

"She's gone!" said Rarity.

"I'm worried about what she said before leaving," said Fluttershy with concern.

"*Sigh* well our main reason was to rescue Trixie, so let's go and make sure that she's alright before returning to the others," Twilight turning towards the carriage with the rest following her.

Back with Naruto and the other, the stallion maintained his focus on the Griffin puppets as they approached him with their blades being swung to cut him.

"Hoshi no Ha, battle stance!" he summoned the stellar glaive to his back as he began to use it to constantly clash with the puppets while performing short dashes to weave in and out of their attacks. The puppets were then manipulated to attack him from two different directions for a pincer attack. Naruto lowered his body slightly to the ground with the white swirling energy at the center of the glaive's guard suddenly surging as the puppets drew closer until they were right on top of him that he swung into action "Glaive Windstorm!" he spun rapidly with the sword to knock them back, Naruto locked on to one of the puppets before dashing up to it and slashed rapidly up to four consecutive hits then jumped into the air with the blade raised above his head and surging with energy "Meteoric Cleaver!" he sharply descended with a devastating overhead strike which split the puppet right down the middle for it to fall apart in two halves. Naruto spun round in time to parry a slash from the second puppet "Antigravity Strike!" he performed an uppercut to launch it into the air and quickly channeled magic into his horn "Fire Lance!" multiple spears of flames appeared around him and shot towards the airborne puppet to constantly strike until burning it to cinders.

Applejack was still battling the bladed unicorn puppet but managed to find an opening and launched a double punch to smash its fore hooves for it to stumble back a few times on its hind legs "Oh no ya don't! you're not getting away from me, Yee-haw!" she slammed her fore hooves hard on the ground to form cracks then lunged at the crippled puppet at high-speed and slammed into it with a full-body tackle, smashing through it entirely.

Rainbow Dash was also finishing up on her side as well, she quickly ascended to the skies then came diving back down at breakneck speeds. The puppet lashed out with its blades only for Rainbow Dash o dodge at the last minute and grab it by the tail "Thunderous Drop!" she spun around a couple of times then using the momentum to throw the puppet violently to the ground, smashing it to pieces "Take that, puppet!"

Music End

Tangled Twine was flabbergasted at first but that quickly turned to rage as he stared at the state of all of his puppets and the ponies responsible for the destruction.

"How dare you? How dare you destroy my puppets?!" he yelled at the group.

"Don't go pinning this on us, you're the one that started this fight. Besides, they're just blocks of wood," said Rainbow Dash nonchalantly.

"Blocks of wood? They are far more than that, not that I expect you plebeians to understand! They are creations of artistic beauty and artificial life with amazing potential that those so-called puppeteers have constantly failed to-" Tangled Twine would have continued with his ranting had something blurred in front of him and a piece of paper was placed on his forehead, causing him to freeze up and unable to move, revealing it to be Naruto with a look of annoyance on his face.

"Save the preaching for the guys in prison, we have better things to do right now like reuniting with the girls and helping Trixie," said Naruto.

"That's right, so let's get going," Applejack was in agreement, she saw that the unicorn was about to rant again and so shoved an apple into his mouth to shut him up.

They were about to get a move on when they saw a flash of purple light which dissipated to reveal, Twilight having returned with the others along with a pair of restrained ponies and most importantly, Trixie who was their main reason for the rescue operation.

"Hey guys, is Trixie alright and what happened to that Midnight Rose?" asked Naruto worriedly.

"She's okay, just sedated but I'm sure she'll wake up in due time," Twilight replied, "But the unicorn we were pursuing managed to escape after threatening us,"

"All's well that ends well then, let's get Trixie back to Ponyville and make sure that everything's okay," said Rarity.

"And she can tell us more about these Kaleidoscope guys," said Rainbow Dash with a small frown.

"In that case, I'll take these guys to the royal guard in Canterlot and catch up with you later," Naruto sent Hoshi no Ha within him once more then he activated his chakra wings and formed chakra arms to grab the ponies before taking to the air and flying in direction of the Royal Castle.

Trixie slowly stirred from her sedated slumber and opened her eyes to look at a familiar ceiling, causing her to sit abruptly but the sense of vertigo made the mare slump back onto her now familiar bed "What happened, how did I get back home?"

"Looks like you're awake now," Trixie turned towards the voice to see Twilight and the other mares in the room with her as they looked at her with relief.

"Twilight…everyone…you're the ones who rescued me?" asked Trixie in awe.

"Well duh, of course we did! It's the obvious thing to do since we're friends," said Rainbow Dash.

The door behind them opened up to reveal Naruto entering the room and the look of relief on his face upon seeing Trixie finally awake, he quickly approached the mare and enveloped her in a warm hug. The mares would have been feeling jealous but they knew very well that she needed that hug after all that she's been through.

"I'm so glad you're alright, you have no idea how worried the girls and I were when we learnt that you had been kidnapped and we did so much to find you," said Naruto happily.

"This calls for a party!" said Pinkie Pie excitedly.

"We're glad you're okay," said Fluttershy softly.

Trixie stared at all of ponies around her and how they were happy to see her…to be with her despite their bad beginnings. She couldn't take it anymore and burst into tears much to their surprise and slight concern for that.

"*Sob* I'm so sorry…please forgive me! I didn't want to betray you…*sniffle* but she forced me to…I don't *sob* I don't deserve to be rescued!" Trixie bawled loudly.

"Calm down Trixie, what do you mean by that?" asked Twilight.

"*Sniffle* when I was captured, Midnight Rose used a truth serum on me. I tried to fight it but I was forced to reveal everything from when I left up to my time with you all,"

"But you didn't do it willingly, so you're not at fault," said Fluttershy.

"But...but I...," Trixie tried to protest.

"You're still our friend Trixie, nothing is ever going to change the fact that we value you," said Rarity with a warm smile.

"After all, friendship is the greatest magic in the world," said Twilight in agreement with Rarity.

Trixie finally stopped crying and smiled tearfully at them "…Thank you,"

"So can you tell us about the ponies who kidnapped you, you seem to be familiar with each other?" asked Naruto with concern, having met one of them sometime ago.

"They're part of a dark guild called Kaleidoscope with Midnight Rose being the leader and Tangled Twine her right-hand pony, I used to be a member until the day I left to become a travelling performer," said Trixie.

"What is this Kaleidoscope about?" asked Applejack.

"They are a group of ponies who seek to become the most powerful beings in all of Equestria and beyond. They go about acquiring all kinds of spells and relics relating to magic regardless of them being harmless or even cursed. The guild would go to any lengths to acquire such things and they don't care if anyone would get hurt in the process," Trixie explained to them, everyone were stunned at hearing this and yet they hadn't heard of this dark guild until now.

"This is the first time I've heard of such a guild, surely the Princesses should know of this," said Twilight thoughtfully.

"It's a good thing that I had sealed the Infernal Flower of Pyro Flare away into the scroll with a blood seal, I'll need to up my training regime to face these since they now know of my abilities,"thought Naruto.

"If these guys are such bad news then why did you join them?" asked Rainbow Dash with a small frown.

Trixie bowed her head with eyes full of regret "I used to live with my family and we were a large one with lots of brothers and sisters. I was of the younger ones and always wanted attention, so I would do a lot of things to get them to look at me and praise me. But then they began to pay less and less attention, I didn't like that and wanted it back. That was when Midnight Rose appeared and invited me to join the guild with the promise that I would learn magic spells and be able to do anything I want with them, my naïve thinking got me to join her. Times past I saw the terrible things they had done and was frightened by it, so I ran away and became a traveling magician. I never would have thought that I would be found, and now they'll be coming after us,"

"Well I say bring it on! We already took one of them down, so the rest better bring their game on if they want a piece of us!" said Rainbow Dash with gusto.

"She's right, I'll show them how we do things down at the farm," Applejack tipped her hat as she spoke.

"Yeah, it's gonna be a wild party bash!" Pinkie Pie threw confetti into the air.

"Face it Trixie, you're going to be stuck with us for the rest of your life," Naruto smiled with the mares nodding in agreement.

Tears brimmed at Trixie's eyes as she smiled at them "Thank you…all of you,"

"You're welcome dear, now rest and we'll come to visit you tomorrow," said Rarity, then she left the room with the others wishing her goodnight and following after her until it was just Naruto and Trixie alone in the room.

"Well, guess I better leave you to rest too. No need to worry about the shop as I'll have my shadow clones handle it," Naruto began making his way for the door.

"Naruto wait!" Trixie suddenly called out, causing Naruto to stop and look back in confusion.

"What is it?" asked Naruto.

"…there's something I want to tell you, could you come closer?" Trixie appeared to be quite nervous.

Naruto approached the bed once more "So what is it you want t-"

Anything that Naruto was about to say stopped abruptly when Trixie suddenly leaned out of the bed to pressed her lips against his and held them there for a few moments, Naruto's eyes widened in surprise and his heartbeat hastened just like when Luna, Fluttershy and Applejack kissed. Trixie finally pulled away from him and smiled bashfully with her cheeks tinged pink, Naruto opened his mouth but no words came out.

"I really meant what I said earlier, especially to you Naruto. Meeting you and the others…has to be one of the best things to have ever happened to me," said Trixie with a warm smile.

Naruto was still silent but then gave her a foxy grin and finally replied "I feel the same way when I met you all too, I'll see you in the morning…goodnight Trix," he turned round and finally left the room.

Trixie flopped back on the bed and looked up to the ceiling with a sigh before giggling happily. Despite everything that happened to her up till now, Trixie snuggled underneath the covers with the thought that she was feeling very happy with all this.

To the Dark Side of the Moon

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA

Chapter 39: To the Dark Side of the Moon

"Huff huff huff!" the sounds of panting and hooves thumping on the ground could be heard in the night as we take a clearer view to see Naruto galloping through the forest as fast as he could with tears on his jacket along with his body covered in dirt and bruises. He slowed down to catch a breath, suddenly he heard something rustling through the trees and heading in his direction which enticed him to run again "Huff huff huff…*gasp*"

Naruto skidded to a stop at the edge of a cliff with a bottomless abyss, then he heard something emerge from the bushes and turned around only for his eyes to widen in horror. Before him is what appears to be a large dark cloud in the shape of a pony as a pair of pale blues eyes with slitted pupils as it stared down at him. Naruto tried to use his magic with his horn emitting the orange aura only for it to fizzle out and he couldn't access it again, he tried to use his chakra too but the same thing happened again then he heard a dark chuckle which sent shivers crawling down his spine.

"There's nowhere for you to run, little pony. Your light will soon be snuffed out just like the rest I've done the same to," said the dark entity, Naruto took a few steps back but stopped himself lest he fell over the edge.

"Just who or what are you?!" said Naruto fearfully.

The voice chuckled once more "It's rather obvious as to what I am…your worst nightmare!"

Tendrils of black smoke lashed out to wrap around Naruto's body before he could put up any kind of defense, the darkness began to slowly engulf him. Naruto felt his body beginning to feel numb as the voice's laughter grew louder, all he could do with what's left of his strength is to-

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Naruto opened his eyes widely as he sat up on his bed while breathing heavily with sweat dripping down his face with a haunted look on his face.

"…not again, why do I keep having the same nightmare whenever I go to bed and it gets worse every night," Naruto rubbed his head with a hoof to ease his disturbed mind "Maybe I should check in the library with Twilight for potent causes or maybe Luna since she would be more knowledgeable about these kind of things," the blonde pony went back and hoped that he won't be plagued by that nightmare again.

"Big bro, are you okay?" asked Scootaloo with concern as she looked at said pony who was the kitchen with her and trying to make breakfast but he wasn't being his usual self as he was making mistakes here and there.

"I'm fine Scoots, no need to worry," said Naruto in an assuring manner but his bloodshot eyes aren't convincing anyone.

"Scootaloo has good reason to be worried as do I, you look like you haven't been able to sleep well these past few nights," said Trixie in support of the young filly.

"…I have to admit you're right, I've been having nightmares the past nights which are making it hard for me to sleep. I'm planning to find a solution to it with help from Twilight or Luna," said Naruto truthfully.

"I see, then in that case you can go ahead while I look after the shop,"

"And I can go to school by myself with my scooter while you find a way to make yourself better," said Scootaloo.

Hearing that made Naruto smile fondly and in a way made him feel more awake "Thanks you two, that really means a lot. Now to make real some breakfast the right way this time," the blonde pony turned towards the kitchen table with full focus this time around to cook for everyone.

Sometime later, Naruto was walking down the street in direction of the library to find Twilight and have a talk with her before checking around town for anything interesting then heading over to the Whirlpool shop to see to things though he won't be doing any deliveries for the meantime. He heard the flapping of wings and looked up to see a familiar Pegasus flying overhead.

"That's Rainbow Dash, but isn't she kinda flying sluggishly?" said Naruto thoughtfully, then he noticed that she was about to crash into somepony and realized who it is "Oh on, she's about to crash into Twilight and Spike!" he tried to catch her with his magic but the lack of proper sleep really affected his focus and so was too late as the mares collided with each other as Spike jumped out of the way in time after trying to warn Twilight. Naruto galloped over to check on them "Are you all okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay now," said Rainbow Dash before turning to Twilight who was getting back up from the ground "Sorry about crashing into you Twilight, I'm feeling a little off course today,"

"It's okay, I wasn't watching where I was going either," said Twilight, looking rather tired with the same going for Rainbow Dash.

"You two look like you haven't been getting enough sleep," Naruto pointed out.

"Something like that, I've been kept awake no thanks to nightmares for a week now,"

Twilight looked surprised at that "You've been having nightmares too? I've also been having them,"

"And the same goes for me, this is too odd to be considered a coincidence," said Naruto with a frown.

"Not to be a pest, but would you mind keeping it down a bit Pinkie Pie, er Fluttershy, I mean Naruto?" a voice spoke up for the others to turn and see Applejack approach them without her hat and a drowsy look on her face while accompanied by Fluttershy and Rarity who's wearing a scarf over her mane and a pair of black sunglasses.

"Yes, some of us haven't had our beauty rest," said Rarity in agreement.

"You all had nightmares too?" asked Twilight.

"Whenever I close my eyes, I stuck with those ghastly images," said Rarity, shivering at the remembrance of the nightmares.

"Every night, I reckon Rarity, er Twilight," said Applejack drowsily.

"The baddest dreams ever!" Fluttershy wasn't happy in the least "Sorry, I didn't mean to be so negative. I think I'm a bit grouchy,"

"How can we all be having nightmares all week?" asked Twilight confusedly.

"Like I said earlier before, this is too odd to be considered a coincidence. There must be something causing all this," said Naruto with a frown.

"Well it can't be all of you right? Where's Pinkie Pie?" asked Spike.

"Now that you mention it, I don't see Pinks here either…hm?" Naruto felt something nipping at the tip of his tail and moved it to his front to see Gummy latching onto it while hovering in the air with a balloon tied to it, he also saw a white envelop attached to his tail too "I wonder what this is?" he used his magic to open the envelope and took a look at what's inside.

"What is it Naruto?" asked Twilight curiously.

"It looks like an invite to a…,"

"Welcome to my slumber party!" said Pinkie Pie happily.

She was currently wearing her pajamas while hugging Gummy who was also wearing one, apparently she was having nightmares too and so had the idea for a slumber party which could chase the bad dreams away. The others came over later that night with their sleeping bags along with a few other items.

"If anything can chase away the heebie-jeebie dreams, it's a girly night of fun! Right Rainbow Dash?" said Pinkie Pie.

"Super-duper fun," said Rainbow Dash while helping apply some cream for Rarity.

"By the way, I don't see Naruto here. I thought you invited him?" asked Fluttershy.

"I knew I forgot something, just a sec!" Pinkie Pie rushed out of the room and seconds later returned while dragging along a protesting Naruto with her "Come on Naru, it's no fun at all if you're left out,"

"But Pinks, it's an all-girls party and it would be weird since I'm the only guy here," Naruto pointed out to the excitable mare.

"That shouldn't be a problem dear, you already have the solution to that," said Rarity with a knowing look.

Naruto blushed at what she's talking about "No way, I'm not going to use that and you're not going to change my mind,"

"Pwetty pwease Naru, with icing on top?" Pinkie Pie looked at Naruto with the expression of a cute puppy seeking attention, Naruto was finding it extremely difficult to look away and refuse.

"…alright fine, I'll do it! Just stop looking at me like that!" said Naruto, finally giving in and blushed when he heard the others giggling at his reaction.

"Okay!" said Pinkie Pie cheerfully.

Naruto let out a sigh of resignation and perform the jutsu, he was soon in his female form and wearing pajamas which Rarity had prepared for him…he's not going to ask why she had it. Next thing he knew was that a pillow hit him in the face before falling off, he looked to see Rainbow Dash trying to act innocent and got the idea and picked the pillow up with his tail.

"If that's how you wanna play it Dash, en garde!" Naruto ran at Rainbow Dash which smirked back and picked up another pillow before flying towards him.

"Right back at ya!" said the speedster excitedly.

"Yay, pillow fight!" Pink Pie was quick to join in with a pillow of her own.

"Uhg, they can be so childish sometimes…although it's cute in its own way," said Rarity then giggled at how Naruto was behaving.

Twilight was reading one of her books but can't seem to be finding what she was looking for "There's got to be some kind connection between our dreams…"

"Sounds like an old coinky-dink to me," said Applejack while fluffing up her pillow.

"After such a fun party, I'm sure we'll all sleep like baby dragons tonight," said Fluttershy assuredly with an example already fast asleep in his cot.

After a couple more hours of fun and games, everyone was ready for bed and bid each other goodnight especially Pinkie Pie who was about to do so for every single pony in Ponyville but Rainbow Dash cut her off in time. Everyone was fast asleep and so were completely unaware of a black mist sifting through the cracks in the windows before entering their ears to reach into their minds and began inducing nightmares.

Twilight dreamt of being dismissed from the royal court of Canterlot by Princess Celestia forever, Applejack dreamt of her family blaming her for losing their land to drought, Fluttershy dreamt of her animal friends running away from her in fear, Rainbow Dash had a nightmare of being unable to fly with the Wonderbolts due to her wings having been crippled, Pinkie dreams of being unable to make ponies laugh, Rarity dreamt of her friends rejecting her gifts and abandoning her in favor of another pony. Finally, Naruto had a nightmare of the Akatsuki finding their way to Equestria in pursuit of him to find out where Kurama was hidden and laying waste to the land as he laid defeated before Itachi and Kisame with his friends laying around on the ground and remained unmoving as he saw the black ponylike mist hovering above him and laughing darkly.

Naruto was bolted awake by how horrendous the nightmare was "*Gasp* Darn it! It keeps getting worse every time and…huh? What's with this black mist?" he looked around to see said mist swirling around in the room and noticed some of them entering the ears of the mares with looks of discomfort on their faces "Could it be what's causing these nightmares? I better wake them up," he went to wake everyone u-

"Aaaahhh!" Rarity suddenly screamed out loud, which surprised the stallion as well as woke the others up to blink in shock at the sight of the mist.

"What's happening?" asked Twilight in confusion, the mist began swirling around Rarity and lifted her up into the air.

"Help me!" Rarity called out in fear.

"Hang on Rare, we're coming!" Naruto rushed in to help when a tendril of the mist lashed out without warning and smacked him away, completely catching him off guard.

"I gotcha!" Pinkie Pie swiped at the mist with a butterfly net but that didn't work in the least "That worked so much better in my mind,"

"Gee you think?" said Rainbow Dash sarcastically.

The mist began carrying Rarity out of the house through the now open window and into the night sky as everyone rushed out to go after it, there they noticed something rather odd about the mist.

"Are they going to the moon?" asked Applejack confusedly.

"We can wonder about that later! Go after her, Naruto! Rainbow Dash…you too Fluttershy!" said Twilight urgently.

"I'm on it!" said Rainbow Dash.

"We got this!" Naruto activated his chakra wings.

"Me too," said Fluttershy.

The trio took to the air in pursuit with Naruto and Rainbow Dash being faster while Fluttershy was trying to keep up with them, the black mist tried to smack them away but Naruto was prepared this time as he formed chakra tendrils to parry the attacks and clearing the way just enough for Rainbow Dash to use her Sonic Rainboom for a great burst of speed and was rapidly catching up to them.

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity was hopeful upon seeing the Pegasus rapidly approaching her.

"Hang on Rarity, I'll be right there!" Rainbow Dash was getting closer and reached out to grab her "Just a little further…" she was just about t-

*Poof*

Rarity and the mist just disappeared from sight right in front of Rainbow Dash as Naruto soon caught up and saw what had happened much to his shock and disbelief. They began looking around for any traces of their friend or the mist with Naruto using his Aura Sight but coming up with nothing much to their growing frustration.

"I can't seem to find her at all," said Naruto with a growl.

"Talk about bad sportsmanship," Rainbow Dash huffed in annoyance.

"Which way did they go?" Fluttershy caught up with them while panting slightly.

"We don't know, they just disappeared. We better head back to Twilight and the others so that we can come up with a plan to find Rare," said Naruto.

"Yeah, come on speedy," Rainbow Dash began dragging Fluttershy away with Naruto following but he paused and looked back towards the moon then he noticed something black on a certain part of the moon's edge before following after the others while wondering about it.

Everyone has gathered at the library to try and figure out what's going on and just why Rarity was kidnapped in all this, Spike was bawling his eyes out with Applejack and Fluttershy comforting him, Rainbow Dash was banging her head against the wall in frustration of not being able to reach Rarity and Naruto moving to stop her from hurting herself further, Pinkie Pie was thinking…to say the least, and Twilight was writing a letter to be sent to the princesses for help.

"That icky stuff looked really familiar," said Pinkie Pie thoughtfully.

"Pinkie's right, I saw it in my nightmare," said Applejack, recalling what she saw then.

"Me too," said Fluttershy.

"I woke up to see the black mist finding its way into our minds, which means that it's the cause of the nightmares," said Naruto.

"But then where did that black stuff come from then?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"That's what we all want to know so that we can get over there and save Rarity," Applejack pointed out.

"We can ask Princess Luna, she's the protector of dreams and she was taken over by Nightmare Moon. She can help interpret our dreams and help find Rarity, we just need to wait for her to arrive," said Twilight.

"You needn't wait any longer as we're already here," a voice spoke up and everyone turned towards the voice and were relieved upon seeing it is.

"We're glad to see you're here, Celestia and Luna," said Naruto with a smile.

"I believe a dark energy has been infiltrating your dreams, my sister may be able to help," said Celestia.

"Could you please tell us what in tarnation is going on here?" asked Applejack.

"And more importantly, how do we get Rarity back?" Rainbow Dash was quick to add.

"Honestly, I don't have a clear answer for you all," Luna looked rather unsure of herself, Naruto's senses subconsciously triggered for him to detect fear and guilt, making him wonder why she's feeling that way.

"But you're the protector of dreams, you must know something at least," asked Twilight.

"All I know right now are that the evil dark forces have taken your friend to the nightmare dreamscape,"

"But why? What evil could still exist after you were freed?"

"Let's just blast up there and get Rarity back, we're wasting time here!" said Rainbow Dash impatiently.

"It isn't that simple, you don't know what they're planning…," said Luna unsurely.

Fluttershy seemed to have noticed the princess's unease and spoke to her gently "Princess Luna, I don't mean to be rude, but um, is there something you need to tell us?"

"It's…it's troubling,"

"Princess Luna, there's nothing to be scared of when you're around friends,"

"Remember what Naruto said the first time he visited us, we're in company of trustworthy ponies," said Celestia.

Recalling exactly what Naruto said before, assured Luna enough to speak "Thank you Fluttershy…something is happening, something I had hoped would never come to pass,"

"What is it?" asked Applejack after stopping Pinkie Pie from asking random questions.

"When I was trapped as Nightmare Moon, I thought I could show everypony how special I was by making them fear me. The nightmare forces somehow knew exactly what to say to convince me…to give me their energy and hate. After the curse was broken by the elements of harmony, I believed the forces of darkness would wither and die…but I was wrong,"

"How so?" asked Naruto.

"Legends say that if the nightmare forces can harness enough strength through the cycle of the new moon, they are granted one more chance…"

"One more chance to do what?" asked Twilight nervously.

"To claim what Nightmare Moon promised…an all-powerful kingdom of their own," Luna answered.

"At least we know what their objective is but the question is how they would be going about it and what it has to do with Rare," said Naruto.

"And why did they target the seven of us in the first place?" asked Applejack.

Naruto noticed that Luna had a haunted looked in her eyes as she quickly shook her head to clear it of any memories which came up before responding to the question "Together, you all possess the elements of harmony along with a newly created element which have defeated the dark forces before. Now they will come after all of you, the only ponies who can defeat them…and destroy your home,"

"Not only do we have to save Rare, now we gotta stop the dark forces from attacking Ponyville and Equestria in general," said Naruto with a frown.

"Then we need to get Rarity back home in a jiffy!" said Applejack.

"That's what I've been saying that we're already wasting time here!" said Rainbow Dash.

Luna quickly spoke up "No! I'll go and investigate alone, the nightmare dreamscape is full of your worst fears. Its denizens will not hesitate to use them against you, it's not a place for regular ponies,"

"Regular ponies, excuse me but that ain't flying!" Rainbow Dash refuted with a smirk.

Twilight stepped forward "If we have to face our fears to get Rarity back, then we'll do it,"

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie was all for it while Fluttershy nodded in agreement despite feeling a bit scared about all this.

"You can't expect us to just hang back and let you go alone into enemy territory without any backup, Rare needs us and we're not going to let the dark forces do whatever they like plus it would go against what Kakashi-sensei taught me," said Naruto with a look of determination.

"I must agree with them sister, the elements of harmony are very powerful and were what brought you back to me. I trust that they will help you greatly," said Celestia.

"But what about Ponyville?" asked Luna worriedly.

"I'll will stay behind to help the residents prepare while you all save Rarity and stop the attack,"

"But how do seven ponies and a baby dragon get to the moon?" asked Fluttershy confusedly.

"Okay hear me out, first we get an enlarging ray and hit me with to grow into giant size then I carry you all there, next we surprise them by having Naruto use his shadow clones to take it to em!" said Rainbow Dash.

"Solid idea Dash but we're missing one thing, we don't have anything like an enlarging ray," said Twilight in a deadpanned expression.

"You won't have to worry about that…I know of a way," Celestia playfully winked at them, causing Naruto to smile as well.

"I can only hope that your friend is brave, the nightmare dreamscape is not for the faint of heart," said Luna.

Next thing you know is that Pinkie Pie's wearing a cheerleader's outfit and waving a pair of pompoms about while calling out a cheer "Rarity is as strong as an ox, riding a fox, trapped in a steel box, using her teeth for locks!"

"Pinkie is right, Rarity would never back down if she didn't want to do anything," said Applejack.

"We all have to be strong for Rarity," said Twilight.

"We must move fast, we don't know how long Rarity's bravery will protect her," said Luna.

"In that case, I'm heading home to get my gear before setting out for the moon so we can save Rare and be back for a nice bowl of ramen!" said Naruto while galloping out of the library.

"I call for seconds in advance Naruto!" Rainbow Dash called after him.

"Thirds for me!" Pinkie Pie was quick to add her request.

Meanwhile at the moon, Rarity was inside what appears to be a dark throne room and was tied to the throne itself.

"Seriously? I've had bad hair days much more intimidating than this, show yourself then take me home immediately," said Rarity with defiance. Suddenly a gray wisp of mist whooshed right past, sending a sense of discomfort through her coat "R-really? That the best you got? Whooshing around in the dark?" more wisps were quick to join the first, making the fashionista more uncomfortable and a bit fearful by the minute.

"Admittedly, that's a twinge creepy…and a step-up from the first. Good show whooshie things," Rarity could see the many pairs of red eyes staring at her intently from the shadows around her and couldn't help but feel scare, she could only hope in her heart that her friends could come over quickly to help her out of this uncomfortable situation.

OMAKE

Prince Blueblood was currently walking down the streets of Canterlot while being his haughty and arrogant self as he uses the reflections of nearby objects to ensure that his appearance is an absolute perfection.

*POP**POP**POP**POP**POP*

Suddenly there was the sound of popping with confetti flying all around the pony much to his shock as he looked around to see several mares surrounding with party poppers and a stallion blowing a trumpet.

"Congratulations! You have been chosen as the very first passenger for the TOUR-O-RAMA!" a stallion wearing a black tuxedo with a monocle and a top hat stood before him.

"YAY!" the ponies cheered happily while shooting more party poppers.

"Tour-o-rama? What on earth are you talking about?" asked Blueblood confusedly.

"Do forgive our rudeness and allow us to explain, you see we travel all around Equestria to give a lucky pony the most luxurious and unique tour absolutely free with the only requirement that that they have to be incredibly handsome or beautiful and you sir have the fortune to be chosen," said the monocle wearing pony with a twinkle in his eyes as his crew were snapping photos of the prince.

Blueblood was surprised at first but then having been chosen because of his handsomeness made him feel great pride in his appearance "Well it is to be expected as I am the best suited for the tour,"

The pony looked pleased "Excellent, please come this way and we shall begin our tour!" He and the crew began leading the prince to the outskirts of the city much to the unicorn's confusion.

"Excuse me but where exactly are we going?" asked Blueblood.

"We're taking you to our vehicle which will give you a Birdseye view of things,"

"Oh you mean a hot air balloon?"

"Psh, we have no use for such mundane mode of transportation. We wish to surprise our chosen ponies, not bore them with stereotypical methods…ah here we are," said the pony.

Blueblood looked ahead and was shocked at what he was seeing, before him and a giant tri bladed boomerang with a seat in the middle while attached to a giant catapult.

"Is that what we are going to use for the tour?" asked the prince in disbelief.

"Of course, but you'll be the only passenger but no need to worry as it's absolutely safe since we had tested it earlier before plus it's guaranteed to return here," said the monocle pony assuredly.

"…very well, if it does succeed then I would recommend you to my friends," said Prince Blueblood.

"You honor me with your words, now let us begin with the tour!" the crew quickly scooped the prince up and carried him over to the boomerang where they strapped him into the seat with lots of seatbelts before moving away as the monocle pony walked over to the lever and placed a hoof over it "We hope to hear of your experience when you get back!" he pushed the lever to launch the catapult.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

Everyone watched the prince scream like a little girl as he was launched to the skies till he wasn't seen or heard anyone.

"Once more, we're about to have a successful tour," said the monocle pony proudly, he felt someone tapping and turned to see one of the crewmembers looking rather nervous "What's the matter?"

"Uh sir, you might want to look at this…it's a receipt for the boomerang," said the crewmember.

The monocle pony took the receipt and began reading it out loud "One genuine giant boomerang from ACME Company, 50% guaranteed to return…where exactly did you buy this?"

"We bought it off a coyote who was selling it at a cheap price, said he needed the money to buy something to help catch a road runner…should we be worried?"

"…nah, I'm sure the deities also blessed him with luck as well as handsomeness, if not…" the monocle pony pulled a mask off to reveal Naruto who then put on a pair of eyeglasses with a pair of thick eyebrows and a mustache attached to it "…we were never here,"

"Good point," the crewmembers disappeared in puffs of smoke to reveal themselves as shadow clones as Naruto sealed the catapult into his medallion before sneaking away.

"SOMEONE PLEASE HELP, THESE ROGUISH CREATURES ARE RUINING MY 500 BIT MAKEOVER!" Prince Blueblood ran as fast as he can while being doggedly pursued by Timberwolves in the Everfree Forest at night with his outfit already shredded while covered in mud and leaves.

Naruto popped up from behind the bushes and took a picture with the camera he had bought while smirking like a mischievous fox, he turned towards the readers to speak "At least we all know that he's been working out to maintain his appearance but certainly not his wits! Kukukukuku…I seriously need to stop laughing like that,"

Facing Uncertainties

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA

Chapter 40: Facing Uncertainties

Naruto along with the others are currently situated atop a hill at the outskirts of Ponyville in preparation of making their way to the moon to rescue Rarity as well as stopping the nightmare forces from attacking Ponyville, he had gone home to gear up and made sure that Scootaloo was safe inside the house just in case anything happens while they were gone. Naruto walked up to Twilight and Fluttershy with the latter looking at the moon in worry while taking note of Applejack placing a bundle of rope before Celestia and Luna.

"I sure hope Rarity is okay, I don't think I can imagine anything scarier than being kidnapped and taken to a nightmare dreamscape," said Fluttershy worriedly.

"Don't worry, I'm sure princess Celestia has a plan," said Twilight.

"Plus saving Rarity is the main reason why we're going to the moon besides stopping the nightmare forces," Naruto spoke up in agreement before rejoining the others.

"Ya'll know that's just a regular lasso right? Ain't nothing special," Applejack skeptically gazed at said item.

Twilight smiled knowingly "We'll see about that,"

"It's kinda obvious that magic will be applied here AJ, no need to be so skeptical there," said Naruto.

"Naruto is right, along with Luna's power over the moon, we should be able to shorten the journey for you all," Celestia explained, then her horn glowed in a golden aura and the rope was enshrouded in it as everyone watched in awe while she formed a lasso with it.

"Ooooh, are we jump roping to the moon?" asked Pinkie Pie whilst eating from a bag of popcorn and wearing a pair of 3d glasses.

Celestia launched the lasso out into space and was able to latch onto the moon, Luna took it as her cue with her horn glowing blue and begin drawing the moon closer to them through her connection with it albeit reluctantly given the unpleasant memories of the past. Naruto and the others moved in to assist by pulling on the rope as hard as they can to bring it closer.

"Bringing the moon closer to the earth is much harder than I imagined," said Luna, visibly struggling with the task at hand or rather hoof.

"We're with ya on that sister," Rainbow Dash grunted out a response.

"Everyone concentrate," said Celestia.

"I could sure use a few enchanted apple carts during the harvest season, whaddya think, princess Celestia?" asked Applejack.

"If we don't move this moon, we'll have heavier problems than apple carts!" said Rainbow Dash.

"Then let's put our cutie booties into high gear and pull!" Pinkie pie was using a pair of drumsticks to beat on a drum with a white rope bandanna wrapped around her forehead to cheer them on.

"Time to rally up a crew then, Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto channeled his chakra to create copies of himself that immediately joined in to help pull on the rope, making things a bit more easier and soon enough they were able to draw the moon in close enough to reach it.

"That's it! Well done my ponies, I'll go and prepare Ponyville immediately," Celestia tied the other end of the rope secured to a tree stump as an anchor point then turned to look at each of them "I wish you all good luck and hope for your safe return," then she flew away in direction of the town.

"You know, I never would have thought that I would look at the moon like this," said Rainbow Dash.

"Me neither, this is amazing in itself," said Fluttershy softly.

Luna hovered in front of them and spoke in a tone of concern "This is your last chance to change your minds. Remember, the dark forces that took Rarity will use all their powers to scare you. They will unravel you with your greatest fears,"

"Our minds are already made up Luna-chan, we're going up there to save Rare and make a certain group regret kidnapping her," said Naruto determinedly.

"He's right, we can accomplish anything when we work together," said Twilight with confidence.

"Ya darn tooting!" Applejack bumped hooves with Twilight.

"Yeah, let's get going already!" said Rainbow Dash.

Twilight was the first to balance on the rope and walk along it soon followed by Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Naruto and Spike whilst Luna, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew alongside them.

"This is one small step for ponies, one giant leap for ponykind. I've always wanted to say that!" said Twilight excitedly.

"Just keep your eyes open Applejack, no thinking about the gosh darn darkness down below," said Applejack nervously fighting the urge to look down.

Rainbow Dash flew by with a smirk on her face "Are you kidding? This is fun! And I get to brag to everypony that I was the first ever Pegasus in Ponyville to go to the moon,"

"Says the pony with wings,"

"You know I heard that in space, no one will hear you sqee," said Pinkie Pie acting like a circus acrobat.

"You're not helping," said Fluttershy through squinted eyes.

"I've been wondering about something…," Naruto looked back at Spike who was equipped with a knightly armor, lance, shield, mace and a brush for who knows what "Are those things really necessary plus why didn't you simply store them in a crystal and put them on when we get there?"

"Well we need to be prepared for anything, this is Rarity's safety we're talking about!" Spike responded.

"Naruto's got a point there, all the weight from your stuff might be too much for the rope," said Applejack.

"Nonsense! This rope is as solid as a rock!" Spike began jumping up and down on the rope to prove his point.

Naruto's eyes widened in shock "Spike, quit it! All that jumping with your armor on might cause the rope to-"

*Snap*

"DARN IT SPIKE!"

"I'M SORRY!"

"Squee!"

"They were wrong! I totally heard that!" said Pinkie Pie.

Naruto quickly activated his Chakra Wings and followed up by creating Shadow Clones to catch the flightless ponies with their chakra arms much to everyone's relief before staring silently at Spike who looked away with a flinch.

"Now that I think of it, wouldn't it have been better if Naruto had done this from the beginning?" said Twilight.

"I don't think this would have come to mind since we were more focused on getting to Rarity," said Fluttershy.

"We're almost there, please follow me," said Luna before making her descent towards the darker side of the moon with the rest following after her although they couldn't help but shudder at the darkness ahead of them as they landed with hardly source of light around them.

"Finding Rarity in pitch black? No problem at all," said Rainbow Dash sarcastically.

"No need to bug yourself Dash, I got just the thing for this current situation," Naruto reached into the ninja pouch with his tail, rummaging through until he found what he was looking for and brought out a white crystal "Illuminate!" the item floated away from his tail and began glowing brightly, making their surroundings visible.

"Oooooh, shiny," said Pinkie Pie with starry eyes.

"Thanks for the light Naruto," said Applejack gratefully, Naruto smiled in response.

"We need to hurry, it's only a matter of time till they know that we're here," said Luna urgently.

"Who exactly is 'they', Princess Luna?" asked Twilight.

"When the nightmare energy came back to life, it needed a physical form. Unfortunately for the inhabitants of the moon, they became victims and are now under its spell," Luna explained.

Fluttershy gasped in shock "How could they do that to such sweet little creatures?"

"They aren't sweet anymore,"

"Then we better hustle, they might do the same to Rarity if that's what you're saying," said Naruto, receiving nods of agreement from the other mares before beginning their trek with Luna in the lead.

Meanwhile, Rarity was still sitting at the throne and surrounded by the dark denizens of the nightmare forces although she isn't tied up anymore but it didn't mean that she was any less uncomfortable with her current situation. One of the dark beings hovered before her and then spoke in a deep masculine voice.

"We've made our offer very clear," said the being.

"Clear? Do you know what you've made crystal clear? The fact that a new set of drapes will do wonders for this place," said Rarity before looking away with a huff "Bad decors aside, I would never and will never stay here. Ponyville is my home!"

"Oh, but we know that all you ever want to do is help…,"

"…And we do need help from a pretty lady, don't we Larry?" another being spoke but this resulted in it getting strangled from the first one "Uh… I mean, don't we Shadowfright?"

Shadowfright turned towards Rarity once more "Without you, our existence is meaningless…your generosity would save us,"

"No! My friends need me!" Rarity quickly refuted.

"Do they? Will they reject your gift once somepony new comes along? Somepony with a bit less attitude?"

Rarity was about to respond when she recalled the dream she had, of how all of her friends began spending more time with a new pony in town and how they completely refuse anything she tries to offer to them. Bits of doubt began rising from within her.

"But…they won't forget me…would they?" asked Rarity unsurely, something Shadowfright and the others were quick to notice and would have been grinning if they had teeth.

"Stay with us and your kindness will never be taken for granted," said Shadowfright.

"You would never be forgotten," said the other being.

A small aura in the form of a pale blue star rose out of the black mist and latched on to the tip of Rarity's horn, the fashionista began to feel something gradually take over her body and mind whilst losing her sense of reasoning with the darkness beginning to swirl around her.

"Never? I just want to help," Rarity muttered out with a tear trailing down her cheek.

"And you will help…more than you have ever dreamed," said Shadowfright with glee as the mare was fully engulfed in the darkness, just as planned.

Back with the rescue team, they were advancing through the dark mist with the Flash crystals provided by Naruto and Luna using memories from her past persona even though she didn't want to do so, the tension was so thick that one would think that they could cut it with a knife. As if sensing the tension, Pinkie Pie took having everyone play a game of 'I Spy' which did the trick and got them to relax a bit at least.

Twilight then spoke up in a nervous tone "Um guys…I think they know we're here now,"

"How can ya tell?" Applejack curiously, then she noticed with the others quickly doing the same of the many red eyes glowing in the dark and staring at them intently.

"Looks like they sent the welcoming committee to meet us halfway, how polite of them," said Naruto sarcastically.

Luna suddenly felt something rather ominous heading their way "Something's coming!" the rest turned towards where she was looking to see a tall castle like building in the distance and large black billowing clouds emerged from within it and was rapidly approaching them "Run! I don't have any control over this nightmare mist!"

"You heard her, move your hooves and wings already!" said Applejack.

"No need to tell us twice AJ!" Naruto responded, the group all took off to avoid getting caught in the mist. Naruto heard Luna gasp and looked up to see her looking back, he followed suit and was shocked to see Twilight and the mares had gotten caught in the mist which was still chasing after them "Darn it, is there any way we can get to them Luna-chan,"

"I could enter their dreams but not without risk of being attacked by the dark forces and I can't risk have you getting caught in it too," said Luna worriedly.

Naruto's mind raced for a solution to help rescue the mares, he soon came up with one albeit risky and 30% chance of success like his many other plans but he was more than willing to go with it. Naruto jumped into the air and twisted himself to face the mist as a pair of chakra arms emerged from his hands and proceeded to weave through a set of handsigns "Hope this works, Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" he took in a really deep breath with his stomach bulging a bit as he brought a chakra arm to his mouth before blowing a massive gust of wind which instantly drove the dark mist away from him and Luna along with revealing the mares laying on the ground with black wisps leaking out of their ears to signal being subjected to nightmares.

"Quick! Get to them while I keep these guys away from you!" Luna nodded in affirmation and flew towards the mares with Naruto following from behind "Shadow Clone jutsu!" he created two shadow clones which swung into action "Windflaw Dash!" the clones began running in a circle at high-speed to the point of generating a large tornado with the others at the center, the nightmare forces attempted to reach them but the tornado constantly knocks them back.

Naruto approached Luna and Spike as the alicorn's horn glowed brightly, pulling them all in to Twilight's dreamscape. There they saw Twilight before Celestia in the Canterlot throne looking down at the ground in despair as the princess was constantly criticizing their friend much to Naruto's growing anger and they were quick to call out to her.

"Twilight, this isn't real! Wake up!" said Spike worriedly.

Twilight responded in a low voice "But Princess Celestia said…"

"That isn't Celestia, the real princess believes in you just as much as we do. If so, she would have sent the Wonderbolts instead of us if she didn't believe in you!" said Naruto determinedly.

"What they say is true, you were able to save me from the darkness because my sister believed that you and your friends could do what she wasn't able to,"

Twilight listened to their words and realized that they were right, then she looked up to the impostor with defiance in her eyes "They're right, you aren't the princess…all of this is not real!" there was a bright flash of light and everyone found themselves back in the real world "Thank you for helping me,"

"It's no biggie Twilight," said Naruto with a smile.

"We need to hurry and wake the others before they become trapped in their nightmares forever," said Luna.

The group dove into Rainbow Dash's dream next to find themselves in a hot air balloon and flying over a flooded Ponyville with the Wonderbolts flying about and trying to assist the residents. Luna was quick to spot Rainbow Dash atop a roof and attempted to fly only to fall into the water, Naruto shot out a chakra arm to grab the Pegasus and pull her into the balloon.

"Dash, wake up! This isn't real!" said Twilight.

"But my…my wings are clipped, I'll never be able to fly again and my dreams of becoming a Wonderbolt will never come true," said Rainbow Dash, looking back at the tattered wings on her back.

"That's not true Dash, the nightmares want you to think that way but we know otherwise! You're the fastest Pegasus in Ponyville and everypony knows that for a fact. Don't let these guys pull you down to the ground!" said Naruto.

"They're right, look," Luna channeled her magic, Rainbow Dash looked at her wings to see a black mist float away to reveal their true appearance, making her realize what's going on.

"So my fear was making this real?! Then in that case…," Rainbow Dash took to the air with a look of confidence "I just don't have to be afraid!" this awoke them into the real world once more

The group dove into Pinkie Pie's dream next to find themselves sitting at the stands of a show with Pinkie Pie trying everything to amuse a booing audience but to no avail. She was about to give in when she saw Twilight and Naruto amongst the crowd, holding up large signs with the words 'Yay Pinkie Pie! Please wake up!' and 'Steal the Show Pinks!' respectively. This in turn restored Pinkie Pie's confidence in herself and turned towards the crowd whilst taking hold of the microphone.

"So you can't partay? Are you not amused?!" she got hit in the face with a tomato with the juices dripping down her face which now had an angry expression on her face "Well guess what nightmare schmitemare…I'M THE MOST LAUGHTER-GIVING, FUN-HAVING, FRIEND-MAKING PONY EVER! YOU HAVE NO CONTROL OVER ME!" then she dropped the microphone as she woke up to see the others applauding her and bowed in response.

"For such a passionate comeback and dropping the mike afterwards, I award you with a perfect ten," said Naruto with his chakra arms doing just that.

Pinkie Pie giggled in response "I aim to please,"

Fluttershy was backing up in to a wall of her home with growing fear as the animals slowly approached with low growls and expressions of hostility, she tried to communicate with them but they refused to listen to her. At that moment, the door was suddenly kicked opened which everyone turned to see Naruto along with Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash dressed like stereotypical private eyes.

"Paws up bunnies!" said Pinkie pie with a badge held up, actually getting the rabbits to comply.

"Those guys are fakers!" said Rainbow Dash as a matter-of-factly.

"B-but they're just scared, I must have accidently hurt them!" said Fluttershy.

"I beg to differ Shy, I've been helping you with the animals and I know full well that hurting you will never cross their minds. These ones are fakes that the nightmares are trying to deceive you with," Naruto swung his tail at one of the animals, causing them to dissipate into black mist much to the shy mare's shock.

"How could they? I'm so mad that I could yell! Almost," Fluttershy frowned a bit.

"Sing it sister!" said Pinkie Pie.

"Oh, why not?" Fluttershy closed her eyes and took a deep breath "Fakers!" this in turn woke her up, Rainbow Dash got a bit judgmental and held up a sign reading '3.2' while Naruto thought it to be cute.

"Applejack is the only one left for us to wake up so let's go!" said Twilight urgently.

"Sure thing, I don't know how much longer my clones can hold before dispelling," said Naruto.

Naruto, Twilight and Rainbow Dash were the ones to dive into Applejack's dream and were taken by surprise at the sight of the orchard being so desolate before rushing to find Applejack and soon came upon her being yelled at by her family for being the cause of it much to the stallion's displeasure.

"Applejack, this is a nightmare and none of it is real!" Rainbow Dash called out to their friend.

Applejack turned towards them in surprise "What are ya'll doing here? You need to leave, there's no food left,"

"No listen to us, none of this is happening. The nightmares are trying to keep you trapped forever, look," Twilight's horn glowed with magic and placed it on Applejack's forehead, enabling her to see the dark mist around them.

"But…it felt so real," said Applejack unsurely.

"Come on AJ, you descended from a family of top farmers in all of Equestria. Granny Smith made it a point to remind us of that a lot and these guys are trying to tarnish that, don't let them keep doing that!" said Naruto.

"Naruto's right, it's time to quit being afraid!" said Rainbow Dash.

"Rarity needs our help and we need you too!" said Twilight.

Applejack was silent for a moment before looking back at the others with determination "Ya'll right, if you say this is just a nightmare, then I'll believe you!" with that said, Applejack was fully awake and standing with them.

"It's like you said before, you're all willing to overcome your fears to save your friend," said Luna, surprised at how they lived up to their word.

Naruto smiled at them when he felt a wave of exhaustion come over him before noticing the tornado disappearing which meant that the clones had dispelled themselves since they had run out of chakra and revealing them to be surrounded by the shadowy creatures.

"Naruto, are you okay?" asked Fluttershy worriedly.

"I'm okay, just a little tired but still rearing to go," Naruto replied.

"Good to know cause I don't to hog all the action without my buddy here and show them that we ain't scared anymore," said Rainbow Dash.

"Aw, but some of you are afraid. Isn't that right…Luna? Is that what you're going by now?" said Shadowfright.

"That is my name, my past as Nightmare Moon is long gone," said Luna, then Shadowfright floated closer to her.

"But there is something you fear,"

"Come back to us, and we will spare your friends," said the second being.

"…," Luna remained silent.

"After all they've done for you, is this how you repay them?" Shadowfright pressed on by whispering into her ear "Of course, you know our other alternative,"

Luna closed her eyes in fright "No! You can't. These ponies saved me, Rarity saved me! I will g-"

*WHAM!*

Luna heard Shadowfright cry out in pain and looked to see the being reeling back in pain and Naruto standing protectively in front of her with a hoof raised and a stern expression on his face.

"Consider that a warning, try again and Hoshi no Ha will be coming out to play," said Naruto.

"Naruto…," said stallion turned to Luna with a warm smile.

"Seriously Luna-chan, we keeping telling you that there's no need to worry anymore and that we've accepted you as someone who is our friend," said Naruto.

Rainbow Dash flew up to the alicorn "That's right, there's no way we're letting a goth-loving bunny take another one of our friends away from us!"

"Darn tooting!" said Applejack.

"I'm your…friend?" asked Luna unsurely.

"Yes you are, and we'll say it as many times as you want to hear it," said Twilight with a smile.

"I can totally do that!" said Pinkie Pie cheerfully and Fluttershy nodded in agreement.

"Well, I see you have some real friends here. Friends who would do anything for you, and these friends won't be dissuaded," said Shadowfright.

"Of course not!" said Rainbow Dash.

The being turned towards Luna "This is you last chance 'Luna', before they find out what you let happen,"

"Quit beating round the bush and release Rare back to us or else you're going to be in for a really bad time," said Naruto with his body radiating chakra.

"Well, it seems to be that we're unable to come to an agreement, luckily we came prepared. We will get the kingdom we were promised!"

There was a sudden surge of magic before the ponies in the form of a large billowing smoke with white light glowing within it, the group were able to make out the silhouette of a unicorn and felt a sense of dread as Shadowfright continued to speak.

"Now the Elements of Harmony will be destroyed and Ponyville will be defenseless! Meet our new queen!" the mist dissipated to reveal the figure, causing everypony to gasp in shock "…Nightmare Rarity!"

Before them stood Rarity but she had completely changed in appearance. She is significantly taller than normal with her coat being dark purple and cutie mark was slightly altered to feature stars and glimmer, her mane was till the same style albeit longer, multicolored and somewhat etherealized as star-like glitters could be seen within it. Her eyes are pale cold blue with diamond-like glimmers within them.

"You gotta be kidding me…this has got to be one of those illusions," Naruto muttered in disbelief of what is before him.

Nightmare Rarity turned towards Naruto with a sneer on her face "Oh but this is all too real, Naruto Uzumaki. It amuses me to see that expression since it's obvious that you weren't expecting another encounter with me,"

"Wake up Rarity, you've got fight back!" Twilight called out in hopes of reaching out to their friend.

"Don't bother, she can't hear you anymore and with one of the bearers in my possession, the Elements are no longer in sync to be used," said Nightmare Rarity.

"You've got some nerve to possess one of the ponies who helped save me from your clutches," said Luna with a glare.

"Yeah, you're totally asking to get your butt kicked again!" Rainbow Dash looked ready to swing into action.

"I simply learnt from my defeat and if anything, you're to blame as well Luna. If you had simply accepted my power to become Nightmare Moon once more, then your precious ponies would have been spared but now they will suffer and you will be hated once more," said Nightmare Rarity arrogantly.

Naruto stepped forward in defiance "Speaking like you know everything, last I checked we defeated you despite your proclamation of Equestria being subjected to eternal night, so you might have to forgive our skepticism,"

"Oooh, you just got told!" said Pinkie Pie bumping hooves with a chortling Rainbow Dash.

Nightmare Rarity frowned in response "It doesn't matter what you say, I'm taking Ponyville and you are powerless to stop me. Take them down," at her command, the nightmare forces charged towards the ponies with Shadowfright in the lead.

"Get ready everyone cause here they come!" said Twilight.

"Aw yeah, come and get some!" said Rainbow Dash excitedly.

"Watch each other's backs, don't let them pick us off!" Naruto spoke up as he took a combat stance with the others tensing for a fight.

Music Start: Mario and Luigi Dream Team OST; The Final Antasma Battle

Naruto took point back dashing forward and performing a full body tackle into Shadowfright then stepped back and channeled chakra into his tail to lengthen it as he spun round on his fore hooves to slam into the approaching nightmare forces, knocking them back. He reaches into his ninja pouch with the tail and tossed several Impulse Crystal towards the enemies which unleashed concussive bursts of magic to send them flying.

Rainbow Dash was swooping in and out of the clusters of the shadow creatures whilst performing combos of punches and kicks "Time for a new move, Aero Wheel!" Rainbow Dash curled up into a ball and used her Pegasus magic to generate wind as she spun rapidly before barreling through more of the shadow beings then rising into the air once more. She heard something heading her way and quickly swooped to the side to see Shadowfright fly past and crash to the ground.

"Nice try, but you gotta be a lot faster if you want to catch me," said Rainbow Dash with a smirk.

Shadowfright rose from the ground and glared at her "Duly noted,"

Applejack was currently darting from side to side to avoid getting caught by the smoky tendrils of the shadow creatures then retaliating with powerful punches and kicks to knock them away, she raised her forehooves into the air before bringing them down strongly onto the ground, causing a slight quake and making large pieces of rock pop into the air which she then kicked at random targets and bludgeoning them "Coming through, Yee-haw!" she slammed her fore hooves hard on the ground to form cracks then lunged at high-speed and slammed into the enemies with a full-body tackle "There's tons more where that came from!"

Twilight was providing support for the others by firing beams of magic from a distance, she noticed that she was being surrounded by some of the nightmare forces and focused on her magic before unleashing it in a radial burst to push them back "Bolt Chain!" her horn glowed for a moment before a stream of lightning shot out and struck a nightmare creature then arcing off to hit another which continued until there were small group being lit up like Christmas lights before collapsing to the group.

Twilight turned her focus towards the next group of nightmare creatures when they were suddenly hit in their heads with wrapped presents much to their confusion, they were about to take a closer look when the presents suddenly exploded with confetti and colorful streamers but the force of the explosions knocked them back and the next thing they knew was that small meteorites slammed into them from above. That was when Pinkie Pie bounced into view with a playful smile on her face and her tail was twitching, Twilight soon figured out what happened and shook her head in amusement.

"Thanks for the help Pinkie Pie," said Twilight gratefully.

"No problemo, I was waiting for somepony's birthday to use them as a prank but I couldn't pass this chance up. Plus my tail started twitching a lot when the fight started," said Pinkie Pie cheerfully.

"Guess the pinkie sense wants to get involved,"

Some of the nightmare creatures were sent flying due to having been struck by a chakra tendril courtesy of Naruto, the orange stallion looked around and frowned upon seeing more of them appear to replace the ones taken down and noticed that some were especially targeting Luna much to his ire as she kept blasting them away with beams of magic from her horn "Time for some much needed breathing room," Naruto formed a pair of chakra arms to weave through a set of handsigns as he ran "Wind Style: Air Bullets!" he inhaled deeply before spitting out spherical projectiles of air towards the targets and knocking them out of the sky then activating the chakra wings to take to the air whilst weaving through yet another set of handsigns "Wind Style: Wind Explosion!" Naruto held his forehooves forwards as a sphere of wind took form before throwing it to the ground below and triggering a radial blast of air which rapidly expanded, blowing more of the nightmare forces away from them.

"Are you okay Luna-chan?" asked Naruto in concern.

"Yes I am, but more continue to appear. We would be overrun at this rate," said Luna worriedly.

"I kinda figured that, which is why we need you to return to Ponyville and help defend it along with your sister,"

Luna was taken aback by his statement "I can't do that, I can't leave you all behind!"

"He's right! You need to go or Ponyville won't stand a chance!" said Rainbow Dash whilst performing a barrel roll to avoid getting snagged in midair.

"You can leave these varmints to us!" Applejack punched a shadow creature away from her as she spoke.

"Please go and help everyone," said Fluttershy who was being guarded by Spike and some of the shadow clones left.

Luna was still unsure about going "But…,"

"Princess Luna, you must go back to Ponyville and help them! Go!" Twilight called out.

Hearing the seriousness in their voices, Luna finally relented before enshrouding herself in a blue magical aura "Very well then, I shall save your friends! This I swear to you!" she took off like a shooting star back to the earth, leaving the others to continue the fight.

Eventually though, each of the mares began getting captured and restrained by the nightmare forces due to exhaustion with Naruto being the only one left still fighting with aid from his shadow clones until he saw them and forcefully willed himself to stop fighting and dispelled his clones.

Music End

"How predictable, you stop fighting the moment you see that your friends are held hostage. Ponies like you never cease to amuse me, a similar situation which forced Celestia to seal her dear sister into the moon," said Nightmare Rarity tauntingly.

"…," Naruto remained silent with an angry glare, the surrounding shadow creatures approached the ninja to restrain him as well but stopped when the mare raised a hoof.

"Not yet my servants, there's something I wish to do before you send him to the dungeons along with the rest,"

"As you wish my queen," said Shadowfright with a bow.

"What are you planning to do to Naruto?" asked Twilight with worry in her voice.

Nightmare Rarity didn't respond, she continued to stare at Naruto then suddenly fired an orb of dark energy from her horn to strike him in the chest with the stallion stumbling backwards with a grunt of pain.

"What are you doing?!" Rainbow Dash yelled in anger.

"Out of all ponies that annoy me, this one grates on my nerves far more than anyone else and I am going to take my time and enjoy administering my long-awaited punishment," said Nightmare Rarity with a dark smile.

"…gonna take a lot more than that to hurt me," Naruto growled out in defiance.

"Which is exactly why I'm going to enjoy this,"

Nightmare Rarity proceeded to pelt Naruto consecutively with dark orbs without relenting with the stallion refusing to be knocked down or cry out in pain despite his clothes being destroyed and his body assailed wounds and bruises. Twilight and the other mares called out to Naruto to defend himself from the attacks but he knew than he couldn't do so lest they get hurt instead and so continued to endure the beatings. The mare herself was beginning to get irritated and was about to use even stronger magic when an idea popped into her head, causing her to smile evilly.

"Since you're strong with your body, I wonder how strong your mind would be?" Nightmare Rarity's horn glowed brightly with Naruto finding himself unable to move as the nightmare mist swirled around him with the eyes of everyone widening with dread at what was going to happen.

"Don't do this Rarity! This ain't the right thing to do!" said Applejack.

"I'm making this fair as I recall that he avoided the mist earlier while you were caught, so you can consider this even,"

The smoke closed in on Naruto with him shutting his eyes for a moment before opening them to find himself within Konoha but it was completely devastated to his horror with many buildings destroyed and in flames, he could hear the screams of the villagers in the distance and ran towards them but try as he could, Naruto realized that he was moving too slowly till the screams stopped with his heart turning cold at the implication.

"This isn't real, this is just a nightmare," Naruto muttered to himself, then a raspy voice spoke out.

"Indeed this is a nightmare, but the kind which one cannot wake up from. You're responsible for all this!" the voice spoke with hate.

"What did I do wrong?"

"Akatsuki invaded this village in search of you! When they didn't find what they wanted, they laid waste to the village! I knew you were nothing but trouble!"

Another voice spoke and was soon joined by others "This is all your fault!"

"The Third was a fool to have let you live!"

"My parents were right, you really are a demon!"

"You don't deserve to live, you monster!"

"You are a calamity!"

Naruto covered his ears to block out the voices, but he could still hear them all too clearly "No…stop it…I'm not a demon…,"

"Keep lying to yourself, cause that's what demons do!"

"You abandoned us!"

"Why weren't you here to protect us?!

"Monster!"

"Demon!"

"Disgrace of a ninja!"

Naruto collapsed to his knees, shaking his head rapidly in denial with tears streaming down his cheeks as he feebly refuted their claims and accusations. In the real world, everyone watched Naruto collapse to the ground with his body shaking with sobs and they could hear him repeatedly mutter 'No', 'It's not true' or 'I'm not a demon' many times.

"How could you do this to him?" asked Fluttershy with tears brimming with tears.

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth in rage "When I get out of this, you're gonna pay Nightmare Moon!"

"Naruto…," Twilight muttered with sadness at the stallion, she had never seen him like this, this sight of this just feels wrong and wish that Luna had been around a bit longer to help free him from his nightmare.

Nightmare Rarity cackled in delight at the pathetic sight of the pony, but for some strange reason felt sad before quelling that feeling "Take them away, I've had my fun,"

The shadows nodded in affirmation and floated over to carry Naruto…when without warning there was a sudden surge of energy from within the stallion everyone watching in shock at the sight of him being enshrouded in a dark aura but it was the vibes emanating from it that frightened them a bit, it comprised of sorrow, hatred and vengefulness. Naruto slowly rose to his feet with his head lowered to the ground and eyes being hidden by the blonde spiky mane.

"What is this?" Nightmare Rarity was confused at what's happening.

Naruto then spoke but, in a voice, completely different to his normal one "It is not polite to refer to someone as 'this'…YOU IDIOT!" he sharply raised his head to reveal his having changed from azure blue to black with red iris and a crazed smile on his face "Kyahahahahaha!"

"What happened to Naruto?" asked Applejack confusedly.

"I don't know, but might it have something to do with the nightmare mist," said Twilight whilst looking on with worry.

"Who are you?" Nightmare Rarity demanded.

Naruto tilted his head in response "Who am I? how can you ask such a dumb question? I am who I am!"

"So you are Naruto then?"

"Psh, I am not that softy. He and I share an unwanted connection and because of it, I can't afford to let any permanent harm happen to him. So I simply benched the guy and took over to have some fun,"

"Then you are saying that you're better than him?"

"Care to try your luck?"

Nightmare Rarity was about to reply when Shadowfright spoke up in anger "I've had enough of your blatant disrespect, punish him!"

Music Start: Kingdom Hearts 2 OST: Tension Rising

The shadow creatures closed in on 'Naruto' whose grin grew wider as they approached him, they reached out to grab the stallion only for him to disappear in the blink of an eye, the next thing that happened was a giant black chakra hand slammed down upon them from above with enough force to cause quakes. 'Naruto' was far from finished for he proceeded to repeatedly bash them to the ground until he was satisfied or rather bored before turning to the next group of nightmare forces.

The second cluster of enemies decided to attack the ninja with a pincer attack from both sides simultaneously to give him no chance for a counterattack and immediately executed it. 'Naruto' looked from side to side but instead of looking worried, he rather chuckled much to the confusion of others when something burst out of the ground from both sides revealing them to be multiple smaller chakra arms which grabbed into each of the creatures and pulled them underground with no hesitation.

"I advise that you don't treat me like Naruto, that weakling doesn't even compare to me!" said 'Naruto' with a smirk "As a matter of fact, why don't I just show you the difference between him and I?"

With that said, 'Naruto' was the one to charge at the nightmare forces and was soon throwing punches and kicks shrouded in dark chakra while laughing all the way. One moment he was ferociously striking at some of the shadows and the next he was flying overhead unleashing projectiles of darkness down below with a look of enjoyment on his face. There were times that he would be struck, but 'Naruto' would simply shrug it off and continue fighting.

The mares looked on in worry and growing fear, the pony before them is nothing like the Naruto they know and care for, this one doesn't have a sense of consideration for anything around him, not even for himself and he actually enjoys hurting others. A thought crossed through their minds that what if this is a Naruto if he succumbed to the darkness, the thought was scary but witnessing it is downright terrifying.

Nightmare Rarity herself was taken aback by what she was seeing right now, could this have something to do with the nightmare that she had trapped him with which might have unleashed a darkness locked within him? She snapped back onto focus upon seeing that a majority of her minions were taken down and now he was looking straight at her, causing a pang of fear to rise within her.

"Now that your chess pieces are taken out of the game, I believe it's time for a checkmate!" said Naruto.

Twilight realized what he meant "No, don't do it Naruto!"

Her plea fell on deaf ears as Naruto disappeared from view and reappeared right before Nightmare Rarity who blinked in shock with a forehoof raised and the chakra taking on the shape of sharp claws. 'Naruto' smirked with glee and brought it down upon his target to end everything…only to stop inches before her face much to the stallion's confusion.

"Wha-what's going on, why can't I move?" said 'Naruto' confusedly, that's when he noticed that the chakra claw was changing from black to white which caused his eyes to widen in shock "You can't be awake, not now!" the white continued to bleed into the black until half was taken over.

"What's happening now?" asked Fluttershy.

"I-I think that Naruto's fighting for control over his body," Twilight could only come up with that guess.

'Naruto' gripped his head with his eyes shut as he stumbled about and trying to retain control but visibly with everyone "Stop! You will win this battle if you just leave it to me!"

Then Naruto's true voice was heard "I won't let you hurt her!"

"Don't you get it?! If you chase me out now, you'll die for sure! Don't you understand that you don't have the strength or will right now?!"

Nightmare Rarity stood there mesmerized until Naruto opened an eye to reveal that it had turned back to blue to look at her "Rare…I…I…Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!

Naruto activated his chakra wings with one being black and the other white before flying away from everyone and into the distance.

"Naruto…,"

Music End

"What are your orders, my queen?" asked a wounded Shadowfright.

"…take them to the dungeons but I want some of you to retrieve that pony, he could be useful to me," said Nightmare Rarity before walking away, hiding the fact that she was shaken from all this.

"What do we now?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"I don't know…I don't know right now," Twilight responded quietly.

The mares were taken away to the castle by the nightmare forces, but no one was around to noticed the shimmering of a rock before it disappeared to reveal Spike holding a brown colored crystal in hand.

"It's a good thing I had this Camo Crystal that Naruto gave to me," Spike turned to look in the direction that Naruto flew off to "I better go find Naruto and make sure that he's okay before those guys get to him, then we'll double back to save Twilight and the others from the dungeon. Oh man, things are getting trickier by the minute!" the baby dragon scampered in hopes of finding his friend and help resolve all this.

Radiance within Darkness

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA

Chapter 41: Radiance within Darkness

Naruto flew erratically in the air while constantly fighting to regain control over his body, but it led to the chakra wings dissipating which led to him falling to the ground with a crash and formed a crater upon impact. The blonde stallion crawled out with his eyes squeezed shut and teeth gritted to depict the struggle.

"Get…out…of my…head!" Naruto barely growled out.

"No! I refuse to be stopped by you!" a darker tone of his own voice refuted.

Naruto opened an eye to see a boulder and galloped over to repeatedly slam his head into it "I…said…get…out!" the constant shift between the colors black and white of his aura eventually remained white but he was losing consciousness, Naruto collapsed to the floor and blacked out but not before hearing the dark voice speak out.

"Tch…this isn't over,"

Elsewhere on the moon, Twilight and the others were taken to the dungeons underneath the castle by the dark forces after being captured by Nightmare Rarity. Each of the mares couldn't help but feel frustrated with everything that's happened to them since the moment they landed on the moon; Rarity is possessed by Nightmare Moon, Luna was persuaded to return to Ponyville to defend it, Spike is missing, Naruto forced himself away to fight against his inner darkness, and now they imprisoned.

"Man, this sucks big time! We came to kick butt and get Rarity back, then all this happens," Rainbow Dash grumbled with her forehooves crossed.

"We just weren't expecting it pardner," said Applejack.

"I'm also worried about Naruto, he was trying to free himself from what Nightmare Rarity did to him and we couldn't help," said Fluttershy with concern for the blonde stallion, she had never seen him that vulnerable since their battle against Discord.

"Me too, it's like the nightmares affected him differently compared to us. But I'm also worried about Spike, he wasn't with us when we were captured," Twilight looked down in depression "Maybe we were in over our heads, I've never felt so useless,"

"Cheer up everybody, everything will be just fine. Next thing you know we'll be out of here, saving Rarity and Naru, finding Spike and having a victory party!" said Pinkie Pie, being ever the optimist.

"I don't know Pinkie, I just don't know,"

Luna was descending towards Ponyville as Celestia's sun rose in the horizon, despite having been told to retreat to prepare the town for the raid, the Alicorn princess could not help but feel guilty. She was supposed to help the ponies who freed her from her darkness to rescue their captured friend and yet was forced back due to her insecurities no matter how much the others say otherwise.

"How could you leave the ponies? Your weakness made you Nightmare Moon once, and now you're weak again…," thought Luna sadly "You will never be strong," she landed on the ground and was met by Celestia and the town residents, particularly Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

"Where are the ponies?" asked Celestia.

Sweetie Belle interjected "And my sister, is she okay?"

"They were captured…," Luna answered unhappily.

Scootaloo shook her head in denial "I don't believe it, not my big bro and Rainbow Dash!"

"We know you three mean well, but please stay out of harm's way," said Celestia.

"No offense Princesses, but we can't do that. Our sisters and brother are the ones who need our help this time," said Apple Bloom.

"No, I will not let anymore ponies put their lives at risk!" said Luna sternly.

"Lives, just what happened up there?" asked Scootaloo.

Luna began walking with Celestia keeping pace with her as she spoke "The Nightmare Forces are on their way, they will attack Ponyville,"

"Not to worry sister, we will prepare before they arrive," said Celestia.

"I hope it will be enough, then I can rescue the others from the moon," Luna muttered to herself.

Meanwhile on the landscape of the moon, the sound of pattering feet could be faintly heard and footsteps could be seen being made on the ground but the source is hardly visible. Suddenly there was a shimmer and a figure became visible, revealing to be none other than Spike the dragon who had escaped capture from the nightmare forces.

"Shoot, the Camo Crystal ran out of power. Better be careful not to let anyone see me," Spike sniffed the air a couple of times before facing in a certain direction "He's over there, I'll recognize that ramen smell anywhere!" he skipped through the rocky landscape with the scent getting stronger until he came across the pony sprawled out on the ground unconscious "Naruto!" he ran over to the blonde stallion and began shaking his body to stir him awake "Come on buddy, now's not the time to be sleeping! Wake up!"

A groan was soon heard from Naruto whose eyes opened; his vision was blurred for a bit but it soon cleared for him to see Spike with the young dragon letting out a sigh of relief "Spike…is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me. Boy am I glad to see that you're doing okay," said Spike.

Naruto tried to get up when he flinched from the pain running throughout his body "I don't think my body agrees with you," Spike quickly helped him up to a sitting position "So what happened?"

"Don't you remember when we came to the moon, that we encountered the Nightmare Forces?"

"Wait, I think it's coming back to me," said Naruto, then the memories slammed into him harder than a freight train. He remembered it all; the revelation of Rarity being possessed by Nightmare Moon, being subjected to his worst nightmares, then he recalled the dark feeling of having lost control of his body and going on a rampage to almost attacking Rarity with the intent to hurt her badly before struggling to regain control and passing out afterwards.

"Oh Kami, I acted just like Gaara when I first met him at the Chuunin exams, I actually enjoyed hurting others…like a monster," thought Naruto with the tendrils of fear wrapping around his heart.

"Okay right now, we need to sneak into the castle to find Twilight and the others so we can rescue them then figure out a way to save Rarity," said Spike, then he noticed that Naruto wasn't paying attention "What's the matter?"

"I…I don't think I should go Spike," said Naruto reluctantly.

Spike blinked in confusion "What do you mean by that? The others need help and you don't want to go?"

"It's not like that, you saw what happened to me…I might go on a rampage again and hurt everyone around me like before. I'm a danger to myself and others right now, I don't think I can handle the guilt if I-,"

"SHUT UP!"

Naruto was taken aback from the sudden yell from Spike who was glaring at him with gritted teeth.

"What's wrong with you, since when did you become such a coward?! That's not the Naruto I know! The Naruto I know and care about doesn't let fear control him and won't hesitate to do what needs to be done! He went head-to-head against Nightmare Moon, fought dragons, and is always there to help his friends whenever they need him! He's the guy I came to the moon with, not a coward!" Spike turned around towards the castle in the distance "I'm not going to waste any more time here when I should be going to help my friends who need me, see ya,"

Naruto simply sat there and watched as Spike walked away with the dragon's words weighing heavily on his mind, then he heard a voice…his own voice echoing in his mind.

"Upon this wound, I make my pledge! I will never back down again and let someone else rescue me, I will never run away!"

Naruto raised his left forehoof to look it and blinked once to see his human hand which was bloodied, and actually feel the familiar ache before he blinked again to see his hoof "Spike was right, I'm acting like the old me who stood in fear and let Sasuke rescue me that day. I swore an oath of pain; to never run away again!" he looked to see Spike now a fair distance away from him "And I won't let this stupid fear make me abandon my friends either!"

Spike was making his way to the castle with his mind set on rescuing the mares when something suddenly whizzed past him, he looked only to be surprised to see Naruto standing ahead of him before looking over his shoulder with a foxy grin "N-Naruto?"

"I recall your plan being that we sneak into the castle to rescue the girls then find a way to save Rare, I'm sure we can get there faster if you ride on my back," said Naruto.

Spike stood there blankly then he smiled happily upon realizing the true meaning of what he's saying "Yeah, you're right!" he jumped onto Naruto's back and held on "Let's go Naruto!"

"You got it!"

Naruto crouched slightly then took off at high-speed, it didn't take them very long till they arrived at the castle. The duo were scoping out the area when they took note of something occurring at the topmost balcony of the castle, there they saw Nightmare Rarity climb aboard a dark chariot and began her voyage for Ponyville with the Nightmare Forces following after her.

"They're heading for Ponyville, we gotta hurry and go after them," said Spike worriedly.

"I know, luckily this means that there's lesser guards in the castle. No doubt they're put into the dungeons which is at the bottom of the castle," said Naruto.

The blonde stallion channeled chakra to his hooves and began ascending vertically on the castle wall till they reached a window and peered inside, making sure that there were no patrols about before entering. Naruto was about to create some shadow clones to help search for the entryway to the dungeons when he felt something pulling him in a certain direction, seeing no reason to ignore, he let himself be led through the hallways but made sure to be stealthy about it.

"Do you know which way we're going?" asked Spike.

"Not really, but I'm sure we're going to where we need to be," said Naruto with a growing smile, he felt warmer as he drew closer, going through a door with a spiraling staircase leading down to the dungeons. Through the dark hallway, they saw a beautiful light of the colors of a rainbow glowing through one of the doorways, Naruto's body radiated with a white magical aura "They're over there, we must be resonating with each other through our bond," they hastened towards the light but stopped upon seeing a nightmare guarding the entrance.

"Of course, they left a guard here," said Spike.

"Then we just need to be creative in sneaking past him, there's a gap underneath for us to crawl through," Naruto placed Spike on the ground and performed the Transformation jutsu to turn into a mouse, they silently crawled past and went inside to find the mares locked in separate cells and Naruto undid the jutsu to revert to his normal self.

"Naruto! Spike! You're both okay!" said Twilight in relief, with the same going for the others.

"We were really worried about you two!" said Applejack.

"I was able to get away thanks to the Camo Crystal Naruto gave to me," said Spike.

"I wasn't too okay at first, the nightmares and that sudden rampage really shook me up. It took Spike yelling at me for being a coward to snap out of it," said Naruto apologetically.

"That's cool and all, but can you get us out of here," said Rainbow Dash "You got a key on you right?"

"Uh, we didn't find any on our way here," said Spike sheepishly.

"Then we'll do this the old-fashioned way," said Naruto with multiple chakra arms emerging from his back.

Pinkie Pie then spoke up "Oh yeah, I totally forgot! No sweat, my Pegasisters, Pony Bro and Dragon boy," she began wiggling her body much to the confusion of Naruto and Spike and exasperation of a few mares.

"Darlin' that's sweet and all, but dancing ain't gonna free us all," said Applejack.

"Oh ye of little faith," something flew out of Pinkie's mane and fell onto the ground with a metallic clink, revealing to be a black key "Well the dingus wiggled right into me and the key fell out of his pocket! What's a filly to do?"

Naruto chuckled when Pinkie winked at them "That's just like you Pinks, as unpredictable as your Pinkie Sense," he took the key with his tail and began unlocking the cells "We need to get a move on, the Nightmare Forces and Rare are headed for Ponyville,"

Rainbow Dash bumped her fists together "Then let's go already!"

"Not so fast!" everyone turned to see that the guard had woken up and was in their way.

"Hey there, had a nice nap?" asked Naruto with a smirk, ready to swing into action.

"You can't escape from me! I'll stop you and finally get the attention I deserve!" said the shadow.

"You really want to be friends with those guys? They're mean to you," Applejack pointed out.

"Friends? We don't need friends! Friends are unimportant!"

"Are you loco? Friends are everything that is nice, fluffy, and wonderful!" said Pinkie Pie.

"Do they even know your name? We haven't heard it since we met," asked Twilight.

"No, no they don't, Lar-I mean Shadowfright said that names are the most important element for being scary. But he doesn't even know mine," said the shadow sadly.

"Awww, you poor thing," Fluttershy couldn't help but sympathize with it.

"Yeah man, I've been there before. Had to struggle for as long I want to remember to be acknowledged," said Naruto, recalling his past in his original world.

"I know…I mean No! Friendship has no power and means nothing!" the shadow turned away from them with its smoky arms crossed "And there's nothing you can do to escape my clutches!"

"Well today's your lucky day," the shadow turned around and was surprised to see the ponies radiating magical auras of colors representing their Elements of Harmony as Naruto spoke with a smirk "You're about to experience firsthand the power of friendship,"

Meanwhile in Ponyville, everypony positioned themselves at the ready as the Nightmare Forces approached menacingly. Celestia has called upon the Royal Guards with Luce coming along to help upon hearing that Naruto was captured but strangely didn't appear all that worried and the Wonderbolts were also called upon to help. Luna stood at the forefront while garbed in golden armor but she couldn't help but feel tense at all this.

Celestia approached her with concern "Is something the matter sister? We need to focus if we are to lead,"

Luna steeled herself at those words "It is nothing, I will protect these ponies…no matter what!" her horn glowed with cobalt blue magical energy before firing a large powerful beam only Nightmare Rarity to raise an armored forehoof to deflect it with hardly any effort.

"Really? Must we go through all this again? Once is entertaining enough for me," said Nightmare Rarity with a bored look on her face "Still fighting back your anger and fear. Give into the darkness and join the party!"

"I refuse, I'll defeat you on my own!" Luna responded in defiance.

Nightmare Rarity scoffed and glanced sideways towards her dark army "Amuse yourselves," the shadows swiftly flew past her and towards the ponies with looks of glee.

Everypony were fighting the enemy with everything they've got and utilizing their talents to the maximum. The Cakes were certainly proving that they could do more than bake a mean muffin with Mr. Cake bashing several shadows over the head with a rolling pin, Mrs. Cake slung pies in support to keep them at bay.

Scootaloo was riding her scooter as fast as she could and glanced back to see the shadows gaining "I'd like to see you catch me!" she drifted round a corner and rode into an alleyway only to skid to a stop due to being blocked by wooden crates, the shadows gradually approached with nonvisible smirks on their face.

"You've got nowhere to run now that you're trapped, little pony…why are you smiling?" the shadow asked due to the filly's current expression.

"Cause you're the one that fell into a trap! Cutie Mark Crusaders, fire away!" Scootaloo called out, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom appeared over the crates with slingshots and launched crystals which unleashed powerful magical bursts to send the shadows fleeing in pain "That was for our brother and sisters!"

"Do you think we'll get cutie marks for bashing shadows?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"If this doesn't, then I don't know what will," Apple Bloom responded.

"I'll go and lure in more bad guys, so be sure to reload before I get back," Scootaloo hopped onto her scooter with the others doing just that.

Vinyl Scratch was facing her own share of shadows, glaring at them through her shades "Time to find out if you can handle the beat! Release sound system!" her medallion glowed before white orbs emerged from it and transformed into two giant loudspeakers and she stood behind her sound console, Vinyl inserted a disc into the console and pushed the volume to the max "Here's a musical number!" she hit the play button and-

*BOOOM*

The loudspeakers unleashed a concussive blast of sound to send the shadows flying with them feeling as if they were struck by a stampede of bison "Finally get to use the Bass Cannons, and Octavia is too busy to stop me this time. Carpe Diem like they always say,"

"Time for you all to face the prowess of the Mighty but Humble Trixie!" said Trixie, donning her cloak and hat while her horn radiated with blue magic "Magic Binding!" a large blue summoning circle appeared beneath her feet then multiple strands of mystical ropes shot out and wrapped around the shadows, holding them in place.

"What's this?! I can't get free!" said one of the shadows.

"This magic spell was created together by my friends and I, friends you had captured. Here's another, Magic Hailstorm!" Trixie conjures a giant sphere of magic then fires a blast of magic from her horn to knock it into the air where it rains down smaller magic orbs all around, pelting the shadows with its barrage "And Trixie's got a lot more where that came from!"

"Speed Star!" Luce was galloping while enshrouded in a white aura radiating from his body like a comet at high-speed was ricocheting of the shadows with every collision before somersaulting in midair to unleash a barrage of aerial spinning kicks around him before landing on the ground, he saw the enemy lash out with their smoky arms to grab him and so channeled magic through his horns for a magic spell "Circumstellar Disk!" a ring-shaped accumulation of stone debris swirled around Luce to knock them back and took to the offensive once more "Stellar Wind!" a star appeared overhead before a powerful gust of starry wind burst from it to send them flying far from him "He'd better come back soon or he's gonna miss out,"

Luna was engaging Nightmare Rarity on her own in an aerial battle whilst firing powerful blasts of magic but her opponent effortlessly deflects the incoming attacks with hardly focus at all which frustrated and inwardly frightened her. That was when Nightmare Rarity called out to her in arrogance.

"I can feel your bitterness, Luna! You can't deny it so give in already!" said Nightmare Rarity, Luna flinched at the statement and that moment of distraction cost her as she got shot with a beam of dark magic and crashed to the ground with her helmet slipping off.

Celestia gasped in horror "Luna, no!"

"Princess Luna!" the residents galloped over to see if she was alright, Nightmare Rarity landed nearby with a look of apathy.

"Time for a white flag anyone? Now might be a good time before someone got really hurt…oh wait, Luna did!" said Nightmare Rarity, she took note of Celestia and everyone else standing around the hurt princess protectively and glaring at her in defiance "How quaint, you're still going to protect her after she betrayed you and let your town be destroyed?"

"Yes we will, forever!" Sweetie Belle proclaimed, everypony nodded in complete agreement.

Luna painfully sat up "My anger and bitterness turned me into Nightmare Moon once, I fear it could happen again. It is my burden,"

"You don't have to bear the burden alone, my dear sister," said Celestia with great care in her voice.

"She's right, we won't let that happen. You're one of us now," said Scootaloo.

"I'm…one of you?" Luna looked around everyone in confusion.

"Yes you are, you're as much part of Ponyville as the Cakes, Joe and everyone else," said Apple Bloom.

Luna struggled to her feet "With all of you beside me, maybe I don't need to fear my past…or future,"

"Whatever comes, we'll face them like a big ol' family does," said Granny Smith assuredly.

Luna felt warm from all the caring looks by everyone around her "My friends, if I am to fight together with you then I must be honest. I have been hiding my fear and past from you all, but no more and I cannot handle it alone," she gestured to the shadows before them "If you can forgive me, I swear to never abandon you like I did to the denizens of the moon. I will never let the fear of becoming Nightmare Moon stop me from defending you,"

"Everypony deserves a second chance, Trixie knows that best," said Trixie with a smile.

"It's like big bro often says; those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worst than trash. We won't ever abandon you," said Scootaloo.

"You will always be Princess Luna, now and forever," said Celestia.

Never before has Luna felt so happy and relieved that she felt something building up from within her heart and burst out with her body glowing brightly before dissipating to reveal that she had changed greatly in appearance. Her coat has taken on a darker shade of blue and her mane has become longer, partially translucent while rippling and sparkling like Celestia's but resembling that of the starry night sky. Luna has regained her true form and her powers are fully restored.

"Together, we will defeat the nightmare energy and it will never hurt anyone ever again!" Luna proclaimed confidently with everypony cheering for her.

No longer sensing the fear and bitterness within Luna, Nightmare Rarity was outraged "You're all fools! Love! Trust! Friendship!? *Bleh* Try Power! Fear and Darkness!"

"You can't be Rarity! She would never say something so awful! But why do you feel like her?" Sweetie Belle demanded.

"Sweetie Belle?" Rarity's true voice echoed in the mind of the possessed unicorn but was quickly suppressed "Can't you all see? You have nothing left, I've even captured you so-called Element Bearers and that annoying stallion is nowhere to be found!"

"Ya sure about that?" a familiar voice spoke up from above, everyone looked up to see Naruto descending to the ground while enshrouded in a white magical aura with Twilight and the other mares soon following with magic auras of their own "Sorry we're late, but good guys always show up the last moment to save the day or rather night,"

"Ya got that right!" said Rainbow Dash.

Luna flew over to the group with a look of relief "You're all okay!"

"Of course we are, we're that good!"

"And we made a new friend too!" Pinkie Pie pointed at a creature behind which did not appear smoky like the Nightmare army. Shadowfright recognized who it is and growled in anger.

"You dingus!" said Shadowfright.

"I am not a dingus, my name is Jerome and you better not forget that like my new friends won't!" said the creature in defiance.

"Think you can give these fellas a wakeup call?" asked Applejack.

"Most certainly, along with your help," Luna channeled magic into her horn and strands of magic from the ponies flowed to it before releasing a radial burst of magic with the appearance of a rainbow, the shadows were enveloped with the magical energy and revealed to be creatures possessing features similar to animals.

"I'm…me?" Shadowfright looked at himself, bearing resemblance to birds.

"That takes care of them," Twilight turned to face Nightmare Rarity "Now to take care of the reason this all started,"

The ponies stood before the dark being with looks of confidence, then Applejack spoke up "We're only going to say this once, give Rarity back to us!"

Nightmare Rarity scowled in defiance "I refuse!"

"Don't say we didn't warn ya!" said Rainbow Dash,

They all fired their magical auras towards her in unison with the force enough to knock the helmet off, Luna approached to connect the tip of her horn with the unicorn's and stared straight into her eyes without blinking.

"Your darkness cannot survive in the light, release your hold on generous Rarity's and let her speak!" said Luna, the nightmare was forced to comply and soon everyone heard Rarity's voice call out to them.

"My friends! You came for me! You didn't forget about me!" they could hear the relief in her voice.

"Geeze, those things really sucked on your brains. Can't blame ya since I was in the same boat too," said Rainbow Dash.

"You didn't replace me with an ill-fashioned pony with braces?"

"Now why would we do that?" asked Fluttershy.

"We don't replace the ones we care about, Rare. You're irreplaceable," said Naruto.

"I thought that you'd forget about me if I stopped being fabulous…I want to help…always!" Rarity's voice was getting fainter, much to the worry of the ponies "Please no! I don't want to go back! It was so cold and lonely-and I wasn't helping anypony! I was hurting them, help!"

"Rarity, hang in there!" Twilight called out to her, but there was an explosion of dark energy, knocking everyone back and disrupting their attempt with Nightmare Rarity regaining control and sneered at them.

"Bwahahaha! There is no power that can stop me now, your body is mine! You will be remembered, Rarity…but as the darkest and cruelest ruler ever known!" said Nightmare Rarity arrogantly.

Naruto's head lowered with his front bangs shadowing his eyes and muttered lowly "How dare you...,"

"Do you have something to say, little pony?" asked the dark unicorn.

"HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO RARITY?!"

Naruto snapped to his head up to look at Nightmare Rarity with eyes full of rage, surprising everypony "Ever since I was born, I've always been alone with no parents…no siblings…no family…nothing. No one wanted to acknowledge me, even denied my very existence all because of something out of my control. It felt like I had no worth in the world and I hated that feeling of not being wanted. It is the kind of feeling I and a few wouldn't wish it on anyone else," everyone listened as he continued to talk, finding his origin hard to believe from the time spent with him save the ones who know his true past "For as long as I've known Rarity, she loves nothing more other than making clothes than to help ponies. We all love her very much and treasure every moment spent together, which is why I will never forgive for what you did to her!"

"Big talk from a pony, whose nightmares left him a sniveling mess and stands before me with half of his power lost!" said the dark unicorn, Luna looked at Naruto in concern since he must have been exposed to the nightmare mist when she left.

"Even so, I won't let that stop me. I won't quit until Rare is safe!"

"Be silent, little foal!" Nightmare Rarity fired a large beam of powerful dark energy towards Naruto who simply stood there and was enveloped in the brutal attack much to the horror of everyone watching.

"Naruto!" everyone cried out to him, Scootaloo's eyes brimmed with tears at the thought of Naruto's possible demise.

"Hmph, he was nothing but all talk and if anymore predictable," said Nightmare Rarity.

"Ya sure about that?"

Not expecting a response from a familiar voice, everyone turned towards the dust cloud resulted from the magic attack where they could see a black silhouette within it and felt hope of who it would be. The dust finally settled down to reveal Naruto standing before them and donning a red samurai armor (an; Kirin Katana Kachi - Samurai Guardians by Lionel23 on DeviantArt) with hardly a scorch mark from the previous attack.

"How is this possible?!" Nightmare Rarity yelled out in confusion.

"My determination and willingness to endure anything for those close to my heart enabled me to access a new gear change of the Hoshi no Ha; the Armor gear," Naruto responded, he glanced at Twilight who got an idea of what he's planning and galloped over to Applejack and the others. The armored stallion gradually approached Nightmare Rarity who stared into his eyes, those accursed eyes which told her point-blank that they didn't fear her and capable of instilling bravery into others around them.

"I hate you Uzumaki!" she fired a blast at Naruto for it to push him back slightly upon impact but continued to walk forward without a scorch mark on the armor still. Refusing to give in, she continues to fire blast after blast at him but with hardly any visible effect, which made her feel frustrated and frightened for it made her remember their first battle "Why won't you be destroyed?!"

Twilight was speaking to the others about the plan "Everypony listen up, Rarity is scared of being forgotten. We must remember her or she'll be lost to the nightmare energy forever!"

"What should we do?" asked Fluttershy.

"Close your eyes and remember something…anything you love about her," Twilight quickly instructed.

The mares sat and did as told, Pinkie Pie recalled the embarrassing moment Rarity had with her when they were taking a bubble bath at the spa, Applejack remembered when Rarity came over to help her at the farm and even helped fixed a bird's nest too, Rainbow Dash thought of when Rarity fix her Wonderbolt outfit and was ever grateful for it, Fluttershy remembered the cute outfit Rarity made for Angel Bunny which she absolutely adored, and Twilight remembered the day Rarity tended to her when she was in bed with the flu. Reacting to their thoughts, the auras surged stronger than before and converged to one point.

Nightmare Rarity was quick to notice "Whatever you have planned, I won't let it succeed!" she fired a beam of dark magic towards them but another beam intercepted it to cancel each other out then Luna before them protectively "You interfere with me Luna?"

"I won't let you hurt my friends!" said Luna.

"I feel you should be more worried about something else," Naruto spoke up, practically three steps away from her, she made to move but Naruto swooped in and wrapped his forehooves around her, holding her in place. At that moment, the combined aura enveloped them both with the memories flowing into their minds and Nightmare Rarity's struggles were getting weaker by the second then Naruto leaned forward to whisper into her ear "Rarity…remember that day when we were making scarves?"

Naruto's memory showed him entering the boutique and saw Rarity at work, making scarves and offered to help with her accepting. Opalescence showed up and grabbed on of the longer scarves to shred with her claws which led into a chase, next thing that happened was Naruto and Rarity being wrapped up in the scarf with their faces very close enough to stare into each other's eyes which left them flustered. It took some time to get themselves unwrapped, it most definitely had them feeling something about it.

"Please Rare, let our bond light up a path that would lead you back to us…" said Naruto.

At those words, the nightmare energy was expelled from Rarity's body and she was back to her normal self, much to the joy of everyone around. Rarity opened her eyes and gasped in surprise upon finding herself in Naruto's embrace.

"N-Naruto?" Rarity barely stammered out.

Naruto smiled in response "Welcome back Rare,"

"Rarity!" they were soon joined by Twilight and the others to form a group hug and laughed together.

"How could I have been so foolish, I believed their lies and let insecurity get the best of me. Me, of all ponies!" said Rarity amidst tears.

"It could happen to anypony, we're just glad to have you back with us!" said Applejack.

Pinkie Pie nodded rapidly "I'll plan a big party…after a nap!"

"I'm so happy to see you're okay Rarity!" said an overjoyed Spike.

Rarity also went to hug Luna "Thank you for reminding me-"

"Reminding us," Luna corrected with a smile.

"Reminding us that everypony is irreplaceable to their truest friends!"

"I'm glad-" suddenly the armor disappeared and Naruto went down on his knees, panting for breath, worrying the ponies around him.

"What's the matter big bro?" asked Scootaloo.

Naruto tiredly replied "*Pant pant* The armor has the ability to negate motion-based attacks but it places a great strain on my body and I can only keep it on for no longer than five minutes or if the damage is too overwhelming for me to endure,"

"Total bummer," Rainbow Dash.

"But it was worth it,"

Later that night, everypony were at the hills seeing Luna off as she was about to escort the creatures now known as Nyx back to the moon.

"Now that the moon is safe, we'll be seeing you soon. Right, Princess Luna?" asked Twilight.

"Yes you will, after I've escorted these beautiful creatures back home on the moon," Luna affirmed.

"Hope to see you soon, Luna-chan," said Naruto albeit bandaged due to the fight at the moon.

"Sleep well tonight, my pony friends,"

"I will because of all of you, you saved me from my nightmare," said Rarity with Sweetie Belle hugging her tightly.

Everypony on the hill to watch as Luna transported the Nyx to the moon in its true stellar radiance, Naruto felt someone lean on his shoulder and turned to see that it was Rarity who smiled at him softly; causing the stallion to blush and shyly look away while unaware of the blush appearing on her cheeks as well. Rarity remembered when she was guided by the memories of her friends and was following Naruto's voice back to them, she heard him say something which shocked her greatly and then made her feel warm inside her heart.

"Please Rare, let our bond light up a path that would lead you back to us…" then he whispered "…my Beauteous Gemstone,"

Rarity let a deep sigh "Just like in the fairy tales I used to read; a princess being saved by a hero in shining armor along with his allies. Never thought it would have happened to me, but I'm glad it did and you are my hero Naruto…," she fell asleep with a smile on her face with dreams of her dressed like a princess and Naruto next to her in his armor as they walked in a field of flowers.

To Be or Not To Be

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA

Chapter 42: To Be or Not To Be

It was nighttime in Ponyville, Spike was pacing up and down impatiently in the library while dressed in a dark purple dragon costume for some strange reason. He groaned in frustration before looking up at the stairs leading to Twilight's bedroom.

"Come on Twilight, we're gonna be late for the Nightmare Night festival if you keep taking this long to get ready!" Spike called out with a frown.

No sooner he spoke that the door opened up and Twilight came out dressed in a wizard's robe adorned with bells, embroidered with golden stars and crescent moons, and she wore a long fake white beard to complete the outfit. Twilight pranced down the stairs and showed off her outfit with pride.

"What do you think Spike?" asked Twilight happily.

"…are you dressed as that one cooky grandpa from the Ponyville retirement home?" asked Spike confusedly, wondering why she was dressed like that.

Twilight's smile quickly turned into a frown at the question "What do you mean by that, I'm dressed as Starswirl the Bearded,"

"…," Spike simply looked back at her blankly.

"…father of the amniomorphic spell?"

"…,"

"Did you even read that book I gave about 'Obscure Unicorn History'?"

Spike began sweating nervously, not wanting to let her know that he never read the book and is trying to find a way out of this conundrum.

*Knock knock knock*

An escape route miraculously presented itself to the young dragon "That sounds important!" he zipped past Twilight and went to open the door only to be a bit surprised when a trio of fillies dressed in various costumes began to sing.

Nightmare Night!
What a fright!
Give us something sweet to bite!

"Sure thing!" Spike went inside to get a bowl of candy for the fillies while Twilight went to greet them.

"Hi everypony, great costumes. Happy Nightmare Night to you too, Granny Smith," said Twilight.

Granny Smith looked a bit grumpy though "I should have been asleep five hours ago,"

A little colt dressed like a pirate jumped before with a toy cutlass sword in his mouth and showboated with it but slipped up to fall on the ground before getting back up and putting it away "Pipsqueak the pirate, at your service. It's my first Nightmare Night,"

"Since you moved from Trottingham?" asked Twilight.

"No, this is my first Nightmare Night ever!"

Suddenly there was a chicken squawk and Pinkie Pie appeared in front of Twilight with a serious look on her face…while dressed as a chicken "Enough chitchat, time is for candy only!"

The Element Bearer of Magic quirked an eyebrow at her fellow Element Bearer "Aren't you a little old for this, Pinkie Pie,"

Pinkie Pie squawked in shock "I am never too old for candy or anything else that is sweet!"

Twilight rolled her eyes and handed out the candy to the young ponies including Pinkie Pie with the latter actually pecking at the candy like a chicken. Twilight jingled the bells on her outfit to catch Pinkie Pie's attention to show it off.

"So what do you think of my outfit?" asked Twilight.

"Oh yeah, I think it's a great oufit Twilight! You made an awesome weirdo clown!" said Pinkie Pie then pecking at the remaining candy in Spike's bowl before taking off with Twilight looking rather flabbergasted.

"A clown?! The borders on this outfit are hoof-stitched if you took a good look at it!" Twilight gestured to a part of said outfit.

"It is a great costume, grampa!" said Spike jokingly, closing the door before heading for the town square with a grumbling Twilight in tow.

In the town, everypony have already gotten into the swing of things as they eating and collecting candy, dancing, singing, playing games and many more while dressed in many varieties of costumes, one can even see Big Mac dressed as a vampire while pulling a carriage with a trio of ponies riding on it. Twilight wasn't really paying attention to any of them, considering that they kept getting the identity of her costume wrong.

Twilight grumbled as she walked "I can't believe no one knows Star Swirl the Bearded, he is like only the most important conjurer of the pre-classical era. Creating more than two hundred spells and even has a shelf in the Canterlot library of magic named after him. Perhaps I should start up a pony group to teach ponies about history, sounds like a good idea. Don't you think so too, Spike?"

"Mm-hmm!" Spike wasn't really paying attention, considering he was more focused on the large pile of candy in his hands.

Pinkie Pie rushed up to them with the fillies from before following after her "Twilight, Twilight! Look at our haul!" she pecked at the bag of candy hung around her neck "Ah! Can you believe it? And then, we went to Cheerilee's house, and got a bunch more goodies. Didn't we, Pip?"

Pipsqueak nodded happily in agreement "Sure did!"

"And then, we had to stop and wait for Granny Smith, and-,"

*CRACKLE* *BOOM*

There was a sudden sound of thunder which nearly scared the feathers off Pinkie's costume as she ran off screaming and the fillies wasted no time doing the same. Twilight heard laughter and looked up to see Rainbow Dash sitting atop a dark cloud and dressed in a black version of the Wonderbolt's uniform.

"Rainbow Dash, that wasn't very nice," Twilight scolded.

The mischievous Pegasus waved her off "Chillax old timer, this night is the best time for pranks!"

The unicorn's eyes twitched in annoyance at the shot at her costume "But look at what you did to Spike," said dragon was sprawled out on the ground and choking on the candy stuck inside his throat and managed to cough it out.

"It's all in good fun…oh, there's another group over there!" Rainbow Dash pushed the dark cloud towards her next targets to surprise them.

"Looks like Dash's having fun in her own way," a familiar voice spoke up, Twilight turned round to see Naruto in a costume of his own design. He was wearing the standard outfit for Jounin, a white haori with red flame designs on its hems, and a kanji for 'Yondaime Hokage' written on the back.

Naruto smiled happily "Hey Twilight, nice costume. Are you some kind of old wizard from a long time ago?"

"Out of all ponies…and dragon, so far you're half correct. How did you guess?" asked Twilight.

"Well magic is your thing so I guessed that your outfit would have something to do with it,"

"That's true, well what's your own costume about?"

"Actually, this outfit is what my dad wore as a Kage of the Hidden Leaf village. It was kinda hard to choose between this one and the one Grandpa Hokage used to wear," Naruto looked at his outfit fondly.

"It certainly suits you,"

"Thanks, I can definitely say the same for you plus more," Twilight blushed a bit from Naruto's compliment.

"By the way, Spike and I are on our way to the Cakes' food stall to get something to eat, wanna come with us?"

Naruto hummed in thought "Maybe, I want to see how everyone's doing but we can meet up there,"

"Okay then, we'll see you later," said Twilight before walking away.

Naruto nodded in affirmation then walking down the street and marveling at the festivities with the ponies enjoying themselves this night. He even had a shadow clone stay at home so he could give out candies to the fillies and colts should they visit there. Naruto located Trixie having set up a stage and was pulling off magic tricks to entertain the audience, smiling warmly that Ponyville had completely forgiven Trixie and accepted her as one of their own. The blonde stallion was snapped out of his thoughts upon hearing someone call his name.

"Naruto!" he turned to see Dinky dressed as a firefighter galloping happily towards him with Derpy donning a costume comprised of multiple paper bags.

"Hey there you two, nice costumes you got on," said Naruto fondly.

"Thanks, but what are supposed to be?" asked Dinky curiously.

"This is what my dad wore back when he was the leader of my home village which was full of awesome ninjas like me!" said Naruto proudly albeit with a bit of nostalgia, wondering how everyone's doing so far since he last went to the Elemental Nations "I think I should make plans to visit the Hidden Leaf Village sometime later,"

He was snapped out of his thoughts yet again upon hearing the sound of ponies screaming and a rather loud and booming but familiar voice was heard even from where he stood.

"Citizens of Ponyville! We have graced your tiny village with our presence, so that you might behold the real Princess of the Night! A creature of nightmares no longer, but instead a pony who desires your love and admiration! Together we shall change this dreadful celebration into a bright and glorious feast!"

"Luna-chan? Didn't know that she was coming here, but why's everyone screaming?" asked Naruto confusedly.

"I don't know, maybe you should go and see what's happening over there," said Derpy with concern.

"B-Be careful, Naruto," said Dinky, having been frightened by the thunderous voice and flash of lightning.

Naruto took off in direction of the source of commotion and came upon what was happening, ponies running about in a panic and Luna appears to be trying to placate everyone and failing at doing so. He saw Twilight and Spike nearby and went to talk to them.

"Guys, what's going on?" asked Naruto.

"It's like what you're seeing; Princess Luna made an appearance but everypony got scared and went into a panic, thinking that she's still Nightmare Moon," Twilight Moon explained.

"Given that she's talking so loudly, it's kinda adding more to the supposed evil vibe, not to mention that tonight's Nightmare Night…plus Pinkie Pie was the one to start up the panic," Spike added.

Naruto groaned at this "For some reason, I'm not surprised that it was Pinks. Kinda wished it wasn't at Luna-chan's expense,"

Luna finally got fed up with her failed attempts to calm everyone down "What is the matter with you? Very well, then. Be that way. We won't even bother with the traditional royal farewell," she walked away into the forest with her head lowered in sadness.

"Let's go talk to her," Naruto suggested.

Twilight nodded in agreement "Yeah, no doubt that she's been having some trouble adjusting after being gone for a thousand years,"

They followed after her with Spike remaining behind and found Luna sitting in the shadow of a statue of Nightmare Moon and poking at a piece of candy on the ground. She heard their approach and turned around only to brighten up upon seeing two of her dear friends.

"Oh it's you two, I can see that you're dressed as Starswirl the Bearded, Twilight. You even got the bells quite right. And it appears that you're dressed as someone from your old world, Naruto," said Luna amiably.

Twilight smiled happily "Thank you! Finally! Somepony who gets my costume! Although one particular pony was half-right," she glanced at Naruto who rolled his eyes with a smile.

"Yeah yeah, and you're right Luna-chan, this was what my dad wore as a Hokage back home. Anyways, we saw what happened and are really sorry about that," said Naruto.

Luna slumped a bit "But I don't understand, I wasn't trying to frighten them,"

"We know, just that you were kinda being a bit too loud," Twilight pointed out.

"But this is the traditional royal Canterlot voice! It is tradition to speak using the royal "we", and to use this much volume when addressing our subjects!" Luna proclaimed, almost blowing off Naruto's headband and Twilight's fake beard before having to readjust them.

"Perhaps that was why your appearance was met with…mixed results, maybe you need to change your approach,"

"Change our approach?"

"You don't have to speak so loud," Naruto clarified.

Luna blinked in realization of what he actually meant "Ohhhh, I've been locked away for a long time. I'm not very confident that I can do so,"

"But I thought that Celestia was helping you learn what goes on in Equestria?"

"She certainly has, but it's just that…she's often busy with other matters and I didn't want to bother her with my problems," said Luna unsurely.

Twilight hummed in thought before coming up with an idea "How about we ask Fluttershy? I'm sure she can give the princess pointers on how to speak to others and gain a much warmer reception,"

"You're kinda making it sound like we can't do the same thing, but I get your point," said Naruto with a quirked eyebrow.

They went on to guide Luna to Fluttershy's home due to Naruto sensing her there since he hadn't encountered her amongst the other ponies. Twilight went ahead to knock on the door and immediately got a reply.

"Go away! No candy here! Visitors not welcome on Nightmare Night!" Fluttershy called out in fright.

"Shy, it's us," said Naruto.

The door opened up just a bit for Fluttershy to peer and let out a sigh of relief upon seeing who it is "Oh it's you Naruto, Twilight…and Princess Luna?" the shy mare came out, looking a bit confused at the princess's presence.

"You see, Princess Luna doesn't really know exactly how to approach other ponies. So we're hoping that you could help us out," Twilight explained.

"O-Oh, I-I'll try my b-best to h-help," said Fluttershy unsurely.

"Should I mimic your voice?" asked Luna albeit loudly.

"Y-yes!" Fluttershy yelped and Naruto had to wound his tail around the mare to prevent her from getting blown back

"How is...this?

"A little quieter," said Twilight.

"How...about...now?"

"A b-bit softer please," Fluttershy muttered lowly.

"Luna-chan, you need to keep in mind that since you're close to a pony, you don't have to raise your voice cause they can hear you clearly," Naruto advised, thinking back to how he often makes himself be heard by others when he was in Konoha.

"...how about now?" asked Luna in a much normal voice.

Twilight clapped her hooves happily "Yes! Well done!" Naruto nodded in approval.

Luna pulled Fluttershy over with magic and embraced her happily "Thank you very much, dear Fluttershy! I should be able to win the hearts of the villagers now!"

"Y-You're w-welcome," said Fluttershy, having not expected a hug from the princess of all ponies.

At that moment, Pinkie Pie was trotting up to them with the fillies following her.

"Fluttershy! You've gotta hide us! Nightmare Moon is here and...," Pinkie Pie trailed off when she saw Luna hugging Fluttershy who was blushing beet red.

"Now Pinks, it's not what it looks like so calm down an-," Naruto tried to explain.

"BAWK KAWK! Nightmare Moon has paralyzed Fluttershy so she can't scream when she gobbles her up!" Pinkie Pie squawked before running the fillies screaming after her.

Luna saw them run and tried to stop them "Children wait…I mean, children wait!"

"Oh dear, t-this wasn't supposed to happen," said Fluttershy.

Naruto saw how sad Luna looked and let out sigh "Darn it Pinks, we're trying to make Luna-chan appear more friendly, not scary,"

"Just we move on to plan B," said Twilight.

"And that would be?" asked Naruto.

"We ask Applejack for help, she's one of the most likeable and understanding ponies here in Ponyville. I should know since she welcomed me when I first came here," Twilight pointed out.

"Again, you got a point there. I hope that it turns out better than this,"

They now headed for the town square where many ponies were playing games but immediately halted the moment Luna came into view and ran off. Naruto kinda wished that they would at least try to approach Luna and learn more about her, it reminded him about how the people of Konoha rejected him just for containing Kurama. They soon found Applejack who was dressed up as a scarecrow made of straw.

"Hey AJ," Naruto called out.

Applejack turned around and smiled though was surprised to see the princess with them "Well howdy do y'all, it's a surprise to see you too princess,"

"We need your help Applejack, Princess Luna is having trouble fitting in and we're hoping that you could lend a hoof like you did for me when I first came here," Twilight explained.

Applejack hummed in thought "In that case, I reckon playing a couple of games would show everypony how good you are and they'll definitely view you differently,"

Luna became hopeful at her words "In that case, which of these games would you recommend for me to play?"

Applejack glanced amongst the games before settling on one of them "How about the Spider Toss game? Should be an easy start for you,"

"How is it played?" asked Luna.

"Try to land the sp-sp-spiders on the web," one of the ponies timidly suggested.

"I see…," Luna took one of the toy spiders from the bowl, then she tossed it at the web only for it to land on the ground inches before it.

"Try to aim and toss with a bit more strength," Naruto advised.

"Okay, once more then," Luna took another and tossed it, this time succeeded having the toy spider land in the middle of the web "I prevailed!"

"Well done, Princess Luna! I knew you could do it!" said Twilight happily.

"Thank you, are there more games like this one?" asked Luna eagerly.

"There sure are, ah bet yah gonna have a whoopin good time!" said Applejack happily.

Luna took part in the other games and was enjoying herself while she was at it, Naruto decided to compete with the Princess of the Night which seemed to have awakened a rivalrous trait which she never knew she had before. Everypony watched with growing excitement, seeing the princess act so differently from what they knew of her at first.

"You're pretty good," said Naruto, having just played the pumpkin catapult.

Luna huffed with pride "Expect no less from your princess, now what other game shall we partake?"

"How about bobbin' for apples? We got the best apples here in Equestria," Applejack suggested.

"How interesting, please show us as I intention of attain a lead in the score," said Luna, looking at Naruto who smirked in response.

"We'll see about that," said the blonde stallion.

They made their way towards the apple-bobbing tub when they came upon Pipsqueak teetering on the edge and slipped inside. Luna wasted no time to rush over and pull the young colt out by the scruff of his jacket.

"Hey, guys. Anypony seen Pip?" they turned to see Pinkie Pie with the fillies and Naruto felt a weird sense of Deja vu "We lost him the last time we had to run fr-," she trailed off from seeing Luna holding Pipsqueak in her mouth "Aaah! Nightmare Moon is gobbling Pipsqueak! Everypony run!"

"Aaaaah!" the fillies ran off with everypony soon joining them.

Pipsqueak began to panic as well "Help! My backside has been gobbled!"

Luna placed the colt on the ground and was rather offended "That is completely untrue, that was quite rude of you!" she stomped a hoof on the ground which caused thunder to boom, making the ponies scream even more "Wait please, no need to fear me! We can still have fun together!"

She tried to play some of the games but ended up overdoing things, making things even worse than before.

"Please don't run away…as your queen, we command you!" a look of frustration appeared on her face "Be still!"

Naruto called out to the Alicorn princess "Luna-chan, please calm down!"

"Princess, please remember that you need to lower the volume!" said Twilight.

Luna turned towards them with eyes glowing white with power "No! We must use the traditional royal Canterlot voice for what we are about to say," she turned to the Ponyville residents "Since you choose to fear your princess rather than love her, and dishonor her with this insulting celebration, we decree that Nightmare Night shall be canceled! Forever!"

Luna stormed off to the forest once more, leaving the ponies in silence as the meaning of the declaration became very clear to them. From this point onwards, Nightmare Night is cancelled for good.

Applejack let out a sigh "Shoot. We had everything goin' our way. Luna was happy, everypony in town was happy, now look at 'em..," Naruto looked around and saw the sadness on every pony's face, especially the fillies and colts.

Naruto then spoke up "I'll go and talk to her, see if I can resolve this and hopefully change her mind," he trotted away to where Luna would be and sure enough, he found her at the Nightmare Moon statue "Luna-chan…,"

"Leave me alone…," said Luna sadly.

"I'm sorry that things didn't turn out the way we wanted them to be, I was really hoping that you would enjoy yourself on Nightmare Night especially since it was made with you in mind," said Naruto.

"Indeed, to make everyone run away from me and being isolated,"

"Come on, Luna-chan. You can't give up on having everypony acknowledge you for who you truly are,"

"And if I was?" Luna felt something lift up her chin, revealing to be Naruto using his tail to raise her head so she would look at him.

Naruto smiled in understanding "I can tell you now; being alone sucks and we both know that all too well. I can also tell you that crying, sulking or giving up won't help one bit. I already did that and got nothing to show for it, so I'm not planning on letting you do the same either,"

Luna looked at Naruto in confusion "I don't understand,"

"Back in Konoha, my greatest desire was to obtain the acknowledgement of my home and for them to see me for who I really am instead of what I contained back then. To be frank, I got tired of crying and sulking in hopes of everything resolving itself. So I decided to do something about my problems with my own two hands. To be honest, you have a bit of an advantage compared to the me of back then,"

Luna was curious about that, what good thing does she have that Naruto didn't "What would that be?"

"Friends and a sister more than willing to be there for you and help with all their hearts, so don't give up on yourself when we haven't given up on you,"

Luna felt her heart pound against her chest with how Naruto looked at her with warmth and complete faith in her "Naruto...I…,"

The princess wondered if she would have never become Nightmare Moon had Naruto been around all those years ago. But at the same time, she's grateful that she met him in this time and that he rescued her from the darkness. Luna felt her cheeks heat up and was about to speak when Twilight trotted up to them in excitement with the Alicorn feeling rather annoyed that her moment with Naruto is being interrupted.

"Princess Luna, Naruto! I finally figured out why she has so much trouble being liked thanks to Pinkie Pie!" said Twilight.

"Pinkie Pie?" asked Naruto with a quirked eyebrow, considering that it was her overreactions that practically reset their attempts of getting everypony to like Princess Luna.

"I understand your skepticism, but I was able to come up with an idea which is sure to work thanks to her. And I'll need help from both of you,"

Naruto ruffled his spiky blonde mane with a sigh "Okay Twilight, what's the plan?"

Back at the town square, ponies were trying to make do with what's left of the cancelled celebration whilst trying to placate the saddened children who had been looking forward to this night.

"I never would have thought that my first Nightmare Night would be my last," said Pipsqueak, looking down at the ground sadly.

Zecora was about to cheer the little colt up when there was a puff of smoke which surprised everypony before dissipating to reveal Naruto holding up a hoof as if doing a handsign.

"Citizens of Ponyville, I have news for you all. Upon confrontation and great sacrifice on my part, I have made an abetting with Nightmare Moon!" Naruto proclaimed.

"What do you mean, Naruto?" asked Mayor Mare confusedly.

"She agreed to give us all one more chance to please and awaits at her statue for the annual offering of sweetness. But beware that this offering must live up to her expectations else she gobbles us all, be prepared!" Naruto swiftly took out another smoke ball and toss it to the ground to disappear in a puff of smoke.

"Could it be true?" asked one of the ponies unsurely.

"We'll never know unless we try, might as well do it," said Applejack.

Pipsqueak looked down at his bag of candy silently before steeling himself and began walking in direction of the statue with the fillies and soon the other ponies following him. They soon arrived at the statue and found Luna there with her back towards them but not saying a word.

"Um, Nightmare Moon; we've come to offer you our finest candy with hopes that you like them and not gobble us up," said Pipsqueak before placing some of his candy on the ground before her, others followed suit and a heap was formed.

"…," Luna still didn't say a word and turned to face them.

Pipsqueak sighed sadly at the lack of response "We're sorry for disappointing you, goodbye then," he turned to leave when there was a flash of lightning and thunder, everypony looked to see Luna hovering before them with eyes glowing of power.

"Citizens of Ponyville, it appears that your offering has pleased me. So much that I shall eat it…instead of eating you!" Luna declared.

"Aaaaaaahh!" everypony screamed before running away.

Luna landed on the ground with a frown "I did what you suggested, Naruto, Twilight Sparkle. But I don't think this is going according to your plan," Naruto and Twilight emerged from behind the statue with smiles on their faces much to her confusion.

"It is actually, just wait a bit more," said Twilight in confidence

"For what? For them to scream some more?" Luna felt her mane suddenly being tugged and looked down to Pipsqueak timidly looking up to her.

"Um Princess Luna, I know that you said Nightmare Night is over forever but could you come and scare us again next year?" asked Pipsqueak, Luna glanced over to see the children peering from behind a bush with eyes full of hope that she would come again.

"You mean you actually like that I scare you?" asked Luna confusedly.

The little colt nodded happily "It was scary but it was also fun!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, Nightmare Night is my favorite night of the year!"

Luna smiled almost as brightly as the moon…considering her sister is in charge of the sun and all "In that case…Nightmare Night is back!"

"Thank you very much, you're my favorite princess ever!" Pipsqueak hugged Luna's leg before galloping back to other children "She said yes, guys!"

"Yay!" the foals cheered at the good news.

"See what happens when you don't give up? You'll eventually succeed and the feeling of doing so is amazing," said Naruto walking up to Luna with Twilight in tow.

Luna looked like she wanted to say something and she did "Oh the most wonderful of…I mean; oh, the most wonderful of nights." She used her magic to pull Naruto and Twilight into a happy embrace "Thank you both, I'm so happy to have you as my friends!"

Naruto smiled and hugged her back "No problem, Luna-chan. Friends care for each other,"

"I'm going to have Spike write a letter to Princess Celestia about what we've learnt on this night," said Twilight.

Luna rejoined the festivities and this time didn't have to worry about actually being feared by the ponies and was having fun with everypony. An oddity was of Pinkie Pie running and breathing fire out of her mouth, Twilight noticed that Naruto was smirking and suspected him to be the cause. The sly pony revealed having snuck in a pepper flavored candy into Pinkie Pie's bag, and when asked why he said.

"As much as I understood Pinks simply having fun being scared, part of me wanted a bit of payback for those hoops she had us jump through,"

Twilight was enjoying her candy with Spike, unaware that Rainbow Dash was hovering above on her dark cloud and ready to surprise h-

*BOOM*

"Gyaaaah!" she flew off in fear from the sudden lightning zap from behind.

Twilight saw her fly away and turned to see Luna descending from atop a dark cloud of her own, giving the unicorn an idea of what exactly happened.

"Ah, I am honored to have witnessed the princess's very first prank. It brings a prank master great joy to see another take the first step on the path of mischievousness," said Naruto, brushing a hoof along a long fake beard like an old kung fu master.

Twilight noticed that her fake beard is missing and realized that Naruto swiped it without her knowing, Naruto gave her a playful wink and they all broke into laughter.

Fallen Sky Pt 1

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA

Chapter 43: Fallen Sky Pt 1

It's been about a week and a half since Nightmare Night, things have pretty much gone back to normal for Naruto, albeit with a few things going on every now and then. Some examples being Naruto having to help Rarity come up with something for a fashion show when she was recommended by Sapphire Shorts the Pony of Pop like the last time, frankly he doesn't have a strong sense of fashion compared to Ino back home and yet Rarity would seek out his opinion which he finds rather touching and strives to not let her down. Another is working with Twilight in creating a new spell based on a spell book which she came across in the library. There's also helping Fluttershy with caring for the animals and had to deal with the usual issue of the birds fighting over the right to nestle in his spiky blond mane.

Right now, he was acting as a referee for Applejack and Rainbow Dash who were having a competition, so far it's been a series of ties as they were consistently trying to outshine each other, reminding him of when they took part in the Iron Pony competition…boy was that something. He was snapped out of his thoughts upon hearing the clopping of hooves and looked to see the two mares running neck-and-neck in the rush for the finish line, Naruto and his shadow clone held their stopwatches ready then stopped them as the mares went across the finish line.

"Who won!?" both Applejack and Rainbow Dash spoke simultaneously.

Naruto and the clone came close together to compare the time, looking at each other and nodding before answering in unison "It's a tie…again,"

"Again? Aw man," Rainbow Dash groaned "Every time we try to break the ties, we end up getting more,"

"Ya darn tooting, neither of us are winning or losing," Applejack complained.

"It's fine for you two to be competitive with each other but try not to go overboard like last time," Naruto said this while looking at the mares pointedly, making the two look away sheepishly.

"Uh, can we not talk about that?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah, not exactly something we'd like to remember," Applejack added.

"Then don't give me a reason to bring it up," said Naruto with a quirked eyebrow "Anyways, I'm heading back to the shop, got something to work on,"

"Alright Naruto, be seeing ya," Applejack trotted away.

"What she said," Rainbow Dash zipped up to the clouds but Naruto knows full well she's going to take a nap.

The blonde stallion headed over to the Whirlpool where Trixie was tending to a customer at the counter before seeing Naruto and calling out to him.

"Welcome back, Naruto," said Trixie.

"Thanks Trixie, I'm going to the back to work on some crystals," Naruto explained.

Trixie nodded in understanding "Okay, I'll let you know if anything comes up,"

Naruto went to the worktable where multiple pieces of paper inscribed with seals as well as prototype crystals where scattered all over, he sat down and began working on creating or improving new concepts but he couldn't help but notice that is rate of progress has been slowing down as of late which he wasn't too pleased about it.

"Then again, I only know of the basics of Fuinjutsu as well as the additional scrolls that Pervy Sage showed to me. The best way for me to get out of this rut will be to acquire more scrolls and that means…," Naruto sighed, knowing what he has to do next "I've been putting it off long enough, time for me to go…home,"

Steeling himself, Naruto packed the necessities and stored them in his medallion before leaving shop after telling Trixie that he'll be gone for a couple of days and sent a shadow clone to pick Scootaloo whilst her and the others of his trip. He made his way over to Dr. Whooves' place and knocked on the door a couple of times before said person opened to greet him.

"Oh Naruto, what can I do for you, my boy?" asked Dr. Whooves cheerfully.

Naruto smiled cheerfully "Hi doc, I was hoping to ask if you could give me a ride on the TARDIS to the Elemental Nations? I got a few things to do there,"

"Well of course, I am not at all busy and could use a trip to wave off the boredom that was bothering me,"

"Great, let's get going then!"

The two ponies went inside the house, to the room where the TARDIS was before inside and activating the machine as it soon disappeared in a flash of light. As they travel through the dimensions, Dr. Whooves decided to inquire Naruto about something.

"I've noticed that you haven't received any mission notice these past months," said Dr. Whooves.

"Same here, maybe the worlds aren't having problems serious enough to require my help with them. It does give me more time to train myself to be stronger for the future," said Naruto thoughtfully. So far he had been to the Pokémon world, the Dragon world and his old world which he's currently going towards.

"Quite understandable, by the way there's something I wanted to bring up if you're interested,"

"What is it?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Lately, I have been getting pings of unique energy signatures throughout Equestria. At first, I thought they were life signs of animals but then I noticed that none of them so much as budged a single inch from where I first detected them," Whooves explained.

"So, it's like there's something there. Maybe a relic of sorts,"

"My thoughts exactly and I recalled you telling me of the item you acquired some time back which made my theory even more solid that ancient relics are scattered all over Equestria, just waiting to be unearthed and discovered!" Earth pony's eyes glittered with excitement.

Naruto hummed in thought; If it's true, then he should help Dr. Whooves locate these relics and obtain them before they fall into the wrong hands like the kaleidoscope group.

"Okay doc, when I get back, I'll help you find these relics whenever I can," said Naruto assuredly.

Dr. Whooves nodded happily in response "Why thank you my boy, I'm looking forward to what we'll discover in the future!"

"Heh, me too,"

Soon enough, the TARDIS arrived at its destination as it reappeared in the midst of a forest and settled onto the ground. Naruto stepped out of the machine and soon felt his body change and looked down to see that he was in his human form again with the Kosei no Ha appearing to latch on to his back like before.

"Can't deny that I miss looking like this," said Naruto with a soft smile.

"I'll be here when you're ready to head back to Equestria," Dr. Whooves called out from the TARDIS.

"Thanks for the heads-up doc, catch ya later,"

Naruto went on his way after taking note of his surroundings before choosing the correct direction towards the Hidden Leaf village. Along the way, he was contemplating on the kind of approach he would make towards his friends.

"Okay then, how do I open up…," Naruto hummed in thought before trying something out "Um…'Hey guys, it's been a while!' No, that will make them think of how long it's been since I died… 'Yo, guess who's back!'…from the dead. How about… 'long time no see, just wanted to drop by and see how you're all doing'…after my death,"

Naruto gripped his head in frustration "Ohhhh geez, why can't I come up with something that won't bring up depression?" he looked up to the sky and saw something usual "Are those…flying ninjas? That's something new, it looks like they're going somewhere,"

He took note of the direction which the flying ninjas were going "They heading for the village…I have a bad feeling about this," Naruto took to leaping across the trees to catch up to them. His feelings of dread unfortunately came true as he witnessed the ninjas proceed to bombard the Hidden Leaf village with attacks "No no no no, not this again! I've got to stop them and fast before the village is destroyed!"

Quickly coming up with a plan, Naruto pulled up a facemask and the hood to conceal his identity then took out a Camo Crystal which turned him invisible upon activation "Chakra Wings!" wings made out of white energy sprouted from his back as he leapt into the air and took flight in pursuit of the flying ninjas.

As for the aforementioned ninjas, they were laying waste to the village with glee when suddenly a wing was sliced off, sending one of the ninjas plummeting to the ground. Whilst trying to react to the sudden attack, more of the flying ninjas had the wings of their gliders getting sliced off, resulting in them crashing to the ground where the vindictive Konoha ninjas were waiting to make their anger known to them.

"What's going on, is this some sort of counterattack from the village!?" asked a ninja in a panic.

A voice responded angrily "Not exactly, just a guy angry about you jerks attacking my old home," then the wings of the ninja's glider were torn off with him plummeting towards the unforgiving ground.

Meanwhile, the ninjas of Konoha took note that the flying ninjas were being attacked but couldn't see who it was.

"What's going on? First these ninjas attack our village and they're being attacked by something we all can't see," asked a Leaf ninja.

The other Leaf ninja frowned in response "I don't understand either, what I do know is that we now have a fighting chance,"

"Yeah, you're right. Let's give these bastards hell for attacking our home!"

Back in the air, the invisible Naruto continued to ground the flying ninjas with his glaive in hand and looked to see that there are still more for him to deal with "Let's see if I can't thin them out a bit more, Chakra Bullet: Rapid Fire!" Naruto stretched out both arms forward as two runes appeared before releasing a barrage of small white orbs at the enemies, shooting them out of the skies at a much faster rate compared to when he uses his glaive.

Hearing explosions, Naruto turned to see more of these ninjas dropping explosives and destroying buildings which angered him greatly as this reminded him of when the village was attacked by the Sand and Sound village during the Chuunin exams "Get out of my village, "Stellar Gear change: Chakram!" the glaive transformed into the cyclone blade as he focused on the enemies and threw it to slice off the wings of several gliders multiple times before returning to his hand before throwing it again.

He felt large amounts of energy being channeled and turned to a giant flying craft where a man with a mask on his face sat cross-legged and was generated a large amount of yellow chakra "I don't know what you're about to do, but I'm not going to let you! Chakra Cannon!" he held out both palms together to form a blue rune as a large sphere of chakra took form and grew larger then he launched the attack, sending the projectile flying through the air and slammed into his target then exploded upon impact in time before they could attack.

At this point, the invading force were reduced to less than half which them no other choice but to retreat otherwise they would be wiped out by the invisible assailant. Naruto watched them leave with a frown on his face, a part of him wanted to pursue and take them all down but he had more important things.

"I need to make sure that Grandma Tsunade and the others are okay, plus my Camo Crystal will soon run out of power," he turned round and flew towards the Hokage Tower.

Over at the aforementioned place, Kakashi and Yamato were running up the stairs and quickly hurried into the office where Tsunade stood staring at the window with Shizune looking at her with concern.

"Lady Tsunade, thank goodness you're safe," said Kakashi with relief.

"…yes, but I wish that I'd be the only one that they'd hurt," said Tsunade, looking down at the destruction with sorrow "They had almost overrun the entire village if not for whatever that was attacking them to the point of being forced to retreat. Do any of you know what it was?"

"Not what but rather who," a voice spoke up, putting everyone on alert.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" Tsunade demanded.

"Oh sorry, I thought it had worn off by down. Deactivate," there was shimmering before a hooded figure appeared before taking it off to reveal his face, shocking them all "Hey guys…,"

"N-Naruto, is that you?" asked Shizune, she was still in disbelief in spite of the letter he had written to them.

"Yeah, it's me," Naruto was suddenly glomped by Tsunade who was holding him tightly.

"You're here…you're really here," Tsunade muttered, barely holding back the tears.

Naruto smiled sadly and hugged her "Yeah, I'm sorry for leaving you all that day,"

"Don't…don't say anything and just let me hug you,"

"Okay,"

Soon enough, Tsunade had to let him go as they need to deal with the current situation with Kakashi being the one to ask the blonde ninja.

"Looking back at what happened, I don't need to guess that you're the reason why those guys weren't to attack the village the way they wanted," said Kakashi.

Naruto nodded in affirmation "Yeah, I used my Camo Crystal to hide myself whilst inflicting maximum damage enough to make them run off with the tails between their legs. There's also the fact I can't let myself be seen since I'm supposed to be dead otherwise the Akatsuki would try looking for me in spite that I don't have the Kyuubi in me anymore,"

"But we're glad you came at the right time, but what were you coming here for anyway?" asked Shizune.

"I wanted to acquire some scrolls on advanced Fuinjutsu from Pervy Sage and visit you guys, so what happens now?" Naruto inquired at the last part.

"First we tend to the wounded which is low in number thanks to your intervention, next we set up a counter-strike force to deal with what's left of the Sky Ninjas," said Tsunade.

"Who are they and why attack the village?"

"During the Second Great ninja Wars, a group of ninjas excelled at ninjutsu that let them fly by manipulating chakra. They called themselves the Land of Sky and had opposed the Five Great Nations and so the Leaf destroyed them,"

Naruto frowned at this "So, they did this to get back at us?

"That's what I thought at first but I suspect that they have something else in mind other than the village's destruction,"

Naruto looked out the window with a frown "I could help with my Shadow Clones but…,"

"You'd be found out in an instant as no one can create as many clones as you, just leave the rest to us since you've done enough today," said Kakashi with an eye smile.

"Okay Kakashi-sensei,"

"We'll be going to the hospital now to check on the wounded, no doubt Sakura and Hinata are there to heal them," said Tsunade.

"Then I'll come along, got another Camo Crystal that I can use to conceal myself," Naruto took out said crystal and went invisible.

"I can see that you've been coming up with new tricks at where you came from," said Yamato.

"Yup, couldn't stand being idle,"

Tsunade and Shizune left the Hokage Tower with Naruto following them while invisible to the hospital where they saw the medical staff hard at work with Sakura and Hinata spearheading them, they saw Tsunade and bowed their head in greeting.

"Lady Tsunade!" said Sakura.

"What's the status?" asked Tsunade.

"Everyone are on their way to a full recovery, but the strange thing is that the patients being brought had been treated into stable conditions beforehand and not by one of our own," Sakura explained.

"Are you saying that someone has been treating the wounded and while in the battlefield no less?" asked Tsunade.

Sakura was about to answer when a voice called out from the nearby window "It was Master Shinnou!" they turned to see a boy climb through and gesture towards the patients lying in their cots "I can tell, these are all done by him!"

"That name sounds familiar," said one of the medic staff.

"Is there something you want from him?" asked Shizune.

"Yes, I need his help! My village is in trouble and needs help!" the boy called out desperately before passing out.

"Get her to a bed and we can find what's going on from her later," Tsunade ordered with the medical staff immediately obeying "By the way, Sakura. A friend of yours is around,"

Sakura looked at her master in confusion "A friend?"

Then a familiar voice whispered into her ears "Believe it…," her eyes widened in realization before smiling a bit.

"Naruto…," she muttered lowly but Hinata's head snapped towards her, having heard the name.

"Naruto-kun, you're here," thought Hinata, trying not to lose control of her emotions.

Sometime later on, a man with long white hair and wearing clothing similar to the boy came to the hospital who introduced himself as Shinnou; the person who was responsible for treating the wounded that were brought in and whom the boy from before was looking for.

"You're quite skilled to be a doctor, this boy said so," said Sakura, having been impressed by his feat.

Shinnou waved her off with a gentle smile "That's kind of you to say, I don't think I deserve such a noble title as doctor. Amaru has always looked up to me for a long time,"

"Even so, it was thanks to you that so many wounded were able to survive today otherwise they would have died," Sakura protested.

Shinnou turned to look at the sleeping Amaru fondly "Amaru's village is way on the outskirts of the Land of Fire. Even so, last night it was attacked by a group of unknown ninjas and many people were injured,"

Naruto frowned in thought as he listened to the conversation "Unknown ninja, could he be talking about the Sky Ninjas?"

"If what you say is true, then I'll be assigning Sakura and Hinata along with someone else to form an emergency three-man medical squad," Tsunade made herself known after entering the room.

Sakura bowed her head in affirmation "As you wish, Lady Tsunade,"

Shinnou his head in gratitude "Thank you, any help is appreciated,"

The next morning, Sakura along with Hinata, Shinnou and Amaru had left the village and were walking along the road when the latter spoke up about something.

"Master Shinnou said that there would be three of you, how there's only two?" asked Amaru confusedly.

"Don't worry, he'll be here any moment now," said Sakura.

"He?"

Someone dropped down from the trees to land before them, revealing to be a male ninja dressed in orange and black with a sea blue broadsword with an outward motif for the guard and in the center is a white swirling energy attached to his back but without a sheath or harness, they couldn't see his face since his hood was put up.

The ninja waved a hand in greeting "Hey everyone, been a long time since we last met,"

Sakura nodded with a smile "It's great to see you too,

"I-I'm glad t-to see you a-again," Hinata stammered a reply, not knowing how to react upon seeing Naruto alive and well after all these years.

"How do you expect us to trust you when your face is all covered up?" asked Amaru skeptically.

"My face is too well-known and the last thing we want is for me to attract the wrong kind of attention, plus those two can vouch for me," Naruto explained.

"You can trust Naruto, he'll never betray you," Sakura spoke up.

Shinnou looked at Naruto while deep in thought "If you say that he is trustworthy, then I see no reason to not trust him,"

Amaru frowned but complied "If Master Shinnou says so then fine,"

Meanwhile at a lagoon, numerous aircraft carriers were seen anchored there where the Sky Ninjas were currently situated and reorganizing themselves after their attempt at attacking the Hidden Leaf village was disrupted by an unknown invisible assailant.

"Looks like you were right on the ball, Shikamaru," said Kakashi, spying on the enemy from behind the rocky cliffs.

Shikamaru shrugged in response "Well, it's the same like worker bees finding their way back to the hive. I just narrowed down the possible flight distance with the amount of chakra Neji's Byakugan detected,"

"Even so, sending a four-man is bold…typical Shikamaru,"

"They're already twitchy thanks to Naruto's unseen attack on them, we need to keep them thinking that they still inflicted great damage to the village by doing this so they don't retreat to the open sea," Shikamaru pointed out.

"So, that's why you sent Sai out there to keep them around," said Kakashi with understanding.

"Yeah, and Naruto was nice enough to give us some party favors before accompanying Sakura ad Hinata on their mission. He's troublesome, but the good kind of troublesome,"

"No surprise there,"

Back with Naruto, he and the others were silently paddling along a river through a forest with him and Amaru on one canoe while the rest are on the other one.

"Amaru's village is upstream, deep in this jungle. There are also some ancient ruins nearby," Shinnou informed the group "I suggest you be careful as there are man-eating catfish, hungry alligators and lots of poisonous fishes,"

Hearing a splash nearby, Naruto looked to see a scaly tail enter the river which made him nervous "Thanks for the heads-up,"

Amaru smirked at his reaction "Don't be scared, these boats carry two accomplished doctors that are way more useful than you ninjas," he reached into his pouch and brought out a small bundle of cloth "All I need to save you is just this scalpel,"

Naruto frowned in response "Let's not start playing the comparison game, I don't look down on doctors just like you shouldn't look down on ninjas. Every role is important in their own way and one is not above the other,"

Sakura was surprised to hear this from Naruto, the old him wasn't exactly the wisest in the original Team 7 "Wow Naruto, wasn't expecting you to be all sage like,"

Naruto smiled underneath "I learnt a lot of things in my new home, I'm still me just less hasty,"

"Naruto, you've changed so much but you're still the same despite what happened," thought Hinata in admiration.

Suddenly, Naruto's ears picked up a strange sound "Hey guys, I'm hearing something and it's coming from above," by his words, everyone grew tense and Hinata looked up to the sky with her Byakugan activated.

"I see a flier emanating chakra, the same kind that attacked the village," said Hinata with a frown.

"Quickly, use the nearby trees as cover," said Shinnou in alert,

He and Sakura paddled the canoe towards the side of the riverbank where the tree branches hung above it. Naruto and Amaru were paddling the canoe to the side as well when the latter's scalpel slipped out of his hand and fell into the river.

"My scalpel!" Amaru dove into the river without hesitation before Naruto could stop him, he saw the flier draw closer and had to dive into the river as well while turning the canoe over to make it appear as a wooden log floating in the river.

Sky ninja looked around the area and saw nothing out of the ordinary before flying away, Amaru managed to find his scalpel amongst the underwater plants and tried to swim back to the surface but found that her leg was entangled in one of the plants, he struggled to free himself but time was running out and he began to lose consciousness as memories of the past flowed through his mind.

Amaru remembered when he was ill and nobody wanted to help given his orphan status, but Shinnou was the one who chose to nurse him back to health in spite of the negative views from the villagers. At first, Amaru wanted to become a shinobi but decided to become a doctor just like his mentor.

Suddenly, he was yanked out of the water and carried over to the shore, Naruto swatted away the fish which tried to attack them till they finally reached the shore. He placed Amaru on the ground who was gasping for air and noticed something…off about him. Due to the wet clothes now clinging to the skin, Naruto noticed that Amaru's figure was more…feminine then dawned upon him what was going on.

"Now way, you mean to tell that you're a…," Naruto stammered in disbelief.

Amaru blushed at his reaction and was about to yell at him when she noticed that Naruto was acting strangely, his body swaying unsteadily "Naruto, are you okay?"

"I…guh…uh…," Naruto could barely give a proper response.

"What's the matter with y-," Amaru stopped in midsentence upon a seeing a piranha fish latched on to Naruto's leg with its teeth "Oh no, he's been poisoned!"

Everyone immediately rushed to help Naruto, Amaru had him sit up against a tree with the pant leg rolled up to expose the bite. She took out her scalpel and heated it with a lighter before making a cut on the skin then proceeded to suck out the poisoned blood and spit to it to the ground.

Naruto with his hood and facemask removed started to blush now that he's fully aware of Amaru's true gender in addition to what she's doing is making him well…conscious. This was noticed by everyone with Sakura being vocal about it.

"Naruto, why are you blushing?" asked Sakura.

"Huh? Oh it's nothing, must be the poison affecting me," Naruto quickly replied, the last thing he wants is for Sakura to jump to conclusions and hit him for being a 'pervert'.

Shinnou looked at Amaru with a smile of fondness "And that's how the orphan child gains acceptance, they use the blade to save lives. Even injured, they run to seek help for their village, now the child tries to save a ninja who became a friend…you've really grown, Amaru,"

Amaru finished applying the antivenom for the poison and bandaged Naruto's leg to prevent bleeding "He should be fine now,"

Sakura and Hinata checked to make sure and the results were positive with the former speaking up "Nice job, it's perfect,"

"And this is why all roles have their own importance," Naruto added, looking at Amaru with gratitude.

"They're correct, Amaru. Which is why I'm so proud of you," said Shinnou, smiling warmly.

Amaru smiled back with her cheeks tinged pink "Thank you, doctor," Naruto saw their interaction and couldn't help but find similarities between them and him with Iruka.

Later on, the group resumed their journey towards Amaru's village, going by foot this time with Shinnou at the lead while using his machete to cut through the branches and plants, Hinata and Sakura were behind, and Amaru was helping Naruto walk behind them until he recovered fully.

"Not to worry, we're almost at the village," Shinnou spoke up.

Naruto spoke "I can see why Shinnou is so proud of you, your skills as a doctor are amazing,"

Amaru shook her head in disagreement "That's not true, it's master Shinnou who's the amazing one,"

"Uh, just to clarify and I'm not trying to offend but…you're a girl right?"

Amaru frowned at the question "Of course I'm a girl, do I really look like a boy?"

"Again, I'm not being offensive but your clothes kinda make you look otherwise," Naruto pointed out.

"I wonder if that's the way dr. Shinnou looks at me…,"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at her before coming up with a suggest "Hmmm, sounds to me like you have a crush on Dr. Shinnou,"

"You idiot, it's not like that!"

*Smack*

The next thing they know, Amaru had slapped Naruto hard in the face which left behind a swollen handprint on a blonde reeling in pain. She quickly realized what she had done and stepped away from him.

"I guess…my body hasn't fully recovered yet," Naruto muttered painfully.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hit you," Amaru apologized.

"It's okay, I kinda had it coming by just blurting it out,"

"Look over there!" Hinata suddenly called out, grabbing their attention to run over to where the others are. There they saw black smoke rising to the sky a small distance from where they are.

Shinnou frowned at this "Oh no, the place where the smoke is coming from is…," Amaru dropped her bag and started running towards the source of the smoke "Amaru, wait!" he and the others followed after the girl.

"Darn it, I still haven't recovered completely yet," thought Naruto in mild frustration.

Amaru ran though the forest as fast as she could, her heart thumped against her chest. She finally reached the village and was horrified to find it burning to the ground, Amaru stumbled along in disbelief at what was happening around and saw bloodied kunai all over the place with one embedded in a broken doll.

"No, this can't be happening…," Amaru muttered in denial "Hello, where is everyone? Can anyone hear me? Please, say something if you can hear me!"

She started running around, frantically calling for any villager who might have survived but Amaru wasn't finding any, not even a corpse. She was running up a long flight of stairs to the top in her search when she felt her leg hit something which unfortunately triggered a trap, launching large amounts of kunai towards her.

Amaru stood there frozen in fear when someone suddenly grabbed her shoulder, pulling her away and tossed down to the ground. Hearing the sound of metal piercing through flesh, Amaru looked up to be greeted with a sight which made her want to scream but no sound came out of her mouth. Naruto and others soon caught up and came upon the scene of Amaru holding Shinnou whose body was riddled with kunai and bleeding all over.

"Doctor, please hold on! Don't die please!" Amaru begged with tears dripping down her cheeks "Why did you do that?"

Shinnou fought through the pain to respond "It's because…I recognize you…as my…apprentice…," he took off the bandanna from his head and held it out to her "I need you…to work with our new friends…find the villagers…I'm counting on…you…,"

"Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan! You gotta help him!" said Naruto urgently, the aforementioned two rushed over to the wounded doctor and began utilizing the Mystic Palm jutsu in an attempt to heal him the best they could.

"Doctor, you can't die! You just can't!" Amaru wailed, Shinnou's breathing grew more haggard until he stopped and laid still.

Naruto turned to Sakura and Hinata who closed their eyes and shook their heads sadly, making him clench his fists in frustration "He's gone…," hearing this only made Amaru cry even harder.

A day later, Naruto was watching Amaru stand before a grave at a cemetery with Dr. Shinnou's bloodied jacket hung over the grave marker while holding the deceased doctor's bandanna in her hand. It reminded him all too much of Kakashi spending hours in front of the Hokage Monument, looking at the ones of his deceased loved ones. He was snapped out of his thoughts by Sakura and Hinata arriving to speak to him.

"Naruto-kun, Sakura and I believe that the villagers must have taken refuge somewhere since we haven't come across any bodies," Hinata explained.

"I thought as much but what I don't get is why the Sky Ninjas attacked this village, could there have been something in the village that was important enough to the point of being their target?" said Naruto thoughtfully.

"We might get our answers from the villagers once we find them," Sakura suggested.

"If that's the case, let's split up and search for them,"

Looking at Amaru one more time with feelings of sympathy, the trio went in different directions to begin their search for the missing villagers. However, they failed to notice that a black aura began to envelop Amaru as she slowly rose to her feet and turned to look at where they were with glowing red eyes.

Fallen Sky Pt 2

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA

Chapter 44: Fallen Sky Pt 2

Naruto was leaping through the trees with his Aura Sight active in order to locate the villagers that were missing from the village which was burnt down in hopes that they had taken refuge somewhere. He landed at the edge of lake which was engulfed in mist and saw something in the distance which caught his attention.

Hearing someone land close to him, Naruto turned to see that it was Sakura who approached him "Hey Sakura, what are you doing here? I thought you were searching with Hinata?"

Sakura replied "We decided to split up so we can cover more ground, what brings you here?"

"Look over there…," Naruto pointed across the lake for Sakura to peer through the mist and see dark silhouettes of what seems to resemble buildings "Those must be the ruins that old man Shinnou told us about. We could check the place out since the villagers might use it as refuge,"

"Sure, it's much better than searching other areas randomly,"

The duo began making their way across the lake towards the ruins. While on the move, Sakura decided to strike up a conversation with Naruto about something.

"By the way, Naruto. Aren't you going to meet with Sasuke?" asked Sakura curiously.

Naruto sighed, knowing that this question would come up sooner or later "Sakura, it's not that easy to just go and see him. Not after how things ended up as a result in our last encounter,"

"I know, but you were able to stop him from going to Orochimaru and kept your promise, you stopped him from making a grave mistake,"

"And paid for it with my life, you don't understand what happened between us that day. Truths were revealed in that fight which changed everything, it made me realize that things will never go back to the way they were whether I lived or not. Am I wrong?"

Sakura couldn't look at Naruto when he mentioned that, things had definitely changed when Kakashi brought Sasuke back along with Naruto's body. All of the rookies treated Sasuke with disdain, holding him responsible for Naruto's death and even Ino was disgusted. Kakashi wiped his hands clean off Sasuke and never stopped blaming himself for playing part to Naruto's death. Tsunade stripped him of his status as a ninja and had detained him for the foreseeable future which effectively fractured Team 7 beyond any form of repair. Even Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi were hateful of her and the others for taking Naruto away from them. Needless to say; without Naruto, Konoha felt lifeless.

"No, you're not wrong…," said Sakura sadly.

Naruto looked at Sakura "I figured as much," then there was silence between them.

They finally arrived at the ruins and began looking around the area in search of the missing villagers albeit the mist wasn't making things easier for them. They continued to search around when they saw someone approaching them, the unknown person got close enough for them to see who it is and were shocked.

"Amaru, what are you doing here?" Sakura was about to approach but Naruto stopped her with an outstretched arm "Naruto?"

"Something's wrong with Amaru," said Naruto sternly, looking at 'Amaru' with a frown.

'Amaru' raised her head to look at Naruto and Sakura with glowing red eyes and a dark aura began to leak out from her body which made the duo even more wary of her.

"I am the Zero Tails; when conflicts rages in the world and human hearts are filled with darkness, I am born anew," said 'Amaru' in a dead voice unlike her normal self.

"Zero Tails, what are you talking about?" asked Sakura confusedly.

"Sounds like some sort of entity is controlling Amaru," said Naruto, a hand held close to the handle of his glaive.

'Amaru' continued to speak as the dark aura increased in intensity "I consume the darkness of men's souls, rise up and grow gathering limitless strength. So that this world will be ruled by darkness,"

She was engulfed in the dark aura which then transformed into what appears to be giant dark-purple leech with a serpentine body, on its face is a white Noh mask that has a kanji for 'zero' on it, and also five red hairlike strands with four sprouting from the top of the mask and one at the bottom of it. Naruto and Sakura shivered upon seeing it somehow distort its mask to grin widely and reveal large molars.

"Watch out, it's about to attack!" Naruto drew out his sword and stood at the ready while Sakura nodded in affirmation and took a combat stance.

Back at the lagoon, Shikamaru along with Kakashi and Sai were standing at the shore and were surrounded by the defeated forms of the Sky Ninjas on the beach along with the shattered pieces of their flying equipment as they were looking at the aircraft carriers ahead of them.

"It seems that they're not sending out any more of their forces to attack us, my guess is that they're catching on to our plans since we're not directly attacking the aircraft carriers," said Kakashi.

"Perhaps it was because I took them out too fast? I did say that I'm not so good at holding back," said Sai with a small frown.

Shikamaru shook his head in disagreement "There's no need to blame yourself and besides…," he saw bubbles in the water "I think we've distracted them long enough,"

Someone emerged from the water and approached the group, revealing to be none other than Shino who was soaking wet but is as stoic as ever with his hands in his pockets.

"There's no need to worry about them for much longer. Why you ask? Because there's no way that I failed…,"

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

No sooner Shino said those words that chains of massive explosions occured throughout all three of the aircraft carriers, screams of panic and confusion could be heard all the way from where they're standing as they watched the carriers break down completely, leaving the Sky Ninjas utterly defeated.

Shino pushed up his glasses with a calculative gaze "It would appear that the crystals that Naruto gave to us are far more powerful than any explosive tag we know. I didn't even need to use my insects for this,"

Shikamaru chuckled nervously "Shino, sometimes you scare me with how logical you can be,"

"Intimidation is a tactic most often used against enemies,"

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders "He's not wrong,"

Music Start: Naruto OST; Orochimaru -Fight-

"Darn, and here I thought snakes were creepy!" Naruto dashed as fast as he could to evade the tendrils which were shooting out of the main body of the Zero Tails which were trying to grab him and he retaliated while still on the move "Chakra Bullet: Rapid Fire!" he stretched out a hand as a white rune appeared in front of it before releasing a barrage of small white orbs at the dark entity which pierced through its body. However, he saw the holes quickly closing up quickly.

Sakura ran over to a boulder and pulled it out from the ground and took aim "Cha, take this!" she flung it with great speed at the Zero Tails.

But the dark entity had sensed the incoming attack and launched an arm from its body to shatter the boulder with a single punch and continued to shoot towards Sakura who tried to jump away but it caught onto one of her legs then it proceeded to swing her around before slamming her strongly to ground and effectively knocking her unconscious.

"Sakura!" Naruto was alarmed upon seeing what happened then he saw Zero Tails attack with more arms to finish her off "Oh no you don't!" he thrust a hand forward to launch a chakra arm which managed to grab Sakura in time and pull her towards him before the arms struck where she was. Naruto created a Shadow Clone to carry Sakura away to safety which left him to face the dark being alone.

He saw the arms coming his way and jumped backwards whilst speeding through a set of handsigns "Wind Style: Air Bullets!" Naruto took in a deep breath then opened his mouth to launch compressed spheres of air which tore through the arms but the Zero Tails evaded the incoming projectiles.

"Hmmmm, how curious…," said the Zero Tails thoughtfully.

Naruto frowned at it "What do you want?"

"Every single mortal I've encountered has darkness deep within them and yet you have no darkness or rather…it is separate from you,"

Naruto was taken aback from what the Zero Tails said and recalled when Discord brought his dark side out to fight him. But he thought he had defeated it, surely it wasn't trying to tell him that it still exists? A mocking laugh echoed in the back of his mind which made him shake his head to clear it.

Naruto snapped himself back into focus "I don't know what you're talking about and I don't care, I'm get rid of you to free Amaru!"

The blonde ninja dashed forward towards the Zero Tails that launched multiple tendrils to attack him, he swiftly sliced the incoming tendrils with the Kosei no Ha whilst darting around the ones that he wasn't able to cut "Shadow Clone jutsu!" he created several copies of himself to work in coordination with as they proceeded to intercept the attacks of the Zero Tails who seems to react negatively whenever they cut its tendrils.

Naruto frowned at this and thought "Strange, it didn't so much as flinch when I attacked it with my chakra bullets or wind jutsu but started freaking out when I cut it with my glaive. Hang on…Kami said that the Kosei no Ha emits pure energy and the Zero Tails feeds on the darkness of people's souls. So that means…,"

"Boss, watch out!" one of the clones yelled in alert.

However, the warning came too late as something burst out from the ground beneath Naruto's feet which were tendrils that wrapped around his body, forcing him to drop his sword. The Zero Tails proceeded to lift the blonde ninja and fling him about, constantly slamming him into the ground and the surrounding ruins before constricting his body tightly while at the same time destroying the shadow clones before they could rescue the original.

"Fool, you lack the power to protect anyone, even yourself," the Zero Tails taunted arrogantly.

Gritting his teeth in path, Naruto glared back in defiance "When have I ever taken the criticisms of people like you into account?"

Something suddenly sliced the tendrils constraining Naruto, freeing him and making the Zero Tails reel back in agony. The thing hovered before Naruto, revealing to be the Kosei no Ha in its chakram form. Turns out he sent a mental command to the glaive to transform and free him from the tendrils even when he wasn't holding it, a trick he discovered when he was doing some training in Ponyville.

"As I thought, the pure energy that Kosei no Ha emits is poison to you who feasts on dark energy and that's why you tried to separate me from it," said Naruto confidently but then thought "Even so, there's gotta be a way to save Amaru from this thing.

The Kosei no Ha having reverted to its glaive form glowed a bit and sent information into his mind which confused him at first but then realized what it was trying to tell him "I didn't know you can do that but then again, I'm your very first wielder. Let's give it a shot,"

Gripping the glaive with both hands and positioning to one side with the tip pointing diagonally towards the ground, Naruto's eyes narrowed in absolute focus. The swirling energy at the center of the sword surged then enshrouded the blade with white fiery aura which then covered Naruto's body.

Sensing something threatening, the Zero Tails launched multiple arms and tendrils in an attempt to stop Naruto who suddenly darted forward, his eyes cleared locked onto his target with no hesitation or doubt in his eyes. The adrenaline pumped into his body, making him see and react more sharply than before as he avoided all of the attack until he was finally close enough to deal a critical strike.

"Karmic Punisher!" Naruto attacked with a downward diagonal slash right through the Zero Tails which was then engulfed in a white pillar of energy and shrieks of agony could be heard within it before going silent. The energy dissipated to reveal Amaru lying unconscious on the ground but completely unscathed.

Music End

"Amaru!" Naruto held her in his arms and lightly tapped her cheeks "Come on, wake up,"

"…mmm," Amaru slowly opened her eyes and looked up "Naruto…?"

"Are you okay?"

"I think so, the last thing I remember was…," her eyes suddenly widen upon recalling what had happened and felt ashamed "I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me!"

Naruto responded in a placating manner "It's okay, I know it's not your fault. Whatever that thing was, it took advantage of your grief and I made sure to teach it a lesson,"

"But how?" asked Amaru confusedly.

"It would be thanks to my sword," Naruto gestured to the glaive latched on to his back like always "It produces pure energy which seems to be very effective against it, so I used the energy to purge it from your body without hurting you,"

"Thank you for saving me,"

"No problem," said Naruto with a foxy grin, then he flinched a bit.

"Naruto!" everyone turned to see Sakura running towards them, having regained consciousness "You're all okay!"

"Yeah, we're fine," Naruto frowned a bit "But did you have to hit my shadow clone?"

Sakura looked away sheepishly "Sorry, it's just that your clone was looking at me all funny and it freaked me out,"

Naruto's frown deepened, recalling the memory of his clone who did nothing offensive whatsoever "That's no excuse for you to do what you did, I thought you grew out of that habit,"

Sakura flinched at that, realizing that Naruto no longer tolerates her tendency to hit him for any reason anymore. She was about to apologize when the ground began to shake violently all around them.

"What's going on?!" asked Sakura in a panic.

"I don't know, but I'm sure it has something to do with the ruins," Naruto stood up while helping Amaru to her feet "Listen Sakura, I need you to find Hinata and head back to the Leaf village with Amaru to get reinforcements. I suspect that things are about to get very serious,"

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" asked Sakura.

Naruto nodded in affirmation "I'll be okay, trust me,"

"Okay then, let's go Amaru,"

Amaru stood there silently but then refused "No, I'm going with Naruto to the ruins,"

"What, but why?"

"I have to honor master Shinnou's teachings, I have to save my people!"

Naruto looked into her eyes and saw that her mind is set "Alright then, you can come along,"

Sakura was surprised to hear this "But Naruto…,"

"I can tell that her mind is made up. Now that I think about it, the villagers inside the ruins might be hurt for her to treat and you'll be able to reach the village quicker as well," Naruto explained then he turned to Amaru "Come on, let's go,"

Amaru nodded in affirmation "Right!"

They both began making their way into the ruins before Sakura could protest further then she let out a sigh and smiled a bit.

"At least that part of him hasn't changed after all this time," Sakura turned and started running "Now to meet up with Hinata and return to the village to gather reinforcement so we ca-,"

The ground to shake yet again but this time more intensely than before much to Sakura's confusion which was soon replaced by shock when she witnessed numerous buildings burst out from the ground but it didn't stop there as the buildings came together as one then actually ascended into the air and finally revealing its entirety to be a giant flying temple.

Sakura was shocked to see the flying temple but then she recalled another thing…Naruto and Amaru are in that very temple!

Speaking of the aforementioned two, they were inside and had been taken by surprise when they felt the supposed ruins suddenly start to move and actually fly into the air. There's also the fact that they had seen Sky Ninjas patrolling the place earlier

Amaru turned to Naruto "I can't believe that the ruins is flying, I mean this is nuts,"

"I know, I doubt anyone was expecting this which is what worries me. I'm not sure that the Leaf village or any other village for that matter has any countermeasures for something like this," Naruto replied.

"Well, if this thing was built by humans, then there has to be someone who knows how to control it,"

"I see where, you're going with this: find the pilot and have him deactivate this flying fortress, and while we're at it…," Naruto created multiple Shadow Clones "I'll have my clones take out the patrols and locate the villagers who are no doubt kept prisoners here,"

With that said, they all set out with their assigned objectives. Naruto and Amaru continued running through the corridors all the while taking out any Sky ninjas they came across. The duo eventually found themselves exiting out of the winding corridors into a large circular room which seems to be the control room given the large tree-looking thing at the center and a throne in front of it. On the throne, they saw someone sitting on it…someone whom they weren't expecting to see at all.

"I'm so very proud of you two," said the person.

Amaru gasped in shock and disbelief upon seeing who the person is "…Dr Shinnou," she ran towards the man with tears in her eyes as she embraced him "I knew it, I knew you were still alive! I knew you wouldn't leave me!"

As much as Naruto wanted to be happy to see that the doctor is alive, he couldn't help but feel that there's something off about all this "I've got a lot of questions, old man. One of them being what's going on with all this," he gestured around himself, asking about the flying fortress.

Shinnou hummed nonchalantly "Well, that's a tricky question. The most suitable answer would be that we're inside a flying fortress called Ancor Vantian. It may look like ruins but has been painstakingly developed and constructed over many decades by the people of the Land of Sky. It's the ultimate weapon of destruction,"

Naruto frowned at how Dr Shinnou was explaining so calmly which only made him more suspicious "Here's another question, how are you still alive? Last I checked, both Hinata and Sakura confirmed your death and there's no way they made a mistake as they're certified medics trained by Grandma Tsunade herself,"

Shinnou chuckled in amusement "Oh yes, it was child's play for me to convince the likes of Sakura and Hinata by simply slowing the rate of my heartbeat to a crawl," Amaru was shocked to hear this as he continued to speak "And all I needed to do was revive my damaged organs with my Body Activation jutsu,"

"So, this whole time; you have been deceiving us. The whole rescuing the villagers was nothing more than a ploy to activate this flying fortress. You're with those Sky Ninjas that attacked the Leaf village,"

Amaru raised her head to look at her master but didn't see the kind expression he always had but that of a cruel person as he grabbed her by the head and lifted her a foot above the ground, alarming Naruto.

"Hey, let her go!" Naruto dashed forward to intervene but Shinnou tossed her aside that he quickly used a chakra arm to catch her and pull towards him. He noticed that Amaru's bandanna was missing then heard ripping sounds and looked to see Shinnou tearing the bandanna into pieces and Amaru watched in horror as it was being torn by the very person who gifted it to her as sign of their bond.

"Fourteen years ago, I posed as a doctor and travelled the world all the while gathering knowledge on how to control the Zero Tails. Eventually I found the scroll to awaken the beast in the Hidden Leaf village,"

Naruto's eyes widened in realization "It was you…you ordered the attack on the village just so you could get the scroll during the chaos!"

Shinnou smirked evilly "Quite smart of you to figure out. With help of the scroll, I finally mastered the use of Dark Chakra!"

"This can't be you, doctor. There must be something that's making you act this way; you must be sick! Maybe we can cure you somehow," Naruto could see the denial in Amaru's eyes and couldn't bring himself to make her realize the cold truth before them.

Shinnou shook his head in amusement as he tossed the pieces of the bandanna away "Wrong diagnosis, I'm afraid. You're sorely mistaken if you think that I've lost my mind. My mind as never been clearer, the strange thing would be how I had been acting up until now. When darkness is present in people's hearts, the Zero Tails can take a hold of them and turn the darkness in their hearts into chakra. Once I learnt about that, things became quite simple and it took me fourteen years to figure it out,"

"At that time when Amaru was grieving over Shinnou's supposed death, the Zero Tails possessed her body. It must have used her negative emotions to do so," thought Naruto with a frown.

"People are overcome by despair. When sadness washes over them, people focus great anger and hatred towards the source of their misery and in doing so, creates the darkest of chakra. I ordered the attack of the village so the Zero Tails would possess you, Amaru,"

Amaru quivered, not wanting to believe his words "No…you're lying…aren't you, doctor?!"

Shinnou sneered cruelly "Hehehehehe, master? Apprentice? Who cares about such titles? You were nothing more than a pawn to use to accomplish my goals!"

Those words were the final blow, the ultimate truth was too much for Amaru to bear as she broke down in tears with Naruto holding her in his arms and a growing rage building up within him.

"When you save a person's life, they will never doubt anything you say at all,"

Naruto tried to speak to Amaru "Amaru, you gotta snap out of it, please!" but his words failed to reach the distraught girl.

Shinnou's body began to radiate a dark aura, something he had been expecting all this time "I can feel it…the power of the dark chakra coursing through my body. It feels so good!" he began laughing evilly.

Naruto covered Amaru's ears, wanting to block out the laughter which tortures her very soul. He glares at Shinnou with his teeth gritted in anger "I'm gonna make you pay for this, there's no forgiveness for someone like you!"

The blonde reluctantly stood away from Amaru then dashed towards Shinnou with every intent to beat the mad man to a pulp for his actions which he clearly has no remorse for. But the next thing he knew was that he was suddenly sent flying backwards and slammed into a wall before dropping to the floor. Naruto looked up to see Shinnou with his hand thrusted outwards, revealing to be the one who attacked him.

Music Start: Naruto OST; Heavy Violence

"Dark chakra can't only be used to awaken the Zero Tails; it has other uses as well. For example, it can do this…!" Shinnou began to concentrate a massive amount of Dark Chakra which caused his body to change, gaining mass and it tore of his upper clothes to reveal a muscular figure and even his hair had changed color from white to black.

Naruto was shocked to see this "What the…?"

Shinnou chuckled darkly "That was the Body Activation jutsu. With this colossal body, I can open up all of the 8 Inner Chakra Gates including the Gate of Death,"

Naruto rose to his feet "Like Bushy Brows and Bushier Brows-sensei but without the negative side effects, even so…," he dashed forward and created a small squad of shadow clones in an attempt rush the enemy from different angles.

However, Shinnou suddenly moved with unbelievable speed and began taking down the clones at a rapid rate, dispelling them one by one then he attacked Naruto by punching him in the stomach with such force that he nearly folded and spat out saliva from the impact.

"Are you now starting to understand what this body born from the Body Activation can do?" Shinnou pulled back his fist then drove an elbow onto Naruto's back, slamming him to the ground "My apologies, I'm still having trouble getting used to this incredible strength," he casually kicked Naruto, sending him flying across the room and crashing into the wall yet again.

Shinnou went to sit at the throne and marveled at it "Now I see, this must have been designed to fit someone with the ultimate body. It is a fine throne, fit for someone powerful enough to be called king,"

Naruto got back to his feet, a hand on his stomach which was no doubt bruised from the punch earlier but still capable of fighting "I beg to differ…," he sped through a set of handsigns "Wind Style: Air Bullets!" Naruto took in a deep breath while ignoring the ache in his stomach and opened his mouth to launch a barrage of compressed spheres of air towards his target.

Shinnou simply rose from his throne and with a casual wave of an arm, launched a large wave of Dark Chakra that clashed with the wind jutsu and canceled it out. He then something in the air and saw what appears to be a crystal with seals etched into it, the crystal suddenly released a bright flash of light which caused him to instinctively close his eyes. At that very moment, he felt something grab his entire head and pull him off his feet before himself in the grip of Naruto via his chakra arm which came from his back.

"You think you're a king?!" Naruto channeled chakra into his arms before proceeding to pummel his body with fierce punches "I think you're nothing!" he then used the chakra arm holding Shinnou to slam him to the ground left and right with great force many times before holding in front of him again and began to from a large sphere of chakra "I won't let you have your way anymore, Chakra Cannon!" Naruto launched the attack at pointblank, blasting Shinnou away and crashing into the wall across the room. He calmed down a bit and turned to check on Amaru.

"In the human body, a muscle is strengthened through the process of damage and recovery. Therefore, I need only to apply the basics of medical ninjutsu," Naruto turned and was alarmed to see Shinnou back on his feet, the damage inflicted on his body healing before his eyes and appearing like nothing had happened earlier "Through just this process alone, my body can become massively powerful…capable of anything,"

"What a monster…," Naruto prepared himself for an attack but felt a shiver crawl up his spine when he heard Shinnou literally whispering into his ear from behind.

"And when my ultimate body releases chakra, it also unleashes its supreme attack…," in Shinnou's open palm, a small sphere of Dark Chakra takes form before he closes his fingers around "Super Activation Fist!"

Naruto tried to do-

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

The blonde ninja was sent flying yet again, tumbling across the floor like a thrown stone skipping along the surface of a river before skidding to a stop, his body hurt all over from the attack.

Shinnou however was frowning as his attack didn't go like he intended, the reason for that to be the shield which was floating in the air close to Naruto. Right before his attack connected, that strange sword transformed into the shield and got in between them to protect its wielder albeit the impact had still sent him flying.

"According to the Zero Tails, that sword was capable of actually damaging it. I'll need to be careful and make sure that he doesn't use it against me," thought Shinnou.

The mad man appeared behind Naruto who was still rising to his feet and raised a leg to stomp on his back with the intent to break his spine. However, a large chakra arm emerged from Naruto's back and grabbed Shinnou before flinging him away and crashing into the throne, damaging it.

"Stellar Gear change: Chakram!" the shield transformed into the Chakram that Naruto quickly grabbed and threw at Shinnou who dodged it in a burst of speed and appeared before Naruto with a first reared back to punch him "Protect!" a domed barrier appeared around the blonde ninja to defend him but was already beginning to break from the punch.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" Naruto unleashed a powerful gust of wind to knock Shinnou away from him before running after him in pursuit whilst forming a large chakra arm with his left hand then he punched him hard to the ground.

Even so, Shinnou rose to his feet once more and was already recovering from the wounds inflicted on him much to Naruto's growing frustration.

"Why won't you go down already?!" Naruto demanded angrily.

Shinnou scoffed in response "It's rather simple, I am a god who is beyond human unlike you,"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Humans are weak, possessing no fangs or claws with their only unique skill being crying. And yet somehow, they were able to conquer the entire world. Do you know why?"

Shinnou rushed to stand in front of Naruto "Because out of all the living creatures in the world, humans…," with a crazed grin, Shinnou pummeled Naruto's chest with punches "ARE THE MOST CRUEL!"

"Stellar Gear Change: Armor!" Naruto quickly had the Kosei no Ha transform into samurai-style armor wear in time to block what would have been a lethal strike as he redirected the kinetic energy absorbed from the impact to his right fist and punched Shinnou in the chest, knocking him "That was too close, my bracelet hadn't recharged in time to use it again,"

Flinching from the counterattack, Shinnou still acted nonchalant "How persistent, then again humanity is always a stubborn race. Capable of achieving higher status by joining together. And what power did they use to achieve it? It certainly wasn't the power of love!"

Naruto glared at the mad doctor for making such a statement as he stepped forward "Just because you got some messed up jutsu that gives you puffed up muscles doesn't mean you get to act all high and mighty," he continued to advance forward with no hesitation

"I know I'm gonna sound cheesy here, but…all of my friends both in my new home and old one. I never said it out loud for them to hear but…I love them, you hear me? I LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM WITH ALL MY HEART!"

"Okay okay, I get it. What was I thinking? Expecting you to understand anything?" Shinnou glanced at Amaru and smirked evilly "Love? Then answer me this: where did Amaru's so called love get you? In the end, that's what created this whole mess!"

Sensing Amaru's negative emotions, Naruto's anger surged as he dashed at Shinnou "Shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you!" both combatants exchanged blows but Naruto received more hits than what he dealt. One major flaw of the Armor is that its main function is defense which also means that his attack power is severely low and he can't use it for much longer either.

Amaru watched the ongoing fight, feelings of self-loathing growing stronger as she watched "It's all my fault, because of me…I caused all this. I don't deserve to live…," she slowly reached for the scalpel, holding it with both hands with the blade aimed towards her neck and moved to stab, closing her eyes in resignation.

Music End

There was the sound of something piercing through flesh, but Amaru noticed that she wasn't feeling any pain. She opened her eyes only to be shocked seeing Naruto having unequipped his armor and had embraced her from behind while using a forearm to intercept the scalpel with its blade stabbing it.

Naruto spoke in a gentle voice "Please don't do that, don't do something so sad…it's not your fault, not at all. You don't hear me blaming you, do you?"

Amaru shook her head timidly "…N-No,"

"You deserve to live just like everybody else, and that's why…you need to say goodbye,"

"…,"

"You never got to say goodbye, the chance to tell him how you feel? I think now is a good time to do so,"

Amaru cried before nodding, Naruto began to pull away but she grabbed his arm and started tearing the sleeve then he realized what she wanted to do and allowed it.

"The first time I was praised, he was the one who praised me. The first time I was taught, he was the one who taught me, the first person to guide me…,"

Naruto nodded as Amaru was now wrapped his forearm with bandages "Keep going,"

"The first time I wondered if I was pretty and the first time when I wondered how someone thought of me," Shinnou watched all this with clear indifference and not caring at all "He was my world, all I could think about was the doctor! It was my first time wanting someone's heart to be solely focused on me! I wanted to be loved! The truth is…I'VE ALWAYS LOVED YOU, DOCTOR!"

Shinnou was about to laugh in mockery of Amaru's feelings when he was interrupted by a sudden flash of light which seems to coming from the Kosei no Ha which was shining brightly as it underwent a new transformation.

Music Start: Naruto OST; Strong and Strike

Now attached to Naruto's forearms are a pair of blue-and-white spiral patterned gauntlets with a metallic spiral pattern on the back of the hands which seem to glow faintly every now and then, and also white metallic finger guards (an; Jin Kazama's gauntlets from Tekken 4)

Feeling the weapon telling Naruto what I can do, he stood up to his feet "Wait here, Amaru. I'll be right back…,"

"…okay,"

Seeing Naruto approach, Shinnou began to mock him "Still wishing to fight? Why can't you learn th-,"

*WHAM*

"SHUT UP, YOU DIRTBAG!" Naruto yelled as he dealt a powerful punch to the mad doctor's face and he was shocked to discover that he REALLY felt the pain from the punch, he didn't get a chance to gather his thoughts as Naruto repeatedly punched him in the face, chest and stomach "I'm sick and tired of you talking like you hold all the answers in the world!"

*POW* *WHAM* *BIFF*

Naruto continued to attack with fierce punches which were proving effective as the gauntlets were actually pure energy to attack Shinnou whose body is heavily reliant on Dark Chakra with it having a serious effect on him. Naruto rushed forward and launched both of them high into the air with a powerful rising uppercut.

"You claim that a person's love leads to darkness, but you couldn't be any more wrong! How would YOU know about love when you never loved anything, not even yourself!" Naruto raised both hands above his head and interlinked them before swinging down to send Shinnou crashing to the ground.

"This can't be happening; I cannot lose to this little brat!" Shinnou rushed at Naruto and attacked with a wild haymaker punch. But the blonde ninja suddenly disappeared from his sight, then the next thing he knew was that he felt a powerful kick to the side of his face from behind which knocked him down once more. The mad doctor got up and saw that Naruto was behind him, however he noticed that he wasn't wearing the gauntlets but rather a pair of blue-and-white spiral patterned leg greaves with a metallic spiral pattern on the shin guards.

"Why you little…!" Shinnou rushed to attack Naruto only to find his fist going through the ninja and disappeared from his sight. The next thing that happened was the sight of afterimages darting around him followed by an assault of powerful kicks from various directions around him before Naruto rushed in and attacked with a flying dropkick to the face for a knockback.

"The reason why I fight so hard, why I refuse to let myself lose is to protect the ones I love from scumbags like you!" the greaves glowed brightly then transformed into the gauntlets on his arms. He thrust a hand forward to launch a chakra tendril to wrap around Shinnou's neck and pulled over.

Naruto gripped his opponent's shoulder tightly with one hand and used the other to repeatedly punch him viciously in the face, forcing him to his knees before delivering a deadly uppercut to knock him into the air. However, the blonde ninja was far from done as he took a stance with a fist reared which conjured a massive chakra arm, waiting for Shinnou to drop back to the ground then made his move.

*WHAM*

He sent Shinnou flying and ironically smashing through the throne he once sat on and crashing into the wall, forming a large crater upon impact.

Shinnou tried to recover but his body can't seem to be able to keep up, Naruto had been inflicting massive amounts of damage faster than he could recover. Not to mention that the pure energy from his weapon has been affecting him greatly "M-My chakra is getting…," hearing a sound, he looked up to see Naruto preparing a Rasengan which was being fused with pure energy, showing his clear intention to end the fight once and for all.

"Remember what I said before…?" Naruto looked over his shoulder at Amaru before turning back to him "That there's no forgiveness for someone like you,"

He began to rush forward when something appeared at the corner of his eye, forcing him to cancel his attack and jump away as something struck at where he once stood which turned out to be metallic scalpels, then a familiar voice spoke up throughout the room.

Music End

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," someone stepped into the room for all to see.

Naruto glared upon recognizing the person "Kabuto…,"

Aforementioned person smiled whilst looking at Naruto through his glasses "Long time no see, I've heard rumors that you were dead since you had been killed by Sasuke. It would seem that the rumors were greatly exaggerated,"

"What are you doing here?" Naruto inquired warily in case that the righthand man of Orochimaru tries to attack him.

"Actually, I am here on business for Lord Orochimaru for some assistance from our fellow doctor," Kabuto explained, turning to face Shinnou.

"Oh, is that the case? And what if I should resist you?" asked Shinnou arrogantly.

"My lord never specified how I should bring you back to him, whether being unscathed…," a dangerous look appeared on Kabuto's eyes "…or barely alive,"

Shinnou laughed aloud at the notion "Don't be so arrogant, if you think that I've run out of Dark Chakra then think again!"

"If so, then show me. I won't stop you,"

"This idiot, he has no idea what he's doing!" Naruto prepared to intervene.

Shinnou began gathering Dark Chakra into his body like before…but something seemed to have gone wrong which is evident when he suddenly collapsed to his knees and vomited blood, majority of his hair fell off with the remainder turning gray, his muscular physique becoming shriveled and lean with a pale complexion.

"Doctor…," both Amaru and Naruto were shocked to witness what just happened before them.

Shinnou looked at Kabuto, suspecting him to be the one responsible "What…did you do to me?"

Kabuto pushed up his glasses with a sly smile "I've been watching the entire fight, studying the mechanics of your body when it's using the Dark Chakra. It would seem that you didn't notice my recently created chakra needles,"

"Chakra needles? But when did you…," Shinnou's eyes widened, recalling that there were times during the fight when he suddenly felt nicks in certain parts of his body but had shrugged it off to be nothing important.

Kabuto sneered "I suspected that you might prove uncooperative, so I had to take countermeasures to negate that,"

Shinnou scoffed while he stood up weakly "Hmph, I seriously doubt it's me whom Orochimaru wants…," he weakly walked towards the treelike structure in the center of the room and activated a hidden switch which opened up a small compartment containing a scroll "This is what he's after, I stole this scroll from the Leaf village,"

Right as he tossed the scroll over to Kabuto, Shinnou suddenly pulled a hidden lever which opened up a trapdoor underneath his feet for him to drop through, all the while laughing madly "I'm not done yet, nothing is finished!"

Kabuto pocketed the scroll with indifference and began to walk away "My job here is finished, have fun you two,"

"So, you're just gonna leave like that?" asked Naruto.

"What goes on here is none of my business, hope to see you again…if you survive that is…," said Kabuto in amusement then he disappeared in a puff of smoke,"

Naruto glared at where he once stood "It won't be anytime soon…," he turned to look for Shinnou but stopped upon seeing Amaru then he went to her

"I'm going to look for him, in the meantime you need to go and help the villagers imprisoned here," Naruto took off the bracelet from his wrist and gave it to her "This will protect you while I'll have a shadow clone take you to where they are,"

Amaru took the bracelet in her hands and looked up to Naruto who smiled. To think that this is the same boy whom she was bickering with on the boat today and look at him now. Steeling herself, she looked at him with eyes full of focus "Leave it to me, I'll definitely save them,"

Naruto nodded in approval "That's what I wanna hear! Let's do this," he created a shadow clone to guide Amaru as they went their separate paths.

Using his Aura Sight, Naruto located a fake wall and smashed it down to reveal a hidden passage which he went through till he reached the end which opened up into a massive room which was even bigger than the previous one. There he saw the Zero Tails which was enwrapped in a pale yellowish organic see-through cocoon and it seems to be serving as a power source for the entire flying fortress, there he saw Shinnou standing in front of the Zero Tails.

Music Start: Naruto Shippuden OST; Akatsuki

Shinnou cackled madly upon seeing Naruto "You actually followed me down here? How stupid can you be?!"

Naruto frowned in response "And what makes you think that?"

"This place absorbs chakra collected by the Zero Tails and converts it into power. With you here, any chakra you release will be absorbed by the Zero Tails as more fuel for Ancor Vantian which means you can't do a thing!"

"You think that will discourage me?" Naruto dropped down to the ground to face him "If I can't use my chakra then you can't use your Dark Chakra either, considering the fact that Kabuto messed up your body to restrict that,"

Shinnou sneered "I didn't bring you to the core of Ancor Vantian to shut off your puny chakra…BEHOLD!" he began releasing Dark Chakra from his body for it to be absorbed by the Zero Tails which squirmed in reaction, then yellowish tendrils emerged from the cocoon to wrap around him and pull towards it.

Naruto was surprised to see this "What are you doing?!"

"Did you really think that Ancor Vantian was some sort of fancy flying fortress and that I would meddle with something as dangerous as the Zero Tails just for that? It is far more than that, it is equipped with the ultimate weapon capable of destroying the five great nations!"

Naruto's eyes widened realization of what the madman could possibly be implying "A weapon of mass destruction?!"

Shinnou grinned while he was being fully absorbed into the Zero Tails "Indeed, now bear witness to the might of the Land of Sky!" the cocoon suddenly glowed brightly along with the hieroglyphics in the room much to Naruto's confusion.

Outside of the fortress, a part of it began gathering energy at one point before firing a massive yellow beam of energy which destroyed a nearby mountain and travelled across the land at highspeed and ended up wiping out what was left of the aircraft carriers of the Sky Ninjas. Kakashi, Shino, Sai and Shikamaru were absolutely shocked upon witnessing what had just happened right in front of their eyes.

"Wh-What just happened?" thought Shikamaru in disbelief, trying to make sense of what had occurred.

Back in the flying fortress, Naruto heard and felt the blast, Shinnou cackled gleefully at the exhibition of his power.

"And once I've destroyed each of the five great nations, I will become emperor over a vast Sky Empire!" Shinnou declared insanely.

Naruto held out the Kosei no Ha in its sword form "You're crazy, don't go thinking that I'm gonna stand by and watch you do that!" he dashed forward to attack head-on as he created several shadow clones but felt his chakra being drained greatly "Need to end this quickly,"

"What a fool!"

Shinnou manipulated the Zero Tails to attack Naruto and the clones by launching a multitude of tendrils from the cocoon in the shape of hands. The blonde ninja and his copies slashed at the incoming tendrils the best they could, any attempt to use the chakra arms resulted in their chakra being absorbed by the Zero Tails. Unfortunately, they were overwhelmed by the sheer number of the Zero Tails' tendrils and Naruto got captured.

"Darn it!" Naruto struggled to break free and was feeling his chakra being drain "This isn't good,"

Shinnou sneered, having finally captured Naruto "I'm going to take great pleasure killing you,"

Amaru and a copy of Naruto ran through the corridor towards where the prisoners were held when the latter suddenly flinched which she noticed with concern.

"What's the matter?" asked Amaru.

"Something's wrong, we need to hurry and free the villagers before I get dispelled," said C-Naruto urgently.

"O-Okay," Amaru wanted to inquire further but knew that there isn't enough time to do so.

They continued on their way, past the unconscious Sky ninjas that were knocked out by the clones from earlier but were dispelled when the original started to fight Shinnou before they could do anything. They soon reached the cells and Naruto called out to Hinata who was with them.

"Hinata, how's everyone doing?" asked C-Naruto worriedly.

Hinata weakly raised her head to respond "Naruto, you need to hurry…our chakra is being absorbed. At this rate, the villagers will…,"

"Say no more, I'm getting you out of there. Amaru, get ready to help everyone out,"

Amaru nodded in affirmation "Right!"

C-Naruto brought out Kosei no Ha and swiftly sliced through the bars like knife through butter, effectively freeing everyone and also disrupting the chakra absorption effect.

"Now, let's get everyone ou-,"

*Poof*

C-Naruto suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke, alarming everyone.

"Naruto?" Amaru and Hinata became worried about what could have happened to the blonde ninja.

Naruto continued to struggle to free himself as Shinnou laughed in amusement at the futility of it all.

"What's the matter? Can't fight back without your chakra? You're nothing more than a puny brat!"

Naruto smirked in response "Oh yeah, well it was this puny brat who has been knocking you around like a ball inside a pinball machine. It took you to turning into an overgrown monster just so you can match up to me! You're nothing but talk!"

Shinnou was enraged to hear this "Why you little…time to shut you up!" he attacked with a barrage of tendrils to silence Naruto "Now just shut up and die quietly, you have no hope against the might of the Sky Emperor!"

Naruto glared back in defiance "Ain't no way I'm gonna call it quits…I'll never give up, I'll never back down. That's my Nindo; My Ninja Way!"

"Hmph, nice to see that part of you hasn't changed after all these years," a deep voice spoke within the confines of Naruto's mind.

Naruto was startled upon hearing the familiar voice "This voice…,"

"And it seems like you're in a serious pinch, just when I thought I would use our link to say hello to you,"

"Kurama, is that you?"

The now revealed nine-tailed fox chuckled in amusement "Long time no see, you look like you could use some help and against that leeching Zero Tails no less,"

Naruto chuckled in response "I wouldn't mind lending me your chakra, for old times' sake,"

"Hmhmhmhmhm, indeed. We'll talk later after you rip that worm a new one!"

"Thanks man,"

Naruto felt the familiar sensation of Kurama's chakra coursing through his body which then exploded outwards. Like always, the Zero Tails absorbed the chakra and grew larger but then it began to shriek loudly in pain due to the red chakra it was absorbing was now shooting out of its body.

Shinnou was shocked by what was happening "What's going on?! This chakra…it's more than what the Zero Tails can absorb?!"

Music Change: Naruto Shippuden OST; Denkousekka

Naruto formed his signature handsign "Multi Shadow Clone jutsu!" there was a large burst of smoke which dissipated to reveal a massive army of clones "Let's get him guys!"

"Yeah!" the clones replied in chorus then they charged forward to attack.

"How dare you!?" Shinnou fought back in defiance with multitudes of tendrils as the clones fought back and were gaining ground regardless of some being dispelled "DIE! DIE! DIE!"

He suddenly felt a surge of energy and looked up only to be horrified upon seeing Naruto high in the air and he held the Kosei no Ha above his head with both hands, pure energy coursing through the blade that it looks like a giant beam of light shooting out of it. He recognized it to be the same attack from before but appears to be more powerful compared to the previous.

"This is the end for you! Karmic…," Naruto reared back to attack "…PUNISHER!"

He swung down to launch a massive vertical wave of light in the direction of his target, Shinnou tried to defend himself by creating a reinforced wall from the cocoon but to no avail because the attack easily broke the wall, sending him smashing through the stone tablet behind him then was embedded into the wall.

Music End

Naruto landed on the ground, panting and he felt Kurama's chakra leave his body "Thanks for the help, Kurama,"

"Heh, just like old times. But it appears that you're not done yet though," said Kurama.

Naruto was about to ask what the fox meant when he heard coughing and turned to see Shinnou emerge from the Zero Tails' unmoving body which frustrated him.

"I didn't think it would come to this, but I refuse to die no matter what!" Shinnou declared.

"Just what does it take to make you go down already?!" asked Naruto in annoyance.

"You really have no idea what you've just done, have you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Destroying that stone base releases the Zero Tails and its accumulated chakra from any sort of control which goes to show just how you're just a brat who doesn't have any idea of what you're doing. Now I'll have no idea what will happen next,"

No sooner he said those words, numerous tendrils burst out of the Zero Tails' body and began going on a rampage and destroying anything and everything.

Naruto was alarmed at this "This place is about to go down; I better get everyone outta here before the fortress comes crashing down to the earth!" he quickly ran out of the room while avoiding the tendrils bursting through the corridors.

Outside the fortress, Hinata and Amaru were helping the villagers get on board on of the large flying lifeboats for them to escape in.

Ensuring that everyone was on board, Amaru turned to Hinata "Okay, everyone's in. how do we launch it?"

"Pulling that lever over there will launch the lifeboat!" Hinata pointed over to the aforementioned lever a small distance from where they are.

"Got it!" Amaru ran towards the lever but was obstructed by the falling debris, that's when she heard a familiar voice.

"Hurry up and get on, Amaru!" she looked up to see Naruto with his hand on the release lever "Hurry so I can pull the lever!"

"Naruto, you're okay," Hinata was happy to see that Naruto was still alive after what had happened to his shadow clone.

"Naruto…what happened to the doctor?" asked Amaru.

"…," Naruto didn't say anything or he needn't to as his silence said everything "Amaru, you need to get on,"

"…but what are you going do? Can you fly?" asked Amaru after a moment of silence.

"In ways I can, but I'm staying behind to take care of things. Just go with the villagers,"

Amaru shook her head in disagreement "No! if you're staying then I am too!"

Naruto frowned "You can forget about that!"

"I don't care what you say, I'm staying here no matter wh-whoa!" Amaru was suddenly grabbed by Naruto's chakra arm and forcefully put into the lifeboat.

"I'll be okay, I promise!" Naruto pulled the release lever to activate the deployment for the lifeboat. however, tendrils of the Zero Tails appeared on the runway and was about to attack the lifeboat "I don't think so! Stellar Gear Change: Chakram!" he threw the transformed glaive to slice the tendrils into pieces, allowing for the lifeboat to take off safely.

Seeing them leave with no danger towards them, Naruto leaned against the wall and was panting, his body was seriously fatigued from what had happened but he still needs to do one more thing.

"Get a hold of yourself, Naruto. You still need to bring this thing down," Naruto closed his eyes for a moment and saw the images everyone both from Konoha and Equestria.

"Is this is really Naruto? The one who can keep on going without a break?" Kakashi teased.

Shikamaru smiled tiredly "Hope you're not trying to be as lazy as I am, that would be a drag,"

"You must have not eaten if you're this tired," Chouji munched on a bag of chips.

"Do your best, Naruto," Hinata cheered shyly.

"By the way, how beautiful are the ladies in your new place?" asked Jiraiya with a pervy smile only to be smacked in the head by Tsunade.

"Get up already, you can take a break afterwards!" said Rainbow Dash

"Come on pardner, no time to dillydally!" said Applejack.

"Your clothes are a mess, do return soon so I can improve on the material," said Rarity.

Fluttershy smiled shyly "Please come back soon,"

Pinkie Pie bounced happily "Come on back, I've got a victory party planned!"

"Go for it, Big Bro!" Scootaloo cheered along with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.

"We await your safe return," Luna spoke fondly.

Twilight smiled "Remember Naruto, friendship is magic,"

Music Start: Naruto Shippuden OST; Douten

Naruto smiled as he opened his eyes and stood up "That's right, I've no time to rest. Let's get to it!" he created a lot of shadow clones and stood before them "Alright you guys, time for some demolition!"

"Yeah!" the clones replied in chorus then they scattered about.

Some of the clones equipped themselves with the gauntlets or greaves forms of the Kosei no Ha in order to smash down the walls and pillars all around them. Another group of shadow clones went for heavy duty by using large chakra arms to literally rip up the floors that they stand on or tear down the walls and pillars by large chunks

"Let's see what these bad boys can do!" Naruto held a handful of Explosive Crystals which he tossed at certain parts of the fortress and made sure that he stood a safe distance away from them then he yelled out "Detonate!"

*BOOM*

The crystals exploded which demolished a large section of the fortress, sending it falling down to the sea below, encouraging Naruto to use more of the crystals for he's determined to destroy it to the point it can never be used to hurt anyone ever again.

"He's not gonna stop, is he?" asked Shikamaru lazily, he watched the flying fortress break apart piece by piece along with the others from the beachside.

"Given what we know of him, the obvious answer is no he won't," Kakashi replied.

Sai smiled "He really is an interesting person,"

Shino noted something and brought the others' attention "the falling debris seems to be coming this way,"

"We should probably run for it," Shikamaru suggested, not at all feeling worried.

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and even brought out his favorite book "Hmmm, probably,"

"Giant Rasengan!" one of the clones plowed through multiple walls with the jutsu "Chakra Cannon!" another was just blasting away at anything which is intact before moving on to the next area.

"Hah!" few of the clones resorted to wielding the Kosei no Ha to cut down the supports in order to undermine the overall structure of the fortress.

Sakura had finally returned with backup who were Neji, Chouji and Yamato. They stopped at the cliff bordering the sea and saw the fortress crumbling apart.

"Neji, can you see what going on there?" asked Yamato.

"Don't go wasting your Byakugan for this one," Shikamaru suggested while they were relaxing on a ledge below them.

"Oh yeah," Kakashi turned a page on his book and continued to read without a care in the world.

"Boss, the Explosive Crystals have been set and ready to blow!" some of the clones called out to inform the original.

Naruto nodded in affirmation "Alright then, time to abandon this sinking ship!" he dispelled the clones and started running while he yelled out "Detonate!" a series of explosions began occurring throughout the fortress while he continued to run towards the edge before jumping off right before it exploded entirely.

"Chakra Wings!" a pair of birdlike wings made of chakra emerged from his back then he took flight and glided towards the ground.

"Naruto!"

He turned to see the flying lifeboat with Amaru and Hinata waving at him, so he flew towards them and landed on the deck with the wings dissipating as he took a seat with a slump then Hinata and Amaru went to check on him.

"Naruto, are you okay?" Amaru checked on him to see the injuries which he would have.

"I'll live, just gonna take a small nap. Kami above knows that I deserve it," Naruto laid down with his eyes closed and a smile on his face with everyone looking at him with gratitude for everything he has done to save them from that mad man.

Music End

Opening his eyes, Naruto noticed that he was in his mindscape and was lying in the shade of the large tree.

"About time that you woke up," Naruto turned to see Kurama approaching him albeit smaller than his normal size "Was wondering how much longer you were gonna sleep,"

"Hey Kurama, how's life been for you now that you're free and back in the makai world?" asked Naruto fondly.

Kurama grinned "Never been better, no worries about getting caged and I have all the elbow room than I need. I gotta thank you for that,"

"It's cool, and the Akatsuki aren't bothering you, are they?"

"Considering that they think you're dead and expecting me to revive several years later, they're gonna be waiting for a long time to the point of dying of old age," Kurama grinned at the thought of it "By the way, what's been going in your new life? I'm rather curious,"

"Take a seat and I'll tell you all about it…,"

Inside of a dark cell within a prison, we find Sasuke Uchiha seated and was mediating when he felt a presence standing at the entrance leading to his cell which was a cloaked figure with the hood concealing their identity.

Sasuke scoffed as he spoke "I was wondering when you were going to show up…,"

"Believe me, I was rather hesitant to see you after what happened last time," the person pulled down the hood to reveal that it was Naruto "It's been a long time, Sasuke,"

"Indeed it has, I was skeptical that you were alive after what happened until I got that letter from you,"

"Yeah, Sakura told me what had happened when I was gone…,"

Sasuke scoffed "Of course, why am I not surprised that you heard it from her? She always pokes her nose in places that don't concern her. Coming here many times to pester me, begging for me to change so things could go back to the way they were before. How naïve of her,"

Naruto frowned at how Sasuke spoke ill of Sakura but tried to stay on track "Listen, there's something I wanted to ask you relating to that day,"

"What is it?"

"When we had that clash, when your attack struck. Was it truly your intention kill me or any accident? I need to know if you at least regretted what happened that day?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto and chuckled in amusement "After all these years, you're still trying to figure that out? The fact that I burned you alive, broke your neck and struck you twice in the chest with the Chidori hasn't nailed the fact that I was trying to kill you into your head. My only regrets are that I didn't make sure to kill you more effectively the first three times and being unable to go to Orochimaru to gain the power I needed to kill Itachi. You and this damn village robbed me of my purpose!"

"Rob you of your purpose? You were about to go to the very same guy who killed Old Man Hokage and he wanted to take over your body!" Naruto protested.

"That only shows how I could have been strong enough to kill my brother if he could kill a Kage,"

"You mean to tell me that you would be willing to do anything to achieve your vengeance?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto straight in the eyes and spoke with no hesitation "Even if the price was to destroy this damn village to gain power…I'd pay it gladly,"

Naruto took a step back, shocked to the core by what Sasuke just said and knows that he means his words with no doubt and no second guessing. He closed his eyes and turned away from his former teammate.

"Then it's for the best that you remain here for the rest of your days, where no one innocent will die because of your selfish vendetta,"

Sasuke shot to his feet with a scowl "It's not selfish, you wouldn't understand when you have been alone since the day you were born, you don't know the feeling of losing something precious to you!"

"I lost my life to you, a life that my parents sacrificed theirs to protect. Thanks for tarnishing that sacrifice, hope we never see each other again," Naruto pulled up his hood and began walking away.

"Come back here, Naruto! I'm not done with you!" said Sasuke angrily.

"Well, I'm done with YOU, it's pretty clear that anything outside your own self-satisfaction means nothing to you. Goodbye Sasuke, I wish you well…,"

"Don't you dare turn your back on me, Naruto! NARUTO!" Sasuke's shouts echoed throughout the prison corridor but they were ignored in the end.

"Do you really have to go, boss? You can stay here with us," Konohamaru pleaded with teary eyes along with Udon and Moegi.

A few days had passed and it was time for Naruto to return to Equestria as everyone was at a small forest clearing behind the Hokage Rock to see him off albeit reluctantly.

Naruto smiled softly "Sorry bud, it's just how it is and I can't change that, besides I'll be visiting every now and then with some souvenirs,"

Konohamaru nodded sadly "Okay…,"

Jiraiya stepped forward with several scrolls in a bag "Here are the scrolls for advanced Fuinjutsu that you wanted and also some training instructions for your wind ninjutsu,"

"Thanks, these will help me with some of my projects," Naruto took the bag and sealed it into his medallion. Then he turned to Amaru "I guess you'll be staying here in the village?"

Amaru nodded in affirmation "Yeah, turns out that there's a lot I can learn here if I want to become the best doctor who can help others,"

"I know you can do it, you already got a head start,"

Amaru smiled in response "Thanks, Naruto,"

"Be sure to visit us more often, things just haven't been the same without you," said Tsunade.

"I will,"

"Take care, Naruto," said Hinata shyly albeit sad that he was leaving again. The rest also gave their farewells in their own way

"Alright then, I'm off. Chakra Wings!" Naruto activated his wings and took flight then utilized the Camouflage Crystal to conceal himself as he flew towards where Dr. Whooves and the TARDIS is located in order to return home to Equestria.

An Off Day

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA

Chapter 45: An Off Day

Naruto hates being lonely, practically knowing that feeling since he was born before even getting to learn the word attached to it. He wasn't given a choice whether to be alone or not and it's a struggle to be in the company of others without being scorned, perhaps it was why he got so scared of ghosts since he gets anxious at the sound of anything that goes bump in the night when by himself. It's why he values friendship so much because it's what keeps him stable, make him feel like he's not alone in the world.

So it's extremely rare for Naruto to want to be alone, to choose to be by himself without company. But he certainly has a good enough reason to do so as he sits atop the hill overlooking Ponyville in the distance while staring up at the clouds, lost in his thoughts.

"*Sigh*…," Naruto didn't say anything or rather couldn't, the memory of his conversation with Sasuke before his return constantly replaying in his mind.

"After all these years, you're still trying to figure that out? The fact that I burned you alive, broke your neck and struck you twice in the chest with the Chidori hasn't nailed the fact that I was trying to kill you into your head? My only regrets are that I didn't make sure to kill you more effectively the first three times and being unable to go to Orochimaru to gain the power I needed to kill Itachi. You and this damn village robbed me of my purpose!"

"Rob you of your purpose? You were about to go to the very same guy who killed Old Man Hokage and he wanted to take over your body!"

"That only shows how I could have been strong enough to kill my brother if he could kill a Kage,"

"You mean to tell me that you would be willing to do anything to achieve your vengeance?"

"Even if the price was to destroy this damn village to gain power…I'd pay it gladly,"

Naruto let out another sigh whilst looking up at the clouds "As much I want to blame Orochimaru for 'reminding' Sasuke about his desire for vengeance, I can't since other things could have triggered him to do so. Whether it's that he couldn't beat someone by himself or that someone is doing better than him, there would always be something that would bug him. Guess I played a part as well since I was training to better myself and that seems to bother him to the point of challenging me on the hospital roof. But he shouldn't be rushing like that, I mean this is the same guy who beat Kakashi-sensei before coming after me and it took Pervy-Sage to make him back off. I shouldn't be bothering myself with 'What-ifs' at this point, it won't change how things have turned out now; I died and was reborn in another world, Sasuke is imprisoned, this gave Kakashi more of a reason to visit the monument, and I can tell that Sakura has been having a hard time even though she tries to conceal it from me…Team 7 is shattered beyond repair,"

The stallion soon found himself being snapped out of his musing by the sound of something whooshing through the air for him to see something flying quickly while leaving behind a long trail of rainbow colors then realizing who it is with the pony herself slowing down to hover right before him.

"Heya Naruto, how's it going?" the mare greeted in an upbeat tone.

"Hey Rainbow Dash, doing pretty good," Naruto responded with a small smile.

Rainbow Dash quirks an eyebrow at that response "For some reason, I don't believe that. What's gotten you so down in the dumps lately?"

"*Sigh* Guess I'm having an off day today, I should be back to my usual self by tomorrow,"

"Yeeeah no, not gonna wait that long. Let's have some fun right now, how about a game of tag?"

"Dash, I'm really not in the mood for…,"

"If you have time to be bummed, then use it for something fun! One of my cool mottos! In fact…," Rainbow Dash suddenly swooped forward and swiped Naruto's forehead protector since he's being rather dull to react "I'll be taking this!"

"Hey, give it back," Naruto demanded.

"Then you'll have to take it from me or is the big bad ninja too slack to take on this awesome pony?" Rainbow Dash challenged.

Something about the Pegasus's words caused something to twitch within Naruto as he activates his Chakra Wings and hovering in the air.

"I'll be take my forehead protector back…," said Naruto seriously.

Rainbow Dash grins, seeing the fire in Naruto's eyes "Oh yeah? Let's see you try," then she took off at highspeed with Naruto pursuing her.

Several ponies in Ponyville look up to see two blurs flying above in the sky with one trying multiple times to catch the other who doesn't plan on getting caught before resuming their individual activities. Rainbow Dash was certainly having fun with this game of keep away and Naruto couldn't deny that he was actually having fun right now as he now formulates a plan on catching his flying friend off guard.

Rainbow Dash looks to find no sight of Naruto and smirks "Looks like he couldn't keep up and lost me. Guess I'll be keeping this headband unti-,"

"Gotcha!"

Suddenly, something shot out from a nearby cloud and tackled Rainbow Dash, revealing to be Naruto who chose to hide in a cloud and waited for her to get close for a sneak attack as they're now spiraling downwards and ended up falling into a large heap of hay. Naruto and Rainbow Dash poked their heads out and looked at each other before breaking down into laughter at the amusement of it all.

"Well, this is one way to end our game!" said Naruto, trying and failing to rein in his laughter.

"You said it; reminds me of when we tried to create a new game called Sky Ball which is kind like football but Pegasus styled. We actually ended up splashing into the lake, was that something!" said Rainbow Dash who's still laughing.

"Boy, it really was something!"

"What in tarnation is going on!?" a voice suddenly called out, they turned to see Applejack who appears both flabbergasted and annoyed.

"Sorry about that, AJ. We kinda got carried away with our game," said Naruto sheepishly.

"Well your game caused a mess with our hay that we just gathered up,"

"No worries, we'll help you clean up,"

"By 'we', you actually mean you," Rainbow Dash flew out of the hay "I'll be heading off and keep the headband since you didn't exactly 'catch' me, see ya later!" she flew off before either Naruto or Applejack could say a word.

"She sure can be quick when she needs to…," Applejack commented with a deadpan expression "Ya gonna run off too?"

"No worries about that, I'll be staying back to help clean up the mess we made plus I get to hang out with you. Been having an off day today," said Naruto, figuring that he could always get his headband from Rainbow Dash later.

"In that case, I won't say no to some extra hooves since Big Mac is at the other side of the farm and Apple Bloom is still at school," Applejack cheered up, happy that Naruto is sticking around to help but is also mildly curious as to what could be making Naruto feel depressed.

"Alrighty then, let's start with the gathering of the hay,"

Naruto started by forming a pair of chakra arms projected from his back to weave through a short set of handsigns for a jutsu which conjures a mild mini tornado which gathers the scattered hay into one place before he and Applejack work together in tying it in several bundles before transporting them into the barn. Next up was apple bucking, Naruto was already hyped up from his game with Rainbow Dash which helps him harvest the apples much more quickly than usual.

"By the way, how are the Scarlet Apples coming along?" asked Naruto while he walks alongside Applejack through the farm.

"They're growing fine and dandy, the trees are already flowering so it's only a matter of time before they start bearing fruit. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie keep showing up to find out if they're ready yet since they really want to drink the cider and eat the baked goods of them," Applejack replied.

"Heh, I can imagine. But I think we need to be careful in case of somepony tries anything to get their hooves on the Scarlet Apples,"

"Ya got a point there, we might need to get some security later on,"

Naruto hummed thoughtfully "I could customize some seals for it and maybe Twilight could come up with something in addition, I'll ask her later,"

Applejack nods in affirmation "I'll leave that to you. By the way, have you visited the nymphs? Ptelea has been asking about ya,"

"Oh yeah, it's been a while since I last visited. I'd better resolve that, don't wanna upset her and the others,"

"Ya better do that,"

"Alright then, I'd better be on my way then,"

"Okay, but have some apples before you go,"

"Thanks AJ,"

Naruto ended up with a bushel of apples which he stores inside his medallion before leaving the farm while saying goodbye to Applejack and Big Mac before heading into town. He was greeting our ponies along the way when he heard someone call out to him.

"Hey there, Naruto!"

Naruto turned and smiled upon seeing who it is "Hey Spike, what's my blazing dragon up to?"

"Doing the usual, got a lot of blank scrolls, quills and ink from the store for Twilight. Would have been a real pain to carry if not for the Storage Crystals you gave to me," Spike flicks at the medallion hung around his neck "It's a real lifesaver,"

"No problem, guess you're heading back to the library?" asked Naruto curiously.

Spike shrugs his shoulders in response "Pretty much yeah, what about you?"

"Hmmmm, I didn't really have a definite destination in mind. Hope you won't mind a tagalong to the library,"

"Not at all,"

"Alright then, hop on my back and we'll be on our way,"

Jumping on to Naruto's back, they made their way to the Ponyville Library and went inside to find Twilight Sparkle reordering the books in the shelf...for the fourth time today according to Spike. Naruto shakes his head in mild amusement since he's long since familiar with Twilight's quirk of being very organized with what she does that it sometimes clashes with his unpredictable nature but at times meshes well in the case that her plans don't go well then he steps in to turn things into their favor.

Looking away from her work, Twilight perked up and smiled upon seeing Naruto "Hello there, Naruto. Wasn't expecting to see you while I'm rearranging the books today,"

"Not for the first time either, you always rearrange the books more than twenty times in a month," Naruto pointed out.

"Well, it's necessary since I can't risk missing out any details for when certain critical information is needed in the future,"

"But I'm pretty sure that you've read each and every one of the books here at least a hundred times," thought Naruto with a sweatdrop.

"So, what brings you here besides escorting Spike and saying hello?" Twilight asks curiously.

"I figured that I could come over and hang out for a bit, plus there's something that I want to discuss with you,"

"Okay, just let me finish with the rearrangement then we can talk,"

After said rearrangement, Twilight took Naruto to the balcony and prepared tea with snacks for themselves while having the conversation.

"So, what is it you want to talk about?" asked Twilight curiously.

"It was when I was at the Sweet Apple Acres with AJ…," Naruto went on to tell Twilight about the growth of the Scarlet Apple trees and concerns for the potential need for security in the case that someone might try to steal them in the future "…then I figured that I'd come and talk to you about it,"

Twilight hums thoughtfully "You certainly bring up a good point since not only at the Scarlet Apples both rare and valuable, there's also the gateway leading to the Nymphs' forest that we need to safeguard as well. I'll need to research on spells in order to protect the trees and the gateway,"

Naruto nods in response "Same here, I'll see about customizing special seals that would do the job,"

"I'll also send a letter to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna about it," Twilight magically takes out her inked quill and blank scroll to start writing "By the way, what have you been up to?"

"Not much at first, I was feeling a bit down until Rainbow Dash found me and since then, I figured to hang around with you girls,"

Twilight became concerned when she heard that Naruto was feeling depressed since it's unusual of Naruto and it would take something serious to feel that way "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really, but I'm already starting to feel better," said Naruto assuredly "I can't reveal to them yet that I'm being sent to other worlds to help the heroes against evil, even my former world,"

"Okay, just know that I'm always here to listen to whatever you have to say,"

"Thanks Twilight, I really appreciate it,"

After discussing new spell concepts with Twilight, Naruto left the library and was back on the streets, wondering about his next destination before deciding to visit Fluttershy at her home. Forming Chakra Wings, Naruto took to the air and flew over to the timid yet gentle mare's home. He knocked on the door and didn't have to wait too long when it opened to reveal Fluttershy who smiles upon seeing him.

"Hello Naruto, what brings you here?" asked Fluttershy curiously, her cheeks tinged pink.

"Just thought it's been a while since I last visited you and the other animals," no sooner he said that, the very animals Naruto spoke of rush past Fluttershy and swarmed him from head to hoof "Hahahaha, take it easy! I know you miss me!"

"Please be gentle," Fluttershy tries to calm the excited animals.

"It's alright, Shy. I've already gotten used to this by now," Naruto assured her.

Going inside, Fluttershy went to prepare lunch for the animals with Naruto helping her even though she politely refused at first since he's her guest but gave in to his insistence. While they were pouring the food into the bowls and distributing them with Naruto making use of his Chakra Arms and magic, Fluttershy notices that some of the animals were sticking to the stallion longer than usual and suspected something.

"Naruto, are you doing okay?" asked Fluttershy with concern.

Naruto quirks an eyebrow in response "Hm, what makes you ask that?"

Fluttershy gestures to the small critters perched on his back and mane "It's the way that they're being around you more than usual. They seemed to have sensed that you're not in the best of moods and offering comfort,"

"Oh I see…," Naruto smiles at the critters gratefully "Thanks guys,"

"So, are you doing okay?" she asks again.

"I wasn't at first but I'm doing okay bit by bit, thanks for your concern,"

"Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help,"

Naruto grins "Of course, you know I will," Fluttershy smiles softly at his words, but then he got swarmed by the animals yet again much to the amusement of both ponies.

After feeding the animals, Naruto stuck around for a bit longer before taking his leave and deciding to visit Rarity at her boutique next. He went inside and found the fashionista hard at work, sewing up several ball gowns of varying colors and designs with pinpoint accuracy and speed. Knowing that she doesn't like being interrupted during her work, Naruto sat down and waited until she was finally done with the dresses before calling out to her.

"Hi there, Rare. I see you're busy as usual," Naruto greeted.

Rarity spun around to meet Naruto with a smile "Why hello, Naruto dear. I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to visit me,"

"Sorry about that, got a lot on my mind and it took Rainbow Dash to snap me out of it. I figured to drop by and see how you're doing,"

"I'm quite fine as you can see, my dear. Just working on some requests by customers from Canterlot for an evening party, they'll be sending their butler to collect them in a few days," Rarity explains to the stallion.

"Seems like you're almost done before the deadline or is there something else to add?" Naruto asked with curiosity.

Rarity looked thought for a bit before coming up with an idea "Why of course, and I'll be needing your help!"

"What is it you need from me?"

Rarity goes over to a table and starts writing down on a piece of paper "I'd like for you to customize and mold some of your crystals to do this…,"

Naruto walks over to look at the sketches and notes with keen eyes, coming up with ideas based on the concept before giving an answer "I should be able to customize the crystal like you requested, I'll get started on it once I return to the shop,"

"How soon would you be able to complete them?"

"Definitely before the deadline, that's for sure," Naruto knows that it would take longer by himself but he intends to use his Shadow Clones to cut the duration of the process short, it also helps that the scrolls given to him by Jiraiya would be of great use to him.

"That's great to hear. By the way, would you have some free time in the next weekend?" asked Rarity albeit nervously.

Naruto tilts his head in mild confusion "Probably, since I don't have any plans by then. Why?"

"I was hoping to ask you to be my escort to Canterlot for a dinner party which I've been invited to," Rarity explains.

"Hmmm, it's been a while since I went to Canterlot. Sure, I can join you,"

Rarity beams at the positive response "That's great! Now come along so I can take measurements for your new tuxedo!"

"But I already have a tux?" said Naruto confusedly.

"No no no, my dear. You can't just be satisfied with on tuxedo. Every special event requires a special outfit; that's the rule I go by!" Rarity pointed out to Naruto before lifting him into the air with her magic to carry into one of the rooms for the measuring.

"I can walk on my own, you know?"

"I know…," Rarity responds with a playful smile, causing Naruto to roll his eyes albeit he's not all that bothered by this.

Later on, Naruto was back on the road after leaving the boutique "Let's see; I've hung out with Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Twilight, Fluttershy and Rarity. Which leaves…,"

"NARU!"

*WHAM*

"OW!"

Naruto suddenly found himself flying across the street after being slammed into by a pink blur in a full body tackle before rolling to a stop with the culprit right on top of him.

"Are those stars spinning around your head or are you glad to see me?" said the pony in a cheerful tone.

"I'd say a bit of both, Pinks. Kinda wish that you greeted me less painfully," said Naruto while looking up at the cheerful Pinkie Pie who got off and started hopping around him as if she hadn't tackled him earlier before.

"You know me, Naru. I gotta spread the smiles!" said Pinkie Pie as a matter-of-factly.

Naruto couldn't stop himself from smiling as he got back up from the ground "No denying that,"

"Hey hey, let's go and make something!"

"Uh why?"

"The bakery needs a new addition to the menu and I figured that we can work together to do that. Come on, it will be lots of fun!" said Pinkie Pie excitedly.

Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment "Well, I've still got time so I don't see why not!"

"Yay! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!" Pinkie Pie happily hops away in the direction of the bakery.

"Hey, wait up!" Naruto trotted after the excitable mare before she got too far from him.

The duo made it to the Sugarcube Corner and were soon looking at the giant cookbook, flipping through the pages in search of a new recipe to add to the menu which might take some time since some of the recipes are already on the menu.

"Hmmm, what to choose…normally I'd find a nice recipe within five minutes," said Pinkie Pie while looking at the cookbook with a small frown.

Naruto tries to calm her down "No need to rush, Pinks. I used to think the same way and it took several of my senseis and friends to learn that rushing would result in me missing something critical. So let's just take our time and we might find something good,"

"Okie dokie lokie!" said Pinkie Pie cheerfully.

They continue to flip through the pages before coming across the fruit juice section which gave Naruto some thought before speaking to the pink mare.

"Say Pinks, what kind of fruit juice do we already have on the menu?" he asked curiously.

"Oh oh we have orange juice, pineapple juice, mango juice, lemonade…," Pinkie Pie listed them off rapidly like a machine gun before finally stopping "…and that's all of them, why do you ask?"

"What we've been serving is something that could be seen as basic and common…," Naruto then pointed at a page "But we could combine some of these fruits and vegetables to make fruit cocktails that could be both tasty and healthy for others!"

Pinkie Pie's eyes sparkle with excitement "Oooooo, sounds like fun! Let's do it!"

"Alrighty then, let's get started!" Naruto looks at the cookbook while Pinkie Pie hops over to the refrigerator "Okay, here's the first one; we're need apples, carrot and tomato…,"

"Coming right up!" Pinkie Pie reaches inside and tosses out the ingredients with them landing perfectly into the bowls placed on the kitchen tables.

"Great, now to peel the apples and carrots before cutting them into smaller pieces," Naruto uses his chakra arms to pick up some knives and infuses the blades with wind chakra to sharpen them…can't say he wouldn't use this as a form of training for his wind Ninjutsu. He proceeds to quickly peel then slice the ingredients into smaller pieces before pouring into a large bowl filled with water "Now to blend them all together…,"

"How do we do that?" asked Pinkie Pie curiously.

Naruto smiles playfully as he forms a chakra arm which creates a smaller than usual Rasengan "Just like when I made the ramen, I'll be using the same method here," he positions the small Rasengan into the bowl and they watch as the ingredients are being blended together with great effectiveness given the nature of the jutsu while often adding in a few splashes of water in order to loosen the pulp until it was completely void of any chunks.

"Now then, let's get the cheesecloth and use it to separate the pulp from the juice," Naruto instructed.

"Coming right up!" Pinkie Pie soon returned with the cheesecloth.

Naruto uses his magic to pour the pulp into the cheesecloth then squeezes it tightly to pour the juice into a glass jar till it was almost filled to the brim.

"Perfect, let's get some ice cubes! Drinks are best served cold after all," said Naruto before Pinkie Pie was already placing two glasses with ice cubes inside on the table.

"One step ahead of ya!"

"Heh, that you are,"

Naruto pours the fruit cocktail into the glasses and they waited for a bit for them to chill before they each took a glass and drank a bit, the result was that it was incredibly tasty.

"Woowee, it tastes so good!" Pinkie Pie exclaims in amazement.

"You're telling me, this will definitely be a great seller for both adults and kids. There's more types of fruit mixes in the cookbook, let's try some of them out too," said Naruto.

"Yeah, let's!"

The two went on to try out more of the fruit mixes with each of them proving to be just as great as the first one. Pinkie Pie stores them in the fridge so that the Cakes could try them out and see if they would approve of them to be added into the menu.

"Okay Pinks, I'll need to be heading out and pick up Scootaloo from school," said Naruto, preparing to leave but finds himself being hugged by Pinkie Pie with her pressing her cheeks against his.

"Okie Dokie, be sure to say hi and come back soon!" said the party mare happily.

Naruto smiles in response as she stops hugging him albeit reluctantly "Sure thing, Pinks. Catch ya later!"

He took his leave and began making his way to the schoolhouse where he finds the Cutie Mark Crusaders waiting for him.

"Hey there, you three. Had a good time at school?" asked Naruto.

"We sure did, we even came up with new ways to get our Cutie Marks!" said Sweetie Belle excitedly.

"We just need to finalize our plans over at the clubhouse," Apple Bloom added.

"Can you take us home, big bro?" asked Scootaloo.

Naruto grins in response "It's why I'm here after all, hop on and I'll get you there lickety-split," he crouches slightly for the fillies to climb onto his back before activating his Chakra Wings in order to take to the air and fly back home.

Later that night, Luna appeared in Naruto's dreamscape which resembles Konoha during the night but she notices that there were a few dark clouds looming overhead and thunder echoes throughout the night sky. The Alicorn of the Night frowns at the sight of the dark clouds, knowing that such clouds resemble mild negative emotions and so needs to find Naruto in order to learn the cause of it.

She flies over to the top of Hokage Mountain since it's where she often finds him, but he wasn't there this time "That's strange, he's usually here. I wonder where he went, I'd better go look for him,"

Luna checked Naruto's favorite places which he had shown her whenever she visited his dreamscape but said person wasn't at any of those places either, confusing the princess even more. But there is one place that she hasn't checked yet…

Naruto stands before three large wooden trunks, lost in the memories of his past where everything was fine the way they were before it all went downhill, he was at the training grounds where he, Sakura and Sasuke officially formed Team 7 by Kakashi. He heard the sound of wings flapping and figured who it is that arrived.

"Hello Luna-chan, it's been a while," said Naruto without looking back, his eyes fixed on the wooden post.

"Indeed it has…," Luna looked up at the dark clouds hovering above them "…but it seems that you have a lot on your mind,"

"I guess it's obvious with the dark clouds and that you didn't find me at the usual spots,"

Luna walked over to stand next to him "If you don't mind, could you tell me about it?"

"You and Celestia are the only ones in the meantime I can talk to about this, it all started when I went to my old world…,"

Naruto went on to tell Luna about how he aided the Hidden Leaf village when it was attacked by the Sky Ninjas, his battles against the Zero Tails and the evil Dr. Shinnou, the destruction of the flying fortress, and finally his confrontation with Sasuke.

"After all these years, I thought he would have calmed down and realized that I stopped him from making a serious mistake, but he rather blames me for getting in the way is even willing to sacrifice anything even if it includes for the sake of revenge…disregarding everything we went through as Team 7," Naruto chuckled bitterly.

"Oh Naruto…,"

Luna felt her heart go out for him, she couldn't help but find the relationship between Naruto to be similar to Celestia and hers. Luna was at first content but then began feeling envious of how ponies seemed to gravitate more towards Celestia and less towards her with the feelings of jealousy growing stronger as time went until she couldn't take it anymore and became the persona Nightmare Moon which forced her own sister to seal her away no matter how much she didn't want to do so. That's why after being freed from the darkness, Luna didn't want such a thing to repeat itself but thankfully ponies like Naruto and others were there for her and she truly values them for they accept her as herself and they proved that greatly during the nightmare incident. And that's why she feels like her heart hurts when she sees Naruto who always lights up her day feeling this way.

Naruto suddenly found himself being hugged by Luna with both her front legs and wings, blanketing him with her warmth much to his surprise.

"L-Luna-chan…?" Naruto asked confusedly.

"It's okay, you don't need to say anything,"

"But…,"

"It's okay…,"

"Lu-,"

"It's okay," Luna insisted, hugging him tightly "Let's just sit here, just like this. No talking…just us hugging it out,"

"…okay," Naruto finally allowed himself to be silent and let Luna hug him. Come to think of it, he had never been hugged for this long. He closes his eyes in growing contentment, gradually coming to terms with how things are.

Luna looks up and smiles softly, seeing that some of the dark clouds dissipate with a few still remaining but is confident that they will eventually fade away as well in due time. She's still learning how to be a proper princess for Equestria but is determined to always be there for her friends no matter what.

Unbeknownst to the two, a pair of eyes were gazing at them from within the shadows of the trees nearby. The unknown figure leers at Naruto with eyes crinkled with glee before disappearing with intentions unknown but it's clear that it would benefit Naruto at all, just a matter of time before revealing itself to him.

The Dimensional Rebirth

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Prologue: The Dimensional Rebirth

On a stormy day, at a waterfall with two tall statues facing each other at opposite ends. Two boys face off at both ends of the waterfall.

On the left was Sasuke Uchiha, the last of the Uchiha clan and wielder of the Sharingan. His clan was killed by his elder brother and swore to avenge his clan by killing his brother. He was a member of squad 7 in the Hidden Leaf Village until he defected from the village to join Orochimaru, a rogue ninja in order to gain power upon receiving the curse mark. But is currently obstructed by his teammate.

On the right was Naruto Uzumaki, the pariah of the village and the jinchurriki of the nine tailed fox. The fourth Hokage sealed the nine tailed fox in him when it attacked the village, since then people saw him as the fox reincarnate and mistreated him. Hence Naruto decided to become Hokage so as to gain recognition from the villagers. He was also member of squad 7 and is currently attempting to stop Sasuke from abandoning the village.

“There's no way you are going to beat me Dobe! I will get the power to kill my brother and you are not going to stop me!” shouted Sasuke in his cursed state level two while preparing his chidori.

“I won’t let you go to Orochimaru, Sasuke! Even if I have to drag you back to the village beaten to an inch of your life. I will keep my promise to Sakura-chan no matter what, believe it!” Shouted Naruto in his tailed beast cloak channeling chakra to his right hand to form a Rasengan.

After preparing their most powerful techniques, both boys leapt into the air and clashed with their attacks. However, Sasuke’s chidori grazed pass and slammed into Naruto’s heart while Naruto’s Rasengan slammed into Sasuke's chest and sent him flying into the cliff wall and knocked him out.

As Naruto lay on the ground dying, he thought, “Looks like I won’t become Hokage after all but at least I kept my promise to Sakura-chan,”. He smiled with satisfaction before closing his eyes and his breathing stopped. It was on that day, a ninja by the name Naruto Uzumaki died in order to bring back his teammate.

When Naruto opened his eyes, he was in a dark sewer standing before a large gate with a paper with word written seal on it, behind the gate stood the Nine tailed fox.

“Why are you here? I am supposed to be dead and you are to be gone!” said Naruto with a confused look on his face.

“I was thinking the very same thing brat, but I sense another presence coming here” said the fox who was confused as well.

“That was because I brought both of you here” a voice spoke up.

Both of them turned to see a woman appear in a flash of white light. She wore a pure white kimono with white hair and glowing eyes, her presence just emitted power that dwarfs even that of the nine tailed fox and demanded no opposition.

“W-who are you?” asked Naruto with a slight fear in his voice.

“I am who you mortals call Kami,” said the goddess with a smile on her face.

“Why are you here? Are you here for our souls?” Naruto asked in confusion.

She shook her head and said “Not exactly, I came here for something else, but first I want to know what you would want me to do with the nine tailed fox’s soul?”

Naruto thought for a while before saying, “If anything I want you to send the fox back to the Makai world,” this earned a surprised look from both the fox and the goddess as both thought that he would want the fox’s soul to be destroyed.

“Why do you request that? I thought you hated me and want to be rid of me?” asked the fox with the goddess wondering the same thing.

“I studied at the library and noticed that there were no records of other attacks and so I came to the conclusion that you were controlled to attack the village and that it wasn’t your fault. I also found out that the fourth Hokage was my father as he wouldn’t sacrifice another parent’s child for the sealing and I already forgave him but I couldn’t find out much about my mother though,” said Naruto sadly.

“Your mother was Kushina Uzumaki who was from the village of whirlpools, she was the Kyuubi’s container before you but died when someone attacked her and extracted from the seal when she was giving birth to you, but she loved you very much like any mother would,” said the goddess with a sad smile.

“Thanks for telling me” said Naruto happily.

As they were talking, there was flash of bright light and when it faded, it revealed a sea blue broadsword with an outward motif for the guard and in the center is a white swirling energy hovering in the air (Refer to Thunder edge from Okami), as Naruto looked in wonder, the sword floated towards him and began to glow as if to gesture for him to take it. When Naruto took it, he felt chakra flow through him and it felt warm within him.

“C-could that sword that be?! I thought it was only a myth!!” the fox exclaimed with shock.

“What do you mean?” asked Naruto with curiosity.

Kami explained, “That sword is known as the *Kosei no Ha, it is a sword that came into existence by itself and emits pure energy, no one was able to wield it including myself but it seems to accept you due to your pure heart. You truly are a phenomenon,”.

“Thank you for choosing me,” said Naruto to which the sword glowed as if happy.

Then the goddess spoke “The reason I am here is to give you a second chance but it will be in another world where you can live a new life,”

“I accept the offer and I promise to not disappoint you and protect my new precious people believe it!” said Naruto with a foxy grin.

“Hey kit, I wish to grant a gift to you as a sign of gratitude and apology for everything” said the fox.

“What kind of gift is it?” asked Naruto.

“I will unlock your bloodline that you inherited from your mother which is the *Chakura no sosa gijutsu that is the ability to manipulate chakra into any form and I will also grant you my chakra even when I am gone,”

“Thanks for everything but before you leave, could you tell me your name?” asked Naruto.

Fox looked surprised before smiling and saying “My name is Kurama,”

“Okay Kurama, maybe one day we will meet again,” Kurama nodded at Naruto before disappearing to the Makai world, leaving him with Kami.

“Well then, now I will send you off and you should know that in that dimension, you will be in a different form and there are dark forces that require you to aid others to defeat” said Kami.

“Okay, goodbye and thank you for everything,” said Naruto before disappearing as well.

“I will be watching over you Naruto Uzumaki,” said the goddess with a smile on her face.

Glossary

Kosei no Ha = Stellar Blade
Chakura no sosa gijutsu = Chakra manipulation technique

Awakening from the Dreamless Sleep

Chapter 4: Awakening from the Dreamless Sleep

“Where am I?” thought Naruto as he looked around, he was walking on top of clouds in the sky on a starry night. “I'd better take a look around,”. As he walked through the clouds, Naruto heard somepony crying and headed to the source. When he reached there, Naruto saw pony sitting alone crying to herself. She is an Alicorn with a coat of dark blue and brilliant blue mane and tail with mark of a crescent moon with a dark purple background on her flank and chest.

“So this is an Alicorn, the combination of all three types,” thought Naruto as he approached the mare. “Hello there, why are you crying?” the mare turned to look at the blond stallion in surprise.

“W-who are you and how did you get here?” asked the mare.

“My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I don’t know how I got here, by the way what is your name?” said Naruto with a gentle smile, making the mare relax a little.

"My name is Luna,” said the mare smiling slightly, Upon hearing the, Naruto was surprised at meeting one of the royal princesses of Equestria.

“You’re Princess Luna!? What are you doing here? Asked Naruto, Luna began to cry again.

“I am imprisoned here with no way of escape,” said Luna amidst tears, Naruto immediately comforted her in order to stop her crying.

“Please stop crying,” said Naruto using his tail to wipe her tears which felt soft to the touch and calmed her down. “Who is it that is keeping you prisoner here?”

“That would be me,” said a voice, Naruto turned around to look at a plume of purple mist which slowly took the shape of an Alicorn. It smiled evilly at Luna who quivered in fear. “I need her power to fulfill my goals,”.

“I don’t know what your goals are but I am not letting you harm her,” said Naruto standing in front of Luna to protect her. “It’s beings like you that I detest the most,”

“You foal! You dare stand in my way of conquest!?” it growled before launching a beam of magic at Naruto who leapt into the air to avoid the attack but was unprepared for the second attack which slammed into him and sent him flying off the clouds to falling to the ground below.

“NARUTO!!” Luna cried out for him.

Naruto woke from his bed with a start, “What kind of dream was that? It felt so real like I actually met the princess,” thought Naruto wiping the sweat from his face with his tail. Naruto looked out the window to see that the sun had risen, signifying the day of the Summer Sun Celebration has arrived. “I’ll think about it later, I’d better go to Mayor Mare to see if she has any tasks for me to take on,” he thought before putting on his headband and leaving the library.

Along the way, Naruto met up with Ao and continued onto the Mayor’s office while greeting the residents along the way.

“Good morning Mayor Mare, I came to see if you have any jobs for me to do?” said Naruto with a smile.

“Oh good morning Naruto, as a matter of fact I do have a job for you. I just received a message from the royal castle that their representative will be coming to supervise and I was hoping that you would serve as an escort for her through the town,” said Mayor Mare with a smile.

“Of course I will do it, I will get the job done believe it” said Naruto with a foxy grin to which Ao rolled her eyes at his verbal tic.

“Thank you Naruto, you’ll meet the mare at the front of the library,” said Mayor Mare. Naruto nodded in affirmation before trotting towards the library.

As he headed for the meeting place, Naruto saw a golden chariot being pulled by two Pegasus in armor flying in the air before landing in front of the library. He was about to approach them when he felt somepony run past sending him into a spin, when he recovered he saw that it was Pinkie pie who had run past and is currently bombarding the guests with questions and trotted to them while laughing to himself and Ao looking on in amusement. As he drew close, Pinkie pie took off in a cloud of dust which he knew was going to plan a party for the mare since he has been around her for a while now.

He took a closer look and saw that it was unicorn with a coat of purple and a dark blue with a violet streak mane and tail, she has a mark of a star pattern. The other is a purple lizard that stands on two feet with green spikes running from its head to the tail.

“Sorry about that, Pinkie pie always gets excited when she meets a new pony since I was the recent, my name is Naruto Uzumaki by the way and this is my friend Ao the blue jay, I have been sent by the Mayor to serve as your escort,” said Naruto while using his tail to point at Ao who is sitting on his head.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle and this is my assistant Spike. No worries, I just wasn’t expecting that kind of reception. Mr. Uzumaki is it? Could you direct me to the library, I have some urgent business there,” said the mare. Naruto frowned slightly at her attitude.

“This mare reminds me of Sasuke with that high and mighty attitude, it’s almost like she doesn’t have any life experiences and is more on theory, and I’ll need to find a way to tone her down a bit,” thought Naruto.

“But Twilight, the princess told you need to go around the town to check on the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration,” said Spike to which Naruto was surprised to hear speak.

“Whoa, I didn’t know you could talk,” Naruto said with curiosity.

“All dragons can talk and I am still a baby,” said Spike.

“Okay then,” said Naruto, although smirking inwardly at the reaction a certain pony will have when she sees him.

“Alright then, let’s get this over with where are we going to first?” asked Twilight with an annoyed look to which the baby dragon pulled out a scroll and read through it.

“First on the list is catering which is managed by the Apple’s family,” he read.

“Okay follow me, I know the way there,” said Naruto setting off with the two guests following behind.

When they reached the farms and entered the apple orchard, they heard a thumping against a tree to which Naruto is familiar with and so called out.

“YO AJ! We got some guests here to see ya!” Naruto shouted out. The thumping stopped and the orange mare appeared from behind a tree smiling.

“Heya Naruto, how is it going and who is this? Said Applejack to Naruto before turning to Twilight and Spike.

Twilight stepped forward “Good afternoon, my name is Twilight Sparkle,” she said right before Applejack grabbed her hoof for a rapid shake although it resulted in the purple mare being shaken as well much to Naruto’s amusement.

“Well howdy there Miss. Twilight, my name is Applejack. We Apples just love to make friends so it’s a pleasure to meet ya,” said Applejack smiling broadly. “So what are you here for?”

After finally letting go of Twilight, she trying to regain her sense of balance with Spike helping out a little. “Well I am here to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration and I believe you are in charge of the food?” asked Twilight Sparkle shaking her head to clear it.

“That’s right we are, would you like to have a sample?” said Applejack while smiling.

“Well as long as it doesn’t take too long,” said Twilight although Naruto smiled inwardly, knowing what is going to happen next.

Applejack immediately left them and began to ring the old triangle and calling out, “SOUPS ON EVERYPONY!”

Soon Twilight and Spike were grabbed by the members of the Apple family and taken to a table which had an assortment of confectionaries made by them. Twilight tried to leave but a combination of Apple Bloom’s puppy eyes and the families’ disappointment made her stay which ended up with her being stuffed silly with a bulging stomach with Naruto doing his best not to roll on the floor and laugh.

After finally leaving the Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight asked Spike what is next on the agenda who looked through the scroll.

“Well there is supposed to be a Pegasus who goes by the name Rainbow Dash who is in charge of clearing the clouds from the sky” said Spike.

“Well it doesn’t look like she is doing a good job of it,” said Twilight, Naruto’s senses quickly alerted him of an incoming projectile heading their way.

“You might wanna brace yourself for impact,” said Naruto before grabbing Spike with his tail and jumping backwards. Twilight was about to ask what he meant when a blue blur crashed into her, sending her into a puddle of mud to which Naruto sweatdropped since he was used to it.

“Oh sorry about that, here let me clean you up,” said Rainbow Dash looking at Twilight who was covered in mud. Before she could say anything, Twilight was surrounded in a small rainbow tornado which Rainbow named the 'Rainblow Dry' that cleaned the mud but also left her with a large afro (I am sure she’ll turn heads at the disco) making Naruto, Spike and Rainbow Dash herself roll on the floor laughing.

“I believe that you are Rainbow Dash,” said Twilight Sparkle, trying not to blow her top.

“That’s me! The one and only, you must know of me?” said Rainbow Dash with pride.

“Well I know that you are supposed to keep the sky clear of clouds,” said Twilight.

“Hey I can clear those clouds in ten seconds flat,” said Rainbow dash

“Really? Then prove it,” said Twilight skeptically.

“I wouldn’t underestimate Dash if I were you, after all I know her the best,” said Naruto with a grin. “In fact, why don’t you show her your speed Dash,”

Upon hearing that, Rainbow immediately took off and pierced through the clouds, clearing all of them before landing on the ground.

“See what I told you? Ten. Seconds. Flat,” said Rainbow Dash grinning at Twilight stood there stunned.

“Hahahaha! The look on your face is priceless, anyway see you later Dash we will race next time,” said Naruto laughing.

The next stop was at town hall for the decorations, when they entered the hall Spike was mesmerized.

“So beautiful,” said Spike with a dazed look on his face.

“Yes the decors are beautiful. With the decorations being perfectly arranged, I should be able to get to the library much sooner,” said Twilight. But Spike shook his head in negative.

“Not the décor: Her!” said Spike pointing at a white unicorn standing in the middle of the hall using her magic to add some finishing touches.

Naruto’s eyes twitched in annoyance at Spike who was ogling at Rarity along he doesn’t know why he was so irritated but decided to ignore the feeling for now.

“Hey Rare, how is it going with the decorations?” Naruto called out, Rarity turned to smile at Naruto.

“Oh hello there Naruto it’s good to- My goodness what happened to your hair!?” said Rarity quickly approaching Twilight.

“She was a victim of the ‘Rainblow dry’ a few minutes ago,” said Naruto trying not to laugh at the memory.

“It’s alright, I will soon be out your hair after this,” said Twilight but was carried off by Rarity with her magic.

“Forget my hair, what about yours?! We need to fix this fashion disaster,” said Rarity while Naruto is following close behind again trying not to laugh.

After having a makeover thanks to Rarity, the group headed to the last stop to supervise the last thing on the agenda was music which Naruto knew that Fluttershy was in charge of. As they drew close to her place, they heard the chirp of birds singing in a fanfare. Following the source of the music they saw a yellow Pegasus sitting on a hill coordinating a choir of birds.

“Hello there,” Twilight called out rather loudly before Naruto could warn her which resulted in surprising the mare and scaring the birds away.
“Oh I’m sorry about that, I didn’t mean to frighten you and your birds. I just came to check on the music which sounded beautiful” said Twilight looking apologetic. Fluttershy had hidden behind Naruto and was peeking at her shyly. “Well my name is Twilight Sparkle”

“My name is Fluttershy,” she said quietly.

Twilight took a step closer, “Sorry but could you repeat what you said?”

“My name is Fluttershy,” she said more quietly.

“She said her name is Fluttershy,” said Naruto deciding to step in “Anyway, Shy the birds have returned,” pointing to the tree with his tail the birds were sitting on.

However when Twilight turned to leave, Fluttershy saw Spike which did a complete 180 change from her shyness to excitement.

“A baby dragon!” she cried out before tackling Spike and began bombarding Twilight with question to the amazement of Naruto.

“I wonder if Hinata would act like this if she saw something that excites her,” Naruto thought.

By the time they finally reached the library, it was already dark out and Twilight was quite irritated.

“I can’t believe I had to waste my time with a bunch of crazy ponies when I should be studying on how to stop Nightmare Moon and convince the Princess about her return,” said Twilight, which caught Naruto’s attention.

“Wait a minute did she just say Nightmare Moon will be returning, looks like my feelings were spot on. I’ll have to ask her about it later,” thought Naruto before he heard a loud ‘Surprise!’ from when Twilight opened the door and turned on the lights, knowing that Pinkie pie had set up the party here.

Naruto entered to see Twilight surrounded by Applejack and the others who were talking to her decided to hang around for a bit until he noticed her quickly climbing the stairs and chose to check up on her. He climbed up the stairs to see Twilight on the bed with a pillow covering her with a depressed atmosphere around her.

“Hey, are you okay?” asked Naruto with concern as he doesn’t like it when ponies around him are sad as it reminds him of his past self.

“I just wanted to get some research done because before I left Canterlot, I read an old prophecy that foretold of Nightmare Moon’s return in a thousand years after being sealed in the moon and that on the longest day of the year, the stars will aid her escape which is today on the Summer Sun Celebration” said Twilight.

“Is there any way that we can defeat her?” asked Naruto thinking of the dream he had last night.

“Well the book also spoke of six elements of harmony, which comprises of Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty, but no one knows what the sixth is as it’s a total mystery” said Twilight.

“If that is the case, I will be there to help you out when you need it, anyway I’m heading downstairs to the party,” said Naruto with a foxy grin leaving Twilight with a stunned look on her face.

At the crack of dawn, everypony had gathered in the town hall waiting for the festivities to begin. Naruto was standing beside Twilight with Spike sitting on her back, Applejack, Pinkie pie and Rainbow dash. Fluttershy was standing with the birds who began to sing and Rarity was standing on top of the central balcony ready to pull the curtains to reveal the appearance of Princess Celestia. Pinkie pie was talking to Twilight about a lot of things especially about when Naruto first came to Ponyville.

Mayor Mare appeared at the podium and began to give her speech, “Fillies and Gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville, it is my pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration,” to which everypony began to cheer except Twilight whom Naruto noticed was looking worriedly through one of the windows at the moon.

Following her gaze, Naruto looked at the moon and was surprised to see a cluster of stars crash into the moon, causing the silhouette of the mare to disappear from the surface. “That isn’t good,” thought Naruto.

“And it is with great honor that I present to you the ruler of our land, the pony who gives us day and night, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria- Princess Celestia!”

When Rarity pulled on the rope, the curtains were drawn only to reveal nothing. “Scratch that, this is definitely not good,” said Naruto with Twilight nodding in agreement. The crowd soon began to whisper in worry and Mayor Mare was trying to calm them down although Pinkie Pie took it as a guessing game and that the Princess was hiding.

Naruto saw that a purple mist gathered at where the princess was supposed to appear and dissipated to reveal an Alicorn in its place. She had a coat of pitch black and mane and tail which looks like field of stars in the night sky. She wears a lavender helmet and breastplate which shares the mark of a splotch of purple with a crescent moon on her flank.

“Nightmare Moon” whispered Twilight making Naruto tense and Spike fainted.

Gazing upon the group of ponies, the dark Alicorn spoke in a dark tone “Hello my beloved subjects, it has been so since I’ve seen your sun-loving faces,”

“What did you do with our princess!?” Rainbow Dash demanded, about to launch herself at Nightmare moon if not for Applejack holding her back by the tail.

“Why? Am I not royal enough for enough for you? Don’t you know who I am?” she said. Naruto was getting angry at the evil Alicorn as she is beginning to frighten Fluttershy, reminding him of when Neji looked down on Hinata back at the chunin exams.

“Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?” she spoke arrogantly.

“I did!” Twilight called out, “and I know who you are, you’re the mare in the moon: Nightmare Moon!” The ponies all gasped in shock.

”Well, well, well. Somepony remembers me, then you also know why I’m here!” Nightmare moon said to her.

“You’re here to….. to……!” Twilight was afraid to finish the sentence

“Remember this day, little ponies for today is your last! From this moment forth, this night will last forever!” said Nightmare Moon, laughing out evilly as she released lightning and darkness around.

“This is like the sand and sound invasion all over again, but no one is dying this time!” thought Naruto with a determined look.

A Musical Debut

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 10: A Musical Debut

On a fine day in Ponyville, Naruto was running to Scootaloo’s school with her riding on his back and enjoying the wind blowing in her face, both of them had overslept and were running late so they had to skip breakfast but Naruto had packed an extra-large lunchbox to make up for it.

“So big bro, what are you planning to do today?” asked Scootaloo with curiosity, Naruto would often go around town to help any pony who would need his assistance whether it is labor, farming, babysitting, cooking and anything else, he often jokes that they are similar to the D rank missions he would carry out back at his dimension.

“Well today I have to do some deliveries for the Sugarcube corner, the Carousel boutique and the Post Office and after that, I will be done for the day,” said Naruto, soon they had reached the school where Naruto dropped her off “I might not be able to come and pick you up after school so I’ll see you at home so have fun and try not to get into trouble,”

“Okay big bro, I’ll see you at home!” said Scootaloo happily before running towards her classroom, Naruto smiled happily before galloping towards the Sugarcube corner at a calm pace. Upon entering the sweet shop, Naruto quickly crouched to allow a pink blur to fly overhead before using his tail to catch it which revealed to be Pinkie Pie.

“Nice try Pinks, better luck next time,” said Naruto with a foxy grin, Pinkie giggled as she was being tickled by his tail.

“Boo, I thought I could surprise you this time Naru!” said Pinkie Pie pretending to pout, although Naruto could see a smile appear on her face immediately after, most at times Naruto would avoid her surprises and tickle her with his tail as a penalty much to the amusement of the others. “Anyway, Mrs. Cakes and I have some birthday cakes and muffins for you to deliver so come around to the back!” then she proceeded to drag the blond stallion to the kitchen.

“Why do I always get dragged around?” thought Naruto as he was being carried, when they reached the kitchen, Naruto saw boxes with the Sugarcube logo on them and guessed that they are the pastries meant to be delivered. “Whoa they are a lot, it’s a good thing that I brought along my storage crystal for this,” looking at the medallion hung around his neck.

“Here are the pastries and these are the places to where you are to deliver them,” said Pinkie Pie passing a slip of paper which contains the information to Naruto.

“Okay then,” said Naruto, then he approached the boxes “Store!” the medallion glowed brightly and the boxes transformed into orbs of light before disappearing into the medallion.

“Okay Pinks, I’ll be back sooner that you can say muffins” with that Naruto took off at high speed towards the locations around town, soon afterwards he had completed the deliveries before heading back the Sugarcube corner. “Pinks I’m done with the deliveries and they were happy with the pastries and said that they would order again”

“Thanks for helping us Naru!” said Pinkie Pie happily as she hugged the blond stallion, making him blush in embarrassment “Have some muffins as a reward before you leave! Oh and tell Rarity I said hi” handing a bag of the snacks to Naruto who stored it into the medallion.

“Thanks for the muffins Pinks, I have to get going as Rarity needs me to deliver some clothes for her so I’ll see you later!” said Naruto waving at the pink mare before leaving the shop in direction of the boutique, along the way he passed by Applejack’s stall and decided to stop to buy some apples as well as say hello to the cowmare “Hiya AJ! How has the stall been running?”

“Howdy Naruto, things have been running smoothly and I haven’t seen you in a while,” said Applejack who was happy to see the blond stallion.

“Sorry about that, I’ve doing some jobs for the ponies in town so I’ve been busy, anyway how are you coming along with the katas of the Poniato?” said Naruto who was feeling a bit guilty at not coming around the Sweet Apple Acres to see the Apples.

“Oh I’ve almost mastered the forms as I’ve been practicing every day after doing my chores” said Applejack.

“Okay then, we’ll meet at the training later on so that I can see how you have come along, anyway I’d like to buy some apples and get going cause I need to do some deliveries for Rarity,” said Naruto.

“Sure thing, here ya go and tell Rarity I said hello,” said Applejack as she gave Naruto a bag of apples which was stored in his medallion and received some bits in return. After departing from the stall, Naruto had reached the Carousel boutique and entered to see Rarity who was currently using her magic to stitch some fabric together on the mannequin while looking at the sketch which she had drawn.

“Hello Rare, I’m here to help out with delivering the clothes for you and Pinkie Pie and AJ says hi,” said Naruto approaching the mare who stopped using her magic and turned around to smile happily at the blond stallion.

“Hello dear, I was just expecting you, a couple from Canterlot had ordered for a tuxedo and a ball gown for a ball, their servant will soon arrive at the edge of town” said Rarity.

“I’ve been meaning to ask but what kind of place is Canterlot? I’ve been hearing the name for a while now and it has caught my attention,” said Naruto.

“I keep forgetting that you came from another dimension, Canterlot is the capital of Equestria as well as where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna live, Twilight used to live there too. It’s one of the largest cities where nobles live and there are places like high class restaurants, a racetrack and much more, I wish to visit that place one day,” said Rarity with a faraway look in her eyes.

“It sounds like a real happening place, maybe I should visit as well as say hello to the Princesses, anyway where are the clothes?” said Naruto who had become interested in checking out the city on of these days.

“Oh sorry I was getting sidetracked, they are in a box on the table,” said Rarity using her magic to levitate the box from the table to Naruto who sealed it away.

“Okay, I’ll be back,” said Naruto before heading to the outskirts of town where he saw an earth pony wearing a butler’s outfit and approached him “Excuse me, I believe you are the one who was supposed to take the order?”

“Yes that’s right, I was sent by the master and mistress to collect the clothes,” said the pony.

“Okay then, Release Box!” said Naruto then an orb came out of the medallion and transformed into the box and he gave it to the pony who was surprised to see what had just transpired.

“That is quite an artifact, where did you get it?” the pony asked with curiosity.

“Actually I crafted it,” said Naruto.

“Incredible I’m sure that the nobles would wish to acquire such tools if you were to bring them to Canterlot,” said the pony.

“I will consider it when I come to Canterlot, anyway thanks for ordering from the Carousel boutique and I hope to see you again,” said Naruto after taking the bits and waving goodbye to the pony before heading back to the boutique “Rarity I’ve delivered the package so I guess I’ll see you later then tell Sweetie Belle I said hi,”

“Okay dear, I hope to see you again soon,” said Rarity. After leaving the shop, Naruto headed to the Post office and had arrived just to see Derpy who was about to leave on her delivery.

“Hello Derpy, it’s good to see you again and how is Dinky?” said Naruto waving hello to the Pegasus.

“Hello Naruto, it’s nice to see you too, Dinky has been wanting to see you again saying that she had fun the last time she was with you,” said Derpy smiling at the blond stallion.

“Then be sure to tell her that I’ll come over and play with her when I’m less busy as I have a little gift for her,” said Naruto with a foxy grin which caused Derpy to blush.

“Wow his smile makes me feel happy and gives me a warm feeling inside me,” thought Derpy “I’ll be sure to tell her and I wanted to introduce you to the rest of my family,”

“Okay, I hope to see you later then,” said Naruto waving at the gray Pegasus who flew off before entering the office to meet the pony in charge.

“Hello chief, I’m here for the deliveries!” the pony whom he called chief turned around and smiled at the sight of the blond.

“Ah it’s you kiddo, it’s great to see you around here, we really appreciate your helping us with the delivering of the letters and packages as we keep on getting swamped with paperwork,” said the Chief (I’m going to call him that as I don’t know his name, I’m up for suggestions)

“It’s no trouble at, I’m just happy to help out,” said Naruto with a smile “I wonder if Baa-chan would ever figure out to use Shadow clones for her paperwork,”

Elsewhere in another dimension, a woman who was sitting at with tons of paperwork in front of her sneezed causing the papers to scatter “Dammit, it seems like someone was talking about me and knew the answer to defeating this paperwork but is out of my grasp, how I wish to get a hold of that person and demand him to tell me!” she said before resuming to signing the paper.

Back with our pony ninja, the chief was laughing “Geez kid, you are too modest, anyway we have put up a bulletin board for where ponies can put up request for help which any pony can take on and I’m pretty sure that you would be interested,”

“Thanks for telling me chief, I’ll be sure to check it out later, is there anything that I need to deliver?” said Naruto.

“Actually, we have some instruments that need to be delivered to a music shop on this address, I’m sure that you can handle it aside from that, there is nothing else,” said the Chief.

“Okay I’m on it!” said Naruto then he went to the storeroom where he found the instruments which were a cello, violin, and a sound mixer among other equipment. “Whoa, well I’ve been thinking of getting a new instrument myself as I’ve been getting a few ideas for new songs” then he sealed them away and headed for the address where he found a shop that had several instruments on display. He knocked on the door and heard a voice on the other side.

“Hold on for just a sec!” said a feminine voice, the door opened to reveal mare from behind the door, she is a unicorn with a yellowish white coat and a mane and tail of cobalt blue with cyan stripes, she has a cutie mark of a music note which is mirrored on her flank, what Naruto noticed most was her sunglasses which was gradient from purple to heliotrope. “Hello and who might you be?”

“My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I am here to deliver the instruments,” said Naruto, the mare however looked skeptical.

“Are you sure? Cause I don’t see any instruments around,” said the mare, looking behind him for the said items.

“That’s because I placed them in this medallion around my neck, show me where you want then and you'll see what mean,” said Naruto, then he followed the unicorn to a large room where there were large speakers among other sound systems.

“This is the place, so why don’t you show me?” said the mare.

“Sure, Release Instruments,” called out Naruto, several orbs came out of the medallion and transformed into the said items much to the surprise of the unicorn.

“Whoa that’s amazing, I’ve never seen magic like that, where did you get it!?” said the mare.

“I made it by myself and it allows me to store large amounts of items for easy transporting,” said Naruto with a smile.

“That’s pretty cool, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Vinyl Scratch and I’m a DJ but most ponies call me DJ Pon-3,”

That’s a cool nickname and it’s nice to meet you,” said Naruto with a foxy grin.

“I’ll go get my roommate to check the instruments, in the meantime you can take a look around,” said Vinyl as she walked into the next room.

Naruto walked around a bit, taking in the view of the room until he came across a clipboard which contained a score and observed it closely, that was when Vinyl came back “My friend isn’t around at the moment but I’m sure that she’ll be back soon,” then she saw Naruto looking at the score “I see that has caught your interest, I’ve been trying to get some lyrics for the beat but can’t seem to find the right one to fit with the guitar,”

“Why don’t let me give it a try, I’m a bit of a music lover so maybe I can whip something up,” said Naruto as he picked up a guitar close to him.

“Okay then, let’s play the song and see what you can do,” said Vinyl, she placed the disc into the slot and hit the play button, then the music started to play through the speakers, as Naruto listened he began to get some ideas and started to sing.

One OK Rock – The Beginning
Just give me a reason
To keep my heart beating
Don't worry it's safe right here in my arms
As the world falls apart around us
All we can do is hold on, hold on

Take my hand
And bring me back

I risk everything if it's for you
I whisper into the night
Telling me it's not my time and don't give up
I've never stood up before this time
Demo yuzurenai mono nigitta kono te wa hanasanai

So stand up, stand up (Just gotta keep on running)
Wake up, wake up (Just tell me how I can)
Never give up
Kuruoshii hodo setsuna no enrei

Just tell me why baby
They might call me crazy
For saying I'd fight until there is no more
Urei wo fukunda senkougankou wa kankakuteki shoudou
Blinded, I can't see the end
So where do I begin?

Say another word, I can't hear you
The silence between us
Nanimo nai you ni utsutteru dake
I take this chance that I make you mine
Tada kakusenai mono kazatta youni misekaketeru

So stand up, stand up (Just gotta keep on running)
Wake up, wake up (Just tell me how I can)
Never give up
Kanashimi to setsunasa no enrei

Just give me a reason
To keep my heart beating
Don't worry it's safe right here in my arms
Kudakete naite saite chitta kono omoi wa
So blinded I can't see the end

Look how far we made it
The pain I can't escape it
Kono mamajya mada owaraseru koto wa dekinai desho
Nando kutabarisou demo kuchi hateyou tomo owariwanaisa
So where do I begin?

Nigirishimeta ushinawanu youni to
Te wo hirogereba koboreochisou de
Ushinau mono nado nakatta hibino dasei wo sutete kimi wo

Just tell me why baby
They might call me crazy
For saying I'd fight until there is no more
Urei wo fukunda senkougankou wa kankakuteki shoudou
Blinded, I can't see the end

Look how far we made it
The pain I can't escape it
Kono mamajya mada owaraseru koto wa dekinai desho
Nando kutabarisou demo kuchi hateyou tomo owariwanaisa
It finally begins..

Song End

When the music had ended, Vinyl’s jaw dropped at what she had just witnessed “T-that was incredible! How were you able to come up with those!?” she was very close to the stallion which made him a bit uncomfortable.

“I don’t know how, just that when the song started to play the words just came up in my mind and I started to sing it, how was it?” said Naruto.

“It was great! Both the song and the lyrics were in perfect sync and blended very well with each other” said Vinyl happily “You and I definitely have to get together to make more songs!” said Vinyl with excitement.

“Sure I’m down with that!” said Naruto with a foxy grin causing the unicorn to blush behind her glasses.

“What other instruments can you play?” asked Vinyl.

“Well I can play the ocarina,” said Naruto unsealing the said instrument, at that moment, the two ponies heard a voice from behind.

“What is going on here? I could hear the music all the way from outside the shop,” said a feminine voice, Naruto turned to see a mare, and she is an earth pony with a coat of goldish gray and a mane of dark gray, she also wears a pink bow tie with a white collar and a purple treble clef for her cutie mark.

“Hey there Tavi, I’ve been looking for you!” said Vinyl waving at the mare.

“Well if you must know, I had gone to the post office to check for the instruments but I was told that it had already been delivered here, and who might be this gentlecolt be?” said the mare. Naruto approached the mare to greet her.

“My name is Naruto Uzumaki, it’s nice to meet you,” said Naruto with a smile.

“My name is Octavia and it is a pleasure to meet you, may I ask what is going on here?” said Octavia.

“Naruto was helping me out with that I made and it was perfect then he was about to play a song from that ocarina of his,” said Vinyl pointing at the instrument which was held by Naruto.

“Well I hope that you wouldn’t mind if I listen to you play as well?” asked Octavia.

“Of course I don’t mind,” said Naruto with smile, then he began to play the song from when he had the picnic with Fluttershy (In your Belief from Asura’s Wrath OST) which surprised the mare.

“So he was the one playing the song that day!” Octavia thought as she looked at Naruto as he continued playing, like that day they felt the peace and serenity which was radiating from the blond stallion until he finished playing “That was quite impressive Mr. Naruto, I would like to exchange some ideas with you,”

“Please call me Naruto, I’m not one for formalities as it makes me feel kind of distant when I’m talking to somepony,” said Naruto with a smile to which Octavia smiled as well.

“What about me Naruto?” asked Vinyl who was getting a bit jealous at seeing her roommate take interest in the stallion.

“I would also exchange ideas with you as I like all kinds of music,” said Naruto smiling at the unicorn so as to reassure her which worked as she had calmed down. “I have to get going as it’s getting late,”

“Okay then, be sure to visit again as we had enjoyed your company,” said Octavia seeing the stallion off.

“Yeah, and if there is a party, I gonna invite you and together we’ll rock the house!” said Vinyl raising her shades to reveal magenta colored eyes to wink at him which led to him blushing.

“She really has pretty eyes,” thought Naruto “Sure thing, bye then,” with that he walked away in direction of his home although along the way he remembered that he had forgotten to get a new instrument for himself “Oh well, I guess that adds more of a reason for me to come back,” with that thought in mind, Naruto galloped home.

Dimensional Tales: Monster in my Pocket Pt 1

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA
Chapter 14: Dimensional Tales: Monster in my Pocket Pt. 1

On a peaceful night in Ponyville, as Luna’s moon casts a dull light over the slumbering residents. Naruto was fast asleep in his bed while he was within his dreamscape, where he sits on the Hokage monument and watches over the dream version of the Hidden Leaf Village in the night time.

“Even when I’m in a new world, I will never forget about the village and keep my will of fire burning strong for you mom, dad, grandpa Hokage, granny Tsunade, Pervy Sage and everyone,” Naruto continued to watch with a look of nostalgia as he thought of his precious people back at his old dimension and how they were.

Then he felt another presence in his dream and turned to see who it was, it turned out to be none other than Princess Luna to his surprise.

“Luna? What are you doing here?” Luna giggled from the look on the blond stallion’s face.

“Don’t worry yourself Naruto, this is just one of my powers. I can enter the dreams of ponies when they are asleep,” said Luna.

“That’s a pretty cool magic if you ask me, so what brings you here in my dream?” Luna blushed from hearing Naruto complement her powers before speaking.

“I thought that after raising the moon, I could visit you in your dream and say hello if that is okay with you,” Naruto chuckled softly at Luna being shy when asking, think that it was cute.

“I’m completely okay with it, so come over sit next to me,” Luna was ecstatic at being able to spend more time with Naruto, so she sat next to him and took a look at the village he was originally from.

“This place looks beautiful,”

“Yeah, and it’s just as beautiful in the day time,” said Naruto with pride.

“Can you tell me more about your village?” asked Luna.

With that, Naruto started telling her about the lifestyle of the civilians and ninjas, the food they eat, the educational and political system. Luna giggled when Naruto started talking about and cried about never being able to eat at Ichiraku’s anymore. He also spoke of other things for quite a while as he enjoyed telling Luna about his old life.

“The way you talk about your village sounds like you miss it,” said Luna, being careful not to be rude.

“Yeah I do, but as long as I keep it close to my heart, I’ll never forget about it,” said Naruto with a smile which made Luna feel warm inside.

All of a sudden, there was a flash of light which forced Naruto and Luna to close their eyes. When they opened their eyes, Naruto and Luna saw that they were standing in a white space much to their confusion.

“What do you think is going on Luna? How did we even get here?” asked Naruto looking around for an exit.

“I don’t know, it seems like someone brought us here,” said Luna.

“Really? Then who?”

“That would be me,” When Naruto turned to face the source of the voice, his eyes widened upon seeing a familiar figure.

“K-Kami-sama?!” Luna was surprised upon hearing what Naruto called the creature.

“Naruto, you mean that this is the goddess who sent you to our world?”

“Indeed I am, and it is a pleasure to meet you Princess Luna, Co-ruler of Equestria,” said Kami with a smile.

“It’s good to see you again, but what brings you here?” asked Naruto with curiosity.

“I’m sure that you’re aware that there are more dimensions than this one and your former,” receiving a nod from the ponies, the goddess continued “No matter how different the dimensions are, there is always someone who desires to attain great power even if it destroys the balance of the worlds. However, we gods are not allowed to interfere according to the ancient laws,”

“But what does this have to do with us?” asked Luna.

“I was hoping that Naruto would travel to these world and stop them,” they were stunned by what the goddess had said.

“W-what do you mean by that Kami-sama?” asked Naruto who was confused.

“Normally the heroes would rise up to stop them, but I fear that they are not strong enough to face them. So I was hoping that you would assist them,”

Naruto turned to Luna to seek her opinion. “What do you think Luna?”

“Personally, I think that you should help them but the final decision lies with you,” said Luna.

Naruto stood there for a few minutes while deep in thought before looking back at Kami with determination.

“I’ll do it, I’ll go and help them Kami-sama,” the goddess smiled at the selflessness of the ninja.

“You have my gratitude Naruto Uzumaki. When you wake up, there will be a scroll next to your bed. Follow the address and meet with a pony who goes by the name Dr. Whooves. Give him the scroll, he’ll be the one to help you cross dimensions,” Naruto nodded in affirmation.

“Is there anything that Naruto should be aware of?” asked Luna.

“Yes, whenever Naruto enters a dimension, sometimes the will of the world would restrict some of his powers as a precaution,” said Kami.

“I got it, I’ll definitely get it done! You can count on me Kami-sama, believe it!”

“I wish you good fortune on your mission,” with those words, Naruto and Luna found themselves back in his dreamscape.

“I’d better get myself ready,” said Naruto.

“Okay, but please be careful and come back safely,” said Luna.

“I’ll be sure to come back and that’s a promise!”

“I’ll inform Celestia of what happened, goodbye,” Luna faded out of Naruto’s dreamscape before he settled down to sleep.

The next morning, Naruto woke up to find a white scroll next to his bed and knew that his dream was real. After breakfast, Naruto told Trixie and Scootaloo that he will be gone for a while, then summoned a shadow clone with extra chakra to help Trixie with the shop before setting out for the location written on the scroll.

“I guess that this is the place,” Naruto looked up from the scroll to look at the house, He walked up to the door and started knocking until he heard a voice from inside.

“Hold on, I’m coming,” the door opened to reveal an earth pony with a brown coat and black mane, his cutie mark is of an hourglass.

“Excuse me, but are you Dr. Whooves?” asked Naruto.

“Yes I am, how may I help you?” asked the pony.

“I would like for you to read this,” Naruto give him the scroll to read, after reading through the scroll he opened the door wider for Naruto to enter.

“Come in and have a seat, I have to make preparations for the travel,” said Dr. Whooves.

“I take it that you know Kami-sama,” said Naruto.

“Indeed I’ve met the goddess and we’re good friends, the scroll instructed me to serve as your source of transport to other dimensions,” said Dr. Whooves as he went into another room.

After a bit of waiting, Dr. Whooves came out of the room. “We’re all set, come along now,”

Naruto stood up and followed the pony into the room to seem and strange contraption sitting in the middle of the room.

“What is that thing Doc?” asked Naruto.

“This my friend is the TARDIS, with it we can travel to different dimensions with no problems at all. So are you ready?”

“I’m ready for anything, believe it!” Dr. Whooves chuckled at the enthusiasm of the blond stallion as he was slowly developing a liking to him.

“Alright them, let us be off,” with that the duo entered the machine and in a flash of light, it disappeared.

Meanwhile in the royal palace, Luna was telling Celestia of what happened in Naruto’s dream.

“I see, that’s what happened,” said Celestia.

“Yes and I’m sure that by now, he has already set off, I hope that he’ll return safely,” Celestia had a mischievous look when she saw how worried Luna was for the blond stallion.

“I’m pretty sure that you would cuddle his foxy tail when he gets back,” said Celestia, giggling at her sister who was stuttering.

“So that’s how she wants it, well two can play at that game,” thought Luna “Maybe I will, and you won’t get to enjoy it,”
Luna smirked as she looked at her sister start to stutter as well.

“Uuuummm, you won’t leave your sister out would you?” said Celestia hesitantly.

“I don’t know, I’ll have to think about it,” Luna walked away with Celestia following after her.

Inside the TARDIS, Naruto felt a shiver crawl up his spine.

“What’s the matter? You have a cold?” asked Dr. Whooves.

“No, it’s just that I have a feeling that my tail is in danger when I get back,”

“That is quite a queer feeling,”

“I know, anyway can you tell me about this world that we’re heading to?” asked Naruto.

“Well according to the scroll, in this world there are human and the creatures called pocket monsters or ‘Pokémon’ for short. It says that humans and Pokémon sometimes work together in their day to day lives, the most popular are these Pokémon battles,” said Dr. Whooves.

“Wow that sounds so cool, when I get there, who should I be looking for?”

“You are to seek out a boy by the name Ash Ketchum with his partner Pikachu who looks like a yellow mouse with tail shaped like a lightning bolt. He is the hero of his dimension,” Naruto nodded in affirmation of the mission, soon the TARDIS reached the end of the warp.

In an alleyway between two buildings, the TARDIS appeared from the warp hole and settled on the ground.

Naruto opened the door and stepped out, but when he did, he felt something cut off his connection with his magic and Kosei no Ha but left him with access to his chakra.

“I guess that’s the world restricting some of my powers like Kami-sama said,” thought Naruto, he turned to Dr. Whooves “Okay Doc, I’m heading out,”

“Alright, do be careful and good luck,” Naruto nodded and started jumping from roof to roof in search of his target.

While surveying the area, Naruto was enjoying the scenery around him.

“This place is so beautiful, different from Equestria and the Elemental Nations,” Naruto’s line of thought was broken when he heard someone shout.

“Stop Team Rocket, let go off Shaymin!”

Naruto looked down to see a boy and girl wearing a white uniform with red R on the chest with a bipedal cat while carrying a small Pokémon that looks like a hedgehog except that it has green grass like fur on its back with a pink flower with two leaves on each side of its head.
Behind them, Naruto saw a boy with a yellow mouse riding on his shoulder with a girl carrying a Pokémon which looks like a blue penguin and a tan skinned boy with closed eyes pursuing them.

“I guess that’s Ash and those must be his companions, I’d better help em out,” Naruto was about to go after them when he noticed that there some sort of ripple on the reflections of the triangle shaped statues. “What was that? I can think on that later,” Naruto dashed off to catch up with them.

Meanwhile Ash and the others had finally caught up with Team Rocket, then all of a sudden a portal opened up from one of the statues and sucked Team Rocket inside. Dawn was able to grab Shaymin but she got sucked in as well.

Without a second thought, Ash jumped in after them. Brock was about to follow when he heard something coming from behind at a fast pace, he turned just to see an orange blur jump into the portal right before it closed.

“What was that?” thought Brock with surprise.

When Naruto saw them fall into the portal and jumped in after them, he wasn’t expecting to find himself in another realm which was different from what he would have seen.

As Naruto was looking around, he heard a loud screech and looked upwards only to be stunned at what he was seeing, it has a serpentine look with six black ghostly streamers on its back with red spikes on its tips, it also has spikes in the mid-section of its body and four golden spikes at the end of its tail.

“Whoa, these Pokémon are really something, it scares me to even think of them ever being summons in my old world,” Naruto noticed that the draconic Pokémon was circling around a particular and headed there to investigate.

When he got there, he saw Pikachu fire a bolt of lightning at the draconic Pokémon which disappeared like a shadow before suddenly appearing from behind and knocking them off the platform and to the void below.

Naruto quickly swung into action by diving after them, upon getting close he used his tail to wrap around them.

“Hang on!” Naruto stretched out a chakra arm to grab onto the ledge of a rock platform and pulled himself up to it.

“Are you guys okay?” the two Pokémon nodded in affirmation “That’s good, then let’s get you back to your partners,” Naruto galloped with the two following until they finally met Ash and his friend near a building.

“Piplup and Pikachu, we’re so glad to see that you’re okay!” said Dawn, when they set their eyes on the newcomer “And who are you supposed to be?”

“We can save the introductions for later cause we’ve got company!” Naruto pointed behind them, and they turned to see the giant Pokémon approaching as it shot a blue fireball at them.

“Chakura-ho!” Naruto quickly shot a large sphere at the attack which successfully cancelled the other out.

Then a man with a Pokémon appeared before then “Stop! You mustn’t upset Giratina!”

“Giratina?” asked Ash.

“He must be talking about that Pokémon,” said Naruto.

“That’s right, come on follow me!” the group followed the man and they noticed that the gravity is different from what they usually experience.

“It’s okay, I don’t sense Giratina anywhere near here,” said Naruto, they had been running through the buildings for a while until finally stopping to rest while Naruto used his Ora kokei to check their surroundings.

“Thanks for helping us back there,” said Ash.

When they took a good look at the one who helped them, he is an equine with an orange coat and a spiky yellow mane with a tattoo of a white maelstrom on his flank, he was also wearing a black and orange hoodie jacket, a black headband on his forehead, a pair of goggles and a medallion hung around his neck.

“But who are you?” asked Dawn.

“My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I’m a pony ninja, believe it!” said Naruto with a good guy pose.

“Well my name is Ash Ketchum and this is my partner and best friend Pikachu,” said Ash with Pikachu riding on his shoulder.

“My name is Dawn and this is my partner Piplup,” said Dawn, Piplup stood next to her with its chest puffed out in pride to which Naruto snickered at. “Oh and this is Shaymin,”

“Hello, what kind of Pokémon are you?” Naruto heard a voice in his head and guessed that the Pokémon was speaking through his mind.

“I’m not a Pokémon, let’s just say that I’m not from around here and leave it at that,” said Naruto, Shaymin stared at him with curiosity.

“Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Newton Graceland and this is my partner Shieldon. I’m in the process of researching the Reverse world,” said the man.

“So that’s the name of this place? It suits it quite well,” said Naruto.

That’s right, and just so you know that out of all the scientists, I am considered to be a genius,” Naruto tried not to laugh while the others looked at him skeptically and Shaymin thought him to be a weirdo.

“Well, could you tell us about the Reverse world and Giratina?” asked Dawn with Naruto and Ash nodding in agreement.

“Of course, I’d be more than happy to tell you about them,”

With that, Newton told the group of how the Reverse world is the opposite of the real world and that even though they exist beside each other, they never intersect at all but only Giratina can cross between both worlds and that it is the only living thing in the Reverse world therefore making it the master of the place.

“If you’re looking to return to the real world, then allow me to lead the way,”

“Thanks, we would be most grateful,” said Dawn.

“We have to hurry, I must get to the flower garden right away,” said Shaymin.

“Alright then, follow me,” said Newton.

As the group continued along with Newton leading the way, they suddenly stopped when they saw a purple cloud float in front of them.

“What is that?” asked Naruto.

“When there is an imbalance in the real world, the Reverse world then collects them to maintain the balance and they appear in the form of these cloud,” said Newton.

As they passed by the cloud, Naruto noticed Piplup go close to the cloud in curiosity, Newton noticed this and quickly called out to warn it.
“Get away from that cloud, it’s poisonous! One quick breath and you’re done for,”

Hearing that, Naruto used his tail to grab Piplup and pull it away from the cloud.

“Don’t let your curiosity get the better of you next time, okay?” said Naruto, to which Piplup nodded in affirmation.

Newton then explained to them that when time and space collided which caused the imbalance of the real world, it resulted in an overflow of the poisonous clouds in the Reverse world which made Giratina very furious with Dialga and Palkia when they met and fought.
Ash and Dawn knew that he was talking about the incident back at Alamos town as they were there and helped to stop it at that time.

He continued to tell them that Giratina had captured Dialga before and dragged it into the Reverse world but then Shaymin got in the way when it used Seed Flare which opened a portal and allowed Dialga to escape.

“I guess that must be why Giratina is so mad at you,” said Ash.

“Not only that, Giratina can’t cross between worlds anyone as Dialga had done something to prevent it from doing so,”

“It serves Giratina right,” said Shaymin.

“I wouldn’t be saying that if I were you, since we’re still here and Giratina is around,” said Naruto with a smirk, Shaymin kept quiet after hearing that.

When a bubble floated next to them, Ash and Dawn saw their friend Brock through and tried to touch it before Newton could warn them and it burst into sparkles of light.

“Be careful! If something gets destroyed here, it has a big influence in the real world,” said Newton, Naruto paid close attention to what he said as he had a nagging feeling that his mission might have something to do with it.

Soon a loud screech was heard, the group looked up to see that Giratina had returned.

“It’s back!” said Dawn.

“Let’s get out of here!” Shaymin jumped out of Dawn’s arms and onto Ash’s head, forcing him to jump onto a rock platform.

“You guys get out of there! Giratina is right behind you!” shouted Naruto.

Not bothering to look behind him, Ash jumped off the platform closely avoiding Giratina but Shaymin got captured in its jaws.

“Oh no Shaymin!”

“Don’t worry, I got this!” Naruto jumped from platform to platform in pursuit until he caught up with them “Shaymin hang on, I’ll get you out of there!”

“Please hurry, I don’t want to get eaten!” said Shaymin in fear.

Naruto formed a chakra tendril and used it to wrap around Shaymin and pull it away from Giratina much to its surprise.

“What took you so long?” said Shaymin.

“Geez, grateful much?” Naruto used his chakra tendrils to zip back to the group, using the lamp posts and other things as grapple points due to the shift in gravity.

“Good job Naruto!” Naruto gave Shaymin back to Dawn as they followed Newton to the portal.

“Alright, this is the only way out to the real world so hurry!” Ash and the others jumped through the portal until Naruto was left.

“What about you Newton? We can’t leave you behind!” said Naruto.

“Don’t worry about me, I still have things to do here. The only thing I can tell you is to watch out for mirrors,” said Newton.

Naruto looked at him for a bit before finally relenting, then he proceeded to jump through the portal and managed to reach the other side and saw Ash and the others there waiting for him.

“What happened to Newton?” asked Dawn.

“He said that he still had things to do in the Reverse world and that we should watch out for mirrors,” said Naruto.

“Reverse world? What’s that and who are you?” asked Brock. Naruto was about to answer when the reflection of the statue rippled and they saw Giratina fly by.

“It’s coming this way!” said Shaymin.

“I’m guessing that these mirrors serve as entry points into the Reverse world,” said Naruto.

“If so, then it’s too dangerous for us to be here, let’s get going!” The group took off to a safer place with a confused Brock following them.

“Will someone please tell me what is going on?” Unknown to the group, they were being watched by someone.

In a dark room, a man white hair covering on of his eyes and wearing a suit with the number zero on it, was sitting and watching several monitors showing Naruto and the others on the move.

“Interesting, so that is how it is. That Shaymin will be of use to me,” said the man as he got up left the room with an evil smile on his face.

Sifting through the Norms of Life

ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA

Chapter 38: Sifting through the Norms of Life

"*Yawn* man, how long have I been working on this?" Naruto muttered to himself as he sat behind a desk with a scroll on the table depicting several forms of seals with the tip of his tail dripping with black ink, he studied the seals and frown in contemplation "Hmmm, if I were apply to apply this particular seal to the formula…nah it might have a negative effect on the entire network. Ugh my skull's ringing like a bell," he took a glance at the clock on the table and groaned at the time "It's morning already, better get ready for the daily routine,"

Naruto got off his seat and cleaned off the ink from his tail's tip before leaving the work room then basement through the stairs and made his way to the kitchen where he proceeded to make breakfast. Naruto created a pair of shadow clones to help out with one chopping up the vegetables and squeezing while the second was at the stove boiling water for tea and priming the frying pan with oil amongst others, Naruto himself had cracked some eggs into a bowl and added some of the chopped vegetables into it then mixed them altogether with a whisker before pouring the mixture into the frying pan to make some omelets. Soon Naruto had prepared three plates of omelets with bread rolls, a pitcher of orange juice, bowls of oatmeal, and a pot of tea.

He placed one set of breakfast on a tray and lifted it into the air with his magic before making his way upstairs after dispelling his shadow clones. Naruto stopped before Trixie's room and knocked on the door to announce his presence, he heard a 'come in' and went inside to find Trixie in her bed and reading before looking up with a smile although she blushed a bit when she recalled the kiss.

"Good morning Naruto," said Trixie.

"Morning to you too Trix, I brought some breakfast up to you to eat," said Naruto placing the breakfast tray on the bed before her.

"Naruto I keep telling you that I'm okay now,"

"Until the nurse gives the green light, you're not okay," said Naruto with a frown,

It's been about a week since the kidnapping incident. Trixie was bedridden from the side-effects of the paralytic drug used on her so Naruto took it upon himself to take care of her while she recuperates, though there were awkward moments between them ever since the kiss and raised suspicions from the other mares.

"I'll be escorting Scoots to school before opening the shop but I'll leave a shadow clone behind in case you need anything," said Naruto.

"Okay Naruto, but I hope to recover soon and get back to helping you at the shop," said Trixie softly.

"It's just a matter of waiting, I'll check up on you later and be sure to eat up before it gets cold," Naruto left the room and closed the door behind him before going to take a bath and put on a fresh set of clothes. He headed back to the kitchen where he found Scootaloo at the breakfast table and eating her share "Hey Scoots, I can see you're up and early today,"

Scootaloo perked up when she heard him "Good morning big bro, I woke up early because of a special project today,"

Naruto sat on the chair next to her and quirked an eyebrow in curiosity "Really, what's it about?'

"It's an essay about one of my family members and I've been working on it since last night," said Scootaloo.

"Oh, you could have asked for my help with your essay," said Naruto with a slight frown, he definitely would have do so if she had asked.

"I saw that you were a busy taking care of Trixie and your shop too, so I didn't want to bother you,"

"Scoots, I would have left all that to my shadow clones and helped you out with it. It's the job of the older siblings to support the younger ones," Naruto ruffled Scootaloo's mane with a foxy grin.

Scootaloo smiled back "Thanks big bro, I'll be sure to ask you next time,"

"Atta girl, now let's finish up and get you to school before you get late,"

The siblings ate their breakfast and Naruto handed Scootaloo her lunchbox to be sealed into her medallion, both left the house then Naruto had Scootaloo ride on his back before taking off at high-speed which didn't take them too long until they arrived at the entrance of the school where the students were already entering the building.

"I'll be sure to pick you up after school, I would like to hear how your presentation went," said Naruto.

"Okay, see you later!" Scootaloo waved before heading inside the school building.

Naruto waved back then began making his way to the Whirlpool and unlocked the shop, he had some of his shadow clones clean up the place for a bit before dispelling them and putting up the 'We're Open' sign, then he went to sit behind the counter and mildly worked on some sealing formulas. The day went by with the daily customers and requests coming in with Naruto attending to them and making plans accordingly, he was currently looking at a set of blueprints depicting six crystals and a long staff but he was scratching his head in confusion.

"The idea is good and all, but the seal matrix might not be enough. I'm hitting too many dead-ends here, maybe I should secretly visit Konoha and get Pervy Sage to give me more scrolls on Fuinjutsu. Maybe check up on the others…and Sasuke while I'm at it," thought Naruto, he wasn't feeling too keen on reuniting with his former teammate for some reason "And I also need to acquire info about Kaleidoscope, perhaps the royal guard would know about them. Guess I'm heading to Canterlot,"

Naruto left a shadow clone behind to watch the shop then activated his chakra wings and took to the air in direction of Canterlot which took some time until arriving at the city and landing on the busy streets. He trotted towards the castle gates and was allowed through with the guards being familiar with him, he then met with the servants who told him to wait for a few moments before being called. Naruto waited until he was called into the throne room where Celestia and Luna were waiting for him.

"Hello there Naruto, it's good to see you as always," said Luna happily.

"Indeed, how are things going on in Ponyville?" asked Celestia.

"Things have pretty much gone back to normal since the incident with Kaleidoscope, Trixie is doing okay though I'm in a bit of a slump with my Fuinjutsu," said Naruto with a foxy grin.

"Is there something we can so to help?" asked Luna.

"Nothing really, I can get Dr. Whooves to transport me to the Elemental Nations, there I can ask my old master for some more scrolls of Fuinjutsu and I'll be back on track," said Naruto.

"It also gives you a chance to say hello to your friends too," said Celestia with a soft smile.

Naruto grinned widely "I'm planning on that too," then he had a serious look on his face "But I also need to learn about Kaleidoscope as well,"

"Yes, those group of magicians. We heard the report from the guards and find their goals rather disturbing," said Celestia with a frown.

"Searching for ancient sources of great power, no doubt they seek to rule beyond Equestria unchallenged," said Luna.

"Yeah, and I don't need Twilight to tell me that the number there are tons of relics hidden all over the palace, not to mention that I came across one and sealed it away for safety reasons," Naruto was in agreement "All the more reason to train harder and get stronger,"

"And you can be assured that we'll help you," said Luna with determination.

"Thanks, I really appreciate it," said Naruto with a smile, making the Alicorn smile back at him "I think I'll pass by the barracks to say hello to Luce and the others before making my way back to Ponyville,"

"Very well then, we hope to see you again," said Celestia.

"Sure thing, see ya later," Naruto bade the farewell before leaving the throne room, he took the usual route to the barracks and arrived at the training grounds with ponies sparring with each other, practicing their magic or running through an obstacle course with some of them waving at the blonde stallion when they saw him passing by and he waved back at them.

"Hey Naruto!" he turned towards the source of the voice to see that it was none other than his good friend and occasional sparring partner Luce Astro "I thought it was you over there,"

"Yo Luce, long time no see. How's it going?" said Naruto with a smirk.

Luce smiled in response "Training as always and I had returned from a survival exercise two days ago. There will be a graduation exam in a few days' time which will enable me to be assigned to a squad,"

"Whoa, then I wish you good luck on passing it and hope that you get assigned with a group which has ponies that can work with you without problems,"

"Thanks Naruto, by the way I've heard about you and the Element Bearers facing down a group called Kaleidoscope,"

Naruto frowned slightly at the memory "Yeah, I'm trying to find out more about these guys. The first two members are nothing to scoff at and I'm feeling rather guarded about the others,"

"I can understand, I only got to know of them from the report. I never would have thought that somepony would think of using puppets as a weapon," said Luce thoughtfully.

"I can think of a few, but luckily they don't live here," thought Naruto "So far all we now is that they seek great power through ancient relics and I was hoping to speak to Shining about something important,"

"The captain had stepped out of the barracks, said something about acquiring something very important today,"

"I see, just I could check back tomorrow then, I'll see you later Luce,"

"Okay Naruto, and I hope that we can have a spar then,"

Naruto nodded in affirmation before leaving the barracks and exiting from the castle, he was currently walking through the streets while deep in thought about what to do next. He mildly glanced to the side to see that he was currently by the House of Enchanted Comics and thought to go inside and browse through for any latest issues of the Power Ponies before returning to Ponyville. He entered the comic shop and his eyes widened in surprise upon seeing who was currently inside.

"Shining?" said unicorn gave a start then quickly turned around to be just as surprised upon seeing Naruto "What are you doing here?"

"Naruto? Well I uh…I was doing a little shopping for my uh…cousin's birthday present! Yeah a birthday present!" said Shining sweating bullets, trying to look as innocent as possible.

Naruto simply quirked an eyebrow "Oh really? I don't really recall you telling me anything about having a cousin," Shining gulped upon realization of his slip "Be honest with me Shining, you're here because you're looking for something for yourself right?"

Shining was taken aback then his head slumped in surrender "How did you figure it out?"

"It's easy, I used to act like that whenever someone almost finds out what I try to buy without anyone knowing, although I can lie better than you," said Naruto with a smirk, getting Shining to let out a sigh "So what is it you're after? I promise to keep silent about it,"

Shining brought out a box with a picture of a figurine on it from behind him with his magic "This is a rare action figure of the Knight of Blue Yonder, I ordered it from Manehattan and it arrived today so I came to pick it up," then he sealed it inside his medallion which he had purchased from Naruto a while ago.

"It looks pretty cool," said Naruto.

"Of course he is, he's one of my favorite comic heroes of all time!" said Shining happily.

"Nice to know, I think I'll read on it one of these days,"

"I recommend you do, anyways I need to head back to the barracks and don't forget your promise!"

"I won't, see you later Shining," said Naruto.

"You too, Naruto,"

Both left the comic shop with Naruto activating his chakra wings and took to the air to begin his return to Ponyville. He soon arrived at the town and landed on the streets, thinking on what he should do next. Naruto's ears picked up the sound of music and realized where it came from, he headed over to the music shop and went inside to find Vinyl Scratch nodding her head in rhythm to a high-tempo mix tape which was rather catchy to his ears.

"Hey Vinyl," Naruto called out, but it seemed like she didn't hear him "Hey Vinyl!" again she didn't hear, so he walked over and poked her shoulder which caused her to jump off her seat with a yelp.

"What the-Naruto? What's the deal?" asked Vinyl took off her headphones and turned down the volume on the stereo with a small frown on her face.

"I've been trying to call you but you didn't hear me," said Naruto.

"Oh right, sorry about that," Vinyl looked sheepish at that "So what's up?"

"Nothing much at the moment, just got back from Canterlot when I heard music from your place and thought to drop by. So what about you and Octavia?"

"Same old same old, Octavia had left yesterday to perform at a concert and I've been on a gig last three days and I gotta tell ya the song you sang before got a lot of encores, some of them asked for more songs from you!" said Vinyl excitedly.

"Whoa that's great to know," said Naruto with a smile.

Vinyl slug a hoof around a surprised Naruto with a smirk in her face "I know right? I was planning on coming over to your place to ask later in the day when you showed up. So what do you say, team up to make another smash hit?"

Naruto looked thoughtful for a few moments before responding with a grin "Sure, I'm down with it. I'll come around from time to time for it,"

"Sweet! I just know that this next song's gonna knock everyone's horseshoes off!" Vinyl cheered with Naruto smiling as well. The duo went to the studio and started things by listening to several samples of music to select and adjust a few times then began working on the lyrics, this took a while and Naruto looked at the time to see that it's almost time for Scootaloo to get out of school.

"Sorry Vinyl, but I gotta go and pick up Scoots from school now," Naruto got off the chair in front of a turntable and began to leave.

"It's cool, we'll pick up on it the next time you come by," said Vinyl.

"Thanks, I'll catch you later," Naruto left the music shop and galloped towards the school, arriving there in time to see the colts and fillies already. Naruto caught sight of Scootaloo along with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom then approached them "Hey you three, had fun?"

"Hey big bro, you're late," said Scootaloo.

"Sorry about that, I've kinda been at a lot of places today," said Naruto sheepishly "So what were you three up to?"

"We're making plans for acquiring our cutie marks as usual, just need to drop our bags at home before meeting up at the tree house," said Sweetie Belle.

"In that case, how about I give you a ride to your places before dropping at mine," Naruto offered, smiling at the looks of excitement on their faces at the chance of riding on his back.

"Can we?" asked Apple Bloom.

"Sure, hop on," Naruto lowered his body for the fillies to clamber onto his back before rising back up "Better hang on!" he crouched slightly before taking off with his passengers whooping with excitement along the way. The first stop was at Sweet Apple Acres where he greeted Granny Smith and Big Mac though Applejack wasn't around at the time, next was the Carousel Boutique where he went to say hello to Rarity too but beat a hasty retreat to avoid becoming a female mannequin by literally taking flight with the fillies on board and returning to the Uzumaki mansion.

"Well here we are, please remain seated until the stallion has come to a complete stop…thank you and we hope that you fly with Air Uzumaki once more," said Naruto playfully with the Scootaloo and the others laughing at the joke.

"That's funny," Sweetie Belle giggled.

"I try, now you kids go on ahead and I'll send a clone up there later to call you down for lunch,"

"Okay Naruto," said Apple Bloom, then they scampered off.

Naruto went inside and was a bit surprised to find Trixie sitting on the sofa in the living room and reading a book. He had his shadow clone dispel to acquire its memories then got his answers "I guess Nurse Redheart gave you the okay huh?"

Trixie looked up from her book with a smile "Yes she did, feels good to be finally out of the bed. So how was your day?"

"Eventful, I'll sent an alert to my clone at the shop to get some of my projects sent over since I'll be doing a few ciphering tonight," said Naruto.

"In that case, can I ask if you could get a few spell books from the library for me along the way?" asked Trixie.

Naruto nodded in affirmation "Sure thing, just let me cook lunch first before I leave," he went to the kitchen and looked up on the cookbook then began cooking. It took some time and he was soon done and served up a pot of fried rice, potato salad, a pitcher of lemonade, and a plate of onion rings. He placed the dishes on a table in the summer hut before sending a shadow clone to call the fillies while he went to call in Trixie, everyone sat down at the table and helped themselves to the food which they found to be very delicious.

"Taste great!" said Sweetie Belle munching on an onion ring.

"I'll say!" said Apple Bloom after swallowing a bite of fried rice.

"Thanks, but don't talk with your mouth full," said Naruto.

"But they aren't wrong," said Trixie before taking a sip of lemonade.

"It's nothing big, just followed the directions on the cookbook and you're eating what you see before you. Anyways I'll do the dishes when you're all done then I'll head out for the library before passing by the shop," said Naruto.

Later on, Naruto was walking down the road in direction of the library after taking care of things back home and soon arrived at his destination. He went inside and found Twilight and Spike working on sorting out the books on the shelves and called out to them.

"Hey guys, been a while," said Naruto.

Twilight looked up and smiled cheerfully upon seeing Naruto "Oh hi Naruto, what brings you here today?"

"I came to borrow some spell books for Trixie," he replied.

"How's she doing?" Spike was the next to ask.

"She's fully recovered now, nurse Redheart came by to give her the OK. I've also been thinking of coming up with new spells too," Naruto was thoughtful at the last part.

"Have you gotten any new ideas?" asked Twilight eagerly, she always get excited when Naruto starts coming up with ideas for new spells and gets the opportunity to learn them along the way. To her and others, Naruto is practically a fountain of creativity which is one of the many things they like about him.

Naruto was about to answer when they heard a door open behind them and turned to see who it is. She is a unicorn with a coat of mint green brilliant cyan mane and tail with a white streak, sunglow eyes, and a cutie mark of a lyre. Naruto recognizes her to be Lyra Heartstrings, he often encounters her whenever he roams in town though he didn't exactly get the opportunity to actually get to know her aside from saying hello whenever they pass by each other.

"Hello Lyra," said Naruto in greeting.

"Hi Naruto, Twilight," said Lyra cheerfully.

"Are you here for the usual?" asked Twilight amusedly.

"Yup,"

"Spike, could you pass down the book on 'Equestrian Mythology'?"

"You got it!" Spike was about to reach for a stepladder when he was suddenly shrouded in an orange aura and was lifted into the air, he looked back to see Naruto with his horn emitting the similar aura.

"I'll lend a hoof in this," Naruto grinned.

"Thanks Naruto, send me over there at the leftmost part of the top shelf," said Spike, Naruto nodded in affirmation and levitated him over to the place for Spike to reach out and grab a large brown book then pulled it out before letting him down on the ground "Here you go,"

Lyra took the book with her magic and placed it inside one of the saddlebags which she had brought along with her "Thanks Spike, this will definitely help with my research!"

"Research? On what exactly?" asked Naruto, not noticing Twilight signaling him to avoid asking her about anything.

"Why on the existence of humans of course!" said Lyra brightly, causing Naruto to step back with eyes wide in surprise while Twilight simply sighed.

"Humans? But I thought that they were nothing but a myth," Naruto spoke carefully, not wanting to let anything slip.

"That's the general knowledge but I believe that humans still exist here in Equestria and I found a strong clue to prove it," Lyra reached into her other bag and took out a book which Naruto and Twilight instantly recognized "This book is the clue!"

"How did she get her hooves on it?!" thought Naruto, then he wanted to smack himself in the head, he left it to Twilight who is in charge of a library of all places.

"Isn't it just fiction? I mean I read it a few times before," said Twilight in an attempt to throw her off.

"Maybe so, but this was clearly written by a human. I compared it with other books and none of had a single trace of human dialect, plus this book is 'fresh' and not ancient while containing information unheard of in equestrian lore. So I've come to the conclusion that there's a human here in Ponyville and must be disguised as a pony," said Lyra.

Naruto was visibly sweating "I forgot to write it in equestrian dialect when I was recalling it and she managed to figure most of it out, oh man I gotta be on my toes around her or I'll get snared by her,"

"Well I better get back on my research, I'll keep you posted if I get close to discovering the hidden human. See you!" Lyra walked out of the library in excitement.

"Oh boy, not only do we have to concern ourselves with Kaleidoscope, we now have to keep a guard up around Lyra to avoid exposing my true origins," Naruto groaned at all this.

"You sure got a lot on your plate," said Spike with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Gee, thanks Spike," said Naruto sarcastically.

"Maybe we should pick up on the spell creation tomorrow, a lot has already happened today," said Twilight.

"You're right, I better head back home and get some R&R. I'll see you guys tomorrow,"

"Bye Naruto,"

The blonde stallion bade them farewell after acquiring the spell books for Trixie before leaving the library for his shop to check for sales and requests then closing up to return home for some rest before cooking dinner tonight. Unknown to the residents that night, long wisps of black smoke floated out of the full moon and looms over the unsuspecting town with an aura of foreboding excluding a certain snickering silhouette.

Omake: Top Secret Mission

A spotlight was turned on in a dark towards a large white whiteboard, then Naruto came walking into the spotlight while dressed in a militant's uniform and a general's cap with a black eyepatch on his right eye. He performs a right turn and salutes to an unknown crowd.

"Gentlecolts, it pleases me to see you all attend to this important meeting," said Naruto with a bow, earning some mumbles of affirmation from the crowd "My reason for calling you is because a great crime has been committed on an innocent victim,"

"Who was the victim?" asked a voice from the crowd.

"It was none other…than our dearest Rarity!" He pressed a button to activate a slideshow to display Rarity, earning gasps of horror from the crowd "She had the worst night during the Grand Galloping Gala and we have…this guy to thank!" he pressed the button to show the image of Prince Blueblood.

"How dare he?!"

"That guy just crossed a line!"

"He's gonna pay!"

"This means war!"

Naruto held a hoof up to silence them "Patience my comrades, his time will soon come. The reason why is because we're soon to launch a plan called 'Operation: Prank the Heck out of the Noble Jerk'!"

There were cheers and agreements to the plan, just the title alone was more than enough to tell the crowd what is going to happen to the arrogant offender. But then a voice spoke up which caused the room to go silent.

"Big Bro, are you down there?"

"Shoot, it's Scootaloo!" the light turned on in the room to reveal that the crowd was none other than his shadow clones whom Naruto had been talking to as he quickly took off the uniform with the clones quickly dispelling themselves, he stuffed them into a cabinet just in time before Scootaloo entered the room "Hey Scoots, what up?"

"I thought I heard voices down here," said Scootaloo, looking confused.

"Just doing some combat training with my clones and I'm feeling thirsty now, let's go upstairs and get some soda," Naruto lightly prodded Scootaloo back up to the living room.

"O-okay," said Scootaloo.

"Soon the world will beware of the Prankster King from Tartarus…kukukuku. Whoa, I sounded like Orochimaru for a sec there," thought Naruto.