WARNING: Some gore and cannibalism in this chapter.

“Can't we at least talk about this somewhere else? Like, our hideout,” suggested Sunset.

“Are you crazy?!” asked Adagio and Aria at the same time.

“Would it really matter to him if he knew where we live or not?” asked Sunset.

“No,” said Adagio and Aria begrudgingly knowing that Kazuki could have found their hideout and taken Sunset by force if he wanted.

“Besides it's getting darker,” added Sonata pointing at the sky.

“Maa, better eat this meat then,” said Kazuki as he let his kimono slide from his shoulders and hang around his waist, then a vertical slit appeared on the middle of his back, from which red tentacles made of flesh burst out from that opening and once they were out they formed in a grotesque mess of eyes and drooling mouths on hollow centipede-like extensions.

“You can turn around if you want,” said Kazuki as he used the power of Gakidō(餓鬼道, Preta Path) and his hemokinesis or Ketton(血遁, Blood Release), the same blood manipulation that devolved and mutated into the power of the Chinoike clan, their kekkei genkai and the rather superfluous —in his opinion— dōjutsu known as Ketsuryūgan(血流眼, Blood Dragon eye). The six path technique was far more diverse and complex than Pain or Madara ever demonstrated, so long it revolved around the core concept of their “paths” they could do almost anything.

However that required great in-depth knowledge of said concepts, in this case Kazuki was using the “hunger” of Petra(प्रेत, Hungry Ghost) to recreate the sac-like organs that were the Kakuhou(赫包, Red Wrapping) as well as the structure that came from them, the Kagune (赫子, Red Child). It was a useful trait from the Kushu(喰種, eater/devourer species) or Ghouls from the Tokyo Ghoul (東京喰種) Universe and Kazuki planned to use to its fullest extent here.

The four young women closed their eyes and turned around just in time to stop the image of teeth sinking into flesh, bones being crushed and muscles being torn from reaching them. To avoid most of the carnage they also placed their hands over their ears, then they waited.

Eventually the noise stopped, so Adagio turned around and she saw that the floor and walls were soaked in blood, worse still was that from the mess of mouths came long tongues that were licking said blood, they, however, stopped before disappearing as the tentacles retreated back into Kazuki's back after most of the blood was gone.

Kazuki just casually put back his kimono and Adagio motioned for the other three that it was safe. Then Kazuki said when he noticed that the four took their hands off their ears, “Lead the way.”

They were about to say something until they noticed that the blood was moving toward Kazuki and when they looked down they saw the last bit of blood be absorbed by his skin after climbing his geta and pass through his tabi. This time he used the hunger of Petra to replicate the hunger of a vampire, it was far more useful than the blood manipulation based on iron.

The four shook their heads to make sure they weren't seeing things before motioning for Kazuki to follow, he followed the quartet after deactivating his Rinnegan and from there it was relatively uneventful.

“What was that?” asked Adagio trying to start a conversation with her old teacher.

“You have to be more specific,” said Kazuki as he walked, which caused his geta to noisily clank against the pavemented ground.

“You know, those red tentacles,” said Aria.

“Yeah, they were like, super creepy and scary,” added Sonata.

“Ah, that was a kagune, a structure built by specialized cells that can change according to my needs and it comes from a kakuho, a sac-like organ that stores those cells, they come from a carnivorous species specialized on hunting and devouring exclusively humans. Note to self, harvest my kakuhou after getting back home,” said Kazuki not wanting to tell them that the species in question was named ghoul to not confuse them with the ghouls from this world.

“Soooo, who are you anyway? I mean, the fact that you know them says that you are from Starswirl's time, but I don't remember seeing anything like you before in any books,” inquired Sunset breaking the tense silence after Kazuki's explanation and wanting to know more about him since he was planning to take her back to Equestria, she just hoped that he would listen to her request.

“Really?” asked Kazuki to Sunset, but then he talked to himself “Well, Celestia does have the habit of hiding what she doesn't like from the public. That or the fact that they didn't even bother to write about me on the history books,” then he asked Sunset, “Have you ever seen a statue on the garden beside Discord’s?”

Sunset stopped to think about it, then a memory of her walking through the gardens came to the forefront of her mind, among the statues there were two from the enemies that Celestia faced. One was the draconequus known as Discord and the other was…

“You are the Deceiver!” shouted Sunset.

“'Deceiver’, really? I would have thought she would have come up with a better name,” said Kazuki, then Adagio and Aria snorted.

“Unimaginative? Yes,” said Aria.

“Inaccurate? Not so much,” said Adagio.

“Since when I'm a deceiver?” asked Kazuki with a raised eyebrow.

“From all the times when people kinda don't get what you're saying,” said Sonata.

“It's not my fault that most fail to grasp the bigger picture,” said Kazuki with a shrug.

“You are the first enemy that Celestia faced as a ruler after her mother's death,” said Sunset.

“I'm surprised, I thought Equestria forgot that they ever had a queen. Tell me Sunset Shimmer, how did you come across that information?” asked Kazuki with curiosity showing in his voice.

“I read some journals from the forbidden section of the library, they always reference a 'Deceiver’ or 'Betrayer’ after Queen Faust’s passing. Did you really take her body?” asked Sunset and that caused Kazuki to stop.

“It was the only way to save her, but Celestia and Luna interfered. I really don't want to talk about it,” said Kazuki and from there they continued to walk despite the tense and awkward atmosphere. Eventually, they reached a familiar high school, but its windows were blocked and it had many barricades.

Kazuki activated his Byakugan and scanned the building, he noticed that many rooms were fortified but most of them were unused. He noticed that the place was converted in a way to limit access from the outside and could easily be defended by few people. Also on the garden was a familiar statue of a horse on a base with four facets and lastly he noticed some people living inside the building.

“Good location, easily defended by few people and it's also possible to see enemies approaching from all directions. The only issues would be food and water supply,” remarked Kazuki as he approached the place that was once Canterlot High.

“Thanks, I guess,” said Sonata with an uncertain tone.

As the group was getting closer Kazuki noticed a person on the roof, a woman with a makeshift mask that was actually a scarf covering her face, wearing a cowboy hat over her long red hair tied in a ponytail, wearing goggles over her green eyes, a long-sleeved gray shirt and pants along with boots. Currently, she was hiding behind the parapet with only her head and arms visible —for those that couldn't see through walls that is— because she was holding a rifle currently pointed at him, more specifically his head. He just lifted his right arm and waved at the sniper on the roof before smiling.

*BANG*

A bullet sailed past were his head was moments ago if not for the fact that he, fortunately, tilted his head to the left, otherwise the bullet would have gone through his right eye socket, the only noticeable damage were few strands of his hair that were torn by the passing projectile. That wouldn’t kill him but it would take a lot of energy to regenerate one of his brains and he would have to unlock his dōjutsu on the newly recreated eye all over again, all in all, it was easier and less costly in a long run to just defend or dodge.

*BANG* *BANG*

Kazuki dodged two more bullets, the first by leaning back and the second by sidestepping to the right.

“Either make her cease firing at me or I will do more than dodge the bullets, and it won’t end well for your friend on the roof,” said Kazuki calmly as the sniper was reloading her semi-automatic rifle. By the time she finished reloading and was ready to shot again Sunset, Sonata, Aria and Adagio waved both arms signaling for the sniper to stop shooting.

The sniper stopped but kept her rifle pointed at Kazuki, after making sure he wouldn't be shot at again he followed the four and eventually they reached the entrance of the school. Once they were at the door Sunset knocked in a specific pattern and it didn't take long for another person to open the reinforced door, she had a fair complexion, green eyes as well as blonde hair with pink, light purple and green highlight carefully done and stylized in a mohawk, currently she was wearing a pair of jeans and a short-sleeved jacket-like top with a simple shirt underneath.

Sunset just showed her bag and the sirens did the same with the bags they were carrying, however, as soon as Kazuki passed through the door he heard a familiar and at this point annoying sound, however, he noticed that the sound was fundamentally different for some reason.

*click* *hum*

At Kazuki’s right was a girl, a pre-teen with bright red hair being held by a bow, she was wearing goggles on her forehead, overalls, gloves and boots, all in all, she looked like a mini mechanic. Anyway, she was pointing a gun at him, it looked like a miniature engine with a handle, as he looked at the coils of copper and the green power cells Kazuki recognized it as a plasma pistol.

It was fascinating how technology progressed in this world, especially considering that humans invented the transistor much later in this alternative universe and yet they managed to develop energy weapons, something that normally happened only after humans became a space-faring civilization. Dodging bullets at supersonic speeds was easier than dodge plasma charges moving at hypersonic speeds, still, it was better than lasers.

“Ah don’t know why big sis shot at you but she wouldn't do so without a reason,” said the girl as she looked at Kazuki.

“Lily! He came with Sunset and the others,” said the woman that opened the door.

“And yet big sis shot at him, he is dangerous, Haven,” said Lily.

“Lily! Put that gun down, he is a guest,” said Sunset.

“Yeah, we don’t want to give him a reason to be a danger to us,” said Adagio.

“But you are not wrong, little one,” said Kazuki as he approached Lily and knelt down in front of her, which had the effect of pressing the plasma gun against his forehead. Then he looked into Lily’s eyes and said without a hint of worry, “Choose now, either pull the trigger or not. But know that there will be consequences to everyone present in this building.”

Lily eventually powered down the plasma pistol before lowering it, then Kazuki said, “Wise choice little human.”

Sunset and the sirens sighed in relief, they knew that Lily meant well but they didn't need to give a reason for Kazuki to just kill them and take Sunset.

“I assume you are going to stay with us for a while mister…” started Haven.

“Kazuki,” answered the alien.

Haven nodded before locking the door, then the seven of them went to one of the empty classrooms that was converted into a shelter and there Kazuki saw that most of the inhabitants were women and children. They were all wearing either some form of improvised armor or clothes that were typical of the Fallout World and with his sensing abilities he noticed that the counterparts of the Elements of Harmony were here as well, in fact, if what he was feeling was right, then Haven was actually Rarity’s counterpart on this world, Lily was Applebloom’s counterpart and most likely the sniper on the roof was Applejack’s counterpart.

Kazuki observed the rest of the Elements’ counterparts, Fluttershy’s counterpart had a minty green colored hair and forest green eyes, she was wearing a simple dress, currently, she was kneeling down and placing a wet cloth on another person. The person under Fluttershy’s counterpart’s care was Rainbow’s counterpart, currently she was laying on a mattress wearing shorts and a shirt, she had blue hair, however, it wasn’t possible to see her eyes since they were closed at the moment, she had bandages around her left arm and right leg.

Pinkie’s counterpart was the most similar to her equestrian version, although her cotton candy-like hair was swept to her left side in a similar manner to the version of herself from the timeline were Sombra waged war on Equestria and she had brownish almost orange eyes instead of blue.

Twilight’s counterpart had a pink, purple and blue hair done in stripes, frankly it reminded Kazuki more of Twilight Velvet instead of Twilight Sparkle but with three colors instead of two and it was short and swept forward giving her a more "punk" look much like Haven, however, her eyes were the same shade of purple as her equestrian version, currently she was reading a book with Pinkie’s counterpart beside her.

Kazuki also noticed the two other CMC and Spike’s counterpart in the room as well, Sweetie Belle’s counterpart much like her sister had a blonde and pink hair and was wearing a simple dress with a dull red jacket. Scootaloo's counterpart had a dark bluish purple hair and blue eyes, also she was wearing a biker’s outfit. Spike’s counterpart had brown hair and green eyes, he was wearing a simple shirt and long pants, both articles of clothes had some scrap metal acting as armor. Kazuki also noticed a few more individuals but he paid them no mind, for now.

The alien walked into the room, everyone looked when they heard his geta clanking noisily against the floor and Lily kept an eye on him. Eventually he was standing beside Rainbow’s counterpart and Fluttershy’s counterpart regarded him nervously, evidently, she still had a somewhat similar personality to her equestrian version.

*click*

Kazuki resisted the urge to twitch his eyebrow, the number of guns being pointed at him was getting annoying.

“Step away from Firefly, slowly,” said the sniper that shot at him earlier, he noticed the same southern accent in her voice as Lily.

“You know that I could just dodge the bullets, right?” asked Kazuki just before looking behind himself, then he saw the sniper with a rifle against the wall and she was now pointing a pistol at him, more specifically a western revolver. An awkward silence followed their standoff, eventually Sunset and the sirens managed to reason with the sniper, whose name he learned was River Vale, and so he decided to ask, “Why did you shot at me?”

“Gut feeling,” said Vale simply and Kazuki just raised an eyebrow but didn’t inquire further, but when she saw the look of confusion on the others she decided to elaborate, “Ah don’t know who or what you are but you clearly ain’t human. Ah have the feeling that if given the opportunity you would kill everyone in this building.”

Vale’s comment caused everyone to be on edge, most were discreetly reaching for their weapons but Kazuki paid them no mind.

“Oh, what gave me away?” asked Kuzuki out of curiosity.

“The way you move is too… perfect, almost mechanical but graceful and it feels unnatural, at first I thought you were a synth,” said Vale.

“Well, you're not wrong except for the last one, but I don’t intend to kill anyone, so long you don’t give me a reason to, besides I only came to take Sunset Shimmer back,” answered Kazuki.

“So, you are an alien,” said Twilight’s counterpart as she closed the book, which caused Kazuki to raise an eyebrow.

“Interesting, none of you seem to be surprised by that fact,” said Kazuki.

“Duh, it’s pretty hard to not be, especially when most of us saw Sunset appear from the statue,” said Pinkie’s counterpart.

“Plus we encountered aliens before, granted they looked nothin’ like you,” said Vale.

“Really?” asked Kazuki.

“Yeah, Firefly even brought those weird alien guns,” said Scootaloo's counterpart.

“Bee!” shouted Lily and Sweetie Belle’s counterpart at the same time while Spike’s just facepalmed. Then Sweetie Belle’s counterpart continued, “It was supposed to be a secret!”

“Sorry Sugar,” said Bee in an apologetic tone.

“Oh, would you mind showing me this gun?” asked Kazuki as he suddenly appeared beside Bee and Sugar, startling them.

“Ok, let’s all calm down,” said Sonata before anything bad could happen.

“We brought dinner, how about we eat, then we can talk, ok?” asked Adagio.

“I’m not hungry right now, so you don’t need to worry about me,” said Kazuki as he sat on a free spot an leaned against the wall.

Sunset, Pinkie’s counterpart and Fluttershy’s counterpart along with most of those present in the room that Kazuki disregarded at the moment went to the kitchen to prepare dinner or wait for it, probably in the cafeteria, with the meat that the hunting parties brought back, plus the fruits and vegetable that the others managed to acquire on nearby settlements or passing traders. Vale, the sirens, Lily, Bee, Twilight’s counterpart and a man and two women remained to keep an eye on Kazuki.

“My name is Kazuki by the way,” said Kazuki.

“River Vale’,” said Vale before motioning for her little sister and say, “That’s mah little sister, River Lily.”

“Howdy,” said Lily but still kept a serious look as she watched Kazuki, it was adorable really.

“Dawn Star,” said Twilight’s counterpart.

“We already know each other,” said Aria while Adagio and Sonata nodded.

“Indeed, my former students,” said Kazuki before looking at Firefly, the wet cloth on her forehead been placed back by Bee.

“That’s mah brother, Michael,” said Vale pointing to the only human male that remained in the room, it was clearly Big McIntosh’s counterpart. He was a redhead like his sisters and was wearing a shirt with an open jacket over it and long pants, he simply nodded but otherwise didn’t react.

“That’s my sister, Alexis and Penny’s sister, Hild,” said Dawn as she pointed at the woman with blue and purple hair as well as purple eyes that were similar to Dawn herself and later the latter who had dark gray hair and gray eyes. The latter was clearly Maud’s counterpart and it wasn’t that farfetched to assume that Penny was the name of Pinkie’s counterpart, however that interesting fact was that Shining Armor’s counterpart was female and Maud's counterpart lacked one arm, the left arm to be exact. Well it’s not like gender is consistent across the multiverse.

“That’s Firefly and her little sister Bumblebee,” said Adagio soon after, unaware of Kazuki’s introspection.

“We call her ‘Bee’ though,” interjected Sonata and this cause Kazuki to chuckle, which caused the others to look at him strangely.

“Nothing, it just reminded me of someone else,” said Kazuki as he remembered a certain Hachibi Jinchūriki that was a rapper and swordsman, a very unorthodox one on both accounts. However, he continued, “Anyway, you have no less than 24 hours to convince me to not rip those bloodstones from your chests and take Sunset back to Equus by force.”

“You know? Threats ain’t the best way to start a negotiation,” said Vale.

“I know, but I don’t particularly care at the moment, besides I want the stones those three stole from me millennia ago,” said Kazuki.

“Darn, you four are old,” said Lily.

“Lily!” said Vale in a serious tone directed at her little sister, scolding her sister for either interjecting after a threat from Kazuki or for commenting about their age, it wasn’t clear.

“Yeah, we kinda expected that,” said Aria ignoring Lily’s comment about her age.

“Has it really been thousands of years since our banishment?” asked Sonata and Kazuki nodded.

*sigh* “Less than a century in this place and we lost thousands of years back home, at least that old bastard is certainly dead,” said Adagio.

“Starswirl? As far as I know, he mysteriously disappeared not long after banishing you three,” said Kazuki and after that, the group fell into silence.

“Serves him right,” muttered Aria under her breath.

Not long after Haven and Fluttershy’s counterpart came back with trays of food, then they gave each person a bowl of thick soup.

“Thanks, Windy/Haven,” said everyone as they receive a bowl. After everyone was served Windy offered the last bowl to Kazuki, who raised an eyebrow.

“There is no need to waste your resources on me since I don’t need to eat at the moment,” said Kazuki.

“Um, but that would be terribly rude, so we made one for you as well… um, if you don’t mind that is,” said Windy in a tone similar to her Equestrian counterpart.

“Very well,” said Kazuki before accepting the bowl with both hands and leaning forward. Then he said, “I accept your generous offer.”

“Oh, you don't need to thank me, you are a guest here,” said Windy as she smiled. Then she added, “I’m Wind Weaver by the way.”

“Guest or not, it’s no excuse for poor manners,” said Kazuki before holding the bowl in his right hand, then a purple flame appeared on his left hand before disappearing, showing a pair of hashi(箸, chopstick) and from there they ate in silence despite his earlier threat, Windy went back to Firefly’s side.

A while later the others came back and Sugar was carrying something wrapped in cloth. She sat near Bee and Lily followed by Spike’s counterpart before huddling together to talk about something, Kazuki could hear them just fine.

The CMC’s counterparts were discussing if it was a good idea to show him the alien gun they had, Lily argue that it could be dangerous to give him a gun while Sugar argued that he might know more about it than they did while Bee agreed with Sugar, Spike’s counterpart, which Kazuki learned was named Oscar or Oz as they called him, was undecided as of yet, so in the end the came to a conclusion.

Sugar approached Kazuki and carefully unwrapped the cloth, which revealed a red and chrome colored round gun that was a rather stereotypical space gun —especially considering the retro-futuristic style from the Fallout Verse— and being careful to not set it off.

“Oh,” said Kazuki as he lifted his right hand and the gun started to float above Sugar’s hand, then he moved the weapon to be in front of him. Ignoring the look of surprise on the faces of most humans present —excluding the sirens and Penny— that saw the demonstration of his telekinesis he activated his Byakugan.

They expressed further surprise and alarm when they saw veins become more prominent on his forehead at the same time he opened his third eye and activate the Byakugan on it since the blind spot wouldn’t matter at the moment. Then he added, “So, this is a Zetan Blaster.”

“Zetan?” asked Sugar being the first to get over her surprise. However, instead of answering her Kazuki extended his other hand and a magic circle appeared in front of his palm, which projected a image of a diminutive —for a adult— hairless, yellowish-green-skinned humanoid with short, wiry limbs as well as a disproportionately large head with round, heavy-lidded and solid black eyeballs with no discernible iris or pupil; a thin mouth that hid a green tongue as well as sharp teeth, and two pairs of small holes where ears and nostrils would be. The creature had no opposable thumbs, instead each hand had three long tentacle-like fingers with large suction cups at each fingertip, all in all, something that made the girl squeak in surprise —along with many others— before she hid behind her older sister, then she peaked and saw the unmoving projection as Kazuki rotated the gun in the air slowly.

“This is a Zetan,” said Kazuki as he studied the alien gun, then he paused and looked at Vale, “Was this the alien you saw, Ms River?”

“Darn right it was,” said Vale as she looked at the projection right after putting herself in front of her little sister that hid behind her.

The only ones that didn’t hide were Bee and Oz, who tried to kick and punch the projection respectively, they phased through and fell on the floor. Windy saw this, so she ignored her fear and she threw caution to the wind and went to make sure that Bee and Oz were alright. Dawn and Sunset looked at the projection with curiosity, albeit for different reasons, while Penny didn’t react outwardly, however, if it wasn't for the fact that Kazuki could see the synapses being fired in her brain he would have thought she didn’t notice the projection.

“What a ghastly attire,” commented Haven as she looked at the space suit after getting over her shock, she might prioritize functionality but she at least made an effort to look good, especially considering the fact that she read any pre-war magazine she could find about fashion. Everyone just looked at her with the “are you serious?” look before rolling their eyes and calmly study the projection.

“Is this a hologram?” asked Dawn as she saw the three younger girls and her little brother trying and failing to touch the lifelike projection of the alien, of course, after Windy made sure that Bee was alright.

“Close enough,” answered Kazuki.

“How can you use magic here?” asked Sonata as she looked at the circle of light floating in front of Kazuki’s palm. Adagio and Aria also became curious about that little fact, Sunset overheard the question and it also peaked her curiosity.

“The same way you four can, speaking of which, why haven't you four returned to your original forms yet?” asked Kazuki as he looked at the Equestrian-turned-humans with his three eyes, figuring that they should have at least partial access to their magic by now. Then he glanced at the injured and ill Firefly on the mattress with his Byakugan and commented, “By the way she doesn’t have much longer to live.”

“Eh?” responded everyone present when they processed Kazuki's words.

Author's Note

Something I forgot to mention a few chapters ago, a headcanon of mine about the Byakugan's blind spot and it hasn't been disproven so far:
I believe the blind spot is behind the eye, right where the optical nerve is connected to the eyeball. Each eye covers almost all the area that isn't covered by the other, except by a minuscule spot at the back of the neck above the first thoracic vertebra. The blind spot could either shift or move if they move their eyes, but for whatever reason, the Hyūga and Ōtsutsuki clan members always keep them "locked" forward, now if it's because of habit or some biological limitation I don't know.

Also, you can find the reference to Kazuki's kagune here.

Anyway, here are the names of the counterparts of the MLP characters that I came up with.
Twilight's counterpart -> Dawn Star
Rarity's counterpart -> Haven Melody
Fluttershy's counterpart -> Wind "Windy" Drifter
Rainbow's counterpart -> Firefly
Applejack's counterpart -> River "Val" Vale
Pinkie's counterpart -> Penny
Sweetie Bell's counterpart -> Sugar Song
Scootaloo's counterpart -> Bumblebee
Applebloom's counterpart -> River Lily
Spike's counterpart -> Oscar
Big mac's counterpart -> Michael "Mike"
Shining Armor's counterpart -> Alexis
Maud Pie's counterpart -> Hild

Thanks to Jet Storm, febnic16 and beirirangu for helping me with the names.