“That is one of my bodies. More specifically the body of one of my past lives,” clarified Kazuki.

“So all of these…” started Jewel as she motioned to all the coffins in the room and Kazuki just nodded at the unspoken question.

The trio let this sank in for a moment, each pile had between three and five coffins of increasing size from top to bottom, there were at least twenty piles, distributed in a five by five configuration with only the middle of the front row now being occupied by the rock that Moon brought. In sum the trio could estimate at the very minimum sixty past lives for Kazuki and by the varying sizes of the coffin many different species.

“Are those, all your past lives?” asked Moon as she realized what he meant, since she knew he was the first enemy that Celestia and Luna fought as rulers and depending on when he started to reincarnate there might be more than just this room.

“No,” answered Kazuki much to the shock of the trio and he elaborated not long after, “those are just the bodies that I was thinking on using on some experiments.”

“There are more?” asked Song in disbelief, she knew her master was old but neither she nor her sister knew about the reincarnation bit. They had their suspicions because he knew about things that only happened or were invented/created after his sealing.

“Yes, there is a subterranean warehouse with the rest,” said Kazuki nonchalantly as he closed the lid of the open coffin before he motioned for the trio to follow him as he left the room.

They did so and Kazuki closed the door. He intended to refine the ore later but for now he was done for the day, so he went to the library with the still shocked trio following him. Not long after he entered the library Hon approached him.

“Kazu!” shouted Hon with the mask of a happy child as she floated closer to her friend and owner.

“Hello Hon-chan,” said Kazuki as he sat on one the chairs.

Hon looked at the trio and saw how unresponsive they were and they only reacted when she was floating right in front of their faces.

“What happened?” asked Hon with a confused mask.

“They just saw the storage room with a few of my spare bodies,” said Kazuki as he started to read a book he selected.

“Really? Which one they saw?” asked Hon with a curious mask that was a little tilted, mimicking the reaction of child.

“Wait, you knew?” asked Moon when she heard the sentient book.

“Well duh, of course I knew,” said Hon as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

“Why haven't you told us then?” asked Jewel.

“You never asked,” answered Kazuki as he turned the page.

“Well, it not a question we would have asked normally, 'hey master have you ever reincarnated before?’ just like that,” said Song.

“Sometimes it's the weird and unexpected question that are the most enlightening,” said Kazuki in a almost lecturing tone with a hint of a smile on his face.

“Oh, which one they saw? I bet it was one of the breezies? It was one of the breezies, wasn't it? Wasn't it? Wasn't it?” asked Hon excitedly as she darted from one placed to the next to direct each question at a different person.

“Breezies? Those tiny and fragile little things that can barely survive a strong wing?” asked Jewel in disbelief.

“In my defense they were far stronger back than. Despite their fragility they still have potential,” said Kazuki as he turned the page.

“So it wasn't a breezie, which one was it then?” asked Hon with a disappointed tone.

“It was a diamond dog,” answered Song.

“Eeeeeh, that's boring,” said Hon before she floated to another part of the castle to do something else, maybe tell a story or two to the diamond dog puppies.

*Snort*

Kazuki and the dragon sisters looked at the origin of the sound and saw Moon as she tried and failed not to laugh.

“What's so funny?” asked Jewel curiously.

“I’m just imagining Kazuki as a tiny breezie,” said Moon and not long after the sisters joined her when they imagined their master as a tiny breezie.

That didn't bother the Ōtsutsuki, it was pretty funny all things considered. He let them have their fun, he would be busy in the next few days refining the ore for the portal.

Two months later

It took longer than Kazuki expected to gather the necessary ore to finish the portal. Two months were needed, months that left him with a lot of free time to use on the lab to create many interesting experiments –some of which were more successful than others– and to keep teaching his pack.

One of the things Kazuki always liked was anime, so he also spent a lot of time recreating many techniques and powers from anime in general, but the most eventful of his reincarnations was the last one before he returned to his original body. He witnessed the reinvention of anime on Equus, and he had no shame in admitting –although he wouldn't never say aloud– he was still an otaku, an alien–god–ninja–mage–mad scientist–martial artist–brony–otaku, he also remembered being a pirate in one or two lives. But he was proud of the fact he introduced anime to the pups and Moon, the adult diamond dogs also liked, but more as a pass time and the dragon sister thought it was childish.

Anyway, during those two months Moon finally reached the same level of power and control that she had when she returned from the moon, plus a equally huge reserve of chakra. Kazuki even planned on teaching her about nen on a later date, but he wanted to acquire a second student before then and he already had one in mind.

Another thing that happened was that the dragon sisters and Moon became quite curious about Kazuki's past lives. After an entire week they convinced him to let them see the other bodies in the storage room and they were very surprised by some of the bodies. Jewel and Song by the fact that they found at least three dragons in there, two males and one female, while Moon found two female alicorns. They seemed more shocked by the fact that he was female in some past lives, as if gender played a role in reincarnation.

Also during this time the timberwolves became fully sentient White Zetsu under Kazuki's command. It was hilarious when the diamond dogs started to report to Jewel that they heard timberwolves talk and she dismissed these reports only to find out herself that it was true. Granted to the dragoness it didn't matter if they could talk or not, to her they burned all the same. The ponies probably didn't pay much attention to these changes and just thought that it was another case of “unnatural” occurrence in the Everfree.

Sometimes ponies’ ability to ignore what didn't affect them impressed even Kazuki. Fortunately Zecora wasn't that oblivious, she didn't mind the changes since he ordered the wolves to leave her alone. But the most important feature of the timberwolves now was the ability to unweave their bodies into many plant like tendrils and envelop another living body. At this point they could act as armor or use the body inside as a battery and/or hostage. The former was what Kazuki found to be more useful, it meant armor for the warriors of the pack under his command.

The progression of the show was kinda slow, recently Kazuki saw the CMC on Ponyville so he can assume the events of “Call of the Cutie” have already transpired. He also managed to witness the events of “Suited For Success” and “Feeling Pinkie Keen”, he also heard a familiar explosion like sound followed by a rainbow colored ring in the sky, so the meant that “Sonic Rainboom” happened as well and lastly he once found Twilight Sparkle petrified in the forest so that also meant that “Stare Master” was out of the way.

Now Kazuki only had to wait for the opportunity to use the portal, but unfortunately he had one objective he intented to accomplish before he attempted to activate the portal. The ideal time to pull it off would be at the night of the Grand Galloping Gala.

Today the Ōtsutsuki was sitting on the top of the tallest tower of his castle in the Everfree while wearing his white kariginu, he was looking at the night sky filled with stars. When he looked up he wondered if there was other Ōtsutsuki out there, he hoped that it was just his paranoia talking. Then he looked at Ponyville and noticed that it was more active than usual, especially this late.

“Oh,” said Kazuki as he used his Byakugan to look at a stage on the town near the school, with the foals performing.

It was somewhat entertaining to see those ponies, so ignorant of the horrors that exist outside of this dimension. Sometimes Kazuki wondered if his eyes and immortality were curses but he supposed that was the price for the power he wanted. It was times like these he missed Faust and Starswirl, they were the only ones he could talk to about this since they too were aware of the horrors that exist “outside”, Faust more so than Starswirl.

Right now Kazuki was witnessing the events of “The Show Stoppers”. The evening proceeded without trouble, but he could sense that the rival pack of diamond dogs was more active this night as well. There have been many altercations between members of his pack and this rival pack, where his pack had more skills the other had numbers. If things were to escalate any further a fight for dominance would be inevitable.

With nothing else to do Kazuki went back to the lab and he stayed there until morning, when a diamond dog with a Zetsu as armor just barged in.

“Boss!” shouted the diamond dog just as his helmet split open into three pieces along two vertical lines above the eye holes revealing his worried face.

“What?” asked Kazuki as he looked away from the microscope he was using.

“Boss, it’s that other pack. They started a large attack on all the tunnels that were near their territory. We managed to push them back but it seems that they are preparing for another attack according to the intel gathered by the Zetsu and they seemed to have called other packs for help,” reported the dog.

Kazuki sighed, he wanted to avoid a needless fight, but it seemed that was impossible now and he had to deal with this personally. By the looks of it he was dealing not with a simple pack but a clan. A clan of diamond dogs consisted of multiple packs that were closely related but all the rules still applied, he just had to deal with the alphas and the clan leader.

“Kuchiyose no Jutsu(口寄せの術, Summoning Technique),” said Kazuki after he quickly did a series of hand seals and placed his hand on the floor. A puff of smoke came out of the seals that appeared beneath his hand, so he stood up and when the smoke dissipated it revealed Jewel and Song.

They looked around confused before they spotted Kazuki and knelt. If they were summoned like this then it meant he has a mission for them.

“Master!” said the sisters at the same time.

“Song, Jewel, I have a mission for you. Both of you are in charge of defending the tunnels with a small squad while I deal with the enemies’ leader,” said Kazuki with a firm almost cold tone.

Kazuki went into the tunnels followed by the diamond dog, Jewel and Song. When he arrived at the border of his territory he saw that most diamond dogs were on guard and wearing Zetsu while the ones that were wounded were receiving first aid by the few pack members he taught medicine. The medicine in question was mostly how to use herbs and traditional medicine, they had a long way before he could teach them Iryō Ninjutsu(医療忍術, Medical Ninja Techniques).

It didn't take long for Kazuki to spot Rex on the crowd while he was giving orders to other pack members. He was quite big for a diamond dog being 7ft, he looked like a anthro Akita with light brown fur, his paws were quite big, which was expected from a diamond dog, he had blue eyes, a balanced but muscular physique that was built for fighting, but his most noticeable feature were his scars, claw marks all over his body. The scars were from the times he fought against the former alpha before he was eaten by Jewel.

The Zetsu armor he worn took the form spirals around his arms and legs, the torso was covered by a root like pattern, three plates hanging from his waist covering his front and sides like a samurai armor, but he had his paws uncovered to facilitate the use of his claws for fighting and digging. Currently his helmet was unweaved, which gave him a high collar similar to a venus flytrap around his head.

“Boss!” said Rex as he saw Kazuki approached.

“Was there any casualty?” asked Kazuki immediately and without hesitation.

“No boss, but few pack members suffered some injuries,” reported Rex.

“I see, Song and Jewel will guard the tunnels with a small squad. With the exception of the medics, the injured and the squad originally assigned to these tunnels everyone will accompany me. Our mission is to reach the leaders of the enemy pack,” said Kazuki.

“Yes sir!” said Rex as he saluted.

“When this mission over you can request a reward so long it doesn't cause trouble in the future,” said Kazuki and the sisters eyes widen before they grinned. Kazuki's eyebrow twitched when he felt a spike of lust, he had a pretty good idea what they were going to ask for.

The Ōtsutsuki activated his Byakugan to map the tunnels of the enemy when he saw a familiar white unicorn being held hostage by three diamond dogs, he could also see other prisoners on another part of the tunnel system, they consisted of few ponies but most of them were diamond dogs.

With Rarity, a few minutes prior

Rarity wearing casual but still elegant clothes that consisted of a long sleeved blue shirt and long brown pants was near a mine wagon after being kidnapped by a trio of diamond dogs and brought to their den.

“Oh please, diamond dogs. Please let me go,” begged Rarity in a somewhat over dramatic but believable tone.

“No!” shouted Spot. He was the small, light yellow bulldog-like diamond dog with yellow eyes wearing a gray jacket and a spiked collar.

“You're our precious little pony,” said Fido. He was the bluish and rather large diamond dog with floppy ears and yellow eyes wearing a gray jacket and a spiked collar.

“Forever! Muhahahaha!” shouted Rover. He was the gray medium-sized diamond dog with green eyes wearing a red jacket and a spiked collar with a golden dog tag.

“But whatever do you want from me?” asked Rarity in a fearful tone.

“Gemsss!” said Rover with a dreamy look on his face as he imagined amount the gems he would have, maybe the clan leader will reward him.

“Yes! The gems. The jewels,” said Spot as he too imagined a similar scenario.

“Find them! Find them all!” said Fido wanting to get this over with as soon as possible.

“Oh! Is that all?” said Rarity relieved that it was just a simple task so she just did the Gem Detection Spell and found a stash nearby, which she marked with a X with the a stick she floated with her magic, so she said thinking that her task was complete, “There. A lovely pocket of jewels are right there. Now, if you'd be so kind as to show me the exit?”

“Good!” said Fido as he saw the spell in action, then he ordered, “Now, dig them up, pony.”

“What? But you said you wanted me to find the gems,” said Rarity under the impression that she was free to go after she did what they asked. But she was stopped by a brown diamond dog with a armor pointing a spear at her.

“Yes! Find and then dig,” said Spot clarifying what they wanted.

“Dig?” asked Rarity expressing her disbelief in a ladylike manner.

“Yes. Dig,” said Fido and he and the other two pointed at the X, only for Rarity to look at the ground in distaste before using her hoof to move some dirt.

Rarity kept grunting as she continued with her rather pathetic attempt at digging.

“What are you doing? We said dig!” shouted Fido as looked at Rarity.

“Forgive me, but prior to you so rudely dragging me into your dirt pit, I had a manicure and a hooficure. I refuse to chip a hoof and especially a nail because you dislike my style of digging,” said Rarity before she inclined her head a little to show her dissatisfaction in a ladylike manner.

“Oh, for goodness— Fine! Just stop. Stop!” said Rover losing his patience at Rarity's “digging”, so he commanded other members of the pack nearby, “Dig, dogs! Dig! And fast.”

“She won't dig, she pulls,” said Fido as he Spot chained Rarity to the mine wagon.

“I beg your pardon, but what, pray tell, are you doing?” asked Rarity after she was chained to the mine wagon with a harness on her torso and shackles.

“Others will dig. You will haul the wagon,” Fido started to explain and Spot finished, “Yes! Hooves and nails won't chip.”

“Well, somebody certainly needs proper nail care. When was the last time you two had a manicure?” asked Rarity as she saw and felt their claws, then she shouted when she saw the damage on her coat and clothes, “You're scratched up my coat and clothes with those jagged things!”

“Be quiet!” shouted Rover getting tired of Rarity's complaining.

“Good heavens, what is that smell?” asked Rarity as she covered her nose.

“Smeeeeeell?” asked Rover as he got closer to Rarity.

“Ah, mystery solved. It's your breath,” said Rarity in a matter of fact tone, which prompted Rover to smell his own breath and it wasn't pleasant.

“Enough! Search, pony!” ordered Rover.

“Well, since you insist... But I must say the working conditions in here are simply dreadful. Musty and damp, it's going to wreak havoc on my mane. And this air is stifling, suffocating. And when I try to take a deep breath, the stench of all you dogs makes me nauseated,” complained Rarity as she marked places for the dogs to dig using a stick she was levitating with her magic and pulled the wagon. Funnily a pair of dogs dug under a very thin pillar of rock, which caused a boulder to fall on then.

“You look and smell like you haven't bathed in weeks. Have you never heard of soap? You could all do with a good round of soap and water. Oh water, oh water, I'm terribly thirsty. Could I please have some water?” Rarity continued her complaining, with caused to noticed how bad they smelled for the first time.

“Good gracious, I can't take this anymore. Be quiet, pony!” shouted Spot holding his ears.

“And that's another thing. I would appreciate if you stopped calling me ‘pony’. I am a lady and I wish to be addressed as such. So you may call me ‘Miss’ or ‘Rarity’ or ‘Miss Rarity’,” Rarity continued complaining, which was starting to hurt the dog’s sensitive ears.

“Enough! Your whining! It-it-it hurts!” shouted Rover as he held his ears trying to make the fashionista stop.

“Whining? I am not whining. I am complaining. Do you want to hear whining?” asked Rarity in challenging tone before she started whining in even higher voice that hurt the dog's ears even more, “Thiiis iiis whiiining! Oooh, this harness and shackles are too tiiight! It's going to chafe. Can't you loosen it? Oooh, it hurts and it's sooo ruuusty! Why didn't you clean it first? It's gonna leave a staaain! And the wagon iss getting sooo heeeavy, why do I have to pull it?!”

“Aaah! Make it stop!” shouted Spot trying in vain to block the sound.

“Make all the noises you want. But move while you make them. Hyah, mule!” shouted Rover and while it hurt his ears he was willing to endure it so long he got the gems to the clan leader.

“Did you just call me a... mule?” asked Rarity as her eyes are starting to water and Rover gave her a uncertain look. Then she asked, “Mules are ugly. Are you saying that I too am ugly?”

“What are these noises?” asked Spot as Rarity cried.

“He called me ugly!” shouted a distraught Rarity.

“No! Mule! I said mule!” said Rover firmly in an attempt to mitigate situation.

“An old ugly mule! And it's true! Just look at me. I used to be beautiful, but, but nooow…” Rarity trailed off as she cried.

“Enough!!” shouted Rover as losing his patience. Then he ordered the guards, “put her in a cell, maybe she will cooperate after she has some time to think.”

“Nononono, wait don't put me in a cell, please!” pleaded Rarity as two guards took off her harness, she tried to use some magic but one of the guard flick her horn. It hurt a little but it had the desired effect of disrupting whatever spell she intended to use.

Just as Rarity was about to be dragged to her cell, a squad of Kazuki's pack arrived. The fashionista saw a group of diamond dogs wearing a different armor suddenly appear from the ground. Their armor was a shade either brown or green, sometime a mixture, they had a more disciplined posture and weapons.

“Are those made of wood?” asked Rarity in her mind as her trained eye saw the material that made up the weapons and armor of these dogs and by the way the guards holding her and all others present growled, they were not friends.

Just after the analysis Rarity saw the biggest dog so far emerge from the ground, he –Rarity assume it was a he– was even bigger than even Fido and the guards holding her, he had a samurai like armor –also made of wood– with spirals on the limbs that ended just before reaching his paws, a helmet that was also similar to that of a samurai, a Kabuto (兜, 冑) combat helmet that had a mask covering the eyes but leaving his muzzle free and also with plates hanging and covering the back and sides of his head and neck that somehow were fused with the armor but somehow didn't restrict his movements.

“Are you the alpha of this pack?” asked Rex while Rarity took note of his tone that was similar to a soldier.

“So what?” asked Rover not letting himself to be intimidated by these invaders.

“I see,” said Rex before he jumped at Rover while his pack did the same and attacked the others.

Kazuki's pack was outnumbered 2 to 1 but thanks to their training the easily dispatched multiple opponents, they were not killed just immobilized or knocked out. Rarity tried to use this opportunity to escape, but she was stopped by one of the warriors, at least he had a far more pleasant smell than the previous ones. Then without warning he looped a thread of thin but resistant Ninja Ito(忍者の糸, Ninja string/wire/thread) around her horn to prevent her from using magic and around her arms.

Rex was holding down Rover, who was on the ground, by taking advantage of his bigger size by placing one of his paws on Rover’s back. Not long after a group of four diamond dogs from Kazuki's pack came out of one of the tunnels with the rest of the mane six and Spike.

All six of them were tied by Ninja Wire connected to the paws of the four guards, Rainbow and Applejack had a few cuts on their clothes from trying to break the wire, Twilight had some of it looped around her horn as well, Pinkie and Fluttershy were tied as well but they didn't resist much, Spike had a few cuts as well but only on the surface of the scales. All six had their legs free but their arms were tied against their torso, the same applied to the wings of the pegasi.

“Rarity!” shouted Spike as he, Rainbow and Applejack tried to get free.

“Stop struggling,” said the guard that was holding Applejack, but AJ only stopped when she felt the wire dig on her skin. The guard holding her had black fur on the exposed parts and if the voice was any indication it was he.

“You better stop or otherwise you can cause permanent damage to your wings,” said the one holding Rainbow, which caused her to stop and look behind her only to notice that the wire was starting to dig on her feathers as well as her skin, which was starting to bleed. The guard holding her was smaller and had a slender figure and if the voice was any indication it was a she.

The guard holding Twilight and Spike was similar to the one holding Applejack and he didn't even bothered to speak, so he just lifted one of his fingers, which caused the wire around Spike to tighten to uncomfortable levels, still not enough to break his scales though.

“Stop! You are hurting him!” shouted Twilight and Fluttershy when they saw Spike fall on his knees.

“A dragon should be far more resilient than that, It seems that you ponies cuddle him too much,” said the guard holding Pinkie and Fluttershy, who didn't struggle any further. This guard was just slightly less bulky than the first, but had a higher voice, so they assumed it was a she.

“Enough!” shouted Rex as he extended his free arm and a blade made of wood came out from the back of his paw. He swiped at a nearby rock before pointing the blade at Rover. At first they thought that the blade did nothing, but then they saw the upper part of rock slide from the lower part, the cut was perfectly smooth.

“Are you the clan head?” asked Rex getting the blade closer to Rover.

“No! Just the alpha of this small pack. I swear,” said Rover not wanting to die.

“I see,” said Rex as the Zetsu he was wearing retracted the blade, then he got up and tied Rover and sat down.

“Um, can you please let us go mister diamond dog? If you don't mind,” said Fluttershy rather quietly, but normal volume for her. Luckily it was loud enough for the dogs to hear.

Rex motioned for the one holding Fluttershy to stop before she did anything. She nodded before she and the other guards brought the captives closer to Rex. The mane six were reunited, it would have been a happy occasion if they weren't tied before a rather large and intimidating diamond dog.

“Apologies, but I can't do that yet,” said Rex in a neutral and non-threatening tone.

The group of six mares and a hatchling shifted nervously at Rex’s gaze.

Author's Note

Just to clarify, ponies regardless of the tribe are stronger than humans. That's how Rarity was pulling a mine wagon nonchalantly while she was complaining.