Chapter 3

AN: Italics are mostly used for either journal entries or when ponies talk around Albert!

Albert awoke, hearing the small beeping sound from his watch. He opened his wry eyes and looked about, casting a glance towards the mouth of the cave. He had stumbled upon the cave the day before and fortunate enough that empty and it didn’t seem to be any signs of animals living within the cave. He that entire night eating nothing but wild berries, and slept on the harden ground with a bed made of only leaves. It had not helped that no matter where he had laid, it always seemed to have a rock jabbing his back. Albert yawned, sleepily stretching out his kinks, and sat up upright in his makeshift bed.

It was morning: judging by the lighting. He looked at his watch; it was nearly fifteen till seven. He started to dig through his bag and pulled out his journal. Something he started carrying one around for several years now. The book was filled with eight years of notes, covering over different symbols and notes during his findings at the Amazon temple. He flipped through and began to write on a new page.

Journal Entry-Day 2, Albert Stone

Aching and sore, but still glad to be very much alive after yesterday’s events. It’s still hard to believe that I had an encounter with that creature as what I thought was nothing more than myth! Seta is not going believe me once I tell him about this….if the old man will ever believe it. Losing my gun yesterday will make things a bit more difficult from here on out. Not really sure what other mythical creatures could be running around in this place.
Today I’ll be heading out. There was a river I had crossed about five minutes back. After I gather some water and a quick bathe, maybe I’ll be lucky enough to catch me some fish before continuing back onto the road. Maybe I’ll able to find a town before day’s end…

Albert placed the journal safely back into his satchel and slowly started to get up, groaning. His head throbbed and his body was still aching from yesterday, but he had worse before. He could feel his stomach starting to growl again. He still had some wild berries left, for now they’ll hold him over. Though they looked like everyday blueberries, their taste however was least to be desirable; it was like he was chewing a handful of rubber bands. He grabbed his hat and satchel and headed out towards the direction of the river.

*Several Hours Later*

For the last two hours Albert continued to trek down the road through the forest, munching on wild berries. He gave up looking for fish after nearly spending an hour at the river with no real success.

“Maybe I should’ve stayed and followed the river?” He started muttering to himself aloud; a bad habit he had done since he was just a child. Either when alone or lost in thought he would talk to himself. He would at time’s forgetting his around other people when doing it, leaving a lot of people either giving him strange or annoyed looks.
“You just HAD kept messing around with ancient artifacts you have no clue to what they could do. Remember what happen last time you did something like that back in Mongolia! You end up almost getting yourself killed by a water trap, and let’s NOT forget about those bandits that were after both yours and Seta’s head!”

Albert continued bantering himself, not really paying attention to his surroundings. Ever since he found himself in that ruin, things had not been looking too good in his favor. Almost getting killed by an overgrown cat, losing his favorite gun, and was now lost in some forest with God knows what else. He almost didn’t realize he had just pasted the trees lines and had stepped into an open plain. He came to a halt on the road, studying the new change of landscape about him.

*Audiomachine- Holland’s 2nd Opus*

“Beautiful.” Were the only words he could really describe this place. It was like he had just stepped into some sort of Garden of Eden. The grass was the greenest he had ever seen in his life, swaying gently in the breeze, the sounds of birds and critters chipping all around. He had also had noticed the sky overhead had changed into a more cheerful blue color, and that the clouds had changed as well, unlike the dark gloomy dark forest he had just been in before. The very air itself was different as well; it felt so clean, almost pure even.

He slowly made his way across the open field. He could see another river just across the way, the sun’s warmth rays sparking off the crystal clear waters. He was starting to have the same sense of bliss, like he was in a dream. Even the feelings he had when he discovered the temple in Amazon years ago was nothing compare to this overwhelming sense of awe and wonder. It was like he had just entered into heaven; a paradise lying before his very feet, untouched by human hands. He felt like he could just remove his boots, feel the grass underneath his feet, and just bask in the warm glow of the sun.

He continued on the beaten path until it came upon another dirt road, though it was much smoother, than the harsh path he had been on, almost like it had just been recently made. It stretched from left to right, winding lazily northward, just over the hill across he could make out the top of buildings. From the distance he could just barely see some sort of castle on the side of the mountain. For some reason this felt very familiar to him, as if he had seen this before but couldn’t place it. From the distance he could hear the sounds of chiming bells from the clock tower; telling people that it was now noon.

Wait…the way bells were playing sounded almost similar to the chimes of bells he had heard before blacking out back in Egypt. It just had to be a coincidence, there was just no way was it connected; was there? He just shook his head; maybe he was just over thinking things.

Albert stopped and looked southward. He could hear voices as well the sounds of clopping hooves. Finally some other people that might could help him. He started his way towards the voices. ‘Maybe some riders that’ll could give me a lift into town. Maybe I can figure out just what this place is, get a nice hot bath and a warm bed to sleep, then call Seta and tell him I’m finnnneee…..’ Albert came to a halt as he watched two figures coming over the hill towards him. Coming up the road were indeed two horses or ponies, judging by their size. But it wasn’t their sizes that made him stop and stared, but rather what the ponies ‘looked’ like.

One looked like any normal horse, caramel coat, its mane was black, though it looked much shorter than a normal mane and it seemed like it had been combed back like a style would see man would. He could see on its flank was a tattoo of looked like a red chili pepper. The other pony beside it is what really threw him for a loop. It was purple unicorn, A BLOODLY PURPLE UNICORN! Its brown mane was also short, almost similar to the first pony’s hair, and on its face it was wearing square framed glasses. It too had a tattoo on its flank that looked like an open book with a quill pen writing on it, with books stacked behind it. Their eyes were also huge; almost similar those anime style eyes he saw back in Japan, all big and innocent looking. He rubbed his eyes for a moment; they looked exactly like the very same ponies he saw in on the temple walls. But…how is that even possible! He rubbed his eyes again trying to process in his mind as to what his eyes were seeing. First a Manticore from Greek Myth, now two more creatures that he spent the last eight years of researching in front of his very eyes. He didn’t know if he should jump around like a little kid, look dumbfounded, or wonder if those berries he eaten was making him high and see things.

Albert could hear the voices again, but yet there were no signs of people about, say for the two ponies in front of him. They were staring back at him in fright, and they were whispering to each other….wait….whispering to each other!?

‘Talking ponies…h-how was that even possible, animals don’t talk!’ His mind raced with so many questions. How were they even able capable to speech, can they speak English? He could see their expressions which also confused him. Their expressions were almost human like but how was it that….

He could feel his headache returning, this was getting all too confusing for him. So many thoughts and questions ran through his mind, he didn’t know what to think. He knew he could just hear them but the words they were saying sounded foreign, though he couldn’t understand them, he knew it sounded familiar. The awkward silence was tense, so tense that it might have to be cut with a chainsaw. Almost for five solid minutes both man and pony just stood there staring, seeing if either of them would make the first move.

‘What’s the worst that could happen?’ Albert decided to make the first move. He took a step forward, opening his mouth to speak but was cut off by the large growling sound of his stomach. The action seemed to had scared the two ponies even more so, as they were backing away in fright. “Hey now don’t be scared. I’m not going to hurt you.” Albert tries to talk to them like one would a puppy. He held up his hands slowly, trying to show he meant them no harm, and tried to step closer to them. Though it seemed they didn’t understand him and before he got any closer they bolted off, racing towards the town.

“Well, that didn’t go as well as I thought.” He muttered, watching the two ponies ran off till they were out of sight. His mind kept going back as to what he had saw. A unicorn! A real living, breathing unicorn, and a purple in fact! This was truly amazing! To discover such a creature of legend and myth was something truly the find of the century. Something like this could win anybody the Nobel Peace Prize. He could be put into the history books as one of the greatest archeologist of all time! Albert quickly shook his head in disgust. No, he was not kind of person. To do something like that to one of nature’s beautiful creatures was wrong in his eyes. What could be the very last of its kind, just so it could be caged and locked away forever? No, he would not do that to any creature, let alone a creature of legend. He silently adjusted his bag and headed off down the road towards the direction the two ponies had run off to. For now he’ll put those ponies out of his mind.

It was a brand new day in Ponyville and the market district was booming with ponies. A variety of ponies were busy shopping around for the latest accessories for the upcoming Summer festival while others were simple there for another day of groceries. Applejack decided that this area would be the perfect place for her to set up her apple stand. After all, who was crazy enough not to try one of the tastiest apples you could find in all of Equestria?
"Aw, Applejack this ain't no fair!" Apple Bloom stomped her hoof. "Ah already know ah ain't cut out for sellin' apples! So why'd ah have ta come anyway?"

Unfortunately, her business opportunity was also the same day she chose to take Apple Bloom out, so she could better the filly as a Sweet Apple Acres Sales Pony. Applejack rolled her eyes at her sisters pouting. “Aw, stop all that darn bellyachin' Apple Bloom! Ya'll need ta learn how ta start selling apple goods the right way! Just like how Granny Smith and Big Mac showed me."

"Oh my, what's this?" A tanned coated Earth pony with gray mane, and classy reading glasses, approached the apple stand. Her eye's sparking with interest at the sight of the beautiful red Apples.

"Well, howdy Mayor Mare! Come by for some o' the sweetest Apples in Ponyville?" Applejack beamed, offering one of her apples to the well-groomed pony. The scroll flanked mare smiled in delight. “That does sound delightful.”

Apple Bloom could only sigh in frustration behind her sister, who was happily chatting away. She and the other crusaders had planned on meeting over at Sugar Cube Corner today, to see what other new ideas they could do to discover their cutie marks. Of course, her dear old sister just had to ruin that for her; just so she could learn how to sell a few measly apples.

‘Urgh, this is soooo boring.’ She thought, drawing in the dirt. ‘Ah wish something interesting would happen.’ Though unbeknownst to her, something big was about to happen, that would change the lives of many in Ponyville.

"Mayor Mare, Mayor Mare!"

Apple Bloom watched as two ponies pushed their way through the crowd towards them. They looked frighten by something and had running for some time.

“Easy gentlecolts.” The elderly mare stepped forward, trying to calm the two frighten stallions. “Now, what is going on? Why are you two looked like you had just seen a manticore?”

The purple unicorn was the first one to recover his breath “I-If only that was true Mayor. My brother Chili Pepper and I were just attacked by a beast that came from the Everfree forest!” The purple unicorn shouted. “Yes, it was HUGE!” the other stallion shouted in fright.

“Whoa, just slow down there partner.” Applejack stepped forward now “Now back up and start again. What Everfree beast?”

“Me and my brother here were on our way into town, when on the road we ran into this huge creature.”
“It looked like a hairless monkey, though it was as big as a bear.” the brown colt dramatically flailed his forearms trying to describe the height. By now many ponies had gather around, listening as the brothers continued their description to this so called ‘Everfree beast’. Many started to whisper amongst themselves.

“What if it came here?”

“Would it come after our child?”

“Maybe we should alert the town guards?”

“Settle down everypony, settle down!” the elder mare tried to calm the crowd down, the last thing they needed was a riot on their hooves. “I assure you there is nothing to worry about, let’s not let it spoil our festivities so….”

“Ahhh! Wh-What is that!” some random pony shouted, pointing to the strange looking creature behind them.

"No way" Albert stared, his eyes continuing to widen in awe. Ponies…this entire town, were filled with ponies. Not just ponies, but unicorns and pegasus too! Red, blue, green, yellow…there were so many ranges of colors it was blinding! A few of the ponies were even wearing hats, and some were doing occupations that human would do. He continued to look around, trying to find any signs of a human, yet could not see one. He gave himself a hard slap; this had to be some kind of dream. Maybe after of years researching had gone to his head and made him insane. He rubbed his cheek, still seeing the things still there. “This isn’t a dream…” he looked at all the ponies that stared back at him. He could see some of them whispering to one another. He could defiantly hear them but like before he couldn’t understand what they were saying. The language sounded closely similar to that of the ancient book. Though the only words that was able to make out was one word….Everfree.

"I've never seen a creature like that before!"

“What is it?”

“Is it dangerous?”

“That’s it! That’s the Everfree beast that had attacked us!” The purple unicorn shouted, pointing towards the creature. Very soon the very idea started to grow very popular in the minds of the town’s folk as the ponies started talking and whispering to each other.

Though Albert had no clue as to what they were saying, he had a fair guess as they were talking about him. He saw the purple unicorn from before pointing at him, yelling something, and the way the ponies were starting to look at him was not good. He started to see some of the ponies giving him angry looks; watching mothers drag their little fillies off into their homes, while many others settled into more threatening postures. ‘Now I’m starting to know how Frankenstein felt, just without the pitchforks and torches.’

Albert slowly tried to back up. He could see this was already starting to turn ugly, and he only just got here! He tighten his fists up, readying to bolt at the first given sign of an exit or was willingly ready to fight his way out. He sees out of the corner of his eye an alleyway just across the cobblestone street. His brain was working overdrive, forming an idea within the thick mob of hostile ponies that was starting to close in on him.

Albert looked towards his right, suddenly pointed skyward; his eyes widened dramatically. “GODZILLA!!” He screamed out in terror. Every last pony whose eyes were on him, suddenly turned away to look as to what he had screamed and pointed to. Some ponies fearing that there had been something much larger….only to see obviously nothing was there.
“My God, I can’t believe that really work!” Albert muttered in amazement, as he raced down the alleyway into the next street, accidently knocking over the cart of apples in his escape. He needed to make his way around and try to head back out of town.

"AHHH! My apples!" Applejack cried at the horrifying sight of her hard work hitting the floor with a splat and rolling across the ground, covered in dirt and bruises. Her wooden stand knocked over and a bunch of ruined apples.

*Audiomachine- Rat Race*

It seemed that running blind into town he had never been in before wasn't one of his smartest moves. Though he had managed to lose the large portion of the mob, there were still several ponies and unicorns on his tail, especially the orange one with the cowboy hat that he saw by the fruit stand still hot on his heels. For the past five minutes now he had try to shake them off, knocking over several barrels and boxes to slow their path, but that orange coated one didn’t seem to let up. ‘The forest is starting to sound more and more safer right now.’ He thought, before just barely jumping over a pony that was charging him.

He needed to find some way to lose them, and get off the streets. He noticed a pony carrying a ladder and some paint. Though he was puzzled as to HOW would a pony would be able to even climb a ladder in the first place was beyond him? But it didn’t matter; this did provide an idea, as he snatched a paint can away from the pony. Judging the weight of the can, Albert glanced behind him again. He math out the distance between himself and the anger cowgirl pony, and heaved the can up into the air, before crashing down onto the orange colored pony, and sending it crashing into the ground covered in white paint.

AJ was mad, no she was furious! Not only this monkey thing destroyed her hard day’s work, but now half of her was covered in paint along with her hat! Nopony, but NOPONY touches her hat and gets away with it! "Hey Dash!” She spotted Dash up in the skies patrolling “Catch that two-legged critter!" She shouted, trying to wipe the paint off as best she could. She wasn't about to let some monkey get away from her!

Dash had been patrolling the skies that day practicing, nothing too special. When she started to hear shouting coming from the town below, the last thing she expected was to see some weird looking creature; running from an enraged AppleJack covered in paint! When she heard for her to catch the thing, she smirked confidently as she zoomed in low and tackled the thing into a cart of cabbages.

“MY CABBAGES!” screamed a brown fur earth pony, which was oddly dressed in clashing green and yellow clothing, watching the two collide into his stand.

"Alright punk! You'd better apologize to my friend before I make you" a voice demanded angrily. Staring at what had tackled him, Albert blinked as he found himself staring up at a rainbow marred, and cyan colored pegasus. From how it spoke, the pony defiantly sounded female, almost tom-boyish. Rainbow looked the weirdo up and down. It defiantly wasn't a pony, it had fingers or claws kind of like Spike; but that was where any similarities ended really. It looked like a tailless monkey! She looked at it puzzled “Just what the hay are…OOF” The next thing she knew the strange creature slammed its head against her. She reared her head back from the sudden force, seeing nothing but stars. Before she could even had chance to recover herself, the thing had manage to free its hand, and slammed the side of her head with a cabbage; knocking her off of it.

Albert quickly muttered an apology as he scrambled to his feet and made a mad dash into the next alleyway. Noticing some crates, he looked up and took note of a wooden fence up ahead as well as a lamp pole near the wall. Getting an idea, Albert started climbing up the stack of crates. Kicking off the last crate, he reached for the pole. Grasping it, he used the momentum to swing himself over the fence and back into the street. Though as he glanced back to see if he had lost those two, only to collided himself into another pony!

Twilight Sparkle was doing some shopping for more books, as she felt that she needed to expand her knowledge on spell casting. Plus, she did promise to stop by Sugar Cube Corner and being back something sweet for her number one assistant. As she trotted happily down the street, she blinked as she heard yelling coming from near the town square. "Huh, I wonder what's going....OOf" she gasped as something collided with her.

Groaning, she sat up rubbing the side of her head to see something was lying on her stomach. Staring hard at the short manned creature; her eyes widened as it slowly got up and she caught sight of the huge creature that was clothed, had a small mane, and its face was covered in fur

Albert blinked, staring back at a multi purple manned unicorn underneath him. “This just isn’t my day." He muttered aloud as he quickly got back onto his feet, and shouted a sorry to the unicorn as he took off running once more down the street
"There it is! Don't let it get away" AppleJack shouted to Rainbow Dash, who had managed to recover from the blows! Now there we're two pissed off ponies who most likely wanted to wring his neck! AJ narrowed her eyes as she swore "Your gunna pay for that ya lilly-livered bull-leged varmint."

"OOoo, that’s it! I’m so taking you down!" Rainbow Dash declared as she spotted the thing! Whatever it was, it just humiliated her with those cheap hits! It was now payback time!

Twilight blinked in surprise as she saw Dash and AJ go running past her, chasing after the strange creature. "Girls?!" she asked aloud in shock. Quickly picking up her books with her magic, she put them into her knapsack as she started to run after the two.

"Don't those two ever give up?" Albert shouted aloud, as he could see another small market set up, with ponies shopping all over. "Maybe I can lose them in the crowd" Albert thought as he rushed towards into the market. Albert started to shout as he approached the ponies, "Get OUTTA THE WAY"! Many of the ponies try to scramble out of the way, as he rushed through the crowd leaping over carts and ponies that were in his way.

Pinkie Pie hopped happily through the streets, giggling as she thought "Hehe, where's a good hiding spot? Maybe I should hide in a cardboard box? Nah, too simple. How about in a mail box! Oo that sounds like fun and challenging" the energetic pony giggled as she stared around at the others around her.

"OOo, how bout I…WhooooAAAAAAAoooAAAAAAA" she gasped as she was sent into a cartoonish spin as something rushed past her at high speed. Surprised by the sudden movement, she giggled loudly; pleased by the sudden spin as she slowly came to a stop; her eye's spinning in a cartoonish manner. "Hehehe, that was fun" she announced as she spotted a hairless monkey creature running! "Ooooo, who’s that? He looks funny! I bet he's alotta fun" she smiled as she started to bounce after him; not noticing her friends running past her.

Albert let out a sigh of relief, seeing the exit to the town. He had only been here for fifteen minutes, and already he had gone and pissed almost every person…er, pony in town. Getting out of town was his best option for now. He had to lay low, maybe find a way to sneak back later once it got dark and get some food, maybe even something for…Oof!

He let out a gasp as a certain grey furred; blonde mane pegasus crashed into him. Sending him rolling into the ground, Albert groaned as he landed on his back. "What are the odds?" Albert muttered as he sat up rubbing the back of his head as he found himself staring at eyes that were looking in two different directions. "Uhhhh." Albert stared as he looked at grey coated pony in confusion. He was even more confused when the pegasus reached into its bag, and stuffs a muffin into his mouth. It then gave him a silly looking grin before flying off into the air. Albert watched the strange grey pegasus go, taking the muffin out of his mouth "Uhhh…thank you?" That certainly was one of the nicest ponies he had met yet. ‘Huh, this smells good.’ He looked at the muffin in his hand.

“There's that varmint!”

“Come back here and take your beating like a uh….thing you are!”

“Wait, don't hurt it! I need to find out what it is!”

“Heh heh, we're chasing a funny fuzzy monkey!”

"Good lord, not again!" Albert groaned out, as he quickly got back up to his feet and ran out into the forest! Great, he was back out where he had started in this damn forest. Well, town was no better but at least the place was civilized. Or at least he thought it was until he found himself being chased by a mob of the local residents. He was able to quickly climb up into one of the trees, and watched as the ponies continued running up the path past him.

"Girl's, what is going on here? What was that thing" Twilight asked in exasperation as she trotted up to three of them. All she had planned for today was to go out, shop for some new book of spells. The last thing she ever expected to do today was to be chasing some weird two-legged creature around town. "Umm, are you two alright?" Twi asked noticing the enraged looks on Applejack’s and Dash's faces.

"Alright? Oh I'll be alight as soon as I get my hooves on that no good worm eatin, apple destroying, rabbit- hopping critter!” she grunted as she kicked some dust aside aggravated.

"That stupid monkey thing made me look like a foal when it blinded me with a cheap headshot!” Dash admitted, though she wasn't about to admit getting blindsided by a cabbage. She had a reputation to keep up after all. Whilst she was mad at whatever it was that ran, she had to admit it was pretty athletic. Those we're some sweet moves it was pulling off for something that had no wings! Didn't mean that she though it was cool she quickly corrected herself.

"What are you ponies talking about? I think that the funny monkey looked alotta fun" Pinkie giggled as she trotted up to the group. She couldn't help but wonder what is was though? Hmm...It had no tail or wings. Its mane was messy and brown, while it wore multiple clothes over its skin! Ooo, it also had that big fuzzy hair all over its face too! Like a big furry squirrel had latched onto it by the chin! She bet if she petted it, it would feel just as fuzzy as one too!

"Fun or no fun, that thing destroyed my apples and covered me in paint!" AJ informed as she kept a sharp eye out for any sign of the thing. If it was in this forest, it wouldn't get very far! She'd find it, and when she does she’ll be sure to introduce it to “Bucky McGillygutty" and "Kicks McGee”! Walking forward a few feet, she spoke "Spread out and look around, I'm sure it’s still here somewhere."

*SugarCube Corner*

“I’m tellin ya guys, this thing was HUGE!” Apple Bloom waved her two front hoofs dramatically to her two friends; one was an orange pegasus with a mess of purple hair, the other a pure white unicorn with carefully styled pink and purple mane.
“Say, you know what we SHOULD do? Maybe we can get our cutie marks by hunting it down and capturing this strange creature!” Scootaloo said with excitement.

“I…I don’t know Scoot, from what way Apple Bloom described it. It might be dangerous.” Sweetie Bell asked, unsure of the idea.

“Besides how are we going to capture it? If everypony or my sister couldn’t catch it, then how can the three of us can?” Applebloom asked, also seemed doubtful of the idea.

“Well…what if we were to sneak up on it and trapped it, you know like ninjas!” Scootaloo suggested.

“Yeah…that does make a lot of sense. Nopony really expects a sneaky ninja.” Sweetie Belle added.

“That sounds great and all but we don’t look really…well ninjaie.” Apple Bloom pointed out.

“Then we’ll just dress up for it. Come on, not only we’ll end up getting our cutie marks, but we’ll also be seen as heroes.” Scoot pumped her hoof in the air; this was going to be so awesome. The two thought it over for a moment “Yeah ok…. I’m in.” Sweetie Belle spoke first. “Yeah, we can do this.” Apple Bloom chimed in. Scootaloo looked at her two best friends in the world "Then it's settled, we’ll meet back here in an hour."

*Naruto- Kakashi’s Theme*

“Where is Sweetie? It’s almost two hours now! Just what is keeping her so long?” Scootaloo huffed in annoyance waiting beside Applebloom. For the pass hour and a half now they had been waiting at Sugar Cube Corner for Sweetie Belle, who had yet to show. “And why are you wearing red?” She raised an eyebrow at Apple Bloom’s choice in clothing. She was wearing a red dress with white circular designs, without sleeves, and using her red bow as a headband. “Well ah like red, besides you’re one to talk.” She pointed back at Scoot’s choice of clothes. Scootaloo looked down; she was wearing an orange tracksuit with blue on the upper shoulders, as well as around her waist, with a large white collar, and a blue headband as well. “What? Orange is an awesome color. Wwwaayyy better then red, believe it!”

Before the two oddly dress fillies even could start butting-heads, their third companion finally showed up. Unlike the other two, she wore a dark blue shirt with a dark green vest over it, as well as a mask that covered her lower face.
“I’m sorry I was late. An old lady needed help with her bag. Then I helped her put away her things. She made me a cup of tea to thank me for helping to hold her knitting and I didn't want to be rude, soo…” She softly explained, pushing her headband up, keeping it from falling down the left side of her face.

“Finally! We were getting...whoa Sweetie Belle, what happen to your hair?” Scootaloo pointed at Sweetie Belle’s hair. It looked tall and spiky, greatly resembling that of a scarecrow.

“Huh? What’s wrong with my hair?” She asked confused by what her friend had meant.

“No time for that you guys. We got ourselves a monster to catch!” Apple Bloom stuck her hoof into the middle of the triangle they had formed, and it was quickly joined by an orange hoof followed shortly by a white one.

“YEAH! CUTIE NINJA SQUAD GO!!” they cheered together, and sooner than anypony would had thought possible they were all running down the street for the Everfree Forest.

“Finally” He gave a sigh of satisfaction as he sat underneath a shady apple tree. Several apples and a muffin wrap discarded beside him. After he knew the coast was cleared, he managed to cautiously backtrack his way out of the forest and to some apple trees he saw while he was running out of town. Why stay a place where they could easily find him? Besides for all he knew, they probably had a better knowledge to the place then he did. If they didn’t…well, that it might take them some time before they figure it out he wasn’t there anymore; by then he’ll be long gone. As the old saying goes ‘Better safe than sorry’ right? Though that had raised another question in mind, just WHERE was he supposed to go? The only town within miles was that one filled with ponies and he was sure that would be the last place he would ever want to be in again.

Maybe he could try to find himself a map, or something that would give him a clear understanding as to where he was. The only two best places where could find one would either be in the local library, or a school. At the library he would have a chance to finding not only a map but take several books as well. Who know what knowledge he could find, but that also comes up as a problem as well. If he couldn’t understand the language of the locals, then how could he know what book he was looking for; he could spend hours just trying to find something. But…if he were to go to the school then not only could he find a map, but he was sure to able to find a child’s alphabet book or something to translate from.
“Maybe I’ll lay low for the next few days, let things quiet down before I go risking….what the?” Albert stopped and listens for a moment. He could have sworn he heard something just a moment ago. He scanned amongst the trees; he thought he just saw movement. He slowly starts to draw his knife, for all he knew it could be another wild animal.

“YEEAAHHH!”Albert snapped his head left, seeing several small objects hurled at him. He quickly rolled out of the way and onto his feet with knife in hand. He paused for a moment and looked down at the ground puzzled as to see the objects that were thrown at him were wooden….shurikens?

“Who on earth would use toy shurikens?” He was answered when three oddly dressed fillies jumped out from their hiding spot.

*Naruto- Naruto’s main theme*

“You got to be kidding me right?” Albert just stood there, staring at them blankly. There he was, staring at his so called ‘attackers’, who looked like they just came out of a bad anime convention. He didn’t know if he should hug them with their cuteness, or facepalm.

“The Cutie Ninja Squad has arrived!” Scoot shouted in excitement, as her and her friends balanced themselves on their back legs. “With our awesome skills, we’ll take you down Everfree beast, believe it!”

“Ya know that catch phrase is getting old right?” Apple Bloom said, looking at her friend with a deadpan expression.

“What? No its not, is an awesome phrase; believe it!”

“Yes it is”

“No its not”

“Yes it is”

“No its not”

Albert started to giggle which turned into a full blown laughter. Causing the two friends to stop and looked at him in confusion. “Oh dear God! Haha, what next; an army of white rabbits wielding plungers? Or how about a dragon like thing playing in a Mariachi band?” Albert giggled at the thought. Who knew, maybe it was even possible in this place. The laughing seemed to anger the orange one, as it pointed at him yelling something, this only made him laugh even harder.

He calmed himself down, putting away his knife. He hadn’t had a good laugh like that in a long while. After all that he had gone through the past two days he needed a good laugh. “Why don’t you kiddies run off and play elsewhere huh?” He waved them off, as he turn to leave. The next thing he knew however, was a large orange blur latching onto his back “Hey…W-What the…get off you!” Albert tried to reach the little orange blob on his back. “I said get… Hey, let go!” He soon found himself having the other two latching onto his arm and leg. “You little… OW! Stop biting me! Come on get off!” he flailed and wiggled about, trying to shake off the little tiny terrors, but with no real success. Just how on earth were they even holding onto him like this in the first place? He continued “ALRIGHT THAT’S IT! I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF…”

*WHAM*

In the mist of his struggling, Albert turned around too quickly, ending him comically face first into a tree, before sliding onto the ground unconscious.

The three crusa…er, ninjas looked at one another dumbfounded that they had actually had done it and caught the creature. Sweetie Belle was the first to speak up “We….we did it!” “Ah can’t believe it, we really did it!” Apple Bloom looked at the creature that lay before them. “AW YEAH! BELIEVE IT!” Scoot pumped her hoof in the air.

“APPLE BLOOM!”

The Apple Bloom cringed and looked behind her, seeing Applejack and her friends looking at them dumbfounded with their jaws hanging open, expect for Pinkie, who was….well being Pinkie. “Uh, hey sister….we caught the creature.” Apple Bloom chuckled, rubbing the back of her head nervously.

From her throne Celestia silently read the scroll several of times, making sure she had not missed any details within the letter. The letter was very detailed in its descriptions. For good or ill she did not know, but she did know that this was no coincidence.

“Captain Thunderstruck”

A large grey earth-pony came forth and humbly bowed before her. He was nearly as big as AppleJack’s brother, maybe bigger. His white armor shined and polished brightly. His face was that of a veteran, seeing many years of service; a large scar running down his left cheek. On his flank was that of a large silver and blue lightning bolt. “What do you wish of me, my lady?”

“I have a mission for you of the utmost importance.”