A Fight to Remember

Chapters

Prologue - Man In The Grass
Chapter 1 - Where Am I?
Chapter 2 - Sweet Memories

Prologue - Man In The Grass

PrologueThe Man in the Grass

(Warning: Just for your knowledge, this story is a crossover of MLP:FiM and Naruto Shippuden. Edited by StrayanPhoenix772 to a hopefully less cringe-worthy standard.)

(note, none of the stuff underneath pertains to the story, but instead gives you a better understanding of the story.)

Key:

Jutsu - Technique

Ninjutsu - the use of inner energy

Taijutsu - martial arts

Genjutsu - Mental attacks

Kuni - battle knife

"Today is the day that my story begins!" shouted an ecstatic Otso.

He was a proud member of the village ‘Hidden in the Grass’, a quaint little place that was isolated from the world. No-one who lived there really knew what went on beyond their lands, and frankly no-one really cared. But if someone ever saw Otso for the first time, they would never forget him. He had stunning red hair, with a single streak of white running through it, which he always kept tied up in a short ponytail. His eyes were a brilliant green with flecks of yellow in them. The shirt on his back hung loose, left unbuttoned slightly to show off his well-toned abs.

Every day for the past seven years, he had been training to face his all-time hero, Naruto Uzumaki. In that time, he had mastered many of the various ninjutsu techniques, such as the shadow clone jutsu, substitution jutsu, the multi-shadow clone jutsu, along with several basic fire, wind, and earth jutsu. He had also decided to master the mineral jutsu, a combination of fire, earth, and wind that forms little crystals in rock. He also trained to become an expert of the martial art of taijutsu.

He always looked up to Naruto, even though he only saw him in person once. On that day, Naruto and his group had saved Otso's village from a gang of bandits. He watched in awe as Naruto attacked and defeated a man which used some kind of weird green-fire jutsu, and ever since then, he only had one goal: He wanted to fight that kid.

Today, Otso was finally turning sixteen, and for his birthday, he wished to fulfill his long-lived dream. As he walked on the dirt path that led through the forest, he glanced about at the stunning scenery. The vividly beautiful trees, with their roots protruding from the ground, stood tall as the birds chirped within. The bright sky was a gentle light-blue that calmed all those who looked upon it. It was all quite a sight to see.

He let his mind wander. As he looked back on his life, he remembered how miserable it all was. He was only little when his mother died, and he couldn’t even remember what she looked like or what kind of a person she was, apart from the stories that his father had told him. All he could remember off the top of his head was a song she sung to him.

As he walked, he looked toward the sky and began to sing.

"Sweet little child, time for bed.

Drift little dreamer, lay down your head.

My arms around you, my warmth seep through.

My love will always, Be there for you.

Close your eyes know, I'll be here.

For you and for always, sweet little dear.

So my child, sleep on away.

Sleep, sleep, sleep."

He wiped a stray tear from his eye as he softly whispered the last part.

If there anything else he desired in life, aside from facing his hero, it would be to have his mother and father back in his life.

He grimaced as the thoughts of his father roamed freely through his mind. The man had raised Otso by himself since he was three years old, and had taught him how to survive. He was a stubborn and introverted man that never really liked to socialise with other people. From what his father had told him, his mother on the other hand was quite a talkative, extroverted woman who had lived in the leaf village since she was born. Otso's father had only visited the village once, so that he could hire a team of ninja to prevent bandits from stealing his crops. That was when they met: she was one of the ninja he had hired. Otso didn't really care if it sounded cheesy, but that was what happened.

When Otso was around seven years old, the bandits returned in an attempt to steal more crops again. Naturally, his father didn't take too kindly to that, and confronted them in the field. Otso watched on in horror as they killed the man with his own weapon. After that, his memory was all just a blur.

Until Naruto came to the village, that is.

Otso's thought process was cut short by a flock of birds noisily screeching in a tree took flight into the sky. Reflexively, he swung about and took a defensive stance as the sharp whistling sound of a kuni pierced the air. There was a loud thup as the projectile plunged into his right shoulder.

Twilight was thoroughly absorbed in reading a book as somepony knocked on her door. She frowned in slight irritation at the interruption, not really too keen on having to leave the stunning tale of Starswirl's adventures in another dimension. The knocking continued on unabated, pecking away at Twilight's mind like an annoying itch. She put down her book with a sigh and shouted in the general direction of the downstairs floor, "Spike, could you get the door please?"

"Sorry Twilight, I'm a little bit... woah-WOAH.. AHH!" Spike yelled in alarm as a stack of books toppled down onto him with a series of thuds, knocking him out.

Silly dragon, Twilight thought to herself as she trotted downstairs and opened the door herself. She was greeted by the familiar faces of Rainbow Dash and Applejack standing in front of her.

"Hello girls." she nodded, “Can I help you?”

"Hey Twilight, how’s it hangin?" exclaimed Rainbow enthusiastically.

"Everything’s running smoothly at the moment, thank you. Here, you can come on in if you want," Twilight offered.

"Actually Twi, we were wonderin' if ya'll could help us out?" asked Applejack.

"Ok, what do you need?" she tilted her head.

"Well, we need somepony to help us with a little rock-climbing,"

"I don’t get it. What do you mean?"

"We need you to be there in case anything bad happens." Rainbow explained briefly.

"No, no. I mean, why are you going rock-climbing?"

“Me an’ Rainbow here have decided to have another little contest, you see," Applejack grinned from ear to ear.

"Oh, not another one," Twilight grimaced with a face-hoof, knowing full well that another Ironmare was in the future of these two ponies.

"No sugarcube, it's nothin' like that one we had last year,” Applejack assured her, “This time, we’re going on a treasure hunt, looking for some sort of treasure on this here map."

Applejack produced up an old rolled up piece of parchment from her saddlebag with her teeth. Twilight grabbed the map with her telekinesis and held it in front of them.

It was a detailed map of Equestria, with a dotted line leading to a mountain near the Everfree forest. At the top of the map was a text of neat and elegant writing, which read 'My last treasure'. Underneath the writing, by the cliff, was another text which read ‘westward winds’ with a big danger stamp above it. Near the bottom right of the paper, it read 'Decades-worth of my most cherished treasure is given to whomever finds it. Starswirl'.

"Wow!" Twilight exclaimed as she spotted Starswirl's signature.

"See Twi, we're on a race to find that there treasure, and we’re doin' it as a team," Applejack proclaimed, grabbing Rainbow around the neck in a friendly hug.

"This map is amazing! Where did you find it?" asked Twilight, her eyes gleaming with interest.

"I dunno, Winona dug it up," Applejack shrugged.

"So, do you wanna come along?" Rainbow asked eagerly.

Twilight took a moment to think about it. She did want to finish that book, but to find a legitimate treasure horde left by Starswirl the Bearded seemed much more interesting than simply reading about it. She made a determined nod and ran back inside, grabbing up a trip’s worth of supplies and leaving a note informing Spike that she left for when he woke up from his little tumble.

With that, the three friends marched off on their little adventure with almost complete disregard for what the future potentially had in store.

The three ponies arrived at the base of the mountain, where the treasure was supposed to be located near the top. The wind was really out in force today, whipping about with tremendous amounts of energy from the north side of the mountain, whipping the ponies’ hair about. It wasn't exactly rock-climbing per say. Rather, one could say it was more of a hike then a climb, but the wind made it hard to even stand, let alone walk.

"How are we supposed to climb up this mountain?! I can't fly in this!" Rainbow’s exclamation was nearly lost amidst the howl of the roaring wind.

"Hang on, I'll try to make a shield to protect us from the wind!" Twilight yelled as her horn lit up with energy, forming together the invisible threads of magic to perform the spell. We really picked a bad day to make a trip like this, she thought worriedly.

"Think ya can handle it, Twi?" yelled Applejack in concern.

"Sure I can! I just need to concentrate, that’s all!" Twilight returned as she completed the magical barrier around her and her friends.

“There," She grinned triumphantly, "See? I told you I could do it."

They began their climb up the side of the mountain as the barrier held firm against the wind. Storm clouds began to form over head, and threatened to pour themselves all over the mountain.

"Who knew that a place like this was in the Everfree forest?" Rainbow asked aloud.

"Say Twi, where did you learn this spell?" asked Applejack.

"Oh, this? My BBBFF taught it to me a while back,” she shrugged dismissively, “I used it back when Discord was wreaking havoc. Don’t you remember it?"

"Ah, I remember now. So that’s what it was..." Applejack mused.

Otso's body was pierced by dozens of sharp kuni as they hit their mark, leaving numerous bleeding gashes. He exploded into a puff of smoke, leaving a log in the space where he stood. A figure that was hiding in the tree jumped out of its leafy embrace and landed on the ground.

"Fire style: Fireball jutsu," Otso muttered as he rapidly performed the proper hand signs and put one hand to his mouth. A fiery blaze erupted from the circle around his mouth and shot out towards the man beneath the tree. The ninja quickly dashed to move out of the way as the ball of fire missed and struck the tree instead, erupting in a large explosion.

The man stood in the middle of the dirt road and began to make hand signs. Before he could complete the jutsu, he noticed that his arms were suddenly grappled and held back by several exact replicas of Otso.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" Otso growled fiercely.

The man was dressed head to toe in robes which cleverly obscured his identity, leaving only the lower half of his face exposed. He had a well-built, imposing figure, indicating that this person was probably no pushover strength-wise, which had Otso on edge.

The man’s mouth curled up into a sadistic grin as he chuckled darkly, "You want to know who I am? ME?! YOU DON’T EVEN REMEMBER THE LIFE YOU DESTROYED?!?!"

The laughter quickly disappeared from his voice, replaced with an anger that could burn potentially through the Earth’s crust.

"There have been lots of deaths by my hand, both literal and metaphorical, and you do not come to mind when I think of any of them," Otso replied, ignoring the hint of familiarity in the man’s voice, “Although it doesn’t exactly help that I can’t see your face, either”.

The clones started to struggle in their effort to hold him down.

Suddenly the man ripped the arms off of the clones in a surge of energy and tossed them into the air. They all burst into smoke the second he did, and the man then completed his jutsu by sending circular patterns across a large radius.

"MINERAL STYLE: CONCAVE DIAMOND!!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, completing his ultimate jutsu.

The sudden recognition hit Otso like a ton of bricks when he realized who this man was. He was Tokishi, master of the mineral and leader of the Sage bandits. He was Otso’s mentor, until the latter found out that they were planning to overthrow the leaf village. The last time Otso saw him, he was beaten and bloody all over, lying in his ‘throne room’, as he called it. Now Otso knew what he had to do. He had wanted to save his own ultimate jutsu for the battle with Naruto, but this called for extreme measures.

Tokishi's jutsu erupted into a blinding barrage of diamond crystals that blasted down like a shower of rain. That said, rain doesn’t purposely target people like heat-seeking missiles. As they fell from the sky, they shifted their angle of descent so that they would pierce Otso's heart.

They would have hit him, if it wasn't for the fact that the target activated his own ultimate jutsu.

"Earth style: Groundhog!" Otso exclaimed as he dove underground, leaving but a small patch of dirt where he stood, as the diamond spears harmlessly struck against the dirt. Otso took shelter in a tree and waited till he could build up enough chakra to perform the jutsu.

"WHERE ARE YOU?" yelled Tokishi, searching desperately for his inevitable victim, as if expecting his opponent to actually reply.

Otso knew very well that the only way for Tokishi to use his jutsu was to have a line of sight with him at all times.

"If you won’t come out, I'LL FLATTEN THIS ENTIRE AREA!" He yelled to the heavens beginning his jutsu once again.

No time to gather enough chakra, Otso thought, Just hope this will be enough.

Otso jumped out of his perch, high in the air and descended toward Tokishi.

"There you are! DIAMOND RAIN!" Tokishi began his jutsu, sending the sky ablaze with the crystal fragments.

"Mineral style: Sonic flash!" Otso yelled, aiming for the man below him. Otso's body jerked towards him like a lightning bolt, his arm extended with a crystal glow that looked and moved like fire.

As he fell, there was the sound of two sonic booms.

Wait a minute, Otso thought, My jutsu only makes one sonic boom.

Otso glanced across to his right, spotting a bolt of lightning blitzing towards Tokishi. It wasn't his jutsu; he couldn't do lightning style, and he knew that Tokishi couldn't either. Upon closer inspection, the lightning bolt was a brilliant shade of purple.

If it wasn’t either of us, then who performed that jutsu?!

"Twilight, are you sure we’re goin' the right way?" asked a concerned Applejack.

They had been hiking for quite some time now, and they were nearing the top of the mountain. The slope had gradually began to steepen, and it had been about two hours since they began their journey. Their destination was almost in sight.

The problem was, the higher up they got, the harder the wind blew, and the shield was barely holding up against the wind. Twilight was utterly exhausted from her efforts, both physically and magically, but with the finish line within reach, there was no turning back now, so she grit her teeth and dragged herself onward.

"Yeah, *pant*, it’s just up ahead. *Pant*, we're almost there." Twilight replied, breathing heavily, her body screaming in protest for the oxygen it desperately craved.

"Twilight, are you ok?"asked a concerned Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah-yeah, I’m pant just a little short of breath here," Twilight dismissed her friend’s concern, “It’s nothing”.

The three friends battled on up the side of the mountain, finally reaching the top. All of a sudden, the wind came to a complete stop as dark clouds obscured the sunlight. Twilight fell to the ground in an exhausted heap, prompting Applejack to help her back up.

"You just rest easy there, sugarcube. I've got ya”.

"Thanks AJ," Twilight exhaled as she succumbed to her fatigue. The ridge was relatively flat for the most part, except for a steep hill with a small pit dug into it.

"We found it!" Rainbow yelled ecstatically as she fluttered over to the small pit. Reaching in with her hoof she could feel some sort of box. She grabbed the thing by a handle and hauled it out, revealing a golden box with intricate designs of unicorns and pegasi. It was heavier than it looked, and it made a solid thud when she dropped it. With the restraint of a young foal who had just been offered a lifetime’s supply of ice-cream, she eagerly cranked opened the box. At first, her face was full of excitement, before it quickly turned into a look of confusion.

"What’s in it, Rainbow?" Applejack asked as she half-carried Twilight across to the box. Silence answered her question as Rainbow inspected the box’s contents.

"Aw, it’s just some dusty old books," Rainbow muttered, her voice betraying her disappointment with the finding.

Twilight immediately perked up upon the sound of the word ‘books’, and her curiosity quickly overwrote her lethargy. She briskly trotted the rest of the distance to where Rainbow was standing and glanced inside the box with great interest. Inside were five extremely old books, each bearing the symbol of a spell book.

Twilight shrieked with joy at the sight of them, "These are some of Starswirl the Bearded's lost books, they have been missing for thousands of years! Not even Celestia knows the magic in these books!"

She instantly picked up a book with her telekinesis and promptly went to town gorging on the knowledge within.

"Seriously? All this stupid box had was some old books?!" Rainbow frowned, disappointed by their findings. Applejack glanced between Twilight and the box, confirming Rainbow’s frustrations. The box was only big enough to hold the five books, let alone anything else of any value. It was golden inside as well as on the outside, suggesting that the box was made of solid gold, and probably worth far more than its own weight in bits.

"Ah, don't worry Rainbow, it ain't all that bad,” she reassured them, “We had fun in the end, didn't we?"

"No, all we did was walk the whole time, climb up a mountain against hurricane-force winds, and I couldn't fly the entire time!" Rainbow complained, "I... I.. I just thought it was going to be more like a Daring Do adventure..."

She sat down on her haunches with a sigh and rested her face in her hooves.

Applejack sat down beside her, "It's alright, Rainbow. It was an adventure. Maybe not like it was in them stories, but an adventure none-the-less."

Her attempt at comfort seemed to work, and a small smile etched itself across Rainbow’s face.

Something off in the distance caught her eye, prompting her to look up, speechless. Applejack followed her gaze, equally enthralled.

"Twilight! Come see this!"

Twilight glanced up from the book and traced their gaze to the distance, and her jaw dropped.

The sight they all shared was that of pure beauty. Slap-bang in the middle of the flat expanse, basking in a broad ray of sunlight, was Ponyville in all of its bright, technicolor glory. They could spot Sweet Apple Acres, the Carousel Boutique, Sugarcube Corner, and even the Golden Oaks Library. It was all a breathtaking sight, especially with the sun in the sky behind Canterlot. It was distracting enough that they even nearly missed the loud thunderclap ring out from behind them.

A blast of lightning blitzed through the air, startling the three ponies and making them turn their heads. Several seconds later, a second lightning bolt flashed across, b-lining straight towards them.

Twilight reacted almost instantly, reflexively shooting a bolt of magic towards the brilliant light to counter. The two bolts collided in mid-air with a tremendous explosion. The ponies gasped in shock as they were thrown about by the repercussive shock wave.

Twilight herself was thrown to the ground by the shock wave and was very nearly thrown off the mountain, had the edge been just a few inches closer. Applejack wasn't so lucky. She was blasted clean off her feet, and couldn’t find her grip in time to save herself from tumbling over the edge of the cliff. Rainbow meanwhile was quickly able to regain control over her spin, and immediately rushed off to save her friend from falling into the swirling twister below.

Unfortunately, she reached Applejack just that little bit too late, and both ponies found themselves at the mercy of the vortex. They were tossed around like rag dolls in a cold washing machine, and before long, they were carelessly flung away tumbling head-over-hooves into the abyss of the Everfree forest.

Twilight looked about, gingerly waiting for her ears to stop ringing. What she saw she could barely explain. There, in the air above her, was a swirling hole that seemed to tear through the very fabric of space and time. It seemed almost solid and transparent, while twirling about with serene grace.

In the few minutes she had to read one of Starswirl's books, he had tried to describe such an event when he passed to another world, and that such an occurrence would only lead to grave danger.

Quickly she took a stance and began concentrating. She knew from that book that Starswirl had encountered terrible things. Things that could harm all of Equestria. Summoning what little magical energy she had in reserve, she reached out and attempted to close the portal.

For a fleeting moment, it almost looked like she might succeed, before a flash of blinding yellow and white light erupted from the small portal, distracting her enough to lose her grip. The portal collapsed on itself in a cataclysmic explosion.

Twilight reflexively put up a shield barrier, but it was too little, too late. She was flung from the mountain by the force of the blast as the mountain was shaken to its core. The effects of the explosion could be felt even as far away as Canterlot.

"What the..." Celestia frowned and glanced about in concern, “What was that?”

"It appears a mountain near the Everfree forest just blew up!" answered a nearby guard, watching the display from a window.

Twilight braced herself for impact as she hurtled for the ground, slamming into the steep cliff-face with a hard thump. She found herself tumbling about in an uncontrollable roll, before coming to rest in a barely conscious heap at the bottom of a ridge. Every nerve cell in her body screamed bloody murder as her mind went into emergency shutdown.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed two other ponies falling in opposite directions. As the darkness took over, only one thought was able to cross her mind.

That’s odd. I’m pretty sure I was the only one left on the mountain...

Chapter 1 - Where Am I?

Chapter 1Where am I?

(Edited by StrayanPhoenix772)

Twilight lay completely flat in the complete and silent stillness, with the only audible sound being the steadily-increasing, rhythmic thump-thump of her own heartbeat for company, pounding like a drum and resonating throughout her chest. Her eyelids fluttered slightly, cracking open to let in the first stream of light for the first time in goodness knows how long.

That’s odd. There’s no light at all, completely blanketing her vision in darkness. It must be after at least one am in the morning then. Considering it was almost lunchtime when she left home, that meant she must’ve been unconscious for about...

Oh goodness, it hurt to even think.

She decided to settle with ‘A long time’.

Now to track down where her bearings went...

After such a hard landing like that, her initial fear was that she botched it and potentially broke something.

Hmm. On that note, it would seem that she had difficulty feeling her own body at all.

Basic motor-neuron control still works. Let’s try standing up then...

The ground beneath her didn’t really feel like it had any defining texture, while it was firm enough to support her weight and walk on. She slowly began feeling her way about, unsure of exactly where she was, and the dense blanket of darkness meant that looking for any visual cues was out of the question.

"Hello?" Twilight hesitantly called out. Her voice sounded rather scratchy. She frowned and cleared her throat, "*Ahem*... Is anypony out there?"

An unnerving silence answered her question. Of the numerous adjectives she could think of about her current situation off the top of her head, the words ‘inviting’ and ‘comforting’ were the very last ones she’d use, and she shivered in tense nervousness at what the darkness might hold. Or maybe because of how cold it was. She couldn’t tell.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a spec of light off in the distance. She twisted about to focus on it and slowly started to approach it. From where she was, she couldn't really tell what it was. An attempt to grab the spec proved futile, indicating that it was probably still further away. The strange spec seemed to glow, like it was alive, and she couldn't help but stare at this transfixing, illuminating wonder.

What is this thing? Twilight thought to herself as she gradually approached it, her scientific curiosity taking control.

It began to flicker and shimmer, glowing ever brighter as she drew near. The darkness around her gradually reduced to a soft gray, although still not enough to light up her surroundings, and the temperature in the air also improved to a more lukewarm degree.

Twilight could feel a strange sense of comfort and hope from the spec, which upon closer inspection was now more akin to just a simple orb of white light. As she approached the mass of light she swore she could hear a voice coming out of the bright mass.

"Twilight!"

It was barely audible, but at least her hearing still worked. She leaned in and held her ear up to try and amplify what it was saying.

"Twilight!" the voice repeated, slightly louder and more distinct this time. She frowned and leaned in a bit closer.

"Twilight!" the voice was now a clear yell, a grip of fear apparent in its tone. If she shifted any closer, she could almost touch it with the side of her face.

She suddenly felt herself slip, and all at once, the darkness dissolved and everything went white.

Twilight's eyes snapped open as Rainbow Dash practically yelled in her face, "Twilight wake up!"

Numerous issues immediately bombarded her mind as her senses fully reactivated. The first and most immediate problem was that every conceivable muscle and tendon in her body screamed out all at once in white-hot agony, and she swore she could physically feel every single knot and kink she had worked up.

The second problem was that it seemed her short nap did nothing to amend her lethargy, and she planned that the first thing she’d do when she got back home was to go straight to bed. Fortunately, there was a nice strong breeze on hand to keep her awake.

The third thing was that everything was incredibly bright, and she cringed as her eyes slowly adjusted to the change in visibility. After several seconds of absent-minded blinking, she glanced about to take in her new surroundings.

Oh dear, that is a long way down.

Fourth problem identified: Rainbow Dash was holding her around the abdomen, at about... two hundred feet up in the air, she guessed, and her flight pattern was uncharacteristically unstable. Twilight craned her neck around to get a view, aggravating her neck in the process, and identified the fifth problem.

It seemed that Rainbow must’ve experienced a rough landing herself, and was in such a rush to save her friend that she didn’t even bother to clean out her wings of debris such as stray twigs and leaves, restricting her movement and severely hindering her aerodynamics. On second thoughts, it was magic in its own right that they were even airborne at all in her current state.

Something struck Twilight as rather odd, but also comforting at the same time. Rainbow was so desperate for her friend’s safety that she blatantly disregarded to keep the most precious things in the world to a Pegasus, as far as Twilight knew, in good condition if it meant she could find her missing friend as quickly as possible.

Well, she at least knew where the breeze was coming from now.

They were losing altitude at an alarmingly quick rate, and she gulped in nervousness as they passed above Sweet Apple Acres. She spotted Big Mac on the ground beneath them, looking up at them with a rather apprehensive sense of dread etched in his expression.

"Twilight, a little help? I’m losing control here!" Rainbow yelled, struggling to keep them airborne.

Twilight desperately glanced about for a suitable landing spot. A pile of hay, a trampoline, anything. The buffeting wind made the task rather difficult, and Rainbow’s constant jerking about to compensate for her lack of stability didn’t help things either.

“Twilight, hurry up! I’m stalling here, and all this crap is gonna hurt if I try and hover!”

“Err... hang on a minute... there! Rainbow, brace for impact! I have an idea!”

“What?!”

“Trust me!” Twilight concentrated her magic, much to the protest of her head, and a bright purple light enveloped them both.

They reappeared directly over a large pond, falling vertically. Or travelling forward parallel to the vertical axis. Whatever you want to call it.

“I think you got our orientation wrong, you egghea--”

Rainbow’s scathing remark was cut off as they plunged into the pond with a loud splash, kicking up a plume of water several feet tall.

Several seconds passed as they scrambled back to the surface, breathing heavily as they paddled their way to the bank. Twilight’s body demanded blood for the travesty that it had to work overtime to keep her awake, let alone alive.

She collapsed in a ragged, dripping mess on the shore, her chest visibly heaving in and out from exertion.

A quick glance to her left confirmed that Rainbow had flopped down next to her in a similar state.

A flash of pink in the corner of her eye alerted her to the presence of a certain Pinkie Pie, who was standing a short distance away, staring at them with an expression of awe.

She began hopping up and down as she giggled in delight at the display of what she just witnessed.

"That was amazing!" Pinkie rambled, “You two must have been going like, a thousand miles an hour! That was so exciting! I don't think I've been this excited in my life! Except for the time that I found the recipe for rainbow-flavoured cupcakes. *Gasp!* Oh-oh-oh, can I go next? Please! Please! Please!"

"Probably not a good idea, Pinkie," Twilight shook her head raggedly.

Rainbow grunted and ruffled her wings to clear them of water, "Never going treasure hunting again! It’s much cooler when Daring Do does it anyway... What about you, Twilight? Are you alright?"

Pinkie crouched down and held her ear against her friend’s chest. The only response was the soft sound of snoring. She straightened back up with a concerned look on her face.

“As far as I can tell, she’s only passed out from exhaustion, but I'll take her to the hospital anyway, just to make sure she’s okay," Pinkie gestured towards the general direction of Ponyville, “Can you lend a hoof please?”

“She’s gonna pull through though, right?” Rainbow murmured apprehensively as she helped place the incapacitated mare across Pinkie’s back. If she were to be honest with herself, she was more than a little worried when she found Twilight lying in the middle of nowhere out cold.

Pinkie only shrugged and started trotting at a brisk pace, "I think so. I’ll meet you there, and you go get everypony else, ok?"

Rainbow nodded and gave Twilight one last glance and taking off.

It had been around half an hour since the five ponies plus one dragon had gathered in the hospital lounge, waiting for the news on their friend. The walls of the room that they sat in were a cream color with dull green trims. The chairs were all the same dull green. At the end of the room, there was a pair of metal doors leading into the rest of the hospital. A clean, sterile smell hung in the air, which did little to quell their unease. All in all, it was unanimously agreed that this was the longest half hour of their lives.

Rainbow absent-mindedly fluttered about near the roof, lost in thought. She wished that they never found that cruddy map, or go on that stupid hike to find that stinking treasure. It was all just a waste of time. Now her friend is in trouble and it was her fault. If they hadn't found that map, then maybe Twilight would have been okay. Instead, they were now stuck in the waiting room of the hospital and hoping for the best that she was fine.

Applejack leaned herself against a wall, not in the mood to talk to anypony. Her feelings were a jumbled mess, and her mind churned in a raging torrent of thoughts. She was very grateful towards Rainbow for 'saving her hide', as she put it, but she was also upset that Twilight was now in the hospital, possibly hurt beyond imagination. She hadn’t even been able to get a glimpse of her when Pinkie brought her in, and she couldn't help but imagine Twilight trapped in a full body cast. The very thought scared her, with shivers of dread racing up and down her spine. She was snapped back to reality by the sound of crying.

Glancing across the room, she could see Pinkie almost directly underneath Rainbow. Rarity was sitting next to Spike, both of which were remarkably quiet, pondering whether Twilight would be okay or not and hoping for the best.

Applejack’s gaze continued shifting around the room until it came to a stop in the corner. Nestled in one of the hospital chairs was Fluttershy who was effectively reduced to tears. It always distressed Applejack to see her close friends like this. It was like looking at a filly who had lost their parents at a theme park, crying and helpless. She straightened up and walked across to the crying pegasus and placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. She knew that this would be a critical time for her to stand strong. Not just for herself, but for all of her friends as well.

A doctor trotted into the room through the big metal doors, dressed in a white lab coat that stopped just before his flank, displaying a red cross cutie mark. The five ponies stood up and walked to the colt. “Twilight Sparkle?”

"Where's Twilight? Is she ok?" Spike asked anxiously.

"Miss Sparkle is just fine,” the doctor assured him, “She has a sprained hoof and some cuts and bruises, but it’s nothing too severe. All she needs now is to rest easy for a few days, and she’ll be right as rain!"

Each of the ponies let out a sigh of relief.

"Can we go see her?" asked Rainbow.

"Yes, of course. She’s just down the hall in room 104," he replied.

Twilight was laying peacefully in a hospital bed, with several cords extending from under the sheets towards various machines around her. She was in the middle of a conversation with a nurse when she noticed her six friends come into the room. They looked like they had been crying, but they quickly brightened up when they saw her awake and healthy.

"Oh my goodness darling," Rarity exclaimed, "You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Yeah, and wouldn't that be a loss," Rainbow remarked sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Rarity gave her a stern glare, to which Rainbow simply laughed, making both of them giggle in amusement.

They all clustered around Twilight and bombarded her with questions, before she held up a hoof to silence them. She briefly explained to those unaware about the events that had transpired on top of the mountain, also explaining that she survived the explosion by putting up a shield around herself at the last moment.

"Wow, so yer tellin' us that you sort of created a rip in space n’ time when yer magic hit that lightnin' bolt?" Applejack asked, not quite fully understanding.

"And not only did you close the portal, but you protected yourself from that ghastly explosion with a shield?" Rarity added in.

"Yes, that's exactly what I just said," Twilight responded with a nod.

"Come on, you really think you opened some dimensional thingy?" Rainbow questioned.

Twilight shifted her gaze towards Rainbow, "Well, I read once in one of Starswirl's books, where he described of such an event. I think the biggest indicator though, was that before I blacked out, I swear I saw two other figures being blasted away from the mountain as well as myself, and they weren’t Rainbow or AJ."

The room was quiet as Twilight's words sunk in.

Rarity was the first to respond, "I'm sorry darling, but did I hear you say two other figures?"

"Yes I did," Twilight replied, "and I think they were two other ponies."

"But didn’t you say that you were the only one on the mountain when it exploded?"

Spike raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but that's what makes me think something or somepony fell through." Twilight nodded.

Silence hung in the air again, with not a single one of them wanting to speak the question on their minds. Fluttershy this time was the one who quietly murmured the question they all mutually shared.

"So... what now?"

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud scream coming from the side of the room, startling them. They all turning their heads to see a colt in the other hospital bed who was now awake and staring right at them.

His yellow eyes were wide with terror and his mouth agape as he continued wailing. He slowly began to back away from the group before bumping into the wall, his wings now fully extended. He had a black and white mane which was unkempt and messy, and a grey, matted coat. As his wings brushed against the wall, he jerked his head around as if surprised by something.

His infernal screaming stopped as he started paying attention to his wings, like they weren't there before. Reaching out with his hoof, he started to stroke them like a pet. He stopped when his eyes met his hoof and stared at it in disbelief. He dashed across to the mirror, took one look at himself, and let loose another volley of screams.

Several burly-looking nurses waltzed into the room, restraining the colt and pulling him back towards the bed. He quickly started to struggle against them, lashing out with his forelegs, before he suddenly placed a hoof up to his mouth and spat a burst of fire at the nurses, startling them all.

Twilight was shocked and confused by the scene before her, and upon seeing the pyrotechnic display, she quickly cast a containment spell on top of the colt, trapping him inside it.

This did nothing to change expression of fear and anger on his face as he relentlessly continued to spit fire in their direction until the air was so thick with smoke, that he asphyxiated and passed out from the lack of oxygen. No sooner had he hit the floor, she lifted the spell, allowing the nurses to ventilate the room and stomp out any leftover embers.

The nurses quickly cleaned up the mess and strapped the colt back into bed before they left the room and called for a doctor.

Twilight glanced uneasily at her friends and said, "Spike, write a letter to Princess Celestia and tell her about what I have told you and what has transpired here".

Spike simply nodded and went to work.

"The Princess needs to know what happened. We might have a really big problem on our hooves here".

The doctors examined his body from head to toe. Nothing about the mysterious pegasus was remarkably different just by looking at him, although for someone who was apparently found crashed in a ditch in the Everfree forest, he didn't have a scratch on him.

They were originally going to put it as a rare case of Pegasus durability and leave it at that, but after what had happened in the patients’ room and what the nurses had said, they figured it would be a good idea to perform a scan of his skeletal structure.

Twilight requested to be in the room observing when they performed the procedure. Initially, they rejected her, but when she told them that she reported directly to Princess Celestia, they had quickly lost all objections.

Princess Celestia wrote back to Twilight almost immediately after she had received the letter. She herself had felt the explosion from the mountain and was planning on going to investigate it, before her letter arrived which explained the situation. She herself would have visited to watch over the procedure, but more present matters needed to be attended to. Instead she had Twilight to watch over it in her absence.

Twilight was watching in silence as four assistants in medical outfits came through a pair of double doors. Each one took up a position around the colt strapped to the table. The doctor walked in close behind them and stood at the end of the table, before nodded to the to the four assistants to let them know that he was ready to start.

Twilight was on an observation deck above the operation room, staring down. There were other strange-looking doctors standing with her and each of them had a stern look on their faces. With a couple of nods from the ponies on the observation deck, the operation began.

There were no tools used in the procedure, aside from magic. The four unicorns’ horns glowed in a dim white light as they performed a spell that Twilight couldn't identify. The doctor at the end of the table placed his hoof on the colt's chest before it suddenly lit up, and the colt’s skeletal structure became displayed through his skin, like an x-ray scan. As the doctor moved his hoof around, different body parts were displayed on a screen behind him.

Twilight couldn't quite understand what they were looking for. His skeleton seemed normal for a Pegasus, with nothing out of the ordinary compared to what she saw in books. It was an interesting sight to see. There was the sound of clicking as photographs were snapped for later analysis.

The doctor glanced at the unicorns and announced, "Alright, now we're moving to stage two."

Twilight's eyes widened when she saw the skeleton disappear and be replaced with a heart, veins, and lungs. It was wonderful, and yet disgusting at the same time. She could see his heart beat and the blood pulse through his veins as his lungs expanded and contracted with each breath. They snapped several more pictures before moving on to the next step. Twilight forced herself to suppress a gag as they gave his digestive system a once-over.

Finally, after examining every part of his internal structure, they arrived at the last step: the nervous system. Twilight looked down at the brain and nerves, puzzled by what she was seeing. The brain and nerves had a grey glow, and while that wasn’t out of the ordinary for an operation like this, it was concerning for everyone present to see several blue lines snaking across his body alongside the nerves, all leading to a big blue... ball in his gut, for a lack of better terminology.

"What isthat?" she glanced at the doctor for an answer. The doctor looked like he had about as much of a clue as she did.

"I-I-I have no idea, I’ve never seen this before".

Everypony stared in stunned silence, baffled by the sight before them. Wasting no time, the doctor scrambled to documented everything they saw.

As he finished up the operation, the four unicorns released their magic hold and stepped aside for some much needed rest. Twilight turned and left the room to find Spike so that she could report what they have found. Even though they now had a bit more information on this colt, the revelation only left Twilight with even more questions that before.

The blue orb in his chest did little to explain how on earth he was able to breath fire in the patient room, without a single trace of magic to show for it. For once in her life, she was as lost as a mosquito in a swarm of flies.

And she liked it.

Top Priority Patient One was quickly moved into a solitary patient room. That was the codename the hospital staff created for the stallion that could mysteriously breath fire like a dragon.

No one knew who he was, or where he came from. He had no form of identification on him when they found him, and the only clue they had was that he must’ve been involved with the explosion at the mountain. They also couldn’t really explain the odd blue organs that attached themselves to his nervous system.

Twilight, who had witnessed his entry through the portal, knew that he was by all means an alien somehow transformed into a Pegasus during his transit, and would probably think of them as mythical creatures straight out of a fairy tale. She had to admit that he wasn’t really that hard on the eyes, either.

He had quite a firm, toned build to him, and his face was perfect, except for a scar on his chin.

I doubt he even knows where he is, Twilight thought to herself, I wonder what his world is like...

Maybe they have ponies there? ... On that thought, no, maybe not. He was surprised by his own appearance when he woke up. I wonder what he looked like back in his world... He was probably just as handsome as he is now. I gotta write this--

Her train of thought was cut short by the sound of shuffling coming from the bed. The colt’s eyes burst open, and in an instant, he was screaming at the top of his lungs again.

Sweet Celestia, he had a decent set of lungs on him! Twilight quickly silenced him with a mute spell, surprising him. He frowned and started banging on the bed with his hooves, trying to make as much noise as possible.

Twilight spoke to him in a firm, but gentle tone, "Excuse me sir, but would you please stop making that racket, so we can possibly get some answers for the both of us?"

He continued to stomp on the table, as if trying to get help.

"HEY!" She yelled.

That seemed to get his attention, and the infernal banging came to a stop.

“Thank you. Now, if you’ll give me a few minutes, I explain about everything that has happened."

Twilight began her tale from the start, about where he was, to a brief summary of the different species of Pony, to the sequence of events since the explosion, to which he listened with close attention, absorbing every word.

"...And that's how you are here now. Is there anything else you would like to know?" she finished. The colt just stared at her blankly before shifting his gaze up to the ceiling in thought, and then back at Twilight, shaking his head in a positive motion.

"Ok then," Twilight began, "I'm going to take off the mute spell if you promise not to yell, ok?"

He shook his head again.

With a simply touch of her horn to his head the spell was undone. He took several deep breaths before he spoke.

"Is this a dream?" he asked, his voice surprisingly deep and rusty.

Twilight was kind of expecting a question like that, and who could blame him?

"Uh... no." she answered flatly.

"Then... have I died?" he questioned forcefully.

She was surprised by the amount of aggression in his voice.

"No, you’re still very much alive," she shook her head. He went silent for quite a while as if consumed by his own thoughts again, before he spoke up.

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" He began, "Oh good one, no one informed me that the great Red Haring knew Genjutsu!"

Twilight was taken aback by the sudden outburst, not understanding, nor knowing what to think of it. The colt closed his eyes and began to concentrate. Blue sweat started to come out of the colt's pores and evaporated immediately, making it look like he was steaming. Such is the way to counter a genjutsu.

"RELEASE!" he yelled.

He kept his eyes closed expecting something to happen. Nothing did.

"Did you think that was going to free you or something?" Twilight asked not able to understand what he was trying to do. He opened his eyes and sighed.

"This is not a Genjutsu..." He said, the last bit of hope leaving his body.

"Now may I ask you a question?" she asked. He looked at her mischievously and said, "You mean two right."

"Wha-Oh I get it. Yes. What is your name?" He took a moment before answering, "My name is Tokishi Obitori Hetica."

An ominous ring hung in the air as Twilight thought the name over.

"Well, Tokishi, my name is Twilight and welcome to Equestria."

(this is Tokishi)

Chapter 2 - Sweet Memories

Chapter 2Sweet Memories(Edited by StrayanPhoenix772)

“No, don’t go daddy!” Otso begged his father.

It was still relatively light inside the small house Otso and his father called home.

“I’m sorry son,” The middle aged man began. “You know I can’t provide for us with rice alone.”

His father was tall; he measured at around 6 feet tall. He had a hat with a long trim and bits of straw sticking out of it to one side, which sat firmly atop his head, tilted slightly to block the view of his eyes if you looked him head on. It was the same kind of hat that held the mention of hard work in it. It suited him, being a farmer and all.

His shirt was also a sign of a long day of work, dirtied from perspiration of hard labor and the grit of handling soil. He had his trusty walking stick at his side and a satchel over his shoulder. His face held the scars of a war long forgotten and the look of a man. They way he held himself and how he looked made him a very intimidating person.

“What, do you want to eat plain old rice for supper?” His father questioned his voice in a slight chuckle.

“No, but... Can I go with you?” Otso eagerly asked.

His father pondered the thought, looking at his son with judgment in his eyes. Sizing up the boy, he figured it wouldn’t hurt to have him come.

“You know what? I think you’re old enough to come to the market with me.” The farmer confirmed.

Otso’s eyes widened with delight. “Oh can I daddy, can I?” He asked, excitement boiling inside the child's head. Otso’s father brought his hand to his chin and looked at Otso once again playfully.

“Sure you can.” He exclaimed with a smile. Otso jumped in delight, almost hitting the ceiling with his head.

It was strange but for some reason Otso was able to jump three times his own height. Even as a toddler he would jump out of his crib like it was nothing. His father knew he would be some heck of a jumper when he became a little older. He could probably jump over a full grown tree in the future.

Otso was so ecstatic about going with his father to the market for the first time, it was all he could do but jump and run around the house.

As the farmer grabbed what little money he had, Otso ran outside to get a head start but stopped at the fence waiting impatiently. He started to jump over their fence several times while his father made sure they had everything. Once the farmer had determined that they had everything, he packed everything into his satchel, swung the it over his shoulder and set off to his eager son.

He stopped in front of the gate when he noticed that he had forgotten his jacket. Looking to the sky he couldn’t see a single cloud for as far as he could see.

Nah, I don’t need my jacket, he thought to himself, the day is beautiful and warm. It had been that way for several days, do to it being summer and all.

He shrugged it off and continued off on the dirt path, his son hopping in pursuit. The birds were singing their wonderful song as they walked. Otso jumped onto his dad’s shoulders and clung onto his head. The farmer was initially shocked by the sudden weight, but held on the Otso’s feet to prevent him from falling. They looked peaceful together, a dad and his 7 year old son. It was Otso’s birthday and his dad had planned the day out for them. He wasn't going to let anything ruin their day.

The village market was a small one, with only one street full of vendors. They sold all kinds of stuff there. From food to furniture, they always had something good in store. The colors and the smells of the street were both wonderful and alluring to those who entered. It was a slow afternoon and not many people were out and about. It usually picked up by early evening when all the villagers when out to celebrate.

After all, today was the beginning of the New Year.

As they reached the market, Otso’s father stopped by a street vendor, looking at what food it had for sale. Otso jumped off his dad’s shoulders and held his hand, looking at what toys were for sale. Even though the farmer knew what day it was for Otso, He kept himself quiet. Otso probably wasn’t even aware it was his birthday. Looking down upon the boy, He couldn’t help but admire him. His red hair and charming smile gleaming up at him.

He loved Otso so very much. Ever since his wife died, the only thing he would wake up and work in the fields for was that charming smile. He reminded him so much of her; he even had the same red hair. Even though Otso resembled his wife in many ways, he still could see himself in the boy.

The thought of his wife brought back sad memories. The memories of loss, regret, even anger. It has been so long since she died, and he could remember every single day since they have been separated. The terror he experienced after finding her murdered in their living room. He turned away trying to forget those bad memories.

Looking the salesman in the eye, he said, “Two please”.

As he waited, he went over the schedule again in his head.

“Here you go,” the salesman gave him two sticks with balls of meat squared on to it. He took the sticks and walked over to a bench to sit down. Otso followed him and sat down on the bench, looking at the treat his father was holding. The farmer looked at the two sticks as a thought crept its way into his mind.

What am I going to do when he leaves...

The thought triggered an episode of PTSD, the world falling to black as he relived his most terrible nightmare...

The farmer blinked as he returned to reality, and quickly glanced around. There were more people wandering the street now, and the sun was nearing the end of its course. Stick in hand, he looked over to where Otso was sitting.

Hope he didn’t get bored while I was out like that, he thought to himself. He half-expected to see Otso sleeping on the park bench, waiting for his father to come back from ‘the bad place’ as he would call it. Only there was one problem, he wasn’t there at all.

Panic overtook him as he started to frantically look for his son. The market was in full swing now, and lots of people were walking in the street. It was impossible to spot a familiar face even if you tried. He now was skimming through the crowd of people, yelling “Otso!” every several seconds. He pushed past people trying to find the red haired boy in the crowd. As if he would have such luck.

Suddenly he saw what he was looking for, red hair. Running and pushing as hard as he could, he dashed through the crowd to the boy. Quickly he hugged him tightly, not daring to let go. But, something was off. He was taller then He remembered. Looking down to the child he noticed his face was hidden behind a mask, and it had red hair...

“Hey!” yelled a bystander, “Get your hands off of my boy!”

The farmer let go of the boy and turned back around to the crowd. What he say made his mind explode with confusion. In the midst of all the people were several masks with red hair. All with the same shade and style of Otso’s hair.

After several frantic minutes, the farmer managed to get out of the crowd. It was quite hard with the sheer amount of people flooding the small street.After tirelessly searching for his lost boy, he flopped down on a park bench in defeat. The stress of losing his only hope and joy was weighing down on him. His brain had picked a rather inconvenient time to go through another episode, and of all times, why in the middle of the market?! Now maybe he might as well be dead, now that his whole family was gone.

He sighed dejectedly and looked to the sky, listened to the wind. It was a strange habit he developed when his wife died, and it gave him some clarity.

Like that would help him now. The one thing he struggled to protect is gone now. He listened intently to the cool breeze, hoping to find some resolve. As he listened, he heard a soft sobbing that was not his own. Turning his head, he could see a child crying near a tree swing. He looked weak and helpless, probably lost his family in the crowd or something. Thats when he noticed the child’s red hair.

The farmer jumped out of his seat and dashed over to Otso, who was in tears next to a swing. Otso’s father picked up the small boy in his arms hugging him tightly. He didn’t restrain himself from shedding a few tears himself, there was no point.

“Don’t you ever leave me like that again you hear?” He exclaimed, overjoyed with finding his only son.

The farmer sat back down on the park bench, still holding his son in his arms. The thought of Otso leaving him was a heavy burden on the farmer, and he never wanted him to do that again.

Slowly, he drew away from the embrace and looked into his son’s face. The farmer was shocked by the state that his son was in. Otso was covered in dirt, and his nose had a trickle of dried blood running down his face. All of the farmer’s problems were tossed aside by what he saw, replaced with immediate concern for his boy.

“Otso, what happened to you?” He asked the poor boy, his voice filled with concern and regret.

Otso looked up to his dad, then shoved his face into the farmer’s shirt, crying once again. It was sad seeing him like this, no child should ever feel this way.

“Tell me boy, who did this to you?”

Otso couldn’t speak, not only from being downright fearful of how his father would react, but ashamed in his own efforts. Even though he couldn’t see his father's face, he knew that he was expecting an answer from him.

“W-w-when you stopped moving a-a-and sat on the bench, *sniff* I went over to s-s-some of the kids who were playing on the swing,” Otso said, taking a break to catch his train of thought. “T-t-they were playing ninja, and I wanted to play too. They let me, but only if I was on my own team. I tried to be the best ninja I could be, but they kept hitting me really hard. It wasn’t a very fun game. Then they started calling me ‘kangaroo’ and they all laughed at me,” Otso began to cry at full force now, not holding anything back.

The farmer couldn’t find the words to respond to what his son just told him. Not only were those kids cruel to his boy, but they made fun of his ability. The anger that built up inside him threatened to bubble to the surface. Instead of releasing it to the world, he held it in and smothered it. Somehow, he had to cheer his son up. Then it struck him.

“Otso, do you know what day it is?” The farmer asked the boy.

He looked up to his father still in tears. Otso didn’t know what day it was or even what year, all he knew is that it was summer.

His father held out a meat stick to Otso, “Happy birthday son.”

Otso’s eyes lit up as the realization dawned on him. They rarely bought anything during the year, as all their money was put towards improving the farm, managing the animals, and purchasing supplies they couldn’t grow. For his father to present him with a simple treat like this, Otso was overcome with joy. He took the stick and nibbled at it, savoring the taste. A smile blossom onto his face, and his father returned it with a smile of his own.

They started their way back home from the market, each of them with a beaming joyfulness. Otso was seven years old as of today, and his father was happy to see his boy, safe and sound. The day had been tough and tears were shed, but it was all better now. No force, calamity, or incident on the planet could change the moment they shared. They may not have many luxuries as others do, but they had each other, and that was enough.

It was getting late as they approached the farm house, the sun almost reaching the horizon. The cool air on their skin, the smell of the mountains, it was all so peaceful. Even the scent of unearthed soil was refreshing...

The farmer stopped dead in his tracks. Otso looked at him, puzzled by the apparent anger in his face.

“Son,” the farmer began, “Go into the fields, and don’t turn back ‘till I come for you.” His voice was intense and powerful. It was the voice of a warrior.

Otso looked up at his father. “Bu-” he was cut off by his father’s glaring eyes. He knew his father only had those eyes when there was danger among them. Obediently, Otso ran into the fields, hiding from what his dad was angry at.

Right as Otso went into hiding, a group of men approached from around the bend of the dirt path. There were seven of them in total; each one had a bandana around their heads, signifying they were bandits. They had a cart with them, with various types of vegetation, mostly rice stalks, inside.

As they came around the bend, they noticed the farmer and stopped in their tracks. They couldn’t believe their eyes, certain that the man they saw would be dead by now. After a few moments, they all burst into laughter.

“No way,” one of them snickered, “It’s the old geezer who owns this farm. Thought you died of some heart attack years ago. How’s it feel to be the sole remaining survivor of the Harochi family?”

The farmer stood his ground, not giving into their verbal jabs. “Hand over the crops and leave!” He demanded.

They just laughed at him. “Or what? You’ll bore us to death?” The tallest of them asked, a mocking sneer present in his voice. He had long hair that was spiking out every which way, and a bandage on his nose. From what the farmer could guessed he was the ringleader of the bunch of bandits, due to the reactions of the others when he emerged from behind them.

The farmer slowly twisted the top of his walking stick, revealing the slender hilt of his sword. He took it out, slashing the air once before taking a fighting stance.

As he took his stance, he inhaled deeply, concentrating his chakra to his eyes. The farmer hadn’t used this jutsu in ages. So long in fact, that he didn’t know if it would work anymore.

“Seimitsu (Precision).”

His eyes began to glow, turning his pupils into a pale gray, and his irises a bright red. It was his Kekkei Genkai (Blood Trait) the only thing that made him a member of the Harochi family.

The farmer was overwhelmed with the effects of the jutsu. He saw each and every one of the bandits’ muscle movements, and could calculate what they were doing just by watching them. He could also know what they were thinking by the way they moved and talked. Thus, it was no surprise to him when three of the bandits tried to rush the farmer.

With the precision of a surgeon and the strength of a heavy lifter, he dispatched the bandits, thoroughly decapitating all three of them. As their bodies fell limp to the ground, the ringleader smirked in amusement.

“Is that it?” He cocked his head to the side.

The farmer took up his stance once again, preparing for the next attack. Another bandit shot forward, forming hand signs as he got closer.

“Fire style: fire ball jutsu.” He said, sending a ball of flame towards the farmer, who could see it coming before it happened.

With a quick sidestep and a powerful slash of his weapon, he struck the fourth bandit in his lower abdomen. His sword completed the motion without much effort, sending the bandit to the ground in two clean halfs.

Another man tried to catch the farmer off guard by attacking him from under the ground, but failed to have the desired effect. The farmer could sense him the entire time, and struck down on the patch of earth. Before the bandit could even scream out wails of pain, he was silenced. A pool of blood formed in the small hole that was created by the sword, confirming that he was dead.

As the farmer looked up to predict the attack of his next opponent, he was stopped by the sudden wave of pain coming from his right leg. He looked down towards the limb, but was shocked by what he saw. Or in this case, didn’t see.

His lower leg was gone, leaving a bloody stump. With his balance gone, he fell to the ground with a thud. The pain was unbearable; he clenched his eyes shut at it, utterly helpless to protect himself.

Through the pain, he opened his eyes to see his son, watching from within the tall reeds of the field...

Otso was in complete and utter terror as he watched his dad hit the ground. He had come back to see if his dad was okay, only to find him being struck down.

“DADDY!!” Otso yelled, sprinting across to his injured father. The leader of the bandits glanced over at the boy, surprised by his sudden appearance. Otso came within feet of his dad, before he was halted and lifted up into the air by an unseen hand.

“Well, well, well! What do we have here?” The leader sadistically questioned, “I knew you had gotten together with that ninja from the hidden leaf, but I never knew you had a son.” He held Otso high up into the air, his fingers tightly gripping his head.

“NO! Leave the boy alone!” His father yelled desperately. The bandit ignored him, marveled by the new finding.

“The great Shikara has a son!” He laughed, amused by what he held. “Oh this is just rich! I can’t even describe what this feels like.” He had a dark grin on his face as he looked down towards the farmer’s face.

“Hey! Boy! What’s your name?” He demanded.

“O-O-Otso” Otso replied trying not to feel the pain this man was giving his head.

“Otso… Well Otso, I’m Akira, and let’s make daddy cry now shall we?” Akira said as he kicked Shikara in the stomach. The farmer doubled over and cringed. Otso was in quickly reduced to tears upon seeing his father get beaten up like this.

“Now, I shall do my worst!” Akira mischievously proclaimed, turning to Otso with a sinister grin. Otso flinched as his stomach came into contact with a balled fist, pain surging through his body.

Akira proceeded to pelt the child, relishing in his misery. Each blow was harder than the previous, and Otso was beginning to spit out blood at the impacts. Shikara could not bare to see Otso receive this torment and looked away, feeling utterly useless at his ability to protect his own son. Akira would have continued to beat the child, but something shimmered in his peripheral vision.

Akira looked over towards the slender sword that was lying on the ground. His grin spread even wider at the thought of his next move.

As much as he loved to torture children, he found it much more appealing to proceed with the next phase of his next plan. He carelessly tossed the kid to the ground and walked over to the blade, chuckling darkly in his stride.

Otso crawled across to his father, tears flowing freely down his face. Shikara turned to face his son once again. He saw the pain in Otso’s eyes, and it hurt him beyond the pain of his missing limb. It was the eyes of a child begging for help.

What just happened? Shikara thought to himself. Just moments ago they were having a wonderful moment and now, he lay here, dying…

He could only think of one thing in that moment, and he had to say his last words to his son.

“Otso,” he began, “there is something I have to say, I may not be able to get through this so listen good. I need you to-“

He was stopped mid-sentence by a thin sword plunging into his chest. Shikara glanced at the weapon and saw the crest of the Harochi family on the center of the blade.

It was his own sword, stabbed into him like he was nothing. He coughed out a mouthful of blood and began to choke. Otso got up and went over to his father, screaming at the scene that just played out.

“Daddy no! NO! NO!” Otso cried.

He now knelt down next to his father, cradling his head. “Son, *cough*, Be strong, be strong for me ok?“

Otso could not respond through his tears. All he could do was shake his head 'yes'.

"Good, I *cough* love you so-"

Shikara wasn’t able to finish the last word, as the darkness crept across his vision, forcefully dragging him to whatever lay beyond.........