My Little Naruto: Friendship is--WHERE AM I!?

by DragonLS

CH19: Revenge Issues & Home Shambles (Revised)

Special Thanks:

Editors: DaMobbs

“One of ya better tell me where he is! I have a score to settle with that filly!” Blackie shouted.

The partying ponies looked at each other in confusion, wondering just who this pony was or what he wanted, everypony that is, except for Twilight and Pinkie Pie. Twilight and Pinkie took one look at who it was and frowned, knowing that their night was about to take a wrong turn. Blackie’s eyes scanned the room before they met theirs. They widened in surprise and his scowl turned into a smirk as he stood in the doorway.

“Well now, if it isn’t the filly’s friends, Ms. Smartass and Sugar Bitch. So nice to see you again”, he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, “Where’s the filly?”

Pinkie and Twilight didn’t even have to look each other to know what their answer would be. Twilight stepped forward.

“Blackie, you just don’t give up, do you? Just what is your problem!?” Twilight said in anger.

“Yeah you mean old meany pants! Take a hint and leave us alone!” Pinkie chimed in, her hair slightly less poofy than usual.

The other ponies stood there in almost complete silence, small whispers traveled through the crowd like cherry blossoms on the wind. Then the gray mare stepped in front of Blackie and locked eyes with his. She squinted, as if analyzing him to see what he would do next.

“Good sir, I believe you are trespassing into an event that you are not invited to. I suggest you leave immediately, especially with that ‘Hotheaded’ attitude of yours.”

“I’m not leaving any of you alone until I get compensation for that filly’s stupidity!” Blackie exclaimed. His grin took on another level of smug ass-ery.

“In fact… maybe you whores can give me that compen—OOMPH!“

Before he could finish, the door was slammed shut with a shockingly powerful force, sending him flying out onto the ground outside. Naruto fell from his improvised seat on the wall and landed on his four hooves.

“I’m getting sick of him…” Naruto muttered as he rubbed his nose, reassuring himself that it was still intact.

“Naruto, are you alright?” Twilight and Pinkie ran up to him to check to see if he was okay, but Naruto just waved it off like it was nothing and sat on a nearby chair. He arched his back and sighed in relief as his back popped back into place.

“I’m fine… I just want to know how Blackie found me here…”

“Who was that guy? What he did was so uncool,” said Rainbow Dash as she pointed outside.

“I completely agree. That was certainly very rude and uncouth for a stallion. He seems rather familiar,” Rarity added.

“That would be the local Blacksmith, Blackie… A unicorn who just won’t give up a grudge…” Naruto said.

“Ah grudge? That’s one mighty way of showing ah grudge. Just what the hay did you do to him?” Applejack asked. Twilight spoke up before Naruto opened his mouth.

“It’s a long story. We’ll explain it later once we take care of this current situation,” she said with a glance at the still closed door, “But we need to send everypony home before anypony gets hurt.”

Naruto sat up and jumped up onto the table, knocking a bottle of sarsaparilla over. “I’m sorry everyon- uh pony. Thank you all for the fantastic party and I really enjoyed it. I hope everypony has a good night...”, he said gesturing to the backdoor, “Because mine just turned sour.” He jumped off the table and opened the front door, Twilight following right behind him.

“I’m not going to get that dance tonight, am I…?” She thought.

“That filly is dead… DEAD I SAY!”

 Blackie was sprawled out on the middle of the road after his short flight through the air. For the second time today, he was face to face with the ground, and this time it wasn’t even because of a pony, but a door! He slammed a hoof on the ground in anger before pushing himself onto his hooves. He was annoyed... No, he was pissed beyond belief. The past couple of days were filled with enough disappointment and frustration to last him a lifetime and he needed satisfation.

“I’ll murder that damn filly… just wait ‘til I get my hooves on him… I’ll punch the living daylights out of him… I’ll pick him up and throttle him like a ragdoll before grinding that smug grin off that arrogant face! I want revenge!”

“I can hear you you know…”, came a familiar voice said.

Blackie looked at the house, eyes wide to find Naruto and Twilight standing a few yards away in the open doorway. The purple mare closed the door behind them as they walked towards Blackie. Twilight glared at the black stallion and Blackie growled in anger.

“So what, it’s not gonna change one da—“

“What the hell is with you Blackie?” Naruto interrupted.

“Huh?”

“Why don’t you just let it go already? I’ve already served your ass up on a silver platter and we’ve already explained to you why it all happened! Why can’t you respect that?” Naruto asked. Blackie spat on the ground in front of them.

“Because I want what’s coming to me and I want it now!”

Naruto facehoofed at Blackie’s response. Twilight moved next to Naruto.

“Why can’t you just leave us alone and move on? This issue is already dead, and you’re only causing more harm to yourself than anything by pursuing it further!”, Twilight tried to calmly explain the obvious to Blackie. However, it seemed to be the final straw. With a snort, Blackie stomped on the ground like a colt having a tantrum.

“This issue is NOT dead! It’s BEYOND dead! It’s REVENGE!”

“Revenge for what?”

“FOR MAKING A MOCKERY OF ME!”

The crickets stopped chirping and the wind seemed to hold its’ breath as Blackie’s voice reverberated throughout the town. Naruto blinked. Did he just hear what he think he heard? A glance at Twilight revealed that she had face-hoofed, having come to the same realization as Naruto. This went on for a few moments longer until Naruto decided to break the awkward silence with a small cough.

 “…Um, Blackie, no one’s making a mockery of you,” Naruto pointed out,” You’ve kind of been doing that to yourself since you went insane-”

“SHUT UP!” Blackie interrupted.

Naruto and Twilight didn’t even flinch at Blackie’s shouts anymore. This was past ridiculous now and bordering on insanity. It was rather sad, they thought, almost to the point of being humorous. Blackie’s horn began to glow ominously as it lit up the area in light. They both sighed as Twilight readied her horn as well, but Blackie merely smiled.

“I’ll show all of you… I’ll get my reward… AND YOU’LL ALL—“

*BZZZZZZT*

“Oh dear.”

*Thump*

Blackie grunted in pain and surprise as he was tackled from above, pancaking and knocking him out.

“Sorry for being late chaps, had a doozy of an errand that I had to run.”

Naruto and Twilight jaws fell open at what had just transpired. The black unicorn now laid on the ground, having been used as an impromptu landing pad by a white unicorn with a black mane. He wore a stylish black suit and had a smoking pipe perched in his lips, slightly smoking at the end.

“Gary!?” Naruto gasped. Gary acknowledged Naruto and Twilight with a firm nod, apparently still unaware of the pony under his hooves.

“The very same, chap. I got an invitation from that Pinkie fellow of yours. Quite a peculiar pony, but it was a party invitation in your favor, so I just had to drop on by. However, I had a few small errands that I had to run so I sent my daughter in—hello?” Gary finally looked down, wondering why the ground was as squishy as it was. He blinked a couple times before the realization of who he was standing on sunk in.

“I say old boy, what are you doing down on the ground like that? It’s not smart to take a nap outside in the middle of the night.”

“Uh… Gary? That’s Blackie…”, Twilight pointed out.

“Quite…” Gary poked Blackie with his wooden pipe, not getting any reaction from the black unicorn.

“He seems to be sleeping too.”

“Father, you landed on him when you teleported in. You really need to focus more on where you’re going to be.”

All three ponies turned towards the door to Sugarcube Corner and found the familiar gray mare that Naruto was talking to before standing in the doorway.

“What’s she still doing here? I thought I sent everybody home.” Naruto thought. Gary took a small puff from his pipe as he stepped off a Blackie.

“Ah, Octavia. How did the party go? Exciting as usual I hope?” Gary asked.

“It was rather boring… upbeat, but boring…” Octavia said.

“Wait… that name…” Naruto’s brain clicked when he heard her name. He heard that name mentioned from Gary before, back when he first met him and talked about the job. The picture, the name, his wife… it was all coming back to him. Naruto went wide-eyed when he gasped in surprise, pointing a hoof at Octavia.

“You… YOU’RE OCTAVIA!?”

“My savior finally remembers me I see… It took you long enough,” she said with a grin.

“But… but… Hospital…Sick…” Naruto said obliviously. Octavia face-hoofed, not wanting to believe that her ‘savior’ was a thick-headed colt.

“Did you forget!? You helped my father in order to rid me of that sickness, how can you not remember that!?”, she yelled out. Gary chuckled at the scene in front of him.

“I say, is that any way to treat your knight in shining armor, Octavia my dear?”

“Tell that to someone who can actually remember what he did!”

“Hey, c’mon, cut me some slack Octy? I’ve been overloaded these past few days and it didn’t get much better—“, Naruto said, pointing at Blackie, “—when he started acting up.”

“Don’t call me Octy...”

“But I like that much better than Octavia—”

“I don’t care!”, shouted Octavia.

Gary took a look at Blackie and nodded slowly. “Hm, yes… The ruffian from a few days back… you say he has been causing problems?”

“That’s only part of the problem sir… Blackie here has been acting violently ever since Naruto completed your request,” Twilight said.

“I see… he really has it out for both of you, hm? Well what do you plan to do with him then?”

That was a good question. Naruto had already left Blackie alone to straighten himself out once and still the stubborn pony had it out for him, but in true Naruto fashion…

“Let’s just leave him there, I’m sure he’ll have learned his lesson after he wakes up…” Naruto said with a grin. Twilight placed a hoof on Naruto’s shoulder and shook her head.

“You did that before and he was angrier than ever. We should just take him to the authorities and—“

“No.”

“—then we could—wait, what?” Twilight pulled a double take and looked back at Naruto. She found a stern expression on his face instead of his usual carefree one.

“I’m giving him one more chance. He may be blindly stubborn, or stubbornly blind... wait, the first one instead, but anyway, I get the feeling he’ll learn his lesson this time”, Naruto said with an ‘I know I’m right’ kind of smile. Despite the thrilling reassurance by Naruto, Twilight protested.

“How can you just brush this off? He’s tried to hurt you several times now!”

“Just trust me Twilight. Like I said, I’m giving him one, more, chance. Understand?”

“…Alright Naruto. I don’t like this one bit, but I’ll trust you. I hope you’re right…”

“I say my blonde friend, you’re crazy…” Gary added while taking a puff off his pipe.

“An amnesiatic hero who is too friendly and forgiving for his own good…” Octavia muttered.

“…Yep, definitely sounds like Sakura.” Naruto thought to himself. His tails flicked behind him randomly as he wracked his brain over tonight’s events.

Blackie’s revenge issues, Octavia’s return, and Gary’s sudden appearance… Gary did mention that he was here for the party but had to run errands before hand. So why was Octavia here at the party instead? Gary nodded his head towards the road, motioning everypony to follow him.

“Come, we have much to discuss Naruto. You’re welcome to tag along if you’d like Miss Twilight Sparkle.”

“Oh I’d love too and please, call me Twilight…”

“And call me Octavia”, she said, more for Naruto then anypony else.

“So Octavia, you’re Gary’s daughter?” Twilight questioned.

“That’s right; Daughter of Gary Clopper, renowned cello and violinist in Canterlot…”

“Octavia… Octavia… Ah! No wonder your name sounded so familiar. I’ve heard of you from other unicorns when I was living in Canterlot. I’ve heard that your concerts are breathtakingly amazing.”

“Indeed. The world of music is my life and nothing can replace it… It is no surprise that I gathered up a good deal of fame along the way...”

As the two girls made small talk, Naruto shifted closer to Gary and out of the girl’s hearing range.

“So why was Octavia at the party? You said something about being late?” Naruto inquired.

“Ah yes… quite embarrassing really… I had to send Octavia off towards Sugarcube Corner in my place until I was free. I was going to be a tad late you see…”

“Late?”

“Yes… I had misplaced some paperwork that I was planning to give you, and I was in a dire hurry to have everything ready to go”

“What kind of paperwork?”

“Well… the paperwork that is to be your reward of course.”

Naruto furrowed a brow in confusion.

“A stack of boring papers is going to be my reward?”, he asked in an incredulous tone of voice. Gary stifled a chuckle, succeeding only in muffling it with a hoof.

“Yes my dear boy, a stack of boring papers will be your reward, and they hold powerful magical spells,“ he said, leaning over to whisper into Naruto’s ear,”…beyond your wildest dreams.”

A grin slowly crawled across his face as he thought of just what spells he could learn. It was like when Ero-Sennin gave him training scrolls whenever he went off on those educational excursions. Then again, they were duds more then half the time but that’s besides the point. If he could incorporate spells into his jutsus, he would be unstoppable!

“Whoa! Really!?”

“Ah hah, no.”

“Huh?”

“It’s a joke dear boy, a joke. Now why would I give away something as dangerous as that? Besides, this is much more useful then a few dinky spells.”

Naruto’s grin turned into a frown. “I wanted the magic damn it…” He thought to himself. So if the paperwork he was gonna get wasn’t filled to the brim with spells, what else could Gary possibly have in store for him?

“You’ll find out soon enough, but in the meantime…” Gary brought a hoof inside his front suit pocket and pulled out a small bag that jingled with every motion of his hoof. He threw the bag of coins into Naruto’s jacket pocket. “Yes, two points!”

“Er, what?”

“Oh, um, nothing dear boy, just some lingo I picked up from a few younger colts down at the club… but anyway, there’s the first part of your reward, 150 bits. It’s a little less than what I promised from before, but the second part more than makes up for the slight difference.”

“Wow, 150 bits… that’s still a good bit of money… Thanks Gary!” He said to himself, patting the pocket the coins now rested in. At least he wasn’t broke anymore. He felt a pang of sadness as he touched the coin bag. Where did his other bits go? Did he drop them while fighting the Manticore? Or did someone steal them? As he thought about the many different possibilities, he also wondered what the second part of his reward is seeing as it required some kind of paperwork. Gary abruptly stopped walking and turned around. Naruto stopped as well, wondering what the hold up was?

“You played at the Gala before!? That’s where some of the greatest musicians play!”

“Indeed, it was last year, and I’ll be playing at the Gala this year as well—hm? Father, why did we stop? As a matter of fact, I’ve yet to ask you where we are going!”

“As dense as Sakura too…” Naruto couldn’t help but keep thinking about Sakura whenever Octavia opened her mouth. Why does she remind him so much of her? As a matter of fact… Fluttershy seems like the mirror image of Hinata as well.

“It’s like every pony out here is similar to the people I’ve met in my own world… Hinata is Fluttershy, Sakura—or hell, maybe Ino—reminds me of Octavia, Twilight reminds me of… who does she remind me of?” Did he even know of anyone who had been this nice? He couldn’t tell what Twilight reminded him of. Most of the people he met always treated him with scorn or like he was just a nuisance…

Gary looked at Octavia and pointed a hoof off to the side.

“Well, to this luxurious home of course! Feast your eyes chaps!”

“Whoa… that house looks… big!”, Twilight said.

“F-father, what are we doing at our old house?”

“Simple my dear, I’m giving it to Naruto. Isn’t that right Naruto…Naruto?” Gary looked over at Naruto who hadn’t responded to find him staring off into the distance. He waved a hoof in front of his face but he didn’t notice.

“She probably reminds me of Hinata maybe? No, Twilight isn’t as shy as Hinata… maybe Tsunade?” Naruto mentally shuddered. “…Fuck no. If Tsunade was Twilight, she’d rip me a new one… all the constant nagging and lectures…”

“Naruto?” Gary called out.

“Maybe Shikamaru? Calm, intelligent… yeah, maybe that’s it. But then again, Twilight isn’t THAT calm… she seems to ‘lose it’ from time to time and panics a little too easily…”

“Let me try… Naruto, is something wrong?” Twilight said a little louder than Gary.

“Ah! You know what? I bet she’s like a combination of Shikamaru and Chouj—wait, NO! That’s a disturbing thought… Chouji and Shikamaru combined? Twilight doesn’t eat THAT much… plus I’m sure women are always into that ‘slim figure’ set of mind… Geez, what is with women and their weight anyway?”

“Naruto, I believe you should snap out of it before I do it for you.” Octavia said in a sing-song voice.

“You know what else bugs me: Pinkie Pie. Insane, crazy, hyper, too friendly for her own good… Tsunade’s too damn serious and old, Jiraiya is too much of a pervert, maybe… huh, you know, maybe she’s a lot like Bushy Brows? Now he has tons of energy and he’s dedicated to anything he puts himself to. He’s crazy...”

“NARUTO!” Octavia said with a shout, bringing her hoof up.

“Boy I miss ramen… Hey, I wonder what would happen if I compared ramen to one of the other ponies here? Wait, what would—“

Naruto felt a brief but moderate amount of pain on the top of his head, snapping him out of his mental trance. He held his head in pain as he looked around for the one who hurt him with a scowl.

“What the heck was that for!? I was thinking Octy!” Naruto said angrily. Octavia merely huffed and stuck her chin up in dissatisfaction.

“If you were thinking, you would have noticed that we’ve been trying to call out to you for the past couple minutes!”

“I… what?”

“Are you deaf as well!? Pay attention to who is speaking to you and your surroundings for Celestia’s sake. And my name is Octavia you half-wit!”

Twilight tried to defuse the situation. “Now now, Naruto is back with us Octavia, there’s no need for violence…”

Octavia just sighed as she nodded her head. Naruto looked around confused, wondering why they were so angry at him. He was thinking about important things too! He huffed and looked over at Gary. He froze when he saw what was behind him.

What he saw was a two story house with white, wooden walls and a decent sized front porch. Six windows graced the front of the house and each had their curtains drawn over them. Did each of them signify separate rooms? He looked at Gary, his eyes wide in shock, waiting for an explanation.

“Welcome Naruto… to your new home. Octavia and I lived here when we called Ponyville home. Luckily, I still have the deed to the house, so there was no need to go about searching for a good deal for your home. I figured this was a more time-conserving way of getting to the point. As you can see, it’s a rather big house. There’s a kitchen, four guest bedrooms, a master bedroom, two bathrooms, a living room in case you want to get cozy near the fire in winter, and last but not least, a rather spacious backyard. It’s all yours my boy.”

Naruto was simply speechless. The only place he ever lived him was a one room apartment and now he had more room than he knew what to do with. He looked at Gary, trying to express his gratitude in some way, shape or form, but the only thing he could do was stare. Octavia stomped a hoof.

“But father! Why are we giving this wreck of a house to him? Surely he doesn’t deserve something THIS exquisite?” Octavia asked incredulously.

“I must admit, this is a really generous offer. But this house must be REALLY expensive,” Twilight agreed,” And you’re giving it to Naruto, just like that?”

Gary looked at the two of them, took a small draw off his pipe, and nodded.

“Well, yes. I’m not the type to go back on my reward. The house is now Naruto’s. Although…” Gary said, his voice trailing off as he looked at the ground.

“Although…?” Twilight asked.

“There is a small catch.”

“A catch…? This is too good to be a catch!” Naruto said, snapping out of his trance. He jumped on Gary and hugged him in a way that would make Pinkie shed a tear in happiness, beyond ecstatic to be living in a huge house as this. Gary tried to push Naruto off, but his rock hard clasp on his suit was making it difficult.

“Urk, if you could just get off my suit, I will… urgh, show you!” With extraneous effort, he managed to push Naruto off of him.

Gary walked to the front door and unlocked the front door. An ominous creak could be heard as the door fell off it’s hinges and hit the porch with a resounding thud. Octavia and Gary stood there un-phased, but Twilight and Naruto were more confused than ever. Gary motioned them all inside and they followed suit, albeit cautiously.

Inside, the floors were made of brown hardwood planks. Parts of the floor were chipped and everything was covered in a layer of soot, dust, or a combination of both. The walls didn’t look much better either. Splotches of multicolored liquid was splattered all over the once white wallpapered walls. Here and there, it peeled off, the adhesive having worn away after all this time. The ceiling was thankfully completely in tact with only a few areas where the paint had cracked and chipped. In front of them was what once was the living room, the fireplace holding a small pile of ashes.

The lack of furniture made the house feel dead. The only things they could see was a couple of wooden chairs in the corner of the room, but even those looked very brittle. Bookshelves covered half the room, but there were no books in sight. To the left was what appeared to be a staircase. Unfortunately, the entire ‘stair’ section of the stair way had collapsed and made it no longer climbable.

A glance into one of the many doorways revealed the kitchen, which thankfully was almost entirely intact. Thankfully, there wasn’t anything broken from his point of view. Dust covered every surface and a few stains on the walls were the only things that stood out. It was a fairly small kitchen, with a small table in the center, a fridge in the back next to the stove, and cupboards and cabinets flanking the sides.

Twilight and Naruto had only one question.

“What in Celestia’s name happened in here!?”, Twilight exclaimed.

“Yeah, what happened!?”, Naruto asked.

“That’s the catch my dear lad…”

Twilight and Naruto looked at Gary and he sighed.

“Basically, I was experimenting with a new spell back in my youth… which was probably… five years ago I suppose. I found a rather old tome in the basement that had an assortment of magic spells…

Of course, I got curious and decided to give one of them a try… And there was a spell… a monstrous one, that could be casted… a spell that could call forth a HURRICANE!” Gary said trying to be as dramatic as possible. Seeing as nopony was amused, he coughed and continued on.

“It was a complicated spell, but I did manage to cast it successfully but...”

“But what?”, asked Twilight.

“I didn’t think far ahead enough to cast it outside.”

“Wait… you summoned a hurricane… INSIDE YOUR OWN HOUSE!?” Twilight said with a gasp. “How could you not think that far ahead!? Casting a powerful spell like that has some serious repercussions! It could have broken through your house and moved onto Ponyville!”

“Now now, calm down young lady… the Hurricane was contained… sort of. It never got past the barrier I put up inside the house. It was barely even a category two. I swear, it had a mind of its’ own. It knew where to go to cause the most damage. Thankfully I had a counter spell to get rid of it, but it was already too late. So now… you see the house as it is.” He explained as he pointed some of the rooms out with his hoof.

“As far as I know, the kitchen, living room, bathroom, and one of the guest bedrooms here on the first floor, are still salvageable. There should be a spare bed still in the guest bedroom too. There is another guest bedroom down here too but its still blocked off with debris. The second floor is in the same state as you can see,” he said, gesturing at the shambles that was the staircase,” but with some fixing up, I’m sure this house will look spiffy again.”

“But if the house got trashed, why didn’t you just pay someone to fix it?” Naruto asked.

“It was much less expensive to just move to another house… Not to mention that it gave me an excuse to move to Canterlot. I had a golden opportunity there you see… But I digress. Another story for another time.”

“Wait, Mr. Clopper, why isn’t the outside of the house a wreck as well? I didn’t see any broken windows or anything—it looks like the perfect house on the outside!” Twilight asked.

“I wonder that too. Perhaps the hurricane thought the house was too beautiful on the outside? Ho ho ho…” Gary said laughing. Naruto smiled awkwardly at the horrible joke nonetheless.

“It’s not all bad… it could be worse…” Octavia and Twilight looked at him with a look that questioned his sanity. He just shrugged and sat down on the wooden floor.

“Hey, if you saw where I used to live, this is an upgrade. My house was nowhere near as big as this! It was actually pretty dreary. I’ve never had so many options before!” Naruto said happily.

“Well that’s looking at the brighter side of things… you’re easily impressed Naruto.” Twilight said with a smile.

“Plus…”

“Hm?”

“With a little bit of time, I bet I can get this house back to its full glory! Believe it!”

“Oh I highly doubt that… it would take a ton of time and money to get this house up and running again… Best do it one at a time, lad… Oh! Yes, there is one other reward I must discuss with you my boy.”

“There’s another reward!?” Naruto said with glee, jumping up and down. Gary looked between Naruto and Octavia, and gave a toothy grin.

“Indeed! Octavia, come here for a moment.”

“What for father?”

“Just come here, please,”said Gary.When Octavia was standing next to them, he nodded in satisfaction.

“Right then.” Gary grabbed Octavia’s right hoof and Naruto’s left with his magic. Octavia gasped in surprise and Naruto flinched from the unsuspected telekinetic grab. With the same toothy grin, Gary said something that scared the shit out of Naruto:

“I would like you to take my daughter’s hoof… in marriage.”

If the surprises weren’t enough tonight, this would took the cake… or hoof in this particular case. Naruto stared blankly at Octavia’s hoof for a moment, before looking up. Even Octavia thought her father was crazy, and immediately tried to jerk her arm back, with a slight blush in her face.

“W-wh…WHAT!?” Octavia and Naruto shouted at Gary.

“You’ve got to b-be kidding me! Why would I ma-m-marry this oblivious nitwit!? He may have saved my life, but he’s certainly not my type!

“Yeah! What Octy said!” Naruto paused for a moment when he realized what she said before looking at her angrily. “Wait, I’m not your type!? What’s so bad about me?”

Octavia looked back at Naruto with a growl. “Your fashion sense for starters… and your personality the other. ”

“My fashion sense!? Why is everyone complaining about the way I dress lately!? I’ll have you know that this is the attire of a ninja!”

“What in music’s name is a ninja!?”

“How can you not know what a ninja is!?”

Naruto was starting to lose the argument. However, he still had an ace up his sleeve. In a last ditch attempt, he turned around and brushed his tails in front of Octavia.

“#^@%#%!?” Her words turned into unintelligible garble as she got a mouthful of tail. Naruto thought it was working, and was cringing with the uncomfortable feeling he was getting from his tails.

No dice.

Octavia brushed away the tails with her hoof, after spitting out a couple of pieces of fox fur.

“Pweh! Why did you just do that!?”

“I’m trying to get you to love my tails!”

“Tails!? What is that monstrosity that you shoved in my face!?”

“You’re supposed to be in love with it! That’s what it is!”

“Why would I be in love with those… those things!?”

“Because… because um… Darn it, why aren’t my tails working!?”

Twilight had already fainted from the sudden arranged marriage she witnessed. Gary didn’t expect this kind of reaction from them though. He playfully brought his hoofs up as he separated the two bickering ponies.

“Now now, look at you two. Already arguing like an old married couple… and what do you know! You two are perfectly in-sync. You even think alike!”

Eventually, everypony had calmed down enough to have a civil conversation. Twilight had recovered from the impromptu nap as Naruto had signed the deed, the house now under his name. Despite the arguments, Naruto didn’t have any ill feelings towards Gary. It was a joke anyway and he fell for it head over hooves. With that, Gary and Octavia bade them farewell and teleported back to their house in Canterlot, leaving Twilight and Naruto at the empty house.

The moon’s radiant light shined down on Equestria and bathed Naruto’s new house in a milky white glow. He sat on the stairs of the front patio, looking out towards the stars. He finally has a new house… a new beginning. He can finally start settling down and living life here fully in Ponyville.

A tear streaked down his face, startling him with its’ descent down his cheek. He brought up a hoof and wiped it off. His eyes began to tear up. He didn’t know why and just kept wiping at it with his hoof. Why was he crying? He never cried. The only time he did was when he lost something really important. It hit him then.

“I’m not going back.”

Everything was so familiar to him and yet completely different. Maybe that was why he didn’t feel so out of place here with these ponies. He still wished he could see his friends once more at least, explain to them that he was alright and they needn’t worry about him. All of the promises he vowed to keep would stay unfulfilled and there wasn’t anything he could do about it. The only things he had from his back then was the Jinchuuriki, and even then, it wasn’t the true one but his child. Hoofsteps brought him out of his thoughts and he quickly dried his face with his jacket.

Twilight walked up to Naruto and sat down beside him, looking at the stars with him. She smiled.

“Today has been one big event, hasn’t it Naruto? A party, a new house… you’re a lucky stallion…”

“I-I guess I am… I never knew I could get such nice things from just one request… If only this happened with all the missions I’ve done before…”

“You’ve accepted things like this before?”

He took a deep breath, holding back his true emotions as he thought of the past.

“Back where I come from? It was an everyday thing of life. It’s how I earned money before. But now…” He said, a tear managing to get past his defenses,” I can’t go back. I’ve gotta make due here.”

“Well… why can’t you go back?” Twilight asked quietly. ”Is it because the town you live in is really far away, or…”

“No, it’s nothing like that… it’s just that I can never go back,” he said, letting the tears fall freely,” I’d rather leave it at that…”

“Why?”

“Bad memories, Twilight, just… bad memories.”

Twilight didn’t ask any more than that, not wanting to upset Naruto further. It must have been sensitive information, she thought, if he didn’t want to share a personal memory of his. Naruto caught on to this and smiled.

“It’s not like I don’t want you to know me. It’s just that part of my life I’d rather not discuss. You’re free to ask me other things like, um… my favorite food!”

“Ramen, right?”, she joked.

“Hey, how did you know?”

“You screamed like a siren about it back in the hospital remember?”

“Ugh… don’t remind me of that…” Naruto said, which earned Twilight a small giggle in response. He was already starting to feel better just through talking with her. They both looked up at the moon in the sky, with smiles on their faces.

Out of all the things he had been through, this was rather nice. However, he still had a promise to see through. Naruto stood up from the steps of the patio and pulled Twilight up as well. Confused, she was about to ask him just what he was doing until he spoke up.

“Would you like to dance under the moonlight, Twilight?” Naruto asked. Twilight went wide-eyed, but then smiled.

“D-dance? W-well, um… I thought you didn’t know how to dance?”

“And I thought you were going to teach me?”

“I…” She may have been the one to offer it earlier, but she didn’t expect Naruto to actually remember. Having been caught off-guard, she thought about what she should do. The books she read said nothing about this kind of situation. She’d have to wing it. She looked up at Naruto, a blush now peaking through her fur. “Alright Naruto.”

In the end, they both stood on their hind legs, hoof in hoof, dancing. In reality, it was mostly Naruto tripping almost every other step as he struggled to keep up with Twilight’s rhythm. Slowly but surely, he got the steps down and eventually they were traveling across the grass in sync. Under the moonlight, they danced the night away, with the sounds of crickets as their choir and Luna’s moon as their only witness.

A pony then suddenly appears from a random part of darkness, with a story book in its hoofs. Black and gray stripes adorn this pony’s figure, with flashy gold jewelry adorning its face… she closes the brown and ancient looking tome, looks towards the audience, and spoke out loud: