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

by DragonLS

CH20: Purpose (Revised)

Special Thanks:

Editors: DaMobbs

After their impromptu dance, Twilight asked Naruto if he wanted to sleep at the library for the night. He declined, saying that he needed to get used to his new house and Gary did mention there being a bed in one the guestrooms. Twilight was a little saddened but agreed with his reasoning and bid him a good night.

After their farewells, he stepped into his new home. Dust moved through the air, disturbed by his entrance, and floated haphazardly in the moonlight streaming in through a window. Piles of broken wood and other debris lay on the floor in seemingly random spots. Naruto sighed, taking in the sight of the messy interior. He wondered if he could even get this house fixed up by himself. Not only that, but it would probably require a substantial amount of bits that he didn’t have.

He was no carpenter, but he knew enough to get by. His old apartment always needed some kind of work done, whether it be plugging up rat holes or patching the roof. No one in his own village would really help with the repairs, so he always flew solo, so to speak. At least I still remember which end of the hammer is the business end, he thought.

He maneuvered his way through the mess that was the main hall and opened the door to the guest room. Besides the bed and closet, it was unfurnished. The mattress was ripped and torn but there was a pillow and bed-sheet in a tangled mess lying on the floor next to it. He cursed himself for telling Twilight he would be fine for the night and he was already regretting it. He couldn’t turn tail and tell her that he changed his mind; His pride wouldn’t let him. He needed to be a man, or stallion, and deal with the cards he’d been dealt. He picked up the sheets with his mouth to only spit them out a moment later, his tongue now covered in what he hoped was dust. The sheet sent up a small cloud of dust as it hit the ground, sending him into a coughing fit. He made a mental note of getting the dust cleaned up at least.

Thankfully, there was a window inside the room. He dashed to the windowsill and threw open the windows, allowing the room to ventilate. The dust began to filter out into the night, leaving behind nothing but a few stray particles of dust and breathable air. Naruto coughed a couple more times, taking deep breaths of the clean night air. Once he could breath without devolving into a coughing fit, he brought his head back in. The only object of interest in the room aside from the bed was the closet. He cautiously stepped over to it. The wood it was made of looked rather old, possibly meaning that this was an antique of some sorts. With a shrug, he swung open the doors to reveal the bare interior, save for a pair of hangers.

He grinned. Well, ain’t that something, he thought. In a fluid motion, he unzipped his jacket and took it off, carefully making sure that it didn’t touch the floor. He grabbed a hanger with his mouth and wrapped the shoulders around its’ arms. Unfortunately, it didn’t want to stay on the hangar when he tried to zip it up. He sighed as he used his tails to keep the hanger and jacket in place before zipping it up with a spare hoof. After placing it on the rack, he closed the old, wooden doors before taking another look at where he’d be sleeping for the night.

While the stained, white mattress was torn up, the sheet that flung up the dust storm was strangely intact. He patted it a few more times to make sure that all of the dust was gone. Nothing came out after a few pats with his hoof so he picked it up and flung it over the bed along with the pillow. As he forcefully knocked out the bumps in the mattress, something kept bugging him. Why was there a perfectly intact sheet in an unused house next to a tattered and broken down mattress? Perhaps the mattress itself was in this house for a very long time, but then what about the sheets and the pillow? 

“But it doesn’t make sense… Gary said the house was unoccupied for five years now…”

Regardless, he’d take just about any mattress over the cold hard wood floor any day of the week. Crawling under the bed sheet, he took off his Konoha headband and placed it across from him, staring at it like one stares at an old friend.

“It’s been a week already and so much has happened… Appearing in Equestria, turned into a pony, and already I’ve risked my life to save someone else…”, he said, talking to his reflection on the band.

He still had memories of Konoha, his home… The home he grew up in. Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, Gaara, Bushy Brows, and…

“Sasuke…”

Back in his world, Naruto was dead. There was no way back. With his old friends forcibly abandoned and his original mission all for naught… what was keeping him from jumping off the next cliff he came across? Was it because of his new found pony friends here in Ponyville?

He grumbled as he tossed around under the bed sheet. He didn’t know what to expect from the future. He’d lost everything, and now Sasuke was stuck to his fate, whatever that might be. He hoped that everyone else would find him and knock some sense into him in his place.

For the second time today, he cried.

“There he is! Don’t let him get away!”

“No… please, leave me alo—ah!?”

“Demon! Go back to the hell hole you came from! Take another rock for good measure!”

“What did I ever do to you? Why are you calling me a demon? I just want some fo—urgh!?”

“You’ll get no sympathy from me demon! What about that piece of bread you stole from my store!?”

“I-I was hungry, no one would help me, and I—“

“SHUT UP! You have no right to tell us that!”

“Yeah, we should kill you just for good measure!”

“Damn straight!”

“Kill the demon!”

“No… No…! NO!”

Princess stood there, in the dark, dank sewer that was her home, and watched Naruto’s dream unfold before her eyes like one would watch a television screen. She rubbed her chin with a paw and frowned.

“Such disturbing dreams Mommy has… and this demon these villagers call him… is it Daddy?” From where she stood, she didn’t know the entire story, but it was simple enough to understand. Mommy had had a rough time growing up and it was all thanks to her Daddy. Those naive villagers had no idea what they were dealing with.

Her tails started to glow with a ferocious red aura as they pointed down at the ground. A puff of smoke appeared where the tip of her tails was place and a small red cushion materialized. She sighed happily as she sat down, satisfied with her soft cushion. However, that didn’t change the fact that she wasn’t happy with Naruto’s dream.

“Such a tortured soul… and I’m just making it worse even now…” Princess grinned.

“And yet… it made him stronger than before, except for the constant yelling. He must have grown quite tolerable with torture. I wonder what-”

“Who gave you permission to look at my dreams?”

Princess raised a brow in surprise as she heard a rather familiar voice from behind her. She turned her head to find that her blonde ‘Mommy’ had come to pay her an unexpected visit.

“Don’t blame me. We are in the same body, so it’s only natural I see the things that you do. Even ‘I’ cannot help it,” she said as she glanced at her magnificent, orange tails with a distant look. “These powers of mine are truly interesting… a shame I don’t have full control over it yet…” She grinned evilly. “…or else I’d be using your body to make my mark on this land.”

Naruto merely scoffed at her comment. “You definitely got your personality from the Kyuubi,” he said with a hint of laughter laced with a stern tone,”but there’s no way you’re taking over my body, not if I can help it. Believe it!” He was ready for just about anything she could throw at him.

Princess couldn’t help but chuckle. Seeing her mommy throw a fit over her words was definitely worth it. “Calm down, I am merely kidding… well, mostly.” She looked back at where Naruto’s memories were being displayed and sighed. “Tell me, how do you live with memories like these?”

Naruto blinked. He didn’t expect that. “Uh, what?”

“You’ve been tortured and mocked by people in your past. How do you cope with it?”, she asked again.

Naruto opened his mouth to answer but closed it just as quickly. This was something he had never shared with his closest of friends and now Princess was asking him about it like one asks about the weather. Sure, she shared his body but that didn’t mean she had earned the right to ask him such a personal question. Thinking about the past brought back memories of pain, misery and loneliness that he hadn’t experienced since those dark days. Was it hope, or maybe determination to stay alive through all that?

Naruto merely shrugged. “I didn’t want to give up, and I wanted to think that I had a bright future ahead of me. But I don’t see how it should matter to you. My dreams and my experiences are my business, not yours Princess. Leave it at that.”

Princess gave a small chuckle. “You can’t tell me what to do, Naruto. Or would you like to experience nearly dying once more?”

Naruto visibly flinched when she said that. He certainly didn’t want to go through that again, but he sighed in frustration.

“Just give me some leeway, alright?”

“I can’t promise that, Mommy. I see what you see and you’ve piqued my curiosity. Do you realize how boring it is in here? Seeing the outside world through your eyes gives me entertainment. Remember the Manticore? Now that was funny… he was treating you like a makeshift hammer!”, she said while stifling her laughter.” Oh oh, or that one time that you knocked Blackie out or when that Gary guy body slammed him... You seem to have nothing but violence around you...” Her laughter stopped and was replaced with a malicious grin, ”...and I like that.”

“Please shut up… I didn’t want to harm them, but they left me with no choice.”

“Psh… that’s boring… You need more violence in your life, Naruto. Especially…” She said with a grin. “When those villagers were pelting you with ro—“

She didn’t get a chance to finish as Naruto shoved his tails into Princess’s mouth. Princess went wide-eyed and cursed herself for letting her guard down.

“That’s enough! Leave my personal memories out of this!”

Princess growled as she flung her tails at Naruto, slamming him against a nearby wall and pinning him there. Naruto struggled to get out of her hold but was powerless to do so. She had the upper hand here. She spat on the ground.

“Hmph, you don’t have a choice in the matter. You think you can go all ‘personal and upset’ with your own memories, but all you do is whine and never share anything. Where’s the fun in keeping it all to yourself when you can share it with the others? I’m sure they’ll get a good laugh at it.”

Naruto raised his front hoof with a growl and tried to punch Princess with it, but it was quickly pinned by one of her other nine tails. She smiled wickedly.

“Nah ah ah… You wouldn’t want to do something you’ll regret. I can get angry when you get angry. I can get happy when you’re happy, and I can get sad when you get sad… Or I could just torture you all day long and hear your cries of agony that brings me so much joy…”

Princess stared at him for a moment, before unpinning him with a sigh. Naruto grunted as he landed on the ground and shook his head. He glared at her as she shrugged.

“…But I don’t really feel like doing those things. Just remember we share one body, and you nor I have a choice in this.”

“Tell me, what gave you the right to be the decision maker, you spoiled princess?”

“Because I AM spoiled, like you said. Princesses are supposed to be spoiled, are they not?”

Naruto stayed silent after that. She had no right in invading Naruto’s own personal memories and dreams but she had a point. He had no control over this, but she did: Complaining about it would only get him a slap in the head with one of her tails. He took a deep breath before letting it out slowly, trying to relax his body. He turned away from Princess and took up staring at the opposite wall.

“…Princess, look, I’m trying not to think about it, alright? I don’t want to be reminded of the past, especially since I had to fight for survival to get where I am now. It’s even worse that I died in my old world.” He turned around so he could get a clear look at her face. “We both lost something here, something important. You lost your father and I lost my old life. So please Princess, I’m asking you nicely... Please stop prying.”

Princess scratched her chin with her paw, pondering how to answer Naruto.

“I’ll do what I want,” she said with a shrug.

It seemed reasoning with her was out of the question if she was going to give this attitude. He sighed as he rubbed his head, feeling a headache coming on; Funny, seeing he was actually inside his own head at the time.

“Oh, by the way Mommy…”

“Why are you calling me Mommy?”, he snapped out.

“Be quiet and listen.”

Naruto raised a brow. “What does she want to say now?”

Princess walked up to Naruto, looked at him quizzically, and grinned.

“Have you ever pondered what a pony’s head tastes like?”

The question caught Naruto off-guard. He was going to ask if he heard her wrong, but when he blinked, his vision was filled with razor sharp teeth and a deep, dark mouth.

“AHH!”

Naruto found himself in mid descent, the floor quickly closing the distance to his head. He threw his forehooves up, managing to catch himself an inch or two from the floor. He propelled him off the floor and into the air before landing on all fours. He quickly looked around to find that he was back in his room. It was brighter inside the room than before, which probably meant that it was sometime in the morning. He placed his hooves on his head, making sure it was firmly attached to his neck and sighed in relief when it was in its’ place.

“That brat needs to stop scaring me…”

If Naruto was going to go back where Princess was every time he slept, it would probably kill him... Or maybe it wouldn’t, but he didn’t know regardless.

After getting up and setting the bed sheet back into its proper place, he took a quick look around the room, and noticed that it wasn’t as dusty as before. It was still dusty, but at least there wasn’t clouds of the stuff hanging around like last night.

He looked out of the open window to find the sun just starting to crest over the distant mountains.

“It’s still early…”

His first day by himself, and he didn’t know what to do with himself. He could always go check up on Twilight if he wanted, but he needed to be alone. He needed to think. With no way back, no plans for the future, and having Princess in the back seat all the time, just what was he going to do? Find a job and live out the rest of his confused life amongst these ponies?

“What would be the point?” He muttered out loud. Everything that he knew, everyone that knew him, anything that he did back then didn’t matter. No matter what he did, he was stuck here, and he had to live with it. No matter how hard it was to let go, he had to. He had to leave his old life behind...

An audible grumbling sound came from below him. He looked down and saw his stomach visibly grumbling. He gave a small sigh.

“So much for ‘being alone’ today…”

After pulling on his jacket, he left his house in lieu of finding food at Ponyville square. It was a quiet and cool morning and it took him only a few minutes to make it to the market stands. Looking around, only a couple stalls were open despite it being early morning. Naruto assumed that every stand had to set up early if they wanted to meet their end with customers. Probably just too early then, he thought.

 Naruto looked at a couple of stands that had already opened, to see if there was anything that stood out. Fruits, vegetables, and even books were on a few of the stands. However, that wasn’t what he wanted. The entire time he had been here, he had ate nothing but a vegetarian diet. He wanted, no, he NEEDED meat and absolutely nothing could be a substitute for his sole source of energy: Ramen.

But regardless, he needed meat. He looked at each open stall, hoping for one of them to have a stock of meat of some kind, whether it be fish or beef, but each one yielded no results. He even tried to ask some of the merchants if they knew anypony that sold meat, but their response was a glare and a ‘get out’ attitude. He wondered why they would be in a sour mood about meat. Unless…

“Do ponies even eat meat around here?” He wasn’t an expert on ponies, but he did recall that horses and ponies ate mostly greens. Surely horses eat some kind of meat, right? Right!?

Naruto merely shook his head. Whether it would be steak, fish, pork, or anything meat related… The thought of a succulent piece of pork grilled to perfection made his mouth water. Maybe he could just eat a pony and be done with this craving?

……

Naruto’s eyes widened in shock and fear. Had he just thought about eating a pony!? Naruto shook his head. No, he wouldn’t do such a thing to such peaceful creatures. Not to mention that he was seriously indebted to a few of them, Twilight Sparkle being the primary pony.

“I wonder what she’s doing right now…”

Having to reluctantly give up on his search for meat, he settled on buying a pair of apples from the apple stand. They were a bit each, so they weren’t expensive by any means. After giving two bits to the apple merchant, he took one in each of his tails and proceeded to take a big chunk out of the first one. He munched on it as the juicy apple-y goodness filled his mouth. One thing was for sure, it was damn tasty.

As he walked through town, he noticed that some ponies were staring at him, some with curiosity and others with fear. Naruto was used to such treatment so he could tell that they were staring. He turned his head to look back at the staring ponies, but as he did, they went back to whatever they were doing beforehand.

He assumed that is was because of what he was wearing. A couple already told him that to his face, but something bugged was still bugging him… was it about something else or was it really all about his jacket?

As he finished the apple, he used his tail to throw the core into a nearby trashcan, which went in perfectly. He was starting to get used to moving his tails and using them for precise movements. Princess’s influence maybe?

“YIPPEEEEEE!”

A sudden squeal from above shocked Naruto, causing him to drop his last apple. He looked up at where the sound was coming from. He didn’t see anything at first, but as the squeal got closer, the source became more apparent and pink...

…and landed square on his back.

To be more precise, a hyperactive pink pony landed on his back, her hooves digging into his back. Naruto grunted in pain as he tried to lift himself up. The pony merely began to laugh up a storm.

“Omigoshomigosh that was fun! I wanna do it again!” She said as she clapped her front hooves together.

Hello to you too, Pinkie Pie, he thought sarcastically. To be honest, he wasn’t really angry but more along the lines of completely perplexed at how she managed to get that high up in the air. Ponies don’t just fall from the sky. But then again, it IS Pinkie Pie.

“Urgh… Pinkie, get off me… Your hooves hurt…” He grumbled. Pinkie Pie looked down and gasped as she immediately got off of him.

“Naruto? What are you doing you silly filly? Did you come to catch me?”

“Yes, I came all the way here, laid out on the ground and waited fo-No of course not! You appeared out of nowhere and landed on me!”

“Whoops, sorry! Hee hee!”  She said, giggling like it was no big deal. Naruto just sighed as he got on his legs and popped his spine back into alignment.

“Ugh… it’s okay; just don’t do that again, alright?” He said while Pinkie hopped around him. “How can she be so carefree when disaster strikes? It’s like she’s not afraid of anything and just laughs her troubles away…”

Some ponies passed them by walking the way that Naruto had came from talking to each other. He noticed that it was two mares, one a light cyan unicorn and the other a pale cream earth pony that had a mane of navy blue with a pink stripe. He could have sworn that one of the ponies had a cutie mark shaped like a harp: Was her talent making music with a harp then?

“There’s a new unicorn in town?” The light cyan colored unicorn said.

“Yeah, some blue unicorn with a caravan came in and she’s boasting about how she’s the greatest magic user than anypony in Equestria!”

“Wow, really? She must have a lot of guts to say something like that!”

“I know, right? Wanna go see what it’s all about?”

“Sure, why not? If she’s as great and powerful as she says, it’s got me curious! Let’s go!”

As they passed by, chatting amongst themselves, he couldn’t help but wonder who this unicorn was. He had nothing better to do either, except Pinkie Pie hopping around him.

“Stay still Pinkie, I need to tell you something. What were those two talking about?”

“Oh, you mean Lyra and Bonbon? It sounds like they’re talking about that new unicorn in town!”

Pinkie didn’t say anymore and kept bouncing up and down, leaving Naruto slightly confused.

“…and?”

“And that’s it! Ooh, she’s supposed to be the greatest at magic in all of Equestria!”

“It sounds like Pinkie was only repeating what those two ponies have said, which means she’s as clueless as I am…” Naruto thought.

“Hmm… I see… Still, it might be worth checking out… oh, by the way Pinkie…”

“Hmmmmm?”

“What were you doing in the sky?”

Pinkie laughed and shrugged.

“I don’t know. I just felt like flying through the sky.”

“But you don’t have wings,” Naruto said incredulously.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t try to fly.”

“But you could have gotten hurt.”

“Nopony gets hurt by flying silly. Even I know that!”

“That’s not what I meant, I mean… HOW did you get into the sky to begin with?”, he said, his frustration already reaching the breaking point.

“Oh! How did I get up in the sky? Well, why didn’t you just ask that in the first place!? Hmm…”, Pinkie said, tapping the side of her head with her hoof. Naruto stood there, waiting for a good explanation as to how a ground-bound pony could fly.

She shrugged.

“I don’t know. But it was fun!”

Naruto face-hoofed.

“Damn ponies…”