//------------------------------// // Chaos Awakens! // Story: The Truth of Bonds and Friendship // by Gadman85 //------------------------------// Cheerliee sighed as she brought all of the class back to Ponyville from their trip to Canterlot. The trio of Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, who called themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders, once again got in to trouble. She really hoped they didn’t cause any real problems. It was odd, but she could have sworn she saw Discord’s statue cracking. She had never seen that before when she visited the Royal Garden. It gave her a bit of an ominous feeling. {-} {-} {-} Naruko gave a yawn as she walked by Princess Luna’s side. Princess Luna chuckled, “Tired, are we?” Naruko nodded. “I don’t see how you can do it. I think I might actually prefer paperwork to long drawn out meetings… And that terrifies me,” Naruko said as the Night Princess gave a laugh. “We shall say it is eons of practice, but even I do get bored of them as well. It was at least a very important meeting. I swear it feels like half of the meetings I have been to over the eons were planning for the other half of the meetings. This one was at least on how to approach expanding the patrol finally,” Princess Luna said with a smile. “It will mean more paperwork for me, but I’m happy about this change. I think I already have a few ponies in mind for some of the other contingents. I’m not entirely sure, but Trixie has been spending lots of time figuring out how we work and she’s been wishing to meet with me to tell me something lately, even after I helped her apologize to Rarity. She’s even asked about the expansion phase,” Naruko said with a smile. Princess Luna gave a chuckle. “No doubt she will make for an interesting patrol member. Maybe even Captain for Hooffington if she does want to be a member and you are willing to train her even more.” Naruko smiled as she teasingly asked, “Is that an order from my Princess and Boss?” “We prefer to think of it as a Royal Request,” Luna said acting extra regal. She held her royal pose for a moment before then giggling and saying, “But yes, it is more or less an order. If she wants to volunteer like you believe and passes your tests, I want you training her so she will be able to lead Hooffington since they are a top priority. I shall look more into Bon Bon’s friend who tried to recruit her for S.M.I.L.E. and set up a way for them to meet and Bon Bon can propose she try for the Ever-Free. We will have to take a more active approach to recruiting at least at first.” “Sounds good. Bon Bon really wants her friend away from S.M.I.L.E. believing she will be happier in the Ever-Free Patrol,” Naruko said. “Shall we have some royal tea before you depart?” Princess Luna asked. Sadly, before Naruko could answer they heard a shout from the stained-glass window room. “Discord!” Princess Celestia shouted. “Come,” Princess Luna ordered as she sped off towards her sister. If that name was mentioned, it was something truly important. Naruko followed with haste. {-} {-} {-} Princess Celestia was seething. Discord took the elements and she had to send Twilight and the others off to find them. She had no idea why he would put them in the maze like Twilight said, but he was Discord. He seldom did things that made any real sense. “Sister!” Luna shouted as she burst into the hall. “Ohh… Luna… he’s back… I couldn’t do anything to help Twilight and the others. He hid the elements somewhere,” Princess Celestia admitted sadly. “Where are they?” Naruko asked in a determined voice. “In the Royal Maze. Twilight said he hid the elements there according to his riddle,” Celestia said. “Why would he do that?” Naruko asked. “Discord isn’t known for logic and making sense exactly,” Princess Luna said. Naruko nodded. “I’ll go see if I can help them,” she said before teleporting out of the castle to the maze. {-} {-} {-} Discord gave a chuckle as he watched the ponies wander the maze. He wasn’t sure why it was Twilight thought the elements were there, but who was he to ruin their fun. His eyes actually flinched as he felt a power of some kind headed his way. It was rather large and there was another part of it as well off somewhere separate that seemed to be even larger possibly. “Interesting…” he thought as his unexpected guest arrived. He looked over his shoulder to see a unicorn mare with her mane styled in two large side tails looking angry. “That’s a scary face,” he admitted even if he sounded like he was teasing. It actually did unsettle him a bit. It wasn’t a face a pony usually wore even when angry. “Though…” he said as he faced her properly. “I’m afraid you’re too late to join your friends in their little game and I simply can’t end it until it is over.” “What did you do to them?” Naruko asked staring at him. Reading him or at least trying to do so. She had a hard time getting over how strange he looked. She had never really seen a creature that was truly a mishmash of parts like Discord. “All I did was add a little extra challenge. They’re the ones who wanted to get to the middle of the maze. And you are? After all, I Discord, need no introduction,” he said with a smirk. “Naruko…” she replied. He pretended to cheer while wearing an excited school girl outfit as he said, “I’ve heard so much about you!” He then brought out a pen and paper. “Can I have your autograph?!” In answer, Naruko charged at him. Discord dodged as she disappeared. He then was barely able to block a solid buck to his head with his eagle claw. He then backed out of range of a magic beam attack. “Not one for chatter I see?” he said boxing the air. Naruko levitated a rock she sent his way fast. He turned it into sand and barely dodged a forehoof punch enhanced by magic. This pony actually knew how to fight. He didn’t even think such ponies existed anymore. He was actually getting to be a fan of her in his own way. Discord attacked with a tail whip, but Naruko managed to move just out of the way and forced him to teleport away in defense. She was good and had good skills. Had he not teleported she would have landed a hit on him. He then heard a whirling sound above her horn. His eyes actually widened in surprise. She was containing a lot of highly compressed energy in that and the force of the rotation was not something he wanted to experience. He disappeared to get further away again. “I’m sure I’m safe, there is no wa-” he had to break off his thoughts as Naruko managed to disappear and reappear near his head again… He was only able to dodge due to his serpentine dragon body. He was shocked when he heard the impact and saw a spiral mark on the surface of the giant rock right behind him. Then it exploded outwards on the back side. He’d never seen a move like that before. “You’re not an Element… But there is something about you. Something dangerous that could be both distracting and entertaining,” Discord said with a small smile. “I think. You deserve something special…” he said as he grinned at her. Naruko felt uneasy. She couldn’t help her friends in the maze and it annoyed her. It also felt as if Discord was actually taking her a little more seriously than he did at the start. “It seems you really care for your ‘friends’,” he said before a light bulb appeared above his head. “That gives me an idea. It’s been a while since I used that spell… Well actually its been a while since I did anything. Being turned to stone is really a total bummer, dude… I’m also a bit stiff I’m afraid.” He snapped his lion’s paw and Naruko’s world faded out. “That spell’s a real doozy. I wonder what will happen to her… Oh well! It isn’t like it will actually affect me or anything,” he said with a chuckle. There was a smaller version of himself shaking his head and figuring this would ultimately end up being a big mistake. Discord didn’t listen to that side of him though, it ran on horrible things like logic and brains. The spell he used on her was actually an old favorite of his. He called it the Dream Reality. It took into account the pony’s past experiences, memories, desires, emotions and drive into account. It then sprinkled in a little of the victim’s fears as well, which made for a very convincing dream reality. It would keep the victim locked away and helpless until they either died, or he simply got bored of it and turned it off. The spell formed a small weak link between him and the victim so he could peek in whenever he was curious. It really was the perfect spell for any species born on the planet. He made a habit of using it on troublesome opponents. The only problem with this plan of his, though he didn’t know it at the time, was that Naruko wasn’t born on the same planet. The small spike in energy he felt once he cast the spell on her also changed the effects, even though he didn’t know it. {-} {-} {-} Naruko’s world reappeared and she blinked her eyes wondering what she was just dreaming about while she rested under a tree next to Twilight. Twilight looked even more lovely under the sun like this. She smiled brightly to Naruko as their friends laughed and giggled in the distance. Naruko felt a little wrong like she shouldn't really be here, but she also felt warm, and loved in this place. It was really odd, but she focused on the warmth and love she felt. She then blushed as Twilight stood up. “Want to join them?” she asked. “Nah. I’m good here…” Naruko said with an easy smile. “I’m getting us a couple of drinks then. I think I know the real reason you want to stay down there,” Twilight giggled and as she left she swished her tail just a little bit to side as she looked back and winked at Naruko. Naruko took in a breath and let out a soft moan of comfort as it got slightly darker again. {-} {-} {-} Fluttershy hated this maze. She hated being away from her friends. She also felt a little scared as she walked forward, but she continued regardless. Her friends were counting on her. Something up ahead caught her eye. She saw what looked like butterflies, “Wait! Come back here!” she said as she chased them. Butterflies were not only her favorite critter, but they would also be really useful here in this maze. She may not be able to fly but they could. She was planning on talking to them and getting their help with tracking down her friends. “Left behind again, Fluttershy?” the butterflies said to her. She found it odd but interesting they were actually talking to her like this. Maybe they were a rare breed kept around the castle. “We’re just working separately right now. I’m sure they will do all they can to find me.” “So sad being so weak and helpless. Always having to rely on others,” the group said to her. “I do still have a long way to go in my training, so I am kind of weak and helpless at the moment,” she said softly with a small smile. Discord had to keep focused because this pony’s smile even got to him. “Surely… It bothers you. Especially always having to face that truth everyday…” “Not really. My friends still care for me and help me when they can. And facing my flaws is key for me to find my balance,” she replied with a smile. “For crying out loud! You are far to kind, my dear! It is time to be cruel,” he said as he reached out to touch her with a claw and force the change on her. Fluttershy actually dodged his attempt and summoned her spear. It was a bit harder to use in this circumstance. She had to hold it in her teeth instead of her hooves while she flew or hovered. “This is also new…” Discord said as he dodged a rather clumsy swipe of one of the spear’s bladed ends. Fortunately, it seemed Fluttershy wasn’t as used to fighting as Naruko was. He still had to dodge several attacks despite this, so he wouldn't get hit. Fluttershy even threw it up in the air as she grabbed it and tried her best to balance on her hind legs as she jabbed at him a few times with it. Discord hadn’t expected this at all. “Where did you get that?” he asked. “You may have hidden the elements, but my connection is still there to Kindness,” Fluttershy answered as she threw the spear at him while it spun through the air. “Since when did the Element of Kindness have a weapon?!” he asked as he teleported out of the thing’s path as it sprung back to Fluttershy and she caught it in her mouth. She was actually surprised by this as well, but she went with it. Perhaps her training had been paying off a little bit. Who knew Angle Bunny knew the finer points of magical spear combat. She did first have to get over how cute she found him with his stick he used for demonstrations. Discord dodged another attack from her and managed to finally get his claw on her forehead. Fluttershy’s eyes swirled and she felt very dizzy for a moment and swayed before she collapsed on her behind. “Well the color’s not exactly to my liking…” he said looking her over. She still more or less looked the same color wise. “Color matching advice from you?! Have you seen yourself in a mirror? You don’t know the first thing about good color choice,” Fluttershy said with a scoff. “But the attitude is right on point,” he said as he disappeared with a grin. “Come back here! I’ll give you a point! From my spear!” she called to him. The bushes behind Fluttershy fell down and Twilight was there. She smiled and said, “Fluttershy! So good to see you.” Fluttershy was actually a little disappointed. She was supposed to be asleep until her goody two hooves side finally got smart and sought to become whole. She gave a snort as she said, “Can’t say the same for you. Luna! I miss my wings… Walking’s going to be such a pain.” Twilight was a little worried at how Fluttershy seemed to be acting, but she supposed the stress really was high. “Let’s go and find the others. Then we can get the elements and beat Discord,” she said. “Ugh… Wish you could just magic them to us,” Fluttershy said as she rolled her eyes. She then blushed a little bit and said in an unapologetic sounding voice, “Sorry…” “It’s okay…” Twilight said with a sniff. “I really hope what Naruko and I did wasn’t undone by that horn removal thing…” she said not really meaning to be heard. Fluttershy snorted. “You mean you and Naruko actually did something other than just read books in that library?” “It was after the Gala, but yes we do actually do things other than just read books. Naruko’s not really a book kind of mare. She’ll read, but it isn’t something she loves anywhere near as much as me,” Twilight said wishing her marefriend could be there to help them out. “Wait! Does that mean you and Naruko are actually like, together?” Fluttershy said with a stunned voice that wasn’t really cheerful at the revelation. Twilight blushed. “Oh ummm… Yeah… We are. We planned on waiting to tell every-” “Damn…” Fluttershy interrupted Twilight. “What?! Is something wrong with that?” Twilight asked. “Oh no… Nothing is wrong… It just means Naruko’s off the market,” she said a little grumpy. “Wait?! You had feelings for her?! Since when? You never said anything about it?” Twilight said. “Helllooo… I’m me… too shy for her own good Fluttershy. Aren’t you my friend? Shouldn’t you have figured out I’m not exactly the most forthcoming pony? It was kind of back during the whole temple in the forest thing. We had a moment. I wanted it to go on further, but when I asked her if she really didn’t remember much from her past. She kind of shot me down and told me to sleep. I’m pretty sure she was deflecting since she didn’t outright say no,” she said. Twilight paused in her step. “Are you okay, Fluttershy? You’re really acting different. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but I am a little concerned.” “Oh yes totally fine… What can I say? Losing your wings kind of changes a girl. The only things you need to worry about are stopping Discord and keeping your marefriend interested in you. Not like she has a lack of options,” she said adding enough extra sway to show how sexy she was while walking in front of Twilight. “Who’s deflecting now…” Twilight muttered knowing Fluttershy didn’t really answer her question. She then steamed a little as she noticed Fluttershy’s sway and the pony’s smirk seemingly aimed at her. Fluttershy was totally being mean and playing off on her insecurities. {-} {-} {-} Derpy didn’t know what happened, but she knew what the captain’s orders would be. She quickly organized the others to bring all the ponies they could to HQ. It was surprising how well that worked, even if it wasn't well enough. There was one thing that was on her mind while doing a second evacuation. “Be safe, Naruko…” she thought as some more ponies headed into the so far unaffected HQ. Perhaps Discord didn't care about it. Perhaps they were too close to the Ever Free Forest and even his magic couldn't do much to the area. {-} {-} {-} Naruko blinked as she took in her surroundings. Things seemed normal to her and she wasn’t sure what had just happened. “Was it a dream?” she wondered. Naruko felt really happy at the moment. She was with Twilight after a Rarity makeover that didn’t get out of hoof and the other elements, her best friends were hanging out with them as well. “Hey silly!” Pinkie said with a smile. “It’s about time you woke up! We’re about to play pin the tail on the pony. Winner gets best selection of the pies. I made sure to give them all extra care just for this game.” Naruko smiled brightly. “I have the best girlfriend in the universe and the best friends in the universe. This is amazing! Sadly, I will defeat you all,” she said with a smirk and a giggle her friends matched as Twilight blushed at the high praise Naruko gave her. As they played their games, Naruko noticed what looked like a glitch in the universe. Her friends’ smiles distorted for a moment. She also saw dark eyes with red pupils flash in front of her. The eyes looked disappointed for some reason. “What was that?” Naruko asked no pony in particular. “Huh? What did you see?” Twilight asked as Rainbow made a pervy joke that caused AJ to blush and the others to snicker a little bit. “I thought I saw something… It was dark… Kind of scary the way it just appeared,” Naruko admitted. “Was it that voice again? You do realize I am your marefriend right? I’m not leaving you anywhere, so there is no reason to listen to it anymore. I’m also more than willing to enjoy… certain things… just not in front of the others. Let’s enjoy the pony games Pinkie has in store for us. Then I’ll get your mind off of that voice in private,” Twilight said with a big grin. Naruko blushed as Twilight bumped her flank with Naruko’s. Twilight gave a giggle. Things seemed to glitch again and she heard a voice say to her, “That would be nice. If Twilight was actually like that currently!” Naruko blinked and shook her head for a moment before smiling at the others and joining them in their fun. She was taking Twilight’s offer for sure, later. For now, she really wanted the tastiest of Pinkie’s pies she brought. {-} {-} {-} Applejack was foolishly following a massive number of rolling apples. She couldn’t help it despite knowing better. They just took too much of her attention and there was something drawing her to follow. “What the?!” she said as some strange apple creatures seemed to appear before her. “What in the hay is going on here?” “We’re the keepers of the grove of truth! Ask us a question past, present, or future and we will answer it truthfully,” the things said in turn as they encircled her. “But be warned. For the truth is not always pleasant,” they said. “Okay then… What to ask…,” Applejack hummed in thought. “I don’t really trust nothing in this here maze and especially that Discord Fella…” She then thought of a question. She knew she would be wasting it more or less, but it would be interesting to hear the answer. “Where is Naruko originally from?” she asked with a bit of a smirk. She didn’t know the answer, but she had a feeling something was up here and she usually trusted her instincts. “The answer is not very pleasant… Are you sure?” the things asked. “I wouldn’t have asked otherwise,” she stated. Discord actually gulped. That wasn’t something he could just throw out there. He had to think quickly. These ponies were giving him more of a workout than he thought, even if it was still entertaining. “Wouldn’t you know already? Seems like a waste of a question. You are her friend are you not?” “Ah think. Truth ain’t what yer peddling. Ah think all ya’ll are doing is lying,” she said as she got in one of the thing’s faces. Discord thought about shouting touché but instead he smirked. Applejack fell for his trap in a way at least. “Well sometimes. A lie is easier to swallow than the truth,” the thing said as it reached out and touched her head and the spell took effect on her. It was much more satisfactory with how Applejack’s color changed than with Fluttershy. Discord wondered what happened there with the yellow pony as he laughed and planned his next visit. “Applejack! Good to see you again. Is everything okay here? I thought I heard voices,” Twilight asked. “Too easy… Fluttershy, leave the little pony alone…” Fluttershy mumbled just loud enough for Twilight to hear her and give her a look. “Like I was saying, Applejack,” she said again. “Yep…” Applejack said her face looking weird as if she seemed to be swallowing the lie she just said. “Nothing wrong here. Ah weren’t saying nothing to no pony what so ever. In fact, I weren’t talking at all.” Applejack’s face looked strange again as she walked back into the maze. Fluttershy rolled her eyes. “Really?” she said flatly. “Why did she… lie?” Twilight asked in wonder. Applejack was a terrible liar and so she never really did. There was also the fact she was the element of Honesty. First Fluttershy was acting strange then Applejack was. Twilight was worried all of the others would be as well. {-} {-} {-} Pinkie heard a lot of laughter and watched as several colorful balloons were coming her way. She started laughing as well. “I’ve never seen laughing Balloons before!” she said with a smile. She wasn’t watching her step and ended up tripping and smacking her head into the ground. “Oww…” she cried a little. The laughter around her increased in volume and amount. “H-h-hey… That’s not right,” she said. “What’s wrong, Pinkie? You’re the one going on about how laughing is always the best answer,” one of the balloons said. “This is different… They’re laughing at me… that isn’t right,” she said. “It’s not different. Your friends laugh at you all the time,” the balloon said. “No… They laugh with me. With me… They laugh with me,” she said as her lower lip quivered. The laughing continued. “Stop that!” she yelled. “Don’t be silly, Pinkie… They’re always laughing at you,” The balloon said as it popped in front of her. The others soon followed suit. “I’m not happy at all. Laughter doesn’t make anypony happy!” Pinkie said as she glared at her reflection in a nearby puddle. “Is this the opposite? Is this what I needed for that supposed balance?” she asked it. Pinkie shuddered and changed back a bit. “No. This isn’t what you need for your balance,” she seemed to say to herself in a voice that sounded like Pinkie but was actually serious. Pinkie then heard laughter in the distance and growled as her moment of clarity vanished. “What was with her,” Discord wondered. He had also heard that word again. “Balance…” he said it as he drifted over to the next pony. He was getting a little tired of this game. He figured he would take care of Rarity and then use Rainbow Dash as an excuse to end the game in his favor. It shouldn’t be too hard. {-} {-} {-} The whole group of the elements were finally gathered apart from Rainbow, even if the results weren’t really what Twilight wanted. She was walking with Fluttershy, who while odd and a bit annoying, seemed very keen on keeping her company for some reason. It was really weird. It was like Fluttershy suddenly forgot how to be a friend or had never really done so before, but that made no sense. She was also mostly unintentionally mean at times and sometimes gave a seemingly halfhearted apology. It made no sense because Fluttershy was actually great at making friends or at least not mean to others. She was also with Applejack the world’s most unconvincing liar. “Ah told ya’ll my 36 times squared Grand pappy Apple Juice was the one to defeat this Discord Fella last time,” AJ said. “Then how do you explain the window we saw in the Royal Chamber,” Fluttershy asked finding some amusement in AJ’s tall tales. If things were different, Twilight might join in on the fun as well. It was kind of entertaining hearing Applejack's excuses and stories change. “Ah ain’t seen no window no how. But if ya were wondering why Celestia and Luna get the credit. It’s cause my 37 times squared Grand Pappi Pink Lady… he was a might bit confused about his stallion hood when he was born... He didn’t want none of that there fortune and fame business,” AJ explained. Fluttershy smirked and said, “Sounds like he was confused about what generation he was and his name as well, AJ.” Twilight couldn’t help but giggle a little at that along with Fluttershy. “That was pretty good,” she said. “Stop laughing at me! Go and har har at somepony else,” Pinkie said with a growl. Fluttershy rolled her eyes and said, “Just as soon as you stop claiming we’re laughing at all.” “Ah know what I told yall and I said his name was Sweet Apple Bottom Potter. He liked the ring of the four names and got it legally changed at one point on a dare,” AJ said. “Would you all be quiet!” Rarity shouted as she grunted from carrying a giant rock that was apparently the hunkiest piece of crystal clear diamond in all of existence. They just didn't have the perceptive eyes she did. “I can’t hear what he is saying to me,” she explained. “Rocks don’t talk!” Fluttershy said fed up with this rock business. Why did she have to be the only sane pony? Well Twilight counted as well she guessed, but Twilight was focused on their mission. Twilight couldn’t believe all of this. She was just glad they were almost to the center by now. Then suddenly the maze disappeared. “Okay who did that?” she asked. Fluttershy shrugged her shoulders as she got closer to Twilight for comfort. Pinkie was mumbling about the ground laughing at her now. Applejack was carrying on about how “Uncle Apple Creek talks to rocks all the time. They are very sofistimacated. From what he told us.” Rarity was giving bedroom eyes and posing seductively for the rock as known as Tom. “So very sorry! That was me. The game's over now. Somepony broke the rules,” Discord said with a mocking sorrowful voice. “I must say I am disappointed in you little ponies.” “What?! How?! None of us broke the rules,” Twilight said. “Great… Rainbow did,” Fluttershy said as she pointed a hoof in the sky as Rainbow shouted something about flying as fast as she can and raced off in a random direction. “So… When are you going to use the elements?” Discord asked with a knowing grin. “We would! But you removed the maze before we could even get to center where you hid them!” Twilight shouted in frustration. “Oh?” Discord then started to chuckle while Pinkie ranted and raved for him to stop laughing. “You really thought the elements were here?” he asked while smirking. “That’s what you said in your dumb riddle…” Twilight said with a frown. She suddenly wasn’t so sure anymore. “I never said no such thing,” he started. “Yep, he sure did say they were here specifically. Ah recall it perfectly,” AJ said. Discord suddenly had a paw around Twilight as he said, “I told you they were where you began. I thought that was obvious.” “Ah was telling them that tha whole time,” AJ falsely claimed. “Elements of Harmony in a maze? Who would do that? I mean if they were made of chocolate rainbow clouds... Then maybe I would consider it while I snacked on them. Chocolate rainbow clouds are the best,” he said with a dreamy look on his face. “I hate chocolate! And laughing!!” Pinkie shouted. “Your loss. But really you lose. Enjoy your time in the new ear kiddos! It’s going to outlast you all and be here for a long time yet,” he said as he snapped his tail and disappeared with a chuckle. {-} {-} {-} Naruko looked around and found herself in Konoha again. “Wait? Again? I never left! I got that scroll and captured Mizuki and the old man made me a ninja as thanks! This must be some strong Genjutsu to get me all mixed up like this,” she thought to herself. Naruko did the dispel hand sign and everything went back to the way it was. She may be a literal dumbass in Genjutsu, but she could pretty much dispel any and every Genjutsu. One of the benefits of her massive amounts of chakra thanks to Kyuubi. She grinned as she looked at her opponent. He was a strong ninja that made a point of dissing her, every chance he got. He had already subdued her teammates Sakura, who was also her best friend now, and Sasuke who was annoying, but still her reliable teammate. “Oho? you broke free?” the strange looking masked man said with a wicked grin. “I suppose it’s your Uzumaki blood. Your people were always super annoying. It doesn’t matter. I’ll deal with you myself!” the masked man said with an evil grin. “No, you won’t! Konoha is my home! Sakura and Sasuke are my precious people despite our fights! Our bonds are super strong. You better believe it!” she said as she faced him seriously. “Amusing! Show me how ‘strong’ your bonds are,” he said with a smirk. Naruko moved faster than he expected and there was a whirling sound as she threw her newest jutsu at him from point blank. “Noo!” he cried as he was being disintegrated. “How?!” he asked as it not only destroyed him at a cellular level, but also burned him. “You under estimated me,” Naruko said coolly to him as her teammates were saved and thanked her. “What are friends for?” she asked with a big grin. “We never leave each other behind!” she beamed to them. They smiled back and all three went to eat ramen at Ichiraku’s! {-} {-} {-} “Necklace! Necklace! Necklace! Necklace times two! Big Crown thingy! Come on everypony let’s go! That means you too, New Rainbow Dash!” Twilight said as she dragged the others outside after finding the necklaces in her library. It was even more obvious where they were once she thought on the riddle a little more. She actually wondered if a dragon could use one the elements. If they could, then Spike might actually be a better choice than Miss Fly away with my wings because I can’t dare to actually walk like a normal pony for more than just a few minutes! In other words, Ex-Rainbow Dash. She was actually fed up with the lot of them at the moment. Naruko was still MIA as well. She just wanted this over and done with. Then her ‘friends’ could just go and chew on their tails for all she cared. “Ouch! Hey!!!” Spike said as he tripped on Fluttershy’s tail and faceplanted into the ground. “Maybe you should watch where you’re going, New Rainbow. Or you could have just flown like old Rainbow would. Ohh... that’s right you don’t have your dragon wings yet,” Fluttershy scoffed as she looked away and her eyes watered a little bit. It really hurt getting your tail stepped on like that, especially when you didn’t expect it. She wasn’t going to look weak in front of the others like Weakshy would. Twilight looked around once they were outside and did a quick role call. “Let’s see the Grump!” She pointed to Pinkie. “The liar.” Applejack tried to whistle innocently. “Crueltyshy.” “Hey! I’ve put up with more than my fair share of you all! I’m not cruel!” Fluttershy said. “Yeah, well you keep threatening to steal marefriends from your friends,” Twilight said with a pointed look. “I was joking and it was just the once… I was trying to actually help you out! Naruko could have any pony she wants and you know it! Even a mare like you has to keep her constantly interested in some way,” she said with steam in her nostrils. “Wait… Twilight and Naruko?” Pinkie asked in what seemed like a moment of clarity. She even seemed to almost turn pink again instead of gray while smiling. Almost... “I didn’t hear ya’ll say nothing,” AJ lied again and again earned eye rolls from the others. Her obvious lies were getting old and not as humorous now. Why did Discord think they would believe AJ’s lies? She was so bad at them! Twilight sighed. “Yes Pinkie… We are… We were keeping it secret, but some pony had to go and spill the beans at an inconvenient time!” she glared at Fluttershy. Fluttershy frowned and sniffed as she looked away. “Sorry… You started the argument,” she said in a more traditional Fluttershy voice. Twilight almost felt sorry for getting on Fluttershy’s case now, but that was just almost. She was too angry at the moment to think about such things. She was a pony's hair away from fighting all of them. She took in a breath and sighed. It calmed her down a little but no where near enough. “So, is Rarity still dry humping the rock?” Twilight asked with a frustrated sigh as she realized who was missing. “Nope! Ah swear to ya’ll she ain’t doing no such thing to the rock. And that there is the gosh darned truth,” Applejack said. “Yeah yeah… sure…” Twilight said with a roll of her eyes. “Rarity, I swear to Celestia you better not stain the floor in there with the way your drooling over that rock.” “Humph! How dare you insult Tom by calling him a rock! He is far too handsome and ravishing and hunky to be called a rock. And he’s all MINE! MINE!!! HA HA HA!” Rarity shouted from inside. “I think I preferred it when she was wet for the Ponce…” Twilight said dryly Fluttershy giggled as she said, “Good one, Twi.” Twilight ignored her and Fluttershy sniffed again. She was really trying here you know. Friendship was other Fluttershy’s supposed expertise not her’s. She never knew it would be this difficult. She begrudgingly had a new respect for her other self. “Everypony stop laughing at me!” Pinkie shouted at Fluttershy. “Ha ha-ha ha Ha! That was me laughing at you because you’re crazier than usual and not Twilight’s joke,” Fluttershy said. “Well Ah sure say I’ve been laughing the whole time yall hear?” AJ said. Fluttershy face hoofed and sighed. “No one believes you, Applejack…” “All these ponies just don’t know how to appreciate my Apple brand of brutal honesty. That’s all it is,” AJ said. “Watch out, Everypony! Here comes Tom! Careful he’s wet on one side. Rarity was licking him, or I hope that’s all she was doing,” Twilight grumbled as she launched the rock outside. Twilight had no time for putting a filter on her mouth or being polite. Plus, the way Rarity was carrying on with the rock was really that disturbing and intimate. There was a loud laugh that echoed outside the library. “You ponies really are far too entertaining. I haven’t had this much fun in eons…Being stone is rather dull,” Discord said as he appeared in front of them. “What do we have here?” he said placing his lion’s paw on his chin as he looked them over. “Girls! Let’s do that thing with the magic and everything! There he is!” Twilight called as they… sort of lined up. “Where’s the blue one? Rainbow Dash?” he asked. Twilight huffed, “She was fired! And replaced by Rainbow Dash 2.0: Purple Edition.” She pointed to a nervous Spike who waved at Discord. “Prepare to be friend magicked back into the stone age!” Twilight said. Fluttershy snickered again at the terrible joke and Pinkie glared at her. Fluttershy stuck her tongue out at Pinkie in reply. “This is too good! Go ahead… Hit me with your best shot! Friend magic me hard!” he said as he chuckled and painted a target on his chest. Twilight then decided to call out their attack for some reason. “Elements' Attack go!!!” They were all surrounded in a mighty white aura and for a split-second Discord wondered if maybe they really were going to pull it off. Then the magic beam shot at him! Very… very... slowly and it was already heading towards the ground. To it’s credit, the hole in the ground it left did look a little deep. He laughed again. “Really? That is all?” he asked. Twilight was shocked as she looked forward. “What happened…” she wondered aloud. “Is it because of them?” she asked louder than she meant to ask. “Don’t blame me for your failure! After everything I did to try and help!” Fluttershy said looking angry before disappearing. “That wasn’t…” Twilight said and she actually could have sworn she saw tears in Fluttershy’s eyes as she shot off fast. She really did feel a little bad this time. “Well I blame you all! You keep laughing at me for no reason! All because I’m Pinkie Pie the pony clown!” she then gave a huff and left after throwing her element on the ground, which Rarity immediately claimed as her own. “Tom’s better anyways. I’ve kept him waiting too long… You know how stallions get,” Rarity said as she blushed and quickly disappeared with the rock. “AH was always telling ya’ll rocks were stallions. Yep that was all me,” AJ said before leaving. Twilight sighed. Her friends were gone. Naruko was no where to be found. “This day sucks…” she said as she let her tears fall to the ground. It was supposed to be a nice fun day at the start but it became this. She had even made plans with Naruko for tonight to celebrate the start of the expansion phase of the Ever-Free Patrol. {-} {-} {-} This time Naruko was really confused. Twilight was sitting next to her. Looking concerned at her for some reason. “Are you o-o-oklay?” she asked sounding strange. Naruko blinked as she noticed frustrated black eyes with red pupils and a face growling for a split second. “I think so… Where are the others?” she asked. “Does it re-re-really matter?” Twilight asked. Naruko looked to her confused. “Did Twilight just… glitch?” she wondered. Despite this, she took in a deep breath and her nose was assaulted with Twilight’s scent. “Wonderful…” she mused with a far too wide grin for her strange situation. “Gah! What the…” a voice said from somewhere inside Naruko. Naruko ignored the… whatever it was. She had Twilight right here next to her. That was all that mattered in her mind. “We’re finally alone…” Naruko said as she smiled dreamily and caressed Twilight with a hoof and her marefriend responded wonderfully to the contact. Twilight next to her smiled. Her smile felt a bit off, but Naruko ignored it because the smile was still beautiful to her. “Y-y-yes we are…” Twilight said as she blushed cutely. “I umm… I-I-I’ve been waiting for a moment like this, Naruko. I’ve honestly felt our friends were more distraction than anything lately. I’m not a b-b-bad pony, am I?” she asked. The blonde unicorn saw what looked like another… something… and ignored it. “No. No, you’re not, Twi… I may be a bit biased, but it is true,” she said as she looked at Twilight and leaned in for a kiss though it felt a little odd. Something really seemed off about her marefriend as the pony kissed her back. It was like Twilight was merely pretending or not fully there or something. She wasn’t sure what to make of it. She guessed it was nerves about the direction they were going. Twilight looked to Naruko with her bedroom eyes. “Since nopony is around… How about we have a little extra fun…” Twilight shifted her body into a rather lewd pose for Naruko. “I’ve been wanting this since we had our night at the Gala. Forget all that about doing things the proper way. Let’s get straight to the good stuff!” Naruko was mesmerized as her mouth hung open and she stared with lust, which caused Twilight to smirk at her while blushing. “Come on!!! This clearly isn’t really Twilight! She wouldn’t be this way! Not out in the open. Am I really that horny and stupid?!” a dark voice said again. “I will admit it is a very enticing offer, but my Twilight would never act this way,” it said. Naruko shook her head and blinked. Everything seemed to be fuzzy and was flickering again. Sounds also sounded deeply distorted. “What that hell is going on here?!” Naruko shouted as Twilight seemed to be stuck in that provocative pose. The beautiful purple unicorn’s face even briefly distorted. “About fucking time!” the dark voice said. “Kyuubi was right to unleash me, even if momentarily. I’m disgusted we’re still this weak! If only we listened to the Bunnicans more carefully, we would be a force never before seen that could defeat everything that opposed us! We could make the way for Twilight and the others! She’d really love us then and give us that sweet sweet pony behind,” the dark voice said with a pervy grin as it even salivated a little. Naruko ignored it as she looked in front of her. The lovely sun was gone. There was a black hole that seemed to be consuming everything. Even Discord with all his might couldn’t hold it back any more. Naruko watched with horrified sapphire blue eyes as everything was consumed around her. She felt darkness surround her. It was similar to how she at times felt in Konoha, but also much worse. {-} {-} {-} “Ugh… What was that?” Discord asked after he finished watching Twilight’s friends leave her as she cried. He wasn’t interested in that anymore, even though he wanted to gloat to her. He felt darkness… terrifying darkness unlike anything he had felt before and it had his attention now. He couldn’t help but shudder. His chaos magic didn’t even seem to stand a chance against this all-consuming darkness he felt. It made no sense and he felt as if he was living a future memory or something. “What the hell…?” he cursed. He couldn’t even find a joke in response to it despite his powers. He didn’t even know what was doing this to him. “It can’t be… Is it? Is it, her?” he asked aloud. The spell he cast on her earlier formed a weak connection, but it was just so he could watch and change things a little if he wanted. It had never actually affected him before now. He wondered just what it was he accidentally unlocked in her when he used that spell to cause all of this. {-} {-} {-} Naruko felt herself paralyzed in her dream. She had no idea what was going on, but she knew it was bad. She saw strange visions of what seemed to be an alternate life. She was fighting extremely powerful ninja side by side with the others from Konoha. It was really odd seeing herself as a human ninja again. She didn’t even know how accurate the image was. She watched as her pony self and ninja self seemed to blend together and even spoke as one with different voices. She saw friends of her old life with friends of her current life. Everything was seemingly spliced together in some horrific display of Naruko’s life. She saw a happy girl that looked like an older Sakura smiling brightly as if she was greeting her oldest and best friend. The image flickered between this and a different picture of a sorrowful Sakura smiling wanly at Naruko, before spiting up blood and dying as she said the words, “You were the only one who could save us… We don’t deserve that for what… we… did to you. I’m sorry. I wish I could go back…” The life then left the dying Sakura’s eyes. Naruko felt tears fall from her eyes as she watched the last picture slowly turn to static and replay. Unable to move she saw more pictures of distorted versions of her friends, including Twilight and even Shikamaru in Konoha. Naruko gasped as something new and horrific happened to the purple pony. “What the hell is going on!” she cried. She did not want to see Twilight in such a state nor did she want to see any others either. Naruko’s dark self was even crying as the distorted images flashed before her eyes. “Enough!!!!” she shouted. She then yelled in rage as she expended all of her energy she felt she could. She may be at odds with her more naive self, but the last thing either of them wanted was something like this. She didn’t care what Discord’s powers were. She’d get past them and make him pay for this. With her dark self’s yell, everything seemed to turn bright white. Naruko looked and watched as two beings seemed to try and form before her eyes. “Don’t give in!” they said in an echoing voice. “You’re stronger than this! We believe in you!” they said. Naruko then shouted in anger as everything seemed to momentarily phase into a correct existence. {-} {-} {-} Discord was actually wide eyed as something happened to him. He didn’t know what it was, but it was something that really got to him despite being a God of chaos. “What… What… did I get myself into this time?” he asked. This wasn’t at all like when he messed with the Princess sisters back in the day. He swallowed and actually felt… depressed in a way he never felt before. He could have sworn he heard a distorted happy tune playing in the air around him. It was sickening to him, and not because he hated things like friendship and all that rot. “This. This is something… Something terribly disgusting,” he said as he inhaled vomit that randomly appeared before him. He hated his chaos magic at times. He wasn’t allowed to throw up in his disgust. Instead, he had to inhale and swallow it. He didn’t even know what it was that happened. He didn’t even try to watch the so-called Elements of Harmony and their antics now. He literally felt sick and there wasn’t anything he could do about it apart from wonder what he did to get this result. {-} {-} {-} Naruko took in a steeling breath. She knew what she had to do here. She needed to get out of here. She looked to her side as her dark self reluctantly appeared. “What’s going on?” she asked. “Look. I don’t care how much you hate me or how much I hate you, but we have much more important matters to attend to. You love Twilight more than anything. I love Twilight more than anything. She needs our help more than ever now. I won’t let us fail her. Just as I know you won’t let us fail her either,” the dark voice said. Naruko nodded in agreement. “You know. This whole thing could have been avoided if you actually listened to the Bunnicans and Kyuubi. We’d be a force that even Discord would tremble before if that was the case. But no… You had to be all self-righteous and everything,” it complained. Naruko frowned to it. The dark specter sighed. “Regardless of such things, we need each other so we can help and save Twilight.” Naruko nodded. “I’ll do whatever it takes to help her.” Dark Naruko smiled to that. “If only we had that drive earlier,” she said with a sigh. “It matters not. This is what we do…” {-} {-} {-} Naruko walked down what would have been a dark hallway, if it wasn’t for the horrific displays of distorted images and sounds around her. Many of them caused her to pause in step. She hated this. Whatever it was Discord did to her, she needed to stop it before it messed up her mind even more. “And to think I was happily going along with this thing moments ago. I saw the hints and noticed things were off, but I happily went along with them,” she said with a sigh as she looked away from another horrific image of Distorted Twilight. Her dark self appeared next to her. “Yeah. We all know you’re an idiot. But that isn’t on you fully, despite what I said in my anger earlier. This spell he used on us is supposed to be like that. We need to get out of here though, and get back to our real Twilight,” it said to her. Naruko looked her dark self over curiously. She wasn’t sure what to think about it. Her dark self was oddly in a human form and not a pony form. Despite everything Naruko was curiously checking herself out. Dark Naruko was actually a decent height for a sixteen, almost seventeen, year old girl. She wore her blonde hair in the twin tails and she had a lovely peach tan. The other girl's blue eyes were odd though. They were black with red pupils, but even then they were still very attractive in an odd way. Her dark side looked to her and raised an eyebrow. Naruko blushed at being caught peeking. Dark Naruko smirked and gave a giggle, “I told you I was sexier than you. You may be cuter, but my body’s rocking it.” She then gave a sexy pose as she chuckled. Naruko shook her head and sped up. “Hey! Wait up!” Dark Naruko said as she caught up. They had to do this together after all, or at least that is what they thought. Either way they were pretty sure it would only help if they worked together on this. It took some time, but they reached the spell's anchor. Naruko’s eyes were pinpricks as she looked around the area quickly and nervously. The images towards the end were even worse. The corrupted spell was desperately trying to steer them away from here. The mixed themes of the images in the end were as severely mood whiplashing as possible. Even Dark Naruko just wanted to finish this quickly and hope the damage wasn’t too bad. The last thing they wanted was to be in an intimate situation with Twilight when suddenly they got a flash of a distorted Twilight picture. “There’s no way we can forgive… There’s no way we can forgive him,” Dark Naruko muttered a little. “I think it is obvious this wasn’t his plan at all,” Naruko said. Dark Naruko looked at her with anger. “But you’re right. There is no way we can forgive him.” This seemed to calm the dark version of her. It wasn’t long until they looked at the runework of the spell and the anchor point in the otherwise empty room. Such a spell required more than just a flash of magic, it actually deeply affected the mind on a long-term basis and didn’t need magic to sustain it. If the spell wasn’t corrupted like it was, Naruko might actually be in awe of it and want to study it some. There was something curious though. It seemed like it had a passive link back to the caster, Discord in this case. It was a needless and mostly useless modification judging from the runework. If he wanted to be able to access the magic he could, but there wasn’t anything he could do apart from watch. Naruko shuddered. Staying here seemed even less appealing than it did earlier. She did not want to be getting very intimate with dream Twilight knowing Discord could perv on them if he wanted. “But why would he risk such a modification…” Naruko thought out loud. Dark Naruko came over and asked, “What’s going on?” “The way this is set up means if someone discovered it they could turn it against him. They’d be able to channel emotions or images to him without his knowledge. It could even be the corruption is affecting him as well in some manner as we speak,” Naruko said in explanation. “If it has. I hope it brought him pain or did something bad to him. He’d deserve it all,” she said growling at it. “Too bad we shouldn’t waste time trying to do something like that. And I sadly suspect we are of the very few who could do such a thing in the first place,” Dark Naruko said sighing in disappointment. It was like she wanted serious revenge against him. It reminded Naruko of the stuck up Uchiha. “Damn it… Why do I have to be thinking about that place at all!” she thought as she stomped a hoof on the ground in anger and frustration. She was now angry at Discord for making her re-live old emotions and feelings from her time in Konoha. She wasn’t ever going back there and probably couldn’t, even if she wanted to for some dumb reason. “We’ll probably never truly put Konoha to rest,” Dark Naruko said with a sorrowful frown. Naruko looked to her and blinked in question. Dark Naruko rolled her eyes. “Hello… I’m you. Remember? We’re also actually in your mind, so your inner dialogues aren’t so inner now.” “Ohhh,” Naruko said blushing. She hadn’t thought of that herself. She just wanted to see Twilight again… The real Twilight. “We will see her. I mean you will but I will also in a way… It’s actually kind of weird…” Dark Naruko said. “So, any ideas on how to adjust the runes so we can make sure this spell ends and it doesn’t cause our mind to explode?” Naruko asked choosing to not think about Dark Naruko seeing everything she does. Dark Naruko was in thought. “I really wish we could find a way for it to implode before disappearing and to take away all of that creepy strange stuff…” “That’s too much wishful thinking. We’ll have the devil’s luck if when I’m out of here, I’m not seeing these distortions in real time,” Naruko scoffed. She was supposed to be the naive one after all and even she didn’t get her hopes up that high. “That’s kind of dark…” Dark Naruko said with a frown. “Yeah. Which means you should at least be thinking that, if not worse,” Naruko said grumpily. She sighed after a minute, “Sorry. I really need to get out of here…” {-} {-} {-} They finally found a way to change the rune work of the spell in a manner it would disappear and not destroy Naruko’s mind. It was a two-pony job and required them to make the changes at the same time and speed while mirroring the other. Luckily for them they were pretty much two versions of the same pony. Naruko couldn’t really properly access her magic/chakra to make clones in here, so this was a really lucky break. If they didn’t do things this way, it would become unstable and the effects would not be pretty. Even if Naruko found a certain vindication in forcing reality to merge with this one thus subjecting even Discord to what he had done to her. Dark Naruko was actually scared of the strange light in Naruko’s blue eyes and the pony’s thinking that wasn't too terrible of an outcome, even if not ideal. Like Naruko said earlier, she’s supposed to be the dark one not the real Naruko. She really hoped Naruko would be okay somehow. It would take a while, but maybe she will still be able to properly function quickly without drawbacks from this experience. She would also have Twilight by her side. That had to count for something! Right? “Why am I the one thinking so hopefully…” she said a little worriedly as Naruko finished up the preparations for their escape. “I don’t care how odd and wrong it is, if this fails, which I’m betting is very likely… I’m so taking glitchy fake Twilight to at least make this damnable place slightly better,” Naruko said. She ignored the part of her that really liked that idea way too much. After all this was in her mind, they could do anything and everything here. She’d just have to ignore all of the strange effects in the area. She could do that. She lived through her time in Konoha where she faced terrible things. Dark Naruko came over and placed her hand in real Naruko’s mane and looked to the pony version of herself with concern. Naruko actually seemed to draw some comfort from that contact. It was a really weird scenario. Dark Naruko petted Naruko some as the pony seemed to cry a little in frustration. “Let’s… Let’s get this over with… I really want to go home now,” Pony Naruko said as she wiped tears away. Dark Naruko nodded and got in position. She first turned into a pony so they would be doing this correctly. The Narukos started redrawing the runes and worked from one side to the other side. They went as fast as they could to do so neatly and at the same pace. The mindscape started to glitch more heavily. Winds seemed to pick up in speed and formed a storm of some kind. Fire started to join the storm as the two ponies started muttering words to stabilize the effects as much as possible. They did not slow down in their writing of the runes through it all. As they reached the end of their rewrite, images were swirling around all of them and glitching in the most horrific manners. Naruko paid attention to the matter at hoof as her eyes took on a strange light again. The storm started to intensify! The pictures sped up. It was as if the spell knew it was almost over and was hell bent on doing as much mental and psychological damage possible. “Done!” the two Narukos shouted simultaneously with the same finishing flourish. The storm and images paused. The Narukos looked around hoping it worked correctly. The images pieced themselves together. The distorted and glitching background disappeared as it turned white and gold. A wave of comfort and love from somewhere washed over both of them as Dark Naruko faded back into sleep. Naruko saw two undecipherable figures standing in front of her. Their voices felt caring and somehow familiar. “We knew you could do it! Now save your friends!” they said before everything soon faded away. {-} {-} {-} Just as it all faded away Naruko felt her body plop on to the ground. She groaned a little in pain. She looked around and hoped this was the actual real world and not another twisted dream one. There was a pillar of fire as Kyuubi appeared by her side and came over to her. She stood up and he jumped on to her back hoping it would help her after what she experienced. Naruko smiled as she took in a deep breath and felt his presence. “You really are very nice and warm,” she said to him. “I’m just glad you’re back. I couldn’t really do anything while you were in there. I had to wake up your dark self,” he said clearly disappointed he wasn’t able to do more. “It was the right call,” Naruko said with a nod. “Are you going to be okay?” he asked. Naruko gave him a weak and sorrowful smile as she said, “I have to be. Otherwise I can’t help the others.” Kyuubi didn’t like that smile. It was too similar to the way she smiled when she wasn’t trying to fool people back in Konoha, but trying to ignore how hopeless she felt. “They’re in Ponyville. Discord’s really changed the place…” he warned. Naruko nodded. “Can you try that fire teleport? It would be quickest for us,” she asked. “I can use it to get us close enough. Twilight’s probably at the library. Things didn’t go well with her and the others,” he admitted. “I could watch in a way, but my powers were oddly affected by you being trapped in that world and were too unpredictable in this Discord version of Equestria.” “I get it… Thanks for doing that at least. I couldn’t even do that much,” Naruko said as they were surrounded in fire and reappeared near Ponyville. The place was a mess. Pink clouds were in the sky and the ground seemed to be some checkered board pattern of different colors. Some buildings were floating on sky islands and some were floating upside down. Naruko gave a wide relieved smile. “No glitches. This is good,” she said causing Kyuubi to frown deeper. He wondered what happened to her that she would call this ‘good’. {-} {-} {-} Discord again felt violently ill for a few seconds. He really hated this. Not even chaos magic could find a way to cheer him up at the moment. He also felt a strange sensation. It was as if the spell he cast on Naruko died… That wasn’t supposed to happen. If Naruko had died, it would have dispelled itself, not actually die as well. He thought about going to greet her back in his own fashion, but for some reason he suddenly felt woozy and decided not to move from his new throne. He was usually a go with the flow kind of guy, sure he could change the flow, but he still went with it. He didn't even know what to fully expect at times and he usually loved the adventure and fun. He had no idea what was going on now and he really didn’t like it this time at all.