//------------------------------// // Facing Uncertainties // Story: Adventures of the Equestrian Ninja // by hussbek //------------------------------// ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA Chapter 40: Facing Uncertainties Naruto along with the others are currently situated atop a hill at the outskirts of Ponyville in preparation of making their way to the moon to rescue Rarity as well as stopping the nightmare forces from attacking Ponyville, he had gone home to gear up and made sure that Scootaloo was safe inside the house just in case anything happens while they were gone. Naruto walked up to Twilight and Fluttershy with the latter looking at the moon in worry while taking note of Applejack placing a bundle of rope before Celestia and Luna. "I sure hope Rarity is okay, I don't think I can imagine anything scarier than being kidnapped and taken to a nightmare dreamscape," said Fluttershy worriedly. "Don't worry, I'm sure princess Celestia has a plan," said Twilight. "Plus saving Rarity is the main reason why we're going to the moon besides stopping the nightmare forces," Naruto spoke up in agreement before rejoining the others. "Ya'll know that's just a regular lasso right? Ain't nothing special," Applejack skeptically gazed at said item. Twilight smiled knowingly "We'll see about that," "It's kinda obvious that magic will be applied here AJ, no need to be so skeptical there," said Naruto. "Naruto is right, along with Luna's power over the moon, we should be able to shorten the journey for you all," Celestia explained, then her horn glowed in a golden aura and the rope was enshrouded in it as everyone watched in awe while she formed a lasso with it. "Ooooh, are we jump roping to the moon?" asked Pinkie Pie whilst eating from a bag of popcorn and wearing a pair of 3d glasses. Celestia launched the lasso out into space and was able to latch onto the moon, Luna took it as her cue with her horn glowing blue and begin drawing the moon closer to them through her connection with it albeit reluctantly given the unpleasant memories of the past. Naruto and the others moved in to assist by pulling on the rope as hard as they can to bring it closer. "Bringing the moon closer to the earth is much harder than I imagined," said Luna, visibly struggling with the task at hand or rather hoof. "We're with ya on that sister," Rainbow Dash grunted out a response. "Everyone concentrate," said Celestia. "I could sure use a few enchanted apple carts during the harvest season, whaddya think, princess Celestia?" asked Applejack. "If we don't move this moon, we'll have heavier problems than apple carts!" said Rainbow Dash. "Then let's put our cutie booties into high gear and pull!" Pinkie pie was using a pair of drumsticks to beat on a drum with a white rope bandanna wrapped around her forehead to cheer them on. "Time to rally up a crew then, Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto channeled his chakra to create copies of himself that immediately joined in to help pull on the rope, making things a bit more easier and soon enough they were able to draw the moon in close enough to reach it. "That's it! Well done my ponies, I'll go and prepare Ponyville immediately," Celestia tied the other end of the rope secured to a tree stump as an anchor point then turned to look at each of them "I wish you all good luck and hope for your safe return," then she flew away in direction of the town. "You know, I never would have thought that I would look at the moon like this," said Rainbow Dash. "Me neither, this is amazing in itself," said Fluttershy softly. Luna hovered in front of them and spoke in a tone of concern "This is your last chance to change your minds. Remember, the dark forces that took Rarity will use all their powers to scare you. They will unravel you with your greatest fears," "Our minds are already made up Luna-chan, we're going up there to save Rare and make a certain group regret kidnapping her," said Naruto determinedly. "He's right, we can accomplish anything when we work together," said Twilight with confidence. "Ya darn tooting!" Applejack bumped hooves with Twilight. "Yeah, let's get going already!" said Rainbow Dash. Twilight was the first to balance on the rope and walk along it soon followed by Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Naruto and Spike whilst Luna, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew alongside them. "This is one small step for ponies, one giant leap for ponykind. I've always wanted to say that!" said Twilight excitedly. "Just keep your eyes open Applejack, no thinking about the gosh darn darkness down below," said Applejack nervously fighting the urge to look down. Rainbow Dash flew by with a smirk on her face "Are you kidding? This is fun! And I get to brag to everypony that I was the first ever Pegasus in Ponyville to go to the moon," "Says the pony with wings," "You know I heard that in space, no one will hear you sqee," said Pinkie Pie acting like a circus acrobat. "You're not helping," said Fluttershy through squinted eyes. "I've been wondering about something…," Naruto looked back at Spike who was equipped with a knightly armor, lance, shield, mace and a brush for who knows what "Are those things really necessary plus why didn't you simply store them in a crystal and put them on when we get there?" "Well we need to be prepared for anything, this is Rarity's safety we're talking about!" Spike responded. "Naruto's got a point there, all the weight from your stuff might be too much for the rope," said Applejack. "Nonsense! This rope is as solid as a rock!" Spike began jumping up and down on the rope to prove his point. Naruto's eyes widened in shock "Spike, quit it! All that jumping with your armor on might cause the rope to-" *Snap* "DARN IT SPIKE!" "I'M SORRY!" "Squee!" "They were wrong! I totally heard that!" said Pinkie Pie. Naruto quickly activated his Chakra Wings and followed up by creating Shadow Clones to catch the flightless ponies with their chakra arms much to everyone's relief before staring silently at Spike who looked away with a flinch. "Now that I think of it, wouldn't it have been better if Naruto had done this from the beginning?" said Twilight. "I don't think this would have come to mind since we were more focused on getting to Rarity," said Fluttershy. "We're almost there, please follow me," said Luna before making her descent towards the darker side of the moon with the rest following after her although they couldn't help but shudder at the darkness ahead of them as they landed with hardly source of light around them. "Finding Rarity in pitch black? No problem at all," said Rainbow Dash sarcastically. "No need to bug yourself Dash, I got just the thing for this current situation," Naruto reached into the ninja pouch with his tail, rummaging through until he found what he was looking for and brought out a white crystal "Illuminate!" the item floated away from his tail and began glowing brightly, making their surroundings visible. "Oooooh, shiny," said Pinkie Pie with starry eyes. "Thanks for the light Naruto," said Applejack gratefully, Naruto smiled in response. "We need to hurry, it's only a matter of time till they know that we're here," said Luna urgently. "Who exactly is 'they', Princess Luna?" asked Twilight. "When the nightmare energy came back to life, it needed a physical form. Unfortunately for the inhabitants of the moon, they became victims and are now under its spell," Luna explained. Fluttershy gasped in shock "How could they do that to such sweet little creatures?" "They aren't sweet anymore," "Then we better hustle, they might do the same to Rarity if that's what you're saying," said Naruto, receiving nods of agreement from the other mares before beginning their trek with Luna in the lead. Meanwhile, Rarity was still sitting at the throne and surrounded by the dark denizens of the nightmare forces although she isn't tied up anymore but it didn't mean that she was any less uncomfortable with her current situation. One of the dark beings hovered before her and then spoke in a deep masculine voice. "We've made our offer very clear," said the being. "Clear? Do you know what you've made crystal clear? The fact that a new set of drapes will do wonders for this place," said Rarity before looking away with a huff "Bad decors aside, I would never and will never stay here. Ponyville is my home!" "Oh, but we know that all you ever want to do is help…," "…And we do need help from a pretty lady, don't we Larry?" another being spoke but this resulted in it getting strangled from the first one "Uh… I mean, don't we Shadowfright?" Shadowfright turned towards Rarity once more "Without you, our existence is meaningless…your generosity would save us," "No! My friends need me!" Rarity quickly refuted. "Do they? Will they reject your gift once somepony new comes along? Somepony with a bit less attitude?" Rarity was about to respond when she recalled the dream she had, of how all of her friends began spending more time with a new pony in town and how they completely refuse anything she tries to offer to them. Bits of doubt began rising from within her. "But…they won't forget me…would they?" asked Rarity unsurely, something Shadowfright and the others were quick to notice and would have been grinning if they had teeth. "Stay with us and your kindness will never be taken for granted," said Shadowfright. "You would never be forgotten," said the other being. A small aura in the form of a pale blue star rose out of the black mist and latched on to the tip of Rarity's horn, the fashionista began to feel something gradually take over her body and mind whilst losing her sense of reasoning with the darkness beginning to swirl around her. "Never? I just want to help," Rarity muttered out with a tear trailing down her cheek. "And you will help…more than you have ever dreamed," said Shadowfright with glee as the mare was fully engulfed in the darkness, just as planned. Back with the rescue team, they were advancing through the dark mist with the Flash crystals provided by Naruto and Luna using memories from her past persona even though she didn't want to do so, the tension was so thick that one would think that they could cut it with a knife. As if sensing the tension, Pinkie Pie took having everyone play a game of 'I Spy' which did the trick and got them to relax a bit at least. Twilight then spoke up in a nervous tone "Um guys…I think they know we're here now," "How can ya tell?" Applejack curiously, then she noticed with the others quickly doing the same of the many red eyes glowing in the dark and staring at them intently. "Looks like they sent the welcoming committee to meet us halfway, how polite of them," said Naruto sarcastically. Luna suddenly felt something rather ominous heading their way "Something's coming!" the rest turned towards where she was looking to see a tall castle like building in the distance and large black billowing clouds emerged from within it and was rapidly approaching them "Run! I don't have any control over this nightmare mist!" "You heard her, move your hooves and wings already!" said Applejack. "No need to tell us twice AJ!" Naruto responded, the group all took off to avoid getting caught in the mist. Naruto heard Luna gasp and looked up to see her looking back, he followed suit and was shocked to see Twilight and the mares had gotten caught in the mist which was still chasing after them "Darn it, is there any way we can get to them Luna-chan," "I could enter their dreams but not without risk of being attacked by the dark forces and I can't risk have you getting caught in it too," said Luna worriedly. Naruto's mind raced for a solution to help rescue the mares, he soon came up with one albeit risky and 30% chance of success like his many other plans but he was more than willing to go with it. Naruto jumped into the air and twisted himself to face the mist as a pair of chakra arms emerged from his hands and proceeded to weave through a set of handsigns "Hope this works, Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" he took in a really deep breath with his stomach bulging a bit as he brought a chakra arm to his mouth before blowing a massive gust of wind which instantly drove the dark mist away from him and Luna along with revealing the mares laying on the ground with black wisps leaking out of their ears to signal being subjected to nightmares. "Quick! Get to them while I keep these guys away from you!" Luna nodded in affirmation and flew towards the mares with Naruto following from behind "Shadow Clone jutsu!" he created two shadow clones which swung into action "Windflaw Dash!" the clones began running in a circle at high-speed to the point of generating a large tornado with the others at the center, the nightmare forces attempted to reach them but the tornado constantly knocks them back. Naruto approached Luna and Spike as the alicorn's horn glowed brightly, pulling them all in to Twilight's dreamscape. There they saw Twilight before Celestia in the Canterlot throne looking down at the ground in despair as the princess was constantly criticizing their friend much to Naruto's growing anger and they were quick to call out to her. "Twilight, this isn't real! Wake up!" said Spike worriedly. Twilight responded in a low voice "But Princess Celestia said…" "That isn't Celestia, the real princess believes in you just as much as we do. If so, she would have sent the Wonderbolts instead of us if she didn't believe in you!" said Naruto determinedly. "What they say is true, you were able to save me from the darkness because my sister believed that you and your friends could do what she wasn't able to," Twilight listened to their words and realized that they were right, then she looked up to the impostor with defiance in her eyes "They're right, you aren't the princess…all of this is not real!" there was a bright flash of light and everyone found themselves back in the real world "Thank you for helping me," "It's no biggie Twilight," said Naruto with a smile. "We need to hurry and wake the others before they become trapped in their nightmares forever," said Luna. The group dove into Rainbow Dash's dream next to find themselves in a hot air balloon and flying over a flooded Ponyville with the Wonderbolts flying about and trying to assist the residents. Luna was quick to spot Rainbow Dash atop a roof and attempted to fly only to fall into the water, Naruto shot out a chakra arm to grab the Pegasus and pull her into the balloon. "Dash, wake up! This isn't real!" said Twilight. "But my…my wings are clipped, I'll never be able to fly again and my dreams of becoming a Wonderbolt will never come true," said Rainbow Dash, looking back at the tattered wings on her back. "That's not true Dash, the nightmares want you to think that way but we know otherwise! You're the fastest Pegasus in Ponyville and everypony knows that for a fact. Don't let these guys pull you down to the ground!" said Naruto. "They're right, look," Luna channeled her magic, Rainbow Dash looked at her wings to see a black mist float away to reveal their true appearance, making her realize what's going on. "So my fear was making this real?! Then in that case…," Rainbow Dash took to the air with a look of confidence "I just don't have to be afraid!" this awoke them into the real world once more The group dove into Pinkie Pie's dream next to find themselves sitting at the stands of a show with Pinkie Pie trying everything to amuse a booing audience but to no avail. She was about to give in when she saw Twilight and Naruto amongst the crowd, holding up large signs with the words 'Yay Pinkie Pie! Please wake up!' and 'Steal the Show Pinks!' respectively. This in turn restored Pinkie Pie's confidence in herself and turned towards the crowd whilst taking hold of the microphone. "So you can't partay? Are you not amused?!" she got hit in the face with a tomato with the juices dripping down her face which now had an angry expression on her face "Well guess what nightmare schmitemare…I'M THE MOST LAUGHTER-GIVING, FUN-HAVING, FRIEND-MAKING PONY EVER! YOU HAVE NO CONTROL OVER ME!" then she dropped the microphone as she woke up to see the others applauding her and bowed in response. "For such a passionate comeback and dropping the mike afterwards, I award you with a perfect ten," said Naruto with his chakra arms doing just that. Pinkie Pie giggled in response "I aim to please," Fluttershy was backing up in to a wall of her home with growing fear as the animals slowly approached with low growls and expressions of hostility, she tried to communicate with them but they refused to listen to her. At that moment, the door was suddenly kicked opened which everyone turned to see Naruto along with Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash dressed like stereotypical private eyes. "Paws up bunnies!" said Pinkie pie with a badge held up, actually getting the rabbits to comply. "Those guys are fakers!" said Rainbow Dash as a matter-of-factly. "B-but they're just scared, I must have accidently hurt them!" said Fluttershy. "I beg to differ Shy, I've been helping you with the animals and I know full well that hurting you will never cross their minds. These ones are fakes that the nightmares are trying to deceive you with," Naruto swung his tail at one of the animals, causing them to dissipate into black mist much to the shy mare's shock. "How could they? I'm so mad that I could yell! Almost," Fluttershy frowned a bit. "Sing it sister!" said Pinkie Pie. "Oh, why not?" Fluttershy closed her eyes and took a deep breath "Fakers!" this in turn woke her up, Rainbow Dash got a bit judgmental and held up a sign reading '3.2' while Naruto thought it to be cute. "Applejack is the only one left for us to wake up so let's go!" said Twilight urgently. "Sure thing, I don't know how much longer my clones can hold before dispelling," said Naruto. Naruto, Twilight and Rainbow Dash were the ones to dive into Applejack's dream and were taken by surprise at the sight of the orchard being so desolate before rushing to find Applejack and soon came upon her being yelled at by her family for being the cause of it much to the stallion's displeasure. "Applejack, this is a nightmare and none of it is real!" Rainbow Dash called out to their friend. Applejack turned towards them in surprise "What are ya'll doing here? You need to leave, there's no food left," "No listen to us, none of this is happening. The nightmares are trying to keep you trapped forever, look," Twilight's horn glowed with magic and placed it on Applejack's forehead, enabling her to see the dark mist around them. "But…it felt so real," said Applejack unsurely. "Come on AJ, you descended from a family of top farmers in all of Equestria. Granny Smith made it a point to remind us of that a lot and these guys are trying to tarnish that, don't let them keep doing that!" said Naruto. "Naruto's right, it's time to quit being afraid!" said Rainbow Dash. "Rarity needs our help and we need you too!" said Twilight. Applejack was silent for a moment before looking back at the others with determination "Ya'll right, if you say this is just a nightmare, then I'll believe you!" with that said, Applejack was fully awake and standing with them. "It's like you said before, you're all willing to overcome your fears to save your friend," said Luna, surprised at how they lived up to their word. Naruto smiled at them when he felt a wave of exhaustion come over him before noticing the tornado disappearing which meant that the clones had dispelled themselves since they had run out of chakra and revealing them to be surrounded by the shadowy creatures. "Naruto, are you okay?" asked Fluttershy worriedly. "I'm okay, just a little tired but still rearing to go," Naruto replied. "Good to know cause I don't to hog all the action without my buddy here and show them that we ain't scared anymore," said Rainbow Dash. "Aw, but some of you are afraid. Isn't that right…Luna? Is that what you're going by now?" said Shadowfright. "That is my name, my past as Nightmare Moon is long gone," said Luna, then Shadowfright floated closer to her. "But there is something you fear," "Come back to us, and we will spare your friends," said the second being. "…," Luna remained silent. "After all they've done for you, is this how you repay them?" Shadowfright pressed on by whispering into her ear "Of course, you know our other alternative," Luna closed her eyes in fright "No! You can't. These ponies saved me, Rarity saved me! I will g-" *WHAM!* Luna heard Shadowfright cry out in pain and looked to see the being reeling back in pain and Naruto standing protectively in front of her with a hoof raised and a stern expression on his face. "Consider that a warning, try again and Hoshi no Ha will be coming out to play," said Naruto. "Naruto…," said stallion turned to Luna with a warm smile. "Seriously Luna-chan, we keeping telling you that there's no need to worry anymore and that we've accepted you as someone who is our friend," said Naruto. Rainbow Dash flew up to the alicorn "That's right, there's no way we're letting a goth-loving bunny take another one of our friends away from us!" "Darn tooting!" said Applejack. "I'm your…friend?" asked Luna unsurely. "Yes you are, and we'll say it as many times as you want to hear it," said Twilight with a smile. "I can totally do that!" said Pinkie Pie cheerfully and Fluttershy nodded in agreement. "Well, I see you have some real friends here. Friends who would do anything for you, and these friends won't be dissuaded," said Shadowfright. "Of course not!" said Rainbow Dash. The being turned towards Luna "This is you last chance 'Luna', before they find out what you let happen," "Quit beating round the bush and release Rare back to us or else you're going to be in for a really bad time," said Naruto with his body radiating chakra. "Well, it seems to be that we're unable to come to an agreement, luckily we came prepared. We will get the kingdom we were promised!" There was a sudden surge of magic before the ponies in the form of a large billowing smoke with white light glowing within it, the group were able to make out the silhouette of a unicorn and felt a sense of dread as Shadowfright continued to speak. "Now the Elements of Harmony will be destroyed and Ponyville will be defenseless! Meet our new queen!" the mist dissipated to reveal the figure, causing everypony to gasp in shock "…Nightmare Rarity!" Before them stood Rarity but she had completely changed in appearance. She is significantly taller than normal with her coat being dark purple and cutie mark was slightly altered to feature stars and glimmer, her mane was till the same style albeit longer, multicolored and somewhat etherealized as star-like glitters could be seen within it. Her eyes are pale cold blue with diamond-like glimmers within them. "You gotta be kidding me…this has got to be one of those illusions," Naruto muttered in disbelief of what is before him. Nightmare Rarity turned towards Naruto with a sneer on her face "Oh but this is all too real, Naruto Uzumaki. It amuses me to see that expression since it's obvious that you weren't expecting another encounter with me," "Wake up Rarity, you've got fight back!" Twilight called out in hopes of reaching out to their friend. "Don't bother, she can't hear you anymore and with one of the bearers in my possession, the Elements are no longer in sync to be used," said Nightmare Rarity. "You've got some nerve to possess one of the ponies who helped save me from your clutches," said Luna with a glare. "Yeah, you're totally asking to get your butt kicked again!" Rainbow Dash looked ready to swing into action. "I simply learnt from my defeat and if anything, you're to blame as well Luna. If you had simply accepted my power to become Nightmare Moon once more, then your precious ponies would have been spared but now they will suffer and you will be hated once more," said Nightmare Rarity arrogantly. Naruto stepped forward in defiance "Speaking like you know everything, last I checked we defeated you despite your proclamation of Equestria being subjected to eternal night, so you might have to forgive our skepticism," "Oooh, you just got told!" said Pinkie Pie bumping hooves with a chortling Rainbow Dash. Nightmare Rarity frowned in response "It doesn't matter what you say, I'm taking Ponyville and you are powerless to stop me. Take them down," at her command, the nightmare forces charged towards the ponies with Shadowfright in the lead. "Get ready everyone cause here they come!" said Twilight. "Aw yeah, come and get some!" said Rainbow Dash excitedly. "Watch each other's backs, don't let them pick us off!" Naruto spoke up as he took a combat stance with the others tensing for a fight. Music Start: Mario and Luigi Dream Team OST; The Final Antasma Battle Naruto took point back dashing forward and performing a full body tackle into Shadowfright then stepped back and channeled chakra into his tail to lengthen it as he spun round on his fore hooves to slam into the approaching nightmare forces, knocking them back. He reaches into his ninja pouch with the tail and tossed several Impulse Crystal towards the enemies which unleashed concussive bursts of magic to send them flying. Rainbow Dash was swooping in and out of the clusters of the shadow creatures whilst performing combos of punches and kicks "Time for a new move, Aero Wheel!" Rainbow Dash curled up into a ball and used her Pegasus magic to generate wind as she spun rapidly before barreling through more of the shadow beings then rising into the air once more. She heard something heading her way and quickly swooped to the side to see Shadowfright fly past and crash to the ground. "Nice try, but you gotta be a lot faster if you want to catch me," said Rainbow Dash with a smirk. Shadowfright rose from the ground and glared at her "Duly noted," Applejack was currently darting from side to side to avoid getting caught by the smoky tendrils of the shadow creatures then retaliating with powerful punches and kicks to knock them away, she raised her forehooves into the air before bringing them down strongly onto the ground, causing a slight quake and making large pieces of rock pop into the air which she then kicked at random targets and bludgeoning them "Coming through, Yee-haw!" she slammed her fore hooves hard on the ground to form cracks then lunged at high-speed and slammed into the enemies with a full-body tackle "There's tons more where that came from!" Twilight was providing support for the others by firing beams of magic from a distance, she noticed that she was being surrounded by some of the nightmare forces and focused on her magic before unleashing it in a radial burst to push them back "Bolt Chain!" her horn glowed for a moment before a stream of lightning shot out and struck a nightmare creature then arcing off to hit another which continued until there were small group being lit up like Christmas lights before collapsing to the group. Twilight turned her focus towards the next group of nightmare creatures when they were suddenly hit in their heads with wrapped presents much to their confusion, they were about to take a closer look when the presents suddenly exploded with confetti and colorful streamers but the force of the explosions knocked them back and the next thing they knew was that small meteorites slammed into them from above. That was when Pinkie Pie bounced into view with a playful smile on her face and her tail was twitching, Twilight soon figured out what happened and shook her head in amusement. "Thanks for the help Pinkie Pie," said Twilight gratefully. "No problemo, I was waiting for somepony's birthday to use them as a prank but I couldn't pass this chance up. Plus my tail started twitching a lot when the fight started," said Pinkie Pie cheerfully. "Guess the pinkie sense wants to get involved," Some of the nightmare creatures were sent flying due to having been struck by a chakra tendril courtesy of Naruto, the orange stallion looked around and frowned upon seeing more of them appear to replace the ones taken down and noticed that some were especially targeting Luna much to his ire as she kept blasting them away with beams of magic from her horn "Time for some much needed breathing room," Naruto formed a pair of chakra arms to weave through a set of handsigns as he ran "Wind Style: Air Bullets!" he inhaled deeply before spitting out spherical projectiles of air towards the targets and knocking them out of the sky then activating the chakra wings to take to the air whilst weaving through yet another set of handsigns "Wind Style: Wind Explosion!" Naruto held his forehooves forwards as a sphere of wind took form before throwing it to the ground below and triggering a radial blast of air which rapidly expanded, blowing more of the nightmare forces away from them. "Are you okay Luna-chan?" asked Naruto in concern. "Yes I am, but more continue to appear. We would be overrun at this rate," said Luna worriedly. "I kinda figured that, which is why we need you to return to Ponyville and help defend it along with your sister," Luna was taken aback by his statement "I can't do that, I can't leave you all behind!" "He's right! You need to go or Ponyville won't stand a chance!" said Rainbow Dash whilst performing a barrel roll to avoid getting snagged in midair. "You can leave these varmints to us!" Applejack punched a shadow creature away from her as she spoke. "Please go and help everyone," said Fluttershy who was being guarded by Spike and some of the shadow clones left. Luna was still unsure about going "But…," "Princess Luna, you must go back to Ponyville and help them! Go!" Twilight called out. Hearing the seriousness in their voices, Luna finally relented before enshrouding herself in a blue magical aura "Very well then, I shall save your friends! This I swear to you!" she took off like a shooting star back to the earth, leaving the others to continue the fight. Eventually though, each of the mares began getting captured and restrained by the nightmare forces due to exhaustion with Naruto being the only one left still fighting with aid from his shadow clones until he saw them and forcefully willed himself to stop fighting and dispelled his clones. Music End "How predictable, you stop fighting the moment you see that your friends are held hostage. Ponies like you never cease to amuse me, a similar situation which forced Celestia to seal her dear sister into the moon," said Nightmare Rarity tauntingly. "…," Naruto remained silent with an angry glare, the surrounding shadow creatures approached the ninja to restrain him as well but stopped when the mare raised a hoof. "Not yet my servants, there's something I wish to do before you send him to the dungeons along with the rest," "As you wish my queen," said Shadowfright with a bow. "What are you planning to do to Naruto?" asked Twilight with worry in her voice. Nightmare Rarity didn't respond, she continued to stare at Naruto then suddenly fired an orb of dark energy from her horn to strike him in the chest with the stallion stumbling backwards with a grunt of pain. "What are you doing?!" Rainbow Dash yelled in anger. "Out of all ponies that annoy me, this one grates on my nerves far more than anyone else and I am going to take my time and enjoy administering my long-awaited punishment," said Nightmare Rarity with a dark smile. "…gonna take a lot more than that to hurt me," Naruto growled out in defiance. "Which is exactly why I'm going to enjoy this," Nightmare Rarity proceeded to pelt Naruto consecutively with dark orbs without relenting with the stallion refusing to be knocked down or cry out in pain despite his clothes being destroyed and his body assailed wounds and bruises. Twilight and the other mares called out to Naruto to defend himself from the attacks but he knew than he couldn't do so lest they get hurt instead and so continued to endure the beatings. The mare herself was beginning to get irritated and was about to use even stronger magic when an idea popped into her head, causing her to smile evilly. "Since you're strong with your body, I wonder how strong your mind would be?" Nightmare Rarity's horn glowed brightly with Naruto finding himself unable to move as the nightmare mist swirled around him with the eyes of everyone widening with dread at what was going to happen. "Don't do this Rarity! This ain't the right thing to do!" said Applejack. "I'm making this fair as I recall that he avoided the mist earlier while you were caught, so you can consider this even," The smoke closed in on Naruto with him shutting his eyes for a moment before opening them to find himself within Konoha but it was completely devastated to his horror with many buildings destroyed and in flames, he could hear the screams of the villagers in the distance and ran towards them but try as he could, Naruto realized that he was moving too slowly till the screams stopped with his heart turning cold at the implication. "This isn't real, this is just a nightmare," Naruto muttered to himself, then a raspy voice spoke out. "Indeed this is a nightmare, but the kind which one cannot wake up from. You're responsible for all this!" the voice spoke with hate. "What did I do wrong?" "Akatsuki invaded this village in search of you! When they didn't find what they wanted, they laid waste to the village! I knew you were nothing but trouble!" Another voice spoke and was soon joined by others "This is all your fault!" "The Third was a fool to have let you live!" "My parents were right, you really are a demon!" "You don't deserve to live, you monster!" "You are a calamity!" Naruto covered his ears to block out the voices, but he could still hear them all too clearly "No…stop it…I'm not a demon…," "Keep lying to yourself, cause that's what demons do!" "You abandoned us!" "Why weren't you here to protect us?! "Monster!" "Demon!" "Disgrace of a ninja!" Naruto collapsed to his knees, shaking his head rapidly in denial with tears streaming down his cheeks as he feebly refuted their claims and accusations. In the real world, everyone watched Naruto collapse to the ground with his body shaking with sobs and they could hear him repeatedly mutter 'No', 'It's not true' or 'I'm not a demon' many times. "How could you do this to him?" asked Fluttershy with tears brimming with tears. Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth in rage "When I get out of this, you're gonna pay Nightmare Moon!" "Naruto…," Twilight muttered with sadness at the stallion, she had never seen him like this, this sight of this just feels wrong and wish that Luna had been around a bit longer to help free him from his nightmare. Nightmare Rarity cackled in delight at the pathetic sight of the pony, but for some strange reason felt sad before quelling that feeling "Take them away, I've had my fun," The shadows nodded in affirmation and floated over to carry Naruto…when without warning there was a sudden surge of energy from within the stallion everyone watching in shock at the sight of him being enshrouded in a dark aura but it was the vibes emanating from it that frightened them a bit, it comprised of sorrow, hatred and vengefulness. Naruto slowly rose to his feet with his head lowered to the ground and eyes being hidden by the blonde spiky mane. "What is this?" Nightmare Rarity was confused at what's happening. Naruto then spoke but, in a voice, completely different to his normal one "It is not polite to refer to someone as 'this'…YOU IDIOT!" he sharply raised his head to reveal his having changed from azure blue to black with red iris and a crazed smile on his face "Kyahahahahaha!" "What happened to Naruto?" asked Applejack confusedly. "I don't know, but might it have something to do with the nightmare mist," said Twilight whilst looking on with worry. "Who are you?" Nightmare Rarity demanded. Naruto tilted his head in response "Who am I? how can you ask such a dumb question? I am who I am!" "So you are Naruto then?" "Psh, I am not that softy. He and I share an unwanted connection and because of it, I can't afford to let any permanent harm happen to him. So I simply benched the guy and took over to have some fun," "Then you are saying that you're better than him?" "Care to try your luck?" Nightmare Rarity was about to reply when Shadowfright spoke up in anger "I've had enough of your blatant disrespect, punish him!" Music Start: Kingdom Hearts 2 OST: Tension Rising The shadow creatures closed in on 'Naruto' whose grin grew wider as they approached him, they reached out to grab the stallion only for him to disappear in the blink of an eye, the next thing that happened was a giant black chakra hand slammed down upon them from above with enough force to cause quakes. 'Naruto' was far from finished for he proceeded to repeatedly bash them to the ground until he was satisfied or rather bored before turning to the next group of nightmare forces. The second cluster of enemies decided to attack the ninja with a pincer attack from both sides simultaneously to give him no chance for a counterattack and immediately executed it. 'Naruto' looked from side to side but instead of looking worried, he rather chuckled much to the confusion of others when something burst out of the ground from both sides revealing them to be multiple smaller chakra arms which grabbed into each of the creatures and pulled them underground with no hesitation. "I advise that you don't treat me like Naruto, that weakling doesn't even compare to me!" said 'Naruto' with a smirk "As a matter of fact, why don't I just show you the difference between him and I?" With that said, 'Naruto' was the one to charge at the nightmare forces and was soon throwing punches and kicks shrouded in dark chakra while laughing all the way. One moment he was ferociously striking at some of the shadows and the next he was flying overhead unleashing projectiles of darkness down below with a look of enjoyment on his face. There were times that he would be struck, but 'Naruto' would simply shrug it off and continue fighting. The mares looked on in worry and growing fear, the pony before them is nothing like the Naruto they know and care for, this one doesn't have a sense of consideration for anything around him, not even for himself and he actually enjoys hurting others. A thought crossed through their minds that what if this is a Naruto if he succumbed to the darkness, the thought was scary but witnessing it is downright terrifying. Nightmare Rarity herself was taken aback by what she was seeing right now, could this have something to do with the nightmare that she had trapped him with which might have unleashed a darkness locked within him? She snapped back onto focus upon seeing that a majority of her minions were taken down and now he was looking straight at her, causing a pang of fear to rise within her. "Now that your chess pieces are taken out of the game, I believe it's time for a checkmate!" said Naruto. Twilight realized what he meant "No, don't do it Naruto!" Her plea fell on deaf ears as Naruto disappeared from view and reappeared right before Nightmare Rarity who blinked in shock with a forehoof raised and the chakra taking on the shape of sharp claws. 'Naruto' smirked with glee and brought it down upon his target to end everything…only to stop inches before her face much to the stallion's confusion. "Wha-what's going on, why can't I move?" said 'Naruto' confusedly, that's when he noticed that the chakra claw was changing from black to white which caused his eyes to widen in shock "You can't be awake, not now!" the white continued to bleed into the black until half was taken over. "What's happening now?" asked Fluttershy. "I-I think that Naruto's fighting for control over his body," Twilight could only come up with that guess. 'Naruto' gripped his head with his eyes shut as he stumbled about and trying to retain control but visibly with everyone "Stop! You will win this battle if you just leave it to me!" Then Naruto's true voice was heard "I won't let you hurt her!" "Don't you get it?! If you chase me out now, you'll die for sure! Don't you understand that you don't have the strength or will right now?!" Nightmare Rarity stood there mesmerized until Naruto opened an eye to reveal that it had turned back to blue to look at her "Rare…I…I…Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh! Naruto activated his chakra wings with one being black and the other white before flying away from everyone and into the distance. "Naruto…," Music End "What are your orders, my queen?" asked a wounded Shadowfright. "…take them to the dungeons but I want some of you to retrieve that pony, he could be useful to me," said Nightmare Rarity before walking away, hiding the fact that she was shaken from all this. "What do we now?" asked Rainbow Dash. "I don't know…I don't know right now," Twilight responded quietly. The mares were taken away to the castle by the nightmare forces, but no one was around to noticed the shimmering of a rock before it disappeared to reveal Spike holding a brown colored crystal in hand. "It's a good thing I had this Camo Crystal that Naruto gave to me," Spike turned to look in the direction that Naruto flew off to "I better go find Naruto and make sure that he's okay before those guys get to him, then we'll double back to save Twilight and the others from the dungeon. Oh man, things are getting trickier by the minute!" the baby dragon scampered in hopes of finding his friend and help resolve all this.