With a soft clatter and a slight jolt, the chariot landed in front of Canterlot Castle. Sasuke and Naruto diembarked, dragging Trixie out with them, and the three were approached by a trio of guards. The ones to the left and right looked ordinary, but the one in the middle was a bit bigger, and had a more ornate armour and helm than the other guards.
"Naruto Uzumaki, and Sasuke Uchiha?" The middle guard asked, recieving nods from both humans. "I'm captain Shining Armour of the royal guard, I'll be escorting you two to the princess." He then turned his attention to the guards flanking him. "You two, escort Miss Lulamoon to the holding cells to await audience with the princess." With a salute, the two guards hauled the struggling unicorn mare off. Shining then gestured to the two humans to follow him and headed into the castle. As they walked through the halls, Sasuke decided to ask a question that had been bothering him since the start of the trip.
"So why exactly did the princess want to see us?" At this, Shining Armour gave a pony equivilant of a shrug.
"To be honest, I'm unsure myself. So I heard from my little sister you scared off an ursa major, Naruto. I'm impressed, the only ones who can usually do that are the princesses, and even then things get messy before they make headway."
"How messy?" Asked Naruto, a bit scared of the answer.
"At the most it's only happened twice, both times being before my grandparents were born. An entire town was razed to the ground, though everypony got out of there in time. Trust me Naruto, if you hadn't stepped in, Ponyville would have been a pile of rubble." As soon as Shining was finished, the trio came to a set of doors, A sun motiff emblazoned on the left, and a crescent moon emblazoned on the right. Currently, both symbols were glowing.
"Oh drat, Luna's here as well. Word of advice you two, as soon as princess Luna opens her mouth, cover your ears. She's a bit, well, loud is selling it short." With that, Shining Armour knocked thrice on the doors.
"Enter." Called a voice from within, which undoubtedly belonged to princess Celestia.Opening the doors, Shining led the two humans inside the throne room. True to his word, Celestia was inside sitting on the throne to the left, while Luna sat on the throne to the right.
"Hello, Naruto. Greetings to you, Sasuke, we have yet to introduce ourselves to each other. As you know, my name is Celestia. I command the sun and day while ruling Equestria alongside my little sister, whom you have already met." Sasuke gave a formal bow to the solar princess.
"Sasuke Uchiha, Strongest and last living member of the Uchiha clan." Sasuke replied curtly.
"Greetings, Naruto. We are princess Luna, We doth command the moon and the night. Why art thou covering thine ears?" Luna's inquiry brought a slight giggle from Celestia, who knew full well why Naruto was doing that.
"Um, well Shining Armour told us that you could be really loud." Replied Naruto, taking his hands away from his ears.
"Ah, what Shining Armour refereth to is the Traditional Royal Voice of Canterlot. It is the voice we use to address our subjects. However, thou art not our subject, Naruto. We have no power over thee, so we do not speak to thou like we do." Responded Luna.
"In any case, I'd like to get on to the reason you two are here." Said Celestia, bringing all focus back to her. "You see, while my faithful student has been diligently sending notes on the two of you, information on your magical abilities, I believe you humans call it ninjutsu, is very lacking. Twilight has only made references to Naruto's clone spell, and just recently informed me of a second spell, Rasengan I believe it's called. Then there's absolutely nothing on the magical abilities of Sasuke. So I wish to see for myself the full magical power of you both." Sasuke and Naruto shared a look.
"With all due respect, Sunshine, every form of ninjutsu is a lethal weapon." Luna gaped at Naruto's lack of respect for her sister, and how he so informally addressed her right to her face. She was about to retort, but caught Celestia's look, telling her to leave it be. "You think we can just show off our ninjutsu? All the ones Twilight has seen, are all the ones I can adapt to be non-lethal."
"I agree with Naruto your highness. What you're asking us to show you will put the lives of innocents at risk. The reason Twilight has seen nothing in the way of jutsu from me, is because every single one of my jutsu are made to kill." Celestia thought about the situation, a slight downward curve to her lips as she thought.
"What if you were to demonstrate in an area where nopony could be hurt? There is an area of inhospitable badlands to the north-east of Canterlot, if we went there, would you be able to demonstrate?" Naruto and Sasuke shared a look, an entire conversation conveyed through their eyes.
"We could show you most of what we can do, though I still refuse to show any technique involving Kurama or his power." Replied Naruto.
"And I refuse to show three of my most powerful techniques due to the fact that I can barely control them, and if they were to get out of hand, things could get seriously dangerous." Celestia nodded in agreement.
"Very well then. Now, let's start at the bottom shall we. How does human magic work?" So, Sasuke and Naruto spent the next hour-and-a-half answering Celestia's questions, as well as demonstrating a few applications. Luna's gobsmacked expression upon witnessing the surface sticking exercise had been priceless. After Celestia was satisfied with theoretical knowledge, the alicorn teleported the four of them into the badlands.
"Well, here we are you two. Will this be good enough for a demonstration ground?" She asked. Naruto looked around and saw that the area was completely barren, not to mention very large.
"This will do great. I'll go first seeing as I've only got two real techniques to show. Now please bear with me, this takes a few minutes to activate." With that, Naruto sat cross-legged on the ground, and went completely still. Feeling the energy of nature surrounding him, Naruto began to draw it in, and soon he felt himself enter sage mode. As soon as he entered it, Luna and Celestia were suddenly hit by a wave of pure comfort and safety that seemed to wrap around them like a blanket, putting them into a trance-like state. Celestia was trying to remain aware, but all her mind was capable of doing was picturing her in between Luna and Twilight, the three of them curled up together, safe from all danger, and free of all burdens. Luna was faring no better, and was soon completely enthralled in her lucid dream-like state. However, after what felt like mere moments, the rapturous feeling that had ensnared them vanished entirely, snapping the alicorns out of their trances.
"What...was...that?" She asked between gasps of air, the sudden disappearance of the tranquil feeling having overwhelmed her slightly.
"That, was sage mode. When I'm in that state, my jutsu are amplified, my chakra control is perfect, and my physical attributes are greatly enhanced. I was going to demonstrate my other technique while in sage mode, but you two looked like you were enjoying yourselves. In order for the technique to work properly, I'm going to have to activate Kurama's chakra cloak." With that, gold ethereal fire surrounded the blonde, Putting his arm out, the fire on his shoulders extended and took the shape of two clawed arms the two arms began to work Naruto's chakra, forming the beginnings of a rasengan, then he began adding his wind element to the mix. Celestia for her part was confused. From the sound and look of things, Naruto was forming a rasengan, something her faithful student had already decribed. Suddenly there was a subtle shift in the feel of Naruto's chakra, snapping the princess' attention back to the jutsu. It started as a whistle as the rotation began, then changed to a howl as the power was put in, and finally became a slicing screech as the jutsu reached completion. Celestia couldn't help but give a slight shudder of fear when she saw it. A large white sphere sat in the blonde's palm, with four large spinning blades comprised of wind orbiting it.
"Ok Sunshine, behold my most powerful jutsu outside the stuff Kurama can do. Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!" With that, Naruto reared back and threw the jutsu, sending it flying through the air with a scream. It then reached a rock outcropping a fair ways away, and upon impact, carved halfway through the rock face before detonating. Celestia watched in awe as the entire outcrop was consumed in a dome of white, which was still expanding. When it finally disappated, Celestia finally understood why the two were so adamant on not showing their magic in Canterlot. All that was left of the massive spire of rock was a colossal crater, there was nothing left to even indicate an outcropping had even been there.
"What was that?" She asked.
"That sunshine, was my most powerful technique. It's the complete version of the rasengan. A normal rasengan is just pure shape manipulation of neutral chakra, but this technique is what you get when wind natured chakra is added. In it's normal stage, it can carve through anything, and once it loses rotation, and thus stability, it detonates, and whatever is caught in the blast is shredded with a literal uncountable number of wind blades that destroy the target on a cellular level. With sage mode active, I can detonate the jutsu at will." Celestia couldn't help but be slightly afraid. Even the most powerful and destructive of unicorn battle magic had nowhere near this kind of destructive force.
"Well it looks like I'm up next." Said Sasuke, and he walked forward to trade places with Naruto. He started with small things, like fireballs and lightning bolts, then he displayed his Chidori variants, Finally, it came to his most powerful technique outside the abilities of the Mangekyou. Shooting massive gouts of extremely hot fire into the sky, Sasuke watched as the storm clouds formed. Once he was satisfied, he raised his hand skyward, and sparked some lightning natured chakra in his hand. The result was a trail of lightning streaking from the sky, that Sasuke seemed to grab with his electricity coated hand.
"This final jutsu is called Kirin." Said Sasuke, his voice, despite it being a quiet tone, sounded like the crack of doom over the pouring rain. "With this jutsu, I tame natural lightning, and guide it down to my target in one massive bolt." As soon as he said that, some kind of creature comprised of pure lightning broke from the black clouds. It roared and snarled, like a caged predator waiting to be released, and Sasuke opened the cage. whipping his raised hand down, the creature rushed back into the clouds, then rushed out in one titanic bolt of lightning. The impact of the jutsu was colossal, a roar of sound that threatened to deafen the group, and a burst of light that they had to cover their eyes to endure. When the explosion ended, The aftermath was startling. The affected area was literally torn apart, and loose dirt and sand had been turned to glass. Celestia was shocked to her core. They had told her their magic was deadly, but nothing could prepare her for the sheer destructive power that was their magic.
"Art thou well, sister?" Luna quietly asked in concern, snapping Celestia out of her reverie.
"Yes, Lulu, I'm fine." Sasuke and Naruto then approched the white alicorn.
"So princess, are you satisfied?" Sasuke asked, to which Celestia gave a nod.
"Yes, I am satisfied. Thank you both for your demonstrations. I'll return us all to Canterlot, where you may stay for as long as needed to recover your lost strength." Answered Celestia. With that, she charged her horn, and teleported the four of them back into the castle. After the disorientation wore off, Sasuke's and Naruto's stomachs groaned in hunger. With a giggle, Celestia suggested lunch. Ten minutes later, the four were in the dining room. Luna and Celestia were given blue menus, while Naruto and Sasuke were given red.
"'Scuse me, Sunshine, why are our menus different?" Asked Naruto. Again Luna was about to retort at the disrespect Naruto was showing her sister, but was silenced by Celestia once more.
"To answer your question, Naruto, the red menus hold dishes for foreign dignitaries who eat meat." Naruto nodded in understanding, and began to peruse his menu. Twenty minutes later, Naruto and Sasuke were enjoying their first meat dishes since coming to Equestria.
"So what animal is this meat from?" Asked Sasuke. Naruto was also listening intently, as he wanted know as well so he could get some for himself back in Ponyville.
"Actually, you and Naruto are eating two different meats. You are eating Hydra, Sasuke, while Naruto is eating Manticore." Naruto, suddenly went white.
"Wait a minute, aren't Manticores, you know, poisonous?" He asked.
"Only the tails are. The poison does not permeate the rest of the flesh." Celestia answered. Sighing in relief, Naruto returned to attacking his food; stir-fried strips of manticore meat and vegetables. Sasuke himself was eating noodles and cooked balls of hydra meat smothered in a red sauce, obviously made of tomatoes if Sasuke's brutal assault on the dish was any indication. The two were using the chopsticks they kept on their person to eat, the eating utensils of Equestria still foreign to them. Once the meal was finished, both humans thanked the cook for the meal, and followed the princesses to the armoury. Once they reached the doors, two unicorn guards exited the room whilst levitating two chests in front of them, which were set down in front of the two humans.
"Inside these chests are the armaments found on you two when we brought you to the Ponyville hospital. After hearing about your interactions with my little ponies from my faithful student, I trust you both enough to return these to you, knowing you will not use them to strike down anypony." Thanking the princess, Naruto and Sasuke opened the chests and began re-equipping themselves with their gear. Sasuke looked over the last item in his chest, his sword, making sure there were no chips or signs of tampering. Satisfied that it had been just as he left it, he slipped it into his sash in it's usual position, winching the cloth tighter to hold the sword in place no matter how rough a fight got. Once the two had all their shinobi tools and weapons, the princesses told him they were free to do as they wished, so long as a guard escorted them. Naruto went with Shining Armour, who had the rest of the day off. Sasuke himself had no idea what to do. He was contemplating going to the library, when he was approached by Luna.
"Thou looks like thou hast nothing to do." She said, her tone laced with mild amusement. Sasuke raised his eyebrow at this.
"And I suppose you have an idea?" Sasuke inquired, causing Luna to smirk.
"Follow us, Sasuke." She answered, and led him out of the hall. They soon came to a room filled with weapons, with a large ring in the middle.
"Wouldst thou care to spar with us, Sasuke?" She inquired, levitating two short swords in front of her.
"I didn't take you for a fighter." Said Sasuke, surprised by the princess' actions.
"We are opposite of our sister in more than just day and night, Sasuke. While Celestia likes to fight with words, we are not afraid to get our horn and hooves dirty. So, wilst thou spar with us Sasuke." Said human just smirked.
"Rules?" He asked, stepping into the chalked out circle.
"No magic, save for our requirement for levitation, no flight, and no killing blows. Victory by submission or ring out." Answered Luna, stepping into the other side of the ring. One second passed, then two, then on the third second, they clashed.
"You seem happier for some reason." Remarked Naruto as he and Sasuke were being flown back to Ponyville. The sun was being pulled under the horizon, while the moon was rising above it. When he and Sasuke met up earlier, Sasuke looked a little roughed up. Despite that though, Sasuke had a slight spring in his step, and his face held a slightly lighter expression.
"Just sparring with a friend." Said Sasuke, and despite Naruto's insistent pleading, Sasuke refused to indulge who his new friend was.
"Wow, you look pretty roughed up. Whoever they were, they must have been pretty good."
"I got overconfident in the end, and it cost me."
"You seem happier for some reason." Remarked Celestia as she and Luna returned from shifting day into night. Luna looked rather disheveled; her wings were ruffled, her mane was a mess, and her chest cloth was torn, but despite that, she practically skipped with each step, and wore a smile brighter than any Celestia had seen in a long time.
"Oh, just a spar with a friend." Luna replied.
"Just a spar? Luna, you look like you came out of a serious fight. Sasuke didn't seriously injure you, did he?"
"We hath underestimated our opponent's skill, and it cost us, though whoever said we sparred with Sasuke, sister?" Celestia just chuckled.
"Lulu, if you remember, my faithful student has been learning the magic of friendship and has been sending me her findings. I can see the signs little sister." Luna just rolled her eyes.
"So tell us sister, why dost thou allow such rude informality from Naruto?" She asked, confused and curious.
"Because I enjoy it dear sister. I'm always being treated so formally, when really I just want to be treated like any other pony. Naruto does so, and I appreciate and enjoy it greatly." Replied Celestia, who couldn't help but laugh at Luna's gobsmacked face..
A week had gone by since the ursa major incident. Nopony had heard what princess Celestia had done to Trixie, but rumours abounded like wild fire. Some said that the princess used an ancient spell to take the unicorn's horn and magic away. Others claimed that Trixie was imprisoned in the Canterlot royal dungeon. One pony had claimed that Trixie was now the pet slave of Nightmare Moon, but as soon as it had started, it had been instantly quelled by the pony who started it. When questioned, the pony muttered 'three days of Tartarus' and refused to say more. Currently, Naruto and Sasuke were relaxing in the library. Naruto was helping Spike organize things, and Sasuke was reading a book on equestrian laws. The silence was broken by a knocking at the door.
"I'll get it." Replied Spike, and went to get the door. The pony on the other side however, shocked him. "Princess Celestia? What are you doing here?" That got Naruto and Sasuke's attention in a hurry.
"May I come in Spike?" Asked the princess. Spike promptly opened the door fully and allowed Celestia inside.
"I'll go get Twilight." Said Spike, and he headed up the stairs.
"So what brings you here, Sunshine? If it's a friendly visit that's great. It would be good for you to get out of that court office once in a while." Said Naruto with a grin, causing Celestia to chuckle.
"I agree completely Naruto, but I'm here on business I'm afraid. I'll explain when Twilight joins us.
"Princess Celestia!" Exclaimed Twilight as she shot down the remaining stairs and galloped up to her mentor. "Oh my gosh, if I had known you were coming, I would have cleaned the place, or get some tea prepared!" Twilight was cut short by Celestia's hoof gently pressing against her lips.
"Calm yourself my student, there is no need to fret. My arrival was in short notice, so there is nothing to be faulted against. Now that you're here though, we can begin. I'm unsure if you've noticed, but currently there is a large plume of smoke smothering the skies around Ponyville." Naturally, this caused Twilight, Spike, and Naruto to look out the window, and true to Celestia's word, a large cloud of dark smoke was making it's way to Ponyville from a distant peak. Clearing her throat, the alicorn regained the attention of the three. "The cause of this problem is a dragon. It has fallen asleep on the Whistling Peak and will continue to do so for the next century. Normally I would have it left alone, but this one snores."
"Ah, yeah that's a problem." Said Spike.
"Indeed." Replied Celestia, then she noticed the looks from Sasuke and Naruto. "I see you are confused. When a dragon snores, it exudes smoke. Dragon smoke is not like ordinary smoke. It is thicker, more cloying, and will not dissipate for years. Eventually this smoke will cover Equestria and blot out the sun, killing the land." Sasuke nodded at this.
"I see. Well in that case the dobe and I could go over there right now and take care of the problem." He said, setting his book down and lifting himself out of the chair.
"No, I wish for my faithful student to do this." Replied Celestia.
"Whoa whoa Sunshine, no offence, but are you out of your mind? This is a dragon we're talking about here, and you want to send Sparkles against it?" Asked a shocked Naruto, ignoring Twilight's ranting about showing the princess proper respect.
"Not at all Naruto, the other element bearers shall accompany her. Besides, I don't intend to have her fight it, I want her to peacefully persuade it to leave." Answered Celestia calmly.
"Your highness, I agree with the dobe on this. If the dragon is hostile you could very well be sending those six to their deaths. Besides, from what I know of dragons is that they're greedy and prideful beings, I doubt it will listen to a bunch of ponies whom it probably views as inferior to itself."
"I have full confidence that my little ponies can resolve the issue without violence."
"And what if you're wrong? What if something does happen? I'm not saying that anything will happen, but there's always a possibility."
"I am aware of such, Sasuke. That is why you and Naruto will accompany them to the peak. Should things escalate to hostility, you two should be able to step in."
"It still begs the question of why can't Naruto and I do this ourselves. Any danger could be avoided by just the two of us going." Celestia remained silent for a small while, then she responded.
"I have a reason Sasuke, and I promise you that you will hear it, but only after the dragon has left." Sasuke growled, his Sharingan flaring to life.
"Fine, we'll go with Twilight. You can just come out and say it though, princess. You don't trust us." Celestia was taken aback by that.
"What? That's not true." She said. "What makes you believe I hold no trust in you two?"
"Two reasons, the first is that you've been adamantly shooting down our suggestions, even when you know they're better. Two, you said before you had full confidence in your little ponies, not Twilight/my faithful student and her friends. By saying my little ponies, you completely cut us out, as we are not ponies."
"I did not mean it like that, and my reasons for denying your suggestions are not due to any lack of trust."
"Then stop dancing around the issue and tell us, Sunshine. With the way you're keeping it to yourself it's no wonder Sasuke's jumping to conclusions." Naruto responded. With a sigh, Celestia caved.
"I suppose I should. Very well, the reason I don't want you two going yourselves is because I do not want to start tensions between other races. So far, the two of you are unknown to the other races, and if the power you two wield were to be known to them, tensions could rise. If you two went alone and ended up having to fight the dragon, you could be seen as some kind of super weapon for Equestria. If however, the dragon became hostile to my little ponies, and you two stepped in to defend them, well it makes you look more like a shield instead of a sword." Sasuke glared a bit longer, then relented and deactivated his Sharingan.
"Fine, we'll accompany Twilight and step in only when things get hostile. As much as I want to do this myself, or at the very most, with Naruto, I also understand you wish to avoid conflict." He replied, but Celestia caught something in his tone.
"You sound a bit angry about this decision." She said.
"Yes I am. It's different, too different. In our world, Clearing out powerful enemies, making a name for yourself, and demonstrating your power to other nations are acts that earn one prestige amongst his peers. I guess I'm... just not used to how things run here yet." Sasuke answered.
"That is understandable, if I was in your position Sasuke, I'd probably be the same."
"So, all we got to do is convince the dragon to leave, right? Well that's not so tough." Said Twilight, and began to leave. "I'll let Ponyville know, and round up the girls." She finished as she walked out the library, shutting the door behind her.
"Something tells me things won't be that simple." Replied Sasuke, and he too left the library, heading for Carousel Boutique to prepare. Upon entering the establishment, Sasuke immediately heard the sounds of someone struggling in bonds, causing him to raise an eyebrow in confusion.
'Rarity has someone tied up?' He thought, and headed for the source of the noise. Soon he found that the noises were coming from his room, and upon opening the door he was treated to a humorous, but annoying sight. Sweetie Belle, Rarity's younger sister, had gotten into his ninja supplies, and had gotten herself completely tangled in his ninja wire. Sasuke cleared his throat, getting the filly's attention.
"Didn't Rarity and I tell you not to go messing with my things?" He asked, causing the filly to look away in guilt.
"I can explain. Scootaloo and I needed some wire, and I remembered you had some. I was trying to levitate it, but then I lost control of the spell, causing it all to unravel and fall on me. I've been trying to get out of it ever since." She replied, still struggling to get out of the wire.
"And you couldn't have waited for me to get back and ask for permission because?" Sweetie Belle once more looked away in guilt.
"Well, I had no idea when you'd get back." Was her meager reply. Sasuke just sighed, and grabbed hold of a section of wire, and gave it a hard yank. this caused the wire to unravel from Sweetie Belle fast and hard, sending her into the air spinning and flipping, until she hit the ground with a small thump.
"Oof, I think I'm gonna be sick." She groaned dizzily.
"Let that serve as a reminder to ask first." Answered Sasuke as he re-spooled his wire. "Now out." Sweetie Belle obeyed, and stumbled out of the room. Sighing to himself, Sasuke put the spool of wire back into his supply pouch, and strapped it to his waist, he had a feeling this mission would not turn out well.
Half an hour had passed and the group of six ponies and two humans were gathered in front of the library discussing their game plan, well, most of them were. Fluttershy was doing all in her power to get out of the mission. She tried getting out of it by asking Twilight while the unicorn was preoccupied, but the lavender mare told her she needed to come due to her experience with wild animals.
"And don't worry about your animal friends." Replied Twilight, " Spike's got it covered while we're gone." Said dragon gave a salute while acting as a perch for several animals.
"You can count on me." Angel chose that time to stir up trouble, and caused all the animals to run off, Spike trying to chase after them.
"Um, I don't think he's up to the task." Said Fluttershy, desperately trying to get out of the situation.
"Don't worry Flutters," Said Naruto with a grin, "I'll give Spike some help, Shadow Clone Jutsu!" With a puff of white smoke, five shadow clones of Naruto appeared and began assisting the young drake with rounding up the animals. Fluttershy sighed at that, realizing that avenue of escape had been closed. Soon her mind started rebelling against her, conjuring all sorts of scary situations involving the sleeping dragon. Her eyes then caught movement, and due to her frightened thoughts, she thought it was dangerous and leaped into a bush in a panic to hide. This caused Rainbow Dash, who had just been telling Twilight that the butter yellow pony got scared by her own shadow, to facehoof.
"Twilight," Said Sasuke, getting the unicorn's attention, "I agree with Rainbow Dash on this, Fluttershy's just going to be a hindrance like this."
"She'll be fine once we get going, I'm sure of it." The unicorn answered. Naruto scratched his chin in thought, then hit on an idea.
"Oh, I know what to do." He said with a snap of his fingers. going over to the bush where Fluttershy hid, and fished her out. She immediately began struggling, wanting to run back to her cottage and not come out, but Naruto held her tight. He then sat down cross legged, and remained absolutely motionless, even with Fluttershy struggling in his embrace. Several minutes later, the struggling pegasus was hit by the powerful comfort of Naruto's sage mode at point blank range. Fluttershy practically melted in the blonde's arms, unable to even begin fighting the feeling of safety he radiated. Opening his eyes, Naruto noticed that while Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were also feeling the effects, Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight weren't affected in the slightest.
" That's odd," Said Naruto as he got back up, "so far, every time I've used sage mode, everypony in the area ends up like Fluttershy here."
"Best... feeling... ever." Rainbow Dash drunkenly mumbled on the ground.
"Wo~ow, it feels so nice." mumbled Pinkie as well, in a tone of voice a lot more quiet and calm than what she usually spoke like.
"What the? I'm feeling nothin' sugarcube. Twi, how's Naruto doin' that? First he stays still, now his eyes are all red and gold and half our group's lookin' like they're cider drunk." Asked Applejack, causing Twilight and Rarity to shrug their shoulders.
"I'm afraid I haven't the foggiest, darling." Said Rarity.
"It must be a unique spell of his, I'll talk to him about it after the dragon has been sent off." Replied Twilight. The three then tried to rouse their friends, but they only managed to get Pinkie Pie sensible enough that she was able to move on her own. Rainbow Dash wasn't responding to anything they did, and Sasuke had to carry her, much to his annoyance.
"Alright everyone, let's move out!" And with that, the group was off to deal with the snoring dragon.
When Fluttershy snapped back to reality, she immediately noticed that she wasn't in Ponyville anymore. They were now at the base of the Whistling Peak. The sleeping dragon at the summit gave off a loud snore, causing the timid pegasus to squeak in fright and press herself into Naruto's hold.
"Oh, looks like she's snapped out of it." Said the blonde to the rest of the group, the last vestiges of his sage mode fading. At this point, Rainbow Dash was also coming out of it.
"Whoa." Said the prismatic maned pony, her eyes blinking to regain focus. "That was... that was..."
"Super dee duper amazing!" Hollered Pinkie Pie, finishing for Rainbow. "It was like being with family and friends, only ten times better!"
"Anyway, now that you three have regained your senses, we can begin climbing the mountain." Said Twilight. Rainbow immediately got out of Sasuke's arms, and Naruto gently put Fluttershy down. Unfortunately, the dragon once again let loose a mighty snore, causing Fluttershy to go into full panic mode and fling herself into a hedge by the mountain, her trembling threatening to shake every leaf off the bush. Dash face hoofed, and the five ponies began coaxing Fluttershy out. When that failed, yet again by the snoring dragon, they tried pushing her out, but the yellow Pegasus wouldn't budge an inch. Then Naruto stepped in. When being shoved, Fluttershy was practically an immovable object, but Naruto was able to pull her in the one direction she couldn't fight, up. Once again Naruto brought the frightened mare into his arms, stroking her mane to relax her, which was working wonders.
"Shh, it's alright Flutters, it's alright. If everything's that scary for you then I'll be more than happy to carry you up the mountain. No place is safer than the arms of Naruto Uzumaki." He said with his trademark grin. Listening to his confident words and seeing his grinning face, Fluttershy couldn't help but feel compelled to believe him, and she huddled herself in his arms. Soon, the group began scaling the mountain, making excellent time by Twilight's standards, though Rainbow was sulking as she had to stay with the group and could not fly ahead. Soon, the group came to a narrow path on the cliff side.
"Okay everypony, I need you all to be very quiet. We're heading into an avalanche zone, the tiniest peep could set off a colossal rock slide." She whispered to the group, and they tip-toed down the path, well, tip-hoofed in the case of the ponies. Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash brushed against a tree bough, knocking a few leaves loose. One of the leaves floated down and came to rest on Fluttershy, who was so tightly wound that that was all it took to set her off.
"Avalan-!" Was what she managed to scream before Naruto's hand clamped around her muzzle. Everyone was silent and still as the scream echoed around them, until the silence was replaced by a rumbling sound.
"Avalanche!" The ponies screamed as a massive rock slide bore down on the group.
"You don't say." Said Sasuke sarcastically, and the dodging of boulders began in earnest. The grounded ponies scattered to and fro, Rainbow was fooling around flying in between boulders for fun, Sasuke was simply walking back the way they came to get out of the area of effect of the falling rocks, his ninja training allowing him to easily avoid being hit, and Naruto was using Kurama's chakra to smash massive boulders with rasengans to keep them from hurting anyone. Finally, the rumbling quieted, and the rock slide stopped.
"Sorry." Quietly mumbled Fluttershy. When the dust cleared they saw that the path forward had been blocked by dirt and rubble.
"It's okay Fluttershy, we'll just have to, climb over it" Sighed Twilight, causing the other four ponies to groan.
"Well it's not like things can get any worse." Muttered Rainbow Dash. As soon as she said that, the ground began to rumble, causing Sasuke and Naruto to facepalm. the ledge the group was on then began to crack and tremble, and with a grating crumble, the weight of all the debris on the ledge caused it to break off the mountainside, leaving a huge gap between the group and the next rise.
"Oh no, that was the only way up the mountain." Exclaimed Twilight. Everyone glared at Rainbow Dash, who was nervously scratching at the back of her head.
"Uh, heh heh, whoops." Was her response.
"Things couldn't get worse you said." Grumbled Rarity. "Well that should prove you wrong Rainbow Dash. Now look what happened, that was our only way up to the peak and you destroyed the path."
"Me? What did I do?" Angrily answered Rainbow.
"Now's not the time to argue you two. Rainbow, do you think you could fly us over the gap?"
"Not a good idea sugarcube, Ah don't know much 'bout rocks, but ah'm sure what's left of the ledge over yonder is unstable. It could crumble under our hooves faster than Big Mac can eat dinner." Interjected Applejack. Twilight was starting to panic, but before she lost reason, Naruto came up with a plan.
"Hey Sparkles, the dragon's directly above us right?" He asked the unicorn, smirking when he got a rise out of her from her unofficial nickname.
"Yes, but I don't see how that bit of info will help us." She ground out, doing her best to keep her cool.
"All right everypony, I got a plan." Said Naruto, getting everyone's attention. "First things first. Rainbow Dash, you fly up to the cave and wait for us there. We'll be right up as fast as possible." With a nod, Rainbow shot upwards to the dragon's lair. Naruto then shifted Fluttershy onto his back. "Just hold on and don't let go Fluttershy, I need my hands free. Sasuke, you take Rares and Sparkles, I got Pie and A.J." With that, Naruto hefted Applejack and Pinkie Pie under each arm, while Sasuke did the same with the two unicorns. Rarity was not pleased.
"Sasuke! How dare you! Put me down this instant, this is no way to hold a lady." She hollered, flailing her limbs about.
"Do you want to get up the mountain or not?" Asked Sasuke in annoyance, causing Rarity to huff and grumble, but otherwise remain still in Sasuke's grasp. Satisfied that their charges would not slip out of their grasp, Sasuke and Naruto leaped high into the air, causing screams of fear from their cargo, though Pinkie Pie was probably screaming in excitement. Channeling chakra into their feet, the two humans stuck themselves to the cliff face and began running up. Twilight immediately ceased screaming when she saw the two humans literally defy gravity.
"Holy mother of Celestia! How are you two doing that!?" She asked Sasuke, though her voice was still on high volume due to the fact all that was stopping her from plummeting to the bottom of the mountainside was Sasuke's arm around her.
"This? This is an exercise taught to young shinobi as a means of chakra control. By channeling the proper amount of chakra into our feet, we can use it to stick and walk up vertical and inverted surfaces." Twilight was practically drooling as her mind conjured all sorts of practical possibilities this exercise could do. Two minutes later, the group reached the ledge where Rainbow Dash was waiting.
"What took you guys so long, I've been waiting for ages." Complained the pegasus.
"It was only two minutes Dash." Twilight deadpanned as Sasuke and Naruto set their passengers down on the ground.
"Exactly, a whole minute and fifty second wait while having nothing to do." Twilight just facehoofed at her friend's antics.
"All right everypony listen up. Rainbow Dash, I need you to clear the smoke." Rainbow Dash immediately fired herself into the black smog. "Pinkie Pie, you and Rarity provide a distraction should things get hairy." In response, Pinkie whipped a rubber chicken out from who knows where. "Applejack, you stand by with the apples in case he decides to attack. However, should he get lethally hostile I want everypony to back off and let Naruto and Sasuke handle the situation." The seriousness in her voice made the ponies gulp a bit. "But it shouldn't come to that, because me and Fluttershy should be able to convince it to leave, right Fluttershy?" Silence was her answer. "Fluttershy?" Twilight repeated, and looked around for the pink maned mare. Applejack moved to one side, revealing Fluttershy doing her best to be as small as possible. Twilight and the other ponies tried everything they could to get Fluttershy to move, but nothing worked. Then a particularly loud snore from the dragon caused the area to shake. Suddenly, the grind and crunch of falling stone could be heard, causing everyone to scatter. Moments later, the falling boulder hit the ledge and rolled a bit before coming to a stop at the lip of the ledge directly in front of the cave. Fluttershy wasted no time and dove behind the new piece of cover.
"This is getting us nowhere." Rainbow Dash complained. "Naruto, can't you do that thing you did earlier that caused your eyes to change to get Fluttershy to help?" Naruto shook his head at this.
"That wouldn't work, it would just throw her back into that trance she was in while we headed for the mountain, not to mention do the same to you and Pie." Eventually the group gave up, and Twilight headed into the cave alone. Negotiations didn't fare so well, as evidenced by a large blast of smoke that flung her out of the cave. Naruto and Sasuke checked on the unicorn, and were relieved to find that she was perfectly fine, though she was covered in soot and smog. Pinkie Pie went in next under the logic that she could persuade the dragon to leave after sharing some laughs. A minute after she entered there was a tremble through the ground, soon after which Pinkie Pie came back out of the cave, her laughter suit in ruins.
"Dammit, one razor spear and this problem's over, but we're stuck waiting as these ponies throw themselves into harm's way." Muttered Sasuke, his annoyance raging.
"Hey, our hands are tied on this. Sunshine made it clear that we can't go killing the thing or give it the boot unless everypony else are in danger. Unless of course, you don't care about bringing a war down on Equestria with your actions." Responded Naruto. Sasuke remained silent at that. If there was one thing he didn't want to do, it was cause a war. He had his fill of it before he and Naruto made their way here. Furthermore, the ponies here had done nothing to deserve a war and the nightmares it brought.
"Still doesn't mean I have to like it." Was Sasuke's reply. At that point, Rarity was taking a crack at dealing with the dragon. She was doing well, and lasted longer than both Pinkie and Twilight, thus the group gathered near the cave mouth to see what Rarity was doing that was so successful. When they listened in they found that Rarity was flattering the dragon, and it was working tremendously, until Rarity made the idiotic mistake of getting into his hoard. With a roar, the dragon slammed his tail down between Rarity and his pile of wealth, and with a deft motion, swatted the unicorn mare away. One of the dragon's tail spikes carved a bloody furrow across her side as the appendage flicked her out of the cave, though Naruto managed to catch her before she smashed into the ground. The ponies gasped when they saw Rarity's wound, and one in particular was enraged.
"All right, that's it." Said Rainbow Dash, her tone of voice reflecting her anger. "We've tried diplomacy, we've tried flattery, we've tried whatever the heck Pinkie does, and all we've got to show for it is a bunch of failures and an injured friend. Talking's over, if words won't move him, then let hooves do it." With that, Rainbow Dash rocketed in to the cave :"Get out!" She screamed, and impacted the dragon's snout with a kick carrying all her momentum with it, causing the dragon's head to fling back a bit from the force. Now the dragon was mad. These ponies were disturbing his sleep, and this current one had dared to attack him. That was the last straw, no more mister nice dragon. Inhaling, the dragon let loose a ground shaking roar of anger, sending Rainbow shooting out of the cave like a bullet. The dragon had also let loose a gout of flame at the pegasus. Rainbow careened into the group, but her momentum was so strong she simply bowled everypony over and kept going, though this saved them from the fireball that shot out of the cave. Normally Rainbow would straighten out, then avoid the flaming projectile with ease, but something from earlier stopped that. Just as Rainbow Dash managed to regain control, she slammed right into the boulder from earlier face first. Then the worst possible thing happened, and no one could stop it. The fireball slammed directly into Rainbow Dash's back, setting her back and spread wings ablaze.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGHHH!"
Rainbow screamed in agony until her throat was raw. Never before had she experienced this level of pain. Twilight and Rarity were using water spells in an attempt to douse the flames, but the dragon fire was stubborn, and refused to be extinguished without a fight. It also didn't help much that there were no nearby bodies of water to fuel the water spells the two unicorns were casting, thus they had to pull water from the air. Naruto then rushed in and threw his coat over the burning pegasus, using it to smother the fire. Then a roar sounded from within the cave, and the dragon stormed out, ready to incinerate the annoying ponies.
"How dare you!" The dragon turned to the sound and saw another pegasus shooting towards him. A snarl ripped from his throat, he would not be attacked again. With a roar, a large jet of flame raced towards Fluttershy, who had frozen up in terror.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Before the dragon's flames reached Fluttershy, another gout of flame collided with the dragon's, keeping it from reaching the frightened pony. Fluttershy then felt hands and arms wrap around her and get her out of harm's way. Soon, both blasts of fire stopped, and the dragon turned his gaze to the interloper who held his fire back.
"And just what are you?" The dragon asked the odd creature standing before him.
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha, and I am what is known as a human." Replied Sasuke, his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan active and spinning. "I'll give you one chance; leave Equestria and never come back." The dragon snarled at this.
"Who are you to order me around? I will do as I please!" With that, the dragon released a massive torrent of flame, determined to completely immolate the human.
"Sasuke!" The ponies screamed when he was smothered in flame. After a minute had passed, the dragon let up on the fire, and to everyone's utter shock, Sasuke stood completely pristine amidst the blackened and half melted stone around him.
"My turn, Amaterasu!" And the dragon burst into flames. The ponies immediately noticed two big things about Sasuke's fire. One, it was the deepest black they had ever seen, and two, it was actually burning and bringing pain to the dragon, a creature that bathed in the hottest of flames and magmas regularly. The dragon was screaming in pain, doing everything he could to stop the agony, but everything he tried, the flames simply consumed. Even his own flames were devoured as if he had placed wood on the black flames. Sasuke concentrated, and the flames quickly rushed to burn the dragon's wings.
"Stop." The flames ruined the reptiles wings, but they wanted more, Sasuke was happy to oblige, and had the fire concentrate on the dragon's back, scales were burned and skin was blistered, and a dark grin formed on Sasuke's face.
"Stop!" Stop? Why would he stop this. He had this lizard writhing from the might of his fire, which began to cover the beast entirely. He was going to burn the lizard until not even ash was left. He was more dragon than this pathetic thing.
"Sasuke, enough!" Screamed Naruto, slamming his fist into Sasuke's cheek, and snapping the Uchiha out of his trance. Immediately, Sasuke realized what he was doing and began putting the flames out, but they refused.
"Extinguish." Said Sasuke, and while the flames quivered, they still burned. "Extinguish." Sasuke commanded louder, adding more power to his efforts, and while the black fire shrunk, it didn't go out. "Extinguish!" Sasuke roared, his left eye beginning to bleed from the strain, and with a final shriek the fires of Amaterasu vanished. The dragon was a mess, scales were burned away or melted, burnt flesh riddled with horrible blisters covered his wings and back, and the membrane of both wings were nearly gone entirely. Acrid smoke, and the smell of cooked meat filled the air around the dragon, his whimpers and open eyes filled with agony and terror the only indication he was alive. Sasuke then walked up to the dragon, both his eyes boring into the dragon's own, and spoke one word.
"Leave." Never had the dragon moved as fast as he had in his entire life. He knew his wings were in no condition for any sort of flight, thus he scurried down the mountain as fast as he could. Sasuke then turned and beheld Naruto's worried face. "Thanks dobe, I needed that punch."
"Hey, what are friends for." Said Naruto with a small smile, glad that Sasuke was back to normal. The two humans then went back to the group of ponies, who had huddled by Rainbow Dash. Sasuke noticed that the ponies would shy away at his approach, and saw the small flicker fear in their eyes.
"How is she?" Sasuke asked Twilight, indicating to Rainbow Dash.
"I don't know. The burn looks really bad, and she lost consciousness after you saved Fluttershy." She answered, her voice carrying a slight tremble.
"Alright, we need to get back to Ponyville immediately. Twilight, would it be possible to teleport us all to the base of the mountain, or at the very least, the ledge below us?"
"I don't think I can teleport all of us down the entire mountain, but I can teleport us to the ledge." Sasuke nodded, and with extreme care, lifted Rainbow Dash into his arms. Violet light ignited around Twilight's horn, and with a flash of light, the group vanished from the peak and onto the ledge they had been on when the rock slide struck. With that, the group ran as fast as they could to Ponyville. As he ran, Sasuke would constantly at Rainbow's horribly burned wings and back, an ugly reminder of this mission having gone completely wrong.
Princess Celestia had just finished closing day court and was heading for her private chambers for a good slice of cake, and a good book. She had left Ponyville while her faithful student had been gathering her friends, as she still had her royal duties to attend to. Just then, a rolled letter materialized in front of her. Looking out the window, she smiled when she saw the smoke caused by the dragon had been mostly cleared away. Her faithful student had come through again. unrolling the letter, she saw it was Twilight's report on the situation, and began to read. As she read though, her eyes widened, and it felt like ice water had replaced her blood, and when she finished, her heart plummeted into her stomach.
"Guards!" She barked out, and four guards were immediately by her side. "Prepare a chariot for me immediately. I need to get to Ponyville and time is of the essence."