//------------------------------// // The Third Rhyme // Story: Naruto Ryhmes // by anommalcolm //------------------------------// The Third Rhyme Celestia stood regally inside her throne room, her face an impassive mask. A mask crafted from years of being to one to deliver bad news. Truly the sun princess hated her obligations at times. Through the doors, her guard escorted the family members of the foals and Cadence. Celestia was grateful that her niece was willing to gather all of them. The Unicorn family had tears in their eyes, obviously fearing the worst. The Zebra remained stoic, but there was an underlying agitation to her stance that was hard to miss. “Though they Might not be far off.” Celestia thought sadly. “I am afraid that I have some news to deliver. While Twilight Sparkle and Mischievous Wind do live, certain changes have happened.” With that Celestia began retelling the events from when she left with the foals to this very moment. The ponies were horrified to learn of the Demon, but proud to hear how the children fought. But when the matter of the curse came confusion was prominent. “I am afraid that the only way to understand the curse is too witness the results. The foals sleep now, but I warn you that the events that have happened have yet to truly settle in. They will think of themselves as monsters. They will try to push you away.” Horrified looks met this statement, but Celestia wasn’t done. “This will take time, time to settle, time overcome. This will take a great deal of effort on all our parts. We need to be strong for them.” “Pardon me for interrupting dear, but I feel that we must be clear. You use such terms as we and our, I take your interest has come far?” Zecora questioned while stepping forward. Princess Celestia nodded at this. “I plan to take both of them on as my students. They both have far more power than any other pony in centuries. Without proper guidance, they could burn themselves from the inside out with their magic, and to be honest, I don’t trust anyone else to teach them.” Celestia let loose a sigh. “Now, shall we go and see them? I’ll warn you now that they are not likely to wake at this point.” The ponies, plus one zebra, shuffled after the Princess. Worry and concern etched on many of their faces. Celestia led them to her personal chambers, opening the door with a bit of magic. They thought they were prepared. They were wrong. The creatures laying on the bed, while they resembled ponies in some ways, they were alien in others. The snout was wrong. It was more pointed than a pony’s. Their hooves… They were replaced with claws. The wings were another shock. The adults turned to Celestia with questioning looks. “The demon was a fox with multiple tails. Its curse, the cause of this, was worded as such, “My final curse, forever outcasts.” I believe it was intended to turn them into his likeness, but given the wording I fear my attempt to save them added fuel to the fire.” Celestia ashamedly admitted. “I tried to change the form being forced on them by giving another example. My own form. Instead they merged to form what you see here.” Zecora looked as though she had something to say but was interrupted. “Twili? Naruto?” A shaky voice asked. Heads turned to watch as Shining Armor and Cadence nuzzled the foals. The foals stirred, shifting until they were looking at the ones touching them. Their eyes were clouded for a moment, then events caught up with them. Shining Armor and Cadence let the sobbing foals press into them, soothing whispers being given to the pair. Twilights Parents winced slightly at this, it tore their hearts to see their baby in such a state. Zecora sat back and allowed Cadence to comfort Naruto. Still that didn’t mean she was idle. She was looking over the changes and going over the legends she knew. Perhaps she would be able to find a way to undo this change, but considering the clashing magics that caused it, she was unsure if she could succeed. Naruto resembled a pony, for the most part, but there were little things that marked differences. Fox, that is what came to mind as she looked over the alterations. She had seen enough while in Ever Free. Mentally she sighed. Naruto at times seemed to have the worst luck and the best. He is lost in the most dangerous forest in the country, only to be found by her. He made no friends in Canterlot, only to bond so deeply with twilight he may as well have been born with her. Then something caught her eye, on the flanks of both foals. This caused her to smile. Perhaps this would help them regain some cheer. “Well now my Daughter and son, I can see some good now that the event is done.” Zecora said gaining odd looks from everyone in the room. The children still sniffled but looked at the Zebra for her to continue. Zecora trotted forward to the foals and rested a hoof on Naruto’s back. “Though this day has been most dark, it has allowed you to gain your marks.” She told them gently. Their eyes widened and they swiftly turned to look at their own flanks. Twilight’s was two stars overlapping each other surrounded by five smaller stars, symbolizing her talent for magic. For Naruto, his was golden chains, wrapped around six stars. “But how?/When Did?” They both began “Yours is!/You have!” “Yes! We have our marks!” Twilight finally broke the trend by shouting her thoughts on the matter. Naruto still looked confused, as he was originally never going to get a mark since he was not a pony. He wondered what his meant, but he wasn’t going to ruin for twilight. Said purple Chimera grabbed hold of him and began dancing around. Moonbeam and Night Sky smiled. Twilight was acting like her normal self, if only briefly. But it was a good sign. Moonbeam went forward to the foals and wrapped them both in a hug. “I’m so proud of both of you.” She told them, then with a quivering voice, “I—I know that this will be hard, but we are going to pull through this.” “That’s right.” Night Sky asserted. “We are not going to leave either of you. Never think that for a moment. No matter what happens, we will be there. When you need us, just ask and we will come running.” Tears began to well up for the foals again, though they both still had smiles on their faces. They weren’t being rejected. They still had families. The thoughts haunting them since they were hit with the curse ebbed slightly. “You didn’t think I would abandon my baby sister and adopted brother did you?” Shining armor questioned them. “I am not leaving my two favorite foals alone.” Cadence whispered, bending down to nuzzle both of them. It was a few hours later that the younger member succumbed to emotional exhaustion. Moonbeam and Night Sky used their magic to levitate the four children, yes Shining and Cadence fell too, and move them to a guest suite. The princess left them alone after that. As the adults looked at the setting sun as the events of the day settled in their memories. The future was not looking pleasant. “Why did this have to happen?” Moonbeam sighed as she looked at the children all piled on one bed. She smiled seeing her son and Cadence had managed to wrap the foals closer to them. She was proud of both them, they didn’t even flinch at the change. Few would have been so accepting. “What has happened, happened. Now we must be there for them.” Night Sky said as he rubbed against his wife. “Though for the past we my pine, we must take this day by day in time.” Zecora said while looking at the collection on the bed. “Others will run or even chase, others will go further to debase.” Now her eyes were staring at something that wasn’t in the room. “We must be solid as stone, against the fear the world has shone.” The zebra quieted after that, and all three adults sat in silence for a time. “Come it is time for sleep, for tomorrows memories we shall keep.” It was twilight in the forest, everything bathed in hues of red and gold. A small filly was making her way through the wood towards its center. She had a purple coat, and indigo mane with a strip of violet. On her flank was an eight pointed star on top of lighter four pointed star. Arranged around the large one were five smaller eight pointed stars. She passed by a pool and saw her reflection. She shivered at the site. Her horn was longer now, not a bad thing mind you but there were other things as well. She had wings, large purple elegant wings, with indigo and violet undertones. Then she focused on the claws. They were large and sharp. They were also black. Her tail was odd. It was not the long flowing hairs of a pony tail anymore. Now she felt it, she could swish it around, it was a full tail and not just hair. Her face had changed. She looked more like a predator now, a larger mouth and sharp fangs meant for meat. She was grateful to still see some blunted teeth in the back. Shoving all this to the back of her mind she pressed on deeper into the forest. Normally such a place would scare her but she felt Naruto deeper inside of it. The undergrowth parted ad she saw him. Just like he was back at the palace, Naruto was also changed. Twilight felt a slight heat coming to her cheeks but she didn’t understand why. She walked colder to her friend. There in front of him was a path of destruction, a trail that lead straight to a cave. “Is—is that where he came from?” Naruto gave a nod before turning to Twilight. “Yeah. I think so.” He moved forward and rubbed against Twilight, a gesture which she returned. They remained that way until the feeling of coldness left them. “I think—I think we need to go inside.” He told her finally. Twilight gave the cave a long look before nodding in acceptance. The foals ventured down the path making their way to the cave. It was dim, not dark but dim. They could see even though there was no light source other than the setting sun. They trudged further into the cave, the sound of claws scrapping on stone reverberating off the walls. The floor gave way to flatter stone, more solid, carved. The Craggy walls slowly straightened. They entered a chamber and at the other side were gigantic gilded gate. They both quirked a brow at the site such a thing and carefully trotted up to it. The bottom of the frame was tall, taller than what they could climb over. To them it was like a wall, they looked for a way over and saw a slab of rubble they could climb. As they ambled over they fell into what seemed like water, they hoped it was anyway. Now looking at the other side of the gate they could see that it was even more ornate. This side also has a slip of paper with a strange symbol on it. They looked on curiously, for some reason they felt that this was why they were here. The Gate began to glow a cool blue and break down. There was a bright flash that caused them to cover their eyes. They stayed like that until they felt something warm wrap around them. Their heads shot up to turn to whatever was grabbing them, only for the too still from shock. There, before them was a human. She had a red mane, bright green eyes, and was smiling down at them. “My boy, my baby boy.” The Human said wrapping her arms tighter around Naruto. She buried her face into his mane. Naruto was stone still as the strange human hugged him. He didn’t know what to do, he couldn’t think, he couldn’t breathe. As the human pulled back the young chimera looked into her eyes for a long moment. “M—Mom?” He stuttered. Tears began to form at the edge of his eyes as he realized who this human was. The woman nodded pulling Naruto close to her once again. She reached out and brought Twilight into the embrace as well. “And you little one,” she whispered into the fillies ears, “I know how important you are to Naruto. Thank you.” “Kushina dear, I think you broke them.” A masculine voice chuckled. The foals shifted, wanting to see who spoke but at the same time not wanting to leave the embrace. “You may be right Minato.” Kushina laughed. She moved both of them to where they could look at the new arrival but remain close to her side. “But I think they can handle it considering what happened.” There in front of them was a blonde maned human. He had sharp blue eyes and a care free smile, though that dimmed at the comment. He was wearing a dark blue coated with the sleeves tied to his arms. On the arms was a symbol of a red swirl. His pants were the same dark blues and he had sandals on his feet. “Yeah well I never planned for magic. It gave the fox a new path out, we are just lucky that the Kirin was able to help them.” Kushina nodded sadly, “Yes.” She said slowly looking down at the Creatures that were pressed against her. “Children, we called you here because we need to explain some things.” Kushina said as she stood up and walked over to her husband. “Naruto as you may have figured out by now we are your parents, I am sorry to say that this meeting is only temporary. We are dead.” Naruto wilted at the news. He had suspected but he had always hopped. Twilight moved to comfort him, something that made the humans smile. “Now that you hear you need to know what the fox was.” She paused and let the foals brace themselves for the imformation. “The fox you fought was the Kyuubi no Kitsune, one of the most powerfull being in our world. Unlike what he may have claimed though is that he was not a demon.” She told the now shocked foals. Minato took over at this point. “The Kyuubi was a mass of energy with a mind. He was Chakra and will. As such he could never be destroyed as energy cannot be destroyed, only changed or contained. On the night of your birth the fox was released and sent to attack our village. To stop it we had to seal it. The only thing capable of holding such a being though… was a newborn.” Minato said with a pained face. Naruto began breathing heavily. That monster, that thing that tried to kill him and Twilight and the Princess. That thing was inside of him all this time. Twilight wasn’t much better as she was being assaulted by all of his emotions. A green fog began blanketing the forest around them and both Twilight and Naruto were ready to bolt only to be stopped by a set of warm arms wrapping around them again. “Shhh, let it out. Let it all out.” Kushina whispered to them as she held them in her lap. It took a little more time before they had settled enough to continue. Minato sighed and continued on. “The fox was not even the most dangerous part of that night I’m afraid. You heard me say the Kyuubi was released, well that means that someone released him. A man claiming to be Uchiha Madara fought with me on that night. He had the Kyuubi under his control. He is very determined to destroy Konoha and the rest of his plans are unknown to us, but we are certain that you being in this new world is enough to stop him.” Minato sadly informed his son. “But for now we need to focus on what happened after you two and the Kirin defeated the Kyuubi.” Kushina said. “He was chakra, energy, while it dissipated it did not leave. Instead it changed and moved. It will be more noticeable later but now it is changing into the energy you call magic and inside of both of you.” Kushina’s voice became a whisper once more, “It will be scary, your power will be hard to control but both of you must not fear it.” “To fear your own power is like binding your own limbs. It will only weaken you and I am afraid that you cannot afford such. In our world there are seals and rituals that will allow them to come here or pull you to them.” Minato told them. “But—but can’t Celestia protect us?” Twilight protested. “This is Equestria! Celestia is the strongest pony there is!” Kushina smiled down at Twilight. “It won’t matter. These people don’t play by the rules Twilight. They lie, cheat, steal. They will take you from your beds before Celestia even knows they are there.” She said sadly. “I am afraid that is just how our world works. You have been blessed with a land of peace, you should treasure it. Strive to become stronger so that they may not harm you or those you care for.” Minato said as he kneeled down and placed a hand on each of their heads, giving them both a bright smile. “But how, we don’t know what we are even fighting against!” Twilight said. “… Show us.” Naruto said. The humans quirked a brow at the orange colt’s voice. “You say we don’t know, then show us. You say we need to get stronger, then show us. You say that they don’t play by our rules, then show us theirs.” The orange colt demanded. He glared up at his parents with determined eyes. After a moment Twilight joined him. “Show us!” They both demanded. Minato and Kushina shared a long look with each other before giving the children a hard look. Both stood and their faces became serious. “You ask to see horrors that not even your worst nightmares could match. We can give you the knowledge, the memories, and they could very well break you.” Minato said leaking a generous amount of killing intent with his wife. Testing the wills of the children in front of them. To their credit, they did not falter. “Show us!” They smiled and each held out a hand and placed it on the foals heads. Minato and Kushina turned into light before flowing into the children. War. That was the first memory that assaulted to minds of the foals. Brutal, bloody, and taking advantage of every weakness. War was hell, war was terror, war was unforgiving. War was you protecting those precious to you because the enemy sought to end them. War was hiding you emotions and shoving them to the side or else they destroyed you. War was secrets, lies, and misinformation. War was the beginning. Ninja. Assassins and warriors of shadows. Heartless murderers made to incite fear in their enemies. Children trained to fight and kill from a young age. Comrades in arms, brothers and sisters in shadow. Enemies who are only whispers before you are dead. Ninja was what they faced. Kage. Those who are without question the strongest. A battle of Kages can reshape the very earth. They knew more than anyone else, fought longer then all else. Kages were on par with Celestia. The masked man. He was as strong as a kage. He could vanish and appear at will. He controlled the fox. He was dangerous. The Arts. That which allowed Ninja’s to be so fearsome. From purely physical to feats of magic thought not to be possible. The Arts were wide and varied. Martial Arts: The art of using the body. To turn ones every movement into a weapon of battle. To make every touch able to due damage. To subdue or kill at a whim. Secret Arts: To create Illusions or physical manifestations of power. To Drive your enemy insane. To rain fire from above. To cut with wind. To summon a torrent. To move the earth. To call the fury of the heavens. The Sealing Arts: To bind power in written word. To change the world with permanent spells. To tamper with the fabric of reality. The children fell to the ground shuddering. The knowledge coursing through the minds far too much for them to easily handle. They laid next to each other panting, looking up at the trees they saw as the memories they had just went, through swirl in the air. They began falling into the barren land that the fox had destroyed, and there knew trees formed. Only these were different from the rest of the forest. These were twisted and thorny resembling the nature of the memories themselves. And as they watched these new trees form they felt the memories settle in their own minds. They began to know that this place was special, other than the fox and Naruto’s parents that this place represented something important to both of them. “N—Naruto, this is, this is just so much I don’t know.” Twilight said in a slightly panicked voice. “I—I know but… You saw.” He said finally. “You saw the same as me, you saw what they were like. We—we need to get ready Twi.” Naruto looked at Twilight with resolution forming in his eyes. “They don’t care. They will come and they will hurt mom, your mom and dad, Shining Armor, Cadence. They will hurt anyone in their way. We—we have to train! I refuse to let them hurt everyone I care about! I refuse to let them hurt you!” Naruto shouted. His breathe came out in pants after his outburst and Twilight was looking at him with wide eyes. After a moment Twilight nodded as well. She knew he was right. They could not afford to be lax about this. But how were they going to do it? “Naruto, while we may know about how this stuff works for Humans… That doesn’t help us. We use Magic.” Naruto blinked at this before thinking about it himself. “We will have to change it. They said Chakra is energy right?” He asked getting a nod in return, “Then we just need to figure out how to get magic to take it’s place. Dad wwa smart and both knew lots about seals. We will just have to learn more about magic.” He said as though it was just that simple. Twilight supposed it was. They could not afford to slack. They had the theories now, they needed to modify them. Perhaps they could learn to change their forms so they could fight better. The next morning they woke to find that they were in a bed, and that they weren’t alone. Cadence was curled next to Naruto with one wing draped over both of them. Shining Armor was next to Twilight. The foals shifting managed to awaken both of the teens. “Hey,” mumbled Shining, “are you both okay?” He asked them. Twilight nodded while Naruto had grin spreading on his face. “Shining and Cadence sharing a bed~.” Naruto sang, “Very soon they will be wed~.” Theis statement brought everyone fully awake and left Naruto and Twilight laughing themselves silly. Shining armor was sputtering protests to the rhyme while Cadence had a blush showing through her fur. “Shining Armor I am surprised at you being so forward. I know I raised you better.” Moonbeam mock scolded. The effect was ruined by the wide grin on her face. “But, but I don’t even know how I got here.” Shining whined trying to defend himself. “Claiming ignorance isn’t going to help son.” Night Sky said as he came into the room. “All it does is make you look bad.” “Dad!” Shining Armor shouted at the dark blue unicorn. The adults began chuckling and Moonbeam decided to spare her son. “Oh Shining, we put you there. All of you children were asleep at the same time so we piled you into the same bed. Oh and you and Cadence look adorable together, too bad we didn’t get any pictures.” Moonbeam finished with a contemplative expression. She completely missed Cadence mouthing a silent ‘Thank you’ to the sky above. Cadence cleared her throat to gather every pony’s attention. “I think we should get ready for breakfast.” The others nodded and began to freshen up. Fortunately it seemed that some toiletries are provided in the suite. As they got ready Twilight and Naruto began whispering to each other. After a few moments they stopped and closed their eyes. A glow began to form at their horn and they wavered in place before a new imaged solidified. They had lost the predator traits and now looked more similar to cadence. “Oh now this is a surprise. How have you changed before my eyes?” Questioned Zecora who had been watching the foals. “We, we… Darn it.” Whined Naruto as he felt his concentration laps. The image of him and twilight broke and now they returned to there Fox-pony forms. “We were testing something… to make us look less strange.” Naruto told his adoptive mother. Zecora bent to nuzzle both foal. “Do not worry and try to haste, for that will only make your efforts waste. While this was a good attempt, from rule of practice you are not exempt.” She told them The foals nodded to her showing that they understood. They jumped as a loud rap on the door startled them. The adults look to the door which opened slightly and a pony in a maid outfit stepped in. “Celestia asked that I lead you to breakfast.” She said in a polite tone. They quickly finished their morning preparations and followed the maid out. The walk to the dining hall seemed longer than it was. The adults were surrounding the children, with Shining Armor and Cadence in front. But each time some pony got a look at Twilight and Naruto there were gasps. With each gasp the children winced and lowered their head. The adults knew there would be whispers and rumors before the day was done. They hated it. Moonbeam spoke soothingly to the foals as they made their way forward, while the rest of the group glared at the help that would dare to say anything. As they passed through a set of large ornate doors Celestia was waiting for them. A serene smile once again on her face. “Welcome, I hope your night was restful and,” she paused and noticed the state of the foals, “Your walk uneventful.” To her credit there was no change in her voice or expression, but many of the staff who had wanted to say something about the strange creatures knew they were on very thin ice. “It was to be expected Princess, but I don’t feel you need to distress.” Zecora stated for the group. While they didn’t like it, they would have to get used to it. Celestia herself wanted to sigh at this but as they were no longer in a private setting she refrained from doing so. “I see. Well let us all tuck in. After which I will go over a few lesson plans I have for the foals.” She told them. While it may have passed over the others heads Zecora was able to spot the bit of politicking that had just happened. She had Claimed the foals at her students in an official setting. That marked them as off limits to any prying ears or eyes. Zecora nodded to the princess. It was a well played move.