//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Shinobi of Equestria // by Fan of Fanfics //------------------------------// Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or MLP. Secondary Disclaimer: I'm really not the best MLP writer. I've got the brony dictionary to go by, but not really the best with terminology. Spike had driven himself into a panic attack. After giving his assistance to Rarity, who needed help on her latest fashion endeavor (which usually ended with the small, purple dragon digging up gemstones), Spike and the unicorn made their way back to the library. As they opened the door, the two were shocked at the disaster. Books piled up on the floor, papers scattered everywhere, overturned desks and tables. It was sheer chaos. Spike and Rarity had attempted to find Twilight, but the purple unicorn was nowhere to be found. They had searched the whole town, recruiting their friends Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy in the process. But as they continued on their search, the three ponies and dragon were alarmed to find that Applejack and Rainbow Dash were missing as well. Spike paced the floor of the library, a letter to Princess Celestia waiting in the event their friends were not found. The first one to show was Rarity, who based on her downtrodden look did not come bearing good news. "I checked in every shop in Ponyville, and nopony has seen Twilight, Applejack, or Rainbow Dash all day," she announced, feeling truly worried for her friends. Next to arrive was Fluttershy, who flew in through the already broken window. "None of the animals have seen them today," she said, in the quiet way she nearly ways spoke "And none of the Pegasus Ponies have seen Rainbow Dash. I really hope nothing bad happened to them." "Nothing bad?" asked Spike. "Who knows WHAT happened to them. They could have been pony-napped..." Fluttershy's eyes widened in panic. "They might be getting tortured!" She began shaking now as Spike continued on his rant, picturing horrible fates befalling her three friends. Before Spike could continue, The library door was kicked in by Pinkie, a crazed and panicked look in her usually cheer-filled eyes. She was practically bouncing off the walls as she spoke. "I got absolutely NOTHING!" she shouted, running in circles. "I checked everywhere I could THINK of! The lake, Sweet Apple Acres, Sugarcube Corner, under every rock and in every ditch. I even went to Zecora's and even SHE doesn't know what happened." Fluttershy suddenly looked up, the only one to notice a mist begin to condense in the air. "Um..." she said quietly, not managing to get the attention of the group. "Excuse me," she tried again, a bit louder this time, but not enough to bring the focus to the mist, which was beginning to swirl in a single location, near the ceiling. "HEY!" This time, her shout managed to get the group's attention, and she pointed her hoof towards the vortex. Frightened by what was happening, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike backed away, while the more curious Pinkie Pie moved directly under the swirling mist, which glowed slightly. Her eyes widened slightly as her tail began to twitch, and she managed to duck out of the way just in time to avoid a pony pile-up. When the dust settled, relief washed over the search party as they saw the three ponies they had been searching for, along with two others who they didn't recognize. As the group all stood, albeit shakily in the case of the two newcomers, the Ponies were able to get a good look at them. The first was a Stallion, looking not much older than they themselves. He had a bright orange coat with a Sunny-yellow mane and tail. As he opened his eyes, they got a peak at how deep blue they were, contrasting his coat's color fantastically. He wore a headband with a strange, stylized leaf carved into it, and on his flank, the ponies noticed a bright-red spiral. The other was a colt, a bit younger than the stallion, with a pale green coat and a brown mane and tail. He also wore the same headband as the stallion, and his eyes were simple black, giving him an almost plain, but by no means unappealing appearance. His flank also had a cutie mark, a silver, stylized leaf that perfectly matched the design carved into the headband. As Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash stood, they were suddenly enveloped in a crushing hug from their Pink friend. "We were so worried about you girls. We thought something TERRIBLE happened to you," she said, squeezing her friends ever tighter. Gasping for air, Twilight tried to talk to her friend. "Gah...Pinkie Pie," she wheezed as her face began turning red. "Can't...Breathe." Pinkie Pie looked a bit sheepish as she released the three. "Whoopsie," she said. "Sorry girls." Turning to the two newcomers, her eyes widened and she dashed up to the Stallion and colt. "Hi!" she said, and Naruto was astounded by the seemingly boundless energy the simple word conveyed. "I'm Pinkie Pie. You must be new around here, because I've never seen either of you before, and I know everypony in Ponyville, and I mean everypony." Before Naruto and Konohamaru could become overwhelmed by the pink force of nature, Applejack spoke up. "These two ain't from around here, Pinkie," she said. "This is, uh...actually, I don't think we ever learned y'alls names." "Applejack's right," Twilight continued, stepping up next to Pinkie Pie. "We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Twilight Sparkle. You've met Pinkie Pie already." "That's me!" shouted the pink pony, before Twilight spoke again. "We have Rarity over there," she said, pointing toward Ponyville's resident fashonista, who nodded at the two newcomers. "Applejack." "Pleased to meet'cha," the earth pony added. Nodding to the purple dragon who had climbed onto her back, Twilight began yet again. "Here we have my assistant, Spike," she said, and the dragon just gave a wave of recognition and welcome, as Twilight kept speaking. "The pegasus pony over there...talking to her wings...is Rainbow Dash. She's not usually that crazy, but not having her wings while in your world must have hit her a little harder than I thought." Sure enough, Dash was flying around the room, seemingly reassuring her wings that she'd never lose them again. Her friends just shook their heads, though Twilight couldn't help but feel similar about her horn, though she wasn't quite so vocal about it. "And this," the unicorn finished, indicating a yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail. Once the eyes was upon her though, she began to inch away, hiding herself behind her own mane. "Is Fluttershy." "It looks like she's afraid of us," Konohamaru said, and Twilight sighed. "She's like this whenever she meets new Ponies. Just be nice, and take things slow and she should warm up to you," she said. Deciding it was his turn to speak, Naruto cleared his throat. "Well, it's nice to meet all of you," he announced. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm a shinobi of Konoha. And this," he continued, indicating his assistant. "Is Konohamaru, also a shinobi, and he'll be assisting me on this mission." "You don't seem really bothered by the fact you're a pony now," Rainbow Dash said, finally managing to get a grip and join the conversation. "I'd be freaking out if I were you." "We all know you would, RD," Applejack said with a bit of a snicker, causing the blue pegasus to glare at the earth pony. Naruto just looked at his new hooves. "It's going to be an adjustment," he replied. "To tell you the truth, I'm no stranger to transformations or walking on all fours. I think the big problem...is performing jutsu without my hands. Mainly the summoning jutsu." "You mean like when that silver-haired guy made that dog appear out of nowhere," Twilight asked, and Naruto nodded. "Technically, my summons are Toads, but yes, basically the same thing," he replied. Twilight nodded. "Don't worry," she announced, reassuringly. "If I can use magic without my horn, you can use 'jutsu' without hands. "Could somebody please explain what is going on here?" asked Rarity, getting thoroughly confused by the conversation. The two shinobi shared a look between the three ponies who actually had a semblance of a clue what had happened. "This could take a while," Twilight sighed, before beginning to tell the others what had happened during their little romp in the world of the Ninja. It took a while for the fact to sink in, but once it did, both Rarity and Fluttershy voiced their feelings, though the later was much quieter. Neither seemed too thrilled at the prospect of losing a horn or wings, though oddly enough, the one who seemed the most affected was Pinkie Pie. "Wait a minute..." she said. "You ponies got to travel to an entirely different world, and I wasn't invited!" The three ponies who had gone were flabbergasted. The fact that Pinkie was freaking out that she didn't have to be turned human was something they couldn't seem to get their heads around. "We're...sorry?" Rainbow Dash replied, but Pinkie didn't even notice, her mood doing a complete 180. "Hey!" she shouted. "Since the two of you are new around here, we should have a 'Welcome' party!" Naruto and Konohamaru just shared a look. "You really don't have to go to any trouble," Naruto said, but Pinkie Pie was already out the door. The other ponies just laughed at the looks on the two shinobi's faces. "Word to the wise," Twilight announced. "When Pinkie decides to throw a party, she's going to throw a party. Trust us." The rest of the group just nodded in agreement, before Pinkie popped her head back into the door. "Are you ponies coming?!" she asked, before disappearing again. Naruto and Konohamaru merely shared another look, before slowly following the pink pony out the door, the rest of them following as well. "Come on," Applejack said. "While Pinkie Pie is gettin' everything for the party, we'll give ya a tour of Ponyville." "Come on then," Naruto said. "Yeah," Konohamaru continued. "I wanna know where things are around here. We'll need to find a place to stay too if we're going to be here for a while." "You could stay at the library with Spike and I," offered Twilight. "We have plenty of room, and you're supposed to be learning about Equestria for your mission." "She has a point, Konohamaru," replied Naruto. "Offer accepted." Smiling, Naruto continued to walk with the group of ponies. Or at least he tried to. The moment he took a step, he was smashed into from the side, causing a chain reaction which caused the collective collapse of Naruto, Konohamaru, and Spike. Looking up a bit, the purple dragon weighing his head down, Naruto caught sight of three young ponies that had crashed into the main group. "It looks like this world is just as dangerous as mine," he announced, standing and shaking the stars from his eyes. "Man, what a tackle." "We're so sorry, everypony," one of the fillies said, the three putting their heads down. The fillies had been on their latest mission through Ponyville to find their Cutie Marks. And unfortunately, the Crusaders hadn't had any luck. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom had been racing toward their next attempt, and hadn't exactly been looking out towards their surroundings, and when the large group entered their path, they were completely unprepared, causing the pile-up. "Man, I'm never gonna get used to the 'pony' thing," Konohamaru said, trying to crack his neck. The huge crunch was all the sign that the other ponies needed to know he succeeded. Looking up at the newcomers, both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had to force their mouths closed again as they caught sight of the young colt. Applejack and Rarity both shared a knowing look, easily seeing the signs of the crush their sisters had from first sight of the slightly older Pony. And they weren't the only ones. Naruto filed away that information for later to torture his young friend with. Scootaloo however was more interested in talking to Rainbow Dash, so she at least wasn't going ga-ga over Konohamaru, but the other two couldn't take their eyes off of him. "Hi, I'm Apple Bloom," the young filly said, moving closer to the new colt, but her lavender-maned friend cut in front of her. "And I'm Sweetie Belle," she exclaimed excitedly. "What's your name?" "Uh...Konohamaru," the shinobi-pony replied. Rarity shook her head as she and Applejack stepped forward, taking spots next to the younger ponies. "Konohamaru," she said, "These two are both of our younger sisters." Konohamaru, not quite comfortable with the way the fillies were staring at him, managed to nod. "N-nice to meet you," he replied a bit shakily. Before more thorough introductions could be made, Pinkie Pie suddenly seemed to pop out of nowhere to appear between the shinobi and the ponies. "Come on, everypony!" she shouted. "We do have a party to set up!" Zipping ahead at high speeds, Konohamaru just let out a sigh of relief as he began to move toward his partner, the group beginning to follow Pinkie Pie once more, the Cutie Mark Crusaders now following as well. Falling back to the three fillies, Naruto leaned in close, whispering in their ears. Rarity and Applejack, who were close enough to hear, had to suppress their laughter at what he was telling their sisters. If nothing else, Konohamaru was going to have a very interesting time in Ponyville.