//------------------------------// // Why does thinking HURT! // Story: Naruto: Chronicles of a swirly sky // by SilverShield //------------------------------// Here it is my friends sorry for the delay but in compensation its the longest chapter so far enjoy it, also I think its the first with two images in it anyway here it goes With nothing else to do all day and not wanting to be cooped up in the inn until next time the unicorns came, Naruto made sure his blank flank was covered by his cloak and he went out into town at the inn entrance he found Apricot Jam who smiled at him "I'm going to the local library Apricot, can you point me in the right direction?" he asked of the little filly. Said filly smiled a and nodded "Yes mister Naturoh! I know where it is!" the little pony said as she pointed down a road "it is over that way about 5 blocks and to the right!" she told him smiling and Naruto nodded before thanking her and heading that very way. "You sure this way we'll get anything Naruto? wouldn't it be better to just go and try to reach the caravan that left yesterday? if you run with chakra you'll reach them in no time" Said Kurama but Naruto just shook his head at him. "No its better this way if I go after them there is no guarantee they'll actually teach me anything, and I don't know anything other than the general direction of where they left even with chakra it would be a waste of time, besides Apricot said they come often for food besides If I don't find anything in this town I'll leave with no haste now that I know the way they take to the Unicorn kingdom" Naruto answered mentally to his fox companion. Once Naruto came upon the 4rth block he noticed a peculiar sound, one of metal hitting metal and the smell of burning coal came with it, Naruto turned to the right and sure enough about a block away there was black smoke coming off a corner store, a familiar dark blue pony with a black and red mane stood in front of a round black sphere his right hoof covered in a strange glove it was thick leather and had metal plaques along it, he used it to hammer at a round piece of metal, after a few hits he would grab it with a prong using his mouth and hold it over a pot with burning coals, then after feeding the flame he would take it away to the anvil once more to cover himself from the blazing sparks he wore a leather vest with some pockets that reminded Naruto of his world's chunnin jackets, probably the ponies version of a blacksmith's apron Naruto idly thought. The process was slightly hypnotic to Naruto as Ironblood hit the flat piece of metal until it was flat no more, after what seemed hours, the flat and round plaque of metal had taken the basic shape of a helmet, minus any ornamental additions Naruto noted that it looked just like the base piece of those armors the pegasus guards were wearing, he then began making modifications on the helmet, like a slit for the mane and such when he took notice to Naruto standing there, he harrumphed and kicked a stand behind him that had a bell, alerting of a customer. From the building next to the forge a petite pale white mare with a 2two toned blue mane appeared, she was wearing a tan blacksmith apron much like Ironblood, her own cutie mark in the shape of a hammer covered in blue fire "Hey there!" she yelled cheerfully "I am Pale Fire, the town's blacksmith, this here is Ironblood my apprentice, he's not a pony of words but he's hardly quiet, his voice is the ring of the hammer and the roar of the white flame, the best assistant a smith-mare could ask for, what can we do for ya?" she said with a perky attitude a bright smile and a soothing voice, Naruto silently said she didn't seem resemble a blacksmith at all except for the apron and the cutie mark. "Thanks I'm just on my way to the library but I got distracted by the forge" Naruto said but he thought of something "Say can you make anything?" he asked of her to the confusion of Kurama. "As long as it's made of metal we can give it a try even in custom orders, we mostly do horseshoes and lost-wax castings in bronze for custom orders but we have done weapons and armor for the guards both earthen and pegasi" she said while pointing to the store where several bronze statues as well as armor and swords and spears could be seen. "Excellent! I'll swing by later to place an order but I'm kind of in a hurry right now" Naruto said to the perky mare "I can use this chance to get some kunai and shuriken but I need to think of how to design them to work for this body I don't think I have the grip to hold Kunai like I used to... I should take a look at guards training later to see how to fight in this form" he said to Kurama mentally. Naruto waved goodbye to Ironblood who nodded silently and inexpressibly before he resumed hammering at the helmet, once Naruto resumed his path he could see a bit ahead to the rather large building that was the library, he smiled to himself and headed there. When he was about to enter the library he noticed the Librarian was actually a older female pegasus with a light purple coat and a white and gray mane, she had on reading glasses and smiled at him as he entered the library "can I be of assistance sir?" she asked as Naruto took off the cloak, she didn't seem to react to the fact that he was an unicorn. "Yes actually I'm in search of a book that explains the basics of Unicorn Magic do you have anything like that?" Naruto asked hopefully as the librarian had a pensive look on her face, she consulted a notebook as she thought of something. "Hmmm well we do have various books explaining advanced magical theories for Unicorns but I'm afraid that the basic books were all rented out about a week ago, they are not due to return until tomorrow but knowing the Unicorn who took them he'll probably just file an extension and keep them for about a month before returning them" she said and Naruto looked smashed at that comment, seeing him depressed she said "well... I could tell you the address of the one who borrowed the books so you could talk to him" Naruto perked up at this and she smiled She took a piece of paper and copied down the address from the big book "here you go dearie, I do have to warn you though, Arcane Glyph is... special so to speak" she said much to Naruto's Confusion "he's very... well, just be very patient when dealing with him" she said with a sigh and Naruto not knowing what to do and left the building. Once he was in the streets Naruto took a glance at the paper the librarian had written the address of the pony that had taken the book, he raised an eyebrow once he noticed the words on the paper it just said 'Eastern Gate - ask for Arcane Mist to the guards' he scratched his head with his hoof. "how convenient the gate in question is the one closest to where we are staying... what a waste of our time, at least it didn't cost us any money" came the input of Kurama much to Naruto's irritation. "For kami's sake Kurama stop being such a hoarder I didn't know you were this greedy" Naruto said to the mental fox "Besides there was no way to know the book we needed was in the hands ehm...hooves of another pony, besides think of it this way, if this pony reads this books often then maybe he can help me understand how to use magic, no?" Naruto said mentally while shrugging his shoulders. Naruto made the trip back to the inn and he noticed it was already mid day but he didn't see Apricot in the park in front of the inn like in the morning, he noticed Ginger Breeze sweeping the street with a broom and he went closer to her. "Hello miss Breeze, I was wondering if you knew where a certain Arcane Glyph lives? I only know he's somewhere around here" he asked of her and she raised an eyebrow at him. "Well Nataro" Naruto mentally face-hoofed himself "Arcane tome doesn't really live in the city... he has a small cottage on the prairie behind that knoll" she said while pointing to the gate "its a 10 minute walk from the gates but Arcane Glyph is quite... just be patient with the old pony please Raruto" she said much to his irritation and bid him goodbye as Naruto nodded and headed towards the gates. "That's two ponies in a row that tell me that, should we take it as an omen of sorts?" Naruto asked Kurama as he walked towards the gates kurama in return shrugged at him. "Not sure but considering your constant luck then yes we should and be prepared for the worst and the best possible outcomes" he said scratching behind his ears "just in case lest leave the jewels safe in the hotel room" he said casually. Naruto rolled his eyes at Kurama's antics and was about to say something when he noticed Kurama kept scratching "you okay dude? you've been scratching all day" Naruto asked of his old friend. "I'm not sure I just started having this itch in my skin since I woke up, its not too terrible but its kind of uncomfortable, meh... I'm sure it'll pass out eventually, now go I want to take a mental bath and I want my privacy" he said while summoning a giant bathtub filled with bubbles "What privacy you're naked all the time" Naruto mentally shouted at his fried "you're naked now as well in case you haven't noticed ponies go naked most of the time" Kurama answered in a deadpan manner as he submerged to the eyes in the building-sized mental bathtub, making Naruto's eyes widen. "Holy shit I'm naked!" Naruto shouted to the questioning glances of various ponies, Naruto suddenly blushed and ran towards the gate as fast as his hooves allowed him while mumbling under his breath "stupid naked Kurama and his naked commentaries, i hope your fur falls from the itch" all the time the mental fox laughing at his expense. Once he reached the gates he noticed the pegasus hardly looked at him but pulled a lever anyway to let him though the gate Naruto wondered if they weren't soldiers rather that simple gate guards considering their seriousness and synchronization, the resemblance to Konoha's old gate guards was practically non existent. Regardless of the idiot antics of Izumo and Kotetsu Naruto trotted on determined to reach the house beyond the little hill and ask about the magic book, with any luck he might even be able to borrow it or learn magic from an unicorn. As he exited the gates and went on top of the knoll he noticed how to the distance he could see a small purple hut that had a pink roof and a chimney that was emitting a green foggy smoke, Naruto wondered how that smoke was possible when suddenly an explosion sounded in the hut and from the windows came billowing out large amounts of the green fog. Naruto's instincts forced him to run towards the hut cutting a trek downwards from about 5 minutes to around 30 seconds by running with the aid of chakra, once he reached the hut and knocked oped the door which proceeded to release the last gush of green smoke, fogging up his vision slightly Naruto entered the house "Hello? anyone here? are you alright?" he asked trying to find the pony that live there. After a bit the green mist lessened and Naruto could see now well, the house was a disaster, nothing seemed dirty except an explosion of purple goop near the chimney but there were books and scrolls thrown all over the place, buried under a pile of books that seemed to have fallen from a toppled over bookshelf came a struggling light blue horn that belonged to the owner of the house. Naruto tried reaching him but it was hard maneuvering amidst the mountains of books and scrolls without breaking anything, Eventually the horn glowed with purple aura and all the books surrounding the pony were levitating as the stallion dusted himself off and his vest, Naruto was fascinated at seeing actual magic at work. Naruto Idly noted that the unicorn had a light blue coat and a messy curled mane of dark blue and pink hues, his tail was short but equally as messy as his mane, Naruto couldn't see the unicorn's face or his cutie mark from this angle tough. The pony shook himself and tried to remove the sooth and goop from the explosion from his coat while mumbling "Alright I need less pixie dust and more dragon's tail... maybe a bit of lavender?" he said not paying attention to Naruto. "Ehm... are you alright sir?" Naruto asked tentatively but loud enough to break the unicorn from his musings who turned around to face him, Naruto noted how he seemed to be older because of various crinkles and folds on his face, he had purple eyes, he had a long beard that was dark blue pink but unlike his mane and tail, it was straight, he also saw his cutie mark which was an open book with a pink star in the middle and smaller dark blue stars around it, he was wearing a white shirt and a brown vest. "Oh a customer! Greetings friend!" he yelled cheerfully as he straightened up and finished dusting off his clothes "I am Arcane Glyph welcome to Arcane's hut of enchantment, what can I help you with" he finished with a grin as he looked at Naruto. "Ehm.. hi I'm assuming you're Arcane glyph, right?" Naruto asked to his nod "Alright look, you checked out a book from the library I was wondering if I could borrow it for a bit?" he asked of the strange unicorn who seemed to break into thought. "Hmmm curious, town filled with earth ponies little to no use for the book, hood perfect for hiding a horn or wings interest in book means likely unicorn interest in powerful spells likely but improbable, book useless to most unicorns a children's book at best, other reasoning evident, perhaps... no, unlikely, high magical aura but seemingly untapped, eyes full of wonder, confusion questioning, Oh! I did it Again didn't I?" he said in quick succession as he invaded Naruto's personal space seemingly popping out from different places and angles much to Naruto's confusion. "Sorry i tend to get excited when confronted with something curious anyway why do you want the book young unicorn, there's hardly anything useful in there much less powerful spells if that's your need" Glyph asked tentatively with a small smirk barely hid behind his big inquisitive eyes. "Well I don't actually... I..."Naruto started but didn't know how to say it properly "I don't know any magic at all not a single spell" Naruto said much to the confusion and joy of glyph. "I knew it!" Glyph said joyful "but how can it be possible" now he sounded shocked "my hypothesis was correct" once again joy "but all unicorns know magic! since foals!" once again shock "Naruto quick stop him before he begins ranting again" yelled Kurama and Naruto wasted no time in doing it quickly interrupting him with the first thing he thought of to call his attention "I haven't ever used my magic I don't know how to" he said much to Glyph's shock. "What! honestly? wow little colt where have you been living a cave?" he asked and much to his surprise Naruto meekly responded. "Kind of... yes" Naruto said while scratching the back of his head with a hoof "It's kind of complicated but lets say I was raised not even knowing I could do magic until recently" Naruto said convincingly shutting glyph up. "Well this changes things... for starters this book will not be useful to you at all then because it implies you already know how to channel magic" he said while making a book bloat in from of him while being enveloped in a pink aura "however I am most curious about you so I'll make you a proposal, I will teach you myself about magic, but in exchange, I want you to come here everyday until I deem you worthy of having that horn" he said while flipping said horn on Naruto's forehead with a grin "Deal?" he said holding his hoof. Naruto was shocked and he mentally grinned at kurama as they got the best possible outcome "Yes! thank you Arcane glyph-san! thats awesome" Naruto said excitedly much to Glyph's joy and equally big grin. "Excellent! now for the first order of busyness..." he said with a sudden somber seriousness "lets EAT!" he then yelled happily much to Naruto's confusion, as Naruto was about to ask him somethig his horn suddenly lit up a bright pink as everything thrown by the explosion began glowing the same shade of pink and they began levitating and floating back to their original positions much to Naruto's awe. Then a table appeared in front of them and along two chairs and some other utensils began setting themselves unto place then from the fireplace the cauldron with the purple goop floated close to them along 2 loafs of bread, he cut some slices of the loaf and dipped the knife in the purple goop which released a green mist as it was cut "how many sandwiches do you want?" he said to Naruto's shock. "Wha.. wait! didn't that thing just explode!?" Naruto yelled while pointing at the cauldron "Now you're eating it what gives!?" he asked of his host as he began laughing mirthfully. "Ho ho ho this is actually a homemade marmalade, I'm trying to make something tastier than Pb&J but so far the prototype explodes as I'm mixing the ingredients I need to get around to that eventually I guess but I assure you it tastes very good and its perfectly safe after the ingredients mixed" he said while taking a bite of he sandwich he made, and humming at its flavor he prepared another one and gave it to Naruto who looked at the offered thing curiously. Naruto just shrugged "well what the hell Itadakimassu" he said as he took a bite of the sandwich, is eyes widened as the flavor immediately flooded his mouth, the goop itself tasted sweet and rich with a slight lumpy texture, but the green mist was filled with a juicy fresh taste that melted in his mouth making the slight salty bread mix perfectly "wow! what is this taste it's delicious" Naruto said as he devoured the bread and took a few more from what Arcane had been making with his magic. Glyph smiled from ear to ear "Thanks little one! its far from perfect but its a good start, i still need to make it less explosion prone and remove that annoying numbness after you eat it but I'm going the right way!" he said while grinning. After they finished eating Naruto noticed the numbness and did found it annoying because he started having a temporal lisp much to Glyph and Kurama's amusement, anyway Glyph made Naruto get outside sit in the grass as he sat in front of him then he began instructing him in finding and unlocking his magic. "Ok little one first you must know the basics of magic to understand it and unlock it, Magic is everywhere in the world from the dust in the ground to the celestial bodies in the sky, everything flows with its very particular mana" he noticed Naruto's confusion to the new world and said "Mana is what we call the energy that flows in all things, while magic is the application of the same energy" glyph then touched his horn with his hoof. "All races have mana but only the unicorns can channel it into spells through the use of our horns" he then closed his eyes and crossed both hooves over his chest "Mana does not come from our horns however but all over our bodies its is then channeled with our thoughts" he paused and touched his head and then made a spiral movement around his horn "And it is projected through our horns like a wand from a tiny organ on the base of our horns called the Leigh gland" he said while poking the tip of his horn. "Now earth and pegasus ponies channel the mana with their bodies, earth ponies are stronger physically and are the only ones that can grown food and trees in the ground, while pegasi use it to make themselves weightless while flying and allowing them to interact with weather, like clouds, physically, but in unicorns it is a power that comes from our minds, the greater understanding and imagination the greater control we have over magic, we can even channel mana in a certain mental equation to create effects that are incredible, this is called a spell"he said while making his horn glow a pink color and a stone was lifted before them and with a bit more concentration he made the stone be colored a bright blue. "Now today we are going to focus on finding your mana and channeling it through your horn, no need for spells just finding that mana inside you will suffice for today" he finished and looked at Naruto who nodded. Naruto thought he got the gist of it, "So mana is a lot like chakra but not only living beings had it but also rocks and even the sun, unicorns were the only one who could use magic spells which were like jutsus, but then it seems to be only mental energy mmm what do you think Kurama?" Naruto asked of his inner friend. "Why ask me I'm a massive(ly handsome) chakra fox god that's too awesome to use or know how unicorn magic works but yeah I think you got pretty much what it its I can feel some other kind of energy around us and in your body but i cant grasp it so it might be that, try finding it and focus on it" Kurama said while shrugging his shoulders and scratching the fur on the back of his neck. "Mmm ok I'll concentrate then" Naruto said to both Glyph and the fox, he evened his breath and closed his eyes he concentrated and eventually opened his eyes in front of Kyuubi's cage finding the massive red fox staring at him. "Hmm fancy that, I guess having a mental landscape of your whole being helps in finding stuff like that huh?" Kurama said as he scratched his right ear, Seeing Naruto nod and smile at him made him roll his eyes at his human friend "Lazy idiot... well to start on the right direction I felt the energy come from that way " he said pointing the tunnel to his right. "Thanks fuzzbutt good luck with the mental fleas" Naruto yelled as he ran towards the tunnels of his mind, laughing at Kurama's middle finger and angry expression. His mind really had changed tough Rather than the sewer like tunnels and concrete chamber from before it had taken a more natural appearance, Kurama's chamber now looked like a small forest meadow enclosed by massive mountains, with a lake in there, the curious and beautiful thing though was that the sky was always in midnight with the moon high in the sky still it was bright enough to see perfectly thanks to various orbs of very bright light floating between the woods liek fairies. The tunnels and passageways changed to look more natural in the environment, being caves that ran through the mountains, sometime he even found underground rivers flowing through the tunnels, although he was getting deeper in the tunnels he still felt he was actually moving upwards, being guided by a strange feeling that seemed to beacon him. as he moved he saw various exits to the tunnels some took him to places of sunny brilliance and some to darker places, but none of these exits was the one that called for him, until he felt he had reached the top, a long chambers going upwards as a spiral staircase carved of mossy stone, he couldn't see the top of the stair but he still trekked onwards, luckily he couldn't feel fatigue in his mind or he would have given up long ago as he climbed the stairs. Finally he reached the top a single wooden door with a brazen handle was atop the staircase, the call was louder than ever yet silent as a whisper in the wind, he pushed the door open with his hooves and saw something that would otherwise defy logic, he was in a place of untold beauty the very core of his mind. The floor was perfectly paved in cobblestone in spiral patterns and stretched as far as the eye could see, there was a layer of water above the cobblestone that was about ankle deep, the sky was a perfect sky blue but the clouds were a dazzling orange as the sun stood still in the distance in perpetual sunset, basking the scenery in colors of beauty, there were some tiny koi fish in the waters although he could see some massive ones in the deeper areas, in front of him stood a small isle, verdant and tranquil atop of the small mound a large sakura tree in bloom, underneath it what appeared to be a small shrine and three stumps. He walked with great calm towards the little island idly noticing the door that he came from vanished, once he reached the little island and got closer he noticed the stumps were wooden and beautifully engraved the left one had fire engraved in its base and carved in the shape and face of his mother along all the other important female figures of his past,Granny Tsunade, Sakura, Hinata etc, the one on the right was equally engraved it had lightning in the base and carved with the faces of his father and all the other important male figures to him, there was Kakashi and th old man Hokage, there was Sasuke and the rest of his friends. The final stump made him smile and cry at the same time, this one had frogs carved in the bottom, with kurama snuggled at the top of the post, in the middle was engraved a picture of Jiraya and Naruto side to side sharing a Popsicle under a tree, a huge goofy grin on their faces. Naruto shook his head of the memories and sighed in gleeful remembrance, he the felt a breeze and followed the falling sakura petals that fell in front of the little shrine, he got closer to it and with his hoofs he managed to open the tiny doors, in the middle of the shrine was a beautiful light a perfect golden orange glowing sphere, resonating with a calm and beautiful hum. Naruto was entranced by the warm glow and mindlessly touched his horn to the orb and everything turned white. Back in the real world Glyph had gone to the hut as soon as Naruto began meditating, he shuffled through various drawers until he found just what he was looking for a blue ointment and a couple of lollipops, he levitated them back to Naruto and he sat in front of him while eating one of the lollipop. Suddenly a certain hum sounded as Naruto's horn was covered in a golden orange glow and sparks exploded from the tip of his horn followed by Naruto instantly opening his eyes and screaming in horrible pain "Aaahhh! My Brain!" he yelled encasing his head with his hooves "Why does thinking hurts so much!!!" Naruto yelled writhing in pain like an epileptic mess. The blue Unicorn shook his head with a smile and took the ointment and proceeded to rub it along the base of Naruto's horn once he had stopped his spasms and just moaned in pain. Naruto looked up to the elder unicorn and opened his mouth to ask him something but only got a lollipop shoved in his mouth "Suck on that lollipop colt, it will help with the headache" he said and Naruto wasted no effort in doing anything that would help ease the horrible pain. "That sucks right?, normally using magic for the first time is painless for fillies and colts but unlocking it as a young adult tends to be a pain in the flank" he said to Naruto's moaning. "You could have said that in the first place you shitty old fart" Naruto cursed painfully while in fetal position much to the snort and giggles of the elder pony. "By the way" said Glyph in a slightly loud tone of voice that made Naruto's headache nearly split his head in half "I never did get your name..." the elder pony said to Naruto's shock, making Naruto face-palm or face-hoof for the case being making his headache hurt worse. "Argh Son of a BITCH!!!" he yelled nursing his head while the blue unicorn laughed his flank off at his expense.