//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - Naruto-Aplenty (Part 1) // Story: Daily Life of an Equestrian Ninja // by PianoPony //------------------------------// Chapter 4- Naruto-Aplenty (Part 1) Naruto ran as quickly as his four legs could carry him. “Foalish ninja! Not even you can escape my wrath!” an echoing voice called from behind him. He turned his head back to see a slender, pitch-black pony with both a horn and wings chasing after him. She seemed to nearly float as she charged, wanting to get her hooves on him, until suddenly she blurred and vanished. Naruto let out a sigh of relief and stopped to look around, he was in a vast field of grass, with a starry sky hanging above it. In the horizon he could see a line of trees. Looking to his right, he saw some kind of shape lying in the grass. Walking towards it, he quickly recognized it as a pony. However, this pony was larger than the average one, and he could see it had both wings and a long horn. When he got closer, he came to see that she had dark blue coat, and that her blue mane and tail, which twinkled like stars, moved as if they’ve been caught in an intangible wind. She wore silver shoes, and had a small black crown on her head. “Hey, are you alright?” he asked the mare, gently touching her front right leg. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him. “Who are you?” she muttered weakly. Naruto was mesmerized by her soft voice and beautiful blue eyes. “Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki,” he whispered. “And you?” “My name is Luna. Tell me, where are we?” “I… I’m not sure… I was just running away from someone and ended up here… I think.” Luna slowly got to her feet. “I… I have to go… To my sister….” “MUHAHAHAHA!” Naruto heard the black mare from before laughing wickedly, the voice seemingly echoing from the sky itself and all around them. “Did you honestly think you could escape from Nightmare Moon?!” The twinkling stars in the sky vanished, and the moon changed into an emerald eye with a catlike pupil. “I am always watching you. You can’t escape the night, and I AM THE NIGHT!” “We have to run away, quickly!” Naruto exclaimed to Luna. As they ran, the darkness of the sky began enveloping them, the grassy area shrinking gradually. Luna suddenly stumbled and fell down, and she looked up in fear to see Nightmare Moon towering above her. “Luna!” Naruto yelled as he made a turn back as fast as he could, but it was too late. Nightmare Moon enveloped her with her wings, as Luna yelled out a final plea for help. “Save me, Naruto!!!” ***** Naruto rose to a sitting position, his eyes slamming open, but then closed back just as quickly due to the sunlight pouring in from outside. Taking a few moments to process what he’s just been through, he slowly looked around him. “Did I honestly just get a nightmare from that book?” he sighed, quite disappointed of himself. His heart sank to see the shelves of books in the wall in front of the bed. This was more than proof enough that he wasn’t in his room back in the hidden leaf village. Giving a single gaze at his hands told him that during the night the transformation jutsu indeed wore off, and his legs we sticking out of the small bed. He saw he had only the bottom part of his jump suit on, and the top was lying on the stool, changed back to its human proportions. “Well, tomorrow I’ll get that Celestia to send me back home, and then this will all be over with,” he told himself as he got out of bed and put the top back on, strapped the tool bag on himself, and then put the headband back on his head. “Okay, I need to make some clones, but still make sure no one suspects anything,” he confirmed with himself as he performed the seal. “Shadow Clone Jutsu!” he shouted, and out of a sudden cloud of smoke, a clone appeared beside him. With yet another seal, both of them transformed into ponies. “Okay, you head to the town hall to help Rarity,” Naruto ordered his clone. The duplicate nodded and raced outside. Immediately, in came another pony. Naruto hid behind the bed, since that pony probably saw him dashing outside. Upon catching the unmistakable shade of pink, he came out of his hiding, letting out a relieved sigh. “Good morning, Pinkie,” he greeted. “Good morning, Naruto number two! Or Naruto number one? Do you have a twin brother? Oh my gosh, I didn’t throw a party for your twin brother! We can throw one today before this evening’s party! How convenient we’ll hold them both here!” “Wait, Pinkie! That wasn’t my twin!” “Oh, was it a doppelganger?! Or maybe an evil twin? Maybe we should call him Oturan! Although he didn’t seem bad at all…” “No, Pinkie. That was just a clone jutsu,” he explained, getting a bit overwhelmed by her hyperactivity. “Clone juice? You mean like a juice you drink and then you get a reward clone? Is it made of apples? Do you think Applejack can make some for me?” “No, ju-tsu! Agh! Just look!” he yelled, tired of the guessing game’s sheer insanity and cancelled the pony transformation. “Shadow Clone Jutsu!” he exclaimed as he performed the hand seal and a clone appeared next to him. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, this is the most amazing thing ever! Now you can help me out with the party!” she called gleefully. “Wait, what party? I told you I don’t have a twin!” Naruto objected. “Not for you, silly-filly. I mean the new pony that will be coming here later.” “How do you know about a pony that isn’t even here yet? Wait, don’t tell me… Pinkie Sense?” he ventured. “No, Rarity told me about it,” she explained with her usual, carefree smile. “Oh,” was all Naruto could think to say to the unusually plain response. “Well, I guess my clone could hang around and help you out.” “Just make sure nothing hits me, alright?” the ninja duplicate added. “Why, what will happen?” she asked and punched his leg without waiting for an answer. The clone only gave her a stunned look before dissipating. “That happens,” Naruto replied, sweatdropping. “That’s why I’ll be going as my real self to Applejack’s. One apple mishap and everyone will be panicking about vanishing ninja ponies. By the way, you didn’t tell anyone—“. “AnyPONY. If you keep speaking so oddly everypony will get suspicious, you know.” Naruto chose to simply avoid the argument that could stem from that tiny point and continued on. “Right, anyPONY, about me not being a pony?” “Don’t worry! I’ve made a Pinkie Promise!” She passed a hoof in front of her mouth, put it on the ground and then wiped the ground with her other one. “Alright then,” Naruto said as he conjured up another clone, again choosing not to comment on Pinkie’s actions. The ‘twins’ both transformed into ponies, and the clone walked over to Pinkie. “Just tell me what do and I’ll help out,” he smiled. “By the way, where’s the party gonna be?” Naruto questioned. “Right here, of course!” she said cheerfully. “And… How do you know the new pony will be coming here?” “Pinkie Sense!” “Ah… Right, of course,” he rolled his eyes and headed outside. ***** The sun was shining as beautifully as yesterday, sending a warm feeling all across Naruto’s body as headed to the west side of town and the Apple family’s farm. “Hey, Naruto! Heads up!” a familiar voice called from above. Recognizing the voice instantaneously, the orange ninja sprinted forward a few feet, and looked back to see the area he was just in getting a thorough soak. “Woah, you’ve got some impressive reflexes there,” smiled at him a light blue mare, who was sitting atop of the small cloud that just released all of its cargo. “Good morning, Rainbow,” Naruto greeted. “But you should know I only get fooled once by the same trick.” Rainbow landed gently on the ground. “I’ll take that as another challenge for next time. I’m sure I’ll enjoy pulling another prank on you,” she laughed. “Say, if you’re not busy, how about we hang out a bit? I’ve been wanting to show somepony the new flying routine I’ve been working on, but everypony’s been really busy getting ready for the Summer Sun Celebration.” “I can always just make another clone…” Naruto thought, smiling. “Sure, just give me a moment,” he said as he dashed behind a nearby house. Rainbow stared at his direction, puzzled. A moment later, he came out. “Alright, let’s go!” he exclaimed, and they both headed down the street. A few minutes later, another Naruto appeared from behind the building, smiling. “Looks like she didn’t suspect anything, so I’m in the clear for now.” ***** Naruto continued trotting down the street, taking in the scenery of the town and the mountains in the horizon, the noise of ponies minding their business, probably preparing for the Summer Sun Celebration. The birds were chirping, and the quiet buzzing of bees added to the background noise. Though, in actuality, those weren’t the bees buzzing, but in fact a very weak voice speaking to the transformed ninja walking down the streets of Ponyville. “Umm… I’m very sorry to disturb you, Naruto. But I really need your help today… If you would please just look this way…” whispered a yellow colored Pegasus, which was floating next to him silently. So silently, in fact, that even Naruto’s honed ninja senses wouldn’t reveal to him her presence just to his left. “I’m really in a bind today, so if you won’t mind helping me out, I would really, really appreciate it,” she pleaded. Eventually, her right wing accidentally touched his lower back. Naruto’s eyes shot open when he sensed the foreign body touching him. “Gyah!” he screamed, jumping six feet into the air. He quickly turned around to see Fluttershy hiding behind her wings, scared over his sudden reaction. “Oh, good morning, Fluttershy,” Naruto greeted, catching his breath. “A-Are you alright?” he managed to say, despite feeling his own heart about to pop out of his chest. “G-Good morning, and yes, I’m fine,” she replied in her usual, ear-strainingly weak voice. “If you aren’t busy, could you help me back home? I’m having a bit of an emergency. My bunny, Angel, needs to take his medication, but he’s hiding from me. And I just don’t have the time to look for him with the Summer Sun Celebration coming,” she asked with pleading eyes. “O-Oh, sure!” he answered immediately, unable to withstand the power of her eyes. “Just hold on a second!” he called as he ran once more behind another building and performed the same trick as before. Within moments, Fluttershy and Naruto’s shadow clone were on their way to Fluttershy’s cottage. The real Naruto watched them for a while until they got far enough, and then headed to the apple farm. ***** Meanwhile, at the center of town, a golden chariot descended from the sky, pulled by a pair of white Pegasi wearing matching golden armor. Two figures, both purple in color, jumped out and looked around. One of them was a Unicorn, while the other was a small, reptilian creature. Just then, passed them by Pinkie Pie and the clone assigned to her, both carrying several party goods such as balloons and streamers, freshly bought for the party. As soon as Pinkie saw the two, she made a loud gasp, grabbed the Naruto clone and with one of her hooves and dashed with him back to the library. This made the Unicorn and reptile exchange baffled gazes. ***** Naruto could see a familiar, orange-colored pony waiting for him at the entrance to the farm. “Great to see ya, Naruto!” Applejack said with her upbeat voice. “Ready for some good ol’ apple bucking?” “You betcha,” Naruto replied, returning a smile. “Great! Ah’ll be coming later, since I have some family members coming and I need to take care of things for the Summer Sun Celebration now, but Big Mac will be there to help ya out. Ah’ll be counting on ya to do a fine job like yesterday. Just take this here wagon with ya.” The cowmare then helped him strap the wagon to his back. “Feel free to eat on the job, and drop by the barn later for some of the best apple pastries ya’ve ever had!” she said as she headed to the barn. “Alright, see ya, Applejack!” Naruto called and headed into the apple grove, his wagon trailing behind him. “I never thought I’d know what being a horse feels like, but this is no easy job!” he thought as he pulled the heavy wagon. “Excuse me!” a voice he didn’t recognize called to him. Towards him walked a purple unicorn, sporting dark purple mane and tail, in which a pink line of hair ran through. She had eyes that were purple as well, slightly darker than her coat. Next to her was another purple creature. However, it was definitely not a pony—it looked like a large lizard, only it walked upright, and had green spikes adorning its backside from head to tail. His eyes were big and green and his pupils were snake-like. “Good day, sir. My name is Twilight Sparkle,” she introduced herself. “Wait… Didn’t I see you before? You look a bit familiar,” she added, rubbing her chin. “My name’s Naruto Uzumaki. And nope, I’ve never seen you before.” “Oh, well… Are you the owner here?” “No, not me. I’m just helping around here temporarily. You’re probably looking for Applejack. She’s in the barn over there,” he answered, when he eyed the creature next to her. “Wow, what is that thing? It looks really cool!” he said in excitement. “I’m not an it, you know. I’m a he. And I’m a Dragon. The name’s Spike,” the purple creature claiming to be a Dragon said. Since Naruto was already shocked by the talking ponies in this universe once, he simply assumed anything can talk here, and wasn’t completely surprised when the little guy answered. “Aren’t you a little too small to be a Dragon?” Naruto asked skeptically. In response, Spike blew a stream of green fire at his face, forcing the orange colt to jerk his head backwards. “Baby Dragons can still breathe flames, you know,” Spike said with a cocky grin. “Right. I believe you now,” Naruto smiled. “Let’s go, Spike. We have much to do,” Twilight urged him and the two walked off to the barn. Naruto headed off as well to do his job at the apple grove. ***** Later that day, back in the middle of town, the Naruto clone that was with Rainbow Dash was getting to enjoy some of the most impressive flying he’d seen. The rainbow-maned Pegasus flew in spirals around clouds, zigzagged between buildings and flew circles around the sun (from his point of view), dashed through rows of clouds creating perfect, round holes in them, and even made a small tornado in the air, making the clouds above Ponyville spin around in th sky. Finally, she flew up high, and then descended down as quickly as her wings could take her, until she was slightly more than a rainbow-colored blur in Naruto’s eyes, and quickly changed directions by ninety degrees to fly just inches off the ground, and finally came to a stop next to him. Naruto applauded enthusiastically. “Wow! That was incredible, Dash! How did you all that?!” “Heh, years of practice, my little pony. Years of practice. All this so that one day, I can become one of the best, the greatest—the Wonderbolts!” Naruto only looked at her questioningly. “And they are…?” Rainbow Dash’s lower jaw nearly fell to the ground with those three words. “Are you kidding me?! You’ve really been living under a rock or something, haven’t ya?” Naruto could only scratch the back of his head, embarrassed with his ignorance of something that was probably seen as trivial here. “The Wonderbolts are Princess Celestia’s personal aerial acrobatics team. They’re the best and fastest Pegasi in all of Equestria! Just you wait and see, one day I’ll be a member—no, wait… The CAPTAIN of the Wonderbolts!” she explained, her eyes shining as she talked about her dream. “Good luck, Dash! But I really think you really got it all down already,” the orange Earth pony complimented. “I have, haven’t I?” the light blue Pegasus laughed and gazed at him. “You know what? I feel like having another race. Feel like you’re up for another beating?” she teased. “Heh, you talk big, but I want to see your face when I wipe the floor with ya,” Naruto grinned at her. “Ha, I just love your attitude! Alright, same rules. We run to the end of the block, and you get a 10 seconds head start, alright?” But Naruto had an idea this time around. “No need, we’ll start together this time.” “You sure? Don’t you want, you know, an actual, slight chance of winning?” “I can’t wait to wipe that smugness off your face,” was all Naruto answered with. “Heh. Right back at ya,” Dash retorted. “Alright, let’s start this thing! Ready…” Naruto stared forward, finding the best route to avoid the few ponies walking across the road. “Set…” He pumped chakra into his legs. He could feel his weight decreasing, and the muscles in his leg strengthening. “Go!” Rainbow announced, and the two contestants set off like rockets. Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe her eyes—slowly, but surely, Naruto gained the lead over her, despite the numerous ponies he had to avoid. Barely looking at his competition, Naruto mostly focused on accelerating as much as he could. In fact, he was too focused to notice a purple mare and purple lizard entering the road from a side street, and when he finally did, it was too late. “Watch out ahead!!!” was all he managed to yell as he barely dodged them, but sent the mare spinning, literally, while Rainbow Dash, who was slightly behind him, knocked her into the muddy puddle on the side of the road, falling on top of her. “Woops, sorry,” Rainbow Dash said, barely containing her laughter. “Here, I’ll clean ya up.” Naruto walked back to them just in time to see the treatment he got yesterday from afar. The purple mare was washed clean of mud, and then blown dry by a Pegasus-induced tornado, leaving her tail and mane all puffy, just like Pinkie’s. However, her serious expression, which was so much unlike Pinkie’s, in combination with the messy, puffy hairdo, caused him to literally roll on the ground laughing, along with Rainbow Dash and the small purple reptile who watched this all unfold. The purple mare, however, seemed unfazed as she eyed Dash’s mane. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, I was sent here to oversee preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. And let me guess, you’re Rainbow Dash.” “The one and only! The fastest pony in all of Equestria!” she bragged. “I’d reconsider that title if I were you,” Naruto interjected. “Seeing as how I’d just mopped the ground with you!” “That didn’t count! We didn’t get to the finish, and I was keeping the tension high by letting you lead for a bit, that’s all!” she exclaimed, flustered. “Wait a second! Aren’t you that colt I met not long ago in Sweet Apple Acres?” Twilight demanded when she saw him. “Who, me? I don’t think so. I’ve never seen you before,” the clone dismissed. Twilight let out a sigh, giving up this line of questioning. She had more urgent business to take care of. “…Right. Anyways, Rainbow Dash. You’re supposed to be keeping the sky clean, aren’t you? Why are there still so many clouds in the sky?” “Oh, don’t fret about that. I can clear those in ten seconds flat. Right, Naruto?” she asked with a confident smile. “You betcha! She is the fastest Pegasus around here, after all,” he confirmed, though he emphasized the use of ‘Pegasus’ instead of ‘pony’. “Oh, you’re so on for a rematch later, Naruto,” Rainbow said, grinning competitively and with sparkling eyes. “Regardless, Princess Celestia sent me here to oversee the preparations, and I will see them through. So, if you please…?” “Oh, fine then,” Rainbow sighed, and then took off. She flew like a madpony from cloud to cloud, giving each one a solid kick or punch to make it vanish. In a matter of seconds, the sky was completely and utterly cleared. “See? Ten. Seconds. Flat,” she said calmly as she landed softly next to the shocked purple pair of Unicorn and Dragon. “Haha, I really like your expression! Can’t wait to see ya again soon, Twilight. Let’s go, Naruto!” And so the light blue and orange duo set out, leaving behind a very shocked Twilight and smiling Spike. “Wasn’t she just amazing?” he asked and turned to her, but when he saw her wild mane again, he once more found it hard to contain his laughter.