//------------------------------// // Chapter 6- Two Fronts at the Everfree Forest // Story: Daily Life of an Equestrian Ninja // by PianoPony //------------------------------// Chapter 6- Two Fronts at the Everfree Forest “Seize her!” the mayor yelled. “Only she knows where the princess is!” A group of white Pegasi in golden armor, belonging to Princess Celestia’s royal guard, flew up and charged at Nightmare Moon. “Stand back, you foals!” the pitch black mare roared, her eyes glowing. She then sent lightning at them from the misty clouds, knocking them down. Naruto had had enough. He stood on his back legs, crossing his forelegs to cancel the transformation jutsu, but was too late—Nightmare Moon had turned herself into mist and flew out of the Town Hall into the night sky. Naruto gave chase and dashed outside after her, but even after sending chakra to his legs he was no match for her, and he stopped to watch her mist vanish into the woods out of town. Then, past him ran Twilight, heading towards the library. He stared at her questioningly, when Rainbow Dash flew past him as well and Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie running after her. Naruto joined the group and ran after Twilight. He’d wanted to try and defeat Nightmare Moon by himself, and while he was confident in his abilities, he didn’t know where she went to. He could only hope that one of the ponies would somehow provide him a hint to her whereabouts. ***** Twilight stood in the middle of the library, books glowing in a purple aura floating around her. “Elements… Elements… Elements… Agh! How can I stop Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony?!” Twilight cried out after getting no success on the subject at all. “And just what are the Elements of Harmony?!” Rainbow Dash demanded as she burst through the door and flew right up to Twilight’s face. The rest of the group showed up soon after her. “And how did you know about Nightmare Moon?! Are you a spy?!” Naruto facehooved at the blue Pegasus’ reaction. Applejack yanked the rainbow-colored tail with her mouth and stared at her sternly. “Simmer down, Sally. She ain’t no spy.” The orange mare released her grip, and Rainbow landed on the floor. “But she sure knows what’s going on. Don’cha, Twilight?” The group walked towards Twilight, and stared at her worriedly. Naruto, of course, knew exactly what made Twilight behave that way, but decided to let her speak for herself. “I read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon. Some mysterious objects called ‘The Elements of Harmony’ are the only things that can stop her, but I don’t know what they are or where to find them. I don’t even know what they do!” “The Elements of Harmony—a reference guide,” Pinkie’s voice rose from the other side of the library. Twilight ran up to her and literally pushed her away from the shelf the pink mare was staring at. “Where did you find that?!” she exclaimed, stunned that an experienced reader like her was beaten at finding a book. “It was under ‘E’!” Pinkie announced happily as she started bouncing around. “Oh,” Twilight muttered, slightly embarrassed. She pulled out the book from the shelf with her magic, and began reading. “There are seven Elements of Harmony, but only six of them are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, Loyalty and Bravery. However, it is said that the Element of Bravery is cursed, and that nopony can use it. Additionally, the seventh Element is unknown, a complete mystery. It is said that the last known location of the six elements was in the ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. It is located in what is now the Everfree Forest.” “So, where is this Everfree Forest?” Naruto inquired. “To da south of Ponyville. But don’cha tell me you’re gonna go there all by—” Applejack started, but froze when Naruto just ran outside. “An’ he did.” “Come on, let’s go after him!” Rainbow called as she was already halfway outside. ***** “What took you so long?!” an orange Earth pony complained to the group of six ponies from the entrance to the forest. “Don’t scare us like that! That forest is really dangerous! Nopony should ever enter it by himself!” Rarity exclaimed. She was clearly beside herself with worry. “Yeah… Nopony,” Naruto thought. “I wouldn’t scare you guys like that. Besides, I had a feeling you’d be following me and I figured we should all go as a group,” he said with a smile. “Wait, everypony,” Twilight spoke. “I really appreciate you all coming here, but I think I should really do this on my own.” “No can do, sugarcube. We sure ain’t letting any friend of ours go into that creepy place alone. Didn’t ya listen to Rarity? We’ll be sticking to y’all like caramel on a candy apple,” the orange mare said as she, Rainbow, Fluttershy and Rarity walked into the dark woods. “Especially if there’s candy apples in there!” Pinkie exclaimed in her usual cheerfulness. Twilight just stared, dumbfounded at her new friends, who were walking casually into one of the most dangerous places in all of Equestria. She then noticed Naruto standing next to her, smiling. “If there’s one important thing I’ve ever learned, it’s that teamwork is one of the most important things in the world. You should never leave behind your comrades, even if they do seem to slow you down sometime,” he told her. “That’s the first lesson Kakashi-sensei taught me. And I’ll never forget it, ever! But this only applies to ninjas... I don't want them getting hurt...” he thought as he followed his friends into the dark forest. Twilight let out a sigh and followed him inside, her expression showing the conflict over her thoughts and her friends’ actions. ***** Meanwhile, deeper into the Everfree Forest, Naruto (back in human form), was jumping as quickly and quietly as he could from branch to branch. “I really feel bad about leaving them behind with my clone, but I can’t put them in danger. There’s no telling what Nightmare Moon is capable of!” His goal was nearly in front of him— he could see the ruins of a large, overgrown castle, which were standing on a cliff just beyond a bridge, in a large clearing. He landed down as he exited the forest, and dashed onwards to it. ***** “So… None of you have been here before?” Twilight asked, worried. The hooting of owls and howling of wolves surrounded the group as they walked on the forest’s trail. “Oh, heavens no! Just look at it! It’s so dreadful!” Rarity cried out. Naruto rolled his eyes. In his opinion, this was just an ordinary, run-of-the-mill forest. “What’s so terrible about it?” “It ain’t natural, Naruto! Folks say it don’t work the same as Equestria,” Applejack replied. Even she looked different from her usual self. The group soon arrived at a cliff that they needed to go down from to continue. “What do you mean by that?” Naruto and Twilight asked at the same time. “Nopony knows…” Rainbow said ominously as she slowly flew towards Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie. “You know why?” “Rainbow, quit it!” Applejack growled, knowing what the Pegasus was up to. “Cause everypony who’s ever come in…. Has never. Come. OUT!” Just then, the ground crumbled underneath their feet. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy quickly took to the air, while the rest of the ponies yelled in surprise as they were pulled by gravity down the mountain slope. “Fluttershy, quick!” Rainbow yelled to her as she flew down to help her descending friends. “Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!” the yellow Pegasus called as she flew after her. Using chakra he pumped into his legs, Naruto managed to slowly skid to a stop. He watched as Rainbow helped Pinkie Pie up to the air, and Fluttershy yanked on Rarity’s tail to get her to a stop. Applejack managed to grab onto a vine that was poking out of the steep slope, but Twilight continued tumbling down until she barely managed to hold onto a cliff she was about to fall down from. Naruto raced to her help, but Applejack was closer, and she let go of the vine to slowly skid to the lavender Unicorn’s side. “Hold on! I’mma comin’!” “Applejack, what do I do?!” Twilight cried in panic, holding the orange mare firmly and not noticing the colt coming to her rescue as well. Applejack stared down the cliff as she held Twilight’s forehooves. “Let go,” she answered calmly. Naruto’s eyes widened in shock. He couldn’t believe his ears. He doubled the pace, trying to get there before any of them would do anything stupid. “Are you crazy?!” Twilight yelled. “No, I ain’t. I promise you’ll be safe!” “That’s not true!” Naruto could finally see down the cliff as he got closer. When he saw what was down there, he skidded to a stop, smiling. “Now listen here. What I’m saying to you is the honest truth. Let go, and you’ll be safe,” Applejack pleaded in absolute seriousness. Twilight’s eyes widened, and then closed. She took a deep breath, and let go of Applejack. She began free-falling down to the ground below her, screaming… Until she was safely caught by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, who were just below the cliff at the ready for her. The purple mare let out a sigh of relief as the Pegasi lowered her safely to the ground. “That was really amazing there, Applejack,” the orange colt complimented. “But for a second there you really worried me.” “Well, Ah did say she’d be safe. An’ ya can bet Ah always mean what Ah say!” she exclaimed proudly. Naruto smiled. “Yeah, sorry for doubting you like that.” “Apology accepted!” the cowmare announced with a grin, and the orange duo started jumping down small ledges on the cliff to the ground below. ***** The group continued ahead on the trail. Rainbow Dash was flying around them, flaunting on how she and Fluttershy rescued Pinkie, Rarity and Twilight. “And once Pinkie and Rarity were safe, woosh! Me and Fluttershy loop-da-looped around and WHAM, caught you right in the nick of time.” Naruto chuckled. This wasn’t quite how it went down, and she didn’t mention at all how Appplejack held her until the Pegasi were ready to safely catch Twilight, but he enjoyed her enthusiastic vocality, which combatted the forest’s silence. “Yes, Rainbow, I was there,” Twilight sighed. “And I’m very grateful, but we gotta—” she began, but was cut short by the appearance of a huge beast in front of them. It had a huge lion’s body, wings, ears and fangs like a bat’s, and a humongous scorpion’s tail. The bottom of its wings, tail, mane and the inside of its ears were all red, and the rest of its body and fur were orange. It stared at them with a piercing, black pair of eyes. “It’s a Manticore!” Twilight cried out. The Manticore rose on its hind legs and roared at the ponies. Until that moment, Naruto simply stared in shock and awe at the crazy-looking creature, not having even imagined the possibility such a thing could exist. But when he took in its size and potential dangerousness, he quickly stepped in front of the group, ready to take action. “Leave this guy to me. You go ahead and continue to Nightmare Moon,” he said as he stared at the beast. “What are you talking about, Naruto?! This is way too dangerous!” Twilight shouted. “Wait!” “Come here and get some, you overgrown… Lion… Thing?” Naruto taunted as he wagged his long and yellow, fox-like tail at the Manticore. The beast lunged at him, but the orange colt jumped ahead and delivered a backwards kick to its face, which surprisingly didn’t leave much of an impression on it. “Wait!” The Manticore let out a furious roar at Naruto, its sheer strength blowing him off his hooves, and he landed some distance ahead on his hooves. Rarity stepped in front of the beast. “You should be ashamed of yourself, you ruffian! Attacking us like that! What did we ever do to you?!” The Manticore stared at her as she scolded him for a moment, until he roared again at her face, sending saliva everywhere on her face and causing her perfect, curly hairdo to puff up like a ball of cotton. “My hair!” the purple-maned Unicorn cried as she ran away. “Wait!” Applejack jumped on top of the Manticore. “Yeeha!” she cried out, as the huge beast started jumping around, trying to get her off of itself. Eventually it succeeded, and Applejack flew into the air. However she looked completely calm as she turned her head to Rainbow Dash and said “All yours, pardner.” “I’m on it!” the blue Pegasus replied with a salute and flew down to the Manticore. “Wait!” She began circling him, spinning into a rainbow tornado, until the Manticore had had enough, and with a swift flick of the tail knocked her into the ground. Naruto again stepped in front of the group. “I told you to run away! I can handle this my—“ “WAITTTTTT!!!” Fluttershy yelled, startling everypony around (and the Manticore). She stood between Naruto and the Manticore, facing the latter. The yellow Pegasus then smiled and calmly trotted to it. The huge creature raised its front paw, talons drawn, about to take a swipe at her. “Fluttershy, don’t!” Naruto yelled at her as he was about to dash towards her, but then froze as he watched what she did next. “Shh, it’s okay,” she whispered tenderly to it. Fluttershy and the Manticore stared at each other for a moment, until it finally revealed its other paw. A huge thorn was stuck in it. “Oh, you poor little baby,” she said with much compassion in her voice. “Little?!” Rainbow exclaimed. She and the rest of the group could only watch in awe as Fluttershy seemingly tamed the wild, ferocious animal. “Now this might hurt for just a second…” she warned just before she quickly pulled out the pointy object from the humongous paw. The Manticore grabbed her and lifted her up to its face, and let out another powerful roar at her, throwing drops of saliva everywhere. “Fluttershy!” the other ponies cried out. For the second time today, Naruto stood on his back legs, his front legs crossed. And just as he was about to release the transformation jutsu and save the yellow mare, the Manticore licked her, its expression showing its delight and gratitude. Fluttershy giggled as her pink mane was getting a wet stroking. “Oh, you’re just a little baby kitty, aren’t you? Yes you are, yes you are!” The group passed by the Manticore down the trail. Naruto and Twilight stopped first, and looked back as the Manticore put Fluttershy down, and walked into the depths of the forest beside the trail. Naruto was genuinely impressed, he’d never thought that out of everyone there, Fluttershy would be the one to face the Manticore so bravely. “How did you know about the thorn?” Twilight inquired. “I didn’t,” Fluttershy answered simply, smiling. “Sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness.” Fluttershy’s words seemed to get the gears in Twilight’s head working. Naruto gazed at her questioningly, wondering what could be so interesting about it. Twilight then smiled, and noticed him staring at her a moment later. “Never mind, let’s go.” ***** Naruto pushed open the humongous doors to the worn down castle and looked around. He stared down and saw a huge hall. It had a width of thirty feet, the height of sixty, and the length of a hundred. Its once pristine brown walls were now dirty and cracked all over, and grass was growing freely on the floor. There were several large gateways at the side walls, leading to other parts of the castle. At the end of the hall was a staircase, leading up to a pair of thrones, colored yellow and dark blue, which looked just as aged as the rest of the room. Their color was peeling away and they were cracked and dirty. The wall behind them had a large section missing in it, allowing for a view of the night sky and the moon in the middle. Obscuring some of the view outside, were a pair of hanging flags, exactly behind the thrones, and matching them in color. On the yellow flag was a picture of a white winged mare with a horn, and a sun shining above her. On the blue, a picture of a similar black mare, with a crescent moon and stars above her. The orange ninja took a long look around, but saw no hint of Nightmare Moon. Deciding to go with his gut feeling, he went up the second staircase to his right. Walking upwards, the darkness of the passageway was getting heavier and heavier, until finally he could see a light gleaming up ahead. Running ahead, he found himself in a round room, twenty feet in diameter. The walls were all white marble, albeit they too were dusty and cracked. To his left, he saw a large bed. It was the most comfortable thing he’d ever laid eyes on: A huge bed, its covers made of dark purple silk, was slightly hidden by a semi-transparent purple canopy. Multiple pillows in colors of blue and silver were scattered on it. All around the rest of the room were scattered pieces of expensive-looking furniture: chairs, closets and sofas. It didn’t take long for Naruto to figure out whose room it was. “This must have been Nightmare Moon’s room!” he said as he stepped further inside. At the other end of the room were large, glass doors, which were leading to a large balcony. On it was standing a black mare, her mist-like hair and mane fluttering in a nonexistent breeze. Naruto crossed his fingers in the Shadow Clone Jutsu seal, ready to launch a surprise attack. “Who dares enter Nightmare Moon’s personal accommodations?!” she called, her voice echoing mysteriously and ominously. She turned around to look at the intruder, and her jaw nearly fell in shock when her gaze fell upon the strange creature standing behind her. “And what are YOU supposed to be?!” she growled, narrowing her cat-like eyes at him. “My name is Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. I’m a human,” he replied, acknowledging his surprise attack idea is no more. “A human? Never in my life had I seen such a hideous-looking creature.” Naruto decided to ignore the insult and get down to business. “I’ve come to find Princess Celestia. What have you done with her?!” he demanded. The black mare started chuckling menacingly. “Forget her, and her pathetic sunlight. Embrace the night! Join me in eternal darkness!” “Why are you doing this?! These ponies have never done anything to you!” he yelled, his anger growing by the second. “This is my revenge against those sun-loving ponies, who enjoyed and bathed in my sister’s sun, while sleeping away and ignoring my beautiful nights! A pathetic creature like you could never understand this!” Naruto looked down at the floor, and clenched his fists so tightly he could nearly feel his nails piercing into his flesh. “Revenge… This was the last word I imagined to hear in such a place…” Naruto knew revenge all too well. It was the catalyst for many battles and wars that ravaged his world. It was the cause of so much sadness and anger. It was why his most precious friend had left him, trying to severe all bonds between them, and left a wound in his heart and soul. It was what he fought against just a few days ago, when he had cornered Jiraiya-sensei’s killer. After the train of thoughts in his head had passed he took a deep breath. “I do understand,” he answered, not looking up at her. “Oh? Then are you finally seeing things through my eyes? Do you finally realize that this is true justice?” “No. You’re wrong,” he replied, finally raising his head to look her straight in the eyes. “What?!” she growled, narrowing her eyes at him furiously. “Revenge will never solve anything. Revenge only causes sadness and hate, which in turn will bring more revenge. Unless that vicious cycle is broken, it will never end, and people will continue to suffer,” he answered in his most serious tone. “Enough with this foalishness! If you do not stand with me… then you are against me!” Nightmare Moon roared, firing an aquamarine colored beam at him. The evil mare took him by surprise, and managed to hit him straight on the Konoha forehead protector. Naruto quickly jumped away and avoided more damage, but dropped the protector. When he looked back at where it was, he saw it completely melted away and snapped in two, no longer usable or recognizable. “Gah! My headband!” Naruto yelled in horror. Furious, he pulled out a kunai from his hip pouch and was about to charge at the mare on the balcony, only to notice she wasn’t there. He instinctively looked up to see her flying down at him from above, her horn charged up and illuminating with an ominous light. He quickly jumped out of the way of the incoming beam, to see it making a large hole in the marble floor. She promptly landed on the floor next to the hole. “Shadow Clone Jutsu!” Naruto yelled as he crossed the index and middle fingers of both hands, and three more Naruto’s appeared next to him, all wielding kunais, and charged at the black equine. She quickly and skillfully beamed one of them, grabbed another with her mist tail and tossed it at the third one, where they both vanished. However, she didn’t notice that Naruto and yet another clone were preparing in the meantime yet another jutsu, until it was too late to avoid—holding a glowing, blue sphere in his right palm, Naruto jumped at her from above. “Rasengan!” he yelled as the blue sphere made contact, and a moment later an explosion occurred, sending debris and dirt flying all around him, blinding him for a moment. “You possess some strange magic, human. I commend you for your strength,” Nightmare Moon said. She appeared out of the dirty cloud completely unscathed. She had herself wrapped in a magic bubble, which shielded her from the attack. “However…” she added as she started chuckling. Bits of her misty mane detached themselves from their source, hovering next to Nightmare Moon. Then they grew, and grew…. Until a pair of snake-like aquamarine eyes appeared on each of them. The mist then darkened… Until each piece had turned into a clone of Nightmare Moon. “No Way! She can use the shadow clone jutsu too?!” the orange ninja exclaimed, stunned. He now stood in front of seven black mares.