//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 
// Story: Naruto the son of Sombra 
// by darkvslight346 
//------------------------------//

Aku continued to walk along the meeting hall with a look of impatience on his face and a groan escaping his lips every few seconds. Naruto on the other hand was trying to do some meditating but had to keep opening his eyes to glare at Aku.

He finally spoke up and yelled "Will you stop that Blade said he will be back with the members of the Omega council in two hours."

Aku pouted and said "It's been two hours and twenty three seconds he's late."

Naruto rolled his eyes and said "Don't be such a baby Aku, he'll be here soon."

Aku quickly added "Also what kind of dumb name is omega council anyway? I bet they all got together and decided to pick the dumbest sounding name."

Naruto paused for a second before saying "It took two hours for you to make a crack at the name looks like your growing up."

Suddenly the doors of the chamber flung open and Blade walked and said "Sorry for the wait boys but I have some good news I found a member."

Naruto scoffed and said "Just one member really?"

Blade growled and said "It's difficult to find even one considering how they rarely even stay in one place for more than a week."

Aku rolled his eyes and said "Well where is this member anyway."

As if one cue a flute began playing in the background (check this for the song watch?v=qnc4nW4-lgY ) which caused Naruto and Aku to turn around to find the player. Playing the flute was a hooded man hiding in the shadows. He came out and stopped playing the flute and lifted up his head.

From what they saw he was tall human male, around 6 foot 2 inches, and well-built body structure. He had piercing green eyes which were the only visible part of his face. His forehead was covered by a hood and his lower face was covered by a mask not unlike that leaf ninja that first attacked the brothers. His hood was sleeveless which exposed his muscular arms and he wore black leather pants and fingerless black gloves. He had a holster on his left side and two hook swords strapped to his back. As he walked past the brothers they noticed a light blue dragon symbol on the back of the hood. He then removed the hood to reveal spiky blue hair that's extended past his shoulders.

He looked at Naruto and said with a hint of amazement in his voice "So he was right you are alive nine tailed Jinchūriki it is an honor to meet you. And I'm sorry who are you unicorn?"

Aku glared at him and said "Hey I am Aku Obsidian son of king Sombra and one of your employers so you will…"

Naruto covered his brother's mouth as he said "I am sorry about him he tends to get a little touchy at times and call me Naruto and now I believe this is where you tell me your name."

The man cleared his throat and said "My name is Connor O Drake a member of the omega council."

Aku walked up to him and could see he was at least 5 inches taller than him. He then said "Wow you are one tall son of a bitch dude."

Connor paused for a second before saying "Uh thank you I guess."

Naruto quickly broke the awkwardness by saying "Now on to more important matters I believe Blade informed you of the mission."

Connor nodded and replied "Yes he told me that I had to help some ponies unlock their full power."

Aku quickly added "Or if you like try and kill them but bring them back here so we can do it ourselves."

Naruto then continued "If you can help them unlock this power you will be rewarded greatly. In fact Aku show him the down payment."

Aku took out a small sack form his pocket and it barely covered his palm. Before Connor could snort at that Aku opened it and emptied the contents on the floor and gold coins began to flood out of the sack until it made a large pile almost a 100 times what the bag looked like it could hold.

Connor's face was covered by his mask but it was obvious his jaw dropped. He looked at Aku in disbelief and said "There is no way you could fit all that in that small bag how did you even do that?"

Aku laughed and said "Magic duh."

Naruto quickly added "It sounds like sarcasm but it's really not."

Connor nodded and said "Well it looks like we have some business to do."

Naruto nodded and said "But first try and contact the other members of your group we want all 10 of them to do this job."

Connor nodded and said "Alright how long before you want them to be here?"

Aku out his hand on his chin and said "Considering the state we left them in I'd say about 2 months maybe I mean we need to give them time to prepare."

Connor quickly added "Also why do you want them to get stronger if you just plan to kill them anyway?"

Naruto took over and replied "What's the best way to take down an opponent, why you crush all hope they have but not before giving them a tiny window of hope so it will make the defeat all the more crushing."

Aku quickly added "And our motive is none of your concern after all a job is a job no matter how illogical it may seem."

Connor sighed and replied "Alright then I'll get them informed about this."

Naruto turned to Aku and said "I'll leave you to tell the wielders about the attack then brother."

Aku gave a maniacal grin as he said "Well my day just got better."

At Ponyville hospital

Twilight began to regain consciousness and wondered what happened, the last thing she remembered was fighting Aku and Naruto and then being knocked out. She was sure she was still alive but had a few doubts. She moved her hand around and felt a soft mattress, as she opened her eyes she noticed she was in a hospital room and was covered in bandages. She tried to sit up but quickly went down as the pain shot through her body.

She began to gain a dejected look on her face. She had failed her friends and her teacher, how could she lose to those monsters they could have beaten them had they not transformed or they could have beaten them had she unlocked the second release of the elements the princesses told them about but they couldn't learn it in time.

Suddenly she realized something how were they still alive and in Ponyville, the hospital looked like one in Ponyville and it was clear they were alive, had the brothers had a sudden fit of mercy or did they have to leave? As these questions raced through her mind the door opened and Spike walked in. As he looked at Twilight's bed Twilight swore she could see tears forming in his already reddened eyes, he had clearly been crying before.

Spike ran toward the bed and jumped up and hugged the lavender unicorn, sobbing as he said "I thought… I lost you forever Twilight."

Twilight returned the hug and said "Please don't cry Spike I'm sorry I had to make you go through this."

Spike quickly replied "I'm not crying I just have something in my eye."

As Twilight was consoling the young dragon Luna walked in and said "Twilight you're awake that's good."

Twilight looked at the princess and asked "Princess Luna what happened to Naruto and Aku did we win?"

Luna hesitated for a second before saying "In a sense we won, my sister was able to scare them off by revealing her true power but we fear they may return prepared for it."

Suddenly Celestia walked in the room and said "I'm sorry I put you and your friends through that Twilight I underestimated their power."

Twilight put Spike on her bed and then said "It's alright princess no one could have expected them to have this second form I have to say they were a lot stronger than Sombra was."

Celestia hesitated for a second before saying "Actually they were still weaker than Sombra was before he was banished we needed to seal off a good chunk of his power when we banished him. But to think they can approach his power and be so young."

Twilight put her head down and said "So when do you think they will come back?"

Luna replied and said "We do not know but when they do we will be prepared. I'm sorry for this but it's almost time to raise the moon so I must take my leave."

As Luna left Celestia spoke up and said "I'm sorry I have to apologize for her she has not had friends for a long time so she doesn't really know how to deal with situations like these."

Twilight paused for a second before saying "Princess Luna said you revealed your true power to them what did she mean by that?"

Celestia Hesitated but finally said "You see Twilight I have a special form, a transformation if you will it increases my power to unbelievable levels it takes a lot of energy for me to use it considering I have rarely used it. You do not need to know all the details about it but I unlocked it shortly after Discord was stoned for the first time. My father told me all alicorns can access it but he said it would have taken many, many years of training. "

Twilight quickly replied "Is it possible Discord may have accidentally awoken it when you and Luna fought him."

Celestia nodded and said "Yes it has occurred to me Discord may have accelerated the process of me learning it, Luna has seen it but that was over 1000 years ago, so it surprised her a bit."

Twilight tried to sit up but pain still shot through her body, noticing the pain her student was in Celestia said "Rest now Twilight we will talk once you are better."

Twilight stopped her as she was leaving and said "Princess can you take Spike home he needs his rest. I'm afraid he worried himself to the point of exhaustion." She pointed at the baby dragon who was now fast asleep but looked restless.

Celestia noticing the sadden look on her student's face said "It was not your fault he had to go through this Twilight don't blame yourself for this."

As she picked out the dragon and walked out of the room she mumbled to herself "It was my fault…"

Later

Luna took a deep breath as she started up her magic, a silly old ritual she did whenever she raised up the moon. Using her magic she lifted the moon in the night sky, as the moon shone in the night sky Luna sighed in relief. She often cleared her head and relieved herself when she did this, what seemed godlike to another being was a stress relief to her.

Suddenly she heard a clapping noise from behind, as she looked around she saw Aku clapping his hands with a bit of an amused look on his face. He then said in a condescending tone "Well done princess that was pretty ama..."

Before he could finish Luna shot a beam toward him, which to her surprise he made no attempt to dodge. As the beam hit him it appeared to move through him and hit a wall destroying it.

Aku laughed and said "Man your sister will be pissed you broke that wall, also this is just a projection I'm not really here Lulu."

Luna began to blush as he finished and said "That's Princess Lulu… I mean Princess Luna to you monster."

Aku gave arrogant laugh and said "Oh M word right off the bat, Aku like. Anyway time for the real reason I'm here you remember when me and my brother attacked you and the wielders in Ponyville."

Luna rolled her eyes and said "That was today."

Aku gave her a legitimately amazed look and said "Really it feels like it's been almost 5 months. Anyway we have hired some mercenaries to attack the wielders the first one will attack in 2 month just letting you know."

Before he could go Luna stopped him and said "Wait what did, you say."

Aku quickly replied "Well we hired a group called the omega council to attack you guys, yeah I know dumb name, they will attack in one month but we only have one guy now so yeah just letting you know."

Luna suddenly shouted out to him "WAIT WHY ARE THOU DOING THIS."

Aku shook his head and said "Oh god you're loud, and to answer your question we want the wielders to unlock the second form of their swords and then we plan to kill them for revenge does that answer your question Lulu?"

Luna glared at him and said "Let me tell you something, my friends and sister will fight and defeat both of you and your group you will lose."

Aku let out a tiny laugh and said "You know I'm trying to hate you but you make it so damn hard, I can't help but feel a tiny bit attracted to you."

Luna began to turn red as she said "Just as much as I'd expect from the son of Sombra."

Aku clenched his fist and shouted "Hey watch how you speak of my father he took me and Naruto in when no one else wanted us."

Luna's tone softened as she said "What are you talking about."

Aku's tone returned to normal and he said "Like you would care well I have to be off now, tell your sister about this if you want."

As he said that he disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving Luna to think over what he told her.

Later

Celestia stared at her sister for what seemed like eternity. She finally spoke up and said "Did you say they hired the Omega Council?"

Luna nodded which prompted Celestia to give a frightened look "Sister the average member in that group at full power would require my full power to beat."

Luna began to turn pale as she said "What how can they be so powerful it's not possible."

Celestia gave her a serious look and said "We will have no choice if we want them to stand a chance we will have to train them seriously. When they can leave the hospital we begin the training."

Luna gave her a look of shock and said "But sister they may not be ready to…"

Celestia yelled back at her "It is the only chance they have of survival I won't let them rush into this unprepared like they did today."

Luna looked at her sister with a bit of a hurt look on her face which prompted Celestia to say "I'm sorry I snapped Luna the thing is it was my fault Twilight and the girls got hurt today, I was a fool I thought they could handle it and I was wrong. If I had stepped in earlier she would not be in hospital now."

Luna interrupted her and said "Sister this is not your…"

Celestia cut in and said "Yes it is if I had just taken care of Sombra myself, those demons would try and kill me instead; Twilight and her friends would be unharmed and they would not have to worry about being killed by those monsters. And if that doesn't make me feel bad enough I know my prized pupil, the one who is like the daughter I never had, well enough to know she is killing herself with guilt over thinking she failed me when in fact it's the opposite. Not to mention if I try telling her that she will disagree with and unintentionally make me feel even worse than I already do."

Luna put her hands on Celestia's shoulder and said "Well then you did cause this but you know what so did I. I could have stopped Sombra, I could have beaten him and had them come after me, at any time I could have said this was too much for them but I didn't, I am as much fault as you are and you can't deny that but we can't just sit down and wallow in our grief. What we can do is try and correct them I don't want these girls to fight a war they don't want. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't be here now and I would sooner die than send them to their deaths."

Celestia gave a faint smile and said "I'm sorry you're right Luna we must ask them if they want to do this if they disagree we will make sure they live by fighting the Omega Council and them."

Luna smiled and said "Well then sister I think it's time for us to take some rest the doctor said they should all be up by tomorrow."

The next day at Ponyville hospital

The mane six and Spike looked at the princesses in shock, not only did Aku and Naruto hire a group of mercenaries to attack them but they may be even stronger than the princesses themselves.

Rainbow was the first to speak up and said "Princess why are you telling us this if we can't stop those jerks how can we stop a whole group of them."

Celestia spoke up and said "That's our offer for you we will train you till they arrive if you agree to it. We will help you try and unlock the second form of your swords. If you disagree we will protect you with our lives and make sure no one gets hurt."

Luna then added "We want you to make your choice based on what you want not what we want to do."

Twilight raised her head and said "Princess I want to help I won't let anyone down again I want to train and become stronger to beat them."

Applejack added to that "Yeah those varmints need to pay, I'm in too."

Rarity was the next to speak up and said "I agree those ruffians and their father have hurt enough ponies and their reign of terror ends now."

Rainbow smirked and said "Well I have to be a pretty bad element of loyalty to let my friends fight and not do anything about it, I'm in too."

Pinkie raised her arms up and said while laughing "Yeah lets show those meanies whose boss."

Fluttershy put her head down and said "I don't want to let anyone down so I'll help as well…"

Celestia went up to Fluttershy and said "Fluttershy dear you don't have to fight if you don't want to none of us will hold it against you."

Fluttershy looked around the room and saw all of her friends nodding in agreement. She gave a faint smile and said "No princess this is something I have to do."

Celestia gave a bright smile and said "Alright girls we begin training as soon as you can …."

"STOP IT." A loud voice echoed through the room, the girls looked around and saw it came from Spike who had an angry looking expression on his face.

Twilight gave him a shocked look and said "Spike what are, you saying?"

Spike looked at her and said "No I won't let you or anyone else go through this you have been hurt enough."

Twilight put her hand on the young dragon "Spike please we have to do this we need to…"

Spike cut her off and knocked off her hand as he said "No you don't Princess Celestia said she can handle this you don't need to do this. I won't stand here and let you…"

Before he could finish he ran out of the room leaving the others in silence. Twilight broke the silence and said "I should go talk to him."

Before she could get up Luna stopped her and said "No he needs to cool off a bit give him some time."

Rarity looked up and said "But why would he even act like that that is very unlike Spike?"

Twilight stayed quiet for a second before saying "Yesterday he came close to losing 6 ponies he views as his closest friends or family he doesn't want this to happen again."

Celestia spoke up and said "Well I will speak with him later at night for now I will go ask the doctor when you can leave."

Luna spoke up and said "I actually spoke to the doctor he said you can leave by tomorrow but should not do strenuous exercises for about 2 days. We can begin the training as soon as you can."

Spike's point of view

I could only stare in shock at what the princess told them, the same people who hurt them want to do it again, why can't they leave them alone; I was the one who saved the empire it was my fault and not theirs. I was punishing my friends for being a 'hero' and trying to save them when I just made it worse.

I looked up and heard Celestia say "That's our offer for you we will train you till they arrive if you agree to it. We will help you try and unlock the second form of your swords. If you disagree we will protect you with our lives and make sure no one gets hurt."

I was sighing in relief the girls will be smart enough not to take this deal right I mean the princess agreed to protect them why would they still need to fight?

However my expression turned sour when I saw the others actually agreeing to risk their lives again even Fluttershy, why would they agree to something like this. When they agreed to fight Discord at least he was not evil enough to kill them, but these boys were more than willing to kill them.

Finally my rage took over me and I shouted out to them "STOP IT."

Twilight looked at me and said "Spike what are, you saying?"

What was I saying? I was obviously saying I didn't want my friends to be killed. I just looked at her and said "No I won't let you or anyone else go through this you have been hurt enough."

Twilight put her hand on my shoulder and said "Spike please we have to do this we need to…"

Without thinking I hit her hand of me and said ""No you don't Princess Celestia said she can handle this you don't need to do this. I won't stand here and let you…"

I momentarily froze, I just hit and yelled at one of my oldest friends I couldn't even finish my own sentence as the shame over took me. Without saying a word I ran off leaving them in silence.

I didn't stop running until went back to the library. I was overcome with anger and grief, what were they thinking sure they have done thing like these before but the odds were against them why couldn't they just let the princesses handle this mess? Trying to relieve my anger I kicked a bookshelf hard. That of course was my mistake as that caused some books form the top shelf to land on me.

As I rubbed my head I picked up some books and climbed up the ladder to put them back. As I was climbing a book caught my eye. The book was one I had not seen from its appearance it looked old but I was sure it was never in the library must have been some of the books princess Celestia sent form the Canterlot Library. Taking it out I saw it was titled 'The valley of lost hope'.

For some reason I was compelled to open and read it. It turned to page one and began to read. I won't bore you with the details but the valley of lost hope was a place where people could train to reach insane levels of power. However those who trained their where often overcome by the training and conditions there that they lost all hope and left in disgrace, hence the name. At first I thought it was a fictional book but based on the description and lack of character names I began to have doubts.

Closing the book I began to browse the library. Being Twilight's assistant has one perk of knowing where all the books are when I need them, even though I tend to mostly read comics. For what seemed like hours I browsed through the books on the non-fiction side. I must have swept gone through at least a hundred books before I found something. It was about the valley but had a detail that the other book didn't.

Apparently there was a bit of a time flux in that land which made it flow slowly and that it could even be a whole another dimension altogether. The way to getting there was unknown but the book said it lies around midway between Equestria and the Dragon Kingdom and only someone of pure intentions can even hope of going there. I blew off some dust on the book and it said some grandmaster would try and train those who enter but if you fail he will crush all hope you have of succeeding until you leave on your own.

Suddenly it dawned on me why I was so attracted to the book, it had the answers to all my problems I would find this place on my own and I would train with the grandmaster so I could help protect my friends. I know it's a long shot but I have to do it to help them. I looked around for a while and found a piece of paper and began writing a note.

Later

Normal Point of view

Twilight began to walk home with the princesses behind her. Celestia spoke up and said "Twilight are you sure you should be doing this."

Twilight smiled at her mentor and said "Than you for your concern princess but I'll be fine I also really need to see Spike he needs to be calmed down."

Celestia gave a sling smile as she knew her student would not back down when she was like this, to her even though she had raised Spike for the first year of his life Twilight was more of a mother to him than she was and she knew Twilight would not rest until she felt Spike was alright.

When they got to the library Twilight opened the doors and began to look for Spike. She went to his bed but he was not sleeping in it, as she was looking she heard Luna say "Twilight I found a note on a table and I think it might be form Spike."

Twilight bolted toward the princess and grabbed the note from her hand and began to read it out loud "To those who it may concern, I have decided I can't let you go through fighting them alone so I am going on a journey to the valley of lost hope so I can protect you, please do not try and find me this is something I have to do for myself and it's something I need to do. I will see you again soon, your friend Spike."

Twilight dropped the note and let a few tears escape her eyes. Luna spoke up and said "Twilight don't worry we will find him he can't have gone far right sister." Luna looked around but Celestia was not in the room.

In the outskirts of Ponyville

Spike began walking with a small sack filled with food for his journey; he hoped it would be enough for him till he got to the valley.

As he was walking he felt him knock into someone, which resulted in him landing on the floor. He scratched his head and said "Hey watch where you're go…. Princess Celestia."

Standing before him was the alicorns princess herself. She looked at Spike sympathetically and said in a soft tone "Hello Spike I'm sorry I knocked you down. So you are on your way to the valley of lost hope are you?"

Spike dusted himself off and said "Yeah I also asked that no one try to stop me from doing so this is something I have to do."

Celestia smirked and said "I know and so I decided to tell you, you are going the wrong way."

Spike's jaw nearly dropped when he heard that. He quickly said "But it's supposed to be midway between the dragon kingdom and Equestria."

Celestia hit her head and said "Spike the dragon kingdom is due east you are going west."

Spike scratched his head and said "Oh well thanks, but why help me when the others would stop me."

Celestia smiled and said "I know what you are going through Spike and so I want to help you get stronger."

Before he could reply he heard a voice shout out to him "Spike there you are."

The two looked up and saw Twilight being carried by Luna flying toward them. As they landed Twilight ran toward the dragon and hugged him as she said "Please Spike don't do this it's too dangerous."

Spike hugged back and said "I have to I want to help you and the only way to do that is to get stronger."

Twilight broke the hug and looked him strait in the eye "Now Listen Spike you are going home now you will get hurt if you do this, do you know what it feels like not knowing how you are, are you safe are you hurt are you even alive?"

Spike stood in place and replied with a cold tone "Yeah I do know what it's like I have to go through it not just for you but for all 6 of you, not knowing whether I seeing you off will be the last time we ever see each other again. So I do know what you are going through and I don't want to feel like that again I want to train and become stronger so I can join your adventures and help you."

Twilight could not respond to what she heard, on one hand she knew Spike was right, she had made him go through so much but the intensity never occurred until now. She could not blame him on wanting to help but on the other hand he was still risking his life to help them and she didn't want to do this.

Finally she nodded and said "Alright Spike you win I'll let you go but on two conditions, you have to say goodbye to everyone before you leave and if the princesses allow it you must let at least 4 guards join you to protect you."

Luna nodded at that and said "Yes I will allow this and my sister will agree as well."

Spike gave a small smile and said "Alright let's go visit the others then."

At the hospital

The others just finished listening to Spike's story and stood there in shock. Finally Applejack approached him and said "Are you sure this is what you want to do sugarcube?"

Spike nodded and said "Yes this is what I have to do I know you might not agree with me but I'm going none the less."

Applejack shook her head and said "I wasn't going to stop you; I just wanted to wish you luck."

Rainbow Dash nodded and said "Don't worry Spike the guards will protect you you'll be fine."

Pinkie jumped up to him and said "Oh I wish I could come with you so I can throw you a training party with the grandmaster."

Fluttershy quietly walked up and said "If you want to go you should…. I just hope you will be alright."

Spike nodded and said "Don't worry girls I'll be fine and thank you for supporting me."

Rarity hugged the baby dragon and said "Oh Spikey Wikey I really wish you didn't have to leave but I hope you will be alright and be sure to write to us every day."

Spike's face turned red which did not go unnoticed by the others. He nervously smiled and said "I'll do my best."

Twilight patted his back and said "Well Spike I guess this is goodbye then, take care."

Spike got up and said "Bye guys see you in 2 months."

As he was about to walk out Celestia stopped him and handed him a small sword and shield. Before he could question she gave him a necklace with a blue gem.

She then said "The gem will glow brighter when you get closer to the valley, when it turns red however you will need to send the guards off the sword and shield will be to protect you when that happens, but don't worry it should only happen one mile before you reach the valley location and when you are there it will glow green."

Spike nodded and walked out the door past 2 solar and 2 lunar guards. When he was out of sight Twilight approached them and said "Listen you better make sure he is safe or I'll make sure what horrors lie outside of Equestria seem like child's play in comparison do I make myself clear?"

The guards nodded and began to sweat; some of them had seen Twilight growing up and knew how powerful she was.

A solar Pegasus guard nodded and said "Crystal mam."

Luna let out a small laugh and whispered to Celestia "You were right she does have the makings of a good princess I haven't seen the guards this scared since the time you found out one of them ate your royal cake."

Celestia blushed and said "I thought we agreed to never bring that up again."

Luna quickly replied "I never agreed to anything sister."

Two months later

Twilight and the others stood on the outskirts of the city, this time with the princesses' right behind them. They were not going to lose now after all the training they endured they were ready for this, they hadn't unlocked the full power of the swords yet but they had gotten stronger they were confident they could win."

Rainbow tapped her foot on the ground and said "I really wished they had given a time for when this guy would arrive."

Celestia put her hand on her subject and said "Be patient Rainbow Dash they will arrive soon enough."

As they finished they heard a flute playing the in background, the tone was almost enchanting they felt drawn to the music but stayed in place. From the Everfree forest a hooded figure came out playing the flute. The darkness of the forest illuminated his glowing green eyes, as he walked toward them.

When he was about four meters away from them he stopped and said "My name is Connor O Drake and the one who has been hired to attack you sorry about that, girls."