//------------------------------// // Chapter 17 - Enter the War! Straw Hats and Mane 6 go forth! // Story: Luffy in Equestria // by SparkStone //------------------------------// Luffy was running around in the Canterlot castle as the royal guards were chasing him down. Luffy kept on turning, having no idea where he was going. Guards kept coming from out of the blue, trying to capture Luffy. "Leave me alone!" Luffy shouted at his pursuers. "Get Straw Hat!" They all shouted. Luffy ran and ran until he bumped into Celestia, looming over him. She dismissed the guards as she then levitated Luffy and took care of this herself. "I knew I should have chased you myself." She said to herself. "Let go of me sun pony!" Luffy ordered. He threw his hooves onto a nearby pillar and held onto it tightly. Celestia didn't notice as she continued to levitate Luffy's head away with her. "Luffy! I told you why I brought you here!" Celestia complained. "Why is it so difficult to understand what I'm trying to do!?" "I told you! I don't care about it!" Luffy sneered as his hooves stretched from the pillar. "Well you should care! It's not like I'm asking you to be the marines! Or to even join the royal guard! I'm not even making you be the prince you'd probably hate!" Celestia went on and on. "It's for your own good!" "No!" Luffy yelled as the pillar tore and hits Celestia on the head. She turned to him and yelled, "HEY!" Luffy sits by the plate of meat as he feeds himself to his content. Luna was admiring Chopper and Zoro as the others converse. Fluttershy was knocked out due to various reasons. "So, you're Roronoa Zoro?" Rainbow questioned. "Three swords huh? I get it if you have two in your hands, but why one in your mouth?" "Just because." Zoro replied. "Oh! He's just so cool!" Luna squealed, making him grunt in surprise. "Oh! Can I have your autograph?" "You better eat that fast Luffy." Twilight warned him. "Fluttershy is going to stay fainted until you finish that." "Oh, thanks again for the meat." Luffy said gratefully to Luna. "How'd you get this anyways? I thought ponies don't eat meat." "A good friend of mine is a griffon merchant." Luna inquired. "He managed to bring some over during your time here." "Speaking of griffons." Zoro reminded everyone. "What should we do about this?" Zoro showed off the newspaper, making everyone get serious. Luffy finished up his meal, allowing Fluttershy to resurrect from unconsciousness. The newspaper showed the Griffon King now placing their own bounties on Straw Hat Luffy. The news reports of other accomplices, such as Usopp, Robin, Nami, Sanji, Brook, and Franky. The only ones who haven't participated in the Griffon fighting was Zoro and Chopper. "Luffy, look at this price." Twilight pointed out. "500,000,000 bits. Though that's much less in the Blue Sea World, it's a big deal around here. The Griffon King wants your head." "That's a lot here?" Luffy replied with a grin. "Heh! I didn't know I'd have two bounties when I got here!" "Maybe my bounty won't be so cheap this time!" Chopper thought with hope. "Then we'll have to get in this to get a bounty." Zoro insisted with a sinister grin. "You're actually happy about this!?" Applejack said in shock. "Maybe you don't know what bounties are. They're the thing that makes others want to get you!" "Hey! At least the picture's good." Rainbow pointed out. "Well, I wish they didn't write my name like this…" Luffy complained. "They took a picture of me as a pony and named me Pony D. Luffy." "That's not the big issue here." Twilight told him. "And Rainbow shouldn't talk lightly either. Look at this!" Twilight turned to the page of the bounty placed on Rainbow. She had a bounty of 350,000,000 Bits. Rainbow rolled her eyes as she puts the paper down and says, "It's no big deal Twi. I mean, if anything, I should be peeved that the king didn't put a higher one on me!" "Rainbow! Take it seriously! You all should! Countless griffons could be knocking at your doorstep for all we know!" "Please! Luffy and I got this!" Rainbow claimed as she pulled Luffy over by the shoulder. "Are you trying to top me off?" Zoro questioned jokingly. "Hmm? What do you mean?" Rainbow asked. "Zoro here is known to be Luffy's first mate on the ship." Luna explained. "He's considered to be the vice captain of the Straw Hats." "You're really creeping me out with all this stuff you know." Zoro stated. "Oh! So you're afraid that I'll take your place!" Rainbow understood. "Well, don't worry about it! I'm actually aiming to join the Wonderbolts!" "Wonderbolts?" Luffy repeated. "Who are they?" Rainbow gasped as if it were a big deal. She flew up to Luffy and stretched his cheeks apart. "How could you NOT know who they are!?" "Are they important?" Luffy guessed. "They're only the BEST flyers in Equestria!" She claimed as she threw Luffy up in the air. "One day, I'm gonna join them!" "Not like this…" Twilight sighed. "What do you mean?" "Rainbow, focus! If you're always being chased down by griffons, do you really think the Wonderbolts will keep you safe? They'll have to suspend you from joining until the war is over!" Rainbow was shocked to hear this. Not being able to join? She sat down in thought of all this. "I didn't think of that." "So Rainbow can't join if this bounty stays on her?" Pinkie questioned. "That's right." Twilight confirmed. This saddened all the ponies and even Chopper in the room. Luffy and Zoro however simply looked down with the same thought. "Then we'll just end the war." Luffy suggested. The other ponies just stared at Luffy. Luna smiled as she said, "Well, I guess we don't have too much to worry about!" "Are you sure?" Rarity asked. "This just sounds too good to be true." "Trust in the Straw Hat pirates." Luna assured them. "So long as you work together, everything you hope to gain will be within the grasp." "Looks like we'll have to go to the Griffon Kingdom." Zoro confirmed. "We'll pack up now and leave first thing in the morning." "But… But I need my beauty sleep!" Rarity whined. "We'll be able to meet up with the others too!" Chopper added. "Oh yeah!" Luffy realized. "I can't wait for you all to meet them!" "Sounds like a blast!" Pinkie cheered. "I'll cook something up for the trip I guess." Applejack insists. "Let me write you some notes while traveling." Luna offered. "Ah! Thanks Princess Luna!" Twilight replied. The next day, Luffy and company leaves with an escort of Pegasus pulling chariots. They arrive at the border town between griffon and pony territory, known as Griffora. They drop them off town and the chariots leave. Luffy waves to them. "Thanks for the ride! See ya later!" "Alright, seeing how we have two fugitives on our team." Twilight began, eyeing towards Rainbow and Luffy. "We're going to have to try our best to keep a low profile" "Right." Luffy and Rainbow acknowledged. "Good. Now to check this pamphlet…" "Pamphlet?" Applejack repeated. "What's it for?" "Princess Luna gave it to me. These are instructions on what you should do when with the Straw Hats." Twilight explained as she turned a few pages. "Keep an eye on Zoro, he is the most likely to get lost." "He already left." Pinkie pointed out. "WHAT!?" They all yelled. "Looks like we need to find him." Chopper suggested. "No problem! Wherever he is, I'll spot him in ten seconds!" Rainbow declared. "Rainbow!" Twilight scolded. "What does keep a low profile mean to you?" "This place is full of griffons and ponies." Rarity informed the others. "It'll be best to be careful. Anypony would want that extraordinary bounty of yours." "So! No flying, no stretching, no beating up random ponies, no beating up random griffons, no telling your name, and don't make a ruckus!" Applejack told the two. "Fine." Luffy and Rainbow grumbled. "We'll meet up at that inn after we fill up on supplies." Twilight told the others. "Also, find Zoro. We need him here before we leave." They all nodded in unison. "Right!" Chopper was riding on top of Luffy as he and Pinkie ventured through Griffora together. The border town had lots to offer, as well as fishing in the river cutting through the city. As they passed by, Luffy spotted some griffons fishing. "Oh! Looks like they're fishing down there!" Luffy pointed out. "Can we go too?" Chopper asked. "You two eat meat?" Pinkie questioned. "Wow! You pirates ARE hardcore!" "I think I see the fishing store over there!" Chopper pointed out. "Right! Let's go!" Luffy declared, marching forward. "Wait! Wait! Wait!" Pinkie stopped them at his tracks. "Aren't you two Devil Fruit users? What if you fall over and drown?" "That's why we stand onboard!" Luffy told her. "And besides, we have you just in case to save us!" Pinkie gasped and then saluted while vowing, "You can count on me!" "But…" Chopper remembered. "Luffy has a bounty here, doesn't he? If the griffons notice Luffy fishing, they might attack…" "Applejack did say not to cause a ruckus." "Aw, what!?" Luffy complained. "But I wanna go too…" "Don't worry Luffy! I'll catch a whopper! Just you wait!" Pinkie assured him. Rainbow and Applejack were at the market being inhabited by a number of ponies and griffons. Rainbow was wearing a cap over her mane and colored her tail with black stripes to throw everyone off. Though it was a nice plan, Rainbow didn't like it. "This sucks!" Rainbow complained. "Why do I have to wear this stuff!?" "Because somepony gone and made trouble to the Griffon Kingdom." Applejack stated as she was checking the produce. "Well, if I didn't go after Luffy, then he wouldn't have come back!" Rainbow reminded her. The ponies and griffons looked at the two, making Applejack panic for a brief moment. Applejack shoved the cap down Rainbow's face to cover her identity, and whistled a non suspicious tune. They all eventually went back to their own business before Rainbow threw off Applejack's hooves. "What the hay was that for!?" Rainbow questioned. "What do you not understand about KEEPING A LOW PROFILE!?" Applejack yelled back. "It's not like you can do any better!" "Well, I don't have a bounty!" "That's because you're not worth the Griffon Kingdoms time!" "What was that!?" Applejack's eyes started to blaze with fire. "You heard me!" Rainbow's eyes started to glow with lightning. The two shoved faces on the verge from fighting until they noticed something out in the distance. Zoro was looking up at the alleyway's dead end. "Hmm? I thought this was the way out…" He claimed. "ZORO!" Rainbow and Applejack called as they ran to him. Zoro turned around and saw them. He then said, "Oi, what are you doing here? Did you get lost?" "YOU GOT LOST!" Applejack and Rainbow shouted back. Calming down, Applejack then asked, "Why'd you leave the group? We were discussing something important." "I was just going out for a walk." Zoro replied. "I was walking along the river and…" "THIS IS THE ALLEYWAY! THERE'S NO RIVER HERE!" Rainbow and Applejack shouted. The two were catching their breath as Zoro just stared at them. Finally, Rainbow looked up and asked, "Are you some kind of stupid?" "What'd you say!?" Zoro questioned. "Your one to talk." Applejack added while looking to the side. Rainbow glared at Applejack and said, "EH!?" They started fighting making a cloud of smoke. The griffons and ponies were watching from afar, not wanting to get close to that. That was until a griffon looked at the papers and realized something. "IT'S RAINBOW DASH!!" He yelled out, informing everyone nearby. The three stopped fighting and saw the crowd of bounty hunters running after them. "Oh no…" They muttered. Zoro took out his three swords and grinned menacingly at them, backing the bounty hunters. "I never had the chance to fight against a crowd of griffons before." He stated. The griffon bounty hunters went in first, only to be slashed by Zoro. The others backed up and pulled out some of their own weaponry. "Look out!" Applejack warned him. "They have slingers!" "And it's loaded with blades!" Rainbow added. The slingers threw the spinning blades at the three. Zoro blocked it while Applejack and Rainbow jumped out of the way. Seeing it was a tough situation, Rainbow flew up to the air. "Hey! Would it be bad to fly right now?" Rainbow asked Applejack. "I think it's passed that point." Applejack replied. "Go for it!" Rainbow flew in a circle and released another tornado upon the masses. "Tornado Dash!" The natural disaster Rainbow made ravaged through the town. The bounty hunters on ground were being blown away while Zoro and Applejack were clinging onto the ground. "DANG IT RAINBOW!" Zoro and Applejack shouted. Twilight was walking with Rarity and Fluttershy as they too went shopping. As they did, Twilight was looking over on the pamphlet. "Princess Luna sure knows a lot about these pirates." Twilight stated. "Packed extra bits for the food Luffy will buy. He will like lots of meat. Zoro in particular will like any alcohol, most of all, sake." "We can still use the money to buy other things, right?" Rarity asked. "They have some fabulous fabrics and wonderful gems!" "Um… Didn't Princess Luna give us that money to specifically feed Luffy and the others?" Fluttershy wondered. "Oh please, even they should know when they're eating too much." Rarity stated. "Besides, what the princesses don't know won't hurt." Meanwhile, at Canterlot, Luna was screaming at the magic eye Celestia was watching through to check on her student and Luffy. "YOU MONEY GRUBBERS!" Luna scolded. "THAT WAS FOR THE STRAW HATS!" "They can't hear you." Celestia reminded her. "Then send a letter to them!" Luna demanded. "Spike isn't with them." Celestia added. "AUGH!" Back to the others, Rarity continued to look around while Fluttershy noticed something. She looked up to the air, worried about something. Twilight saw her reaction as well. "What's wrong Fluttershy?" Twilight asked. "Um… I think somepony is fighting…" Twilight and Rarity exchanged worried expressions and looked back saying, "You don't think…?" "I'm not sure." Fluttershy replied. "But there is a lot of violence." "Okay, let me check." Twilight looked into the pamphlet and read what was inside. "Most likely to get into fights. Luffy and Zoro are on the top of the list." They were silent as they then saw griffons and ponies flying from explosions and tornados from the distance. They all sighed as they said, "Of course." "Well, we better go get them." Rarity recommended. Before heading out, they heard a screaming noise. Looking up, they spot Luffy, Pinkie, and Chopper flying through the air. The landed right beside them face first. They only stared at them for a moment before realizing something. "What happened!?" Earlier by the river, Pinkie and Chopper were fishing along the shore while Luffy was hiding in the shade. The griffons and ponies passing by were wondering why the pink pony was fishing and what was with the raccoon dog. Luffy moaned in boredom as time passed by. "Can I join you guys now?" Luffy asked. "You need to stay hidden so we don't get into trouble like Applejack said." Chopper reminded him. Luffy pulled the lip, which made Pinkie feel for him. She hands Luffy the rod and say, "Okay, here! You can have mine." "Oh boy!" Luffy said as he jumped out of the shadows and grabbed the rod. "Alright! I sure hope I catch something yummy!" Suddenly, a griffon noticed something about Luffy. Looking at the newspaper and him, he realized who he is. "Straw Hat Luffy!!" Bounty hunters swarmed the place again, and all the griffons that were fishing pulled out slingers and daggers. "AH! We're surrounded!" Pinkie and Chopper squealed. "Get them!" They all shouted. "Gomu Gomu no-" Luffy stopped as he sensed multiple blades being thrown at him. He dodged them but the assault of griffons pushed Luffy down the river. "LUFFY!" The two screamed. "We got him now!" a pony bounty hunter said. "Now into the water!" "Get away from him!" Chopper yelled as he transformed. "Horn Point!" Chopper became more human like and his horns grew in size. "Collonnade Rose!" (Roseo Collonnade!) Throwing off the attackers, Chopper went back to rescuing Luffy by jumping in the water. Pinkie was shocked as she said, "But I thought you can't swim!" It was too late as he fell in the water. Pinkie gasped as she immediately followed after them. Bringing the two back to air level, she saw all the griffons and pony bounty hunters all jumping down as well. Pinkie screamed before something happened. "Midori Boshi: Take Jave-rin!" (Green Star: Bamboo Javelin!) Suddenly, bamboo grew from the ground and attacked the offenders. Pinkie had no idea what was going on, but focused on getting Luffy and Chopper our of the water. "Luffy! Wake up!" Pinkie said to him. "I think we have to go!" "Alright, hold on…" Luffy said lazily as he stretched his hoof around one of the bamboo. "Wait… don't…!" Chopper tried to say before coughing water. "Gomu Gomu no Zenmai!" (Gum Gum Spring!) They were pulled by Luffy's hoof and spun around the bamboo a couple of times before flying out and away from the crowd. After they did, Robin and Usopp were in a banana boat cruising along the river. "Aw, did we miss him?" Usopp groaned. "Maybe we'll see catch up to him over there." Robin pointed towards the feud of tornados and explosions. "Why do I get the feeling that Zoro is here?" Usopp said sarcastically. "I don't even know why you tried to go after him." Twilight said to Chopper as she pressed down against his stomach. "This is the third time I had to save a drowning victim." "At least you don't have to do CPR." Rarity enlightened. "Luffy, you need to be more careful." Fluttershy told him. "Sorry, sorry!" Luffy laughed. "I guess I was just excited about fishing again!" "AH! The fishing rods I bought were left there!" Pinkie remembered. "Aw… It was limited edition too…" "We should get going." Twilight said as she pressed on Chopper once more, finally letting the rest of the water out. "I have a feeling Rainbow and the others got into trouble." Rainbow was flying away from the griffon and pegasus bounty hunters. Zoro and Applejack were chasing after her to make sure she was alright. Rainbow spun and threw in another tornado. "Tornado Dash!" Zoro and Applejack panicked as they got out of the way from the attack. After the tornado passed, Zoro and Applejack glared at Rainbow. "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE SHOOTING THAT!!" They yelled. "Whoops. Sorry!" Rainbow nervously shrugged before dodging a blade. She looked at the remnants of the bounty hunters still in the air as well as the others on the ground. Zoro took aim to the ones in flight while Applejack to aim at the ones on ground. "Senhachiju Pound Ho!" (1080 Caliber Phoenix!) The technique wiped out the crowd in the air, giving Rainbow a chance to escape freely. As for the ones on foot, Applejack lassoed the one closest to Rainbow and pulled. "Rodeo Pull!" Pulling the rope, Applejack got the victim to fall backwards along with all the other bounty hunters. Before they could relax, they soon noticed all the attention they received, and got bounty hunters wanting revenge. "Well, this isn't good." Applejack stated. "What now?" Zoro got ready with his swords in place. He made sure to take a few steps away from Applejack as he spun. "Kokujo: O Tatsumaki" (Black Rope Dragon Twister!) The tornado of slashes begun, and the griffons and ponies who were fighting were now fleeing. Applejack dropped her jaw as Zoro puts away his swords. "Bounty Hunters? You should have stuck to simpler jobs." Zoro recommended. Rainbow wasn't out of the woods yet. She needed to land some place where they won't find her. Suddenly, she heard a voice calling out to her. "Rainbow! In here!" She stopped and saw the voice coming from in open window. "Get in!" Not in the mood to decline, she goes into the building. It was an old empty room. No one was there except the griffon behind her, locking the window. "There, nopony will know you're here." She sighed in relief. Rainbow dropped her jaw as her eyes shrunk. Before her was a familiar being. "YOU!"