Chapter 15- The Most Relaxing Day Ever
A shower of apples descended on Naruto as he delivered a chakra-filled kick to one of the many apple trees in Sweet Apple Acres. They filled to the top the wooden buckets he lay around the tree.
“Another day, another apple,” he sighed to himself as he began unloading the red content into the wagon he brought with him.
It’s been ten days now since he’s arrived in Equestria, and with no news from Celestia, he decided to keep the routine he adopted when he ‘moved in’ — helping out at Sweet Apple Acres. It was the only real way he had to spend his time here, not finding any other thing to do here to his liking. In fact, he’d grown so used to this, Applejack let him work without any supervision, so he was by himself for quite a while.
“Good morning, Naruto!” the cowmare said as she walked up to him from the direction of the farmhouse.
“Morning, Applejack,” Naruto answered. “Ready to work?” he asked, smiling to not get his pony friend’s mood down.
“Actually, about that… I’m been worried you’ve been too hard on yourself. You ain’t had a single day’s rest since you got here to Equestria!”
Naruto stared at her, surprised to hear the hard-working mare say such a thing. “Don’t worry. It’s not like I’ve got anything better to do here,” he sighed.
“Hogwash! Y’all see there’s plenty to do ‘round here! Come along now, you’re going to have yourself the most relaxing day ever!” Applejack announced as she began pushing him away from the apples and towards town.
“I can walk myself, you know,” Naruto reminded her. Although, he wasn’t too enthusiastic with a ‘day of relaxation’. He needed to work to get himself rid of the homesickness he felt.
*****
“So… What’s this?” Naruto asked as the two came to a stop in front of a very girly-looking structure. Its purple roof had several pointy peaks, but was otherwise quite smooth, creating the illusion of a couple of huge tents merged together. It had light pink walls, and the golden entrance doors was covered with hearts. A large sign above the doors read ‘Ponyville Day Spa’.
“Like I told you, today y’all be doing absolutely nothing! Nothing stressful, that is,” Applejack smiled. “And look who just happens to be coming here!” she added as she pointed to their right.
“Good morning, Applejack and Naruto!” Twilight called as she walked up to them, Fluttershy walking to her left.
“Morning,” the shy Pegasus said quietly, smiling at the two orange Earth ponies.
“Oh, is everyone coming too? The more, the merrier!” Naruto said. “So, what’s a ‘spa’?”
“Everypony, Naruto,” Twilight corrected. “And it’s a very relaxing place. You’ll see soon enough,” Twilight smiled as she moved to open the doors.
“Aren’t the others coming?” Naruto pondered.
“They all said they’re busy today,” Fluttershy explained.
“Huh? I saw Rarity today and she didn’t seem to do anything,” Naruto recalled that day’s morning. She was working on something, but didn’t seem to be particularly in a hurry.
“Let’s get a move on! There’s plenty of relaxation to do!” Applejack called as she once again pushed Naruto into the spa.
*****
Finally inside after paying for the entrance, Naruto looked all around him in awe. There was a very large hot tub located at the top of a small staircase to his right, while the bottom floor had several small mud baths, massage tables, and other weird appliances the likes of which he’d never seen before.
“Well, let’s get to it!” Applejack exclaimed as she grabbed the zipper of the top of Naruto’s jump suit with her mouth and pulled it down.
“Hey! What the—” he called in protest, but then the suit was pulled off from his back by Twilight, making him, disregarding the headband and weapon bag around his waist, completely naked from head to hoof.
He immediately curled into a ball to cover himself up. “What’s the big idea?!” he yelled at his friends.
“What’s wrong, Naruto?” Fluttershy asked, baffled with his response.
“I don’t take off my clothes with girls around! You’ll make me look like a pervert!”
Twilight arched a brow, and was about to make a snappy comeback regarding the other day. However, she simply sighed and reminded him that “Well… Everypony’s naked around here…”
“’Sides, you were already half-naked from the get-go,” Applejack reminded him with a chuckle.
“Oh… Right,” Naurto muttered sheepishly, scratching his chin.
“Well then, let’s dive in!” the cowmare then called happily as she jumped into the hot tub, while still keeping her hat on.
Naruto followed suit after taking off the weapon bag, while Twilight and Fluttershy preferred to calmly use the stairs and entered the water without splashing all around.
*****
The four ponies spent quite a while in the water, chatting about all sorts of subjects. But the most talked about one was Naruto and his home town, which was by far the most strange and most exotic topic for the mares.
“So back there you have huge hot tubs, and you go in naked, just like here?” Twilight reconfirmed with him, as this was one topic she did not get to on her first report about Naruto. By now she had already voiced more than once her disappointment in not bringing Spike or another way to write it all down.
“Yeah. And boys and girls go in separately,” Naruto explained.
“Why’s that?” Twilight inquired.
“Cause the girls would beat the living hell out of you…” he thought in slight horror, recalling some events that took place during missions and in town, the most painful ones involving Sakura.
A single thought passed between the mares around him. “Those female humans must be insane…”
“Oh, your poor thing, how did you survive?” Fluttershy asked softly.
“Well, on the street we always wear clothes, so it’s fine,” Naruto chuckled. “Come to think of it, I didn’t think it was weird that all you ponies were naked when you got here. Should I have?”
“Mustta been more occupied by the whole ‘talking pony’ thing, huh?” Applejack smiled. Like the others, she found it really weird to hear that ponies there don’t talk.
“And other animals? Don’t they talk in your world?” Fluttershy inquired.
“Well, not regular animals. Summoned animals can talk, though. I would summon a toad here to show you, but I can’t because my world’s frozen. Well, if it wasn’t I wouldn’t be here anyways…”
As he said that, he recalled once more the situation he was in. It was just ten days now, but how much more would he be stuck here? A month? A year? He began to wonder how long it would take him to literally go insane from not having ramen.
“I need a break,” Twilight suddenly said as she got up and walked out of the bath, drying herself with a towel before stepping out of the spa.
“I’m mighty sorry we got ya thinking about that,” Applejack said as she saw Naruto’s far off look. “But don’t worry. Everything’ll turn out just fine!” she tried to cheer him up. “Believe it!”
Naruto’s mind finally returned to reality due to the orange mare’s words. “Oh, yeah. Don’t worry, I got kinda used to it by now.”
“Ah,” he muttered, as he felt a familiar sensation in his privates. “Gotta use the toilets,” he explained as he got up and out of the water.
He quickly shook himself dry and walked towards the toilets, which were on the other side of the spa. As he passed by the entrance, he could hear Twilight speaking with someone, whose voice he quickly recognized as Rainbow Dash’s.
“Don’t worry, Naruto doesn’t suspect a thing,” Twilight whispered. Hearing his name made Naruto gain an interest in the conversation.
“Great. So keep him busy for a while more. I’ll come over when we’re done,” Rainbow whispered back.
“Oh, this is going to be great! Naruto will never guess what hit him!” Twilight whispered, a tone of excitement in her voice. Naruto’s mind froze as he was merely focusing on listening, and not yet fully processing what he was hearing.
“You can say that again when Pinkie’s behind it! This is gonna be so awesome!”
“Alright, so I’ll be returning now before he suspects anything. Make sure to tell me if anything goes wrong or when you’re done,” Twilight instructed.
“Of course, and same for you! See ya,” Rainbow replied. Naruto could hear the sound of her taking off.
As the door opened, Naruto rushed to the toilet to avoid being spotted by the purple Unicorn.
*****
Sitting on the throne, Naruto pondered what all this could mean. “It’s probably some kind of prank… There’s no way…” he spoke his thoughts, partially to convince himself that nothing suspicious was going on. “Nah, they’re my friends. They wouldn’t…”
“Aaagh!” he yelled in frustration, scratching his head, when suddenly he had an idea. “Alright, no problem,” he said to himself as he crossed his forelegs. “Transformation Jutsu, Release!”
Now sitting on the throne as a human, he crossed his index and middle fingers of his hands, as he did so often back at his home world. “Shadow Clone Jutsu!”
A perfect, half-naked clone of Naruto came into existence in a cloud of smoke, and found himself sitting on top of the real one. The two stared at each other for a few moments, slowly comprehending the moment’s awkwardness.
“Get off me!”
“Why did you summon me in the toilet?! Are you an idiot?!”
“If I’m an idiot then you’re an idiot, idiot!”
Finally, Naruto managed to reach for the lock and opened the door for the clone to jump out.
“Go follow Rainbow. I don’t what’s going on here, but we’re gonna find out!” Naruto said.
“Don’t tell me what to do, I’m you!” Naruto-clone answered angrily.
“Transformation Jutsu!” the two Narutos called at once as they performed the seal for the technique. A moment later, they emerged as ponies.
Luckily enough, there was a large window in the toilets, leading to the outside. The clone jumped through it, while the original went back to the spa.
*****
Naruto-clone wandered around Ponyville, wondering where Rainbow could have possibly headed to. As he passed by not far from his (hopefully) temporary home at Carousel Boutique, something colorful caught his eye. Looking at the entrance, he could see Rainbow Dash talking with Rarity. Speeding off ninja-style to behind a nearby tree, he could eavesdrop on their conversation.
“So how are they going?” Rainbow asked.
“Simply fantastic, Rainbow. I should have them ready very soon,” Rarity replied. “Naruto will be absolutely stunned!”
“Yeah! I can already picture the look on his face! It’s gonna be priceless!” Rainbow laughed.
“Well, I must get back to work now. I only finished making Pinkie’s, since she insisted to try it ahead of time.”
“Gotcha, see you later!” Rainbow said as she once again took off.
“Rarity! The headpieces are ready!” Naruto could hear Spike calling from inside.
“Great job, Spikey!” Rarity replied as she went inside as well. Naruto took this as a chance to go and get a closer look.
Peeking into one of the windows, Naruto could not believe his eyes. Resting on pony-shaped mannequins was a matching set of clothes, exactly like his when he transformed into a pony, but each a different color: Violet, Blue, Lavender, Green and Yellow. On the heads of the mannequins were ninja headbands in matching colors. But before he could get a good look on the pictures on them, he heard a rustling noise from behind him, which made him turn his head back quickly.
He found himself standing muzzle-to-muzzle with Pinkie, who was wearing a similar suit to his usual one (though he was naked at the moment), and on her head a headband, though most of it was hidden by her puffy mane. Both pieces of clothing were pink in color, slightly darker in shade than her coat. “You know too much, clone,” Pinkie said ominously as she punched him in the stomach before he could even react, making him disappear. "Yay! That was fun!" she then called merrily.
*****
Meanwhile at the spa, the real Naruto was wondering how to get some information about what was going on, without arousing anypony’s suspicion.
“Over here, Naruto!” he could hear Applejack calling. She, Twilight and Fluttershy were all getting massages by ponies working in the spa.
He stared at them for a moment. He’d never seen anything like it, so he didn’t know what to think of it.
“Don’t be so shy!” a pink mare with blue mane said as she walked behind him. Shoving him onto one of the tables, she began pounding with her bare hooves on his back in a steady pace. “How’s that feel?” she asked.
“G-G-Great, thanks,” he replied, his voice shaken by the constant pounds. “S-S-So, Twilight. Who wer-r-re you t-t-talking to outside?”
“O-O-Oh, you hear-r-rd that. It w-was… Spike. H-H-He asked for a tip on a b-b-book to start reading.”
“What did y-y-you tell him?”
“Uhh… S-S-Star Swirl the B-B-Bearded’s biography, of c-c-course! It is one of the…”
Naruto didn’t listen to the rest. The only questions running through his mind now were ‘Why is she lying?’ and ‘What could she be hiding?’ Whatever it was, the others probably knew about this as well. Applejack brought him specifically here, and there’s no way Fluttershy came here too by chance.
“I seriously hope it’s not what I think it is, but I have to make sure…” he thought to himself, when he came up with an idea.
“I was wond-d-dering if I should call P-P-Pinkie. She’s m-m-missing out on all the f-f-fun,” he said nonchalantly.
“No!” the three mares called as they jumped up, startling their masseurs.
“Uhh… What we’re trying to say is… She’s probably real busy an’ all if she ain’t coming,” Applejack said nervously, beads of sweat appearing all over her face.
“Wow… She’s the Element of Honesty, alright,” Naruto thought as he gazed at the orange mare. Even without eavesdropping on Twilight’s and Rainbow’s conversation earlier, her expression was like an open book with a title ‘I’m totally lying to y’all!’ She looked really nervous and would turn her eyes in every direction, except his.
Getting even more suspicious, Naruto continued interrogating them, hoping that one of them will eventually spill the beans. “So, what is she doing today?”
The three mares exchanged nervous glances. “She’s… Throwing a party…” Fluttershy mumbled. Applejack and Twilight immediately gazed at her with stunned expressions. “For Angel. It’s his birthday,” Fluttershy finished, smiling. The orange and purple duo let out a sigh of relief.
Naruto arched a brow. “So why aren’t you there with him?”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened in response. “Umm… Well…” she began muttering, looking all around for some sort of inspiration to bail her out.
Just then, the memories from Naruto’s now gone clone returned to him. “I knew it!” he yelled as he jumped off the table. The masseuse fell backwards, surprised and slightly angry at him.
“You were lying to me! My clone was at Rarity’s now, and he saw everything!” Naruto yelled furiously.
“You did what?!” Twilight screamed.
“All this time, this was one huge genjutsu?! I spent ten whole days in this stupid pony world, and it was all just a trick! What village are you from?! Or are you from Akatsuki?!”
Everypony else simply stared at him, dumbfounded, and not getting a shred of whatever he was talking about.
“Naruto, will you please calm down?” Twilight said. “I don’t know what your clone saw—”
“Don’t play dumb with me! I heard you talking with Rainbow, saying Pinkie was behind all this!” Naruto replied, when he suddenly realized what to do. He turned around and ran for the exit.
“Fluttershy, go tell Rainbow that Naruto’s on the loose. Twilight and I will catch that rogue ninja,” Applejack said.
“R-Right!” the yellow Pegasus replied before flying out of the spa through one of the open windows.
“Let’s go, Applejack!” Twilight called, and the two soon galloped outside as well.
*****
Naruto looked around, pondering where Pinkie could be. “She must be the genjutsu caster! I’ll find her and end this stupid illusion!”
Before he could take a step, however, Twilight suddenly appeared in front of him in a flash of purple light. “Naruto, please listen! This isn’t what you think it is! Uh… Whatever it is you’re thinking…”
“Outta my way!” Naruto yelled as he jumped up and tried to land a punch on her. Twilight immediately teleported a short distance to the left, and watched in shock at the new, half an inch deep hoofmark in the road.
“Woah there, pardner!” Applejack called as she lassoed Naruto, holding the end of her rope in her mouth.
In response, Naruto reached to his weapon bag for a kunai to cut the rope, only to realize he’d left it at the spa. Instead, he tried to pull it and rip it off, to no avail.
“Twilight, now!” Applejack called between her teeth, the rope still in her mouth.
Twilight lighted up her horn, and in a few moments the three ponies were surrounded in purple light and vanished, reappearing a few moments afterwards next to a small lake about half a kilometer away from Ponyville.
“What’s gotten into you, Naruto?! Aren’t we friends?!” Twilight asked angrily.
“You all lied to me! You’re not even real! Elements of Harmony my butt!” Naruto called angrily as he started making a mad dash to break the rope. Applejack, however, not relenting an inch, easily overpowered him.
“What the hay are you talking about?!” the orange mare called.
“Everything here is a genjutsu, isn’t it?!” the orange stallion demanded. “And Pinkie’s the one behind it, right?! If that’s even her real name! All of you ponies’ names are just stupid!”
“Ha! Says the one who’s called ‘Naruto’. What the hay’s that? Some kind of weird side dish?” a voice laughed above them.
Naruto looked up to see Rainbow Dash, wearing exactly the same kind of clothes he usually did, only they were blue instead of orange, and she had a ninja headband with a matching color on her forehead, though he couldn’t see what was on it.
“I knew it! You really are all ninjas!” Naruto called furiously.
“That’s right! We had you fooled from the very start!” Rainbow answered, smirking cockily at him.
“Rainbow! That’s not helping!” Twilight called angrily.
Rainbow then flew down at great speed, snatched the rope out of Applejack’s mouth and then released it, loosening it and thus freeing Naruto. “If you wanna find Pinkie then you better follow me, Naru-slow!” she called tauntingly before zooming away.
Naruto immediately galloped after her, leaving behind the dumbfounded Twilight and Applejack.
“Don’t worry, girls. Everything’s going just like Pinkie planned,” Fluttershy said as she flew down from behind to land between the two mares. On her back were two suits, colored green and lavender. She herself was wearing a yellow one.
*****
Naruto was chasing after Rainbow Dash, who was soaring above him. He kept an eye on her from the ground as he followed her across the open fields surrounding Ponyville and in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres.
“I want answers, Rainbow! Why did you all lie to me?! What’s your purpose?!” Naruto yelled at her from the ground.
“Save it for later, Naruto. Pinkie’s waiting,” Rainbow said briefly.
“Why is she leading me there…” Naruto wondered. “Unless… It’s a trap!” he concluded mentally and came to a stop.
“It’s a trap, isn’t it?! You’re not leading me to Pinkie Pie at all!” he called.
“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me…” Rainbow said, facehooving. “Get your butt over here, Naruto!”
“Pinkie’s really at Sugarcube Corner, right?!” Naruto shouted to her, and turned around without even waiting for an answer.
“Oh no, you don’t!” Rainbow called and dashed down towards him, passing by him so fast it caused him to spin around in place.
Finally bringing himself to a stop, he glared at her furiously. “Fine. You want a battle? You got it!”
“Transformation Jutsu, Release!” he yelled as he crossed his forelegs. In a puff of smoke Naruto appeared back in his human form.
“Oh, so that’s how you look like underneath? You have no coat at all!” Rainbow laughed as she gazed at Naruto’s exposed torso.
The ninja, however, was in no mood to joke around anymore. “Shadow Clone Jutsu!” he called as he performed the jutsu’s hand seal. A clone appeared to his right, and then approached the original, who put up his right hand in front of him. The clones started focusing chakra into the air above Naruto’s open palm.
“Uh oh,” Rainbow muttered. She recognized the technique, and knew just how dangerous it is. A large, light blue orb began appearing above Naruto’s hand.
“Naruto, you ain’t thinking straight! You gotta stop!” Applejack yelled. She arrived along with Twilight and Fluttershy, who were all wearing the suits matching Naruto’s. Applejack’s was green, while Twilight’s was lavender.
“Rasensgan!” Naruto called as he charged straight at Rainbow.
“There’s no time! He won’t listen if we don’t show him!” Twilight called and her horn lighted up again. Everyone in the area were surrounded in lavender light and then teleported away.
*****
The group reappeared inside the Apples' barn. Rainbow quickly took up to the air, barely dodging Naruto who ran her way with his Rasengan. An explosion occurred shortly afterwards as the glowing orb made contact, and Naruto was promptly covered with sticky pink pieces.
“Wow! You sure surprised me! Considering this is your surprise party, I was really, really surprised!” Pinkie’s cheerful voice said.
Stunned by her words and by being suddenly being covered in a sticky material, Naruto blinked and slowly removed some of the pink stuff from his face. Noticing its sweet smell he put a bit of it in his mouth. He recognized it in an instant from his previous tastes of it in Ponyville. “This is… Cake glaze?!”
Naruto then turned around to look behind him, and his jaw fell down in utter shock. Pinkie, Rarity and Spike were standing there, the last two with completely stunned expressions. All three of them were wearing ninja headbands on their forehead, and Pinkie and Rarity had the pink and violet suits. Behind them were three tables packed with sweets, snacks and punch. On the table next to Naruto were the ruined remains of a cake. A large banner hung up on the back wall read in colorful big letters ‘Welcome to Equestria, Naruto Uzumaki!’, and below it was a life-size drawing of Naruto’s Earth pony form.
A little distance from them, where Naruto’s equally stunned clone was, were Fluttershy, Twilight and Applejack, wearing yellow, lavender and green suits matching his own, respectively. They too were wearing ninja headbands in matching colors to their suits.
“What… What’s going on here?” the cake-covered Naruto muttered.
“Just like I Pinkie Promised, a ninja-slash-welcome party!” Pinkie responded happily. “What did you think it was, some kind of plot to deceive you and take you hostage?”
“We tried to keep it a surprise party, but after you heard me talking with Rainbow you went haywire and wouldn’t listen to anything we said…” Twilight explained.
“Yeah, you should really chill, Naruto,” Rainbow said as she landed next to him. “You almost scared me there with that Rasengan. Almost,” she smiled, not holding a grudge against him for nearly blowing her away with the chakra-made ball.
Naruto merely gazed at them all, not finding words for it. He proceeded to simply stare at them and their costumes.
“I made them all myself! I thought that you’d feel a bit at home if we’d all dress up like ninjas!” Rarity smiled. “This is how ninjas usually dress, is it not?” she asked. Naruto, however, was not in the state to explain that it couldn’t be any further from the truth.
“Uhh… Well…” Naruto mumbled, slowly calming down and taking in everything that is happening.
“And check out the headbands! I helped Rarity make them!” Spike exclaimed as he pointed at the light green one tied around his own forehead. Naruto looked at it to see an engraving of Spike’s own face, and then at the others’ to see they all had each’s cutie mark on them.
“Umm… Are you okay, Naruto?” Fluttershy asked worriedly. He just stood there, covered in cake and completely motionless.
“So… This isn’t a genjutsu?” Naruto blurted.
“You’ve been saying that for a while now, but what’s a ‘genjutsu’?” Twilight asked.
“Ooh! Ooh! I know!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Genjutsu must be jutsu for Gens, which are tiny little dwarves living underground! They come out once a month, eat your carrots, and then blame your sister for it! Oh, wait. That’s just me…”
“Are you saying this is really real…?” Naruto reconfirmed.
“You’ve lived here for over a week, and you’re asking just now?” Twilight arched a brow.
“It’s just like that time I met a ninja ten days ago! That story’s a classic…” Pinkie reminisced to herself.
“I’m mighty sorry we didn’t tell you, but Pinkie insisted to make this a surprise party, so we had to keep you away from the farm today,” Applejack explained.
“Looking on what just occurred, this turned into quite a mess… Literally,” Rarity said as she looked at Naruto. “But I guarantee we had all the best intentions,” she added with a smile.
“Come on, let’s do it already! We had him waiting long enough!” Rainbow exclaimed. “On three! One… Two…”
“WELCOME TO EQUESTRIA, NARUTO!” they all shouted together.
“Oh… Uh… Thanks,” Naruto smiled sheepishly, finally coming to terms with everything after getting the whole picture. The clone then made a seal and dispelled itself.
Over the next few hours, Naruto (after getting himself cleaned) enjoyed the party with the others. They all danced, ate, drank and laughed together, enjoying the party, and promised to warn Naruto ahead of time for any future parties Pinkie would hold for him.
“Listen, everypony,” Naruto said in a break between songs played by Pinkie’s gramophone. “I’m really sorry for all that. I really should have trusted you all. After all, you’re my friends.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Fluttershy said happily, as she and the others smiled at him.
“But, aren’t you forgetting something?” Rainbow asked as she flew towards him, arching a brow.
“Oh… What was it again?” Naruto chuckled sheepishly, scratching his head.
“Oh right, you laughed about our names!” Applejack glared at him with a dangerous expression.
“Eh… Haha, that little thing…” Naruto muttered as he took a step backwards.
“I think a flying lesson would be a decent reward for it,” Rainbow grinned deviously as she flew behind Naruto’s back and grabbed his hands from below.
“Hey! What the—?!” he exclaimed as he was raised to the air and literally taken for a spin up near the barn’s roof.
“Get me downnnnnn!” Naruto called, getting dizzy, as everyone down on the ground laughed at the sight of the ‘flying’ ninja.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Today, my friends and I learned that getting on a ninja’s bad side is not a very good idea, especially when he thinks you’re dangerous enemy ninjas.
Regardless, we also all learned that you should always trust your friends. Even if they seem to act suspiciously and don’t tell you the truth, you should first assume that they only act with the best intentions.
After all, true friends always have your best interests in mind, and would never do anything to hurt you.
And who knows? Sometimes just rolling with the unexpected might turn in a pleasant surprise.
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle