//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: A pony never met // Story: Bonds never break // by Deidara21 //------------------------------// Recap: Twilight gets accused of a crime then ends up getting sent to Eclipse Prison, on the bright side however, she restored the bond between two sisters. Hearing of the news, Naruto and the mane 6 set out to save Twilight all while the moon seems to be acting stranger than usual. "..." "...w..." "W-where am I?" Twilight blinked open her eyes, she felt the stone rubbing off her coat, it was clear where she already was. Surrounding her was tough, metal bars, you could almost say it was like being in a cage... "So you're awake?" Twilight quickly turned her head to the sound of anotherpony's voice, thanks to the fire hung up on the walls, she could also tell who the pony was. "S-Sasuke?! This is where you've been?!" Sasuke lifted his head, he looked terrible. The bags under his eyes and tireless expression indicated he was trapped in here with little sleep. "It doesn't matter how I got here. What matters is how we escape and how we," Sasuke met with Twilight's timid eyes. "take care of the princess-queen." "I'm surprised you haven't escaped already, Sasuke." Twilight quipped, trying to change from this touchy subject. "These chains are impervious to the little 'magic' I have. And I'm chained up to the wall, there's no way I could use chidori lik-" Sasuke stopped and saw the shallowness of Twilight's eyes, he sighed. "I don't think you understand the situation that tyrant is putting us through, we can't just sit here and die." That comment hit her hard, making her stare blankly at the ground. "...I don't understand...this isn't Celestia." Sasuke shook his head in disbelief. "I'll repeat myself, Twilight. The princess-queen horse doesn't give a damn about you or anyone. Because sometimes, even the strongest bonds will sever." "What're you talking about?" "Believe me when I say this. Bonds will always break." Twilight shook her head and stopped staring at the ground. "That can't be! In any case, I will not believe this. We're going back to the palace and demanding some answers!" "Then...you're only a fool for not believing in the plain truth. Just give the hell up on Celestia!" "No one ever said...friendship was easy, Sasuke and that is why, no matter what, I will keep on fighting for my friends. Maybe you're the one who doesn't understand because I will be there for Celestia even if she does hate me." '...she's too much like him...he told me those exact words...' "...! F...fine." Sasuke muttered, it was unbelievable how naïve people were. "First, Twilight you need to get these cuffs off." Twilight scooted over to Sasuke, she tapped her horn on the cuffs and chains, making them disappear. 'I'm not sure where those'll end up...' "Ok, done." Sasuke nodded, an electrical current swirled around his horn, then suddenly it all retracted to his horn. In seconds, Sasuke's horn illuminated a bright light blue. "Heh, I learned a new move while in this damn body." He walked over to Twilight and slashed open the cuffs and chains she was locked up in. "Thank-you Sasuke." "Hold up. Before we try to escape, there's someone in here I want to speak to." "What? Who?" "You'll see soon, but he's at the top of tower." XxxxxxXxxx Princess Luna was fully aware of what was occurring to the moon, even though Celestia already elevated the sun. Her worst fears farm true, and the dread that spread across Ponyville was all of her doing. Glancing back and forth between the settlement and the palace, Luna paced back and forth on her balcony, arguing with her morals on what she should be doing. "Should I...tell Celestia? Out of the question...I'll probably get sent back to that accursed moon. But if I don't, then what will happen to the lands that lay yonder?" Finally she made up her mind. Luna stood at the edge of the palace, she spread open her wings, then prepared to take off "Luna! Where do you think you're going?!" Celestia yelled as she came walking onto the balcony. "I have business to concern with, sister." "...I resign that request. There's no telling what rousing you may do without my presence. Remember sister, you're still monitory to the common eyes." "A bond only works if you can trust in each other, completely." With those last words, Luna abruptly teleported herself out of the palace, leaving Celestia to deal with the chaos in her own terms. 'That annoying little...' "GUARDS! Hunt down Luna and bring her to me!" Celestia demanded. Two guards came running up to Celestia's side. "B-but your majesty, Luna is-" "I do not care. You will hunt her down, unless, you want history to repeat itself!" Celestia reminded them, reassuring her request. "We understand..." XxxxxxXxxx Naruto uncoiled a map he found in Twilight's library. "Ok so according to the map, Eclispe prison is within the reach of the Castle of Two sisters. You guys know where that is, right? "Um, I don't-" Fluttershy started to object. "Remember guys from the second episode?" Pinkie pie butted in, she got out a laptop from her hair and played a random video of My Little Pony. *theme song plays on laptop* Naruto looked at the screen as the mane six was walking through a twisted, dark, not to mention creepy forest. Looking past that, he studied the environment for some time before making his final conclusion. "How long will this take? I wanna get there ASAP." Pinkie pie pondered for a bit. "Well, it took like two episodes for us, so...about 60 minutes. Applejack already knew that would be too long for impatient Naruto to wait. "It probably won't." She reassured. "We had'a face all those trials 'cause of Nightmare moon adding to the time, but now apparently she's reformed. Pinkie pie closed the laptop and placed it back in her bouncy hair. "We can always have a montage, it'll take half the time." "I like that." Fluttershy agreed. "The sooner we got out of the forest, the better." "Also, has anyone else had a problem of night terrors? Spike had one yesterday and then black stuff spilled out of his mouth." Naruto explained. "Oh now that ya mention it, Applebloom and Big Mac were screaming 'n yelling all night. Then I saw black stuff oozin' from the side of their mouths." Fluttershy nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, and when I came home, there was black stuff spilled all over the floor, and my animals were all passed out. It was so scary!" Pinkie pie bounced up and down in the air. "I actually had one of those! It was absolutely horrible!" Everyone looked at Pinkie pie in utter horror. "Are...you okay?" Fluttershy stuttered. "Yep! '...you don't sound ok...' "Yeah, that's what I thought. This isn't good, after we save Twi then maybe she'll have a spell to fix all this." Naruto suggested. "I'm afraid no spell will fix what has befallen upon the ponies." Naruto shook his head. "No. You're wrong, Twi has a spell for everything." "Not for this." "Wait!" Naruto perked his ears, the voice he heard didn't sound like anyone of the ponies voices. Finally, turning around, he saw Princess Luna standing in their presence. "What're you talking about?" Rainbow asked. "The night terrors, the black substance, all of it is my fault. There is no spell to fix that." Shock was spread across the ponies' faces. Although she had announced she'd been reformed and everything, deep in their hearts, there was something that still rejected her. Everyone was shocked but, there was a never a doubt in their hearts Luna would betray them at some point. "...Stop lying to us." Naruto slowly said. Luna shook her head, the weight of guilt she was feeling was unimaginable. She couldn't help but feel that her life was purely full of regrets. "I'm not lying. Just please let me explain myself." Everyone started to back up from Luna, Naruto unzipped his pouch and levitated a kunai knife to the side of him. The mane six had dealt with her before, although they didn't have the elements with them, each one of them was sure Naruto could take care of Luna just in case. "Explain yourself, I'll judge for myself your fate. Without any further question, Luna helplessly bowed down before the six ponies, showing her humility towards them. "Please forgive me. I'm going to fix this, whatever punishment you decide upon me, I will humbly take full on. I only intended for one pony to get terrorized, but now..." Luna raised her head and looked at Naruto straight in the eye. "I beg of you...please protect the ponies." That's when Naruto saw the complete guilt flushed in Luna's eyes, her eyes told him everything he needed to know. Naruto's eyes darkened, he made his decision on what do with Luna and reused the kunai knife up to him. "...I'm..." Naruto began to mutter. '...I deserve this punishment.' Luna slightly opened up her eyes, waiting for the weapon to puncture her, but what she saw instead caught her by complete surprise. "...! Why did you...?! The ponies stared in horror, at a state of shock, as they saw Naruto instead stuck the kunai knife through his own leg. Blood was spilling from the spot where he marked and it started coloring the grass a dark, eerie red. "...sorry..." Naruto finished. "NARUTO!" All Naruto could muster was a slight, playful smirk due to the utter pain he felt from his left leg. He warmly looked into Luna's frightened eyes. "I doubted you, Luna. I punish myself for ever distrusting you. You're my friend now, so stop bowing before me. Don't ever blame yourself, Luna." "..." All Luna could do was stare, unable to move her body. '...I didn't know people like you still existed...' Fluttershy got out an emergency roll of bandages, she went over and began wrapping it around Naruto's wound. "Naruto, that was reckless of you. Please, never do that again." "I'll do it as many times as I need to, as long as there's a healer around, I won't have to worry." He turned his attention to Luna. "Luna, is there a faster way to get to Eclipse Prison other than going through the ever-something forest?" Luna shook her head from the shock. "...there is an old passage the guards used to use in case of an emergency. It's a long bridge to sum it up. I'll show you the way." Everyone nodded and began following Luna towards the bridge, according to her knowledge, the bridge is located somewhere at the far edge of the Everfree forest. After awhile of tireless walking, the group started approaching the far edges of the Everfree forest. Just barely beyond the edge, they could make out something pony-made structure, in the background. "Hey Luna, is there another kingdom beyond Equestria?" Naruto piped up as he dodged an incoming snake. "Yes. I don't know much about it, but it's a kingdom neighboring Equestria. Before my imprisonment, Celestia and I saw how different it is over there. You have to see for yourself." "I see." '...I'll have to see this place for myself then...' "Wait. Now that I think about it, how come Princess Celestia never told us about this bridge?!" Pinkie pie asked. "Because my sister believes it's destroyed." "Destroyed?" Applejack asked. "During the battle between my sister and I, she was sure I destroyed that bridge but-" "LOOK! There it is!" Pinkie pie yelled as she bounced over to the bridge. "This is so cool! I can't even see the other side!" "Um, are you sure this is safe, I mean it's been here for hundreds of years." Fluttershy piped up. "It be just awful if it happened to break while I was walking across it." "But, you have wings Fluttershy!" Naruto pointed out. "Oh, yeah." "But it be awful for us earth ponies, right Pinkie pie?" Pinkie pie started bobbing up and down. "Yep!" "What about us unicorns?!" Naruto asked. Applejack flat out objected to that idea. "You guys got that teleportation thing." "Well! Not all of us can teleport at will." Rarity argued. "Naruto and Sasuke sure can, and they say didn't even start out as ponies." "They can also do that weird wind electric thing, I've never even seen Celestia attempt that! "Like I ju-" "Guys! We're already on the bridge!" Rainbow called out, breaking up Applejack's and Rarity's typical argument. Naruto and the rest walked out onto the bridge, it was built rather oddly in comparison to other bridges. This one was flat and stiff. Unlike any bridge Naruto has ever encountered in his life, it felt like he was walking on a road. Rainbow dash steadily floated above Luna and the others. "Hey Luna, how long is this bridge?" Rainbow asked, noticing the how bridge ran on and ran then disappeared into the mist. "I don't know." Luna admitted, she started feeling uneasy after that comment, it was as if she barely knew her own kingdom. "You can see for yourself if you're so curious." "Alright. Later guys, I'll be back in like two seconds." With that, Rainbow dash flew off, leaving everyone else in the dust. At that moment, Pinkie started randomly jumping up and down in excitement for what would lie ahead, which but of course Fluttershy had the luck of being right behind her. "Pinkie pie! Stop jumping on the bridge. It's going to break and fall!" Fluttershy panicked. "What're you talkin' about? This bridge isn't moving an inch!" Pinkie pie replied in a cheerful tone while still jumping up and down. "This is a little off subject, but this bridge is musty. What is that horrendous smell?" Rarity asked. Applejack instantly rolled her eyes at that comment. "Are you gonna complain about every lil' thing we encounter?" She commented in an annoyed tone of voice. "Well of course Applejack, it's an important thing to know, is it not? So what is it?" "Blood." Luna bluntly answered "Wh-what?!" Both Rarity and Applejack yelled at the same time. Luna looked back at them, slightly getting annoyed of repeating herself. "I told you, the guards used to use this bridge in case of emergencies." Rarity twisted her face in absolute horror, realizing what she was stepping on. "Oh, well that's um rather disgusting." Rarity stoically muttered. "Oi Luna!" Naruto piped up. "Celestia told me you had a tracking spell! Can you use it?" "There's no need. You're emotionally hardcore friend got sent there as well." XxxxxxXxxx Twilight's eyes began to light up, much to Sasuke's disliking. "Well, now that we're both here, I might as well teach you about Eclipse Prison. It'll be vital information since we're escaping and all. "Whatever. I might as well listen to what you're about to say. Twilight smiled and sat down on the grating stone floors. "Ok, Eclipse Prison is made up of only 12 levels. The only way for you to get around is by first teleporting out of this room, then by turning the clock-lever, which should be outside. The prison will divide itself up into 12 separate parts, then whichever number you chose, it will appear in front of-" Twilight stopped talking and looked around. It would appear that Sasuke already left the room. Sasuke studied the clock in front of him, they were at level six which meant he would have to turn the hands to 12 O' clock. "SASUKE!" Twilight yelled as she finally teleported out of the cell. "What do you think you were doing?! Leaving in mid-lecture like that!" "The first two sentences you said were enough. Where are the guards to this place, from what I've seen, Eclipse prison doesn't seem so threatening." "That's not the point. Eclipse prison was originally an observatory tower used by Princess Luna and Celestia herself, but I guess that stopped. Although it hasn't been used for over a thousand years, this place is meant to be inescapable." "We just got out of our cell. Hm, I guess you horses just don't build that great prison bases." *vein pops* "We're ponies!" "Whatever." XxxxxxXxxx Luna looked up at the sky, it caused her utter agony to see the sky darken by the second and come time she had to once again raise the moon. "Listen everypony, I need to tell you why everything is happening the way it is." "Is it about potato girl?" Pinkie pie asked as she balanced on a random unicycle she found. "No. "Is it about how you never wished your late mother a happy birthday?" "No." "Is it about how boring it is to hear the same opening every episode you watch?" "No." "Is it about how you wanted to exact your revenge on Princess Celestia, so you decided to create an immortal, night army in order to take back the throne and *gasps for breath* reclaim your title as Nightmare moon, so night will reign once again?" Everypony, including Luna looked at Pinkie pie in utter shock. "How did you know?" Luna shamefully muttered. "Instinct." "Anyways, the black substance you may of saw seeping out of the moon is said night army. My plan originally was to give Celestia, only, a night terror so terrifying, it would make her pass out just long enough for me to reclaim the throne." Luna stared at the ground. "The night army is still highly unstable, so that explains why all of your friends are experiencing complete horror. You don't know how deeply I'm sorry for this, I really am sorry." "It's fine but how do you plan on fixing this?" Applejack asked. "After we rescue Twilight, we're going back to the royal palace. Once we reach the palace, you guys will use the elements of harmony and seal the moon with a special spell I concocted, everything should be okay after that. I promise." "...now that I think about it, it's a been awhile since Rainbow dash was here." Fluttershy reminded everypony. "Rainbow said she'd be back in two minutes, been ten minutes already." Applejack added to fret everyone even more. "We're almost at the end of the bridge, we'll see when we get there." Naruto said in a slightly worried tone. Finally, the ponies neared the end of the bridge, but much to their surprise, they saw none other than a giant cloud of mist blocking their view. As if things couldn't get any more...surprising, a silhouette of a pony began to take form in the blinding mist. "Come one, come all to the one-time only premier of THE GREAT AND POWERFUL, NOT TO MENTION TALENTED TRIXIE!" "I don't have time for this!" Naruto blew away the mist with a lite version of rasengan, he approached the blue pony girl wearing a magician's outfit. "Trixie, that's your name correct?" Trixie slowly nodded her head, she'd never been approached so up front like that before. "Where is my friend, Rainbow dash?" XxxxxxXxxx Twilight stayed close to Sasuke's side as they ventured through the long, dark halls. At that last cell, farthest to left, Sasuke finally stopped in front of it. "I don't want you following, stay out here." "Wha-why?" Twilight stammered, scared as heck at the thought of being left alone in this prison. "There's someone in here I have to kill." "W-who?" "He's a figure responsible for a certain incident where I originally came from, that's all you need to know. I won't take long so don't go anywhere, I still need you." Twilight swallowed hard and confidently looked deep into Sasuke's cosmic black eyes, as long as he was close by, she wouldn't get into any serious trouble. "Ok." Twilight finally replied. Sasuke teleported inside the cell, he lit up the room with his horn. Staring straight at him was a malicious-looking pony chained up to the wall. The pony had a pale looking coat along with long black hair and he forever wore this sickly looking appearance as if he was a corpse. "How did you get here, Sasuke?" "The way I got here isn't important because I will kill you!" "Why, I helped you out didn't I? You're simply being a brat." He looked up suspiciously at Sasuke. "It seems that part of you will never change." "Cut the act! If I leave you be, you'll bring hell to these horses!" "Oh, you care about someone else well being rather than yourself?" "You overestimate me. These horses are just my pawn, I don't give two shits about those things but I can't let you kill them only because they have to be alive in order for me leave." The pony once again maliciously smiled. "Stop lying to yourself, Sasuke. It's too obvious, you don't want those damned horses to die." "There's a difference between me and you, I believe only those who inflict me pain need to die but you however have no regard for life whatsoever. It seems that part will never change about you right, Orochimaru?"