Canterlot – Castle – Throne Room – three days after the battle against Nightmare Moon -
Celestia was suffering from the third head-ache of the week, all thanks to her sister Luna that just wouldn't stop gushing on and on about how much of a stud her son was or about how much proud of him she was for growing that strong; not even the bandages covering most her body or the limp in her steps was deterring her from praising how well Maelstrom Knight had fought her when she was Nightmare Moon.
“Oooh! And that flaming mane of energy! Did I mention how studly and dashing he was while protecting Ponyville? Because he was!” Luna asked with a wide smile.
“YES YOU DID! FIVE TIMES ALREADY!” Celestia yelled as even her legendary self-control couldn't take it any more.
“Something wrong, sister?” the Moon Princess asked.
“Luna...dear sister...I understand that you think the world of your son, no matter how badly he had injured you in that fight...”
“He was just trying to save his mommy, nothing worthy of an head-ache as those are only minor bruises,” Luna said unconcerned, the fact that she could so calmly ignore wounds that would have had any other seasoned pony (soldier or Alicorn alike) fall over and scream in utter agony just because HER SON had been the cause of them had been already registered as a medical miracle worth of study.
“That aside...” Celestia growled.
“I would be more worried about the fact that he has still to speak a word ever since we took him back here, that and the fact that he refuses to eat in favour to just 'meditate'...and I fear he is planning something to escape,” the Sun Princess then said.
“Why would he? I am here now and can be his mother once again, we will be able to study Magic or fly together! I will be finally able to teach him how to one day take my place with the rising of the Moon! why would he leave now that we are back into being a family?” Luna asked back dumbfounded.
“Luna...” This was said with as much calmness and as slowly as Celestia could.
“Yes?”
“We took him away from the life he believed was his own...from his friends, from a girl he apparently wished to date...”
“She was a peasant! Completely not worthy of him!” Luna said with a grimace.
“LISTEN TO WHAT I SAY!” Celestia roared while opening her wings wide for added effect.
“And what do you want to say? Let's hear!” Luna yelled back.
“He will try his darn best to run away and return to that world, pony or not, pegasus or Alicorn alike nothing and nopony will stop him; he WILL try to go back there no matter what we say or do, and you can be certain that should we decide to force the issue he will do everything in his power to make sure we will regret that choice and you saw him first-hoof, he can be devastating when he wants to...and if we show ourselves as being the only thing stopping him from returning to what he believes is his home he will unleash all his power on us, and unless we both banish him on the Moon I fear he will give us one of our greatest battles...that if even the Moon Banishment will be able to stop him as I fear that very few things can,” Celestia said while looking inside Luna's eyes with her hardest stare.
“Bu-but I am his mother! Why would he leave me?! We can be a family now!” the other asked with horrified eyes, royal tone forgotten as it was a too serious matter for her to remember the lessons she and her sister took in their younger days.
“He doesn't remember your being his mother, as he told us time and time again, to him his mother had always been named Kushina...even showing him once again your memories of the few years you, Storm and him had been able to spend together had been useless, he refused everything and answered with the memories he has of Konoha and the people he met in there.” the Sun Alicorn answered with a sad tone.
“But why!? Why did they erase his memories? Just to give to that...human a son when she couldn't have one of her own?!” Luna demanded with watering eyes.
“In hindsight, they did the right thing, had he remembered being a pegasus he would have had problems adjusting to his human body...but you can see the results even with his re-starting as a blank slate! his experiences in there, his friends, his every action ever since he appeared in that world as an infant had shaped him into a kind soul, the few memories of his adoptive parents and other parental figures in his life like that 'Jiraiya' and 'Hiruzen' had taught him the value of hard-work, of compassion and camaraderie! They showed him how to fight for what's right and to help the more weak and protect the innocents...they didn't just gave him to some random human...they made sure he could develop into a respectable human, and they did! You can't deny that even if now he has an human mind inside the body of an Alicorn he is no different from any other pony of Equestria!” Celestia answered.
“BUT HE DOESN'T SEE ME AS HIS MOTHER!” Luna screamed strongly enough to have the windows rattle and scare her sister.
“He doesn't look at me with eyes filled with the love a colt should have! He doesn't come to me to get comforted whenever sad, he doesn't acknowledge the bond we share ever since I delivered him to this world! HE DOESN'T EVEN CALL ME “MOTHER” WITH CONVICTION OR LOVE!” she then said.
“...And that is one of my many regrets, sister, moving you two aside is showing more down-sides than what I wished to believe possible,” Celestia muttered in answer with her head lowered down.
“Then why you didn't try sending him with me on the Moon? Why!? I had already lost the stallion I loved in the war against the griffins, why you had to take my son away as well!?” the Moon Princess asked with a voice broken by sobs.
“I feared that should he have come with you your own Corruption would have slowly affected him as well, I couldn't even keep him here, by the time of your return Time itself would have killed him, and had he become an Alicorn out of the ordeal, then his own grief for losing you would have had HIM go Nightmare just to force me to free you...I had no other choice than send him elsewhere where Time flowed differently so that by the time of your return not long would have passed for him, like that you two would have been able to stay together. I didn't expect all this to turn into an huge mess,” the Sun Princess answered.
“Then maybe you should have sent him with me, at least like that even in the cold pits of Corruption we would have stayed together, and he would have called me mother with all the affection and attachment he now denies me...” Luna answered with a sigh.
“Sister...stop speaking nonsense and let's try again, he is letting himself die while trying to return to a place that will never again accept him, they are humans and he is a pony, exception made for his friends no-pony else will accept him there for what he is, we need to help him understand this before it is too late and he see his former world turn its back to him,” Celestia said pleadingly.
“I won't let them do that! I will make their Moon crash on their pitiful world should they hurt him!” the other said with as much rage she could fit in her voice.
“Now calm down, he is probably in the gardens so it's there we will find him,”
“Okay...okay, I can do this,” Luna answered nodding.
“You need to rest,” Celestia said.
“No, I need my son to recognize me. Nothing else matters.” she answered.
Gardens – few minutes later -
Silently making their way to the gardens of the castle the two Princesses decided to stay hidden in the shadows and silently observe the blond stallion sitting with closed eyes in the middle of the grass, sometimes muttering something under his breath and nodding.
“What is he saying?” Luna asked whispering.
“It's the language of the world I had sent him to, he is muttering about being 'almost there'...He is planning something!” Celestia said before going wide-eyed.
“MAELSTROM!” the Moon Princess immediately yelled while showing herself to the shocked unicorn.
“I am sorry! I-I-I can't stay here...I...I just can't!” Naruto replied with haunted eyes that horrified the Moon Alicorn.
“But why!? Why you want to leave me!?” Luna asked in despair.
“My place is not here! What am I supposed to do? I am a Shinobi, a Ninja! My whole life was about protecting Konoha and my friends, I dreamed to become Hokage and be able to protect my precious people...I want to go home!” he answered while shacking his head.
“But you are at home! HERE! With me!” Luna replied while slowly walking closer to him.
“I am not one for royalty, I am by any means a mercenary, I will never be able to find myself at ease with being a noble...” the blond stallion answered.
“I can always talk the Royal Guards into testing if you could be a good soldier, it would be similar to what you did in Konoha, protect the innocents and your precious friends, just here instead of in the Elemental Countries!” Celestia offered.
“You would be perfect for that! You have your own brand of training, there wouldn't even be questions about they accepting you because you are my son since everypony would see what you are capable of!” Luna added with an eager nod, already imagining having the armour-clad stallion as part of her personal guards so to have him as close as possible.
“I...I...I am sorry...I just can't.” the shinobi replied by biting one of his front legs as strongly as he could to draw blood before smearing it on his hooves.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Luna screamed with wide eyes.
“I am going home, I have found a way...KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU! (Summoning Technique)” he said as from the point where he slammed his hooves a complex circle of strange markings appeared soon followed by an huge cloud of smoke.
“This chakra signature...NARUTO!” a booming voice yelled in a mixture of surprise and relief.
“Gamabunta! I am so happy to see that my plan worked! I'll explain later, but now I need you to take me to Mount Myouboku!” Naruto said with a relieved smile as an huge creature appeared in front of him and that he soon climbed until staying on its nose.
Gamabunta was a dull rusty red coloured huge toad with around his eyes and on his lips and chest brighter red markings and a scar over his left eye, on his tongue he had a series of stud-like piercings on both the upper and lower side; he was wearing a large blue happi vest with the kanji for ebi on the back and carrying a massive blade at his hip.
“WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?! YOU ARE AN HORSE!...with wings?” the Summon said in shock almost dropping the large pipe he was smoking from.
“It's complicated, now just do as I asked and take me to the Mount, I'll explain everything once there.” the stallion pleaded, his tone alone convincing the Toad Boss to comply with the request.
“STOP!” Luna screamed in horror as her own power circled around Gamabunta's feet to stop him.
“GUARDS!” Celestia yelled before adding her own magic into stopping the Toad Boss.
In an instant several armoured Pegasus and Unicorns surrounded the princesses while keeping distance from the Summon.
“Eh! That tickles, what are you trying to do?” Gamabunta asked amused.
“YOU WON'T TAKE HIM AWAY!” Luna roared in fury.
“That creature is trying to take away Prince Maelstrom, please help us!” Celestia pleaded.
“ROGER!” the dozen of guards yelled at the same time as their own horns flared to life while the flying components of the squads rapidly circled the Toad Boss.
“So you are the bastards that kidnapped him? And you even turned him into one of you...guys you are in deep shit, just so you know.” Gamabunta growled with narrowed eyes, whatever he said rapidly translated by Celestia so that the others could understand and vice versa.
“You foal! We will never leave the son of one of our beloved Princesses get ponynapped without fighting! Soldier! Have everyone focus restraining spells on the Toad, the Prince MUST get out unscathed!” one of the soldiers, rank of Captain, at the head of the Pegasus unit said.
“Roger, Sir!” the other replied immediately.
“Please Maelstrom! Please don't leave me...I can't lose you too!” Luna pleaded.
“I am sorry...give me some oil, Gamabunta...” Naruto answered with a sad sigh while his horn lightened-up and he opened his mouth wide.
“I'll take you home even if it kills me, boy! TRUST ME!” the Toad Boss said as his belly inflated to huge proportions.
“SCATTER!” Celestia yelled with wide eyes as soon as she saw fire mounting in Naruto's mouth.
“COLLABORATION JUTSU: GAMAYU ENDAN! (Toad Oil Flame Bullet)” both stallion and Toad yelled at the same time, the Summon spitting-out a veritable river of oil and the other using the short blast of flames he had spat out to turn it into a wide wave of fire.
“SHIELDS UP!” one of the guards yelled as immediately every pony present able to wield Magic, aided by the two Princesses, collaborated into rising a strong enough barrier to stop the fire from roasting them and damaging gardens and castle; but once smoke and flames disappeared there was no trace of either Summon or summoner.
“He is gone!” Celestia said with wide eyes.
“Maelstrom...no...” Luna muttered before collapsing from the shock.
“LUNA!” the Sun Princess screamed in horror while trying to re-animate the fainted Alicorn.
Mount Myouboku – isolated area -
In a powerful explosion of smoke Gamabunta reappeared in the sacred mountain of the Toad Summoning Clan, the current Boss scanning the area until he nodded satisfied.
“No-one's near, you can come out.” he said.
“I...I am here! I am home!” Naruto said with a smile toeing the 'broken' and actually scaring Gamabunta.
“Yes you are. Listen, I have a small errand to run that needs my attention, I won't tell anyone you called me nor that you are here and no-one usually comes here so you'll have some peace. Just wait for me and we will talk a little, okay?” the Summon said with his most calm smile.
“But you'll be back soon, right?” he asked in worry.
“Of course I will, gaki! Who the hell do you think you are talking with? I still consider you a friend,” Gamabunta answered smirking.
“Thank you,” the stallion said.
“Now relax and enjoy being home, I'll be back soon.” the Summon said before calmly jumping away.
“Okay...” Naruto answered before drifting asleep under an huge leaf with a serene smile on his face.
- Not far away -
“POPS! What happened? You got summoned all of a sudden! A new guy signed our contract?” another massive Toad asked curious.
“No, it was Naruto. I managed to take him here,” the Boss answered.
“WHAT?! He is here?! You saved him, pops!” Gamakichi, the son of the Toad Boss, said with a wide smile.
“WAIT! There is a problem, he is not okay and needs our help!” Gamabunta said while barely grabbing his son in time.
“Problem? What problem? What happened to him?” the younger Toad asked immediately.
“Have someone fetch Tsunade...Kakashi too, we need people he can trust...he is...he is not okay and needs our help,” the Toad Boss said.
“Them? Here?”
“Trust me, we NEED them here...I am not good in this kind of situations; while you take those two I'll go looking for Ma and Pa as well,” Gamabunta answered with a worried tone.
“I'll go right away,” Gamakichi said nodding before moving towards the Elder Toad so to be 'Emergency Summoned' in the Elemental Countries.
Meanwhile – Canterlot -
“We have found traces of the ritual!” one of the Unicorns tasked with the studying of the area said in relief.
“Can you reverse-engineer it?” Celestia asked.
“We are trying to re-establish the connection, but we need time,” the Unicorn answered looking down.
“Do it, we need to call him back...how is Luna?” the Sun Alicorn said.
“She is still crying, Princess, but at least she is more calm,” Twilight Sparkle answered.
“Ah don't understand why he's doing this,” Applejack said while shaking her head.
“I studied the ritual of Starswirl; Princess Celestia turned him into a full-fledged human, mind comprised and the Humans in that world had the right idea in erasing his memories to nothing since otherwise he would have had problems recognizing his new body as his own...but when she called him back here she had left his mind as it was, prompting his brain to finally register that he has no longer an human body. During his fight with Nightmare Moon he had been only focused on stopping her and talk to Celestia, but as soon as things calmed down his ignored issues came back...now he is just...scared.” the purple Unicorn answered.
“Scared?” Rainbow Dash said with furrowed brows.
“He can't recognize himself, he has started having doubts about his staying here in Equestria and he now fears rejection from his old friends...he probably believes that he has nowhere to go and nopony to talk to that he can trust. He is desperate, and so he is not thinking rationally,” Twilight explained.
“That creature he summoned must be one of his friends, hearing him promise help and a place to stay in his old world was more than enough to have Maelstrom latch into it and go away,” Celestia added in realization.
“Darn...that sounds bad...” a young purple dragon said with raised eyebrows.
“I fear that it may become even worse than that, Spikoran,” the Sun Princess answered.
“We will help him, we just need to have him understand that he is not alone nor unwanted,” Fluttershy replied.
“What if we use the Elements of Harmony?” Rarity asked.
“I don't know if they would work in this case, the darkness that is clinging to his heart is of his own creation, but it still has to Corrupt him completely, so I am not certain.” Celestia answered.
“Can we help in some way, Princess?” Twilight asked.
“That is in fact the reason why I called you all here, me and Luna are going to use the traces Maelstrom left behind in his escape to open a portal and reach him, but we'll need the Element of Magic along the other Elements to back-up our power so to send us and then call us back as soon as we have found him. Can you help us?” the Princess answered.
“We'll do our best, Princess! And if tha' boy keep acting like that, Ah will personally drag him here by that horn of his!” Applejack answered.
“He is just scared, Applejack. I will help as well,” Fluttershy added.
“I still have to throw him a 'Welcome new Friend' party, of course I will help that silly stallion!” Pinkie Pie said smiling wide.
“A friend?” Luna asked while joining the scene with her eyes still red from her recent crying fit.
“Of course! Everypony needs friends so why not him as well?” the pink pony answered.
“He helped us by keeping you occupied while we recovered the Elements, it's only fair that we return the favour by snapping him out of his self-pity,” Rarity said.
“You can count on us, Princess Luna! We'll help you bring the Prince back.” Twilight added.
“Thank you! Thank you! Everything you want is yours...just help me recover my son!” Luna answered with a grateful smile.
“Just take him back, it's all we ask. He is one of us and I think he can be a nice pony once softened him enough, he only needs to enjoy life more.” Dash answered.
“WE HAVE A THREAD! It's a weak link, but we should be able to enlarge it into a portal thanks to the Elements, but we have to be cautious, it's a one-time deal, any mistake and we won't have a second chance. But we can now start working on it at least.” the Unicorn said.
“Good! let's go help them, Sister! We have your wayward son to recover,” Celestia said.
“Okay...I am going to ground him for a thousand years once we are done!” Luna answered.
“That's the spirit.”
Mount Myouboku - some time later -
Tsunade was rapidly marching through the path towards the disappeared Naruto with a deep scowl on her face, she was aware that having her and Kakashi enter in that realm without first signing the Toad Summoning contract was unheard of, but what she did understand was the magnitude of the problem being great enough to bend the rules enough for this to happen.
“You don't actually believe that thing about him being an horse, right?” Kakashi, back in his Jounin robes, asked.
“I saw a light engulf my godson to drag him away and a shape of something scarily resembling a winged horse grab him, as for now my suspension of disbelief is on strike, so I am open to every possibility...I just want him back.” the woman answered.
“Good. I thought I was the only one to think like that, let's go.” the masked shinobi answered as both quickened their pace.
“Why dressing like the time you were his Genin Team's sensei?” she asked.
“For the same reason you are wearing your green coat. As Gamabunta said he is under shock, so he needs something familiar to latch onto so to stay calm...I even have a copy of Icha-Icha with me,” the other answered.
“You always have a copy of that with you,” Tsunade said smirking.
“Yes, but this is the same issue I was reading when I gave my Bell Test to Team 7.”
“Good thinking.”
“Ssssh! Be quiet!” Gamakichi whispered with a glare before slightly lifting a leaf to show Naruto calmly talking with the two Toads Ma and Pa.
“Well, exception made for the horn and the wings, I find you well, Naruto-boy!” Pa said with a cheerful tone.
“Always said that you were strong as an horse for someone your age...turns out I was right! Ah!” Ma added smirking.
“That's not funny, I look like something out of a toy store,” Naruto replied pouting.
“But I guess you would have a great success with girls like that should you try,” Pa answered chuckling.
“Please, Pa! Don't talk like Ero-sennin! As if a girl would not run away screaming once seeing that I am a talking horse,” the blond stallion answered shaking his head.
“I find you cute instead, Naruto...” Tsunade said as she and Kakashi slowly walked out of their hiding spot.
“B-B-BAACHAN!” the other yelled with wide eyes.
“Yo, Naruto! Decided to change look without telling me? I thought that you would have gone for the orange though...was it taken?” Kakashi said with an eye smile while internally cringing at the fear he could read in his former student's eyes.
“I am...I mean, I am not...” the stallion stammered while slowly backing away, he was also looking around for possible escape routes.
“It's okay, I am here now. I am not afraid, nor I am disgusted or angry. I just want to talk,” Tsunade offered with a calm voice and raised hands.
“You shouldn't have known about this! I asked only this to Gamabunta!” he said before spinning in place to run away.
“BRING YOUR SORRY ASS HERE BRAT BEFORE I TURN YOU INTO A PASTE!” sensing the danger of losing him the woman changed tactic and used the same tone of when the blond shinobi in front of her used to joke once too many about her real age.
That stopped Naruto mid-run, it was something he recognized, something he knew was 'normal' and was something Tsunade could use to convince him that everything was fine, that nothing between them had changed.
“Come here, let's talk a little,” Kakashi offered while sitting on the ground and patting the spot next to him.
“O-okay,” Naruto muttered while slowly, almost painfully on his part, he walked near his old sensei to sit next to him and flinching when the silver-haired man patted him on the head.
“See? Was it as hard as mastering the Rasengan? I don't think so,” the masked shinobi said while flipping open his book to read, or at least pretend to.
“Okay, Naruto. Me and Kakashi can help you, but you need to tell me the whole story, the others too are beside themselves in worry...even Sasuke is twitchy and wants to know what happened to you...of course he tried to play it cool, but we know he is just as worried as the others if not more,” Tsunade said while sitting at the stallion's other side.
He snorted at the part about Sasuke, that was a good sign in both shinobi's book.
Konoha – Main Gate – the next day -
“He is close, I can sense him!” Luna said as soon as the she and her sister came out of the portal that had opened above the village.
“Let's be calm though, we risk having them attack us if we act recklessly,” Celestia answered.
“...I think they already know that we are here,” the Moon Alicorn said while pointing with an hoof at an human riding an huge dog that had sprinted away as soon as he had spotted them.
“Naturally-born warriors, trained ever since their birth. Of course their senses are sharp.” the Sun Princess said as an human wearing an hood used a black cloud of bugs to point in an isolated location before signalling them to follow.
“We are getting closer, Maelstrom must have told them about us and so they all were expecting our arrival,” Luna said with narrowed eyes.
Following the hooded human the two Alicorn Princess could see more and more humans joining the run by jumping from a rooftop to the other, idly surprising the two sisters with the speed and elegance they all could do that with.
“His friends?” Celestia muttered as a pale-skinned boy flew near them thanks to an ink-made bird.
“So many of them...” Luna whispered in wonder as a red-haired human joined them up in the sky by running up a demonic-looking arm made of sand and angling it so to jog at their other side; neither human sparing even a glance at the Alicorn Sisters as they escorted them.
Soon the group reached a small clearing surrounded by trees, in its middle they could see Naruto sitting on the ground while talking with a pink-haired female human, a pale-eyed female human and a male with raven-coloured hair.
As soon as the two Princesses touched ground the near shadows sprang to life latching to theirs and incredibly climbing their body until a claw of shadows grabbed their neck.
At the same time a boy with chubby cheeks grew to huge proportions and stepped between them and the stallion while another with a bowl haircut removed several iron bars from his arms and legs, each one of the little objects creating craters once hit the ground as he threw them away.
As the two sisters tried to understand what happened they could feel a strange presence settle in the back of their minds coming from a blond human girl glaring at both, the pale-eyed girl and a second younger one moving in front of Naruto with the veins around their eyes bulging-out.
“Kage Mane completed, Hokage-sama,” Shikamaru said from his kneeling position.
“Ready to squash them if I need to!” Chouji said nodding.
“Yosh! Ready to defend our friend, I won't hold back!” Rock Lee added.
“I am ready, if they try anything I will shut-down their brain.” Ino said.
“You may not have chakra, but we can still disable your muscles, right Hanabi?” Hinata said.
“Right, onee-sama!” the younger Hyuuga replied.
“Hn! So you find funny kidnapping people and turning them into an horse? Well, I don't instead.” Sasuke said as he summoned the towering form of his Susanoo.
“You want him? Then you'll have to step on my corpse!” Sakura said while punching the ground strong enough to seemingly shock the whole Village.
“Congratulations, you just made yourself an enemy of both Konoha and Suna along Spring, Wave, Kumo and several other minor Villages, I hope you are proud of yourself,” Gaara said with a cold voice as he and his siblings prepared their respective weapons.
“The dude is our friend, like Hell I am gonna let some pastel-coloured horse take him away!” Kiba said with Akamaru near him growling at the two Alicorns.
“I suggest you to not try anything funny, why? Because we won't be kind in our answer,” Shino added with a nod.
“All of you...don't care about his being a pony?” Luna asked in disbelief while momentarily wondering if the spell Celestia used to teach her the language was failing in translating properly.
“Eh! What can I say...I always wanted to meet an Unicorn, and now I can. Thanks to you!” Ino said smirking.
“He is kind of cute now, didn't like how he looked before, it's an improvement,” Hanabi said with a shrug while ignoring Hinata's glare.
“Yosh! I don't care what form he takes, he still is our greatest knuckle-head friend and we will help him if he needs us!” Lee said with a 'Nice Guy' pose and pinging teeth.
“...Okay...I didn't need to see that last thing,” Celestia muttered shivering.
“But he is MY son! I just want him back home! what's wrong with that?” Luna answered with a sad tone.
“Then you should have firstly approached him to explain the situation instead of forcing him into this, kidnapping someone to turn him into one of you was just as wrong as you could get,” Gaara answered with narrowed eyes.
“It is my fault, I wanted my sister back and was ready to use any means necessary to reach that goal...she is innocent in this,” Celestia admitted.
“Yeah, we know that; we are savages, brutes and all that crap so you thought he would have been happy to go back and yadda, yadda, yadda,” Kankurou said mockingly.
“Can you blame me? You people don't know the power of Harmony or Friendship!” the Sun Princess said.
“I beg to differ, had that be true, all of us wouldn't be here ready to destroy you just to defend the Dobe behind me,” Sasuke answered.
“HOY! DON'T YOU DARE CALL MY SON LIKE THAT!” Luna yelled enraged.
“It's an affectionate nickname by now, calm your feathers before I use you to refill my pillow,” the Uchiha boy replied sneering.
“Since when that's a nickname? I always mean it when I call you a bastard...” Naruto said.
“...Correction, take him away, I already regret him being back,” Sasuke said.
“Love you too,” the stallion said sarcastically.
“He seems happy,” Celestia muttered.
“I DON'T CARE! I have already lost his father...I can't lose him too!” the Moon Princess yelled before shocking the others by easily breaking free long enough to pounce on Naruto and hug him, burying her face on his shoulder to openly cry.
“Stand back, now!” Sakura ordered while over-charging her fists in chakra until they shone in a flaming aura of energy.
“NO! Please, no. Don't take him away from me...please...please...” the Alicorn pleaded while clinging to her son harder and harder, shamelessly sobbing and hiccuping while shaking her head.
“Baachan?” Naruto asked with a worried voice, unable to think about a solution himself.
“Step down, we'll try to resolve this situation pacifically,” Kakashi said.
“Thank you,” Celestia answered.
“Don't, we are doing this for him, not you.” Tsunade said while marching towards Naruto to sit near him.
“I-I don't want to leave you...” the blond stallion muttered.
“And you won't leave us,” the woman replied smiling.
“B-BUT! P-Please don't take him away, I just want an occasion to have him back with me...” Luna said.
“My mother is Kushina...” Naruto muttered.
“They discovered your being not Human once dead, but they didn't care...they loved you all the same, and were actually grateful for the occasion of raising you as their own,” Tsunade answered.
“H-How?”
“During that mass-revival of dead, Minato had met Kakashi and thanked him for training you and keeping an eye on his son...that's how he defined you, his son, to him being an human or being an Unicorn, Alicorn or whatever was not important, he had decided by himself to take you in and never regretted it,” the woman answered.
“Minato-sensei told me that he was sorry for your mother, well Luna-san here I mean, but also that he thanked the Heavens that gave him an occasion to be a father...even if because of Obito's dark moment that had not lasted long, he never regretted a single moment. And if he said that, you can be damn sure that Kushina too had been happy to call you son and is proud of you even now,” Kakashi added.
“What now, then?” Naruto asked.
“I fear that outside us not everyone will be as understanding about your being a pony with wings and an horn,” Tsunade said.
“But!”
“LET ME FINISH, BRAT!” the woman bellowed.
“Sorry, Baa-chan,” he muttered.
“God if I missed you calling me like that...what I meant is, while not everyone will understand, the ones in here plus few others are not bothered by it,” she said.
“Well...I kind of find it bothering, being defeated by a pony is an hard hit to my pride,” Kiba said with a barely-restrained smirk.
“If you put it like that. I am not feeling good myself at the idea of having lost to an horse,” Sasuke added.
“Ignoring the two idiots that I will beat within an inch of their lives once we have done...I want you to remember each and every one of us whenever you feel sad in...what was that place called?” Tsunade said.
“Equestria,” Celestia offered.
“That,”
“WHAT?!” everyone yelled.
“Listen, it's clear that some people may try to capture Naruto to try and use him or study him, bastards like Orochimaru are always around, so I think we can let him live with Luna-san here, BUT!” the former Hokage said while rising and hand to stop the flood of screams from the others.
“LET ME FINISH! While he stays in Eq, Equ, Eckq...there...he will write us everyday, twice a day and will be able to come back here at least once a week to spend some time with us...ah! And I think we may feel free the ask for his help in case of emergency where we need our dear over-powered friend,” she said.
“I am not over-powered...” Naruto said pouting and making Luna smile at his expression.
“Dobe, you are ridiculously over-powered, I think people actually change the meaning of OP after you happen to pass by,” Sasuke said.
“So I'll be what, exactly?” the stallion asked.
“Well, you wanted to be important? Then congratulations! You are the official ambassador of Konoha to Eq-equ...” Kakashi said.
“EQUESTRIA! is not that hard to say...” Celestia said sighing.
“That place...” the masked shinobi said with an eye-smile that made the Sun Princess grumble in annoyance.
“Same goes for Suna, if we are lucky we will be able to exchange some of our ores with those people in exchange of some rare wealth,” Gaara said nodding.
“Well, I think it may be done.” Celestia said in surprise.
“So I'll stay with them?” Naruto asked.
“You are staying with both, brat. You now have two places to call home, one in Konoha/Suna and one with those ponies. I think it is a good way to make everyone happy,” Tsunade answered.
“Eh! Not even by living in a different planet, there is no way of getting rid of you, I guess we are stuck with you,” Hanabi said smirking.
“That is not a nice thing to say...and I was about to have a romantic story with him! Why can't I have an happy ending with him? One where I would hug him, then he would hug me back and then take off his pants and...” Hinata answered before moving through a long rant the others soon cut-off from their ears.
“Thank you...thank you...thank you...” Luna kept repeating with an happy smile.
“But remember...” Tsunade said before surprising everyone by grabbing the Alicorn's horn to twist her face around so to better glare at her with enough strength to have lesser being reach spontaneous combustion.
“Two letters a day, every day no matter if in order to fill them he has to tell me what he had for breakfast, I want to know he is okay; and we all know how he acts, thinks and speak and will check every little comma of every letter, at the very first signal that you are brainwashing him or worse I will personally reach your world and force you two to watch as I personally burn it to the ground! AM. I. CLEAR?!” she said roaring.
“Yes!” Luna and Celestia squeaked while nodding rapidly.
“Oh! And don't forget, I want him free to come pay us a visit whenever he can, once a week would be perfect, thank you!” Tsunade then said switching back to her most gentle smile before letting the Princess go to return with the others.
“I am an Alicorn, and yet I did find that scary...” Luna muttered.
“You have no idea,” Naruto said nodding.
“Hoy! I don't know them, but I want a way to have you still in my life,” the woman said offended.
“Okay, Baa-chan! Okay! We got it!” Naruto said sighing.
“Good.”
“Will you really come back home? With me?” Luna asked with wide eyes.
“...Sigh! I guess I will...can I still consider Minato and Kushina my parents as well? You can't ask me to forget them, they still died to protect me.” he answered.
“And what about me?” the Moon Princess asked.
“A step at a time, please?”
“It's still something, sister.” Celestia said.
“O-Okay...let's go home,” Luna said nodding.
“See to write, idiot. You know she will go apocalyptic otherwise,” Sakura said with a small smile.
“I will. See you around.” the blond stallion had the time to say before light engulfed him to take the three winged horses away.
Equestria – Castle – Maelstrom's room – that night -
“Bucking apples with Applejack, helping Rarity with her dresses, help Twilight with cataloguing her books, help Fluttershy with her animals and being Dash' partner during her flying training along helping Pinkie Pie in the Cake family shop...why did I tell them that I would have done everything they asked to excuse the troubles I have put them into?” the stallion asked to the room.
“For two reasons, one is because you are too gentle for your own good...and the other because only an idiot would give such an opening to a woman, let alone six,” Kurama answered chuckling.
“Thanks, that makes me feel OH SO BETTER!” Maelstrom answered groaning.
But the knowledge that he still had a small link to the Elemental Countries and that his friends still wanted to be his friends had lifted a weight from his chest he knew had been crushing him.
That same night he found himself in an empty void back into being a blond human, near him a red-haired woman and a blond-haired man smiling proudly at him.
“Luna?” Naruto asked.
“Tch! As if I will leave that horsey mess with my baby boy's dreams'ttebane!” Kushina answered with a superior smirk.
“What now?” Naruto asked.
“We talk a little, and help you find the right way to start finding an equilibrium between your life here and the one back in the Elemental countries,” Minato answered.
“It may take long...” Naruto said snorting.
“Good thing Time works in a strange way in dreams” Kushina answered.
“Yeah,” Minato added.
Not far away Luna slowly tip-toed out of Maelstrom's dream, seeing those two spirits settle things themselves was enough for her, if they were there then she didn't need to intervene and help her son herself...she thought she could trust at least THOSE humans enough to see how things will evolve. This time.
- The Next day -
The Moon Princess decided to join Maelstrom and Celestia at least for breakfast before going to bed and have her rest after her nightly routine, her mind already wondering how to have her son gain a good enough rhythm so to either join she or Celestia once joined the guards, but with a Stamina like his she also acknowledged that it was something not as hard as it normally would have been to accomplice.
The first thing Maelstrom said to her though blew away every thought she had and threatened to have her heart explode in happiness.
“Good morning, mother...” the stallion had said with a gentle smile and shining eyes.
“That's a good start,” Celestia muttered with a small laugh at watching Luna pounce on her son to smother him silly.
“...This doesn't mean I forgive you, ya flying donkey! You could have told me everything instead of forcing me to accept this!” Maelstrom said while glaring at Celestia through Luna's feathered wings that were hugging him as well.
“...Well...that is a less good start...horsefeathers...” the Sun Alicorn said with a defeated sigh, grimacing at hearing her sister start a new round of gushing about her 'wonderful' son.
Extra Scene – Naruto's dream – alternative version -
That same night he found himself in an empty void back into being a blond human, near him a red-haired woman and a blond-haired man smiling proudly at him.
“Luna?” Naruto asked.
“Tch! As if I will leave that horsey mess with my baby boy's dreams'ttebane!” Kushina answered with a superior smirk.
“What now?” Naruto asked.
“We'll talk a little, and help you find the right way to start finding an equilibrium between your life here and the one back in the Elemental countries,”
“It may take long...” Naruto said snorting.
“Good thing Time works in a strange way in dreams” she answered.
“Hey...where is dad?” the blond shinobi asked.
“He is talking with those two sisters, he will join us soon,”
Meanwhile – Luna and Celestia's dream -
“YOU RUINED MY SOOOON!” Minato screamed in fury while chasing the two Alicorns.
“IT'S NOT MY FAULT! IT WAS ALL CELESTIA'S DOING!” Luna replied while dodging the new wave of kunais he was throwing them.
“WHERE IS YOUR SISTERLY CAMARADERIE!? And you can manipulate dreams, do something!” Celestia answered.
“He is not a dream but an enraged spirit! and you saw him, he simply smashes down everything I put up against him!” the other replied with a shriek as a Rasenshuriken flew above her head.
“HE WAS THE MANLIEST OF THE MANLY MEN JUST LIKE ME! AND YOU TURNED HIM INTO SOMETHING OUT OF A KIDS SHOW! DIEEEEE!” Minato roared as he prepared new weapons and jutsu to use against the two.
“MEEEEEEERCY!” both sister yelled at the same time.
“DENIED! Now let me catch you! I got a craving for a steak of horse meat!” the former Fourth Hokage answered with an hungry expression while taking-out a knife and a fork.
“KYAAAAAAAAAA!”
Needless to say, both Princesses won't find a lot of rest that night.