//------------------------------// // A New Home and A New Family // Story: Adventures of the Equestrian Ninja // by hussbek //------------------------------// ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA Chapter 8: A New Home and a New Family It is a sunny day in Ponyville and everypony is going on with their regular duties, however they feel as if there is something missing and after a minute of thinking everypony realized that a certain blond stallion hasn’t been seen recently as he would be seen trotting through the street greeting everypony with his cheerful personality. This has been noticed by Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle as they spend the most time with the blond stallion so they decided to meet up at to discuss this mysterious occurrence. The next day, the mane 6 met up at the Sugarcube Corner where they gathered at the table with Pinkie Pie bringing in muffins for them to snack during the meeting. “Have any of you guys noticed that Naruto has been spending less time than usual when hanging out with us?” said Twilight while thinking deeply “Whenever he comes to the library to study magic with me, he seems to have his mind wander and is always in a hurry to leave saying that he has some urgent matters to attend to and he won’t reveal what they are every time I ask which makes me suspect that he is up to something, even Spike says that Naruto doesn’t come around these days,”. “You’re right about that Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash “Whenever I challenge Naruto to a friendly competition or want to just hang around, he always refuses saying that he doesn’t have the time to waste and he has something to do, but I don’t see him doing anything for anypony in the town, Scootaloo says that Naruto has been seen carrying something in his satchel and makes sure that nopony sees what’s inside which makes me believe that he’s got something going on,” The Mares were surprised as they all know that Naruto is not the kind of pony who would turn down a challenge especially from Rainbow Dash who both are alike in so many ways since they both have a competitive nature. “I’ve not been seeing Naru either,” said Pinkie Pie who was munching on a muffin “He hasn’t been coming around the shop to help with the orders or to assist in planning on the parties, whenever I find Naru and try our usual surprises he just disappears which is strange as I was always able find and surprise him without getting caught which is different from the normal routine so he must be planning something maybe a secret party!” The mares shook their heads to the conclusion that Pinkie Pie came up with but were shocked that Naruto would be able to hide from the pink mare as everypony knows that it is almost impossible to detect or hide from Pinkie Pie who is practically a master at surprising ponies. “I-I haven’t been seeing him too,” said Fluttershy timidly “He hasn’t been coming around to visit for a while and all the animals miss as him they really like playing with him, the birds told me that they have been seeing Naruto going in and out of town, sometimes carrying his satchel or pulling a cart that is covered with a blanket. He came around once and told me that he would be busy and let us know when he is done, even Ao the bluejay hasn’t been with him either,” Everypony knew that all of the animals enjoys Naruto’s company which Fluttershy describes as soothing and makes them feel safe so it must be serious for him to be visiting them. “Well Naruto has been coming to the boutique” said Rarity with a depressed look “But only when I have a deadline to meet with the ponies who ordered some clothes to be made, but after he is done he would leave immediately saying that he has some things to collect, Sweetie Belle would ask for his whereabouts as he usually helps with her designs as she normally messes them up,” “Well the same could be said on my side,” said Applejack “Recently I’ve noticed that Naruto would wake up early in the morning and eat his breakfast like he is in a hurry and would leave after he is done with the apple bucking, he even postponed my training in the Poniato saying that he has something going on and that we could pick up on my training later, Apple Bloom often asks what he is up to and he would always say that it is a secret and that he would reveal it in good time as he doesn’t want to spoil the surprise but sometimes I would notice him carrying papers containing drawings which I’ve never seen,” Hearing the statements, the mane 6 came to the conclusion that Naruto is secretly doing something that he doesn’t want anypony to find out which has something to do with his going in and out of town, the strange drawings, what he carries in his satchel and the amount of time that he spends with them, they want find out what he is planning whether he likes or not. “Well I say that we keep an eye on Naruto and follow him to whatever secret he is hiding as we are his friends and are concerned” said Rainbow Dash to which the mares reluctantly agreed seeing as they don’t have any other ideas. The next two weeks didn’t go too well for the mares as Naruto always slips out of their radar. Whenever Pinkie tries to stalk Naruto, he would quickly disappear from her sight and leave behind a note saying 'better luck next time'. Rainbow wasn’t having much luck either despite being the fastest pony around as Naruto would outrun her and hide in different places making her give up the search. Fluttershy would try to have the birds and animals follow his trail and scent but it often leads to wild goose chases as it sometimes makes them go in circles. Twilight tried to talk to Naruto in order to make him slip up about what he has been up but he was extremely tight lipped about it and wouldn’t talk about it. Applejack didn’t do anything however Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo tried to talk to Naruto about what he has been up to but he would always tell them that it’s a secret and would always smile at Scootaloo before leaving, this continued for a while until they finally gave up in following the blond stallion. One morning, Applejack woke up to somepony knocking on her door and went to open it only to find nopony there but a letter on the floor. Opening the letter it read out Meet me at the town square and I’ll reveal the secret as I am well aware that you have been following me and trying to find out what I’ve been up since I haven’t been spending much time with you and for that I apologize. Be sure to bring along Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo as I have a nice surprise for them as well, I would write more but I prefer to wait until you show up to see it. Naruto After reading the letter, Applejack immediately left for the town square with Apple Bloom since there was no school today, when she arrived she saw the other mares along with the fillies’ who just arrived as well. “I guess y’all received the same letter I got?” they all nodded to confirm. “Yeah, Naruto wrote on the letter that he would tell about this secret that he was able to keep from us,” said Twilight with Spike riding on her back. “It’s about time that we FINALLY find out he has been hiding, it’s been nagging me for a long time that I even have trouble sleeping,” said Rainbow Dash much to the agreement of the others. “Hey guys!” said a familiar voice, the mares looked upwards to see the evasive blond stallion galloping towards them, no sooner had he drew closer when he was tackled to the ground by Pinkie Pie with the fillies following suit. “Oh Naru, we really missed you! We haven’t been seeing you much at all, where have you?” said Pinkie Pie who has wrapped Naruto in a tight hug, making it difficult for him to breath Twilight had to use her levitation spell to lift the overexcited mare from the barely alive stallion. Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and said “Well I wanted to surprise you all with what I had planned but I didn’t want you to spoil the surprise which was why I prevented you from following me as well as asking me questions about it, although I’m sorry about not spending much time with you guys what I’m about to show you will more than make up for it. So follow me and I’ll show you!” With that, Naruto walked out of the town square with the mares following close behind curious about where they are going. It took a while until they arrived upon a sight which stunned them as they've never seen anything like this before. “Welcome to my new humble abode, I call it the Uzumaki mansion!” said Naruto while dramatically showing them the new home that was built near the outskirts of town. It is a two story building with an eastern country design, there is a stone path to the mansion with a lawn of grass at both sides and an apple tree on the left side. “Come on in, I’ll give you a tour,” As the mares toured through the new building, Naruto revealed to them that there are two bathrooms located on the two floors and several guestrooms on the second floor (Hint hint) and a balcony, a living room, library much to Twilight’s excitement, a training room at the basement, a kitchen which had door leading to the back of the house to reveal a small garden on the right side and a very large oak tree which had a wooden spiral staircase leading to a tree house built at the top. “I had it built so that you girls could have your CMC meetings there or to just come and hang out,” said Naruto with a smile, he was tackled to ground by the fillies who were muttering thank you repeatedly. There was a lake at the center with a summer hut built over it, there are also some small trees and flowers planted around. “There is one last room I need to show you as there is some I want give you all,” Naruto led them back into the mansion to a room opposite the entrance to the training room. It is a room where there are tools, materials and other items on shelves and a table at the end. “This is my work room where I make special items and examine any artifacts I might discover when I move around Equestria every once in a while,” “Wow this place is amazing! Where did you get the money to build it?” asked Rainbow Dash. “I went to Mayor Mare with the blueprints I made and gave her some crystals which I’m sure you are familiar with Rarity,” said Naruto pointing to the crystals on the table with his tail. “Are those the crystals you gave to me on that day?” asked Rarity to which Naruto confirmed by nodding. “I’m sure you remember about how I study the art of fuinjutsu?” asked Naruto to which the mares nodded “Well normally you need chakra to be able to use it but I discovered that magic can serve as an alternate option and these crystals produce special effects when I draw a seal on them and can recharge themselves by absorbing magic in the atmosphere,” The mares especially Twilight were surprised at what Naruto was telling them as this could really help a lot of ponies. “What are the special effects when you apply these seals on them?” asked Twilight excitedly. “Well so far I’ve discovered that the crystals can produce heat or light, storage without weight and I just discovered that it can produce a barrier to guard against physical as well as magic attacks, I have even fitted them already so hold and let me get them,” Naruto went to a closet and brought out a box and placed it on the table, he took out a bracelet with a white crystal that has a symbol drawn on it attached and gave it to Twilight who wore it on her hoof. “All you have to do is call out ‘Protect!’ and it will do the rest” “Protect!” said Twilight immediately the bracelet glowed and a transparent dome appeared surrounding her amazing the mares who were watching. “Wow that’s so cool!” said Pinkie Pie bouncing excitedly. Naruto gave the other mares more of the bracelets and went back to the closet to bring another box. “I’ve got something made for you girls specially made” said Naruto, he gave Rarity a black hairpin with flowers and a violet crystal, for Fluttershy is a hairclip in the shape of a butterfly and a yellow crystal, for Pinkie is a string of beads with a pink crystals, for Applejack and Twilight is a medallion with an orange and red crystal respectively. “These crystals have the ability to store any amount of items no matter the size, all you have to do is be near the item and call out ‘Store!’ and when you want to bring out an item then call out ‘Release!’ then the name of the item," Then he gave Rainbow Dash a pair of goggles which is similar to his own but the crystals have been formed into transparent lenses “These goggles grants you the ability to see in the dark and locate magic signatures,” “Thanks a lot Naruto, this will really help with my flying,” said Rainbow Dash wearing the goggles around her neck. “Thank you Naru, now I can pack more of my party stuff!” said Pinkie hugging the blond stallion. “She’s right, I can always keep my books nearby when I need them,” said Twilight. “T-thank you for the gift Naruto,” said Fluttershy while trying to hide her blushing face. “Thank you dear, this hairpin makes me look more beautiful,” said Rarity happily. “I’m really happy to receive this from you so thanks Naruto,” said Applejack. “You’re all welcome and before I forget I have one more surprise and it’s for you Scootaloo,” said Naruto to which the said filly looked at him in surprise. “Read this,” Naruto gave a piece of paper to her to read, after reading through it, Scootaloo started to cry and tackled him to the ground. “What was it you read Scootaloo?” asked Rainbow Dash to which she replied happily “It is the adoption papers from the orphanage meaning that Naruto is now my big brother!” Upon hearing that the mares were shocked for a moment and then they were happy that Scootaloo finally has a family. After hanging around the mansion and testing out the crystals the mares left leaving Naruto and Scootaloo as he had packed her belongings secretly to surprise his new sister. “Erm big bro?” asked Scootaloo while fidgeting. “What is it lil sis?” said Naruto curiously. “Can I sleep together with you tonight?” “Of course, I was just about to ask you the same thing,” said Naruto happily, soon they went to his room and slept. “Now I have a new home, a new family and a new life. I’m looking to what adventures I will have in the future”