The stadium and Discord vanished, and Naruto found himself hanging in the air, before gravity took ahold of him once more and sent him falling down. He landed on the roof of Ponyville’s town hall and slid down it, before jumping down to the balcony and then to the ground below.
“You’ve lost, Discord!” Naruto called. “Now turn Equestria back to normal!”
Thunderclouds began gathering in front of Naruto, shooting lightning and sounding loud thunder. “Congratulations for winning our little game, Naruto…” Discord’s voice echoed.
A huge lightning struck down at the tiled, pink floor, and out of it emerged Discord. “But I’m going to keep everything exactly as it is!”
“You promised!” Naruto roared, stomping the ground. “You gave your word!”
“Well, I am the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony,” Discord smirked. “Lying is one of my favorite pastimes!”
“I don’t want to fight you, Discord!” Naruto called. “Please, just turn everything back to normal! This doesn’t have to be this way!”
“That’s where you’re wrong, my little pony. It does have to be this way!” Discord called. “And if you want to save your friends, I suggest that you do fight me!”
The thunderclouds sun flew towards Naruto, and began shooting lightning at him. The orange stallion quickly jumped from side to side and backwards in order to avoid being hit by them.
“Something’s different about Discord than before…” Naruto thought as he did his best to dodge the high-power electricity. “But what, and why?!”
Naruto took a large leap backwards to avoid another bolt. When he had landed back on the ground, he felt an odd sensation under his hooves. Looking down, Naruto’s eyes widened to find that his hooves were now stuck in a cotton candy cloud.
“Crap! I’m stuck!” Naruto cried as he desperately tried to pull himself out of the sticky substance, to no avail.
“And now…” Discord said as he paced towards Naruto, reaching his eagle claws towards Naruto’s forehead. “To take care of the first of the Elements…”
“Angel, charge!” a voice suddenly shouted. “I mean… if you don’t mind.”
BGM (Fairy Tail - Dragon Force)
“What the—?!” Discord called as he turned around, his eyes widening and jaw dropping to see scores of rabbits on deer legs charging straight at him, all ridden by miniature purple Naruto’s.
Discord flew up in order to avoid the stampede, and looked back to see who was calling the attack. “You?! How?!”
“Fluttershy?!” Naruto called, stunned. Fluttershy stood on a small hill nearby, fully recolored and with a look of unyielding resolve. The Element of Kindness was tied around her neck once more.
“Looks like you’re in a sticky situation, Naruto,” another familiar voice said from above him. “Hope we’re not late!”
Naruto looked up, and smiled to see a familiar sky-blue Pegasus grinning at him. “Rainbow! You came too!”
“Oh, you know me. Element of Loyalty and whatnot,” Rainbow said nonchalantly as she wrapped her hooves around Naruto. She lifted him away from the sticky sweetness, before putting him back down on safe ground.
Fluttershy soon joined up with them. “Are you alright, Naruto?”
“Yeah! Thanks for the help, guys!” Naruto said as he crossed his hooves. “Now let’s finish this!”
“Shadow Clone Jutsu!” Naruto called, a clone appearing by his side. The clone began focusing chakra onto Naruto’s hoof, forming a small blue orb, before dispelling.
Naruto charged towards Discord, balancing the orb on his front right hoof. He jumped up, his attack aimed at the Draconequus. “Rasen—!”
“Why don’t you cool down, Naruto?!” Discord called, snapping his fingers.
A large snow globe materialized around Naruto. Naruto’s eyes widened in surprise, but he then quickly moved to attack the glass instead. However, the Rasengan simply passed through it, while Naruto himself couldn’t.
“Giving up already?!” Discord asked, amused by watching the trapped ninja attempting to break free.
“It is I who had already given up on your tacky fashion sense, Discord!” a voice shouted, as Naruto was encased by a light blue aura, before vanishing.
“I mean, snow globes are so last winter. Don’t you agree, Naruto?” Rarity winked at the orange stallion, who reappeared beside her.
“Rarity! Thanks!” Naruto called, before resuming his charge at Discord.
“Don’t think I don’t have any more tricks up my sleeves!” Discord called. Several nearby trees were uprooted and then rose up to the air, before spinning together into a small wooden tornado.
The vortex began to settle as a pair of legs sprouted from it, and then another pair. Soon enough, out of the woody mess emerged a huge wooden bear.
Letting out a fearsome roar, the bear charged at Naruto, who was running right towards it in order to reach Discord.
“YEE-HA!” a call was heard, as a lasso was suddenly tied around the bear. The bear fell down, unable to take another a step forward with the mare holding the end of the rope holding it down with all her might.
“Go get ‘im, Naruto!” Applejack called between her teeth, as she was still struggling against the bear.
“I’m on it, Applejack!” Naruto replied as he jumped over the fallen bear and continued his charge.
Discord looked around for something to use in order to block Naruto. Looking up, he smirked as he had an idea. He began summoning down more and more cotton candy clouds, until he created a pink wall between himself and Naruto.
“I don’t think my Rasengan’s gonna be any use against cotton candy!” Naruto thought. “I gotta go around it!”
“Don’t worry, Naruto! I’ve got this!” a familiar voice called.
Naruto looked to his left, and smiled once more to see a pink pony galloping beside him. “Pinkie!”
“By the way, you’ll never guess what happened!” Pinkie said. “After we all split up, I went frowning down by the lake and started frowning at my own frowny reflection. Pretty soon though I got tired of frowning at myself and started looking for more things to frown on, but then—”
“Pinkie! The wall!” Naruto called, ceasing Pinkie’s rapid chatter.
“Oops, right! Sorry!” Pinkie giggled. “Look, Naruto! I’ve got a ninja move too now!”
“You do?!” Naruto called in astonishment.
“Watch this!” Pinkie called as she sped up, taking the lead. She jumped up at the wall, opening her jaw more than could possibly be anatomically possible. “Pinkie Chomp!”
Taking a humongous bite as she jumped through the wall, Pinkie left a hole large enough for anypony to pass through. “Yum-my! Delicious as ever!” she called as she landed on the other side.
Naruto grinned as he jumped through the hole, and was now only moments away from reaching Discord again.
“I don’t think so!” Discord called and snapped his fingers. A large, gray bubble appeared all around him, effectively cutting him off from the outside.
Naruto narrowed his eyes at the newly-emerged barrier. “Okay, now what?!”
“Keep going, Naruto! Don’t slow down for even a second!”
Looking up above him, Naruto smiled again as he saw Twilight being carried by Rainbow Dash, who flew at top speed towards Discord.
“I’ll use my shield-breaking spell to boost your jutsu, Naruto!” Twilight called as her horn lit up. Naruto’s Rasengan began growing and glowing brighter, and slowly changed its color from blue to violet.
“Woah, awesome!” Naruto exclaimed as he looked at the new Rasengan floating just above his hoof.
“GO, NARUTO!!!” six voices shouted at the orange stallion, who kept galloping towards Discord.
Naruto leapt up at Discord, who was smirking at him nonchalantly from inside his barrier. “Thanks, guys! I couldn’t have done this without your help!”
Naruto forced the Rasengan deeper and deeper into the semi-transparent barrier, as it slowly began bending under the attack.
“Just give up, Naruto!” Discord yelled. “There’s no way you stupid ponies can—”
“Sorry, Discord!” Naruto shouted. “But if there’s one thing I’m not good at…”
Discord’s eyes widened in astonishment as the barrier shattered into pieces and Naruto pierced through it. “It’s giving up!” Naruto called.
“Heh. Not bad.”
“Pony Style Jutsu: Friendship Rasengan!” Naruto hollered as he slammed the purple glowing orb right at Discord’s stomach. Discord’s eyes widened in pain as the Rasengan sent him flying back, spinning in the air.
“GAHHHHH!!!” Discord screamed as he flew towards the town square, crashing into the fountain, shaped like a statue of himself. The statue shattered, covering the entire area around Discord in rubbles and orange juice.
*****
A few minutes later, Discord coughed at the dust created by shattered stature as he tried to get back up on his legs. As he did so, the images of seven ponies emerged from the dust and came into focus.
“How could you…” Discord coughed. “Stupid ponies break my spell?! My plan… was perfect!”
“It wasn’t easy, Discord, I can assure you that,” Twilight replied. “But I was reminded of how important my friends are to me, and that I couldn’t allow little fights to get in between us! All I had to do afterwards was to get my friends to remember that too!”
“And of course,” Rarity added. “Twilight telling us that Naruto would be putting himself on the line for us did help persuade us.”
“Although some of us took a lot more effort to convince than the others,” Applejack said with a knowing smile. “Don’t you think so, Rainbow Dash?”
“Enough chit-chat!” Rainbow called as she slowly trotted towards Discord. “It’s back to the stone age for you, Discord!”
“Wait, Rainbow!” Naruto called. He rushed in to stand between the mares and Discord, facing the former. “This doesn’t have to end like this!”
“What the hay do you think you’re doing, Naruto?!” Rainbow snapped. “Are you actually protecting Discord?! After what he did to Ponyville, and to us?!”
“Listen to me!” Naruto called, stomping his hoof. “We can’t just turn him back into stone without giving him another chance to—”
“Another chance to what?! To destroy Ponyville?!” Rainbow cut him off. “Give me a break! How gullible could you possibly—”
“Rainbow Dash!” a voice shouted. Everypony looked to the source of the voice, and were surprised to find Fluttershy looking at Rainbow with a very stern gaze.
“I think we should listen to what Naruto has to say, before we decide anything,” the yellow mare said, and looked at Naruto expectantly.
Naruto looked around the six mares. Nopony else raised an objection, although Rainbow took to the air and crossed her legs, frowning.
Naruto took a deep breath before starting to explain himself. “Back in my world, just a short while before I came to Equestria, my village was attacked. My teacher and many of my friends were…” he gulped. “They were gone.”
“Naruto…” Twilight muttered. Pinkie Pie pulled a napkin out of her mane and blew her muzzle on it, her eyes filled to the brim with tears.
“When I finally found the guy who attacked us, I was so mad…” Naruto said quietly, his hooves shaking a little. “The only thing I could think of was to take revenge on him, how to avenge all the people I lost. But then…”
Discord and the mares all stared at Naruto quietly, as they waited for him to continue. Soon enough, Naruto composed himself and continued.
“I decided to hear him out, and he told me everything that happened to him, and led him to do what he did,” Naruto continued. “It’s a long story, but there was one thing that was made clear to me — he did what he did because he truly believed it would bring peace to our world.”
“So did you just forgive him?!” Rainbow demanded. “You just let him go because he told you some sad story?!”
“Of course I didn’t forgive him!” Naruto retorted. “I just… I decided to believe in what my teacher once told me. I decided that if there was any way to get true peace in my world, then I would do it, no matter what it takes! And I believe this can happen here too.”
Naruto looked back at Discord. “If we just give him a chance.”
A long, almost unnatural silence hung in the air for a long while. The mares all looked at each other, contemplating what to make of Naruto’s words. Even Rainbow looked down, seemingly having second thoughts about sealing Discord away again.
Discord looked up, squinting his eyes at a large bat that appeared on a nearby rooftop. The bat looked down at him, watching the events that transpired on the ground.
“Discord sure have caused a lot of mess in Equestria,” Twilight said, looking around. “But maybe Naruto is right. Maybe we should still give him—”
“Ahaha! Ahahahahaha!” Discord’s rolling laughter cut Twilight’s words short.
“May I inquire as to what you find so particularly funny, Discord?” Rarity asked, frowning.
“Ahahahaha! Oh, excuse me,” Discord said as he recomposed himself, wiping a tear of laughter. “It’s just that it seems to me that Naruto here has a tiny, little, miniscule misconception about Equestria.”
“A miscon-who what?” Rainbow asked.
“Naruto, you believe that by getting me to give up on my chaos, you can make a peaceful Equestria for all of us, right?” Discord asked as he stood back up.
“Well, yeah,” Naruto replied. “It—”
“WRONG!” Discord shouted, pressing his head against Naruto’s. “True peace is something that cannot exist in Equestria! It never has, and it never will!”
“What in tarnation are you talkin’ about?!” Applejack called. “Equestria’s been plenty peaceful until you showed your face around here!”
“Oh really now?” Discord smirked smugly. “Need I remind you of that little encounter you had a short while ago?”
Discord snapped his fingers once more. The sun fell down from the sky, replaced by the moon. A large, dark image materialized itself before the seven ponies.
“AHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHA! I will make the night last FOREVER!” Nightmare Moon’s boisterous cackle rose from the image, as her appearance came into focus. Fluttershy squealed in fright and hid behind Rainbow Dash.
Twilight’s horn lit up. Nightmare Moon’s image glowed violet and then vanished. “But we’ve defeated her, just like we’ve now defeated you!”
“And you’ve only just barely begun scratching the surface, Twilight Sparkle,” Discord said. “You still know nothing! Not about Equestria, the Elements of Harmony, or even… yourself!”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “What do you mean by that, Discord?!” she demanded.
“It means that as long as I’m here, you’ll never have the peace that you so foolishly try to get!” Discord said as he raised his hands up. “I was created to destroy all harmony in Equestria, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do!”
The ground began shaking and rumbling. Everypony looked around in fear, trying to figure out the source of the quakes.
All around Ponyville, the ground began cracking. In the horizon, a huge, dark object appeared, heading straight towards Ponyville.
Rainbow took up to the air to try and identify at it. “It looks kind of like…”
The moon sank from the sky, and the sun rose in its stead, casting clear, bright light on the incoming object.
Rainbow’s eyes widened in shock. “A-A-AVALANCHE!” she screamed, pointing at a huge wave of an assortment of candies, teddy bears and musical instruments that was making its way to Ponyville.
“EARTHQUAKE!” Pinkie Pie screamed as she pressed her right ear to the ground.
“This ain’t an earthquake!” Applejack called. “It’s an earth-break! Discord’s tearin’ Ponyville off the face of Equestria!”
The scenery all around Ponyville started disappearing below the houses, as the piece of Equestria that Ponyville was located on was starting to get torn off, floating up in the air.
“AHAHAHAHA!” Discord began laughing madly. “So what’s it going to be, ponies? Avalanche, or upside-down Ponyville? It’s your choice!”
“We don’t have a choice, guys!” Twilight shouted as her friends gathered around her. “We’ve got to use the Elements of Harmony to stop Discord, right now!”
“Finally, some common sense around here!” Rainbow called, smacking her right front hoof against the left one.
Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie nodded. Fluttershy looked around, taking in the severity of the impending disaster, before finally nodding as well.
“Naruto!” Twilight called at the orange stallion, who simply looked around at the impending disasters.
“Yeah…” Naruto replied, clenching his teeth. “Let’s do this!”
Naruto began focusing his thoughts, his mind and his very self into the golden protector tied around his forehead. “I’ll do everything to protect my friends, and I’ll never allow them to give up!”
As if reacting to Naruto’s words, the Element of Bravery began shining brightly in green light.
“I completely forgot about this feeling I had the last time…” Naruto thought as the Element’s energy began coursing through his body. “This thing’s energy… No, this thing’s chakra is really familiar…”
Around Naruto, the six mares all activated their Elements as well, which began radiating colored, warm energy. The seven ponies began floating up in the air, surrounded by a bright aura.
“The brat and those stupid ponies are activating the Old Man’s artifacts again!” the nine-tailed fox thought, clenching his teeth as he looked through Naruto’s eyes, and sensed everything that Naruto was feeling. “Just how are they doing that?! And why are they here in this world in the first place?!”
Seven rays of differently colored light rose from the Elements up to the air, before combining and turning into a large, bright rainbow. The rainbow then arched down and hit Discord, who was still laughing madly at the impending destruction of Ponyville.
While still laughing, Discord slowly began turning into stone from his legs upwards. Soon enough, he was completely turned back into a statue.
The light from the Elements then began spreading further and further like a colorful wave. Ponyville landed back on the ground, the floating or upside-down houses returned to their former positions, the tsunami of assorted items vanished and all the other oddities created by Discord were returned to normal.
*****
When Naruto opened his eyes once more, the entire ordeal was over — Ponyville was completely back to normal, as if nothing had ever happened. The only unusual thing left remaining was the statue of Discord, which now lay motionless on the ground.
“ALRIGHT, WE DID IT!” Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow and Applejack cheered, proceeding to do a group hug.
“You know what this calls for, right?!” Pinkie called happily. “A PAAAAA—”
Applejack, however, quickly broke from the hug, noticing that somepony was missing. Looking to her left, she saw Twilight looking down at her Element, which she now held in her hoof.
“Somethin’ wrong, sugarcube?” Applejack asked as she trotted up to Twilight. The others soon joined her, looking concerned as well.
“I’m just…” Twilight muttered. “I’m worried about what Discord said. He said that I don’t know anything about the Elements, or even about myself. What do you think he meant by that?”
“I bet he was just trying to scare us,” Rainbow frowned. “Come on, Twilight, what could you possibly not know about yourself?”
“Well, regardless what he said was true or not,” Rarity said. “I’m sure that if we just give it some time, we will be able to figure it out. Together,” she assured with a smile.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Twilight conceded quietly as she put her tiara back on her head. “But I’ll still do whatever I can to find out what he meant!”
Twilight looked back at her friends, and quickly noticed that there was still somepony missing. “Wait, where’s…?”
Fluttershy silently pointed towards Naruto, who was standing next to Discord’s statue. He then removed his forehead protector off Discord’s marble forehead, before looking down at it sadly.
“Sheesh, what’s with everypony being depressed after we beat Discord?” Rainbow asked. Nevertheless, she followed the others as they headed towards Naruto.
“What’s wrong, Naruto?” Fluttershy asked.
The orange stallion stared at his protector for a moment, before removing his Element and replacing it back on his forehead. He then looked back at Discord, whose statue had retained a smile that somehow seemed more peaceful than any smile he wore before.
“I really thought that I could change his mind, ya know… But he still chose to destroy Ponyville anyway,” Naruto explained with a sigh. “I thought I could bring peace to Equestria, but…”
“But you did, Naruto!” Rarity smiled. “Just look around you!”
“But he’s not a part of it,” Naruto continued, looking back down at the statue.
“You gave Discord more chances than he ever deserved, Naruto,” Rainbow said as she put a hoof on his shoulder. “It’s not your fault he was rotten to the core!”
“I guess so. Maybe you’re right, guys,” Naruto said, smiling sadly. “So why do I feel like I missed something really important…?”
“Twilight! Twilight!” a voice called out.
The group turned around to find Spike running towards them. He jumped up at Twilight, hugging her as tightly as he could. “You did it, guys! You saved Equestria! Again!”
“And it wouldn’t have been possible without your help, Spike,” Twilight smiled as she rubbed his head.
“It wouldn’t have been possible without any of you, my ponies,” a majestic voice said.
The group turned around to see a large golden carriage landing on the ground, pulled down by a pair of white Pegasi clad in golden armor. The carriage’s occupant was none other than…
“Princess Celestia!” everypony exclaimed. Save for Twilight and Naruto, everypony bowed down to her.
Twilight happily cantered towards the carriage, which had just landed down on the ground. “We did it, Princess Celestia! We’ve stopped Discord!” she reported proudly.
“I knew you could all do it,” the Princess smiled as she descended the carriage. “I’m very proud of you, my ponies.”
“So, are you here to…?” Fluttershy muttered, pointing at Discord’s statue.
“Yes,” Celestia nodded. “I’m here to take Discord back to where he belongs. And this time, thanks to you all, the spell will never be broken.”
Celestia then turned to look at Naruto, who was still looking down at Discord’s statue solemnly.
“Is there anything wrong, Naruto?” Celestia asked softly as she joined up with him.
“Yeah…” Naruto replied quietly as he took his eyes off Discord and looked up at the Alicorn. “There’s something important I’ve got to tell you.”
Celestia nodded. “I imagine so. But can it wait until tomorrow? I think we should have at least Princess Luna hear your words as well.”
“Yeah, alright…” Naruto replied. Celestia smiled at him.
“Twilight Sparkle,” the Princess called, turning towards her pupil.
“Yes, Princess?” Twilight asked.
“Please come to the palace’s throne room tomorrow, along with your friends,” Celestia smiled. “I have a surprise for you that you should all see.”
“Is it cotton candy?! Please tell me it’s cotton candy!” Pinkie called, clasping her hooves together. The others arched a brow at her.
“Alright, I guess I could settle for some chocolate milk instead,” Pinkie compromised.
Princess Celestia giggled. “You shall all see tomorrow.”