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// At the Park and In the Dream 
// Story: Vessel of Harmony 
// by Ranoa- Walker of Worlds 
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Evening was descending upon Equestria. Soon Celestia would set the sun to rest and Luna would raise the moon. Twilight and her family were enjoying this time at the park. Earlier that day Twilight’s parents got the full story of what happened in the Elemental Nations and were now enjoying a surprise picnic dinner in the cool of the evening.
Night Light and Naruto had been playing a game of catch. The game however quickly dissolved into a game of keep away. Unfortunately for Night Light his new Grandcolt had a surprising amount of stamina and the stallion wasn’t as young as he once was. So soon Night Light was breathing heavy and sweating just as heavy. The grandpa collapsed in a comical heap next to his laughing wife and they watched the new addition to their family play on the nearby swing set with his “big bro,” Spike pushing him.
“You were very lucky to find him Twilight.” Her mother commented watching the boy and the dragon laughing together.
“Sometimes I wonder if it was more than luck mom.” Twilight commented. 
“Well, neither was that my dear.” Velvet commented pointing to Twilight’s Cutie Mark.
“She’s right you know.” Night Light said, “Even though none of but perhaps the Princess knew at the time you were meant to do something great with your life. Now you have a chance to help somepony… err… someone rather, who might have just as large destiny as you do.”
For a brief moment Twilight thought back to that dream that had fueled her maternal feelings.
‘A great destiny indeed.’ She mused to herself.
“So have you thought of a new name for him?” Twilight Velvet asked. This caught Twilight off guard.
“What?”
“You know, a more pony name. It might help him adjust more to living in a society of ponies.”
Twilight could see some merit in that, but there was some hesitance,
“I can see how that might help; but I want to ask Naruto before we commit to a new name.”
“Understandable.”
“Naruto!” The adults all snapped their heads back in the direction of the swinging child only to see the swing was empty with the kid nowhere to be seen. Their concern was focused in a new direction when they hurt a sharp yelp from the missing child. They looked over to the source of the sound to see Naruto rubbing a sore spot on his face. There was a ball at his feet and standing behind him were two very startled looking fillies. 
Twilight quickly teleported over and a surge of over protective mother hit her as she inspected her son,
“Are you alright Naruto? What happened?”
“Hey kid! Are you all right?” A young stallion’s voice interrupted. A bunch of young mares and stallions were running over. They were older than Naruto by at least five years and they all wore concerned looks on their faces.
“I’m OK.” Naruto responded to both interested parties, “I’ve had worse.” He said truthfully. He then turned and looked at the fillies, “Are you both OK?”
Twilight recovered from her maternal rush and let herself take in the look of the two fillies, a Pegasus and a unicorn. The unicorn bore a striking resemblance to Fleur de Lis in terms of her slim build and mane style; speaking of her mane and tail, they were a brilliant ruby red with a stripe of orange running through them. Her eyes were burnt orange and had a lovely goldenrod coat, but her flank was blank. 
The Pegasus on the other hand was a very light peach in color. Her mane and tale was cherry blossom pink with a grass green stripe running through it.  Her mane was very wild with a cow lick covering her left eye. To Twilight’s surprise she had a tornado as her Cutie Mark.
The unicorn nodded before she responded,
“Ye… Yes, thank you.”
“Naruto,” Twilight switched to a more commanding tone to get everypony’s attention, “What happened?”
“Oh, well I saw a ball coming to hit these two fillies and wanted to stop it from hitting them. Next thing I knew I was standing in the ball’s path, and then it hit me in the face.”
“Sorry about that.” Said the spokesman for the group of older children, “One of us hit it just a little too hard and I missed it.” Satisfied Twilight sighed in relief.
“Well, just as long as there was no ill intent.” Twilight stated as she levitated the ball back to the group. The group apologized and went back to playing their game. Naruto turned his attention back to the fillies,
“Hi, weren’t you at the school earlier?” The unicorn nodded,
“Ya, I’m Charmed Symphony, my friends call me Caster; and this is my friend Spring Twister.” Spring Twister looked at Naruto and simply nodded before averting her gaze.
“Sorry about that, she is a bit… shy when it comes to new ponies.”
“Well then she’s in luck, I’m not a pony.” Naruto and Caster laughed a bit at the funny truth. The next words out of Naruto’s young mouth would forever influence Caster’s life forever,
“I like your eyes.” Indeed, Naruto did like the color orange that her eyes were. Caster, being a young girl with a liking for love stories took this a bit deeper than what Naruto may have intended. A blush creeped onto Caster’s face, she did her best to hide it.
“Th… Thanks. I’ve never really been complimented on my eyes before.” She said flustered. 
Fortunately for her Twilight’s mind was on other things.
“Naruto, I think you just teleported.” She said pleased and surprised, “We may have to start your lessons sooner than I planned.” This got Caster’s attention,
“Lessons?” She asked curiously.
“Yep, mama is going to teach me how to use my magic!” Naruto said enthusiastically. 
“Oh, lucky. I’m going to try to get into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns; but I don’t know if Canterlot is the place for me,” She leaned in close to Naruto and loudly whispered, “My auntie tells me that there are a lot of stuck up nobles.”
Twilight was suddenly struck by an idea,
“You know; I happen to know a pony who was able to go hoof to hoof with me a few years back. I might be able to convince her to give you a few lessons if you want.” This caught the young unicorn’s attention,
“Really? That would be amazing!”
Twilight took stock of the fading light around them,
“Well Naruto, we had better get back to the castle. We have another big day tomorrow.”
“Yes mama.” Naruto then smiled to his new friends, “I’ll see you both around! Bye!”
With that the family departed the park to head back to Twilight’s castle. The two fillies watched as the mixed family departed for home. When the group was out of earshot Spring Twister nudged her friend and said,
“You’re doing it again.”
Caster shook her head,
“What?”
“That silly thing with your face. You need to stop turning yourself red.” This comment got Caster flustered even more,
“Well, don’t you think he is kind of cute?” The blank expression from Twister was all she needed, “Of course you’re not worried about that.”

One of the duties that Luna, Equestrian Princess of the Night, took upon herself was to walk the world of dreams and help the ponies while they slept. Tonight she had a special person she wanted to visit though. She had looked last night for the mind of young Naruto Uzumaki and had only succeeded in finding the door into his mind, but tonight she would one up on her sister and get to know Equestria’s newest and most unique citizen.
It was about midnight when she began her dream walking. She immediately went to the child’s door and entered. Inside was the most confusing dream that she had ever laid eyes on. It looked like someone had taken Ponyville, carved it in half and slapped it with another town altogether. She could only guess that this second village that fought for space was Naruto’s birthplace, Konoha. What made this place even weirder was the fact that the dream was standing perfectly still. Frozen in time and she was the only one unaffected. One other thing,
“Where’s Naruto?”
Back in Ponyville Twilight had risen from her sleep feeling the need to get a drink of water. She glanced under her wing to look at a blissfully sleeping Naruto,
“I’ll be right back sweetie.” Giving him a quick kiss on the forehead she slipped from the bed and covered Naruto with the blankets. As soon as Twilight had left the room Naruto let out a small whimper as his dreams began to be disturbed by the forces within.
“HELP!” A voice rang through the dream plane. The piercing cry was followed by. Luna’s ears perked up in the direction that the sound came,
“Naruto?” She asked, then she realized the distress the voice conveyed, “Naruto!” She hurried into the unfamiliar portion of the dream scape. Listening for the sound of echoing sobs she traced it back to a fenced off section of large trees. Certainly the size of these ancient arbor specimens dwarfed the old and wild Everfree that stood around the old Castle of Two Sisters. 
The source of the sound came from somewhere within the trees, so with a powerful bound Luna cleared the fence and took off into the trees. The ancient giants formed a tight canopy overhead, but there more than a few holes in it to allow light through. Even still, the forest was very dark and foreboding, not at all a place for a child. This made Luna wonder,
“How did someone so young get such a place such as this in their mind?” She asked herself as she continued to hurry through the forest.
She burst into a large clearing only to have her hooves submerge into water. Taking a quick stock, she noticed she was now in a bog; but there was something was off about the water. There was a tint of red energy flowing through it. Looking around for Naruto again she saw him, curled up in a hollowed out tree stump. Sobbing to himself and begging,
“Someone, please… help.” The scene broke the dark blue alicorn’s heart. As quickly as she dared she navigated the marshy ground until she was in front of the sobbing child.
“Naruto?” The little boy looked up at the unfamiliar voice and went wide eyed at who he saw. 
“You’re one of the princesses.” Luna couldn’t help but chuckle,
“Indeed little one. We didn’t get to really meet when you first arrived. I am Luna, Princess of the Night. It is my duty to… umph!” She was taken by surprise by a hug from the child. She had rarely been shown such affection from foals, the last time it was a hug from Flurry Heart, Cadence and Shining Armor’s child. 
“Thank you for coming.” Naruto said. He then looked around at the swamp, “Where are we? Where’s my mother?”
“This is a dream Little One. I possess the power to enter dreams and end nightmares. I wanted to meet you but the best time for me to do that was while you dreamed.” Luna took another look around the bog, “Though this is a strange place for a dream. Tell me, do you recognize it?”
Naruto shook his head,
“No Princess.”
“Strange. Normally dreams are normally made of bits of memory and our thoughts. But this swamp is not of you. It does not feel like you.”
Suddenly a rushing wind ripped through the bog forcing Luna away from Naruto,
“Wha… What’s happening?” A frightened Naruto asked.
“You are waking up Little One. I must leave your mind. I will try to see you again in the waking world!” With that Luna disappeared from view and the world bleached out around Naruto.

Naruto’s eyes snapped open when he felt the weight in the bed shift. In hope he asked,
“Mama?”
Twilight froze in her action before resuming to get back into bed,
“I’m sorry for waking you Naruto. Were you having a dream?” She asked as her sheltering wing came over Naruto again.
“Ya. Do you think Princess Luna ever visits twice in the same night?” This got Twilight’s attention.
“Oh, Princess Luna was in your dreams?”
“Ya, she came and saved me from a bad dream that didn’t feel like a dream to her.”
“A dream that didn’t feel like a dream? That’s odd. What was it about?”
“A swamp with red colored water. The red stuff made me feel scared until Princess Luna showed up.”
Twilight resolved to write Princess Luna and get more details on it later, but right now her focus was on Naruto,
“Think you can fall back asleep?” A tiny yawn followed by even smaller snores was her answer. With a quick kiss on the forehead Twilight joined her son in dream land.