//------------------------------// // The Reminiscence of One’s Talents // Story: Adventures of the Equestrian Ninja // by hussbek //------------------------------// ADVENTURES OF THE EQUESTRIAN NINJA Chapter 24: The Reminiscence of One’s Talents It has been weeks since Naruto traveled to his old world and had a reunion with some of his old friends as well as help them defeat a demon. Right now he is sitting in a forest holding a leaf in between his hooves and eyes are closed as he concentrated on his chakra to cut it in half. Naruto opened his eyes and opened his hooves to look at the leaf which had a slight cut at the side and let out a sigh, he turned to look at a scroll which laid out unraveled as he read the instructions for the current training. “According to the scroll which Kakashi-sensei gave me, I should produce an image of my wind chakra slicing through the leaf in my mind. If only I could use my shadow clones but my body is still recovering from the strain of using the chakra burst mode although the recovery time has reduced from a couple of months to several weeks since I’m getting used to it,” Naruto thought back to the conversation which he had with Kakashi before he returned to Equestria. **Flashback** Naruto was standing with Kakashi at a small clearing away from the others for a private conversation. “Naruto there’s also something that I wish to know about, if you were reborn in another world then what happened to the Kyuubi?” asked Kakashi. “When I met Kami, she asked me what I wanted her to do with his soul. I simply told her that I wanted him to be sent back to the Makai world where he belonged,” said Naruto. “But why ask for that when you could ask for it to be destroyed? It’s what it deserves for attacking the village and making the people hate you for something you weren’t responsible for,” “If it were any other case then I would have said that, but the thing is that he wasn’t doing it of his own free will,” said Naruto which confused Kakashi. “What do you mean by the fox not attacking on its own? You’re making it sound like it was controlled to attack the village,” “That’s exactly it, think about it Kakashi-sensei. Has there ever been records of a Bijuu actually attacking villages just like that?” Kakashi thought deeply and realized what Naruto meant, there never has been any word of that happening before their own. “Not only that, Kami told me that Kyuubi was sealed inside my mother but someone attacked her when she was giving birth to me and extracted him from the seal, before controlling him to attack the village,” Kakashi’s eye widened in shocked at what he had just “Wait! You know who your mother is?!” “Yes and I also know that the Fourth was my father and that he sealed the Kyuubi inside of me. There’s no way he would sacrifice another parent’s child for the sealing aside from his own. Which brings me to ask why no one told me?” asked Naruto while looking sternly at Kakashi who was looking away from him. “The Third ordered us to keep the knowledge of your legacy a secret, as your father had made many enemies during the war. Should they have heard of your existence, they would have done everything just to kill you for revenge,” said Kakashi. “I figured that out as well but still had you told me, I would have kept silent about it. You should have known that there’s nothing more important to an orphan than to know who their parents are and if they loved them,” “I’m sorry, but I was under orders as much you needed to know,” said Kakashi sadly, Naruto continued to glare at him and before he let out a sigh and a small smile appeared on his face. “Well it’s all in the past now, and like I said before I’m living a new life,” said Naruto. Kakashi looked relieved at that before frowning again “But what about the Akatsuki? Won’t they go after it?” “I thought of that too, but they don’t know that Kyuubi is in the Makai world and I doubt they can get to him since Kami was the one to send him there,” “Hopefully that will interfere with whatever they are planning, I’ll be sure to let lady Tsunade and master Jiraiya know,” said Kakashi, then he took a piece of paper out of his ninja pouch and gave it to Naruto who looked at it confusedly. “What’s this for?” “That is called chakra paper which is made from a special type of tree, one uses it to learn of the affinity that his chakra has to an element. Let me show you,” Kakashi took another piece of the chakra paper and held it out, Naruto was surprised to see the paper suddenly wrinkle before his eyes “The chakra paper has different reactions to what type one is. For example, for fire it burns and turn into ash, for wind it will split in half, for lightning it will wrinkle, for earth it will turn to dirt and crumble away, and for water it becomes soggy,” Naruto nodded in understanding of what he said “I think I get it, let’s find out what elemental affinity I have,” he channeled his chakra into the paper and it split in half. “Well this is interesting, you have an affinity for wind,” said Kakashi. “What do you mean by that?” asked Naruto. “Well most ninjas in the Hidden Leaf have an affinity for fire, but for you to have an affinity for wind makes you the second wind user with the first being Asuma Sarutobi who is the Third’s son,” Naruto grinned excitedly “Dude I sound so awesome right now!” Kakashi simply smiled at him “There’s something else you should know about the Rasengan. As you recall, it took your father three years to create and master the jutsu, but the thing is that the jutsu itself is incomplete,” “What you mean by that?” “The reason I’m saying that is because he wanted to infuse his elemental affinity into it which could have resulted in a jutsu that could be higher that an S-rank. I tried to do the same, but I failed and rather ended up creating the Lightning Blade jutsu. But I believe you can do it since you’ve been known to make the impossible possible,” Naruto thought deeply about it “To make an already powerful jutsu even more powerful, now that’s something I can work for!” Kakashi nodded in approval before they returned to the group. **Flashback End** The day he left, Kakashi had used his summons to collect a few things from the village and put them in the scroll which contained smaller scrolls for wind manipulation exercises, wind jutsus, a few photos, a strange looking knife which he says was a gift which he received from his father but felt that he deserves to have it. He sealed the photos and odd kunai away in a hidden compartment in his workshop until he feels ready to bring them out later. “Well I guess this all I can do for today, I might as well head home and rest a little bit more. The sooner I recover then the sooner I can train more seriously,” Naruto got a sealed the scroll into his medallion and made his way out of the forest. Along the way he heard voices through the trees which sounded familiar “I know those voices, I wonder what they’re up to?” He broke into a gallop in direction of the voices until he came upon Scootaloo riding on her scooter with a wagon hooked to it and Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom sitting inside “Hey girls,” “Hi big bro, we haven’t seen you at home. Where’ve you been today?” asked Scootaloo while the other fillies waved at him. “I was doing a little training in the forest and was on my way home when I heard your voices, so I thought to come and see how you’re doing,” said Naruto and he galloped alongside them. “Well, we tried to find out if we could get our cutie marks by zip lining but it was another dead-end. So Scootaloo came up with this great idea that we should ask Rainbow Dash about how she got her cutie mark so that we can figure out how we can get our own,” said Apple Bloom. “How about you come with us Naruto? I’m sure you’re curious about it too,” said Sweetie Belle. “Now that you girls mentioned it, I’ve always been curious about how one gets their cutie marks. So you can count me in on this,” said Naruto with a thoughtful look before breaking into a smile. “Yay!!” the Cutie Mark Crusaders cheered happily, At that moment, a trio of rabbits hopped appeared in the middle of the road while holding apples forcing Scootaloo to hit the brakes to avoid a collision. “Phew! That was close,” Scootaloo wiped the sweat off her forehead as a sign of relief, then they heard something rustling through the bushes as the rabbits quickly hopped away. “Get back here you thieving varmints!” a familiar voice yelled out. “Doesn’t it sound like-,” Apple Bloom didn’t get finish talking as somepony burst out of the bushes and was about to crash into the fillies had it not been for Naruto to quickly use his tail and grab her in midair to prevent that from happening. “Hey AJ, what brings you around here?” asked Naruto with a quirked eyebrow as he placed Applejack gently on the ground. “Oh hello everypony, I was chasing after those darn rabbits who made off with my apples from the orchard when I almost ran into you girls,” said Applejack looking sheepish, then Apple Bloom noticed her cutie mark. “Hey sis, how did you get your cutie mark?” asked Apple Bloom. “You mean I didn’t tell that story?” said Applejack. “But I thought we were going to ask Rainbow Dash?” said Scootaloo confusedly. “I thought that if we hear her story aside from Rainbow Dash, we might learn more about how we can get our cutie marks,” said Apple Bloom. “That’s a good idea Apple Bloom, plus I kinda want to know about it too,” said Naruto. “Okay fine,” Scootaloo grumbled. “Well it all started back when I was a little filly, even littler than the three of you,” Applejack began her tale, (Note; the Voice-overs will be in bold for the flashbacks) **Flashback Start** Young Applejack is seen walking away from Sweet Apple Acres while carrying her belongs in a bundle of cloth with Granny Smith and Big Mac sadly watching her leave with tears in their eyes. “I didn’t want to spend my life in a muddy old farm. I wanted to live the sophisticated life, like my Aunt and Uncle Orange. So I set out to try my luck in the big city, Manehattan! The most cosmopolitan city in all of Equestria,” said Applejack. Young Applejack soon found herself in Manehattan as she looked the sights in awe, although she had to move out of the way of a stallion who called her a rube. “I knew I’d find out who I was meant to be in Manehattan,” Then she followed the address on the letter which she received from her aunt and uncle, she found herself knocking at the door which opened to reveal her relatives who smiled upon seeing her. “Aunt Orange! Uncle Orange! Thank ya’ll for letting me stay!” said young Applejack happily. Aunt Orange laughed a bit “’Ya’ll’, isn’t she just the living end?” Uncle chuckled in agreement “How quaint,” “Don’t worry, we’ll be having you acting like a true Manehattanite in no time,” And they started by changing Applejack’s hairstyle, taught her how to speak and act around high class ponies as well as their mannerism. Afterwards, they brought her along to a dinner party in order to mingle with their guest. “And how are you finding good old Manehattan?” asked a gentlestallion who goes by the name Tall Order. “Oh, it’s simply divine,” said young Applejack in an aristocratic tone. “Very well said, my dear,” said Aunt Orange while smiling in approval. “Although I must admit the city noise took some getting used to. Where I’m from, nights are so quiet, you seldom hear a peep until the rooster wake you,” this statement drew looks of confusion from the ponies at the table while Applejack started to sweat inwardly. “The…what?” asked a mare. “I say my dear, what in the world is a ‘rooster’?” asked Tall Order curiously. “What’s he talking about? What do I say? I don’t wanna look like a fool,” said Applejack. Fortunately, it was at that moment that the servant came in while levitating platters of food, much to Applejack’s relief. “Dinner is served,” said the pony as he set the plates on the table. “Thank goodness, being a city pony’s hard work. I’m so hungry I could eat a…” she trailed off when the serving dome was lifted for her to see a miniscule amount of food on the table much to her surprise and dismay. Later that night, she sitting in her room and looking out the window as she watched the sun rise from behind the mountains “Oh I wonder how Granny Smith and Big Mac are doing right now? Probably apple bucking their through the red delicious trees. Oh what I wouldn’t give for just one bite…,” “I had never felt so homesick in all of my days as I did right then,” Suddenly she heard an explosion and looked up to see something amazing. “What I saw right then was a rainbow that was pointing right back to home,” young Applejack then had a look of realization before smiling happily as she galloped out of her room and homewards “It had all become clear to me, I knew right then just who I’m supposed to be,” Soon she got to the gates of Sweet Apple Acres and jumped into the welcoming hooves of Granny Smith and Big Mac, and it was at that moment a cutie mark of three red apples appeared on her flank. **Flashback End** “And that’s how this here appeared, and I’ve been happily working in the farm ever since,” Applejack finished her story before looking at her cutie mark happily. “That was a great story AJ, and I’m happy that you found something which you’re good at and content with,” said Naruto with a smile. “Thanks Naruto,” Applejack smiled then she saw the bunnies from earlier blowing raspberries at her before running off “Get back here you thieving varmints!” she ran after them while Naruto looked on in amusement. “Aw, that was such a sweet story,” said Sweetie Belle. “I’ll say,” said Apple Bloom. “Sweet? Try sappy! Come on, let’s go find Rainbow Dash and learn the cool way to earn a cutie mark!” said Scootaloo as she got on her scooter with the other two getting into the wagon before they took off with Naruto running alongside them. They moving along the road when Naruto suddenly called out to them. “Hey girls, slow down! There’s somepony ahead of us,” said Naruto. They were confused at what he said but decided to listen to him as they slowed down, and it was at that moment when Fluttershy appeared in the middle of the road before they stopped completely just as a family of ducks walking across the road to the side. “Whoa, how did you know that Fluttershy was around?” asked Scootaloo. “As a ninja, I was trained to always be aware of my surroundings at all times, which was I told you to slow down since I sensed Fluttershy ahead of us,” said Naruto. “And it’s a good thing he told you that or somepony could have gotten hurt. Where are you all off to?” Fluttershy asked curiously. “We’re trying to find Rainbow Dash, so that we can hear how she got her cutie mark,” said Scootaloo. “Oh that would be interesting. You know, I wouldn’t have gotten my cutie mark if it weren’t for her,” “Rainbow Dash? Really?” Scootaloo was the only one interested as it piqued Naruto’s as well. “Can we hear about it Shy? We’d like to know,” said Naruto. “Of course, it all started back at Summer Flight Camp…” Fluttershy began her story. **Flashback Start** “You’d never guess, but when I was little I was very shy. And a very weak flyer,” said Fluttershy. Young Fluttershy looked around the camp to see her fellow Pegasus flying through the obstacle course with speed and skill. She looked up to see a loop made out of clouds, she flapped her wings as hard as she could until she lifted off the ground and was able to reach the loop. She smiled at her achievement, but then her fore hooves hit the loop with made her lose her balance and ended up sliding down a cloud and got entangled in a flag before hitting the bottom. Two male Pegasus saw what happened and began to laugh at her. “Nice going Klutzershy! They gotta ground you permanently!” said the dark brown pony who goes by the name Dumb Bell. His friend Hoops added in “Ha! My baby brother can fly better than you!” “It was the most humiliating moment of my life. And then, out of nowhere...” They suddenly heard something zipping through the sky before somepony landed before who turned out to be Rainbow Dash when she was young. “Leave her alone!” said young Rainbow Dash with a glare. “Ohh what are you gonna do? ‘Rainbow Crash’?” said Hoops tauntingly. “Keep making fun of her and find out!” “You think you’re such a big shot? Why do you prove it?” said Dumb Bell. Rainbow Dash smirked at them “What do you have in mind?” Later on, they were standing at the starting line with young Fluttershy holding the flag and many other ponies were there to watch. “You’re going down!” said Hoops. “In history, maybe. See you boys at the finish line!” said young Rainbow Dash. When Fluttershy waved the flag to signal the start of the race, they took off but sped by so quickly that sent Fluttershy spinning off the cloud and plummeting to the ground below. Try as she might but she couldn’t even flow down her fall despite flapping her wings as hard as she could. She closed her eyes and braced for impact, then she felt herself fall on something soft. She opened her eyes to find herself on top of a large swarm of butterflies. “I have never seen such beautiful creatures. Butterflies don’t fly as high as my cloud home, and I’ve never been near to ground before,” said Fluttershy. She didn’t know what came over her, but Fluttershy began to sing and many animals gathered around to listen to her with looks of content. Then all of a sudden, there was loud explosion which frightened the animals, causing them to run and hide. Fluttershy was at first surprised before a look of determination appeared on her face, she walked over to a nearby bush and lifted it to reveal a trio of bunnies quivering in fear. “Shh, it’s okay, there’s nothing to be afraid of. Everything will be just fine,” Fluttershy coaxed the squirrels in the oak tree, the frogs in the pond, and the birds in the sky. They all gathered around her having been completely calmed from the sudden noise, it was then a cutie mark of three pink butterflies appeared on her flank. “Somehow I had the ability to communicate with animals on a different level,” said Fluttershy. **Flashback End** “Wait, wait, wait. What happened to Rainbow Dash? What happened to the race?” asked Scootaloo. “If you were listening to the story Scoots, Shy wasn’t there to witness the race so she won’t know what happened back then,” said Naruto, then he started to frown “But those two ponies better not run into me, cause I’ll be sending them into a school of hard knocks,” Fluttershy tried to calm the blond stallion down “It’s all in the past now Naruto, there’s no need for you to do that,” Naruto frowned a bit before letting out a sigh and smiling at Fluttershy “Okay Shy, if you say so,” but then he thought “But that doesn’t mean I won’t prank them, I’m sure Dash would want in on it too,” “Come on crusaders, big bro, we’ve got to find her and know more about it! And I don’t think I can take anymore singing,” said Scootaloo as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle got on the wagon. “Maybe my sister knows,” said Sweetie Belle, then they headed towards the Carousel Boutique “Bye Fluttershy!” “We’ll see you around Shy!” said Naruto before galloping after the girls. “Bye,” Fluttershy waved as she watched them leave. Although the group found Rarity at her shop, the girls ended up serving as her mannequins since Rarity had a sudden inspiration to create a certain style of clothing for young fillies, and Naruto watched silently not wanting to get dragged in. “How did we get roped into this? We’ll never hear Rainbow Dash’s story,” Scootaloo grumbled. “Are you girls still obsessing over your cutie marks?” asked Rarity. “Of course, most of the fillies at school already have theirs,” said Sweetie Belle. “Now that they mentioned it, how did you get your cutie mark Rare?” asked Naruto with a tilt of his head, Rarity fought the urge to glomp him at the cuteness which he was displaying which gave the impression of a cute fox with his whisker marks. “I was just like the girls when I couldn’t figure out why I didn’t have my cutie mark…” said Rarity as she thought back to her days as a young filly. **Flashback Start** A play was to be held at school, and young Rarity was in charge of the costumes for the cast to put on. At the moment they were rehearsing while she was backstage with her teacher as they watched. “Well done Rarity, your costumes are very nice,” said the teacher, but Rarity wasn’t so easily convinced. “Nice?! They’re supposed to be spectacular! And the performance is tomorrow!” said young Rarity. Later on, she was at her workroom trying to make the perfect costumes for the show, but none of them seem to live up to her expectations. “I tried every trick I could think of, but none of it seemed to work. The costumes weren’t right, and the play opened that night,” said Rarity. Young Rarity let a sigh as she felt very depressed “Maybe I’m not meant to be a fashionista after all,” Suddenly her horn lit up and proceeded to drag in certain direction much to her surprise “What’s going on?!” “I had no idea where my horn was taking me. But unicorn magic doesn’t happen without a reason. I knew this had to do with my love of fashion and maybe my cutie mark! I knew that this was my destiny!” After being dragged to who knows where, the horn stopped glowing and young Rarity found herself standing in a craggy area, she looked up to see a large rock towering over her. “A rock?! That’s my destiny?!” young Rarity said angrily “What is your problem horn? I followed you all the way here for a rock?!” she glared at it “Dumb rock!” Then there was a loud explosion which made her yelp in surprise, there was a crackling sound and Rarity looked up to see the cracks run through the rock before it broke apart. With her curiosity getting the better of her, Rarity looked inside the rock to see a trove of gems which sparkled in the sunlight, making her smile as it gave her an idea. Later that night, the play had commenced. Audience watched in awe as the cast were wearing the costumes which Rarity had as they had the sparkling gems attached to them. Rarity watched from the backstage with her teacher who was smiling in approval, then she noticed a cutie mark of three diamonds on her flank. **Flashback End** “Ugh! These namby-pamby stories aren’t getting us anywhere close to our cutie marks! They’re all about finding out who you really are and boring stuff like that,” said Scootaloo. “But isn’t that what having a cutie mark means? To find something that you’re truly good at?” said Naruto with a quirked eyebrow “It makes me sometimes wonder what mine means since it appeared during battle with Nightmare Moon?” “That right dear, that’s exactly…” Rarity didn’t get to finish as Scootaloo is seen shoving Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle out of the room. “Come on, girls! We need action! We need Rainbow Dash!” Naruto turned to face Rarity and rubbed the back of his head while looking sheepish “Sorry about that Rare, but you know how much Scoots looks up to Dash aside from me,” “It’s no problem dear, but I do hope that you come back soon. I have some dresses which I hope you would try on for me,” said Rarity with smile while Naruto turned away to hide the blush on his face. “Come on Rare, at the rate you keep making me wear those dresses. I might end up forgetting my original gender,” Naruto whined before leaving with Rarity trying not to giggle at how childish he was acting. Naruto came out of the boutique and saw that the girls had already left without him “I might as well find them, Aura Sight!” his eyes glowed white as he looked around before picking up three familiar signatures in a restaurant along with another. He galloped over to where they are and entered the restaurant just to see the fillies at the table listening to Twilight, although Scootaloo looked bored out of her mind. “Oh there you are Naruto, I was just telling them how I got my cutie mark,” said Twilight . “Sure thing Twilight, let’s hear it,” Naruto sat by the others to listen to her story. “Now as I was saying, as a young filly in Canterlot, I always wanted to go to the Summer Sun Celebration…,” **Flashback Start** “And it was there I saw the most amazing, most wonderful thing I’ve ever seen,” said Twilight. At the fair grounds of Canterlot, many ponies were having fun like playing games, riding on carousels, and eating snacks from stalls. Then the royal guards blew through large golden trumpets and everypony had gathered before a large platform with a statue of the sun on it, young Twilight was making her way through the crowd in order to get a better view. She got excited upon seeing Princess Celestia appear on top of the platform and front of the statue. As Princess Celestia slowly rose to the air, the ponies could see the sun rise in sync before releasing a heavenly radiance which made them gasp in awe, more so on Twilight. “I poured myself into learning everything about magic,” said Twilight. Young Twilight could be seen in her room surrounded by huge stacks of books which obviously contains information about all kinds of magic and was even practicing a few of them. “Thus I spent every day and night reading through my books, learning many new things!” Then she heard her parents coming in and went to meet them, she saw her father holding an approval letter. “My parents decided to enroll me in Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. It was a dream come true!” Twilight started jumping for joy at being accepted to such a prestigious school and couldn’t wait to go there. “Except for one thing…I had to pass an entrance exam!” Young Twilight is now seen standing in the middle of a classroom looking very nervous as one of the teachers wheeling in a cart which had a dragon egg on it. “In order to pass the test, you have to hatch from the egg,” said one of the teachers who were serving as the proctors of the entrance exam. Young Twilight gulped nervously and took a glance at her parents who were smiling to give her encouragement. She smiled a bit and turned to face the egg, Twilight closed her eyes as she tried to focus her magic but only tiny sparks came out of the horn. She kept trying to use her magic but to no avail. “We don’t have all day,” said the teacher. “I knew that this was the most important day of my life, that my entire future would be affected by the outcome of this day and I was about to blow it!” said Twilight. After many tries, young Twilight let out a sigh of resignation “I’m sorry for wasting your time,” suddenly there was an explosion which startled her, causing her magic to surge out of control as her eyes glowed and she levitated from the ground. Streaks of magic shot out of her horn, hitting everything like the dragon egg which hatched the baby dragon but increased his size to massive proportions to the point of breaking through the school building, her parent got turned into potted plants among other things. She felt somepony place a hoof on her shoulder and turned see that it was none other Princess Celestia herself, this in turn calmed her down enough for the magic to undo itself and the surge to stop. “Twilight Sparkle,” said Princess Celestia, the young filly was a bit frightened because of what happened earlier. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean…” she was about to apologize. “You have a very special gift, I don’t think I’ve ever come across a unicorn with your talents,” the princess said instead. “Huh?” “But you need to tame these abilities through focused study,” “Huh?” “Twilight Sparkle, I’d like to make you my protégé here at the school,” “Huh?!” this time Twilight was truly surprised. “Well?” asked Princess Celestia, Twilight took a glance at her parents who were nodding excitedly for her to accept. “Yes!” young Twilight jumped round happily at being accepted. “One other thing Twilight,” she stopped to see Celestia pointing her hoof at something and turned to look, only to see a cutie mark of a star pattern. “My cutie mark! yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes…” **Flashback End** “Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!” Twilight was jumping just as excitedly. “Twilight calm down, you’re getting too much into your storytelling,” said Naruto as he used his tail to wrap around her, everypony in the restaurant were watching them. Twilight finally became aware of her surroundings and her face turned red from embarrassment “Oh sorry about that, I guess I got carried away,” “I understand how you feel, since I felt the same way when I received my headband,” said Naruto, though he felt a bit sad that he didn’t have it with him anymore “Anyway, the girls and I have to get going since we’re still looking for Dash,” “Okay Naruto, I’ll see you later,” Later on, Naruto and the fillies were moving through the streets in search of Rainbow Dash. “Why don’t we ever crash into Rainbow Dash?” said Scootaloo. “How about we ask our newest passenger since she knows everypony and where they could be,” said Naruto, the fillies turned to see Pinkie Pie riding in the wagon with them. “Looks you found me again Naru, but he’s right. If I was her, I would be at Sugarcube Corner, of course I was anyone I would be at Sugarcube Corner. Hey I have an idea, wanna go to Sugarcube Corner?” Pinkie Pie had leaned back to far and almost fell off the wagon had it not been for Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to catch her in time. “We could pass by there, we’ve been moving around a lot so we’re a little bit hungry,” said Naruto. “Well we’re sort of looking for Rainbow Dash so that she could tell us how she got her cutie mark,” said Sweetie Belle. “A cutie mark? Come with me and I’ll tell you how I got mine!” Everypony turned to look at Scootaloo for the final decision, she let out a groan and finally nodded in agreement as she turned her scooter in the direction of Sugarcube Corner “Alright!” **Flashback Start** “My sisters and I were raised on a rock farm outside of Ponyville, we spent our days working the fields. There was no talking, there was no smiling, there were only rocks,” said Pinkie Pie. Young Pinkie Pie could be seen rolling a piece of rock towards a pile that she made only that she looked gloomy and her mane draped over her shoulders. She was about to move another rock onto the pile when she heard a loud boom and a strong gust of wind blew over the fields and even made her droopy mane curly. Pinkie Pie looked up to see clear blue skies and a beautiful rainbow which brought a smile to her face after a very long time. “I’d never felt joy like that before! It felt so good! I wanted everyone to learn how to smile too, but rainbows don’t come along that often. I wondered how else could I create some smiles,” said Pinkie Pie. Young Pinkie Pie was deep in thought before coming upon an idea as she ran off to somewhere else. The next morning, her parents and sisters came out of their home for another day of work at the rock farm. “We’d better harvest the rocks from the south field,” said the father who is Igneous Rock Pie, suddenly they heard music coming from the silo. “Pinkamena Diane Pie! Is that you?” said the mother Cloudy Quartz. The door opened and Pinkie Pie her head out to talk to them “Mom! I need you and dad and the sisters to come in. quick!” she darted back inside for her family to follow. They entered the silo and were surprised to see colorful streamers, balloons and cakes all around “Surprise! You like it? It’s called…a party!” she blew a tweeter, but then they just stood there with blank looks which made her smile fall a bit “Oh, you don’t like it,” young Pinkie Pie looked up again to see their lips quivering before they broke into smiles “Oh you do like it! I’m happy!” then they all danced to the music and a cutie mark of three balloons with curled strings appeared on her flank. **Flashback End** “And that’s how Equestria was made!” said Pinkie Pie. Scootaloo stopped the scooter and even Naruto almost tripped himself as they both turned to stare at Pinkie Pie in disbelief. “Wha…huh?” said Scootaloo. “Look! We’re here!” Apple Bloom spoke up, they looked to see that they’re standing right in front of Sugarcube Corner. “Maybe on the way home I can tell you the story of how I got my cutie mark. It’s a gem!” Pinkie Pie got off the wagon and happily hopped inside. Scootaloo was about to say something when Naruto beat her to it “Don’t bother Scoots, trying to figure Pinks out is an impossibility. Let’s just go inside,” “Okay big bro,” said Scootaloo, they entered the shop and saw that Twilight and the others there including the one whom they had been looking for all this time which made Scootaloo brighten up “Rainbow Dash! You’re here!” “I hear you’re looking for my cutie mark story?” said Rainbow Dash as she walked to towards them. “You have no idea what I’ve been through today to hear that story,” Scootaloo sat on the floor. “That was pretty much their objective today, though we also got hear how the others got their cutie marks as well. And you happen to be the last one,” said Naruto with a smile, “Well it all started during the race at Flight Camp….,” said Rainbow Dash. **Flashback Start** “…where I stood alone against all odds to defend Fluttershy’s honor,” Young Rainbow Dash stood at the starting line alongside Hoops and Dumb Bell ready to race. The moment Fluttershy waved the flag to signal the start of the race, the three Pegasus took off in a blur and sent Fluttershy spinning of the cloud. So far Rainbow Dash ahead and looked back to see Dumb Bell and Hoops keeping up which made her want to go even faster. She passed through a cloud ring and quickly took a right sharp turn, but Dumb Bell was a little too slow to react and ended up crashing through a pillar. “I’ve never flown like that before! The freedom was unlike anything I’ve ever felt! The speed, the adrenaline, the wind in my mane…I liked it…a lot!” said Rainbow Dash. Suddenly Hoops came out of nowhere and knocked her out of the way “HA! Later Rainbow Crash!” then he dived for the final cloud ring. “Hey!” Rainbow dash dived for the goal as well and was catching up with him. “Turns out the only thing I like better than flying fast… was winning!” She easily brushed past Hoops and was just going faster and faster, but still didn’t stop pouring it on. Right when she passed through the final cloud and pulled up into the sky. Rainbow Dash had actually broken through the sound barrier which resulted in a loud explosion and a rainbow appearing across the sky. “Most ponies thought that the sonic rainboom was just an old mare’s tale. But that day… the day I discovered racing…I proved that the legends are true,” As young Rainbow Dash was flying with a grin on her face, a cutie mark of a cloud with a slightly curved three colored lightning bolt, and everypony was cheering for her. “I made the impossible happen!” **Flashback End** “And that little ones, is how you earn a cutie mark,” said Rainbow Dash with pride. “Whooooaaaaa….” The crusaders simply looked at her with stars in their eyes. “That’s pretty cool Dash, but I’ve noticed something interesting about your story as well as the others,” said Naruto. “What do you mean by that Naruto?” asked Twilight curiously. “I’ve listened to all of your stories, and I’ve noticed that you girls either saw a rainbow or heard a loud boom. AJ, Shy and Pinks saw a rainbow and heard a boom while Rare and Twilight heard a boom before they got their cutie marks,” “So if Rainbow Dash hadn’t scared the animals, I never would have been able to communicate with them and gotten my cutie mark,” said Fluttershy. “If she hadn’t made that rainbow, I never would have learnt how to smile and make others smile too!” said Pinkie Pie while hopping around. “I wouldn’t have thought of going home if I didn’t see that rainbow,” said Applejack. “My true calling as a fashionista would have never come to be if not for that explosion!” said Rarity. “If it weren’t for that boom, I would have failed my entrance exam and never got taken in by Princess Celestia as her apprentice. That means we all got our cutie marks because of you Rainbow Dash!” said Twilight. Rainbow Dash was surprised to hear that “Really?” she turned to Naruto who nodded with a smile to confirm it. “Yeah! We all owe our cutie marks to you!” said Pinkie Pie. “We all had a connection before we even met,” said Fluttershy. “We’ve been friends for a very long time and didn’t even know it!” said Rarity. “Awww c’mere y’all,” Applejack had them all in a group hug while Naruto stood beside the fillies and was smiling at them, then he heard Apple Bloom speak out. “Too bad, we don’t get to hear your cutie mark story Naruto,” said Apple Bloom. “Yeah since we already know how you got yours,” said Sweetie Belle. Naruto shrugged his shoulders before smiling again “True, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a story to tell,” “What kind of story big bro?” asked Scootaloo curiously. “I can tell you of the adventures of when I was still in my old world,” “But I thought we saw everything back when you showed us your memories,” said Twilight confusedly. “What you girls saw were the milestones of my life before I came to Equestria. And I’m sure you’ll love this story I’m about to tell you,” said Naruto with a smirk. “Tell us, tell us, tell us, tell us, tell us!” said Pinkie Pie hopping excitedly. “One day, my team mates and I had just completed a mission and were leaving the Hokage tower after reporting in…” Naruto began his tale. **Flashback Start** Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were walking along the street away from the Hokage tower, Naruto’s face was scrunched as if in deep thought before speaking out. “I believe the time has finally come,” said Naruto. “What are you talking about? What time?” asked Sakura. “For us to see…Kakashi’s true face!” “Why would you want to do that?” “Come on Sakura, I’m sure the first time you saw him you wondered what was underneath that mask,” “Well I can’t deny that I want to know what was under that mask,” “Please, that sounds so lame. We finished our mission for the day so I’m going home,” Sasuke turned and was walking away from them. “I knew that Sasuke wouldn’t be interested, but I had a way to draw him in hook, line and sinker,” said Naruto. Naruto whispered out “What if he has lips…like a blimp?” this made Sasuke freeze in mid-step, Naruto snickered when he saw him twitched as if indecisive of what to do next and knew that he just needed one more push “Or maybe buckteeth?” Then Sasuke did a U-turn and walked back “On second thought, this could serve as training for when we should gather information from the enemy,” “So does anyone have an idea?” asked Sakura. “I do!” said Naruto. Later on, they invited Kakashi to eat with them at Ichiraku ramen where they paid for the meal for him. “You three treating me to lunch? That’s pretty unusual. You guys up to something, aren’t you?” said Kakashi as he looked at them, they stiffened a bit due to how accurate the question was. “W-what do you m-mean by that?” said Naruto. “Y-yeah, we just wanted treat you as a way of appreciation. So go ahead and eat,” said Sakura. “Oh well, I suppose I should just dig in,” said Kakashi as Teuchi served up the bowl of ramen “This certainly looks delicious,” they pretended to look forward but their eyes solely on him as he took a pair of chopsticks and slowly reached for his mask and was about to pull it down… “Hi Sasuke! What a coincidence,” Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji came in, completely obstructing their view. “Aaaaaaaaaaagh!” they all screamed as they tried to move them out of the way. “Get out of the way Ino-pig!” shouted Sakura. “Oh man! I can’t see squat!” shouted Naruto. They finally got them out of the way and looked only to see the mask back on and bowl completely empty. “I’m all done,” said Kakashi. “Whoa that’s fast!” said the trio simultaneously with looks of surprise. Kakashi looked at them curiously “Is something wrong?” “Oh nothing at all, what makes you say that?” said Sakura. Then they noticed that Teuchi and his daughter Ayame were looking at Kakashi with blushes on their faces which meant that they had seen what was underneath the mask. “Okay now I’m curious!” they said simultaneously again. “Afterwards, Sasuke suggested that we tail him around for the day, that he might take off the mask and we’ll be there to see it. The first time was a failure as we ended up getting found, so we decided to shadow him individually this time,” said Naruto. Naruto was the first, he was using the buildings and other objects to hide while following Kakashi who was reading a book along the way. But when they reached a junction, Kakashi disappeared leaving Naruto clueless as to where he went. Sakura was next as she staked him out at the memorial stone on a rainy, she was getting impatient as she noticed that he was barely moving a muscle which raised suspicions. She jumped out of the trees and ran to check on him only to see that it was nothing but a dummy the whole time. Well for Sasuke, he gave up after shadowing him for who knows how long. “The next day we got a mission to help out at a farm, that wasn’t a big deal since our true mission was too see Kakashi-sensei’s real face. Along the way, we made a stop at an inn to rest and were served a delicious banquet,” Kakashi noticed that his students weren’t making any attempt to eat the food “What’s the matter with you guys? No one is picking up their chopsticks,” “Oh it’s nothing Kakashi-sensei, don’t wait up on us. Go ahead and eat,” said Sakura. “Actually, I’m kinda on a diet right now,” “Playing hard to get huh? Well that mask is coming off one way or another!” thought Naruto, he reached for a kettle of hot tea “Ah~ my hand slipped,” then he tossed in a way that was anything but accidental. When it drew close, Kakashi quickly flipped the table over to block it, but that in turn spilled all of the food to the floor. “Are you out of your mind?!” Sakura yelled angrily. “Sorry about that, my hand slipped,” Kakashi rubbed the back of his head while looking sheepish. “What do you mean your hand slipped?!” the trio yelled at him. Then they gathered in another room to discuss their next move. “So any ideas?” asked Sakura. “Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan,” said Sasuke with a small smile, Naruto and Sakura listened in on his idea. Later on, Naruto and Sasuke were in a hot spring waiting for Kakashi to show, unfortunately for Sakura, she had to go to the women side of the bath which means that she won’t get to see Kakashi’s face. “This is a great idea, there’s no way he’ll come in here with his mask on,” said Naruto. “Of course he won’t,” said Sasuke. “Hey guys, I’m coming in,” upon hearing his voice, the two boys turned their attention to see a silhouette and knew that it was Kakashi. They rose out of the water as the mist cleared only to reveal him wearing a towel around his face “Phew it’s hot in here, just coming in for a minute,” Naruto and Sasuke fell backwards into the water “You’ve got to be kidding,” they both said at the same time. “Afterwards, we left the inn mentally exhausted and continued our way to the farm where we began the mission,” said Naruto. The trio gathered around for another meeting. “I don’t think I can take any more of this,” said Naruto. “I’m reaching my limit too,” said Sasuke. “Me too, and that makes three of us,” said Sakura. “Then in that case, desperate times calls for desperate measures!” said Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura looked at him in curiosity. A minute later, they were wearing gray camouflage ninja outfits although they appear to be a bit too big for them. “What’s with the clothes and where did you get them?” asked Sakura. “We’re posing as rogue ninja and there’s no need to wonder where I got them okay?” said Naruto, the truth was that he stole them from the changing room back at the hot spring. “So what’s the idea with the outfit?” asked Sasuke. “We rip the mask off, by force if we have to!” "Then we charged in and attacked Kakashi-sensei, but then someone else showed up from out of nowhere,” said Naruto. “Hold it right there!” a trio of ninja wearing the same outfit which Naruto swiped stepped in with one of them holding a purple bottle with a yellow label “The time has come for you to pay for your transgressions Kakashi! With this elixir, you will cry uncontrollably until y-,” he didn’t finish his sentence when he saw Kakashi holding up Naruto and the others who tied up with one hand. “I was wondering when you guys would stop hiding and show yourselves said Kakashi before putting them down “But first things first, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke. Why on earth are you dressed like that?” “We knew that we had to come up with an excuse, luckily Sakura was able to come up with a good one,” “Aha! We knew that you were targeting Kakashi-sensei, and you fell right into our trap!” said Sakura. “You mean you knew of our intentions from the very beginning?!” said one of the ninjas. “Of course we did, all this was to lure you out and you fell for it hook, line and sinker!” she continued. “Drat, we underestimated just because they were kids!” said the other ninjas. “I don’t really get what’s going on, but whatever,” said Kakashi as he walked towards the trio who were backing away from him before falling backwards. “Oh please forgive us, forgive us,” the three ninjas said as they bowed to him. “Words aren’t going to help you here,” Kakashi leaned forward ominously which made them cower in fear, and in the next ten minutes they were beaten and hung up like a piñata. After finishing the work on the farm, the team were on their way back to the village. “Hey Kakashi-sensei, what are you hiding under that mask?” asked Naruto. “Oh, so you want to know what’s behind my mask?” asked Kakashi. “Yeah,” “Well if you wanted to know, I would have shown you,” “You mean that you’ll let us see it?” asked Sakura excitedly. “Sure, I don’t mind,” said Kakashi. They gathered closely together with their eyes wide in anticipation. “Although it felt like we wasted this whole time for nothing, we didn’t care as we finally got to see his true face!” said Naruto. Alright, behind this mask is…,” Kakashi reached up for the mask and was about to bring it down. “Is it blimp lips?” Sakura thought. “Or buckteeth?” Sasuke thought. “Or a tiny mouth?” Naruto thought. Kakashi pulled it down to reveal a faded mask underneath “Another mask! Pretty cool right?” “WHAT!?” Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke screamed out loud before collapsing with a loud thud and Kakashi was laughing. “Are you kidding me?! What the heck kind of ending is that?!” Naruto said angrily. **Flashback End** “After that we went through, we never got to see under that darn mask,” said Naruto with a dark cloud over his head, he looked up to see everypony laughing out loud. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were rolling on the ground while the rest were trying to contain their giggles, even the fillies was among them and Naruto joined in with the laughter. “That was sooo funny Naru! Can we hear another one?” said Pinkie Pie while she was still laughing. “Maybe next time Pinks, and besides it’s getting late,” said Naruto. “You’re right, I need to head back to the farm and make sure that those thieving varmints don’t show up to steal my apples again,” said Applejack. “I need to make sure that the animals are okay,” said Fluttershy. “I have a deadline to meet for an important customer,” said Rarity. “I have to recheck my schedule for the week,” said Twilight. “I have to plan for another party in the future,” said Pinkie Pie. “And I gotta head home and rest so that I can practice my tricks tomorrow,” said Rainbow Dash. After bidding each other farewell, they all went to their homes and Naruto with Scootaloo to theirs where they met Trixie who had just closed from the shop. Naruto tucked Scootaloo into bed before walking to the workshop he placed a hoof on a seal drawn on the table and applied chakra to it. There was a puff of smoke before it cleared to reveal a stack of photos, he picked one up with his magic and smiled warmly at it. It was a photo of team 7, showing him scowling at Sasuke who was looking away from the camera, Sakura standing in the middle smiling and Kakashi eye smiling and placing his hands on his and Sasuke’s head. “Like they said, we all share a connection which even transcends worlds and have memories to remind us of the good times we had back then,” Naruto before closing his eyes to reminisce of his time back in the Hidden Leaf village. In another dimension, a raven haired boy stands before a large stone with many names inscribed on it and has his eyes focused on a particular name. In his hand is a scroll and he looked up to the night sky and spoke one word “Naruto…,”