Naruto in the Land of Equestria

by Striker Flash

First published

Naruto after finding himself with no memory and no real other choice begins his new life in Equestria. It's seems to be going great, friends with princess Luna and the main 6. Oh yeah and there's a crazy pony out to get Luna...good luck Naruto.

Naruto lands in Equestria with no memory of his past and unconscious. After being saved by Twilight and finding a friend in her and Princess Luna he begins his new life on Equestria. However what he doesn't know is that Luna is in love with him and will do anything to stay by his side. Not only that there's a deranged dark unicorn who wants to rule Equestria! Naruto good luck.

Enter Naruto

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A loud bang startles Twilight as she’s thrown from her bed to the floor. Her purple hair and fur get slightly messy because of it. She gets up on all four of her hooves and heads down the stairs to check on Spike, her purple baby dragon companion. Somehow the loud bang didn’t bother him because he was snoring away in his little bed. Twilight shook her head feeling like it must have been her imagination, but in the back of her mind she couldn’t help but feel like something happened to somebody.

Twilight decided to go take a look and figure out what made that loud bang. She didn’t go out three steps before seeing a large smoke cloud where the bang’s source lay. Twilight felt like she should get her friends but it was late and she didn’t want to wake them if this was nothing. She decided not to wake anyone and go by herself. It shouldn’t be that bad, probably just a rock or some stupid accident.

Twilight made her way through the dark streets of Ponyville feeling a little intimidated because it has been awhile since she was out this late. She felt like going back but she knew she had a duty to the ponies here to make sure that nothing was amiss. Her teacher and friend Princess Celestia would probably be upset if this happened to be some evil being and she did nothing about it.

Although she was scared she went on ahead to where the crater lay. When she looked down she couldn’t believe what she saw. At the bottom of the crater lay an orange pony with blonde spiky hair and tail. The cutie mark was a red swirl. She quickly jumped into the crater not caring if it was a trap because this pony needed help. “Hey are you alright?” Twilight asked which made no sense. Who asks someone who has created a crater and is unconscious if they are okay?

Twilight didn’t know what to expect, but she knew that she had to get this pony out of here. Using her powers she raised the pony into the air and began leading it to an empty cart that was conveniently parked a few feet away from the crater. Placing the pony on the cart she heard a moan come from the pony that made her look that way. From the sound of the moan Twilight could tell that it was a boy. Although Twilight was a little hesitant to take a male pony to her home she had little choice. No pony in all of Ponyville would be awake to take care of him.

Realizing this she let out a heavy sigh as she started to pull the cart back to Ponyville. When she arrived she again used her powers to get the boy pony inside. Judging from his size, Twilight guessed that this pony was as old as she was. Seeing the pony sleep brought a smile to her face and her face blushed when she realized that a boy was in her room. She decided to get some rest and hoped that the pony wouldn’t wake up before her.

If he did though that may cause trouble, so she decided to sleep near him, unfortunately the closest place to him was in the bed next to him. Again her face went red because of the thought of sleeping with a boy right next to her. The second that she lifted the covers the orange pony stirred. She jumped back lifting her left front hoof in surprise as the pony woke. The boy had blue eyes that sparkled when the moonlight hit them. She blushed again when he looked right at her.

“Thank goodness you're okay.” She smiled at him hoping it would calm him down. The boy pony screamed as he had no idea what was going on.

“What the heck is going on?” He screamed jumping against the wall. “How are you able to talk? Ponies can’t….” He looked at himself realizing now that he was a pony. “What happened to me?”

“Whoa calm down.” Twilight tried to calm him down, but the more she talked the more he seemed to freak out. Using her powers she grabbed some thread and tied it around the mouth of the pony, so he would stop screaming but could still talk. “Can you tell me your name now? Mine’s Twilight.”

“Name’s Naruto,” He said with his mouth slightly tied. “Can you tell me where I am and how I am a pony?”

“You must have hit your head pretty hard?” She said picking his face up to look her in the eyes. Her purple eyes were like small beams of pure light to Naruto because he couldn’t look away no matter how much he wanted to. Her eyes were the most beautiful things he has ever seen.

Naruto tried remembering what happened to him but as far as he could remember or as much as he could remember was that he wasn’t supposed to be a pony. However he didn’t know what he was supposed to be, so he pretty much guessed that he was turned into a pony for a reason. He would have to figure it out while figuring out why he was here. “Twilight?” He asked a little nervous because he wasn’t sure if he could trust her or not. “Where am I?”

“Well you're on Equestria in a town called Ponyville.” Twilight added the planet’s name because she thought that he might ask that. “I could show you around if you want, but it’ll have to wait for morning.” Naruto nodded as he tried to walk but immediately stumbled and landed on his chin. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Naruto said getting on all four hooves, “but I don’t really know how to walk like a pony.” Twilight gave a light chuckle which made Naruto a little irritated.

“Well walking like a pony is easy.” Twilight said getting next to Naruto. “Pick both of your left legs up and put them in front of your right.” Naruto did what Twilight said and was walking fine in no time. “See it’s easy.”

“Thanks Twilight.” Naruto said rubbing his head against her. Twilight’s face flushed up a little as no one has ever done this before. Naruto quickly jumped off realizing what he had just done. “Don’t take it the wrong way Twilight. I didn’t know what I was doing. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, just don’t do that again alright.” She said shaking her head of silly thoughts. “You can stay here tonight, come on I’ll show you where you can sleep.”

Naruto followed Twilight up the stairs and went into a room where Spike was snoring away. Naruto went over to the little guy but Twilight jumped out in front of him stopping him. She didn’t want to have to explain to him why there was a boy in the house. “Just sleep on the floor right now, if it’s okay.” Twilight was a little upset because she forgot that there wasn’t any other place where Naruto could sleep.

“It’s fine besides you’ve already been a great help. I’m indebted to you.” Naruto said smiling. Twilight smiled back as she climbed back into her bed and fell asleep.

Naruto didn’t lie on the ground he wanted to figure out what she was going to do when morning came. However, Naruto’s body was exhausted and as he tried to leave his body collapsed from exhaustion. He fell into a deep sleep.

When he woke up Spike was right over him staring right into his eyes. Naruto had a sweat drop on his head as Spike didn’t move his head. “Twilight,” Spike called out running toward the exit, “he’s awake.”

Naruto thought there would be a lot more drama from the small dragon that Twilight had kept him from seeing last night. He walked to a window and looked out to see that many other ponies were running about. He was amazed at how peaceful the place looked from the window. He was anxious to get outside, but he didn’t want to leave Twilight because he felt slightly drawn to her.

Twilight appeared in the doorway and Naruto looked at her. “Did you try and leave last night?” Naruto stepped back a step because he felt a little guilty for trying to leave without telling her. “You should’ve told me I would have stopped you. You literally crashed into the ground so I wasn’t surprised when I woke to find you on your side. You had me scared there for a few moments.”

“Twilight!” A very excited and joyful voice called out from the entrance.

“Oh no.” Twilight said turning around slightly surprised. Naruto was confused on what was so bad about the voice, but little did he know that he was going to regret saying that in his head.

A pink pony with balloons on its back legs and pink hair rushed in looking like she had just seen the best thing ever. “Oh my gosh!” The pink pony rushed at Naruto stopping within inches of his face. “Hello! Hello! My names Pinky Pie what’s yours?”

Naruto felt very uncomfortable around this pony. “Names Naruto, didn’t Twilight tell you?”

“No! In fact this is first I’ve even seen or heard about you.” Pinky was a little overly excited. Naruto wanted to back away but his rear was already against the wall. He was between a rock and a hard place.

“She’s always this way so don’t worry about it.” Twilight pulled him out from between the wall and Pinky Pie. “Pinky Pie what are you doing here?”

“Well I came by to tell you that Applejack needed help with the farm and finding some…thing. But then I saw Naruto. Is he your boyfriend? HE’s your boyfriend isn’t he? Oh Twilight why didn’t you tell me or the others?”

“He’s not my boyfriend. I met him yesterday, and he is rather new. Tell Applejack we’ll be there when I’m done showing him around.” Twilight said acting slightly calm, which was greatly difficult considering being calm around Pinky Pie is hard.

“Okay see you!” Pinky darted out the door leaving a cloud of dust behind her. Naruto’s mouth hung open because of how much energy Pinky had.

“She’s one of my friends, you’ll get used to her.” Twilight said smiling but Naruto highly doubted that he would ever get used to that pony. Twilight started heading for the exit startling Naruto who ran to her side bumping into her. “Watch it okay, you don’t have to be in a hurry. I’m not going to leave you.”

Naruto felt strangely relieved knowing that Twilight said something like that. Naruto didn’t know anything about this place and the only friend he had if that was Twilight so for her to say that meant a lot. Twilight brought them through many streets of Ponyville showing him where all the stores and shops were. Naruto was very interested in the town and he felt happy that Twilight was willing to be this kind to him.

Suddenly a rainbow shot over him. “Hey Twi who’s that with you?” Naruto looked up to see a sky blue pony with wings and a lightning bolt on its back legs.

“This is Naruto.” Twilight said to the flying pony with a loud voice. She then turned to Naruto, “Naruto this is Rainbow Dash. She’s a Pegasus. I have another friend like her, well another that can fly named Fluttershy but we’ll meet her when that time comes okay.”

“Hey RD.” Naruto said to Rainbow Dash who looked at him a little puzzled. “Sorry I thought calling you by your initials would be okay.”

“Nah it’s cool, I just prefer my name to some nickname is all.” Rainbow Dash landed on the ground in front of him. “So are you all headed over to Applejack’s to help out?”

“We were just about to head over there actually.” Twilight said looking at Naruto with a smile. He couldn’t help but smile back at her.

The three of them walked together when a white pony with blue-violet hair appeared. “Oh my, who’s this?” The pony sounded elegant to Naruto as she seemed to be judging Naruto as she looked at him.

“Rarity this is Naruto he’s a friend of mine I met yesterday.” Twilight sounded slightly irritated. Naruto guessed it was because she had to do this every time one of her friends showed up. All of them were beautiful to Naruto and he guessed that they were all his friends to.

“Nice to meet you Rarity, names Naruto.” Naruto knelt to her feeling like he had to. Rarity let out a gasp as did the other two. “What? I thought that she deserved it because of how elegant she sounded. Was I wrong?”

“Oh heavens no.” Rarity said before the other two had a chance to speak. “I appreciate the compliment but I am but a normal pony like Twilight and Rainbow Dash here. There is no need for those formalities, but if you feel as though you must go right ahead.”

Naruto felt a little better knowing that this pony was just like the other two. He soon heard somebody step on a stick. He turned to see a bright yellow colored pony with pink hair looking out from behind a corner. Naruto took a step towards the pony and she disappeared behind the wall. He ran to the corner looking past to see that no one was there. He soon heard the sound of wings and looked up. “Hey that’s where you went.” He said smiling making the pony come down. “I’m Naruto what’s your name?”

“I’m Fluttershy.” Her voice was soft and sweet like honey to Naruto. “Are you friends with Twilight and the others?”

“Yeah, we were just on our way to Applejack’s family farm to help her out.” Naruto felt like he could really open up to this pony. “Were you heading there to? If so come with us I’d like to get to know all of Twilight’s friends.”

Fluttershy originally didn’t know whether she could trust him or not, but Naruto seemed to be a nice guy. No later than she nodded her head the five new friends began heading over to Applejack’s family farm. Pinky Pie joined them about halfway to the farm.

“Oh ya’ll are here that’s great.” Naruto looked to see a bright orange pony holding a rope with her mouth trying to get a really heavy hay bale up the barn. Naruto heard a small snapping and looked at the rope to see that it was giving out. It was about to snap and Naruto had to act. He ran at the pony not caring what happened to him. The rope snapped and the pony looked up in horror as the heavy bale fell towards her. It crashed into the ground, but Naruto got to her in time and they both found themselves on the other side of the bale in each other’s arms.

Naruto looked at the pony and couldn’t believe how beautiful she looked. She had blonde hair that was glowing in the sunlight. Her green eyes were remarkable, he couldn’t look away. To him they were more mesmerizing then Twilight’s. “Are you okay?”

“I reckon so.” Her country accent was just an extra to how amazing Naruto thought she was. “I’m Applejack.”

Naruto quickly got up realizing this was the pony they were coming to help. “I’m Naruto. I got here yesterday, it’s n-nice to meet you.” He didn’t understand why but he was extremely nervous. “Oh is this yours?” Naruto took a cowboy hat off his head and placed it back on Applejack who thanked him.

The five others came from around the bale to see if their friends were okay and found them to be just fine. “Well since ya’ll are here we should get to work.” Applejack gave everyone a different job to do around the farm. Naruto was put on fencing with Applejack and he stayed close to her so that he could get everything right.

Applejack found Naruto’s determination amazing. There was a sudden gust of wind that caught her hat making it fly into a nearby tree. “Darn,” Applejack was upset that her hat had fallen into a tree.

Naruto saw this and jumped into the air grabbing it with his mouth. He somehow knew he could jump that high. He landed on the ground to a shocked Applejack who looked at him with wonder. He put the hat back on her and she shook her head to get herself back to the world. “Wow, how did you do that?” She asked confused on how any pony without wings could reach that high.

“I just know how.” Naruto didn’t know any other way to describe it. “I can’t really explain it any better sorry.”

“It’s okay not like I’m gonna try that. So where do He put the hat back on her and she shook her head to get herself back to the world. “Wow, how did you do that?” She asked confused on how any pony without wings could reach that high.

“I just know how.” Naruto didn’t know any other way to describe it. “I can’t really explain it any better sorry.”

“It’s okay not like I’m gonna try that. So where do you come from?” Applejack was interested in Naruto now, however she didn’t realize that at that moment she was beginning to feel slightly more drawn to him.

“Truthfully I don’t know myself.” Naruto said looking down. “I barely remember my past, but even though I can’t remember anything I will still live even if that means living here. I just gotta find a place to sleep now.”

“Whatcha mean?” Applejack asked a slight bit concerned at that point.

“Well Twilight was kind enough to let me sleep at her place yesterday when she found me but I don’t want to be a freeloader so I’m going to try and find my own place to live in here.” Naruto was determined to find his own living even if that meant looking for days.

“Well I hope you find yourself a good home.” applejack looked up at the sky feeling slightly guilty because he could stay at the farm, there was plenty of room. She soon realized what she was thinking and she shook her head.

“Thanks,” Naruto said with a smile, “after I’m done I’ll go look for a place where I can call my own. But I am going to live here in Ponyville so I will be looking for a place here.”

“That’s great.” Applejack was a little too happy hearing that. She quickly blushed at her own words. Naruto looked at her with wide eyes because it sounded like Applejack wanted him to be close by. She just wanted him to have friends close by incase of a jam.

They were halfway through the work when Naruto heard what sounded like a growling and looked up to see red eyes looking right at him. Naruto got ready to fight as a small rabbit jumped out from the bushes. “Angel what are you doing here?” Fluttershy asked the small rabbit who quickly jumped onto her.

Naruto felt slightly embarrassed that he was afraid of a rabbit but he didn’t know what it was because the rabbit was in the shadows. Fluttershy picked the rabbit up flapping her wings as she headed inside the house. Naruto was starting to get exhausted because his body was still worn out from whatever happened to him yesterday.

Nobody was around him so he let out a cry of pain because he felt if he held it in any longer he would have exploded. Apparently everyone heard it because all six of the girls ran over to him. “Hey you okay Naruto?” Applejack asked first as the other five came up from behind.

“Yeah, my body just feels like it’s in a lot of pain. I just had to cry out sorry for scaring you all.” Naruto said laughing slightly.

Everyone had this upset look because they all thought that he was really hurt, but hearing that he was just exhausted was annoying. Naruto got back to work placing the last of the fencing materials where Applejack had told him to place them. He wondered if any of the girls disliked him but he thought that that was impossible. All six of them were incredible and he was lucky that he could call them his friends.

When he finished he went to go help Applejack with her work and saw that her tail was stuck in the ground by one of the fencing. He ran over and back kicked the fencing out releasing her tail. Naruto was happy that she was free but his body howled with pain because he had used a lot of strength with that kick. “You okay Applejack?” Naruto asked slightly concerned as he looked at her tail.

“Yeah it happens but thanks for the help.” Applejack’s smile sent waves down Naruto’s back that almost made him collapse. He was ready to collapse again but Applejack’s smile somehow gave him strength. He found himself gaining energy the more Applejack’s smile held. When she dropped the smile and got back to work Naruto found himself with a ton of energy.

“Hey is there anything else I can do to help you Applejack?” Naruto asked wanting to be of more help to her.

“Nah you're good. You’ve done more than you needed so why don’t cha go look for that place in Ponyville you wanted to find.” Applejack said turning to go check on how the others were fairing.

Naruto didn’t have time to thank her as she was already gone. He felt like she would never truly appreciate him but he was happy that she was his friend. Naruto ran off the farm jumping over bushes and into trees like the ninja that he once was, but forgot. He arrived back in the main part of town where everyone looked at him with quizzical looks. He felt like they were all afraid of him, but he didn’t know why. He was one of them so why did he feel like everyone didn’t want him around.

Naruto saw a shadow far off in the distance and headed for it. When he reached the shadow he saw that it was a rundown house. Naruto’s eyes glowed with inspiration as he knew this was going to be his new home. Naruto walked into the open doorway and was hit with a blast of dust. Little did he know that he was being watched by Princess Luna, a dark blue pony with wings and a horn and a moon rested on her legs, she was also sister to Princess Celestia. She walked out of her hiding hole and knocked on the door making Naruto jump around in surprise.

“Sorry,” Luna’s voice was gentle and soft kind of like Applejack’s only without the southern accent, “I was told by my sister that you were looking for a home. I see that you’ve already found one, looks like you won’t need my help.”

“I could use some help cleaning the place up if you won’t mind.” Naruto didn’t realize how high up she was. Luna couldn’t believe that Naruto thought she was ordinary, this had her thinking about him in different ways than she thought of other mares. She blushed realizing that this pony thought of her as normal not some special pony that you had to pamper like her sister. “Name’s Naruto. What’s yours?”

“Luna.” She said not wanting him to know that she was royalty. She wanted him to think of her as anyone else because the feeling she had was amazing. For once she was seen as something other than a princess. “I’d love to help you.” Naruto is good with the ladies isn’t he?

The two of them began cleaning the house from top to bottom. Luna used her powers on an old broom making it sweep a lot of dust outside. Naruto used his skills and jumped from wall to wall with a wet cloth wiping a different part each time. Suddenly the upper floor began giving out. Luna looked up and froze with fear, Naruto jumped at her pushing her as the second floor fell to the ground.

Luna got up and found Naruto under the debris from the second floor. She began using her powers to clear it away, but Naruto smiled at her which stopped her. Naruto went inside and felt a surge of energy, he didn’t want Luna wasting her energy for him. He busted through the top of the debris doing a somersault in the air landing on all four hooves. “I’m okay how about you?” Naruto asked with a smile.

Luna found his smile to be more than that. She wanted to be with him no matter who he was. She wanted to be with this boy who smiled at her with such happiness. She wanted to be by his side no matter how pathetic she would seem. She wanted to even if her sister Celestia said otherwise. Even though she hadn’t even known him for a full day she wanted to be with him forever, but she couldn’t let him know that. She wanted to get to know him a little more.

“Naruto I need to go tell my sister something so would you mind waiting for me a little bit?” She asked flapping her wings.

“I don’t mind at all besides you’ve done so much for me already. I can’t see how I can repay you but I would do anything to repay you.” Naruto said giving her a wink which had her flying out with a huge smile. She had never felt this before and she didn’t want to lose it. She wanted this feeling to remain and she was going to do anything to remain at his side.

Luna arrived at the front door to Twilight’s house where Applejack was also inside. “Hey Luna what are you doing here?” Twilight asked allowing Luna inside.

“I need you to send a note to my sister telling her that I’m going to remain in Ponyville for a while. You wouldn’t mind doing that would you?” Luna couldn’t believe how embarrassed she was with what she was asking Twilight. Applejack couldn’t help but feel interested in why she wanted to stay in Ponyville.

“Cuse me for asking but why do you want to stay in Ponyville?” She asked wondering why she’d want to go from a castle to a small town of ponies.

“Well, it’s a little embarrassing actually.” Luna was blushing super red almost making her whole face red. “My sister got the message you sent her about the new pony, so she sent me to welcome him. When I met him my heart soared, I don’t know why he causes it but when he talked to me like I was just an everyday average pony I felt excited, happy. I want to get to know him you know?”

“Sounds like you’re in love Princess.” Applejack said smiling, although somewhere deep in her she was hurting because she knew the new pony was Naruto. She didn’t know it but hearing that had her heart stopping for a brief second and she wondered why. She knew that Naruto was just a friend to her and nothing more.

“That’s impossible, how can you fall in love with someone after just meeting them it makes no sense.” Luna denied what Applejack said feeling like there was no way she in love. She had never felt this way about any boy before so could it be love? “Could you send the note please Twilight?”

“Sure, Spike!” Twilight called Spike over who immediately got out a quill and paper and began writing down a note to Princess Celestia from the words that Twilight spoke. “Dear Princess Celestia, your younger sister Luna wishes to live in Ponyville for some time. She wants to get to know the new pony a little better, but she will keep her title hidden from him because of the way he makes her feel.”

Spike spat out fire sending the note to Celestia. About a minute later Spike spat out another piece of paper but this was the answer from the princess. Spike began reading the letter from Celestia. “I will allow my sister to remain in Ponyville for a year but after she must return to help with the kingdom.”

Luna flew into the air with excitement because she felt like she had a shot at making someone think of her as something more than a princess. She flew back over to Naruto’s house where he waited on the front porch for her with eager patience. She didn’t realize how fast she was flying until she tried to stop. She tried to regain control but lost it and crashed into Naruto sending them into the house. They tumbled in until they hit a wall. After looking at each other they laughed a little bit out loud.

“Well that was sure an entrance.” Naruto said standing up on his hooves. Luna stood up folding her wings back up against her. She blushed at his words because she was embarrassed that she had pretty much tackled him. “Well what did you go tell your sister?”

“I told her that I would be staying here in Ponyville for a while, it’s personal reasons though.” She looked away blushing feeling like she was about to spill the whole secret of her feelings. She was still trying to figure out whether or not if she even liked him that way. “If it’s okay I’d like to live here, think of it as repayment for me helping you. Also this way we both won’t have to be alone.”

“That’s a very good point Luna. We’ll need to fix the second floor before we can go to sleep though because that’s where the bedrooms are.” Naruto said sheepishly as he scratched his head. He felt a little nervous that he was allowing a girl to live in the house he wanted to call his own, but he had to repay her and he wanted to have someone who he could feel at ease with. “We should go look for some bedding materials first.”

Naruto left the home with Luna right behind him. She felt strange because she was actually going to go search for her bedding, her life as a princess may not have prepared her for this. “Luna you don’t need to help, I’ll make sure there’s enough bedding for the both of us. Why don’t you get started on fixing the second floor?” Naruto said smiling at her.

“Sure just don’t get lost okay?” Luna said feeling a little worried about him. Naruto gave a light chuckle because he found her concern humorous. She sounded like a worried wife or girlfriend to him. He walked away into the dark of night and realized how beautiful the moon looked. It was as beautiful as Luna’s blue eyes. He had to find bedding though, if he didn’t have to he would’ve looked at it all night.

Luna started to put the second floor back together using her powers and some magic to fix it. Before she knew it she had finished the repairs for the second floor. She then went to the second floor to do any last minute cleaning before Naruto got back. When she walked up the stairs she noticed that there was only one useable bedroom for the moment. It would take a couple of days to clean out the other room. She blushed realizing that she would be sleeping in the same room as Naruto.

An hour past by and Luna was beginning to get worried about Naruto because he was taking too long. She was about to go after him when he heard him outside. “Dang it!” Naruto sounded upset to Luna but looking out a window showed that he was dragging a bunch of leaves that looked like small clouds. “I don’t care how many times I gotta put you all back into a pile, Luna needs a bed and I’m going to get her one.”

Luna couldn’t believe that Naruto went out of his way to make sure she would have a bed to sleep on. He thought of her as an average pony yet he was treating her like the princess she was. This caused her heart to throb against her chest. She didn’t understand why she felt this way but she didn’t want the feeling to leave and she was willing to do anything to keep it even if it meant remaining with Naruto forever. She rushed down and helped him pull the leaves into the house.

“Luna leave the bed making to me alright.” Naruto said as he began placing the leaves in two opposite spots about two feet away from each other. “There we go, it’s not really a bed but these leaves will do until I’m able to get us some real beds okay.”

“It’s alright with me.” Luna said getting onto one of the piles of leaves. Naruto fell onto the other pile. Luna sprang up to check on Naruto but found that he fell asleep. She couldn’t believe that Naruto was so exhausted. Looking at his body she noticed a few scrapes and bruises. “Did you have to fight for these leaves Naruto?” she asked to the sleeping pony. She couldn’t believe that somepony especially somepony she had just met would do such a thing for her. It was like a dream she once had but in this case it was real not a dream. She put her hoof on him and felt his warmth through it. She liked it and wanted it to be all over her. However she didn’t want to release emotions she wasn’t sure of yet so she went back to her bed of leaves and went to sleep. Tomorrow would be an interesting day for the two of them.

Realizing one's Feelings

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Naruto woke to the smell of dew and a strange yet wonderful scent. He sprang up and noticed that Luna wasn’t in her bed, at first he panicked thinking something had happened to her during the night. But then he got another whiff of the smell floating in the air and began to wonder if she was possibly cooking. He ran down the stairs to the still messy first floor where the wondrous smell got even more potent in its scent. Naruto darted past the entrance to his kitchen and found himself slamming into a wall. Luna came out from the kitchen wearing an apron that had small splotches of batter. Naruto looked at her from the ground as his butt faced the sky his tail fell into his face.

Luna giggled lightly, she was happy with how goofy he was because that added to his ‘charm’ at least to Luna anyway. Naruto got up and walked into the kitchen where he saw waffles with eggs. Their smell was spectacular. Naruto ran up to them his eyes beaming with hunger, “Luna did you make this?” Naruto asked feeling like there was no way she could have done this. Luna gave a sly grin and winked at him. “Are they for me?” He asked slightly nervous.

“Of course they are.” Luna acted like she had been doing this all her life but the truth is this was the first time she had ever cooked anything in her life. Naruto sprang at the food throwing his face into it like a dog. He hadn’t eaten in hours and his stomach wasn’t going to wait any longer for food.

“Luna this is amazing!” Naruto said lifting his head for air. “These are the best ever!” Luna smiled on the outside, but on the inside she was cheering because she was desperately hoping that he would like it. She wanted to tell him it was her first time cooking but she felt like he would think this was a lucky batch. Then again she was up since one in the morning after using teleportation magic to fetch the materials she needed from the castle fridge.

The fridge was more of a maze how the chefs did anything in there was beyond Luna’s comprehension. She let out an exhausted sigh unfortunately caught by Naruto. He looked at her and finally got a look around the kitchen. It looked like she had brought in some new items mainly the pots and pans…she must have brought them from her sister’s. At least that’s as far as Naruto thought.

It wasn’t until he saw batter on the cabinets that he realized how many times she must have tried to do this. He looked to her again and could see that her mane and coat seemed to shine, ‘Did she just taken a shower?’ Naruto questioned. Then he had to think for a second…until one thing came to mind.

“Luna is this your first time cooking?” Naruto asked feeling a slight bit curious on why she appeared so happy.

“How did you know?” Luna gasped with fright. How was she so easily found out? She couldn’t believe that all her hard work would be put to waste.

“You are amazing!” Naruto said slightly jumping in the air. “You don’t need to hide anything from me. I won’t think of you any different. I would have still eaten it if it was bad. You took the time to make this for me, the least I can do is eat every bite of it. No matter how bad it could have been I would eaten every last inch of this dish and licked the plate clean.”

Luna looked down smiling feeling like she was about to explode with happiness. “Thank you Naruto.” She said looking back up at his smile. “What are you doing today, I have nothing planned.”

“I was going to head out into town and look for work. I got to make money if I want to get you an actual bed.” Naruto said placing the plate of emptiness in the sink. “I wouldn’t mind if you came with, we’re friends after all.”

Luna felt her heart pump faster when she heard that he would protect her from anything just because they were friends. She began thinking how much he would care for her if he liked her. Luna found it hard to keep herself from thinking about him liking her. The more she tried to stop the thoughts the more they came. “Luna are you coming?” Naruto asked making Luna look up to see him waiting outside.

She ran outside feeling slightly embarrassed that she may have looked stupid shaking her head the way she was. She was so scared that she may like him that she wanted to make sure that her feelings wouldn’t be rejected. Naruto looked at Luna and saw that she looked depressed. “Hey are you alright?” He asked her feeling concerned.

“Yeah just thinking about some stuff.” Luna looked at him with a half-smile that pretty much said she wasn’t.

“Tell me what’s wrong Luna?” Naruto said jumping in front of her. Luna looked at him with wide eyes. Naruto wanted to know what was wrong with her because she was his friend however she couldn’t help but think it may be more than that.

“Well,” She had to say this right or he might get the wrong idea, “have you ever liked anypony Naruto?” Naruto blushed at the question because he didn’t expect that kind of question. “I don’t know whether I like this stallion or not and it has my head spinning like crazy. I don’t know what to believe, I want to tell him but the fear of him rejecting me or these feelings that I’m not even sure of has me so confused.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Luna looked at him with surprised eyes. “I haven’t ever felt love if that’s what you’re asking or at least I don’t remember ever, but if I did I would hope it would be with a girl as pretty as you Luna. I’m lucky to call you a friend and whoever this stallion is he should be lucky. He has no idea that someone like you likes him. We need to get to town though. Don’t worry, if he hurts you I’ll knock him around a few times with my hooves and then we’ll see what he has to say.”

Naruto had no idea what he had just done. By saying those words he had pretty much sealed Luna’s heart and he didn’t even know it. Luna watched as he walked away with eyes glowing in the sun. Her heart leapt with joy but at the same time she felt destroyed. Naruto didn’t have the feelings she had for him. No matter how much she may have wanted to deny it, she liked him, she liked him with all of her heart. For once somepony cared for her in a way no other pony did.

She would have to live with him not liking her for now but she wanted more than anything to have him say that he liked her. Luna ran to catch up with him as her heart beat faster the more he smiled and talked to her.

They arrived in the main square of Ponyville and started to look for a job. Naruto looked around and noticed that some ponies were whispering to each other as they looked at the two of them. Luna was slightly nervous because anyone could spill the fact that she was a princess and that could ruin everything for her. She prayed that no one did but as those words crossed through her head Rainbow Dash walked up.

“Princess Luna what are you doing here?” She asked Luna causing her to freeze in fear because Naruto heard exactly what Rainbow Dash had said.

He looked at Luna with wide eyes and she looked afraid of him at that point. “You’re a princess?” He asked making Luna back up slightly, “Why didn’t you tell me that?”

Luna didn’t know what to say but she didn’t want him giving her the royal treatment now, not after yesterday and this morning. She flew away not looking back, her heart felt like it had been hit with a hammer. She landed in the Dark Forest where he would never find her. “Naruto will never like me now.” Was all that played through her head. Tears began falling down from her eyes as her heart felt like it was crumbling away millimeter by millimeter.
…………………..

“Rainbow Dash what did you do to Luna?” Naruto was furious at her because Luna flew away without telling him anything. “Why did Luna look like she was about to cry?”

“I don’t know,” She said confused, “I was only wondering what Celestia’s sister was doing here in Ponyville.”

Twilight entered with Applejack at that point. (Curse you plot conveineces!) “What’s wrong guys?” She asked seeing Naruto look angry.

“Rainbow Dash called Luna a princess and she flew off,” Naruto said feeling a strange power flow through him No one saw it but the seal of his demon powers began to appear where his red swirl was. “Twilight whose Celestia and why did Luna look like she was hurt? Tell me now or so help me…”

“Celestia or Princess Celestia rules over the land of Equestria. She’s Luna’s older sister. She is also what you would call the sun of Equestria, Luna would be the moon. Celestia is also my teacher in the magical arts.” Naruto didn’t really care about the fact that Celestia was some big Princess figure he was worried about Luna. “Luna came to my place last night telling me that she wanted to stay here so that she could watch over… something.” Twilight withheld the fact that Naruto was the reason for her wanting to be here because she didn’t want him thinking of her as weird or anything really.

“Applejack do you have any idea why she would have flown away?” Naruto now realized why she was here, because she wanted to watch something and she wanted him to help her. Most likely that boy who she liked was here in the town, however if only Naruto was a little more bright he may have realized that it was him she liked.

“She said that you were treating her like any ordinary pony and that she liked it.” Applejack began explaining what happened last night, “She said that she felt strange, happy even. I guess she didn’t want you to find out that she was a princess because she told us not to mention that stuff around you but you know now so it doesn’t really matter if we hide it.”

“Wait are you telling me that she flew off because she was worried that I might start treating her like a princess?” Naruto looked at the ground, his seal disappeared as the power began to stop coming. “I wouldn’t have done that. I would have treated her the same but why didn’t she tell me for real?”

“That was the reason she gave us.” Twilight said to him trying to get him to realize that she never wanted him to find out her secret. “For her you were the first pony to make her feel normal, wanted by somepony other than the kingdom for her powers. She really wanted to be your friend not somepony that you would kneel to.”

“I think I understand now.” Naruto said, but they weren’t done explaining. Why are girls always like this he thought to himself as they wouldn’t be quiet. “I would never want her to feel like that I’m not like other ponies here. I would’ve still treated her the same.” Naruto looked off in the direction that Luna had flown off in and wondered what could be that way. “Twilight, where would someone go, in that direction, if they didn’t want to be found?”

“The Dark Forest but she wouldn’t do that her magic wouldn’t work, but it is very thick and the deeper you go the more horrifying it gets. Similar to the Everfree only worse.” Naruto couldn’t help but feel that’s exactly where Luna had gone. He couldn’t really say but he knew that she was there. Then it felt like something hit him, that’s when he began thinking that Luna could be in danger. He ran off in the direction of the Dark Forest not caring what lied within its trees. He was going to save his friend no matter what.
……………………..

Luna looked at the sky with her eyes dripping tears. She wanted to stay here and just never show her face again. All she wanted was Naruto but that would never happen now. He was going to think of her as some royal pony that wanted to be spoiled and he wasn’t going to have that. At least not after yesterday.

Suddenly the bushes around her began to rustle and a pack of timberwolves appeared. Luna mentally cursed whatever power constantly brought out timberwolves the moment a pony entered this or the Everfree woods. She wanted to use her powers, but she her mind kicked in reminding her that the Dark Forest stops all magic from happening. A barrier appeared over- head making it impossible for her to fly out of the dark forest. She wondered where the barrier had come from but she had to run from the wolves before they got to her. She started running away on her hooves as all her thoughts were on whether she was going to survive this or not.

She ran but the more she ran the more timberwolves showed up. Then what looked like an armored gorilla appeared from the trees. “Well if it isn’t Princess Luna.” Luna stopped moving and looked at the large ape that was bigger than her own sister. “Our master has been looking for you. He wishes for you to return to the darkness and he isn’t one to say no to.”

Luna looked at the ape with horror filled eyes and felt like this was the end of her. “Naruto…help…me.” Was all that her throat would let by as the ape grabbed her and took her away with the wolves right behind. A single tear ran down her cheek as her regrets began to pile up. She never got to redeem herself of her past misgivings, and even if they had only known each other for the lesser part of the day, she was going to miss Naruto more than anything and with her unresolved feelings still hanging within her chest she prayed she would die quickly.

“Let Luna go!” Luna heard a familiar voice and looked up to see Naruto in a tree standing over all the timberwolves.

The armored ape laughed at him feeling like he was a pushover. “Wolves it’s your lucky day. Looks like breakfast found you.” He said laughing as he knocked Luna unconscious.

Naruto watched as his friend fell to the floor. His anger took hold of him and he felt a massive surge of energy. Anger filled him as his demonic seal appeared and his orange fur became blonde like his hair. “You’re going to pay for that you monkey.” He snarled as his eyes became more demonic and turned completely red with a fox’s eye pupil.

Naruto didn’t know what he was about to do but all he knew was that he was going to make this stupid primate pay for hurting Luna. The wolves attacked landing on him. The ape laughed as he thought that Naruto was finished. However he had no idea how powerful Naruto was at the moment.

Naruto just pushed up with his body and sent all of the wolves flying into trees and the sky. The ape couldn’t believe that a mere pony could defeat a pack of timberwolves by just pushing his body up. Naruto zipped across the forest grabbing a hold of Luna and pulled her away from the ape. The ape was shocked by the speed Naruto now possessed and was now uneasy.

“Wait here Luna I’ll be done in a few seconds.” He said looking like he was about to pounce on top of the ape. Naruto didn’t know how strong he was but by the look of how the ape was terrified he could make a fair judgment he was definitely stronger than most things this ape has seen.

“I am not a monkey!” He said slamming his fists into the ground, “I am Captain Carnac of his royal darkness’s army. I will make you pay for insulting the name of Captain Carnac!”

However Naruto didn’t really care about who this idiot was, all he wanted was to drive his head into the ground. Naruto vanished and Carnac started looking around for Naruto but he really should have just looked above him. Naruto came crashing down from the sky driving the ape’s head into the ground with his front hooves. He didn’t stop though he continued pounding on the ape’s head until he was sure that he wasn’t getting up and to be absolutely sure he back kicked him into the sky. He then jumped after him and put all his power into one final downward kick that sent him plummeting into the ground.

Carnac fell seven feet into the ground where he passed out. Naruto knew he wasn’t getting up and went over to the still unconscious Luna. He put her on his back and began walking out of the forest as his powers faded away along with the seal and his hair turned back to orange. He felt the sudden change in power but that truly didn’t matter to him, he didn’t need the power to defeat that monkey but he didn’t resent it. The power was a great help to him and it only locked in his victory.

When he walked out of the forest Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Applejack were waiting for him. “What happened?” Was what they all asked at the same time.

“This ape had her in his arms and I stopped him. He said something about serving some royal darkness guy but I doubt that person even exists.” Naruto wanted to get back home and take care of Luna before she woke up.

“I’ll ask Princess Celestia who this royal darkness could be, but what do you plan on doing with Luna?” Twilight asked feeling like she should stay with Luna.

“I plan on taking care of her until she wakes up, she’s my friend and I want to tell her that she’ll always be the same in my eyes nothing more.” The girls looked at each other and had this look of worry because they knew that Luna liked him and he was completely dense if he didn’t see it.

Naruto left the girls and headed for his home with Luna still on his back. When he got to the house he had to push the door open with his head because he didn’t want to drop Luna not until he got her to her bed. He walked up the stairs backwards so that he could keep her on his back. He got to the room and softly placed her on her bed of leaves. He rushed down to the kitchen and got a cloth and soaked it with water. He rushed back up to the room and placed the cloth on her forehead hoping that it would help her body relax a little.

Naruto heard a knock at the door and he didn’t really have time for visitors. However he couldn’t not answer it. “Luna I’ll be right back just wait.” He whispered into her ear however if anyone was there and saw how he did it they would have sworn he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Naruto headed down the stairs and opened the door to find a white pony with large wings, a crown, a sun on her legs, pink eyes and her hair was a mix of pink and sky blue streaks. “Is my sister here?” The pony or stallion whichever you decide to call her really asked.

Naruto quickly realized that this was Princess Celestia, “Yeah she’s upstairs follow me.” Naruto treated Celestia the way he would always treat a pony the same as anyone else. “She was knocked out by an ape and—”

“Twilight told me what you told her but I don’t know who this royal darkness could be.” Her voice was majestic and pure similar to Luna’s, no wonder they were sisters. “I’m very happy to hear that you were able to save her. She can be like this sometimes, but like the other girls told you, you are the first to treat her like a normal pony. Some may think that it should be the other way but her history has a dark past and she doesn’t want you to know about that. She fears that you’ll think of her differently.”

At that moment Luna awoke on her bed and was about to walk out when she heard Naruto. “That’s stupid why would she fear me? I would never think of her any differently than I have. Just because you’re a princess doesn’t mean I’m going to treat you any differently than I would Twilight or any of the girls. We’re all the same, sure your status might be different but when you look at each other from a certain view like me we’re all alike. If Luna doesn’t want me to treat her like a princess than I won’t, I had no intentions of doing that anyway.”

Luna’s heart began throbbing against her chest. She just heard that Naruto would never hate her or see her differently. She was the same pony in his eyes. She couldn’t believe that she had run off the way she did. She felt horrible that he risked his life for her.

“May I ask you something Naruto?” Celestia was intrigued as her heart was now beginning to pound from such a profound pony. “Why did you go after my sister so quickly even though Twilight told you the dangers?”

“Because Luna was in danger!” He shouted shutting his eyes, “I can’t explain how I knew I just did and I wasn’t going to let that danger hurt her, but I was too late. I blame myself for her getting hurt and I’ll never forgive myself. I would have done the same for the others even you. Since you’re Luna’s sister that makes us friends.” Celestia smiled lightly at him but she couldn’t understand why her heart was beating so hard.

“I know we’ve just met but if you were in trouble right now I would go through the Dark Forest without a second thought to get you. Luna thought I was going to hate her because I found out that she was a princess. I would and will never hate her!” Naruto’s words spoke with such truth that Celestia couldn’t help but feel jealous of Luna that she had a boy like this.

“Thank you for taking care of my sister.” Celestia bent her neck and placed her lips on Naruto’s cheek. He blushed immediately never having a girl do this and for this beautiful pony to do that was shocking. Luna couldn’t help but feel hurt by her sister because she knew how she felt. “That was a thank you, that is what most would call priceless as is my sister.” Luna quickly gave a breath of relief and returned to her bed placing the cloth back on her head.

Although Naruto had and still hasn’t felt love, he couldn’t help but feel slightly embarrassed by the fact that he had been given a small kiss. Celestia didn’t understand what it was about him but she felt drawn to him like she had to be with him. She knew how Luna felt but she now began to believe that she might actually like this pony. They walked in and went to go check on Luna whose eyes opened slowly. Although it wasn’t the first time they had opened they were the first that Naruto had seen.

“Naruto!” She called out hugging him because she couldn’t help herself anymore. Naruto blushed heavily when she wrapped her front hooves around the back of his neck. He stared outside as she began to get on all four hooves. “Thank you Naruto. I hoped you would come to save me.” She said as a small tear escaped her eye.

“Hey it’s alright I would do it a thousand times if I had to. Listen I’m sorry that I now know you’re a princess but just so you know I will never think of you as some spoiled mare or some other thing.” Naruto’s words had this sort of gentle feel as they flowed into Luna and Celestia’s ears. “I will always be your friend no matter what okay.”

“Thanks Naruto that makes me feel a lot better. I don’t ever want you to think of me as anyone greater than you, I want you to think of me as you would anyone.” Luna was just happy that she was going to be able to stay with Naruto a little longer. Celestia couldn’t believe how serious Naruto was as her face blushed red with embarrassment. Never has any male pony made her feel this way.

“Naruto please continue to watch out for my sister if you would please.” Celestia said as she walked out of the small house. She flew off but couldn’t help but look back as the house got farther away and so did Naruto. The further she got the more her chest hurt.

The thought of having a pony just like Naruto at her side sent her heart into a frenzy of beats. As she flew her head turned back and her face read confusion as she placed one hoof over her chest. “Could that pony have stolen my heart?” She asked openly as though she expected someone to answer her. She shook it off and flew back to her castle where much work needed doing.

“Naruto,” Luna said as her sister left, “why is your cheek red?” She asked although she already knew why.

“Oh, your sister gave me a small kiss for looking after and saving you today.” He said scratching his head laughing, “I certainly hope that doesn’t put a damper on our friendship…I wouldn’t want you to hate me over this.”

“I could never hate you Naruto. Why would you even say something like that?” Luna felt a little insulted because how could he even say that. (Luna he’s a boy we’re not that good at talking to girls).

Naruto felt a little scared because of the look that Luna was giving him. She had this look of irritation as she whipped back her tail and walked out. “What did I say?”

That night Luna tried making dinner and she succeeded where she thought she would fail. Although Naruto had questioned whether or not she hated him she finally knew how she felt about him. She liked him truly liked him and she couldn’t be happier. She began praying as she continued cooking while Naruto was cleaning the upstairs rooms of junk.

She then remembered that ape that had grabbed her and how he said his master wanted her to go back to evil. The only magic strong enough to do that would be the Elements of Harmony but they would never get their hands on them not if her sister had anything to say about it. She also had Naruto to protect her and that eased her worry. She felt her heart beat when she thought of him and couldn’t help but smile at her feelings. She had finally decided to embrace them, but she was far from showing them.

Naruto had finished cleaning up the room where he and Luna were sleeping next to each other when Luna called for dinner. Naruto raced down and sat at the table next to Luna who pretty much insisted upon it. He ate with a smile as anything she made was just good. She was an excellent cook even if people said she wasn’t. Naruto felt lucky that Luna was okay and that he had so many friends but did he really deserve them or was he some monster.

He remembered how he felt when he was kicking Carnac’s butt that he wanted to shed that ape’s blood but he didn’t want Luna to fear him so he went easy on him. However he couldn’t deny how he felt. He felt angry, he felt like he wanted to kill everything in sight if it meant keeping Luna safe. He was slightly afraid of these powers that just appeared for him but he thanked them because they helped him save Luna.

Luna fell asleep rather fast and Naruto couldn’t. He just couldn’t get his mind off the royal darkness guy. He got up and headed outside and saw Pinkie Pie up on a hill. He was wondering why she was up there and decided to go check. “Hey Pinkie Pie,” He called over to her making her look in his direction, “what are you doing out here?”

“Watching the stars, what are you doing out here?” She was a little more calm than usual and that scared Naruto a little.

“I just came out to think. I can see why you came out here to look at the stars they are beautiful.” He wished that he was with Luna looking up at this sky but he was just fine with Pinkie Pie because they were friends as well. “Hey why are you so hyper all the time?”

“I like being me.” She said smiling at him, “I know that I’m a little crazy at times but I won’t steer away from who I am. I’m going to stay true to myself. I don’t care if the world knows the real me and doesn’t like it. I have great friends like you and the other girls. I’m happy all the time because it’s much better to be happy than it is to be sad.”

“I can respect that.” Naruto said smiling at her. “So I’m guessing that you’re going to head home now?”

Pinkie Pie was a little surprised by this. Naruto just wanted someone with him until he went back inside but that’s not what Pinkie thought. “Are you asking me to stay with you, oh Naruto you already have Luna don’t cheat.” She said playfully.

Naruto was confused, what did she mean by he had Luna? “Um…. Luna isn’t mine. I don’t own anyone Pinkie Pie, and well yeah I’d like to look at this sky a little longer it helps calm me down.” He said a little sheepishly, he never really wanted to ask her but he just did.

“Okay but no tricks.” Naruto picked up his left front hoof in defense because Pinkie Pie had this look of suspicion about her. He didn’t know what she meant but he smiled.

After five minutes of sitting there and looking at the sky together Pinkie Pie started to feel a little tingle in her heart. She looked over to Naruto and the tingle got stronger. She looked away and the tingle softened. She looked to and from several times and her heart tingled in response. She smiled because she realized how cool Naruto looked right now. She was happy to be next to a guy that was so cool.

Pinkie Pie immediately knew she liked Naruto. Pinkie was elated that she had something that she could really focus on and now she had someone to put all of her time into. Naruto is in for it.

Pinkie rested her head on Naruto’s shoulder which made him freeze up a little because girls have never done this to him at least as far as he knows so why did these girls do this? Naruto was confused but he felt at ease as though Pinkie was supposed to be on his shoulder. He didn’t want to but he soon found his head nestled against hers. Pinkie’s face blushed up along with Naruto’s but they didn’t look at each other.

Pinkie Pie now knew what she would be doing tomorrow. She was going to go out of her way to be with Naruto. However she would have to plan it. Naruto left a while after looking at the stars a little longer with Pinkie Pie and he felt sort of guilty because Luna may get angry with him, but he didn’t know why he thought that. When he returned to the house he went to bed where he found Luna sleeping.

Pinkie Pie went over to Twilight’s to ask her what the best course of action would be to get Naruto to look at her. “Twilight!” She screamed barging in.

“Pinkie Pie what’s wrong?” Twilight asked as she rubbed her eyes. Pinkie darted to what some would call too close.

“I like Naruto I need some advice in how to get him to look at me. Mind helping me out a little.” She said pulling on Twilight’s face.

“I don’t think I’m the one you should be asking after all I’ve never had a boyfriend. I think Rarity would know more than me don’t you think?” Twilight said yawning she really just wanted to go back to bed.

Pinkie Pie ran out of Twilight’s house and headed for Rarity’s house where she was doing a little cleaning. “Rarity I need some help.” Pinkie said surprising Rarity a little.

“What’s wrong?” She asked as she put her cleaning materials away.

“I like and I mean really like Naruto and need some tips on how to get him to look at me and no other pony.” Pinkie Pie was basically not hiding anything from her.

“Oh dear,” Rarity said somewhat joyfully as she used her powers to pull some clothes and styling equipment, “well you’ll need a new look if you want him to look at you so let’s see here.”

Rarity began going through different styles and clothing. However when she finished she had only flattened her hair down. “How’s this supposed to get him to look at me?” Pinkie asked a little confused with the look.

“Simple he will notice that your hair has changed and you can start up a conversation that way. From there he’ll be in the palm of your hands.” Rarity sounded like some love doctor but she had confused Pinkie Pie. “Basically he won’t be able to take his eyes off of you.”

“Yeah! Thank you Rarity you’re the best!” Pinkie Pie headed outside where she couldn’t wait for tomorrow and she made sure that nothing happened to her hair.

The Dawn of Dusk

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Remedy, a black unicorn with brunette hair and yellow eyes, awoke inside the castle that was built in the Dark Forest to keep any outsiders out. She woke with her father’s guards staying close to her. She never liked being watched all the time but she really had no choice because her father would send patrol upon patrol out for her. Her hooves clacked against the tile as she walked to her crystal ball room. It was the only place she had privacy.

She looked at her crystal ball and it showed her an image of an orange pony, Naruto. She looked at him with interested eyes as she thought of him as her chosen one, the one she would end up marrying. She had to get to him but the only way to get to him would be by going through her father’s guards but that would make her a traitor. She didn’t even know if this pony would like her or not. Suddenly the doors to the room bursted open and her father walked in with two of his ape soldiers.

“What are you doing Remedy?” He asked as her brother Shadow walked in with a sly grin. He was older by two years and in line for the throne but their father had chosen her over him feeling that she would be a better leader.

“I was looking at my crystal ball and saw someone.” She said using her powers to float the ball over to her father who looked at it with great intent. “I think this is my chosen one the one I am meant to marry but I don’t know yet.”

“This is quite the acquisition you’re giving this young boy are you sure?” He wasn’t sure about Naruto although he didn’t know his name. He didn’t want his daughter’s heart to be broken by some arrogant pony. “I will think about letting you go to him but give me some time alone my daughter.”

“Of course father.” Remedy was elated with this as she ran out of the room.

Shadow looked to the two guards at his father’s side and nodded. They nodded back each clenching their fists. “Shadow do you believe this chosen one thing she says?” His father asked him but he had to get this done and he was going to do it now.

“Father I’d like to show you something,” Shadow stomped his foot on the ground and a large shadow sprang from the ground wrapping his father up. “It’s about time I take what’s rightfully mine.”

Remedy realized that she had forgotten her crystal ball and headed back to get it. However, she didn’t enter the room because she saw her father being choked to death by her brother. “Shadow what is the meaning of this,” Her father said choking, “you realize that once I die that Remedy will rule not you.”

“Not if I kill her to. I won’t allow you or her to stand in my way. The army is behind me and I could care less about the people. I will become the ruler of Equestria but first things first, getting rid of you old man.” Shadow spoke with malicious intent.

Remedy’s father looked at the door and saw his daughter looking at him terrified. “Run, Remedy run!” He shouted using the last of his energy to send her away. It was a unique ability only to him and his family, they could teleport themselves or others but they need a lot of energy to do it. Everyone in their family knew how to do it. However Remedy never got around to learning it.

She found herself in the main chambers where her father would normally deal with the people. However she felt it in her heart that he was gone. She suddenly heard banging from up above, the soldiers were coming for her. She ran for the main gates that were opened wide and bolted out of the castle and city heading right for Ponyville where Naruto the one she believed to be her chosen one would be waiting.

“You two go after her make sure she’s dead and don’t come back unless you’ve done the job understand.” Shadow spoke to two of his soldiers and they nodded in response. Everyone in the army knew the power Shadow possessed. They didn’t want to be on the receiving end of it so the two apes went off after Remedy.
………………………….

Naruto woke up to find himself completely energized but he felt as though someone had been spying on him all night and he couldn’t help but look outside. There was no one there so he had nothing to worry about. Luna soon rose from her bed of leaves and headed down to make breakfast, cinnamon rolls. Naruto could smell the cinnamon as they were being cooked and the sweet humming coming from Luna.

Her humming was just that, it wasn’t any particular song just her humming. Naruto liked it a lot and really wished he could have heard more but the rolls were done much faster than he had anticipated and Luna’s humming stopped. Although the humming had stopped he still had Luna’s amazing food to get to. He didn’t waste any time as he dove straight into the rolls face first. By the time he was done his nose and mouth was covered with cinnamon and icing.

Luna laughed at Naruto when he came up for air. Naruto had this look of somewhat disbelief, he couldn’t believe that Luna was laughing at him for the way he ate. “Well I was hungry and I couldn’t wait any longer.” He said wiping his mouth and nose with a napkin. “I hope you remember this because I’m going to get you back for it Luna just you wait.”

Luna smiled as she started to clean the kitchen. Being an alicorn as she was sort of made things a little easier for her especially when it involved getting some work done around the house. Naruto had finally found a job at a bakery where he helped prepare the cakes and deserts that they served. He had started yesterday and was determined to do his best despite the fact that he has never baked before.

Naruto wanted to live a normal life in Ponyville without any drama but he felt like not having drama made life boring. He wanted to be out doing more but right now he had a duty to his friends. He still was indebted to Twilight for saving him and he was still thinking of how he could do that.

Naruto headed out the door and jogged to the bakery where Miss Flash made the most spectacular pastries. He didn’t know why he wanted to work there, but he had a feeling it had something to do with Luna being able to cook so wonderfully. Walking in he was hit with the scent of pastry and lovely sugars. “Naruto good to see that you’re early on your first true day.” Miss Flash was like a nice old grandma just younger, much younger. She took great pride in her work and wasn’t afraid of anyone’s criticism.

Naruto got ready, putting the apron on that he still had trouble with. It was like wrestling with an anaconda for him, the apron just did not want to go on him. Miss Flash chuckled at the display that Naruto was giving and he laughed with her as he finally got it settled. He just hoped none of the girls saw him in this it would be humiliating.

Twilight felt an utter need for something sweet and what better place to get sweets than Miss Flash’s pastry shop. She trotted down the road with Spike right behind her and quickly arrived at the entrance to the shop. Naruto looked out the window and saw Twilight heading right for the door. He was terrified and hid under the counter hoping that he was seeing things.

The small bell on the door chimed and he heard Twilight’s humming. He felt like this was the end, this was his final day. “Hello is anyone here?” Twilight said at the counter awaiting service.

“Naruto can you get that customer I’m a little busy at the moment.” Miss Flash said exposing Naruto to Twilight.

Naruto’s head came slowly up from the counter as he shook with embarrassment. Twilight saw him and couldn’t help but smile. She never would have expected someone like him to work at a bakery. “Naruto so this is where you work now? The apron suits you.” Twilight gave a small giggle that only made Naruto angrier.

“Thanks Twilight,” he said barely managing a smile, “now what do you want today? Miss Flash has made some new cakes that I tasted and they’re terrific!”

Twilight decided that she would go with the new cake and Naruto was right about it being terrific. The moistness of the cake with the blend of sugars and small spices gave the cake a special flavor. It made Twilight’s eyes shine with passion, she didn’t want to stop eating the cake but before she knew it all the cake was gone.

Twilight left only to be followed by Pinky Pie. Naruto was a little worried but for some reason he saw that Pinky’s hair had been flattened. “Morning Naruto.” Pinky Pie was trying to sound different than she normally sounded but this only made Naruto slightly suspicious of her. “Notice anything different about me?” She walked up to the counter and almost scared Naruto into running out the back door but he knew how fast Pinky was and outrunning her would be useless.

“If I had to guess I’d say everything,” He said feeling like that was the only answer he could think of, “but your hair does look nice.”

Pinky’s face lit up, Rarity’s plan had worked at least that’s what Pinky was thinking. “Really I wanted to try something new and I was hoping that you would like it.” Naruto was a little confused on why Pinky Pie cared if he liked the look. “I just wanted to ask are you doing anything after work?”

“No why?” Naruto asked feeling even more confused.

“Would you mind spending the day with me if it isn't going to bother you?” Pinky Pie was taking a hail mary trying to ask Naruto out on a date.

“It’s no problem at all besides I need to go look at a few things and it would be nice to have some company.” Naruto had no idea that he had just made, possibly, the wildest pony in Ponyville happier than ever.

“I’ll see you when you’re done then Naruto don’t forget.” Pinky Pie said skipping out of the bakery. Naruto had a sweat drop on his head that accompanied his stuttering laugh.

“It seems you have an admirer,” Miss Flash said from the back kitchen. Naruto was slightly confused by what Miss Flash said. “I mean you have a girl who likes you.”

Naruto blushed when he thought of a girl actually liking him. “Are you sure this is Pinky Pie we’re talking about.” Naruto said finding it hard to believe that Pinky could like him.

“Honey I am normally never wrong about these things but what you need to know is that breaking a girl’s heart is not a good thing.” Naruto felt pressure being placed on him and he didn’t appreciate it. “Just be yourself and you will be fine alright.”

“Okay Miss Flash thanks for the advice.” Naruto said getting back to his job but his mind was now on Pinky Pie and the realization that he was going to spend the rest of the afternoon with her.

When Naruto finished his work he headed out where Pinky Pie waited for him in an amazing dress. Naruto couldn’t believe that Pinky was going to wear that for shopping it’s not like this was a date or anything. However what Naruto didn’t know was that it was a date and he agreed to it without really thinking it through. “Pinky Pie wow, uh what’s with the dress?” Naruto asked finding his head beginning to sweat.

“I thought I should look nice for you ya know.” Pinky walked up to Naruto putting her side against his making him gulp. “Let’s get going!” Pinky grabbed a hold of Naruto and dragged him along to stores where he could look for stuff for Luna.

Luna looked at the sky and felt like something was wrong and that Naruto was taking a little too long to get back. She decided to go out and look for him to make sure that he wasn’t hurt. She arrived at the main shopping district in Ponyville rather fast and when she arrived her heart dropped. She saw Naruto with a wonderfully dressed Pinky Pie and it looked like they were on a date. She darted behind a house and looked out watching them as they shopped together.

Luna was furious that Naruto was dating another girl. Was she not enough for him or did he want something more than her? Luna needed to find out what was going on so she decided that she would spy on them until it looked like Naruto was heading home. She followed them throughout the town but she couldn’t hear anything that they were saying to each other. She would have to get closer to do that.

She got as close as she could and began to hear their conversation, “Pinky Pie can you please not stand so close I don’t want anyone getting the wrong idea.” Luna felt confused on why he wouldn’t want ponies to think of the two of them as a couple when they looked exactly like a couple.

“Why not we look like a great pair don’t we?” Luna wanted to rip Pinky Pie in half for saying that.

“Well yes,” Luna heard Naruto’s words and felt her whole heart shatter into a million pieces, “but I don’t want to be anyone’s boyfriend. I just want to get some money so that I can take care of Luna.”

Luna looked up and couldn’t believe what Naruto had just said. Naruto had found work yesterday and Luna had thought it was so he could take care of himself not her. She didn’t expect him to be working for her. “She doesn’t want me to treat her like a princess but I’m not doing that I’m showing that I have a heart. I want her to feel comfortable for as long as she’s staying at my place.”

“Wait Luna lives in your house?” Pinky Pie had a very angry face at that point.

“It’s not like that Pinky,” Naruto said looking back at the bedding items, “we are just friends that live together. I don’t think she even likes me that way. I feel as though I’m just a friend to her.” Luna felt hurt that Naruto said such a thing but when she thought about how she acted around him she understood why. “She’s an amazing alicorn and I’m lucky that she’s staying with me. I’m okay with letting a girl sleep in my house as long as it’s not on me.”

Pinky Pie and Naruto both erupted into laughter after he said that. “Naruto could we do this again please?” Pinky wanted nothing more than to be with him but she knew that he had to go soon and she wanted to leave before he left.

“Sure if Luna doesn’t have anything planned.” Naruto smiled at Pinky as she walked away heading for Rarity’s home. Naruto had a feeling that Rarity was involved with Pinky’s look today. Pinky Pie didn’t really seem like that kind of girl.

Naruto found the exact bedding that he wanted to get for Luna but it was expensive and would cost him all of today’s pay. “Luna needs a bed,” He placed the money on the counter and grabbed each of the bedding and placed them on a cart and started to hall it down to the house. Luna took flight so that he wouldn’t see her.

Naruto reached the house just as Luna entered through a second floor window. Luna got into the bathroom hoping that she had made it before he opened the door. Luckily she did, “Luna I have something for you,” Naruto called up to her as he began taking each part of the stairs to the room by himself.

“I’m in the bathroom Naruto,” Luna said a little embarrassed that she had actually spied on him.

“Alright I’ll just set it up for you and you can look at it when you get out.” Naruto took three trips which took about ten minutes. Luna didn’t move from the door as she heard him pull each piece by himself up those stairs and into the room. “It’s done are you?”

“Yes I’m coming out.” Luna opened the door and saw that her bedding was her favorite color, blue. “Naruto how did you get the money for this, there’s no way you got it off of two days of work.”

“Miss Flash gave me an advance on my pay when I told her why I was working for her. I told her that I wanted to take care of you and she gave this to me saying it was my pay for the day.” Naruto said those words as though he liked Luna but he really only thought of her as a friend.

Suddenly they heard a scream coming from outside that had Naruto running outside. Luna was right behind them and they saw a unicorn running for her life out of the Dark Forest. The pony was black with brown hair but that’s not what Naruto saw. He saw the two apes behind the pony.

“Luna you get the pony I’ll take the monkeys go!” Naruto raced after the ponies ready to teach more a lesson in picking on ponies. Luna got to the pony quickly but she stopped the girl from running and that had the apes catching up. Naruto got in front of them as he smiled feeling excited that he was going to give two more apes a spanking.

“Get to the house now!” Naruto said to Luna and the girl as the apes charged him. Naruto jumped over them and planted his two back hooves into their heads. Naruto somersaulted in the air and landed on his feet. “I’m sick of you guys picking on ponies especially girls.”

Luna got to the house with the girl and told her to wait for them as she headed back out to help Naruto. Naruto slid under one of the apes and jumped as the other tried to slam his fist into him. Luna fired off a blast from her horn and it hit the ape that Naruto slid under knocking him down. The ape saw Luna and charged her. She flew up but the ape jumped after her and got her legs bringing her to the ground hard.

Her scream got to Naruto and he took his eyes off of the ape he was fighting and saw that Luna had been slammed into the ground. The ape slammed his fist against Naruto’s back and bashed him into the ground. However Naruto’s anger had already gone overboard and the slam didn’t really help. Naruto’s demon seal appeared and he burst through the ground in front of Luna punching the ape that had slammed her into his buddy.

He roared out charging the two of them. He had lost all sense of remorse as he felt that Luna was possibly dead. The apes looked at him with horror in their eyes and they were right to do that. Naruto slammed his hooves into the ground and it caused a massive wave of earth to go at the apes. Naruto didn’t stop though even after the wave had hit them. He jumped in the air and focused the power that he felt and focused it into his two front hooves and headed right for the apes.

Luna opened her eyes and saw Naruto as he crashed into the apes. He came out with red eyes and a blonde coat. Luna felt afraid for a moment but was suddenly filled with relief that he was okay. Naruto’s colors turned back to normal and Luna went to him and gave him a hug. Naruto gasped when his friend wrapped her arms around him. He put his head against hers as she started crying onto his coat. He didn’t realize that Applejack was watching from the house. The apes got up and headed back for the Dark Forest as they didn’t want to die.

Naruto felt a huge loss of energy and collapsed to the ground. “Naruto!” Luna shouted which had the new girl pony and Applejack running to help her get Naruto inside. They got him to the room where they placed him on the bed. They all stayed there waiting for him to get up. After thirty minutes of no movement Applejack decided that she would start making some food for when he woke up. Although she didn’t want to leave his side she didn’t want Naruto eating anyone’s food but hers.

That left the new girl pony, Remedy, alone with Naruto a pony she believed to be her chosen one. Naruto stirred and she got closer to him as his eyes opened. “Hello I’m Remedy are you okay?”

“I’m Naruto and yeah I’m okay.” Remedy was so happy that she couldn’t help herself and she kissed Naruto on the lips. Naruto’s eyes widened fully as Remedy pushed even harder on his lips. Luna and Applejack came back up and both of their mouths opened when they saw Naruto and Remedy kissing. Luna couldn’t move as her heart fell. Naruto couldn’t believe he got a kiss from a girl he didn’t even know. When Remedy finally pulled off he was in complete shock.

“What the heck are you doing girl?!” Luna shouted pulling Remedy away from Naruto who still was in shock. “We don’t even know you and you kiss Naruto what is your deal?”

“Naruto is my chosen one.” Remedy said looking at him with a smile. “He will marry me one day.”

Luna and Applejack couldn’t believe what they had just heard. “How do you know he isn’t a chosen one to one of us?” Applejack asked helping Luna to get Remedy away from Naruto. “Naruto will decide when he’s ready if he wants to marry anyone.”

“My crystal ball showed him in it and my crystal ball shows me things that I will soon come to own. So I know that he will become my husband and he’s now all I have.” Remedy threw herself in Naruto’s lap bringing him back from shock. Luna was beginning to lose it as her horn brought her power forth and threw Remedy off of him.

“Your crystal ball isn’t here is it?” Luna asked feeling very angry that she wasn’t the first to kiss Naruto. “It showed you what you wanted because that’s what it’s meant to do. If it wasn’t a love crystal ball then it could mean anything.” Remedy understood what Luna was saying because she had a future crystal ball so the picture of him could have meant anything. She still believed though that Naruto was her chosen one.

“Listen Remedy I’m not anyone’s chosen one right now and I don’t plan on being anyone’s right now. I’m sorry Remedy but I don’t even know you yet and we just met but let’s get to know each other before you try that again.” Naruto said only to have Luna and Applejack give him the death stare. He looked at them with a weak smile as he felt like he should have said something else.

“Alright I will remain here until you ask to marry me.” Everyone in the room looked at Remedy with wide eyes and open mouths. “I am a princess just so you know and I expect to be treated as such.”

“Yeah this house is meant for two people right now and Luna has taken up residence here so I’m sorry. Even if I let you stay here I would never treat you like a princess, I don’t treat anyone like that. Everyone is the same to me and I will treat everyone the same.” Naruto sounded a little angry at Remedy for the way she was trying to force herself onto him.

Luna was surprised that Naruto wanted her to be the one to live with him and not the girl who had just kissed him. She felt a little better about not being the one to kiss him first. “Then she will have to leave. I will not allow some night pony to steal my man.” Remedy said with a lot of sass.

Luna was now pissed off, “Yeah well I don’t want my friend to be with a dark pony.”

“Look whose talking nightmare.” Luna stepped back because she knew what would happen if Naruto picked up on what was about to be said. “Did you know she used to be evil Naruto? She used to be someone named Nightmare Moon. She tried to plunge the world into everlasting night and darkness. If it wasn’t for those six ponies with the Elements of Harmony she would still be evil.”

“Are you saying that I shouldn’t trust her?” Naruto was getting angry now, “Listen I’m sorry for what I’m about to do.” Everyone looked at him with confused looks, “I don’t care if she used to be evil. She is no longer evil and I will die before I let anyone insult her so don’t be doing that Remedy. I don’t want to have to hurt a friend to protect Luna but I will if I have to.”

“Do you like her Naruto?” Remedy asked a little terrified that she never had a chance in the first place.

“No like I said we’re just friends.” Naruto actually lied and somehow Luna felt that he was but at the same time she felt hurt. “However with how you are going you aren’t even close to me liking you. I do know where you can go though.” Remedy looked at him with soft eyes, “I have a friend named Twilight and she has a big house that would be perfect for you to live in. Just tell her that I sent you.”

“Give this to her and she’ll definitely let you stay.” Luna handed a small piece of paper that had been folded to Remedy and she left blowing a kiss Naruto’s way.

“Naruto did you enjoy that kiss by any chance?” Applejack finally spoke up after all the drama between Remedy and Luna.

Naruto shook his head as he wiped his mouth. “I didn’t want to have my first kiss until I knew I really liked someone.” He said looking at Applejack and then at Luna. “Why were you two so defensive though?”

“Oh that well you see….” Luna didn’t know how to respond to that but luckily Applejack was there.

“We didn’t want her to order you around like that. It’s your life and you should decide what you do not some random pony. I have to get back to the farm so I’ll see you later okay.” Applejack gave a small smile even though she wanted to stay she had to get back to the farm and get it going.

Naruto didn’t even get a chance to ask why she even came over in the first place. “Luna were you really evil one time?” This shocked Luna because she didn’t expect Naruto to ask that. She started to think that Naruto didn’t trust her as her head dropped. Naruto realized that he had hurt her and he had to fix it. “It’s okay if you were evil once, I don’t care. You are who you are now and that will never change right?”

“Yeah as long as you stay with me that is.” Luna said looking at Naruto. He was confused by this because he didn’t know what she meant by that. “I don’t ever want you to die okay please it would hurt too much to see that happen.”

“I won’t die Luna I promise.” Naruto rubbed his left cheek against her and she blushed a heavy red. Naruto didn’t notice this as he continued feeling like he had to do this as though it was what they both wanted. He didn’t understand why Luna made him feel like this only that she did and he didn’t want to lose that feeling. “Luna there’s really nothing that could take me away from you, but I don’t love you okay.”

“I know and yeah I don’t love you either I just don’t want to lose such a great friend.” Luna didn’t technically lie because that was true to some extent. She didn’t want to lose him as being her friend but she was hoping that it was love or even a feeling of like that would keep him at her side. “There is a festival coming up soon would you mind coming with me. I have to be there but I’d really appreciate it if you would come with.”

“Sure Luna I wouldn’t mind going anywhere with you.” Naruto really need to learn how to pick his words around girls especially ones that like him. “Why do you have to go though?”

“I am Princess Celestia’s sister and am required to be at royal festivals.” Luna was blushing as she found telling this to Naruto to be a little uncomfortable.

“That makes sense. I’ll be your bodyguard then.” Naruto said holding a hoof up.

“Really you’d do that for me?” Luna asked him making circles with her left front hoof.

“Sure I won’t let anyone get near you even if it’s a giant evil dragon. I said I would always be by your side didn’t I.” Naruto said winking at her, “Believe it Luna I’m not going to leave your side for anything unless you tell me to. I’ll be on you like a fly to a pie.” Luna gave a slight giggle at him for saying such a cheesy rhyme. “Hey it was all I could think of but I promise to never let anyone hurt you.”

“Naruto why….why would you say such a thing that would be like giving me a royal treatment and I don’t want you doing that.” Luna wanted to thank him truthfully but she had to make sure that this wasn’t because she was a princess.

“Well I care about you that’s why.” Luna blushed hard as she couldn’t believe what she had just heard. “We may have been friends for only a few days but I really like having you as a friend. You have amazing cooking, you look amazing, your eyes sparkle in the sun and well you’re just amazing to me. I noticed that when I first met you.” Luna looked up into his eyes and he felt some strange force hit him.

The moonlight entered the room illuminating Luna’s coat and hair. Her eyes sparkled with the stars and Naruto felt drawn to her. Luna saw Naruto looking at her and felt herself getting closer to him. Naruto was frozen with wonder at how beautiful Luna looked, maybe this was why she is called the night pony he thought. Luna wanted to kiss him right then and there but Naruto snapped out of his wonder as she got within inches of his lips.

Naruto looked into her eyes and saw disappointment in them. Had he done something wrong, but right now he didn’t want to fall in love with anyone but the more he didn’t want to fall in love with her the more his heart ached for her. He didn’t understand why his heart ached like that but he wanted it to stop. Luna was a good friend and he didn’t want such silly feelings getting in the way of their friendship.

“Hey it’s getting late let’s get some sleep okay.” Naruto headed up the stairs but was stopped by Luna’s scream. “Luna!” He rushed down and saw that she had tripped over a broken plank in the floor. He helped her up placing his head under her chin. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah I guess I need to watch where I’m going huh?” She said with a smile.

“Don’t scare me like that okay I was ready to go insane on someone.” He said feeling irritated.

They headed up the stairs and went into the room where Luna got up into her bed while Naruto got on his bed of leaves. Luna was smiling hard because Naruto had said that he cared about her and was scared that she might have been in serious trouble even though she had just tripped. She hoped that the festival brought them closer together.
……..………..

That night Naruto had a strange dream. He dreamed of Luna and her at his side. He felt happy in the dream as Luna’s warmth touched his body. They had each other’s hoof as they stared into the sunset together. “Luna I don’t think I’ve ever been happier.” Naruto said as he watched the dream from another view.

“Same here Naruto I wish we could stay this way forever. Would you mind if we had another accident now.” Luna asked putting herself closer. Although Naruto was watching everything he wanted so much to be living the dream for some reason. He watched as he and Luna kissed each other and fell into the grass.

At that moment he woke up to find that he was feeling very warm. He looked at Luna’s bed and saw that it was empty. He rushed out of the room and saw that she was looking up at the stars. It was almost like his dream and he wanted to recreate it now but he didn’t want these feelings. He forced himself back to the room and back to sleep. The moment he returned to the dream world he found himself somewhere else.

He saw tears coming out of Luna’s eyes as she looked at him with hurt. “What am I not good enough for you Naruto?” He didn’t understand what was happening. “Was everything you told me just an act to get closer to my sister?”

“Luna I don’t know what you’re talking about can you tell me what happened.” Naruto didn’t understand why she looked so upset with him, what had he done to her?

“Don’t act like you don’t know Naruto, you were with my sister all day. You told her that I was nothing compared to her. What about her is so special?” Luna slapped Naruto in the face within the dream but it felt more.

“I’ve never been alone with your sister Luna. What are you talking about? Who told you that?” He felt afraid of her and he wanted to know what was going on.

“No one told me, I saw you!” Luna was angry now, but Naruto was confused. “I saw you take the necklace off and what do you know it isn’t on you right now. You told her that it was a meaningless trinket that didn’t have any purpose but to show pointless affection.”

“I would never say anything like that Luna you know that.” Naruto tried to voice for himself but every time he tried it felt like he was digging a deeper hole. “If you had given me a necklace I would be wearing it. No one could get it off of me no one.”

“I saw you throw it away Naruto!” Luna was getting angrier and angrier the more this conversation dragged on. “I wish I had never met you! All you do is look at others so I’m going to go to someone who has always looked at me.”

Naruto was hurt by this but he couldn’t let her go. He leapt at her bringing her to the floor. She was struggling to get out of his grip and hold but Naruto held strong. He felt like if he let her go she would leave and never return. “Luna please don’t go please.”

“Why so you can have access to the castle to see your girlfriend?” She said with a hurt voice.

“I don’t need to be at the castle to be with the one I love Luna because she’s always been with me.” Naruto didn’t know why he was saying these things but they felt right. “I don’t love anyone other than the one I’ve been with the longest. You Luna I’m in love with you and no one can change that.” He planted his lips on hers and he was then put in a third person view as he watched Luna wrap her front hooves around him and deepen the kiss.

He awoke the next morning sweating as the smell of wonderful food smacked his nose. Naruto headed down the stairs and saw Luna making breakfast. He felt like the dream was more than that but he couldn’t believe that with his friend smiling the way she was at him. However his heart still felt hurt from the dream and he wondered why. Why did he feel this way when it was just a dream?

A Demon at a festival

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Two months had passed since Remedy had shown up and proclaimed Naruto to be her chosen one. Luna didn’t like how Remedy went out of her way to be with Naruto. It was like the only alone time she had with Naruto was at night when they went to bed. She wanted more time with him. She wanted him all to herself for one day. She looked up at the sky and felt like the festival was her only chance at having alone time with him. She was going to do everything she had to do to make him like her.

Naruto felt like he would have to dress up for this event and he headed into town to see Rarity about attire. When he arrived he saw Applejack, Pinky Pie, and Remedy asking her about what they could wear to make him notice them. Naruto felt like they were all trying to get him to fall in love, did they not get the fact that he didn’t want to fall in love yet. He waited for the girls to leave with their dresses behind a plant and then appeared shocking Rarity.

“Oh dear what were you doing behind there?” Rarity asked with a lot of suspicion.

“I didn’t want the girls to see me sorry about scaring you.” Naruto said scratching the back of his head with his hoof. “I want to look the part of a bodyguard for Luna. Do you think that you can give me a look that will fit that?”

“Well it is a little short notice but I do have something.” She used her powers and produced a black leather jacket and dark sun glasses. Naruto looked at them with wide eyes. Rarity helped him get them on and she took a step back to admire him. “You look just dashing in those Naruto. You really pull that look off. Here’s a bowtie just in case.”

She put a small black bowtie around his neck and he felt ready to do his part for Luna. He was ready to go back to the house and see what Luna was going to wear. He reached his home and walked in to see that Luna had nothing on. “Luna I thought you said that you had to wear a dress for the beginning of the festival?” Naruto didn’t understand why he was upset that she wasn’t wearing anything.

“I have to go to the castle to get my clothes I’ll see you at the festival.” At those words a chariot with two pegusai in gold armor waiting for her. “I do like your outfit my bodyguard. I hope you will like my outfit.” Naruto felt like he was doing her a wrong by not staying by her side. That and his dream made him want to be with her more and more.

“Luna I won’t let you go to the castle alone.” Luna looked at Naruto as she had one foot in the chariot. “I wouldn’t be doing my job as a bodyguard if I let you go by yourself now would I?” Naruto jumped over Luna and got on the chariot. Luna looked at him with wide eyes as her heart beat fast. “Come on don’t want to be late now do we?” He held out a hoof and Luna took it with her cheeks red. “I’m not giving you royal treatment this is because I don’t want you tripping again.”

“Those were all accidents Naruto!” Luna said a little agitated by him, why was he teasing her? “Naruto you don’t have to come why don’t you just walk there like everyone else?”

“I thought you wanted me at your side are you saying that you don’t? You can be very confusing sometimes. I told you that nothing would keep me from your side today and I meant that. Believe it!” Naruto really hit her heart hard when he said that. To Luna it was like every time he talked he made her fall for him more.

“Naruto I….thank you.” Naruto looked at her with confusion because he expected her to argue with him. Luna was happy, very happy that the man she liked was so aggressive in staying by her side. She wished it wasn’t because of a promise but of love.

They arrived at the castle where they were greeted by Celestia. “Hello dear sister, how have you been?” She asked her sister then noticed that Naruto was with her. She felt a strange tug at her heart for she hadn’t been able to think clearly since meeting him.

“It’s good to see you to sister. I am well thanks to Naruto here. He is a great friend to me and,” She put herself close to her sister so that Naruto couldn’t hear her, “he is very special to me.”

“Really?” Celestia didn’t really need to ask why because she felt something special about him when she first met him. “Naruto why are you dressed like that?”

“Rarity gave it to me. I asked if she had anything that would make me seem more of a bodyguard. What do you think Celestia?” Naruto turned three sixty to show her his look. Celestia smiled although she wanted to get closer to him.

“You definitely look the part Naruto. Come sister,” She said to Luna heading down the hallway with Naruto and the armored ponies close behind them, “we have been selected our outfits for this event. We must look our best after all.”

“Then go the way you are.” Naruto said to the two of them making them stop in their tracks. “You two are already amazing I don’t think you need anything to make you look more beautiful. That’s my opinion though if you want to go ahead I actually think it wouldn’t change how you looked. In fact if it did it would only make you two even more amazing.”

Luna blushed as she walked down the hall with her sister feeling strange after hearing those words from Naruto. Celestia snuck a peek at Naruto while he smiled off into space after saying what he thought. Celestia had never been told that before at least not to her knowledge. She wanted to try what Naruto said but the other ponies were expecting her to be dressed for the event so she would have to comply with that.

The two girls went into a room and Naruto was shut out. He walked back and forth thinking about Luna and how he could protect her if anything happened. He doubted anything would but he wanted to make sure. Suddenly his mind brought him images of the two battles against the apes and how much power he had. Maybe if he could tap into that power a little more he could really protect Luna. He didn’t want to have to fight but if any apes did appear he would deal with them.
……………………….

At the castle within the Dark Forest the two apes that had failed to capture and dispose of Remedy faced judgment before Shadow and Captain Carnac. Carnac had a patch over his right eye after his battle with Naruto he began to think about why anyone would fight so hard, it was always on his mind.

“You two idiots have failed me,” Shadow paced in front of his throne as his anger was losing itself. “I told you what would happen to you if you failed.”

“Please King Shadow don’t kill us let us go again we won’t fail you this time we swear it.” One of the two apes who had failed their mission.

“Very well I will give you one more chance but if you fail consider your lives gone. Carnac you will accompany them. Kill my sister and retrieve my mistress by any means necessary is that understood?” Shadow slammed his foot into the ground causing dark spikes to sprout from the ground. “Take a squad with you, do not fail me apes.”

“As you wish oh great dark one.” Carnac put a fist on his armored chest but he couldn’t help but feel like he shouldn’t be doing this. He only did this because he thought that the young girl would take power. He wanted Remedy to take rule because he thought of her as his daughter which she technically was now that the king was dead. He was given the honor of being her god father. Could he really kill someone he spent so much time with because his insane king said to?

Carnac grabbed ten more apes besides the two who had almost met their deaths at the hand of their king. He couldn’t do it though because he couldn’t break the promise he made to the king when he was still alive but could he deny the crown now? The thoughts had him confused but for now he had a bone to pick with an orange pony.
……………………

Naruto stood outside the door waiting for Luna and Celestia to come out of the room. He had been waiting for an hour and he was wondering whether or not they remembered that he was out here. Suddenly the doors opened and he was shocked at how beautiful Celestia looked in her dress, but his eyes widened and his mouth dropped when he saw Luna come out from behind the door.

She was amazing, Naruto couldn’t believe that she was even more beautiful than she already was. Luna looked at him with red cheeks and noticed that he looked awestruck. “Do we look okay Naruto?” She asked trying to include her sister so that her feelings weren’t so obvious.

“You both look great.” Naruto said composing himself although he found it hard to control the beating of his own heart. Naruto felt the two of them brush up against him and he felt a little bit odd. He walked over to Luna’s side making sure that he did what he promised he would for Luna.

They walked out onto a balcony overlooking the festival. Naruto was amazed at how many ponies had come. Celestia began the festival with a speech that Naruto didn’t really listen to because he wanted to get to the festival. After Celestia finished her speech the festival began. “Naruto I want to hit the festival care to join me?” Luna asked feeling better having removed the beautiful dress.

“Of course Luna I have to stay by your side to be your bodyguard.” Naruto said nudging Luna who smiled at him. “Let’s go Luna!”

They hit the festival staying together as they made their way to some of the booths that had been set up. They didn’t know that Applejack, Pinky Pie, and Remedy were watching them. “What does she have that I don’t?” Remedy asked out loud.

“That’s a good question Remedy.” Pinky Pie said holding a pair of binoculars out. “Naruto sees everyone the same so what does he see in Luna that’s so great?”

“I wish I knew.” The three of them turned to see Princess Celestia with them watching Luna and Naruto. “I believe that my heart has fallen to that pony girls and I will accompany you with this spying because I to wish to know what he sees in my little sister.”

Naruto felt alive being able to finally let loose when someone gave him darts to throw at balloons. He threw them at the balloons with such ease that they all hit their mark. Luna was surprised by that as she had never seen anyone do that before. Naruto chose a stuffed tiger and handed it to Luna.

“Why are you giving this to me?” Luna asked using her powers to hold the stuffed tiger up.

“I thought you would like it Luna. Did you want another one I can get it you know?” He said feeling like he had chosen the wrong animal for her.

“No I like it I just didn’t expect you to be getting it for me. I’m just a little surprised. You said that I was just a friend right?” Luna asked feeling confused about how Naruto felt about her.

Naruto felt strange when she said that. Yes she is just a friend but when he said that in his head he felt odd, nauseous actually. “Yeah I just want you to have something that I got you.” Naruto said stepping away from her so that he could let his face go red.

“Thank you Naruto,” She rubbed herself against Naruto and he froze up as she got to his cheek. He started to feel weak in the knees and he saw a place that was showing a play. He somehow got out of Luna and her rubbing that made him feel weak inside.

“They have a play, why don’t we check it out Luna?” Naruto headed inside the theater and found seats.

Luna stayed outside and found a place to put her stuffed tiger that she named Fluffy. She felt like Naruto was trying to avoid such contact with her and that could mean he was starting to have feelings for her. When she thought that she jumped into the air feeling victorious. However she had just started what she was hoping.

Celestia wanted to tear something apart, Applejack was ready to knock Naruto out, Pinky Pie wanted to run in there and expose her cover, Remedy had a look of pure evil as she wanted to kidnap Luna and tell Naruto that she had ditched him. They all restrained themselves because others were starting to stare in their direction. “We need to keep watch over them but how?” Remedy asked the other three because she was out of ideas.

Celestia looked around and saw Twilight with Rarity and Rainbow Dash. “Twilight I have a task for you.” She said to her student with a clever idea. (Celestia does have a dark side huh). “In the theater my sister is with Naruto I would like you to watch them and see if they do anything suspicious understand?”

“You got it Princess Celestia come on girls.” The three ponies went into the theater with a mission to spy on Naruto and Luna.

The play was a sad romantic. Luna started to cry when the girl’s heart was broken by the main hero. Naruto saw this and he put his hoof on her hoof which made her look at him. He backed away slightly because when he saw those eyes before she sounded like she hated him. As the play went on Luna began to feel happier because the boy in the play was starting to realize how he felt for the girl.

Her head fell on Naruto’s shoulder and he looked down at her and felt funny, like butterflies were in his stomach. He wanted to ask her to come off but she then put her hoof around him like she was hugging him and he couldn’t now. He didn’t understand why but he didn’t want the play to end. Luna was happy that Naruto wasn’t asking her to move because that meant he either enjoyed this or he couldn’t ask her to do it. Either way she didn’t care she was happy. When a monster appeared out of nowhere she held onto him more and he felt even more butterflies.

Why was he feeling this, he didn’t understand why. Luna realized how close and hard she was holding him and she released her grip moving back blushing. She smiled at him and he looked at the smile of innocence. He smiled back rubbing against her cheek. She rubbed back as the play had romantic music playing. Naruto wasn’t sure why he was doing this but he liked it, yet he didn’t want to do it.

When they stopped the play was reaching its end. They both looked at the stage and saw that the two ponies realized the true feelings they had for each other and fell in love kissing each other to seal their lives with each other. Luna couldn’t help but think that this was going to be her story. Her man would act like she nothing but a friend but after awhile he would come to fall in love with her.

Naruto watched the end and for some reason he wanted to kiss Luna. He, at the same time wanted to leave Luna for the very same reason. “Hey Naruto,” Luna said putting her hoof on his making him look at her, “would you mind coming with me to a certain ride?”

“I told you that I won’t leave your side, you don’t need to ask me.” Naruto walked out with Luna and followed her through the festival with his heart pumping. No matter what he wanted he felt like if anything more romantic happened between them he would lose it.

Twilight headed out of the theater and headed back to Celestia. “What did you see Twilight?” Celestia asked almost blasting out that she liked Naruto.

“We didn’t see anything suspicious but they did look like they were very comfortable together.” Rainbow Dash said before Twilight.

“They looked very happy being together almost as if they were dating each other.” Fluttershy said softly.

“Yeah they rubbed up against each other like they were in love or something. Luna seemed to be more into it though, Naruto looked to just be going along.” Twilight said finally getting her word in.

“Thank you I must attend to something please excuse me.” Celestia flew off in the direction that Naruto and Luna went but Twilight didn’t see that.

“I have to go do stuff so excuse me as well.” Remedy said obviously not finding the right words to say. No one seemed to notice that she headed in the direction that Celestia headed in.

Pinky Pie and Applejack just told Twilight that they were going to check out some other festivities here and that they would meet them later. They headed in Naruto and Luna’s direction and regrouped with Celestia and Remedy. They saw that Naruto and Luna were outside a place with a sign that said Halls of Love. All four of them wanted to go after them and tear Luna to shreds, figuratively.

Naruto felt uneasy knowing that this was going to be some romantic event between the two of them. “You don’t have to come Naruto but I would like it if you did.” She said looking away from Naruto.

“I’ll follow you if you go in but I don’t know why you want to go inside. Did you hear about the boy you like going in here?” Naruto asked remembering that Luna did like a boy that wasn’t him.

Luna had a big smile and nodded her head and they entered. However they didn’t make it three feet without Luna falling on her face. Naruto immediately helped her up and noticed that the floor was slippery until the turn. They would have to hold onto each other to get across. “Luna give me your hoof.” Luna looked at him with a quizzical look but she handed him her hoof and he took it and they proceeded down the hall.

However, no one told them that this place was meant to bring ponies together, and they were about to learn that the hard way. Suddenly the walls around them fell and there was a bottomless pit and for some reason Luna couldn’t unfold her wings. It was like this place had a magic spell cast on it that prevented any magic from happening. Luna lost her footing and almost fell into the darkness. Naruto grabbed her and fought to pull her up. It was like something was pulling Luna down but he wasn’t about to let anything have her.

He pulled her up and into his arms. She looked up into his eyes and he looked into hers. They held onto each other and stayed closer together so that no one would fall. When they reached the end Naruto saw that Luna was looking at him with this smile that made him have hundreds of butterflies in his stomach. However they couldn’t turn back and they had only begun this place’s game.

The next obstacle they faced had a sign that read, “To cross put your faith in the one you love and they will reach the lever that lowers the bridge for your next task.” Naruto looked at Luna and told her that he would go for the lever. He didn’t want her in any kind of danger. He got up to the first step and heard something click. Looking back at Luna he saw that the floor was beginning to crumble away.

He had to move fast. Naruto jumped from stair to stair as the higher he got the more stone that fell. Luna got to a corner and put herself as far in as she could go. Without the ability to fly she would fall into the darkness and Naruto would have to come after her. She didn’t want to put him in danger. She looked up at him and saw that he was halfway up. “You can do it Naruto!” She yelled up to him.

Naruto heard her and felt a great power as he went from jumping from step to step to jumping from every four steps. He got to the lever and tackled it causing the bridge to fall but that didn’t stop the floor from falling. Naruto jumped down and grabbed Luna. She didn’t realize what had happened until they landed on the bridge. She couldn’t believe that she had been so terrified. Naruto could have called out to her but instead he came for her.

Naruto was at a loss of words he didn’t understand why he did that when he could’ve just told her to move. Why did he go after her was his thought but when Luna nudged up to him he didn’t care. They proceeded to the next part of the hall and found a small boat that had room for two. They each got into their seat as the ride began. Luna expected it to be a tunnel of love but that’s not what it was.

Out of the darkness came ghosts and monsters. Although they weren’t real Luna was still frightened by them. She clung to Naruto making his heart beat even faster. He held her this time though making Luna’s eyes open wide. He didn’t want her to feel scared anymore, she needed to know that she was safe with him. He held her tight and he didn’t realize it until the colors of the tunnel changed from dark to a romantic pink.

When he released his grip Luna picked herself up and looked into his eyes and wanted to be in that scary tunnel again. However something hit the boat’s side throwing Luna into Naruto but it wasn’t that they landed on each other. No, their lips collided together and they looked at each other with wide eyes. Naruto and Luna pulled away with their cheeks red, they were embarrassed but Luna was happy.

The ride ended after that and they exited the Hall of Love. Naruto put a hoof to his lips and couldn’t but think of how soft Luna’s lips were. They were the softest things he has ever felt. Luna was so happy that she was doing a small dance behind Naruto so he wouldn’t see her. Naruto couldn’t deny the feeling in his heart anymore. After that experience inside that hall he knew that he liked Luna. He admitted it but said to himself that he liked her only a little bit.

Naruto didn’t want to know that he had been taken so easily but he felt like if it was by Luna it would be okay. “Luna that kiss that happened was an accident you know that right?” He asked a little nervous.

“Yeah I know Naruto.” She said smiling at him. The kiss may have been an accident but she was so happy because after that Naruto had to like her even just a little bit. He couldn’t deny it anymore but she felt like something was missing, but she didn’t know what.

Suddenly they heard screaming coming from other ponies. Luna got scared, but Naruto jumped in front of her as twelve apes appeared in front of him. He saw a familiar face come from behind the Hall of Love, Carnac. Naruto was ready to lay his life down for Luna but suddenly Celestia and Remedy were at his sides. “How did you get here so fast girls?” He asked confused.

“We were in the neighborhood so we decided to help you.” Remedy had her horn glowing. Celestia’s horn and Luna’s horn were also glowing and he knew that they were going to fight. They let loose beams of magic but the apes dodged each of their attacks going after Remedy and Luna. Naruto jumped at them kicking one in the face and using his front right hoof to uppercut an ape that tried to sweep him with the back of its hand.

“Luna get out of here now!” Naruto yelled as an ape hit him into a wall knocking him unconscious.

“Naruto,” Luna blasted the ape out of the way and got to Naruto’s side. “Are you okay please be okay.” Luna prayed as an ape got above her.

“Luna move away from there!” Celestia screamed as she felt like her sister was about to be killed.

“Don’t be an idiot they won’t attack if you move so move!” Remedy screamed as she slammed an ape into a booth.

Luna wanted to move but she couldn’t feel her legs. They didn’t want to leave Naruto’s side and she didn’t want to either. The ape raised his hands into the air and sent them flying at Luna. Luna screamed as the balled fists came at her.

However they didn’t hit her, they were stopped by something or rather someone. Luna opened her eyes and saw Naruto no longer wearing his jacket or glasses holding the fist back with his back. Luna looked in shock as the ape seemed to be gaining ground. Suddenly an ape grabbed her and threw her into a wall. They knew that she was Shadow’s mistress but he never said to bring her back unharmed. Naruto’s head didn’t look up because he was trying to control the power that was flowing through him, but when he heard Luna hit the ground he lost it. His red swirl disappeared and his demon seal appeared.

A large geyser of energy erupted around Naruto as he roared out sending the apes back. Luna and Remedy both looked at Naruto with wide eyes. Luna got up and saw what was happening to Naruto. He was screaming his lungs out as the power was causing the ground to break and open. Suddenly the energy around him sprouted two fox tails that all pointed at the apes. Carnac couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Naruto’s eyes had become red as he stared down the ape that had hurt Luna and the other girls. He moved so fast that he was barely seen as he appeared behind the ape. He drove his back hooves into the apes head blasting the ape through several booths and walls. He landed on his feet and roared to the sky as everyone even the girls looked at him with horror.

He vanished but reappeared behind a pair of apes that didn’t have any idea what happened until they felt their faces slam into the ground. Naruto slammed on each of the heads hard, harder than he had Carnac when he first experienced this power. Remedy and Celestia couldn’t move but the apes tried to take him down all except Carnac who knew it was hopeless.

Luna watched with wide eyes as Naruto didn’t move from in front of her. He kicked bucked and punched apes away and they didn’t stop unless Naruto had knocked them out cold. The main six ponies arrived and saw the power of Naruto and all gasped as they saw how merciless he was. He didn’t give any mercy to any of them. Anyone who tried to hurt him or any of the girls he beat.

He couldn’t control his actions and everything he saw he believed to be something that would hurt Luna or his friends. Even after he had finished off the apes he continued to attack even if it was just a wall. Castle guards tried to stop him but they didn’t stand a chance and were blown back by the shockwave from his roar. Everyone was so terrified, what had happened to Naruto? Why was he acting like this?

“Naruto stop!” Luna screamed and Naruto looked in her direction with his eyes full of anger. He darted at her, “NARUTO!” She screamed but Naruto still headed for her. He didn’t attack her though because Luna’s arms wrapped around him. “Naruto please stop this,” She whispered to him, “come back to me please you don’t have to fight anymore. Please stop this. Naruto come back to me please, I don’t want to lose you.”

Naruto’s powers began to fade as the energy that surrounded him began to go back into the ground and his eyes returned to their blue color. His red swirl came back where it should be as Luna held him tight. “Luna?” He said looking into her eyes.

“Naruto I thought I had lost you.” She said tightening the hug on him. She pulled back as tears came out of her eyes. Naruto rubbed against her cheek and she did the same as she was so happy to have the Naruto she loved back. She realized what just went through her head but she didn’t care because that was how she felt about him and she never wanted that to change.

Naruto didn’t realize what he had done until everyone explained it to him. He was so shocked how demonic he had fought. “How long have you had this power Naruto?” Celestia asked concerned for him.

“I don’t know, probably my whole life because it felt right to embrace the power, did I hurt anyone here?” He asked worried that one of his friends could have been hurt by him.

“No Naruto,” Luna said putting her two hooves on his, “you only took out the apes but I think you almost killed them. Why did you do that, what was that power?”

“I don’t know, I do know that it felt good to hurt those apes and…” He looked up and saw Carnac standing next to Remedy, “Remedy get away from him! He’s one of them!”

“No he isn't, as of two months ago he became my father.” Naruto looked at Carnac who placed a fist on his chest.

“I have chosen to serve the true queen of my people and she is my god daughter. I have never seen that kind of power not even from Shadow.” He said making Naruto look at him with wide eyes.

“Who is Shadow exactly?” Naruto looked at Carnac with anger filled eyes. He wanted the answer but he felt like he was losing consciousness from the amount of power he had used.

“He’s my brother.” Everyone looked at Remedy who looked only at Naruto, “He wants to become the ruler of Equestria and he has achieved power greater than Princess Celestia. However he needs me dead in order to gain full control of the kingdom. However because of his dark power everyone fears him.”

“Is this Shadow the royal darkness you talked about before Carnac?” Naruto asked looking at Luna.

“Yes, he is the one who wishes to have Luna as his mistress. But he doesn’t want the current Luna, he wants Nightmare Moon.” Everyone looked at Carnac with confused and horrified looks, “I do not know what he plans on doing that only that he plans to do it. He has more than just apes to do his dirty work. However I am no longer in his army I will help you protect Luna from now on. I fear that if he is able to turn Luna back into Nightmare Moon the two of them will rule all of Equestria.”

“I won’t let that scumbag touch Luna!” Naruto shouted to the roof. Everyone looked at him with such a look that everyone was shocked. “From this day forth I swear that I won’t let anyone hurt you no matter who it is Luna.” Luna looked into his eyes and saw that he was serious about this.

“Do not worry Naruto after two failures it’ll be awhile before he tries anything again. I may have lost an eye in our battle but I know how he’ll move.” Carnac knew what he was talking about but Naruto was slowly slipping out of consciousness. “He will wait a month maybe two and have a plan ready but we don’t have to worry because if he sends apes they will be easily spotted. Anything else I will hear and notify you immediately I swear.”

“I guess that means we can go about our lives until then right Carnac?” Luna asked him. He nodded to her and she looked back to Naruto, “Let’s get back to the house I want to talk about a few things if you're okay with that.”

“Yeah I’m okay with tha—.” Naruto couldn’t hold on any longer and he collapsed to the floor. Luna screamed asking Carnac to help her. They all brought him to his house where he stayed there for a long time with Luna never leaving his side. Naruto although unconscious could feel the worry from Luna and one of his hooves reached out to her which she immediately took.

She knew it wasn’t right but that night when the moon shined down on them, she put her lips over Naruto’s and stole a kiss in his sleep. She felt guilty about it but she wanted him to know that she wasn’t leaving. He wouldn’t even know about it so it’s not like it mattered. However she felt like there was something about his power that was strange.

She noticed it when those two apes were after Remedy. His demonic powers didn’t surface until she had been hurt and the same thing had happened this time only he had seen it happen and was knocked out but does that mean the demonic side of him cared about her. That would mean that Naruto cared about her. She rested her head next to his as she found a spot on the bed next to him. This was probably going to be the only time she could do this and she wanted to make it count.

Confessions

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Naruto woke to find Luna sleeping right next to him. He jumped backwards falling off the bed. The crash woke Luna up from her sleep. She looked around and then looked over the side of the bed and saw that Naruto was on the ground. “Naruto are you alright?” Luna asked in a soft and loving like tone flying down to his side.

“Yeah I’m okay Luna.” Naruto looked away from her because his heart was beating heavily for some reason. “How about we go into town today?” Naruto asked a little nervous because he has never really wanted to ask her anything like this.

“Aren’t you worried that Shadow may come after me?” Luna asked feeling like Naruto wasn’t taking her into consideration.

“Well if I remember what Carnac said Shadow won’t try anything for at least a month right?” Naruto asked smiling at her. She blushed at him with puckered lips because she felt duped. “I would never put you in harm’s way.” Naruto walked over to her and put his front left hoof upon her shoulder. Luna looked at it and then looked into his eyes they were like blue diamonds to her. Naruto looked into Luna’s eyes and they were like beautiful sapphires. “No matter what happens Luna I won’t let anything hurt you not even me. If I hurt you I will disappear forever okay.”

“NO!” Luna screamed tackling Naruto to the ground. “Please don’t ever say that! I don’t ever want you to leave my side Naruto. Never leave from my side I want you to be with me forever!” Luna didn’t know what she was saying but all she cared about was making Naruto take back what he said about leaving. She didn’t want the stallion she loved to leave her forever.

“Luna,” Naruto looked into the closed tearing eyes of Luna and felt the pain she was feeling. He didn’t realize how much Luna cared about him. He cared about her so much that he was willing to risk his life for her. “Alright Luna.” Luna opened her tearing eyes at that and looked back into his smile. He drew her close into a deep hug. “I won’t leave I will stay by your side. I promise that I will never hurt you. I couldn’t because I care too much about you. You’re my closest friend.”

Luna wished that he had said something a little different but she was happy to know that he wasn’t going to leave her now. They let each other go and headed out of the house. Naruto’s hoof suddenly hit a piece of paper and picked it up with his hoof. It read, “Naruto, Luna please come see me at my house there are two ponies who wish to speak with you.” Naruto looked and saw that Twilight was the one who had written this.

“Well it must be important if she sent a letter to us so early in the morning Naruto. I say we go pay her a visit and see what’s up.” Luna said nudging Naruto. He felt his heart race a little and nodded his head shyly. “Are you sure you’re okay Naruto you’re acting kind of weird.”

“Oh I’m fine Luna don’t worry about me.” Luna got closer to Naruto and his face began to get red cheeks and his heart was throbbing like mad. “Luna,” He said darting past her and out of the house, “Twilight’s waiting for us we shouldn’t make her wait.”

Naruto didn’t want to be alone with Luna right now. Being near her so close as they were made him feel uneasy, then he suddenly remembered that they had kissed yesterday. Although it was an accident it was technically his first kiss and Luna’s. He had stolen her lips from every other pony in Equestria and she had stolen his. He couldn’t believe what he was thinking and was trying to get these thoughts out of his head when Luna came up beside him.

“Naruto I’m serious you’re not acting like you usually would.” Luna was really beginning to worry about him. She wondered if his demonic powers had anything to do with his behavior. “Naruto does this have anything to do with your powers?”

“Uh, yeah!” He said finding that to be the only way he could get himself out of this. “I just feel like I might hurt you if my demon powers take over again. I promised that I would never leave but I don’t want to hurt you either.”

“Naruto you shouldn’t worry about those kind of things.” Luna said rubbing her head against his in a loving manner. “I won’t leave your side and you’ll have me with you if it happens. I promise no matter how much you change I won’t ever be afraid of you. I will never back away from you Naruto I will only go toward you never back.”

“Luna,” Naruto looked at her with wide eyes as she made small circles in the ground with her hooves, “I also promised that no matter how much you change I will never fear you, even if you become Nightmare Moon again. I will always stay by your side and keep you safe. I care about you Luna.” Luna looked up into his eyes at that point. She wanted nothing more than to steal a kiss from him but she needed to wait a little longer for him to truly fall for her. She knew that he hadn’t and was slightly upset. However she couldn’t help but feel as though Naruto was hiding something from her and she didn’t like that.

They quickly got to Twilight’s house where the door was slightly open. “Luna stay behind me.” Naruto said jumping to the front ready in case something tried to come out at them. When they walked in Naruto saw a pink alicorn, slightly larger than Pinky Pie in size, with this crown on her head. Beside her was a white unicorn that looked just as tall as her. Twilight stood in front of them as the white unicorn stared Naruto down.

“I’m going to guess you’re the one they call Naruto?” The unicorn jumped out in front of Twilight and the pink alicorn as though he were some guardian. “Step away from Princess Luna right now!”

“Or what?” Naruto asked not budging from his spot in front of Luna. “I won’t let you hurt Luna if that’s what you’re planning.” Suddenly Naruto’s demonic seal replaced his red swirl cutie mark as his orange coat also turned blonde like his hair. “I won’t let you lay a hoof on her you jerk.”

“Ha, I won’t let you hurt her or my sister and the people of Equestria anymore. I will not in the name of Princess Cadence!” The unicorn darted at Naruto with his horn glowing. Naruto jumped into the air dodging the attack. He landed right in front of the pink alicorn and the unicorn quickly sent a beam of light his way. Naruto got up and shielded the alicorn from the attack. He took the full brunt of it as he used his small amount of power to then send it at a wall.

“I won’t be hurting anyone I have protected Luna and Twilight from Shadow ever since I got here!” Naruto shouted turning to face the unicorn who had a shocked face. The unicorn thought he would have moved out of the way but it looked as though he was protecting the pink alicorn which he was. “I am not your enemy but if you really want to get me away from Luna’s side you’ll have to kill me!”

“Shining stop this now!” Luna screamed after hearing Naruto’s words. “He is my closest friend here in Ponyville.”

“Yeah Shining, Naruto isn’t evil if that’s what you’re thinking.” Twilight said knowing why Luna had said that. She didn’t want the risk of Naruto possibly dying just to be with her. “Naruto has saved us and my friends many times in the couple months he’s been here.”

“Twilight are you sure according to the report we got of him he practically demolished the festival yesterday.” The alicorn seemed to be siding with the white unicorn, but she wasn’t wrong technically. Naruto did demolish some of the festival, at least wherever an ape was present.

“Well yes but that’s only because they tried to hurt us and take Luna. They knocked him out and I guess Naruto was still able to hear because the second that Luna cried out he went berserk with power and what that report said happened.” Twilight said defending her friend.

“Well if you say so sis I’ll keep my eye on him though.” Shining said as he turned to look at Naruto. “Sorry about all the fuss there. My name’s Shining Armor, I’m Twilight’s older brother.”

“I didn’t know she had a brother. Well I’m Naruto and who’s the pink alicorn she your girlfriend or something?” Naruto asked not realizing that he had just embarrassed the two of them.”

“We’re not a couple,” The pink alicorn said blushing a little as she threw Naruto across the room with her magic. “Shining people know that you don’t have any real feelings for me. There are many better girls for you to pick from anyway.”

“Um Cadence I think you need to calm down I thought you liked me, guess I was wrong about that.” Shining said as he let his guard down. Naruto’s body became wrapped in flames as his anger rose from being humiliated in front of Luna like he had been. He stormed out of the hole that he was in and headed right for Cadence. Shining Armor saw this and immediately took the full force of the attack barely able to block it in time. Naruto landed on his feet while Shining was thrown to the ground. Cadence ran to his side and saw the anger within Naruto’s eyes and felt like she was about to receive the same thing if not worse.

“Naruto wait a moment!” Luna shouted jumping in front of him. “Just calm down a second and let’s talk about this okay. Cadence is just a little embarrassed that you called them a couple is all. She didn’t mean to throw you across the room. Please calm down for me if not them.”

Naruto’s flames went down and all his anger faded as the look from Luna’s eyes gave him a slight horror. He saw fear in her eyes. “I’m sorry Luna, and to you too Cadence. I don’t know what came over me.”

Luna brushed her cheek up against Naruto’s and he stiffened as her warm cheek connected with his. “Naruto it’s alright I’m not scared at all.” Naruto looked out with wide eyes. “You said that you wouldn’t leave my side but now after what I saw at the festival I know that I can’t leave you.”

“Luna you can do whatever you want I’m not going to stop you.” Naruto said allowing Luna to rub up against his cheek again. “I’m not going to go crazy or anything. There’s no reason to worry.”

“I know that but,” Luna remembered how ruthless Naruto looked when he had defeated the apes. “I just don’t want to see you like that ever again Naruto.”

“Luna,” Naruto couldn’t believe that she was crying. Cadence and Shining both looked over their way and saw how upset Luna was. Naruto hated to see Luna cry, even though she hasn’t done it around him much. “Please don’t cry.”

“I…I can’t stand the thought of losing you. You’re the greatest friend I have.” Luna looked away from Naruto and stared out through one of Twilight’s windows.

“I’m not going anywhere Luna we talked about this.” Naruto tried to comfort her because he didn’t want her to cry anymore. Seeing her smile and happy was definitely better. He put his hoof around her and hugged her which immediately sent a warm feeling through Naruto. He got a reply as Luna returned the hug to him, tears still coming out of her eyes.

“I never thought Luna would fall in love Shining.” Cadence said as she watched the display of emotion from the two. Cadence looked over to Shining and felt a warmth that was very common to her. She always felt this warm feeling around Shining. She liked him intensely but was too afraid to say it. She feared that the only reason Shining may like her is that she is a princess. So every time someone said they looked like a couple she denied it.

“How are you guys getting along?” Twilight came out of nowhere, well from the top of the stairs really. She noticed that Luna and Naruto were hugging each other still as they looked up at her. Naruto quickly jumped off feeling really embarrassed. He had completely forgotten that there were other ponies in the room and that this wasn’t his house. Why was it so important to him to make her happy?

“Ooookay, well I bet you’re all wondering why I brought you here today.” Twilight said getting a nod from every pony here. “Well I thought that maybe you all should meet each other. Naruto has already met Princess Celestia and as you probably guessed Luna. I thought he should meet everyone because he is my friend and you guys were coming to visit. I thought it was a good idea what do you guys think?”

“I think you were right Twilight.” Cadence said walking over to Luna and Naruto. Naruto looked utterly confused by her. Just seconds ago she threw him against a wall and now she was being all friendly. What the heck is going on?

“I agree with Cadence as well. We definitely enjoyed meeting them.” Okay did Naruto hit them that hard? He sent both of them into a swell of fear just showing his powers alone. This is getting really weird. Naruto began wondering what got into these two in the past five seconds.

“I wouldn’t agree with that personally but I guess you could say it was enjoyable.” Naruto said backing away from Shining and Cadence. He didn’t want their weird rubbing off on him. He looked to Luna who had this sad look about her and Naruto wondered why she would be sad right now. Then he realized that she wanted him to be friends with the new ponies here. “Sorry about that guys. I meant that meeting them was an interesting experience. They were definitely a lot of fun in the few minutes we were alone.”

“Naruto!” Luna shouted causing him to flinch a little. Naruto was getting to Luna’s bad side, anyone who knows Luna knows that isn’t a good idea. “Sorry Twilight, I know them already but the first impressions weren’t exactly perfect. I think that they could have handled themselves much more like a princess and one of the royal guard.”

“Luna you know my brother has a tendency to act that way. They were also told about the incident at the festival. They know what Naruto did to those apes.” Twilight looked over to Naruto and saw that his head hung down from his neck as he then turned around.

“Naruto…” Luna tried to go and comfort him but he shrugged her off. “Naruto?”

“Sorry Luna. If you guys don’t mind I’ll be outside waiting to go home.” Naruto left with his head down thinking about how he went completely ballistic against those apes that had hurt Luna the way they did.

“Twilight you didn’t need to say that!” Luna now got angry as she just watched the stallion she loved walk out on her looking heartbroken. “He has had a rough enough morning already. You didn’t need to make it worse!”

“I’m sorry Luna.” Twilight said getting defensive, “I thought he would want to know that they knew about it too. I didn’t think he would respond like that.”

“Naruto can barely stand himself right now. He’s been acting really weird and doesn’t need anyone telling him that he’s a monster.” Luna said looking away from the three in front of her.

“Do you think he’s a monster Luna?” Cadence asked feeling like this needed to be said. Outside the house Naruto heard this and put his ear to the door. Did Luna really think he was a monster and lied to him just to make him happy?

Luna looked up at Cadence and her horn glowed with a dark blue. Cadence was immediately thrown across the room into a bookshelf. Everyone was surprised by what Luna had done. Naruto heard the bang and went to a window to see that Luna had her magic flowing through her horn. “How dare you accuse me of thinking that!?” Luna was epically pissed off now. “I have not once thought of Naruto as anything but the most amazing stallion in Equestria. He would never hurt me or any of his friends! I care for Naruto to no end and every day that feeling gets stronger and stronger. I want to be by his side when he’s like that because to me he was in pain. I don’t ever want him to be in pain if there’s something I can do to stop it.”

Naruto couldn’t believe what his ears had picked up. It sounded like Luna was in love with him, which she was but due to the dense head that Naruto has he wouldn’t pick it up if it hit him in the face. Luna cared about him that much? He couldn’t believe that she could care so much about him for what she had seen. Naruto grabbed his head in frustration. “WHY!?” Naruto shouted getting the attention of everypony in the vicinity of Twilight’s house.

Luna came bursting through the door with Twilight, Shining and Cadence right behind her. Naruto looked over to them to see the worry all over Luna’s face. “I’m alright, just thought too much that’s all.” Luna worried face turned into one of irritation as her cheeks blew up as well as glowed with a bright red. “Luna wait I’m sorry!”

Luna wrapped her hooves around him and Naruto opened his eyes to find her crying again. “Don’t scare me like that Naruto.” Luna said holding him tighter. Naruto couldn’t believe that he got out of that one unscathed. He put his front hooves around Luna and returned the hug.

“Sorry about that Luna. I didn’t mean to worry you again.” Naruto said allowing her tears to fall onto him. Naruto felt lucky to have someone like Luna around him. He hoped that nothing would take her from him. Then he thought, what the heck am I thinking? Naruto couldn’t believe he was saying such a thing in his head. He cared about Luna but he didn’t like her that much, did he?

“Naruto can I talk with you for a bit?” Shining asked him as the hug between Naruto and Luna ended. Naruto nodded his head and followed Shining back into the house. Luna was right next to him but Shining stood in her path immediately causing her to remain outside. “I want to talk with him alone if that’s okay Luna?”

“Alright but don’t even think of trying anything funny you hear me?!” Luna didn’t want to leave Naruto’s side but for some reason she had to in order to get back to it.

“I won’t do anything you wouldn’t do promise Luna.” Shining shut the door behind him and locked the door. Naruto didn’t like the look of this at all. Shining walked past him and up the stairs. “Hey are you coming? I need to talk to you about something private and don’t need the girls hearing it.”

Naruto nodded to him thinking that if it was this private than it had to be important. They got into the upstairs library and Shining shut the door. “So I bet you’re wondering why I brought you here huh?” Naruto nodded his head for the third time obviously getting annoyed by this. “Well I want some advice if you can give it.”

“Hey I’ll do what I can to help but why can’t the girls hear about it anyways?” Naruto asked feeling like this was a little strange.

“Well I don’t want Cadence to hear this, but I’m okay with you hearing it.” Shining went to the window to his left and looked out of it. “The thing is I’m in love with her. I’m madly in love with her, but I’m too afraid to tell her and every time someone says anything about us being a couple she denies it like she doesn’t want anything to do with me. Do you have any idea how much that hurts me?”

“Actually believe it or not I do.” Shining turned around to look at Naruto. “I think I know what you mean anyway.”

“Naruto do you like Luna?” Naruto looked at Shining now as his head became filled with images of nothing but Luna. “Do you really like her because from what I’ve seen she cares about you so dearly and would do anything to be at your side? Would you do the same for her?”

Little did the two of the stallions know but the two they didn’t want to listen were listening. Using their magic, to increase the volume of the house to their ears so that, they could hear everything. Luna was listening very closely because this could be what she’s been looking for this whole time.

Naruto looked away from Shining with a confused and angry look. This should have been a simple answer and he couldn’t even think straight right now. “I don’t really know Shining.” Luna stopped listening and fell to the ground tears coming from her eyes. Cadence came down to her.

“Hey don’t let it get to you Lu- Wait a moment he’s saying something else now.” Luna looked up at where she believed Naruto to be and used her magic again to listen in.

“But, I can’t deny how much she makes me happy. Just now when I saw her cry I felt so horrible inside I wanted to do anything to make her happy.” Naruto felt that he could say what he really felt without possibly hurting Luna now. “I want to make her the happiest alicorn alive. But I’m afraid of hurting her and that keeps me from being closer to her. I don’t know why I want her by me every waking second but whenever I’m with her it’s like the stars during the night. She’s the most beautiful mare that I have ever seen. She has a beauty greater than that of her sister Celestia. I…I don’t know why I think this but I do.”

Naruto suddenly felt the sting of tears as they started to slowly come down his cheeks. “It hurts me you know, when I see someone hurting her. I feel like I lied to her and I lose it. That’s what happened at the festival, the mare that I promised to protect with my life almost died! I couldn’t protect her well enough and she was almost killed because of my mistake!”

“Naruto that’s not true!” Shining said seeing the pain this put on Naruto, “According to the report Twilight gave us she wasn’t anywhere near dying, so you kept your promise to her and kept here from dying.”

“Thanks for trying to help Shining but I know what I did.” Naruto turned away putting his back to Shining. “I almost hurt her Shining, me! I almost hurt the most important mare in my life. The mare that’s been with me since day one, the one who makes the most amazing breakfast in the world every morning, the mare who gave me my first kiss. Even if it was an accident I don’t care because it was still my first kiss. She doesn’t care who I am and I don’t care what she is or was. She could turn into Nightmare Moon right now and I would still hold her in my arms. I would never turn against her no matter what. I’d die before I hurt that mare! She means too much to me and I curse myself for having these damn powers because they almost killed her!”

“I keep asking myself what would have happened if I hadn’t heard Luna then. I know the answer to that stupid question and the answer is that I would have killed her! I’m nothing more than a monster!” Naruto shouted loud enough for the whole of Ponyville to hear. “I know that’s how she thinks of me. She doesn’t want to admit it but that’s what she thinks I know that. I kind of like that fact though. It tells me that Luna really cares about me. Even though that at a moment’s notice I could end up killing her if my powers go rabid like that again.”

“Naruto you…that’s not true!” Naruto looked up and so did Shining and they realized they neglected to close one of the windows and this one led to a balcony. Luna stood on the balcony with tears in her eyes. “I would never think of you as a monster Naruto!”

Naruto’s eyes widened when he heard this. “Naruto I could never think of you as a monster. I don’t care how much your powers change you, you’ll always be my closest friend! You’ll always be in my dreams where we’re together and have a filly of our own! I’ll never hate you Naruto, you could never make me hate you.”
“How can you say that when I almost killed you?” Naruto asked looking away from her. “I’m nothing but a monster and you know it Luna please don’t lie to me.”
Luna walked over to Naruto and slapped his face. Naruto’s eyes were wide and the three others that were now in the room couldn’t believe what Luna had just done. Naruto looked at Luna but wasn’t able to say a thing because his lips were busy with Luna’s. Luna held him in her hooves as she pulled closer intensifying the kiss that she gave him. His heart pounded harder than ever. They had just kissed yesterday but that was an accident, this one was no accident. Luna pulled away keeping her hooves around his neck.
“I could never hate you Naruto because since the first day we met I’ve been in love with you.” Naruto looked into her eyes as a cloud came over the house. Suddenly a great wind came and took the roof off the house. When they looked up they saw Discord with Fluttershy flying together hand in hoof. They waved sorry but drew each other closer together. Naruto and Luna both saw it. Suddenly as if some jerk wanted to make this even more romantic, the rain started to come down.
“Luna you’ve loved me this whole time?” Naruto asked as Luna’s face was half covered by her hair.

“Yes I have.” Luna said with her cheeks burning red with passion, “I’ve wanted to tell you the first day I realized it but I was worried and thought that you would think of me as a freak and—” Luna was cut short by Naruto’s lips. Naruto had finally done what she had been dreaming of. As the water hit their faces and coats dampening them even more. Naruto didn’t let her go and she wasn’t going to let him as their kiss became more than a kiss of thank you, but a kiss of passionate love. Naruto was the first to pull away from the kiss. Luna didn’t want him to but she knew it would be asking for too much.

“Thanks Luna. That was for telling me the truth and for staying with me despite what I have done to you.” Naruto smiled at her as she looked even more amazing in the rain. He brushed aside her hair. “I don’t what I feel but I know what felt right and that did. And so does this.”

Naruto locked lips with her again and Luna welcomed them with great acceptance. She has waited for this for months. To her this could be the only time this happens and she wanted it to last an eternity. Naruto now realized what that dream was telling him a while ago. He wouldn’t let Luna leave his side unless she was taken from him. He didn’t know what he felt truly he didn’t know but he knew that what he was doing with her felt right.

Shining and Cadence watched the passion being given from the colt and mare in the corner. Cadence never thought that Luna would find someone that she could love in her lifetime. But there right in front of her she was being kissed by the colt who she has loved since the first day he appeared in her life. Maybe this could happen for her. She looked over to Shining who was still entranced by the kiss that was still going on.

Luna and Naruto pulled away from each other. “Luna I don’t want you to be afraid of me ever can you make that promise to me?” Naruto whispered so that only she could hear.

“Naruto if what happened at the festival happens again I’ll be right there for you. I love you and I’m not afraid to say it anymore. You’re mine and no one else can have you. I won’t let anypony not even my sister take you away from me.” Luna said placing her nose on his as they connected their foreheads. “If someone were to take you from me I don’t know what I would—.”

Naruto put his hoof on her mouth stopping her from speaking, “Luna no one in this world could take me away from you. I promised you that I would stand by your side until I died and I will keep that promise if that will keep you happy.”

“It would.” She said holding him tighter as her face fell onto his chest and he began stroking her rain soaked hair. “It would make me the happiest mare in Equestria if you did that for me.”

“I would do anything for you Luna, I would even die if it meant saving you.” Naruto put his hooves around her hair and back as he brought her even closer. He could feel the warmth of her body and he didn’t even feel the rain as it fell onto his head and nose. “Luna I don’t care if I never find these emotions that you’ve found because I’ll never leave your side ever.”

“Naruto!” Luna pushed even harder into him. He accepted it as he looked at the three who were looking at him and Luna. He smiled at them which is something not even he knew why he did that. He just wanted to smile at them mainly at Shining. “I want to live with you Naruto and have a family together but that may be asking too much right now?”

“It’s a little much right now but when I feel like it’s not I’ll tell you I promise.” Naruto said pulling her out to look into his eyes. He wanted her to know that he was serious. “We’ve been like a family for months haven’t we. We’ve been under the same roof since day one. Who knows it may come sooner than you think.”

Luna had tears coming out of her eyes but she was smiling. The rain kept coming down drenching them but a hurricane could have been going on and they wouldn’t have let each other go. “Luna, somepony else needs to confess their feelings right now, he can’t go on like he is without doing it.” Luna and Naruto stood up with Luna keeping as close to her stallion as possible. Naruto let this happen because he now finally understood everything that Luna did and why she wanted him so close to her.

“Shining you can’t go holding everything in like you do.” Naruto said walking up to him leaving Luna where she was. Only Luna was okay with this. She knew he was coming back no matter what. “I may not be one to give you the advice but if it were me and I had your feelings I would have told her by now without fear because it wouldn’t matter to me whether she thought I was crazy or not I would still love her to no end. If she meant as much as the one you love does to you.”

Shining looked from Naruto to Cadence and his gaze didn’t move from her. He looked at her with this new courage that he had never felt before. Maybe seeing Luna confess her feelings gave him the courage. “Cadence…I…” He hesitated looking down as he grinded his teeth. “Cadence I don’t care if you hate me for saying this but you’re the most beautiful mare that I have seen in my whole life. If someone were to ask me who the most beautiful pony was I would immediately say your name. You are the most amazing thing in my life and I would die if you weren’t around.”

“Shining do you really mean that?” Twilight moved away from Cadence and over to Naruto as Luna came up next to him as well. “Do you truly mean that?” Her voice was that of someone pleading.

“Yes of course I mean it! Whenever I hear someone call us a couple I feel on cloud nine. I want to be yours and no one else’s but you keep pushing me away and I haven’t found the courage to tell you this but Cadence I am in love with you. I don’t care how you feel because it won’t matter. Even if you hate me now I will never stop loving you!” Shining may have taken a few words from Luna but what he was saying was true.
(Author’s Note: If none of you are still getting what this chapter was about look at its title once more. And yes it is a lot or a little mushy but this is a drama romance so it’s supposed to have a little of that in it and I got tired of making Naruto so dense.)
“Shining, I never knew you felt that way before.” Cadence felt the sting of her own tears come as they fell from her cheeks. Shining could somehow tell that she was crying and got to her sides as quickly as possible. He put his hoof on her shoulder trying to give her comfort. “Shining I know this isn’t what you expected but you’ve always been my knight in shining armor, no pun intended. I’ve always seen something in you that I never saw in anyone else not even Twilight. I still don’t know what I saw in you but I don’t care anymore.” She looked up into his eyes startling him a little bit. “I’m in love with you too.”
Shining’s eyes widened as Cadence’s lips covered his. Her hooves wrapped around his neck as he fell to the floor on his butt. Cadence finally said it. She finally, after all these years of being with him, she finally confessed her feelings to the stallion she loved. Just like Luna did with Naruto. Shining’s eyes slowly closed as he put his arms around Cadence’s rain soaked hair and coat. Their kiss deepened from a kiss of confession, just as did Luna’s and Naruto’s kiss did, to a kiss of desire and want. A kiss of utter need.
They drew apart from each other’s lips but not from each other’s arms. They both have waited too long for this day and thanks to Naruto and Luna it happened. “Cadence I’ve wanted this for so long I can’t tell you how long it’s been.” Shining was beside himself as his cheeks were red with passion for the mare he loved.
“Same here Shining,” Cadence drew closer to him putting her head against his chest, “your heart’s beating so fast Shining.”
“Well of course it is. I’m nervous as heck right now. Like I said I’ve wanted this for so long that I would’ve have taken your answer on my death day if that had to be the case.” Shining stroked her hair softly. “Can I finally call you my marefriend Cadence? Can I call you mine?”
“On one condition,” Shining looked down at her as she drew closer with her eyes closed slightly, “I get to call you mine and no one else can have you or your happiness but me. You have to promise me that you will never betray me, don’t ever think that someone else is better than me. I need to know for a fact that you’re mine and all mine!”
“Then you have my promise my love.” Cadence smiled at him then as he looked at her with a very serious expression. “Nothing will tear me from your arms lest it be your own arms. I won’t allow myself to dream of anypony else other than you Cadence because you’re my only choice for my life. I would marry you right now if I could. But I will wait and I want you to wait just a little longer for me to be ready for that.”
“Please don’t keep me waiting then.” Cadence locked with his lips again and was lost in the kiss as was he. They pulled closer deepening the kiss even further than before. They let go a few seconds later, “Shining I could wait forever even in death I would wait for your proposal but please do hurry up and get ready.”
“I promise it won’t be long Cadence just hang in there a little longer my love.” Shining stood up helping Cadence to her feet as well. He turned around to see Naruto with Luna under his arm. “Thanks Naruto, now I have what I’ve always wanted. If it’s okay with you when I ask Cadence to marry me will you be my best colt?” Shining asked putting his arm around Cadence who used this as a way to get closer to him.
“Only if Luna gets to be the mare of honor.” Shining and Naruto both laughed as the ones who loved them smiled at each other. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Naruto can we go home now just me and you?” Luna asked getting her grammar all wrong.
“Sure if you guys don’t mind me and my girl got to get home and make a new treaty.” Naruto said looking into the eyes of the mare he cared about so dearly. Even though he didn’t know how he felt about her he knew that he cared for her immensely. “Besides were still working on the upstairs cleaning.”
Naruto left the house with Luna in his hoof. As they walked through Ponyville they were looked at as if they were foreign ponies. They walked together not letting the other go whether it be with a wing or a hoof on the hoof of the other. Naruto looked up and couldn’t believe how much time had passed since Luna came into his life. Time was moving so fast and he wanted it to slow down but today he finally learned all the reasons why Luna did what she did. Why she wanted to stay here, why she wanted to live with him, why she wanted him to promise to be by her side. He finally understood it all. Finally his head didn’t have any questions about it.
They quickly got back to the house as the sun was going down. They both looked up to see the full moon looking down upon them. “Beautiful isn’t it Naruto?” Luna asked not taking her eyes off the moon.
“It is but not as beautiful as you Luna.” Naruto spoke the truth as he hugged her underneath the moonlight’s glow. They embraced each other within their arms and hooves as they sat there until they couldn’t anymore. They headed for their beds until Luna had something to ask.
“Naruto would you mind if we slept together?” Naruto being the ditz that he is immediately thought the wrong thing. “I don’t mean that just side-by-side is all but if it’s too uncomfortable for you I won’t pressure you into it.
“If it’s just sleeping next to each other than I’m perfectly fine with it.” Naruto lied down and Luna put her arms around him as they both fell to the clutches of sleep. Their hearts beating faster even in sleep. Their relationship has finally begun.

A Mistake of Jealousy

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Naruto stirs in his bed of leaves as his hoof catches something above him. Naruto slowly opens his eyes to see Luna over him, or more correctly on top of him. “Morning.” Naruto looks at her with wide eyes hoping what he’s thinking didn’t happen. “Don’t worry nothing happened I would know trust me. How did you sleep?” Luna asked getting up allowing Naruto to as well. Her voice was a little different in the fact it was more cheerful than usual.

“I slept great Luna, but why do you sound so cheerful today what’s up?” Naruto asked smiling as he watched Luna slide over to him, placing her wing over his back.

“Nothing.” She said gleefully as she jumped down the stairs. I’m going to say this right now, I am a little frightened by that image of Luna jumping up and down like Pinkie Pie. Naruto shook his head thinking from yesterday and knowing exactly why Luna was acting this way. He began to question why he ever kissed her back but he always came to the same answer, it felt right.

He got down the stairs to hear Luna humming away in the kitchen. The sound was more angelic than he remembered it to be. He was a little enthralled by it as well as he began to do a small dance behind her. He did it softly because anypony would have laughed if they saw him dance the way he did.

Luna turned around to see Naruto doing his little dance and giggled under her breath. “Um, Naruto, having fun over there?” Luna asked stopping Naruto’s dance. He looked away as his cheeks were a bright red. “Sorry, I didn’t think you were one to dance is all.”

“Thanks for that, I’ll remember it when you want a dance with me.” Naruto said looking at the mare he kissed so much yesterday. He wanted so badly to get lost in her lips again but he didn’t want to obsess over it. He needed to play it cool. Good luck with that Naruto.

“You would dance with me even if that was the case Naruto.” Luna said smiling at her stallion. She wanted to be in his arms right now but she didn’t want to rush things. Well at least they think alike. “Naruto what you did yesterday…” Naruto looked up at the mare he cared so much for. The feelings he had yesterday couldn’t be denied but he didn’t want to be in love with her, because he could still hurt her and he didn’t want that. “Do you love me, really do you?”

“I think I do Luna,” Naruto said putting his hoof on her cheek, “I did a lot of thinking last night and came to the conclusion several times that I have to be in love with you with what my mind was giving me last night. I wanted to hold you in my arms so close that you and I would never be apart. I finally realize that I do love you!”

Naruto wrapped Luna in his arms as a tear fell from his cheek. How he found that out in that short amount of time is nothing more than a miracle. He wanted to be with Luna forever but what would happen if she thought he was cheating on her. He didn’t want her to feel that way, but what could he do? It’s not like he could marry her right now.

“Naruto um…do you think we could possibly ah…” Luna was hesitant to ask him for a kiss because she didn’t want to be greedy. Naruto read right through her hesitation and placed his lips across hers. They wrapped each other within their hooves as the touch of their lips on one another sent them into their own fantasies. I’m not going to say what those fantasies are for peace of mind, so yeah use your imagination if you want to know what their fantasy is.

They pulled apart from each other not letting the other go. “Is that what you were asking Luna?” Naruto asked rubbing his nose against hers. Okay did they get hit with the love poison potion or are they just that much in love with each other? I know I’m the one writing this but seriously c’mon!

“It’s exactly what I wanted.” Luna said as her face grew red yet again. She’s easy to blush isn’t she? “Naruto what would you say to being my coltfriend?”

Although Naruto was new to love he didn’t want to ignore what his heart was telling him anymore. “I wouldn’t mind that at all, and yesterday I was so unsure of my feelings and yet now I’m absolutely certain.” Naruto ran his hoof through Luna’s hair watching as it sparkled like the stars in the sunlight. “Why don’t we go out today?” Naruto asked picking himself up along with Luna.

“Sure I don’t have anything planned what about you?” Luna retorted somewhat mockingly in my opinion. Luna nudged Naruto to the side as she walked out of the little house meant for just them and maybe one more but they didn’t need anypony ruining their relationship that had now taken full bloom. “So where are we going today?”

“I thought we could just go walk around the town for as little bit and then maybe grab something to eat together, you know like a couples do.” Naruto blushed still not believing how quickly he had turned to his hearts feelings. He looked to Luna and saw her blushing just as hard as he was. “What do you think? Is it too soon for a first date?”

“No I just wasn’t expecting you to ask me on a date so early.” Luna said smiling at the stallion she wanted to be with forever and ever. A little cheesy in my opinion but that’s how she was feeling.

“Sorry I just wanted to be with you that’s all. This whole love thing is still rather new to me.” Naruto said scratching the back of his head with his hoof. Naruto walked up next to Luna and they went into Ponyville together.

The minute they walked in there together everypony looked at the princess with the demonic pony. Word from what happened at the festival spread fast and everypony didn’t want to be on Naruto’s bad side but they knew he didn’t hurt anypony that was good so they didn’t avoid him. But they also didn’t want too close to him either, it was very confusing, even for me and I’m the damn writer.

Luna could see the distress from Naruto as plainly as his cutie mark was red. “It’s okay Naruto I’m right here.” Naruto looked to Luna whose eyes were that of sapphires. He couldn’t look away but he couldn’t look at them. He still remembered how easily he could have killed Luna but he just kept saying that he would never do that no matter what. “You can tell me anything you know that right Naruto?”

“Of course I do. I’m just a little hung up on the festival is all.” Naruto was a little embarrassed that he was still thinking about that and how easily it slipped from his mouth. “I know that I shouldn’t worry about it but I just can’t help but wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t stopped?”

“Nothing would have happened Naruto.” Luna was worried that her stallion might get stuck on the negatives and be depressed forever. “Listen to me, as long as we are together nothing will happen to you okay? If you ever feel that kind of anger or even pain be it large or small tell me. I’ll do my best to help you even if that may cost my life.”

“But I don’t want it to come to that Luna don’t you get it? I don’t want you to have to die for me, you need to live your life the way you want to and not have to worry about somepony like me. I’m a demon for crying out loud. How can you really care about some demon, one that could end up hurting you in the end?” Naruto asked looking down tears rolling down his cheeks. He couldn’t believe how emotional he was getting but he felt that Luna was just playing him right now. He wasn’t really sure if Luna did love him now. He was a demon and even after yesterday she could still hate him.

Luna pushed closer to Naruto making him put his hooves around her neck. Luna then placed her hooves on his chest as they felt each-others’ beating hearts. Luna put her nose against Naruto’s. He gave a light gasp of surprise from this. “I don’t care if you’re a demon or the most evil being in the world as long as I’m with you in your arms, I will always love you. Even if that means becoming my evil self again. I’d do it if it meant helping you. I will always love you Naruto.” Luna had tears running down her cheeks and Naruto proceeded to wipe them away with his hooves. He then pulled her close embracing this moment for it was worth.

All around them ponies were whistling at the display of affection that the two love ponies had for each other. Twilight just happened to be walking by with Spike when Naruto and Luna had embraced each other. Twilight smiled while Spike held his mouth from spewing out the jewels he had eaten earlier that morning. “Um guys are you going to finish your little romantics, not everyone here wants to see that.” Spike said feeling a greater sense of nausea come.

Naruto blushed jumping a little to the left as Luna just smiled getting back to his side. “You two looked like a newly-wed couple just now.” Twilight said giving thoughts to Luna that were not necessary right now.

“You really think we look like a married couple?” Luna asked blushing with emotion as she held her cheek with a hoof. Naruto had a feeling he knew where this was going and sighed. Luna looked at Naruto then with mischievous eyes. Celestia help him, just don’t hurt Luna doing it.

“Yeah if you two had a small colt or filly you’d be like a full family. Speaking of which…” Twilight pointed to a group of young, younger than the Cutie Mark Crusaders, colts and fillies walking with two older mares. “Why not adopt a baby and see how you do?”

“What?” Naruto said trying to understand that Twilight was pushing their relationship a little too fast. “Why would we want to have a colt or filly now? We just started our relationship literally ten, twenty minutes ago. I don’t want to have anything in the way of having to take care of Luna right now. Besides I would need a job before I could even think of having or adopting a colt or filly.” Guess all the love made him forget the job he already has. (Mrs. Flash’s bakery if you were wondering).

“He’s got a point there Twilight.” Spike said thinking clearly on the subject. Naruto felt good that someone, even though it was a dragon was on his side. “Let him decide whether or not if he wants to be a dad or not.”

“I wasn’t telling him to go right away and get a colt or filly but it would make you two or three if you did happen to get a baby look like a complete family.” Twilight wasn’t wrong and Naruto knew that, but he didn’t think he was ready for such a commitment. He still wasn’t sure if he could safely date the mare he loved.

Behind them the four jealous mares, hid behind a house. Celestia used a spell to disguise herself as an average pony, white with the same hair color only no wings or horn. Remedy was pulling on her tail with her mouth trying hard not to blast Luna into oblivion. Applejack was just pacing back and forth while Pinkie Pie was trying to get a hold of what was just said by her friend Twilight.

“Really it’s like no matter what we try to do those two get closer and closer and it makes me sick to my stomach that my chosen one is in the hooves of some dark mare.” Remedy was really jealous right now and really wanted to kill Luna. The only thing stopping her was Naruto really. She didn’t want him to hate her.

“Remedy we haven’t done much you know that right?” Applejack said knocking her in the head.

“Well yeah but we should be doing everything in our power to keep those two apart. We shouldn’t be spying on them.” Remedy left from behind the house but Pinkie jumped on top of her. “Could you please get off me Pinkie Pie?”

“Sorry but if you go in there you’ll get in my-our way of getting Naruto to one of us.” Pinkie said dragging the princess back behind the home. “We need to do this strategically or we won’t ever get Naruto.”

“Pinkie you’re starting to scare me right now.” Applejack said holding one of her hooves on Pinkie’s shoulder. “But you are right, we have to make sure that Naruto chooses one of us over Luna. Luna is our biggest obstacle and we have to get past that mare before we even think of getting Naruto.”

“Agreed, without my sister gone, Naruto will undoubtedly pick her to marry.” The three other mares looked at her with wide eyes. “I have done a little research and have found that couples such as Naruto and Luna are extremely likely to turn into more than just a marefriend and coltfriend relationship. I know for a fact that they will marry if we do nothing.”

“Hmm, princess you can summon beasts right?” Remedy asked looking mischievous at that moment. Celestia nodded her head with a little confusion but also some understanding. “Why don’t we create a little situation where he saves one of us and get him away from Luna that way?”

“That could work but it could also work in reverse.” Celestia said as she pondered on it further. “We need to be sure that there isn’t any other way. I will bring forth a strong beast if nopony else has a better solution.”

“Well I ain’t got anything in my head right now but who would we pick to be chased by this beast Remedy?” Applejack asked thinking that there was more to Remedy’s plan than she was letting on. “So are you going to be the one that Naruto saves or is it going to be all of us.”

“All of us of course. I need it to be as dangerous as you can possibly make it though Celestia. Something that not even you can stop.” Remedy was getting a little mad with her idea.

“There is a dragon I know of but whether or not he’ll go along with it is another story.” Celestia said thinking of Discord who no pony else but the six elements of harmony could defeat.

“No not Discord, Naruto would crush him in no time.” Remedy said remembering how Easily Naruto had crushed the apes that day at the festival. “No we need something that would cause Naruto to break the same way but for us and not Luna.”

“I will try my best but remember that when this thing is summoned only Naruto will be able to beat it. I will have drained all my energy summoning the beast. We need to go outside of Ponyville so that we are not seen. This is going to be seen here if I do it now.” Celestia said dropping her disguise and taking to the skies quickly so that no pony saw her.

The other three mares followed the shadow in the air until it came down onto the earth of the ground in a wide open meadow. Celestia had already begun the summoning of the beast. The other three looked as it came up from the ground. One, two, three heads sprouted from the summoning circle that lay in front of them, followed by two very large wings. Next came a large claw followed by another claw followed by the two hind legs and claws. It was a large three headed dragon, or really a hydra with wings, that looked at the four mares with its three pairs of eyes.

“Now mister dragon I wish to ask a favor.” The princess took to the skies getting in front of the dragon’s middle head. “I need you to chase us and try to kill us if that’s alright.”

“It will be my honor princess but I must ask why?” The three heads said in unison. The three other mares looked at the beast and were shocked to see that it spoke.

“Well we need to get a stallion away from my sister and we thought that you’d be the perfect one for the job. You wouldn’t mind now would you?” Celestia said winking at the beast.

“Of course not but I will not really try to hurt you but I will make it very convincing just don’t expect there not to be any bruising alright.” The princess flew down to her companions in crime, love crime not real crime. “If you are all aware of this I will give you a three second head start.”

His eyes constricted and he looked at them with hunger and a desire to feed. The mares saw this and immediately ran the other way. The hydra smiled with all three heads knowing this was going to be fun. He started to chase after them after five seconds had passed, he isn’t that good with math. The mares were running at full speed trying to get away from the beast even though he wasn’t trying to kill them. However he said he would make it very convincing if you remember.

The hydra spewed fire from two mouths almost hitting Applejack’s tail along with Pinkie’s. “HEY!” They both shouted jumping forward a little as the stomping of the beast got closer and closer. “Um…Celestia isn’t he not supposed to hit us?” Applejack asked feeling this was getting to close as a claw went right over her head almost taking her hat off.

“He said that he was going to make it convincing I didn’t think he meant this!” Celestia said as she was unable to unfurl her wings to get to the beast’s ears. “We have to get to Ponyville quickly!”

They had just gotten over a hill when the monster’s cry got to the town of Ponyville. Naruto’s ears shot up as he heard what sounded like screaming come from the same sound. Naruto dashed away getting himself away from the girls and babies from the orphanage. His anger was rising as he recognized the screams to be that of his friends. He got to the edge of Ponyville to see them being chased by a large three headed hydra. How he knew what that was is astounding and I’m writing this folks. He charged forward as his red swirl was replaced with the demon seal. His coat turned blonde like his mane and he jumped in front of the beast allowing the girls to get back to the town.

“I don’t have a clue what’s going on but I’ll die before I let you touch my friends!” Naruto jumped at the beast leaving a crater in the ground as his hoof connected with the beast left head. The head looked like a rubber elastic as it bounced to and fro after being hit.

“Well that actually hurt my dear friend, but alas we have a job to do and we need to get back to it so excuse us.” The hydra turned away from Naruto and headed for the four mares who then proceeded to retreat even further.

“Damn it!” Naruto shouted chasing after the beast trying to get in front of it.

Luna had just gotten to the edge of the town when she saw the hydra approaching the town. Luna ran to her sister as they couldn’t run anymore. “What happened, why are you so exhausted?” Luna asked readying herself for combat.

“Well you’ll probably hate us for this sister but we did this trying to get Naruto away from you but I think we might have gone a little overboard.” Celestia said looking at her sister.

Luna’s body tensed as her energy increased greatly almost to Nightmare’s levels. “Why, do you three want Naruto that much, especially you sister? He’s mine and no other mares got it.” Luna said taking to the skies blowing wind at her sister and her companions. “That’s enough of this!” Luna said firing at the beast with her magic but it hit air as it faded away, or flew off in another direction. Luna was beside herself that nothing was working.

Naruto, down below looked up to see his marefriend trying to fight the hydra with magic. Naruto knew that magic didn’t affect hydras. Their skin and scales had magic in them that dispelled magic attacks. Only physical attacks could harm this thing. “Luna get out of there!” Naruto cried unable to shout above the cry of the hydra as it stood on its hind legs reaching out for Luna. Luna flew down away from its claws but it wasn’t too long before the hydra had her in its clutches. “LUNA!” Naruto jumped at the hydra’s arm trying to get at its joint but he was intercepted by the beast’s other claw sending him into five different set of homes crushing them. He lay there almost lifeless as he heard Luna cry out his name.

“Sorry dear princess but I was sent her on a job to get a certain stallion away from you. Can’t have anypony in my way now can I?” His smile was malicious as his feet smashed into a home almost killing the residence. He continued to do this destroying home after home as he searched for this stallion that Celestia wanted to be with.

“Let me go this instant!” Luna shouted wanting to make sure Naruto was still alive. “Why would you do this to the town? You have nothing to gain from it!”

“I told you it’s my job to keep you away from a stallion so that my employer can get to him before you.” Luna’s eyes widened when one of the heads licked its lips. “In fact we did say that we were going to make it convincing.”

“NARUTO!” Luna shouted stirring the almost lifeless corpse. Naruto looked up and watched in horror as the beast snapped its jaws on Luna swallowing her whole.

“LUNA!” He heard Celestia cry out. She fell to the ground after that having used up most of her energy.

Naruto’s anger was at its breaking point as a fire like aura began to encompass him. He could feel his powers coming on, but he didn’t hold them back this time, no he let them come and he was aware of everything that was happening. He himself was controlling his powers as they coursed throughout his body. He roared to the skies getting the attention of both the mares and the hydra. His energy shot up like a geyser the longer he roared out. The energy began to die down, but Naruto didn’t give it anytime to do anything else as he shot right at the beast’s gut slamming into it. The beast was sent into the air regurgitating Luna out of its stomach.

Naruto shot from his position in the air grabbing Luna and landing on his hind legs as three fox tails shot up from his demonic aura. Somehow he was controlling everything he was doing. He didn’t know what but he didn’t care at the moment as he slowly placed Luna on the floor. He looked to his right and saw a katana sword laying there. He grabbed it with his hoof as his aura became a claw around his hoof allowing him to hold the blade. He unsheathed it watching the steel come forth and he pointed it right at the hydra which just roared back at him.

Luna’s eyes opened slowly and she saw her stallion in the same aura as he was when he lost control she flew toward him wrapping her arms around him. “Naruto don’t, you’ll lose control again!”

“Sorry Luna but I have to do this.” Luna was shocked when she heard his voice. “I am in control of this power right now and I plan on using it to stop this thing right now.” His aura tails lashed out as the hydra fired spikes from its two claws at him. The small baby orphanage watched as the orange stallion kept the beasts attack at bay.

“Celestia wake up, you need to do something. He’s about to protect Luna!” Remedy shouted trying to wake the princess. “Dang it she’s not waking up!”

“Who cares, we need to stop Naruto before he loses it in the town!” Pinkie cried sounding a little sensible. Dang, a lot of weird things are happening today, did somepony do something to the writer?

Luna released her stallion as he walked forward, the katana in his hoof being held by the power he had. “Well this is going to be interesting young stallion.” The hydra said unfurling its wings and taking to the skies. Naruto jumped into the air his tails lashing out at the air. “Interesting.” The hydra said as he sent a claw Naruto’s way.

Naruto roared out as he brought the katana in front of him deflecting the attack. The hydra again went with its claws and tried to slash but Naruto deflected that attack as well. The hydra may have been stronger than Celestia but it wasn’t stronger than Naruto at that point. Naruto was at least twice as strong as the monster. They continued parrying strikes, the katana becoming more infused with Naruto’s demonic powers. Suddenly the hilt changed growing a fox’s mouth around the top of the hilt and the blade had become as red or orange as the energy flowing around Naruto.

Naruto looked at this blade and smiled, now it was his and no pony else’s. He sliced down at another attempt at his throat to get on the beast’s arm. Naruto ran up the arm running the blade through its scales and skin. Fire followed in Naruto’s wake as he sliced off one head and fell to the earth. He landed jumped back up as the other two came out from where the other had been cut. Naruto was just getting angrier only increasing the amount of power that he had. The hydra spewed flames hitting Naruto but he was unstoppable by that point as he just kept coming through the flames and quickly appeared in front of the two middle heads. He didn’t slice them off but he definitely sliced them up. He didn’t let the heads come off because he knew they would just regenerate back. He did this incredible slashing movement not seen in Equestria that it was almost too impossible for anypony watching to believe.

Naruto finished his slashing and shot up as the eight eyes of the hydra now looked up as Naruto put all his energy even though it was still around him into the blade and headed straight down. He sliced right through the thing causing it to explode with the amount of power that was used. Don’t worry the hydra wasn’t killed just sent back to its plain of existence. Thank goodness for that or I would have to increase the rating to T.

Naruto landed on the ground as all the power that was in him faded but the power in his right hoof didn’t leave as the sword remained attached to it. He tried to get it off of him but it wasn’t coming off. Naruto thought of the power in his right hoof leaving and it did just like that. The sword dropped to the floor. Naruto then did the opposite and the blade shot back up into his hoof. Now Naruto had a special magic with this sword. He dropped the sword and galloped over to its sheath grabbing it with his mouth and heading over to the blade. He put power into both his hooves allowing him to hold both the sheath and the sword as he sheathed the blade. The scabbard for the blade changed at that point getting the demon seal that was on Naruto’s flank splashed all over it.

Naruto watched as a sash was created from the blade’s scabbard as it wrapped itself around him then squeezing so that it fit perfectly around his chest and back. It tied itself to his chest and then settled. Naruto has acquired the blade of the demon fox! Sorry felt like I should put that in there for funnies.

“Naruto!” Naruto turned to get slammed by Luna. They rolled on the ground and ended up in each-others’ arms when they stopped. “I thought you were going to lose it there for a minute. You really had me scared.” Luna said putting her face in his chest.

“You shouldn’t worry so much Luna, but I’m a little confused as to why I had control of my powers now when I know I felt even stronger than that time at the festival.” Naruto said picking himself and Luna up. His powers were still there but almost gone. He could feel them leaving as his anger began to calm down. “Luna maybe we should go home now.”

“First thing’s first though, SISTER!” Naruto backed away never really seeing Luna angry before. “Now explain to me why you summoned the Great Hydra!”

“Well you see, Remedy thought that Naruto would come to one of us if he saved us. She came up with the idea of bringing forth something stronger than me so I chose our friend. I didn’t however expect him to eat you. That wasn’t part of the plan. The whole plan was to get Naruto and you to separate.” Celestia said only confusing Naruto.

“What she means Naruto is that Luna ain’t the only one with feelings for ya.” Naruto’s eyes widened as the four mares in front of him smiled, Remedy looked away feeling a little embarrassed. He had no idea that more mares could possibly have feelings for him but his heart belonged to Luna that much he was sure. Today’s burst of power allowed him to realize the true feelings he had. He knew if he lost it he could have killed Luna instead of saving her only it felt different this time. It was almost like he had nothing to lose by using his powers.

“Well this is a little awkward now isn’t it?” Pinkie said bouncing up and down. “You can’t blame us though, I mean how many stallions do you know who can do what you can do.”

“It doesn’t matter!” Naruto shouted feeling angry and rage filled, “Luna could have been seriously hurt and you’re all okay with that, I’m not. I love Luna with all my heart that I am now truly certain of. So I guess I have to say thank you to that. But never again try to think that doing such a thing will get me to like you. I already do, so what are you trying to do that for?”

“We want you to be in love with us you idiot!” Remedy said as she started walking away. “Why else would we do something so stupid?”

“Well that’s all I needed to hear.” Luna said as she turned to leave. “But there’s something that must come first the town.” Everypony there looked around and saw the mess that had been created. Celestia was the most horrified because she had been the one to summon the beast. “We’re going to need to get to work as quickly as possible sister.”

“Agreed, I will get our best ponies on this. I also don’t think I’ll be in Ponyville for a while.” Celestia said as she took to the skies.

“Don’t worry, she’ll be alright but that’s going to be the last time she does anything like that.” Luna said stomping the ground making Naruto sigh. “Naruto I’m really sorry that this happened. It is somewhat my fault.”

“Luna none of this is your fault, again I don’t know how you get these ideas in your head but you really need to stop with it.” Naruto said embracing his mare. He held her close as her hooves were quickly wrapped around him.

“Yeah, just because you love each other doesn’t mean that we’re going to just stop trying to win you over, Naruto. You are still my chosen one Naruto.” Remedy said walking away from the area leaving her two companions behind.

“Well I definitely won’t be trying to get in the way of you guys anymore!” Pinkie said smiling, “Believe it or not I Pinkie Promise not to get in either of your ways of being together.” Naruto smiled at Pinkie knowing she was telling him the truth. “I wish you both the best of luck.”

“Same here Naruto. I don’t want you to hate me or anything. I’ll be happy knowing that you’re happy. Don’t worry about Remedy though she probably won’t try anything either but none of us knows what goes on in that head of hers.” Applejack said as she and Pinkie left the area.

Once they were out of sight Luna rushed Naruto again. She put her cheek against his and they rubbed up against each other. “I need to know were you thinking of them when they were in danger?” Luna asked looking down.

“Truth is I wasn’t really worried about them. All I could think about was you Luna and no pony else. Every other pony was just an afterthought. I didn’t care if any pony else got hurt. They could have died for all I cared.” Naruto looked away from Luna feeling disgusted with himself for not having any real care for other ponies. “But I wasn’t going to let you get hurt. At first it was about helping the other girls but once they got past you all my thoughts were of you.”

“Naruto it’s alright, but why aren’t you looking at me?” Luna asked trying to get her stallion to look at her. She tried putting her face in front of his but he just moved away and continued to look away. He felt more like a monster, because he was ready to destroy the town to rescue Luna from that hydra. “Naruto please tell me what’s wrong, I want to help you.”

“Are you sure you want to know?” Naruto asked feeling his powers coming up to him again. Luna put her hoof against his cheek nodding her head. “I was ready to kill everything just like last time only I was in control of myself this time. Even if it was a lucky break, I can’t deny the thoughts that were in my head. I wanted everything gone, the town, the ponies living here, your sister, Remedy, I wanted everything to just die and give you back to me. I was ready to slay small children if it meant getting you back. I’m nothing more than a monster, a greater demon.”

Luna slapped Naruto at that comment. Naruto looked at the mare he loved to see her crying with anger in her eyes. She grabbed his face and brought it close covering his lips with hers. The kiss was short but was filled with love from the blue mare. “Stop calling yourself a monster Naruto. You were just angry, and I know how you get now when you’re angry especially if it involves me. You shouldn’t be so afraid that I may leave you. I would never leave you no matter what had a hold over me. Even if I did become Nightmare Moon again I would still love you. Even that part of me loves you and I’m really happy that it does.”

“Luna it’s not that weren’t you listening I was ready to smash in that group of orphans if it meant rescuing you, how can you possibly still say that you’d stay with me after that?” Naruto had tears running down his face as he looked at the mare he loved with pain in his heart.

“Because I know that you wouldn’t have done it. Even if you were mad with power you have a heart of gold Naruto. Nothing could make you a merciless killer like Shadow. You’re my heart’s desire and I know for a fact there’s not an ounce in you that’s evil.” Luna put her cheek against his and rubbed it against it only driving Naruto into embracing her in his hooves. “That’s my Naruto.”

“Luna thank you so much for still believing in me but are you sure, what if I actually do what I just say? Would you still love me?” Naruto asked holding her close.

“Of course.” Luna responded holding him tighter, “I would follow you into the deepest darkness if it meant being with you forever. That’s all I want Naruto, to be with you. It’s all I ever dream and think about nowadays.”

Naruto held her tighter, even though the force he was using could have broken her back he wanted to know that this wasn’t a dream that this was the real Luna in his arms. “Thank you Luna it’s the same with me in some ways but I’m just happy that you’d go with me into darkness if it meant being together because that’s what I would do. Either that or I would kill myself if it meant being apart from you. I wouldn’t be able to live with these powers or images that keep coming into my head without you.”

“I’ll never leave you Naruto no matter how much other mares try to get in my way I will never let you go. Not even the grip of death could stop me from wanting to be with you.” Luna held him just as tightly and before they knew it the two of them were finding it harder to breathe. They loosened their grips and began to laugh to one another.

“Excuse me but are you the one with the strange powers?” Naruto turned his head to see one of the mares with the orphans standing before him. Naruto nodded his head with slight hesitation. “Well the little ones want to tell you something.”

“Thank you mister!” All the small kids said as one. They were all smiling except for one that caught Naruto’s attention. The young filly unicorn was white like Rarity, but had blue hair that looked like cotton candy. She wasn’t smiling or even looking at him and that seemed to catch his eye. Why he didn’t know but he felt that the filly was hurting inside just by the look in her eyes.

“You’re very welcome kids. I hope I don’t have to do what I did any time soon but I’d do it if it meant saving the town and the mare I love.” Naruto said standing up. “Speaking of which, we need to get home Luna. Shall we go then?”

“Yeah let’s go home and just relax from this hectic day.” Luna agreed with her stallion as they both walked away back to their home together Luna’s wing draped over her stallion. Their hearts and mind were filled with nothing but thoughts of the other as was the normal occurrence for them. Celestia stay away from them; that also means you Remedy!

A New Family Member

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Luna woke up to the feeling of Naruto’s hoof running through her hair. It had been a couple months since Naruto’s episode. There had still been no sign of Shadow which worried everyone in Canterlot and Ponyville but no one paid any mind to it because they had Carnac watching over them. The whole town was now aware of Naruto’s powers and he was either hailed a hero or a monster. The town argued both points with each other as they couldn’t come to an in between. However with the help of Twilight and Princess Luna, the town soon just thought of Naruto as one of their own.

Naruto was happy to have a place where he felt he belonged and was happy that he was able to share it with the mare he loved so dearly. He got up out of the bed and stretched out getting ready for the day. He had to get to Miss Flash’s pastry store before he was fired for being late…again. Luna stood up and looked toward her stallion feeling a great sense of want, but she didn’t know what she wanted from him. It didn’t really feel that important so Luna decided that it was best to forget about it.

“Naruto what are you doing?” Luna asked as she watched Naruto slicing the air with his hoof.

“Oh, I’m practicing my sword swing, that’s all.” Naruto said grabbing the Fox Sword from the corner of the house. As he put it around his back he looked around the house and saw just how much they had gotten done in so few months. However there was still a lot of cleaning left to do and Naruto was happy that Luna didn’t mind helping him. Truth is Naruto didn’t want Luna getting herself dirty trying to help fix up the house but she insisted saying that it was also her home to. Naruto didn’t know what Luna meant by that but he felt happy about it.

“Why would you be doing something like that Naruto?” Luna asked feeling confused. She has seen him swinging the sword but she didn’t know why he was using that when he didn’t really need that due to his immense strength.

“Well I want to be ready to use it when the time comes and I’ve never really used a sword before so I thought I’d do some simple swings to get started.” Naruto said as he continued swinging the sword up and down like a samurai would.

“Okay but that still doesn’t explain why you would need to practice.” Naruto stopped swinging the sword and looked at Luna with a confused expression. He didn’t quite understand what she was talking about. “I mean the way you used it against the Great Hydra was pretty good. I don’t see why you would need to practice.”

“I see your point Luna, but I want to be sure that I know what I’m doing. What if I don’t practice and the sword goes flying off and almost hits you. I don’t want you to be in any danger at all.” Naruto said looking down at the ground. Luna could see the worry on his face and just sighed walking over to him. She put a hoof on his face and turned it to her. She put her lips on his cheeks and his smile came, the one Luna loved to see.

“That’s the Naruto I love. By the way do you remember the orphanage that we saw the other day?” Luna asked as she walked back over to the sink to finish up the dishes.

“Yeah.” Naruto remembered it alright. He especially remembered that filly that looked like she was in some kind of pain. He couldn’t explain it but he felt like he had some kind of connection with the little filly. Again he couldn’t explain it; all he could say was that he felt something when he saw the filly. In fact for the past couple of days he’s had dreams about the filly getting herself into trouble and him having to rescue her. He smiled after all the times the little filly would cry and ask to be held by him. Luna was in those dreams but it was like the little filly wanted Naruto all to herself and would always look at Luna with a death like stare. It always seemed to push Luna back but Naruto always brought her closer and they would all laugh it off. They acted like a family.

When the word family went through his head he looked to Luna who was humming to herself even after she had finished the dishes in the sink that they had. He began to think what it would be like to have a family but then he thought that his job with Miss Flash wasn’t getting him the money that he really needed and he was having to take care of Luna as well, he didn’t think he could take care of another pony in this house.

But then he thought of that little filly and felt like he could help her in some way. He didn’t know why but he did feel some kind of connection when he saw that filly. “Hey Luna,” Naruto asked looking at the ground in thought, “do you happen to know where that orphanage is?”

Luna turned her head to look at him and was a little confused as to why he would want to know where an orphanage is. “Naruto is there something wrong?” Luna asked turning her body to face him. “That’s a pretty strange question.”

“Sorry but I just wanted to know is all.” Naruto said scratching the back of his head. Truthfully he felt like the question felt strange coming out of his mouth but he wanted to see that little filly for some reason, why he didn’t know. But he was determined to see her. “I really want to see that orphanage you know to see what it’s like to be around a child.”

Luna didn’t know what Naruto was talking about, until an idea popped in her head. She began to wonder something that normally couples don’t think about until after marriage. “Is he thinking what I think he’s thinking?” Luna was blushing heavily as Naruto turned to look out of the window. “Is he thinking about having a child but that would mean he and I would have to…” Luna then slammed her head into the floor which caused Naruto to turn around in surprise.

He looked down and saw Luna’s head in the floor and just sighed because it was probably something that she thought up that wasn’t really true but for some reason he couldn’t help laughing after he sighed. She just looked so ridiculous. He couldn’t help but laugh out loud. That’s when Luna came shooting up out of the ground.

She looked to be on fire, maybe a demon was inside of her. Naruto was looking at her with fear on his face as he was trying to come up with a good excuse for laughing at her. “Why were you laughing?” She said in a soft but very threatening tone. “Did I do something that was funny to you?”

“Uh…No not really just found you slamming your head into the ground to be funny I guess.” Naruto said still trying to save his life from what appeared to be the scariest look Luna has ever given him. Then again he was up against Luna the mare he loved and the mare he would never lay a finger on no matter what. He was definitely thinking that this might actually be his death day with the way Luna was looking at him.

“Oh so whenever I slam my head into the ground it’s funny?” she asked with her cheeks red but her voice was anything but nervous. “How about I laugh at every time you get slammed into a wall?”

“That’s not what I meant Luna.” Luna’s rage seemed to be calming but it wasn’t really all that calmed though. “It’s just lately I’ve been having trouble wondering if I’m a good guy or if this demon in me is going to take over and kill everyone.” Luna’s rage stopped at that point but her anger was still there, however she was now getting concerned. She thought he had gotten over this a few days ago at least that’s what he told her then anyways. “I just feel as though the town only went along with it because you and Twilight’s words moved them. However what if they still remain the same, and what if they take it out on you and the others? If anyone were to hurt you…I don't know if I’d be able to—,”

Naruto dropped the sword and fell to his knees as the thoughts of killing every living thing came into his head. He grabbed his head as the onslaught of thoughts was almost unbearable. It soon became too unbearable and he screamed to the heavens. His voice actually reached the town of Ponyville. Luna had lost all feeling of anger as she watched her love in more pain then she’s ever seen. She knew that he got thoughts but she never imagined that they’d actually hurt him.

She didn’t know what to do but all she could do was put her arms around him to stop him from thrashing around. She knew it was dangerous with how powerful Naruto was but she loved him more than anything, however she was afraid of getting hurt, but if it helped Naruto she didn’t care. Naruto was still thrashing about and actually ran right into a wall smashing Luna right into it. But that didn’t make Luna let him go. She was determined to help him even if it meant her life. (Which I for think is crazy, I don't care how much you love the guy just do what you did when he went all berserk at the festival. It worked there why not now.)

“Naruto it’s okay I’m right here.” Naruto seemed to stop thrashing around as his eyes were shaking in his head. The eyes themselves were incredibly small as the pain was still going through him. “I’m right here, just think of me Naruto.”

Naruto’s body just fell into Luna and she was surprised almost falling down with him. If that had happened Naruto would have been on top of her. The thought of that made Luna blush a little but she still held Naruto in her arms. She didn’t want to let him go until she was sure those thoughts were out of his head. Naruto began to breath normally again as he put his hooves on Luna’s shoulders.

He looked at her and saw that all his thrashing had injured Luna. He felt like an even bigger monster than he already thought. How could he hurt the mare he loved so much? He couldn’t believe that simple thoughts drove him to that. “Luna I…I…” Naruto was stopped when Luna put her hoof over his mouth.

She held him tightly resting her chin on his shoulder. “Thank goodness that’s over, I was worried you would have gone on for hours.” Luna said as a tear ran down her face. However she couldn’t tell if it was from her happiness or the enormous amount of pain she was in from Naruto thrashing around.

Naruto couldn’t believe that she did something so stupid. She should have let him just suffer with the thoughts. He believed that they were who he really was. All these terrible thoughts in his mind, he believed were what he was meant to do, kill and nothing else. “You shouldn’t have stopped the thoughts Luna.” Luna pushed away from him and looked into his eyes and saw an emptiness that was never there before.

“What do you mean, I wasn’t going to sit there and watch you suffer. I love you too much Naruto.” Luna said trying to bring the life back into his eyes.

“You should have,” Naruto stood up and walked away from her. Luna was worried that Naruto was going to force the memories to come back and she didn’t want him to do that because she just wanted Naruto to smile. “I need to face this myself. If I really want to not be a monster I need to face these thoughts that no pony, even one with a demon should have.”

“That’s true but you don't have to do it alone.” Naruto looked over at Luna with confused eyes. “You’re always protecting and saving me from certain peril. I can barely do anything to help you out so I figured that the best way I can help the stallion I love is to be there for him in his darkest hours, where he’s in the most pain. It doesn’t matter how many times you tell me not to be there for you. I will always be there for you Naruto, you’re my coltfriend and I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“Luna…I hurt you aren’t you upset about that. The stallion you love so much just hurt you severely. And you sound like nothing even happened to you.” Naruto was feeling like she thought of him as a monster now, but then again he felt that way about everyone. He felt that everyone he knew thought of him as a monster in some way. He wished that this demon wasn’t inside of him.

“I don't care if I got hurt Naruto.” Naruto looked at her in shock, how could she not care what happens to her. “I don't care because you don't really care how worried I get when you go into a fight. Do you have any idea how worried I am even though I know that you’re going to win?” Suddenly a tear fell from Luna’s eye and that had Naruto rethinking what he thought about Luna.

“Luna why do you worry it’s not like anything bad is going to happen to me?” Naruto said walking over to her and placing a hoof on her cheek.

“That’s just it though,” Luna said turning around and walking away from Naruto this time. “I do worry about you, what if something bad does happen and you end up dying. Do you have any idea what I would do to myself if you left this world Naruto?” Naruto looked at her with wide eyes as he got a few ideas in his head and none of them were good ones.

“Luna, that’s crazy talk.”Naruto said trying to make her change the subject, but that’s not exactly how you would change a subject.

“I’m not crazy Naruto, I would kill myself if anything happened to you, but first I would brutally kill whoever hurt you first.” Luna said looking at him with rage and sadness in her eyes. Naruto thought of Luna brutally killing another pony and for some reason he gulped because he feared if he made her mad what would she do to him?

“I wasn’t saying you’re crazy I’d never say anything like that. I’m saying the way you’re talking is crazy, totally different thing.” Naruto said trying to calm her down.

“Actually Naruto they pretty much mean the same thing.” Luna said and she’s kind of right because saying someone’s saying are crazy is almost the same as telling them they’re crazy only you’re using the words as cover. Naruto looked at her and was beginning to run out of ideas to stop Luna from thinking these thoughts. The more tears that fell from her face the more he wanted to smash his face against a wall, but then again he didn’t want the house coming down on top of them so he decided that wasn’t the best course of action at least here at the moment.

“Every time I see you fight my heart begins to ache because I can’t help but think, “what if this is his last fight”, or “is he going to come out of this okay” all these different saying just pop in my head and I can’t do anything to stop them. I don't care what you think of yourself Naruto, because I know what you are. You are completely reckless and don't listen to reason. So far you’ve done everything that has almost given me a heart attack.” The more words that came out of her mouth the more Naruto’s head fell closer to the floor.

“But in spite of that you’ve risked your life for mine and you even showed everyone this power that you possess because I got hurt. It seems like if you weren’t here, I’d be Nightmare Moon right now and we would be enemies.” Luna said which made Naruto’s eyes widen.

“No, we wouldn’t.” Naruto’s head came up slowly but didn’t rise all the way as he walked closer to Luna. She raised a hoof up in slight surprise because she didn’t expect that. When his head came up fully his eyes opened and they looked into Luna’s as though they were piercing right into her very soul. Luna was a little freaked out by this. “Luna even if you were Nightmare Moon, I don't know why but, I feel as though even if that happened you and I would still be like this, by each other’s side, in love with each other.”

“But what if you showed up when I was Shadow’s mistress, what if I was deeply in love with him?” Luna asked trying to see what would come next. She was interested that Naruto felt this way about them but she wanted to hear what he had to say about this.

“So what, if we love each other as much as we do then I believe that something brought us together Luna. I can’t explain it any other way. We would have fallen in love whether we wanted to or not. What would you say Luna?” Naruto asked feeling like she was hiding something from him now.

“Truth is I think the same way and I don't know why? As my sister would probably say it was fate that brought us together Naruto and fate wanted the two of us to be together. I don't care if it was fate or dumb luck that I met you. I haven’t been happier in all my life.” Luna’s tears were really coming now. Naruto didn’t want her to start crying like this. That was the last thing he wanted.

“When I first met you I thought I was just going crazy at first but then I started to realize why I wanted you around me all the time, why I can’t stand it when you’re alone with another mare. Sure I may have embarrassed myself a few times but I wanted to know if what I felt was true.” Luna looked up into Naruto’s eyes and she saw the concern in them. It was massive compared to the other times but that wasn’t all she saw in his eyes. She saw love in them as well, almost as if the words she had just told him made him love her even more.

Luna went on to tell him that she had followed him on his little ‘date’ with Pinkie Pie and a few other things that happened, during the months they had been together, where she did everything possible to be with him. She felt like she may have been obsessing over him and she didn’t want him freaking out about that but she felt this was going to come out either by her or by Remedy and she didn’t want that mare doing anything to jeopardize her and Naruto’s relationship.

“I’m sorry Naruto, I really am and-mmmmh?” She was silenced as Naruto’s lips covered hers. Luna was in shock from a few seconds but soon fell to the spell that the kiss put upon her. She wrapped her hooves around his neck and he put his arms around her waist and they began to passionately kiss each other. When they finally came up for air, they were both looking at each other differently. Naruto saw how much Luna really loved him and what she was willing to do to be with him. Luna saw how much Naruto cared about her and saw how far he would go to keep her safe and to be in her loving arms.

“Oh right you wanted to know where that orphanage was right?” Luna asked blushing from how easily they had gotten into that conversation.

“Oh that’s right I guess we really got caught up in that conversation huh?” Naruto said as he then began to laugh but he was happy they had gone through that conversation. “So yeah do you know where it is?”

“No I’m sorry Naruto. But I think we know someone who does.” Naruto looked at Luna with a confused face. He had no idea who she could be talking about.
………………………….

Luna and Naruto were at the front of Twilight’s doorstep and Naruto still wasn’t sure if he should or if he shouldn’t ask Twilight considering that she also lived here. And by her I mean Remedy. “Naruto are you really that nervous after all they are our friends.” Luna said looking at him a little questioningly. She thought that he was making a big deal out of this for nothing. Then again this is Naruto, not that uncommon.

“It’s not that Luna, I’m just worried she’s going to start a fight with you and the last thing I need is for you two to get in a fight because then it’s going to come to me and then everypony is going to start yelling at me. I don’t need that today.” Naruto just wanted to know where an orphanage was, nothing else really. And the last thing he needed was more drama. He got enough of that daily with Luna, although he enjoyed that drama.

They came to the door and Naruto was already nervous, his forehead was sending thousands of sweat drops down to the floor before Luna knew what had happened she was standing in a puddle of Naruto’s sweat. Luna looked at him and sighed. She then used her magic and sent the puddle of sweat away and then slapped Naruto across the face. Naruto put a hoof on his face and looked at Luna who was looking ahead with her eyes closed.

“Luna what was that for?” Naruto snapped as Luna just opened her right eye slightly which made Naruto squint his eyes at her.

“I don’t want you being nervous right now. If you hadn’t guessed girls see that as a sign of weakness and will use that against you and I don’t need her trying to seduce my stallion.” Luna’s eyes were now on fire as though if that did happen she would murder Remedy.

Naruto wouldn’t put it past her at all considering what’s her sister did. That hydra almost killed her and it was the doing of both her sister and Remedy’s idea. “Just promise me you won’t kill anypony while we’re here alright.” Naruto said breathing a sigh.

“Very well then but if she goes at you once I swear she’s going to be an ornament on a wall.” Luna said getting in Naruto’s face. Naruto backed up a bit feeling like Luna was going to pin him up on the wall. He wouldn’t put it past her either, from some of the stories he’s heard of the alicorn she’s not exactly that friendly when it comes to things she cares about like her moonlit nights. That’s the reason she became Nightmare Moon as far as Naruto knew anyways.

Luna smiled feeling like Naruto wasn’t going to do anything he shouldn’t but then again she couldn’t account for that mare. She was a loose cannon around Naruto and he was her stallion not hers. Why did she have to be so persistent? Naruto loved Luna not Remedy but Luna couldn’t understand why Remedy was so persistent of her stallion. It just didn’t make any sense.

Luna knocked on the door and soon after Naruto and Luna heard a voice inside. “I’ll get it Twilight don't worry about it.” It sounded like Spike, Twilight’s assistant. Luna and Naruto watched as the doorknob turned. When the door opened standing in front of them was the small purple and green dragon. “Oh Naruto, Luna what are you two doing here?”

“We came to see Twilight is it okay if we come in?” Luna asked with a smile on her face. Naruto took a peek and afterwards he smiled. He loved looking at Luna’s smile because it always made him happy.

“No problem come on in, Twilight was just giving Remedy some advice on her dilemma with you know who.” Spike said pointing to Naruto. Who just dropped his head feeling like that mare would never give it up until he finally left Ponyville. Either that or he would have to be dead. He didn’t want to do either one because he wanted to be with Luna no matter what it took and if he had to endure this mare he would do it for Luna.

“Twilight!?” Spike shouted catching the two ponies off guard, “Naruto and Luna are here to see you!”

At the end of that sentence a black flash shot from the top of the stairs down to the two ponies waiting for the purple mare. In front of Naruto no more than a few inches was Remedy with a smile upon her face. “Why hello Naruto, what brings you by today?” Remedy was inching closer to Naruto’s face. But before she even got within five inches she was thrown into a shelf. All the books on that shelf then started to fall down onto Remedy.

Naruto looked over to Luna and saw that her eyes were a dark navy blue color and her horn was glowing brighter than usual. Naruto was surprised to see this kind of power coming from her. Then again she did say that if Remedy tried anything she would throw her through a wall, so I guess that meant she was showing a little restraint. At least to Naruto that’s what it looked like. Luna, after she was done huffing and puffing from sending Remedy into the bookshelf disaster composed herself and blushed looking away from Naruto.

Naruto smiled because he knew that Luna was only trying to keep other mares from him. He also knew this was Luan being a little modest with herself. “What the heck was that for Luna?” Remedy shouted coming out from the books.

“Nothing really, but if you don’t mind don’t get that close to Naruto.” Luna said giving Remedy what Naruto thought to be a death stare. At least she wasn’t giving him the death stare, he hated that. Then again most men and stallions hate getting the death stare. I know that I do.

“Oh what so I can’t ask a friend a question is that it?” Remedy asked getting in Luna’s face. Naruto sighed feeling like their weekly argument was about to happen right before his eyes.

“Girls, can we not fight…please?” Naruto asked hoping that they might calm down if he asked nicely.

“STAY OUT OF THIS!” They both shouted causing Naruto to back away to the wall. Well asking nicely didn’t work at all; hope Naruto has a plan B.

“What do I do now?” Naruto whispered to himself watching as the girls looked ready to go at it. So much for a plan B. May whatever gods are there help him and the residence of Twilight’s home.

“What’s your idea of getting in my coltfriend’s face huh?” Luna asked as her horn was beginning to glow again. “You know he’s mine and I will not hand him over.”

“Oh I didn’t know Naruto was your personal property. I’m sorry for trying to take your precious toy!” Remedy’s horn was glowing to.

Naruto was worried now as their words got so bad that I cannot write them down without turning this story to a rated M. Twilight was hearing everything from her upstairs’ room and just sighed. She went to look over the stairs and had to duck because a book flew right at her. “What the heck is going on down there?” Twilight said out loud trying to view what could possibly be going on.

“Twilight!” Twilight turned to her left and saw Naruto. He looked somewhat terrified of the fight that was going on at the moment. More importantly she was wondering what he was even doing here. “I never intended for this to happen.”

Twilight’s horn glowed and she went away in some bubble of magic and then reappeared next to Naruto in another bubble of magic. “Well it looks like they’re at it again.” Twilight said only getting Naruto to sigh and drop his head. “What started it this time?”

“Remedy got to close to my face, that’s what happened. Then Luna sent her into that bookshelf over there and then this all started.” Naruto said feeling like this would never end, not even in his later years.

“Well I can understand why Luna would do such a thing, I mean she’s done everything so that she could be with you and she doesn’t want anypony getting near you like that. She’s made it pretty clear to everypony else in town but I don’t think Remedy is going to quit until some other stallion shows up that she falls head over hooves in love with.” Twilight said only making Naruto grow pale.

“Great so you’re telling me that I’m going to have to live with this until some other pony comes around and takes Remedy?” Naruto said as his body started to tremble. Twilight backed away a little afraid of what was about to happen. “I can’t live like that, having to deal with this every week is going to drive me insane!” Naruto said as he started to stumble and then finally fell to the floor. A little white ghost of what appeared to be his soul came out of his mouth.

Luna and Remedy both started arguing when they heard Naruto fall to the ground. They both looked in his direction but before Remedy could even make a move Luna was already by his side trying to wake him up. “Naruto? Naruto? What are you doing on the ground and why aren’t you breathing!?” Luna screamed as she started to panic.

Twilight had a feeling he knew why Naruto did this, so she had an idea. “Hey Luna,” Twilight said getting the mare’s attention even though she was still moving her hooves up and down, “is your argument with Remedy over?”

“Yes of course it is, what’s important right now is getting Naruto to breathe again.” However at the words ‘yes it is’ the little spirit thing sticking out of Naruto’s mouth had gone back in his mouth. Then his face got its orange color again and he jumped up and looked like some strong man trying to show off his muscles. “Naruto?” Luna was in shock at how quickly seemed to recover from that.

“It’s about time you guys stopped that whole arguing thing. I mean it does get kind of annoying.” Naruto said smiling at her. Luna blushed because the smile was a warm one that Luna didn’t expect. “I can’t stand it when you and Remedy start arguing over something as trivial as my feelings for you Luna. That happened because I thought it would never end. That and the thought of this happening every week scares me to the point of death.”

“Really?” Luna asked as she looked back at Remedy who just glared at Luna with great amounts of hate. “Well then I guess I’m just going to have to try and not get into any more arguments with Remedy then. I don’t want Naruto to lose his mind because of something like that.”

“Listen Luna I don’t care what you think Naruto is to you, he will one day see that I am meant to be his true love and I just hope you’re ready for when that day comes.” Remedy said as she continued to glare at Luna.

“As much as I would love to argue that with you I won’t to keep Naruto from passing out again. That and that little ghost thing sticking out of his mouth was freaky.” Luna said as she looked to Naruto who just laughed away.

“Oh that’s right!” Naruto said as he stopped laughing and turned to Twilight. He put both of his hooves onto Twilight’s shoulders slightly freaking her out, but it also made Luna and Remedy blush and have fire in their eyes. “Twilight,” Naruto looking deep into her eyes. Twilight was nervous because if Naruto did something stupid this could end badly and then cause Luna to go crazy. Which if anyone knows Luna’s history isn’t a good thing. “Do you know where the orphanage is, you know the one I protected last week?”

Twilight and the girls all looked at him shocked. The three of them didn’t see that coming at all. A little surprised that Luna didn’t since that was the main reason they came in the first place. Twilight shook her head and smiled even though she had a sweat drop falling down her face. Naruto quickly realized what he had done and then laughed as he walked back a little hoping Luna didn’t send him or Twilight into a wall…again.

“Is that the reason you two came over here?” Twilight asked as she felt all the nerves that were in her body vanish in a brink second. “Why didn’t you ask me that, why did you have to get us all worked up like that?” Twilight was angry but not really as angry as Luna was, however she wasn’t showing it.

“Sorry guess it was all the drama. Guess it got to me is all, I’m really sorry about that though. That’s the last thing I would have done after the whole arguing between those two.” Naruto said as he tried laughing but found it hard with Luna giving him the stare down. Yeah wasn’t a good stare down either.

“Well if you need to know where it is, I can tell you it isn’t that far away.” Twilight said as she went to the window closest to her. You know the Mrs. Flash’s bakery, you know where you work Naruto?” Naruto nodded his head, truth is he’s been so busy helping with the repairs of the town that he hadn’t been to work in a while.

“Well if you go a little bit further down that road you’ll see what looks like a school building just behind that you’ll find the orphanage. I’ve been there myself, had to fill in for somepony who was sick that day and it wasn’t easy let me tell you.” Twilight said as she remembered how difficult it was to get them all to calm down. She was surprised at how all the other staff members survived through the day.

Naruto nodded his head looking calmer and for some reason serious. Luna saw this in him and was a little shocked, the only other time he’s ever like this is when he’s fighting but other than that he’s normal old Naruto. “C’mon Luna we gotta go see how the kids are doing.” Naruto said in a firm voice which again shocked not just her but everypony in the room.

Naruto walked out without Luna because she was still a little shocked at what just happened. It didn’t take Luna long though before she snapped out of her shock and caught up with Naruto. Naruto looked to be walking with a purpose; Luna was worried that there was something that he wasn’t telling her. She wanted to ask him but she thought that he might get mad at her. She didn’t want him angry with her so she didn’t say anything.

As they came in front of the bakery Naruto saw Mrs. Flash taking out some of the trash and decided to help her. “Oh Naruto, how are you these days?” Mrs. Flash asked as Naruto was a little confused as to why she wasn’t mad with him. “Oh don't be shocked I know you have a lot on your plate Naruto, having to take care of somepony like Luna. Not only is she your marefriend but she’s a princess at that.”

“Oh well I’m sorry that I haven’t been around in a while. We’re going to an orphanage right now, when we’re done there. I promise you tomorrow that I’ll be back here to help you out with everything.” Naruto said with a fire in his eyes which was a little weird it was like he was going to enjoy working for somepony again. Luna loved seeing Naruto so fired up but she still didn’t understand why Naruto wanted to go see this orphanage it’s not like they were going to try and start a family or something.

“Oh and why would you be going to an orphanage?” Mrs. Flash looked at Naruto a little deviously which scared him a bit because he had never seen her look this way. “Oh you two love birds are trying to start a family aren’t you?”

Naruto looked at her with wide eyes. Luna saw Naruto looking like this and began thinking that he couldn’t possibly be thinking of doing that. “N-No Mrs. Flash what would make you think that idea.” Naruto said trying to keep himself from looking too embarrassed. “I just wanted to see how everypony was doing over there. I mean they were in the middle of that hydra attack.”

“Oh I had no idea.” Mrs. Flash felt a little dumb for thinking that Naruto was trying to build a family with Luna but she also thought why he didn’t. Naruto was madly in love with Luna so why didn’t he start a family with her, more importantly why hasn’t he asked her to marry him yet.

Naruto was worried that Mrs. Flash was going to ask him why he hasn’t asked Luna to marry him yet. He hasn’t found the time or any ring he felt was worthy of Luna. “Naruto are you ever going to ask Luna to-,” she was cut off as Naruto threw a hoof into her mouth, not a punch more of the point to where you don't want someone or somepony to say something you don't want asked at this particular moment.

Naruto looked over to Luna who just looked a little confused as to why Naruto just did that. Naruto leaned over to Mrs. Flash’s ear and began whispering. “Yes I plan on asking Luna to marry me but I haven’t found the right ring yet. I want it to be special you know.” Naruto said as he looked into the face of his employer somewhat pleadingly. He didn’t want her telling Luna anything.

“I understand Naruto, don't worry. But you really should hurry up though.” Mrs. Flash whispered. “You don't know what those other four might have planned to tear you and Luna apart.” Naruto felt rage flow through his body at that point. He could feel the demonic powers inside of him beginning to rise. It took everything he had to calm down.

Luna easily saw that Naruto was about to go demon but she wondered why. “I won’t ever let anypony take Luna from me and there is nothing that those four mares can do that would ever make me hate or want to be away from Luna.” Naruto said a little louder than a whisper. Luna heard this and was a little taken aback. And by a little louder than a whisper I meant much louder to the point where he was almost screaming.

It wasn’t new things that Luna had heard but it always made her happy to hear him say things like that. It made her feel really special to Naruto that he would proclaim something out to the world like that. Her face was bright red and the smile on her face truly made her face light up like the sun. Naruto turned to Luna and saw the smile on her face and felt that he was maybe overdoing things a bit.

“Naruto when it comes time to ask her you’ll know what to do.” Mrs. Flash said as she winked at him and walked back inside the bakery. Naruto blushed a little bit but he knew what she meant and she was right. Naruto felt that he was over thinking things a bit and decided that when the time came he would go out and find the best ring there was in all of Equestria and present it to Luna. However what he was worried about was the time limit he had. Even though he had about seven months left with Luna that could pass by him so fast and he wanted more time.

After their visit with Mrs. Flash, Naruto and Luna began to head for the orphanage just behind the school where it was located. Naruto felt slightly nervous for some reason. Then again he didn’t remember ever being good with children. That and what he said the other day. The fact that he didn’t care what happened to those kids made him feel like there was a hole in his stomach. He felt just like he did then and he wished there was a sign and not just words that would tell him how he couldn’t be a monster.

Luna moved her eyes to the left and saw that Naruto looked a little upset about something. She wanted to ask him but before she could what sounded like crying could be heard. Naruto’s head shot up at the sound. The crying sounded weak and soft as though they had been crying for a long time. He began to scan the area around him and as he got closer to an alley the crying seemed to increase.

Naruto felt that this had to be the place where the crying was coming from and peeked his head in to see a small white filly. Not just any filly though the exact same filly he saw after he had defeated the Great Hydra. The one who looked upset. Naruto began walking down the alley way trying to get closer to the filly. He wasn’t paying attention and accidentally his hoof hit a can startling the little filly.

The little filly looked at him with tears coming out of her eyes. Naruto actually saw the color of her eyes at that moment. They were a light lavender that Naruto hadn’t really seen before. Her flank was blank and she looked to be backing away as if in fear of him. Naruto tried taking a step toward her but was combated with her screams of pure terror.

Naruto jumped to her at that moment whereas most would back off. The filly looked up and saw that Naruto had gotten closer to her but all she saw was a shadowy figure and was in fear for her life. She was about to run away until Naruto wrapped his arms around her saying, “It’s alright, it’s alright there’s no monster here. I’m sorry if that scared you I didn’t mean to do that.”

The little filly was shocked as she was catching her breath. The last pony to say that was her…

She just started to cry some more but this time into Naruto’s shoulder as he just held her tighter for some reason. It felt weird to him that he was holding her this way. It was like the way he held Luna, protecting and loving. He didn’t know why this little filly brought him to this but when Luna saw him she smiled thinking that he would one day make a great father. Then she blushed realizing that she might be the one he might have a foal with which made her start to hyperventilate.

“Hey aren’t you that little filly who was with the orphanage the other day?” Naruto asked pulling the filly forward who was a little surprised by this. The little filly nodded while looking away. Naruto put her on his back which made the filly look at him confused. “I’m going to carry you back if that’s alright.” Naruto said smiling at her and the little filly smiled and rested on his back. Naruto could tell that she was exhausted and felt like this could be him one day with a daughter or son of his own and having to care for it.

It made him happy thinking about that but then all the other thoughts came making his face turn a dark red. He felt embarrassed thinking of this kind of stuff especially because he knew that he wouldn’t do such a thing unless Luna was going to be the one carrying his child. That made his face turn to the reddest it has ever been. Naruto began walking towards the exit where Luna was waiting for him also blushing but was also hyperventilating.

Naruto was wondering what she could be blushing about until something struck him in the head literally. The little filly accidentally hit him in the head and although it didn’t hurt it gave Naruto the idea what Luna was blushing about. “Hey Luna is everything alright?” Naruto asked getting Luna to snap out of her little moment.

She looked up at him and smiled. “So Naruto, who is that on your back?” Luna asked looking at the filly on his back.

“Oh it’s a filly from that orphanage from that day when I fought the Great Hydra.” Naruto said smiling about it. But deep down he didn’t want to think about that day not after what he saw that day.

Luna immediately saw through his smile and felt herself get a cold shiver down her back as the memories of being eaten and then spit back up went back through her mind. She grabbed herself while sitting up causing Naruto to spin around and put one of his hooves on one of her arms getting her to calm down quickly.

“Hey it’s alright I am not ever going to let that happen again I promise you.” Naruto said realizing what just happened. He felt stupid thinking about that because Luna was sure to figure it out and what happened to her caused nightmares that were almost always the same thing. It really hurt him. In the back of his mind he always had the fear of Shadow coming out and attacking him for Luna but the thought of her being digested made him want to tear something down.

Luckily Luna saw this and quickly planted a small kiss on his cheek making him blush from surprise as he stood there frozen for a few seconds. He shook his head and looked at Luna who gave him a smile that made all of his worries just fade away. Naruto smiled wanting to hug her but had a passenger so he couldn’t really do that. She walked past him giving him an alluring eye that told him to follow and his hooves moved by themselves.

Luckily for Naruto he knew they were going to the orphanage or else he thought that they might have been going somewhere else for something that made him blush a deep red. Luna giggled lightly making Naruto irritated that he allowed her to make him feel that way again. Luna slowed down until they were walking side by side with each other.

They passed the school and saw the orphanage that looked a little small to Naruto but then again he didn’t know anything about how you run an orphanage. Luna was a little nervous to be going into a place filled with children. She hasn’t really been good with children unless it was Nightmare Night. But then again she was mainly having fun other than that she didn’t really know how to handle a child.

The building was a little old, but it was a beautiful building all the same to Naruto. It was a red building like the school so if you looked at it parallel with the school you’d think it was a part of it. Luna was a little impressed by the craftsmanship that the building seemed to be built on. If his home wasn’t as good as it was Naruto would have wanted to live in a place like this. But he was happy with his home and he couldn’t ask for anything better than what he had.

Naruto was the first to enter since he had something that belonged to the orphanage. Luna was right behind him as she hadn’t been so nervous since that day when she made her first appearance back in Equestria. It was hard for her but with help from friends she got over that. She then looked at Naruto and thought to herself, ‘What is wrong with me I am with the stallion I love and I’m nervous. I can’t believe myself. Luna, get yourself together and walk in there with your head held high. Don't let them see you nervous, they’ll see it and think you’re weak.’

Suddenly Luna felt a whole lot more confident as she entered the building sided by Naruto. When they entered they could hear the laughing from several young foals coming from a room on their left. Naruto made the first move and turned the knob opening the door. When he entered he saw two mares and a teenage colt by the looks of him watching over about ten foals as they played with one another.

Naruto smiled seeing all the happy kids running around playing with each other. But what he was wondering is why was the filly on his back not here with them? One of the mares looked at him and immediately cried out in happiness. Naruto looked at her confused. “You found her!” the mare said giving Naruto the biggest hug ever. “OH thankyouthankyouthankyou THANK YOU!” she said rubbing her face against Naruto’s who was still shocked from the whole hugging thing.

The little filly on Naruto’s back woke to the collision of the staff mare that was hugging Naruto. The little filly looked at the mare and she looked to start shaking in fear. The little filly turned and saw something that made her sweat from both fear and nervousness. Naruto got his bearings and pushed off of the mare with the filly still on his back. Then he heard what sounded like heavy breathing that was directed at him.

He nervously turned his head around and saw Luna was looking at the mare who he had just pulled away from. Naruto acted fast getting between them. “Luna stop you need to calm down.” Naruto said as Luna looked at him with anger and hate.

“Why so you can let the other mare hug you?” Luna sassed making Naruto tilt his head in confusion as his expression read, ‘what’. It wasn’t long though before Naruto realized what was going on.

“Luna I have told you a thousand times that I don't like any other mare the way I love you. The only way that could ever happen is if somepony killed me and replaced my heart and wiped away my memories.” Naruto said to Luna, the staff members of the orphanage were a little concerned that Naruto may have been a little too detailed there. Luckily the foals had no idea what Naruto was talking about so it’s okay.

“Don't say something like that Naruto!” Luna said poking Naruto with her hoof. Naruto smiled thinking that the poke was out of fun but Luna was being serious. “I don't want anything to break you away from me and you saying that will only increase some of the nightmares I have.

“Mama?” The little filly on top of Naruto's back asked getting the attention of the couple.

“Excuse me but what did you just call me?” Luna asked a little confused. She had this look of irritation in her eyes still which scared the little filly. Luna took a step back thinking she had done something wrong. “I’m sorry about that but could you please tell me what you called me a second ago?”

The little filly was scared out of her mind. Luna had scared her originally from when Naruto was hugged by the other mare. Then with how she retorted to her. The little filly just thought for a second that she heard her mother talking is all. But she was too scared to repeat what she had said.

“It’s alright there sweetheart.” The mare that had hugged Naruto said grabbing a hold of the little filly and held the filly in her arms for a second before setting her on the ground. “Now why don't you go play with the others? I’m sure they missed you.” The mare smiled at the filly but she only seemed t be afraid of this mare as she scurried over to a corner and ducked her head into it.

The mare turned from her small group and looked at Naruto and Luan. “I’m sorry about hugging you out of the blue like that. I was just so worried about her that when you brought her in I was overwhelmed with joy.” The mare said only getting nods from Naruto and Luna. “Oh, I’m sorry but I haven’t introduced myself and I’m in the presence of Princess Luna. My name is Ingrid I am in charge of this orphanage.”

Ingrid then pointed over to the mare who was supervising the kids at that point. She looked to be enjoying herself but Naruto saw that she seemed to be annoyed with this and was actually staring at the filly that had originally been on Naruto’s back who hid in the corner. “That’s Mara, she can have an attitude at times but she’s really nice when you get to know her.” Mara turned her head and waved to Naruto and Luna with a smile. Luna waved back but Naruto felt that something was up. She went back to watching the kids but Naruto felt that there was malice in that smile that she gave them for some reason.

The mare then pointed to the young stallion that Naruto believed to still be in high school or something like that. “That’s Tanner, he’s still in high school though but he takes time out of his day to help us out with things around here. He’s really reliable.” The young stallion blushed a little bit. Naruto looked from him to Ingrid and realized that she wasn’t that old actually. She had to be around twenty-five or twenty-six years old. I guess some stallions could say she was pretty but Naruto already knew who the most beautiful mare was in Equestria.

He turned his head to Luna who looked to him a little confused. Naruto smiled and winked at her causing Luna to blush lightly. “Naruto, not in front of the kids alright?” Luna whispered to Naruto who just nodded putting a hoof on her shoulder. She smiled up at him and if they were alone she would have kissed him right then and there. But she didn’t want the kids to start asking what they were doing.

Naruto then turned back to Ingrid who was looking concerned. “Hey Ingrid what’s wrong?” Naruto asked startling Ingrid slightly. “Sorry about that Ingrid but you looked concerned about something.”

“It’s alright and I am.” Naruto looked at her a little interested because he wanted to help her out. She seemed nice and Luna would do the same thing if she was Naruto right now. “You know the filly you brought back?”

“Yeah, by the way what is her name?” Naruto asked wondering why he never asked her before.

“Oh it’s Crystal I thought you knew that already to be honest.” Ingrid said giggling a little bit. Luna didn’t like how Naruto was acting with Ingrid and nudged him hard. Almost a push actually that almost caught Naruto off guard had he not heard her coming. “I’m worried that she might be an anti-social and I don't want her to be lonely.”

Naruto heard this and looked to the small white filly curled up in the corner. He walked over getting a few questionable stares from the staff. When he got a couple feet away from her he heard her crying lightly and got a little closer. Crystal heard this and her head shot up immediately. She turned around to see Naruto looking at her a little scared.

Crystal just ducked her head into her hooves. She looked to be scared of Naruto to most of the staff. However, he only got closer until he was right next to her. He sat down and started leaning in closer to Crystal. “Hey Crystal?” Crystal’s head shot up hearing her name said so softly. “Why aren’t you playing with everypony else? They all look to be having fun. Is there something wrong?”

Crystal looked up at him confused as to why he cared whether or not she played with other ponies. “Why would you care about that?” Mara said coming up from behind him sounding rather angry with him. Crystal just backed herself into the corner as Mara tried to grab her making her even angrier.

Naruto saw this and got between them. He stood before Crystal like a royal guard of Canterlot and he meant business. “Please back away.” Naruto asked in the calmest voice he could bring out at the time. For some reason he felt that Mara wished harm onto Crystal and he would die before that happened.

Naruto looked serious and that surprised Luna because besides her, she has never really seen him look like this when he was protecting somepony. She had never seen him like this staring at his front. It was scary actually but at the same time she couldn’t help but feel a warm sensation in her heart. Seeing Naruto act like this made him appear to be a prince.

“So what are you going to do?” Naruto asked only getting Mara to take a step back in confusion. “I don't want to have to fight you, especially a mare in front of all these kids but I don't want you getting anywhere near Crystal is that understood?”

Crystal was looking up at Naruto with wide eyes as the only thing that came to her mind was one thing. “Papa?” She whispered getting Naruto to look back at her in slight confusion.

“What did you say Crystal?” Naruto asked her with a smile on his face. “Listen you don't have to be afraid of anything alright. No matter what happens I’ll be there to protect you.” Naruto turned back to Mara and breathed what some might have called steam from his nose.

“Whatever.” Mara said as she walked away feeling defeated.

Naruto turned around and smiled at Crystal who still looked at him with wide eyes. “See the big meanie is gone and won’t bother you anymore. If she does just come to me and I’ll teach her not to mess with such a cute little princess like you.” Naruto said getting Luna to giggle a bit because she thought that he was acting rather childish. Naruto made a pouting face hearing Luna giggle at him.

Crystal’s eyes began to swell up with tears as she began to sniffle. Naruto now had no idea what to do. Ingrid was about to jump in when she saw something that surprised her. Crystal jumped right into Naruto. She had her small hooves wrapped around his neck as far as they would go and was crying into his shoulder.

Naruto didn’t know what was wrong but he put his arms around the small filly holding her close like he would Luna. He smiled as Luna came up next to him. “It’s okay Crystal. Just let it out it’s alright.” He said as she continued crying into his shoulder. No one could tell but she wasn't crying because she was sad, she was so overjoyed by how Naruto acted that she just couldn’t help but cry.

“It looks like he reminds her of him.” Ingrid said catching Luna’s attention.

“Naruto reminds her of who?” Luna asked feeling that she should know what was going on.

“He reminds her of her father.” Ingrid said smiling while a tear ran down her face. Luna was surprised by this. She began to suspect that there was more to this than Ingrid was saying. “I guess you’re wondering if there’s more?” Ingrid said smiling so freely not realizing she had practically read Luna’s mind putting her in a state of shock.

Crystal had finally finished crying by that time. Naruto was glad that that was over because he didn’t like hearing her cry. That’s when he began thinking of Luna. He hated seeing her cry as well. He began to wonder why this little filly made him feel the same way he would about Luna. It wasn't making much sense to him. But he didn’t mind it one bit, he was happy that this little filly who was once so afraid of him was now holding onto him for comfort.

“Ingrid what more is there?” Luna asked wanting to know the whole story.

“You see we normally have kids given to us by other ponies who find them on the street or if we find them. However I found Crystal in the Ever Free Forest.” Ingrid looked upset now she had a face of complete sadness. Luna wanted more information because she wanted to know why Crystal was holding Naruto that way.
“I was out walking when I heard a scream. At first I thought it was the forest playing tricks on me but then I heard it again and that’s when I knew it wasn't the forest. I ran as fast as my hooves would let me until I came to a clearing where I saw the most horrifying sight of my life.” Her eyes were wide with terror as the memory of what she saw came back. “Lying on the ground were two ponies, one was a stallion and the other was a mare. Both of them had been brutally butchered.”

Luna’s eyes widened when she heard this but at the same time she has never heard of a pony being butchered or seen one butchered before. “It was horrible. The stallion had this large cut in his neck that was still pouring out blood from it and was missing a leg. The mare eyes were wide open and she had several cuts in her body. However when I was about to run for help I heard what to me sounded like crying. I looked around and there Crystal was crying in the bushes.” Ingrid said as tears rolled down her eyes.

“She was so horrified that at first she wouldn’t even come near me. I heard hoofsteps coming from behind me so I galloped over to her grabbed her with my mouth and began running as fast as I could out of there. I didn’t want to look back to see if there was somepony or something behind me. Because whatever it was had killed Crystal’s parents and I wasn't going to let that happen to Crystal.” Ingrid said as her eyes turned from sadness to serious.

“Crystal hasn’t been able to even play with others because whenever she starts to play with somepony she starts to remember the worst moment in her life. Either that or she just doesn’t trust anypony anymore. She doesn’t want that incident to happen again.” Ingrid said as she smiled in the filly’s direction.

“So then Crystal thinks of Naruto as her father?” Luna questioned having heard enough of that sad story. She looked over to Naruto and walked over to him and put her arms around both of them. Crystal looked at Luna and went and wrapped her small hooves around her then. Ingrid’s eyes widened when she saw this. “It’s alright little one.” Luna said softly as she ran her hoof down her back trying to help her calm down.

Ingrid looked at them and if she didn’t know that Crystal was an orphan she would have sworn that they were a family. Naruto smiled watching Luna hold Crystal like that. She must be good with kids, he thought to himself. Not really she’s just doing what her instincts are telling her to. After about three minutes of crying from Crystal she finally stopped.

Luna slowly began putting Crystal on the ground. Naruto helped wipe what was left of Crystal’s tears from her eyes. Crystal was no longer upset, she was smiling happily at both Naruto and Luna. Crystal opened her eyes and for the first time in a long time they had life in them. She smiled up at Naruto who smiled back feeling like she was finally okay. Luna knew why she was smiling but she didn’t want Naruto to know not yet.

“Would you mind playing with me?” Crystal asked as she jumped up and down happily. For a second Naruto thought she was related to Pinkie Pie for a second. When that thought left Naruto nodded his head and Crystal shouted in joy. She tried to pull Naruto outside but she was too young and Naruto was looking around like he was expecting something else to happen.

Luna just glared at him slightly and he smiled while scratching the back of his head. “Alright then let’s go play Crystal.” Naruto said as he picked her up and put her on his back. She had never been so happy in her life. Then again she has only been alive for four years so she doesn’t have much that could really compare to this. “So what do you want to do?” Naruto asked actually excited as he got to eye level with Crystal.

“Hide and seek, hide and seek!” Crystal said jumping up and down.

“Alright then how about you hide first and I’ll be the one who counts first alright.” Naruto asked as Crystal started jumping up and down.”I’ll take that as a yes. Now you go and hide while I count okay.”

Naruto closed his eyes and covered them with his hooves while Crystal tried to find a good place to hide. She only had ten seconds and she was panicking a little bit. Until she remembered something that her father told her, that she could use magic because she was a unicorn like her mother. Crystal concentrated remembering that levitation spell that she once saw her mother use on her dad when they were all playing hide and seek together. Her small horn glowed a brilliant teal as she began floating in the air. She was so excited about it that she wanted to scream but she didn’t want Naruto knowing where she was.

“TEN! Alright Crystal you better have hid well because nothing escapes me.” Naruto proclaimed as he began to dart all around the orphanage trying to find the little filly. Luna was watching the whole thing and looked up to see Crystal giggling softly to herself.

Naruto started to look all over the place as he was determined to find the young filly. Naruto was beginning to look in places that some thought impossible but that didn’t stop him at all. He was going to find this filly. He began to look in the trash cans that were outside the orphanage and was also looking through every room inside the orphanage. Naruto was beginning to get frustrated when he began to start looking in trees and all that.

Crystal hadn’t moved from her spot in the air but she was finding it a little harder to keep concentration with her having to also focus on not laughing as Naruto continued to become frustrated with being unable to find her. Luna just shook her head as her coltfriend wasn’t looking and ran into a tree. Crystal had to hold back the laughter that she felt coming on and it was hard.

Naruto was about to give up when he saw Luna looking over to him with this sort of disappointed look. “Naruto are you really going to let this little filly get the best of you?” Luna asked trying to see if he would actually get that fire back and continue to look for the little filly.

Naruto thought about it for a second and screamed, “NO! I won’t let her beat me at this no way!” His eyes were on fire literally. Luna smiled seeing the stallion she loved so much but unfortunately he didn’t really get any better at finding Crystal.

Luna just smiled at his determination but looked up at Crystal who was still trying to hold back her giggling. Luna waved to her and Crystal waved back. Naruto turned just in time to see this and wondered why Luna would do that. He didn’t look up as he was lost in thought about what she could have been waving at.

Luna just sighed and walked over to Naruto and patted his back. He looked at her a little surprised. “Why don't you stop seeking and just let her win?” Luna suggested not wanting to see Naruto punching through walls to find her. She knew how Naruto got when he was angry and she didn’t want the little foals exposed to such a violent form of him.

“But you just said that I should…” Naruto was stopped as he saw a pleading look coming from Luna, “alright then. Crystal you win I can’t find you!” Naruto shouted as he suddenly heard a cry of victory from the sky. His head shot up and saw that Crystal was using magic to levitate herself in the air. Naruto pouted as he couldn’t believe how stupid he was.

Crystal floated back down seeing Naruto looking upset. “Um…did I do something wrong?” Crystal asked looking down at the ground. Naruto could see that Crystal actually looked and appeared to feel guilty about what she had done.

“No not really but next time no magic alright my little diamond in the rough.” Naruto said rubbing his hoof through her mane making it messy. Crystal looked up at Naruto with wide eyes as she remembered her father calling her those exact words. Hearing them again made her start to sniffle. That made Naruto and Luna jump backwards in surprise. “Crystal is everything alright did I say anything wrong.”

Crystal ran to Naruto and wrapped her small hooves around his leg. Naruto was completely and utterly confused until Crystal began to shout one word. “Papa, papa, papa, papa!” She said crying into his leg. Naruto knew that had to be what she called him earlier before they played with each other.

Ingrid had finally come out after having taken care of the other foals inside. She still couldn’t believe that Crystal was playing with somepony. She felt that it was a miracle that had descended down upon them. When she got outside she heard crying and then saw Crystal crying into Naruto’s leg. She was about to run over when she heard continually calling Naruto papa. She couldn’t believe it.

Luna was shocked at what this little filly was calling Naruto. When she looked at Naruto she felt like an aura was coming off of him, but not a bad one. It felt to her like this light or benevolence was beaming off of Naruto. She watched as Naruto picked the little filly up off the ground and pulled her out to look at her. Crystal wanted to hug Naruto badly but then wrapped herself up feeling like she had done something wrong. She was scared that she had made Naruto mad at her.

Naruto felt that something was wrong and he didn’t know anything else except how he comforted Luna, he brought the little filly closer and wrapped her up in his arms. At first Luna was surprised to see this side of Naruto because she didn’t think he’d have that effect on a foal. But, right there in front of her she saw Crystal the filly who had lost her parents in the worst way possible finding Naruto to be just like her father.

“It’s okay Crystal, I got you. There’s no need to cry my young diamond.” Naruto said as he picked his head up and looked down at the filly with a gentle smile. Ingrid was tearing up because never before had she seen anypony be so kind to an orphan let alone Crystal. Ingrid couldn’t believe how happy Crystal was even though she was crying.

“Papa,” Those were the only words able to escape Crystal’s lips. She couldn’t say anything else as the memories of her first parents dying in front of her came back to her again. Before she could start crying again, though, she felt Naruto hold her closer to his chest.

“Don't cry my little diamond. I know you’re hurting inside maybe it’s because your parents aren’t with you or maybe they abandoned you.” Crystal looked up to him in horror, how could Naruto say that about her parents. “But when I think about it, the only reason I can think of them not being here for somepony as special as you is because they are no longer with us. If that’s true I am so sorry Crystal. If I was there I would have done anything to help them. You wouldn’t be alone anymore. I just wish there was something that I could do to make you feel better.”

Luna looked at Naruto with amazement, she couldn’t believe that Naruto was able to realize that without being told. “Why not adopt her?” Luna and Naruto shot their heads in the direction of the voice and saw that it was Ingrid who looked like she had just been crying.

“A-Adopt her?” Naruto asked feeling confused.

“Yes, adopt her. From what I have seen she seems to really like you Naruto and I think you would be the perfect parent for Crystal. Same goes to you Luna, you’d make a great mother. In fact when I look at the three of you together I already see a great family.” Ingrid said as Naruto and Luna looked at each other with questioning looks.

“I don't know Ingrid, Naruto and I have only been together for two months, well as a couple. I don't know if we’re ready to take care of a filly. Neither of us know the first thing to do when it comes to that.” Luna said feeling a little upset with herself because she saw how Crystal looked at Naruto. She didn’t want that little filly to start crying again. Especially if it makes her feel like she was abandoned. More importantly though, was that Naruto hadn’t really had an income for awhile.

Sure she was a princess and could just borrow some from her sister but she wanted to be with Naruto and have a normal pony life with him. Luckily their friends helped them out every once in a while. Or they might not have anything to eat. “But, but….” Crystal was trying to say something but couldn’t because of the hurt that she felt.

“I’m sorry Crystal but Luna is right.” Crystal looked up at Naruto with tears forming in her eyes. “I want to adopt you with all of my heart but we just don't have the funds right now but I promise when we do we’ll come for you alright.” Naruto said trying to comfort the little filly but all he got her to do was jump away from him and run inside crying her heart out.

“Crystal!” Naruto called out reaching his hoof out only to grab for air. Crystal was already inside and now somewhere where Naruto wouldn’t find him. Naruto felt angry with himself as he felt his anguish from saying such a thing to an already hurt filly.

“I’m sorry about that Ingrid. C’mon Luna let’s just go. If I stay here any longer I’ll break something.” Naruto couldn’t believe how much pain his body was going through. It felt like when Luna was getting hurt .

“I’m sorry for asking something like that out of the blue Naruto. But you must understand that Crystal hasn’t ever gotten as close to a pony ever since her parents deaths.” Naruto froze when he heard that. So then Naruto’s guess was correct. “When you came into her life just now she saw her father in you Naruto. But since you said that you wouldn’t take her she feels like she’s lost her father again.”

Naruto felt even angrier after hearing this because that meant that she may never open up to anypony ever again. Naruto just wanted to run to his home and go to bed and get this day over with but the sun hadn’t even begun to set and he felt wide awake so that would hinder the sleeping. Luna could see the anger within Naruto better than anypony now. She saw how much he wanted to take Crystal but couldn’t.

“I’m really sorry Ingrid but we really have to get going now.” Luna said putting her wing over Naruto trying to comfort him as they made their way out of the orphanage but before they could they heard a shriek coming from the orphanage.

Naruto was the first to respond galloping as fast as his hooves would go into the orphanage almost taking the doors off of their hinges. Naruto knew that shout came from Crystal which only furthered his anger. He felt like such an idiot for not realizing the mistake he made sooner. Naruto heard the shriek again and blasted the door down and found Mara standing over a completely terrified Crystal.

“Get away from her!” Naruto shouted as he prepared his hoof to go right into the mare’s face. Mara turned around in surprise as Naruto’s hoof came into contact with her cheek sending her into a wall. After Naruto had done that Luna came rushing in to Naruto worried.

“Crystal are you alright?” Those were the first words that came out of Luna’s mouth.

“MAMA! PAPA!” Crystal shouted as she jumped into Luna’s arms. She cried so hard into her chest that Luna began to think she might have to borrow a towel after this.

“We’re so sorry Crystal. If I had known this would happen I would have taken you home with us on the spot.” Naruto said as tears began to fall from his face. “I promise you I won’t make that mistake again. From this point on you’re a part of this family. I will happily take you as my daughter Crystal.” Naruto said as he put his cheek against Crystal’s and then hugged both of the girls he cared so much about now. And just like that Naruto’s home would be filled with another member and their family had gained a new member.

A Nightmarish Brawl

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Chapter 8
A Nightmarish Brawl

“We’re so sorry Crystal. If I had known this would happen I would have taken you home with us on the spot.” Naruto said as tears began to fall from his face. “I promise you I won’t make that mistake again. From this point on you’re a part of this family. I will happily take you as my daughter Crystal.” Naruto said as he put his cheek against Crystal’s and then hugged both of the girls he cared so much about now.

Crystal wanted to smile and scream out in joy but all that came were more tears, but not of fear but of great joy. She was so happy that she couldn’t help but cry. However the moment was short lived as Naruto heard something coming from where he had thrown Mara. He quickly pushed the two of them away as a large blast of energy hit him. Naruto was shot through a wall and almost went completely out into the open.

“NARUTO!” Luna cried out as her stallion lay on top of many rocks and looked to be bleeding. Luna and Crystal ran over to him as they saw him lying there motionless. Luna wanted to check if he was still breathing but she couldn’t move herself to do so. If he wasn't breathing than the last bit of hope she had would be gone and she wanted every bit of hope that she could muster.

“Oh did I hurt your precious stallion?” Mara asked as she came out of the smoke. Luna looked at her with rage filled eyes. Luna couldn’t believe how angry she was, there was only one other time she got this enraged. IT was a time she would rather forget but right now she couldn’t care less. “You know it’s funny I was worried I would never find you Princess Luna.”

Luna was a little confused at that point trying to figure out what the hell she was talking about. “What do you mean by that?” Luna snarled as she wanted nothing more than to tear this mare limb from limb. She could feel the darkness in her rising but she didn’t care if she had to she would use those powers to protect the ones she loved.

“I’d think a princess would realize that right off the back even after two months.” Mara smiled with a sinister grin that would have sent chills up any pony’s spine had they not been incredibly pissed like Luna.

Luna began to think upon what Mara said until it hit her. “You’re working for Shadow aren’t you?” Luna said in slight surprise. Mara’s smile just increased in length, if I didn’t know any better I would say she looked like the Cheshire Cat. “If that’s the case what does Crystal have anything to do with this?”

“Oh truthfully the only reason I work here is so that I can tie up some loose ends.” Mara said as she stood upon her hind legs which scared Luna slightly. “I am an assassin my dear princess. Unfortunately for you I have a reputation for not leaving any witnesses alive. I thought those two ponies that were in that forest would be easy prey but unfortunately for me they had a daughter with them that I never noticed until Ingrid got there.”

Ingrid was in the room now and was hearing everything that Mara was saying and almost threw up. Luna then put two and two together. She remembered the story that Ingrid told her. Luna turned to Crystal who was still trying to wake Naruto up. “Papa, no not again! I can’t lose papa again!” She cried which caused Luna’s eyes to widen.

“You’re the one aren’t you?” Mara looked at Luna a little confused. “You’re the one who took Crystal’s parents from this world aren’t you!” Luna cried out as she felt herself becoming lost in her rage.

“Well yes I guess that would be me now wouldn’t it.” Mara said as she laughed about it as though it were nothing. “Oh it was so enjoyable to hear their screams as I cut them up, oh even now it sends these fantastic shivers down my spines. Those cries for mercy as her husband couldn’t do anything after I had cut so deeply into his throat.”

Mara looked mad at this moment and I don't mean angry. Her eyes were wide and her smile reminded Luna of a psychopath they had to exile from Equestria after he tried to kill Celestia. Her expression reminded her of that horrid stallion. Maybe this was his wife at one point. Luna couldn’t believe how much she seemed to enjoy hurting Crystal.

“Oh but I must say when I was called upon by King Shadow I was most confused really. I wondered what he would have needed an assassin for.” Mara said as her madness seemed to end just like that. She then turned to Luna and looked at her with a glare that made Luna flinch slightly. “Oh I can see you’re scared Luna, one for your precious coltfriend there and of course there’s me. You don't know how strong I am, considering I took out a demon with one blast.”

Mara began to laugh hysterically as though all of this was a big joke. Luna didn’t find any of this funny whatsoever. Her coltfriend was lying in a heap of rubble behind her possibly dead and her now daughter was crying out for him hoping that he wasn't dead. “You’re a sick monster you know that Mara.” Luna said as she looked down her eyes covered in the shadows of her hair.

“I’ve been called worse from rats to be honest. But you see I was ordered or well paid to come and fetch you for King Shadow. Now I would love to go and do that but first things first getting rid of that little witness.” Mara said as she stepped towards Luna and Crystal.

Luna’s horn immediately lit up and her magic surrounded Mara and she threw her across the room. Luna turned to try and tell Crystal to run when she heard a despicable laughter coming from behind her. Luna turned her head slowly as the mare who had attacked her coltfriend rose up from where she had been slammed.

“Is that all the power you possess Princess of the Moon. Seems like my employer was right about you.” Luna didn’t know what she meant but faced her ready for a brawl.

“So what did Shadow say about me?” Luna snarled wanting to vomit just mentioning that pony’s name.

“Oh he said that ‘my sweet Nightmare Moon has gotten soft being with that pathetic excuse for a coltfriend.’ He then went on to say something like, once he’s out of the way taking Luna will be easy.” Mara said as she smiled joyfully. Luna just angrier the more she looked at this mare.

“I’ll have you know that I have not gotten soft in my time with Naruto and that I practice every day with my magic so that I might one day get to protect him.” Luna said looking back at Naruto who still hadn’t moved which was worrying Luna even more.

“I see you’re still worrying about that stallion of yours huh?” Luna was getting really irritated. She turned her head to face the mare that threatened her love and her new child only to find that she was right there in her face. “You should be worrying more about yourself.” Mara slammed her hoof into Luna’s jaw sending her onto the grounds a few yards away.

Luna quickly got up and tried to fire a spell only to be hit by one that Mara had fired in her direction. Luna was hit directly in the center as her shrieks of pain could be heard throughout Ponyville. Those in the town who had taken notice immediately worried that something was wrong. Twilight being one of them had went to grab all of her friends immediately.

Luna was barely able to stand at all. She had her horn glowing but she was weak. Mara was laughing so hard that it only further enraged Luna. She let loose a powerful blast of energy that not many unicorns could deflect but Mara just yawned as though it was nothing and placed up a ward that drained the magic right then and there. Luna was shocked that her spell couldn’t even get past a ward.

Mara just smiled again as she teleported in front of her doing what she did before. Slamming her hoof into Luna’s face sending away again only this time it was into a bookshelf that fell on top of her. Luna couldn’t move at that point, she was stuck underneath the shelf. “Oh my god this is the best Princess Luna has to offer Equestria no wonder Celestia thought she could take your precious Naruto. I mean you’re practically worthless as you are. You can’t do anything by yourself.”

Luna watched as she walked over to Crystal who stood in front of Naruto trying to protect him. Luna was in complete terror as she watched her new daughter and the stallion she loved more than the world facing off against something stronger than herself. “You stay away from my papa!” Crystal shouted as tears ran down her eyes.

“Oh and what’s the little rock going to do, cry me to death.” Mara snickered as she swatted Crystal away with the back of her hoof. She stood over Naruto drawing a knife. Luna had wide eyes as she watched Mara raise the blade over her head. “Luna how does it feel to watch as everything you love is taken away from you while you sit there doing nothing?”

Luna watched in horror as the blade came down onto Naruto’s side. Blood spouted from the impact. “No,” Luna whispered as tears were running down her eyes, “no, no, no, NOOOOOOOO!” At that very moment, in that exact millisecond she didn’t care what she had to do she was going to make this mare pay dearly for what she had done.
(Play Monster by Skillet this will sound a whole lot better, at least in my opinion)

Mara’s sinister laughter was cut short by a large geyser of dark energy shooting out from where Luna was. Suddenly the geyser became what looked like a hand and completely enveloped Luna. Mara was looking on in shock as waves of energy were being produced causing massive gust of wind to be produced.

“What is going on!” Mara cried as the dark energy that had enveloped Luna was beginning to grow in size. Then the orb burst out like something hitting the water’s surface straight down. Mara shielded her eyes as the dark light that came was brighter than any white light she had seen.

“It’s about time I got my turn.” The voice that came was slightly deeper than what Luna’s was. It was darker than normal. Mara’s eyes were wide trying to figure out what was happening at this moment. Suddenly she felt herself being grabbed by magic. She tried to counter it with her own but nothing happened. Her horn was glowing but nothing that Mara did worked.

What walked out of the smoke caused by the orbs eruption was something that made everypony who had gathered gasp in horror. Remedy and the Mane 6 had gotten there after hearing Luna’s shriek of pure terror and watched as She emerged from the area where Luna once lay.

From his castle in the Dark Forest, Shadow slammed his hooves on the ground leaving cracks in the ground. He was watching the whole thing from a crystal ball that he had kept hidden away from his father. It allowed him to see anyone or thing that he desired to see. His rage was no joke as all of the servants in his room were watching his anger rise to the top, even the massive apes that were around him were afraid that he might snap at them.

“NO!” He shouted slamming his hooves into the ground again. “She wasn't supposed to go to the darkness for him! She was supposed to go there when she came to me.” Shadow cursed a few words. He then began thinking that maybe this was better because now it would be easier for him to win her over. It’s not like she loved Naruto.

In Canterlot, Celestia was reading over some scrolls when suddenly she felt like something ripped her heart out as she screamed in agony. She fell to the floor clutching her chest. Her breathing was heavy as her eyes widened when she realized the cause of this. Her guards were already around her trying to ask of she was okay.

Celestia never gave them the chance as she had already spread her wings and was out the nearest window faster than you could say sunshine. Her worries were great. “How can she still be there?” She questioned out loud, “The Elements of Harmony should have destroyed her, but this is undoubtedly her. How can this be and more importantly…is Naruto safe?”

Remedy, with Carnac in tow, arrived on the scene with the mane 6 as well. They all watched as the figure from the smoke stepped a little more into the light and all of them gasped as every pony that had also followed were speechless. There, standing just beyond the smoke of the destroyed orphanage was a black coated alicorn. Her coat was as black as night and her eyes shined a bright teal color. Her pupils resembled that of snakes as most saw her as one. She had glowing cyan armor on and her sparkling and shining blue mane just as the stars. Standing before Mara was the bringer of the Eternal Night, Nightmare Moon.

Mara stood there in horror as the very definition of nightmare stood before her. Nightmare Moon took a few steps forward as she looked to her left and right. She could see that many ponies were seeing her and could tell and feel the fear emanating from their bodies. She could care less about them and looked down to where Mara was standing.

“How is that even possible?” Mara proclaimed completely shocked at the transformation. “The Elements of Harmony destroyed you!”

“Not entirely, I was able to leave a slight bit of myself within Luna.” Nightmare said as she glared at Mara. “I have been waiting within Luna for my chance to be free. Now I have that chance and—,” She stopped when her sight went down towards Naruto. Her eyes were wide with horror as she couldn’t believe what she saw.

Mara quickly put two and two together rather fast and grabbed Naruto by the neck and held the knife there with haste trying desperately to hold off Nightmare from attacking. Nightmare was only angered by this as her horn lit up. “Try anything and this stallion dies.” Nightmare’s horn’s glow didn’t fade as the knife soon lit up but instead of being thrown away it disappeared only to be brought in front of Nightmare herself.

Nightmare’s horn still glowing created a giant fist of pure magical energy and slammed it down onto the knife. Nightmare eyes shot right at Mara at that moment causing her to drop the stallion. “Step away from him or would you rather see me angry?” Nightmare asked threateningly. Mara slowly stepped away from Naruto who still remained unmoving as blood continued to roll down his side.

Crystal ran over to Naruto along with Nightmare in tow. “Mama what are we going to do?” Crystal seemed completely unfazed by Luna’s transformation into Nightmare Moon which actually had the dark alicorn smiling feeling a warm sensation in her chest.

“Don’t worry my sweet gemstone, he’ll be just fine.” Nightmare said in a calm and gentle voice. “Let mama see him for a second.” Crystal took a step back as Nightmare stepped closer to Naruto and saw that the wound wasn’t as bad as Luna had seemed. Nightmare Moon let a sigh of relief escape her lips as she began to work her magic on the wound healing it up as fast as she could. It wasn’t fatal but she wasn’t going to take chances.

Mara was scared out of her mind until a voice came into her head. “What do you think you’re doing?” The voice said in a sharp and dark tone. Her entire body froze with fear as it felt like something had grasped at her throat. “I didn’t hire you to stand there fearing your target.”

“But this is Nightmare Moon.” Mara said to herself as though she was arguing with herself. “Shadow this is the alicorn who was able to seal Celestia away.”

“It doesn’t matter, this Nightmare Moon is weaker than the original. She is still recovering from her battle against the elements. She’s only slightly stronger than Luna at this moment and we both know that you have more power than her.” The voice said almost desperately trying to get her to agree.

“How would you know? She could be holding her powers back at this moment for all you and I know.” Mara said as she looked at Nightmare Moon with disgust. She hated somepony being better than her and she hated the princesses for that. However through dark ways and rituals she had found ways of becoming stronger than them. So if what the voice was telling her is true than she should have a cake walk with Nightmare Moon.

“Then again you have a point. I wonder what her blood would taste like being corrupted by darkness that is.” Mara said as she licked her lips and smiled wider than even Pinkie Pie. “I want it right now.” Mara said as her eyes became wide as her eyes within white shrank to the size of small bits.

Nightmare looked over Naruto to make sure the knife didn’t leave any other kind of marks on his body. She saw none and that made her happy. She looked over to Crystal who still had tears in her eyes. Nightmare took one from the little filly’s eyes and felt anger running through her as she looked at it. “Hey there little one,” Nightmare said putting her armored hoof onto Crystal’s back, “papa is going to be okay I healed him. He’s all better now.”

Nightmare couldn’t believe this, from everything she heard about herself in Luna’s head she thought any pony would have screamed in fear. This filly though hugged her with such passion and need that all Nightmare could do was hug her back. This little filly made her feel warm inside as did just being near Naruto. She looked down at him and he still remained unmoving but his breathing seemed to be getting better. Yep dark magic powers help everything.

She also began to have a tear run down her face, the very first she has ever had actually. “So this is what it feels like to fear losing somepony.” She thought to herself as she wanted nothing more at that moment but to hold both Crystal and Naruto in her arms but she feared moving Naruto would only injure him. She just settled for her hoof caressing his right cheek. He felt warm, that was a good sign at least. It brought a smile to Nightmare’s face.

“Oh aren’t we having a moment now my sweet Nightmare?” Mara said her voice a little crazed at the moment. “I want to have some fun now, let’s see if you can entertain me. Oh how I want to see what you look like scared!” She smiled as her tongue left her mouth hanging out like a starved animal.

“Crystal, daughter,” Nightmare said placing the small filly down who looked terrified at the moment, “watch daddy alright. Mama has to deal with a disturbing mare right now.” Nightmare was about to use her magic when she heard a groan. Her head immediately turned looking at Naruto who began to move slightly.

“Ungh……….” Naruto groaned as his eyes began to open slightly .Nightmare quickly faced him hoping he didn’t have amnesia or anything. His gaze turned to his left and he saw a blurred mare. The blurred image to him looked a lot like Luna. “Luna?” He asked his vision still failing to help him.

“Naruto can you hear me.” Naruto was a little stunned by the way the voice sounded. It was slightly darker than it used to be and Naruto knew Luna’s voice very well. Naruto’s gaze opened further and the blurriness faded.

He looked upon a mare whose coat was darker than night itself and found himself about to panic as he had no clue to where Luna was. “Where’s Luna?” Naruto asked weakly trying to stand. Nightmare quickly put a hoof on his cheek causing a warm sensation to run through Naruto’s body. The same kind of sensation he had with Luna.

He looked into the snake like eyes of the mare and for a second thought he was looking at Luna. “Don't worry Naruto. You rest right now.” Nightmare said taking her hoof away from Naruto’s cheek. He wanted to reach for it and hold it but she drew it away before he had the chance.

“I am very happy that I finally get to meet you in the flesh as they say.” Nightmare smiled cheerfully, she was happy that she could finally see him with her own eyes and not through the eyes of Luna. Naruto saw the smile and for a second he thought that he saw Luna.

“Oh gag me why don’t you?” Mara said pretending that she had thrown up. Nightmare’s smile quickly became a frown. She turned to the mare with great anguish because this small mare didn’t really know who she was dealing with apparently.

“Oh please you can wait a few seconds; I haven’t gotten any time to spend with my coltfriend since we met.” Naruto had this confused face about him. He had no idea what this alicorn was talking about and furthermore where in Tartarus was Luna.

“Coltfriend? You?” Mara asked confused and then burst out laughing. “That’s so cute sweet Nightmare. I didn’t know one could have such feelings?” She said sarcastically only to further enrage the dark alicorn. “That dumbfounded stallion couldn’t tell the love of his life from a shadow if he wanted to.”

Nightmare slammed her hoof into the ground actually causing some cracks to form. “Do not speak of him like that!” Nightmare shouted shaking the building. Crystal was scared by this and scurried away until she was behind Naruto thinking that was the safest place. “Naruto is smarter than he appears and his heart is brighter than my own sister’s.”

Naruto couldn’t help but wonder why this mare was saying such things it wasn’t like he knew her or anything and why did she give him the same feelings that Luna gave him? It didn’t make any sense to him why a mare he didn’t even know would defend him in such a manner.

“I may not have been there for him out here in this world but I have always been with him by his side. I will not see somepony who would defend my life insulted in any way shape or fashion!” Nightmare’s mane began to flame up like it did when she faced off against Twilight and her friends.

“Oh looks like I hit a nerve there dear Nightmare.” Mara said acting like Nightmare’s threats were nothing but that. “I see somepony has fallen for a certain demon. It seems fitting you know, two demons falling for each other.”

Naruto looked to Mara then to the alicorn standing before him. “Demon? Her?” He thought, how could she be a demon when she was defending him. Naruto again was wondering who this mare was? He kept hearing Mara referring to her as Nightmare but he didn’t know what that meant off the top of his head. When he tried to think about it though he found his head punching him back as if to say no you can’t think about this you should know who this is.

“Do not call him a demon!” Nightmare snarled her anger really showing off now as the sky began to grow darker. Everypony was beginning to get worried that something terrible was going to happen. “He is no demon, he is the only pony in this world who gives an ounce of care for me.” A large crowd of ponies had gathered around now looking at Nightmare with confusion, at least those who heard that last statement.

Naruto didn’t understand what she meant. Naruto didn’t even know who this mare was and yet he felt this odd attraction to her. Again the same attraction he had for Luna but why? This mare wasn’t Luna at all. But for some reason Naruto wanted to jump up and hug the mare, “What in the wide world of Equestria is wrong with me!” he shouted within the confines of his mind.

“Oh poor, poor Nightmare. I can tell just by looking at the stallion he doesn’t even know who you are.” Mara said smiling almost mischievously as she made a motion as though she was pushing her playfully. “So sad really that the stallion you love oh so much somepony who you’ve only seen within the confines of another’s brain finds you a complete stranger. I must say it is a rather sad tale.”

Nightmare looked back to Naruto and could tell she was right which was almost like a blade to the heart but she nor Luna had ever really shown him what Nightmare Moon looked like. Naruto had never sought out her appearance or any interaction with the alicorn. It was almost like he avoided her, but she remembered what he said that one time to Luna that made her happier than ever.

“I also promised that no matter how much you change I will never fear you, even if you become Nightmare Moon again. I will always stay by your side and keep you safe.” And in that same day he sent Nightmare’s heart flying even further into loves embrace. “She could turn into Nightmare Moon right now and I would still hold her in my arms. I would never turn against her no matter what. I’d die before I hurt that mare!”

“I don’t care all I need to know is that he loves me. He may not know who I am right now but that can wait for after I’ve dealt with the likes of you.” Nightmare said as she got ready to fight spreading her legs ready to move at a moment’s notice.

“Oh are we going to fight now,” Mara said the thought of getting to taste this alicorn’s blood made her feel excited to the point that she felt waves of joy going through her body like electricity. “I can’t wait to taste your blood.”

“Oh and are we a vampire now Miss Mara?” Nightmare said her mane and tail flaring up literally. “If you think this is going to be an easy fight you are sorely mistaken foal.”

“No one calls me a foal!” Mara shouted her horn letting off a huge blast of magic. It resembled that of dark magic. Nightmare Moon didn’t move and Naruto was actually trying to get up to push the mare out of the way, for whatever reason he didn’t really know himself. However just as it was about to hit them Nightmare Moon simply swatted it away sending the blast towards the mountains.

Mara looked more shocked than when Nightmare emerged from the black thing that had transformed her from Luna to Nightmare Moon. Everypony else was shocked as well. They didn’t know Nightmare Moon could do that. “How is that possible? You should be weaker than me. Luna couldn’t even hold a simply spell to how can you swat my spell away like it were nothing but a volleyball?”

“Simple really you’re fighting somepony used to dark magic foal. I am not Luna first of all as you know and am twice as strong as she is at this moment. I am not even at full power and I am still slightly injured from my battle against the elements. Yet that spell had as much power as the purple mare had when she was a filly.” Nightmare criticized or more insulted. She was having fun with her and Naruto could tell.

“I said no pony calls me a foal!” Mara’s eyes showed nothing but malice and pure hatred for the alicorn standing in front of her. Nightmare unfurled her wings and headed for the sky. Mara felt that she was trying to get away and she enveloped herself with her own magic and flew after the Princess of the Eternal Night.

“Don’t you dare think you can escape me Nightmare!” Mara said sending five balls of magical energy Nightmare’s way.

Nightmare looked back seeing the orbs of magical energy and put up a force field around herself deflecting the orbs. She sent them to towards the mountains. Nightmare looked at the mare and sent her own blast of magic her way knocking the annoying mare down.

“WHAT!?” Shouted the mare as she was able to use magic to balance herself and stop herself from hitting the ground before impact. “How did she deflect them so easily?” She asked herself aloud. She couldn’t believe this was happening how could Nightmare be this strong?

“Foal, don’t you dare think just because I am injured that I am weak. Do you ever see an alicorn use her full power all at once?” Nightmare said making the mare look at her in disbelief. “I normally would use my full strength on a pony such as you but my coltfriend is in danger and I won’t allow my ponies to be harmed either.”

“Really now?” Mara said a devious grin dawned on her face. Nightmare eyes widened when Mara fired her orbs of magical energy at the crowd, specifically Remedy, Carnac and the main 6. Nightmare appeared in front of them firing her own magic to block them not only destroying them but going through them heading straight for Mara who was stunned in disbelief. But right before the orbs hit Mara was able to teleport down to the ground holding her chest with her hoof in fright.

Mara had never seen any pony break through her magic so easily before. Mara was giving it everything she had and this alicorn was treating her like she was a filly. “As long as I breathe no one shall harm these ponies!” Nightmare declared as her mane flared up shooting into the sky scaring a few ponies but the declaration she made actually stunned a few of them.

Naruto looked at her and again he felt like he was seeing Luna but he still had doubts and he still was wondering where she had gone off to. “Did Mara hurt her?” Naruto thought as the thoughts brought him to his hooves.

“Oh would you look at that,” Mara said pointing to Naruto. Nightmare followed her hoof and saw that it was indeed pointing towards her stallion and her eyes widened when she saw him trying to stand.

He was still in a great amount of pain but he wanted to stand. Crystal wrapped her small hooves around one of his legs getting him to stop his ascent.

“Papa, please don’t.” She said tears forming in her eyes. Naruto was about to respond when the tears actually began to come out of her eyes. “Mama said she would handle things.”

“Mama?” Naruto questioned as he then quickly looked up to the dark alicorn. Nightmare saw this and looked to him her eyes had this soft look to them. Naruto’s head was pounding still from the attack that Mara had launched at him only a few minutes ago. “What are you talking about Crystal? That’s not Luna.”

Nightmare’s head dropped slightly at this. “He doesn’t see it.” She whispered to herself. She heard Mara laughing maniacally and turned to her confusion raking at her body. “And what are we laughing at now?”

“Oh your pathetic excuse for a coltfriend.” Mara said pointing at him after composing herself and wiping a tear from her eye. Naruto looked at Mara confused why was Everypony here calling that alicorn his marefriend? “He’s such an idiot it’s almost pitiable. You have got to have the worst taste in stallions if this is the one you want to spend the rest of your life with. I mean, what kind of stallion forgets the mare he loves?”

Naruto’s felt angered at Mara. Naruto would never forget Luna but why was she saying all of that to the dark alicorn? Also, why did she keep calling her a nightmare? Naruto still didn’t see anything. “But I doubt he’ll ever learn so let me get rid of your problem for you.” Mara said as she summoned forth a large beam of magic heading straight for Naruto.

Nightmare didn’t have time to react and was only able to shout, “NARUTO!” Upon hearing his name called Naruto felt his memories of Luna spring forth at this name calling. He wasn’t the only one in the way of the blast though. Crystal was there next to him shaking like a leaf about to fall from a breeze. Naruto’s eyes turned red and his coat became blonde as he stood up with what strength this demonic power was giving him.

He threw all of his power into his hoof and shot it right at the beam of magic connecting it. There was what looked like friction as Naruto was fighting the magic as though it were another stallion trying to overtake him. Naruto cried out as he poured what remaining energy he had into his hoof and launched it upwards. The beam curved away from him and headed straight for the mountains.

Nightmare and Mara were both staring mouths dropped as they saw Naruto punch the beam of magic away. Nightmare was shocked that Naruto still had that much strength left in him. Mara was turning red from pure rage and fury. She was getting tired of all these ponies getting the better of her. Nightmare was about to face Mara who was fuming and mumbling to herself until Naruto fell onto his side again. Nightmare didn’t know what it was that controlled her but she found herself standing next to the fallen stallion with a heavy heart.

“Naruto?” She whispered putting a hoof onto his cheek again. His eye opened up and he looked at Nightmare a little different almost as though he was finally getting it. His colors were back to normal and his eyes were no longer red. Nightmare felt relieved that he didn’t lose himself like he did those times with Luna although she wondered if he heard her or Luna. The thought depressed Nightmare Moon greatly until she felt a hoof on hers.

Nightmare Moon’s head shot to look at Naruto her eyes wide. He tried to sit up and look at her better but Nightmare Moon placed her hoof on his side preventing him from turning. “Please don’t,” Naruto looked up to the dark alicorn and saw concern in her eyes, “don’t hurt yourself please I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”

Those words sounded like they came from Luna. Naruto could have sworn he heard Luna talking through this Nightmare but who was she and why did she remind Naruto of Luna. Naruto was on the verge of remembering when Mara lost it. “That’s it!” Mara said as her magic erupted around her causing large rocks to fire off in every direction. Nightmare quickly used her magic to surround the ponies and her love from the onslaught of Mara’s rage.

She was able to defend herself as Mara’s horn powered down stopping the seemingly endless barrage of stones and earth that were heading for them. Nightmare looked at her with an enraged stare, one that could rival Fluttershy’s. Mara’s face looked to be one who’s mind had snapped but not a smile but with an expression similar to that of a demons. Her head snapped in the direction of Nightmare Moon’s actually taking the mare by surprise.

“You all think that just because you have demon and nightmare powers that you’re all that don't you?” Mara sounded angry, but Naruto and Nightmare already found her to be mad. “Well let me tell you something Nightmare, you’re nothing but a washed up alicorn who couldn’t even defeat some puny ponies who carried around fashion accessories. Not only that but even now you’re supposed love is lying there and can’t even realize Luna’s been staring him right in the face this whole time.”

Naruto’s eyes widened when he heard this. He looked over to Nightmare as he knew the alicorn by no other name. “What do you mean by Luna’s been here the whole time?” Naruto with that dense brain of his and the fuzziness that had been given by Mara’s attack didn’t really help him connect the dots. “I don't see her anywhere!”

“I’m right here.” Nightmare Moon said dropping her head so that it was easier for Naruto to look into her eyes. Naruto stared deeply into them and right before he was about to see something his mind snapped on him giving him a shot of enormous pain. Nightmare knew there might be something wrong and quickly used her advanced magic to heal whatever it was healing Naruto’s head.

Naruto soon found it clear to think, he wished he could magic like that. “I hope that makes things a little clearer for you, Naruto.” Nightmare Moon said in a soft voice, or the softest voice she could produce. Naruto looked into her eyes and saw the hope within them and smiled at her.

“Oh gag me!” Mara said getting Nightmare to look at her with frustration. “Please Nightmare stop trying to get him to remember you.” Mara said trying to down her hopes even further.

Naruto’s eyes widened when he heard Mara call the alicorn Nightmare. “Nightmare as in…” Naruto was busy trying to put the pieces together when he heard Nightmare shout something he didn’t expect.

“So what if he never remembers my name. I don’t care if he never does. All I need is that one promise he made to himself and to Luna.” Naruto looked up at her with wide eyes, how could this alicorn know what he promised to Luna. “So Mara, ready to see who the strongest mare in this town really is?”

“Oh you read my mind Nightmare. Now let’s have some good old fashioned fun.” Mara said using her magic to levitate herself in the air. Nightmare Moon followed her with her dark feathered wings spread like an eagle’s eyeing its prey.

Mara didn’t waste any time letting Nightmare get set as she sent orbs of magical energy heading straight for the alicorn. Nightmare was caught off guard and was almost unable to dodge but regretted it immediately. She looked down to see Naruto and Crystal down there. On impulse Naruto grabbed Crystal and held her tightly making sure that the orbs would only hit him.

Nightmare’s horn lit up and a field surrounded Naruto and Crystal as the orbs hit it. Naruto could still feel the energy behind each explosion. He was glad that Nightmare was on his side but he knew he had heard that name somewhere before.

Nightmare glared up at Mara and fired off a beam of magic which Mara swiftly dodged moving herself to the right. However she didn’t see Nightmare move that way and found herself getting slugged in the face by an armored hoof. Mara was thrown about ten meters away before her magic gave her her balance back.

Mara felt something wet coming down her lips and wiped it with her hoof. Upon looking at it she cried out in horror. Nightmare was confused by this. “Blood, my blood!” Mara cried out as she trembled there in the air her entire being shaking. Nightmare could only deduce from what she was seeing that Mara wasn’t a fan of seeing her own blood.

“NO! This can’t be, from just one hoof to the face and you make me bleed.” Mara said her face was that of pure rage. She was grinding her teeth before her very magic erupted around her like Naruto’s demonic powers did. “You all think you’re better than me, just because you got a lucky shot. Well guess what,” She disappeared and reappeared in front of Nightmare, “You’re not!”

Mara landed her own hoof against Nightmare’s face sending her about ten meters back. Nightmare was impressed with how quickly she was able to produce that teleportation spell and into an attack. However, she grinned feeling nothing more than a tickle from that punch. Say it’s the helmet on her head or that she’s just so darn powerful, say what you will but to Nightmare Moon that was barely anything.

“You caught me off guard there Mara, I’m impressed that has only happened two other times. Once by my very own sister and the other by Naruto when he hit me.” Naruto looked up at the mare questioning what she had just said. “He was the first to make me feel this way and I am not going to let somepony like you ruin my one and only chance with him.”

“Chance with me? What does that mean?” Naruto thought to himself as he looked up at the battle about to ensue. “Crystal,” He looked down at his new adopted daughter who he cared for so dearly already, “What did you mean when you called Nightmare mama?”

“That’s mama, she changed. Black scary orb surrounded her and next thing I know, she bigger and darker. I don’t know what happened really, but she seemed really angry with Mara.” Crystal said frightened by the battle about to begin up above. Naruto couldn’t blame the young filly, she hadn’t seen things like this and the only other time had caused her to become so afraid that she didn’t let anyone else close until he and Luna came along.

“Wait a second,” Naruto’s mind seemed to start thinking a little better now that it was clear. “Nightmare said her one and only chance with me right, that’s sounds a lot like what Luna said back when I first met her, but Luna wasn’t as upfront about it. I still don’t know what this mare wants but it sounds like she wants me to love her like I would Luna.”

As Naruto was busy trying to put two and two together, Nightmare and Mara’s battle continued. Mara had just sent several spears of magical light at Nightmare who had batted them away as though they toothpicks. Nightmare was finding this to be boring as she charged her horn again getting ready for another blast with her horn. Mara saw this coming and teleported as quickly as she had before appearing in front of the dark alicorn.

Nightmare though was ready for this and threw a hoof up to black the swing coming to her left side. Nightmare grinned at this, “Is this really your full strength foal?” Mara looked up anther both angry an in a sense of disbelief. Nightmare’s grin faded to a frown at her disappointment. “Than this fight will be over before you know it.”

At that her horn stopped glowing and her hooves were surrounded with her magic. She slammed her hoof into Mara’s stomach causing a large cry of pain to come off the mare. She was thrown down to the ground but quickly got back up however Nightmare sent a blast of magic right at her that Mara was barely able to dodge. Mara threw three orbs of energy Nightmare’s way. Nightmare was busy charging up her horn to notice the three orbs as they made contact forcing Nightmare down to the ground.

Mara laughed feeling like she finally making some headway in this fight only to see the smirk on Nightmare’s face which only resulted in the heavy grinding of Mara’s teeth. “Stop mocking me!” Mara said as all of her magic was pulled into her horn at that moment. “I won’t lose to a second rate princess who can’t even withstand a stupid rainbow.”

“The Elements of Harmony are not to be underestimated little foal. Be grateful you are not facing me at full power or you wouldn’t be standing at this moment.” Nightmare said blankly as though she had better things to be doing than this. Which in her mind was true, she felt that she should be trying to get Naruto and herself closer to each other but with him not knowing who she was only furthered the cracks in her heart.

“I am not some pushover!” She declared letting all of her magic out at once. Nightmare didn’t see the amount of magic coming and couldn’t put her guard up and the blast enveloped her. The light ended and there lying on the ground was Nightmare Moon covered in scrapes and bruises from the attack.

“MAMA!” Crystal shouted at the top of her lungs.

Naruto could feel the concern within the little filly’s voice and felt this snag at his heart. It hurt so much that he actually cringed from it. “Why does this hurt? Why does seeing Nightmare hurt me as much as it does when Luna gets hurt?” His eyes shot open upon hearing his mind again. “Nightmare…Luna…no way.” Naruto finally got it, finally for the love of God because Celestia isn’t on my happy list. He looked at the fallen alicorn and saw it. He saw her, he saw Luna.

But this wasn’t Luna and he knew that, but he knew that was Luna. He knew finally the alicorn that had been attacked with such a ferocity of magic. His eyes widened in horror. “Now let us be rid of her for good.” Mara stated with an evil grin. Nightmare was slowly getting up when she felt the massive surge in magical energy and looked back over to Mara. “Like I said no pony will ever defeat me not even the likes of you Nightmare Moon.”

“I hope you use more energy in this blast because that last one barely harmed me. Sure my outer body may have some bruises I was only caught off guard by the sheer power you produced. Don’t think it will happen again.” Nightmare said as she summoned all of her energy into her horn.

They both shot forth large beams of magic at each other. Upon impact the shockwave sent out caused most to hold their ground. Others just stood there unaffected but that number was few. Twilight among those few was awe struck at the amount of magic being brought forth by both mares. She thought only the elements could bring forth such power.

Nightmare and Mara were now fighting a dominance battle. Each adding a little more power from their magic into their respective beams trying to gain the upper hand. From his dark castle, Shadow was getting rather annoyed by the lack of damage being done and decided that he should do something. His horn glowed and his smile turned sinister as he couldn’t wait for his new wife to be here.

Nightmare Moon suddenly felt something tugging at her hind legs. She wanted to turn back to see what it was but she couldn’t move her head or her magic would cease and she would be overcome by Mara’s magic. Naruto’s eyes were wide as he saw Nightmare’s very own shadow slowly moving up her leg. He knew what was happening but he couldn’t move his body, it was as if the pain had drained all of his energy.

Crystal’s eyes were wide with horror trying to figure out what was going on. Nightmare was beginning to lose her focus as the shadow had made its way up to her flanks where her cutie mark was now surrounded by the shadow. Naruto saw it though, the moon, (How he didn’t see it before is beyond my comprehension), the same moon cutie mark as Luna. That was all needed to see to know it was her.

Naruto could feel the demonic powers flowing through him as his body was surrounded by a bubbling red aura. Only one fox tail came out but it was all he needed. Naruto threw his hoof forward sending what looked like a claw hand and sent it straight for the shadow. He grabbed a hold of it somehow as it was halfway up Nightmare Moon’s body. Her eyes turned to see Naruto’s demon powers going off.

“SHADOW! If you can hear then let me tell you something.” Nightmare said as she had to stop Naruto before he hurt not only himself but anypony else. “I won’t let anypony take me from him. I don’t care what ponies say about him. He may be an idiot sometimes and he may have a brain the size of a squirrel’s but he is the only one allowed to hold me.”

Nightmare’s magic level increased at that point, “And that pony, that stallion is NARUTO!” She shouted as her body lit up the color of her blue magic as it eradicated the shadow trying to consume her and not only that but the last of that energy was sent into the beam which decimated Mara’s magical beam enveloping her with her magic.

Shadow was thrown back by the sheer amount of magic that Nightmare Moon had brought forth. His back hit a wall and he cried out in pain. “How,” he whispered trying to get back up, “how did she get so much power there? It’s impossible.” He quickly remembered Mara. Shadow hadn’t used his full strength with that spell but he felt that he wouldn’t be able to do something greater without killing her. So he had to settle for his assassin. (Who thinks of an assassin when they don’t want someone to die seriously, an assassin?)

Back on the field Nightmare was huffing and puffing as she heard Crystal crying her way to her. Nightmare turned her head to see the little filly jump into her arms. “Mama, I was so scared. I thought that icky black thing was going to take you away.” She tried to say some other thing but they were muffled by her tears and her wailing. Nightmare only held the small filly closer.

“So this is what it’s like to feel like a mother?” Nightmare thought as she smiled to herself. “It’s alright my little moon gem everything is going to be alright now.” Crystal was still crying but she was happy, happy that the ones she now called her parents were okay.

Nightmare then remembered Naruto and quickly turned to see him struggling to get up. She unfurled her wings and dashed over to Naruto holding Crystal tighter so that she wouldn’t be hurt by the sudden winds. “Naruto what are you thinking?” Nightmare began to scold. Naruto looked up to her and smiled, “Why are you smiling you idiot, you’re in pain and shouldn’t be moving so much.”

“I can’t teleport or fly, how else am I supposed to get over to my marefriend?” Naruto said making Nightmare Moon’s eyes widen.

“Does he finally remember?” She asked herself within the safety of her mind. “Does he finally know who I am?” Nightmare felt like she was going to jump up and down but held herself back because she didn’t want to look like an idiot.

“It’s good to see you’re alright Luna.” Nightmare felt her heart shatter at those words.

“He doesn’t remember who I am.” Nightmare thought as her eyes closed trying hard to hold tears back. “I guess I don’t mean that much to him. All he sees is Luna and not me.” She felt torn and was about to fly away when Naruto spoke up again.

“And I’m happy to finally meet you,” Nightmare’s eyes widened as she shot up looking at Naruto dead on, “Nightmare Moon.” He said making her first tear fall.

“Naru—” She stopped halfway as Naruto had lunged at her wrapping his front hooves around her. Her eyes were as wide and as dilated as they could get. She turned her head so that she could see that this was actually happening, he was hugging her. “Naruto?”

“I’m so sorry Nightmare Moon. I’m so sorry.” He said as Nightmare then had a face of confusion. “I have to be the biggest idiot in the whole world. I’m so sorry I didn’t see it before.”

“Naruto it’s not your fault I should have just told you right away who I was.” Nightmare said, realizing that not once throughout that fight against Mara her full name hadn’t been said. But that didn’t really make sense, because the only pony anypony knew about named Nightmare was Nightmare Moon herself.

“No it is my fault because I should have seen who you were from the very beginning.” He said pulling away so he could look into her eyes. “I knew Luna could turn into you but I didn’t believe it, I thought you weren’t real.”

“What?” She said with wide eyes slightly hurt by the words that had left the stallion’s tongue.

“I thought they were all saying meant to get me away from Luna. I thought that you were some imagined being meant to scare others away from my mare.” Naruto didn’t like saying things like that but he wanted it to be known now that many ponies were present. Luna wasn’t his property but while they were together she was his mare no one had any say in that but she herself. “But now you are real, you’re standing in front of me and I can say with utmost certainty that everything they all said about you is false.”

“What do you mean by that Naruto?” Nightmare asked looking at him confused with saddened eyes. She didn’t understand how Naruto could have thought that about her.

“I don’t see why everypony thought you were evil because all I saw was a mare with a pure heart.” Naruto said placing a hoof on her cheek. His smiled warmed Nightmare’s heart.

“How can you say that when I was the greatest threat that Equestria has ever seen?” Nightmare asked feeling even more confused. How can Naruto even say that? She was the one who to bring eternal night just because of bare jealousy how could he possibly say this about her?

“It’s because you’re my marefriend.” Nightmare’s eyes widened when she looked into Naruto’s at that point. “I know for a fact that you may be upset and I don’t blame you. You probably think I shouldn’t be holding you in these hooves don’t you.” Nightmare only nodded at this. She was a little scared because he might let go and she didn’t want him to. She had wanted this for too long.

“Naru—,” Suddenly Naruto wrapped his hooves around her and brought her into an embrace. “Naruto?” She asked in disbelief

“I swore that if Luna ever turned into you I would still hold you in my arms. I wasn’t lying Nightmare Moon.” Naruto whispered making Nightmare tear up at this point.

Celestia had just arrived to witness what she thought was taboo. Naruto, her crush, in the arms of her corrupted sister. She was about to rush them when she saw tears coming down Nightmare Moon’s eyes. She watched as Naruto stroked through her mane and across her back. She felt a little jealous but the way her sister looked, even though she was corrupted, was actually surprising. She seemed happy with a sense of disbelief. Celestia also couldn’t resist the giggle she got from the bright blush on Nightmare Moon’s face.

“Naruto.” Was all she could say as she wrapped her own hooves around Naruto and squeezed as tightly as she could. Although the hug sent several shots of pain through Naruto’s body he let her have this. She needed this now, she needed to know that this wasn’t some dream she was having inside of Luna’s head. She needed to know that he was real and not some fake imagination.

She cried harder than she had ever before. There was only one other time Nightmare cried, it was when she was banished to the moon by her own sister. She felt broken that she was defeated to easily. But that time she was hurt, this time she was happier than that time she sealed away her sister in revenge for what she did to her all those years ago.

“It’s alright Nightmare, everything is going to be okay now.” Naruto said whispering into her ear. Her tears were causing his coat to become sticky but he didn’t really matter. He was happy to finally meet her, and he regretted not really trying to learn about her.

Nightmare was also regretting things the fact that she judged him so poorly. Naruto’s not that good when it comes to thinking so getting hit with an enormous amount of magic was going to make it harder for him especially since he was hit square in the face. She regretted that she doubted him.

“I’m so sorry Naruto.” She whispered loud enough for Naruto to hear. Naruto looked at her a little surprised that she would be apologizing. However he smiled at this felling glad that this all happened. Although, he could have gone without getting stabbed in his side. That pain was still there but he fought through it to keep the smile that he had for Nightmare.

Mara felt all the pain come to her at once and cried out getting the attention of Naruto who was busy trying to comfort his marefriend. Whether Nightmare Moon knew that or not he would tell her later. Crystal jumped onto Naruto’s face surprising him a bit and then she fell down only to be caught in both Nightmare Moon and Naruto’s hooves. They looked at each other and smiled, they both knew that Mara was down for the count, so they ignored Mara completely.

Shadow back in his castle was furious at how easily he was stopped; then again he had underestimated the alicorn’s power. He looked through his crystal ball down at his assassin who could barely lift a hoof much less a knife. “Come on I didn’t pay you to get beat get up!” He ordered through her mind.

“If you haven’t noticed I was practically blasted to Tartarus and you expect me to get up. I can barely feel my own brain working.” Mara retorted getting frustrated with him now. Shadow just looked away from his crystal ball wondering if Mara’s brain was even functioning.

“Fine if you’re going to complain then I guess I have no choice.” Mara’s eyes widened, was she about to die and by her own employer’s hooves. “I’ll give you some of my power.” Those words brought a shocked look to the unicorn’s face.

“You can do that?” She asked in disbelief. She didn’t think that anypony could share magic no matter how powerful they were.

“Of course and this you might call incentive for getting me my soon to be bride.” Shadow said from inside his castle as his horn glowed with a black aura, a deeper black than anypony has seen mind you. He raised his hoof and placed it on the crystal ball. As if by magic his shadow magic had been sent through the ball and had appeared around Mara.

She tried to scream as the powers were going into her only she couldn’t utter a sound as the power entered through her mouth and nose. She was twitching as the powers were beginning to fill her body. She felt all of her pain end there, and her coat had grown incredibly dark from the transfer of magic. She stood up and smiled wide. The power she felt was nothing like she could even hope to dream of attaining without becoming an alicorn.

“Now I believe you have a mare to catch.” Shadow said smiling at his work. He hadn’t done this before but he enjoyed watching those who entered his shadowy “embrace” as he liked to call it. Although Mara had been his first this was definitely going to be interesting just as long as she didn’t send Naruto into one of his demon periods that would likely get her killed.

Mara just broke out into a fit of uncontrollable laughter that caught the attention of Naruto and Nightmare Moon. They looked at her as though she was crazy. “I think she finally lost what was left of her mind.” Nightmare Moon said feeling that she would have to fight again. Her magic had been regenerating but at the moment she had as much power as she had released when she blew back Shadow’s shadow magic and Mara’s magic so she wasn’t in any real danger.

“Oh Nightmare, have you seen yourself lately?” Mara asked as she looked over to her with a psychotic smile. “Because you’re going to need a surgeon when I’m done with you.” She said as her horn lit up with a darker shade of red. Nightmare didn’t understand what was going on but was getting annoyed by this mare and her persistence.

“Naruto stay right here okay.” Nightmare said to Naruto as she placed a hoof on his cheek. She was almost pleading but she didn’t want any of these ponies seeing her like that, not yet anyways. Sure she had just shown emotion towards Naruto but she had been holding it in for so long you can’t blame her for letting her emotions getting the better of her. Can you?

Naruto just nodded as they slowly put Crystal down. “You stay here and keep put. Alright my little one? When I’m done we can all go home and have fun okay?” Crystal’s small tail wagged at this. Nightmare Moon found it cute it’s just she didn’t know the first thing about fun considering her entire life had been focused on getting revenge on her sister.

Nightmare flew above Mara almost in a taunting manner. “I’ll give this one chance foal, turn around now and go crawl under whatever rock you came out from under before I send you to the plains of Tartarus myself.” Nightmare threatened as her horn glowed getting ready for what she believed would be a pointless fight.

“Oh but I believe that this fight my dear Nightmare will be much different.” Mara said as her shadow began to expand which actually confused Nightmare Moon a bit. Mara was listening to all the voices in her head that were telling her how to use this magic.

“Impressive.” Was all that Shadow could say. He hadn’t thought she would get so comfortable right away. But then again she had already lost her mind and her soul was already claimed by darkness so seeing her get the hang of the magic so easily wasn’t all that surprising to him. But he did have to wonder why she looked at his mare with such a lust for blood.

Nightmare shot her magic at Mara only to have it blocked by a black wall. Nightmare eyes widened with shock. “Where in Euestria did that come from?” She wondered as the wall fell down to its source, Mara’s shadow.

“Like it?” Mara asked a grin on her face. Nightmare wanted to smack it right off. “Seems Shadow really wants you Nightmare Moon. It looks like he’s so desperate that he gave me some of his power. Normally something like this would have taken years to get used to for a normal pony but as you can tell I am no normal pony.” Mara said as her shadow erupted from beneath becoming was looked to be eight tentacles similar to an octopus fighting something on dry land.

Nightmare looked at them with hints of fear in her eyes. Naruto looked at Mara in horror then he slammed his hoof down which backfired sending pain throughout his body. He didn’t let it come out though as he knew this wasn’t going to be good. Right now though, he was cursing Shadow’s name in his head so not to give any new words to his daughter to his right.

She looked horrified at what she was seeing. He imagined what Mara did to her family and could only guess this was the same look she had on when she saw her parents get murdered. This sent a rage through Naruto that you wouldn’t believe.

Suddenly he heard Nightmare cry out from above and noticed that she was being attacked by the various tentacles that Mara had outstretched from her shadow. “Oh this is too fun my dear Nightmare Moon. Oh what can I do to make this more fun? “She actually began to think of ways she could find more enjoyment in her dismay.

Nightmare hadn’t seen the tentacles, they were much faster than she gave them credit for and wasn’t able to dodge in time. She floated there as she used a teleportation spell to escape the barrage of hits the tentacles were giving her. She felt something trickle down her chin and wiped her hoof against it. Blood, her blood. Nightmare wasn’t like Mara in the sense that she would voice her anger so greatly that everypony thought she was crazy.

“Mara I think I’m going to end this so I don’t have to hurt you anymore.” Nightmare charged all of her magic into her horn. Mara just looked at her with intrigue wondering how much power she was going to let loose this time. Nightmare shot her beam of magic at Mara which enveloped her body again.

Naruto watched knowing there was no way that Mara could have survived two of those blasts of magic. He felt that this horrible experience was finally over, that Crystal was finally going to be given the justice that she deserved. When the magic beam faded away smoke was all that remained. HE sighed in relief because he knew now that she couldn’t be alive.

Nightmare felt good about doing that. She felt that horrid foal had finally been taken care of. She landed softly on the ground and spat in the direction of Mara. She turned and headed over to Naruto and Crystal who were both happy to see that ended quickly.

“Oh is that it my dear Nightmare?” Nightmare stopped in her tracks and Naruto and Crystal also had both of their smiles stolen from them. All three of them looked to the smoke as it was blown away by a mere swipe from the shadow tentacles. “I must say if that’s all you can bring out then this isn’t going to be as fun as I thought it would be.”

Suddenly all of the shadow tentacles came together and formed a giant black claw. It shot straight at Nightmare Moon who wasn’t even able to unfurl her wings in time to dodge the attack as she was launched away. “MAMA!” Crystal cried out as Naruto was still in shock at what just happened.

Nightmare felt pain rake her body but Mara wasn’t done with her as the claw slammed down on top of her. Naruto snapped back to reality as he heard Nightmare’s scream. He turned his head to watch being torn from the gorund by the claw and launched into the air.

“Ooo this is just too much fun!” Mara said as her smile widened to the ends of her ears. She then had her shadow wrap around Nightmare tighter causing her to scream again. “Yes, SCREAM! SCREAM you insufferable princess. I want to hear more, I want to hear more suffering! I want to watch you bleed!”

She began slamming her into the ground several times. It wasn’t that fast with how long the shadow was itself. However each time Naruto felt himself getting angrier. She finally stopped after slamming her down into the dirt ten times. Naruto was steaming anger from his ears. Crystal wasn’t taking this as she ran forward. Naruto reached out trying to grab her but the pain in his body had him pulling back immediately and he then cursed his body.

Mara brought Nightmare in front of her and looked at her with fiendish eyes. “So,” She said seeing the blood dripping from Nightmare’s lips and legs, “how does it feel to have your body crushed? How does it feel to be humiliated? I know it sucks because I am not just going to embarrass you I am going to make you wish you had just come with me quietly and let me kill that little filly.”

Nightmare Moon spat in her face and smiled. Mara had this face of shock and horror like Rarity gets when a single splash of mud gets on her dresses. “I will never leave him or her. I will never let anypony hurt my new daughter.” Nightmare said as her smile grew larger as she looked over to Naruto with only one eye open at this point.

Mara roared out as she threw Nightmare over to where Naruto and Crystal were. Naruto crawled over to her with what little strength he had left. Crystal was already over to her new mother crying the entire time. Naruto finally reached her as Mara watched with a sickening smile.

“Nightmare Moon, please be okay.” He whispered putting his hoof to her cheek. She opened her one good eye as she tried to laugh off the pain which only worried Naruto even more.

“Sorry Naruto it looks like I can’t protect you after all.” Nightmare said feeling destroyed on the inside. Naruto shook his head and brought her face up to look at his.

“You did protect me enough. And you don’t have to because nothing is going to change just because you can’t protect me. You’ll always be by my side no matter what.” Nightmare Moon smiled happily at this before she was grabbed again by the shadow.

“Oh gag me. How can you possibly feel anything for a stallion that is so stupid. I mean he didn’t even recognize you and what’s worse is that he thought you weren’t real.” Mara said trying to break down Nightmare’s heart any way she could. She was in pain, she should be terrified not smiling with her supposed coltfriend.

“He pretty much denounced you were even alive.” She said bringing Nightmare inches from her face. “You are either the dumbest mare in history or you have just fallen that hard for him you can’t get back up.”

“Both are wrong you idiot mare.” Nightmare said as she stared deeply into her eyes as if trying to tell her something through them. “I am not dumb at all, in fact, you have to be the most oblivious pony of all.”

Naruto stared over at Nightmare Moon wondering what she meant. “For so long I have wanted to get some appreciation from the ponies here. All I wanted was a little notice. But something changed that I guess you could say. I or well Luna met him.” Nightmare Moon looked at Naruto and made him blush brightly. “He made both of us feel something we haven’t felt since ether of us were brought into this world.”

“Blah Blah Blah. No one cares how realized things.” Mara said waiving her hoof around annoyed by Nightmare’s stalling, at least to her it was. “Get to the damn point or I can just end this now.”

“Well then if you’re wondering why I don’t care for that fact it’s because for five straight months since Luna met him, since I first saw him through Luna’s eyes I knew for a fact what I felt only it took his words to help me find the truth.” Nightmare said as she closed her only good eye as she prepared for something no one expected. “I am in love with that stallion.”

Everypony was silent upon hearing such words from a mare that was so feared. She found love? Mara’s mouth was agape not from the shock; she knew full well that Nightmare Moon had feelings for the stallion. She just didn’t expect her to confess right here. Naruto must have been the most surprised that she confessed. It took Luna three months to do that and here Nightmare Moon was confessing something like that. Now he understood why his heart was racing to during the times he wasn’t sure who she was.

His heart was telling him his love was right in front of him. He smiled only to have it taken by her own screams as the shadow around her seemed to be trying to squeeze the life out of her. “As touching as that sounds I hate you and I want to see you broken.” She increased the tension of her grip around Nightmare’s body with her shadow magic.

“Leave my mama alone you big stupid meanie!” Crystal shouted getting the annoyed mare’s attention.

“Oh right you.” She mumbled irritated that the small filly still breathed. Then she got as great idea, to her that is. (I do not approve of this at all). Another shadow claw shot out from the original smaller than the other but still grabbed ahold of Crystal. Crystal screamed as loudly as she could as everypony watched helplessly as the little mare was lined up next to her new mother.

“Let my daughter go this instant.” Nightmare Moon declared, Naruto was trying to speak but his fear was taking his words from him. They were both in the clutches of a mad mare and he was too weak to even stand on his legs. Where were his demon powers when he needed them most?

“Um…let me think abou—No!” Mara said grinning again that sinister way that made Nightmare grind her teeth. Had she had her full power she would have unleashed all of it then and there in one final burst if needed. Mara turned her gaze over to Crystal and it went from cynical to downright terrifying actually halting all the tears that Crystal held in her eyes and the words lodged in her throat.

“And for you, you’ve been quite the little trouble for me. A simple job turned into a nightmare for me. You know what I think would be nice?” Mara said slamming the two shadow claws together putting Crystal and nightmare’s heads side by side. Nightmare looked at her new daughter with concern. “To watch both of you suffocate right here and now!”

The shadow around them shot forth just like what happened to Luna only this one was going to kill. Nightmare Moon looked toward Naruto as everything became slow. Crystal cried out for Naruto as Nightmare summoned what was left of her strength to try and free herself and Crystal. Mara stood there a psychotic and sick grin pasted on her face from ear to ear was the only thing keeping the others watching the horror at bay.

Nightmare shot out of the shadow using what little strength she had and grabbed ahold of Crystal. The shadow still clung to her though. Naruto was now running to them. He didn’t know where the energy came from all he knew was his powers were finally coming just in the nick of time. He grabbed a hoof of them both trying his hardest to pull them free of the shadow.

“Nightmare, Crystal don’t you dare let go!” Naruto said pulling with all his might as Mara was trying to pull them back into her shadowy embrace. Naruto was pulling with as much strength as his demon powers were giving him to the point where his coat had actually changed color and his eyes were a deep red. His teeth had become sharper now.

Mara although she was pulling back rather roughly could feel the intensity of Naruto’s strength. She was shocked to see that an earth pony could wield so much strength after dealing with an attack that she had delivered herself. This made her angry and pulled harder. Naruto felt the force that Mara was giving and puled harder. Nightmare Moon was feeling great pain as was Crystal but they were both focusing on one thing. Holding onto his hooves as best they could. Crystal was using both while Nightmare was only able to hold with one hoof.

Naruto could feel the shadows being ripped off from their bodies and pulled harder pleading with whatever demon lie within to lend him more strength. It provided almost immediately allowing him to pull them further out. Both Nightmare and Crystal smiled feeling barely any of the dark magic holding them anymore. They finally saw a shining hope that they would break free. Suddenly though Mara began to laugh out loud making the three of them look at her.

“Oh this was just too much fun.” Naruto’s eyes were filled with anger as he wanted to let the two go and rush her. He hated that voice and he hated this mare with every fiber of his being. Mara merely just waved her hoof in the air as if to gesture something to get a move on and her shadow erupted forth bringing several tentacles. Naruto watched helplessly as both Nightmare Moon and Crystal were being wrapped up by the shadow again.

One of the tentacles slapped him away sending him several yards away as he skidded through the dirt leaving a trail. Both Nightmare and Crystal were fighting to keep their heads out of the shadows’ embrace but to no avail. “You know as much as I love hearing your screams of fright and terror.” She said with an annoyed and irritated expression. “I’d rather just silence you now.” She said as the shadows appeared like Venus fly traps’ mouths ready to clamp.

“PAPA—!” That was the only thing that got out before the shadow clamped down silencing her.

Nightmare looked over at the horror but not before witnessing herself about to suffer the same fate. She looked at Naruto one more time, “NARU—,” it was cut short just like Crystal’s as Naruto saw both of his girls taken from him. He stood frozen as his powers seemed to want a release but without his mind comprehending everything it was finding a hard time in doing so.

“Oh yes that’s better much better.” Mara said taking the silence as death’s words. She loved its sound, but preferred the sounds of others screaming for their lives. It just had this sort of harmony with her ears that made her want to dance. She widened her eyes and the shadows holding Crystal and Nightmare Moon began to compress causing great pressure on their bodies. Had they not been in the shadows their screams would have been heard throughout Equestria.

Naruto wasn’t as lucky as he heard their cries through the shadow actually making it harder for him to keep sane. Everything in this world he loved so dearly was about to die and he couldn’t do a thing to stop it. Naruto felt a little more power come and rushed at Mara. Mara giggled finding his attempt amusing as she flicked one of her hooves making Naruto’s own shadow grabbed him and held him there in place.

Naruto felt useless, she was too strong and there was nothing he could do right now. He felt the demon within him wanting control but he couldn’t let it have that. When he saved her this time he didn’t want to have any tails on him. “You are so pathetic. I can’t believe that Shadow was actually worried about you.” Marta mocked feeling this was too easy. “You’re a pushover. I can’t wait to see your face when the two things you love so much die.”

Naruto’s eyes widened when he heard those words. Sure there were times when he thought Luna might be dead but he always knew she wasn’t. However now this mare comes around and could possibly be the thing that destroys her and not just Luna, but also Crystal and Nightmare Moon.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Mara then stopped and seemed to be frozen in fear. The voice rang with that of a dragon’s roar, the only thing that Mara feared in this world. “I told you not to kill Nightmare Moon!” His voice almost caused her to actually fall.

“I wasn’t,” Mara said frightened, sure she could talk back to him but when he got like this the last time was when Mara felt pure fear for the first time. “I was just making it easier to bring her back to you after all you said I could kill the little filly, I mean it’s not like Nightmare Moon’s going to blame you for that.”

Shadow, within the confines of his castle felt himself shocked at her words. Nightmare declared Crystal to be her daughter which meant, if she died by her orders he would never hear the end of it from her and his hopes at getting his mare would be crushed. At least until they had a filly of their own. He smiled at that but his mind brought him back to reality.

“Release them Mara!” Shadow ordered getting a confused expression from Mara.

“Them?” Mara restated softly until it hit her, “THEM!” She shouted getting the attention of Naruto again. “What do you mean by them? We had a deal you get your mare and I get to kill the filly. What happened?” She said her anger actually causing the shadows to grip harder.”

“STOP THAT!” His voice almost broke her ear in half. She stopped as the tension she had been doing on the two shadows were now only barely hurting them but still slightly crushing them.

“I need that little filly in order for Nightmare and I to be one.” Mara was about to interject when Shadow spoke up again. “I’ll triple your pay if you do this call it incentive, double for bringing the filly to me and triple because you couldn’t kill anything today.”

“You swear on the shadows’ embrace?” Mara asked feeling that was the right choice of words to use in this situation.

“How did she know I can’t break a promise upon the swear of the shadow’s embrace? Damn her!” He exclaimed in his head as the thoughts for how to destroy her later were coming into view. However, instead he sighed feeling slightly defeated. “Very well, on the Shadow’s embrace I swear you’ll get your pay.”

“Okay then we have a deal…again.” She said releasing them from her shadowy embrace. The two of them fell down to the ground. Naruto’s eyes watched in horror as this happened, their bodies were bruised beyond belief. His body was trembling so badly he thought he was going to explode.

“Are you sure they’re still alive?” Shadow asked Mara who merely giggled at this.

“Of course they are silly.” She said giggling again. Shadow blushed because he felt slightly played there. “They’re barely breathing, to anypony else they’ll look dead, though.” Shadow’s blush left as his face became horrified.

“Grab them and run now!” Shadow ordered fear riding his voice like that of a scared commander in battle.

“Why that Naruto can’t do anything to me while I am holding him down.” Mara said until she felt the air around her become stale. “What in the name of Tartarus.” She turned to Naruto to see the earth around him being pulled up. “What in the name of…”

Naruto wasn’t even looking at her though. His eyes were focused on the two supposed dead corpses lying at her hooves. At that one moment he didn’t care what happened because only one thought was going across his mind at this point.
KILL!

A Demon's and a Nightmare's Warmth

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Chapter 9
A Demon’s Wrath and a Nightmare’s Warmth

Naruto’s anger had gone past its normal point. He had lost everything he had in under a day. His marefriend, his daughter, and Nightmare Moon; he hadn’t gotten a chance to explain his feelings to her. That only furthered his anger. Those watching were stunned by the amount of earth that was coming out of the ground around Naruto now.

“Celestia?” Twilight asked her mentor as she had come down after watching her sister being dropped like a dead animal. Celestia looked over to her student who was scared at this point. “What’s happening to him?”

“I don’t know Twilight.” Celestia said for the first time in her life she had no idea what was happening to one of her ponies. Sure there had been times when she had seen Naruto gain strength through his demonic power but nothing that actually started to tear the earth apart. She had magic that could do that but she had to use a lot of magic to get that to happen.

Remedy watched with complete terror in her eyes as a large chunk was taken out of the earth. It was the size of Macintosh’s plow. “Carnac, how is Naruto generating so much energy?” She asked looking at her godfather who was in a state of fear as well.

Before Carnac could answer his goddaughter’s question everypony and ape watched as a dark orange-red aura slowly began to surround Naruto. His eyes and lips became black as Nightmare Moon’s fur. His eyes were a deeper red than they normally were and his hair seemed to be flying upwards as though fierce winds were blowing up from beneath him.

“Mara, I will not repeat myself,” Shadow said as he feared his chance at getting Nightmare Moon would fail like all the others. “Grab Nightmare Moon and her child and get out of there before it is too late.” Shadow would have loved to see if Mara could stand up to Naruto but he could tell from even his own castle. Seeing what he was doing now without even a single tail made him worry.

Although Naruto had used tailed energy forms before, but he had never seen this. It was like every last bit of energy left in his body was crying out for blood. He watched along with every other pony how the translucent aura crawled upon Naruto’s being. Shadow was actually breathing quickly to his surprise. He had never felt such fear before. Why now then?

“Why should I?” Mara questioned feeling greatly underestimated. Shadow looked at his crystal ball grinding his teeth. “I mean he wasn’t that much stronger when he was using his demon powers a second ago so what do I have to worry about now?”

“Because, he’s about to go into his second stage!” Shadow exclaimed feeling she might need a little more encouragement. Mara raised a brow confused. Second stage? What did he mean by that?

“What do you mean second stage? All I see is a pony who’s about to lose everything he has and can’t do anything about it.” Mara said as her shadow flailed around her as she laughed boastfully.

“Don’t provoke him you idiot. DO you not see how much energy he’s sending out?” Shadow asked annoyed by his assassin. He couldn’t believe she was taking this lightly. If the twelve dead apes from the festival were anything to go on the energy Naruto was displacing now was ten times as immense as that.

“Why, is the little baby going to cry?” Mara asked looking at Naruto mockingly. Naruto’s head shot up. Upon looking into Naruto’s eyes she saw something that sent chills down her spine. His eyes showed more malice than anything she ever thought possible. Never had she seen such hate filled eyes.

“Give them back.” Naruto growled. His voice was that of his only it was more animalistic as though he were speaking through the growl itself. Remedy and the others watched helplessly as Naruto’s entire being became enwrapped within a bubbling aura of pure hate and anguish. At the bottom of his hooves his energy had created what appeared to be claws.

Mara looked at him confused. Then she got a devilish idea as her smile went from ear to ear. “Oh sorry can’t really do that.” Naruto continued to stare at her with that same hateful stare. “They’re gone, and unfortunately when I hand them over to Shadow they won’t remember anything about you. So sorry dear Naruto.”

Two fox like tails had just emerged upon her saying those lines. She had no idea the line she was crossing. “Give them back!” He restated as his teeth grew sharper and his lust for blood only tripled in power.

“What part of I can’t won’t you get?” Shadow was fuming, she was about to unleash the fury of possibly the one stallion who could defeat him. “Seriously, why is it so hard for some stallions to get over the loss of their beloved marefriends?”

“Silence now or else you nor I will have the power to stop him.” Shadow warned feeling fear rising in his body. It had never happened until now; fear was all but an emotion he relished. He wanted the very thing exterminated from his being. “I will say it again, grab Nightmare and the foal and come to my castle this instant!”

“You’re not my father so stop treating me as such.” Mara declared startling Shadow a bit but he quickly recovered as his horn glowed a dark violet, almost to the point of pitch black. Mara felt something jabbing in her sides but there was nothing there. “Hey what are you doing?”

“I am not about to lose my one chance at getting my mare or my leverage for my mare. So grab them and run or not only will I strip you of those powers I will leave you there in the hands of a demon who at this moment is going to be showing a lot less mercy than me.” Mara wondered what he was talking about when she looked back at Naruto. His eyes held pupils similar to that of a demon’s narrow and sword-like like that of a fox’s. They were a deep blood red holding only one thing. Hate and rage that was being filled with nothing but bloodlust.

“Wha-What’s with his eyes?” Mara asked feeling that same fear again. Why did this lowly stallion provoke that kind of emotion from her? She couldn’t understand it at all. “How does he have this much power?”

“If I knew I would be finding a way to stop it myself, but that’s not what’s important.” Shadow said oblivious to what was happening to Naruto as two small spikes began sprouting from the rear part of the bubbling aura. “You need to get your ego out of your mind and listen to me for once. Take them and get out of there! Or would you rather die?”

Mara thought on this as it dawned on her how much energy Naruto was producing. Although she felt that she had enough power and magic to kill him herself she didn’t want to test with the way his eyes looked or what his powers seemed to be doing at this moment. “Alright fine.” Shadow sighed in relief he wouldn’t have to worry about Naruto for much longer.

She reached out with her shadow and grabbed them feeling like her magic shouldn’t be used on such filth. “Now come on you filthy alicorn, time to meet your new husband.” She said a little enthusiastically.

“Give them back!” Mara turned again to see Naruto now having what looked to be larger spikes that swayed like tails. They weren’t tails yet but they had the resemblance. Mara looked in horror as they shot out like magically thrown spears. Two fox like tails swayed back in forth as Naruto bared his teeth in pure rage.

She froze in fear as Naruto’s front right hoof slammed into the ground. The force caused the ground to shake to the point where Mara had to use her shadow to balance herself. His two tails were flailing around looking for something to smash, something to impale. They wanted blood as did Naruto’s anger. Mara turned back to the two mares lying barely alive and tried to grab at them with her shadow and but it was grabbed by one of Naruto’s two tails.

Shadow was in shock, when did his tail move? More importantly why was he feeling fear again. Mara couldn’t turn her head away from the sight in front of her. Her power was being held back by a mere extension of Naruto’s power. She turned to look at him finally able to take her gaze away from it only to see Naruto right there with his hoofs ready for a crushing blow.

She didn’t have time and felt Naruto’s hoof slam into her face sending her several yards away. Mara tumbled backwards a bit before planting her hooves into the ground stopping her. She looked up in both anger and surprise. Had she not have gotten Shadow’s power boost she would be dead at this very moment. She knew that and as the realization hit her she screamed at the top of her lungs.

“No this can’t be!” Mara cried out her face the very definition of rage. She summoned her shadow back up filled with rage and disbelief. “How can you have so much power, even if you are a demon, no one is stronger than me!” Her head wasn’t thinking at this moment her primary instincts were driving her words. “Nightmare Moon lies there defeated and broken to my power and I barely used a fraction.”

“Mara don’t fight him!” Shadow demanded, but to be honest it sounded more like he was trying to beg her to stop. “You’ll die if you do!”

“No I won’t.” She said with an ear-to-ear grin. “If anypony here is going to die it will be this pathetic excuse for a stallion.” Mara said releasing several of her shadow tentacles towards Naruto.

Naruto charged forward ignoring the obvious threat before him. His two tails fired forth batting away the tentacles like they were pebbles being knocked to the side. Mara was getting frustrated as her horn now lit up and shot forth orbs of magic at Naruto. Naruto was still charging forth but he was kicking and punching away at the orbs now with incredible speed. His tails keeping the tentacles at bay while his hooves took care of the magic.

Shadow was actually quite impressed, but what he was wondering was how Naruto was keeping up with Mara’s attacks in such a state. He’d understand if it was his three tailed form but his two tails seemed to be doing the job by itself. Naruto wasn’t paying attention as he was too focused on Mara’s attacks to see another shadow tentacle come up from below him. It grabbed his right hind leg and threw him back but latched on as Mara proceeded to slam him repeatedly into the ground.

She was laughing the entire time as she sent several more shadow tentacles his way impaling him from all sides. Remedy and Celestia looked in horror at their crush hanging in the air supported by shadow tentacles sticking out of his body. Mara took all of the tentacles out of Naruto’s body letting him fall to the ground dead. Shadow had never been happier in all of his life. His one great threat was now dead and nothing would stop him from leading Equestria now.

“And you said he was going to be a problem.” Mara mocked getting Shadow to pout slightly. He didn’t like being proven wrong, but in this case he could make an exception. “Now to just take my prize and be on my way.”

“Mara, they belong to me do you hear?” Shadow pointed out making it rather clear through the tone of his voice. His tone sent small shivers down her spine making her less than comfortable.

“Yeah, yeah Shadow I know but like you said I get the little filly and my triple pay once there yours.” Mara said as she laughed a little as if imagining Shadow’s annoyed expression. He was annoyed with her and his face was present of that.

“To make sure nothing happens though…” Shadow’s horn lit up and a piece of Mara’s shadow began to rise up. Everypony watched as the shadow opened up like a popped balloon falling down gently revealing a dark silver, almost black even, stallion with a crimson mane and tail. His eyes opened revealing a deep violet. His grin bared two sets of fangs similar to that of a vampony from legend. He stood with royal armor around his body. It was as black as his shadow. “I think I’ll join you.”

Celestia and Remedy looked down in horror. “That’s my brother.” She said her voice cracking out of pure fear. She knew of her brother’s strength and his magical ability. She also knew of his hatred. She fell back on her rear, as her eyes would not seem to blink. She felt this was the end, just as Celestia did.

“Shadow is that really you?” Mara asked in amazement. Her eyes were wide with admiration, she didn’t think she could do that maybe Shadow didn’t give her the strength to do that.

“Not exactly this is a clone I created using a piece of your shadow.” Shadow said from the confines of his castle. “I didn’t want my true presence to be known yet. But I thought I would let the peaceful town see who I was. Although this clone isn’t anywhere nearly as strong as I am, it will be enough to help handle my sister and Celestia.”

“I don’t know why but I guess you could say I feel honored by this Shadow. But then again you should feel honored to be next to me.” His clone made the same expression that the one did back at the castle. He looked at her with a face that simply read, “This coming from the mare who almost got her butt kicked by the weakened Nightmare Moon”, he sighed feeling this was going to be a long day. However, he did have to give her credit for taking care of Naruto.

“Whatever but right now I need to take her home. She has to learn not to be so oh what’s the word I am looking for?” Clone Shadow said as he raised his hoof to scratch his chin. “Disobedient, that’s it. Well come now my precious mares time to get settled at your new place.”

Suddenly the air around seemed to be vacuumed away and they froze as the air grew stale again. “Don’t talk about them,” Both Shadow and Mara stopped dead in their movements as did everypony else. They both turned around their faces the definition of shock and fear. Naruto rose as what appeared to be several pints of blood fell from his body. Their eyes were widened in shock, they couldn’t believe their eyes.

His wounds and all the holes that Mara had created were vanishing as the tissue and skin around them swirled around like the seal cutie mark on his flank. They closed completely until it seemed he hadn’t been stabbed before. Mara stood there watching as her precious work had been completely evaporated in mere seconds.

“How…How is that even possible?” Mara said barely getting the words to leave her mouth.

“Celestia, how did Naruto’s wounds heal in such a way? I thought there wasn’t any magic that could heal something like that.” Twilight asked seeing Naruto’s wounds heal and his fox tails flare forth with renewed rage.

“There isn’t such magic here in Equestria Twilight.” Celestia said softly. Twilight could easily see how frightened Celestia was now. If Naruto could heal himself like that what would happen if he turned on them, they would be done for. The very thought sent shivers down Celestia’s spine.

“No one should have been able to survive that.” Shadow said from his castle as it was also said through his clone. “No one can survive that kind of impalement or at least stand after.” Shadow rose as Naruto’s fox like eyes stared right at him. He felt like Naruto was staring down right into his very soul. Mara gritted her teeth as she let loose her shadow tentacles at Naruto. “Mara don’t!” Shadow called but was too late as the tentacles had already made it half of the way to Naruto.

“Don’t talk about them,” Naruto said, as the tentacles were mere feet from reaching him. “Don’t talk about them…like you OWN THEM!” He shouted followed by what could only be described as a malicious battle cry. Naruto’s two tails batted the eight tentacles aside as if they were a joke. Shadow and Mara stood in horror at how fast those two tails were flailing around.

Mara was about to react when she noticed what looked to be a thin line of red energy swirling around Naruto. Naruto had red energy dripping from his mouth as his aura began to bubble madly as if being heated by the sun itself. Remedy and Celestia watched as a third fox tail slowly made its way out of the aura growing as long as the others.

Shadow and Mara watched as the thin line of energy grew in width and size and began swirling around as though it were trying to create a tornado. The energy waves being released were so powerful that both the Clone Shadow and Mara had to dig their shadow tentacles in to stop themselves from being blown back. Naruto’s anger was shown as what looked to be a fox’s head appeared from the energy above him. It roared viciously causing everypony around to shake and quiver with absolute terror.

Celestia had never seen such a thing before in her life. Even Remedy, who lived in the Dark Forest a place not as well-known but just as dangerous as the Everfree Forest, hadn’t seen horrors like this. “Naruto what are you?” Celestia whispered under her breath as she saw Nightmare Moon’s body and Crystal’s look as though they were about to be blown away.

Shadow didn’t want to see what would happen if he got angrier and the amount of energy Naruto was producing was immense. “Mara grab the girls and get out of here.” The clone said making Mara look at him with shocked confusion. “I’ll hold him off for as long as I can you just get them back to the real me, got it?”

“Like hell I will, I won’t let him outclass me.” Shadow was about to argue when the swirling energy ended and receded back into Naruto’s body. His stance showed no remorse as the very ground crashed underneath the enormous amount of energy being sent out by Naruto. “I’m going to show him one hundred percent of my power.” Mara shouted and rushed at Naruto. She disappeared with lightning fast speed surprising Shadow a little bit.

She appeared behind Naruto one of her hooves covered by her shadow as it formed a black blade. She cried out throwing the blade toward Naruto’s back. She didn’t make it halfway as one of the tails formed a claw and shot up catching the blade in mid-air. Mara looked in complete shock at what just happened as did Shadow himself. Those tails can turn into claws, WHAT?

Naruto threw Mara in front of him and roared loudly. The sheer power behind that shout sent a sound wave so powerful it threw Mara and Shadow backwards almost into the crowd actually who immediately backed away from them. The sound wave picked Nightmare Moon and Crystal up and hurled them forward. Celestia and Remedy were about to take action when Naruto threw his front hooves out sending the energy claws around his hands out at them. They grew in size until they grabbed ahold of them and immediately drew them back towards him.

“Girls did you see that?” Twilight asked in shock. Her friends all nodded their heads just as shocked and confused. “Why did he grab them if they’re dead to him?” She looked to her friends and then to Remedy who all just shrugged.

“It may be he hasn’t fully succumb to his rage yet.” Celestia said her heart racing faster than when Luna had become Nightmare Moon. That day she wished never happened, but she couldn’t worry about that now. Naruto was slowly losing his mind and might actually lose it soon if they didn’t do anything quick. “Listen we might have to use the Elements of Harmony on him if we can’t save him in time alright.” The girls all looked at her with wide eyes. The last time they used it was for Discord’s release so that he could be reformed.

That lead to him and Fluttershy getting together as a couple. Fluttershy had never been happier in her life and hoped that their secret didn’t get out. However looking at Naruto now made the shy yellow pegasus wonder, would this happen to Discord if he was given the chance? She had this constant fear in the back of her mind, a fear held for a whole year, that Discord would betray them all but she doubted he would betray his own blood.

Mara and Shadow stood up as they looked at Naruto stunned at what they saw. Mara had wide eyes while Shadow just looked at him with pure rage. “How is this stallion doing this?” Was all Shadow could utter the rest of the words getting caught in his throat.

“Shadow,” Mara said getting his attention. She looked serious for the first time she wasn’t grinning but her eyes held that same lust for death. “If we rush him both way he can’t stop us so let’s do it.” Shadow smiled at this seeing where she was going. He couldn’t be that fast, he can’t move faster than darkness itself.

Both Shadow and Mara extended their Shadow around Naruto and sunk into it like water would in the ocean. Melting into its space like it had always been a part of it. The shadow shot up like someone jumping out of water. Mara came in front of Naruto while Shadow came from behind both dawning what looked like a shadow spike on their right hooves. “Time to die!” They both shouted throwing their hooves forward attached to the shadow spikes.

They hit their target only it wasn’t the result they were expecting. Everypony who had a good view couldn’t believe it. Naruto stood sideways standing on his hind legs, his head sunk down as though he was struggling to keep them at bay. His teeth grinding together. The tails on his back were thrown into the ground like an anchor so that he wouldn’t be thrust upwards. He stood over Nightmare Moon and Crystal like a guardian. Nothing was going to pass him.

Mara believed that they had seen his limits because she was slowly forcing her side hoof to push further almost breaking through Naruto’s hoof. “You’re so pathetic.” Naruto’s ears perked up at hearing this. “You can’t even protect these two, they lie dead below you and you did nothing while I killed them. Of course if you want to blame a pony for that, blame Shadow there for hiring me.” Shadow couldn’t believe he was hearing this. After being blown back by merely a roar she was boasting about holding him here and making a small amount of headway.

It made little sense to the dark king. But he could see that she was pushing his hoof back so he pushed harder with his hoof wrapped in the shadow spike. They thought this would be the end for the strange orange stallion with demonic powers. Unfortunately Naruto had other plans as his head shot up and he pushed them back with enormous strength. Shadow was sent into the Everfree Forest while Mara was sent just in front of the crowd.

Mara got up holding her head in her hooves and looked at the scared crowd staring at her. “What you got a problem?” Mara spat casing some of them to step back. Mothers put a hoof in front of their child in defense. “Don’t worry once I’m done with this stallion I’ll be back for you.” She said turning around only to come face to face with Naruto who growled lowly. Mara responded with a small shriek of surprise as she jumped into the air. Naruto shifted slightly before jumping into the air after her.

The jump sent a shockwave that blew a few of the citizens back a bit. Luckily he was a few yards away or he might have destroyed a house with the energy wave he sent out. Celestia couldn’t believe what was happening right now. He had grown stronger in a matter of minutes and it looked like he wasn’t going to stop until Mara either died or left this world for another.

Mara was barely able to get her shadow to cover her when Naruto’s claws came down slamming her into the Everfree Forest. He landed which looked more like he crashed with the explosion that occurred from his landing. The ponies near him covered their eyes or wrapped their hooves around their children to protect them from any debris that had been sent flying their way. They were small pieces but they still left some small cuts nothing too serious though.

Naruto roared again causing the ground below him to sink into a black circle resembling a tar pit. He launched forward into the Everfree Forest nothing but killing Mara and Clone Shadow were on his mind. He jumped from branch to branch faster than he had before as he scanned the area looking for the two fiends. He found what appeared to be a black orb and watched as Shadow emerged from it.

Naruto jumped down in front of him giving him a small scare. Clone Shadow jumped a few feet back as sweat crawled down his face. He didn’t know what to do now. Alone he couldn’t do anything against him because the clone he created wasn’t anywhere near strong enough to take on Naruto in his state of rage.

Naruto charged at Shadow launching large chunks of debris behind him. Some of the debris was so big it knocked down some of the trees. Shadow didn’t have time to react as Naruto slashed at his face sending him deeper into the forest. Shadow felt that hit all the way in his castle. He touched his cheek to find it sore. He rubbed the spot a bit seeing how bad it was. Nothing much but he could only imagine what his clone was feeling at that moment.

The clone could barely stand let alone talk. Mara’s shadow orb lay next to him and when it fell she flopped right down on her back. “So Mara,” Shadow said as he walked over to her fallen body. She was in shock as her breathing came slowly. “What was that about us being able to take him?” Shadow asked as he helped her to her hooves.

“He shouldn’t have been that strong but then again I wasn’t using my full strength. If I had there’s no way he would have been able to beat me.” Mara boasted although Shadow just looked annoyed. She sounded like that one traveling magician who showed up in his kingdom the other day. Man was she annoying only this one was psychotic.

“Mara listen, if we’re going to do this we need to come up with a better strategy.” Shadow said through his clone. “Whatever Naruto has done to gain so much power we have to find a way around it.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Mara retorted almost slapping Shadow but she held back. She would need all of her strength if she was going to have a chance at defeating Naruto. An idea came to her as she smiled and rubbed her hooves maliciously. Shadow had a sweat drop on his head in slight fear. He knew Mara was psychotic but devious no, this look made him blush slightly but only in embarrassment because wasn’t it his job to come up with the plans.

“Why don’t we play a little game of cat and mouse?” Shadow looked at her with frustration as veins on his head were popping out like crazy. “Hear me out for a second Shadow, if we have him chase us it’ll lower his energy and when he’s weak enough we can strike and then take the two girls.”

“It’s a solid plan and it might work but I have one question for you.” Mara nodded her head telling him to continue. “How are we supposed to outrun him? I am only a clone here my real body would have no problem keeping up but I can’t. The real me didn’t think I would need that much strength to begin with. I only have about thirty percent of my true bodies power.”

“Wait your only thirty percent?” Mara asked shocked by this. She thought he was strong but if this was his thirty percent what was he like at one hundred. “That’s not good for us.”

“You think but I haven’t been using all thirty percent of that power.” Mara looked at him with wide eyes and mouth almost stunned but more angry than stunned.

“Why the hell not you jerk?!” Mara questioned slamming her hoof over the clone’s head. Shadow in his castle felt that and held his head in pain as did his clone. “We could have killed him by now but noooooo you just had to hold back. What kind of king doesn’t go all out against his opponent?”

“One who knows how to save up all of his strength for the final blow.” Shadow retorted slamming his hoof down getting Mara to shrink in fear. Her eyes looked like that of a crying puppy as Shadow continued to rant. “If you hadn’t gotten him like this in the first place I wouldn’t have to worry about him and Nightmare Moon would be mine. But no you have to boast and push every little button that Naruto has knowing the warnings I have given you and you just ignore them like an idiot. Why are you so naïve that you end up messing up my plans?”

Mara felt that Shadow could have killed her by now and so he still must have needed her. “Quick question. Why didn’t you just come down here yourself? Why send some stupid clone?” Mara asked bluntly making the clone and the real Shadow pout in irritation. She just never stopped asking questions. He was getting a migraine from her constant banter that he was about to use shadows to zip her mouth permanently.

“Sorry but I have a kingdom to run as well.” Shadow said making excuses. The truth was he was judging Naruto’s power to his own. What he didn’t expect was for Naruto to be this powerful. “I can’t leave there in case a problem comes up which is why I sent a clone.” The voice was from Shadow at the castle talking through the clone like a puppet. “Just because I am evil to all others doesn’t mean my ponies have to suffer my wrath.”

“Wait a moment I thought you could care less about any other pony but yourself?” Mara asked feeling there was no truth behind Shadow’s words. Shadow could see it in her eyes that she didn’t believe him. Well with what he does to all other ponies he can’t really blame her. “I’ve never seen you be nice to any pony. How can you make such a claim, dear Shadow?”

“First off don’t call me ‘dear’.” Shadow said poking Mara hard almost a push actually. “Second, what I do to other ponies and my kingdom’s ponies is completely up to me. You’ll see how I treat my ponies when we get back but for now we need to focus on getting rid of Naruto or you won’t see the light of tomorrow.”

“Whatever, I didn’t know you could be such a softie.” Mara said smiling to herself. Shadow had a shadow like claw spring forward and strangle Mara for a few seconds. She coughed roughly as she breathed in heavily.

“Call me a softie again and I will make you regret ever accepting my offer.” Mara backed away in fear. As if in an instant, Shadow had reverted back into his malicious self. His eyes bore that of a ruthless killer willing to do anything to get what he wanted. Yet in those eyes Mara could have sworn she saw something. It looked like a small glimmer but a glimmer of what?

Next thing they knew they were hearing trees being ripped apart as Naruto came running through the forest. Mara and Shadow both got ready as Naruto shot out of the darkness of the. He came down and they both jumped to a different side. Naruto’s eyes were going back and forth between the two of them as he was trying to figure out who to go after first. Mara could see her plan was going to work now all they had to do was last long enough.

“Hey Naruto!” Naruto’s eyes and head shot in Mara’s direction. She almost fell off the branch she had landed on from just his stare. “You have to be a complete idiot to not notice your marefriend like that.” Mara said sticking her tongue out at him. Shadow looked at her thinking “That was an insult?”

Naruto launched himself at Mara who barely reacted in time as Naruto’s hoof smashed the tree in half as well as many others after it. Mara stared in shock at how much damage Naruto had done with one punch. Shadow felt relieved that Mara was able to dodge that because had she not he would be fighting Naruto alone. Well his clone would anyway.

Mara landed on the ground but had to move quickly as Naruto wasn’t letting up any time soon and smashed the ground where she used to be. The hole he left looked to be the size of a small house. It curved in like a ball had struck the area. It actually almost looked like waves were going through it like layers to a cake. Naruto stood back up in his stance as Shadow had to start or else he would catch up to Mara soon.

“Naruto!” Naruto’s entire body stopped as he slowly turned his head facing the silver stallion. “Yes that’s right Naruto I am Shadow. The one who has been after your precious Luna.” Naruto didn’t let him sat more as he was already in front of Shadow all of his tails struck the area where he used to be. Shadow jumped back again using his shadow as a pole almost to keep him balanced.

Naruto went at Shadow again his hooves striking down sending another powerful punch into the forest demolishing everything that was in front of him for about fifty yards. His arm was angled as well so the damage to the ground was a lot more intensive than the damage he did to the trees around him. Shadow barely grabbed a hold of a tree’s branch with his shadow as he flipped himself up onto the branch.

“Come now Naruto is that the best you can do?” Naruto’s head turned to see Mara mocking him. “I’ve seen bandits who hit harder.” Although that was obviously a lie Naruto didn’t catch it as his main purpose at this moment was to kill these two and anyone who tried to take Nightmare Moon, Crystal or Luna from him.

Naruto darted at her again slamming down. She dodged barely again. She was starting to get his movements but he was a little faster than her and she had to use her shadow tentacles to pull her away. The constant insults being thrown at Naruto were definitely getting him to chase them. Were his powers decreasing as a result? No in fact they were increasing it.

“Princess Celestia the elements as you have requested.” A guard said arriving on the seen with a chest carrying the known Elements of Harmony. Celestia thanked the guard as she used her magic to place each element on its respective owner.

They all looked to her with sadness in their eyes. Applejack and Pinkie had the greatest though for their feelings for Naruto hadn’t really left but they had been keeping to their promise. Whether they liked it was another story, Applejack and Pinkie had both promised to stay out of Naruto and Luna’s affairs. However at this moment they were more worried about Naruto than ever.

Both Mara and Shadow were still dodging Naruto’s attacks until they both ended up in the same place. “What are you doing don’t dodge towards me!” Shadow shouted to Mara. “Why is she such a pain?” He thought through other thoughts.

“Sorry I thought you went the other way!” Mara said getting in his face. “Why is he such a pain?” (“Great” minds think alike don’t they?) Mara thought to herself as she wanted to drive her shadow through this clones chest to see if it would hurt the real Shadow.

They would have argues more had it not been for Naruto who was above them with both of his hooves behind his head ready to slam down upon them. His energy became two large fists that came crashing down. The explosion that occurred afterwards was so large that even the ponies in Canterlot saw what they could only describe as a large dust cloud in the distance.

Celestia and the others felt the gust that hit them. Those who were pegasus could barely keep their wings at their sides. Twilight and the others trembled from the pure power behind that hit. Celestia’s whole mind had been blown. The power Naruto had just released was greater than what she could do at this moment in time. Only one pony could possibly match it if he were to let loose and that pony was dead.

Mara appeared as her shadow kind of spit her out. She landed on a branch high above the explosion. When the dust cleared she saw a large clearing where hundreds of trees used to be. She looked over to her right and saw Shadow. She went over to him and saw that one of his legs was missing and instead of blood what looked like black ooze dripped from it. Shadow back at the castle had felt that attack and was surprised his clone hadn’t been completely obliterated. His horn glowed and the clone woke up. Clone Shadow grabbed his head with his other hoof feeling a migraine coming on as did the real Shadow.

He looked at his missing hoof and reacted how any other normal pony would and screamed. “Curse him.” Shadow said as his shadow shot up into his arm then looked to be cut off as his hoof formed again. “At least I’m a clone of the real one. I underestimated that stallion’s ability and I am paying for it now.” Shadow said through the clone as he rubbed his own head. Although the pain wasn’t as significant as with the clone he still felt like his head was pounding.

Naruto stood in the center of what was now a large clearing. His anger could be seen through his flailing tails. Mara laughed at him getting his attention. “Is that it Naruto? All tuckered out now?” Mara asked getting a stunned expression from Shadow. He wanted to slap that mare so hard. If they provoked him who knows what he could do? He had just made what could clearly be a half-mile wide and she wanted to continue doing this? “Come on you’ll have to do better than that if you want to save Nightmare Moon and that little filly.”

Shadow couldn’t believe this as he looked down to Naruto his eyes widened as did Mara’s as they watched a fourth fox tail rise out of the energy. Naruto was gasping as the pain his body now faced with was tearing away at him literally. He could barely stand on all four of his hooves as the energy seemed to be weighing him down. His coat began to peel off like one would peel a banana. Very small pieces followed by bigger pieces. Small orbs of dark red energy floated up into the already bubbling aura.

The pieces of flesh that had begun to tear away from his body seemed to be burned away. When the small orbs hit the top of the energy they released a black smoke that began to encircle Naruto. It circled him until not even Shadow or Mara could see him. They both stood there watching fear and the thoughts that came ravaging their entire being almost to the point to where they wanted to run.

The smoke began to rise into the air like a signal fire. Pinkie Pie was the first to see it and pointed straight at it. “Hey girls what is that?” Celestia looked up along with the others only to gasp in fright. Was that a fire? The mane 6 thought but Celestia knew better and rushed over to the fallen Nightmare Moon. If there was any hope of getting Naruto back they needed her now.

Celestia began to look over her body, besides a few bruises and a bloody lip she looked to be fine. She saw her chest expanding very lightly. She was breathing, thank her I guess. She started to use her magic when she her ears heard what could only be described as Naruto’s roar.

Within the hemisphere of smoke Naruto was nothing more but a complete blood red energy. Only small specs of his orange coat remained on him. He roared one last time. This roar sent forth so much energy it tore through the forest sending an incredibly massive shockwave out. Celestia’s head raised when she felt the force quickly bringing up a shield wide enough to protect Ponyville. As the debris of the forest came down on the shield Celestia could see small cracks forming. Only problem they weren’t coming from the colliding debris.

Remedy immediately saw the real problem and rushed to her side amplifying Celestia’s magic with her own. Their combined strength was enough to keep the shockwave at bay as well as the debris that came along with it. When it ended Celestia and all of Ponyville saw the damage to the shield and were amazed at how many cracks there were. Celestia hadn’t known any pony that could this to her magic. Remedy was just as surprised as Celestia. To almost break an alicorn’s magical barrier to a lot of magic and normally you would have to be up close to them.

Naruto had to be a couple miles into the forest and yet he did this much damage with just a roar and a sudden burst of energy. Remedy looked down at Nightmare Moon cursing her for taking him away from her. She could understand Crystal but Nightmare Moon she was nothing but evil and yet he wanted to protect her. Remedy wondered if she needed to possibly hurt hundreds to thousands of ponies just to make him notice her. What did she have to do to make him like her and not this thing.

“Remedy,” the black unicorn looked up at Celestia who called her. She had this serious look on her face. “As much as I hate to say this we need to get Crystal and Nightmare Moon on their hooves now.” Remedy looked at Celestia with a shocked expression. She would have yelled at her had Celestia’s glare not included any anger. “I don’t want this either but right now they are probably the only ones who can calm him down. We won’t stand a chance against Naruto in his current state. We have no choice.”

Remedy was about to retort when she saw the energy still in the sky begin to dwindle away. Whatever just happened was definitely not good and she didn’t want to be on the receiving end of it. “Fine but I’ll take care of the young one. I don’t even want to help that pathetic excuse for a mare. She stole my Naruto that convoluted, dark, depressing, irritating, evil, jealousy driven…*rant* *rant*,” Remedy continued to do this until Celestia had heard enough and placed one of her armored hooves against Remedy’s lips.

“I believe that’s enough ranting about my sister for one day. Let’s just get this over with so we can see Naruto back to normal.” Remedy pouted slightly her cheeks puffed up like a puffer fish. She nodded and began to use a healing spell on Crystal. Celestia got right to work on Nightmare Moon sending her magic all over her body making sure that every single fiber of her being was hit.

Back in the forest Shadow and Mara had a large shadow wall in front of them that had shielded them from the blast. When they dropped the shield all they saw was what looked like a red beast. It was Naruto alright but he was hunched over like he was staring at something below him. The energy around him was no longer bubbling nor was it orange.

Instead it was the color of think blood and it looked to be moving along his body in an odd fashion. Almost as though the energy itself was vibrating on top of Naruto. His body was still in the shape of a pony however. His ears were more rabbit shaped when you looked at it. But Shadow knew they had to look like something else. His eyes held no color but glowed a piercing white as did the inside of his mouth. Where his lips should have been there were none at all. Instead replacing his lips was a mouth that resembled a sharks if anything nothing but sharp teeth. He looked straight ahead as if he didn’t even know Shadow and Mara were there.

Naruto’s roared to the heavens in a blind rage. His roar didn’t send a shockwave this time which puzzled Shadow. But the roar itself had no trace of Naruto’s voice at all. It was that of an animals. He didn’t know what animal besides a dragon if that made a roar like that. The only way Shadow or Mara could describe it was demonic to say the least.

“What in the name of Equestria is going on here? Is that even Naruto?” Shadow whispered to himself Unfortunately Mara heard him. She looked at him and for the first time she saw what looked to be genuine fear on the dark king’s face.

“Hey Shadow what’s got you all spooked?” Mara asked somewhat confused as to why Shadow, even his clone before her, would be afraid of him. So he wasn a dark shade of red, so what? It’s not like he got stronger form it…right? She was going to prove to Shadow that there was nothing to be afraid of.

Mara jumped down in front of Naruto. Her smile was wide with glee as she could see he wasn’t going to be much of a problem now. It looked like his body was trying to stand up. Mara’s shadow pointed at him with intent to kill. She slammed her hooves onto the ground and what looked like several smaller tentacles began to head towards Naruto. Naruto looked forward to see what could only be described as a tsunami of shadows heading his way. He stood up looking almost off balance actually.

Mara thought that she would get such an easy victory. She was already humming to herself a song that if put into words was just her past killings. Naruto just growled softly as the small clicks in his growl were the only things heard. Mara watched as her wave kept growing in size to the point to where it had to be considered a wave. It rose up ready to consume Naruto.

Naruto raised his right arm up and slammed it down right on the Shadow itself causing a massive explosion to occur. The explosion sent a shockwave so powerful that it head straight in the direction of Ponyville and beyond. Celestia had to bring forth another shield draining more of her magic from her body. She didn’t need Remedy’s help this time. They were just worried about the two who had gone in after Naruto.

Just before Naruto’s attack on Mara’s shadow Nightmare Moon’s eyes slowly opened. “Ugh? What happened?” Nightmare Moon asked as she rubbed her pounding head. That’s when she remembered all that had happened with Mara and Naruto and Crystal. “Naruto! Crystal! Where are you?” She shouted scaring her older sister.

“MAMA!” Nightmare Moon’s head shot in the direction of the voice only to see a small white unicorn filly jumping at her. Nightmare Moon quickly wrapped her fore legs around her in a tight embrace.

“Oh my sweet little moon stone you’re alright thank…” Nightmare Moon had to think before she continued that statement. She didn’t want to thank her sister at all.

“It’s okay,” Celestia said getting Nightmare Moon to look at her, “and if you want to thank any pony for helping Crystal you should be thanking Remedy.” Nightmare Moon looked over to the black unicorn who just huffed and walked away with a sass in her step. Nightmare Moon was a little confused but a single tear came down her face when she heard that. Remedy could be nice at some point.

“Wait,” Nightmare said as she looked back and forth, he wasn’t there. “Where’s Naruto!” She cried worried about her coltfriend.

Celestia had her hooves over her ears as the voice still rang in her head. “No need to shout.” Celestia said poking Nightmare in the chest. Nightmare didn’t look amused as her eyes looked at her evilly. “Don’t give me that look. Listn we would have let you recover the old fashion way had Naruto not gone crazy again.”

“Gone crazy?” Nightmare asked wondering what she meant by that. The only times Naruto had gone crazy was when he used those demon powers of his. At least that was as far as Nightmare Moon knew. “Wait please don’t tell me that happened?” Celestia just pointed to the surrounding area and she saw the devastation.

“No.” She whispered as Crystla leapt down to see what her mother had seen. She looked at the devastation with a face that just said “Whoa.”

There had to be several craters where Naruto had impacted the ground while fighting Shadow and Mara and here before her was the proof. She looked around but saw no trace of him. That is until she heard a menacing roar to demonic to be anything from any creature she knew of.

“Celestia where is he?” Nightmare asked worried about what was happening to him. Was he alright? Was he dying? Was he hurting somepony? Was he…NO! Nightmare threw those thoughts from her mind. Naruto couldn’t hurt any pony unless it meant to protect her and Crystal now. But then why; why did she hear that roar?

“I’m going in after him.” Nightmare said plainly, there seemed to be no emotion in her voice, but the truth is she was fighting back tears now. She never felt so worried in her life but then again this was the first time she ever had to worry about somepony other than herself. It was the first time she ever loved somepony.

“Mama, is papa in trouble?” Crystal asked as a rim of water lined her eyes. Nightmare Moon picked up the small filly with her magic and placed her gently on her back. Nightmare was definitely sore from her fight and she could only imagine the pain her new daughter was going through.

“Yes he is and we’re going to go and help him.” Crystal wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled happily. She was excited for some reason but then again she didn’t really know what excitement was at the moment. Nightmare Moon would have taken off but the second she tried to unfurl her wings that shot her with a dose of good pain. She cringed in the intensity.

She cursed in her head so not to give such words to her little moon stone. She rushed into the Everfree Forest not giving it a second thought. Crystal had to hold onto Nightmare tightly so as to not be thrown off from her sudden speed. Nightmare wasn’t really paying attention and didn’t exactly know where to look until she heard what sounded like a loud roar. Her head shot to the left as the roar seemed to echo from that direction. Crystal shook in fear at the sound.

Nightmare was beginning to wonder if taking he little filly with her was a good idea but she’d rather her learn now then later, didn’t want to scare her when she was older. Nightmare ran in the direction hoping to the eternal night that that roar didn’t come from Naruto.

She heard what sounded like a loud explosion. She stopped dead in her tracks as she heard what sounded like a large ust heading her way. She quickly saw the wave coming and used her magic to create a shield that encased both her and Crystal. She could feel the intensity from the attack through the shield itself. It was scary feeling this and to wonder who was on the receiving end of it.

When it was over she ran as fast as her hooves would carry her. She kept running only two thoughts running through her head. The first, did Naruto really go demon in front of all those ponies again? And the second was the most troubling to her. Will she even be able to bring him back to normal? She wasn’t Luna and Naruto barely knew her voice so he could mistake her for somepony else. It made her worry greatly about this.

Back with Naruto the smoke had finally cleared where all the shadows had been completely blown away. Mara stood there wide eyed in horror. Shadow was the same only his mouth was agape in utter disbelief. That big of a Shadow and he took it out in ne swipe. What the hell is he? “Mara get back now!” Shadow called only to get Naruto to turn in his direction.

Naruto slammed his claws into the ground making Mara and Shadow look at him in confusion. Suddenly the ground around him seemed to be forming large cracks and indeed they were. They were growing in length until they reached the base of the tree. Shadow knew what was happening and jumped away as two incredibly large claws rose up uprooting the tree.

He landed next to Mara but Naruto’s one glance at them just sent fear throughout their bodies. And if his icy white eyed stare wasn’t doing it the third claw that flew out of the other ones certainly did. Both were doing their best to dodge his claw and thought that splitting up would be a smart idea. They did this only to have the claw split in two. Well, this sucks doesn’t it?

Mara cursed rapidly in her head and should have one the most foul mouthed pony in Equestria award for how many words were said I that time. Shadow’s clone was paying more attention to surviving. The claw was about ten feet away when Shadow threw a hoof out towards it and a shadow extended from the ground. It tried to wrap the arm tightly so that it would stop. Shadow’s eyes widened in shock at what happened next. The shadow extending from his arm was being burned away literally. It was dissolving like a block of sugar in boiling water.

Shadow jumped away farther as Naruto’s claw slammed into his previous spot. Mara had landed next to him. They were both gasping for more air. Naruto had just gotten started with them. “What kind of energy is this?” Shadow said as he repaired his shadow with magic. Mara looked to be in just as much disbelief as him. She had seen the shadow that Clone Shadow had sent towards Naruto’s claw arm.

“How is it able to destroy shadow’s so easily. This energy can’t be real.” Shadow said as Naruto just turned his head somewhat quickly making them both fall to their rears in fright. Mara thought she knew fear before this but now she was experiencing a whole new kind of fear. The fear of death.

Shadow’s clone was being given the same feeling as the original Shadow and charged Naruto. His shadow wrapped around his right hoof and brought it back after jumping in the air. Naruto just followed him with his eyes as Shadow’s shadow formed a large fist around his hoof. Shadow slammed his fist into Naruto’s face making his mouth look like that of a parasite for a few seconds. Mara cheered but was silenced as another torso of Naruto himself sprang from his chest.

Shadow watched in horror as this one’s claw made contact severing his body in half. Mara’s eyes shrank to small pebbles. He did that with one swipe. One swipe. That was just a clone of Shadow so it’s not like it mattered to him but she was here in the flesh what would happen to her? Shadow’s body seemed to stretch like rubber getting a raised eye from Naruto and a shocked look from Mara. He attached himself back to his body and jumped back holding his side with his hoof.

Shadow was breathing heavily. Both on the field of battle and in his castle. He hadn’t used so much magic in a long time that he was getting frustrated. Inside Shadow’s castle he didn’t notice somepony was watching him this whole time. Shadow could care less who it was and decided not to take notice and continued watching the battle.

Naruto was getting annoyed by this now. Suddenly his body seemed to be bubbling itself almost like it was going to explode. Shadow and Mara just watched as several small spheres shot out of him and into the air. Half were blue almost like a drop of the ocean stuck in place and others were the color of the energy that surrounded Naruto. Naruto’s tails all bent until they each seemed to be pointing to an exact spot. All the small orbs began to converge on the exact spot where the four tails would have met and created a large purple orb.

Shadow saw this and grabbed Mara with his shadow jumping as far as he could with his weak legs. “Mara we need to build walls of shadows as quickly as we can.” Mara looked at him confused. Why would they need to do this?

The orb had shrunk to the size of a baseball and it caused the ground around Naruto to plunge further down into a small crater. Shadow and Mara were busy driving their shadows together to get ready to defend against this. Nightmare Moon had just reached the clearing when she saw him. Her eyes were wide the size of small bits as she looked at the scarlet red energy absorbed stallion. His four tails were concentrating the energy she saw as a large purple orb in front of him.

“Mama where’s papa?” Crystal asked as she looked back and forth not seeing Naruto anywhere.

“No, what happened to you this time.” Nightmare Moon whispered as she felt water build in her eyes. She realized it and shook her head. She was Nightmare Moon she didn’t cry. But there Naruto was looking even more like that of a demon. She couldn’t believe it, if it wasn’t for the strange energy surrounding him she wouldn’t have recognized him.

Shadow looked to his right slightly and saw something he couldn’t believe. Nightmare Moon looked to be afraid of Naruto. Outside he was smiling but inwardly he wondered how she saw him. Guess he would have to find a way to fix that himself. That’s when the he saw the strangest thing.

Naruto’s mouth seemed to be opening wider as his lip line extended as it sounded like something was being ripped in half. Naruto put his jaws over the orb and closed them swallowing the orb whole. Shadow, Mara and Nightmare all looked at him with confused looks.

“HA!” Mara laughed as Naruto was pulled heavily to the ground. “Looks like that backfired you idiot. How can you possibly move with your body barely able to move like that?” That’s when Naruto’s body blew up like a balloon in a second. He looked like he swallowed a perfectly round boulder. Shadow and Mara both nodded to each other with smiles on their faces. They both thought he was going to blow up when the expansion seemed to be moving up Naruto’s body.

“Oh dear darkness!” Shadow exclaimed as he grabbed Mara and jumped further back extending his shadow further. “Mara we have to summon three shadow barriers now!” Mara looked at him like she had no idea what was going on but she just nodded at the king because he looked scared. She nodded raising her hooves along with Shadow.

Naruto’s mouth opened shouting out what could only be described as a beam of energy. A beam of massive energy that looked like it was shot out of a powerful alicorn. Shadow and Mara both shouted at the same time. “TRIPLE SHADOW BARRIER!” As they said this three very thick about five meters in width walls rose from their shadows. Naruto’s small round of energy didn’t seem to look strong enough to blast through that.

Shadow then thought of something and kicked Mara away just before the blast hit the first wall. The blast connected releasing the energy. IT erupted forth like a volcano awaking from its slumber. The energy expanded around the barriers destroying them like they were thin planks of wood. Shadow became enveloped by the energy and screamed in agony until his body was completely destroyed leaving nothing left.

Nightmare Moon opened her eyes and saw the destruction with her own eyes. They widened as far as they would let them her pupils smaller then pebbles. The blast that had occurred had to have gone at least a mile with the length that she saw. Mara was on the edge of where the blast had left its mark. She lay there shaking at what she just saw. Shadow’s clone had been completely vaporized. In an instant the scream she heard had probably lasted a second but no more.

Shadow in his castle was on the floor grabbing at his sides. He had felt that blast to its smallest degree and yet it was causing this much pain in him. He was using every last ounce of will not to scream. The guards were afraid for their king and would have gone to him but they feared his anger would be released soon.

Nightmare Moon stared in horror. Naruto looked to have enjoyed that. His demonic self stood there again in what looked like a pouncing position with a smile on his face. His eyes were pointed like triangles. Mara just looked over to Naruto and he looked to her his smile turning into a frown. His eyes narrowed again. Mara’s eyes widened when she saw what he was about to do and launched her shadow forward grabbing onto the nearest tree pulling herself away from him.

“Celestia what was that?” Twilight asked still shocked at what they saw.

“I don’t know Twilight but whatever it was, it wasn’t Shadow or Mara.” Applejack and Pinkie looked at her with worried faces. They knew that only one pony had that much power in their bodies. “I’m sorry to say but be ready for anything my ponies.”

The girls all nodded their heads although Applejack and Pinkie were a little more hesitant. Twilight’s horn glowed readying the elements for their blast. What they saw emerge from the forest stopped caught every ponies breath.

Naruto just followed her with his eyes and waited like that of a predator “playing” with his prey. “Mama who is that?” Crystal asked as a tear formed in her eye.

“That my small moonstone is your papa.” Nightmare said her eyes devoid of tears as fear was the only thing filling them now. Crystal was about to say something when Naruto’s gaze shifted over to them. The little filly looked into the eyes of the creature and she saw it. Naruto, his body was fighting against the anger and the rage. HE was fighting the darkness aiming for his heart.

“Mama he needs your help!” Nightmare Moon looked at her little filly and saw something strange. Her eyes looked to be serious and for a filly at such a young age, this was rather shocking. Nightmare giggled a little bit.

She opened her eyes and she looked serious like that time she tried to take down her sister all those years ago. “I know and if I know one thing only I can save him.” She said putting her hoof on her chest. Naruto turned back to Mara who gasped in horror as he jumped at her. The force of the jump sent large amounts of debris.

Nightmare watched as Naruto chased Mara out of the forest through the tress. They came out right in front of the girls who had their elements ready. However, everything seemed to stop when they saw Naruto. Applejack and Pinkie Pie both had wide eyes and agape mouths. Naruto actually looked like a demon now to them.

Celestia was trying to order the girls to use the elements but when she saw Naruto, she couldn’t say a word. Where was he? He looked nothing like the stallion she had a crush on. The stallion jumped again this time making contact as he swiped with his claws making contact with her body. It was more like a slap to be precise as Mara was launched away. She screamed as she landed. Naruto’s tails fired off like they had minds of their own, each formed their own claws, and then began to slam repeatedly into Mara downed body.

Nightmare Moon had come out soon after and watched in shock as Naruto walked slowly up to her as his claws continued to bash into the body of Mara leaving small charred marks where they hit. When Naruto stood before her, his small snarl could be heard throughout the townsponies. They couldn’t believe that the savior of Ponyville a month ago was this “thing”. Mara looked at him her body covered in small burns and blood solely trickling down different spots on her body.

“No, please.” Mara begged as she saw her life flashing before her eyes. She wanted to smile at all of the ‘happy’ times but she couldn’t her body was in too much pain and she was filled with fear as she finally felt death approaching. Naruto just stared at her as he raised his claws above his head.

Nightmare saw what was happening and before Naruto could slam his large fist into her body, she grabbed Crystal and covered her eyes with both her hoof and her wings. She used magic to cover her ears. Naruto slammed down onto Mara’s body. Mara’s scream pierced through everyponies ears. They all stared wide-eyed at him. Her scream although short echoed through everyone’s mind. It was like a broken record being played repeatedly.

Naruto rose from the dust spread out from the explosion. Nightmare set Crystal down knowing she couldn’t get too close to him. Not while he was like this. She would have a better time dealing with him since she was an alicorn. Crystal was still a filly and she could be seriously hurt from him. Nightmare just looked at Crystal and she seemed to get the idea and nodded her head.

Naruto rose out of the smoke holding his two front claws out like he was about to grab onto something. Nightmare was worried about Naruto because last time Luna had to grab a hold of him in order for him to come back to normal. She remembered that she had said a few words to her. Her thinking was stopped as she heard a sound that nearly sent her into a panic. It was the sound of the Elements of Harmony. The only thing she thought that could defeat her.

It looked like the girls were getting ready to use the elements but were frozen still as Naruto walked away from the crater he created. Nightmare only glanced over there but it was enough to tell her one thing Mara was dead. All they could see was her head through the dust. Her mouth was open while her eyes held no soul as they looked to be staring into nothing. Celestia saw it and gasped at the horror. It had been years since she’d seen a pony die in front of her. She didn’t want to see what the rest of her body looked like after that attack.

Naruto’s head turned to where he had left Nightmare Moon and Crystal and found them to be gone. His white eyes widened and he turned to Celestia and Remedy. They both stepped back their gasps stopped by fear. They could barely move. Twilight and the others were frozen. Naruto roared sending chills down everyponies spine. Naruto was about to lunge forth and kill whatever lay in front of him when Nightmare called his name.

“Naruto don’t do it! They haven’t done anything!” Nightmare said standing before him. She was only ten feet away her wings spread as if to show she would defend these ponies. Naruto tilted his head when he heard the voice. Inside Naruto was floating amongst darkness feeling nothing but rage and hatred.

“Nightmare Moon?” Naruto said within his mind amongst the darkness. “That couldn’t be her. She’s dead. I saw her die right there in front of me.” Naruto said grabbing his head. The pain was unbearable the thought of her dying still fresh there was tormenting him. “It has to be Celestia or Remedy using some spell to change their voice.”

Naruto on the outside flung his arm forward and it extended smacking Nightmare Moon away. Everypony watched in horror as Naruto’s supposed love was slapped away by him. When Nightmare Moon landed she looked forward as if her eyes had been frozen.

“Why Naruto?” Nightmare Moon whispered as she began to feel tears forming in her eyes. “Is it because I’m not Luna or do you just not love me?” The more she thought on those two things the more she began to feel empty again.

“Celestia what just happened?” Twilight asked with bated breath.

“He hit Nightmare Moon.” Celestia said still in shock at what just happened. “He must not realize who Nightmare Moon is.”

“Either that or he’s blaming us thinking we’re using some spell to change our voice to sound like hers.” Remedy said as she took a step forward instead of back. “That idiot couldn’t tell if Nightmare Moon was alive if she held him herself.”

Naruto jumped stepped closer to Nightmare Moon almost looking as if he wanted to kill her. “That’s not Nightmare Moon. She’s dead. It’s Celestia in disguise or them using some kind of illusion spell.” Naruto said as his anger was only increasing. He could his body trembling as he felt more of the power coming. He would annihilate this fake with everything he had.

“PAPA!” Naruto’s movements stopped there. That voice, that small scared voice. Naruto’s head turned slightly and there in front of him he could see through the small holes in the darkness a small all white filly unicorn. Her eyes pouring with tears. “Why would you hurt mama papa? Why would you hurt the pony you love?”

Naruto tilted his head slightly. How was this possible she was dead. He was sure of it. She wasn’t moving, she wasn’t breathing, she looked dead. Naruto’s eyes widened in realization. They looked dead. When he realized this he looked back over to Nightmare Moon. But some of his thoughts were still there, on the lie that they were dead.

He roared out grabbing his head with his claws. Nightmare Moon saw this and remembered Remedy’s words just then. If she held him. The last time he had lost control Luna had held him in her arms spreading her warmth through him. Would she have to do the same thing? Suddenly it was like the energy was being poured out in waves as several energy like waves were being sent out of Naruto.

Nightmare Moon saw that Naruto was in great pain as she got up to go over to him. Celestia had brought up a shield to protect the townsponies from the waves. However, it looked like his energy, even in those small waves, were burning her shield. Nightmare Moon she didn’t have much time and she had to act fast. She started to make her way to Naruto as the waves were singing her body slightly. She ignored the pain as best she could. All that mattered was the stallion in front of her. She had to help him. She had to save him.

She was only a foot in front of him when the energy seemed to send out a shockwave that almost sent her backwards if not for her quick reflexes digging her hooves into the ground. She reached out with her hooves and touch Naruto’s cheek only to be sent a great amount of pain. She yelped pulling her hoof back. Naruto, inside his head heard the yelp and knew only Luna made yelps like that and only one other pony could make them.

He was fighting the darkness on the inside trying to override his anger and his hate but he couldn’t. He still didn’t even know if Nightmare Moon was actually alive. Even if a replica stood in front of him he wanted the real one the real Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare Moon didn’t know what to do. She could kill herself if she got too close and actually touched him. But she had to. She had no choice, Naruto was more important now than her pathetic life. She used the last of her magic to form a magical barrier around her but she didn’t know how long it would last. She reached out again and even with the shield she felt the singing properties of the energy.

She moved closer her chest coming into contact with his. The energy waves were growing in intensity as she felt her armor being slowly destroyed by his energy. She put her hooves around his back and held him close just like Luna did the first time. “NARUTO!” Naruto’s head jerked up at that moment. He looked at the black alicorn holding him. HE was trembling on the inside on the outside he seemed to not even here her.

“Naruto please look at me. It’s me Naruto.” Naruto looked but didn’t expect what he saw. It looked like Nightmare was on the verge of crying. He could see her magic barrier being slowly burned away. “Naruto please you have to hear my voice. Say something you idiot!”

“Nightmare Moon?” He said in his head on the outside it was a two part growl. Nightmare looked at him now as her magic barrier was almost completely gone.

“Naruto it’s me.” Her horn glowed as the front of her right hoof glowed along with it. It no longer had the armor on it and besides the magic overflowing the hoof it was bear. She placed the hoof on his chest and watched as it glowed brighter. Naruto stared at the hoof as it glowed brighter and brighter. “This is my magic. I know it’s not Luna’s. It’s not the mare you love. I know but I just wanted to feel my warmth once.”

Naruto could feel the warmth pouring out of this magic. Indeed it wasn’t Luna’s magic but he could feel small traces of it. He had been touched by her magic enough times to know what it felt like. His mind was blank except for one thought. He was wrong. Not only was he wrong he had hurt her on purpose not by accident.

“Naruto, I also wanted to tell you something. Although, I already said it I wanted to say it to you, to your face.” Naruto looked up again both on the outside and the inside looking into her eyes. At that moment Naruto knew for a fact that it was her. The mare holding him in that moment was indeed Nightmare Moon. “I love you Naruto. I love you with a passion as strong as Luna’s and although you probably don’t care. I just needed to make sure you know.”

She leaned down slowly and placed her lips on his cheek. Although it hurt and her barrier was barely keeping it from really hurting her. She wanted him to feel her love at least once. This was her only chance in her mind and she took it for all that it was worth.

Naruto in his mind could feel something warm on his cheek as he turned his eyes. Right there he was looking at Nightmare Moon kissing his cheek. Naruto felt all sense of rage and anger leave him. All that was left was one feeling. And that one feeling was…

In the instant that she took her lips from his cheek his energy disappeared like that. She stared in shock as it looked like a great wind had taken the energy and blew it away like a fire. Looking up at her was the stallion she loved his blue eyes showing a burning passion she hadn’t seen before. His coat was no longer covered by that evil energy. He stood holding her tightly. And for the first time in Nightmare Moon’s life she cried.