The Big Bad Uchiha
~O~
PART 1
She allowed herself the silence that seemed an ever familiar friend. The empty spaces around her a normal thing for her, as she prepped her horn. Magic of a light teal in color swirling around her pink horn, Purples eyes trained in on some random tree in the forest away from town.
The light breeze blew her pink fur in its way, as well as her twin pigtails of dark purple with bluish grey streaks. She focused on nothing else but the tree, or more the leaves surrounding the bottom of its roots. Mind clear, she let out a breath of air before the leaves lifted off from the forest floor and circled the trunk of the lone Oak.
She watched the display for a moment, before she began to walk off.
"Four." She counted off, as she left the tree as she had the three before it. The technique used on the tree from before having been done thrice beforehoof in the same clearing. Her horn stay lit, as she moved on to another portion of the forest, her forest and no one else's. She could feel the slight strain on the edge of her mind as she traveled farther from the quartet of trees with swirling leaves. She traveled farther and farther away from the group of wood, mentally ticking off each step. She'd been sure to apply a quick spell to her hooves, each step being recorded in a small part of her psyche.
When she reached 1000 steps she continued. Mind pulled in one direction in four ways, she took deep breaths. She looked down at the ground as her hooves traveled just past a set of lines marked into the floor. Each one farther than the last, by at least 100 steps. When she reached past the last mark, which was decidedly over 2000 steps past the first one, she clenched her teeth. The pain from this distance being the limit, beofre she dropped the magic spell.
Massaging her forehead slowly, she allowed herself quick breaths. Her lungs filling and expelling the air that entered just as quickly, the pulsing in her noggin coming down slowly. After a couple seconds of doing so, she released one last expulsion before she calmed. Mind back into working order, she looked back at the distance with a nod.
'Over a year of doing this, and it's showing.' She couldn't keep the happiness out of her thoughts, as she smiled at progress. Year long attempts, stresses and pains and something to show for it. A year since she started and a year and a half since...
She felt her mood sour, as she scowled. Kicking at a lone rock in her path, as she angrily walked into the forest.
Sunburst
The name was tantamount with betrayal in her mind. Her former-best friend. The one pony in the whole world she was sure would be with her through thick and thin, forever and ever, and he was gone. Gone, all because he got his stupid Cutie Mark. Wiping away at the hot tears that threatened to resurface, she shook her head fiercely.
'No, no, NO! He left me, and that's all that matters! Going off to Canterlot, leaving me here...Alone.'
That thought was more than enough to spur her mind into a state of depression. HEr head dipping slightly, as she continued her unknown trek into the woods.
Her mind played back to the time when he'd gotten his Cutie Mark. He had just saved her from suffering some possible serious pain, but before she could thank him, he'd noticed his brand new addition and went out to celebrate with his family. He hadn't even invited her, and she was supposed to be his best friend?
She remembered how in the following days that he'd been trying to see her, but she had rebuffed his approaches. Let him know what it was like to not be invited. The following days she'd avoid him, though she remembered noticing some strange things with his house every time she would walk past it.
She wished she had just gone to his stupid house and said hi.
She had been planning on letting him apologize, after bit, but on his last day of being ignored he said something through the door.
'I-I'm moving tomorrow...to Canterlot.'
Those words had been the beginning of the end of her whole world. She remembered the cold feeling that gripped her entire being that day. She remembered how the following day, his family had left the place. She remembered how much she had cried that same day, afterwards. A week later she'd left the place of her birth when her parents had them move house.
She'd honestly felt that at the time, it was the best thing for her.
Well, she had.
The next place had been Manehatten. She ran her foreleg over her face once more, but this time the tears that came were FAR more angry than sad. She thought that maybe she would be able to slow slide into making friends again, The hole Sunburst left in their relationship, had been slowly but surely healing.
The chance for making friends didn't happen. By the time that she'd arrived most were in their own little groups, and she wasn't really the best when it came to making friends. Sunburst had honestly been the one who had spoken to her, then the other way around. That had been okay though, she was willing to wait to get her due. Sadly when the chance came, it was followed by her second most traumatizing memory.
Bullies.
The bullies that she'd had to deal with in Manehatten, had made it very clear that "blank flanks" were to be ridicule. No Cutie Mark? You were bait for sharks and meanies. Oh but that had just been the icing on the cake!
One of the few colts in the city left. They ran a foal out of town, because they get their heads out their butts, and cost her a possible friend!
All because they didn't have Cutie Marks!
She felt her rage shake her as she had a rerun of memories. The bullying had turned the idea of Cutie Marks into something of a..."topic of interest" for her, when it came to her parents. So with that all said and done, they'd moved again, which made her sad. Not for her, but for her parents.
Moving so often wasn't good for her father's line of work, so doing their best to stay situated would be best. Her mom loved getting to know the neighboring ponies, and making fast connections with them. She'd only recently joined a book club before they moved. Yet, they would do anything for their little filly and chose to move to a place with a better environment for her, and that's how they ended up back here in Manebrick.
Quaint little town, and the ponies around seemed nice enough, but she had chosen to NOT try and be friends with any of the other foals. There was no point anymore.
She didn't want to take a chance of having her parent's lives disturbed again because of bullies. She didn't want another Sunburst incident.
Because of her lack of Cutie Mark that would attract them. Those things that everypony praised for ponies when they found their special talents.
She scoffed, the only special about Cutie Marks were that they drove ponies apart. The world would be better off without them!
She scowled at a slightly larger rock on her unfocused path and gave it a good kick. The stone being tossed farther than she imagined, as it sailed through the air, past a bush. She merely stared at the location of where it had gone for a moment, before deciding to go back the way she came.
*growl*
She froze for a moment, as her ears pricked upwards. Her noise grabbers flicking to and fro before they settled, alone with her head, in the direction of the kicked stone.
He looked up to the sky. Dark eyes catching the orange and purple hues.
"Soon it's going to be dark soon. I really hope that filly didn't stay for the night, again." He mumbled to himself, even as he trekked his way back to that specific part of this forest.
It'd been long since he'd woken up in this body of his. The midnight blue, almost black fur that lined his now canine like form shone in the setting sun. Oh correct him, again, Celestia's Sun.
'No matter how many times, I think about that, it's still rather...strange.' He thought, as he broke through a thicket. His small form moving forward at a steady pace, long since used to the workings of being a quadruped. He came across a small pool on his path, as always, and ignored his form in it's reflective surface. The waters would show him nothing new about this form, that he hadn't added on after his a initial reaction.
The form of a dark colored wolf, moved across the waters in unison with the one on land. The beast animal looking straight ahead as the water, as the waters reflected the right side of his form.
White blocks of fur that covered the portion of the right side of his face just above the lip to his ear, and the entirety of his right legs, front and back. It wasn't even a completely half and half honestly. It was literally just those portions that contained the fur coloration. His tail, long and wild, stayed the same color as the left side of him.
Most noticeable was that his size was barely that of a human shin. Or for these ponies, he'd be about the size of a foal. This caused him to snort.
The great Obito Uchiha, war monster, former-jinchuuruki of the Juubi, reduced to what could only be the childish form of a wolf pup. Life was funny like that. Though, if he had to be perfectly honest...He was fine with this. Ash Killing Bones were something he really disliked the effect of. Were it not for the timely intervention of a Rabbit Goddess's son, he'd be floating in the realm of non-existence right now. Forever damned to a life of oblivion, and unknowing madness.
It was honestly more than he deserved, but like he mentioned before:
Life was funny like that.
He passed the waters in silence, as his mind went over the filly that had been taking up most of his recent attention.
A certain pink filly, that he'd taken to keeping an eye on as of the past few months. Ah the little spitfire had been something of an interest of his in the prior months.
It'd had all started back a few months back, as previously mentioned. He'd been wandering this world. In search of...something. He wasn't really sure what it was, probably a purpose? More likely than not.
While coming here, he didn't really have much in the way of anything. Just the fur on his back, jutsus in mind and a mental fortitude that was tempered by a madman and war.
Not exactly what this place needed, and so he just walked these lands. Every now and then, he'd visit cities to sate his own curiosity. After the first visit to one, a place called Baltimare, he'd decided that maybe going out and about in full view wasn't a good idea.
He'd learned many things in his silent adventures. For one, his jutsus still worked, thankfully. While he visited towns and the like, he mainly stayed in the more forested areas of this place. Surprising to figure, that the forests in this magical place weren't all sunshine and rainbows. He snorted at this, because funnily enough you could put RAINBOWS into jars.
The sheer amount of drugs one would have to had been on, back in his world, to even imagine something like this would have been outrageous.
Back to the matter at paw, good kami he'd been making that change in vernacular for a while, jutsus were a go, so he could take solace in that.
Money, culture, language and so much more were learned in his stints into the settlements. He never stayed long in one place, even for his current size.
Breaking through a thicket of dark foliage, he found himself on the path to his normal observation spot. Leaping high into a tree, before continuing onward from arbour to arbour.
Truly he'd learned many things, like the idea of the Royal Guard and a certain secret Demon hunting service under the princess herself! He remembered grinning so much at the very idea of a "Secret" service. Best part was that they didn't seem to discriminate against race. He'd seen other creatures of fantasy there, besides the unicorns and pegasi.
Minatuars, salamanders, earth ponies, griffons, diamond dogs, zebras and so much more. Funny that they were a force that prevented beings from Tartarus from breaking out, besides Cerberus whose existence threw him for a loop.
Oh man, to learn that Hell was an actual place here in Equestria, though? That had been chilling beyond words. This fluffy place had n entrance to Hell.
Maybe that's why they were so peaceful? They had a literal "throw a pony into hell" card.
Stopping on one branch he shook his head of such thoughts. Best not to imagine what going in there would be like. Though the thought made him wonder whether Madara was in Tartarus or not...Thoughts for another time.
Leaping far from another tree, his mind went back to the filly he'd been keeping an eye on. She was an interesting one, that was for sure.
Pink fur, purple eyes, and had a mane just as freakishly colorful as the rest, she was peculiar. Most ponies, foals especially, seemed to be pretty friendly towards one another and had numerous friends. She was so decently far away from the nearest town, that he had to wonder what she was doing out here alone.
He'd honestly kept an eye on her in the beginning, because he'd decided that training in a forest this dense would help keep eyes away from himself.
Turns out he wasn't the only one who had that idea though.
Originally he'd thought she was one of those adventurous types of children. Just go out into wherever because you can types. He'd taken to trying to wait her out. There wasn't really a need to, because she seemed to seclude herself to her own portion of this forest. He'd taken to ignoring her in the beginning, likely she'd be bringing her friends or whatever here, so make himself scarce when he heard the telltale noise of kids playing.
They never came.
He'd train most days of the week in the back and those rare times he didn't...well, he got a little curious.
Obito never really tried to make friends in this place. Not because of being shy, he was mentally well beyond his years for that, but because he wondered what it was like for normal kids to be friends with one another.
He was a ninja candidate throughout childhood, so trying to be normal never counted for much. Especially if you were of clan importance.
Like being an Uchiha.
So it'd been with a curious mind that he'd gone to check up on her area, and see what she was up too. What he found wasn't just strange for her being a child. It was strange for her being a child in Equestria.
Still alone in the woods, but doing something he'd recognized almost instinctively.
Training
It had captured his interest almost immediately. Questions upon questions of why she would be doing had popped into his head on his discovery, and yet, as he watched on, he couldn't help but feel a slight familiarity.
It had been here where he'd visit her occasionally. Surely the fact her friends weren't around was mere coincidence. This was maybe her training day?
So he came back again.
Time and time again, he'd find her training. He varied the days, just to be sure. Yet, as he came to know, she didn't come out here with anyone. There were days when she didn't come, obviously, but for the most part she was always alone.
Alone, and training with a fervor he was more than familiar with.
Returning to the present, that had been the moment in which he had decided to keep an eye on this filly. If for anything, to satiate his curiosity.
So when he heard the sounds of a large amount of growls, roaring and the voice of a certain little filly...
He'd not ran harder than ever before since coming to this place.
She couldn't help but release another breath, as she surveyed her situation. Seeing the large beast coming towards her did little for her sense of mind. The bear that stood before her was large. Her hair stood on end as she moved quickly through the underbrush, as the animal lumbered after her. Every 6 steps of her own were accompanied by a shake of the floor, as the bear came forward.
She rushed every which way, as she did her best to lose her chaser.
She couldn't help but to think that she should have just went home at the end of the day, but noo. She had to be stupid and stay out late and now she was going to be eaten by an angry bear!
She could feel the tears falling again, this time she couldn't take the time to clear them away and found herself quickly falling over a loose root. She stumbled, tripped and fell in following order. She felt the scrape on her knees, even as the bear's roars got closer.
She hated it. Hated, hated, hated it! All her work to stay strong, so she'd never get hurt again. So she could make sure that her friends could never leave her for anything ever again.
This is why you'll always lose friends!
No wonder Sunburst left!
Blank Flank! Blank Flank!
"No talent, no nothing! A blank flank getting eaten by a bear, how fitting. You always were at the lowest of the food chain."
That final thought ran around in her head, for what seemed like forever. Yet, with each seeming "revolution" she found her countenance darkening. Her mind clearing of all the pain, anguish and sadness. All in it's place was anger.
Pure, unadulterated ANGER.
She came back to her hooves, just as the bear broke onto the horizon. Vicious would have been a good description for the beast in front of her. It probably stood staller than her own parents combined, yet she could feel nothing but her rage.
Taking notice of her, eyes aligning on its prey for the evening, it growled. A deep baritone sound that would have caused more than a fair share of grown ups pause and even fear.
But not her. She was just as angry as it was hungry.
" You think you're better than me? You're just like the bullies!" She started to project onto the bear. Each of her declarations, were met with a growl, as the pupils of the bear grew thinner and thinner.
"I'm not some "Blank Flank". I'm not the stupid low part of a food chain!" Her voice rose in octave. Each second that past her mind became more and more clouded, never noticing as magic began to swirl around her horn, down to her hooves. Her eyes beginning to flash as the energy filled her to the bring, and continued to flow. The bear seemed to make little indication of noticing. If it did, it took it as more of a challenge, than anything.
"I'm not gonna be stepped on anymore! I'm not gonna be eaten by the likes of you! So keep coming at me, but if you're anything like those bullies..." The fluctuating surge peaked, as she floated slightly off the ground. By this point, the magic enveloped her, and the bear seemed to finally take notice.
Yet, it was too late.
"...Then you're better off GONE!"
The area was enveloped in light.
His tracked each of the fluttering lights, as they rose from the flame. Body still as the light of the campfire reflected off his being. He focused on the flame for a moment, before breathing inward slightly.
The fire dimmed slightly, as if the energy that it burned were diminished.
He exhaled, eyes catching the moving heat as it grew in size before settling back down. He closed his eyes, before the sound of groaning was heard from his right. His head tilted slightly in the direction of the sound, eyes flickering to the form of the filly to his right, but that was all.
He saw her groan as she came to. Eyes blurring into focus, right before she looked around the clearing and then focused in on him.
Then in 3...2..1..
"Ahh!" She let out a scream, that caused him to cover his ears with his paws. Obviously, not his brightest plan of action, but he'd learn from it.
No more waking fillies without ear-plugs.
"Wha-wha - Get away from me! I'll-I'ouch!" She panicked, forelegs moving to try and put distance between her and him, but winced. His eyes never leaving her form, he spoke.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." His words came out in his new childish outer voice, that made him hate puberty oh so much. He'd gone through it once, and now he was going to have to again.
Dandy.
Though his words seemed to have caught her unawares. She just started at him for all of 20 seconds before he continued.
"You gained a few injuries here and there. Nothing to serious, though I'd try to be careful with ho-"
"You can talk?" The interruption was a tad bit unnecessary, though the very idea of her now speaking was telling of her being brought out of her panicked state.
"Yes, I can. Don't you know that it's rude to interrupt others when they're talking?"
She seemed to reign in her voice, as he spoke once more. He stared at her once more, before turning his head back to the flames. He continued from before.
"As I was saying before, you'd be careful to not move around too quickly. Otherwise I'm sure there's going to be immediate pain in your future." He finished, as she just continued to look at him. He watched as she looked over at him for the longest of time, before moving her head over to the side.
"..."
He turned his head back to the burning twigs, before he spoke once more.
"Humour me, will you?" The unexpected words, caught her off-guard. Voicing her confusion, he elaborated.
"I'm just wondering what a filly like yourself is doing out here on her own. Where's your family? Guardians? What is driving you to be out here training when, from what I know Equestria isn't exactly such a bad place to be. Previous bear attack notwithstanding." He questioned. Seeing her face scrunch up slightly, he didn't think she was going to answer any of his queries. Not that he blamed her, mind you.
"My parents are back in t-town. I'm not homeless, so get that out of your weird wolfie head," he raised an eyebrow at this, but said nothing. "Why I'm out here is none of your business. As a matter of fact, why am I even talking to you?" She shot him a narrow eyed look. He blinked at this. Quite the bitter one she was.
"I'm further inquiring of why a filly like you is out here, because it's dangerous. You got lucky, and quite frankly I'm surprised to find any filly out here, and not with her friends playing around. Foals such as yourself should be about with others playing games or whatever it is you do." His words were concise, but they seemed to be the reason he was receiving an annoyed look. She looked around with this expression before turning to him.
"You talk funny." She said bluntly, to which he gave her a deadpan look.
"Why do you keep calling me a kid? I'm 11! I don't need to be getting called a kid from somepony who looks like he's barely any older than I am. Why are YOU out here? For someone who acts weird, you're not exactly saying anything about yourself." She kept him at bay, and her words were true. He did look like he was probably around her age range. Then again he could have just been a midget for all she knew.
...Kami he hoped that wasn't the case. Ponies, or whoever, wouldn't take a diminutive wolf seriously.
Back to her questions, he decided to answer with a sort of made up story.
"My parents are gone. As far as I'm concerned I'm not even sure if there are others like me out there." He said without a lick of sadness. Watching the filly as her eyes went wide, before she shook slightly and asked a question.
"N-nobody?"
He merely shook his head in the negative, the white on the right side of his body in full view. The filly turned her head down.
"I'm sorry." She apologized, her face scrunching up for some reason, though he just waved it off with a paw.
"Nothing for you to be sorry about. I've long since gotten over it, but that's not the same for you. You need to go home, but that can't really happen right now. You're injured, and I'm not sure if I can carry the both of us, and keep us safe while we're out here." Which wasn't completely wrong. He had his sharingan still, as well as his jutsus...but sadly his body had truly been turned into that of child's as far as it was concerned.
Besides the fact that he was now dealing in magic, which was whole other can of worms, and not chakra, his stamina had taken a HUGE nosedive since coming here. His reserves of energy were pretty okay for a kid's, but his jutsus were costly at the moment. Trying to Kamui them wasn't an option either. Much to his frustration, he needed to rework his chak-, magic control to a good level. Before it had been instinctive to use Kamui, now it wasn't so simple.
Going back to the matter at paw...still weird, the filly looked like someone had just told her that her doll house was on fire. Or whatever it was that normal girls enjoyed.
"Oh no! My mom and dad are gonna be so mad!" She shrieked, much to his poor ears' discontent. Rubbing the pained appendages, he looked up at her before telling her the truth of the matter.
"I don't advise that." This received a glare from the panicking filly, to which he shrugged and continued.
"The forest is dangerous at night. There things that come out that can be pretty tough for you. Besides you're injured, and that's not even accounting for the distance into the forest. You're stuck here until dawn at the least." He explained.
Said explanation was not well received.
"What?!" This time he knew to cover his ears, though he threw an annoyed look her way.
"Could you please not do that?" She sent him another irritated look, which he reciprocated. She quickly shook her head, and tried to get up again.
"Eeheh-ouch!" She fell once more. He shook his head at her, as she tried and failed to get up once more. She sent a look his way.
"Help me!"
"I already told you, you're HURT. As in, hurt enough that you can't move on your own anywhere. As in, you're sstaying in the forest unitl tomorrow morning. You were lucky enough that the bear didn't get you, and now you're trying to go back into the predator infested woods?" He asked incredulously. She gave him a startled look.
"B-but, but! You took care of the bear just fine! What's out there that could possibly be worst than a bear?" She was pleading by this point, though she scrunched her nose again. It was enough to make him look away from her to the forest beyond.
"Look there are way worse....Wait, what did you say? Did you just- you think I killed the bear?" He asked, as his attention snapped back to this foal. She flinched backwards from hearing the word "kill", as he brought his question to the forefront of the conversation. She pawed the floor slightly with her right hoof, before looking back up at him.
"K-kill?" It came out in a small voice, but he heard it all the same. He gave her a confused tilt of the head, wondering why she was making such a big deal out of...
The question caused him to turn his head to the right. He pondered the query, thoughts moving about in quick form, before he remembered a single fact that he may have forgotten about.
She may have been out here training, for whatever reason, but this was Equestria. The land of all things fluffy and rainbows, literally. Even with the myriad of dangerous beasts here, those strangely enough stay away from civilization more often than not. They didn't have the mentality to kill, at least from what he knew of them. Herbivores with a "make amends instead of rend" mentality.
Well, this put him in a interesting position.
"..." He mulled over the knowledge of predator's fate. Would he doom this child with the burden of her own sin? She would never know, and that'd probably be fine. Yet, at that thought, he had to wonder...What had led up to that point?
Though to be honest, he didn't need to say anything about it.
"Look, point is that you can't. End of discussion." He really hated how his voice came out so slightly squeaky. She sent him a heated look before, turning her head away pigtails shifting with the movement. He turned his head back to the fire, as the silence settled in.
"..."
"..."
"..."
*pop, crackle, pop*
The fire continued to crackle and flicker, as time continued on. As the minutes passed, as he continued to think, he couldn't help but notice that the filly would look over in his direction, before turning her head away again.
"..."
"..."
It was strange. Most of his previous life, he'd never really seeked companionship, mostly because he was a little bit crazy at that point. He'd enveloped himself in loneliness, in the sense that he never truly went out of his way to make more than pawns. Never comrades or anything like such.
He lied. He cheated. He murdered. He never went out of his way to truly connect with someone else, so this situation right now was something he was use to. Yet, with each moment that passed, he couldn't help but feel the stare at his side more than once. It was getting to the point that his own curiosity from before jumping back to the forefront of his mind again.
"..."
"..."
"If you want to talk, I'm willing to listen." He finally said something, though she just turned her head to the side.
Was she being serious? Wait, wait, Obito. Remember that you're dealing with an eleven year old...He honestly hoped that he was physically older than her. Back to the matter at paw, he was willing to let the silence stay but she obviously wanted to say something, and he wanted to talk to someone for once.
Time to make small talk.
He mentally went over what he could use as a conversation starter. The list wasn't exactly spectacular, seeing as he barely knew this girl.
He prodded his noggin for things that could be used for conversation. Think, Obito, think. What were children her age all about?
...Eureka!
He looked over at the filly. His eyes roaming in onto her flanks, regardless of how sickening that sentence made him feel, he found his topic of discussion.
"So what does your Cutie Mark mean, anyway? IS it like streamers or something?" He asked, as he moved his eyes over in her direction. He saw her flinch and than her eyes widened. She snapped her neck in his direction, before looking down at her rump. Her eye trailed the magical butt tattoo, taking its features.
He frowned when he noticed how her expression changed from shocked, to almost furious. Correction, she was furious. He could feel her ire from his place a few steps away from her. He blinked.
That was serious emotion pouring out of this filly right now. It wasn't killing intent, as if these ponies had such a thing, but it definitely conveyed unhappy times for its recipient.
Which at this moment was her rump.
He watched as she ran a hoof over the mark, before she began to rub at it. foreleg ever repetitive as it came across the mark well over a few dozen times, before she stopped. Her hair shadowed her eyes, as her head turned towards the ground. He looked on before noticing she began to shake a little. He could hear small sniffles escape her quivering form, before he heard words.
"..at...t.."
He narrowed his eyes, as he leaned forward a bit more.
"Ha....t..."
He leaned forward more, before voicing a small apology.
"Look you don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to. I'm sorry for talking about your Cutie Mark." He voiced with genuine concern.
Then the dam burst.
"I HATE IT! I hate this stupid thing! I hate that I have one, I hate that everyone else loves these stupid things, when all they do is cause me pain! I hate...hate..." She broke down into small sobs again.
"...I hate that Sunburst got his and left." The words caught in his ear, finally got him a sort of understanding of the situation.
He looked over to the crying filly for a moment, before he tried to decide what to do. His first thought of action was to allow her to cry it out. It was a good idea, but he knew that he could do more for his temporary forest...acquaintance. So it was with unsure steps that he padded over, before silently sitting ever vigilant beside her, eyes straight ahead.
'Okay...Now what do I do? Crap.' He mentally facepalmed at his own spontaneous behavior. He honestly wasn't sure why he'd just come over here. It was like he felt more empathy than he was use to, or should have been, feeling. He felt bad for her, yes, but it shouldn't have prone him to action as it had, so he was now left in this uncomforta-!
He barely twitched, as he felt her head now crying into his shoulder. He could feel the hair on his right foreleg getting wet, before he just sighed, body relaxing as he allowed her a shoulder to cry on. He sat there for a moment, before awkwardly patting the crying filly on the back.
After a minute of sniffles, coughs and cries, he heard another sound. It was a very soft sound that reached his ears, ears that had been used to the vibrations of a unsettled foal. Turning his head in her direction, he found the filly asleep, head resting at crook of his shoulder and right limb.
He let out a small sigh, before he closed his own eyes. He would rest, but remain vigilant. If there was anything that he was truly happy to remember from his past life, it was the ability to be a light sleeper.
~O~
"Be careful, it's not like we're in a hurry."
"I know, I know."
They'd started traveling back to the entrance of the forest little bit ago. If he was right, he estimated that they were at least a good 3 miles into the ocean of trees. Well past the depth of something any colt or filly should be allowed without supervision.
He walked slowly next the filly, shoulder to shoulder, as she had a hard time putting weight down on her left front leg. Said leg, was currently wrapped up in some medicinal plants, he'd scoured from the area, once dawn had hit. Ginseng and several other medicinal items were surprisingly abundant in this place, might need to gather some to sell in the near future for currency, or bits, as these ponies called it.
He turned his head in the filly's direction, watching her as she carefully watched each hoof in front of each other. The girl had been quiet for the most part of this trip, and with the coming possible hour or more of traveling at this pace, he could actually use form of conversation.
His mind went to conjure up a few ways to break the ice, before he found he didn't need to.
"Um...Um, hey?" The words of the female next to him caught his attention, but he was quick to grab onto it lest this trip be boring, even for him.
"Yes?"
"...Thanks. For, uh, staying with me and stuff. It was...nice, to have somepon-wolf! To talk to about that stuff." She said with a couple stutters, not that he blamed her.
She let out a lot last night. His mind running backwards in time to the event of her outburst, he got a good idea on what was going on with this kid. He had a few answers, but he wanted to hear the full story about this hate for Cutie Marks.
"It's no problem. I can understand what it's like to just bottle up everything. Sometimes it better to get it out, before it's too late...Sometimes you might end up making...Mistakes. Some of which you might feel you'll never get over no matter how much time has past, once they happen." He answered. Being well versed in doing nothing but isolating oneself for a cause, and nothing else.
He'd finally learned what made this girl so familiar. She was almost exactly like him when he lost Rin.
Her ideal world crumbled, and she became fragile.
"Say, you never did tell me your name. My name is Uchi- I mean Obito Uchiha. Nice to meet- I mean, nice to meet you." He fumbled over his introduction. If he could, he'd have facepawed right then and there.
She gave him a weird look over his less-than-stellar introduction, before she giggled a little.
"You're using even funnier words than before..." He felt his cheeks heat slightly at the teasing, though he caught the next set of words.
"...Though it's not like there's anything wrong with it. It's kind of, cool." She said, with her cheeks flaring slightly, to which he just laughed a little.
"So can this weird guy, get a name, oh not so weird filly?" He asked with a slight tilt of the lip. She smirked right back at him.
"Name's Starlight. Starlight Glimmer, nice to meet you."
A Month Later...
"Hey Starlight."
"Hmm?"
A month had passed since he'd helped Starlight return to her hometown. Obviously, he'd made sure to not get seen, even if Starlight had been against the idea.
Yeah, watching the dressing down of her by her parents hadn't been the best feeling in the world, but he didn't have much to say in the way of doing what he could.
One would think that he could henge and go stand up for her, but that'd bring more than just a little undue attention onto him. It had too many variables to consider, and sadly there wasn't really much he could say that wouldn't lead into some sort of focus on himself, if he did come out.
Though that didn't stop Starlight from making him promise to meet her again. Which in itself was kind of weird. Not on her part, not at all, but on his end. Another instance of that weird empathy had kicked in, and he was finding it a lot easier to just go along with the promise than he was expecting.
So that had started a little routine between them. One week after he had brought her back, she'd come back to meet him in her part of the forest again. She'd honestly seemed really happy to see him, which left him kind of conflicted. She seemed to really enjoy his company for some reason, and he was actually dreading what her reaction would be when he had to leave.
That wasn't too close, honestly he didn't have to...but he couldn't stay tied down in one place for so long. He was reborn into this world, and presented with all sorts of new places to see. Places that weren't at war with one another, for the most part. He wanted to travel around and see it all. Kami, who knew how long that'd take. The idea had actually made him kind of giddy. IT was an excitement he was so unfamiliar with, but he indulged in it regardlessly.
He was free to go as he pleased. To visit anywhere, any place as long as he could reach it. No wars, no grand master plans...It was invigorating!
Yet...
"Uhhh....Nothing. So what was it you said you were thinking about little filly?" His question got a pout in response. She crossed her forelegs (how did that even work?), and gave him a flat look.
"Stop calling me that. Your not even that much older than me! I'm twelve now! I bet I'm older than you are! HMmph!" She stated with a harrumph, before he spoke up.
"Spell it."
"Huh?" She gave him a look, before she narrowed her eyes at him. He gave her an impassive look, before she caved and looked to the side.
"Spell it." He stated again, in a no nonsense tone, eyebrow raised expectantly. She tried to maintain her annoyed visage, before she let out a sigh and asked.
"Which one?"
"You're. Spell it and I'll tell you if it's the correct one." He stated simply, she eyed him again before doing as she was requested.
"Y-O-U....Rrrr?." She said hesitantly, before sighing as he shook his head. Eyes looking at her before he dragged a toe down into the ground. Starlight saw fit to walk on over, before sitting next to him, as he gestured to his markings.
"We've been over this Starlight, you gotta do better in school if you want to prove you're older than me." It was childish logic really, but it seemed to work on helping her academics. Well that, and she had this weird streak with trying to prove she was older, which she very well may have been. He honestly had no idea on how old he was. He'd keep using his old birhtday, for the sake of simplicity, but he did wonder how old he currently was at the moment.
Not that he'd ever tell her mind you. It was way too fun making her guess at his age, sometimes.
"Arrghh!~" She fell backwards, waving her legs in the air. He watched her for a moment.
"Quite the majestic position, little filly."
"Shut up, Obito."
11 Months Later...
He looked down at the book in between his paws. Eyes roaming the pages, as he devoured information at his own pace. Mind working at adapting the information for later use. Mind working to-
"Put down the mud Starlight." He said without looking back at the figure behind him. He heard the something let out a "erk!" before a plopping sound greeted his ears. He shook his head in bemusement, as the slightly crackly voice of an almost teenage pony reached his ears.
"Come on! How do you even do that?!" He heard the telltale hoofsteps rounding his position by the lake, before he looked up into the visage of one Starlgiht Glimmer. Her eyes bore into his own searching for an answer to her soul seeking question. Her short maned hairstyle reaching just down to her lip, a curtain of three colors. He merely looked back up at her with an impassive expression, before a small tilt was brought to the corner of his lips.
"Shinobi stuff." That said, he went back to reading his borrowed book. Ears picking up a groan, as Starlight flopped next to him.
"..."
"..."
"...Fine, what is it?" He sighed, as he turned his attention back to her. She gave him a look, before picking up a stray leaf, and sticking it to her forehead.
He stared for a moment, before commenting.
"That's good, but you still-" He didn't get to finish, as she gather more leaves and stuck them to her forehead. Each one staying in place, even as they started to orbit around her non-glowing horn.
Watching the display for a while longer, he finally took the hint and closed his book. The filly with the star and streams Cutie Mark snapped to attention, before she started to grin. He took this in with a snort of amusement, before moving over to a random tree.
"This is the next exercise. You're going to climb a tree." He said with a wolfish grin, as she gave him an annoyed look.
1 Year Later...
"Starlight! This ridiculous, you have to stop!"
"Then tell me, why! Why are you doing this?!"
The two figures stood across from one another on the lake's surface. The eyes of the lone Unicorn of the two glistened with tears and anger. Her hair longer than before, Starlight had taken to pulling it into a ponytail, tied by a floral clip. She'd grown, now a teenager, she was more than just a little more mature. So why, why was Obito leaving?!
Was it something she did? Did she turn him away at some point, to the extent that he'd wish to be rid of her? Would he just leave and never come back, just like...no!
She'd not lose a close friend again! This is what she trained for! Obito even said she had talent in the "Shinobi Arts", and she'd be damned if he left without going through her first!
Across from the upset unicorn sat a frowning wolf. Obito for the most part had definitely grown in the last two years since he'd been with her. His body had grown in mass, to the point that he was taller than her, at just the point of a young adult stallion probably. His hair had grown out too over the years. Though he seemed to want to cut it at every opportunity, she'd convinced him to take to a sort of ponytail, though he'd added his own twist to it. The hair itself was spiky at his crown, and the ponytail was a long cloak of hair wrapped by bandages. He'd taken to wearing some sort of goggles, and a rough stone necklace that looked like a ping pong paddle with a short handle.
Obito could only continue to frown at his friend's abstinence with his departure. True, he'd definitely taken a liking to the girl, though he was hesitant to say much else on it. He was her teacher of sorts, but he wasn't use to having "friends".
And now here he was having this out with her. That feeling of empathy was kicking in big time, but he'd gotten use to this feeling. This feeling that he'd long since come to know as Magic. Magic that drove many unicorns and even the princess to synergize with one another. This was that feeling of empathy he'd been feeling for all these years.
If he had to be honest, this was the world of Ninshu that Hagoromo tried so desperately to create, which Obito just found downright hilarious.
Back to the situation at paw, he'd seen this coming, but he didn't expect her react so violently. They were ccurrently out on the lake surface, were they not?
This had originally started in the forest.
"Suiton: Mizudippo!"
He was brought back to the forefront of his mind, as he dodged out of the way of a blast of water. His eyes trained in on the teen unicorn as she finished expelling the water gun, eyes roaming her form as she panted some.
*pant, pant, pant*
"...*Sigh* It's Mizudeppō, loosely translated as "Water Gun", as you shou-"
"Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up! Right now? Really! I don't care about spelling you idiot!" She screamed at him from across the lake. He knew she was mad, and that him doing what he just did wasn't going to be making her any less angry at the moment. He made eye contact with her, before finally speaking.
"Starlight-"
"No!"
"Starlight! Please just-"
"NO!" She shouted even louder this time, before the water around her began to rise and take form.
"Mizu Bunshin (Water Clone), huh?" He muttered, before preparing for the onslaught, as the copies came at him. He jumped over the first one as it rushed him head on. He was quick to slide to the right past the second, before twisting sideways and clawing the third out of existence. The fourth and fifth rushed him from the front. The first of the two came in first with a hoof chop, which he deflected with a shoulder tackle, before twisting to smack aside with a paw. He knocked the clone away just in time to receive the next one which was airborne, ready to double kick him into unconsciousness.
He ducked the blow, before making a harsh turn of his mid-section. The clone found itself seized mid-air by its lower hoof via his tail, before being whipped into the lake surface and dispersing upon contact. It was at this point he realized that he'd lost track of Starlight. He stood still for a moment as the moving waters motioned about, before he launched himself skyward.
Just in time too, because a moment later the area he was just in had several rising torrents crashing together to meet at the center. His eyes quickly picked out the light pink form of Starlight rising from it's depths, coughing slightly. His eyes went half lidded, as he landed back onto the waters.
"Starlight..." He tried once more, as he saw her shaking herself of the water, before she looked back up at him. Her expression turned from annoyed to slightly nervous and panicked.
"No, it didn't work. I have to keep him here, that way he won't leave like Sunburst. I won't be alone again." She was muttering to herself once, but he picked up on enough of it to work out why she was doing this. With that thought set, he ran forward towards her, eyes locked onto her form.
She was like a frozen deer as he rushed forward. His gait eating the distance between them rapidly, so she resorted to one last measure.
"I'm sorry." The words were whispered to herself, before her horn began to glow. The next instance found her gone in a flash of light, causing him to skid to a halt. His eyes searched the area of the lake, before his hearing appendages caught the sound of something.
He took a step back slightly, as the waters began to rise. Multiple streams growing in width and height, as they rose from their aquasource. He launched himself backwards as the waters continued, before his rose his head higher to meet the large water beast that towered over him.
"Suiton:...
His eyes fell on the slightly glowing form of Starlight, as she floated next to the water creation. Her eyes shone in magic, before his perceptive optics could see the sadness, and resignation. she looked at him for but a moment, before finishing. The beast let out a roar as it moved towards his location.
"Suiryūdan no Jutsu." (Water Dragon Bullet)
The lupine Uchiha could only look forward as the seemingly skyline reaching beast fell onto his location. The shadow it casted over him and the water was large enough that he was sure. No matter what he could do physically at this very moment, he'd never get out of the radius of its reach. So it was with little trepidation, he brought this all to an end, he'd seen enough.
"Katon:..."
He sucked in a deep breath, oxygen filling his lungs to maximum capacity, before he felt the shift in his body as magic filled the lining of his breathing organ. The energy swirled and churned, before it changed its nature. The nature of life, and destruction.
The nature of pure, ravenous flames.
"Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" (Grand Fireball Technique)
What past from his lips was a ball of flames. The oxygen in front of heating up to a searing degree as he pushed the technique to his peak.
Starlight could only watch on in horrified awe, as a enlarging ball of fire rose up from Obito's last place of occupancy and met her dragon. The ball and serpentine reptile of elements met and crashed with air bursting force. The shockwave from the meeting was enough to unsettle her, already waning, control over her self-levitation before she began to fall.
Her eyes could only weakly try and stay open, as she looked down at the depths of the encroaching waters below.
Maybe, maybe this was better? There'd be no more pain, no more worrying about stupid Cutie Marks ruining friendships. Just the sweet bliss of never having to lose a friend again.
Yet, even as these thoughts were there, two separate images came to the forefront of her mind.
Her parents. Her sweet loving parents who did their absolute best to make their baby girl happy. Hah! Fat luck of what that got them. Just a selfish little girl who couldn't let go. Some silly filly who'd go out to do stupid things and get herself killed.
She could feel something running upward against her cheek, as she continued her fall. She ignored them.
The second image came in the form of a certain weird looking canine. Heh, he'd definitely admonish her for this all were she to survive. Probably tell her that she got the words for the technique wrong again. Well he was lucky, he'd never have to admonish her anymore! No more new lessons on his weird language. No more learning to do new things with magic she'd never heard about. No more spending time together as he read, while she tried to get some sleep.
She could feel more things streaming against her cheeks. Just some water that clung to her, surely! Just some...stupid...water.
She felt herself begin to cry, as she plummeted to her doom.
She didn't want this! This stupid way of dying because of her own stupidity. She could have just listened to reason, but nope! Stupid selfish Starlight had to have her way. After repulsing friends for so long, she'd finally had one. ONE! And now, he'd probably never want to see her again. She hated...hated herself.
"I'm sorry." She whispered her last words, as she was meters from the water. Eyes closed, as she met her fate, mind blanking out for that moment.
"You really do go overboard don't you? You finally get one right, and you decided that that will be your legacy. Well, we can't have any of that, now can we?" That voice. That voice of her recent, if not longest standing friend up to this point. Her eyes fluttered open, as the sounds of rushing water met her ears.
Her eyes settled on the lake that the two of them had been fighting on. Or more like Obito had been fighting her on She moved her eyes over the settling waters, before they went over to her side. Her eyes widen seeing the damp form of Obito, as his eyes looked on towards the waters, goggles over his face.
She rose up at this. Eyes moving over his form, as she tried to discern what had happened. She was barely a foot away from him, and yet...
She let her head fall. Damn it. She punctuated the curse with a stomp into the ground. She could feel the tears begin to fall again. This time she recognized for what they were, as she tried to fruitless scrub them away, before throwing her forelegs downward.
She cried. Cried about the unfairness of it all. This was the definite of what she had now. She lost.
Now she'd lose more.
Obito gave her a sad gaze, as he saw her fail to stop the tears, and did what he could. He moved closer, nuzzling the side of her cheek, before she latched onto him and cried more.
He couldn't help but find this scene, reminiscent of the night of they're first true meeting.
They'd stay like this until nightfall.
Nighttime...
~Play: Trading Yesterday- Shattered~
The stone skipped upon the surface of the body of water. Each skip making a small quiver in the solid surface, before it sank into the depths below. They looked on as the moonlit surface of water settled once more, as undisturbed as it was before, in silence.
Obito looked over to the teen unicorn as she laid by the point of where ground met water in a small dip of earth. Her eyes sad and melancholic, as she flicked another pebble over the lake.
"..."
"..."
"...Really? Nothing to say after everything that happened? Not going to shout at me, tell me off, just quit being my friend? Anything?" The words left her, but her disposition hadn't changed. She stayed there on the edge of the waters, as they looked on towards the water's surface.
Obito contemplated her words, before a small smile came to his lips.
"There's a lot of things I want to tell you. There's a possible list of things to be said, regarding what happened, but the one thing I want to say, or more ask is. Are you alright?" His words came out softly near the end, only enough so that her ears perked slightly before falling back to the flat of her head.
"I'm..." She started, before shaking her head, "I'm not alright. I hate this. I don't want to lose another friend again, they left and never came back again. It's been four years Obito, and Sunburst hasn't even come back to see me once." She stated, before telling him of her experiences when it came to making friends, Cutie Marks, bullies. The whole thing.
He mulled over her words. He could understand why she became like this. She was a child, who got hit by one of life's more consistent lessons:
Nothing stays the same forever.
A lesson that she just couldn't handle, for the most part. It made the both of them a lot more similar than he'd originally thought. He'd kind suffered the same way, but in a much more drastic manner. Yet, the results were the same, or would have been were he not there for her.
"I know that life changing like this can be hard, but you have to understand that this is one of life's lessons." He started, as he saw her mood lessen.
"..."
"Starlight." No response, so he tried something else. "Star, come on, please." That seemed to have caught her attention. He wasn't really one for nicknames honestly, but this filly needed to understand that she was important to him. And she was.
In this place, she was his first friend. They trained together, talked, laughed occasionally and ate together. She'd became a part of his life, and he hers.
She was his comrade.
"Want to know something I've always held dear to my heart? It's a saying that I've held close to me since I was very young." He faced outward towards the lake, as a crowd of fireflies moved over the surface, their reflections giving the lake a feeling of mystique. He caught movement out of the corner of his eyes, as Starlight also found her attention caught by the display of glowing bugs.
"Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash." He grinned at her, as her eyes widened. The meaning behind those words reverberated within her, but what followed was sealed the deal.
"You will forever be my comrade." He finished with a small smile, which she received with a tearful smile and a tackling hug to his person.
The Morning After
"So this is it, huh?"
"No pony said that."
They stood back in the area of the forest, where this all began. The two barely doing more than just looking at each other, as a light breeze past through the area. Obito couldn't help but chuckle slightly, much to Starlight's confusion.
" Don't go saying, "this is it", it's not goodbye forever. We'll meet again, and again, because we're comrades. Because we're friends." He said with a smile, before he brought his paws up to his neck before removing the self-carved Uchiwa symbol. Walking over to Starlight he tossed it over her head, before sitting on his haunches.
"Here, it was something I just thought of on the spot, but happy birthday Starlight. May this be the symbol of the times we've shared, and a guaranteed reunion in our future." He grinned that wolfish grin she liked, and she couldn't help the flush that reached her cheeks when he did.
"*Sigh* There will be one less weird wolf around here, that's gonna be hard to adjust to." She said with a mock sigh, to which he just gave her an amused eyebrow raise.
"Didn't realize there were some around here." He said, making mock gestures of looking around them. She laughed at this, before answering.
"Yeah well, the last one is currently leaving. Said something about traveling the world to spread his wolfish ways." She said with a joking shrug.
"Sounds like my kind of guy." Obito said with a lazy smirk, to which Starlight returned. They enjoyed each other's company for a few moments longer, before Starlight initiated a hug that he was quick to return.
Separating, he bid her one last farewell, before leaving.
He stopped for a moment and looked back at her. He stared for a moment before he smirked, just as she saw his eyes shift. Turning from black to red with a set of black three bladed windmills in them acting as pupils. The next instance air swirled around him, before he was sucked into a hole in the air, leaving nothing in his place save for a few words.
"Later."
Starlight just stared for a moment, before she snorted and turned back to the town proper.
"Weird wolves indeed."