An Unforeseen Rescue Mission

Several days had passed since the blonde arrived at the Canterlot castle. During his stay, the blonde had made sure to not reveal too much of his identity all the while gathering as many information on this world as he can. Being in a world that was practically different to his own in terms of physics and other logical whatnot, he had expected to see and hear weird things on a daily basis. He had no idea how right he was actually.

Shining and Cadence continued to be his trusty tour guides and would visit him whenever they were available while Celestia and Twilight would occasionally accompany him from time to time as well. Although none of them mentioned it, he got a feeling he'll need to leave the castle soon. It would be unwise for him to stay put under somepony's hospitality for this long, especially if said somepony were part of the royalty. In the mean time, he supposed he'll enjoy the fun while it lasted.

Naturally, Naruto didn't spend his time doing absolute nothing. In fact, the blonde and the fox had spent the last few days trying to figure out why he couldn't utilize Chakra like before. Needless to say, he had mixed feelings on what he learnt.

First off, his newly-profound pony body possessed lesser Tenketsu points than his original. While this may sound like a bad thing to most Shinobis, it didn't actually affect him too much due to his undiminished large Chakra reserve. Furthermore, from what Kurama speculated, having lesser number of Tenketsu points actually allowed him to have a much more efficient control over his Chakra; still not enough for him to do Genjutsu sadly but enough to prevent him from wasting too much.

Secondly, his Chakra control had been reset to zero, which explained why he couldn't do a single thing against the Timberwolves in the Everfree forest. Kurama had speculated that this problem arose due to an imbalance between his Spiritual and Physical energy caused by his having an entirely new form a.k.a pony form. While this may seem bad news – especially to a veteran Shinobi like him – it was nothing he couldn't restore with daily practice. Sure, it'd probably take him several years to regain said control back but he suppose it was better than having it completely removed.

All in all, things were finally looking up for him…for now at least.

"Wow, this is really good!"

Earlier today, Celestia figured he had stayed behind the castle walls long enough and suggested to bring him to the city outside for breakfast for a change. The blonde eagerly accepted the offer. He would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't curious on how the rest of city looked like. And he wasn't disappointed once he did.

Whereas Konoha came out as a massively-populated suburban town, Canterlot was more sophisticated than that with its numerous ivory towers and golden spires. It almost looked like a place that originated from a fairy tale!

As of the moment, the orange stallion found himself seated on one of the tables outside a cafe, munching on what looked like colorful mini sandwiches they called Macarons; something he found to be as equally delicious as Gusteau's daisy sandwiches. From what Celestia speculated, the café they was one of the top notch in Canterlot and was well known for their daily delectable choice of appetizers.

"Careful now, Naruto. You'll choke if you ate them that fast." Cadence giggled. "Just like how Shining choked on popcorn in our last date."

"Cadence…" Shining groaned beside her. "You promised me you won't tell that to anypony."

Sadly for him, his plea fell deaf on anypony's ears as they were too occupied with laughing at his misfit.

"It's fine, I'm a fast eater." As if to prove his point, the blonde dive his snout into the bag before coming back up carrying a mouthful of macaron. "Shee wghat ai meen?"

Having grown accustomed to his random antics, they could only laugh and shake their heads at the blonde.

Grinning at his achievement, the blonde was about to pop in another macaron when he noticed something amiss. "By the way, where's Twilight?"

Not too soon after he said, Naruto felt a tug on his blonde tail, causing the blonde to involuntary shudder in surprise.

"Does that answer your question, Naruto?" Shining said with a smirk.

Ignoring the knight's remark, he craned his head to look at the purple filly that was currently cuddling his blonde fluffy tail in the same way a toddler would hug their favorite plush.

"Twilight, what are you doing?" He inquired in which he already knew the answer.

"Your tail feels really good, Naruto." She responded dreamily as she tightened her grip on it.

"Twilight, can you let go of my tail?" The blonde wasn't sure if this applied to everypony or just him but he found it to be highly uncomfortable whenever a pony decided to touch his tail, regardless if it was on purpose or by accident. It just felt…uncomfortable. "Please?"

Twilight gave him an inscrutable gaze, obviously pondering over her decisions. "Ok then."

Naruto nodded in appreciation but soon scowled later on when the foal jumped onto his back and began admiring his mane next. "Twilight…"

"I'm glad to see that all of you are enjoying themselves." Celestia spoke.

Naruto mentally berated himself. He was so caught up in the moment that he totally forgot she was there as well, casually sipping her tea on the table next to them. He was just about to give remark on but was beaten to it when another group of ponies approached the ruler.

The blonde took a brief moment to furtively assess the Alicorn of the Sun. Being a former hero to Konoha on a few occasions; he wasn't unfamiliar to the excessive fame that came along with it. However, that fame soon turned its back against him when the fangirls arrived into the picture. Thanks to them, he couldn't walk around the village without encountering at least one of them on every corner. Kami, he'd spent more time going stealthy around the village than during missions.

Celestia wasn't like him however; her pale magenta irises sparkled with kindnesss and generosity as she patiently heard each and every one of them out before voicing out her opinion on the matter at hand. Ever so often, a few ponies would approach her and give the Alicorn presents in which she'd graciously accept with a polite thank you. She didn't even mind when a bunch of overexcited fillies decided to huddle around her legs. Naruto found himself smiling at the sight. She almost reminded him of the Sandaime's kindess except more motherly.

"Is there something on my face?" Celestia inquired curiously after the last filly left and she noticed his dazed look.

"O-Oh, it's nothing." He replied a little too quickly before diving his face into his bag of Macarons in order to hide his beet red face.

Celestia quirked an eyebrow but didn't press on it. "I see." Glancing to one of her nearby guard, she gave a quick nod when he saluted before looking back at the group "In any case, it is time for me to take my leave."

He was perplexed by that. "Already?" He said, failing to mask the disappointment in his voice. "But we just got here!"

"I wish I wouldn't either but an urgent matter had come up back at the castle that requires my utmost attention." She elaborated before facing to the rest. "Will it be ok if I leave him under your care once more?"

Shining nodded in understanding. "But of course, Princess Celestia."

"I'll see all of you back at the castle later at dinner."

The orange stallion watched as the white Alicorn went out of sight. It's not even a full minute and the shinobi found himself already missing her wonderful company. Don't get him wrong, Shining, Cadence and Twilight had proven to be quite a great company as well but he preferred her companionship better.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Twilight asked when she saw the forlorn look on his face, effectively earning him Shining and Cadence's immediate nattention.

"Is she usually busy like this?" He asked out of the blue.

Cadence and Shining eyed each other before shrugging. "Not usually but when she does it usually long last for the whole daylight."

"Doesn't she have somepony that can take over some of her duties or something?"

"Well, there's Kibitz but his job is only keeping an eye on her schedules and make sure she's on time."

Naruto gave them an impassive look. "That's gotta suck."

…

With Cadence and Shining leading the group once more, they continued the tour around Canterlot, or a small yet important part of it from what Twilight whispered to him. The first place they went to was another cake shop that Cadence suggested. Contrary to the first one they came a while ago, this one was more orientated on larger pastries such as fruit shortcakes and puddings. Being the nice host she was, the Princess proceeded on telling him the types of delicacies that were available though the blonde was too distracted with the delicacies before him to hear properly.

Seeing the look of pure hunger on Naruto's face, Cadence offered him a few spare Bits for him to spend on. While he appreciated the thought, he didn't want to become a charity case. Unfortunately, the Alicorn of Love didn't share the same thought as him and 'kindly' convinced him to take the Bits.

Even the siblings themselves were silently signaling him to take it since they were aware of how much of a stubborn mare Cadence can be. Naruto obliged in the end though that doesn't mean he was happy with it. One way or another, he was going to repay her back someday.

Moving on, the group then visited Twilight's favorite book shop where she proceeded on buying a few hardbacks for herself. While he was curious on what else she needed considering how she had full access to the castle's library, he doubted it would be wise to question the little purple filly. Then again, he doubted he'd be able to garner her attention to begin with considering how she entered what Shining called her 'Study mode'.

Seeing that everypony was minding their respective interest while waiting for Twilight to make up her decision, the blonde decided to help himself to some books, only to deadpan afterwards when he remembered that he couldn't read this world's language just yet. If he was going to stay in this world, he'll need to learn how to read and write ASAP.

Their next destination was proven to be the bizarre amongst all and it was chosen by no other than Shining Armor himself.

The store they came into looked like a toy store of some sort and were loaded with action figures and other geeky trinkets that he obviously wasn't familiar of. He had came across stores like this in Konoha but never actually paid that much attention to them since they don't serve anything beneficial to him, or even any shinobis for that matter. In fact, one of the shops had kicked him out of the store all because he touched one of his merchandise without permission.

"Does he usually take this long?"

From what he gathered, the white stallion was confronted with what seemed to be five packs of trading cards on the counter, each looking as equally identical to the other. Yet, Shining was examining each and every single one of them the same way a geologist would examine a dull yet peculiar rock, and he had been doing so for the last half an hour.

Cadence smiled and shook her head. "Yes and no. Usually it would take him about an hour to make up his mind but just for today he needs to take extra precaution since they're releasing the new expansion set."

Naruto stared at her like she had just grown another head. "The expansion of what now?"

"They're just a bunch of nerdy stuff." Twilight interjected. "Nothing particularly important."

"I heard that." Shining called out, having heard it despite being on the other end of the store.

"If you want, Naruto, you can go ahead and explore the rest of the city while we stay behind."

Naruto shook at that. "It's fine. I can wait." Hopefully.

She nodded. There was a brief silence between the three before she spoke once more. "So Naruto," Cadence began, effectively earning the orange stallion's attention. "What's your thought on Princess Celestia?"

He blinked at the question. If he was expecting something, it certainly wasn't that. "What?"

The Alicorn of Love smirked at his response and rephrased her question, "What do you think of Princess Celestia?"

"W-Well, she's great," Naruto replied before realizing her mistake. "I mean, she's a great leader considering how she's still willing to spend some time with you guys and greet other ponies despite her tight schedule. She's also a great hostess seeing how she's willing to bring a stranger pony like me to live inside the castle. "

The Alicorn nodded though it didn't seemed like she was satisfied just yet. "I see." She pressed, scooting closer to his side, an action that was easily noticed by Naruto. "Anything else?"

"What do you mean?"

The Alicorn of Love was now practically entering his personal space and was now staring at him straight in the eyes as if she was trying to look for her answers there. "Oh, I'm sure you know exactly what I mean."

Naruto gave her a fixed stare. "You know what; I saw this odd-looking shop a while ago but never had the chance to check it out. Maybe I'll go ahead and go there now while waiting for Shining to finish up. See ya ponies in a few hours time." As fast as a Wonderbolt could, the blonde swiftly disappeared out of the store, not bothering to wait for any of their response, leaving Cadence with a victorious smile behind.

"What was that all about?" Twilight asked out loud, having seen the exchange but no clue what it was all about.

Cadence giggled. "Oh nothing, Twilight." She responded back though the peculiar smile on her face meant otherwise. "Nothing at all."

…

Gaki, do you even know where you're going?

Anywhere but there. Seriously, I understand some pe—ponies have weird hobbies to take care of but that's just downright ridiculous.

I'm pretty sure they'll say the same thing to you if they see you slurping on ramen on a daily basis.

Hey, I eat ramen not as a hobby but because they're essential to me!

Kurama snorted derisively at that. Exactly my point.

No longer in the mood to entertain, the orange stallion ended the conversation right there. It was only by then did he notice the strange looks directed to him, or his choice of clothing in particular.

In normal circumstances, he wouldn't pay them much attention but now he found them to be quite unnerving somehow. It's probably due to the fact that he was now layered in orange fur with blonde mane and tail. Something he still can't grasp upon regardless how many days had passed.

Speaking of fur, Naruto frowned as he glanced down at his newly-profound furry coat. While he had no qualms with the orange color, he figured he need to find a way to cover his body ASAP. He already stood out like a sore hoof back in Konoha, he didn't need the same thing to happen to him again in this world. Kami knew he needed it.

Sadly, Kurama didn't share the same opinion as him and snorted at his thought. Like that's going to happen anytime soon.

Glad to know you're always on my side, Kurama. He responded sarcastically.

Kit, if there is one thing I learnt from being stuck inside you, it's that Kami loves screwing with your life.

Yeah well, I doubt we'll be having that problem in this world.

Having too caught in his mental argument, the blonde didn't realize he was trotting right into the path of another pony until he roughly bumped into them. "Hey, watch it!"

Shaking his head, the blonde couldn't help but blink at what he saw. If he knew any better, he'd say this was the first time he saw a pony being so out of place.

Unlike all the other pastel-colored, well-flourished ponies he had came across, the stallion he bumped into was rather burly in size, with flat trimmed greasy black mane and uneven shaggy brown fur coat that made him look like he haven't groomed them in ages. Kami, he won't be surprised if he really did actually.

The stallion wasn't alone however as several more stallions of same caliber stood behind him, each retaining their separate features that were meant to make them look more intimidating.

"Oh sorry about that." Naruto apologized as he took a step back. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

The stallion upfront simply glared at him, snorted and trotted away, not bothering to verbally acknowledge his apology. His goons followed suit afterwards, each giving him their own fair shares of glares. Obviously they were trying to intimidate him but Naruto had seen things that were much scarier than a bunch of ugly horses so he simply gave them an absent look.

Well, that went well. Here I was hoping they'd pick a fight with you.

Silently agreeing with his Bijuu, the orange stallion watched at their retreating figures. He didn't know why but for some reason his instincts began to tingle the second he made eye contact with said stallion. Almost like the time back when Twilight was in danger. His worry escalated further when they turned around the corner and disappeared out of sight.

Glancing behind, he made sure his tour guides weren't around before going off to pursuit the suspicious group, completely unaware of the lone pony hiding that was silently watching his every movement from the rooftops above. The pony stayed there a few seconds before disappearing out of sight.

…

"What's wrong, Cadence?" Said Alicorn stopped looking outside the window in favor of her lover who was still in his little dilemma. "You've been staring for a long time already."

Cadence sighed. "It's nothing. I'm just worried about Naruto, that's all."

Shining quirked an eyebrow at her. "Worried?" Using his Unicorn magic, the stallion lifted up the third pack, examined it from top to bottom, before lowering it back along with its brethren. "Weren't you the one who sent him out?"

"That's exactly why I'm getting worried." She confided before muttering the next statement to herself. "Maybe I shouldn't have teased him about Princess Celestia, after all."

Whether if Shining heard her last statement or not, he didn't show it. "I'm sure he's fine." He consoled, gently rubbing the first pack to identify its content but to no avail. "I mean, it's not like this is the first time he disappeared on us."

"I really hope so." Naruto was like an enigma to them all. Aside than his name and his status as a traveler, they didn't know much about him. They've tried to ask him but the orange stallion always found a way to dodge their questions.

Another trait about the blonde that they knew was that he's fast. Really fast. One second, he was there with them. The next thing they knew, he was gone without a word, as if he just teleported or something which was impossibly since he's obviously not a Unicorn.

"I just hope he doesn't go too far off this time."

…

"This is bad." Naruto muttered to no one in particular. "This is really really bad."

After loosely following the suspicious group all the while making sure they didn't saw him, the blonde arrived at a building that was probably meant to be a low-leveled train station if the railway tracks that emerged from the other side were of any indication. A rather colorful train was currently parked on the railway, the very same train the ponies went in. Naruto wordlessly followed suit and managed to enter the last train carriage through the backdoor while the workers weren't facing in his direction.

Good news, the whole carriage acted as storage for keeping passengers' luggage and goods so he didn't have plenty of hiding cover should anypony came in to check. The bad news, the train lurched slightly as soon as he stepped in. It seemed he had board the train at the wrong time.

"All aboard!~~"

Yup, definitely at the wrong time.

And here he was now, blankly staring at the ever changing view outside. His worry worsened when the scenery outside drastically changed from ivory towers with golden spires to nothing but green forests and mountain tops. At the speed the public transport, he silently prayed to whatever deities in this realm that this train traveled both ways because he honestly didn't want to travel back to Canterlot on foot.

As much as I want to share your concern, I believe you boarded this train for a reason aside than sightseeing.

The blonde sighed. The fox was right. He had something to do here. He greatly hoped that this wasn't a wild goose chase in the end. Otherwise, he'll never hear the end of it.

Despite lacking in general knowledge, the orange stallion was quite aware that the main purpose of a train was to transport people to other places in the shortest time length possible. Kami, he even encountered one back when he was a Genin, minus the small fact that it was made entirely out of steel and was loaded with modern weaponries like kunai-firing miniguns and whatnot.

So why was it empty?

Contrary to what he expected from a public transport, the wagon he walked into was completely devoid of any living presence. It almost looked like abandoned somehow. The blonde can barely hear any sound aside than the rumbling of the train, something he found to be quite endearing somehow.

"Where is everypony?"

I'm sensing a large amount of Chakra-like presence gathered up ahead. It seems they're all gathered in the front carriage.

As informative as it was, the statement served to make the blonde more confused than anything else. There were five passenger cars in total; each can occupy roughly around twenty ponies, so why was everypony all huddled there while leaving the rest was all empty? That didn't make any sense at all. Something was definitely wrong here.

Not finding any answer by staying here anytime soon, Naruto trotted on and approached the door on the opposite side of the carriage. He was several feet away from said door when Kurama suddenly spoke.

Gaki, hold up. We got company coming in and it doesn't look like they're friendly.

He froze at that. True to the fox's words, the blonde could see two faint silhouettes forming on the window top of the door door before the door handle suddenly rotated and the well-lacquered door slowly swung open.

"This sucks!" One of the two stallions fumed out in utter frustration. "Why do we have to check each wagons anyway!?"

Two stallions stepped into the carriage. Both were of the unicorn race judging from the miniature horns on their foreheads with one of them having ash grey-colored fur and cobalt-black mane while the other had silver mane and dirty brown fur.

"I mean look at all of this!" He added, dramatically swinging a hoof across the wagons interior to prove his point. "There's not a single pony in sight!"

If his companion was annoyed, he didn't show it. "Boss wants us to check for anymore passengers and that's what exactly what we're doing."His partner paused for a bit before continuing. "That and we gotta make sure the Royal Guards aren't chasing our tail. Or else this whole thing would've been for nothing."

The first one snorted in derision at that. "You mean the Canterlot Royal Guards? Pffffft, those ponies are never good at anything aside than being pretty. I doubt they'd even notice us hijacking this train in the first place!"

"Oh shut yer trap already. If you're that pissed off then why don't you go ahead and say it straight at the boss' snout then?" The second stallion finally snapped, having fed up with his nonstop ranting and surprising the former who obviously didn't expect such an outburst if his wide eyes were of any indication. "Just don't come back barking at me when he cuts off your pay for not listening to orders."

"Ugh alright alright I'll come!" The first one finally conceded. "But you owe me an apple cider once this is over."

The latter stared at him incredulously at that. "Me? You're the one who should've owed me a drink!"

"No, I don't!"

"You puked on me!"

The two stallions continued bickering on after that, spouting nothing but insults to one another.

It was unfortunate, really. Had they pay more attention to their surroundings, they would've noticed the strong draft was that flowing in from one of the opened windows.

…

"So I was right. Those ponies were up to no good, after all."

In the shortest time possible, he had managed to discreetly open one of the windows available and hauled himself above before they could see a sliver of his blonde tail. With no Chakra at his immediate disposal, Naruto was resolved to using a kunai to keep himself pinned on the roof of the car all while simultaneously ignoring the gale force that threatened to throw him off the train. It wasn't comfy by means but he can manage.

So what are you going to do about it?

The blonde glanced behind at that. Aside than the thick foliage that was zooming past him, the faraway view of the mountain tops and the blue skies above, he saw nopony in sight. He sighed. As much as he hated to admit it, the bandit had a point. It doesn't look like Canterlot Guards had taken notice of what happened and by the time they did, it'd probably be too late. So there was one thing left for him to do…

"Isn't it obvious?"

…

"Those two are taking their sweet time."

Just as what Kurama sensed, the ponies were all gathered inside the first wagon. The only thing he failed to mention was the fact that they were all tied up with ropes by the very stallions Naruto had been chasing after from the very beginning.

"Skipper," He began, directing the name to a stallion that was comparatively two sizes smaller than any of them but as equally burly as the rest of them regardless. "Go check on them."

"Got it, boss." Giving him one last salute, Skipper disappeared through the door.

"By the way boss, why do we need those two to patrol the rest of the train anyway? We already checked all of them one by one a while ago." One of the bandit ponies asked quizzically.

"Yeah, it's not like anypony is going to follow us." Another pony agreed.

"Yeah well, we gotta make sure everything is secure especially when we've gotten this far." The leader interjected before looking somewhere else where a certain white mare was sitting. He grinned. "Isn't that right, miss?"

The mare averted her gaze from the window to look at him through her black shades but gave no comment otherwise. Contrary to the 'naked' ponies around, said mare was dressed in a hat and trench coat that covered her entire figure excluding her white head, hooves and light pink tail. A pair of exotic black shades were used to cover her eyes.

Trotting closer to the mare, he spoke in a mock formal tone, "If I may, it is truly an honor to actually meet you here of all places. Had it weren't for the current situation we're in, we would've have met each other on a much better ter—

"Enough with the formalities and cut to the chase," She finally spoke, revealing her deep accent. "What do you want from me?"

The bandit chuckled, unperturbed by her rude interruption. "Oh, I'm pretty sure you know what I want." He acknowledged. "One million bits, all in hard cold cash. Nothing more, nothing less."

If she was surprised, she didn't show it. "Unless I'm of royalty descendants with Princess Celestia, there's no way I can have that much money."

"Oh, don't worry, you don't," The bandit said with a merciless laugh before leaning forward until he was face to face with her. "But I'm sure your husband does."

A frown marred her delicate feature upon hearing that. "My husband will never submit to your demands."

He grinned, delighted by her slight sign of reaction. "Oh, we'll see about that."

The bandit was about to trot away after that but stopped within his tracks when she spoke.

"You won't get away from this. My husband has close relation with the Canterlot Royal Guards. They'll be swarming this train any minute now."

"Sorry to pop your bubble, sweetheart, but they won't." He chuckled evilly. "I don't know if you notice this but the Royal Guards aren't exactly the most competent force in Equestria."

"We'll see about that."

"Getting arrogant now, are we?" He spoke, resting a hoof under her chin so that she was looking at him. "We'll see how arrogant you'll get once we're done with—"

Thump!

"Huh?" Instinctively, everypony stared at the ceiling above where the sound originated from. "What was that?"

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

"Is Thumper at the roof again? I thought I already told him to come down just now!"

"Uh boss, he did. In fact, Thumper's right here with us."

"What?"

Sure enough, the stallion he referred to was actually inside the wagon along with them, looking as confused as everypony else. So wait, if he was here…

Then who's up there making the ruckus up there then?

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

"You two," The leader ordered, pointing a hoof to the two stallions standing guard near the door. "Go check it out."

Muttering their answers, said two Earth Ponies opened the door and stepped outside. The door soundlessly closed behind them courtesy of its spring mechanism. A momentary silence lingered by before they heard several shouting from outside.

"Hey, who's up there?"

"We know you're up there! Show yourself!"

More silence

"Hey, who the hay are you!?"

"Stop him!"

"Ack—!"

"Gah!"

Instinctively, the bandit ponies inside the wagon went defensive when they heard the noise of what seemed to a fight going outside. Their suspicion was soon confirmed when the door slammed open and the Earth Ponies came crashing in a heap followed by an orange stallion that jumped over their unconscious forms before galloping straight for them.

Using the momentary confusion to a good use, the blonde lunged at the first bandit he saw. Hooking a forehoof around his neck, he slammed the pony's head right into the ground with a perceptible crack. He collapsed, cradling his no doubt broken nose.

Having regained their respective composure in time, the second pony after that charged at the orange stallion next. Unfortunately, he received the same fate as the first one when the orange stallion hopped up and gripped the bars that make do the edge of the overhead compartment. Swinging himself forward to gain momentum, Naruto subjected him to a reverse donkey kick in the chest, sending him flying to the other end of the car.

While the third, fourth and the leader had managed to duck in time, the fifth Unicorn bandit wasn't so lucky and was subjected to a combined weight of two grown ponies that barreled at him at fifty miles per hour. Even the wooden door on the opposite side had cracked under the sudden force.

Using the crowbar he was wielding, the third pony swung at him. Naruto quickly side stepped and let the tool-turn-weapon harmlessly zipped right on the spot where he previously was. Instead, he struck the first pony from before that had attempted to sneak on Naruto from behind with an audible clunk. Said unfortunate pony only had a brief second before his brain registered the pain and he crumpled on his back.

Realizing his mistake, the bandit was about to curse but barely mentioned the first syllable when Naruto disarmed him of his crowbar and smacked him right the neck; not enough to break anything important but enough to make him no longer a threat.

"Watch your language, there are foals on this train." He whispered to his ear as the bandit flopped to the ground conscious. Joking tone of voice aside, he wasn't actually kidding. There really were young ones inside the wagon.

Not sharing his humor, the two ponies eyed each other affirmatively before simultaneously charging at him.

Big mistake

For one thing, the wagon aisle wasn't actually big enough to fit two regular ponies, much less two grown ones. This was proven to be true when one of them accidentally tripped over their hoof and brought the other pony tumbling along with him. The last thing the two ever saw were the flat side of Naruto's orange hind hooves before everything went black.

Naruto nodded in satisfaction as he watched the two last bandits crumpled to the ground. As hard pressed as he was by his inability to use Chakra, at least he can take comfort in knowing that his strong stamina had stayed along.

Kurama, is there any more hostile around?

Aside than the two presences at the train ahead which I assumed is a worker being kept by a guard as well as the bandit leader over there, I'd say you're good for now.

Really? Huh, I was expecting more resistance.

Said fox could only grunt in response. Of course they're not. It's not like they'd expect a baka like you to come in and foil their plan not too soon after they carried it out.

Nothing to comment on that one, the blonde broke the mental conversation to face the remaining bandit leader.

"You!" He said, pointing an accusing hoof at him. "You're that pony back from Canterlot a while ago! How did you get in this train!?"

Naruto shrugged. "The same way as you did. I boarded the train."

The blonde grinned when said burly stallion began looking around, no doubt looking for his companions.

"Looking for your friends? Don't bother. They won't be coming to rescue you any time soon."

"W-What? What did you do to them!?"

"Don't worry, it's nothing serious but you'll be joining them shortly if you don't surrender now." The blonde added half-jokingly before going serious. "I don't know what you're planning on doing to that mare over thereor all of the ponies inside this train for that matter but it's over now."

The bandit scowled hard but said expression contorted into a malicious grin when his gaze caught sight of something at the corner of his eye. "Not if I can help it."

Tilting his head ever so slightly, the orange stallion wondered what he could possibly do when he suddenly turned around and galloped for the opposite direction. Thinking he was trying to escape, Naruto went off to pursuit came to a screeching halt when he realize a little too late what he was planning on doing.

"Mommy!"

"Lightning!"

Holding back a deep snarl, he could do nothing but watch as the bandit leader now held a little filly captive.

"Stay back!" He barked, crossing a crowbar across the unfortunate filly's neck. "Come any closer and I'll hurt her! I'm serious!"

Said foal meanwhile burst out crying at that but quickly contorted into small choked whimpers when tightened his grip on her.

"It doesn't have to be like this." Naruto spoke in a neutral tone of voice. As calm as he sounded, the blonde was actually using every single ounce of his sheer willpower to keep himself from doing anything reckless. If he still had his hands, he'd probably clenched them so hard they'd bleed by now. "If you surrender now, we can make this as less troubling as possible. So let the foal go now."

Unfortunately, his plea fell on deaf on the stallion's thick ears. He growled. "Go fuck yourself." Although he had never been cornered in situation like this before, the bandit leader knew that obliging to his order would only do more bad than good.

Little did he realize, doing the exact opposite of what Naruto asked for would only make things worse for him.

Silent, Naruto pondered over his decision carefully. Obviously, he can't physically approach him directly as that would put the foal in danger. The blonde may be fast but he doubted he can cover the distance between them quick enough to rescue her. He can try throwing a kunai and nail him right in the forehead but he didn't actually trust his throwing capability with the hooves he had at the moment. Kami, if he wasn't careful, he might even injure somepony else by accident! And besides, judging from the sickened expressions on everypony inside the wagon, it doesn't seem like they're used to his act of 'violence' and he doubt adding blood and sharp objects into the mix would make it any better. So the blonde was left with one last option…

Kurama, can I tap into your Chakra?

Yes but in your current condition not so much. Why do you ask?He inquired before getting his tenant's mental plan. Oh, I see what you're trying to do.

Mentally nodding to himself, Naruto averted his gaze to the filly held captive. "Your name is Lightning, right?" He asked, his voice now changing into a much friendly tone. The tear-eyed filly was surprised at first but gave him a slow nod. "Hey Lightning-chan, can you do me a huge favor and close your eyes? Don't worry it won't take long."

The bandit squint his eyes in suspicion. "What are you trying to do?"

"Don't listen to him so can you do it?" The filly gave him another nod. "Good, when I give the sign, just close your eyes and don't open them until I say so."

"Hey, I said what are you trying to do!?"

"Ready?" The hidden blonde waited until the filly gave him her confirmation before continuing. "Close your eyes now."

"Hey, I said—"

Whatever words he was about to say next, it died in his throat when the bandit stared at his eyes and was suddenly flooded with a sudden case of overwhelming nausea. His visions started to become blurry, his heartbeat began to increased several folds and there was a faint ringing in his ears that clogged his hearing senses. His mouth went dry for no reason despite him drinking water just recently and despite being in a well-aired environment, he soon found his coarse fur drenched in his own perspiration.

If that wasn't bad enough, he found himself unable to breathe properly and his legs buckling wildly as if an invisible force was applied onto his back. He tried to take several deep breaths to compensate for the lack of oxygen but the action appeared to only make things worse instead and the bandit found himself choking like a madpony.

The last thing the bandit pony saw was the looming silhouette of a viciously grinning, scarlet-red eyed fox before his vision went completely red and he fainted from all the mental pressure.

...

Naruto inwardly sighed as he cut off Kurama's Chakra. He nearly thought he blew it off right there when the thug gave no physical response at first. Thankfully, he was wrong. Then again, it was practically impossible for anypony to withstand the true strength of killer intent provided the victim wasn't mentally prepared for it. So unless there was a pony who received the same fate as he was then he doubt anypony would be able to resist him.

"Lightning!"

"Mommy!"

Putting that to the back of his mind for now, Naruto smiled as he saw the little filly was reunited back with her mother. "Is she alright?" He asked out of concern. Of course, he already knew what the answer was but it never hurts to ask.

"Yes, she is. Thank you so much for rescuing my daughter!" The mother said with absolute joy evident on her face. "Thank you!"

The blonde simply nodded in return before facing the rest of the crowd. Thanks to his little (heroic) demonstration, majority of the ponies were now looking at him with hope though some were still skeptical. This also includes the pink-maned adult mare from before.

Sensing her fixed stare on him, Naruto spoke. "You alright, miss?" He inquired softly. "He didn't do anything bad to you now, did he?"

"I'm fine." She responded before casting him her piercing glare. "You're not from the Canterlot Royal Guards, are you?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly. "No, I'm not sadly but I'm here to help anyway." She quirked an eyebrow at that, obviously not satisfied by his answer. He quickly changed the subject. "I'll be checking out the rest of the train for any hostilities. Everypony stay put until I came back."

Not expecting any response or whatsoever, the blonde trotted to the door that no doubt led to the locomotive train ahead.

"Wait!"

A hoof resting on the handle, he glanced back at trench coat-clad mare. "Yes?"

"You said that you're not from the Royal Guards." She repeated. "So who are you then?"

A brief pause lingered by before he flashed her his signature foxy grin. "Naruto Uzumaki."

…

"Well, that went well." He spoke to no pony in particular as soon as he closed the door behind him.

Yes, far too well. Kurama added warily.

"What are you getting at here, Kurama?"

Gaki, if there's one thing I learnt from being stuck inside you, it's that Kami loves to screw with your life when you least expect it to be.

"Oh come on, Kurama, my luck's not that bad." He retorted. "And besides, it's not like our Kami exist in this realm."

Not too soon after he said so, the blonde felt a presence looming from him. Faster than anypony could comprehend, Naruto spun around to confront the unannounced visitor, a kunai ready at hoof. Only for said metal object to clatter on the floor when he saw who it was.

No

No, no, no, no, no

No, it can't…it can't be her…

She's not supposed to be here!

Told you so.

If he can, the blonde would've made a snappy remark to the fox for that but he was too shocked to even pay him any attention. Instead, he focused his attention to the pony before his eyes.

"Princess Celestia."

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