Been working on these chapters like crazy. Next few chapters are going to kick up the romance factor.

Equestrian Heroes
00
Naruto x ?
00
Story Start
00

There was hope on the horizons as there was an announcement by Princess Celestia that the Equestria army was recruiting and that units would be deployed soon to help take care of the rampant bandit problems along the country side, but this didn’t quell the anger and fear of most of the citizens.

The only ones who accepted the news with patient reluctance were those who were either in the military and knew it took time to plan out the operations and gather the troops, and money to clothe, and feed the units. Seeing as there were many sects of bandits and dangerous criminals as a result of mass breakouts and not your typical military situation or war, careful planning had to be put behind handling these situations.

It seemed like things were finally getting back to normal when news of a latest incident reached the ears of the townspeople. Big Mcintosh had been ambushed by bandits during a delivery out of town. 50 of them, which included members of all three tribes. They didn’t even stand a chance.

What was a decisive battle in Big Mac’s favor, soon turned ugly when reinforcements arrived and one lucky spell sent the behemoth back on a rock, breaking his collarbone. With the use of only one arm, Big Mac had made it out of there alive and traveled the fifteen miles needed to arrive back to town, but not without suffering some injuries to one of his legs in the ensuing escape. If it had been any other stallion from town, everypony doubted they would have made it back alive.

Then again there was a reason many called him Big “Freaking” Mac. Because of the growing incidents, that meant there was an increase in guard pony presences around town. New volunteers were being trained and it was being discussed at City Hall about what to do about the issue so close to their home.

The fact it was beginning of harvest season made this situation tougher on others. With Big Mac injured, Applejack had tried going to see if she could contract labor, but to no luck. Either they had already been contracted by other farmers, or the military’s offer foe education enticed the remaining ones away. Hoping for some out of towners to show up was a pretty big long shot as well, especially considering the bandit activity had seen to it that there was less leisurely traveling.

Which meant Applejack had no choice but to try and handle harvesting the apple trees herself.

While for others in town, this meant voicing their concerns about how safe it was outside of town. Wouldn’t you know it, an incident of sorts would soon occur.

“STAMPEDE!” A panicked voice cried out.

The vibrations grew stronger, and then everypony saw, just coming over the horizon, a herd of cattle, headed straight for town. The closer they got, the shakier it got in town.

“Everypony calm down!” Mayor Mare yelled, trying to control the situation as citizens were running and panicking. “There is no need to panic!”

“But Mayor!” Rarity cried out, “Whatever shall we do?!”

“Look there!” Called Rainbow above as she pointed towards the cattle. Coming up on the side of the herd was Applejack with Winoa trailing alongside.

“Winoa, let’s go girl.” Applejack ordered as her companion ran up in front of the herd, moving the cows beside her, and getting into a position to help AJ in case something went wrong. Applejack did the same on her side. Then she leapt onto a cow and sent her lasso flying. Her aim was true as it ensnared the lead cow. She pulled with all her might, Winoa steered the cows towards her right. And just like that, the stampeding was herded away from town. Everypony cheered, Pinkie waving a flag with an apple on.

Everypony cheered as Applejack made her way.

Pinkie Pie whooping, “Yeehaw, ride`em cowpony!”

“Applejack,” Mayor Mare spoke up, “…that was just…just-”

“Apple-tastic!” Pinkie offered.

“Exactly!” She agreed. “We must do something to thank her for saving the town.”

It didn’t take long for a celebration in the mare’s honor to be set up. Town Square of course was the center of this celebration, complete with balloons and banners.

Everywhere one would look, there was a member of town helping.

Bon Bon tying a ribbon on a bridge alongside Twinkle, Cloud Kicker looking at an orange ribbon Golden Harvest had set up, Minuette dragging a yellow banner with an apple pattern similar to Pinkie's pennant, Berry Punch walking over to assist her, Daisy looking awed at the results, Rarity adjusting a red ribbon to a tree, and Twilight with Spike alongside her, walking up to Rarity.
"We all ready?"

"Just one last thing." Rarity levitated the banner Minuette and Berry were moving earlier and hung it from the third-floor balcony.
"Now we're ready."

“So where’s our guest of honor?” Naruto asked as he glanced around the populous. “I haven’t seen her."

Rainbow flew over and provided an answer, ”Actually, now that I think about it, I haven't seen her the past few days.”

“I think the last time anypony saw her was the stampede.” Pinkie Pie added.

“I wouldn’t worry about, it's Applejack, she’s really good on being on time.” Naruto figured, she was probably making sure everything on the farm was ok before showing up.

A large crowd had gathered at the pavilion, where a lectern was set up in front of the doors. Twilight stepped up to this and levitated a stack of notes, squaring up their edges and bringing the first page up. "Welcome everypony! Today we are here to honor a pony we can always count on to help in matters great and small." She 'brought up' the next page. “A pony whose contributions to—"
Rainbow barged on stage, knocking the notes everywhere and forcing Twilight to step aside, much to her annoyance. "Did you see Applejack's slick moves out there? What an athlete! This week she's gonna help me with my new flying trick, and I know it's gonna be so awesome!”

Twilight shoved the Pegasus back and continued, "Exactly." She then 'lifted' her notes again. "And…" She was cut off once more, this time by Pinkie, who popped up in front of her. Again, the notes fell.

"This week, I get to run Sugarcube Corner for the first time!" The pink earth pony announced.

"What does that have to do with Applejack?" Twilight inquired.

There was a brief pause from Pinkie. "Oh! Applejack, one of the best bakers ever, is gonna help me. Applejack makes everything great, so free samples for everypony!" There were cheers from the audience.

Twilight dryly pushed her aside. "Okay, that's great." The notes were up again, but scrambled. "Now if I could just make a point without being inter…" For the third time, she was cut off. This time, it was from Fluttershy, who poked her head up, something Naruto didn't expect from her for some reason.

"Twilight?"

"…rupted!" The notes fell and the purple unicorn moved aside as Fluttershy stepped up.

"Twilight, I'm so sorry, but I just wanted to mention that Applejack is also helping me this week with the official bunny census, where we count up all the new baby bunnies that were born this season." On the latter part of this, Twilight rolled her eyes wearily at all these breaks in her train of thought. "She's gonna help gather them using her wonderful herding skills." There was a short pause, and before long, Fluttershy cringed and slid away.

"Anypony else?" Twilight called. "…Anypony?" There was no response except for a quiet cough. "No?" She brought her notes up yet again. "Well, then, as I was trying to say…" She paused, upon realizing that the mayor was now standing next to her with an expectant grin. After a very long beat, Twilight gave up with a groan and let her notes go flying in all directions. "Never mind!"

As Twilight stalked away, the mayor took her place, cleared her throat, and gestured to something on the right. "And so, with no further ado, it is my privilege to give the "Prize Pony of Ponyville" award to our beloved guest of honor…" Naruto turned to see where she was indicating and saw a large trophy decorated with a blue ribbon. It was gold and shaped like a two-handled oil lamp, supported by three pillars, and topped by a rearing filly. "…a pony of the utmost trustworthiness, reliability, and integrity…Ponyville's most capable and dependable friend…" The mayor then gestured off stage. "…Applejack!"

At the right side of the pavilion, a curtain was pulled open, exposing…absolutely nothing. Cheers quickly gave way to gasps and silence, with the exception of Spike.

"Way to go, Applejack, that was awesome! I mean…" The baby dragon fell quiet upon finding himself on the wrong end of quizzical glances from his friends and an angry one from Twilight. The mayor, at a total loss, cleared her throat. "Awkward."

"I'm here!" Applejack's voice was heard. A blond mane, brown stetson, part of an orange-tan made their way through the crowd. "I'm here!" She then gave off a yawn as apples fell loose, leaving fruit in her wake as some ponies reacted with shock as she passed. "Sorry I'm late, whoa…I was just…" She was then heard stumbling over something. "Did I get your tail?"

Finally reaching the lectern, she thrust her face into the mayor's, with two full apple baskets carried under her arms. The bags developing under her eyes betrayed the fact that she had been hard at work and it had cut deeply into her sleep time.

‘I guess with Big Mac down Applejack and the workers must have their work cut out for them.’

Meanwhile, Applejack pushed the mayor aside. "Miss Mayor, thank you kindly for this here, uh, award thingie." She stepped over to look at it and yawned. "It's so bright and shiny, and…" She then gave a drowsy yawn. "I sure do look funny." She then began pushing her head forward and pulling it back and forth, making high-pitched "whoo-ooo" noises. Pinkie joined her after a moment while Twilight made her way up as well, looking truly confused as she stood on the other side of the trophy.

"Oo-kay…well, thank you, Applejack, for saving us from that scary stampede, and always being there for everypony." The purple unicorn finally said.

Applejack gave another yawn. "Yeah, I like helpin' the pony folks and…and stuff." She dozed off and began to snore, tipping forward and nearly dropping face first, thanks to the heavy buckets of apples she was carrying. A moment later, she shook herself awake. "Oh, uh…yeah, uh, thanks!" Gripping one of the trophy's handles in her teeth, she dragged it backward off the stage and through the crowd while balancing the buckets under her arms.

Once she was gone, Twilight was the first to speak. "Was it just me, or did Applejack seem a little…"

"Tired? Rainbow finished.

"Dizzy?" Fluttershy guessed.

"Fatigued?" Naruto guessed.

"Messy?" Rarity said. This earned her puzzled looks from the others. "Well, did you see her mane?"

Pinkie jumped onto the stage. "She seemed fine to me. Whoo-ooo!"

“Hopefully she’ll be fine.” Applejack after all was a farmer and used to that kind of work. She was probably having an off day.

Another morning, another day of harvest. Applejack walked out into the chilly predawn air, her hair was still damp from the rushed shower she had taken to wake herself up.

Armed with a cart filled with barrels. Applejack picked a spot and took notice of a good tree at the edge of the orchard. Working from the outside in would help in doing the most difficult portions easier when she was still fresh with energy. Stopping to take a few minutes to stretch and flex her legs to avoid any sprains or unwanted cramps, she eyed the trees in her peripheral to take notice of the best spots to buck.

Taking out the buckets, she positioned them in the right spots before moving a good foot back. Drawing in a breath, AJ moved, followed by a smooth roundhouse kick where the tip of her reinforced boots nailed the tree. The vibrations of the buck coursed through the tree as the apple stems snapped and began to fly down like rain into the carefully positioned buckets.

Yet another day of harvesting had begun.

Naruto found himself unable to shake the unease of Applejack’s condition and decided to find the mare. To his surprise, he found that the farm area vacant of any potential workers. So he made his way to the farm house.

“Mac.” Naruto greeted the stallion who was sitting in the kitchen with the paper, his crutches together on a nearby chair.

“Naruto.” The stallion greeted.

“What’s going on? There’s no hands on the farm. Who’s working on harvesting the apples?”

“Applejack.” The stallion answered.

“Just Applejack? No one else?” He added, alarmed at the revelation.

“Nope, filly being stubborn. Told ‘er she's not gonna be able to harvest the entire crops herself but she’s determined. “

“That’s insane.” Naruto exclaimed as he stood up. “Applejack’s strong, but the entire farm land is beyond her limit. No wonder she looked so tired the other day.”

“She ain’t listening ta me. Maybe ya might have a better chance at it.” He replied with a shrug. It was obvious Big Mac had tried and Applejack stubbornly rebuked his help. If there was anything annoying one could say about the Apples, it was that their stubbornness could be a pain in the ass sometimes.

“Alright, I’ll give it a try.” He responded as he left the house to track down Applejack. Sure enough he found her resting against one of the trees. “AJ!”

“Huh! Wha…who!” She sputtered as the sound of Naruto’s call brought her out of her rest. “Why howdy there Nar…” She interrupted her greeting to let out a yawn. “What brought you out here today.”

“I was worried about you.”

The honest admission caused the mare to widen her eyes in surprise. “W-Worried? What for? Just here harvesting.”

“That’s just it. You’re harvesting alone and the land your family owns is way too much for one pony.”

“Ah can handle it. Don’t need nopony distracting me. Not once has mah family failed to deliver during the harvest and ah won’t start now.”

“Alright, fine,” He said, throwing up his hands. He wasn’t going to argue with Applejack. Experience had taught him escalating these things never turned out too well.

He was going to let her be at it for a few more days and then he would try again.

If the mare had been just constrained to Apple Acres, the damage would have been minimized, but she of course had made several obligations. The first being helping Pinkie at Sugarcube Corner.

Fighting back harsh and ever growing yawns, AJ would make her way to the back door of Sugar Cube Corner.

The Cakes were just on their way out to the door, heading to the train station to go visited excited relatives who wanted to give them advice or childhood mementos or tools to help raise the foal that was on the way.

After checking one last time that Pinkie would be okay running the bakery, the Cakes bid their farewell and was off. What should have been a few simple orders for the day fulfilled instead, resulted in tainted goods. Chocolate substituted for potato chips. Soda as a substitute for Baking soda. Lemons for flour.

By sheer dumb luck no one was seriously poisoned as one bite into the concoctions was more than enough to warrant people away from eating them.

Though, that would be far from the only bearer to see Applejack that day. The bunny stampede and the ensuing fly away Rainbow had been the icing on the cake that was the Applejack disaster.

Naruto found himself mulling over what to do when a knock on his door drew his attention. He opened it and sure enough Twilight was on the other side. “Good afternoon Twilight, how are you?”

“I’m fine, I'm sorry to disturb you Naruto but I need some advice."

"Sure," Naruto waved her in. "…come on in." Naruto opened the door wider and invited Twilight inside. "Could I offer you anything? Water? Tea?"

"No thank you." Twilight politely declined. "Anyway, I need your advice. I’ve come to notice that when it comes with friends, you've proven to be really good at it. I was wondering if you could help me with a friendship problem." Twilight took a seat on his couch.

“Let me guess, Applejack right?” He asked as Twilight nodded.

“I tried to get through her the other day, but she was being stubborn. It was one thing when she was just tired, but at this rate, I guess we have to get involved if her actions are starting to hurt others.”

“So you’ll come with me to talk with her right?” Twilight asked, a hopeful expression on her face.

“Yeah, hopefully she’ll be willing to listen to reason this time.” He agreed as he went and grabbed his keys off the table. “Let’s go.” With that, the two made their way to Sweet Apple Acres.

In the distance he could see countless trees with apples hanging on them, a strong indication that Applejack was far from being able to finish the job.

With the right number of Kagebunshin, harvesting the apples would probably only take the better part of the day in terms of tending to the entire orchard. The sound of foot steps caught Naruto’s attention.

Extending his front leg, he managed to nab the little yellow torpedo that dove right at him. A squeal escaped the lips of the little pony. "Tarnations! Ah thought ah had you that time."

"You're still a few too years too young to get one over me Bloom. How was school?”

“It was ahright ah guess.”

"How you doing Appleboom?"

"Ah'm doing good."

"So where's your sister? We have something we need to discuss with her."

"Ah haven't seen her all morning. She's been acting kookier than a fruit bat in the summer. Getting up during all hours of the morning. She won't even let me help her." The filly finished with a pout.

"I see…what about Granny Smith?"

"She's on the front porch chair nappin."

"I love to stay and chat, but I have things to do. So I'll be by later." He could tell by the way the filly deflated that she must have felt lonely, what with Applejack being busy and Big Mac's injury.

"Ok."

He made a mental promise to spend some time with her later. He and Twilight made their way to the front, where the Apple matriarch was peacefully rocking in a chair.

"Afternoon Granny Smith."

“Morning Granny.” They greeted her.

The aged mare smiled back, "G' afternoon ta you, too, young'uns. Y'all hear to talk some sense in ta that granddaughter of mine?"
Naruto couldn't help but grin. "You tried too huh?"

"Child is just like her maw, stubborn as they come and twice as determined to handle everything on her own."

“We’re hoping that she will allow us to help her. Everypony in town is starting to get worried that something might be wrong with her.” Twilight explained, expressing her own concern.

"Can't tell young'uns nothing nowadays. Though, say if she had something to take 'er mind off things. Like a handsome young buck." She responded, focusing her gaze on Naruto.

Naruto sighed and rolled his eyes. "Told you before Granny Smith, Applejack and I are just friends." Despite expressing this statement, he couldn’t say he was adverse to the idea. She was family right? Like Cheerilee? Somehow he couldn’t convince himself and he knew there was only one way to be certain.

The woman let out a cackle. "Ya can't blame an ol' gal for trying."

What was with older people, ponies, whatever and they're desire to have grand children?

“It was nice seeing you Granny Smith, but we have to be on our way now.” Twilight bid her farewell.

Naruto was shaken out of his thoughts. It was time to start checking the farm land to find Applejack.

Applejack shook the sweat from her brow and smirked: so far, she had bucked nearly every tree. It had taken her nearly a week, but she was almost finished. As long as she kept a good pace, she'd be finished before the day ended.

"Everyone's worried about you, you know." The familiar voice caused Applejack to look up and catch sight of the two approaching ponies.

"Was wondering when y'all show up." Applejack turned to face the blond.

To his credit, Naruto didn't show a hint of emotion. Between her bloodshot eyes, sagging bags, and disheveled hair, Applejack looked downright awful. A far cry from her usual safe. Nothing from the cute and nonsense cowgirl.

Wait a minute. Cute? Naruto silently cursed the old woman and her insinuations of good apple genes and talks about good birthing hips. Why did he even have a thought relating Applejack as cute? He shook his head.

“Oh Applejack…” Twilight softly gasped upon noticing the earth pony’s condition. “We would have been willing to help you.”

"Ah'll be done soon, so Ah don't need no help.” She snapped at them, both adamant and angry at the insinuations that she couldn’t handle the harvest herself. “Ah said I'd buck all these trees and ah'm sticking to my word."

"Not at the price of driving yourself sick. I've heard about the incident with Dash, Fluttershy, and especially the one with Pinkie Pie. For all you know, your food could have caused something more serious then terrible tastes. Let us help you AJ.” He pleaded with the cowgirl pony, but she refused.

The mare grunted in annoyance and turned, "Ya might as well give up Naruto. I'm a mare of my word."

Naruto let out a frustrated cry and nearly pulled out his air. “It’s like trying to argue with myself."

"If I recalled that happened once."

'Not helping Kurama.'

"Applejack, enough is enough. You. Need. Help." Twilight expressed, growing tired of the mare’s stubbornness. “This is not healthy. Friends are supposed to help and support each other right? Let us help you.”

One final buck, and the last batch of apples fell into the baskets draped over Applejack's back. She let out a single laugh of satisfaction, "No, Ah don't. Look! Ah did it! Ah harvested the entire Sweet Apple Acres without yer help. How do you like them apples?" She boasted with a proud, yet tired grin.

Big Mac, who had been watching the scene from close by, decided that as the eldest, it was his sacred duty to burst his sister's bubble, "Um, how do you like them apples?" He jerked his head in another direction, revealing more apple trees, still bearing their delicious red fruit. Apparently, Applejack had only reached the halfway point.

The shock caused her mind to short circuit, reducing her to unintelligible mumbles before she fainted clean away.

"...lejack? ...plejack?"

"...ome on...wake...p!"

She could hear muffled voices. Two of them. They sounded so familiar.

Opening her eyes, her blurred slowly cleared to reveal the concerned faces of Twilight and Naruto. She tried to say something to let them know she was alright, but her voice failed her: she was just so tired.

Twilight sighed with relief. "Oh, good. You're okay."

A sigh escaped his lips. "You pushed yourself too hard AJ. You really worried us you know."

Applejack closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again. "Ah'm sorry."

Twilight spoke up, "Now Applejack; I completely respect the Apple family ways. You're always there to help any pony in need. So maybe you can put a little of your stubborn pride aside and allow your friends to help you."

During the Unicorn's little speech, Applejack gazed off into the seemingly endless throng of apple trees. After what she had put herself through over the past week, she wasn't willing to try it a second time, "Okay, Twilight."

Having been expecting another refusal, Twilight continued, "I am not taking no for an answer." Then what had been said clicked immediately, "What?"

Lying there on the ground pitifully, Applejack begged, "Yes, Twilight." She brought her front hooves together as if in prayer, "Yes, please: Ah could really use your help."

Naruto chuckled softly to himself. "Well you heard her. I think the others won't mind helping either, if only to help prevent another appearance of delirious AJ."

In no time at all, the other Element bearers arrived at the farm.

Twilight and Naruto were making amazingly short work of large sections of trees. Twilight, using her incredible Unicorn abilities, levitated hundreds of apples at a time, while Naruto swiftly used traditional applebucking to knock the bounty off the trees into the buckets.

Well into their harvesting, Applejack eventually came out with some refreshing apple juice. The group decided to take a break and partake in the no-doubt delicious drink.

As they gathered, Applejack spoke up, "Everypony, I can't thank you enough for this help. Ah was acting... a bit stubborn."
"A bit?" Twilight quipped.

"Okay," Applejack conceded. "A might stubborn. And Ah'm awful sorry. Now, Ah know the town gave me the Prized Pony award, but the real award is having you all as my friends." Despite the assistance, there was still a good amount of land to cover. While more trees were bucked that afternoon than Applejack could have hoped, there was still so much to do.

“Thank ya Naruto, but even with all the help this afternoon, there is still plenty land to cover and ah can’t ask ya and the others ta drop whatever you’re doing to help with the next few days of harvest.”

“I have an idea,” Naruto spoke up, knowing just what he could do to solve this problem. “Just give me a day to figure things out. I can’t tell you what it is because it’ll ruin the surprise, but if everything goes according to plan, handling the harvest should be no problem.”

Curious, Applejack decided to accept the proposal as Naruto never gave her indication not to trust her before. “Ahright.”

“Also, tomorrow evening after supper, meet me at the front gate of the farm house. Oh by the way, don’t worry about dressing up in anything too nice for our date, where we’re going, we might get a little dirty.” Naruto called out the last part as he made his way down the path.

Applejack’s eyes widened and her cheeks darkened. “Wait…what?”