Equestrian Heroes

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Naruto x ?

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Story Start

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As the three ponies left Sugarcube Corner, Twilight still refused to acknowledge what just happened. "Well, I still don't believe all this 'special power' stuff. It's just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo."

"What's not to believe?" Pinkie asked. "You do magic." Twilight stopped in surprise as the earth pony went on. "What's the difference?"

"Huge!" Twilight running up to catch up, finding Pinkie stopped at a well near a cart selling cleaning products.

"For one thing…" Twilight then cleared her throat. "…magic is something you study and practice. Like science."

"I don't know Twilight. Magic itself can seem like an unexplainable phenomena to those who don't have it themselves. I understand how you view it, but do you really want to be so quick to dismiss what Pinkie is saying? Especially after the last time you dismissed something."

A faint blush appeared on Twilight's cheeks. "T-That's different," Twilight argued with a stammer. "I actually know enough about magic to back up my statements. It only happens when you decide to do it, and it's meant to make something specific, that you choose to happen, happen! With you, uh…it makes no sense at all!"

Naruto wanted to argue against the fact, suggesting accidental magic and such, but he figured maybe it would be better for Twilight to see the Pinkie Sense in action.

"That's so not true, Twilight." Pinkie argued. "Sometimes it's a bunch of random things happening to my body at random times that supposedly predict the future. I call 'em 'combos'."

Naruto shook his head, Pinkie was too cute for her own good sometimes.

Twilight jumped down and walked to the library, which was close by. "Combos?"

Pinkie hopped after her toward the library. "Sure! You know, like ear flop, then knee twitch, then eye flutter?" She showed off each movement in the sequence as she named it. "That means the sky is about to be graced with a beautiful rainbow."

"Yeah. Sure." Twilight said dismissively as she headed for the door.

"Uh-oh. I feel a combo coming on." And it went off, step by step. "Ear flop…eye flutter…knee twitch!"

The bookworm unicorn just threw a skeptical glance back from the library doorstep, then got the entire door thrown at her more precisely, slammed into her face by Spike, who backed out with a stack of books. When it swings shut, she was squashed flat across its woodwork, from which she slid down with a pained moan to wind up in a heap on the doorstep.

"You said that combo meant 'beautiful rainbow.'", Twilight moaned woozily.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no." Pinkie said as she acted out. "You're thinking of an ear flop, then knee twitch, then eye flutter."

"Wrong order, she has some of the same movements but the orders convey a distinct message." Naruto answered for her in. "In that case look out for opening doors." He finished as he reached out and grasp her hand. Helping Twilight up he asked, "You okay?"

Twilight was absolutely frustrated. "I don't believe this!"

Pinkie got into her face. "You don't believe because you don't understand." She then backed off.

"Hmmm…" A devious look formed on Twilight's face.

"Twilight you do realize you're making a face that would easily scare foals right?"

Naruto's inquiry was of coursed ignored. In what could be considered a flash the ponies went from out front of the library to down inside the basement.

Naruto looked in awe at the bubbling flask in a rack, then to the rest of the laboratory equipment, then at the root-covered ceiling. Stairs led down into this area. "Where did all this equipment even come from?"

"I brought it with me," Twilight answered as she continued strapping Pinkie into that rather strange table.

"Alright you mad scientist," He quipped. Naruto was going to ask if it was even legal for her to have this stuff, but then suddenly realized who he was going to ask. There was no way Twilight was going to have illegal gear if it was going to so much as inadvertently bother Celestia. Still didn't shake the very Orochimaru like vibes labs gave him.

He turned to the pink mare who was wearing a helmet covered with diodes. Near her was a strip chart recorder that had been hooked up to the console.

"Are you sure this is safe?" He asked as Twilight sighed and turned to the blond.

"Of course its safe. Do you really believe I would try something dangerous and untested on one of our friends?" She asked as Naruto winced, feeling guilty at the accusation.

"I'm sorry Twilight, I'm not calling out your character its just, I've never spent much time around equipment like this."

"I assure you its perfectly safe." She finished as she turned her focus back to the equipment. "Okay." Twilight said as the recorder started cranking out graphs and chuffing steam. "Now when you get another twitch, we'll have all kinds of scientific information."

"Okey-dokey-lokey!" Pinkie replied cheerfully. Her expression rearranged itself into stoic composure as she stood there and Twilight watched both her and the chart. Nothing happened for several seconds, except for the periodic puffs of steam coming off the recorder.

"Wait, hold up, your plan was that we wait here until she got a twitch? You didn't plan this all the way through did you?" Naruto groaned.

Twilight promptly ignored the blond. "Any twitches yet?" She asked as she continued her intense gaze on the equipment.

"Nopey-dopey!" Pinkie replied cheerfully with a wide spread grin.

"It could be anywhere from days or weeks until her next twitch." Naruto commented as Twilight looked up from her device.

"Exactly, if there was any truth to Pinkie's statement such a phenomena would be consistent. After all this time why would it manifest now considering how long I've been here?" She questioned as Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about? In fact now that I remember you witnessed it before or are you forgetting the Nightmare Moon incident?" He asked as Twilight looked at him confused.

"Pinkie's cry of twitchy tail before the Cliffside fell. The complaining about her pinched knee before Mannifred attack."

"Mannifred?" she asked.

"I'll explain later." He said with a wave of his hand.

"Look, if there is any credence to her claim than this will prove it." She argued before turning her attention to Pinkie. "Now? Anything?"

Pinkie concentrated for a moment. "Wait! Hold on! …Uh, no."

"Are you kidding me? After a whole day of nonstop twitching, now that I've got you all hooked up, you're not getting a single one?"

"I don't control it. They just come and go." She replied with a shrug.

"That makes no sense!" The Unicorn exclaim in outrage.

"Sometimes you just have to believe in things, even when you can't figure 'em out."

Twilight got in her face. "I will not believe in anything I cannot explain."

"How are you going to get your results in this situation though?" He asked as Twilight reluctantly turned her focus back to Naruto in case something would have happened.

"What's wrong with my setup?"

"Well in a basement with only equipment how is Pinky supposed to experience a twitchy tail? There's nothing to fall. No pinched knee as nothing dangerous is down here so of course no knee pains. No danger or incidents means no Pinkie Sense." He reasoned.

"Wait!" Pinkie suddenly said. "Hold on…I'm feeling something…"

"Oh my gosh!" Twilight gasped as she looked at the chart. "What? What is it?"

The answer was a loud grumble from Pinkie's gut. "It's my tummy! That usually means I'm hungry. Let's eat!"

"And that's just plain Pinkie." He replied with a snicker.

"You know what?" the exasperated scientist said before yanking the wires out and shutting down the device. "Just forget it! I don't need to know if this is real or not. I don't need to understand it. I don't even care!"

"Well that's not very scientist like." He said as he tried to keep his laughter at bay up failing miserably.

As she then walked off, Pinkie pulled her arms out of the clamps and flipped the helmet off her head. "Okey-dokey-lokey!"

Pinkie was the first to reach the door. As the three ponies approached it however, she went rigid with a little gasp and backed away.

"Uh-oh." A combo then hit her consisting of an ear flop, eye flutter, knee twitch that caused her to gasp loudly and jitter backward.

This time Naruto was able to react, grabbing Twilight by the wrist and flinging her back when the door flung open. Despite the fact she hadn't had pain inflicted on her this incident only spurred Twilight to disprove Pinkie's Sense.

"And she thinks it's a good idea?" Applejack asked as she and Naruto were down in the cellar moving stock around. Applejack's new free time allowed her to finally build the new cellar she always wanted.

"Twilight seems content on proving Pinkie's Sense is nonsense because of scientific reasoning. She'll figure it out that some things in this world you just have to accept." He reasoned as the two of them trailed up the stairs.

The doors of the cellar popped open. "Oh hey there Twilight, Spike, ya came to visit my new apple cellar? How nice!" Sure enough Pinkie was happily skipping on her way. Twilight uttered out something unintelligible dragging Spike along with her. "OOOOOkkkkk. Ah think somepony might be a bit too invested."

"Hhm, anyway want to see if Berry Punch is willing to trade some of her stock for some apples? You might as well add a little variation to the cellar early on."

"Sure why not."

Sure enough Berry was indeed willing to part with a few bottles of her supply. Naruto and AJ were on their way back to the cellar when they ran into Pinkie.

Pinkie was humming and licking her hand when she saw them walking by with bottles of wine. "Hey ya Narry, Applejack! Whatcha doin'?"

"Takin' some product we got from Berry Punch to my new apple cellar. How 'bout you, Pinkie? What you doin'?"

"Oh, letting Twilight secretly follow me all day without me knowing."

As if on cue, said unicorn popped up from her hiding place. From the bandages on her body it was obvious that while following Pinkie there were incidents that resulted in several injuries. "You mean you knew all along?! Why didn't you tell me?"

Pinkie giggled, "Silly, that would have spoiled the secret."

Her huge smile was met by a series of contorted, lopsided grimaces and a groan as Spike poked his head out from behind Twilight. Spike asked fearfully, "Tail still twitching?"

Pinkie looked at her own, and then said, "All done. Clear skies from here on in, as far as I can tell." But then she pulled a new trick; her entire body jittered briefly.

Spike ducked behind Twilight again as Applejack lets her basket fall. Naruto stood wary. "Oh, no! What does that one mean?", the dragon asked.

"Don't know. Never gotten any like it before. But whatever that shudder's about, it's a doozy! Something you never expect to happen is gonna happen!" Another, longer shudder wracked her as all four watched. "And it's gonna happen…at Froggy Bottom Bog!"

Applejack gasped, "That's where Fluttershy's headed!"

Naruto suddenly grew alarmed at this revelation. "Out of all times. Look, you four go ahead and get down to Froggy Bottom Bog."

"What about you?" Pinkie Pie called out as he began making a sprint for his home.

"Getting something in case we have to encounter something dangerous." He shouted out as he made his way through the streets. He practically glided across the area as he burst in to his house. Making his way to his room he pulled out a scroll and unsealed two kunai. Unlike the small tools of his home world these were custom made weapons whose size were increased so he could use his chakra to make them viable short swords but still aerodynamic enough to be used as projectiles.

Armed with his weapons Naruto dashed out of the house. He began making his way down to the swamp area to catch up with the others.

The others found themselves at the outskirts of the bog.

As the group charged, Pinkie suddenly stopped short, struck by another shudder.

Twilight stopped and spoke in a sardonic manner. "Cold? Need a jacket or something?"

Pinkie started ahead as everypony slowed their pace." No, thanks. I'm fine." She then got another one.

Spike turned to Applejack. "So, what do you think happened to Fluttershy?"

"I hope nothin'."

"I know, but…what do you think happened?"

"I'm tryin' not to think about it."

"Me too." He became fearful. "But…I'm thinking about it anyway. Like…what if…she exploded?"

Applejack was skeptical. "Just exploded, for no reason?"

"Yeah, like, boom!" Everyone stopped.

"Whoa!" Pinkie let out a gasp.

"I know!"

"What if…what if she exploded, and then…" She jumped up. "…and then exploded again?"

"Can you do that? Can you explode twice?"

Applejack testily started ahead. "Of course not."

Spike followed, "But what if…she exploded…and exploded again…and then—" He was stopped short by Twilight, who had put her hoof on his tail.

"Will you two stop!" She let go as Pinkie skidded up. "She's fine, I'm sure of it." All of them then moved ahead.

"I hope you're right, for Fluttershy's sake." Applejack commented. "Look! There's Froggy Bottom Bog!"

Immediately they went to search for the Pegasus mare. Twilight climbed a sloping tree, Applejack scoped the scene from a small neck of solid ground, , and Pinkie lifted the edge of a lily pad to peek beneath. A frog promptly jumped onto it, knocking it flat and eliciting a surprised gasp.

Next, Spike leaped onto the magenta mane to drive its owner's face into the muck…and he saw Fluttershy standing a few feet out on a rock and emptying her basket of frogs.

"Fluttershy!" the baby dragon jumped over to her, hugging the Pegasus. "You're okay!"

She was more than a bit surprised by this greeting. "Of course." She answered, wondering why the others had suddenly showed up.

Twilight and Applejack watched from shore. "Whoo…what a relief." The latter sighed.

Pinkie let out an exclamation of happiness. "I'm so glad everything's all right."

Twilight however took up a smug expression. "Sorry. I know it's not nice to gloat, but…AHA!"

Spike was so surprised that he fell into the water, the three ponies she was facing aimed slightly vexed looks her way, and she did not notice a large, brown, scaly something swim by.

"I told you there was nothing to worry about, and I was right." Green mist started to rise. "Pinkie Pie said whatever she was shuddering about was a…" She let out a cough as Applejack walked away. "…doozy, and…" she let out a cough. "…and the only…" once more another cough escaped her mouth thanks to the mist. "…and the only doozy here is how right I am.

Spike was now out of the water, Pinkie and Fluttershy stared at a vertical stretch of the brown thing as it slowly rose from the water, throwing the green mist as it did so. Twilight had her back to it and was still oblivious as Applejack, near her, caught a look at it.

"Um…" the farmpony gave a hard swallow. "…Twilight?" She then crossed to the others

Twilight was still ignorant, however. "Pinkie's made a lot of predictions today, but…ugh, what is that smell?"

"But what we've shown here…"

"T-Twilight." Fluttershy softly called out to her.

"…is that there's no point in believing—"

"Twilight!" Pinkie Pie whimpered as she looked up.

"…in anything you can't see for yourself."

"TWILIGHT!" They all yelped together.

"What?!" It was then that she noticed that everypony wore expressions of fear as their gaze was transfixed above and behind her.

Fear crept through her as she reluctantly turned to where Spike was pointing.

She turned around and looked up to see the expanse of scaly brown hide that now filled her vision. The growl intensified by a few dozen decibels, and she could see four snakelike heads and necks standing up from the bog. "I see it…but I don't believe it!" Three of the four heads roared in unison, with the fourth one joining in moments later.

How in Equestria did a Hydra managed to get this close only for nopony to notice? The creatures was way too big for patrols to have miss not to mention creatures like this rarely got close to populated areas like this thanks to Celestia's presence.

Finally Applejack spoke the words on the forefront of everypony's mind. "RUN!"

The group broke out into a sprint. The rest of the creature's body emerged from the swamp as it began to give chase.

The creature seemed to be using its heads in coordinated attacks. One of the creatures homed in on Twilight, lunging at her, throwing a good scare into her. Another one of the heads targeted Applejack as she hopped from root to root of the swamp land area. Fluttershy managed to barely get away, jumping from a chomp that caught the rock they were standing on. The second head from the left, the only one to stay out of the action, laughed at the other three…angry, with a mouthful of tree, and dazed.

Spike scrambled along a low-hanging vine. Eventually, the ponies stopped short at earth outcropping blocking the path ahead. Twilight took a swift look around, and then galloped to one side as she said, "Everypony up that hill!"

"HEEELLLP!" Spike cried out in distress.

They looked back and saw Spike struggling to free himself of the thick boggy water, the hydra getting closer.

Twilight double backed, her hand lighting ablaze with magic as she fired blasts to free him. The creature quickly closed distance and prepared to attack.

Suddenly something flashed before them as two of the creatures lunging heads had been severed and sent flying. Landing on the ground Naruto put himself between the beast and his friends.

"Naruto!"

"Twilight, get Spike and get out of here!" Naruto ordered as he brought the two kunai up, ready to fight.

"What?!" She yelped in outrage. "You can't fight that thing on your own."

"This isn't the time to argue. Do what I say and go! Before the creature recovers!"

Twilight shot a glance at where the others were gathered at the gorge and a glance back at Naruto. "Please, be careful," she reluctantly told him as she and Spike carried on.

"Is he out of his mind!?" Applejack demanded as Twilight and Spike joined them, realizing what Naruto intended to do.

"He's trying to buy us time." Despite the statement Twilight found herself struggling to believe it..

The others gaped in horror as not only did the Hydra begin to regenerate, but two heads sprouted from the stomps where one were. "W-We can't leave him." Fluttershy stated, despite nearly being terrified out of her wits she could never willingly abandon one of her friends. No matter how afraid she was, she could never abandon somepony.

"But what do we do? How do we fight that thing?" Pinkie Pie wondered out loud.

Twilight called upon her near Enclyopedic knowledge. "The Hydras are a dangerous and powerful class of reptile creatures. Their bodies exhume poisonous toxins with acidic properties and their limbs can regenerate from almost anything. The only way we can beat a Hydra is to sever the original head from the body, cauterize the wound with a strong enough flame."

"But where are we gonna find flames that can do that."

"Uum hello, dragon right here," Spike called out with a wave of his hand. "If its distracted long enough I might be able to use my fire." Ever since the Ursa Major incident Spike had been training his fire breath ability almost religiously. With how danger seemed to be popping up more recently the dragon figured one could never be too sorry.

"We might just have a plan." Twilight announced.

All the while Naruto had kept himself on the defensive. The creature began exhaling noxious fumes from its breath to which he easily avoided. Having long have to abandon his newly created kunais thanks to the creature's acidic properties he was waiting for an opening to attack.

"Hey ya stinking varmint over here!"

"Yoo hoo! Hey big, mean, and scaly, tasty, tasty pony over here!"

On two sides of the creature Pinkie Pie and Applejack had begun heckling the Hydra, drawing the attention of two of its head.

"AJ! Pinkie! What the hell are you two doing? Get out of here!" Naruto shouted at them as he suddenly found himself nearly blinded by the aura of Twilight's teleportation. "Twilight, you and the others were supposed to get out of here."

"Sorry Naruto, but a wise pony once told me that those who abandon their friends are less than trash."

An involuntary smile formed on Naruto's face. "I see." Despite how persistent its attacks were, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were proven too fast and agile respectively for the creature to hit it. "What's the plan?"

"Can you cut off its heads like before?" She asked him.

"Wouldn't the heads just grow back?" He asked.

"Not if we use Spike's fire breathe to cauterize the wounds. His dragon magic is more than strong enough to neutralize a hydra's ability to regenerate."

Surely enough Spike was waiting with Fluttershy in the background, waiting for his opportunity to strike.

"Well then," Naruto replied as he brought his hands together in a familiar cross gesture. "Let's get this party started." He said as Twilight's horn and hands began to glow. The two of them charged forward into the fray ready to do battle.

Groaning, sore, and tired the ponies and dragon began making their trek back to Ponyville.

"I don't know how it happened." Twilight said with a shake of her head. "But you said there'd be a doozy here at Froggy Bottom Bog, and I'd say we just had ourselves one heck of a doozy. I mean, that hydra…" She cut herself off when the pink prognosticator's face went slack and the rest of her started jittering all over again. "Pinkie?"

She stopped shuddering. "That wasn't it."

"Huh?" The shuddering started again.

"What wasn't what?" Spike asked as Pinkie stopped again.

"What are you talkin' about, Pinkie?" Applejack wanted to know.

"The hydra wasn't the doozy." Everypony turned to the pile of rocks that was covering the severed original head of the hydra they had just fought.

Pinkie's tremor kicked in again. "I'm still getting the shudders!" Her quaking moan stopped when they did. "You see? There it is again! Whatever the doozy was at Froggy Bottom Bog, my Pinkie Sense says it still hasn't happened."

"Huh? But I…" Twilight was furious and was slowly losing it. "…hat?! "The hydra wasn't the doozy? How could it not be the doozy? What could be doozy-er than that?!

"Dunno, but it just wasn't it." Pinkie Pie replied with a shrug.

The frustrated unicorn scrunched her face in a silent growl and gave voice to it. Her mental levels have reached breaking point and then she completely lost it with an unhinged snarl and a huge vertical leap. Her entire body went bone-white, her eyes blazed red, and her mane and tail went up in flames.

Twilight's glare, which lasted nearly four seconds before it burned itself out, leaving her hanging, with soot all over her now slightly smoking clothing.

Naruto who was a breath's way from exclaiming 'what the fuck was that' was quite simply speechless. He hated to see what would have happened if Twilight hadn't exhausted so much of her power fighting the Hydra. While for a moment they contemplated just simply having Twilight teleport them away they didn't want to risk the creature rampaging and coming across Ponyville. After the Ursa incident the town couldn't financially handle another wild creature attack at the moment.

"I give up." Twilight stated in a defeated sigh.

"Give what up, Twi?" Spike asked as Pinkie started shuddering again.

"The fight…I can't fight it anymore. I don't understand how, why, or what. But Pinkie Sense somehow…makes sense. I don't see how it does, but it just does! Just because I don't understand, doesn't mean it's not true."

"Y-Y-You mean you b-b-believe?" Pinkie stammered out in surprise.

With a nod Twilight answered. "Yep. I guess I do."

The tremors then intensified, then gave way to a quick succession of cartoonish contortions that stretched the pink body in ways it was surely never meant to go. When they stopped, Pinkie was left standing perfectly normal and motionless.

"Oh!" Pinkie then looked herself over and gasped. "That was it! That's the doozy!" Twilight and Spike gaped at her, the latter shaking his head clear.

"What?" Twilight asked as she crossed to her. "What is?"

"You believing! I never expected that to happen! That was the doozy!" She then gave off a laugh. "Oh, and oh, what a doozy of a doozy it was!"

"Are…are you serious?" At that moment Naruto was convinced that in some shape, form, or fasion Pinkie was a descendant of Celestia's. Whether it was as a direct descendant, being the mare's ancestral aunt or secret love child, there was no way in Tartarus the two weren't related. That was way too trolly and he refused to believe otherwise.

Either way everypony was too tired to worry about the specifics and just wanted to get home.

The following day came around and sure enough, accepting the Pinkie Sense, Twilight and Pinkie Pie's friendship was stronger than ever. The two could now be seen around town hanging out and simply having a good time. Not only that she had another report for Celestia as well, slowly but surely building up upon her research into the nature of friendship. The more data that was compiled the easier it would be to understand the bonds between the bearers and would make it easier to learn more about the truth of the Elements of Harmony.

In other words it was just what seemed to be another simple day for Ponyville if the growing number of strange incidents were any indicator.

Next Chapter: Being There For Laughter! Estimated time remaining: 51 Hours, 24 Minutes