Equestrian Heroes

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Naruto x ?

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Story Start

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Captain of the Unicorn guard Shining Armor sat at his desk, shuffling through papers he really didn't want to read. All were reports of the incidents that the Guards had been encountering near the capital. While bandit activity and such were nonexistent in the area due to the fact that few were foolish enough to try an attack with Celestia herself in the capital, there were still those when given enough incentive would try and spy and gather information.

Even with the turnover rate they had of spies, there was no guarantee that every single operative had been captured. It had been the first time in centuries that the current guard numbers had been under represented in their effectiveness henceforth the recruitment campaigns that had been going on.

Shining Armor took a moment away from his work to fix up his appearance. His moderate cerulean eyes looked a bit haggard from all the shifts he had been pulling lately. A light cerulean blue glow brought a comb to him as he began to fix up his mane. A nice shade of moderate sapphire blue with dark phthalo streaks. His coat was a turqouish white or what could be seen under the royal violet and Red Guard shirt and dark blue uniform pants were presentable enough. On his chest he proudly wore the stripes of a commanding officer with the recently attached metal he had been given during his services during the Summer Sun Festival event.

Compared to most Unicorns in this particular guard Shining Armor was particular well built. He spent a good deal of time conditioning his body to develop rock hard abs and well tone legs and apparently a magnificent and very pinchable ass much to his embarrassment.

Why in Equisnia did he think that a disturbance at a bachelorette party would not result in him being mistaken for a stripper he'll never know. For his insanity he made it his mission to avoid locales where there would be a multitude of drunk and amorous mares, at least if he didn't have his armor.

A knock at the door caused Shining to straighten up. He cleared his throat and said in his best authoritative voice, "Come in."

The door gently swung open to reveal a cerise Alicorn.

She had a slim, hourglass figure with slender arms and legs. Her breasts were fairly large and perky; enough to put many mares to shame, but that was one of many benefits that came with being an Alicorn. This pale, light grayish cerise mare was known other than Princess Cadance, niece of Princess Celestia and with her return, now Princess Luna as well. As the princess of love, her features were that reminiscent of love. Blessing the mare with not only a heart shaped face in feature, but a heart shaped plot as well. Her mane like the princesses was also unique, moderate violet in color with rose and pale gold streaks giving off the appearance of cotton candy which complimented her light purple eyes. Of the now three Alicorns she remained the shortest.

She smiled sweetly at Shining and he breathed a sigh of relief. Cadance's very image was enough to calm down Shining Armor, even if he was this stressed. He smiled back to her and she sauntered over to him.

"Aaw, they been putting you through the ringer haven't they Shiny?" she asked sweetly with a hint of playfulness.

Shining sighed again and looked back at the stacks of papers.

"Like you wouldn't believe. You would think after all this time we would make some process, but it never seems to end."

Cadance gently nuzzled his neck and said, "Don't worry about it. Auntie has a plan."

He perked up at this. When her majesty has a plan it usually involved things getting much better no matter how horrible they were preceding. "Will this plan result in me getting regularly sleeping hours again?"

"Yes, it involves her special friend." She answered with a grin. No matter how much her auntie denied it, she could sense that Celestia was rather fond of Naruto. Not the all-consuming and wonderful love between a stallion and mare that Cadance was fond of, but a subtle and well established friendship, attraction, and mutual respect that could develop into something meaningful and life lasting. "I can't tell you much more than that though, you'll have to see like everypony el~se." she sang.

'Uh oh' Shining thought, this could only mean his marefriend was in the midst of trying to set someponies up. May Faust have mercy for all those who were going to inevitably get caught up in the middle of whatever she had planned. "I take it that's not your only reason for being here?"

"No, thankfully Cloudsdale is finally stable. The Sky guard has been keeping a close eye, not to mention Cloudsdale has a military academy stationed there so it's highly unlikely we'll have too much trouble for the time being. No, what I wish to do is go visit Ponyville and go see how Twilight is doing. I am looking forward to meeting her friends."

"If I wasn't swamped with work." He replied with a sigh.

"I'll tell her you said hi." She said as she kissed his cheek.

---

Naruto had to admit being a member of the Equestria army was an interesting experience because of how different the infrastructure was than it was for being a shinobi. In order to get a better understanding of how things worked he was essentially observing how the recruitment and training went.

"Listen up, foals. I'll be your drill sergeant for the entirety of your training. My name is Thunder Crackle, but you will address me as sir, do I make myself clear?"

The elected cries of, "Sir, yes sir!" Were as unorganized as one could get.

Thunder Crackle admonished the recruits for their sloppy response and promised that soon enough the survivors would be a fit and sinuous unit.

"Now, the majority of you weaklings would be best suited to serve in the Equestria Guard. It's the easiest of the guard companies that don't require as much aptitude or skill in comparison to the other guards. You will be making up the bulk of our forces, working as guards in towns or sent on missions in the country side.

Now for those of you who have any testicular fortitude whatsoever, you can join one of the other guards.

For our Pegasus recruits you would be joining the Pegasus Guard. Our patrol ponies of the sky that will be monitoring trade routes and protecting cloud cities. Only a certain level of fliers will be admitted to this guard.

Then there is the Unicorn guard who made up a good deal of the forces in our capital cities. Your magic is necessary to both defend against assaults and take on any armies who would dare try to assault our cities.

The rest of our guards will only be accepting the cream of the crops. You will find no weaklings in the Special Forces Guard who will be dealing with magical disasters, dark magic, twisted monsters, and the occasional thief that thinks they'll make it big by breaking into Canterlot Castle. The various scenarios that could be encountered means that like the general guard this company accepts all the tribes.

One random recruit foolishly spoke out of turn and interrupted. "Does that happen often?"

"DID I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO SPEAK!?" he lambasted the new recruit. "Never speak unless you are addressed! Do I make myself clear!?"

The timid recruits nodded their heads, this time in unison. "Sir, yes sir!"

"Ge the nonsense out of your head of illusions of grandeur and being shining knights. You exist as nameless guards. As guards you are expected to be silent. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!? NOW REPEAT IT!"

"A good guard is a silent guard!" The recruits nervously chanted.

"Louder!"

"A GOOD GUARD IS A SILENT GUARD!" The recruits shouted.

Naruto couldn't help but silently note the irony of what was happening. Finally the commanding officer went back to talking about the final guard unit.

"Finally we have the Solar Guard, the most elite of Equestria's guard and Celestia's personal guard. Once every few years only a hand full of ponies have the honor and privilege to be chosen to be added to her majesty's guard. I suggest you don't waste your time unless you're going to dedicate your life to becoming worthy enough to apply to the Solar Guard."

The guard cleared his throat and said, "Alright recruits, this will be your new home for the next few months. Basic Training is not easy, but it will forge you into fine guards if you cooperate. Hopefully, next time I see either of you, I will be saluting you."

The Barracks as Naruto had expected was a large square shaped structure lined with rows of simple bunk beds, compacted to maximize the room with the building connected with a latrine that left much to be desired.

The first few days had easily breezed right through. Thanks to his dedicated training what was being thrown at him was a snore. He was always a hands on sort of individual so he participated in the drills to sate his curiosity. Unfortunately with the exception of gaining more knowledge on how Equestrian military operated he wasn't learning much.

He made his way to the mess hall, grabbing a tray of roasted carrots and fresh oats. As per usual he found a loan seat and sat down. So far he hadn't anypony that was either sociable or he could bond with. The room was filled with chatter, guard ponies talking over each other and assorted cliques of recruits conversing.

"Hey, what's it doing at our table?" this voice not only had a bit of country twang to it, it was rather rough.

"Hey, I'm talking to ya, stupid!" the same voice spoke, drawing Naruto's attention.

Naruto turned and he saw several pony recruits crowding around the bat pony. The crowd consisted of mostly unicorns with a couple of earth ponies and a Pegasus. He caught glimpses of Amaranth, butter yellow, coal black and pearl coats.

The one that really caught his attention was the Theastral. She was certainly like a pegasus pony, but her wings were more leathery like those of a bat, shaded a deep violet. She was built like a Pegasus, slender yet maybe about as tall as a Unicorn. Her coat was that of a soft grey, and her mane and tail, colored a deep purple to match the leathery bat like wings on her back. "I have no interest in starting a debacle with little foals trying to play tough. Like the rest of you I merely wish to serve my country."

"You don't have a country fanger or have you forgotten what your kind tried to pull a few months ago?" The Negasi remained quiet. "What got nothing to say?" Suddenly the pony was grabbed by her collar and hoisted up. "I'm talking to you fang…"

"That's enough!" Naruto snapped as he hopped up from his seat. "What's your deal!?"

The mess hall grew quiet as their attention was being drawn to what was happening.

"Looks like we got ourselves a fanger lover. What are you going to do about it?"

The Amaranth mare found herself stunned when Naruto had freed the Theastral from her grip. She let out a gurgled noise of surprise.

"That. If you can't separate enemy from ally than maybe you shouldn't be here." He said as he turned to the Theastral whose golden orbs focused on him in surprise. He turned his back to the Amaranth mare. "Are you okay?" He didn't even need to turn as he could practically feel the mare behind him gnashing her teeth.

He could feel it in the air her movements as she readied to attack him. He was about to turn and catch it to when his surprise the mare's attack had been suddenly halted. He turned and to his surprise the captain of the Unicorn guard.

"So, you think it's appropriate to attack your fellow trainees?" Nopony else dared speak as Shining Armor continued. "If you do, I will need to examine exactly what your training officer taught you. Who knows what will happen to them?"

One of the other ponies from the group started to protest, but it faltered as soon as it started.

"Oh, so you also have no respect for rank as well? It seems there's a huge flaw in our training program. I will speak to them about that as well, but for now I want you eight to go run a hundred laps around the entire castle perimeter and then I want you all to remove those private rankings from your armor. You will restart Basic Training tomorrow. Understood, recruits?"

Shining Armor stressed the final word loudly and there was a shuffling of armor as they ran off. Silence reigned for a few more seconds until Shining Armor said, "As you were."

"You okay, soldier?" Shining Armor spoke to the Theastral

"I'm fine sir." She replied, it was obvious by the way she shifted she was uncomfortable. "Recruit Dusk Treader Sir." She introduced herself, suddenly remembering her training. Glimpses of a bruise on her neck were evident.

"Did those recruits do that to you?"

The Theastral was startled, fearful as she hastily covered the bruise. "N-No sir, I fell down some stairs. Just a clumsy accident."

There couldn't have been a worst lie.

Shining Armor then turned his attention to Naruto.

"Provision Officer Naruto Uzumaki, Captain Armor."

The subtle reactions from his eyes indicated that Shining either knew something about him or somepony had mentioned him. "Well then Provision Officer Naruto Uzumaki, I am glad somepony had enough valor to stand up for their fellow Equestrian." The volume at which he spoke it was with the intent to shame all the others who had stood there and did nothing.

Shining Armor made a mental note to remember the name of the guards who were stationed for today's duty and speak to their superiors about what happened.

Shining Armor smiled at them both and said, "Why don't you both come with me. There's two someponies who wish to speak with you two."

Dusk Treader couldn't help but let out a surprised gasp when the someponies were none other than Princess Luna and Princess Celestia. She couldn't help the shortness of breath she was feeling. This was a bit overwhelming.

"Thank you Captain Armor. As always you have performed splendidly."

Dusk immediately bowed her head in respect, as both princesses got up and made their way over to the trio. "May we learn thy name recruit?" Luna spoke to the Negasi.

"Dusk Treader your majesty it is both and honor and privilege to be in your presence." As expected the reverence was there.

"Young Thestral news of your enrollment both delighted and worry us. Tensions between the tribes has always ran undercurrent without bringing up the topic thy race. We assure thee that everything will be down within our power to ease the tensions."

As Luna conversed with Dusk her sister and Naruto were having a conversation of their own.

"Now that you have completed your technique for instantaneous travel between Canterlot and Ponyville have you managed to set up plans for any other projects?"

"At the moment I'm just adjusting to the current assignment and learning what I can."

The reason why they had ask him to watch what happened was rather simple. To observe future trainees for what could be potential recruits to join the Lunar Guard. His past experiences had shown him that older ranked members of certain military visions tend to be set in their ways.

"One thing that could work as a possibility of the Lunar Guard is a safe haven for those of unconventional backgrounds to be given a chance to blossom." Once he finished he flashed a glance at Dusk.

"Indeed, which is why I invited our esteemed captain who has volunteered to help you get in shape so to speak. I recalled you mentioning once or twice needing to get back to your old level of strength."

"It will be interesting to see if you live up to the expectations my sister has laid out in letters." Shining Armor spoke, his face holding that of a professional demeanor while all the mirth was in his eyes.

In another kind of situation this would have been a cause of alarm, but considering that Naruto and Twilight had a rather platonic friendship, he wasn't worried.

"Young Dusk Treader, would thee have any objections of joining the Lunar Guard under Sir Naruto's leadership?"

Upon the question Dusk Treader's eyes practically lit up. The brief glance at the blond betrayed her uncertainty. Her look wasn't one of fear or uncertainty, no, more of idling curiosity. "I would be honored." She once more answered.

The meeting soon came to an end as the ponies of the guard were dismissed.

Naruto would soon come to learn that Shining Armor in no uncertain words was a bastard. He hadn't seen anyone short of Luna and Nightmare Moon wielding such powerful magic in battle. Five solid attacks and still the barrier that had been erected hadn't so much as fizzle.

Then again his experience against powerful magic users was limited beyond those chance few encounters. More than once he found himself breaking his hand on the blasted Captain's barriers. The only factors he had going for him were stealth and agility as Armor's experience in battle and large catalog of combat spells more than allowed him to even the playing field with Naruto.

His legs felt like noodles right now. Why did he had to be a stubborn ass and insisted on skipping to the highest grade of physically conditioning a Captain level fighter needed?

"You could just always use Sage Mode? At this rate your body is simply running on fumes." Kurama had to admit, whenever Naruto had moments when he slipped into being a stubborn idiot it always brought up sensations of nostalgia.

"Using Sage mode would make it too easy. I don't want to just go back to my old level of strength Kurama. I want to become stronger than I ever was in my old life. My strongest back then would still put me fairly weaker than Celestia and Luna. Even without using their charges it's hard to gauge their strength from the historical text I read over."

"And simply asking them is out of the question I suppose?"

"It's simply something I have to do and I don't want to bring up any reasons that could worry them. Becoming as strong as the princesses is the only way I can feel halfway certain that I have enough strength to protect my herd and the citizens of this nation. In other words I don't want to be equally fist fighting random punks that stroll into the village. I'm tired of feeling like a Genin. This level of strength might be good enough for a rookie, but not the Hokage."

"Do you plan on getting back up any time soon?" Despite Shining Armor's taunt Naruto was far from done. "If you're done for the day you can give up. I thought you were just being cocky saying you can handle captain level training, buy the fact you lasted this long surprised me."

"The girls…" He muttered, "The princesses…everypony. Can't let them down." He said as he slowly began to push himself to his hooves.

Shining Armor knew what his motivation was. To serve his country. To protect his family. Cadance. He knew what it meant to be stubborn. He knew what it meant to strive for a seemingly unobtainable goal.

"Thank you for conditioning my mind and strengthening my body, sir! Permission to continue!?"

The Princesses had fate in this stallion. He had to admit, after seeing how stubborn he was his curiosity was peaked as well. "Permission granted."

With a single attack Naruto was able to shatter the barrier. Progress had been made.

At long last the key he had been missing to progress had been discovered. No matter how much he conditioned he never got the full returns he was expecting, but being trained by someone well versed in training equine soldiers he felt progress he hadn't felt in a long time.

At first it had simply been training with Armor which consisted of simple conditioning that resulted in more improvements then driving himself to the body breaking exhaustion his prior training had. When an earth pony instructor who excelled in training members of his tribe was added to the mix he was given a better understanding of how his body worked and how to use his earth pony talents.

This entire time Naruto had been relying on his shinobi arts without any consideration that ignoring his earth pony heritage could have detrimental effects on his ability to train and fight and was improperly conditioning his body to fight in a way his body wasn't adapted to fight.

What followed was training against trainees then guards, and slowly but surely going up against higher ups until he could handle himself against a mixed company of soldiers with ease.

Fighting style after fighting style by the three tribe members was thrown at him as the next two months saw a huge growth spurt in his development. The biggest shock was seeing his muscle mass develop as well and Canterlots professional healers listing out a proper diet for him.

And while he would be seen publicly going through the standard training he would have copies of himself reading through whatever information he had clearance to read through while having other kagebunshin tail squads for other missions and witness more of the standard procedures and squad behaviors.

It was only going to be a matter of time when the announcement of the creation of the Lunar Guard Captain would be made official. Though for right now he would just continue to train in preparation.

Next Chapter: Luna's Curiosity and Rarity Breaks the news to Spike! Estimated time remaining: 47 Hours, 26 Minutes