(Zeko’s Desert)
(Dawn)

“And that’s why you should push the wedding back.” No sooner than the words left Zeko’s mouth, he was sucked into Kotetsu’s kamui.

“Why did you do that?!” Nouka and Celona questioned the sudden and seemingly dangerous event but mere seconds later a rift appeared and Zeko fell through it, landing face first on the floor. “Damn it that hurt!” He stood up while Kotetsu looked on in confusion

“Hold on it takes you like an hour to get out of there, how are you already back?” Kotetsu looked at his cousin up and down until making eye contact with him. “Wait, that thing’s real?! I thought you did that just because... How’d that copy have a real Rinnegan?”

Zeko smirked at his cousin’s surprise but it quickly dropped once he realized, “I don’t actually know, that Discord guy is supposedly a god but if that was the case then I don’t know how we beat him.”

“Maybe we’re stronger than a god! We have been training for a long time so-“ A slow drifting shell of air made its way towards Nouka and caught his attention as it traveled closer and closer until it struck his face with the force of a simple slap.

“Even the Kage don’t compare to a god level threat so don’t try to say that we’re there yet.” Zeko spat at his friend who was now holding his cheek. “Regardless there has to be a way to-“

“I know what you’re going to say.” Kotetsu interrupted. “I’m not letting these candy colored horse people be at my wedding! And Shiro isn’t doing it either so don’t try to use the ‘he’s like a brother to me’ card.” He referenced the sibling like relationship that his fiancé and how his cousin was able to convince her of nearly anything under the right circumstances.

Zeko walked out of the house with Nouka following, Celona just glared at Kotetsu while he looked relatively calm. “Why are you being so mean to him? Aren’t you two supposed to be-“

“Let me stop you there.” Kotetsu interrupted. “I can tell you like him, I’m willing to bet he might have something for you but it’ll never happen.”

“Wha-“ She stuttered but Kotetsu interrupted again.

“And it’s not even his fault, it’s his stalker’s. She’s obsessed with him and I can only assume she’s been hunting him down all this time. If she even thinks that you’re trying anything with Zeko... All I can say is she fought my bride to be and it was a deadlock.” Kotetsu followed his friends out the door and left Celona alone with her thoughts, none of which were positive.

She stood there alone in the room with light peering through the windows on the side even noticing Lachlan walking by with what looked like a branch in his mouth. “Timberwolves...” She idly said to distract herself, not from the harsh words of Kotetsu but his message. Celona knew that she wouldn’t be able to be with Zeko but held out hope that it would work out for her in the end... unfortunately it doesn’t seem that it would go that way.

“Looks like whoever else was here is gone so you mind telling me what this place is and how I get back to the land of fire?” Celona snapped around but a hand caught her around the throat...

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“My brother’s getting married to Princess... Mi Amore Cadenza? Who’s that?!” Twilight exclaimed while her friends gathered around her, reading the same missive she was holding.

“I can’t say that I know darling, and I know every major figure in Canterlot.” Rarity added as she moved a well crocheted pillow onto the picnic blanket.

“You even know us and we’re not from here!” Nouka said as he plopped onto the blanket, appearing out of nowhere.

“And you couldn’t even mention me... And apparently I’m-“

“An eligible bachelor, at least I can stand you unlike certain princes...” Rarity chimed as Zeko floated from above, the action didn’t surprise them since they’d seen the teen perform more astounding feats.

“Ok so what’s this about another wedding? Because I’m already dealing with Kotetsu and Shiro’s.” Zeko questioned as he took a bite from an apple

“My brother is marrying a princess! And he never thought to tell me about it!” Twilight’s friends and even Nouka backed off some once a small field of magic appeared around Twilight but dissipated quickly. “I just don’t understand why he wouldn’t tell me that he was getting married, we started keeping in touch after he recovered from...” She gestured to Zeko and looked back to her friends.

“Well maybe he was trying to make sure you didn’t overreact, Kotetsu always says that women overreact over anything and everything.” Nouka decided to speak but only got strange looks from the mares and Spike.

Zeko stood up and looked towards Canterlot while munching the apple he had tossed away with only the core remaining. Noting the crisp texture and flavor of the fruit before expressing his own thoughts on the issue. “Why don’t we just go and see why? We know where he lives so let’s ask him why he kept it a secret.” There was total silence for a few moments before Twilight ran towards her house. “Guess we’re going then.” He finished his snack and started towards the unicorn’s house while the others cleaned up their picnic spot.

The next few hours consisted of the group riding a train to Canterlot while the trio of shinobi rode on a bird courtesy of Nouka, and throughout the trip the mane six were being assaulted by the words of their own member Twilight who continuously asked somewhat rhetorical questions about her brother and why he didn’t tell her about his wedding. “And another thing! Why didn’t he think to tell me then?! There’s no way he just met this... Mi Amore Cadenza, out of nowhere so-“ A tapping on the window turned her attention to Zeko standing on the side of the train and pointing ahead, indicating that they were there. They left the train station and headed for the castle, Twilight not stopping her rant in the process.

“Would you shut the hell up?! I’ve got a wedding coming up too and I can’t even think about the finalizations of our designs with you nagging like an old bitch!” Kotetsu’s outburst earned some very shocked looks but he continued walking while the onlookers, save Zeko and Nouka, stood shocked.

“It might not‘ve been the best way to say it, but he might’ve answered your questions sugarcube.” Applejack said

“How?” Twilight questioned, prompting Rarity to step closer.

“Well perhaps Shining has been preoccupied with preparing his own wedding and hasn’t been able to come tell you himself.” Twilight looked at the ground solemnly and thought about what her friends told her but a Royal Guard ahead of them stopped them from going to the castle.

“I’m sorry but we have a dangerous- Oh forgive me, the element bearers and the visitors. You may be truly necessary here.” He lifted his spear and let them start running towards the training yard where they saw a small crowd.

“Ok look I don’t know where I’m at and if any of you gets closer, I’ll kill her!” A voice rang

“We can come to a peaceful resolution, I only ask that you let her go.” Celestia’s voice rang

“I’m not stupid! Shinobi are trained to see past deception so I’ll ask again, where in the hell am I?” A voice that none of the group identified. But once they came into the yard they saw

“All of you back off now or- Hey you’re shinobi!” A ninja like them but he was clearly an adult and dressed in dark, baggy clothes with closed toe shoes.

“Rogue ninja! He’s from the stone!” Zeko pointed at the headband which bore a depiction of two angled stones with a horizontal slash across it, but he also noticed who was in his grasp. “Celona!” The brown mare had a kunai to her neck, and her arms were at her sides.

“Yeah I’m missing, B-ranked matter of fact! I don’t know who you kids are or how you followed me but I’m gonna run free and there’s nothing you can do to bring me in.” The man taunted while the forces around him watched on in surprise.

“We need to find a way to save her! I can use my clay to-“

“Don’t!” Celona spoke up and interrupted Nouka. “Don’t bother saving me! Just beat him!” Eyes widened at the sudden statement and even the rogue ninja looked surprised.

There was a madness inducing silence after Celona uttered the sentence but the calm was broken by Kotetsu approaching the pair and a kunai being clenched closer. “I don’t think you heard me kid, I’d recommend you back up unless you want horse girl to-“ The kunai vanished... “What the?!” He looked at Kotetsu and saw his eyes. “N-No... You’re- One of the Uchiha?!” He pushed Celona away, turned and ran but a hand on his shoulder made him pause.

“The only thing I hate more than Nouka’s stupid noise-“

“Hey!”

“Is a coward. And you wanna know how I deal with cowards? They get to feel the anger of a dragon!”

“Huh? Huh?! Aah!” Kotetsu spun the rogue ninja to face him and jumped onto his chest, stomping onto his ribs in the process.

“Go to hell you damn coward!” Kotetsu raised one foot and kicked, repeating the action until his feet were a blur and only the sounds of his shoes colliding with the ninja’s chest were audible.

*Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!*

“Now get out of my sight!” He kicked the ninja in the chin and vaulted off of him, allowing the rogue to fall to the ground unconscious.

“Wow Kotetsu! It’s been a while since you did the dragon fury barrage!” Nouka exclaimed as he made a large clay spider to carry the ninja on.

“Why did you save me? You were right earlier so why bother if I’m just-“ Celona started but Kotetsu’s raised hand interrupted her and him walking over to her with his Sharingan still active unnerved her.

“I was telling you the facts, not trying to make you crave death. Zeko’s a simple guy but the girl who loves him more than anything isn’t someone you want to be in the way of. It’s a lost cause but you’ll find someone else, if I can get engaged you can definitely get a date.” He whispered to her while Zeko and Nouka tried to identify the missing ninja to no avail.

“How’d he even get here? I thought your kamui was the only access point.” Zeko looked to his approaching cousin but Celestia brought attention to herself.

“I meant to contact you about that, there is a rift in the castle that I contained not too long after he managed to find his way here. I looked into it myself and saw a terrible dark realm.”

Zeko and Kotetsu glanced at each other before answering. “Sounds like the kamui.” But a twinkle appeared in Zeko’s eyes.

“Where’s the rift?” Celestia pointed towards the main hall of her castle and Zeko darted towards it, ending up right in front of the massive staircase. He reached a hand into the small sphere and noticed the different feeling of the very air before looking into it with his Rinnegan active. “This might be one of the best ideas I’ve ever had... Or it could be the worst and end up costing thousands of lives. Only one way to find out!” He went into the rift and left no other trace that he was there.

“So what was your plan from this point? You never like going in here any other time.” Kotetsu asked, appearing behind Zeko.

“So this is on the south side of your base, that’s why I didn’t see it before. And my plan is to try to make a way to reach our dimension from here, that way I can make your wedding and be here in case anything goes wrong.” Kotetsu stared at Zeko before rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“So you want to just leave my kamui open for anything to just go into? And ruin my honeymoon with Shiro? You know what go ahead, if anything goes wrong it’s not my problem how many of your bones Shiro breaks.”

Zeko smirked before starting towards the building. “That’s all the inspiration I need to get it right.”

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Author's Notes:

Sorry about no Chapter last week but these make up for it in my opinion