(Ponyville)

At noon, with the sun shining lazily upon them, Naruto and Apple Bloom made their way around the town that Naruto would eventually be calling home. Ponyville was bustling with activity: shops and stalls were selling their wares, restaurants catered to the lunch rush, while colts and fillies ran about and played without a care in the world. The buildings themselves gave off a cozy feeling and were surprisingly well constructed, considering that they must have been built by the ponies that inhabited them. Naruto sighed to himself: he was reminded of Konoha… at least, before constant attacks by S-ranked powerhouses and various wackjobs reduced it to a crater.

Apple Bloom heard his sigh and turned her neck back slightly so she could see him, “You alright, Naruto?”

The Shinobi-stallion gave the young filly a smile, “Yeah, I’m fine: just feeling a little--”

His voice came to a halt as a small group of young ponies rushed past him, some of them possessing either a horn upon their head or a pair of wings on their back. Apple Bloom saw the look of shock on his face and laughed, “You act like you’ve never seen a Unicorn or a Pegasus before.”

Naruto shook his head, “I haven’t. Sure, horses exist where I’m from, but something special like those would probably be a Summon or something.” He blinked: maybe there was an equine summoning contract back in his world. If that were the case, he wondered if they would be anything like the ones in this world. At that moment, the mental image of various members of the Akatsuki, as well as enemies and rivals from a time long ago, being buried under a writhing mass of brightly colored ponies came to mind, and Naruto couldn’t contain his laughter.

Since only he knew the reason he was laughing, Naruto assumed that he would be the only one laughing, thereby producing an embarrassing scene that he would have to deal with. Well, as the old saying goes… which is why he was genuinely surprised to hear female laughter alongside his own. Even more interesting was that it was not Apple Bloom.

Naruto found himself staring at a bright pink Earth Pony, whose mane and tail were merely a darker shade of pink. On her flank was some sort of mark that clearly resembled a trio of balloons. Every few seconds or so, her eyes would open slightly, revealing blue sapphire irises that rivaled his own. Her laughter was ridiculously chipper, even for him. Without any warning, she cut off in mid-laugh and asked,

“Hiya! What’s your name?”

Naruto couldn’t help but blink at the pony’s sudden shift in activity, “Uh, I’m Naruto Uzumaki. And you would be…?”

“I’m Pinkie Pie, and you must be new here.”

“Uh, yeah, but how--”

“You see, I’ve never seen you before, and if I’ve never seen you before that means you're new, 'cause I know everypony, and I mean everypony in Ponyville!”

Naruto gapped, “That… is amazing. You actually know everyone in town?”

Pinkie tilted her head in a particularly cute manner before giggling, “You have a funny accent, Nah-rue-toe. Come to think of it, your name sounds pretty funny, too. Where did you say you’re from?”

Naruto gave an inward start: he didn’t think of a cover story! Fortunately, Apple Bloom came to his rescue,
“He didn’t. Naruto’s from Neighpon: he’s a close friend of the Apple family, so our great uncle Fuji brought him along to help out for the festival.”

As Pinkie Pie appeared to accept the explanation, Naruto was amazed that Apple Bloom came up with that on the spot. She must have some prankster blood flowing through her.

He was proven right when he saw that prankster’s sparkle in the filly’s eye, “Earlier, he told me that Ponyville was such a nice town that he’s planning on staying after the festival.”

Before the poor blond could open his mouth to protest, Pinkie turned back to him with the biggest smile on her face, “Really?! I’m going to have to throw you a Pinkie Pie-style “Welcome to Ponyville” Party! Oh, it’ll be so much fun! There’ll be sweets, games, housewarming gifts… Wait: do you have a place of your own, or will you be staying at Sweet Apple Acres? You should think about getting your own place because then you can have as much fun as you want without anypony telling you to keep it down, since it’ll be your home and all. What were we talking about? Oh, right: the party! I’ll need to send out invitations and--”

By the Sage, just how long can this pony go before she requires another lungful of air?! Naruto wanted to see more of Ponyville, so at this point he was mentally beseeching any and every deity in this world to provide some sort of intervention.

And as the saying goes in another world: “Ask and ye shall receive.”

At that moment, Pinkie’s tail seemed to be experiencing some sort of spasm, causing her to immediately divert all of her attention to it, “Uh oh: twitchy tail.”

Naruto blinked, “What’s the matter, Pinkie Pie?”

Pinkie looked at him like he had spoken in another language, “My tail! It’s a’ twitchin’! That means that something is about to fall from the sky!”

He quirked an eyebrow, “Say what, now? I’ve heard of unusual predictions, but--”

“LOOK OUT BELOW! INCOMING!”

Naruto had only a single second to look skyward before he was struck by a plummeting object, colliding hard enough to kick up a fairly large cloud of dust that engulfed him completely. As the two Earth Ponies coughed and tried in vain to disperse the cloud by waving their hooves like fans, a blue Pegasus with a multicolored mane swooped down nearby.

Purple eyes examined Apple Bloom and Pinkie, “Is everypony alright?”

Apple Bloom smiled sheepishly, “We’re fine, but I’m pretty sure that Naruto isn’t.”

The blue mare blinked in confusion, “Who?”

Pinkie pointed a hoof at the dust cloud, “Him: the one that doubted the power of my Pinkie Sense.”

The winged pony put a little extra oomph in her beats, scattering the concealing dust. The sight that was revealed was a rather amusing one: Naruto was on his back with his forelegs curled reflexively over his ribcage and his hind legs splayed out, with a grey Pegasus sporting a mane with a lighter shade of blonde draped across his belly. Just like with Pinkie Pie, these ponies also bore marks upon their flanks: the blue Pegasus had a white cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt, while the grey mare had an assortment of two large bubbles accompanied by five smaller bubbles.

Naruto groaned as he opened his eyes, “Ugh, what hit me?”

An amused tomboyish voice answered him, “That would be Derpy.”

Once he finally regained his bearings, Naruto found himself literally face-to-face with a pair of crossed eyes possessing a gradient from yellow-lime to amber. Currently, those eyes were shimmering with worry, “I’m so sorry! I was flying with Rainbow Dash and I suddenly fell; I just don’t know what went wrong! Are you okay, mister?”

He couldn’t help but smile: concerned about someone that she hadn’t even properly met? This little pony, Derpy, must be one of the purest souls he had ever encountered.

The exaggerated gagging noises of Kurama certainly ruined the moment, though.

Carefully keeping the mounting annoyance out of his voice, he replied as kindly as possible, “Don’t worry about me: I’ve been through worse.”

Derpy clamored to get off of him as the other Pegasus present offered a hoof, “Name’s Rainbow Dash: the fastest flyer around.”

Naruto gratefully accepted her help, “Naruto Uzumaki: the new guy in town.”

Rainbow let out a chuckle at the unexpected rhyme, “So what brings you to Ponyville, Naruto: the Summer Sun Celebration?”

“Yeah,” Naruto replied, beginning the process of weaving himself into the tapestry that was his cover, “And I heard from many visitors to Neighpon that Ponyville is such a nice place to live, I’m thinking of settling down here.”

The sky-blue Pegasus buffed the hoof of her right foreleg against her puffed-out chest, “Yeah, Ponyville’s an awesome place. Ya know, I’ve been asked to keep the sky clear for the celebration.” She looked at the orange stallion and smirked, “And I can do it in ten seconds flat.”

Naruto blinked: even though it sounded outlandish, he’d heard, seen and done stranger. He developed a Jutsu that turned him into a woman, for crying out loud! He smiled, “I’ll take your word for it, Rainbow Dash. It was nice meeting you, but we should be going: Apple Bloom was showing me around Ponyville, and I’m sure you three have better things to do.”

“I got nothing going on/Carrot Top is watching the girls today/Nope,” were the responses of Rainbow Dash, Derpy and Pinkie, respectively.

Naruto couldn’t help but sweatdrop (he was genuinely surprised that he could do it here): they seemed to respond a little too quickly.

Displaying physical strength that greatly betrayed her appearance, Pinkie somehow got a decent hold on Naruto and began leading him off in a seemingly random direction, “First thing’s first: head to Sugarcube Corner for some yummy treats!”

With Derpy’s cry of “Muffins!”, the group of five started their trek to their apparently next destination.

(Canterlot: Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns)

“Twilight! Spike! What took you so long to get back?”

In the city of Canterlot is an academy known as Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. As the name suggests, the student body is composed entirely of Unicorns: amongst them, two in particular would become vital links in the chain of destiny that was in the process of being forged.

“Lyra, how do you keep getting in here?”

One of which present, however, could hardly stand the other and her theories.

“It wasn’t that hard, Twilight: my personal studies have taught me how to successfully and effectively pick locks. It would’ve been easier if I had fingers though. You should be grateful for what you have, Spike!”

“Uhhh…”

“Ugh. Lyra: first, breaking and entering is wrong. Second, I’m tired of hearing what you think about “humans”: they’re just an old pony’s tale.”

“Is that right? Then would you like to explain just why I was able to find THIS?”

The mighty clap of a thick book meeting the floor got both the personal apprentice of Celestia and her young dragon ward (“assistant!”) to yelp in surprise. Dispersing the shock, Twilight Sparkle looked carefully at the title of the book:

Equestria: Founding and History

She frowned immediately, “This is just another history book, Lyra.”

The minty-green Unicorn shook her head, never losing her grin, “This isn’t “just another history book”: this one specifically mentions humans, saying that humans were capable of fully bipedal locomotion, leaving their arms available for manipulating objects using their hands, aided especially by opposable thumbs. And get this: I’ve read pretty much the entire book, and it sounds like a member of the royal family had a hoof in writing this!”

Twilight didn’t want to admit it, but her curiosity was peaked. Doing her best to sound disinterested, she pressed in a bored tone, “Really? And just who was it?”

Here, Lyra frowned, “It must’ve been somepony who passed on: have you heard of anypony named Solstice?”

Twilight shook her head, “No, I’ve never heard that name before until just now.” An impressed look appeared on her face, “I must admit: you’ve put an extraordinary amount of time and effort into learning about something so obscure and discredited. Where did you find this thing, anyway?”

“Princess Celestia’s personal library.”

“WHAAAAAAAT?!”

“H…how did you…?”

“I told you two I can pick locks.”

(Ponyville: Within the Everfree Forest)

“Oh, dear: where could he have gone off to?”

On the outskirts of the southeastern side of Ponyville, there lay a seemingly endless sea of trees. This mysterious and unnatural place was known to all of Equestria as the Everfree Forest. Within the forest, both flora and fauna grew without restraint and the weather would alter of its own accord, completely unmanaged by Ponies.

Had it been any other day, a certain timid Pegasus by the name of Fluttershy would never even imagine setting hoof within the environment. However, her pet rabbit Angel Bunny had ran off into its depths, leaving the pale yellow mare no other choice than to go in after him.

That had been hours ago, and she still hadn’t seen a single sign of him. She was starting to get really worried.

“Once I find him and we get home, I’m going to give him a stern talking to.”

As the Pegasus continued trekking deeper into the forest in search of her wayward rabbit, she was completely unaware that she herself was being tailed. And, unfortunately for Fluttershy, her tracker had far from benevolent intentions. The thick trees hid her follower from view, yet allowing them to keep a constant sight on her. Sharp fangs glinted in the light as a thick tongue swept over them, their owner practically salivating at the vision of its next meal.

With stealth that betrayed its appearance, it quickly disappeared into a freshly-dug burrow and began to tunnel after the unsuspecting mare.

(Ponyville: outside Sugarcube Corner)

“Guh: too… many… sweets…”

Naruto’s female companions giggled (except Rainbow Dash, who insists she chuckled) at his pitiful moan as he gently rubbed his comically-round belly with a hoof. He stared at Pinkie, “How? How are you able to eat so many sweets and not feel bloated?”

Pinkie blinked, “I dunno: how come you can’t? Didn’t you have sweets back in Neighpon?”

Naruto moaned again before responding, “I was a vagabond, remember? I didn’t exactly possess the funds to buy anything: everything I had, I found with my own ha- uh, hooves.”

This got their undivided attention, with Rainbow asking, “What? Don’t you have relatives that could’ve helped you out?”

The humorous air was replaced by an aura of sadness as Naruto answered, “No: my parents died the day I was born, and I had no living relatives or family friends to take me in. I’ve been on my own since the very beginning.” ‘But, even if I didn’t know at the time, I had you watching out for me, Kurama.’

“We weren’t exactly as close then as we are now, brat. And besides: if you die, I die, and I have no intention of dying anytime soon.”

The reactions to this revelation were mixed:

Apple Bloom didn’t know what she was feeling as she stared at the disguised human. It was true that Mom and Dad were gone, but she still had Applejack, Big Macintosh and Granny Smith. Naruto, though: he never got to spend time with his parents, and he didn’t have family to raise him. Her eyes shone with sadness as tears began to fall from her chin to the ground.

Rainbow Dash felt a stabbing guilt at having brought up something painful to her new friend, even if it was unintentional. However, she couldn’t help but be amazed at the stallion before her: on his own from day one, and he still managed to get to where he is now, and so warm and friendly. Had she been faced with the same hardships, she wasn’t one-hundred percent certain that she would’ve been as good as Naruto: he made it through and turned out the way he did, and Rainbow Dash was proud to call him her friend.

Derpy had both eyes focused on the rust-orange stallion. She herself had faced troubling times growing up, but she persevered and now had two daughters that she was raising with the help of close friends. Well, okay: she was primarily raising the younger filly, Dinky, whose adopted big sister Sparkler helped out when the others were too busy. She understood the importance and wonder of being a family, and Naruto had never been part of one? A few rogue tears found themselves traveling down the Pegasus’ face.

Pinkie had the most pronounced reaction: she threw her forelegs around Naruto’s neck and bawled loudly, ocular gushers of tears and all. She was attempting to say something, probably words of apology and encouragement, but Naruto for the life of him could not understand the pink mare’s words.

It was then that a loud female cry pierced the air.

Snapping out of her temporary funk, Rainbow Dash seemed to recognize the origin of the scream, “That was Fluttershy!”

Derpy’s hoof shot up like there was a spring attached to it, pointing towards the large forest to the southeast, “It sounds like it came from the Everfree Forest!”

Pinkie found herself trying to hold air as Naruto easily slipped from her grasp and, displaying something that no ordinary Earth Pony should be capable of, leapt from the street onto the rooftops and bolted toward the forest.

“NARUTO!” Apple Bloom cried out at his abrupt departure.

Rainbow became airborne, “Hang on, Fluttershy! I’m coming!”

Derpy was momentarily startled when Apple Bloom hopped onto her back, “Miss Hooves, we gotta go after him: I’m responsible for Naruto while he gets settled in!”

Pinkie bounced up and down with a grin, “OOH, OOH! I wanna go, too: this sounds exciting!”

Seconds later, Derpy was taking to the air as well, with her two passengers on board, ready to follow Naruto and Rainbow Dash…

…the latter of whom had stopped, staring to the southeast with a look of absolute shock on her face.

“Rainbow Dash,” the farm filly asked, “what’s the matter?”

The blue Pegasus pointed, and when she looked, Apple Bloom’s jaw dropped:
Naruto wasn’t in his disguise anymore! He was tearing across the roofs on the two legs of his human form in broad daylight!

Apparently the older mares saw her face, because all three of theirs bore expectant looks.

Apple Bloom felt rather ashamed at having been caught lying, “I’ll explain on the way, alright? Right now, Naruto’s getting ahead of us.”

(Ponyville: Carousel Boutique)

Applejack and Rarity stood outside the latter’s boutique, Applejack’s saddle-bag bulging with Rarity’s completed project within.

“Thank ya kindly, Miss Rarity:AhI’m sure he’ll love what you’ve done.”

“I’m quite certain he will, dearie. However, I plan on presenting them myself, so I can see just how much he appreciates my hard work.”

“…You just want to see what he looks like, don’tcha?”

“Why, I never! I just… I…”

Rarity’s words perished on her tongue as her eyes widened in amazement. Applejack turned to look in the same direction, and felt her jaw attempt to unhinge as the mysterious creature of interest was running on his two legs in the direction of the nearby Everfree Forest.

Rarity, finally recomposing herself, asked, “Dearie: why is that thing you told me about going into that wretched place?”

Seconds after the bipedal creature disappeared amongst the trees, did a quartet of Ponies appear in hot pursuit. Noticing a very familiar bow, Applejack blurted, “Just what in tarnation does Apple Bloom think she’s doing?! She knows that forest is dangerous!”

Quick as a whip, Applejack bolted off after the group: a few seconds into her gallop, she became aware of another set of hooves just behind her. Craning her head slightly, she saw that Rarity -- Rarity – had joined in the chase. Beside herself, she called out, “Now, what in the hay do you think you’re doing?!”

Increasing her speed, Rarity was now galloping beside the farm mare, “I told you, didn’t I? I want to see this creature up close for myself!”

Applejack groaned in frustration as they shortly found themselves swallowed up by the dark forest.

(With Naruto)

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Naruto?!”

Naruto’s eyes glinted like steel in the sparse patches of sunlight that fought through the forest canopy, “There’s someone in trouble, Kurama. I can’t just stand idle when there’s something I can do to help.”

“Your chakra level is still dangerously low! You won’t even be able to make a single Shadow Clone without passing out!”

“Then loan me a decent chunk of yours!”

“My chakra is dangerous: too much of it at once could kill you, and because of our connection, I’ll die as well!”

Another scream, this one sounding very close.

“Well, you’re going to have to think of something, you jumbo-sized shag carpet! I’m helping, whether you like it or not!”

With that, Naruto leapt through the last set of trees with all his might.

(Everfree Forest: Suspiciously Convenient Open Field)

Fluttershy was on the verge of hyperventilating, her legs and wings locked up in fear. Just when she had finally found Angel Bunny, she herself had been found when part of the ground nearby exploded upwards, which she had screamed at the first time.

The beast looming over her sported a hungry grin: a massive, bipedal, dinosaur-like creature with a gray underside and covered in red, segmented plates of thick skin which appeared to resemble armor. There were also spikes that ran along the sides of its head, body, and tail. It had four claws on each hand, three claws on each foot, and four claw-like blades on the end of its large tail. Its eyes, which possessed a yellow sclera, black iris and a white pupil, were focused solely on her and Angel.

Fluttershy had a crippling fear that stood out above the rest, and that fear now stood before her: a dragon. But this wasn’t any run-of-the-mill dragon: this was an Earth Dragon, a species of dragon known for stalking their prey from underground before bursting up to devour them. This one, however, seemed to be rather cruel: instead of ending it quickly, the dragon wanted her to see just what would be cutting her life short.

It spoke in a booming and clearly male voice, “LITTLE PONY! YOU AND PUNY BUNNY ARE TERRAIN’S NEXT MEAL! ME HUNGRY, SO TIME TO EAT NOW!”

Fluttershy screamed once more (and possibly for the last time) as the Earth Dragon, Terrain, brought one of his clawed hands down upon the terrified Pegasus: too afraid to move, all she could do was close her eyes and hope that she would feel no pain.

Because her eyes were clenched tightly shut, she didn’t understand why, instead of feeling the dragon’s solid hand crushing her body, she felt a burst of air that sent her mane whipping violently with the harsh breeze. Puzzled by a strangled cry of anger from Terrain, Fluttershy slowly forced her eyes open…

…to discover that a strange creature, the likes of which she had never seen before, had stopped the dragon’s downward strike with its bare… hands? What was more, Fluttershy noticed that the biped’s torso and parts of its arms were wrapped in bandages: an injured creature had swooped in from nowhere to save her life!

“GRR, STUPID UGLY MONKEY-THING! GET OUT OF WAY AND LET TERRAIN EAT!”

“Well, that was rude,” the creature, apparently also male, retorted, “I’ve been told that I’m rather handsome.”

With that, the strange newcomer pushed the dragon’s hand away with enough force to put the beast off balance. Holding out his right arm, a spiraling blue sphere suddenly came into existence within the creature’s hand. Lunging forward with a cry of “RASENGAN!”, the sphere was driven into Terrain’s exposed grey underside.

Fluttershy watched with a horrified fascination as the blue sphere dug into the dragon’s flesh. Terrain roared in surprise and pain as he found himself being dislodged from the ground and sent into a backward spiral, traveling across pretty much the entire field before coming to a crashing halt in the unforgiving dirt.

Having put distance between himself and the dragon, the creature turned to face her, revealing a face unlike any other in this world made even more unique by the whisker-like marks upon it. Brilliantly bright blue eyes, shining like sapphires, flitted across her body in a search for any visible injuries. She gasped when she saw the telltale signs of fresh blood appearing across the bandages around his torso. If he was aware of it, he didn’t seem to care in the least as he knelt down close to her, “Are you alright?”

“Wh-who are you? What are you?”

“Name’s Naruto Uzumaki: human, and your designated savior for today.” He extended a hand toward her, palm up, “Let’s get you out of here, Fluttershy.”

A little startled that this… “human” knew her name, Fluttershy placed a hoof in his hand, gratefully accepting his helping her to her hooves.

On the other side of the field, Terrain groaned as he rose to his feet: that hairless monkey hurt him with some kind of archaic magic! He roared in anger, “PUNY MONKEY NO BEAT TERRAIN! TERRAIN MIGHTIEST EARTH DRAGON!”

Growling, Naruto extended both of his index and middle fingers, crossing them in front of himself and called, “Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

Countless clouds of white smoke erupted across the field. When they dissipated, both Fluttershy and Terrain stared in absolute shock: each cloud revealed an exact copy of Naruto, their combined total taking up almost a quarter of the field. Terrain understood some combat tactics, and he was well aware of the one about how even the strongest warrior can be toppled by a large enough army: it was painfully clear just who played which role in this scenario.

The Earth Dragon barely had time to yell before the Naruto horde descended upon him: deceptively powerful punches, kicks, and more of those blasted spheres tearing into his flesh. Never before had Terrain been overpowered in such a manner!

One of the clones struck him at an angle, sending him into the air. As he tried to right himself, he saw that two Narutos were holding a single sphere that was practically the size of Terrain’s head. Knowing that this would be the fight-ending blow, all Terrain could do was roar, “WHAT ARE YOU?!”

The Narutos responded in unison, “SHINOBI!”

Terrain roared in agony as the Giant Rasengan slammed into him, inflicting grievous wounds and sending him through the air, far from the their battlefield. A long, pain-filled roar was all that remained of Terrain in this particular region of Equestria: Naruto had put enough chakra into it to send the dragon into the next country.

Fluttershy watched, awestruck, as every Naruto but the one near her disappeared in a manner similar to how they’d arrived. She stared at the single remaining human with eyes that nearly glowed: she was ready to accept death without a fight, and Naruto came out of nowhere and, like some kind of superhero, saved her life without taking a single hit. Something stirred deep within her soul: this creature, this “human”, was her hero.

This is why she understandably panicked when he suddenly dropped to his knees, breathing heavily. Even though she could hear hooves on the ground and wings in the air, her attention was solely on the suddenly ailing human who protected her, “Naruto?! What’s wrong?!”

“Cha…kra… exh…austion... oough...”

The gathered Ponies could only watch in horror as he fell forward into the dirt, unconscious.

“NARUTO!” Apple Bloom cried out, running to be near her downed friend.

Rarity shifted on her hooves in a panic, “Oh my, what do we do? Vhat do we do?!”

Pinkie spoke up, “We gotta get him to the hospital!”

Derpy interjected, “But it’s too far, and we might hurt him if we’re not careful!”

Rainbow Dash growled in annoyance, “Then what are we supposed to do?”

Surprisingly, Fluttershy spoke up with strength in her voice, “My cottage! It’s not that far from where we are: just at the edge between Ponyville and the forest.”

Applejack nodded, “Alright, we’ve got a plan. Ladies, help me carry him!”