“Well, looks like I’ll be exploring the Everfree Forest later.”

“Why in tarnation would you willingly go back in there?”

“Apparently, there’s an old castle deep in the forest. Inside that castle are a set of items that could prove useful to me in the future.”

“As much as it frightens me to admit this, yes: with the proper training, you should be able to use magic.”

"I'm not trying to be mean, Naruto: believe me, I care a lot about Lyra. I want her to have a successful life, and to do that, she needs to let this foalish fantasy go."

"It's not a fantasy, BonBon: humans are real!"

"She reminded me so much of myself when I was younger: I was determined to become Hokage, the leader of my village. Aside from a very small number, no one believed that I would ever achieve my goal, no matter how hard I struggled."

"Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last (Somepony...). From this moment forth (Anypony...), the night will last FOREVER! (Help Me...!)"

(Ponyville: Town Hall)

Nightmare Moon laughed evilly as her dark magic spiraled menacingly about in the air above the gathered ponies. As simple as it would’ve been to just discard his ponysona and engage the lunatic equine, he knew that it was too risky: there were too many innocent bystanders that could get caught in the crossfire, and he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if any of them got hurt, or even killed. It pained him, but until Nightmare Moon was away from the ponies, he could do nothing except stand by and watch as they took action.

“Seize her!” The Mayor barked out the command to the armored Pegasi, “only she knows where the Princess is!”

A trio of the royal guards immediately took to the air and rushed the evil pony. But it was for naught.

“Stand back, you foals!” Eyes glowing with dark power and her evil laughter ringing out once more, Nightmare Moon called down bolts of lightning from her storming mane to repel the Pegasi as though they were nothing more than gnats.

The magic encircled the mare, seemingly absorbing her, before tearing across the room and bursting out the main doors. Rainbow Dash, freeing herself from Applejack’s restraint, followed the dark mist outside, only to catch a glimpse of it disappearing over the horizon.

Back inside the building, Naruto watched as Twilight levitated the unconscious Spike onto her back before taking off, unaware that she was being tailed by his friends. Realizing that the trip he had planned into the Everfree Forest in search of the ancient castle had decided to move up in his schedule, he made use of the panic caused by Nightmare Moon to slip out of the hall undetected.

Or so he thought.

Derpy, having caught sight of Naruto’s departure out of her peripheral vision, faced her daughters, “Girls, listen to me: I want you to find Carrot Top, go back to the house and stay there until I get back. Understand?”

Gently holding the frightened Dinky close to her, Sparkler nodded, “I understand, Mom. But what about you: what are you planning on doing?”

Derpy smiled determinedly, “I don’t have a plan, but it looks like Naruto does, and chances are that he’s going to need some help!”

“Mommy,” Dinky sniffled, “what you and Mr. Naruto gonna do?”

Nuzzling her youngest daughter, she replied, “We’re going to go and give that mean old mare a well-deserved spanking for being a bully! Now you listen to your big sister and Carrot Top, alright?”

Dinky nodded, “Yes, Mommy. Go put that big meanie in Time Out!”

Laughing, Derpy gave both her daughters another nuzzle, before taking off after Naruto.

But it wouldn’t be just the two of them...

“Lyra, where do you think you’re going?”

Mere moments after seeing the gray Pegasus leave just after Naruto, Lyra decided that she wanted to know just what they were doing and started to follow. At least until BonBon questioned her.

“Well you see, BonBon, Naruto never did tell me what he...” Seeing her friend’s stern look, she relented, “Oh alright: those two look like they’ve got something planned and I want in on it. They might require the use of a Unicorn in their scheme.”

BonBon’s stern look slowly changed into a worried one, “Lyra, whatever they’re doing could be really dangerous. You could get hurt or worse, and I don’t know if I could take it. Why don’t we just find someplace safe to hide and let somepony more qualified solve it?”

Lyra looked her fillyhood friend square in the eyes, “BonBon, I didn’t spend all my time at the school trying to find out more about humans. I studied more practical things, and my magic is much stronger now. I don’t know if Naruto will actually need me there, but I at least want to try.”

After staring into her friend’s eyes for several more seconds, she stared sadly at the ground, “But what about me? I’m not a Unicorn or a Pegasus: I’ve got nothing to contribute, so where does that leave me?”

Smiling gently, Lyra placed a hoof on one of BonBon’s, “Are you kidding: why do you think I’m feeling so confident? It’s because I know that if I have you believing in me, there won’t be anything I can’t do: you’re where I get my strength, BonBon.”

BonBon snorted, a few happy tears falling from her eyes, “That was so corny, Lyra.”

Lyra giggled, “I know. Now let’s get a move on: Naruto and that Pegasus are probably halfway to Nightmare Moon’s hideout by now.”

A nod of determination from BonBon, and the two friends were off in search of the stallion they had befriended.

(Everfree Forest’s edge)

Naruto stood on the dirt path leading into the Everfree Forest, still in his ponysona: he planned to travel partway into the forest as a pony, before returning to his human form when he was sure he wouldn’t be spotted. He sighed as an irritable realization took form: even if the Elements of Harmony were used to defeat Nightmare Moon in the past and if he somehow managed to find them, it meant jack squat if he didn’t know how to actually use them. His eyes narrowed: there was a strong probability that he was going to have to deal with Nightmare Moon the old fashioned way, and that was a severe ass-whooping. Steeling himself, he took a step...

“NARUTO!”

...only to halt immediately as Derpy flew up next to him.

“What are you doing here?” He scowled: the entire reason for him sneaking out was to deal with the problem alone.

Derpy was truly shocked at the anger of his tone, “I-I came to help you.”

Naruto looked away from her, “Go home, Derpy: what I’m going to do is far too dangerous for you to be here.”

“But I can help!”

“Are you prepared for a fight? Are you even capable of fighting?”

Derpy gasped, “What? I-”

“Chances are that is what’s going to happen, Derpy: if worse comes to worse, I’m going to face Nightmare Moon and attempt to kill her.”

Derpy was silent as he continued, “I don’t know just what she’s capable of, but I know what I can do. You could get seriously injured, killed even. I don’t want your daughters to become orphans in a manner similar to how I did. You’re my friend, Derpy, and as a friend I’m telling you to go back to Ponyville where it’s safe... well, safer.”

“...my parents died when I was young.”

Naruto stopped: it was his turn to listen, now.

“Everypony thought that I needed to be coddled, because I had no other family members.” She clenched her eyes tightly shut, “I hated it: I hated being treated like I wasn’t capable of doing anything without somepony guiding me. That’s part of the reason why I kept running from every foster home and orphanage they would put me in. Eventually, they just gave up and let me live my life the way I decided, and look where I am now: I’ve got two beautiful daughters, lots of friends, and a job so that I can support my family.”

“And the rest of the reason?”

Her eyes opened, confused, “Huh?”

“You said that was part of the reason. What was the rest?”

She looked down, “I know better now, but back then... I felt like they were trying to replace my parents. I didn’t want that: my parents are the ones who gave me life, love, my nickname-”

“Nickname?”

She looked at him and smirked, “You didn’t think that somepony would actually name their foal Derpy, did you? That was a nickname my parents gave me, silly: I’ve chosen to go by it ever since they passed on.”

Naruto rested a hoof on his face, “Okay, I know the situation is dire and all that, but I have to know just what you did to have your parents give you the nickname “Derpy”.”

She grinned, “As a foal, I was great at making silly faces.”

Lowering his hoof, he stared at her, “Alright then, Derpy: what is your decision?”

She gave him a look of confidence, “I’m going with you to face Nightmare Moon.”

He nodded, “Alright: since I’m sure you’re quick with your wings and walking on four hooves would only slow us down...”

A cloud of smoke later, and Naruto was human once more.

“By... Celestia’s... Mane...!”

Human and Pegasus froze: that was not something they wanted to hear. Necks making creaking noises, their heads turned ever so slowly to behold a certain Unicorn/Earth pony pair. Both Lyra and BonBon were staring at them with gigantic eyes and hanging jaws.

His mind numb at being discovered like this, all Naruto could do was barely raise a hand in greeting and weakly ask, “What’s up?”

Both ponies fainted clean away with matching thuds.

Derpy didn’t admonish Naruto for the very loud and vulgar word that left his lips: frankly, she was thinking the same thing.

(Everfree Forest: inner depths)

Warmth: it surrounded her and filled her very being. She could feel her body swaying gently, as though she were being rocked by her mother as a foal. All that was missing was a warm bottle of milk and her mother’s lullaby.

Come to think of it, she could hear a voice. Two of them actually: a mare and a stallion having a conversation.

“So... if Derpy isn’t your real name, then what is it?”

A giggle, “You’ll find out when I feel like telling you, Naruto.”

“Aw, maaaan.” He whined.

BonBon’s eyes snapped open, and quickly took in her surroundings: they were deep inside the Everfree Forest, it was still night (eternal night, duh), and she was being carried by the thing that made her pass out! But if he was carrying her, then how come there was another him carrying the still-unconscious Lyra and another one talking to Derpy?

Feeling the pony held against its back shifting, the Shadow Clone looked back at her and gave her a soothing smile, “Are you alright, BonBon? You had a bit of a fall not too long ago.”

Seeing her shakily lift a hoof to point at the orange-clad being with Derpy, then at the one holding Lyra and then himself, he replied, “The easiest way to explain would be a duplication spell: I’m a duplicate, and so is the one that has Lyra. The real Naruto is with Derpy.” Slowing his gait, he softly asked, “Do you think you’ll be able to walk?” At her nod, he gently set her down onto her hooves before startling her when he dispelled in a cloud of smoke.

Seconds after the duplicate vanished, Naruto turned to look at the Earth pony, “Care to explain why you decided to follow us, BonBon? I was originally going to do this alone, since it’ll more than likely become dangerous.”

BonBon pointed a hoof at her Unicorn friend, “It was her idea, you know: she wanted to help you in whatever way she could. I’d say it was because you defended her belief in humans, and now-”

“OhmygoshOhmygosh! A HUMAN!”

POOF! THUD!

“Ouchies!”

The three of them watched as Lyra climbed back onto her hooves, rubbing her rump where she fell on it.

Naruto blinked, “You hugged my clone hard enough to pop him... Holy crap, Lyra.”

A mint-green missile launched itself at him with a squee, requiring him to catch her lest she fall again. That wouldn’t be the case, however, as Lyra wrapped all four legs around his torso and clung to him like an adorable leech, “See, BonBon! Humans do exist! They’re real! They’re really real!”

BonBon watched with half-lidded eyes, “...and now I know why: you are one.” Clearing her throat, she continued, “Lyra? I’d like to apologize to you: I shouldn’t have treated you so rudely about this.”

Still rubbing her head against Naruto’s chest, Lyra replied, “Apology accepted! Can you believe it, BonBon? I finally found a real live human!”

Soft eyes accompanied the Earth mare’s proud look, “Yes... yes you did, Lyra.”

Naruto winced as the mare hugged him tighter: for such a cute thing, she was threatening to crush his ribcage. He slowly knelt down, “Someone get her off, please: she’s starting to hurt me.”

Giggling, Derpy and BonBon wrapped their forelegs around the Unicorn and attempted to pull her off of the blonde’s torso. Unfortunately, Lyra had a pretty damn good hold on him, because she wasn’t budging: in fact, with each tug the ponies gave, they were also jerking Naruto forward. Naruto placed a hand on her head, “Lyra, you have to let go if we want to stop Nightmare Moon.”

That did the trick: the next mighty pull sent all three ponies tumbling. Naruto inhaled sharply: as he got up to check on them, he was sure that Lyra had left hoof imprints on his back that would last for several days. Helping them up, he had to ask one more time for absolute finality, “I’m only going to ask once more: this will probably be extremely dangerous, and likely end in a battle with Nightmare Moon. If any of you want to go back to Ponyville, tell me now.”

Derpy looked at him with both eyes, completely serious, “I made my decision, Naruto: I’m with you until the end.”

BonBon motioned to the Unicorn, “I’ll follow Lyra, whatever her decision.”

Lyra grinned determinedly, once again reminding Naruto of himself when he was young, “And I’m with you, Naruto! I refuse to stand by and do nothing when I know I can help!”

Naruto blinked: apparently he found the pony equivalent of himself. He chuckled, “Alright: looks like we’re a team from here on out. Let’s GO!”

“ALRIGHT!” The ponies cheered.

As they marched off deeper into the forest, they were unaware that their conversation had been eavesdropped on...

“A human? How can it be so? The Beast did away with them all those years ago.”

A pair of turquoise eyes watched as the truly odd bunch of friends disappeared amongst the trees of the Everfree Forest.

(Everfree Forest: just how deep is this thing?)

BonBon was confused: after Naruto had defended Lyra’s beliefs yesterday, BonBon had asked Lyra (out of curiosity, mind you) what she had learned about humans from that book. While Naruto certainly met a lot of the qualities that Lyra had mentioned, he displayed a lot more than the book said that humans did. Did that mean that Naruto was some kind of superhuman?

Far be it from her to know, but BonBon was pretty sure that “normal” humans weren’t able to leap from great heights and across raging rivers while holding two full grown ponies.

Lyra was still ecstatic, but agreed with her: Naruto must be a special human.

The four of them now stood at the edge of a cliff, overlooking a deep chasm shrouded in fog. Across the chasm was another cliff and beyond that, they could make out the outline of a large structure peeking above the dense mist. What separated them from getting from here to there was a collapsed rope bridge. Had it been just Lyra and BonBon, their journey would’ve ended there, unable to cross the chasm. Fortunately, they had friends to help them across.

Naruto glanced at Derpy, “Derpy, can you fly over to the other side and give me an estimate of how wide the gap is?”

She grinned, “Not a problem!” Flapping her wings, she disappeared into the fog. A few seconds later, her voice called back, “I’d say it’s about... let’s see...” The sound of her muttering something to herself, then, “About fourty of your feet!”

Naruto grinned: he’d jumped much farther than that before. He motioned to the earthbound mares to get close to him. When they got within range, he scooped them up and leapt into the air. He didn’t vocalize it, but he was laughing as the ponies in his arms screamed in alarm. Landing on the other side in a skid, he gently placed them onto their hooves, chuckling weakly as they stumbled about in an attempt to regain their balance, “You’ll get used to it.” Seeing their disoriented glares, he attempted to calm them, “Hey: first few times I tried it, I panicked and ended up smacking into a pole, a wall, the side of a mountain and the inside of a dumpster.”

As Derpy helped the two of them, Naruto slowly approached their destination: the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. Besides thinking that the name was too long and needed to be shortened, Naruto had been expecting that the castle would’ve been small and almost entirely collapsed: it was supposed to be ancient after all. Nope, this sucker was enormous and, apart from being slightly overtaken by the surrounding foliage, was almost completely intact. On each side of the main doors was a large stain glass window: the one on the right depicting a white winged-Unicorn with a pink mane and a bright sun above its head, and the left depicting a dark blue winged-Unicorn with a light-azure mane and a crescent moon above it.

He turned to look at his companions, who were standing together about four feet behind him and looking as determined as ever. Nodding his head, he turned back and placed a hand on one of the doors. Taking a deep breath and preparing himself, he brought his other hand onto the doors and pushed.

(ACotRPS: Main Hall)

Even with the strength he put into it, Naruto was barely able to force the large doors open: he figured that they were constructed of dense and sturdy material to prevent unwanted entry, and were primarily opened with Unicorn magic. He glanced about the room they entered: apart from half-inch-thick layer of dust coating everything, thick vines growing out of the walls, the occasional missing section of said-walls and the gaudy décor, he had to admit that this thing withstood the test of time. Maybe, after dealing with Nightmare Moon, he’d claim it as his own? It wasn’t like anyone was using it nowadays, anyway.

Shrugging, he faced the ponies, “Alright, here’s the plan so far: get the Elements of Harmony, find Nightmare Moon, beat Nightmare Moon, then head back to Ponyville, have a drink and celebrate our victory. Any questions?”

BonBon raised a hoof, “That sounds like a shoddily crafted plan.”

His response was immediate, “And that was a statement, not a question. Any actual questions?”

Lyra followed up, “What do the Elements look like?”

“Not a clue.”

Now it was Derpy who asked, “Do you have any idea where we’re supposed to look?”

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest, “No, but I have a plan. We split up: you three search the rooms adjacent to this one, while I head further in and look for the Elements. If I come across Nightmare Moon in my search, I’ll be able to go all out against her since I know you three will be safe.”

BonBon looked around the room, “And what if we find Nightmare Moon, instead? What’ll happen then?”

“I’m glad you asked. Here.” He reached into one of his pockets and withdrew what appeared to be a scroll. Pricking his thumb, he smeared some blood over one of the markings. In a puff of smoke, a strange looking knife appeared: it had one blade longer than the two jutting off of its edges on one end, a ring at the other end, which were connected by a thin rod wrapped in a cloth covered with unreadable markings.

He held it out to BonBon, who carefully held it sideways with her mouth, “Wha iz ths?”

Naruto grinned, “A very special weapon my father used before I was born. If you encounter Nightmare Moon, throw this at her, and I’ll be there in no time to protect you.” Patting each mare on the head, he stood up and made his way across the hall, toward another set of doors that appeared to lead deeper into the castle. Stopping in front of them, he looked back over his shoulder and gave them a thumb’s up, “Don’t worry, girls: we’ll bring Nightmare Moon down, then head home and celebrate with all our friends.”

He pushed the doors open and walked through into the inner sanctum of the ancient castle.

(Naruto)

If Nightmare Moon was after the Elements herself, then he needed to find them fast. Of course, in order to catch her off guard, stealth was a necessity: that meant no Shadow Clones tromping about the castle in search of the items that he didn’t even know the appearance of. In the meantime, as he searched, he was coming up with various strategies for the inevitable fight with the fallen royalty: one of the more important ones taking into account what they had heard interlaced with the mare’s voice earlier.

‘I get the feeling that this is going to end up being one of the most complicated fights of my life.’

“You mean because you can’t just go “Rawr: Naruto Smash”?”

‘Very funny, fur ball. But seriously: do you think it’ll work? I’ve never fought like that before.’

“If our suspicions are true, and we can manipulate it to our advantage, we should be able to pull off a win.”

Passing by an open door, Naruto caught sight of a reflection of light coming from within the room. Upon entering, he saw quite possibly the strangest sword he had ever seen: the blade had been stylized to resemble the horn of a Unicorn, while the cross-guard looked like a pair of Pegasus wings, the grip gave the illusion of having countless thin vines coiled around it, and the pommel was a rainbow-colored sphere. Just staring at it, he could feel something... mystical about it. He wanted to take it to examine later, but he was in a hurry. Then again, it was unlikely that he’d remember which room it was in or, depending on how fierce a fight erupted, if it would still even exist later.

He grabbed his head and growled in irritation, eyes shut: why couldn’t the sword just come to him and save him some time?

“Huh: didn’t think you’d manage part of it so easily, brat.”

Naruto’s eyes snapped open: floating weakly in front of him was the sword. His eyes glowed in pride and joy: not only had he levitated the sword to himself with magic, but...

“OH, HELL YEAH! My magic aura’s freaking ORANGE! WOOHOO!”

He snatched the sword from the air and quickly sealed it within a scroll, feeling all tingly: whether from the magic or holding the sword, he wasn’t sure.

His eyes widened when he felt the tug of the Hiraishin kunai he had given to the ponies, and disappeared in a flash of yellow.

(Derpy, Lyra and BonBon: minutes earlier)

Derpy was no fool. She knew exactly why Naruto insisted that they stay near the entrance: he was certain that he would find Nightmare Moon, and wanted to be sure that they wouldn’t be anywhere near the battle. He must’ve been banking on, upon hearing the sounds of fighting, they would flee immediately and leave him on his own. She frowned: how many times would she have to say she can help before it’d get through his thick skull? Maybe a hard buck to the head would change his tune.

“Hey, look at this thing.”

Derpy was brought out of her blonde-harming musings by Lyra’s call. In the center of the room they were in was a large pedestal, topped with a large stone sphere that was covered by a thick layer of moss. What really stood out about the structure was that there were six flat stones extending from it, five of them each holding a stone orb while the sixth lay unoccupied.

BonBon gently placed the three-bladed knife Naruto had entrusted her with on the stone floor before asking, “Didn’t Naruto tell us about the Elements on the way here?”

Derpy approached the pedestal, “Six Elements, five of which are known as Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity and Loyalty. Could these be them?”

BonBon blinked, “Leaving them out in one of the first rooms of a castle? Whose bright idea was that?”

“...two, three, four... five. Wait a minute,” Lyra exclaimed, “where’s the sixth Element?”

“That would be a useful answer to have, you little sun-lovers.”

The ponies whirled around in surprise and, to their horror, found themselves face-to-face with...

“N-Nightmare MOON!”

The lunar mare smirked malevolently, “I feel as though I should reward you for leading me to the Elements: the very items used to defeat me a thousand years ago. But what kind of reward would be most suitable for such an accomplishment?”

Lyra quickly levitated Naruto’s knife before them, with the trio of blades facing the dark pony, “I already had something in mind, Nightmare Moon.”

Nightmare Moon was puzzled and, though she refused to admit it, slightly unnerved by the Unicorn’s statement. Coupled with that was the mare’s lack of fear: no, on that pony’s face was a look of smug cockiness. She glared, “And just what would that be, you little foal: a quick, painless death?”

“No, just this... Don’t go down too fast: I wanna see what he can do!”

At that, Lyra launched the knife directly at Nightmare Moon. With a cruel laugh, Nightmare Moon prepared to easily sidestep it...

...had not something appeared in a bright flash of yellow and proceeded to strike her square in the snout.

Being completely unprepared for such a sudden attack, the force behind the punch sent Nightmare Moon hurtling across the room until she slammed into a wall and fell to the floor in a heap. Rising to her hooves, she exclaimed with a great deal of shock, “A human?! Impossible! They were wiped out over a millennium ago: long before I was defeated!”

Naruto shook his aching fist: he didn’t realize that slender helmet Nightmare Moon wore wasn’t just for intimidation. That punch did more than just distract Nightmare Moon, however: it confirmed his and Kurama’s suspicions from earlier. When his fist made contact with Nightmare Moon, he saw and heard someone: a winged-Unicorn mare, with a light phthalo blue coat and a light azure mane, her cyan eyes brimming with tears as she cried out for salvation. Briefly recalling the legend, Naruto summarized that who he had just seen was the younger royal pony sister, trapped within the dark grip of Nightmare Moon, and vowed to save her.

To all eyes present, Naruto seemed to flicker from existence, only to reappear before Nightmare Moon with a spiraling sphere in his right hand. Lunging forward, he drove the glowing blue ball into Nightmare Moon’s armored collar, the force carrying both of them through the wall that had been significantly weakened from the mare’s impact.

The ponies galloped toward the newly-formed gap, hoping to somehow assist Naruto in combat against Nightmare Moon, only to see their human friend climb back through into the room. Derpy was the first to reach him, “Naruto, are you alright?”

The blond looked at her, “I’m a clone: Boss is luring Nightmare Moon deeper into the castle, so he can use his stronger Jutsu against her. I was created to help you find the Elements and move them, as well as construct a new battle plan considering what was just learned about the situation.”

BonBon pointed to the stone orbs, “We weren’t certain at first, but with how Nightmare Moon reacted, those must be the Elements of Harmony.”

Clone-Naruto took notice of the pedestal, “But there’s only five: where’s the sixth Element?”

Lyra shook her head, “We don’t know. Lucky for us, she doesn’t seem to know its location either.”

He nodded, “That’s good. Let’s move these back to the main hall. While we’re moving them, let’s come up with a strategy to use against Nightmare Moon.”

Derpy gave him a look, “Does that mean you’re finally going to let us help?”

The clone gave a thumb’s up, “With this new development, your help will be essential, as will Twilight and the others when they get here.”

Lyra’s ears perked up, “Huh? How do you know they’ll be coming?”

He lifted a hand, “Ever since I woke up after exhausting my Chakra fighting that dragon the other day, I’ve been feeling more alive than I used to. A few days after that, I discovered that, by leaving such a void in my energy level, the ambient magic of this land rushed inside me to fill it up: now I can use magic alongside my Jutsu, although I’ll need some training in using it efficiently.”

BonBon flicked her tail, “That’s nice, Naruto, but it didn’t answer the question.”

The clone blushed, “Sorry. Anyway, one of the constantly active Jutsu I have allows me to sense the presence of others. Even before we got to the castle, I could feel the presence of Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity within the forest. I figured that, since Twilight was looking for a way to stop Nightmare Moon on her own, she’d find the reference guide at the library back in town, which said that the last known location of the Elements of Harmony was in this castle.” He folded his arms in front of his chest, “I’m pretty sure that it’s no coincidence that there are six Elements, and six ponies searching for them. They’ll need the Elements more than we will, and that’s why we’re going to make it easier for the others to get them.”

As the ponies followed him toward the pedestal, the clone asked, “Lyra, what kind of combat-capable magic do you know?”

“Huh?”

(Throne Room of the Sisters)

Naruto swiftly dodged another storm of Nightmare Moon’s lightning bolts from her place on the upraised section of the room, where two contrasting thrones sat, having withstood time like most of the castle: one bright like the day, and the other dark as the night. As much as he wanted to take a look at the room, Naruto was far more preoccupied with the mare hurling powerful magic at him.

During their traveling battle this far into the castle, Naruto learned to stay wary of that mane of hers, which wasn’t just for show: as several of his clones found out, Nightmare Moon’s mane could yank them into outer space, where they dispelled most uncomfortably. Unfortunately for Naruto, it worked both ways: the mare had hurled more than a large number of small asteroids at him, many of which were currently jutting out of the walls of the room.

Naruto shuddered as the cool night wind blew against his exposed torso: during a brief period where he had distracted Nightmare Moon with a Shadow Clone rush (the very same one where he learned of her ability), Naruto proceeded to seal his duster, jacket and shirt into a scroll. He would need no such obstructions in order for his intended plan to work, if he could find an opening to implement it. But damn this pony: she simply would not hold still, and it wasn’t like he could just ask her to stop moving.

“I’ll crush you, human!”

Naruto leapt into the air to avoid the bright throne that Nightmare Moon had just chucked at him. He couldn’t help but let out a chuckle: even in the midst of battle, she wouldn’t use the throne dedicated to the night as a weapon. He yelped when that very throne came down on him like a vengeful flyswatter, viciously driving him into the unforgivingly hard floor. It was times like these that being a Jinchuriki was very useful: that probably would’ve seriously injured a regular human, if not outright killed them.

Ignoring Nightmare Moon’s condescending laughter, he slowly rose to his feet: he needed to buy enough time for the Twilight and the others to meet up with his team and get ready to set his plan into motion. Crossing his fingers before him, he summoned another plethora of Shadow Clones into existence. Like an army of ants, they all surged forward at the mare: at least one of them had to make physical contact in order for this fight to become much easier, as well as throw Nightmare Moon off considerably.

Laughing at the seemingly-suicidal rush, Nightmare Moon’s mane rose above her and expanded into a spherical form with multiple spike-like protrusions. As it swung downward toward the mass of clones, Naruto wondered if it would be considered an evening star, rather than a morning star. While a good chunk of clones were crushed beneath the transformed mane, a fair number managed to evade it and continued their charge. The starry mane flattened and widened considerably, now resembling a crescent spade, before hurtling back toward Nightmare Moon at a frightening speed. A significantly smaller number of clones survived this follow-up attack, the majority having been viciously bisected.

The last few Narutos leapt straight at the lunar mare, going for a full frontal attack. They paid dearly for their foolishness: the mane swooped upward, snatching them up in a starry orb. Nightmare Moon released a truly wicked laugh as the orb suddenly collapsed in on itself, crushing everything within it into particles.

Seeing no other Narutos, she laughed victoriously, “While I commend your bravery and tenacity, I must also admonish and pity you for your idiocy. It was foolish of you to believe that a single human could defeat Nightma-”

SMACK!

Nightmare Moon yelped in surprise and pain at the sudden strike to her hindquarters. Lashing out with her hind legs in a ferocious kick, she felt her hooves connect with flesh and heard the air rushing out of a pair of lungs. Her mane launched backwards and snared the offender. Turning to face her assailant with a blush of both embarrassment and rage, she growled at the human now trapped within her coiling mane. “You indignant cur!” She growled at his smug look, “I am going to take my sweet time crushing you before I hurl you into deep space!”

Naruto smirked, with a hint of amused perversion (a psychological tactic picked up from his godfather), “You can try, little miss Tight Flank.”

All rationality thrown to the wind, her mane spontaneously constricted the human with great force: oh, how she wanted to hear each and every bone in his body snap in unison. What she got was the sound of wood splintering beneath great pressure. She stared in absolute shock as a partially crushed log fell from her limp mane. She felt great rage welling up inside her as she heard Naruto’s boisterous call from the shadows, “Nothing has saved the lives of countless Shinobi more than the great and powerful Log!”

Howling in fury, Nightmare Moon launched herself at the voice, unaware of the foreign markings now adorning her aching flank.

(Main Hall)

“We finally made it: the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters.”

“What a dump: everything is so filthy and covered in mold and dust!”

“What’d you expect? This castle hasn’t been occupied for almost a thousand years. Now, let’s start looking for the...”

Twilight and her five new friends, having faced trial after trial orchestrated by Nightmare Moon, had finally arrived at the last known location of the Elements of Harmony. They entered the old castle expecting many scenarios, the most probable being that Nightmare Moon was lying in wait to strike the moment they found the Elements: what they found was three ponies and (to those in the know) a certain biped sitting in a small square conversing lowly, with five stone orbs gathered together within reach of them.

“Derpy/Lyra?” Rainbow and Twilight exclaimed incredulously and respectively.

The strategizing group peered up from their conversation, now aware of the six’s presence. Derpy waved happily, “Hi, everypony! What took you so long?”

Twilight’s attention was drawn to the biped: something about it seemed familiar. When it clicked in her mind, she lifted a trembling hoof, “L-Lyra? Is that a... a...?”

Lyra’s grin was so wide, BonBon was worried that the upper portion of her head would pop off, “Yep: it’s a human! And guess who it is? It’s Naruto!”

Had it been any other time, Twilight probably would’ve fainted at seeing an allegedly mythical creature right before her eyes. Right now, though, she was simply too overwhelmed to even speak.

The blond rose to his feet, “Now that they’ve arrived, I’ll be dispelling: gotta let the Boss know what the plan is.” His eyes turned to the three ponies near him, “And remember: to keep the element of surprise, they have to be kept in the dark. Can you do that?”

A look of hesitance took hold of Lyra’s face as she spoke softly, “I don’t know, Naruto: Twilight’s one of my only close friends besides BonBon, and I just don’t feel right about what we’re going to be putting her through.”

He placed a hand on top of her head and gently stroked her mane, “I’m certain the Boss won’t like it either, Lyra: he hates putting his friends in danger, but in order for us to save every living thing in this world, we have to push through.”

After receiving a nod from the Unicorn, the clone vanished in that familiar cloud of smoke.

Twilight’s still-upraised hoof was practically vibrating now, “Did he just... How did he...?”

Lyra moved toward her stunned schoolmate, “Twilight, I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but now is not the best time. We found most of the Elements, but don’t know what to do next: that’s where you come in.”

Snapping out of her trance, she looked at Lyra in shock, “You girls found the Elements?”

Lyra smiled weakly, dreading what she knew would soon occur, “All but one. We need you to work your magic, Twi.”

(Naruto and Nightmare Moon)

Naruto leapt back in order to avoid another wide sweep of Nightmare Moon’s mane: ever since he slapped her on the ass and taunted her, she seemed more inclined to just send him into the vacuum of space and be done with him. Quite a bit of the castle had already been victimized by her unleashed brutality: more than a dozen or so statues, pillars, and even entire rooms had been swallowed up by her mane.

He was really hoping that Twilight and the others showed up soon: it was getting harder and harder not to go all out against Nightmare Moon. As easy as it would be to just say “Oh well” and toss a Rasenshuriken her way, Naruto kind of needed her body to be in one piece in order to rescue the younger sister. He groaned: why did so many of his fights have to be so complicated? Everyone else had straightforward objectives: just beat the living daylights out of the other guy. Him? Something damn near always came up. He had a ridiculous level of luck in many things: simple fights were not on that particular list.

At that moment, the memories of the clone he had left with Derpy and the others flooded his mind. The clone was right: this was one kind of gamble that he truly resented. Sadly, he had no other choice: time to set the bait...

Nightmare Moon halted her next assault when she heard the human begin to chuckle: had he finally gone insane from the pressure, from her very presence? “What is so humorous, you hairless ape? Have you finally realized the futility of your struggles?”

“You’ve lost, Nightmare Moon: my friends have found the Elements, and Twilight is about to activate them. You’re finished!”

Genuine shock appeared on her face, “Impossible: only five had been located!”

He smirked, “Why do you think I led you so far away from them with our fight? I was buying them time to find the sixth Element, and for the other six to show up: the ones who are able to wield the Elements of Harmony!”

With a roar of outrageous anger, Nightmare Moon quickly transformed into the same dense smoke she had become earlier and quickly fled the ruined room. If everything went according to the plan, she would head straight for Twilight, and then the trap would be sprung.

Naruto lifted his right arm: familiar runes appeared along his forearm, seven triangles pointing away from the circular seal on his palm, and the tip of each digit possessed an ethereal flame. He glanced down at his bare stomach: the seal, the very stigma from his youth, stared back at him. He smirked, “You ready for this, Kurama?”

“Do you even need to ask, kid?”

(Main Hall)

Lyra had been well aware of what would happen, and was certain that she had steeled her conscience so that she wouldn’t flip out over it. But no matter how hard she tried, she wasn’t as experienced as Naruto was when it came to turmoil, and what she had seen transpire in the span of mere moments would haunt her until her final days:

After Naruto’s clone dispelled, Twilight quickly gathered the Elements close to her and concentrated, trying to figure out the mystery of some kind of spark. Just as her five friends prepared to leave the hall so she could concentrate in peace, a fiendishly familiar star-clad mist burst into the room and immediately engulfed Twilight and the Elements. As fast as they moved, the ponies were unable to reach her before the mist whirled about like a dark tornado, teleporting itself and its captive to somewhere within the castle: Lyra could still feel the dark magic that Nightmare Moon exuded.

The look of pure surprise and horror on Twilight’s face as the darkness swallowed her up filled the hearts and minds of the three ponies with immeasurable guilt: for their plan to work, Twilight and the others couldn’t know about it. When all was said and done, they would certainly plead for forgiveness from them.

The Unicorn shivered, a chill seeming to pass through her very soul: Nightmare Moon’s aura had just returned in tremendous force. Focusing her magic to act as a sensor, Lyra was able to pinpoint the area in which Nightmare Moon had retreated to with Twilight and the Elements in tow: they were in a building entirely separate from the main castle, the original user of which had long since been lost in the flow of time.

The others were startled when Lyra suddenly broke into a gallop, heading for one of the doors that would eventually lead one outside of the castle. Derpy and BonBon, seeming to be aware of whatever was happening, immediately raced off after her, appearing quite determined. Not knowing what exactly was going on, Applejack and the others did the only thing they could do: follow after the ones who apparently had some sort of role in all of this.

(Ancient Throne Room)

Twilight coughed against the purple smoke as she reappeared in a room that only she occupied. At first. At the other end of the room, upon a raised section of floor where a broken throne resided, stood Nightmare Moon, the five Elements circling around her in lazy orbit. The dark royal herself laughed in victory: she had acquired that which had defeated her long ago! Now nothing could stop her! Noticing only five had been found, she chuckled cruelly: the human had been bluffing.

Twilight’s look of shock quickly morphed into one of determination as she scrapped a hoof against the stone floor. Nightmare Moon didn’t know what to make of it as she lowered the Elements to the cold stone, “You’re kidding. You’re kidding, right?”

Twilight’s horn shone with magic as she broke into a charge toward Nightmare Moon. Fed up with being challenged by fools, she leapt onto the level floor and began her own charge at the Unicorn. They neared closer and closer, Twilight’s horn becoming brighter all the while. Just as they were about to collide, the younger mare vanished in a bright flash.

Nightmare Moon gaped in temporary bewilderment as her opponent suddenly reappeared amongst the gathered Elements. The elder mare growled: she had been bluffed again! Oh, the Unicorn would pay dearly for this, as would that damnable human.

Twilight’s horn began to shine once again as she attempted to activate the gathered Elements, “Just one spark: come on, come on!”

Seeing the Elements beginning to glow, Nightmare Moon shrouded herself in her mane and quickly swooped back to the Elements: she would not be defeated again! Seconds after returning to her equine visage, a bolt of raw magic from the Elements struck Twilight, sending her flying halfway across the room into a sprawling heap. The Elements continued to transfer the magic between them as Nightmare Moon fell into a panic.

Moments later, the Elements returned to their inert stone spheres, the magic leaving them.

Nightmare Moon’s panic quickly turned to elation as she rose up and brought her empowered hooves down upon the Elements, laughing wickedly the entire time. Twilight felt her hope, as well as her heart, shatter along with the Elements. Nightmare Moon glared at the mare, “You little foal: thinking you could defeat me! Now you will never see your princess or your sun,” her mane extended high above her, ready to bring it down upon the broken Unicorn and send her into oblivion, “The night will last forever!”

Her evil laughter rang out once more...

...before she found herself becoming slowly encased in a yellow magical aura from her hooves to the base of her neck, as well as her mane being restrained.

Both of them staring in surprise at the sudden aura, both of them turned to the sound of voices echoing from the nearby stairwell. At the top of the stairs was a certain bright aquamarine Unicorn, her horn emitting a fantastic bright glow, flanked by a walleyed Pegasus and a creamy Earth pony. Seeing and hearing her friends coming to her aid, Twilight felt something within her: a spark.

Twilight turned to face Nightmare Moon, who was struggling to break free of Lyra’s golden prison: she would have succeeded, had the aura not been powered by the camaraderie the Unicorn had forged with Derpy, BonBon and Naruto. Despite being freshly forged, the bonds that had come about from their friendship were strong enough to hold even the Mare in the Moon firmly in place.

Twilight was filled with renewed determination, “You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that? Well you’re wrong, because the spirits of the Elements of Harmony are right HERE!” She was quickly joined by the five friends she had made throughout their trials.

Nightmare Moon could only watch in shock as the fragments of the Elements rose up, bathed in light.

“Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of Honesty,” Applejack watched as some of the fragments began to orbit about her at a frenzied pace.

“Fluttershy, who tamed the Manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of Kindness,” Fluttershy stared in awe as fragments swirled in the air around her.

“Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of Laughter,” Pinkie hopped with a grin as fragments joined her.

“Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift, represents the spirit of Generosity,” Rarity smiled at her ring of fragments.

“And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart’s desire, represents the spirit of Loyalty,” Rainbow Dash watched her friend, rather than her fragments.

“The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us!”

Nightmare Moon was beside herself, “You still don’t have the sixth Element! The spark didn’t work!”

“But it did,” Twilight continued, “a different kind of spark.” She turned to face her friends, “I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you... The spark ignited inside me when I realized that you all...”

She turned to face the vainly-thrashing Nightmare Moon, “...are my friends!”

A magnificent bright light drew all eyes to the ceiling above, to behold the sight of a sixth orb: the sixth Element of Harmony. They watched as the sphere descended down from the air to float above Twilight’s head. Held in place, Nightmare Moon could only clench her eyes tightly shut in an attempt to block out the light.

“You see, Nightmare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the... the spark that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth Element: the Element of Magic.”

The room was engulfed by an unmatched light, as the fragments gained color and forged themselves into necklaces around the five ponies, each one with a gem resembling their Cutie Mark. The orb, however, became a grandiose tiara with Twilight’s Cutie Mark, before settling itself upon her head.

Without warning, a flash of yellow light flared up behind Nightmare Moon, heralding the arrival of a certain someone.

“Good work, everyone: the trap worked even better than I had expected it to.”

“Naruto?”

The ponies were quite surprised to see the human appear, his torso bared for all to see: a strange pattern of markings was clearly visible on his belly and running along his right arm, the digits of which were now blazing within an ethereal flame.

He turned to face toward Nightmare Moon, “I get the feeling that whatever darkness has you ensnared is too powerful to be defeated by the freshly activated Elements, so...” He raised his right arm over his head, “I’m going to weaken it face-to-face!” He slammed his palm directly over the seal, gripped the flesh and twisted.

The crash of a titanic tumbler shifting echoed throughout the near-silent room.

Naruto removed his hand, revealing the circular marking at the center of his belly appeared to be twisting itself about as it opened, emitting a myriad of unsettlingly organic noises. Once it had become nothing but an open hole in the human’s flesh, what happened next was something that nopony ever saw coming...

Engulfed by a dark orange aura, a massive arm with clawed digits surged forth from the opening and clamped down on Nightmare Moon, trapping her within the construct’s otherworldly grasp.

A deep voice boomed out, seemingly from the Naruto’s gut, “Naruto: I’ve connected her mindscape to ours. The time to act is now!”

Naruto turned his head to look at the gathered ponies and proceeded to give that familiar grin, “Everyone, just relax for a bit: I’ll handle this part.”

Both Naruto and Nightmare Moon were engulfed in a massive pillar of light that extended high into the sky above.

(Conjoined Mindscape)

Naruto stood at the border that separated his mindscape from that of their pony guest: his side was the familiar grassy locale, whereas the other mindscape shifted starkly into a seemingly lifeless terrain. Above him, it appeared as though someone had painted the sky in half: day on his half, while the other was black and littered with stars and other celestial bodies. What really disoriented him was a certain object in the darkness: Earth, or some variant of it.

Very interesting: the pony’s mindscape had somehow managed to mimic the Moon. Fortunately, as it was not the real Moon, there was no worry about lack of breathable air or gravity: such things were controlled by the mind, not the environment.

He turned to look at Kurama, who had appeared next to him. At the moment, Kurama’s right arm was very hazy: it was what was connecting them to Nightmare Moon in the real world. He motioned toward the lunar highlands before them, “So the plan is that I head out there, find the royal sister and take out whatever it is that corrupted her. Sound good?”

“Simple is more like it, but it works. Go for it, Naruto.”

He grinned, “Why be complicated when you can be simple?” With that, he took off into the lunar landscape in search of a damsel in distress.

(Unknown Region)

Naruto wasn’t sure how long he had been running: it felt like it had been hours, days even. Of course, time was pretty much nonexistent within a mindscape: it was unlikely that even a single second had passed by. He rubbed his head: trying to figure that out was making his head hurt.

Something he noticed was that, not unlike the real Moon, this mindscape version had quite a number of tall mountains. It didn’t have anything to do with his mission, but it was noticeable.

As he ran along the rim of one of the many lunar craters he had already passed, he noticed something down at the bottom of this one: something distinctly dark blue. Realizing that he had found the pony he had seen during his earlier fight with Nightmare Moon, he leapt over the edge and slid down the side of the crater until he was much closer to the light phthalo blue mare. Slowly approaching the mare, he noticed that while she seemed slightly bigger than every other mare he had previously met, she still seemed rather small compared to Nightmare Moon. Did that mean that Nightmare Moon was some sort of external parasite, absorbing the pony’s magic and creating a more powerful form as armor?

Now that he was practically standing next to her, he noticed that she was preoccupied with something that seemed rather childish at the time: using her hooves, the pony had crudely drawn a quintet of other ponies in the bright dust, three of them with wings and a horn, the other two with just horns. He listened to her speaking softly to herself, like a small child, “Big brother was the first to leave. Then Harle and Starswirl disappeared. It was just me and big sister. Then everything got dark: I’m used to the dark, but this dark was darker than dark and mean and scary.” Tears began to fall from her eyes, “Big sister... Big brother... where did you go?”

She gasped quietly when an arm appeared in her vision, using a finger to trace something alongside her drawings. Looking over to the new arrival, she was stunned to see a human: a creature that she and her big sister thought to have gone extinct when the Beast of Calamity attacked. Noticing that she was staring at him, the human smiled at her and continued drawing in the dust, using his other arm to softly nudge her into joining him. Smiling back, she did just that.

They must have spent hours sitting next to each other, not speaking a word: simply doodling on the Moon’s surface. They drew all kinds of things, most of them just plain silly. Eventually, the human spoke softly to her, “My name’s Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. What’s yours?”

She blinked, “I’m Luna.”

He smiled, “The perfect name for such a cute little pony.”

She huffed cutely, “I’ll have you know that I’m a princess, and I’m over a thousand years old!”

He grinned stupidly, “In that case, you’re such a cute old hag, aren’t you?”

Even though her hoof smacking the back of his head stung like hell, he just laughed. Soon enough, Luna was giggling as well.

After laughing themselves silly, Naruto held a hand toward Luna, “Come on, we should get going.”

Luna stared curiously at his hand, then back at him, “What are you talking about, Naruto? Go where?”

“Back to Equestria, Luna. Back to reality.”

Luna looked down, “I can’t. I’ve tried to leave, but it won’t let me.”

Naruto put his hand on her foreleg, “What won’t let you leave?”

“Grrrrroooonnnaaaa...”

Naruto instinctively placed himself between the pony and whatever new threat had made itself known. His eyes widened at what he saw.

It was like a more horrific variation of Nightmare Moon. This monstrosity stood on its hind legs, which possessed multiple joints to provide more than one form of quick movement, and thick claws curved out from the hooves. The arms were almost human-like, though rather than slender hands with nails, these hands were thicker and sported talons in place of nails. Its ears ended in a sharp point, and its horn was gnarled like an ancient tree. Black flames, far too similar to the flames of Amaterasu to be comfortable, replaced its mane and tail, both of which licked the air hungrily. Its wings were larger and dragon-like in appearance. The sclera of its eyes were pitch black, while the irises were blood red and the pupils were single pricks of white, like stars in the night sky. Its mouth was full of viciously-sharp teeth. But what truly disturbed Naruto was what was on its chest:

A single eye with four concentric circles, the three closest to the pupil possessing three tomoe each.

This thing easily eclipsed Nightmare Moon: it was far more dark, like a night terror.

Night Terror Eclipse... Nah; that sounded stupid.

“Luuuuuunnaaaaaa...” The beast growled, “You were abandoned by everyone you cared about. They didn’t care about you: they cared only for themselves and their selfish desires. The only one you can trust is me...”

Naruto clenched his fist: he could hear Nightmare Moon’s voice, but it was hidden beneath another female voice, one of regality. And beneath those was yet another voice: this one male, old, and dark.

He didn’t give two shits about what it sounded like, though: he didn’t appreciate the shit it was spewing, and he decided to let it know in a proper manner.

A duel Rasengan to the face and gut tended to get across the message that you’re not well liked.

The second the creature was launched away from them, Naruto quickly scooped up the surprised Luna into his arms and ran partway up the crater. Reaching about halfway up the slope, he leapt up onto the rim, quickly located the footprints he had left on the surface and ran back the direction he had originally come: back toward Kurama.

Barely fifteen seconds into his mad dash, he heard the monster roar in rage. Luna peeked over his shoulder and cried, “Naruto, it’s catching up to us!”

Naruto growled, “Not if I have anything to say about it! Luna, hold onto me as tight as you can!”

Feeling the mare’s legs wrap closely around his torso, Naruto brought his hands together into his tried-and-true technique, which he cried out in an attempt to give Luna confidence that they would surely escape the beast and its wrath, “Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

Luna gasped in awe as a tsunami of identical humans surged toward their pursuer, crashing into it like a mighty wave. She then heard the human she was clinging to scowl to himself, “I really should’ve left a Hiraishin seal back where I started: then this wouldn’t be as much of a problem.”

He ran at top speed for about half a minute, hoping to put as much distance between them and it as he could.

She was about to ask him what he was talking about before he swore, “Are you serious?! It took them out already!” Indeed, Naruto had just received the memories of his dispelled clones: that thing tore into them like a rabid beast, using talons, fangs, hooves, and the black fire that formed its mane and tail. Limbs had been severed, throats torn out, heads crushed under heavy stamps, and immediate incinerations. The last clone had actually been impaled by the monster’s horn.

Seconds later, they heard that horrific roar not very far behind them.

Luna whimpered in fear as she clung tighter to Naruto’s body. For her sake, Naruto was about to attempt something he had just come up with that second: he was going to pump both chakra and magic into his legs. With a deep breath and a prayer, he forced the two energies into his legs.

As his speed steadily increased, Naruto had to position himself to fully utilize it. The air around him began to twist and his legs felt like they were burning, but to protect Luna, he persevered.

In what now seemed like seconds, Naruto could see the arc of blue sky that represented his own mindscape rapidly approaching. He grinned wearily and lessened the flow to his legs, “We’re almost there, Luna. Just a few more-”

The ground near them exploded upward as the beast tore up through the mantle. Naruto swore very loudly and bolted toward the mindscape border, the monster in close pursuit.

Several heart-racing seconds later, Naruto could see Kurama clearly, and the look on his face told him that their pursuer was too close for comfort. There was only one thing Naruto could do to make sure that at least Luna got away safely.

Dislodging her fierce hold on him, he leapt forward and hurled Luna through the air toward Kurama, who gently caught her with his left arm on his side of the border.

The moment she had left his grasp, the beast slammed down on Naruto in an absolute fury. Naruto was on his back, arms pinned to the sides by the monstrosity’s superior strength as it roared in his face. Glaring, Naruto brought his knees to his chest and, channeling his two energies again, kicked the terror with all his might.

Its talons tore deep gashes into his arms as it was launched up and away from him. Naruto leapt to his feet as the beast recovered and was upon him immediately. Swinging talons, swiping wings, whipping mane and tail, lunging horn thrusts; Naruto was barely able to avoid each attack of its brutal assault, let alone get in enough of his own attacks: the thing’s fury allowed it to overcome the force of Naruto’s Rasengan, and it wasn’t giving him any time to prepare any variants.

Over on the grassy mindscape, held closely and protectively by Kurama, Luna practically screeched, “Naruto! Mr. Fox, can’t you do anything to help him?”

For some reason, this little pony calling him “Mr. Fox” caused another pang of familiarity. Even more so that she wasn’t calling him it because she didn’t know his name: she used it as some form of endearment. Kurama growled bitterly, “As long as he’s on your side of the conjoined mindscape, there is nothing I can do to help him other than heal his wounds from a distance. However, because of the distance and the rapid acquirement of injuries, I might as well be doing nothing for all the good it does.”

She began to tear up, “Then what can we do?”

“I can’t do anything, but you can.” At her confused look, he elaborated, “You can control your mindscape, brat. If you want to help Naruto win, then you have to give him the power yourself!”

Luna’s gaze turned back to her new friend, currently risking his life to save her from the darkness that had overwhelmed her a thousand years ago. Clenching her eyes shut, she concentrated with all her heart.

Back with the fight, the horror swung an outstretched hand wreathed in black flames that Naruto barely leapt back in time to evade. He quickly followed up his dodge was a strategically aimed Rasengan, causing the creature to lose its balance. While it was fighting to right itself, Naruto lunged forth with Rasenrengan, driving both spheres directly into the exposed eye on its torso. The resulting cry of pain was something reserved for victims of Makai.

The terror spread its wings and took to the air, well out of the exhausted Naruto’s reach. It growled darkly, “I’m through wasting my time with you, human: time to join the rest of your kind in death.”

Naruto dropped to a knee: he was spent, and this thing seemed to have just gotten its second wind. All he could do was stare in defiance as its flaming mane extended behind it like a massive curtain, “Be swallowed up by a towering wave of infinite darkness!” The flames swept out toward him, heralding his certain demise...

Had it not been for a bright light enveloping him, protecting him with a moon-like shield. Naruto could feel it restoring his strength, as well as empowering him even further.

The monster turned its furious eyes to Luna as the flames slowly burned out, “Your defiance ends here, Luna: I will absorb the rest of your power and leave your body an empty husk. After that, I’ll do the same thing to your precious sister, Celestia!”

“Funny: you make it sound like you’ve won.”

Three heads turned to look upon Naruto, with Luna smirking weakly from all the power she had placed in him: sleek white armor covered his arms, legs and torso, the breastplate possessing a sphere in the center that greatly resembled the Moon. Beneath the armor was a tight gray bodysuit. His head was uncovered, though his hair now reached the back of his knees and shone like the Moon as seen from the planet beyond the void of space. From the back of the armor, two large wings that looked as though they had been plucked from the night sky were spread out, the stars flittering across their length.

Naruto stared at the beast with contempt, “Your time has come, foul beast. As Tsuki no gādian Naruto, I declare this night to be your last!”

Kurama tried to facepalm, but his right hand simply passed through his head. At Luna’s questioning look, he spoke, “He just called himself Lunar Guardian Naruto.” Luna’s blush starkly contrasted her dark coat.

With a mighty push, Naruto launched himself toward the airborne monster. Before it could even get its arms up to defend itself, Naruto slugged it square in the face. As it grabbed at its face, Naruto straightened the fingers of his right hand and thrust it into the eye on its chest. Crying out in pain and rage, it lashed out in an attempt to get a hold of him, but he simply maneuvered to its side before introducing his foot to its back by way of a roundhouse kick that sent the beast hurtling to the surface, crashing violently.

The terror slowly rose to its clawed hooves as Naruto swooped down at it in an arc, his hand bathed in a white glow. The beast turned with an outstretched claw, intending to grab him when he got too close. Naruto, however, stopped well out of its range and thrust his fist forward, unleashing a storm of lunar energy beams that lanced over the landscape and tore a plethora of holes into the beast’s body and wings. As the holes attempted to seal themselves shut, Naruto rushed forward with his hair lengthening and spreading out in forms reminiscent of harpoons.

The monster roared in outrage as it found itself skewered in multiple extremities and lifted up from the ground. Those roars quickly turned to cries of pain as Naruto rapidly punched at it, sending fist-shaped bolts of energy up into its torso, primarily slamming viciously into the eye upon its chest.

Not giving it a chance to recover, Naruto willed his hair to retract, bringing his opponent to him like a hooked fish. He crouched slightly and, when the beast came within arm’s reach, delivered a brutal uppercut into its gut, using enough strength to send it spiraling into the air above him. Of course, that particular blow also planted a Hiraishin seal onto its body.

Instead of the previous flash of yellow, Naruto appeared above it in a burst of white before bringing both fists down upon the beast’s back, passing through and actually smothering the flaming mane. His opponent hanging in midair from the sudden and violent halt, Naruto spun in place to bring a white Rasengan into its back, sending it plummeting back to the surface with a mighty crash.

Seeing it struggling to rise to fight him once again, Naruto lifted his hand above him, focusing his chakra and the gifted power into another white sphere, though this one was considerably larger.

Then he added his wind element into the mix.

The familiar screech of his Rasenshuriken ringing out, he glanced up to see what kind of visual changes had occurred this time: the Rasengan itself had taken a striking resemblance to the moon, while the swirling chakra around it was now black and filled with stars.

Waiting until the beast was looking up at him, Naruto roared, “This is where it ends! Tsuki Rasenshuriken!”

He hurled it straight down at the roaring monster, though it was quickly drowned out by the screeching of the Jutsu.

Then it stopped completely when the lunar sphere of doom collided with the beast and worked its magic.

Not even a scream of agony escaped from the brutal Rasen variant.

Naruto drifted slowly down to the lunar surface, his armor breaking apart in a manner not unlike leaves falling from a tree in the autumn. As he neared the ground, Kurama gently placed Luna onto the grass and chuckled when she broke into a gallop toward his partner.

Naruto rested on his knees, panting from using so much power at once. Despite feeling like someone had dropped a boulder on him and proceeded to pull him out from under that boulder without moving it first, he knew that he would do it again in a heartbeat if it meant protecting someone precious to him.

Hearing Luna call his name in happiness, he looked up in time to see her leap at him, a huge smile on her face. He yelped as she knocked him backwards, smacking his head against the ground. Even as he winced, he laughed along with the mare.

He sat up and looked at the pony on his lap, “Alright, Luna: even though we took out the mental taint, we still need Twilight and the others to use the Elements of Harmony to remove the physical taint to your body. For them to do that, Kurama and I need to sever our mindscape from yours.”

The mare looked heartbroken, “What? But I thought-”

He smiled softly, “When they get rid of the taint, you’ll be in complete control of your body again. We’ll see each other again very soon, alright?”

Sniffling a little, she agreed with tears in her eyes. Naruto gently brushed them from her face and smiled again.

(Ancient Throne Room)

“Everyone, just relax for a bit: I’ll handle this part.”

As Naruto and Nightmare Moon were engulfed by the pillar of light, BonBon blinked, “How long-”

The pillar dissolved immediately and Naruto leapt back from Nightmare Moon, his torso completely normal now. Whatever he did to Nightmare Moon really affected her: it looked like her coat and skin were sagging, almost like her skeletal frame seemed to shrink.

Upon touching the stone floor, Naruto shouted, “Use the Elements!”

Naruto and the three non-bearers watched as Twilight and the others unleashed a massive double rainbow, which swirled around Nightmare Moon like a tornado, before engulfing the entire room in a bright light.

When the light faded, the six Element ponies were sprawled out upon the floor while Naruto and the others unshielded their eyes. As they began conversing with one another, Naruto approached the raised throne where a certain pony lay. He knelt down and nudged he softly. When she slowly opened her eyes to look at him, he smiled, “Welcome back, Luna.” Tears in her eyes, she quickly embraced him as best as she could.

Stroking her mane, Naruto noticed a small pitch black crystal that rested on the floor. Staring at it, he was silently shocked when it suddenly shattered into a fine powder that was blown away by the early morning breeze.

“Indeed, you do.”

Naruto’s head snapped to look in the direction the voice came from: that was the female voice that the beast was using in Luna’s mindscape!

His jaw dropped at the sight of the tall slender white winged-Unicorn that, with a brightly multicolored mane and a sun Cutie Mark, appeared with the rising sun. He watched as the eight other ponies bowed in reverence of the new arrival, while Twilight ran up to her and nuzzled her happily as the taller mare gave some sort of hug with her neck.

As they conversed, he heard Luna gasp softly, “Big sister Celestia!”

Naruto looked at the pony now hiding behind him, “That’s your big sister? What is she?”

“You didn’t know? She and I are Alicorns.”

“Huh: I was just referring to you as a winged-Unicorn, but Alicorn takes less effort to say. I’ll be sticking with that from now on.”

“Princess Luna.”

Both of them were startled, now under the gaze of the elder Alicorn. Seeing that this would be a family moment, Naruto gently moved away from Luna.

“It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this.” Celestia knelt down to be closer to Luna’s level, “Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister. Will you accept my friendship?”

Luna glanced over at Naruto, now joined by his three companions: he simply smiled to her. Her mind was made up, “I’m so sorry!” She ran to nuzzle Celestia, more happy tears running down her face, “I missed you so much, big sister!”

Celestia teared up as well, “I’ve missed you, too.”

“As much as I hate to break up such a happy reunion...”

Everypony present looked at the sheepishly-grinning human as he continued, “But during my little running battle with Nightmare Moon, I’m pretty sure we did enough damage to compromise the structural integrity of the castle.”

Seeing blank and confused looks all around, he decided to put it more simply: “There is a pretty good chance that this castle will collapse any second now, whether or not we’re still inside.”

Silence...

(Outside the ACotRPS)

Eleven ponies and one human stood in the cool morning air, staring at what used to be the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. Having been partly responsible for reducing it to the large mound of stones it had become, Naruto rubbed the back of his head, “Yeah, sorry about that. I mean, it was your old home and all...”

Celestia smiled mischievously, “Don’t worry about it, young human: we’d prefer the comfier, modern one back in Canterlot.”

Hearing the casual mention, Lyra had to ask, “Princess, did you know...?”

Celestia looked at the Unicorn, “That humans existed? Yes, actually: they were quite abundant over a thousand years ago. I also knew that it was you who snuck into my personal library and took that particular book, Lyra.”

The elder princess giggled at the mare’s strangled yelp.

She then took notice of how close Luna was standing near Naruto and smiled at the human, “I believe I have you to thank the most for saving my sister. What is your name?”

He opened his mouth to answer, but nine overly-eager ponies answered for him in unison, “Naruto Uzumaki!”

The pout on his face sent the ponies into hysterical giggles.

(Ponyville)

The Celebration was in full swing, now that not only had princess Celestia returned, but the younger princess Luna had joined her. The entire town was in merriment.

Elsewhere, a re-disguised Naruto was taking occasional glances at the sun: the prison of the Beast of Calamity... but for how long?

“Naruto!”

He turned to look at the group that found him: Lyra, BonBon, Dinky, Sparkler and Derpy. He smiled, “What’s up, everypony?” He figured that if he wanted to fit in, he needed to start using the local dialect.

Derpy huffed cutely, “You promised to spend the day with me and the girls!”

Lyra grinned, “And you’re not getting rid of us so easily: not after all we went through last night!”

He grinned at these ponies: he could get used to such a peaceful life. “Sure, let’s get going.”