Naruto was mildly impressed by the dedication this Twilight had to her new friends. That being said, he still didn't like her that much.
Later when Chrys reviewed his initial meeting she realized why he wasn't so nice to her.
The girl was OCD, whereas Naruto was a bundle of chaotic energy. The two simply didn't mesh properly.
Naruto watched as the Elements of Harmony (something Chrys had spoken of with distaste, as it was the reason Celestia had been able to seal her own sister in the moon) surrounded the girls.
No one noticed that the light also touched Naruto, though instead of a crown, he had some sort of collar around his neck.
But that wasn't the biggest change he would learn about.
No, that came once the dust had settled and Luna had made up with her sister.
He had gotten his cutie mark, though he had no idea what it meant.
But first, there was his initial meeting with Celestia. It could have gone better. Much, much better.
Naruto checked on Luna discreetly while the girls were busy bowing. She seemed to appreciate the fact someone bothered to care.
She wasn't the only one startled when Naruto actually growled at Celestia.
"So you're Princess Celestia. I can see why Chrys didn't speak that highly of you," said Naruto.
"I do not recognize you. And I recognize most Ponies," she said.
There was also the fact she didn't know what his Cutie Mark meant, which was very unusual since she had seen all things under the sun.
"You wouldn't recognize me, because I'm not a natural born Pony. For some reason I turn into one whenever I come here."
"May I ask why you seem to dislike me so?" she said.
"Simple. I don't like the way you handled the fact Luna was tired of being in your shadow. Sisters are supposed to love and care for each other, differences aside. You should have tried to find a solution both of you could accept instead of sealing her in the moon for a thousand years. Do you have any idea what it's like to be alone, truly alone?"
Luna looked at him in shock. From the way he said that, he understood exactly what she had gone through.
"I did try to reason with her. But she was so bitter about it that she refused to listen to reason."
"And it never occurred to you to let her have her own castle and kingdom so she could rule on her own without you overshadowing her? From what Chrys told me, you and Luna shared the same castle. Even I know that trying to rule together without some space is going to end badly."
From the look on Celestia's face, it never did occur to her to let her sister rule somewhere else.
Though Luna apparently had been angry enough at being overshadowed that it had occurred to her, but she never had the chance to try it.
Naruto did glare at the bratty unicorn who looked very affronted at how he challenged Celestia.
He pegged her as a teacher's pet the same level Haruno was, and left it at that.
"I take it you get this from your own siblings?" she asked.
Naruto gave her a rather...odd...look for the Ponies. Chrysalis could have interpreted it as flat. With so much niceness in Equestria it was little wonder that they would have difficulty interpreting the look Naruto had on his face, unless they had regular contact with a snide Griffin.
"My parents died the day I was born, and I was their first child," he said flatly, not caring about the flinch he drew from everyone there.
It only grew worse as he continued.
"And I am ostracized by my village both for being born on the worst day possible and for the birthmarks I got because of what my mother was. And because I inherited her legacy, most people would be very pleased if I dropped dead on the street. I never even had any friends until I accidentally summoned one and entered a summoning contract with a species that no one had ever heard of before, let alone knew what they did. Chrys practically raised me since she learned how bad my living conditions were," he said bluntly.
"Naruto, I believe you've horrified them enough. The old man is getting worried since he hasn't heard a word from you since Tuesday," said Chrys.
"Sorry Chrys, got carried away. Anyway Luna, I'll see you later. Bye Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow," said Naruto.
He did stop by Fluttershy's cottage to get his new pet though.
Chrys was snickering as she heard a blow by blow account of what Naruto did. Finding out he had somehow learned the teleport spell even though Pegasus Ponies shouldn't be able to didn't surprise her. Naruto lived to screw with reality.
Finding out he had actually chastised Celestia for what she did to Luna 1,000 years ago was icing on the cake!
She was howling when she heard his opinion of Celestia's new prized student! Comparing the girl to Sakura was cruel, but very accurate.
She was so amused that she warned him about the old perv who had been looking for him of late before she took him home.
Naruto's first impression of Jiraiya was that the man was a glorified pervert who loved to ham it up. Then he heard from the Kyuubi that the man was also his godfather, and he was pissed beyond reason.
Had the man actually done his job, he might have had an actual childhood.
About the only reason he didn't kick the man outright was because if he hadn't left Naruto all alone to face the mobs, he wouldn't have met Chrys.
That didn't stop Naruto from pranking the living hell out of the man for a week straight.
The only reason he was spared was because Naruto accidentally learned what the odd marking on his flanks meant that he had gotten from the light the Elements of Harmony gave off.
Poor, poor Konoha was never the same... (snicker).
Chrys was at an outdoor cafe with Anko chatting.
"Is it wrong of me to say I feel sorry for the village now that Naruto has that new trick of his to play with?"
"Nope. He's just lucky the old man didn't realize he was the cause of that explosion...though that was one hell of a stunt!" said Anko chuckling.
Naruto, once again displaying that the rules of reality do not apply to him in any sense, somehow managed to create what Chrys called a Sonic Rainboom mere days after triggering his special talent...which was apparently the ability to go between worlds without using a summoning jutsu or reverse summoning. (His Cutie Mark is the twin rings from the Portal games. Do I really need to explain more than that?)
As a side effect, he could now take his Pony form outside Equestria. Because everyone assumed he was someone's summon, he used this to his advantage.
Then he started performing aerial stunts out of boredom...which lead to him breaking the sound barrier and causing a Sonic Rainboom in the middle of town. He shattered nearly every window in the village and caused mass hysteria.
It was only because no one knew what the hell caused it that he didn't pay for damages. Well that and no one knew who the odd horse summon belonged to.
(Before anyone complains, I would like to remind you that he is the son of a known speed demon and is used to outrunning the ANBU since before he hit double digits. This is why he can keep up with Rainbow Dash in a race.)
"So has the kid actually learned anything from that old perv?"
"Aside from a new spinny ball of doom, no. Idiot tried to get him to sign the Toad contract, didn't realize I was behind him. You should have heard him scream when he found out I was the same Chryssie who worked at the Kaen. I see him there occasionally but I never knew he was the same Jiraiya I beat out in the spy trade," Chrys smirked.
Anko howled with appreciative laughter.
"You know there is something I always wanted to ask. What if the Council ever dared to kick Naruto out? You practically run the entire spy trade for the village, yet your only loyalty is to Naruto."
Chrys drank her tea for a moment before she answered.
"If they were ever that idiotic, then Konoha would fall. What they failed to note was that my minions had been running interference for years, particularly when it came to erasing ROOT's missions from existence. And with the spy trade leaving with Naruto, because I would leave and take the Hive children with me, the village would be vulnerable to attack. Not to mention that in a bit of spite I would order the minions to remove their illusions for the ninja to see and let the world know Konoha was open for the taking. I would imagine Kumo and Iwa would jump at the chance to take out the village once they learn the spies were gone from theirs and that their greatest asset was banished. With his new ability we could watch the village burn to the ground from the Hive," she replied.
Anko was surprisingly sober when she heard that.
"You know, it's things like that which make me very glad you're on our side for the moment."
"Like I said before. My only loyalty is to Naruto."
"...Mind giving me a heads up in case you ever decide to turn so I can leave with you?"
Chrys grinned. Anko was one of the few people she liked.
"Of course. Call it professional courtesy."
Naruto stood before the stadium. The only ones missing were Sasuke and that guy Dosu, though from what Gaara told him (after he barely managed to pacify his fellow jinchuriki after startling him one night in Pony form) that idiot was long since dead.
Since his match was first, Naruto got to stay below while everyone else went up to the contestants booth.
(Insert Neji's fate spiel...)
Naruto didn't think twice. Thanks to his new Pony form being available back in his own home, his speed had jumped up.
Neji was left in the dust as Naruto ran circles around him. Almost literally in fact.
Neji looked at Naruto suspiciously.
"...Have you been learning from Gai-sensei?" he asked after a moment.
"Nope. Been developing my own speed jutsu for fun."
Something about that clicked with Neji. He glared at Naruto with all his might.
"IT WAS YOU! YOU'RE THE IDIOT WHO BROKE EVERY WINDOW IN THE VILLAGE! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG IT TOOK TO CLEAN UP THAT GLASS?!"
"YOU CAN'T PROVE A THING!" shrieked Naruto.
Neji put the boy in a headlock, clearly pissed off.
"You annoying brat! I know it was you! Everyone knows about your weird summons! You're the only person in the entire village, let alone the country with Horse summons!"
Naruto and Chrys twitched in annoyance.
"THEY ARE CALLED PONYS IDIOT!" they yelled in unison. Neji nearly lost his hearing from being too close to Naruto's mouth when he yelled.
"And that wasn't a horse dumbass! It was a Pegasus!" said Naruto, displaying an unusual amount of flexibility to kick Neji in the head from behind using his legs. Not even Lee could pull something like that off.
Tenten was the only one to say what most people were thinking...well, the shinobi anyway.
"Uh, Naruto? Pegasus are a breed of horse. A mythological breed, but still a horse."
"Yes, but they call themselves Ponies. Therefor your argument is made invalid," retorted the blond.
They had nothing to say to that...except...
"So are you the one to ruin all those windows in the village?" demanded Neji, putting more pressure on his neck.
"I'm a ninja for Kami's sake. What the hell have you been smoking if you think I would be stupid enough to admit to something like that in front of so many witnesses?" deadpanned Naruto.
And once again, everyone blinked twice.
He was...entirely correct. And he was being smart. The Hokage was highly tempted to give him a vest for that remark alone.
Chrys noted the unusual amount of Oto nin, when none of theirs had made it to the finals. So, she gave the order to all active Konoha Changelings to prepare for a fight.
It helped that they could copy some of the stronger shinobi in the village, among others. She couldn't wait to see the look on the Sound idiots faces when they realized they were fighting identical copies of Ibiki, Anko, Kakashi, Zabuza...
She just hoped that the minions had enough hidden cameras stashed around the village.
Naruto beat Neji by overpowering him. Once he was up in the contestants booth, Chrys handed him several bowls of Ichiraku Ramen to recharge. He would need it later.
When the feathers began to fall, all eyes turned to the Hokage.
Who was immediately 'trapped' in a purple box by four of Orochimaru's henchmen.
When he went to attack, he found himself facing a hissing Changeling.
Chrys cackled much like Anko would at the look of fury on his face...particularly when Sarutobi dispelled the mass genjutsu and called the village to arms.
Her cruel laughter when she told the Changelings to 'have fun' sent shivers down the enemy's spine.
Because their definition of having fun meant draining them of all the love in them. They could partially see into the victim's mind (made it much easier to steal the energy), so it was child's play to turn into their loved ones and feed on them.
Considering Chrys had never let them 'play' with ninja before, she got a real head-rush from the energy they were sending back.
"Hey Chrys! I gotta chase Gaara, can I bring a bunch of minions with me to make a copy of Mr. Fuzzy?" asked Naruto.
"Hmm...that would be interesting to see. Let me know when you're about to do it so I can tape it," she said.
While Changelings were primarily feared because of their ability to transform, they weren't exactly happy with the fact that the boss summon of their set happened to be the Queen. It was a sad but true fact that their primary function was as spies and infiltrators, which meant the less reputable set tried to stab them in the back...a lot. This was because they didn't fear the Queen at all. Even Ponies were feared more than Changelings, and they were considered weaker!
However, if Naruto were able to successfully duplicate a Bijuu, then their standing among the summons would shoot through the roof!
She really, really wanted him to pull this off. Especially since the ones he planned to summon were some of the weaker members.
Orochimaru was pissed. There was no other word for it.
He had heard rumors of these...horse-bug hybrids, but he had never believed that they could successfully duplicate anyone they wished to.
He had no idea it wasn't his old teacher until the transformation wore off! And then the old man had the gall to appear and dispell the mass genjutsu, meaning the Leaf got reinforcements!
The bug was killed quickly, far too quickly for his taste. Unfortunately he couldn't leave the barrier, because the ANBU were just waiting to swoop in and attack.
All he knew was that if he survived this, then he was going to do a very...thorough...sweep of his bases. If they could copy Sarutobi to the point he couldn't detect it, then they could have infiltrated his base!
