Well here we are. The last stretch of this piece of fiction before it can be put to rest for now. The final chapter, and it was one hell of one.
This was a lot of fun to write about, and definitely good for me as a writer. The experience in writing this was a fantastic one, and I can honestly say that writing every bit of it, regardless of how it made me feel at times, was my favorite.
The characters were what I honestly felt would be my ultimate downfall, but apparently that's not the case, and I did a good job at giving them a showing here in this fic. So yay, me?
Anywho...It's amazing how I felt like I wanted to write so much down, but I feel kind of drained. This is the last chapter of the main plotline, and I can't help but feel that it doesn't need to be bogged down by unnecessary words.
So without further ado.
Disclaimer: I do not own the properties of Naruto and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. They belong to their respective owners and companies Masashi Kishimoto and Hasbro, respectively.
~X~
~X~
~Play: Get Scared - Stumbling In Your Footsteps~ (Imagine this playing in the background at low volume before the argument climax, where it begins to get louder)
He'd known that things weren't done, once they'd come back from Trixie's show. Much less how, angry AJ had seemed from it all. He frowned in annoyance though.
Why was she taking this so seriously though? Seriously, so maybe he was having a little fun up there as he traded back and forth with Trixie as the duel went on. So what?
"Ah can't believe you Naruto." She started off, once they got upstairs. He could hear Big Mac in his room, but paid the sounds little heed.
Time to get to the bottom of this.
"Seriously, what is your deal Jackie? You're totally blowing this outta whack!" He retorted, though seeing her turn her gaze on him with anger wasn't the most pleasant thing.
"What's wrong with me? Naruto you just went up there and had fun with the darn mare who was making a fool of us!" She shouted back, before his frown deepened.
"You guys kind of brought it upon yourselves, when this all started!"
"How can you even say that with a straight face?! You saw what she was doin'! Going around spewing all that nonsense about being better than us! You should have had mah back!" She flung her hands out in wide gestures, all the while her voice got louder.
"She only riled you guys up, because you guys let her. I told you all too just leave it alone, but no, you guys had to go all gung-ho about some mare you'll probably never see again!"
"Oh! So Ah'm just supposed to let everything she said slide and go along with my business! Hell no!"
"Stop being so prideful about this! She won't be here in two days, and you just won't let this go?! What are you twelve?!" He knew he shouldn't have, really he did, but she was being way too stubborn about this. When he saw her stare turn from angry, to shock and then furious, he knew he'd made this argument worse.
"Oh ho! As if you're one to talk! Every night! Every Celestia damn night, we talk and you won't say a peep about what bothers you! And you want to call me a child?!"
"You know DAMN well, that that and this are two different things, Jackie!"
"Don't you fucking "Jackie" me! You'd think that after all this time together that you'd at least give me a hint of why you're holding onto this! You want to call me a child? Well ain't you the coal callin' the mamba black!" She responded, which caused him to bristle. What did she think she'd have some freaking high ground by throwing that in his face?!
The fuck she was.
"Don't you even try and make that out as something that's like this! It's not even close!" He wasn't about to let her try and lead him into that territory. Too bad, Applejack didn't seem to get that memo.
"Oh sure, something that happened years ago is something that you can't let go of?! For fuck sakes, than give me a damn reason for why?! Be honest with me for at least one second, and tell me! Don't yall think Ah deserve to know at this point?!" That line threw him over the edge. He was going to be coming from an angry place, and he wanted to.
"Deserve? Deserve, nothing! You don't deserve to know! There are you happy, Miss Element of Honesty?! You don't deserve anything!" It was here he knew that something broke between them. He didn't realize it until he'd finished, but once he got a good look at her angry tears, he knew he'd said the last straw.
"O-oh so that's it? That's all I mean to you, huh? After all this time…" The words came out in croaks that caused his own heart to contract in agony.
She'd stared at him with tears in her eyes before abruptly turning away and stomping down the hallway, hat shadowing her eyes. Slamming of her door was all he heard, as he did his own in unison. He stood there for a moment feeling angrier than ever, and he knew that he didn't want to see anyone at that point.
He'd probably attack them out of rage, and even in his agitated state he understood that was wrong, and so he took it upon himself to just lash out in the safety of his room. It started with the jars on his desk, and then the shelf above it. He moved to the mirror before his own black fist laid a single blow to its reflexive surface, the pain that came from the shards of glass in his hand was a good distraction for him.
He'd continued this little ramp around his room, before he'd damn near broken everything save the bed. That being relative since it had a cross of claw marks from his own hands on it. He'd done what he could with himself in here and he was still angry.
…He needed out of this house, and away from her.
That night two souls fell to sleep with angry visions of their conversation egging them on into deeper, exhausting slumber.
~Song End~
~X~
Big Mac looked out the crack of his door. Apple Bloom and him just watching as the scene in front of them took place. He shook his head as he watched both blonds heatedly argue for all of five minutes. Emotions riled high, and the words becoming more and more hurtful as time went on. Then it got to the point to where the Unique finished the conversation with a shout.
He facepalmed as he watched his sister stomp away before dual slams were heard, both doors of Naruto and Applejack closed. He dragged his hand down his face before he sighed and closed his own door. He put his back against it before looking up into two sets of eyes.
Apple Bloom and Rainbow Dash gave him worried looks. He seriously doubted that those out there would be coming to terms anytime soon without some outside intervention. Much less, he didn't want to get into their business, they had to figure this out for themselves.
Many would have probably thought that Big Mac would have gone out there to either: A) Help them through their problems, or much less likely, B) Try and back his sister up in her argument against the latest blond of the household.
Thing was that Big Mac was there when things went down. He'd seen all this move along, and quite honestly, he had to side with Naruto for that moment in time. He knew Rainbow had an ego problem, so that was bound to happen, but AJ had a pride thing going on as well. Of this he was well aware and wanted to get her off the stage himself before she went and did what she actually did. Especially when Trixie had said those words that she did.
Then once the Unique had been coerced by the daughter of Ms. Hooves to go up. He honestly thought the blond might end up in the same predicament his sister and her friends had ended up in. Thing went North for once in that regard, seeing as the blond was able to stay a step ahead of that Trixie mare, but for all his position as the one in control of the show, the stage performer was truly the one who reaped the profits in the end.
He saw Rainbow giving him a look, to which he responded with his own.
"Come on! We gotta go out there and make Naruto apologize to Applejack after what happened!" There it was. This outcome he was expecting, better yet he knew how inevitable it was that Rainbow would come to Applejack's defense. Especially since she had been in the same position herself.
He shook his head, much to her irritated confusion. He gave her a flat look, Apple Bloom looking between the two of them with a renewed worried look. He saw the bemused scowl on her muzzle, and he sighed. He didn't want to end up in a situation like Naruto and AJ, right now. He had to do this in steps
"Rainbow, Ah'm mighty happy that you'd come to my sister's aid whenever she's in a stint. Here and before, but this," he gestured to the door where they heard some crashes coming from Naruto's room and some thrashing in Applejack's. "Isn't something that can be solved with bravery, or magical purification powers, this here is a situation that requires tact."
She frowned at him in disappointment. How could he just stay in here while his sister was dealing with Naruto's bullshit? They were family, and Naruto wasn't and she was about to make this point before she saw him narrow his eyes at her. She flinched back.
Did he know what she was about to say…okay, he was good.
"Now listen here Ms. Dash. Ah understand where you're about to go with this. Ah'll have you know that no matter what, mah sister will always have the support of the Apple family. Yet, this right here. This isn't something that you can go all "friendship will solve all our problems" thing. Their friendship is at the core of this spat." His words caused her shoulders to hunch, her mind running back to what happened not even a week ago, before she looked up in determination.
He gave her an apologetic look. He didn't want to dash her hopes, but this wasn't something he was knew Rainbow would be too great at. He saw her perk only slightly, before giving him a look. He raised an eyebrow once she spoke again.
"No." It came out a slight mumble.
"Come again, Sugarcube?" Big Mac asked, before Rainbow's determined look turned defiant.
"I said 'No'! I'm not going to sit back here and let my friend stay grumpy for any longer than necessary. One day…One day, I'll see Gilda again, and I want to reconnect with her but right now a friend that's close by needs my help." She got up in his face, having to flutter her wings a bit to keep eye with him. He frowned at her words.
"Rainbow ya probably don't understand what Ah'm trying to say 'ere. You can't go butting into others business like this. This is a friendship problem between those two. Not you, not me, not us." He tried again, but her defiant look held strong and even turned a little disappointed.
"Where's that stallion from before who went out of his way to help a crying girl in the park, huh? Last I checked that counted as a friendship problem between me and Gilda, and yet you still came over and let me talk your ears off." She retorted causing his eyes to widen, before he nervously looked off to the side.
"I know where he is. He's right in front of me. The kick-flank guy who came to help me out when I didn't even want my friends to find out. The same guy who kept a promise to not say it to anypony else, even if he thought it would be better if my friends did know about it."
He clenched his hands at that. He could see where she was coming from, really, but what did she expect them to do? They couldn't make those two kiss and make-up that easily. Even worse is if they had to fix the problem, then the two blonds would never be able to absolve things between themselves by themselves.
Rainbow Dash saw his clenched hands, before she held up a fist and knocked the back of her knuckles against his chest.
"You're a lot better than that Mac. You obviously don't want to just sit back and see this play out. You want to go and help right?" This question made him clench his eyes shut. Rainbow stared at him for a little bit longer, before she deflated and set herself correctly on the floor. She gave a sad look, before surprising him with a hug.
He looked down at the hugging mare as she looked up at him with a small smile, before letting go. She turned away and walked towards the door.
"I get it. You do try but, stuff like this is scary. I'm you've probably seen it before yourself…"
Mac's eyes closed, as his mind ran back to his younger days with his parents. When they'd occasionally argue. Sometimes it was light. Sometimes it was ugly. Yet, after a little while, things always got better. They'd make up, Ma or Pa would always come to the other, say sorry and take 'em out for a trip through town those days. He, strangely enough, imagined Naruto and Applejack in those positions and it hit his heart slightly.
"I can't say I understand that stuff. He he, I never really got to meet my mom. It was just me dad, and my big brothers. All of them looking out for me and doing their best to make sure I grew up loved. That's family for ya." She chuckled near the start, before putting a hand to the door.
Mac imagined himself with AJ. Him telling her how to do certain things, and about how worried he'd be for her sometimes. His thoughts then went to Naruto. Back when they were kids, and AJ was still getting to the orchard, the two of them would random talk about stuff. Sometimes the former thief would ask inane questions, but the Apple brother would answer them to the best of his ability. Now that he thought about it, even back then the blond sought even a little guidance from him. Thinking about the outing the quartet of him, Naruto, Spike and Bulk had, he could understand the blonde's small amount of social awkwardness.
Even when he thought he wasn't listening back at Sugarcube Corner.
"I know it's scary, I know sometimes you may feel like if you got involved it might make things worse, but sometimes you got to try. Yeah, it's more likely to make things worse form time to time, but even that small, tiny percent of it working is worth giving your all for."
Big Mac's thoughts went back to the image of Naruto and Applejack being in his parents' position, and expression might have turned nervous. Those two weren't together like his were. They honestly didn't have to stay the way they did if they didn't want to, and he couldn't' necessarily change that, but...
He didn't want them for them. He wanted his sister happy with someone they both overall approved of. Was it selfish? Yeah, but Mac felt that it would be a good thing for AJ. Plus Celestia knows how long it'd take for her to even come back from this. Heck she might even give up on love entirely! He wanted to be an uncle with some fire in him one day!
"Rainbow "Bound-For-Flight" Dash doesn't do things, half-flanked. It's all or nothing! That percentage is still higher than zero and I'll make the best of it. Just you watch Big Mac, I'll make that awesome stallion proud!" She pumped her fist skyward, before she began to open the door. A moment later it was closed by a red hand. She heard a sigh, before turning to the stallion in the room with a confused frown.
She watched him rubbed the bridge between his eyes, before he smiled in defeat.
"All right, alright. Let's hear this plan of yours on how to help those two, Sugarcube." He said to her temporary confusion. Not a second later did she process what he said, before she grinned and gave him another surprise hug around the neck.
A second later, they separated with her coughing into her fist, looking off to the side with a dust of pink over her face.
"Y-yeah, cool. I knew you'd see it my way, one way or another. Not that I ever doubted you with my cool persuasive skills!" Her slightly off-kilter acceptance of his help turned into a slight return to character that had him chuckling, before she turned to him with a sheepish expression.
"Uh, so yeah a "plan"…You wouldn't happen to have any ideas, huh? I mean, I have some great ones, but too cool ideas could make this situation complicated with all the super-complex stuff involved." She announced, causing him to deadpan. This was the mare who just got him involved a second ago?
All while this was happening, one Apple Bloom sat back and look back and forth between the two adults in the room. She wore a confused expression, before tilting her head.
What the hay just happened here?
~X~
It was morning that found him lying in the large tree with the "Flower" on it. He'd come up here, as soon as he could. Madly picking and smashing apples from the tree's branches with well practice shots of water. He'd simmered down some, but not all the way.
He kept himself busy as Celestia's orbiting sphere rose, and greeted the day too sunnily for his current mode. He gather a small orb of water and shot it out into the orchard at an abrupt speed. He twirled his fingers as the water orb around the tree branches of other bunches of apple bearing foliage.
His mind began to focus on his moving orb. His eyes flickering to the right and left in accordance to the projectile's movements. His fingers were jumping in small units of measurement as they controlled the H2O sphere. He watched as the sphere moved with speed beyond sight not his own. He willed it to go faster as it traced across the orchard.
This was fine right? Who needed Applejack anyway? No one needed a self-serving mare, who thought she deserved anything from-!
Yet, as the ball began to go beyond his own vision, it went out of his control for a moment before it came rushing back towards his person. His eyes widened in shock before he ducked the large aqua bullet. It dug into the wood above his position before bursting outward from the hole it made. He stayed in ducked position for a moment, before he wiped the sweat from his head. He let out a loose chuckle, before commenting.
"Well that's definitely out of consideration or the day." His words came out slightly meek, before he looked down to his hands. He flexed them for a moment, frowning, before he heard some footsteps from the area at the bottom of the tree.
It was Big Mac, as it were, and he stopped at the tree base before looking up at the blond. His expression was flat and lacking in emotion, before he spoke.
"Come, let's go and have a talk."
~X~
The sunny-haired blond looked down at Ponyville from the hill above, with the lone tree on it. He sat on one of the two stools he'd formed from the bedrock below, as he waiting for Big Mac to come back.
His eyes trailed over the town, and watched all the color-coated furs move about with purpose. Purpose for living the lives they did, as they milled about. Most flanks, if shown, and hands marked with some form of symbol or picture.
His mind idly ran over the theories he and Yahiko-sensei had come up with about the Cutie Mark™. So many questions that racked their collective minds for so many years, and even now the very idea that one's "Special Talent" would appear on your rump/hand seemed even more ridiculous.
All these ponies…diverse as they were, there shouldn't be a possibility for one to not have similar Cutie Marks. Take for example the Apple family Cutie marks.
Granny Smith's – A pie (Probably apple-flavored, more data is necessary)
Big Mac's – A Big half-apple. Probably emphasizing his importance to farm's upkeep. Or representation of self-importance to it.
Apple Bloom – Inconclusive.
Applejack's…three shining apple marks. Born of life choice of farm life continuity. Possible representation of family life at the time of conception.
For the most part, from what he remembered of past…nightly talks with a certain Apple mare, her entire family was named after apples. It was even more ridiculous when he considered just how big her family was. There had to be more Apples than actual apples! Since when could the words Caramel apple count as a name?! Were they doing this just for some sick kick to the nads to guys like him who wondered about this stuff?
Bastards.
He would have continued this train of tantalizingly inept thoughts, were it not for the feel of something cold on his face causing him to jump in shock. He looked up to find a glass mug filled to the brim with a frothing tan liquid. Said beverage was currently being offered to him by a red hand with a large half-apple Cutie Mark.
"Zonin' out there quite a bit, huh Naruto?" Came Big Mac's inquisitive statement, as the Unique received the drink from his hand. The blond looked down into the liquid, taking a couple sniffs, before he sipped it a little. He let a few coughs, the red stallion next to him taking a seat before patting his back.
"Easy there bronco, that's strong stuff." The strawberry blond warned, though the amusement he heard in his voice could not more obvious. The Unique paused to give him a slight stink eye, before he let out a long sigh, staring into the liquid confines of his mug.
Taking a few more sips, Big Mac also doing so, they sat in silence. They both knew of the looming question, but neither was too eager to approach it just yet, so they simply sat there in neutral silence.
They watched Ponyville's day progress, idly sipping nicely chilled alcohol. Both could feel the fluid burning in their throats, the Unique even more so, as they nursed the mugs with one hand each.
It was at the one hour mark that the Unique cracked. He turned his gaze skyward, barely taking notice of the Pegasus ponies moving about. The gray fur of a passing Derpy did her best to dart across the blue expanse, on her way to do her daily rounds.
"I'm honestly surprised you're so calm about this. I'm pretty sure I made your sister cry just the other day and here you are having a drink with me." Naruto started, taking another small sip of alcohol. Big Mac made no remark on that, leaving the sunny blond-haired male to continue.
"There's so much you should be so angry with me by this point, but you're not and I don't get it. I've done nothing but caused you guys some grief one way or another. I was taking your apples, I was making a game out of it but it was your produce I was messing with. I'm the reason that your sister was out in the cold that day, the whole reason she got sick. That wasn't exactly male-bonding material, getting a guy's sister sick."
"Hmm, Eeyup." Macintosh's response made the blond raise his eyebrow for a moment, before he continued. The blond made sure to take a large gulp of liquid courage before continuing on. He'd done his best to stop his internal systems form dissipating the alcohol in his body.
He'd need it, now more than ever.
"Ever since I've even been here the past few months, I've been causing you guys some trouble. Taking time away your responsibilities to teach me how to farm, dodging meeting other ponies," Big Mac raised an eyebrow at that line to which the blond answered and continued. "I'm getting better at it. Plus I got you injured, still sorry about that, I didn't stop your sister from getting herself worked up AGAIN and allowed her to run herself into the ground. And let's just finish this up with the fact that I've made her beyond just pissed all because I didn't back her up, thinking her childish. I insulted her! And I FUCKED UP! All because I couldn't just let go. I should have been more supportive than that! I knew why she was angry, but I scolded her and look where we are now!" The confessing blond had been on all fours by the time he finished, and with a shout he slammed his fist into the floor.
Big Mac watched it all, even as the blonde's line covered fist came down on the floor. Even as the earth beneath them shook and cracked beneath his seat, he watched on as the blond vent for a moment, before he stayed on all fours crying. The frustrations of a man who'd made mistakes. He'd seen it before from others, and it was from those experiences that had him bring the blond on this hill, far away from anybody to vent.
He sighed, before he walked over to the sniffling Unique. He crouched before he offered his two bits.
"Now yall, may not believe this, but ya did far more than just cause problems fer us, ya hear? Ah don't want to hear all this talk about you feeling sorry for us havin' ta put up with yah. Quite frankly, Ah'm sure all of us are glad yer here, especially Applejack." Big Mac started, the blond to his side sniffling, before wiping his face and looking up. He opened his mouth to retort, but the red stallion cut him off with a raised palm.
"Nuh-uh, my turn to speak, yall had time to say your piece. You were partly right that you did bring in some smidge of ill will here and there, but you did just as much good, if not more so." He paused making sure to keep the non-equine's attention.
"Did you take some time away from us? Ah wouldn't have notice, since we've been getting more done around here. Dodging meetings with others isn't necessarily a good thing, but you got the deliveries done on time, possibly even faster. My gettin' injured isn't a problem you caused, so much as it was a happening of circumstance." Each word that came out of the stallion's mouth, caused the blond just think. Eyes downward, expression contemplative.
"Yeah AJ did get worked up again, but Ah'm happy that she wasn't out destroying herself with no one to watch for her. She wasn't alone in that endeavor, and Ah'm happy for that, and also because yall did get most of the work done. Much less the, ahem, blow you took for Ms. Dash," that wound up a memory that caused both of them to shudder, before Mac continued.
"Now Ah bet you're thinkin' that Ah'm going to agree with you on making AJ mad and will throw in some sort of lesson to ask ya to make-up with her, but Ah'm not." That line sent him for a loop, and he snapped his head to Big Mac's location, noggin tilted.
"Ya see, Ah was sort of expecting this to happen…" The wide-eyed look the other blond sent him, had the Apple stallion scratching his cheek.
"Well, things were going too well, fer yall two. Not that things couldn't have gone on, without something happening, but it was way to possible for something like this to happen. The both of ya are two headstrong individuals. There was no way in Tartarus that something wouldn't happen. Much less, if all those romance stories Ah have, ahem, glanced over in my spare time, were anything go by." At this point the blond had given him his full attention. Though when Macintosh got to the romance portion of his explanation, Naruto found his cheeks turning bright red, much to Big Mac's amusement and the Unique's consternation.
The blond on the floor hid his face, but he looked downward in thought. Big Mac's words making rounds in his skull, as he tried to process them. He'd done more than his fair share of damage, hadn't he? He was sure. Applejack was still mad at him though, and that brought his mood down a bit, but not as much as it would have before this talk.
He let his mind stop for a moment, before he stood back up. He finished the rest of the liquid in his mug before handing it back to Mac. The blond proceeded to pull the hood of his jumpsuit over his head, before he started off down the hill. Though not before throwing out some thanks to eldest Apple male.
"Thanks Big Mac. I…I needed that. I'm still not sure about how things are at the moment, but it's nice to have a second perspective. I need to take a walk, you don't mind do you?" He said, as he turned his head back to the red stallion who just waved him off. Nodding once more, Naruto shoved his hands into his pockets, before shuffling off. Though Big Mac made a final shot at advice.
"Naruto! Don't forget that talking is always an option!"
Big Mac not sure if he heard him or not, just shook his head. He turned back to the mugs and seats. The seats were probably okay to be left here, good for later endeavors. As for the mugs, he'd take them inside.
"Sometimes it takes a steady, but active hand Ah guess." He said with a small smile, his head taking a look around the area with some interest.
"That guy, it's a wonder that he didn't use his magic back then."
He finally began his trek down the hill. He made sure to step out of the way of the crack traveling down the mound in the earth with the tree on it.
"Really hope no one pays to much attention to this place, besides us."
He wondered if Rainbow Dash was having a better time with "Assignment".
…
Probably not.
~X~
Rainbow couldn't help but grunt in slight agreement, as she and the others listened to Applejack.
She remembered going to AJ's room, and doing her best to not just break down the door and wrangled the farm mare out of her place of rest. She also remembered how the female Apple looked once she'd opened the door of her own accord. Needless to say that, she had made the mare agree to meet her and the others the next day. After doing that, she'd made rounds to all their friends, and got them to agree with her to help meet with Applejack. They were especially worried when they heard from her about the fight between the farm mare and the Unique.
That had been yesterday, and at present they were all sitting in Sugarcube Corner in a circle. Each of the Element Bearers having a sort of beverage of sweet delight. They'd started chatting idly about things, latest gossip, info, tips and the like before they came upon the topic of the evening.
Initial breaching of the topic, came with...less than spectacular results.
"Ah said, Ah don't want to talk about that bastard! Ah ain't got nothing to do with 'im no more!" Declared Applejack, as she shoved a spoonful of her Apple Crostata into her mouth.
"Applejack, dearie, I think you'll understand that we're worried about you. You and Naruto both. We just want to know what happened that has you two on...less than speaking terms." Provided Rarity, low-fat vanilla yogurt parfait in front of her. She gestured with her spoon at the end of her sentence. She saw Pinkie off to her left, with a contemplative expression before the party mare turned her gaze skyward, away from her slice of Strawberry-Chocolate Surprise Cheesecake, in deeper thought.
"And Ah said, it's nothing yall need to worry about. True colors just came out is all, and Ah'm better off for it." This was punctuated with a rather vicious stab into her dessert. Twilight on her left, seemed to regard her with a nervous twirl of her mane. She was seated in front of a vanilla milkshake, with striped curly straw.
Twilight saw this as one of her defining flaws. She had no such experience, considering the girls were her first friends, so she was in for a learning adventure. She just wasn't sure if she'd like the whole trip for this one. Especially considering she was still running over the whole Trixie ordeal still. The lavender Unicorn was currently wondering where in Ponyville the performer was right now.
"O-oh, um. Did you guys at least...try and talk? If you don't mind me asking?" Out came the soft voice of Fluttershy, as she nursed her carrot cake, fork parting it in nervousness. Applejack looked up at the butter colored Pegasus with a flat look that caused the animal-lover to look away.
"Ah said nothing needs to be talked about."
"Applejack you've been in a bad mood since yesterday! Come on, this whole thing could have been a big misunderstanding!" Rainbow's words made the farm mare turn her annoyed gaze towards the blue pegasus's direction, which caused said flying equine to glare back in defiance.
"And Ah already sai-!"
"We've all heard what you said, but that's not doing anything for us trying to help you!" Dash cut off Applejack, before the mare could get a word in edgewise. Her expression softened a bit.
"You keep saying that it doesn't bother you, but if that's the case then explain it to us. It shouldn't be a problem right, unless you're lying?" Rainbow had seen enough cop movies to corner someone effectively, at least in her own mind.
And it seemed to be working, because the prism-maned pegasus's words caused the farmer to freeze. The hand around the fork she held, tightening.
The others watched with curious or worried looks, as the farmer didn't move. Some were worried that maybe Rainbow had pushed too hard, while blue pegasus looked on with a stern stare. Eyes keeping over AJ's frozen state.
It was a few seconds later that Applejack let out a small shudder before she looked up uncertainly. She caught the gazes of the croup before releasing both a sigh and the story of what had happened between her and the Unique the day before.
Throughout the whole retelling they all listened. Some nodded upon certain parts, while others were slightly more nervous as the story came to an end. Rainbow having already known the story, was trying to piece together a plan of action of how to help her friend get out of this mood. She saw that once Applejack had finished retelling she had tears running down the sides of her face, with her hands over her head.
Fluttershy had, by story's end, moved over to AJ's side and helped comfort her. It was reassuring that at least one of the group had some semblance of an idea on how to help. Didn't mean that things were solved. They still needed to get the two blonds to make up with one another.
By the time that AJ had calmed down, Rarity seemed to finish her parfait. The fashionista's eyes were focused in thought, as she slowly and daintily tapped her spoon against her glass. She seemed to be gritting her teeth slightly with frustration before letting out a sigh. She lay her spoon out on the table, before tenting her fingers in front of her face.
The others took notice of this, and gave her their full attention, Applejack included. With all the eyes on her, Rarity spoke.
"I can understand how Applejack's feeling in this midst of affairs, but at the same time I can't condone it." The verdict left her mouth, and as soon as the others heard it, they were shocked to say the least. Rarity raised a hand in stopping them. She brought it back to her position before she focused her eyes on Applejack.
"Applejack dearest, I do feel for you, but I can't necessarily say that either you or Naruto are in the right here. From what you've told us, this is something Naruto has been holding on to for years. As much as I detest Trixie for what she did to couture, the fact remains that we did indeed initiate the situation to begin with." This seemed to stop frozen, all the while Applejack kept her eyes on Rarity. Rarity matched her gaze for the moment, before hers softened, Applejack noticing the change turned her head away in slight guilt.
"AJ I can understand that what Trixie said got you a little...riled," Rarity started.
"Riled?! That damn showboat had to barrels to judge me and my apples! Ah don't take kindly to insults, but trying to pass my apples off as something they're not ain't right by any standard yall can come up with! Besides she then continued to say..." The apple farmer stopped, before she gave the pristine unicorn a frown. Twilight frowned herself, recalling back to when Applejack had been hogtied by Trixie on stage.
"Perhaps Trixie should be a farmer on the side," the light blue magician said, as she took a smug bite out of the apple in her hand.
"Obviously it can't be that hard."
Applejack's eyes widen to an alarming degree, before they narrowed in the direction of Trixie. Emerald eyes offering description into the depths of fury she wished upon the Azure unicorn at that very moment.
Her eyes widened, for a moment before she turned back to the Element of Honesty. She stopped nursing her milkshake, before she brought up a question.
"Would it have anything to do with what Trixie said?" The Lavender unicorn's words brought attention to herself.
"Uh Twilight you're gonna have to be more specific than that. Trixie didn't exactly throw out a bunch of nice things yesterday." Rainbow pitched in, as she gave the Magical Element a weird look, eyebrow raised. Twilight shook her head in the negative, and spoke once more.
"No, no, no! I mean, when Trixie gave Applejack her..."rebuttal", I couldn't help but notice that Applejack wasn't very pleased. If anything I feared she might have done something more than just glare at her. I feared that you might have done something you might have regretted." The librarian explained, as she fiddle with her straw. The others were giving her thoughtful looks, though Applejack wasn't exactly too pleased.
"Now hold on there Twilight! Look Ah wasn't pleased with what was said, but h wasn't about to go on a killing spree or somethin'." The farmer appealed her case, but Twilight held her with a stern stare.
"Applejack, can you honestly tell me you weren't thinking of doing something to Trixie when she said that?" The question caused the orange mare to chew on her lower lip. She'd thought for a few seconds before answering.
"Ah'm still saying that Ah wouldn't have done anything...permanent." At the others' stares she was quick to add on, "Ah might have thought some less than kind things, but it was in the heat of the moment! Ah know better than that! You guys believe me, right?"
The others looked to one another. Rainbow Dash spoke up.
"AJ we'd understand if you were a little angry..." the wonderbolt-wannabe started off.
"But can you say that if you were not tied up at that moment you wouldn't have done something to Trixie?" Finished Twilight. Applejack raised a finger to retort before she found herself unable to bring up a good argument. She tried time and time again, but every time she came to an end. All because she knew they were right.
Applejack sighed, before she allowed her head to fall to the table top. The others gave her a sympathetic look before she looked up at them. She left herself to being resigned.
"Look. Yeah, Ah would have done something Ah wouldn't have been very proud of. Yah gotta understand though, those things Trixie said. Ah couldn't handle the idea that anything she might have said would be...true." She let her head fall onto the top of her arms, and she crossed them on the table.
"Applejack, we would love to help you. You're not okay, you and Naruto aren't talking isn't helping you right now. Yet, we still don't know why what Trixie said got to you. There's no way this is just about how she insulted your produce." Twilight provided. The others nodded their heads in unison.
"That's just the thing there Twilight. It IS about what she said about my produce." She started, before she went on to explain. She told them about the loss of her parents when she was young, about how hard things had become around that time. She told them about how she wasn't as useful around the farm back then due to her age.
They listened and began to understand just why their friend had been so upset. The very idea that she tried so hard to live up to her parents' memory was something to be admired. Applejack sought after that ideal from as far back then. So it made sense that she was' none too pleased with Trixie's comments.
She had spoken about the few years that followed, before things were getting a little better. Her expression relaxed, and she started to smile a little bit as she spoke of the few later years. How Big Mac had gotten into the routine of things and when she started being able to help around the home by learning to cook and bake.
"And that's around when Naruto showed up, huh?" Pinkie interceded, causing AJ to look up before she looked back down. Though the smile on her face wasn't missed by those around the table. They listened in as she included the Unique's introduction into the story. They shared some laughs as she spoke of the exploits of their shared past.
"Ah tell ya, it's so weird how we continued the games and such. Then once apple Bloom was old enough, she started to join us in trying and getting him as well. As a matter of fact, she's the reason we got the second letter way back when." Applejack stated to the confusion of those around her.
"How?" Was the collective response she received. They had all tussled with the unique in his last game. They had to collectively do their best as a group to even get him. Were it not for Fluttershy they still wouldn't have won in the end with how slippery he was. At this Applejack let out an annoyed snort, before she pouted.
"She asked." She stated, sounding more than a little put out.
"Excuse me mister Naruto, can Ah catch ya?"
"..."
"..."
"...hmm, sure why not?"
This caused the others to laugh, and AJ joined them not a moment later. It was when they were coming down from their chuckles that Pinkie got them back on track.
"Don't you find it strange?" Pinkie asked, as she tapped her fork against her tongue. The other took notice of the party planner's new expression.
"Watcha mean Pinkie?" Applejack asked, as the others gave the pink pony the floor, so to speak. She smiled at them before turning to Applejack.
"Well Naruto, from what you've told us doesn't seem like he would do what he did without good reason. I mean you're his really special friend and he didn't even tell you about it? It must have been a really big doozy of a secret if he wouldn't share it with someone special to him like you AJ." The observation caused the farm mare to stutter for a moment. Her hand came up to her head, where she started to constantly start messing with the tuff of hair above her forehead.
"Ah don't know what you're talking about Pinkie." She muttered, but the Element of Laughter was quick on the prowl.
"Come on, Applejack! I can see how much he cares for you. I'm pretty sure Rarity did too."
Rarity gave Applejack a sly smirk, as the farmer turned her way. Cheeks burning even more, as the implication of what Pinkie said settled into the group. Twilight and Fluttershy seemed lost for a moment before it dawned on them. They turned their gazes to Applejack, as she tried to cover her head with her hat, face flaring red from the very thought of what Pinkie said.
"W-wait, you mean...that...Naruto likes..." Twilight seemed to be trying to catch up, as the Element of Kindness just let out a silent "Oh my".
"Yeah, it was pretty obvious." Stated Rainbow nonchalantly, fake-buffing her finger nails. Obviously the others didn't know that she'd only recently learned of the fact that those two had the hots for each other, but she played it up well. Rainbow Dash was observant, is what they'd think. Why ruin the chance for an image like that? Seeing Applejack snap her horrified gaze her way only made it all the sweeter.
Before the Element of Honesty could begin to wish to have the Earth swallow her whole, Pinkie spoke up.
"It's true. Naruto treats Applejack way different compared to everypony else. That's why I find it so strange he wouldn't have shared everything with her by this point. Considering that they spend so much time together." The comment brought the main subject of discussion back to focus. While Applejack couldn't help but feel her mood drop, she didn't feel as angry and distraught as before.
"Well from what Applejack has said, Naruto doesn't want to talk about it. Yet, he's not exactly "moving on". It's more like...He's holding onto it and for a while." Rarity stated, with the others running the information in their minds. Twilight thought for a moment, before she threw out a suggestion.
"Maybe, it's something he's ashamed of?" They looked to one another, before turning to Applejack. She thought about it, before she remembered the conversation they, her and Naruto, had on his first night here. The topics hadn't been something to talk about out loud, but...
"...So when we were asking questions earlier and you said you had a teacher...He's gone isn't he?" She asked quietly. He didn't respond, but she didn't turn to look at him.
Naruto from his position stayed silent, and closed his eyes, mouth shifting to a frown.
She closed her eyes, and sighed. She didn't want to speak about that out loud, but at the same time she was sure that it was kind of prodded at back when he was explaining himself to them. So she'd speak up, but she'd let them sort it out.
Rainbow Dash couldn't help but think that this was the right idea from her seat. She told Big Mac that helping them would be a good idea, and she was right. She turned her attention back to AJ as the farmer began to explain her thoughts on why the Unique may have been acting the way he was.
Throughout the whole explanation, Twilight Sparkle couldn't help but wonder. Off-topic as it may be.
Where was Spike?
~X~
The blond walked away from the hilltop, mind moving sluggishly from the inebriation form moments ago. Though even with the limitation, it didn't affect too badly.
With his head angled towards the ground slightly, hood up and hands in pockets, he strolled. His feet taking him anywhere, and everywhere. Evening was upon Ponyville and the blond felt better after a good hour of walking. It was here that the blond found his thoughts clearer than usual, and he looked up in the sky. The orange and light purple hues made for a beautiful picture. It was in the sky his mind decided to overlay an image of Applejack, and he just looked back down in exasperation. Both at himself and the situation.
He'd need to apologize. No matter who was right or wrong in that setting he wanted to make things up with her. At this point he wasn't sure what he wanted to do though. Let it be known that Uzumaki Naruto does not do things in half-measures. He needed to get a gift, even if she was more likely to not accept it, he felt that it was the least he could do. As for what to get her, well he had a couple ideas.
It was during this thought session that he came across the sulking form of one Spikoran "Spike" Sparkle. The little drake let out a huff, as he sat on a bench. The Unique could see he wasn't the only one with some problems tonight.
So with this as his small distraction for the evening, he sat himself next to the purple dragon. The shift in seating caused the drake to look up in surprise at seeing the Unique. Naruto gave Spike a small smile before the two turned out to the slightly muffled sounds of Ponyville proper closing up for the day. It was a few minutes in that Naruto saw Spike back to his huffing self, and decided that he might as well get to the bottom of his younger friend's sullen mood.
"So what's up, Spike? You don't seem to be yourself right now." He inquired, as he leaned back into the seat. The smaller male between them, let out another errant huff before expositing.
"*Sigh*, I needed to get out of the house. I'm more than a little disappointed with Twilight, too." The drake said, a he pouted.
"Why?" Naruto egged on.
"She wouldn't go up there and show up Trixie! I mean we all know that you and Twilight are the best at magic around here. And no offense Naruto, Twilight knows so many spells, and she wouldn't go up there and shove Trixie's ego where the sun don't shine." The teen crossed his arms in indignation, even as the Unique next to him subtly drug his hand down his face.
"That's not even everything! I went to hang out with Scootaloo, but after a while she said she couldn't take my "complaining" and told me to get lost and come back "when I'm fun again"! Can you believe that?"
'Yes, yes I can.' He thought, but he considered it best to give Spike some advice. Better helpful suggestions, than smart ass cynicism at the moment.
"Well, did she tell you why she didn't go up there?" The blond said, to which the drake nodded his head.
"Yeah, something about how she didn't want to show off her magic and cause the others to hate her. Like come on, Twilight! They're your friends, they're not going to just throw you out of the circle just because you went up there and showed up the egocitri, egocentron...Really big headed mare." The drake complained, fumbling on the last word before giving up on it.
Naruto looked up for a moment, before he turned back to his younger companion.
"I can understand that you might be a bit miffed by that, but Spike if I can ask a question?" Naruto asked.
"Sure what?"
"Did Twilight have any friends before you guys came here?" This caused the drake to stop and think for a moment.
"...Well, it's more like she had friends around her, more than she had friends. As in, I don't think that the Twilight back then considered them "friends" unless the topic was something she had in common with them. Lemon Heart, Twinkleshine, Moondancer, Minuette and Lyra Heartstrings." He rattled off. The blond listened, and thought that one of the names sounded familiar. Wait a minute.
"I think I know a "Lyra Heartstrings". Yeah, she was on the orders lists for a delivery. Besides that, Spike this is the first time, from your own admission, that Twilight's ever truly got the "Friends experience"." He stated to the dragon's shock.
"Lyra's here, huh? Besides that, well I can see where you're coming from, but still! Why would she think that any of them..." He trailed off mid-tirade, before facepalming to the Unique's amusement and confusion. The fire-breather decided to elaborate.
"Twilight isn't the most down-to-Earth pony when it comes to new experiences. She's so crazy-cautious, while at the same time super thorough. I can't believe I forgot that, oh man." The drake sighed into his palms.
"Well no time like the present to fix a mistake, no?" Naruto suggested, causing the young drake to look up at him before nodding. He hopped off the bench, before stopping and turning around.
"Thanks for the advice, but what are you doing out here Naruto?" The question he'd been expecting for a while came and Naruto gave a nervous smile.
"I'm kind of in the same situation with Applejack, that you are with Scootaloo." He confessed, and Spike cringed with a slight "oooh" in response.
"Well maybe you should do what you told me? 'No time like the present to fix a mistake', right?" He repeated back to the blond, who just scratched his head bashfully.
"Yeah that was another reason I was out here. I was thinking about a present to say 'I'm sorry' to give to Jackie. I have a few ideas, but I'm wondering what's the best route to go with this." He slumped forward some, but caught the drake's thinking face.
"Well Applejack's a hard-worker by nature, so maybe something handcrafted from you would be a good idea..." The drake started, before he rattled off information like her star constellation, birthday date with accordance to the Equinese calendar, and such information. By the end of it, Naruto was just giving Spike a weird look, to which the drake just shrugged.
"I told you, Twilight's VERY thorough when it comes to new things. Sometimes she goes...overboard, hehe." The drake said in a nervous tone. Naruto just shook his head, got up and proceeded down the opposite direction to Spike's own path.
"Well Spike it was good talking to you. And you were right about the handcrafted thing, probably for the best too. I'm pretty good with my hands anyway. Don't forget about Scootaloo. You kind of were complaining," the Unique spoke one last time, before he continued on his way, leaving a waving Spike in his wake.
"Yeah later! Wait, ah man, now I gotta go and apologize to Scootaloo! Well a present is what I told Naruto, and thankfully I don't think that Scootaloo would care if it was handmade...I have an idea!" With that the drake darted off. Never knowing he would run into two colts, and egg them on in a stupid adventure that would disturb the town more than it would have originally.
Naruto shook his head, as he walked away. Hearing the entirety of the young dragon's mutters, before he thought about what they spoke of. The image of applejack came to mind, and he focused on it. From the tips of her hooves to the top of her head, hat included. He focused on the image for a moment before the idea hit him. He dashed off towards Everfree with reckless abandon. His eyes focused and his mouth in a grin. Roof hopping like in the old days, he zoomed across Ponyville. Mid-way he made a detour to the Apple home, picked up a few things, before he was back on track towards the forest.
"I have the best present for you Jackie! Dattebayo~!" He whispered to himself, as the wind rushed past him. His form zooming over the expanse of Ponyville's rooftops and into the Everfree forest.
/
It moved its body. Testing the limits of each of its limbs as they rattled from their previous set positions. The flesh along its spine and main body was slightly more plentiful, but still a degradation in the defense it once had. There was a point of enthusiasm to be found. This form had altered in aspects once more.
The Fox shape had stayed the same, but its coloration had changed from the orange-red hue to a violet. It was back up to four tails, the fourth different from the others. Possibly due to the weird energy from the months before, but that came with benefits.
Nightmares.
The concept was alien to it, but the inclination that it had the ability to harness the lower level instincts of its foes, was salivating. Something happened out of the corner of its eye. Its attention snapped to the entrance of the cave. The lights. Those symbols had flickered out. The seal was not reawakening itself like it would normally.
Its eyes stayed fix on the circular entrance. One minute turned to three, three to five then five to ten, and still nothing.
Testing the waters, it moved its front right limb to the cave front before laying it at the boundary between stone and forest. Moments passed, before it pushed it outward some more. With each milestone its eyes widened, before at the final milestone it brought its arm back to its standing form. Its mouth became crooked into what would be called a "smile", or some savage mockery of one.
The time of the HUNT had come.
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