"Trixie?" Twilight was quick to see the azure unicorn, nod her head in her direction.
"Big Mac?! What're yall doing here? Ah thought yall were supposed to be down at the Lake with everypony else." Applejack asked, as the familiar accent of her brother clipped into her ears. Seeing the big lug of a stallion grin at her, was all she needed.
Apples were a stubborn bunch that they were.
Looking over the two additions, Twilight thought of the new possibilities, before turning her head up at the screech of a bird. The phoenix had been tossed bodily into Spa. Its exterior flames beginning to build, before they were silenced by a wave of blue magic. The thin slicing spell was quick to separate the building into pieces, the flaming bird along with it.
Luna came in view, but on her visage she held an annoyed frown. Twilight knew about phoenixes, so she could understand where the princess's thoughts might be going. With this in mind she flipped through the notes in her hand, before she found the appropriate entry. Reading through it, she nodded her head before calling the others into a huddle. The cylem was starting to get its bearings, so they had little time.
"Okay everypony! Here's the plan..."
~X~
Luna could say that she was fairly annoyed. There wasn't anything wrong with that. The phoenix had proved persistent, and its rebirthing ability was becoming a real pain in her a-
Watching the bird come back to life, again for the fifth time, was doing a number on her nerves. Philomena was definitely getting a giant fruit basket for this, as well as a thinly hidden threat about trying to fight them if she ever went out of control. As she prepared for another bout with the flaming majesty that was this damn bird, she found herself joined midair by three ponies.
"Hey, how's it going your majesty. Thought you could use a little help. And who else but the up-and-coming Wonderbolt, Rainbow Dash, would fit for the job."
"Trixie has been told her ego is big, but she's sure that the blue pegasus would give her a good run for her money."
"Hey, say what?"
"Rainbow Dash is, um...Really confidant, even if she can be a bit loud?"
"Come on Fluttershy!"
Seeing the combination of two pegasi and a unicorn, with the unicorn being held by the butter colored one, was a strange sight indeed. Looking down to where the Cylem Party stood, she saw the addition of what she assumed was a copy of the Unique, and a new red stallion earth pony.
"Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Ms..."
"The Humble Trixie, your majesty."
"Ms. Trixie, what art thou doing here? We had come to assume that you all would be trying to get the cylem with a blast of harmony." The moon goddess said, as the phoenix began its assent. Luna was quick to move, the others following along closely, which was surprising. Seeing her gaze Rainbow Dash, smirked before jerking a thumb to the two next to her.
On Trixie's shoulder was a glowing mark in the shape of a gust of wind. The mark started at the shoulder and trailed down to her Cutie Mark. With Fluttershy she assumed that it was the same, but unlike the unicorn, she born one on both hands, underneath the sweater. One ending on her cutie mark, with the other ending in a spiral.
"Naruto used some more of that magic of his and made it so they could keep up with us, and so Fluttershy could carry Trixie's big flank easily." she said, to the indignation of a certain azure unicorn.
"Trixie is not fat! She adheres to a strict diet that keeps her fabulous form!"
"Last I checked, drinking all the stallions under the table at a bar doesn't exactly count as "strict"!"
"It was a good day to be Trixie, as all days would be! She was just enjoying the moment a little!"
Watching the two banter back and forth despite the danger was uplifting in its own way, but they needed to get back on track.
"So am I to assume that there's a plan in place?" She inquired, as they all banked right, as the phoenix followed in tandem.
"Plan? Oh, oh yeah! Twilight said that we needed to get all available flyers and ponies that had a good hand at water magic, to subdue the phoenix." Rainbow replied, as they separated causing the bird of flames to run smack dab into the top of the main office building. Taking the time to stop and stay afloat, they discussed the strategy.
The idea was to use the large amount of clouds to help create enough water to suffocate, but not kill the phoenix. Problem was that phoenix flames were extremely hot, and could burn through magic if given enough time, so they needed the water to be large and cold enough that the avian wouldn't be able to just steam and get away.
"Tis a sound plan, and I do have some hand in controlling and dispelling water spells Yet, as you know there isn't a cloud in the sky tonight and anytime spent trying to form some would leave me open for attack. At this Trixie grinned.
"Fear not, your Majesty! For the Great and Cloudy Trixie, can conjure enough clouds for the plan to work!" even now the persona was in play, and those knowing of Trixie's ego were left grumbling at her self-boast a la one.
"Hmm, then We will provide a suitable distraction for thee! Be quick, so we may vanquish this foe!" And with that said and done they separated. The phoenix was quick to try and chase after the trio of ponies, but found itself immediately punished for such folly. Luna looked over at the staggered bird, before it turned its head her way. She wagged her finger with a mocking smile before taking off in the opposite direction of Trixie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.
~X~
Twilight looked away from the separating flying groups, before she focused back to the task at hand. Big Mac stood next to a sitting and glowing form of the Naruto clone, as the blonds stood guard in front of the pair of Rarity and Twilight. The cylem was currently trying and failing to catch the buffed up forms of Pinkie and Applejack, with Spike on his board. The blond clone held his eyes clones as he sat with his legs crossed. The lines running over his form glinted every so often, as the blond focused.
"Naruto how long do you think you can keep this up?" Twilight, ever the worrywart, asked the sitting blond. The eyes closed blond simply shrugged, before answering.
"I'm honestly not sure. I've never done this many people before, and it takes most of my focus to keep them all up anyway. I'm constantly running and regulating the buffs in place, and it's weird having my mind tugged in so many different places. Here we come Big Mac." The blond said, before he reached a hand out and clasped the male farm worker's leg.
The next moment saw the same glowing marks on Trixie and the others on the stallion's own right and left arms leading to his Cutie Mark and spiral pattern respectively. Big Mac looked at the symbol, before he felt the rush of power enter him, causing his eyes to widen. He felt light and powerful, and that was just from standing around.
The clone sat, back down before letting out one last comment.
"That's it, guys. I can't go any further without my mind getting all messed up. I'm gonna have to leave it to you to cover me, and get this done and over with." Right before he sat back down in cross leg position, before bringing both hands, in fists, together and connecting his arms. The lines traveled and connected down the limbs, and the blonde's breathing slowed.
Twilight looked down on the now silent clone, before she turned back to the large, red earth pony. The two nodded before Rarity joined them.
"Are all preparations ready Twilight? I think the others might be ready to plan into action now." Rarity observed, as they saw Spike and AJ leading the cylem on, with Pinkie nowhere in sight. They were startled a moment later when the party pony wound up in front of them with a large amount of pots and pans from over the area, before blurring off and doing it again. By the time she was finished, there was a veritable pile of metal pans, all no stick bottom ones.
Nodding her head to her poufy haired friend, Twilight went to work with Rarity, as the both of their horns began to glow and the same color glows enveloped the large metal pile.
The pans forms glowed, before they began to conform into a singular blob of steel. Rarity taking main control, changed the form of the blob into a large bear trap that held chains near the bottom, with a metal platform covering a decent area of possibly 10 meters all around. They set the platform on the ground in a specific location. They nodded to each other, before Big Mac dashed off towards the cylem.
Spike and Applejack seeing the oncoming stallion, were quick to lead the rotating stone monster towards him. Right before they separated, Spike let loose a blast of flame towards the ground in front of the cylem's rolling form. The stone creature couldn't stop to well and slowed down as much as it could, only to still hit the dragon-made pot hole in the road.
Macintosh skid to a stop right as the ball of stone came at him. Arms open wide, he caught it. The ground beneath his hooves cracked and cratered, but the farmer held strong. With a single twist he tossed the house sized golem onto the metal bear trap. It landed dead center in the middle on its back like some sort of overturned tortoise, before the metal jaws shot up to secure it in place. Twilight and Rarity were also quick to use their magic and apply the bindings onto the nightmare's legs and arms, firmly securing it in its spot spread eagle. IT turned its pyramid head sideways to fire a laser only to be met by the fist of Big Mac.
"Nnope!"
Crushed underneath the might of the enhanced earth pony, the eye exploded, leaving the head to be a smoking mess.
~X~
"Trixie, how long is it going to take?!" Came the cry of a rainbow maned pegasus, as she circled around the forming black clouds. Trixie's eyes were focused on the growing cumulus, and only let a grit of her teeth show her irritation. Fluttershy had taken them far in the sky and Rainbow was making sure that the large weather ball was kept as a single entity. The thunder that could be heard from within was signified by the passing electricity over the clouds form. A second later Trixie's eyes glowed slightly.
"Do it now!" The show performer said, before Rainbow grinned.
"Finally!" She went faster around the large cloud that probably could hold thirty pegasi with ease. It began to tunnel into a cylinder, before she flew up high. The next moment she came down on it with a double stomp.
Heavy rains were pushed out from the black cumulus downward, but were caught in a sphere of rapidly growing size of water. Trixie's horn glowed as the ball gained more and more size, before it reached a size she was barely holding together.
"It's...DONE! Now get the princess over here!" Trixie's strained voice was all it took to convince RD to make haste. Moving off towards world below, she left Trixie with Fluttershy as support.
"Thank you for your help Trixie," thanked veterinarian, to which the unicorn scoffed, but accepted.
"Trixie would say don't count your chickens until they hatch, but is grateful for the support butter-colored pony."
~X~
Luna was sure, that the bird had garnered a personal vendetta against her by this point. The constant rebirthing it had to do probably had a hand in it, but she could honestly care less. It was tedious to deal with it, time and time again, but it was at least good exercise in her powers again. Many years trapped IN and not ON the moon, didn't do her any favors. Stone cold, and not allowed to move, she couldn't practice her magic, but she could enjoy the stars. She was quick to get out of her introspective thoughts, as she allowed her wings to fold inward and dropped in altitude, dodging the nightmare bird once more.
She opened her wings, and launched a beam of starlight at the bird's back for the 4th time, watching as it fell downward. She was about to follow through before she got caught by the Element of Loyalty.
"Princess we've got everything ready to go! Time to end this!" The words that left the wannabe-wonderbolt's mouth brought a sigh of relief to Luna's visage, before the two took off towards Trixie and Fluttershy's position in the clouds above. The nightmare flame that was the phoenix, was quick to follow. Even as they disappeared into the clouds above it followed without thought. So it was due to this carelessness that found it engulfed by a large body of water above ground. The Princess and Trixie's horns glowed, before the water ball began to rotate faster and faster around the fire bird.
The phoenix, to be honest, had panicked before unleashing as much as its flames as it could. The ball was rapidly losing mass, and they were worried that it might steam out before losing consciousness. Rainbow eyed the bird, before she smirked. Reaching into the pockets of her short jacket she received a small ball of blue light. In the center of the ball was the image of an ice cube, and it was cool to the touch. She swung back before throwing it forward.
"You need to chill!"
Once the small orb made contact with water ball, it broke on contact, before covering the sphere in a misting fog. The water that was once steaming, began to cool. The bird finding the depths growing colder, before it finally lost consciousness. Those outside the orb, were quick to stop its rotation, before watching as the bird just floated in the waters. Body motionless, and the flames extinguished.
"Oh yeah! Mission accomplished!"
~X~
~Play: The Crown by STICK TO YOUR GUNS~
Naruto couldn't help but smirk as he heard the sounds of the phoenix go silent. The blond stood in the forest with the Kyuubi, surrounded on all sides by clones. They looked down at the monster fox, with something akin to mocking smirks, as it looked up at them in detest. The original blond, stood up in the trees flanked by two clones, while the other 6 spread out in pairs to surround the fox, blocking its escape.
"It's over Kyuubi!" This rallied a roar of agreement from the other blonds, as the fox growled in defiance. Naruto looked at the beast in contempt, before sneering.
"It's time for you to be dealt with." He said, as his body's lines glowed brighter.
"For good."
With that said, the clones from around the Yonbi no Yoko jumped into action. The Kyuubi, not to be done in, was quick to rotate its body with its tails aimed outward. Two pairs of clones dispersed form the blows they received, but a single surviving pair avoided their demise, and found purchase in its tails. Gripping tightly, they swung with all their might, and swung it over head deeper into the forest.
The blond trio up in the trees, was quick to follow the crashing body of the fox, before it got too far ahead.
The trio of clones and creator jumped high above the canopy, before the real Naruto used his clones' shoulders to jump even higher in the air, as they descended down on the Kyuubi. The pair of falling clones were quick to form an Odama Rasengan in between them. The Kyuubi, having none of that, expelled several raging red balls of Magical Chakra towards the three in the air. Jumping out of the forest from below the two clones from before that threw the fox, jumped into the air before exploding into light that caught most of the barrage of small blasts. Seeing at least three more coming towards them, the pair with the ball of power were quick to get rid of them by shoving the orb between them forward eclipsing the sky in a bright white ball.
The fox turned its head away from the light, and as such found itself on the receiving end of a singular clone slamming it in the face with a normal sized Rasengan. This knocked the Kyuubi's head skyward, only to gaze at the oncoming streams of pressurized water heading its way, from the original Naruto.
Raining down watery hell upon the monster fox, the blond finished his volley with a orb of compressed water the size of himself before launching that downward. The area where the Kyuubi was last seen had become a veritable swamp. The fox, waterlogged as it was, was still capable of standing up on all fours. The blond up in the air, formed a water platform and kept himself afloat.
His eyes caught a flash of rainbow light in his peripheral and knew that they'd taken care of the shadows from before. The Kyuubi seemed to too, as both the blond and the fox watched as the transparent tail from before slowly but surely began to disappear. The blond began to chuckle, before he laughed, and laughed hard. HE look down at the Kyuubi with amusement, as the fox's gaze turned to something beyond seething rage. Unrestrained primal fury bellowed from that lone crimson eye, and the blond couldn't be happier for it.
The Kyuubi was NOT amused. Its pride. Its idol of its power was gone!
All because of those damn ponies. All because of his damn PREY. ALL BECAUSE OF THESE OBSTACLES TO ITS THRONE OF STRENGTH!
To say that at that moment, the Kyuubi snapped would be accurate. The lone eye that it had went completely blank. The pupil thinning into nothingness, before the eye turned pure black. This change was not missed by the blond, as he sensed a change in the air that sent his hair and fur standing on end. He looked down onto the Kyuubi and noticed a dark miasma leaking from its mouth. Thick, opaque and dark purple in color, the weird smog quickly enveloped the Kyuubi and blocked it from view.
Naruto wasn't so sure of what he was seeing, but he knew that he didn-
FEAR
His world turned seemingly black, as an overarching shadow of a black beast loomed overhead. His mind, his body and even his breath all stopped at this singular moment.
FEAR
His heart seemed to stop in the cold embrace of emotion that froze his veins. The very stillness of his body could be compared to that of a frozen sculpture.
FEAR
His mind almost went blank, before the feeling disappeared, but in its place was a being of shadowy depths. It's form resembling that of an emaciated fox. The form was all black, and its arms were lanky and thin. The set of tails had seemingly doubled from three to six, and the cold ball that formed in the pit of his stomach was ever the more present once it focused its "gaze" on him. The last thing that he could see was a core in the center of its chest, as the air around them seemed to sputter and intensify. Possibly due to the Kyuubi's presence. Maybe it was his uncontrollable shaking. Or maybe it was because at that very moment, even the magic in the air knew FEAR.
Most would have probably run by this point. Their minds completely and utterly demolishing the "Fight" option in their "Fight or Flight" response. All his instincts just seemed silent. Nothing.
Nothing but a void in a pit that keep his feet frozen on his platform. Seeing the Kyuubi's "maw" open towards his direction did nothing for him, as he gazed at his death. The ball becoming composed of red, blue and black orbs that turned it an inky dark color. It rumbled and pulsated in front of the fox, and before he could blink he found the orb already traveling his way. It was only due to his locking up features that the blonde's platform finally gave way, ultimately saving his life.
Though the space where his left arm use to be, would like to say that "safe" was relative to who was speaking, as the blond plummeted towards the ground. He could only watch as the mountain that would have been there behind him was replaced with an explosion that blew him off of a vertical meeting with the ground.
Hitting a tree was at least slightly more pleasant to think on than the severe pain from the place where his arm use to be. The missing limb was probably not something he'd be getting back any time soon, considering what just happened to the mountain. He could see the smoldering area where the mountain once stood, and he could only gape in horror.
He tried to get up, and found himself falling to the forest floor. Letting out a groan, he had to lean on a tree as his blood seeped down the tree's trunk. The very idea that he'd be this far down after everything that happened threw him for a loop. He remembered the form that the Kyuubi had taken, and could only surmise that it had traded any form of defense for offense. It would explain the sudden increase of tails and the power from the blast of its Fear Beast Ball, his own naming, increasing so unreasonably.
"Shit...I have to get to the others." He let out a gasp, as his blood kept leaving from his left stump. It was beyond comprehension that the Kyuubi could become this powerful, but it had to come at a cost. Hopefully it'd just be more easily damaged, though he wasn't sure how well that'd do for them if it was fast-
He jumped, just as the sound of slicing reached his ears. Now above the canopy, he saw the long sweeping tails utterly reduce the area to nothing. He could only close an eye shut after the rising dust blocked his vision. Eyes closed he could feel the presence that just appeared behind him, and pushed as much magical chakra energy to reinforce his body. Knowing what was coming next, he could be forgiven for this act.
Not that it FELT like it made a difference, as he was launched across the distance of the forest back to the town. Feeling the impact was probably the worst thing he'd felt since he lost his arm. He could barely stay conscious at this point. Hearing the sound of his Applejack barely kept him awake enough to hear their running hoofsteps.
~X~
No. Nonononnon, NO!
She let her hooves lead her and the others to the new crater in the middle of town. After having used the Elements of Harmony on the nightmare cylem and phoenix, the group had been ready to just go and help the spiky haired blond. The clone had been quick to give them updates on the Unique's situation, and they had been glad to hear that the battle against the Kyuubi had been going well.
Then things had gone straight to Tartarus in a weaving cart, when the clone had disappeared out of nowhere. That wouldn't have been too worrying were it not for the feeling that rushed over the group a moment later. It caused all of them to lock up almost instinctively, sans the princess but the farmer could see her hands shaking. Then the feeling stopped, and everything was silent, before a sound akin to screams reached their ears. Following this was an explosion that lit up the night sky.
All this, as well as finding out that a mountain had disappeared, left her with a pit in her stomach the size of a bowling ball. So when something came crashing into the center of town square, she had rushed towards it the first moment she could. Her mind came up many conclusions, but the same theme was that it couldn't possibly be Naruto in that crater...right? He was fine, and out there waiting for them to help him kick the flank of that wet rat of a fox monster. Things...things...were...
By this point she had reached the crater, and when she saw what lay within, she felt her heart stop. Laying in the crater was the severely injured form of her best friend. The blond spiky hair of his was covered in dust, as he was bleeding from the head and one of his legs. Worst of all, was the sight of the blonde's missing arm, and seeing him laid up as he was...
She felt the tears fall, before she could stop them.
"NARUTO!" She'd rushed down into the hole, before doing her best to try and cradle his upper body. She did her best to dust off his head, and seeing the closed eyes, as he seemed to barely be breathing was breaking her heart in two. This wasn't real right? This was just a bad nightmare, and she'd wake up to find that she fell asleep in his bed again.
He'd be fine. She'd be fine...They'd...all be...fine. She could feel the tears draping down her face, as she held him close.
This wasn't fair! They had just had one big stupid fight, and she may never be able to speak to him again. Remembering the last interaction they had before all this, made her feel worse than before. She was barely able to notice the movement of his right gloved hand, before she felt something knock softly against her noggin. Her eyes snapped wide to the half lidded eyes of the blond, who smirked weakly at her. The others having been at the edges of the crater, rushed down to the two blonds.
Twilight seeing the blond tried to cover Spike's eyes, but the drake had already seen the slightly mangled form of one of his male friends, and was quick to lean into Twilight for support. The others weren't faring much better, as they all expressed some form of astonishment at the blonde's current state.
"You guys, quick! We need to get him out of this hole!" The farm mare shouted, before everyone was kicked into high gear. They were quick to remove the injured blond from the crater, and set him on even ground. Ducking into some destroyed houses and scouring for health supplies, had proven successful as Spike and Fluttershy came back with pain medication and bandages. As much as they were worried about the encroaching stomps of the Kyuubi, they did their best to bring the blond back into working condition.
Patched up as he was, he wasn't in any form of working condition. The blond could barely move himself, much less fight at the moment. The Unique groaned as he came to, much to the joy of everybody around him. Trying to get up proved useless without help and so he had to lean on AJ to keep him steady.
"Get my Trinket. Quick." He groaned out, as Big Mac pulled the cord up from the other blonde's tattered jumpsuit. Seeing the plate in front of him, he had to have Jackie steady his hand, before it touched the center with a single glowing line running down his arm. Feeling the healing glow of it, those around the twin tailed blond, felt the slight sores, cuts and bruises they may have had slowly melt away. Luna looked down at her palm as she watch the burns recede slowly, leaving behind inch after each of her palm.
Naruto on the other hand, felt a slight bit more strength enter him as he pushed more magical energy into his body. Sending more into Trinket wouldn't push the healing too much, but every little bit helped. He could feel the bandages of his left arm, and grimaced.
Things were bad. Really bad. He relayed to them what had happened with the Kyuubi, and needless to say none were too enthusiastic about facing a suped up monstrosity. Luna looked on, slightly troubled. She was sure her sister had to have noticed the on-goings by this point, considering how long she'd been out here, Celestia might not take too long to get here. Yet, that was if she wasn't swamped trying to set up accommodations for the residents that had to leave. Much less the help in fixing up the town of which the Element Bearers resided.
Twilight looked to the blonde's notebook and found entries on the Kyuubi that he could glean. Though none of what was written down matched what it did just now, save for one entry.
"'Was it anything like cloak from the book?" The librarian asked, and the spiky haired blond had to think on.
"For the most part, yes, but his felt different. It's like the Kyuubi...Lost all form of control. Its focus is pure destruction at this point...!" He said, before the group as a whole turned towards what sounded like a large explosion. The next moment rushing winds passed by with great speed, before the sounds of roars was heard. Roars of defeat, pain and then death.
"What was...?" Spike started, before Naruto answered him. Though the blond turned his head away from the younger male.
"...That was probably the dragon deep in the forest." The Unique said, to the shock of everyone present. Luna and Spike the most. Spike became he'd heard was quite possibly the sound of his own race dying flooding between his ears, while with Luna she was more surprised by the fact that there was an actual dragon this close to Ponyville that she nor her sister were aware.
"...the cloak" Twilight repeated softly, as she closed the book and held onto Spike softly. The young drake's eyes had widened upon the recent revelation. Much less that said revelation was dead, and dealt with in a matter of minutes. Naruto closed his eyes, before he turned to look at the glove on his right hand. Flexing some magical energy, he saw all four lines come to life, he nodded to this fact and turned back to her.
"I remember telling you that the first time we beat the Kyuubi, we had to have it drained of its magic to seal it. I said that that option was no longer possible, but the truth of the matter is, that I might have one technique left that could finally push the ball into our court. I'm going to be selfish and ask all of you guys for your help, one more time." The blond was quick to bow his head, but found himself on the receiving end of a smack to the back of it.
"OW! Why?!" He couldn't help but complain, as he looked to the annoyed visage of Applejack, who had her arms crossed.
"Why in the hay would you think we WOULDN'T be helping?!" Well that was par for the course really, but he felt like this was more his problem. Him saying just that got him another slap to the back of the head from an irate farm mare.
"We were gonna be helping ya whether ya liked it or not."
He turned his eyes towards the rest of them.
"So you all feel the same?" He asked, and in response he got an array of responses.
"Of course!" Pinkie Pie.
"Dearie do you even need to ask?" Rarity.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie wouldn't leave such a useful stage hand to fend by himself!" Trixie.
"Ignoring the Great and Powerful pain in my flank, we got your back in this Naruto." Rainbow Dash.
"I'd like to help in any way possible." Fluttershy.
"Eeyup." Big Mac.
"We can do this! I know we can." Spike.
"I'm not planning on leaving any of my friends behind." Twilight.
"We'd be honored to fight by one another's sides once more." Princess Luna.
He closed his eyes, before he stood. Stumbling slightly, he adjusted for the lost on his left, before his eyes opened with a determined gleam.
"Alright guys...Lets save this world."