Back once again, with another update coming your way. Enjoy the chapter, everyone. Shoutout to everyone who left feedback on Chapter 5, and thanks in advance to ShiningShadow1965 for his beta work.
Chapter 6: At The Summit of Canterhorn
The group, at dusk, now stood in the throne room of Canterlot Castle, the residence of Princess Celestia. Said Princess was now closing her Day Court and informing the guards that she was not to be disturbed for the rest of the evening. She rose from her throne and motioned for the group to follow her, which they did silently. They passed through several hallways and up to progressively higher floors via stairways, each with guards standing vigil in front of closed doors and maids, waiters, and butlers ushering various items and trinkets to the visitors of the castle. Many were occupied with little enough that they bowed for the Princess as they passed in the hallway and gave clipped greetings to the group she led, before continuing with their duties. Overall, the atmosphere of the castle was unlike what most of the group expected.
As they reached a balcony near the top floor of one of the towers, Celestia stopped the group after they passed through the doorway. "Please remain here for a few minutes." At the group's affirmation, Celestia stepped forward to the end of the balcony. The group was surprised when her wings flared out and the horn on her head lit up with a bright, intense golden light. They - Naruto especially - were even more shocked when the Sun was surrounded by the same glow, and began to move under her guidance. They stood in stiff silence as the Sun dipped below the horizon, and then in the other end of the sky, the Moon rose, bathed in the same golden light. Celestia's magic only waned and terminated once the Moon was at its zenith in the sky.
Celestia turned back to the group and chuckled at the majority of their reactions. Hagoromo and Žiara were the only ones who were unaffected, and for good reason. Žiara was literally a descendant of the old gods, and Hagoromo had fought a battle that lasted the better part of a year and basically created his world's moon. The others, though, even the former Biju, had no frame of reference for the feat of sheer strength and willpower they had just witnessed.
Their attention was collectively returned to the Princess as she called to them. "Come, everyone. We are heading to the summit of the mountain." Celestia turned back and went back inside the tower. The group, mostly still flabbergasted at Celestia's use of her magic, followed silently. Not nearly as many castle servants were out and about as before, their immediate tasks having been finished, but the guards still stood firm in their same spots. A few exceptions fell out of attention and bowed to the Princess.
One guard, who wore more intricate armor than the normal guards, with silver bands running through her chestplate, stepped forward at the door to the throne room. "Princess Celestia, I have been informed the Lieutenant is waiting at the summit of Mount Canterhorn, as requested."
"Thank you, Major." Celestia noticed the bags under the guard's eyes. "You look unwell, my faithful servant. What ails you?"
"Nothing that will interfere with my duties, Princess." The Major quickly dismissed the question - a little too quickly, in Celestia's opinion. Something probably was wrong, but the young mare probably didn't want to burden the Princess with her problems.
"Nonsense. I can see the tiredness in your eyes, and if my reports are correct, you have not had a proper day off, aside from Crown-sponsored events, in nearly ten months. Take the weekend off, Major. The Royal Guard has more than enough able officers to cover for your station while you are away."
The Major looked like she wanted to refute the Princess's request, but eventually caved. "Very well, Princess. Thank you for your kindness."
"It is no problem. Have a good weekend." Celestia led the group through the throne doors and outside to the courtyard as the Major removed her helmet and headed off in another direction.
She directed the group to a path on the west end of the castle and was worn up the side of the mountain, and the group started climbing, each careful not to slip - not like they'd die from a fall anyway, but they didn't want to deal with the hassle.
About halfway up the path from the castle to the summit, Celestia started another conversation, keeping her eyes focused on the path ahead, occasionally flaring her wings for balance. "The Lieutenant is a good pony, if a little guarded. He's been a very hard worker and a very firm believer in trust, loyalty, and family, so as long as you respect those qualities, you should get along swimmingly."
"Guarded? Sounds like the man has undergone many trials." Saiken replied thoughtfully, wondering what the man had done to be guarded.
"As a matter of fact, his guarded outward nature is not because of any trials. It is a result of matters of the heart, as well as the fact that she who holds his heart is... well-known in society. As a show of respect to his trust and loyalty to me as both a Guard and friend, I will divulge no more. If he wishes to impart more specific details to you, that is his choice, not mine." Saiken accepted the explanation and dismissal with nary a second thought, returning his focus to the path beneath his feet.
"How long has he been in this Guard?" Gyuki and Son Goku asked at nearly the same time. They chuckled at the timing, before returning their attention to the Princess as she spoke.
"He has been in the Royal Guard for six years now."
"Wow, must have an impressive track record and a desire for leadership to jump the ranks so quickly," Chomei noted, humming to herself in thought.
"That, he most certainly does. He has been one of the most reliable and trustworthy members of the Guard since he first enlisted." Celestia responded after a short moment. "We are nearing the summit now." At that, the group turned their heads to the peak, which was now easily visible in the light of the Moon.
As the group reached the summit, they saw a lone man standing there. He had a hair and tail that was dark blue with a single silver stripe running through it on the right side, and a white coat. He stood at about 6'1", and was dressed in gold and platinum armor, a shortsword in its sheath belted to his side. His helmet was held by an arm against his side, and he was looking out toward the moon. He heard the footsteps of the group as they approached and turned around, bowing and addressing the Princess before turning to the group that she had brought with her. A raised eyebrow was his primary reaction. "Are you the group the Princess spoke of when she requested my presence here?"
"I would have to assume so, seeing as how she brought us here personally." Isobu commented. The others nodded their heads in agreement.
"Well, there certainly are a lot of you." It wasn't hard to tell the air of professionalism was a façade, and the man was ready to strike, whether with sword or sorcery, at a moment's notice. "As the Princess has likely already informed you, my name is Shining Armor, and I'm the Lieutenant of her Royal Guard."
Celestia took over at this point. "Under normal circumstances, I would be dealing with your proper introduction into this world myself, but moving cosmological bodies drains a significant portion of my stamina and magic. I must rest for now, and my Lieutenant will help you become acquainted with Equestria." Celestia unfurled her wings and jumped off the edge of the summit, flying down toward the castle.
Shining Armor turned back to the group once Celestia was out of sight, pulling out a map and gesturing for the group to gather. "First, we'll go over the geographic structure of the country. As you already know, we're in Canterlot right now, specifically at the peak of Mount Canterhorn, which is here, at the center of the country. Over here, in the west, are Ponyville, which is closer to the mainland, Las Pegasus, which is a cloud city created by the pegasi and floats near the west coast, and Vanhoover, which is at the northernmost point of the coast and the edge of the country. In the north, above the country, is the wasteland known as the Frozen North. It's completely uninhabitable, according to our meteorologists and cartographers. To the south, there's only a single city before the border to the Badlands here, and that's Hoofton. It's the third largest city in the country. On the east, Manehattan is on the northern coast, and is the largest city in the country. On the south coast is Tallahooffee, a city that's only been around for about fifteen years. That's about it for how the country looks on a map."
He put the map up and started a lengthy discussion about politics ass he directed the group down the mountain and back to the castle. By the time they were there, Shining's general overview of politics was finished, and Naruto was silently complaining at the intake of information. The others chuckled at his reaction, while Jiraiya shook his head in exasperation and Minato winced slightly.
"Now, for the last part of your introduction to Equestria, I'm taking you all to what is known as the Hall of the Damned." The group followed him silently as he turned to a random part of the wall in the hallway they were in, and activated his magic, inserting his horn into a slot in the wall that wasn't there before. The stone rumbled and moved out of the way to reveal a hidden passage, which the group walked through as silently as before.
This process repeated no less than four times before the group arrived in a dark, shadowy room with large stone statues. Shining spoke up again. "Welcome to the Hall of the Damned, the home of the darkest times in Equestria's history."
He turned to the statues on the left. "These are not statues like I know you're thinking. These were once living creatures that were sealed away by powerful magical artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony by Princess Celestia. Many were bloodthirsty killers who thrived on death and destruction, others sought to eradicate the reputations of the entire country, and still others simply wanted to watch the world burn. But the most dangerous criminals and threats to our country in the past aren't contained here. They are sealed in another realm known as Tartarus, where their powers are completely blocked so that they cannot escape."
"You are showing us this to not only demonstrate the country's and the Princess's might and resolve, you are also showing this to us to intimidate us, correct?" Hagoromo inquired after a long silence.
Shining had the decency to look shocked and appalled, before chuckling at Hagoromo's inquiry. "Well, you're certainly wise beyond your years. But it isn't just that, either. This was also meant to show you how far the country would go to ensure its people have peace, even if the government itself doesn't."
"Trust me, young Shining Armor, I am very wise, likely as wise as your own Princess. Before I came to this world and my group came with me, I roamed the world I was born in as a soul free of the reincarnation cycle for over ten thousand years."
Shining's jaw unhinged at this revelation. WHAT?! Someone... as old as the PRINCESS?!
The group chuckled at the man's reaction. Shining eventually recovered, and gestured them to follow him back down the mountain. "Well, I certainly underestimated you then. To be as old as the Princess, you must be incredibly powerful. Well, aside from that, since we're done here, it's time to get you set up with your own rooms in the castle, seeing as how you've arrived with no place to stay."
"No, that's-" Jiraiya cut Naruto's response off before his foot-in-mouth syndrome got the group in a situation they wouldn't want. He shook his head and then released his grip on Naruto's mouth. Naruto kept quiet after that.
A few minutes later, the group walked back into the castle proper, as Shining led them to their rooms. "How many rooms will you need?"
Hagoromo pondered for a minute. "Four should be sufficient. How must we repay the generosity?"
"For now, the Princess has decreed you stay here free of charge. That remains until further notice." Shining arrived at the top of an unused tower. "We don't have four adjacent rooms at the moment because we currently have a high volume of foreign dignitaries, but this tower is spacious and should prove more than enough space for you and your group."
"Thank you, Lieutenant. A good evening to you." Hagoromo issued his thanks and bade the Lieutenant farewell as he went to perform other tasks. The group walked into the tower room to find it was very spacious and would easily fit the fifteen of them, though some would need to use sleeping bags, as the three king-sized beds would only fit at most nine of them total.
As the group settled in, organizing their smaller items, Jiraiya called to Hiruzen and Minato. "How much Θ do we have on us at the moment?"
Hiruzen and Minato looked in their pockets, then their scrolls for a few minutes, counting their money. Hiruzen was done first. "I was dead, so I have no Θ on hand at the moment, but I did take all the Θ from the clan vault, seeing as how it's never going to be used, and the sum of that was about two and a half million Θ."
Minato took much longer to count, but when he was done, he responded. "None on hand for the same reason as Hiruzen here, but I had enough time before we needed to leave that I not only picked up all the money from every location in the village, I also did the same at the Fire Country capital."
Jiraiya's jaw hit the ground. He didn't even need to hear numbers to know that depending on how valuable the Θ were in this country, Minato had more than likely made them all filthy rich. "Umm... a number, please?"
"I had to estimate because it would take me until I was fifty to count that much, but I'd say my scroll has about five billion Θ."
One moment, Jiraiya was all ears. The next, he was twitching on the ground, foaming at the mouth at the number he'd heard, muttering incomprehensible gibberish. This continued for a few moments, before Jiraiya's brain finally gave out and he fell unconscious. The entire group busted into almost uncontrollable laughter at Jiraiya's reaction.
A few minutes later, they had managed to calm themselves down, and Jiraiya had waken back up, grumbling under his breath about troublesome blondes. The group quickly figured out their sleeping arrangements. Hagoromo, Hiruzen and Žiara would take one bed, Minato, Naruto, and Kurama would take the second, and Shukaku, Matatabi and Saiken took the third bed, leaving the remaining men and women to grab sleeping bags Minato and Hiruzen unsealed from their scrolls and get comfortable.
"You know, it's still sinking in... I failed... and now our world is gone..." Naruto brooded in an uncharacteristically dark mood laying on the bed about two hours later. Everyone else had already fallen asleep... or so he had thought.
Kurama, who was also still awake, responded by attempting to encourage him. "When I was still just a cub, the Old Man always told us that everything happens for a reason. As hard as it might be to hear it, I think your failure then was supposed to happen. In some twisted way, it's supposed to give you the drive to make sure it doesn't happen again. Or at least, that's what I think about it."
Naruto carefully turned to her next to him, as he had been sleeping in the center, so as to avoid waking Minato. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But it's still going to be difficult knowing I failed my entire race. I mean, if it was anyone other than me, I can't imagine what they would have done by now. Probably gone insane or killed themselves. Hell, I know people have done far worse for far less."
"That might be true, but you've got all of us by your side. Nine of the strongest comrades anyone could ask for, two of your mentors, your father, a goddess, and someone who's so powerful he might as well be a god. You know no matter what happens, we'll always have each other, right?"
"Yeah..." Naruto was still hung up over his failure, but he decided not to let it get to him, and the semi-permanent smile returned to his face. "Thanks, Kurama, and good night."
"No problem, Naruto, and good night. Make sure you get some rest, I wouldn't be surprised if the Old Man's already got plans for everyone in the morning."
"Heh, you're probably right."
Mindscape
Gyuki was meditating and attempting to gain further control over his now fluctuating power, a result of his - no doubt everyone else was experiencing the same issue - transformation into a human, when he caught the tail end of Naruto and Kurama's late-night conversation. She ain't wrong, kid. You know we've always got your back, no matter what happens. He quickly returned to meditating before what power he'd managed to wrest from his physical chaos grew away from his control, a bead of sweat slowly trickling down his brow.
EDIT: Thanks to Edmonton for asking about the symbol I used in this chapter, that reminded me that I forgot to add info about that.
Θ (this symbol) means Ryo, and I have another symbol I'll use to denote bits when we get that far. Trust me, you'll know it when you see it.
Chapter 6 is now concluded. Shining Armor makes his appearance, the group gets a crash course on everything Equestria, and Jiraiya finds out Minato may have inadvertently made them stinkin' rich. And now you know that Naruto isn't the only one having issues in this new world. Sometimes, things gotta get worse before they can get better.
Started working on this yesterday during downtime before class started, was going to finish it last night but I got thoroughly wrapped up in Locked Away, a Pokemon fanfic by NINT that follows coma theory. Hopped on this morning to get the chapter finished. Hope you guys enjoyed it. In other news, I'm starting to consider dropping the continuation project entirely because it's forcing me to devote a lot of brainpower to clean up and rewrite someone else's work when there are probably ten thousand other people who can probably do it much better than I can. Also because I started thinking that maybe the reason I stopped writing as frequently as I used to is because the daunting prospect that is it stares me in the face every time I go to update something. Before I started the project, my old story Universal Adventures (has since been renamed to Tales of a Troubled Jedi and removed from the site, as it needs a major overhaul) was getting updates maybe once every two to three weeks, but after I finished uploading the chapters Coal had already written, I literally stopped writing on FFNet for three years.
I'd like some feedback on that note, if you'd be willing to give it, guys. Made a poll for you to vote on whether I should keep going or not.
No QA this chapter because nothing needed addressed or could be answered without giving away plot, but thanks to those who reviewed.