Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another chapter of The Trials of Destiny! We're diving headfirst into the new arc today, so make sure you enjoy the chapter! Oh, and ignore my previous AN, I had planned on having this run until the beginning of canon, but I can't find a feasible way to do it without angering someone, so rather, this arc will end well before canon begins. It can't even be considered a whole arc, it'll probably be more of a mini-arc now.

Chapter 13: Into Darkness

Sunday, March 29, CCY 3381, Dawn

Hagoromo dispelled his Susano'o as his Yin-Yang clone dispelled, picking up some rather disturbing information. "Our training is now concluded."

Naruto was confused for a brief moment before seeing the expression on Hagoromo's face and dispelling his own - now drastically cut-down - Susano'o. He quickly deduced the reason. "The clone dispelled, didn't it." It was not a question.

Hagoromo nodded as Žiara and Hamura landed next to them on the asteroid they were sparring on. "Yes. We must leave for Canterlot immediately. Celestia has been poisoned, and is in critical condition in Canterlot's emergency room." Naruto's eyes widened, Žiara's brow furrowed, and Hamura let out a small growl that went unnoticed by the others. Hagoromo opened a portal immediately, and the four landed outside the room.

The guard immediately summoned multiple magic swords, before he took a second and recognized Hagoromo's face. "Lord Hagoromo. Please go in."

"Thank you. Let us enter." The four went into the room, where another Yin-Yang clone was using Ninshu to place Celestia in stasis. "Clone, please provide a status report, posthaste."

"Nightshade poisoning. Extremely dangerous, potentially deadly plant. Plant cells scramble their own DNA to prevent the buildup of a tolerance, and nearly all cases of poisoning are fatal. Celestia is deteriorating at a rapid pace, and I came to the conclusion stasis is the best solution while we develop an antidote."

Hamura activated his Tenseigan and observed the flow of magic through Celestia's system. "It seems nightshade may not have been the only factor here. From what the Tenseigan is picking up, it seems the nightshade was mixed with some sort of inhibiting agent that is blocking Celestia's body's access to its inherent magic, which would have otherwise allowed her to blow off the effects of the nightshade. Without access to her magic, Celestia's body is undergoing cell destruction at a rapid pace, and it's slowly moving toward her brain."

Naruto tensed up as he looked at Celestia's motionless body on the operating table. "How did someone manage to get past Hagoromo-sensei's clone? The four of us are intimately attuned to the energies of spacetime, and we should have noticed any disturbances."

"That is a question I am afraid I cannot answer, young Naruto. It seems my original clone discovered Celestia had been poisoned when she did not respond to normal greetings as it became time to raise the sun. He afforded himself to enter the room and discovered she was still 'asleep' until he found pungent odor and evidence of her drink having been poisoned. How anything got slipped into her drink without anyone in the entire castle noticing is currently beyond me. At the rate the cell destruction is progressing, the doctors here will have to place her in a medical coma."

Žiara frowned. "This situation is very dire. Hagoromo, please tell me you've already taken steps to ensure the public, as fragile as they are about their princess, haven't already found out about this."

Shining Armor entered at that very moment, having overheard the last bit of the group's conversation. "I've already tasked the Lieutenants and Colonels to prevent the information from spreading, though considering the anonymous factor of whatever we're dealing with, I have no idea if it's even going to be effective. For all we know, the public is already readying their voices to start screaming. Besides, that's not the only bad thing that's happened."

Naruto turned to Armor seriously. "What happened this time?"

"I'm now permanently the Captain due to the line-of-succession clause."

It took no time at all for Naruto to figure out what that meant. "Which means the out-of-action Captain is now permanently unable to perform his duty..."

"...because he's been killed. And just like before, not a single trace of who did it or how it was done."

Naruto stepped back in shock, before he let out an aggravated breath. "Great. This just had to happen."

Armor narrowed his eyes before looking at Naruto. 'You act like it's your fault he's dead."

"And it is." Shining stepped back in shock himself, his eyebrow raised as he had no rebuttal for the unexpected shift in the atmosphere. "If my group and I hadn't arrived here, you probably wouldn't have to worry about these things happening, but because some unknown entity wants our power for themselves - or at least that's the way I see it - they won't hesitate to do what no being on this planet has done since, from what I've heard, centuries ago."

Shining sighed and placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Look, I'm probably the same age as you. Hell, I might be even younger, but I know for a fact that this is something that was out of your control. You haven't even been here but a few months, so you can't be expected to do everything. I had to learn that lesson the hard way when I was just a Corporal. Someone had tried to send an assassin after the Princess. I found about the operation and thought myself strong enough to disobey direct orders to remain at my post to track down the leader of the band that had thought to attack the Princess.

"Not only did my arrogance and quickness to jump to conclusions result in a demotion and nearly probation, I almost died that day when the leader found me instead. I had been tortured to within an inch of my life. If the Captain hadn't found me that day, I might not be standing here right now. Either way, the point I'm making is these kinds of things might have been waiting for the opportunity to occur for decades or even centuries. Your arrival here simply gave them a reason to make themselves known. The intent was always there, there just needed to be a mask to allow it to slip in unnoticed. It isn't and will never be your fault these things are happening just because you showed up here. From what you've told me and the Princess, there was no other choice. You had to come from a world that was, for all intents and purposes, desolate, lost to time. Your being forced into coming to another world will never be the reason these things happen. The best you can do is just strive to make yourself better so one day, these things will stop. But based on your own story, you've more than learned that lesson, haven't you?"

Naruto looked down in shame for a brief moment, the rising sun casting darkness below his eyebrow shelf before he looked back up, smiling. "Thanks, Shining. I really needed that. You're right, just because I found myself here doesn't mean these things are my fault. It's just... hard, y'know? I couldn't stop the annihilation of an entire race, my own to make things worse, and that kind of wound isn't something that heals easily, even with time. I've subjectively spent over two thousand years training in the few months we've been here and it still hurts to think about. To know that I could have stopped it, but one mistake resulted in such crushing failure."

Kurama, who'd just walked into the room to check on Celestia and have a word with Armor, had heard all of Naruto's explanation, and hugged him, putting her head on his shoulder. "You're not the only one who's responsible for what happened back on our world. If I hadn't lashed out at Sasuke for trapping me in a meteor and all but killing you, we might have been able to undo the Infinite Tsukuyomi, and maybe we wouldn't be here right now. For all we know, you probably would have become Hokage too. I share blame for what happened just as much as you do."

Naruto nodded in thanks to Kurama, who nodded back herself before extracting herself from around Naruto and moving to look over the doctor who was checking Celestia's vitals. Naruto turned back to Armor, a serious expression on his face. "So what do we know about how it happened?"

Armor pulled out a dossier from the breastplate of his newly commissioned captains' armor and handed it to Naruto. "Gist of it is this time, the Captain was murdered in broad daylight in the central square of Horseton-"

"No coincidence there. Whoever did it this time has thrown caution to the wind. The former Captain's murder having been conducted in such a way, combined with the Princess's poisoning here, lead to the fact they don't care what we think of them anymore. With these moves, they've officially stepped into the spotlight. This wasn't random, it was a declaration."

Hagoromo moved to look at the dossier, before turning to Naruto. "Naruto, I ask you to summon as many clones as you can. Send them in all directions. We must resolve the culprit of these incidents posthaste."

"I second what the Sage here has just said. The sooner we can find some trace of what we're dealing with, the better. And you've got every being on the planet beat in covering ground." shining agreed with Hagoromo.

Naruto nodded and made his signature handsign. Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu! Weeks later, Celestia would need to answer three Day Courts' worth of frenzied questions from Canterlot, and her wizards and magical experts questions from the rest of Equestria, about why a massive cloud suddenly appeared over Canterlot, followed by no less than ten thousand copies of Naruto shooting out in all directions, several dozen going in the direction of the not-currently-visible Moon. "Alright, it's done. Hopefully we'll manage to pick... Wait... What the hell?!" Naruto was in the middle of telling everyone he'd sent out a plethora of clones when all of the ones that were headed in the direction of the Moon dispelled suddenly, nearly at the same altitude. "Something's blocking my clones from going any higher than the upper atmosphere!"

Hagoromo and Hamura instantly activated their Visual Prowess and ran to the window, and were able to clearly observe a thin, translucent barrier with an outward curvature. Tracing an outline of where the barrier interacted with the Earth's atmosphere, they were able to determine the source of the disturbance was an entity on the Moon. "Something on or in the Moon is causing this. That's about the location of the spherical center of the barrier."

Armor's eyes shot up in surprise. "Oh shit!" The group turned to him. "If what you're saying is true, I know exactly what the problem is. Back when I was just a foal, Mom and Dad would always tell me stories about a legend that was found in Canterlot's Royal Archives. It spoke of an entity known as Nightmare Moon, borne of darkness corrupting one of the Princess's loved ones, though no one knows who, and attempting to plunge the entire world in eternal night. The Princess summoned artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony, extremely potent and powerful magical implements tied to core values of Equestria's founding, and on the eve of the summer solstice, using her connection to them, banished Nightmare Moon to imprisonment inside her own namesa0ke for a thousand years. That was just short of nine hundred ninety-nine years ago. I'm warning you now, it's possible Nightmare Moon may have found a way to prematurely escape her imprisonment. If you find her up there, be extremely careful. I know how powerful your group is, but Nightmare Moon isn't somebody to be trifled with. Before Celestia had the Elements, Nightmare Moon had proven more powerful than her."

Naruto's eyebrows scrunched together. "Wait, you just said this was from a legend. How are you absolutely sure this Nightmare Moon exists?"

"Because I found out it's actually true. Apparently, it's tradition for the former Captain to inform the incumbent of the tale, and of strategies to keep the population of Equestria safe when the day does come that Nightmare Moon escapes. The Captain told me before he left with Minato, Jiraiya, and Hiruzen. He was sure he was going to die, and he'd already given the Princess a personal recommendation to promote me to Captain, so he told me, thinking he'd never come back."

Naruto nodded, a somber expression on his face. "Thank you for the information, Shining Armor. I promise we're going to do the best we can should Nightmare Moon have escaped. You just take care of everyone down here, alright?" Shining nodded, and the two shook hands, before Hagoromo opened a portal. "Hopefully we'll be back in decent time." Hagoromo and Naruto hopped through the portal shortly after, and the portal closed behind them.

Hamura moved back to Celestia's side, resuming the jutsu that kept her in a medical coma, while Shining left the room, heading back to the throne room to get ready to make an announcement that would crush the entire country.

Naruto and Hagoromo landed on the surface of their old training ground on the Moon, and the two looked around. Neither noticed anything. "Naruto, are you able to discern a presence here?"

"No, but let me try something. Could you activate your Rinnegan and Rinne Sharingan?" Hagoromo nodded and activated his Visual Prowess. Naruto activated his own. "I see nothing of note."

"Hmm... I can't see any... Wait..." Naruto concentrated on an area at the edge of the basin and found a tall woman wearing pure black, revealing armor sectioned into shoulder blades, a breastplate in the most literal sense, a bikini mesh covered with a large black belt, and knee-high black boots, with a spike on the heel of each.

Naruto teleported next to her, and upon discovering she'd been seen, what seemed like a veil over her lifted, and Hagoromo was able to see her as well. "You must be Nightmare Moon."

The woman looked Naruto up and down, then smirked. "I am. And you are?"

"My name is Naruto of the space-faring Otsutsuki Clan, and the man several kilometers behind and west of me is one of my three sensei - teachers - Hagoromo Otsutsuki. We've come to the Moon upon the Royal Guard Captain's observation that you may have escaped your imprisonment early. We're investigating some unknown force's presence in Equestria."

Nightmare Moon scoffed, crossing her arms under her breasts to purposely try distracting Naruto, who pointedly ignored the gesture. "And what business am I supposed to have relevant to this matter? I've been trapped on the moon for nigh a millennium. Why should I have a care for what happens to Equestria?"

"I can tell you have quite a bit of darkness. Malicious intent that was aggravated by your sadness and loneliness. Even so, I bet even someone like you cannot condone murder."

Nightmare's eyes dangerously narrowed at Naruto's declaration, stomping over to him and grabbing the collar of his shirt. "What is this heresy you speak of? Murder has not happened in Equestria in centuries! Even before I had been imprisoned, Celestia and Luna made sure of that!"

Hagoromo teleported over and rested his hand on Nightmare Moon's shoulder. She released her hand from Naruto's collar in shock at the sheer presence the old man possessed. "We have not the time for this needless bickering. I can assume reasonably by your shock and anger that murder is not your forte. In such case, you wield a brand of magic most of Equestria does not possess. You may be the key to finding who or whatever has been causing this chaos."

Nightmare stepped back, her arms falling to her sides. A minute later, she looked back at Naruto, a conflicted expression on her face. "What is the death toll so far?"

"Four. Three citizens, a unicorn in the White-Tail Woods, a pegasus in an abandoned Cloudsdale district, and an earth pony east of Horseton, and in downtown Horseton last week in broad daylight, the former Royal Guard Captain was executed. And unfortunately, if something isn't done very quickly, Celestia is due to become the fifth."

Nightmare's eyes shot open in shock. "Surely you jest. Nothing has ever bested Celestia."

"Well, something in Equestria found a way around the alicorns' natural advantages. An unknown poison that is both causing cell deterioration and blocking the body's access to its innate magical abilities. As a result, we can't even heal Celestia."

Hagoromo interjected briefly. "As a result, my younger brother Hamura has been forced to place Celestia in a medical coma, so as to slow down the progression of the poison until a cure can be found."

Nightmare Moon sighed, then took off her helmet and placed it to her chest. After a brief moment of silence, a tear fell down her eye as her coat turned a light shade of blue and the darkness dissipated off of her and manifested as a separate entity next to her. "If what you say is true, I have to act on this personally. And throughout my imprisonment, I have kept track of the affairs of the country in the nearly thousand years I have been here. I also know some of my energy has dissipated from the Moon itself. Most likely, one of the few cults that has sprouted in the last century has found a way to harness this energy and is using it for nefarious purposes. As dark as I may have been and still am, wanton violence and death is not something I will stand for."

She turned and caught the falling woman she had left behind in her arms, hefting her up. "This is Princess Celestia's younger sister, Princess Luna. When I was still little more than a mass of coalesced energy given sentience, I manipulated this young and fine woman into attacking her own sister. I had not intended on driving a wedge between the two of them at the time, I was simply in need of testing the powers my sentience granted me. As a result, being imprisoned on the Moon has given me ample time to use my abilities to create my own form, that the injustice of my actions be rectified. Unfortunately, the method of imprisonment has not until now allowed me to extricate myself from Luna's being and energy. Now, if you please, we need to return to Earth immediately. This talk of murder must be resolved immediately."

Hagoromo nodded as he stepped away and used his Rinnegan to summon a portal to the peak of Mt. Canter, and the three, Nightmare Moon carrying the unconscious Princess Luna in her arms, stepped through, the portal closing shortly thereafter.

So occupied were the two Otsutsuki that they did not notice the presence of a much younger, nearly teen-age Kaguya on the other side of the Moon. "Nightmare Moon, you'd better be happy I exerted my chakra to allow you to free yourself. That's a debt that's going to take you a long time to repay." Kaguya sat down at the rim of the dust dune she had been standing next to, gazing at the stars above her, sighing as she absently ran a hand through her hair. "Maybe next time that cutie comes back with the old-ish man and his younger brother that call me their mother, they'll actually realize I'm here. I used the last of my chakra letting that manipulative idiot out, so I'm trapped here until they come back anyway."

After arriving back on Earth, the three quickly made their way down to the castle, cloaked under Naruto's Transparent Escape Jutsu, a technique of Jiraiya's that he had reverse-engineered thanks to finally improving his chakra control past what it had been before the group had found themselves on this version of Earth. Using said jutsu, the three made their way to the throne room. Jiraiya, having mastered the jutsu before, saw Naruto and the others. Naruto sent him a set of ANBU hand codes Jiraiya had taught him during their training trip, and Jiraiya immediately understood.

As Jiraiya called Minato and Hiruzen over and moved to have Shining postpone Day Court, the three moved to Celestia's hospital room, where Hamura was still using the jutsu to keep her in a coma. Sweat was now slowly beading on his brow, and small patches of skin were now visibly missing on Celestia's arms and legs, revealing the deteriorating flesh below.

Naruto released the jutsu, and Hamura nodded as the three became visible. He saw Princess Luna unconscious in Nightmare Moon's arms and used the Tenseigan to pull a spare hospital bed over. Nightmare Moon laid Luna on the bed and pulled the bed covers over her as she came to stand by Celestia. "If you will, I need to examine the toxin that is killing Celestia." Hamura nodded and stepped away. "Do we already know something about the toxin that has caused this?"

"Yes, we've already established the part that is actually killing Celestia is nightshade. We're still not sure about the part that is interfering with her magic." Nightmare Moon nodded and used her magic to scan Celestia's body.

"Hmm... I recognize this particular toxin. It is a derivative of manchineel tree sap, from the manchineel tree. It is deadly to all races except alicorns, and completely shuts down an alicorn's magic. This very poison is the reason so few alicorns exist, as many alicorns were killed in the Ancient War before the centaur Tirek was banished to Tartarus. I do not know your name, but keep tending to Celestia. Manchineel sap poisoning is very inhibitive, but only lasts about two months. In the meantime, I shall try to contact the medical experts and have them create an antidote for the nightshade, that death may be avoided."

"No need, I heard everything." Shining walked in, Minato at his heel. He raised his eyebrow at Nightmare Moon's presence. "I'm guessing you're Nightmare Moon, and I'm not going to bother wasting brain cells trying to comprehend why you're here, but since you're already helping preserve the Princess's condition and keeping her from death, I suppose I can forgive whatever crimes you've committed in the past. I'm too concerned for the Princess anyway, and I've been trying to figure out why her magic hasn't been working." Shining flared his horn in a specific pattern reminiscent of Morse code. "Alright, I've let the experts at the hospital know that the part of the poison involving the Princess's magic is incurable, and we have to let it run its course." He paused for a few seconds as his eyes crossed, before he turned his eyes back on Nightmare Moon. "The doctors and botanists say that the nightshade antidote is already halfway done, and we'll have it by the evening."

"Good. Considering your reach, I assume you're the current Captain of the Royal Guard. I'd ask you to keep maintaining the peace as best you can. I shall stay here and administer a temporary stop for the nightshade with my magic while we wait for the cure." Armor nodded and tapped Minato, who used Flying Raijin Jutsu to teleport back to the throne room, leaving Nightmare Moon, the two unconscious Princesses, and the three Otsutsuki in the room. Žiara came in and nodded to the newcomer.

"Naruto, despite the current situation, we must perform one more session of training while we wait for this situation to resolve itself." Naruto nodded, and Žiara put her arm around his shoulder, before the two phased out of existence to train in Shinigami's realm.

Nightmare Moon blinked, then asked a question she didn't realize was obvious or rhetorical. "Are those two... familiar with each other?"

Naruto Otsutsuki

STR: 64 (+2) STA: 87 INT: 63 (+9) DUR: 75 (+2) CHA: 100
Score/Rank: 380 [+13] (Low B Rank)
Notable Feats: Completed the Rasengan, Defeated Kaguya Otsutsuki, Pacified the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, Unlocked Awakened Byakugan, Unlocked Awakened Sharingan, Unlocked Awakened Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan
Notable Abilities: Rasenshuriken (various styles), Talk no Jutsu, Six Paths Sage Mode, Senjutsu Master, Shadow Clone Jutsu, Byakugan Sensory Capabilities, Complete Body – Susano'o

Hagoromo Otsutsuki

STR: 88 (+1) STA: 94 (+1) INT: 100 DUR: 83 (+1) CHA: 75 (+3)
Score/Rank: 430 [+6] (High B Rank)
Notable Feats: Sealed the Ten-Tails, Defeated Kaguya Otsutsuki, Created Ninshu
Notable Abilities: Mastered Rinnegan, Truth-Seeking Orbs, Creation Of All Things, Senjutsu Master

Hamura Otsutsuki

STR: 87 (+2) STA: 90 (+1) INT: 100 DUR: 86 CHA: 95 (+5)
Score/Rank: 455 [+8] (A Rank)
Notable Feats: Sealed the Ten-Tails, Defeated Kaguya Otsutsuki, Founder of the Shinobi of the Moon
Notable Abilities: Mastered Tenseigan, Yin-Yang Style

Kaguya Otsutsuki

STR: 53 STA: 61 INT: 88 DUR: 47 CHA: 75
Score/Rank: 324 (C Rank)
Notable Feats: (temporarily redacted)
Notable Abilities: None Known

Princess Celestia

STR: 48 (-4) STA: 17 (-1) INT: 70 DUR: 32 (-3) CHA: 90 (+2)
Score/Rank: 257 [-6] (High D Rank)
Notable Feats: Banished Nightmare Moon, Defeated Discord, Sent Tirek to Tartarus, Sealed Sombra, Former Wielder of the Elements of Harmony
Notable Abilities: Directs the Motion of the Sun and Moon, Leads Equestria

Princess Luna

STR: 47 STA: 21 INT: 64 DUR: 53 CHA: 79
Score/Rank: 264 (High D Rank)
Notable Feats: Defeated Discord, Sent Tirek to Tartarus, Sealed Sombra, Former Wielder of the Elements of Harmony
Notable Abilities: Mind Magic Mastery

Nightmare Moon

STR: 61 STA: 37 INT: 71 DUR: 39 CHA: 49
Score/Rank: 257 (High D Rank)
Notable Feats: None Known
Notable Abilities: Dark Magic Mastery

Christ, nevermind. I did not expect to suddenly crank out nearly four thousand words and finish Chapter 13 with less than an hour to spare. Guess that means we're still on schedule. I'll start working on Chapter 14 on the 21st. For those of you who aren't following updates on my profile page, where I post updates on the progress of my writing per story, I was writing this back on the 11th, but lost over three thousand words of writing when I lost internet and my computer randomly restarted.

Anyway, not much else to say there, so I'll leave you guys for now. See you all in Chapter 14!