Welcome to the next chapter in the rise of the hunter story, as usual any comments or suggestions will be read and thought over while flamers will be ignored.

Disclaimer: I Don't own Naruto, My little pony

Chapter 5: New Members and meeting the Sun Princess

A year had passed since Kurama had joined up with Naruto, the two have become an inseparable duo. Naruto had taught Kurama how to fight against the monsters alongside Naruto, Naruto developed armor and unique tools to aid him in battle.

The two of them formed new legends that spread throughout the lands of a mysterious stallion and his feline companion hunting monsters and dealing with cultists and other beings that threatened the land.

As time passed the duo would be joined by to two other ponies would join their them, one was like Naruto someone else cultists brought from another world, the other was some pony who lost everything had needed help to find their place in the world. Both would become his students in monster hunting and set the path for others to follow.

Naruto was glad that they had joined up with him he could easily see both needed help to guide them out of the darkness they lay trapped in.

The first student was a unicorn mare called Aurora, she had ashen grey fur tone and her mane and tail were violet colored with black streaks. Her most unique feature was the strange blue marking that went down the right side of her body, the marking were odd wavy lines that seemed like tattoos when Naruto first saw them.

Naruto and Kurama had found her in an abandoned facility created by the cult, he heard about the place from locals of a nearby town.

(Flashback start)

Naruto and Kurama were standing outside a massive building, it was used by the cult until they abandoned it for unknown reasons. They were examining the place to make sure that nothing dangerous was left behind that could escape and attack the nearby town.

"Let's be careful, we don't know what could be in there," Naruto said to Kurama.

Kurama nodded his head and the two went inside, there were signs of a battle with destroyed furniture and other things all over. Naruto when he scanned the building for life signs, he detected one in the basement of the building and others that felt very wrong to him.

What he felt from the other signs was dark and twisted energy, he had a feeling the cult was behind this but didn't want to imagine what they did to cause it. The feel of the energy reminded him of when that cultist appeared and resurrected the Lao Shun Lung corpse but stabbing it with that weird shard.

Naruto kept one hand on his weapon as they searched the rooms for information, the duo stumbled upon an office, the two spilt up looking over the papers and books. Anything of value was sealed away to be sold off later, the papers revealed that the ponies at the facility were experimenting with the corrupted energy that they called blight.

Blight was magic energy that had been twisted and corrupted by the cults actions, Naruto was unsure how it happened but it was a dangerous threat to all lands because Blight poisons not only the land but everything else as well, including whatever being encounter the energy.

"Something about this place feels wrong, I don't want to know what broke out of here, but I bet the cult is responsible for its creation," Kurama said to Naruto.

Before Naruto could respond to Kurama a series of groans caught their attention, both hunters raised their weapons two side arms and pointed them towards the doorway the noises were coming from. They heard more groans and then shuffling of feet as whatever it was moved closer to them.

The creature stepped into the light revealing it to be a pony dressed in doctor's garb, he was dragging his left leg which was bent at a strange angle. Before either of them could offer help the light revealed his current state, he had Blight crystals growing out of his chest and down his right arm changing his hand into a claw, half of the flesh on the right side of his face was torn of revealing his skull had transformed into the same crystal material.

The monster roared before charging at the duo, Naruto and Kurama fired their weapons each shot slamming into the monster with little affect, Naruto had enough and summoned Aoi-Hime to his hand. Naruto entered his standard stance with his knees bent and his blade facing the monster, in a single moment he drew his blade and performed several slashes on the monster.

Naruto then swung Aoi-hime removing any blood on the blade before sheathing the blade, when the handle clicked against the sheath the monster fell to pieces.

"Huff, Huff, what in the world was that thing? it looked like a doctor but what happened to him cause that transformation?" Kurama asked as he reloaded his firearm.

"I don't know but I guessing it has something to do with Blight, the energy coming off him was same as it. I got a feeling there is more awaiting us ahead, so better switch to your blades. They see to work better than guns at this moment," Naruto replied.

Kurama nodded his head before bringing out his glaive, it had a metal staff with pawprint like designs on the handle before ending in a fearsome looking blade at the end. The blade was a darkened steel color with cracks emitting heat and sparks.

Naruto nodded at Kuramas choice for a weapon knowing that the glaive was infused with fire which would work well against most fleshy enemies. Naruto chose to keep Aoi-hime ready in his hand, that way he could draw it in an instant and take out any threat that approached him and Kurama.

The two headed deeper into the compound taking at any of the forsaken they came across, the forsaken was what they called the crystal monsters since they were left to die by others as shown by claw marks and other signs on the walls and doors.

The duo cleared every room they came across not wanting to let anything get free and start attacking innocent ponies. They also found remains of other ponies who weren't changed but left for dead and eaten by the forsaken.

Naruto and Kurama reached a heavily sealed door in what the assumed to be the basement of the facility, Naruto could feel that the energy source that he felt earlier was behind this door both Kurama and Naruto exchanged a look nodding their heads to be prepared for anything behind the door.

The door opened to reveal a female unicorn kept in a tube filled with strange liquid, Naruto immediately got to work on draining the tube and freeing the poor mare trapped inside. Naruto examined the mare with a medical scan to make sure she was okay, as he was doing that she woke up from her sleep and lashed out at Naruto.

"Get away you bastards, I refuse to be a pawn to your master," the mare shouted before realizing that the ones in front of here were not members of the cult.

Cough, cough "who are you guys, you're not dressed as members of the cult?" the mare asked.

Naruto stepped forward "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, my partner is Kurama. The two of us are investigating this facility that was abandoned by the cult when something went wrong. Do you mind telling us your name and how you got here?" Naruto replied.

"My name is Aurora skies, both me and my mother were brought here form another world. The cult captured us and took us through a portal and to this facility, they wanted me to serve them because of my unique powers and abilities," Aurora said as she held herself to keep form shaking.

Naruto walked towards her and summoned a blanket to cover her up in, he didn't want to imagine what the cult put her through. The only thing he could do was help her pick up the remains of her shattered life and guide her to a new path.

Naruto picked up Aurora and teleported them back to his hotel room, there he directed her to the shower and left out fresh clothes for her until he could buy her some new ones.

Kurama approached Naruto who was sitting down on the bed, he was unsure what their next move was going to be.

"Boss, what are we going to do now?" Kurama asked.

"First we need to talk with Aurora and see what she wants to do now that she is free of the cult's prison. She deserves to have a life that will help her get past this nightmare," Naruto replied.

Aurora stepped out of the bathroom, dressed in a form fitting t-shirt and pants, she looked to be in a better mood than when they first found her. Naruto also noticed the strange light blue marking on the right side of her body. Naruto didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

Aurora moved to the bed across from Naruto and sat down, she looked at the man/stallion that rescued her from that never-ending nightmare.

Naruto explained everything he knew about the cult to Aurora, she chimed in filling any gaps she could with information she had overheard from various members of the cult. Together the two talked for a while before Naruto asked her the important question.

"What do you want to do now, you're no longer a prisoner of the cult, so you can live your life the way you want it to be," Naruto said.

Aurora gained a nervous look on her face started rubbing her arm, she already knew what she wanted to ask but first she needed to work up the courage to tell Naruto what she wanted to ask him.

"I would like to come with you and Kurama on your travels, I want to become your student and learn under you," Aurora replied after a few minutes.

Aurora looked at Naruto who's face showed him I deep thought, Naruto was thinking about what she asked. He was considering her offer, from what he could sense from Aurora she had potential to become a strong hunter. The training would also protect her from the cult in case they decide to come after her again.

Celestia had asked in a previous letter if he would consider training others in hunting and fighting monsters. This was something he already had in mind since he couldn't be everywhere and help everyone at once. Aurora could be the first pony student he would train, while he didn't show it, he was nervous about teaching since he was self-taught in everything he knew.

"You realize that this will not be an easy road for you, the training I will have you will be difficult but that is because of what you are being trained to hunt. Knowing this do you still wish to become my student?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, I still wish to be your student no matter how hard the training will be," Aurora replied.

Naruto simply smiled easily seeing that Aurora was strong in her conviction, Naruto knew he made the right choice in accepting her as his student. He knew that she would be the first of many to come in future times.

"Since it's late tonight we'll start in the morning first getting you some clothes and anything else you're going to need for traveling," Naruto said.

All three were tired from the adventures they had to today, Aurora was given her own while Kurama slept with Naruto, Aurora the most excited she had felt in a long time, she was free of the cult and she had a teacher/friend who would teach her how to fight monsters.

(Flashback end)

Aurora would learn that Naruto was a fair teacher, he would help her with the basics of any technique she wanted to learn but stepped back and let her master the technique herself. He would offer advise her if something was wrong or if the technique wasn't a desirable choice for her to learn.

Together the three of them would experiment and document her siren abilities, the blue marking in her side marked her as a siren which was a female with the ability to manipulate and control energy in unusual ways. Aurora didn't know much about sirens, only what her mother told her about them before she was killed by the cult.

The abilities that they have discovered so far are: phase-walk, which makes her intangible and allows her to move through objects, phase-trap that cocoons her target in a sphere of energy, and the last ability was phase-strike which summoned six separate arms that could grab, punch and block enemy attacks.

Aurora would master the lighter weapons that would allow her to remain quick on her feet and strike hard against any monsters she hunted. Naruto would develop a recharging shield that would protect hunters from damage while the shield was active, Aurora was currently using the newer model which converted magical energy taken in from its surrounding to heal the wearer from any damage taken.

Naruto was working on other models that had different abilities that ranged from model to model. Aurora also expressed a desire to learn medical skills that would help her teammates in battle or help others suffering from various medical problems.

The trio would latter expand when a stallion joined their group, the stallion was a pegasus from a small town away from the larger cities and towns in Equestria. He and his mother took care of the weather duties for the town, he was different from normal ponies since his father was a feline from the nation of Thundera.

The main signs of his hybrid nature were his ears and tail which took the appearance his feline heritage instead of his pony nature. Life was good in the small town of Shadow Hollows, but everything changed one day when a monster attacked the village and killed everyone but the stallion because his mother hid him in the well escaping the monsters notice.

(Flashback start)

The hunting trio were approaching the small town of Shadow Hollows, they were stopping at the town to restock supplies and rest from a difficult hunt with a troublesome monster that kept running away at first chance it got.

"I need a hot bath, that stupid monster made us chase us all over the swamp and every time we corned it released a smoke screen and ran away," Aurora whined.

Naruto said nothing but nodded his head, the creature was incredibly annoying with its hit and run tactics and its cowardice.

Naruto stopped as an all too familiar smell reached him by the wind, he knew what it meant and judging by the how strong the stench was it was a bad scene that awaited them. Naruto exchanged a look with the others who already knew that trouble lied ahead, both drew weapons to defend themselves with Kurama his glaive and Aurora a pair of duel curved swords.

Aurora's blades were a new creation of Naruto, each blade was infused with one element: the left blade had a gray metal spike with the sharpened blade edges coming out the sides and meeting at the top, the edges were red as they did fire damage with the right being the same design with the only difference being the white blade edges signifying ice damage.

Naruto chose to bring out his dual bladed weapon and keep it combined rather than separate them for a blade in each hand. The scene that they found was something out of a nightmare, various bodies of ponies cut to pieces littered the ground. The group was horrified at the sight before them, Naruto ordered the group to spit up and look for survivors and be on the lookout for what caused this massacre.

Kurama moved silently through the town he only found dead ponies and from what he saw they were cut with a sharp blade, a sudden noise drew Kuramas attention to an alleyway, as Kurama looked into it to find a small group of forsaken feasting on the remains of villagers, Kurama readied a blast grenade and rolled it down the alley to the monsters.

The blast took out most of the monsters while Kurama took out the remaining ones with several quick strikes with his glaive, it glowed red with fire swirling around blade as it cut the forsaken to pieces then burning the remains to ash.

Kurama checked for more forsaken before continuing onward with the exploration of the town, he continued to find more forsaken throughout the town but nothing else. He decided to head towards the meeting point

Aurora was sickened by the sights before her, these ponies were killed without mercy she had found what looked like a parent trying to shield their child from their attacker. As with Kurama she also encountered forsaken as well, she knew from what Naruto had told her they were scavenge feeders, they feasted on the kills of others but could bring down their own prey if enough grouped together in a swarm.

A little while later Aurora would reach a damaged well on the edge of the town, she found a wounded mare lying against it. Aurora immediately rushed up to try and heal her, but the mare stopped her.

"Don't bother wasting your energy on me, I won't survive the process. My son is still alive, he is in the well behind me, please take care of him and tell him that his mother is proud of the stallion he has become," the mare said before collapsing to the ground.

Aurora was shocked at the mares passing but she would do as she asked. First, she investigated the well and saw the stallion that the mare was talking about, she pulled him from the well using her magic to start healing him to safely move him to the groups meeting spot.

Before she teleported, Aurora felt a massive spike in demonic energy, following the first was a second spike that she recognized as belonging to her teacher. She could only guess that he was fighting whatever caused the massacre of the village's residents.

Naruto examined the bodies of the slain villager's finding trace amounts of demonic energy found on each of the bodies, this meant that they were slain with a demonic weapon. Naruto had developed spells in the past for tracking energy one allowed him to track demonic energy, so tracking the one who did all this wouldn't be a problem.

Before he could gather the magic to cast the spell, he felt a powerful demonic presence nearby, Naruto readied himself for the fight he knew was to come. Naruto rushed forward into the town square; he could feel the demon's presence in the square.

The demon was a massive knight in blue armor, his right arm looked more like a dragon than a pony's. Its weapon was a massive demonic blade with a large blinking eye near the bottom of the blade.

"Are you the one who killed all these ponies?" Naruto asked while keeping direct contact on the monster.

The demon laughed at Naruto's question "Yes, this is my work. I am the demon knight Nightmare; I know who you are Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto showed no reaction other than tightening his grip on his blade, he could tell that this was going to be difficult. He could feel the demonic energy coming off him in waves, at the same time something felt very off about the demon at the same time.

Naruto feel two different energies inside Nightmare, and it seemed like they were fighting with one other for control. It reminded him of when he couldn't control Kurama's charka and it would take over him.

"Why did you attack this town, were you trying to draw me out?" Naruto asked already knowing the answer in his mind though.

Nightmare merely laughed at the question, "No, that was just a bonus. I was wandering nearby when I stumbled upon this town, my hunger arose at the sight of so many fresh souls ripe for slaying."

Naruto immediately launched a charge thrust attack at Nightmare sending him crashing through a home, he followed up with several slashes with both blades slicing through Nightmares armor and leaving deep gashes before he was forced back, when Nightmare slammed his blade into his knocking out of the house and back onto the street

Nightmare came charging forward with a heavy stab attack, Naruto rolled to the right then struck back with his own stab attack striking Nightmare in the back. The attack missed because of Nightmare dodging at the last second then retaliating with his own stab, Naruto blocked the attack with his blades and channeled charka into the ground to anchor himself.

Nightmare quickly struck with a sweeping slash that cut Naruto on the arm before grabbing him with his demonic hand and tossing him into another building, Naruto pulled himself from the rubble of a ruined wall to see Nightmare charging towards him.

Naruto jumped up and onto the celling dodging Nightmare's charge attack and stop channeling charka and slammed down onto Nightmare before summoning a rasengan to blast him out of the house.

Both fighters rushed forward their blades slamming into the other as they fought for dominance. Naruto forced Nightmare back and charged forward ducking under a slash attack and cut deeply into his leg with the smaller blade.

Nightmare struck back with an overhead chop attack, but Naruto dodged the attack and slashed at his other leg to slow him down and leave him vulnerable to attacks. Naruto's choice to weaken Nightmare's legs payed off because Nightmare while not fast from the beginning was struggling to keep pace with Naruto.

Nightmare screamed into the air as his demonic energy circled him, Naruto feel Nightmare regaining strength, but his wounds didn't heal. (AN: Nightmare's powerup is the same as Artorias and Midir from the dark soul's franchise)

Naruto launched a charged piecing attack at Nightmare, the attack came at blinding speeds and left a trail of glowing blue flames in his wake. The attack slammed into Nightmare who was unable to dodge the attack that did severe damage to his chest plate.

The follow up attack was blocked by Nightmares demonic arm, Naruto responded with a stab attack with a charged wind cyclone on the blade sending Nightmare flying away and Naruto chasing after him. Nightmare dug his hand into the ground to slow himself down from the knockback before charging towards Naruto. Nightmare struck back with a vicious combo, while it was only three hits the weight of Nightmares blade did heavy damage to Naruto.

Nightmare attacked with a sweeping attack causing Naruto to slide under the blade and then retaliate with a rasengan, but nightmare blocked the attack with his blade but was pushed back from the force of the attack. Naruto fired off several soul arrows, Nightmare charged through them and slammed into Naruto.

The two warriors would continue clashing blades neither one gaining the upper hand over the other, Naruto began charging up magic into his blades for an attack, Naruto then readied himself by bending his knees and aiming the blade at Nightmare.

Naruto shot forward at Nightmare slamming into him and knocking him back, Naruto didn't let up and kept attacking from multiple directions. It was a relentless onslaught for Nightmare since he couldn't track Naruto's location and every time, he tried to guard against the attacks Naruto would change directions to get around his defenses.

By the end of the combo Nightmare was barley standing, he had numerous wounds from the constant barrage of attacks but before the battle could continue any further several spells were shot towards Naruto forcing him to dodge away and give Nightmare the chance to recover.

Naruto looked around for the location of the caster, they came from three members of the cult, they circled around Nightmare while one pulled out a dark colored potion. The cultist then poured it on the ground smoke appearing and enveloping the group and then fading away showing that the cultists and Nightmare had disappeared.

Naruto cursed to himself, he wasn't the first time the cult disappeared from a battle like this, the potion teleported whoever was in the smoke to an unknown location. Naruto could feel something was off about Nightmare, when they were fighting his energy felt uncoordinated and unstable. Unfortunately, Naruto didn't know enough about the blue knight to guess why his energy felt that way, but he would try to find out, what had him most concerned was the blade he used.

Naruto could feel the demonic energy coming off it in large waves, he could also feel madness and corruption coming from the blade as well. He would send a message to Celestia and see if she has any information on both subjects.

Naruto then teleported to the groups meeting spot to make sure every pony was ok and move on from there. Upon reaching the building he found Kurama on watch while Aurora while tending to a stallion.

"Were there any other survivors?" Naruto asked.

Aurora shook her head "There was one, but she died, shortly after telling me of his location."

Naruto said nothing but frowned trying to understand why the cult would do this, what was there to gain by killing innocent ponies. Naruto knew Celestia was going to be upset when she heard of this.

"Naruto did you find out who did this, we felt your magic spiking earlier along with who or what you were fighting against?" Kurama asked.

"Yes, I did, he called himself the demon knight Nightmare. The blade he was using has me very worried, I felt an immense dark and evil presence coming from the blade," Naruto replied while remembering the dark presence he felt from the blade.

The group was pulled from their thoughts by the sounds of groans coming from the unknown stallion. He tried to get up but was stopped by Aurora, she forced him to lie back down on the bed roll.

"I'm afraid have you moving around just yet you're going to reopen your wounds and I am not going to patch them twice," Aurora said

The stallion relaxed on the roll; he took several deep breathes to relax himself. Once he did, he looked around hoping to see familiar faces but only the ones that rescued him.

"Thank you for rescuing me, my name is Stygian Fang. Me and my mother oversee the weather duties for the village," Stygian said

"Your welcome, my name is Aurora skies, the feline is Kurama and the large stallion is Naruto Uzumaki," Aurora explained.

"Are there any other survivors, I remember the monster attacking and every pony screaming and running when he started attacking the town. I remember being hit and then looking up towards my mom as I was fell down the well," Stygian asked

Naruto shook his head, "I'm afraid you are the only one we found, the other villagers were killed by Nightmare. He was the demon knight that your village."

Hearing this caused Stygian to break down, Aurora moved to comfort the broken stallion while Naruto and Kurama readied themselves to give the fallen villagers a proper burial. This was something Naruto insisted on doing because the villagers deserved a proper burial rather than leaving them to rot in the sun.

It took a few hours, but all the villagers were buried in graves and a monument was created to honor them. Stygian and Aurora would come out after the monument was set up, Stygian was still in ruff shape from Nightmares attack and the loss of everyone he knew.

"Thank you for doing this, I don't think I could have done any it myself," Stygian said

Naruto waved him off, "Don't worry about it, you're still recovering you don't need any more on your plate," Naruto replied.

After Stygian paid his respects to the fallen he was guided back to the building the group had taken temporary residence in. his wounds haven't fully healed just yet because of the lingering demonic energy from Nightmares blade.

The energy interfered with the body's natural healing, making it take longer for wounds to heal and recover from. Naruto and the others were waiting for Stygian to recover enough strength to travel. Naruto already knew that Stygian would want to travel with them since he had nothing left tying him down here.

It would be later that night that Stygian would ask Naruto to join his group, Naruto could feel that he would be a strong hunter. Naruto explained everything that would be put through both in terms of the training he would be going through and what he would be fighting against.

"Are you sure this is what you want, there are other things you could do with your life?" Naruto asked.

Stygian nodded his head, "I am sure, there is nothing for me here and I want to travel with you and repay the debt I owe to you and the others."

"There is no debt, for now just focus on recovering by the morning you will have recovered enough to travel, once you have fully recovered, we shall start your training. For now, get some rest, tomorrow we continue our journey," Naruto said.

(Flashback end)

The group would grow with Stygian added to the mix, he learned the ways of the hunter quickly. He would prove to be an invaluable member of the group; he and Naruto would work on air combat training against the monsters.

They would create different techniques for combating the different wyvern classes from the air and providing air support to hunters on the ground. Aurora and Stygian would work together, the two balancing out their natural skills and abilities with each other.

Time passed quickly for the group, soon enough their names were known throughout the land, Naruto also learned to trust them with his secrets. He told them about who he is an alicorn and how he came to Equestria.

Both were shocked at the truth and what he went through before coming here but they understood his reasoning for keeping everything secret. Neither would hold the information against him and both promised to not treat him any differently than they already have.

Naruto trained Aurora and Stygian in all weapons for hunting, he wanted them to have knowledge of all the weapons so that way they can adapt and change styles if one style is not working against their prey, so that they can switch to another.

Naruto also unlocked their ability to use and produce use charka, he learned how to do this in scrolls that the sage left for him. He had the ability to give those he chose to gift them with charka. Naruto would be careful on who gave this ability too, the Elemental nations was corrupted by this power, he doesn't want to cause a repeat in Equestria.

The group was currently headed to the town Appaloosa, the town was new was the first to be founded in the Badlands. The town had identified one of the monsters being a Diablo, which was a dangerous wyvern known for its aggressive behavior.

There was at least one other monster that had been spotted but not identified, there were also rumors about strange tracks and scales collected from an unknown creature. The residents were unsure if it was one of the monster wyverns or something else.

"Did the townsfolk have any description of the other monster, so far we identified one as a Diablo while they gave us nothing on the other monster?" Aurora asked.

Naruto shook his head, "Nothing except tracks and a few scales they found in different areas, the buffalo tribes that live close to the town haven't gotten a good look at it either. What they do know is the monster has a seemingly endless appetite and eats everything and anything."

"I guess we'll find out when we get there, the fact they have scales from the monster is a good start for us," Stygian replied.

"Agreed, this will at least allow us to track the monster in the field," Kurama said.

The group continued to discuss different ideas on what the monster could be, they broke off their discussion when the train started slowing down and the conductor announced that they were coming up on Appaloosa.

The group got their gear together and got off the train and onto the platform, this gave them their first look at Appaloosa. The town was large and showed signs of getting bigger in the future, the town gave off a relaxed rustic feeling that felt before in Dodge Junction another old-fashioned town.

The ponies have the town were friendly, every pony saying hi to them as they walked by. They polity told them were the hotel was so they could rent some rooms and where the sheriff's office was since he oversaw the town right now.

Naruto had Stygian and Aurora rent two rooms while he and Kurama spoke to the sheriff about the towns monster problem. Naruto and Kurama walked down to the sheriff's office they were stopped by a small group of townsfolk.

An earth pony stallion stepped forward, he had sandy brown fur coloring and chestnut brown main. He was wearing a black vest over a red shirt and matching black pants, he wore a pair of worn cowboy boots.

He stuck out his hand "Hi, my name is Dusty winds, you're the monster hunter here to take care of our problem."

Naruto shuck his head in return, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and this is my partner Kurama. Yes, were here to deal with the monsters that are threating your town. We already know one of the monsters has any pony seen or can give me a description of the other monster?"

The ponies were happy that he was there to deal with their monster problem, the Diablos had come close to the town on several occasions and were worried that it may attack the town itself.

Dusty stepped forward after talking with the others "Sorry but no pony has gotten a good look at the other monster, it disappears as soon as any pony gets close to it. Sheriff Silver star should have information on the monster loctions since he has been marking where they have been spotted on a map in his office."

"Thank you for the information, I'm headed towards his office to speak with him, at the same time I will check out the map and try and pinpoint the monster's location," Naruto replied.

The villagers waved him off wishing him and the others good luck on their hunt, he soon reached the sheriff's office. He went inside to find him working at his desk signing papers, he was an earth stallion with dusty grey fur and mahogany mane and a black mustache. He wore a black cowboy hat with red banding, a red scarf and blue vest over a white button-up shirt and deep brown pants.

Naruto walked up towards the desk and introduced himself, "Hello, my name is Naruto Uzumaki I here you have a monster problem that needs solving."

Silver Star tipped his hat at Naruto, "You are correct about our monster problems, my name is Silver star and I would like to welcome you to Appaloosa."

Both stallions shook hands before sitting down, Naruto was the first one to speak up wanting to find out about the monsters.

"I already spoke to a few of the villagers, they say that you have been marking locations of where the diablo has been seen. If you can show me the map that will allow us to pinpoint the monsters nest and make finding it a lot easier," Naruto said.

Silver Star scratched his chin in thought, "I do have the map like you said I have been marking where the Diablo has been spotted. There is also another monster on the loose, this one we haven't identified due to the fact we haven't gotten a clear look at it. It causes destruction in its wake and always goes after our food storages for some reason and has been seeing eating the local wildlife on multiple occasions."

Silver Star got up and retrieved a bag from a cabinet behind him, he dumped the bag on the desk revealing its contents to be a handful of scales. The scales were a dark forest green and were very thick meaning that the monster's hide would be impossible to cut through with an ordinary weapon.

Naruto knew that this monster would be difficult to fight based on the thickness of its scales, he would send the others after Diablos while he dealt with this monster. He knew that the Diablos would be challenging to Stygian and Aurora because they never hunted the monster before.

The tracker flies immediately swarmed the scales familiarizing themselves with the scent of the monster, this would allow them to track the monster in the field.

Silver Star was surprised when the tracker flies appeared and started glowing, he backed away from the desk until the flies retreated into their hive.

"What was that all about, those weird flies suddenly appeared and swarmed the scales for whatever reason?" Silver Star asked.

"They are called tracker flies, they track the scent of a monster through its tracks and other items and lead me to the monster," Naruto replied.

"Those are some useful bugs then, they gain the scent of the monster and then lead you to the monster," Silver Star said.

"Their ability to track through scents comes naturally to the them, I was told of them and their ability by a friend who knew that they would be especially useful to me. If you can show me the map me and my team can get started on dealing with your monster problem," Naruto replied.

Naruto scanned the map and thanked Silver Star for his help, the sheriff waved him off saying he can repay him by taking care of the threats to his town since they were beyond his abilities.

Naruto and Kurama left Silver Star's office and made their way to the hotel to meet up with the Stygian and Aurora were at. They would prepare their gear then head out to the Badlands to deal with the monsters.

As they reached the hotel, they found Aurora and Stygian waiting for them in the lobby. They waved them over as other ponies whispering about them, Naruto heard the mares say how handsome he was and how they wished they could spend a night with him.

Naruto shook his head, he has heard mares saying similar things before, he chose to ignore them and focus on the situation at hand.

"Did the sheriff have any information on the mystery monster?" Aurora asked.

"Unfortunately, no he did have scales from the unknown monster, my flies already familiarized the scent of the monster. You and Stygian will hunt the Diablos, this will be a good challenge for the two of you since you never fought one before," Naruto said.

"Cool," Stygian said.

"This should be fun," Aurora replied.

"Be careful, Diablos is an aggressive monster that prefers attacking from underneath you and charging at you and swing its tail at you after its charge," Kurama said.

"Thanks for the info, good luck on your own hunt," Stygian said.

Stygian and Aurora headed out, the Diablos was spotted in the northern parts of the badlands near a large plateau area which was above a network of interconnecting caves.

Naruto and Kurama would head east to the locations were the mystery monster was sighted and look for tracks and anything else that would lead them to the monster. Naruto brought out his Rakuyo which was a unique weapon he made; the weapon required enormous skill to use it to its full potential.

The blades were made from a unique metal that he found in a meteorite, they easily cut through even the strongest materials which includes monster hides. Naruto remembers using the Rakuyo and Aoi-hime in different hunts against several different monsters, both weapons cut through the hardened scales or natural armor the wyverns have.

Naruto and Kurama soon reached a large canyon path, tall canyon walls were on the left side of the path while the right side expanded outward to another path with a river dropping of a cliffside. The two soon spotted tracks of the monster and let the tracker flies light up the path to the monster.

Naruto and Kurama followed the footsteps to a large flat area, there were several small stone platforms. They looked like they were larger in the past but were knocked down by something big because of the damage surrounding them.

Kurama walked over to a canyon wall and noticed strange marks on it, upon closer examination the marks were scratch marks coming from the wyvern that they were hunting.

The journal hadn't revealed the identity of the monster which was unusual because it didn't take this long to id the monster, but Naruto shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts and focus on the task at hand.

"The damage here was recently done, our target must have just passed through this area. The tracks continue leading further into the canyon, whatever the monster is its big and powerful," Kurama said.

"Agreed, this will be a difficult hunt. We will have to be careful when we fight it," Naruto replied.

The two moved forward to continue down the path when they were ambushed by al large creature dropping down from above. The creature meant to crush its prey beneath its feet but missed, it followed up with a charge attack slamming into Kurama and sending him flying into the canyon wall.

Naruto turned to his partner "Kurama!".

The monster walked on all fours and had dark red scales and possessed a dual set of claws, the monster resembled a dog with a club like tail. It stared at Naruto looking at newest prey, Naruto noticed that it had been fighting something because of the fresh scares it bore.

The monster let loose a loud roar then charged towards Naruto, he dodged to the right swinging his blade and leaving deep gashes on its right side. The wound did little to stop the monster as it charged again catching Naruto with its claw and pinning to the ground.

The monster then tried to bite Naruto but was stopped when Naruto fired a flash pod with his free arm blinding the monster and freeing him from its clutches. Naruto took advantage of the monster's blindness to grab Kurama and move him to a safe location.

Naruto placed Kurama on the ground and brought out a vile of smelling salts to revive his partner. It took a few seconds until Kurama came around.

"Uggh, my head, what slammed into me?" Kurama asked.

"It was an Odogaron, it dropped down on us and slammed you into a wall knocking you out," Naruto replied putting his hand on his partners shoulder.

Kurama looked up at Naruto knowing that he was trying to comfort him because the monster managed to get the drop on him. It was a blow to his pride that he let himself get taken so easily, so he was glad his friend had his back when he needed it.

They decided to ready themselves for the second round against the beast, Naruto brought out several bars that cured the high bleeding the Odogaron caused when it struck its prey.

Naruto was choosing to stick with his Rakuyo, the blades could be charged with different elements allowing Naruto to use them on a variety of monsters. Kurama chose to bring out his dual blades, each blade was infused with a different element, the left one was dark yellow blade with a spiked wing on one side of the blade and a ring of fur acting as the handle guard. The other blade was an icy blue color and was set in a jagged edge shape, the blades were infused with lighting and ice.

Naruto readied a small set of kunai with explosive tags hanging from the ring handle, once the Odogaron was in site he threw the weapons, the blades pierced its scaly side and then exploded knocking the monster of its feet.

Naruto and Kurama ran forward and started attacking with swift attacks Naruto focusing on the head while Kurama took the tail. it didn't last for long as the Odogaron quickly rose to its feet and charged towards the duo,

The Odogaron tried to devour Naruto but he caught the monster with both hands holding onto Odogaron's jaws, Kurama jumped onto Odogaron's back and started hacking away at its back. The monster broke free of Naruto's hold and slammed its tail into Naruto sending him skidding along the ground before he quickly flipped himself over and back on to his feet.

Kurama was knocked off when Odogaron slammed into a wall, Kurama quickly struck back with an ice jutsu.

"Ice style: ice boulder" Kurama cried out as a large boulder made of ice slammed into Odogaron and knocked it to the ground.

Naruto followed up with a technique of his own, "Ice style: twin ice dragons" Naruto said as two ice dragons came from his hands and struck the downed Odogaron both dragons' bit into its body then slammed it into a canyon wall. The Odogaron was slow to climb to its feet, ice had formed on several parts of its body.

Naruto and Kurama readied themselves for the battle to continue but no pony noticed the large shadow of a hidden creature that had been watching the battle from the beginning. Before Naruto and Kurama could launch their next attack against Odogaron another monster decided to crash the party.

The new monster grabbed Odogaron by its neck and slammed back and forth before slamming to the ground, the severe thrashing was enough to finish off the weakened monster. The new one was a massive beast that was covered in dark green scales it had strange glowing lines or veins running down its neck. Its lower jaw and chin were covered in yellow protruding spikes.

Naruto checked the journal to find out what the creature was, the monster was called a Devilijo. It was known for its unending appetite and its extremely aggressive behavior. The journal talked about how the monster is a threat to the eco system due to the fact it never stops eating and will devour everything in its sight.

Naruto readied himself, he could see that the Devilijo was preparing to charge at him. Naruto dodged left and struck at Devilijo's legs with several slashes leaving deep cuts on them before having to roll away to avoid getting hit by the Devilijo's stomp attacks.

Naruto readied a new attachment for his grapple launcher, it marked a spot on the monster and the marked spot would make the monster suffer critical or double damage when struck.

Naruto took aim and locked on to the Devilijo's head then fired, the grapple latched on to Devilijo's head and Naruto used his blades to cut deeply into Devilijo's skull. Naruto prepared a final charged strike with lighting charka channeled into the blade for extra damage since the Devilijo was weak to Lighting.

Naruto let loose a multi-hit spin attack on the head knocking Devilijo to the ground but only for a moment, it quickly rose up and Naruto began noticing that certain parts on the Devilijo were switching being between the monsters natural green and red for some reason.

Naruto remembered that when the Devilijo glowed red it entered its rage state, in this state the Devilijo would be more aggressive and attack relentlessly. It would also use its breath attack which was extremely dangerous because the breath attack could inflict Dragon Blight on the victim.

Dragon Blight was a medical condition that can weaken any affected by it, while treatment of the condition was available, it was still dangerous to every pony who got hit by it.

The Devilijo roared then charged at Naruto, he rolled to the right to dodge but was slammed into the canyon wall by its tail. Kurama fired a flash pod at Devilijo to draw its attention away from Naruto.

Kurama fired off a powerful lighting Justu, "Lighting style: Flock of crows". The Justu formed a large group of crows that exploded on contact with Devilijo. Devilijo soon puffed up its cheeks and then fired off a red and black mist, the attack struck Kurama hitting him with dragon blight.

Naruto seeing what happened immediately charged up his blade with lighting charka and got into his piecing charge stance. He launched himself at Devilijo, the force of the impact caused Devilijo to be sent flying across the area.

Naruto grabbed a null berry from his medical pouch and gave the recovering Kurama to a clone to get him out of harm's way. This way Kurama could recover his strength and rejoin the battle.

The Devilijo let loose a furious roar before charging towards Naruto, the Devilijo then fired off another breath attack that forced Naruto into the air. Naruto could see the Devilijo looking at him from the ground below, despite the wounds from the earlier attacks the Devilijo was still eager to go.

Naruto dived bombed then mounted Devilijo, he focused on the tail hacking away with his knife, the Devilijo had other ideas and slammed its tail and Naruto into a rock pillar. The attack sent Naruto's blades sliding across the ground.

"Fine then, we'll do this the old-fashioned way!" Naruto shouted.

Naruto rushed forward and struck with a multi-hit combo, his hands coated in lighting charka. Naruto continued his assault with a viscous haymaker on Devilijo's face, the attack knocked Devilijo to the ground. He then took to the air and surrounded himself with lighting charka before slamming down on Devilijo with a large explosion.

The Devilijo rose to its feet and let loose a furious roar that deafened and stunned Naruto for a sec because he was close to Devilijo when it roared. The Devilijo leaned forward and charged towards Naruto but Naruto had a plan and started leading Devilijo on a chase to the nearby canyon wall.

Naruto ran towards the canyon wall with Devilijo right behind him, Naruto ran up the wall while Devilijo crashed into it. Naruto jumped on Devilijo's back and placed several bomb tags before jumping off and detonating them with a furious roar.

The explosion threw the Devilijo off its feet and onto the ground, Naruto channeled Lighting chakra into the Rakuyo and focused on the head striking hard with both blades in combination before overcharging the blades with charka.

Naruto raised both blades into the air before slamming them into the Devilijo's head causing huge damage to the monster and making it scream in pain. The Devilijo got to its feet and roared at Naruto, Naruto than noticed that the Devilijo began swelling up in certain areas as well as changing from green to glowing red in the same areas.

Naruto dived at Devilijo, his blades at the ready to strike the stunned target.The Devilijo swiftly rose up and slammed its tail into Naruto sending him skidding along the ground before flipping himself back on its feet.

Naruto prepped himself for the endgame, he summoned several clones one set up a pit trap to immobilize the Devilijo while the rest began charging up either magic for spells or charka for jutsu.

Naruto readied himself in front of the trap, he made two clones to cast lighting spells while he readied his Lighting Jutsu. Naruto fired a bomb pod at Devilijo drawing its attention and making it come running towards him triggering the trap when it walked on the detonator. The trap caused made a large hole underneath Devilijo trapping its legs underground and leaving it open to attack.

The clones fired their lighting spell simultaneously, the spell took the forms of two dragons made of lighting shooting up into the air before slamming down onto Devilijo. Naruto readied his attack which in his hands looked like a light blue orb with a midnight azure diamond appearing on one side giving it the appearance of an eye.

Naruto took aim then released the attack "Lighting style: Dragon's Eye", the orb grew to enormous size before crashing into Devilijo and then detonating. The jutsu caused a large dust cloud to erupt around Devilijo, so Naruto couldn't tell if Devilijo was still living or not.

As he made his way to the spot, Devilijo burst out of the cloud and was headed straight for Naruto. He readied himself by channeling lighting magic into his blades making them longer and glow neon blue, Naruto dodged to the right and slashed at Devilijo's side causing deep lacerations.

Naruto didn't let up and continued striking with unrelenting force moving around with each hit to avoid all Devilijo's attacks, to anypony seeing the battle all they would see is the flashes of light each time Naruto struck. When Naruto stopped the onslaught Devilijo was covered in numerous wounds from Naruto's attack.

In order to finish the battle Naruto readied another spell he sheathed his blades and formed an orb of pure lighting energy in his hands, the ball grew in size until it was the size of a beach ball then Naruto threw the spell at Devilijo.

"Crashing Lighting sphere", the spell carved a path on the ground as it headed towards its target before striking Devilijo sending it flying across the area.

Devilijo crashed landed on the other side of the area, Naruto rushed towards it not wanting to give Devilijo a chance to escape. As soon as Naruto landed in front of it, Devilijo rose to its feet once again, both warriors stared at each other before Devilijo's body gave out and it collapsed for the final time.

Naruto sighed to himself, he checked himself to make sure he had no injuries that needed immediate attention. The Devilijo had gotten several solid hits on him, and its strange breath attack had him the most concerned because when he looked at where the attack landed it looked like the life had been drained from impact sites.

Naruto sealed away the corpse and made his way over to his friend, there he found his friend awake and alert. This was good news to Naruto because that meant his friend was ok and in decent shape.

"How are you doing?" Naruto asked.

Kurama rubbed his head, "I'm still a bit sore and not happy about being taken out so easily."

Naruto waved him off and then placed a hand on Kurama, "don't let it get to you, it can happen to the best of us at any time."

"What was the monster you fought against?" Kurama asked.

"It's called a Devilijo, a type of brute wyvern. The journal talks about how the monster has a bottomless appetite and will it anything it can and could easy do extremely levels of damage to the world if left unchecked," Naruto replied.

Naruto finished patching up Kurama and the two headed back to the town, if the others needed help, they would signal them.

(with Stygian and Aurora)

The two were following the tracks of their prey down a canyon path, they had found tracks form other monsters which wasn't that surprising because some monsters preferred to roam the lands rather than staying in one spot.

From a distance they saw the buffalo tribes who also live close to the town, Naruto didn't have much information on the tribe, so they kept their distance.

The two decided to make small talk about different things as they walked, they also collected ore from mining outcrops and other materials that Naruto could use to upgrade their weapons and armor.

"What does say about Diablos, Naruto talked about how aggressive it is and how it constantly attacks its prey with a mix of charge attacks and striking from below," Stygian said.

Aurora opened up her journal to the section on Diablos, "A desert wyvern that takes its name from the giant horns that crown its head. Like the Monoblos, the Diablos charges its prey or strikes from underground, moving more quickly once it is angered. Their sensitive ears make them susceptible to Sonic Bombs."

"According to the journal the Diablos is weak to the ice element, we'll have to be careful not to be caught in its charge attacks and we got sonic bombs to use against it when it goes underground," Aurora replied.

Both hunters began preping their gear that they would need for the fight first selecting their weapons and armor than gear the two would use.

Stygian brought out his Frost blaze III along with: Kushala Glare Alpha, Damascus Vambraces Alpha +, Frost Charm III, Legiana Mail Alpha +, Glavenus Greaves Beta +, Nergigante Coil Alpha.

Aurora decided to use her Rimespire for her weapon and Kushala Glare Alpha, Frost Charm III, Damascus Coil Beta, Jyura Greaves Alpha, Acidic Glavenus Mail Alpha +.

The duo readied several sonic bombs to drive the Diablos to the surface if he went underground and readied healing potions and other potions to help them in the upcoming battle.

The two hunters discovered fresh horn marks from their prey on a nearby canyon wall and footsteps that would lead them to their target. Both hunters exchanged a glance before starting down the path that was marked by glowing footprints.

Stygian and Aurora soon reached a massive area, the terrain was made up of loose sand and rock pillars rising from the ground. There were several plants including multiple cactus plants from tall and thin ones to short and round.

The tracks they were following disappeared upon entering the area, the Diablos must have gone underground to hide itself.

"Let's look for an entrance to an underground cavern, I remember Naruto saying that there was a network of caves underneath the surface of this area," Stygian said.

"agreed, watch your footing the sand can be treacherous at times," Aurora replied.

The two split up to search the area quickly however before they could get to far, they were suddenly blitzed by a Barroth that came charging in from an unknown location.

The two rolled in different directions to avoid the charge, Aurora fired off a large ice ball that slammed into the Barroth's side causing it to roar in pain. Stygian leapt into the air and slammed his blade into the Barroth's head and then followed up with a charged ice jutsu, "Ice style: Icicle crash".

The attack caused a set of ice spikes to appear on both sides of the Barroth and then slammed into its side knocking to the ground. Stygian and Aurora slowly approached the downed monster, as they got closer to it the ground began to shake underneath them.

The shaking soon stopped suddenly stopped but was followed by a loud explosion and something appearing from underneath the Barroth and pulled it underground. Unfortunately for Stygian and Aurora the unknown monster created a sinkhole dragging the two hunters into a massive underground cavern.

As the two looked around for their prey they saw the corpse of the Barroth of to the side of the cavern, the ground then began to shake as the unknown monster made it may to the surface with a powerful explosion that rocked the cavern.

(play Diablos intro from Monster hunter world)

Aurora and Stygian exchanged a glance before reading themselves for the fight to start, Diablos made the first move starting off with a reckless charge its front horns lowered hoping to spear its prey.

Aurora rolled to the right of the charge and struck back slicing both legs of the Diablos leaving deep gashes and causing it to crash into a rock pillar. Stygian follows up with his own attack slamming his blade down onto the Diablos back having taken to the air to avoid the charge attack, he focused on weakening the sturdy back armor to expose the softer tissue.

Stygian leapt into the air after planting multiple ice bombs on Diablos back, he joined up with Aurora on the ground before detonating the bombs. The bombs destroyed the monsters hardened scales on its back and weakened its wings so it could no longer fly.

Aurora summoned several ice spears and fired then at the Diablos; the Diablos retreated underground before the spears could hit. It then reappeared underneath the two hunters catching them off-guard and grabbing Stygian while Aurora was slammed into the cavern wall by the Diablos axe tail and was covered in rubble.

Stygian fired off a flash pod at Diablos blinding it and releasing him from the monster's grasp, Aurora appeared from underneath the rubble surrounded in an energy bubble. The two retreated to a hidden ledge to heal recover from their wounds.

"The monster is as dangerous as Naruto said, he wasn't kidding at how dangerous Diablos is to hunt," Aurora said.

Stygian nodded his head in agreement, "the monster is relentless in its attacks and caught us off guard with that last attack," Stygian replied.

The two downed a mid-level potion each and then sharpened their weapons, the two looked at each other exchanged a nod and then leapt back into the fight.

Aurora used her phase-walk ability to sneak up on the Diablos and mount its head with a well-timed grapple shot, she struck hard with her knife to remove the hardened scales and create an opening for a critical hit attack on the target.

Stygian was waiting for Aurora to finish then he would fire off a charged-up ice jutsu upon the vulnerable target. Aurora struck on the exposed areas with a charged spin attack striking multiple areas on the head and breaking off a horn. Aurora disappeared once again as Stygian let the ice jutsu he was charging loose upon Diablos.

"Ice style: Hailstorm shards" Stygian cried out as several large shards of ice struck the wounded Diablos causing numerous wounds upon the monster and frost build-up slowing down the monster and making it easier to fight against.

Aurora fired of a spell of her own, "Roaring gale of the frozen tundra" Aurora said as a freezing gale slammed into Diablos causing more ice to form on the creature, forming on its wings and its open wounds.

The Diablos roared in pain and fury as it freed itself form its icy prison, it then chose to retreat underground and away from the hunters to survive the fight. Aurora and Stygian chased after it not wanting the chance to let their prey escape and cause any more damage for anypony else.

They chased the monster into a smaller cavern that had sand waterfalls in multiple spots surrounding the cavern the two went back to back to prevent Diablos form blind siding either of them.

Diablos emerged from a sand waterfall with a rushing charge attack, Aurora countered with a flash pod blinding the monster before Stygian ran forward and struck Diablos in the head with a charged swing of his blade, the attack hit hard leaving a massive gash across Diablos face and severing his other horn.

Aurora and Stygian regrouped and prepped themselves to end the fight, Stygian to the air an flew above Diablos focusing on the weakened spot on its back while Aurora readied one more spell.

"Howling Glacial spears", Aurora cried out as several enormous spears made of ice pierced through Diablos weakened scales and pined it down and unable to move.

"Ice style: Frozen impact", Stygian said as he dove towards the Diablos his blade sinking deeply into the monster and then an explosion followed afterwards finishing off the monster.

The Diablos collapsed to the ground and didn't rise signaling the end of the hunt, Aurora and Stygian exchanged a fist bump to celebrate their victory over the new monster.

"Well that went well wouldn't you say?" Aurora asked.

"Yeah, it shows that all the training Naruto put us through is paying off," Stygian replied.

Stygian sealed up the Diablos corpse as Aurora prepped to teleport the two of them back to the town. A flash of blue light and they were gone, they reappeared outside the towns entrance and saw Naruto and Kurama waiting for them discussing something they had encountered on their way back.

Naruto saw them and waved them over. "How did your hunt go; did you have any problems?" Naruto asked.

"we didn't have any problems, it caught us off guard when it first appeared. Stygian and I hammered it with strong attacks and prevented it from getting a chance to get its footing," Aurora said.

"What about you guys, what was your monster like? We didn't have any information on the monster, and you warned us about going into a situation blind," Stygian said.

Naruto nodded his head, he taught Aurora and Stygian the dangers of going into something with little or no facts. There would be times were that happens, but you would have little choice to prepare yourself for the unknown and whatever awaited you.

"The monster was a Devilijo, a deadly monster with a limitless appetite. According to the journal its always hungry and will eat anything in site. It also possesses a dangerous breath ability that can severely weaken a pony if caught in it. We had to fight an Odogaron first, I believe that the Devilijo was pursing it when it ran into us," Naruto said.

Aurora and Stygian were shocked by what Naruto said, they knew that there was always a chance for another monster to appear on a hunt. The two monsters could start fighting one other leaving you stuck in the middle of the fight.

"What were the two of you discussing when we approached, it looked like you found something that's bugging you. Is it more traces from our mystery elder dragon?" Aurora asked.

Starting a few months ago they began finding small traces of a mystery elder dragon, they haven't been able to identify it because of what little traces they found. At the same time monster attacks have been on the rise, in several of the attack's signs from the mystery elder dragon and had been found but haven't identified it.

They also began to find strange glowing crystals in areas with monsters, they knew that the crystals were a form of crystalized energy. The energy in the crystals seemed familiar to Naruto but he was unable to discover the source of them and figure out whether they were connected to the monster activity or whether they related to something else.

"Yes, we found more scales and a corpse of where it feed but still nothing on what it is other than it's an elder dragon. I don't like this; I don't want to risk some pony stumbling across either of them and getting hurt or worse from the beast," Naruto said angry for being unable to discover who these mystery monsters were.

Kurama patted Naruto's arm wanting to reassure his friend, he knew that Naruto was frustrated with the lack of information, but he could help Naruto by preventing him from growing too frustrated from the lack of knowledge.

Aurora and Stygian could easily see the annoyance on Naruto's face because of what little information they had on the Elder dragon that had been causing such a major uptake in monster activity. They knew that they couldn't be everywhere at once and had witnessed Naruto forsaking sleep for a week to hunt down monsters that had been spotted near town or attacking them.

"We'll worry about that later, tomorrow we head for Canterlot and have our first meeting with Princess Celestia. I'm already nervous about telling her everything, because I withheld information in the past. Hopefully, she will allow me to explain my reasons, before getting annoyed with me," Naruto said.

Stygian approached Naruto and placed his hand on Naruto in a reassuring him manor, " She is known for being understanding, the reasons why you didn't tell her everything was you didn't think that she would believe you, we didn't at first until you showed us the truth about everything."

Aurora nodded her head," Stygian is right, from what I've heard form everypony, Celestia is seen as a kind and understanding mare. I fully believe that she will understand once you have told her the truth."

Naruto smiled at his companions, they always had his back when he was nervous or unsure about a decision, "Thanks for the support, for now let's grab a few drinks before heading to bed, its already twilight outside so let's relax and enjoy ourselves tonight to celebrate a good hunt. I will meet you three there because I need to report to Silver Star about the monsters being taken care off."

Naruto soon found himself outside the sheriff's office, silver star coming out the door locking up for the night.

"Naruto your back, should I take this as a sign that the monsters are taken care off?" Silver star asked.

Naruto nodded his head "the monsters are dead; you and the rest of the town ponies don't have to worry about them anymore."

Silver star face lit up in joy, he was happy at the fact the residents of Appaloosa could sleep soundly at night without the need to fear a monster attack. Silver star invited Naruto over to the saloon to have a drink on him to celebrate.

The group headed toward the local bar where the residents of the town were waiting for them to celebrate and thank them for saving their town. A while later Naruto was relaxing at the bar with Kurama next to him as they watched everypony celebrated, they could see Stygian shyly asking Aurora for a dance. They knew that he had a crush on her and tried to help him out, but they could easily see that it was needed.

Naruto was always glad to see so many ponies happy and safe, there had been times in the past where he had been too late and the monster attacked, and ponies had gotten hurt and worse. So, he was happy to see no pony hurt from a monster attack.

A cough next to him drew his attention, it was sheriff Silver Star, "I wanted to personally thank you for the help that you and the others have given us. I don't want to think what would have happened if the monsters had attacked the town and the residents have gotten hurt or worse."

Naruto nodded his head, he fully understood the Sheriffs worries, "I know how you feel, there have been times we have arrived after the monster attacked, the aftermath is not a pretty site to deal with."

Both ponies looked out at the parting ponies, everypony was having a grand time, Silver Star and Naruto exchanged smirks. The two would exchange stories with one other, Silver Star talking about dealing with bandits and other criminals while Naruto talked about previous hunts, they would continue talking until a group of mares saw the three of them and pulled them onto the dance floor for a fun time.

The party didn't end until several hours later with everypony heading home form the night, the hunting group was no exception, Stygian was carrying Aurora piggyback style, the alcohol and dancing wearing her out. Aurora suddenly started licking Stygian's neck and slightly nipping at it causing him to turn several shades of red.

Kurama and Naruto had to stifle their giggles at the scene otherwise they would ruin the moment, not to stay they weren't covered in their own marks. Several mares had kissed Naruto on the lips and face to thank him for getting rid of the monsters and others cuddled with Kurama finding the Palico to be extremely adorable.

The stallions in the room were more than a little jealous that they were hogging all the attention from the mares, thankfully no pony started a fight. Naruto figured they weren't foolish enough to pick a fight with some pony that hunts down monsters for a living.

The group soon made their way back to the hotel and collapsed on the bed, they all fell asleep quickly, but they knew tomorrow was going to be a big day for all of them.

Naruto was awoken from his rest when he felt a presence nearby on the balcony, he quickly got up recognizing who his late-night visitor was.

"It's been a while since I saw her, I wonder if she was able to uncover any latest information, at least I know she is doing okay," Naruto thought to himself.

As Naruto walked out onto the balcony, he saw a tall figure hiding in the shadows, he waited until she came into the light to start talking to her.

The figure was a changeling queen, she was the leader of the white hive until her hive was killed by an unknown pony. She came back from meeting with another queen to find her children massacred, she vowed vengeance on the one responsible for their deaths.

Her name is Whispering Moonlight: she was wearing a black gothic dress and had glowing main and tail. She had her weapon of choice in her left hand, the weapon was passed down to each generation of white queens since the hive founding.

Whisper had meet Naruto when he and Kurama had saved her from being food for a monster, she was in bad shape from an earlier attack and wouldn't have survived if not for Naruto's timely intervention.

When she told Naruto of the fate of her hive Naruto pulled her close and let her vent everything that was building up inside of her since she found her children dead. She hadn't stopped moving constantly chasing any lead she could on the one who killed her children.

Naruto told her that he would be willing to help her find the pony responsible for the massacre, it was later discovered that the pony responsible for the massacre was a high-ranking member of the cult. He invited her to join the group he was forming to combat the cult to get revenge against the pony who stole everything from her.

She would work as his informant gathering information on the cult and alert him to any monsters that she encountered, and he would share any information she needed to unmask the pony who killed her family.

"I'm glad to see that you are doing well, have you encountered any members of the cult or discovered any information related to them?" Naruto asked.

Whisper shook her head, "No, the cult has been quiet, or they have been making their moves in other countries. I have heard rumors about strange occurrences in other nations, but nothing concretes enough to warrant our attention."

This was annoying to Naruto but not unexcepted, he knew that the group wouldn't always be making moves out in the open and had to uncover any information he could to find out their plans.

Recently the cult had been capturing monsters for experimentation, one of the experiments was forming a chimera from different body parts of different monsters. The monster was killed by him, but he discovered that it was just a failed experiment and the cult was still working out the bugs of the project.

"How are the other changeling queens doing, I know you told me the cult is putting pressure on Chrysalis to join up with them?" Naruto asked.

"Chrysalis may join up with them under protest, they are forcing her into serving them, the other queens remain hidden waiting out and hoping to avoid putting their hives in danger. Chrysalis is one of the strongest queens and her hive is the biggest, the others are worried that if they fight, their hives will suffer" Whisper said.

Naruto nodded his head in understanding, "they want to protect their homes and colonies from harm, the other queens are acting as true leaders should act and put the wealth fare of their hives first and foremost."

The two would continue to talk about different subjects for a little bit longer until Whisper knew it was time to leave. The two promised to meet up again and Whisper wished him luck with his meeting Celestia tomorrow. As promised, he wouldn't tell Celestia about Whisper just yet, she was unsure on how the Sun Princess would react to her considering the bad history between her and Chrysalis's mother who tried to assassinate Celestia in a plan to conquer Equestria.

Morning came far too quickly for the group, they ate breakfast and then readied everything so they could head to the train station and catch the train to Canterlot and meet with Celestia. Naruto had the papers needed in his coat pocket.

Naruto wore a form fitting forest green shirt and black pants; he had on his weathered black boots and wore his newly acquired duster and Stenson. Both were gifts from the town ponies for protecting them from the monsters.

Kurama was wearing his white leather vest and deep brown shorts along with his leather cap with his googles.

Stygian was dressed like Naruto, the only difference being his shirt was grey and his pants were a pair of blue jeans.

Aurora was wearing a red t-shirt and a dark leather vest, and a navy-blue skirt that went past her knees. She was wearing a pair of cow-mare boots that she bought.

Every pony in town was at the train station to say farewell to the hunters, they waved to them even as the train pulled from the station. The smiles on the fillies and colts faces made every ponies day, they were overjoyed to meet the hunters and hear stories about the monsters they had fought against.

Everypony was sitting down, they all had a goodtime partying with the locals once the hunt was done, they would have to go back to visit every pony again. The fillies and colts wanting to hear more stories about them fighting monsters.

"We're defiantly going to make a return trip, the party they through us was wild and the kids enjoyed hearing about our fights with monsters," Stygian said.

Aurora nodded her head, "Agreed, the kids kept asking for more and more stories, they were so adorable."

"Perhaps when we have some down time, we can make a return trip to Appaloosa. Hopefully, they won't have any problems from monsters for a long while," Naruto said.

One thing Naruto would never get tired of was seeing the happy faces from the towns that safe from the monsters, he enjoyed protecting others since he had the skills and abilities to do so. He and the team would also stay and help towns or cities that had suffered attacks before they could arrive and prevent any pony from being hurt.

The group couldn't help but notice they were attracting a lot of attention from other ponies on the train, they were used to this because they attracted attention wherever they went. A small group of colts and fillies soon ran up to them asking them questions and wanting autographs, it took a few minutes to sign everything, but the little ones ran back to their parents clutching their autographs in their hands with big smiles on their faces.

The fillies and colts always ran up to them asking for stories or feel samples from the different monsters they had, they enjoyed touching and looking at the different samples of skin and broken teeth or scales that he collected. Naruto gave them souvenirs of different monsters to take home with them.

The group soon parted leaving Naruto and the others to relax and wait for the train to arrive in Canterlot and their important meeting. Naruto dipped his hat down over his eyes to relax and take a light nap while the others were playing a round of cards to pass the time.

Aurora and Stygian also noticed they attracted a lot of attention from mares and stallions, both had tried to flirt with them only to be shot down and others being forced away when they couldn't take the message.

Naruto woke up when the train started slowing down, soon after words the conductor announced that the Canterlot stop was coming up shortly.

"Heads up you three, our stop is coming up so ready your gear and prepare to leave." Naruto said.

The others put the cards away and grabbed their luggage as the train slowed down to a stop at Canterlot. As they got off the train, they noticed how beautiful the city was and they also saw the castle in the distance on the mountain side.

"The town is very nice but some of the ponies give off an air of arrogance, so you may want to be careful," Naruto said.

The others nodded, they had encountered nobles before and some of them gave them no end of complaints from them. Most of them being who unrefined the group was and how Naruto refused to give them special treatment when protecting them during a monster attack choosing to focus on others like the children and parents as well as the injured and elderly.

The group started walking towards the castle, already ponies were talking about them. Some were wondering if they were here to see Princess Celestia, others were saying how handsome Naruto and Stygian were and how Beautiful Aurora is.

There was also talk about Kurama and wondering what type of pet he was and if they could buy him from Naruto. Naruto just shook his head at this and choose to ignore what the ponies were saying and continued to the castle entrance.

The group soon reached the entrance guarded by the royal guard, they wore identical armor and were both earth ponies, one stepped forward to meet the group.

"Halt state your business here or move along" the Guard said.

Naruto stepped forward and presented the papers Celestia had sent him, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki and the group with me is her to see Princess Celestia. These papers should prove my claims."

The guard took the papers from Naruto and examined them; he saw that Naruto was telling the truth.

"These papers are in order, I'll have a guard escort you to her majesty who is in the throne room," The guard said.

"Thank you for your help sir guard," Naruto replied.

The group was led to the throne were upon entering saw Princess Celestia for the first time, she was sitting on her throne with a unicorn guard on either side of her. They felt the mothering aura that she gave off. She was wearing her regalia along with a white dress that showed off her curvy figure.

While the group was observing Celestia she was examining the group, since she first heard from the fairy king, she had been closely monitoring the hunters to find out more about them. She heard numerous stories of Naruto fighting the strange and usual monsters plaguing her land.

Celestia would discover that Naruto was a kind and caring pony, there were times where he would refuse payment from a town that had suffered from a monster attack and had instead stayed with the town and helped them rebuild and recover.

She had seen the hunters grow from a single pony the group that was before her, along with a few others Naruto trained who wonder around the different lands hunting monsters and gathering information on the ones behind their current problems.

"I welcome you to Canterlot, I can't thank you enough for all the times you and the others have saved and protected my citizens from harm from not only the monsters but the followers of the cult," Celestia said.

Naruto and the others bowed in respect to Princess Celestia, Naruto readied himself for what was to come.

"Princess Celestia when I first sent a letter to you explain my history and about myself, I kept certain things secret because I was unsure if you would believe me if I told you. The first is the easier to display," Naruto said.

Celestia was curious as to what he meant; her question was answered when Naruto showed off his wings to the ponies in the room. It signified that Naruto was not a unicorn that they thought he was but an alicorn like Princess Celestia.

The guard in the room were unable to hide the shock at what they were seeing, they suspected that Naruto was the farthest thing from an average unicorn; but this was not something they suspected in a million years.

Princess Celestia was also caught off guard, she never would have thought that Naruto was an Alicorn but in some way the clues were there in some form. She realized that Naruto was right, and she wouldn't have believed that he was an alicorn if he had written such a thing in his letters.

Naruto stepped forward, "I'm sorry for hiding the fact I was an alicorn all along, but I was unsure if you would believe me."

Celestia calmed down from the shock, she understood why Naruto hid this fact form her and was glad he was being truthful from the beginning instead of trying to hide the facts until they were revealed later.

Celestia smiled at Naruto, "Thank you for being truthful from the get-go, I understand that you are an alicorn would be hard for any pony to believe unless they met you face to face."

Naruto was happy at the fact Celestia wasn't upset with him for hiding the truth, she also understood why he kept the information a secret. Now he had to tell her how he came to Equestria in the first place.

"There is one other thing that I need to tell you, it involves how I came to this world form my original one," Naruto said.

Celestia was confused at what Naruto said, "what do you mean Naruto?"

"I came from another world; I was brought to this one by the same cult that is running rampant in your lands. Their original goal was to have me serve them, but something went wrong with their portal and the cult members that caught me were killed while I was pulled through to your world," Naruto replied.

Celestia and the guard in the room were surprised at what Naruto had said, there had been several cases of portals opening and strange unknown creatures coming through. The majority of what came through was proven to be hostile in nature and started attacking and harming any pony nearby.

Celestia realized this fact answered a lot of the questions she had in her mind about Naruto, especially since he came from nowhere and started hunting monsters and fighting the cultists. Celestia tried to find information regarding Naruto but couldn't find anything older then when he first appeared in the fairy kingdom.

"Naruto, thank you for being honest with me. I want to know if you're willing to go through with what I had asked you and help me create a new branch of military to deal with the monster threat?" Celestia asked.

"Yes, I will help you. There had been several cases of when me and Kurama had arrived too late to help a town that had been attacked by a monster. It would be beneficial if there were more hunters to handle multiple target," Naruto said.

Celestia stood up, "as much as I want to continue this conversation, I must leave you to attend a meeting with nobles so I will have to leave you in other capable hands."

Celestia motioned Naruto and the others to follow her, they headed out towards the gardens where the group saw another two ponies, one was a stallion with a two tuned mane white fur, he was wearing a set of dress clothes.

The mare next to him had a multi-toned mane and tail like Celestia she was wearing a pink shirt and lavender skirt. The two ponies were in deep conversation with one other when the stallion saw the group approaching and quickly stood at attention.

"Princess Celestia, how can I be of service," the stallion said.

The mare just rolled her eyes at her colt friends' professionalism, "how can we help you out today auntie."

The mare then noticed the group behind her aunt, she knew that the famous monster was visiting today and figured that the tall stallion was the famous leader Naruto Uzumaki.

"Are these the legendary monster hunters that we have heard so much about, did you finish the meeting with them already?" the mare asked.

Celestia shook her head, "I had to end the meeting earlier than I wanted, because I have a meeting with the nobles. Candence, may I ask you and Shining armor to show the group around the castle in my stead."

The couple looked at one other and talked about the current situation, Shining was annoyed with what Princess Celestia asked only because this was cutting into his personal time with Candence but he was a member of the royal guard so that took priority over his personal life.

Candence seeing Shining's down trotted look gave him a kiss on the cheek to perk him up, she already knew what was going through his mind, she would have to make it up to him later.

"We would be happy to do so aunty, wouldn't we Shining," Candence said while turning toward Shining.

Shining nodded his head in understanding knowing that Candence well try and make it up to him later but for now they had job to do.

"We would be honored to show them around the castle in your stead," Candence replied.

"Thank you Candance, I'm sorry that I interrupted your personal time with Shining to do this favor for me," Celestia said.

She was annoyed at the fact the nobles called this meeting; she was also upset at the fact this was wasting her time for what no doubt will be a pointless meeting over a foolish matter.

Celestia walked away to deal with the nobles, everypony in the room could easily see that Celestia was annoyed at the current situation but was unsure on what they could do to help her.

Candance sighed to herself, "Well for starters lets introduce our selves, my name is Candance, Princess of love."

Candence then motioned to Shining, "My companion is my colt friend Shining Armor, he is a member of the Royal guard."

Shining was blushing at what Candence said, Naruto and the others smiled at the couple's interaction. Aurora couldn't help but giggle ay the sight before her, the handsome knight protecting the beautiful princess seemed like a fairy tale come true.

Naruto coughed lightly to gain every pony's attention, "If you prefer, we came leave you two here and find another pony to escort us around."

Candence immediately waved Naruto off, "that won't be necessary, Auntie asked us to do it and we shall."

Candence got to her feet along with Shining, Candence said there was some pony she wanted to check on, so they were headed to the library first. Along the way Candence and Aurora started a conversation about her siren marks while Shining and Stygian talked about some of the different monsters they have fought in the past.

Shining also asked what type of teacher Naruto was, since he was the first hunter and he and the others learned how to fight against monsters under his tutelage. Stygian explained how Naruto was a strict but fair teacher he trained in multiple areas of hunting and tracking and learning how to use the tools and weapons of a hunter.

Shining was surprised to find out the hunters use a variety of weapons to hunt monsters, he also learned about the different tools used by hunters most of them Naruto had developed and created.

"So like Naruto you came from another world Aurora?" Candence asked.

Aurora nodded her head and thought about how the cultists brought her here and then tried to force her to be their puppet, but she refused to let them break her.

"In the same way that Naruto came here, I was brought here by the cultists who wanted me for my abilities. They wanted to turn me into a slave for their goals, but my powers protected me from their plans," Aurora said has she looked sad remembering those dark times before Naruto and Kurama rescued her.

Candence and Shining were shocked to hear what happened to Aurora, they had heard from Celestia that both Stygian and Aurora had been through grim times before meeting up with Naruto. They didn't know the story behind either one because Celestia didn't want to talk about them.

"We've all been through different events that left their own scares on us, we learned to use what happened to us strengthen us for what is to come," Naruto said.

Aurora and Stygian could help but smile at what Naruto had said, he taught both not to let their pasts consume them but use them to strengthen their wills and to continue pushing forward in life.

Shining and Candence were shocked at what Naruto had said, they were unsure of what he went through to make him strong, but they were willing to bet it was more than an average pony can handle.

The group soon found themselves at the entrance to the Library, as they headed into the Library Naruto and the others couldn't help but be impressed at how large it was. Candence and Shining walked over to a table were several books were stacked upon it.

As the group moved closer to the table, they saw who was reading all the books, it was a filly with purple fur and a dark blueish mane with a solid streak going through it. She was wearing a lavender sun dress and was currently deeply enthralled in the book she was reading.

Shining and Candence shared a glance knowing that Twilight was a voracious reader and had the habit of tuning out the world around her when reading. Shining approached the table and in an older sibling moment snatched the book Twilight was reading out of her hands.

Twilight turned to her brother with an annoyed look on her face, "Shining why did you do that I was just getting to the best part."

Shining just waved off her frustration and pointed to the group, "Candence and I are showing the Monster hunters around the castle and we wanted to introduce you to them."

Twilight looked and seeing Candence ran up to her and the two did their little dance, Naruto, Stygian thought it was silly, but Aurora found it to be cute. Naruto could see the two possessed a strong bond, Candence explained how she was Twilights foal sitter and the two become fast friends soon after meeting one other.

"Twilight do you want to come with us on the tour, so you can ask Naruto and the other hunters questions, or do you want to get back to your reading?" Candence asked.

Twilight thought for a moment, "I want to stay here, I was enjoying the book until the big meanie took it away."

Every pony but Shining chuckled at what Twilight said, Shining was pouting at being called a big meanie until Candence cheered him up. The group continued onward with a promise to see Twilight again at Lunch with Celestia.

Shining and Candence continued with the tour Naruto, Stygian, Aurora, and Kurama asking different questions about different things related to the castle. The group soon reached the training grounds where there were a handful of squads running drills and doing their regular PT.

It wasn't long before whispers and pointing soon started as the ponies noticed the legendary monster hunter Naruto Uzumaki and his partner Kurama, along with the new hunters Aurora and Stygian.

They could hear whispers about how handsome Naruto and Stygian were from the mares while the stallions were talking about how hot Aurora is in real life, Everypony was commenting on how adorable Kurama is.

The whispering stopped when a stallion appeared on the field, he had a black fur tone and a grey mane and tail. He was dressed in the standard armor for the royal guard and was carrying his helmet under his right arm.

Naruto could tell from the way he carried himself and the feeling he gave off that he was a high-ranking member of the guard. He was a veteran of many battles and some pony who didn't tolerate nonsense of any kind.

Shining immediately saluted the stallion, "General Iron blood, what can I do for you?"

"Shining armor, may I ask why you are escorting civilians around the castle," Iron blood asked while keeping eye contact with Naruto.

General Iron blood knew who this stallion was and what he was hear for, but he would not be intimidated by Naruto just because he hunted monsters plaguing the lands. He would make sure that he would not tolerate any problems from him.

Shining stepped forward, "Princess Celestia asked me and Candence to show them around the castle, Naruto will be training ponies to hunt monsters."

Iron blood said nothing at first, he was still focusing on Naruto who was showing no signs of being intimidated by the general.

"So, you're the pony I've been hearing so much about, don't think for a moment that makes you better than everypony else. If you think you're going to get special treatment because your status then think again," Iron blood said.

Naruto merely raised an eyebrow, "If you think I've let the fame go to my head your wrong, respect is something that is earned and not given freely."

Iron blood said nothing but smirked and walked away, everypony was shocked at what just happened because hardly anypony could look the general in the eye let alone talk back to him. They couldn't help but be impressed with the leader of the hunters.

"Naruto that was amazing, I didn't think that anypony other than Princess Celestia could look General Iron blood in the eyes and not be intimidated by him," Shining said in an excited tone.

Naruto just waved Shining off, "I'm used to dealing with arrogant ponies and other beings that have similar personalities to him. Let's continue onward with the tour."

The tour continued onward with Stygian and Aurora bouncing questions off Shining and Candence, Naruto and Kurama stayed towards the back answering any questions that Shining and Candence had for either of them.

As they were walking down a long hallway Naruto began to feel that something was off, his instincts were screaming at him to go somewhere. Naruto tapped Kurama on the shoulder and using hand signs, told him that he was going to check something out because his instincts were telling him too.

Naruto quietly slipped away from the group, Kurama would just tell them the truth if he was asked where Naruto went. This wasn't the first time he and the others experienced this, there had been several cases of when Naruto and felt something was off and it turns out to be something dangerous that they were unaware of.

Naruto found himself back in the hallway leading to the library, he was wondering why his instincts were directing him here. It was a few steps later that he feel several dangerous corrupted magical signatures, it was coming from the library which had him worried because he could feel three magical signatures inside, one being Twilight's.

Naruto quickly wrote a note to Kurama that several members of the cult and infiltrated the castle and were in the library, he also wrote he could sense Twilight in the room with the cult members as well.

Naruto sent the letter to Kurama using a spell, then he snuck into the library to find out the situation and get Twilight and any other ponies who may be in harm's way.

(earlier in the library)

Twilight was wrapping up the current book she was reading, it was one of the new arrivals to the library and she wanted to finish reading it before meeting up with Candence and Shining for lunch.

As she dropped her books off at the librarians desk, she began to hear strange noises from the back end of the library, her natural curiosity got the better of her so she went to investigate what the noises where and who was making them.

Twilight peeked around a shelf to see a strange group tearing books off the shelf, one was a tall figure who was wearing black boots, black pants and had strange black binding around his ankles. He was wearing a tannish-brown straight jacket and a mask over his face.

Another was a short creature that was wearing a black robe that covered his whole body, his hands were strange because to Twilight it looked like he had mouths on his hands.

There were two other figures wearing cloaks, the magic presence they gave off felt wrong to Twilight. To Twilight the strangers gave off an unsettling aura that was making her nervous, she would sneak away and find her Candence, Shining, or Princess Celestia.

Before she could do that a member of the royal guard had appeared and was heading towards the group.

"Hey what are you lot doing? Why are you removing all these books from the selves?" the guard asked approaching the group.

The tall figure turned towards the shorter one, "Take care of him before he brings any other guards here."

The guard drew his blade, he didn't like what he felt from this group but before he could make the call for reinforcements the shorter figure stood before him.

"Who are you? stay back or I will use force!" the guard said in a firm tone of voice.

The short creature only continued moving closer to the guard, the guard reacted and swung his blade at the creature knocking its head off. The head rolled to the guards' feet revealing that it was a fake, the creature raised its hands with its palms open and facing the guard.

To his shock and horror, the guard saw that there were mouths on both hands, things got worse when the mouths started talking to him.

"You had the grave misfortune of seeing us, but that will be taken care of shortly, my hunger has been annoying me for a while," the short figure said before grabbing the guards head.

To Twilights horror the short creatures' hands glowed a sickly green color and the guard was drained of his life because when the creature removed his hands only an empty husk remained of the guard in his armor.

Twilight slowly backed away from the nightmarish sight, she was going to make a run for it once she was out of ear shot but as she backed up, she hit something. She looked up to find the other tall figure in the in the weird jacket looking down at her.

"Well, well, well, we have a little one who is being a naughty filly by listening in on adult conversations. We can't have that, so you'll have to come with us," the tall figure said while grabbing Twilight with his magic.

(Flashback end)

Before he could carry Twilight too far, he was slammed into a shelf when a blast of magic hit him in the chest.

Before Twilight could hit the ground, Naruto caught her, "Are you ok Twilight, what happened here?" Naruto asked.

Twilight buried her face in Naruto's chest, she was sobbing lightly as Naruto held her close and tried to get her to come down. Before she could say anything, Naruto jumped into the air avoiding a wind blade that slashed through a bookshelf.

Naruto formed a clone to get Twilight out of the danger zone while he fought the intruders, he formed a rasengan and slammed it into the tall one's chest slamming him into the wall next to the shorter one and the two cloaked figures.

The shorter figure let out what seemed like a growl before ordering the two larger figures to deal with Naruto, he went to his ally and helped him to his feet.

"Are you ok, this must be Naruto Uzumaki the pony we were warned about and the one that has been causing us so many problems," the shorter one said.

"Agreed, he is not someone to be taken lightly, we will have to withdraw for now," the taller one replied.

The figures shed their cloaks revealing their true appearance, both were large crystal golems, there crystals were a dark greenish color and radiated corrupted magic. There moved forward and slammed their fists down missing Naruto, he then struck back dodging a punch Naruto broke one of the golems arms at the elbow with a palm strike and then grabbed the severed arm and then slammed it into the other golem.

Naruto continued with his assault breaking one of the golems knees and caused it to fall on the ground, then followed up with channeling charka into his fist and slamming it into the golems head and finishing off the first golem.

Naruto turned to the other golem, he struck fast each blow he delivered hit with concussive force leaving cracks on the crystal. Naruto ended the fight with one final charge attack to the head of the golem ending the constructs life.

Naruto turned to the remaining two being in the library, Naruto was trying to figure out not only their motive but what they are. Both gave off strange auras like the crystals made from corrupted magic.

"Who or what are you? Why did you sneak into this library?" Naruto asked.

(Earlier in the dining hall)

The group minus Naruto had reached the dining hall and met up with Princess Celestia, Shining and Candence quickly gave a run through of what happened.

"I'm grateful that you two did this for me, but you seem to have lost one of the groups, where is Naruto?" Celestia asked.

Both Shining Candence turned around to the group only to see that Naruto was missing from the group.

"When did Naruto leave the group?" Shining asked.

Kurama stepped forward, "Naruto left earlier because he felt that something was off in other part of the castle, so he went to investigate what it was."

The others minus Aurora and Stygian wondered what drew Naruto's attention while Aurora and Stygian weren't worried at all having been through similar events wile training and traveling under Naruto.

Before anypony could say anything, else there was a small flash of light and a paper appeared in front of Kurama, upon reading the note he grew worried and ran over to Celestia.

"Princess Celestia we got problems, Naruto reported that there are four cultists that have managed sneak into the castle library, they are searching for something," Kurama explained in a rushed tone of voice.

Celestia immediately stood up and called for a squad of guards, "Let's not waste any time."

Celestia teleported the group to the library and entered to find Naruto and a clone holding Twilight in his arms and facing off against the cultists.

(Present time)

The taller one laughed at Naruto's questions before either could give a response the royal guard along with Princess Celestia and the others arrived in the library. The shorter one looked at the guard then back at his ally, he knew it was time to go, their mission was a failure.

"As much as we want to stay and chat, we have other priorities to take care off," the tall one said before wrapping him and his ally in a whirlwind and flew through the window.

Before any of the Pegasus could take to the air after them, the duo disappeared. This left many scratching their heads since the twister vanished soon after it went through the window.

Celestia approached Naruto and Twilight, "Are the two of you ok, did those two hurt you in any way?"

Naruto shook his head, "we're fine, however the guard over there in the corner is not so fortunate," pointing towards the remains of the drained guard.

Everypony was more than a little disturbed at the sight at the fallen guard, Celestia had the fallen guard removed to find out what happened to him. She would also have to notify his family what happened to him, she was not looking forward to it, but it was her responsibility.

Celestia turned to the others, Twilight was being comforted by Shining and Candence, Naruto was talking with Aurora and Stygian. From what she could see this is the first time they had encountered these two and they were worried about what other monsters the cult may have working for them.

"Are you ok? What were those two, the magical signature they gave off was disturbing to say the least?" Aurora asked more than a little unnerved from what she could sense from the two strangers.

"What were they looking for? They were tearing apart the library for a reason, something was here that they risked getting discovered for but what?" Stygian said.

"That is something we'll have to ask them when we meet again, until them we should be careful. They won't be back any time soon, but they will eventually return for whatever they were searching for," Naruto replied.

Naruto then noticed Celestia approaching and waved her over, "how is Twilight, she was shaken up seeing what happened to the guard?"

"She is fine thanks to you; how did you know what was going on and that Twilight was in danger?" Celestia asked.

"I didn't know Twilight was in danger, I got a feeling that something was wrong and followed my instincts which lead me to the library and our current situation. Considering what happened to the guard I have no doubts Twilight would have fallen to the same fate," Naruto said.

Celestia and Naruto looked over towards where Twilight was being counseled by Shining and Candence, they could see that both ponies were checking out Twilight for injuries and making sure nothing was wrong.

Naruto and Celestia were soon approached by Shining and Candence, "I can't thank you enough for saving Twilight, I don't want to imagine what would have happened to her if you hadn't saved her," Candence replied.

Naruto just waved them off, "Think nothing of it, I was just lucky enough to be here at the right time."

A little while later the group found themselves in the dining hall, everypony had finished with their dinner and were just waiting Celestia's announcement.

"Aside from what happened in the library, what do you think of the castle?" Celestia asked Naruto.

"Its very nice place to live in, most of the ponies I meet on the tour were friendly towards myself and the others," Naruto replied.

Celestia nodded her head with a smile on her face, "I'm glad you find it so welcoming; you and the others will be staying at the castle so you can begin training the new hunters."

Naruto nodded his head, he had begun preping what and how he was going to train the ponies in for hunting monsters, he was also planned to show those who passed his tests how to use charka.

He was going to be careful who he taught when it came to charka, the people had abused the gift of charka turning what was meant to be a gift for peace into a weapon of war. He would take steps to prevent that from happening in Equestria.

"I have taken the liberty of having rooms set up for you, tomorrow we can discuss what we need to start training ponies to hunt monsters," Celestia said.

Authors Note: Well here you go another chapter in the hunter series done, sorry about the wait been having trouble focusing my thoughts on writing. I've had other things in my life take priority over this.

As usual if you have any comments or questions feel free to leave a review or send me a message, I will send you a reply as soon as I can. Any and all flamers and haters will be ignored as usual.

One more thing, down below are previews of things to come in later chapters so please be patient with me.

"The hunters looked on in shock as Naruto performed a massive set of hand seals, when the seals ended everypony looked on in shock at the massive figure standing behind him, the creature was made from water and let loose a mighty roar shaking the battlefield"

"Naruto stood firm as a massive elder dragon loomed over him, the twin heads fired of two separate beams that intertwined before impacting against the shield Naruto put up to protect him and Kurama. The shield soon broke under the force of the blast sending Naruto crashing into a wall, the monster then turned its attention to Kurama when a massive roar shook the cavern. From the ruble another monster emerged, this one spotting ten tails"