SANM: Part 2! Battle In The Minds...!

Chapter 13 - SANM: Part 2! Battle in the Mind...!

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Naruto wasn't sure how long the attack had rendered him unconscious, but it was enough to greatly disorient him. When he finally started to feel better he was able to grasp that he wasn't in the physical realm. This was rather surprising as he thought he would have woken up in the dungeon instead of the vast and lifeless rocky terrain he was currently in.

For a moment he wondered just where he was when a stray thought came to his mind. 'Is this the moon?' he couldn't help but wonder to himself. He looked up and sure enough it was the night sky filled with the white twinkling lights of the stars themselves. Other familiar celestial bodies filled the area including what he learned not so long ago were constellations. Since he was in the mental plain he didn't need to worry about whatever measures one would have needed to survive out here.

Naruto tried calling to Kurama but received no answer in return. 'I thought as much.' He sullenly thought as he began his journey. Time most likely did not exist in this type of realm. So there was no telling how long he was going to be walking. He kept going until he saw the faint glow of magical aura. Naruto readied himself for a fight until he heard the faint sound of crying. His eyes widened briefly in confusion before he went closer to the origin only to find deep within the crater the cage.

The cage contained what looked like a young filly Alicorn. She looked hardly older than the crusaders. Her coat was that of a light phtalo shade. The svelte little pony was wearing a simple dark blue dress with the insignia of the moon on the front of it. As he got closer he took more of her features, her mane and tail colors were that of a light azure color and the Alicorn filly looked so sad it almost broke his heart.

"W-Who are you?" she asked in a whimpering her tone as her voice cracked slightly. Her eyes were filled with a lot of fear.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he softly spoke to her as he got closer. "My name is Naruto what's yours?" he asked as he approached the cage but the Pony only shot him a furious look as a frown marred her features.

"We shall not for your tricks again. Just leave us alone. " She wailed as tears began to whirl up in her eyes. Suddenly she seemed to switch gears as she looked off into space. "Where are you Big sister? W-We are so sorry please don't be mad at me anymore. I don't like being alone." The tears slid down her face. "T-Tia…d-don't you love me anymore?" she asked in between sniffles as she sat down and curled up in a ball.

Naruto's heart went out to this filly. Seeing how broken this pony was. He couldn't help but relate her situation similar to that of a Jinchuuriki. Essentially what he was seeing was the fate of a container overwhelmed and consumed by what they kept at bay essentially.

He knew what he had to do. Having long embraced the willpower of making a mindscape his own Naruto easily bypassed the cage. He then pulled the pony in the hug causing her to gasp.

"You're not alone anymore." He gently whispered into her ear as he gently pat her back. "I won't hurt you. I'll do everything I can to help you." He continued the comforting hug.

For the first time the little mare felt something other than loneliness and despair. For the first time in a thousand years she had done something she thought she lost the will to do. Smile.

She then whispered something that Naruto didn't catch.

"Excuse me?" Naruto asked, missing what the mare had just said. He suddenly pulled back, realizing that he still had her in his arms.

The little Alicorn let out a rather bashful like gasp. She took a moment before composing herself. "My name is Luna." She introduced herself a little more confident.

"I see." He figured it had something to do with the moon. Everything was starting to make sense now. "A nice name for such a cute little mare." Naruto playfully complimented her. The filly looked so adorable the words kawaii sprung to mind.

Luna on the other hand took it completely different and began blushing. "W-Who gave thee permission to be so familiar with me? I am a Princess and over several Millennia old." Princess Luna had switched from questioning to an embarrassed huff in a matter of seconds.

Naruto let out a chuckle and stood up. He smiled graced his lips and he extended his hand. "Forgive me for my familiarity your highness. I believe its time for us to go."

"Go?" she asked the stallion as she blunk and shot him a questioning look as she tried to figure out what the blond was planning to do.. "Go where?" Where did he expect them to go.

Once more he smiled at warm smile and placed his palms on the shoulder of the Alicorn. "Back to Equestria." He informed her as he glanced to the left and right as if he was trying to decide which direction they should go. "One way or another I'll get you out of here."

A downcast look formed on Luna's face. "I-It's no use. I've tried…I've tried for so long but she won't let me. It won't let me." As soon as she finished that sentence utter fear spread across her face. "She's here." Luna uttered in a tone of a frightened child as a pool of darkness seeped across the rocky landscape. It slowly pulled up and formed into the shape of Nightmare Moon.

"Your insolence knows no bounds. To think you managed to find your way here. You have proven to be more trouble then you're worth so I shall correct the issue and eliminate you."As Nightmare Moon spoke twin voices echoed from the creature's mouth and one of those voices Naruto remembered all too well. That voice was of the same creature that attacked him on the world that Naruto had visited all those years ago.

How could he ever forget?

Hagoromo had thought him the secrets of traveling throughout the ages once Naruto's first life time had finally reached its end. Chakra, the power that fueled the people of his world was more than just mere physical and mental energy; the life force of chakra connected both the living and the world of the dead as the tree that bore the fruit of life in his world was just one of many seeds planted across various worlds many eons ago. After all Kaguya herself was not a native to the world so it only proved the existence of other worlds and life forms out there.

One of those beings was a creature of darkness that seemed intent on hunting down and eliminating the seeds to fill the Cosmos with darkness. "Ombra!" the blond's whisper was filled with utter loathing. Naruto was more than sure that this creature played a part in the events of the Nightmare scenario.

"Do you think a mere Earth puny can save you Luna? Even your sister chose to seal you away instead of trying to help you. You need me. I make us strong. Without me you'll go back to being the mare no one cared about while everyone loved and worshipped your older sister." The cruel words exited the mouth of Nightmare Moon as persuasively and slickly began breaking down Luna's self-worth once more.

"Shut your mouth you cruel ignorant beast." Naruto roared as his emotions spiked. "I won't let you hurt her anymore." He said as a vast aura of bright violet chakra washed over the blond. 'There's enough, there's just enough of his chakra.' Naruto thought as his orange coat radiated a bright yellow sheen.

It Has Come to This (Erazor Djinn) - Sonic and the Secret Rings

The shadows that made Nightmare's Moon began to grow in surprise. It then came to life as it shot out several tendrils at the orange stallion.

Naruto quickly scooped up the surprised Luna into his front arms and leaped away from the attack. He landed and gently placed her down. "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yes."

"Don't worry; I won't let that thing hurt you." He said as he began concentrating. Hundreds upon hundreds of identical white smokes puffed into existence as an army of identical copies formed between them and Nightmare Moon.

Luna couldn't help but gaze in awe. What manner of magic was this? Even at their strongest with the Elements of Harmony the Alicorn sisters wouldn't have been able to make so many tangible copies of themselves.

"Your tricks are useless mortal!" Nightmare howled as the end of her hands split and formed into nightmarish claws, her mane becoming sharp like thorns and her teeth forming into fangs. She began bulldozing through the clones like they were plastic.

The creature let out a wide area blast of magic from her horn. She took to the sky as her the aura around her horn darkened.

Naruto charged forward calling his clones to him. Two clones came to a dead stop allowing Naruto and one of his clones to leap off their backs like foot stools. The two of them descended into the air as they soared at the flying creature. The clone took the original by the hooves and swung him with all his might.

Tucking himself into a ball Naruto soared at the creature with impressive speed, but it proved too slow as Nightmare Moon merely flew out of the way. She then charged after the blond with breakneck speed. Naruto landed only to narrowly miss his neck being torn out, the claws of the Alicorn slashing at his neck.

Naruto let out a gargled cry of pain as the sensation flooded through him. This was no normal mindscape dimension. Any physical injuries caused by that creature were going to prove fatal so he needed to be careful.

He found himself going on the defensive as the creature jabbed and slashed at him with near supersonic speed. The taste of copper filled his mouth and he found himself dazed. A pain coursed through him and Naruto had already figured it was some sort of magical attack.

His body skidded across the round with a few tumbles as he heard the nightmarish roar. He let out a blood fill coughed as he quickly recovered. Catching his opponent off guard he rammed into her with all his might. He gritted his teeth landing on his hands and knees as Nightmare Moon was momentarily off balance. He leaped again; head butting her again using the time to press the attack only for Nightmare Moon to sank her teeth into the flesh of his shoulder.

(Song End)

(Piano Collections FFXIII 01 - Lightning's Theme ~ Blinded By Light)

"No!" Luna's voice cried out as she drew upon whatever magic her small body contained and released it upon Nightmare Moon sending it flying, while dislodging its vice like grip on the blond's shoulder.

"Warrior!" Luna cried out to his, rushing to his side and helping him up. "W-We can't win. W-We can't beat her we have to run." She pleaded with him.

"I can't…" Naruto said in between pained breaths as he went about composing himself.

"Why is thee being so stubborn? Thy hath barely met us for a forth night. Why risk so much for me?" she didn't understand. Was it some misconstrued loyalty or honor he was raised with? Why was he risking his life to help her? At that moment Luna felt so ashamed and weak unable to follow her vow to help and protect one of her loyal subjects in need. "I…as your Princess I order you to go."

A weak smile formed on Naruto's face. "Then I have to disregard your order Princess Luna. I made a promise to help you and I never go back on my promises." He remarked as he steadied himself. Nightmare Moon radiated with a near soul crushing black darkness. The angelic like wings twisted and began to change shape into something more befitting of a demon.

"You're too weak Luuuuuuna. You can't even protect one pony. Is it any wonder your subjects so readily forgot you?" Luna was about to argue but then a memory flooded through her mind. It was Nightmare Moon's arrival and how no one seemed to recognize or know her name. "Your own sister even with about changing the history of the nation to disregard your existence." The creature taunted. Tears began pouring down from the Alicorn's eyes, sliding down her cheeks as she hung her head low. The darkness seemed to take great pleasure in reminding her how forgotten she had become. A memory of the past came to mind.

"Tia please…I had enough. Help me." She found herself unable to break out of this dream-like state. Why couldn't she wake up? Why couldn't she go back to Equestria?

"Foolish foal there is no going back. Your sister has locked you away forever within the body you governed."

"Liar…Tia would never do that!"

"Your sister has vanished you leaving you to rot while she rules Equestria."

No, this couldn't be true. There was no way that her sister would banish her! Her loving big sister would never do that to her.

"You're lying to yourself! You were a threat to her power! Her vision! An obstacle to remove!"

"Stop it! Thou's attempt to cause me to fall into an ardent manner will not work." It wasn't supposed to go like this. She just wanted the love and respect of their citizens. It was never supposed to go this out of hand. How did things go so wrong? How did they go wrong?

Images like painted scenes filled her mind. Of the beauty of the moon being ignored as everypony love and frolicked in the sun.

"It matters not Princess! Once we break free we shall show them the beauty of eternal night. "

There was no telling how long it would take. And because she had succumbed to the darkness in her heart she would probably never she those who meant the world to her again. "What… what've I done?"

"You chose the path to power. We will make them all fear and worship the night!"

With force neither thought was capable from the stallion Naruto disappeared from his place and in front of Nightmare Moon. The force of his hit sending the dark Alicorn flying down into the surface and causing a crater. "You make me sick parasite!" Luna found herself brought out of her daze. Nightmare Moon seemed to be once again trying to break her spirit.

"How dare you. I will take great pleasure in crushing you beneath my hoff!" roared the manifestation of darkness, quickly recovering from the attack. Before even getting a chance to begin the assault the dark Alicorn found herself launched into the air by a kick to the jaw. Naruto appeared behind her, gripping her in a bear hug. "Omote Renge!" they began spinning, forming a oval shaped or orange and black before Naruto jumped away, letting her collide with the ground. Thankfully while physical injury was real in this realm, things like exhaustion or such didn't seem to affect him.

(Song End)

(Demon Hunter Not Ready Die)

A near blinding aura of dark magic erupted from the crater from the last attack. Nightmare Moon had grown three times her size. Nightmare Moon then let out a mixture between a shriek and roar as thousands upon thousands of beams of magical energy began to bombard the blond.

The sound of Naruto's steps echoed across the ground echoed as he jumped and leaped out of the way avoiding the various beams. He quickly created clones which were quickly dispatched by the attack. With each every hand full of clones destroyed he was beginning to see a pattern to the creature's attack.

He slowly began making his way to the creature whose attacks continued to bombard him. He charged forward and attempted to Rasengan only for several beams to strike him and send him crashing to the ground.

Naruto began his assault again only this time channeling his element. His hands were encircled by little wisps of wind as he started dodging her assault. Hit directly by one of the blasts Naruto powered through it. Dropping on the ground, he put all his strength into his legs and jumped forward. Using his front legs he began delivering a barrage of punches to the opponent, and then finished with an uppercut, creating a large gust of wind throwing the evil Alicorn into the air.

Despite the attack the dark creature didn't have nary a scratch. A growl escaped Naruto's lips, but he didn't let that deter him. He continued pressing the attack, overwhelming her with thousands of clones and even following up with a wind infused Rasengan but no matter how much damaged he did the creature seemed to shake it off.

"It's hopeless!" Luna thought to herself. "Nightmare Moon isn't a tangible being. It has no true form and it can't be killed."

Naruto continued his attack. Maybe if he kept on attacking maybe the creature would spend its energy healing. He charged forward with a right hook only to hit air. 'I missed?' he pondered for a second. He then quickly spun and avoided a blast of energy as the creature attempted to bring her powerful fists down to crush his skull. Naruto twisted out of the way and swung with his left hoof only for the sound of swishing air to occur. 'No…how?' he thought as her fist collided with his side sending him flying.

Luna remembered her first encounter with the Nightmare. No matter how hard or how much she fought it didn't seem to matter. It just took all of her attacks without so much as a scratch.

(Song End)

(Heta Oni-A Sin a Sin)

As she watched Naruto try to stop it she couldn't take it anymore. "Stop! Stop it!" she landed in between the two. "No more! Thou wants me right? Then the treasure is right before thee on the grounds you leave thy warrior in peace." She wasn't going to stand by anymore. She would not let this brave soul die while she stood by, too cowardly to do anything.

"It is far too late Princess. You are too weak and broken to fight me off for much longer." Nightmare's voice was now decadently masculine and familiar.

"Don't give up Lunas!" Naruto pleaded as he pushed himself to his hooves. "This is your mind. That parasite is trying to make you think you're weaker than it is, but its not. Its been a thousand years and its failed to change you. You're stronger than it'll ever be." He encouraged her.

Luna's head bow in shame. "Tis my weakness that allowed this abomination to come to surface. This truly is thy penance and responsibility."

"No one is perfect Luna. Don't let this creature win." He pleaded with her. "If we let this thing win it'll be the end of everything. It'll be the end of all life on this planet and your sister. "

Suddenly another memory came to mind. One in regards to her youth long before she and Celestia were rulers.

It was a rather stormy night and Luna had just had a nightmare. A whimper had escaped her lips and terror coursed through her. She found herself unable to go back to sleep.

Every sound of creek sent spine tingling terror through her. The shapes that the looming shadows that seemed to litter her room caused nothing but unrest. She found herself unable to drift back to sleep. Without a second thought she dashed out of her room and into her sister's room next-door. When she woke her sister up she had tears streaming down her face.

"It's alright Luna." Using her wings Celestia had wiped the tears from her frightened sister's eyes. 'Why don't you sleep with me for the night? I'll keep you safe from the shadows.' That feeling, Luna gripped to that feeling. That wonderful feeling of having Celestia as a big sister.

Luna suddenly found herself enveloped by a warm light. She let out a gasp as she recognized where she was. The palace? But how?

She began looking around until she recognized the sound of something. "Tia?" she got closer and indeed recognized the voice of her sister. "Tia. TIA!" she found her sister standing on the balcony, the moon high in the sky.

"If only I tried harder. Maybe you'd be here with me now." Celestia spoke to herself, peering up into the heavens.

"Tia," Luna called out to her, reaching to touch her sister only to go right through her. What was going on?

"I remember when our parents first brought you home. You were the most adorable little foal. You were so energetic you almost always tipped over. I was so nervous that you wouldn't like me." A solemn laugh escaped the lips of the princess. "But when you immediately tittle over and hugged by my face all my fears subsided."

Luna now realized what was happening. This was a memory. When Nightmare Moon trapped Celestia and began draining her power, did that somehow connect them? Or did the bond they used to share with the Elements had something to do with it.

"Do you remember when you first try to pronounce my name? The only eligible part was Tia." She was remembering happier times. "I failed you Luna. As your big sister I was supposed to look after and protect you. I was so naïve back then. Remember when we were heralded as Princesses and our defeat over Discord, the love and admiration of so many ponies. Remember when we banished Sombra? Every time we accomplished something great I felt so proud that I began to lose sight of what gave me inspiration in the first place.

I remember that day I was first tasked to raise the Sun. I was so nervous, but then you came running up to me. I remember your words clearly. "Tia I hope to grow up to be like you some day." Her lips curved into a brief smile. "As long as you were there to support me I felt like I could do anything. I let my ego as the older and wiser sister get the best of me. I mistook your concerns and loneliness as mere overreactions. Because I failed to take your concerns seriously I may have lost you forever. " sorrow then etched onto the face of the Alicorn of the Sun. "I failed you baby sister." Tears began to flow from the Alicorn's eyes. "Not a night doesn't go by when I think of my failure and how much you must have been suffering. Only now when it is too late I wish to act like your big sister." Her words were now angry, but they were directed at herself. "Luna….sister…if I could have one more chance I'd do it all over again. I'd never abandon you. It isn't fair!" she suddenly wailed. "That you have to suffer for my failures." She whispered. "I know I don't have any right to ask you this, but can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?"

"Sister…I'm the one who should apologize. I shouldn't have been so quick to throw away our bond. I…I won't let this thing win. I won't let it do what it pleases anymore." A new surge of power coursed through Princess Luna.

(Song END)

(Gohan's Anger Rage Hip-Hop Beat Remix )

Nightmare Moon's wings spread and her hands and horn glowed. "This is the end of you mettlesome creature." The evil Alicorn bared its fang as it bared her horn at Naruto.

An explosion of dark, yet benevolent energy drew the attention of both combatants. They turned as Princess Luna underwent a transformation. Her light azure mane transformed into a brilliant Persian blue color. Her light phthalo coat was now a deep cerulean color and what was once a little girl now stood a goddess of a woman in blue shimmering gown painted with white sparks reminiscent of the sun.

"Nightmare Moon, Thou shall no longer do as you anymore. We will end of your tyranny and banishing thee to the darkest depths of the Underworld."

"Luuuuuuuuuna." The creature wailed as it shot towards her, temporarily forgetting about Naruto. The dark woman soon found itself sent hurling back by the might of the Moon Princess. Luna landed next to Naruto who was in awe by the transformation.

"Brave warrior, we thank you. Let us kick this abhorrent abomination from my mind." Luna could feel herself once more taking control of her power. Control over her mind. After all one of her domains was that of the realm of dreams and now that she was now crippled by fear and despair Luna had the power to free Naruto from the current restrictions of the plain as well as rendering Nightmare Moon without a source of negative emotion to feed on.

Naruto found himself blanketing in an even bright gold aura. "It is about time the connection has been reestablished." A familiar voice spoke. "You somehow managed to find yourself in trouble in a world where peace is supposed to reign. You truly are a magnet for danger."

A grin formed on Naruto's face. 'We'll have to play catch-up later Kurama. We got one ugly parasitic monster ass to kick!" 'Naruto not only once more called upon his most familiar form he went a step further changing into something more befitting to his current form with resulted in him being blessed him with wings to fly and a horn to channel his power.

The two of them took to the sky with a mighty flap of their wings. Nightmare Moon let out a snarl but would not be deter by this new development. She took to the air after them, with the intent to destroy them once and for all.