Evening everyone! Apologies for the extremely late update!

Ever since I took the vice president mantle of my college's Anime club from the previous semester, I find myself occupied with a lot of matters. Teaching my members how to draw, preparing tutorial materials for next sessions and figuring out what interesting activities that they can do aside than watching Anime on a daily basis like previous semesters etc.

A lot of my friends even told me that I was being rather a workaholic with my club duties. Frankly, they aren't wrong it.

But in all seriousness, this was probably one of the roles that I genuinely enjoy taking part of. And I think it's for the best for everyone too since some of my committee members weren't exactly doing the best in their job (and I presume they didn't take the roles willingly either) so in the end, I had to pull all the strings.

Enough ranting about my every day life, lets move on to the reviewer's reviews and then proceed to the main story, shall we?

To Guest(1):

Thanks, I'll need all the support I can get :D

To Guest(2):

We'll see. It's a good scenario but I'll need to review through my script just to be safe.

To :

Thanks for the compliment! :D

To X3runner:

Yeah, we try to be as realistic as possible since other stories do portray them being way too friendly with him. But that pretty much applies to the actual MLP series.

To Guest:

Got it.

To jordanlink7856:

I totally agree

To Jason vines(1):

I'm afraid I cannot guarantee that since I'll be heavily occupied managing my college club. But I'll do my best to update as much as possible

To Shibo66:

We cannot guarantee that we will post updates as frequently as before since my club will be doing plenty of activities next year but we'll try our best to meet your expectation.

To Seanyboy1996:

Unfortunately, I have my hands tied up from handling my club in college. It would've been fine but some of my club committees weren't being helpful throughout the whole semester so I had to carry the weight of the team on my own. Regardless, we will try our best to cope with our writing and speed the overall process up

And with that onto the story!

Oh and in case you guys haven't noticed, the Reviewer's Review section only applies to people who posted reviews from the latest chapter. So if the latest chapter is chapter 10 then I'll only review those that are from chapter 9. Sorry but we try to reduce the word count from Author's Note since a previous reader pointed out that their dislike for it.

Just a head's up for all of you!

Making New Friends (Part 2)

Travelling was never usually an issue for Naruto. A journey that would take months for a civilian to venture through will simply take a couple of hours' time for a shinobi. Wrong direction? He can just simply take a detour and retraced his steps. Lost in the middle of nowhere? He can activate his Senjutsu and look around.

Unfortunately, that was no longer the case.

Stripped off parts of his powers because of his newly-profound horse form and restricted by the magic-infused atmosphere of this very realm, the orange stallion's current abilities were very limited. Problems that was initially of no concern to him has now returned full force.

He hated it.

"Now, according to Princess Celestia, the library should be somewhere in the town center," He as he resumed looking around. After everything that he has done, the blond found himself back to square one and that irked him a bit. Just how hard was it to find a tree house in the middle of a small town!? "All we have to do is just find a tree house and we're good for the day."

"That's what you said thirty minutes ago and look where we are now." Kurama remarked snidely.

Naruto scowled at that but made no signs of retorting. Instead, he sighed. "It's fine. So as long as we don't encounter any other weird ponies, I''m sure everything will be alri—"

"Oh my Celestia, what is that thing!?" A feminine voice practically shrieked.

Naruto inwardly groaned. "Oh Kami, what now?"

The cry of indignant could've been directed to anypony but he got this odd feeling that it was directed to him. Especially when he was in the middle of nowhere.

Glancing in the direction of said voice. His assumption was proven to be correct when he saw another filly coming his way.

First glance-wise, the filly looked quite classy in her own style with her regal white fur and curly violet mane that seemed to defy gravity, in which it reminds him of the obnoxious upper classmen ponies back in Canterlot.

The filly would've looked okay if it weren't for the look of utter horrification on her muzzle. As if she had witnessed the worse thing in her entire life.

'This won't go well.' He mentally stated to himself.

"What in the name of Equestria are you wearing!?"

The blond could only blink. "Sorry?"

"That thing!" She said, pointing to the ragged tagged cloak he was wearing as if it was the vilest thing in Equestria. "What is that thing!?"

"Oh, you mean this? It's my cloak." He stated as if it was nothing. "What about it?"

"It looks horrible!"

"Excuse me?" Before this, he always thought Shining Armor and Cadence was the one to be the most dramatic. Apparently, he was wrong. In more ways than one.

"No, no, no, this won't do at all, you must come with me now!"

"Wait, wha—"

Naruto opened his muzzle to come up with a retort but the white mare was already a step ahead and proceeded on dragging him away, much to his dismay. Having little to no say in this matter, the blond could do nothing but let the filly lead him away from his main objective.

…

"Uh, where are we?" With each minute passed by, the blond wasn't even sure if he was still in Ponyville and not some other hidden village in other parts of Equestria.

Still no signs of a huge tree house for Kami's sake.

"To my boutique, where else, darling?"

"The what now?" The blond was about to ask what she meant by that until he caught something bizarre in his sight. "What is that?"

He was aware that the architecture of this world is different than his own previous but that doesn't stop him from being surprised at each and every new structures he saw.

"That, over there, is my boutique, darling!" She declared proudly.

Naruto blinked, ignoring the fact that she just called him 'darling''. "What's a boutique?"

She gasped. "You don't know what a boutique is!?" She shrieked before resting a hoof on her forehead. "Oh, the nerve of ponies nowadays!"

Ignoring the filly's frustration, the blond glanced at the newly-profound structure in front of him.

If he were to describe the building in a short phrase, the best one he could come up with was an 'expired wedding cake'. Because it literally looked like one.

The windows were shattered with majority being boarded by wooden planks, the paint job were long peeled and deteriorated from years of lack of maintenance and some of the wooden railing had gave away at some point and was now dangling purposelessly on the balcony. Even the front entrance wasn't excluded from the damage either as it looked like it was forcefully opened.

Seeing the skeptical expression on the orange stallion's face, the filly spoke, "Yes, yes, I know. It looks hideous and awful but not to worry! In a few months' time, I'll turn this into a mighty fine establishment. Just you wait and see!"

"Well, I wish you the greatest luck with that." Naruto sweatdropped when one of the creaking pillars finally gave way right there and collapsed under its own weight. "So why am I doing here again?"

"Why to get you a new outfit, of course!" She elaborated, still dragging him by the foreleg into her self-quoted fine establishment. The action would've been considerably epic if the double doors was still there in which it wasn't. "You seriously aren't thinking about wearing that cloak for the whole day, are you?"

"As a matter of fact, I actually—" The filly stared at him murderously. "—have the same idea as you did as well."

"Simply splendid!"

"I think I got just the thing for you!"

Having nothing else to do, the blond figured he should explore for a bit. If he was going to stay here for a few days, he might as well find out what's around him.

Just like what the filly admitted, the place was an absolute mess. Everywhere he looked, he could see nothing but the color grey. Half of the space was occupied by an unidentified piece of furniture covered in dusty white cloth while the rest was littered with piles after piles of trash and debris.

The blond had to watch his steps when he noticed some of the floorboards were cracked and splintered, exposing the dark bottomless pit down below. Cleaning would definitely be a chore for her. Then again, she was a unicorn so he highly doubt cleaning would deal much of a problem for her.

Running out of interesting things to examine, the blond proceeded on looking at the view outside. His choice was limited unfortunately since majority of the windows were still messily boarded up.

On the first window, the orange stallion could see the town square as indicated by the water fountain at the center followed by the ponies that was roaming about the place at a calm pace.

Switching on to the second available window that was located on the other side of the run-down 'boutique', Naruto could distinguish the rest of the houses and even more ponies trotting around. For a small town, this place sure was jampacked. Not as many as Canterlot but still plenty by his standards.

Still, he caught no signs of the treehouse. Just how hard is it to find a single tree house in this place.

"Aha, I finally found it!"

Blinking his eyes in surprise, Naruto spun around just in time to see the mare emerging out of the the back area with a magically-floating box by her side.

"I'm not sure if this is your size but you'll definitely love it!"

"I doubt I will." He muttered under his breath.

It's getting late now. If he was going to be nice, he might as well tell her now before it's too late.

"Listen, uh—"

"Rarity." She chipped in.

"Rarity." He corrected. "I appreciate the help but I don't think there's no need for you to do any of this. I'm fine with this cloak as it is."

"Nonsense, darling. I'm absolutely fine with this!" She said as she began untying the ribbon that was wrapped around the box. "Fashion is my passion, after all!"

"Besides, you look like you could use some help with your closet yourself."

"Well for your information, I can take care of myself just fi—"

Whatever words Naruto was about to say next, it died down in his throat when the filly named Rarity finally finished unwrapping the ribbons and popped the box open. His eyes practically become as big as bowling balls when he finally saw its content.

"W-What is that?"

"This is a dress shirt, darling. Surely you must've seen or heard of it somewhere." She described. "Now, why don't you be a sweetheart and put it on—"

Rarity spun around to confront Naruto. Imagine her surprise was when she realized that the blond was nowhere in sight. The only indication that showed he was previously there was the slightly ajar front door that was swinging ever so slightly from the wind draft outside.

Needless to say, Rarity was flabbergasted. "W-Wha—" She stammered, completely at loss for words. "The nerve of that stallion!"

…

"Kami, that was close." Naruto sighed in relief. "If I was a second late, I'd be screwed."

'In case you haven't noticed, we're moving further away from the town."

"Wait, what?"

In the midst of his panic, the blond had somehow found himself on the outskirts of Ponyville once more.

"Great. More delays." He lamented sarcastically to himself.

'You can always move forward.' Kurama suggested. 'Knowing your luck, you're bound to find your way sooner or later.'

"Fine by me, it's not like I know where I'm going anyway." He said sarcastically.

Still, the fox made a valid point. If he was going to arrive at his destination, he might as well move on rather than being rooted in one spot. That doesn't necessarily mean he'll like it though.

Fortunately for him, the deities in this realm wasn't being too nasty with him and has granted him a small hint in the form of a ground pathway that led to…somewhere. Shrugging his shoulders, the blond trotted ahead. It was something, at least.

It wasn't long before he caught sight of what seemed to be barn by the horizon.

Naruto picked up the pace and starting galloping lightly towards the place. Hopefully, it wasn't occupied by any weird ponies like the ones he met earlier today.

Luckily for him, an unexpected visitor showed up for him instead.

Stopping within his tracks, Naruto found himself utterly stumped at what he was witnessing at the very moment.

It was a filly, lying in the middle of the ground pavement, doing nothing but minding her own business without the slightest care in Equestria.

"Uh Kurama, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

'You mean the devil spawn that's lying in the middle of the road? Yes, I do.'

Ignoring the fox's rude commentary on the little filly, Naruto quietly approached the mare whom was giggling as if there was nothing wrong in this world.

"Hey there, miss." Naruto greeted, trying his very best to not scare the filly away. The blond practically flinched when the filly spun around and stared at him with its big round beady eyes filled with nothing but curiosity and interest. "What are you doing here by all yourself?"

Considering how she showed no signs of giving him any proper answers, the blond began surveying his surroundings, wondering just how the filly managed to get herself here of all places. He then remembered the barn he saw from earlier.

"You wouldn't happen to come from the barn over there, do you?"

Obviously, the filly didn't give a verbal answer to that. But it seem to giggle slightly at his strange gesture.

Naruto sighed. He should've expected as much. "Well, there's only one way to find out."

Scooping the baby filly in his forehoof, Naruto gently placed the raspberry-maned filly on his back.

"Up you go."

Having being not too good with children in his former life, he half expected her to burst out crying from his touch. Much to his amazement, the mare only giggled even further, no doubt excited by the impromptu piggyback ride she was having. She even bounced a few times when she realized just how comfortable his back was.

"You're enjoying yourself back there?" He remarked amusingly, patting her by her mane. "Now let's bring you back home, okay?"

With the little filly secured on his back, he went on ahead and approached the barn. As he got closer to the entrance, the blond could see the large sign that hung over it.

"Sweet…Apple…Acres…" The orange stallion pronounced vaguely, his eyes squinted hard as he tried to process the words on the sign with the bits and knacks of vocabulary knowledge he acquired from Princess Celestia's short but bountiful tutelage. "Oh yeah! This is the farm Cadence once talked about."

From what he heard, the apple family are famous for growing the best apples in Equestria. They even received the acknowledgement of Princess Celestia herself if he recalled correctly.

Heading to the front door, the blond gave the wooden oak door a few knock that seemed to resonate across the whole farm. He waited for any response but received none of such in return, much to his puzzlement.

"Huh. Doesn't look like anypony's home." He pointed out the obvious, ignoring the baby filly tugging on his mane. "Though that would raise more question on where you come from."

The maroon-maned filly merely giggled in return.

'Then drop the devil spawn here and leave. We got other places to go to.' Kurama replied without missing a beat.

Naruto took the obvious route and decided to ignore his partner. He may be occupied but that doesn't mean he should ignore others that are in need; especially a filly lying in the middle of the road. Heck, he might actually have to file a report if it does came to that.

The orange stallion was just about to knock the door once more when he heard something nearby.

"Hey Kurama, did you hear something?"

"You mean the sound of the devil spawn chewing on your hair?"

"What? No! I meant the music!" Naruto retorted before pausing. "Wait, is she actually chewing on my hair?"

Sure enough, the little filly now has found his golden locks to be rather delectable and was now vigorously chewing on a few strands. With a deadpanned look on his muzzle, he whipped his head to remove his unfortunate mane from the confines of the filly's muzzle. The filly simply giggled in return.

"Please, don't do that." He spoke to her as if expecting her to understand him before going back to the current situation at hoof. "Anyway, I could've sworn I heard music somewhere in this area."

Abandoning his first plan of confronting the front door, he stepped off the front foyer and trotted around the farm, making sure to keep a close ear to the music as it got louder and louder to him.

Turning around the corner, he was mildly surprise to come across a multitude of ponies in what seemed to be a party some sort.

"Well, I can see how she got out in the open now."

"You were saying something about avoiding weird ponies?" Kurama pointed out with a smirk.

"Shut up." If looks can kill, the blond wished his murderous look would be strong enough to murder the fox that was residing inside his body. Unfortunately, it wasn't so the blond had to cope with his partner's annoying bark-like laughter that seemed to resonate through his mindscape.

While he was occupied bickering with Kurama on the sidelines, one of the ponies partying noticed his weird demeanor and approached him. It wasn't until he was a few hooves away did Naruto noticed him coming, prompting the orange stallion to straighten his stance out of respectful habit.

"Howdy there, partner, you came just in time for the party!"

Naruto stared at the cowboy hat stallion like he just grew a second head. Having only stayed in Canterlot, the blond was only accustomed to the upper-class ponies' haughty accent. It took him an embarrassingly long time before he processed what the pony just said and came up with a reply for it.

"Uh, hi?" He said as he half-heartedly waved a hoof at him.

Oblivious to his discomfort, the pony grinned before his expression faltered and he gazed at Naruto with the utmost interest. "Say, I've never seen you before…" He asked suspiciously, scrutinizing Naruto from top to bottom, trying to analyze all of his features that were not enshrouded in his cloak. "From which part of the Apple family are you from again?"

At one point, the cowboy was so keen on trying to recognize him that his face was compromisingly close to his own. Still retaining his awkward grin, Naruto figured that enough was enough and took a cautious step backward. "Actually, I'm not—"

Before he could as much as complete his sentence, the cowboy interrupted him, "Oh, I know! You're Golden Delicious' second cousin, aren't you!?"

"Uh no, I'm—"

"Apple Honey's relatives then?"

"No."

Perfect Pie's in-laws?"

"No!"

"Oh, how about Apple Tart's?"

"For the last time, I'm not—"

"Then how about Golden Ha—"

"I'M NOT A PART OF THE APPLE FAMILY!" He screamed, finally having enough of the stallion's non-stop chattering.

Good news, that stopped his rambling. Bad news, he effectively garnered everypony's attention and causing the whole party to screech to a complete halt as well to stare at him.

Glancing around awkwardly, Naruto could do nothing but sheepishly laugh at himself at what he just did. "Uh oh."

"You're not a part of the Apple family?"

He cleared his throat. "Last time I check, no, I'm not."

"Well, why don't you say so then!"

Naruto find himself sweatdropping at that. Despite being the impromptu founders of Ponyville, these ponies sure don't mind when their property is being intruded by strangers…

"But hold on a darn pickin' minute rite there," He said. "If you're not a part of the Apple family then who are you then then?"

…or not.

He cleared his throat. "First off, my name's Naruto Uzumaki. I'm—"

"Naruwhat now?"

The blond deadpanned. "Na-ru-to U-zu-ma-ki." He repeated, emphasizing each syllable carefully.

"Takoyaki Maki?" He said.

The blond held back a muffled groan. "No, its Naru—you know what, that's not important. "Getting straight to the point, Naruto reached behind and showed the ponies the filly he found. "I believe this little filly belongs to you?"

"Wait a sec, isn't that…" Leaning closer, the stallion squinted his eyes hard as he tried to recognize the filly. It took him a good five seconds before his eyes, along with everypony else in the vicinity, went wide in bewilderment.

"Applebloom!?" Everypony cried out in unison.

And that's a wrap for chapter 11!

So im not sure if any of you remembered this but I was planning on finishing the introduction of all the Mane 6 in this chapter but unfortunately, things happened and I had no choice but to put a cliff hanger here and save AppleJack's introduction for the next one. It's a tough choice and it definitely ruined progress in my end so I hope you guys can forgive me for this cliffhanger. We'll make amends for this very soon.