War in Equestria: Eclipse and Dawn

Chapters

Chapter 2:The Immortals Return to Battle
Chapter 3:Artistic Destruction
Chapter 4:The Magician Returns
Chapter 5:Overcoming Differences
Chapter 6:The Rescue Mission
Chapter 7:Obito Returns
Chapter 8:The Final Preparations Are Made
Chapter 9:The Second Battle of Canterlot
Chapter 10:Enlightenment
Chapter 1:The Gathering Storm

Chapter 2:The Immortals Return to Battle

The various factions and their Akatsuki pairs were stationed outside the hut. Obito walked to each one in turn to give them their mission and send them off.

“Sasori, Deidara, and Diamond Dogs! You are to go to Applewood and destroy it. Without their capital of Canterlot, it’s likely the ponies will move their headquarters to somewhere large and at least slightly fortified. Go!”

“Right, boss!” Said Deidara.

They began marching towards the “road” Sasori and Deidara created a week ago.

“Itachi, Kisame, and Griffons! You are to move towards a city that Bronze Claw informed me of that could also be a candidate for the ponies’ new headquarters. It’s called Manehattan. It exists near the water northeast of here. Go!”

Itachi and Kisame nodded, and the group marched towards Manehattan.

“Kakuzu, Hidan, and Changelings! You are to proceed to a town called Baltimare. While it is not exactly a large city, it is still a collection of our enemies. The residents will be mostly civilian, but I still want them dealt with as they can produce food and other supplies for the war effort. Go!”

“As you command. Come, Hidan.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming....”

The army proceeded east towards the city.

“What about us, Obito?” Asked Konan.

“You two have a different mission. I can’t send an army with you as it will be seen and the defenses will be raised. You are going to a city in the clouds called Cloudsdale.”

Konan had studied much about the various races and their abilities, and she knew that only pegasi could walk on clouds.

“But sir, Nagato is a unicorn. He cannot walk on clouds.”

“I’ve already remedied that.” He pulled a small scroll from his robe and gave it Konan. “Use this spell. It allows cloudwalking for a non-pegasus. However, be warned. It’s effects last only for a day. So finish this mission quickly and return with just as much haste.”

Obito began walking away.

“Wait, you didn’t even tell us what we are supposed to do.”

Obito laughed. “Isn’t it obvious? The mission has been the same for everyone else, so far. Kill everyone you see when you arrive and, if possible, destroy the mechanisms that keep the cloud city functioning.”

Obito walked back into the shack and shut the door behind him.

“You heard him, Konan. We should move out now.”

Konan nodded. “Right.”

“Kakuzu! Are we almost there?”

Hidan had been whining like this for the past few hours, and Kakuzu was reaching his limit.

“For the last time, Hidan: This ‘Baltimare’ could be as far away as a three days’ walk. Whining about it won’t help anything. All it does is piss me off. So shut up and find a way to entertain yourself until we get there.”

“Ugh, I hate it when you get this way.....”

“And I hate it when you whine like a child. Some things we just have to deal with unfortunately....”

The group continued to walk on in silence for another hour before coming across a broken wagon. It was missing a wheel, and had a white cover over the back. The driver was waving frantically at the Akatsuki and Changelings.

“What do we do, Kakuzu?” Asked one of the Changelings.

“Hold here. I’ll go talk to him and see what’s going on.”

Kakuzu walked towards the driver, suspicious of what could be under the cover on the back of the wagon.

“Oh thank Celestia somepony finally found us! It’s been hours since anypony has come by!” Said the driver.

“Is there anything I can do to help you get on your way?” Asked Kakuzu.

“Oh, yes! I have a spare wheel and toolbox in the back. Get those out and bring them up front.”

Kakuzu nodded, and walked to the back of the wagon.

He pulled off the covering of the wagon and was accosted by two minotaur waiting in the back!

“I saw this coming. Of course, I thought it would be ponies, not....?”

“Grah! Minotaur are we! And our job is to crush anypony wearing the black and red robes!” Said one of the minotaur.

Hidan ran towards Kakuzu.

“Back off, Kakuzu! I need to sacrifice to Jashin!”

“No, this is my fight. You go wait with the Changelings. This won’t be long.”

“NO! I’m going to-”

“You’re going to listen to my orders, or be sent back to the hideout. Go.”

Hidan scowled and ran back to the army.

Kakuzu turned back to face the minotaur.

“I do not wish to waste my chakra fighting you two when a much larger battle awaits me. So please, for everyone’s sake, stand aside.”

The minotaur laughed. “Can you believe this coward?! He thinks he can take us on that easily! Let’s prove him wrong!”

The two minotaur rushed at Kakuzu.

“Such ignorance....” Said Kakuzu as he propelled his hooves from his body.

Each hoof ran around a minotaur; circling him over and over, before finally a cocoon around each minotaur with the black tentacles attached to the hooves. Kakuzu walked towards his victims.

“Now do you see? I am strong. Strong enough to bat you both away with almost zero effort on my part. Now, before I crush you both, I need to ask: where is Baltimare?”

“You can take your questions and shove ‘em up your flank!” Said one of the minotaur as he spit on Kakuzu.

“Your mannerisms are much like the many people I have killed over the years. Victims are always flushed with foolish pride right before the end. I have yet to be put in your situation, so I wouldn’t know. But enough talking; since you won’t answer my first question, then I’ll ask you a different one.”

“What’s that?”

“Does this hurt?”

Kakuzu began strangling the two minotaur. They screamed in pain, as the tentacles squeezed tighter and tighter. The blood vessels in their eyes ruptured; shooting blood out of their eye sockets like a hose. Within moments, they were dead.

Kakuzu pulled his hooves back to his arms, and, making sure they were connected, walked to the now-trembling driver of the wagon. As he did, he wiped the spit off of his face.

“Since your comrades couldn’t answer my question, I wonder if you can?”

“O- Of course! Ba- Ba- Baltimare is just a sh- short walk down this r -road here. About 2 hours and you’ll be there. I swear!”

“Good answer, and for that, you get a good death.”

The driver couldn't’ even scream as Kakuzu’s hoof shot straight through his torso; tearing out his heart and killing him in one swift motion.

“Hmm, it’s quite young. I could always use another heart.” He said as he opened a hole in his back under one of the masks.

He inserted the heart into the hole, and black tentacles grabbed it; pulling it deep into his body. As the heart disappeared, the hole repaired itself and the mask moved back into position.

The Changelings were stunned, many of their mouths dropped open at the sight of Kakuzu’s ghastly ability.

“Isn’t he just great?” Asked Hidan. “I hate to admit it, but he’s much stronger than me; and that’s not even the half of his abilities. You’ll soon come to fear him. Not like me though, I’m not scared of the big ‘ol softy....”

Kakuzu began walking down the road and called over his shoulder.

“Well? Aren’t you all coming?”

“Of course, sir!” Said one of the Changelings.

The army moved even more quickly than it had been before; motivated to get to Baltimare with such a powerful leader.

Just as the driver had told them, the city was in sight after a few hours walk.

“Ha! Jashin will be pleased with the number of sacrifices I get from this place!”

Kakuzu rolled his eyes. “The Changelings will be killing most of the ponies here. Our job is to provide overwatch in case something happens. As Obito said, most of the opposition will be civilians. However, there is a possibility that the military could be here. That’s where we come in.”

“Are you kidding me?! I don't’ get to kill a single civy?!”

“That is correct. However, since I did kill those three back down the road, I will let you have the first fight yourself.”

Hidan started to smile then stopped. “Wait! You never let me have a fight! What’s going on with you?”

Kakuzu shrugged. “Nothing really. I just don’t feel like fighting, right now. I’ve got a lot on my mind, that’s all.”

Hidan looked at his partner suspiciously.

“Yeah, sure.....”

Hidan began rushing the town, but Kakuzu stopped him.

“Hold on. There’s a plan I’ve formulated to take on the town. I want you to go in solo; but I will have backup standing by in the form of a single squad of Changelings disguised as citizens.”

“Alright, already! I get it, just let me go kill some ponies now!”

Kakuzu nodded. “Let the Changelings go first, then you follow.”

The Changelings shape shifted into four random, pony citizens and trotted into town.

“Alright Hidan, go.”

Hidan rushed straight towards the town. As he approached the gates, two guards stopped him.

“Look! It’s one of THOSE ponies! We have to stop him!”

Hidan laughed. “Go ahead and try, weakling!”

He cut his hoof, and used his blood to draw the mark of Jashin upon the ground.

“Wh- What is he doing?!” Asked one of the frightened guards.

“It doesn't’ matter! We have to stop him at all costs! Do not be stopped by your fear!” Replied the other.

“Right!”

They charged at Hidan, removing swords from their sheaths simultaneously.

“Hahahaha! I do so love it when they resist!”

Hidan swung his scythe out at the ponies. The first guard dodged it, but the other guard was nicked on his thigh.

“Gah!”

“Are you alright?” Said the other guard, stopping by his friend.

“Yeah, I think so; it’s just a scratch!”

Hidan started laughing again. “Oh you have no idea how wrong you are.” He said as he licked the guard’s blood off the scythe.

“Th- That’s sick! Why are you drinking my blood?!”

“Because, I like to have fun with my victims.”

The other guard resumed racing towards the Akatsuki pony.

“I don’t know why you did what you just did, but it doesn't matter! I’m going to kill you right now!”

He swung his sword at Hidan’s head, but it was blocked by the scythe.

“Oh please. Your attacks are as simple as your uniform.”

“Huh?!” Said the confused guard.

“Hey, I just noticed something. Your friend there is incapacitated since he can’t run with torn muscle tissue in his upper leg.”

“Yeah?!” Said the guard still trying to break Hidan’s guard. “What of it?”

“Well, I also have both of your arms, err, legs occupied which means...”

Hidan pulled the pointed rod out from under his sleeve.

“I can kill you first!”

He stabbed the guard straight through his armor, piercing his chest.

“By Celestia, this agony!” He said stumbling back.

“It get’s worse. That was just your lung; which is now collapsed. I’m going to choose something a little bit more painful, this time.”

Hidan stabbed the guard’s sword hoof this time, forcing him to drop his weapon.

“Stop toying with me! Either kill me or let me go!”

Hidan shrugged. “Well, since you have been pretty fun so far, and I’d like to deal with your friend....”

The scythe flew towards the guard’s head, and sent it rolling off his shoulders onto the ground in mere moments.

“STAR RACER!” Screamed the other guard.

“Don’t worry, you’ll soon be joining him. I must get into town, though, and deal with the residents there. So I don’t get to have fun with you.”

He pierced his own heart with the rod. As he did, the other guard fell dead instantaneously.

“So good! I haven’t had a good kill in days!” Hidan kissed his necklace; bearing the symbol of Jashin.

“These kills were for you and you along, my lord. I hope they pleased you.”

Hidan walked into town, which, at this point, was full of activity from people watching what Hidan had just done.

“Alright people, settle down. You’ll be joining them, soon enough!”

The ponies began screaming and running in all directions to get away from Hidan.

“Oh, jeez. Now I have to round them all up; easily done.”

Hidan drew Jashin’s mark on the ground again, and threw his scythe into the crowd. He successfully cut nine more ponies.

“Nine?! FANTASTIC!” Screamed Hidan, as he licked the blood off the scythe.

He pierced his own heart again; killing all nine of the ponies he cut.

“Baltimare will know true fear!” Said Hidan.

“No it won’t! Not as long as we’re here to stop you!”

Hidan looked up into the sky to see six pegasus ponies descend. They were wearing a clear, glass-like armor and had swords at their sides, without sheaths, bearing a similar appearance.

“Who are you supposed to be?”

“We’re Crystal Empire scouts! Your rampaging ends here, with us!” Said the captain.

“Oh please! Look at your GLASS weapons! They’ll shatter the first strike you land on me; provided you can even hit me, of course!”

“I’m going in, sir!” Said one of the Crystal soldiers.

He ran in, sword out, ready to strike.

The pony thrusted forward; but Hidan blocked the strike with his scythe. The two struggled for dominance, while the captain sent two more of his soldiers in to aid the other.

“No; you’re going to fight us!”

The ponies stopped running when four pony citizens jumped in front of them.

“What?! Are the citizens helping this monster?!” Said one of the soldiers.

“No, we’re just not citizens!” The Changelings transformed into their true selves: insect-like ponies with wings to match. They wore no armor; but carried vicious, two-handed axes and swords.

“Changelings! They’re helping the robed ponies?!”

“That’s right! Now, die!”

The two guards began fighting with the the Changelings. The soldiers managed to get a critical hit in; slicing one of the Changelings’ throat open. But there were just too many, and they were cut down shortly afterwards.

The three remaining Changelings look back to see Hidan perform the Death Posession Blood ritual on the guard; killing him, as well.

They turned to face the last two Crystal ponies.

“What are you going to do now, Crystal weaklings?!” Said one of them.

“Sir! Stay behind me!” Said the last guard moving in front of his captain.

The Changelings closed in for the kill while Hidan followed.

“You can’t defeat the Changelings OR the Akatsuki, you little shits!” Said Hidan.

“There’s nothing you can do here, soldier. Report back to the Queen with the information we have gathered. I will hold them off so you may get away.” Said the captain, drawing his sword.

“Sir?! Are you sure?”

“Yes, now go!”

The soldier saluted. “It was an honor, serving with you!” Then flew away into the sky.

The captain looked up at his last soldier fly away, sighed deeply, then charged his enemies.

“FOR THE QUEEN!”

Kakuzu jumped in front of Hidan and the Changelings at that moment.

“STOP! Don’t kill him!” He said.

He released tentacles from his arms and attempted to surround the captain. However, the captain wasn’t going to go down that easily; and sliced the many tentacles in half; over and over again.

“FIne then; try this one!”

Kakuzu unleashed multiple tentacles from under the masks on his back. The captain saw as they grew and grew before finally coming at him.

“You can’t stop the power of the Crystal Empire!” He said, as the tentacles began surrounding him.

Soon, he was turned into a cocoon just like Kakuzu’s other victims from before. He strangled him just enough that the guard lost consciousness; but remained alive.

“What gives, Kakuzu?! We could've taken him!” Said Hidan.

“That’s not the point! Didn’t you hear his soldier address him earlier as “captain”? That implies he’s a little higher up the food chain and may offer some useful intelligence to our forces.”

Hidan was silent for a moment. “Oh! That does make sense. Heh, thanks for stopping me then, Kakuzu.”

Kakuzu ignored Hidan’s comment and turned to the Changelings.

“You three take this prisoner back to the hideout. Don’t worry; he won’t wake up for at least another 3 hours. I suffocated blood flow from his body to his brain completely. His body will be in a shutdown state until the time limit is up; so he won’t make any trouble for you.”

The Changelings saluted.

“Yes, sir!” And flew away carrying the Crystal captain.

“Now, Hidan. Our mission is complete; so you are free to do what you want with the rest of the civilians.”

Hidan looked confused. “I thought our job was to destroy this city?”

“In a way. Obito pulled me aside before we left the shack and told me to gather information mostly; since Baltimare is supposed to be a big trade hotspot. Stock market that kind of thing. So he figured information here would be more valuable.”

“SO HE DIDN'T TELL ME, DID HE?!” Screamed Hidan.

“Calm down. I told you, didn’t I? Besides, there are hundred of ponies for you to sacrifice to your god now and I won’t interfere. Consider it an early birthday present.”

“Happy Birthday to me!” Said Hidan, smiling.

He ran down the street to get closer to where all the ponies ran to.

Kakuzu went back to where the Changeling army was.

“Our job is complete. We will return to the hideout while Hidan has his fun.”

“Yes sir!” They said in unison.

“QUEEN! PRINCESSES!” Screamed the Crystal soldier; tearing through the royal hallway to get to the Throne Room.

He busted down the door while Queen Esmerelda and Princess Luna were discussing strategies.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Said Princess Luna.

“I have urgent news from Baltimare! Two of the robed ponies and some Changelings appeared. They killed numerous citizens and my comrades!”

“Oh my. This is far more dire than we believed, Luna.” Said Esmerelda.

Luna stood and began pacing the room.

“It seems they have allies, too. Who knows who else could be assisting them? This war has taken a turn for the worse on our part!”

“Princess, Queen! You should also know we discovered the name of the robed ponies.”

They both perked up and faced the soldier; Luna even stopped pacing.

“Well? Out with it!” Said Luna.

“They call themselves Akatsuki.”

Chapter 3:Artistic Destruction

“Ah! Leatherhorn please, enter.” Said Luna.

The leaders had all gathered to discuss the news the soldier had brought Luna and Esmerelda just a few hours ago.

“So what’s this all about, anyway? I was in the middle of a wedding; and being as you aren’t minotaur, you won't know how fun it is.” Said Leatherhorn as he sat down at the table.

“We’ve just received some good and bad news.” Said Luna. “Bad news first: the Changelings are working with the robed ponies.”

Everyone in the room gasped.

“What?! I didn’t even think there were any of those vile creatures left!” Said Thunderhooves.

“Yes, I know you’re all upset; but please, let me tell me you the good news, now. The name of the robed ponies is the Akatsuki.”

“What good does knowing their name do for us? We could already identify them by looks and abilities.” Said Twilight.

“Ah, but you see, I have a special friend here who will help us in a highly unusual way that none of you have ever seen. Not even you, sister.”

Celestia looked at her sister inquisitively.

Luna beckoned for a guest to come into the room from outside. He was a zebra carrying a crystal ball wearing a brown robe with a hood.

“This is Ufur; a friend of mine from the zebra territory south of here. He has the ability to peer into other dimensions!”

“What?! How can such a power exist?” Said Leatherhorn.

“Never mind how it exists, just be glad it does. Watch now, as he peers into the ball and tells us where these Akatsuki are from.”

Ufur nodded and placed his head close to the ball; rubbing it slowly.

“Well we know where they’re from. They’re ponies; so they hail from Equestria.” Said Leatherhorn.

Luna shook her head. “No, they’ve told us before they’re not from here. I didn’t believe them at first, myself. However, looking at how the earth ponies and pegasus among them wield magical abilities, I believe them when they say they are aliens to us.”

“I’ve found it!” Said Ufur.

“What have you found, my friend?” Asked Luna.

“They come from a land named Konoha. The world is divided by several nations; each hosting small towns and large villages. The Akatsuki’s members each hailed from a village; and they betrayed it in some way before joining the organization.”

Everyone looked confused. “Huh? What are you talking about?” Inquired Thunderhooves.

“Shh! Let him finish!” Said Luna.

Ufur continued. “ Each one of them is labeled as an S-Rank missing nin; which means they are the highest level of criminal in their land. The members each boast such power; that one of them even destroyed a whole nation by himself! Something else you might want to know: each member works with a partner that they are almost always with.”

Ufur pulled back from the ball. “That is all I can offer, I’m afraid. I hope it helps you some.”

With that, he picked up his ball and walked out of the Throne Room; closing the door behind him.

“Well at least we learned something. Each one of them, even their weakest members, is most likely stronger than any soldier we have. Including the minotaur, buffalo, and Crystal Ponies.”

The leaders all nodded. “I hate to admit, but you’re right. I don’t have a single soldier that could destroy a whole village by themselves.” Said Leatherhorn.

“What do we do then, Princess Luna?” Asked Esmerelda.

“We do what we can. We must keep our armies away from the Akatsuki and engage them individually ourselves.”

“You hear Ufur, though.” Said Twilight. “They each have a partner they are rarely apart from; and we’ve fought two of them before. Had their leader not shown up to take them away, they could’ve killed us!”

Celestia nodded. “She is right, sister. I don’t think we have a good strategy to work with, right now.”

“I think I do, though.” Said Esmerelda. “If they are going to work in pairs, why don’t we?”

The other leader sat quiet for a moment.

“That could work, as long as we don’t engage the two from before who destroyed Canterlot.” Said Celestia.

“Fine, how shall we divide ourselves up in groups?”

“I’ll team up with you, Queen.” Said Twilight.

“I’ll work with Leatherhorn, then.” Said Thunderhooves.

“Very well; I shall be partnered with you, sister.” Said Luna.

Celestia nodded. “I like this idea. So we have no complaints from anypony about their partner, right?”

No one said anything.

“Very well, then we need to move on to the next topic: finding a headquarters for the Confederation. Canterlot is destroyed; and we can’t stay here much longer. Any suggestions?”

“You could always come to my camp.” Said Thunderhooves.

“A polite offer; but we need someplace more protected.”

“Well, the threat is in Equestria. So we can’t set up HQ in my lands or Leatherhorn’s.” Said Esmerelda.

“Baltimare has already been attacked; so I suggest we use Applewood. The hills and mountains surrounding the city make it a good defensive spot in case of attack. The city itself also has fairly high walls built around it; doubling our protection.” Said Luna.

“I agree; it’s most likely our best spot to go with.” Said Thunderhooves.

“Good, then it’s settled. We will move our headquarters to Applewood ASAP. To ensure everypony involved has a stake there, I suggest we each front one hundred troops each to the defense of Applewood.” Said Celestia.

“I’m fine with that.” Said Leatherhorn.

“I agree, as well.” Said Thunderhooves.

Twilight and Esmerelda nodded to each other. “Me and Twilight makes four.”

“I have already sent a messenger telling one hundred of my best guards to go to Applewood!” Said Luna, as one of her troops flew out the window.

Celestia nodded. “Very well then. You should all return to you armies and select who will go. This meeting is adjourned.”

“There it is, Deidara. Applewood City.”

“Hehehe, I can’t wait to give the ponies there a little taste of my art.”

“Excuse me, but I believe WE’RE the ones that are going to be showing the ponies our abilities!” Said Rover, a medium-sized, grey Diamond Dog.

Sasori, Deidara, and a small army of Diamond Dogs were standing on a hill overlooking Applewood.

“He’s right, Deidara. They are tasked with tunneling under the city and weakening the ground supporting the buildings and streets. They will try to envelope the city in dirt, gravel and soil. An ingenious plan; which is why we are backup in case things go “unexpectedly” above ground.”

“All the same to me; I still get to blow up anyone that tries to stop us!”

Sasori nodded to his partner. “Yes, but don’t forget I’ll be fighting too, you know.”

“Can we go now?” Interrupted Spot, a small, brown Diamond Dog.

“Of course.”

The dogs squealed with delight, and began rapidly tunneling into the ground. Within a few minutes, they had a tunnel halfway to Applewood’s exterior!

“Hmm! I must admit: they are quite talented at what they do. But why did we have to work with them, again?”

“Because we’ve already been to Applewood once before. Therefore, it wasn’t only logical we accompany them here.”

Deidara rolled his eyes. “Whatever, I’d still rather be in Cloudsdale.”
“It’s almost time to move.” Said Sasori, ignoring Deidara’s comment.

They looked to see the Diamond Dogs’ tunnel protrude slightly above ground at the front gates of the city.

The guards at the gate looked down as they felt the ground shake.

“What the...?” Said one of the guards.

The tunnel protrusion knocked both guards off their hooves, moving past them and into town.

“Heeheehee! I love this job!” Said Fido, a blue-colored Diamond Dog; also the biggest one.

They made into the center of town and could hear the the ponies above them.

“What’s that thing? Is it a giant mole or something?” Said one of the ponies.

“Grr! They called us moles! I don’t like that one bit!”

Rover hit Spot on the back of the head. “Focus! Remember we have a job to do for Mr. Obito!”

The dogs continued tunneling around the ponies’ hooves. The tunnel grew larger, and spiraled around Applewood.

“Alright, Sasori! I’m going in!”

Deidara created a clay bird, jumped on, and flew towards the city.

“Deidara! You were supposed to wait for me, but I guess I’ll sit this one out and watch what you do. While I’m waiting, I should see if my armor was brought here with me.”

Sasori searched through his robes, looking for a scroll.

“Ah! Here it is!”

He removed a scroll from his robe and summoned its’ contents-a large, hunchbacked puppet with a black bandit mask across its’ face. This puppet’s name was Hiruko, a puppet Sasori “wore” like armor. He donned Hiruko as Deidara grew close to the city.

“Interesting, my voice doesn’t change while inside Hiruko. Not like it did back in Konoha, anyway. If that’s different, I wonder if...”

Sasori looked down his robe at his chest.

“Heh, THAT hasn’t changed then. Good”

Deidara arrived and looked around at the intricate, marble buildings that made up most of the city. He noticed the large, white word sprawled across the hill to the north-Applewood.

“Hahaha! You ponies sure do have some decent art! Hm! But I believe mine is superior!”

His hooves travelled to the bags on his side, and resurfaced with clay molded from mouths on his hooves; the kinjutsu of his village.

He molded the clay into several small birds, then released them from his hands. As they flew towards the ponies and buildings, Deidara enlarged them with this chakra so they grew to 3x their original size.

“This town will know real art!”

One of the birds zoomed towards a magenta mare curled up on the ground in fear.

“Katsu!”

The bird exploded and the mare’s front leg was blown clean off. She went unconscious for a few moments before breathing her last breath.

“Hahahaha! Who’s next?!”

“We will be your next combatants!”

Deidara turned around to see Princess Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and Queen Esmerelda flying towards him. There two others on the ground that he couldn’t make out.

Sasori saw the ponies approach as well.

“It seems Deidara will be fighting more enemies than even he can handle. I suppose I should help, even though he doesn’t deserve it.” He said as he began walking towards his partner and the new arrivals.

“Oh, I remember you! Well, at least the purple one anyway. You’re the one my man Sasori was fighting back in that city on the mountainside.” Said Deidara.

“It was called Canterlot! You ponies will pay for what you did to it!” Said Twilight.

“Hmm! As much as I would’ve liked to destroy your pitiful city, it was Pain that did that. But, I do get to destroy this town instead, which makes up for it!”

“You won’t now that we’re here!” Said Luna.

“Princesses! Bring him down here so we can help you!” Said Leatherhorn.

Celestia shook her head. “No, this is our fight. There’s other trouble in town, it seems. Could be giant moles judging by the size of the tunnels protruding up from the ground. Take care of them.”

“Right!” Said Thunderhooves.

He and Leatherhorn ran into town to deal with the “moles”.

“I saw Pain fighting you two.” Said Deidara gesturing towards Luna and Celestia. “But you’re new, what’s your story?” He pointed at Esmerelda.

“I am Queen Esmerelda of the Crystal Empire! Know my name well, for I will be the one to end your horrid life!”

‘She could be as tough as the other two, in which case I won’t win.’ Thought Deidara. ‘I should back out and get my man Sasori to help me out here.’

“I’d love to fight you both, but I’m afraid I have urgent business elsewhere. I’ll be seeing you!”

Deidara flew off as fast as he could, luring the three Princesses and Esmerelda away from the city.

“Well, it looks like he’s taken evasive maneuvers.” Said Sasori. “Guess he doesn’t need my help, anymore.”

He looked down towards the city to see the Diamond Dogs surface. Half of the city began collapsing from the weakened foundation. He noticed Chief Thunderhooves and Leatherhorn run at the Diamond Dogs.

“But I think I know some hounds that could use my aid.”

“I’m hungry! Can you take over while I get a bite to eat?” Asked one of Hotaka’s guards to another.

“Sure, my prisoner is sleeping right now. But you better be quick.”

“Of course!” The guard said as he ran upstairs.

The other guard looked into Hotaka’s cell.

“Ah, you’re that pony that Princess Twilight captured a few days ago. I heard you got some strange abilities.”

Hotaka was sitting in the middle of the room, quietly concentrating.

“You’re a quiet one, aren’t you? Good, I don’t like prisoners being rowdy.”

He turned around and faced the hallway.

What the guard didn't’ realize was Hotaka was focusing all of his remaining chakra to his hooves. Since his wand had been confiscated by Cadence when he was captured, he was crippled ninjutsu wise. Crippled, but not fully destitute of ninjutsu.

He had been chakra charging for two days straight, and now the time had come to execute his escape plan.

“Where is that lazy guard at? Seriously how long does it tak-”

“Earth Style: Golem’s Fist!”

A large rock in the shape of a clenched fist punched a hole straight through the wall and door of his cell. The guard was crushed against the wall of the other cell.

“Huh, a little more kick than I thought it would have!” Hotaka said as he walked over the rubble to the staircase.

“Oh that was fantastic! That cook sure is nice to make me a sandwich like that!”

The guard made it to the bottom of the stairs to see Hotaka out of his cell and the other guard lying dead.

“Hello there! I never thought I would get to meet you outside of my cell!”

The guard pulled his sword and rushed at Hotaka, but his hooves were already together.

“Earth Style: Needle Floor!”

Several pointed rocks jutted out of the floor, impaling the guard.

“Yo- you mon...ster.” Said the guard as blood gushed from his mouth.

“Monster? No, no, no! I am more of a magician! You, of course, are dead, though.”

The guard’s eyes grew large, and he tried to speak. As he did, his head fell, and his eyes closed forever.

“Some people, in this case ponies, never learn.”

Hotaka walked to the box in the corner where prisoners' items were stored. He looked through the items, and found his robes and wand stored inside.

"Good, it would be a nightmare if I didn't get my wand back."

He snuck upstairs and peeked around the corners. No guards were around, so he crept to the front doors and exited the castle. What he saw outside surprised him-the whole city was leveled; buildings torn apart, and bodies decaying in the streets.

“What happened here?! Did the Akatsuki attack while I was captured?!”

Hotaka realized what happened. “Pain was must’ve destroyed the town and just didn’t know I was captured. I need to find my comrades!”

Hotaka ran out the city gates, and proceeded down the path on the side of the mountain. Within a few minutes he reached ground level and looked around to get his bearings.

“I have no idea where I am. How am I supposed to find them?”

As he spoke out loud to himself, he noticed explosions occurring west of his postion.

“That HAS to be Deidara!”

He quickened his pace towards what he hoped was his comrade.

“I hope Rokuro is alright, too. I wonder where he is? Even more important-is he OK?”

“Oh look, Rover! It’s a minotaur and a buffalo! I haven't seen either of those, before!” Said Spot.

“Diamond Dogs! I should’ve guessed it wasn’t ‘giant moles’!” Said Leatherhorn.

“Get ‘em Fido!” Said Rover.

The big dog charged at Leatherhorn.

“How dare you mock me!” Said Leatherhorn, as he dodged the dog’s charge and struck him in the back with his horns.
The dog yelped in pain and fell on the ground.

Leatherhorn began walking towards him; ready to finish what he started.

“You are such a fool for mocking me. You charged at me like an imbecile thinking I would be that easy! Not only was it foolish, it angers me for you to underestimate me, like that! Pay for your hubris!”

The minotaur rammed his head towards the cringing Diamond Dog, but he was blocked by something long and metallic.

“What?!”

Sasori, wearing his Hiruko puppet, had blocked the attack with Hiruko’s long, steel scorpion-like tail.

“Now, now. I can’t have you hurting my comrades, barbarian.”

Chapter 4:The Magician Returns

“There it is, Konan. The floating city of Cloudsdale.”

Konan stopped to catch her breath, and gaze upon the floating pegasus city.

“Nagato, here’s the scroll.” Said Konan, giving Pain the scroll containing a spell for allowing him to walk on clouds.

“Excellent, we’d best get on with it, then.”

Pain unrolled the scroll, and let Konan read it. It didn’t take her long to comprehend the spell.

“Are you ready, Nagato?”

Pain nodded. “Do it.”

Konan focused chakra in her horn until it was glowing a bright green, then unleashed the energy on Pain.

He was surrounded by the energy, and started levitating.

“Konan, is this supposed to happen?”

“Yes, the spell makes the user ‘home in’ on the nearest cloud; which is, in this case, Cloudsdale itself.”

Konan flapped her wings and flew up with Pain. They both landed on the largest cloud that served as a landing area for pegasi arriving to Cloudsdale. Just a short distance from where they were standing was the golden gate that led into the city itself.

Three guards who were shooting the breeze, turned around to see them land.

“Hey! You’re those Akatsuki ponies we’ve been hearing about!” Said one of them.

“Since you know who we are, then you would also know it’s wise to stand aside.” Said Pain.

“Well, it looks like we’re all out of brains, since we’re not letting you by!” Said another guard, drawing his sword.

This prompted the other guards to do the same, and they rushed Pain.

“Almighty Push!”

The three guards were sent flying back; but since all they hit were clouds, they reared up and charged again.

“Allow me, Nagato.”

Konan stepped forward, and turned her hooves to paper. She shot the paper shuriken at the guards.

“Huh? Paper?! What does she think she’s gonna do wi-”

The guard was cut off as the paper shuriken struck him and his comrades; tearing small holes all over their bodies. Blood seeped from their wounds, and they passed out from blood loss.

Konan saw they weren't dead, and threw more shuriken into the unconscious ponies' bodies; effectively finishing what she had started.

Pain nodded approvingly. “Well done. Let’s keep moving.”

Konan and Pain continued through the gate into Cloudsdale. As they entered the city, numerous ponies screamed and ran away from the duo.

“Konan, I must rest from using the Almighty Push. You will take care of these.” Said Pain, as he sat down.

The Almighty Push was an ability used by Pain’s Deva Path, Yahiko, in life. His ability to manipulate gravitational forces allowed him to use such abilities, and when Nagato used the shinobi’s body as one of his paths, the ability was retained. However, use of the Almighty Push is limited to once every five minutes; due to the incredible strain the jutsu puts on the body.

Konan nodded, and put her hooves together.

She sent out numerous paper squares that created a rapidly rotating wall in front of, and around all of the fleeing ponies.She closed off the wall, and flew up above the ponies.

When she reached her pinnacle height, more paper squares appeared that formed a large spear-like object with a sharp point.

“Shikigami Dance!”

The spear sped towards the ponies, who were grouped very close together because of the paper wall. It pierced the chest of one victim, then exploded; shooting numerous shards of paper everywhere. They flew into other ponies and killed them as swiftly as the first.

The paper wall subsided, and Konan flew back down to the cloud. She counted the bodies to see how many she killed.

‘Forty-three?! I’ve never killed that many people with one jutsu,’ she thought, ‘then again, they are ponies.’

With all the civilians dead in the streets, Konan took a rest beside her partner.

“You know the guards will be here in approximately 1 minute.” Said Pain.

“Your guess is a lot less lenient than mine. I’d say at least a minute and a half.”

The two waited, and sure enough, a large group of guards appeared from around a corner way down the street.

“Will you fight them?”

Pain shook his head. “No, I would prefer to wait for the leader of these ponies and fight him. You haven’t had a real chance to fight in this new world until now.”

Konan nodded, and turned to see the guards were almost upon her.

The first three drew swords, and attempted to strike Konan, who had constructed a shield from her paper.

“What kind of a pegasus can make a shield out of paper?! How can she even manipulate the forces of magic?!”

“I am no normal pegasus. I’ve figured that much out already and you should have, too.”

Konan separated some paper from the shield and used the fragments to create a sword which she used to clash with the guards’ swords.

The guards struggled furiously to fight her; but chakra isn’t like normal human energy. She began to overpower them, before finally stopping their block and slicing through two of them.

The final guard looked down at his two dead comrades, then back up at the unusual pegasus.

“Please! Don’t kill me!” He said, dropping his sword. “I have a family!”

Konan looked back at Pain. “Can we let this one go?”

“No.”

Konan turned back to the guard and thrust her paper sword into his chest; spilling blood all over the clouds.
The guard fell to his knees, and looked up at Konan; fear in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, but orders are orders.”

The guard tried to mumble something, but fell over onto his side; dead before his words could be heard by Konan.

The other guards down the street saw what happened, and flew away.

“Nagato, what about....”

“I’ll take care of them.”

“Gah! Get away from me!”

Deidara was flying away from the three Princesses and Esmerelda. He had thrown every weapon he had at them, but they just kept dodging.

“We will never leave the likes of you alone! We will hunt you down to the ends of Equestria! Of our entire world, if need be!” Said Esmerelda.

She rushed forward, using all of her energy, and plowed straight into Deidara’s owl.

“What the hell are you doing?!”

The owl’s body was incinerated almost instantly from the energy stored in her horn.

Deidara jumped off the destroyed owl, and fell towards the ground. As he was falling, he noticed a large tree and move himself towards it. He fell into the tree and was injured, but not dead like he could’ve been.

The pony leaders descended to look for the Akatsuki member.

“Where is he? I could’ve sworn I saw him land here somewhere!” Said Twilight.

Deidara had tumbled to the bottom of the tree, and jumped into a nearby shrub to hide. From there he scouted out his surroundings.

They were no longer near civilization; there was a large mountain directly ahead, with a grassy field at the base of it. Trees, shrubs, flowers, and other plants were scattered around.

“Damn! There’s no way I can fight all of THEM at once! Even Pain, although he won’t admit it, had trouble fighting two of them!”

While the ponies were looking for Deidara, another pony ran straight towards them.

Luna looked up to see him arrive.

“Who art thou that comes before us?” She said.

The unicorn glared at Luna. “I am Hotaka the Mind Reader! Now, I would be pleased if you would answer your own question.”

Twilight turned at the sound of his voice. She knew who it was.

“Get back, Princess Luna! That’s the Akatsuki Cadence and I captured!

Hotaka glanced at Twilight.

“Ah! I remember you! You’re that impudent whelp that captured me along with that other one. The pink one, what was her name again?”

“CADENCE! Her name was Cadence! One of your people killed her, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it was you!”

“Hahahaha! Amusing you would think I could kill someone whilst weaponless sitting behind half a foot of concrete and metal bars! I was still in your custody when she died. However, describe the battle field and I might be able to tell you who killed your friend.”

Twilight growled in anger. “It was a strange pony, one who wielded many yellow-cloaked beings I have never seen before. They carried many weapons, including poison. That is the one who killed Princess Cadence. Are those not your abilities?!”

Hotaka laughed. “No, certainly not. But I do know who it was who murdered Cadence, now. I will tell you, but first, you must beat me in single combat. You must kill me by yourself; no help from these others.”

Twilight knew it was a risky move, but her love for Cadence was so strong, she dismissed the notion of fighting with her fellow Princesses and Queen. She had to know who it was who struck down her brother’s wife.

“You have a deal.”

The others’ mouths dropped open in surprise.

“Twilight! Is it really that important to know? You could lose to this pony! Do you remember when Luna and I fought the pony in Canterlot? How we were almost defeated? You could lose your life!” Said Celestia.

“I know. But it really is that important. I’m sorry Princess, but I’m going to need you to stay out of this.”

Hotaka laughed. “Splendid! Then if you’ll follow me.”

He walked further out into the field, gaining distance between himself and Twilight’s allies.

Deidara smiled with glee.

'This is fantastic! Hotaka shows up to take the attention off me, and even managed to get one of those bitches to fight him in single combat! No one can beat Hotaka one-on-one except Itachi and Nagato!'

Twilight sighed deeply, and looked up at the sky. She saw the clouds listing lazily across the sky and birds chirping happily. This was life; and she was about to risk it all for knowledge of something that didn’t matter anymore. But to her, this knowledge was more priceless than all of the information she had obtained from her entire book collection. To her, the risk was worth it.

She looked back to Hotaka, to see him draw a small metal object from his robe.

“Now, are you ready to begin?”

Hotaka didn’t wait for Twilight to respond. He move his wand forward, then pulled it back sharply.

“Water Style: Tears of the Heavens!”

Large globs of water the size of boulders fell from the sky. Twilight was startled and began flying in various arcs to dodge the falling water.

“I’ve fought you before! There is no way I can lose!”

The jutsu subsided, and Twilight stood unscathed by the magician’s ninjutsu.

“You may have fought me before. But that doesn’t mean you’ve seen all my tricks!”

Hotaka moved his wand again.

The sky became grey; and much cloudier than it had been.

“You can change the weather?!” Said Twilight.

“As I’ve said, you haven’t seen all the tricks up my sleeve!”

The wand moved forward, pointing towards the Princess.

“Lightning Style: Five-Pronged Surge!”

A very large lightning bolt descended from the sky, right at Twilight!

She gasped, but moved quickly to avoid it.

It struck the ground with a sickening crack, and left a small crater in its’ wake.

She breathed a sigh of relief, but panicked when she heard more thunder and looked up to see yet another lightning bolt!

She flew quickly, and dodged the second bolt, and it struck the ground creating another crater as usual.

Twilight knew the speed and energy she was using to dodge these bolts would wear her out quickly, and that wasn't’ good considering the fight had only begun.

“I don’t get it! A second one? Why was there a sec-.” She stopped when she figured out the obvious.

“Five prongs! That means....”

“Hehehe! Three more bolts for you, your highness!”

Two of the said bolts fell at the same; forcing the Princess to duck and weave through both of them. She dodged one of them, but the second one pursued her just like Deidara’s birds!

This bolt was quicker, and was slowly gaining on her. She looked frantically around for something to help her, when she saw the mountain.

Twilight flew over the mountain, and down the other side quickly, and waited for only a moment as the thunder bolt struck the other side of the mountain; creating a large hole all the way through the rock!

She breathed a sigh of relief, but then remembered something: there was supposed to be another bolt!

Twilight looked frantically about, but couldn’t find what she was looking for. Suddenly, the bolt appeared and ran straight at her at unbelievable speed! It must’ve been at least twice as fast as the previous bolt!

“I’m too tired! I can’t dodge this one...I’m sorry, Cadence, big brother. I couldn’t redeem your sacrifice....I’m sorry....”

She laid down to prepare for death, but the bolt vanished!

Twilight looked all around and saw the the bolt had indeed disappeared! That’s when she saw the unicorn laughing.

“Good show, Princess! You really are as weak as you look! I just wanted to prove to you that I could defeat you. See, my junior will be the one to take your life! I know this wasn’t the deal, but my junior, whose name I won’t disclose to you, is the one who killed Cadence. Figure out the blanks for yourself!”

Deidara saw his chance, and jumped out of hiding. He created another owl, jumped on, and flew towards Hotaka.

“Hey! Jump on, let’s get out of here!”

Hotaka looked surprised, but just nodded and jumped on the owl. The two flew away, leaving four stunned ponies in their wake.

Twilight watched them fly away and growled in anger.

“Ok then, ‘junior.’ Whoever you are, I’m coming for you!”

Hotaka looked back to see the purple Princess still laying on the ground; staring at them as they flew away.

“So, Deidara. Where exactly are we going?” He said, turning back to the artist.

“I’m taking you to our hideout. Rokuro hasn’t seen you since you got here, and I think you two should be reunited. Hmm!”

“Yes, I should see him. But I did want to ask something, why did no one come looking for me?”

“We did, but we couldn’t find you. We had assumed you were being held in that big city Pain destroyed, but, since the city was destroyed, we also assumed you were killed unintentionally.”

“I see. There was no malice then. Let’s hurry to the hideout; I wish to see young Rokuro.”

“Guard duty at this measly shack? Do the ponies even know THIS is our hideout?!” I said, thinking out loud to myself.

The wind was blowing, and it felt great; since it was hot outside. I hadn’t entered the shack for a few hours. Obito had forbid me from leaving this post for anything.

“Well, he didn’t say anything about taking a snooze if I got tired. After all, I’ve been standing here for hours and I don’t really think anyone's’ going to find this place.”

I yawned, and laid down; putting my head in my hooves and drifting off to sleep.

While I was sleeping, I had a dream that I still remember to this day. In it, I was walking in a quiet forest. Suddenly, a large brown bear appeared on a rock in front of me. He was fearsome, and had other bears with him, too. But they were all different: there was a polar bear, panda bear, and grizzly bear.

I felt scared, and started to back up. But I bumped into something, and turned to see an even larger brown bear behind me. However, this bear looked down at me with reassuring eyes, and didn’t frighten me. Why didn’t this bear frighten me?

The other bears roared at the new arrival, but the larger bear roared back; scaring them away. I watched them run in fear and I felt happy, yet strange; like I shouldn’t be happy the four bears ran away.

I started to thank the large bear, but noticed he was walking away. I tried to chase after him, but he moved faster and faster. Soon, I was all alone in the forest.

I awoke with a start, as I heard a large explosion only a few feet from my ear. I looked up to see Deidara laughing.

“Heh! Told you that’d wake him up!”

“Deidara! Why’d you wake me? I was having the greatest dream!”

“Because someone’s here to see you! Hmm!”

“Who?”

I looked around, and then I saw Hotaka walk out from behind a corner of the shack.

“Hello, Rokuro.”

Chapter 5:Overcoming Differences

Chapter 5: Overcoming Differences

“What?! Who are you calling barbarian?!”

Leatherhorn had tried to attack and kill the Diamond Dog known as Fido, but was blocked by the scorpion tail of Hiruko, Sasori’s puppet armor.

Fido saw his chance to get away, and ran back to the other Diamond Dogs, who proceeded to return to their underground tunnel and continue eroding the foundation of the city.

Leatherhorn jumped back, to get a better look at his attacker. It was a hunched over being, with a black bandana worn over its’ mouth. Its’ hair was arranged into cornrows that were gelled up. Leatherhorn saw the black robes with red clouds and knew it was an Akatsuki member.

“Huh? The Princesses and the Queen warned us about you! You’re one of those Atoki guys, right?”

“Akatsuki,” Said Sasori correcting him, “yes, I am one of them. Which means you know already that you’re dead, seeing as you’ve heard of my comrades’ achievements.”

“Leatherhorn!” Said Thunderhooves running to his side. “I know you hold feelings of great disdain towards me,and the feeling is mutual, believe me. But if we’re going to have any chance of beating him, you need to work with me here.”

Leatherhorn nodded. “Right! We can kill this weakling!”

“I have yet to fight anyone from this land, but you two seem like good first kills, to me.”

Leatherhorn and Thunderhooves charged towards Sasori, horns out.

Hiruko’s tail moved quickly towards them; extended from his back to get the distance it needed to reach the two leaders.

“That thing can actually grow in length?!” Said Thunderhooves, as he and Leatherhorn made contact.

The tail was viciously strong, and the two fought hard to overpower it.

“It’s pointless. This tail is made from tempered steel and then reinforced with Hiruko’s own chakra. It’s impossible to break it with simple strength.”

Slowly, the tail began to push them back, then flung them away.

Thunderhooves and Leatherhorn struck a large building, but weren't’ gravely injured.

While the two were standing up, Sasori was walking towards them; swinging his tail violently into nearby buildings.

“Resistance is futile. Just give up, and I will end it quickly.”

“Never! We will never stand by as you Akatsuki destroy Equestria!” Said Leatherhorn, who charged at Sasori again.

The tail flew at him, but he dodged it. The tail retracted, and proceeded to stab at him over and over again; but Sasori just couldn’t hit his mark.

The minotaur closed the distance, and smashed his horns into Hiruko. He penetrated the puppet, hitting Sasori inside.

“Hyah!” Said Sasori from within Hiruko.

The minotaur removed himself from Hiruko, proud of defeating the puppet.

“It’s over! Now come with me; we have much to discuss.”

Sasori tried to stand up, but realized the wound to the puppet’s frame was too much, Hiruko was unable to move, but he still had one weapon left.

“I have a better idea; how about I stay here and you go to hell!”

Hiruko’s bandana fell off, and his mouth opened. Hundreds of poisoned needles poured out, flying at Leatherhorn and Thunderhooves.

“What in th-”

Leatherhorn was struck by dozens of the needles; being only a feet from Hiruko’s mouth, and fell to the ground; writhing in agony.

“LEATHERHORN!!!!” Screamed Thunderhooves.

But he quickly forgot about his fallen friend when he noticed the poisoned senbon still approaching. He leapt to the side, but noticed the width of the poisoned needles’ spread still left him in their path.

“Fine! If I can’t dodge them, then I’ll endure them!”

True to his word, Thunderhooves ran straight into the needles, not giving in to the pain or falling down because of the poison’s strength.

“What?! He’s surviving the poison?! Impossible!”

The buffalo came closer and closer before finally arriving to his target.

“This is for Leatherhorn, you monster!”

Thunderhooves crashed straight into Sasori with all his might, destroying what was left of the crippled Hiruko.

Sasori jumped away from the destroyed puppet, and turned to face his adversary.

“I must admit; not many people can say they’ve destroyed that one. Hiruko was taken down in battle only twice, this being the third time. But that doesn’t matter now, I can see the poison is already starting to take effect since your adrenaline levels have dropped.”

Thunderhooves stopped smiling, when he felt Sasori spoke the truth. He fell to the ground, clutching at his chest.

Sasori chuckled quietly. “I could kill you, but it would just be a waste to summon a puppet to kill two nobodies. Still, you’re both nobodies that managed to destroy my Hiruko puppet, so you will suffer for that.”

Sasori began walking away, but a Diamond Dog popped his head up from underground to speak with him.

“Excuse me, Sasori sir! But some of the other dogs had a question about citizens. Do we leave them be, or kill them?”

“Kill them if they get in your way, but once the job is completed, you’re free to kill all of them if you wish.”

The dog exploded in evil laughter, then dove back down underground.

Sasori continued walking, but stopped.

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot.”

He turned back towards Leatherhorn and Thunderhooves.

“You will lie here in agony, suffering. Your less vital organs, like your liver, intestines, and spleen, will fail. Then more vital organs will follow, and you will die. The whole process is highly unpleasant. as it will take you three days to die.”

Sasori turned away, and left Leatherhorn and Thunderhooves to moan in despair.

Luna, Celestia, and Esmerelda had decided to go back to a destroyed Canterlot to see if any of the other prisoners had escaped. Twilight said she wanted to go check on Applewood.

“Are you sure? You saw what that one you just fought did! He could’ve killed you if he wanted to!” Said Esmerelda.

“No, this is something I must do. You said that is to be our new capital since Canterlot is gone,so that’s where I’m going.”

Luna and Esmerelda nodded together. “Very well, do what you feel is right.”

They both flew into the sky, and Celestia was about to join them when Twilight pulled on her.

“Wait, there’s something I want to ask you before you go.”

“What is it, Twilight?”

“I think we’re going to need to use the Elements of Harmony at some point if we want to defeat these Akatsuki. But we can’t since Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash......”

“I know. So let me tell you a story from my youth that my teachers taught us.”

Celestia began. “In the long ages before now, Equestria was at peace with all nations that surrounded it; even the dragons dared not attack anypony outside of their borders or within. However, one day there came a new enemy; one that had not been seen in Equestria or anywhere for that matter, until that day. The beast was called Despair; he is known in modern times as the grandfather of Discord, but that isn’t true. He is a separate and unrelated being. His body was made of shadows and darkness. His eyes glowed red with a silver tint, and he wore a crown made of claws.”

“Please excuse me if I sound rude, but what does this have to do with the Elements of Harmony, Princess?”

“I’m getting there, Twilight.”

Celestia continued. “The beast came and slaughtered ponies left and right. It tore down houses, dams, and even ravaged Cloudsdale. The attack lasted for years, and ponies were terrified of the creature. Finally, a selfless Princess named Lisilia came up with a plan to end the terror. Lisilia was the most powerful Princess know from history; even stronger than I am! So, with her power, she split her body into the Elements of Harmony; and granted them to her six most faithful servants. In doing so, she condemned herself to death, but the Elements were used to end the terror brought about by Despair.”

Celestia took a deep breath and sat down alongside Twilight with the conclusion of her tale.

Twilight still looked confused. “I still don’t get it! What does it all mean?”

“It means, that while the Elements of Laughter and Loyalty are gone now, two have arisen somewhere in Equestria that are the new Elements. You just have to go out and find them.”

“I will Princess! I’m going to Applewood!”

With that Twilight flew off towards Applewood, not knowing what awaited her.

“Goodbye, my pupil. I know you will find the Elements of Laughter and Loyalty.”

Celestia looked towards Canterlot, then flew into the sky towards the crumbling city.

Pain had flown up into the sky, and was preparing to unleash his judgement upon Cloudsdale.

Konan watched from below, but was startled as she noticed several pegasi approach. Within their group were pegasi she had not seen before. They were wearing clear armor and carried similar clear swords at their sides.

“Nagato!”

“I see them.”

The ponies flew towards Pain, drawing their swords as they grew closer.

“Stop in the name of the Crystal Empire!” Said one of the ponies clad in clear armor.

‘Of course!’ Thought Konan. ‘Their armor and weapons are made of crystal! That would explain the strange texture and clear color.’

“What makes you believe I will stop what I am doing? I am becoming rather impatient with your kind. The last group of guards said the same thing, and now look at them.” Said Pain, gesturing down to the street.

The ponies followed his hand, and looked to see the dead citizens and guards lying in the street.

“The group before them said the same thing, as well. It’s becoming tiresome. So please, stand aside and do not interfere or you will die before the civilians.”

The guards looked up from the massacre and stared at Pain.

“You may have killed those soldiers and the soldiers before them, just as you said. In fact, because you don’t even appear tired and your clothes aren’t ripped or torn in anyway, I can also assume you killed them without much resistance.” Said one of the ponies wearing a large, crystal helmet. Pain believed him to be the leader of the squadron.

Pain nodded. “You assume correct. But your words aren’t helping your comrades’ morale.”

The other soldiers were trembling, and looked at their captain confused.

“Do not worry! Do not allow my words to frighten you! Understand that they are the truth; this pony is very powerful, and we should not underestimate him! But even though he has killed numerous ponies, remember that it is our job to lay our lives on the line for the civilians he desires to kill! Even if we merely delay him, it’s better than letting it happen!”

The soldiers cheered, and the captain faced Pain.

“See? You will face stout resistance from us, just like the last group you fought!”

“It won’t be much.” Said Pain.

Pain pulled a scroll from his robe and used it to summon the other Paths of Pain.

“Scatter!”

The Paths surround the ponies; who bunched up into a tight circle.

“Don’t just stand there! CHARGE!” Screamed the Crystal Captain.

The other soldiers soon followed suit and entered battle with the Paths.

The Crystal Captain raced to the Asura Path, and swung his sword; but was met with a small, black pole that appeared from the Path’s robes.

The two entered a fierce sword duel as battle raged around them.

“Why are you doing this?! You’re ponies attacking your own homeland!”

The Path didn’t respond but instead just swung his weapon again.

“Why aren’t you talking?! Can you not speak?”

Pain jumped in. “The Paths of Pain are dead bodies being controlled by me; in fact, this body is dead, as well. The real me is controlling them from a distance with chakra.”

The captain was stunned. “The- They’re dead?! You killed them and now you use them like puppets?!”

“In a way, yes. But no, I did not kill them. My mentor killed all of them except this body. An enemy of ours killed him. However, he is dead now, and this body is at peace at last. I do not ‘use’ him. I was granted use of his body through his blessing because of my revenge on his killer.”

Pain realized what he had done.

“You know something, captain? You’re the first person I’ve ever told this information to. Feel lucky; of course when you’re dead, it won’t matter one bit.”

The captain turned back to the Path he was fighting just in time to block a thrust. The duel ensued for a few minutes more before the captain realized he was outmatched. He was getting tired and his swings and thrusts were less deliberate. However, the Path continued to attack with the same energy and vigor he had when the fight began.

The captain looked at his sword.

“If I can’t beat you with the blade, then I will beat you with the horn!”

The captain’s horn began glowing an extremely bright silver color.

“All my energy, into this one attack!”

‘I’m sorry troops,’ he thought, ‘we must sacrfice ourselves for the cause. These ponies must be stopped at all costs!’

The horn grew brighter and brighter until Pain and Konan were blinded.

“What is he planning? Does he really think he can defeat the Asura Path?

The light engulfed everyone around the captain.

“OUR LIVES FOR EQUESTRIA AND THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE!”

There was a bright flash, followed by the light receding.

Pain and Konan opened their eyes to see what happened.

The captain had apparently focused all of his energy at once into his horn, then unleashed it all.

The attack was devastating; as it had killed all of the captain’s soldiers and himself in the process. The Paths were able to escape the devastation by hiding behind the Preta Path’s Absorption Seal. All except the Asura Path.

Pain walked over to the corpse and bent over it.

“Nagato! Is he alright?”

“No, but I have replacements. Still, if these unicorn ponies can just sacrifice themselves like that, soon I won’t have any spares.”

Konan looked around to see the full extend of the captain’s attack. While most of the city was intact, all of the nearby buildings were leveled. Ponies that were hiding inside were killed; evidence being the many corpses under and around the rubble.

“Nagato, are we done here?”

“There’s much more of Cloudsdale still standing. No, Konan; not yet. But soon.”

Twilight raced to Applewood as quickly as she could. When she drew close, she saw the extensive damage caused by the Akatsuki and their Diamond Dog allies.

“Oh, no! This isn’t good!”

Twilight quickened her pace, and made it inside the city. She walked around, looking at the fires and destroyed buildings.

“How? How can these ponies do so much damage in so little time?”

When she made it to the city gate, she noticed several bodies lying around; fillies and colts were among the dead. She knelt beside one of the dead colts.

“They killed the children, too? How can they be so heartless? There really must be no end to their evil.”

She looked up from the colt, and noticed Thunderhooves and Leatherhorn straight ahead from her.

“Chief Thunderhooves! Chief Leatherhorn!”

She put her ear to each of their chests.

“They’re still alive! I have to get them out of here, now!”

That’s when she remembered she was all alone, and had no way to contact Celestia for assistance.

She looked around for anything that she could use, and saw a wagon in decent shape parked in front of a wrecked building.

“It’ll be tough to pull both of them, but it’ll have to do!”

Twilight lifted the large buffalo chief into the wagon first, using all her magical strength to do it. Next, she lifted the minotaur chief. However, she was exhausted, so she started to scream for somepony to come help her.

“HELP! Is anypony alive out there!? I need help!”

It didn’t take long for a couple of city guards to poke their heads out of a small building just up the street, notice Princess Twilight, and come running.

“Princess Twilight! What are you doing here, your majesty?”

“No time to explain! Just help me get Chief Leatherhorn into the back of this wagon!”

The two guards nodded, and with their help, the big minotaur was laid next to Thunderhooves.

“You two need to help me pull this wagon, now! I hope you’re energized, because we’re going all the way to Canterlot!”

The guards’ hearts sank from hearing how far they would have to go, but didn’t show it.

“Of course, your majesty!”

They hitched up with Twilight to the wagon and pulled it out of the burning city.

“So it was you that killed Cadence. I had only guessed, but I felt sure it was you.” Said Hotaka.

Hotaka, Deidara, and I had gone inside the shack and sat down at the table to catch up and share stories of our fights.

“Yeah, but it cost me all of my 1000 puppets to do it! I’m no help to the Akatsuki without them!”

“Hmm! You have no confidence in your other puppets? That’s despicable to not be confident in your own art!”

“I guess some of them aren’t half bad; but I’m better at just controlling several puppets at once and overwhelming my enemy. I’ll need to replace them at some point.”

Hotaka nodded. “Yes, but not here. Wait until we get back to Konoha. For now, just use your other puppets. I’ll be there to help you now, so there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Yeah! You’re right, I’m worrying over nothing. But we have nothing to do until Obito gets back from wherever he went. He told me to stay here and guard the headquarters.”

“Well, I have no orders, so I’ll make my own. I’ll stay here with you. Now Deidara, I’m sure Sasori could use your help, though. You should return to him.”

Deidara nodded. “Yeah, you guys can hold down the fort! See ya!”

Deidara went outside, summoned a clay owl, and flew off.

“So, what else did you do while I was gone, Rokuro?”

The Diamond Dogs poked their heads out of the tunnel they had been digging, and looked at their work.

“Do you think we’re done? Will the city fall now?” Asked Spot.

“Yeah, we just need to dig a little more feet out this way!” Said Rover.

The dogs ducked back under ground, and dug a straight line out of the city limits. They resurfaced just in time to see the city’s foundation give out. The entire city dropped just 10 feet, but it was enough to wreck the remaining buildings and streets.

“Oooh! Master Sasori will be most pleased!”

The dogs laughed and ducked back underground.

Indeed, Sasori was pleased. He was sitting a tree outside of the city and watched the city fall.

“They’ve done well. I’ll have to recommend them to Obito for more sabotage missions.”

Sasori leapt out of the tree, and began walking back to the hideout.

After a few minutes, he noticed Deidara flying overhead, and vice versa. Deidara flew down to meet his partner.

“Hey, what gives? I thought you were supposed to be overseeing the destruction of Applewood! Hmm!”

“It’s done; the Diamond Dogs took care of it already. It’s time to go back to the hideout.”

“I just left, you won’t believe who I ran into and brought back to the hideout!”

“A decapitated Hidan? He lets that happen far too much...”

“No you moron! Hotaka!”

Sasori’s eyes grew wide. “Really? It's about time we found him. I’m sure Rokuro is overjoyed.”

“Yeah, but I’m sure he wants to see you, too. Since he lost all of his puppets, you could loan him some.”

“You’re joking, right?”

Deidara laughed. “Maybe.”

“Whatever, just fly down a little lower so I can jump on.”

The owl descended, Sasori hopped on it’s back, and the two artists began flying back to the shack.

“Oh by the way, Hidan and Kakuzu are done. They’ll be back at the hideout in about five minutes.”

“How do you know that?”

Deidara pointed to his eye scope. “This scope can see very far distances; even through another device! So I gave Hidan and Kakuzu and Pain and Konan another so I can see where they’re at and what they’re doing. Hidan and Kakuzu are walking along a dirt road, and I can see the shack just ahead of them.”

“Heh, seems as if you’ve actually made that thing useful instead of just an eyepatch.”

Deidara grew angry. “What did you say?! I’ll have you know I use ‘eyepatch’ to calibrate long distance attacks too, you know!”

“I’m just trying to get you riled up, it can be fun sometimes.”

For the rest of the trip, they were silent until they landed at the shack. Deidara destroyed his clay owl, and put the clay back into his bags. The two walked into the shack and were greeted by Hidan, Kakuzu, Hotaka, and myself.

“Good, you’ve arrived.” Said Kakuzu as he laid out a scroll on the table. “Read this; it’s orders from Obito.”

Deidara and Sasori started to read the scroll carefully.

“So all six of us have to work together? This should be interesting! Hmm!”

“What I don’t understand, is how Obito knows Hotaka is with us again.” Said Sasori.

Kakuzu shrugged. “It’s not important, what is is what’s at the end of the instructions.”

Deidara and Sasori continued reading until they reached the end and both of their mouths dropped open.

“Kisame and Itachi have been captured?!”

Chapter 6:The Rescue Mission

Kakuzu nodded. “Yes, they’ve been taken prisoner up in Canterlot, just like you were, Hotaka.”

“But how? Itachi is one of the more powerful members of Akatsuki! I don’t understand how he could be captured!” I said.

“I don’t know any of the details, myself. Obito just informed me about half an hour ago, actually. I don’t even know how he knows, but he has his ways.”

“Well then, what’s our plan of action?” Asked Hotaka.

“Simple,” said Kakuzu as he laid a map of Canterlot across the table, “I have the city and castle schematics. All we have to do is infiltrate by flying over the city wall, then onto the castle roof, itself. It’s fairly simple.”

Kakuzu faced me. “You’re the smallest one here, so you will infiltrate the castle itself.”

“I suppose that makes sense, but all alone? I won’t get any support?”

“Of course not! The roof of the castle has many patches of glass skylights; where Deidara will be positioned to use his eye scope and help you scout ahead.”

“Ah, the prison is under the main floor, though. I should know I broke out of there.”

Kakuzu sighed. “Well then, it seems I was wrong, you will have no support after all, young Rokuro. You’ll have to rely on yourself, I’m afraid.”

I shook my head. “No way! I’ve never gone solo, before! I won’t be able to do it!”

“If you don’t do it, Kisame and Itachi will be counted out of the equation when we enter a full-on a battle with the ponies and their allies!”

“Allies?”

“Yes, I fought against a minotaur, and a buffalo who both said they fight for Equestria; odds are they have armies of them here already.” Said Sasori.

“As did Hidan and I; I killed two minotaurs and several ponies who claimed to be from the Crystal Empire. Probably another group of ponies from somewhere else. So do you see what I mean? We need all the help we can get against such a formidable force.”

“I- I understand. I’ll try my best, then. But if I fail, then you’ve just lost three instead of just two.”

“We won’t lose you, too. At the first hint of trouble, we’ll blow your cover and ours to come rescue you. If it comes to it, we will slaughter every pony in that wreck of city!”

“Now you’re talking, Kakuzu! Jashin will be most pleased!”

“It may not come to that, Hidan. Remember that stealth is key here if possible.”

Hidan rolled his eyes. “Whatever! I’’m still gonna slaughter more of these ponies at some point! You can’t hold me back forever!”

Kakuzu ignored his partners comment and resumed his presentation to the rest of the group.

“So you understand what you’ll be doing Rokuro?”

“I know it’ll be risky, but I trust you to bail me out if trouble arrives. Let’s do it!”

“Good, we should wait until we have the advantage of the cover of night.” Said Kakuzu.

We all rolled out sleeping bags, and feel asleep on the floor; waiting for night so our mission could begin.

“Very well then, everyone! It’s time to go, so Deidara....”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah! I’m on it!”

We followed Deidara outside where he summoned another clay owl, we jumped on, and flew away to Canterlot.

Everyone was quiet on the trip; not even Hidan said much. He just twirled his Jashin amulet around his hand over and over again.

The owl was fast, and we were approaching the city quickly.

‘This still doesn’t make any sense,’ I thought, ‘how could Itachi Uchiha be captured? Even if he was surrounded by all four of the Princesses we saw he could just use the level three Tsukuyomi and torture them all! Sure it damages his Sharingan, but if his life is in danger he would do it. Wouldn’t he?’

Kakuzu brought me out of my thoughts. “We’re here.”

Sure enough, the remains of Canterlot lay below us. We could see some of the ponies moving around the streets; gathering up anything they could to sell. Many of them wore normal clothing, but it was obvious they were homeless.

Deidara steered the owl to the top of the castle, and we all jumped off onto the roof.

Kakuzu opened up the stitchings on his left and right wrists letting out some of his tentacles.

“Rokuro, I’m going to wrap you in my tentacles and slowly let you down into the building. While it would make more sense to break in through a small window in the prison, there unfortunately aren’t any.”

The tentacles extended from Kakuzu’s arms, and wrapped themselves around my waste. Hidan used his scythe to break a hole in the skylight, and I walked into the hole.

Kakuzu let me down slowly so I could get a good look at what awaited me below. I could see two guards talking, but one of them soon walked away.

I quietly laughed to myself as I pulled out the dagger I used to stab Cadence. Soon, I was close enough, so I put my hand over the guard’s mouth and stabbed him in the heart. His eyes turned to me; and I watched the light leave them within moments.

“Kakuzu! I’m good to go!” I whispered up to him.

He nodded, and the tentacles unwrapped themselves from around my body.

I looked around the hall, and saw some stairs leading down; probably to the dungeon.

I grabbed the guard’s corpse, and dragged it down the stairs with me. I found a small alcove at the base of the stairs, so I stashed the body in it. As I turned to leave, I noticed a wrought metal door in front of me. I had found the prison.

‘Hehehe, stashing a prison guard’s body in prison? That’s ironic.’ I thought to myself.

I walked out of the prison cell, and proceeded down the corridor; checking every cell as I passed. But Itachi and Kisame were nowhere to be found. They weren’t in the castle dungeon!

I snuck back upstairs and peeked around the corner. The other guard had come back and noticed the blood on the floor from where I killed my victim.

He looked around and ran screaming the guard’s name right towards me!

I tried my best to hide in the shadows, and it worked. The guard ran past me without looking, so I walked quietly out of the room and looked up to Kakuzu and the others.

“They’re aren’t in the dungeon! Where do I look now?”

“Try the Throne Room; it’s quite possible they’re being interrogated by the Princesses. If that’s the case, we’ll descend to aid you in combat.”

I nodded, and followed the long hallway to two large double doors. I could hear someone screaming from inside, so I peered in through the keyhole. What I saw frightened me more than anything I had ever seen.

Kisame and Itachi were bound on stretching racks. They both had several cuts on their exposed bodies. Itachi’s eyes were covered in tape; to prevent him from using his Sharingan. Numerous tables lay around; each one had a collection of brutal tools upon them: bonesaws, nails, hammers, knives, and other objects I couldn’t even name. I noticed there was also a large burlap bag of salt by one of the tables.

I saw the blue Princess, who Hotaka had informed me was called Luna, shouting questions at them.

‘The cuts? The questions? That bitch is torturing them!’

Luna was pacing back and forth; before finally stopping in front of Kisame.

“I won’t ask thou again! What is the location of your comrades’ base? It has to be fairly large; considering you have allies now, I hear.”

Kisame spit on her face. “Fuck you! I won't’ betray any of the Akatsuki! NEVER!”

“Oh, I’m fairly certain you will. Everypony has their breaking point.”

Luna walked over to the bag of salt and dragged the salt over to Kisame. She removed a half-teaspoon of salt from the bag and threw it onto the wounds on Kisame’s chest. He didn’t even scream; he just spit on her face again.

“You’ll have to try harder than that, I assure you!”

Luna grabbed a hoof-full and threw it onto his face; most of it landing in his eyes.

“Hahahaha! I live for this pain! Try again, whore!”

Luna had grown tired of his game, and walked over to Itachi.

“How about you? Would you care to help me find your friends’ base?”

Itachi didn’t say anything.

“The quiet treatment won’t work on me. Remember, I’ve been given permission to interrogate you for as long as I need to. We could be here for the rest of your lives.”

“You never spoke this violently before. Not when you fought us, nor when you fought Pain. Tell me, why do you speak thusly now?” Said Itachi.

“Your gang has changed me! The brutality you have shown our ponies and our cities can never be forgiven; and I feel no need to speak like a proper Princess anymore when I deal with swine!”

In her rage, she turned and hit Itachi. He didn’t even flinch; nor did he seem to care.

“Interesting, so you believe us to be swine? Do we not share similar goals and ideals?”

“In what ways would we be similar? You’re not even ponies, you’re.....something else! Your leader said it himself.”

“True, but putting our physical differences aside, do you not strive for peace in your lands?”

“Of course!”

“So do we. Our methods are just different from yours.”

“Why are you ‘striving for peace’ in our world? Why don’t you just go back to your own?”

“Believe me when I say that is our goal. But we haven’t been able to find a method. So we’re stuck here, and our leader commanded us to devastate everything in order to find what we’re looking for.”

“And what exactly is that?”

“We have no idea. In fact, it’s quite possible it doesn’t exist, and we could be stuck here forever.”

“Fo- FOREVER?! Never! I won’t allow it!”

“Then you could set aside your malice and help us get home. The quicker we find a method to return to Konoha, the quicker you and your kind can begin rebuilding. I assure you that there will be no end to this conflict until you’re most or all of your kind are dead. We both have allies, sure. But they won’t make any real difference in the coming conflict between the Akatsuki and you and your leaders.”

“I have no leaders! I am a leader!”

“The other Princesses I what I meant. But also remember one thing: the one you fought that destroyed your city wasn’t even our strongest member.”

“Wh- what? He wasn’t even the strongest of the Akatsuki?”

Itachi shook his head. “No, if I were to order the Akatsuki based on our skills, you just fought the second toughest member.”

Luna didn’t say anything. She believed Itachi when he said they hadn’t even fought the true leader of Akatsuki.

“So tell me, what is this leader’s name, so I may know when I fight him?”

“I can’t say.”

“YES YOU WILL! I AM LUNA, THE GREAT PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT! NO PONY DENIES MY WILL!”

Luna picked up a bonesaw and cut Itachi’s left front leg clean off! With such a large opening to the bloodstream exposed, she picked up two hoof-fulls of salt and threw it on the exposed stump.

Itachi screamed; something I had never seen him do before. This was enough; it was time to make our move.

I turned to go get Kakuzu and the others, when I almost bumped right into him.

“We heard the screaming and came right away. What’s going on?”

“Luna just severed Itachi’s left front leg with a bonesaw and tossed salt onto the wound. That’s the screaming you heard.”

“No time for planning then. She’ll kill him if we don’t go in there now.”

Kakuzu formed his tentacles in the shape of the keyhole and slid it inside. He morphed the shape until he found the right key design. The door unlocked, we opened it, and entered the Throne Room.

Luna turned as she heard the door creak open.

“Hahahaha! Good! I’m in the mood to kill some Akatsuki scum! Come to save your friend, have you?”

“That’s right! But we’re only rescuing him so he will have the pleasure of killing you!” Screamed Deidara, as he sent two clay birds at Luna.

She created a shield in front of her that absorbed the birds’ explosions.

“Insolent! I will make your deaths slow and painful for what you did to the rest of Equestria!”

She charged her horn, and five bolts of energy shot from it in a fan array.

“Get behind me!” Said Kakuzu as he formed a shield with his tentacles.

We listened, and took cover behind him. The energy bolts ripped through the first layer of tentacles, but couldn’t make it through the second layer.

“Where is the other Princess? The white one?” Inquired Kakuzu.

“Princess Celestia is currently away tending the wounded in Applewood. This battle is between us, and nopony else!”

“You can’t win, you’re fighting 6 members of the Akatsuki. What inkling even gives you hope to prevail over us?” Asked Kakuzu.

“No matter the odds, I must fight to protect my subjects against vicious ponies like you!”

“Very well then. If you feel so strongly about it, you will die for your beliefs.”

Luna generated a large shield in front of her; just as Kakuzu opened his back and let out the fire and air masks. Tentacles followed them, and they turned into the golems that Kakuzu displayed back in Ponyville. He put his hooves together; preparing for an attack.

Deidara created two more birds that were larger than the ones he used before.

Hotaka drew his wand, and aimed it at the Princess.

Sasori removed a scroll from his robe. The smoke dissipated and showed the 3rd Kazekage. The puppet’s mouth opened, and the Iron Sand spilled out from it. Wings of sand were created on the puppet’s back with some of the sand, while the rest of it floated around Sasori.

Hidan drew his scythe, and extended the cable a fair distance.

Finally, I removed a green scroll from my robe. The smoke dissipated to show my puppets. A red-haired young woman, a tall man with a black beard, a young man with glasses and blonde hair, and three males wearing jackets with upturned collars; covering their faces.

“Secret Yellow Move: Performance of Two Insect Clans!”

Kakuzu looked at the rest of us; working together and displaying our power as one against our enemy. He laughed quietly, then looked back at Luna.

“Face it Princess. You have no chance against all six of us.”

Luna looked at all of us, then smiled.

“Strong confidence in oneself leads you to victory. If you think I don’t have a chance against all of you, you’re wrong!”

“Hmph. You are willing to suffer needless pain just because you refuse to surrender? Very well then, we can oblige your request easily!”

Kakuzu put his hooves together, as did the rest of us.

“Fire Style: Searing Migraine!”

“Iron Sand: Hammer and Anvil Cluster Attack!”

“C1 Art: Twin Birds!”

“Wind Style: Air Bullet Barrage!”

“Curse Style: Spirit Hunting!”

“Hidden Art: Great Insect Assault!”

Kakuzu’s fire golem shot a fireball from it’s mouth, the Iron Sand took on the form of a hammer and anvil, two large, clay birds appeared, Hidan’s scythe began to glow red, and my puppets opened their mouths and let out hundreds of insects. All of these attacks raced towards the Princess at once.

Luna created a large shield around her, just as all the attacks reached her.

Deidara’s birds and Kakuzu’s fireball created a large smoke field, and we couldn’t see what happened.

“Did we get her? Is she dead?” Asked Hidan.

“I hope so; not many people, or ponies for that matter, should have been able to survive an attack like that...” I said.

“I say we got her; so I’ll go get Sharkface and Redeyes over there.”

Hidan started walking towards Kisame and Itachi, but suddenly a blue sword flew from the cloud, straight at Hidan. He turned just in time to see the sword enter his neck, then sever his head.

Hidan’s body fell to the ground, and his head rolled under the table where Itachi was bound.

“Fuck me! I can’t believe I didn’t see that coming!” Screamed Hidan.

The smoke cloud dissipated, and there stood Princess Luna fully clad in magic-enhanced armor. But what was most surprising were the hundreds of blue swords flying around her. She had also generated a small buckler on the right side of her body. She had absorbed the attack with the shield, then converted what was left into these weapons.

“Wha- What? I severed your head and you’re still alive?!”

“Well, duh! I’m immortal, you whore!”

“Hmph, well it’s not like you can do much to me without your head. I’ll deal with you later.”

Luna faced us again; but now, she had fire and passion in her eyes.

“That’s one down, only five more scum to go.”

“It won’t be that easy, Princess.”

Luna laughed, ignoring Kakuzu, then sent the swords down upon us.

Sasori regathered the Iron Sand, and put his hooves together.

The Iron Sand reformed into a shield in front of us. Many of the swords got stuck in the sand, but some went straight through. We leapt out of the way of those, but we realized this strategy wouldn’t work again.

“I see your skills have improved since last you fought Pain and Konan.” Said Kakuzu.

“No, this is my Dream Warden State. I have the ability to invade ponies’ minds while they are sleeping and fight their nightmares. I must do this, since sometimes these nightmares can begin to take on physical manifestations and enter our world. For twenty-four hours after I invade a nightmare, I have the ability to still enter Dream Warden State. My magic abilities are enhanced, as well as my total distribution of magic to, for instance, these swords and shield.”

“Your powers are unique, and would make you a powerful kunoichi back in Konoha. But here, you are an enemy of mine and must be destroyed.”

“Enough talking, time to die!”

Deidara put his hooves together.

“Get ready Princess, this is gonna be explosive!”

Instead of two of the large twin birds, Deidara created ten of them!

They raced towards Luna, so the Princess sent more of her swords down. The birds managed to evade some of the swords. But the ones that did get hit, exploded. Soon, only four remained, but had closed the distance.

“Katsu!”

They exploded, but Deidara looked to see some of the swords had reformed into a shield, and blocked the explosion.

Kakuzu put his hooves together.

“Get out of the way, Hidan!”

He picked up Hidan’s body and head, and laid them on Itachi’s table.

“Now then, let’s try that again.”

“Fire Style: Intelligent Hard Work!”

A sea of flames bathed the area; destroying all of the tables and carpets on the floor. Luna flew into the air; avoiding the attack completely.

“You’ll have to do better than that, I’m afraid!”

Kakuzu put his hooves together again.

“Wind Style: Pressure Damage!”

A large tornado was created that swirled around itself. It built up great pressure, then flew straight at the Princess; encapsulating her.

The tornado released, and an enormous wind blew around the room. My puppets were thrown against the wall; but weren’t destroyed.

The wind subsided, and again we saw the Princess had used the swords’ energy to form another shield.

I put my hooves together.

“Hidden Art: 1000 Stingers Jutsu!”

The Kamizuru Clan puppets opened their mouths and hundreds of bees flew out and towards the Princess. They turned their rear ends towards her, and shot their stingers out.

Luna blocked most of the stingers with her buckler, but dodged as she realized there were too many. I used this moment of distraction to put my hooves together again, in preparation for part two of the insect performance.

The puppets opened their jackets to reveal their mechanical inner workings. They combined their bodies by holding hands, then reshaping themselves. Their heads were bunched together, with their mouths open. I

“Hidden Art: Beetle Cannon!”

The beetles were shot from the puppets’ mouths at an incredible speed. Thousands of tiny insects could form a deadly weapon under my control!

Luna created another large shield in front of her, but this time, it didn't’ work.

The beetles were shot from the mouth at such a fast speed that they reached terminal velocity in only 1.3 seconds!

The beetles hit the shield, and ripped a hole in it. They continued flying straight at the Princess, but another shield was generated. This shield used most of the swords she had, and stopped the rest of the beetles.

“Damn it! I was sure that would work!”

“It did, though! You broke through her shield!” Said Hotaka.

Hotaka had been watching the whole fight and noticed something. The number of swords hadn't changed at all, nor had she become tired.

“She’s using the max amount of energy she can.” Said Hotaka.

We all looked at him.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“It means the energy used by her isn't like chakra. It isn't expended, it’s constant. She has formed all of her energy into her armor, swords, and shield. Which in turn, means the only way to defeat her is to use an attack she can’t block. We must use our most powerful attacks, except in the case of Deidara, don’t use your C4.”

“Hmm! Of course not! I’ll use the C3, that’ll get the job done!”

“But Hotaka, to use such an attack would drain all of our chakra in an instant! If it doesn’t work, we will all die!” Said Kakuzu.

“Do you think I haven’t figured that out, as well? It just means, we can’t miss!”

Kakuzu looked up at the Princess, awaiting our attack. She had blocked every attack up to this point, so it seemed reasonable the only attack that would work is one she can’t block, all of our most powerful jutsus combined as one!

Deidara prepared for his attack by creating an owl and flying over Luna. Kakuzu released his Lightning Mask.

“Very well! It’s our only shot!”

We all put our hooves together.

“Earth Grudge Fear: Final Shot!”

“Iron Sand: Unleash!”

“C3 Explosive Statue!”

“Hidden Art: Insect Bomb!”

Kakuzu’s masks and tentacles formed a large mass, and shot a powerful beam at Luna. Sasori combined all of the Iron Sand into one mass, then separated it into numerous, large spikes. Deidara dropped a small statues of clay, that increased in size until it was 150x the original size. All of my puppets sent out their insects at once. They combined into one, large sphere.

Princess Luna saw the attacks, and created a shield from all of her swords at once.

The attacks struck, and Deidara’s C3 destroyed the entire room. The roof and walls of the room were blown away, and I felt we were going to die. We had forgotten to protect ourselves from Deidara’s C3!

But as the explosion occurred, a shield was created around us! It was a clear, red color, and I knew who it had come from. Hotaka had not attacked; he generated a shield to protect the rest of us from Deidara’s C3!

“HOTAKA!” I screamed as his body turned to dust outside the shield.

The shield dissipated since it’s controller was no longer feeding it chakra. We looked around, and the saw the Princess was still floating in the air, alive.

“Hahaha! I must admit, that attack-” She stopped talking, and coughed up blood.

“That attack- cer- certainly had so- some kick.”

I looked up to see Hotaka behind her. He had used his horn to create an energy field around himself, so he could fly!

He looked down at me, and I could tell he wanted to tell me something, but I couldn’t figure out what.

He waved his wand.

“Fire Style: Great Fire Consumption!”

A large snake made entirely of fire appeared behind Hotaka. It’s body was clear; and you could see the walls of the room on the other side of it. It swallowed Hotaka and Luna whole! They tumbled down into the snake’s stomach, where we could see them slowly being melted away. Luna scratched at the walls of the snake’s stomach; looking for a way out, but Hotaka sat still, staring at us. He stuck his hand outside the snake, and dropped something.

Soon, the fire turned them into dust, the snake coiled around itself, then disappeared in an explosion of fire.

“HOTAKA!” I screamed.

“I see what he did now. He didn't’ want Deidara to sacrifice himself; instead, he wanted to do it. He was a brave man, and I will remember him until the day I die.” Said Kakuzu.

Hidan even shed a tear for Hotaka’s sacrifice. Sasori even turned away; but I could hear his bawling. He had respected him since he took over as my teacher.

“He created a clone of himself to generate a shield to protect us from Deidara’s C3. In turn, he used all the energy and chakra he had left to fly behind Luna, who believed she had beaten us. While she was distracted, he performed a suicide jutsu to save the rest of us.”

Everyone bowed their heads, (except Hidan, who just looked down) and were silent for a moment. However, I was more interested in what Hotaka had dropped, so I walked over to where the floating snake used to be and found a small piece of paper on the ground.

Rokuro,

Since I didn’t have any time to ‘write’ this message, I created it from my chakra so you could read my last testament. Remember when I told you I studied under Madara Uchiha? That was where that jutsu you saw came from. My only regrets are that I won’t be there to finish your training, and I won’t get to go on any more missions with you. Be strong, Rokuro, for the both of us. By the time you read this, I will be in the underworld. So while I’m here, I’ll say hello to the Fourth Mizukage, for you.

Hotaka

I put the note down and bowed my head.

“Hotaka, why?”

We released Itachi and Kisame from their bindings while Kakuzu sewed Hidan’s head back on.

Kisame picked up his sword, Sharkskin, and Itachi removed the tape from his eyes. We all jumped on Deidara’s owl, and flew away from the wrecked Throne Room.

No one said anything on the way back. Hotaka was a friend to everyone in the Akatsuki; his death impacted us in a way from which we would never truly recover.

When we made it back to the hideout, Deidara and Sasori stayed on the owl.

“We’re going to, err, go out on patrol.” Said Sasori, as they flew away.

Hidan and Kakuzu walked towards the fisherman’s dock and sat down. They stared across the water, not saying a word to each other.

I started walking into the shack, but Itachi put a hand on my shoulder.

“Are you going to be alright?”

I nodded. “I just want to get some rest. I’ll feel better tomorrow.”

Itachi took his hand off of me, and I walked into the bedroom. I flopped on the bed, and closed my eyes. I was too tired to think about what happened anymore.

Within minutes, I was fast asleep.

Chapter 7:Obito Returns

Chapter 7: Obito Returns

I awoke next morning to the sound of birds chirping outside my window. I sat up, and rubbed my eyes. I had tried to forget what happened yesterday night, but I couldn’t get it out of my head.

“Hotaka, why? Why did you have to die and leave me like this?”

I walked out of the bedroom and into the main room. Itachi and Kisame’s bedrolls were empty, so they must’ve left. Deidara and Sasori were still asleep, so I crept over them and exited the shack.

Walking outside, I noticed Kakuzu still sitting on the dock. Hidan was nowhere to be seen.

“Good morning, Kakuzu.”

“Good morning, Rokuro.” He said, not even turning around.

“Where’s Hidan?” I asked, as I sat down beside him.

“He said something about going to find some more ponies to kill, then left.”

“Have you been here all night?”

“Yes, I couldn’t sleep at all.”

“I managed to get a few hours in. But his death will haunt my dreams for the rest of my life.”

“He was a good man, but it doesn’t do to dwell on what happened to him. Even I will have to move on eventually.”

“Why is your bond so strong with him?”

“I am from Takigakure, Hidden Waterfall Village, as you know. Well, a long time ago, before even Obito was born, there was a war that happened between Takigakure and Kirigakure. Well, not really a war, just so much a ‘misunderstanding’. The Second Mizukage claimed Hanzo, the leader of my village, had taken a squad of shinobi to Kirigakure and slaughtered several families living outside of the village.”

“Why would he say that?”

“There was a serial killer, a rogue ninja, that had been killing easy targets and robbing them. It just so happened this rogue ninja, from a different village entirely, had killed a Takigakure shinobi and stolen his headband.”

“He impersonated one of your own, didn’t he?”

Kakuzu nodded. “Yes, and began committing crimes under the guise of the shinobi he killed. So you can imagine when the Mizukage found a family of nine, slaughtered, and Takigakure headband laying on the ground, he wasn’t pleased. Our entire village was blamed for his atrocities.”

“So where does Hotaka come in?”

“Well, the Mizukage decided he would send out ambush squads to our lands and attack our people. I was a member of the response: thirteen squads sent in as a counterattack. The squad I came into contact with Hotaka was a member of.”

“What happened?”

“A battle ensued, and all of our squad were killed except me and a friend of mine, Daisuke. I told him to run away; I would hold them off. He didn’t want to, but eventually, I convinced him to go. I faced off against four shinobi all on my lonesome.”

“And?”

“I killed every last one of them, except Hotaka. When we fought, I deemed him too strong to fight, but I still fought anyway. I wouldn’t lose my honor. He eventually defeated me, and when he was about to execute me, he asked: ‘Are you not afraid?’ To which I replied that I wasn’t. We stared at each other for awhile, then he just walked away.”

“Really?”

“Yes, he walked away. I told him to come back and finish me, but he said that would be a waste of a loyal ninja. My village needed people like me, he said. I felt disgraced at the time, but now, his words touched me greater than anything since.”

“That’s it?”

“What do you mean ‘that’s it’? That moment was and still is very important to me.”

“I’m sorry, I had no idea it was so....”

“So important, yes. Well now you know, but he was precious to me. Just like he was precious to you.”

I stood up and began walking away.

“Oh yes, one more thing.”

I turned around.

“I need you to look for Hidan. He got angry after I wouldn’t go on a murder spree with him for Jashin. He stormed off, saying something about killing a bunch of ponies by himself. It had completely slipped my mind until just now.”

“Of course.”

‘He must be in a sensitive stage right now, especially if he is worrying about Hidan. He never shows any positive emotion or sympathy towards him.’ I thought.

I walked back to the shack to see if Deidara had woken up yet. I’d need his clay owl if he wanted to cover any ground quickly enough.

I poked my head in and saw Deidara was up, and making coffee while playing with a clay ant in his hand.

“Good morning, Deidara.”

“SHH! Sasori is still asleep.”

I looked on the ground and saw Sasori’s bedroll still had a lump in it.

“Oh, sorry.”

“Hmm, well what do you want? I’m kinda busy.”

“I need you to make a clay owl for me so I can look for Hidan.”

“Did he run off again? Where to this time?”

“Yeah, Kakuzu said Hidan had told him he was going to find some more ponies to kill. Not very specific, but it does narrow it down to just a few cities and towns around us.”

Deidara finished brewing his coffee, and took a drink.

“Ah, that’s good stuff.”

“So, will you help me out?”

“Of course, just let me finish my coffee. I’ll also need to wake up Sasori over there.”

“Why exactly?”

“I don’t like to go anywhere without him; he’s my partner.”

At the mention of the word ‘partner’, I dropped my gaze to the floor. Deidara noticed.

“It’ll be OK, Rokuro. You’re a strong individual yourself. Plus, think about it-we’ve killed two of the four Princesses so far, right?”

“Right.”

“You killed that pink one, and Hotaka killed Luna. You guys were the only ones able to do it! Hmm!”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Still though, I’d rather have Hotaka here.”

Deidara noticed where this was going, and decided to lighten the mood.

“Hey, you want to see something wicked cool?”

“Sure, what is it?”

Deidara took one last drink of his coffee, put it on the table, and bent down to let the ant jump onto the floor. It crawled over to Sasori, where it waited.

“Katsu!”

The ant exploded, but because it was so small, it just singed the floor a little bit. That, and woke up a now very angry Sasori.

“What’s your problem, Deidara?! I was having the most fantastic dream!”

Deidara shrugged. “Hey, not my problem! Besides, Rokuro here needs me to give him a lift, and I thought you would want to come. Hmm.”

Sasori was still mad, but stopped showing it. “Yeah, sure. Just give me a moment to get ready.”

He started to remove his sleeping robe, and Deidara rushed me outside.

“Hey, what’s the big idea?”

“When Sasori undresses, you REALLY don’t want to be around him.”

“Why?”

“Let’s just say, it’s as creepy as can be!”

“So you won’t tell me the truth, then?”

Deidara shook his head. “No, I can’t. So just take my word for it.”

“Fine.”

We waited outside for a few minutes. Sasori came outside, dressed now in his Akatsuki robes, and we boarded the owl Deidara had created.

“So where do we go first, Rokuro my man?”

“Let’s try Ponyville, first. It’s closest.”

“I’m on it!”

Deidara steered the owl towards the small, rural town. It didn’t take long before we touched down on the outskirts and disembarked.

“Kakuzu tasked me with finding Hidan, so I’m going to do it.”

Sasori stepped in front of me.

“No, you’re not going into town looking like yourself.”

“What do you mean?”

“You need a disguise, so I recommend you make one quickly.”

I looked around quickly, but I couldn’t come up with anything really good. So I removed my Akatsuki robe; revealing my fishnet armor and yellow kimono. I removed the kimono and wrapped it around my waist; err, my flank.

“Well? What do you think?”

“That will never work, Rokuro my man! They may be ponies, but they’re not that stupid!”

I turned around looking at myself.

“I guess you’re right, but what else do I have? I must try!”

“Very well. But it’s on you; Deidara and I won’t come to your rescue if you get in trouble. Mainly because we won’t be here.”

Sasori and Deidara climbed back on the owl.

“Wha- Where are you guys going?”

“We’re going to follow our own leads. Since Hidan attacked Baltimare, it’s likely he went back to finish what he started. You ask around here, and see if they lead you to where he is EXACTLY.”

With that, the two artists flew off; leaving me alone. I sighed, then walked towards Ponyville. I thought about my disguise, and what Deidara had said. What if he was right? What if the ponies saw right through it, and I got captured, or worse?

I gulped as I approached Ponyville, then walked into town.

Some of the ponies stared at me in a strange way; but they didn’t seem hostile towards me, so I relaxed a little.

As I walked further into town, I noticed more of the ponies clustered together; talking about something.

When I neared some of them, they hushed up and just looked at me in a menacing way. A similar occurrence happened every time I neared another group; until I was finally approached by one of the stallion ponies.

“Hey! I’ve never seen you in town before, you a traveller?”

“Uh, yes! I’m just a traveller on my way to, uh, meet a friend.”

The stranger walked around me several times; looking me over, before speaking again.

“Yeah, judging by your clothes I’d say you’re a LONG ways from home, huh?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m from a small pony settlement way south of here.”

“Must be some friend you got if you came all this way to see ‘em!”

“Oh yes! We go way back. Of course, I heard he’s gotten into trouble lately.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“I heard he got himself mixed up with some group called ‘Akatsuki’.”

As soon as he heard my final word, the stallion just yelled and ran away.

“Hmm, oh well. I’ll just have to find out another way, I suppose.”

I continued walking through town; ignoring the stares I was getting. Mentioning the Akatsuki might have just made me look suspicious. But then again, everyone knew about us being here already.

‘I’ll just have to ask them myself.’

I walked up to a yellow mare watering flowers in her garden.

“Excuse me, but I’m looking for someone and I was hoping you could help me?”

The mare put her watering can down, and walked over to me.

“Who are you looking for?”

“He’s a white stallion, with a grey mane and tail. He was probably carrying a red scythe with him, too.”

“I- I don’t know the pony you’re talking about! I need to get back to my flowers. Good bye, now!”

The mare rushed back to her watering can, and turned her back to me.

‘This isn’t getting me anywhere! I should just try one of the neighboring towns and see if I can find him there.’

“Hold up! We’re here!” Said Twilight, as she unhitched herself from the wagon.

Twilight and the two guards she had met in Applewood had hauled the wounded Chief Thunderhooves and Leatherhorn all the way back to Canterlot. She parked the wagon in front of Canterlot Castle.

“You two, take Thunderhooves and the Leatherhorn to the infirmary, immediately!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Twilight watched as the buffalo and minotaur were carried away, and Princess Celestia descend the front steps of the castle.

“Twilight! Thank goodness you’re alright!”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Come with me. There’s something you should see.”

Twilight followed Celestia into the Throne Room, and she gasped at what she saw. The Throne Room wasn’t there anymore! It was just an open room with singed wood and marble exposed to the sky!

“What happened here?!”

Celestia picked up something shiny from the ground and handed it to Twilight.

“Take a guess, Twilight.”

She handed her the tiara of Luna!

“NO!!”

Celestia nodded. “It would seem my sister has been either taken away or....”

Twilight finished her sentence for her. “Or killed.”

“There is no where left for us to run. We have just gotten word from our forces at Cloudsdale that the city has been destroyed, too. That same orange-maned pony you fought Luna and I is responsible. That means all of our cities have been attacked and destroyed.”

“Not all, Princess! Ponyville is still intact!”

“Well, yes. Ponyville is alright for now; but it won’t last long against these ponies.”

“I ordered Applejack to start training a militia in Ponyville to help us fight the Akatsuki, and Rarity is making uniforms for the troops!”

“That is good news, but they won’t defeat the Akatsuki. We need the Elements, Twilight. You have to find the new Elements of Laughter and Loyalty as soon as you can!”

Twilight nodded. “I’ll go look for them, right now. They could be anywhere, and that means I have a lot of ground to cover.”

The purple Princess flew up into the sky, then away from Canterlot.

“Oh, Twilight. Please be careful.”

I walked to the end of town, and out towards a small forest. The ponies weren’t going to help me find Hidan, so I decided to look for him manually.

As I moved further away from the town, and deeper into the woods, I noticed a bright red barn just up a little ways from where I was at. I ran towards it; hoping to get some information from the rural farm.

I arrived at the farm, and opened a small gate attached to a fence that surrounded the farm. I walked towards the barn, and as I drew closer, I could hear voices inside.

“Now, lunge! Good!”

I pressed my ear up against the barn door, and I could hear the clang of weapons inside. I gently pushed the door open, just enough so I could see inside.

There was an orange colored mare, teaching a group of ponies how to fight! This must have been a militia!

I slowly backed away from the door, then ran as quickly as I could. The rest of the Rising Dawn had to hear about this.

“We know you are a member of the Crystal Kingdom, and an NCO at that. You have some information we want, however insignificant it may be.” Said Bronze Claw.

He was circling the Crystal Sergeant Kakuzu had captured back in Baltimare a few days ago. However, they weren’t in the small shack the Akatsuki had been using for a hideout. The griffons had set up a large camp south of the shack, and the prisoner was being interrogated there.

“I have nothing to tell you! The griffons betrayed all of pony-kind and I will never forgive you, let alone give you any information that might help your war effort, scum!” Said the sergeant as he spit on Bronze Claw.

The griffon leader rubbed the saliva off his leg and continued circling the prisoner.

“Feel free to spit on me, or call me scum. It’s not going to help you in your current situation. But telling me anything you know about the Crystal Ponies that we don’t CAN help you.”

“Heh, you’re just going to kill me as soon as I talk. Better I take a beating here and there then betray my Queen.”

“Why would I kill you once I get the information? You are higher-ranking than most in your army, you are more valuable to us as a POW than a corpse, trust me.”

“Trust you?! After you betrayed us?! Never!”

“That’s fine. After all, Steel Wing and Iron Beak are leading the armies, at the moment. I have no reason to be anywhere else.”

I arrived at the shack, only to see Obito wasn't there. But Hidan was! He was sitting at the center table, drinking tea. He looked up as I walked in.

“Hey, Rokruo! Heard you were looking for me!”

“Yeah, Kakuzu asked me to find you. Where were you, anyway?”

“I went back to Baltimare to finish off the ponies I couldn’t kill while I was there. But the whole city was evacuated or something, so I came back.”

I sat down beside him so I could partake in the tea he had prepared.

“Do you know where Obito is, by any chance? I have some important information for him.”

“Yeah, I do actually. He went way south of here saying he was going to gather new allies and he would be back in a couple of days.”

“When did he leave?”

“Three days ago, so he should be back soon.”

We enjoyed the rest of our tea in silence, until the we were interrupted by the door opening. We turned to see Obito standing there: covered from head to foot in soot and blood.

“Obito! What happened to you?!” I said.

He walked into the bedroom, and motioned for us to follow him. We put our tea down and followed him into the bedroom, where he sat on the bed.

“I went to the Dragon Dominion and attempted to convince some of them to fight for us. Some of them weren’t happy that I didn’t follow the dragon custom of bowing, and they attacked me.”

“So why aren’t you dead? I mean, dragons are tough.” Said Hidan.

“Not as strong as I, but it doesn’t matter. I killed their leader apparently, because the rest of them fled except two They both vowed to fight by my side if I called them, and I accepted their services.”

“Fucking dragons will destroy the ponies!”

Obito nodded, and tried to lay down, but I interrupted.

“Before you go to sleep sir, I wanted you to know that I went into town, and found that they are training a pony militia in the barn north of town.”

“I will have the dragons look into that. Thank you for telling me, now leave me be.”

Hidan and I walked out of the room and closed the door behind us.

“Dragons?! This shit is going to be great!” Said Hidan.

“Yeah, but dragons breathe fire, and they can’t control it as well as you or I can control our jutsus. They may end up just killing our own.”

“Whatever! I’m gone, see ya.”

Hidan walked out of the shack and I sat down at the center room table to finish my tea and contemplate what Obito had just told us.

‘Dragons, huh? Powerful, but hard to control. We may end up just suffering for this decision.’

Chapter 8:The Final Preparations Are Made

Chapter 8: The Final Preparations Are Made

I awoke the next morning lying next to the table. I must have fallen asleep while I was drinking my tea.

I stood up and looked around at the sleeping bags on the floor. They were all filled, which means everyone got back, including Nagato and Konan.

I started to walk out, when a hand was placed on my shoulder.

“Going somewhere?”

“Just out to the dock, Obito sir.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that, I suppose. But before you go, know that this is our last day in this wretched land.”

“You mean we’re going to end the war today?!”

“That would be correct. The support of the dragons and the rest of our allies will assure our victory.”

I looked blankly at Obito. “What’s the plan, sir?”

“I hoped you would ask.”

He walked back to the table and showed me a plan he had made.

“As it would turn out, the ponies haven’t left Canterlot like I thought they would. Instead, they’re using the destroyed city as a base of operations. I don’t understand how we could’ve been so blind to this obvious trickery, but we were.”

Obito looked up at me. “I want you to take command of a small brigade of Diamond Dogs and weaken the support under the city itself: the mountain it rests on.”

“What?! Sir, you can’t be serious! We would be killing innocent ponies that want no part in this war!”

Obito glared at me. “I don’t think you understand the position you are in. You see, I am the leader of this organization. You are my inferior, and disobeying me leads to undesirable consequences. Do you really want to take this path?”

“No sir; of course not. It’s just...”

“Just what?”

“Nothing sir. Tell me when, and the Diamond Dogs will take out the base of the mountain.”

Obito laughed. “I like your change in attitude. Now go to the mountain and await the Diamond Dogs’ arrival.”

“Yes sir!”

I ran out the door as fast as I could then proceeded towards the mountain.

“Wake up, everyone!”

Obito stomped around the room, trying to wake the other Akatsuki members from their deep sleep.

“We have no time to waste! Get up, now!”

Deidara sat up rubbing his eyes. “What’s the big idea, boss man? What’s going on?”

“Get up and get dressed first, then I will explain.”

The others shortly stood up, stretched, and got dressed. They walked over to the table where Obito’s plan for the final battle lay.

“This task is quite simple: we end the war.”

“What?! You think we can end the war this quickly?!” Said Sasori.

“Yes, I do, now pay attention. The rest of you will move as one team with the rest of our allies towards Canterlot when it’s on the ground.”

Everyone’s surprised faces alerted Obito to explain.

“Rokuro has been sent ahead with a group of Diamond Dogs to tunnel through the base of the mountain the city rests on. When the mountain loses its’ base support, the city will fall to the ground; at which point, the entire army will await Deidara while he destroys the walls surrounding the city. This will allow a much wider swath of troops to move into the city at once. Once inside, we will slaughter all who stand in our way, then capture the remaining leaders of this pitiful land. Any questions?”

“I have one,” said Itachi, “are we supposed to kill the civilians in the city, as well? Even if they get in our way, can’t we just ignore them?”

“Good question Itachi and I have an answer for you. You will kill ANYONE that is hindering your way. Both intentionally, or unintentionally. It’s possible we will be trapped here forever, in which case, I would like to take over as ruler of this land. If I am to do that, the ponies must fear me properly.”

Itachi looked away. “Of course, I understand.”

“Well, if there aren’t anymore questions....?”

No one said a word.

“Then move out! There is a small forest on the outskirts of the town where you can stay hidden until the rest of our allies arrive. I recommend you use it.”

“Right!”

The remaining Akatsuki members ran through the door, then hopped on Deidara’s owl. They flew away from the hut; leaving Obito alone.

Obito watched them fly away, then walked to the back of the hut and into a cluster of trees a short distance away. Inside lay a sleeping dragon!

“Gramzon!”

The dragon opened its’ eyes and began to communicate with Obito. Since dragons have beak-like mouths similar to that of a bird, they are incapable of vocal speech. Instead, they communicate telepathically.

‘What is it?’

“I need you to get Ashkoort and alert the rest of the forces. That time has come to eliminate the ponies!”

‘Hmph, it’s about time. I’ll be back shortly.’

The giant dragon flew into the air; creating massive gusts as it did, before flying away from Obito.

“I suppose it’s time for me to get into position, as well. KAMUI!”

Obito vanished from the forest, leaving no trace of his ever being there.

“How did you beat me here?” I said as I approached the base of the mountain.

The Diamond Dogs were already there! Strange, since Obito told me that I would be waiting for the Diamond Dogs to arrive.

“We were just faster, that’s all! Now give us Obito’s orders! He said you would tell us what to do!” Said Rover.

‘What? This doesn’t make any sense,’ I thought, ‘how did they know that I was acting as the messenger for Obito’s orders?’

“You are to tunnel through the base of the mountain. Keep digging away at the rock until the mountain and city collapse! Those are your orders!”

“We’re on it!” Said the Diamond Dogs.

They ran towards the mountain and started digging. It didn’t take but a couple of minutes for them to dig out almost 10 feet of rock!

“This shouldn’t take long.” I said as I flopped onto the grass and closed my eyes to take a nap.

CRASH!

“Wha- what’s going on?”

I awoke to see the mountain behind me begin to collapse. The Diamond Dogs had one it!

The mountain came down, carrying the city with it. It slammed into the ground, and the city was stuck in the dirt.

“Excellent work, Diamond Dogs!”

“No biggie! Anything for Mr. Obito!”

The dogs all laughed then ran towards the forest where the rest of the army was supposed to be positioned.

“This is it.” I said as I stood up. “This is the final battle to be fought. Much blood will be spilled by both sides, but this should end it. The war will end with the Rising Dawn victorious!”

“What was that?!” Said Celestia.

“Your highness! The mountain has collapsed and taken the city with it! We are on the ground now!” Said a soldier.

“Impossible! How could this happen?”

Celestia walked to a window and looked out to see the grass swaying in the wind only a few feet away! It was true!

“I’m sure the rest of the guard are alerted to what’s happened, so tell them to assemble with the rest of our infantry! Crystal ponies, buffalo, minotaur and ponies will fight as one to defend freedom in Equestria!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

The soldier ran outside, leaving Celestia alone in her chambers.

“The regular army doesn’t stand a chance against what lays outside the walls. The Akatsuki would’ try something like this unless they could back up such a threat.There MUST be a large army outside, just waiting to rush us.”

Celestia sighed and walked towards a golden cabinet in the corner. She opened it to reveal a set of shining, golden armor. She donned it, then looked at herself in a mirror on the door of the cabinet.

Next, she removed a golden sword from the cabinet and held it in front of her.

“The Solar Flare; I never thought I would use this again. But I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures.”

She waved the sword in front of her, then flew onto the roof of the destroyed Throne Room.

She watched as Deidara flew in on his owl, and dropped explosive snakes onto the walls of the city. They blew up; destroying the walls and leaving a gaping hole.

What Celestia saw next made her grimace, but for some reason, she smiled.

The army had come walked out of the forest, already in formation. The griffons formed a spear wall in front, followed by the Changelings wield swords and shields. The Diamond Dogs flanked the whole formation. Behind the main column stood the Akatsuki.

“The time has come! A great battle between me and the infamous Akatsuki! I look forward to spitting you upon my blade, Akatsuki scum!”

Celestia took a battle pose, sword hovering in front of her.

“So go ahead! Attack us now!”

Chapter 9:The Second Battle of Canterlot

Chapter 9: The Second Battle of Canterlot

Obito reappeared in front of Celestia.

“My soldiers will attack your pitiful city, and we will mow you down. But your fight is with me, your highness.”

“So be it, but this will be the most difficult battle you’ve ever fought, Akatsuki!”

Celestia swung her sword, but it merely passed through Obito.

“What?! I missed?!”

“Your highness, we won’t be fighting here. Our soldiers will fight here, you and I will be fighting elsewhere.”

Celestia vanished from the destroyed city, and Obito turned to face his men outside the walls.

“The time has come! Attack!”

Obito then vanished himself, leaving the two armies to engage each other.

“You heard what he said,” said Pain, “the time has come to end this war. Peace will wash over this troubled land at last.”

The griffon spear wall charged forward through the hole in the city wall while the crystal ponies held up their tower shields hoping the charge would be repelled.

Their hopes were sadly misplaced as the spears pushed through the shield, piercing the ponies on the other side.

“How did they get through our shields?!” Said a crystal pony.

“We captured a sergeant of yours and interrogated him. He told us everything we wanted to know about your kind, including the weaknesses to your weapons and armor!” Replied a girffon soldier.

The crystal ponies tried to hold the line, but realized they couldn’t. They dropped their shields, and pulled swords from their sheaths.

The griffons did the same, and the two groups attacked each other.

“Good, the first melee has begun.” Said Itachi.

He faced the Changelings. “GO! Support the griffons and take out the crystal ponies!”

“With pleasure, sir!” Said one of the changelings.

They charged into battle screaming their war cry. The changelings made contact with the crystal ponies, and with the griffons hammering them at the same time, it didn’t take long for the crystal ponies to begin retreating with only a fraction of their original force.

“We’ve got ‘em on the run! Keep hitting them!” Said one of the griffons.

The griffons and changelings pursued the crystal ponies around a street corner. As they turned said corner, they could a line of buffalo archers on the rooftops. It was the last thing many of them saw, as several changelings and griffons were cut down before retreating around the corner.

The Akatsuki had walked into town and were stepping over the dead crystal ponies when the retreating griffons and changelings ran into them.

“Itachi, sir! There’s a line of buffalo archers around the corner! We can’t get anywhere near them!” Said one of the griffons.

“I see, but have no fear. This problem can be easily remedied. Pain, I believe you-”

“I’m already on it.” Said Pain, as he walked around the corner.

The buffalo sent a rain of arrows down on Nagato.

“Almighty Push!”

The arrows ricocheted off the Almighty Push and were sent back towards the buffalo.

Some managed to get away, but several were cut down by their own arrows.

“The path is now clear. You may proceed, griffon.”

The griffons and changelings looked at each other in utter shock. They had never witnessed the Akatsuki fight before, and their powers amazed them.

“Of course, sir!”

The griffons and changelings resumed their charge down the street. They turned a second a corner where the buffalo previously were, and found no line of archers this time. Instead, there was a large groups of buffalo, minotaur, and the remaining crystal ponies wielding swords and axes prepared for close quarters combat.

“CHARGE!” Screamed the griffons and changelings as they ran towards the enemy formation.

They collided, and a great battle ensued. The griffons lost several of their number in the fight as did the the changelings, but they had won.

They walked over the dead bodies, proceeding towards the castle to claim ultimate victory over the enemy army.

“Going somewhere?”

The survivors looked up to see Queen Esmerelda standing on a building to their left.

“Yeah, where do you think you're going, huh? The fight’s not over yet!”

Leatherhorn and Chief Thunderhooves walked out from behind the same building.

“It’s Leatherhorn!” Said one of the griffons. “He’s the most dangerous minotaur alive!”

“That’s right! Now you’re going to watch me live up to that reputation!”

The blue minotaur charged what was left of the griffons and changelings. Those that weren’t killed by him, managed to fly away.

“Cowards! Get back on the ground where I can finish you off!”

“Allow me, Leatherhorn.” Said Queen Esmerelda as she flew off into the sky.

She caught up to the retreating group, and pointed her glowing horn at them. A great beam of light exploded from it, and incinerated the remaining griffons and changelings.

“Feel the might of the queen of the crystal ponies, you scoundrels!”

Deidara had been watching with his scope from a safe distance with Sasori.

“Hehehe, that crystal pony queen got the rest of them. It’s our time to shine, Sasori my man!”

“It would seem so. Let’s go then, Deidara.”

Sasori jumped onto the owl with Deidara and they flew over to where the three enemy leaders were.

“Excellent job, Esmerelda! You really are a fierce warrior and I’m proud to stand by your side!” Said Leatherhorn, as the Queen returned to her comrades.

“Thank you, Leatherhorn. You are a great warrior, too.”

“None of you will be great warriors by the time we’re done with you! Hmm!”

The three leaders turned to see Deidara and Sasori land.

Sasori chuckled when he saw Chief Thunderhooves and Leatherhorn. “Still alive I see. You two are real stubborn, aren’t you?”

“We’ll never stop fighting until you Akatsuki scum are dead!” Said Leatherhorn.

“Your words are meaningless. I killed you once, and I can do it again.”

Sasori removed two scrolls from his robe. Both were red with a white outline.

“This is my ultimate technique. Since Hiruko is gone, and the secrets of the 3rd Kazekage have been revealed, I have no choice but to use this.”

Sasori unbuttoned his robe, and let it fall to the ground. Two razor-sharp fan-like blades protruded from his back, and his open stomach cavity showed a cable wrapped around a pole in the center of his body. A small, white cylindrical-shaped object was embedded into the top left region of his chest. Esmerelda and the others recoiled when they saw his true body.

“Are you even really alive?” Asked Esmerelda.

Sasori laughed. “Oh yes! I am very much alive! I simply turned myself into a living, breathing, human puppet!”

“What does that even mean? Are you a zombie?” Asked Leatherhorn.

“Sasori my man, it seems you got this one. Is it fine if I just skedaddle?”

“Of course. Your help would be more beneficial elsewhere.”

Deidara jumped onto the owl, and flew away.

Sasori faced his opponents again. “Now, without further delay, let’s begin!”

He unraveled the two scrolls and several puppets with red clothing emerged from them.

The number of puppets grew and grew, until finally a shadow enveloped the entire street the combatants were standing on.

The puppets all had glowing red eyes, and carried sickles, scythes, swords, and other weapons. Some even had thick iron armor!

“When a junior member joins the Akatsuki, they must offer their senior member an offering. This was my first junior members' offering!”

Sasori opened a small cavity in the top right region of his chest, and several chakra threads shot out from it, connecting to all the puppets.

“Great Secret Red Move: Performance of the Uchiha Clan!”

The three White Eclipse leaders had no idea what “Uchiha” meant, but the number of enemies floating above their heads made them suspect it was something to be feared.

“This is a fine collection of 60 puppets! Each one is from the most powerful clan that ever existed in the Hidden Leaf Village! This is the end for all of you!”

Sasori swung his arms behind him, then forward again.

“10 Puppet Rush!”

Ten of Sasori’s puppets raced from the main group towards the waiting enemy.

“Get behind me, you two!” Said Esmerelda as she created a shield in front of them and herself.

“That won’t work!” Said Sasori as he put his hooves together. “Sharingan!”

The puppets’ eyes grew even brighter, then they quickened their pace towards Esmerelda. The puppets pointed their weapons straight at her horn, and collided with it. Esmerelda was knocked back along with her comrades. The puppets had broken the shield!

Sasori pulled the puppets back into the main group; all the while he laughed.

“Ho- how did you do that? No one has broken an alicorn shield with a direct attack, before!” Said Esmerelda as she stood up from the blow.

“It’s simple. While you ponies don’t have a chakra network like humans, you have an energy network is quite similar. Using the Uchiha Clan’s Sharingan, it was easy to figure out where your weak point was. That is, the place where the most energy is being concentrated-your horn.”

“But that is the only place magic can be expelled from the body!”

“Hahaha, not true. I’ve only been a unicorn for a few weeks, but I’ve figured out a few other release points. Even so, it doesn't matter. No amount of new knowledge will be useful to you when you’re dead!”

Sasori put his hooves together again. “Sharingan Spear!”

Several of the puppets lined up, followed by 5 more making an arrow-shaped head to the lined-up puppets. Sasori activated their Sharingan, and they rushed at the alicorn, minotaur, and buffalo again.

“Scatter, now!” Screamed Esmerelda.

“Too late!”

The puppets pointed their weapons towards the group, and the spear accelerated. The spears weapons struck something, but Sasori couldn’t see yet. To the left, Leatherhorn rolled away from the cluster of puppets, and to the right, Chief Thunderhooves tumbled out.

“Seems I got the precious Queen. She was the only enemy who could stand up to me for more than 30 seconds anyway.”

Sasori pulled the puppets away to see seven swords sticking out of the Queen. She was bleeding profusely, and her left leg was completely severed! One of the puppets drilled into her with its’ sword and pinned it into the street at an angle behind her!

“ESMERELDA!” Screamed her comrades in unison.

“Do- don’t worry ab- about m- me. Just sur- survive for the al- alliance’s sake.”

Esmerelda smiled even as pints of her own blood poured out of her mouth and her wounds. Then she faced Sasori.

“I ma- may not be as stro- strong as Cel- Celestia, but I wi- will give you a good fi- fight!”

Esmeralda Began focusing all of her remaining energy into her horn.

“I won’t let you harm anypony else!” She screamed with all her remaining strength, then blasted the energy from her horn.

Sasori smiled, and stretch the coil from his body and latched onto a nearby building.

The energy shot missed him completely and sped off into the distance.

Esmerelda couldn’t even speak. She had used everything she had left. The “Great Queen of the Crystal Empire” fell to her side and remained motionless.

“YOU KILLED HER!” Screamed Leatherhorn.

“Yes, that is accurate. But we are soldiers, aren’t we? It is our job to kill the enemy. Now, you will die, too.”

The blades protruding from Sasori’s back began to spin quickly, and soon he was airborne and flying towards the two non-pony leaders. Sasori was moving so quick, he covered almost 50 feet of distance in just a few seconds!

The blades swung outward, and Sasori moved in between Leatherhorn and Chief Thunderhooves. As he did, the blades struck them both, ripping them to shreds.

He landed behind them, and the blades retracted into his back.

“This fight is over.”

Leatherhorn and Chief Thunderhooves shot a spurt of blood from their mouths then fell to the ground. Sasori walked over to them to make sure they were dead.

“I can’t have you escaping me again. This time, you will be dead.”

Sasori aimed his front hooves at them. The hooves opened up to reveal a metal tube underneath. A continuous burst of flame shot from each tube! Sasori kept the streams alive until the bodies were nothing but piles of ash.

Sasori reconnected his hooves to his legs, and walked over to his puppets. He put his robe back on, and sealed the puppets back into the scrolls. He put the scrolls back into his robe, and walked past the dead leaders towards the castle.

Sasori walked up a set of stairs until he was at the top of a large tower on the castle. He looked down at the remaining enemy soldiers getting killed or captured, then raised the Rising Dawn flag on the tower.

A cheer could be heard shortly after from the Rising Dawn troops in the streets.

Sasori smiled and walked back down the stairs to the rest of the Akatsuki waiting in the streets.

“That was excellent work, Sasori. I couldn’t have done it better myself.” Said Itachi.

“It was nothing. Those three were weaklings beyond the definition of the word.”

“Congratulations on your victory all the same. But not, it is time to return to the shack. Obito has ordered all Akatsuki members to return there to await further orders. The remaining soldiers are to stay here and secure the city.”

Deidara flew down and picked up the other Akatsuki members and soared back towards the Rising Dawn’s humble HQ.

Celestia and Obito reappeared on a flat terrain covered in grass. Celestia stood up to see where she was. Her mouth dropped open when she looked down from the top of the highest mountain she had ever been on!

“We are no longer in Equestria, your highness. I felt it was only appropriate to choose a battleground where neither of us would have a tactical advantage over the other.”

“Then where are we?”

“We are in the Dragon Dominion. Specifically, we are on Red Rock-the tallest mountain in the Dragon Dominion.”

Celestia faced Obito; her teeth barred.

“You’re the mastermind behind the Akatsuki, aren’t you?”

Obito nodded. “Yes, I am Obito Uchiha; leader of the Akatsuki. I have a new title as of a few moments ago, though.”

“What would that be?”

“Your executioner!”

Chapter 10:Enlightenment

Chapter 10: Enlightenment

After the battle was over, Deidara picked me and the other Akatsuki members up and flew us back to the shack. While we were flying, a startling thought entered my mind: where was Obito?

“Hey, where’s Obito?” I asked.

“He’s taking care of Princess Celestia.” Replied Kakuzu.

“Why is he fighting her before killing the other one?” I said.

“What other one? We’ve killed all the other leaders.” Said Sasori.

“Not the purple one...”

Everyone’s eyes grew big.

“We did forget to kill her!” Said Kisame.

“This isn’t good. If we fail to kill all of the ponies’ leaders, they might revolt.” Said Itachi.

“We have to ignore Obito’s orders! We need to kill her!” I said.

“If we don’t listen to him, he will kill all of us.” Said Nagato.

“If we don’t kill her, he’ll still be angry with us. If we kill her, then he may show leniency.” I said.

“He’s right. It's our only choice.” Said Kakuzu

“Well, then we better head back to where we last saw her.” Said Deidara. “She was in that field where I found Hotaka at...”

At the mention of Hotaka’s name, I looked away and closed my eyes.

“Leave him be. He still hasn’t fully gotten over it, yet.” Said Itachi.

Everyone stopped talking for the rest of the trip until we landed at the field.

“This is where I last saw the purple Princess.”

“Well, she’s not here not and I doubt there are any clue to her whereabouts.” Said Kakuzu.

“We can’t find her this way. We need to draw her out, somehow.” Said Itachi.

“Well, we could always kill another one of her friends, which seems to be every one of the ponies here.” Said Hidan.

“Did Hidan actually just say something intelligent?” Asked Deidara.

“Hey! Shut the fuck up! I can come up with good ideas every now and then, too!”

“Enough! Let’s find one of her friends that Kisame and Itachi didn’t kill, and use her to bring the purple Princess to us.” Said Pain.

“We don’t know where any of them are. We should just return to the shack, and wait for Obito. If we aren’t there when he gets back, he’ll be even angrier.” Said Sasori.

“I agree, let’s go back.” Said Kisame.

“Very well, let’s just hope for all our sakes’ that this isn’t a wrong decision.” Said Pain.

“You’re my executioner? I don’t think you have the heart to defeat me!” Said Celestia.

“How does heart have anything to do with it? I have the skill to kill you!” Said Obito.

“Skill isn’t all it takes to defeat your opponent!”

“You’re right, a skilled fighter needs to match brain with his brawn, and I am such a fighter!”

Obito put his hooves on the ground creating a seal.

“Summoning Jutsu!”

A large rock golem began to rise from the ground in front of Obito. Its’ body was a reddish color with spiky rocks jutting out of its’ shoulders and collarbone. Its’ eyes were covered by a white cloth.

“This one is different from the others that were summoned.”

“This is the Gedo Statue, and only two people I know of can summon it. One of them, obviously, is me.”

“He shouldn’t be difficult to overcome!”

Celestia charged her horn, and shot out five energy bolts in quick succession.

The statue blocked the first four with its’ arm, but the fifth one evaded and hit the statue’s cheek. Even so, it wasn’t shaken up in the least.

“I should’ve expected as much. You ponies have powers not even have I can comprehend.”

The statue’s arm swung outward at Celestia, but she easily flew out of the way.

“This monstrosity is too slow to fight me! Why don’t you fight me yourself?”

“Good point. I hadn’t calculated the Gedo Statue being too slow to engage you. “

Obito called back the Gedo Statue, and Celestia flew back down to face him.

“You would’ve preferred to fight the Statue, believe me. I will be a far more challenging opponent.”

Obito removed the white guitar-like object from his back and planted it at his side.

“Now, burn!”

Obito waved the object at Celestia, creating “gusts” of fire that raced towards the Princess.

‘A fire fan?’ She thought as she flew into the air, dodging the fire.

“You can’t win by dodging everything!”

Two more gusts were shot into the air at the Princess, who dodged them again.

“I said,” Obito’s fan began to glow blue with chakra, “STOP DODGING!”

A giant wave of fire exploded from the fan into the sky.

Celestia tried to make a shield to block the attack, but was enveloped by the flame. When the wave of fire subsided, Obito saw Celestia still standing!

“How?! There’s no way you could’ve survived that without taking severe injur-”

He stopped himself when he saw the Princess’ wings. They were burnt black and most of the feathers had been incinerated.

“Without flight, you won't’ be able to dodge any more of my attacks. It’s over, Princess!”

Obito sent another gust of fire at the Princess. But he forgot that the Princess still had her magic, and she created a small shield to block the attack.

“Well, it’s been proven already that you can’t block my earlier attack, so let’s just try that one again!”

Obito whipped up another giant wave of fire and fanned it toward the Princess.

Celestia knew she couldn’t block it, so she sat down waiting for it-the end.

‘I never thought I would die like this. No pony has ever been strong enough to kill a pony Princess, and yet these ponies have killed many. My sister is dead, Cadence is dead, and I’m about to die. This means he was right. Warriors do need strength to defeat their enemies; and I just wasn’t strong enough for him.’

The fire wave moved even closer towards her.

‘I wonder what happened to Twilight? Did she ever find the Elements? I don’t know if it matters now. I doubt they will be able to defeat these ponies.’

The fire wave was inches from Celestia.

‘I hope Twilight is OK. If at least one Princess is alive, Equestria has a futu-’

The wave collided with Celestia. Obito watched intently as the fire burned brightly, then faded away revealing what happened to the Princess.

She was dead, her body burnt to almost nothing.

Obito walked, laughing, towards the Princess’ body, and knelt down beside her.

“After everything that happened, you still didn’t surrender. I don’t understand it.”

Obito noticed the Princess’ crown was still as shiny as it was before he killed her.

“That’s interesting. How is this crown not destroyed?”

He picked it up and looked it all over. While he was, a bolt of purple energy hit him in the side; knocking him off balance.

“YOU MONSTER! How dare you kill her, and then loot her body for her crown!”

Obito stood back up, laughing.

“It’s you. The purple Princess.”

“My name is Twilight!”

“Your name is no concern of mine. My comrades and I can recognize you as “the purple Princess” just as well.”

“You’ll pay for this!”

“No I won’t, and you know it. You know that if I can kill your superior, that I can brush you away without much effort.”

“Tha- that’s not true!”

“Don’t believe me? Then let me show you.”

Obito used the Kamui and teleported behind Twilight.

“Boo.” Twilight couldn’t react quick enough as he plunged a kunai deep into her neck.

“AAAAHHH!” She screamed, as she fell onto the ground beside her mentor.

“See? Without much effort, at all.”

“With my death, the succession of alicorns will end! You’ve just ended a race! How can you live with yourself?!”

“How can you still talk so clearly with a kunai in your neck?”

Twilight’s adrenaline stopped flowing and she began to succumb to the pain in her neck.

“As for your other question, I don’t care, really. We’ll be leaving your world soon, anyway.”

“Yo- you can’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do- don’t you thi- think we would’ve disc- discovered a way to ge- get to ot- other worlds by now?”

“You’re lying.”

“I’m dy- dying. I have no reas- reason to lie.”

Obito’s rage began to boil inside him.

“We will find a way! We will not live in this pathetic land forever!”

Obito unleashed his rage on the defenseless Princess and incinerated her just like his first victim.

Obito looked at both of his victims, then used the Kamui to leave the Dragon Dominion, and return to the Rising Dawn HQ.

He reappeared in front of the shack. He heard voices inside, so he walked in to see the other members of Akatsuki.

“I assume the invasion of Canterlot went smoothly?”

All of the Akatsuki stopped talking and faced Obito.

“It did. All of the enemy leaders have been neutralized except the purple Princess.” Said Itachi.

“No, she’s dead. She tracked me down while I was fighting with Celestia and I killed her.”

“This is good news. Does that mean we won the war?” Said Kakuzu.

Obito shook his head. “Not yet. The dragons are burning down Ponyville right now. Once they finish with that, then all pony settlements will be gone, and then we will have won in Equestria.”

“What do you mean, ‘in Equestria’?” Asked Hidan.

“The enemy leaders had soldiers that weren’t from around here. The minotaur must be from elsewhere along with the buffalo.”

“No, the buffalo live in a small tribe in the desert south of here.” I said.

“Well, then the dragons will go there next. But overall, we have won this war. It won’t be long before all the other nations surrender to us.”

“So what do we do now?” I asked.

Obito turned away from us. “Now, we say farewell to our allies. They are going to be rewarded with Equestria. It will be split among them.”

“So we aren’t staying here?” Asked Deidara.

“No, but I still haven’t found a way to get back. So that is a priority for us.”

Obito walked out the door, and the rest of us were left alone. I say that, because I felt alone. This war had gone against all of my beliefs as a person, and as a member of the Akatsuki. I was stressed, and I needed some air.

“I’m going to get some fresh air. I’ll be back.” I said.

The others didn’t respond, and I walked outside the shack to the dock. I let my legs dangle in the water as I thought about what happened. I never understood why Obito had done what he had done, but one thing was certain. If we ever got back to Konoha, I was going to leave the Akatsuki. I needed to atone for what I had done here by doing some good.

I sat for hours, and soon the sun began to set over the water.

“How beautiful.”

“Not as beautiful as revenge! This is for the Princess!”

‘The scene was hard to describe. To this day, I still can’t understand the brutality behind the attack. I don’t even know who killed him. All I know is that peace finally reached that troubled boy. It was what he needed.’

“Nagato! It’s time to seal the Six-Tails!” Said Obito.

Nagato turned his head. “I’ll be out there momentarily.”

Obito left, and Nagato turned to the book he had been writing in. “Rokuro, I hope your story makes an impact on people. What you dealt with, is unbearable.”

Nagato laid down his pen, and closed the book. The book had a single phrase etched into the top: ‘Rokuro’s Journal’.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Just in case some people didn't understand, I got a few messages about this and I wanted to clear it up. Basically, this whole story was being read by Nagato. Rokuro had written down what happened to him, and Nagato filled in the parts where he was, and everyone else was. In other words, the whole story (even the 5th Great Ninja/Pony War) was just read from a journal! Talk about a twisted ending, huh?

Somehow, they found a way back to Konoha, but I felt that wasn't important to the story, so use your imagination and figure out how they did it. This is the end of the story of Rokuro. I hope everyone enjoyed reading it. This is the ending song for this chapter, and, the whole saga.

Chapter 1:The Gathering Storm

A war. We had come to this place as a punishment; and we were just going to find a way home. That’s what Obito said, that’s what we believed. Now, he has started a war. Why? He has no bond to this place, and he even said before he doesn’t care for anything except getting back to Konoha.

He said in the room outside mine that the various factions allied with us: Griffons, Changelings, and Diamond Dogs, have helped to form “The Rising Dawn.” A fitting name, I suppose. All of these races had been put down by the ponies at one point. So they could be “rising” again. But what if there was a reason they were put down in the first place?

As I lay in bed, thinking these thoughts, Kakuzu walked in the door.

“Rokuro, stand up. Your leg should be healed, by now.”

I nodded, and pushed my covers off. I dangled one leg over the floor, then another. And, just like magic, I stood. I had only been in bed for a week and my broken leg had been repaired!

“Wow, Kakuzu. That soup of yours sure did the trick. I can’t believe it was only a week....”

“I am 91 years old, if you recall. My experience in all things, including medicine, is vastly superior to most.”

“I can’t argue with that.” I said as I walked around a little to test the repair job.

“As long as you don’t jump around too much and put strain on the bones, you’ll be fine. Running, walking, jogging, whatever. Just no jumping for another day.”

As Kakuzu walked out, another familiar face walked in.

“Heh. I can always expect good things from my student. Even how quickly he recovers from what should’ve been a month’s recovery.”

“Of course, Sasori sensei. Why did you come here?”

“I just wanted to see you before I got sent off. The Akatsuki pairs have been, excuse the pun, paired, with a certain group of the alliance. Deidara and I will be going with the Diamond Dogs.”

“So then, who will I be joining?”

Sasori shook his head. “No one. Your partner has yet to be found. You’re staying here as a guard until we can find Hotaka.”

“Why?! I have been laid up in bed for a whole week! I want to get some action!”

“Calm down. You already killed one of the Princesses. That’s a major blow to their morale. It seems as if you forget that you have already helped out more than all of our efforts put together.”

I sighed.

“Fine. I understand, Sasori sensei.”

I started to bow to him, but he interrupted me.

“Oh, by the way,” he said as he was walking out the door, “I told you your quantity wouldn't survive long in the world. Be it Konoha, or here.”

I suppressed my anger, as hard as it was. He found out about how my 1000 puppets had been destroyed by Princess Cadence; one of the rulers of this land.

Of course, I did pay her back. After she used some kind of exhausting jutsu, she fell unconscious and my teammate at the time, Kisame, dragged her to me. He removed a dagger from his robes, and I pierced her heart with it. Normally, it would’ve been a glorious victory; but she was defenseless. I still don’t know why I did it.

But that was in the past, now. Nothing was going to change that, so I decided to get to work by just standing at the door outside our hideout. Was that really work? Or just a waste of time?

“Everyone! Please have a seat! We are about to begin!” Said Princess Celestia.

The Princesses had gathered the leaders and armies of other nations; to help counter the arrival of Griffons to aid the Akatsuki. These were the Minotaur, Buffalo, and Crystal Ponies; who had been found to still be alive deep in the mountains far north of Canterlot.

The leaders of each faction all took their seats at the table. Chief Thunderhooves was leader of the buffalo. He was a large, dark brown buffalo with a blue headband that had numerous feathers protruding from it.

The leader of the minotaur was equally large in size compared to his army. His skin was a darker blue, and his horns were a tan color instead of grey or black like the other minotaur. His name was Leatherhorn.

Finally, the leader of the Crystal Ponies was a blue-grey unicorn mare. She had stubs of wings left on her side; evidence of wings existing there long ago. She wore a silver tiara with a bright blue topaz in the center. Her name was Queen Esmerelda.

“Now, we need to discuss what we are going to about these criminals destroying our land!” Said Celestia.

“Nobody has destroyed my lands yet.” Said Leatherhorn. “That, combined with our past relationship, and you tell me then, Princess: why should I care?”

“Our lands were attacked, too! They destroyed our neighbors, the Appleoosans! How do you know you won’t be next?!” Screamed Thunderhooves.

“I know I won’t be next, because my people aren’t a bunch of ignorant tribals!” Retorted Leatherhorn.

“What did you call my people, you barbarian?!”

Queen Esmerelda stood. “That’s quite enough, you two. Let’s allow Princess Celestia and the rest of our hosts to mediate on the issue, shall we?”

“You should speak now, Princess. I’m sure they will listen.” She sat down.

Celestia spoke. “Leatherhorn you are right. We can’t be sure if these new arrivals will attack your lands or not. But if they do, wouldn’t it be better if you had everypony here’s support?”

Even the minotaur leader realized how frugal and pointless his argument was.

“Hmph. You make a good point. If these invaders did attack my lands I suppose I wouldn’t mind a little assistance....”

Celestia nodded at him. “Good, so I have your word you will aid us should the invaders attack our lands again, and vice versa: we will send help should your lands come under siege?”

“You do.”

Celestia faced Chief Thunderhooves. “And you? Will you join us?”

“Of course! I’d help you fight these savages any day!”

“Finally, will you help us Queen Esmerelda?”

The Queen sat silent for a moment before speaking. “I should and I will. You are our distant relatives, after all; and family sticks together no matter what. They will pay for what they have done. Count the Crystal Empire in!”

“With that,” Said Princess Luna, “we are now ready to form the first interracial alliance in Equestria! Minotaur, Buffalo, and Ponies will all stand by each other! ‘Tis a beautiful sight!”

Celestia nodded. “Yes, but what are we to call this alliance?”
“What about the Buffalo Brigade?” Said Thunderhooves.

“No that isolates the rest of us from the group. The name cannot be something like that; it needs to be neutral.” Said Celestia.

“Hmm, would you consider Indigo Alliance?” Said Leatherhorn.

“No, it needs to be something entirely neutral. Indigo is the shade of blue that many minotaur are.”

They all sat for several minutes to think of something, when Luna spoke up.

“I HAVE IT!”

Everyone cringed from hearing Luna’s legendary Royal Whoom.

“AGH! Princess, could you please tell us your idea without splitting our ear drums in two?!” Said Leatherhorn.

“Of course, I apologize. But as I was saying, white is a neutral color, correct?”

They all nodded.

“Ok, now we are crusading like knights to eliminate the impure threat from our pure land, right?”

Again, they nodded.

“Where is this going, Luna?” Asked Twilight.

“Well, all things considered, I believe we should call ourselves ‘The White Knights Confederation’!”

“I can get behind that name!” Said Thunderhooves.

“I agree, it is a neutral name entirely.” Said Esmerelda.

“Me three! I like it!” Said Leatherhorn.

“Very well,” said Princess Celestia, “then we are hereby known as ‘The White Knights Confederation’. Our business is hereby concluded. Farewell!”

The leaders stood up, and walked out of the throne room.

“Luna, do you think we can win, now?” Asked Celestia.

“Of course, sister. We must remain confident if we are to slay these vile ponies!”

“I wish I had your confidence, but I could tell: many of them didn’t have their hearts fully in this confederation.”

Celestia walked over to the window, and looked down on the leaders and their armies preparing to leave.

“I do so hope you are right.”