Peace in Equestriaby The-G80ChaptersPrologNew SurroundingsEquestria, Huh?Strange Meetings PrologPrologue : Arrival It was a cheerless and dark place; avoided by so many thanks to the reputation that it had gained over the years. Of course, the dangers that could threaten the life of anyone that entered had helped a lot in that regard too. The scary and unnatural look of the vegetation was a permanent and disturbing reminder of what you could find inside of this… this… forest. The “Everfree” forest. It had been a place of nightmares for young fillies and colts, a warning, and sometimes the base of daring jokes for the older ponies in this land. However, to the upcoming arrivals, it would be the perfect place, what more could they have asked for. The forest wasn´t composed only of trees, lakes and dust; there were also steep and ugly hills, the same as giant and impressive mountains. These colossal structures of nature could be totally solid, others could be actual volcanoes, but others could have cavernous tunnels and caverns that went deep beneath them. In the middle of one of these mountains was a normal cave if you can say so. Twenty feet tall and even wider on the sides, quite spacious, with a long tunnel that curiously went on after some turns here and there to the outside of the giant rock. Anyone or… anypony could easily lose interest in it, but it wasn´t the size or the look of the cave that made it special, no. It was the strange phenomenon that was just happening inside of it. A bright and white light, just like the light of the sun that could blind anyone that dare to look directly at it, was shining at full force inside the spooky place. A white orb of a mysterious energy was furiously shooting, in all directions, sparks and lighting of unstable power. Some unlucky rocks had been found by its strange power and were immediately reduced to dust. Its powerful and deafening roar almost make the walls crack and fall to ground. For some moments, just fractions of second, someone could tell that the strange anomaly was actually morphing in some kind of… dark vortex. Rather than absorbing anything it seemed that the dark matter was trying to expel... something. The strange sequence of events repeat itself a few more times until it seems that the portal, if you could call that odd crack in the fabric of existence that, wasn't able to support itself any more. A final and even louder roar was heard not only in the cave but also in the surroundings of the mountain as the strange portal finally seems to disappear in midair allowing the cavern to fall into darkness and silence once more, but not before leaving a present behind for this new and strange world outside. The time passes, and it seems that the forest was slowly returning to its natural habits. The hours come and go and the cave doesn’t look like it would break the silence at all… but. An almost muffled groan was heard in the inside of the cave, a small figure tries to move but it seems that whatever it was, was to tired or hurt to try anything. Another moan, slightly louder, echoed in the darkness of the cave, from what could be heard, it was greatly troubled. Two lids rose to reveal a beautiful pair of amber eyes, at the moment they weren’t as beautiful as they could have been since they were impregnated with confusion and pain. Another clumsy attempt to stand up ended with a louder groan as the blue haired creature fall to the tough ground. There wasn’t another attempt, for the moment the creature resigned itself to rest a little until it could try it again. Its eyelids become heavier as it felt like losing consciousness and being able to organize its thoughts, its breaths were less audible with every second that passed. Suddenly its eyes opened in shock as it remembered something. In a quick movement, knowing that it wasn´t able to move, for the moment, it tried to roll in the ground desperately looking for something… or someone. It calmed itself a little after finally finding a quite familiar heap of orange spines, but even so, it wasn´t its primary target right now. A few more rolls and crawls allow it to finally find what it was looking for. “Nagato!” The clearly feminine voice shouted, finally allowing her to become more recognizable in the middle of the darkness. The female crawled a little more, but after getting tired of it she tried to stand another time, without success. It started to become strange, she doesn’t feel dizzy any more but she wasn´t able to properly stand on her two legs again. It doesn’t matter for the moment. She crawls a little more and finally was the close enough to the strange and mechanic chair to see her friend. A deafening gasp was all she could muster, where her loved friend should be now a…a… horse of some kind was sitting. Its red coat and darker red mane try to tell her something, but it wasn´t until she saw the back of the creature and the long and black bars attached, no, embedded to it that she truly recognized the creature before her. “Nagato…?” She asked in disbelief, this strange sight that her eyes provide couldn´t be true. The gaunt horse finally gave a signal of life, just a little groan to be precise. After some seconds of waiting it finally opened its eyes, the left one was the only visible eye since it mane cover the right one, but it was all she need to confirm her suspicions. A totally purple and multi-ringed eye shone in the darkness of the cave as it try to observe its surroundings. “Konan…?” He asked in a male voice, quite tired and haggard too. “Nagato, is that really you?…what happened to you?” She asked in full concern but her question was quickly countered with another statement. “I can ask you the same thing, Konan…” Said Nagato, his breaths were heavy, just like he was tired and only breath was a big task. Konan noticed this, and the full picture finally came to her memories… at the moment, the rude travel they had make had been really hard, her body clearly told her that, and for the red haired man, it surely had been worse. By the way, his statement didn´t go unheard and a confused grimace covers her face as she began to look at herself. More shock and surprise, she had become a horse too, a clear blue coat cover her for what she can see, her black and red clouded robe was still covering the majority of her body, but the shocked expression never left her face. Looking back to her partner who seems to have a bored expression, he doesn’t seems to care for his actual appearance or perhaps he was just too tired to care. More haggard breaths are heard as he try to get some air in his lungs. It was more than clear that he had been trough better times. “This seems to be the result of the abrupt and sudden clash of our powers…” He confesses, giving her a calm stare waiting for her to realize his words. After some moments in deep thoughts she seems to understand him and accept this reality, after all she didn´t feel it as a Genjutsu, so she slowly began to inspect the zone. She wasn´t still able to properly wal-, no, trot… or whatever, but she manage to move around. It was a cave by the looks of it, quite spacious and wet, it wasn´t her first time in a place like this so she didn´t complain. It was actually giving her a good nostalgic feeling. In the floor, with a little help of chakra in her eyes, she saw a total of six bodies lying over there, scattered all over the ground, all of them with the same dark robe and the complex pattern of piercings over their faces and bodies, almost all of them had orange clear coat and a darker mane, resembling the hair they had in their previous form, one of them was completely hairless, which she easily guessed was shurado. After making sure that all of them were still in one piece since she knew they were indispensable for her friend, she noted that they just had some scrapes and dust over here and there, she return to her loyal friend that looked like he could slip into unconsciousness at any moment. “So… what happened? What now?” She asked, her concerned tone betraying the calm neutral expression she wore. “I can only guess all this happened when our chakras had crashed in that way. Our actual appearance, it isn’t a Genjutsu or I would have felt it the moment I awoke. I´m not so sure but maybe the Rinnegan had something to do with all this…” Explained Nagato, but some coughs silenced him before explaining further. He need some rest and she knew that even if she didn´t understand all of what he had said could implicate, she had to ask one final thing, maybe the thing she should have asked in first place. “Where are we?” Author's Note And that´s all folks, I´m planning to never write another chapter of this story and leave you in the expectative… Nah!, just kidding. The next chapter will be out…mmm… soon I guess, I didn´t have school any more so I think I would have a LOT of free time to write =) so look for it soon. New SurroundingsChapter 1: New Surroundings Konan put her right hoof out of the dark tunnel as she explored their new surroundings. Nagato was resting at the moment since his original body wasn´t able to support itself anymore, she couldn´t help but gave him a smile of sympathy. He had been trapped in that perpetual state of pain since he had made that sacrifice, consumed by his rage so many years ago. But he never complained, even more, the physical pain he had felt in the past didn´t affect him anymore and only had help him grow. Her brows slightly rose in surprise as she discovered that the cave was actually just a rupture inside of the colossal and craggy mountain. She was surrounded by trees and trees... and trees as far the eyes could see. They were quite strange to be honest. They had low hanging gnarled branches that looked as if they were trying to capture some poor unsuspecting soul into their clutches. She even thought that some of them had gruesome mangled faces on them, but that was just her mind playing tricks on her… right? She didn´t know where they could be, as far as she could guess is that they weren´t any more near to"Amagekure". Their previous fight could have sent them as far away as possible, not even the dimensions could have been a barrier, well, that´s what she had heard of him, but as always, one can never know what could be truth or lies when you talk about him. By the way, her hopes didn´t drop, after all it wasn´t possible for her to know every inch of the "Elemental Nations" and maybe, just maybe, they were just in an unknown forest over another country... if it was the Country of Rain would have easily seen it, as the name said it was almost impossible for the rain to stop... unless Pain felt like it. Her immediate worries were how to fix his and her state, being horses like they are now would be a problem if they got into a fight with another shinobi... maybe the ones of lower rank wouldn´t be any threat even in their current state, but if one of their same level found them... she didn´t know what to expect. She quickly washed those thoughts off with a shake of her head. What was she thinking? No matter what his form was, Pain was still a god, thankfully no one of his techniques need hand seals to be performed, neither did hers, maybe that was a signal that their luck wasn´t as bad as she could have thought. Maybe a "Henge no Jutsu"(Transformation Jutsu) could be useful, but then again, no fingers. Another fact that threatened her calm was, of course, where the heck they are. If only she could get in contact with another Akatsuki member, maybe they could know where to go, she would need to wait for Nagato to wake up in order to use his telepathic abilities, though. At this point she was able to properly trot if that was the word for it, horses weren´t so common in her land, so it was ok if she wasn´t an expert on the topic. The wet atmosphere made her feel at home, but the marshy surface of the forest didn’t give her the same feeling. As she walked down the calm path that she was making through the undergrowth, she noticed that there was no sign of any local fauna, so she instead opted to get a higher perspective. Her initial hesitation was understandable, but when she finally managed to create giant wings of paper coming out of her sides she let out a sigh of relieve. She had always loved to fly just as much as doing origami, so being able to spread her wings was a welcome feeling. The cold and refreshing breeze of the... midday air, as she could see from the position of the sun, helped to clear her thoughts as she flew up and landed on a suitable tree nearby. It was odd, she had just left the hideout in the morning, and from what she had seen, several hours had passed since then... curious. Now that she was this high she could easily saw all the spooky sight in front of her; the forest was vast and she was only able to see a part of it since the mountains at her back covered a lot of the view even if she flew. Then, just like light that wanted to illuminated her dark problems, she saw signal of hope… smoke. ________________________________________ Princess Luna quickly made her way through the long, tall and white hallways of the enormous castle. As she passed in a speedy trot, subjects and guards gave her a respectful bow, maybe in other situations she would responded to them with at least a gentle smile, but at the moment she was in a hurry. Some hours ago, when she was just falling into the embrace of a good sleep, a strange shock wave of energy caught her attention. It wasn´t noisy or destructive, just a strange feeling that disturbed her horn. Maybe her reaction wasn´t anything serious, immediately falling asleep once again, but she was to tired from the long night to even think. After an unknown amount of time had passed, her eyes snapped open as the realization hit her like a ton of bricks, even in her dreams. That was the reason for her urgency. As the doors opened, she slowed her hoof steps, trying her best to look calm even when her mind wasn´t. "Greetings, my dear sister" Called Luna as she made her way through the spacious throne room. In response a large white alicorn sitting in the throne smiled at her. "I see that you finally woke up, sister" Joked the princess of the sun, and after seeing the cheeks of her dear sister gain a good blush of embarrassment she couldn´t help but to oust a little chuckle. "Sorry sister, we had been so tired to notice it at first" Apologized her in her habitual "Royal voice", but without the high volume. "No problem, Luna. Now, I suppose that you too had felt that strange anomaly in the natural flow of magic, right?" Asked Celestia and as expected her sister just nodded in agreement. "Yes, we had felt it... but..." She left her statement in the air, unsure of how to complete it. "I know it, it didn't feel like magic" Said Luna, a little surprised that it was the correct answer. At first she had thought that her horn was playing her tricks on her, how was it possible that something as powerful as that couldn´t be magic? Even more, how any energy like that couldn´t be magic? "What was it then, sister?" After her question Princess Luna could only see with frustration how her sister just shook her head in a signal that she didn't recognize it either. Celestia rose from her throne and did a small walk out to the balcony, her younger sister followed behind with a little hesitation, seeing her older sister serious like this wasn´t common and it worried Luna. Even when she had important meetings with the other parts of the royalty and/or ambassadors from the other countries she always managed to somehow keep a calm cheerful mood. "The captain Shining Armor had offered himself for the investigation, I allowed him go with the promise of being careful and taking with him a squad of the royal guard" Celestia calmly stated, but anypony could tell that she wasn´t so calm as she wanted to be. The truth was that, whatever it had been, that strange energy not only was powerful but... it had felt... odd. It didn´t give her the warm feeling of the magic being used in all its glory, no, somehow this new energy feel... cold, like all the happiness and friendship that it should have had was ripped out only leaving negative feelings... misery, was a perfect world to describe it and also anger. Whatever it was, it sent a shiver down the spine of the solar princess, something she hadn´t felt in many years. "And now what, sister?" With little uncertainty asked Luna. The answer she received was actually expected, though. "We just wait, Luna, wait and...hope" that last word had been more a whisper for herself. She really hoped that nothing was threatening the peace that Equestria had had for the last thousand years, such a peace that she and, once again, her sister had striven to keep. Celestia just set her gaze to the distant horizon, trying to discover just with her eyes what could be in that strange and cursed forest. "What are you?" ________________________________________ Konan gracefully landed in the green and vibrant hills. At first she had intended to go to the source of the clear signal of civilization, a small town from what she had seen, but then, like it had come out of nowhere, a vast field totally full of apple trees caught her attention. They didn't seems to be located in a natural form, so it means someone planted them. As she walked between the almost endless rows of trees she couldn´t help herself but to question what could be the usefulness of all these apples, "who would eat all of them?" After all it was a good question, who could eat all of these apples, it doesn´t matter if it was for noble family it was pointless, no human could eat all of them before they began to rot. Even in the market the people just don´t need all this fruit. She continued her little march over the fields until a curious amd sudden sound caught her attention, it was a slight growl, her belly. As far as she can remember she hadn´t ate anything since they just arrive in this strange place, so as a logical decision she took one of the apples from a near branch with the help of some wild papers floating around her, in some parts, still fragmented body. Her eyes carefully inspected the apple and after she didn´t find anything that could be a signal of a threat she gave it a good bite. She must admit that it had surprised her, never in her life she eaten an apple so tasty as this. Her mouth was full with the delicious and sweet substance and couldn´t help when her eyes close in pleasure. After some moments she found that the apple had completely disappear in her mouth and after a moment her body reconstructed itself. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a voice made her ears jerk in surprise. She had been so distracted with the new culinary discovery that she wasn´t paying attention to her surroundings. In a quick and agile jump she put herself in a way she can face this new threat face-to-face. Her eyes winked in surprise, in front of here she couldn´t find any other living being aside from the form of a red and bigger horse, a clear orange mane and tale adorned the quadruped. She didn´t allow it to take down her guard and quickly she began to search for the source of the voice. ________________________________________ Big McIntosh was, as every day, bucking the apples off the trees. It was what he did the best, being a farmer and he was proud of it. At the moment he could find himself alone in the vast fields of apples, his sister Applejack had taken the coach of apples to the town in order to sell them, and his youngest sister, Applebloom, should still be in school in this hour of the day. He didn´t complain, he could easily enjoy a peaceful day of work, he loved his family, but sometimes everypony just needed a time for his own. Some mares go to spas, some stallions prefer to take a walk or read a book, but for him, he just liked to work and work, anypony can tell that he was one of the most hardworking ponies in all Equestria. He decide to take the barrels to the barn, since they were already full, when suddenly an unique shape in the corner of his eyes caught his attention. Turning around to properly see this strange situation he found in the distance a dark, red and blue form calmly enjoying one of the apples of his loved farm. Not in his watch. He quickly rushed to the new intruder, with a relative calm, but as he come closer his curiosity grow. When he was just some feet behind the newcomer he realize it was a pony dressed in a large cloak, black in design and with some things that he can only describe as red clouds. He shake away his current surprise and continue to scold the boldness of this pony. "Ahm, ya now this is a private farm?" he asked with some annoyance, but since he always was in a calm mood it was difficult to tell. However, he seemed to gain the attention of the intruder as it quickly jumped around to confront him. For some reason he couldn't understand he froze in place, all the anger he had just disappeared as he saw the pony in front of him. Just some feet from him was a blue mare, with a confused expression that quickly turned into a frown as she quickly began to look in all directions like she was searching for something. He couldn´t help but for some reason stare into the amber eyes. After some moments he realized he was just staring at her and after a quick shake of his head he return to find out who was this mare. "Umm, sorry ma´am but this is a private farm, Ah think you didn´t see the fence, right?" He wasn´t so talkative, but for some reason his mouth seemed to gain its own brain and started talking for itself, at the moment trying to give her a chance to be innocent. The blue mare look once again at him and he could help but feel quite strange under her gaze. For some moments he noticed how she saw him with caution and disbelief and then she just closed her eyes and, for what he can only guess, try to concentrate her thoughts. After some more awkward silence she seemed to once again return her attention to him, still with a suspicious stare. "It was you that spoke just now?" She asked, in a cold and actually bored tone that made him nervous for some reason. "Y-yeah, it was been me, ma´am" he said with some insecurity, it was strange, he doesn´t talk a lot, he barely talks at all! But when he does he always had been firm in his words and ideas, but now, he could help but feel strange around this mare, and her cold attitude wasn't helping him at all, maybe his accent annoyed her? It better not. For the moment she seemed to relax, just a little, and then turned to ask him one confusing question. "Is this a summoning realm?" Sum-what?! In his life he had never heard of such a thing, but seeing that she wasn´t playing any prank at all he continue to answer her with the best gentleness he can. "Umm... sorry ma´am, I hadn´t heard of such a thing, but you´re in 'Sweet Apple Acres'" He was clearly proud of his home, and even in his current state he didn't hesitate to show it. However, his reply didn't seem to please the mare. She started to go in deep thought once again with a big frown over her face, and he could, barely, hear how she complained in whispers. So, with some worry he tried to see if he could help this trouble mare. "Is everything right, ma´am?" In such a fast move that almost made him stumble some feet behind, she appeared just some inches away from his face, the big and annoyed expression still in her face. "What country is this, horse?" She coldly asked, but a little angry tone couldn´t be hidden from her voice. Even more confused than before, and with an unexplained blush over his cheeks, he elaborated to answer her. "E-Equestria, of course... by the way, ma´am, I know I can look a little big but I´m a pony" And with that finally reply she returned some feet away from him, her expression turning to one of worry actually, then to one of frustration and finally to a calmer one, some sadness still present. With a big sigh she began to walk down the big hills in a familiar direction. "I didn´t mean to steal, my apologies" With that last statement she proceeded to walk away from him, after some moments in confusion he finally snapped out of his thoughts. "Wait! If you go to town I can give you a tour If you want" He wasn´t sure why he suggested that, but for some reason he just wanted to get to know the enigmatic mare. But her next answer just droped down any hope for that. "No, thanks, I will be faster in my own" Author's Note mmm... so, I left you looking for Pain? better luck next chapter jeje XD. Nah, without jokes, I think this had been like a Konan-Chapter, and I just hope I had properly make it, after all this story is about the 'god' and his 'angel'. By the way, this chapter finally had a good gramar correction, so much thanks to my editor: Heartless99 ;) Equestria, Huh?Chapter 2: Equestria, Huh? The first thing he felt was the dizziness that came around when someone returned to consciousness, quite annoying not being able to properly control yourself, but after a few shakes of his head his thoughts finally became clear. Surrounding him was a dark, dank, moist cave. Not that he had expected to be relocated elsewhere after his first awakening, even more, it was a logical decision for his loyal companion to leave him here, relatively secure and hidden away from any prying eyes. After a few loud cracking sounds from his neck he readjusted himself to be in a more “comfortable” position, not that he had a lot of options attached to his chair, though. But Through usage of the legendary Rinnegan he carefully examined his surroundings only to reveal to himself the company of his Pain’s which were lifelessly strewn about the ground of the cavern, a few moments past while Nagato contemplated his options, giving the cave a few glances every now and then but ultimately returning to his bodies. After a few more moments he made what he consider the most suitable decision and suddenly one of the cold and dismal bodies gave the first signals of life. At first trying to stand with some rough movements the female form of a orange mare proudly stood on all fours. "Good" she replied in own approval the mare with a quite, dark, emotionless voice, her penetrating stare gazed upon her own form together with a peek from the red-maned stallion. “So in the end it wasn't just a dream, or a Genjutsu of terrible taste, but they had indeed been somehow ‘transformed’ into horses of some kind”. At that moment Nagato could say he felt better, but he still needed more energy in order to use the six paths at their full power. Chikushodo would be the right decision, her smaller size in comparison with the other pains made her the one that would waste less chakra and given her ability to summon the other paths if they were necessary, together with the fact that it was the second most agile and faster of the six, made her the perfect scout. With a more decent trot Chikushodo made her way through the long corridor of the cave until she was upon the entrance of this ominous place. Concentrating some chakra into the Rinnegan of his current body he could see an improvised but efficient trap that had been left by his loyal angel. A good amount of explosive seals properly hidden covered the surrounding area next to the tunnel; this prevented anyone from slinking into the cave without first being blown sky high. She expanded some of her chakra through her hoof and into the ground to get a feel for where they were, once the explosive’s had felt her signal they immediately disabled themselves, it wasn't odd that the traps that Konan or Nagato set would recognize each other. But with another slight shock wave of chakra, the explosives had been re-activated. A forest, was what came to the mind of Nagato after the first few glances here and there, quite strange in some ways but nothing to worry about. It had been enough rest for a lifetime so with a quick movement the female path boosted herself into a fast gallop over the branches of the forest. Moving at unbelievable speed Chikushodo quickly began to understand her surroundings better, it was indeed a forest, along with the other aspects that came with it; rivers, lakes, strange flowers of blue coloring and many other oddities. But the more she advance the more something began to feel ....odd... or to be more precise the "lack" of something began to feel odd. Chakra. Even though he had never learn the ancient technique of "Sennin modo" the Rinnegan still gave the user the ability to sense chakra from other living beings as well as the natural chakra of the world, but at the moment he could barely feel the latter. Actually, he started to feel something... strange and new he had never felt before. His thoughts were immediately interrupted as a loud roar called to his current vessel at the moment. Looking down from her position she saw one of the oddest things in all the world, a single, strong figure stood on the ground with a threatening glance. Coming down and closer to the animal she confirmed her suspicions. Standing on all fours and with an arrogant pose was a form of lion. This one however, didn’t have the usual aspect of one of its kind, two large wings reminiscent to those of a bat were attached in a natural way to its back, as well as the giant scorpion tail that replaced its own. The beast once again roared in defiance and proceeded to smash its huge paw into the ground, trying to scare the living lights out of its new pray, nevertheless, the bored expression that remain on the face of the mares should have had been a signal for the Manticore that it would be the best to forget this meal and run away. "Are you a summon of some kind?" Asked the mare with her normal bored tone, she hadn’t felt any chakra coming from this creature but maybe it had the ability to hide it, if it was a summon then it could prove to be good or bad news. If indeed it was a summon then it would go to show that they are in a summon realm or there is a shinobi nearby, but in both case it would mean they were still in the elemental nations. The colossal creature seemed to grow a confused expression after hearing the strange question of the even stranger mare, but it only lasted a few mere seconds until the animal proceeded to launch a furious blow to its new prey. Big mistake. Some Epic Music But to the total surprise of this strange beast, the mare didn’t show any signs of being impaled by its large claws in which it took great pride in, but instead, it was now all over its large paw standing like a statue giving him a gazing at it with those strange and horrible eyes of her’s, now, just now the Manticore realized it had made a mistake, this pony didn't show what all the others experienced, the others always had a sense of fear and terror, but no, this mare doesn't have the eyes of prey, even more, her darkness and determination feel like stakes piercing its heart. Maybe Manticores weren't the smartest of all the creatures, but this one wasn't going to stay and find out why this mare wasn't afraid of it, something like instinct told him to run, to run and not turn back. It only had had this feeling, this sensation when it was too close to being near to a bigger predator, like the Ursas or Dragons, but for some reason this mare gave it the same feeling. The chimera gave a strong shake to its paw and after getting rid of the mare proceeded to quickly turn and run at it’s full speed. Its hopes of getting away safely from this strange experience went down quicker than a stone in the ocean when the mare suddenly appeared in front of it, even for itself, a proud and fast Manticore couldn't run that fast. And then there it was again, that same penetrating gaze that threw chills in the spine of the beast. "I think that you aren't one after all. But maybe you can still be useful" The serious and eerie tone in which she said it frightened the beast, even though the Manticore didn’t understand her words, it gave the beast the clear message. Realizing that it didn’t have a chance to escape the beast decide that it wouldn’t fall without a fight. In another quick and incompetent attempt the Manticore threw another blow in hopes that it could try to perforate the heart of the mare with its tail when she dodged it, it had fail yet again. The mare easily dodge everything the desperate beast could throw her way , it confused the Manticore to no end how she did it without any effort at all. This time, after a quick spin to one side, the mare turned around a gave it a powerful strike with her hind legs, the spine of the beast felt of an unbearable pain as the Manticore was launched some hooves over the air and then rudely crashed against a solid tree. It was ridiculous, how this single mare was defeated it with only a single strike, it was a Manticore for the Celestia’s sake! But it didn´t care at the moment, it was trying to breath, but every breath it took felt like claws in its lungs, and who knows, maybe there was a chipped or broken rib. The poor Manticore can only watch how the mare came closer to it with a calm trot, and when she was just a few steps away, she pulled out a strange black rod of sorts, and then she proceeds to speak to it again with her same dark tone. "You had thought you would be a challenge, did you not? You're weak, but allow me to make you stronger. Now...know pain " (End of the Epic Music) Dozens and dozens of butterflies freely flew over the skies of this"Ponyville" as these creatures had called their home, she couldn't understand all the ridiculous names they put into everything including themselves. These butterflies however, weren't normal at all, if some curious pegasus could get close enough to one,they would soon realize that these insects,defied logic as they knew it, for they weren´t of flesh and blood, but actually... of paper. Konan had decided that she would go much faster if she scattered herself over this small town, even in her current form she was able to see and hear everything around her, as odd as it may have seem it was useful. The more she explored the town and learned about these ponies the more she grew confused, not only were they able capable of higher cognitive thinking, they even spoke and performed daily task, almost as if they were humans... not only that but they also seems to... to be happy? They didn't seems to posses care in the world of any danger or future problems, just enjoying themselves and whatever company they possessed at the moment. The little colts and fillies, if she remembered correctly, were playing in the streets or in the parks like they were eternally safe from any and everything, the mothers would just watch them like they knew they would be perfectly safe, knowing that it was a ridiculous idea that something terrible would happen on this seemingly perfect day. If she still possessed a face she would frown, this was ridiculous, it was like an insult, how they could be like this! They acted as if nothing bad could happen to them, what about wars!? What about all the suffering and pain!? The peace they were showing couldn't possibly exist! After all true peace wasn't something possible in this accursed wor-...! It suddenly hit her like a rock, it was then she knew this wasn't her world anymore. It was then that the multiple butterflies began to slowly unite with themselves nearby on one of the hills hidden in plain sight in the park, and after forming a small vortex of paper they began to merge themselves, after a few odd seconds of this strange and extraordinary spectacle, a blue mare appeared standing on all fours, however, she doesn't have her usual cold or proud attitude, now her eyes look to the ground as her face took that of a thoughtful expression. Definitely this wasn't her world anymore, no, they were in this... "Equestria", but even so it was hard to believe, how could this be possible? All that she had ever known was misery and suffering, and even when for some time it had appeared there was hope for life she had remembered that things weren't as always as easy as that. Maybe... no, she needed to finish her research, it no longer mattered how strange this world could be they needed to return to their own. They! Pain would want to know all about her discovery and she needed someone to tell about this, maybe her dear friend could help her understand all this and- "Ouch!" A single tiny rock had landed and hit her front-right-hoof following up with a moan of pain forcing her to look down to the source of this nuisance. There, rubbing it head, was a little horse...eh, pony trying to shake away its current grief. It took some seconds for the little... colt, if she properly recognized it, to see that he hadn’t crashed against a tree but instead another pony. A mare to be exact, and when he saw her, his little eyes grew to the size of two small moons. He had never witnessed anypony like her before, it wasn't her strange clothing but she... she was just... beautiful. After realizing he was just staring at her, she had risen a brow in expectation, until he finally return to the real world. "Uh..."-barely-"... Uh!, sorry miss, I didn't see you, I was just looking for my ball" He responded by pointing a shaking hoof to the named object. Konan just needed to turn her head a few odd inches to see the little red orb. “Was It was really there this entire time”? Maybe she had gotten too deep in thought to notice it. The little colt just proceeded to grab his toy and then return to the blue mare. "I haven't seen you before miss, are you new around here? Are you a traveler, cause those clothes make you look like you are? What's your name?" Even when in other situation she would already be annoyed for the sudden assault of questions, she doesn´t feel angry at the moment, actually it was entertaining all the curiosity this little colt can have. "You know, little one, it’s bad manners not introduce yourself first before asking ‘somepony' else’s name" She said, incorporating the ways these ponies spoke as to not arouse suspicion in others. Curiously her tone and mood didn’t appear as cold as it always was. "Ups! sorry miss, the name´s Pipsqueak" He said with a big grin in his little face, a brown stain decorated the left side of his face. "Well then, my name is Konan, 'Pipsqueak' " she had heard many strange names but at least this wasn't as bad. "So are you new to this place miss konan, I can help you if you want!" He offered, almost yelling the last part with enthusiasm, just what you would expect from a child. It was curious how the ponies around here continue offering help to her even when she was a perfect strange, but this time, maybe another perspective could help her to understand better this place. "I think you can. Very well, you guide" And almost like that her words were like telling him about a present, the smile on his face slowly grew becoming even bigger as well as the spark in his eyes. It was actually funny, how this kid could go from being so easily impressed to happy. Konan calmly trot behind the little one as he began to show her this "Ponyville" The forest shook with every step the big Manticore took, however this beast wasn't a normal one, not only because it was allowing a orange mare to ride it, but also... something about it felt... bad. Its predatory eyes were now empty as if looking into a void, it was almost as if there were no longer a soul inside this being, and the still fresh wounds on its body almost seemed to bore it. The mare just proceeded to carefully examine every corner and shadow in the forest as her ride took her wherever she felt like going. After few more minutes without anything useful or interesting suddenly something in the corner of her powerful eyes caught her attention, following the command of its tamer the beast turned around and came closer to the structure. There, in the middle of "Nowhere" were the remaining ruins of a colossal castle, really quite a strange sight to see since someone wouldn't expect to find a structure such as this in a forest as this one. "hmm...Interesting" Confessed Chikushodo with a bored tone and her still doll-like-appearance. Just before she could decide to investigate the ruins a few sounds made her perk up with curiosity. Slowly turning around, still present on the Manticore’s back, Chikushodo focused some chakra in her eyes and began to search through the dense foliage of the forest, her gaze dug even through the toughest of the trees allowing her to finally locate the source of the noise. Thirteen from what she could see, thirteen horses with a strange armor covering on their bodies... what was the meaning of this? Whatever it was she didn't know, but whatever it was could very well prove to be problematic in and of its own, but the ruins were still of interest... maybe it was time to multitask tasks. "kuchiyose no jutsu!" She shouted as her right hoof furiously slams the dirty forest floor. A dense cloud of smoke had appeared out of nowhere but very slowly started to dissipate, revealing a single figure. "I will handle this, you go to the ruins" She Command, the other being just proceeded to obey, calmly making its way to the old castle. The stone floor of the ruins proceeded to make loud cracking sounds as it was stepped upon, its eyes were looking for anything that could prove to be of some assistance at all in their current situation as to ascertain where they were and if it possible how to return to Amegakure. This place proved not only to be huge from the outside, but as well as its interior, it took quite a bit of time and a lot seemingly pointless wander before stumbling upon a spot of interest. A huge room, and at its epicenter say a large chair, actually, upon closer observation it was easy to see that it wasn't a chair but instead throne. In response to this it simply rise brow in slight surprise and continued progress throughout this strange place. Along the way it came across a huge faded window with what appeared to be pictures embedded in the glass which immediately catching its attention, it appeared to be a monument of some kind which depicted the proudly image of two... horses? One white like the snow and the other as dark blue as the night sky. However, these horses weren't something normal for what it could see, both of them seemed to have possessed pair of wings and... a horn. It wasn’t aware if this was something that could have possibly been symbolic, because it doubted such a creature could exist. It’s moments of confusion was interrupted as a sound in the distance gave an echo all throughout the structure, it couldn't have been the other horses so it wonder who or what in this case was it? After seconds of waiting the sound could finally be heard again, this time it could clearly hear a conversation... or more exactly complaints being spoken. "I told you that we get lost!" Said one of the strange voices, it was apparent it was female, but it sound too young, perhaps a girl. "Not with aren´t!" Contradicted a second voice, this one more annoyed than the last one and female. "Com´on Scootaloo, I knew we should have waited for Zecora, but NOOO, you wanted to do it yourself" Sided a third and for what it seems final voice of a girl, this one had a strange accent that it couldn't be quite sure if it had ever heard before. The voices became louder as these "girls" came closer, two of them continued to voice their complaints to this Scootaloo about howthis was all her fault. Maybe this reconnaissance mission was useful after all. Author's Note First of all I want to thank the help and effort of my new editor, beta-reader or however you want to call him, jeje,... (Insert some dramatic music here)... The Valeyard ! After that... sorry for the trolling people jeje XD... I think I would NEVER do something like that again, I must confess it had been funny in some ways jeje. But people, I would like you to allow me know what you think? does the edition had been a succes? Well read you in the comments ;) Strange Meetings Strange Meetings Chapter 3: Strange Meetings "Ugh, this heat is killing me!" Stronghoof exclaimed in annoyance, since he had became one of the royal guards at the service of Canterlot and their royal highnesses, he hasn't had the luck of just being one of the other guards that just stood like statue in some 'Important spot' around the castle, the city wall or even the town. NO! he needed to be sent on some strange mission that came across the paperwork of his superior, in this case, Captain Shining Armor. Since he was a small unicorn colt it had been his dream to one day see himself guard the gates of the royal castle, or maybe even become one of the body guards of the princess herself! So being in the middle of the forest in a swamp wasn't exactly on his 'wish list'. "Stop complaining, Stronghoof. It was an order of the princess herself, and as her loyal guards it is our duty to serve" Lightstorm explained with pride. Lightstorm was a pegasus with a white coat accompanied with a yellow and unkept mane. He had been best friends with Stronghoof since their first day in the academy, and in all this time he had learned how his brown coated friend always liked to complain about almost everything, he just couldn't help it. "They could have at least accepted my proposal for an armor meant for summer, you know, lighter and breezier" the brown equine groaned with contempt. In his mind it had been a great idea, but the old commander said it was pointless, and that the royal armor had been a symbol for generations that should remain the same. What morons, he would like to see them say the same if they were right here with him under this deadly heat. "I liked your idea" The support from his friend was enough to at least break a grin on Stronghoofs face. Maybe the white Pegasus could be an 'Egghead' from time to time but he could always count with him. "All right gentlecolts, thats enough, you can continue your marital problems at home" At this statement the whole squad couldn't help but laugh loudly. Captain Shining Armor knew that the best way to raise the moral of his troops was with a good laugh, even when somepony was the unlucky target. Lightstorm just decided to continue with a even firmer march, trying to save any dignity he still had, however, Stronghoof´s pride cried for a payback, Oh! and Celestia knew he would have it. "Yeah, the Captain´s right boys, we need to hurry up or Princess Cadence would have him to sleep outdoors tonight!" At this extreme form of cruelty the ponies in the patrol just laughed even harder. Maybe it wasn't the best way to talk to your superior, but Stronghoof had the luck of being an old friend of Shinings, this wasn't the first time they had play pranks on each other, but since he had gotten married some months ago all the current jokes in the royal guard had been aimed toward him. Shining Armor just let out a defeated sigh, he knew this would be a long day, but he couldn't help but crack a grin, remembering that Cadence had ACTUALLY put him outdoors for once. It had been a big misunderstanding that wasn't solved until the dark cold night had passed. Even with all the continuous laughter and other jokes that came from behind his shoulders, Shining Armor was able to hear some strange noises coming just some hoofs ahead of him. The following movement in the bushes told him that indeed something was coming. With a firm hoof raised in the air all the guards stop their noises and suddenly stop, some of them took their positions beside their captain, maybe they could be 'hard headed' sometimes but they were also the most loyal ponies he could wish for. "What is it, captain?" Asked a clearly feminine voice, it was Fastflutter, another of the Pegasi that formed his current patrol and also one of the most skilled flyers he had ever seen. However the only response for the blue maned and silver coated pegasus from her captain was just a shake of his head with a clear frown on it, determined to not let down his guard. After a few more minutes of intense waiting and perspiration their answer finally came. Their pupils dilated as their eyes tried to get a better view of what they could. Some could be heard loudly swallowing as their bodies began to tense, ready for any sudden movement. An annoying silence was the only thing that hung in the air; thankfully...maybe, it was broken for Stronghoof, as he said aloud what everypony was thinking. "Well... this sucks" ________________________________________ The trio of fillies slowly made their way through the massive halls of the old and worn castle. Fear could be seen clearly in their expression but they held firm and continued their small trot, led by the one with the biggest amount of courage for the time being, and that would be the orange pegasus with a purple mane named Scootaloo. "Are ya sure ya know where we’re going, Scootaloo?" Applebloom asked in an unsure tone, as her eyes caught any movement that could be seen in this depressing place, occasionally the scrapping of old branches on windows or some forgotten dripping would cause the small filly to jump back in surprise, but only until she realize they were just vain actions of nature. "O-of course, I already told you that it's this way!" She yelled back, sounding indignant and brave. The truth however was that she had gotten lost a good half hour ago, but her pride wouldn’t allow her to tell her friends, but she wouldn't have minded being right beside her idol right now. "You know, Scootaloo, I think it was even worse to have come across this old castle for that 'shortcut'" Sweetie belle blamed, trying her best to not get the living lights scared out of her as a bird came across one of the broken windows cawing loudly. "Aaah! come on girls, we are NOT lost... see! I'm pretty sure that the exit is around that corner!" She yelled in false joy as she quickly rushed where the wall took a turn and disappeared on the other side. She wasn't even out of the sight of her friends for a second before returning bouncing back on her flank off the ground a few times. Obviously she had bump against 'something'. "Augh! ouch, ouch, ouch.... Who put a wall in this corn-" Her sentence was middle cut as her eyes slowly open to reveal that the 'wall' wasn't exactly a wall but instead something more... interesting. Sweetie belle and Applebloom immediately ran to the side of her friend, hoping that she was fine, when they tried to call her she only stood there with her jaw almost hitting solid ground. Not understanding her situation both fillies turned their heads to the place where Scootaloo’s gaze had been lost. As they did, they too almost lost their jaws. Standing just one hoof away from them was a pony, but not just any random run of the mill normal pony, oh no, of course not, this one was really huge, massive if they knew the word! He, as it was, was a stallion, just standing proudly with what looked like an angry frown on his face. After the little fillies began to snap out of their surprised shock they began to note the qualities of this pony, of course in their own way. Scootaloo turned her attention to the facial look of this pony, his mane was really spiky and tall, over his face was a series of rivets... or maybe piercings that were drawing an interesting pattern, finally her jaw almost truly hit the floor as she saw his eyes. They were like nothing she had seen before seeing as they were COMPLETELY purple with rings forming outside of his irises. Sweetie Belle looked at his clothes, since her sister was fashion designer she had learned, even unwittingly, to look and judge the clothes that the ponies use. His outfit was only one garment, but that was more than enough to bring a chill down the spine of the small and now terrified filly. It was a large and black cloak that had a several red clouds on it. For some reason she felt... as if the clothing told her tales of sadness as well as danger. And finally, AppleBloom twisted her neck in an uncomfortable manner to see this ponies face, and the impression she saw scared her as well. She had NEVER met any pony bigger than her brother, of course besides the princesses, but this pony was easily bigger than Big Macintosh! "..." Nagato could only raise a surprised brow, he wasn't expecting this. A group of strange colored miniature horses that possessed both surprised and frightened expressions on their faces. This was odd indeed. With a quick scan with his Rinnegan he saw that these horses didn't have chakra as well, that means no summons, even with the wings the orange one had and the horn the white one carried on its head... with his previous experience he was understandably having doubts to whether these horses were sentient beings. So it was also understandable that he was surprised again when the orange one spoke. "Whoaaaah... Cool!" Said the horse with the same voice of one of the girls he had heard before. It was easy for him to put two and two together so he could guess these... fillies were the ones complaining some odd moments ago. Maybe this time THEY could be useful, thankfully he had sent Jigokudo this time so he would know what he wanted or... "So... you can talk after all" Said Jigokudo with a bored and deep voice, his frown didn't even move an inch as he spoke. His statement seems to insult the orange filly because she start bouncing in an angrily. "Of course we can talk sir, we're not foals!" She complained in tantrum. Putting that aside he decided to begin his questions. "Tell me horses, where and what is this place?" However it didn’t go the way he planned. "Who are ya sir? And what are ya doing over here? By the way can ya help us a little?" Ask Apple Bloom, at first she had hesitated since this pony intimidated her, he still did by the way, but they were lost even when her friend didn't want to admit it, and they could use any help right now. At least they come across somepony and not a Manticore or some Timberwolves. "I asked first" Counter back Jigokudo as he starts to really frown and not only his habitual expression. "Well, my sister says that you always need to introduce yourself before asking things to somepony" Explain Sweetie Belle in a shy tone, she try to defend themselves even when this pony really scare her. This time, however, he remained a little more calm, with an inner sigh he remembered to himself that he was talking with 'kids'. "Fine, I'm Pain. I'm god." After hearing his introduction the three fillies look at each other with clear expressions of even more fear, his name actually fit him, and they all replied 'what!?'. After a few seconds the CMC had thought about it and they came to the conclusion he was just kidding or something with the thing about 'god', but Nagato began to become impatient. "Now, tell me, wha-" "Hi there, Mr. Pain, I`m Scootaloo..." "...I`m Sweetie Belle..." "... and Ah`m Applebloom!" "And we are the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders'!!!" Yell in unison the three fillies, bouncing and giggling to themselves and getting back their happiness. They always loved to tell everypony 'Who' they are. Jigokudo just blinked a few times after being interrupted again, this time quite surprised for these fillies, they were really strange truly. With a quick shake of his head he took a few hoofsteps near the fillies, which seems to surprise as they back away a little. They don´t know if this pony could be trusted. "Now, after 'that'... tell me, what is this place" He asked with the most serious tone he could achieve, and it was a good one for the sudden transformation of the faces the fillies previously had, as well as the swallowing loudly. "W-well this i-is the old castle of the Princesses" Princesses? This gets the attention of Jigokudo, maybe these ‘monarchs’ would be useful in the long run. Also, why they would abandon a castle like this one? Besides the frailty and the fact that it could fall to the ground in any second he was pretty sure that in one time this building was majestic. "Tell me more" Sweetie Belle almost fell to the ground as the enormous pony came closer to her face, the 'bad stallion' attitude this pony had really showed dislike to her, but once again, fearing that something would happen if she didn’t answer, she started to explain to this pony about the Princesses Celestia and Luna, at least what her young mind knew. Even for a filly like her this was odd; this pony seemed to not know about Equestria at all! He didn't even know what the Elements of Harmony were when she came to that part in the story when her sister and her friends freed Princess Luna from her evil form. She thought that something wasn't right about this pony, his lack of knowledge about the basics in history and also...well, about everything, confused her. And then the strange questions he asked like 'Where are the Elemental Nations?' or 'What do you mean by magic?'. After what seemed like an hour and a half Sweetie Belle finally end her explanations and allowed the stallion a few moments to understand what she said. Nagato was a little confused at first, being in this... new world? Was a surprise but it wasn't something he hadn't expected. The red maned stallion only let out a frustrated sigh as his head hung low, his previous fight had truly sent him and Konan in this twisted world in where it seems these 'Ponies' are the intelligent species, he also doubts they are the only ones but that must wait. He can only curse ‘him’ in his thoughts and his real body, that bastard had betrayed him in the end. Now that he didn’t need these fillies... he determined it was time to go. "Very well, thank you for the information" And as that he began to trot away, he was actually glad he didn't need to use the powers of Jigokudo to get the information he needed, it wasn't that he had never done it before but... well, they were just kids, he wasn't the devil, he just want to achieve that 'peace' he was fighting for since his childhood. "Oh well it was nothi- Ay! wait, where are you going?!" Yelled Sweetie Belle after seeing how this pony was leaving her and the girls behind and alone in this old dangerous castle, and that is not including the Everfree Forest of course! Her sudden yell awoke her two friends that had just fallen asleep like half an hour ago, leaving the 'Egghead' to explain to this pony whatever he wanted to know. They too saw their situation and the trio of fillies immediately rushed in front of the massive orange stallion, blocking his trot. "We helped you, I thought you were going to help us!" The white unicorn exclaim with some surprise and worry, even though she doesn't trust or like this pony, she didn’t like the idea of being lost in this place and alone in THIS forest even more. However, the next answer he gave began to drop their hopes even further. "I never said I would help you, filly" His firm and serious stare make Sweetie Belle to jump back a little in surprise, but this time she wouldn't feel fear, this was their best hope to return safely and she knew it. So, with the support of her loyal friends she confronted this pony. "My name is Sweetie Belle, not filly!...please, we just want to return to Zecora, she couldn´t be far by the way, but the forest is dangerous" she explained with the hope now that this pony would finally help them. "And then why you were here in the first place?" Asked Jigokudo, beginning to grow even more annoyed at this point. If what this little pony was telling him was true then why the heck had they come to such a place? Were they dumb? "W-well we want to get our cutie marks in explorers, o-of course." 'Cutie Marks?' Ah, yes he remembered she said something like that before, something about pictures on their flanks that told them their special talent. "It´s foolish to get yourself in danger only for that stupid 'mark' you talk about" He tried to explain; hoping they would understand it was THEIR fault and would leave him alone. The result was totally the opposite. "It wasn´t! Is easy for you to say so, you already have your cutie mark!... by the way... what its mean?" He blinks a few times after hearing her statement, this caught him out of guard, he had a what? Turning his attention to his flank in where the orange filly had pointed to before, to his surprise indeed was a 'Cutie Mark' adorning his sides. The fillies don't seems to understand it, but he does, the background was the Rinnegan and over it was a deep purple flame, like some kind of spiritual representation of his powers... quite interesting, he would need to see if the other paths had it too. Turning his attention back to the fillies they look very interested in knowing what it means, but they don't need to. "Well... it is not of your interest, now I must leave" And with that he continued his trot again. This caught the fillies in surprise again since they believed they had finally convinced him to help them. So with their last try the three of them decided in whispers to use their last resource... a deadly technique only known to them. They put themselves in front of the big stallion as they look directly into his eyes, at first they hesitate since they were quite strange, but it was their last hope. They use... the 'puppy face' Their eyes almost grow twice their normal size as they absorb all the light they can to complete the effect, and for the finishing touch... a super cute and sad voice. "Please sir... we are lost and we want to get back home... Please, please, please, pretty please with a lot of sugar in the top... please?" They couldn't help but to laugh in their minds, yes! They finally have him, mwahahah- "No" He just said with a blank expression and past the small group of horses like nothing. Their surprised faces didn't have a price at all, if somepony could see them they would laugh to the ground for the funny sight of their jaws hitting the ground. He had resisted the 'Puppy Faces' like nothing! Not even a flinch. At this point they got really worried, this was bad, if this big and apparently strong pony (That would be quite useful in the Everfree Forest) was that mean, they were gonna need to try their best to return to where Zecora is on their own... that’s if they make it. Sweetie Belle can´t help it anymore and began to sob, her friends after seen her in that state and realizing their situation start sobbing too. "P-please... j-just please... I want to see my sister again sir... please" Pray her and Scootaloo and Applebloom joined too with their own wishes. "..." He wasn't sure... they were just kids in the end... well, helping them wouldn´t cause harm to him (Not that anything can) or wouldn´t be a problem in his search of information... so... "Very well then, at least keep going" Finally resignation hit him with a long sigh. This immediately hit the ears of the fillies that thrill with his answer, their faces immediately returned to their happy smiles and they began bouncing and singing some happy and victorious songs. He just shook his head again, already regretting this, but well, he already accepted. "Just don´t delay, you understand?" "Yes!!!" Exclaim the three in unison. To his surprise... and a little annoyance, the fillies suddenly manage to jump on his back, clearly hoping for a ride. He just raised a brow as he ask the obvious. "What do you think you're doing?" His voice was a little annoyed, but they were too happy to notice or care. "Returning with you to Zecora’s of course! The Forest is dangerous, didn't tell you this before?" Answering his question was the orange filly since she was the nearest to his head, it wasn't the answer he was looking for, though. With another loud sigh and shake of his head he began to trot with the fillies in his back... thankfully he wasn't in his world any more, where if someone were watching him, his reputation would have taken a huge dive. As he moved they began to sing again... "No singing" "But-" "NO SINGING" "...ok..." ________________________________________ Konan couldn't help but be more interested in this world. Since she had began this small tour with Pipsqueak he had been very happy to show her EVERYTHING he could about his 'lovely' town as he had said. She occasionally would ask him some small and interesting questions, and he was more than happy to answer. It was odd to walk just in the middle of this ponies just like that, but they don’t seem too afraid or weary of her, she hadn´t witnessed any kind of guard trying to stop her and ask for her whereabouts, maybe some ponies would look at her with curiosity but that doesn't harm her, even more, some ponies also smiled at her and wave at her … especially the stallions…curious. She must admit she felt strange, but not a 'bad' strange at least. "Why is everypony so happy and careless around here, Pipsqueak?" She asked with genuine interest, even when she had try to find any sign of problems or any sudden attack she just failed miserably. "Well... I don't know what you mean Miss Konan, everypony is like that here... in all Equestria actually" he just confessed to her with a shrug of genuine innocence... just like any kid. She felt a little surprised when she felt something in her chest, at first she thought it was jab but it was nothing, so she just ignored it... for the moment. "Maybe it’s because of the Princesses, they’ve always kept Equestria like this for the last thousand years, a happy place!" He said with a one of his big smiles with lots of pride behind it. 'The princesses, huh?' He had told her about them before, and if they truly had been able to keep this 'peace' for that much time maybe they can give her more answers... she would need to meet them, also Pain would like to know this, maybe it was time for her to go. "Well, thank you, Pipsqueak, for your help, I think it is time for me to go, you should see us sooner or later" "Wait!" Just before she could turn around and trot he stopped her in her move, he couldn't help but blush a little for his sudden reaction, after that he just continue with whatever he wanted to tell her. "Before you go you must meet a friend of mine, she is the coolest, funniest and happiest pony in all Ponyville! Maybe in all Equestria!" The happiest? Well that got her attention... that and the constant bouncing and playing smile on the face of the small colt. So with a patient nod she turned his way again, he quickly began trotting as he called for her again. She couldn't help this time but to... smile. That truly shocked her. She quickly began to look in all directions, looking if someone had seen her, just like she had killed somepony or something like that. It was a weak and almost imperceptible smile but it was smile in the end, she had not smiled for years... she hadn’t smiled since... it hurt her too much too remember it. For some reason this world, this small child, had made her finally smile again for the first time in a long time, she stayed confused for some moments until her train of thoughts crashed as Pipsqueak called for a new pony with a REALLY loud cry. "PINKY PIE!" Konan rush to his side after hearing him scream like that, but she just found him looking at a big ... is that a cake-like-building? She had seen some strange things in her world and this one, but this was just ridiculous. The sudden and strange noise coming from the building turned on her instincts, then next was the burst of pink coming at her at unbelievable speed making her put herself between 'that' and Pipsqueak, fearing that she finally found a shinobi in this world. "Wait! it’s just-" Author's Note Hellooooo!...again. Chapter corrected thanks to my editor: Heartless99 ;)
PrologPrologue : Arrival It was a cheerless and dark place; avoided by so many thanks to the reputation that it had gained over the years. Of course, the dangers that could threaten the life of anyone that entered had helped a lot in that regard too. The scary and unnatural look of the vegetation was a permanent and disturbing reminder of what you could find inside of this… this… forest. The “Everfree” forest. It had been a place of nightmares for young fillies and colts, a warning, and sometimes the base of daring jokes for the older ponies in this land. However, to the upcoming arrivals, it would be the perfect place, what more could they have asked for. The forest wasn´t composed only of trees, lakes and dust; there were also steep and ugly hills, the same as giant and impressive mountains. These colossal structures of nature could be totally solid, others could be actual volcanoes, but others could have cavernous tunnels and caverns that went deep beneath them. In the middle of one of these mountains was a normal cave if you can say so. Twenty feet tall and even wider on the sides, quite spacious, with a long tunnel that curiously went on after some turns here and there to the outside of the giant rock. Anyone or… anypony could easily lose interest in it, but it wasn´t the size or the look of the cave that made it special, no. It was the strange phenomenon that was just happening inside of it. A bright and white light, just like the light of the sun that could blind anyone that dare to look directly at it, was shining at full force inside the spooky place. A white orb of a mysterious energy was furiously shooting, in all directions, sparks and lighting of unstable power. Some unlucky rocks had been found by its strange power and were immediately reduced to dust. Its powerful and deafening roar almost make the walls crack and fall to ground. For some moments, just fractions of second, someone could tell that the strange anomaly was actually morphing in some kind of… dark vortex. Rather than absorbing anything it seemed that the dark matter was trying to expel... something. The strange sequence of events repeat itself a few more times until it seems that the portal, if you could call that odd crack in the fabric of existence that, wasn't able to support itself any more. A final and even louder roar was heard not only in the cave but also in the surroundings of the mountain as the strange portal finally seems to disappear in midair allowing the cavern to fall into darkness and silence once more, but not before leaving a present behind for this new and strange world outside. The time passes, and it seems that the forest was slowly returning to its natural habits. The hours come and go and the cave doesn’t look like it would break the silence at all… but. An almost muffled groan was heard in the inside of the cave, a small figure tries to move but it seems that whatever it was, was to tired or hurt to try anything. Another moan, slightly louder, echoed in the darkness of the cave, from what could be heard, it was greatly troubled. Two lids rose to reveal a beautiful pair of amber eyes, at the moment they weren’t as beautiful as they could have been since they were impregnated with confusion and pain. Another clumsy attempt to stand up ended with a louder groan as the blue haired creature fall to the tough ground. There wasn’t another attempt, for the moment the creature resigned itself to rest a little until it could try it again. Its eyelids become heavier as it felt like losing consciousness and being able to organize its thoughts, its breaths were less audible with every second that passed. Suddenly its eyes opened in shock as it remembered something. In a quick movement, knowing that it wasn´t able to move, for the moment, it tried to roll in the ground desperately looking for something… or someone. It calmed itself a little after finally finding a quite familiar heap of orange spines, but even so, it wasn´t its primary target right now. A few more rolls and crawls allow it to finally find what it was looking for. “Nagato!” The clearly feminine voice shouted, finally allowing her to become more recognizable in the middle of the darkness. The female crawled a little more, but after getting tired of it she tried to stand another time, without success. It started to become strange, she doesn’t feel dizzy any more but she wasn´t able to properly stand on her two legs again. It doesn’t matter for the moment. She crawls a little more and finally was the close enough to the strange and mechanic chair to see her friend. A deafening gasp was all she could muster, where her loved friend should be now a…a… horse of some kind was sitting. Its red coat and darker red mane try to tell her something, but it wasn´t until she saw the back of the creature and the long and black bars attached, no, embedded to it that she truly recognized the creature before her. “Nagato…?” She asked in disbelief, this strange sight that her eyes provide couldn´t be true. The gaunt horse finally gave a signal of life, just a little groan to be precise. After some seconds of waiting it finally opened its eyes, the left one was the only visible eye since it mane cover the right one, but it was all she need to confirm her suspicions. A totally purple and multi-ringed eye shone in the darkness of the cave as it try to observe its surroundings. “Konan…?” He asked in a male voice, quite tired and haggard too. “Nagato, is that really you?…what happened to you?” She asked in full concern but her question was quickly countered with another statement. “I can ask you the same thing, Konan…” Said Nagato, his breaths were heavy, just like he was tired and only breath was a big task. Konan noticed this, and the full picture finally came to her memories… at the moment, the rude travel they had make had been really hard, her body clearly told her that, and for the red haired man, it surely had been worse. By the way, his statement didn´t go unheard and a confused grimace covers her face as she began to look at herself. More shock and surprise, she had become a horse too, a clear blue coat cover her for what she can see, her black and red clouded robe was still covering the majority of her body, but the shocked expression never left her face. Looking back to her partner who seems to have a bored expression, he doesn’t seems to care for his actual appearance or perhaps he was just too tired to care. More haggard breaths are heard as he try to get some air in his lungs. It was more than clear that he had been trough better times. “This seems to be the result of the abrupt and sudden clash of our powers…” He confesses, giving her a calm stare waiting for her to realize his words. After some moments in deep thoughts she seems to understand him and accept this reality, after all she didn´t feel it as a Genjutsu, so she slowly began to inspect the zone. She wasn´t still able to properly wal-, no, trot… or whatever, but she manage to move around. It was a cave by the looks of it, quite spacious and wet, it wasn´t her first time in a place like this so she didn´t complain. It was actually giving her a good nostalgic feeling. In the floor, with a little help of chakra in her eyes, she saw a total of six bodies lying over there, scattered all over the ground, all of them with the same dark robe and the complex pattern of piercings over their faces and bodies, almost all of them had orange clear coat and a darker mane, resembling the hair they had in their previous form, one of them was completely hairless, which she easily guessed was shurado. After making sure that all of them were still in one piece since she knew they were indispensable for her friend, she noted that they just had some scrapes and dust over here and there, she return to her loyal friend that looked like he could slip into unconsciousness at any moment. “So… what happened? What now?” She asked, her concerned tone betraying the calm neutral expression she wore. “I can only guess all this happened when our chakras had crashed in that way. Our actual appearance, it isn’t a Genjutsu or I would have felt it the moment I awoke. I´m not so sure but maybe the Rinnegan had something to do with all this…” Explained Nagato, but some coughs silenced him before explaining further. He need some rest and she knew that even if she didn´t understand all of what he had said could implicate, she had to ask one final thing, maybe the thing she should have asked in first place. “Where are we?” Author's Note And that´s all folks, I´m planning to never write another chapter of this story and leave you in the expectative… Nah!, just kidding. The next chapter will be out…mmm… soon I guess, I didn´t have school any more so I think I would have a LOT of free time to write =) so look for it soon.
New SurroundingsChapter 1: New Surroundings Konan put her right hoof out of the dark tunnel as she explored their new surroundings. Nagato was resting at the moment since his original body wasn´t able to support itself anymore, she couldn´t help but gave him a smile of sympathy. He had been trapped in that perpetual state of pain since he had made that sacrifice, consumed by his rage so many years ago. But he never complained, even more, the physical pain he had felt in the past didn´t affect him anymore and only had help him grow. Her brows slightly rose in surprise as she discovered that the cave was actually just a rupture inside of the colossal and craggy mountain. She was surrounded by trees and trees... and trees as far the eyes could see. They were quite strange to be honest. They had low hanging gnarled branches that looked as if they were trying to capture some poor unsuspecting soul into their clutches. She even thought that some of them had gruesome mangled faces on them, but that was just her mind playing tricks on her… right? She didn´t know where they could be, as far as she could guess is that they weren´t any more near to"Amagekure". Their previous fight could have sent them as far away as possible, not even the dimensions could have been a barrier, well, that´s what she had heard of him, but as always, one can never know what could be truth or lies when you talk about him. By the way, her hopes didn´t drop, after all it wasn´t possible for her to know every inch of the "Elemental Nations" and maybe, just maybe, they were just in an unknown forest over another country... if it was the Country of Rain would have easily seen it, as the name said it was almost impossible for the rain to stop... unless Pain felt like it. Her immediate worries were how to fix his and her state, being horses like they are now would be a problem if they got into a fight with another shinobi... maybe the ones of lower rank wouldn´t be any threat even in their current state, but if one of their same level found them... she didn´t know what to expect. She quickly washed those thoughts off with a shake of her head. What was she thinking? No matter what his form was, Pain was still a god, thankfully no one of his techniques need hand seals to be performed, neither did hers, maybe that was a signal that their luck wasn´t as bad as she could have thought. Maybe a "Henge no Jutsu"(Transformation Jutsu) could be useful, but then again, no fingers. Another fact that threatened her calm was, of course, where the heck they are. If only she could get in contact with another Akatsuki member, maybe they could know where to go, she would need to wait for Nagato to wake up in order to use his telepathic abilities, though. At this point she was able to properly trot if that was the word for it, horses weren´t so common in her land, so it was ok if she wasn´t an expert on the topic. The wet atmosphere made her feel at home, but the marshy surface of the forest didn’t give her the same feeling. As she walked down the calm path that she was making through the undergrowth, she noticed that there was no sign of any local fauna, so she instead opted to get a higher perspective. Her initial hesitation was understandable, but when she finally managed to create giant wings of paper coming out of her sides she let out a sigh of relieve. She had always loved to fly just as much as doing origami, so being able to spread her wings was a welcome feeling. The cold and refreshing breeze of the... midday air, as she could see from the position of the sun, helped to clear her thoughts as she flew up and landed on a suitable tree nearby. It was odd, she had just left the hideout in the morning, and from what she had seen, several hours had passed since then... curious. Now that she was this high she could easily saw all the spooky sight in front of her; the forest was vast and she was only able to see a part of it since the mountains at her back covered a lot of the view even if she flew. Then, just like light that wanted to illuminated her dark problems, she saw signal of hope… smoke. ________________________________________ Princess Luna quickly made her way through the long, tall and white hallways of the enormous castle. As she passed in a speedy trot, subjects and guards gave her a respectful bow, maybe in other situations she would responded to them with at least a gentle smile, but at the moment she was in a hurry. Some hours ago, when she was just falling into the embrace of a good sleep, a strange shock wave of energy caught her attention. It wasn´t noisy or destructive, just a strange feeling that disturbed her horn. Maybe her reaction wasn´t anything serious, immediately falling asleep once again, but she was to tired from the long night to even think. After an unknown amount of time had passed, her eyes snapped open as the realization hit her like a ton of bricks, even in her dreams. That was the reason for her urgency. As the doors opened, she slowed her hoof steps, trying her best to look calm even when her mind wasn´t. "Greetings, my dear sister" Called Luna as she made her way through the spacious throne room. In response a large white alicorn sitting in the throne smiled at her. "I see that you finally woke up, sister" Joked the princess of the sun, and after seeing the cheeks of her dear sister gain a good blush of embarrassment she couldn´t help but to oust a little chuckle. "Sorry sister, we had been so tired to notice it at first" Apologized her in her habitual "Royal voice", but without the high volume. "No problem, Luna. Now, I suppose that you too had felt that strange anomaly in the natural flow of magic, right?" Asked Celestia and as expected her sister just nodded in agreement. "Yes, we had felt it... but..." She left her statement in the air, unsure of how to complete it. "I know it, it didn't feel like magic" Said Luna, a little surprised that it was the correct answer. At first she had thought that her horn was playing her tricks on her, how was it possible that something as powerful as that couldn´t be magic? Even more, how any energy like that couldn´t be magic? "What was it then, sister?" After her question Princess Luna could only see with frustration how her sister just shook her head in a signal that she didn't recognize it either. Celestia rose from her throne and did a small walk out to the balcony, her younger sister followed behind with a little hesitation, seeing her older sister serious like this wasn´t common and it worried Luna. Even when she had important meetings with the other parts of the royalty and/or ambassadors from the other countries she always managed to somehow keep a calm cheerful mood. "The captain Shining Armor had offered himself for the investigation, I allowed him go with the promise of being careful and taking with him a squad of the royal guard" Celestia calmly stated, but anypony could tell that she wasn´t so calm as she wanted to be. The truth was that, whatever it had been, that strange energy not only was powerful but... it had felt... odd. It didn´t give her the warm feeling of the magic being used in all its glory, no, somehow this new energy feel... cold, like all the happiness and friendship that it should have had was ripped out only leaving negative feelings... misery, was a perfect world to describe it and also anger. Whatever it was, it sent a shiver down the spine of the solar princess, something she hadn´t felt in many years. "And now what, sister?" With little uncertainty asked Luna. The answer she received was actually expected, though. "We just wait, Luna, wait and...hope" that last word had been more a whisper for herself. She really hoped that nothing was threatening the peace that Equestria had had for the last thousand years, such a peace that she and, once again, her sister had striven to keep. Celestia just set her gaze to the distant horizon, trying to discover just with her eyes what could be in that strange and cursed forest. "What are you?" ________________________________________ Konan gracefully landed in the green and vibrant hills. At first she had intended to go to the source of the clear signal of civilization, a small town from what she had seen, but then, like it had come out of nowhere, a vast field totally full of apple trees caught her attention. They didn't seems to be located in a natural form, so it means someone planted them. As she walked between the almost endless rows of trees she couldn´t help herself but to question what could be the usefulness of all these apples, "who would eat all of them?" After all it was a good question, who could eat all of these apples, it doesn´t matter if it was for noble family it was pointless, no human could eat all of them before they began to rot. Even in the market the people just don´t need all this fruit. She continued her little march over the fields until a curious amd sudden sound caught her attention, it was a slight growl, her belly. As far as she can remember she hadn´t ate anything since they just arrive in this strange place, so as a logical decision she took one of the apples from a near branch with the help of some wild papers floating around her, in some parts, still fragmented body. Her eyes carefully inspected the apple and after she didn´t find anything that could be a signal of a threat she gave it a good bite. She must admit that it had surprised her, never in her life she eaten an apple so tasty as this. Her mouth was full with the delicious and sweet substance and couldn´t help when her eyes close in pleasure. After some moments she found that the apple had completely disappear in her mouth and after a moment her body reconstructed itself. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a voice made her ears jerk in surprise. She had been so distracted with the new culinary discovery that she wasn´t paying attention to her surroundings. In a quick and agile jump she put herself in a way she can face this new threat face-to-face. Her eyes winked in surprise, in front of here she couldn´t find any other living being aside from the form of a red and bigger horse, a clear orange mane and tale adorned the quadruped. She didn´t allow it to take down her guard and quickly she began to search for the source of the voice. ________________________________________ Big McIntosh was, as every day, bucking the apples off the trees. It was what he did the best, being a farmer and he was proud of it. At the moment he could find himself alone in the vast fields of apples, his sister Applejack had taken the coach of apples to the town in order to sell them, and his youngest sister, Applebloom, should still be in school in this hour of the day. He didn´t complain, he could easily enjoy a peaceful day of work, he loved his family, but sometimes everypony just needed a time for his own. Some mares go to spas, some stallions prefer to take a walk or read a book, but for him, he just liked to work and work, anypony can tell that he was one of the most hardworking ponies in all Equestria. He decide to take the barrels to the barn, since they were already full, when suddenly an unique shape in the corner of his eyes caught his attention. Turning around to properly see this strange situation he found in the distance a dark, red and blue form calmly enjoying one of the apples of his loved farm. Not in his watch. He quickly rushed to the new intruder, with a relative calm, but as he come closer his curiosity grow. When he was just some feet behind the newcomer he realize it was a pony dressed in a large cloak, black in design and with some things that he can only describe as red clouds. He shake away his current surprise and continue to scold the boldness of this pony. "Ahm, ya now this is a private farm?" he asked with some annoyance, but since he always was in a calm mood it was difficult to tell. However, he seemed to gain the attention of the intruder as it quickly jumped around to confront him. For some reason he couldn't understand he froze in place, all the anger he had just disappeared as he saw the pony in front of him. Just some feet from him was a blue mare, with a confused expression that quickly turned into a frown as she quickly began to look in all directions like she was searching for something. He couldn´t help but for some reason stare into the amber eyes. After some moments he realized he was just staring at her and after a quick shake of his head he return to find out who was this mare. "Umm, sorry ma´am but this is a private farm, Ah think you didn´t see the fence, right?" He wasn´t so talkative, but for some reason his mouth seemed to gain its own brain and started talking for itself, at the moment trying to give her a chance to be innocent. The blue mare look once again at him and he could help but feel quite strange under her gaze. For some moments he noticed how she saw him with caution and disbelief and then she just closed her eyes and, for what he can only guess, try to concentrate her thoughts. After some more awkward silence she seemed to once again return her attention to him, still with a suspicious stare. "It was you that spoke just now?" She asked, in a cold and actually bored tone that made him nervous for some reason. "Y-yeah, it was been me, ma´am" he said with some insecurity, it was strange, he doesn´t talk a lot, he barely talks at all! But when he does he always had been firm in his words and ideas, but now, he could help but feel strange around this mare, and her cold attitude wasn't helping him at all, maybe his accent annoyed her? It better not. For the moment she seemed to relax, just a little, and then turned to ask him one confusing question. "Is this a summoning realm?" Sum-what?! In his life he had never heard of such a thing, but seeing that she wasn´t playing any prank at all he continue to answer her with the best gentleness he can. "Umm... sorry ma´am, I hadn´t heard of such a thing, but you´re in 'Sweet Apple Acres'" He was clearly proud of his home, and even in his current state he didn't hesitate to show it. However, his reply didn't seem to please the mare. She started to go in deep thought once again with a big frown over her face, and he could, barely, hear how she complained in whispers. So, with some worry he tried to see if he could help this trouble mare. "Is everything right, ma´am?" In such a fast move that almost made him stumble some feet behind, she appeared just some inches away from his face, the big and annoyed expression still in her face. "What country is this, horse?" She coldly asked, but a little angry tone couldn´t be hidden from her voice. Even more confused than before, and with an unexplained blush over his cheeks, he elaborated to answer her. "E-Equestria, of course... by the way, ma´am, I know I can look a little big but I´m a pony" And with that finally reply she returned some feet away from him, her expression turning to one of worry actually, then to one of frustration and finally to a calmer one, some sadness still present. With a big sigh she began to walk down the big hills in a familiar direction. "I didn´t mean to steal, my apologies" With that last statement she proceeded to walk away from him, after some moments in confusion he finally snapped out of his thoughts. "Wait! If you go to town I can give you a tour If you want" He wasn´t sure why he suggested that, but for some reason he just wanted to get to know the enigmatic mare. But her next answer just droped down any hope for that. "No, thanks, I will be faster in my own" Author's Note mmm... so, I left you looking for Pain? better luck next chapter jeje XD. Nah, without jokes, I think this had been like a Konan-Chapter, and I just hope I had properly make it, after all this story is about the 'god' and his 'angel'. By the way, this chapter finally had a good gramar correction, so much thanks to my editor: Heartless99 ;)
Equestria, Huh?Chapter 2: Equestria, Huh? The first thing he felt was the dizziness that came around when someone returned to consciousness, quite annoying not being able to properly control yourself, but after a few shakes of his head his thoughts finally became clear. Surrounding him was a dark, dank, moist cave. Not that he had expected to be relocated elsewhere after his first awakening, even more, it was a logical decision for his loyal companion to leave him here, relatively secure and hidden away from any prying eyes. After a few loud cracking sounds from his neck he readjusted himself to be in a more “comfortable” position, not that he had a lot of options attached to his chair, though. But Through usage of the legendary Rinnegan he carefully examined his surroundings only to reveal to himself the company of his Pain’s which were lifelessly strewn about the ground of the cavern, a few moments past while Nagato contemplated his options, giving the cave a few glances every now and then but ultimately returning to his bodies. After a few more moments he made what he consider the most suitable decision and suddenly one of the cold and dismal bodies gave the first signals of life. At first trying to stand with some rough movements the female form of a orange mare proudly stood on all fours. "Good" she replied in own approval the mare with a quite, dark, emotionless voice, her penetrating stare gazed upon her own form together with a peek from the red-maned stallion. “So in the end it wasn't just a dream, or a Genjutsu of terrible taste, but they had indeed been somehow ‘transformed’ into horses of some kind”. At that moment Nagato could say he felt better, but he still needed more energy in order to use the six paths at their full power. Chikushodo would be the right decision, her smaller size in comparison with the other pains made her the one that would waste less chakra and given her ability to summon the other paths if they were necessary, together with the fact that it was the second most agile and faster of the six, made her the perfect scout. With a more decent trot Chikushodo made her way through the long corridor of the cave until she was upon the entrance of this ominous place. Concentrating some chakra into the Rinnegan of his current body he could see an improvised but efficient trap that had been left by his loyal angel. A good amount of explosive seals properly hidden covered the surrounding area next to the tunnel; this prevented anyone from slinking into the cave without first being blown sky high. She expanded some of her chakra through her hoof and into the ground to get a feel for where they were, once the explosive’s had felt her signal they immediately disabled themselves, it wasn't odd that the traps that Konan or Nagato set would recognize each other. But with another slight shock wave of chakra, the explosives had been re-activated. A forest, was what came to the mind of Nagato after the first few glances here and there, quite strange in some ways but nothing to worry about. It had been enough rest for a lifetime so with a quick movement the female path boosted herself into a fast gallop over the branches of the forest. Moving at unbelievable speed Chikushodo quickly began to understand her surroundings better, it was indeed a forest, along with the other aspects that came with it; rivers, lakes, strange flowers of blue coloring and many other oddities. But the more she advance the more something began to feel ....odd... or to be more precise the "lack" of something began to feel odd. Chakra. Even though he had never learn the ancient technique of "Sennin modo" the Rinnegan still gave the user the ability to sense chakra from other living beings as well as the natural chakra of the world, but at the moment he could barely feel the latter. Actually, he started to feel something... strange and new he had never felt before. His thoughts were immediately interrupted as a loud roar called to his current vessel at the moment. Looking down from her position she saw one of the oddest things in all the world, a single, strong figure stood on the ground with a threatening glance. Coming down and closer to the animal she confirmed her suspicions. Standing on all fours and with an arrogant pose was a form of lion. This one however, didn’t have the usual aspect of one of its kind, two large wings reminiscent to those of a bat were attached in a natural way to its back, as well as the giant scorpion tail that replaced its own. The beast once again roared in defiance and proceeded to smash its huge paw into the ground, trying to scare the living lights out of its new pray, nevertheless, the bored expression that remain on the face of the mares should have had been a signal for the Manticore that it would be the best to forget this meal and run away. "Are you a summon of some kind?" Asked the mare with her normal bored tone, she hadn’t felt any chakra coming from this creature but maybe it had the ability to hide it, if it was a summon then it could prove to be good or bad news. If indeed it was a summon then it would go to show that they are in a summon realm or there is a shinobi nearby, but in both case it would mean they were still in the elemental nations. The colossal creature seemed to grow a confused expression after hearing the strange question of the even stranger mare, but it only lasted a few mere seconds until the animal proceeded to launch a furious blow to its new prey. Big mistake. Some Epic Music But to the total surprise of this strange beast, the mare didn’t show any signs of being impaled by its large claws in which it took great pride in, but instead, it was now all over its large paw standing like a statue giving him a gazing at it with those strange and horrible eyes of her’s, now, just now the Manticore realized it had made a mistake, this pony didn't show what all the others experienced, the others always had a sense of fear and terror, but no, this mare doesn't have the eyes of prey, even more, her darkness and determination feel like stakes piercing its heart. Maybe Manticores weren't the smartest of all the creatures, but this one wasn't going to stay and find out why this mare wasn't afraid of it, something like instinct told him to run, to run and not turn back. It only had had this feeling, this sensation when it was too close to being near to a bigger predator, like the Ursas or Dragons, but for some reason this mare gave it the same feeling. The chimera gave a strong shake to its paw and after getting rid of the mare proceeded to quickly turn and run at it’s full speed. Its hopes of getting away safely from this strange experience went down quicker than a stone in the ocean when the mare suddenly appeared in front of it, even for itself, a proud and fast Manticore couldn't run that fast. And then there it was again, that same penetrating gaze that threw chills in the spine of the beast. "I think that you aren't one after all. But maybe you can still be useful" The serious and eerie tone in which she said it frightened the beast, even though the Manticore didn’t understand her words, it gave the beast the clear message. Realizing that it didn’t have a chance to escape the beast decide that it wouldn’t fall without a fight. In another quick and incompetent attempt the Manticore threw another blow in hopes that it could try to perforate the heart of the mare with its tail when she dodged it, it had fail yet again. The mare easily dodge everything the desperate beast could throw her way , it confused the Manticore to no end how she did it without any effort at all. This time, after a quick spin to one side, the mare turned around a gave it a powerful strike with her hind legs, the spine of the beast felt of an unbearable pain as the Manticore was launched some hooves over the air and then rudely crashed against a solid tree. It was ridiculous, how this single mare was defeated it with only a single strike, it was a Manticore for the Celestia’s sake! But it didn´t care at the moment, it was trying to breath, but every breath it took felt like claws in its lungs, and who knows, maybe there was a chipped or broken rib. The poor Manticore can only watch how the mare came closer to it with a calm trot, and when she was just a few steps away, she pulled out a strange black rod of sorts, and then she proceeds to speak to it again with her same dark tone. "You had thought you would be a challenge, did you not? You're weak, but allow me to make you stronger. Now...know pain " (End of the Epic Music) Dozens and dozens of butterflies freely flew over the skies of this"Ponyville" as these creatures had called their home, she couldn't understand all the ridiculous names they put into everything including themselves. These butterflies however, weren't normal at all, if some curious pegasus could get close enough to one,they would soon realize that these insects,defied logic as they knew it, for they weren´t of flesh and blood, but actually... of paper. Konan had decided that she would go much faster if she scattered herself over this small town, even in her current form she was able to see and hear everything around her, as odd as it may have seem it was useful. The more she explored the town and learned about these ponies the more she grew confused, not only were they able capable of higher cognitive thinking, they even spoke and performed daily task, almost as if they were humans... not only that but they also seems to... to be happy? They didn't seems to posses care in the world of any danger or future problems, just enjoying themselves and whatever company they possessed at the moment. The little colts and fillies, if she remembered correctly, were playing in the streets or in the parks like they were eternally safe from any and everything, the mothers would just watch them like they knew they would be perfectly safe, knowing that it was a ridiculous idea that something terrible would happen on this seemingly perfect day. If she still possessed a face she would frown, this was ridiculous, it was like an insult, how they could be like this! They acted as if nothing bad could happen to them, what about wars!? What about all the suffering and pain!? The peace they were showing couldn't possibly exist! After all true peace wasn't something possible in this accursed wor-...! It suddenly hit her like a rock, it was then she knew this wasn't her world anymore. It was then that the multiple butterflies began to slowly unite with themselves nearby on one of the hills hidden in plain sight in the park, and after forming a small vortex of paper they began to merge themselves, after a few odd seconds of this strange and extraordinary spectacle, a blue mare appeared standing on all fours, however, she doesn't have her usual cold or proud attitude, now her eyes look to the ground as her face took that of a thoughtful expression. Definitely this wasn't her world anymore, no, they were in this... "Equestria", but even so it was hard to believe, how could this be possible? All that she had ever known was misery and suffering, and even when for some time it had appeared there was hope for life she had remembered that things weren't as always as easy as that. Maybe... no, she needed to finish her research, it no longer mattered how strange this world could be they needed to return to their own. They! Pain would want to know all about her discovery and she needed someone to tell about this, maybe her dear friend could help her understand all this and- "Ouch!" A single tiny rock had landed and hit her front-right-hoof following up with a moan of pain forcing her to look down to the source of this nuisance. There, rubbing it head, was a little horse...eh, pony trying to shake away its current grief. It took some seconds for the little... colt, if she properly recognized it, to see that he hadn’t crashed against a tree but instead another pony. A mare to be exact, and when he saw her, his little eyes grew to the size of two small moons. He had never witnessed anypony like her before, it wasn't her strange clothing but she... she was just... beautiful. After realizing he was just staring at her, she had risen a brow in expectation, until he finally return to the real world. "Uh..."-barely-"... Uh!, sorry miss, I didn't see you, I was just looking for my ball" He responded by pointing a shaking hoof to the named object. Konan just needed to turn her head a few odd inches to see the little red orb. “Was It was really there this entire time”? Maybe she had gotten too deep in thought to notice it. The little colt just proceeded to grab his toy and then return to the blue mare. "I haven't seen you before miss, are you new around here? Are you a traveler, cause those clothes make you look like you are? What's your name?" Even when in other situation she would already be annoyed for the sudden assault of questions, she doesn´t feel angry at the moment, actually it was entertaining all the curiosity this little colt can have. "You know, little one, it’s bad manners not introduce yourself first before asking ‘somepony' else’s name" She said, incorporating the ways these ponies spoke as to not arouse suspicion in others. Curiously her tone and mood didn’t appear as cold as it always was. "Ups! sorry miss, the name´s Pipsqueak" He said with a big grin in his little face, a brown stain decorated the left side of his face. "Well then, my name is Konan, 'Pipsqueak' " she had heard many strange names but at least this wasn't as bad. "So are you new to this place miss konan, I can help you if you want!" He offered, almost yelling the last part with enthusiasm, just what you would expect from a child. It was curious how the ponies around here continue offering help to her even when she was a perfect strange, but this time, maybe another perspective could help her to understand better this place. "I think you can. Very well, you guide" And almost like that her words were like telling him about a present, the smile on his face slowly grew becoming even bigger as well as the spark in his eyes. It was actually funny, how this kid could go from being so easily impressed to happy. Konan calmly trot behind the little one as he began to show her this "Ponyville" The forest shook with every step the big Manticore took, however this beast wasn't a normal one, not only because it was allowing a orange mare to ride it, but also... something about it felt... bad. Its predatory eyes were now empty as if looking into a void, it was almost as if there were no longer a soul inside this being, and the still fresh wounds on its body almost seemed to bore it. The mare just proceeded to carefully examine every corner and shadow in the forest as her ride took her wherever she felt like going. After few more minutes without anything useful or interesting suddenly something in the corner of her powerful eyes caught her attention, following the command of its tamer the beast turned around and came closer to the structure. There, in the middle of "Nowhere" were the remaining ruins of a colossal castle, really quite a strange sight to see since someone wouldn't expect to find a structure such as this in a forest as this one. "hmm...Interesting" Confessed Chikushodo with a bored tone and her still doll-like-appearance. Just before she could decide to investigate the ruins a few sounds made her perk up with curiosity. Slowly turning around, still present on the Manticore’s back, Chikushodo focused some chakra in her eyes and began to search through the dense foliage of the forest, her gaze dug even through the toughest of the trees allowing her to finally locate the source of the noise. Thirteen from what she could see, thirteen horses with a strange armor covering on their bodies... what was the meaning of this? Whatever it was she didn't know, but whatever it was could very well prove to be problematic in and of its own, but the ruins were still of interest... maybe it was time to multitask tasks. "kuchiyose no jutsu!" She shouted as her right hoof furiously slams the dirty forest floor. A dense cloud of smoke had appeared out of nowhere but very slowly started to dissipate, revealing a single figure. "I will handle this, you go to the ruins" She Command, the other being just proceeded to obey, calmly making its way to the old castle. The stone floor of the ruins proceeded to make loud cracking sounds as it was stepped upon, its eyes were looking for anything that could prove to be of some assistance at all in their current situation as to ascertain where they were and if it possible how to return to Amegakure. This place proved not only to be huge from the outside, but as well as its interior, it took quite a bit of time and a lot seemingly pointless wander before stumbling upon a spot of interest. A huge room, and at its epicenter say a large chair, actually, upon closer observation it was easy to see that it wasn't a chair but instead throne. In response to this it simply rise brow in slight surprise and continued progress throughout this strange place. Along the way it came across a huge faded window with what appeared to be pictures embedded in the glass which immediately catching its attention, it appeared to be a monument of some kind which depicted the proudly image of two... horses? One white like the snow and the other as dark blue as the night sky. However, these horses weren't something normal for what it could see, both of them seemed to have possessed pair of wings and... a horn. It wasn’t aware if this was something that could have possibly been symbolic, because it doubted such a creature could exist. It’s moments of confusion was interrupted as a sound in the distance gave an echo all throughout the structure, it couldn't have been the other horses so it wonder who or what in this case was it? After seconds of waiting the sound could finally be heard again, this time it could clearly hear a conversation... or more exactly complaints being spoken. "I told you that we get lost!" Said one of the strange voices, it was apparent it was female, but it sound too young, perhaps a girl. "Not with aren´t!" Contradicted a second voice, this one more annoyed than the last one and female. "Com´on Scootaloo, I knew we should have waited for Zecora, but NOOO, you wanted to do it yourself" Sided a third and for what it seems final voice of a girl, this one had a strange accent that it couldn't be quite sure if it had ever heard before. The voices became louder as these "girls" came closer, two of them continued to voice their complaints to this Scootaloo about howthis was all her fault. Maybe this reconnaissance mission was useful after all. Author's Note First of all I want to thank the help and effort of my new editor, beta-reader or however you want to call him, jeje,... (Insert some dramatic music here)... The Valeyard ! After that... sorry for the trolling people jeje XD... I think I would NEVER do something like that again, I must confess it had been funny in some ways jeje. But people, I would like you to allow me know what you think? does the edition had been a succes? Well read you in the comments ;)
Strange Meetings Strange Meetings Chapter 3: Strange Meetings "Ugh, this heat is killing me!" Stronghoof exclaimed in annoyance, since he had became one of the royal guards at the service of Canterlot and their royal highnesses, he hasn't had the luck of just being one of the other guards that just stood like statue in some 'Important spot' around the castle, the city wall or even the town. NO! he needed to be sent on some strange mission that came across the paperwork of his superior, in this case, Captain Shining Armor. Since he was a small unicorn colt it had been his dream to one day see himself guard the gates of the royal castle, or maybe even become one of the body guards of the princess herself! So being in the middle of the forest in a swamp wasn't exactly on his 'wish list'. "Stop complaining, Stronghoof. It was an order of the princess herself, and as her loyal guards it is our duty to serve" Lightstorm explained with pride. Lightstorm was a pegasus with a white coat accompanied with a yellow and unkept mane. He had been best friends with Stronghoof since their first day in the academy, and in all this time he had learned how his brown coated friend always liked to complain about almost everything, he just couldn't help it. "They could have at least accepted my proposal for an armor meant for summer, you know, lighter and breezier" the brown equine groaned with contempt. In his mind it had been a great idea, but the old commander said it was pointless, and that the royal armor had been a symbol for generations that should remain the same. What morons, he would like to see them say the same if they were right here with him under this deadly heat. "I liked your idea" The support from his friend was enough to at least break a grin on Stronghoofs face. Maybe the white Pegasus could be an 'Egghead' from time to time but he could always count with him. "All right gentlecolts, thats enough, you can continue your marital problems at home" At this statement the whole squad couldn't help but laugh loudly. Captain Shining Armor knew that the best way to raise the moral of his troops was with a good laugh, even when somepony was the unlucky target. Lightstorm just decided to continue with a even firmer march, trying to save any dignity he still had, however, Stronghoof´s pride cried for a payback, Oh! and Celestia knew he would have it. "Yeah, the Captain´s right boys, we need to hurry up or Princess Cadence would have him to sleep outdoors tonight!" At this extreme form of cruelty the ponies in the patrol just laughed even harder. Maybe it wasn't the best way to talk to your superior, but Stronghoof had the luck of being an old friend of Shinings, this wasn't the first time they had play pranks on each other, but since he had gotten married some months ago all the current jokes in the royal guard had been aimed toward him. Shining Armor just let out a defeated sigh, he knew this would be a long day, but he couldn't help but crack a grin, remembering that Cadence had ACTUALLY put him outdoors for once. It had been a big misunderstanding that wasn't solved until the dark cold night had passed. Even with all the continuous laughter and other jokes that came from behind his shoulders, Shining Armor was able to hear some strange noises coming just some hoofs ahead of him. The following movement in the bushes told him that indeed something was coming. With a firm hoof raised in the air all the guards stop their noises and suddenly stop, some of them took their positions beside their captain, maybe they could be 'hard headed' sometimes but they were also the most loyal ponies he could wish for. "What is it, captain?" Asked a clearly feminine voice, it was Fastflutter, another of the Pegasi that formed his current patrol and also one of the most skilled flyers he had ever seen. However the only response for the blue maned and silver coated pegasus from her captain was just a shake of his head with a clear frown on it, determined to not let down his guard. After a few more minutes of intense waiting and perspiration their answer finally came. Their pupils dilated as their eyes tried to get a better view of what they could. Some could be heard loudly swallowing as their bodies began to tense, ready for any sudden movement. An annoying silence was the only thing that hung in the air; thankfully...maybe, it was broken for Stronghoof, as he said aloud what everypony was thinking. "Well... this sucks" ________________________________________ The trio of fillies slowly made their way through the massive halls of the old and worn castle. Fear could be seen clearly in their expression but they held firm and continued their small trot, led by the one with the biggest amount of courage for the time being, and that would be the orange pegasus with a purple mane named Scootaloo. "Are ya sure ya know where we’re going, Scootaloo?" Applebloom asked in an unsure tone, as her eyes caught any movement that could be seen in this depressing place, occasionally the scrapping of old branches on windows or some forgotten dripping would cause the small filly to jump back in surprise, but only until she realize they were just vain actions of nature. "O-of course, I already told you that it's this way!" She yelled back, sounding indignant and brave. The truth however was that she had gotten lost a good half hour ago, but her pride wouldn’t allow her to tell her friends, but she wouldn't have minded being right beside her idol right now. "You know, Scootaloo, I think it was even worse to have come across this old castle for that 'shortcut'" Sweetie belle blamed, trying her best to not get the living lights scared out of her as a bird came across one of the broken windows cawing loudly. "Aaah! come on girls, we are NOT lost... see! I'm pretty sure that the exit is around that corner!" She yelled in false joy as she quickly rushed where the wall took a turn and disappeared on the other side. She wasn't even out of the sight of her friends for a second before returning bouncing back on her flank off the ground a few times. Obviously she had bump against 'something'. "Augh! ouch, ouch, ouch.... Who put a wall in this corn-" Her sentence was middle cut as her eyes slowly open to reveal that the 'wall' wasn't exactly a wall but instead something more... interesting. Sweetie belle and Applebloom immediately ran to the side of her friend, hoping that she was fine, when they tried to call her she only stood there with her jaw almost hitting solid ground. Not understanding her situation both fillies turned their heads to the place where Scootaloo’s gaze had been lost. As they did, they too almost lost their jaws. Standing just one hoof away from them was a pony, but not just any random run of the mill normal pony, oh no, of course not, this one was really huge, massive if they knew the word! He, as it was, was a stallion, just standing proudly with what looked like an angry frown on his face. After the little fillies began to snap out of their surprised shock they began to note the qualities of this pony, of course in their own way. Scootaloo turned her attention to the facial look of this pony, his mane was really spiky and tall, over his face was a series of rivets... or maybe piercings that were drawing an interesting pattern, finally her jaw almost truly hit the floor as she saw his eyes. They were like nothing she had seen before seeing as they were COMPLETELY purple with rings forming outside of his irises. Sweetie Belle looked at his clothes, since her sister was fashion designer she had learned, even unwittingly, to look and judge the clothes that the ponies use. His outfit was only one garment, but that was more than enough to bring a chill down the spine of the small and now terrified filly. It was a large and black cloak that had a several red clouds on it. For some reason she felt... as if the clothing told her tales of sadness as well as danger. And finally, AppleBloom twisted her neck in an uncomfortable manner to see this ponies face, and the impression she saw scared her as well. She had NEVER met any pony bigger than her brother, of course besides the princesses, but this pony was easily bigger than Big Macintosh! "..." Nagato could only raise a surprised brow, he wasn't expecting this. A group of strange colored miniature horses that possessed both surprised and frightened expressions on their faces. This was odd indeed. With a quick scan with his Rinnegan he saw that these horses didn't have chakra as well, that means no summons, even with the wings the orange one had and the horn the white one carried on its head... with his previous experience he was understandably having doubts to whether these horses were sentient beings. So it was also understandable that he was surprised again when the orange one spoke. "Whoaaaah... Cool!" Said the horse with the same voice of one of the girls he had heard before. It was easy for him to put two and two together so he could guess these... fillies were the ones complaining some odd moments ago. Maybe this time THEY could be useful, thankfully he had sent Jigokudo this time so he would know what he wanted or... "So... you can talk after all" Said Jigokudo with a bored and deep voice, his frown didn't even move an inch as he spoke. His statement seems to insult the orange filly because she start bouncing in an angrily. "Of course we can talk sir, we're not foals!" She complained in tantrum. Putting that aside he decided to begin his questions. "Tell me horses, where and what is this place?" However it didn’t go the way he planned. "Who are ya sir? And what are ya doing over here? By the way can ya help us a little?" Ask Apple Bloom, at first she had hesitated since this pony intimidated her, he still did by the way, but they were lost even when her friend didn't want to admit it, and they could use any help right now. At least they come across somepony and not a Manticore or some Timberwolves. "I asked first" Counter back Jigokudo as he starts to really frown and not only his habitual expression. "Well, my sister says that you always need to introduce yourself before asking things to somepony" Explain Sweetie Belle in a shy tone, she try to defend themselves even when this pony really scare her. This time, however, he remained a little more calm, with an inner sigh he remembered to himself that he was talking with 'kids'. "Fine, I'm Pain. I'm god." After hearing his introduction the three fillies look at each other with clear expressions of even more fear, his name actually fit him, and they all replied 'what!?'. After a few seconds the CMC had thought about it and they came to the conclusion he was just kidding or something with the thing about 'god', but Nagato began to become impatient. "Now, tell me, wha-" "Hi there, Mr. Pain, I`m Scootaloo..." "...I`m Sweetie Belle..." "... and Ah`m Applebloom!" "And we are the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders'!!!" Yell in unison the three fillies, bouncing and giggling to themselves and getting back their happiness. They always loved to tell everypony 'Who' they are. Jigokudo just blinked a few times after being interrupted again, this time quite surprised for these fillies, they were really strange truly. With a quick shake of his head he took a few hoofsteps near the fillies, which seems to surprise as they back away a little. They don´t know if this pony could be trusted. "Now, after 'that'... tell me, what is this place" He asked with the most serious tone he could achieve, and it was a good one for the sudden transformation of the faces the fillies previously had, as well as the swallowing loudly. "W-well this i-is the old castle of the Princesses" Princesses? This gets the attention of Jigokudo, maybe these ‘monarchs’ would be useful in the long run. Also, why they would abandon a castle like this one? Besides the frailty and the fact that it could fall to the ground in any second he was pretty sure that in one time this building was majestic. "Tell me more" Sweetie Belle almost fell to the ground as the enormous pony came closer to her face, the 'bad stallion' attitude this pony had really showed dislike to her, but once again, fearing that something would happen if she didn’t answer, she started to explain to this pony about the Princesses Celestia and Luna, at least what her young mind knew. Even for a filly like her this was odd; this pony seemed to not know about Equestria at all! He didn't even know what the Elements of Harmony were when she came to that part in the story when her sister and her friends freed Princess Luna from her evil form. She thought that something wasn't right about this pony, his lack of knowledge about the basics in history and also...well, about everything, confused her. And then the strange questions he asked like 'Where are the Elemental Nations?' or 'What do you mean by magic?'. After what seemed like an hour and a half Sweetie Belle finally end her explanations and allowed the stallion a few moments to understand what she said. Nagato was a little confused at first, being in this... new world? Was a surprise but it wasn't something he hadn't expected. The red maned stallion only let out a frustrated sigh as his head hung low, his previous fight had truly sent him and Konan in this twisted world in where it seems these 'Ponies' are the intelligent species, he also doubts they are the only ones but that must wait. He can only curse ‘him’ in his thoughts and his real body, that bastard had betrayed him in the end. Now that he didn’t need these fillies... he determined it was time to go. "Very well, thank you for the information" And as that he began to trot away, he was actually glad he didn't need to use the powers of Jigokudo to get the information he needed, it wasn't that he had never done it before but... well, they were just kids, he wasn't the devil, he just want to achieve that 'peace' he was fighting for since his childhood. "Oh well it was nothi- Ay! wait, where are you going?!" Yelled Sweetie Belle after seeing how this pony was leaving her and the girls behind and alone in this old dangerous castle, and that is not including the Everfree Forest of course! Her sudden yell awoke her two friends that had just fallen asleep like half an hour ago, leaving the 'Egghead' to explain to this pony whatever he wanted to know. They too saw their situation and the trio of fillies immediately rushed in front of the massive orange stallion, blocking his trot. "We helped you, I thought you were going to help us!" The white unicorn exclaim with some surprise and worry, even though she doesn't trust or like this pony, she didn’t like the idea of being lost in this place and alone in THIS forest even more. However, the next answer he gave began to drop their hopes even further. "I never said I would help you, filly" His firm and serious stare make Sweetie Belle to jump back a little in surprise, but this time she wouldn't feel fear, this was their best hope to return safely and she knew it. So, with the support of her loyal friends she confronted this pony. "My name is Sweetie Belle, not filly!...please, we just want to return to Zecora, she couldn´t be far by the way, but the forest is dangerous" she explained with the hope now that this pony would finally help them. "And then why you were here in the first place?" Asked Jigokudo, beginning to grow even more annoyed at this point. If what this little pony was telling him was true then why the heck had they come to such a place? Were they dumb? "W-well we want to get our cutie marks in explorers, o-of course." 'Cutie Marks?' Ah, yes he remembered she said something like that before, something about pictures on their flanks that told them their special talent. "It´s foolish to get yourself in danger only for that stupid 'mark' you talk about" He tried to explain; hoping they would understand it was THEIR fault and would leave him alone. The result was totally the opposite. "It wasn´t! Is easy for you to say so, you already have your cutie mark!... by the way... what its mean?" He blinks a few times after hearing her statement, this caught him out of guard, he had a what? Turning his attention to his flank in where the orange filly had pointed to before, to his surprise indeed was a 'Cutie Mark' adorning his sides. The fillies don't seems to understand it, but he does, the background was the Rinnegan and over it was a deep purple flame, like some kind of spiritual representation of his powers... quite interesting, he would need to see if the other paths had it too. Turning his attention back to the fillies they look very interested in knowing what it means, but they don't need to. "Well... it is not of your interest, now I must leave" And with that he continued his trot again. This caught the fillies in surprise again since they believed they had finally convinced him to help them. So with their last try the three of them decided in whispers to use their last resource... a deadly technique only known to them. They put themselves in front of the big stallion as they look directly into his eyes, at first they hesitate since they were quite strange, but it was their last hope. They use... the 'puppy face' Their eyes almost grow twice their normal size as they absorb all the light they can to complete the effect, and for the finishing touch... a super cute and sad voice. "Please sir... we are lost and we want to get back home... Please, please, please, pretty please with a lot of sugar in the top... please?" They couldn't help but to laugh in their minds, yes! They finally have him, mwahahah- "No" He just said with a blank expression and past the small group of horses like nothing. Their surprised faces didn't have a price at all, if somepony could see them they would laugh to the ground for the funny sight of their jaws hitting the ground. He had resisted the 'Puppy Faces' like nothing! Not even a flinch. At this point they got really worried, this was bad, if this big and apparently strong pony (That would be quite useful in the Everfree Forest) was that mean, they were gonna need to try their best to return to where Zecora is on their own... that’s if they make it. Sweetie Belle can´t help it anymore and began to sob, her friends after seen her in that state and realizing their situation start sobbing too. "P-please... j-just please... I want to see my sister again sir... please" Pray her and Scootaloo and Applebloom joined too with their own wishes. "..." He wasn't sure... they were just kids in the end... well, helping them wouldn´t cause harm to him (Not that anything can) or wouldn´t be a problem in his search of information... so... "Very well then, at least keep going" Finally resignation hit him with a long sigh. This immediately hit the ears of the fillies that thrill with his answer, their faces immediately returned to their happy smiles and they began bouncing and singing some happy and victorious songs. He just shook his head again, already regretting this, but well, he already accepted. "Just don´t delay, you understand?" "Yes!!!" Exclaim the three in unison. To his surprise... and a little annoyance, the fillies suddenly manage to jump on his back, clearly hoping for a ride. He just raised a brow as he ask the obvious. "What do you think you're doing?" His voice was a little annoyed, but they were too happy to notice or care. "Returning with you to Zecora’s of course! The Forest is dangerous, didn't tell you this before?" Answering his question was the orange filly since she was the nearest to his head, it wasn't the answer he was looking for, though. With another loud sigh and shake of his head he began to trot with the fillies in his back... thankfully he wasn't in his world any more, where if someone were watching him, his reputation would have taken a huge dive. As he moved they began to sing again... "No singing" "But-" "NO SINGING" "...ok..." ________________________________________ Konan couldn't help but be more interested in this world. Since she had began this small tour with Pipsqueak he had been very happy to show her EVERYTHING he could about his 'lovely' town as he had said. She occasionally would ask him some small and interesting questions, and he was more than happy to answer. It was odd to walk just in the middle of this ponies just like that, but they don’t seem too afraid or weary of her, she hadn´t witnessed any kind of guard trying to stop her and ask for her whereabouts, maybe some ponies would look at her with curiosity but that doesn't harm her, even more, some ponies also smiled at her and wave at her … especially the stallions…curious. She must admit she felt strange, but not a 'bad' strange at least. "Why is everypony so happy and careless around here, Pipsqueak?" She asked with genuine interest, even when she had try to find any sign of problems or any sudden attack she just failed miserably. "Well... I don't know what you mean Miss Konan, everypony is like that here... in all Equestria actually" he just confessed to her with a shrug of genuine innocence... just like any kid. She felt a little surprised when she felt something in her chest, at first she thought it was jab but it was nothing, so she just ignored it... for the moment. "Maybe it’s because of the Princesses, they’ve always kept Equestria like this for the last thousand years, a happy place!" He said with a one of his big smiles with lots of pride behind it. 'The princesses, huh?' He had told her about them before, and if they truly had been able to keep this 'peace' for that much time maybe they can give her more answers... she would need to meet them, also Pain would like to know this, maybe it was time for her to go. "Well, thank you, Pipsqueak, for your help, I think it is time for me to go, you should see us sooner or later" "Wait!" Just before she could turn around and trot he stopped her in her move, he couldn't help but blush a little for his sudden reaction, after that he just continue with whatever he wanted to tell her. "Before you go you must meet a friend of mine, she is the coolest, funniest and happiest pony in all Ponyville! Maybe in all Equestria!" The happiest? Well that got her attention... that and the constant bouncing and playing smile on the face of the small colt. So with a patient nod she turned his way again, he quickly began trotting as he called for her again. She couldn't help this time but to... smile. That truly shocked her. She quickly began to look in all directions, looking if someone had seen her, just like she had killed somepony or something like that. It was a weak and almost imperceptible smile but it was smile in the end, she had not smiled for years... she hadn’t smiled since... it hurt her too much too remember it. For some reason this world, this small child, had made her finally smile again for the first time in a long time, she stayed confused for some moments until her train of thoughts crashed as Pipsqueak called for a new pony with a REALLY loud cry. "PINKY PIE!" Konan rush to his side after hearing him scream like that, but she just found him looking at a big ... is that a cake-like-building? She had seen some strange things in her world and this one, but this was just ridiculous. The sudden and strange noise coming from the building turned on her instincts, then next was the burst of pink coming at her at unbelievable speed making her put herself between 'that' and Pipsqueak, fearing that she finally found a shinobi in this world. "Wait! it’s just-" Author's Note Hellooooo!...again. Chapter corrected thanks to my editor: Heartless99 ;)
