Celestia felt her heart race as the pale coated unicorn slowly made his way up the street towards her position. His piercings seemed to shine in the moonlight as he stared straight at her, his purple rinnegan eyes sending an eerie chill down her spine. Swallowing the small lump that formed in her throat, the princess lifted her head up. "Who are you and what do you want?" She demanded.
Stopping his trot approximately thirty feet from the group of ponies, the cloaked pony simply tilted his head at the tall princess. "I am Pain. I am the creator of the organization Akatsuki." He stared her down with his emotionless gaze, "and I require the location of the creature Discord."
In a split second, Pinkie Pie rushed up an hopped in front of Pain. "Ooh! You are new here! Hi I'm pinkie Pie." She giggled as she hopped up again, "I should have said my name first. Oh well, now that we know each others names, we should-
"Move."
Pain's command was quickly followed by a shockwave that sent the pink pony flying away from him and smacking into the dirt. "Pinkie Pie!" Rarity screamed as she and the others ran up to her side. "Pinkie, are you alright?"
Pinkie Pie didn't answer as her eyes remained locked onto Pain. While she was always one to say that laughing at something scary was the way to face it, she had a much different feeling about this pony. Her mane and tail went flat as his stone like face never changed as he looked down at her. While his face sat blank, Pinkie felt like his cold features burned into her eyes as her fur stood on edge,
Fluttershy sat still as she stared at her friend tremble on the ground. inside her chest, she felt afraid, but something else was even stronger. Seeing her friends hurt like that was much more powerful than the fear that was inside of her heart. Fluttershy's eyes focused into a glare as she flared her wings out. "You!" She yelled as she flew up and landed directly in front of Pain.
Twilight gasped as she saw the yellow blur shoot by her. "Fluttershy, get away from him!"
Ignoring her friends plea, Fluttershy glared at Pain, her wide eyes nearly bulging out of her face as she gave "the stare". "How dare you! You big meanie! You think you can just come into Canterlot and push ponies around however you want!? Well think again!"
While her stare had even worked against a monstrous dragon, Fluttershy felt her heart skip a beat as she gazed into this ponies odd purple eyes. No form a fear was shown in his eyes, nor even eagerness. They were looking right at her with nothing. Blankness. Even lifelessness. Determined however, Fluttershy opened her eyes even wider. "You should know better than to hurt ponies just to get what you want! I think that you need to learn some manners and go and tell everypony in this city that you are-
Fluttershy screamed out as another shockwave struck her, launching her into the air and nearly crashing into the large wall behind everypony. She was luckily caught just in time by the princesses magic, gently setting her back down next to Twilight. The moment she touched the ground, the yellow pegasus broke out in uncontrollable sobs, her body trembling from the terrifying experience.
Celestia grinded her teeth as she stepped forward, putting herself between Twilight and Pain. "What is it that you have come here? Why do you want Discord?"
"We need the powerful beasts of this world in order to use their power." Pain stated, "And Discord is said to be of incredible strength."
Celestia sat in confusion to what he was saying. "Use his powers? Do you have any idea how powerful Discord is? He can do whatever he pleases if he were to be released. There is no way for anypony to control him."
Hearing her description of him only made Pain more determined for his goal. "He sounds to be the perfect beast that we need for ourselves. We need him in order to attempt to return to our world."
"Your-your world?" Celestia was then struck with the sudden realization. 'All of the strange powers that these ponies have is because they aren't from here. Are they... Are they even ponies?'
The akatsuki unicorn didn't blink as his eyes stayed locked onto the princess. "Perhaps you should learn the meaning of pain, and then you will know peace."
"How does knowing what pain feels like lead to peace?" Celestia questioned, "we have lived for years in Harmony by caring and friendship."
"Peace is impossible in a world like this. Love breeds sacrifice, which in turn breeds hatred. Living with this ideology will always be futile. The only form of gaining peace is through pain, in the way that I have lived."
"The way you lived?" Celestia sat quiet for a moment as she stared at him. "You have suffered in your life, haven't you?"
"Pain is what my world was made of. When one endures enough pain, they become pain itself as I have." The akatsuki member shut his eyes and lowered his head. "When one becomes pain, they become a god."
"Having pain in your life doesn't mean you have to cause it to others. I have had many things happen in my life that were painful, but I learned to overcome them through love."
Pain simply grunted hearing that. "Those are the words of a child. You try to compare yourself to me, yet it is not the same. If you don't share someone's pain, you can never understand them. But just because you understand them doesn't mean you can come to an agreement. That's the truth."
The sun princess then felt pity for this unicorn. 'What could have happened to this pony to have such terrible feelings and ideals?' Her pity however would only stop her so much. "I am sorry for whatever happened to you in your past, and I am sorry that you have somehow ended up in our world. I cannot let you achieve your goal, however. I will not let Discord be taken."
Reopening his eyes, Pain locked gazes with the princess. "You will regret getting in my way. Pain makes one stronger, and my pain is far greater than yours."
---
Konan slowly turned her head back and forth as she looked down the empty alleyways she past by, eyeing anything that could be of interest. Nothing turned up just like before, just empty streets and alleys. 'If only I knew where Discord was, then we could find it quickly and then leave this place.' She whispered to herself. Her eyes suddenly widened after thinking that.
Back in her world, She was never one to hesitate in doing something for her own benefit. Countless shinobi that stood in her way she had quickly dispatched so she could carry on with her task. Now for some reason, even thinking of fighting was causing her to worry about what would happen to the ponies she fought and the condition of this world. "What is happening to me?"
A bright flash of green caught Konan's attention, snapping her out of her daze. A pulsing green ball of magic came rushing down through the air towards her, forcing her to jump backwards and dodging it as it crashed into the stone street. Before she could fully land, two more balls came barreling her direction. Opening Her wings, Konan flapped and banked upwards over the first one, and then barrel rolled under the second right after.
Flying down to the street again, Konan realized another magic sphere rushing towards her. Putting her hoof up, it began separating into hundreds of pieces of paper before spreading out. "Shimigami Dance!" She yelled as she launched a small wave of paper sheets upward, colliding against the incoming attack and forcing it to detonate. Her paper attack broke up and scattered to the ground below. Konan then noticed the pony on the roof above her left.
It was a unicorn that had a dark gray coat and a white mane with silver streaks. It wore a large black armor plating over its back on top of a yellow robe that draped down below. On its head it wore a dark blue helmet that looked as if engraved with glowing markings all over. It's glowing green horn deactivated as the pony stared down at Konan. "So, the rumors going around the castle were true; you ponies do have strange powers."
The new stallion focused his magic again and teleported down to the street below, facing the akatsuki member. "Whatever you are doing here, it ends now."
"You are in a rush today, aren't you Flash Shot?" A voice said from above.
Konan looked to the air looking for the source, then noticed the pony leaning over the edge of an open window. This pony had bright golden eyes that shined beneath her purple helmet, and were feline in appearance unlike normal ponies. Her hooves casually dangled over the ledge, showing off her horseshoes tipped with dual serrated blades on each. She grinned down, revealing her fangs beneath her lips. "Don't tell me you were planning on taking her out yourself? You don't want to be selfish, do you Flash?"
Flash Shot rolled his eyes at her comment. "I don't think this is the time to be worrying about manners, Midnight Blossom."
"Hey, I let you take out the pair of manticores last week. I wanna get a shot at this one." Midnight chuckled as she jumped out of the window, spreading her bat like wings and flying down next to Flash Shot. "Besides, you have always heard of 'ladies first' right?"
Stepping back, Konan eyed the two guards as they kept their position in front of her. 'They don't seem happy for me being here. No doubt from the destruction from Pain and Deidara.' She mentally scolded herself. "You two part of the protection to this village?"
"Protection?" Midnight tapped her claws to her chin. "Let's see; royal armor. Go to confront threat. Yeah, you can call us that."
Thinking of a possible way to avoid conflict, Konan tried to appear as least threatening as possible. "I know that what has happened appears to be bad, but perhaps we can negotiate and work out something so that nothin happens we don't regret."
Both ponies sat open mouthed for a moment before looking at each other in disbelief. "Is this pony serious?" Midnight asked, "We come to stop her from assaulting our home and she wants to negotiate?"
"No, I don't believe we are here to negotiate anything."
Konan turned around to the sound of another voice, this one much more stern and commanding than the others. A white Pegasus was trotting in the center of the street towards her, his body covered in shimmering golden armor that sat on top of chain mail. Strapped to his back was a long spear that stuck out to his side, slightly bouncing with each step. Below his golden helmet, bright blue eyes pierced through the air with a mix of anger and determination.
Midnight Blossom nodded with a grin as she watched her captain made his way towards them. "I see you decided to join us, Cloud Dasher."
Konan shifted her eyes back and forth between the three ponies as they slowly surrounded her.
Cloud Dasher never took his eyes off of Konan as he reached up and clutched his spear with his hoof. "You are done. Whatever the goal that you and your friends had when coming here, it is going to stop." Pulling down on the end, the spear flipped out into the air and landed down on his foreleg, spinning in his grip until coming to a stop in his hoof.
Opening her wings, Konan prepared herself if need be against them. "I know that what has happened to your home may be terrible, but please let me explain. We-
"Terrible?" Cloud Dasher growled through his clenched teeth. "You attack our city. You terrorize the innocent citizens here. You kill numerous guards and you just say terrible!?"
"Please, listen to me. I haven't done any of the damage that has been caused. My group only wants to-
"Your group?" Midnight sneered, "So just because you say you were the only one not hurting anypony, we should just talk it over!? What kind of a stupid idea are you planning in your head!?"
"Calm down Midnight." Flash Shot yelled out, "She is probably trying to make us drop our guard around her so she can get us when we aren't ready."
Midnight Blossom only grinned at hearing that. "Then I guess we shouldn't let her get that chance." Putting her claws together, Midnight scraped them together at the tips. In an instant, all four claws were engulfed in bright lines of electricity that danced along the steel. Her magically enhanced weapons were a personal gift from Princess Luna, only given to the elite of night guards.
"Wait..." Cloud Dasher ordered. "Let me go at her first."
Midnight frowned. "Aw come on! I want to go at her!"
"I said to stand down right now. I will test out her skill." Clutching his spear between his hooves, his intense gaze completely focused on his opponent now. Konan felt her heart immediately increase its pace a few beats as her body unconsciously prepared for battle, but her mind was telling her otherwise. She didn't want to come into conflict with the ponies here because of the chance of her hurting them.
Her worry didn't last long however.
In a blink of an eye, Cloud Dasher burst off the ground and launched towards Konan. Her eyes went wide seeing him rush so quickly. 'He's fast!' Jumping to the side, she barely dodged the spear that almost pierced her chest. Jumping back and away, Konan dipped back and forth as the thrusts rapidly came again and again at her.
Seeing she was quick herself, Cloud Dasher began mixing up his assaults and adding swipes from side to side. When he thrust at her from the right and she shifted the other way, he used his own neck as a fulcrum and spun the spear to the other side of his body to catch her off guard. She however noticed his move and used her hoof to form a small paper shield to block the strike. His eyes widened in wonder when his weapon came to a stop at the white sheets. 'What kind of pony is she?'
Opening her wings, Konan attempted to lift away from the fight, only to have Cloud Dasher burst off the ground and bring his spear tip up over his head. Konan tried to keep him back by releasing a cloud of paper his direction. The captain gripped his weapon between his Hooves and began spinning it in front of himself, cutting straight through the incoming obstacle.
Diving back to the street, Konan watched as Cloud Dasher seemed to be preparing to swing at her despite being twenty feet above her. When he did, however, her eyes went wide when his spear seemingly broke into pieces and shot her direction. Focusing her chakra, she broke her entire body into paper, allowing the spear tip to pass through her and dig into the dirt. Floating backwards, Konan rematerialized as she observed what happened.
The staff of the weapon was in fact separated into five sections, connected by a chain flowing in between the gaps. Cloud Dasher whipped his handle up, pulling the end back towards him until all the pieces reconnected into a single length. His focused eyes remained on her as his two subordinates came up by his side. "You do have some very unusual powers, but you will not get passed the Trifecta."
---
Princess Luna felt like she had stared at Itachi for an eternity before he broke his gaze from her and looked down to the corpse of Kakuzu. She expected him to be angered at what she did, but surprisingly, he looked back at her with a blank face.
"It seems that Kakuzu had misjudged the strength that you posses. You are different than the other ponies that I have seen here." Itachi noted.
Luna simply nodded in the akatsuki members direction. "Indeed I am. I am one of the princesses of this land. And as a princess, I command thou to give the reason for your actions against the citizens and the guards of Equestria?"
Shutting his eyes, Itachi took a few steps in her direction, "So, you act like the kage from where I come from. You are a leader that oversees your kind and is naturally more talented than the others here."
The lunar princess raised an eyebrow at his statement. "I am not familiar with that title that you say, but I am a ruler to the ponies of this land. And now I ask again for what is thy purpose for the actions committed?"
"Well, since you are of a high ranking position, I will tell you; I am a member of the organization known as the Akatsuki. We are all high ranking criminals who all possess abilities far beyond what any of your kind have. While it may seem horrible, we are working towards the peace that our land desperately needs."
Luna stared for several moments in confusion by what she heard from him. "You claim that thou are a member of an organization that strives for peace? Then tell us now, why did thou attack the town of Ponyville?"
"That small town wasn't attacked by us if you wish to know. We simply asked of the location of the beast we desired, and your guards were the ones that attacked us." Itachi used one of his hooves to move the bangs that fell in front of his eyes. "Besides, their weakness wasn't even worth my time to finish off."
Blitz and Blaze both felt their blood boil at the arrogance of this pony after what happened in the small town. Before they could speak, the loud laughter from the chained pony behind them caught their attention.
"Ha ha hahaha! Oh you little dicks are all dead now! Once Itachi breaks me out, I will give Jashin more wonderful sacrifices!" Hidan thrashed in excitement against the chains held by the several bat ponies. "Alright Itachi, get me out of this shit so I can reap their pathetic lives!"
Blitz ran up to the restrained pony. "Shut your mouth or I will make it shut!"
"Oh, are you still mad that you got your ass whipped twice today!?" The sudden punch to Hidan's mouth caused his lip to split open, but he still kept his devilish smile. "You think that you will be able to stop us? You will all die tonight!"
Luna's captain Night Shine glared back at the confined akatsuki ritualist. "Take him back to Canterlot along with the other injured guards." The night captain turned to two other lunar unicorns. "Whiplash, Moon Lit, you two will stay here with myself." His eyes then turned to the sharingan bearer. "We are to assist Luna with this one."
As several ponies began pulling on the chains holding Hidan, the Jashin follower began thrashing against them. "What the hell are you doing you little bastards!? Let me go! Itachi, move your lazy ass and get over here and help me!" When his fellow akatsuki member didn't move an inch, his blood boiled even more than before. "Hey, what the fuck are you doing!? Get over here now!"
Shining armor slowly opened his eyes as he was carried off by the remaining lunar warriors. "W-wait, you can't just make us leave."
Luna chuckled at the captains determination. "Go and rest Sir Shining. Cadence will want to see you the moment you return."
Lightning Flash looked back and forth between the princess and the retreating stallions. He wanted to help the princess, but knew his exhausted body would only get in the way of them. On the other hoof, he felt his heart in pain from his friend Rain being killed by that psychotic pony. 'No, he is not going to get away for what he did to him.' He glared at the resisting Hidan. He then looked down to the red scythe on the ground and picked it up. 'I will make him pay.'
As the rest of the ponies began their walk back to the capital, Luna returned her attention back to the idle stallion. "I am surprised to not see you try to stop them. Does thou not care about the other member of your group?"
"Why should I try to free him? The moment that i would attempt to break him out you would stop me. Being one of battle, I know that you are not one to be relaxed against in battle. Not knowing the extent of your abilities is a risky-
The bright blue blast from Luna's horn cut Itachi off mid sentence as it pierced straight through his chest. His eyes went wide as he looked down to the large hole leaking blood. He then turned up to the princess, the end of her horn smoking from the shot. "You are fast, Princess."
Lifting her head up, Luna glared down at the mortally wounded pony. "I have never been one to take cheap attacks, but I will not allow you to continue your quest."
"Then I am glad I took precautions with you."
Both Luna and the guards felt their blood run cold at the sounds of Itachi's voice to the side. The blue alicorn flipped around to see him standing unharmed, his menacing sharingan focused on her. "But... How did... What is going on?" She shakingly asked.
"A simple genjutsu placed upon you; small enough for it to quickly cast over you all, but strong enough that the effects were undetectable for you." Itachi looked over to the injured version of himself and then back to the terrified ponies. "The moment you looked into my eyes, the jutsu was already in place."
Night Shine continued to stare at the injured version of Itachi, which now began breaking up into dozens of black crows that flew up into the sky. "What kind of power is this? What are you?"
"I am Itachi Uchiha. My skills are a gift to me by the blood of my clan." Itachi opened his eyes wider, giving sight to the ponies as three tomue began solidifying into the Mangekyo sharingan. "Victory for yourselves is impossible. I will make sure of it."
Off to the side of the field, a large boulder began shifting on the top, a green mass coming out of the top. After a moment, the Venus fly trap partially opened up to allow Zetsu to see out and observe the confrontation unfold.
"I wonder who shall be the victor in this fight. This pony is quite powerful." The white half stated.
"I don't believe the outcome will be that close..." The black side objected, "Itachi's powers are far beyond that of normal shinobi."
"But this pony seemingly took down Kakuzu with no trouble for herself at all. Look, she doesn't even have a scratch on her body. Perhaps she will be more trouble than we realized."
"Hmph, don't be so naive. Not even I have seen the extent to Itachi's strength. Even if she is stronger than we anticipated, there is no way Itachi shall be defeated."
"What about Hidan though?" White Zetsu asked, "Should we allow him to be taken away?"
"Do not worry about him. Letting him be taken may actually be used to our advantage."