//------------------------------// // Chapter 9:Ultimate Art v.s. Army of the Oligarchy // Story: The 5th Great Ninja/Pony War // by Akasuna no Sasori //------------------------------// Chapter 9:Ultimate Art v.s. Army of the Oligarchy I stared at Cadence and her army, as they shivered with fear. “What’s wrong, Princess? Does my art frighten you? Normally, I would take that as an insult; however to me, it seems you are truly fascinated with it. Of course, that could just be the fear.” Cadence managed to speak. “Wha- What are these things?” I beamed. “So you are interested. That pleases me; I shall reward you with an answer. In your world I have yet to see a human, so it doesn’t surprise me that you don’t know what these are.” I continued. “A human is a creature that comes from my world. They walk on two legs, and speak just like you. They eat and drink to survive, just like you. They have money and wage wars, just like you.” I noticed I had said “they” instead of “we”. Did I lose identity of my former self? Had I been a pony so long I no longer felt human? Cadence interrupted. “We have never waged a war! We fight in self-defense of ourselves!” “So the surrounding lands just leave you alone? You never had to beat back their advances to take your land for themselves?” “Well,” she said biting her lip, “we did have to fight amongst each other....” “That certainly sounds like a battle, to me. I suppose the horned ponies, like myself, the winged ponies, and the ones without either horns or wings fought for supremacy over the others?” “They’re called Unicorns, Pegasus, and Earth ponies! How can you not know that?’ I laughed. “I come from a world where your kind doesn’t exist.” “But you are one of us! You are a unicorn!” I didn’t feel like explaining myself to her. I had a job to do, and it was time to do it. “Enough talk, Princess! Maybe we’ll have time to finish this discussion later; while you beg for your life!” The Princess assembled with her army. “Watch out for those “things” flying around! Those are most likely his weapons, not some showpiece!” The soldiers drew swords and spears; then drew in close together to prepare for my attack. I focused my gaze at the center of her army. “Primary Attack Strategy!” Almost instantly, 250 of my puppets flew straight at her forces. As they approached, a few gutsy members of her army rose up, and threw their spears at my puppets. Surprisingly, I saw a few of them go down before they reached their target. However, this small victory was short lived. My puppets crashed into her army, each puppet entering a melee fight with one or more of her soldiers. Cadence looked around, as many of her men started to fall before my puppets’ superior combat prowess. ‘This isn’t good, she thought to herself, ‘We have taken out a few of his puppets, but there are just so many! They already outnumber us, but it seems they are controlled by the unicorn. So if I rush him, and take him out now, the puppets should cease to fight!’ She put her plan into action, and rushed straight at me. “Sorry Princess! But I am not part of this performance, deal with them, instead!” I sent a swarm of puppets in her direction. She saw them all coming, charged her horn, then flew straight into them! She shattered all of them with a single charge! “Huh,” I said to myself, “it seems this is going to be a little more difficult than I first imagined.” I put my hooves together. “Primary Defense Strategy!” Several of my puppets flew down, and began to create a protective wall around me. Some of them flew under me, and created a kind of tower, escalating me off of the ground and enhancing my view of the battlefield. The Princess saw what I had done and reacted accordingly. She flew up to my level and charged her horn, again. However, this time, the light emanating from the horn was a lot brighter than last time. “Haha, I can see what you’re trying to do. Getting hit by that would be pretty nasty. That’s why I won’t allow it!” I put my hooves together again. “Secondary Attack Strategy: 1 Target!” 50 of my puppets flew straight at Cadence. She unleashed her charged energy at my puppets, however, this time, I had direct control over them, and she only managed to take out a few. The remaining puppets charged straight at her. “This is it, Princess! Now you die!” The puppets surrounded her, and I couldn’t see what was happening; but I could only imagine her pain. ‘Heh,’ I thought to myself, ‘my poison may not be as strong as Sasori’s, but it does do the trick. I carry three levels of the poison, all in various colors. Level 1 is a red poison that damages chakra flow slightly. Level 2 is a green poison that paralyzes the target. Level 3 is a yellow poison that causes death in 10 minutes after taking a hit. Each puppet doesn’t carry the same poison, but each puppet does have 1 type of poison on their weapons! Which means, odds are, my death poison got her!’ I pulled my puppets back to see what had become of Cadence. But, she wasn’t there! “Gah! Where did you go? Huh?! Why do you run, coward?!” I looked around everywhere for her, until finally I looked up. She was flying in the air; engaging the puppets I wasn’t controlling! “Cowardly, bitch! I’ll end you for destroying my art!” I gained control over the puppets and resumed the fight with her. However, she had charged her horn, and released the energy in the form of a shield. She was blocking every attack, and counterattacking with her hooves. I grew angry. I couldn’t hit her once, and yet she destroyed each puppet in one blow, over and over again. Until I saw it: her weakness. The shield only covered her front, which meant I could sneak up behind her in the heat of battle and thrust a blade into her back. “Well Princess, you certainly are a fierce warrior. But your fight ends now.” I sent a slew of puppets at her, just as a distraction. She seemed to fall for it. “You’re going to have to do better than that if you want to defeat me, murderer!” She screamed. While she was busy, I sent a single puppet with level 3 poison under her, then flew it up to her level. I sent the puppet spiraling towards her, blade at the ready. “For the last time, fall dead this time!” She looked at me, then turned behind, just in time to see the puppet only a few inches from her neck. I saw the fear in her eye, and then...... ‘CRASH!’ She destroyed it; just in the nick of time, by generating that shield in front of her again. I laughed. “This is good, Princess. You have forced me to my limit. Never before even in my practice sessions with Sasori have I used this, but....” I put my hooves together, several of my puppets gathered in the air above me, circling. “Secret Yellow Technique: Dark Poison Cloud!” The puppets spewed a huge mass of level 3 poison at Cadence. This time, she wouldn’t escape; she couldn’t escape. The Princess’ eyes darted around wildly; looking for a way out of the cloud. But it covered all of her flanks, pretty soon, her men yards away from us would breathe the smoke and die, as well. She stared at me, eyes glaring. “You will pay for what you did to Shining Armor!” Her horn began to charge a bright red color. Soon, the color surrounded her whole body, and she became encased in a sphere of this energy. The poison surrounded her; enveloping her. Eventually, the cloud grew so thick I couldn't’ see through it. “What’s happening? Did I finally get her?” I said to myself. Suddenly, even through the smoke, I could see a faint, red glow. Then, I heard her voice. “FOR SHINING ARMOR!” The color faded for a moment, then expanded violently, destroying everything in it’s wake. My puppets, and her soldiers, were incinerated by this violent explosion. Even though I was in my puppet armor, I felt the heat, then my armor was destroyed. I was knocked off my pedestal of puppets and fell to the ground. I watched the color recede again, and the Princess falling to the ground. Kisame stepped over me and started to laugh. “Ha! I must say, she certainly did give you a run for your money! She even destroyed all your puppets, and all of her own soldiers. Just hold on for a moment, would you?” He walked over to where the Princess lay, and dragged her back to where I was. “Are you alright? Can you get up on your own?” I tried to stand up, then felt a sharp pain in my back leg, so I layed back down. “Seems you’re left back leg is broken. Probably because of your little tumble off your tower of puppets. We need to get you to Kakuzu, but I have no idea where he could be at.” I struggled to get up again, but Kisame stopped me. “Don’t even try it! I just said your leg was broken. I’ll make a water clone to stay here with you and the prisoner. But first...” Kisame pulled a knife out of his robe and gave it to me. “Kill her. You earned it. She destroyed all your puppets and broke your leg. Besides, we have no need for her.” I looked at the knife, then back to the Princess. Surely, I did survive and she lay defenseless before me. But was that any reason to kill her? I couldn’t do it. “No, Kisame. I can’t kill her in this state. It’s just not honorable. I wanted to make her part of my collection, yes. But I can’t feel any appreciation for art that was created from this.” Kisame’s expression grew cold. “Well, if you won’t kill her....” I cut him off before he could finish. “I never said I wouldn’t kill her. Bring her closer!” I don’t know what possessed me to even say what I said. My morals placed me above this. But the cowardly bitch! She attacked my puppets when I wasn’t even controlling them! She deserved to die! I had to do it! What happened next has haunted my dreams since. I grabbed the knife, and plunged it deep into the young Princess’ heart. As the knife sank in, her eyes opened quickly, and she turned to look at me. While the blood trickled down her sides and onto the moonlit grass, I felt her life slip away from her body. The knife slowly felt loose as her muscles relaxed. I watched as her eyes closed, and her heart stopped beating altogether. Kisame put this hooves together. But not for a jutsu, he was clapping. “Hahaha! Excellent! That was ruthless! I don’t think I could’ve done a better job, myself!” I stared at the bloody knife in my hoof, and then at the lifeless corpse of the Princess. When had I changed? There was a time I would have never even contemplated what I just did. Kisame broke me from thoughts. “Well, we’d better get your leg looked at. I’ll get Nurse Kakuzu to come have a look at it, alright? But just so you don’t get lonely....” Kisame put his hooves together. A moment later, an identical clone of himself was standing over me. “This water clone will protect you until I get back!” He ran over to where I saw Itachi last, through the forest, then I was alone. - - - - - Pain looked out from behind a rock. There was Canterlot, looking just the way it did when he left only a day ago. “Nagato,” asked Konan, “what are our objectives?’ Pain turned towards her. “The only objective is utter destruction of this city. You are coming with me to start trouble in the city. Attack civilians, destroy buildings, whatever it takes to lure the Princesses from the castle. Next, Deidara and Sasori will make their appearance; assisting us by distracting the large army that undoubtedly is inside the city.” “So does that mean...?” “Yes, Konan. We will be fighting the Princesses, however many of them there are, just the two of us. But our tactics are perfect. These Princesses cannot defeat a god and his angel.” Deidara overheard the conversation and jumped in. “And don’t forget two great artists! Hmm!” Sasori rolled his eyes. “You need to stop inflating your own ego, so much. It really angers other people, Deidara.” “Mind your own business! I can do what I wa-” Pain cut him off. “That’s quite enough. We have a job to do here, so let’s get it done.” The group moved from behind the rock, and ran towards the city gates. As they approached, two guards above the gate noticed them. “Halt!” Said one of them, “You ponies are wanted by the Princess for questioning, come with me now, or face the consequences!” “Hmm!” Said Deidara, “I don’t like his tone. Maybe this will change his attitude!” Deidara reached into his robe, putting his hooves inside the bags that contained his detonating clay. The mouths on his hooves chewed the hard clay, forming it into moldable clay. Once they were done, they spit it out into his hooves. He then formed the two masses into small birds. “Get ready, this is gonna be explosive!” Deidara threw the small birds, but they grew to five times their original size! The birds got extremely close to the guards, then Deidara put his hooves together. Then spoke his command word. “Katsu!” The birds detonated; killing both guards and creating a large hole in the wall for the group to enter through. Sasori shook his head. “You didn’t change his attitude. You destroyed them both. Honestly, subtlety would’ve been nice.” Deidara stared rudely at his partner, but didn’t speak. Pain, however, complimented the artist. “Excellent work, Deidara. Now, everyone knows their roles. Let’s get to it.” Deidara created one of his clay owls, and, after Sasori jumped on it with him, took flight to other parts of the city. Pain looked at Konan. “Come, the bugles of battle call us; and we must heed their tones.” Konan nodded, and together, she and Pain walked towards the castle.