Akatsuki in Equestria

by chaos2012


A Taste of Art

Above the Everfree forest, a single yellow Pegasus flew in the direction of Ponyville. Her two toned orange mane and tail fluttered in the wind as she glided easily through the air. Covering her brown eyes were her blue wonderbolts goggles.

Spitfire had been able to get her morning free so she could do a surprise visit to a certain blue mare that was due for payback; ever since Rainbow Dash qualified to train with the wonderbolts, her tough yet joking attitude immediately clicked with Spitfire, and after a few weeks they became good friends.

Despite being close friends, though, Rainbow had the knack to prank Spitfire on a weekly basis. While most of the time it was something simple like a snake in her room or a drop of hot sauce in her drink, but Rainbow's last prank was a home run; she had switched out Spitfires shampoo with red hair dye. After realizing what had happened, the wonderbolt captain had to scrub for three hours to get the color out.

Spitfire looked to the bag she had hanging over her shoulder, Which caused a large grin to spread across her face, "He he, this will definitely make her sorry for putting that dye in my shower."

She continued to fly, but a sudden explosion from the trees below caught her attention. She came to a sudden stop, trying figure out what just happened, "What was that?" Looking around, she then saw a small stream of smoke rising from the trees to the right.

Spitfire stared over towards the rising fumes, "What in Equestria happened down there?" Wanting to find out more, she turned and flew towards the smoke.

-------------

Deidara smiled at the explosion in front of him where the pony once stood. He chuckled at his success, "I told you to watch what you say. You could have probably lived if-"

Deidara stopped mid sentence when he saw a shape through the smoke. Squinting his eyes, he caught sight of a blue shape moving away from him. He grimaced at seeing he didn't take out his target, "Guess I detonated them too early. She had time to get back before it caught her. Hmm"

Rainbow flew whipped through the trees as she flew in pure panic. Her heart rammed in her chest while her wings beat rapidly. She glanced over her shoulder, looking back at her assailant, "What the heck were those?"

Deidara laughed seeing the scared pegasus trying to flee, "Flying away won't do you any good. I'll catch you!" he lifted his hooves pack up and spit out several birds after his frightened target.

Rainbow saw the birds rapidly approaching her, causing her eyes to go wide, "Oh no, not again!" she ducked and weaved as each bird came at her. Whipping around and over branches, luring several to collide with the trees, each one of them causing small explosions. Then, out of nowhere, another bird dropped from above, cutting off the path she was flying in.

Reacting quickly, Rainbow broke off a small branch in front of her and through it in front of her. Luckily, she struck it perfectly, making it detonate. Seeing She was in the clear, she felt a small wave of comfort wash over her still trembling body, "alright, I just need to get back to-" Her heart stopped as she heard beating wings behind her. Turning back, she saw Deidara flying after her, "Oh, Celestia."

"Don't get your hopes up that flying away will save you, Rainbow!" Deidara shouted as he chased her, "My art has no limits!" he put his hooves together, allowing the clay to mix together. Pulling them apart, he had his new and improved birds ready, which were thinner and much faster than the ones before, "Let's see you outfly these!" the birds took off forward, rushing through the trees at an unreal speed.

Rainbow saw the two birds coming, and tried to whip around the trees to make them crash like before. As she did, however, the birds matched her turning abilities in every way. She dipped over branches, kicking off limbs as she passed to try to cause the approaching bombs to collide, but they simply weaved around the falling hindrances, their speed unaffected.

Rainbow banked upwards, flying through the canopy above her. As soon as she cleared the trees, she shot through the air as fast as she could to get distance between herself and her pursuers.Looking back, she felt terror in her heart, seeing the birds now in the open, nearly on her; she had nowhere to go, 'No, it can't end like this."

Deidara grinned as his bombs flew closer towards Rainbow, 'Almost there...' he thought as he saw the distance close between the pegasus and the birds. He clapped his hooves as the
bombs neared the fluttering tail, "KATSU!"

BOOM!

"He he, now that is what I call an explo-" Deidara stopped as he saw something fly out of the smoke. He frowned again, seeing his target still alive, "You’re quite the stubborn one. Hmm." Once he saw her condition though, he gave a small chuckle.

Rainbow's lower half of her body was stained gray. Some of her hair had been singed, Giving off their own trails of smoke. Several inches of her tail had been burned off. Her left wing had been burned as well, and she was having difficulty flying straight. She painfully tried to flap it as she continued to flee.

Deidara laughed at her struggling, "You can try to keep going, but it of no use..." he put his special mouths together and mixed the last of that batch of clay, making a single bird, "...you should accept your fate!" he set his little bomb loose into the air.

Rainbow looked in terror at the bird flying straight at her. She tried to move faster, but the pain in her wing restricted her movement. Tears of fear began to form in her eyes, knowing there was no way of getting away. She screamed out as the bird closed in, "Somepony, HELP ME!"

Out of nowhere, a small brown bag collided with the bomb, causing it to detonate. Rainbow was stunned, "Wha...what was that?". She looked around to see where it came from.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Deidara looked in the direction of where the bag came from, but was rammed in the side by a yellow and orange blur.

Rainbow looked in shock that someone did come to help her, but when she recognized who it was, fear once again gripped her heart, "Spitfire, Get away from him!"

Spitfire tumbled through the air, clutching tight onto the blonde Pegasus. Her eyes were filled with hatred, "You leave her alone, you freak!" she punched at Deidara's face over and over again, causing blood to start leaking out.

Deidara glared through the incoming punches at the Pegasus clutching him, "You get off me you stupid fool!" he wedged his back legs under Spitfires stomach and kicked out hard.
Spitfire grunted as she felt herself hit in the stomach, losing the grip she had on him. Flipping around, she flew straight for Rainbow, "Come on, let's go!" grabbing her cyan friend, she pulled Rainbow through the air towards Ponyville.

Deidara regained his composure after a moment, and glared after the retreating Pegasi,"You think you can get away?" He put his hooves to his side to refill his mouths, "You don't have a Chan-" he didn't feel anything. Looking down, he saw his bags Falling through the trees below. He looked back to the two mares flying away, causing his anger to rise, "She knocked my bags off as she tackled me. Hmm."

Seeing how far the pegasi were away, he decided to give up his pursuit. He dropped down below the trees to where his bags were laying. He reached for them, but suddenly several blue lines of chakra shot out from the side and pulled the bag away. Deidara was startled at first, but then he saw Sasori to the side leaning on a tree, lines of chakra running off the tip of his horn.

"So, you let them get away..." Sasori said, casting a glare towards Deidara, "Now others know that we are here now." He whipped up his chakra, throwing the Bags over to his partner.

Deidara caught the bags, sneering at the puppeteer, "I didn't plan on another one coming out of nowhere..." he paused to reattach the pouches to his sides, "...besides, if I had already had my larger bird out, I wouldn't have to focus on flying and making my bombs."

"Don't blame the wings; you let yourself get caught off guard. Now, we can't continue anymore."

"Hmm? Why not?"

"Now that those two got away, they are going to alert the rest of their comrades. We do not know how many there are or how powerful they could be."

Deidara snickered at his partners cautiousness, "Why are you concerned? Don't you have a trick which you said allowed you to 'conquer a nation?"

Sasori cast a small grin at the thought of that technique, "Yes, but I prefer to save that. Besides, we have to meet up tonight. We should start heading back."

Deidara frowned at having to stop, but agreed to not keep the others waiting, "Fine, we'll head back. Hmm."

Both turned and began heading back through the thick Everfree Forest.

--------

Down the road from Canterlot, a small platoon of soldiers containing six Pegasi, four unicorns and three earth ponies marched. Most were clad in the standard royal golden armor, except for the single white unicorn in the lead, who wore purple.

Shining Armor trotted along, always looking back and forth to keep an eye out for anything. He was somewhat confused by the order that the princess had given him, since she did not give anything or any pony specific to look for. She did, however, tell him to be cautious about the power that they could face.

Hearing something was possibly dangerous always put Shining on edge. Knowing they had to search multiple areas, he had only one quick solution. He turned to his second in command, "Swift, come up here."

From the back of the group, a silver pegasus with a twister as a cutie mark walked up to his captain, "Yes captain?"

“I want you to take several guards and go to Ponyville. Look around for anything suspicious."

Swift seemed perplexed by the order, "Sir, you want to split the group up?"

"Yes. We have a lot of area to cover, and Ponyville is the closest town. I want you to make sure the town is alright."

"Well, if you think that is the best way, then alright. Who should I bring with me?"


"Hmm..." Shining pondered who would best be suited to go. Looking in the center, he saw two that caught his eyes, "Blitz, Blaze, come up to the front."

"Yes sir." answered Blaze, a bright yellow unicorn with a tan tail. On his flank he had a patch of fire as a cutie mark. Following by his side was his good friend Blitz, a green Pegasus with tail of multiple shades of blue. His flank sported a helmet, which many ponies were still trying to figure out what that meant. They came up and stood at attention for Shining.

"Ok, and..." Shining scanned the crowd once again, "Storm Chaser."

From the back, a brown pegasus with a black tail and lightning bolt cutie mark Trotted up and joined the group, "Yes?"

"I want you three to join Swift on a scouting mission to Ponyville."

"Ponyville?" Blaze questioned.

“Yes. Go there and make sure that the town is safe. Look around for anything out of the ordinary as well."

The three nodded in unison, then turned to their new commanding officer. Swift Looked to Shining Armor and let out a sigh, "Alright. It's your orders." The four ponies left the group and headed down another path toward the small town of Ponyville.

A tan earth pony came up to Shining Armor's side, "Sir, do you think it is smart to send them off with only four in that group? Perhaps we should send a few others."

"It's all right Barren. Hopefully we won't even encounter anything out here." Shining said with an enthusiastic smile.

"Well, as a request, would I be allowed to join them? One more would never hurt anypony."

"Oh, alright. Go on."

"Thank you sir." and with that, Barren took off down the path after the departed group.
Shining then turned back to the remaining seven ponies behind him, "Alright, let's continue."

Shinings battalion continued on for another twenty minutes, with nothing seeming out of the ordinary."Rain." The captain called out, signaling his next in command to come up.

A younger Pegasus with a light blue coat came up, his golden tail swinging back and forth which covered his rain cloud cutie mark as it passed. "Yes?" he asked.

“Fly forward and scout down the road. See if there is anything even around the direction the princess asked us to go."

"I'm on it." Rain answered, quickly opening his wings and taking off into the sky.

"Captain?"

Shining looked around to see Neon, a bright orange unicorn standing by his side. He stepped around to face him directly, "Yes soldier?

"Do you even know what we are looking for? What did the princess tell you to spot?"

Shining frowned, "Well, not really. She says it has something to do with that strange light that appeared last night. She told me to look for anything suspicious."

"But... You don't know what to look for."

"Well... No."

Rain suddenly dropped onto the ground in front of the group. Shining was surprised he had returned already, "Rain, what happened? You were only gone a few minutes."

"Sir, I saw two strange ponies about three miles ahead." Rain replied.

Shining was now curious, "What do you mean by strange?"

"Well, I didn't want to get too close since I was alone, but I could tell that they were wearing
some sort of black cloaks, and also that they are both earth ponies."

"Are they armed?"

"One of them I could not see anything, but the other one did have a weapon; he was carrying some sort of large scythe."

Shining nodded, then signaled all of his guards to move forward.