//------------------------------// // A Message of Death // Story: Eye of the Moon // by MadaraUchiha //------------------------------// A Message of Death Shining Armor stared at Tobi's eyes with fear, three words escaping his lips. ''What... are... you? Tobi narrowed his eyes, seeing how the horse in front of him lost his courage immediately after looking into his Sharingan and Rinnegan. ''Be quiet. It's none of your concern as to who and what I am, but you can still be of use to me. Tell me, what is this little group of yours? Are you a police force?'' Before Shining could even begin to speak, Tobi interrupted, answering his own question. ''No, it doesn't matter what you are. However, you will give me information on your little 'princesses'.'' Headstrong growled at the masked man. ''We will do no such thing, you monster! You will be brought back to Canterlot and there princess Celestia is going to decide your fate!'' Irritated by the arrogant stallion, Tobi took his gunbai and crashed it's top onto the ground while his eyes glowed viciously. ''Don't open your mouth so easily, trash. I am not exactly what you would call 'sympathetic'.'' Once again, the only response he got was a growl from the arrogant stallion. ''Who are you calling trash?! You'll pay for that! Everypony let's hit him with a fire spell!'' With five more guards joining him, Headstrong conjured a fire blast at the tip of his horn. While he did so, Tobi brought his gunbai in the air with an uninterested expression. Shining's eyes widened after seeing that he didn't even flinch as he flipped around to yell. ''Stop! Don't shoot him with that!'' However it was too late as the six guards shot their fire blasts at the Uchiha. As the intense flames approached, Tobi spoke out. ''I told you not to open your mouth so easily.'' With that he swung his gunbai as a powerful gust of wind hit the flames, making it to redirect it's route to the six guards and increase in size. All six guards gasped in shock, however, they didn't have time for a teleportation spell as the flames closed in and with a scream from the guards, it burnt their skin off. Shining escaped the flames just in time, but he still felt it's heat and it wes even worser that their numbers decreased just like that. His head snapped back to the masked man who just stared emotionlessly. The way Shining saw it was that the Uchiha just killed six of his companions with ease. Almost no effort was needed. Just one swing of his weapon. Now, they were down to fourteen men including himself. And it didn't help them that the two pegasi of the group still haven't returned. Meaning that along with himself there were eleven guards at the battlefiel in this moment. Things weren't going in his favors. ''Do you still have the courage to keep on fighting against me, fools?'' Tobi's voice called out from across the battlefield, making Shining attention to turn back to the masked man. ''Shut up! You'll regret your actions, monster!'' A guard yelled out, tears collecting in his eyes. ''Tears? Don't tell me you didn't expect to lose a man on the battlefield. Pathetic.'' Tobi's Sharingan slightly closed as he spoke. ''After all this reality is worthless... There's nothing more but misery left in it. You're only saddened because of the fact that your chances of survival are lowered.'' Silence... That's all that the guards could respond with. The way he spoke... The way he acted... They knew that this man wasn't evil just for evil's sake. It was obvious that there was much more to his goals than just being evil and conquering the world, but still they knew that this monster must be stopped. Now. Shining Armor rejoiced a little as he saw two familiar figures approach from the air while yelling. ''Everypony get away from that monster! He's pure evil!'' Feather Fire shouted, catching their full attentions. However, the poor pony didn't expect this next move. ''Two more maggots change nothing.'' Tobi brought two fingers to his Sharingan and in a quick turn of his body, he threw a shuriken – that he seemingly conjured out of nowhere – at the pegasus. All of them took an expression of shock when the shuriken stroke right into Feather Fire's throat, making the pony to choke and fall to the ground with a loud thump. ''Feather Fire!'' Ligthning Wind ,who followed right behind, screamed out, but did not recieve any response. Feather Fire was dead. Seeing another Pegasus, the Uchiha threw a kunai with a tag attached to it. Panicking, Lightning brought his hooves up to cover his face and throat, and waited for the impact of the sharp blade entering his flesh. But it didn't came, removing his hooves, he saw a blue shield in front of him with the kunai stuck into it. Knowing exactly who to thank for saving his life, Lightning pulled out the kunai from the shield and called out. ''Thanks, captain!'' Shining gave a weak smile in return. 'Idiots.' Tobi thought to himself and made a single hand sign. ''Release!'' *BOOM!* Before any of the guards could figure out what was happening, the kunai in Lightning's hoof exploded, blowing the poor guard into pieces and shocking the rest. A single guard shot a glare towards Tobi. ''What was that?! What did that monster do?!'' ''Excuse me for my roughness,'' Tobi said sarcastically. ''but his own foolishness was the cause of his death.'' ''Shut up!'' A guard roared and he along with four more guards went into a gallop towards the masked man, their spears at ready. ''Hmph. Trying to attack me from up close? It'll only fail as your last attack.'' The Uchiha said and swung his gunbai towards the ground, creating a dust cloud. The guards, however, were cut off guard and they entered the dust cloud before they could realize it. All of the guards' eyes shut themselves as they started coughing from the dust. But one individual was uneffected by the dust because of his mask while he made his way to the first guard. *THUMP* ''What *cough* was *cough* that?!'' All of the guards started panicking and tried to conjure up enough magic for a teleportation spell, but before any of them could make their escapes, several loud thumps followed the last one. Shining Armor stared with wide eyes as the cloud cleared up, only to reveal Tobi standing among the limp bodies of his comrades. ''Give up.'' The Uchiha spoke, startling the captain as he switched his gaze to him. ''You are nothing before my eyes. The only reasonable thing left to do for you is to accept your fate.'' ''No. We will not fall before the likes of you!'' A guard yelled in anger, making Shining turn around and gave him a look that said 'you shouldn't have said that!'. ''We will see about that...'' Tobi muttered darkly and once again with speed that cannot be seen by normal eyes, he dashed from guard to guard, cleaving them into two with his gunbai while the guards screamed in terror. Finally stopping at the last guard, Tobi brought the gunbai above his head and seeing the guard's expression of shock and fright, the Uchiha swung it down at the guard. Shining Armor backed away as he saw the last one of his guards get killed so cruelly. Wait.. His mind started working as fast as it could when he noticed one of the guards were missing. Meaning there was still one alive! His thoughts proved to be true when a battle roar came somewhere besides Tobi. Shining's head snapped to the guard ,who conjured up a spell that made his horn turn into a sword, his horn blade an inch away from the Uchiha. His hopes immediately raised up as he saw the tip of the blade about to come into contact with the masked man. However, Tobi grabbed the blade with his... BARE HAND, startling and shocking both of the ponies. Before the unicorn guard could respond, Tobi slashed at him with his gunbai, creating a fatal wound on his chest as blood splashed into the air. Without a second thought, Shining turned around and started galloping away as fast as he could. 'I was a fool! I shouldn't have ever tried to fought him! Now all of my comrades are dead because of me! I have to warn the princesses! It's the least I could do!' Glancing behind him, Shining's fear grew worse when he saw that the masked man was no longer there. While doing so, Shining rammed into something as he fell to the ground. He didn't even have time to open his eyes when something grabbed his throat and raised him up. Opening his eyes, his heart froze when he came face to face with Tobi. The only thing Shining could do was stare into those soul piercing eyes of his. 'H-How i-is h-he –' ''- So fast.'' Tobi finished. Shining's eyes went even widder – if that was even possible. ''H-H-How?!'' ''Don't understimate the visual prowess of an Uchiha, boy.'' Tobi replied, his eyes focused on the captain's own. ''These eyes can predict movements and read others' thoughts. You were doomed the moment you saw me.'' Shining's whole body shaked in fear as the Uchiha continued. ''Ah, and one more thing... While fighting an Uchiha, there is one rule you should never break...'' Shining gulped. ''Never look at their eyes!!'' The masked man bellowed as blackness took Shining away. Blackness. It was all Shining Armor could see until... he started hearing voices around him. Snapping his eyes open, to both his shock and pleasure he was back in Canterlot, but he was laying on the road and he could see that many shocked eyes were on him. His mind completely raced. How did he end up back in Canterlot? Where is that monster? Did he pass out in the middle of Canterlot and had a just bad dream? His thoughts were cut off when a mare approached him. ''Sir, are you alright?'' Shining took a deep breath and exhaled. ''Yes, I'm fine. I just had a bad dream. I'm sorry for passing out in the middle of the city, and I'm sorry if I startled you, miss.'' The mare only responded with a smile which Shining gladly returned. But... ''Your expression is incorrect.'' A familiar voiced echoed throught the sky. Almost instantly, Shining got to his hooves as his head snapped into many different directions, trying the find the voice's source. ''W-Who s-said that?!'' The only response he recieved was the unnatural thing that happened next... The sky swirled into a different color – now blood red – and the sun's flames extinguished as it morphed into the moon. Returning his gaze back to the ground, he saw that the people around him – including himself – and the buildings were now completely black and white. A rain of kunai's showered down into Canterlot, massacring the mass of ponies inside it. All except Shining Armor. He was forced to watch the horrible scene in front of him. ''N-No! Stop! Why are you showing me this?!'' ''Do you see it now? This reality is nothing but misery. Love and peace are only an illusion to try and cover up the truth.'' The voice said and just as it finished, the cause of it all stepped in front of Shining. ''Speaking of love... Shouldn't you check on your dear little wife, captain?'' Shining's eyes widened in realization as he stormed past Tobi and ran towards the castle. 'Cadance! Please, hold on!' He quickly conjured up a teleportation spell and teleported himself to the Throne Room. Shining was relieved when he saw Cadance sitting there, reading a scroll. ''Cadance!'' He shouted out and the mare immediately took notice of him. ''Shining!'' She shouted back and they both dashed forwards each others. However, a moment before they embraced, Shining's hooves morphed into two blades. Just as he tried to embrace his wife, his hands that were now turned into blades, cutted throught her body. Cadance's severed body parts fell to the ground, leaving a shocked captain behind. With shock still plastered on his face, Shining picked the upper half of her body and started to sob. ''N-N-No-o... T-T-This i-isn't true... I-It c-cant b-be... I-I... I w-won't a-accept i-it.'' ''A typical response coming from a fool.'' A voice behind him said as Tobi stepped into the room. ''Always trying to believe that their misery is nothing but a lie. Wake up, boy. This reality is full of hatred. You couldn't save her because you were weak. You though you were a hero, but you weren't. Heroes don't exist in this world. Either you die too young or live long enough to see yourself become the villain... I am one fine example of that.'' Shining, still holding Cadance, turned around to look at Tobi with tear stained eyes. ''W-Why?'' The Uchiha's eyes narrowed. ''Her death will be a step further to achieving my goal of entering a dream... I don't have time to be stopped by fools such as yourself along the way, but I still have one more use for you, captain.'' Before he could reply, three kunai shot Shining and he immediately blacked out. Once again waking up, Shining found that he was still being held by Tobi. Looking down he noticed that the cruel Uchiha was now holding him above a river. ''Listen, I have a message for you 'ponies'.'' Tobi commanded and Shining's pathetic form turned it's attention back to the masked man in front of him. ''Tell your 'princesses' that I will be arriving at Canterlot for a few days from now. Until then you have enough time to gather up every bit of power you got. I want you to be at one hundred percent of power when I arrive.'' Tobi smirked darkly under his mask. ''That is if you survive...'' Letting go of the captain's throat, Shining fell down into the river with a splash while Tobi watched as the river carried Shining away.