Chapter 8:The Akatsuki Makes It’s Move
“Tell me what you know, scum! Talk!”
Cadence hit Hotaka again, and, as she expected, Hotaka spit at her. “I won’t tell you anything, bitch!”
Hotaka had been taken deep into the bowels of Canterlot Castle, deep enough where the sounds of torture couldn’t be heard. He was in a small, dark cell; tied to the wall by chains attached to metal rods sticking out of the brickwork.
Cadence roared, and hit him even harder. “You must know what happened to Shining Armor! You have to! We’ve seen others wearing those robes! They’re the rest of your gang, aren’t they?”
Hotaka laughed. “I don’t know, maybe those guys love my fashion and got jealous. It wouldn’t be the first time, I assure you.”
Cadence was about to hit him again, when the cell door opened. “Princess! A message from Princess Celestia. She requests your audience in the throne room, immediately.”
Cadence scowled, and looked down on her victim. “I’ll be back to finish our ‘conversation’.”
She left the room with the guard, and followed him back upstairs to the Throne Room.
When she arrived, Princess Celestia was waiting for her.
“You’re here, good. We have much to discuss.” Said Princess Celestia.
Under normal circumstances, Cadence would sit on her own throne, but these weren’t normal circumstances.
“Where’s Luna?” Inquired Cadence.
“She is away coordinating our defenses here in Canterlot. But that’s not what we need to talk about.”
“We have a problem,” Celestia continued, “Twilight has taken her ENTIRE army and has begun tearing across Equestria! She hasn’t been to Cloudsdale or Applewood, yet. It is at one of these points we must intercept and stop her.”
Cadence looked confused. “But why? She isn’t destroying anything, is she?”
“No, but she is breaking into people’s homes inquiring about the robed gang. Which is making some ponies extremely uncomfortable. We simply can’t have her hurting our subjects like that. Especially with these shady characters about causing trouble. It will cause major unrest, and possibly even violent outbreaks.”
“But Celestia,” Cadence said, “these people killed her brother! My husband! The subjects’ rights need to be temporarily annulled while we hunt down his killers!”
Celestia eyes blazed. “Cadence! How could you say something like that? Even in these desperate times the subjects are respected and treated fairly. Twilight can’t be allowed to do this. That is why I’m sending you and one battalion of your army to bring her back.”
“But why only one battalion?”
“We need the rest of your army here to reinforce mine and Luna’s. It’s a good possibility that the four robed ponies we saw earlier could come back with the rest of their friends.”
Cadence still was confused. “But why? There’s not that many of them.”
“You don’t know that, and if these ponies were strong enough to overpower and kill Shining Armor, they are fearsome warriors, indeed. They could cause major damage, and the larger the army we have here, the better our chances against them.”
“Fine; I’ll be on my way, Celestia.”
She was walking out the door when Celestia stopped her.
“Hold on, Cadence. Since you do agree with Twilight’s mission, I am sending one of my aides to go with you. He will ensure that you do not make any decisions you will regret later.”
A brown pegasus with silver hair came from a door to the right of Celestia’s throne. He bowed to Cadence.
“Your highness, I am Flashing Thunder. I will be accompanying you on your mission to recover her highness Princess Sparkle.”
Cadence groaned. “Alright, let’s get going then.” She and Flashing Thunder flew out of the Throne Room to meet up with the rest of her troops.
Celestia sighed and walked over to the window, looking out across the land.
“Twilight, what have you done?”
- - - - -
Mr. and Mrs. Cake and their foals, Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake, were sitting down to dinner when suddenly they heard a knock at the door.
Mr. Cake stood up. “I’ll get it.”
He walked to the door, but just when he was about to open it, the door smashed open; and there stood Twilight Sparkle and two of her soldiers.
Mrs. Cake and the babies screamed. Twilight looked over at them. “Mrs. Cake, have you seen any strange ponies wearing black robes with red clouds on them?”
She shook her head no, and still did not speak.
Twilight groaned and ordered her men to move onto the next house.
It continued like this for another hour, until Twilight had been into every home.
As she was walking back to her men to move on to the next town, her friends Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity stopped her.
“What are y’all doing, Twi?” Asked Applejack.
“Yeah, Twilight. This isn’t like you at all. “ Said Fluttershy.
Twilight grew angry and shouted at her friends. “My brother has been killed! He was killed in Ponyville yesterday! I’m asking these ponies if they saw anything, but they keep telling me no! I’m very frustrated, so the only way I can get any information out of them is to scare them!”
Twilight’s friends became startled. Shining Armor had been killed? By who? And why?
They tried to speak, but Twilight cut them off. “I don’t have time to dilly-dally! I need to go find my brother’s murderer! Get outta my way!”
Twilight ran back to her army, and they began marching out of town.
Pinkie Pie started to cry.
“Oh come now, darling,” said Rarity, “I’m sure Twilight is just going through a hard time, right now. Her brother was killed, after all. It’s going to be hard on everyone, her most of all.”
The friends sat staring after Twilight’s army as it moved further and further away before finally disappearing altogether.
- - - - -
“Come on, men! We need to double time it if we want to catch up to Princess Twilight!”
Cadence had just left Canterlot with a sizable army and was on the move. However, Twilight did have a head start, and Cadence didn’t even know where she was; just where she was going.
“Silver Wind! Racing Bullet!” She shouted.
Two pegasus flew up to Cadence. “Yes, ma’am?” They said.
“I need one of you to fly Cloudsdale, the other to Applewood. Wait there until Princess Sparkle shows up, then use one of these.”
Cadence gave each of the pegasi a small firework.
“Light the streamer firework and it’ll go into the sky leaving a bright, multi-colored trail that can be seen for miles. We’ll come running when we see that happen.”
Both of the pegasi nodded. “Right, your highness. We’re off!” They both flew off in different directions towards their goals.
Cadence turned to the rest of her men. “Now we wait for the signal! Set up camp, then rest until then. Dismissed!”
- - - - -
“So the plan is simple. We each divide up into our usual teams and work with another group to help boost our strength, but still allow us to see what’s happening since the Princess' armies mobilized, how many soldiers are after us, etc. Basically, any activity in relation to us. Any questions?”
Pain was going over the plan to evade capture and assess the enemy’s strength.
“Good, then here’s how it’s going to work.” Me, Konan, Sasori, and Deidara are going as one team. Rokuro, Itachi, Kisame, Hidan and Kakuzu are the other one. I wanted to split into three teams, but with Obito and Zetsu absent, two will have to do. Now scatter!”
“Right!” They all said together, then jumped back into the surrounding woods.
My group was heading through the forest towards Ponyville. That was the plan, but I had a bad feeling about it. After all, that’s where we killed the Guard Captain. The main reason why we were being hunted in the first place.
Pain’s group was going to head through the eastern part of the forest and move towards Canterlot, the city they escaped from not too long ago. I didn’t understand it: why would he want to go back? What was there that was useful for us now?
But it didn’t matter, Pain was no fool, and I had to worry about me and my group, now anyway.
Despite being in a very large group, even with Itachi, one of our most powerful members, I had doubts. What if we came upon one of the armies Pain told us about when he was fleeing Canterlot? Even with Itachi, I doubt we could fight an army. Although, I did have my masterpiece art, I didn’t want to use it in a world where it wouldn’t make any difference since I would be leaving it anyway.
We moved quickly through the forest, exiting near Ponyville in only a few minutes.
“Alright, I was designated leader of this team so listen to what I say since I’m only going to say it once.” Said Itachi.
“Our goal is to avoid detection, and it should be easy due to the cover of night. However, if we are found and it turns into a large scale battle, I want Rokuro and Kakuzu up front. You both will be the spearhead of our attack.”
“Right!” We both said.
“Now I want Kisame to be with me in the rear, providing long-range support to Rokuro and Kakuzu.”
Kisame nodded.
“Finally, Hidan I need you to stay far in the rear to avoid detection even when thes rest of us get found out.”
“Huh? Why are you keeping me outta the fight, Itachi?” Inquired Hidan.
“I’m not keeping you out of the fight, I want you to stay out of sight so you can ambush the enemy during our engagement with them. Your Curse Technique is perfect for just that.”
“Hidan nodded. “Okay, I see what you’re saying. But after I do that, I’m joining the fray!”
Itachi looked at each of us in turn. “So all of you understand what we’re doing then, right?”
We all nodded in unison.
“Good, then let’s proceed into town.”
Our group moved quickly through Ponyville. In the darkness, we looked like common thieves casing houses for easy entrance.
We saw a light down the road aways when we came to an intersection.
“Jump to the roof of this house!” Whispered Itachi.
We all landed on the roof, and watched as a three-pony patrol went by.
“Good, now move across these roofs until that light is no longer visible, then jump down. We can’t take any chances here in the belly of the beast.” Said Itachi.
We jumped off the roof and proceeded down the road until we reached the end of town. The same spot where Kakuzu brutally killed Shining Armor.
“Alright, now all we have to do is follow this road out of town a ways an-” Itachi was cut off as several spears, and a bright light appeared around us. We had been found.
A pink pony with wings and a horn walked, laughing towards us.
“I am Princess Cadence, and I will be the one killing you this night. My husband will be avenged!”
We were so careful; how did we get caught? But Itachi did have a backup plan, and we knew it all to well.
Itachi nodded to the left, and everyone but me and Kisame evaded in that direction.
Cadence was angry. “Stop them, you fools! We need to get all of them! Don’t let them get away!”
But Cadence’s soldiers weren’t quick enough and the rest of your group fled into the trees. All except Itachi, who turned to face us before he left.
“Remember, use any means you need to. Bring her back to Nagato alive, if possible. But kill the army; we don’t need them pestering us.”
I nodded to show my understanding. “Right! Now go, Itachi! We’ll handle this!”
Itachi ran into the trees, with several hundred of Cadence’s troops in pursuit. However, at least a quarter of her army stayed.
“Kisame,” I said, “how many do you think there are?”
He laughed. “Oh, I don’t know. I’d say at least 500 left. But again, I’m not so good at math. I prefer killing. What do you think?”
“I agree. Which means....”
Kisame knew what I was going to do. “Which means you’re going to use THAT one. But I suppose it is fair, we are outnumbered several times over. I’ll back you up, but remember you are still a rookie. Don’t hesitate to back off and let me take care of things.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t.”
I directed my attention to the Princess. “Princess Cadence, was it? I want you to know I respect you.”
Cadence glared at me. “Why do you mock me? Is it because it is your only tool left, since you are going to die here?”
“No Princess. I am serious. You command great respect from your soldiers. They follow your every order, heed your every whim. You are indeed a great leader. You are a good thing for these ponies to have in such troubled times.”
“Stop it! Stop mocking me! Fight me now, or I will strike the first blow!”
I laughed. “Don’t worry Princess. All in due time. But first, a question. Do you know anything about art?”
“What?! Why does art have to do with this situation?!”
“I see that you don’t. How sad, let me show you something, then.”
I pulled two scrolls from my robe, both with gold accents and a symbol on the front. It was a wolf with a katana in it’s mouth.
“This is the quantity side of my art. Long did it take me to assemble this collection. Princess, you will be the first to witness this masterpiece.”
I focused my chakra to my hooves. I then placed one of my hooves on my chest, the other on my forehead.
Kisame was interested. “What are you doing?”
“I am linking my brain and chakra network together. In this way, I can control the puppets with my thoughts. It is the only way I can control them."
When I finished, faced the Princess again. “I have surpassed my teacher in only a few ways. His collection has more quality than mine. However, mine has far more quantity!”
I unravelled the scrolls, and several puppets wearing yellow cloaks with grey fluff collars appeared above my head. With each passing second, the cloud grew larger and larger. Chakra threads appeared from my chest, connecting to all of them.
Kisame, Cadence, and her army all dropped their mouths open in total shock.
“Secret Yellow Technique: Land of Iron’s 1000 Samurai Puppet Army!”