Chapter 14:Birth of War
Luna and Celestia were worn out. “Sister,” said Luna, “we can’t fight him much longer! My energy is almost gone!”
Celestia nodded. “But you have enough to use your greatest power should the moon show itself. Wait until it happens; let me fight him solo until then.”
“WHAT?! MY ROYAL WHOOM STILL CAN'T CONVEY MY FEELINGS ABOUT THAT DECISION!”
Celestia flinched from her sister’s screaming. “I don’t like fighting him on my own anymore than you do; but it must be done. If we are to beat him, we will need your power!”
Luna was silent for a moment. “Yes, you’re right. I cannot allow mine feelings to cloud good judgement on your part. Very well, I will wait until the time is right.”
Luna flew a short distance away, and sat down, waiting.
“Where does she think she is going?” Asked Pain.
“None of your business! Your fight is with me and me alone, now!”
Pain nodded. “Then I will eliminate you as quickly as possible.”
The Animal Path stepped forward and put her hooves on the ground; creating a seal.
“Mass Summoning Jutsu!”
Four very large animals appeared from the seal: a rhino, a panda, an ox, and a multi headed dog.
Celestia gasped. “How- How are your powers possible?!”
Pain ignored her. “Go.”
The large animals rushed towards Celestia, creating large holes in the ground wherever they stepped.
Celestia flew up to be at the animals’ eye level. When she did, she began charging her horn.
“Nagato!” Said Konan. “She’s doing it again! But this time...”
“I know. It’s brighter than before.”
The animals got closer, and Celestia’s horn grew even brighter. Within moments, the animals almost touched her; then she released the stored energy.
A great, yellow wave sped from her horn towards the animals. It struck all of them, sending them sliding across the street. They were pushed to the edge of the city, and finally, forced off the edge; making them fall to the ground below.
The animals dissipated in a cloud of smoke before they did, which angered Celestia.
“Where did they go?!”
“They were sent back to the animal realm. My summons are immortal and they can choose to leave this world of their own free will. If I let them have it.”
Pain nodded towards Celestia before continuing.
“A good show on your part. Your abilities are greatly honed. However, mine are divine; which means you still have no chance.”
Pain put his hooves together.
“I see I won't’ be able to beat you with my lesser powers. That is no matter; let me show you the true power possessed by a god!”
Pain began focusing his chakra; intently.
“Konan, protect me while I prepare this jutsu.”
She nodded, and stepped in front of him.
Luna faced her sister. “Celestia, you will need to protect me, as well. This ability takes some time to perform.”
Celestia moved in front of her sister, and the four of them sat there; waiting.
“Nagato,” asked Konan, “doesn’t it seem strange that the blue one is also deciding to concentrate her chakra now, too?”
Pain brushed her off. “I doubt it. It must be a coincidence; no one else possesses this ability.”
Celestia noticed it too. “Luna, doesn’t it feel odd? He is focusing his energy at the same time! You don’t think....?”
Luna shook her head. “No, I don’t think he possesses the true power of the night. It must be for something else he is concentrating for.”
Celestia nodded, but still felt uneasy. It didn’t take long for Pain and Luna to open their eyes at the same time.
“It’s ready.” They both said simultaneously.
Luna shrouded herself in the energy she charged. It glowed brighter and brighter before finally exploding in a flash.
Pain and Konan had to cover their eyes the light was great. When it faded, they uncovered their vision to witness what now stood before them. The pony Princess was gone; replaced by a new pony.
It wore glittery blue armor with a face protector.
“Who is that?” Inquired Pain.
Celestia laughed. “This is my sister’s other form; all of her hatred for me, now focused towards you, has changed her body into that of Nightmare Moon!”
“Well, this is certainly an upgrade to her weaker state. But I still don’t believe she can fight me.”
Nightmare Moon faced Pain. “Foolish words, mortal! I’ll make you regret every last one of them!”
She charged her horn, and released the energy in a wave around her.
Konan saw what was happening and formed her hands into little paper squares. She separated them from her body and formed a shield; blocking the energy wave.
“What? Paper blocked that attack?!”
“Konan,” said Pain, “stand back.”
Konan nodded and moved away from Pain.
“Princess, it is my turn, now.” He stood up and faced Nightmare Moon; keeping his hooves together.
“Planetary Devastation!”
He opened his hooves to reveal a small, black orb. He released the orb into the sky, and as it soared, it gathered materials from all around: bricks, some of the destroyed buildings, parts of the street, and both of the princesses began to be sucked up into it.
Celestia was terrified, but Nightmare Moon kept her cool.
“Have no fear; I have charged more energy into my horn than ever before. Let this force pull you up, and we arrive, I’ll show him a surprise like nothing he’s ever seen!”
Celestia nodded. “I trust you.”
The debris surrounded and crushed them, forming a large, round mass in the sky.
“It is done. Not even they can escape from this jutsu.” Said Pain.
As he sat down to rest from using so much of his chakra, a bright blue light appeared through one of the cracks in the mass.
“What?! Imposible!”
The light grew larger as the crack opened up more and more before the mass finally shattered all together; falling back down to the city.
Nightmare Moon came flying towards Pain from the debris; eyes and horn ablaze.
“You will die, unicorn! For what you have to this city, these ponies, the other Princesses, and me!”
Konan stepped in front of the horn; paper shield ready to block the energy.
The horn made contact; and the wall held at first. However, the energy soon tore away at Konan’s defense; and, with reduced momentum, struck Konan.
“Hunh,” she sputtered, before falling and striking the ground.
“KONAN!” Screamed Pain. He looked at Nightmare Moon.
“You will pay for this! My angel will be avenged!”
Suddenly, a shadow began overtaking the city.
Pain, Nightmare Moon, Celestia, Deidara, Sasori, Itachi, Kisame, Hidan, Twilight’s army, and the Mane 6 all looked up; mouths agape.
What they were looking at was the largest army of griffons ever assembled. They were clad in armor and wielding spears and swords. At the front of the army rode the three largest griffons, and two familiar characters were on the backs of two of them: Obito and Zetsu.
“This foolish fight ends, now!” Yelled Obito from above. “I am here to gather up my comrades and we will then leave peacefully. Resist, and we will tear what is left of this city down to the ground!”
Nightmare Moon and Celestia looked at each other. Could they really just let these evil ponies go? But they knew they couldn’t take on the Akatsuki AND this massive army of griffons. So, they did what they had to do.
“Very well,” replied Celestia,”your friends can go with you. We will not attempt to stop you.”
Obito nodded in reply. “Good, resolution without conflict, my favorite. Commander Steel Wing, can you send down some of your soldiers to pick up my comrades? We need to get them back to our hideout.”
The third griffon who was riderless nodded, and motioned several of his troops to go pick up the grounded Akatsuki.
They raced down and picked up Pain, tenderly holding Konan. The other Akatsuki were soon on griffon-back and returned to the main group.
“It was a pleasure doing business with you, Princesses! And now, we go.”
The cloud of griffons flew away from Canterlot; leaving the Princesses on the ground.
“What did we just do, sister?” Asked Nightmare Moon, who turned back into Luna.
“We did what we had to. You know in our weakened state there was no way we could’ve fought that army.”
Luna nodded and looked towards the sky with her sister. It didn’t take long before the Mane 6, Twilight, and her army arrived.
“Princess Celestia! What just happened?” Inquired Twilight.
Celestia shook her head. “We were beaten by an enemy who I thought was no longer our enemy. It seems that masked pony convinced the griffons to aid his cause against us.”
Twilight and the others looked alarmed, yet solemn because of the death and destruction that surrounded them.
- - - - -
It didn’t take long before Obito, Zetsu, and the rest of the Akatsuki touched down at the shack where I was recuperating at. Outside of the shack was a large collection of various creatures.
"Obito," asked Kisame,"who are they?" He said pointing to some ponies with crooked horns, black skin, and green manes.
"Those are changelings; a type of pony that can transform into other entities. Their leader hasn't arrived yet; but they have agreed to help us along with the griffons. Another group, the so called "Diamond Dogs", are also meant to be here. Again, they haven't even arrived yet."
“We must go inside. There is much to discuss.” Said Obito.
The Akatsuki and the three griffon leaders filed into the small lobby outside my room.
“I want you all to meet the leaders of the three largest griffon clans: Steel Wing, Iron Beak, and Bronze Claw.”
The three griffons were all very large; and each carried a unique weapon.
Steel Wing carried many knives in the feathers of his wings. Iron Beak had a very large claymore with a large emerald built into the hilt. Bronze Claw had a spear with a head made of ruby.
The three griffon leaders bowed to each of the Akatsuki.
“It’s good to finally meet the soldiers of our ally.” Said Steel Wing.
“These are my men; Itachi Uchiha, Kisame Hoshigaki, Kakuzu, Hidan, Sasori, Deidara, and Pain. The wounded one is Konan. We have two others as well; Rokuro Yamamoto, who is wounded in the next room, and Hotaka, who is MIA at the moment.”
Obito walked to a table that was in the center of the room with a map sprawled out on it.
“Now let’s get to business. If we are to commit the act that will destroy all of the residents in this land, you three should know a few things.” Said Obito, gesturing to the three griffon lords.
“We have currently destroyed this town here,” he marked an X over Appleoosa. “and this larger one here.” He marked an X over Canterlot.
The griffons looked surprised. “Your men destroyed their capital by themselves?!” Said Bronze Claw.
Obito nodded. “Yes, but this is news that that was their capital. It will deal a major blow to morale.”
Itachi jumped in. “What exactly is going to happen? We don’t care about the minor details right now.”
Obito laughed. “Why Itachi, we are starting a show.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“This would be the fifth war fought in Equestria. The first few involved only ponies fighting against each other. But this one will be different.”
- - - - -
“What does this mean then, Princess?” Inquired Twilight.
Celestia looked grim. “It means that....”
- - - - -
“A new war has begun. It will be known as the 5th Great Ninja/Pony War!” Said Obito and Celestia.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Thanks for reading, everybody! "The 5th Great/Ninja Pony War" is over, but I have begun work on a sequel soon to be published. I felt that I needed to divide the story up just like, for example, the Harry Potter books. While you could keep the story running in one book; dividing it up allows for a fresh start and new perspective. I have included an ending song if you would like to listen to it. You guys are the best! Thanks for your support and I hope you like the new story.
The Great Eternal Artist,
Akasuna no Sasori