//------------------------------//
// New Surroundings 
// Story: Peace in Equestria 
// by The-G80 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 1: New Surroundings
Konan put her right hoof out of the dark tunnel as she explored their new surroundings. Nagato was resting at the moment since his original body wasn´t able to support itself anymore, she couldn´t help but gave him a smile of sympathy. He had been trapped in that perpetual state of pain since he had made that sacrifice, consumed by his rage so many years ago. But he never complained, even more, the physical pain he had felt in the past didn´t affect him anymore and only had help him grow.
Her brows slightly rose in surprise as she discovered that the cave was actually just a rupture inside of the colossal and craggy mountain. She was surrounded by trees and trees... and trees as far the eyes could see. They were quite strange to be honest.  They had low hanging gnarled branches that looked as if they were trying to capture some poor unsuspecting soul into their clutches.  She even thought that some of them had gruesome mangled faces on them, but that was just her mind playing tricks on her… right?
She didn´t know where they could be, as far as she could guess is that they weren´t any more near to"Amagekure". Their previous fight could have sent them as far away as possible, not even the dimensions could have been a barrier, well, that´s what she had heard of him, but as always, one can never know what could be truth or lies when you talk about him. By the way, her hopes didn´t drop, after all it wasn´t possible for her to know every inch of the "Elemental Nations" and maybe, just maybe, they were just in an unknown forest over another country... if it was the Country of Rain would have easily seen it, as the name said it was almost impossible for the rain to stop... unless Pain felt like it.
Her immediate worries were how to fix his and her state, being horses like they are now would be a problem if they got into a fight with another shinobi... maybe the ones of lower rank wouldn´t be any threat even in their current state, but if one of their same level found them... she didn´t know what to expect. She quickly washed those thoughts off with a shake of her head. What was she thinking? No matter what his form was, Pain was still a god, thankfully no one of his techniques need hand seals to be performed, neither did hers, maybe that was a signal that their luck wasn´t as bad as she could have thought. Maybe a "Henge no Jutsu"(Transformation Jutsu) could be useful, but then again, no fingers.
Another fact that threatened her calm was, of course, where the heck they are. If only she could get in contact with another Akatsuki member, maybe they could know where to go, she would need to wait for Nagato to wake up in order to use his telepathic abilities, though.
At this point she was able to properly trot if that was the word for it, horses weren´t so common in her land, so it was ok if she wasn´t an expert on the topic. The wet atmosphere made her feel at home, but the marshy surface of the forest didn’t give her the same feeling. As she walked down the calm path that she was making through the undergrowth, she noticed that there was no sign of any local fauna, so she instead opted to get a higher perspective.
Her initial hesitation was understandable, but when she finally managed to create giant wings of paper coming out of her sides she let out a sigh of relieve. She had always loved to fly just as much as doing origami, so being able to spread her wings was a welcome feeling. The cold and refreshing breeze of the... midday air, as she could see from the position of the sun, helped to clear her thoughts as she flew up and landed on a suitable tree nearby. It was odd, she had just left the hideout in the morning, and from what she had seen, several hours had passed since then... curious.
Now that she was this high she could easily saw all the spooky sight in front of her; the forest was vast and she was only able to see a part of it since the mountains at her back covered a lot of the view even if she flew. Then, just like light that wanted to illuminated her dark problems, she saw signal of hope… smoke.
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Princess Luna quickly made her way through the long, tall and white hallways of the enormous castle. As she passed in a speedy trot, subjects and guards gave her a respectful bow, maybe in other situations she would responded to them with at least a gentle smile, but at the moment she was in a hurry.
Some hours ago, when she was just falling into the embrace of a good sleep, a strange shock wave of energy caught her attention. It wasn´t noisy or destructive, just a strange feeling that disturbed her horn. Maybe her reaction wasn´t anything serious, immediately falling asleep once again, but she was to tired from the long night to even think. After an unknown amount of time had passed, her eyes snapped open as the realization hit her like a ton of bricks, even in her dreams. That was the reason for her urgency.
As the doors opened, she slowed her hoof steps, trying her best to look calm even when her mind wasn´t.
"Greetings, my dear sister" Called Luna as she made her way through the spacious throne room. In response a large white alicorn sitting in the throne smiled at her.
"I see that you finally woke up, sister" Joked the princess of the sun, and after seeing the cheeks of her dear sister gain a good blush of embarrassment she couldn´t help but to oust a little chuckle.
"Sorry sister, we had been so tired to notice it at first" Apologized her in her habitual "Royal voice", but without the high volume.
"No problem, Luna. Now, I suppose that you too had felt that strange anomaly in the natural flow of magic, right?" Asked Celestia and as expected her sister just nodded in agreement.
"Yes, we had felt it... but..." She left her statement in the air, unsure of how to complete it.
"I know it, it didn't  feel like magic"  Said Luna, a little surprised that it was the correct answer. At first she had thought that her horn was playing her tricks on her, how was it possible that something as powerful as that couldn´t be magic? Even more, how any energy like that couldn´t be magic?
"What was it then, sister?" After her question Princess Luna could only see with frustration how her sister just shook her head in a signal that she didn't recognize it either. Celestia rose from her throne and did a small walk out to the balcony, her younger sister followed behind with a little hesitation, seeing her older sister serious like this wasn´t common and it worried Luna.  Even when she had important meetings with the other parts of the royalty and/or ambassadors from the other countries she always managed to somehow keep a calm cheerful mood.
"The captain Shining Armor had offered himself for the investigation, I allowed him go with the promise of being careful and taking with him a squad of the royal guard" Celestia calmly stated, but anypony could tell that she wasn´t so calm as she wanted to be. The truth was that, whatever it had been, that strange energy not only was powerful but... it had felt... odd. It didn´t give her the warm feeling of the magic being used in all its glory, no, somehow this new energy feel... cold, like all the happiness and friendship that it should have had was ripped out only leaving negative feelings... misery, was a perfect world to describe it and also anger. Whatever it was, it sent a shiver down the spine of the solar princess, something she hadn´t felt in many years.
"And now what, sister?" With little uncertainty asked Luna. The answer she received was actually expected, though.
"We just wait, Luna, wait and...hope" that last word had been more a whisper for herself. She really hoped that nothing was threatening the peace that Equestria had had for the last thousand years, such a peace that she and, once again, her sister had striven to keep. Celestia just set her gaze to the distant horizon, trying to discover just with her eyes what could be in that strange and cursed forest.
"What are you?"
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Konan gracefully landed in the green and vibrant hills. At first she had intended to go to the source of the clear signal of civilization, a small town from what she had seen, but then, like it had come out of nowhere, a vast  field totally full of apple trees caught her attention. They didn't seems to be located in a natural form, so it means someone planted them. As she walked between the almost endless rows of trees she couldn´t help herself but to question what could be the usefulness of all these apples, "who would eat all of them?" After all it was a good question, who could eat all of these apples, it doesn´t matter if it was for noble family it was pointless, no human could eat all of them before they began to rot. Even in the market the people just don´t need all this fruit.
She continued her little march over the fields until a curious amd sudden sound caught her attention, it was a slight growl, her belly. As far as she can remember she hadn´t ate anything since they just arrive in this strange place, so as a logical decision she took one of the apples from a near branch with the help of some wild papers floating around her, in some parts, still fragmented body.
Her eyes carefully inspected the apple and after she didn´t find anything that could be a signal of a threat she gave it a good bite. She must admit that it had surprised her, never in her life she eaten an apple so tasty as this. Her mouth was full with the delicious and sweet substance and couldn´t help when her eyes close in pleasure.
After some moments she found that the apple had completely disappear in her mouth and after a moment her body reconstructed itself.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a voice made her ears jerk in surprise. She had been so distracted with the new culinary discovery that she wasn´t paying attention to her surroundings. In a quick and agile jump she put herself in a way she can face this new threat face-to-face.
Her eyes winked in surprise, in front of here she couldn´t find any other living being aside from the form of a red and bigger horse, a clear orange mane and tale adorned the quadruped. She didn´t allow it to take down her guard and quickly she began to search for the source of the voice.
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Big McIntosh was, as every day, bucking the apples off the trees. It was what he did the best, being a farmer and he was proud of it. At the moment he could find himself alone in the vast fields of apples, his sister Applejack had taken the coach of apples to the town in order to sell them, and his youngest sister, Applebloom, should still be in school in this hour of the day. He didn´t complain, he could easily enjoy a peaceful day of work, he loved his family, but sometimes everypony just needed a time for his own. Some mares go to spas, some stallions prefer to take a walk or read a book, but for him, he just liked to work and work, anypony can tell that he was one of the most hardworking ponies in all Equestria.
He decide to take the barrels to the barn, since they were already full, when suddenly an unique shape in the corner of his eyes caught his attention. Turning around to properly see this strange situation he found in the distance a dark, red and blue form calmly enjoying one of the apples of his loved farm. Not in his watch.
He quickly rushed to the new intruder, with a relative calm, but as he come closer his curiosity grow. When he was just some feet behind the newcomer he realize it was a pony dressed in a large cloak, black in design and with some things that he can only describe as red clouds. He shake away his current surprise and continue to scold the boldness of this pony.
"Ahm, ya now this is a private farm?" he asked with some annoyance, but since he always was in a calm mood it was difficult to tell. However, he seemed to gain the attention of the intruder as it quickly jumped around to confront him.
For some reason he couldn't understand he froze in place, all the anger he had just disappeared as he saw the pony in front of him. Just some feet from him was a blue mare, with a confused expression that quickly turned into a frown as she quickly began to look in all directions like she was searching for something. He couldn´t help but for some reason stare into the amber eyes. After some moments he realized he was just staring at her and after a quick shake of his head he return to find out who was this mare.
"Umm, sorry ma´am but this is a private farm, Ah think you didn´t see the fence, right?" He wasn´t so talkative, but for some reason his mouth seemed to gain its own brain and started talking for itself, at the moment trying to give her a chance to be innocent.
The blue mare look once again at him and he could help but feel quite strange under her gaze. For some moments he noticed how she saw him with caution and disbelief and then she just closed her eyes and, for what he can only guess, try to concentrate her thoughts. After some more awkward silence she seemed to once again return her attention to him, still with a suspicious stare.
"It was you that spoke just now?" She asked, in a cold and actually bored tone that made him nervous for some reason.
"Y-yeah, it was been me, ma´am" he said with some insecurity, it was strange, he doesn´t talk a lot, he barely talks at all! But when he does he always had been firm in his words and ideas, but now, he could help but feel strange around this mare, and her cold attitude wasn't helping him at all, maybe his accent annoyed her? It better not.
For the moment she seemed to relax, just a little, and then turned to ask him one confusing question.
"Is this a summoning realm?"
Sum-what?! In his life he had never heard of such a thing, but seeing that she wasn´t playing any prank at all he continue to answer her with the best gentleness he can.
"Umm... sorry ma´am, I hadn´t heard of such a thing, but you´re in 'Sweet Apple Acres'" He was clearly proud of his home, and even in his current state he didn't hesitate to show it. However, his reply didn't seem to please the mare. She started to go in deep thought once again with a big frown over her face, and he could, barely, hear how she complained in whispers. So, with some worry he tried to see if he could help this trouble mare.
"Is everything right, ma´am?" In such a fast move that almost made him stumble some feet behind, she appeared just some inches away from his face, the big and annoyed expression still in her face.
"What country is this, horse?" She coldly asked, but a little angry tone couldn´t be hidden from her voice.  Even more confused than before, and with an unexplained blush over his cheeks, he elaborated to answer her.
"E-Equestria, of course... by the way, ma´am, I know I can look a little big but I´m a pony" And with that finally reply she returned some feet away from him, her expression turning to one of worry actually, then to one of frustration and finally to a calmer one, some sadness still present. With a big sigh she began to walk down the big hills in a familiar direction.
"I didn´t mean to steal, my apologies" With that last statement she proceeded to walk away from him, after some moments in confusion he finally snapped out of his thoughts.
"Wait! If you go to town I can give you a tour If you want" He wasn´t sure why he suggested that, but for some reason he just wanted to get to know the enigmatic mare. But her next answer just droped down any hope for that.
"No, thanks,  I will be faster in my own"