Back in Canterlot, Konan dropped down to the ground from the air as Midnight Blossom followed quickly behind. The bat pony forced her wings to her side to increase her speed to close the gap between herself and her target. "Don't think you can escape from us!" She yelled out in anger.
Flipping her gaze back, Konan frowned at seeing how close her pursuer was. Her hooves made contact with the street below before kicking off again moments before the mares long claws slashed down her back. The female akatsuki member skidded to a stop and flipped around to face the guard once again. "Please listen to me, I don't want to fight you."
"You got some strange ways of trying to chat..." Midnight growled as she stood up, "Maybe you should have tried to talk before you and your friends attacked our city!"
"I can explain everything if you just listen to me." Konan wanted to try and avoid any conflict that she could at this point, but the look in the mares eyes walking her way didn't show any sign of simple talking. Deep in her bright irises, Midnight showed a pool of anger rising to the surface. The sight of her home being assaulted was causing her emotions to be ignored, and now she was reacting on instinct. To get the one that did this damage to Canterlot.
Standing on her hind legs again, Midnight scraped her blades together like earlier, reactivating the lightning power in her horseshoes. The bright bolts of electricity danced along the length of the claws, illuminating the bright eyes of the wielder. "How about you sit still and let me shove these down your throat!"
Bursting off the ground, the female guard launched at Konan with her hooves forward. She slashed at the akatsuki member over and over, who was able to evade the arcing paths of lightning. The cream colored Pegasus ducked and dipped around the incoming attacks, an internal urge to use her jutsu to fight back, but she fought back the feeling to her own choice. If she could. she was going to do whatever it took to not harm any of the ponies here. That urge was becoming difficult however as her eyes caught movement to her right.
The unicorn Flash Shot appeared through his teleportation right next to the engaged females. His horn conjured a bright ball of magic and concentrated his magic to the tip before pulsing in quick two flash intervals. Midnight grinned when she saw the glowing sphere on her comrades head, quickly breaking off from her scuffle and flying up to the air. The bat pony put her right claws and ran it along her left foreleg and tapped her other claws three times.
Konan caught note of the sign the bat pony gave her partner, making her nerves on edge to what was happening. Turning back towards the unicorn, she quickly jumped up into the air as a large ball of magic shot her direction, detonating and blowing out a section of the building behind her. Flash Shot quickly teleported to the roof of the building above Konan to give himself the higher advantage. As fast as he could, he shot two small volleys of magic beams down at Konan, who had to quickly bank upward and away from the face of the structure. Seeing his chance, Flash created another large sphere of magic above his head, this one over three feet wide.
Konan's eyes went wide as ball rushed through the air faster than she could anticipate. Unable to dodge this one, she realized she would have to counter it with her own power. Throwing her hooves to her side, her arms began to separate into her paper jutsu. As the ball came closer, she lifted her arms up to-
Poof!
The magic sphere burst outward, revealing Cloud Dasher coming out from the center. "What!?" Konan gasped in shock.
The white Pegasus brought his spear above his head and thrust it downward at Konan. Putting her arms out and forming a wall of paper above herself, stopping the tip of the spear from reaching her. Quickly spinning around, Flash jabbed the blunt end of his spear under the patch of paper to catch her in the chest. Solidifying her hoof, Konan blocked the incoming staff and pushed it down. Hitting it down however forced the tip up and above, allowing him to whip it down and slash across her cheek.
Wincing in pain, Konan kicked out against her attacker, striking him in the chest and getting away from him. The golden plated Pegasus grunted and brought his spear to his side and thrust it forward, making his staff separate again and launch down at the retreating Konan. Ducking down, she yelped out as the spear caught the end of her hair bun and ripped the the tie out, causing her hair to fly out in a wild mess. Flapping her wings, she steadied herself to catch her breath, allowing her hair to fall down to her shoulders.
Looking forward, Konan watched as Cloud Dasher whipped his spear up and reformed his spear. Flying up behind him was Midnight Blossom, the bat pony flicking her wrists several times which caused her claws to jingle. Directly below them was the final member of their triple unit, his horn glowing and lighting up the street. The akatsuki member sighed as she brought a hoof up to wipe away blood that leaked from the cut on her cheek. 'This is becoming too difficult to handle like this...' She mumbled to herself, 'how am I supposed to get through this without trying to hurt them?'
The entire time since she met the Trifecta, Konan couldn't really consider it a fight. The entire time she was on the defensive because she didn't want to hurt them. It was still a confusion to her... Why was she so concerned with the lives of these ponies? They didn't mean anything to her, and yet she couldn't bring herself to take them down. She had taken down dozens of shinobi in her world with no concern for their lives, but now this squad was causing her heart to turn over on itself.
What was amazing to Konan was the unit she was fighting was... Almost identical to a squad in her world. Two males and a female, just like this one. The way they fought with each other, the coordinated attacks and techniques they used together in such a fluid way that they had to be close. The use of signals to plan out strikes like Flash Shot teleporting Cloud Dasher in the mix of his blasts to catch her off guard. It was something that truly amazed the akatsuki member... Reminding her back when she was younger, training alongside her two comrades. One with orange spiked hair, and the other with straight red hair, his rinnegan showing under his bangs. "Yahiko... Nagato." She whispered to herself.
Cloud Dasher stared at Konan in curiosity, noting the spaced out look on her face. Looking back to Midnight, he shifted his head back towards their target, signaling her to cut off an exit. Nodding, she flapped her wings and positioned herself to the backside of Konan. "Hey, how about you just quit this act of yours and just roll on over like a good dog you are." Midnight snapped.
"Enough..." Cloud Dasher ordered, shooting a stern glare her direction before looking back at Konan. "I will give you one last warning. Surrender and give yourself up to the royal guard, or we will bring you down."
Snapping out of her thoughts, Konan floated her gaze back up to the leader. "Do you not have any intention of allowing me to speak to explain my reasoning?"
"If you want to talk in any way, give yourself up and let us take you into custody." Cloud Dasher spun his spear in his grip. "If you don't, you won't be speaking pretty soon."
After a moment, Konan's gaze lowered to her usual calm yet blank look she had when arriving in this world. Her body began shifting in a mass of paper, increasing the size of her wings to over ten feet across. The shape changed as well, moving from normal Pegasus wings to what appeared to be... Angel wings. She looked around to the confused looks of the guards around her, her hooves rising up to head level preparing for battle. "I am sorry to say, but I don't think I can do that."
Midnight bared her teeth and raised her claws up. "I guess I won't have to bring the cuffs out then!"
As the bat pony took off through the air, Cloud Dasher noticed the small flick in Konan's wrist, releasing several pieces of paper into the air. His eyes went wide realizing exactly what she was doing. "Midnight, fall back! She's setting you up!" His warning went on deaf ears as she continued forward, her claws ready to strike.
Spinning her body around, Konan threw her hooves forward and released a large wave of paper at the now shocked bat pony. The jutsu rushed towards Midnight at unreal speed, almost making her stumble her flight pattern before she steadied herself. Slicing down, Midnight cut right through the wave, but was caught off guard as Konan charged her through the opening, a paper spear floating by her head. Not having time to dodge it, she could only gasp in shock as the weapon thrust forward at her head, until a sudden mass slamming into her side pushed her out of the way.
Wincing from the sudden force at her body, Midnight turned her head to see Cloud Dasher gripping her around the waist as he flew. "She was waiting for you to strike, Midnight. Don't be so eager to fight." He grunted as he let go of her.
Midnight sighed, but before she could respond Konan charged them again, her large wings pushing her faster than she moved before.
Preparing themselves, Cloud took his spear out and held onto the end of it while spinning it, the staff separated once again and whipped around in a long chain to hit the incoming Pegasus. Flipping forward, Konan's wings knocked the incoming spear tip away and shot another blast of paper at the two guards. Pulling his staff back, Cloud tucked his wings in and dropped below the incoming stream, but from beneath him another large patch of paper wrapped around his lower body and wrapped him like a mummy and restricting his flight.
As Cloud fell through the sky, Flash Shot quickly used his magic to catch his captain from hitting the ground. Settling him down, The unicorn knelt down by the confined Pegasus. "Captain, you alright?"
The white Pegasus thrashed several times to wiggle free, but the paper around him held tight. " I can't get free."
Using his magic, Flash attempted to rip off the paper, but to his shock it was resisting his power, as if it was infused with its own type of magic. "What is this stuff?"
Crashing down on the ground next to them, Midnight kicked off the ground to get out of the way of the incoming Konan. Gritting her teeth, she slashed forward again and created an arc of lightning from her claws and launched it at the akatsuki member, but it was useless as Konan hit her hoof into the ground and summoned a ball of paper to form around her and block the lightning from striking her. In a blast, the jutsu launched out and struck Midnight, striking her against a wall with enough force to knock her helmet off. As she yelped out in pain, her forelimbs were wrapped in paper and stuck to her sides against the brick.
Flash Shot watched in shock as his other comrade was incapacitated in a matter of seconds by this strange pony. His blood boiled in anger as he watched Konan casually use her hoof to brush out some of her hair out of her face. His horn glowed bright, illuminating the designs on his helmet. "You think you can get away with this? You already attacked the city and now have resisted arrest."
"I asked you to give me a chance to explain myself and you simply attacked." Konan mumbled as her jutsu wrapped her hair back up into a bun. "And about you claiming that I am a truly dangerous being, yet I haven't harmed any of you."
"Really? How about that spear or whatever the heck that was you made and tried to stab me!?" Midnight yelled out from her spot on the wall. "Get her Flash. Fry her up like a piece of toast!"
Flash was hesitant at trying to fight this strange pony, but as he saw her clasp her hooves together as a current of paper passed around herself, he panicked and shot out a blast of magic and struck her in the chest. To his shock Konan burst into mass of papers, the pieces of parchment floating to the ground. Before he could even contemplate, he felt a hoof to the back of his head, causing his breath to catch in his throat. "H-how?" He whispered, turning his head to see Konan staring right at him.
"If I really was a threat, why have I held back this entire time?" Konan whispered in a stern , yet almost blank tone. "I never tried to strike a single fatal blow to you or your friends." She turned her gaze to the two trapped ponies. "You fight well with each other, all of you look after one another in your squad."
Swallowing the lump in his throat, Flash wanted to try and catch her off guard, but there was a part of him thinking back to what he saw; This pony did have the skill to take them out at anytime, never actually fighting back until they were in a position to be rescued by each other. She was keeping them in positions to not hurt them, and he wanted to know for what reason.
Deactivating his magic, Flash took a deep breath and nodded. "Alright then, you want to talk? Let's talk then."
Seeing she was finally in the clear, Konan stepped back from him and followed that by waving her hoof. The paper that was holding down both Cloud Dasher and Midnight began breaking apart, freeing them from their restraints. The captain crawled up from his spot, perplexed with what was happening. "You are just going to let us go like that?" His eyes looked over to Midnight as she crouched her legs to charge again. "Midnight, stand down!" He ordered.
The bat pony shot a glare to her captain. "Sir, after everything she has done, you are going to-
"What she has done is let us live. If she wanted us dead she would have just killed us." Cloud retorted as he stood up and faced the akatsuki member. "Who are you?"
Nodding, the cream Pegasus sat down to seem as least threatening as possible. "My name is Konan."
---
Levitating a large boulder off the ground, Celestia launched it towards Pain with all her strength. The stone rushed through the air directly at the pale unicorn, but he simply sat still as the giant rock came within touching distance before the boulder collided with his jutsu. The stone shattered from the force of the shockwave, the chunks of stone falling to the ground in a heaping pile of rubble. The pierced unicorn lifted his cold eyes up to look at the princess. "Your attempts to stop me are futile, princess. Just give me the beast Discord now."
"Never." Celestia grunted in anger. Her magic travelled behind to the broken wall, ripping off a section over forty feet wide and lifting it up. Ponies all around gasped at the sight of power, knowing that must have weighed over three hundred tons. Clenching her teeth, she through the giant mass forward at the akatsuki member. "Your power must have a limit to it. I will figure it out." Celestia whispered to herself .
While Celestia was hoping to succeed with her idea, Pain didn't even budge as the wall came closer towards him. "Hmph, foolish." He mumbled.
His shockwave rushed out from his body, striking the incoming stone like a freight train and shattering it to pieces. Celestia's jaw dropped slightly from the sight. "How... How can he be so powerful?"
When she took note that Pains ability had a small window of time until it could be used again, she couldn't set up an attack that could correctly tell the exact length of the duration. He was constantly changing up the types of attacks he was throwing at her, whether it be a shockwave or a boulder thrown at her. Having to remember about his black rods he threw at her was another problem to keep in mind as well. He could tell she was attempting to solve his power, so Pain was making sure that she could not analyze his technique properly.
Another problem she was facing was the repulse technique he had itself. No matter what she was using, magic, stone or perhaps an entire building, there didn't seem to be any limit to what was reflected by his power. Not only that, but the range of his technique seemed as if it did not have an end to how much it could be used. Most power still drains a ponies body, and must be stopped to allow the user to rest , and yet Pain continued without visible stress onto his body. "I can't fight much longer in the city like this. He will destroy the entire area if we keep this this up."
Stepping towards the princess, Pain's rinnegan pierced her soul and causing her to shudder. "You fight to protect your kind from a world of pain. It is foolish of you. Pain will always exist."
"I do not understand your reasonings..." Celestia said, "how can you justify your actions by saying we are suffering? Our home was at peace until you came here."
"No world is at peace until it knows the true meaning of pain. Your world is no exception to this. Love breeds jealousy, jealousy breeds-
"None of this is relevant to our home!" Celestia snapped, "We do not kill for jealousy, or for whatever ideas of hatred you think we possess. It is because we do not have that."
Pain tilted his head in annoyance to her rambling, reminding him of that yellow haired boy from the Hidden Leaf. The jinjuriki he had captured which happened to be another student of his fallen master. Like him, this child continued to ramble about finding peace through kindness, something that had proven time and time again was impossible in the shinobi world. 'Naruto Uzimaki.' He mumbled to himself.
"Whatever you think you are trying to prove through this attack of yours, it is completely useless. I do not know of the world you came from, but however violent or cruel it was, I assure you this place is nothing like it. Just stop this and-
"Shut up."
Celestia gasped as the ground in front of Pain ripped up from the ground and launched at her. Flapping her wings, she quickly flew up above the incoming debris moments before it struck the remaining wall behind her. Panting from panic, she looked back towards Pain as he watched her every move. "So you choose to fight instead of negotiate." She frowned at his display of action. "You truly are not one for peace."
"Words are useless when it comes to peace." Pain blankly said, "No matter what one says for peace, they use it for their advantage. I was betrayed into joining with another, one who claimed his goal was to bring balance to our world. His words were all lies however , setting us up to remove us from his path. He forced me to kill my best friend or the death of my other friend would come."
Celestia sat quiet while hovering in the air, listening to his past. While she was hesitant to believe him, she did however sense he was telling the truth. She didn't know why , but she could just sense it. "You were put into a situation of choice. One life or the other."
"In the end, the life of my friend was taken from me, and I had to save my other after we were betrayed once again. Once I experienced the true meaning of Pain, I discovered the way to peace." Slipping from his sleeve was another black rod clutched in his hoof. "No matter what you believe, peace is only obtained through pain."
Glaring, Celestia conjured her sword once again. "Whatever ideals you think are for peace, they will not be used in my home!"
Charging through the air, the princess swung were sword at Pain with all her strength. The akatsuki member raised his hoof up and countered with his own weapon, clashing against hers with a bright flash. The two struck at each other several times before Celestia shot a blast of magic forward, which once again was repelled by his jutsu. Kicking off the ground, he rushed at Celestia with his weapon thrusting at her chest. Quickly dipping to the side, the princess swung her wing forward to strike him off guard, but he was already prepared with a second rod in his other hoof. Shocked, she tried to focus her magic to make a shield, but was already too late.
The steel pierced the top of her swinging wing, easily cutting through her flesh. Screaming out, she tried to jump back, but Pain had quickly put his hoof to her chest, followed by another repulse push at point blank range. Celestia was catapulted through the air and slammed into the crushed wall behind, her body having enough force to break through the stone. Before she could even fall to the ground, a thrown rod pierced through her right wing and pinning her to the wall.
"Princess!" Rarity and the others screamed out in fear.
Celestia gasped for air as she sat against the stone. Blood dripped from her mouth from her teeth tearing the inside of her lips. Her breathing caused her pain, several broken ribs from the impact of his attack so close to her. Not to mention the weapon that was sticking her to the stone that was causing agonizing pain to her wing. She tried to move up, but the pressure to her wing made her yell out. She looked up in fright to Pain as he made his way towards her.
"You had no chance against me, Princess. Now, you will experience the true meaning of Pain." Before he came any closer though, a purple blast of magic shot by his face, almost catching him if it weren't for a quick dodge backwards. He turned to see something he did not expect. "So , you wish to fight as well."
Confused , Celestia forced herself up to see who was the one that helped her, but when she did, she wished they hadn't. "No..."
Her horn glowing bright, Twilight was crouched down, her eyes burning with anger towards Pain. "You will not hurt the princess anymore!"