Kakashi waited until he was shielded from Black Zetsu’s sight by one of Shinju's roots before his hands formed a seal. With a puff, a shadow clone appeared next to him and immediately jumped away, moving carefully to not be seen.
Jumping back to the fight, Kakashi concentrated chakra in his right hand. Raikiri quickly formed in his palm as he charged at Obito’s body, cutting through the branches Black Zetsu - who’d been concentrating at the moment on Minato-sensei - created trying to strike him. He was successful at getting close to him, but at the last moment Black Zetsu jumped away.
Raikiri struck into the ground, causing a layer of dust to rise up. Using the commotion, Kakashi swiftly glanced at his former teacher. Minato-sensei’s Edo Tensei eyes widened slightly, as he noticed a slight twitch of his head. Barely visibly he nodded, knowing what Kakashi wanted him to do. Now though, concentrating on Black Zetsu, he used his Nine-Tails’ chakra enhanced speed and strength to attack him again, while looking for the opportunity to create a shadow clone as well.
“Soon, Obito,” Kakashi promised in his thoughts, also getting back into the fight. “You will have your chance at redemption.”
“What!?”
“How did-”
“Wh-”
“But why-”
“What do you mean ‘kidnapped’?” Celestia asked calmly.
Obito regarded her for a moment. She and her sister were the only ones that hadn’t lost their heads, while all the others just lost their head. “No,” he quickly corrected himself, glancing at Twilight. She was standing by her mentor’s side, still nervous and scared, if her pacing was of any indication. But she’s waiting for the armed pony to explain his report, while her friends continued to mumble.
“Please, everypony, stay calm,” Princess Luna told them, and they gradually grew quiet.
“We’ve just received this news,” the winged pony began. “According to the report, the Crystal Castle’s guards and staff suddenly heard sounds of explosions and some maniac laughter coming from the Princess’ and Prince’s bedchambers. Once they broke through the doors, they found the room empty and partially destroyed. There was no sign of the royal couple. And…” he said, reaching to the bag that was hung across his back. “... there was this left on the bed.”
Obito trotted a bit closer to see what it was that the horse - “Wait, they called themselves ponies.” - was holding in his hooves. It was a green orb, that as soon as Princess Celestia picked it up with her chakra, it began glowing. Obito’s eyes quickly saw a different chakra in the object react.
“Someone is channeling their chakra through this orb,” he quickly deducted; it was almost like the chakra receivers he, Madara and Nagato used. “But I wonder why-”
“Why, hello there, Princess,” a strange, distorted female voice spoke from within the orb as a green eye with cat-like pupil appeared. “Missed me?”
“You!” Celestia exclaimed, both in shock and in disgust. Obito guessed by the other’s gasps that they also recognized the voice. “What have you done with Cadance and Shining Armor?!”
“Oh? Did you need to the words ‘kidnapped’ written all over to get it?” the user of this technique mocked her.
“Where are they, you monster?!” Twilight shouted, jumping up to the orb. “I swear, if you harmed them, I will-”
“Now, dear Twilight, settle down,” the voice chided. “I assure you, they are both fine - mostly - and will remain so, as my guests, until you will fulfill my demands.”
“You-” Twilight began.
“What are those demands?” Celestia asked, cutting her student off.
Intrigued by what was going on, Obito crept closer to her. The white Princess glanced at him, letting him know that she acknowledged his presence, before returning her attention to the abductor.
“Oh, nothing much, just a few little trinkets,” the strange voice said, deceivingly sweet. “The Elements of Harmony and the Crystal Heart.”
As everyone gasped, Obito pondered what should he do. “Should I get involved with this? This is clearly not something I should associate with… I should return to Konoha, not spend my time with a bunch of animals.”
“Do you think we would give such powerful artifacts to somepony as vile as you?”
“Even if I am now one of them… why the chakra surge from Gedo Mazo destruction sent me to this land, and changed my body’s structure to this… Nothing on the Uchiha Stone Monument said anything about it.”
“If you want to see those two lovebirds again you will. It’s such a pity that those trinkets are so well protected; otherwise, I wouldn’t have to bother you.”
“I should just get back… should I?” he closed his eyes; trying to figure out what would Naruto do in his place. The kid that beat him, that never lost his way… “What would you want me to do, Rin?” he finally asked.
“You despicable-”
“Now, no need to use such harsh language, Princess.”
“You died for the sake of the village. Surely, you would want me to return there… or… would you want me to help them?” he wondered.
He promised her he would end the war, change their world… but that was now up to Naruto. Obito could was confident the young man’s path would be far better than his own. But… where that left him?
“I’ll take those glares as agreements.”
“It would have been easier to contemplate without them arguing.”
“My changelings will come to Canterlot and the Crystal Empire by the end of the day,” the voice was saying by the time he focused fully on the exchange. “Once you will give them those trinkets, they will reveal the location of your lost friends.”
Obito sighed. “Since I don’t know what to do with myself, I might as well give them a hand. It shouldn’t be too hard.”
He raised his hoof before the orb.
“Oh? And who is this?” the controller asked, the green eye turning to him. She still used this mocking voice, and Obito took some satisfaction in knowing that it would soon end. “You have an interesting jester, Princess.”
“You talk too much,” he replied.
Concentrating, he manifested a chakra disruption blade from his right hoof, and plunged the blade into the orb much to the shock of everybody.
Chrysalis, the Queen of the Changelings, quickly lost her good humor when the strange pony destroyed her orb with a black rod that somehow emerged from his hoof. Her confusion didn’t last long, however, because the very next heartbeat she felt her magic began to rage around her body.
She tried to shake, to stand up, but she couldn’t move. She felt as if something alien entered her body and tried to control her. And before her eyes she saw… and eye. A purple eye with circles in it.
The same eye as that pony has in his left eye socket.
Realizing what just happened, Chrysalis quickly cut off her connection to the orb. The feeling of her magic convulsing had stopped, and she could move her body freely again. The eye had disappeared.
“What… in Tartarus was that?” she asked noling in particular, panting.
“What did you that for!?” Twilight screeched at Obito, while Celestia just looked at him, intrigued.
Not because he just created a strange black rod from his hoof that he then pierced the Changeling Queen’s orb, but because she had a feeling he did it for a reason.
“To the south,” he said, causing everypony to stop bickering and look at him in shock. “Five o’clock to be exact, about one hundred and eighty two kilometers from here. Whoever she is, she’s there, and those… Princess and Prince are there, probably”
“How do you know that?” Luna asked him, voicing probably everypony’s question.
Obito pointed at the black rod, which was still within the orb. It laid on the floor, as Celestia dropped it in surprise when he stabbed it. “It’s a chakra disruption blade,” he said. “I can channel my chakra through it into whatever or whoever it is stabbed. I traced that person’s chakra back to where she is hiding.”
“That... that’s amazing!” Twilight exclaimed, momentarily forgetting that her brother and his wife were in danger. “And you made it just appear out of your hoof?”
“Yes, it’s one of the abilities of the Outer Path, Gedō,” Obito replied her, and then he looked at Celestia. “Are we going? It would be best to act quickly.”
Celestia herself would have liked to ask some questions (like if this… Outer Path, or Gedō or whatever had anything to do with what she and Luna had discovered about his body when they wanted to help him, only to find out that he was simply exhausted), but she had to admit that he had a point. Except…
“You want to help?” she asked, a bit surprised. True, he saved the fillies earlier, but that was here; he didn’t strike her as a pony willing to travel so far away to help somepony.
“I have nothing better to do, anyway,” Obito admitted with a shrug. “I might as well kill some time until I decide what I want to do.”
She would have questioned the sanity of such reasoning, but the time was of the essence. “One hundred eighty two kilometers…” she mused. “That’s where those cute, fuzzy little critters had a small village… oh no,” she thought with dread as she had realized what must have happened to those cute, loving creatures.
She turned to the guards. “Go back to Canterlot,” Celestia ordered. “Mobilize the Royal Guard and order them to advance on that location. We will go there at once,” she said, glancing at Luna, who nodded, “and secure a safe rendezvous point.”
“Wake up the Night Guard, as well,” Luna added. Glancing at Celestia, she smirked, “Your guards have grown soft over the years. Mine will show you how you’re supposed to handle threats.”
Celestia would have deadpanned, but she found the offended faces of the royal guards to be too amusing.
“You heard you orders,” she told them, blinking at them sympathetically and smiling.
That was enough to cheer up the three armored ponies. “Yes, Your Highness,” the highest ranking of them said saluting, and they hasted to carry their orders.
“Princess…” Twilight began once they left, with her voice uneven, but nonetheless determined. “I want to come as well.”
“Hey, we’re coming too!” Rainbow Dash said, jumping into the air and landing beside her. “We’re not going to leave our friends hanging!” she added, wrapping her leg around Twilight’s shoulders. “Right?”
The others all nodded, making Celestia sigh. She would have preferred to deal with the Changeling Queen herself, to make up for her failure in Canterlot, but she couldn’t deny Twilight and her friends the right to save Cadance and Shining Armor.
“Alright, but you will have to obey my orders without any objection, do you understand that?” she asked to be sure.
“Yes, ma’am!” they all replied enthusiastically.
“We’re coming too!” three small voices proclaimed enthusiastically.
“No!” Princess Celestia immediately said, and was joined by everypony else, even Obito.
“But why?” Scootaloo asked, pouting.
“Well, for one, ya’ll still have to be punished by bringin’ that dragon to town,” Applejack told them sternly.
“Spike, make sure they will all go to their homes,” Twilight told her assistant.
“W-what?” Spike asked, shocked. “I’m not coming?”
“I’m sorry, Spike, but this will dangerous,” the unicorn said gently. “It won’t be a place for somebody so young… which is why we need you to keep an eye on those three.”
“Hey, we don’t need-” Apple Bloom began, but Applejack covered her mouth with her hoof.
“Alright, fine,” Spike said, resigned.
Celestia eyes traveled from the scene and onto Obito on the sound of the latter’s cough. “I’m not sure if it is wise to bring all of them.” Glancing at Rainbow Dash, he added: “They kinda stick out.”
“More than a two colored weirdo?” Rainbow asked, slightly offended.
“They are coming,” Celestia told him. Looking at everypony, she asked: “Everypony ready?”
They all murmured acknowledgments, except for Obito, who asked: “Ready for what?”
Ignoring him, Celestia cast a teleportation spell.
A second later, once the light of the teleportation had faded, they were no longer in the library. Instead, they were outside, in a mountain area overlooking sea. They could see a castle - looking so evil that it was almost cliché - on a cliff a few kilometers away, in a place where a village used to be, with just basic stone buildings and small tower.
“Huh, nice space-time technique,” Obito commented, taking in their surroundings.
“Alright, here’s the plan!” Rainbow Dash began, “We storm in, attack the castle-”
“I’m going in alone,” Obito interrupted her.
“Hey!”
“Could you give me some information regarding what is in there?” he asked, turning to Celestia and Luna and completely ignoring Rainbow. “Since you seem to know who’s responsible. I would also appreciate some description of… Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor, right?”
Celestia nodded. “The one who kidnapped them is Changeling Queen. She’s a leader of a shape-shifting race that feeds on love. A few months ago they launched an attack on Canterlot, but failed, thanks to Cadance and Shining Armor. Cadance is an alicorn like me and Luna, with pink coat and mane in colors of yellow, pink and violet. Shining Armor is a unicorn, has white coat and blue mane,” She regarded him as she spoke. For a second she could swear puzzlement crossed his face. “Are you sure you will be able to get them out by yourself?”
“It will be easy,” he replied, “and necessary. If those two are still in their… hooves, by the time that reinforcements arrive, those changelings will use them as hostages.”
Reluctantly, Celestia nodded. He spoke true, and judging by the way he handled the dragon, he was the best suited for the task of infiltration on the changeling’s new fortress and rescuing Cadance and Shining Armor.
“Very well,” she told him. “We’ll stay here and secure this location.” Glancing at Luna, she asked: “The Masking spell to hide our presence, and a barrier?”
“Seems about right,” Luna replied as she began to cast her spell.
“So we are supposed to do nothing?” Rainbow Dash asked, clearly disappointed.
“Going to an enemy territory with such a large group would compromise everything… not to mention that this Queen most likely knows we will be coming,” Obito replied.
“But how will you know if you had found the real Shining Armor and Cadance?” Twilight asked him. “They might be changelings in disguise.”
Sighing with annoyance, he pointed at his eyes. “I see chakra, remember? I will see through illusions and Henge no Jutsu.”
“Henge no what?”
“And in case something is going to happen here…” Obito added, completely ignoring Twilight. He sat on his rump and joined his forehooves. “Kuchiyose no Jutsu!” he said, placing his hoof on the ground.
Celestia noticed a small black circular pattern appear around the hoof, but then something more shocking happened. A huge wall of smoke formed behind Obito, revealing after a second a huge red two-headed dog, with a black rod piercing it muzzle.
And the same eyes as Obito’s left eye.
“I can see what it sees…” Obito began to explain, ignoring everypony staring at the dog with jaws dropped, but stopped when he noticed something that made his jaw drop.
“Who’s a good boy?” Fluttershy asked the dog as she patted one of its heads. It closed its eyes and whined with pleasure. The other head looked at Fluttershy with jealousy and the pegasus quickly moved to pat it as well. “You both are! Yes you are!”
As Obito continued to stare at her, the other ponies began to laugh, forgetting why they were here. Celestia watched at the strange stallion facehoofed, amused and now even more curious about him. “I hope we will get to talk some more once this matter is resolved.”
“As I was saying,” he began once more, “I can see what it sees, so I will know if you are attacked. Not to mention that it is very powerful.”
“Thank you for your concern, but I’m sure we would be able to handle ourselves,” Luna told him.
“I have no doubt,” Obito replied impassively, looking again Fluttershy patting the dog he summoned, and at Pinkie Pie that was using its back as a slide. He looked back at the two Princesses and Twilight, and once more Celestia saw it again; his right eye changed shape.
“Later,” he said as space began swirling around him.
He was gone in less than a second.