//------------------------------// // Movement in the Night // Story: Vessel of Harmony // by Ranoa- Walker of Worlds //------------------------------// The sun had set more than an hour ago and the moon shone brightly across Equestria. Ponies had given thanks to Princess Luna for protecting them while they slumbered and had retired for the night. All except for the Princess and the night watch of Canterlot castle. The guards were on their toes, hooves, since the incident with the royal wedding. They felt that they had collectively disappointed Captain Shining Armor and now had to remain vigilant against another threat that might come their way. Two guards stood outside the Vault of the Elements, waiting for their relief to come along. They knew that guarding the Vault was important but in their minds anypony who tried to take the Elements of Harmony was a fool. So to pass the time they made light conversation. Their chit chat ended when out of nowhere both Princesses appeared in front of them, “Where is the intruder?” The taller of the two, Princess Celestia asked hurriedly. Her statement caught both guards by surprise, “What intruder your highness?” The one on the left of the door asked. It was Princess Luna, who responded, “After the incident with Discord we placed a security spell on the inside to let us know when someone went into the vault without one of us. That alarm has been tripped.” “But no pony has been through this way…” The guard began to reply but was brushed off when the horn on Celestia’s head shone yellow. The doors into the vault were thrown open and the royal sisters charged in. Confused the two at the door followed after, but were unable to catch up with their sovereigns. Suddenly a great groaning sound filled the air; not groans of pain but of metal bending out of position. All present stopped in awe at the sight before them. Some manner of two legged beast dressed in a long black hooded coat had its’ upper limbs extended out to the doors that hid the Elements of Harmony at the end of the hall of stained glass windows. Plaster cracked and dust fell as both doors were torn from their places. The destroyed doors floated in the air, held there by what could only be assumed to be magic except there was no usual magical aura surrounding them. With a quick motion of the intruder the doors dropped with a loud clang to the floor. Apparently the intruder hadn’t noticed them, and the two Princesses decided to take advantage of that, “Halt!” Princess Luna called as she fired a bolt of magic at her target. The intruder turned around to face the one who had interrupted and raised a hand, “Esrepsid!” A male voice filtered through a metal mask that hid his face from those present. The stream of Luna’s magic hit his outstretched hand and to all pony’s surprise promptly broke apart into tiny dust particals, “Striking when my back is turned? How very cowardly; and I thought you Equestrians prided yourselves on your honor. Or is that the dragons the next kingdom over?” The man goaded. Trying to intervene, Celestia stepped forward, “How did you get in here intruder?” “How else would I get in? In-tru-da window.” The man replied laughing at his own joke. “Laugh while you can, you are outnumbered.” Luna said recovering from the shock of seeing her magic dealt with so easily. “You may have the advantage with numbers my dear princess, but you are all tragically outclassed. Feel grateful that I did not come here for a fight. Yats!” The two guard ponies were about to charge the intruder when suddenly their bodies froze in place, mid stride. Shocked and concerned Celestia’s tone changed to concern, “What did you do to them?” “Proved a point. Now if you excuse me I have some very important work to do and you are wasting my time.” With a cross wise motion of the intruder’s limb a line drew itself in the floor in front of the sisters and now statuesque guards. A shimmer of light rose up to the ground, indicating that a barrier spell was now in place to keep them from interrupting what was going to happen next. The man turned to the now destroyed vault and reached out his arms like he was going to give a large hug, “Cinomrah secrof emoc htrof!” The box that held the precious Elements opened and the six gems shaped like six particular ponies cutie marks drifted into the air. They took the positions that the two sisters remembered them being in when they rested in the Tree of Harmony. From within the folds of the man’s coat a single glass ball that could have easily rested in the palm of his hand drifted between him and the suspended Elements, “Srewop fo Ytsenoh, Ytlayol, Rethgual, Ytisoreneg, Ssendnik, Cigam, dnel rouy thgim ot a tnavres fo eht dlrow ot thgif eht gnimoc ssenkrad.” The Elements began to glow, bathing the vault in a rainbow of color. Tendrils of magic seeped from the most powerful sources of magic in Equestria and drifted to the glass ball, filling it with harmony’s magic. “What is your intent with that power? It will never work for someone with evil intentions.” Celestia pointed out to the man in the midst of his ritual. “Then it is a good thing that my intentions are pure.” Came the reply as the flow of magic into the sphere cut off.”Ot eht rehto dlrow ylf.” The orb was encased in a white glow before vanishing from existence. As soon as the orb was gone the barrier keeping the Princesses away from the intruder dropped. The two sisters only hesitated a moment before rushing the stranger who didn’t even acknowledge their oncoming assault. Chancing it Luna and Celestia charged their horns with magic and blasted the man who hadn’t moved since the barrier fell. The two beams of alicorn magic made contact and caused a small explosion. The coat fell apart, dumping what appeared to be sand all over the place. The metal mask was sent clattering to the floor several feet away. The six Elements fell to the ground and the spell that held the two guard ponies broke. Not paying much attention to the dazed guards Luna trotted over to the mask and levitated it up to her eye level. “Such an odd design.” The mask had six comma marks that formed a circle around the face with strange symbols that resembled the markings of the Ja-ponies of the Far East. Turning the mask over she was met with another surprise, “Sister, what do you make of this?” Showing her elder sister the glowing image of an alicorn’s face, the elongated horn suggested that the pony face on the back didn’t belong to just any unicorn. Celestia just shook her head, “None of this is making any sense. Somepony with enough might to dispel an attack from you Luna breaks in here to perform a ritual; but that intruder turns out to be made of sand? I have never heard of such magic. Perhaps I shall ask Twilight to help me find any reference in the Ponyville library.” “Sister, what do we do about this?” Luna asked motioning to the mess and destroyed vault. Celestia rubbed her chin with her hoof for a moment before shrugging, “We tell nopony about what happened with the Elements. If word gets out there might be panic. In the morning we close the vault off and say it is undergoing renovations. And we keep that mask under lock and key. Who knows what kind of residual magic might reside in that thing… or who it really belongs to.” -Scene Change- A certain oppressive feeling hung on the air. Not humidity; even for a region that was in a semi tropic climate, the village of Konahgakure didn’t experience this kind of humidity in October. The feeling that clung to the air was the leftover raw chakra of the Kyuubi no Kitsuni that had attacked the village not even a full three days ago. For the civilians it meant a lot of clean up and repair work. The remaining shinobi force had to double their efforts in patrolling the village to prevent any enemy attack. Hospital staff was working over time dealing with the wounded. However, there was one place that was being closely guarded by two of the finest that the Hidden Leaf Village has to offer, the ANBU. This place was the neonatal ward. There was only one infant occupying the ward, a blond haired baby boy with little whisker marks on his cheeks. The infant’s sleep was undisturbed when a whole in the fabric of reality opened up and a figure dressed in a black coat stepped out before it closed. The light in the room was dim but it was enough to glint off the metal mask he wore. Close behind him floated a glass orb filled with a rainbow of colors putting on a psychedelic display. In a voice that had just sounded in a world away he pointed to the sleeping child, “Dees fo Ynomrah, wotseb ruoy gnisselb nopu eht nesohc dlihc.” The glowing orb floated over to the sleeping baby. Hovering over the infant’s naval the ball started depositing its multi colored contents. The streams of light flowed like water trickling down a rock face before entering the child. Upon contact with the babe’s skin an odd pattern appear, a swirl with some form of writing. “Ah, the seal of the Reaper. You are a credit to your profession Minato Namikaze. This seal was expertly crafted and is well suited for my purpose,” The figure thought to himself, “If only you were around my friend to see what will transpire.” By the time these thoughts had transpired the orb had finished depositing the force that it held. Suddenly six gray armored figures dropped from the roof, “Step away from the Kyuubi.” One of the figures spoke. Instead of obeying the masked man stood there, “You are not the ANBU. My guess is you belong to Danzo’s little ROOT project. Shame you will not be able to tell your master about this encounter.” At these words a small whine emanated from the floating orb. The man snapped his fingers and all the ROOT agents had a brief sensation that something was being pulled from them before they hit the floor. The orb took on a light blue glow, signifying that it was now full of new energy. In a white flash the orb vanished. The masked man reached into the confines of his coat and pulled out a small plush toy. It was a lavender colored unicorn with wings. On each side of its flank there was a six pointed star with six similar white stars surrounding it. The man placed the toy with the infant before turning to the window, “Good luck, Naruto.” With that the man vanished into the night.