Lang Yixao leaped over the bolt of unholy magic that erupted from the Undead mage’s fingers, hitting the ground with a roll that brought him within a few feet of the powerful spellcaster and well within his range. The Pandaren rose up to his full 6’2’’ height when he came out of the roll and delivered a powerful strike to the mage, sending the creature stumbling back in a daze. The punch was followed swiftly by a rising kick to the face that nearly sent it flying, then a chop to the right arm that shattered the already-decrepit bones of the one that had already been dead once before. The speed and grace of the Monk’s movements were a mystery when one considered that the Pandaren weighed nearly 630 pounds, but nobody could deny that he was almost blindingly fast as he delivered the combo in less time than it took the mage to cast even its most basic spell. The Undead swung its staff at Lang’s head, forcing him to lean back and roll to avoid getting a nasty bump from the knotted wood. With some distance between them again, the male spellcaster healed his arm before invoking a torrent of fire to incinerate the Pandaren into nothingness. Lang focused his chi and created a wall of energy between himself and the flames, causing them to roll off of the energy as if it were a solid wall.

The sounds of battle raged all around the two as the forces of the Alliance, a group of several nations and races working together to bring order and peace to the world, fought bitterly against the savage conglomerate of races known as the Horde in the Valley of the Four Winds. He was a Pandaren, a bipedal species of sentient bears that had recently returned to the world at large after 10,000 years of isolation due to a deal made by their last Emperor. During the bleak days that preceded the sundering of the world, when demons flooded onto Azeroth and threw the entirety of the mortal realm into jeopardy, the last Emperor of the Pandaren discovered a way to protect his land from the devastation. His deal with fate shrouded his land within an impenetrable mist for ten thousand years, but the nature of his transaction has left Pandaria haunted ever since. Previously, ships entering the mists have lost their bearings and spun about aimlessly before returning to the open ocean. As for the Pandaren, they looked out toward the mist-veiled seas and many presumed that the rest of the world had perished in the Sundering. But it had not, and the world had come to Pandaria in the worst possible way. Garrosh Hellscream's reckless thirst for power led him to do the unthinkable: from beneath the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, he seized the desiccated heart of an Old God to use as a tool of war, unleashing horrors upon the sacred valley.

Now, the combined armies of Pandaria and the Alliance fought against Hellscream's horde in order to reach the Vale and undo the atrocities that were committed. Lang waited until the flames petered out before he released the wall of Chi that he had created and rushed forward, drawing the Jian and the war-hammer that were strapped to his back. He juked a bolt of arcane energy and closed the gap in less than a second, bringing a mighty strike down right on the Undead's chest. Lang heard the ribs and solar plexus crack under the force, and the mage was driven to the ground immediately and forcefully as he put all of his strength and weight behind the blow. There was a momentary lull in the action as he breathed in and out, calming himself from the adrenaline-fueled fury that threatened to take him when he fought, before he lifted his hammer from the creature's chest and shook some of the gore off of the blunt weapon. Lang looked around for a moment at the frantic battle that was being fought for the future of his people and allowed himself a moment of grief as the chaos of war trampled over what had once been one of the most beautiful scenery on Azeroth.

That moment, however, would prove to be his undoing. Unfamiliar with the Undead scourge, he did not know that he had to destroy the head in order to fully kill one of their kind, and as such was unprepared when the creature lifted his hand and summoned forth a well of arcane power that would most likely return his soul to the void, such was its magnitude. A portal opened up above the Pandaren and began pulling on the Monk with all the irresistible force of the tide, mocking his frantic efforts to crouch and cling to the long grass by simply ripping the earth up with him. "Buu!" he shouted out in Pandaren, reverting to his native tongue in his panic as he gave the cackling undead a look that was a mixture of disbelief and loathing. Lang was pulled into the portal which slammed shut with a bang behind him, sealing his fate as yet another casualty in the war against Hellscream.

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Zecora Farseer was a Zebrican Shaman, a resident of the Everfree forest, and a friend to Princess Twilight Sparkle, and as such she was quite used to encountering strange and unusual things every so often. Everything from eldritch abominations bent on the destruction of Equestria to bunnies with the legs of deer trampling through a patch of Poison Joke like it wasn't even there--she had seen it all. So, one would think that encountering an unconscious, bear-like creature surrounded by chunks of rock and earth, some with unfamiliar vegetation still attached to it, would be a rather run-of-the-mill thing for her.

The only problem was that this particular bear-like creature was dressed in armor that was very clearly made of leather, something she had seen on Diamond Dog soldiers before, and clutching two very dangerous-looking weapons that were stained with blood in its paws. The armor itself was articulating and of masterful make--it would probably be able to deflect a weapon just as well as most iron armors could while still allowing for maximum mobility. It was a deep, forest green that blended well with the vegetation around them, though Zecora doubted a creature of this size was entirely concerned about stealth. The Zebra wasn't normally one to judge on appearances alone, given what she had gone through when she had first moved to her hut in the Everfree Forest, but this creature had set off every alarm bell that instinct and experience had ever provided for her. This being was dangerous, more so than almost any creature she had ever encountered in her life. The basket full of medicinal herbs and various other plants that she was holding in her mouth now had what she was sure were permanent bite marks on the handle, and she stood stock still as she prepared to fight this creature or run, depending on which one turned out to be the best option. The creature stirred and Zecora lifted one foot, involuntarily dropping her basket directly upon a dry twig that snapped more loudly than one of Pinkie Pie's fireworks.

The dichromatic bear's azure eyes shot open and he rolled to his feet, looking around in a furtive manner as his body jumped directly into wakefulness. Zecora jumped back and widened her stance, shifting into one of the many martial arts she had been instructed in as part of her Shamanistic training. The bear's eyes moved directly to her aquamarine orbs and locked on as he--for it looked definitively male--shifted into a martial arts stance of his own. Neither one of the two moved as they sized up the creature they faced, and Zecora could tell that this creature was looking for weaknesses just as she was, and just as she was he was finding nothing. Finally, after an unbearable awkward silence persisted for more than a minute straight, Zecora began speaking very softly so as not to alarm the newcomer to her forest. "This has gone on for far too long. I feel that you are confused as I--right, or wrong?" she asked, narrowing her eyes questioningly.

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"This has gone on for far too long. I feel that you are confused as I--right, or wrong?"

Lang's eyes widened in shock when the striped, minature horse began speaking in common--rhyming in it, if his ears were to be believed. His mouth opened and closed at random intervals as he attempted to find some form of response to the query, but his brain refused to cooperate as it devoted its power to trying to discern whether he had gone completely insane. He still had full control of his senses--as far as he could tell, at least--so he doubted he was hallucinating, however the miniature striped horse wearing golden jewelry and speaking in rhymes was picking away at the soundness of that assumption. The Pandaren finally cleared his throat and mind, deciding that he would simply go along with it and see where the winds took him next. After all, he had seen some very strange things in his travels throughout Azeroth, so this may have just been some new, undiscovered species. "Well, miss," he began--for the voice was definitely female, if a bit deep, "you're right on both counts."

The Monk slid out of his Huoshui stance, noting that the mini-horse did the same, and slowly sat down as he came to the realization that he felt like he had just woken up the morning after the Festival of Fire. He groaned and put his right hand on his head, bracing himself on his left knee with the other. "Aiya~, zhè shì zuì zāogāo de tóutòng wǒ yǐjīng zài jǐ nián," he muttered in Pandaren as he rubbed his head, trying to remember how he came to be in this strange place. He remembered being in the Valley of the Four Seasons, and fighting with that Undead mage, but then--. He was surprised out of his thoughts when he felt a hard hoof nudge on his left shoulder, causing him to look up and see the mini-horse offering an unfamiliar root in one outstretched hoof. How she was doing so was more than his aching head could handle contemplating at the moment, and he simply gave her a questioning look to prompt her to explain.

"Chew this root, and you will see, that headache will be history," she rhymed with a voice that would have been melodic if his head didn't feel like a Hozen was using it for a drum. The Pandaren bit his bottom lip for a moment in contemplation, debating the wisdom of taking an unfamiliar root from a talking mini-horse that he had just met, but eventually nodded in thanks and took the plant before sticking it in his mouth and biting down. Instantly, he was rewarded by a decrease in the pain and a relieved smile was painted on his face as he continued slowly chewing the root, allowing its restorative properties to take effect. The herb was more effective than any analgesic plant that he knew of, and he was immensely grateful for that as he relished the feeling of relief that overtook him.

"Thank you, kind mistress. That was a gift beyond value," he said graciously as he paused in his chewing, sticking the thin root in the corner of his mouth where he normally kept the sugar cane stalks he liked to chew on in between meals. "Now that I can think properly, I believe we are in need of introductions. My name is Ling Yixao, sole heir to the White Tiger head family and creator of the Huoshui style," he said as he crossed his legs and clapped his hands together, giving the mini-horse a respectful bow as a way of greeting. It was traditional in Pandaren culture to give a list of accolades after ones name if you could, as it marked you as one who remembered both his achievements and responsibilities. To lie during this exchange was to mark yourself as a Duìxiàn, forever shunned and untrustworthy.

The mini-horse gave a look of what seemed to be surprise before giving him a bow by way of crossing one of her front legs in front of the other and dipping her nose to the ground while closing her eyes. "I am Zecora Farseer, and it is The Way I hold dear. A Shaman is my trade, the sick and hurt are who I save. This forest is my home, where I collect the herbs that have grown," she responded, before she turned and walked over to a basket that was laying on the lush ground of the forest that Lang now found himself in. It was unlike any woodland in Azeroth that he had seen, with no apparent pattern to the vegetation. He was well-versed in herbalism, and as such he could tell that the plants here were meant to grow in many different environments. There were plants that were best suited for deserts right beside some that were clearly meant for cold tundra, with evergreens, broad-leafs, and various other trees that had no business being within a hundred miles of each other growing side by side. He marveled at the biodiversity that was evident in this strange forest before he heard the mini-horse clear her throat.

He looked down to her and saw that she had picked up the basket in her mouth and was motioning for Lang to follow her with one hoof in a manner that should have been impossible for an equine, though he did not question it as he had already had a semi-conversation with her. Lang's memory was still fuzzy, though he assumed that the mage had done something to send him to this place, and as of now he had no real way to return to where he had been. His stomach growled as he realized that he had not had anything to eat all day, and he had no better option than to follow the striped equine and hope that she continued being friendly. Lang got up from his cross-legged position and motioned for her to carry on before following her into the woods, still gnawing upon the root she had given him.

Author's Note

Index- Pandaren Translation

Buu- No

Aiya~, zhè shì zuì zāogāo de tóutòng wǒ yǐjīng zài jǐ nián.- Aiya~, this is the worst headache I've had in years.

Duìxiàn- Dishonored

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Hey there, everypony! This is an idea that I had to get into words or else it was going to drive me crazy. Yes, it's a WoW and MLP crossover, and yes, I know that they haven't had the best track record. But I'm hoping that this story will be different, and to do that I need you guys. In the comments, I want you to give me any questions, comments, or concerns that you have. I want you to tell me if I'm making a character too powerful, or nerfing their power too much. This story will rely on YOU to become the story I have envisioned, and I pray that you will participate.

Also, I am in need of Betas and Editors. Any who want to read the uncensored product before it goes live, message me and we'll talk shop.

'Till next time!