Unexpected Arrival
Disclaimer: MLP belongs to Hasbro
Dynasty Warriors belongs to Koei
Xu Shu was on his way to Jing Province to warn Lord Liu Bei of the massive army being led by Cao Cao. It's been five years since the Battle of Chibi, and no one expected Cao Cao to recover his troops this early. It was surprising, even to him. As Xu Shu ran through the forest with his handful of troops trailing him, he spotted the large castle in the distance. If he were to make it, he would be able to ready the defenses and prepare for the battle ahead.
"Open the gates!" he shouted, exhausted from his run to Jing Province. If he were in better shape, he wouldn't need to strain his voice.
One of the guards heard his call and turned to see the upcoming unit. With a loud "Yes sir!", he and two other men pulled a big wooden lever. The gates opened and Xu Shu made his way in. The other handful of troops went to the infirmary to rest.
The halls of the castle were void of any activity. It made it easier for him to maneuver through the walkways. As he turned another corner, he spied the throne room up ahead. When he made his way through the double doors, he was greeted by none other than Liu Bei. Standing next him was the Sleeping Dragon, Zhuge Liang, and the Little Dragon, Zhao Yun.
"My lord, I come with bad news." said Xu Shu
"How bad is this news if it means running all the way from Xu Province?" Liu Bei replied, as he and Zhao Yun help him to his feet.
"Cao Cao is approaching from the east with a massive army. It seems like he's come fully prepared."
This shocked not only Liu Bei, but Zhao Yun as well. Zhuge Liang expected this, and was already formulating a plan to stop Cao Cao.
"I see, just as I predicted. It would seem as though Cao Cao is trying to attack us repeatedly. We must set up defenses around Jing Province in order to drive off the enemy forces."
"Zhao Yun, I would like you to go to the other garrisons and warn the others of the upcoming army."
"Yes, Master Zhuge Liang."
"Lord Liu Bei, you must warn Masters Guan Yu and Zhang Fei so they can be fully prepared to face them."
"Yes, I will go as quickly as possible."
"What shall I do, Master Zhuge Liang?" asked Xu Shu, still out of breath.
Zhuge Liang hesitanted; he didn't want to overwork him, as he was still recovering from the long run. But he had no choice. "You may go warn my wife, Yue Ying, and my star pupil, Jiang Wei, so they can prepare the juggernauts, ballistae, and catapults."
"Ok, but what will you do?"
"I shall go and work on a new experiment that I've been wanting to test for some time now." 'I can't tell you about the entire project yet, but you will figure out soon enough.'
With his orders given, he returned to his quarters. Xu Shu watched him leave, curious as to what kind of experiment he was working on. 'Must be very useful if it's going to be used against an army of that size.'
When he arrived at the barracks, Xu Shu searched for Yue Ying first. Knowing her, she was probably working on a new contraption. "Lady Ying! Lady Ying, where are you?!" he called. If she was really deep in her work, then it would take a long time to find her.
"In here!" shouted a female voice from the tent to his left. He sprinted into the tent, wondering what kind of machine she could be working on this time. 'As long as it doesn't destroy the castle again, it should be fine.'
Inside the tent, stood a woman with amber hair looking over blueprints. Yue Ying, the bride of the Sleeping Dragon and mechanical genius. Standing next to her was a man with dark, burnished hair. This was the famous Jiang Wei, strategist and star pupil of Zhuge Liang. His intelligence was somewhat matched to Zhuge Liang, so it would be understandable that he would be the student of one of the smartest men in world.
"Lady Yue Ying, Master Jiang Wei. We need to prepare..."
"Yes, we have readied all the gadgets to defend. We also informed Ma Chao and Ma Dai to strengthen the arbalests."
"So, I take it that everything is in order then?" Xu Shu wasn't really surprised. Yue Ying and Jiang Wei were always aware of Zhuge Liang's predictions, so it's not startling to see them already prepared.
Jiang Wei replied,"Correct. Now all we have to do is wait for the Chancellor to finish his project."
Xu Shu was puzzled. If this project was so secret that only his wife and student are aware of it, then it must be something big. 'Then again, Zhuge Liang is a mysterious man. He must have all kinds of things hidden under that robe.'
"If I may ask, what kind of project is he working on?"
"I'm afraid we can't tell you. But, he told us that it might dispose of the army if done right."
"But, what will happen if it goes wrong?" Xu Shu didn't want to even think about what would happen if the project went wrong.
They were both silent for a moment. Finally, Jiang Wei spoke with a grave tone,"Unfortunately, not even Chancellor is aware of the danger he is putting himself and others in." It sounded like he didn't know what would happen, but knew that it could end very badly."But, dangerous as it might be, we can not go against his orders"
"But..."
"I'm sorry, that is all we can tell you. As of right now, we need to focus on the situation at hand. We can worry about that later." Yue Ying interrupted. As much as it pains her to see her husband like this, she needed to concentrate on the battle ahead.
Xu Shu never would have thought Zhuge Liang would act this way, but he let it slide for now. "I guess we just have to wait and see." he said, unaware of the real danger that lies ahead.
As the winds pushed against the castle and the rain poured on it and the area around it, Xu Shu stood next to Jiang Wei as well as Zhao Yun. They were on the look out for any enemy spies, just in case Cao Cao tried to get the heads up on the formation. So far they haven't seen any suspicious activity around the dark woods of Jing Province. If they knew Cao Cao, then he would at least send one spy. But, they haven't seen anything yet. It took at least five hours to set the castle on high alert. Hundreds of troops were placed around the perimeter of the castle, arbalests and ballistae were stationed atop the castle walls, and catapults were ready to take down any rams so they won't break into the castle.
"Xu Shu, are you sure there's an army coming towards us? It's been hours and we still haven't seen any sign of an army." Jiang Wei was getting impatient. They were used to it. He always gets likes this when he waits too long for a battle.
"Patience, Master Jiang Wei. They sould be arriving here soon enough."
Suddenly, a loud voice shouted,"Enemy forces are approaching the castle from the south. They seem to be led by Xiahou Dun."
The three warriors turned their attention to the south. Sure enough, massive amounts of troops were charging at the castle, letting out war cries. In front of the army was man with blackish hair and an eyepatch on his left eye. He was riding riding a lightless horse that looked like it could crush a person's head with a single stomp.
Xu Shu, Zhao Yun, and Jiang Wei were surprised. "I thought you said they were being led by Cao Cao?" questioned Zhao Yun.
"I did. They must be trying to distract us so they can launch a surprise attack. Jiang Wei, you and I shall go around and search the back of the castle. Zhao Yun, grab the enemies attention so we don't get spotted." ordered Xu Shu.
"Yes, Master Xu Shu." And with that, Zhao Yun leaped over the castle walls and landed on the ground, unharmed. He then yelled,"With this spear, I shall cut open a path to my lord's dream of protecting the people." Then, he charged.
Xu Shu and Jiang Wei made their way around the castle. The muffled sounds of clashing swords filled the hallways. When they got to the back of the castle, they found Zhuge Liang floating high above the ground. There was also a glowing silver aura around his body. They were amazed. They have never feel such power be emitted from him in a long time.
"What do you think he's doing?" Xu Shu asked with a hushed tone, as to not break his concentration.
"I don't know, but it must be important if it takes this long. This must be the project he's been working on."
"Well, lets hope this project will do us some good."
Zhuge Liang was putting his all into this one. He was trying his not to fall to the ground and pass out from how much energy he's used up. As he glew brighter and brighter, he was unaware of the two warriors standing a couple of yards away. When he was done charging up the energy, he let it out with a big burst. Unfortunately, one of the beams seemed to headed in Jiang Wei's direction. Xu Shu saw this and went to push him out of the way.
"Jiang Wei, look out!" he screamed as he was hit by the beam. A bright light came after that and when it cleared, Xu Shu was gone.
Darkness covered Xu Shu's vision. He seemed to be falling through an endless void. He looked around, wondering where he was. Then he waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. The more he waited, the more nervous he became. Just as he was about to shout out in annoyance, he then saw a bright light headed his way. The light became brighter, and brighter, and brighter until it became so bright that he had to shield his eyes. Then everything went black.
When he came to, he was greeted with the feeling of soft grass. Bright light filled his vision. When he adjusted to the light, he sat up and scanned his surroundings. He seemed to be in a forest filled with dark, weird looking plants. The forest gave off an uneasy feeling, like it was watching his every movement. He then stood up, and walked in a random direction. Before he could walk two steps, fell to the ground with a loud thud. He wondered why he fell until he felt an burning pain in his right leg. He looked down, pulled his pants sleeve up, and gawked at his leg.
The leg was a bright, crimson red. It looked like he slept on top of a castle in the sun with his pants off. It burned with a passion and needed to be tended to. He looked around for something to cover it up. He saw his trusty sword and hook hanging off a branch above him. He tried to get up and grab it, but had to resort to climbing the tree. 'Good thing I learned how to climb trees as a kid.' he thought.
When he retrieved his weapon, he sat against the tree, tore a long piece of cloth from his arm sleeve, and wrapped it around his leg. It would take awhile for his leg to heal. He stood back up, although a bit unsteadily, and headed towards the same he was direction he was trying to go, sword in hand.
"Where am I? Did I teleport to another province? This doesn't look like any kind of forest I've traveled through." Questions were buzzing through Xu Shu's head like a bunch of angry bees. He would need to look for civilization if he were to gather information about this unknown forest.
He walked for what seemed like hours through this dark forest. He had no way to go besides straight. As he walked through the forest, his stomach started to growl. He didn't have any thing to eat since he arrived at the castle. 'I need to find some food soon or I'm gonna starve to death.' He searched the area for any source of food. His search proved successful as he found some berries and apples. The berries were kind of sour, but the apples were sweet and juicy. When he finished his fruits, he suddenly heard some screaming coming from somewhere in the forest. Being a man of an ambitious force, he sprinted towards the direction the screams came from. Barking and growling could be heard from the same direction. He tripled his paste, not wanting to see three little girls (based on the screams, it sounded like girls) killed by wolves.
When he made it to the clearing, he was shocked to see five wooden wolves making their way towards three little horses. 'Well technically they're ponies, but these are the most colorful looking ponies I've ever seen.' Putting that aside for later, he took his sword and hook, and thrust his sword into one of the wolves, breaking it apart. Before any of the other wolves could react, Xu Shu swung his hook counterclockwise, taking out two more wolves. He jumped back as one of the two remaining wolves tried to take a bite out of him. Reconnecting his hook back to his sword, Xu Shu took a fighting stance as the two wolves charged him. Sliding to the left, he sliced his sword through the wooden canine, cutting it in half. He then turned and held his hands out to keep the last wolf from biting his face off. Readjusting his position, he swung his sword upwards, decapitating the wolf and ending its life. Green blood was squirting from where the head used to be. Taking a closer look, Xu Shu saw that it was tree sap coming from wolves' bodies. Seeing that he was clean, he turned his attention to the three ponies in the tree.
'How did they even get in the tree?' he wondered, pulling his hood from his head. Getting a closer look at the ponies, he noticed that one of them had wings, one had a horn, and one had neither. 'A pegasus and a unicorn! But I thought those were just legends?! And I thought they would be a lot bigger.' Xu Shu was shocked to say the least. The first one had a cherry mane and tail, orange eyes, peach fur, and a pink bow atop her head. The second one, a unicorn, had pink and purple swirled mane and tail, light green colored eyes, and snowy fur. The last one, a pegasus, had a violet mane and tail with eyes to match, and tangerine fur.
Before he could comprehend what was going on, he heard multiple footsteps coming towards the clearing. With little time, he rushed back into the darkness of the forest. 'Can't let anyone spot me or I'm in big trouble.' he thought to himself. But before he could run any further, he heard a different voice speaking with a worried tone. "Are you three OK!?" Curious as to who they were, Xu Shu hid in a bush and looked back into the clearing.
'OK, either I'm going crazy, I hit my head too hard, or those ponies are actually talking.' Xu Shu watched with amazement. Never in his life has he encountered something like this. Four more ponies show up. He expected to see at least one human with them. The one leading the group was a lavender unicorn with a dark bluish mane with a pink streak going through it. She(he thought they looked liked mares)also had purple eyes. On her flank was a picture of a big pink star with five smaller ones around it. 'Must be a fashion trend' he wondered. The one standing to her right was a pure white unicorn with a stylish, dark purple mane, ocean blue eyes, and, on her flank, was a picture of three diamonds. The one to the right was a regular pony with orange fur, dark green eyes, a golden mane and tail tied in a ponytail(no pun intended), and the mark on her flank was a picture of three red apples. The weird thing about her is that she was wearing a Stetson hat on her head. The last one was floating in the air. She had cyan fur, magenta colored eyes, and on her flank was a picture of dark cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt shooting from it. The strange thing about this one is that her mane and tail were every shade of the rainbow.
The peach filly replied,"Yeah, we're fine."
"Are you sure? You're not hurt, are you Applebloom!?" worried the bright orange pony.
"Don't worry Applejack, we're alright. It's not like we were eaten alive or anything." said Applebloom.
"Well, excuse me for worrying about my little sis."Applejack said as she hugged Applebloom.
"Hey Squirt, you alright?" said the rainbow pony.
The orange coated filly then jumped into the air, making a buzzing noise with her wings as she flapped them as fast as she can. "You bet, Rainbow Dash. You know nothing can take Scootaloo down!" boasted the filly.
Rainbow Dash replied," That's what I'm talking about."
"Oh, Sweetie Belle. Did those nasty timberwolves mess up your beautiful mane?" asked the white unicorn.
"Yes, thank you Rarity" replied Sweetie Belle
The lavender unicorn was inspecting the dead bodies of the timberwolves. "Hm, ...it seems like these timberwolves were cut open by sword."
"Yo Twilight, whatcha lookin at?" asked Rainbow Dash as she landed next to Twilight.
"Looking at the holes in these timberwolves. It seems somepony sliced it open with a really sharp object. Probably a sword."
'She's a clever one, isn't she?' Xu Shu asked himself from his hiding spot.
"Well whatever it was, let's hope it doesn't return while we're still here." said Rarity.
"Yeah, let's get out of here. This place gives me the creeps." Rainbow Dash claimed.
As the ponies made their way back to Ponyville, they were unaware of the figure hiding in the bushes.
Xu Shu sat in silence as he watched the ponies walk away from the clearing. "So, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, huh?" He said to himself. "So far, not one of my average days." He then stood up and went to look for a place to sleep. He decided to make due with one of the treetops. When he was done making his bed, blanket, and pillow, he rested his head on his makeshift pillow and started to fall asleep. Before he entered the world of dreams, he thought to his self,'Well, if there's one thing I know for sure..."
"I'm in for a rude awakening."
Author's Note
This is my first story, so please go easy on me
Hidden Observations
As the essence of sleep left his body, Xu Shu awoke from his tree-made bed. He looked around, wondering where he was, until the memories of yesterday came back to him. 'So I wasn't dreaming, huh? Well, things could be worse.' he thought. He then decided to look for some food and maybe some water. As he searched for supplies, he began to think about what he would do next.
'Lets see. So, I'm stuck in a world that's probably filled with vividly colored ponies, surrounded by a dark, gloomy looking forest, with no way back home. Well, this isn't good.' He thought. As he continued to venture through the forest, he heard some noises coming from behind. Turning sharply with his sword unsheathed, he saw nothing but the darkness of the forest. He maintained his stance for a few more moments, listening and watching intently into the forest, before deciding to ignore it and moving ahead. 'Must've been a woodland creature. Who knows what's in this weird world. Better stay alert.' he assumed with caution, before heading deeper into the forest.
Had he stayed any longer, he would've noticed the pink-maned pegasus staring at him from the bushes; a curious expression plastered on her face.
Fluttershy had been observing the weird creature ever since it woke up. She had never seen a creature like this before. Sure, she's seen weird monsters like mantacores, cockatrices, and hydras, but she never had the courage to watch one this close up. She almost never came into the Everfree Forest, only to gather medicine from Zecora. But when she saw the creature take out those timberwolves without breaking a sweat, her curiosity overcame her fear and she decided to follow it. She almost got caught sneaking around it cause fate decided to play dirty and make her step on a stick, gaining its attention. If she had made any movement, she would have been caught for sure.
'That was too close.' she thought with relief. She continued to follow the unknown creature to see how it would survive in a forest like this. The more she follow it, the more she would lose it. It seemed to travel in a random pattern, like it knew it was being followed. She saw it gather all kinds of food like berries and apples. It had also made a makeshift basket, so it could carry its items. 'It must be intelligent. OOOOHH!!! This is so exciting! Discovering a new species and observing its behavior. I feel like Twilight when she reads a new book.' Fluttershy thought with excitement. She used every hiding space she could find to follow it and not be discovered herself. The treetops, some bushes, even the inside of a hole where the owner got mad for having its sleep disturbed.
"Sorry, Mr. Mole." she apologized. When she looked back, she was disappointed to see that she had lost track of the creature. 'Aww. I thought I'd have a little more time to study its behavior.' she thought glumly. She wanted to take it, give it a nice home, and take care of it like a mother would her foal. She then turned back the way she came, and sulked back to her cottage.
'So, she was following me the entire time?' Xu Shu thought as he watched the pegasus slowly trot back to its home. He knew she was following him, and decided to play along with her little game of chase. That is, until she hid inside a mole hole for a few seconds, giving him more than enough time to leap in the air and hide in the trees.
'Maybe if I follow her, I could find out where I am. They do speak the same language as me, so it shouldn't be that hard.' He took hold of his hook, aimed at a nearby branch, and hurled it towards its intended target. The hook struck the large branch with enough force to embed itself into the wood of it. After tugging on the wire a few times, Xu Shu steps off the branch, and swings from branch to branch; repeating the process each time. This way of traveling is by no means hard. In fact, this kind of thing is something he does on a daily basis. After hours or swinging through trees, he found himself eyeing a cottage that seemed to be filled the brim with animals. 'She must be some kind of animal caretaker.' he thought. He then turned to the west and spotted a town in the distance. 'That must be where the other ponies reside. But wait, wouldn't it be dangerous to live this close to a forest like this?' As he pondered this, he heard some ponies approaching the cottage. Circling around the back, he saw the same four ponies from yesterday trotting in his direction. He noticed a fifth one with them.
This pony could be described in only one word: pink. Everything about her seemed to scream the color. Her mane and tail were a dark pink, while her coat was a lighter pink. She was jumping alongside the group. He swore that every time she hopped off the ground, she would make weird springing sound. 'She reminds me of a certain hyperactive girl.'
As they went into the cottage, he peaked through a window that was to his right. He saw the one called Twilight start to speak. "Alright. Now that everypony's here, we can get down to business." Xu Shu could feel the seriousness in her voice. 'Maybe I should've left those fillies alone. But, they would all be crying right about now, and I don't want that kind of guilt bearing on my conscience.' He decided to listen to the conversation inside.
"So, is this about those timberwolves we found dead in the forest yesterday?" asked the one named Rainbow Dash.
"Yes. I was wondering about who or what took down those timberwolves."
"Ah don't know what it was, but if it can do that to five timberwolves, then ah don't want it anywhere near me, mah family, or mah farm." replied Applejack
"Don't worry AJ. As long as I'm here, there's no need to worry. I bet I can take this thing out in ten seconds flat." boasted Rainbow Dash
"Ya don't even know what it looks like. How do you know if it's not a mantacore or a cockatrice?" questioned Applejack.
"Impossible," interrupted Twilight,"If it was a mantacore, those timberwolves would've been smashed, not slashed. And the girls would've been eaten for sure. If it was a cockatrice, the girls, along with those timberwolves, would be stone statues by now."
"So if it wasn't a mantacore and it wasn't a cockatrice, what could it have been?" asked Rarity
The pink pony, who was quiet the whole time, decided it was her time to speak. And in a really fast tone. "Maybeitwassomekindofmonsterthatusedinnocentlittlefilliesinsomekindofponysoupormaybeitwasamonsterthatdoesn'tlikeitwhenfillesgetscaredoramonsterthateatslotsandlotsofcandyand..." her speech was interrupted by a cyan hoof in her mouth.
"Uhh, Pinkie Pie? Maybe you should let us think of something more understandable, OK?" asked Rainbow
When she removed her hoof, Pinkie Pie replied with a smile,"Okie Dokie Lokie" and hopped her way into the kitchen.
The yellow pegasus said something that Xu Shu barely managed to understand. "Umm I might know what it was."
"You do?!" shouted everypony in the room, which made Fluttershy flinch, along with Xu Shu.
"Fluttershy, I'm asking you as a friend. If you know anything about this creature, let us know." said Twilight.
"Well, I don't know much about it, but I can tell you what I do know..."she then explained to them everything saw him do. Xu Shu started to get nervous. If she saw that much, then she could easily track him down. After she finished explaining, the four ponies sat there with mixed expressions. But before anypony else could speak, they heard a rather loud growl come from the window to the left. Xu Shu realized the growl came from his stomach. He was starting to regret not eating breakfast this mourning. When he looked back up, he was terrified to see all six of them staring right at him. He said something that described everything he was feeling right then.
"Oh crap."
Author's Note
Here's another chapter for ya. Hope you enjoyed it. Oh, and I'm gonna try posting a new chapter every weekend from now on, OK? Have a good day or night, everypony.
