//------------------------------//
// The grand escape, and the start of the road trip! 
// Story: Screw the rules we're on a road trip. 
// by Ssendam the Masked 
//------------------------------//


Yoshimitsu's P.O.V, present day.


I remained silent as Tobi just swam through the ground, dragging me along like a sack of potatoes. Or maybe I was like dog food, I don't know. Whatever. While Tobi was busy pulling me, I spoke.
"Tobi, we get freakishly lucky most of the time, but we're going to need more than luck. We're actually going to need to escape this place, which is going to be incredibly difficult. I mean, did you see the bubble thing? That complicates the escape plan. Any ideas?" Tobi shook his head. Then he paused.
"Do you have any ideas?"
"A couple." Tobi pondered this with a sage wisdom.
"Sempai, I think that we need to get above ground before you tell me about the idea. Hang on..." He bobbed his head for a couple of seconds, feeling the magical resonance of the earth to find ponies.
"House above us is empty. Must have all gone to the wedding." With that, he pulled us up.

We burst through the stone floor of the house, where, true to Tobi's word, nobody was home yet. I brushed some dirt off my armour and turned to Tobi. "Alright, I have a plan to get us out of here."
"Will it involve fire, Sempai? I do so love fire!" I shook my head.
"Only if we really need fire." Tobi slouched.
"Get your Mokuton on, Tobi. It'll be a distraction." Tobi brightened up at that. With that, he slammed his hands together while intoning a specific incantation.
"Wood Release: Nativity of a world of Trees!"
I grinned maniacally as trees started to sprout everywhere. This soon escalated into a maniacal laugh.
"GROW! GROW MY PRETTIES!" I heard Tobi scream. I shook myself.
"Tobi, we need to escape right now, not giggle like the villains we're not." Tobi rubbed his chin, as if in deep thought.
"Actually, I was thinking, Sempai. We should grab some donuts first." I paused.
"...So you want to get donuts." 
"Yes." Sounded good.
"Let's do it."


Celestia's P.O.V, present day.


All around me, guards were mobilising in an attempt to contain this threat. After the invasion of the Changeling Queen, they were eager to prove that they were still the first, last and only line of non-magical defences in the kingdom. I strode among them, a small part of my mind revelling in the knowledge that a battle would come. I hated to admit it, but a challenge like Nightmare Moon always excited me. It was a bad response, I know that much, but right now, I didn't rightly care.

"Princess, the barrier is back up again." I smiled at Shining Armour.
"Thank you, Captain. I'm sorry to ask you to do it again, especially after all the effort you put into it last time, but-"
"No, Princess, there's no need. Thanks to Cadence and my sister, I feel fully recharged." He paused.
"Still, aren't these measures unnecessary for a couple of idiots?" I shook my head.
"These idiots have forever changed the landscape of Equestria with their power. There are several lakes and chasms that were created by their power. Not only that, the one called Tobi possesses a magic that can easily destroy towns. He called it-" 

I was interrupted when I saw a small tree start to sprout of the wall. Shining Armour blasted it with a thaumic lance, but more trees quickly started to grow, thickening and twisting. A branch swung out, shattering a window. I flared my horn, and the sunlight turned harsh, incinerating as many trees as I could.
"Princess Celestia!" I turned to my faithful student, who was trying to hold the trees back with little success; the sheer volume made the task futile.
"What is this?" I sighed.
"This is Tobi's doing, a magic known as Wood Release. I know not how it works, but when they freed Discord-"
"Wait, these chumps freed Discord?" I turned to Rainbow Dash.
"I have looked at their actions, and I have to say that they did it on accident. But what makes these trees interesting is that they can somehow drain chaos and black magic." Twilight perked up, interested.
"Wait, so you're saying that this Tobi can manipulate trees? That scale of nature magic is... terrifying. So every tree is under his control?" 
"Yes. The Everfree Forest used to be a lot smaller, and was easily controllable, until Tobi used one of his spells on it." 
"So Tobi basically made the Everfree..." Shining Armour mused. 

Across Canterlot, ponies were fleeing in panic from the rapidly growing forest around them.  Buildings were torn apart from the roots that grew, streets torn up by growing trees... the destruction caused by a forest growing at incredible speeds was incredible. Guards were trying to hold the forest back with fire based spells, but more trees just kept growing everywhere. It was the very definition of chaos. As such, no pony noticed two tall figures sneak through the trees, jumping onto buildings and charging in to the centre of the city.

Pony Joe was currently swatting away at trees that were trying to enter his shop.
"Stop that!" Unfortunately, they didn't. He grunted in frustration, picking up a canister of hot vegetable oil and throwing it onto the plants outside, tossing a match after it. That done, he turned around-
Into the grinning green face of some sort of creature. It spoke with a raspy, undulating voice.
"Sorry to bother you at this time, but we're going to have to take your donuts. I hope this won't inconvenience you too much." Pony Joe could only splutter incoherently as an orange faced beast waltzed out with a huge stack of donut boxes. Eventually, he just popped down on his haunches, staring at the wall in shock.


Tobi's P.O.V, present day.


I looked over our plundered, tasty, sugary booty. A thousand years without donuts can drive a man mad with desire for one.
"Okay, so we have about 200 donuts with us. I think that'll hold us over." Yoshimitsu nodded, carrying the five boxes with one hand, the other gripping his sword. It was pretty easy to carry due to the wrapped around branch I'd given him to help. He nodded.
"Time to go?"
"Time to go~!" 

With that, we charged through the dense forest that had sprouted throughout Canterlot, using it to hide our movements. It was a distraction- nobody expected us to use the trees as cover, after all. Some people just can't see the trees for the forest, after all! We laughed and whooped with joy as we sped through the branches, rejoicing in our freedom. Eventually, after about ten minutes of tree leaping, we were at the limits of the barrier. I turned to my partner.
"You ready for this, Yoshimitsu-sempai?" For an answer, he turned his grinning mask towards me.
"As I ever will be." With that, he charged up his sword slash, preparing to obliterate the barrier.


Tobi's P.O.V, 1,050 years ago.

"Wait, waitwaitwaitwait-"
"RAAAAAHH!!!" 
Apparently, Inspector Lestrade wasn't willing to listen to reason. Oh, and apparently, we were in Elizabethan Horseland. What was Horse Land called again? Equestria? Whatever, I had a problem to fix-
A blast of blue magic came at me, and I activated Kamui on instinct. He seemed stunned that I just phased through his attack like it was nothing. Now invulnerable, I focused on the houses. I focused on my hands, trying to find what had happened. 
Quickly, what did I know about chakra? Well, it's mind and body. Right, got that. How do I stop this? Pull my hands apart? Want it to stop? That was a good idea. I pulled my fingers apart, and focused on it stopping. 

And, like that, every wooden object stopped. The house still sprouted little trees, and the other houses still had warped timbers, but at least the houses weren't moving anymore. Now that there wasn't the sound of trees growing and timber creaking, I could hear the screams of ponies. I felt pretty bad, at least until the unicorn soldier guy tackling me to the ground. At least, he would have, had I not still been immaterial. He passed through me and collided with a wall. Didn't seem to really hurt him at all.
"Art thou some kind of phantasm, knave? Stand thine ground and fight!" I shrugged.
"Don't wanna." At this, his face turned red with rage. Huh. Weird. He tried to tackle me again, but I kept phasing through him like it was just normal. I've gotta hand it to him, the guy's persistent as hell.
"Look, this is all a HUGE misunderstanding-"
"Misunderstanding? Thou hast terrorised this village with thine magic, and you think that there is any doubt as to the nature of your crimes? Thou must be addled in thine head, to be so blithe about the whole matter!"
"I'm te-hehelling you, this is all a big misunderstanding!"  Inspector Lestrade looked unconvinced. Josh chimed in with his more level-headed attitude."Look, you said there are Princesses, right? We'll go to them, explain everything, and we can all be happy."  The unicorn looked at us with disbelief.
"Thou willst accompany me to the Princesses willingly?" We nodded frantically. He sighed.
"Since it seems that I cannot capture you unwillingly, then come hither." He beckoned us with a hoof. How did he do that? Shrugging, we walked out with him, towards these... princesses.

It had now been about an hour. We'd been walking for a while, when suddenly, our stomaches rumbled. I grinned.
"Sorry, we're just hungry. Do you have any, uh, donuts?" The unicorn, who had introduced himself as Stalwart Heart, looked confused.
"I do not know of any... 'dough-nuts.' Pray tell, what are they?" Josh hastened to explain.
"Well, they're rings of, yes, dough, that you put into boiling vegetable oil, and then you cover it in chocolate or icing." Stalwart Heart shook his head.
"I have not seen any such dish." I pouted. Figures that Medieval ponies wouldn't have donuts. Well, maybe they had sandwiches. 
"Well, what about sandwiches?" Stalwart Heart looked horrified.
"Sand Witches? Thou meanest that thou eat witches of sand?" I hastened to explain.
"No, sandwiches. They're two slices of bread with a filling in between them. You know?" Stalwart Heart shook his head.
"Thine speech is most queer."
"Queer?" He nodded, then coughed.
"I can tell that, in a festival, thou wouldst be most gay." I choked trying to keep out a laugh from emerging. I then coughed, awkwardly, as he stared at me.
"Pray tell me, why do you laugh? What I said was not so amusing for that."
"It's nothing." 

Finally, we arrived at the castle. It was an amazing castle, tall and mighty, built of grey stone. It was obviously built to impress, not to defend. Then again, with all of this forest around us, would you really need a defensive wall? We walked into the castle with no small amount with trepidation. I cleared my throat.
"Right, Josh, let's stick it up them."
We tropped in, prepared for any eventuality.


Celestia's P.O.V, present day.


I looked out, horn wrapped in bandages from Chrysalis. Had she not attacked me, I would have burned this forest away in a heart beat. As it was, the most I could do was a basic levitation aura, lifting out a book from the time. 
"This is pretty much all the information that we have on them." Twilight eagerly grabbed it, leafing through the pages.
"So they're called, 'humans.' Weird name." She looked up at me. 
"But why is Yoshimitsu considered dangerous? I mean, sure he could cut through spells, but he couldn't cause something like that, could he?" I looked out, not answering at first. In front of us, Canterlot was covered in thick, green foliage.
"Yoshimitsu has contributed to many landmarks of Equestria. About 1,050 years ago, there wasn't a ravine in front of the Castle of the Pony sisters. Neither was there as many rivers, or lakes. Yoshimitsu created, in a month, two ravines, several lakes and a dozen rivers. His sword swings could generate enough destructive force to carve through solid rock with an idle swing." Twilight looked shocked, then laughed.
"I think you're overestimating-" 

With a crash, the entire barrier shattered. Twilight looked on, shocked beyond belief as a spell that withstood dragon fire shattered. I turned to her.
"No, I don't think that I do."