Heaven's Own Vainglory

by darkstone57

Chapter 3 - Matsunaga Hisahide - Doubling The Threads

Within the short amount of time Matsunaga has been in Ponyville, he has met three different ponies, all of which know each other - Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle & Pinkie Pie. All three of them have agreed to help him out and introduce him to their three other friends. As the trio of ponies rushed over to the Golden Oak's Library, with Matsunaga not far behind, none of them can tell that within this human's mind - a hollow cackle is finding humour in their generosity.

'Hahaha... Now then, three to go.'

Within the centre of the quaint town, a giant tree sits in place. This same tree is also the home of Twilight Sparkle, which in turn is the Golden Oak's library. Hovering just outside the front door, a cyan Pegasus looks from the way it came with a frustrated frown and her foreleg's folded too, waiting with dwindling patience. Across the street, a purple unicorn runs toward her home. As she stops herself outside of the tree, catching her breath, she shoots a disapproving glare at her friend whom is also looking at her friend with a similar front.

"Well, you took your sweet time." said Rainbow with a condescending tone.

Her expression unchanged, Twilight takes one last deep breath to regain her stamina, then replies to her friend, "You're the one who misunderstood my gesture and took off without waiting for us." Rainbow rolled her eyes as a response which didn't swim too well with Twilight. Twilight released her frustration with a heavy sigh and looked up at Rainbow again and spoke with a more calmer demeanour, "Well, since we are here, no other option but to wait." Twilight turned her head to look in the direction she came from, waiting for either Pinkie or Matsunaga to appear from behind the houses. After a few moments of silence, except for the sound of Rainbow's wings continuously flapping, the Pegasus spoke up, directing her attention to Twilight.

"I wonder if all humans have weird hooves like his." Rainbow stated. Twilight turned her attention back to her friend with a raised eyebrow which prompted to her to reply.

"I can see what you mean, they had those little curly pointy things on the end of them." Twilight replied whilst looking at her right hoof, her mind baffled by what those pointy things were on the Matsunaga's right hoof.

"His left hoof looked a little more creepy though." said Rainbow.

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"When I moved to his left side, after I had a quick word with you about what to do earlier, I could have sworn I saw purple claws sticking out on the inside of the hoof, underneath those curly things." Rainbow explained. Twilight put her right hoof to her chin with concern and began to speak her thoughts.

"Maybe there are different types of humans in his world." Twilight stated before continuing, "I'm sure we can ask him some more questions about his world later, when he is better acquainted."

"That would be interesting to know, I just hope I don't get bored with the details." Rainbow replied with a huff before looking back once more in the direction she and Twilight came from. This time she saw Pinkie casually bouncing towards the library and Matsunaga wasn't far behind, also approaching the library.

Following his new pink bouncing companion through the streets of Ponyville, Matsunaga's eyes looked left and right while his head face forward. Every pony that he saw, he noticed that they all looked different, there were no identical twins to be seen anywhere. 'At least it won't be hard to distinguish who is who in this land' he thought. For a second he noticed one pony who looked like they just saw what they feared most, the moment the pony gazed upon him passing by. From a distance, even though it was brief, he could tell the pony's colour was lime green and it's eyes were amber, the hair was a lighter colour and appeared to have a large white section of hair. Whether it was the pony's natural colour or it was affected with a fear that much, Matsunaga's interest dissipated almost immediately so that he could keep a view on where Pinkie was going.

It wasn't hard to lose sight of Pinkie, especially since she was the only pony in any direction who was Pink and bouncing. Before long, after moving past several houses and receiving more shocked looks from the locals, they were heading towards a large tree where Twilight and Rainbow Dash waiting with questionable looks on their faces. Matsunaga noticed this from afar and, like a script being given him to act out, his thoughts began in his mind while his face was project a calm but nervous smile. 'I have a feeling that questions will brought up soon. No matter, if they will ask, I will answer to the best of my ability.'

Within seconds, all four of them were standing outside the library together, technically two though - if you count Pinkie's bouncing and Rainbow's hovering.

Rainbow let out a loud sigh and began to speak. "So now that we are here, now what?"

Twilight looked at her puzzled "You forgot already?" Rainbow put on a nervous grin and shrugged her shoulders which Twilight responded to by shaking her head. "I'm going to get a letter sent to Princess Celestia, remember? In the meantime, you two will take Matsunaga to see Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy."

"Actually," Matsunaga interjected, making the three ponies turn their attention towards him, "I would think it would be wiser for me to come into the library and wait with Ms.Sparkle, while Ms.Dash and Ms.Pie retrieve your friends to this abode." Matsunaga began explaining his thought before receiving a 'Huh?' from Pinkie and Rainbow, Twilight was surprised by this thought but waited for Matsunaga to finish, "For one, I would think it would draw too much attention. At some point, I'm certain all of the residents here will want to see me, like a circus attraction-"

"Oooh, I haven't been to a circus for a while. The last time I went to one, there was a lion, a giraffe, a hippo and a zebra but the zebra was painted in polka dots and an afro and did this weird dance and I thought 'That is so cool, I wonder if he threw parties.' But then, I thought 'Silly, he is with a circus, he is always throwing parties with all the jumps and the hoops and the-" Pinkie rambled on before being interrupted by Twilight's cliché way of snapping Pinkie back to reality.

*Cough, Cough*

"Oh, sorry" Pinkie apologised with a nervous chuckle.

"Pay no mind to it, Ms. Pie" Matsunaga replied with a welcoming smile, while his thoughts were speaking something opposite. 'Sorin would be calling your name to 'Spread the Love', I can see the showboating followers bowing before the insanity in front of me'.

"I certainly wouldn't want to cause more attention than I already have. If I wait with Ms. Sparkle, the attention should die down over time, and whilst we wait for the whole ensemble to be brought together - I will be happy to answer any questions you wish to ask me." Matsunaga said calmly whilst the three ponies listened intently. After he finished, Rainbow nodded casually with his idea.

"What he says makes sense. Plus, if me and Pinkie split up we can get the other three here in no time." Rainbow replied with a bit of enthusiasm. Twilight put a hoof to her chin for a moment, pondering Matsunaga's idea. She looked to Rainbow and nodded which, once again, made Rainbow take off in the opposite direction. Twilight looked at Pinkie and then nodded her. Pinkie tilted her head to the left for a moment, wondering what she meant. After a long a pause, Pinkie replied with a long 'Oh!' and then darted off in another direction.

"Let's get you inside." Twilight commented. She turned towards the door of the tree and enveloped her horn with pink aura, the same aura enveloped the door knob and the door came open. The unicorn went inside the tree. Matsunaga, inspected the size of the door and realised it was just over half his size. For him to get in, he would have to crawl in.

'Beggar's can't be choosers here. The best is yet to come' Matsunaga thought. He got onto his knees and elbows and peered his head in the doorway. "Won't be a moment, Ms. Sparkle." Matsunaga called out. Twilight was in the middle of the library as she watched the human literally crawl into her home. She couldn't help but feel awkward yet guilty about the entrance he made. When Matsunaga's feet got through the door he looked around the library and noticed there was some space to his left where he could sit. He continued to shuffle across the floor to the point he had in mind. When he reached the spot, he brought himself to his knees and put his rear on the floor between his feet. His placed on his hands on his thighs and took a moment to take in his surroundings which was interrupted by Twilight's nervous laughter. Matsunaga turned his attention to the lavender mare.

"Sorry about the door and the space, I understand that your stature is disproportionate to the library." Twilight apologised with guilt twinging in her tone as she looked to the floor infront of Matsunaga which glum face. She could see Matsunaga raised his right hand, casually waving about. As her gaze met his face, she saw that calm smile that he continuously wore for the majority of the time he was around.

"Pay no mind to it, Ms. Sparkle" Matsunaga replied, "It is to be expected, as you said, given my stature. Nothing a little readjustment to this world wouldn't remedy." He brought his hands to his katana and removed it from his waist. Bringing the katana to the floor next to him, seathed, he returned his attention to his hostess, who seemed to have perked up a little bit after hearing his acceptance of the situation he is in.

"I'm surprised." Twilight commented. "For somepony, who is from another world, you seem to be very level-headed about all this."

"From my experience, you have to accept new situations quickly and take with a calm approach. Acting irrationally and going on a rave of panic, doesn't help anyone." Matsunaga replied which was received with a welcoming smile from Twilight. Matsunaga clap his hands together which made her jump, he couldn't but giggle, "Apologies, but getting back to the matter at hand - didn't you need to your accomplice 'Spike' to send off a letter to the Princess?" as the words left his mouth, Twilight smiled and then brought a hoof to her face and let out a long groan. "Ms. Sparkle?"

"I'm sorry." Twilight said with a nervous grin.

"Again? Whatever for?" he replied with a light chuckle at the repeating situation.

"I forgot Spike is with Rarity today, he said he would be helping her with some gems." Twilight explained.

"Gems?" Matsunaga was taken back by this.

"My friend, Rarity, is a fashion expert and wanted Spike's knowledge of gems to see if the gems she wanted to put on her new fashion idea were fake or not." Twilight continued. Matsunaga brought his right hand to his chin and hummed in thought.

"I suppose, we will just have to wait. Since Ms. Dash and Ms. Pie are retrieving your friend, I'm certain to assume your companion is with her too." He commented

"Yeah, I guess so." she replied bluntly.

"Therefore." Matsunaga said while raising his right index finger, "I propose we get to know each other better. I assume you have a lot of question's about me." In an instant, Twilight was overjoyed with the idea. She immediately used her magic to grab a notebook and an pencil, which she promptly had hovered in front of her with her levitation spell. Matsunaga, once more had his calm smile but couldn't help let out a snort of humour at the hostess' interest. "Eager, I see? No point in holding you out in suspense then. Ask away, Ms. Sparkle."

"Oh, where do I begin?" Twilight said with joy. The feeling of getting to know more about a human, the only human ever known in the history of Equestria, was for her, the equivalent of that childhood moment when Celestia asked her to be her personal student. Trying to contain her excitement, Twilight began to 'ask away'. "Ooh, I know."

As Rainbow hovered towards the library, she stopped midair and turned in the opposite direction of the tree.

"Hey! We can't keep them waiting by walking like snails, you know!" Rainbow called out down the street.

"We know Rainbow, ah told yah, we're just not that sure about meetin this Matsawhoisits." said an orange mare with a Stetson hat on her head, covering her blond mane. Her honest lime green eyes, expressing concern that match her face, looked right at Rainbow. Her blonde tail flickered about as she trotted alongside another mare who's coat was a light grey that seemed to blend well with her indigo mane and tail, both of which had curly ends. The grey mare looked at the orange mare with her azure eyes and seemed to understand her concern but didn't look as fazed by the situation.

"Well, while I can say that I am unsure about meeting this 'hue-man', from what Rainbow has said, he sounds like a reasonable being, Applejack." said the grey mare, just stopping in front of Rainbow Dash. As Applejack stopped as well, she looked at the mare with a frown.

"Ah' get that, Rarity," Applejack started, "Ah' just wanna make sure that this guy ain't gonna do anything bad to us. Just because we agreed ta help 'im, doesn't mean he won't turn tail on us." she stated, expressing her honest concern with a now more uncertain expression, looking at the ground. Rarity placed her right hoof under her friends chin, cupping it as she brought Applejack's gaze to her face.

"I understand your concern, darling." Rarity began with warm smile, "If he does acting suspicious then we will ask him about his motives, simply as that. However, we must remember not to judge the book by the cover, ok?" as Rarity finished, Applejack returned the smile.

"Thank you." replied Applejack, bringing her stance to a more stoic form. "At least ya know where Ah' stand on this."

"I get ya, AJ." Rainbow said, bringing her self closer to the other mares, "but he seriously seems like a nice guy, besides I think he is more concerned with getting home more than anything. Even if he does try anything, he also seems to get that it wouldn't be worth trying." she stated with confidence. "Twilight did tell him that she knows the Princess, so I'm sure Celestia would put a stop to him, if he did do something shady." Applejack seemed to perk up a bit more at Rainbow's comment.

"I dunno," said a voice that spoke to the three mares who turned their attention to a purple scaled lizard with green spikes on from the head, running down its back to its tail. It's arms were crossed, it's emerald eyes and face matched its apprehensive tone, "He sounds too good to be true to me."

"I know, Spike." Rarity replied with a calm tone, "but let's give him the benefit of the doubt, alright? I'm sure it will be nice to speak to another male, won't it?"

"Yeah, well," Spike began, his expression unchanged but his tone didn't sound as harsh, "I just hope he isn't a jerk like other males I know." rolling his eyes, remembering his little trip to the dragon lands. He turned his attention to his west where he heard a mare approaching them while humming a tune, lo and behold, it was Pinkie. She bounced towards them with her usually cheery attitude, alongside her was another mare, who had straighter light pink hair, her fur was a lemon yellow and her eyes were cyan like Rainbow's coat. As she stopped in front of her friends, Pinkie kept bouncing up and down and the yellow mare stopped by her left and looked at the other mares with a welcoming smile.

"Hello everypony," the yellow mare spoke politely, "sorry we took so long, Angel wanted the food he asked for. Got to give the animals what they want." she said with a blush. This promptly was received from a sigh that came from Rainbow.

"You know, you spoil him too much, Fluttershy." Rainbow commented. Fluttershy, looked down to the ground, a bit withdrawn from the reply.

"Oh, do I? I'm sorry..." Fluttershy replied, a little saddened that her friend saw her as a bit of a push-over.

"Let's worry about dat another time, sugarcube," said Applejack, "we don't wanna to keep Twilight and this Mastawhatmacallim' waitin'."

"His name is Matsunaga." Pinkie responded with a cheery spring, "Did Rainbow even tell you I did a song for him that he enjoyed?" Rainbow's head dropped down at the mention of it, for her, Pinkie and song, sometimes don't go to well together.

"Here we go..." Rainbow deadpanned. Pinkie began to take a deep breath so she could go for an encore.

Inside the library, the was an atmosphere of peace and quiet, as expected of a library. The only noises breaking the silence were the sounds of Twilight's levitation spell holding the notebook and pencil and the same pencil used to take down notes. Even though it was twenty minutes, Twilight had managed to take down three or four pages worth of notes, about human anatomy and biology from which Matsunaga tried his best to answer to a certain degree. All the while, he kept a calm demeanour and feigned blushing when it came to certain questions, to make himself appear more of a three dimensional character that his houseguest was conversing with. His mind, had other thoughts.

'So far, so good, even though it's been a short amount of time, I seem to have given her more of a reason to trust me. If she is willing to note down the information in regards to the human body that I have explained to her about, then she might-' his thoughts were cut off when a familiar voice began to play a tune outside the library.

"Welcome to Equestria, oh, Welcome to Equestria, Welcome to Equestriiaaaa~~~~"

The tune broke Twilight's magical concentration and she dropped the pencil and notebook. She turned her head towards the door with her mouth hitting the floor. Matsunaga looked in the same direction and gave off a nervous chuckle.

"Ms. Pie certainly enjoys singing, doesn't she?" Matsunaga commented, his face showing a great deal of worry. Twilight rushed over to the door and brought it open swiftly with her magic, then promptly pulled Pinkie inside with her magic.

"Pinkie, were supposed to not draw too much attention remember?" Twilight ordered her. She released Pinkie, whom landed flank first on the wooden floor in front of Matsunaga.

"Sorry, Twilight." she apologised before turning her attention Matsunaga, "Hi, MH." she greeted with a more upbeat greet.

"Hello again, Ms. Pie." Matsunaga replied calmly.

"Come on in, girls." Twilight called out to the other mares on the outside. The four mares and the little lizard walked into the library of their lavender friend. When they were all, Twilight used her magic to close the door behind them. As Pinkie and Rainbow sat to the right of the new guest of Equestria, Rarity, Applejack and Spike merely took a couple of steps from the door before their jaws hit the floor. Fluttershy crouched down behind Applejack, hooves covering her head in fear of what this huge being in the library might do to her, the fact that his size alone, even sitting down, dwarfed her.

"Matsunaga, I would like to you to meet; Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and my number one assistant Spike." Twilight announced as she pointed to each respective party member.

"It's nice to meet you all." Matsunaga began, "I am Matsunaga Hisahide," he placed his right hand over his chest and bowed his head toward the flabbergasted trio and scared mono, group that entered the room. His eyes met Rarity's as she was examining him up and down. 'Ah, yes, she is the fashion oriented one of the group, no doubt my attire will receive a reaction, like moth to a flame.' As if they were reading a script, Rarity moved toward Matsunaga by a couple of steps, still examining him. She closed her jaw and brought a gentle smile to the conversation.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, good sir. I am Rarity." she spoke politely, "I must say, you have an interesting design to your attire. The contrast of black and white down the middle is quite intriguing and that segment of gold on the black side is quite surprising." she continued to monologue as she studied the human from almost every angle. Matsunaga wore an awkward grin as he was put on a pedestal. He looked at the other ponies and dragon who were still astounded by his presence. Despite Rarity's examination, he decided to address them.

"I understand that you may be fearful due to my size alone, but I want to reassure you all that I am merely another lost one trying to find his way home," he began tentatively "I am grateful that you all are taking the time out of your lives to help me and once again, I wish to thank you." As he finished, Spike walked around the room towards Twilight's side, his face showing his uncertainty about all this. His eyes narrowed a little as he gave an audible cough to draw the humans attention towards him.

"Look, I'm all for helping for someone who got lost and all but I have to ask this -" Spike looked at Twilight who was surprised at Spike for stepping into the spotlight to this being he has only known for two to three minutes, "how do we know we can trust you?" Twilight gasped at Spike's question but then frowned at him. Rarity returned her spot by Applejack and Fluttershy, who seemed to have summoned the courage to make herself know by standing next to Applejack.

"Spike!" Twilight replied harshly. Before anypony could say anything, a small chuckle was coming from Matsunaga whom was lightly smiling at the question.

"I understand, Sir Spike, I had a feeling that I would be asked this at some point." He looked around the room to see that everypony and Spike were raising an eyebrow at him. "A strange being comes along, carries a sword as an heirloom to his side and suddenly he is receiving help from close friends without batting an eye? If, I was you, Sir Spike, I probably would have thought the same thing." he explained and Spike was astounded, it was like he knew what he thought the minute he found about it. The scary thing was, he hit the nail on the head. "I wish to express apologies if I come across as shady or sinister, I would like to infer that I am not so that we could all get along but I assume it wouldn't be enough to sate your uncertainties." Matsunaga continued, looking at each one with a caring and earnest face which matched his tone.

"Uhh... Well," Applejack began, unsure of what to say to the statement, "It's as Spike said sugarcube, we're not all that sure we can trust ya, we just me ya." All the mares, were looking at each other with uncertain glances as the elephant in the room was addressed. Even Rainbow, Twilight and Pinkie were beginning to feel this uncertainty fill the room as a dim aura began to take hold. Matsunaga let out a large sigh, who again gained all the mare's and Spike's attention as he raised his right hand defensively but welcoming to the honesty.

"Fair enough. So I propose that I share with all of you where I come from and how I came to this current situation. I won't give you my childhood, because the truth of my story will help you understand why. All I ask is that you let me tell you all what my world is like with an open mind, please." he pleaded to all the ponies and dragon around him. As a couple of moments of silenced passed, the mares and Spike all huddled together in a small corner on the other side of the room, forming a small circle, their heads pointing inwards away from their guest.

"Will this be enough to earn your trust, AJ?" Twilight whispered.

"Ah' guess.." Applejack said bluntly.

"He does seem to be as nice as Rainbow said, Darling." Rarity interjected with a reassuring tone, remembering the similar conversation she had with her before they met the human.

"Ah' get that. But, Twilight, ah'm just unsure is all." Applejack replied, a little more sad than earlier, feeling like she has done something wrong. Twilight placed a hoof on AJ's shoulder.

"I understand, but I'm sure if he wanted to do any harm, he would have done something by now, wouldn't he?" Twilight said calmly.

"Ah' suppose so." the orange mare replied once more with a bit understanding in her voice. She felt a bit of deja vu~. "Ah'm sorry. I just don't want to see any of us getting hurt by helping him, that's all." All of the girls, Spike included smiled at AJ as she repeated what she said earlier. "So Ah' say we hear his story and give him a chance, alright?" she proposed with confidence. All of the members of the friend's circle nodded lightly with a warm smile. The discussion over, they all turned to Matsunaga and each one sat in separate parts of the library, making themselves comfortable.

"All right, Matsunaga." Twilight said with a warm smile. "We all agree to hear your story." Matsunaga returned the smile.

"I thank you all" Matsunaga replied. He looked at each of the girls who all looked a bit more comfortable with his presence, he looked at Spike who seemed a little defensive but didn't seem he wanted to dismiss his friends because they wanted to give Matsunaga the chance. Relaxing his muscles and posture a bit, he let out a sigh of relief. "Let me tell you all the tale of my world, a world that changed day by day as a long era went on, the Sengoku era."

'Yes, please, listen well, as you all feel dread and false reassurance from my version of the war torn era.'