Heaven's Own Vainglory

by darkstone57

Chapter 4 - Matsunaga Hisahide - A Hermit's Tale

An opportunity - That would be the perfect word to describe Matsunaga's situation at this point. The Mane Six have all come together in Twilight's home and, after a short but decisive discussion with each other, have given the human a chance to earn their trust by telling them his world and how he came to Equestria. It was an opportunity that came into his lap all to easily, in his mind. As the mare's and the dragon took to spots in the library and waited for him to begin, Matsunaga relaxed his mind and body, for this tale he was about to tell - would be the easiest task he felt he had to take.

"Be forewarned, the world I come from is not for the faint-hearted..."

"The world I come from is, at the point of it's history, is a completely different world when compared to this world." Matsunaga began. He looked around the library as the mares and dragon listened to him intently. "No, let me rephrase that - I don't know about the rest of the world but I know one thing about the country I come from... " He paused for a moment before he continued, exhaling a heavy sigh before. "The entire country - is at war."

'War' - a word that was completely foreign in the land of Equestria. In the entirety of it's history - Twilight has only found one situation in Equestria to be deemed a war - the territory war that the citizen's of Appleloosa and the native Buffalo's had, however that was only a minor dispute that was resolved when the Mane Six got involved. Other than that, there was the historic moment were Princess Celestia fought and defeated Nightmare Moon, the imprisonment of Discord, the Changeling invasion and the relinquishment of Sombra, but all those were short battles that, while it had some casualties, didn't affect the entire country.

When Matsunaga told them all this one simple fact, the positive mood in the air died. All the attendant's, of his story, eyes widened in horror and their ear's dropped and positive emotion they felt about learning of his land faded almost entirely as they all shared a gasp of shock. Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight brought their hooves to their mouths. Whilst Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie and Spike jaw's dropped to the floor.

After a few seconds passed, Matsunaga looked at Twilight with some sorrow in his eyes then closed his eyes momentarily before continuing. "War has affected the country for a long time. Japan, the country in question, has various supreme generals from north to south, east to west. Each neighbouring state had a supreme general that ruled over it, each one lived differently, there was no supreme who had the same ideals, way of life or fighting style. All of them had hundreds of soldiers who would live and die for their lord. In a few cases, there were some warlords who had loyal retainers that were respected as much the supreme general but didn't command as much power as their lord but would lead the state soldiers into battle for their lord. In simpler terms, some of the second in commands were as unique as their lords."

"I vaguely remember why the war started in the first place. All I recall, there was some political dispute between two states, about who would rule the country, that failed... After a large battle, it somehow spread to the nearby provinces and then from there, it spread throughout the entire country." After heaving out another heavy sigh, he looked around the room once more to see all the mares and Spike were distraught after that last statement. Despite the ever growing feeling of sympathy towards him, he could feel coming from the ponies and the dragon, he continued.

"Around the time war started, I was under the command of Nobunaga Oda. He was known as one of Warlord Triage, he didn't come to earn that title at first but overtime it became apparent why. When it all began, I am ashamed to say, I was proud to serve under him. He had the talent, the intellect and most importantly the ambition to rule all of Japan. He would lead his troops into battle against a few minor supreme generals who posed as threats to some of the states that he was neighbours to, and being one of the second in command I would watch them unfold. Left and right, he would lay waste to his enemies and come out victorious with minimal effort. The weapons he chose for combat were a longsword and a shotgun, a weapon that could fire multiple strong metal pellets that would impale various victims in an instant or kill them." The sound of sobs filled the air as he finished the sentence. Like war, death by another ponies hoof was practically non-existent in Equestria. To learn that there was a place where warriors would die left and right, day after day was daunting to think about.

"But then, after the fourth battle was fought and won, against the Hojo clan, he ordered the troops to... 'Burn EVERYTHING!'. I watched from afar, on the pathway back to the Oda state, long after the battle was one, the castle that once belonged to the Hojo and the lands surrounding it, including homes and farms were burnt to ash in a merciless inferno. After that single act, Nobunaga earned a title, his true title - The Demon King. I couldn't believe the man who I had sworn my loyalty to would do something so monstrous." He clenched his fists tightly, gritting his teeth before taking a deep breath so he could continue his story. "The true ambition of the Demon King was shown through that one act, which in turn spread his reputation throughout the nation. Once I returned the Honnoji castle, I confronted him. He sat there, on a crimson throne, covered from neck to foot in grey armour, his crimson cape was tucked another his rear. He looked at me with those empty grey eyelids of his as he pulled away the cup of wine from his mouth. What struck me most was the 'cup' he used. To further add to his title, he would, literally, use the skulls of the supreme generals he murdered as a cup, a token in his eyes of his victory. The notion of it sickened me to my very core." He wasn't the only one sickened by that thought. The sobbing from all the listeners became more audible. Fluttershy fainted from the image of a skull being used a drinking cup but it was inaudible as the sounds of sobs were drowning the room, only Matsunaga's voice was louder than the cries of the mares and Spike.

"I still remember looking at that monster that day with nothing but guilt in my core. Guilt from believing that this man was the right one to rule the country, that the battles I fought for him were for a just cause... Regardless, I made my voice heard - I told my former master that what he was doing was inhumane and that I would stop him. He... he laughed at me. He crushed the skull in his hand with little effort and called me: 'A peon in the presence of The Great Demon King, a pawn who desired nothing more than to treasure things of folly and whose power was nothing more than a pebble compared to the mountain that he is'. Despite this, I drew my sword and fought him with everything I had and he defeated me within minutes." He stopped for a moment, just to look at Twilight who despite the tears forming down her face, she motioned him to continue. He responded with a small but slow nod of acknowledgement.

"That moment, when he aimed the shotgun barrel at my face, point blank with a sadistic smile on his face and no spirit in his eyes, I thought it would be my end. I acknowledged my defeat and waited for my end, I closed my eyes and waited for the end. Only to hear his footsteps move away from me. He walked away from me, I thought it was mercy, I thought there was... just for a moment - a small shred of humanity peeked through his dark soul. But that thought was destroyed when he turned toward me, swinging his crimson cape at me, swatting me out of the castle and sending me tumbling to the forest outside the walls of Honnoji."

After that statement was made, he could a few questionable 'huh's. It was important that he addressed this quickly, otherwise the entire story would fall apart. "His power is, indeed, demonic. Through some form or another, throughout the years, he has managed to manipulate demonic power into his entire being while still keeping his humanity intact. He could have fluxed his power into his sword and drilled me with it but for some reason he simply sent me soaring to the land below." Making the explanation clear, he looked around to see that whilst Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash seemed to believe it, Spike and Applejack didn't look so convinced but shrugged their shoulders.

'Hmmm...' his thoughts began, 'I best be careful with what I say around these two.' Letting his mind make mental note of Spike and Applejack, he continued his story without a second thought, adding a tone of shame to his voice. "From that point onward, I was deemed - 'The Villain of the Sengoku Era'. Throughout the nation, I was rumoured to be a greedy old hermit, who tried to take Nobunaga's position of power and keep the flames of war continuing for the ages." The group, except Fluttershy who was still out for the count, gasped in shock, which made Matsunaga mentally smile, but on the outside, he look down to the floor in shame.

"I couldn't go anywhere without someone accusing me of being a monster of the nation. I was forced to run and hide in solitude. Until one day..." he said adding a slight tone of hope to his tale, which made the listener's ears perk up. "I met a man. A mute, skilled warrior who was bar none one of the greatest fighters I have ever had the honour of meeting." He could see the listener's mouths make an 'O' shape and wonder what this meant. "There are three types of fighters in Sengoku war. Footsoldiers, who rely on swords and other weapons to win in close quarters combat or otherwise known as Samurai." Rainbow's interest was made known when Mastunaga heard her 'ooooh' at the statement.

"Range fighters, who rely one ranged weapons such as bows, crossbows and guns to take out enemies from afar." Matsunaga continued, "And Ninjas, who rely on stealth, elemental and assassination techniques to take out enemies quickly." He could see that Spike's jaw hit the floor at the mention of the third kind of fighter and at the corner of his right eye, he could see Pinkie doing the same.

"This man I met, was the ninja of legend. He went by the name of Kotaro Fuma." Once more, he could see Spike had his attention fully on him now, the young drake's eyes were wide in wonder at the thought of meeting a legendary ninja. "When he first appeared, I thought it would be my end. However, despite being a mute, he handed me a letter that made his intention's clear; 'He would follow me wherever I went, in exchange for me to put an end to this war, or at the very least find a way for people to live peacefully, far from the conflict.' I was astounded at this notion. This man, who had been known as infamous assassin for hire, was looking for a means of peace. It felt too good to be true." He shook his head and chuckled lightly at this before continuing, "I made it clear that there was no way I could end the war without an army, so instead went with his second option and all he did was nod in agreement." Twilight looked at him with a warm smile of sympathy.

"It took us a few weeks, but we eventually came across a mountain area that had been untouched by the war and as hidden amongst trees. The only downside to it, was there was a pathway to this area, the thought of army coming across this area by chance was troublesome to think about. After another few days of excavation we managed to conceal the pathway to this area that I and Kotaro found. Another few days passed before we managed to make a camp with some hand made huts, but by the time that came to pass an unexpected turn of developments came to be," he took a deep breath before continuing, "a band of soldiers that donned the banner of the Oda army found our settlement, at first I thought we were snuffed out by Nobunaga and were going to fight for our lives. However, they dropped their weapons and took of their helmets. I recognised them almost immediately." he stated before quickly glancing at Twilight who, once again, donned a puzzled look on her face.

"They were members of the army who were under my command at the time we fought the Hojo clan at their castle. One's who were rejected Oda's orders to incinerate what remained of the Hojo's settlements. The leader of the group told me how they humiliated by Oda's loyalist generals after they were ratted out for ignoring Nobunaga's command. They were kicked out of the army and banished from Oda clan, like me, and came to find me." All of them shared a moment where they smiled in sympathy for Matsunaga, it seemed even the power of friendship was possible in other worlds as well as their own.

"However," Matsunaga said with dread before continuing, "I was also informed of how the war was progressing. Another tyrant had appeared, who wanted to take the country by force - Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He was known as the 'Conquer King' for the fact the he was inhumanely large and unbelievably strong. What made him so fearful throughout the nation was," Matsunaga lifted his right hand up opened, holding out for all to see, "he could demolish an entire army, with his bare hands!" Matsunaga clenched the same hand into a tight fist, his faced scrunched up as his appeared to be grimaced with the idea of it all. The listener's all joined in another gasp of shock, it was too much to bare - another tyrant who wanted to ruin lives and force innocent humans to walk under him. For a moment, they were all slightly grateful that they did not live in their story teller's world.

"With this information, we all strengthened our resolve to find a means of taking the innocent bystanders away from it all. From then on, we tried very hard to remain inconspicuous as possible, spreading the word of a safe place for all that were affected by that war to escape too. A few more months passed, and we managed to take several hundred orphaned and homeless people away from their war torn lands and bring them to our secret hideout. As time went on we managed to expand our new home from a small camp to a village. It took a lot of effort but everyone who lived their was living peacefully, untouched by all the conflict." A warm smile came onto Matsunaga's face at this point as he looked at Twilight.

"This town reminds of the village, you know." he commented.

"H-How so?" Twilight asked, slightly caught off guard when she realised he was addressing her.

"When I looked at the ponies, before they saw me, I could see on their faces warm smiles. The air around this town feels almost serene." Matsunaga replied, meaning every word. "Anyway," he said, returning to the story. "Two months ago, three large development's happened." All members of the audience, bar Fluttershy, were slightly leaning forward by this part of the story. "The first - our village's population had almost reached a thousand settlers. By this time, we had to make sure that our home was still being kept of the sight, lest we risk exposing ourselves to the war. So Kotaro went on a journey to find a second hideaway, so that innocent people would be kept safe. It took a couple of weeks but we managed to find one, that was a week's walk from our first hideout. We allowed the residents to decide whether to stay or go and eventually it came to that we sent half of the settlers to our second home. Last I heard, they have become acquainted with the second hideout and are in the works of creating another village their as well." Matsunaga finished with a warm smile on his face.

"The second - another key player in the war came out of the shadows and made himself known - Ieyasu Tokugawa. This man was a former member of both the Oda clan and the Toyotomi clan. After years of servitude he finally gathered the means to create his own army to fight in the war." Matsunaga said bluntly.

"Another one?" Applejack commented, bringing Matsunaga's attention to her.

"Yes, Ms. Applejack." Matsunaga replied calmly.

"How many more of these nutcases are there?" Applejack asked with disdain. Matsunaga took a moment to think, looking saddened at the thought.

"Including the three I have mentioned before, there are more than fifteen of them, there is about one for every state in Japan as I said before." Matsunaga replied. Every pony and dragon simultaneously let their jaws drop to the floor. All of these humans wanted to take the country for their own by fighting to the death? It sounded more insane than Discord himself.

"Apparently Ieyasu was different. He claimed that he wanted to unite the lands in the name of bonds. It seemed cliché at first, but he was starting to gain a large following from some of the other lesser known generals of Japan. That didn't stop him from coating his hands in blood when he fought his enemies though, did it?" Matsunaga asked out loud, rhetorically.

"Isn't what they call a hypocrate?" Rainbow asked out loud.

"Hypocrite, Dash." Twilight corrected. "You were saying, Matsunaga?"

"Thank you, Ms. Sparkle." Matsunaga replied, before continuing, "and yes Ms. Dash. He is. His followers, don't see that though. They see him as shining beacon that will guide the land to a prosperous future. Whilst I can sympathise with his 'cause', I hope he remembers to leave the innocent ones out of it all." Matsunaga commented with a hint of anger. "Him, Toyotomi and Oda, make the Warlord Triage. At this point of time, even now, they are three key players that will decide the fate of the war." As this fact came to light, the audience became more puzzled at this, but one thing sounded certain - the war sounded like it was far from over.

"The third development came a week ago. I received a letter from Date Masamune - Head of the Oshu state. He somehow managed to find out about me and wanted me to come with Fuma to Oshu to meet him. How he came across this information? I have no idea. However, in this letter, he wanted to discuss in person about the war itself and why I have been hiding all this time. Leaving the hideouts in capable hands, Fuma and I set out to Oshu. It is just over a week's journey from where out settlement was to Oshu, so imagine my surprise when I continue on my path to find this small town." he said with a slight chuckle. "I assumed Fuma went on ahead this morning to scout out if it was to be a trap, but lo and behold, I am here in your world." he finished with one final sigh.

"That is the story of my world." Matsunaga stated. Looking around, he could see that all of them were at a loss for words. What were they to say? This human was from a world where war was life, a world where we was antagonised for standing up against a monster, a world that he managed to make something good out of all the years of chaos and death. All of their enemies, they had fought in their world now sounded like pricks off of needles when compared to the tyrants of Matsunaga's world.

Twilight felt nothing but sorrow for the man sitting in front of her. It explained why he seemed so upset when they first met, of course one would be upset when they find out they are in another world entirely, but this human had a created a means of peace for the ones that scarred by the war - that was still going on. To be taken away from that without any explanation, so suddenly, the sorrow for him came in a double load.

Matsunaga sat there, looking at the floor eyes closed. To them; they saw a human who had to return to his world so that he could be certain of the settler's safety, to come across a soul who would go through so much for others, it was remarkable. But in his mind, he was playing the waiting game now, 'Will this do it?' he simply thought, waiting for a response of some kind.

He got one, when the sound of hooves approached him and a pair of legs wrapped around his neck and a head rested on his shoulder, Matsunaga opened his eyes to see that it was Twilight who came to embrace in a sympathetic hug. The room was silent for a moment until she spoke out loud with a warm tone.

"I promise you Matsunaga, we are going to find you a way home, I promise." repeating her promise to the human, Twilight tightened her grip slightly. Following another long pause, Matsunaga returned the gesture by wrapping his arms around Twilight and embracing her in a hug. One by one, the rest of the group came over and embraced Matsunaga in a similar fashion and form a group hug, even Spike and Applejack joined in.

"Thank you." Matsunaga said, shedding a tear whilst smiling contently at their kindness. They held each other in a friendly embrace for quite some time as tears began to shed from all of them, excluding Fluttershy, who just managed to bring herself back to reality. Shaking her head and moaning in pain slightly, she looked at the group with concern.

"Oh dear," Fluttershy said, embarrassed, "is everything alright?" Rarity turned her head away from the brace, wiping a tear away from her eye as she looked at the yellow pegasus.

"I will tell you later, darling." Rarity said calmly, trying to keep her composure.

As Celestia's sun began to set, every pony began to take part in a plan that they decided together, following the story and heart-warming embrace, each of the mane six told their own tales of their world - a lot of time passed which led up to the discussion of said plan.

They all came to an agreement that Matsunaga would be able to sleep in the barn of the Apple family, considering the comfort of hay. Rarity tried to object to the notion but Matsunaga raised no qualms against the idea. Rarity, however decided that it would be best if he had a blanket his size to sleep in for the night. So after taking his height measurement's she headed back to Carousel Boutique to prepare said blanket.

Fluttershy decided to go with Rarity so that she could listen to the tale that the rest of her friends sat through whilst she was out cold. Rarity did say that she would tell her about it. Pinkie Pie decided that if he was going to stay a night at the barn, the least she could do was prepare a meal for him to fill his empty stomach. Her and Matsunaga conversed for quite some time on what he liked to eat, it did take quite a while, and even though mentally his patience was beginning to wear thin, he managed to keep up the façade of being interested of her methods of cooking and so she left the library to go to Sugar Cube Corner to prepare the food.

Applejack left before the others after they agreed to let Matsunaga stay at the barn, so she could prepare the barn for him prematurely. Twilight and Rainbow discussed the means of creating a temporary fog so that they could Matsunaga to the farm without any pony seeing him. While it did come up that she would have to explain why this happened all of a sudden, the best excuse they could come up with would be Rainbow was 'training so hard for the Wonderbolts one evening that it got out of hand and somehow it created the fog'. They agreed that they would do this and Rainbow would have to clear the fog by the end of the plan. Fortunately, rain was scheduled to come during the night over Ponyville so this could work around it.

Matsunaga seemed baffled by this, how they could talk creating weather on a whim, but shrugged it off when Rainbow told him that the Pegasi can control the weather of Equestria. Rainbow left quickly after the conversation to get started on the 'accident'. Leaving Twilight, Spike and Matsunaga to discuss what to say in the letter to the princess. After fifteen minutes of thought and discussion, they decided that it would be best to tell the princess about his tale, it would be shortened so that the main facts were made potently clear. Those facts being - He somehow came into Equestria through no intention of his own, he needed to get back to his world as soon as possible, he had the trust and responsibility of innocent lives to care for and to make sure that they weren't affected by the war until it ended. They also agreed to put that he would be eternally humbled and gratefully if he could get a response as soon as possible.

With the message sent off, Twilight agreed to do her part to help by studying means of world teleportation in her library for the night. Matsunaga showed his gratitude to each and everyone of them as they got to work.

As Luna's moon began to rise in her night sky, Matsunaga began to make himself comfortable in the back of the barn, where Applejack had prepared the make-shift bed for him to lay for the night. He was surprised to find that blanket Rarity had made was already there, along with the food that Pinkie made herself sitting on top of the blanket. Applejack informed him that Rainbow picked the items up for them so that they wouldn't have to come through the fog, for the point that they might have gotten lost. Bidding Applejack good night after thanking her for the hospitality, she expressed her sympathies and apologised for not trusting him at first. Matsunaga dismissed it and said that she every reason to be wary of him, nobody, or in her case no pony would trust some pony they have never met instantly. He made sure to express his thanks for giving him a chance which Applejack happily accepted before heading to her home.

As Matsunaga sat on the hay, blanket laying over, back against the stacks of hay that were placed for him, he began to take in the food that Pinkie prepared - lettuce and tomato sandwiches. Taking in a large bite of it, he had to admit this was rather delicious. He normally had a bowl of rice in Japan but this was a welcome change of meal.

Some time passed into the night before the rain started to pour over the barn. The sound of heavy rain drops hitting the reinforced wooden walls and roof, were the only thing Matsunaga could hear. It was proof that Rainbow Dash was indeed a hard worker and mare of her word. Matsunaga could still the contents of the barn thanks to the roof windows that were placed above. It gave enough light to see all around him.

Indulging in the last of his sandwich, Matsunaga look above at the rooftop where he saw single black feather drifting down slowly towards him. As it came within reach, Matsunaga reached up with his left hand and grabbed the end of the feather. He methodically brought it down in front of him and held it out in his open palm, staring it before opening his mouth to speak.

"So..." Matsunaga began to speak out loud to the feather. "I have now earned their trust. To think the inhabitants of this world can be so easily swayed. They are no different than humans. They would easy follow someone for a 'cause' if they believe will bring them peace, when in the end it only delays their deaths." he spoke out loud, bearing no emotion to the feather, a sadistic smile began to form in his face.

.........

"Inform her; that we will have more information for her when the time comes." He addressed the feather in a more serious tone, still devoid of emotion, "More than likely, it will come tomorrow. That is all." As he finished his sentence a strong blast of headed toward the barn door, releasing loose strands of hay from their batches, giving them flight before falling back to the barn floor. He watched the door move slightly back a bit, and then shut all on it's own it seems, leaving Mastunaga alone with the feather.

"Yes." Matsunaga said, gripping the same feather in his hand. "Be it man or creature, peasant and lord alike," the feather began to light up in flames in his palm, for a few moments, he watched it burn from a feather to a cloud of black smoke, releasing his grip as it turned in the small cloud, his hand leaving no burn marks at all, "We are destined for dust...." He brought his left hand a couple of inches in front of his face, the same sadistic smile widened than before, the mane six were in the palm of his hand - and he was loving it.

"Hahahahahaha......"