Welcome to Ponyville, Aru
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic/em are not owned by me. I only own the story.
WARNING: China acts childish at times. There is no swearing. This story does not cover any world history. I am very sorry if something is not accurate!
Story Description: Wang Yao, or more recognized as China, somehow manages to find his way to a land of magical and blindingly colorful ponies. All the while, the countries continue to wonder why he hasn't shown up at the meeting, yet.
Chapter 1 - Everything is Certainly Fine
"Invented in Korea? I'm getting tired of this, aru." Sulkily, the old Asian country placed down the panda plush. Oh, he was so excited to receive a gift from one of his younger brothers! He rarely was given anything to show him appreciation, but with it being from South Korea, he suspiciously checked for the "Made in Korea." He wasn't surprised that the first word was changed to 'invented.'
"Aiyah, at least panda is cute, aru." Yao hugged the stuffed animal tightly, a small squeal escaping his lips as he did so. He was not ashamed by this action as he was sitting alone in his home.
China was having a pleasant morning. Unlike most days, he was feeling delighted to wake up. There wasn't anything particularly special about this day besides the fact that he will have to head to the world conference with his fellow nations, once again. China was never too fond of those conferences as it would usually end up in chaotic arguments, but he just couldn't find the mindset to think pessimistically. Yes, today will be a good day.
Yao headed over to his kitchen with panda plush in hand. He looked around to see what he could eat for breakfast. Nothing seemed appealing to him at that moment, so he decided that he will just grab a cold siopao from the refrigerator and eat it on the way to the meeting.
"Well, I better get panda." Of course he liked Korea's gift, but he felt more comfortable with his real panda companion.
"Panda! Come here, aru!" He shouted while fixing his hair up into a messy ponytail. He threw the basket straps over his shoulders, knowing full well that his panda was there, explaining the added weight in the basket.
China headed to the airport, thinking about his flight to Britain, the setting for today's world conference meeting, would be like. He never thought much about plane flights since he flew so often, but his blissful attitude couldn't stop him from wondering about random things. On the plane, he was greeted warmly by the Chinese citizens. China happily walked down the aisle and said hello to everyone. His face sported a big smile, which seemed to lighten the mood for everyone around him. He found an open seat and set his basket down next to him. He was slightly disappointed that he couldn't find a pretty girl he could talk to during the ride, but he decided to use this time to fly high and look upon the countries.
After a few minutes, he finally heard the announcement of the plane's departure. He sat back and closed his eyes, imagining himself wacking America on his head to finally shut him up. "Yeah, I should do that!" he said to no one in particular. He silently giggled.
The plane lifted. He continued imagining. He dozed off.
About forty-five minutes later, he woke up. He sat blankly for at least a minute or two then finally stretched himself awake. It was going to be a six hour ride, so he decided to sleep for a majority of it since he had nothing else to do. Yao grabbed his little panda and scooted over to the window on his right. He looked out and smiled proudly at his cities beneath the clouds. He never thought about how privileged he was to be able to fly over the continents. Excitement ran through his head when he thought about what it would be like to fly freely and as fast as he could. Planes took forever and the view was so limited. Maybe he could try skydiving. Ever since Russia jumped off that plane, he has reconsidered, even though he knew it was safe with a parachute.
"If I had superpower, I want to be able to fly. Or maybe I could just grow wings and fly... I wish that was possible, aru," he whispered to himself. His panda looked up at him curiously.
"Hahaha, of course you will be there too, panda." The panda blinked and continued to stare curiously. Yao sat back in his seat and once again closed his eyes. His panda sprawled out on his lap and quickly fell asleep. Likewise, Yao fell asleep.
Upon landing in the airport at England, China walked out quickly, just realizing how late he was. He briskly walked through the crowds and weaved past each person.
"Hey. China, look over here," said a voice to his left.
"England? Why are you not at conference room, yet?" Yao asked the man as he turned towards the alley. He could not see his face, but his voice sounded exactly like the British country, so he gullibly walked over to him.
"Hahaha, well, you aren't exactly going to be there, either," the man said with a low, sinister sounding voice.
"What is that supposed to mean, a-"
WHACK!
China fell backwards with a large welt on the left side of his forehead. The figure stood above him and chuckled darkly. His form grew two mismatched wings and horns, along with a snake-like body that sported legs and arms of different animals.
"Oh, how I love those old, chaotic days where I could run around hitting ponies in the head with a pipe." The figure snapped his fingers, making himself and Yao's body disappear, leaving behind a lonely basket and a tiny, confused panda.
He could hear chirping above him. His eyes were still closed, but he lied there listening to nature's animals in song. Finally, he glanced up into the sky. He stretched his limbs, which were... awkwardly stiff. They felt flexible, but he didn't feel right when he moved his arms. His back felt uncomfortable, but it wasn't too distracting. He reached up to rub his eyes, but he ended up hitting himself on the chin.
"What is..." He looked at his... hoof. His eyebrows folded and his eyes widened. He felt a scream crawling up his throat while his mind started yelling random thoughts at a hundred miles a minute. He tried standing up but only succeeded in seeing the rest of his body in horror. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! WHAT AM I?" He somehow managed to stand up on his legs with adrenaline flooding his mind. He looked at his hooves once more.
"I turned into horse, aru!" he screamed in horror. He suddenly felt dizzy and lied back down onto his back.
"Ok, calm down, China." He was breathing rapidly. With one hoof to his chest, he cleared his mind and breathed carefully. Once he got a hold of his breathe, he cautiously got to his hooves. His fur was a solid but light colored red. His black hair was still tied into a ponytail, but his tail seemed to automatically take shape without being in a tie. He was still wearing his green military uniform which seemed to conceal two bumps on either side of his back, but he realized that something was missing from his back.
"Panda? Panda! Where are you, panda, aru?" He looked around frantically. Neither his basket nor his panda could be found. At the corner of his eye, he spotted a bold red rectangle with yellow stars on top of his leg. He noticed that it looked a lot like his flag. He scrunched his eyebrows and turned around to see his other leg. Yep, his flag was there, too.
"Aiyah..." he breathed out as he took in his surroundings. The trees, the grass, the flowers, and all the birds had such bold and girly colors that his eyes
In the distance, he caught sight of a brown rabbit with the biggest eyes he had ever seen on an animal. He put on a big smile and slowly trotted over to the bunny. It noticed him, but it didn't attempt to run. Instead, it sniffed him curiously.
"Hello there, aru. You are cute bunny." He reached out and petted the rabbit on its head, surprised that it did not resist or act scared. After putting his hoof down, the rabbit bounded off calmly toward the trees. He watched it go off and decided to follow it.
"Aw, wait for me, aru!" China darted off into the forest. He did his best to follow the little brown fur ball, but it was so fast that he lost sight of it.
"No, wait, come out, aru! Where did you go?" He looked around at his surroundings. He did not notice how dark and eerie it felt before carelessly chasing after the bunny. The trees looked like they had faces, which glared down at him and sent chills up his neck. He knew it was a bad idea, but out of curiosity he silently continued deeper into the forest. The plants were like nothing he had ever seen before. Most of the leaves had huge or no veins, the ferns were unnaturally curled into spirals. He stopped abruptly at a patch of sapphire colored flowers. They were such a contrast to the forest around them that he somehow felt slightly intimidated by flowers. He didn't have a good feeling about them, so he walked around the patch. In fact, he didn't feel well about the whole forest. It was just so dark and... creepy, to say the least.
He continued walking in until he found a small clearing where the ground was flat without any plants sticking out except for a few patches of grass. Up ahead, he saw a giant lion with wings watching a few butterflies flit around with a stoic expression on its face. Since when did lions have expressions?
China figured that it wasn't a good idea to approach the beast. He turned around to head out of the forest, but of course there was that twig he stepped on. That twig. Timidly, he looked back at the lion. It was glaring at him and stood in a charging stance with its wings erect. It pawed the ground and watched Yao with a fierce gaze.
"Uh..."
SHING! The beast raised its scorpion stinger.
"Oh, a manticore..." It charged at him, and China ran back into the trees screaming for help.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! I'm sorry, manticore, aru! I'll never step into your territory again! Please, I'm sorry! AAAAHH! SOMEONE SAVE MEEEEEE!" He ran past the plants, past the blue flowers, past the freaky trees, and back out into the beautiful field of bright sunshine, vibrant grass and singing birds.
"NO! CREEPY FOREST IS NOT GOOD, ARU!" he screamed. He glanced back and slowed down when he realized the manticore was no longer tailing him. His legs wobbled and he collapsed onto the soft grass.
"Aiyah, I wish I had my wok, aru. I so feel pathetic right now..." China was feeling so helpless. He had ended up in a world he did not know. On top of that, he was a freaking HORSE! Also, he was alone. Oh, so very alone. Except for a few birds here and there.
"But in the distance, he saw a house. It was surrounded by a lot of plants, so maybe that was why he had not seen it earlier. Of course if there is a house, there must be people! Hopefully they will not freak out that there was a talking horse at their door.
Getting back on his hooves was a lot easier now that he had already learned how to run with them. Quickly he galloped towards the humble cottage. As he approached the vast gardens surrounding the house, a putrid smell filled his nostrils that reminded him of a farm. Slowing to a trot, he looked around warily before advancing to the doorstep. He wanted to make sure he was not intruding.
Knock knock knock!
He waited and listened patiently. He heard tiny patters against wood, and eventually he was greeted by a grumpy looking white bunny that looked almost exactly like the brown bunny from earlier. It blinked at him as if waiting for the Asian pony to speak. China displayed a friendly smile.
"Ah... Ni hao!" China bowed his head in greeting. The rabbit stared boringly at him for a few seconds before raising his right eyebrow.
"Eheheh... Hello, bunny... Do you live here with anyone?" he asked awkwardly. The rabbit rolled his eyes and slammed the door on China's nose. Feeling a new bruise forming on the tip of his face, he grasped his nose in pain. China scoffed.
"Well, that wasn't very nice!" Immediately the door opened once again, revealing a butter-colored horse with long pink hair and a smaller and pointer snout than his.
"O-oh, hello. Oh my! Did Angel Bunny slam the door on your nose? Please excuse his poor manners..." the female equine said quickly but in a nearly inaudible voice. China couldn't help but squee when she finished her comment. He noticed that she sounded just as cute and quiet as Canada... was that his name? I forgot. Anyway, China bowed again, now directed to the mare.
"Ni hao! I am Wang Yao, but I prefer to be called China. Don't worry about bunny's manners. I am ok!" Yao said happily.
"U-um, well, if you insist... I-I'm Fluttershy. B-but I should really apologize for my Angel Bunny. Do you need a bandage? Painkiller? Uh... uh, an ice pack?" she asked with a concerned but sweet voice.
"No, no. I'm fine. I am just so happy to find another person! You see, I am bit lost, aru. I am pretty sure this is not just weird dream." The mare looked at him with concern. She was unsure what to say to this mysterious stranger. By his accent, she could tell that he was a foreigner and possibly new to Ponyville. She was confused why he would say that it was a weird dream.
"Um, well... I guess I could bring you to town. I mean, if you're not busy or anything..." China's eyes brightened in excitement.
"There is really town around here? I would love to go, aru! Thank you so much!"
"Uh, of course." She turned to the white rabbit standing next to her hooves. "Now, Angel Bunny, I'm going to go take this nice pony to town. Please watch the cottage until I get back." The rabbit saluted and bounded off further into the house. The mare stepped outside and closed the door behind her. She motioned to China to follow.
Just then, China noticed, not only the three butterflies spotting her flank, but also an odd extra limb attached to her back. Actually, he thought he saw another one on the other side of her back. Before he could say anything, his companion spoke up.
"I'm sorry. What did you say your name was?"
"I am Wang Yao, but I am also China."
"So which name should I call you? I mean, if you don't mind my asking." China chuckled.
"China. What is name of your country?"
"Oh, this is Equestria." Fluttershy giggled silently at his lack of sentence articles. China smiled when he saw her smile at him.
"So do you know your country's nation personification? I bet Equestria is nice person, aru." Fluttershy's smile faltered at his mysterious question.
"Nation personification? Do you mean the princesses?"
"No, I mean Equestria. Isn't he or she your nation personification? I am China's personification, aru. Us nations like to be called by our country names." Fluttershy couldn't respond to that. This colt was, indeed, a very strange pony.
"Um, I guess not. I never knew there was such thing. I didn't know that China was even a country..." The mare hung her head, afraid that she might have offended him. Instead, China never lost his smile.
"That's ok. I didn't think this world would be like mine. Are there more horses like you in town, aru?" Fluttershy was now utterly confused by the colt's origin. It sounded as if he had just transported from a different world.
"U-um, yes... There are lots of ponies in Ponyville." China could not help but snicker. Ponyville? What kind of childish name was that? Up ahead he could see that they were nearing the town. It looked like western culture architecture and lacked any sign of automobiles. He did not complain; he much rather liked riding a bike and seeing the clear blue sky without the smell of gasoline every day.
Suddenly, thinking about the buldings made him think about the European and North American countries. Actually, it reminded him about all the nations on Earth. It was not until now that he realized that just a few minutes ago he had woken up in a world where all he should've felt was lost.
A sweeping chill ran across his neck as he thought about the prospect of being lost. No, he did not like that feeling.
A couple minutes later of awkward silence, the two ponies trotted onto the main road of one part of town. Yao noticed that a great amount of these pastel-colored ponies had horns or just plain nothing like him.
"Wow, I have never seen unicorns before in real life, aru! Except for maybe England's descriptions," he commented while slightly annoyed as he mentioned the European country's name.
"Huh? You never saw a unicorn before? Are there no unicorns where you came from?" The shy pony asked, mainly out of confusion.
"No! We only see bland colored horses. Humans only think of unicorns as mythical creatures from fantasy stories."
"Humans? Um, what are humans? If that question doesn't bother you..." Yao's mouth opened slightly, trying to say something he couldn't word together.
"Uh, well, it might sound crazy, but I might have transported here from my world and turned into horse, aru. I don't know what happened. One minute I'm in England and next I wake up next to bad, creepy forest. Bunny was cute, though, aru."
"H-how is that possible? I never knew there was actually such thing as world hopping! I mean, well... except for one time..."
"I didn't either, aru," China replied solemnly. What if he couldn't find his way back to Earth? His country needed him! And think of all that paperwork he has to do when he gets back!
"U-um, maybe Twilight knows something. She's a good friend of mine and she's very smart! Maybe she can use her magic to get you back to... wherever you came from..."
"Earth. But can your friend really transport me back? I don't even know how I got here!"
"Well, Twilight has talked about humans before when she came back from the mirror world. She's a princess, you know. With her alicorn magic, she is very powerful."
China was dumbstruck. This timid little horse was good friends with a princess? And Yao thought she was just an ordinary citizen with a sweet voice as quiet as a cat's mew that lived in a lonely cottage that smelled like stinky animals. She is a lot more high class than he thought. Besides the stinky animals.
"So where is she right now, aru?"
"Um, she's probably at our castle... Spike did say that she was busy organizing her fall schedule."
Wait, OUR castle? FLUTTERSHY SHARED A CASTLE WITH A PRINCESS?! There was more to this horse than what meets the eye, that's for sure.
"So do you both live in that castle?"
"Well, it's more like a tree, but Spike and four of my other best friends share the castle, too. We don't live there, but Twilight and Spike do. Usually we let ponies look around when we're not busy."
"What is with this world? Since when did regular citizens get to have such a close relationship with a princess that they get to freely roam her castle?
"Hm. Well, I suppose I can wait until after Princess is done scheduling to talk to her."
"Oh, ok. If you want to. I'm sorry, but I really must be getting back to my cottage. Angel must be worried!" For some reason, China doubted that was true.
"That's ok, aru. I can look around town on my own. I am used to traveling in foreign countries, aru." China's smile seemed to get to her, so Fluttershy sent back a confident smile and headed back in the direction they came from.
She was such a sweet horse! No wait, she kept calling them ponies, so... maybe they were called ponies rather than just horses. Peh! Even more girly!
China looked up to the sky. All around him he could hear friendly voices talking about trading goods, families, friends, and food they ate recently. This world was dominated by ponies of all sizes, ages, and colors, and they acted and sounded just like casual Americans. Personified ponies. Who would have thought? He was reminded too much of his home. He had been a country for so long. He can take on this challenge! Until he could find his way back to Earth, he knew that he must adapt to this world, even if that means living with the questions about how he got here and if he will ever return.
As he stared at the unmoving clouds, he saw a group of winged ponies fly in and begin moving or destroying the clouds. They looked so free to be in the sky. Pegasi. Maybe Fluttershy was a pegasus. That could explain those two odd limbs on her back. He realized he never got to ask her about those.
He looked on his own back. The two bumps under his uniform were still there. He could feel an aching pain as he tried shifting them. Yes, he had to take off his uniform. China struggled to unbutton it with his hooves. Eventually, he felt the discomfort leave his back as he stretched his extra limbs a few times. With his uniform folded neatly and set onto the dirt floor, he stood up, flapped, and felt the air lift him off his hooves.
He felt so happy and natural as he ascended into the sky. Without a second glance, he flew away from his original position and felt the wind brush against his hair.
Perhaps he could enjoy his freedom while he had it.
"OK! I believe everyone has arrived, so let's begin the conference with my loud voice and excessive talking to solve all the world's problems! And because I'm the hero, I will kick off this meeting by saying that we can help get rid of world hunger by creating a tasty but healthy meal for all needy countries CHEAP, using the Ultramazing-Foodimizer 5000 that I just made up this morning!"
"I agree with America."
"I'm going to actually bring my Nobel Peace Prize to the next World Conference and finally hit you with it if you still don't know how to man up!"
"America, since when did YOU ever learn how to use the word 'healthy' in an actual sentence when speaking about food?"
"I for one think this is a very memorable occasion! If America is actually speaking healthy, we must hold a celebration, non?"
"Your parties are hardly more than you getting ladies drunk and the whole package of disgusting kisses and hugs while sitting at a table full of women that don't know how to see a real man when they need to!"
""Dude, we were totally just talking about world hunger! What does pretty ladies have to do with feeding hungry countries?"
"Obviously you both cannot see the importance of love when talking about giving to others what they don't have!"
"You are such a dirty bag of hairballs, you big oaf!"
"Ow! You don't need to get so physical unless it's for love making! Stop hitting me!"
"Stop saying such disgusting jokes around me! If you say another joke about-"
"Dude, China, you're supposed to complain about us being immature western countries and try offering your Chinese snacks to break them up right about now!"
"- I'll personally..."
...
"China?"
...
"It appears that China has not arrived, yet. Perhaps I will go look for him while you alls continue to fight, da?" Russia got up from his seat and eerily exited the conference room with a pickaxe leaning on his right shoulder.
"... Is China ever this late?" England commented.
"I'm... not... sure... but I'm glad he was... ugh..." Canada replied quietly from where Russia was previously sitting.
Edited 9/30/14
Edited 10/12/14
Edited 12/3/14
Edited 7/21/15
Edited 2/11/17 - Thank you to Charm Caster1127 and the Guest that informed me of this unfortunate transformation of the first chapter. I have fixed it up. :)