The Guardian Shadow

by KnightBrony


Chapter 2: I Get Mauled by Yogi

Chapter 2

I Get Mauled by Yogi

Hurtling through that vortex was probably the worst thing I've ever experienced, and I've had some really bad experiences. My body felt like it was being torn apart, burned, flattened, and deflated all at once. I could feel my bones shrinking, hair growing rapidly all over my body, and something I've not felt for a long time, true fear. True fear that I would die, that I would meet my end in this swirling vortex of chaos and misery, this unimaginable hell. I closed my eyes, resigned to my fate, when I realized that there wasn't anymore noise, no more pain, no more vortex, just silence.
I opened my eyes to find that I was in a forest, surrounded on all sides by nothing but trees. The air felt dark and heavy, like in a swamp. I could hear various cries from the creatures in the forest, hoots, howls, and any other type of cry you can think of. There was also something else, something I didn't expect, a feeling
I tried to stand up only to immediately fall on my ass. Looking to see why, I discovered that I no longer possessed my hands or feet, but rather I had front and back hooves. You'd think this would freak me out, but after my ordeal with that strange woman and traveling through the vortex, I was kinda tapped out on freak out energy. Instead of freaking out, I decided I needed to examine the rest of my new body. I tried standing up again, finding it much easier now that I knew I was quadrupedal and not bipedal. I walked for a bit until I found a lake that I could see myself, and what I saw surprised me a great deal. When I saw my hooves, I thought that weird woman screwed me over and made me a pony, but when I saw my reflection, I found that instead of a pony, she had turned me into a zebra.
I examined my reflection in the water, letting my new appearance soak in. I had a white coat with gray stripes going along my entire body, a two-toned mohawk that matched my coat color, and a tail. One thing that struck me as odd was that I had no cutie mark, or emblem I guess since I'm a guy, but I didn't take much notice of this. The most surprising thing was my eye color, which back on earth were a dark brown, but when I looked at my reflection, I saw that my right eye was an emerald green and that my left eye was blood red.
“Huh, well, this is.....different” I said out loud
After looking myself over a couple more times, I finally said “Well, that's enough looking at myself, time to get down to business. First, I need to find out where I am”
I scanned my surroundings once again, to find that the forest looked like a cross between a temperate and tropical forest, with vines and tropical plants wrapping around the tree trunks and growing on the ground. The trees had fruit hanging from their branches, some I recognized, and others I didn't. I decided to search around to see if anyone was living here, and if they could tell me where I was.
I searched for what felt like hours, only coming across trees, trees, trees, and, you guessed it, more trees. I was beginning to get scared that this forest went on forever full of nothing but trees and rocks. This thought kept running through my head as I walked, permeating through my every thought whenever I tried to get my mind off the subject.
After a few more hours of walking, I figured it was time to make camp and rest. I had no supplies to make a shelter, so I thought of trying to make something out of vines and twigs, but when I went to get them, I was reminded of two things. One, that I had no hands or fingers, I think that speaks for itself. Second, I was in a strange place, full of dangerous creatures, some of them no doubt carnivores, and I had no weapons, natural ones or otherwise, that would help me defend myself if say a wolf decided to make me a midnight snack. This thought made me decide to keep going for a while longer, but I knew that I was gonna have to rest at some point.
I finally reached my limit, so tired that I was surprised I was still standing. I thought I would just pass out in the middle of the woods and let luck keep me from getting eaten, but that's when I saw the cave, a perfectly good cave just staring me in the face. When I saw it, my first thought was 'WOOHOO, shelter!' and ran towards it with gusto, but that's when a second thought crept into my head 'This cave may look harmless, but this is a forest in an alternate dimension, be on your guard, you don't know what could be lurking in this cave'
This thought in my head, I turned my run into a creep, suddenly aware of the danger I could be facing. Making sure to make as little noise as humanly, my bad, zebra-ly possible, I crept into the cave. It looked pretty much like any normal cave, lots of rocks, water dripping from the ceiling, and stalactites and stalagmites all over the place. After searching through the place, I figured it was safe, so I laid down and closed my eyes, glad that I was finally able to rest after all the shit that I've been through that day.


I dreamt that I was surrounded by nothing but shadows, nothing but black for as far as I could see. I had had this dream before, and the fact that I was having it now scared me more than anything else, because I knew what this dream meant, it meant I was in danger. I'd had this dream many times before, and each time I woke up to find danger around me. Tornadoes, earthquakes, robbers, basically any sort of danger you can imagine. I also knew that the danger was always immediate,always right about to get me, and that's when I woke up.
My eyes shot open, aware that danger was close, and I took as good a defensive stance as I could in this new body and scanned my surroundings, and when I did, I found out what the danger was, and it chilled me to the bone. Standing in front of me was the biggest bear I'd ever seen, and I'm not talking Black Bear or Grizzly Bear big, I'm talking 20 stories tall with big, sharp teeth and even sharper claws, a translucent pink body with constellations on it's fur, and the ugliest face I had ever seen, and I immediately knew what this bear was, I was staring at an Ursa Major, and it was staring back. After a few seconds, it took full notice of me and let out a roar so loud all of Equestria could hear it. I did the only logical thing, I RAN THE FUCK OUT OF THERE! I bolted out of that cave so fast I could've given Rainbow Dash a run for her bits. But that damn bear chased after me, with surprising speed given it's size
I started really putting on the gas, but I knew it was pointless, this thing was so big and fast I could've had the combined speed of the entire Wonderbolts and I still wouldn't have been able to outrun it. Knowing that, I had two options:
1. Keep running and hope I found a place that I could hide
2. Stand, fight, and go out with a blaze of glory
I chose Option 2, because I wasn't gonna die like some coward, if I was gonna die, I wanted to go out in a blaze of glory and blood. I took an offensive stance and waited for the beast to charge. I didn't have to wait long, seeing as how the damn thing was right on my tail. When it finally caught up, I yelled as loud as I could
“BRING IT ON YOU BASTARD, I'M NOT SCARED OF YOU!”
Hearing me, the beast let out an even louder roar than the last one, bared it's teeth, extended it's claws, and barreled down on me with blood lust in it's eyes. I stood there and waited, and that's when it happened, the same thing that happens every time I fight, it was like I was looking at a split-screen on a video game, except it was the same screen, with the same video playing, but one a little faster than the other. I saw what the Ursa was gonna do and dodged, my body coursing with adrenaline. My mind was racing, going through hundreds of different scenarios, most of them ended with me as a grease spot, but there was one, a crazy, dangerous, stupid scenario that ended with me as the victor. I figured being dead would suck, so I put my plan in action. I waited for the Ursa to take a swipe at me, then I did the stupidest thing ever, I let the hit connect and grabbed on to one of it's claws. Once I had a good hold on it's claw, I pulled with all my strength and tore it's claw right out of it's hand, the Ursa screaming in pain as I did so, and then I got thrown far enough in the air to reach the moon. Perfect, just like I planned, cause now my plan really got fun. Using the speed of my fall, I glided down, the claw clenched firmly between my hooves, and drove it straight into the Ursa's head.
For a few moments there was silence, then the Ursa Major let out a roar, but this wasn't an angry roar, it was a sad roar, the kind a creature only makes when it knows it's dead. The Ursa finished it's mighty roar, and fell over, dead. Thankfully I had the insight to jump off it's head before it hit the ground, landing just a few yards away from the body and getting slammed by the shock wave it made when it finally fell. After recovering my senses, I surveyed my kill. The Ursa still had the claw sticking out of it's head, glowing blue blood dripping from the wound, it's eyes closed in death. Even though I had only killed it to avoid getting killed myself, I couldn't help but shed a few tears for the creature. Truth be told, I didn't like fighting, much less killing, and try to avoid it whenever possible, because this is the kind of thing I'm capable of, killing my enemy in the most brutal way possible. I went up to the Ursa's head and pulled the claw out, letting the poor creature have some dignity in it's death. After I pulled the claw out, I whispered in it's ear:
“I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry. Please know that I took no pleasure in taking your life, and I pray you find peace in the next life”, shedding tears as I said so
That's when it happened, the moment that changed me forever. The Ursa began to glow, a glow so bright it would make even Celestia have to look away. When the glow faded, I saw that the Ursa had dissolved into stardust, dissipating and going in all directions, some going to the heavens, some going into the claw I used to kill it, and some of it going into my body. When the dust finally dissipated, I looked down to see that the claw was glowing, a pale blue light the same color as the dust. I picked it up, and when I did, the claw glowed even brighter, getting so bright that I couldn't bear to look at it, and for a few seconds it felt like I was going through the vortex again, but only for a few seconds. When the glow finally died, I found that I was outside of the forest.
“Huh, what the, how did....” I never got to finish my sentence because that's when the pain began.
“Ugh, I guess that fight took more out of me than I....Ugh....thought” my body rocking with an intense pain. The pain was getting worse, at first starting as a sudden jolt, but now becoming more frequent and more painful with each wave. I couldn't stand it anymore, I yelled out:
“SOMEONE, ANYONE....PLEASE...... HELP. THE PAIN WON'T STOP!” , my throat hurting with every word.
Apparently my yelling worked, because I could see a figure running toward me, my vision getting blurry from the pain. The figure stopped just a few feet short of me, surveying my injured body.
The figure finally said “Oh my goodness, your hurt, we need to get you to a hospital, oh but that might take too long,...oh what should I do” the figure said in a panicked but soft voice
I contorted in pain once more, this one worse than the others, my vision getting even worse
The figure saw my pain and said “Oh my,...there's no time for the hospital, I'll just have to treat you myself” the figure said, wrapping an arm around me and trying to pick me up
I managed to cough out “Ugh...the claw...bring the claw...it's....important...I ...Agh” I blacked out, the last thing I heard being the figure's cries of concern