//------------------------------// // A True Formidable Foe // Story: The Legend of Zelda Friendship is Magic 2: Return of Majora // by MetalBrony823 //------------------------------// After trying to get as much warmth as they can, the blizzard was starting to stop and the skies were becoming a little more clear. The fire in the wood gave in, leaving the piles of lumber completely charred like a pair of burnt matches. Everyone was preparing themselves to continue in this journey. On the way, there was a trail up a small mountain with some pine trees Link thought that there might be a clue up there on the mountain, and decided to follow the small trail of pine trees. "Umm, Link, are you sure we should go up there?" Asked Fluttershy with uncertainty. "Thay'a no ordinary mountain." said Twilight. "That's Spear Mountain. It can be very dangerous, even for the bravest crystal ponies or strongest yaks to climb on." "Princess Cadence herself has had trouble in this mountain." Lyra added. "Come on, we have to search in at least as many places as possible." Said Link. "Besides, the Crystal Empire might be doomed if we don't start searching as many places as we can. These line of trees might give us some sort of clue on where the other mask shard is." "Maybe you're right." Said Applejack. "I vote we go up there to check it out." "I, for one," said Rarity. "That we investigate on top of that piece of snowy rock." "Well, I think you're right, Link." Said Big Mac. "Every effort counts in saving the Crystal Empire, Cadence, and Shining from this unbearable weather of white snow." "I guess we should go up there." Said Twilight. "It can't be as worse as the time we faced Tirek or Ganondorf." Everyone made words of agreement with the princess of friendship. "I could not agree with you more, Twilight." Said Discord. "They were nasty pieces of work that rivaled my own power." Then it was settled: everyone decided to go up the mountain to look for anything important. It might be a rather long climb, but they had no choice. Perhaps Link was right about finding something important on that mountain. Through the line of large, tall pine trees in a pattern, it didn't look so bad to walk the path, minus the scattered ice keese. They were only bat-like monsters in small size, and they were no match for Link, or his friends. Spike would even use his ice breath on the ice keese to melt them into drops of water, and it worked out great. "Boy, it's a very good thing I have wings with me." Spike boasted. "Whoa! Whoaaah!" He began to falter a little in his hovering. "Still need a teeny, tiny bit more practice, Spike." Said Rainbow Dash. "I know." The baby dragon admitted in slight shame. "I didn't say it was bad though." Tbe chan pegasus added. "I thought you handled yourself very awesomely." Shebgave hin a sisterly pat on the back to show some support, making him smile in confidence. Rainbow Dash was certainly a confidence booster for her own friends if need be. A couple more ice keese were heard chirping, ambushing the heroes from inside the trees "Ugh! These things are starting to get really annoying." Bon Bon muttered in annoyance before kicking one keese into the icy wall, disappearing into purple dust. "Keese are way too easy." "As long as you don't let them touch you," said Lyra. "Then I absolutely agree with you." Then she zapped a few keese away with her magic. Not only keese, but a couple of wolfos popped up put of nowhere, and Link turned into a wolf again, and Colin followed after. For his brother figure, it was very easy, but Colin was struggling a little. He was trying to bite on a neck of a wolfos woth his teeth as hard as he could, but he was a little small, and the bigger wolfos easily overpowered him. The wolfos the boy was attached to fling his head, causing Colin to fly in the sky. Fluttershy immediately saw him and gasped before grabbing him with her hooves. "Colin, are you okay?" "Yeah. Just fine." Indeed, Colin wasn't hurt by those wolf-like brutes one bit, and he felt Fluttershy gently put him down. Looking rather angry, Fluttershy looked at the wolfos that three Colin in full run, and she gave him her stare, growling and gritting her teeth. Immediately, the wolfos yelped and ran away in fear like the ones before when everyone was taking shelter in that small cave. As everyone was going higher on the mountain, there was a small mist covering the near-peak. The fog was getting a little thick enough for Link and Colin to pull out their lanterns again. Another Freezard was seen, breathing heavily, possibly trying to guard the way up the mountain, and preventing anyone from passing through by freezing them to death. "Here, I got this." Said Spike. He was about to go up to that behemoth and melt him into nothingness like he did with the other once, but he was stopped by Link. "Wait." Said the hero of Hyrule. "Let my do this to it first." He pulled out his bow and a bomb arrow out, ready to explode on impact that touches anything. Link was holding his bow steadily, and he immediately released the bomb arrow, going faster than a hawk catching it'a prey in the air. With a loud boom, an explosion hit the freezard in the face, making him roar in a loud scream. "Okay Spike, now!" Link gave the order. "Right!" Then Spike began hovering and blew fire at the freezard while he was too busy yelling in pain. He did not stop until the gigantic ice monster was shrunken into mini-freezards, then the rest took care of the little creatures. Most of them were taken care of with kicks to the red eye, their most vulnerable part of their body. All of them were immediately taken care of, for there was only six of the mini-freezards to kill. Everyone's legs were getting little tired, and decided to catch a little breather before they could reach whatever was on the peak of the mountain. "I hope that Yakyakistan is okay." Pinkie wondered. "I'm worried about Prince Rutherford and the other yaks living there." "We'll have to worry about them later, Pinkie." Said Epona. "The mask is more important." "We'll look at Yakyakistan when we find the mask shard around here." Said Twilight. Everyone was just avoitbdone with the breather, and when they finally reached the top, they didn't really find anything, except a smell pedestal containing a glowing shard on it. Link looked at it closely, and it looked like one of the shards for the Fierce Deity Mask. "Guys," he said. "I think I found another piece." "Let's just grab it and get out of here." Said Discord. The hero walked over to retrieve the shard, but then, there was the sound of heavy hooves clopping on the snowy ground. Link immediately puked out his sword and shield, ready for a fight. Colin stepped up and pulled out his own sword and shield to help his godbrother in this upcoming fight. The sound of heavy hooves continued, and a demonic, monstrous voice said: "you have done well coming this far, little man." Mathayus suddenly had a feeling that he has heard that kind of voice before. "Who's there?" Link said. "Show yourself!" "A foe you wished that you have never met before in your life." The raspy voice continued. "Not a lot of people were able to defeat me, or my race, but I want to see if you are truly a hero of Hyrule. The sound of hooves clopping grew louder and louder every second. Then a gigantic figure approached them. It was something kn the shape of a centaur, or a similar creature. The upper torso looked man-like, while the lower body resembled a large and muscular horse. Boy, this monster looked very powerful, and formidable. It had a white fur color all over it's body, and it had flaming yellow eyes that blazed. His head looked like a lion with two fangs sticking out like a vampire. He had a thick black mane around his face, going a little past his shoulders. It was a creature Link, Colin, Epona, or their friends have ever seen. "Once again," the voice said. "I deeply commend you for your courage coming up here." He began pacing to and fro slowly while looking at the heroes. "Brave, but rather foolish." "Who are you?" Asked Link. "I am Varnok of the Lynel race." "Varnok?!" Said Mathayus in surprise. He barred his canine teeth, and began growling like a wolf would do with his ears down. "It would not surprise me that you would work for Majora." He got his sword and shield out as well, and walked towards the gigantic beast in a battle pose. "Mathayus. Nice to see you, my old friend." He said with a small smile on his face. "What's the matter? Not happy see me?" "You know this guy?" Asked Colin "Unfortunately." Said the Darknut chief. "Lynel?" Link thought he heard that name before, and said: "I thought the Hylians killed them hundreds of years ago when they were trying to take over Hyrule for themselves." "We were almost successful, until the King of Hyrule those years ago driven us away back to Leonidas." Said Varnok. "You planned to make the Hylians your personal slaves and force them into hard labor." "That we were, until the king ruined our plans like I have said before. And, I am not working for Majora for his wishes, but for my own." "I know what your kind are." Said Colin. "I've heard about you guys before, bloodthirsty, cruel barbarians that pillage from one city to another, and leave them in flames when you're done." "That kind of talk hurts, little one." Said the Lynel. "We are a warrior race like the darknuts are." "But you do not care about any rules of honor, you only care about winning, and you would do anything to achieve your goals, even if it means cheating or doing something unthinkable." "We are free spirits, Mathayus." The Lynel said. "We only do what we must.... to win." Then he pulled put his own sword and shield This Lynel looked very dangerous and formidable, but Link and his friends must fight him if they have to. "Just please give us the shard if you don't mind." Said Fluttershy sheepishly. Varnok gave a small chuckle, and he remarked: "you think I will just give this little shard of the mask the Hero of Time used? Well, I am not going to be a reasonable type of person and just give it to you." He pointed his sword at the group, and said: "if you want this, you will have to go through me." The others readied themselves for fighting whole Pip and Storm hid behind a rock so they wouldn't get hurt from the upcoming fighting. "If that's how it's going to be," Link said. "So be it." Varnok made a smile of amusement and then made a loud roar that sounded like a demonic growl, and a lion's roaring at the same time. Before everyone knew it, the gigantic brute charged at them in full speed like a runaway freight train. Mathayus charged at the lynel with fury and the sound of heavy swords clashing was heard. These two were in an interesting grudge match, and didn't stop swinging their swords. The fight between them was fierce as it definitely sounded like they were trying to kill one another. Mathayus immediately got on top of the monster, but Varnok was smart, and he landed on his left side to try and throw him off. It did cut the darknut a little off there but before the lynel could stab him from above with his sword, Mathayus was just as quick on his feet as Varnok. He rolled to the right side and swung his sword at the brute once again, only to be blocked by the lynel's shield. Varnok himself felt a kick to the face, making him fall off-balance. Link was about to delivery the finishing blow on him from above, but the Lynel was faster than the hero thought, and kicked his Hylian shield out of his right hand with a loud "Clang!" Heard. Link pulled out his Great Fairy Sword, and began fighting with two blades again. The Lynel was putting up a good fight with Link, and the hero was agile in his swinging. He even got on the back of the monster, and it was like an angry bull trying to throw him off, except, this is worse than an angry bull. Link was pulling on the creature's mane, holding on as long as he could. The fighting was getting more intense. For Link was slicing on Varnok's upper torso a dozen times, but he was eventually thrown off a few kicks. Rainbow Dash was punching at the lynel's face countless times with her hooves in a rapid pace. Despite her punching so hard, the Lynel grabbed her small body with his big, beefy hand, and threw her into a pile of snow. The unicorns and Twilight zapped at him with their magic a dozen times, making him growl in anger and frustration. Despite the pain Varnok was enduring, he was able to swipe them all away like a bunch of flies with his sword. Pinkie Pie poked her head from the snow waiting for the monster to dacapitate her, but she swiftly ducked before the sword could cut her head off. It turned into a whack-a-mole type of game for her, making the lynel all the more frustrated. "Graaahhh! Will you hold still?!" "Nope." Said Pinkie with her innocent smile. It gave Spike enough time to try and blast the creature with his fire breath. The flames weren't enough for the beast, and tried swatting him away with his sword and shield, but Spike was quick and flew out of the way just in time. However, Varnok had his own fire breath with classic yellow and red in the color of the flames. “Whoa, that’s a tough enemy to fight.” Said Applejack. “He’s tougher than a Minotaur with his horns chipped off.” Nonetheless, she kicked him in the chest while jumping, and it was where Varnok’s heart was, making him step back in pain. “Not bad, little pony, but you are not strong enough to defeat me.” Storm was feeling very scared hiding behind the rock with Pip. He peeked over to see his mom fighting in action against this monster The foal was impressed by how well and bravely Epona was taking on a creature six times larger than her without any fear at all. "I wish I was as brave as my mommy." He muttered to himself. "You can be as brave as your mum." Pip said. "Although, we cannot take on a gigantic lion monster like that, he's too strong. But, you can be as brave as her, and Link, and Colin." "I know what you mean, Pipsqueak." Said storm. "But, I just can't be brave like them all. I'm too scared." "It will be alright, Storm. It's just like what Colin said: you just need a little more practice." "Yeah. I remember him telling me that." And both boys watched the fighting some more. Colin sliced at Varnok' left hind-leg. Making him grunt in more pain, then turned around to slice at him. Luckily for him, the boy had his shield up and blocked the attack the monster gave him, but because of his large size, it knocked Colin to the right with a loud thud. Fluttershy saw him fall, and she was horrified, worried that he was hurt. She gently helped him up on his feet, and asked him: "are you okay?" "Yeah. Just fine. He only threw me off balance." Colin replied. "This guy is tough. I never fought a monster like him before." "I know. He reminds me of Tirek a little. The adorable pegasus rushed up and kicked Varnok in the chin with an uppercut, actually making him fall backwards a little. The ground shook like a small earthquake as he fell. Discord was dressed in his warrior outfit with nunchucks in his hands, and made ninja sounds as he was attacking the beast. "Hiya! Take that, foul beast!" Said Discord after whacking his torso with his weapon. Before he could hit him even more with a ninja kick, he was suddenly punched back by the lynel with one hit from his beefy hand. Out cold, Discord was certainly out of it from the impact of the punch. Fluttershy was shocked seeing her own friend her hurt like this, and became really angry. "How dare you hurt my spontaneous friend!" She shouted in fury. She rushed over and gave the monster a powerful line of kicks and punched with her hooves to the face. "Gah! Why you!" "Nopony hurts Discord like that! Nopony!" And the punches continued at the lynel. Varnok was a little surprised by this little pony's hidden strength. Bon Bon helped her out by using her tail to trip him from behind, making Varnok tumble and fall again "Come 'ere you!" Said Big Mac. He tried choking the monster with his hooves. Varnok was struggling to break free whe catching his breath. Link went up to him, and pointed the Master Sword at him. "I am going to ask you one more time: are you going to hand us over the shard willingly, or not?" Not helping but chuckle in amusement, Varnok said: "you all have a lot of guts taking on me, and I deeply commend you for that." "Do you surrender?" Link asked demandingly. "You will never stop Majora, and this world will die screaming!" Then he pushed Big Mac off, and everyone was closing in on him. "Yoy have nowhere else to go, Varnok!" Said Mathayus. "Back down." "No. A lynel never backs down from a fight!" Then he jumped off the mountain, looking like he was committing suicide. But they all saw a dot moving in a fast pace in the valley below. "He got away!" Said Rainbow Dash. "We'll deal with him another day." Said Twilight. "For now, we have what we're looking for." Link promptly took the mask shard piece, and put it in his magic pouch. "That's another shard for the picking." He remarked Colin put on the Keaton mask again, and Kit appeared once more. "Ho ho ho. You found another shard. You all amuse me." Said the kitsune. "Kit, should we go to Yakyakistan for another shard? Asked Colin. "Oh yes. The yaks are also suffering from this unusual winter. The winds are blowing everywhere across these northern lands." "I thought they were suffering as bad as the Crystal Empire was." Said Fluttershy in worriment. "Thank you, Kit." "Not a problem, Link. But you need to hurry, the storm is getting worse every minute, and it will only be a matter of time before Majora freezes over these lands until every creature is frozen solid." Fluttershy made q gasp of horror. "The poor foxes and wolves will be frozen soon. We need to hurry!" "If only Sunburst were here. He'd know what to do." Said Starlight Glimmer. "It we take more than his magic to ho us, Starlight." Said Twilight. "Good luck, heroes." Said Kit before disappearing. Everyone headed for Yakyakistan to see if everything was okay at that village. Out of everyone, Pinkie Pie was the one most worried about the yaks of that town, considering the fact that she is the ambassador for Yakyakistan for Equestria. They can all hope that everyone was doing okay from this cold weather.