//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: The Shadow Shaman // Story: What does a Hero Truly Need? Vol. 1: A New Age of Heroes // by zelkova48 //------------------------------// What does a Hero Truly Need? By: Zelkova48 Chapter 3: The Shadow Shaman "AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Rhasta shouted in the sky as he plummeted down to the earth at breakneck speed, rapidly flailing his arms and legs around in a futile attempt to slow his descent. Ever since he opened his eyes he had regretted that decision for the last few hundred feet he was falling. Since then, he had resorted to screaming in abject terror as he rambled his way down to an inevitable messy end. "Is this my punishment for all those customer I swindled back then?!" he yelled to whatever mysterious entity that dictated his fate. "How was I suppose to know you had to wash your hands each and every time we performed a circumcision for five pieces of copper? I was only twelve then! Or at least I remember I was!" he yelled once again. "I've change since then! Surely you saw all the good that I've done when my master passed away!" Fear overtook Rhasta's spiritual mind, his eccentricity and lively attitude was no more as his fate was about to be sealed. He closed his eyes and simply waited for his end to come. He awaited his death. Death... death... death... Life and death. For some reason those words resonated within his mind like a continual stream that flowed into the vast ocean. His eyes shot open as an epiphany struck him harder than one of Zeus's lightning bolt. He remembered everything that made him who he was today. It's true what they say when your life flashes before your eyes when you're about to die, and Rhasta couldn't have been anymore happier. He remembered when he was first discovered by his beloved master, he remembered all of the cons and the trickery they pulled together with their life on the road. He remembered when he first discovered his shamanic power that he used for entertainment and for self defense when he killed his master's murderers. He remembered burying his master and leaving to find a better life in which he could truly help people rather than feeding them lies. He remembered meeting and fighting alongside his friends and compatriots of the Radiant and the Dire. He remembered why he still walked the earth. Here he was bawling like a baby with a broken toy for no reason, but that all changed in an instant. His spirited smile full of crooked teeth returned, his witty personality filled his body like Mangix's heavenly wine. He broke out in uncontrollable laughter. "HO HO HEH HEH HEH HEH HA HA HA!" His fear of death was replaced with an insurmountable levels of happiness. Rhasta ceased his flailing and steeled himself. He narrowed his eyes upon a clearing of the dark forest that was quickly getting closer and closer with each waking second. "I am not yet worthy to go beyond the hill! For I am the intermediary between life and death!" He focused his inner shamanic power that laid dormant within him. It began to charge with power as he moved it with his will. It slowly began to take shape, forming the image that was in Rhasta's mind. Rhasta was emanating a bright orange glow when he fully grasped and controlled what he needed. His power surged like the mighty oceans that he had traveled so many years ago to live a new life. He concentrated it onto the ground and cast his magic. The air crackled with magic, shortly followed by the faint sounds of hissing. "Hear me, I speak for the Shades!" The ground began to shake violently as he spoke his words. "I AM RHASTA! I AM THE SHADOW SHAMAN!" His very voice shook the trees that now surrounded him as he plunged deep into the heart of the clearing. From the earthen soil, a gargantuan golden ethereal cobra rose from the ground and looked up towards the sky. A low reverberating hiss left it's smiling maw as it resonated throughout the forest. With blinding speed the cobra shot its head forward, fangs and all. In one swift motion, the cobra caught Rhasta out of the sky just in the nick of time before he'd crashed onto the forest floor. The cobra slowly set its master down to the ground where it then began to shrink down in size and hiss in happily for his masters safety. Rhasta took several minutes to get reacquainted with the world around him, his torrent of adrenaline slowly faded away as the calm serene tone of the forest eased his frantic nerves. He was alive and really that was all that mattered. He looked over to the cobra that saved him and began to pet him on a job well done. "Thank you my scaly friend, thank you," he whispered softly. The cobra itself enjoyed getting his head rubbed, hissing quietly in return to display its pleasure. He was glad to break out of the mental funk that he was offended to even have. "The material plane does truly matter!" He shouted joyfully. He was calming down and that was a good thing, he couldn't risk having a panic attack in a situation like this. He cleared his thoughts and began concentrating on the things that mattered now, such as finding his friends and getting back home. It was then that he looked down to the cobra and saw something that was very off about himself. He had hooves instead of hands. He quickly dispelled the cobra and began examining himself. "By the Shades! What is this?" Rhasta looked over his entire body and beheld his new form. It felt much like his own, only now he was more like the couriers that delivered him his artifacts on the battle grounds. He ran over to a nearby puddle and just barely made out what he saw in the dim light of the woods. He was a tiny horse, or donkey? He could never really tell the two apart anyway. The one thing he did manage to make note of was the spiral horn that stuck out from his forehead. "Hmm, this is an intriguing development." He brought his hoof to it to see if it was real or not. Sure enough it was and this only served to confuse the shaman even further. He couldn't make heads or tails of anything right now, but he brushed the thought aside. He was used to these kind of things by now. After all, fighting living mountains, living water, and living everything else was an experience all on it's own on the battlegrounds. Then another thought popped up in his head. "Where are my wards?" he asked nobody in particular. Mere moments after, an object crashed itself onto his head, nearly giving him a concussion. "Ugh!" He gripped his head as he examined what had struck him. What he found however made him jump with joy. "My ward! There you are!" He ran up to it to see if it was still in good shape. Despite all the hardships it been through, never once had it ever failed him. "Wait, where's the other one?" His question was immediately answered as he felt another object slam itself atop his head once more. "Agh!" Rhasta collapse on the floor as his other ward finished what the other started, leaving behind a dazed shaman on the ground. To think, after impressively surviving a ten thousand foot drop from the sky he would be taken out almost immediately by his own weapon once he had collected himself. He tried to stand up, he tried to fight to maintain consciousness, but to no avail. There was nothing he could do, the haze in his eyes did little to help with his current state. The drowsiness that he was combating turned into an friend that welcomed him with open arms. Rhasta gave in to the darkness. He has had far too many surprises today. As sleep finally took over his body, the predators of the forest began to make their move. From out of the thick brush a small pack of timberwolves crept towards the unconscious shaman. Their wooden limbs creaked with each passing step until they fully surrounded Rhasta. The leader of the pack, a burly alpha male, was the first to step forward from the group and it raised it wooden claw ready to end the life of their soon to be meal. Growls and snarls filled the clearing as they awaited the killing blow. Just as the alpha male was about the bring down its claw, a loud bang echoed through the trees, frightening all of the wolves. But the thing they were terrified most of was the smoky green after image of Nightmare Moon looming over them. Without hesitation, Nightmare Moon leaped at them with her jaw wide open, hoping to devour them all in a single gulp. When Nightmare Moon crashed down upon the timberwolves she disappeared in a brilliant flash of vibrant green dust that scared all of the timberwolves into hiding. When the dust settled, a familiar zebra stepped out of the smoke and walked over to the sleeping shaman. The zebra quietly looked over Rhasta several times before tapping his shoulder. Rhasta stirred, but didn't get up immediately. Slowly but surely, he got up on all fours and shook his head to clear out any fatigue that hung around his body. He struggled with his frazzled motor controls and nearly fell on his side when the other figure caught him and helped him back upright. "Huh? What? How long was I out? Wait, who are you?" Rhasta said as his head finally felt like it was screwed on properly. He looked over to see who helped him up and saw a miniature zebra standing in front of him. The zebra was no bigger than he was and had a grey coat lined with black stripes. The stripes all formed a unique shape by her flank, a spiral sun complete with all of it's points. But the most interesting aspect of the zebra was her outrageous mohawk of a mane. "Do not worry your bizarre yellow head. For now, just be glad that you're not dead," the zebra spoke. Rhasta was a bit shocked to see a talking horse let alone one that can rhyme, but, again, he was used to these kind of things. "Were you the one who woke me? Wait! What do you mean be glad that I'm not dead?" he asked, bemused. "Yes it's true, that I was the one who woke you. As for the reason you are still alive, a pack of hungry timberwolves I managed to terrorize." She continued her rhyming. "They seek to eat you while you sleep, so I scared them off with a little treat." She then pulled out a little pouch from her bag and using her hooves she retrieved some coarse green powder. She threw it on the ground creating the illusion of a larger more fearsome horse with wings and a horn. It flashed him a sly smile before fading away as quickly as it showed up. Rhasta smiled and laughed at the trick the zebra pulled, it reminded him much of his own tricks. The only difference was that his were real. "Ho ho heh heh heh ha! Brilliant illusion my zebra friend! Have you ever thought about being a traveling performer?" "Plans for travel or entertainment I have not, I like it here mixing healing brews at my hut." She rhymed once more before a better question arose in her mind. "By the way, what are you doing here? This is a forest that embodies fears. Even though this is my home, the Everfree Forest is still terrifying to roam," she said, putting emphasis on the terrifying aspect of the forest. "There was some shaking not long ago, I ran out looking for my friends, perhaps they know." Her rhyming never faltered. "I ran out of my house to head into town, but then I find you unconscious on the ground!" "Ah, the shaking must have been me, I used my powers earlier to stop myself from crashing into the earth," Rhasta calmly replied. "As for me being unconscious, I was knocked out by my own weapons when they fell from the sky". The zebra just looked at him with a wide eyed expression "Perhaps now is not the time to explain. But can you tell me your name?" the zebra asked. "My name is Rhasta, I am the Shadow Shaman!" he replied with a hint of pride laced in his voice. "I am the medium between the worlds! Also, I am looking for my friends as well. Have you ran into any of them?" "You have a very strange name Rhasta, as for me, my name is Zecora." Zecora replied once again in her ever so amusing rhymes. "A medium between worlds? I do not understand. But you do look like you come from a faraway land." The stallion standing before her really was a mysterious one. Zecora scrutinized the strange stallion. She had never seen a pony like him before, although she can't argue that she had been on the receiving end of this experience when she first came to Ponyville. For starters, he was an orange unicorn with no visible mane and a very short orange tail that was obscured by all the clothing he was wearing. His teeth were grotesquely crooked and his eyes were an unsettling milky white. In fact, it looked like he didn't even have pupils! He wore an equally strange garb that seem to wrap his whole body in black bandages from his face to his right forearm and all the down to his hips where it split into eight free flowing bandages that covered his posterior. He looked like a mummy in dark wrappings at a glance. Continuing with the trend of oddities, there were several planks of wood on his person that were binded in place by the wrappings. They looked like normal strips of wood but each had strange inscriptions and carvings on them that Zecora couldn't make heads or tails of. There was one on both sides of his head, one on each foreleg, and two on each of his hind legs. Then there was this cape interwoven with large metal coins that draped over his lower half. Lastly, he carried a collection of junk with him that included two small jugs carved from gourds, a crude frying pan, what Zecora presumed was a rolled up map, and a simple red bag. She could almost have mistaken him for being a weary vagabond from a faraway land. Zecora came back to her thoughts after she was done examining Rhasta. He had mentioned something about his friends. "I don't know about your friends, but perhaps I might. Could you please describe what they look like?" "But of course, one of them looks lik-" Rhasta couldn't finish his sentence as the sound of wolves froze him in his tracks. Zecora became incredibly worried and ran beside Rhasta. They both looked around desperately trying to find the source of the noise. All around they saw multiple sets of burning yellow eyes of the timberwolves that Zecora had chased away earlier. They seemed to have wised up to her tricks and came back to finish the job. All of the wolves slowly stepped out of the thick foliage of the forest. They were angrier than before, knowing they were scared off by a cheap Nightmare Night trick. They came back in much greater numbers, ensuring their chances of success. Slowly, they once again encircled their prey in hopes of making him their next meal, and it looks like they scored a bonus this time around. There was a zebra in addition to the unicorn they tried to eat before. Each and every single one of the wooden wolves licked their grainy lips in anticipation of the glorious feast they will soon partake. The wolves expected to eat the two without much resistance, and even if they do choose to run, it will only serve to make their feast that greater of an experience. What they didn't expect to see however was their meal to laugh at them. It wasn't one last laugh out of desperation of an inevitable death, no, this laugh was of the joyful kind. The orange one was laughing almost like he had won the Ponyville powerball on his very first try with his last bit. The wolves looked at each other in frustration. They had the two before them cornered, and hopelessly outnumbered. There were at least thirty wolves all ready to strike at a moments notice. Zecora gawked at Rhasta with a dumbfounded look. They were about to die, and there was no way her illusion would scare the wolves off again. If they tried to run away they would be hunted down and caught almost instantly due to the sheer number of predators. She couldn't understand why Rhasta was being so jolly about their situation. She just had to ask. "Rhasta!? Why are you not afraid? Can't you see we are going to die this day!" she asked, which seemed to have snapped Rhasta out of his laughing fit. Yet his grin remained. His grin only serve to further confuse Zecora as he walked over to his wards and attempted to pick them up. As he walked over, all of the wolves stepped forward ever so slightly, making sure that their prey doesn't try anything funny. Rhasta simply looked over his wards and his hooves. He could feel a rush of magic flow towards his hooves and take shape. He picked up both of his wards without a hint of hesitation and stood up on both of his hind legs. Rhasta turn his head towards the large alpha wolf and grinned once more. With him standing at his full height all of the wolves began to feel intimidated, yet it wasn't enough for them to run away again. "You were the wolves that tried to eat me in my sleep..." said Rhasta. "When I was awoken from my brief slumber by this kind zebra, she explained to me about what you tried to do." He began to shake his body back and forth, little by little, like he was moving to the sound of a unheard drumbeat, swinging his forelegs and wards in tandem with his bodies movement. "I am not at all a vengeful man. I am but a humble messenger of those gone by, a mere drifter helping others along the way." His wards began to glow from a faint dim to a bright yellow light. "I had forgiven all of you and had chosen not to seek revenge." His white eyes narrowed upon the alpha wolf. " But now, you have threaten my new friend and this will not stand." Small charges of orange electricity discharged from his wards in small burst. "The shades demand flesh! Hear me! I speak for the shades!" The small static around him jolted and jumped all around in a fearsome display of light. The alpha wolf's patience had finally been severed. This pony was making a mockery of him in front of his pack and it will not stand. It let out a bloodcurdling howl that echoes throughout the woods as he rushed towards the arrogant pony, fangs and all. The rest of his pack followed suit and charged in like Tequoia's treant warriors, only far more wild and savage. The alpha wolf pounced at Rhasta with unrestrained fury, it was ready to slash his throat open and feed on his cold dead carcass. Mere inches from his prey, the wolf was consumed in a bright yellow light for an instant before landing to the ground on the ground in a daze. It looked around worriedly, feeling much smaller and more vulnerable then ever. Then it went *Bukaw!* "Ha! A fine form for you!" Rhasta said, bearing witness to the alpha wolf's transformation into a small helpless chicken, feathers and all. Zecora, who was still beside him, gawked at Rhasta with a slack jawed expression. She knew unicorn magic was strong, but to turn a large alpha timberwolf in another creature so easily was nearly unheard of. Rhasta was only warming up though, the real show was about to begin. Ten other wolves stopped by their former alpha leader, inwardly chuckling at its misfortune. They shook it off though, and began charging at Rhasta. Clearly there was no way he could survive being tackled by ten angry timberwolves, right? They would be sorely disappointed however as he let loose a torrent of ethereal energies that shocked his enemies in more ways than one. "HIIIIYAAAAAAH!" All of the timber wolves were violently knocked back by the sheer force of shamanic power that Rhasta had unleashed upon them. Some were still able to stand but others were either unconscious, on fire, dead, or about to be. The wolves that were on fire ran around in a panicked state, rolling around on the ground in a desperate attempt to put themselves out. Being made out of wood had it's advantages, such as making them much more resilient towards physical strikes. Sadly, that does not apply towards being set ablaze by a bolt of electricity. "Shocking, isn't it?" he said as the wolves backed away from him. They were truly terrified of him now, but that didn't deter them from trying to kill them. All of wolves regrouped together. There is still nineteen of them left, which was more then enough to try to take them down. Only this time they decided to try something different. The wolves split into two groups, one that aimed for Rhasta and another that charged at Zecora. The thought was that Rhasta couldn't protect both of them at the same time. Once the wolves claimed Zecora, they would all go for Rhasta. The wolves that went for Zecora wasted no time in trying to maul her. One of the wolves lunged at the zebra and the rest charged behind it. Zecora reacted quickly enough though, as she instinctively reached into her saddle bag and flung a pouch full of powder at the charging wolves eyes, causing it to stumble on the ground. "Foul beast, keep away! You shall not take my life this day!" Zecora shouted as the wolf tried to rub the away the irritating powder from its eyes. Not missing a beat, Zecora tried to strike the rest of the charging pack with the powder as well, but the wolves avoided the attack all too easily. One of the wolves broke through the smoky cloud and ran straight to Zecora, bearing it's fangs ready to kill. It never got the chance however when several large ethereal cobras tackled it to the ground and began to tear it apart with their lava like fangs. Zecora's stomach churned as she witnessed the cobras' fangs ravage the wolf's body, eliciting a sickening *Crack!* sound each and every time they brought their jaws down upon their victim. When the cobras were done with the wolf there was nothing more than a pile of broken twigs and shredded leaves left in its wake. "No no no, your fight is with me. Going after my friend behind my back isn't going to work when my pets are protecting her." As Rhasta finished speaking, the cobras all formed a protective ring around Zecora. There was at least eight large golden cobras ready to defend Zecora and their master. "Watch well my pets." Rhasta then turned around to face the others wolves that were attacking him, striking down another with his energy blast. One of the other wolves didn't seem all that fazed by the golden wall that stood between them and their goal. It jumped at the wall only to promptly get blasted by a barrage of the cobras' mystic venom. The wolf landed upon the ground with a loud *thud* where its wooden body began to melt away like candle wax as the venom ate through the wood. All of the other wolves looked shocked beyond belief, more so then being struck by Rhasta's ether shock as they witnessed one of their own melting away into a thick brown soupy paste that coated the forest floor. Rhasta held his ground and blasted four other wolves with the energy blast that came form his wards. He then used his Ether Shock on the remaining few that tried to flank him. "Suluchi-nominus-forti-cali!" Rhasta chanted, making short work of the group of wolves that attacked him. "The spirits will be seeing a lot of you!" As the last timberwolf was struck down with indignation, all of the remaining wolves gathered together. There must have been at least twelve left still alive aside from the alpha male, who was still a chicken. They did what any sensible predator would do in a situation like this. They fled as fast as their wooden limbs could carry them. Rhasta let them run away. He wouldn't chase after them, no, he was better than that. He dispelled his cobra pets and walked over to Zecora. "Well, that was some fight, eh?" his words peeled Zecora away form the pure shock that clung her like Batrider's sticky napalm. "I cannot believe my eyes. You have saved both of our lives!" Zecora said with a delicate mixture of joy and awe. "I am a hero of the Radiant, It is what I do. Are you alright?" Rhasta calmly replied. Zecora was more than relieved to still be alive after surviving a fatal encounter with some hungry timberwolves. Had it not been for Rhasta's fighting expertise, they surely would've perished. "Yes, I am fine, now that we are out of a bind." The two were finally free of all the adrenaline that rushed through their body for them to think properly. They had to get out of the forest for sure now. "We should probably leave the forest now, I wouldn't risk staying and becoming chow." "Yes, yes we should," Rhasta replied as he stared back to the chicken that was once the alpha male of the pack. As the two began to leave for the forest entrance, he lifted the hex he had placed upon the poor wolf. "I believe you have suffered enough, feathered one. I shall restore you to your former self." With a few short chants and one flash of light later, the chicken was restored to it's former woody self. Rhasta then walked over to the wolf and gave it a warning. "I have chosen to leave you alone once more. Return to your pack, and don't come looking for us. However, should you choose to chase after any of us again, I can guarantee you my wooden friend, you shall become a middling sacrifice for the shades." His normally jolly voice dipped into a grave whisper of doom. With his warning delivered, he joined up with Zecora, who was happy to see him spare the wolf rather then slay it. She was putting out the wolves that were still on fire from Rhasta's ether shock, she didn't want a forest fire to break out near her home. Rhasta regained his smile again and the two then turn towards the bright opening at the end of the forest and began making there way towards it. The alpha wolf fell to its haunches, staring at the two meals that turned into their destroyer, its mind was clouding up with anger. Pride got in the way of its better judgement. How dare they humiliate him before his own pack. He was their leader, he was the strongest out of all of them, yet he was taken down so easily by an odd looking unicorn and a zebra. It began to growl again, it bared it's fangs and claws once more before rushing Rhasta in one last attempt to eat him. Rhasta could easily hear his would be predator run up behind him. He merely sighed and turned around, prepared to strike down the alpha wolf once and for all. "Give my best to the ancestors," he said, preparing to unleash another Ether Shock, only to be stopped when a familiar looking javelin sailed through the air and impaled the wolf right into the treeline where its body hung lifelessly like a rag doll pinned to a cork board. The javelin then dissipated into smoke as the wooden corpse clattered lifelessly onto the ground. Rhasta's eyes grew wide, knowing full well whose javelin that was and became overwhelmed with happiness as he heard a familiar voice call out to his name. "Rhasta!" a beautiful doe called out to him, carrying the very same javelin that struck the alpha wolf. "Aiushtha! You are alive!" Rhasta shouted as he and Zecora ran over to Aiushtha. "How did you find us? And more importantly, where did your human half go?" The two shared a quick laugh as they got reacquainted with each other. Zecora only smiled politely at the being before her, it's not every day you get you get to see a being as graceful and majestic like Aiushtha. "I saw your ether shock from outside of the forest, and as for my form, I'm not sure. Although, I could ask the same about you," Aiushtha replied as she let out a small giggle. She turned to face Zecora, who let out a sheepish smile. "I see you made a new friend Rhasta. Greetings, friend. My name is, Aiushtha," she said while giving a courteous bow. Zecora bowed as well before she replied. "A pleasure to meet a majestic friend of Rhasta. My name is, Zecora." She turned to Rhasta. "I do believe she is the friend you were looking for, hopefully finding the rest won't be a chore." Rhasta just smiled as he spoke. "If Aiushtha is here, then the other three shouldn't be too far away. We should save proper introductions for later though. For now, let us focus on getting out of this forest." The three nodded in agreement and all trotted towards the clearing where they were greeted with a bright opening to the outside world. They picked up their pace and ran all the way towards opening where they were rewarded with the bright sun shining its warm glow upon them. They lingered by the clearing for a spell, enjoying the sun's warm rays after being stuck in a dark forest for so long. While Aiushtha and Rhasta were enjoying their moment's reprieve, Zecora had decided to look for her own group friends. She still needed to ask them about the weird events that had been happening so far, aside from Rhasta's own shaking, of course. "I have never been so glad to see the sun, but sadly my friends, I must run. Twilight and the others I must find, to receive answers and achieve peace of mind." Zecora began to walk into town when she was stopped by Aiushtha. "Wait! You wouldn't happen to know anyone by the name of Fluttershy, do you?" She asked, a look of worry gracing her features. She had been wondering how she was doing after she had abruptly left to help Rhasta in the Everfree Forest. "But of course. She is yellow, yes? She is probably with Twilight and the others, that is my bet," Zecora rhymed. "Do you mind if Rhasta and I joined you? I would like to tell her that I am okay," Aiushtha asked once more with concern laced in her voice. "Of course you can. Perhaps you will even fine your other friends," Zecora answered with a smile. "Why thank you, Zecora. This means a lot to us," Rhasta replied as he affixed his wards on his back. "It is the least I can do, after you save me from that dastardly group," Zecora replied, glad that the two bizarre guest she had only known during her near death moments were going to accompany her to meet Twilight and the other. She didn't know if anything else was going to happen today with all the shaking and airborne explosions making it uncomfortable to live in her hut. The three turned around and took one last look at the Everfree Forest before making their way into town. "Well, we better be off then. The quicker, the better!" Rhasta said as he began making his way into Ponyville. "Yeah, let's go! Sproink!" Aiushtha shouted as she busted into a full gallop down the road, leaving Zecora with a curious expression. "Sproink?" Zecora thought. Chapter 3 end.