//------------------------------// // Icy Misunderstandings // Story: Kuzan in Equestria // by Kuzan //------------------------------// "How *huff* can Twilight *huff* run with you on her back!?" Trixie yelled as she slowly came to a stop near a ruined stand, completely out of breathe. Her passager, Spike, crossed his arms and glared at her. Well more like a pout really. "Hey! Are you implying that I'm fat?" He got off her back, much to the blue mare's relief. "Because I'm not! My scales are just getting thicker." "Scales don't jiggle whenever they move!" Trixie growled and sat on the ground. This day was slowly turning into a disaster. First Twilight was taken by a pegsi with muscles far too big to be on him and second was that helping Kuzan was now delayed until she could find Twilight again. What next? An alien invasion? "ZOMBIE ATTACK!" A hoard of pegasi flew over their heads, yelling at the top of their lungs. Like a spark, it ignited the flames as ponies all around them began to panic with only a few actually trying to get information from whatever pegsi that came close. Trixie blinked. 'Okay no more asking what could happen next because if an alien invasion does happen, Trixie will take full blame for that...Mentally of course' Kuzan has been in some strange situations before, being an Admiral meant that you were bound to encounter the strange on a daily basis. It gotten to the point where he could easily shrug off whatever strange event that life threw at him. Right now, however, he could honestly say that this situation was a bit strange even for him. First off, he was holding a blue pegasi by her rainbow color tail who was trying, and failing, to hit him with her hooves. She attempted to kick his arm or hand but a quick hardening of Haki solved that. Another pegasi, this one with a pink mane and yellow coat, was hugging and crying in his legs for whatever reason. The last one, another unicorn like Trixie, was alternating between staring at him and his former lower half and strands of her mane was slowly popping out of place. The two pegasi were saying things but they were speaking too fast for him to catch most of their words. He did get 'zombie', 'kick', 'sorry' and 'hugs and kisses' from them. The unicorn was silent so far but the look in her eyes was staring to look too similar to Gekko Moriah. He would tell them to stop but with the language barrier and their current conditions, he really doubted that they're going to listen. He sighed and looked at the town, mentally hoping that Trixie would come back and deal with her people. Or would it be ponies? 'I just hope she comes back soon,' Kuzan eyed the purple unicorn who was now rubbing her hooves together with a crazy smile. 'If that unicorn tries to pull a Moriah, I will defend myself.' "This is just great! Not only Kuzan was mistaken for a mere animal, he's being called a zombie!" Trixie yelled as she ran through Ponyville with Spike holding onto her. Although she wasn't one to make friends, Kuzan had saved her life, twice if one counted the dragons' encounter, which put him in a very good light in Trixie's eyes. Even if they had met only several days ago. She just hoped that Kuzan won't take being called an animal too harshly. If he could freeze three dragons and acres of forest in an instant, Trixie didn't wish to see what he could do to a pony. Once they made it out of Ponyville, the two made way to Everfree's outskirts where they saw a large figure standing in the disance. "Whoa he's big." Spike said, eyes wide as they got closer. Trixie gave him a brief description on their way here but seeing someone this big upclose was way different from hearing it from somepony. The duo stopped once they reached him and laid their eyes on a strange sight. Rainbow Dash was hanging upside down and kicking Kuzan's hand with all her might while Fluttershy was hugging his legs like they would shatter the moment she let go. Twilight, on the other hoof... "Spike! You're right on time to help me!" Twilight's mane was disleveled and her eyes had that look from back when she didn't have a friendship report for Celestia. "I really need your help with this magical impossibility!" Trixie heard the young dragon mumbled "Not again," before he cleared his throat and said, "Uh Twilight maybe you should sit down first?" The blue unicorn do not like that caution tone in his voice. She only heard that tone for whenever somepony was instructing others on something dangerous. Twilight gave off a borderline insane giggle. "Sit down? Why would I sit down when this creature," She waved a hoof at Kuzan who noticed and waved back. "Is a walking contradiction to a major law of medicial magic. I mean look at it's lower half over there," Now she pointed at...Kuzan's lower half which left Trixie and Spike gaping at they stared at it and Kuzan. "Not only is it able to harmlessly shrug off being bisected but also regenerate from it like nothing even happened!" "Did you know he could do that?" Spike whispered to Trixie who shook her head. "Trixie only knew he could control ice." 'And strong enough to effortlessly stop a dragon's blow.' "You see, one cannot simply regrow lost limbs because the magical strain would kill a pony before the bloodlost does. What this creature just did should have killed it three times over but here it is! Still standing!" She gave off a slightly insane giggle, not noticing Spike who got off Trixie and getting close to her. "I must figure out how it could have done that and see if I could relipicate it! Spike I-OW!" Twilight jumped a foot in the air and fell to the ground, holding her side. Spike stood next to her with a raised claw, ready to pinch her again if the first one didn't work. "You okay now Twilight?" "Uh yeah. Ouch," She winced and looked at her assistance. "Did I just-" "Yep." "Oh ehehe," Twilight giggled, embarrassed and a little shamed that she had another episode. She looked at Trixie who looked a little disturbed at what just happened. "Hey Trixie, did you see all-" "Yes, yes I did," Trixie's deadpan voice made her wince at that fact that yet another pony was now aknowledgeable about her episodes. "And let Trixie just say that Trixie was one minute away from knocking you out and dragging you to the nearest mental hospital," She sighed and rubbed the space between her eyes. "Well at least you can help Trixie with her friend now." Twilight nodded her head, her attention focusing once more on Trixie's situation. Her study on the creature can be delay for a while. "Okay then, is he nearby?" When Trixie raised an eyebrow and pointed at the creature behind her, it didn't take long for the librarian to figure out what she meant. "Wait so he's the friend you were talking about?" Twilight looked at the crea- er Trixie's friend and gulped in fear, nervousness and embarrassment. She remembered that he didn't speak their language so thankfully most of her rant and calling him an it went unnoticed. Trixe nodded her head. "Yes this is Kuzan and we met in Everfree Forest after he saved me from some Diamond Dogs." "Wait Everfree Forest?" Spike replied, surprised that they met there of all places. "What were you two doing in Everfree Forest in the first place?" The blue mare winced at the memory. "Well lets just say that after Trixie's Ursa Failure as ponies started to call it, Trixie's life went into gutter and met some bad company waiting there. Trixie accepted her first job offer in months and it turned out to be a ponynapping ring run by Diamond Dogs," She sighed as she remembered her time as a slave. Being forced to work day in and day out in dangerous conditions and under the threat of harsh punishment can change anypony. "Trixe only managed to escape thanks to luck and Kuzan's saving Trixie." The duo went silent at this, remembering the time when Rarity gotten taken by Diamond Dogs. After that Twilight did some research on them and what she found surprised her. It turns out that not all Diamond Dogs were bad and others actually had good relations with Equestria. The pack that they encountered was a Feral Pack which were Diamond Dogs that still followed their old race's ways namely slavery, plundering, and destroying small towns. Their modern counterparts, Tame Packs, were Diamond Dogs that embraced modern times and discarded their more darker traditions. Whenever a Tame Pack and a Feral Pack would meet, fighting between the two was certain as they hated each other with a passion. The Feral Pack that ponynapped Rarity was a new one and not as...harsh as others would normally be to their slaves. If anything, Rarity was very lucky to get taken by them and not say, the Flesh Hounds. That bit of reading still gave her nightmares. Trixe shook her head and went up to Kuzan who was still holding Dash's tail and being cuddled by Fluttershy. "Kuzan, this is Twilight Sparkle. She might be able to help you." She made sure to emphasize her words and was glad to see him nod in understanding. "Wait a minute! You're going to help this zombie Twilight?!" Dash yelled, stopping her efforts at getting free of his grip. "We need to destroy his brain like how Daring Do did in her adventure to the Forgotten Valley!" "Dash if what Trixie said is right then Kuzan needs our help getting a log." Twilight said to her friend.She frowned at saying Kuzan's name, unused to pronouning it. "A log?" The rainbow mane pegsai hung upside down and crossed her forelimbs, a puzzled expression on her face. "Why would anypony need help getting a log? Hay there's one right over there!" The purple unicorn sighed. "I'm assuming that he means something else and that log is the closest translation or maybe there is a word before or after it. Listen just stop trying to hurt him because I kind of doubt you'll do any lasting damage." "Fine," She still shot a glare at Kuzan. "But I'm still keeping an eye on you because I'm not trusting anything that Trixie brings into town," Dash then looked down at Fluttershy who was still hugging his legs, face buried in his clothes. "You feeling better now Fluttershy?" The animal loving pegsai gave a nod and looked up at Dash, eyes slightly red from her earlier shock. "Y-yes I'm just so glad that Trixie's friend is alright," Her voice was even softer than usual but they could still make out the happiness and relief in her tone. It also appeared that she heard their converstion. "When I found him completely bisected by that tree I shot with lightning, I- I-" Just when it looked like Fluttershy was about to cry again, Kuzan did something that surprised all of them. He let go of Dash's tail, reached down and petted Fluttershy's head. 'Glad to see that worked,' Camel loved it whenever he petted him on his belly and it seemed that it applied to these ponies as well. He didn't wish to see the yellow one break into tears so he gave petted her on the head to calm her down. Luckily it worked and she looked at him with a smile and quickly wiped her eyes. Kuzan nodded and looked at Trixie. "Do you get the log pose?" He made sure to do the same thing in emphasizing his words and saw her shake her head. She said a few words and caught 'language barrier', 'missing words' and 'problems' so he assumed that not all of his words gotten across when he asked her to find him a Log Pose earliar. Crack! The former admiral frowned when he heard something coming from the forest behind him and turned to see several dozen glowing eyes coming from it. They were all narrowed in hate and, upon seeing their cover blown, they stepped out to reveal... 'Timerwolves?' Kuzan raised an eyebrow at that. Wolves that were actually made of wood and even sounded like normal wolves, snarling, growling and drooling included. 'Huh they would fit right in on those island size plants where everything tries to kill you.' He fondly remembered the first time he landed on one of those island sized plants as a teen and nearly gotten eaten by a couple of trees. 'Ah good times.' Focusing back on the present, he saw at least two dozen Timberwolves come out of the forest in various sizes. The smallest was taller than one of the ponies while the biggest came up to his waist. The Alpha seemed to be one with moss growing over most of it's body along with scars of pervious fights. It eyed him with a predator's intelligent before barking at several smaller wolves. Given their orders, the smaller wolves ran at the group who reacted in different ways. The blue pegasi looked ready to fight while the other ponies were able to bolt but before the wolves could even get halfway there... "Ice Time Capsule!" This time, he made sure to widen his area of effect and managed to get all of the in coming wolves, freezing their legs in place. Unfortunately for them, ice and plants didn't go well and the moment they tried to break free, their limbs shattered like glass. When they hit the ice covered ground, the glow in their eyes died and the bodies instantly fell apart. The Alpha growled at him before it's eyes began to glow brightly. Suddenly several trees were pulled from the ground and flung at them, causing the ponies and dragon to scream in fear. "Ice Block: Partisan!" Kuzan launched a wave of spears at the incoming volley. The first ones that impacted froze the trees on contact, making the others that followed easily shatter them. The Alpha narrowed it's eyes at him, analyzing him from what it saw so far before barking at it's pack. This time several wolves were engulf in a green glow along with a good number of trees and the remains of their kin. The wolves engulf in a green glow were taken apart and lifted into the air, forming a bigger one using the trees, it's fallen kin, and themselves. It let out an earth shaking howl and charged them. 'Smart wolf. It wants to see what I'm capable of from a distance so won't risk dying by biting off more than it could chew,' Kuzan sighed and pointed an arm at the charging giant. 'Maybe this will convince it that it should find another meal.' "Ice Block: Pheasant Beck! A massive wave of ice, even bigger than the wolf itself, flew at it in the shape of a pheasant. The pheasant smashed through the wolf effortlessly and continued it's path toward the Alpha who's eyes widen in what he assumed was fear and surprise. It bared down on them like a real bird of prey and either froze, destroyed, or did a combination of both to any wolf that gotten caught in it's way. He then heard something drop behind him and turned to see a colorful group of ponies staring at him, eyes so wide he was surprised that they didn't fall out. They all held a blunt weapon in their hooves ranging from a wooden post and bats to sticks and...was that paddle? What little armor they had on looked like they just took stuff from their kitchen. Judging from their looks, he had to guess that they just saw his little fight with those wolves. Naturally they were thinking that he might do the same to them so he had to disarmed this situationa as peacefully as possible. "Arara. Don't worry I'm not going to hurt any of you," He raised his arms in a peaceful gesture, palms facing forward. "I just need a-" And that is when a rope was thrown around his hands and took them clean off when they were pulled. When Applejack first heard about a zombie attack, she was one of the first to voluteer to check it out. She left her brother to watch the stand while she and several others went to check out this 'zombie'. Honestly, after what she just witness, a zombie attack would actually be better. This thing just took out a whole pack of Timberwolves in just one attack and it didn't even look the slightest bit winded. If anything, Applejack bet that it looked bored after that one sided battle. So when it raised it's forelimbs up, she reacted in the best way she knew how. She threw a rope over it's forelimbs and pulled, completely surprised to see them break off. The unexpected lack of resistance almost made Applejack fall back but she managed to keep her balance. One mare, appentantly encouraged by her action, yelled out. "Quick! Destroy it's brain before it bites somepony!" As one, the mob of ponies charged at it while some unicorns threw rocks using their magic. Forelimbs regrown, it didn't even flinch as rocks hit it's body, even after one found itself in it's head. "STOP!" They grinded to a halt as Fluttershy stood in front of them, along with Spike, Dash, Twilight and...Trixie? Yup that was Trixie, glaring at the mob alongside Fluttershy. Fluttershy's glare was actually scary enough to make them take a step back. "How dare all of you! Attacking Kuzan without any reason!" "B-but we do have one!" A stallion said, clutching a bat. "That thing is a super zombie! Just look at what it did to those timberwolves! If we don't stop it now, then it'll spread it's undead plague to all of Equestria!" Trixie glared at that stallion who flinched back a bit. "If any of you paid attention then you would have seen that Kuzan was protecting us." "How do we know that its just fooling all of you? Waiting for the right time to bite!" "Yeah! And what are you doing back here after that Ursa Minor incident?" "I bet she brought that thing so she could try and show off again." To her credit, Trixie's only reaction was her left eye twitching but she maintain her composure. "First off is that Kuzan isn't a thing nor a super zombie, he's a living being. Two, if Kuzan wanted to attack anypony, he would have done so already," The more of Kuzan's abilities she witness, the more frighten she became at the possibility of antagonizing him in any way. So far, he hasn't shown even one mildly aggressive act against her or anypony but it become very clear that no pony would be able to stand against him in a fight. "Three is that Kuzan requires help and what kind of ponies would all of you be if you turned down some...one's request for help." It seemed that her words gotten through as several ponies in the mob looked at each other before laying down their weapons. Trixie sighed in relief. 'Alright this is good! Maybe this day won't get any worse,' Trixie's eyes widen as she gave herself a facehoof. 'Trixie did not just think that. Please whatever power up there don't make this day wo-' "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS ZOMBIE SLAYERS!" An orange filly on a scooter pulling a wagon with two more fillies came out of nowhere and smashed into Kuzan, breaking him apart like glass. Trixie watched horrified as he fell in pieces...and felt something within her snap when the pegsai parked her scooter on his remains. "Whoa what'd I hit?" Scootalo asked, looking around and noticing the horrified looks that everypony was giving her. "Uh is something wrong?" The orange pegsai screamed in surprise as she was pushed off Kuzan's remains by Trixie, Fluttershy and Twilight, all scooping up bits of him. "What do we do!" "I don't know! I never read on how to treat someone after they were shattered into pieces!" "Well try something Twilight! You're suppose to be good at magic so fix Trixie's friend!" While Twilight and Trixie argued with each other, Fluttershy was vainly trying to put him back together with Dash and Applejack scolding at the trio not too far away. Suddenly the pile of Kuzan's remains twitched, causing Fluttershy to take a step back. "Uh everypony? Look." Although her voice was still low, it still caught everypony's attention and what happened next made their jaws drop. A figure slowly grew out of the remains, gaining more and more features by the second. Forelimbs and a head, followed by a body and legs and soon Kuzan stood above them, looking as if he didn't just do something that not even magic can allow anypony to do. Everypony simply stared at him in shock and awe as snow gently fell from above. "AWESOME!" Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo ran to Kuzan with eyes shining in excitement, acting as if they didn't just crash into him a minute ago. "Can you do that again mister?" "Ah bet he can help us with our ice slide cutie marks!" "You're almost as cool as Rainbow Dash!" Kuzan simply raised an eyebrow at them, shrug and pet the trio on their heads.