//------------------------------// // Zangief and Changelings and Bears, Hhhhoooorryyiiiaaahh! // Story: The Red Cyclone // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// The warm rays of the sun shone down upon the group of four as they walked across a dirt path that lead to a small cottage on the edge of the town, Zangief in the back so Insectum's view of the beautiful forest wouldn't be obstructed by the mass of Russian. The group had taken the long way to the cottage from the station so Shy could show them where they would be staying before showing them around town. She giggled aloud as a butterfly landed on her horn, her eyes glued to it as it crawled down her horn and onto her nose, where she went cross-eyed trying to look at it. "Aw, it's so precious. This is a butterfly, right Fluttershy?" Insectum asked the expert, who nodded with a smile as more butterflies began to flock around her. Chrysalis gave her daughter a small smile at the sight of her so happy before both she and Fluttershy turned to look at Zangief...who was covered completely in sparrows that rested on his head and shoulders "Will you all get off of me?! I will crush you all between my thighs!" he roared as he swung his arms to scatter the birds, but the moment he stopped thrashing they all flew back down and landed upon him. The birds all began to chirp at once, causing Zangief to roar again as he spun in place. "Aw, they like you," Fluttershy said as even more varieties of birds began to land on Zangief, who was now covered in enough feathers to achieve lift off on his own. Fluttershy then cast a glance at Chrysalis to see that all of the animals scattered at her approach, yet the queen never seemed to notice. Chrysalis caught Fluttershy's gaze and the mare hid behind her mane once again, getting Chrysalis to roll her eyes. "Well, at least I know that I won't be bothered by our host while we're staying here," Chrysalis muttered as she passed Fluttershy and reached the cottage first, opening the door with her magic to receive an empty bowl to the face. "Well if you wanted to die so badly, you just had to ask," Chrysalis snarled as she removed the bowl from her face and glared at a white rabbit who was just realizing that he had made a horrible guess as to who was coming through that door. "Oh please don't be mad at Angle, he didn't know that I was bringing guests over," Fluttershy said in his defense as she zipped by Chrysalis and pulled the bunny into a hug. "He's just hungry, that's all. Please don't be mad or hurt him." Chrysalis raised both of her eyebrows before shrugging. "Fine, I will not get mad at him," she said, waiting for the relief to appear on both of their faces before Chrysalis bent over and looked into both of their eyes. "After all, what's the point at getting mad at my dinner?" The looks on their faces was more delicious than the rabbit would have been and Chrysalis walked over to the couch and dropped onto it with a sigh, looking around with a curious expression. "I received reports that Discord was also staying here? He isn't is he?" "Discord is off somewhere right now. Said something about a meeting between all of his friends from across time and space, so I assume that he's having some alone time," Fluttershy said with an innocent smile as she walked into the kitchen and grabbed some carrots for the bunny while Insectum walked in the door. "Yeah Zangief and I took one look at that door and there's no way he's getting in through that," Insectum said as Chrysalis looked out the door to see only half of Zangief, the door frame blocking out most of him. "I also saw your newspaper out there Fluttershy, so I picked it up for you!" "Oh, thank you dear," Fluttershy said with a smile as she walked over to grab it, but green magic surrounded it and pulled the paper over to Chrysalis. She snapped open the newspaper with a smirk which was immediately slapped off her face as she saw what was on not only the front, but the next three pages as well. "Damnitall Zangief, you're victory over Rainbow Dash is on nearly every page of this thing!" Chrysalis roared out the door at Zangief, who had to get on all fours so he could simply look into the room where the others were. "And all these articles are the same, just repeating the same moves and moments over and over again. Jeez, it's like the Elements haven't been beaten before." "Well, technically we haven't," Fluttershy asked before a glare from Chrysalis shut her up. "You two will be sleeping down here, if you don't mind, and Zangief...um...you're much bigger than I though, especially when compared to my house." "Hey Fluttershy, can you show us some more of your animal friends?" Insectum asked with a huge smile as she ran over Fluttershy with a ferret on her head. Fluttershy nodded and motioned for the changeling to follow her to the door, where Zangief moved out of the way so they could leave. "Over here is the chicken coup where I keep the chickens that wander around, but occasionally other birds stay here as well," Fluttershy explained to Insectum and Zangief, who tagged along since he couldn't fit in the house. "And those are where all the bees stay during this time of year, but they move inside once the winter comes so they can stay warm. And over here are where that ferrets you're wearing lives. It's nice for them down there." "Wow...you really like animals don't you?" Insectum asked, Fluttershy nodding in response. "Heh, I guess that's why you're so interested in Zangief. He's practically a wild animals himself." "I will have you know that I use the restrooms properly. I have yet to see a bear do that," Zangief said in his own defense. "Speaking of bears, I have not yet seen the bears that you..." Zangief stopped talking as he looked across the clearing, his Russian guided systems locking onto the large, brown object that was walking towards them. Fluttershy looked back and forth as she saw the bear wave to her before it spotted the massive wrestler behind her. "Wait Zangief, he's my friend!" Fluttershy said, knowing what was coming next. But what she didn't expect was that the bear narrowed it's eyes at Zangief as well and matched his stance. A silent agreement was made before both giants roared and charged towards each other, slamming their arms together as they both tried to overpower each other. "Please stop fighting you two! Why can't we all get along?" "Because they I wouldn't get to see a bear wrestle a man wearing red trunks," Chrysalis said from behind Fluttershy, having raided the fridge so that she had a beverage as she watched the fight commence. Zangief slipped his arms under the bears and with a heave lifted the bear off of it's feet, throwing it over his head and into the ground. Fluttershy let out a cry of terror as Zangief took to the skies in the splash position. But the bear rose to it's feet in time to catch the massive missile, hoisting Zangief onto it's shoulders before fling him head over heels into the small creek, creating a far bigger splash than should have been possible with the amount of water the stream held. Zangief burst out of the water and leapt into the air once again, the bear roaring as he prepared to catch the Russian once again. But this time Zangief pulled his body back as he extended his knees, causing the bear to miss it's grab and giving Zangief the chance he needed to put an end to the fight. Zangief wrapped his arms around the bears waist and slipped around to the back of the bear, hurling it over his head and driving it into the ground. Zangief rolled through the move and leapt into the air to finish the suplex, rising up to his feet with a large smile on his face as the bear struggled to get up. "Not bad comrade, you are far better than the bears that I wrestle in the motherland," Zangief said with a smile as he held out a hand for the bear. The bear let out a weak growl as it placed it's paw in Zangief's hand, letting the Russian pull him back up to it's feet. "But you must learn to guess when your foe is going to fake you out. You can't just grab all the time. Come, let me show you a proper throwing stance." "And yet again there he goes, this time with a freaking animal," Chrysalis muttered as Zangief began to show the bear how to properly apply pressure when grappling with a foe, Fluttershy having run off for her first aid kit. Insectum looked up at her mother with confusion, seeing hints of both rage and envy in her eyes. "What are you talking about mother?" Insectum asked, getting Chrysalis to shake her head as the bear managed to throw Zangief over it's head this time. "Nothing daughter, it's nothing important." Fluttershy ran back out of her cottage to see Zangief locked in a submission hold struggling to get his massive muscles behind his head to push the bear off of him. Once she had broken the two of them up (though Zangief did promise that he would be back to teach the bear) she gathered the four of them together. "Okay, now that I've shown you around my home and where you'll be staying, I was thinking that we head into town," Fluttershy offered, but she lowered her head when Chrysalis began to laugh at her. "That's a great idea, that the leader of the people that attacked them and parade her around town. I'm sure that will have no negative repercussions!" Chrysalis laughed until her daughter elbowed her in the gut, getting her to stop. "Sure, why not?" "Well I think it's a great idea and I can't wait to see Ponyville," Insectum said to raise Fluttershy's spirits, but the Pegasus barely managed a smile. "My mom always promised that I would see it, but I think she meant we would be there as conquerors or something along those lines." "But we're not going today," Chrysalis said as she turned and walked back into the cottage, getting her daughter and Fluttershy to both give her a questioning glance. "I don't want to meet any of those annoying ponies today. I've traveled too far and dealt with too much to do anything else today. I'm going to bed. Insectum, I'd recommend you do the same." "Well, meeting other ponies was kind of the point," Fluttershy muttered under her breath, but Chrysalis never heard her as she walked into the cottage and shut the door, leaving Fluttershy to look over at Zangief, who was now being swarmed by a number of different insects. "Okay then Mr. Zangief, do you have any preference as for where you wish to sleep? You can always have my bed if you can...fight through the door." "That is...quite alright. I...am used to...harsh environments!" he yelled as he clapped his hands together, opening them to find that not only had he missed but now the bugs were laughing at him. Fluttershy tried to figure out what to do with him before she heard the of a cart being pulled and turned with a smile on her face. "Yay. The food for my animals is finally here!" she exclaimed as loudly as she could, so Zangief wasn't aware that she had said anything until he turned his head to see that she was gone. He looked up to see her at the top of her hill next to a massive white stallion who pulled a cart, the physique of the stallion interesting him. "Thank you for bringing these to me Bulk, it means a lot considering the...guests that I have over," Fluttershy said with a shy smile to the large stallion, but the moment of gratitude was cut off as Zangief walked over to the two. The mighty Russian came to a stop and looked down at Bulk with an approving glance, while Bulk gave a similar look to Zangief. Then, surprising Fluttershy slightly, Zangief began to flex, showing off the full mass of his bulk. In retaliation Bulk began to flex as well, making himself appear even larger as he tried to match the red cyclone. Fluttershy giggled to herself as the two performed a few more poses before they both smiled at each other and clasped their hand and hoof together. "Well done comrade. Finally a pony that sees the importance of muscles!" Zangief said with a loud laugh. "But it seems that your legs are not quite up to the rest of you. Let me show you how to do the Cossack dance! Then you can make your legs even stronger than they are!" "YEAH!" Bulk responded with a loud yell of his own as the two walked over to a flat spot, Zangief beginning to do a strange dance as Insectum walked over to Fluttershy, both of them smiling at the silly sight in front of their eyes. "I think I understand what your mom doesn't like about him," Fluttershy said to Insectum, who raised an eyebrow while motioning for Fluttershy to continue. "It's his ability to make friends with almost anypony instantly. I noticed it on the train, I saw it back there with the bear and even now, despite barely knowing Bulk a minute, there he is dancing with him and both of them having fun." "I've noticed that too. I guess it's because he's so positive and confident that when he starts talking you can't help but get swept up in the same enthusiasm. Maybe that's why he's called a cyclone?" Insectum said with a smile of her own, remembering the first time she had met Zangief. Then she thought to how her mother had been treated and shunned most of her life, allowing her to see why there would be so much envy for one who could be loved so easily.