//------------------------------// // A Bear too Big to Throw? Nonsense! // Story: The Red Cyclone // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// "Cursed insects! Why do you consist on pestering me despite knowing that you cannot win?!" Zangief asked the swarm of flies that constantly buzzed around his head for the fifth time, swatting at them with his hands only for them to once again avoid all of his blows. "Grr, why am I in this forest? In should be dancing or fighting, not stuck in a forest." Fluttershy giggled at the silliness that was going on as the bugs began to laugh at the Russian wrestler, getting Gief to growl before clapping his hands together. The force of the clap pushed the puny bugs away from him in a gust of wind, allowing the Russian to laugh at his "victory". "I have to agree with the brute over there. Why in the infernal tartarus are we walking through the forest at nearly six in the morning?" Chrysalis complained with a both bored and tired yawn, still wishing that she was fast asleep on the cottage's couch. Her daughter (who Chrysalis was certain was sucking the energy out of her) bounded around the barely visible path with wide eyes and a toothy smile as she darted around to see all of the different insects. "I am fairly certain that you could have shown my daughter a picture of this rare Hummingbee instead of dragging all of our flanks out of bed this early in the morning." "But the Hummingbee is so much more interesting and beautiful in real life," Fluttershy explained for Chrysalis, earning her a growl from the changeling queen. "Until you see how fast it can move its wings for yourself you haven't truly appreciated it." "I could appreciate it just fine back on the couch back at the cottage," Chrysalis grumbled before her daughter bounced over in front of her. "Come on mom, the Hummingbee sounds really cool! What's the point in coming to Ponyville if we don't do some sightseeing while we're here?" Insectum asked her mother, who groaned tiredly in response. "Insectum, I love you but sometimes for the life of me I can't understand you," Chrysalis revealed with a shake of her head, yet her words were lost on her daughter who had zipped over to look up at a number of birds that sat in the branches in the dark trees overhead. But as Insectum and Fluttershy kept their eyes on the trees, Chrysalis was more focused on the eyes that seemed to look out from the brush at them from every direction. "Do not worry about the eyes that glare hungrily at us from all sides, for if they were to attack us I would throw them as if they were bears in the wind," Zangief said to comfort the changeling before he threw his head back and bellowed with laughter. While his laughter still annoyed her, Chrysalis was grateful to see that the eyes vanished at the mighty roar of Zangief, meaning his words spoke the truth. "So where is this blasted bee anyway? It feels like we've been walking for hours," Chrysalis grumbled, trying to find something new to be upset about. "The forest keeps getting thicker and I'm fairly certain a plant just tried to eat me a couple steps back. If we don't find it soon I'm flying my daughter back to where its safe and leaving you two to fend for yourselves." "Not much further Chrysalis, we are almost at the clearing." Chrysalis shrugged before looking over at the Russian towering along besides her, her mind flashing back to the battle he had had with the Steel Tornado the other day at the move that he had performed to defeat nearly two thousand pounds of unforgiving steel. "Ah, that is another technique of mine, one that I developed after I had perfected the spinning piledriver," Zangief disclosed to her once Chrysalis had asked him about the move. "I call it the Siberian Blizzard, for it is as harsh and unforgiving as the snow storms that grace the motherland back home." "So the spinning piledriver wasn't enough and you wanted another move that defied all the laws of physics?" Chrysalis asked with a smirk. "Did you nearly get frozen to death in a blizzard or something?" "See, as great as the S.P.D. is, my opponents have a nasty habit of leaping away from me whenever I get too close to use it. I think they do not like my move," Zangief said with a small hint of confusion in his voice that got Chrysalis to roll her eyes. "So I decided that if they did not wish to feel the power of my cyclone, then they would feel the wrath of a blizzard from Russia and how this blizzard protects the skies. Thus the Siberian Blizzard was created, so that any foe that took to the skies would see that it was not safe for them." "So it works as an aerial counter then," Chrysalis muttered as she placed a hoof under her chin, forgetting that she only had one leg and would have fallen on her face had Zangief not caught her with his massive mitts. "So what happens if your opponent doesn't leap into the air to escape you (and frankly I can't imagine why they wouldn't)? Does your move just turn into the S.P.D. or something?" "Ah, actually if they do not jump the I must focus on not letting the momentum of my swinging arms cause me to land on my face and thus I must stop performing the move, leaving me slightly open," Zangief admitted as he rubbed the back of his head with a good natured smile, only to have a number of bugs fly into his mouth all at once. "Cursed insects! Cease these foolish attempts to fight me! But I have never lost a match due to my opponent refusing to flee, for none can hold their fears back when faced with one such as Zangief!" "I see...but then why not use it when fighting that annoying Rainbow Dash?" Chrysalis inquired. "Seems like it be the perfect moves against the pony who spends nearly all of her time in the clouds." "Chrysalis, you saw what the Siberian Blizzard did to that pile of scrap metal that thought it could imitate me," Zangief reminded Chrysalis. "I did not wish to kill any of my foes, I simply wish to throw them until they could not stand anymore. There was no need to trap such a fast sparrow inside of a blizzard that would have claimed her life. I am a hero to the children, not a monster." "You certainly look like one," Chrysalis snarked, but deep within she found that she admired Zangief for thinking of not only the changelings during that fight, but for the ponies as well. 'After all, I don't think Celestia and Luna would have been so keen on helping me if Zangief had turned Rainbow Dash into a rainbow smudge.' Her train of thought derailed and plowed into a crowd of brain cells when a massive roar shook the entire forest, causing all four of the travelers to come to a dead stop. Then a large beast began to rise over to forest, causing the ground to quake in fear of what was to come. All eyes were glued to the blue fur with constellations covering the monsters entire being, a being that blocked out the sun with its size. Finally the beast turned its head towards the four with a monstrous yawn, revealing rows of teeth that turned Insectum's face white with fear. "Oh no, it's an Ursa Minor," Fluttershy whispered weakly as the bear the size of a building smacked it's lips, using it's bear paws to rub the sand from it's eyes as it looked around still half dazed. "And it seems to have just woken up from it's nap. Okay, if we just slowly back away from it without making any loud sounds odds are that it will go back to sleep without-" "It is...magnificent." All eyes turned away from the biggest creature in the forest to the dumbest creature in the forest who wore a look of sheer joy on his face as he looked up at the beast that towered over them. "I have only dreamed about bears like this in my dreams, but to think that I am seeing such a beast here an now...I must." "No Zangief, you don't want to mess with an Ursa. They can be grumpy when they wake up," Fluttershy warned him. "I must." "Zangief, even I am having doubts about you winning...surviving this fight," Insectum said with undertones of fear in her voice. "I must!" "Ah what the hell, go have fun!" Chrysalis said with a cackle as she lifted the mighty Zangief with her magic and hurled him up at the Ursa Minor, with only the roar of the Red Cyclone echoing throughout the forest as he sailed towards the face of a monster with both arms outstretched. "Come and face me!" Zangief roared with both enthusiasm and the will to fight. The Ursa turned to see the tiny man flying towards him with a befuddled expression before it lifted a paw in front of it's face, a paw that Zangief slammed into at high speeds. Yet the Cyclone only took a moment before he was ready to fight again and he unleashed the fury of his muscles into the paw that he was grabbing onto. "You may be the largest bear that I have had to wrestle, but even a mighty bear can be forced to submit!" Zangief yelled up at the confused Ursa Minor as he clawed his way up to one of the bears toes, which he wrapped his arms around as he unleashed a bear hug upon the first toe he grabbed. "Do not bother trying to break my grasp, for I will never give up until you have submitted to my might!" The bear looked at Zangief with a raised eyebrow before it slammed it's paw into the ground and began to scrap back and forth, almost as if it had stepped in something and was trying to wipe it off. Fluttershy and Insectum both let out gasps of concern for the Russian pancake while Chrysalis was more interested to see if Zangief was still holding onto the bear. The bear lifted it's paw to find that out as well and was greeted with a bellow. "Never!" WHAM! The ground shook beneath their hooves as the bear drove the Russian back into the ground with an annoyed face, scraping even harder before lifting it's paw again. "Never!" WHAM! The bear let out a moan of frustration when it lifted it's paw to find that Zangief was just as stubborn as he was immune to pain or common sense, forcing the bear to begin biting at it's own paw in a desperate attempt to remove the annoyance from it's body. "Zangief! You need to try to scratch it behind it's ears! That's one of the few ways to calm it down!" Fluttershy called out to Zangief with fear in her voice, but all her words did was get Zangief to laugh as he released the bears toe and launch himself onto the bears cheek. Once he had a grip upon the face fur he began to climb up the bears head, getting Fluttershy to shake her head while worry filled up her eyes. "What is he thinking? The Ursa could kill him in an instant if it wanted to!" she exclaimed as Zangief reached the part of the head where the bears ear connected to it's head. Zangief wrapped the Ursa's ear into a death grip as he began to twist and pull with all of his might to force the bear to submit, to show that he was greater than any bear that sought to beat him. Despite his best efforts though, his actions were having an opposite effect on the bear. For instead of forcing it into submission like it would have done a regular bear, the Ursa's face took on a more pleased face as it's back leg began to slam into the ground rapidly. "Thinking? Fluttershy, you are talking about Zangief, the densest thing I have ever encountered in all of my days," Chrysalis said with a chuckle as the bear began to pant happily as Zangief increased the pressure. "He wasn't thinking. He saw a bear and decided that he needed to wrestle it. No other thoughts crossed his mind." The Ursa let out a happy moan and reached up to clasp Zangief within both of it's paw, plucking the Russian wrestler off of its head. The Ursa brought Zangief in front of its face, getting Zangief to yell at the bear while he tried to force its paws open with the might forged in the Siberian wilderness. The bear let out a happy bark and rolled onto it's back, throwing Zangief into the air with a happy smile. Zangief roared with determination as he hurtled down towards the Ursa, expertly dodging it's paws by sticking his knees out to decrease his size. He slammed onto the Ursa's chest with body slam, which he locked into place before he looked down to the others. "The count! Give me the count!" "Um...one, two, three?" Insectum counted out with confusion, but the moment she said the word three Zangief leapt into the air with a loud laugh, throwing his arms over his head and waving them like he had won the greatest fight of his life. "I don't get it, can somepony explain to me what the heck just happened?" "That idiot is going by pro-wrestling rules," Chrysalis said with both a laugh of amusement and a groan of annoyance as Zangief's celebration reached their ears. "That idiot thinks that just because he held the bear down on it's back for three seconds that he's beaten it. Dear Faust give me strength." Insectum and Fluttershy both shared a look before both of them looked up at Zangief again, who was now scratching the Ursa's stomach much to the delight of the massive beast. "Well, at least the Ursa looks happy," Fluttershy said with a smile and a shrug as the baby bear let out a happy moan, figuring that no harm had been caused by the wrestling match. Then another roar shook the forest, a roar that made the one created by the Ursa Minor seem like a light breeze in comparison. A massive shadow cast itself over the four travelers and even the Ursa Minor as all eyes looked to the sky, all of their eyes shrinking in fear as they saw the purple fur covered in constellations that blocked out the sun. The Ursa Major ascended into the sky so far that clouds broke on it's back, creating a shadow that reached all the way back to Ponyville. None of the ponies dared to move and even the sharp tongue of Chrysalis stayed within it's sheath in fear of turning the creatures eyes towards her. For a moment, the entire forest was in complete silence. And then Zangief, who was still standing on the tummy of the Minor and gazing up at the godly bear with wide eyes, broke the silence. "I must."