The Pony Guard (Season 2)

by MXCDarkHorse2020

Episode 8: Too Many Memories

Episode 8:

Too Many Memories

The Pony and Lion Guard ran across the Pride Lands under the light of the full moon. "This way, everyone!" Ono called down to the rest of the Guard, leading them towards the sounds of terrified cries coming from two aardvarks.

"Thank goodness." sighed Muhanga.

"We came as soon as we could." Kion informed.

"What's the kerbubble?" Beshte asked.

"Our den!" Muhangus exclaimed. "It's full of...Hyenas!" the two aardvarks shuddered and huddled together.

"Hyenas again?" Fuli groaned.

“Great.” Twilight added just as annoyed as the cheetah. "We've had to chase them out of the Pride Lands every night this week." the unicorn rolled her eyes.

"I know one thing that'll scare them away from the aardvarks' den for good." Kion spoke up, "Pony and Lion Guard, follow me."

The pair of aardvarks hid behind a large boulder once they saw the silhouettes of the hyena pack in field by their den. "Everyone, stay behind me." Kion ordered the rest of the Guard, who nodded in agreement.

"Be careful Kion." Fluttershy muttered under her breath as the prince ran a few feet ahead and stood on a large boulder. "Hey!" The prince yelled, getting the pack's attention. "I told you before, and I meant it. Get. Out. Of. The Pride Lands!"

He was about to unleash the Roar on them when a paw covered his mouth, “What in the-?”

“I wouldn’t do that…”

Kion looked to the side and saw Kyoga. “What the-? Kyoga, what are you doing? I’m gonna chase out the hyenas.”

“That’s the thing….. Those aren’t hyenas…” Kyoga said pointing to the animals.

“Yes they are!” Rainbow said. “They look just like them.”

“Not everything is what it seems, pegasus. Hyenas are bigger and more muscular while these guys are slimmer. These guys are aardwolves.”

“Aardwolves?!” The Guard replied.

“How do you know?” Applejack asked.

“I had aardwolves back where I came from. They’re nocturnal and mostly kept to themselves. Making their homes in abandoned aardvark dens.”

“But we still live there!” Muhangus exclaimed from behind the rock.

“Then you have to tell them gently, so they’ll go search somewhere else.” Kyoga replied to the aardvarks. “They’re incestavores, so they just eats bugs. They won’t harm you.”

The aardvark couple looked at each other and went with Kyoga over to the aardwolves, “Excuse us, aardwolves?” Muhangus called gently.

The aardwolves paused and their leader came out, named Mjomba. “Yes, what can we help you with?”

“Um….. you’re kinda in our den, Mr. Aardwolf.” Muhangus said gently.

“We are? Oh sorry. We thought they were abandoned.” Mjomba apologized. “We’ll move along and find some other empty dens to make our home.”

“Thank you.” Muhangus smiled.

“Alright everyone. The aardvark still live here, so let’s move along!” Mjomba called to his pack and they nodded and followed their leader.

Kyoga smiled as the aardwolves vanished in the night. “Thank you, Kyoga, you too Pony and Lion Guard.” Muhangus smiled.

“You’re welcome.” Kyoga replied before regrouping with Kion, Twilight and their friends.

“Nice work, Kyoga.” Kion replied.

“Yeah, you kinda saved us from making a big mistake back there.” Twilight replied sheepishly with a matching grin wondering what mess they would have had to clean up had Kion used the Roar on them.

“Yeah I did. Honestly, I thought you would have been the one to see the aardwolves more clearly, Kion.” Kyoga replied.

“Who? Me?” Kion yelped.

“Yes. You’re a lion. They have excellent night vision, way better than any of your friends. You should have seen the aardwolves and tell them apart from hyenas.” Kyoga deadpanned.

Kion chuckled sheepishly at Kyoga’s logic making her roll her eyes. “Anyway, see ya.” Kyoga said before she yawned and rubbed her eyes.

“Hold on Kyoga.” Fluttershy called while fluttering over to her.

Kyoga sighed, “What?” Kyoga turned around and Fluttershy slightly gasped. Kyoga had horrible bags under her eyes and she looked exhausted. “Woah nelly, sugarcube!” Applejack exclaimed in shock upon seeing this.

“What happened to you?” Kion questioned with worry.

“Nothing. I’m fine.” Kyoga brushed off.

“Tell that to the bags under your eyes.” Rainbow pointed out not buying it.

“You look exhausted darling.” Rarity added insisted that she accepts better care for herself.

“Guys, I told you I’m fine. Just haven’t been getting any sleep lately. No big deal.” Kyoga reassured gruffly. “I’ll see you guys in the morning.” Kyoga walked off… only to run into a tree. “OW! Stupid flora…!” and she continued on her way, leaving Kion and his friends looking at each other with concern as there is more that meets the eye literally in this case.

---

Back at her home, Kyoga was sleeping before she started twitching and stirring in discomfort.

(Flashback)

“Mommy! Daddy!” Young Kyoga whimpered as there were many large lions tackling her former pride and family before one of them came before her. “I’ll take you first…!” it said before it raised it claw and slashed Kyoga!

(Flashback End)

“Gah!” Kyoga gasped, shocking herself awake and breathing heavily. When she calmed down and her heart returned to a normal heart rate, she sighed, folding her ears. She’s been having flashbacks like that for the past week.

“Every time I have the same flashback…… guess I’ll have these forever…” Kyoga thought sadly before she looked up at the night sky. “Karabi…. Lite… where are you?”

Kyoga then looked towards the Outlands. “Maybe a walk will help calm my nerves.” she said to herself before she got up and headed towards the Outlands.

---

The next morning, Kion, Twilight and the Guard were on at Pride Rock with Simba, Nala, Celestia and Luna.

“It was weird it was like she hasn’t slept in weeks, dad.” Kion told his father about Kyoga’s condition.

“She kept saying she was fine but she didn’t look like it.” Beshte added.

"I see." Simba nodded while understanding the situation. "This is very concerning."

“It appears she been having recollections about her past.” Luna replied and deduced.

“Recollection?” Bunga asked wondering what it means.

“It means she’s having flashbacks or memories about her past.” Twilight explained.

“Oooooh.” Bunga replied. “.... What’s wrong with that?”

“Bunga, we know that Kyoga’s past isn’t the greatest so if she’s having flashbacks then that’s why she looked as bad as she did.” Kion further explained why.

“So we just ask her to tell us what happened. Easy.” Bunga suggested, smirking thinking this should be easy as the sun and night monarchs voiced otherwise.

"I wouldn't go that far." Celestia responded while shaking her head in disapproval with that approach. "Remember what I told you, these things take time."

"Why?" Bunga couldn't help but ask.

"Bunga!" Nala reminded. "Listen to the princesses here."

“Because that may not be as easy as you think, Young Bunga.” Princess Luna responded. “Just remembering your past whether good or bad is tough but having the courage to tell others about that same past is very difficult. Sometimes the speaker wishes that they never revealed it or that it never happened, which I myself understand all too well.” She folded her ears knowing she had her own bad past with the whole Nightmare Moon incident.

“So what can we do? Just ask her to tell us?” Fuli asked.

“No, you all must wait until she comes to you. If you try to coax it out of her, she’ll be more and more reluctant to tell you the truth. As you said, she acts rude as a defense mechanism from her trauma.” Princess Luna advised. “So, as my sister said, you must take it slow with Young Kyoga.”

“Okay Princess Luna. We’ll go see if Kyoga’s any better today during patrol.” Kion replied with a smile with the dark-colored alicorn nodded in approval for listening to her. “Come on Lion and Pony Guard.”

The others nodded before they followed Kion, starting their patrol.

---

Kyoga, meanwhile, was walking through the Outlands by herself. She didn’t mind the heat from the blazing sun much, but it was still making her a bit tired. Kyoga yawned while rubbing her eyes as she continued to walk and have some time for herself.

“Wish I could just….. Wish I could have done something to help.” Kyoga kept whispering to herself as she continued walking aimlessly, unaware that she gained some unwanted attention through her trip into the Outlands. “Well, well, well, Kyoga all alone in the Outlands.” Janja smirked maliciously.

“And from the look of things, she’s tired.” Nne replied with a knowing smirk.

“Yeah, meaning she’s not full strength. A perfect time to strike.” Tano added with the same expression on his face.

Janja laughed before deciding this the perfect opportunity to pounce on, “Come on boys, time for some revenge.”

Cheezi and Chungu on the other hand, tried to turn and walk out unnoticed but Janja wouldn’t let them as he quickly stopped them in their tracks, “That includes you furbrains!” He firmly reminded them to which both Cheezi and Chungu winced but they went with their clan leader, reluctantly as it is perfectly clear they are not allowed to back out of this one.

At the same time frame, Reirei and Goigoi noticed the female lioness cub from their den site. “Ah, so that meddling lioness is in the Outlands all by herself huh? Sounds the perfect to ambush her and make her pay for exposing us.” Reirei replied.

“Whatever you say dear.” Goigoi added.

“I’ll gather the clan and then we’ll head out together. You go and get the kiddies as well. This will be a perfect hunting moment for them.” Reirei chuckled evilly before she and Goigoi went to assemble their entire clan before noticing Janja and his clan have the same idea. "Janja?!" She questioned with a growl.

"Reirei?!" Janja returned in kind as the two stare down at each other with intense hatred because hyenas and jackals are not known to get along with each other before they both demanded in unison. "What are you doing here?!"

"Hunting down that meddling girl for exposing me and my family to the Lion and Pony Guard!" She answered before returning the same question back at him. "And how about you? What do you got against her?"

"What I got against her is the fact that girl has been helping the Lion and Pony Guard ruin my attempts to get dinner and gave me these scars on me cheek!" Janja angrily answered while showing the jackal the marks she left on him.

"I see." Reirei said before a surge of magic flowed through her mind to get her to properly think about the best course of action. "Well since it's obvious that we don't like each other and we both want revenge on Kyoga let's make a deal, shall we?" She then proposed willing to put aside their differences for the moment so they can take down a mutual enemy. "We can take down Kyoga and get our revenge together and then we can go back to hating each other when this is all over."

"What?! Now just wait a minute..." Janja skeptically questioned thinking this is a double-cross before the same surge went through his midn to get him to properly think too. "...Actually...that is a very good plan. I like it! Let's do it!" He immediately agreed before the two leaders shook paws together before temporarily going their seperate ways so they can gather together their clans.

As the two parties prepare themselves for a once in a while opportunity, Scar appears on the very high ledge above everyone having watched the entire scene while working his magic to get them to come to their senses.

"Excellent." Scar said with a satisfied grin with his green eyes glowing a fiery glare at the sight he had just motivated the two disputing hunting parties together.

---

Back in the Pridelands, Kion, Twilight and the Guard were nearing Kyoga’s home near the boundaries of the Outlands.

“I still don’t understand why Kyoga wanted her home so close to the Outlands Borders.” Rainbow Dash commented trying to make sense of it considering she'd be the first targeted prey an Outsider comes across when crossing the border.

“Now sugarcube, ya’ll know how her behavior is.” Applejack pointed out.

“Applejack’s right. She’s fiercely independent for a lion cub her age so she’d want a space to herself.” Twilight added. The group made it to her den, only to find her absent. “That’s weird? Where’d she go?” Fluttershy asked.

“Hunting?” Fuli asked.

“Maybe, but…” Kion saw pairs of footprints leading away from Kyoga’s den. “These footprints don’t look like she headed into the field go to hunting.”

“Then where did she go?” Rarity questioned and Kion trailed the footprints and saw them leading into the Outlands. “Oh boy, her tracks go right into the Outlands!”

“The Outlands!” Fuli gasped in horror as everyone realizes of how vulnerable she is now.

“What’s wrong with that? She’s been in the Outlands before. She’ll be fine.” Bunga brushed off, nonchalantly.

“Bunga, Kyoga’s tired and with the unrelenting heat of the Outlands, that’ll sap her strength even more, leaving her vulnerable.” Kion reasoned.

“Plus the darling has those ghastly hyena and jackal clans as enemies in the Outlands as well.” Rarity added.

“And they might take advantage of her not being at full strength to take her out!” Ono gasped.

“Which means we have to find her before Janja, Reirei and their clans do. Ono, Rainbow, Fluttershy, search from the air. With three pairs of eye you guys should be able to spot her easier.” Kion ordered.

“Affirmative!” “Count on us!” “O-Okay….” Ono, Rainbow and Flutterhy all replied before they took to the skies.

“Till Equestria and the Pridelands end…” Kion started, dashing into the Outlands followed by the others saying together, “Lion and Pony Guard defend!”

---

Kyoga yawned again as she stopped at a cliff overlooking a large part of the Outlands with the volcano in the distance. Kyoga rubbed her tired eyes again. Kyoga sighed as the wind blew through her fur. “Where ever you two are…. please come back to me. You’re all I have left…” Kyoga thought then...

“Well, well, well….” Kyoga’s ears perked and she turned around and saw Janja, Cheezi, Chungu, Nne and Tano stalking towards her. “Look what we have here. A tiny lioness cub with no one around…” Janja smirked.

“Seems like the right time to get some payback for what you did..” Reirei added with an equally malicious grin as she, Goigoi, her pups and her jackal clan stalked towards her as well. Kyoga lowered to the ground with her claws extended ready to defend herself even when she is weakened from being sleep deprived and heat exhaustion.

Meanwhile, Ono, Rainbow and Fluttershy were flying above when Ono spotted something, “Hapana!”

“What Ono?” Kion called up.

“Janja, his clan and Reirei and her entire jackal clan have Kyoga cornered on a cliff!” Ono exclaimed. Fluttershy gasped while Rainbow narrowed her eyes. “Not if I have anything to say about it!” and she bolted down there while Fluttershy and Ono regrouped with the others and headed over there with no time to question both parties forming a alliance together.

Kyoga snarled at her rivals, “Looks like this is the end of the line for you. No friends to back you up.” Janja smirked, ready to pounce when…

“I don’t think so!” Rainbow came and rammed Janja to the side before she hovered in front of Kyoga. “Now back off!”

Reirei laughed, “And what can one measly Pegasus do against us?” she mocked.

“She ain’t alone!”

“Don’t be so sure!”

Applejack and Beshte called as she charged in and Applejack kicked Reirei and Goigoi in the face, knocking them back while Beshte rammed the rest of the adult jackal and the pups scattered.

Kion and Bunga tackled Nne and Tano while Twilight fired her magic at Cheezi and Chungu, making them panic and run away.

“Thought you could hurt our friend huh, Janja?” Kion snarled.

“Yes. And I’ll keep coming for her cause that’s what rivals do!” Janja exclaimed.

“Yeah!” Reirei added. “She’s a meddling lioness cub that needs to be taken care of.”

“We’ll see about that.” Kion stated before he unleashed his Roar of the Elders and blew all of the hyenas and jackals away and towards the Volcano.

“And stay away!”

“Yeah!”

Bunga and Pinkie cheered.

“Kyoga, you okay?” Kion asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Kyoga replied. “..... Thanks….. for saving me….”

“It’s what we do.” Kion smiled.

Kyoga rubbed her right arm sheepishly with regret in her tone of voice as she further speaks to them. “Look…. I’m… sorry about always pushing you guys away. And being.. rude.”

“You don’t have to apologize darling, you just using a defense mechanism.” Rarity reassured it's no trouble at all.

“Yeah sugarcube, you don’t want any of us to know the full story about what happened to ya and that’s alright.” Applejack added.

“Rarity and Applejack are right. Until you feel comfortable enough to tell us what happened, we’ll try not to ask you about too much.” Kion put in with vowed and utmost patience with her going forward.

Kyoga nodded. “O-Okay.”

“Now let’s get you back to the Pridelands.” Twilight grinned and the Guard and Kyoga headed back to Kyoga’s home.

During the walk back both Kion and Ono secretly shared a wondering glance of how and why Janja, Reirei, and their respective clans would ever agree to a truce considering it is well known for them to not get along nor come to an agreement. But they both decided it was best that they needed to help Kyoga recover and get some rest and out of bad guy territory. After all the health and safety of their team come first.

---

Meanwhile, Reirei, Janja and their clans were both sore from Kion’s Roar that sent them near the Outlands Volcano.

“Ugh pesky lion cub!” Janja snarled, annoyed that Kion and the Guard foiled his plan again.

“That whole Lion and Pony Guard is trouble. We need to get rid them!” Reirei growled darkly, wanting something to be done about them.

“I believe I can help with that…..” a voice said and offered from behind them. The two clans turned and saw Scar standing over them, making them gasp at seeing the presumed deceased lion face to face.

“A-A-Are you..?” Janja stammered with his ears folded back in shock and fright as he is if he is seeing demons from the past yet in the full flesh and alive in this case.

“Yes… I.. am… Scar!” Scar confirmed and smirked before chuckling evilly.

Author's Note:

Before I begin, for this chapter, I'd like to take a moment to explain the reason for this one after discussing with PikachuSkitty deciding to rewrite this episode changing with more focus on Kyoga after agreeing that the canon episode's plot could have been avoided had Kion had actually got a better look at the aardwolves since he had night vision.

So anyways in this version of this episode, instead Kyoga has another episode focused on her as recent nightmares of her Dark and Troubled Past that has been keeping her up the past week which has left her sleep-deprived and vulnerable when Janja and Reirei perform an Enemy Mine alliance to take her down in revenge for their previous encounters with her.

Her friends are rightfully concerned for her and want to know what happened but upon Princess Luna's advice from past experience, decide to let her open up to them instead of trying to coax it out of her and risk breaking off her friendship with them.

Luckily for Kyoga, the Lion and Pony Guard quickly came to her rescue to which she expresses her gratitude for them even after giving them the cold shoulder with her rude attitude to which the Guard returns it's okay since they understand that it's part of her defense mechanism as a result of whatever happened back then.

Following their most recent defeat, both Janja and Reirei are both fuming and through with being constantly getting their tails kicked by the Lion and Pony Guard while vowing to work together to try to take them down...

...As they along with their clans are approached by Scar himself who is more than ready to help them out in that regard with a plan in place along with encouraged them to put aside their differences in order to be able to take down their mutual enemies together.

Next up, is the "The Cutie Pox." where Apple Bloom gets her third Day in the Limelight in this upcoming episode where her desire for a cutie mark leads to her contracting a very strange condition to where she gets more than what she wished for.

Comments

[HarryBuilder]

When will Zira and the outsiders make an appearance?