Journal of a Hiker

by Vertigo22

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy, Horror
Length: 2413

A stallion goes hiking in the Himarelayas. While there, he encounters a creature of legend.

The Himarelayas are known for many things. Brutal weather and conditions, snow leopards, and, of course, the legend of the Yeti.

On a day like any other, Icarus Brighthorn decided to go climb them.

This is his journal.

Published 2016-09-05 01:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2016-09-05 01:30:01 UTC

The Journal

Day one in the Himarelayas. It's freezing outside and I swear that my fur has icicles hanging from it. I can't tell since my coat’s platinum and most of the color here blends in.

Yay snow!

Speaking of snow, There's enough of it to cover all of Canterlot. Not terribly shocking since it's snowing as I write. Good thing I'm a unicorn, or I might die.

Magic’s a wonderful thing—especially if your cutie mark involves it.

Anyways, I've come here as it's always been my dream to scale this mountainous region. I've scaled many mountains in my time.

Such as the staircase in my house.

But enough about my experiences of climbing daunting things. I should be talking about my experiences getting up here.

It was incredible. The locals were as friendly as friendly can be.

By that, I mean they kept telling me pony’s have died when they've come up here. They blame something they call the “Yeti”.

They described it as a nine to ten foot tall, bipedal creature with white fur, large claws, and razor sharp teeth.

So, much my like ex wife.

Anyway, after I listened to them babble on and on about how most don't return, I finally asked if any had ever returned.

Most said they didn't know, but one earth pony said that he knew of a mare who had a close encounter with the ferocious beast and lived to tell the tale.

I asked if I could see her.

He told me she died a year ago.

I need to word my questions better.

Anyways, I proceeded to ask if anypony who had encountered the Yeti was still alive.

Much to my delight, there was. A young colt who had watched his mother and father brutally killed by the beast.

After having puked (I refuse to write down what that bastard described to me) in a nearby bucket, I asked him where the kid lived.

He told me he was upstairs, and that he was the kids uncle.

I don't get how he said even a tenth of the shit he described without crying.

Putting that aside (easier said than done), the stallion lead me upstairs and knocked on the kid's door.

A yellow coated colt, who was about nineteen, answered and looked at me and though I was death itself.

Though I haven't shaved in two weeks, so maybe he wasn't fond of that.

I need to stop getting off track. The kid (colt, I don't give a shit) asked why I was there. His uncle said I wanted to know about the Yeti.

As expected from any rational kid, he slammed the door in our faces and I heard crying not five seconds after.

Terrific uncle.

I looked at him with a glare and he sheepishly waltzed off.

Jackass.

Well, after that, I started to walk off when I heard the door open. The colt called out to me and I turned around. He asked if I wanted to still know about the Yeti.

I told him that, in all truthfulness, I didn't give a crap, but he could tell me what he knew of he so desired.

What I didn't tell him is his eyes terrified me. Seriously, his eyes were as red as rubies from all of that crying. I'm surprised he didn't fall asleep in the process.

Anyways, the kid told me a bit about the creature. He said it was a meat eater (obviously), that it had an odor so foul that it made him gag (wonderful), that it ignored him as it seemed satisfied with his parents as a meal, and that only came out at night and at the peak hours of dawn before it went back to wherever it resides.

I asked him how he knew that.

He replied that he didn't know, and that it's what the townsfolk believe.

I nodded and thanked him before I said that I wanted to ask one off topic question. He said yes.

I asked him why his uncle had such callous disregard for his feelings.

He said that his uncle was, as he put it, “the biggest douchebag on the face of Equus,” and that he, “never thinks before he speaks. Ever.”

I'm pretty sure I left out a dozen swear words, and that saddens me.

Still, kids got talent for weaving them together.

Oh well. After that, I made my way up here. A bag full of camping supplies, food, water that has no doubt turned into a blunt instrument, a journal, and, most importantly…

My teddy bear.

His name is Mr. Fluffy.

He is best teddy bear.

Anyways, tomorrow, I shall continue my trek up. Perhaps I'll also find the Yeti.

Oh, this is going to be so fun.

End of entry.

Day two. I've advanced upward.

Boy, it was a crazy trip.

I awoke and immediately took down my tent (magic is still awesome) and made my up.

Along the way, I saw a dead snow leopard. I'd like to think the Yeti had a late night snack, but it looked a few days old, and there no nearby prints.

Oh well. I didn't stick around long and continued up.

And up.

And did I mention up?

Oh well, whatever. I guess I should write about my exploits along the way.

Shortly after I packed up my things, I began my trek up the mountain again. As I did so, I decided to look out over the land below. There was a gorgeous view of the land below, which put a smile on my face. A ton of trees and a few villages. Paradise in my eyes.

Unlike my home of San Franciscolt.

Anyways, I continued up and eventually came across an abandoned tent. Curiosity got the better of me and I checked it out.

The outside was a bit tattered, but otherwise seemed untouched. It was beige—just like mine. Inside, there a sleeping bag that looked like it had only recently been used, and a journal. I levitated it over and flipped through it.

Each page contained one word, “YETI”, which was hastily written. It creeped me out immensely and I put it back on the sleeping bag.

After I left the tent, I found a nest of sorts. I walked over and examined it. It appeared to be made of straw and had a bit of frozen meat in it, which was partially eaten. Quite frankly, it was gross, and made my stomach turn a bit. I looked around the nest a bit and didn't find anything of interest. With that, I continued on, like any good mountain climber.

Not too long after the nest of warm, fuzzy thoughts, I found a bunch large prints. They seemed to be going northward, not too far from where I currently am.

Now, any rational pony would say I'm totally insane for going where a supposed pony killing (eating?) monster lives.

And they'd be right. I was no doubt dropped on my head when I was a foal. Thanks, ma.

Anyways, I went over and inspected the tracks. Holy. Shit.

They were about ten to twelve inches long and had five small digits at the end of them. I decided to put my hoof in the print. It was nearly three times as big as my hoof!

As if mare's didn't make me feel inadequate enough.

Well, after that, I looked up and saw where the tracks lead. I—in my infinite wisdom—followed them for a bit until I realized this thing allegedly eats ponies.

Around that point, I stopped and pitched my tent again.

Why? Your guess is as good as mine.

I think I'm going to see a therapist when I get back home.

Oh well. Time to go to sleep.

End of entry.

Day three. I awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of something walking outside of my tent. I slowly opened my eyes and saw an enormous, bipedal shadow outside. I wasn't terribly shocked since, well, I knew that the Yeti would probably wonder whose tent was in its territory.

I should've put a sign outside that said, “please ignore this tent as it belongs to broccoli.”

Unless it's vegan cousin waltzed over and wondered who was in the tent.

I'll save hypothetical questions for another day. Anyways, after I awoke, my nose was immediately assaulted by the most foul stench I've ever had the misfortune of smelling.

It was the equivalent of combining rotten milk, a skunk's stench, and a two week old corpse.

Don't ask how I know about the smell of that last one.

Moving on, I had to put my forehooves over my nose to block out the stench from the Yeti, which kept walking around the tent. I'm ninety-nine percent sure it knew I was in here, and that it was simply toying with me.

The other one percent guesses it was too stupid to know I was in the tent.

Anyways, after it circled the tent a few times, it stopped in the back. I swear, I could feel its gaze bore into the back of my head. It was unnerving to say the least.

Finally, after a couple of minutes, it walked away. Or, rather, stomped. The first few steps shook the tent, which made me question if it was only nine to ten feet tall. My mind, and heart, were both racing—and continued to do so for several minutes after.

Regardless, I never went back to sleep. I was terrified of the thought of that thing coming back.

Thankfully, it never did. Probably because day broke about a half hour later. Once it did, I looked out of my tent. While some prints overlapped, the ones that didn't were the same size as the ones I found yesterday. I still can't imagine what made these tracks.

Well, after that, I slowly got out of my tent and looked behind the it to see where the tracks lead.

That’s when my heart sank.

They lead in two directions. One pair—the pair that came towards the tent—seemed to come from up the mountain. The other pair seemed to go east, directly away from the tent.

I contemplated whether or not to pursue one of the pairs, before I finally decided to follow the pair that lead towards the tent.

In hindsight sight, it was a stupid idea since I left tracks to and from the tent.

Oh well, that's in the past. The path that leads towards the tent seemed to never end, gave me an uneasy feeling—like I was being watched. Every now and then, I turned around to see if the Yeti was looking at me. I never saw anything, though that made the feeling only worse.

Well, after several agonizing minutes, I finally reached a hollowed out cave. It wasn't exactly big; just barely large enough to contain a large biped I guess. It had a small campfire, some dried blood, a few bones (I'm unsure if they were the bones of the missing ponies), a nest similar to the one I found the yesterday, and a few primitive tools.

I—against my better judgement—went in and looked around, and was immediately assaulted by a terrible stench.

Go figure.

I staggered by and shook my head. I decided to go with my better judgement and began to make my way down towards my tent went I saw the faint outline of a massive bipedal creature coming up the mountain.

Two thoughts went through my mind.

The first was, “oh shit”. The second was, “that’s one big fucking thing”.

Regardless, I immediately teleported away and hid in the snow (not my brightest idea, but I have nopony to blame but myself).

From the snow, I saw the Yeti. It was about eleven feet tall and had white fur that covered its entire body. Its arms were massive and hung down along the sides of its body. They were muscular—far more muscular than those of a Minotaur's. It's legs were also big. I feel that this thing could've crushed me like a fly. It's eyes were also a piercing yellow. They looked soulless and glowed, which didn't help the already incredibly uneasy feeling I had while there (and still persists as I write).

However, I didn't see any “large claws” that were described back in that little village. Instead, it had fingers—similar to those that Minotaur's have. Though, these were far larger than a Minotaur's. Perhaps twice as big. I didn't see how many it had though.

Anyways, I observed the Yeti as I lay in the snow, hopeful that it wouldn't see me. It looked down at the hoofprints I'd made. My eyes widened when it did the one thing I didn't want to do.

It looked in my direction.

A part of me contemplated attacking it, but it looked like it would shrug off any magical attacks I could fire at it. Instead, I waited as it stared blankly. I think it knew I was there (wouldn't shock me since, well, hoofprints), but nonetheless, it went into its cave after a bit. I let out a sigh of relief and ran back towards my tent with one thought on my mind now.

“I need to get the fuck off of this mountain. Now.”

In record time (by that, I mean about two minutes since I teleported far more than I should have in hopes I could throw the Yeti off my path if it came looking for me. I'm still worn out from it), I arrived back at my camp and packed everything. I then made my down the mountain without looking back.

However, after a while, I began to feel weak (not to mention the freezing temperatures, which were getting to me) and I nearly collapsed. I hastily set up my tent and retreated into it, where I currently am.

I'm going to do my best to sleep. If it finds me, then I'll do everything I can to get away.

Celestia help me.

End of entry.

Day four. It followed me.

I awoke to a loud roar. Not too long after, I heard something moving outside. Then, I saw its shadow. In one hand: a large club. Its other hand clenched into a fist.

I write this as it moves outside my tent.

I'm going to run without looking back.

End of entry.