Another gore heads up for this chapter, it gets a little…….. grizzly

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I began waking up to heavy footsteps and low growling sounds. Stirring from my slumber, it was the crack of dawn, I got up and stretched. My fur was drenched so I shook it off, awkwardly at that, before I began my investigation. I snuck around the castle to see what was causing all that noise. Not wanting to fight whatever possible threat was out there head on, I decided to get to a vantage point, the high ground if you will, to better observe what was entering my domain.

As I got situated on a balcony that overlooked the throne room, or what appeared to be a throne room. My eyes widened in both astonishment and pure fear as what I could only describe as the biggest damn bear I’ve ever seen entered the room, for the most part it was sniffing around.

“Oh great more grizzlies,” I muttered softly to myself.

But then I noticed some odd features of this bear. It had some abnormally long legs, particularly in the front, its muzzle was relatively short. Its fur color was more of a black and not the classic grizzly brown. And to top it off as I had mentioned, this thing was giant, and it wasn’t even standing up. But that really wasn’t my biggest concern as this thing seemed to be on the scent of something, most likely me.

“Wait a minute, that ain’t no grizzly, what the hell is that?”

“…hold on, short muzzle, upward posture with long legs in the front…”

My mind had a brain fart right then and there, there was no way this creature could be real, they went extinct. If these ponies thought I was a threat, I was honestly the least of their problems now, I mean what the hell do they think they are going to do to an Arctodus? We're talking about a bear with a bite force of over 2,000 psi, 7 to 8 inch claws, and a paw that could take your head off in one swipe! I had no clue this thing was looking at me, but as soon as I noticed, my heart fell to the darkest area of my soul.

Making my way into a room, which led outside, going down a few stairs, I made my way to the outside entrance but I was met by the bear standing right in front of me. Can this thing teleport as well?! The bear tried to take a swing at me, but thankfully I was much faster and more agile than it and dodged the attack. I took off in another direction, trying to lose the bear which was now running behind me, but it was closing the distance with ease.

“For god’s sake just leave me alone!”

The bear came screeching to a halt, this made me do the same, although I was unsure what kind of trickery this was.

“Say that again,” said the bear in a very familiar voice.

“Uh… for god's sake, leave me alone?”

“Hold on a moment, there’s only one person I know with… Izaac? It can’t be.”

“Hold the phone, Kenny, your here too!?”

“Yeah I guess, want to explain to me how this is happening.”

“Don’t look at me, I’m just as confused as you.”

Kenny nodded, as well as a bear on steroids could.

“We’ll, what now?”

“Well, if you showed up, maybe there are more people like us here in this fucked up wonderland.”

“Maybe, Kenny, maybe.”

“So, question, what am I?”

“Well, you're an Arctodus simus.”

“English, Izaac.”

“Okay fine, you are also known as a short-faced bear, which is the largest terrestrial mammalian land carnivore that has ever set foot in North America… that we know of.”

“Oh, so this means no one will try to fuck with me?”

“Essentially yes, unless we run into the military of this world.”

“That and I can show you what downsides and upsides your new form has.”

“Um… okay? So humans are going to be after us?”

“… not exactly, the inhabitants aren’t human per say, they are… how do I say this without you having a heart attack, crayola colored ponies.”

Kenny went silent, being a bear, it was hard to read his facial expressions, but I knew deep within his heart, a titan was rising. Kenny was a guy who liked heavy metal and disturbed, and basically hated everything cotton candy-like. Barney and Elmo were always on his shit list, there was more darkness than light in him, but this didn’t mean he was evil, a bit of a temper maybe.

“Crayola.”

“Colored.”

“Ponies.”

I looked multiple ways, unsure how to describe their features and attributes.

“Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaah, they have wings and horns, some can shoot these odd objects.”

“Izaac, you might want to cover your ears.”

“Why?”

Kenny stood up on his hind legs, he absolutely towered over me, he was almost the size of the damn trees, maybe 12 to 14 feet off the ground, the son of a bitch was huge, he’d make a pony look like an ant. He let out the most ear piercing, blood curdling roar out of any animal I had ever heard, it was as loud as an oncoming train. The roar was followed by a shower of profanities, a downpour of sarcasm, and basically telling all the animals within the woods to fuck all the way off. But little did we know, there was only a tiny percentage of creatures that would even dare fuck with a bear of this size and power.

I heard footsteps behind me and turned to see a lion-like creature, it had bat wings, goat horns on its head, and a scorpion tail.

“What in god’s name is that!?”

Kenny didn’t answer, so I thought maybe if I could speak with other animals, maybe I could do the same with this guy, possibly persuade him not to attack.

“Excuse me, Mr. Lion thing, I don’t think this is a fight you are going to win-.”

*ROAR!!!*

“Oh shit!” Yelled Kenny.

“Okay, maybe he doesn’t want to talk today.”

The beast drew closer, but Kenny had had enough of this and stood at his full height. This startled the cat-like creature and made it hesitant on continuing its attack.

It had fought bears before but not bears of this size.

Nevertheless, it wanted me for the most part and as it had been eyeing me for a while and knew it had to get through Kenny first.

Both legendary beasts ran at each other, preparing to clash.
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Somewhere nearby.

“So why are we out here again Scootaloo, if we get caught, we’ll be grounded or worse?”

“What’s worse than being grounded?” Said an orange Pegasus filly with a scruffy magenta colored mane and tail muttered brashly, carrying herself with confidence.

The two other fillies, a yellow furred filly with a red mane and tail wearing a bright pink bow, and a marshmallow white filly with a light lavender and pink two toned mane, looked on in worry, scanning their surroundings.

“Well, getting eaten is a good start, said Sweetie Belle.”

“Come on, don’t you want a Cutie Mark and prove Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon wrong?”

“Well… yeah, but do we really have to do it like this?”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes.

“It’s the only way we can silence those bullies, even if they don’t have the nerve to go into the Everfree forest.”

“But that’s beside the point, if we can stand in front of the biggest, scariest monster in this forest, we will be seen as legends and could get our cutie marks.”

Both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked at Scootaloo as if she were insane.

But soon they heard what could only be described as an extremely angry beast, it sounded like a bear, but at the same time, it sounded like a big cat.

“What was that?”

After a little while, they heard the sound of a manticore.

“It’s a battle! Come on, girls, we got to see this”

Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other once more but decided to just follow along.

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A few hours before the conflict.

A group of ponies in lab coats and fancy outfits stood in front of Celestia, Luna was asleep at the moment, she had an important job to do once night hit.

“Thank you everypony for being here on such short notice, I believe you know why I summoned you.”

One of the scientists stepped up, trying her best to contain her excitement.

“We received your letter about a new species of canine was it? I am a well renowned canine expert and am honored to be working with the Elements of Harmony in this quest to study the creature.”

A light blue earth pony stallion stepped fourth.

“As you continue, your highness, what should we know about this creature?”

“Well, what I am most concerned about is this creature has already been known to sneak into civilization and kill pets, that’s why I notified Ponyville to lock there pets in at night.”

“It is not afraid of guards, as far as we know, as I had sent a small group of guards down to deter the canine from entering Ponyville last night.”

“It has eaten half the animals in the Element of Kindness’s house, I don’t want this to be a regular occurrence to the point where it starts hunting my ponies.”

The scientists looked at each other but nodded.

“I’ve been studying canines, both wild and domestic for years and I’ve never heard of anything like this in my entire career,” said the same mare.

“Now, I don’t want it hurt, I just want it caged and sent to Canterlot for study. As you said, you will be working with the Elements of Harmony, exclusively with my student Twilight Sparkle and the Element of Kindness, Fluttershy.”

“Yes, your highness, we shall be on our way to Ponyville immediately.”
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Twilight was staring at the mangled corpses of Fluttershy’s animals that had been maliciously slaughtered.

The smell was bad and she felt sick to her stomach.

Rarity had fainted at the sight, Fluttershy was in a bad mental state at losing her animals in such a way.

The whole town had been on alert, most ponies couldn’t even go on a midnight stroll without the guard scolding them.

“This is getting pretty bad.”

“This is not right, dogs don’t do this.”

Twilight looked at one of the mare scientists, a pony by the name of Whistle, giving her a quizzical look.

Twilight knew a lot about the various animal species of Equestria, but not to the extent of Fluttershy's knowledge. She was more than willing to learn more, and at this point she had no choice.

“Wait, what?”

“Dogs don’t do this, especially various canine species, the only species I’ve heard of killing animals in such numbers are Timberwolves, but even they won’t exit the forest and enter houses.”

“Is it possible we are dealing with a new species of wolf?”

“It’s not out of the realm of possibilities, Ms. Sparkle.”

“Please, Ms. Sparkle is my mother, just call me Twilight.”

Twilight rounded her friends and the scientists up and told them what was going to transpire.

“Okay everypony, our goal is to set some cages out in the areas where this creature has been most active.”

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t hurt Fluttershy’s animals again, that’s for sure!” Exclaimed Rainbow Dash, doing some tricks and jabbing the air.

Twilight frowned and shook her head.

“I’m sorry Rainbow but that’s not how we are going to approach this creature, the Princesses don’t want it hurt. Once we catch it, we are to bring it to Canterlot and study it.”

“Anything Else Sugar Cube?”

“That’s all the Princesses told me, Applejack, I’m sure they’ll explain the rest of their plan later, aside from that, does anyone have any questions?”

Pinkie pie raised her hoof in the air, bouncing around as usual, forgetting the mass slaughter in Fluttershy’s home.

“Yes, Pinkie?”

“What if this creature was once a technologically advanced being but got reincarnated into another being from thousands of years ago when everything was going through dramatic climate changes?!” Pinkie said at a fast rate.

“Um… what?”

“Just a hunch.”

“Well, whatever you just said Pinkie, I’m pretty sure that didn’t happen.”

“Aside from all that, Princess Celestia brought a local hunter from the Griffon Kingdom, Thorn here will be checking what he calls game trails, pathways animals make or use.”

A male griffon with brown feathers, an orange beak, with plenty of scars came up to Twilight and nodded.

“I know every species in the Everfree forest, and I can assure you a new species will have the potential to make certain tracks and trails.”

“And in other words?” Asked Rainbow Dash, not fully trusting this Griffon they barely knew as he looked very shady.

“In other words, it will be easier than finding a needle in a haystack.”

“Okay, it looks like we’ve got everything settled, everypony, let’s move out.”
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My POV.

The lion hybrid and Kenny circled each other, growling and roaring, waiting to see who would make the first blow.

I circled as well, not only to keep my distance but to help my friend in case things got out of hand.

Short faced bears were thought to have competed and fought against American lions and Saber toothed cats, but what was unknown was who truly won most of those fights as animals are unpredictable and that they don’t exist anymore.

This kitty was a little bigger than an American lion or Smilodon (Saber tooth species). This would mean it could apply more damage and would be considered stronger.

The mass in the creatures arms and head showed it was not a cat to be taken lightly.

The cat lunged at the bear before me and grappled onto him.

Kenny was a born fighter though and could easily outsmart this cat as he slammed the cat onto the ground.

The cat lion hybrid got up and quickly recovered. I could tell it had not seen a creature smart enough to pull this move, it clearly was surprised.

Getting back to its original plan, it began to do mock charges, thinking Kenny would open himself up. All that cat wanted was to get to the belly of the beast, it was either that or the windpipe.

Kenny was tempted but never loosened up, keeping his eyes on the prize.

This angered the ferocious feline, it had to find another way.

It soon licked its lips and ran at Kenny. The cat showed no signs of stopping and thinking Kenny would think it was another mock attack, it lept at him.

*BAM!!!*

The only thing that fat cat remotely touched was the ground as Kenny scored a direct hit to the lion’s cranium.

However, he got up quickly, mildly dazed by the attack, claw marks across its head.

This only angered the cat as it ran at Kenny once more but this time Kenny wasn’t ready as the hybrid's fast recovery stunned him.

He got knocked over and I knew I had to intervene. I just remembered something as well, it had a scorpion tail, this had to be a manticore.

As made up as it sounded, it was right there before my eyes, using my friend as a goddamn scratching post.

I jumped on the manticore’s back as I bit into his hide, shaking and tearing, causing the bastard to roar out in pain, although I wasn’t doing too much damage, but that pain soon turned to fury.

Throwing me back, I fell to the ground, a little dazed but not by much.

But another thing came to mind, if Kenny was an ice age Giant short faced bear, was I something like that, maybe a Dire wolf? Although the Dire wolf was not technically a wolf but more related to jackals, but hell, who knows at this point.

The giant cat came over to me, ready to take a chunk out of me but was too ignorant to see the slightly battered bear charging for it!

Kenny clamped his jaws down on the manticore’s tail, seeing it as the main source of its powers rather than its jaws.

It yowled in pain and tried to turn and attack but its scorpion tail was soon severed from its body.

And to end it all, Kenny raised up and bit down on the manticore’s spine and ripped it out, the bone being strung together by muscles and tendons.

“Kenny made a gash near its ribs and all the blood and entrails came out, the cat was already dead once his spine was ripped out and crushed within Kenny’s fortress-like jaws.”

“I was a little shocked, but hey, this was my friend, he’s dark as all heck with little morals, he’d protect me no matter the cost, I’d do the same for him.”

Kenny did another roar, letting all the animals know it had killed a manticore.

“Uh, Kenny, we should get you somewhere safe to get healed up, you took some damage.”

Kenny nodded, drowsy from the blood loss.

I soon picked up the smell of ponies, someone was watching us, but who.

“Scootaloo, yer perfume!”

Hearing that little voice, I walked over to a bush and parted it to see three little baby ponies looking at us in fear, most likely traumatized.

“Oh they are scarred,” said Kenny, of course they couldn’t understand him or me.

“Um, hey little-.”

They screamed at the top of their lungs and I’m pretty sure the whole forest heard it. They stood stock still, I still wanted to get out of here so we did so.

Me and Kenny walked back to the crumbled castle but once we arrived after quite a walk, standing before the castle was a group of ponies.

“Uh oh.”

Author's Note

And there we go, another chapter. Now if anybody has heard of this species of bear, it’s a walking nightmare, but it’s even worse when you put an unstable mind of a human with military history and knowledge within such a powerful body.

If you don’t know what this bear is, here’s an example of what beast you are looking at.

We’re making him the biggest of its species, made up of course because we don’t have all the fossils of these bears obviously. That’s all from me, stay curious!