//------------------------------// // Bear With It // Story: Dimension Jumper // by redtau //------------------------------// Luna's horn lit brightly and a secondary shield appeared just below the ancient one, reinforcing it. The Ursa Major slammed it's claws down and the ancient shield buckled and warped under the blow. "Blaze, your assessment!" "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Blaze squeeed at the sight of the massive star bear crashing out of the forest. "A fully grown Everfree Ursa Major!" He fan-fillied. "I thought I might see a manticore or a hydra, but an Ursa Major! Look at the size of it! And the teeth!!!" "What is the standard contingency against such a beast?!" The princess asked as the next blow shattered the ancient shield and fell heavily on her own. "Oh, um, let me think." He put a hoof to his chin. "Ah, right. Two armored divisions and a week of prep is the usual response." "A week?!?!?" "Ursa's are usually pretty easy to spot when they leave the forest, and they aren't the fastest thing in the world." The Ursa's next blow caused the princess to wince. The magically enhanced clarity Luna had forced into my mind was, in a strange way, making it difficult to think and focus. My new powers of perception and deduction latched on to any creature that drew my attention and set to work analyzing and deducing every bit of information it could, nearly drowning out all other thought. When Lance had so unceremoniously fallen from the sky I had worked out the anti-magic nature of the armor in an instant. My mind traced and recorded the various seals and sidgils that covered the armor, noting the power lines connecting glowing gems to shields and offensive spells. Now that the Ursa Major was leaning onto the castle wall and roaring at the massive shield, my mind had picked a new target of focus: Princess Luna. I knew from experience and D's drain of Twilight Sparkle so long ago that unicorns had limits to how much magic they could expend at any given time. I deduced that an alicorn like Princess Luna had an exponentially greater amount of power, but there was no way to tell how well that power was spent. I could think of at least three spells she had cast so far tonight: an illusion spell on her and her guards, the truth spell on me, and this shield. That she had pushed too much power into the truth spell was obvious from how it had affected me, and now I was wishing she'd held back more for her shield. I wanted to do so many things. I wanted to grab gryphons and direct them to evacuate everyone they could. I wanted to get the zebras and minotaurs on crowd control, pushing everyone into the relative safety of the canid tunnels. I wanted someone, anyone, to go to Ponyville and bring back help. To have the element bearers show up and deal with this monster. I really wanted to take a moment while everypony was distracted to slit Harold's throat, but that was going to have to wait. I pulled short swords and belts from the two wounded brutes still whimpering on stage, knotting the belts tight around my waist as I walked over to where Lance was still stuck. "Hey Lance. How have you been?" I asked, looking over his armor and taking a long spear from his back. "Hey! What are you doing? Don't touch that!" Lance cried, still trying to work his way loose from the stage. Starlight just sighed and kept pulling at the straps she could find, trying to work him free of his armor. "Sarah," Steel Strike said. "If you are doing what I think you're doing, then you are out of your mind." "Yeah, I know." I muttered, considering taking the breastplate Star had just worked free before dismissing it as too heavy. "You can tell me all about it when I get back." I said, stepping off the stage and walking in the direction of the beast. A flash of purple to my left caught my attention. "Sarah-" Twilight started. "Ms. Sparkle, there is a monster attacking the castle that even the Princess is having a difficult time holding off. Either reinforce her shields or evacuate." "What are you going to do?" "Invite it to tea." I joked, hefting the spear. "I'm going to do what a ruler always does, defend my subjects and my castle." Twilight Sparkle looked at the weapon and raised an eyebrow. "With a spear? Sarah, I know what spell Princess Luna cast on you. You don't have access to Nightmare right now." "And do you know what spell Harold cast?" I asked her venomously, hoping to dissuade her as I stalked closer to the edge of the shield. Twilight faltered slightly. "I know it was dark magic, mind control or compulsion with heavy emotional influences, but I don't see-" "That, Twilight!" I yelled, pointing at at the bear trying to scratch a hole in Princess Luna's shield. "That monster is the result of Harold's spell. It has been charmed to hate, but it doesn't just hate the world or the castle or even ponies." Twilight looked up at the bear, realizing that its eyes were locked right onto her. Only, no, not her. She turned and looked with growing horror at Sarah. "It hates ME, Twilight." Sarah said with a grim finality. "And it will tear through every barrier, every wall to get to me." "Your companions!" Twilight said. "You could go and get-" "They were disguised as ponies, probably already been evacuated." I looked at the purple unicorn with a frown. "If a monster like this was chasing you, what would you do? Would you run and hide in the crowd with the others?" Twilight bit her lip and looked around, a panicked expression rising in her features as she realized exactly how few options there were. "On the bright side," I said, bringing her attention back to me, "At least the spell didn't hit the princess." I started jogging the last few feet towards the edge of the shield as Twilight Sparkle looked back at the princess of the night, straining under the ursa's attack, and shuddered at the thought. The monster hated me, but the spell might have been altered when it deflected off of Lance's shields. There was no guarantee that once it killed me the enraged beast would stop it's assault. So I had to survive, to fight, if only long enough to distract it so everyone else could get away. The constant barrage had driven Princess Luna's shield back several yards from the castle wall. Not far enough to allow the creature to climb inside the castle, but enough that I couldn't climb the wall from safety. I pressed against the inside of Luna's shield, and was a little surprised to find it parted to let me through. Even with clarity I wasn't sure if that was just an effect of the shield or if she was willingly opening the hole. I didn't have time to look either. With a massive roar, a huge dark blue claw crashed down right next to me. The claws scraped along Luna's shield, sending up bright sparks before slamming into the stone floor. My spear came around in a wide slashing arc, scratching a deep line in the paw before I pulled back. The bear jerked it's limb back in pain and swung the other down at me. I spun and braced the spear, hoping to impale the paw and drive the attack off. I was half right. The spear sank two feet into the dark blue transparent claw, but the force was too great for me to even hope to stop. The shaft snapped just below my hands, and the claw picked me up and threw me against the stone wall of the courtyard. I climbed back to my feet, hissing. My back burned from the impact, shards of the shattered spear were embedded in my leg. My metal right hand still held the ruined shaft, and I tossed it away and drew my sword. The bear reared back and roared as two more spears sank into its hide, and a half dozen chairs bounced off its face. I turned around to see everyone literally throwing the party at the bear. Gryphons took flight bearing what was left of the food tables, raining everything from pickles to hot sauce down on the beast. Ponies and zebras bucked debris, trash and even a few pieces of cake. The canids and minotaurs directed those who weren't fighting with the strongest and bravest dragging more ammunition forward while the rest made their way towards the escape tunnels or further into the castle. A burst of purple light shot straight up into the night, creating a small lavender sun. The beast roared and slammed against Luna's shield, pushing it back several feet. The claws slipped down the glowing shield and crashed into the castle walls. There was a groan before the ancient walls gave way under the weight of the Ursa. A prismatic blast of magic energy impacted the Ursa as the various unicorns in the audience pushed back against the creature. A moment later Twilight added her energy to the mix, driving the Ursa back several steps. "Much as ah respect your magical powers Twi," Applejack called out as she bucked a bench into the Ursa's nose. "Ah think we might need a bit more help!" "That's why I called for reinforcements!" Twilight said. A distant boom, like thunder, echoed over the forest. "And here they come!" A bright rainbow streak lit up the night sky, followed shortly by a dozen pegasi in golden armor. The Equestrain Guard hit the bear hard, driving it back beyond the castle walls and allowing Princess Luna to drop the shield for a moment and catch her breath. "Honestly Twilight, I don't know why you come out to this dreadful forest." Rarity said as the pegasi drawn carriage bearing her landed. "You run into the most ghastly of beasts." "Oh, the poor dear." Fluttershy said as she unstrapped herself from the carriage. "It must be suffering terribly under that spell." "Had we time and much less commotion," Zecora said, stepping off next to Rarity, "I could brew a clarifying potion." "Then we'll just have to hold it off until somepony can cast a counter spell." Rainbow Dash said, skidding to a halt next to the other six. "Dash you can't just make a counter spell on the fly." Twilight said. "Where did you even learn about counter spells anyway?" "Daring Do and the Sorcerer's Stone of course!" "Is there anything we can assist with?" A young filly still dressed up as a robot asked, running up. A slightly larger colt came up behind her, dressed like some daemonic deer. "Now dears, you shouldn't be anywhere near that monster!" Rarity said. "But we can help stop that thing!" The older colt said. "We just have to hold it off until Princess Celestia gets here with the Elements of Harmony." Twilight said. "Spike should have sent a message I prepared in case of emergency when I sent up the beacon." "You kids just stay in the back and, uh, lend a hand if it gets too close." Rainbow Dash said, trying to shoo the two little ones away from the bear. "What, like if it crosses the wall again?" "Yeah, that's it!" Rainbow said, satisfied that the kids were headed back towards the rest of the non-combatants. "If Luna's shield falls and the bear crosses the wall, you two brave warriors stop it cold, alright?" They nodded at the prismatic mare as they left. Red and Reggie had a hold of my arms and were doing a damn good job of dragging me away from the bear. Pulling the other direction was Black Talon. "Come on!" Talon yelled, pulling at my legs. "You heard what she earlier! That thing just wants her!" "MIGHT want her!" Red yelled. "You might feed her to it and it still would be attacking!" "DON'T I GET A SAY IN THIS?!" I screamed, trying to kick and punch my way free. "What kind of guard feeds their leader to a monster?!" "An Ex-guard. You fired him, remember?" Reggie asked. "Besides, he's being completely unreasonable." Talon let up for a second. "I am?" "Thank you," I said, kicking free of Talon's hold. "Now just-" "It would be far better to use her as bait and lure the monster further out into the forest, then feed her to it." Reggie clarified. "I'M GOING TO TURN YOU TWO INTO DOWN PILLOWS!" I yelled, pulling free from Red at last. I stumbled away from her and back into line of sight for the Ursa Major. As soon as it spotted me the bear charged straight through the attackers pestering it and pushing it back. Luna's shield surged into existence, and Twilight added a secondary shield in front of it. Before, Luna's shield had been able to hold off the attacks, but now the Ursa had a running start. It barreled into the Twilight's shield, it's claws seeming to cut straight through the magical construct before the beast slammed into the Princess' shield, deforming it inwards. Maybe it was the effort of holding the beast off for so long, or all the energy she had spent against me earlier in the night. Or maybe Princess Luna was distracted by the cry of distress Twilight gave before falling to the ground as her shield was cut down. Whatever it was, Princess Luna's shield shattered and the Ursa Major, mad as hell, charged past the ruins of the western wall. I looked up at the bear barreling down on me, and the world went blindingly white for a moment. When my eyes cleared the bear lay dead inches from my feet, the left half of it's head missing and the edges of the hole seared cleanly. The smell of burned meat and ozone hit me, nauseating in it's potency. I turned slowly around, looking back to where Machina and D were standing back to back. D's left arm and Machina's right were held straight out together, each having twisted, warped and merged with the other to create a strange weapon ending in a long, two inch wide barrel. They stood there in a quiet heroic stance for a moment longer before D collapsed to the ground unconscious. "D!" I called out, rushing toward where he'd fallen, dragging Machina Down with him. About half way there I met a line of multicolored ponies, the Bearers, who seemed intent on holding me off. "Whoa there sugar cube." Applejack said, rearing up a little when I tried to dodge around the line. "Ah think we need to have a talk." "Guards," Princess Luna called. "Mark the restraining circles. Do not let the daemon escape." The princess marched up next to me only to be halted by the bearers as well. "While your concern is understandable, it is currently unnecessary." Machina said calmly as two of the thestral guards started to draw three concentric circles out of spilled food, broken furniture, and rubble. "D and I are currently fused and cannot be separated until he regains consciousness." "Machina, what was that? I've never seen a weapon like that before." I called. "I believe that is something we would all like to know." A regal voice said softly from above. It took me a moment to realize that all of the ponies and even most of the other creatures were bowing. Princess Celestia had arrived with the dawn.