//------------------------------// // Ch6 - Boast Busters - Part 3 // Story: Ponyville's Tiny Librarian // by CommanderX5 //------------------------------// Ponyville’s Tiny Librarian - Chapter 6 Boast Busters - Part 3 “Ursa Major, Ursa Major…” Twilight murmured to herself as she searched for information about the monster that, to her astonishment, ponies in town believed Trixie had really vanquished. She stood on the table in front of an open book, which was supported against the horse-head statue. The two towers of books on either side of her casted shadows over her little posture. “I can understand Snips and Snails believing that a performer could vanquish that monster, but the fact that the majority of ponies in Ponyville also believe it is so irritating.” Gilda, who sat at the table behind Twilight, noticed a picture of a bear coated in stars on the page and remarked, “That’s an Ursa Major? Kind of reminds me of the giant star scorpion I heard about once. It was supposedly twice the size of a house and nearly razed a griffon village.” Curious glances were directed her way, and she shrugged. “Don’t look at me like that. It’s just one of gramp’s stories. I assumed he was making it up to scare me, but now I’m not so sure.” She pointed at the picture and added, “From what gramps said, he and a bunch of other griffons were hired to hunt it down. It took over an hour and cost the lives of a few of our best mercenaries.” “Waaiit, I remember something about that,” Steel Blade said. “It came up in a conversation with dad once. That was your grandpa? I’m sorry to hear that.” “Sorry? What for? He got paid lots of bits once the job was done. It was practically a dream come true for a mercenary.” She looked back at the picture and frowned. “Is this stupid pony really saying that she beat up a bear the same size with ease? How arrogant can she get?” Twilight glanced at Gilda with concern and shook her head. “It isn’t an Ursa Major, it says that it is an Ursa Minor, a baby. The scorpion-like creature must be a magical beast as well, and most likely a young one.” “That’s just a baby?” Gilda remarked in disbelief. “And that Twexee said she banished a grown up one!?” Twilight chuckled. “As a performer you need to come up with many unbelievable ideas to keep the audience entertained, the key is not to naively believe in everything a showpony tells you, or else somepony might get hurt,” Twilight lectured as she started to read restlessly, searching for potential weak points in case the beast were to attack Ponyville by remote chance. “If those ponies are so stupid to believe in such a poor lie and hurt themselves as a result, let them. Not our problem,” Gilda stated as Twilight gave her an angry glare. “Fine, fine, sorry. We should tell those ponies not to do anything stupid,” she added as Twilight smiled at her. The griffon smiled back. “By the way, thanks for letting me stay here for the night.” “You’re welcome,” Twilight said before glancing upon Steel Blade who was searching for any books with information about magical beasts made of stars, following her request. “Steel Blade, where’s Spike?” The guard turned towards her, a few books balanced on his wings. “He said he was hanging out with Snips and Snails. He went out around an hour ago.” Twilight nodded. “I hope he’ll come back soon, the moon was raised half an hour ago and he needs his sle…” she failed to finish before hearing a slam of the door and noticing a panicked Spike running towards her. “Hello Spike, we were talking abou..” “There’s no time, Twilight, an Ursa Major is attacking Ponyville!” he shouted as everyone ran towards him. “Snips and Snails lured it into the town so Trixie could vanquish it, and now it’s rampaging through town! You have to do something!” “Don’t you dare drop me,” Overwatch warned as Gilda held her in her talons, flying towards the danger zone. Meanwhile, Steel Blade gave Spike and Twilight a ride on his back and scouted for Trixie and the two colts. “Be happy that I’m even giving you a lift. You better be useful once we get there,” Gilda remarked. Overwatch rolled her eyes. “We’ll see. By the way, why are you helping us? Plenty of others would run away, and you could always say this is Ponyville’s problem.” Down below, a crowd of panicking ponies ran amok as a giant star bear was chasing two colts and a blue performer. Its giant paw slamming against nearby homes in its rage. “I couldn’t care less about this stupid town, but it is a place where my friend Dash, and now my new friend Twilight lives. If they don’t run away, I won’t run from a fight either,” Gilda said proudly before a piece of debris flew straight at them. She dodged to the side, dropping one of Overwatch’s hooves before she managed to correct herself. Overwatch tried to curl up, looking warily at the ground. “C-careful there. I’d rather stay up, if you don’t mind.” Gilda smirked. “Have you ever jumped from such a high height with a parachute before?” Overwatch raised an eyebrow and returned the smirk. “A parachute? I don’t need a parachute. I have wings!” she said, before looking back down and adding with a hesitant giggle, “though usually, they’re attached to Steelie.” “Sounds like you’re good then,” Gilda said with a relaxed voice. “Wait, don’t you dare—” Overwatch spoke, only to be released, falling to the ground near the panicking mob. No longer weighted down, Gilda flew directly towards the Ursa Minor. “Scoring some points in front of Rainbow Dash and her friends by luring that monster back into the forest is totally my style.” “Gilda!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she noticed her griffon friend flying towards the rampaging beast as her claws struck its surface, catching the bear’s attention who started to follow her. Dash flew into action as well until she was flying next to Gilda who kept provoking the bear into following her. “What are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?” The griffon frowned. “I am saving your town, Dash. Now help me lure this beast back into the forest or watch how I do it and don’t get in the way.” She evaded another strike from the bear’s paw and even slashed it with her claws again, only to fly above the ground out of its range. “Come on, you overgrown baby! Is that all you got?” Noticing that the Ursa Minor started to ignore her, Gilda flew towards it and attacked its back, but the beast was once again focused on chasing the performer and colts who accompanied her. “You’re not going to ignore me, star-butt,” Gilda challenged as she tried to claw the Ursa Minor’s face, but to her surprise, the beast predicted it and had its giant paw ready to strike, pushing Gilda onto the ground and opening wounds on her wings. “Gilda!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she flew towards the wounded griffon and grabbed her before Ursa Major could give a deciding blow, and once out of the beast’s range, she placed her friend on the ground. “What do you think you’re doing?!? That was too reckless, even for you.” Gilda didn’t manage to reply as Steel Blade landed next to her and a worried Twilight jumped from his back, quickly examining wounds on her big friend. “You're injured!” Twilight asked. The griffon looked down at Twilight and smiled. “No biggy, it takes more than claws of an overgrown bear to take me down.” Twilight sighed in relief and glanced at Rainbow Dash. “Where are the rest of our friends, are they safe?” Dash nodded. “Yeah, they are helping Mayor Mare calm everypony and gather them together so we won't get attacked separately. Though I would worry more about Trixie, Snips and Snails. That Ursa Major is chasing them relentlessly, crushing everything in his path,” she reported while pointing at the ruined scenery. Twilight once again looked at her friend's wounds, feeling as if it was a battle for Fillydelphia all over again. She raised her head and looked over the giant town she now lived in. Her mouth opened agape as she examined the full magnitude of the destruction. Claw marks were visible on many homes while a few even had a hole shaped like a bear paw decorating them. A few roofs were ripped of and one two-story house was torn in half. It was obvious that hiding from the beast was out of question. Such damage… so many homeless ponies… Everything they had smashed or torn apart, she thought as she drew her gaze across a tree that was stuck in a broken window. A loud noise reached Twilight’s ears as she levitated herself upwards for a better view, and she turned to see another roof ripped off. The bear climbed inside the house, only to emerge from it through the wall. The ponies it chased barely escaping by the backdoor as she noticed them running from behind the house. Ursa Minor was anything but gentle as it charged between two buildings, tearing off the side walls while ignoring broken glass bouncing off its transparent skin. How to stop such force? Even the giant worms from Fillydelphia don’t compare to this. She trembled and gulped. After steeling her nerves, she galloped, following the monster as fast as her tiny hooves could carry her. She ignored calls of her name, still deep in thought. My mentor is no doubt asleep at this hour and the guards are always staying on the other side of the door. Even if I send the letter, there’s no way she will read it in time. Trixie tried to tie the bear with a rope, but two of his fingers broke it effortlessly. A lightning bolt hitting his lightly wounded flank only angered him further. To Twilight’s relief, a powerful beam from Overwatch, who was planted firmly on the roof of a house, impacted near the beast’s eyes, blinding him temporarily and giving Snips and Snails a chance to escape, Trixie right behind them. Maybe if I increase my mass five times… she closed her eyes upon hearing another loud thump as the beast stomped with both of his paws, causing quake that the tiny mare felt under her hooves. ... ten times, I can… The Ursa Minor ran once again, barely slowed down by Overwatch’s beams of magic that struck against its face. After the beast roared, one of Overwatch’s shots struck against a tree, leaving a large burned mark on it. Twenty times? Twilight lowered her head and thought, Who am I kidding, there’s only one way to stop this madness. She glanced at her griffon friend right behind her who walked with open wounds as Dash supported her. My friends are risking their lives in a lost battle. I can end it… but what if I will cause more damage than good? “Overwatch’s offensive magic is too weak, Twilight. If you have a plan, we kinda need it now,” Steel Blade stated as Spike unrolled a scroll and was ready to write in it. Twilight, noticing Spike’s gesture, shook her head. “Princess Celestia and Luna are sleeping. Even if we send the message, it will just land on the floor, unnoticed by the guards outside,” she stated with disappointment. Note to myself: ask Princess Celestia to upgrade the spell she cast on Spike. Maybe have him send letters with alarm noises... she thought before gritting her teeth. She looked at the beast in anger. I once swore to use my full might when my powers will be needed, but I have been delaying it with excuses or grew only a bit. She stomped firmly. But no longer. The running ends now. “Come on Twilight, there’s still chance that she’s awake, let’s at least try,” Spike offered as Twilight sat motionless, looking at the destruction the Ursa Minor left in its place. “Twilight?“ “Even if Celestia or Luna were alerted, even with a medium range teleportation spell it would still take them too long to get here and locate the monster. Besides, their assistance won’t be necessary,” Twilight said with confidence in her voice, not even bothering to look back at her giant assistant. “What do you mean?” Spike asked as he ran closer to his little caretaker. “Do you have a plan?” Twilight smirked and said arrogantly, “Oh, I have a plan, a big plan for a big beast.” Steel Blade nodded. “B-big plan? Are you going to…?” Twilight said firmly as her tiny horn lit with a powerful magic. “Ooh yes, the time has finally come to get BIG! Spike and Steel Blade were completely shocked as they took a few steps back and, to their astonishment, Twilight became surrounded in a powerful storm of magic as her tiny body grew slowly before their very eyes. “Poor Ursa,” Spike said with pity in his voice. “Hmn, this will be interesting,” Gilda remarked with pain in her voice as she felt her wounds still apparent on her body, though finding it odd why everyone freaked out so much about Twilight regaining her normal size. “Twilight will finally show her true power? Awesome!” Rainbow Dash shouted, throwing Gilda to the side with an excited jump. “S-sorry,” she said, quickly correcting her mistake as her griffon friend groaned in reply. The moment the flash of magic disappeared, a normally sized purple pony with a big star surrounded by several smaller stars as a cutie mark emerged, her mane waving proudly under the wind and her horn no longer shorter than a needle. Slowly, Twilight opened her eyes and looked around herself. It shocked her how tiny everything had become; homes being just a few times bigger than her, doors no longer huge, trees no longer like towers ready to be climbed on, and her friends no longer giants but her equals. Spike wasn’t even reaching her head. Twilight sighed before turning her head towards the only creature big enough for her taste. With one flex of her legs, she galloped, leaving a cloud of dust behind her as she passed the buildings at alarming speed, her tiny hooves no longer limiting her movements as the refreshing light of the moon made her even stronger and faster. *** Overwatch stood protectively over Trixie and the two colts, who trembled right behind her, hiding from the Ursa Minor’s wrath while the giant bear advanced towards them. Despite her tactic to blind the beast again, the Ursa Minor proved to be a fast learner. Not only did it manage to hit Gilda with a surprise attack, but it now walked on three paws, the fourth held high like a shield, protecting his own face from further magic bolts. The Ursa Minor raised his mighty paw and was ready to strike when a purple barrier surrounded his target, and to his surprise, the claws of his paw didn’t even scratch the surface. In a surge of anger, the beast started to hit the barrier continuously, only to fail every time. “Leave them alone!” a very loud voice attracted the beast’s attention. It turned around, seeing a purple unicorn approaching him with determined steps. Twilight drew in another breath, her eyes narrowed. ”Leave Ponyville alone or I will force you to leave!”