//------------------------------// // 20. Terror Time // Story: Hero Souls: Awakening // by SvenFoxx //------------------------------// For a very brief moment Twilight and Trixie were united in expressions; horror. However, experience Twilight was still adjusting to allowed her to force her shock and fear into a small ball and lock it up for now. She could panic and fall apart when ponies weren’t in danger. Her head spinning around, her eyes glowed blue as she scanned the town for the location of the Star Bear. She found it easily just inside the Everfree Forest, chasing two young colts towards Ponyville. Next she scanned the fire in Town Hall. To Twilight’s surprise, the building was completely and utterly empty of any living being, so the fire wasn’t an immediate danger. That didn’t mean it wasn’t dangerous though. It could still spread. Next she examined Trixie, and wasn’t all too surprised to find her frozen in fear. Her heart was pounding so fast Twilight was sure it would explode if it kept it up. Her eyes were staring into the distance, she was breathing raggedly, and sweat was beginning to drip down her face. She looked… terrified. Unreasonably so. Twilight wondered if her tale of encountering an Ursa Major may not be a complete lie. All of this took all of three seconds for the super pony. “Rainbow! Tornado!” Twilight barked to her friend. Rainbow Dash’s weather-inclined mind instantly understood the message and shot off to gather some Pegasi for help. “Applejack, get the townspeople out of here!” she shouted to her friend over the growing roar of the fire. Appplejack, Rarity still passed out on her back, saluted and got to work herding ponies who were just now beginning to panic. “This way, ponies! To the Farm!” she bellowed. Twilight turned to Spike, who looked at her defiantly. “I’m not leaving,” he said quietly, eyes shining with determination. “Not again.” That made Twilight wince, remembering she had forced an overpowered sleep-spell on him before they chased after the Elements of Harmony. Twilight smiled at Spike for his bravery. Despite his determination, she could see the fear in his eyes. “Go help Rainbow make sure the Town Hall is clear. I already checked, but better safe than sorry. You can walk through lava like it’s warm water. Fire would barely be a warm breeze for you.” After a moment, Spike nodded and ran off. Finally, she turned to Trixie… and slapped her. “Gah!” the show-mare gasped at the sting, before her eyes focused and she remembered the situation. “Oh Stars, we have to run!” she panicked. She would have done just that if Twilight hadn’t grasped her by the shoulders and forced her to look at her. She gasped at the intense look on the librarian’s face. “If you have any experience with Ursa Majors, I need it Trixie. I won’t let a rampaging Ursa destroy my home and likely kill dozens of ponies in the process,” she said fiercely. Trixie shuddered. “Y-you don’t understand! Magic does nothing to them! We’d be helpless!” Twilight shook the mare as she started to once again fall into panic. “Details! I don’t need you fighting it, just tell me anything you can about weaknesses or strengths.” Trixie nodded shakily after a moment, andTwilight let her go. That turned out to be a mistake. Trixie vanished in an overpowered teleport. She would probably be exhausted wherever she emerged... “Rao damn it all!” Twilight swore, before taking to the air. She shot off for the Ursa Major, and found herself admiring the massive purple bear made of constellations and magic. She was a bit upset, having hoped it was an Ursa Minor. Unfortunately, that good ole Kent luck seemed to be active, and it was most definitely an Ursa Major. Magic would be useless. Her expression froze. Magic. “... This is going to be painful,” she decided, remembering that a fully grown Ursa was something even Celestia hesitated against. She picked up the pace. --- “Derpy! I need your help!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, pounding on the door to the clumsy Pegasus’ home. Not for the first time since she met the natural disaster on wings, she wondered at the logic of a Pegasus choosing to live on the ground instead of a cloud home. Even Fluttershy occasionally napped on a cloud. It was usually tethered to her house and weighed down to keep it no more than five feet from the ground, but still. Derpy slept on ground-bound beds, lived in a ground-bound home, and ran her mail route by galloping instead of flying. The door opened to reveal a disheveled and tired looking Ditzy “Derpy” Doo. “Rainbow-” she gave a jaw cracking yawn. “-Dash? What’s wrong?” “Fire at the Town Hall! I need a team of Pegasi to kick up a tornado and put it out!” Derpy's still half-asleep mind took a moment to process that statement, but she froze when she remembered a critical detail. Dinky and Amethyst were at the magic show, the same magic show that was in Town Square, the same place that Town Hall stood. Rainbow Dash blinked owlishly as Derpy took to the skies faster and in a far straighter line than she had ever seen. --- Trixie exited her teleport screaming, having pushed her magic too far. She was in pain, the leylines her magic used to traverse her body electrified and burning. She could feel her consciousness trying to fade, and she so dearly wanted to let it… but fear pushed her on. She knew she didn’t have enough magic to get far enough away. Looking around, she noticed a familiar apple farm. Still too close. She grit her teeth as she tried to get up, but her body ached too much from the sudden rush of magic that had blitzed through her body in her escape. She collapsed. “Noooo…” she moaned. Another, though slightly duller, roar spread from the town. Trixie’s eyes snapped open, and for a moment madness filled them. She threw safety to the wind and reached into her soul. “Overdrive!” she cried in panic. Magic exploded from her body in a raging aura, and Trixie screeched in a kind of pain that couldn’t be described. But her fear pushed her past it, if only momentarily, and she initiated another teleport. She vanished again, her departure heralded by an earth-shaking bang. Everything went black. Then, for a very brief instance, she was staring into the worried gaze of a light brown Earth-Pony wearing a wide-rim hat. After that she fell into blessed unconsciousness. --- Twilight crashed through a house at an angle, exited the house, and hit the ground so hard she dug a short trench with her body. She groaned as her nerves provided confirmation of the fact that an Ursa Major was, in fact, a creature composed of magic. It completely and utterly bypassed her enhanced durability, leaving her just as susceptible to blunt-force trauma as any other Unicorn. She was lucky she was alive after that. “Miss Twilight!” Twilight blinked woozily and tried to focus her swimming gaze, and found herself staring at a light pink filly with a yellow mane and short horn. She looked familiar. The filly grabbed her with her magic and started levitating the older Unicorn away. Twilight gasped, a lance of pain shooting through her body at the movement. Something most definitely broke. She managed to examine herself with her X-ray vision, and found at least three of her ribs were snapped and four were fractured. Her left hind leg was broken as well. She looked back at the Unicorn filly that was rather bravely trying to get her away from the fast approaching Ursa Major. Options raced through Twilight’s mind. 1. She could get up and keep fighting, and likely die. Her powers meant nothing against a magical creature of this level. However, there was a very thin chance she’d find a way to win. Unlikely, but still. 2. She could run away. The very idea made her physically ill, as that would be leaving innocent ponies to die. But still, an option, even if it was one she had no intention of going through with. 3. She could… maybe… er... She sighed internally. Really, those were her only choices. Fight, and likely die, or run, and leave ponies to die. Honestly, there wasn’t even a choice. Unfortunately, she was currently engulfed in a field of magic as the Unicorn filly tried to help her. “Put me down,” she stated with a ragged breath. Her eyes were on the approaching Ursa Major. The filly stumbled. “What?! But you’re hurt!” “Put me… down.” It was a little hard to talk. Broken ribs did that. Breathing hurt. “No! Momma taught me that good ponies help other ponies! I’m a good pony!” Twilight had to smirk at that, despite the blood dribbling from her lips. Stars, her body was a mess. She tried to kickstart her accelerated healing, but the magical field around her was interfering with the solar energy in her body. The Ursa Major stomped the ground in front of them, bringing the filly to a stop, and jostling Twilight. She groaned in pain. Twilight was a little fuzzy on what happened next, the pain was starting to get to her, but she remembered a roar, a large shadow, a horrified scream… and her voice. “Overdrive!” A purple Sun blossomed in the streets of Ponyville.