//------------------------------// // The MAJOR Problem // Story: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic -- Off The Record // by The King of Hearts //------------------------------// The MAJOR Problem //// Alex stood on the edge of town. In front of him was an absolutely massive beast that had just emerged from the Everfree forest. The best way he could explain the creature, was as a giant, semi-transparent bear, with fur that looked like a star covered sky. The Ursa stood about a hundred yards away, staring straight at Alex. The creature had stopped dead in its tracks as soon as it spotted him. Almost as if something was wrong with the pony standing in front of it. Alex looked around, and was glad to see everypony leaving their homes, and heading away from the Ursa. The further away they were, the safer they were. “What is it waiting for?” Alex said out loud, looking back to the beast. The lack of movement from the Ursa made Alex worry. He was hoping that the beast didn’t want a fight, but somehow he doubted that was the case. At least this was giving Spike time to get Twilight for him. Unfortunately for Alex, after almost two full minutes of the Ursa staring him down, it started to approach him cautiously, as if it was afraid of him. //// “Twilight!” Spike shouted as he ran through the door to the library. “Spike?” Twilight asked, walking away from the book she had been reading. “What’s wrong?” Spike opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the ground shaking weakly. “That.” He finally said. “What’s making the ground shake like that?” Twilight asked, still feeling the weak quaking, that was slowly getting stronger. “It’s… It’s an Ursa Major, and--” Spike said, before Twilight cut him off. “You mean the giant blue bear that Trixie defeated in Hoofington?” Twilight said, hoping that this wouldn’t be the case. “Well, not quite.” Spike said, hearing a sigh of relief from Twilight. “This one’s purple!” Twilight’s heart sunk. She had just read in her book, that an Ursa Minor was a large blue baby bear, that could be soothed with the right kinds of magic. But, an Ursa Major was something much more terrifying. It was significantly larger, and significantly more powerful. “Spike,” Twilight said seriously. “I need you to write a letter to Princess Celestia. We need to get her here! Ponyville is in serious danger!” “But… Twilight!” Spike said, “She’ll never get them! She won’t even be awake!” Twilight knew this was the case, but saw no alternative. “Just start sending as many scrolls as you can!” Twilight said desperately, “She’s got to notice them eventually!” “I’ll try my best…” Spike said, nervous that he had been tasked with something so important. “You need to hurry though! Alex is down there by himself! He sent me away so I could get you!” “What?! I’ve got to get down there!” Twilight shouted as she ran for the door, however, she had to say one more thing. “Spike, if you don’t get a response from the Princess in ten minutes, get everypony out of town. They should all be at city hall… Please.” Spike simply nodded as he watched her bolt out the door. As soon as she was gone, he got to work. //// Alex had moved toward the Ursa, hoping that he could keep it away from Ponyville. He didn’t know what he was going to do when it finally reached him. He just hoped that Twilight would be here by then, and they could work together on stopping it. Unfortunately for Alex, the Ursa started to speed up. It almost seemed like it had finally worked up the courage to charge him. Readying a spell, Alex waited for the Ursa to get just the right distance. Then, just as the bear got within a hundred feet of him, Alex cast the most powerful barrier spell he knew, causing the beast to hit it hard, and stumble backward, then and fall over. Alex suddenly felt a sharp stabbing pain in his head. His spell had held up, but it took a lot of energy to do so. He remembered Twilight mentioning how certain spells would continue to draw energy from their casters, until the caster stopped the spell themself, or the caster ran out of energy to support the spell. So, every time the Ursa hit his barrier, he would lose a significant amount of energy. He’d have to find another way of doing this. Roaring loudly, the Ursa righted itself, and slowly walked up to the barrier Alex had cast. Making a couple of light hits to the shield, the Ursa decided to use brute force to break it down. Alex watched as the bear lifted its monstrous paw into the air, and prepared to strike his shield. Seeing how much force the Ursa was going to put into its strike, he got an idea. As soon as the Ursa threw its massive arm toward the shield, Alex released the spell, giving the monster nothing to catch itself on. It’s entire body followed it’s paw, and it fell forward on to its stomach, causing the ground to shake violently. Standing his ground, Alex watched as the Ursa stood up, angrier than it had been before, which, really wasn’t a surprise. Deciding to try another method, the bear uprooted a tree from the ground, and threw it at Alex with all of its might. Focusing on the fast approaching tree, Alex cast a levitation spell, causing the tree to stop dead in its tracks. With a sigh of relief, Alex lowered the tree to the ground. However, his relief was short lived, as another tree was already on its way. And unfortunately, he wasn’t prepared for this one. As the tree quickly approached him, he closed his eyes, and focused all of his energy in an act of desperation. Then, with a deafening ‘boom’ a lightning bolt fired out of his horn, destroying the tree that had been thrown at him, and blasting the Ursa straight in the chest. Collapsing, Alex fought the urge to lose consciousness. Weakly looking up, he saw the Ursa clutching its chest in pain. However, it wasn’t down for the count yet. Seeing that Alex was on the ground, the beast snorted, and started to move toward him. He was an easy target now. The Ursa started to pick up steam as it got closer to the collapsed Alex. It was only a few steps away from the helpless pony when a sudden force kept it from continuing. Alex meekly looked behind him, and saw Twilight with a very angry look on her face. With every step forward that Twilight took, the Ursa was forced a step back, as if there was some kind of invisible mass that only she could move. Then, casting another spell, Twilight teleported Alex and herself behind a bush that was nearby. Hopefully this would confuse the Ursa long enough for her to help Alex. “Are you okay?” Twilight whispered to the still collapsed Alex, sounding extremely concerned. “Y-Yeah…” Alex said quietly. “I just… Used up all I had with that one spell” Twilight had seen him cast it. It had amazed her that he was able to do that without passing out altogether. “Twilight… We can’t let the Ursa get in to town…” Alex said, slowly standing himself up. “We’ve got to stop it…” “Not ‘we’” Twilight said. “You don’t have the energy to keep this up. You stay here. I’ll try to hold it off until the Princess gets here.” “The Princess is on her way?” Alex asked. “Well… I HOPE she is…” Twilight said, praying that Spike had gotten through to her. //// Spike threw the scroll into the air, and sent it away in a wisp. But a few seconds of waiting, he still got nothing. Spike had been sending as many scrolls as he possibly could to Celestia, but had received no response. Both he and Twilight knew that the Princess was a heavy sleeper. He was afraid that she would sleep through it, and find out in the morning, when it was too late. It had been ten minutes. And Spike knew that he was supposed to leave. But, he couldn’t do it. Not yet. There had to be something he could do to help… He wished that Twilight had the elements of harmony with her here in Ponyville. Then they could use those to defeat the Ursa. The last time they had used the Elements, they had… THAT gave Spike an idea. Writing another letter as quickly as he could, Spike rolled it up and focused. He was about to try something he had never tried before. He was going to try to send the scroll to somepony else. Taking a breath in, Spike said a silent prayer, then blew his fire on the scroll, sending it away. That was all he could do. Running out the door, Spike ran toward the town hall. He knew everypony would be gathered there. He had to follow Twilights instructions, and get them out. //// Touching her horn to his, Twilight transferred a small portion of her energy to Alex, giving him the strength to move around properly. “Now go,” Twilight instructed, “I’ll handle this.” “But—“ Before Alex was able to say anything, Twilight teleported herself away from the bush, and back to the Ursa, that was still looking for them. Seeing Twilight appear, the bear roared at her and started charging her. Casting the same spell that she had before, she placed the force in between them. The Ursa was annoyed at this, and tried it’s hardest to move, but just couldn’t do it. Twilight was confident that this spell would hold the Ursa in place. Unfortunately, that was her fatal error. Suddenly, The Ursa started pushing harder than it had before. Twilight didn’t know where it was getting this strength from, but it was closing the distance between them, crushing the mass that she had been using to protect her. With every inch the Ursa got closer, Twilight felt herself grow weaker. She tried her best to keep the spell up, but the bear was too strong. She knew she had to stop the spell. So, closing her eyes, she removed the invisible mass, and tried to give herself a moment to breathe. Unfortunately, as soon as the force disappeared, the Ursa charged Twilight, something she hadn’t expected it to do. Quickly erecting a barrier in front of her, she stopped the bear again, only a few feet away from her. Knowing that this pony wouldn’t be able to simply make this barrier disappear the same way the other one had, the Ursa started to smash on Twilights barrier relentlessly. With each pound, Twilight felt herself grow weaker and weaker. She knew she couldn’t keep this up. Her shield was going to fail soon. And then, well… hopefully Spike had gotten everypony away to safety. Alex watched helplessly as the Ursa mercilessly attacked Twilights shield. He hated that he was so weak. He hated that she was doing instead of him. He would have given anything to swap places with her. Then, finally, the barrier cracked, and shattered. Leaving Twilight exposed. The Ursa panted excitedly at the loss of her protection. Alex was shocked to see Twilight collapse on the ground, unconscious. He had to do something. He decided to try and cast something, so he clamped his eyes shut, and focused. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t cast anything. He was dry. Opening his eyes, he saw the Ursa prepare itself to strike her. Closing his eyes again, Alex futilely tried to cast another spell. But was still unsuccessful. He could feel the tears start to fall down his cheeks as he opened his eyes again. It was over. The Ursa threw it’s paw down at the helpless pony, but, an inch before it hit her, it was stopped. Alex didn’t know where the magic had come from, but the aura around the Ursa was the same purple that Twilight’s spells had when she cast them. But it wasn’t her. So who was it? “Trixie does NOT appreciate you trying to hurt this pony.” The Blue pony said as it walked from the town. Alex watched in amazement, as the last pony he expected to be here, showed up. Trixie walked into the open field, and kept a brave face. The truth was, she was petrified. This beast was even larger than the Ursa Major she had claimed to have defeated. But if this bear hurt Twilight, she would never get the rematch she deserved. “The Great and Powerful Trixie will give you one warning.” Trixie bluffed convincingly. Shifting its focus away from Twilight, The Ursa Major started walking toward Trixie, who was now starting to show her fear by shaking lightly. Alex knew this wasn’t good. Twilight was more powerful than Trixie, and the Ursa had zero trouble knocking her out. Knowing full well that it was most likely a death sentence, Alex decided to give them an opportunity to escape. Running out from behind the bush Twilight had put him behind, Alex called, “Hey! Over here!” Turning its head again, the Ursa saw the pony that it REALLY wanted. The one that had hurt it with that lightning bolt. Immediately forgetting Trixie and Twilight, the Ursa started running straight for Alex. “Get Twilight out of here!” Alex shouted as he ran in the opposite direction. Quickly following his command, Trixie ran over to Twilight and teleported the two of them away. Running as fast he could, Alex crossed the large field that ran between Ponyville and The Everfree Forest. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, all that he knew was that a giant bear was following him, and it wanted to kill him. The Ursa was close behind him. The shaking caused by its stomping was almost enough to make him fall over. He wished he could fly right now more than anything. Accepting his fate, Alex decided to go out thinking about his friends. Well, he had had a good time in this world. It may have been short lived, but at least he had saved Twilight. That was all that mattered. She was much more important to this world than he was. He was new here, so he wouldn’t be missed much. He wasn’t sure if this place was even real, maybe he would just wake up in bed. Or maybe he would die, and go to cartoon heaven, or even cartoon hell… Stopping his train of thought for a moment, Alex was a little confused. He thought he’d have been eaten by now. In fact, the stomping had stopped altogether. Coming to a stop, Alex turned around, and was surprised to see that the Ursa was suspended in mid-air, fast asleep. “Wha… What?” Alex stammered. “Alex!” An excited voice called to him. Looking to the sky, Alex saw a dark purple pony with both wings and a horn. And to top it all off, she had a flowing purple and blue mane. Princess Luna. “Are you alright?” Luna asked, landing beside him. “I’m a little exhausted… but yeah.” Alex panted, noticing how much Luna had grown since the last time he had seen her. She was only slightly smaller than him now. “How did you know this was happening…?” “I received a letter from Spike requesting my assistance.” Luna explained. “I left as soon as I read it.” “Well, you showed up right in the nick of time.” Alex said gratefully. “I’d be bear food if it weren’t for you.” “Which would have been very unpleasant I imagine.” Luna said with a smile. “Well, it’s certainly not my idea of a good time!” Alex said, laughing slightly. “Why don’t you return to your friends?” Luna said, “I will deal with the Ursa Major. Then return at dawn with my sister to discuss the incident.” Alex nodded as he watched Luna take off, levitating the massive bear with her, as if it weighed nothing. Turning around, Alex walked back to town. He could imagine that everypony would want an explanation. So, as he walked back into town, he thought about just what he was going to say. ////