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// Chapter Six: You can't take the bear out of the showmare 
// Story: The Big and Cuddly Ursa Minor Returns! 
// by Foal Star 
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The troupe of Ursa Minors slowly woke up along with Trixie, who woke up from a rather long nap. The blue-coated bear saw she was the first to wake up with the others still sleeping, and they seemed to be still somewhat exhausted from the battles. She laid back and stared back at the stars above and gave a deep breath as she watched stars soaring through the sky. It was relatively peaceful here without any constellation monsters attacking, the soft breeze came through the valley, and there was a sense of peace in the air. She laid there for what had to be for at least an hour, watching streaks of stars crossing the sky and wondering where this place is? Twilight said that none of these stars exist in their world, so they must be in an entirely different world. She then turned to see that her friends were all finally getting up; she waited for the rest of the Ursa Minors to stretch and limber up before they were going to head out to find the lake.

Twilight tapped a paw to her mouth and yawned, "I'll admit, having naps as an Ursa Minor is rather relaxing."

Celestia nodded in agreement as she stretched her arms out and yawned, "being an Ursa Minor even for a day was rather relaxing…."

Luna, however, seemed ready to get back to normal and grumbled, "it's not far; we should keep following the river, and then we should be at the lake."

The mare looked over at Leo with a smile and thanked him. "Thank you for keeping us safe while we slept."

"it's no problem, and I'm happy to see you all look well-rested," Leo explained with a smile on his face.

Trixie came over and hugged him, and then Leo patted her back with a paw. He then asked, "you sure you don't need assistance? The road could still be dangerous."

"Yes, that would be great," Trixie sighed in relief; she wanted to say something, but she was a bit nervous to say anything else.

They then continued to the lake, where they saw the giant body of water at the bottom of the valley. It was huge, like a vast ocean spread out over a plain of green; it was rather beautiful seeing the wind ripple across the lake. It was rather beautiful, and they then felt wind hitting them; they looked up to see the enormous swan covering the night sky! The giant fowl covered in night blue feathers with stars covering its entire body. It was a swan of some sort with a long neck tucked under the bird's wings.

Celestia stood there looking somewhat confused and asked, "who is that?"

Twilight crossed her paws and grumbled, "it's Cygnus; she's covering the entire lake with her body. How do we get this bird off the lake."

"Um...uh, can we even? Look how big it is!" Trixie shouted.

They all just stood there looking at the creature with an unsure expression, all wondering how they were going to get it to move.





They sat around for a bit, pondering on what to do, when the princess of night sighed, "All alright, I think we should try talking to it."

"What!" the others all shouted.

"Yeah, you heard me. I think we should talk about it? I don't see the problem with trying to reason with Cygnus." Luna suggested.

They all grumbled, and the others were unsure of this course of action. Celestia looked over to her sister and replied, "I seriously can't condone this sister; if that thing gets angry, it could kill you; I can't let that happen."

Leo rose and growled, "I won't let that happen if Cygnus attacks; I can hold her off."

"I agree with Luna; we came here to turn back to normal and that Cygnus is in the way. There's no way we can fight it; talking to her and trying to get her to move is really our only option," Twilight explained.

Trixie sat plopped down on her rump, scratching her chin; she saw the others all were looking at her. She was given the title of leader, so she was given the final decision…Twilight was right; trying to move the Cygnus by force would be stupid and would be suicide. Luna also has been here before and has some connections with these creatures. She was the best course in trying to talk to the creature to get it to move. "alright then, I agree we get Luna to talk to Cygnus to get it to move. But if that fails, the best next option would be we have it lured away by Leo. He can attack and provoke her; she's big but probably slow. If Leo can lure it away, then we can rush into the water and bathe in it before the creature returned; then we have a shot of turning back to normal."

"Th… that's actually a pretty good plan," Twilight replied.

"Alright, but first, Trixie suggests we get something in our bellies." Trixie chirped; she took out the bottles full of formula already prepped and ready. They all just nodded in agreement. Trixie smirked, seeing they were too embarrassed to say they liked the stuff at this point. They each took a bottle and plopped one in their mouths as they suckled down the contents. Trixie smirked as she watched the others drinking foal bottles like actual foals were so adorable and was something she was sorely going to miss.





After they finished their meal, they all then slowly lumbered over to the giant swan seeing its massive form now in front of them. It was sound asleep with its long neck tucked under a wing as it slumbered. Luna gulped as she was beyond scared of what aw came forward slowly and steadily; the giant bird was probably the terrifying thing she's encountered so far. The princess of the night then stretched out a paw forward to touch the swan and felt the soft feathers. The creature stirred as the swan raised her head as she slowly unfurled its wings. The four Ursa Minors and even Luna all looked upward at the giant bird, who then looked down at the fours Ursa minors with curiosity and asked, "who are you?"
Luna shook all over with fear as she stammered, "I… I'm a princess alicorn…or…or I was that is, but I was turned into this?"
Cygnus then looked over at them, probably confused; she then replied, "Hmm…I see you and your friends were turned into Ursa Minors.

"Th… that's right…" Luna stammered. "we need the water from this lake to turn us back to normal. Please allow us to bathe in it for a few moments."

They all nodded as Cygnus looked down at her body and chuckled, "I apologize for covering the lake like this…I just like to come down here to nap; of course, you may bathe as long as you need."

She then spread her wings and started to flap her wings; the Ursa Minors had to use their paws to block the wind from making them fall over. The Cygnus then flew off into the air and headed off.

Celestia chuckled as she commented, "that went better than I expected."

They then all heard a hissing noise, and they turned to Luna, whose cheeks were bright pink, and all the Ursa Minors then burst into laughter once more along with Leo. Luna shouted, "stop that it was an accident! Heck, Celestia pissed in her sleep!"

Celestia's face turned red as she roared back "you said you wouldn't tell anypony!" But this of course brought another round of laughter. But everypony quieted down Trixie then wiped the tears from her face and saw the water from the lake touching her paws. It was unreal being this close to finally turning back to a pony and she wondered if she was ready to become a pony again.

"Alright, so let's get in and turn back to normal? What are we waiting for?" Twilight asked.

Trixie scratched the back of her neck; she couldn't believe she was debating entering these waters or not. Yes, she missed being a pony but being an Ursa Minor had its perks…She sighed, "alright, let's do it, let's turn back to normal."

They then went into the middle of the lake, and they all went into the water, and they let the magical tendrils wrapped around their bodies. Trixie groaned as she felt her body slowly being transformed. Her fat and muscle were dissipating from her body like smoke that rose in the air. The transformation felt like an enormous weight fell from her body, feeling so much lighter. She looked over at the others and saw Twilight, Celestia, and Luna, all hugging each other, laughing, and we're all happy they were back to normal. Trixie smiled; it was a rather touching scene seeing the three back to their normal forms hugging and laughing together.  But then Luna looked up and looked over and asked, "so…what do we do now?"
They all looked around, and then Luna turned to the river "that's easy; we just follow the river back; there's a cave with a portal that'll take us home."

Celestia looked up into the sky, "well, I'll admit that this place is rather beautiful. I'm going to miss it."

"Yeah, it is, I'm coming back to visit as soon as I can," Luna whispered.

"Alright, come on, let's get out of here before another giant constellation creature attacks," Twilight replied.

They then followed the river back down the night sky with the stars shining down on them; they continued their walk down the river then saw a giant serpent standing above the cave. The massive blue scaled snake with stars printed on the scales covering the creature that was guarding the portal home!

Twilight gasped as she cried out, "that's Serpens! What is it doing here!"

Leo's eyes went wide…" I…I can't fight that!"

Luna shivered in her hooves looking rather scared as she stammered, "S...Serpens is probably the most dangerous constellation here I don't think I can talk to it like I did with Sepens." 

"We need to get Cygnus to help! She's the only one who can!" Trixie shouted.

"But we don't know where she is!?" Twilight exclaimed.

Trixie slammed a hoof and shouted, "buck!" They were so close to getting back home and back to normal then another obstacle had to be in their way.

Luna then turned to the direction of the lake. "Wait…she might have returned; we should have me or my sister fly back to see if the Cygnus returned."

Trixie nodded that it was a good plan they can fly fast and that Cygnus seemed friendly she then turned to Twilight and suggested, "We should stay here and keep an eye on the snake. But we should hide and see if it leaves."

"Right!" Twilight shouted.  Luna and Celestia flew off as Trixie and Twilight hid behind a rock. They both watched the snake sleeping soundly. It was evident that it probably wouldn't leave, and even Leo seemed scared of it.

Trixie looked down; if they couldn't find Cygnus, they were screwed. There's no way they can take on such a beast; she had to do something! She couldn't let the princess of Equestria be stuck here forever! 

Twilight then made a loud gasp and shouted, "Trixie, you're transforming again!"

"Huh!? What are you talking about?" Trixie asked as she looked back down at her hoof and saw a night blue paw.

Twilight just stood back and watched in horror as Trixie clutched a hoof to her chest and grunted as she felt her body growing again. She felt her entire being explode with muscle and fat once more, her hooves turning into paws once more, her body expanded, becoming bigger and bigger. She must have grown double the size of her former Ursa Minor body. She continued to transform as her face turned squarish again, as her tail fell off once more, replacing it with a stubby night blue tail. She then roared at the top of her lungs and turned towards the giant snake and roared again as she charged right at it!