Soarin’, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight were all quaking in their figurative boots after they heard the earth shaking roar of the Ursa Major.
“Oh, man, what are we going to do?” Rainbow Dash asked aloud as she unconsciously spread her wings.
“Don’t worry Dash, we’ll think of something!” Soarin’ exclaimed as he placed his front hooves on the cyan pegasus’ shoulders and shook her slightly.
A subtle, but deep thud was felt by the trio of ponies that made them all turn and look toward the forest where the Ursa Minor ran into just moments ago. They couldn’t see anything yet, just a flock of birds flying out of the canopy of trees a couple miles away.
Twilight was the first to recover from the ground shaking thud. “We need to alert the town!” She turned to the pegasus mare who was now starting to calm down. “Rainbow, you need to gather the weather team and tell them to help evacuate everypony in town. After that, get Fluttershy, we may need her.”
Rainbow saluted and was about to take off, but stalled to ask Twilight a question. “What are you going to do?”
Another thud was felt.
The lavender unicorn remained calm and answered. “I need to head back to the library and send a letter to Princess Celestia. We’re going to need all the help we can get.”
The head weather mare of Ponyville simply nodded before taking off. Twilight then turned to Soarin’ giving the pale coated pegasus a stern look. “Because most of this is your fault, and you can somehow take on an Ursa Minor by yourself, you get the privilege of keeping the Ursa Major distracted.”
“What!? My fault!?” The Wonderbolt yelled.
“Yes, YOUR fault! If you had been thinking with your brain instead of your brawn, MAYBE we could have figured something out, without putting the whole town in danger!”
“Yeah, like you could have done any better.” Soarin’ muttered sarcastically.
The unicorn mare glared at the stallion. She was about to respond until a stronger thud was felt under her hooves. She held her tongue. “Just…do something to help out a town that’s about to become a playground for a giant bear!” She yelled.
The pegasus snorted, and with one powerful stoke of his wings he was in the air. The gust generated from his feathered appendages caused the mare to lose her balance and fall on her rear. As he hovered about a hundred feet in the air he called out to her. “I’ll show you how a Wonderbolt gets it done.” Soarin’ said before taking off over the Everfree.
Twilight quickly got to her hooves and observed the stallion fly away with a look of slight shock on her face. “That…that guy was a Wonderbolt?” She shook her head to get her mind back on track and took off toward her home.
Soarin’ was flying over the Everfree now…and he did not like it. The fear of taking on a monster bigger than the one he just faced moments ago made his blood run cold...unless it was just the chill in the air that made it seem so chilly, Soarin’ had a hard time deciphering which one.
The atmosphere over the creepy forest made this whole situation unnerving as well. The sky felt so different to Soarin’ for some reason, he felt like it had a mind of its own. It was almost…hostile, and the gradual build up of misty clouds was not calming his nerves.
None of these factors could keep him from his objective, however, he had a town to save. As much as he would hate to admit it, that purple unicorn mare named Twilight had a point. It WAS kinda’-sorta’ his fault.
A fog was starting to build up now as he flew further into Everfree airspace. The dark blue maned pegasus had been flying for only about two minutes now, but that was enough time to lose sight of Ponyville and get lost in the sea of clouds.
“Geez, can’t even see ten feet in front of me.” Soarin’ sarcastically commented. He could actually see about 50 feet before the density of the clouds got too thick. He came to a stop and closed his eyes. The pegasus extended his senses trying to feel if anything was disturbing the clouds. Of course, being that the weather over the Everfree was self maintaining, it was fairly difficult.
Soarin’ felt nothing out of the ordinary in terms of weather…or as ordinary as weather could get in the Everfree, but something did bother him.
“It’s quiet.” Soarin’ said to no one in particular. The loud thudding had stopped moments ago and only the sound of the occasional gust of wind was heard. Maybe he should have been paying more attention to his surroundings, that way he may have at least been able to find this supposedly enormous beast by now.
Soarin’ was starting to get a little impatient now, he was supposed to be in a fierce battle with a ferocious beast by now! A victory over an Ursa Major would be told throughout the ages. A stain glass window in Celestia’s main hall would be made the hour after he defeated the dreaded beast. Mares would come by the thousands just to—
“Where did the wind go?” Soarin’ questioned out loud. The pegasus felt the breeze dissipate as he had been fluttering forward mindlessly. From what he could remember, the wind had been blowing from east to west.
The Wonderbolt looked east, which was to his left. What he saw when he looked over was puzzling, it was a very large densely packed cloud that started from the roof of the canopy all the way the way to the misty clouds above. It wasn’t moving, which was strange. Don’t all Everfree clouds move on their own…all the time?
Soarin’ cautiously flew forward through the fog toward the cloud. He poked it. Nothing happened. He then started peeling the cloud like one would an orange. When the pale blue stallion finally managed to make a hole big enough to see through, he immediately regretted it.
The eye must have been the length from Soarin’s tail to his head in diameter. The red pupil shrunk when it focused on the gaping pegasus, revealing its orange iris. Soarin’ exploded backwards dismantling the dense cloud with the gust that was produced from the beat of his wings. The stallion had no time to see the beast in full form as he heard an incredible volume of air being pushed aside by some large object coming down on him at an incredible speed.
Time slowed down for Soarin’. The Wonderbolt’s pegasus magic was expanding beyond anything the stallion had ever felt before, the three-dimensional world around him was becoming as plain as day. It was not in the sense that he could see it, but in the sense that he was it. Anything that disrupted the molecules in the air Soarin’ could feel its size, direction of motion, and even the speed at which it was traveling.
The object, whatever it was, was moving downward at a hooked angle. Air, Soarin’ felt, was moving around and between the object. It was a hand or paw of some sort. The pale blue stallion shifted to his left slightly allowing two large appendages to fall to his left and right. A resounding thud along with the breaking of trees was heard as Soarin’ refocused on his target.
The beast was enormous. Soarin' had never seen a dragon in real life before, but he heard that they could get over a hundred meters long on; this beast was twice that. Its coat was a translucent purple with what looked like constellations adorning its fur. The Ursa Major was glaring at the pegasus when suddenly Soarin' heard a subtle cry coming from below.
When the Wonderbolt looked into the canopy of trees below the Ursa Major he noticed the blue bear which had just defeated minutes ago, pawing at the larger bear. This action earned the attention of the purple behemoth. The blue cub continued with a couple more murmurs and grunts, adding in a few gestures, the last of which went from the Ursa Minor's broken nose to the dumbfounded pegasus above.
The Ursa Major smiled motherly at the cub before picking it up and placing it a safe distance away. The death glare that Soarin' got following the familial display made the pegasus nearly wet himself.
"Well, you seem to have your hooves-er, um, paws full at the moment, so I'll be on my way now," The pale blue coated stallion said nervously.
The Ursa Major roared, making the air itself tremble. The vibration created instability for Soarin's wings, and he began to fall because of it. When regained his stability Soarin' noticed the large bear charging. Not wanting to remake the same mistake he made with the baby ursa by flying up, he chose to make the only remaining logical decision...
Soarin' ran away.