//------------------------------// // Better Magics, Part 2 // Story: Fellowship is Madness // by Imperator Chiashi Zane //------------------------------// Iron Hoof was just about to trade posts with one of the Night Guards outside the Smithy when a pair of colts he recognized from the crowd galloped past, screaming. He sighed, and followed. As gangly as the taller one was, he was a trained Guardspony, and easily overtook them, “Alright colts. What’s all this about. You better have a good reason to run screaming through town, or I will have to charge you with disturbing the peace.” The orange one spoke first, “Major problem!” “Like Ursa problem,” the blue one added. They ran off before he could get more. But he had gotten enough partially useful information from them. Ursa Major. Or Major Ursa. Either one was a big deal. But he could handle a Major Ursa much easier than an Ursa Major. After all, one was a noble, if terrifying carnivore from the Frozen North. The other was a Celestial Being. He swallowed and went the direction the colts had come from, hoof settling at his gorget, where a communication crystal had been sewn. It was only able to broadcast light-signals. The longer he pressed it down, the longer the matched stone on Kajiik’s hoof would stay illuminated. If it was really just a normal Ursa, he would be fine. If it was a Celestial, he would be panicking and probably tapping out the emergency Purge code. He rounded the last corner and stopped. Slowly meandering down the hill was a giant purple bear. His hoof instinctively started tapping out the code on his collar. No need to panic. He was a Guardspony. He could certainly control himself. His body began to settle into a combat stance, even as he repeated the code twice more. The flickering of light at the edge of the town was mildly reassuring. Kajiik had assured him that the town itself was designed to be a powerful focus anyway, and the stone path around the perimeter was a shielding spell produced by Star-Swirl the Ancient. He was about to turn his back to calmly return home, as Celestials couldn’t withstand direct sunlight for long, when he heard a shattering sound. He looked at the shield, where it should have been flickering a faint blue along the ground where it was sucking power from the ley-lines below the town. It wasn’t. And the Ursa was still approaching. __ Kajiik arrived at the border, along with a harried looking blue Unicorn being dragged by two colts. He recognized her, “Trixie? What are you doing here?” Iron Hoof placed his armored hoof on the Zebra’s shoulder, “She’s here to vanquish an Ursa Major. That Ursa Major.” He pointed at the creature making its way closer and closer to the center of town. Trixie went pale, “I can’t Actually vanquish an Ursa Major! I made that whole story up! It’s what I do! I’m an entertainer!” The two colts glared at her, “Made it UP! Do you have ANY idea how hard it was to find that thing in the FIRST place!” Kajiik turned to the two colts, then to Trixie, “Trixie, go back to your trailer. Hide. It probably won’t help, but it’s worth a few minutes. Colts, get your tails home. I don’t want to see you again for at least three weeks, because your parents WILL hear about this, and they WILL ground you for at least that long. Do I make myself CLEAR!” He roared the last bit, aided slightly by the indelicate bellow from the Ursa. Next came the part he would least enjoy. He turned to face certain doom, and stopped, “Iron Hoof. You called that an Ursa Major. Correct?” “Yes. See how…” Kajiik cut him off with a hoof, and scratched a summoning circle into the dirt. A book appeared in his hoof, and he flipped it open, “Look at the tail there. See how it has that upward curve. That means it’s only an Ursa Minor. That’s nothing big. Princess Celestia took me to see some of them on one of those work-study trips we went on.” “Uh huh. And they were running wild through a town?” “No. They were stuffed and on display, why?” “Because that one isn’t stuffed, though by the time it finishes EATING PONYVILLE! I’m sure it will be!” “Oh, right. Um, the Princess said they were afraid of the sun, so if I can get a couple of Solar Beam spells around it, we can guide it back to its cave and secure it there until it goes to sleep.” “Ok, then what stops it from coming back tomorrow night?” “Celestial Beings don’t need to eat. Or even wake up, ever. Sol is a good example of that. The princess makes sure that Sol stays in deep slumber so it doesn’t wake up and accidently crush Equus. The Ursa won’t wake up tomorrow night.” “Great. Now how do we get a bunch of guided solar beams on it in the middle of the night, with our only usable Unicorns not trained in Combat spellcasting?” Kajiik smiled, and dumped his saddlebags. A pair of headbands with metal boxes on one side fell out, “Put this on your head. Box on the front. It automatically casts Solar Flare constantly for three hours. And I can draw up a quick gate beam when we get to the cave.” Iron Hoof grabbed the band and strapped it to his head, watching as Kajiik tossed one to each of the colts, and one to the blue mare. As soon as he was certain they were all wearing them properly, he turned towards the Ursa. With a loud click, all five boxes lit up like small stars, and the Ursa’s attention was immediately drawn to them. Iron took command, directing the colts to run up and around, in effect leading it, while keeping their beams pointed like rails. Kajiik and the mare he used to help keep it from turning around, while he used his own beam to prod it forward along the path they were making. “Do you think this is going to actually work?” the mare howled over the sound of the Ursa crunching trees underpaw. Kajiik responded in kind, “I certainly hope so!” “You HOPE!” “Hey, in my defense, this is the first time I’ve ever tried to corral a Celestial Being at night.” Iron chose to add his own two bits, “First time he’s ever tried to corral anything that could move, too!” “Shut up!” The mare muttered under her breath, drowned out by the roar of the Ursa, then stopped abruptly, her beam diving into the mud as she tripped over a root. Iron started shouting, telling the colts to stop and bring their beams together, to block it from moving too far forward, even as Kajiik moved instinctively into a position to create a closed triangle. Iron galloped up to the mare and grabbed her around the ribs, hoisting her up onto her hooves, “Keep your eyes on the ground. The beam will take care of itself. If you break the corral, we can’t keep the Ursa contained.” She looked about to cry, and he pressed his forehead to hers, her horn pressed against the contour of his armor, “Look, I know you didn’t mean for this to happen, but I need you to focus right now. I’ll get you ice cream after we finish this, but we have to survive first. And that means we have to get this corral to the cave up there.” She sniffed, hard, but stood as tall as she could manage, and stepped back into her position as Iron trotted back to his, “RESUME PROGRESS!” The colts moved quickly. Either they had overheard the offer of ice cream, though it wasn’t for them, or they wanted to not have this angry Ursa between them. __ The cave was wide enough that it took Kajiik several minutes to trace out the degrading light spells onto the dirt at the mouth. The mare held up remarkably well, as did the two colts, right up until Kajiik declared that he was done, and the cave mouth lit up like the surface of the sun. The colts dropped like sacks of potatoes. They may have been eager and excitable, but they were still young, and didn’t know how to regulate their energy expenditures. He scooped the two up on his back and started back down the hill, letting Kajiik and the mare follow him down. Kajiik’s little light boxes lasted just long enough to get back to the lights of the town, and Iron was glad that it was finally almost over. He just had to get the colts to someplace safe. The school-house probably, since he couldn’t very well ask two slumbering colts where they lived. He looked at the mare, “Miss, I will meet you at Sugarcube Corner in a few minutes. Kajiik, you should get home. Let the Princess know about this event. The more information she has about it, the better, and I know the local Guard have already submitted a report.” __ Sugarcube Corner was not known for being open particularly late, but then, tonight was a special occasion, of sorts. Mrs. Cake had let Iron Hoof and the Great and Powerful Trixie sit in the back corner, where the light wouldn’t disrupt anypony in, or outside Sugarcube Corner. “Trixie, listen, what you did tonight…” “It was all Trixie’s fault. Trixie didn’t stop them. Trixie is just a big liar!” Iron pressed a hoof to the back of her neck, and pulled her into a loose hug, “I know you lied. Almost got a lot of ponies killed.” At her crestfallen expression, he sighed and pulled her closer, “Nopony died, or was even seriously injured, Trixie, but your auto-carriage isn’t going anywhere for a while. It looks like a hunk of shrapnel from one of the houses the Ursa stepped on got into the engine and tore up the pipes pretty bad. Forge-Master Bruin can repair most of the damage.” “But Trixie can’t stay here! Ponies will hate Trixie for what Trixie has done!” Tears began to roll down her cheeks. Iron Hoof paused for a moment, letting her get it out, then stood, pulling her to her hooves, “Trixie, let me tell you a story of a young stallion. His introduction to most of the town was cracking the ribs of the happiest pony in town with an oak staff. The entire town forgave him, and they will forgive you too, because nopony was hurt.” Trixie stared at him, “That’s absurd. Trixie destroyed several homes. That stallion only bruised one pony. Trixie could have KILLED sompony!” Iron sighed again, “I was that stallion. They won’t hate you. Besides, most of those homes were old and needed replaced anyway. You won’t be run out of town either.” “But then, where will Trixie stay?” That question actually stopped him. He had no idea. She couldn’t stay in the library, there weren’t enough rooms. The Blueberry farm was out of the question. He knew that letting her see the changelings would be bad for the town. Sugarcube Corner, also a bad idea, since she couldn’t very well sleep in the cloud hanging over the building. And the Smithy probably was already full, what with the Griffons staying there. He couldn’t take her to the Outpost either, because she’d probably panic the moment she saw the armed Guard. He thought for a moment more, and went over his mental map of the town. Besides that mane-coloring incident, Trixie hadn’t done anything serious to Rarity, but the mane thing in itself might lead to friction. Possibly the Apple farm. Yes, that would work perfectly. “Trixie, we will go over to the Apple farm after the sun comes up, and see about you renting a room there for a few days while your auto-carriage is repaired.” She said nothing, but her eyes spoke volumes, tears tracing line down her cheeks as she silently thanked him for not locking her up on the spot.