//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Bear-y Dangerous // Story: A Harmonic Sonata // by keaton-furman-prower //------------------------------// As the small group of ponies moved through the forest, Glides told the others how Fluttershy had faced the Hydra. Sonata was clearly incredibly fascinated, while the others were simply listening politely. Amethyst, however, was looking downwards, evidently lost in thought. “And then she went whooshing down and stomped that lizard’s tail!” “Wow!” said Sonata. “Fluttershy! You’re really brave!” The yellow mare blushed at the compliment. “Thanks, Sonata. But I was just doing my duty.” “Well, it wasn’t technically your duty,” said Amethyst as she turned towards Fluttershy. “You could have left us to die and saved yourself.” “But it wouldn’t have been the right thing to do, would it?” Amethyst said nothing, but merely looked away “Should I… have left you with the hydra?” “No!” Amethyst said quickly. “I’m glad you saved me! It’s just… I’m not used to talking to ponies as selfless as you.” Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “What… does that mean?” “Nothing,” Amethyst said quickly. “I mean, it’s just- wait!” The group stopped as they noticed her horn glowing ominously. In response, she pulled out her metal wand and pointed it at the large patch of vegetation lying in front of them. “There’s an ursa minor sleeping right ahead,” she said. Fluttershy gasped in amazement, but everypony else simply looked at Amethyst in confusion. “An ursa-your-what-now?” asked Sugar. “I think ursa is ancient Equestrian for bear,” said Glides. “Not just any bear,” said Fluttershy. “An ursa minor is a bear made of stars!” “They tend to be at least the size of a large house,” said Amethyst. “And they spend most of their time asleep. If you wake them up, they get really angry.” So, let me get this straight,” said Tennis, trying hard to sound calm. “We’re facing a bear big enough to swallow a pony whole, which gets really cranky when they wake up?” “Is there anything else we ought to know?” asked Glides, nervousness slipping into her voice despite her efforts. “Well,” said Fluttershy, “It’s still a baby!” Four sets of pupils shrunk to the size of pinpricks. “It’s… still a baby?” Sugar said, her voice full of terror. “Yes,” said Fluttershy. “It’s humongous, but still a baby. Nature is so fascinating!” The rest of the group stared at her incredulously. They wanted to say something, but nothing could quite express their inability to comprehend Fluttershy’s fascination with a creature that was big enough to swallow a pony whole. Finally, Amethyst spoke. “Anyway, the adult is known as an ursa major. If they catch you messing with their baby, you won’t live long enough to regret it. So if you don’t want to get eaten, you should probably follow my lead.” The others grimaced, but nodded. Satisfied, Amethyst slowly moved forwards, towards a thick wall of trees. “Since the vegetation seems so much thicker here, it would probably provide much more shade, even in such intense sunlight. Therefore, it seems unlikely that the ursa has awakened, even with the current weather situation.” Slowly, she pulled a few vines out of the way and vanished into darkness. The others looked at each other hesitantly, worrying about what to do. “Well, I suppose we should follow her in,” said Sonata. Hesitantly, she lifted the vine out of the way and walked through. Once inside, she noticed that it was rather dark; not quite as dark as night, but it was still hard to see. She also noticed the slight glimmer of starlight; upon further inspection, she realized it was coming from the body of a huge creature. She shuddered as she looked up, noting that it was even bigger than she had imagined. Its whole body was covered in twinkling stars, some of which formed the distinctive constellation of Ursa Minor. Even more distressing were the huge claws that were just barely poking out of its paws. There was a look of contentment on its face, but even this did not reassure Sonata. “So, this is what we have to deal with,” she whispered. “Yes,” Amethyst replied, just barely loud enough for Sonata to hear. “This is our sleeping beauty.” “It’s so cute!” whispered a third voice. Sonata and Amethyst turned to see who it was, and saw Fluttershy observing the beast. They then saw Glides and Tennis enter the clearing as well. Finally, Sugar made her way inside. “You know,” said Glides, “It is kind of cute when it’s sleeping like that.” “Seriously?” asked Tennis. “I would not call that cute at all!” “Well, we're all set,” said Amethyst. “Now, be very quiet and follow me.” Slowly, she moved around the giant bear, being very careful not to let her hoofsteps make any noise. The other ponies did the same, slowly and quietly moving their hooves. Meanwhile, the ursa occasionally moved, but did not awaken. At one point, it gave out a huge yawn, displaying its huge, sharp teeth. “That thing is really not reassuring me,” whispered Glides. “Can we hurry up?” “Yeah, for realzies!” whimpered Sonata. “Calm down,” said Amethyst. “We’ll be there before you know it.” “That big bear is still kind of worrying me,” whispered Sugar. “Will you calm down?!” Amethyst hissed. “That bear might hear you! Just stay quiet, follow my lead, and nothing bad will-” It was at that exact moment that Amethyst’s hoof fell into a small hole in the ground. “Ah!” she yelped, causing the ursa to stir. The other ponies stood still, hoping that it wouldn’t wake up. “Did you have to do that, Amy?!” Sonata whispered. “Everypony knows that you’re not supposed to say that nothing can-” “That rule is stupid!” Amethyst hissed. “And besides, I can get my hoof out of this hole just as soon as I-AGH!” She jerked her hoof out of the ground in pain, causing the others to look at her in concern. She then glanced towards the hole, where a fluffy white rabbit was blowing its tongue at her. “That thing bit me!” Before anypony could react, however, they heard a growl coming from behind them. Both the ursa’s eyes were wide open, and it was glaring at the six ponies angrily. “Um, hello?” Sonata said nervously. “Could you, um, maybe not attack us?” In response, the Ursa roared. “Okay, probably not,” she said. Most of the others backed away in horror as the ursa approached them, enraged by its interrupted rest. Even Fluttershy seemed worried by the huge beast approaching them. Glides, however, was staring at it with a pensive look. “I think he’s cranky.” “Oh, really?!” Amethyst yelled. “Wow, I never noticed!” “For realzies?” said Sonata. “Because I’m pretty sure he woke up because you yelled out when that rabbit bit you.” “IT’S CALLED SARCASM, YOU NINNYHEAD!!!” Glides, however, paid them no heed. Instead, she flew straight towards the ursa’s head. “GLIDES!!!” yelled Sonata. The giant star bear roared and tried to catch the pegasus in its jaws. However, she easily dodged it and landed right behind the beast’s ears. It attempted to swipe its claws at her, but she managed to evade the attacks once again. “What are you doing?!” yelled Amethyst. “It’s going to kill you!” “No, he’s not,” said Glides. “After all, he’s just a baby.” The pegasus then began to rub her hooves against the ursa’s ear. To everypony’s surprise, it almost immediately stopped roaring. “Yeah, that’s right,” said Glides. “You don’t have to smash anything just because we woke you up, right?” As Glides continued to pat the ursa, the other five ponies stared in shock. “What is she doing?!” whispered Tennis. “Well, I think she’s trying to calm it down,” said Fluttershy. “And… I think it might be working!” The group was then surprised once more when Glides began to sing. “Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head, “Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed...” The five ponies stood listening to the lullaby, simultaneously shocked and amazed. Meanwhile, the ursa’s eyelids began to droop. “Drifting off to sleep, leave another day behind you, “Drifting off to sleep, let the joyous dreamland find you. “Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head, “Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed.” Soon, the once-fierce beast began to roll up into a ball of twinkling star-fur. Glides kept singing her lullaby until it has completely fallen asleep. “GLIDES!!!” The white-maned pegasus suddenly found herself tackled to the ground by her friends. She struggled to breathe as they continued to hug her while rambling about how amazing she had been! “Girls!” she gasped. “Calm down! The ursa's sleeping!” The others quickly quieted down and backed away from her, giving her room to breathe and collect herself. “How did you know that was going to work?” Amethyst whispered in awe. “Big or not, it's still just a little kid,” explained Glides. “Just like my little sister. Believe me, she taught me a lot about how to deal with little kids.” Everypony stared at Glides, amazed by what she had said. After a while, Sugar decided to interrupt. “Um, not to be rude, but we’re still inside that thing’s home. Shouldn’t we be going somewhere where we aren’t going to wake it up?” Nopony said anything, but there was a silent agreement among them that this was the best course of action. And so they quietly walked around the bear, making sure to check for any holes that they could possibly fall into. Finally, they made it to a small hole at the edge of the thicket where light was pouring in. “I think that’s the exit!” said Sugar. Sonata poked at the hole, and then pulled a few vines out of the way. “Everypony out!” The opening was just wide enough for a pony to squeeze through. Amethyst went first, using her magic to widen the hole by a slight amount. Glides was next, followed by Sugar, Tennis, and Fluttershy. Finally, Sugar and Amethyst used their magic to hold the hole open while Sonata slided out. As soon as she had gotten out, the other five smiled at her. They then gathered together in a group hug. Sonata had never been in a true group hug before. She had been hugged by Luna and Spike, yes, but it had always been more Luna hugging the two of them rather than them all hugging each other. And before she had met Luna, she had never received hugs from her sisters. And yet now, being hugged by the five ponies who had joined her, she felt unbelievably happy to be with her friends. Friends… She remembered what Luna had told her. And for the first time, she felt a glimmer of hope that she might be able to wield the Elements of Harmony after all. “Okay everypony! We still have to find the elements, so let's get moving!” The group immediately broke off the hug, and then they all began to walk once more. As they did, however, Amethyst said something completely unexpected. “Hey, Sonata... I'm sorry.” The blue earth pony stopped in her tracks. “Sorry? For what?” “Well, when you came to Ponyville, my instruments picked up on your magic signature, and I noticed that it didn't match up to that of a normal earth pony. That may not have been so bad, except that my first instinct was to suspect you of being some sort of monster pony who was here to brainwash us into slavery, or something.” Internally, Sonata began to cringe. “The point is,” Amethyst continued, “I jumped to conclusions. I should have considered that you weren't a threat to anypony, even if you weren't a normal pony. So... I'm sorry.” Sonata looked downwards for a moment, not quite sure how to answer to that. Her sisters had never felt the need to apologize for anything; if anything, they had been most likely to blame her for anything that happened. In addition, Luna had never done anything that would warrant an apology, and Spike had simply been too young to really need to apologize. “Um… okay?” she said. “You accept my apology?” “Well, yeah, that,” said Sonata. The two mares smiled at each other, glad to finally be on even terms. The moment was interrupted, however, when Sugar decided to ask a rather pertinent question. “So, exactly what is up with you and those weird gizmos?” Amethyst blinked in surprise. For a moment, her eyes seemed unfocused, and she was silent. However, a smile slowly formed on her face as she looked at her friends. “It’s kind of a secret, but… I guess I can share it with you.”