Vinyl walked carefully through the dark pathways of the Everfree, her horn glowing brightly enough to provide some illumination without attracting any undue attention. She was alone; she would have called her friends for backup, but between Octavia’s behavior and the rashness of Trixie’s choice of meeting place, running around town to get them would have been a waste of time. Besides, this trip would be different from the last time she came here; there weren’t any power-mad alicorns after her, and she couldn’t imagine Trixie making herself difficult to spot, let alone find, not with her ego, anyway.
This assumption held true as she found the trail Trixie had left: more of her advertising posters magically sealed to the trees, creating a clear path for Vinyl to follow. At least she’s not a complete idiot, she thought to herself. Still an idiot, though. She followed poster after poster, making sure to keep an eye out for any sign of Trixie or, at the very least, something that she’d rather not find.
The path continued farther into the forest than Vinyl would have liked; she had expected Trixie to stay closer to the edge, though she wasn’t too surprised at being proven wrong. Luckily, the path did end, opening to a small clearing. The only landmark of any real note was a cave entrance near the back. But Vinyl’s eyes were set on the blue mare in the center of the clearing, who was staring daggers at her.
“So, you showed up after all,” she said, a hint of venom in her voice.
“Don’t read too much into it,” Vinyl shot back. “I’m only here so I can get you out of this Celestia-forsaken forest and never have to deal with you again.”
“Oh no,” Trixie interjected, “Trixie has come too far to give up now.”
“Give up on what?!”
“After you left, Trixie’s audience started to dwindle. By the end, less than half were still there, if that! You completely ruined her performance!”
“Hey, if ponies don’t like your show, that ain’t my fault.”
“Who led the crowd? Who made a laughing stock out of the Great and Powerful Trixie?”
“I would guess the pony who can’t let go of her third-pony shtick even after the show. Seriously, do you just talk like that all the time, or do you save it for when you’re trying to impress somepony?
“Look, if you want an apology, then I’ll apologize for interrupting the show, but that’s it. You didn’t do anything ‘great and powerful’ on that stage.”
“This is not about your stupid apology; that ship sailed long ago. This is about proving once and for all who is the better performer!”
Vinyl blanched a bit. “Wha… Seriously? How do we prove that? There’s nopony else here, which, by the way, is a very smart move on their part.”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie would never let her fans lay eyes on what she is about to do. It would be bad for her reputation. But you never did step up to my challenge; if you are the better performer, a simple magic duel will prove that.”
“Okay, first off, what fans? You just said you lost most of your audience. Second, again, seriously? You came out here, of all places, just to avoid making yourself look bad? That’s dumb even for you.” As Vinyl said that, however, memories of her earlier conversation with Octavia started to creep up. “And third, how does shooting beams at each other prove anything?”
“You claimed you could do a much better job than Trixie. It only stands to reason that you can do what she does.”
“I just said I’m twice the performer you are; I didn’t say nothing about using magic!”
Trixie smirked. “Does this mean you give up before the contest has even started?”
“Only because this whole thing is stupid and we’re leaving right now. Even somepony like you must have heard the legends of the Everfree Forest. No pony in her right mind would come here willingly.”
“Which makes you…”
“The pony who’s going to drag your sorry flank out of this place kicking and screaming if you don’t move it yourself.”
“After Trixie has proven to you who deserves to be called ‘Great and Powe…”
Both ponies were stopped by a low rumble. It was close, like something had come up to them while they were arguing. Vinyl, acting on impulse, shut off her light. Trixie was about to voice her complaint before they both noticed that the area was still slightly illuminated (less so, perhaps, than when Vinyl’s spell was active, but still lit, nonetheless). They turned toward the source of the light; what they saw was a giant, bear-like beast, its body a translucent blue. They could make out what appeared to resemble stars coming from its body, which were lighting up the area. It was snarling, and drool could be seen dripping from its mouth.
“Please,” Vinyl started, “please tell that’s not what I think it is.”
“That depends,” Trixie replied, “do you think it’s an Ursa Major?” Vinyl didn’t say anything, too nervous to speak.
There was a short pause, both ponies waiting for the Ursa to do something. Finally, Vinyl spoke, softly, “Maybe, if we move slowly and quietly, we can—!”
“Are you nuts?!” Trixie nearly shouted. “If we move slowly, that just makes it easy for this thing to eat us! No, the Great and… Powerful… Trixie… will handle this monster… as she has… done in the past.” Although she tried to hide it, Vinyl could still hear the nervousness in Trixie’s voice. Before she could voice an objection, however, Trixie’s horn started glowing. A length of rope appeared out of her cape and started flowing toward the Ursa.
“Why do you happen to have a rope in your cape?” Vinyl whispered.
“Trixie had… prepared several methods for… taking you down,” Trixie replied, her nervousness still evident. “But this… will be a… much worthier cause.” She guided the rope, twirling it in front of the Ursa’s face, trying to disorient it, before finally looping it around its snout and tying into a knot.
“See?” Trixie said, a bit of confidence returning to her voice. “Piece of cake.”
“And what good is tying its mouth going to be?” Vinyl whispered, not convinced by Trixie’s actions or words.
“It will show this brute that the Great and Powerful Trixie means business.”
After a few seconds of understanding what happened to it, the Ursa opened its mouth, snapping the rope off. The two mares stared dumbfounded. Vinyl sneered at Trixie. “Any more bright ideas?”
Trixie glared at Vinyl for a quick second before turning back to the Ursa. “Okay… it seems you do not understand… with whom you are dealing.” Her nervousness began to return. “Very well. But just be aware… that Trixie gave you the choice.” Trixie closed her eyes in strained concentration. Soon, a black cloud appeared in front of its face. Vinyl would have been slightly impressed had it not been for the cloud’s less-than-ideal size, especially when compared to the gargantuan Ursa.
“What’s that dinky thing gonna do?” she whispered harshly. “What happened to that ‘one mighty spell’ garbage you were talking about?”
“Trixie will have you know that…” Trixie paused for a small moment, “if she set off a spell that powerful here, it would destroy the entire forest with us inside it. The Great and Powerful Trixie is not about to let that happen!”
A bolt of lightning shot out of the cloud, hitting the Ursa in the face. It roared in pain and rage. The two mares said nothing as they both immediately made a break for the forest border.
“Oh, yeah!” Vinyl shouted. “That worked!”
“Be quiet and keep running!” Trixie shouted back. Not too surprisingly, Vinyl found herself unable to argue with her. She just kept moving as fast as her legs would carry her; she hoped that the thick forest growth would keep the Ursa at bay until they could get out.
It wasn’t long before they reached the end of the forest, but even then, they continued moving until they were within the limits of Ponyville. “Do you think we lost it?” Vinyl asked, nearly out of breath.
“Trixie… wouldn’t… worry,” Trixie said. “Ursa Majors have a… brain the size of an apple. We should be safe.”
“What the hay is going on here?” a voice familiar to Vinyl said. Wait, Ly? They both turned to find Vinyl’s friends running up to them.
“What are you guys doing here?” she asked.
Turner spoke up. “I was just out for a moonlit stroll when I saw you running about. You had this strange look on your face, like you were angry about something. I found the others and we’ve been looking across town for you.”
“Here’s my question,” Bon Bon said; “what are you doing with her?” She pointed at Trixie.
Vinyl’s mood soured at being reminded why she was out in the first place. “Oh, the Great and Powerful Moron decided she wasn’t done with me and wanted to meet in the Everfree.” Trixie just glared at her in response.
She didn’t get the chance to say anything, however, because Octavia said, rather incensed, “Wait, you went into the Everfree Forest alone?!”
“Just to get her out of there,” Vinyl defended. “Besides, we made it out okay.”
Suddenly, everyone heard a loud roar. The five ponies turned toward the two mares. “Okay,” Vinyl said weakly, “maybe with one slight hitch.” She turned to Trixie and whispered harshly, “I thought you said it wouldn’t follow us this far!”
“Oh, sure, blame the magician for not having the right information,” Trixie argued. “Trixie just vanquishes them, preferably before they go wild.”
“Wait,” Lyra interrupted, having clearly heard them. “Do you mean that…?!” Everyone heard large footsteps approaching. By now, the commotion had drawn a crowd of sleepy, curious ponies. Everyone looked toward the edge of town to see a large, blue bear stomping towards them. Many of the townsponies started to run in fear as the Ursa began attacking some of the houses.
“Well, the good news is that we’re out of the forest,” Vinyl said. She turned to Trixie. “Now you don’t have to worry about holding back.”
“R-Right.” Trixie started to become nervous again, though this time, Vinyl got the sense that it wasn’t because of the Ursa. “No… holding…” She paused.
“I can’t.”
A chorus of gasps was heard throughout the area. Lyra stuttered a bit. “Is… Is she…?”
“She’s serious, Ly,” Vinyl said solemnly. “She just said ‘I.’”
“I can’t beat an Ursa Major,” Trixie continued. “Nopony can. Only a fool would willingly put themselves in front of one. I only said those things to make my show that much more amazing. I never actually thought I’d see a real, honest-to-Celestia Ursa Major.” She bowed her head in shame.
“Well, if it makes you feel better,” Turner said, “you still haven’t.”
The entire group stared dumbfounded at him. “Um, Turner,” Derpy started, “do you not see the big bear made of stars threatening to tear the town to pieces?” By now the Ursa was moving toward another house, having torn the roofs off of a few others.
“Plain as day,” he affirmed. “But it’s not an Ursa Major. Not that far off, admittedly, but it’s actually an Ursa Minor. A cub, if you will.”
“That’s just a baby?!” Trixie nearly shouted. She quickly regained what little composure she had, however, and said, “Well, even if that is true, it doesn’t mean a thing. I can’t defeat it.”
Vinyl, on the other hoof, was looking intently at the Ursa. Something about how Turner described it made her take notice of something, namely the look in its eyes. They seemed unfocused and were constantly blinking. Not only that, but its movements were sluggish, like it wasn’t putting much effort into its rampage.
“Um, is it just me,” she said, “or does that overgrown teddy bear look tired?” Everyone looked up at the Ursa.
“I… suppose,” Bon Bon said. “But why would a tired Ursa Minor come here?”
Vinyl just looked sheepishly at her friends and said, “Well, we may or may not have been arguing in front of a certain cave, and that may or may not have woken it up…” She coughed to regain herself. “The point is, we don’t have to beat it. Not in the usual way, at least.”
“How?” Trixie asked, a little skeptical. “What can you possibly do that I haven’t tried already?”
“Give it what it wants,” Vinyl said simply. Before anyone could ask, she turned and said, “Ly, you know any good lullabies?”
Lyra was taken aback for a second at being asked such a question out of the blue, but said, “Um, sure, but how am I supposed to make it loud enough?” She levitated her lyre off her back. “I mean, it’s not like we can hook this up to your speakers or anything.”
“Don’t think I haven’t been working on it,” Vinyl quipped, trying to lighten the mood a bit, “but you let me handle the volume issue.” Lyra nodded, if a bit skeptically, and started strumming the lyre. The tune she played was slow and simple, not an actual song that Vinyl could put words to, but it had just the right melody, almost dreamlike. If not for the adrenaline coursing through Vinyl’s body after the past few minutes, her eyelids probably would have started drooping right there.
She did close her eyes, however, and concentrated on the spell she was currently powering up. Everything around her simply started to fade as she focused on the spell and Lyra’s music. She was only just aware of the large stomps coming toward her or Trixie speaking to her.
“What are you trying to do?” the magician asked.
Without breaking her concentration, Vinyl said, “I may not know as much magic as you, but I know how to use the spells I do have. Like my sound direction spell.” The others could only give confused looks before a steady stream of blue magic flowed from Vinyl’s horn to the lyre. Lyra was caught slightly off guard but did not stop playing.
To everyone’s surprise, music notes, visible music notes, appeared around the lyre. One by one, they formed a stream that moved toward the Ursa. The giant bear had come very close to Vinyl when the notes started floating around its ears. It was surprised at the sudden sensation of sounds at first, but its face started to relax, mouth becoming a sleepy smile. Soon, it started to wobble back and forth, much to the nervousness of the ponies in the area.
Before it could fall over, however, it was caught in a field of light purple, preventing it from falling completely. Everyone looked to Trixie; her horn was glowing, and while she seemed to be straining herself, she was otherwise okay. Lyra played her lyre for about another half-minute to ensure the Ursa was fully asleep. After strumming one last chord, she added her own levitation spell to Trixie’s, easing some of the burden. The rest of the ponies who stayed were transfixed with wonder at what they had just seen.
Vinyl cut her spell and breathed a sigh of relief and exhaustion. After a few seconds, she added her magic to the levitation effort. “Let’s get this little guy back home. Preferably before his mom wakes up.” (She could hear Trixie mumbling something like, “Little guy.”)
“Very true,” Turner replied. “You really don’t want to meet a true Ursa Major.”
Derpy leaned in to whisper, “Have experience with that?”
Turner simply said, “Never again.”