Hope Blooms

by BirbNerd17

Chapter 1: The Incident

“Hello… ahem, hello there classmates, Willow Bloom here, ready to do my presentation.” A young Pegasus filly stared at her classmates, no pony was listening, all of them caught up in their own business.

Willow Bloom clapped a single hoof on the ground, “Ahem!” She whinnied.

Her classmates turned and looked at her.

“Can I please start my presentation?” She asked.

“Yes class,” Miss Cheerilee said, “let’s keep noise to a minimum and listen to our presenter.”

Willow took in a breath, she had practiced all year for this presentation, studying the habits of Ursa Minors without actually seeing one was a difficult task, made her wonder why she chose it as her project in the first place.

“I chose to do my year long project on the mythical Ursa Minor.” She neighed, holding up a drawing she’d made of the beast.

The little ponies stared at it in awe.

“This is what they look like, they are bears made of stars, they are about the size of this very schoolhouse, and sometimes bigger.”

The ponies looked in shock, they’d never seen something that big.

“How could somethin’ be that big?” An earth pony asked.

“Good question Apple Bloom,” Cheerilee remarked, “Willow Bloom?”

“The large amount of magic they contain allows them to sustain a large body, and since they are made of stars and magic they weigh barely anything at all.”

The ponies were now intrigued.

“So big and yet they weigh barely anything? Sounds fake to me.” Diamond Tiara snorted.

Suddenly shouting could be heard outside, the foals turned to try and find out what was causing the ruckus. A couple ponies ran over to the window.

“Still think it’s fake Diamond Tiara?” Scootaloo asked, pointing out the window.

Willow Bloom ran over with another wave of fillies and colts. She stared in fear, it was even bigger than she thought it would be.

Surrounded by swirls of magic the creature stood tall above ponyville, towering over the buildings a thousand stars shining in its pelt. And it was then that it began heading at the school.

“It’s heading right for us!” Willow Bloom called to her classmates, we need to get out!”

Willow Bloom and the other fillies dashed out of the building. Willow spread her wings, they were very large for a Pegasus of her age, she darted into the air.

“Cover a tree in something shiny!” She called to her classmates from high up, “they like shiny things!”

Her classmates did as they were told, as Willow still sat in the air, it was strange, it took her so much longer than it should have for her to realize. She shouldn’t have been sitting in midair, even if it made it easier to talk to her classmates, it made her a glowing red target.

She felt the breath of the beast on the back of her neck, warm and powerful it almost threw her off balance. She turned slowly and stared at the beast. It made a small grumble, staring at her, it’s deep black eyes staring at her the way a foal might stare at a toy.

Willow gulped, staring at the creature. overrun by fear she couldn’t think straight. All that she knew of the creature was thrown straight out the window. She flapped her wings and attempted to dash away through the air, in an instant the creature had grasped her back legs and wings. She screamed in pain. Tears streaking her face. She turned back to look at the creature, her legs were scraped wide open and her right wing was crushed in it’s massive grip.

She kicked the creature with her front legs and flapped with her left wing.

“Stop struggling! You’ll only aggravate it!” A unicorn called from below.

Willow Bloom could barely hear her, the world was spinning, the pain was so close to overwhelming her, she felt she might pass out any minute. But she knew what to do even if she was panicked. She stopped moving, playing dead. Ursa Minors don’t like dead things.

The creature dropped Willow, Distracted by the Unicorn. She fell to the ground, and just before she hit it a strong Magic held her just above the ground for only a moment before releasing her.

A little teal unicorn ran over to her. “Willow Bloom! Willow Bloom can you hear me?! Stay awake! The hospital ponies are on their way, just hold on!” She whinnied, fear in her eyes. Her bouncy blonde mane waved in the gentle breeze as she stared at Willow.

“Cella-“ Willow barely managed to utter to her best friends.

“Shush! Be quiet and save your strength! You’ll be okay.” Cella neighed.

The last thing Willow saw before passing out was the concerned face of nurse red heart and then it was dark.