Boast Busters

Sprinkle Medley shifted on her cloud she was resting on with White Lightning, the other pegasus snoring softly as Sprinkle smiled slightly at her.

“Uhm what?” Sprinkle raised an eyebrow at some trees in the Everfree toppling followed by a faint roaring along with a scream. “Hey Whitey? I think something big is coming out of the forest.”

“That’s nice,” White Lightning mumbled and rolled over with a sigh. “Come sleep.”

“We’re on a cloud, not at home,” Sprinkle reminded her wife with a raised eyebrow. “And besides, how you can sleep through a roaring sound is beyond me.”

White rubbed her eyed with a hoof and sat up, eyeing the forest with slowly widening eyed as more trees fell over.

“Oh what the hay?” White breathed as a large blue bear broke through the outskirts of the forest bordering Ponyville as a unicorn stallion continued running. “You know, why did we even move here?”

“Cheap real estate for cloud houses,” Sprinkle answered as she preened one of her wings absentmindedly. “Close to your family in Greenwood.”

“Fair enough,” White mumbled and stretched her wings. “We should probably go find Sunset and the others. At least Silverspeed. She has royal guard training and can probably deal with it.”

“You do that. I’ll go find Fluttershy,” Sprinkle said and mimicked the other mares actions before kissing her. “Stay safe. And stay away from it’s claws. They can cut through trees well evidently.”

“Yeah you too,” White returned the gesture before giving Sprinkle a confused look. “Wait, why Fluttershy? She barely leaves her house at all.”

“Because she can talk to animals!” Sprinkle answered and gave a mock salute with a smile before falling backwards off the cloud as White peered over to watch the other pony do a barrel roll and fly off to a cottage in the distance.

“Some days, this town isn’t worth the drama.”

Sunset rubbed her eyes as she stumbled out her house straight into a terrified Roseluck as the earth pony grabbed her before hiding behind her trembling.

“Can you tell me why exactly you are pounding on my doorstep at one am and screaming your head off whilst hiding behind me?” Sunset grumbled and glared at the mare. Sunset personally liked her sleep and being woken up at this time of night was not her idea of a good time.

“You should probably look ahead. You’ll get your answer,” Roseluck whimpered on the ground as her ears flattened against her head.

Sunset heard a loud roar and slowly turned around at the large blue animal in front of them as her eyes widened to the point of plates.

“Oh buck.”

The animal swiped at the two and Roseluck screamed as Sunset teleported them both away as it’s claws left scratch marks in the ground.

“Why in Equestria is an Ursa Minor rampaging through Ponyville?” Sunset demanded as the two watched it in the distance from the house Sunset had teleported them onto.

“I have no clue! I woke up to screaming. Lily, Daisy and Derpy are currently helping get the fillies and colts into the town bunker. Shoeshine and Silverspeed are trying to find Trixie. I heard from Post Haste that Wild Card came running out of the forest with it after him,” Roseluck explained and Sunset slammed her hoof into her face.

“Oh my Celestia,” Sunset repeated as she dragged a hoof down her face. “Okay, here’s the plan. I need you and the earth ponies to use your magic to attempt to push it back towards the forest but don’t get too close unless you wanna became sliced meat. They have sharp claws. It’s probably pissed he woke it up so we gotta lure it back home, where ever the hell that is. I’m gonna try to find something to calm it down.”

“Okay, I’ll try,” Roseluck inhaled as she watched some ponies run screaming.

“Oh and Roseluck?”

“Yeah?”

Sunset hugged her and nuzzled the top of her head as Roseluck turned a faint pink.

“Stay safe out there,” Sunset released her and stepped back as her horn started to glow.

“You too,” Roseluck shielded her eyes as the atmosphere surrounding her changed briefly and Sunset teleported with a loud pop. “Uh, how am I going to get down from here now?”

Trixie snored quietly in her hammock that swayed slightly, her wagon bouncing with each roar from the Ursa Minor as she slept peacefully through the terrified screams.

“Trixie!” Shoeshine continued pounding on the door and pressed her ear to the door as Trixie let out a loud snore. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”

Shoeshine pressed her entire body weight against the door as it popped open and she fell onto her face with a groan.

“Ow,” Shoeshine whimpered and rubbed her nose before pushing herself up and stumbling to Trixie and started shaking her. “Wake up, damn it!”

“Trixie is great and powerful,” Trixie muttered and rolled over. “She will do anything for peanut butter crackers.”

Shoeshine blinked in confusion and pushed what was just said out of her mind as she resumed shaking Trixie.

“You got five seconds before I toss water in your face Trixie,” Shoeshine growled and Trixie sat up rubbing her eyes. “Finally! We need you.”

The look Trixie shot Shoeshine made the blue mare step warily as Trixie let out an unponylike snarl as her horn glowed.

“What do you want with Trixie at this late hour? Trixie requires her beauty sleep, after all.”

“We uh got a problem,” Shoeshine said nervously and rubbed her hoof on the ground.

“And pray tell, what is it?”

Trixie’s wagon shook again and she fell out of her hammock with a scream, groaning as she peered out the window as the Ursa Minor walked past and her eyes widened as she pushed herself back into Shoeshine’s forelegs as the two watched in fear and held their breath.

“That is the problem,” Shoeshine whispered flatly. “We need to leave quietly. Now.”

Trixie hastily nodded her agreement and Shoeshine started dragging her out of the wagon before tossing the trembling unicorn on her back and galloped away as fast as she could.

Silverspeed flew around the Ursa Minor and dodged it’s claws with a spear held in her hoof and quickly bucked it in the face with her hind legs before dodging another swipe from it’s claws.

“Stupid bear,” Silverspeed grumbled to herself and experimentally jabbed at it with her spear. The earth ponies had managed to push it closer to the forest. Silverspeed was a bit surprised Roseluck was helping out the most. The unicorns had mainly been assisting Silverspeed and the earth ponies while the pegasis focused on using the storm clouds.

“Silverspeed!” Sunset shouted as she, Shoeshine, Roseluck, Fluttershy, Trixie and Derpy watched with stunned expressions. “Lure it into the woods! Fluttershy is gonna talk it to sleep!”

“You got it!” Silverspeed called back and kicked the Ursa Minor in the side again. “Come on, follow the pegasus!”

“He sounds mad,” Sunset noted dryly as the Ursa Minor followed Silverspeed, shoving some trees over in the process. “Really mad.”

“I’d say so,” Fluttershy agreed quietly and brushed her mane out of her eyes. “I do hope the little guy is okay.”

“Little?” Trixie echoed and shot her an incredulous look. “That thing is anything but little!”

“Gaaahh!” Silverspeed screamed as the Ursa slapped her with a paw, sending her flipping through the sky as the others watched in horror as Silverspeed slammed into the ground in front of them, her helmet rolling across the ground. “Augh. Look at the pretty fluffy clouds.”

“Are you okay?” Derpy asked as they gathered around her. “Silverspeed?”

“I’m gonna feel that in the morning,” Silverspeed grunted and yelped as she pressed down her hind leg and Roseluck caught her.

“Easy. You broke your hind leg,” Roseluck said as she noticed Fluttershy was gone. Roseluck assumed or well hoped, she was trying to get the Ursa to sleep. Silverspeeds spear was broken in two and her armor had various dents in it from her crash landing.

“Get her to Redheart. I’ll take care of things here,” Trixie and Shoeshine said in unison and nodded at each other.

“Uhm you don’t have to,” Fluttershy landed behind them. “Max is very sorry for Silverspeed. I gave him a lecture about being nice. He was just grumpy when that mean stallion stumbled into his cave.”

“Speaking of which,” Roseluck scowled and looked around. “Where is he?”

Wild Card hastily continued packing his bags, shoving items carelessly into his suitcase. He had quickly decided he needed to leave after the Ursa incident.

“Going somewhere?”

Wild Card spun and realized in his haste he forgot to shut the door. Trixie stood in the doorway watching him with an unreadable expression.

“You know, when you first came here I thought it was to be friends again,” Trixie started as she leaned against the doorframe. “But I was mistaken. You tried to ruin my life, just like you ruined yours. At first, I was okay with that but then you endangered my friends and Ponyville.”

“The Ursa was an accident!” Wild Card exclaimed and Trixie looked away.

“I believe you. But it still happened. My wagon destroyed during it. My home is gone. But thankfully Applejack and Big Mac agreed to fix it. Silverspeed broke her leg. She could have been killed. What if none us where around to help her?” Trixie asked and Wild Card inhaled nervously. “You have two choices. Willingly give yourself up to the Royal Guards for public endangerment or be dragged out of here in cuffs and a horn inhibitor.”

“I don’t think there’s any Royal Guards even with you " Wild Card stared at her and two Guards opted to make themselves known, stepping behind Trixie and giving him a flat look. “Oh.”

“Please don’t make them drag you out. Keep what dignity you have left and walk out here with them,” Trixie pleaded with him. “Please?”

“You win. This is a victory for I suppose. Probably gonna be bragging about after I’m in jail,” Wild sneered and dropped his bags. Trixie couldn’t meet his eyes as she scuffed a hoof on the carpet.

“A pony I once considered my best friend almost killed me. There’s nothing about this I consider a victory,” Trixie said softly and turned away. “Goodbye. I hope you turn yourself around.”

Trixie trotted away and ignored the sounds of hoof cuffs being locked as Shoeshine, Derpy, Roseluck and Sunset waited outside.

“It’s done,” Trixie told them and sighed, wiping some stray tears away from her eyes.

“Trixie,” Sunset extended a hoof as they all watched. “I’m-”

“Let her go,” Derpy said quietly as Trixie continued trotting away.

“What?” Roseluck exclaimed and gave her a confused look. “Why?”

“Trixie has to process her feelings on her own. When she needs us, she will come to us. And we will be ready for her,” Derpy answered with a flutter of her wings.

“So what do we do now?” Shoeshine asked.

“For now, we wait.”