//------------------------------// // Blunt! I choose you! // Story: The Melancholy of Princess Twilight Sparkle // by BakaBoy //------------------------------// Corporal Leviathan's eyes locked onto our group, slit pupils showing pure dedication to his cause. Crossing his right wing over his chest while bending his left wing just behind his withers he saluted in the peculiar fashion which the Night Guard adopted. "It shall be done Princess" He stated before turning to the other night guardsmen hovering around behind him. "Guards! Seize Princess Twilight and the mare! Leave Discord to me!" He turned to Discord with nary an emotion on his face. He must be a horror to play poker with. There was a sudden flurry of activity as the Night Guard started to converge rapidly towards Princess Twilight, I was left alone for the most part since I only looked like a helpless bystander. Discord on the other hoof almost seemed aghast as corporal Leviathan sped towards him. It only took a second for the gap to close between the two but a second was all it took for the look of sheer horror on Discord's face to turn into a victorious smirk. With a snap of his talons Corporal Leviathan was suddenly encased in a pink cloud which stuck to him like glue. Momentum carried the smaller Corporal straight into Discord and the much fluffier thestral just bounced off the Draconequus like a ball. Discord looked amused as he dramatically lifted a paw to his forehead in mock horror. "Oh woe is me! Thy valiant knight doth deliver a wound most foul!" Discord taunted, it was common knowledge that Princess Luna used to speak in ye olde Equestrian and that the use of the language near or around her was an easy one way ticket to the moon (Princess Luna can send ponies there too, it is HER moon after all). Needless to say Princess Luna looked like she cranked her rage to eleven as dark flames sprouted behind her. Her eyes now burned with the fires of Tartarus as Discord continued to laugh in mockery of her past habits. As was said long ago: Tartarus hath no fury like a mare scorned. Princess Luna's horn blazed as a pillar of bright blue crystal emerged from the ground in front of her. It would have been impressive towering over the Princess if she hadn't been half my height at the time. Discord was still smirking and sauntering in a small circle as he shot mockery after mockery in old equish so he failed to spot the glowing glyphs start forming around the base of the pillar. I stared on in wonder of what the crystal was for as Princess Twilight suddenly cocked her head to the side and scrunched her nose as if she was trying to remember something as she stared at the crystal. The glyphs suddenly detached and shot across the field before snaking around Discord, binding him to the spot as his smirk was replaced with a look of concern as he realized that he was unable to move. The Lunar guard just stood as stoic as ever beside Princess Luna but made no move to apprehend the defenseless Discord nor myself or Princess Twilight. Princess Twilight suddenly gasped and gripped my neck in a hug of death as her eyes shone with excitement. At this point I was thoroughly lost as to why the Princess would be excited that one of our strongest dissuasion asset's had been taken out but the way her eyes shone as she pointed towards the bright blue crystal while shouting something along the lines of: 'Luna got out her Nexus!'. I wasn't sure what a nexus was but the way Princess Twilight was wording it made 'pulling it out' seem rather painful... Princess Twilight suddenly declared to Princess Luna with her own gleeful shout "I challenge thee to battle!". It seemed far more formal than Discord's mockery of old equish but by the challenging smirk that spread across Princess Luna's muzzle it was something that she could accept to be said around her. The ground in front of me started to tremble as a lavender crystal emerged. It rose slowly with runes dancing all over its surface, the sheer amount of magic radiating from it was enough to cause a chill to course through my body. So this is what the Princess of Magic is capable of, feats of magic so immense that the mere preparation for one could be felt. The runes leapt off the crystal pillar and surrounded the area around everyone in the maze in a sphere, at the same time Princess Twilight turned around her and fired off a magic spell which stopped abruptly in the air as the empty space distorted and then ripped as a portal appeared. Meanwhile the runes continued to glow as the Princess turned to face her pint-sized rival again, with a smirk of satisfaction she started declaring what seemed to be... Terms and conditions?... It must be the terms and conditions... more specifically the same type of terms and conditions you get when signing up for anything and everything... at least that was the feeling I had, it sounded just as boring as every other one I had been forced to read when joining the guard. (They make you read everything! Join the guard, please sign here after you have read these terms and conditions.) "I agree" came the laid back reply from Princess Luna and Discord, oh good that meant that Princess Twilight had finished her spiel. I turned to see what she was up to when I was suddenly taken aback by how close she was to me, especially at how she seemed to nearly be glaring at me as she focused her entire attention towards me while itching with anticipation and impatience... Oh, was I supposed to listen as well? "I uh... agree?" It sounded more like a question than an agreement but luckily for me the princess seemed far too preoccupied clopping her hooves together in glee rather than notice my lack of enthusiasm. "Very well then! But since in this case my troop is affected by size we'll have to even the playing grounds a bit!" Troop? Size? What was she talking about? The runes around us shone brilliantly just as Princess Twilight and Princess Luna stepped out of the encompassing sphere. I was about to join them when Twilight's magic formed a wall right in front of me, stopping me from exiting the glowing rune-sphere. "Nuh-uh Blunt, you're one of the players I've chosen so you. stay. right. there." She said, her magic shoving me back a couple of each inches with each pointed word. Wait. Chosen? Chosen for what? The rune-sphere suddenly starts contracting while the runes themselves start glowing even brighter than they were before. As a rune made contact with me my body suddenly felt an odd shriveling sensation. Well my body felt odd enough as is being a different gender and all but I didn't need more magic exacerbating things! Feeling a little woozy I scrunched my eyes slightly as I felt my hooves suddenly stop making contact with the ground and a feeling of free-fall overtook my mind. The feeling of vertigo was intense and for a second I thought I was going to hurl, the world just kept rushing up towards me and my addled mind was spinning too fiercely to do anything about it. That's when I squeaked as I bounced off the ground. With a mewl I slowly opened my eyes as the world felt like it was still spinning around me. Slowly the world seemed to slow down, objects were slowly returning to their usually definition as the hazy blur of dizziness was being expelled from my brain. As soon as I could make out the objects around me I slammed my eyes shut again, there was no way this was happening... The crystal pillar that was beside me had turned into a colossal spire in comparison to my new size, a distance away I could barely make out the ant like thestrals who also joined me in my reduced height as they shook their own bouts of weariness away. One lunar guardsmen flapped a few feet into the air, waving his hooves about in an attempt to gain the attention of his fellow guards-ponies as he furiously kept pointing back towards their own blue spire. Behind the spire I could make out the Lunar Princess who looked far more intimidating now in her behemoth sized state, even if she still was a pint sized filly. Princess Luna's eyes narrowed as her now vertically crippled guard retreated back towards the pillar that she created. She glared at Princess Twilight the portal behind her in contempt... Actually, why was that portal there? "Now that your players have been set, it's time to bring out my team!" Declared the Princess of Magic, "Come forth! Rodentia's Central Library Guardians!" The portal swelled as a mischief of rodents appeared, each wearing a variation of dark-grey thick cloth armor. They scampered forth and gathered around the base of the crystalline, one rodent seemed to notice my presence and waved me over, with a small gulp I slowly trotted towards their group as they gathered into a circle while busily talking among themselves. As I reached their group the rat who waved me over gave me a hearty slap on my withers. I winced as the rat pulled me in closer towards the (remarkably clean and well groomed) rodent circle as he started speaking with an oddly scoltish accent. "A'ight everybody, we got a wee lass joinin' us in this li'l skirmish. Ye know the drill, get to yer preps and I'll make sure the girl knows what she got 'ta do" the rat said next to me. As the rest of the rats scurried off while fishing out various pieces of equipment the supposed leader of the group turned to me with a happy grin on his face. I gulped and he started chuckling, apparently taking note of my nervousness. "Ah don't worry yer pretty li'l head wee lass, we got ye covered, just stick 'round fer a wee bit and Twiley over there will tell ye what ye got ta do." He vaguely gestured towards the princess as she held a rolled up parchment in her magic, must have magick'd it over here recently since I didn't see it on her at any point. I turned back to the lead rat and was just about to ask about what he was talking about and why he was addressing the Princess in such a casual and familiar manner when said Princess's voice boomed from behind, the size difference making the Royal Canterlot voice into a physical barrier as it slammed into me and blew my mane forwards in a billow of messy hair. "Alright everypony and everybody! Welcome the League of Saggitarius three!"