That Shrinking Feeling

by Professor_Blue

1- In which Twilight examines Fluttershy more closely than she's ordinarily comfortable with

“…So they change their color depending on where and when they hatch. Have you ever seen a caterpillar turn into a real butterfly?”

“You mean all those fuzzy worms on the plants are actually unhatched butterflies? Ugh! Blech!” said Rarity, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

“Well, I’d think that you of all ponies would know beauty can come from the most unexpected places, Rarity.” said Fluttershy. Rarity’s forced wretch stopped as she thought of Fluttershy’s rebuttal. It was true that her cutie mark’s spell operated from the very notion Fluttershy had indicated, and so likewise her fashion inspirations sourced. Before Rarity could continue her pondering, suddenly a trail of a rainbow dashed across ahead of them and into a bush with a loud crash and rustle of the leaves.

“Speaking of things coming from unexpected places.” said Rarity, happily surprised by the arrival of Rainbow Dash.

“Urh- that one’ll need practice..” said Rainbow, stepping out of the shrubbery and completely unfazed by her less than graceful landing. She looked to Fluttershy, already putting her failed trick out of mind. “Hey, ‘you headed to the meadow yet?”

“Already on our way.” replied Fluttershy.

“Rainbow Dash is coming along?” asked Rarity.

“Fluttershy said she’d show me where a harrier lives, so I could try out their flying technique.” Rainbow dramatically posed her hooves. “Picture it: hovering without flapping your wings. It’d be like levitating! Why, are you coming, Rarity?”

“I was struck by inspiration- I was watering my orchids this morning when a butterfly came along and landed on one of them. Its color and form matched so perfectly that I simply had to pursue anything I could for more fashion ideas from butterflies! They’re simply fabulous!” She pulled up a small sewn pattern that showed a butterfly-like silhouette, out of orange and yellow fabric with a gold-like thread. “Do you like it? It’s something I pulled together.”

“Huh.” Rainbow Dash said with a deadpan expression and a shrug. Rarity’s smile winced at Dash’s appraisal as she started to consider her work. “Oh- I mean, it’s great Rarity.” Dash decided not to give a voice to her opinions of the Migration that Fluttershy so highly adored.

“It’s lovely.” complimented Fluttershy. The three of them continued on, talking of flying things and their respective wonders. The merry mood of the town was a typical one as they passed other groups of ponies enjoying the day with their own pleasantries; a thrown ball, an enjoying of ice cream, an exchange over the newspaper, or a rest on the parks benches. They went beyond the park and past a few houses, and eventually into the minor crowd of the market place, full of those contented with the trades of bits and bargains.
Beyond the market place they walked and talked until their paths crossed with the nigh-absent-minded reading of Twilight Sparkle, holding a gray scroll at quite an awkward distance to read- perhaps she was examining a picture that was best discerned with a bit of perspective. She continued with a wide smile on her lips and a quite fixated gaze.

“Hey Twilight!” started Dash. Twilight looked away from her scroll, turning her head carefully as if she had something stuck on the end of her nose.

“Hi Rainbow, hey Rarity, Fluttershy.” Twilight narrowly squinted at each of them.

“Something wrong? You’re looking funny.” said Rainbow, remarking on how Twilight was visibly having a difficult time focusing on them.

“Can’t you see?” said Rarity, trying to catch Twilights odd focal movements with bobbing her head. Fluttershy somewhat tried to shy away from Twilight’s determined gaze.

“Oh right.” started Twilight. A tiny puff of magic wisped away from her horn and Twilight seemed to observe them normally after a few blinks. “I was trying out some new spells. I was reading these notes far away because I was trying out a long distance detail spell.”

“Neato.” replied Rainbow.

“I know! I’ve been trying all sorts of stuff like this. I’ve been studying magic from Wizzawink the Wonderous. In his later years he started experimenting in medicine magic, and I was testing from this one…” Twilight looked backwards, rummaging in her rucksack with her magic. “Oh, looks like I left it behind. Anyways, I was using this page from one of his note collections. ‘Visual Unusual & Other Practical Spells’.” She lifted the parchment to their view. “It’s a lot of fun!”

“Visual Unusual?” said Rarity.

“Eye spells. Well, mostly. Wizzawink didn’t organize his research very well and his pen-work is pretty bad, but I can make it out pretty easily. Look at this.” said Twilight. Her horn began to glow with a bright intensity. A little flash appeared in front of Rarity’s face.

“What in the world?” Rarity said, noting that seemingly nothing had happened apart from surprising her a little. She looked to the side and saw Fluttershy’s and Rainbow Dash’s reactions were both equally surprised, but with no mark of fear or disgust. Her astonishment reflected that, trusting Twilight had not done ill of her mane (like that Trixie had in the past, Rarity thought). She looked back to Twilight who had procured a mirror from her saddle bag. Looking into the reflective glass, Rarity ‘s mouth went agape as she saw that her irises had turned from their enamouring sapphire blue into a brilliant purple that looked identical to her mane. She exclaimed in amazement, “My eyes!”
There was another little flash, and Rarity’s eyes returned to their normal coloration.

“There’s a bunch of these kinds of spells.” Twilight said.

“That’s cool. We’re headed to Skipper Meadows, maybe you’d like to come along.” offered Rainbow Dash, jumping up and hovering over them. “I want to try and copy some moves off of a harrier.”

“And we’re going to examine butterflies.” Fluttershy said. Rarity continued excitedly,

“I simply must get more of these fluttershies! I -I mean butterflies.” she stumbled.

“Wanna come?” Rainbow asked, directed at Twilight.

“Sure! I’d be able to get lots more experiments done with these visual spells if we do some bird watching or butterfly-finding.”

“Splendid, we’ll make the day of it.” said Rarity. The four continued on their way past the edge of the tented marketplace. It occurred to Twilight that her agreement to their invitation would not be so if she was still in the state of mind where oh-so-long-ago she always had many researches and “studying to catch up on” and she laughed in her mind at how things had changed through time, all for the better.

The conversation ebbed and blurred between their four topics of interest as they passed the old town train station, past a small row of short trees and over a green knoll, beyond which lay the gently rolling hills of Skipper Meadows- a small plain off to one side of the town.
It looked like a rippled lake of shimmering green. Here and there it was speckled with smallish flowers or taller grass and the transient flit of butterflies between them. Fluttershy pointed out near the middle of the wide space sat the home of the harrier, a stoic looking tree with broad branches and being slowly engulfed by ivy at the base of the trunk, with a nest resting on a larger limb on one side. A zephyr calmly brushed past the idyllic flow of the meadow, painting waves into the grass.

“Not all that much wind... probably too little to support a glide.” regarded Dash, looking up at the sky. “It’ll be a bit stronger higher up.”

“C’mon, Rainbow. I’ll introduce you,” said Fluttershy gently. The two of them headed towards the tree. “Then we can start looking for the butterflies you want by what color you’d like, Rarity.”

“Ooh, let’s.” said Rarity, following in the direction of Fluttershy with a keen eye on all the lazy motions of the butterflies.

“And I’ll see if I can get a good binocular spell to get a better view of the surroundings.” said Twilight, pulling up the bit of paper again. She read to herself quietly and they ventured on.
As they passed over the small rounded hills of the pasture, one small dip became deceptively deep, seeming to continue at normal grassy depth, but the long stalks of greenery hid the hollow. Rainbow Dash flew past as was her usual method of transport, and it was easy for the others to see as they walked through the broad bowl of deepened plants. The grass unexpectedly but harmlessly came up to about shoulder height. However ponies did well to keep their eyes on where they are going.

“Mind the mud, Twilight.” said Rarity. Forever fastidious on the avoidance of filth, her path curved as she neared the bottom of the basin, keeping away from its lowest point.

“Huh?” responded Twilight, her eyes just as entrenched in reading as her body was submerged in tall grass. Before Rarity could reply, Twilight stepped into a small puddle hidden in the greenery, a patch of mud probably no deeper than an inch. “Aw, yechk.” she remarked at the minor mess of her front hoof. A few more of her steps more carefully tread and intentionally wiped against the grass rendered it clean. They arrived at the old oak, the grass around still now only a half-leg’s height. Rainbow Dash was most eager to fly up and greet the harrier.

“I’ll go up first, Rainbow.” said Fluttershy, “Mr. Harrier can be pretty temperamental, he often behaves like an eagle.”

“Okay, but I can’t wait much longer,” said Dash eagerly. “I want to try this out! I still gotta come up for a name for it too… Wingless flight? Beatless glide? ‘Levitation’ just doesn’t fit.”

“Don’t forget me down here,” said Rarity as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash ascended towards the branch that held the nest. “I still remember what you told me about that ‘Blue Morpho’ Fluttershy, and I so want to find one…” she said, looking around. For some odd reason at the back of Rainbow Dash’s mind it occurred to her that she was forgetting something. But obviously something of little importance if she had such difficulty recalling it.

“Eureka!” said Twilight. “I found a spell we can all use for a little while- I was trying to find a binocular spell and think I’ve got a winner. ‘Hawk’ly Vision on one’s mind, long-sought sights you gain in kind.’ When we want to see something far away, our eyes will work like binoculars, and when it’s normally close, our eyes will work like normal.”

“Charming!” Rarity said.

“That sounds useful.” said Fluttershy, midway up her course to the nest. The harrier popped its head up and flew off. Rainbow watched as it seemed to move backwards a little, and otherwise upwards, like a kite with very small wing movements against the feeble but relatively constant wind.

“It’s too far away to get a good view of how it’s doing that.” she said, looking carefully at its movements while the bird continued to drift away.

“Rainbow Dash, down here, I have a spell for that.” said Twilight. Rainbow landed, smiling with anticipation.

“Lay it on me.”

“’Here goes.” said Twilight, reading intently from the scroll. Her horn glowed brilliantly, building an increasingly thick bubble of power with small sparkling sprites pulling from out of the air towards it. Twilight’s magic caused a familiar sensation to her, but suddenly her horn felt a soft-ish snap, like a sock pulled tight over the leg. With an energetic swirl that shot through the air and arced at the bodies of each of her friends, they all instantly shrank like popped balloons, each to the size of a marble, midair.

“Uh oh.”

“AAAAAAH!!!”

Twilight plummeted from what appeared to be a dizzying height probably higher than a tower in Canterlot, from a world whose scale was so alien she didn’t even comprehend that she was still in the meadow. All was just a blur as she fell faster and faster, tumbling, spinning and losing her orientation, until she was caught by the flat edge of a blade of grass that bent under her motion. She slid down rapidly as it turned downwards into a little slide that she rode until she rolled onto the dirt ground with a rough collapse. “Oghaoff!-”

Fluttershy had remained flying after being shrunk, but had immediately seized up with fear with the world around her suddenly becoming so enormous, and by immediate following thought, how high up she suddenly was. Her wings locked in and she fell with a yelp. Rainbow Dash was equally astonished but quickly took stock of the sudden appearance of that nearest to her- a very tiny, very scared, and very falling

“FLUTTERSHY!”

Rainbow shot towards her, both hooves thrown forwards in a shocking acceleration, forcing past a disc of pressure and a sharp clap was heard as she scooped her out of the air just above the hard wood of one of the roots of the oak. Rainbow Dash turned her flight to a smooth curve around the tree as Fluttershy meekly opened her eyes and started to see as Dash did- a miniature Sonic Rainboom was evidenced by a thin rainbow contrail following them. Rainbow Dash slowed, flying in an arcing pattern until her speed was something Fluttershy would be able to fly alongside. They both approached the tree as they summarized to one another the giant world of the meadow beneath them, and hovered over where they had just been standing, near the dark thick trunk, looking downwards for evidence of their friends.

Rarity screamed as she fell until she hit something obtusely soft and was barely able to get a single glimpse of the dragonfly that she’d landed back-first on top of- which caused her to scream all the more. It fell a small distance with her before she rolled off and landed on the cap of a vaguely white mushroom about twice her size with a puff! She rolled off the fungi and onto the ground in a sort of relaxation, eyes pressed shut in certainty that she had died or similar such drama. There she lay, in convinced in her resignation to her fate, inaudibly whimpering to herself for a moment, before she opened her eyes.

“I’m alive!” she exclaimed happily.

A small distance away, Twilight shook her head and stood to regain her wits, looking around at the unexpected new environment. The ground was dirt as per usual, but it was as if the detail had been greatly enhanced and thickened. The tall grass that was so fine and spindly when they stood near the tree, now seemed a verdant forest of thin trunks of green as fine and upwardly as cedars. The sky was still its normal blue, showing through a fibery canopy, but the nearby tree instead of simply “a little bigger than normal” seemed “wholly monstrous” in proportions. She saw her saddle pack hovering above, where she used to be, and realized it was still plummeting towards her with alarming speed. She sprinted away from where she landed, and the rucksack landed with all the mighty force of a few books and fabric landing on grass almost exactly where she was naught an instant before. To Twilight the crash of the bag was enormous, despite appearing at a distance rather anticlimactic with the cushioning effect of fabric on grass.

“Oh my gosh, what just happened?” her mind began racing. Obviously some magic gone awry, but what would be complete consequence? She shouted, trying to regain some grasp of the moment. “RARITY! RAINBOW DASH! FLUTTERSHY!” Twilight listened intently for a response but none came, apart from a small skittering sound and the brustle of some of the stalks of the grass. She turned towards the source of the sound. “Fluttershy?”
A pillbug strolled out of the dense forestry of the grass in a skittering stroll. Twilight gasped, but then realized her scale and better realized what might’ve just happened, as she observed the insect crawl by slowly. It was standing not much less than knee-height, despite that normally a pillbug might be a disgustingly mistaken raisin or a tiny pebble in proper terms of size. She gave it a kick and it rolled up into a defensive ball.

“I’ve shrunk.” she realized fully. Never to lose her head in case of weirdness, she let all her stress out in worry for her friends and continued calling out, remaining relatively close and within sight of the fallen pack.“RAINBOW DASH! RARITY! FLUTTERSHY!”

“Hmm?” Rarity looked up and started realize the magnitude of her smallness, immediately forsaking her former consideration of her fall for the curiosity of the thick grass blades. In the cool quiet of the grass, she recognized a voice calling her name and others, despite the muffling distance and impeding foliage. “Twilight?” Rarity called back. She walked in the direction of where she thought she heard the voice, eventually coming upon a giant back pack. She repeated her response, standing on the top of the spine of a protruding bluish text.

“Rarity!”

“What’s happened? Everything’s enormous!”

“I’ll say!” said Rainbow, descending alongside Fluttershy through the limits of the grass above. “Why the hay is everything so huge?”

“This isn’t right at all! We were supposed to have our vision enhance- not enhance the whole world!” said Twilight, scrambling up to the top of the pack. The others watched as she tried to use a spell to pull a book out of the pannier, but her effort failed to produce anything, even a budge of the paper. “No! My magic doesn’t work!”

“Neither does mine.” said Rarity, failing to pick up a bit of gravel nearby. Her horn's glow sputtered like a choked garden hose, and made a most unappealing sensation. Twilight suddenly leapt over the side of the pack, onto the ground nearby where the scroll lay, partly unwound. She began reading it quietly, mostly to herself, trotting from one side to the other for her parsing through the words. “‘Hawk’ly Vision on one’s mind… Magnification spell, this should be right!” Twilight said, frustrated. She began reading again as Rainbow Dash flew closer, and Fluttershy landed near Rarity. “Magnification spell… …?...Force my pony’s scale littler, Change us all to miniature? Augh!”

“What is it dear?” Rarity approached Twilight to try and retain some stability of the moment’s thought.

“I read it wrong, I’m such a dummy!” berated Twilight, lurching away from the paper and looks of her friends. “It’s not a Magnifying spell, it’s a Microfication spell! Now we’re all tiny, and I didn’t even copy down how to reverse it!”

“How can we reverse it then?” asked Fluttershy softly. Twilight bounded up the pack, standing on the highest point. Seen through some of the edges of the grasstops, she could see the peaks of the tallest buildings in ‘nearby’ Ponyville.

“Visual Unusual is back in the Library. We have to get there if we ever want to return to normal. But if we’re little like this, it might take us all day to get there. Assuming we don’t get squashed or kicked or who knows what else.” ascertained Twilight with a frown. In her mind there was a complex of thoughts that insulted her and whinged at the simplicity of the explanation to their shrinkage. “I’m an idiot. One tiny mistake and now we’re all tiny and could be in a lot of trouble.” She said, climbing down.

“You can say that again!” exclaimed Dash angrily. “It’ll take forever to get back to the library! You screwed up big time, Twilight!” The lavender unicorn felt as if she wanted to shrink even more, her frustration compounded by Rainbow’s words.

“…It could be wor-” Fluttershy suddenly found a hoof stuffed in her mouth, Rainbow Dash preventing her from speaking with a frown. Twilight looked at her friends dejectedly, silently searching for words to say in her own defense. Rarity looked at her disdainfully, but her look was interrupted by a shadow that passed behind Twilight. She looked up and saw another butterfly pass overhead, and it suddenly reminded her of Fluttershy’s earlier words.

“Beauty can come from the most unexpected places…” She said, the words rolling over her tongue in similar fashion to how the thought was still rolling around in her mind. Rainbow looked at her.

“What?”

“It is Twilight’s fault, you’re right Rainbow,” reinforced Rarity. “But what good is blaming her if she’s the only one that can help us?”

“She’s gotta help us get back to normal size, because this is her fault.” said Rainbow, annoyed at both Rarity’s reply and the fact’s simplicity.

“Isn’t that just pointing out the obvious?” said Rarity. Dash’s frown deepened, and Rarity continued. “Playing the blame game doesn’t solve anything, so we may as well make the best out of what we have.”

“Why?”

“Which would you rather do? Think about all the things you could do while you’re small, or complain about being small until you’re normal again?” Rainbow Dash hovered in place, considering Rarity’s words.

“…I could pull off a few pranks like this…” she said. Her mind slowly turned from irritation to amusement as she imagined possible jokes that only a bird-sized being could accomplish. Her face changed to a delighted smirk and she rubbed her forehooves together mischievously.

“And I’m already getting all sorts of inspiration.” said Rarity, looking around the lawn they stood in.

“I could talk with some of the animals, maybe they can help us.” offered Fluttershy softly. Twilight’s despondent contemplation faded in reaction to her friends.

“But this is all my fault.”

“Friends forgive friends.” said Rarity generously with a gentle smile. “It’s just a little accident- accidents happen.” She gave Twilight a consoling nudge.

“And I might not get to practice with the harrier, but at least whatever we get into today should be fun...” said Rainbow, landing beside.

“Well then.” said Twilight, her countenance returning. “Let’s go.”

“To the Library!”