I Hate That Name
Hour challenge: Tia
Luna heard the scream first, and her coat stood on-end almost immediately. She cracked one eye open, seeing a curtain of magical smoke before her eyes. Her first instinct was to rush into the smoke and find the source of the scream. But her better judgement squelched that instinct easily enough.
After all, who knows just how vengeful her beloved sister might be upon finding the results of the haphazard spell? Luna was keen to find out, but not so much to put herself in physical danger. Though, if things went correctly, physical danger would be out of reach.
So she waited for the scream to die away. A small company of guards burst through the bedroom doors, trained to respond. The sight of the moon diarch, however, halted any action they had - and indeed any thoughts.
“Begone, sentinels,” Luna commanded. “Your ruler merely suffers from bad dreams, and I am here to keep her safe.”
The guards were not entirely convinced. Mostly because of the humorous inflection in Luna’s voice, but also because they could not see their leader, Princess Celestia, behind the powder-blue magical smoke. More than a few instincts told them to investigate further.
The Moon Princess nipped those instincts in the bud. “I will turn around momentarily, and any I see will be sent to Froggy-Bottom Bog to help the Ponyville wildlife preservers cage a wild hydra.”
There was a scuffling of hooves with the clinking of armor, and the door slammed shut a few seconds later. Luna turned, pleased to see the area behind her devoid of guards.
“LUNA!”
Ah. Another scream. “I am here, sister. What do you require?”
“Why is there a shroud?” sounded Celestia’s voice. It was...pitchier than normal. “I feel a lingering spell from this!”
Luna nodded, smiling to herself. “Yes, I imagine you would. Walk toward my voice, dear sister, and let me see you.”
“I’ll tr- ...did you say walk to you?” Her voice cracked. Progress. “These are my bed chambers, Luna, and I am in bed. How could I walk to you?”
The smile grew wider as the junior sister’s mirth increased. “Trust me, Tia, you’ll find it possible.”
“Please don’t call me that.”
Shuffling sheets sounded as the dense smoke finally began to dissipate. A looming shadow took shape, and as it cleared the shroud, it shrunk in size.
“Something is wrong, Luna. I feel unnatural. Is this a dream?”
“You could say that, yes. A dream I’ve had for weeks, and have been expecting to share with you.”
Celestia finally emerged from the smoke, shaking her head to dispel the taste of lingering arcane energy. “Share? Luna, what are you-”
She didn’t get a chance to continue. The princess in front of her, Luna, towered over her like a giant among giants. Her gaze was jubilant, with an air of mischievous wonder. She wore a victorious grin, and her nostrils were flaring as she withheld laughter.
“...Luna?” Celestia’s voice cracked again.
The squeak in her name was the final push, and Luna fell to the floor in a fit of chuckles. She pounded on the floor with one hoof while holding her sides with another. Happy tears formed, and they quickly rolled along her snout in the full minute she spent in her glee.
“S-say, sister,” she called up to the bed. “Your wings look a little lopsided. Maybe you should check them out!”
Celestia was in no small way confused, but complied nonetheless. She angled her head around and viewed her alicorn wings. They were white, straight, with a few smudged spots of natural oil. Nothing lopsided about them at all, except for how underdeveloped they looked.
Then the bit dropped. Celestia looked herself over, finally realizing why she had to walk across her own bedspread, and why her younger sister had appeared so tall. It was obvious, then, that Luna had perused the library’s selection of entertainment charms.
“Luna, you didn’t...!”
The princess of the moon bounced upright, laughter behind her voice. “Good evening, Tiny Tia! How are things from down there?”
“You cast a shrinking spell on me?” Her voice cracked yet again. Immature. To her sister, hilarious.
“You’re so adorable!” Luna declared. “You could fit inside the curve of a horseshoe! Oh, oh, stay there, I’ll get one of yours!”
“Luna, don’t! Change me back!”
The darker alicorn called from the side of the room. She was serious about finding one of her sister’s shoes. “I wonder how you’ll sit on the throne during open court tomorrow? Why, you’ll need a ladder and some high hopes!”
Celestia stared. “That was bad, even for you. Change me back.”
“Why?” she asked. “This is fun! I haven’t been so happy since your student helped me be accepted during Nightmare Night! Here, get in this.”
She returned with one of Celestia’s more formal horseshoes, part of a set that was studded with topaz. The material was golden, her standard, and tapered off with a set of curved rises. It gave off a shine in the moonlight coming through a nearby window.
Celestia stood straight up - a mere foot tall - and decided not to play along. “I’m not getting into my own shoe, Luna. I couldn’t fit in one even if I tried.”
“Awh, but you haven’t tried! Come now, do it for me?”
“You’re the reason I’m like this in the first place,” she deadpanned.
“That shouldn’t stop you from having fun!”
“Having your brand of fun, you mean.”
“Why, Tia!” Luna cried, rising a forehoof to her chest in mock hurt. “Are you suggesting that my brand of fun is unbecoming? Unwelcome?”
“Yeah, that would about do it. Now change me back - the sun will rise in a few hours, and I’d like to be rested.”
The younger sister gave a mighty harrumph, turning her back. “You wound me, dear Tia! I refuse to undo my charm until you apologize for ruining my fun!”
Celestia frowned. This clearly wasn’t getting her anywhere, and she knew better than anypony how stubborn her sister could be. The rise of Nightmare Moon may have happened overnight, and therein was the proof. So, she decided, the only chance she stood was if she did play along after all.
Even so, her brand of “fun” was different that Luna’s own. “Hey, Lulu,” she prompted.
“Please don’t call me that, Tia. Have you done as I-”
A second puff of smoke erupted at Luna’s hooves, this one bronze and a good deal thicker. Luna’s words cut off with a surprised shriek as she found herself feeling very much a foal.
“Ahh! Oh no!”
Smiling, Celestia gracefully leapt from the edge of her bed and floated down to the floor. “Seventh principle of my school for the gifted, Lulu. ‘Magic is might when the size is weak.’”
Luna galloped out of the bronze smoke, shaking her head as Celestia had done, and found herself face-to-face with her miniaturized sister. The spell had been cast again, shrinking Luna to the same size. The entire world was enormous.
“No fair, Tia! This isn’t fun anymore!”
“Nonsense!” Celestia deflected. “As I remember you saying, the fun has just been doubled!”
The pair was silent for a moment before they broke out into laughter. They wrapped their forelegs around each other, enjoying a warm-hearted hug.
“Why this, Lulu?” the elder sister asked. “Pulling a prank in the middle of the night? And a shrinking charm? That’s a party trick!”
Luna smiled wider. “Because I hate being called that, Tia. It makes me feel so...”
“Small?” Celestia finished.
“Yeah, that’s it.”
With a shake of her head, the Sun Princess released her sister and took a step back. “Well now that you’ve fulfilled your dream, may I please get back to bed? There is a long agenda waiting for me after dawn.”
Luna chortled. “I imagine it would look even longer as you are!”
Her sister simply stared back. “Again, Lulu, that was just bad.”
End