Chuckling, the gigantic couple turned back to Jet Set and Upper Crust “So it’s all agreed then? After we finish let’s head back to Canterlot. I believe Blueblood should have distracted the princess long enough by then,” Upper Crust said
The others nodded and turned around, the city rumbling as the two gargantuan groups set off to their intended targets. Enterprise and Lily strolled through the streets, the city no bigger than that of a miniature model. The tiny ponies on the ground however were able to breathe a little sigh of relief because these two colossal nobles seemed to be making a conscious effort to avoid stepping down near crowds of ponies or near buildings. Trying to minimize as much damage as possible.
“So, my dear, how should we proceed from here?” Lily Shine asked her husband, who had his eyes trained on the ground still.
“Well, all I plan to do I go see Stock Value in pony and determine if he was really part of the scheme to put me out of business I kept hearing rumors about,” Enterprise answered honestly.
Lily nodded, as she gently pushed aside a cart full of ponies to the side and off the road, out of harm’s way “Of course sweetie, no sense in acting so brash and brutish like I know Jet Set and Upper Crust plan on doing,”
Enterprise let out a hearty laugh, the booming chuckles shook the ground around him “Touché honey, they seem more invested in throwing their weight and size around currently than actually solving the problem at hoof,”
“Indeed, my dear, they can be so obnoxious sometimes. Honestly, it’s unbecoming of the Noble class. And speaking of which, we’re here,”
Enterprise looked up and saw the minuscule form of Stock Value’s office building in front of him, only about the height of his ankle. It was so small too the two titans they could simply tap their mighty hooves against it with little force and it would topple over like a stack of dominos.
Smirking slightly, Lily Shine and Enterprise Pursuit leaned down and peered inside the little building, their muzzle brushing against each other. Within the office complex, facing away from them, they could see the diminutive form of their business rival Stock Value sitting at a desk alone, currently going through a stack of forms he had to look over and sign for his next potential new contract.
“My goodness, I never dreamed that I would see the day that I would get so swamped with all these contract forms,” Stock Value thought “Guess that’s the benefit for being as smart and good looking as I am. Looks like I finally got a chance to see for myself all the hassle being an important businesspony is all about. Ha! Take that Enterprise Pursuit! You’re not number one anymore, so much for being so big and bad!!”
Stock Value gasped, a small blush coming over his face, at the realization that he said that out loud. He quickly and quietly glanced to his left and right to ensure nopony was there. Seeing nothing, he let out a sigh of relief and a little laugh “Goodness,” Stock said out loud “Look at me, acting like a school filly because everything is finally going my way. Thank goodness nopony was around to hear that embarrassing display.”
“AHEM,” the booming sound of somepony clearing their throat literally shook the building. Stock Value squealed in fright, much like a certain butter yellow pegasus, and shot up like a rocket from his seat, before landing on the ground in a heap. Scrambling to his feet he turned around in a panic and totally did not scream like a little filly.
Staring back at him through the large picture windows was the biggest hazel brown eye he had ever seen, complete with a humongous golden monocle.
…a very familiar golden monocle.
“E-E-Enterprise?” Stock Value squeaked out in shock.
Deep, thunderous chuckles made the office building tremble as the gigantic eye zeroed in on him. “Well dear little Stock, what was that about me not being, ah, big and bad as you put it?” Enterprise asked teasingly to his tiny rival, his voice reverberating throughout the building like a loudspeaker.
Stock Value stared at him blankly for a second before his face turned completely red “Y-y-you heard that?” he asked numbly
Mirth sparkled within the titan’s eye “Well, I suppose congratulations is in order for you little one, for surpassing me so quickly recently in sales, though if you don’t mind young lad, I do have some questions for you.”
Stock Value’s face turned pale as he got out of his seat and began to slowly back away from the window and the giant eye staring back at him “Oh, um, well you see…I have…you know…stuff to do Mr. Enterprise sir. Looks like you’re gonna have to wait for another time, and you know, make an appointment with my secretary, and maybe not be so scarily huge when you do so.”
Enterprise's hearty laughter once again shook the complex, sending Stock Value to the ground, crouching down as he did so to prevent himself from falling over.
“I really must insist Stock Value. Come now my colt, indulge this colossal old stallion,” Enterprise said, his horn lighting up. Stock Value squeaked in fear as the cloud of magic enveloped him and levitated him through the window, plopping him onto the titan’s outstretched gray hoof. Immense shadows fell over him, gulping, Stock Value looked up to see the gigantic forms of Enterprise and his wife Lily Shine looking down at him, smiling, not unkindly.
“Oh, be nice Enterprise! The poor colt looks like he’s about to pass out,” Lily playfully chastised her husband, bumping his side with her hip. Enterprise chuckled cheekily and winked at Lily “Of course my dear, I wouldn’t dream of it!”
Turning his attention back to the little speck in his stadium sized hoof, Enterprise leaned in “Well now Stock Value, I do have some questions to ask you,”
Stock Value just nodded
“So recently your cart company has seen an influx of profit, is that correct young one? Enterprise asked
“Yes sir,”
“I see, well, excellent job Stock. But how exactly did you manage to surpass me? After all you only started you business ventures a few years ago and I have been doing this for decades,”
“I-I-I can’t say! It’s a trade secret!”
“Really? Well surely It has nothing to do with the malpractices I have seen you and your associates conducting around by businesses,”
If it was possible, Stock Value’s face went even paler at these words
“Let’s see here; hiring ponies to obstruct our conferences, crashing the unveiling of our latest models, posting ponies in front of my office building to hinder potential customers, the list goes on and on. Playing dirty is no way to get to the top lad, which is why I felt you needed a more, shall I say, drastic lesson, instead of simply calling the police for being a nuisance,” Enterprise said sternly, raising his hoof to his eye, peering down at Stock Value’s diminished form.
“Now begs the question, why? Why did you bother stooping to such lows Stock? What could you have possibly gained from this?” Enterprise asked
It was like someone flipped a switch, from that instance, Stock Value’s face went from frightened to absolutely furious. With renewed courage that he pulled from…somewhere, Stock Value was back on his hooves and pointed up accusingly into Enterprise’s gargantuan face.
“It was all because of you!!” He hollered as loudly as he could
Enterprise and Lily blinked, glancing at each other briefly in confusion before turning their attention back to the, now fuming, and still tiny, Stock Value.
“Would you like to explain yourself Stock? Because we are not following what you mean. How is this my doing?” Enterprise asked, cocking his head to the side, and raising an eyebrow.
“Indeed! Explain yourself this instant young colt!” Lily chimed in, glaring down at him
Stock Value glared up at them, seemingly trembling in rage, before blowing up at their vast faces “You! You! YOU! IT’S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU ENTERPRISE PURSUIT!” Stock Value screamed “Ever since I moved to this blasted city three years ago it’s been borderline impossible to elevate my company because all contractors want to do is commission cart models from your company! Nopony wants to work with a new company because they’re unfamiliar with them. And the worst part is, you knew, and you lorded that fact over us! Trotting around like you own the place all the time, meeting up at fancy venues to talk with clients, and taking expensive vacations! All that success belongs to me! I deserve it!”
Enterprise glowered down at Stock Value and sighed “Son, did you honestly expect industry success to be hoofed over to you overnight?” Enterprise asked “I worked hard to get to where I am just like you did, but I didn’t stop there, after I got set up for the first time in the city, I didn’t sit on my rump in the office waiting for something to happen! I went to go talk to investors, get to know board members, make friends with ponies in high places. All this was able to pay off in the long run because I never stopped working even after I got my company set up. I never had to resort to such petty measures to get ahead. All you’ve done with the stunts you’ve pulled is harm you and your company’s reputation. Stop this before the damage you’ve done here becomes irreversible,”
Stock Value’s eye twitched before he began to laugh hysterically “Stop? STOP? Why would I stop now? Look at how much good this has done for me! Ponies are getting so annoyed at your unveiling conferences thanks to my obstructions that they don’t show up, crashing your meetings helps us so much because we can get ideas from you, and who doesn’t love the advertisements that were set up right outside your building promoting my company. Why take their business and bits to your company when they’re better off at mine? We’ve gotten so many requests from customers to make carts now that you’re going out of business we can barely keep up, so of course we had to cut a few corners to keep pushing out carts. Teaming up with Currency Trade was the best thing that ever happened to me! Not only did we take care of those other two upstarts Jet Set and Upper Crust but now you’re no longer top Stallion in the cart industry Enterprise! So much for being a giant! Who’s bigger now? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!”
Lily and Enterprise’s eyes widened as they watched their young competitor seemingly devolve into a fit of mad laughter. “Honey?” Lily murmured
“I think he completely lost it,” Enterprise said, not taking his eye off of the cackling speck in his hoof “He was so obsessed with being number one and making it big in the city that he knocked a few screws loose.”
“What should we do?” Lily asked, looking up at her husband
“What we can, deal with this like responsible ponies. Do you have an empty perfume bottle by any chance dear?” Enterprise asked
“I can check, just a second dear,” Lily said. She lit up her horn and with a small pop a skyscraper sized purse materialized into thin air, before slowly lowing itself onto the ground, shaking it with a small THOOM.
Lily opened it up and began to rummage around it, pulling out eye shadow, powder, lipstick, and much more before finally pulling out an extremely small one-ounce bottle of empty perfume.
“Will this do? I got this as a sample from the mall and went through it quite quickly. I never did get a chance to throw out the bottle,”
“That’s perfect,” Enterprise said, taking the bottle in his magic, removing the cap and leaving it in the purse, Enterprise levitated the clear bottle towards his hoof and very gently turned it, letting Stock Value (who was still giggling madly) slide into it. Enterprise levitated the bottle up to his eye and watched Stock Value plop down into the bottom of the house sized bottle. Satisfied with his work Enterprise set off again with Lily right behind him, causing another series of earthquakes throughout the city as they walked, stepping over streets and buildings easily before stopping at a white building with a red cross on it.
Enterprise set the bottle down onto the street as he watched a few itty-bitty pony doctors come outside the building, curious as to why the giant couple had stopped there. “I trust you’ll give that poor colt the help he needs, correct?” Enterprise boomed. Hearing a chorus of tiny affirmation squeaks, Enterprise nodded and turned around setting back off the way he came.
“Where are you going now dear? Canterlot is the other way.” Lily said as she rushed to catch up.
“I just wanted to stop by and check Stock Value’s Cart production. He mentioned in his rant that he had decided to cut corners with production to keep up with demand. Let’s see just how much,” Enterprise said as he stomped up to the factory where Stock’s carts were produced. As he approached, he saw several mite sized ponies streaming out of the exits like ants fleeing off into different directions. Rolling his eyes, he walked up to the factory and peeled off the roof, looking down at the tiny, completed carts below. Enterprise lit up his horn again, took one cart in his magic, and raised it to his eye, inspecting it.
Enterprise frowned and gave it a little shake, even from his great size he could hear all the small parts jiggling around, from being haphazardly thrown together.
“What is it sweetie?” Lily asked, now too eyeing up the little cart
“It’s worse than I thought, Stock was so focused on obtaining orders from clients he completely neglected to make sure the safety was up to code with these carts. It’s such a mess I’m pretty sure the axles will fall apart by itself if somepony tries to ride in this,” sighing, Enterprise dropped the miniature cart into his vest pocket before leaning down to inspect the remaining carts in the factory. They were all lined up in the completed lane the same way as the first was and even then, with his keen eye, Enterprise could see the poor quality the carts were in.
“There’s simply no way the city would allow such an obvious safety risk,” Lily observed “I’m almost certain that little Stock must have been paying off somepony to give him the alright so he could keep producing these awful carts.”
“I believe you may be right,” Enterprise said, still leaning over to look at the carts. But as he made to stand back up, his giant monocle fell off his eye, towards the factory, before landing on it with a SMASH! Completely squashing all the equipment and carts beneath its enormous weight.
“Silly thing never wants to stay on,” Enterprise sighed, reaching down with his hoof, and putting the monocle back onto his eye. Blinking, he looked back down at the squished remains of the factory “If I’m being honest, I probably did most ponies a favor with that accident,” he said as he turned back to his wife.
“Well, my dear, shall we be off then?” Lily asked. Enterprise nodded and took out his pocket watch, opening it, he quickly glanced at the face.
“It’s almost time to meet up with Blueblood, shall we head off to Canterlot?” He asked
Lily nodded “Of course dear, when we arrive, let’s ask the princess to reimburse us for all the profits we lost because they didn’t allow us to expand our business more thanks to Stock Value,”
Enterprise nodded “Agreed honey,” he said. And with that, the colossal couple set off through the city again, unstoppable and unopposed, rocking it and the little inhabitants with each one of their mighty steps before finally stepping out onto the miniature landscape, and towards the tiny capitol.