Celestia’s Tiny Student

Chapter 1

Fears

“Rise and shiiiiiiiiine, my little Sparkle,” the unfamiliar voice spoke once again.

Twilight felt something shake under her body. Unable to ignore it any longer, she asked in a pleading voice, “Can I please sleep a little longer, mommy? Pretty pleeease?”

Twilight bolted upright, her eyes wide in horror. “Oh no! I’m going to be late! I have... to...” Twilight trailed off, noticing the white face to her side, its large, pale magenta eyes looking intently at her.

“AAAAAAAAHH!!.” Twilight screamed, running off the side of the pillow that served as her bed and crawling underneath it.

Celestia watched her student with a small frown while she waited for her to calm down. It’s been two weeks already and she still cannot get used to her new life. Not that she could blame her; it was a huge change in filly’s life, after all.

A half-minute later, the tiny unicorn crawled out from under the giant pillow and climbed back onto it, walking towards the princess. Her head was down, avoiding eye contact, as she sat down on the frilly edge of her pillow, saying, “I am really sorry, Princess. I didn’t mean to scream like that... I... I just forgot…”

Celestia sighed softly. “It’s fine, my little pony. I am sure that my appearance must be quite intimidating from your point of view,” Celestia reassured the tiny filly, giving a warm smile. It still saddened her that she was partially responsible for Twilight’s current state, although she hoped that she would be able to adapt.

“Are you hungry?” Celestia asked, moving to sit next to Twilight while levitating a tray of food left by the servants between them.

Twilight flinched at the sudden movement, before quickly quashing the fear she felt. The princess wouldn’t hurt me, so why am I so afraid?

Tiny filly looked back to her giant mentor, who was currently using her telekinesis to cut off tiny bits of her sandwich left for the princess by her servants. Celestia rearranged the neatly cut pieces, putting it together into a miniature sandwich as she levitated it closer to her student. Twilight took the sandwich in her shaking hooves.

“Bon appetit,” Celestia said cheerfully, hoping to brighten up the mood of her student.

“Thank you,” Twilight replied hesitantly as she leaned in to take a bite of her tiny sandwich.

Celestia’s smile faltered. To think that this filly who had studied magic so intently before was now so afraid to use it.

Twilight turned towards the princess, swallowing the bits of sandwich in her mouth before replying, “Yes, princess?”

“I understand that it must be very hard to adapt to your new environment. Everything must seem so big and scary without your parents. My very presence terrifies you,” Celestia spoke as calmly as she could.

“N-no, Princess. I-I'm not a-afraid of you. I'm perfectly fine," Twilight replied, her voice rising into a terrified squeak. I am not afraid of you. I can’t be afraid. You are my idol! It was my dream to meet you! How can I be afraid now? Twilight thought, regretting the fear she’d shown before.

The disbelieving look on Celestia's face brought a burst of reinforcement to Twilight's courage. “I... I’m not afraid. Really! And I can prove it,” Twilight said with fake bravery in her voice, but she immediately jumped when Celestia raised a hoof towards her, dropping her facade of confidence.

Twilight frowned, realizing exactly what she had just done. Why can't I stop fearing her? I hate it. I do not want to be afraid! Why can't I be braver? Twilight scolded herself before approaching her mentor’s foreleg, still raised in front of her. She raised a hoof to touch the one in front of her, but just as she was about to make contact, she hesitated, withdrawing it slightly. Twilight attempted a few more times, but after a few ineffectual attempts, she collapsed, burying her face in her hooves.

“I don’t wanna be afraid! I wasn’t afraid before! Why am I so afraid now? It’s so unfair!” the filly bawled, still trying to hide her tears behind closed hooves.

Celestia lowered her foreleg, her tranquil smile losing just a little of its confidence. Twilight was confident back at the school thanks to her parents presence and too excited to feel fear, but now... “It is not your fault. Your fears will leave you sooner or later,” spoke Celestia calmly, restraining herself from raising a hoof to comfort the crying filly.

Twilight slowly wiped away her tears and looked back up at her mentor. “R-really... you really think so...?”

“I'm positive. Bravery is not just the absence of fear, little one. True bravery is continuing on despite your fears," Celestia said with a calming tone, pausing for a moment before raising her hoof towards her student again. Twilight came closer, mere centimeters from making contact, and then only millimeters just a few seconds later. Victory was within reach. All it would take is one little push forward...

More seconds passed as Twilight’s straightened foreleg remained motionless, without even a shake no matter how hard she tried.

Celestia breathed out in a soft sigh that swept over Twilight, making her flatten her ears against the wind and blink as her determined smile faded into a grimace of depression. It came as no surprise as the little filly sprang onto her back the moment Celestia lowered her hoof again.

“As much as I admire your efforts, I feel that they are misplaced. There is another fear you should be fighting,” Celestia spoke now in more of a teacher tone.

“Another fear...?” Twilight asked hesitantly as she climbed back onto her pillow. “You don’t mean...”

“Yes, Twilight. It has been two weeks, and you have not used your magic at all. As much as I want to give you more time to adapt, you should at least try to face your fear. After all, the faster you can overcome your fear of magic, the sooner I can begin to teach you how to control it,” Celestia continued.

Twilight’s ears flattened against her now lowered head as she scowled, diving into her thoughts. Being Princess Celestia’s student is like a dream come true, but I can’t be her student if I can’t even use magic. Twilight knew that if she could not learn about magic from her mentor, she would not be her student any longer, and this fact alone terrified her more than using magic or her mentor’s intimidating size.

"You cannot let your fears get in the way of that which you love," said Celestia, levitating a sugar cube and placing it next to Twilight. "I know that you love magic, and if you do not face your fear of it, you will never be able to truly embrace your special gift."

Twilight, still trembling, jumped back as she looked at the ordinary sugar cube, which seemed to be the size of a stone block from her diminutive perspective. Fear slowly turned into confusion as she turned her gaze to her mentor again. “I don’t understand, Princess.”

“I want you to levitate it,” Celestia spoke calmly, hoping that her student would begin to fight her fear of using magic.

Twilight just stared at the sugar cube for several minutes, as if seeing it for the first time in her life. Celestia continued to watch her student patiently, trying not to move. This was one fight her tiny student would have to conduct entirely within her own mind.

You think you are so sweet, so square. You think that I cannot lift you with my magic... I will show you... and when I am done, you will become part of my mentor's tea! Twilight thought to herself, her eyes glaring intensely as if trying to escape from her face, her neck straightened as her muzzle pressed against the target’s surface, few hairs in her tail springing out of place.

Twilight glared at the sugar cube as if she wanted to destroy it with her gaze. After a long, awkward silence, she finally took some effort to focus, trying to channel some of her magic through her horn.

Celestia watched patiently as she saw her student finally taking action. Slowly a small, purple aura was visible on her tiny horn, but Celestia’s hopes were dashed when the aura dissipated.

Hours passed as Twilight stared at the sugar cube, even though her mentor had left unnoticed some time ago to attend to her royal duties. Every time her focus began to form, images of her surge flashed through her mind and the magic she was forming would fade away. The pain of the surge. The pain she felt trying to stop it. The pain she inflicted on the princess. The two potted plants that stood where her parents once did.

“You useless. Stupid. Delicious cube of sugar!” Twilight yelled in frustration, kicking the cube with her tiny hoof. It bounced to the edge of the bed, and with one more furious buck, fueled by hours of failure, the sugar cube crashed to the floor, shattering into tiny crystals across the once pristine bedroom floor.

Twilight moved to the side of the bed, looking in shock and horror at the white powder. While it would not be a big deal to clean up for any normal sized pony, for the tiny unicorn filly it was a giant mess, and it was all her fault. “What have I done?”

Twilight started to dash in circles around her pillow. “What have I done? What have I done? The Princess expected me to levitate it, but not only did I fail to complete my assignment, but I also made a huge, enormous mess in her bedroom. The sugar will attract ants, and the ants will get into her bed, and they’ll bite her in the middle of the night, and she’ll know that it was my fault!” Twilight yelled in panic as images of giant, disappointed princesses flashed in her mind.

“I need to clean up this mess before the princess comes back,” Twilight said to herself, calming down a little before she noticed a big flaw in her plan. “But... how?”

For several minutes, tiny Twilight sat on the edge of the bed staring down at the floor. The floor that was a very, very long way down.

Twilight tried to force herself to levitate the sugar from the floor with her magic, but couldn’t get over the terrifying images in her mind. Finally in desperation, Twilight slowly and carefully climbed down to the floor, using the little loops of lace in the bedspread as a ladder.

As soon as Twilight was on the floor, she looked around to search for anything she could use to clean sugar, but did not find anything useful. Undaunted, she decided to gather all the sugar with her own tiny hooves, no matter how long it would take.

***

It took Twilight an hour to gather all sugar from the floor into a pile. “I DID IT!” she screamed in joy as she jumped, only to fall on her face, completely exhausted. She sat up and massaged her aching face. I really need to stop doing that.

Twilight’s happiness from a job well-done faded as she looked at the pile of sugar gathered in front of her. I gathered all this sugar, but now what? I can’t just hide it under the bed, and I don’t have any cleaning equipment... Twilight once again conjured images of her mentor’s disappointed face.

In her desperation, Twilight decided that there was only one thing she could do: eat the evidence. She gathered a bit of the sugar in her hooves and stared at it only for a moment before stuffing it into her mouth, nearly gagging from the deluge of sweetness.

Twilight spent the next hour in a delusional sugar high before collapsing, sick to her stomach, on the small patch of fine white powder still remaining on the floor.

After a long day of her usual routine, Celestia trotted briskly back to her room, a cheerful smile on her face, her horn lit in a bright gold. I hope that Twilight will like this little present, Celestia thought as she looked to her side at the big empty dollhouse and few boxes levitating in her magical aura. Hopefully a house fit for her size will let her relax in a much more friendly environment.

Celestia sped up, her attention focusing on the door into her bedchambers, two guards standing on each side. Maybe it would be wise to order them to guard her bedchamber from the inside?

Calm down. Twilight may be tiny and very young, but she is still a smart pony. What’s the worst that could happen?

As always, she passed her saluting guards as they opened the door to her bedchamber for her. Celestia slowly walked into her room, expecting to see Twilight reading a book that had been left for her on the bed, or perhaps sleeping on her pillow, or...

What...is that? Celesia thought with a raised eyebrow as she saw her student laying on the floor on some sort of white powder. Celestia walked closer and knelt to have a better look.

Are my eyes are deceiving me, or is my little student sleeping in a pile of sugar?

“Oh, Twilight,” Celestia smirked, placing the dollhouse and toy box in the corner. “What am I going to do with you?”

Twilight slept deeply until she felt a warm feeling inside her, spreading further throughout her body every second.

Celestia and Twilight were in the princess’s personal bathroom, which was as big as her bedchamber and even more stylish. There was a spacious bathtub opposite the sink raised to Celestia’s height. An artificial hot spring sat in the middle of the room, and behind another door there was a sauna. Gold trim and gems decorated the entire room and the furnishings, and a large mosaic of Celestia’s cutie mark dominated the space. All in all, it was more of a spa than a bathroom.

At the moment, Celestia was sitting in front of the sink sending healing magic into her student, who was lying in front of her on the countertop. The spell was supposed to neutralize poisons and toxins, Celestia thought. I never thought I’d have to use it to neutralize an unhealthy dose of sugar.

Pleased with the progress of the spell, she levitated Twilight closer to the tap and twisted the hot water on. Celestia, after removing her golden horseshoe, let the water run over her exposed hoof. Content with the temperature and pressure of the running stream, she levitated her student under the flowing water.

***

Twilight sputtered awake, shaking out her waterlogged mane and hastily clearing her vision with a hoof. After noticing the white porcelain sink under her and the golden tap above, it didn’t take long for her to discover where she was.

A bath? Twilight struggled against the golden aura trapping her under the water.

“Let me go... let... me... GO!” yelled Twilight with all her strength, which amounted to a cute squeak. Baths were evil. The scourge of all that was fun and enjoyable. It didn’t help that she was completely powerless to fight her mentor, a mere toy in her grasp.

“You know I can’t do that, my student. You have sticky sugar in your tail, mane and fur, and it is not going to clean itself,” Celestia replied sternly.

Twilight continued her pointless struggle until she got too tired to resist, grudgingly allowing her mentor to dry her wet body with a sponge before brushing her mane and tail with a tiny brush, which Twilight was positive came from a little filly’s toy set.

“That’s better. It doesn’t look like you have any more sugar in your mane or fur,” Celestia stated, satisfied as she examined her student. Twilight simply hung from her mentor’s grasp in defeat.

“C-could you let me go... p-please?” Twilight pled before giving a tiny sneeze, shivering in the cool air.

“Not yet, there is still one thing left to do,” Celestia replied as she levitated a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste over to her tiny student. Twilight widened her eyes in shock and once again struggled but soon gave up as the princess began the brushing process.

It took all of Celestia's concentration to keep a delicate grip on both her student and the toothbrush as drop of sweat fall across her face. As an alicorn, almost two millennia old and brimming with power, she had long since developed her mind to control the flow of her magic, lest it rage out of control and harm her subjects. With a subject as fragile as Twilight, it was much more difficult than one would expect to successfully brush teeth just a little larger than grains of rice with a normal sized toothbrush without harming her in the process.

Twilight closed her eyes and decided to wait it out, suppressing the terrible urge to flee from the giant alicorn holding her against her will.

Her difficult task complete, Celestia levitated Twilight to the floor and freed her from her golden aura, knowing full well that her student hated this routine. It was no surprise when Twilight immediately bolted to a nearby towel and crawled under it.

“Twilight, you know you need to take a shower from time to time to stay healthy and clean. I apologise that I cleaned you so forcefully, but it is much safer considering the size of this bathroom,” Celestia said. She’d already considered finding a way to let Twilight clean herself, but didn’t give it too much thought over the last two weeks, due to the difficulty of discreetly ordering custom-size bathroom devices.

“Did you say something, my student?” Celestia asked, feigning deafness. She moved to the towel and lowered her head towards it.

“I said... Go away!” Twilight yelled again, the towel hiding a blush on her face.

Celestia sat silently for a moment before replying nonchalantly, “As you wish. I will leave you for now and come back in fifteen minutes. Please don’t do anything reckless until I return.” It wasn’t the first time her student hid under something in her bathroom after she was cleaned, and it would likely be several minutes until she reemerged.

Celestia, content to wait until the little filly calmed down, left to prepare dinner and more reading material for Twilight.

Half a minute after her mentor had left, Twilight crawled out from under her towel. She wasn’t angry at her mentor in the slightest; she was just embarrassed of being cleaned up like a doll. And after the episode with the sugar cube, facing her mentor was the last thing she wanted to do.

“I can’t be brave for my mentor. I can’t use my magic. I can’t even take a bath by myself! Is there anything I can do?” Twilight all but shouted as she gazed upon the giant, ornate bathtub next to her.

It took only a moment before her ears straightened upwards as she clapped her hooves. “That’s it! I’m gonna prove to my mentor that I can take a bath all by myself,” said Twilight, set in her decision.

Twilight walked around the bath, searching for a way up until she noticed a towel hanging from the edge. With a flex of her hind legs, the tiny filly leapt onto the edge of the towel, hanging on to it with her tiny hooves. Gritting her teeth in determination, she pulled herself up, anchoring her rear hooves against the rough surface. Another drop of sweat fell to the floor as she scampered up, increasing the distance from the floor with every swing move of her legs until she finally reached the top. With a bit more effort, she pulled herself up and stood on the edge of the tub, breathing heavily, although her epic adventure was far from over.

Now what? Twilight took a quick look around, noticing a shower head hanging from the wall.

A smile of satisfaction grew across her lips. Without a second thought, Twilight walked towards it, doing her best to maintain balance. The situation took a turn for the worse the moment she carefully moved her hooves from the towel, placing them onto the cold slippery surface. With a glance towards the floor, it seemed as if distance was closing and increasing in her mind, the moment of dizziness enough for her legs to slip. Twilight's hind legs were sliding upon the surface as she tried to pull herself, hanging on the edge with just one of her forelegs. With some effort, the tiny filly slowly stood and gulped, her body trembling as she continued her journey, one tiny step at a time.

I am tired of being afraid. I am tired of being unable to do anything, Twilight thought as she fought against the uneasiness in her gut. She soon approached the shower head and braced herself against it, its cold metallic surface pressed against her warm belly, causing her to shiver.

As Twilight knew that using her magic would end in a failure, she pulled on the shower head with all her strength. Her eyes closed, teeth grit, muscles tensed and hind legs trembled with exertion as the object moved slightly. Gasping, Twilight continued her struggle, her face slowly turning red from lack of the air as she slid another centimeter closer to the gulf behind her

The shower head, already holding on precariously, jolted loose from its place on the wall, causing Twilight to lose her balance and tumble into the tub. Her eyes shot open, only to see the white walls of the tub closing in on her while the shower head hit the hot water knob and clattered towards her, blocking most of her vision. Her scream as she fell was quickly replaced with a weak 'ouch' when her back hit the floor of the tub. The tiny filly shrieked again the moment a huge weight hit her belly, pinning her beneath while water gushed from the nozzle and began to fill the bath, soaking her fur immediately.

Twilight quickly recovered and struggled to move the nozzle, pushing against it with her forelegs to no avail as a painful burning sensation overtook her. Feeling the temperature grow, she started to scream, kicking the heavy nozzle with her hind legs, but her hooves didn't even scratched the surface. Twilight lifted her head as high as she could from her uncomfortable position, hot water reaching her neck while steam filled her vision. The white fumes seemed almost peaceful and welcoming as if she was inside a sauna, her tired and burned legs giving up to the overwhelming heat as water reached her lips. Drowning while taking a bath, the circumstances of her end seemed almost funny, she would probably laugh. That, or scream in agony if not for deep breath she was holding as the unimaginable heat reached her muzzle, threatening to burn out her eyes any moment. Closing her eyes tightly, she lit her horn and desperately wrapped her magic around the shower head to lift it off her before the water reached her head, her fears of a power surge nothing compared to the fear and agony she now felt. The heavy shower nozzle barely budged as the water level almost reached the eyes of suffocating filly.

Twilight drew up more and more magic from her core before her wall of self-control shattered under the flood of energy. The shower head was thrown violently aside, bouncing off the wall of the tub and back into the water with a splash. Twilight shot up above, her surge shooting off tiny sparks that fizzled against the liquid below. What Twilight found odd was that, with the agony she experienced from her legs to her muzzle, the escaping magic tearing her from inside hardly made a difference. Her eyes flashed with power, but at least they weren't burned. Her mouth released a stream of uncontrollable magic, but at least she was breathing. With a sudden feeling of weakness, the filly fell into unconsciousness, blissfully free from pain.

***

Princess Celestia bolted into the bathroom, severely worried by noises coming from it that had turned her calm graceful walk into a full gallop, and not bothered in the least by the clatter of her crown falling off somewhere along the hallway. Her eyes widened as she took in the scene before her: the tiny filly, levitating just inches from the steaming waters of the tub, once again trapped in a power surge. A vortex of waves was curling beneath her hooves, whipping itself into a froth against a large dent in the side of the tub.

Slowing her breath and the rapid beating of her heart, Celestia focused with every bit of concentration she could muster. Carefully lifting her limp and fragile student away from the steaming water while fighting back her magical surge took every bit of experience she had ever learned over her long life, but the small rise and fall of a small purple chest brought hope. Wasting no time, the princess spread her wings under the levitated filly, their featherly tips catching Twilight from both sides as her horn shifted from casting the levitation spell to absorbing the filly’s magic instead. Celestia sighed in relief as the aura of surging magic surrounding her student disappeared, confirmation that reducing the size of the little filly had made the impossible job of controlling her surge into a much more manageable task.

Quickly arranging a few towels to form a comfortable surface, Celestia knelt and carefully placed her student on it, her eyes not blinking at the sight of multiple burn marks that covered the majority of the filly’s body, with only her head above the muzzle spared. Putting aside her guilt and the unpleasant feeling in her chest, Celestia lit her horn again and sent a healing wave into her student’s body before looking towards a cabinet. Throwing it open, she grabbed a first aid kit to find bandages, hydrogen peroxide, cotton and other useful items she was in need at the moment. After another dose of healing magic and weak cooling spell, Celestia began shakily patching her up: bandages levitated, rolling around the soft cotton placed around the tiny filly’s legs before doing the same with her belly. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Celestia returned to her regal posture and with a spell, disappeared in a flash.

Seconds passed, maybe even minutes before another a wave of light spread through the room, revealing the princess and a few doctors already updated about the situation, equipment levitating next to them. “I cooled her down and bandaged her injuries already with few additional healing spells, but she may need more professional assistance.” Celestia said calmly, her masterful mask hiding any sign of emotions both in her voice and on her face.

The doctors knelt before the tiny mummy, scanning the filly before levitating the towels she was placed on, carrying the small patient to the hospital instead of risking a teleportation spell. Just as two doctors left the princess’s bathroom with a blush on their faces, the last doctor to leave turned towards the princess. “Rest assured, Your Highness, we will do our best to help her.” He spoke, trying and failing to read the princess’s face. “Her injuries are severe but stable, a little rest and medical care and she will return to full health, there is nothing to worry about, Your Highness.” Receiving just a simple nod without a trace of worry, he bowed and left the room, as the door closed behind him.

Celestia stood in her regal posture, head high as she listened to the noise of the departing doctors' hooves, growing quieter with every step. Once the noise disappeared and the princess was sure that she was alone, Celestia knelt and let out a long sigh, tears falling from the eye that was not hidden behind her mane. How long had it been since she felt so many emotions bottled inside of her? With a splash of water on her face and quick action of the remaining towel, Celestia stood and walked outside, searching for her crown, her guilt and worries suppressed for the moment. She did all she could and there was no way to undo her mistake. All she could do was wait, and royal duty would not fulfil itself.

Twilight gave a drowsy, “Shmerrrr,” before turning on her pillow. “Can I please sleep a little longer...?”

“I see you are feeling better. That’s quite a relief,” said the unfamiliar voice. Twilight took a moment to be confused before she suddenly remembered everything that had happened. She shot upright, taking a deep, gasping breath.

The filly held her panicked breath as she looked around the room, slowly realizing that she was safe from the scalding water that had threatened to drown her and remembering the surge that had saved her life. Letting her breath out slowly, she took in her bandaged body and the pillow below that served as her bed. Then she looked to her side and caught sight of a large, worried magenta eye that was watching her every move.

Celestia flinched. Her student was looking into her eyes again, a simple act that would soon lead to the screaming and the—

Her eyes widened as the small purple filly jumped from her pillow, hugging her muzzle in a vice grip. Tiny tears flowed down Twilight’s face as she clung on.

“That was… t-terrifying,” Twilight said. “I f-felt my skin melting. I couldn’t br-breathe. It was horrible.”

The princess watched the filly cry onto her nose for a moment before moving her bare hoof to hold her as lightly as possible.

“It’s all right, you’re safe now,” Celestia said, before tears began to roll down her cheeks as well, “You’re safe. I won't ever let you get hurt again.”

The embrace lasted for what seemed like hours. Celestia marveled at how the little filly was able to so completely break her composure twice in such a short amount of time, when even war and the broken, bloody bodies of slain allies couldn’t. They shared a moment and though what passed between them was for them alone, it was to define their relationship, full of trust.

Celestia's Tiny Student

by CommanderX5

Ch1 - Fears ( updated )