Ponyville's Tiny Librarian

by CommanderX5

Ch2 - Ticket Master - Part 1

Twilight’s attention was split amongst a lot of different details, but it was a while before she focused squarely on repairing the fractures in her nearly broken legs. Her healing magic benefitted greatly from the experience she gained during her time as a medic for the Wonderbolts, repairing tiny sprains and flight injuries on multiple occasions. Even after the healing was done, Twilight ended up lying on Applejack’s back to give her still sore legs the rest they deserved as she continued her research.

She had gathered a lot of information in her notepad as she observed the earth ponies’ magic in action, noting whether each tree, plant, or even individual seed were planted by Applejack, by Big Macintosh, or simply by her own magic. She collected a few seeds and some wheat samples with her sickle for research at home. To her surprise, even Rainbow Dash helped provide a few data points.

Twilight’s intensive research was interrupted, however, when she heard a loud growling noise.

“Hungry, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

Twilight rubbed the back of her neck, smiling awkwardly. “Y-yes, a bit. Time must have gone a lot faster than I expected. I don’t even know how many hours have passed since I last ate with Overwatch and Steel Blade.”

“Well, shucks,” Applejack said as she took one of the apples from her basket and threw it to her back. As she’d expected, Twilight jumped and caught it flawlessly, her legs mostly recovered.

“Thank you,” Twilight said politely as she used her magic to open her tiny saddlebag and pull out a few bits, still holding the apple in her embrace. “How much do you charge for each apple?”

The farm mare blinked. “Oh no no no, sugarcube, it’s a gift. Ah wouldn’t charge a guest for one apple.”

Twilight levitated her bits in front of Applejack. “But I insist, I wouldn’t want to take advantage of your hospitality.”

Applejack just pushed the bits back to Twilight. “No need, sugarcube.”

Twilight levitated it back. “Please, Applejack.”

“Just take the freaking apple already!” Rainbow Dash burst out. “Jeez!”

Twilight blushed, but she did put the bits back into her saddlebag before once again grabbing the big apple in her embrace and taking a big bite, her tiny teeth sinking in the juicy fruit. It wasn’t the first time she was happy that the protection spell, which made her twice as strong, also required her to eat twice as much her mass would normally require, a dream come true when it came to devouring cookies or slices of cake.

Once she finished half of the apple, she wiped a few tiny leftovers from her face and spoke, “I'm sorry, Applejack.”

The farm mare frowned and, with a jump, threw Twilight over her head, who landed on the grass in front of her, unfazed. “For what, sugarcube?”

“For wasting your time,” Twilight responded, turning towards Applejack with an embarrassed expression. “Here I am, asking you to participate in my research when you have lots of work to get through.”

The farm mare drew her gaze across her trees and sighed. “Ah was already behind schedule anyway,” she said, before shooting the pegasus an unamused, half-lidded glare, causing her target to flinch. “‘Cause somepony who promised ta help was too busy nappin’ in one of mah trees.”

Rainbow Dash let out an awkward laugh. “I uhh, it… slipped my mind… no hard feelings, right?”

Applejack frowned, only to feel as if something was climbing up her foreleg. A blink of an eye later and she was staring straight at the little unicorn hanging onto her nose.

“In that case, it would only be fair if I helped and returned the favor.”

The farm mare chuckled and said, “Sorry Twi, but aren’t ya a bit short to work on a farm?” Applejack’s laugh died quickly under the serious glare from Twilight, still anchored onto her nose. She watched as the little unicorn jumped to the ground and lit her horn.

In just a moment, the half-filled baskets Applejack was carrying on her sides, as well as a few full baskets lying under a nearby tree levitated above the huge cart behind Big Macintosh and tipped over, the apples pouring out like an avalanche. The now empty baskets were whisked away to the next tree, ready to receive yet more apples.

“Any objections?” Twilight asked with a smirk as the farm mare chuckled awkwardly.

Applejack shook her head, recovered from the display of power. “Well, Ah still owe ya for the harsh welcome Ah gave ya. And for riskin’ yer life, facing Nightmare Moon.”

“And you repaid it by helping me in the Everfree Forest. Please Applejack, I just want to help.”

Applejack sighed in defeat, rubbing her foreleg with a hoof. “All right.” She gave Twilight a serious glare, “But just this once, sugarcube. Just. This. Once.”

Twilight grinned widely, rubbing her hooves together with stars in her eyes. “Splendid, so here’s what we’ll do.”

And before the farm mare could protest, she ended up conscripted under the direct orders of General Twiny Sparkle.

“Applejack, Big Macintosh,” Twilight started, standing up on her rear hooves and pointing at both earth ponies, “your magic’s necessary for the trees to grow apples faster, so you both will focus on applebucking duty!” They nodded, feeling somewhat uncomfortable at being ordered around on how to do their job, and by a unicorn of such size.

“Rainbow Dash, you’re fast and have strong wings so you’ll be on the hauling duty. Use the smaller cart to deliver the apples to the barn by air as fast as possible and return here for more. In the meantime, we’ll gather more apples in the big one for you.“

“Consider it done!” Rainbow Dash saluted and hitched herself to Applejack’s cart. Its weight proved no challenge for her athletic skills, and she flew away swiftly and easily.

“I’ll levitate full baskets and drop each load into the big cart—the one pulled by Big Macintosh —and then levitate them under the next trees. This way, you and Big Mac can just kick trees and save the time you waste on hauling apples and baskets from place to place! Sound good?”

Applejack stared back wordlessly, but finally nodded after a moment of consideration.

“Good, then let's do this!”

After half an hour of work, Rainbow Dash sank into the comfortable embrace of a cloud, recovering her stamina from her non-stop apple delivery, yet knowing that this nap wouldn't last long before Twilight sent her to work again. She didn’t mind it though. Watching her tiny friend working so hard had inspired her. Furthermore, it was also a perfect opportunity to impress the tiny mare with her strength and flying speed.

Twilight, instead of levitating several baskets, was now levitating just one at a time, her power exhausted after hauling Big Mac’s cart with her magic for too long. Applejack easily noticed the tired expression with one glance at Twilight’s sweaty face, the aura around the unicorn’s horn weakening with each passing second. “Everythin’ alright sugarcube? You seem out of heat.”

Twilight dropped a few apples from the basket she was levitating. She quickly recovered from her mistake and turned towards Applejack, who was looking down at her in concern. “I’m fine, Applejack… just low on magic reserves, is all.”

“Well horsefeathers,” Applejack said, pointing her hoof towards the cloud Rainbow Dash was napping on. “Maybe ya should take an example from Dash and take a nap too. After all, this mus’ be the first time ya’ve worked on a farm.”

Twilight shook her head and said, “It is not my lack of farming experience that’s the problem.” She sat and hung her head low, stroking her tail between her hooves. “My size disadvantage can’t be completely avoided, even with my magic.”

Applejack knelt to Twilight’s level and asked, “What do ya mean? Ah saw yer magic. Yer darn powerful. Ya can do a normal sized pony’s work just fine.”

“No, I can’t!”

Applejack blinked and almost flinched from Twilight’s sudden outburst as she looked at her again.

“I am powerful, true, but it’s because I have the potential to use an incredible amount of magic at once. However, my body can hardly store a sufficient amount of magic to use it for long.”

Twilight looked her friend in the eyes and poked her own horn. “Almost all of my training and challenges I’ve faced focused on using as much strength and power as possible. Weight-lifting objects twenty times heavier than me, levitating half a ton boulders, casting barriers and fireballs… all meant to help me compensate for my size.” She rubbed back of her neck, blushing, “Though I can’t deny that the love for adventure and desire to push my limits was also half-responsible for this style of training… and for my current size.”

“Ya don’t say,” Applejack responded with a roll of her eyes.

Twilight nodded before sighing, her ears drooped. “The problem however is that my body cannot catch up with my power. Whenever I push my limits, I run out of my magic very quickly and I need a lot of time to recover.”

Applejack nodded. “So ya can kick hard but not for long?”

Twilight nodded. “Exactly.” She pointed at her friend and continued, “While you can work on this farm for hours without a break thanks to the stamina that your lifestyle and the earth pony magic provides you, I’ll barely last twenty minutes if I use my magic to my full potential.”

Applejack leaned down, picking Twilight up in her hooves. “Even so, if ya were a normal-size pony, ya would finish mine and Big Mac’s day of work in half an hour. Even now ya manage to lift so many apples; ya could probably levitate thousands with yer fancy magic.”

Twilight shook her head. “And then wait far far longer for the apples to grow back? No thanks; I would finish yours and Big Mac’s work much faster, but I would need a way bigger farm to get the same amount of apples you do in the long-run. On top of that, the quality of apples would also drop.”

Applejack nodded and said, “Fair enough.” She placed the little mare under a tree and patted lightly on the head, only to get a frown in response as Twilight pushed her hoof away. “Ya helped me more than ya reckon. In half an hour we did as much work as Big Mac and Ah usually do in four. Ya deserve a good rest.”

Applejack turned towards the baskets full of apples and raised her forehoof, only for Twilight to run from under her belly before she could make the first step. She could see the little mare crawling under one of the baskets and asked, “Twilight? What’re ya doin’?”

Much to her surprise, Twilight stood on her four hooves proudly with the huge weight on her back before walking towards Big Mac’s cart. The moment she was near it, the little unicorn jumped and threw the basket into it, making all the apples fall in.

Applejack quickly ran towards the tiny mare, who climbed up inside of the cart and threw the basket back to the ground before pushing it towards a nearby tree. “Yer gotta be kidding me!” The farm mare blocked Twilight’s path with her hoof and said, “Ya said yer tired from using that magic of yours.”

Twilight raised her head and gave Applejack a proud glance, her ears straightened upward while she rubbed her own chest. “Correction, I ran out of my magic, but I have more than enough stamina to continue working with you.”

Applejack opened her mouth agape as Twilight smiled and continued, “I never liked sitting in place while doing nothing, so I often switch between using my magic and my hooves.” She placed forehooves on her sides and grinned. “That way I can train both, and while I use my strength, my magic will slowly recharge.”

After those words Twilight pushed the basket towards a nearby tree before doing the same with the others. Applejack sighed and went back to work, still finding it hard to believe that the little mare was indeed real.

After an hour and a half of work, Twilight ran out of both her magic and stamina, deciding to take a break under a tree as Applejack suggested. Now relaxed and perched against the wooden surface, grass and leaves under her flank and legs, Twilight’s mind focused on good memories. Adventures she had alongside her tiny mentor, who willingly shrank herself to her level to see the world from her perspective being first to surface.

“I will miss all those adventures I had with the princess, I wonder if she misses them too?” Twilight murmured to herself before shrugging as she closed her eyes. “I bet she’s having fun with Luna instead.”

Luna stood in the Canterlot Royal Garden, her stoic gaze passing over several royal guards who looked at her with a dumbfounded expression. Next to her sat Cadence, who gave her a questioning glance and asked, “So what did Auntie Celestia tell you?”

Luna’s attention focused on the still bigger pink alicorn. “She said about two hours of time free from her duties and her wish to spend them with us, relaxing in this charming garden.”

Cadence nodded and said, “I see.” She looked at the guards before speaking suspiciously. “She told me that you wanted to spend this evening with me in the royal garden, what about you?” Cadence asked as she pointed her hoof towards the closest royal guard.

The guards looked at each other in silence until one more courageous unicorn stepped forward and spoke, “Her Highness, Princess Celestia, informed us that there will be an important training drill performed in the royal garden; we’re still waiting for an update...” The royal guard paused, his eyes opened widely as he looked at the midnight-blue alicorn’s head, his forehoof pointing towards her. Hardly any word could come out of his throat as a mix of confusion and shock was noticeable on his face.

Luna looked back at the guard for a moment before she spoke in annoyance, “What is it, proud warrior of Equestria? Have We something on our face?”

The guard cleared his throat with a sharp cough and spoke hastily, “Not on your face, Your Highness, above your head.”

Luna blinked a few times before she looked up while moving her hoof up to her head, only to feel as if her hoof made a contact with something familiar. Before she could react, a white blur landed on her muzzle, blocking some of her vision.

Celestia looked into the giant surprised eyes of her sister and smiled. “Hello Luna, how nice of you to join us.”

Luna flinched, startled as her sister fell from her muzzle and stopped her fall with a flap of her tiny wings, landing on the ground gracefully, tip of her hoof gently pressing against a leaf before her other hooves touched the grass.

Luna’s mouth went agape as she glared daggers at her now tiny sister. "Celestia... what is the meaning of this?"

Celestia giggled before jogging towards her now huge sister as she looked up with a cheerful smile, ignoring the guards who stared at her tiny posture in disbelief. “Just a little game that I have organised, dear sister!” She chuckled. “My student and I have had little adventures for the past three years, and I found them to be very enjoyable, a pleasant escape from my boring routine!”

Luna and Cadence lowered themselves to the tiny alicorn.

Celestia stood up onto her rear hooves and grabbed Luna’s muzzle with her forelegs before speaking, “I am certain you remember saying how you seeked wisdom from Captain Shining Armor. I decided to do the same and reviewed my memories of activities I had with my little student, and that’s how I came up with a great idea.”

Her wings spread and flapped joyfully. “We could shrink ourselves and play against the royal guards in a game of tag, like my student did, adding small spites of difficulty. Trust me, it will be a lot of fun.” Celestia jumped back as Luna moved her nose from under her forelegs and stood proudly, towering and casting a long shadow over her.

Cadence smiled and spoke cheerfully, “Well, to be honest, I always wanted to see the world from my little charge’s perspective, count me in.” She gave Celestia a agreeing smile before looking at Luna, whose eyes were closed. “What about you, Auntie Luna? Would you like to join in as well?”

Silence continued as Celestia poked her sister’s foreleg, worry in her voice. “Sister… is something wrong?”

Luna grinned as her horn lit with magic, and while her crown temporarily transformed into a trainer’s hat, her peytral turned into a whistle. The night princess slowly opened her eyes and glared upon Celestia, who just gulped and stepped back hesitantly.

“S-sister, be reasonable.”

Luna raised her foreleg above the ground in a regal posture. “Thou hast manipulated us, thy student’s former foalsitter and thy warriors into coming here to make us play a game of tag,” she said with authority as she made two steps towards her little sister while giving her a serious glare, Celestia returned it with an awkward laugh. “We swore to do our best to heal thee from thy manipulative ways, art thou willing to accept punishment for thy ways of manipulation?”

Celestia wanted to refuse, but stopped upon looking at the judgemental glare of her sister. In the past, her unwillingness to compromise or even listen to Luna caused her fall into darkness, leading to a battle that in the end forced Luna to endure thousand years of cold and loneliness. If anything, it was a debt she had to... no, she wanted to repay. With a firm nod of her head, she spoke, “I am ready to accept your punishment.”

Luna rubbed her chin as she thought while not taking her glare from her tiny sister, only for a smirk to appear her face. “Hast thou student endured being stomped upon considering her life shackled by her size?”

Celestia nodded. “She did many times.” The shrunken alicorn lowered her head slightly and sighed as ears flattened against her head, regret apparent in her voice. “As she grew more confident in her skills, Twilight became more reckless, often running into a crowd of ponies, avoiding being stomped just for the sake of challenge, though she always shrugged it off as a mere annoyance.”

Luna’s smirk didn’t leave her face as she slowly moved her raised foreleg closer towards her sister and said, “Thy student is but a unicorn and yet she has endured such fate as a mere annoyance? Surely thou would benefit to take an example from such resolve.”

She chuckled. “We made up our mind. We declare thy punishment to be...” she paused while lowering herself to take a closer look at her sister’s features, causing Celestia to gulp with lowered ears. The larger alicorn slammed her hoof against the ground, nearly knocking the shrunken alicorn of off her hooves by the quake as she finished, “...Being stomped by our mighty hoof.”

The tiny princess looked up at Luna with a relieved expression, but her vision was quickly covered by a giant silver horseshoe that was now directly above her. “Is that all, sister? You made me worried for a moment.” Celestia laughed as she added in a joking tone, “Unlike my student I am an alicorn, I could easily stay under your hoof for a long time without any suffering.”

Celestia’s laughter didn’t last long as Luna spoke with a cheerful tone, “If thou insist, We shall respect thy wishes and expand thy punishment. ”

Eyes of the tiny alicorn opened widely as she quickly said, “What? wait, I didn’t mean…” only for Luna’s hoof to drop on her like an anvil.

Celestia’s legs trembled as she fought against the weight of her sister’s foreleg that pressed against her kilogram heavy body, feeling cold silver making contact with the fur on her back. Even though she was now exactly the same size that her faithful student, the earth pony magic inside her as well as the lifting exercises she had let her fight against Luna with all her might.

Meanwhile, the guards looked at each other, conflicted as to whether they should protect their ruler or just stay aside from family matters. After a moment of thinking and lack of a call for help, they agreed to stay out of this.

Celestia didn’t dare to use her magic to levitate Luna’s hoof away, knowing that it will just make her sister press her with even more force as a counter for cheating. While enduring her well deserved punishment, Celestia peeked from under hoof–which weighed on her–at her sister’s face and asked calmly, “Are you enjoying this, Luna?”

The bigger alicorn smirked and put more strength into her foreleg, easily overpowering Celestia’s resistance as she was now squeezing her little sister in amusement. While counting 60 seconds in her mind, Luna said with a sly smile. “Certainly!”

Twilight stretched as most of her stamina and magic returned to her, ending her half an hour long nap. With one strong jump she was now standing on her four hooves, ready to tackle the day as she once again thought about her mentor.

“I am sure Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are having a lot of fun,” she remarked to herself before trotting towards Applejack, who kicked another tree. Dash assisted by grabbing two baskets at a time the moment the last apple fall in, dropping the cargo into Big Mac’s cart. The stallion kept hauling the cargo towards the barn, having run out of space for the time being.

“Hey Applejack, how is harvesting apples going?” Twilight asked with renewed vigour as the giant farm mare looked at her with a cheerful smile, wiping the sweat from her head with a swing move of her foreleg.

“It’s goin’ great, sugarcube, and Ah have to admit, ya were right,” Applejack said as Twilight tilted her head to the side in confusion. Applejack pointed towards hundreds of now appleless trees and said, “Big Mac and Ah spend a lot of time moving baskets and transportin’ apples. Now with ya and Dash taking care of that, Ah’m bucking apples much faster. Ah’m now once again ahead of schedule.”

Twilight smiled and said cheerfully, “I am glad to have been of help.” She lit her horn and levitated several baskets, only for her tiny horn to be weakly poked by Applejack’s hoof, baskets falling to back to the ground as the result. “What was that for, Applejack?”

“Ya helped more than Ah could ask for, Ah ain’t want to waste more of yer time,” Applejack said while pointing towards the exit from her farm. “Ah’m sure ya can spend time better than by working here for the whole day.”

“Oh no Applejack, it’s no trouble at all.”

“Ah insist.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes briefly at the farm mare, but finally relented with a sigh. “Now that I think about it, there’s something I wanted to ask Rarity about, so I’ll be on my way.” She bowed politely in front of the bigger mare and walked towards the exit, only to jump back when Rainbow Dash dropped in front of her with a loud thump, earth shaking beneath her hooves.

Twilight frowned, pointing her hoof accusingly. “You’re doing that on purpose, admit it!”

“Maayyyybeee,” Rainbow Dash replied, receiving a frown in response as Twilight bypassed her. She chuckled and followed, walking next to her jogging friend. “Why are you going to Rarity’s of all places?”

Twilight kept trotting as she answered, not bothering to look up at her pegasus friend. “I just want to pay her for all the clothes she made for me.”

Dash rolled her eyes. “You know that she gave you those as a gift, don’t you?”

“Yes, but I’m not going to take any free gifts because of my status as the princess’s student. I’m going to pay like every common pony would, whether she likes it or not.”

The pegasus straightened her wing, placing it on the ground in front of the tiny unicorn, slipping it under her the moment she raised her forehoof. With one swift flap she threw Twilight upwards right onto her back as she bounced on it. “I’ll give you a lift there… unless you want another game of tag and give me another taste of victory?”

Twilight stomped strongly and pointed her hoof towards Applejack, who was following them. “I’m sure Applejack could use more of your help,” she said firmly. The moment she noticed a pout on Dash’s face, she massaged her friend's back, rubbing her hooves against the soft fur as she continued, “Don’t worry, Dash. I know that you want to have some fun adventures with me. Once I give my ticket to the ‘Grand Galloping Gala’ to Rarity, I will have an entire day to–”

Twilight hadn't finished her sentence as her ride beamed, throwing her off before catching between her hooves in mid air. Before Twilight could speak, Applejack stood right behind her as both ponies yelled in unison. “Grand Galloping Gala?”