Ponyville's Tiny Librarian

by CommanderX5

Ch6 - Boast Busters - Part 4

With the spellcasting out of question as Twilight was now focused on keeping Trixie and colts safe from Ursa’s wrath, she now faced the beast without one of her biggest advantages. I need to lure him away before I can drop my barrier and use my magic. She made a few steps back, but not out of fear, while the giant bear advanced towards her.

Twilight smirked. I might as well test my newfound strength. She took a fighting stance, her horn still busy with keeping the barrier up. “Come on you overgrown bear, I faced giants while you still slept in your cave!” Twilight mocked as the Ursa Minor, once in attack range, raised his humongous paw. Twilight steeled her hooves and decided not to dodge the attack, standing up on her hind hooves.

“Is she going to fight an Ursa Minor with just her bare hooves?” Gilda asked curiously, observing the battle from above while supported by Rainbow Dash and Steel Blade with Spike holding her neck.

“She’s busy keeping that barrier up so she cannot use any spells, so the answer is yes!” Spike smirked. “But there’s nothing to worry about, she can handle herself even without her magic.”

Twilight didn’t blink when the giant paw advanced towards her with huge force. The moment it hit her, she grabbed the paw and held on as tightly as she could, now hanging on to the Ursa Minor’s paw and not letting it go. “Is this the hardest you can hit me? Compared to Applejack’s kicks, I hardly felt anything,” she mocked before climbing up on the Ursa’s paw and standing on it, her horn still lit with magic. “You’re going to have to try harder than that!”

Angered, the Ursa Minor raised his other paw and swung it at Twilight, who just jumped over it. Before the Ursa could react, she ran onto his shoulder and flexed her legs, only to give the giant bear a solid kick in the cheek as she mimicked Applejack’s technique.

The Ursa Minor roared in anger, too distracted to notice the barrier behind him disappear.

Twilight could see Overwatch escort Trixie and the two colts into a crowd of ponies who now watched the Ursa Minor fighting against her. She smiled at the audience as she performed a backflip onto the ground, avoiding another attack as Ursa’s paw hit his own head instead of her.

“Now time for some magic,” Twilight said as she shot a beam into the Ursa’s stomach, pushing him several metres away. She could see the trail left by bear’s legs and feel the earth tremble at the impact between the bear and the ground. “Strength, agility and raw power tested, now it’s time to test my memory.” She charged her horn, following instructions she memorized from the book as she created music with magic, which was slowly putting the Ursa Minor to sleep.

Twilight could see how the beast was yawning, slowly losing his balance, while she kept a steady flow of magic into her spell. To her surprise, the Ursa grabbed a loaded cart and tossed at her. Not wanting to stop her spell from putting her foe into sleep, too focused to evade and also wanting to save the cargo from being destroyed, she stood on her hind legs and spread her forelegs.

The no longer tiny mare used her own body to stop the cart from crashing into the ground, grabbing it firmly between her forelegs. Without breaking her concentration over her magic, Twilight was now lying, pushed a few metres away from the place she stood on just moments ago, the cart with an apparently huge amount of muffins and a bubble symbol on it safe in her hooves.

With little effort, she lifted the cart and placed it safe on the ground before looking at the Ursa Minor, who was sleeping peacefully ahead of her. Twilight sighed as she approached the beast, examining his features to ensure he wasn’t going to wake up any time soon.

“That was amazing, Twilight, you…” Rainbow Dash cheered, only for her mouth to be sealed in a purple aura while her head was slammed against the ground. Twilight half-closed her eyes and bit her lip upon noticing the impact she unintentionally caused. With no time to apology, she shook her head and looked down at her friend with narrowed eyes.

“It is not over yet, Rainbow Dash! I need to know from which cave Snips and Snails lured him out of, and I also need you to lead the way so I can levitate him back where he came from,” Twilight said firmly, finding her no longer flying friend incredibly small.

“You… you want to levitate this humongous beast back in there, h-how?” Dash asked before massaging her chin, but the moment she saw Twilight rolling her eyes, she saluted. “Consider it done, ma’am.”

Seeing that Rainbow Dash was interrogating Snips and Snails, Twilight focused her attention on the farm as she lit her horn and emptied the water tower before filling it with milk and putting into the Ursa Minor’s mouth. Once Rainbow Dash pointed her in a direction, she lit her horn again and levitated the Ursa Minor with the milk-filled water tower away together.

Twilight could feel the pressure on her body as she was levitating at least 50 tons, which meant that the pressure she felt was reaching at least two tons. She didn’t mind though, as even without the effect of the protection spell which doubled her magic, strength and endurance when she was tiny, her lifting strength as well as levitation power was far above what she was pulling now.

After several minutes of non-stop levitating and fighting against the pressing weight, Twilight finally put the Ursa Minor inside of the cave and stopped the flow of her magic. With one quick swing of her no longer tiny hoof, she wiped the sweat off her face.

Not bad, I felt right at home.

Suddenly, her ears picked up the sound of galloping ponies, and she was soon surrounded by an excited crowd, all stomping and cheering. Yet, instead of feeling like a mouse among giants, instead of hearing loud overwhelming noise and losing balance under the tremor caused by their giant hooves, what she saw and heard was… underwhelming.

She looked away from the praising crowd, looking around in panic for anything to distract herself from the reality she ended up in. How am I going to find anything as challenging as fighting an Ursa Minor? Her ears perked upward as her attention focused on a few planks falling from the ceiling, landing on the ground in front of a large hole in somepony’s house.

Suddenly, an idea struck her. While the destruction was nowhere near as impressive and terrifying as it was when every home was the size of a castle from her perspective, it was still enough to keep her big-self occupied. The hard work she would have to put and saving precious belongings to all poor ponies in Ponyville was more than inviting.

“Twilight, I knew you would kick the flanks of monsters once you returned to your normal size,” Rainbow Dash stated, “but you just beat and levitated an Ursa Major, a bear twice as big as an entire house.”

“Now I see why you prefer to stay small. You beat that overgrown bear almost without dropping a sweat,” Gilda stated and gave her a proud glance.

“This calls for a party!” Pinkie Pie beamed from behind Twilight, who didn’t even flinch. "I'm gonna need to bake a cake as big as that bear for this celebration!"

"Oh, darling, that was wonderful! Just magnifique!" Rarity stated gracefully.

“Ya showed that overgrown bear we pony folk down here ain't something to stomp on,” Applejack stated proudly while giving Twilight a big smile.

“Wow, I wish my long range attacks were even half as powerful.” Overwatch added, “I’d get your brother’s spot as the Captain of the Royal Guard in no time.” She chuckled, before elbowing Steelie. “Hey Steelie, that reminds me. You still think the Lunar Guard’s accepting applications? We can go big time!”

“Well, I was hoping that Twilight would still like to keep us as her guards, even if she doesn’t need our assistance any longer.” Steel Blade added worriedly as he turned to Twilight. “We can…ummm... do crowd control during a crisis, perform small tasks, or deal with troublemakers.”

Overwatch let out a giggle as she rolled her eyes. “Figures you’d want to keep this post.”

Spike approached, stopping between both guards. “Great, now I need to grow myself up into a big dragon so I can once again outgrow you.” He crossed his arms. “My mom is growing up too fast.”

"Oh, Twilight, you’re big again! Are you adjusting alright? Feel any dizziness?" Fluttershy asked with curiosity and compassion.

Twilight slowly turned towards the crowd that cheered in her name as she looked at them with a dumbfounded expression. After taking a deep breath, she pointed at them accusingly and spoke, “You’re all… so tiny!” Every pony blinked in confusion as Twilight grabbed Pinkie’s forehoof and pointed at it. “So small, so light, no longer able to stomp on me.”

“Not so loud! We hear you clearly, darling,” Rarity said as Twilight blushed and decided to whisper instead.

Rarity and Rainbow Dash stepped to the side the moment Twilight galloped towards the farm mare.

“Can you kick me, Applejack?”

“W-what?” Applejack asked, taking a step back before raising her forehoof up to Twilight's forehead, poking it. “Did that Ursa hit ya too hard in yer head or somethin’?”

Twilight held her forehooves together in a pleading gesture. “Kick me as you usually buck apple trees, please.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “That’s the weirdest request Ah’ve ever got, especially after Ah send ya to hospital doin’ just that. Land sakes, girl.”

“Which is exactly why I asked you! She paused and blushed as her sudden shouting caused Applejack’s eyes to close and ears to drop. She continued with a whisper, “I experienced part of your strength when I was small, now I need you to hit me when I’m big to compare my endurance.”

Applejack sighed. “If yer really sure, fine… but Ah feel it’s only fair if ya test yer strength on me in return.” Upon seeing a hesitant nod, she turned around and bent her forelegs. She raised her rear hooves and aimed at Twilight, who braced herself for the impact.

Twilight blocked the attack with her forehooves, her rear hooves leaving a short trail on the ground as the result. In response, Twilight ran towards Applejack and with one strong swing of her forehooves, she pushed the farm mare a few metres away, knocking her off balance.

Applejack shook her head and stood to look at Twilight who had just effortlessly overpowered her. “What ‘n tarnation?”

Fluttershy approached hesitantly. “Um, Twilight, is something wrong? Problems with adjusting to the new environment?”

Twilight looked at her and nodded. “It’s just as I feared,” she whispered as her voice forged in years of yelling proved far too loud for her friends to handle. “Everything is so small, so weird. I hardly felt anything when Applejack kicked me.” She grabbed Fluttershy in a hug. “I don’t want to be big, I don’t want everything to be so easy for me, I want to be small.”

“I u-understand T-T-Twilight, b-but w-would you p-please let me g-go… you’re c-crushing me,” Fluttershy pleaded as Twilight freed the pegasus from her embrace.

“Sorry,” Twilight blushed before stomping in frustration, only to accidentally hit a small rock and shatter it into pieces while leaving a small hole in the ground right under its remains. “See, I can’t even control my own strength now. So far I just had to lift or grab everything with all of my strength put into it, I never had to be gentle.”

Fluttershy shook her head and massaged her shoulder. “Don’t worry too much about it. You’ve been crushed many times by ponies larger than you, we’re not the ones to complain if you crush us a little in return.”

Twilight sighed as her friends tried to cheer her up, but a familiar voice caught her attention. “You may have vanquished an Ursa Major, but you will never have the amazing show skills of The Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie said as she vanished in a puff of smoke, but to her confusion, the moment the smoke dispersed, she was being hastily levitated back towards the purple mare.

“You’re not going anywhere before we have the chance to talk, Trixie. First off, this was not an Ursa Major, it was an Ursa Minor, a baby,” Twilight whispered.

“It was a baby?!” Trixie gasped, not even bothering to struggle to free herself from the lavender magical aura.

Twilight nodded before noticing many angered glares directed at Trixie, only for demands of compensation for the damage to follow. She glanced between yelling crowd and nervously sweating Trixie, whose ears were drooped and an awkward smile was present on her face. Feeling anger building in her, she yelled, ”Quiet!.

Everypony went silent as Twilight glared at them in anger before levitating Snips and Snails over, placing in the middle of the crowd. Despite her efforts to use just a fraction of her magic, she pulled them violently as they both yelped and massaged their heads. “It wasn’t Trixie but those two who lured the Ursa into the town. If anypony has to, they should take the blame.”

“B-but we did it just because Trixie told us that she could vanquish it… and because Spike said that unless he saw it, he wouldn’t believe it,” Snips said defensively.

“Hey!” Spike shouted from behind Gilda’s neck.

“Weee wooould never do that otherwiiissse,” Snails added.

”No excuses!” Twilight spoke, though she shrank back sheepishly at her volume. She gave Spike a disappointed glare, making the baby dragon look at the ground in shame. After taking a calming breath, she whispered to the crowd, “Trixie is a professional performer, it’s her job to entertain and brag about her power and accomplishments. It’s just an act to make her show look more interesting.”

“Act?” Trixie said hesitantly before looking upon the angry crowd. "Y-yes, Trixie was acting. She wouldn't dare act like this in real life. It's like roleplaying, you know?"

“And it seems that some ponies just cannot separate reality from fiction,” Twilight whispered firmly as many ponies in the crowd blushed and covered their faces. She released Trixie from her magic and looked back at the colts. “Not only have you’d put many ponies in danger, not to mention how dangerous it was for you to go to the forest in the first place, but you also caused Trixie to lose everything she had.” Twilight pointed towards the crushed wagon as she levitated it over… unintentionally damaging a few parts even further.

“My wagon!” Trixie shouted as she ran towards what was left of her home as if only now realising that it was destroyed, pushing the rubble away in search of what was left in one piece. Everypony watched as tears began to drip from her eyes while holding the tattered remains of her cape.

“My equipment, my food, my bits, everything… I lost everything.” Trixie said, holding her cape close to her chest. In one split second the home she had worked hard for had been turned into a pile of rubble. “All that hard work, everything I’ve struggled to earn, gone, just like that.”

Twilight looked at the broken magician in pity as even some ponies’ expression shifted from anger to sympathy. Many angry glares now focused on the two colts instead who wished for nothing more but for the ground to open up below them.

Twilight felt urge to climb up on Trixie’s shoulder and stroke her mane or just pat her nose gently and look into her giant eyes and cheer her up. Unable to do that at her current size, she instead walked closer to the show mare, and as lightly as she could, she placed her forehoof on Trixie’s shoulder, doing her best not to press too hard against it. “Don’t worry, Trixie, I’ll assist you.”

Trixie looked up at Twilight. “You… and why do you even care about Trixie? Nopony cares about Trixie! Never! She’s always been alone, always had to care for herself! No pony’s ever given Trixie a second glance until she became what she is today! You don’t even know the first thing about Trixie or the life she’s had to live with!” the illusionist shouted as tears kept flowing down her cheeks as she pointed her hoof towards the crowd.

“Trixie cannot even repay the damage that everypony blames Trixie for! Trixie will be banished from this town or locked in a dungeon, so don’t tell Trixie that you want to help, Twilight Sparkle! Just leave me alone!” Trixie said with anger and venom in her voice, but Twilight kept looking at her in compassion as her horn glowed in a powerful light. Trixie was being levitated away from the rubble she was brooding over as it was removed away from damaged equipment, food and bits.

“Did you know that magic can be used for more than repairing damage in a living body?”

The showmare frowned. “Trixie knows, but Trixie doesn’t have the knowledge or magic to…” she failed to finish as she was placed on the ground, seeing as Twilight cast a spell on the damaged equipment. In an amazing display of power, the shattered bits started to rebuild themselves, most of the magical equipment returned to its former glory. Even the food was no longer a flat pancake on the ground.

Once Twilight finished casting her spell, she turned towards Trixie and smiled. “I managed to salvage around half of what you had in your possession, Trixie, as some of it was beyond even my strongest repair spell. Furthermore, there are parts in your equipment that my magic would fail to repair, so it is worth to check up on it just in case. Think of it as a good start,” Twilight said, deciding not to admit that her increased size was being a major factor stopping her from fully repairing the damage. Afraid of using too much magic as instead of fixing the leftovers, she would turn them into dust.

She carefully levitated the rubble made mostly from the broken wood of the smashed wagon. “I will need to get some fresh wood to mix with this rubble so that my repair spell can fix your wagon, be right back.” Twilight disappeared in a flash along with the rubble she was levitating, much to the crowd’s confusion.

It didn’t take long for Twilight to organise the entire town to work on repairing the damage made by the Ursa Minor, though to everypony's astonishment, it was her who did most of the work: She restlessly levitated building materials all over the place while teleporting from spot to spot and casting repairing spells wherever she could. From time to time causing damage by overusing her magic before doubling her efforts to fix her own mess.

The chief of the main building company in Ponyville who was called to assist in repairs offered Twilight a high paying job with several bonuses, but to his disappointment, Twilight just shoved him off, telling him that she might consider it once she finished her studies.

“Ah’m really worried about Twilight,” Applejack said to Rainbow Dash as they looked at the restless mare, who fixed in minutes what an entire building company would take an hour to fix. “Ah knew that Twilight’s always pushin’ herself, but this is over the edge.”

“I think I understand how she feels.”

Applejack looked at Rainbow Dash with curiosity in her voice. “Ya do?”’

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yes, it’s like when I hurt my wings and couldn’t use them for days, I was climbing walls,” she stated while looking at Twilight in pity as the no longer tiny mare was now levitating an entire tree and started to cut it with beams of her magic, accidently damaging the house behind it before fixing the damage.

“Twilight is feeling uneasy, knowing that she’ll not be able to push herself to her limit at this size, not to mention that she’s no longer in her comfort zone as I’m whenever I’m flying. She’s desperately trying to distract herself by repairing this town as it’s the best opportunity for her to challenge her magic...” Rainbow Dash paused as Twilight started to push a repaired wall onto a house with nothing but her hooves, a feat on Applejack’s level, “and strength to her limits, so she’s trying to get the best of it.”

Applejack nodded. “Ah hope we can finda way ta’ cheer her up once the repairs are done. Ah don’t want mah friend to be upset.”

“Hey, slackers, move your sorry flanks to work! This town won’t repair itself,” Gilda said to Applejack and Rainbow Dash, who stared back in surprise. None of them expecting for the hot-tempered selfish griffon to aid them in repairs despite her battle-wounds.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay, Trixie?” Twilight asked with concern in her voice, forcing a smile. Seeing a pony that wasn’t larger than her was starting to irritate her. “I’m sure I can find a place to accommodate you in the library, after all, it’s late at night and you should rest after such a traumatic event before going on your way.”

“Trixie doesn’t want your pity, Twilight Sparkle,” she responded arrogantly while raising her muzzle upward. “The Great and Powerful Trixie can take care of herself, and as much as Trixie is thankful for clearing Trixie’s good name and for saving most of equipment… which those two small foals destroyed with their stupidity. Trixie doesn’t want to stay here any longer.”

Twilight nodded. “I understand, you want to leave after everything that’s happened here.”

“Still, out of curiousity, what are you going to do now since you repaired Trixie’s wagon and part of the town?” Trixie donned her hat and cape, which Rarity had fixed with her skills on Twilight’s behalf. “After what you did tonight, ponies surely will cherish your very name, a great opportunity for magicians like us to gain fame, fortune and respect we utterly deserve.”

Twilight looked at the ground in sadness and sighed, her ears drooped. “I’ll try to repair as much damage as I can, and once rebuilding is complete, I will try to shrink myself."

Trixie frowned. “And why would you want to shrink yourself? Why you even bother to do so much for those fools?” Noticing that Twilight was giving her an angry glare, Trixie corrected herself. “I mean, fellow citizens...” She raised her head arrogantly. “Next to Trixie, you’re the most powerful unicorn in Ponyville, and actually the only pony brave enough to stick up for Trixie when her good name was being tarnished. Why would you not want to stay the size of a normal pony and take charge of this town? Why do you want to crawl under their hooves like a rat, if you could look down upon them as their superior?”

“First off, I’m not interested in ruling or being superior to any pony, I just want to study, research and improve myself, and I cannot do that if everything becomes easy for me.”

Trixie sighed. “Trixie doesn’t understand you, Twilight Sparkle, but if you want to waste your power and talent on working the entire night to fix this town and get nothing in return, be my guest.” She turned her back on Twilight. “Trixie must be on her way, it was nice meeting a fellow powerful unicorn.”

Twilight waved her hoof. “Farewell, I hope you will find more luck in the next town. Also, if you ever come back, I hope I can once again play the role of your little assistant, it was fun,” Twilight said before yawning as she rubbed her eyes..

“Trixie will be sure to remember that.”