• Published 22nd Jun 2014
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Nightmare Moon's Tiny Adversary - CommanderX5



Twilight has been a tiny, hardworking student for many years, willingly deciding to stay two hooves tall after discovering a love for the adventures and challenges that came with it. How will the rest of the mane six and Nightmare Moon react to her?

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Summer Sun Celebration - Pinkie Pie

Nightmare Moon's Tiny Adversary

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Chapter 1

Part 5

It was very late in the afternoon, almost sundown, when Twilight finally reached the Golden Oaks Library.

She didn’t know why she was so surprised. She had seen it as soon as she had dropped down into Ponyville and had a vague idea of what to expect, but after seeing it close up, she couldn’t help but stare at it in wonder. Sure, it wasn’t Canterlot Castle, but for a tree, being large enough to sport at least two floors, multiple windows, and a couple wide balconies was quite a feat, especially considering that it needed to hold enough books for an entire library.

I can’t believe how large it is, and it even has room to grow! There must be so many challenging branches to climb and long jumps to practice on its outside, not to mention the thousands of books waiting for me inside—

She stopped, clearing her head with a shake. Focus, Twilight. Business first, fun later.

“And that’s the story of my whole entire life!” Spike finished, with a flourish of his arms at Fluttershy, who still seemed eager to listen. “Well, up until today. Do you wanna hear about today?”

Twilight stopped in her tracks and blinked in shock before rubbing her eyes. She turned quickly towards Fluttershy just as she said, "Oh yes, please."

Twilight quickly teleported between her eager assistant and the pegasus stubbornly following her. “Oh, I am so sorry. How did we get here so fast? See, this is where I’m staying while in Ponyville, and my poor baby dragon needs his sleep,” she said, giving Fluttershy a forced smile.

“No, I don’t—Whoa!” Spike protested before tipping straight into the ground with a purple levitation field around his leg.

Twilight clapped her hooves together with a concerned pout. “Aww, look at that. He’s so sleepy that he can’t even keep his balance.”

Fluttershy swooped down to grab Spike, cradling him in her forelegs as she nuzzled him. "You poor thing! Don't you worry. I’ll put you right to the bed."

Twilight looked at Fluttershy crossly from her new spot between the pegasus’s hoof and Spike’s arm, irritated that the pegasus had managed to pick her up in the process and didn’t even notice. She teleported from Fluttershy's embrace onto the front doorstep of the library and used her levitation spell to separate the pegasus and Spike, placing Fluttershy a short distance outside the door and quickly shuffling her assistant inside the library.

"Yes, Yes, I'll be sure to make sure he gets some sleep. Thank you for everything and good night!" Twilight said before slamming the door shut with her levitation.

She looked at the door with a hard glare, taking a few deep breaths in the silence before she let out a frustrated growl and stomped her tiny hoof against the floor. She had been careful to only use her hooves to open and close doors and had been keeping count ever since she first started. This would have been her thousandth door if she hadn’t used magic in her rush to get rid of Fluttershy, and now she was going to have to start all over again.

“Warn me before you do that again, Twilight,” Spike said, brushing himself off.

“Sorry Spike, but I won’t be able to do anything with Fluttershy watching my every step. It was hard enough to convince Cadence she did not need to worry about me so much, and I don’t have time to do it all over again,” Twilight said, before she turned to look around the dark library. “Odd… I sent my guards here to search for information about Nightmare Moon and the Elements of Harmony, so why are all the lights off?”

Twilight lit her horn to get a bit of visibility, the purple light outlining the silhouettes of several dark figures everywhere she looked. Without warning, the light turned on, and she found herself surrounded by dozens of ponies.

“SURPRISE!”

Balloons and streamers showered everything inside the library. Between the painfully loud noise, crowd, and party supplies, Twilight’s eyes rolled back into her head, and she fell to her back unconscious.

A pink earth pony jumped up in front of Spike with a loud "Surprise!"

Spike jumped back from the energetic pony, who continued without a pause. “Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie, and I made this party just for you two!” she said, pointing one of her hooves towards him and another towards the unconscious unicorn. "Well, it was originally meant for only the two of you, but then I ran into two armored ponies who I never met before, and I was so disappointed because it was too late for a surprise party for them too," Pinkie added as dozens of ponies surrounded Twilight and murmured to one another, visibly worried. One worked up the courage to gently nudge the little mare.

The energetic pony dipped her head down in front of the unconscious unicorn. “Were you surprised? Were you, were you?” she said, prodding Twilight’s body with a hoof. “Awwww… she was so surprised that she fainted from the happiness.”

Spike rolled his eyes as he ran towards his adoptive mother, dropping to his knees and putting one claw around her back for support. "Twilight, are you all right? Wake up."

Twilight's sensitive ears ached as she slowly woke up, shaking her head to clear the fog. Massaging her head did little to dull the pain.

Pinkie loomed over Twilight, her eyes watching her every step with a wide smile on her face. “Did you like my surprise? Did you, did you?”

“Owww… my head,” Twilight said, shooting a glare at Pinkie. “This is a library, and libraries are supposed to be quiet!”

“That’s silly. What kind of welcome party is quiet? I mean duh, booooo-ring,” the pink pony said, bouncing in a circle around the two reluctant party guests.

Twilight began backing away, not daring to break eye contact with the earth pony now matching her every step as she continued to ramble on. “You see, I saw the baby dragon when you got here, remember? And I started to walk towards him to take a closer look and you were like, ‘Excuse me’, and I was like, ‘Who's there,' and you were like, ‘Down here’ and I was like, ‘Wow, how could I not have seen you,' and you were like, ‘Hello, my name is,' and I was like, 'Whaaa’—" she said with a loud gasp. "Remember? You see, I've never seen you or a little dragon before, and if I haven't seen you before, it means you are new because I know everypony, and I mean everypony in Ponyville, and I would especially know if anypony in Ponyville was as tiny as you.”

Twilight was unsure if she should run, teleport, defend herself, or try to seal Pinkie’s mouth with her magic.

“If you're new, that means that you haven't met anypony, and what's more, other ponies might not notice you, and if nopony can notice you, that means you can't talk to them, and if you can't talk to them, you can't make any friends, and without friends, you must feel so lonely and sad, so I had an absolutely amazing spectacular idea, and that’s why I went ‘Whaaaa!'"

Twilight sprang up onto a nearby table in a single bound, walking carefully around the mountains of baked sweets and confetti. The pink mare seemed to be set on replaying the entire morning, and the magic zipper spell, which grew more tempting with every word, looked to be the only way to stop her. Twilight's hopes for any part of the day to be normal shattered like a glass in an opera room.

“So I organised a super-duper party and invited every pony from Ponyville, and now, you can have lots and lots of friends!” Pinkie had finally finished her spiel, beaming at Twilight as a familiar group of ponies separated from the crowd and walked towards them.

They were the ponies she had met with throughout the day on her royal errands. Twilight felt a sharp twinge in her aching back when she saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash coming to meet her again. They were nice enough, Twilight thought, after the initial encounter. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to experience a sharp buck or accidental crash from those two again before the Summer Sun Celebration ended, but it’s always good to be cautious.

Twilight leaned her head to the side, finally noticing the shy Fluttershy walking awkwardly behind the two, as if she was trying to hide from the crowd. Surprising she’d be so timid now when she was so adamant in treating Twilight like a defenseless rodent a few moments ago. Still, out of all the ponies Twilight had met today, she felt a bit thankful that the white “Canterlot” mare hadn’t shown herself.

This gathering seemed to be more than just a coincidence, which led to only one reasonable conclusion. "Let me guess. You’re Pinkamena Diane Pie?”

“Of course I am! Though everypony calls me Pinkie Pie. Did you hear about me? Did you, did you?” Pinkie asked, not stopping her bouncing even for one moment.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Mr. Carrot Cake told me that you may be around welcoming guests to Ponyville, so I just guessed.”

“Wow, you're gooood! I play guessing games too! Now let me guess,” Pinkie said as she closed her eyes in deep thought. “You are a unicorn princess who has been cursed by an evil witch who gave you an apple that made you tiny when you ate it, and you will not grow back to normal until you find a charming prince who will take the curse away with a kiss!”

Rainbow Dash and a few ponies in crowd burst into laughter. Applejack simply raised her eyebrow.

Twilight’s mouth fell open, and she sat there in silence for a moment before she tried to formulate a response. "Actually—"

“No? Well... then some cr-aaazy unicorn scientist created a magical device and you were forced to be his test subject, and he shrunk you with his shrink ray in his first step to shrink everypony and take over all of Equestria?"

“No, I—”

“No wait, I know. An evil enchantress made a shrinking potion and sold it to you without telling you what it did, and when you drank it?”

The crowd began to murmur, and a few ponies were bold enough to offer suggestions of their own. "Maybe she was born so tiny and cannot grow up?”

“Or maybe it’s some sort of plague that reduced her size,” another pony said. “I hope it’s not infectious.”

“It’s gotta be a curse—”

“No, it’s a shrinking potion!"

“Or an infection!”

“Wait, I have an idea!” a stallion in the crowd exclaimed. “Maybe she’s a powerful unicorn who couldn’t control her power and the princess shrank her to ensure that she does not hurt anypony!"

Many of the other ponies in the crowd shot him a look as if he was crazy. “Princess Celestia would never shrink any pony. That’s just silly."

A wave of laughter spread through the room, and the outspoken stallion cringed back into the crowd with a quiet response, "It was only a theory."

Pinkie popped up to take another guess but stumbled to a halt when a magical purple zipper covered her muzzle. It occurred to Twilight that it was a bit rude to cut off another pony like that, but as long as it preserved her remaining sanity, she couldn't care less. She braced herself, widening her stance as she poured power into a voice amplification spell to cut through the growing noise.

“Quiet!”

Everypony stared at her in shock with several blinking in confusion or with their mouths agape. The strength of her voice in the enclosed space of the library not only amazed the noisy crowd, but silenced it so well that the only thing that could be heard was a cupcake falling to the floor in small chunks and crumbs. Twilight drew back a bit at the sudden attention, but quickly cleared her throat and continued. "I was shrunk by my mentor, Princess Celestia, so that my powerful magic would not be a danger to anypony. That is it! End of story!”

Twilight looked around with an even gaze. Her declaration seemed to be taken seriously by the crowd, though one stallion in the back was performing a victory dance.

"Where are my guards? How did they let this slip through?" Twilight asked, before she finally looked up at the pegasus holding a corner of the banner 'Welcome to Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle.' Steel Blade looked back at her sheepishly and attempted to blend in with the wall decorations.

Twilight teleported on top of her guard’s nose in an instant, giving him a hard look. “Where is Overwatch, and why did you let this happen?” She motioned towards the ‘this’ out across the floor of the library, most of whom had overcome their initial surprise and were currently dancing, playing, and enjoying themselves in spite of her growing frustration.

“Well ma’am, um... you know that pink mare over there?“ asked Steel Blade, pointing his armored hoof at Pinkie Pie, who was tasting the hot sauce straight from the bottle. “It’s… rather difficult to say no to her.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “And how did she convince you?”

Steel Blade gulped. For the sake of his remaining sanity, he had been trying as hard as possible to forget the endless month-long stream of consciousness that Pinkie Pie had managed to condense into just a few minutes worth of speech. “With all due respect, ma’am, you don’t want to know. As far as I could tell, I was foalnapped.”

Twilight sighed in defeat. “Where’s Overwatch?”

“She’s upstairs, continuing our investigation on the topics you requested, ma'am," he said, his eyes shifting side to side to look around the crowded library before he continued in a low voice. "She has everything we could find regarding the Elements of Harmony and is waiting for you, though she may need some time to catch up with my portion of the research."

Twilight’s face lit up in a smile. “Finally, some good news,” she said, before jumping from Steel Blade’s muzzle to the floor and full-on sprinting towards the base of the stairs, only for Rainbow Dash to land not far in front of her. With her way blocked, Twilight pulled herself to a full stop, sliding along the floor before she could crash against the giant foreleg.

“Hey again, pally! Remember me?”

Twilight looked up at the rainbow-maned pegasus while raising her eyebrow. “How could I forget? You crashed into me, remember?”

Rainbow Dash smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof. “Yeah, sorry ‘bout that,” she said hesitantly before setting her hoof down and leaning eagerly towards the little mare. “I’ve been practicing a new trick. Wanna check it out?”

Twilight shook her head. “Maybe later. There’s something very important I need to take care of.”

Rainbow Dash’s head and wings drooped down. “Okay. Later then,” she said, before she was suddenly butted to the side by Fluttershy, who was holding a sign showing ducks walking across a street and keeping the crowd at least two meters away.

Twilight rolled her eyes as she ran for the stairs, but the farm pony somehow passed Fluttershy’s defenses and got in her way. “Well, howdy do, Miss Twilight. Enjoyin’ the ponyfolk’s welcomin’ hospitality?”

Twilight jumped onto Applejack’s nose, clinging to it with her forelegs as she looked her in the eyes. “Far too much hospitality for my taste. As much as I really like parties, there’s something important I need to take care of, and everypony is distracting me.”

Applejack closed her eyes and nodded, almost shaking Twilight off her nose. “Ah understand. First work, then fun.” With a quick jerk of her head, the farm mare threw Twilight from her nose, sending her flying over her head towards the stairs.

Twilight landed with a slight stumble on the steps. After reasserting herself, she noticed that her destination was but a few meters away, so she climbed upstairs as fast as she could. Just as the tiny unicorn was about to reach the top, a familiar white hoof came down in front of her, blocking her way. Twilight turned up with a scowl, finding Rarity biting her lip nervously. “Um, Twilight, if I could have a minute...”

“No! Look, I’m sorry that I can’t talk about Canterlot, but I’m not in the mood, so please stop blocking my way!” Twilight said, shooting the white mare a glare that would make even the royal guards flinch. Rarity stumbled back flabbergasted, opening and closing her mouth wordlessly before stepping out of the way.

Twilight took the opening, rushing up the stairs without a second glance at the dressmaker, but before she could jump to the next floor, two hooves swept her away. Before she could realize what had happened, she was once again in the midst of the party, sitting on a table before Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash.

“Leaving already? But the party just started,” Pinkie Pie said with a pleading pout. “We can't have a party without the guest of honor!”

Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement and pointed at Spike. "Check out the big bad dragon over there. He knows how to party."

Twilight turned to look at Spike, who was currently dancing in the middle of crowd, his hands moving up and down with his feet stomping rhythmically to the music. The ponies around him cheered and took his example, dancing while the young dragon rolled towards the table, only for a lampshade to land on his head after a weak thump.

"Spike..." Twilight called with a low tone in her voice as a white unicorn wearing purple glasses placed a hoof on her son's shoulder and levitated a saxophone into his embrace. "I leave you for five minutes! Five minutes for crying out loud!" she said with a roll of her eyes, though a smile formed across her face only moments later. She had to admit, the dancing and music lessons they took from Fleur de Lis sure paid off.

Twilight watched the scene for a minute while attempting to calm her growing frustration, only to be scooped up in a little cup and to have something sticky, damp, and sweet dropped on her head. It looked like icing, it felt like icing, and a little taste proved the theory, though the humor of the situation eluded her as a glop of the spiraling cream slid down her nose and plopped onto the table.

"See!" declared Pinkie Pie, holding her hoof out to Rainbow Dash. "I told you she could fit in there. Now pay up."

"Fine," grumbled Rainbow Dash, hoofing over a few bits.

As much as she wanted to shout at them, Twilight restrained herself to a quiet groan as she climbed out of the cupcake and tried to get all of the icing out of her mane. She was still picking out the last sticky remainder when an idea struck.

"Hey! Rainbow!"

Rainbow Dash immediately turned towards her, her ears perked and her wings spread in excitement. “What is it, Twilight? Do you want to see my tricks, or maybe you want a ride, or—”

Twilight jumped onto the weatherpony’s mouth, sealing it with her four legs in a vice grip. The pegasus smirked at the gesture as she started to put more and more strength into her jaw, slowly overpowering the little unicorn's grip.

Twilight was eventually pushed away, tiny beads of sweat trailing down her brow as she dropped back down onto the table. “Ha, I won!” Rainbow Dash said, a triumphant grin on her face. “Though I gotta say, you’re pretty strong for being so small.”

Twilight sat down, leveling a challenging gaze at Rainbow Dash. “Say, would you like to play a game?”

Rainbow's eyes lit up, and her smile seemed to grow ever wider. “Sure! What’d you have in mind?”

“Oh, it’s nothing big. I just want you to challenge me to something. If I pass it, you will do what I say, no questions asked,” Twilight said, her stare even as she watched the weatherpony’s changing expression.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “And if you fail?”

“Then I’ll do whatever you tell me to until I succeed, but I assure you, I won’t fail.” Twilight said before shaking her foreleg. “Also, no impossible challenges. I am absolutely not going to lift a house or eat a boulder.”

Rainbow Dash nodded, baring her teeth in another devilish grin. “Game on! Your challenge will be, ummm…” She thought deeply as she looked around, her eyes skimming over the filled bookshelves and the crowd of ponies surrounding them before finally focusing on a bottle of hot sauce sitting on a table.

Rainbow took the hot sauce in hoof, showing it to Twilight before opening it and spreading a good dollop of the smoking substance across the top of a cupcake. “Your challenge… is to eat all of the hot sauce off this cupcake.”

The tiny unicorn turned to the questionably seasoned dessert, staring at it with an even, contemplative expression even as Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs confidently. “What’s the matter?” the pegasus said. “You chicken?”

Twilight let out a quiet snort, raising an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash. “That’s it? That’s the challenge?”

Rainbow Dash’s smirk faltered. “Y-yeah. Don't tell me it’s too easy for you.”

Twilight tried to conceal her fit of giggles with a cough. Besides the fact that she was no stranger to spicy foods thanks to the rather prolific use of spices the Royal Kitchen employs on occasion, Twilight had, somewhat regretfully, tasted rainbow on a trip with Soarin’ to the weather factory, not to mention the scorching fireballs she’d taken to the face while training with her temporarily shrunken mentor. Slurping up hot sauce on a cupcake would be a breeze compared to the things she had gotten used to.

She cleared her throat and, without bothering to say a word, grabbed the cupcake with her forelegs and took a big bite from the top, burying her face into the mound of hot sauce and icing. Dash’s wings sprang up in surprise at Twilight’s sudden and suicidal decision, and she watched closely with wide eyes at the tiny head digging into the foul mixture of peppers and pastry, which was unintentionally splashing specks of it in her hurry to finish the challenge.

In a mere moment, the entire top of the cupcake was gone, and Twilight wiped the leftovers from her face and looked at the pegasus with a victorious smile. “Easy.”

Rainbow Dash’s mouth hung open. “Is... is there anything you can’t endure?”

Twilight waved off her remark before pointing a hoof decisively at her challenger. “As per our agreement, you must do one favor I say without question.”

Rainbow Dash groaned, bringing a hoof to her face. “Fine fine. So what do you want me to do? Is it something embarrassing?”

Twilight shook her head. “Nothing of the sort. All I want is for you to get me upstairs and guard the door so that no pony will interrupt me during my research."

Rainbow Dash paused, blinking a few times. “That's it? You ate a chunk of cupcake and that much hot sauce just to have me guard a door?"

Twilight let out an exasperated groan. “Hey, it may be a small deal for you, but Pinkie’ll drag me back to the party without somepony to keep her busy, and Steel Blade’s afraid of her for some reason.”

Rainbow Dash straightened up proudly with a confident grin. “Well, you got the right pony for the job. I know a few tricks to keep Pinkie busy, and I won’t let anypony bother you. Nopony gets past Rainbow Watchful Dash when she’s on the job.”

“Thanks, Rainbow.”

“No sweat. Anything for a friend.”

Twilight finally breathed a sigh of relief, climbing onto Rainbow Dash’s back so she could finally get to Overwatch and listen to what she had found. Deep within the crowd however, a white unicorn mare looked at them with a guilty expression, shifting her weight nervously. She tried to make a step forward, to talk, to apologize, to do something, but in her hesitation, Twilight had already disappeared into the upstairs chamber, and she was left without the courage to bother her again.