• Published 12th Mar 2016
  • 14,685 Views, 1,834 Comments

Ponyville's Tiny Librarian - CommanderX5



Twilight has been a tiny, hard-working student for many years, willingly deciding to stay bite size after discovering a love for the adventures and challenges that came with it. Now it is time to start a new chapter of her life in Ponyville.

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Ch2 - Ticket Master - Part 3

Ponyville’s Tiny Librarian

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Chapter 2

Ticket Master
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Part 3

Twilight’s mind was a mess. Almost all of her friends wanted to go to the Grand Galloping Gala, not understanding that they would be bored to the bone or become a laughing stock for nobility. Meanwhile, the only pony who would actually enjoy it firmly refused.

Oh, well. At least Fluttershy isn’t asking me for the ticket. I probably should ask the princess for three more. If my friends won’t listen, they will need to find out how awful it is for themselves, Twilight thought as she trotted back home while levitating several tiny fancy dresses besides her.

She took a deep breath, finally reaching her home as she once again admired the towering tree she was proud to live in. I wonder if Overwatch or Steel would be interested in going to the Gala? They like each other’s company after all, Twilight thought as she performed her standard ritual of bouncing on the handles to unlatch them. She dropped to the ground, but instead of pushing the door open, she turned around and bucked it, taking an example from Applejack.

Suddenly, the sound of a singing voice attracted her attention.

Twilight could see Fluttershy and several birds cleaning the library while Angel Bunny was preparing a salad. The little unicorn sat and stared at the scene with her mouth agape. She took a deep breath and groaned before walking towards the singing pegasus while Angel got in her way, a plate of salad in his paws.

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. “Let me guess, your owner wants to go to the Gala?”

Angel nodded energetically and placed the plate in front of her. There was enough lettuce and other vegetables stacked up above her head that she could have eaten it for a week. Maybe a day or two if she kept exercising or would have been unable to stare a lettuce leaf in the chlorophyll again.

"Thanks, but no thanks," she said, peeking around the outside edge of the plate. "I've already eaten."

Twilight took advantage of her edible concealment to observe Fluttershy, who appeared not to have notice her entrance. It seemed odd that the shy pegasus, of all ponies, would want to go such a crowded and stuffy party.

"Maybe she doesn't really know how uncomfortable she would be at the party," mused Twilight as she watched Fluttershy sing. "As boring and unpleasant as the Gala would be for the rest of my friends, Fluttershy would be traumatized. She might even panic and run away."

A very weak pain in the leg interrupted her thoughts as Angel began gesturing wildly in her direction, coming very close to kicking her a second time as his paws waved around.

“Sorry, Angel. I can’t understand what you’re trying to say, but I’d better explain to Fluttershy why going to the Gala is such a terrible idea.” She bypassed the bunny and with one solid jump landed on the table. “Fluttershy!” Twilight called, waving with her forelegs as she caught Fluttershy’s attention.

“Oh! Hello, Twilight…” Fluttershy said hesitantly, now hovering in front of the table with a feather duster between her forehooves. “I hope you don’t mind this itty bitty cleaning I organized for you as a welcome to Ponyville gift.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and crossed her forelegs. “And I assume this has nothing to do with my extra ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala?”

Fluttershy blushed, hiding her cheek behind her mane, tapping her forehooves together. “M-maybe a little.”

Twilight sighed. “I think it will be best if I explained what the Gala really is.” She stood on her rear hooves and pointed towards the kitchen. “Maybe we can discuss it over a cup of tea and a little salad?”

"I would love to." Fluttershy smiled and nodded while moving towards the kitchen. "I like brewing tea. It always calms me down whenever I get excited. Could I pour?"

"Be my guest," Twilight said, following her friend into the kitchen.

***

“You know, Fluttershy,” Twilight said firmly from her spot on the table, “since you will be away from the party itself and just visiting the garden instead, you may actually enjoy the Gala.” She gave a quick glance at the nodding bunny in search for confirmation before returning her attention to the towering form of Fluttershy.

“I’ve made my decision! Since Rarity refused to come with me, I will take you instead.” The little unicorn raised her muzzle proudly, only to find herself wrapped up in Fluttershy's gentle hug.

"Thank you," whispered Fluttershy. "Thank you so much, Twilight. Thank you. Oh, Angel. Stop that. I'm sorry, Twilight! Please don't take the ticket away."

The happy rabbit had climbed up onto a wooden statue on a nearby table and was doing some sort of a victory dance. It did not seem that he was doing any damage to the statue, so as Fluttershy reached over to grab the disobedient little bunny, Twilight opened her mouth to tell her that there was no problem.

Only to be grabbed by something pink and shoved into a dark bag that smelled of cupcakes and icing.

***

The little unicorn was thrown into the air by several larger ponies as if she was a basketball, listening to Pinkie Pie’s cheerful song. Despite spinning in mid air, she could see Angel relentlessly fighting against the ponies to get her down, but to no avail. Finally, with her patience running low she enhanced her voice and screamed, “PINKIE!

The group of ponies flinched as Twilight rolled in mid air, landing on her four hooves effortlessly despite falling from nearly the height of the humongous tree.

Pinkie Pie was quick to tower over Twilight, and fluttered her eyes as she asked, “Yes, Twilight?”

After taking a moment to pull her legs out of the ground, Twilight took a deep calming breath.

Angel had hopped over next to her and was holding a fork between his paws, prepared to go into battle at her side against the one who got between his owner from the precious ticket. It was a supportive gesture, but Twilight preferred to fight her own battles.

"First of all, Pinkie," she started, trying to keep her voice calm, "I already decided to give Fluttershy the ticket."

The word 'ticket' seemed to take on a life of its own as it echoes from the surrounding ponies, who whispered to each other while looking around to see if perhaps it was laying around for anypony to grab.

“And second, the Grand Galloping Gala is the most boring party in existence. Why would you want to go there?” Twilight asked before being surrounded. She gulped, feeling as if she was a little rat surrounded by at least a hundred cats, or perhaps a small house in the middle of a large city. Her miniature body was now in the shadow of towering and excited ponies.

What have I done?

Without a second thought, Twilight lit her horn and teleported out of the crowd, galloping as fast as her little legs could carry her. She glanced over her shoulder, horrified by the sight she witnessed. Just as she’d expected, the entire town was chasing her while Angel Bunny, who had tried to get in their way, was now lying flat.

Poor Angel. I know how you feel, buddy, because I was there more times than I care to remember.

For the next few minutes Twilight played a game of tag with all of Ponyville as everypony tried to grab her, begging for the ticket, showering her with favors as well as praise. Luckily for her, none of those ponies was Rainbow Dash.

***

“Well, that’s… something,” Steel Blade commented as he watched the growing cloud of dust and dirt from his spot on the balcony. “Should we actually intervene this time?”

Overwatch snuggled herself deeper into her scarf as she leaned over the railing. “Depends. How much experience do you have in crowd control?”

Steel Blade shrugged. “As much as you do, really. The only real time we’ve had to stop a ‘riot,’ we just kinda glared at them until they stopped.”

The unicorn mare chuckled. “I remember that. Nobles are so easy.” She stretched up, working out a few kinks in her neck. “Well, wanna see what we can do on a real mob?”

Steel Blade stopped, before quickly narrowing his eyes at his partner. “I’m suddenly reminded that your definition of crowd control usually ends with everypony on the floor. And not the dance floor either.”

“Hey, are you insulting my moves? I bet I could outdance your scraggly little flank any day,” Overwatch said, an expression of mock hurt on her face. “Either way, I’m not getting too close to this crowd. There’s no way two guards can do anything to that without some actual equipment.”

“Well, I can always try to find Twilight and get her out of there, if nothing else.”

Overwatch snorted. “You can do that. I’ll just stay here and keep an eye on her.”

Steel Blade raised an eyebrow. “You don’t want to come?”

“It’s a mob,” the unicorn guard said, rolling her eyes. “I’m not going on hoof to try and catch Twiny of all ponies. Sure, I can keep track of where she is from up here with no problem, but I’m not going to be able to extract her from this crap if she doesn’t want to be caught.”

Steel Blade snickered. “And what makes you think that I can do any better, if Twilight doesn’t want to be caught? I don’t have a horn like you do.”

“Well, if you screw up, you won’t end up in the middle of a stampede with no way out,” Overwatch said, running her hoof down his wing in a somewhat inappropriate fashion. “I’d just get in the way if I went along. If Twi needs to get out, just you would be fine.”

The guard stallion harrumphed. “I’ll see what I can do. Make sure you keep an eye out for if she comes back.”

“Will do. Go get ‘er, Steelie!” Overwatch encouraged as Steel Blade spread his wings and took off with a whoosh of air.

She waited a few seconds before walking back into the library from the balcony, steadily approaching Spike’s bed. She glanced at the lined pillow in Twilight’s basket with a smirk before poking the drake. “Get up, Spike! You’re nowhere nearly old enough to be hibernating.”

Spike groaned, shifting around slightly and making the trail of drool from his bottom lip to the bed covers glisten in the morning sunlight. "Five more minutes," he mumbled.

The guard mare snorted in amusement. In a quick motion, she yanked the covers down off of Spike before levitating over a frying pan and a hammer and smashing them together in a loud cacophony of clangs and bonks.

There was an immediate response. Spike launched out of his bed, flailing his arms wildly. “I’m awake, I’m awake! Sweet Celestia, stop that!”

Overwatch gave him a smug grin. “Hey, be thankful you didn’t have to endure that at five in the morning.” She sighed wistfully. “Ahh, the joys of training in the guard.”

Spike flopped back onto the bed and groaned. He slowly turned over and crawled to the edge of the bed before stopping. “Hey, what’s that?” the drake asked, pointing at the edge of a scroll peeking out from under the bed.

Overwatch drew it up in her magic, placing her pan and hammer on the nightstand before unfurling the ribbon around the scroll. Several small tickets fluttered out as she unrolled it, which she quickly caught before turning back to read the letter itself.

“Well, what does it say?” Spike asked, seating himself as close as the bed would allow.

“It’s… an apology letter,” Overwatch commented, turning to examine the tickets she held. “From Celestia.”

“Celestia apologizing?” Spike’s brow furrowed. “For what?”

“For trying to teach Twi a lesson by forcing a conflict. Looks like Luna’s already exercising that sweet, sweet royal privilege on Celestia,” the unicorn guard responded before counting the tickets. “Seven. So with the two tickets that Twi has, that’s enough gala tickets for each of Twilight’s friends with three more for you, me, and Steelie to come along too.”

“Gala tickets? Bleh, that party’s horrible!” Spike stuck his tongue out in disgust and crossed his arms. “I hope she’s not actually planning to take me there.”

“You can ask her once she's done running away from that crazy herd of ponies.”

“I’ll be sure to—wait, what?” Spike asked before jumping from the bed, tripping over the basket and landing on his face. He massaged his nose, somewhat thankful for his hard scales, before asking, “Why are they chasing her?”

“Because somedragon overslept and didn’t deliver a message from the princess in time,” Overwatch replied as she fixed the basket and realigned the pillow, though she knew Twilight would notice her hoofwork.

Spike blushed, tapping his fingers together nervously. “So errr… what now?”

“Now we wait,” Overwatch said as she went downstairs. When she reemerged from the door a moment later, she was levitating a tray with a tea set spread across it and, more notably, a few slices of cake saved from the Summer Sun Celebration atop small plates.

“Well, it’s a good thing Fluttershy has good taste in tea. C’mon,” she said, walking out onto the balcony. “It’s been a while since I’ve had a tea party with a dragon.”

Half an hour passed as Twilight was now anchored against part of the bridge with her four legs, holding it in a tight-grip while hanging upside down. She could feel the bridge trembling in her hooves as the crowd of ponies passed it, galloping. Twilight closed her eyes sighed, her hassle far from over. “Why, on the very first day of my life without Celestia watching over me, did everybody in this town just have to go crazy!"

The tired mare didn’t dare to relax her muscles as she opened her eyes and looked at the water under her. She bit her lip as she reminisced how she almost drowned in Celestia’s bathtub.

I hope that Cadence and Luna are faring better than me. She shook her head. “Come on, Twilight. Cadence is just introducing Luna to the standards of modern Equestria. Unlike me, as long as she never gets as hurt or has to deal with the craziness I put up with, she should be fine. I hope.”

She listened intently as the thunder of hooves on the bridge above her began to die down. "Cadence is just going to be showing Luna around town, so there's nothing to worry about. Maybe they'll go for a peaceful stroll around a museum to discuss the changes in Equestria. Or a spa. That's probably where they went. Cadence loves going to the spa. Nice and relaxing, with nothing to worry about at all."

"Ouch!" Cadence winced as a beam of magic knocked her across the ground in an awkward tumble until she smashed into a tree. The moment she opened her eyes as the sensation of pain passed, she looked up at a tall unicorn guard who towered overhead. Cadence had gotten so used to being a little taller than everypony else that only coming up to his ankle was a considerable shock.

Thankfully, instead of just stomping her into the ground, he lit his horn up and cast a spell. Unfortunately, anti-teleportation runes glowed into life around their field of battle, stopping her next move.

Cheater! Well, there's more than one way to escape.

Bursting into the air in a flurry of rapidly-beating wings, Cadence shot upwards and away from the unfair contest, but only for a moment. A pegasus crashed down on her before she could get more than her former body-length above the ground, slamming her back against the familiar tree with one cold horseshoe pressed against her entire body.

“You’re surrounded! There is no chance of escape! Surrender while you still can!” The unicorn guard demanded as he looked at her with the best warface he could muster, though his facial expression was not much different than his usual stoic face.

So this is what the world is like for her, poor Twilight. She squirmed out from under the imprisoning hoof and rolled, evading a second strike before leaping to her hooves.

As an alicorn, I can withstand attacks that could kill an ordinary pony several times over, but it's still terrifying to face everything in the world being so huge, let alone such big ponies.

Cadence lunged for the cover behind a tree, only to be pulled back by a levitation field and smashed back against the spot she was pushed into mere moments ago. Some small portion of her mind was a little concerned about the dent she was making in the dense wood as the alicorn-shaped impact area became deeper and more detailed with each strike.

“This is your last warning! Princess Celestia ordered us to not hesitate to use lethal force in order to capture her and the other two alicorns, and it just so happens that you’re one of them.” The guard chuckled as he stomped his hoof on the ground, causing Cadence to shiver. “Stop resisting and this harsh game will be over for you. Then you can go back to whatever trivial tasks you were doing before.”

Despite being a unicorn, Twilight endures and faces challenges like this on a daily basis. If she can find the courage, Cadence thought as her resolve became stronger with every passing second, So can I.

The tiny alicorn proudly stood and faced the three Royal Guards as she shook her head. “I am not going down without a fight!”

The pegasus guards looked at one another before they started to laugh hysterically while the unicorn guard said, “Oh, we are so scared! Is the Princess Heartbutt going to hug us all to death? Or will she just blow kisses at us until we fall over from overdose of cuteness?”

The unicorn guard pointed his hoof at Cadence’s flank, which made her more irritated, anger barely hidden behind a blush on her cheek.

“Who do you think you are? Princess Celestia?” one pegasus guard called out in a mocking tone as the other joined in.

“Oh, maybe she thinks that she's as powerful as the Princess of the Sun." He laughed, shaking his head. "What a joke."

The unicorn guard added, “Or maybe she thinks she’s as smart as Twilight Sparkle. That little mare always pulled something unexpected when training in barracks. You're just a weak little pampered piece of fluff.”

The guards laughed even harder as Cadence clenched her jaw, then began to grind her teeth in an attempt to control herself. It is true that Twilight is an extraordinary and skillful unicorn, whose hard work I admire, but her power isn’t on an alicorn’s level.

“Oh, I get it. You think that because you’re an alicorn, you can fare better than the Princess of the Sun or her little battle mage. Well, too bad.”

“Yeah, you’re just a random alicorn nopony has even heard about, you’re the weakest link of the chain. Once we catch you, we can focus on Celestia who, unlike you, can fight back!”

Cadence’s eye twitched. Now it was obvious that those guards were rookies recently drafted from the barracks for this game by the princess and weren’t informed who they were dealing with. They most likely saw Twilight in action when she practiced combat magic, as well as Auntie Celestia when she was secretly training to confront Nightmare Moon. No wonder they respect the two of them so much.

A mere look at the chuckling pegasi told her that they were inexperienced, while the smug look on the unicorn’s face showed his arrogance. I bet that this unicorn guard came from a noble house, and his special talents must be magical wards. Not many unicorns can cast anti-teleportation runes, which no doubt boosts his ego. I believe they all deserve a lesson of humility, she thought as an odd smile spread across her face.

“You know what? At first, I was holding back, because I detest violence." Cadence let her lips peel back into a feral grin. "But I believe the three of you deserve a good solid spanking."

The tiny alicorn’s horn lit in a blue aura while the unicorn guard mocked her again, “Oh, so the alicorn of loooove is going to bite? And here I was hoping for a tiny hug on the muzzle.” The guard’s facial expression turned serious. “Enough of the jokes. Listen up. I don’t know who you are, but you’re no warrior, and this game is far over your head. Go back to whatever you were doing before you get hurt.”

With a sharp pop of magic, the laughter of the pegasi guards abruptly cut off while the unicorn guard’s mouth dropped open. In front of them was no longer one tiny alicorn, but a hundred.

“That’s new,” remarked one of the pegasi.

Tiny alicorns exploded into motion, charging at all of the stunned guards at once.

They fought back with punches and kicks, but each hit against one of the swarm of rat-sized alicorns merely cause it to poof into nothingness. Thin magical beams felt like jab stung, as if the guards were in the middle of a cloud of bees.

"They aren't real!" snapped one pegasus guard who was flailing at a little alicorn clinging to his ear. "They're just illusions! Can't you do something like a wall of fire or a tornado? Ow!"

"What kind of unicorn do you think I am?" he shouted, trying to dislodge his unwilling passengers. "Do I look like a Battle-Mage to you? This isn't a game any more and I've never dealt with illusions like this before!"

“That’s too bad,” a calm voice spoke from the unicorn guard’s shoulder, and the moment he looked at the source, he saw the tiny pink alicorn leap onto his muzzle. In one smooth motion, she turned around and flexed her hind legs while the guard stood motionless as his brain tried to catch up with circumstances.

"Here's your lesson for today, that I learned while working at a cherry farm in Dodge Junction for almost ten years. Watch carefully."

Cadence coiled up and let go with a powerful kick that struck the guard on the side of his eye. In the orchard, a kick that precise would clean all of the ripe cherries off a tree in one stroke, but for the guard, it gave him a slightly different experience.

Temporary blindness.

Cadence grabbed the guard’s helmet and flew up while pulling it. The moment she saw the unicorn’s horn lighting up, she flew down and hit his horn with the stolen gear, canceling the spellcasting. “And this is what I learned when I worked for a pegasus delivering company, and trust me, I was lucky when the heaviest object I had to carry was a piano.”

The guard shook his head and grit his teeth, looking around for his target, only to see a few stars the moment a small stone slammed against his face. “Did you know that working on a rock farm is great to build up muscles? It has been three centuries, and I still have some left in me.”

Cadence landed on the ground with a few strong flaps of her wings, noticing that the two pegasi ignored her illusions and flew at her. “And this is what I learned from Twilight!” the little alicorn spoke proudly as she lit her horn and aimed at their wings. While at her normal size she wouldn’t be precise enough to cast a levitation spell on wings of moving pegasi, from her current perspective wings were too big targets to miss.

With one wing on each pegasus immobile, they lost control and crashed to the ground. “Now time for some spanking,” Cadence said as she grit her teeth, focusing more and more magic into her horn. It has been so long since I used so much power at once, while Twilight pushes her limits daily. Cadence’s determination rose as every thought of Twilight’s hard training inspired her even more.

The unicorn guard recovered and was about to cast a spell, only for his eyes to open widely as a force of levitation spell pushed him right towards a tree, his head slamming against it with full force as his horn was now stuck in a piece of wood. Two guards shared his fate a mere moment later as they were levitated towards the tree so hard, their heads got stuck in the trunk of the very same tree.

“Did I also mention that five hundred years ago I taught ponies self-defense in a Dojo. You’d be surprised what one can learn over a millennium,” Cadence lectured as she flew into air and started to kick the guards’ flanks while she levitated a piece of wood to aid her in this spanking. Acting as if the guards were fillies deserving a punishment.

Once done, Cadence looked at her work before walking away proudly, her head held high as she spoke. “Oh Twilight, Shining Armor, if only you two could see me now.” She spread her wings and flew up, now glancing over the garden. “I wonder how Luna is doing, it’s her first time participating in such a game after all,” she murmured to herself.

“I think we are safe,” Celestia said as she peeked out from the bush, her head barely visible between two leaves. After withdrawing back into her hiding spot, she glanced at Luna, who was now lying on her back, exhausted. Her body was covered in burn marks and bruises while her star-filled mane lost some of its brightness and slowed down its wavy movements. She heard her sister murmuring but didn't recognise the words.

She pushed the branches to the side with her forelegs, slowly walking deeper into the bush before placing her sister on a pillow of leaves. “I should go easier on you when deciding rules for this game. Wait here and rest while I will look around.”

With slow flaps of her wings, she emerged from the bush and flew upward, a few leaves falling from her body. Bruises and sweat were present on her once regal posture. She looked around with her ears raised upward, trying to pick up noise of recruits that were chasing her. Out of reflex, she flew upward, evading being grabbed by a pegasus before pushing her pursuer off with levitation.

She bit her lips as the guard slammed into the bush. Not wasting a moment, she levitated the guard to the side before doing the same with leaves and branches, revealing her sister’s slightly flattened body. Landing in front of her, she lowered her head and asked, “I am really sorry. Are you alright?” Upon noting how her sister raised her head and said something quietly, she leaned down further, exposing her ear. “Would you repeat it, sister?”

“Fifteen!” Luna yelled, pushing her sister away with strength of her voice.

Author's Note:

Special thanks to georg for his improvements, especially with Cadence's scene.

As always, I am looking forward to comments and feedback. I hope that you all are liking my alternative take on Twilight's incident with the ticket, as well as Cadence's scene where she finally decided to use her centuries for experience for her advantage.

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