Equestria's Largest Tiger
It was a serene day in Ponyville. A part of the social norm in this part of Equestria. The birds chirping, the skies are clear and the sun shines down on the land. The ponies of the town are relishing in this peacefulness, going about their days whilst some are sharing friendly smiles with one another as they pass by, others are enjoying conversations with their friends. Practically all of the ponies, are having a good day.
A yellow pegasus, with long pink mane and tail and trio of pink butterflies marked on her flanks by the name of Fluttershy is enjoying such serenity with her animals. Her graceful smile is sign of her enjoyment of the day and her enjoyment of feeding the robins in one of the nearby trees from her cottage. Placing the last of the feed in the robin's bowl, she was rewarded by their friendly chirping towards her kindness and she gave a warm smile in return.
"Oh, it was my pleasure Mr and Mrs. Robin," Fluttershy spoke softly, "I hope you enjoy your feed. But not too much Mr. Robin, we don't want you to have another tummy ache now do we?" she asked him with motherly tone. Mr. Robin, looked to the side with a small blush. "I will check up later, just to see you're al right, ok?" Fluttershy spoke to all of her animals in such a motherly tone, for she loved them all equally, even when they are being naughty, and she wouldn't have it any other way.
As she picked up the feed bag in her mouth and started to trot towards her cottage, but after a few steps she dropped the feed bag in shock response to her animals suddenly squawking and crying out loudly in fear. Fluttershy looked around frantically and saw her chickens shaking in their coop, the birds rustling inside their nests wildly and all her other animals trying to hide in their hoof made homes.
"Oh dear, what has you all so frightened?" Fluttershy spoke out to all her animals, only to receive more cries of fear that couldn't here her worried call. "This isn't normal," she continued, looking in every direction the cries were coming from, "something is definitely wrong here..." she began to worry, bringing a hoof to her mouth, unsure of what to do. As the cries continued, she became more and more worried until she received a few taps on her back hoof. Turning immediately, she saw Angel the bunny of the household, pointing toward the sky above the Everfree forest. Fluttershy followed the direction he was pointing it and saw the most peculiar thing.
A large orb of royal blue, with electric bolts sparking in multiple directions, the strange though was the bolts didn't stray far - they seemed to stop before going as far as a metre away from the orb. The static of the bolts could be heard all the way to where Fluttershy was.
"What in Equestria is that?" Fluttershy spoke out loud in wonder and uncertainty.
As the orb shrunk and disappeared from the sky, something else took it's place.
A large orange figure standing in two metres tall appeared in the middle of the sky. It has large muscular arms, the size of stone pillars that went down to his feet. It's hands had five large sharp claws on them and had golden metallic wrist bands around its wrists'. It had a large broad chest and shoulders. Strangely, its chest towards it's waist became slimmer, but had a four pack on its yellow stomach. This creature certainly looked quite strong indeed. Its legs were humorously thin, like sheets of paper. It donned a green loincloth with black spots that went from its waist to its paper thin thighs, which was supported by a brown belt. Hanging out from the back of the loincloth was a thin orange tail, with a brown hairy tip on the end of it. It wore large red and white shoes that went up to its shins. It's head was quite large, the upper half was orange; the area above it's nose and eyes and pointy ears were. The lower half around its mouth and jaw was yellow. It had pointy black eyebrows, yellow eyes and black irises. The jaw of this creature is quite large and square, one could say its a jaw of a beast.
As it looked around, it smiled lightly at the sights. It looked to the left at the land beyond the forest and smiled, then looked to the right and gave a happy chuckle at the sight of the town, showcasing its large, sharp teeth. It tried to take a step toward the town but as it tried to place the foot on the floor, it went forward and made it lean forward. As it looked down, it saw the forest below and its mouth turned into an circle and it spoke, "Oooh." It's voice was heavy and loud, similar to its appearance.
The creature looked down for a few moments and put a claw from its left hand to its chin, pondering the situation. It took its other hand and swung beneath its feet, trying to feel the ground below it. It made a deep humming noise, continuously thinking about its situation.
'Tiny is in sky,' the creature thought, chuckling lightly. Tiny's brain was ticking, waiting for something to happen but when it rang Tiny's pupils shrank and his limbs stretched out every direction in shock as he screamed. Tiny looked upward and tried to use his large muscular arms, like makeshift wings, flapping rapidly and whimpering in fear.
It was working. He was surprisingly hovering in the sky, despite his freakish and abnormal physique. Tiny cracked a smile and barked a proud laugh. "Tiny can fly!" he proclaimed to the world. If only he could keep it up.
After a few moments, he quickly began to fall from the height and rapidly dropped down to the earth below screaming, "TINY CAN'T FLY!!!!"
With a large crash, Tiny landed in a clearing of the forest flat on his front, his limbs stretched out in multiple directions and his face planted in the ground. The earth was cracked around his body, imprinting his figure into the earth. After a few moments, he turned himself over with a long, painful groan. His visions dazed as he looked at the sky, he could vaguely see three robins circling in front of his line of sight, tweeting happily as they went round and round. Tiny chuckled lightly.
"Tiny like pretty birdies... Tweet... tweet.... tweet..." he spoke clumsily as he laid his head on his side and drifted into unconsciousness.
From the entrance of the clearing, Fluttershy saw the large creature slip into dream land. She cautiously approached it from the right and saw it breathing. This made her breath a sigh of relief, but as she looked at it's figure, she could only wonder; 'What in Equestria are you?'
To Be Continued....
Author's Note
Welp, here is another one of my 'idea spikes' I went through with. Man, I miss the old Tiny. This is a tribute of my childhood in a sense. Ah, those were the days.
Please, tell me what you think. Constructive criticism is great appreciated.
Take care.
Equestria's Largest Tiger
"Why did birdies turn into ponies?"
As Fluttershy put a hoof to a her chin on the sight of the creature sleeping in front of her, she could hear this large one's snoring. Looking at its face, she took a step back at the sight of its large sharp teeth when it opened its mouth. Comically, its tongue rolled out and dangled from its gaping mouth as the creature continued to snore.
At the sight, she couldn't help but chuckle lightly. "Aww, you're just a big boy aren't you? Where did you come from?" she spoke, once more, in the motherly tone. As she tried to reach out toward the creature, she stopped at the sound of rapid hoof steps approaching from the direction she came from. Looking toward the entrance she saw her friends approaching with haste. All of them were accounted for. Before she could speak, a streak of Rainbow swooped her up and placed a fair distance away from the sleeping giant.
"Are you alright, Fluttershy?" a tomboyish voice spoke to her frantically from multiple directions until it dropped in front of her and looked at her straight in the face, until it pulled back for a moment, "are you hurt?" the cyan pegasus spoke. The cyan pegasus had a rainbow coloured mane and tail and ruby coloured eyes, with a cloud and rainbow bolt on her flanks. This was Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy's fillyhood friend.
"I'm fine, Rainbow Dash." she replied, reassuring her safety. While she appreciated her friends care, she was more curious of the snoring one lying flat on its back. When Rainbow turned her attention to the creature, she leered at it with discontent.
"Did that thing harm you?" Rainbow spoke with anger toward it.
"No!" Fluttershy replied quickly. She walked around her friend and stood in front of her placing her between Rainbow and the creature, "I found him like this. He seems peaceful to me."
"Be that as it may, darling," a refined voice spoke to her from the right, "he is intimidating from a glance, perhaps it would be best if we left it be." Fluttershy turned her attention to her friend, Rarity. Rarity was a white coated unicorn with a curly purple mane and tail she had sapphire blue eyes, with three blue diamonds on her flanks.
"Oh, I can't just leave him, what if he is lost?" she spoke with worry as she turned her attention once more to the creature.
"Well," a southern accented voice spoke from the direction Rarity came from, "Ah know, yer care about yer animals, but Ah'm sure this one can find it's own way back." Applejack came upfront to Fluttershy and looked at her with a concerned face. Applejack was orange coated, had a blonde mane and tail. She had emerald tinted eyes and wore brown stetson on her head. She had three red apples on her flanks, true to her families lineage.
"But what if he hurt himself?" Fluttershy replied with more worry. As she turned herself fully in the direction of the creature. When she looked toward it, she could her friend, Twilight Sparkle, standing on the other side, inspecting it.
"I have never seen anything like this in Equestria before." Twilight spoke with a calm tone. She was a lavender unicorn with a purple mane and tail and a streak of pink in both. She had lighter purple tinted eyes and a multi pronged star on her flank with a pink star in the middle. Out of all her friends, she was the smartest one of the bunch. Twilight looked upon the creature with great interest and then looked up on the body imprint on the ground, that seemed to match the creature's shape. After gazing at the imprint, she turned her attention to the sky above before speaking, "do you think this is what came from that orb that appeared from above the forest earlier?" she asked the group out loud.
Before any of them could respond, the creature gave a loud snore and raised its large right hand into the air. They all took a step back in apprehension of what is to come. Only to find out it used the claws on its hand to scratch it's belly. As it scratched it, it began to chuckle happily in its sleep.
"See, I'm sure he just is resting and then I will take him home when wakes up." Fluttershy spoke with assurance, making her intentions clear. Only to hear Rainbow land right next to her.
"Are you crazy?" Rainbow asked with worry, "I know you care but look at the size of him," she gestured to his arms with a hoof, "he could seriously hurt you."
"I wonder if he can open cans with those point nails of his." a cheerier voice spoke next to them. Rainbow and Fluttershy looked at their pink earth pony friend with a pink curly mane and tail and sky blue tinted eyes, that also had three balloons on her flanks. She was prodding the ends of the claws on his hand that was on the floor without a care in the world.
"Careful Pinkie," Rarity spoke with worry, "you could hurt yourself."
"Still," Pinkie spoke up, "these are large pointy nails this one has." she casually spoke whilst continuously prodding the claws.
"Uh, Pinkie," Applejack spoke with nervously, "those, uh... those are claws."
"Ooooh!" Pinkie replied without so much a thought of worry or fear. This action only seemed to make the creature chuckle more as it clumsily scratched his belly more with its right claw.
"See," Fluttershy spoke with more certainty, "I'm sure it will be alr-" before she could finish the large left arm began to close around her and bring her right close to his chest. She began to panic as he began to roll towards her to lay on his side. Rainbow manage to get out of the way before it closed but Fluttershy was caught between the muscular arm of the creature. All the girls came round to the side the creature was rolling toward and placed their hooves against it's massive physique to stop it from rolling.
Rainbow tried to pull her out of the creatures grasp but it was locked in place due to the sheer weight of the arm. So she tried to get in the gap and push the arm away from it's chest with all her strength. The other girls were having a tough time stopping the sleeping giant as the were beginning to lose strength. Looking at it's massive head they gasped as it began to open it's gaping jaw and slowly close in on the pegasi.
A light bulb appeared above Pinkie's head as she reached into her large curly mane with a free hoof and pulled out metal bucket filled with icy water. She bounced to the side of the creature's head and yelled, "I nominate you!" Pinkie chucked the bucket over its head, covering it with freezing cold water, making it release its grip on Fluttershy. The mares quickly got some distance between them and the creature as it sat up. Sitting up, it was more than twice their height.
Stretching his large pillar like arms and shaking his head. Tiny pointed his head up and released a large roar that resembles that of a tiger. The roar was long and angry as it echoed through the forest. Clenching his teeth together, he rubbed his eyes with his large hands and shook his head once more.
The mares began to huddle together, Applejack and Rainbow Dash stood at the front of the group, staring down the beast with conviction to protect their friends, whilst the others only stared at the beast.
Tiny opened his eyes and began to look around the clearing, until he came across the six mares that woke him. He stared at them for moment before tilting his head to the side with confusion, "Why did birdies turn into ponies?" he asked with genuine wonder.
The mares were dumbfounded by his statement, but more so by the fact it could talk and they could understand it. The silence lasted for a few awkward moments before Rainbow Dash replied with dumbstruck; "Huh?"
Tiny began to support himself with his left hand until he was on his two feet and once more looked at the mares with wonder. "Tiny wants to know why birdies turned into ponies," he stated. The mares expressions didn't change at all for a few more moments. Until Applejack spoke the only thought she had at the moment.
"You can talk!" Applejack spoke in bewilderment. Tiny looked at her and gave a quick nod in reply but that still didn't satisfy their curiosity, especially Twilight's who began step out from the group and put her self a couple of paces in front of her friends. Tiny simply watched her step forward with indifference.
"How did you get here, uh... Tiny... was it?" she asked the hulking creature with a mix of wonder and fear.
"Ooh, ooh, Tiny knows, Tiny knows!" he proclaimed while bouncing on the spot with left arm raised in the air, like he wanted to answer the question a teacher gave to their class. Twilight was even more confused but decided to play along.
"Uh.." she began nervously, "Tiny!" she called out to him whilst pointing a hoof at him. Tiny responded with goofy smile and stopped bouncing.
"Tiny was fired by Cortex. Then he sent Tiny through big blue ball and Tiny ended up in sky," he gestured to the sky above with his index claw on his right hand before continuing, "Tiny began to fly like this;" he explained by stretching out his arms to the left and right and began flapping them rapidly as he did before, "then Tiny remembered he couldn't fly."
A sound of a trio of hooves hitting faces was heard from behind Twilight but Tiny continued, "then Tiny fell all the way down and smashed on ground like this;" he explained by taking a couple of steps back, jumping and falling on his front and his face once again planted in the ground but went on with the explanation, muffled, "then Tiny rolled on back like this," rolling onto his back like before, his face pointing the sky, "then Tiny saw three pretty birdies and Tiny fell asleep. Then, Tiny wake up and see birdies turned into ponies." Tiny finished by sitting up an turning his body to face the ponies who were once again dumbstruck by his explanation. Tiny brought his left hand to his head and started scratching the side of his head with a claw in confusion before speaking again, "Tiny still doesn't get it." he stated whilst shaking his head.
A couple of moments passed before Rainbow leaned her head towards Applejack and whispered, "Not the sharpest knife in the draw, is he?" Applejack responded with a small nod.
"Indeed." Rarity agreed with the statement as they watched Tiny trying to reach behind his left ear to get an itch which he enjoyed scratching. Fluttershy began to hover toward Tiny with a caring smile and stayed about couple of inches in front of his face.
"Aww, you're just big lost boy now aren't you." she spoke with a motherly tone petting the tip of his large nose which Tiny didn't seem to mind. Until he started leaning his head back a bit gasping for air, his eye twitching. Then again and again. Fluttershy knew what was coming and pulled out a large hoofkerchief. But what she anticipated never came as Tiny brought his face back to where it was and gave a goofy smile. Fluttershy let out a small giggle and smiled back. Twilight couldn't help but giggle along too.
"Well," Twilight began, holding a hoof aloft, "I'm sure there is reasonable way we can deal with this si-"
"ACHOOO!!!!" Tiny cut her off as he released his pre-emptive sneeze in Twilights direction, spraying his snot all over her face and blowing back her mane with the sheer force of his exhale.
"Excuse Tiny," he apologised whilst giving a big sniff before rubbing the his nose with a tip of his claw. Twilight wasn't happy at the sentiment, then again, have a face full of snot wouldn't be appreciated by any pony. Fluttershy came down to Twilight and started to wipe off the snot on her face. Rainbow couldn't help but laugh out loud at Twilight's predicament.
"I'm sure he didn't mean that." Fluttershy said, defending Tiny who was still rubbing the tip of his nose.
"Yes, well," Rarity began, approaching Twilight from the left and using her magic to sort out her mane, "he still needs to apologise for nearly crushing you." she stated to Fluttershy with a serious tone.
"Tiny did what now?" Tiny asked obviously. Looking at the trio of mares, only to find Rainbow Dash in his face.
"You," Rainbow huffed with annoyance whilst poking Tiny's face, "nearly crushed our friend in your sleep." Tiny's ears drooped and looked past Rainbow and toward Fluttershy.
"Tiny did that?" he asked Fluttershy with innocence.
"Yes, you nearly did." Fluttershy replied, a little downtrodden at the fact he almost did. Tiny couldn't look at her and turned his gaze to the ground below, his ears still downward.
"Tiny is sorry." Tiny apologised with genuine sadness. "Please don't fire Tiny." That statement left the mares confused for a moment until Pinkie bounced up to his left side and looked at him.
"Silly," Pinkie began, "you don't work for us anyway." Tiny looked up at sky for a moment in thought until he let out an 'oh'. "You said a pony named Cortex fired you, why did he do that?" Pinkie asked which only left Tiny confused.
"Pony?" Tiny asked out loud, until he shook his head, "No, no, Cortex not pony. Cortex is mad scientist that made Tiny to squash Bandicoots!" he proclaimed as he smashed his fists together and displayed a big grin. The mares stepped away for a moment in fear at his statement. Then Tiny dropped his head and sighed, "but Tiny keep messing up, Cortex said, so Tiny got fired and got sent away." He began to take large steps forward and began to walk past the other mares, his claws dragging across the ground and his head hung low. "Now Tiny has nowhere to go...." he said sadly as he continued to walk aimlessly toward the forest.
"Wait!" Fluttershy called out to Tiny as she began to fly toward the hulking creature. "You can come home with me." she said to him with a motherly tone.
"WHAT!?!" the other mares yelled in unison, obviously against Fluttershy's idea.
"Sugarcube," Applejack was the first to voice her concern, "you can't be serious. He could be dangerous to keep around." Rarity and Rainbow Dash nodded and hummed in agreement.
"He said he was made to squash bandicoots!" Pinkie spoke in fear, "what's to stop him from squashing my cakes?!" Twilight approached Fluttershy with a concerned look toward her friend.
"Who's to say he could hurt the other ponies in town, as well?" Twilight asked with worry. Fluttershy looked between her friends and Tiny with thought and concern. They were right to feel this way. A hulking creature that was made to smash animals just casually strolls into town? Who knows what could happen. But Fluttershy remained firm and flew in front of Tiny who stopped walking when Fluttershy appeared in front of him. Tiny was still upset at the thought of having no where to go but still looked at the pegasus.
"Tiny," she began with a calm but serious tone, "if you promise not to smash any other animals and listen to me, I will take you home and take care of you, ok?" Fluttershy stated her deal toward Tiny, who began to fiddle with his claws but didn't look at the pegasus.
"Tiny not allowed to smash at all?" Tiny asked.
"Not at all." she replied.
"Smash nothing?"
"Not. One. Thing. Animal or otherwise." she spoke more seriously. Tiny remained silent for a few moments, giving the offer a lot of thought.
"Ok," Tiny said with a bit of happiness, "Tiny promise."
"Pinkie Promise?" Pinkie demanded of Tiny as she appeared right in his face with leering gaze. Tiny replied with a loud 'huh' as to wonder what she meant.
"Repeat after me, Tiny." Fluttershy stated, returning Tiny's attention toward her as she demonstrated. "Cross my heart," she began marking an 'x' across her chest with her left hoof, "and hope to fly," she then pointed toward the sky with the same hoof, "stick a cupcake in my eye," she finished by taking the same hoof and poking a closed eyelid. Completing the action of what would be a Pinkie Promise. "Now you, Tiny."
"Ok," Tiny said, beginning the motions that Fluttershy showed him, "Cross my heart and hope to fly," he began to repeat the same motions with his index claw on his right hand, "Tiny stick cupcake in his eye!" he finished by thrusting the palm of his hand into his exposed eye. "Ow!" he cried in pain as he placed his other palm over the one he slammed in his eye.
"Good for me." Pinkie stated with a satisfied smile, "but if you break this promise," she began as Tiny removed his hands to look at Pinkie who has staring him with her pupils shrank and a creepy smile on her face, "I will know." Tinys ear's dropped at her statement and stepped back in fear, losing his balance and landing on his back again, letting out an audible groan as he landed. The landing was soft for some reason. Tiny sat back up and looked over his shoulder to see that he landed on Twilight.
Tiny let out a nervous chuckle as Twilight was imprinted face first into his back. He took his left hand and pulled her off his back, bringing her round in front of him. He was holding her by the back of her neck. The landing made her flat like paper, though she still gave Tiny a disapproving glare. Tiny looked at horn and a light bulb went off in his head.
Taking her paper head in his hands, holding by the cheeks, he took a deep breath and blew on the tip of her horn. As he blew on it, a large trumpet noise could be heard as Twilight began to regain shape. After a moment, she was back to original form, although she was covered in Tinys saliva.
Tiny placed on the ground and removed his large hands from her face. She did not approve. Her glare confirming it. Tiny shuffled in his spot, twiddling his fingers.
"Tiny is sorry." he said with a heartfelt apology. Twilight let out a frustrated sigh and shook off the saliva.
"Apology accepted." Twilight said with hint of annoyance, "but the promise begins now, got it?" she stated with a serious tone. Tiny replied with a nod and a poised salute in Twilights direction.
"Alright Tiny," Fluttershy spoke, hovering in front of him, "you can come home with me." she said with a smile. Tiny raised his arms in the air and began bouncing on the spot in joy, hollering all the while. Fluttershy couldn't help but giggle at this hulk of an animal. "Let's go, then, ok?" she offered with a hoof pointing toward the clearing entrance. Pinkie and Twilight gave a satisfied smile and began to walk toward the clearing, followed by Fluttershy and Tiny. Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash dropped their heads and sighed in defeat and began to follow the group from a little distance behind. Whilst they accepted Fluttershy for taking on the task, they didn't accept Tiny. It would seem Tiny would have to work his tail off to prove them otherwise. Applejack and Rarity looked at the imprint he left on the ground with worry for a moment before turning to the clearing entrance and catching up to group.
And so they travelled through the passage and toward Fluttershy's cottage. Tiny Tiger's new home.
To Be Continued.....
Author's Note
Two Days, Two chapters. Might as well, I thought. Hope you enjoy it.
Again, constructive criticism is appreciated.
Take Care.