This is the story of a filly
“Exion pa rim pas!” said the alabaster unicorn filly, placing her horn onto the array she’d drawn in chalk on the floor. The glow of her magic sparked and tingled, as it leapt from her body into the designs, causing the lines to take on a green hue. Backing away quickly, she watched in delight as the lines in the floor began to move. At first slowly, a few inches here and there, but then spinning faster and faster like gears in some great celestial clockwork, seeming to smooth their edges out into perfect circles as they moved across the floor, before finally aligning with a deep note of power.
“Wow,” she said simply as the green light became a beacon, shining out through the windows, lighting up the area outside the Manehatten Boutique like a noonday sun. Not that any pony seemed to notice, with the flashing bright lights from the rave upstairs, allowing Sweetie Belle to go unnoticed by anypony as she walked around the array. She wasn’t foolish...not entirely anyway, and quickly inspected the magical array, going over every line and flourish in the design, trying to make sure it was just as the book said it was supposed to.
“Okay, well, here goes nothing,” she said to herself, and then closed her eyes, before stepping forward. Her hoof, as it touched the sides of the array, felt pressure that tried to keep her out, the light seemingly becomes like a sheet of plastic wrap as it warpped around her. She stuck out her tongue as she pushed harder and harder, the depression of her body causing the light to sort of wrap around her, and nearly start lifting her into the air, before it finally gave like the sides of a bubble, and she tumbled into the center of the wheel.
“Ow, that wasn’t my smartest decision,” she said, rubbing her head with her hoof where she’d smacked it hard against the floor. Then she felt the pain fade, as the array filled her with magic. Some of it was her own power, of course, but some of it was the power of the array. Looking around, she saw the circles spinning faster again, their alignment stable as they pumped out more and more of the light, which her coat sucked in. According to the stallion she’d gotten the spell from, now was the time to use this energy.
“Winds of Fate! Create a gale and move the Wheels of Karma round! Alter the course of Destiny’s flow! Sow the seeds of a future not yet written! My will be done!!!” the last was a squeaky cry as she pounded her hooves into the center of the circles, which stopped the moment she touched down. For a moment, everything was still, nothing moving save her breathing going in and out, before there was a blast of power that slammed her hard into the roof, causing all the air in her lungs to escape with a wheeze.
When the outpouring of green tinted light was done, Sweetie Belle fell to the floor with a grunt. Nothing hurt, and though she had to fight it, she slowly got air to move back into her lungs with a thick gasp, pounding her chest with her hooves. Looking around her, the room she’d been in, one of Rarity’s ‘creating’ salons, was still fine, with not a single bolt of fabric out of place. The only sign that anything had even happened was her body, her fur taking out a light green tinge to it, that slowly began to fade back to her normal snow white coat.
“Darn it! What went wrong?” she said, stomping over the room, only to nearly jump out of her coat as the door slammed open, causing her to spin towards it to find Rarity, a horrified look on her face as she swiftly ran to her sister’s side, lifting her up with her magic and looking her over.
“Sweetie Belle, whatever were you doing in here? I could feel the magic you were casting halfway to Canterlot, and I know I’m not the only one!” she demanded, spinning Sweetie sharply, causing the filly’s stomach to do somersaults inside her as she flipped upside down, with her sister’s eyes taking in every detail of her, looking for some sign of alteration. When she found nothing, Rarity heaved out a sigh of relief, and gently set the filly back on the ground.
“Well, whatever you were doing, you don’t appear hurt at least. Still, what was that?” she asked, and Sweetie dejectedly walked over towards the table, and levitated a book so Rarity could see it. The thing was a journal, rather than something with a title, so it had only a plain cover, but inside it was easy to see it had belonged at some point to a unicorn of talent, as the things drawn on the pages were formulas and designs for magical arrays that would enhance the natural talents of a pony many fold.
“Oh, oh my? Is this what that purple unicorn was talking about with you while we were at the university?” asked Rarity, looking over the designs, and trying to do the math in her head for the spell power the designs were made for, but giving up a few seconds later. Twilight ever was the true mage of her group of friends, and the spell notations were simply not something she was skilled at.
“Yeah, Professor DawnChaser left it on the desk, and I borrowed it for some light reading. He said I could do it with any book in his office,” she assured her sister, and Rarity, looking down at Sweetie, tried to put on her best mad face, but failed miserably as those big, pouty eyes stared back at her. Instead she grinned a little, knowing where the young filly had gotten that look from, and just shook her head.
“Now Darling, you know he meant his published work. This book is obviously full of experimental notes. We’ll have to rush back to Ponyville tonight, just in case. I want Twilight to give you a proper examination, then have a word with Mr. DawnChaser in regards to leaving such material just laying about for anypony to scoop up,” she said with a smile, and Sweetie, after looking dour, returned it, hugging her big sis, only to realize as she did so, that Rarity wasn’t quite as big as she should be.
“Huh?” she intoned, as she looked up at Rarity, but not as up as she should have. Even as she watched, however, the difference in their height was growing less pronounced.
“Go back your bags Sweetie and we’ll...what’s going on?” asked the old unicorn as she felt an odd swirl of magic. Subtle, but pervasive, it felt like it was coming from everywhere at once in the room. Soon, however, she heard the creak of floorboards, and turned to find her sister, he formally little sister, now of a height to match her own. Worse, though, she was still growing, getting larger before Rarity’s eyes.
“Oh my, Sweetie, tell me quickly, what was that spell supposed to do?” she asked, grabbing the book and trying to find something in it that explained the context of the magic.
“It, it was supposed to make my destiny bigger, I think,” said Sweetie Belle, as Rarity became a head shorter than her, and still reduced in size.
“Hmm, this isn’t good, this isn’t good at all,” said Rarity as she flipped through the notebook, trying to find a reversal spell. It was seconds later that she realized she should have moved her sister outside, as Sweetie’s form grew so large that her head bumped against the ceiling. Sweetie, stooping down now, whimpered a little, and Rarity put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder, only to be bowled over as Sweetie tried to mimic the gesture.
“Rarity! I’m so sorry!” said the now panicking filly. Rarity didn’t respond for a moment, shaking her head to get the world to settle, then tried her best to smile at her sibling.
“It’s alright Sweetie not your fault,” she said, watching as Sweetie Belle’s growth seemed to accelerate. The white body was soon crouched down, laying on her belly, even as her back pressed up against the ceiling, causing the entire floor to creak and moan at the pressure. Sweetie herself was actually doing some of the latter as well, as her body screamed at her for more space.
“Oh, I’ve got to get everypony out. Sweetie, stay still and try not to push too hard against the walls,” she ordered, before rushing out of her studio. Watching her go, Sweetie tried to breath calmly, like Twilight sometimes did, but her hoof couldn’t do the in and out gesture, as she didn’t have enough room. Heck, soon just breathing was a challenge, as her chest didn’t have any room to puff out, as the wall around her began to bulge. Oddly, it didn’t hurt, not exactly, but her limbs were already starting to go numb as she forced them to remain still.
“Go, go, go!” came a shout from outside, and dozens of tiny hooves could be heard passing the door to the small studio room. Sweetie watched out of a crack as many ponies and others passed through the hall, willing them to hurry as the space became even tighter, her rear hoof clicking as it found one of the large windows. Of course, even as she tried not to move, her body continued to grow, and the window cracked like an egg shell, tinkling away and giving her hoof room to move again in the air outside the building.
Kicking the hoof around a bit, getting feeling back in it, Sweetie put her other hoof against a wall, hoping to keep it inside, but she soon felt the wall starting to give way as well, and her head was now pressing itself into the far wall from that. Curled up around herself, she grunted in frustration as the room got smaller, and smaller, everything bulging outwards with her form pushing against it, like an egg that was growing ready to hatch, quivering with the new life contained in its thin walls.
Then it broke. With a crack like thunder, and a blast, the room could contain her no longer, the building giving way, and finally letting her take a deep gulp of air, filling her lungs with it, even as her former prison fell backwards, the top stories sliding off into the empty alley behind. Sweetie, gasping for breath, looked around in the cool Manehatten night, finding the skies were seemingly packed with pegasi and airships, while below her, the building continued to groan under her weight, the foundations ready to give way at any moment.
“Oh no, oh no, I’ve got to get out of her,” she said to herself, as everything about her got smaller. Below, she could hear the voices of ponies, griffons, and even dragons, but all like tiny squeaks, with her unable to make out a single word. Climbing down off the building like it was her bed at home, she shook her hoof to make a clear space. She spotted Rarity in the crowd below, her sister was trying to keep the mob from panicking, getting everyone back, even as screams and cries echoed everywhere.
“I’m going to go out to sea, Rarity, I think I’ll have enough space out there,” she said, and then started off as soon as she had all four hooves on the ground. The pavement shook with her hoofsteps as she troted towards the bay, at first taking her mass like a good road should, but then her weight slowly became too much for it, small cracks appearing in the pavement as she went along. Around her, the buildings, huge monoliths of civilization that had so impressed her before, were growing shorter with every step she traveled.
Finally, with a turn, the bay was in sight, and Sweetie charged towards it, her hooves now leaving several feet deep holes in the ground as she walked. Her flanks began to roughly rub against the builds too, as the space between them became too tight for her to simply pass through them, but she kept moving regardless of that, sending small clouds of debris into the air as she ran. Luckily, most everypony was smart enough to get out of her way, and she dived into the water without smashing any of the locals at all.
Landing with a splash, Sweetie found the bay was deep enough that she had to swim to stay afloat, the waves of her passage rocking boats heavily from side to side. At least, for a moment, as her growth only seemed to accelerate with her newfound space. A moment after landing, water that had been more than deep enough to swim in became the sort she could touch the bottom with her tip hooves. Then it was simply a standing pool. Then it was as deep as her ankles, as the skyline of Manehatten itself was now eye level with her.
“Oh no, oh no,” she intoned, and began to trot out further, her steps now shaking the seafloor with each movement, while the tides themselves flowed with her. She quickly realized the problem there, and tried to find someplace safe to go to, someplace she could keep from hurting anypony, but the island was covered with buildings that were now smaller than her legs, and the shore was covered with tiny houses that she would crush beneath her tread if she tried to step around them.
“Wait! I got it,” she said, focusing on a spell Twilight had been trying to teach her. The magic of it was draining, but it was one of those spells Twilight knew best, and she’d spent several Twilight Times learning it. Shifting and moving the magic in her horn, drawing a small circle in the air and then imagining the runes filling it, Sweetie tried to picture a place without anypony, or anybody else, in it. Slowly, she felt the magic fill her body, a glow surrounding her, casting green light everywhere like a second earthbound sun, before she Twilyported(™) away with a blast of displaced air.
When Sweetie opened her eyes, the scene around her was stillness and silence, with not even the wind blowing in her mane. About her was a white desert, with only a few craters to mark any difference in the landscape at all. Looming over one, she suddenly spotted something in it, and leaned closer, seeing something like a tiny castle, a duplicate of Canterlot Castle, sitting in the base of it, but themed with a much darker blue color compared to the bright white of the royal palace.
Then she looked up, and squeaked to herself. In the skies overhead was her world, with Equestria itself in easy view. She was on the moon. That fact drifted past her mind, as her body once again found itself growing exponentially, the orb beneath her hooves going from a world, to merely something to stand on, as the horizon shrank and shrank from her perspective. Soon enough, her head was coming closer to the world above, and she knew she had to get away, her mind focusing again as she once more vanished.
This time she appeared farther away, her world still in view, but seemingly distant. At least, it looked that way at first, before she realized it was just smaller. Now the size of a basket ball, and shrinking quickly. When it reached hoofball size, she tried to swim away, kicking her limbs to get her motion going, and finally putting some distance between her and those she could hurt. Of course, her course took her in, rather than out, and she found herself falling towards the sun far below.
She was in no danger of burning up, as she used a burst of magic to instead turn herself slightly, entering orbit just before the star could grow warm. But her growth was not stopping. The orb of light, as it had grown closer, had taken on the dimensions of a huge castle of fire, but before her gaze that huge structure grew smaller, and smaller still, until it was a tiny candle flame she could have held in her hoof, and yet still it got tinier, her growth speeding up once again.
Twiliyporting(™) once again, she was soon outside her own solar system, and then again she was watching the galaxy spin on, a great cosmic cog, that appeared like an ocean for only a moment, but then became a simple sea, and finally just a lake of a million stars she could have dipped her hoof into and disturbed in ways a billion years could not have. Again she moved away, finding herself somewhere new, not in a black found, but in a white one, with nothing around her but emptiness.
Then she turned her head, and saw a dark splotch behind her. In it, she could see twinkling lights, spinning wheels of existence. A universe was behind her, her universe was so small now that she could see it in its entirety, and now she was beyond such things, floating in the colorless void between existences. Looking back one last time, she gathered the magic inside herself again, and ported away from that small thing, to find a place where her great destiny would not be so contained.
