Chapter 1: A New Day
When the sun began to rise that day, a quiet yawn was the first sound anyone would have heard from the tiny figure if they had been in the room. Silent snores gave way to this, and it was soon followed by a quiet groan and an even longer, slightly louder yawn than the first as the tiny purple mare unwound from her favorite sleeping position–curled up like a kitten with head resting on a crook of her hindlegs and dark blue, pink-purple-streaked tail resting loosely over her face–and slowly stretched out the kinks in her back. Pushing forward with her forelegs as her face scrunched up in concentration, she pressed on with the stretch until she felt and heard a quiet pop in her back, a sigh escaping her lips as a smile overtook them.
Yawning once more, she slowly stood up a bit straighter and shook her head from side to side before her eyes finally opened and, through foggy vision, began searching for her mentor. “Rise and shine, Princess!”
Her exclamation received no answer, and she blinked wearily for a moment to clear the fog from her eyes and brain. “Princess Celestia?”
Twilight Sparkle immediately regretted turning around, as she finally caught the full blast of the rising sun’s rays in her face, eliciting a groan as she rubbed at her eyes. When the pain had subsided, she looked around, surprised for a moment to find herself, not in Princess Celestia’s royal chambers, but in a simple bedroom with plain wooden walls and an equally plain wooden bed, she herself standing in the middle of a basket placed upon its white sheets. Bookshelves lined the wall to the right of the bed, a pair of glass doors left partly open led out onto a short balcony, and the open bedroom door revealed a set of wooden stairs leading down past a window into the rest of the residence in which she slept, the view beyond the glass not of tall towers but of the roofs of various more simplistic houses.
“Oh, right,” she muttered, her ears slowly flattening and her head dipping low. “I’m not in Canterlot anymore; this is Ponyville. The Princess is miles away....”
She sighed and pawed at the soft linens in the basket with a hoof. Though it had been only yesterday when she’d last seen her mentor, already she was starting to miss her and the routine they had built together. That she was now separated from the single biggest supporter she’d ever had in her life brought a twinge of ache to her chest.
Of course, it wasn’t as if that support was entirely necessary at this point. True, for thirteen years she’d been happy to live under the protection of Princess Celestia’s proverbial wing, but most of the time there had been no other choice. Thirteen years ago, she’d lost whatever control she had over her magic–which, as it turned out, was far more powerful than she’d ever dreamed of at the time–and had a massive power surge, one which nearly collapsed Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns and could’ve killed her, along with who knows how many innocent ponies. To save her prospective student’s life and protect her little ponies, Celestia had used an ancient, little-known shrinking spell to turn her into a tiny little pony about one-hundredth of her original size.
She did what was necessary, Twilight thought with a smile. And I would never want to change what happened. For thirteen years I got to live the most amazing life, sleeping side-by-side with Princess Celestia and studying under her as her personal student and protege! It hasn’t been easy, and it was pretty scary at first, but, as a wise pony once said, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”! Being tiny’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me–well, outside of becoming student and protege to the Sun Princess!
Stifling a giggle, Twilight glanced around at the room again, noting the smaller size of it and the definitive lack of a princess with shining golden regalia. Although, It’s gonna be a little hard without her around. Not that I haven’t been on my own before, what with the Wonderbolts making me their medic that one time. But, I’ll have to find something else to do for a morning warm up–five years lifting golden regalia onto the princess’ body has done wonders for my strength and endurance, and I don’t want to lose any of the benefits.
She carefully climbed out of the basket onto the bed itself, and from there slowly tip-hoofed over to the headboard. She smiled, watching as a purple-and-green dragon–her dragon, Spike–slept. She watched as his chest rose and fell, his quiet snores and just as quiet mumblings in dreams eliciting a giggle from her lips.
He’s such a cute thing when he’s asleep, she thought, her magenta magic lighting up her horn briefly as she tucked the top covers more securely around him. “Keep dreaming, Spikey-wikey,” she whispered, placing a chaste, motherly kiss on his forehead before inching to the side of the bed. She glanced back at the sleeping drake once more, then turned...only to come face-to-eyeball with a massive charcoal unicorn.
She made to scream, and almost succeeded, before the familiar hoof of her guard gently blocked her muzzle, causing her to let out an almost hissing stream of air through her nose instead. The unicorn giggled and, with a predatory grin, whispered, “Hush, Twilight; there’s ponies still sleeping.”
Twilight groaned and shook her head. “Overwatch, how can you be so quiet? I’m the mouse-sized mare; I should be quieter than you. How d’you do it? And why’re you up so early, anyway? Where’s Steel Blade?”
Her grin still present–a grin Twilight felt ought to have fangs in it–Twilight’s guard of thirteen years shrugged and waved a hoof nonchalantly as she replied, “Ah, you get pretty skilled at being unnoticed when you train to be the Princess’ Royal Guard, much less one for her protege. Steelie’s around, don’t worry; he’s just passed out. The party and coming and going from Canterlot twice kinda got him worn out, or so he claimed before becoming a lump on the sofa.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Again, why’re you up so early? If Steel Blade’s asleep from the trip, why aren’t you? You travelled just as far as he did, you should still be tired, too.” Or at least too tired to give me a near heart attack experience, she thought.
Overwatch just giggled, again, before she shrugged and said, “Unlike Steele, parties don’t wear me out; they perk me up. All that celebrating, what with all the sugary goodies and high-spirited partying ponies, made the cat nap before the celebration more than enough. Plus, Steelie was pulling the carriage yesterday when we flew back and forth, not me. I’ll admit, he’s got way more reason to be worn out than I do.”
Twilight blinked for a moment, processing all of this, then smiled. “Wow, that’s actually pretty nice of you to say. I’d have thought you’d be teasing him endlessly for passing out.”
Overwatch just shook her head with her grin still plastered on her muzzle. “Oh, I’m gonna tease him alright, don’t you worry about that. I’m just not gonna do it right away. I’ll let him sleep a little longer, at least until breakfast is ready, then commence with the humiliation.” She glanced over at Spike and her grin became a much warmer smile. “What about Spike, though? You planning to let him sleep in?”
The little mare glanced back at her assistant and her smile instantly became a bit warmer. “He deserves it. The past couple of days have been pretty intense, and he is a baby dragon. He could barely keep his balance last night before he fell asleep.” She looked back to her guard and winked. “We’ll let him sleep in today, but starting tomorrow I’ll expect him to start getting into a routine, and I’m probably going to need you to help me get him going on it.”
Overwatch gave a grin and a salute, whisper-shouting, “Aye-aye, ma’am!”
The two shared a quiet laugh at that, then the charcoal mare headed downstairs as twilight walked over to and stepped out onto the balcony. She lightly jumped from the floor to the railing and looked out over Ponyville, taking in the sight of it before turning and staring into the distance. There, to the north of town, stood the great and imposing silhouette of the Canterhorn, and just to the left of it, sticking out as if it were part of the very mountain, was Canterlot with all of its shining towers.
Twilight smiled fondly, eyes half lidded, as she thought of how Princess Celestia was there, along with her brother Shining Armour and her favorite foal-sitter, Cadance. She thought of her new friend in Princess Luna, and how the younger of the two Royal Pony Sisters was surely at that moment being given all the love and help she needed to start readjusting to the new Equestria. She thought of her mother and father, who must by now be missing her terribly. She thought of her friends Prince Blueblood and Fancy Pants, and even Philomena, Celestia’s pet phoenix, and sighed as she remembered all the crazy and fun times she’d shared with them all.
She would see them again, no mistake. Somehow, she would find the time to go visit them on occasion, and go on more crazy adventures. It would be difficult, being away from them all, and she would miss them, but she would never forget them or how much they all meant to her.
Well, she thought, first thing’s first: I’ve got to get on with my day, and there’s no better way to start than with some exercise.
She looked back into the room, then over the entire balcony, and frowned. But where am I going to find something to exercise with? In Canterlot, I started every day lifting the Princess’ regalia, but there’s nothing like that here.
She looked up and hummed thoughtfully. I guess I could still do the climbing part, at least. This whole library’s built into a tree, so there’s plenty of branches I can climb from here. But what am I going to use for–
She paused, staring at a flower pot placed by the railing of the balcony, and slowly a smile spread over her lips as she eyed the collection of rocks inside the pot. It’s no golden regalia, but that will most definitely weigh me down.
Her smile turned into a grin reminiscent of her charcoal guard, and she quickly trotted over to the pot–only to freeze in mid-stride as she heard a blood-curdling scream come from downstairs.
“Get that thing out of my face!”
“Come on, Steelie, it’s just a frying pan! Lighten up!”
“No way! I saw that look! You were going to hit me with it, I know you were! And don’t you dare deny it!”
There was the sound of Overwatch giggling, and Twilight could just picture her giving her signature predatory grin as she replied, “Why Steelie, you know me so well!”
Glancing back into the room, Twilight watched as Spike, still curled under the blankets of the bed, continued sleeping, oblivious to all the noise. She shook her head and laughed. One way or another, there was never a dull moment for Celestia’s tiny student.
Author's Note
Hello, everypony! Dang, I meant to post this a long time ago, but got so darn busy it isn't even funny! Seriously, this is months overdue for posting. I told CommanderX5 I would be making this story a while back, and only recently got around to finishing the first chapter!
For those who've read his works, yes, I know this chapter is shorter than the one in "Ponyville's Tiny Librarian", but I have different writing styles from Commander and I felt some grounding was in order before moving into any of the major story. I hope I succeeded in my objective.
Please be sure to Like this story if you enjoyed it, post comments down below telling me what you liked and/or if you find anything you want to point out to me, and follow both it and me for more content. I will be posting more stories in due course of time, but I have no sort of uploading schedule, so you'll have to be patient with me. Until the next chapter, bye-bye!
