Downsizing

by PonyPixel

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure, Iron Will, Ember, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Prince Rutherford, Comedy
Length: 5531

Ember, Iron Will, and Prince Rutherford need to find help after shrinking down to the size of ants.

Another meeting of the different kingdoms’ ambassadors. It should be normal day, except Iron Will has found some gems that end him, Dragon Lord Ember, and Prince Rutherford into trouble. Now they need to find out how they can get to Princess Twilight and change them back while they’re all the size of ants.

Published 2021-12-18 08:10:00 UTC
Last updated 2021-12-18 08:10:00 UTC

Size Might Matter

In the village of Minotaurs, there were a couple of Minotaurs trying to pull a pillar up with a pulley system. They were making good progress until they heard the rope straining. They saw what was going to happen and tried to lower the pillar until they heard the rope snap. It would’ve crashed to the ground if it wasn’t for someone famous catching it.

The workers looked and gasped when they saw Iron Will catching the pillar with just one hand and pushing back until it stood upright. “Oh, thank you,” the first worker sighed. He turned back to the other two workers, far less pleased than he was with the famous Minotaur. “I told you two to make sure the rope was secure.”

“We did!” one of the workers protested. “How were we supposed to know it’d just snap on us?”

“Look, we’re lucky Iron Will was here to help, but now we need another rope for our pulley or else we’re going to have to lift these materials the old-fashioned way.” The workers gave a frustrated groan, knowing that was the hard way.

Iron Will looked to the nearby sundial and pondered. "Iron Will has time," he noted.

“Wait, really?”

“Iron Will can kill time before going to meeting with leaders. Besides, these buildings are for the rescued Minotaurs.” The workers decided they could use the extra hands.

Not to mention these houses were important. Since the Minotaur miners had been rescued from the Gold Gang, they now needed a home to stay in. The village had agreed to build some new homes and help them recover being working in the mines. They were still getting used to working ponies since Iron Will was their ambassador and Terry was enrolled at the school of friendship.

The minotaur's methods of construction might've been a little more primitive compared to the ponies, but it still got the job done and it made them happy. True to their nature, they built their buildings strong so it paid off in the end. While Iron Will got some more pillars into place, a few more workers were digging the rest of the foundation. One dug away until something went "CLUNK" with his shovel.

"Um... Boss, I think I hit something!" he called. The chief that was in charge of the construction went to investigate what made that sound. They found a small chest, which had a dent from the shovel. After the lock was broken up, they checked inside found a bunch of green egg-shaped gemstones.

Iron Will looked at what was going on and hopped down to get more information. "What's wrong?" Iron Will questioned.

"There are some strange gems inside of this chest," the chief responded. "Might make a hefty profit from it." When he picked up one of the gems to get a good look at it, the stone glowed. Out of fright, the chief dropped it back into the chest where the glow stopped. "Okay, red flag."

"Are those dangerous?" the digger asked. He backed up a little bit out of fear. Work seemed to have stopped as everyone was afraid of what these gems could do.

Iron Will took a look at the possibly dangerous gems before closing the chest. “Iron Will take this to Canterlot,” he proclaimed. “The princess will figure out what to do with these gems.” The workers cheered their ambassador as he made his way out of town and towards Canterlot with a chest of gems.

Getting to Canterlot on foot wasn’t an easy task, but Iron Will pushed through anyways. Making it over hilltops, through forests, and across a river, the Minotaur ambassador finally made it to his destination.

He followed some tracks to the station then found a bench he could sit on for a rest. He placed the chest beside him as he saw the Friendship Express pull up to the platform. Out of one of the coaches stepped a proud-looking yak prince.

Prince Rutherford had arrived for another annual meeting and saw Iron Will resting on the bench. “Will,” the yak called, walking over to the said minotaur.

“Ah, Rutherford,” the tired ambassador. “How are you doing?”

“Yak doing great. Hearing about new railroad stations.”

“Oh yeah. Iron Will’s heard that our village is getting that too. Could’ve used one honestly. But the exercise is still great.” Both proud creatures gave a fist bump before Rutherford looked at the chest.

“What’s in box?”

Iron Will simply picked the chest up and showed off the green egg-shaped gems to the Prince. Rutherford was amazed, so were a couple of ponies on the platform.

Someone else that would be interested was a blue dragoness flying towards Canterlot. The Dragon Lord looked down and could see the ponies crowding around the yak and Minotaur. Curious, she flew down to see what was so interesting.

When the dragoness landed, several ponies backed away since they knew how most dragons acted. “What’s so important here?” Ember asked. Her eyes widened when she saw the chest of gems. “Okay, that's a good reason!”

Rutherford and Iron Will noticed the Dragon Lord and we’re happy to see another powerful creature. “Ember,” Rutherford spoke. “You fly here?”

“Well, the dragon lands don’t have their station yet, so I didn’t have a choice. Where’d you find that chest?”

“Underground. Some worker dug them up when they were constructing the new houses.”

“Huh. Who would bury a bunch of jades?”

“Who Jade?” Rutherford asked.

Ember rolled her eyes. “Jades are the name of those gems,” she explained. “Don’t usually find them this cleanly cut.” She picked up one of the jades and held it up to her eye. “Some creature must work on these.”

The Dragon Lord held the green gem back as it started glowing. A few ponies started to back away when they saw this happen. “Yeah, some taur at home said that was a red flag.,” Iron Will noted.

“I can see that.” Ember tossed the jade back into the chest, instead of landing in it, it slipped loose and took too more with it. Like the first one, the jades that fell started glowing, and all of the ponies made a run for it. Just before the three ambassadors could figure out how to get the glowing to stop, they were all blinded by a bright flash.

When Ember could see again she looked around until she could see Rutherford a good distance away from her. The dragoness flew over to the yak who was as confused as her. “Where’d Iron Will go?” Rutherford asked.

“You think I know?” Ember asked. “I’m trying to figure out what those gems did to us?” Both were distracted by the sound of someone yelling. Looking up they saw Iron Will plummeting to the ground. Thinking fast, Ember flew and caught him then set him down next to Rutherford. “You okay?”

“Aside from life flashing before eyes, Iron Will fine,” the Minotaur spoke.

“Where’d you fall?” Rutherford asked.

“Iron Will found himself on a wooden platform. It’s right there.” He pointed to the location of where he fell. Ember flew upwards to get a look and was expecting to see some sort of cliff. Instead, she saw the station bench.

This was confusing until she noticed the chest that had fallen on the ground, spilling the jades that were inside of it. The Dragon Lord flew down to see if she could figure things out but discovered a few revolutions after she got close enough. The chest was enormous, big enough to be considered a castle. Seeing this and the bench made the gears in Ember’s head turn and she came to a frightening conclusion.

She flew back to the boys and explained what she found and her conclusion. “I hoping that I’m wrong but I think we’ve just shrunk.”

Iron Will and Rutherford glanced at each other before turning back to Ember. “So…. That what jades do?” the yak asked.

“Oh no. It was the box Will found them in…. Of course, it was the jades!”

“Then that would be jade?” Iron Will questioned. He pointed over to three yellow items. Ember flew over to them while the boys ran behind trying to keep up. From the air, Ember could make out the shapes to be jades, though they were now yellow instead of green. "How gems change color?"

"That your question?" Rutherford asked.

Iron Will tried to lift one of the yellow jades, but he started struggling with it. Rutherford tried to help him but he could only do so much. Even when Ember tried to help them move it, they only went about a centimeter or two before they stopped. "Iron Will fears we're weaker now."

"It's not like we have enough problem now," Ember groaned. Just as they were catching their breath, the dragoness noticed a pony walking over to them. He was still regular size but he now towered over the three shrunken creatures. They were now under the risk of getting crushed under his hoof so they had to make a run for it.

It wasn't just one pony. Several ponies came back when the flash had died down and there were now hundreds of giant hooves threatening to crush Iron Will and Rutherford. Ember had to think fast and swooped down to carry the two out of the way. The minotaur rode on the yaks back as the dragoness carried them to safety.

"We can't get to those gems safely," Ember noted.

"So what creatures do?" Rutherford asked. Ember looked to the castle far off in the distance and came up with their new plan.

"If we can get to Twilight, maybe she can change us back." With that, the Dragon Lord carried the prince and famous minotaur towards the castle, which would be harder than they originally thought. With how small she was now, Ember was starting to have a hard time with the wind, which was stronger than usual today. Couple that with her extra passengers, it was a fight every second they flew.

Despite her best efforts, they wouldn't be prepared for something flying nearby. They heard a "CAW!" and looked around to see a crow sitting on a roof. Ember kept flying picking up the pace a little bit, but the crow was hungry and was interested in this new pray. It flapped its wings and the shrunk trio knew they had to retreat.

Ember flew downwards so she wouldn't have to fight the wind along with the crow, who was hot on their tails. Seeing how Iron Will and Rutherford had a bigger risk of getting hurt, Ember had to find a place to hide them. She flew down to the ground and dropped the minotaur and yak on a window sill before charging towards the crow. She gave a good smack in between its eye, dazing the black bird quite a bit. All Iron Will and Rutherford could do was just sit back and watch the Dragon Lord fight off the big bird.

Meanwhile, the station would have another train stop at the platform. Two griffs got out of the coaches, one was a griffon and one was hippogriff. They have continued their conversation that started since they met up on the train. "I mean, I think I would be best for the role," Gilda spoke, "But I just don't know."

Queen Novo tried to help calm the griffon. "Gilda, you're one of the only griffons that cared when those monsters stole the students," she reminded. "Plus, those strategy ideas did give us a leg up during the rescue attack." Gilda started feeling better until she noticed something sitting in the Lost and Found box. It was the chest that contained all of the jades, including the ones that shrank the three ambassadors.

Gilda and Novo asked the station master about this. "Well, I saw a minotaur show up and sit on the bench," he explained, "Then I saw the yak prince and Dragon Lord show up. I just went to my office to check the schedule, when I heard the ponies scream and run, then there was a bright flash. I just found this chest lying on the ground, spilling its gems everywhere."

Gilda and Novo both looked at the chest. The glow was probably related to them and they had dealt with magical gemstones. "We can take this off your hooves," the hippogriff queen suggested. "It's probably dangerous."

"Hmm, I thought it should be concerning when the ambassadors vanished."

Gilda gawked. "And you didn't think that would be worth reporting!?" she questioned.

"Hey, I deal with train schedules, not magic." Novo figured it best not to argue and just simply picked up the chest, carefully carrying it towards the castle with Gilda following alongside. They decided to keep the chest closed until they had an expert of magic with them.

Back to Ember, she managed to knock out the crow. She shook her sore claws and sighed with relief. "Finally," she groaned. "I'd rather with a roc again. At least those things are natural hunters." Ember flew back up to the boys and sat down for a rest. "Okay... I think this is going to be harder than we thought."

"Ambassadors simply walk to castle whenever it's safe," Rutherford suggested.

"Good idea. It's too windy for us to fly safely even without the birds. Still, going on foot is going to be dangerous too."

"Why?" Iron Will questioned. "Any animals we find we can help you fight."

"I'm talking about the ponies. They can easily stomp on us like bugs and they won't even notice. Plus, those jades made us weaker, so need to play this smart." The shrunk trio tried to think of a plan until the yak prince spotted Gilda and Novo flying to the castle.

"Creatures catch ride!" the yak proclaimed. With that, Rutherford jumped down from the window sill and landed on Gilda's back. The griffon wasn't anticipating a passenger hopping on and only felt a small hit on her, similar to that of a bug bite. She twitched quite a bit and Rutherford didn't have time to get a grip, eventually falling to Gilda's legs, nearly falling past her paws.

Rutherford did his best to hold on, but Gilda felt the iration on her leg and tried shaking whatever was clinging to her off. "Gah! What's with these bugs?" she questioned. She paid no attention to Rutherford's screams for her to stop since she couldn't hear him. Ember quickly flew down to catch the yak just in time as the prince went flying with one flick of Gilda's leg. The griffon carried onto the castle with Queen Novo, unaware of the Dragon Lord catching the falling yak.

When Ember brought Rutherford down safely, she flew back to Iron Will to bring him down. "Nice going," the Dragon Lord said to the yak, "You just lost our only chance to get to the castle!"

"Ambassadors going to lose chance," Rutherford retorted. "Yak tried to get griffon's attention."

"Uh-huh, and look where that got you. Just... Leave the planning to me!" Without another word, the three carried on to the castle on foot. It would take quite a while.

After walking for about ten minutes of walking, the castle still looked to be just as far away as it was when they started their journey. "We're never to going make it at this rate," Iron Will noted.

Ember groaned as she had a feeling the minotaur was right. "There's gotta be something around here that can give us a lift." The three kept walking until something crashed to the ground, nearly crushing them. It looked to be a toothpick.

"Yak thinks we make plan while in cover," Rutherford suggested.

"Probably a good idea," Ember agreed. They looked around and saw an alleyway a few feet away from them. They hurried towards it and took shelter underneath a dumpster. "Okay, at this point, I'm willing to try anything at this point."

"Maybe creatures ride on ponies' tails until they get close enough to the castle," Iron Will suggested.

"We'll... Keep that in mind. Rutherford?"

"Creatures make noise to get others' attention," he proclaimed.

"Easier said than done. We're weaker in this form so we can't make as much noise as before."

"It's worth a try," Iron Will said. Ember just sighed and looked to see if there was anybody they could grab the attention of. She saw Thorax walking down the street. She quickly flew down to the boys and informed them about this. Rutherford tried stomping, Ember gave out several roars and breaths of fire, and Iron Will gave the dumpster several punches and kicks.

They managed to make a racket for their size, however, Thorax could barely hear them. Not to mention there was a crowd of ponies wandering around drowning out whatever noise the shrunken trio had made. As they watched the changeling walk past them, they stopped seeing that there wasn't working.

"Worth a shot," Rutherford sighed.

"Should we try Iron Will's idea?" the minotaur asked.

"Let me try and see if I can get close to him," Ember responded. She quickly flew off to catch up with her big boyfriend, which was easier said than done. Her smaller size much her much slow and she struggled to keep pace. Just when she was about to get to Thorax's ear, something smacked her out of the air. It looked to be a fly, but it was enough to knock Ember off her course.

The Dragon Lord crashed landed and groan in frustration. She then saw the boys running towards her, seeing that the idea didn't work. "Now we try Iron Will's idea," Rutherford proclaimed. The Dragon Lord just nodded as she was willing to try anything at this point.

They waited for the perfect moment before they saw a pony heading towards the castle and leaping into the tail and hitching a ride. It was going pretty well until their ride stopped and walked into a store. They jumped out and raced through the open door just before it closed and trapped them inside. "Ugh, nothing works!" Ember groaned.

"Creatures try hitchhike again?" Rutherford asked.

"Okay, we'll try one more time, then we'll try something else." The three carried on towards the castle again, looking for someone heading in the same direction.

Thorax had reached the castle at this point. After being allowed inside, he made his way into the throne room and met up with the rest of the ambassadors and leaders. He noticed that three of them were missing and it was about time for their meeting to start. He noticed that the main subject would be the chest of jades that Gilda and Novo had brought.

"It's a little odd that some of them are yellow," Twilight commented.

"I'm wondering why somebody would bury all of these gemstones?" Queen Novo commented.

"Maybe some minotaur was trying to hide it from the others," Gilda guessed. "I've seen plenty of griffons try that strategy."

Other ambassadors, Little Strongheart and Autumn Blaze simply stood back and listened as they didn't understand what they were talking about. Thorax walked over to them to try and catch up to speed. "What did I miss?" the changeling asked.

"Just some gems in chest left at the train station," Strongheart explained. "They said they were brought over by a minotaur."

"You mean Iron Will? He's the most likely one to be here today."

"We didn't see him when we got here," Autumn Blaze informed. "We showed up a while ago and we haven't seen them."

"They should be here by now." Thorax looked out the window, pondering where the three missing leaders were.

Autumn Blaze was getting curious about the gemstones and wanted to take a look at one of them herself. She levitated one into her hoof without Twilight, Gilda, or Novo noticing. The kirin noticed a spec on the jade and tried rubbing it off. "I don't think you should be messing with that," Strongheart noted.

"What? Admit it, you're curious too," Autumn Blaze replied. Rubbing the gem activated a glow, which grabbed the attention of everyone in the room.

"Autumn, what did you do?" Strongheart wouldn't get an answer as Thorax instinctively grabbed her and carried her out of the room while Gilda and Novo got behind Twilight's forcefield mere seconds before a flash engulfed the room. When that died down, the curious kirin was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh, crud, is she dead!?" Gilda cried.

"I warned not to touch them," Strongheart sighed. She walked over to the jade lying on the ground. When she bent down to pick it up, she noticed something very tiny. It was Autumn Blaze, who was now the size of an ant. "Um... Am I the only one seeing this?"

Thorax walked over and looked down at the miniature kirin. "No, your brain is fine," he informed. He placed down his hoof so Autumn Blaze could climb on it. Thorax lifted the kirin onto the table so she didn't have to worry about getting stepped on. Everyone looked at Autumn, who wasn't too phased by all of this.

"This is one of the coolest things that has ever happened to me!" she cheered. Strongheart placed the jade on the table, which was now yellow.

This surprise got the gears in Novo's brain turning as she began piecing some things together. "Alright, hear me out," the hippogriff spoke, "You think that what just happened here happened to Ember, Will, and Rutherford?" Everyone thought about this and the theory would fit like a glove.

"That explains why some of the gems are yellow like Blaze's," Twilight gasped.

"So where are Ember and the boys now?" Gilda asked.

Thorax quickly checked under his hooves. "Hopefully they're not under anyone's feet," he shivered. The idea of the three ambassadors getting crushed was far from pleasant.

"You all go look for them," Twilight ordered. "I'll stay here and try to figure out how to reverse this magic." The ambassadors left the room, but Thorax stayed for a little bit. He turned himself into a bloodhound so he could sniff the three yellow gems that were found in the chest to try and get the missing ambassadors' scent. Once he had that, he walked out of the room, sniffing the floor all the way.

Back with the tiny trio, they hitched another ride in a mare's tail as they tried to think of another plan. "What else can we do other than hitchhiking?" Iron Will questioned.

"We're going to run out of ponies eventually," Ember noted. "Besides, there's still the challenge of getting inside of the castle."

"Maybe we get guards' attention," Rutherford suggested. The sound of a door opening grabbed their attention. "Out now!" The three ran towards the door, but it was slammed shut before they could get out.

"Oh, please no!" Ember flew up to the doorknob to try and turn it. Her small size would prevent her from opening it since it made her weaker. "Great, we're trapped!"

"Maybe there's an open window," Iron Will guessed. Ember flew around looking for another method to escape. Iron Will and Rutherford followed on foot. They couldn't find an open window on the bottom floor, but they would be the least of their worries.

A growl could be heard and the trio looked to see a corgi glaring at them. Seeing this they ran in the other direction with the dog chasing them down. "Yak thought those were friendly!" Rutherford cried.

"He probably thinks we're rats!" Ember guessed, "Just keep running!" When they got to a staircase, Ember quickly picked the boys up flew up the steps with corgi still chasing them.

“New plan,” Rutherford proclaimed. “We break window.”

“Iron Will seconds idea,” the Minotaur spoke.

“Okay, you guys break us out, I’ll keep Fido here distracted,” Ember informed. She dropped the boys off at the first window she saw. The dragoness then flew around, keeping the dog distracted as both Minotaur and yak tried punching the window to break it open.

While they tried their best, they felt like they were doing more damage to themselves than the window. “This isn’t working,” Iron Will panted.

Rutherford was about to try again until he thought of an idea. “Maybe we get a pony to break window,” he suggested.

“How do we convince them to do that?”

The two soon heard a voice in the other room. “Can you just leave that bug alone?” called a mare. A young mare walked out of the room holding a book as the corgi continued chasing Ember. The mare was about to return to her room when she heard another growl that didn’t belong to the dog. She looked towards the window and saw Iron Will and Rutherford waving their arms in the air.

The mare shrieked and out of fright threw her book at them. It missed the tiny creature and broke through the window, leaving a hole for them to escape. Ember saw this and left the dog behind to follow the boys. The dog wined seeing its prey getting away while the mare decided to tell her parents about a possible rat problem.

Outside, Ember helped the boy fly down to the ground safely. “I can’t believe that worked,” the Dragon Lord commented.

“Neither can yak…. Gah, yes!” Rutherford corrected. “Yak always pulls through.”

Iron Will narrowed his eyes towards the castle. The hitchhiking strategy did bring them closer than they were at the start of their journey, but it was still very far for their size. “Is hitchhiking no longer an option?” the minotaur asked.

“Not if we want to get stuck,” Ember sighed. “We were lucky we got that mare to do what we want. If we try this again, we’d possibly get stuck and probably get stuck in some pet’s stomach.” Speaking of the stomach, Ember felt her’s growling. “Ugh, I knew I should’ve stopped by the hive to have some sushi.”

“So food’s another problem,” Rutherford commented. He looked around and could see a dumpster. Next to it looked to be a broken toothpick and a rubber band, neither of which looked edible. “No food around here.”

“So we’re doomed then?” Iron Will questioned.

“Yep, we’re done for,” Ember sighed. The three creatures were at a loss until they heard and felt the ground shake. They thought it was Rutherford, who shrugged as he didn’t know what it was. A few seconds later they did, as they saw Little Strongheart stomping towards them. They all quickly ran out of the way, just avoiding getting crushed by her hooves.

Gilda and Novo flew alongside her to make sure they weren’t responsible for stepping on the creatures they were looking for. Thorax, who was still a bloodhound, stopped and sniffed around some more. “Girls, wait!” he called, “I think I smell them.”

The three ambassadors stopped and looked at the disguised changeling. “So, they’re around here?” Novo asked.

“I think so.” Thorax sniffed around for a little bit until a strong smell made him cover his nose and change back into a changeling. “Never mind, I lost it.”

“Who wouldn’t?” Gilda asked. She covered up her beak as they could smell the trash can by the house the tiny trio escaped from. The shrunken creatures also held their noses since they were closer to the can. Rutherford was even contemplating whether or not he should use the broken toothpick to plug his nose.

“What do these ponies eat?” Ember questioned.

“One of the times nose rings would make good nose plugs,” Iron Will muttered.

The regular-sized creatures got close to the ground and tried to see if they could find the tiny ones. However, they stayed away from the trash for the horrible stench.

“What they doing?” Rutherford questioned. “Creatures right here!” They were too small and quiet for the regular-sized creatures to hear them. Ember decided to try and fly over to grab their attention, but they were so frantic to find the shrunken trio, they kept moving around.

“Gah! Stay still!” Ember roared. After a few frustrating attempts, Ember was accidentally swatted away by Gilda’s tail, right back to Iron Will and Rutherford.

“Okay,” Gilda said, completely oblivious to what she just did, “I’m going to head back to the station and start from there.”

“I’ll come with you,” Thorax proclaimed. “Maybe I could retry my bloodhound idea.”

“I'm going to stay here,” Novo asserted. “If you picked up their scent around here, they must be close.”

“I'll keep searching here too,” Strongheart added. The griffon and changeling carried on towards the station, leaving the Buffalo and hippogriff to keep looking.

“How are we supposed to get their attention at this size?” Iron Will asked.

“I've already tried flying to them,” Ember reminded, “And I'm starting to get tired.” She let out a tired sigh as she was being pushed to her limits at this size.

Rutherford glanced at the toothpick and rubber band again and got an idea so crazy, it just might work. “We launch dragon!” he proclaimed. Ember and Iron Will looked at him, fairly confused. Things started making sense when he tried to pick up the haves of the toothpick.

“Oh, a slingshot,” Iron Will commented, “Perfect!”

Rutherford and Iron Will each held half of the toothpick as Ember stretched the rubber band over the top of them. The men held on as the Dragon Lord stretched the band as far as she could. She aimed at Queen Novo, waiting for her to sit still.

“Okay, on three, yak and Will launch dragon,” Rutherford informed. Each creature braced themselves as they waited for the right moment. As soon as Novo stopped, Rutherford shouted “Three!” He and Iron Will pulled their toothpicks forward, Ember got her feet off the ground, and she shot off like an arrow. She managed to control herself and glided right into the back of the hippogriff’s neck.

“Ow!” Novo cried. She reached for the back of her neck where she felt the impact. She then felt something grab onto her talon and hold it to her face to see a tiny Dragon Lord holding on. “Ember?”

“We were right by the trash can if you were wondering!” Ember informed. Her voice was so tiny and quiet, Novo had to hold the dragoness up to her ear to hear her.

“I knew we should've checked there first. But if we found you, where are the men?”

“Still by the trash can.” The queen looked down at the base of the trash can and saw two tiny creatures waving two halves of a toothpick around like flags.

Novo turned to Strongheart. “You can stop looking, I found them. Or rather they found us. Head to the station to tell Gilda and Thorax, I'll take our little friends to the castle.”

“That pun better not be intentional!” Ember roared. Strongheart did as she was told, heading towards the station, while Novo picked up Iron Will and Rutherford to help escort them to the castle.

When Novo brought the three creatures to the throne room, they could see Twilight was still trying to return Autumn Blaze to her normal size. The alicorn stopped and looked towards the hippogriff. "Oh, Novo," Twilight said. "Did you find them?"

"Well, they found us," the hippogriff queen explained. She placed three shrunken creatures on the table as Twilight double-checked her notes. "Any luck?"

"I think so." The tiny creatures all grouped up as Twilight levitated the four yellow gemstones. Novo stood back a bit until there was a bright flash. When that dissipated, Autumn Blaze, Ember, Rutherford, and Iron Will were all back to their normal sizes. The table failed to hold their combined weight and it collapsed before they could properly celebrate being back to normal.

"Whoops," Rutherford spoke.

"Hmm, didn't think that one through," Twilight commented.

"Tell us how much the table costs and I'll get you the gems to pay it off," Ember spoke. "I'm just glad that's all over." She and the others stepped off the remains of the table as they looked at the yellow gemstones, which had turned green again. Twilight decided to place them away in the chest to make sure no more trouble was caused. Spike was trusted to put them away until they could figure out what to do with them.

A few minutes later, Little Strongheart, Gilda, and Thorax returned and saw the table was now smashed. "This not yaks fault," Rutherford proclaimed.

"Uh-huh," Gilda said. "You guys okay?"

"Iron Will fine now," the minotaur spoke. "Is it too late for the meeting?"

"I think we still have some time," Twilight guessed. "Let's just talk about the plan on building new homes for the rescued miners." The ambassadors circled the broken table. Ember, Iron Will, and Rutherford simply sat back and listened to whatever was said. They were just happy to know they were back to normal.