That Shrinking Feeling: Part 1
Princess Celestia carefully peeked her head around the side of her half open bedroom door. First, she slowly looked left, then right.
“Phew! Looks like I’m safe. Don’t you agree fellas?” Celestia said brightly to the two guards positioned right outside her bedroom door, staring at her blankly.
“Uh, yes your highness,” The one on the left said gruffly.
“Excellent!” Celestia said joyfully as she burst from her room, throwing open the door with force as she spread her wings “Let it be known that I-”
BANG!
Celestia was cut short as a bucket of water fell down from its perch on the top of her doorframe, knocked loose the instant Celestia opened the door fully. With a splash! She was soaking from head to hoof. Her pristine white coat that she spent all morning on was dripping wet.
She spluttered, coughing water out of mouth as she removed the bucket from her head. Only to see a note pinned to the bottom of it. Her magic surrounded the paper as she peeled it off from the bottom and held it up to her eyes.
Luna wins: 157, Celestia wins: 0.
Celestia gritted her teeth “It. Is. On Lulu.” She growled. The guards stepping back fearfully as her mane and tail engulfed itself in orange fire, drying herself off and the note going up in smoke as well. With a very equine like snort, her mane and tail returned to its normal pastel colored self, and the Princess of the sun stomped off down the hall, tossing the bucket out the window for good measure, where it landed neatly in the gardener’s storage shed.
Ever since Luna had returned from her banishment from the moon, the royal sister’s prank war had resumed as quickly as it had ended 1000 years ago. But unfortunately for Celestia she was completely out of practice, having done nothing but lead the nation for a millennium. Sure, she would occasionally spice things up with the servants, maids, and guards to keep things interesting (like putting vegetable oil in the guard’s armor so it’ll fall off, replacing the supplies in the maids cleaning closet with cake, and inviting all the animals in the garden inside for a tea party) but nothing came close to the outlandish and out of the box things Luna came up with for pranks. First, she sneakily put whoopie cushions under her when she was meeting delegates, then she put itching powder in all of her shampoo, and recently and most heinous of all; She replaced her breakfast, brunch, lunch, linner, and dinner slices of cake with healthy, gluten-free, and sugar-free versions. Truly the most evil prank of them all!
Celestia grumbled as she made her way down the hall. So far, any counter prank she had tried to pull had resulted in a resounding failure. She had tried sneaking into Luna’s room one time in the middle of the night to dye her hair green, only for her to fall victim to the traps Luna set up in her room. 500 Mousetraps laying by the door. And while Celestia was bouncing around trying to get the mousetraps off her hooves, wings, and mane, Luna took advantage of the confusion to dump the entire bottle of hair dye onto her.
Another time she tried replacing the sugar in Luna’s coffee with salt, but Luna had already beaten her to the punch. The night before she switched the two around, so when Celestia tried it herself, all she was doing was switch the salt back to sugar. And of course, Luna made sure to spike her morning tea with salt the day after as payback for the attempted prank.
Luna constantly one-upped her every time and quite frankly it was starting to get on the solar diarch’s nerves! She was 157 points behind Luna with a score of zero! Zilch! Nada! Nothing! Goose-eggs! She would have to come up with something spectacular and groundbreaking to even begin making up the points. But what could she do?
As Celestia pondered her predicament, she saw that a night guard was trotting up to her. “Good morning my little pony,” Celestia greeted the bat-stallion warmly “Is there something I can help you with?” she asked.
The night guard nodded and threw up a hoof in salute “I came to pass on a message Princess Celestia,” he said “The delegates from the Crystal Empire have arrived. Princess Cadence, Prince Shining Armor, and Princess Flurry Heart. I was asked to escort you too them,”
“Awww, that’s very kind of you my dear,” Celestia cooed “Very well, please lead the way,”
The guard nodded “Of course your highness,” he said as he turned around and began to lead her down the corridor.
As they walked down the hallway Celestia took time to greet other members of the staff they passed. Saying ‘good morning’ to other members of the day and night guards, smiling at the maids and servants, and greeting other noble ponies that she passed.
“Uh, pardon me my little pony, but aren’t we going to the dining hall?” Celestia asked as the night guard made a sharp right turn. Steering them away from the royal families’ usual meeting spot.
“Unfortunately, not your highness,” he said “they said that something urgent has come up at the empire and that it’s critical they speak to you immediately. They’re waiting for you in a meeting room,”
Celestia’s heart began to beat faster. What was so important that they had to go straight to meeting inside a conference room? Surely not another villain?
“Here we are your highness,” The guard said, stopping outside a door. He quickly moved to the front of it and held it open for her.
“Thank you, my little pony. You were very helpful,” Celestia said kindly to the night guard.
The guard threw up another salute as Celestia walked into the dark room. The night guard closed it behind her.
“That’s odd. Why would Cadence and Shining want to meet here of all places? And why is it so dark?” Celestia thought in confusion as she cast a light spell. Her horn lit up, but it only revealed pitch blackness. There was nothing in the room with her.
“Did we accidentally go to the wrong room? I should go back outside and check with somepony,” she thought as she turned around.
Only for the door to not be there anymore.
Celestia’s eyebrow rose. She was sure this was the way she came. So where in the world did the door go? But as she began to contemplate teleporting back to the hallway, she began to feel something slithering around her legs and wings.
Twang!
“What in Equestria-?” She began before she was lifted off her hooves by practically invisible wires and positioned in the middle of the dark room again. Circus music began to play as red, green, and blue spotlights began to shine around. Then she heard a voice. A very familiar voice.
“Welcome mares and gentlestallions! Colts and fillies! Foals of all ages! To the amazing Canterlot dance festival” Luna’s voice announced from all around her “It’s time for the amazing Celestia to begin her performance!”
Celestia yelped as the wires lifted her up and positioned her on her hind legs, her forelegs were thrown up into the air exaggeratedly, much like how Trixie does it when she does one of her performances.
“Tally ho Princess! Smiles please!” said another familiar voice.
Celestia groaned internally as she looked up to see Discord laying down in midair, paw resting on his cheek as he looked down at her hoisted up by the wires.
“Discord! What are you doing?” She hissed.
Discord held up a paw with faux shock “Moi? Why, nothing for once big Sunny butt. Just doing a favor for dear little moony butt,” he said grinning.
“And what favor is that?” Celestia asked.
“Just to make you do a little performance for our guests,” Discord answered, “And speaking of which, you need to look the part!” he said, snapping his claws.
Celestia found herself wearing a red suit, a clip-on bow, a top hat, and holding a cane in her hoof. “Wha-?” Was her very intelligent response.
“Looking good Sun butt! Break a leg out there!” Discord said, snapping his claws again and poofing away. The room in front of Celestia automatically opened up and she found herself in the ballroom on stage. And there in front of her sitting in the stands was Shining Armor, Cadence, Flurry Heart, Twilight, Spike, Nightlight, and Twilight Velvet. Discord poofed back into existence and sat down next to Spike, conjuring up Chocolate milkshakes for everypony there.
Up in the spectator box was Luna, holding two wooden crosses in her hooves that were attached to the wires binding Celestia. “Thank ye all for coming fair Mares, Gentlestallions, and Drakes alike!” Luna announced (“what about me?!” Discord pouted) “And now it is time for Princess Celestia to begin her performance!”
The audience cheered while Discord began to hand out popcorn bags.
Celestia looked up to the spectator box where Luna was. Luna was grinning devilishly as she pulled down an eye with a hoof and stuck out her tongue. Celestia watched as a sign was levitated up behind Luna so she could read it.
Luna wins: 158, Celestia wins: 0
Little sister bests you again!
Celestia growled but couldn’t say anything as Luna pulled the strings again. And she found herself tapdancing. Celestia put on a smile and played along as she found herself moving across the stage on her hind legs tapdancing with a grace she never knew she had. Or that it was a grace Luna was controlling. And for a better part of the entire day Celestia was tapdancing until it was time to lower the sun.
Celestia’s door magically opened and the princess herself dragged herself in. Shutting the door behind her she removed her crown, golden shoes, and regalia, tossing them aside. She walked over to her wardrobe and took out a fluffy pink robe and instantly donned it.
“What a long day,” she sighed as she made her way over to her desk and sat down heavily onto her chair. It was already nighttime with a thunderstorm rolling in. The entire day was spent with her tapdancing, much to Luna’s amusement. Another prank in her favor. After it was over, she and the rest of her family had gone to the dining hall to eat. Shining, Cadence, and Flurry were going to stay at Canterlot for a while because they wanted to take a few days off from ruling the Empire. Twilight was going to stay with After dinner and desert, She and Luna lowered their respected celestial bodies and departed for the night. Luna went to go put up some more Lavenders around the castle and the rest of the family went off to bed.
Of course, this left Celestia plenty of time to plan and plot. Plot out the best course of action to take against Luna and come up with the ultimate prank!
Celestia sighed and began to rifle though the documents on her desk. Most of it was a bunch of Princess stuff, legal jargon, and official papers. Nothing like that can help her right now. Unless she was planning on boring Luna to death with copious amounts of paperwork. Celestia grunted and swept the stack of papers up in her magic and opened up a drawer to put them in. But hesitated. She had opened up the wrong one. Inside this drawer was a stack of Twilight’s friendship letters.
“I’m tired. Perhaps reminiscing about old times will cheer me up,” Celestia thought as another glow of magic pulled out the letters and shoved the documents inside the drawer in their place.
Celestia set the stack of letters down on her desk and began to read through them. A faint smile crossed her features as she thought back to the good old days. When Twilight and Spike were still relatively young and had just left Canterlot castle. Finding their own place in the world. All the lessons they learned as well as all the friends they made.
But one letter in particular managed to catch her eye. It was a letter sent to her from Twilight after a run in with somepony living in the Everfree forest. A zebra by the name of Zecora. Celestia remembered this one particularly because Ms. Zecora had migrated from her homeland to Equestria, setting up residence in the forest, but had forgotten to sign the necessary paperwork to build a home in the Everfree. Needless to say, Twilight’s letter was also a reminder for her to teleport to the Forest and acquire said signature from its new resident.
She quickly skimmed though the letter’s contents. Recalling about how suspicious Twilight was of the Zebra at first only to learn the lesson not to judge others by appearance. Her former student and her friends had stumbled into a plant called poison joke. And it led to them experiencing a number of different situations that the plant proceeded as a joke. Fluttershy is known for being shy and quiet, so she got a deep voice, Rarity like her fur and mane kept pristine and clean so she got baggy hair, Rainbow Dash brags often about her ability to fly so she got upended wings, Twilight is an adept magic user so her horn became floppy and useless, Pinkie Pie likes to talk so the plant grew out her tongue so she couldn’t talk, and lastly Applejack was scolding her little sister during the experience so the poison joke shrunk her so she would become the “little sister” and Apple Bloom would become the “big sister.”
That last bit of information interested Celestia. The gears in her mind began to turn as she thought back to the symptoms of Poison Joke. It was harmless in all regards, really all it did was alter its subject in some way and that was all.
“Yesssss. YESSSSSS. This is wonderful!” Celestia thought deviously as thunder rumbled out her window.
Grinning like a madmare she summoned a blackboard with her magic and began to furiously scribble down notes on it. Clouds of dust puffing up because of her speed of writing.
“YES! This is it! This is the perfect way to prank Lulu back one thousand-fold! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!” Celestia cackled wickedly as lightning flashed outside and rain poured down.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
“Are you ok in there Princess?” one of the guards’ muffled voice posted outside her room asked gruffly.
Celestia blushed embarrassedly “Uh, yes, my little pony! I’m quite alright! Please return to your post. I’m fine in here,”
“Uhhhhh Ok! Whatever you say!” he said.
Celestia smiled pleasantly for a second before turning back to her blackboard and continued writing on it. A sinister smirk returning to her face as another lightning strike illuminated the side of her face as she resumed her monologue.
“Not only will I best her with the perfect prank, but I will have a relaxing day myself. A stress free and prank free day all to myself!”
Celestia stopped her frantic writing, panting for breath like she had just run a marathon as she stepped back and observed her masterpiece, her magnum opus, the ultimate pièce de résistance of pranks. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed again, silhouetting Celestia’s shadow against the blackboard briefly.
“This is excellent,” Celestia said, rubbing her hooves together deviously “All that’s left is to send a request to a certain Zebra. And talk to a certain draconequus about the use of his talents.”
The next day, Princess “totally not Celestia” was darting from tree to tree in the Everfree forest. She was wearing a completely black spandex suit, goggles, a black scarf covering her muzzle and saddle bags. Totally not Celestia stopped at one particularly large oak and poked her head around the side of a tree stealthily. On the other side of it was Zecora, who just blinked at the sight.
“Do you have the stuff?” Totally not Celestia asked.
Zecora wordlessly nodded and reached into her saddlebags, pulling out a clear bag. Inside was a bunch of blue flower petals. Poison Joke petals.
Totally not Celestia nodded “And here is your payment in return madam,” she said and reached into her saddle bag. She pulled out an official paper and floated it over to the Zebra. The two traded at the same time. Zecora handed over a bunch of poison joke peddles that were specially modified by her by Celestia’s request and Celestia handing over a signed document that allowed Zecora free reign of the royal bathhouse on a day of her choosing.
After acquiring the merchandise, totally not Celestia teleported back to Canterlot castle and to her room. Shedding her disguise, revealing regular Princess Celestia underneath.
“Excellent! Looks like my plan worked. Ms. Zecora come through,” Celestia remarked as she held up one of the bags of petals up to her eyes. Examining the precious prank material inside. “Now for the setup!”
Celestia strolled outside her room and got straight to work. Every night whenever it was Luna’s turn to run the castle, she always put up lavenders flowers around the castle. This, according to Luna was to help ponies sleep more pleasantly. And of course, Luna liked the smell of the flowers as well. Celestia went about to each area where lavender flowers were planted and sprinkled a few petals inside. Carefully concealing them behind the prominent color of the lavender petals.
Grinning deviously, Celestia magicked away the flower bags and hid further down the hall. Waiting in anticipation for the big moment.
Eventually Luna came walking around the corner. She had just eaten breakfast with Cadence, Shining Armor, Twilight, and Flurry Heart. But curiously, Celestia was nowhere to be seen. She had questioned a guard about her whereabouts and was told that Celestia had to meet with somepony for a very important business deal.
Luna just shrugged. She was sure that whatever it was Celestia could handle it fine. After all, it gave her ample time to come up with more ideas for pranks!
“Now what should I try next?” She wondered as she came to a stop next to one of her lavender plants. She sat back on her hunches and tapped her hoof against her chin in contemplation. “I could try replacing her cake stash with plastic copies. No, that’s too basic. What about shaving her tail and mane? Again no, Tia will just use a spell to grow it back,” Luna sighed “This might be harder than we thought,” she said as she looked over at her lavender plant “Isn’t that right my precious?”
Luna leaned over to the lavender plant and sniffed it. She loved these plants. Not only because of their ability to sooth ponies in their dreams but also because of their pleasant scent. Though for some reason this particular plant seemed to smell like it had some spice to it. Luna didn’t really think anything of it and got right back to thinking up how to prank Celestia next.
158 wins in a row was certainly an achievement, each prank topping the last, but after the puppet tap dancing prank, how could she possibly one up that?
But as Luna was mulling this over, she began to feel a little strange. She felt like she had butterflies in her stomach. “Perhaps it was the coffee I drank? It was a new brand I was trying. I hope it doesn’t give me the runs,” she thought with a shudder. But the feeling only intensified. And she was beginning to get a little dizzy. Luna put a hoof to her head with a wince, trying to steady the feeling.
Suddenly there was a loud POP!
And Princess Luna, the most stalwart adversary in the pranking war, was shrunken down to the size of a pea. Luna let out a high-pitched squeal of fear as she began to fall to the floor, flapping her wings as hard as she could to try and fly or even cast a teleportation spell. But neither one of the options worked. She landed on the hard floor of Canterlot Castle in the middle of the hallway, cracking the tiles with the force of her impact.
“Oof!” Luna grunted as the landing knocked the wind out of her. She shakily got back up on her legs, more in shock than actually hurt. Luna looked up, and up and up. Craning her head back as she took in her new surroundings. Her ears folded down onto her head and her eye’s pupils became pinpricks as she realized just how tiny she was now. Everything was several hundred times bigger than her now! A single petal from the lavender flower fell down from and landed on the ground next to her. Now the size of a house. The impact on the ground left a resounding THUD! Even something as small as a flower leaf had a major effect on her new massive surroundings.
“H-how did this happen?!” Luna thought in a panic, her wings flaring out.
She backed up nervously on the ground because she was in a really bad spot. For some reason every time she flapped her wings, she couldn’t fly off the floor. And for some other reason she couldn’t use her magic at all! She was completely helpless!
“Alright Luna don’t panic. All you need to do is find somepony and get their help. As the foals say: Easy peasy lemon squeezy!” Luna thought “N-now. All I need to do is find somepony-”
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Luna stared around in shock as her surroundings began to shake. Hoofsteps. Giant hoofsteps were heading her way. And from the sound of it, they belonged to multiple owners. “Hopefully they can help me,” She thought confidently.
The booming sound of the hoofsteps continued, increasing in velocity and power, causing little Luna to stumble around even more amidst the quaking ground, until the humongous owners stepped out from around the corner.
Luna looked up and felt her stomach drop at the sight. Normally she was used to her little ponies always having to look up to her. Both literally and figuratively. Even when she was purged from Nightmare Moon, she was still a head taller than her subject in her depowered state. She never once imagined that she’d be in a position where she’d have to arc her neck back so far just to try and see their faces.
That was not the case anymore.
Two guards walked around the corner, deep in conversation, their powerful voices echoing through the air and their mighty strides sending tremors throughout the ground. Both of them standing over 500 feet tall!
“O-ok Luna. N-n-no problem. All you need to do is get their attention and they can help you,” Luna said to herself nervously as she watched them walk closer to her. The vibrations becoming more intense.
“Down here our faithful guards! Your Princess requires your immediate aid!” Luna hollered at the top of her tiny lungs.
There was no noticeable reaction from the guards as they continued to talk amongst themselves. Their gigantic hooves getting closer and closer.
Luna became shrouded in their shadow as she began to hop up and down, waving her wings and her forelegs frantically as the two giants walked closer, the underside of the gigantic muzzles still pointing forward. “Hey! Down here! I’m down here guards!” Luna shouted. But it fell on deaf ears. She was simply too small.
One of the guards raised his hoof into the air and began to lower it as he took another step. Luna’s eyes went wide as she was caught directly underneath the colossal hoof. The shadow on the ground became bigger as the huge hoof lowered itself towards the ground.
“EEEEEEEEK!!!” Luna shrieked in fear as she scampered away as fast as her tiny legs could take her. The ant sized Princess of the moon desperately trying not to get squashed under the royal guard’s hoof. And not a moment too soon.
THOOOOOOM!!
Luna dove forward, landing on her stomach and sliding forward on the ground a little as she just barely avoided being squished. A mountainous wall of gold slammed down behind her as the guard’s golden hoofshoe landed on the ground, before lifting up as he took another step. Luna looked on with her mouth open in shock as she watched the two giants casually walk by, her tiny world trembling with the force of a major earthquake as they did so. After that close call the other guard simply stepped over the shrunken Luna, completely unaware she was almost squashed like a bug, and the two of them continued down the hall, chatting about the stats of the latest Buckball game.
“T-that w-was a l-l-little TOO close,” Luna shuddered at the near miss as she watched the giants round another corner at the end of the hall, disappearing from sight. The shaking ground finally easing up. But as Luna was just beginning to brush herself off and contemplate her next move, she felt the ground beginning to shake again. With the all too familiar sound of thunder in the air
THOOOM! THOOOM! THOOOM! THOOOM!
Luna crouched down on the ground to avoid falling over as the floor began to quake once more from the sound of gigantic hoofsteps. But there was something different about it this time.
“I do not know how to describe it, but these sound much…heavier than normal,” Luna thought as amidst the trembling ground “Almost as if the pony causing this is much larger,”
And right she was, as at that second the perpetrator stepped out from around the corner and into the view of the itty-bitty Luna.
Princess Celestia.
If Luna thought the guards were big before, it was nothing compared to the staggering and somewhat frightening size of her now EXTREAMLY big sister. Celestia was always the biggest pony around, Luna and all of their subjects had to look up to her. And now because of her shrunken self, Celestia had to have been over 1000 feet tall! And the gargantuan sun princess was walking right towards her! Luna tried to stand up to run out of the way of Celestia’s enormous hooves but found that to be practically impossible, the shaking was too much.
Celestia’s golden clad hoof slammed down on the ground right in front of her with a momentous BOOOOOOOM! launching little Luna up into the air before causing her to fall back down onto the hard floor.
Luna groaning, rubbing her soar rump for taking the brunt of the impact as she cambered back up to her hooves.
“Thankfully that ridiculous shaking stopped. Honestly Tia you need to lay off the cake! It was just you walking down here and yet felt like a whole army was stomping down the hallway.” But then Luna realized something. The shaking stopped. And she was sure Celestia hadn’t stepped over her or walked down the hallway. Which meant…
Luna gulped and slowly turned around. Finding Celestia’s castle sized hooves directly behind her. And even more slowly she began to look up higher, and higher. Spotting her colossal sister looking down at her with a triumphant smirk on her face.
Luna watched as Celestia’s colossal wing unfurled from her side and began to lower itself towards her diminutive form. Now, normally Luna would be ecstatic that somepony finally noticed her on the ground, but the look on Celestia’s face wasn’t at all reassuring to her. As if it was instinct Luna’s legs began flailing as she revved up and began dashing away. Luna thought she was running pretty fast, covering a lot of ground. Though in reality, from Celestia’s perspective, Luna was barely going anywhere.
Celestia’s wing reached down and gently plucked up her puny sister, holding her snugly between two feather tips like they were fingers. She held Luna up to her face with a smirk.
“Well, hello down there my very little sister. Are you ready to spend the day with your really big sister?” Celestia boomed, her voice shook the air.
“Tia! What are you doing?!” Luna squeaked as she struggled fruitlessly against the feathered grip of her giant older sister “Let me go at once!” Celestia tutted as she began to walk away with Luna in her grasp “Sorry Lulu, no can do. I believe it’s high time for me to get a win against you in our prank war, no?”
Luna gulped.
“You see my little sister, I wanted to spend a nice relaxing day not worrying about being ambushed by one of your tricks or traps. So, I simply procured the means to do so. I simply asked Ms. Zecora to modify some poison joke to replicate the same effect it had on Ms. Applejack. One that would greatly reduce your size. And to make sure you didn’t try to escape; I also went to Discord, and he was all too happy to modify it again. After you sniffed the flower, it also knocked out your magic and flight capabilities for the next 24 hours!” Celestia explained with a chuckle as she walked down the hall. The sun Princess was taking care in putting a little extra weight into each step to make sure Luna could feel the power behind it in her miniaturized state.
They eventually reached a set of doors leading to the royal dining hall. Celestia ignited her horn and gently pushed open the doors with a wave of gold magic and strolled inside. She walked past all the rows of tables before reaching the back where several ponies were waiting.
“Ta-da!” Celestia announced cheerily holding out Luna to her family members present so they could take a look at her.
“Wow. I can’t believe it actually worked,” Shining Armor said as he leaned over to look.
“Indeed,” said Cadence “I had my doubts, but it looks like your plan went off without a hitch Auntie,”
“Wow Princess!” Twilight gushed as she stared at Luna with awe “You actually did it! Did you use that shrinking spell you found in the advanced spell caster’s guidebook I gave you?”
“Wait, you knew about this scheme Tia cooked up?!” Luna squawked indigently, but her voice was completely overshowed by Celestia’s much more powerful voice filling the air “I considered it my dear former student, but ultimately the spell couldn’t be something that could be altered to get my desired effects like knocking out Luna’s magic. Fortunately, I found an alternative,” she answered as she set Luna down on a table and pulled up a seat to discuss the details of how she managed to shrink Luna.
Luna huffed as she watched her giant family members conversing about Celestia’s first win in the prank war in the background “Why of all the nerve! Shrinking me and then setting me aside like I’m some common hairbrush! Ohhh, you best believe that I will find a prank most fitting to play on you Tia! That much is certain!” she said as she turned around, stuck her nose up in the air, and planted her rump firmly on the ground.
Only to feel the tingle of magic surrounding her again. Luna opened her eyes in alarm and yelped as she was carried off the table and onto the ground. Luna got back onto her hooves and turned around to face her assailant.
Flurry Heart. She was hiding under the table with a teddy bear hidden by the tablecloth, giggling happily and clapping her hooves together.
Luna began backing up slowly “N-now Flurry dear. Let’s not do anything hasty shall we? It’s Grandma Luna, remember?” she said hopefully.
Flurry giggled and held up her teddy bear. She looked back at Luna with the same childish innocence and naivety “Dolly!” she squealed happily “Dolly play! Play monsters! Rawr!”
Flurry’s magic engulfed the bear and made it stand on its two legs. Luna began backing up even more as she saw the bear begin to walk towards her with Flurry imitating monster noises in the background.
“Curses!” Luna thought “If only I had my magic I could just simply fly away!” Luna had no choice but to flee from the fifty-foot-tall teddy bear. Though unfortunately for her, her small stature made outrunning the huge stuffed animal rather difficult.
Panting Luna found her path blocked by the enormous table leg. A shadow fell over her. Luna’s ears flattened themselves against her head as she looked up to see the underside of the teddy bear’s foot beginning to lower itself towards her.
“EEEK! NOT AGAIN!!” Luna hollered as she scurried to the side just as the fluffy pillar slammed down behind her, all the while Flurry’s childish giggling filled the air behind her. But as Luna found herself cornered again at another one of the table’s legs, she felt the floor rumbling again. The sounds of giant hoofsteps filled the air once more.
And just as suddenly the tablecloth covering was pulled up by a wave of magenta magic, revealing the humongous face of Shining Armor as he poked his muzzle underneath the table.
“So, here’s where you ran off to ya little munchkin!” he chuckled as he gently scooped up a still giggling Flurry into his hooves and cradled her against his chest. Cadence walked over to them “Awww, so that’s where you were dear. Were you having fun with your teddy?” she asked.
Flurry made a few baby noises which Cadence apparently took as an answer because she giggled and took Flurry into her arms and hugged her. The two giant royals stomped off, sending quakes through the floor as they walked away.
Luna sat down on the ground panting, wiping off sweat from her brow with her wing. “Thank goodness that’s over with,” she said to herself “Of all things, almost done in by a teddy bear. This sounds like something Discord would come up with. Too bad I couldn’t- EEEEEKKK!!” Luna was cut off as a pair of gargantuan white feathers snuck under the table and plucked her up by her tail. She was carried up through the air and was once more staring upside down at the muzzle of her gigantic sister. Celestia looked down at her with a bemused grin.
“Sorry about that Lulu, almost lost track of you for a second. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure lose you again so easily. Because now I can finally enjoy my day! And you my dear sister will be spending some huge quality time with your gigantic big sister every step of the way!” Celestia boomed happily.
Luna groaned and facehooved “You already got me with this stupid shrinking thing,” she squeaked up to the giant magenta eyes looming above her “Can’t you let me off the hook now?” Luna asked.
Celestia smirked as she looked upwards thoughtfully, tapping a hoof against her chin for added effect “Well… I most certainly could do that. No doubt about that. However, I don’t think I will Luna. After all the score is currently 158 to 0 is it not? I want to spend the day making up for lost time,” she said as she floated Luna closer to her eyes “How does that sound?”
Luna gulped “W-well I think we can let bygones be bygones and simply go about our day, yes?”
Celestia grinned “Nope. We’re spending the day together! Big sister’s order!” she said cheerfully as she began to prance towards the door “Now let’s get started!”
Celestia walked down the hall, passing several guards and other castle staff members as she did so. The sun princess taking the time to properly greet her subjects with a warm smile and wave. Celestia sighed pleasantly as she continued her stroll through the castle. She was really enjoying the peace of mind she had gotten herself today. No worrying about nobles in the morning court, no monster attacking Equestria, and most importantly of all; no Luna scheming behind the scenes trying to prank her. That minor annoyance had been delt with for the day and Celestia couldn’t be happier. Though the same couldn’t be said about her tiny passenger stuck in a particular place.
“Having fun down there Lulu?” Celestia teased as she snuck a glance behind her while she was walking. Gazing down at her back towards where her cutie mark was. And on it, directly in the center of her sun mark, was a tiny blue moon princess taped to her rump “Looks like the sun has completely eclipsed the moon this fine morning, no? It only makes sense after all. The sun is much bigger than the moon,”
THOOOM! THOOOM! THOOOM! THOOOM!
The thunderous sound of Celestia’s mighty hoofsteps shook Luna to the core as she grunted and attempted to push back against the tape pinning her to the colossal cheek. Though it seemed to be no use. Gone was her enhanced Alicorn strength, vanished along with the rest of her magic because of her tiny stature. She could only allow herself to go along for the ride, taped to the sun on Celestia’s flank that slightly jiggled with each step.
“Tia, you REALLY need to lay off the cake.” Luna grumbled as she was stuck to the wiggling rump. She had no choice but to submit to her situation.
Celestia giggled lightly into a hoof as she stood outside another closed door “Did you enjoy the ride, Lulu?” she asked, turning around and peering down at her shrunken sister with a playful look in her eyes “Hope you’re ready for some real relaxation! I plan to go the entire nine yards with this next activity. Don’t worry, I made sure to include you as well. It wouldn’t be fair for you if you got to simply watch me enjoy myself,” Celestia said as she gave her rear a little shake, sending earthquakes down to rock Luna miniature frame before stepping through the door, chucking as she did so.
“Ah! Princess Celestia! Are you ready for your spa appointment today?” asked a voice from inside the room.
Celestia looked forward, spying the castle’s spa manager in front of her holding a clipboard. “Yes, my little pony, thank you very much for taking time out of your day to do this for me,” Celestia said kindly.
The mare, Soothing Hooves nodded earnestly “It is of no problem at all Princess! I’m most happy to help you,” she said as she began flipping through her papers. “Let’s see, you wished to have a facial done, use of the hot tub for two hours, and a full body massage, correct?” she asked.
Celestia nodded “That is correct my dear. Though if I may, would it be possible for the facial to be done while I’m in the hot tub?” she asked.
Soothing nodded “Of course it can be done Princess. I would be happy to make the necessary arrangements for you. Now then please head down to your private room and I shall be right down,” she said.
Celestia nodded, thanking the spa pony once more and departed. Once she was in her room, she took off her crown and set it down on a nearby dresser. Next, she removed her golden shoes and packed them neatly in a pile next to her crown, followed by her regalia, and lastly Luna. Celestia magicked the tap away and teleported Luna onto the dresser next to all of her accessories. Celestia smiled and kneeled down to Luna’s tiny little eye level “Ready for a nice relaxing spa day Lulu?” she asked, “because I know I am.” Celestia giggled and stood back up as she left to examine the room. Checking out all the spa products that were lined up against the wall.
Luna blinked meanwhile was blinking stars out of eyes at the sudden teleportation, now finding herself next to Celestia’s castle sized crown. She winced, still disorientated as Celestia’s booming voice shook her to the core as she asked Luna about the spa day. But before Luna could respond Celestia was already standing back up, now completely towering over the tiny mare as she left to wander the room. Each one of her steps sending another earthquake through the room.
Luna sighed; she had really been bested today, hadn’t she? And now Celestia was seeing fit that she got even for every humiliation Luna had put her though since the prank war began. Ok, maybe messing up Celestia’s meeting with foreign delegates that one time had been a tad too far, and maybe filling Celestia’s room with chickens even though she knew she had a phobia was mean, but at least she still was leading in terms of pranks, right?
“I say Moonbutt, you’ve gotten yourself into quite a predicament, haven’t you?” Discord’s voice oozed out around her.
Luna’s head snapped up as she frantically looked around “Discord!” she hissed “Where are you? I need your help right now!”
There was a flash and a pop and Luna found herself staring at the Lord of Chaos floating upside down in front of her, the same size she was. “And how might I be of service Luna?” Discord asked with a grin.
“I can still win the prank off for today! All I need you to do is grow me back to normal, shrink Celestia, and everything will be perfect! You can do that right? my dear pranking partner in crime? You did help me with the tap-dancing prank yesterday after all,” Luna stated looking at Discord hopefully.
Discord tugged his goatee thoughtfully “Well yes, there is that. You and I have been teaming up a lot as of late to prank your dear gigantic sunbutt over there,” he said as he looked off into the distance where the city sized Celestia had her back turned to them as she examined a unique looking bottle of mane shampoo “However my dear I’m afraid that’s a no can do for today,” he said.
Luna thought she heard glass breaking somewhere “…what?” she asked uncertainly, as if thinking she misheard the draconequus “WHY?”
“Unfortunately, Luna, Celestia already sought out my help for today. If I do a certain favor for her then she’ll allow me to make use of the royal suite and the chefs in the castle. I plan on taking dear Fluttershy on a special date next week. One I’m sure she’ll like, we’ll even be next to the castle gardens so she can spend time with the critters there,” Discord said.
Luna groaned, bouncing around in place as her giant sister walked around in the background, the power from her steps causing the dresser to shake, even from there “Let me guess, the favor was to alter the poison joke and remove my magic for today, correct?” she asked.
“Actually, that was only half of the deal. I’m here to fulfill the other half,” Discord said as he floated right side up and touched down onto the ground “I do believe about now would be the best time to do it,”
Luna raised an eyebrow “And what is the other half?” she asked.
“Why, getting you ready for the spa day with your humongous sister!” Discord said brightly, snapping his fingers. Luna felt a surge of magic flash though her body again as she teleported onto the spa bed where Celestia was going to have her treatment “Enjoy the spa!” Discord’s voice rang out in her head before vanishing.
“Discord? Discord? Come back right now!” Luna whispered, looking around the now Discordless room. Nothing. But as she sat back down against the soft mattress, she felt a tingle in her body. Discord’s magic swirled around her once more and before she could do anything, Luna felt herself shrinking even more! She looked around in shock as she watched her surroundings become even bigger than before.
Before she was around one to two inches. Now, she was probably smaller than a millimeter. “SERIOUSLY?!” Luna thought with a growl as she looked around with annoyance “How is this supposed to get me ready for a spa day?!”
Celestia meanwhile had just finished her impromptu tour of the spa room and was now returning to the bed where the treatment was to take place. She sighed contently as she spied the soft looking mattress before turning to look towards the dresser “It’s almost time Lulu! Get ready for a few hours of pure relaxation,” she said as she turned around to sit down on the bed.
Luna looked up in fear as the sky darkened above her. Looming high above like a mountain was Celestia. She looked bigger than ever now! Luna watched in shock and fear as the gargantuan form of her colossal sister turned around. Now towering above her like a fluffy asteroid was Celestia’s rump, and it was beginning to lower itself towards her. The world darkened under its shadow as it got closer and closer to the bed.
Luna screamed and ran for it, yelling out to Celestia wildly while trying to get her attention but to no avail. She was even tinier than she was before, no bigger than a grain of rice. Celestia sat down on the bed with a loud BOOOM! With Luna vanishing under the mountainous, fluffy white rump. Celestia sighed contently as she relaxed and waited for the Spa manager to arrive. Though for some odd reason she couldn’t get comfortable. She wiggled in place, causing the bed to shudder under her weight. Luna’s entire world rumbling like an earthquake.
Celestia snorted with annoyance as she got back up from the bed and turned around, peering down at the impact where she was sitting to try and find the annoying little thing that was pricking into her hindquarters. She leaned in towards the mattress and spotted a tiny little speck of dark blue flattened in the center of her rump print.
“Luna? Is that you all the way down there?” Celestia stifled a giggle behind her hoof as she leaned back up with an amused smirk “Apologies for that my little sister. I hadn’t realized Discord dropped by to fulfill the next part of my plan. Though, I guess you can say that once more, the sun has greatly eclipsed the moon today, no?”
Luna only groaned as her flattened form laid sprawled out on the mattress as Celestia’s thunderous giggles shook the air while another wave of golden magic, courtesy of Celestia enveloped her tiny form. She was lifted into the air and held up to Celestia’s castle sized magenta eye.
“Cute seeing you so tiny dear sister. You look absolutely adorable like this! You know, I’m almost tempted to keep you tiny,” Celestia said pleasantly as she sat back down on the bed again. Luna was wincing as she heard a faint BOOM! coming from the impact.
“You better not even think about it!” Luna squeaked, her high-pitched voice barely reaching her big sister’s ears. Celestia grinned “I’m sorry Lulu, could you repeat that please?” she asked sweetly.
“I said you better not think about keeping me tiny!” Luna hollered again, flailing her hooves and legs angrily.
Luna was then floated up to Celestia’s colossal ears “One more tiiiiiimeee,” Celestia sang playfully. Luna groaned and facehooved. She put booth of her hooves in front of her mouth and shouted with the royal Canterlot voice “I SAID YOU BETTER NOT KEEP ME SHRUNK TIA!!” Luna yelled with all her tiny might.
“Ohhh that’s what you said! It’s so hard to hear you now Lulu. You know, I should probably come up with some ways you can properly talk to me if I ever decide to keep you tiny,” Celestia giggled as she floated Luna back onto the dresser and laid back down on the mattress, winking at Luna’s diminutive form.
Luna huffed and sat down on her hunches, crossing her forelegs and pouting at her giant sister’s teasing. Though she couldn’t really argue it wasn’t deserved because Celestia had been on the receiving end of her teasing 158 times. Doesn’t mean she had to like it though.
It wasn’t long before the Spa pony finally came into the room. “Alright your highness, I’ve been made aware of the special circumstances by Mr. Discord and I’m ready to start your treatment. Please follow me to the royal hot tub!” she said enthusiastically.
Celestia picked up Luna in her magic and dropped her into her mane as she followed the spa mare. Luna yelped as she now found herself in a huge field of flowing blue, green, and pink mane. She wasn’t too thrilled about being handled like some common toy “Though I have to admit, Tia knows how to take care of her mane,” Luna thought as she settled down against the soft strands “And it masks that pesky shaking from Tia’s walking too!”
Celestia followed the mare into another room with a large hot tub inside. She made her way to the edge of the tub before dipping a hoof into the water. Deciding that the temperature was satisfactory, Celestia lowered the rest of herself into the pleasantly warm water. She sighed contently as she felt her muscles loosen up and relax. Days upon days of stress building up within her finally getting set free as she relaxed. Celestia wadded her way over to the edge of the tub and reclined against the edge. A floating arm and back rest were then placed into the water with her so she could recline back on.
“Here you go your highness,” The spa mare said and produced two cucumbers slices.
“Thank you my dear,” Celestia said “Just let me do something first before you begin.” Celestia took one of the cucumbers slices and carefully removed one of the seeds with her magic. She flicked it aside and called out “Are you ready Lulu? Enjoy your bath as well!” Celestia giggled as she gently engulfed Luna in her magic and plucked her off her mane. Luna flailed as she was floated up again. She was carried up to Celestia’s gigantic eye once more, which simply looked down at her with an amused twinkle reflected within before a house sized cucumbers slice settled down on either one of her eyes. Luna yelped as she was then carried to one of the slices and then promptly inserted down inside the open slot where one of the seeds had been, landing down in the herbal juices with a splat!
“Alright dear,” Celestia’s voice boomed, shaking Luna to the core “You may begin now.” The giant spa mare looked down at Luna with a questioning smile but nevertheless complied. Luna tried to signal to her to get her out, but Celestia had set her down in such a way that it was difficult for her to move her head and neck. She could barely speak, and even if she could, she doubted it would be loud enough for the giant mare to hear.
Luna looked up as a shadow fell over her, she whimpered in fear as she saw the mare’s building sized hooves descending from the sky towards Celestia’s face. The spa mare began to rub a green herbal formula on Celestia’s muzzle and head, covering it completely in the soothing paste. Once she was finished, she cleaned her hooves and spoke up “Alright your highness, you can relax in the hot tub for a while then I’ll come back for your massage, ok?” she said before turning to Luna “And Princess, do enjoy your, ahem, small herbal bath. The cucumber slices are all filled with a nourishing and refreshing mixture to rejuvenate anypony’s tired bones and muscles. Not to mention give them remarkably clear fur!” she said happily as she began to back away from the pair and out the door “Enjoy your time your highnesses!”
And with that last remark, she was gone.
Celestia sighed contently and settled back into the warm waters of the hot tub, kicking up her hooves and resting her head as she enjoyed the rare time for herself to relax. And to some extent, though she would never admit it, even Luna ended up enjoying her tiny herbal bath on the colossal cucumber slice. Though Celestia’s occasional shifting would generate the occasional earthquake, splooshing water all over the puny pony princess of the moon.
The two of them remained in the hot tube for about two hours, simply enjoying the moment. Luna did try speaking to Celestia once or twice, but she was so small now that all her voice sounded like to Celestia were squeaks. And much to her annoyance, Celestia exclaimed in pleasure how adorable she was now.
After the two hours were done, the spa mare returned with a bright smile on her face.
“Did you enjoy the hot tub and herbal bath your highnesses?” she asked.
Celestia giggled and levitated the cucumber slices off her eyes, suspending them in midair as she turned to face the spa pony “Yes, my little pony, I did. Thank you for your hard work in putting this together,”
The mare smiled and waved her hoof with an embarrassed blush “Oh it was nothing your majesty! I’m happy to help. Now then, are you ready for your massage?”
Celestia brightened “Ohhh YES! I’ve been looking forward for this!” she tittered happily. The spa pony nodded “Very well then, I shall go prepare. Please join me in the next room as soon as you are ready,” she said and headed out once more.
Celestia grinned and clambered out of the hot tub, droves of the scalding water cascading off of her like a small waterfall. She subtly glanced around to make sure nopony was watching before stretching out and shaking herself off like a good doggo. Sending water droplets everywhere. Celestia snickered “Oh I’ve always wanted to try that,” she said as she levitated a warm towel over towards herself. Wrapping it around her flowing pastel colored mane in a bun.
“Alrighty then! I believe it is time to go for my massage,” she said to herself as she levitated the cucumber pieces back over to herself. Luna looked up in fright as the slice she was on began to float towards Celestia’s mouth. She watched in fear as Celestia’s mouth opened and the cucumber slice began to glide in.
“TIA NOOOOO!” Luna squealed as she scrambled to her hooves, skidding on the slick surface of the fruit as the shrunken moon princess skittered towards the edge of the stadium sized slice she was on. And not a moment too soon. She leapt off the edge and onto the second cucumber slice as Celestia’s mouth closed with an echoing BOOM! sending small green chunks of cucumber and juice out everywhere. Luna shrieked as the green juice splooshed onto her tiny frame along with the fruit’s chunks.
Celestia munched away happily on the slice, completely oblivious to her tiny sister’s plight as she walked out the door and down the hall to where she was going to have her massage. Luna once more getting subjected to her mountain sized sister’s thunderous hoofsteps reverberating through the air as she strolled about.
“Ah, that really hit the spot, Lulu! Nothing like a good snack after a relaxing bath!” Celestia chirped. Luna found herself caught in Celestia’s magic once more and levitated up. She was dropped down on Celestia’s mane on top of her head at the base of her horn. “I’m gonna have to set you down there for a bit Luna. Don’t want to accidently eat you!” Celestia giggled as she tossed the second cucumber slice into her mouth and munched on it.
Luna groaned and facehoofed “Thou must be jesting,” she grumbled as she swayed about from the movements of the living, fluffy ‘ground’ she was on “We were almost consumed by accident because our behemoth of a sister forgot what slice of fruit we were on? Tia, thou art such a featherbrain sometimes!”
Celestia soon reached the door to the room she was in previously and entered it. Once inside she saw the spa mare setting down the final bottles of herbal oils and creams on the counter next to the bed. Her ears perked up as she heard the door open. Turning around she saw Celestia enter the room.
“Welcome back Princess,” the mare said as she dipped down into a bow “I have everything prepared for you as you have requested. Please lay back here on the bed,”
“That you my dear,” Celestia said kindly as she walked over to the bed, levitating Luna off her head and plopping her down onto the dresser where her regalia, shoes, and crown all loomed over her. Celestia sprang up onto the bed, standing on the mattresses and walking around in a circle a few times, smoothing out the lumps, before plopping down onto the soft surface. The spa mare began her final treatment of the day while Luna watched jealously from her perch. Her cheeks pouting and forelegs crossed as she saw the expert massage Celestia was given.
“Thank you for stopping by Princess! Do come again soon, it’s not every day you make use of the royal masseuse,”
Celestia smiled and waved back as she headed off down the hall “I’ll most certainly try. Thank you again, my little pony. Have a wonderful day!” Celestia looked like she was positively glowing as bright as her sun as she strolled through the corridors of Canterlot Castle. Now readorned with her golden princess accessories, she began to head back towards her quarters “That was wonderful Lulu! Didn’t you enjoy?” Celestia asked, sneaking a glance back at her flank. There, Luna found herself once more stuck to Celestia’s gigantic sun cutie mark.
“Nay, it was not wonderful sister!” Luna squeaked as she pointed an accusatory hoof up her while she jiggled about amidst the walking “Thou nearly ate us and thee was none the wiser!”
Celestia winced apologetically, her ears flattening against her head “Sorry again for that Lulu. I truly forgot that was the cucumber slice you were on. They must have gotten mixed up while I was talking to the manager. Rather silly of me to forget I must say.”
After the spa treatment had ended, Discord’s spell wore off Luna, restoring her height slightly to what it was before she was shrunk again. Now at one inch tall, at least with Celestia’s mighty powers she could at least be heard now. And Luna wasted no time chastising her elder sister over what happened.
“Humph!” Luna grunted and crossed her forelegs, sticking her tongue out at Celestia “We demand compensation for your misstep,” she said.
“Ok, what do you want?” Celestia asked as she rounded a corner, passing by a pair of guards who stopped to salute her.
“Grow me back to normal size!” Luna hollered.
“Not that. We’ve still got the rest of the day ahead of us and there’s still plenty for us to do,” Celestia said lightheartedly.
“Oh, come on! I’ve already been put in danger more than once today. My request is not unreasonable!” Luna exclaimed. But then a metaphorical light bulb appeared above her head. A sinister smirk formed on her mouth as Luna rubbed her hooves together as the perfect plan sprung into her mind “Fine then! At least let me have some of my guards accompany me so I don’t get into anymore danger,” Luna said.
Celestia thought for a second before shrugging “Sounds reasonable to me Lulu. Your wellbeing does come first before any prank after all,” she said as she entered her quarters. Celestia walked over to her bed and lit up her horn. Luna felt herself get peeled off of Celestia’s flank and deposited down on the soft surface. Luna stared up and her towering sister, who lowered her head to better look at the diminutive form of the lunar princess. “Ok Luna, wait here and rest for a bit and I’ll go ask some of your guards to accompany us,” she said.
“I want to have a say in who’s picked!” Luna called up to her “I want Storm Striker and Lionheart!”
Celestia nodded, repeating the names once more before turning around and walking out the door to find them. Luna sighed contently and laid back on the humongous bed. “I can’t believe Tia actually fell for that!” she thought giddily as she rolled around on the soft surface “I hoof picked the two most loyal thestral guards I have! All I have to do is ask Tia to let them carry me and then order them to grow me back to normal. This is a win-win situation! Then I’ll come up with a way to prank Celestia back. Oh, just you wait Tia. Once my guards grow me back to normal, I shall make sure thy humiliation will be doubled!” Luna snickered to herself. All she had to do now was wait for her guards and then it would be smooth sailing from there.
Meanwhile
Celestia walked through the halls, her head held up regally and gracefully as she headed down to the guard’s quarters. Her picture-perfect princess look plastered all over her as she greeted some more of the staff she came across. But internally she was smirking triumphantly.
“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re plotting Lulu. Trying to one up your big sis by having your most loyal lunar guards restore your size huh? Not gonna happen on my watch!” Celestia thought. A wicked smile began to spread across her mouth “And I know just how to get around this little predicament. Don’t worry Luna. You’ll get your guards as you requested. Though they won’t be in any condition to aid you. If anything, I’ll be the one having to protect them from the big scary world. Just you wait. I’ll have the last laugh!” Celestia grin widened, and she burst out cackling, starting everypony in the vicinity as she mustered up her best supervillain laugh.
Ponies stared at their ruler laughing her head like a crazy pony off before Celestia finally toned it down. She wheezed for breath “I think I overdid it,” she coughed. After finally looking up, she noticed she was the center of attention, with all the ponies around her just staring at her in disbelief. Celestia grinned sheepishly, a fiery blush streaked down her face as she looked around in embarrassment “Ummm…. Carry on everypony.” She said before turning tail and booking it for the guard’s quarters. The ponies left behind just stared at the dust cloud in spot Celestia was just at, still gawking in amazement at what they just witnessed.
Celestia’s quarters
Luna’s ears perked up as she heard hoofsteps approaching the bedroom door. “Ah excellent. My rescue is finally at hoof! Beware sister! For I shall prank you back with upmost swiftness once my size has been restored!” Luna announced as she sat up and raised her hoof in determination “Um, that is, once I have actually thought of a prank,”
The doorknob twisted to the side. Luna watched with rapt attention; her growing excitement could barely be contained. The elegant door swung open and in stepped Celestia.
…only Celestia.
Luna swiveled her head to the side and tried to look past her sister’s mountainous frame as she thundered over to the bed. Hoping to catch a glimpse of one of her thestral guards. But there was nopony else outside the door. The victorious grin slowly slid off Luna’s face as she blinked dumbly at the opened door, Celestia making it to her bed where Luna resided.
“Tia what gives?!” Luna yelled up at her sister, who herself looked like she was trying not to laugh “You said you’d get my guards for me to protect me!”
Celestia, however, was keeping her mouth shut while shaking with laughter. A small snort escaped her, but she was finally able to get it under control. She looked down at Luna’s tiny furious form with mirth in her eyes.
“Whatever do you mean Luna? Of course, I got your guards,” Celestia said mischievously as she raised one of her wings “See? They’re right here.” Luna stared in confusion as Celestia’s stadium sized wing lowered and brushed itself down on the bed before lifting away.
And Luna felt her jaw drop to the floor.
For right in front of her, standing at exactly the same size she was, was Lionheart and Storm Striker. The two stallions bearing bright grins and waving at her excitedly. “Hiya Princess Luna!” Storm and Lionheart greeted her enthusiastically.
Luna’s eye twitched as she glared at them “And. What. Exactly. Are. You. Two. Doing?” she growled. Completely oblivious to their lunar princess’ anger, Lionheart cheerfully replied “Princess Celestia asked for us at the guard’s quarters. She said that you requested us personally to guard you for the rest of the day. But Princess Celestia offered to give us our own complementary cakes from her personal cake stash if we didn’t listen to your orders for the rest of the day but keep you safe. Of course, we had to take the cake your highness. Not just anypony gets some first-class cake from Princess Celestia’s personal storage. Ponies would riot for a taste of first-class deserts.”
“Before we left Princess Celestia asked us to smell some of those lavender plants that you always keep around the palace. She said that it’ll help us keep a better eye on you. So, we did, and we got shrunk down! Princess Celestia almost squished us trying to find us in the carpet fibers! After she nabbed us off the ground, she said that we could still guard you if we want but she said that she’ll have to keep us safe now too,” Storm laughed “Ain’t that funny? The princess gotta be the one to look after her guards now,”
Luna felt the gears in her brain short circuit as her plans crumbled right before her eyes. Her two best guards had been shrunk down to the same size as her, they smelled the lavender flower which means their magic was knocked out too, and they were bought off with cake of all things! Luna gritted her teeth as she glared up at Celestia looming over them, watching what was happening with amusement. She noticed Luna’s glare and smirked, sticking out her tongue as she levitated a small card up above her head for Luna to read.
Big, Powerful, and Wonderful Sister: 2, Itty-bitty little Luna: got completely owned.
Luna didn’t think it was possible for her to gnash her teeth in frustration anymore that she already did, but somehow, she found a way as she read the text on the card.
Celestia giggled as she poofed away the card and eyed up the three shrunken ponies before her “Now come along little ones. We’ve got the rest of the day ahead of us!”
Author's Note
This was my end of a trade with Tsitra360. I was asked to make a story based off of this picture with ideas and scenes given to me to add.
That Shrinking Feeling: Part 2
“Alright class, everypony get out your notebooks and quills! It’s time for us to start a new subject. The one you have all been waiting for: Astronomy!” the classroom of foals cheered happily, all of them were eager to begin the subject that has been talked up for the entire semester. Their teacher, Mrs. Light Halo, and the professor of Astronomy at Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns looked on proudly at her class’s eagerness.
Once everypony had settled down and their attention was on her, Mrs. Light cleared her throat and began the lecture “As you all know, the planet we live on is called Equis. It is one planet of several in the solar system. Now, can anypony tell me-”
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
Mrs. Light stopped talking, her ears perking at the unexpected disruption. “Just a minute class, I’ll be right back,” she said as she walked over to the door. Her class watched on in confusion as Mrs. Light opened the door and stepped outside, closing it behind her. The foals heard a very audible gasp come from their teacher outside, followed by some undistinguishable words as she conversed with somepony else outside. But it didn’t take long before the door opened again once more. Mrs. Light stepped back inside with a large smile on her face “Alright everypony, it looks like today’s class just got even better. We have a surprise guest here who will be teaching alongside me today. Please give a warm welcome to Princess Celestia!”
Everypony gasped with delight and stamped their hooves in applause as the door opened and in stepped the Princess of the Sun. Celestia smiled gently at the class as she walked to the front of the room and spread her wings widely “Good morning everypony! How are you all doing this lovely day?”
“We’re doing good Princess Celestia!” The class shouted in unison. Celestia smiled “Excellent! Are you all ready to begin your lesson today?” she asked. There was another rousing sound of excitement from the class, much to Celestia’s delight. She walked back over to Mrs. Light at the front of the room and nodded to her “whenever you’re ready,” she said to her. Light Halo pulled out a map of the solar system and put it on the blackboard.
“Not much is known about the solar system, as ponies to this day are still learning about space by looking to the stars with their telescopes. They can see many different planets, stars, and of course; the moon!”
The class watched on attentively as Mrs. Halo continued “Now then, Princess Luna has confirmed from her…er…trip to the moon, that it is completely silent up in space. There is no air for normal ponies to breath in space, so if a pony were to one day launch themselves up there, they better bring a spare supply with them!”
The class giggled at the thought of someone going to the moon. It just seemed so ridiculous! Celestia looked over to the class “Alright class, does anyone want to tell me about how the day and night cycles works?” she asked, as she used her magic to poof a small model of Equis appeared in front of her, held aloft by her magic. Complete with a small sun and moon. Though, strangely, something was off about the moon model. Something that nopony other than Celestia had any knowledge of. Yet.
A colt in the front raised his hoof. As Mrs. Light called on him, Celestia subtly activated her magic, causing her horn to glow a very faint gold. If everyone’s attention hadn’t been on the colt giving his answer (who was double checking his notes just to be sure), they would have noticed two small figures float out from the confines of Celestia’s regalia and up to the light fixture on the ceiling. Lionheart and Storm Striker were gently deposited down where they were able to have a full view of the classroom.
“Shame the ride’s over already. I almost went to sleep in there. Who knew Princess Celestia’s fur was so soft?” Lionheart said to his partner as the two of them crawled to the edge of the light fixture and peered down “It was like sleeping on a cloud. But even softer,”
Storm nodded as he gazed down on the scene below “I know right? I was just as surprised as you were. And for some reason the booming hoofsteps and small tremors were the perfect white noise in the background. I totally would have fallen asleep too if she hadn’t placed us up here,” he said.
Down below, the colt had just finished his explanation to the class about the day and night cycle, the class applauded him, stomping their hooves against the ground, causing a mild earth to the two little guards on the ceiling.
“Excellent job young colt!” Celestia praised him proudly. She held up the model of the planet for the class to see “As you can see, the sun and moon do in fact orbit our dear home planet!”
The class held their breath as they stared, transfixed, at the model. Mrs. Light just stared at it in confusion, and the shrunken guards felt grins begin to slide across their faces as they got a good look at the planetary model. More specifically, the moon.
The entire class burst out laughing hysterically as they got a good look at it, even Mrs. Light suppressed a giggle behind her hoof. It wasn’t a moon at all! It was a fun sized Princess Luna inside a golf ball that was painted grey, with her head and legs peeping out. Luna clenched her teeth as she gave the class her best smile, all the while subtly glaring at her giant older sister, who winked back. Even the two Luner guards were chortling to themselves up in the light fixture at the sight. This was the easiest guard duty they’ve ever done! Princess Celestia practically did everything, carried them around, and they still get to be paid extra on top of their usual salaries, including some top tier cake and extra vacation time!
Smirking to herself, Celestia levitated the model up to her eyes and in front of the class “Alright colts and fillies, do we have any questions for our resident moon?” she asked sweetly.
A lone colt raised their hoof. Celestia pointed to him “Yes, you young stallion,” she said. The colt stared directly at Luna and asked with upmost confidence in his voice “What kind of cheese is the moon made of?”
“I think that went very well; wouldn’t you say Lulu?” Celestia snickered to herself as she all but pranced though the castle hallways. Luna huffed as she bobbed up and down, once more finding herself stuck to Celestia’s flank “I’ll say,” she grumbled “What have you been teaching those foals Tia? The craters on the moon were not caused by me sitting down! And I most certainly am not an alien just because I returned from the moon after 1000 years!”
Celestia burst out laughing pleasantly “Well, I certainly did not tell them any such thing. It’s probably more tall tales the foals came up with for their enjoyment,” she replied cheekily “By the way, do tell me, do you feel more attuned to your moon ever since you’ve on mine?” Celestia asked mischievously, giving her rump a small shake.
“No, I do not!” Luna shouted in her squeaky voice “All you’ve done is stick me next to your cutie mark and walk around!”
Celestia shrugged “Shame. I was sure that would work,”
Luna groaned “You’re having too much fun with this. Just you wait Tia, I’ll get you back for this. The humiliation for my pranks will be doubled!” she exclaimed. “Awww, don’t worry Lulu, I’m sure you’ll get your chance eventually. But until then, I’ll be savoring every moment of this,” Celestia said. She rounded a corner and approached another set of doors. She pushed them open, revealing that she was now inside the castle kitchens. Celestia had called ahead, kindly asking the kitchen staff to take the day off because she wanted to use the facilities. But she had requested one special food preparation from the castle chief. That very same preparation is what was going to be used for the final part of Celestia’s prank to Luna.
As Celestia stood in the doorway pushing open the doors with her magic, two small figures buzzed by her eyes and into the room. Lionheart and Storm Striker to be precise. After Celestia had returned from her school, she had requested Discord to restore their flight so the two of them could move around as they pleased, and so they can still keep an eye on Luna, as per her request. Celestia sauntered though the kitchen, making her way over to the back, where she could see precisely what she had asked the castle’s head chef to make for her.
“Alright Lulu, here we are! Hope you’re ready for some fun!” Celestia giggled as she peeled Luna off her cutie mark and held her aloft in front of her gigantic white muzzle. Her deep purple eyes focusing in on her diminutive form. “What is it now Celestia?” Luna groaned.
“Well, I was thinking, you must have gotten rather exhausted spending most of the day stuck to my cutie mark or on the cucumber slice. So how about we get you some exercise?” Celestia asked. “I’m not a hamster, I get plenty of exercise Tia,” Luna complained “If anything, you’re the one who needs it. I can feel an earthquake every time you take a step!” Celestia ignored the jab at her weight as she spun Luna around to face the table “Ta-da! What do you think?”
Luna stared “What…is this?” she asked. Laying before her was a maze. But it wasn’t just any maze, it was made entirely of cookies. Luna started salivating. If Celestia’s biggest weakness was cake, then hers was freshly baked cookies.
“The goal here is simple, reach the other side of the maze. Easy peasy right?” Luna looked at the maze. Though it was rather big, it seemed simple enough. Not to mention that it looked delicious! If she did get stuck inside the maze, she could always eat her way out. Celestia reached over, Luna still in the grasp of her wing, and dropped her down in the front of the maze. Luna landed on the soft beaked cookies on her rump. Shaking her head to clear the dizziness, she looked up to see Celestia looming high above her with an amused grin on her face.
“Whenever you’re ready Luna dear,” she boomed. Luna rolled her eyes and stepped inside the maze. “I must say, the royal head chef did a marvelous job with the décor,” Luna commented as she looked around. It was a perfect replication of the royal hedge maze, with a bunch of culinary delights around every corner. Cookie royal guards were lined up around the perimeter of the wall, gingerbread ponies were inside it, the walls were made of sugar and chocolate chip cookies (Luna’s favorites), and there were even a few fudge statues of herself and Celestia littered around inside as well.
As she walked through the entrance, the chocolate chip cookie gates shut behind her. Luna began her search through the maze. She was fairly confident she knew where she was going because of the fact that she liked to spend a lot of time wandering through the maze at night, practicing scaring her guards in preparation for Nightmare Night. Rounding a corner, she passed by another set of cookie guards. Luna smiled and threw her hoof against her head in a mock salute “At ease guards! Your Princess commands you to return to your duty!” Giggling to herself she continued trekking on.
It wasn’t long before she finally found herself in the center of the maze. Inside, she was surrounded by peanut butter and chocolate cookie walls, and a fudge statue of herself and Celestia decorating the interior. “Congratulations Luna! You’re almost there!” Celestia thundered encouragingly, her voice shaking the ground. Luna looked up to see Celestia munching on a slice of cake while leaning her head on her hoof “Don’t mind me, just gonna snag this little confectionary delight here,”
Luna eeeped as a tremendous shadow fell over her. Celestia reached down and gripped the fudge stature in front of her, tearing it out of the maze and raising it towards the heavens. “There you go my dears,” she said, setting it down on the table next to her elbow. There, Lionheart and Storm Striker immediately descended upon it and began munching away. If Celestia were to look closely at them she would notice small hearts in their eyes as the delicious taste of fudge melted in their mouths.
“Ya know, I’m really beginning to like this gig,” Storm Striker said, his mouth full of the tasty treat.
Lionheart nodded enthusiastically “Hope Princess Luna is having fun in the maze,”
Luna meanwhile was looking around, trying to remember where to head next. “Let’s see, is it left by the fudge statue or right by the hot chocolate river?” She wondered. But as she pondered her next move, she heard something making a clack clack clack noise behind her. Luna sighed in exasperation “knock it off sister. I’m trying to think!” she hollered as she turned around. But once she did, she froze. Luna had expected to see her giant sister’s hoof tapping the table behind her, but instead, she was greeted to at least five or six of the cookie ponies, somehow inexpiably, walking around the turn behind her and over to where she was currently standing.
“By the way Lulu, I may have forgotten to mention that from here on out, all the cookies in the maze will start to chase you,” Celestia commented offhandedly as she tossed another slice of cake into her mouth and swallowed the piece whole.
“You’re just telling me this now?!” Luna hollered in disbelief as she scampered away from the oncoming zombie cookies. Unsuccessfully. Luna yelped as she tripped and fell into the river of hot chocolate in her haste to get away. She resurfaced, spluttering and clambered out of the warm drink. After shaking herself dry like a dog would, she glanced over to where the cookie ponies were. And they were fast approaching her! Luna galloped away once more, racing down the hallways with renewed urgency as the cookies closed in behind her.
“Blasted confections!” Luna shouted as she rounded a corner, skidding into a wall of chocolate chips. She snagged one as she ran and nibbed on it as she hurtled along the pathway. All the while Celestia looked on. The whole scene looked hilarious from her bird’s eye view.
But eventually, Luna’s luck finally ran out. She turned another random corner in her panic but found herself face to face with a large wall looming above her small frame. She tried to double back and find another route but unfortunately for her, her adversaries had caught up to her. She was trapped. As all the cookie zombies started to pile into the narrow hallway she was in, Luna began to back up slowly, her wings were flared but would be of no use with her magic gone.
She kept backing up until her rear hit the wall behind her. Tentatively, she glanced behind her, confirming her fears with her own eyes before turning forwards to face the still oncoming horde of cookie ponies.
“Tia! What happened if they catch me?!” Luna called apprehensively over her shoulder to where Celestia was looming behind her. “I don’t remember. I think they toss you into cookie mix and try to bake you into a cookie!” she called down to her little sister as she tossed more cake into her mouth and chomping down. Luna’s eye twitched. That did not sound appealing in the slightest.
“But then again…” she thought and turned back to face the horde in front of herself “They are made of nothing but desserts, no?” A devilish grin began to seep across her face as she subconsciously licked her lips “And I haven’t eaten a good freshly baked cookie in a while!” Luna lunged forward and wrapped her legs around the nearest cookie warrior. They tumbled to the ground, Luna on top, and she began to devour the cookie as fast as she could. The sound of a drill could be heard as the Luner Alicorn finished her snack in a manner of seconds. Smacking her lips, making sure to get the last of the cookie dough, she got back up to her hooves and surveyed the rest of the mob, who had all stopped their advancement. Even Celestia was looking down in shock. Clearly, she hadn’t expected this to happen.
Luna had a predatory grin on her face as she slowly advanced towards the mob of cookies, who in turn was slowly backing up, matching her step for step. Luna crouched low, much like a cat stalking its prey, wiggled her rump in anticipation, and sprung forward towards the cookies yelling “I AM THE COOKIE MONSTER! FEAR ME!!”
The cookies turned tail and ran, with a hungry alicorn on their tails. Oh, how the tables had turned. Celestia watched with wide eyes at the scene, yet another slice of cake hovered forgotten next to her mouth as the spectacle played out before her. One by one the cookie ponies fell prey to Luna’s sugar tooth. Luna even burst though the walls of the maze at points as she chased the confectionary concoctions. Ten minutes later, Celestia stared as Luna finally made her way through the exit of the maze. Plopping down on her stomach with exhaustion from all the running and desserts she ate. Luna panted, trying to catch her breath as she slowly looked skywards towards Celestia.
“T-There. Done it. Found the exit.” Luna gasped for air. She rolled onto her back and went limp, her adrenalin rush and sugar high finally running out. Celestia nodded calmly as she chewed on even more cake. “Congratulations Luna, you beat the maze. Though some unconventional methods I will admit, but nevertheless you made it through,” Celestia said, getting to her hooves and stretching “I believe this makes me the winner of this week’s prank war.” Celestia had a triumphant look on her face as she gazed down at Luna.
“Agreed,” said Luna, looking at Celestia upside down with exhaustion. Celestia set down a card next to Luna, which read Celestia: Winner! Luna: get owned :D
Luna rolled her eyes at the card, glancing back up at Celestia who was pointing her nose up in the air proudly. “Yes, well done sister. You got me good with this one. Not even I could see something like this coming,” she said “Though I must ask to put an amendment on our prank wars. If you would kindly not shrink me again? And I will not do the same to you,”
Celestia thought about it for a second, before shrugging “I don’t see why not. Seems like a fair decision on both of our parts,” she said. Luna rolled over and clambered to her hooves “Excellent. Now then, can we return to our room? And restored to our proper size? It is beginning to get late and we must perform out duties for the night so our little ponies can get their sleep,” Celestia nodded and scooped up Luna, depositing her on her head at the base of her horn “The spell will wear off in a little while since it was a long time ago since you smelled the Lavender flowers and Discord had tampered with the effects to make you smaller for the spa. Probably in an hour or two Discord’s magic will lift, and you’ll be back to normal. I’ll handle the moon for now,” she said.
Luna felt a spark of relief flood into her. After the long day she had, a break was something she could definitely use. But before the two could depart, something caught her eye “Sister, do not forget about them,” Luna said, pointing to the still shrunken forms of Lionheart and Storm Striker. Celestia turned around, spotting the pair still on the table, and stifled a giggle. They had fallen asleep, their bellies full of the delicious desserts they had the pleasure of eating.
Celestia, being as gentle as possible, unfurled her wing from her side and scooped up her two tiny guards, tucking them back into the warm confines of her regalia and nestled against her soft fur so as not to disturb their sleep. The sun princess smiled to herself and set off, carrying her three shrunken passengers as she exited though the kitchen and back towards her quarters to lower the sun and raise the moon.
The next day
Princess Luna yawned as she opened her balcony doors and stepped outside into the crisp, cool air. Now back to her proper size after the eventful day she had prior. Celestia had been right, after about an hour she had returned to her normal size and her magic was restored. The first thing the lunar princess did was issue an order that night court was canceled for personal reasons. The second thing she did was take an extra-long bubble bath in steaming hot water, accompanied by her royal rubber duck captain of the seas, Captain Ducky.
Luna could practically feel the tension melt away in the tub that had accumulated throughout the day. As she swam though the waters, she had drifted her mind around, trying to come up with new prank ideas. But ultimately, she decided to make that tomorrow’s problem, she was simply too tired to worry about it. With the following day now here, Luna was debating about starting the day off with putting itching powder in all of Celestia’s shampoo or maybe some hot sauce in her toothpaste. It’d have to be something simple to get Celestia’s guard down before she retaliated with a prank of the same caliber that her sister had pulled.
She looked to the sky, spotting the moon in its usual place, glowing brightly in the sky and illuminating the kingdom with its soft white glow. Luna glanced over at the opposing tower but frowned. Celestia wasn’t there yet. “Oh well,” Luna thought as she lit up her horn “I may have to pick up your slack dear sister. We do have a tight schedule to keep after all,” But as Luna lowered the moon over the horizon and prepared to bring up the sun, the sun did indeed come up without her interference, glowing with Celestia’s signature golden glow of her magic. Luna smiled, relieved that she didn’t have to step in. She turned her head over to Celestia’s balcony once more, expecting to see her there. But, to her surprise, she was still not over on her side. “I’m beginning to wonder if Tia just got lazy today and simply raised the sun from her bed,” Luna thought with amusement.
As she prepared to head back inside her room to grab a snack before heading to sleep, Luna felt the ground shake, wobbling her around. Her legs shaking from the vibration “What was that?” Luna exclaimed with alarm. It wasn’t long before low, thunderous thuds filled their air, causing the entire mountain to shake.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Luna grabbed onto the balcony ledge to steady herself amidst the trembling. And to her shock, she saw almost instantly what was causing the disturbance.
Celestia. Now standing almost as tall as Canterlot Mountain itself, making her way over to Luna’s side of the castle. Celestia reached down with her wing and plucked up Luna in her mighty grasp, the balcony crumbling away from the sheer force from the gigantic wing.
“Good morning, Luna!” Celestia boomed pleasantly “Are you ready to spend the day with your really big sister again?”
“Tia! What do you think you’re doing?! Unhoof me this instant!!” Luna yelled, wiggling fruitlessly in the iron grip “We agreed no more size magic!”
“Ah, Ah, Ah. We agreed to no more shrinking Lulu. I don’t recall us saying growing ourselves was off limits,” Celestia responded cheekily, winking down at Luna, who was left gob smacked at the realization. It was technically true. Celestia let out a booming laugh as she dropped Luna into her chest fluff and stomped away, Luna squeaking out in frustration at the fact that she had gotten bested twice in a row during their prank war.
As the now giant sized Celestia passed by her window as she was stomping off, two tiny figures on her bedroom dresser were watching her leave.
“So…when do you think she’ll remember about us?” A still shrunken Lionheart asked, scooping up a hooffull of cake from the gigantic slice Celestia had given him as payment. Sitting next to him was a still equally tiny Storm Striker, who was busy going to town on his own giant slice of cake “I don’t know. Hopefully before we finish off this awesome cake," he replied. The two guards settled back, enjoying their hard-earned treats as they watched out the window in the distance, The gargantuan Celestia was eager to make up the lost points she had lost during the prank war, much to the dismay of Luna.
Author's Note
This is part 2 of the trade done with Tsitra360. Based off of this picture. Scenes and ideas were provided for me.
