Chapter 11: Learn a lesson
I was woken by the creak of the front door, and shook awake by the startle scream of Fluttershy. I instinctively stood up and my eyes darted around. "What? what is it!" I yelled.
"You-you're… bigger!" she replied, still startled. I examined my body, I had indeed grown a few inches, I was now roughly the size of Spike up to his neck.
I jumped down from the green chair "I-I am! Oh sweet!" I was excited, this meant I could do more stuff on my own "Hah hah, this is great!" This happiness was short lived when I was tackled to the floor, I turned over to see a white rabbit standing over me.
"No stop! Its okay" Fluttershy told the rabbit, I stood up and dusted myself off.
"Man, that rabbit sure packs a punch." I complimented, the rabbit looked at me for a few seconds, tilting his head to the side, clearly not knowing what I was. "Nice to meet you, I am a human and don't worry, I am a friend of Fluttershy's" I held my hand out for a handshake, the bunny took this as a sign of hostility and went into a defensive position. "Hey, its ok. Handshake?" I said softly, hoping the rabbit was intelligent enough to know what a handshake was. The nervous critter reached out and grabbed my hand, his pure white coat was soft and fluffy.
"Looks like Angel made a new friend" Fluttershy said with a giggle, Angel smiled and hopped outside
"Angel huh, what a cute name" I commented, usually names like that made me livid but for that rabbit I couldn't see anything fitting better.
"Awesome, Im big enough to take care of myself now I'd say…" I stopped as I realised I was getting ahead of myself "Well, maybe not everything, I would still need a place to sleep and eat, but now I might be able to re-pay you for what you and the others have all done!" I was happy to be able to properly show my gratitude, if there was anything I hated it was people not being grateful.
After climbing around on a bunch of furniture in my excitement, Fluttershy suggested we go see the others and tell them the good news. "Sure thing" I replied, eager to get outside, Fluttershy motioned to pick me up. "No no, im walking this time" I said, holding out my palm in a stopping stance.
"Oh, well… ok then" Fluttershy looked concerned, I was starting to wonder whether that was just her default facial expression. I rolled my eyes and jumped up to the door handle, opening the door with ease, before speeding off towards the Library. "W-Wait!" Fluttershy called, she then followed with her wings.
Running down the path felt so much better, I didn't seem to be moving faster but I forgot about realistic physics a long time ago. Fluttershy eventually caught up and she matched her speed to me. I decided to slow up after a few minutes as we approached the town. I walked along with my hands in my pockets and my head raised, ready to greet the ponies with a smile. I still got suspicious looks, but there were also a few ponies who recognised me and said things like "its bigger!" and "Wow its grown."
"You know, no-pony expects you to repay them for their actions" Fluttershy said to make conversation and to inform.
"I know, because you're all too nice." I replied with a smile "But now I can help clean, bake, work and all kinds of things!"
"Oh, ok, its good to know you're grateful" she replied with a weak smile.
We arrived at the library and was about to knock when I remembered it's a public building, so I pushed the door open and walked inside. Spike was busy re-stacking some books, obviously he didn't finish last night. I put my finger over my lips to signal Fluttershy to shush as I sneaked up to Spike and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Yea, yea one minute" he said as he continues staking an assortment of books on a lower shelf, I tapped him again.
"Hey Spike, what's up?" I said, suppressing laughter.
"Oh hey little guy, what's-" He turned around and looked at my shin, where I would be if I were still that small. He yelped and fell backwards, throwing the books everywhere in the process. I burst out into laughter.
"No-way, you grown little guy!" He commented in awe. Obviously 'Little guy' has become my nick name.
"Surprised to see me this big eh?" I replied, still recovering from the laughing. I held out my hand to help Spike up, he grabbed it and I heaved him to his feet.
Twilight trotted down the stairs and Fluttershy flew over to greet her
"Hello Fluttershy, what brings you to the library?" She asked, continuing down the stairs
"Oh… the little guy wanted to come over and see you and Spike. He as something to show you" Fluttershy replied with an excited tone. Twilight gasped as I came into view.
"Hey Twilight, surprised? So am I" I said to the shocked face of Twilight
"This is amazing, I can't believe you…" she paused mid-sentence "Well you can help Spike with this mess you left yesterday!" her tone suddenly changed to strictness, it was fair I suppose.
"Im going to head back home now…" Fluttershy said with her normal, quiet tone, we all said goodbye to her and I started to re-shelve the books alphabetically, Spike started at A and I started at Z. I got to the letter T when I noticed Twilight had some kind of chemistry set out on a table, out of curiosity I walked over and asked what was going on.
"I am doing research on this odd plant, its called poison joke" she said, I climbed up on the table to get a closer look.
"Poison joke, eh? Never seen anything like it" I said as I got closer to the plant, it was entirely blue in colour. When Twilight turned around to jot down some notes I touched the tip of the flower's leaf, it made a peculiar noise as it wobbled.
"If somepony touches any part of a poison joke, it 'plays a joke' on that pony, often making changes to their body." She said, I quickly wiped my hand on my top as she turned back around. "Something wrong?" she asked
"Oh err, nothing… So is it dangerous?" I asked, getting a bit worried.
"No, not at all. It reacts to everypony differently, but the effects are often quite funny" she replied, making me feel a bit better. Spike started laughing in the background
"Like, like the time you and the others…" he started, suppressing laughter "Twilight Flopple!" he couldn't contain the laughter and was in hysterics on the ground.
"Yes Spike, that was pretty funny" She said to Spike, then turned to me "I have been affected by the poison joke before, as have Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbowdash and Rarity"
Spike was listing names in the background "Appletini, Flutterguy, Spitty Pie, Rainbow Crash and Hairity" he burst out into laughter again. Spike explained why each of the ponies had those names and I began un-controllably laughing with him, Twilight wasn't amused however. I better get back to re-shelving those books… I thought, seeing her not looking to happy.
I spent the rest of the day visiting all the other ponies I had made friends with, Applejack was first up. Her reaction was surprised as expected, but also not entirely what I had in mind, "Looks like you might be able to do a few jobs to make up fer the hospitality after all" She said with a smile, I smiled back, happy to know at least someone wasn't going to forget how nice they had been.
Next I headed out to sugarcube corner, Pinkie was hyperactive as always and ever more-so after my surprise. I also made acquaintances with the cakes and finally got to eat more of one of those cupcakes, although I still couldn't finish it. After a brief tour I offered to help with baking and I stayed for a few hours learning the ropes. I was proud with what I made, but I could tell the cakes were just being modest with their "That's very good" and "Great first attempt" lines. After eating my own slightly burned, flavour lacking cupcakes I headed out to Rarity's Boutique.
Rarity was also very surprised to see my new size, although unfortunately there was a reason why. "I was hoping to give these to you today as a surprise gift" she said, using her magic to hold up a small shirt, some tiny trousers, miniature shoes and teeny boxers, each of which were immaculately styled but also very comfortable looking. I felt really bad that she had wasted her time, but she didn't seem to fussed. "Nevermind, I love a fashion challenge." she reassured me "Just, try not to grow too much by tomorrow." I laughed at this, so generous of her to do this for me. I tried my hand at a bit of embroidery, after numerous attempts consuming numerous hours I gave up and threw everything to the floor in frustration. Rarity didn't seem to pleased so I got to work tidying up. After that was taken care of I headed back to Twilight's.
Although I hadn't seen Rainbowdash today I had no idea where to start looking for her. She lived in the clouds apparently and I couldn't see any way of getting up there anytime soon. She probably wouldn't care that much anyway, she's more focussed on herself. I noticed the time when I walked past a café, it was 7pm already, since I woke up late and spent hours at sugarcube corner and Rarity's boutique. I began to run back to Twilights.
Along the way I slowed down and admired the scenery of Ponyville, all the old looking houses were samey but still had something unique about them. That's when I heard a scream and other shouts of terror, looking around I saw smoke bellowing from a house not to far away, out of curiosity I sprinted over to check it out. A house was indeed on fire, a bright, healthy, orange fire which began consuming the entire house, I ran up to one of the onlookers.
"What happened?" I yelled for his attention over the noise of the crowd
"I have no idea, but somepony is trapped in there!" He replied, not taking his eyes off the burning danger. The front side of the house is where the fire started with the wooden door also being alight, that's when I had an idea. When wood caught fire, it became brittle and weak, combine that with the fact pain isn't a very common prospect and I have my way into the house. If I can find that trapped pony I might be able to lead them outside. I walked up the burning door and held my hand over the fire, barely any pain whatsoever. I took a step back and shoulder-barged the door, bouncing off I made it crack a bit. I patted out the flame on my shoulder and tried again, success as I broke a hole in the black, crisp wood.
I moved along into the house, smoke wasn't much of a problem because of how low down I was but I still covered my face with my shirt. Amongst the roar of the flame I heard crying, the voice was familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. I carried on towards the crying, under and over burning beams, one of which I had a close call with as it toppled down and nearly crushed me. My pulse was racing as I sweated gallons, am I really in danger this time?
On the other side of the room, next to the stairs I found the one in danger, I couldn't recognise who it was through the smoke but the voice was defiantly familiar. It was a Pegasus whose wing was trapped under a beam, the Pegasus was at such an awkward angle they couldn't reach the beam "Hello! I have come *Cough* to help!" I shouted to reassure the Pegasus. I put my hands under the un-lit beam behind my back and pulled, it slowly began to lift. The Pegasus lowered its head to my level and I was met with the gaze of the Rainbow-maned pony.
"Little guy, what are you doing here-" she began
"No time" I shouted as I threw the beam off, my left hand was burned as I didn't notice the beam catch alight and the fire approached my hand while I was holding it. "We gotta go, Now!"
"My wing! I don't think I can fly us out!" she was really scared, as was I by this point, fire was not a nice way to go. I lifted her front hoof over my shoulder and guided her out carefully, there were more fiery beams and other debris all over the floor. I climbed over a few but it was much more difficult due to holding the pony's hoof. When we approached the door there was only one thing to do "Rainbow, you're gonna have to break it down, trust me it will be easy!" I shouted up to her, I clung onto her leg and she rammed straight into the door.
It burst open, letting out a huge flame behind us. The speed and unexpected lack of being stopped caused Rainbow to fall to the ground, landing on me before rolling over. I climbed onto her side and approached her face, panting and shaking "you-alright… Rainbow" I said, panting after each word.
"Yeah-yeah im fine, just a bit of wing damage" She replied "But you-you don't look so good" I examined my body, burned skin and charred clothes as well as bruises and cuts covered me. I smiled at her
"Its nothing…" I said, before collapsing from exhaustion. She held me in her hoof, tearing up she started shouting "Little guy! Stay with me kid!" I stared motionlessly up at her watering eyes before looking over at the approaching crowd. I began to laugh before falling unconscious.