Surprise on Short notice
Part 1: Twilight & Rainbow


Written by Septia.


“Come on, Guys, this is gonna be the best day ever,” Pinkie beamed to the gathered assembly of surprise parties. 
	“Yeeeeah, she better watch out, cuz she's not gonna know what hit 'er.” Rainbow said flying across the room and pumping her hoof into the sky. 
	“Ah believe the ideas' that she's not gon’ be watching out, ain't it? Wouldn't be much of a surprise otherwise.” 
	“Ooh, it will be marvellous,” Rarity said with a twirl. “Just imagine her face, thinking we would have forgotten the day she arrived to ponyvillie.” 
	“And then, Boom, Exactly,” Pinkie shouted to follow up, “Then she'll see all her friends were there, all along, like we were always, and she'll be flabbergasted, Flabbergasted I tell you,” Pinkie celebrated by blowing a party horn early. 
	In the corner Fluttershy drew her hoof against the ground, peeking over to the others. She cleared her throat, and nopony noticed. 
	“Alright, line up,” Rainbow called out, “Pinkie you got the party supplies?” 
	“Duh, I got enough for twelve parties.” 
	“Just twelve?” 
	“On me right now~” 
	“Great,” Rainbow day soared over. “Applejack, Rarity, catering and gifts set up?” 
	“You got it.” 
	“We still have Pinkie's notes, if any obstruction were to rear itself.” 
	“Awesomesauce, And Fluttershy-.” 
	“I…” Fluttershy said, the others taking a mental step back, allowing the mare some space to respond. 
	“Girls… it is not that I, don't like the idea of shrinking down to surprise T-twilight. But… Do we need to make it a surprise? I'm more partial to a milder surprise, like, one I'm told of beforehoof, And, I don't remember Twilight being the most keen on big parties.” 
	“Flutters flutters flutters,” Rainbow said and wrapped her hoof around their back, “Twilight's a changed mare, she's not the unicorn she was when she arrived.” 
	“Pff, ya sure got that right,” Applejack chimed in. 
	“But, certainly figuratively as well, while not quite the social butterfly, our dear friend has grown some wings.” 
	
“And with those wings we're gonna soar all the way to party town, then all the way back, bringing the party town to Ponyvillie.” 
	“Uhh, yeah, what Pinkie said,” Applejack nodded. “There's little like a hootenanny to really shake up a special day.”
	“Then everypony better get ready,” Pinkie said puffing out her chest, jittering with excitement, “and make sure to pack your biggest smiles.” 


~ 1 ~


This was getting boring. Like, really boring… Like, sitting on the bench at try-outs boring. The more time passed sitting here in the tree, the less I could take waiting the eternity it would take for Twilight to arrive. Everypony else had already sorted out everything in there, just waiting for my signal… Wonder if they were dying of boredom too? I mean, I've been out here for at least… two minutes now. How much longer is it going to take that bookmare to-. Oh, hey, wait is that Twilight down there? In a dash I rushed back in through the window, calling with my faintest voice. “Egghead alert, Egghead alert.” 
	Rarity gave me a reassuring gesture. Pinkie holding up the shrinking cookie up, visible for all of us. I flicked mine up, and on the count of three, we dug in. Across the room I saw Rarity and Fluttershy ready to hide under at the desk, with Applejack holding onto a cart of applestruders, pretzels, and pastries so it would shrink down with her. Meanwhile, Pinkie and I were clutching the party supplies, ready to shuffle under the bed to pop off the real fireworks when Twilight would least expect it. 
	My stomach felt strange… Whatever magic shenanigans they had cooked up, it didn't really sit well. Maybe it was just a particularly fatty cookie? Though the tingles and pricks along my coat were distracting to say the least. To mitigate the discomfort I peered out across the room, everything drew backwards like the world was made of sillyputty, the fish eye lens of my perspective shifting the room further and further away from me. Bookshelves and furniture melting outwards and growing as tall as the skyscrapers of Manehattan. In a few moments, the gang had shrunk to the size of a novel’s dogear. Another round of gesturing had us ready. Shuffling away the supplies under the bed, seeing Applejack slot the carts into separate layers, each sliding under the bookcase before she followed suit. And after that… we just had to keep still. Waiting, once again. Though this time, it was spiced with excitement. Pinkie was jittering and bouncing beside me, and kinda hat to admit it, but it was infectious. This was a real big prank of a surprise party, and it would only get better when I went off script to toss a pastry right at her face, just to test her reactions skills, of course~… 
	The silence started to get on my nerves. I let out a deep sigh,
“Phheyu pheeuch,” my nostrils were clogged with huge specs of dust, big enough that I could almost feel each individual grain dredging along the inside of my nostrils like a battering ram. But I just had to power through it, doesn't matter how stale and course it smelled under the bed. I wasn't about to blow our cover, I am sure Pinkie would agree-. Though, when I looked over, I saw her covering her face with her mane in an improvised gas mask. Guess she hadn't considered what it'd be like to be so ‘lil. Come to think oof it; I hadn't either. But It'd all be worth it for the look on Twilight's face when she-. 
	-Kkddmmfth- The door unlatched with a boom of crushed bark, the light creak bellowing in with the beat of a battering ram throughout he room. There was no mistaking it, our target had arrived, and we were all ready. After a brief exchange of smiles we pounced out from under the bed, the others leap out with us as we all shouted: “Surprise.” 
	Our call hung in the air, drowned by the treads of the alicorn shuffling through the room. 
	“Where did I leave that reference…” Twilight mumbled to herself in a booming tremolo that rippled the air all the way down to the bottom, where I still stood with my hooves spread wide, stunned in embarrassment. I looked over myself, then at Pinkie. We were still small. 
	“Pinkie, that was the sign.” 
	“I Know.” 
	“And, we're, still teeny.” 
	“Teeny tin, yup.” 
	“So… make us, not be?” 
	“I…” Pinkie remained silent for a moment, “I'm not sure how.” 
	“What?” 
	“But we're gonna get back to our original size any second now, guarantee it.” 
	She sounded so sure, probably a mistake to doubt her, Pinkie was much more organized than myself, she probably knew what she was doing. Oh, hey, There's Twilight now, well, surprise was ruined, but at least she could get us back to our… Why isn't she slowing down? -Thrbbddm- -Thhdwwm- The ground quaked beneath us, Twilight's eyes glued to the nightstand across the bed, each step passing along quivers through my spine. -Chrhrht- Was that wood creaking? Splintering at her steps? Was it just a trick of the ears? But those hooves were getting, a lot closer… Peering up, I saw the gleam of Twilight's eyes fading, as she neared, replaced by a veil of deep violet; the shade of her coat looming as a tremendous storm cloud over the Everfree forest: massive, untamed, and unrelenting… 
	-Ctrrthwwdddmmmffsh- her hoof slammed down a jump away from me. Instincts took over. With a smack of my wings I took off, darting back to Pinkie behind me, shoving her and two of the decoration carts, ramming us deep underneath the bed in one swoop. Right afterwards… I heard it… -Crkwwrllrlsstkk- Crkwtshdwwmph- The fracturing of wooden nerves, a shower of splinters blossoming up to a roar which was instantly smothered by the sheer weightiest against it. I didn't have a chance to see it happen, but it filled me with a rush I hadn't felt since the last time it was us against the world… Last time we… had been in danger. I shook off the creeping tingle down my back, and looked over, from under the drapes of the bed, at the stationary purple hoof. 
	“Yeoouch, what’s that?” Twilight's voice boomed, as she lifted her hoof. Underneath were laid a spa collection of planks, splayed out in a flowering bloom of compacted wood straddled with popped rubber in a melange of hues. The former balloons scrunching up and furrowing to sporadic tangles, though a few fluttering free beneath her like seedpods. “Huh…? Oh, go-gosh, hope that wasn't another of spike's toys... nevertheless, repairs and apologies will have to wait, now where did I put it…” 
	And then the hooves kept going, just like that. They had levelled the cart, utterly, faster than even I could grasp. And then she just, kept going. It was right were Pinkie had stood. Just before I… If I had waited a moment longer… If I wasn't the fastest pegasus in Ponyville she… Each time I tried to formulate my thoughts, a tremble burgeoned at my side, trembling up to my throat, subduing my thoughts. I Couldn't think about that, that would never happen. What was I talking about, we were never in any danger, this is just Twilight. She would have… she would, notice if… Another tremor. I ground my chompers together, stifling whatever sensation tried to make itself known. 
	“Pinkie, you ok?” 
	It took a moment for the blank eye’d mare to respond. “O-of course I am, Gee, Twilight sure aught to keep a better look at where she's going. Didn't know she could be such a cluts, ahah-cnnsrt- aha,” she chuckled with that cheeky snort. 
	I took a breath, it felt awkward in my lungs. Had I not breathed since the stomp? How long had it been? Couldn't have been more than a couple seconds… what was going on? 
	“Yeah, yeah she better... Uhm, shouldn't we be back to our usual size soon? How long would those cookies last?” 
	“Uhm, we should already be, I'm positive. So, should be any moment now,” Pinkie smiled. 
	Was this also a prank? If so, massive props to Pinkie, but this was going a bit over the line, even for me. I crept back to the end of the bed, spying across the room. There sure weren't any carts of pastries anywhere, or gifts and decorations. Or ponies, and counting only one regular, giant sized giant pony. Seems we weren't the only ones stuck like this.
	“Pinkie, she almost stepped on you.” 
	She was silent for a moment, then toppled back laughing. “Phhff, Rainbow, pff, haa, ha you crack me up, that's ridiculous. Think Twilight would ever do that?” 
	I looked back at the pancake’d cart. Something cold budding in my chest. 
	“You know what? Surprise is over, I can't stand breathing in all this dust. Twilight will get it, just hold tight, I got this.” I assured, then leapt out, and took off. Even if I had just flown about three decimeters, it was getting kinda tiring. I had just exerted myself of course, but distance radians sure grew a lot longer when you're the size of an ant. Just a bit further and I'd be above Twilight’s head. It really was a shame of a good surprise to do this, maybe I could just scare her a little bi-. 
	“Ahhaa, I found it.” 
	I heard twilight call out as her mane whipped around, eyes, and a broad, brown tome rushed towards me… -Crkktwwddngppppth- The bulk of a hundred bison rammed into me. I felt every stretch of my body flattening to the rock hard surface, even parts of me that couldn't usually bend this way. And the rush… the surge of air around me, crashing through my mind, wind resistance puncturing my wings and threatening to strip my feathers. At every moment wishing the pressure thrusting up beneath me would end. I got my wish. The swing of the motion jettisoned me off the covers, breaking off against the cover with gobbledygook some old cot had scribbled down ages ago. The winds parted for me, in speeds I hadn't experienced for many moons. All that effort to get to her, and now… I was soaring fast as lightningbol-. 
	-Thhrwwmps-. I slammed into something soft, a plush sensation of felt wrapped around cement cradling my mind, just for a moment. Then I blacked out. 


	A coarse taste of grit and abrasive dust all throughout my mouth. Ache, pulsing. It hurt so much… I tried winking dust out of my eyes. Eventually clearing my vision. Help. I was certain I heard something. I needed a moment, taking my bearings. I had landed on some, ancillary shelf near the roof, few books even here, mostly a bundle of padded foal’s books. Guess that broke my fall. Lucky. If I they hadn't then… Oh, more chutzpah, less worry, gotta gather myself. I heave myself up, then lowered myself to the wood again, panting, inhaling a mothball worth of dust. Then, coughing with the coarse junk in my throat, and shuffling up to the extremity of the shelf. Looking down… There was Twilight, so, couldn't have been gone too long. Didn't see anypony else. So either they'd already gotten big, or they all still needed Twilight's help. 
	I couldn't help but smile. Here I was, I'd descend like a bolt through a cloud, ready to save everypony, it was my calling. I felt it beating in my chest, through the exertion and various injuries, I would help everyone, and I would be the hero they deserved. I rose up tall, fanned out my wings. -Crkkth- Every nerve in my face tensed, a crack of strain whipped through my right wing. 
	“Oow owo oouch oow ooo. Ooow…,” I whimpered, and slumped back down on my torso, wing twitching and sloughed by my side, now and then tension pricked through it, aching along my body. I might have sprained it… But, it wasn't that bad… It was just a little sprain, Anypony could do that when they exerted themselves, and as Cool as I was, It was bound to happen. I would just have to get down without… flying. 
	I looked around. The other shelving nearby was off towards the proper bookshelves. Across the door… a trench as far as it was deep, though its depth went even further too, towards cold, hard flooring… It hurt to breathe fast. I tried to stand again, but my wing scrunched up in ache. It had to rest. I had to rest. I would, just have to recover. A sprained wing, that would jut be, a week at most? I could, probably do it in a couple of days. Just… a couple of days… up here… alone. B-barely able to move… 
	Those tremors were back, though they didn't stay in my barrel this time, they flourished through my system, fuelled by the straining, soot filled breaths clogging my lungs. “R-rainbow… Dash is n-not gonna be defeated by a… a sprained wing,” I proclaimed. Especially, not one I, caused myself… If I had just taken it a bit easy, if I had been a little less cocky, would I… w-well no, it was sprained before I stood up, right? It, has to be, this, this couldn't be my fault. It was always like that, I'm sure it felt like that this morning even. Y-yeah my wing was a bit stale already. Th-this isn't… my fault… I told no one. My face was getting warm, lungs struggling in the build up of dust trickling at the edges of my throat… Whether this was my fault or not, I realised I… would have time enough to figure that out, m-more than enough time. As long as my lungs could hold.