Surprise on Short notice
Part 2: Applejack & Fluttershy


Written by Septia.


What the hay was going on here? Why hadn't Pinkie activated the growth doohickey? The pretzels would be fine, but the fritters were getting dust up all over. If this was another one of their pranks… I peered out, hard to make out, but there was something prismatic raising up from the bed. Rainbow? Yeah, surely, guess something might have snagged, but ‘suppose it would be less of a surprise, and more of just a party. A ‘nanny ain't the same as a hootenanny, but at least... 
	-Kdnkk- A thud echoed as Twilight raised her book with a sweep. And a trail of blue swatted aside, arching towards the roof, and fading away towards the wall. 
	-Ghhllmmwp- I swallowed. That, wasn't Rainbow dash, then. Yeah, couldn't be. Pinkie had just forgotten to make them grow again, soon as she did then they'd all… But what was that if not rainbow? A colored blue beetle? A flowery spec of dust? Couldn't be… there was no doubt, Rainbow had been swatted out of the air. My breathing picked up, ever so much, constrained to my gut, which curled in my barrel… Maybe Pinkie had just forgotten how to get them big again. Maybe they hadn't come to the time limit of the shrinking spell. Phtaaaaah. a much deeper breath, halting in my throat as a shiver pierced my spine, delivering a single thought to my head… ‘What if she never knew? What if there was no cure?' The swallow from earlier lodged stuck in my throat, cramping it taut. I grasped at my neck, massaging it, clinging to it. I had to keep. I had to keep my senses, I had even seen if Rainbow was… even if Rainbow. She was fine. She'd gotten kicked by worse. She'd bounce back any second… Second after agonizing second… But no Rainbow. The spikes of worry proliferated throughout my body. I bit down and cleared my eyes. Right. Gotta, keep my head cool. I Gotta work out a solution. What would they do? What did they have to do? What… could I do. Floor's out of the question, it was a hazard to be in the open. I wouldn't wanna get trampled, and ‘be hard to catch her attention. Had to get on similar elevation. The bookshelf was possible, though it weren't exactly in prime shape for climbing. It was a bit too far between each step to reach well, and ‘surface all smooth, if I fell… I fell… other options. Desk? Similar issue. I kept trying to look away from the obvious… The chair. Slender legs to climb up, a padded cushion if I were to fall, and promising straight access to the desk where I'd be most visible. It wasn't the first time I was tiny, though I was even smaller this time, … but getting there would be a trap if Twilight would get there before I got all the way up, maybe a small chance, but still… 
	“Whew, that is a load off, can't believe the book was hidden away up here, could have sworn I saw Pinkie with it yesterday. So, next on the agenda would be… Oh, right, Fluttershy wanted to meet up, wonder what for,” Twilight said, her presence and voice broadcasting in booming tones throughout the room, signalling her exit as she waltz back out. 
	One large breath. Alright, guess the coast was clear. I munched a pastry for good luck, and ran out under the shelves, meeting u with Rarity and Fluttershy by the desk.


~ 1 ~


 “Ya sure you can't fly us up there?” 
	“I-I-I… It w-would be a bit too… m-much.” 
	“Best case would be for all of us to get up there, better than lounging on the floor when she gets back.” 
	“Aehhem,” Rarity said, and held up a bright yellow strap of wrapping twine. “I may have an elegant solution.” 


Slightly less than elegant, but with the all the twine tied together, wrapped around my hooves, it was easier for Fluttershy to support me bit by bit as I climbed up the chair. Halfway up the leg and I was already sweating. “Whose idea was it to shrink us this small?” I mumbled, but seeing Fluttershy was struggling as well, I focused on climbing. So far so good, with Fluttershy's help we were scaling up across the leg at a steady pace, only needing a couple of breaks now and then to catch our breath. The first real break came when we reached the seat. I could keep going, though managing my stamina was important, especially when I didn't just have myself to rely on, if Fluttershy was managing well. 
	“How ya holdin' up?” 
	“O-oh, I'm, mm… I am fine, I, we can keep going.” 
	“Oh uh, just checking, I still need to catch my breath some.” 
	“O-oh sorry, of course, take your time,” Fluttershy said, with just a hint of relief in her voice. I smiled back. 
	Climbing up the backing of the chair was going smooth, though the surface was clean without much grip. Having Fluttershy hoist me up when things got rough was just the boost we needed. And now, we were slightly less than a quarter of the way up. 
	-Kkkdtntwntthdk- Which is when the resounding thud of the door slamming open echoed through the room. 
	“Guess it was a bit early to visit Fluttershy. I am sure she wouldn't mind if I came a little later, I also just have to dig into this book a little more.” 
	It was Twilight's voice, her steps causing tremors that I felt even this high up the chair. Fluttershy’s head snapped to Twilight, her breathing picking up. 
	“Flutters, stay calm,” I urged. 
	“W-what d-do we do? D-do we go back down?” She asked with a stammer shaking her breath.
	“We-…” that was a good question. Up on the peak of the backing was risky, but also closest to Twilight. Heading back down was safer, but if we didn't get all the way down in time… I had to make a decision now, for Fluttershy. “We keep going up, one last spurt, come on Flutters, hoist hoist.” 
	“Ah-aha, oo-yes you s-sure. Yes I'I got you,” she responded and pulled, wings flapping as I clambered higher. Maybe Twilight wasn't even going to- oh she was heading right for the desk. Head already in the book, but up this high was our chance. I heard Fluttershy straining as I dragged my torso higher, bucking my legs in a run to skip upwards, to ease the weight of the harness… My hoof reached the top, heaving myself up with a wheezing Fluttershy above me. “W-we got it,” I exclaimed. Just as I saw Fluttershy I felt the thread loosen, Fluttershy's grasp faltering.
	“Y-yippie,” she huffed out, careening through the air back towards the bookshelf on jittering wings.
	I had overexerted her… she couldn't stay airborne. But, this was okay, we made it to the top, just as Twilight was coming. Jut needed to hang on and get her attention. “Twilight, over here Twilight. Get your nose out of the papers and them and-.” 
	-Scrrrtttkkddhft- The screech of the furniture grinding against the wooden floor stormed through my surroundings as Twilight pulled the chair back. The ground beneath my hooves, ripped from beneath me… My breath caught in my throat as I tried to turn my head back, back to were the chair had been. A simple tug had dislodged me from the peak, all that effort. My hooves flailed, instant taking over to find any kind of grasp as the ground grew closer… -Thhpffmmph- The buffer of compressed fluffing absorbed my hearing, the brunt of the fall siphoned into the cushion. Relief… the stress vacating my muscles in a flutter of tension. It was okay, I was okay. The shaking overtook my mind for just a second, but that was enough to hamper my reaction, as a meteor in sparkling pink followed by a sky of purple, plummeted towards me… “Twilit-.” 
	-Thhpddff- the pastel color gave way to darkness. Air gave way to padding, and relief gave way to pressure. It encompassed everything around me. My body was steamrolled in the smooth fuzz of Twilight's coat and pinned into the cushion below. My body forming an imprint in the feathery fluffing underneath, my heart thumped, breath stifled by the mass of blubber above me. If I rammed my hooves upwards, into Twilight's flank, opening up a small pocket of air. But as I drew in breath I felt my lungs dry in the scorching heat of the confined space. Everything was stacked against me… but thanks to the cushion, I was okay… Sandwiched between two pliant obstacles, there was enough ease that I could still move, still force it to give. Enough to support myself, even if my bones rattled under my skin, even with my own sweat drooped across my forehead, and the raw brine of mare musk wafting from Twilight's rear. This close, everything was amplified, the only moisture in my throat was that of condensed flank musk… I thought back to all my days at the farm, working from early morning, each day getting tougher… What if anypony but me had… gotten stuck here… would Rarity have been able to… The worry made my chest pump harder, choking me in the sparse reservoir of air. Hooves aching and creaking as the weight settled… I screamed. “Twilightghhr gha.” Though my voice betrayed me, choking in my own exertion. The pressure mounted… 
	-Thhrwwtwp- With a crinkle of moisture, like a broom drawn across mud, the sweat gummed rear lifted. A fresh, clean breath infiltrated my lungs, my chest swelling with relief. Of course; small as I may be, she'd notice she was sitting on something… It was too close. I was almost done for… 
	“I was certain I had turned the button side of the pillow down,” Came Twilight's voice from above. The cushion begun to levitate. 
	I shook my head. As the pillow flipped in the air, barely hanging on with the sweat outlined trench around me, facing down at the wooden seat… “T-twilight,” I wheezed. -Chrlt- -Krlrrslptsh- The perspiration glue cracked and detached around me, my weight tearing me off the cushion to fall onto the wood. -Ctdkdntl- It knocked in my muzzle, feeling it pulse in my face. Panic set it, can't think about pain, it was coming, had to move. I grasped and tugged over the surface, heaving me forwards as the shadow fell on me from above. The looming darkness creeping ever closer as I moved a cent at a time. “W-wait, w-ait,” I called, desperate as the light of the world around me shrunk into a sliver, and shut, sealed, as the weight bore down. There was nothing buffering the load beneath me now, only the full weight of a mare behemoth, magnitudes larger than myself…bore down. 
	-Ckrkt- I heard tension in my bones, felt the white hard surface flatten me. -Crrnnnntch- As the creaks grew louder, it grew warmer, I felt more liquid around me, though this time, it wasn't sweat… I was cocooned in a scent of copper. 
	-Crkrpktuglrkxrplt- To me, it was the loudest sound I would ever hear, the sound of my own bones fracturing within me, tearing through the little stretch of skin it could reach as my frame was pistoned into into a sheet. Organs punctured by shards of bone and tearing rends through my skin in bloated boils, for the brief time it could, before everything was bulldozed by my friend's behind. If only she had looked back, if only I hadn't pressured Fluttershy. In that split moment, that brief spark of consciousness, was filled to the brim with bitter regret. And it was that feeling which punctuated my existence. 


~ 2 ~


I couldn't see her anywhere. My wings were still tired, muscles aching, carrying anything bigger than a lil’ bunny for that long, I just. I couldn't… My eyes flicked to and fro, but I couldn't find Applejack anywhere. She wasn't on the chair. She wasn't on the desk. Twilight was still reading. And Rarity… W-… why was, Rarity crying? She'd taken shelter on the side of the desk, head in her hoof, shaking. W-what, what had… Where was… Applejack. My mind flooded with the worst possible scenario, watching Applejack fall off the chair hurtling to the ground, squished under a wooden leg, choked in Twilight's fur. I kept shaking my head, cowering. It couldn't have happened. But, all of them, all of them had to be true. Why did I stop pushing myself? Why had I left her? It… It was my fault… My breath stabilized. A clear clarity filled my chest. It was so obvious… Everything, every, single, thing, was my fault. I could have said no, I could have motioned against the idea, I could have checked with Pinkie how long it would take for the spell to wear off. I felt the side of my lips crock into a contorted smile, drooping with tears. Of course, everything was so simple now, when it was clear it was all me. And that meant, I had to set it right… 
	I took off from the shelf, flapping my wings, hard… Rarity looked up at me from the ground. I couldn't look at her, I had to focus, I had to give this my all. I flew back a safe distance from Twilight, far enough that she wouldn't smack me with a hoof or her head, but close enough that she'd hear me. I-. I hoped. I only have one shot at this. I thought back to everything Rainbow had taught me, everything I had been through, with all my friends at my back. I drew in a deep breath, feeling my lungs fill until they cramped under my ribs… Then… I shouted. 
	“Twilight. Behind You!” I screamed for all I was worth, my throat aching in the reverberations needed to throw my voice this far, this loud, it drummed through my ears. 
	“Whhauhah?” at once, Twilight reacted, startled by the tremendous noise. She swept her chair back, kicking her legs up behind her… 
	I avoided the legs coming up behind me,… but missed her tail whipping up, -Cttwthchps- and cracking into my back…
	“Who's there?” Twilight said, staring at an empty room. She blinked a few times. Ears flicking. She brushed her mane Back over her ears, “Huh… Certain I heard something…”
	“Spike?” she called out. 
	“Yeah?” came the dragon’s response from downstairs. 
	“What did you want?” 
	There was a moment of silence, before… “Can I pick up some more sweets?” 
	Twilight sighed, “We already…” but then she rolled her eyes, tired of yelling. “Okay, fine with me, pick up some maple ones for me,” she shook her head and pulled the chair back. “Really, does he have to make such a ruckus?” she mumbled. 


“Hying… mmggr…” I came too, opening my eyes to find hair, long strains of purple and mauve bushed around me, threads of Twilights tail wrapped and coiled along my limbs, with a view out to the room, framed by the purple hues. My chest quivered. Eyes watering. I let everyone down again. Of course, again, what did I expect to happen? Even giving it my all, even thinking ahead… I closed my eyes, stabilizing my breathing. 
	“Tw-… T-t-tw-wilih-…” I wheezed, my voice like sandpapers grinding in my throat… biting down on my lip. I had gone too hard. Calm… please. It was okay, t-this could have gotten worse, I could just try again. Yes, everything was fine, next time, I'd be better. I would try another angle, it was fine, l-lived and, l-learn… I drew my left hoof back. -Srcrrth- Several of the strands binding my hoof clutched tight, a creaking strum through the wireworks. Another few strands trickled over me from the movement. Okay, bit too stuck there, that was okay. Right hoof -Shhrrrthc- the tail hairs screwed, wrapped around my limbs in a helix. Snags of strands jabbing into my fur. O-O-okay. That's, fine. I could try my leg… -Srrktkch- The threads dug into my fur, grinding against my skin, sharp surfaces pruning hairs form my coat. It stung. My chest rose rapidly. -Shhfrht- A shower of hairs shifted, trailing over my body, swirling into the knots around my limbs and tracing over my face. Why was this, being so difficult? I tried my other leg, bated breath… -Shff- Some hairs trailed off of it. Progress, good, very good, just, have to draw it back, and. -Shhrprha- -chrffwrhhthsa- A rustle of fuzz swarmed around me, like wind through a field of bamboo shoots. The whirl of tailhairs winding and pirouetting around me as Twilight moved, my leg caught in a snag as I trailed back, nestled deeper into the embrace of sharp strands revolving around my form. In panic I flapped my wings. -Fllrrght- Bringing forth a tide of stands over me, wrestling me into a forest of vines that wrapped and dug into my fur… 
	I stopped. Ceased my breath. Dread trickled along my sides, up my spine. I was stuck…caught in an even tighter snag… I couldn't move. As soon as I moved I would… -Chrhrhthc- The hairs tensed, brushed across my body… In a mass of smooth, but singular strands… -Jhfhlrlth- digging deeper… like I was caressed by the edges of a knife, drawing red strips in places across my body. Scarlet marks whipped over my legs, one right below my chest, and one… one s-so very close to my eye, it grazed just above my eyelid. A few feathers, cut from my wings. I… I hadn't … even moved for that one. I-it just. It just happened. 
	“T-twai…” I wheezed, my dried lungs barely able to form vowels. I just had to… think of something while, remaining still. They would constrict again… Any moment, they would draw tighter and deeper into my skin, they would… My mind wandered… how many cuts. Would it take before I… before… Silence. Tears. Small vibrations through my chest. -Ctnnng- A strand tautened, brushing over my forehead, bent over my eye… I could watch the blurred line trace across my eye… the distance so minuscule, it took up a strap of my vision… a single tear, caught on the strand as it brushed over, and rested against my muzzle… A-any closer and… t-that would have gone through my eye. My core convulsed with waves of fear sprouting through my limbs… but I couldn't move… I couldn't speak. If I did… then… But… for how long? Would anypony find me? Would Twilight, notice me? Maybe if I w-was an even bigger tangle she would, b-but, that meant… My chest rippled gain. And on queue, the garrote wires around me tensed. There was one… around my neck. I felt it, every time I tried to take a breath. 
	Okay… Okay. It couldn't be that long, could it? I mean… eventually the-. The spell would wear off and… Ice. A tundra in my chest, a glacier over my spine. It hurt to think about. If I started to grow. As I was now. I would still be in the tangles, I would still be ensnared and cocooned in the strands. If I grew, Twilight's hair wouldn't grow with me, it would swell around me, growing tighter, until they all… Even just the thought made the hairs tighten. Or so it felt, ensnared in a deluge of wires, where, where I couldn't move, but I also had no luxury of waiting. How long would the spell last? Hours? Days…? Seconds…? I couldn't stay calm, and when I couldn't stay calm, the hairs shifted, and when the hairs shifted it drew new cuts over my body, and when that happened it… was hard to not react… To be forced into motionless exile. Hiding away, without speaking, without moving, without interacting with anypony. In this tepid isolation, where I couldn't do nothing, but if I did anything, I was punished. I couldn't hold back the tears, watching them dripple onto strands, trailing like dewdrops in a spiderweb. The worst thing… The very worst thing… Was how accustomed I felt to this helpless sensation, as if I had lived with it my whole life… But now, it was just more… tangible.