“Umm...you're sure this will work?” asked the griffon hesitantly as he stepped in the rune circle on the floor, his claws carefully placed on the stone so as not to disturb the chalk lines.

“Of course. Do you doubt my magic?!” responded the pony he was talking to. The stallion's purple coat glimmered slightly in the low light that filtered in through holes in the stone roof above them, casting an odd glow over the place. The griffon, in counter point, had dark black feathers, that seemed to suck the light out of air, casting him in darkness save for his deep red eyes, which seemed like they shone with an inner light.

“Well....there were scorch marks in several of the rooms we passed, and one wall of this place is missing,” countered the griffon, and the pony, who had been looking quite confident, drooped a bit at the reminder, his horn suddenly glowing with silver light, light that matched his eyes and showed off his orange mane, as he began to move several things around the room with his magikinesis.

“Those were test. Successful tests, I must say. Just maybe not as successful as I would have liked. This though, this will be proof of concept. And once it's done, I shall use the magic inscribed here to take over Equestria, and then, the world! MWA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!” the laughter that came from the throat wasn't what one might expect, given the declaration that had started that statement, instead being warm, rather than mad, as various items, mostly jars, began to spill more chalk on the ground, seemingly in a haphazard fashion, only to have them slowly form more runes on the floor.

“Good luck with that,” was all the griffon could say, as he again wondered why he was doing this. Then his mind flashed to her face, the face of Gilda, and he remembered.

“Yes, I shall have excellent luck. Will have to ask Celestia for some advice on invading her palace when I see her next. Maybe ask which rooms are the most vulnerable to invasion,” said the pony, losing himself in his own plans, while still delicately controlling the flow from the urns and jars, finally setting each back on shelves around the room.

“And now, you're part. Think of the one you wish to be near. Think of them, and nothing else,” said the stallion, his voice, formally playful, going serious as he said this. The griffon, sighing, did as asked, his eyes shutting, as his mind focused on the image of Gilda. Her lovely beak, her large wings, and her lovely lion's paws, soft as a cloud.

“Good, good. Now remember, you'll be mouse sized on arrival. That should reverse...I think, but if not, just stay out of sight, and I'll get you back here in a few hours,” the pony instructed, and the griffon could see little lights starting to flare up around him through his eye lids. He kept them shut though, maintaining his focus on Gilda, trying only to picture her.

“Yes! Dance my lovely little magics. Dance for DawnChaser,” the pony's voice became playful again for a moment, as the sound of arcing electricity filled the air. Following that, the smell of ozone assaulted the griffon's nostrils, but he kept his eyes tightly shut, his mind focused only on his love, and then, suddenly, he was jerked harshly sideways, and everything became light.

<><><><><>

The griffon started awake, his body, stiff, smoking in a few places, and sore, but otherwise unharmed. He did a quick stock check of everything, wings, legs, and beak to make sure he wasn't missing any bits of himself, and after assuring his mind that he had indeed made it through without losing anything important, he rose from where he was laying and looked around, trying to figure out where he was.

Before he could look too far, his world shook, like an earthquake was rocking everything, and it forced him back down, as his balance tumbled him onto his side. His eyes instantly scanning around for the some place to hide. Of course, as his vision darted about, he realized quickly where he was, and would have been elated at that, with Gilda nearby, unaware of his presence, if she hadn't been surrounded by ponies.

They were huge too. Colossi who towered into the heavens, as high to him as Canterlot Mountain it seemed. Their hooves covered whole city blocks as they stepped, another crash of hard hoof onto the floorboards around him creating another tremor. He was definitely smaller than he had been, that was for sure as he looked up at them, but the Professor with his spell had promised he'd be mouse sized. He was smaller than that.

At a glance, with Gilda's foreclaw being taller than him, he was the size of a fly. A fly sitting on a busy floor, as ponies of all colors and shapes walked by him. Their huge hooves slamming again and again into the wood, each bang forcing him to cover his ears. Luckily for him, Gilda stood nearby, and no one seemed to want to get near her, as she held a drink in her claw and was chatting with some cerulean pegasus.

The griffon, if he had been able to get to his paws for just a moment, would have flown off from where he was, but with the tremors a constant thing, he could never get himself upright long enough to take wing, and so was forced to endure the tortures of sights and sounds from the floor as everyone above chatted idly. He tried crying out as loud as he could, an eagle like screech piercing the air around him, but he was unheard as the titans milled about him.

Finally something happened to change his circumstance. Unfortunately for him, said change was a shadow casting itself over him, throwing him into darkness. Looking upward, he found the light blocked by a massive body, griffon feathers and fur casting him in its shadow, as muscles powerful enough to rend mountains carried the form forward. Her claws scrapped against the floor, though luckily, she held a drink in the claw above him, and so he avoided being speared by them.

Unluckily, as her rear paw trod forward, hit came down on towards him. The thick, powerful pad of the lion's paw came down like a meteor from the heavens, the sound it made a whistle as it plowed through the air, the motion of it enough to press his tiny form down tighter against the floorboards, even as he looked upon it in a mixture of horror, and from somewhere deep inside himself, elation.

With an explosion, the paw slammed home, the soft, rough pad conforming around the tiny griffon's body. His form didn't go squish or splat, but instead found itself almost lovingly embraced by it. The heat from it made his feathers and fur slick with sweat in an instant, and through the flesh he could hear the low thuds of her heartbeat, somewhere high above him.

Her paw rose a moment later, and the tiny griffon found his stomach dropping into his hindlegs as he was stuck to it, the folds of the paw grabbing him, cupping him a pocket of flesh that lifted him upwards, and then sharply arced back downward, the flesh letting him go into freefall for just a moment, before it smashed into him again, and forced him once more towards the floor, crushing him tightly between it and the hard wood.

The rollercoaster of motion gave him only a moment to rest, before it resumed, her every step, something totally automatic to her, dominating him like he was nothing. His mind, addled by the movement, couldn't hold a thought, and instead all he could do was remember her, and embrace her flesh with his body, accepting her as his world and master, for this moment if nothing else.

<><><><><>

“Hmm....now...how do I get him back anyway?” asked a pony of himself, as he sat in the ruins of the room the griffon had been in moments ago.

“I lose more test subjects this way,” he complained idly to himself as he started cleaning up, hoping the answer would come to him.

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Picture drawn by  Moppie And story by  Star_Sage Thank you both for it.