Rarity's Giant Sneezes, part 1

	Rarity awoke on top of her covers. Last night had been long; she had to finish filling an abnormally large order. There were a few complications, and she had ended up passing out on her bed once she was finally through. She stretched, basking in the sun, and in the fact that she didn't have nearly as many responsibilities on this fine morning.

	Her nostrils flared. She could feel a sneeze building inside of them. Yesterday, she had been fighting off a sneeze all day, as she simply didn't have time to fix her makeup and mane afterward. But now, in her own bed, with bedhead nonetheless, what was really the harm? Rarity sniffled, coaxing the sneeze forth. “Huhh.. Huuh.. HUHH! Huhhhcheeww!”

	Rarity sneezed daintily, but she could feel that her nose was not fully satisfied. She hoped that she wasn't getting sick. Her eyelashes fluttered shut. “Ahhh... AHHCheeeeww!”

	She rubbed her nose and got out of bed, putting on her slippers. As she walked by her window, the morning sun caught her eye, and her jaw fell slack. Alright, perhaps just one more sneeze. Rarity's tongue pressed against the inside of her cheek as she drew in large hitching breaths. “Ahh... Haaah.. HAAHAAAH! KAAHHChooooo!”

	Finally, the urge to sneeze subsided. Rarity donned her bathrobe and walked into the kitchen. She reached for a coffee mug, and... Suddenly, the realization came to her that she normally used magic to get coffee mugs down, as they were too high in her cabinet for her to reach. And yet, there was one in her hand right now. She reached up to the shelf again, just to confirm that she wasn't losing her mind. Except for the fact that she seemed to be larger than she normally was, that had to qualify as losing it.

	Rarity started to take shallow, nervous breaths. Why was she suddenly bigger? She had stopped growing years ago, and ponies didn't just grow a few inches taller overnight. She ran into her dressing room, looked into the mirror, and shrieked. It was worse than she thought. She was wasn't just taller, she had grown in all dimensions. She seemed to be nearly the size of Big Macintosh. She began to panic.

	“Alright, Rarity.” She said to herself. “Get it together. You are friends with Celestia's personal student, the Element of Magic. Surely she has a way to get you out of this.”

	Rarity went to the door, as if to leave, but then realized that she couldn't. Ponies would see her out there, and they would surely notice that she was bigger than usual. She ran back into her bedroom, and opened her closet doors. She used her magic to reach up to the top shelf... And her magic didn't seem to be working properly. What in Equestria was happening? Oh well, her magic picked a good day to fail. She was just tall enough to reach the top shelf if she stood on the tips of her hooves.

	Rarity pulled a heavy black cloak down from her closet. Unfortunately, she hadn't noticed, but there was an old jewelry box on top of the cloak. She narrowly dodged it as it fell. Rarity pulled the cloak over herself. It was quite dusty from disuse, and she began to feel a sneeze building. She pressed a hoof to her nose, but the urge to sneeze was quite bad, and she couldn't help but indulge. Her head tilted back as she drew in hitching breaths. “Haaa... Ahhh.. Huuhh.. HEHH... Haaaacheeeew! HAAHCHHOOO!”

	She released a double, one dainty, and one desperate. She picked up the jewelry box, and placed it up on the top shelf, with little difficulty. That had been way too easy. She had gotten even bigger! Rarity ran out of her bedroom and out the front door, pausing only to lock the Carousal Boutique behind her. Now, this was urgent.

---

	Rarity dashed towards Twilight's house. Even though it might mean passing by more curious eyes, she took the most direct route, even taking a shortcut through the park. As she ran by ponies, she could feel their eyes upon her. She could also smell the sharp scent of freshly cut grass, and... Oh dear. She had to sneeze.

	She raised a hoof to her nose. She didn't have time to stop and sneeze, and yet it seemed she had little say in the matter. Despite her hoof rubbing at her nostrils diligently, Rarity's mouth opened and her tongue pressed against the inside of her cheek. Her head tilted back slightly, and one glimpse of the sun was all it took. She simply couldn't hold back! “AAAAHCheeeeww! Aaaasshoooo! Ahh... HaahahhAHHH... IIIYYAATCHHiooooo!”

	Had she grown even bigger? No matter, she had to sneeze once more, and again she couldn't hold back. “Hhaah... AHH... AHH! EHH... EHHEHH! HHERRESSHHOOOOO!”

	As she released the massive sneeze, she could feel herself growing. Luckily, her nose was satisfied, and she sprinted towards Twilight's place with a new sense of urgency.

---

	Twilight Sparkle was in her library when she heard a sharp knock at her door. Who could that be? The library was closed on weekends, and she wasn't expecting visitors. She got up, opened the front door a crack, and peeped out. She slammed the door shut again, pulling her head back inside. Outside the door stood a dark, hooded figure the size of one of the Princesses!

	“Who's there?” She called.

	“Twilight, it's me...” Came the reply. It wasn't any voice she knew. She wasn't even sure if it was a stallion or a mare.

	“What do you want?” Twilight demanded.

	“Please... I need help.” The voice sounded so desperate. Twilight weighed her options. Whoever was out there really sounded sincere. What if this was Princess Celestia, and this was some kind of test? On the other hand, what if it was somepony who meant her harm?

	Well, in the second case, surely anypony powerful enough to defeat her was powerful enough to break open the door. And it was the middle of the day. What did she have to worry about? Twilight opened the door, and stared at the mysterious pony expectantly. The cloaked figure disrobed.

	“Rarity?” Twilight said, in disbelief.

	Rarity began sobbing. “I know... it's so... horrrrible...”

	“Rarity, calm down, and tell me what happened.” Twilight said, not unkindly.

	“It seems that every time I sneeze, I grow bigger.” Rarity said, drying her eyes.

	“Oh, well, that's perfectly normal. Only the most experienced mages don't lose control of their magic when they sneeze. Now, just tell me which growing spell you are using so I can reverse it.”

	Rarity's eyes grew wide. “I don't know any growing spells! I didn't even know there was a growing spell!”

	“Yes, the first one was invented by Starswirl the Bearded in the year...”

	“Twilight...” Twilight's assistant Spike walked into the room. “Don't you think there's something more important here then spouting off magic trivia?”

	Twilight blushed. “You're right, Spike. Sorry Rarity.”

	Rarity began sobbing again. “Will I be like this forever?”

	“No, I'll figure out something.” Twilight said. “Just wait.”

	Twilight racked her brain for something which might cause a symptom like this. She leafed through a medical encyclopedia, looking for a similar case. She could hear Rarity moaning, and she turned to her to reassure her.

	When Twilight turned around, she saw Rarity with her head tilted back, a pre-sneeze expression on her face. Rarity was drawing in massive hitching breaths... Although perhaps they were normal size with respect to her lung capacity.

	“AHHH... AHHAHH... AAACHOOOOO!” Rarity sneezed, almost causing the book to fly out of Twilight's hoof. Sure enough, the sneeze caused her to grow an inch or so. But something had struck Twilight as strange about the whole ordeal. She couldn't quite put her hoof on it.

	“Rarity, can you sneeze again?” Twilight requested. She was sure she had seen something which could be used as a clue.

	“Ok, I can try.” Rarity responded, and began sniffling, trying to coax another sneeze out. “Snifff... Snufff.. Snniiifffff.... Nope, nothing. I'm sure if we wait a bit I will sneeze again; my nose has been extra sensitive today.”

	“Something seemed strange to me when you sneezed before, so I think if you sneeze again I might be able to figure out what is wrong with you.” Twilight said. “Spike, can you get the pepper out of the kitchen?”

	Rarity seemed wary. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

	“Trust me.” Twilight replied. “I am going to figure this out and fix you.”

	Spike returned with the pepper shaker. Twilight levitated him so that he was at Rarity's face level, and he began to grind the pepper into Rarity's nose. Twilight could see Rarity's nostrils flaring as her sneeze built. Her eyelashes fluttered shut and her mouth opened. Twilight pulled Spike down.

	“Ahhh... AHHH... HAHHAHH! Ehhh...” Rarity began, but the sneeze slipped away from her. “Had you given me just a tad more pepper, I could have sneezed.”

	“Ok, this time you tell me when.” Twilight replied, and lifted Spike back up to Rarity's face. The pre-sneeze expression on her face appeared as he started grinding pepper again. Rarity began hitching.

	“Ahh... AHHAHH... HAHAHHHAH.. WUHH... WUHHUHHH.. STOHHH..” Rarity fanned in front of her face with her hoof. Pepper continued to rain down on her nostrils, which were flaring out of control.

	“Twilight, I think she's had enough.” Spike said.

	“No, she hasn't told us to stop yet. Keep going.” Twilight replied.

	“AHHAHHAAAAH! HAAAAH!” Rarity hitched. “STOHHAAAH! I GOHH... GOTTAHH!”

	Finally, Twilight pulled Spike away. Just in time, as Rarity took a final, massive hitching breath, and exploded. “AAHHAAAHHAAAAAAH!! KKEEERRRTIIIIIIEEEECHHHOOOOOOOOO!!”

	Loose papers scattered around the library as the massive gust of wind escaped Rarity's lungs. Twilight had figured it out! Rarity's horn wasn't lighting up when she sneezed! It wasn't her own magic that was causing this! Rarity's head reared back as another sneeze built.

	“AHH... AHH! AHHAHH! HEEEECHHOOOO! HEEEETIIISSSHHHEEEEEWWW!” The white mare sneezed. She had grown at least a foot since they started with the pepper.

	“Spike, see if you can stop her from sneezing. I need to go into the basement and get the X-Ray machine.” Twilight ordered.

---

	“But how am I supposed to...” Spike started, but Twilight was long gone. Furthermore, he was interrupted by a giant, desperate sneeze from Rarity.

	“HAAAAAASSCHHHHOOOO!”

	“Rarity, can you please stop sneezing!” He called.

	“AHHH... AHHHAAHH... HHAAAAAACHHEEEEEW!” Came the reply. Rarity had grown to the size of a young adult dragon, and she didn't seem to be stopping. Well, there was only one thing to be done. Spike began to climb Rarity's tail. He pulled himself onto her back, just in time for her to release another giant sneeze. “AAHHHAAHHHCCHHHEEEEEEWW!”

	Rarity's back shook beneath Spike, but he kept his balance. He quickly climbed her mane and got onto her head. Then, he wrapped his back legs around her horn and swung himself down so that he could reach her nose. He began to rub, with one claw on each of Rarity's enormous nostrils.

	Her eyes crossed as she stared at him. Then, they fluttered shut as her nostrils began to flare with a renewed vigor. Spike yelled to her.“Rarity, please don't sneeze!”

	“Ahh...” She began, opening her mouth. “AAH.. AHHH!”