Princess, I Shrunk the Ponies!

Chapters

Backfiring Spell
Blown Away
Separate Ways
Crawling Bonds
As The Rain Falls
Night Falling

Backfiring Spell

Humming a little tune, Twilight Sparkle smiled in satisfaction as she placed the last book she wanted to sort onto one of the shelves. That had been her task, to re-shelve everything, all in time for one certain task she couldn't wait to try out. With everything but a sweeping to the floor needing to be done, she was quite satisfied with her work. All of the shelves had been sorted, with the books in place, along with a smaller shelf serving as a “To Read” placing, for easy access to a couple of books she wanted to read in the next few hours or so.

"There we go! All done!" She then levitated a bag of bits, turning to where Spike was sorting some parchment for letters to send to Princess Celestia. "Hey, Spike! Why don't you take a break, and go out and get some treats for yourself? You've earned it!" She smiled brightly at her little dragon friend.

"Sure, Twilight!" Spike grinned toothily at the Unicorn, green eyes gleaming as he thought of picking up a batch of fresh-baked cupcakes from Sugarcube Corner. "Want anything special this time?"

"Hmmm...." Twilight thought for a moment, having not quite expected that. She had meant to make it that he earned a little treat, but here he was, offering to get her something too. "Oh, I think that some date squares would be great! The ones Pinkie made last week were awesome! Remember those?"

"Yeah!" Spike nodded, taking the sack of bits in his claws. "Okay, so I'll get you some of those, Twilight! After all, you deserve a little treat, too! You've been working so hard on that new spell all week, and you still won't even tell me what it is!" Here, he pouted cutely, his eyes growing big and watery.

"Awww..." Twilight smiled a bit, shaking her head as she patted his. "Well, don't you worry, Spike! The girls are coming over in a few minutes and I'll be demonstrating it then! Once you get back, you'll have a full display and a front row seat!" She winked at him. "You're going to love it, Spike. I promise!"

"Sounds awesome!" Spike grinned, heading for the door. "I'll be back soon! Don't start without me!"

"I won't!" Twilight waved a hoof at him as he headed out. Once he was gone, she sat down, wondering what she could do to pass the time until her friends arrived. She looked over at Owloysius, who was on his perch, looking at her intently.

"What do you think, Owloysius?"

"Who?" Owloysius hooted from his perch, unblinking eyes meeting Twilight's curious gaze.

Twilight giggled a bit, shaking her head. "Exactly."
Knock knock knock!

"Oh, that's them!" Twilight went to the door, using her magic to open it. "Come on in, girls!"

"Hellooooo, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie sang out as she bounced into the library. "Sooooo, are you finally gonna show us your ultra-super-duper-special top secret spell you've been working on all week? Are you, are you, are you?"

"Please say "yes" so she'll calm the buck down..." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as she flew in behind Pinkie Pie.

"Yes, Pinkie, I am." Twilight smiled as she nodded.

"Oh, how wonderful..." Fluttershy said, coming in behind Rainbow Dash.

"Well I certainly am looking forward to this, darling!" Rarity came trotting in next. "Whatever it may be, oh, I'm certain it will be quite fabulous!"

"Hoo-whee! Pinkie here cain't stop chatterin' on an' on 'bout what it could be, Twilight!" Applejack chuckled, shaking her head as she trotted in behind Rarity. "So why don't y'all show us so's we can finally get it over with?"

"Yesyesyesyesyes!!!!! Show us, Twilight!!! Show us your super-duper-ultra-special-top-secret new spell!" Pinkie exclaimed, munching on a box of popcorn she seemingly pulled out of thin air.

"Oh, well...I kind of promised Spike I'd wait until he returned. He just went to Sugarcube Corner to get some treats." Twilight said sheepishly.

"Oh...that's all right...it's nice of you to wait..." Fluttershy smiled.

"Well darling, I think our little Spikey Wikey will gladly appreciate it, oh yes!" Rarity sat delicately on a velvet cushion that seemed to come from out of nowhere.

"Hey, that's cool!" Rainbow Dash nodded, laying on the floor on her side, her hind legs stretched out behind her, propping herself up on one foreleg.

"Oooh, yes! Mustn't forget cute little Spikey!" Pinkie agreed, setting her popcorn box aside.

"Shoot, no! If'n y'all promised Spike ya'd wait till he was back ta start the show, then by all means, Sugarcube. Ah ain't in no hurry!" Applejack laid down in a similar position as Rainbow's, taking off her cowfilly hat and laying it in front of her.

"Neither am I, so it's quite all right..." Fluttershy lay on her stomach on the floor near Rainbow Dash, a few steps away. Her tail swished, discreetly entangling with the other Pegasus' tail.

"Indeed, darling!" Rarity adjusted her stylish coiffure for a moment, and winked. "Well! How of everything else?"

"Not much to report! Shining Armor and Cadance came back from their honeymoon just yesterday." Twilight giggled a bit. "They sent a letter, and now they're getting settled in back home before Shining Armor has to get back to work."

"You think there'll be any foals on the way?" Rainbow snickered, only to be nudged in the side by Fluttershy. "Hey, I'm just kidding, jeez!"

"Ain't no reason ta go 'round bein' lewd, Rainbow," Applejack chided.

"Oh, oh! Twilight, you HAVE to let me know when you're gonna be an auntie!" Pinkie chattered excitedly. "I wanna throw a BIG congratulations party for the new parents-to-be, whenever they may be!"

Twilight blushed and laughed a bit. "It's okay, girls, I can see why you'd be...well, curious. No no, I think they're going to wait a few years before they decide to start a family. Get used to being married, you know?"

Applejack spoke up then, changing the subject. "Well, Ah'm happy ta report that harvest season's goin' well this year, what with our new li'l farmhand."

Now Twilight smiled as she turned to Applejack, "Oooh! Really? I heard about it, especially with how your apple goods sold out when you had the stand set up in town yesterday!"

"Well, I must say they were indeed marvelous apples!" Rarity blew a kiss in an exaggerated expression of how delicious they were.

"Eeyup!" Applejack nodded, blushing mildly from Rarity's praise of her crop. "Ah'll tell y'all somethin', them folks out in Flower Valley sure know what the hay they're talkin' 'bout when they says they're experts at growin'!"

"I'll say!" Rainbow Dash agreed, licking her lips. "I still can't get that awesome taste off my tongue! ...Not that I want to, anyways!"

"Considering that Flower Valley consists mostly of Earth Ponies, it's no wonder they know their stuff!" Twilight agreed. "I don't know how you did it Applejack, but you made those apple dumplings even better.

"Oh, yes...and that apple pie we-...er...I had yesterday...was really good." Fluttershy hid behind her mane a bit, blushing.

"I must agree! And I for one thoroughly adored it all! Those fritters, oh my!" Rarity giggled madly, like a schoolfilly. "Simply divine! Sweetie Belle was quite partial to them when I gave her some for dessert!"

"Scootaloo the squirt was more than happy to take the leftover pie I offered her." Rainbow Dash grinned, tossing her rainbow-colored mane over her shoulder. "She said she can't wait to have more, too!"

"Awww, shucks!" Applejack blushed again, smiling modestly at her friends. "Ah cain't take all the credit, now! A lot of it goes ta Sweet Apple Acres' new hired hoof, after all!"

"Well darling, I certainly must express that all the work you and your farm's new help have put into have been simply wonderful!" Rarity waved a hoof dramatically.

"Yep!" Twilight agreed with a grin. "How about you, Rainbow Dash? You said you were working on a new trick. How's it coming along?"

"It's going very well, isn't it?" Fluttershy looked to her friend. "I've been watching her practice it...."

"Oh, yeah!" Rainbow Dash grinned, her wings flaring out for a moment before folding at her sides. "It's gonna be my most awesome trick, yet! It might even surpass my already-awesome Sonic-Rainboom!"

"Really?!" Pinkie's eyes went wide. "But your Sonic-Rainboom is the most awesomest trick ever, Dashie! Do you really think your new trick can surpass that much awesomeness?!"

"Oh my! Surpassing that of all tricks? Certainly stunning!" Rarity admitted.

"As Rainbow puts it, it's going to be 20% cooler," Fluttershy giggled. "Woohoo..."

"That sounds great!" Twilight grinned. "Now that I have to see, how a trick can surpass the Sonic Rainboom!"

"Wait till you guys see it!" Rainbow stood for a moment, puffing out her chest proudly. She lay back down, in the same position as before, although a little closer to Fluttershy. "It's gonna blow you away!"

"So is it like a tornado, then?!" Pinkie prompted. "Oooh, oooh! Or is it more like a hurricane?! Some kind of windstorm?! I wanna know, I wanna know!!!"

"Now now, dear, Rainbow Dash will surely tell us when she's ready!" Rarity lovingly chastised the pink Earth pony.

"I don't doubt it." Twilight chuckled.

Fluttershy giggled a bit. "From what I've seen so far, it's worth it..."

"Oh, trust me! You'll see it soon!" Rainbow promised. "You won't be disappointed, either!"

The six of them all shared a laugh, before Rarity spoke up, "Now then, redirecting your attention, I simply MUST tell you of a very wondrous breakthrough! I was appointed by a very interesting client, who had requested I create suits that would make for excellent use of working out and training! While I of course made sure they were as stylish as they were useful for training, I think it has been quite a breakthrough!"

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Fluttershy smiled. "You were telling me about it at the spa today, and I can't wait to see it!"

"Wow, training clothes? That's pretty nice how you've branched out to that kind of thing," Twilight nodded in approval.

"Trainin' clothes?" Applejack whistled, clearly impressed. "Ah mus' say, Rarity! Ah'm surprised ta hear of ya makin' somethin' other than fancy dresses! So who's the client?"

Rarity giggled. "Why, the lovely Wonderbolt Spitfire, of course! She appointed me personally to create a menagerie of training clothing! Oh, the ideas simply flowed like a river! I knew then and there to create wonderful styles meant to shine in the midst of hard physical work! I created the fabrics to breathe, but still durable against all movement, to be warm but still cooling, oh yes!"

Rainbow's magenta eyes widened. "No WAY!!! THE captain of the Wonderbolts asked you to make training clothes?! That is SO incredibly AWESOME!!!"

"I'll say! That's super-duper-ultra-extra-special awesome!" Pinkie grinned, bouncing about in excited glee. "You must feel SOOOOO honored, Rarity!!!"

"Well, I certainly must say that is indeed an honour!" Rarity said sweetly with a wink. "Surely you will all love them, I hope!"

"Hello!" Spike came wandering in, with a bag of treats in his hands. "You didn't start without me, did you?"

"Of course not, Spike." Twilight assured. "We were just chatting to pass the time."

"Of course we waited fer y'all, Spike!" Applejack smiled at the baby dragon. "Now, why don't y'all sit yerself down, so's we can get started?"

"Oooh, Spikey! You brought goodies?!" Pinkie's eyes lit up. "What'dja get?!"

"Just a few things..." Spike sat down next to Rarity.

"Welcome back, Spikey Wikey!" Rarity gave him a little friendly nuzzle. "Mmm! Smells delicious, dear! May I have one of whatever you have there?"

"...Yeah..." Spike chuckled and gave her a cupcake.

"Thank you, darling!" Rarity levitated it and took a bite.

"All right!" Twilight stood up. "I'm about to show you guys my latest spell! I just need an inanimate object."

"Oooh, I know, I know!" Pinkie grabbed Applejack's cowfilly hat. "Try it on this!!!"

"Not mah hat, Pinkie." Applejack grabbed her hat back and placed it on her head.

"How 'bout this little beauty?" Rainbow Dash pulled an apple from her saddle bags. "I grabbed it to snack on while I practiced, but Fluttershy met up with me after her spa date was finished, and we went out for lunch together, instead."

"Awwww..." Rarity cooed, winking knowingly, giggling a bit as Fluttershy blushed heavily.

"Perfect!" Twilight levitated the apple to her, and placed it on the floor before her. "So keep your eyes peeled on the apple, everypony!"

"Awesome!" Spike grinned, eagerly watching the apple.

"Okay! ...Wait, wouldn't peeling my eyes hurt?" Pinkie blinked. "How would I do that, anyway? I don't think I can take my eyes out to peel them."

"Pinkie, you're SOOOOO random..." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and shook her head, before focusing her attention on the apple.

"It's a figure of speech meaning to keep your eye on something, darling." Rarity told her.

"Ohhhhh!" Pinkie nodded, before frowning in confusion. "But I still can't take out my eyes! How can I keep them on the apple?"

"Jus' watch the apple, Sugarcube..." Applejack told her with a sigh. "Twi's gon' do somethin' to it..."

"Right! So here we go!" Twilight pointed her horn toward it as if flared up with magic. Concentrating, the magic from her horn then shot out from the tip like a lazer, heading right toward the apple.

All eyes were focused on the apple, and on the beam of magic that had fired from Twilight's horn. Nopony noticed that after hitting the apple, the beam ricocheted off a nearby mirror. There was then a bright flash that filled the room, as well as everypony's vision. Strange feelings arose, and yet passed within a second, as if a whisper in the wind. A moment passed, then the light cleared, and everypony regained themselves.

"Okay...that could've gone better..." Twilight rubbed her head. "Sorry about that, everypony! When I tested it, didn't react like that."

"It's quite all right, dear, I think that we-OH!!" Rarity noticed something HUGE in front of them, big and red. "The apple!"

"Eeeeep!!!" Fluttershy unwittingly grabbed onto Rainbow Dash tightly. "It's..huge!!"

"What the hay happened?!" Applejack exclaimed, looking all around. "Twi, did we...did we-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Pinkie suddenly screamed. "GIANT DRAGON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"DRAGON?!?!!?!?" Fluttershy screamed, holding the cyan Pegasus tighter and burying her face in her mane, trembling with fear.

"Girls, calm down! There's no giant dragon and we didn't-" Twilight then took in their surroundings, losing colour in her face.

Everything around them was bigger. Not to mention higher. As if everything around them had grown superfluously. The apple especially, was enormous, about the size of Canterlot Castle, even. As if it could crush them in an instant. For a moment, Twilight couldn't help but think that maybe.... No. She knew. Everything else didn't get bigger.

They had shrunk.

"Guys?! You guys, where are you?!" Spike's VERY loud, booming voice was heard as the little, now HUGE dragon stood up, looking afraid. "Twilight?!? Twilight where are you?!"

"Gaaah!!! Um...Fluttershy...you're...breaking my wings..." Rainbow Dash managed, struggling to free herself from the other Pegasus's death grip.

"Oh no, oh no, oh nonononono!!!!!" Pinkie wailed in despair. "This is terrible! This is awful!!! This is awfully terrible!!!!!"

Fluttershy loosened her hold a little, whimpering. "I'm scared...what happened? Oh...if there's a dragon!! Make it go away!"

"Oh no!! This is awful!! Terrible! This is by far the MOST. HORRIBLE. THING!" Rarity fell to the floor in a mock faint.

"This isn't good, everypony! We've shrunk! The spell was meant to shrink something or somepony down, but it somehow must have backfired onto us!" Twilight realized in panic.

"That ain't good, Twilight!" Applejack looked at the Unicorn fearfully.

"An' Ah don't jus' mean the shrinkin'!"

"Oh no, oh no!!! I've seen this movie!!!" Pinkie cowered in fear, pressing her hooves over her eyes. "Twilight, make us big again! I don't wanna be itty-bitty teeny-tiny!"

"I...I can't!" Twilight confessed in fear. "I only know how to use the shrinking spell, but I don't know how to reverse it! It's a highly advanced shrinking spell that can also work on ponies too, so the undoing is more complicated!"

"You mean to say we're stuck like this?! Oh, no no no! I just had myself groomed!" Rarity complained.

"What?! I can't be stuck like this! I'll NEVER be able to join the Wonderbolts if I'm the size of a Parasprite!" Rainbow Dash cried, now clinging onto Fluttershy.

"There mus' be somepony who cain help us!" Applejack reasoned. "Surely the only way ta reverse the shrinkin' ain't by means of a magic spell! What 'bout the Princess?"

"And I won't be able to take care of my animal friends!" Fluttershy sniffled. "Now that we're the size of mice!"

"Actually, we're about three quarters of an inch tall." Twilight clarified.

"As though that makes it better, darling!" Rarity stood up. "We must find a way to undo this spell, then! If the Princess cannot help us, perhaps Zecora could."

"But as little as we are, Zecora might just gobble us up in a big tasty stew! Just like in my song!" Pinkie worried, before beginning to sing. "She's an evil enchantress! She does evil dances! And if you look in her-mmph!!!"

Rainbow Dash had slapped her hoof over Pinkie's mouth. "Without the corny song, I have to say I sort-of agree with Pinkie Pie. But not about Zecora. I'm talking about the predators that could be waiting for us along the way to and within the Everfree Forest!"

"If only we could find somepony ta take us there..." Applejack lamented, looking to Twilight helplessly.

"It's either we make our way to Canterlot...or we go through the Everfree Forest." Twilight said.

Fluttershy immediately squealed in fright and hid behind Rainbow Dash in some kind of attempt to hide away. "No! No no no no! I'm not going in there while this size! We could easily be crushed or worse, eaten! No!"

"Fluttershy, darling...it is our best hope." Rarity coaxed.

"Sorry, pal. We've kinda got no choice," Rainbow Dash hugged her gently to reassure her. "Besides...we'll all stick together. Right, Twilight?"

"Ah wouldn'ta suggested splittin' up even if we weren't shrunk!" Applejack agreed with a nod.

Fluttershy whimpered, nuzzling into the rainbow mane, trembling.

"Then it's settled. We'll go into the Everfree Forest, and have Zecora help us out." Twilight proclaimed.

"Darling, considering we're less than even an inch tall, and can't be heard...how will we even get her attention?" Rarity queried.

Twilight blinked, having not thought of that. "You're right... We'll have to find a way to get her attention when we get there."

"But first we should worry about finding a place to HIDE!!!!!" Pinkie cried in terror, pointing her hoof at giant Spike with an enormous broom in his claws.

"Oh, no!!! Twi, ain't t'day the day Spike cleans the library?!" Applejack realized, green eyes wide in horror.

"Oh no...it is!" Twilight realized. "Everypony RUN!!!"

The shrunken ponies scattered all over looking for hiding places, as Spike began to sweep the floors. As expected, the not-so-little dragon was completely unaware, as well as still worried, about where his friends had gone. Especially unaware that they were right in front of him, evading the broom he was sweeping across the floor.

It swept all over the floor, blowing particles of dust toward and around them, the bristles threatening. The ponies knew that they were in big trouble if they were to be caught by the broom, now much bigger than they all were.

"HURRY!!!!! RUN AWAY!!!!!" Pinkie cried, galloping as fast as she could.

"C'mon, Fluttershy!!! FLY!!!" Rainbow nudged her fellow Pegasus, urging her to fly away.

"I'm trying!!!" Fluttershy flapped her wings hard again as she was running and jumping.

She lifted into the air, but only found herself coming down to the floor again. Gathering herself, she stood back up and kept running, doing all she could to gather the strength to fly. She ran and jumped, ran and jumped, but couldn't fly like she normally could. Unfortunately, the broom came sweeping right toward her!

"AAIEE!! Rainbow Dash!! Save yourself!!!! Save yourself!! Get out of-"

But the yellow Pegasus was cut off when she was swept into the broom.

"Oh no, Fluttershy!!" Twilight yelled. "Hurry, everypony! Get to the side of the room!!"

"Fluttershy!!!" Rainbow cried. She flew as hard and as fast as she could, but soon found herself swept up by the broom, as well.

"DASHIE, NOOOOO!!!!!" Pinkie wailed, before also being swept up into the broom.

"Oh no, Pinkie Pie!!!" Applejack cried out, running with Twilight and Rarity to the sides of the room.

"Come on girls, we can make it! We just have to-AIEE!!" Twilight was then swept up by the broom.

"Oh no! It has Twilight now!!" Rarity grabbed onto Applejack tightly. "Darling, let us take this bold sacrifice together! There is nothing further we can do!"

"Ah guess yer right 'bout that, Rarity!" Clinging onto Rarity, Applejack removed her cowfilly hat with one hoof, clutching it to her chest as she and the fashion-designer Unicorn were also swept up by the broom.

"Wonder where they went..." Spike muttered to himself, opening the front door and shaking the broom. "I guess Twilight's spell messed up and they ended up teleporting! Oh well...hope they come back soon! I want to see that trick Twilight did!"

He shook the broom, padding it along the ground, and then went inside.

Twilight coughed, shaking herself of the dust. "Wow...that was...weird...but at least we're outside. Is everypony okay?"

Rarity groaned, sprawled on top of Applejack, looking ready to throw up. "I believe I'll pass on ever riding a roller coaster again, darling..."Oh!" The white Unicorn stood up, realizing Applejack had been under her. "Applejack dear, are you all right?" She noticed her hat on the ground a few feet away, and picked it up with her magic, levitating it over to her.

"S-sure...j-jus' f-fi...fi..." Applejack twitched her snout, before letting out a sneeze. "...Jus' fine, hon."

"Mmm..." Fluttershy weakly lifted herself off the ground. "Ooh...that hurt...I was...Rainbow? Rainbow Dash? Where is she?!" She noticed the said Pegasus lying a few feet away on a fallen leaf. "Rainbow Dash!!!" She rushed over to her, gently nudging her with her hoof. "Are you all right??"

Rainbow Dash moaned, stirring slightly when the other Pegasus nudged her with her hoof. She coughed, spitting out some dust, before managing to shakily stand. "Ugh...yeah, I think...I'm fine..."

"Oh, Rainbow Dash!!" Fluttershy enveloped her in a hug, so relieved that her best friend was okay.

"Heh...I'm okay, Fluttershy...really..." Rainbow insisted, though she hugged her best friend in return. Then she blinked. "...Has anyone seen Pinkie Pie?"

"Pinkie?" Twilight blinked, and looked around nervously. "Pinkie! Pinkie, where are you?!"

"Pinkie! Pinkie Pie, where are you?!"

"Pinkie Pie? Shout if ya cain hear us!"

"Pinkie Pie, darling! Please answer us!"

"This isn't funny, Pinkie! You better not be hiding!" Twilight warned.

"P-Pinkie?" Fluttershy mumbled.

"Pinkie Pie!!!" Rainbow Dash called out. "If this is some kind of a prank, so help me-!"

Applejack's ears suddenly perked up. "Wait a minute! Did y'all hear that?"

"Hear what, Applejack?" Twilight tured to the farmer pony, perking her ears up for any sound.

"It sounds like..." Rainbow Dash perked her ears, as well.

"Mmmph mmm mm!!" A muffled voice cried from somewhere nearby.

They dashed through the grass, which to them, towered several inches taller than they were. It made the area around them seem like a dense, dangerous jungle, despite that it was only the front lawn of the library.

A sinking feeling coursed through Twilight's stomach as she came to realize that reaching the Everfree Forest alone was going to be a dangerous feat. Now the five ponies followed the sound, hoping that Pinkie Pie was okay.

"Pinkie?! Pinkie, it's okay! We're coming!" Twilight called out.

"Mmmph mmm mm!!!" The muffled voice cried out again. It was slightly louder, this time.

"C'mon!!! I think she's over here!!!" Rainbow Dash flew over to where she thought the muffled voice was coming from, finding a pair of pink hind legs and a poofy dark-pink tail sticking up from the ground.

"There she is! C'mon, everypony!" Applejack called, galloping over to help Rainbow Dash remove the pink party mare from the ground.

With her mouth, Rainbow Dash grabbed her tail. Fluttershy followed suit, grabbing Rainbow Dash's tail. Applejack grabbed Fluttershy's tail. Rarity grabbed Applejack's tail. Twilight finally grabbed Rarity's tail.

"Everypony, pull!" Twilight said around Rarity's tail.

All of the ponies pulled and tugged with all of their might, until finally they managed to pull their friend free from the ground.

"Mmmph mmm mm!!!" Pinkie exclaimed, muffled. She spit out the mouthful of dirt and tried speaking again. "Whew! Thanks a lot, everypony! I thought I'd be stuck there forEEEEEVER!!!!!"

"Don' mention it, Sugarcube." Applejack nodded. "We're jus' glad yer awright."

"Thank Celestia for that..." Twilight agreed. "So, now that we're outside, we'll have to make our way to the Everfree Forest. ...It won't be easy, but it's all we can do."

"I...I don't like this, girls...." Fluttershy whimpered, looking up toward the sky, past all the taller blades of grass. "It could be dangerous...and could take forever...."

"Well...maybe we'll get lucky an' come across somepony who cain help us..." Applejack suggested helpfully.

"Only one problem with that, AJ. How are they gonna hear us?" Rainbow Dash pointed out, hovering in the air with her forelegs crossed.

"A cloud won't hold all of us since we're not Pegasi, and I don't know if you guys will even manage to stand on it given your size." Twilight bit her lip. "Then whatever shall we do?" Rarity moaned.

"Ah dunno..." Applejack sighed heavily, feeling tears gathering in her eyes. "But Ah'm afraid we're prob'ly gon' be stuck this way fer a long while...seems purty hopeless now, y'all..." She sniffled, turning away so the other girls wouldn't see her crying.

"As much as I hate to admit it..." Rainbow Dash sighed, shaking her head. "I think AJ's right. We need to find somepony to help us get to the Everfree Forest..."

"Oh, darling..." Rarity came to Applejack's side, producing a handkerchief to wipe her eyes. "There there now... But then I worry of our dear sisters...Oh, I hope they will be all right!"

Fluttershy whimpered, snuggling against Rainbow Dash for comfort.

"You're right..." Twilight sighed. "I just wish I knew how we could do that."

Rainbow Dash sighed a bit again, wrapping her forelegs around Fluttershy in a comforting embrace. There wasn't much she could say, try as she would have, given their current situation. All she could do was hold her close and at least assure her that she was there for her, they all were.

"We have to find somepony who can see us and hear us!" Pinkie declared. "It should probably be a Unicorn!"

Applejack sniffled, trying hard to fight back her tears. "But...where do we even start...? Nopony's gon' be able ta see or hear us at their front door..."

"Let alone even see us..." Rarity agreed, bringing a foreleg around Applejack's shoulders in comfort.

"We'll just have to try something. Otherwise, we're on our own. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy can still fly, but even that won't get things too far." Twilight contemplated for a few moments, uncertain. "Rarity and I can still use magic, but I don't know if it works to the same strength considering how small we are now."

Applejack snuggled into Rarity's neck, sniffling and choking back soft sobs. "An'...an' what are Pinkie an' me good fer...? We cain't fly...an' we ain't got no special magic powers..."

"We're just plain ol' boring-boring Earth ponies!" Pinkie pouted, her poofy mane and tail deflating and falling flat. "...We're utterly useless now."

"That's not true," Twilight chided. "As Earth ponies, you're more connected to the ground and plants than the rest of us. Pinkie, you can even use your Pinkie Sense to keep an eye out for anything that might be coming our way. Applejack, you can use your lasso or your legs to help us get further along the grass." The lavender Unicorn gently touched Pinkie Pie's shoulder as she eyed the four ponies in how close they were...how it just kind of compelled her to do the same. "You're not boring or useless just because you're an Earth pony. I never underestimated Earth ponies, and I'm not about to start that now."

"Re-really, Twi...?" Sniffling, the orange Earth pony looked up at the Unicorn, her cheeks and snout wet with tears.

"You...mean that, Twilight...?" Pinkamena looked hopefully up at her friend.

"Of course I mean that," Twilight smiled. "I always have. I think Earth ponies have far more strength and potential than they think. Just because you guys can't fly or do magic the same way Pegasi and Unicorns can...doesn't mean that you're less worth of being a pony. Of being powerful in your own ways."

"Twilight is quite right, darling." Rarity nodded, gently wiping Applejack's tears tenderly with her handkerchief. "I for one hold great hope in your abilities!"

"Yeah! Your Pinkie sense is awesome!" Rainbow Dash agreed with a grin. "It's almost like you're psychic or something!"

Pinkie's mane and tail "re-inflated" and she smiled widely. "You're right, Dashie! My Pinkie sense will keep us safe from any danger!"

Applejack managed to smile, sniffling a bit. "An' Ah've always got the boys here ta help out..." She chuckled softly, kicking out each of her back legs slightly. "Good ol' Bucky McGillicuddy an' Kicks McGee..."

"That's the spirit!" Twilight smiled. "So with all of us together, we'll make it to the Everfree Forest, we'll make it to Zecora's, and we'll be our normal size again!"

"Exactly right! The sooner we get moving, the sooner we can be big again, I can get back to the shop, and make sure my darling Sweetie Belle will be all right!" Rarity stood straight.

"I...I..." Fluttershy blushed a bit, hesitated, but then nuzzled Rainbow Dash for comfort. "I'm ready, too...I'm with you girls..."

"Eeyup." Applejack rubbed her snout with her hoof before putting on her hat. "We'll all make it tagether."

"You bet!" Rainbow Dash grinned, nuzzling Fluttershy in assurance. "Let's do this, guys!"

"And awa-a-a-a-ay we go!!!" Pinkie cheered, bouncing in place in her usual manner.

With that said, the Elements of Harmony, with determination in their hearts, readily braved the makeshift jungle ahead of them. They walked along, keeping an eye out for anything, especially Pinkie Pie for her infamous Pinkie Sense. Rainbow Dash even hovered the in the air above the grass to keep an out for obstacles head and above, while Fluttershy occasionally managed to join her. Twilight, Rarity and Applejack kept going along, making sure to clear anything in their path however they needed to. Tough as it was going to be, they were ready for this!

Blown Away

For what seemed like hours, the six shrunken ponies walked along the dense, jungle-like landscape of the grass. But when they heard the clock tower chime noon, they realized they had only been walking for five minutes.

Twilight paused, and then stopped. "You guys...do you hear that?"

"Hear what, darling?" Rarity turned around.

"It's not...something...that could eat or crush us...is it?" Fluttershy squeaked.

"I don't know..." Rainbow Dash frowned. "What'd you hear, Twilight?"

"Tell us please, Sugarcube." Applejack prompted.

"What is it, Twilight?! What'd you hear?!" Pinkie bounced in place, excited and frightened, though it was hard to tell on the latter.

"I think it was...singing!" Twilight blinked, and looked ahead of them. "Look!"

An enormous, to them, little Unicorn filly was passing them. The white coat, then the soft pink and purple mane and tail curled at the ends, revealed to be none other than Sweetie Belle. The little filly then sat down nearby on the grass, giggling as she peered through her saddlebags. She was also the source of the singing.

"It's Sweetie Belle!" Rarity cried. "Oh, my darling sister!! I must reach her at once!"

"Wait, I have an idea!" Twilight said.

"What are you thinking of, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash cocked her head to one side.

"Rainbow Dash, we'll need you to fly up to Sweetie Belle's ear and tell her what happened! Then she can help us out!" Twilight said.

"NO!" Fluttershy yelled, surprising everypony. "We are NOT having the girls go through the Everfree Forest! Not after what happened before..."

"BEFORE?!!?" Rarity cried, her eyes going wide upon hearing Fluttershy's statement. It did not sit well with her in the least. "What?!?!"

"Never mind! No no, I wasn't going to suggest that." Twilight assured. "No, we're going to have her to take us to somepony who can bring us to the forest!"

"...I don't know if that'd work, Twilight." Rainbow Dash hovered above the ground, forelegs crossed. "See, me and Fluttershy watched this movie, where these fillies and colts got shrunk by their dad's shrink ray, and the parents couldn't hear them, even if they were right above them."

Twilight raised an eyebrow for a moment, but then shook her head. "That's true...I suppose it would be hard...but even if you went even IN her ear, just a little?"

Before she could go on, this was when things were turned right to Fluttershy, as both Applejack and Rarity were now barring on her with surprise and stern anger. Everypony grew quiet, especially since the tension in the air was now so thick, as if you could slice with with scissors, it made them all uneasy, but knew they could not avoid it.

"Fluttershy, what d'ya mean, not after what happened b'fore?" Applejack stared at the timid Pegasus. "Ya best tell me what happened right now. Ah don' like ta have no secrets where mah little Apple Bloom's involved."

Fluttershy lowered down to the ground, her eyes full of tears and shame. "When I was looking after them for the first time...they snuck off into the Everfree Forest while I was sleeping. ...I went after them...and they nearly got attacked by a cockatrice...."

"WHAT?!" Rarity screeched in shock. "My darling Sweetie Belle, nearly turned to stone?! Why did you never tell me?!"

"I...I was...it was all over...I didn't want to worry you..." Fluttershy whimpered, now cowering away from her.

Rarity was fuming, her eyes narrowing dangerously. It was a wonder someone so ladylike could have gotten that intense. "WORRY me?!?!! Well, you certainly did a good job of that until now!"

"Fluttershy, Ah don't ever wanna hear of you keepin' a secret from me like that again, y'hear?" Applejack snapped, her eyes hard. "Mah little Apple Bloom could'a been turned ta stone, an' Ah ain't never would'a known it!"
"Hey, take it easy, AJ! It's not Fluttershy's fault!" Rainbow Dash stood defensively in front of the cowering Pegasus. "It's not like she TOLD the squirts to go trotting off into the Everfree Forest! They did it on their own! You should know how they are!"

"Be that as it may, she still should have told us," Rarity's tone was cold, but calm. "I would still have wanted to know."

"I...I'm very sorry...I should have told you both...you're right..." Fluttersy managed to look up a bit, toward Rainbow Dash, and then the other two upset ponies. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before...but if by chance anything should happen again, I promise you I will tell you....."

Rarity sighed, nodding. "All right. I forgive you, Fluttershy. ...Just please don't ever scare me like this again...I couldn't bear it if something happened to the girls. Please, I don't want to have to feel I can't trust you with Sweetie Belle."

"Same goes fer me, Sugarcube." Applejack nodded, agreeing with Rarity. "Yer cottage is one of Apple Bloom's fav'rite places ta visit, an' Ah don' wanna have ta feel like Ah cain't trust y'all ta take care of mah li'l sister, unnerstand?"

"Of course," Fluttershy murmured with a nod, still looking ashamed. "I understand, and I promise never to withhold information such as that ever again. You deserve to know what happens when it comes to your sisters and Scootaloo."

"Thank you, dear," Rarity looked a bit relieved. She looked forlornly toward her sister, and then sighed. Getting her attention was going to be useless at this point, considering their size. "Well, I suppose we must be going then."

"I'm glad you girls managed to settle this." Twilight smiled a bit. "I suppose that would make a great letter to the Princess..."

As they went along, Fluttershy whispered to Rainbow Dash, "Thank you...for sticking up for me...but they were right to be upset with me."

"I know." Rainbow Dash whispered back to Fluttershy. "But they didn't have to be so harsh about it. Like I said, you didn't tell the squirts to go wandering off into the Everfree Forest, did you?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "Oh, no. But..they had been insisting on it almost all evening...and when I fell asleep, then realized it was too quiet...I knew they had gone. ...One of my chickens went into the forest, so they went after it."

"So that's what happened?" Rainbow Dash blinked. "I'd never heard the story at all, so I didn't even know."

"Oh, no? ...It must never have come up..." Fluttershy said sheepishly. "Well, I went after them in the forest, and then I found Twilight...but she was turned to stone. That's how I knew there was a cockatrice on the loose. The girls found Elizabeak, but the cockatrice as well! But thankfully, I managed to scare it off by...well, staring it down. It tried turning me to stone, but I managed to stop it."

"So you used The Stare on the cockatrice, huh?" Rainbow Dash smirked, nudging Fluttershy in the ribs, lightly. "You can be pretty intimidating when you want to be, pal."

"Well, that young man was turning others to stone, and I didn't appreciate that." Fluttershy blushed, gigging.

"Heh! That's my gal, always putting the creatures in their places!" Rainbow chuckled, throwing a foreleg around her shoulders. "And now including Angel!"

"Well, I've learned my lesson with him..." Fluttershy smiled.

"Good thing, too." Rainbow Dash smirked. "It was beginning to seem like Angel was the master and you were the pet! No offense, though."

"None taken." Fluttershy assured with a smile. "You were right, I had been too nice and too lenient with him. But I'm thankful things have worked out better now."

Both mares shared a quiet moment, before their attention was brought back to their friends.

"Oooh, oooh! What about Winona?!" Pinkie suddenly piped up. "I saw the movie that Dashie was talking about too, and they got their doggie to bring them to where they needed to go!"

"Well Ah don't know..." Applejack frowned. "Then again, Winona, bein' a dog, has extra sensitive hearin' and smell, Ah guess it'd be worth a try. ...Well, shoot! That means we gotta go to Sweet Apple Acres! An' that's mighty far from here an' the Everfree Forest! We'd have to get somepony ta bring her here." Applejack frowned a bit.

"What about your new farmpony?" Pinkie suggested with an excited grin. "She could bring Winona, couldn't she?!"

"...True, she could..." Applejack mused. "Ah suppose. but we gotta find her, first!"

"So let's go find her!!! Come on, everypony!!!" Pinkie called out, already bouncing away from the other ponies.

"Ah sure hope this'll be easier than it sounds..." Applejack muttered.

"Well, if she can help us, I guess it's worth a try! But the question is, where is she?" Twilight wondered out loud.

"'Bout this time, she should be workin' the fields." Applejack said thoughtfully. "'Course, Ah think t'day Big Mac an' Ah gave 'er a day off, so she might be somewhere 'round Ponyville."

"Then let's start looking!" Pinkie said.

"I hope so....it might take a while to find her, since everything is much bigger than us now. It'll take us hours to cover any ground, but I thnk we can do it." Twilight said, trying to be optimistic.

"Oh, I do hope I remembered to keep my dear Opal inside..." Rarity wondered out loud.

"Why?" Pinkie blinked at the fashionista Unicorn. "Would it be a bad thing to have Opal outside?"

"Considerin' we're no bigger'n the size of 'er toy mouse, Ah'd say so." Applejack pointed out.

"Worse, we're smaller than it, as well." Twilight swallowed hard.

"Indeed, so I do think it best if we try to avoid going near the shop for now." Rarity confirmed.

"Oooh, you're right, that would be bad! Badder than bad!" Pinkie chattered nervously. "Good idea to avoid the dress shop, then!"

"Eeyup." Applejack nodded. "C'mon, everypony. Let's get on over ta town square. She might be 'round there, somewhere."

"Right." Twilight nodded, and turned to Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie, do you feel anything at all from your Pinkie Sense?"

"Mmmm..." Pinkie stood still for a moment, unblinking. "Nope! Nothing, Twilight! Why?"

"Okay, just making sure." Twilight said in relief.

...Until she noticed her tail twitching.

"Oh no, your tail's twitching! That means something's going to fall!" Twilight realized.

"Twitchy tail?" Pinkie blinked, and then saw that her tail was twitching. "Hurry, everypony! Take cover!"

They did, keeping their eyes skyward for anything that was going to fall.

A huge, squarely-shaped dark shadow fell over them then, to which they all ducked.

Something fell over the grass, but didn't reach them, due to the blades being high up and supporting the object enough, but it did shade them and obscure the path. When they looked up, with what little light there was, they could see it was an envelope.

"An envelope!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Must be that feather-brain Derpy delivering the mail." Rainbow Dash muttered, staring at the giant envelope. "She never gets it in the mailbox."

"Phew! It was just an envelope!" Pinkie smiled. But then her tail began twitching again. "Uh-oh! Twitch-a twitch!"

"Again?! Take cover, everypony!" Twilight yelled, ducking behind a small rock.

The others all took cover in the taller grass, as a large, oddly-shaped object fell to the ground, crumbling apart upon landing. There was a light tremor, but it soon died down as the item settled. When everypony managed to feast their eyes on what fell, they came upon something huge, broken...and smelled very nice, like blueberries and oats.

"What IS that? Pinkie Pie, it seems to smell of food...can you identify it?" Rarity said to the confectioner pony.

"Okey-dokey lokie!" Pinkie chirped, bouncing over to the massive fallen object. She took a tentative sniff, before breaking a piece of it off with her hoof and nibbling on it. After a moment, her eyes lit up. "It's a muffin! Blueberry, to be exact! Yummy!"

"A muffin?" Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "I guess it's no surprise Derpy would keep a muffin in her saddlebag. It's all she ever eats! At least from what I've seen, anyway."

Twilight looked sheepish as her stomach rumbled. "Well, I AM hungry... maybe we could take a few bites."

Fluttershy was already ahead of them, taking a few bites of what looked like a large piece of it that landed near her.

"A little hungry, pal?" Rainbow Dash laughed, biting off on a piece that had broken off near her.

"Yes..." Fluttershy looked sheepish, giggling a little. "It has been a while, I suppose I can't help it..."

"Can't say I blame you! This is awesome, as always!" Rainbow grinned, nodding in agreement with the others.

"Well, I suppose we could..." Rarity levitated a piece that hadn't fallen to the ground and ate it. "Mm! Simply divine! I believe she bought it from Sugarcube Corner!"

"Of course it's from Sugarcube Corner, silly!" Pinkie grinned. "I remember baking these and then selling her a few this morning! She always stops for a muffin before starting her mailmare's rounds!"

"Mmm-mmm! Ah reckon this was made with Flower Valley berries!" Applejack noted, eating off another large piece that had broken off and landed on the ground.

"Ah, just as I thought!" Rarity nodded with approval. "Well darling, just as always, amazing and quite delectable!"

"It sure is good!" Twilight agreed, levitating another piece toward her. "It'll be good for us to eat a bit before we continue."

"Thank you!!!" Pinkie beamed with pride, biting into a piece of the muffin, herself. "Yummy in my tummy!!! Mmm-mmm!!!"

They continued eating the muffin, filling their tummies with some much-needed nourishment. Considering it was so huge compared to them, it was no wonder there was more than enough for all of them. It would even last them for a day or two if they let it at this size!

Twilight paused a moment, considering an idea. She turned to Applejack. "I think I have an idea! Can you bring down some blades of the grass?"

"Sure thang, Twi!" Applejack winked, producing a rope and twirling a lasso with her mouth. She threw the rope, catching it on a few tall blades of grass. "Good 'nuff fer ya?"

"What do you need grass for, Twilight?" Pinkie blinked at the Element of Magic with curiosity.

"With some of the thicker blades...then a few thin ones..." Twilight's magic manipulated the blades of grass just so, twisting them and forming them, then using some bits of leaves, along again with some thin grass blades. Once finished, she showed them the prototype. It was a makeshift saddlebag.

"So that we'll be able to carry any rations we can find!" Twilight explained.

"Hey, not bad Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said with a grin. "There's more to you than just being an egghead, isn't there?"

"Impressive, Twi!" Applejack nodded her approval. "Who'da thought ya'd know how ta make an improvised saddlebag?"

"Well, when I was a filly, Cadance took me camping for a weekend in the mountains a few times, and she came to teach me some basic survival tips when you're roughing it." Twilight explained. "So I'll make one for each of you and then we'll be on our way!"

"Oh, how wonderful..." Fluttershy smiled. "This will surely help..."

"Indeed, darling! Surely one of us must know advice such as that!" Rarity agreed.

"Weeelll, doggie! Seems yer foalsitter was somethin' else, Sugarcube!" Applejack remarked. She lassoed more grass blades and pulled them down so Twilight could use them.

"And here, I'd have thought that's something you'd learn from your brother!" Rainbow Dash grinned, impressed by the Unicorn's knowledge of survival skills.

"That's super-duper-ultra-extra-coolie, Twilight!" Pinkie declared, bouncing all around in excitement.

"She did learn quite a bit of it from my brother, but she knew pretty well on her own too! Shining Armor wanted to teach me, but Cadance just about begged him and my parents to let her do it, and so here we are!" Twilight giggled at the memories. She then got to work once more on making the makeshift saddlebags.

"I only learned a thing or two after I discovered the ground." Fluttershy confessed. "But it was wonderful you had somepony to teach you, Twilight."

"You're lucky you had an awesome brother AND an awesome foalsitter, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash agreed.

"Yeah, totally! I wish my sisters could be that kind of awesome!" Pinkie smiled.

"Don't be silly, you guys, you all had ponies in your lives who were and are wonderful in their own ways." Twilight smiled. "Sure, I was lucky having a brother and foalsitter like Shining Armor and Cadance, but of course you guys must've been lucky, too."

"I was not quite as fortunate, but I do believe to have hopefully been one to Sweetie Belle before I left home!" Rarity beamed.

"I never really had anypony teach me things....well...almost..." Fluttershy's eyes drifted discreetly to Rainbow Dash.

"Ah had mah big brother showin' me the ropes of runnin' the farm." Applejack grinned. "An' Ah'm doin' mah best ta teach Apple Bloom how ta run thangs, too!"

"She may not be my sister, but that squirt Scootaloo looks up to me, so I guess that's close enough." Rainbow Dash smirked, winking discreetly at Fluttershy.

"You see? And even so, you can all still be that special pony to somepony else!" Twilight smiled.

"Quite true, dear, I for one still try to be one to Sweetie Belle!" Rarity smiled.

"An' Ah always try ta be there fer mah li'l Apple Bloom!" Applejack winked and smiled.

"That's wonderful!" Twilight beamed. She looked down at her work, managing to have created five more makeshift saddlebags. "There we go! They're all done! Let's saddle up and we'll keep going, everypony!"

The girls all nodded in agreement, each taking a makeshift saddlebag and strapping them onto their backs.

"All right, so let's take some bits of the muffin that we can hold for later. It's not much, but it'll help." Twilight said, gathering some pieces of the muffin.

"It certainly will help, not leaving us to fend for what little we could achieve with how small we are!" Rarity lamented, gathering some pieces of the muffin with her magic.

"It's a great idea, at least we'll be able to ration some food." Fluttershy said.

"Yeah, 'cause who knows where we'll find something to eat that we CAN actually eat!" Rainbow Dash agreed, gathering up some pieces of the muffin.

"Sure 'nuff!" Applejack nodded, collecting some pieces of muffin also.

"Yupperroonie!" Pinkie nodded, doing the same as the other girls.

Once they gathered some bits of the muffin into their saddlebags, the group continued on their trek into Ponyville. It was quite a timely journey, especially with how little they had in terms of speed, but they managed. Despite their brave faces, it was becoming more and more apparent that this was indeed going to take a while before they would change back to their normal sizes. Though rather than mope about it, they knew that they had to do something in order to get this to work out.

Twilight walked alongside closest to Rarity, sometimes casting wary glances toward the other Unicorn. She worried about her a little more, considering she wasn't the kind of pony who enjoyed getting dirty or in messy situations. But, she was proven time and time again that Rarity could hold her own and overcome her peeves in order to come through for her friends. She had faith in her, despite her worry.

At the same time, she worried for everypony, hoping that this wouldn't take a huge toll on them ever so great. Her stomach churned nervously, but she kept it down, keeping her composure as much as possible.

Applejack trotted alongside Pinkie Pie, mildly surprised that the pink party pony was actually relatively calm during all of this. She'd half expected her to be frantic and galloping around out of control. But instead, Pinkie was quite composed, and acting surprisingly rational about the whole ordeal.

It was a pleasant change, to say the least.

Rarity felt nervous, especially since she was completely out of her element with this entire thing going on. But then again, what adventure with her friends didn't somehow bring her out of her element? She just hoped she would be able to brave the dangers okay. The fashionista Unicorn noticed Twilight's wary glances toward her, and instead smiled in reassurance. She was going to be just fine, that much she hoped to assure everypony.

At least Twilight, the very one who seemed to hold them all together, was calm as could be and using whatever resources available to help them out. She knew she could count on her, they all could.

But Rarity still hoped they would return to their normals size soon. Her worries for her shop, her sister, and her designing had begun to eat at her mind relentlessly.

On the outside, Pinkie Pie looked calm, cool and collected. But on the inside, she was frantic! How had this even happened?! She knew Twilight couldn't be clumsy with a spell, she was always so careful! Whatever the reason, she'd decided to brave it with a smile on her face, much like she tackled any situation she and the other girls occasionally found themselves tangled up in.

Besides, this was like a whole new adventure! Pinkie had never seen the world from the point of view of an insect. She thought it'd be fun, and at the same time, exciting! She bounced alongside Applejack, humming a cheery little tune to herself, to keep her spirits uplifted.

Fluttershy, as per usual, was scared out of her mind. Being the size of a very small insect was not helping any, either. The way the blades of grass rose above them like trees was just about terrifying to her, especially since everything and everypony around them were now big enough to crush them to death. She wasn't even sure she wanted to run into one of her animal friends or an insect...the fear of getting eaten alive or crushed by them was terrifying to her. But she knew she couldn't just back down and cower away like a mouse. She had to endure this, for herself, for her friends, for her animal friends if she ever wanted to get big again.

A mosquito, now slightly bigger than them, flew by her, making her squeak in fright, nearly freezing her in her tracks. But then she felt a gentle nuzzle along her snout, which immediately relaxed her.

Rainbow Dash flew alongside Fluttershy, going at a mild pace so her timid best friend could keep up. As much as she chided the creamy-yellow Pegasus about being so timid and lacking confidence, she realized, in certain situations, it may not actually be such a bad thing.

Hearing a terrified squeak from the pink-maned animal lover, Rainbow nuzzled her gently in reassurance, even giving her snout a little lick to calm her down and let her know that everything would be all right.

A little blush coated Fluttershy's cheeks, but she relaxed all the more and nuzzled back in a way to thank her.

Twilight, noticing as she looked up at them, smiled at the sight. So did Rarity, who even giggled very silently in approval.

Applejack nudged Pinkie in the side, nodding to the two Pegasi. Both Earth ponies giggled, winking to each other knowingly.

"Do you guys see anything up ahead? Where are we at?" Twilight called up to them.

Snapping out of her mild lovesick stupor, Fluttershy cleared her throat and looked ahead of them. She could see they were some ways away from the town plaza, it seemed. "Um...not far off from town...from the plaza..."

"Well, we'd better be careful! It's bound to be swarming with ponies at this hour!" Rainbow realized.

"How shall we take cover?" Rarity voiced her concern aloud.

"We could keep closer to the walls of buildings...but then that also means having to be careful of doors, especially since Pinkie's Pinkie Sense will tell us about opening doors...but we wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time at this size." Twilight mentioned.

"That's true, ain't it?" Applejack nodded. "Pinkie, keep that there Pinkie Sense sharp, y'hear?"

"Okey-dokey lokie!" Pinkie nodded.

"I guess it could be worse...we could be near the reservoir on Tornado Day." Twilight quipped.

"...True..." Fluttershy murmured, a little smile crossing her features. But then faded into a look of fear. "Oh no! Wind!"

"What? What do you mean, wind?" Rarity queried.

"Rainbow...didn't the rest of the weather patrol schedule a very windy afternoon?" Fluttershy asked in fear, her eyes wide.

"Oh, feathers! I completely forgot about that!" Rainbow Dash nodded, her expression equally fearful. "And I should've remembered, because I was supposed to lead them off!"

"No time ta worry 'bout that now, Rainbow! We gotta find us some shelter!" Applejack exclaimed.

"Oh no! Too late!" Pinkie cried, looking up at the sky.

"What?" Twilight now looked up, and could see a team of the weather patrol Pegasi were already setting forth the strong winds. "Oh no! Hurry, everypony, we have to try to find cover somehow!"

It was indeed too late, considering the wind currents were already growing stronger by the second. Then again, considering the size of the six ponies, they felt as if they were standing amidst a powerful tornado. All that was missing for it all was the town's warning siren going off.

Knocked back by the force, Fluttershy screamed in fear and grabbed onto Rainbow Dash tightly, despite that it did her no good for support. If anything, she didn't want to be blown away all by herself.

"TWILIGHT!!" Rarity now grabbed onto Twilight's tail tightly with her teeth.

"AAAAAIIIIIEEEEE!!!!! AAAAAPPLEJAAAAACK!!!!!" Pinkie cried out as she was swept up by the powerful currents.

"HOLD ON, PINKIE!!!!!" Applejack cried, already twirling her lasso and tossing it around the pink Earth Pony.

"HOLD ON TIGHT, FLUTTERSHY!!!!!" Rainbow Dash shouted over the wind, hanging onto her fellow Pegasus.

But it was too late. The six of them were all swept up like dust in the breeze all around them, lifting them into the air and sweeping them across the land. For a time, they went within the same direction, but it wasn't long before the wind currents carried them off away from each other in pairs. Rarity and Twilight, with the former holding onto the latter's tail ended up going one way. Applejack, holding Pinkie Pie in her lasso, went another way. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, holding each other, were going another way, both of them already airborne as it was.

Separate Ways

What seemed like several hours later, nopony seemed to know, Applejack and Pinkie Pie finally arose from where they'd fallen. Within a lot of grass, but it was not noisy in the slightest.

Applejack sat up, coughing and shaking her head. She found her hat on the ground nearby, so she picked it up and placed it on her head. "Ugh...what a ride...Ah ain't never doin' that again..."

"Ohhhhh..." Pinkie moaned from somewhere nearby. She was on her back, her legs sticking up in the air, but sprawled out to the sides. "Where are we...?"

"Ah don't reckon to know, Sugarcube," Applejack sighed, shaking her head a bit. She managed to stand straight, flexing her sore body and muscles before she trotted over to the other Earth pony. "Y'all okay, Pinkie? Need any help gettin' up?" She came to notice her lasso was still around Pinkie Pie's waist.

"Uh-huh..." Pinkie noded, grinning sheepishly. "I kinda can't get my legs to go straight..."

"Guess Ah'd better help ya with that, Sugarcube." Applejack seized her pink legs, managing to bring them into place. She applied pressure to them, even getting them to move back and forth to get the circulation going in her limbs. Afterward, she untied the rope, placed it in her makesift saddlebag (which was still thankfully intact), then helped Pinkie Pie up.

"Phew! Thanks, Applejack! I thought I'd be stuck like that forever!" Pinkie smiled at the orange Earth pony, testing her four legs by bouncing in place.

"Anytime, Pinkie," Applejack smiled a little, glad to see that she was all right. "C'mon now, we gotta find the others and where in the hay we ended up."

"That's a good idea! I hope they're not too far away!"

The orange Earth pony sighed a bit, having serious doubts about it. But she just couldn't crush Pinkie's spirits. "Guess we'll find out soon, sugarcube."

Within a small corn field, Twilight managed to groggily awaken. Had she fallen asleep, or was just passed out? She wasn't sure. The muscles in her body ached, to which it even proved hard to move her limbs. On the ground next to her, Rarity was on her stomach, awake and breathing, but wasn't moving or making an attempt to get up. Her made was windswept and lanky, having lost its usual stylish coiffure.

"R-Rare....Rarity? ....Are you okay?" Twilight croaked, shakily standing up.

"Oh, Twilight..." Rarity moaned, pressing her hooves over her eyes. "It's terrible...it's awful...it's dreadful..."

"W-What do you mean?" Twilight asked softly, making her way over to her. She stretched her sore muscles accordingly, then cricked her neck.

"My mane...look what that horrid windstorm has done to my beautiful, perfect mane...!" Rarity wailed, tears beginning to pour from her eyes.

Twilight blinked, and then sighed a bit in irritation. But, this was Rarity, and she knew that getting annoyed wasn't going to get them anywhere. "I know, Rarity...I know it's a pain to have your mane all messed up like this. ...But at least you're still alive."

Rarity stared up at Twilight incredulously. "Well, of course I'm still alive, Twilight! But my mane just looks absolutely dreadful, now...I can't be seen like this!"

A little smile came to the lavender Unicorn's face. "Well, actually, nopony can see you except all five of us. And...you know, with us, you won't have to worry about that. When we return to our normal size, you'll be able to fix it up before you go out again."

The white Unicorn blinked, and then smiled in relief. "Why, you're absolutely right, darling! Once we've returned to our proper sizes, I shall be off to the spa!"

"Yep!" Twilight felt better knowing better that the other mare was in high spirits again. "I think we might all need a good trip to the spa after this is all over."

"Indeed, my dear!" Rarity nodded in agreement, tousling her windswept mane as best as she could, in an attempt to make it at least slightly curly, again. "I just hope the other girls have fared better than we have."

"Yeah...I can see they're nowhere near us right now...I hope they're all right." Twilight looked beyond the corn field with worry.

Fluttershy could feel something on top of her. Whatever it was, it was an added weight, but still pleasant...and smelled like lilies and rain. Something soft was even touching her cheek. She sighed a bit happily, reaching up to hold whatever was on top of her. Wherever she was, she was awake and coming to, but hadn't opened her eyes yet.

Disoriented, but relaxed, she opened her eyes. When they focused, she came to see a pair of deep rose eyes struggling to open looking back at her.
Her own eyes widened.

"...Rainbow Dash?"

"...Fluttershy?!"

Realizing that she was on top of the other Pegasus, Rainbow Dash quickly flew off her, hovering just above her best friend, now. "Oh, man! I am so sorry! I must've landed on you! Are you okay?"

Feeling pangs of disappointment from the loss of their close contact, Fluttershy managed to nod. Her legs curled, she didn't feel ready to move just yet. "Don't apologize...I'm fine, really..." A little blush tinted her cheeks.

"Are you sure?" Rainbow Dash gazed at her with concern. "You're not hurt or anything?"

"Just sore..." Fluttershy admitted, kicking her legs a bit. "But I'm all right...Oh, Rainbow Dash...are you all right?"

"Me? I'm fine! Great, actually!" Rainbow Dash flew a little higher, flexing her wings and forelegs. She landed again, folding her wings at her sides. "That was crazy though, wasn't it?"

"...Yes...crazy..." Fluttershy rolled onto her side, managing to pick herself up, though shakily. She looked to her best friend with remorse, swallowing. "I'm sorry I grabbed you like that before the wind swept us away...I was just scared...I didn't want to end up blown over somewhere all alone..." She whimpered a little, feeling scared again.

"Uh, hello? Why are you apologizing for that?" Rainbow Dash cocked her head to one side. "Fluttershy, if I were in your place, I'd have probably done the same thing! And it's not like I'm upset about it, either."

"...Oh..." Fluttershy looked a bit sheepish. "Well I..." She couldn't even think of an answer as to why she apologized. But she felt relieved to know how she felt of the situation. "You're right...I suppose what matters is that we're alive...and not alone." She scooted a bit closer and nuzzled the other Pegasus gently.

"True enough," Rainbow Dash chuckled softly, nuzzling into the other Pegasus in return. "And we should just be lucky that it wasn't a thunderstorm with a heavy downpour, instead of a fairly strong wind."

A shiver of fear coursed through the pink-maned pony, causing her to swallow hard at the thought. But their little nuzzling worked to relax and comfort her a bit, thankful it wasn't the case.

"You're right...thankfully we avoided that kind of disaster." She whispered softly.
The rainbow-maned pony smiled gently in reassurance. "Then again, I would've never let anything happen to you, even if that were the case."

Despite the situation, a soft blush coursed Fluttershy's cheeks as she managed to relax all the more. There was nothing but confidence and truth in Rainbow Dash's eyes as she yet again promised to protect her. She could always feel so safe and secured around her...she only wished she could be that brave and to protect her right back, to be so sure of herself and her bravery.

"Thank you, Rainbow Dash..." Was all she could muster, and nuzzled the other Pegasus affectionately.

"You're welcome, Fluttershy. Anytime." Rainbow Dash smiled, genuinely smiled, nuzzling the other Pegasus in an affectionate manner, returning the gesture.

Heart melting, Fluttershy savoured their little moment, just as always. Her mind at ease, body less tense, and her panic dying down, she managed to look to her longtime companion with more of a smile of her own. "We should look around...try to find the others...we should be okay...as long as we stick together...um....would you fly up...and see what there is around us?"

"Sure thing!" Rainbow Dash winked and saluted, before flying up to take a look at their surroundings. "Looks like we landed near the fountain in the park. But I don't see the others anywhere."

"Oh..." Fluttershy managed to fly up next to her. "I wonder how long it's been...the wind stopped, at least..."

"I don't know..." Rainbow shrugged. "But we should probably try to find them before we try going to the Everfree Forest..."

"Good idea, I suppose we could look around for now..." Fluttershy agreed.
The two Pegasi drifted along the park, remaining in the air, but hopefully out of range of anypony coming near them, if it was the case.

Twilight wasn't sure which of the cornfields this was, but considering their size, it seemed massive to them. She just hoped they would somehow find the way out, or to some kind of source telling them where they were. She trotted along, slowly, and looked back once more at Rarity, who was lagging behind. With a soft sigh, she paused and waited for the other Unicorn to catch up.

"Come on, Rarity. We have to keep going."

"I'm...trying...Twilight..." Rarity panted, beads of sweat trickling down her face. "But it's...incredibly difficult...to run like this...at such a small size...through such an...enormous cornfield...!"

Sighing once more, Twilight nodded in agreement. "I know it is, Rarity. But we do have to keep trying and going, because just about anything is dangerous to us right now. At least we're in a secluded kind of place, where not many ponies will be around. I just hope none of these stalks are weak..."

"That...would be...a dreadful thought, dear..." Rarity frowned, still panting as she tried to catch her breath. "We simply...must...get out of here...and find the others..."

"I've got a feeling we're all kind of far from each other...." Twilight groaned. She stopped walking again to let the other Unicorn catch up. "We should probably try to find the others first, before we go to the Everfree Forest."

"An excellent...idea, Twilight!" Rarity nodded in agreement. "We mustn't remain apart...from the others...for too terribly long."

"I wonder where they are...at least, I hope they didn't end up all alone somewhere." The lavender Unicorn said with a worried frown.

"Oh, I certainly hope not..." Agreed the white Unicorn worriedly. "And I certainly hope another dreadful wind won't be stirred before we can find them..."

"Me too, even the slightest draft could send us flying. I wish I could find a way to weigh us down, but that would only do so much, and Celestia knows we can't afford to be slowed down that way." Murmured Twilight.

"I would suggest loading down these lovely makeshift saddlebags you put together for us. But I wouldn't want to ruin all your work." Rarity frowned, looking deep in thought as she sat down on her haunches atop a small (but big to her) stone.

Twilight wanted to protest them sitting AGAIN, but she decided it best to just follow along. She sat on the stone with her, exhaling. "It could work, but I won't take too much chances with that, I wouldn't want to ruin them," she sighed again, shaking her head. "...Well, at least we're not alone right now."

Rarity gave a soft smile and nodded to her fellow Unicorn. "That does make this ordeal slightly more bearable," Then she frowned, looking off into the distance. "Still, I do hope our dear friends are all right. I would hate to have something dreadful happen to them while we're apart..."

Looking over to the designer Unicorn, Twilight felt the same sentiment as well. It would be one thing to worry of their friends if they were separated while their normal sizes. But now that they were three quarters of an inch tall, smaller than most insects, it added to the worry all the more. That almost everything was dangerous to them now. Especially the risks of being crushed to death. Squashed like bugs.

"I know what you mean, I hope nothing happens to them, either. ...But we just have to keep trying, and we'll find them."

"Indeed, we shall." Rarity then stood up from the stone, looking determined. "Well, Twilight? We'd best be off again, we shall never find our friends or reach the Everfree Forest if we continue to sit around!"

Twilight rolled her eyes a bit, having thought to do exactly that. But she smiled, nodding in agreement before she stood up along with her. "Right. So let's get going, hopefully we can cover some ground and get some semblance as to where we are and where everypony else ended up."

"Of course." Rarity nodded. "Then let us be off!"

"Okay then," Twilight agreed.

The two Unicorns continued their trek through the massive corn field. Smells of the corn and plantlife around them filled their noses, as did the ground below them, considering how close they were to it. While Twilight worried more for the fate of their friends, she just had to put her trust that things would turn out okay if they just kept on going. No matter what.

'Happy place happy place happy place happy place...' Fluttershy thought, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment as she tried to keep her thoughts focused on good things. Happy things.

An open field, near all kinds of trees. Animals of all kinds surrounding her, along with wildflowers. Beautiful peace! Even the trickle of the river nearby to add to the effect. The smells, the feeling, the warmth, to sweet sounds all around...

Something was missing.

She thought a moment, and then added a beautiful rainbow in the sky. Then, an added fast streak coming toward her before it landed...revealing to be Rainbow Dash. She would walk toward her, confident and proud as always, but with such a gleam in her eyes. Then the cyan Pegasus would then turn to her, snuggling against Fluttershy affectionately. And then would look tenderly into her eyes, whispering sweet nothings to her, then leaning in...closer...

"Oh...Rainbow Dash..." Fluttershy murmured dreamily, giggling.

"Uh...Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash frowned in confusion, leaning back as the shy Pegasus was leaning closer. "...What are you doing? I don't think now is the time or the place."

"Hmm?" Fluttershy didn't quite register what she said, still lost in her fantasy. But then a distant bird call snapped her out of it. She blushed and looked away a little, sheepish. "Oh, nothing! I was...I thought I saw something...in your mane...that's all..."

"Well...if there's something there...would you mind taking it out for me?" Rainbow Dash blinked, shaking her head lightly.

"Um....well I...sure... um...." Fluttershy gulped, realizing she was lying. She reached over, gently brushing the rainbow mane a little, pretending to be searching for something, and then "getting it out". She pulled back and looked satisfied. "Okay, it's gone now!"

"Heh...thanks." Rainbow Dash chuckled softly, a little blush overtaking her cyan cheeks. Of course she knew the other Pegasus had been lying about there being something in her mane. But she wasn't going to tell her so.

"You're welcome..." Fluttershy looked away again, shuffling a hoof along the ground. 'Darn it...I did it again....'

"So..." Rainbow Dash scuffed a hoof across the ground, not looking at Fluttershy.

"So..." Fluttershy repeated, trying to sound as cool and casual as possible. She glanced toward her briefly, but looked down again.

"So..." Rainbow Dash said again, glancing up towards the sky for a moment, before looking back down again.

Fluttershy looked up at the sky also, scuffling the ground with her other hoof. She even whistled a little, trying to sound more casual. "So..."

Rainbow Dash crossed one foreleg over the other, uncrossed them, and then crossed them again.

Fluttershy did the same, crossing one foreleg over the other.

Rainbow tossed her mane over her shoulder, still avoiding eye contact with her fellow Pegasus.

"Soooo...." Fluttershy dared look at her again. She wished she was bold enough to say something...to do something...to just instantly make them big again! This was unnerving, and she felt ready to collapse with anxiety. "What do we do now?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing..." Rainbow sighed, staring down at the ground in frustration.

It was irritating to not be able to do anything to help their current situation. But she knew there was nothing that any of them could do on their own, which was why they needed to find their way to the Everfree Forest and get to Zecora's hut.

"Well...um...." Fluttershy looked up, seeing that a couple of Pegasi were moving in some more clouds. "....Rainbow...is there rainfall scheduled today?"

"There...wasn't supposed to be, no..." Rainbow blinked, seeing the Pegasi gathering clouds in the sky. "Uh-oh...I wonder who decided on this..."

"Oh no...." Fluttershy's ears drooped with fear. "Rainbow Dash...we should find shelter before we do much else....I...I...I don't want us to...g-get caught...in rain....out in the open....please?" She looked to her friend pleadingly.

Thinking quick, the two Pegasi flew up into the air, looking around the area of the park they were now in, seeking out a good idea for shelter.

Fluttershy glanced about, and then her eyes fell to the nearby sandbox. An idea struck her. Sand absorbed water, so the area wouldn't flood around them. In the sandbox was a plastic bucket turned on its side, completely empty. There was also nopony around, so it was likely nopony would be coming for it anytime soon, especially since it was going to rain, as it seemed.

"Rainbow Dash, look! We can shelter ourselves in that bucket in the sandbox!" Fluttershy pointed to it.

Rainbow Dash looked where Fluttershy was pointing, and grinned. "Good thinking, Fluttershy! The sandbox will be a perfect place to take shelter!"

Pleased with thinking quick, Fluttershy smiled and nodded. "All right, then let's-"

A droplet of rain water, now much bigger than they were, landed upon Fluttershy sent her plummetting toward the ground, screaming.

"Fluttershy!!!" Rainbow Dash cried, swooping down to catch her friend before she could hit the ground.

More raindrops followed all around them, looking more like enormous balls of water than just the tiny drops they were used to upon being normally sized. They plummetted mercelessly, like bullets, as if out to get them. Noisy splats hit the ground below, just about indicating how dangerous they were.

Fluttershy squealed in fright, but was then caught and lifted back into the air.

"Gotcha!!!" Rainbow exclaimed triumphantly, having caught Fluttershy with her forelegs. She flew them over to the sandbox, dipping and diving, swerving and swooping, to dodge the onslaught of raindrops from the cloud-filled sky.

Shaking, but relieved, Fluttershy grabbed onto Rainbow Dash with fear and gulped, squeezing her eyes shut and hoping the now threateningly dangerous rain drops wouldn't hit them again.

But they were everywhere! Everywhere around on all sides, and especially from above.

"Rainbow Dash...!" She whimpered, terrified.

"Just hang onto me, Fluttershy!" Rainbow continued to fly them towards the sandbox, feeling more like she was practicing her aerial routine for a Wonderbolts tryout than trying to avoid massive raindrops knocking her out of the sky.

Nodding a bit, Fluttershy held tightly to her fellow Pegasus. She felt grateful that

Rainbow Dash managed to avoid all the drops like this, and hoped she could keep it up long enough.

A raindrop envelopped them, sending them lower to the ground, this time onto the wetting sand.

"Ooof!!!" Rainbow Dash grunted when she hit the sand, losing her grasp on Fluttershy upon impact. Water clung to her entire body, soaking her from mane to tail. "...Are you all right, pal?"

Sprawled along the sand, Fluttershy whimpered as she nodded, and covered her face and head with her hooves in fear of the next raindrop to fall over her. "Rainbow Dash..."

"Fluttershy...?" Rainbow Dash managed to stand up, shaking herself off like a dog, despite the still-falling raindrops.

Managing to roll over, though sometimes forced down by the rain drops, Fluttershy looked at her with fear. She tried to stand along the sand, since it was wet and made for an easier grip. "Come...come on....we can keep going..."

Rainbow Dash nodded, managing to get up, although her wings were now coated with wet sand. "All right...but I don't think I can fly, now..."

"Oh..." Fluttershy managed to gather her strength all the more, and made her way to her friend. "It's all right...I'll help you...we'll make it..." She managed to brush some of the wet sand off her wings, using her own wing to shield over them from the dangerously falling rain as much as possible.

"Heh...thanks, Fluttershy..." Rainbow Dash managed a small smile, testing her wings once some of the wet sand had been brushed off of them. "Come on...we need to keep moving...we can't wait out the storm..."

Gulping, Fluttershy could see that they were just a short distance away from the bucket. With the rain all around them, they had to keep going before they would get sick. Sparing it no further thought, she went behind Rainbow Dash, took hold of her forelegs, and lifted them up into the air. Kind of. The cyan Pegasus' hind legs ended up dragging along the sand a bit.

"Almost...there..."

Groaning as her hind legs dragged along the wet sand, Rainbow Dash began trying to flap her wings, managing to lift them a bit higher. Just enough so her hind legs weren't dragging through the wet sand anymore.

It took some doing, especially with the rain falling down on them, but Fluttershy was more prepared for it this time. She was especially determined to make sure her friend would be all right and they would be safe.

Finally, they reached the inside of the bucket. Fluttershy gently set her friend down before she collapsed herself. She breathed heavily, curled up into a ball, and shivered, whimpering.

Seeing this, Rainbow Dash lay on top of Fluttershy, opening her wings over her to help her warm up. She was shivering herself, but was determined to make sure her best friend would be kept warm.

For a moment, Fluttershy stiffened with surprise, but then relaxed as she felt herself grow a bit warmer. Especially in how close they were. The wordless promises of keeping her safe, warm, and even comfortable were volumous. She felt herself smile then, a sense of relief in her heart. Rainbow Dash really was the Element of Loyalty. It was moments like this that her loyalty could shine.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash...thank you..." She murmured softly.

"No problem, Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash smiled, leaning her head down to nuzzle the other Pegasus. "Can't have you getting sick, after all."

Fluttershy blushed a bit, and felt her heart melt all over again, her smile growing. "Oh... But what about you? You need to warm up, too.."

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "I'm a weather patrol Pegasus, I've been through worse. You, on the other hoof, since you're not used to braving the elements..."

A little sigh escaped Fluttershy, and then she nuzzled back sweetly. She still worried for her friend, and hoped she would be all right, but trusted her word. Being from Cloudsdale and then working as a weather patrol Pegasus for a good while, it was no wonder she was more used to certain weather elements.

"I guess you're right..." Her blush increased, and she couldn't help but relax in sweet, warm bliss. "...And you're better than any blanket..."

Rainbow Dash chuckled softly, nuzzling her best friend again. "Glad you feel that way, pal..."

Heart swelling with happiness, Fluttershy relaxed all the more, forgetting their perils for the time being, and the thundering rain outside. All that mattered was that they were safe, so close together, and keeping warm. She couldn't have asked for a better moment in these tough times...and couldn't have asked for anypony better than to be with right now.

When Twilight looked up at the sky again, she felt uneasy yet again. The clouds were being rolled in, a clear sign that there was going to be rain. If it wasn't already raining here, it definitely was somewhere in Ponyville.

She looked back at Rarity, who wasn't even paying attention.

The lavender Unicorn stopped in her tracks, turning around to face her. "Rarity, listen....I don't want to alarm you, but I think that we need to find shelter as soon as possible."

The white Unicorn didn't seem to hear Twilight, as her attention was focused elsewhere. She frowned, ears perked up, as she listened to a curious sound. "Twilight, darling...do you hear that?"

"...Hear what?" Twilight frowned in both confusion and worry. "What is it that you hear?"

"Shh shh!" Rarity hushed her. "Listen!"

It was a chirping noise, though it sounded much more pained and sorrowful.

"...That sounds like an animal," Twilight realized, her eyes wide. "I wonder where it's coming from...it sounds as if it's in pain."

"We'd best investigate!" Rarity decided, looking to Twilight for confirmation. "Perhaps it is an animal that could be of aid to us!"

Twilight pondered that for a moment, then came to see that Rarity had a point. "Good idea, maybe it is! We'll just have to be careful, since we might be a lot smaller than it is, and it could either squish or....eat us," she grimaced at the thought. "But let's go see what it is."

"Indeed, dear." Rarity nodded, and the two Unicorns trotted off to find the source of the noise.

Following it as best they could, it wasn't long before they cut through the corn stalks away from the path they were originally on. They soon came across a bird laying on the ground. Twilight recognized the bird, it was the same bird she had once briefly nuzzled during a picnic. That same little bird. Its wing was at an odd angle, and it seemed to be chirping sadly in pain.

"Oh no...it must've hurt its wing and then fell down."

"Oh, dear! The poor thing! Twilight, do you know any healing spells?"

"I do, and I might be able to help it. But we need to find shelter before we do anything else," Twilight pointed upward. "I don't like the look of those clouds..."

Rarity looked up to where Twilight was pointing, biting her lip as she saw the cloud-filled sky. "Oh, my...it seems we're in for a most dreadful downpour!"

Twilight thought for a moment, wondering what they could do. She first approached the bird, slowly. The lavender Unicorn smiled warmly at it before she gently nuzzled its warm, feathery chest as a way to assure that she wasn't an enemy. She then turned to Rarity.

"I have an idea. I'm going to put up a force field around us when the rain comes, and while I do that, I'll try to construct a hoof-made shelter for us and the bird, so that I won't end up using too much magic and tire myself out."

"An excellent idea, Twilight!" Rarity nodded in approval, smiling kindly at the wounded bird. "Don't you worry, darling. You'll be all right soon."

A drop of water splashed near them. Twilight looked up and could see that the rain was indeed starting up. Quickly, she managed to fire up her magic to create a small force field around the bird and both ponies. With it in place, Twilight turned back to Rarity.

"Okay, you keep it company and talk to it. I'll gather some materials we'll need to make shelter."

"All right." Rarity approached the bird, nuzzling it as she'd seen Twilight do, and smiled softly. "You poor dear. It seems you've had a terrible accident. Are you all right?"

The bird twittered sadly in response, trying to move its wing, but with no success. It just looked down at the white Unicorn with sad eyes.

"Oh, don't move it..." Rarity chided the bird softly. "My friend here is going to help you."

Once more the bird twittered, looking as if it were giving up.

"You mustn't give up. You're going to be all right, soon. I promise you, we will heal that broken wing and help you to fly again."

Silent for a moment, the bird reached its good wing down to pat Rarity on the head a little bit.

Twilight came back then, with a big umbrella made from a stick, leaves, blades of grass, and maize blades from the corn that have fallen. "Here, I made us an umbrella. It's not much, but it'll shelter us."

"Oh, wonderful, Twilight!" Rarity praised, levitating the umbrella with her magic to shield herself, the lavender Unicorn and the bird from the rain.

Releasing the force field, Twilight was relieved that the tactic of the hoof-made umbrella working as best as it could. Now with protection from the rain out of the way, she went to work on examining the bird's wing. She was pretty proficient in healing spells, and had also read up on some basic healing methods for all kinds of limbs, that of which included wings. Mostly in terms of the Pegasi, but Fluttershy had shown her a thing or two when Twilight was researching basic animal care with her help.

"Rarity, do you think you could maybe...sing to it? It might be painful and I don't want it to think about the pain," she said to her fellow Unicorn.

"Sing? Why, certainly. But what shall I sing?" The fashionista Unicorn blinked.

"Um...anything, I guess....." Twilight shrugged a bit.

"Okay then..." Rarity nodded, thinking for a moment of a song to sing while Twilight was working.

Sadly the bird twittered, which almost reminded Twilight of a little tune. She smiled, turning to Rarity.

"How about that cute song from that musical, The Sound of Music, where the children are taught about the original music notes and how they can be turned to song?"

Rarity's eyes lit up. "Oooh, splendid idea! Sweetie Belle and I adore that wonderful musical!"

"Great! You can sing that to cheer up the bird and distract it!" Twilight smiled more, and then went to work on examining the bird's wing with her magic. She tried to pinpoint as to where the problem was in the wing, hoping there were no broken bones or feathers missing.

As Twilight began to examine the bird, Rarity closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and began to softly sing.

"Let's start at the very beginning
A very good place to start
When you read you begin with A-B-C
When you sing you begin with do-re-mi

Do-re-mi, do-re-mi
The first three notes just happen to be
Do-re-mi, do-re-mi

Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti
Let's see if I can make it easy..."

For a moment Twilight paused, just letting the elegant beauty of Rarity's singing voice soothe her ears. She really did have by far the most beautiful singing voice...with Fluttershy as a possible close second, it seemed.
The bird seemed to agree as it focused its attention on Rarity, smiling. It then joined in, cheeping and twiterring the melody along with her.

Rarity smiled and giggled softly, as she continued to sing the song.

"Doe, a deer, a female deer
Ray, a drop of golden sun
Me, a name I call myself
Far, a long, long way to run
Sew, a needle pulling thread
La, a note to follow sew
Tea, a drink with jam and bread
That will bring us back to do oh-oh-oh!"

Even Twilight was now humming along to the song, tapping one hoof in time to the rhythm. She used her magic to secure the bird's wing with a twig to form as a makeshift splint, and used some blades of grass and maize to secure it.

Along with Rarity's singing ,the bird whistled and chirped cheerfully, not even thinking about the mild pain int is wing.

Rarity giggled softly, pleased that her singing was putting the bird at ease, and even that it was chirping and whistling the music to accompany her. She continued singing, while Twilight finished healing the bird's wing.

It took a little doing, but Twilight managed to secure the bird's wing with the makeshift splint, and then healing and easing it's pain with magic. Once she secured it, she sat down beside it and gave it one more little nuzzle.

"There you go, you should be just fine now."

"How do you feel now, darling?" Rarity inquired with a kind smile.

The bird twittered happily, giving both ponies a little nuzzle with his beak in thanks.

"Awww...I'm glad you're feeling better. Don't worry, we'll stay with you until your wing heals," Twilight promised.

"It's the least we can do!" Rarity agreed. "And besides, you and I simply must perform a duet! Your singing is quite lovely!"

Twittering happily, the bird sang a little again before it relaxed.

"You two would make a nice duet," Twilight smiled.

Rarity couldn't help but giggle in girlish glee. "Oh, yes! We simply must take our act on the road together! All that fame! All that glamour! All waiting for me...errr, us!"

Twilight gave a warm laugh, making herself comfortable next to the bird.

Silence befell them as they nestled under the umbrella, with the rain falling all around them.

"You know, Rarity...I never really had a chance to say I was sorry..."

"Sorry for what, Twilight?" Rarity glanced at her fellow Unicorn in mild curiosity.

The lavender Unicorn hesitated for a moment, but then looked to her friend a bit sadly. "About earlier...when Fluttershy kind of backed herself into a corner about admitting what had happened the first time she looked after the girls. ...I was there, and that was why I was with her the next morning when you got there. I had been turned to stone when I saw the cockatrice, I didn't even have time to stop it."

"Well, of course you were there! Fluttershy explained about the cockatrice! Why, if it weren't for her and that Stare she has, you'd be a mere stone statue in the Canterlot Garden!" The white Unicorm exclaimed.

"...Yes, that's true...but the thing is, I kind of did what she did too, I didn't even tell you or Applejack about it," Twilight said guiltily, looking down. "I mean, sure, you can say it really wasn't my place to tell either of you...but still, the fact even I kept quiet about it really doesn't sit with me now that I look back."

"Oh, Twilight! There's no need to fret over that, now! It's in the past, and that's where it shall stay!" Rarity told her, leaning over and giving her a friendly little nuzzle.

Smiling, Twilight felt a weight lift from her shoulders as she managed to nod, offering a little nuzzle back in thanks. "Yeah, you're right. It's in the past and everything's okay with it now. But I promise too, that I won't keep something like that a secret, either."

Rarity smiled in return, nuzzling her friend again. "That would be wonderful, if you'd do that. Not to say that I no longer trust you, since it was due to circumstances beyond your control. Just that I truly and completely trust you, one hundred percent!"

"...Thanks Rarity, that means a lot," Twilight smiled warmly, looking relieved. "But I'm glad Fluttershy managed to tell you guys. I know it must not have been easy to hear, I'll admit..."

"No, it certainly was not." Rarity shook her head, frowning lightly. "Certainly your big brother would not be pleased if he'd heard about something terrible that could've happened to his little sister?"

Twilight's ears flopped as she smiled sheepishly. "Yeah...I never did tell him about that...."

"Well, I will certainly not be the one to inform him." Rarity shook her head. "If your brother is to learn about that little adventure, then that is completely one hundred and ten percent your decision, dear!"

"Yeah, that's true, I guess," the purple Unicorn agreed with a little smile. "Guess the next time I see him and Cadance, might be a good time to share some of my....adventures with them," she chuckled a bit at that.

A little sigh escaped her as she looked around them for a moment, looking worried all over again. The weight of their predicament, and the fact it was likely raining across Ponyville right now, worried her about their friends.

"Gosh, I hope the others are okay..."

"I hope so too, dear." The white Unicorn agreed. "I simply can't help but worry about them in this awful downpour..."

"That's for sure, I hope they managed to seek some kind of shelter," Twilight murmured in worry, but took a deep breath to calm herself down a bit. "...Well, I'll bet you one thing that if Fluttershy's lost with Rainbow Dash, they must be snuggling together from the rain..." she giggled a bit at the thought.

"Certainly so." Rarity couldn't help but giggle, herself. "I'm sure they're not aware that we all know what's going on between those two. It really is lovely, though."

"I guess I really am not the only one who notices," this made Twilight laugh a bit as she smiled more. "You're right, it's really sweet. Fluttershy's not quite that subtle in that regard, unbelievable as it sounds, but the way Rainbow is so much softer and more gentle around her, especially when she thinks we're not looking...hello?" Twilight waved her hoof playfully, giggling.

"Oh, yes! I've certainly noticed that, too. Fluttershy always seems to just glow when we meet up for our spa date after she's spent a night with Rainbow Dash," Rarity agreed.

Now Twilight's eyes widened, having clearly not known that. It wasn't uncommon for friends to have sleepovers, but something about this information rang a little differently. "They...spend nights together? Like sleepover slumber parties? Oh, what am I saying? Of course! That's really nice though, that she's glowing? I guess the spa only touches it up!"

Rarity nodded. "Why, yes indeed! The spa just serves to enhance that glow about her magnificently! And Twilight, I have many romance novels in among my book collection. You needn't treat me as though I'm naive."

"Oh! No, I'm not..." the lavender Unicorn gave a sheepish laugh. "Guess it's just news to me, but then again, what do I know? Well, she must be pretty happy if she's glowing after they spend nights together!"

"Oh, yes!" The white Unicorn giggled, shaking her head lightly. "In fact, she has even detailed at least a few of her nights spent together with our dear Dashie!"

"Really? What do they do together?" Came Twilight's curious question as she tilted her head slightly. "Slumber party fun? ...Although trying to picture Rainbow going through a makeover is hilarious in itself!"

"A little bit, yes." Rarity giggled, smiling at the other Unicorn. "And only dear Fluttershy can convince our favorite dare-devil that a makeover is not such a bad thing, tee-hee!"

"Oh my goodness!" Twilight laughed at this, slapping a hoof against the ground. "I'm not surprised, I bet only Fluttershy could convince her to do that!"

"Oh, yes indeed!" Rarity laughed, as well. "In fact, I absolutely must show you the photo Fluttershy sneakily took of Rainbow Dash with a mud mask on! It is hilarious!"

"She didn't!!" Twilight laughed a bit harder, slapping her hoof against the ground. "Oh, that would be terrible of me, but I have to see that! What next, did they play dress up?"

"Oh no, of course not!" Rarity laughed harder, also. "Although that would be quite a sight, wouldn't it?"

Twilight giggled as she calmed down her laughter, shaking her head. "It would! Well, that's great they spend nights together and have some fun. Especially if it makes Fluttershy so happy!"

"Absolutely!" Rarity nodded, giggling as her laughter died down, too. "And I think there may be more to it than just slumber party fun, of course. But that's between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, and is really none of our business."

“Of course not, what they do together is nopony's business but their own and unless they share, that's the way it is,” For a moment, Twilight was a little confused as to what Rarity meant by that as a whole. She wondered if maybe she could mean that they possibly went on moonlight flights together, played board games, read books, but then it dawned on her. "Oh...."

"Hmm," Rarity saw that Twilight had finally caught on, and then winked at her secretively.

"Oh!!" Having it confirmed, Twilight blushed a bit at the very thought, as well as many possible images that came to mind. "...Guess that explains why Fluttershy glows, doesn't it?"

"Mmm-hmm." Rarity nodded, giggling softly behind her hoof.

Twilight pondered that for a while. The bird twittered. The rain continued on for quite some time, showing no signs of letting up.

By the looks of things, Applejack managed to deduce that they were in an outskirt neighbourhood of Ponyville, within the grass. Since they couldn't see above the blades of grass, even if she pulled some down, neither could tell which way they were going, if they were even going in the right direction.

"Well Pinkie...Ah reckon we should find us one of them bigger rocks we can climb and get a look at which way we're goin'...." Applejack mused.

"Okey-dokey lokie!" Pinkie nodded agreeably, bouncing toward a large rock not far away. She bounded up onto its jagged surface, making her way to the top as easily as if she were climbing stairs.

"Well Ah'll be danged..." Applejack said in relief. She approached the rock as well, climbing onto it easily as she followed up after the pink Earth pony. "So how 'bout it? Do ya see anythang?" She called up to her.

"If you mean our friends, then nopey dopey lopie!" Pinkie shook her head. "Oooh, oooh! But I think I can see Sugarcube Corner from here!"

"Really now?" Applejack finally managed to get up beside her. She looked in the direction that Pinkie Pie was pointing, and could see that some ways off was Sugarcube Corner. "Well shoot, there it is! Think maybe we can make our way there, if nothin' else!"

"Oooh, that's a good idea, Applejack! A great idea! A super-duper-ultra-extra-special idea!"

"Er...thanks, Ah guess.... We can find shelter there, an' if we're gonna be in there tonight, least we'll find scraps o' food."

"Yupperroonie! ...Oh, wait, that might not be such a good idea! I forgot, Mr. and Mrs. Cake are out of town, and I'm supposed to be in charge of the bakery while they're away!"

Applejack frowned sightly. "Ain't that all the more reason ta go there? An' if we cain't, got any other ideas?"

Pinkie blinked. "You're right, Applejack! Duh, what was I thinking?!" She thumped her own head with her hoof, her eyes briefly crossing as she did so. "Of course that's a good idea to go there!"

"Well, awright," Applejack's irritance faded then. "We'll keep on goin' straight ahead, try not to take any detours, an' we should make it. But we gotta go fast..." She pointed a hoof up at the sky. "Ah don't trust them clouds....case those Pegasi decided to rain on us, an' we don't want that to happen at this size."

"Oooh, nopey-dopey lopie! That would be bad!" Pinkie agreed, shaking her head. "So we need to get moving!"

"Awright, let's go," Applejack hopped down along the rock, making her way back to the ground. "C'mon then Pinkie, we ain't got time to lose!"

"Coming!" Pinkie bounced down the rock behind Applejack, giggling on the way down. "Hee hee! Applejack, why are you tickling me?!"

"Wha? Ah ain't ticklin' ya, Ah'm over-" Applejack turned around, and her eyes went wide with shocked horror. "Um...Pinkie? Ah...don't think ya should move..."

"Why?" Pinkie stopped bouncing and blinked at the orange Earth pony. "What's wrong, Applejack?"

"J-Just...don't move...don't panic...just stay calm...you'll be fine...Ah'll get mah rope..." Applejack uttered in fear, gulping.

Pinkie winced, as her knee became pinchy...one of the many signs of her Pinkie Sense. "S-someth-thing s-scary is ab-bout t-to hap-pen...i-isn't i-it...?"

I love The Sound of Music, I had to throw those in.
All rights reserved!

Crawling Bonds

Applejack remained as calm as she could, taking a deep breath. She knew Pinkie Pie would panic if she knew what was going on, and didn't want that to happen.

Because behind the baker pony...was an ant.

"Pinkie...just come slowly toward me..." Applejack readied her lasso in case the ant tried to attack.

"Okey...dokey...lokie...?" Pinkie said slowly and nervously, her knee still pinchy as a result of her Pinkie Sense telling her that something scary was about to happen.

"Pinkie...there's an ant behind ya..." Applejack confessed, taking another look at the said creature.

An ant, a common insect she was all too used to seeing. Now that they were a little smaller than it was, it was huge. Seeing it up close was unsettling, especially with how it was formed and how its two big black eyes looked at them. Considering ants ate other insects, even if they were more than twice their size, and were very strong, Applejack could only figure that they MUST have looked like food to it.

"An...a-ant...?" Pinkie shuddered, and began to slowly climb down the rock towards Applejack, hoping that the ant didn't see an easy meal in the two Earth ponies.

"Yeah..." Applejack nodded. "Jus'...don't panic an' don't start runnin'. Stay calm, come on toward me...we'll just walk away from it... We can't give it any more reason ta think we're prey..."

"O-okey d-dokey l-lokie..." Pinkie nodded, continuing to slowly and carefully climb down the rock. "H-here I c-come..."

Applejack quickly looked around them, wondering if they were close to an ant colony. The ant seemed to be alone, but she wasn't so sure. What if they were smarter than that, and it had accomplices hidden around, ready to ambush them?

"Atta girl, Pinkie...that's it...don't make sudden moves...don't start yellin'...you're gonna be fine...I'll take care of it, if it tries anythin'..."

Pinkie nodded, too scared to speak, now. She continued climbing down the rock, but suddenly froze up when she felt something tickling along her flank. "I-it's...f-following m-me...i-isn't i-it...?"

"Yeah...it is...Ah think it's tryin' to smell ya...Since Ah think they smell with their antennas..." Applejack swallowed, feeling a stab of guilt.

This wasn't like Pinkie Pie. She didn't get scared like this, and if she did, it was usually followed by something silly. But not this time. This was pure, raw, unadultered fear. Pinkie Pie must've realized the serious gravity of the situation...and knew she couldn't just laugh it away.

"Oh, no...oh, no no no...it's trying to smell me..." Pinkie began to sound frantic. "It's t-trying to decide if I would be t-tasty...nooo...I don't wanna be ant food...!"

"Calm yerself, Pinkie!" Applejack whispered. "Don't start panickin'! That'll tell 'im yer prey!"

"I...don't...wanna...be...ANT FOOD!" Pinkie suddenly shrieked, and galloped full-speed off the rock, cowering behind Applejack as her eyes stayed glued to the ant.

Applejack swallowed, backing a few steps with Pinkie Pie behind her, her eyes trained on the ant as well. The insect didn't charge after her, or even just come after her. In fact, it didn't even really move. The ant crawled along the rock for a moment, and then came to the ground. Little noises escaped it, sounding like cute little squeaks and chirps. Its head cocked slightly as it stared at them.

"Shoot...Ah think it might smell the muffin bits we got...that might be what it wants..." Applejack hissed.

"Oh, no...you're probably right, Applejack...it wants our muffins..." Pinkie whimpered, her knee still pinchy. "What do we do...?"

The two ponies continued to back away, but the ant didn't follow them. It only stared after them.
But then it slowly approached them, following. What surprised Applejack was that it didn't seem aggressive. It was just simply following them. Could she believe that, or was it a trick?

"Maybe we should give it our muffins..." The baker pony suggested in a whisper. "Maybe if we do, then it'll go away..."

"Ah think ya might be right, Pinkie..." Applejack agreed.

BZZZZZZ!

Both ponies stiffened, while Mr. Ant didn't even look phased.

"...Pinkie...tell me that wasn't buzzin'..."

BZZZZZZ!

"Um...it wasn't buzzing...?" Pinkie swallowed hard. And then her tail began twitching. "Uh-oh! Twitch-a-twitch!"

BZZZZZ!

Applejack gulped, daring to follow the incessant buzzing noise. Her worst fear was confirmed when she saw none other than a honeybee nestling at a nearby flower.

"Pinkie Pie...Ah can't talk now...we've got bees!"

"BEES?!" Pinkie screeched...loudly. Her tail continued to twitch, as she cowered behind Applejack again.

The ant didn't seem phased by Pinkie's yelling, but its attention did seem to shift to the honeybee. Said insect then seemed to angrily buzz at the loud noise it didn't seem to like, since it was now coming for them.

"Ah, shoot! Bees are attracted ta red an' pinks! Keep low, Pinkie!" Applejack cried.

"Eeep!" Pinkie yelped, ducking down as low as she could.

But her tail stuck up in the air and continued twitching, which was gaining the bee's attention.

Applejack gulped and this time turned around to cover Pinkie Pie with her own body in hopes to hide her pink coat and tail. She also knew better than to agitate a honeybee, since that often led to them using their stingers. While it would die if it stung them, ridding them of the problem, she was none too fond of the idea of being stung just for that to happen. Besides, a dead bee was not exactly a pleasant sight to look at, either.

"Just stay calm...it'll leave us alone if we don't bother it..." Applejack whispered.

Pinkie whimpered in response, though she was glancing up towards the sky, as though searching for the source of her twitchy tail. "Applejack...they sky...look at the sky...!"

BZZZ-!

The buzzing went silent, which was then followed by squeaks, before it the buzzing faded away.

"Huh?" Applejack did so, looking up at the sky. "Them clouds is rollin' in! C'mon Pinkie, we gotta keep on goin'! We're nearly there!"

"Hey, wait! Applejack, look!" Pinkie suddenly said. "The ant!"

The ant squeaked at them happily, and then scooted off to the side of the rock. When it came back, it was dragging a thick leaf, which it lay before the ponies and stood back, but watched them.

Pinkie stared at the ant for a moment, and then at the leaf it had dragged over to the two Earth ponies. She soon realized what the ant was offering. "Oooh, oooh! It looks like our ant friend wants to give us a lift!"

Skeptical, Applejack looked at the leaf, then at Mr. Ant. The ant just looked at them, standing right where it was, not having made any such movement aside from shifting in place.

"...Well, Ah guess if it wanted ta eat us...mighta done it already...well Ah guess we can trust it...ants can carry more than twice their size, so it'd be faster fer us..." the farm pony mused.
"Yup! Anty here can probably take us to the Everfree Forest!" Pinkie chirped with a grin.

"Anty?" Applejack responded, her tone skeptical. "Well...I s'ppose it's worth a try if he can help us. But we gotta get outta this rain first, an' I don't think we'll make it ta the forest yet."

"Anty can help us with that!" Pinkie chirped. "Isn't that right, Anty? Can you find another leaf like this? And a twig? And some long, strong blades of grass?"

Anty made a little noise that sounded like a cross between a chirp and a squeak, approaching Pinkie Pie as he let his antenae run over her face to check her out again.

"Ah'll help 'im get 'em..." Applejack felt a little put off by the ant's actions before she trotted off to collect the stuff.

"Hee hee hee!" Pinkie giggled, nuzzling one of the ant's legs. "Oh, AJ! Anty's just making sure I'm safe! Aren't you, li'l Anty-Wanty?"

Anty made another noise, still inspecting Pinkie Pie before it seemed to decide it liked her and nuzzled her a little with affection.

"Awww, hee hee!" Pinkie nuzzled Anty in return. "I like you too, Anty! You're a good little antsy-pantsy, aren't you? Yes, you are! Yes, you are!"

Applejack glanced back at Pinkie and Anty, raising a brow, but then shrugged. "Least he wants ta help us.."
Anty nuzzled Pinkie, and then crawled over to Applejack, as if inspecting her work. It then went to retrieve a nearby twig, bringing it over with the leaf it had brought back earlier. Applejack used her lasso to bring down a stalk of grass, enough to make it snap and come away.

"Now, let's just tie the leaf to the twig with the grass, and presto! Instant umbrella!" Pinkie said with a grin. "Twilight showed me how to make one when I lost my umbrella hat!"

"Good thinkin', Pinkie!" Applejack praised, bringing the blade of grass over. "You make that, an' Ah'll go make some reins."

"Okey dokey lokie!" Pinkie saluted, and set to work on making an umbrella, with Anty's help.

Much like once before when she was shrunk down to size, even if she was BIGGER than this, Applejack constructed a set of reins with a fallen stem of a plant, a couple of leaves, and some blades of grass. Once finished, she took them back to where Pinkie and Anty were making the umbrella, almost nearing completion.

Applejack looked up at the sky again, gulping.

"Better hurry...Ah don' like the look of them there clouds..."

Pinkie looked up at the sky, just as her tail began to twitch. "Nopey-dopey-lopie! Me neither, and my Pinkie Sense is telling me that something's gonna be falling from the sky, soon!"

"An' Ah'll bet that somethin' is gonna be rain," Applejack concluded, frowning a little. "Y'all got the umbrella?"

"Yupperroonie!" Pinkie nodded, as Anty hoisted up the umbrella. "It's all ready-eddy-eddy!"

"Awright, well let's get 'er goin' then!" Applejack looked relieved. "If we can just make it ta Sugarcube Corner 'till the rain stops."

"Good idea, AJ!" Pinkie nodded, hopping up onto Anty's back, as he lowered himself to allow the two miniscule Earth ponies to climb aboard.

Applejack carefully placed the reins onto Anty, who didn't seem to mind, and then got onto his back as well, taking the umbrella to hold over them. She was about to suggest they get going, when Pinkie grabbed the reins from her.

"YEEEEE-HAAAAAW!" Pinkie whooped, snapping the makeshift reins and kicking her back hooves. "Git along, li'l Anty!"

Applejack blinked at the imitation of her own accent and just what Pinkie was doing in general. Eventually, she chuckled a bit and just let her do her thing as she held the umbrella over them.

Anty reared gently, and then was making his way rapidly across the ground. In good time, since the rain had just started with large drops of water falling all around them.

"Git up, Anty! Git up!" Pinkie hollered, grabbing Applejack's hat and waving it around like she was at a rodeo. "We gotta long way ta go, and little time ta git thar!"

Eeyup, just let her do her thang... Applejack thought with an amused smile, shaking her head.

Anty carried them across the ground, narrowly avoiding the raindrops with expert agility as he made his way to Sugarcube Corner. The very direction he was being told to go into.

Fluttershy settled, staring out the pail, out at the now dangerous rain falling outside of it. The rain pounded noisily upon the plastic containment above their heads, which was now louder to their little ears. Thunder rumbled in the distance,
which was yet again louder than normal. She yelped, squeezing her eyes shut and shuddering with fear.

In an attempt to calm the other Pegasus, Rainbow Dash nuzzled her gently, her wings still folded open over her creamy yellow body. Her rainbow tail was intertwined with Fluttershy's blossom-pink tail, as she gently lay on top of her to keep her warm, and as a means of comfort.

"It's not fair...why did there have to be a storm just when we shrink..." Fluttershy whimpered, managing to angle her neck to look at her friend.

"I wish I knew, Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash shook her head, frowning lightly. "There wasn't supposed to be a rain storm today, but it must've been decided at last minute..."

Fluttershy sniffled a bit, fighting back tears, and nuzzled her friend in gratitude. "I suppose...but I'm just glad you're here with me...I don't know what I'd do if I was all alone..."

Rainbow Dash smiled, nuzzling her friend and licking her tears away. "I'm kinda glad we're in this mess together too, pal. It makes it a little easier to deal with the situation."

A little giggle of appreciation escaped the creamy yellow Pegasus at her friend's sweet gesture. "You're right, it does... It could be worse...we could be in a haunted house...with a pony-eating tree right outside our window...like in that one movie we saw..." She shivered at the memory.

The daredevil cyan Pegasus snorted, rolling her eyes. "Don't even think of that movie, Fluttershy. You'll creep yourself out! And that's kind of the last thing we need, given our situation, if you know what I mean."

"I'm trying not to! Oh, Dashie...it's just like when it gets dark and my mind decides to think about monsters!" Fluttershy whimpered.

"Well, if any monsters DO come along, then you've always got me to protect you." Rainbow Dash declared proudly, her wings flaring out to the sides before folding over the other Pegasus, again.

Sniffling again, Fluttershy smiled and giggled a bit. She then rolled onto her back, taking a few breaths to try to calm herself a bit more. "You're the greatest protector in the world..."

"I do what I can," Rainbow Dash chuckled, using her wings to wipe her best friend's cheeks. "...You could use a tissue, pal. Unfortunately, I don't have one on me."

"That's okay," Fluttershy assured with a smile. "We make the best of what we have sometimes."

"Yeah, improvising is pretty useful, sometimes." Rainbow Dash agreed with a nod. "But it doesn't help when you have nothing to improvise with."

"...That's true too," Fluttershy realized, and then stretched her legs a bit in the air before curling them back. She giggled then as Rainbow Dash's wing brushed her nose. "Eee...that tickles..."

"Sorry, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash giggled, folding her wings in at her sides. "Wasn't trying to tickle you."

Fluttershy giggled, smiling. "That's all right, Rainbow. I suppose now wouldn't exactly be the right time to tickle me..." Realizing what she said, she covered her exposed belly with her hooves.

Rainbow Dash smirked, but shook her head. "Nah, you're right about that. Now's not the time or the place." She glanced out at the still-falling rain, sighing through her nose.

Stretching her legs once more, Fluttershy then rolled onto her stomach once again. She snuggled up against the cyan Pegasus, gently nuzzling her, and kissing her muzzle. "Well...once we're big again, we'll have all the time in the world for a little fun..."

Smirking lightly, Rainbow Dash nuzzled her and kissed her muzzle in return. "You said it, Fluttershy. We'll more than make up for this when we're big, again..."

"We'll go flying around...and then you can do some tricks, while I cheer you on..." Fluttershy smiled at the thought of all this, and elicited another loving nuzzle. Just the very basic things they'd always done, which she almost could have felt were forever lost, felt to be heavenly for her now. "And then..."

"And then...?" Rainbow Dash nuzzled back, gazing into her aquamarine eyes lovingly.

"We'll go home...my home...or yours..." Giggled the pink-maned mare as she smiled more, her eyes gazing lovingly into her friend's cerise orbs. "I'll make us dinner..."

"Sounds like a promise..." The rainbow-maned mare smirked softly. "And then, later...when we go to bed...?"

Now Fluttershy's wings perked with interest. Her eyelids lowered, her smile suggestive. "We'll go to bed...together..."

Rainbow Dash's wings mimicked the action, her eyes gleaming with lust. "And we'll spend the whole night together...and it'll be amazing..."

"It will be amazing...we'll share it...together..." Fluttershy cooed, her own eyes brimming with lust. Her wings flared all the more to convey her interest. "And you do have a bit of a bigger bed...maybe we'll take your bed this time..."

"So it's my turn to have my bed...heh heh...defiled..." Rainbow Dash chuckled darkly, her wings flaring out moreso. "So be it."

"It's been a while since we...defiled your bed..." Fluttershy giggled, and nuzzled her in a more suggestive manner. "But in the sky...nopony will disturb us..."

"True enough..." Rainbow Dash nodded, nuzzling her back in a similar manner. "And Tank...well, we won't have to worry too much about him..."

"Oh, Tank is a dear...he understands..." The little-less-than-timid mare cooed, her voice dropping to a suggestive whisper. "And you're going to be all mine..."

"I'm all yours, all right..." The daredevil mare agreed, her voice low and husky with desire.

"And I'm all yours, Dashie..." Now one of her wings lowered and coursed along her back.

By now, her fears, worries, and the storm all around was just about forgotten in her mind. All she could think of were the events of the hopeful bright future ahead of them, assuring her that all would be okay.

Fluttershy continued, "It'll be a night of pure ecstasy..."

"A night of pure ecstasy...and most definitely a night of passion..." Her wing responded in kind to the other's touch, trailing along her spine, from top to bottom.

"Hee! Yes...pure passion and...mmmm...am I missing something?" The creamy yellow Pegasus cooed with underlying lust. This time she brought her foreleg to rest over Rainbow's.

"Hmm...I don't know...are you missing something...?" The cyan Pegasus whispered breathily into the other's ear. Her other foreleg came to rest over Fluttershy's.

"Ooh...maybe I am...should I try to find it? Ooh! I know...a night of passion...ecstasy...and...some love," Fluttershy giggled, her wing now interlocking with her friend's wing. "With a bit of candlelight for atmosphere..."

"Candlelight, eh..." Rainbow Dash chuckled, the feathers of her wing interlaced with her friend's wing. "So we're going for a steamy romantic atmosphere, are we?"

"Oh, if that's all right..." Fluttershy nuzzled her in a very suggestive manner, rubbing her foreleg along hers. "A steamy romantic setting...with very little light...as it dances off and enhances your loveliness... the dancing flames reflecting in your beautiful eyes..."

"Ohhh, Fluttershy..." Rainbow Dash's cheeks heated up with a blush. "It sounds all too perfect."

"Yay..." Fluttershy giggled, snuggling up all the more. "Mmm...should I go on? Do you want to hear more, Dashie?"

"Mmm..." Rainbow shook her head. "If I hear any more...I might want to do those things to you, right here..." However, her voice was completely betraying any words she was speaking, especially since her wings had not receded in the slightest.

"You're not making a very convincing argument..."

"Oh...so you want me to do those things to you...right here, right now...?"

"Well...that storm outside is so scary..." The pink-maned Pegasus mock-pouted, her eyes gleaming, her mouth curling into a smile. "I'm so scared... Maybe I do...maybe it's all to help us keep our minds off the...fear we feel in this situation..."

"Ohhh...I see what your game is, now..." The rainbow-maned Pegasus smirked softly. "You want to do those things as a means of comfort...is that it...?"

"Ooh...maybe...but maybe because talking about it...also makes me want you..."

"Heh heh...you don't know how much I want you right now..."

"Mm...call it a preview...of what we'll do later..." Fluttershy winked, and then rolled onto her back again. "Come and get me..."

"Oh...I'm coming for you..." Rainbow Dash smirked, crawling towards her. But then, she suddenly froze, having caught sight of a movement at the back of the pail.

Fluttershy noticed how she stopped moving. Concern immediately washed over her as she sat up, forgetting the loss of the creeping passion. "Rainbow? What's wrong?"

Rainbow's eyes were wide, and her expression was, to Fluttershy's shock, fearful. "D-don't m-move...d-don't b-blink...d-don't ev-ven b-breathe...th-there's a...a..."

Now that got her scared all the more. "W-W-What is it, Rainbow?"

"I-it's a...a...a..." Rainbow couldn't even say it. Her knees shook, her wings folded tight against her sides, and her whole body trembled.

If you've seen Honey, I Shrunk The Kids!, then you'll know why there's an ant. ;)
The "we've got bees!" line is a reference to a similar famous line from Twister, another movie that my friend and I are a fan of.
The movie Fluttershy was referring to is Poltergeist.

As The Rain Falls

"A w-w-what?" Fluttershy finally followed her friend's gaze.

Toward the back of the bucket, a ways off from them, was a spider. A Daddy Long-leg spider, which appeared to be struggling a bit.

"Oh!" Fluttershy smiled. "Rainbow, it's just a spider! A Daddy Long Leg! Look at him, he's so cute!"

"Cute? CUTE?!" Rainbow sounded incredulous. "Fluttershy, how can you THINK that...that...thing...is cute?!"

"Well, just look at those beady eyes of his! And those feelers along his body, and those legs! It's almost exotic!" Fluttershy said. "And really, there's nothing to be afraid of! Daddy Long Legs are pefectly harmless, they eat mosquitos and flies. I mean, we have nothing to-" It dawned on her. "...Rainbow...you're not...afraid of Daddy, are you?"

"What?! Afraid?!" Rainbow shook her head frantically. "Nooo, don't be silly! You know I'm not afraid of anything, Fluttershy! Especially not a...b-big...h-huge...g-giant...s-sp-spid-der..."

"Well, I could understand, since he is bigger than we are..." Fluttershy reasoned. "It's okay. But there's nothing to worry about, he won't hurt us. See?" She trotted over toward the spider. "Hello, Daddy!"

"F-fluttershy, g-get away f-from it!!!" Rainbow Dash cried, flying after her and grabbing her tail in her teeth. "You said it yourself, it's BIGGER than us! That means it probably sees us as FOOD!!!"

"Ooh!" Fluttershy fell to the floor of the pail, her flank partway in the air with the way Rainbow Dash held her tail in her teeth. "Don't worry, he won't."

"How can you be sure?!" Rainbow protested, still clenching her tail firmly in her mouth. "You can't talk to him, he's a spider!!!"

"But Mr. Wasp is a wasp...and I have some butterfly friends. I've also once had a tarantula, before I gave him away," Fluttershy assured. "I can also communicate with bugs, so don't you worry, Rainbow!"

"Th-that's all w-well a-and g-good, F-fluttershy..." Rainbow Dash whimpered, cowering uncharacteristically behind the normally timid Pegasus. "B-but n-none of th-those...a-are s-sp-spiders...!!!"

Fluttershy blinked, having a moment of major deja-vu with the last bit her friend said. "Because they're not spiders...?"

"Because they're not dragons."

Eyes wide, Fluttershy turned around, "Rainbow...are you....afraid of spiders?"

"S-so w-what if I am?!" Rainbow snapped, her whole body trembling. "Y-you're af-fraid of dragons!"

"Well...yes..." Fluttershy chuckled nervously. "No, I just...didn't know...I never pegged you to be afraid of spiders. ...Oh...it's okay...I understand." she smiled in assurance, "They are scary-looking...especially up close sometimes. ...So that's why you were covering your eyes during the spider scene of Harry Trotter and the Chamber of Secrets, then?"

"Yeah, what of it...?" Rainbow admitted, her snout reddening in embarrassment. "Those spiders...those were HUGE. And lemme tell you something, Fluttershy...right now, that Daddy Long Legs reminds me WAY too much of Aragog!"

"Um...but Aragog is a completely different species of spider than Daddy over here," Fluttershy pointed out.

"I don't care!" Rainbow argued. "A spider's a spider! And I'm a lot like Ron, I hate spiders!!!"

"Okay," Fluttershy said softly in understanding. "I understand you're not fond of them... Don't worry, I'll take care of this. He won't bother us, anyway." She trotted over to the spider, smiling. "Hello, Daddy! What are you doing in there? Oh, trying to get out of the storm? I...." She noticed then that two of the spider's legs were caught in its own web along the back of the pail, which it was struggling to get out of. "Oh...you poor thing! You're stuck!"

Daddy blinked his beady eyes at Fluttershy, struggling to pull his stuck legs free from his web. He made a trilling/chirping noise that sounded not at all threatening, but rather cute.

Enthralled, Fluttershy approached the spider a bit closer, holding out her hoof toward its sensory pinsers. "Aww...you're very cute, Daddy. As I said, I'm Fluttershy...this is Rainbow Dash...you'll have to forgive her, she's not very fond of spiders..and....well, since we're not our normal size, she's a bit spooked. But she won't hurt you."

Blinking his beady black eyes again, Daddy extended his sensory pincers to the creamy yellow Pegasus, making another chirping/trilling sound.

Giggling, Fluttershy touched her hoof to the pincers gently, to show she was not a threat. "Do you need help? I'm sure being stuck in your web isn't very fun, is it?"

Daddy trilled sadly in response, once again trying to pull his legs free from the sticky web.

"Aww...." Fluttershy pouted sympathetically. She looked to the web his legs were stuck in, then back at him, pondering. She bit her lip, then trotted back over to her friend.

"I need your help...Daddy is stuck, and I don't think I'll be able to free him alone. I'll talk to him to distract him and make him feel better, and you can clear away the web from his legs!"

"WHAT?!" Rainbow Dash shrieked. "NO!!! NO WAY!!! I am NOT touching a spider, let alone a spider WEB!!!"

"Please, Rainbow? I really need your help with this...and I promise, he will not hurt you. He's actually quite sweet and not at all threatening," Fluttershy assured. She paused a moment. "....I'll do anything you want me to! Anything at all! No question! Just please help me..."

"Anything at all, huh..." Rainbow thought about this for a moment. Then, sighing, she reluctantly agreed. "All right. Just...t-tell me what to d-do..."

"Yes, I will!" Fluttershy nodded. "Okay, I'm going to start talking to him. I will need you to approach the web very slowly, try not to make any noise or draw attention to yourself. Then, when you reach the web, you'll have to bite it away, enough so that he can extract his legs from it and won't be stuck anymore. ...Wait!" She hurried to the mouth of the pail, reaching for something outside, and bringing it back in. It was a small twig. "You can use this."

"What do I do with this...?" Rainbow blinked, staring at the small twig.

"You can use it to extract the web," Fluttershy explained. "Just do it carefully and so you won't jolt him."

"Okay..." Rainbow gulped, taking the twig into her mouth. "I-I'll t-try..."
Fluttershy smiled, and kissed her on the forehead. "Thank you, Rainbow. You're the best!" She trotted back over to Daddy. "Sorry about that... Well, you're going to be just fine, I promise."

Daddy chirped/trilled, blinking his beady black eyes at Fluttershy.

Slowly and carefully, Rainbow Dash crept towards the web, trying her hardest to keep her knees from shaking, or her teeth from chattering. She knew she'd have to muster up her bravery for the task-at-hoof...

"You know, I may just have to take you home with me!" Fluttershy giggled. "...No, maybe I shouldn't. Then I won't get Rainbow to come over for weeks!" She pouted. "Oh well...I'm sure you'll be all right once you're free, right? Of course you will!"

Daddy trilled/chirped, bringing one of his legs forward and touching Fluttershy with it.

Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, had managed to get close enough without being detected by Daddy, and was now setting to work on tearing away the strands of web with the twig.

"Ooh!" Fluttershy jumped a bit at having one of Daddy's legs brush over her. "This is fascinating, to be able to observe you up close this way, Daddy! I don't think I'll ever look at spiders of your kind the same way again..."

Daddy brushed his leg over Fluttershy again, before pulling it back and shifting in place a little bit.

Rainbow worked at pulling away the web, trying hard to contain her fear and resist the urge to run screaming from the giant, but supposedly-harmless spider.

"Yes, I know it's not easy being a spider, is it...do you have a family?" Fluttershy queried.

Daddy trilled lowly in reply, sounding sad.

"Oh, you do? ...And they're far away from where you are? How did you get here?" Fluttershy extended her hoof again toward him.

Daddy touched his sensory pincers to Fluttershy's hoof, trilling/chirping again.

"Oh, a lot of things, I see? Where is your family?" Fluttershy cast a sideways glance toward her friend to see her progress for a moment, then looking back into Daddy's beady eyes.

Daddy trilled lowly once again, and his beady eyes even looked downcast.

"Oh my...all the way in Whitetail woods? You poor thing! It will take you ages to get back home! That wind storm alone was enough to knock you miles away!" Fluttershy said sadly. "Hmmm....do you think maybe....you could wait around here until tomorrow? ...Yes...it kind of has to be tomorrow...hee hee...personal reasons...but you'll be all right if you stay hidden."

"Almost done..." Rainbow Dash murmured, muffled due to the twig in her mouth.

Daddy chirped a bit, shifting in place.

"Oh...so you did see that...true...sorry...we didn't even know you were in here..." Fluttershy giggled, blushing considerably. "Oh, but you see, I have a lot of compensation to do...but that's okay...I don't mind that at all. ...No, she's not...she's wonderful in so many ways. ...I know, that's what anypony would say! ...But it just works. How about you and your mate? What is she like? ...Oooh! That sounds just like her!" Fluttershy laughed heartily, beaming.

Daddy continued to trill/chirp cheerily, feeling at ease around the animal-loving Pegasus.

"And..." Rainbow pulled away one last string of web, freeing Daddy's legs. "...done."

"Oh, good!" Fluttershy smiled more. "You're free, Daddy! Now you don't have to worry about a thing. Be careful!" She trotted over to Rainbow Dash and threw her forelegs around her. "Oh, Rainbow, thank you so much! You were such a great help! Thank you!" She smothered her snout with kisses.

"Heh...guess it was worth it..." Rainbow blushed, her snout reddening even more, and her wings flaring out a bit.

"I'm sorry I had to make you do that...but I knew that you wouldn't be able to talk to him that close..." Fluttershy murmured, and nuzzled her. "But I'll still gladly compensate for it...you deserve a little reward for helping and overcoming your displeasure for spiders."

"W-well...m-maybe not completely, on that l-last one..." Rainbow muttered. She nearly jumped out of her wings when she felt Daddy's leg brush over her.

"I suppose...but you managed to do so enough to help," the creamy yellow Pegasus smiled. "And for that you deserve a reward for helping."

"Heh...I'll take a reward..." The cyan Pegasus smirked a bit. "Anything...for dealing with a s-sp-spider..."

Giggling, Fluttershy nuzzled her a little, her smile growing. "All right...what do you want? I did say anything...."

Grinning, Rainbow nuzzled her back. "When we're big again. It won't be the same if we do it as pipsqueak Pegasi."

"And what would that be...?"

"I'll tell you then..."

"Okay, if you say so," Fluttershy winked, and nuzzled her again, looking outside. "Ooh...the rain is slowing down..."

"The storm's probably passing..." Rainbow Dash observed, nuzzling back again. "So maybe we can get going, soon..."

"That's good, at least we could hopefully make it to the Everfree Forest before nightfall," Fluttershy said, sounding a little anxious. "...I just hope the others managed to shelter themselves from the storm...wherever they are."

"I'm sure they managed..." Rainbow Dash assured her. "Especially Twilight. Egghead that she is, she sure knows some good survival skills!"

"That's true!" Fluttershy agreed, laughing a bit. "If anypony could manage, she certainly would...and Applejack is certainly resourceful, she'll find a way."

"And Rarity!" Rainbow laughed. "I know she hates getting her coat dirty, or mussing up her mane, but when it really counts, she can take care of herself!"

"Oh, absolutely! I've known Rarity for some time since I came to Ponyville, and she really is amazingly independent!" Fluttershy lay back down, curling her legs under her as she made herself comfortable.

"Heh. Is that so..." Rainbow Dash chuckled, gently laying down atop her best friend, folding her wings open over her body.

"Mm-hmm..." Fluttershy sighed softly in bliss, savouring their contact as she felt warmth wash over her. "And Pinkie...well...she's Pinkie...You're right...they'll be just fine.."

"Yep...they'll be fine..." Rainbow Dash nodded, yawning as their combined warmth was making her drowsy.
"We'll all be fine...I can feel it..." Hearing her yawn, Fluttershy yawned a bit herself. The warmth of their bodies together was enough to really relax her, and the slow rain made for soothing noise as opposed to opposing loudness. "....Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow Dash didn't respond. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing was soft, but even. She snored softly, her head resting against Fluttershy's neck.

Fluttershy blinked. "Oh dear...you must've had very serious sleep deprivation if you fell asleep that fast! ...Oh, Dashie..." She smiled, and nuzzled against her, closing her eyes. "...I love you," she whispered softly, before going to sleep as well.

"Mmmm..." Whether or not Rainbow Dash had actually heard Fluttershy was unknown. But in her sleep, she murmured back in response. "...Love you, Fluttershy..."

Over out in the cornfield, the rain still continued, despite that it was slowing down by this point. Twilight, Rarity and the bird continued to nestle under the umbrella, still awaiting for when it would let up completely. It had been quiet between them for the past while, neither having much to say (or chirp), but were feeling relaxed, somewhat.

"Gosh...I wish a couple of my books shrank along with us," Twilight sighed.

"As I wish I'd brought some pencils and paper. I could be designing my new training wear line." Rarity pouted, laying her head on her forelegs.

Twilight looked down at the ground, then at her friend. "...You could draw it in the dirt with a rock or a twig."

Rarity pondered, and then smiled. "Why, you're absolutely right, Twilight dear! Why didn't I think of that?" Using her magic, she picked up a small piece of a twig and began to draw out a design in the dry dirt.

Smiling a little bit, Twilight lay her head on her crossed forelegs with a sigh, glancing over at Rarity as she worked. 'Maybe I can watch her draw...least that's better than nothing, I guess. ...I'm so bored...'

Smiling and humming, Rarity continued to draw out a design for a training warm-up suit, keeping in mind that she was to be designing it for the Wonderbolts and other Pegasi. She glanced sideways at Twilight for a moment, smiling at the lavender Unicorn, and then returned her focus to her drawing.

Bored still, Twilight rolled onto her back. "This isn't fair....I'm bored out of my skull!"

"I'm sorry, Twilight." Rarity frowned a bit, looking to her friend again. "Perhaps you can try your hoof at helping me design some of these lovely training suits?"

"Um...okay....I can try..." Twilight rolled over her again, looking down at the dirt sketches. They were drawn on blank pony forms, much like a mannequin, varying in different styles, with the colours marked alongside, as well as what fabrics they would consist of. "So..,I guess you're going for a couple of varieties...some that are form-fitting, others looser and breathing?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing." Rarity smiled, working on a pony form that seemed to be that of a stallion. "The form-fitting designs are more for the mares, while the looser, baggier fit are more for the stallions."

"Hmm..." the lavender Unicorn thought for a moment. "Maybe you can try some different themes for each set?"

"Oooh, splendid idea!" The pure-white Unicorn smiled, making some notes on the ground by the design sketches.
Feeling proud of having helped her friend, Twilight thought further about ideas for the suits. "Why not different colours and patterns that pertain to racing? And maybe on the side you can put fun patterns?"

Rarity smiled at Twilight's suggestions. "Lovely! For the Wonderbolts' training suits specifically, I was going to design them like their performance uniforms. I think I shall do so, and use a variety of colors!"

Observing the mud sketches, Twilight broke off a piece of a twig with her magic and began to take notes as well. She felt glad to have something that was occupying her mind, even if designing wasn't exactly her strong point. It did feel good to do something useful and something that required thinking, regardless. Having something to do was all she could ask for now.

"Is that your Wonderbolts design?" She pointed to one of the sketches.

"Yes it is!" Rarity nodded, adding a few more details to the sketch. "This is actually for Spitfire, herself! I shall use a color theme that matches her fiery mane, and the pattern will be that of red-hot flames! Don't you think it'll look wonderful on her?"

"Yeah! I think it'd work perfectly for her! It would even go nicely with her coat, too."

"Oh yes, absolutely! Oh, I do hope she'll be pleased with the results!"

"I think Rainbow will be a helpful judge of that?"

"Yes, indeed! In fact, I'm actually designing a training suit for Rainbow, as well! I think she shall be pleasantly surprised, don't you agree, Twilight?"

Twilight giggled behind her hoof. "Ooh, you're making one for her, too? Are you kidding, she'd love it!"

Rarity nodded, giggling. "I certainly should hope so!" She pointed to one of the outfit design sketches, which was marked to include rainbow colors in its pattern. "This is the design for Rainbow. What do you think, so far?"

"Oooh, she'd love that! It looks awesome!"

"Why, thank you! I think I shall color it in rainbow streaks, won't that look lovely?"

"For Rainbow Dash, I think it will," Twilight agreed, taking notes of her own. "It'll even probably make the rainbow streak she leaves behind in her wake look longer."

"That is exactly what I'm attempting to create!" Rarity beamed, adding a few details to the sketch. "Why, if I design this right, it will even look like Rainbow Dash herself has become that rainbow streak she leaves in her wake!"

"Ooh, that would make quite a spectacle! Oh...her birthday is coming up, I see now!" Twilight grinned.

"Yes, this is going to be an extra-special surprise birthday gift for Rainbow!" Rarity giggled, winking at the other Unicorn. "So don't speak a word of it to her, all right darling?"

"I promise I won't! My lips are sealed!" The lavender Unicorn promised, winking and making a motion of zipping her lips. "I'm still looking for a gift to give her, actually."

"Well..." The pure-white Unicorn giggled, smiling. "Rainbow has hinted that she wants to go to that concert that's to be in town on her birthday..."

"Oh, that rock band she likes..." Twilight realized. "Hmmm...I think I can pull some strings and get tickets for her..."
"Yes, that's the one!" Rarity nodded. "Oh, what is their name? I know the name of a song she likes..."

"Oh, I think it's Learn To Fly?"

"Yes! That's the song!"

Twilight kept that in mind. She then noticed that the rain had stopped falling, so she stepped out to make sure. As it turned out, the rain had stopped. The clouds were currently being cleared away by some of the Pegasi on the weather patrol team.
"Look Rarity, it stopped raining!"

Rarity peered up at the sky, smiling when she saw the clouds being cleared away by weather patrol Pegasi. "Oh, wonderful! Shall we try to find our friends, Twilight?"

The bird nudged Twilight, then gently spread its wings.

"We should! Let's see if our bird here can help us!"

"Do you feel up to flying, darling?"

"I hope so! Who knows how far we are from Ponyville, let alone the Everfree Forest," Twilight frowned thoughtfully. "Flying would be faster."

The bird chirped, lowering itself on the ground so they could get onto his back.

"Oh, why thank you!" Rarity smiled, gently climbing onto the bird's back and settling herself comfortably. "Come along, Twilight! Our flight awaits!"

"Let's go!!" Twilight got onto the bird's back as well.

The bird carefully flapped his wings, testing them. Carefully, he then lifted into the air, gently flapping his wings to gain altitude. So far so good, it seemed, since he seemed to be flying in a fairly slow but still manageable speed.

"It worked! He's okay! We're flying!"

"Oh, wonderful! You're doing magnificent, darling!"

Seeing the horizon slowly coming into view as the bird lifted above the corn field, Twilight could now see that Ponyville was some ways toward the west. She felt relieved, that even though they were fairly far, at least it was within sight. Now all they had to do was track down their friends. Which of course was easier said than done, but at least they had a way of getting around.

"Let's go! We're not far from it! To Ponyville!" Twilight declared.

"Take us to Ponyville, please!" Rarity told the bird kindly.

Chirping in response, the bird then flew off as well as it could toward the town.

"Um, Pinkie...did y'all even know there was a mouse hole here?" Applejack pointed to the mouse hole in the wall.

"Nope!" Pinkie Pie shook her head. "But it's a good thing there is one, because we couldn't get into Sugarcube Corner, if there wasn't!"

"Ah guess so..." Applejack shrugged a little. "Once ya get big again, yer gonna have ta do somethin' about this whole, though."

"Oh, I know!" Pinkie nodded. "Now that I know it's here, I can fix it right up before the Cakes get back from their vacation!"
Anty came crawling back, holding a couple of crumbs in its pincers, which it lay on the floor near them. It then went to go retrieve some more.

"Cleanin' tha floor might also be a good idea..." Applejack remarked, gesturing to the ant. "Least we ain't gotta worry about a Health Inspection."

"Awww, good boy, Anty!" Pinkie praised, smiling at the ant. "C'mon, Applejack! Let's put these in our neato saddlebags that Twilight made us!"

"Good idea, we'll need the rations," Applejack agreed, taking a couple of pieces of the crumbs to place into her makeshift saddlebags.

"Yupperroonie!" Pinkie nodded, placing some pieces of crumbs into her own makeshift saddlebags.
Peering out the hole for a moment, Applejack sighed dejectedly before sitting down. "Still rainin' out there... Least we're indoors where there's food."

"And at least we're all nice and warm and dry, too!" Pinkie pointed out.
Smiling a bit, the orange Earth pony nodded. "Yeah, Ah guess so. Ah'm just hopin' we get outta this...it ain't fun bein' this small... Least last time, y'all were ta see me."

Giggling at the memory, the pink Earth pony nodded also. "I remember that! At least this time, I can talk without being all pbbbt pbbbt pbbbbbt pbbbt pbbbbbbbbbbt!!!"

Applejack grimaced, ducking out of the way of the spitting. "Right...yeah."

Pinkie giggled and stopped spitting. "At least I'm not doing that! And you're right that it's not very fun to be this small, but it is like a super-duper-ultra exciting adventure!"

"Ah guess it can be no worse than goin' up against Nightmare Moon, Discord or the Changelins," the farm pony shrugged a bit.

"Oooooh, they were all such meanies!" The party pony pouted. "Especially Nightmare Moon, since she wanted to make everything all night all the time, and then gobble us up!"

"...Um, Nightmare Moon didn't wanna gobble us up. She jus' wanted ta make perpetual nighttime."

"But that's not what Zecora said! Remember on Nightmare Night?! Nightmare Moon came back to gobble us all up!"

Applejack shook her head. "That was Princess Luna. An' fer that matter, the gobblin' up thing was made up ta make Nightmare Night scary."

Pinkie frowned at the orange mare. "Are you sure? She sure seemed like she wanted to gobble up somepony!"

"She was just bitter 'bout bein' ridiculed. But never mind, everythin's been resolved since then," Applejack waved it off. She peered through the mouse hole again, groaning. "Fer Pete's sake! When's this rain gonna let up?!"

"I dunno!" Pinkie shrugged. She then turned in the direction the ant had scurried off to. "Oh, Anty~ Where are you~?"

"Aw no, ya gotta be kiddin' me!" Applejack groaned, facehoofing. "Now we gotta find our ant!"

"He's probably in the kitchen!" Pinkie chirped, bouncing in that direction. "Anty-wanty~ Pinkie Pie wants to find you~"

"Pinkie, don't wander off," Applejack pulled her back by her tail. "Ah don't wanna hafta look fer you, too. Please just stay with me here."

"But we gotta find Anty, though!" Pinkie frowned. "Something could've happened to him! And he's our ticket to the Everfree Forest!"

"Then we'll go find him," Applejack reasoned, "TAGETHER. We ain't splittin' up."

"Okey-dokey lokie!" Pinkie nodded, grinning. "Let's go, AJ!"

"Awright," the orange Earth pony stood up, adjusting her hat. "Let's go find him, then. Ah hope he didn't wander off too far."
"We'll try the kitchen, first!" The pink Earth pony started to bounce away again. "Then we'll look behind the counter, and then we'll check upstairs!"

"...Pinkie, how're we gonna get upstairs? The stairs are bigger than us, the steps are too high fer us ta reach, an' it'll take ferever ta reach up there!" Applejack looked toward the stairs at the back of the shop, paling a bit.

"...Good point." Pinkie frowned a bit. "Okay, we won't check upstairs! But we'll check AROUND the stairs! There's plenty of places Anty could've gone!"

"Awright, fair enough," Applejack agreed. "Like ya said, we'll start with tha kitchen. Considerin' there'll be crumbs an' other smells, he mighta been attracted ta that."

"Right! To the kitchen!" Pinkie declared, pointing her hoof forward. "Move out, troops!"

"...Um..." Applejack looked around her, blinking. "Ah'm the only one here."

"I know that, silly! I meant both of us!" Pinkie giggled, gesturing to herself and the orange mare.

"...Cain't argue with that."

"Let's go! Forward, MARCH!!!"

Applejack smiled a bit before she followed after the pink bouncing pony. Even with having to find their creepy crawly friend, at least they had each other for help.

Night Falling

Some time later, though neither knew how much later, Fluttershy soon awoke. When she looked outside, she could see that it was getting dark, much to her alarming dismay. How long had they been napping? What time was it? Where was everypony else? She worried especially for their friends, wondering where they were, what they were doing, and if they were okay. So many worries...

Next to her, Rainbow Dash was still laying there asleep, with a peaceful smile on her face. As if what was going on wasn't even happening...

'She must be having a good dream...' Fluttershy thought, smiling softly as she gazed at her. 'I should wake her up, we have to think of a plan or at least get moving... But I don't want to disturb her... She must be having a good dream and wouldn't want to wake up into harsh reality...'

Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, remained peacefully asleep, with the only movements being that of her wings, which fluttered a bit and then stilled, folding into her sides. She shifted a bit, her head resting upon her crossed forelegs, and her tail curled around her body. She moaned softly, and then murmured in her sleep, "Fluttershy..."

Taken aback, Fluttershy blinked, then smiled as she continued to observe her longtime friend. 'She's dreaming about me? Awww.... I wonder what she's dreaming of...'

Rainbow Dash sighed in her sleep, still smiling. She then reached out one hoof, touching Fluttershy's hoof briefly, before pulling back. Again, she murmured her name. "Mmmh...Fluttershy..."

Giggling softly, Fluttershy whispered to her, "Yes, Rainbow?"

Still lost in her dream, Rainbow Dash answered, "I have something to tell you..."

"Oh...?" Fluttershy played along some more, smiling a bit more. Sometimes they did partake in cute little games like this, she couldn't help it! "What is it, Rainbow?"

"I've wanted...to say this...for a long time..." Rainbow whispered softly.

Fluttershy scooted closer to her, slowly, and quietly. The creamy yellow mare gently touched her hoof, smiling. "You can tell me...I'm listening."

"I wanted...to tell you..." The cyan mare lifted her head, still asleep, and leaned closer to the creamy yellow mare.

"Yes...? You wanted to tell me what...?" Fluttershy encouraged, feeling her heart racing.

"...I'm hungry." Rainbow Dash cracked open one eye, grinning sheepishly as her stomach rumbled loudly.

"Oh!" Fluttershy gasped, wide-eyed. "Um...were you...awake?"

"Barely..." Rainbow Dash lifted her head and yawned, rubbing at her eyes tiredly. "How long were we asleep, anyway...?"

"I...I don't know..." Fluttershy frowned. "But it's getting dark...we must have been asleep for a few hours now."

"Flying feathers..." Rainbow muttered, yawning again and stretching her limbs and wings. "We should try to get moving again, before it's too dark to see at all..."

"I suppose we could...at least we know where we are, so we'll be able to navigate to the Everfree Forest... Oh, but it's much to dangerous at night! Even more so since we're so tiny!" Fluttershy stuck close to her in fear.

"Are you crazy? We're not going into the Everfree Forest at night!" Rainbow shook her head, slightly more awake now. "I just meant we should find a better place than an overturned bucket to shelter for the night!"

"Oh..." Fluttershy nodded, feeling less afraid. "All right...so...where could we go?"

"Well...we're about in the park outside the town square...right...?" Rainbow asked, peering outside the bucket.

Fluttershy nodded, glancing back over to their Daddy Long-Leg friend, then trotted over to join her.

"Yes, we are. So we shouldn't too far from a potential place for proper shelter..."

Rainbow Dash cast a wary glance at the Daddy Long-Leg, who blinked his beady eyes at the cyan Pegasus, but otherwise made no movement. "Okay, so we can try to find...I dunno, a hole in the ground or find a way into somepony's house, maybe?"

Fluttershy thought for a moment, biting her lip. "We could make our way to my cottage... It's the closest shelter to the Everfree Forest. But I wonder if we would get there before dark..."

Rainbow Dash thought for a moment, and then nodded. "I guess we could do that. At least then we'll be that much closer to the Everfree Forest in the morning..."

"And maybe our friends will think to go there too!" Fluttershy realized, her wings flaring, "Rainbow, we have to go, now! We'll go to my cottage and wait there until morning!"

"Good idea, Fluttershy!" Rainbow nodded, spreading out her own wings. "Let's get flying!"

Feeling relieved, motivated even, Fluttershy smiled and kissed her cheek. "Let's get flying, Rainbow."

Blushing mildly, Rainbow Dash nodded and trotted outside the bucket. Rain was still falling, but it was very light right now, practically a drizzle. "Let's go, then!"

The two Pegasi flapped their wings, heading out to brave the light falling rain and oncoming darkness. It was uncertain as to whether or not they would make it to Fluttershy's cottage in time, but at least they had a goal in mind. Which was all they really needed right now.

"Rarityyyyyyy!!!" Twilight yelled over the rushing wind on the flight. "Rarityyyyy!! We have to steer this guy! I have an idea!!!"

"What?!" Rarity cried over the rushing wind. "What did you say, Twilight?!"

"I said I have an idea!! We have to steer the bird!!" Twilight yelled back.

"Steer the bird?!" Rarity yelled. "How do we do that?!"

"I don't know!!" Twilight yelled. "But we have to direct him to Fluttershy's cottage!"

"Fluttershy's cottage?!" Rarity repeated. "Why are we going there, Twilight?!"

Twilight didn't respond for a moment as she tried to think of a plan to slow down the bird and steer him to where she wanted them to go. Getting an idea, she closed her eyes and concentrated her magic, channeling it toward the bird's feathers.
Once it passed, the bird slowed down in his flight.

"Fluttershy's cottage is right on the border of the Everfree Forest!" Twilight said, no longer having to yell. "We'll have shelter, and be close to there!"

"Why, you're absolutely right!" Rarity realized, nodding. "What a wonderfully splendid idea, Twilight!"

"Great!" Twilight smiled, taking a few breaths of relief. "Now we just have to figure out a spell we can use to steer the bird..."

"Allow me!" Rarity closed her eyes and focused her magic, concentrating on the bird's flight path. After a few moments, the bird changed his path and began flying towards the Everfree Forest, and Fluttershy's cottage!

Twilight blinked, staring at the snow-white Unicorn with wide eyes. She had not thought of Rarity learning a spell like that. Granted, Rarity was talented at finding gems with her magic, but this kind of magic? She had never thought it possible. "How...did you...?"

"Do you remember that book I requested to borrow a while ago?" Rarity smiled and winked at her fellow Unicorn. "I wished to learn a few new spells, so that I would be of more use in a dire situation."

"...Wow..." Twilight smiled, looking to her with admiration. "That's great of you, Rarity! I mean, you already have proven your worth a lot of times, but that's pretty resourceful of you."

"Why, thank you, Twilight!" Rarity beamed with pride, her eyes lighting up. "Besides, I have oftentimes had to use such a spell to get my dear Opalesence down from a tree!"

"I guess so," Twilight giggled, "That's pretty good. What else did you learn?"

"Just enough magic so that I would be much more useful in a dire situation such as this." Rarity told her with a wink. "Perhaps you shall see during the course of this journey!"

Twilight smiled, winking back, "I'll keep that in mind, Rarity."
Rarity giggled, smiling in return. "You just do that, Twilight."

Looking out ahead, Twilight could barely make out the distance between here and Fluttershy's cottage, but was getting something of a general idea. "Okay, so since we're flying at... 30 miles per hour or so, at an altitude of maybe 200 feet...give or take, since we're much smaller... I'd say we'll get to her cottage in about half an hour."

Rarity looked at the darkening sky worriedly. "I certainly hope so. I don't know if there's enough daylight remaining to guide us there safely."

"You're right..." Twilight looked up as well, biting her lip. "At this time of year, nighttime comes early. So it must be well after six by now."

"It must be." Rarity nodded. She then smiled sheepishly as her stomach growled. "Which also means it's well after suppertime..."

"We should be able to collect scraps from the floor when we get there," assured the lavender Unicorn, "Considering her animals, I wouldn't be surprised."

"I suppose that shall have to suffice..." Murmured the pure-white Unicorn. "Mind you, I don't quite fancy the idea of nibbling on the food for her animals..."

"Neither would I... But if we're lucky, we might find scraps of various vegetables! She has Angel, after all."

"Yes, I suppose that's true..."

Since they still had time to spare, Twilight thought for a moment. It was actually the first time in...a while, that she actually spent some one-on-one time with Rarity. She could feel a stab of regret for that, since Rarity really was a good friend and great to spend time with. Yet, she was so busy with her studies, just as always, it was no wonder they didn't have much time together.

"So...well, Rarity...how are things? You know, before this whole thing started...?"

"Oh, well...just fine, Twilight. Of course I told everypony about my breakthrough. Aside from that, everything is running fine. Yourself?"

"Well, uh...great!" Twilight smiled sheepishly. "I learned a lot of great things about Equestrian history, some things about animals thanks to Fluttershy's lessons...and...um..." She shrugged a bit. "Some...things..."

"What things?" Rarity inquired, tilting her head to the side. "Please explain, dear."

"Um..." Twilight blushed, looking down a bit. "It's nothing, really."

"Oh, you can tell me, Twilight." Rarity insisted, gently nuzzling the lavender Unicorn. "I promise I won't laugh."

"It's not that, it's just, I question why I feel this way and if it's even a good idea or-...no, I don't think I can say it," the distressed mare lay flat on her belly atop the bird.

"Whatever is the matter, Twilight?" The fashionista mare frowned, nuzzling her friend gently and laying down beside her.

Twilight nuzzled her back, appreciating her efforts, then lay her head down on her forelegs. "I don't know, Rarity... It's just... I've been feeling strange, lately."

Rarity looked at her curiously, placing a foreleg carefully around her shoulders. "How so, Twilight? If I may ask?"

Frowning to herself, Twilight wondered where all this was coming from. Why was she even talking about it? It didn't make sense, not in the least. It was pretty much supposed to be the LAST thing on her mind at this point.

"I don't even know how to describe it. But lately, when I'm around..."

"When you're around...?" Rarity looked at her intently. It would've normally been the farthest thing from her mind, given the circumstances. But it did provide a distraction, which is just what she felt she needed right now.

Sighing, Twilight bit her lip as she could now see the awkward aspects of the conversation. "...Spike. And I'm not sure why, either."

"Spikey-Wikey?" Rarity's eyes widened slightly. Then, to Twilight's surprise, she smiled. "Why, Twilight Sparkle! I had no idea you felt that way for our darling little dragon!"

"Felt that-what?" Twilight looked at her with wide eyes, unsure of what to think. "What do you mean??"

"Why, isn't it obvious?" Rarity's smile grew. "You like Spikey-Wikey, don't you? As in, like-like him?"

"...Is THAT why I'm feeling so weird around him?"

"Certainly so! I read romance novels, after all! Your heart just goes all a-flutter when he's around, does it not?"

Blushing, Twilight looked down with embarrassment. "Oh...well, I guess...but it's just... I don't know! I don't know what to do, how to feel, how to react or... Oh, he's a baby dragon! I know technically he's only a couple of years younger than us, by ageing standards. But biologically, he's still a baby dragon and I'm a full grown mare! ...Who am I kidding, anyway? He sees me as a friend..a big sister, even."

"Are you quite sure of that?" Rarity questioned, raising a delicate eyebrow. "I've seen the signs, Twilight. I'm almost certain Spikey-Wikey may be hiding his feelings for you, darling."

"Are you kidding? He likes you!" Twilight rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

"Oh yes, I've certainly seen the adoration in his eyes when he looks my way." Rarity blushed and giggled a bit. "But I'm afraid I have my eyes and my heart set upon somepony else."

An opening! Twilight zipped her gaze right back to Rarity, glad for a chance to get the subject off of her. "Really? You like somepony?"

Rarity blushed deeper and nodded. "Oh, yes...yes, I do...but I'm afraid I cannot tell them..."

"But why not?" Twilight frowned, looking puzzled.

"Because I'm afraid..." Rarity confessed, burying her snout in her hooves with shame.

"...Why are you afraid?" Twilight placed a hoof on Rarity's back.

"Well..." Rarity sighed and then took a deep breath. "I'm afraid because...because she may not return my feelings..."

"She? I kinda figured it was a mare, since you referred to them as they..." Twilight mumbled. "I didn't know you liked mares, Rarity...or are you bisexual?"

"I suppose...I am bicurious..." Rarity admitted. "Not really bisexual...but certainly not a fillyfooler, either..."

Thinking that over for a moment, Twilight could see that it made sense, even if she herself never quite felt that way. "I guess I see what you mean...well, there IS an exception to rules, isn't there? Well...okay, who is this pony? Do I know her?"

"I should think so!" Rarity nodded, doing her best to remain dignified. "After all, she is one of our dear friends!"

Eyes wide, Twilight whistled a little. "Wow. Goodness... Is it... Pinkie?"

"Pinkie Pie?" Rarity blinked, and then shook her head, laughing a bit. "Why no, certainly not! Pinkie Pie is much too...random...for me!"

"Can't argue with that..." Twilight smiled in amusement. "Then...Applejack?"

"...Maybe..." Rarity's eyes shifted to the side, and her snout scrunched up a bit.

"Well, I doubt it's Rainbow or Fluttershy," Twilight said dryly, looking at her pointedly. "But why are you afraid to tell Applejack?"

"Because she's Applejack, Twilight!" Rarity shook her head. "Dirty, uncivilized, ill-mannered Applejack! Do you have any idea what that would look like?!"

Twilight opened her mouth to ask what she meant by that, only for her gaze to avert back to the land ahead. Much to her surprise, the bird was already fast approaching Fluttershy's cottage. Had they been flying faster? Did time go by faster than she thought?

"Oh! We're already here? Wow!"

Rarity sighed, glad for the distraction from the topic. "My, oh my! We certainly got here fast, didn't we?"

Nodding in agreement, Twilight rose herself up to see better.

Approaching the area of Fluttershy's cottage, already the bird was beginning his descent toward it.

Rarity smiled a little as the bird began his descent. "It seems our little friend here knows Fluttershy's cottage quite well, Twilight!"

"You're right, he must have been in her care at least once. Not surprising at all," Twilight remarked in agreement.

The bird twittered at the two Unicorns in response, flying lower towards the woodland cottage.

Eventually, the bird landed on the ground, not far from the oversized mouse hole near the front door. Once having landed, the bird lowered himself, stretching his wing out for the two ponies to use as a gateway off his back.

"Wow, we made it!" Twilight carefully slid down the wing and onto the ground.

"And just in the nick of time, it seems!" Rarity followed Twilight off the bird's wing and to the ground.

"That's good, we still have some time before it gets too dark."
Twilight looked up at the sky, then turned back to the bird, thanking him for his troubles. The bird tweeted to them, then flew off toward one of the bird houses nearby so he could rest.

"Shall we enter?" Rarity looked toward the mouse hole, uncertain. Although she knew the cottage quite well, she still felt awkward about entering it without Fluttershy's knowledge.

"I think we should. It's shelter and we'll be safe," Twilight nodded. "And I think Fluttershy will understand. This is a pretty trying crisis, after all."

"Yes, I suppose you're right." Rarity nodded, feeling a little more at ease. "I wouldn't be at all surprised if Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash were to get the idea to come here, either."

Twilight nodded in agreement, already leading the way toward the hole. "You know, I was thinking that, too! They're probably on their way right now, since the rain stopped and all."

Rarity nodded, following behind her. "You're probably right about that! Well then, let's go inside and settle ourselves in for the night!"

At Sugarcube Corner, as much as the two ponies were safe and sound inside, the crisis was still in progress. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were still trying to locate Anty, but were unable to. They had been searching, for hours, around the main party room so far, but with no luck.

Applejack was beginning to worry, thinking that he might have indeed gone upstairs.

"Ah cain't see hyde nor seek of 'im here..." Groaned the orange mare, glancing toward her companion. "Anythin' over at yer end?"

"Nopey-dopey-lopie!" The pink mare shook her head, bounding back over to the orange mare. "Anty's not in the kitchen anymore!"

"...Ah cain't believe it..." Applejack moaned, sitting on her haunches.

"Don't worry, Applejackie!" Pinkie grinned, bouncing in place excitedly. "I know just the thing to lure Anty out of hiding!"

"An' what would that be?" Applejack sighed, taking her hat off her head and scratching her ears before putting it back on.

Pinkie opened up her makeshift saddlebags and took out a piece of the muffin she'd gathered earlier. "Just watch!" She laid it on the floor and stood back, watching intently.

Applejack looked from Pinkie to the scrap of muffin a couple of times, trying to make sense of her plan.

"So...yer tryin' ta lure him with a muffin. Awright, Ah guess it would work. Problem is, there's a ton o' them scraps all around... Ya think he might go fer it?"

"He will! You'll see!" Pinkie grinned, never taking her eyes off the piece of muffin, waiting for the ant to come along to gather it up.

Exhaling, Applejack decided to just let it go. A plan like this was better than no plan at all. She turned, looking up toward the windows of the bakery. Much to her surprise, it was dark outside. Did time really fly that much? She hadn't even realized it at all.

Looking at a nearby clock on the wall, she saw that it was quarter to seven. No wonder it was dark.

"Well Pinkie, looks like we'll be stayin' in here fer tha night. Ah think it even stopped rainin', though."

"It did?" Pinkie blinked and looked out the window, herself. "Oooh, it did! And now it's getting dark outside!"

"Too bad we cain't go on up ta yer room an' sleep in there..." Applejack sighed, sitting back down again.

"Nopey-dopey-lopie! It'd be morning by the time we got upstairs!" Pinkie shook her head, still watching the piece of muffin.

"Exactly," Applejack agreed, sighing again. "But we'll have ta find a safe place ta sleep, so we don't get stepped on or blown away."

"Okey-dokey-lokie!" Pinkie nodded, and started to bounce away.

"Hey! Where ya goin'?!"

"To find us a safe place to sleep, silly filly!"

"Okay..." Applejack watched her go, blinking. "Ah guess Ah'll watch tha muffin..."

"You do that, Applejackie!" Pinkie called over her shoulder.

Rolling her eyes slightly, but smiling anyway, Applejack sat in waiting. And waiting. Just waiting for any kind of sign of their insect friend. But what if he did leave? What if he wasn't even inside the bakery anymore? It worried her, since he was definitely helpful transportation.

Yes, that was the reason...

Sighing, the farm pony lay down on her stomach, placing her head on her forelegs. "Dang...this really bites..."

A squeaking noise caught her attention after a few moments. But it wasn't the missing ant. It was a stray mouse, squeezing its way into the bakery from the mouse hole outside.

"Whoa!!" Applejack jumped up to her hooves, wide-eyed. "Hold it there, pardner! Y'all ain't comin' in here!"

The mouse squeaked and twitched its whiskers, squeezing in through the hole and scampering over to the bit of muffin Pinkie had set out to lure the ant.

"No no no! Y'all get away from that! It ain't fer you! We're usin' that ta bring back our ant friend!" Applejack approached the mouse, slowly.

Squeaking, the mouse's whiskers twitched as it sniffed the muffin bit. It nibbled a piece off, before grabbing the rest and scurrying off with it.

"Hey! Y'all get on back here!!" Applejack proceeded to chase it. "Hey! Ah'm talkin' ta ya! Get back here!"

The mouse squeaked and continued to scurry away with the muffin bit in its mouth. It paused for a minute, searching for an escape, before deciding it would leave the way it entered.

"...Fine! Run away!" Applejack called after it. "See if Ah care! Shoo!"

With one last squeak, the mouse darted outside, taking the muffin bit with it.

"Dang rodent..." Applejack sat down, glaring down at the floor. "Least Ah got some more..."

After a while, Pinkie Pie came bounding back to the orange Earth pony. "I'm backie! ...Hey, where's the muffin? Anty didn't come and take it, did he?"

"No. It was a dang mouse! He came in here, took tha muffin bit an' ran back out!" Applejack ranted, pointing toward the hole.

"A mousie?" Pinkie blinked, and then laughed. "Oh, that must be Squeaky! Sometimes I set out snackie for him, and he always comes in to take it!"

Applejack stared at Pinkie with incredulity."...Squeaky? Ya got a wild mouse sometimes comin' around...an' takin' bits o' scraps?"

"Yupperroonie!" Pinkie nodded, giggling. "I heard a mousie squeaking one day while I was cleaning up the store front, and there he was, sniffing around for crumblies!"

"...Ah see..." Applejack sighed, looking out toward the mouse hole again. "But we still gotta lure Anty here."

"Okey-dokey-lokie!" Pinkie set out another crumb of muffin, watching the mouse hole to be sure that the aforementioned "Squeaky" wouldn't return for seconds.