A Giant Adventure to Equestria

by ThePinkedWonder

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Human, Twilight Sparkle, Main 6, Drama, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Starlight Glimmer, Original Character
Length: 62789

A young man, who is a fan of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, finds himself in Equestria. It's a huge world for him, in more ways than one: here, he's a bug-sized human.

Eric Reed is an eighteen-year-old young man, who loves watching My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, and is a big fan of the show. Eric has a good heart, has a good sense of humor, but can be prone to expecting too much from others, is a bit immature, and doesn't have many friends.

One day, he suddenly wakes up in Equestria, and to further add to his huge shock, he's only about one-inch tall. After a frightening meeting with Princess Twilight Sparkle, he asks for her help to find out how and why he's in Equestria, why he's so small, and where to go from there.

The good news: Being a fan of the show, Eric already had some knowledge about the new world he's in and his new friends. The bad news: It won't help nearly as much as he hoped and may cause its own problems. And the worst news: He'll have to face the dangers and struggles that being so small and powerless would present. But they may not be what you think, and some struggles could come from completely unexpected and trustworthy sources.

But he won't be the only one to struggle...

First story I've written.

EDIT on 03/30/19: I wasn't going to have Equestria Girls be "canon" when I wrote this story, but because of some confusion, I edited a bit of some chapters to let EQG be "canon". However, this ret-con to the story won't affect how the story goes.

EDIT on 07/28/19: To help fix a pacing problem, I added two chapters to show more of what happened that was previously "off screen". These chapters, what will now be chapter 6 and chapter 16, are written in a way that won't ret-con the story. There are minor edits to the start of what's now chapter 7, the very end of chapter 15, and a bit of chapter 17 to fit the chapters between them, but there's no actual ret-con.

Published 2019-01-21 02:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2019-07-28 22:21:44 UTC

Chapter 1: The Start of a Giant Adventure

Hey there. My name is Eric Reed, and I'm eighteen years old. Whew, did I have myself one hell of an experience! One I literally thought would be impossible and I still can barely believe it happened. You'd probably think that if someone thought this actually happened to them, they might be beyond help. I can try to assure you that this is true, but I won't blame you if you think I'm lying, or I'm just nuts.

Ha, I'll be honest. If I were you, I wouldn't believe it either, unless I already knew that world really existed. But if you think you might believe me, or just want to humor me, then read on. You might have fun reading this.

It all started on a spring morning on what I thought would be a normal day. I woke up but was still really sleepy, and had a hard time just keeping my eyes open.

I looked around my room and tried to focus on something, like my brown dresser or clock on the wall near my bedroom door, and sat up on my bed. But I had some trouble focusing, so I lightly slapped my face a few times to help wake myself up while muttering, "Time to get up you idiot!" I would sometimes call myself an "idiot" as a way to get myself to do something I didn't want to do, if I did something silly or just stupid to poke fun at myself, or after doing something I felt really bad about.

After about three seconds of those slaps, I rolled out of bed and stood up, rubbed my eyes a little and tried to remember any dreams that I might've had overnight. Something I often did whenever I woke up.

The only thing I could remember, kinda, was that someone was ordering me to do something but I was refusing. But I couldn't remember anything else; not even what I was doing or who was telling me what to do. I also couldn't shake the feeling that it was a matter of life and death. Shaking my head and giving a little chuckle, I gave up on trying to remember more.

I got out of my night pajamas into some regular clothes, a white T-shirt and blue jeans, and ate some cheese and egg, with a slice of bread as toast with butter on it; one of the favorite ways to have breakfast.

After I was done, I thought I'd go outside and head off somewhere before a kid's show called "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic" came on TV that I loved watching. Maybe a bit too much sometimes. Heh. Anyway, I had about an hour to kill.

You might have heard about it. It's a cartoon about six very different but good-hearted ponies, starring a pony princess named Twilight Sparkle, that uses their bond of friendship to overcome many different problems. From everyday ones, to defeating dangerous villains out to take over or destroy their world called "Equestria".

If I can, I'll try to use the friendship lessons from the episodes of the show. But, I had very few friends and hardly got to see much anyway, so there were few chances to do it. Unless it was to my two older sisters or my parents, who at this time happened to be away on a road trip to visit some of their friends. I didn't feel like going, so I stayed home.

Anyway, as I was heading out my front door, I decided to go to a nearby pond and had to walk beside a one-way road to get close to where it was.

Ah, yes. The sky was clear, and I grinned a bit whenever I felt a breeze blow. With the road to my right, there were a bunch of tall trees to my left, with many small yellow flowers growing near the trees. After about fifteen minutes, I walked away from the path beside the road, through some thick grass and trees, and finally got to a little clearing where the pond was.

I got on my knees and carefully crawled around the grass beside the water looking for any insects, just out of curiosity. But I couldn't find any. Shaking my head, I gave up looking.

I sat down and put a finger on my chin, trying to remember more about that dream, but again I had no luck. Giving up on it again, I lay on my back, spread my arms out on the ground, and as another breeze blew, I sighed happily with a big 'ol grin on my face. I tried to think of what to do later on after the latest episode of MLP:FIM about to air was over.

Then, for about half a second, another breeze come from my right and something about it didn't feel...normal. It felt like a slightly warmer breeze but it kinda tickled, and it didn't quite feel like a normal breeze. Yet, I thought nothing of it at the time. Why I didn't is something I still don't know.

Ten seconds later, it happened again. Opening up my eyes, I let out a light gasp, sat up, and turned to where the "breeze" came from. But nothing seemed odd or otherwise out of the ordinary, so I shrugged my shoulders, lay back down, and closed my eyes again. After about another ten seconds, it happened yet again but lasted a full second. This time, my eyes flew open, gasped much more loudly than last time, and sprung to my feet. I crept around looking for anything that seemed off and gritted my teeth. Nothing seemed different.

Rubbing my head, I thought that maybe I was just being paranoid. Lying back down, I closed my eyes again and somehow, despite not really being sleepy, I fell asleep on the spot.

When I came to, I got to my feet and gasped while noticing the area around me looked very different. For starters, everything looked really odd, almost "cartoon-like", though I didn't look any different. Not only that, but everything looked huge, like how it might look if you were one-inch tall or something. The grass around me was about four times taller than me, with the width of each blade about as wide as I was, and it partly blocked out the sunlight. Some rocks around me were about as tall as me. a few brown leaves that looked like they were twenty feet long were lying on their sides against the grass. Worse, as I slowly turned to look all around me, I couldn't tell where I was, partly because the grass limited the distance I could see, but also because of how "cartoony" everything looked.

Turning my head back and forth, then up and down quickly, I gritted my teeth again, and really wished that my parents or sisters were there to help me. But I was on my own.

I slapped myself harder than usual and told myself, "Calm down you idiot!" which worked, more or less. Treading along the humongous blades of grass and the leaves around, with my fists clenched, I called out as loud as I could and hoped someone would hear me. I even wondered if this could have been a dream, but my slaps from earlier hurt so I ruled out that idea. I thought to myself to stay calm and not panic, but it was a struggle to not do it. My breathing deepened and heart pounded at double its normal speed.

After about ten minutes of walking, I heard footsteps that at first sounded normal as far as how loud they were. But the time between each step wasn't: it was much shorter than normal. Almost like whatever was causing them had more than two legs, and it seemed to be headed my way since the footsteps got louder and louder. The grass around me was too tall, so I couldn't see what it was.

After around five seconds, the ground began to shake with each footstep with the shakes growing slightly stronger each time it happened. The steps were still getting louder, becoming far louder than any that I'd ever heard before. Turning to my left and right, about to shake from both fear and the tremors from the ground, I ran to the closest blade of grass and grabbed it with clenched teeth. I held on to it with all I had. I was too surprised to even think to myself something like "What the buck is going on?!"

Whatever that thing was that seemed to be coming closer, I knew it was something big. I wasn't sure if I even wanted to know what it was.

About fifteen seconds after hearing the first footstep, the steps finally stopped. From where those steps came from, I picked up on what sounded like someone muttering. It had a female voice that sounded oddly familiar, though I couldn't put my finger on where I heard it before. I thought that I had finally found someone that could tell me where I was, and it made me feel a little bit relieved. But I was still scared, even had my eyes closed with my body shivering, and I still had clenched fists and teeth. Whatever that thing was that shook the ground like an earthquake was there too, and it was way too close for me to relax.

Forcing myself to open my eyes, but still shaking a bit from fear, I carefully crept through the grass again, one nervous foot at a time and yelled, "Can anyone hear me?!" and finally found a way out. In front of me looked to be some kind of a dirt road which, to me, looked like it was a mile long. Though whoever I heard didn't seem to hear me.

I peeked out of the grass and looked to my left and...oh boy...I finally saw what was causing those footsteps, about six feet away (the actual distance) from me, and it was still muttering something. Seeing it made my mouth drop! Even though its footsteps made the ground shake again -- but they were light since it seemed to be walking slowly now -- I still froze while watching it. I wasn't even blinking.

It wasn't "big". It was huge.

It was purple. Or lavender if I want to be more technical.

It had four legs that might as well have been over fifty feet tall to me.

It looked like a horse, with wings on its sides that were closed.

When It looked down, I saw a horn on its forehead.

It didn't take long for me to tell what it was. And it, or should I say she, was bending down, moving her head back and forth slowly, looking like she was trying to find something. At that point, I became less scared, and mostly just amazed. I relaxed my fists and just asked myself these questions:

"Is that really Twilight Sparkle?"

"How is she real?"

"Why is she so big?"

"How hard did I hit my head?!"

I clenched my fists once again and every muscle in my body tensed up when Twilight looked near my direction. I felt a chill go down my spine. What would she do if instead of finding whatever it was that she was looking for, she found me and thought I was some kind of bug...?

Author's Note

Special thanks to Zaten the Changeling and xXDagedXx for proofreading this chapter

Chapter 2: The Nightmare Prevention Spell

During the evening of the day before the young human named Eric Reed found himself in Equestria...

In a huge crystal castle, on top of a tree made of blue and purple crystal in Ponyville, the Princess of Friendship, Princess Twilight Sparkle, a purple Alicorn, was training her close friend and ex-student, Starlight Glimmer, a purplish pink Unicorn. They were in the biggest room of the castle, where they usually did Starlight's magical training, so they would have plenty of room. Crystal pillars of a mix of light-purple, pink and blue grew on parts of the dark-purple walls of the room. A pile of books full of the names of numerous spells sat between both Twilight and Starlight.

"All right, Starlight, which spell is best for fixing a lamp?" Twilight asked, and then warned, "You have ten seconds."

With a nervous frown, Starlight replied, "Hmm...it's this spell, right, Twilight?" as she pointed with her hoof at a page in a book she held with magical telekinesis.

Twilight shook her head. "No, that one is best for fixing bigger things, like trees, remember?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot." Starlight lowered her head and gave a small sigh in disappointment. Lifting her head back up with a more determined expression, Starlight looked back to Twilight and asked, "Okay, give me another question."

"All right, let's try this one," Twilight responded as she thought of a different test. "In ten seconds, show me the page of a spell you'll use to counteract an out-of-control speed spell."

"Okay, I think I know this one," Starlight said, a bit unsure of herself while glancing through her book and used her magic to turn the pages. After settling on a page, Starlight pointed at it and exclaimed, "It's this one!"

Twilight smiled at Starlight and nodded. "That's right, and you found it in just five seconds!" Twilight proudly said. "I'm not sure if I could've found it that fast!"

Starlight held her head up, with a prideful smile, as Twilight praised her.

Starlight Glimmer possessed incredible magical abilities even for a Unicorn. Starlight, while a friendly, well-meaning pony, was far from perfect. She could sometimes be reckless. She also struggled with a deep-seated habit on relying too much on spells, and had a tendency to accidentally make problems worse by using spells to try to help or fix them. Especially if she was stressed.

After trying to encourage Starlight to rely less on spells with very limited success, Twilight Sparkle thought it could be easier on Starlight to just help her learn to use spells more responsibly. By forcing her to quickly choose the best spell or spells to use in various hypothetical situations, Twilight hoped it would not only help Starlight use spells more responsibly, but become less reckless overall.

"Okay, Starlight, I think that's enough for today," Twilight suggested.

Starlight gave a relieved smile since she was getting bored with her training. Then she thought of an idea.

"You want to try that spell again, Twilight?" Starlight asked, leaning her head toward her friend with a mischievous smile.

Twilight raised her head a bit and rolled her eyes up, thinking about Starlight's idea, then smiled and nodded.

Starlight grinned and quickly trotted to near the center of the room. Twilight did the same and stood directly in front of Starlight, facing her. But they stayed a short distance away from each other.

As her horn glowed pink Twilight asked, "You ready?"

"Yep!" Starlight's horn, in turn, glowed light-blue. At the exact same time, they each fired a beam of magic that collided between them and quickly formed into a sphere about the size of an adult pony's head, at the point of contact before it changed from their light-blue and pink hues to a plain white.

Gritting their teeth, the two powerful ponies continued to forcibly release magic from their horns, and the magic between them went from white, to blue, and then eventually green. Seeing this, Twilight and Starlight immediately stopped releasing magic, as the magical ball turning green meant they did it correctly. Huge smiles formed on both their faces while grinning at the floating magic between them.

"Yes! We did it, Twilight!" Starlight yelled excitedly as she quickly ran around the magical ball to embrace Twilight in a hug.

Twilight hugged back and yelled, "I couldn't have done it without you, Starlight!" just as excitedly, but not quite as loud.

"Nah, you didn't need me," Starlight said modestly as they let go of each other. But Starlight's happy smile quickly turned into an embarrassed one. "Wait, what was this magic for again?" she asked, blushing.

"You really forgot? This magic is able to prevent nightmares, remember?" Twilight explained, with a slightly annoyed tone and expression. "If it works, Princess Luna can finally have some nights free of fighting ponies' nightmares."

"Oh yeah, sorry," Starlight said, still with an embarrassed grin. "I was just so happy we did it, and I forgot for a moment what it actually did!"

"Well, I guess I can't blame you for being so excited, after how hard we worked to get this spell right the last six months," Twilight admitted, more understanding of Starlight's feelings.

But the two ponies' excitement turned to confusion when the green magic suddenly started to rise higher in the air. It wasn't supposed to do this on its own.

"Wait, what's going on, Starlight?!" Twilight yelled while slowly moving back from the ball of magic, alarmed.

"I don't know, but I didn't mess anything up, I promise, Twilight!" Starlight pleaded as she, too, stepped back, frowning and a bit scared.

The uncontrollable magic continued to rise, pulsed out three times, with the third pulse being the biggest. Without any warning, it flew out of the castle through a nearby window.

"It's getting away!" Twilight yelled.

"Hey, you get back here!" Starlight pointlessly demanded at the escaping magic.

Twilight and Starlight immediately sped out the doors of the castle, chased the green ball of magic throughout Ponyville, and ran by many confused ponies that were puzzled as to what was going on.

The puzzling magical sphere continued to elude the two friends as it led them into the woods, where it suddenly vanished without warning. Twilight and Starlight exhaustively searched all through the trees and thick grass of the woods, but they couldn't find any signs of it.

"Magic doesn't just vanish!" Twilight stated to Starlight, looking down, frustrated and panting lightly. "It has to go somewhere!"

"I know, but where could it be?" Starlight asked while also panting lightly. "Did I do something wrong with the spell?"

"No, you did it right. It wasn't your fault."

"I hope you're right, Twilight."

Since it was so late, Twilight didn't think that they could do any more for the time being so the two tired friends trotted back to the castle to rest for the night. The castle belonged to Twilight, but after making Starlight a student, Twilight let her move in, and Starlight has lived there ever since, even after graduating. Spike, a young and small purple dragon that was Twilight's first and long-time friend, also lives in the castle. However, he'd recently gone away to the Dragon Lands to visit another dragon, Ember, who was both his friend and the current Dragon Lord.

During the late morning of the next day, Twilight and Starlight, now well-rested, departed from the castle. They were ready to try to find any hints on the elusive green magic.

Rarity, a white Unicorn and one of Twilight and Starlight's good friends, saw them standing together. Smiling, she walked up to her friends to greet them.

"Hello, darlings!" Rarity greeted with a smile, "Glorious sunny day isn't it?" but she frowned when she saw that her two friends looked worried about something. "Is something wrong?

"Starlight and I finally cast a spell that we've been trying to master for months," Twilight explained as she turned to Rarity with a frown, her ears drooping. "We finally did it, but the magic flew out of the castle, then later it just vanished!"

"Vanished?" Rarity questioned. "Are you sure you didn't just lose track of it?"

"Yep, we're sure, Rarity," Twilight answered.

"Magic doesn't just disappear out of thin air, so something might've gone really wrong, Rarity," Starlight added, frowning with her ears drooping down. "I just hope I didn't mess up the spell because if I did, and somepony gets hurt because of it, I--"

Twilight gave a firm frown to Starlight. "Come on, I told you already, Starlight. You didn't do anything wrong."

"I know you did, Twilight, but..." Starlight hesitated, still unable to shake the guilt that this was somehow her fault.

Twilight softened her expression, stepped closer to Starlight, and gently put her hoof on Starlight's right cheek. In a comforting voice, she assured, "Starlight, listen to me. I know you feel like this might be your fault, and I understand. But, you blaming yourself without knowing if you even did anything wrong won't help anypony."

'That's right, darling!" Rarity encouraged Starlight while putting her own hoof on Starlight's back. "Let's first worry about finding where that magic of yours went first before you start blaming yourself for something that you probably didn't even do."

Starlight thought about what her two friends just told her. With a little smile, she nodded to Twilight, then to Rarity. "You two are right. I'm sorry," she said, feeling less guilty.

Twilight and Rarity, both with sympathetic smiles, lifted their hooves off Starlight.

"Well, first things first: We're gonna need some more help," Twilight decided. "Starlight, Rarity, can you two go get our friends together and go ask around Ponyville to see if anypony saw or noticed anything different today? I'll head to the woods where we lost track of it and see if I can find any hints there."

"Of course, dear," Rarity confidently said to Twilight.

"But whether you all discover anything or not, meet me back at my castle in one hour, okay? That's where I'll be if I don't find anything."

Both Starlight and Rarity nodded, and they both trotted off in the direction of the farm belonging to one of the friends Twilight had asked them to find. Twilight went in the opposite direction, toward the woods where she and Starlight had been searching the previous evening before Twilight decided it was late and they wouldn't find anything in their tired state.

Once again in the woods, Twilight sat down by the side of the dirt road she ran on to catch her breath from her running, and to enjoy the light, cool breeze flowing on her face for a minute. Taking calm, deep breaths, she was still thinking about how magic doesn't vanish. She was worried that it might've found its way into something, or possibly somepony, for multiple reasons...

While still sitting, Twilight's ears perked up and picked up on a few, very faint, sounds. She could just barely hear them and quietly asked herself, "Hm? What was that?"

Trying to pinpoint where the sounds came from, Twilight stood up and stepped along the side of the road with her head tilted towards the ground, and turned it from side to side to scan the ground and grass for anything suspicious. As she did, she quietly muttered to herself that what she heard could be a clue about the vanished magic.

The sound from the "clue" that Twilight thought she heard was just from the tiny human Eric Reed, who was calling out for help. He had peeked out of the grass and spotted her. He's currently not in Twilight's line of sight, but she's creeping in his direction, and at this rate will soon spot, or possibly even step on him. Terrified of her size, Eric's debating on if he should come out of the grass and call out to her, or hide back in the grass, unsure of what Twilight's reaction to him would be. The very last thing he wanted was for the (to him) giant Alicorn to try to crush him, thinking he's a "bug".

Author's Note

If this story could be in the actual show, from a timeline standpoint, it would take place during the middle of season seven of FIM. Save for a few ret-cons here, such as Luna wanting nights off, and the "Nightmare Prevention Spell" being a thing.

You can think of this as a season seven ret-con of sorts. For this reason, the limits of Eric Reed's knowledge about Equestria will be limited to around the middle of Season seven, so he won't know things such as the Pillars being in limbo, just like how MLP:FIM fans didn't know it until the Season Seven finale aired.

Chapter 4: Bonding With Twilight (rewritten)

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 5: A Huge Glimmer of a Problem (rewritten)

After being on Twilight's dresser and stupidly going to the floor in her room, I was hiding behind it with Starlight about to move it and find me. There was nothing I could do but grit my teeth, be ready to run, and if she started trying to crush me, dodge her hooves, and see if I could get under Twilight's bed. It was the only option I would have for survival.

Starlight slid the dresser over with her magic and spotted me. She screamed, jumped back, and yelled, "WHAT IS THAT THING?!"

That scream just killed my ears and it made the room feel like it was spinning. Then what felt like an earthquake when Starlight landed back on the floor made me stumble and fall face-down, the same way I did when Twilight landed from her jump in the woods.

This also wasn’t the time to take offense to being called a “thing”.

Recovering from Starlight's scream, I immediately got to my feet. I spun around to face Starlight. One of her hooves was already in the air, coming towards me.

It was like time slowed down.

Maybe she was just reaching for me like Twilight was, but just in case, I planted my feet, dove to my left, and Starlight's hoof slammed onto the floor, just behind me. A shock wave even went through my body from the impact when I was still in the air.

That gave me the answer: Starlight really was trying to crush me like a...bug. Didn't have time to think much about it: another hoof was coming for me, but another dive got me out of the way, barely.

The hooves kept coming down, but at that moment I actually wasn't that scared. Wasn’t enough time to. All I was thinking about was dodging Starlight's hooves. Though I couldn't keep diving in the direction of Twilight's bed since I had to dodge and dive in a different direction each time I did. Maybe because she was freaking out, Starlight's aim with her hooves felt to be somewhat erratic, so I was always near the edge of where her hoof started to come down, allowing me just enough time to dodge and not be flattened.

We kept this "dance" going till I accidentally dove into the dresser I was hiding behind before. I fell face-up on the floor, dazed for a couple of seconds with my eyes spinning, so I couldn't focus on what was going on. By the time my eyes recovered and things became clear, but still lying face up, I gasped. My eyes could pick up nothing but purplish-pink. Starlight's hoof was right over me, and it was still coming closer. Being right under this giant pony's hoof, and with it coming down for me, Starlight seemed even bigger and more terrifying than before, and the hoof seemed to be inescapable.

An even stronger chill than before flowed through my body and my heart sunk, realizing I was really about to be crushed. And I couldn't do a thing about it. Filled with pure fear I yelled, "No!" turned my face away, closed my eyes, froze, and hoped she'd make it quick so there wouldn't be enough time for me to feel my bones being crushed. This was it.

“STARLIGHT, NO!!"

The ear-breaking scream snapped me out of my frozen state enough to reopen my eyes. It wasn't just purplish-pink I saw now.

Starlight was now further away from me, covered in pink magic.

Twilight was standing in the room’s doorway. If I weren't in such a terrified state, I likely would have noticed the sound and vibrations of hoofsteps coming toward the room. Or maybe she teleported there.

"What are you doing, Twilight?!"

"No, don't do it! That's not a bug, Starlight!"

Starlight stopped glowing -- obviously Twilight let her go -- and stared at me, with a hoof on her cheek. But she stayed where she was. In the state I was in, I was glad she chose not to come closer, for any reason. Apologies could come later.

As for that state I was in, I was fine, physically. But boy, emotionally, I was far from fine. Despite knowing I was safe, I was curled up in a ball, tears flowing, covering my ears because their (to me) ear-cracking voices were killing them! I was also in too bad a panic to notice the mini-earthquakes Twilight's hooves made when she ran close to me, so I didn't respond to them.

Twilight used her magic to pick me up from the floor, wrapped her right foreleg around and pulled me to her chest. I put my face in the hair on her chest, in the worst panic attack I thought was possible, and was almost becoming light-headed from gasping so deep and rapidly. The frightened little boy in me that I thought I had outgrown was out. The last time I wanted to be in a safe hug so bad was when I was chased by dogs when I was ten but luckily wasn’t bitten or mauled. Even so, I didn’t want my mom to let me go for almost half an hour. Twilight Sparkle might not have been my mom, but at this moment, she was close enough.

"Shh, it's okay, you're safe, I'm here," Twilight told me softly (to her) while very slightly rocking me, trying her best to calm me down. It wasn't quite like the "rocking" you would do to calm down a baby, but it still had just enough movement that I could feel myself being moved back and forth a bit, especially because of my tiny size, so I was more sensitive to it. It wasn't working much; I was in no shape to be in the same room as Starlight. Twilight was able to pick that up, levitated me from her chest to one of her wings to gently cover me completely in it, and carried me out of her room. Guess she thought I might calm down if I couldn't see Starlight, or anything. The wing was soft, but that didn't calm me down any.

While I was busy freaking out in Twilight's foreleg and wing, Starlight herself didn't say anything or even moved.

Four or five minutes later, in the huge room holding the Cutie Map, Twilight was sitting in her chair in front of it, still trying to comfort me. She had her right foreleg gently wrapped around me to hold me to her chest again, with the left side of my head leaning against it. I was more aware of the little expanding and contracting her chest did from her breathing than I was the first time she hugged me (maybe because the hug was much longer this time, so it gave me more time to notice that chest movement) and I'm still a bit surprised the hair on her chest didn't tickle my nose. Her chest felt somewhat warmer too. Twilight's head was turned down to me, with a frown, showing she was only thinking about calming me down.

However, Twilight herself was quiet, was barely moving, and had been like that for the last two minutes. During those last two minutes, she was mainly just trying to make me feel safe by hugging me, hoping it would help me calm down, especially because of our size difference. For me, because of her size, she was like a living, invulnerable, but friendly mountain protectively holding me, so it was working.

I was still a bit shaken up, but I wasn't in a panic attack anymore and was mostly calmed down. I was taking my normal breaths, but I still wasn't moving much or saying anything, so both of us were quiet.

Or I should say that I wasn't trying to move much: Twilight was covering most of my body, up to about my neck, with her foreleg. Her grip on me was light enough to let me move my arms a little, which were still wrapped in her foreleg, I would have needed to ask her to loosen her grip, or just let me go, if I wanted to move much more. Though, I wasn’t planning to ask any time soon: I felt safe.

Nearly being crushed to death sealed the deal that it really would be dangerous for me at this size. I was not going to be on the floor again if I could help it!

Twilight turned a hoof up from her left foreleg, loosened her grip on me from her right one just enough to lift me from it with magic, and sat me on the upturned hoof. Looking down at me, Twilight asked in her normal voice, "Eric, why did you come off the dra--"

I covered my ears and turned away. Without that spell she used to raise my voice and protect my ears from her voice, and I wasn't too far from her mouth -- about a foot I'd say -- even Twilight's normal voice was killing them. She gasped and immediately recast the spell. After that, she asked me again, "Why did you come off the dresser? Didn't you see that my spell had worn off?"

Still in a slightly shaken-up voice, I looked up at Twilight and answered, "I'm sorry, Twilight. I forgot she lived in the castle, and I just wanted to take a look around the room. I can't believe I did that. I'm such an idiot..."

Twilight put me back in a hug with her right foreleg and slightly tightened it, but not enough for it to hurt. "No, Eric, you're not an idiot. This is my fault. It was my idea to hide you. I should've known this wouldn't work, or that Starlight might come into my room, or that my spell might wear off before I got back, and to recast it before I left. Because of that, you almost got crushed in my room and I promised I would keep you safe. I'm so sorry, Eric. I’m doing a terrible job of keeping my promise."

Because I was calm enough to, I thought about why Twilight even wanted to hide me from Starlight in the first place, and why I was so willing to do it. I became scared, but it was for Starlight again. "Oh no, now she knows about me! Now she might feel even worse! Twilight, now what do we do?"

"You two could start by telling me what is going on."

Twilight and I turned our heads to where we heard the voice come from. At an open door of the room, there stood Starlight, frowning, but not one showing anger. Starlight did try to flatten me into a human pancake with her hooves, but I didn't hate her and wasn't even mad at her. I knew it wasn't personal: she just thought I was some kind of bug. It's not like I've never tried to crush bugs, and she's a good pony, and I didn't want to make her feel bad. I was still trying to think of a way to not risk hurting her. Even though I knew the jig was up.

I lifted my head to try to look at Starlight's face with my mind racing. "Well, Starlight, you see, uh--"

But Twilight cleared her throat to get my attention. When I looked up at her face, she shook her head, showing she wasn't gonna let me try it.

For a moment, I thought of protesting, but Twilight had a serious look on her face, with a frown. If I tried to argue, it would have done nothing but just annoy or maybe even make her mad; not something to risk doing. Especially not with her being as big as she was. I sighed and said, "Okay, Twilight."

Twilight released me from her hug and put me on her head again with her magic. We were about to fess up to Starlight, so Twilight didn't need to do that. She could have just put me on her hoof again, or put me on the arm of her chair. Maybe she did it as a sign of our new friendship, and she knew I liked being there or thought I might feel safer here. In fact, maybe Twilight herself was beginning to like having me on her head.

We both told Starlight all about what happened with the Nightmare Prevention Spell and me. Of course, I left out how much I already knew about her, the others, or Equestria.

Starlight didn't say anything and just stared at us.

"Starlight, are you okay?" Twilight gently asked her.

After a few more seconds, Starlight formed one of the most heartbreaking frowns I had ever seen. Tears just poured from her eyes and she yelled, "I knew it! I knew I messed things up with that spell, just like I always do when I try to help somepony!" Starlight then ran out of the room in tears.

Twilight tried to call out to her, but it did nothing. We both just sat there, sighed, and felt awful.

After about ten seconds, Twilight said that she should check on Starlight, and asked if I wanted to stay in the room.

"No, I want to see if Starlight's all right too," I said.

"Okay, then let's go,"

We left the room, into the hallway of the castle, and in the direction Starlight ran off in.

Twilight and I ended up in the library, where Twilight and Starlight were doing the research for the counterspell, and we found Starlight. And boy, it was just a heartbreaking scene. She was standing by the table she and Twilight were sitting at when they were trying to learn the counterspell. She was sniffing, tears were still flooding from her eyes, and her ears drooped downwards. Holding up five books with her magic, Starlight was looking through them all, just desperate to learn that counterspell.

I didn't know what to say. But Twilight asked, "Starlight, are you all right?"

"No, I'm not all right, Twilight!" Starlight stopped reading to face Twilight but kept holding up the books. "I gotta learn the counterspell now and fix this!"

Twilight stepped closer to Starlight by a few steps, begging, "But, Starlight, at least let me help."

Starlight shook her head, hard. "No, it needs to be me to fix this!"

I finally said, "It's okay, Starlight, I know you didn't mean to--"

Well, guess I should have kept my mouth shut. All that did was upset her even more and she yelled, "No, it's not, Eric! If Twilight didn't stop me...if...if...*sniff* she had come any later, I would have killed you like you were nothing!!"

My mouth opened up wide, my eyes got bigger, and I just said nothing. Partly because I was worried about once again making her feel worse, but also because Starlight was right. How could I argue that?

After what felt like forever, Twilight sighed and just calmly said, "I understand, Starlight. If you really want to, you can work on the counterspell alone. But, if you want some help, let me know."

That, at least, calmed Starlight down. The tears stopped flowing from her eyes and her ears perked back up. "Thanks, Twilight. This is something I need to do." Starlight came closer and looked at me. "Eric, I'm sorry I yelled at you just now, and I'm so sorry for what I tried to do and for everything that happened. But I'm gonna fix this, I promise."

I just said, "Okay, Starlight, and thank you," and hoped I finally said something that actually made her feel better. She smiled, and I smiled back, feeling a little better myself. I finally did something right that day.

Knowing Starlight needed to be left alone for now, Twilight and I left the library. Twilight also gave a sigh, and I thought it was about Starlight, but something about it made it feel like it was about something else. But I didn't ask her why she sighed or what was wrong.

Twilight and I headed over to Applejack's farm, and Applejack was just finishing bucking her apple trees, filling a bucket full of apples. Rarity was also there watching and held a purse within her magic. We told them what happened with Starlight.

Applejack was quick to bring up how she warned Twilight and me and was letting the two of us have it! And to be honest, with how bad we blew it, we had it coming to us. And yep, I was still on Twilight's head.

"There, you see? What did I say? I tried to tell you two not to go through with that stunt!"

"Believe me, Applejack, we know!" Twilight looked down. "We feel awful."

"Yeah, and we should've listened to you, Applejack. But, I just didn't want to hurt Starlight if I didn't have to, and--"

"Well, Eric, ya did a great job at 'not' hurtin' her!"

Twilight raised her head -- I held on tight to her mane even though I wasn't in real danger of falling off -- and she looked at Applejack, coming to my defense. "Come on, Applejack, at least take it easy on Eric. He feels bad enough, and Starlight nearly crushed him while thinking he was a bug. He's been through enough today."

"Oh, yeah, that's right. Sorry about that. After what ya went through, I really shouldn't be so harsh. Are ya okay, sugarcube?"

"Yeah, I'm all right, Applejack, but I'm just worried about Starlight right now."

Applejack's face went from a concerned one to a suspicious one. She put her hoof on her cheek. "Hmm...yer supposed to be from another world right? Yet ya seem to care a lot about Starlight's feelings like ya already knew about her. Is there something that yer hiding from us?"

"Uh, nope, I'm not hiding anything! I can be hard on myself too and Starlight seemed to be the same way, so I probably would feel the same way as she is, if I were her."

For the record, that wasn't completely a lie: I probably would've felt that bad, if I were Starlight.

Rarity stepped in and said, "Oh, come on, Applejack. You are making it sound like Eric caring about Starlight is a bad thing. I think it's sweet that he does, the little darling."

"Uh, no, I didn't mean it like that. It just seemed like Eric's already met Starlight."

"Oh! That reminds me..." Rarity pulled out a white hat from her purse and showed it to me.

I leaned closer to it. "Oh yeah, you said you were gonna make me a hat. Is this it, Rarity?"

"Yes! This is a hat I made just for you, Eric! I even put a design of my Cutie Mark on it, so you'll always know it's a Rarity special! Of course, we might need Twilight to shrink it down so you can wear it."

Rarity moved it closer to me, and yep, on the side, it did have a design of her Cutie Mark. But as I looked at it, I frowned, thinking about Starlight.

"Thanks so much, Rarity. But...I don't know if I deserve this, after what I did to Starlight..."

"Oh, rubbish, of course you do, darling. If Starlight were here, she would say it too."

"Speaking of Starlight, we still have a problem, guys," Twilight reminded. "I haven't seen her this upset before, not since back when she still hated Cutie Marks. There must be something we can do."

"Yeah, but what can we do?" I asked Twilight.

"I don't know, Eric, but I gotta think of something."

Despite how big a mess lying has caused, I was still doing it, by hiding how much I knew about Equestria. One big enough slip and things could get even worse. I was seriously thinking about just telling them the full truth.

But how? How could I explain to these ponies that they're "characters" that some human writers of a cartoon created? Twilight or Starlight might have known about "cartoons" and TVs. But even if they did, I'm not from "Sunset's" world, so it still wouldn't explain how I could already know about Equestria, without it looking like I could be some kind of a spy, or possibly even up to something, so I was stuck one way or another. I also didn't know how they would feel about otherworldly beings watching them, so there was that too. Who wouldn't be even a little freaked out over something like that?

And even if I could explain it without looking like a spy or something, how would they feel about me, a being they didn't know existed two days before, not only knowing so much about them, but lying to them about it? I just didn't know what to do.

Chapter 6: Getting to Know The Rest of The Mane 6 and Starlight

Boy, Twilight and I sure had a mess on our hands/hooves. We attempted to hide me from Starlight, so she wouldn't discover how the Nightmare Prevention Spell she and Twilight performed had dragged me to Equestria. But our plan ended in a bust when Starlight found, came less than an inch away from stomping on and killing me, and she blamed herself bad, for everything. She even refused Twilight's help to figure out the counterspell, so she could do it by herself to "fix everything". But the poor thing wasn't in good shape.

Even so, other things were on my mind too. First, I had no idea how to tell Twilight and the others how much I truly knew without looking suspicious, and Applejack and Rainbow weren't exactly fully trusting me. And them being giants to me didn't make it any easier to fess up.

I thought about telling Twilight or Fluttershy, and telling Twilight at least would've been a no-brainer, if I weren't bite-sized. But knowing what the Alicorn could do to me with her size or magic, paranoia forced me to reconsider. I always struggled with paranoia, even as a little kid, and it became worse as I got older. Even if Fluttershy would have believed me, the others might not, so I figured I'd wait and try to come up with something.

And then there's simply the fact that I was so tiny and vulnerable. As well as adjusting to my new size, even without the danger factor.

Since Starlight wouldn't accept Twilight's help to learn the counterspell, after we left Applejack's farm, Twilight thought it'd be better for us to pick up from where we left off that previous night and strengthen our new friendship. We were already connecting well, despite the short time we talked.

However, since she only knew some about the "human world" Sunset Shimmer lives in, and with my world completely unknown to her, I had a hunch Twilight was itching to ask more questions about my world!

Now in Twilight's castle, in her library, since Twilight didn't want me on her head all day, she asked if I wanted to sit on one of her couches. I thought about it, but part of me didn't feel safe on a couch; I did not want to be accidentally sat on! Thus on a brown wooden table, Twilight created a small (to her) purple chair near the edge of the table with magic, and I sat there.

The table was truly three feet long and wide, but at my new size, it felt as long as a fifth the length of a football field, and it looked like there were seven feet left of the table ahead of me. There were some scratches on the table but, for me, they were cracks about a tenth of an inch wide, and one was in front of me. The bookshelves lining the walls of the library appeared to be as tall as the tallest skyscrapers, but the nearest ones looked perhaps four hundred feet away because of my tiny eyes.

On Twilight's head, things -- including Twilight herself believe it or not -- didn't seem as huge, thanks to the height of her head. But on a table, facing Twilight who sat on a purple couch, the size difference became clear again, despite her looking to be fifty feet away from me. Even though she didn't seem any "smaller" as she did when we talked in her bedroom, where she still looked as tall as a ten-story building (because of how ponies sit, Twilight might have well been standing on her bed) I felt calm in her room.

But after becoming a bit used to being on her head, the nervousness from her massive size returned. At least Twilight was smiling, so that helped her be less intimidating; not that my feeling intimidated was her fault!

Maybe sensing my uneasiness, Twilight made the first move and asked, "So, Eric, you told me some about your family and how you did in school, but I didn't get to ask much about your world because I got sleepy. How are some things different, compared to what you have seen in Equestria?"

And by "not much" Twilight meant she "only" asked twenty-three questions about my world; yep, I mentally counted them. But rather than joke about that, I answered, "Well, first, thanks again for not laughing about my bad grades. But, in my world, nothing can be done about the weather, so we just have to adjust to it."

"I see, so it's similar to how the Everfree Forest works, but the weather works on its own everywhere in your world but it's not because of magic. Maybe later on I'll ask Sunset if it's like that in the human world she's in. Are there any other differences?"

"Well, you might be interested in this one, and you already know that the Sun and Moon 'rise' and 'set' very differently in my world. But sometimes, when the Sun, Moon, and my planet, 'Earth', are all in just the right spot in space, at night, sunlight can deflect off the Earth's atmosphere in a way to make the moon look orange instead of white."

"Wow, really?! Your Moon can turn into other colors?! And it doesn't even need magic to do it?!" You have no idea how much Twilight sounded like an excited "little" girl, or "filly" in her case, when I told her how the moon can sometimes look orange! With a bigger, cuter smile, Twilight looked adorable, or should I say "adorkable"! It calmed me down to about how I was when we talked in her room the night before, so her size wasn't so intimidating.

"I guess you could say it like that. What else do you want to ask?"

"How about you ask me something this time? Is there anything you would like to know that you haven't asked me yet?"

"My turn, huh? Let's see..." I turned my head around the library and noticed Spike still wasn't around. Twilight brought him up before and told me he was in the Dragon Lands, but she didn't say how long he'll be gone, so I asked, "Yeah, I got a question. Where's Spike? I thought he lived here?"

"He does. But I guess I didn't tell you that he'll be in the Dragon Lands for another three or four weeks."

"R-Really?" That surprised me big time, but I hid it. The show's never shown Spike going to the Dragon Lands like that, let alone for so long! Heh, I bet Spike x Ember shippers would enjoy this bit of news!

"But back to you: do you have any hobbies?"

"Well, I love to play video games, and I like playing board games, such as 'Sorry' and 'Monopoly', though 'Sorry' is less popular among the two."

"Hmm. 'Sorry' and 'Monopoly' don't sound familiar, so Equestria may not have them. We do have something called 'Dragon Pit'."

"'Dragon Pit'? I've never heard of that. Maybe once I'm back to my real size we could play it before I go back to my world?"

I didn't know what it was I said, but Twilight frowned while tilting her head down and sighed.

"Uh...Twilight? Is something wrong?"

Twilight shook her head and, with a smile, lifted it back to me. "Oh, er, no, nothing's wrong, I'm just a little tired. But what else do you enjoy?"

From the show, and remembering about the other times she sighed, I knew that if Twilight sighs the way she did, no matter how hard she'd deny it, something is wrong. But prying would've just annoyed her, so I instead answered, "O-Okay. I love playing sports such as 'Baseball', and I like reading, and--"

Heh, it turned out I said the magic phrase to cheer up Twilight Sparkle: I like reading. The little sadness still in Twilight's eyes vanished as she perked up, spread her wings out as she does when she's excited about something and formed a huge grin. "Wait, you like to read?!"

"Yep! Well, I don't read too much, but--"

"Wow, I knew you didn't mind reading those books I thought you might be interested in, but I had no idea you truly enjoy reading!"

"Yep, and you sound excited about it."

"Well, yes! Rainbow Dash just reads Daring Do books and Starlight reads by herself in her room, so I don't have anypony -- er, I mean-- anyone to read with about much else. If you want to, we can read some more later!" I half-expected Twilight to hop around in circles and become even more adorkable! But she stayed on her couch.

"Okay! In that case, we could--"

We heard the doors to the castle open, making Twilight fold her wings back to her sides, like how she normally have them. Then, through one of the green double-doors to the library, came Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, with Pinkie hopping, and it even did the trademark springing sound effect. Pinkie's hopping made the chair I sat on feel like a vibrating chair, which I didn't mind! But I leaned back as she approached the table I was on, knowing how unpredictable she is. Even a "normal" sized Pinkie would've upped the nerves, let alone a giant Pinkie Pie that looked to be hopping another eighty feet in the air!

"Hey, Twilight, and, uh, Eric, I was wondering if I could borrow a Daring Do book?"

By how she said my name, I guessed Rainbow still wasn't ready to trust me, forcing me to feel even more uneasy. Then again, I was hiding how much I really knew, so I guess it was justified, but it wasn't making it any easier to start talking.

"And I came to give Eric my 'welcome to Ponyville!' song!" Pinkie hopped backward and, to my surprise, pulled out a red wagon out of her mane that was almost as tall as her. When she pushed a red button on its side, flag posts with purple, pink, and yellow flags, horns, and poles similar in appearance to candy canes, all poked out the wagon. With the wagon playing a cheerful tune, Pinkie hopped back and forth in front of it while singing the "welcome to Ponyville" song to me! That song's even more catchy in person than on TV!

After Pinkie got done with her song, I asked one of the dumbest questions I could have ever asked that pony.

"How did you do that, Pinkie?"

"How did I do what?"

As Pinkie resumed hopping in place, I facepalmed, more out of stupidity than anything else! But before I did something even dumber, such as questioning Pinkie Pie again, Twilight giggled and said, "Pinkie Pie does those kinds of things all the time, but you'll get used to it, Eric. And sure, Rainbow, you can read some of my Daring Do books. In fact, Eric just told me he likes to read too."

"Really? Don't tell me we have another egghead."

"Oh, no! I'm nowhere near an 'egghead'! I even told Twilight last night about how bad my grades were."

"Well, I guess I was worrying over nothing...assuming you're not lying."

I gave a sigh. How was I gonna tell them, and end up proving Rainbow's point? As I mentioned before, I wasn't even sure how Twilight would react.

But, hearing me sigh, Twilight, in a firm voice, defended, "Rainbow, leave Eric alone. It's bad enough he's trapped here in Equestria and so small because of m-- uh, the Nightmare Prevention Spell backfiring, and he doesn't need you making him feel worse or nervous."

"Uh...I guess you have a point," Rainbow admitted.

I forced a chuckle, and said, "Still, I might prefer this over my sisters ganging up on me during our prank wars."

"Hold on, you like pranks?"

Feeling calmer, knowing how much Rainbow loves pranks, I answered, "No, I don't like pranks, Rainbow. I love pranks! One time I painted a mustache on one of my sisters, Erica, when she was sleeping, and she didn't notice it till someone at school told her. But that was four hours after she got there, so the whole school saw her 'mustache'!"

"Ooh, that's a good prank! Maybe we should try that on somepony, Rainbow."

Twilight chuckled and commented, "If you do, make sure it's not me."

"But was your sister mad about it?"

"Pinkie, saying Erica was 'mad' would be an understatement! When she found me, I called her 'Mr. Erica', and she lost it, chased me in circles around our house for a full minute, screaming my name, before she gave up."

Pinkie stopped hopping and said, "On second thought, maybe we better not try that prank."

"Yeah, Pinkie, I guess we should think about it. But what else did you do, Eric?"

"Okay, another one was when I switched my other sister's, Jenny's, bottle of hair wash with the same kind of bottle filled with red paint, and when she poured it on her head...let's just say she gave a new meaning to having your face 'turn red'! She also chased me, but unlike Erica, Jenny caught me, pinned me to the floor, and poured the rest of the red paint on my head!"

"Wow, Eric, I didn't know you did that kind of stuff! When Twilight gets you back to your real size, maybe you could have a prank war with Pinkie and me!"

"Ha, if we do, be ready for a war because when I prank, I prank hard!"

Pinkie formed a big 'ol confident smile and leaned her head down to me. "Challenge, accepted."

"You know, Eric, I think it will be a good idea for you to get to know the others. You already got to know me, and we can talk more later when we read together."

After Twilight made that suggestion, almost on cue, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy walked through the green doors of the library.

"Hello! Is Eric here?"

"Yeah, Rarity, he's here on the table in front of us," Twilight answered.

"Do you want me for something?"

"Well, I didn't 'want' you for anything. But I thought about how you don't have more clothes besides the ones you are wearing, and I wanted to ask if you would like me to make you some?"

"Sure! If you don't mind."

Yep, Rarity's the Element of Generosity all right.

"It's no problem at all. My Unicorn magic is too weak to help you get back to whatever world you came from or fix your size, but I can at least help you look fabulous!"

"Thanks, Rarity. No one ever made me my own clothes, and my parents bought me the clothes I have."

"Well, you know what they say, darling: first time for everything. Or does your world have that saying?"

"It does, and with me here and this small, I guess it's more true than I thought, huh?"

Twilight giggled and advised, "But I'm glad you three came. I was thinking that maybe you all could get to know Eric some more."

"Oh? Well, you can talk to me for a while, Eric. Is there anything you care to ask me?" Fluttershy asked in an even gentler voice than she used on me the previous day. Knowing Fluttershy, she wanted to talk gently, so I wouldn't feel nervous from her size, and it worked.

I placed a finger on my chin to think, then came up with something. "I have a question. Twilight told me you can talk to animals, so do they sound like I do to you or something else?"

"Hmm...it's hard to explain. They don't sound the same way you and others do, and yet what they say is very clear to me. Is there anything you care to tell me about yourself? But, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Heh, shades of the "old" Fluttershy there. But before I could answer, Pinkie said, "Well, he was telling us about some pranks he did in his world!"

Rainbow laughed and added, "And they were hilarious!"

"Oh, so we have another prankster, huh?" Applejack asked.

"Yep, because I love me some pranks, and there's a lot more than the two I told Twilight, Rainbow, and Pinkie!"

"Did any ever backfire on you or one of your sisters?"

"Usually, Pinkie, no one got caught in them because my sisters and I were good to prevent that. But as much as I loved to prank and how great I am at them, it never was like the time Rainbow overdid it and--"

Oops! I wasn't supposed to know about how Rainbow got carried away with pranks, because Twilight never told me that! I resisted covering my mouth because, if I did, I'd look worse. I just did and said nothing and my mind raced to think of a way out of this.

Applejack stared at me and, in a suspicious voice, asked, "Wait, how do you know about how Rainbow got carried away with pranks?"

"Uh, I-I was talking about another girl I know who's named 'Rainbow' and she often overdid her pranks, and she joined my sisters' and my prank wars sometimes."

Man, I don't know how I came up with that lie so fast!

"You sure?" Rainbow questioned while giving a stare of her own.

"Yeah. I mean, how would I know anything about Equestria before I got here? It's bad enough I can't see or talk to my family without worrying about--"

At first, I brought up my family to get Applejack and Rainbow Dash to lay off me. But then I truly thought about them. My mom and dad. My two big sisters. My four aunts and three uncles, and more. In addition to my house, my mom's cooking, fishing with my dad, the fun I had with my sisters. At first, I assumed Twilight could learn the counterspell, but now I seriously thought more about what she told me that, even with Starlight's help, it could take her years to learn it. Or at all, though Twilight didn't say she might never do it.

Usually, when someone said they'll do something for me, they did it and always did when it was something big, so having doubts about it was a first for me. And if that wasn't enough, once my family found I was missing, they would think I was at best kidnapped but alive somewhere and at worst...yeah. I started shaking on the inside and, for some reason, a sense of loneliness hit me. Being tiny, helpless, and looking out of place with my "real-life" appearance worsened the feeling. Even being a "brony" failed to help.

I leaned forward and covered my face with my hands and fought the tears, but no matter how hard I fought, I lost the battle and some flowed from my eyes. All I could do was keep my sniffing low, but I sniffed just loud enough for the others to hear it.

My sniffing, at least, got Applejack to back off and she more gently said, "Hey, Eric? I'm sorry about that, and I didn't mean to make ya feel down. It's just that it's weird for somethin' to pop up in Equestria, but it's nothin' personal. I don't know if Twilight told ya this, but I don't lie."

Rainbow cooled it too and explained, "And you seemed to know more than you say you do, but it's not that we just don't want to like you or be friends."

Going by the approaching hoofsteps I heard as I quietly wept with my face covered, Fluttershy walked to me, and then gently rubbed my back and the back of my head with a wing. "I know it's hard, Eric, but we will do our best to make things easier for you."

"If you need it, I'll throw a party to cheer you up!"

Thinking of a party by Pinkie Pie made me uncover my face. After I internally gasped from Fluttershy standing so close and looking to be five stories higher than the table I sat, and still had a wing on my back, I chuckled. "Huh, a party would be fun, Pinkie."

"And I promise I will do my best to fix your size and return you to your world as soon as possible. But until then, I will do everything I can to help you with your new height and Equestria."

I remembered how Starlight was dead-set on learning the counterspell by herself, sighed, and reminded, "If Starlight will let you help her."

"Oh, that's right," Rarity realized. "You two said Starlight felt so bad about that spell going wrong, that she won't let you help her learn that 'counterspell'."

"Well, Starlight's great at magic, so she might learn the counterspell by herself. But after a few days, if she still hasn't learned it, she may let me help. But, Eric, for now, just focus on getting to know all of us, okay?"

"Okay."

I went on to talk with and got to know the others some more. With how much she values family, and how I missed mine, Applejack really eased off on showing her suspicions. Still, I sensed she and Rainbow still had doubts, making me feel down, though I tried to hide my little sadness.

An hour later, once Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow left, and Twilight and I were alone, I admitted to Twilight about still feeling down. To try to cheer me up, she levitated me back on her head, and I cheered up a little because it was more comfortable, and also safer. With me on her head, Twilight and I talked some more, though she toned down the questions about my world and focused on cheering me up. After a while, we read some books together, some she read aloud. With the energy in her voice as she read, Twilight was more excited about having someone to read with than I thought. In fact, I had no one to read with about stuff I liked either, so it was something I had in common with Twilight Sparkle that I never knew!

But Twilight still needed to help me deal with more of the issues of my tiny size. In the castle's bathroom, she created a tiny bathtub for me with curtains around it to give me some privacy. We might be different species, but Twilight's still female! She gave me further privacy by staying out of the bathroom when I used the tub or porter-potty, and only walked in if I called her to get me. Whenever I needed to go to a different room, Twilight carried me there -- neither of us wanted me to walk on the floor(!) -- so I depended on Twilight heavily.

Since I didn't have to hide from Starlight, I had my own bedroom in the castle, with my bed on a dresser Twilight put in there for me.

A week later, I was cheered up. Because of this, after Rarity and the others focused more of their time to cheer Starlight and me up the past week, they focused more on Starlight, who was still down, plus what they usually did each day. Thus things didn't change too much for them just because of "little" 'ol me. Except for Twilight who, in addition to trying to help with Starlight, continued doing what she did for me, and our friendship was growing stronger.

However, with me in a better mood, Twilight resumed her questions about my world and at this point, partly because I spent most of the time with her, the number of them reached fifty-nine. Ha, she's Twilight Sparkle, so what did you expect that number to be? But Twilight sometimes sighed out of the blue and she wouldn't tell me why she did it, but insisted she was "tired" or something. Even so, I could tell something was on her mind.

I also wore the hat Rarity made for me almost all the time. The clothes she made (and of course Twilight shrunk them) were mainly white shirts and dark-blue pants and shorts -- I told her they were my favorite colors to have on them --- and they all had a design of her Cutie Mark somewhere on them. Heh, guess she wanted to make them all "Rarity specials" too.

Starlight would now let Twilight aid her with the counterspell, which she got nowhere on, and they spent around four hours on it the first day Twilight helped. The days before Twilight started helping, Starlight spent around five hours on it. I wanted to get to know Starlight more personally, so during a moment when she wasn't working on the counterspell and in her room, but wasn't tired, it was time for me to attempt to bond with Starlight Glimmer.

Riding on Twilight's head as she walked up one of the stairs of the castle, light-blue ones, and then through the hallways, passing by green crystal doors to our left and right, I asked, "Twilight? Once we get to Starlight's room, is there anything I should say to her first?"

After Starlight yelled at me when I tried to calm her down soon after we "met", even if she didn't mean to, I felt it might be smart to ask Twilight for suggestions on what to say (or not say) this time.

"All you have to do is just talk like you want to be her friend, because Starlight can bond with anypony -- er - anyone."

"Heh, I guess you and other ponies don't say 'anyone' or 'everyone' like humans do. But you can keep saying 'anypony' or whatever."

"We usually don't, but around you, I want to say 'anyone' or 'everyone', so you'll feel more at home."

"I guess it would, and thanks, Twilight. And thanks for being so nice and helping me so much. You're really making it easier for me, and...nah, forget it." I felt myself blushing as I was talking. If I told her what I was thinking, I was worried Twilight might think it was silly.

"What? What is it? You can tell me."

"I...okay, you might laugh, but I was thinking about how you started feeling like a new big sister to me."

In a bashful voice because of my little confession, Twilight asked, "I am? Why were you nervous to tell me that? I wouldn't laugh at that."

"It's because we've only known each other for a week. I thought it might be silly for me to feel this way about you, even with the time we spent together. I know, silly is it?"

"Oh, that's nothing to feel embarrassed or ashamed about, Eric, and it's not 'silly'. Not only are you stuck in a new world, but you miss your family. It's only natural for you to look for someone to fill that hole, and if you need it, I can fill it for you."

"You don't mind or think it's silly?"

"Of course I don't! So 'big sis' Twilight will keep doing what she can for you until you're back in your world."

"Thanks, Twilight." I wanted to say "Thanks big sis" but I was embarrassed enough about telling Twilight she felt like a big sister, so I called her that in my head.

"But anyway, we're near Starlight's door." Walking in front of Starlight's bedroom door, a brown one, Twilight knocked on it with a hoof. "Hey, Starlight? You in there?"

"Yeah."

"I have Eric with me, and he wanted to talk and become friends with you."

In a sadder voice than before, Starlight questioned, "Oh, you do, Eric? You sure you want me of all ponies as a friend?"

Well, with how sad she always looked whenever she saw me during the previous week because of her guilt, I knew this wasn't going to be easy. Still, I responded, "Yeah, Starlight, I do. Unless you don't want to."

"N-No! It's not like that! We can talk and become friends if you want."

"Well, Eric? Do you want me to stay or leave you two alone?" Twilight whispered to me.

"You can leave me alone with Starlight."

Twilight opened the door, levitated me with her magic on a dresser by Starlight's door, said, "Okay. Uh, have fun you two!" and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her with magic.

However, I didn't hear the sound of her hoofsteps walking down the hallway. I guess it was one of the first signs of Twilight Sparkle acting like a big sister by staying nearby, in case I'd need her to come back.

Starlight, sitting on her bed, at first was looking down and moved a hoof in circles on her bed. I said nothing either, so it felt awkward!

Struggling to think of a way to break the ice, I glanced around the room. I noticed the "anti-equality" sign by her door and behind me, though it looked like it hung eighty feet high up on the wall. I'm ashamed to say that I missed seeing it hanging in Starlight's room the first time I saw the "Every Little Thing She Does" episode of MLP:FIM. A picture of a butterfly hung on another wall, and kites lay around her room, with a red one by her bed. Five seconds after Twilight left, I complimented, "Uh...nice room."

"Thanks."

"Uh, it's much cleaner than my room, because it is a mess!" I joked with a laugh.

"Oh. I bet you wish you could see it again."

Strike one! I facepalmed and thought, Okay, Eric, talking about something from back home is o-u-t out! Talk about something she likes or good at!

"Uh, I've heard about your amazing magic skills. From what Twilight told me, few Unicorns can match an Alicorn!"

"Maybe, but I'm not 'amazing' enough to not mess up spells like the one that took you from your world."

Strike two, and I facepalmed again! Nice work you idiot, you should've known talking about spells would depress her! Maybe some jokes can help?

I had trouble thinking of a joke she'd understand, but I came up with one. "Hey, what do you call a box full of jokes?"

"What's that?"

"A 'jokebox'! Ha? You get it?"

That made Starlight chuckle, though her smile was short-lived. But I figured more jokes could cheer her up. "Uh, here's another one: why is six afraid of seven?"

"Why?"

"Because seven ate nine! Ha? You get it? Because 'nine' is 'six' upside down?"

"I do. Hopefully you won't get eaten by something."

I facepalmed yet again and this time I groaned. Oh, come on! Starlight, I'm trying to cheer you up and become your friend, but you're going to depress me if you keep this up! Maybe this was a bad idea.

But before I could ask Starlight if she wanted me to leave, Miss Sourpuss finally decided to make a move and asked, "Hey, Eric, do you like kites?"

I nearly facepalmed again, but because of how I didn't think about talking about kites! "Y-Yeah I do. But I'm bad at making them."

"Oh, well, I could try to teach you, if you want, and I can shrink down some things you'll need for it."

We were finally getting somewhere, and I cheered up myself. "We can, but I should warn you: I'm awful at making them."

"Don't worry about that, Eric. If you have too much trouble, I can shrink down one of mine if you would want to fly it later."

"Okay! Then let's do it!"

Starlight got up from her bed and, from the other side of the room, grabbed with her magic what we'd need to make kites with: some paper, two pairs of scissors, a bottle of glue, and thin sticks to glue the paper on, and walked up to the dresser I was standing on. Despite how Starlight, on her bed, seemed to be two hundred feet from me because of my size, it took her three seconds to walk "two hundred" feet to the front of her dresser. So the shocking speed she walked toward me, looking bigger and bigger, sent a chill down my spine.

Boy, once Starlight stood right by the dresser and looked down at me, as I stared up at her, I gulped. The dresser was half Starlight's height, yet I still had to look up at her like she was a five-story building. It felt like she was fifteen feet across since she was directly facing me.

While I grew a bit used to Twilight looking huge because of the time I spent with her, I wasn't used to Starlight looking so big or being that close to her; what happened the last time Starlight towered over me was...not fun. I forced myself to hide my quicker breathing and reminded myself that the giant pony won't try to hurt me. At least Starlight was smiling and stopped being Miss Sourpuss.

Starlight shrunk down some of the paper, one of the two pairs of scissors, and other stuff for it, and laid it beside me. She kept half of everything at normal size, so she could use it to show me what to do, and held a sheet of paper and the un-shrunken pair of scissors in the air with her magic.

After leaning her head halfway down to me, Starlight instructed, "Okay, Eric, the first thing you do is fold the paper like this, then cut off this part."

Trying to copy what Starlight showed me to do, I asked, "So I fold the paper like this?"

Starlight shook her head. "No, not that way. Like this."

"Uh, I think I got it. Like this, Starlight?"

"There you go! Now snip that part off, and fold the rest into a triangle."

"Got it, I hope. How's this?"

"No, not quite. You fold it like..."

This went on for a while, and Starlight and I started to become friends, like I did with Twilight when we talked in her room on my first night in Equestria. The uneasiness about her size quickly faded as we bonded, and Starlight being really nice helped a lot. While I got somewhere with her kite teachings, I couldn't make the kite quite right, but instead of frustrating her, Starlight found it amusing and even giggled about it. She then asked if I wanted to fly one of her kites and before we left, she shrunk it with her magic.

Around a minute after Starlight and I started talking about kites, I noticed hoofsteps walking down the hallway outside of Starlight's door. I figured Twilight didn't think she might be needed and went off to do something else.

Obviously, I couldn't walk to where Starlight flew kites: a small clearing, with mountains that had snow covering the very top in the background, so she carried me there on her back. I wondered about asking Starlight if I could sit on her head, but I didn't feel comfortable asking.

As she was standing while flying a large blue kite, with me still on her back flying a tiny red one, Starlight asked, "So, Eric, how do you like how my kite flies?"

"It's great! I don't know anyone in my world that made kites that flew this well."

"Well, I wasn't always good at making them as a filly, but I got better as I got older."

"That so? Hope I can get at least half as good as you."

"Don't worry. You'll get good at making kites if you keep trying."

Thinking about the trouble I had with the kite Starlight tried to teach me how to make, I said, "I guess, or at least I hope I'd stop messing up while making them. That was embarrassing how I kept goofing up!"

"It's okay. Maybe you struggled because you're still nervous about being so small."

"I guess, but I wasn't that nervous when you were teaching me."

"Well, once I get you back to your real size, I can try to teach you again."

"Okay, sounds good to me, Starlight."

"Me too...*sigh*..."

I knew why she sighed, so I didn't ask why, but Starlight at least felt better than before. While we were bonding great, and she even told me about her...dark past thanks to my "indirect" questions about it, Starlight wasn't feeling like a big sister, like Twilight did, but a friend. She did seem to really appreciate how I didn't care about what she did in the past, and just cared about the pony she was now.

But, I found myself feeling guilty over being too nervous to tell Starlight my "little" secret.

After two hours, Starlight carried me back to Twilight's castle. On the way, Starlight told me a couple of jokes, showing she felt better, but she still felt bad about me being tiny and stuck in Equestria.

Yep, we still had two problems: getting me to my real size and back to my world, and Starlight Glimmer's guilt over thinking it's all her fault. The Unicorn felt even worse about it than I thought, and she seemed to need a big hug, though obviously, I couldn't give her one.

But, while Starlight didn't get it, I would soon get a "big hug" from a certain pony...and it was not fun!

Author's Note

Special thanks to Terrus Stokkr for pre-reading this chapter and Donnnnn for proofreading it.

Chapter 7: Big Hug, Big 'Gator, Big Mistake

It's now been three weeks since I had gotten stuck in Equestria. While I became a little used to being tiny here, it was still a bit scary.

The Nightmare Prevention Spell had very slightly weakened its effect on my body, so I grew to be more like four inches tall than one inch tall. But, according to Twilight, without the counterspell, that's the tallest I'd get. She even tried a growth spell on me to see if that would have helped, but it had no effect on me. Though Twilight didn't think it would have at that point, and was why she didn't try it on the day we met.

Speaking of Twilight, as well as the two of us becoming very good friends, she still felt like a big sister to me and really started acting more like one. For one thing, she was quick to step in if she really thought somepony was bothering me, and even became somewhat protective of me.

She also grew to like having me on her head, so a lot of the time we were together, I was there. Though, I did have to come off when I ate something; that mare didn't like me being there that much! I still liked being on Twilight's head, but it now wasn't just because it was comfortable. I didn't feel so tiny there. And because Twilight's an Alicorn, and we were becoming close, I felt the safest while on her head. In fact, since I was trusting Twilight so much, I was close to finally telling her the full truth. Though I was still trying to figure out the best way to say it.

Oh, and how many questions have Twilight Sparkle asked me about my world at this point? Ha, beats me, because I stopped counting once she got to a hundred. I do know that Twilight was the one I spent the most time with.

Twilight and Starlight didn't spend as much time learning the counterspell as they initially did, but they spent around one or two hours a day on it, but they still weren't getting anywhere. But, Starlight wasn't "moping" around anymore, and we were becoming good friends ourselves, but she still wasn't feeling like a big sister, like Twilight did to me. However, she wasn't quite the same Starlight Glimmer I saw on the show.

Maud was visiting the Pie family (though Pinkie Pie was still in Ponyville) and Trixie was gone on her road shows, so they couldn't help with Starlight. Sunburst came to visit to try to help, but was only slightly effective at making Starlight feel better. Thorax gave it a shot too, but wasn't effective at all. And Twilight didn't even think about asking Discord to help...and I don't blame her. Twilight did suggest for Starlight to visit the 'other' human world and hang out with Sunset Shimmer for a while, but Starlight didn't want to go anywhere till she learned the counterspell. Spike was also still away in the Dragon Lands.

Still trying to fully cheer up Starlight, Twilight thought that maybe Pinkie Pie could think of something that we hadn't tried yet. Pinkie lives to make ponies happy, especially her friends, so Twilight figured that if anypony had another idea, it would have been Pinkie Pie.

With me you-know-where, Twilight and I arrived at Sugarcube Corner, where Pinkie both works and lives. She was there, in the kitchen, about to bake some cakes. Rainbow Dash was also there, eating some chocolate cupcakes that Pinkie made earlier. A bit of good news was that Rainbow, as well as Applejack, didn't seem as suspicious of me, but I was feeling bad about lying to them about how much I actually knew.

"So, Starlight's still a bit down, huh?" Rainbow asked, putting down her cupcake on the table she was sitting behind.

"Yes," Twilight told her with her ears drooped. "She's better than she was three weeks ago, but she doesn't have that spark that she usually does."

"Gee, I thought Starlight would be completely better by now --" Pinkie stirred yellow cake batter in a round bowl "-- but I guess you two reaaaally messed up bad, huh?"

"Gee, way to make us feel better, Pinkie," Twilight complained and "facehoofed".

I, in turn, facepalmed, nearly in sync with Twilight's facehoof -- an effect the time we spent together had on us I guess -- and I had second thoughts on this. I thought that maybe this was why Twilight didn't go to Pinkie sooner. I asked, "Uh, Twilight? Are you sure we should have Pinkie try to cheer Starlight up?"

Rainbow gave her own answer, "For this, I wouldn't recommend it. Pinkie's not the most...tactful pony around."

Before Twilight could give an answer, Pinkie gave her answer and said, "Of course, Eric! Making ponies smile and happy is what I do best!" Pinkie stopped stirring her bowl and hopped up to Twilight and me. "Here, let me prove it by cheering you up! Come here, let Pinkie give you a big hug!"

Before I -- or for that matter Twilight -- knew it, Pinkie snatched me from Twilight's head with her hooves and gave me a big 'ol tight hug on her chest.

Now, you've probably seen how Pinkie Pie can give tight hugs in the show, and I was still the Equestrian equivalent of four inches tall, so you could already guess that this was not fun for me. She had me completely covered in her forelegs, so I couldn't see a thing, couldn't move at all and could barely breathe. Pinkie wasn't squeezing me so hard that the pony could injure me, yet, but it was still hurting! I could do nothing but grimace, struggle to withstand Pinkie's big hug, and hope that Twilight did something, fast!

Twilight (I guess) saw that Pinkie was overdoing it and told her, "Take it easy, Pinkie! With Eric being so small, you could hurt him!"

"Oh, don't worry, Twilight, he's fine, aren't you, Eric?" Pinkie released her hug and held me on her hoof to show me to Twilight.

I was exhausted, a bit sore from Pinkie's hug, and not fine. However, I wasn't hurt, and wasn't freaking out or anything like that. I knew Pinkie wasn't trying to do any harm. She was just being Pinkie Pie again; she does that. Heh.

Pinkie not-so-carefully put me on the table with her bowl of cake batter, where I lay face-up, and both Twilight and Rainbow ran up to me, looking at me with big, worried eyes. Pinkie was already right there by me, so she skipped the "running up to me" part, and just stared at me with those big worried eyes.

"Are you all right, Eric?!" Twilight borderline screamed at me.

"Do you need some help?" Rainbow asked, not showing quite the same level of worry as Twilight.

"Oh, I'm so so so sorry, Eric! I didn't hurt you, did I?!" Pinkie moved her face close to me with a big frown on her face.

While beginning to breathe normally, I reassured Pinkie, "No, I don't think you did, Pinkie, but I just need a few minutes to lie here and rest." I laughed a bit and added, "But you weren't kidding about it being a big hug!"

Hearing me not just say I was fine, but even joke about it, Twilight gave a happy sigh. "I'm so glad to hear that, Eric." Twilight glared at Pinkie for a second for doing that, then looked back at me and smiled. "Well, maybe we could go see Fluttershy to see if she can help too with Starlight."

"Okay, that sounds like a good idea, Twilight," Rainbow said. "I bet she'll have some ideas."

Twilight lowered her head a bit closer to me. "Do you want me to put you back on my head and go with us, Eric?"

"Not this time, Twilight, I'm still a bit sore from that 'big hug' so I want to lie here for a bit."

"Oh, okay." Twilight raised her head back up, had a small frown, and, a little surprisingly, seemed a little disappointed that I didn't want to get on her head for once. But a second later she put on one of her usual smiles again. "Well, we're gonna go get Fluttershy, so you can rest there. We'll be back really soon."

"There's nopony around, so you don't have about anypony bugging you, Eric," Rainbow added, after looking around a bit to make sure there really was nopony around.

Twilight, Pinkie, and Rainbow left to get Fluttershy, leaving me to recover from Pinkie's hug. And the funny thing is, she really was right about her cheering me up, kinda. I was so tired from her hug, I didn't feel as down as I was before she "cheered" me up. Ha, at least Pinkie can back up her words, right?

Fifteen minutes later, after recovering from Pinkie's big hug, I was still sitting down on the same table she sat me on, waiting for Twilight and the others to get back. Suddenly, I felt a chill and became uneasy, like something was watching me. I stood up, spun around, and saw Gummy, Pinkie's green pet alligator, about three feet away. My heart skipped a beat seeing him! Where did he come from, or how long was he behind me, I don't know. From my point of view, he looked about as long as a school bus, if not longer, and about two times wider than one.

He was staring right at me but wasn't moving much at first, except to lick his eyes with his tongue, which made me want to jump back. But I was too scared to move if I didn't have to. He didn't have teeth, but still, I was feeling scared as if he did. At first, neither of us moved an inch, and it was like we were both frozen in place. Save for the creepy eye licks from one of us.

After about half a minute, Gummy started to slowly walk towards me, licking his eyeballs. Taking deep breaths to try to keep myself calm, while not taking my eyes off him, I walked backward slowly, at about the same speed as Gummy was moving towards me, so the distance between us stayed the same. I didn't want to make any sudden moves. But Gummy kept inching closer, with me still walking backward, till I found myself at the edge of the table and almost walked off it by mistake. I had nowhere to go, so Gummy was now closing the distance between us. At that moment I felt even more terrified than when Starlight almost crushed me. As frightening as that was, being eaten alive scared me even more. Given the choice, I'd rather have her come back and stomp on me!

As Gummy got about a foot away and still coming, he opened his mouth. Looking into that pink mouth, smelling his very unpleasant breath, my heart sank, and a bolt of terror flooded my body. Not because of his breath, but of where that breath was coming from. Out of pure fear, I yelled, "Twilight, help!!" in a near-inhuman scream, closed my eyes, and looked away.

A voice yelled back, "I'm coming, Eric!"

It was Twilight, with Pinkie, Rainbow, and Fluttershy with her.

Twilight ran through the doors of the kitchen first and froze Gummy with her magic, just like she did to stop Starlight from stomping on me.

About a half-second later, Rainbow flew to me during her great flight speed, picked me up, and flew me back to the others, holding me in her hooves.

I was freaking out, breathing heavily, and in a panic attack, much like how I was when Starlight almost made me into a human pancake, with Rainbow asking me if I'm okay.

Twilight ran up to me, asking the same thing, but sounded even more worried.

"Bad Gummy! That's a very bad alligator!" Pinkie scolded Gummy. "We don't eat friends! Tell Eric you're sorry!"

Pinkie held Gummy close to me, while I was still in Rainbow's hooves, so he could say "sorry". Yeah, I didn't react well to that and just screamed at the top of my lungs.

Oh boy, hearing me scream really forced Twilight into "big sister" mode, and she yelled at Pinkie to stop it! Twilight then levitated me out of Rainbow's hooves, once again hugged me in her chest with her right foreleg (again) and I buried my face in her chest, cried, and stayed still. Being almost eaten will do that to you.

This time though, it wasn't just me pouring on the waterworks. Twilight was crying too, saying "I'm sorry" to me over and over again. Fluttershy even had to put her foreleg around Twilight, so she could be comforted too.

I don't know about Twilight, but I cried more in my first three weeks in Equestria, than in the last three years before I got to Equestria!

After we both had calmed down, Twilight slowly raised me back on her head with magic (Ha, what did you think she'd do?) and I, still a bit shaken up, held on to her mane tighter than I usually did.

One bit of good news was that Pinkie, with Fluttershy's help, thought of an idea to cheer up Starlight fully back to her usual self. Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and I decided to go get Applejack and Rarity, head back to Twilight's castle to check on Starlight, and try Pinkie's idea. Twilight seemed like she was walking a bit slower than she usually did. I was still shaken up, and maybe that made her want to walk slower.

About two hours later, we were all at Twilight's castle in the room with the Cutie Map, except Starlight, who was off somewhere. Those purple crystal stalagmites on the walls and around the green double doors still haven't gotten old to me. We assumed that maybe she went off to fly kites by herself for a while, or maybe Trixie came back early, and she was with her. As we waited, we worked on Pinkie's idea. As you might already know, Starlight really liked kites (and she still does) so Pinkie thought that we'd surprise her, by making a bunch of them, and overall just show her that we all appreciated her. We hoped that it'd make her feel better about herself. Especially if Applejack said it too since Starlight knows Applejack doesn't lie...unlike a certain tiny human.

As we were deciding on how to make the kites look, I remembered something and got an idea. I yelled out happily, "I got it!"

It surprised Twilight since I, for once, hurt her ears by yelling too close to them. She asked, a bit annoyed that I did that, "Got what, Eric?"

I told her a bit more quietly, "A way to cheer Starlight up."

"Well, what is it?!" Rainbow stood up, looking in my direction with a big grin.

"Remember when Starlight said she 'always' screws things up when she tries to help others?"

"I do, but what does that have to do with your idea?" Twilight asked.

"Well, what if we all remind her of how she saved you all from Queen Chrysalis? She didn't screw up that time! Right?"

"Oh yeah, that's right!" Rainbow yelled out. But she then asked, "But who told you about that?"

I was about to answer till I realized...I didn't have one. I was never told that by anypony! Still on Twilight's head, I got quiet and just sat there, trying to think of what to say to get me out of this. This made Applejack and Rainbow suspicious of me again.

"Eric, why aren't ya sayin' anything?" Applejack asked me.

Getting not just nervous but a little scared, all I should get out was stutters. It didn't exactly help me look any less suspicious. They all were glaring at me except Twilight, who couldn't look at me, because I was on her head. Fluttershy wasn't really glaring at me like that, but she was still keeping her eyes on me.

"All right, I knew something was up with you! What's your deal?!" Rainbow yelled, pointing a hoof at me.

I just kept stuttering. I couldn't get anything else out of my mouth, and I was looking worse by the second.

Eventually, Twilight got fed up with my stuttering. She used her magic to lift me off her head, and onto the part of the Cutie Map in front of her. And oh boy, as I stared up at Twilight, who was glaring down at me with a frown, I felt a chill go down my back. That pony did not look happy!

"Okay, Eric, what are you hiding? Explain yourself, now!" Twilight ordered me, in the most serious tone I'd ever heard her use on me. She wanted answers. I knew her well enough to know that if Twilight Sparkle asks you something in that tone, she's not playing around. You better start talking!

It was finally time to fess up to them. But with them all glaring at me the way they were, especially Twilight, and at that size, I was gonna have a hard time getting words out. Let alone how to explain this...

Chapter 8: The Shake

Well, my lying was finally coming back to bite me in the butt. At Twilight's castle, in the room with the Cutie Map, Twilight, the others, and I were working on a plan to fully cheer Starlight up, and I thought of something that could help. I thought that if we bought up how Starlight saved them from Queen Chrysalis, it'd remind her that she doesn't always screw up like she said she did three weeks ago. Problem was, nopony had ever told me about that, so I shouldn't have known it already. As I was struggling to explain it, I stuttered badly, which only made them more and more suspicious.

Worse, Twilight was glaring down at me the most, demanding me to explain. The fact that she and the others were ponies, not humans, made this even more unnerving. Ponies aren't predators, but I was still surrounded by giant animals, albeit sapient ones with human-like personalities. Even so, I had to try to break through my nervousness and say something.

"W-Well, uh...I-I saw it when I w-was watching Starlight, and..." I was still stuttering.

'Wait, you were watching her?" Rarity shouted at me.

Great. Now I also seemed like a creep. I tried to recover and explained, "N-No! I-I wasn't watching her like that! Just like I wasn't when I watched the rest of you!"

"Wait, you were watchin' us too?!" Applejack yelled.

I facepalmed. I just couldn't stop putting my foot in my mouth.

Twilight picked me up with her magic again and held me right in front of her face.

Seeing Twilight like this, her being so big, scowling at me, her horn glowing pink as she was holding me in her magic, barely being able to move, I was fully aware of how powerless I was against this giant Alicorn. It felt like Twilight was more gigantic than ever and all but invincible. I was still smaller than her eyes and the anger from those eyes made my heart sink. If she wanted to hurt me, or worse, whether physically or with her magic, I knew I wouldn't be able to protect myself from her, not even run. I went from stuttering and nervous to just purely scared, so I didn't even try to struggle.

"Eric, what did you mean by you were 'watching us'? Tell me!"

I didn't know what to say, so I froze, not wanting to risk making myself look even worse. I really didn't know what Twilight might do to me if she got any angrier, and I was even too scared to try reminding myself of who she was. At that moment, she stopped being Princess Twilight Sparkle to me and was instead simply an extremely powerful, angry giant that I was at the mercy of.

Trying to get me to talk, Twilight gave me a light shake while holding me in her magic and demanded me to say something. It didn't actually hurt, but being forced to helplessly move back and forth to the, with no control over how I moved, made me panic on the inside. But I said nothing. Thought that might be my best option.

Twilight couldn't seem to see this and probably just thought I was just refusing to talk, so it made her grit her teeth while getting madder: the very thing I didn't want to make her do. She shook me a few more times, a little harder (for her) wanting me to fess up. But Twilight was too mad to think about what the force of her shaking might be like on my much smaller body.

I was forced harder through the air, and this time it was painful. I grimaced as it was happening, and I'm still surprised I didn't scream; I guess I was just that scared. It felt like the muscles in my body might start tearing if she didn't stop, and I then felt a pinch in the upper part of my left arm. I was so terrified at this point, I barely felt it and just stayed still and quiet, still hoping it'd make her cool it and let me go. But it was backfiring by just making Twilight scowl even more intensely, making me feel even more afraid of what was next, and I was on the verge of screaming for help. This was getting dangerous!

"If you don't answer me right now, I will--"

Fluttershy, seeing Twilight was becoming out of control and possibly sensing the terror I was feeling, had enough and ran up to her. "Twilight Sparkle, STOP IT!" She looked toward me and gasped. "Can't you see how much you're frightening him?! Look!"

If Fluttershy didn't step in, It's extremely likely I'd been seriously hurt, since Twilight probably would have shaken me even harder, tearing muscles for sure, before giving up and stop doing it on her own--if I were still alive by that point.

Twilight finally cooled it, stopped her scowling, relaxed her teeth, and simply looked at me more closely. She then saw the freaked-out state she'd put me in and frowned.

I teared up a bit and was too scared to notice the change in Twilight, and still wasn't trying to move. I might have felt shame for it, if not being too frightened to care about any pride. Any male pride was meaningless at this point.

Fluttershy picked me up from Twilight's magic with her hooves, gently held me to her chest, saying, "It's okay, Eric. Twilight didn't mean to do that."

I grabbed the hair on Fluttershy's coat with my right hand, and this was when I really felt the pain from the pulled muscle in my left arm, and by pure luck, her foreleg just avoided squeezing it. Still, my eyes got big, out of shock and fear, that Twilight had actually hurt me, but I didn't say I was hurt. I also thought Twilight had just threatened me, and while it was very minor, something I'd recover from in like a week, I was still hurt. I was breathing hard in a panic attack.

Twilight saw this, making her mouth quiver, and then frowned even more. Her ears drooped down and had big sad eyes that screamed "I'm sorry". She stood up from her chair and, in a much calmer, gentler voice than before, she pleaded, "Eric, I am so sorry. I-I didn't mean to go that far. It's me, big sis Twilight, remember? I won't hurt you."

But that had no effect, especially since she did just hurt me, but just didn't know it. I was in no shape to listen or be near her, stayed in a panic attack, and buried my face in Fluttershy's chest. I only wanted to get away from Twilight, bad, before she could grab or hurt me again.

Rarity, I guess seeing me shaking in Fluttershy's foreleg with my head buried in her chest, gasped. She didn't even attempt to get me to try to listen to Twilight, though I bet she wanted to. She simply told Fluttershy to take me to her (Fluttershy's) cottage for now. Fluttershy agreed, silently, then ran out of the castle doors, holding me in a wing, with me still shaking and in a panic attack.

After Fluttershy took Eric out of Twilight's castle, Twilight sat back down in her chair, putting her forelegs over her face in remorse. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie walked up to her, stunned by what she just did to Eric out of anger.

"Wha...what did I just do?" Twilight cried.

"You went too far, Twilight Sparkle!" Rarity yelled. "That's what you just did!"

"Yeah, Twilight, that was mean!" Pinkie shouted while frowning.

"Well, maybe Twilight went a little bit too far--" Rainbow raised her head up in thought, then back to its usual height "--but still, that guy said he was spying on us!"

Applejack, who was previously just as suspicious as Rainbow Dash, thought about Eric's reaction when he was in Twilight's magic. She groaned, facehoofed, turned to Rainbow in regret, and sighed. "What was I...Rainbow, I think we just really messed up."

"What do you mean by that, Applejack?"

"I mean, think about it, Rainbow. If Eric really were up to somethin', he would have admitted it when Twilight started shakin' him. He was totally defenseless in her magic, so it would've been a lot safer to just do what she said, not stay quiet and keep testin' her. If Twilight really wanted to, she could've seriously hurt or even killed him with ease just now. Worse, if she did go on the attack, he wouldn't have a chance against her size and magic. And he knows this."

"And he didn't admit anything, right?" Pinkie gasped. "And if that means what I think it means...uh-oh."

Applejack turned to Pinkie. "Yep, that's what ya do if you're doing nothin' wrong, but so scared for your life that you just didn't know what to say and froze from fear. And If I remember right, it's the fourth time he's gone through that kind of fear, since being stuck in Equestria."

Applejack's words made Twilight's mouth quiver and was on the verge of tears. "But...then why didn't he say anything sooner, especially to me? I thought we were becoming good friends?" Twilight asked with her voice breaking.

"Well, he probably wanted to, Twi. But don't forget that, to him, we're giant creatures, and knows we could hurt or kill him in a second if we wanted. Plus, he already had to face Starlight try to crush him when she thought he was a bug, so he knows somethin' like that could happen to him. This is a huge world that guy's been thrown into and he's probably still a little scared, even if he didn't look it. I remember how it felt when that Poison Joke stuff made me bite-sized, and you do not feel safe bein' that small."

"Oh yeah." Rainbow gasped and facehoofed. "I didn't think about it like that."

"To be truthful, Rainbow, until now, I didn't either," Applejack admitted. "And I talked to him a few times showin' that I wasn't fully trustin' him, so I didn't help things either. I can't believe myself!"

"And just now, we were putting soooo much pressure on him!" Pinkie pointed out.

Rarity put a hoof on her cheek. "Oh dear, we never should have done that! The poor little darling must have been so scared of us!"

Applejack, while still wanting to know the truth about Eric, she now wanted to know something else even more. With a serious frown, she pointed a hoof at Twilight. "Okay, Twilight, when ya told Eric, 'If you don't say something, I'll...' was that a threat?" Applejack calmly, but angrily asked Twilight.

Twilight's eyes opened widely at Applejack's accusation and jumped from her chair. "What?! No! I wasn't threatening him! You know me better than that, Applejack!"

"Well, what was it then, Twilight?" Rarity's tone had more anger than the one Applejack just used.

"I was just gonna say that, if he didn't say anything, I would take him to Princess Celestia and she'd talk to him. But I wasn't threatening to truly hurt him! I would never threaten to hurt somepony, I mean someone, that's so much smaller and weaker than me! I'm not that kind of pony!"

"Twi?" Applejack put a hoof on Twilight's back. "I really hate to say it, but I think he thought you were, and ya saw how he reacted."

With a blank expression on her face, tears flowed from the eyes of the young Alicorn, as the mistake she made fully sank into her heart. "But...I..."

"And...even after Starlight tried to crush him, he still wanted to help cheer her up! So even if he did lie to us, he can't be a bad guy, right?" Rainbow admitted.

"Truth be told, y'all, while I hate lyin', but I really can't blame him," Applejack confessed. "Not if Eric truly thought he needed to lie so he wouldn't risk gettin' hurt, or even killed. And as I think about it, him not being a pony might have made him even more nervous here in Equestria than if he was one."

After hearing her friends' words, Twilight fell to the floor and hit it with a hoof repeatedly. Tears fell from her cheeks, which slowly formed two tiny puddles on the floor. "Why? Why did I do that? Why did I talk to him the way I did? Why did I start shaking him?! I...*sniff*...promised that I wouldn't let him get hurt, and now...*sniff*...I made him think I was about to do it, and it terrified him! I'm a monster!"

"No, you're not a monster, darling," Rarity softly said, trying to place a friendly hoof on Twilight's back.

But Twilight stood up and swiftly moved away from her friend's hoof. "Yes I am, Rarity! Didn't you see what I just did?! He trusted me, and...*sniff*...he even said I'm like his new big sister. And yet I...*sniff*...I..."

Rainbow walked closer to Twilight. "Hey, come on, Twi, you were just upset. Eric knows you didn't mean to do that."

"But he doesn't know it, Rainbow!" Twilight shouted at the top of her lungs. "His heart probably broke being treated that bad by his 'big sister'! Some 'Princess of Friendship' I am! Maybe I...*sniff*...shouldn't have gotten Alicorn wings. I don't know if I even deserve them!"

"Now come on, Twilight, that ain't true," Applejack pleaded to Twilight. But Twilight wouldn't listen.

As Twilight lay back on the floor and continued to cry almost uncontrollably, Pinkie slowly walked up and placed her own sympathetic hoof on the heartbroken Princess. "Twilight, if you keep crying, you'll never be able to make this right," Pinkie said, in her rare solemn voice. "Don't you want to see him smile again?"

"Well...*sniff*...yes. Yes, I do, Pinkie."

"Then why don't you go apologize to Eric?" Pinkie suggested.

Tearing still flowing from Twilight's eyes, she slowly lifted her head to Pinkie's and quietly asked, "But what if he hates me, Pinkie? What if he's too scared of me now and doesn't want to see me again?"

"I don't think he'll hate you over that, Twilight," Rainbow assured. "I mean, he seemed to really like and trust you."

"Yeah, Rainbow's right!" Pinkie added. "Don't you remember when Gummy was about to eat him, Twilight?"

"Well, yeah! How could I forget that?" Twilight asked. "I was almost as scared as he was!"

Rainbow reminded, "When Eric was about to be eaten, he yelled out 'Twilight, help!!' right?"

"But what does that have to do with it, Rainbow?"

"Don't ya get it, sugarcube? When he thought he was about to die, he yelled 'Twilight, help!!' not just 'help!!' by itself. Bein' that scared, he wouldn't have singled ya out to yell for to save his life, unless he really trusted ya."

"Yes, and that's why he wanted you there, darling, the pony you said he thinks of as his new big sister! Plus that sweet little darling doesn't seem like the type that could hate anything that easily, especially not you."

"Oh...yeah. You all are right, and I understand now." Twilight wiped her eyes and stood up. "I need to go and apologize to Eric for not thinking about his feelings, explain that I wasn't threatening him, and promise that I would never want to hurt him."

But Applejack warned, "Uh...Twilight? I don't think it's a good idea to try that right now."

"But why not, Applejack?" Pinkie questioned.

"Well, y'all saw the shape Eric was in, right? If Twilight goes now, she'd probably scare the guy half to death the moment he sees her, no matter how friendly and sorry she is. We can't risk that happenin', not after what he just went through."

"Oh...yeah. He was in really bad shape," Pinkie reminded.

"Well, what do I do then, Applejack? I can't tell him I'm sorry and how I feel if I can't even get near him!"

Rarity smiled, and suggested, "Well, I have another idea, Twilight. How about I go and tell him you're sorry? Fluttershy probably would have him calmed down by the time I get there, and I don't think he'll be too scared of me."

"Oh yeah, that's a good idea, Rarity! And I'll go too." Applejack walked to Rarity. "Eric knows how I don't lie, so if I explain what happened just now, and how bad Twilight feels about what she did, he may be more willin' to believe it and then might want to see her."

"Okay. But...be sure to let him know that he doesn't have to force himself to see me. And please, please tell him that I'm not mad at him, I won't be if he doesn't want to see me, that I'm so sorry for what I did, and that I promise, on my life, to never do anything like that to him ever again."

"We will, Twilight," Rarity said. "And once he tells us what he wants to do, we'll come right back here to let you know, okay?"

"All right. I'll wait here in the castle and wait for you two to return."

Rarity and Applejack trotted out of Twilight's castle and went to Fluttershy's cottage to tell them what happened with Twilight.

At Fluttershy's cottage, I was finally calming down. I lay face-down on Fluttershy's yellow couch, on a pillow, and she was sitting right beside me, with one of her wings around me. She now knew about my left arm being hurt, so she was extremely careful to not touch it.

I wasn't hurt anywhere else, physically anyway, but my body still felt a little limp. Both from the impact the shaking itself did, and the emotional shock of what Twilight, who I was beginning to think of like a big sister in Equestria, just did to me. It was made even worse that she promised that she wouldn't let me get hurt, and now I was hurt, by her. Even if the pony didn't mean to actually do it, but at this point in time, it didn't matter much to me.

"Are you okay now, Eric?" Fluttershy asked me, in the gentlest voice I've ever heard. Guess I should've expected nothing less from her, the Element of Kindness.

"I think so, Fluttershy," I answered, motionless under her wing. "T...thank you for getting me out of there. I just can't believe Twilight did that, and even threatened me. I thought she was my friend, who I said was like my new big sister. I trusted her..."

"Oh, Eric, she is." Fluttershy moved her wing off me, so she could look at me, probably wanting me to look her in the eyes, so I could see that she was not lying. It was (to me) high up, but she had a big smile on her face, helping me stay calm-ish.

"I want to believe that, Fluttershy, and I'm trying to, but still, she..." I gritted my teeth, trying to fight back the tears. At this point, it was getting embarrassing, but male pride took a back seat.

"Now, now, Eric, Twilight just got carried away, but she's not that type of pony" -- Fluttershy gently rubbed my back with a wing -- "and you said you were watching us right? If you were, you should know that she'll never threaten anyone that's harmless, even if she's really angry."

I put a hand on my chin, thinking about that, then I looked at Fluttershy, right into her eyes. "Well, from what I've seen, Twilight's not that kind of pony. But...then why did she say she'd do something to me if I didn't talk? I don't know that much about you all, so who I was thinking Twilight is might not be who she really is. I'm just not sure anymore."

Fluttershy rolled her eyes upwards as if she were thinking about what I just asked, then they came back down to me. "Well, I don't know what she was about to say, but I'm sure it was just some kind of misunderstanding. If Twilight did have that side to her and prone to doing what she just did to you, we would know, Eric. We would have stopped her the instant she picked you up with her magic before one of us got you out of the castle, and I'm so sorry I waited as long as I did."

If I were in a normal or even a "normal" shaken-up state, I would have automatically believed Fluttershy. And deep down I knew that Twilight didn't actually threaten me, and there just had to be more to it. But with how I was almost killed twice since I got to Equestria, more aware than ever how powerless I was, and now I was injured by Twilight, the pony I trusted the most, I was just reeling too much to think clearly.

"You're sure about that, Fluttershy?"

"Oh yes. Just in case you don't already know, Twilight and I go away back, and I know she'll never do anything like that to someone like you."

"Well--" but as I was about to add more, the door to Fluttershy's house opened. When I looked to see who it was, I saw purple, and I thought it was Twilight. A moment of uncontrollable paranoia that she possibly came to follow through on her "threat" took over, making a pulse of fear flood through my whole body. I panicked, screamed, and covered my head with the arm that wasn't hurt. At the same time, Fluttershy covered me with a wing.

"Wait, what's going on?! Why is he acting like that, Fluttershy?"

I noticed the voice was different from Twilight's. That made me stop screaming, slightly calm down and, as Fluttershy moved her wing off me, I moved my arm off my head, and lifted my head to where the voice came from.

It was just Starlight, who was turning her head in one direction after another, really surprised by how scared I was acting. Seeing it was just her, and that she was obviously not there to try anything because of her reaction, I fully calmed back down and took a deep relieved breath.

Seeing me calm again, Fluttershy turned her head to Starlight and asked, "Starlight? What are you doing here? Have you been at Twilight's castle yet?"

"No, not since I left earlier. I was just about to go back and I was nearby, so thought I'd stop here and see if you were here, Fluttershy."

Starlight slowly walked a little closer to me while slightly leaning down, almost like she was trying to make herself seem smaller. "Eric? Why were you so scared? I'm not gonna hurt you. What's wrong?"

I gave a deep sigh and sat up. I decided to just tell her and Fluttershy the full truth. I was sick of hiding it.

Turning to Fluttershy, and then back to Starlight, I said in a tired voice, "Okay, Fluttershy, Starlight, I want to say something." They both frowned, worried about what I was about to say, as I added, "But"-- I looked back down --"it's really hard for me to explain, you might not believe it, and I was really worried that you might think I was up to no good and might even do something to me like...what Twilight did. All that was why I hid it. But...please trust me that I'm telling you the truth, and I'm no threat because I don't know what to do anymore."

They both nodded. Starlight walked closer to the couch Fluttershy and I were on to hear me better, then lay down on the floor. With the unstable state I was in, I'm pretty sure Starlight didn't want to make me feel like she was towering over me, even if she didn't say it.

I was in such a rattled state, I didn't even remember that Starlight might have known about TVs and cartoons. But even if I did remember, I doubted Fluttershy would have known about them, so I figured I'd try to explain things by comparing them to "characters" in their fictional books, and Equestria to the world those "characters" in those books lived in. I then said that if they (Fluttershy or Starlight) somehow ended up in that world, where those "characters" in the books existed, it would be what Equestria and they were to me. I thought it was the best way to explain how I could already know about them, and even in this way, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

Fluttershy was surprised by this but, seeing how I was, and really sounded like I was telling the truth, said that she believed me, and trusted me about not being up to anything. Starlight said the same, but then said something else that quickly made me really wish I'd told them all the truth from the start. She would even do something that would make me look at Starlight Glimmer in a different light than I did before.

Chapter 9: Holding Nothing back

I tried to fess up, and badly failed, to Twilight and the others at Twilight's castle (except Starlight, who was off somewhere) about how much I really knew about them. Twilight got carried away when I kept stuttering, shook me with her magic to try to get me to keep talking, and accidentally hurt my arm. It wasn't anywhere close to a serious injury, but It was enough to make me panic. After that, Fluttershy got me out of there, away from Twilight, and took me to her cottage so I could calm down.

Starlight, not yet knowing what happened, came to Fluttershy's cottage by pure luck, and saw me really shaken up. I decided to fess up to them, and they both believed me. But Starlight had some info of her own.

Starlight rolled her eyes up trying to remember something, then turned them to me. "What you said, Eric, sounds like something I read about with my friend Sunburst when I was still a filly."

"Whoa, really?" I asked. "What is it?"

"Well, I don't remember everything about it, but it was something about the idea of other universes, or a 'Multiverse' I think it's called. And that some beings in one universe could subconsciously be aware of those in another."

Fluttershy put a hoof on her face. "Really, Starlight?"

"Yeah! I bet that's how she and these 'writers' in Eric's world knew about us and Equestria, and why they created this 'cartoon' about us."

"Hmm. I guess that's how you and Equestria exist, while everyone in my world thinking it's a made-up place."

This would also explain why in my world, despite MLP fans truly thinking that these "characters" didn't exist, many of us could still get in arguments over them like we were arguing over real beings. I always thought it was kinda silly, even though I did it sometimes too. But, it turns out that deep down, we KNEW they were real, and that was what made us be so passionate about the ones we really liked! Now it doesn't feel so silly when I did it over Applejack or Rarity.

Fluttershy took her wing off me, seeing I was calmer now. "And could that magic from the Nightmare Prevention Spell went to Eric's world when it 'vanished', Starlight?"

"Yep, and if we knew what Eric just said, we would've focused more on that. It'd helped us learn the counterspell a lot faster, and we might have even learned how to do it by now."

I yelled out in frustration and facepalmed harder than I have in my life after Starlight said that!

If I'd told them the truth right away, all this mess since I got here -- except the part when Twilight tried to crush me -- might have never happened. Yep, Applejack was right about telling the truth, as usual.

Starlight seemed like she was about to ask why I yelled, but stopped herself. She changed the subject and asked me, "Hold on, why were you so scared of me when I got here? You know I'll never want to hurt you since that...misunderstanding when we met."

"I...thought you were Twilight at first."

"But I thought you two were good friends?" Starlight gasped. Still on her stomach, Starlight crawled closer to me. "Why are you so scared of her now? Did something happen?"

"Well, Starlight, at Twilight's castle Eric was trying to tell us what he just told the two of us" -- Fluttershy once again carefully put her wing around me -- "but we pressed him too hard and he got too nervous. Twilight got mad and she, well..."

Starlight gasped a bit louder than she did before. She already saw me act horrified when I saw her come in the door, thinking she was Twilight. Now she learned that, while she was away from the castle, Twilight did something to me that now made me really scared of her. And Starlight Glimmer did not like it. She crawled closer still with a frown showing not anger, but of concern. While she couldn't really look at me in "the eyes", because of my small size, but something about the way the pony's eyes - larger than me -- looked at me made it feel like she was. "Eric, tell me the truth. What did Twilight do to you in that castle?"

Because of Starlight's temper, I didn't want to tell her. But I was done with lying and didn't want to even try, but I still took a deep breath.

"Well, Starlight, she...shook me, really hard, when I got too scared to talk."

Starlight's eyes widened. "Wait, she what?"

"And...I think she threatened me when I didn't say anything."

Starlight jumped off the floor backward, with her mouth open, and I even felt slight vibrations when she landed. "WHAT?! You're serious?! Twilight actually threatened you?! What did she say?!"

"She said that if I didn't say anything, she'd do something. But Fluttershy told her to knock it off before she could finish saying whatever she'd do to me."

"T-That just can't be right! I know Twilight has a temper, but her making threats, to you? That doesn't sound like anything she'd ever do, unless you're a serious threat like Queen Chrysalis! Or if you've shown you can be, but you've never done that and wouldn't have a chance if you tried to fight her, and she knows it!" Starlight turned her head to Fluttershy. "Is what Eric said really true, Fluttershy?"

"Yes, Starlight. After I stopped Twilight, Eric was terrified, so I brought him here to get him away from her."

After a second, Starlight turned her head to me again. Her face had a frown that didn't want to believe what she just heard, but didn't think Fluttershy and I were trying to lie to her. "That...that just can't be. I can't believe Twilight would do that to you, Eric. I never thought she could act like that!"

Starlight, who was still standing, lowered herself on her stomach and again crawled right up to me, just like she did when she wanted me to say what Twilight did to me. It again felt like she was looking at me in the eyes. I felt a vibe that Starlight could burst at any second. But probably because she didn't want to do something to scare me, she kept herself in check. With a big frown, showing that she was scared of what my answer to her next question would be, Starlight quietly asked, "Eric, when Twilight shook and threatened you, she didn't also hurt you, did she?"

I sighed, then slowly turned my head to, and carefully placed, my right hand on the upper part of my left arm where the muscle in the arm was hurt. "Well...I really don't think she meant to do it, Starlight. And it's not hurt bad, but--"

Oh, boy, that was all Starlight needed to hear. That Unicorn's mouth dropped and her eyes were bigger as they'd ever been. She stood right up with gritted teeth and was possibly using all her willpower to not blow up in anger. She spun her head to Fluttershy. "Okay, Fluttershy, where is Twilight Sparkle?"

Before Starlight could completely lose it and run to confront Twilight, Rarity came through the door, followed by Applejack.

"Hello, darlings! It's just Applejack and me, not Twilight!"

As soon as Rarity called out to us, Starlight ran right up to her and Applejack. "Rarity, Eric just told me Twilight threatened and hurt him! Where is she?! I want to talk to her!"

"Whoa, whoa, Starlight, calm down!" Applejack quickly said. "That was just a misunderstandin'! Twilight didn't threaten Eric!"

"Wait, really, Applejack?" I was already starting to feel a bit better, with a wave of relief passing through me.

Starlight, however, was stomping around, pacing back and forth, muttering, but I couldn't make out what she was saying to herself. But I begged, "Starlight, please, just try to calm down, for me! Let's hear what Rarity and Applejack have to say, okay?"

"But..." Starlight stopped pacing to turn her head to me. About a second later, the tension on her face dropped, and she took a deep breath. She walked over to Fluttershy and me, lay down in front of me, and it was almost protectively. I was still on a couch, and Starlight stayed down low enough to not block my view. "Okay, what did Twilight say? And it better be good."

But Fluttershy suggested, "Wait, Starlight, let's tell Applejack and Rarity what Eric told us first."

After that, Fluttershy, Starlight, and I told Rarity and Applejack about what I just told them, about where I came from, and how I knew about them already. Starlight also told them about that Multiverse idea she was telling Fluttershy and me about. Because they saw how I reacted when Twilight picked up and shook me, and that it was a kind of reaction that's from someone who really wasn't up to anything, even Applejack was willing to believe it. Let alone Rarity, though they were quite surprised, to say the least.

Applejack and Rarity, in turn, told Starlight, Fluttershy and me what Twilight really meant, that she felt awful about shaking and scaring me so bad, and really wanted to see me and apologize for it.

"There, you see, Eric? I told you that Twilight would never do that!" Fluttershy reminded me.

With a grin, I responded, "Yep, you were right, Fluttershy!"

"Yeah, and I should've known it too." Starlight facehoofed. "I better apologize to her about thinking she actually threatened Eric. But I still don't like how she treated him back there."

"So, since ya know, do ya want to go see Twilight?" Applejack asked me. "She'll be really happy if she knows ya don't hate her."

"Yeah, I...uh..." That wave of relief I was feeling disappeared and was replaced with dread, remembering how I felt when I was trapped in Twilight's magic. Helplessly floating in the air, staring at the angry face of a giant, scared to the point of not wanting to move; not that I could've moved much anyway. Then shaken harshly in the air to the point of being injured. If nopony had stepped in, and Twilight didn't calm herself down in time, I could've been killed by her shaking without her even meaning or wanting to do it. And if that happened, Twilight saying "I'm sorry" wouldn't have brought me back. I knew that she didn't really threaten me, she felt really bad, and promised on her life to never do anything like that again, but...

Rarity walked closer to me and saw I was holding my arm. "Oh dear...Starlight said you were hurt, is it serious?"

"No, it's not hurt too bad, Rarity" -- I let go of my arm -- "and it'll be better in like a week, and I've been hurt much worse than this before."

"Whew, I'm glad to hear that it's not too bad, Eric, and trust me, Twilight would never --" Applejack put a hoof on her face "-- Whoa, nelly. This is bad. I mean, really bad."

"What's 'really bad'?" Rarity asked.

"Twilight feels awful enough as it is. If she knew she had physically hurt Eric before Fluttershy took him away from her, it's gonna crush her. Breaking the news to her is not gonna be easy."

I was just torn. I really did want to see Twilight and talk to her since I knew how she felt, and that I really shouldn't be scared of her. Not of Princess Twilight Sparkle. It also seemed like I was right on who I thought she was, I'd be safe with her, and I didn't want her to feel as awful as they said she did. It also wasn't like she'd lie about what she asked Rarity and Applejack to tell me. If she were, Applejack would've never told me what Twilight said, because she doesn't lie, and probably would've instead suggested to just stay away from Twilight, at least for the time being.

And yet I just couldn't shake a feeling of fear, no pun intended. Even after what I heard, I wasn't sure if I could really trust Twilight anymore. I was too aware that she wasn't a "character" that only did whatever the writers of a cartoon made her do, but a real living intelligent being that can make her own choices, just like me. And just like anyone, Twilight could make really bad mistakes, if mad enough. What if she ever got really mad at me again and forgot her promise? Would I feel like, to avoid being hurt again by the giant pony, that I'd need to always do whatever she said or asked? Doing that because she's a princess, I could've been like "whatever". But doing it out of fear of being hurt...was another story. In my head, I kept going back and forth on if I should go to Twilight or not.

They saw how I was clenching my fists and had my head down, deep in thoughts that they could guess were about. This made Rarity, while smiling, help give me an answer by assuring, "Darling, we won't be mad if you don't want to see Twilight, and neither will she."

"Yeah, Eric," Applejack chimed in, "and Twilight herself said it too. She even said that she didn't want ya to try to force yourself to see her if yer don't want to, or too scared to do it."

Applejack doesn't lie, so the fear in me dropped some and I felt a bit calmer on the inside, so it let me relax my fists and I lifted my head back up to the others. I knew Twilight wouldn't be mad at me if I did choose to not see her, and by its irony, that made me want to see her more. Even so, I was still just too bad a mess on the inside, and as I was, I wasn't ready to face Twilight, even though I wanted to see her.

"Well, I want to see Twilight, Applejack. But...I'm just not ready right now, so I'll need some time, but I will be ready to see her later."

"Hey, don't worry about trying to force yourself, sugarcube. Twilight can wait."

"Applejack's right. You take all the time you need, and Twilight will understand. Don't forget that she said so herself."

"Thanks, Rarity. And could you tell Twilight I don't hate her? I don't want her to think that."

"You got it, darling. We'll do it right now."

"Do you need anything, Eric?" Fluttershy asked me. "Are you hungry or thirsty?"

I shook my head. "No, not right now."

"Oh. Well, just me know if you do, or need anything. And you can stay here with me as long as you need to, if you'll want to stay away from Twilight's castle, okay?"

I nodded at Fluttershy, but didn't say anything.

For the last ten or so seconds, while I wasn't really paying much attention, Starlight had turned her head to me and was staring at me. Finally, she turned to the others and said, "Hey, guys? I really need to talk with Eric, by ourselves, so I'll stay here when you go tell Twilight what Eric said."

"Okay, but why?" Applejack asked.

"I can't say why, Applejack. But don't worry; I'm not gonna hurt him or anything. I just want to talk to him, and we'll need to be alone for me to do it."

At first, I was a bit nervous when Starlight said she wanted to talk to me alone, especially since I was still so shaken up. But by her making sure to say she wasn't going to try to do something to me, it took care of any paranoia I was having. Plus, at that moment, vibes of safeness were coming from Starlight, and it was something that never happened before. There was something different about her, and it made me want to stay close to her more than I usually did.

Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy turned their heads at each other, then turned them to me at the same time, and I nodded my own head at them.

"Well, okay, Starlight, if ya say so. I don't know why ya want to talk to Eric alone, but we'll all go and tell Twilight what Eric told us," Applejack said.

"Okay, thanks, Applejack."

Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy left, leaving me alone with Starlight.

Starlight closed the door, went to a window, watching them all walk away. After she felt they were far enough, she (to her) slowly walked to and lay in front of me again with a frown.

"Starlight? What's going on?"

"Eric, you have a lot of emotion you're holding back right now, don't you?"

"Well..." I looked away, not wanting to admit it.

"Yep, I knew it. That's why I wanted the others to leave, so it would be easier for you to let it out if you're just with me."

"Maybe, but I don't know if you'll understand how I feel."

Starlight crawled closer to me, so I was just inside the range of her hoof. Which she meant to do: Starlight placed her hoof -- or along with her foreleg, a long semi-soft purplish pink wall from my point of view -- to my right side, wanting me to look her in the eyes and firmly yet comfortably said, "Eric, I will understand."

"How do you know, Starlight?"

"Because, it's me. Starlight Glimmer, Eric. You may already know that I'm not the greatest at friendship, but you should also know that I understand how it feels. Scared that nopony would have any idea how you'll feel, or that you should hold back your true feelings. I know how it feels, so as your friend, I want you to tell me everything you're holding in, and what you say can stay just between us. I know it's probably hard for you to not be scared of me, because I'm so big to you and have magic, but I promise, on my life, that I will never try to hurt you. You can trust me, Eric."

Boy, by her saying it like that, it hit home, big time. That's when I became truly aware of who I was looking at in the eyes. She wasn't "Starlight" but she was Starlight Glimmer. If there's anypony I could have not just trusted to talk to, but to be there with if I released all the emotions I was holding in and felt safe to do it, it's her. I realized it's why she made sure we were alone, before she started asking me to release everything I was holding in, and that she thought that she might be the one I'd feel the most comfortable to do it with. Even more than Fluttershy.

And Starlight was right. Knowing she was the only one that could hear me and still looking at her in the eyes, I felt more vibes of safeness, and I knew I could truly trust her. Thus I decided to spill out everything, just like she wanted me to do. She left her hoof -- the one on her left foreleg and was the one that nearly crushed me to death three weeks earlier -- beside me to use to hug, cry, or punch against. Starlight knew I'd need it. I wasn't strong enough to make her feel any pain if I started to beat my fist against her hoof out of sadness and anger, and we both knew it, so I wouldn't have to worry about hurting her.

"Okay." I nodded. "I trust you, Starlight Glimmer. So I'll do it."

"It's okay, Eric. Let it out, and hold nothing back, okay? I'm here."

I took a really deep breath and, with tears pouring out of my eyes, I yelled, "I'm just sick of being stuck here, Starlight! I'm so tired of crying so much, and it's embarrassing for a guy my age to do it so much, and I hate it! I feel so pathetic! I'm sick of almost getting killed by something so much bigger than me like I'm a bug! I'm no 'bug', and it's scary being this small! I'm sick of thinking I have to lie, and it's not like I want to do it! I miss being able to talk to my family!"

My thoughts switched to how Twilight shook and hurt me, and the emotions I was holding in about it flooded out, since up to this point I didn't feel safe enough to do it. With the tears still pouring from my eyes, I buried my face in the side of Starlight's hoof that she placed beside me before, getting it a little wet. I didn't think I was, and I was even trying to lie to myself about it but, I guess that deep down, while I still didn't "hate" Twilight, I was still much more mad and scared of her than I thought. Now came the beating of my right fist against Starlight's hoof, out of pure emotion, as I kept going, becoming even more upset since I was holding nothing back.

"I can't get over how Twilight did that to me! She...she hurt me, and I couldn't do a thing about it! I trusted that pony, and was even thinking of her as my big sister! Why...why...*sniff*...why weren't you there, Starlight? You should've been there! Twilight's so much bigger than me, and she could have done anything she wanted to me before Fluttershy got me out of there and if she comes after me, I'd be helpless! Twilight's not just an Alicorn, but to me, she's a giant Alicorn, Starlight! She's way too big for hitting her to do anything, I don't have magic to fight with, and if she grabs me with her magic, I wouldn't even be able to try to run away! I just can't take being here and this small anymore, Starlight!!"

Because of my hurt arm, Starlight couldn't hug me, so she nuzzled me instead to try to calm me down, careful to not touch my left arm, and I left my head buried in her hoof. The gentle rubbing of her muzzle on both my back and the back of my head made me less hysterical since I was at this point, and I stopped hitting her hoof and stayed still, but more quietly whimpered.

While keeping her muzzle on my back, the closest she could come to hugging me, and in a soft voice that I never knew she could even do, Starlight told me, "I know, Eric, I know. And you're right: I should've been there, and I am so sorry I left when I did. I would've stepped in even before Fluttershy did, so you wouldn't be hurt right now if I were there. It's all my fault that you're going through all this and so small, so the least I can do is protect you, and Twilight Sparkle will never hurt you again, okay? I won't let her do it, and you can stay near me, or even be on my head, from now on if it would make you feel safer. But I really don't think you'll need to, and I do think that Twilight feels worse about doing that than you know. I'm still gonna give her a piece of my mind later, but she really does care about you, Eric, a lot."

Starlight moved her muzzle away and a second later, I turned my head to her and looked her in the eyes again. "But, Starlight, you're so powerful and so great at magic. Can't you learn the counterspell right now, since you said you have more to go on? Please, I'm begging you, you gotta do something! Please! I'm sick of being bug-sized!"

Now it was Starlight's turn to tear up. "Eric, I'm sorry. I really would do it if I could. I've always been able to learn spells fast. But even I can't learn a spell that complex that easily, even after what you told me about how you know about Equestria before coming here."

I buried my face back in Starlight's hoof and kept crying for a while, but not hysterically. That whole time, she barely moved, other than to nuzzle me a few times or to say something to comfort me. Wow. Just wow. I admit, I knew she could be kind, but not this kind. For the first time, Starlight Glimmer felt like a big sister, not a friend. That feeling of safeness I felt flow through me earlier flowed again and was even stronger, so I felt totally safe. Even from Twilight. It was even the first time that I was glad Starlight looked so huge: along with knowing she's a really strong Unicorn, it made me feel safer at that moment.

After I finally got done, Starlight sweetly asked if I felt better.

A bit out of breath I answered, "Yeah, a lot better. Thanks, Starlight, I really needed that bad."

She moved her hoof off the couch, to how she'd normally have it, then moved back a bit from me. But Starlight kept lying down.

With my inner emotions calmed, I could think more clearly again. A thought popped in my mind that I didn't even think about, till now.

"Hey, Starlight? Do you think Twilight felt really hurt about me lying to her?"

Starlight raised her head up, thinking about it, then lowered it back down with a frown. "I don't know for sure, but she probably was."

I facepalmed and groaned. I finally figured out why Twilight was so harsh to me, and man did it hurt! Yeah, she was mad that I wouldn't talk. But what made her truly upset was learning that l was still lying to her, even after we became so close. She trusted me, so finding out I was still hiding stuff just hurt her really bad, and that was why she shook me. And I lied to the others, including Starlight, and she had been about as nice to me as Twilight had been. She even just helped me got out the emotions I needed to get out of me so bad.

Maybe I deserved every bit of what Twilight did to me, even my little injury. In fact, as I was thinking about how bad I might have broken her heart, I even thought that maybe I got off easy, because of how much she's been helping me, and how nice she's been to me. I started tearing up again. Starlight quickly moved closer and put her hoof beside me again, thinking I was about to start bawling again, but what I said next surprised her.

"Starlight, I just want you to know, that I wasn't blaming you for what's been happening to me. It was just emotion talking, and I'm not even mad at Twilight anymore. I now understand why she acted that way, and I don't blame her one bit. And I'm sorry I lied to you for so long about how much I really knew. Can you forgive me for lying to you? And, could you try to trust me again?"

"I already have, Eric"-- Starlight gave me a wink --"and I've done much worse than that, remember?"

I chuckled, but then frowned again. "Well, how about the others? Do...do you think they, and especially Twilight, will ever want to truly trust me again? Applejack and Rarity weren't just being nice, were they?"

"Ha, please, Eric. They forgave Discord and me for what we did to them, so I'm sure they'll forgive you for lying out of fear. And you know Applejack doesn't lie."

"Still, I just feel so bad for doing it for this long, Starlight, and I--"

Starlight very carefully placed her hoof to the right side of my head, as best she could. It was almost like she was trying to place it on my cheek, but her hoof's too big to do it. In a calm voice, she told me, "Eric, listen to me. I know that you feel guilty for lying to us, and especially to Twilight. And trust me on this: I really do understand, because you sound just like I did three weeks ago. But you blaming yourself like this won't help anypony, or you. That's why I'm trying so hard to learn the counterspell so I can fix the mistake I made: it'll help us all a lot better than if I just blamed myself and did nothing else."

"I know, Starlight, but what can I do to fix my mistake?"

"Well, you'll just have to tell them how you feel and say you're sorry."

With a finger on my chin, I looked down a bit, thinking about what Starlight just told me. I looked back at her, smiled, and said, "Okay, I understand, Starlight, and I think I'm ready to see Twilight. I want to get back on my big sister's head again."

Starlight moved her hoof away from me and smiled. But before she could say anything, there was a knock on the door, and Starlight went to see who it was. It was a green Unicorn I'd never seen before. She said that Starlight was needed badly down the road.

Starlight asked me if I wanted to go, but I said that I'd stay there, and she left.

Once she left, the pony that just told Starlight her help was needed, just stood there, and asked, "You're very good friends with Starlight Glimmer and Twilight Sparkle, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh, I just wanted to be sure."

Before I could ask what that meant, a green fire surrounded her, and she changed her form. What I saw...I just couldn't believe it!

She became taller, almost twice as tall as Twilight or most full-grown ponies.

Her skin was nearly a black color.

She had a blue mane...or it looked like a "mane", wings like an insect's that was more or less the same color, and a long, crooked black horn on her forehead.

The lower half of her legs had a few holes, similar to the holes in swiss cheese.

Right there in front of me, was Queen Chrysalis! And for some reason, she seemed to want me! But why? What did I do?! She gave her trademark evil laugh, as I just sat there staring, my eyes and mouth wide open, wishing Twilight or Starlight were there.

Chapter 10: Making Things Right, Part 1, The True Blame

I was alone at Fluttershy's cottage when a pony I'd never seen before came out of nowhere, said Starlight was needed nearby, and Starlight left. After Starlight was gone, that "pony" revealed herself to be Queen Chrysalis herself! For some reason, she wanted me.

"Well, hello, little fellow," Chrysalis said, chuckling evilly, looking right at me. "I have plans for you."

"Wait, you're Queen Chrysalis!" I stood up on the couch I was sitting on, holding my left arm. "Why do you want me? What did I do?"

"Nothing, dear boy, except that you're friends with the pony I hate the most, Starlight Glimmer."

"What...what are you gonna do with me?!"

Chrysalis answered that question by levitating me to her, in front of her face, and looked at me with a huge smirk. Looking at her big face, her teeth almost as big as me, her horn glowing green, with no idea of what the giant was about to do to me, pure terror poured through my veins, and I was ready to scream for Twilight and Starlight. But before I could, Chrysalis's horn glowed brighter and I was hit with a green, painless, spell, and when I opened my mouth, no sounds came out. Uh-oh.

Doing the evil laugh she loves doing, Chrysalis took some steps out of, and away, from Fluttershy's cottage, still holding me in her magic. But a light-blue blast of magic came out of nowhere, hitting the ground in front of us, leaving a small hole in the ground, and stopped the Queen in her tracks. I turned to my right to see where it came from, and a big 'ol smile appeared on my face.

Starlight, gritting her teeth and with her horn glowing light-blue, was standing there.

"Well, you're back sooner than I thought, Starlight Glimmer." Chrysalis slowly turned to face Starlight, with an evil grin on her face.

Starlight's horn glowed even brighter, with the tip of her horn glowing the brightest, becoming a white color. "Let my friend go right now, Chrysalis. Or else!"

"Oh...ha ha...you want me to let him go? Fine."

Oh, Chrysalis "let me go" all right. She used her magic to throw me in the air, screaming at my limit in pure fear -- or I would've been screaming if not for me still being mute -- in Starlight's direction. With Starlight's eyes on me, Chrysalis fired a powerful green blast that hit her, completely off-guard, and Starlight screamed in pain as it knocked her off her hooves. The Unicorn landed on the ground hard on her side, slid on the ground while grunting, and was just barely able to regain her focus to use her magic to catch and sit me on the ground safely. But Starlight was down, hurt, grunting in pain, with her head turned to me.

I tried to yell Starlight's name, but that spell on me meant nothing came out of my mouth. Before I could do anything else, Chrysalis cast another spell on me, and everything went dark.

Meanwhile, back at Twilight's castle, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy had told Twilight all that Eric said, before they left him with Starlight, including the injury her shaking did to his arm. Thinking about not only the fear and panic she already knew her anger forced Eric to endure, but the pain that she unknowingly inflicted, Twilight briefly froze in place, before more tears than ever poured from her eyes. Her mouth opened wide from shock, and a nearly unbearable pain pierced the pony's heart from guilt.

"How...how could I have done that to him?! How is a pony like me the 'Princess of Friendship'?!"

Rarity took a few steps toward Twilight. "Please, Twilight, don't be too hard on yourself. You didn't know you were doing it."

"Yeah, Eric told us he's been hurt a lot worse before, and even he knows ya didn't mean to hurt him!" Applejack tried to assure. "It's not like he's in pain over there at Fluttershy's. He even said his arm's not hurt bad and would be healed in a week or two and that he'll still want to see ya. It's not that bad."

"But it is that bad!" Twilight yelled at the top of her lungs. "After all Eric's been through and nearly been killed more than once, all because of something I did and wasn't his fault and something Starlight's blaming herself for, he didn't deserve getting hurt like that too, and even worse, I promised I wouldn't let it happen! And now...*sniff*...not only did I let it happen, but I'm the pony that hurt him! I definitely don't deserve Alicorn wings, and I'll never forgive myself for putting him through that!!"

Twilight ran out of the room they were in, forming a trail of tears behind her, all the way to her own room.

"Golly, I've never seen Twilight so upset before guys!" Pinkie turned her head in the direction Twilight ran.

"Me neither, Pinkie." Applejack shook her head. "I don't think one of our pep talks would work this time, not with her that upset. I thought she might take it hard, but not this hard. She's never doubted if she should be an Alicorn before."

Rainbow tilted her head down and thought about the last three weeks. "You know, we have been thinking about how Starlight's been feeling really bad the last three weeks about Eric being stuck in Equestria. But now I think that Twilight's been feeling just as awful about it, no, maybe even worse, and it might be why she's been a little protective of Eric lately. Not just because she was becoming close to him, but because she was trying to make it up to him."

"And that could be why she lost it like she just did," Pinkie added.

"But if that's true, and she's just been hiding her pain from us, even from Eric, then how she just hurt that little darling might have just pushed Twilight over the edge, as Pinkie said."

"What do we do?" Fluttershy asked. "If Eric knew that Twilight's this upset, he'd probably want to see and talk to her."

"But we said that we wouldn't try to force him to see Twilight until he's ready," Rarity reminded.

"I know, Rarity." Applejack put her hoof on her cheek. "We can't tell him this to make him feel pressure to see her."

"Well, we gotta do something about Twilight, before she does something crazy!" Rainbow warned.

"Dear, I wish Spike were here. She needs him more than ever."

"Wait, what about Starlight?" Applejack bought up. "She's gotten close to Twilight, is more like her than any of us are, and she's been livin' with her for a while now. So maybe she could be a better help."

Fluttershy walked in the direction of the front doors to the castle. "I could go and get her."

An injured Starlight Glimmer struggled through the door, took a few weak steps, before falling to the floor with a thud and a grunt of pain. It took almost all her energy just to teleport herself near the door of the castle, and she needed to take a few steps to get through it. The five friends ran toward their injured friend and surrounded her.

"Starlight, what happened?!" Rainbow asked.

"It...it was...Queen Chrysalis!" Starlight answered as she struggled to catch her breath.

Everypony shouted, "What?!"

Rarity used her magic to levitate Starlight, slowly, to a nearby couch and called, "Twilight, get back in here! Starlight's back and she's hurt!"

Twilight, still sniffing, ran back into the room, and her still-watery eyes widened at the sight of Starlight lying on the couch, gasping for air and moaning in pain. "No! Starlight!" Twilight sped in front of the downed Unicorn. "Are you all right?! Who did this to you?! And where's Eric?!"

Starlight explained what happened to her, that Chrysalis took away Eric, and what direction she took him, towards some caves just outside of Ponyville. The friends gasped deeply and shouted at the same time, "What?!"

Rainbow spread out her wings. "It's bad enough that she hurt Starlight, but if Chrysalis hurts Eric in any way, I'll tear her apart!"

Rarity gritted her teeth. "Not if I do it first, Rainbow!"

"Okay, let's calm down. everypony." Applejack waved her hoof downwards in a calming motion. "We won't save him if we lose our heads. We gotta come up with a plan."

"Yeah!" Rainbow agreed. "And when we save Eric, we'll kick that bug queen's flank! Right, Twilight?"

The friends all turned to where Twilight was standing, but Twilight herself was no longer there.

"Wait, where's Twilight?" Pinkie swung her head back and forth around the room.

"Oh no!" Fluttershy cried out. "She must have run off by herself!"

"No, no! "Applejack yelled. "What was that pony thinkin'?! This is Queen Chrysalis she's up against!"

"She must think all of this is her fault," Rarity said. "But she can't face Chrysalis in the state she's in! She's too upset!"

"And even if Twilight's an Alicorn, I don't know if she can go head-to-head with Chrysalis," Applejack commented. "She could get herself captured, or worse!"

"Wait, 'worse'?!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"We gotta go after her before it's too late!" Rainbow ran to the front door of the castle.

"I'm in no shape to be helpful, so I can't go," Starlight admitted. "So please, save Eric, and make sure Twilight doesn't do anything crazy!"

"And I'll stay and get Starlight to a hospital," Fluttershy suggested.

"Okay, y'all, let's go!"

Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie all ran out the door, led by Applejack, leaving Starlight in the care of Fluttershy.

Feeling immense sadness, anger, and guilt, Twilight, once she heard Starlight say what happened to Eric, couldn't hold herself back for even a single second. Without even thinking about a plan, the emotional Princess sped out of her castle and flew in the direction of the caves Starlight said Chrysalis took Eric, without the others even seeing her leave. Too upset to think rationally, she wanted to save Eric alone. Twilight wasn't going to risk another friend getting hurt over something she thought was her fault.

"I can't believe I let this happen! Not only did I hurt Eric, but Starlight's hurt, and now Eric's at the mercy of Chrysalis! This is all my fault! I have to save him and make things right!"

Gritting her teeth, Twilight flapped her wings as fast as she could to pick up her flight speed to her limit, squinting her eyes from the wind resistance, wishing she could fly fast enough to do a Sonic Rainboom to get to Eric faster. Her eyes locked onto the top of a cave in the distance that became slowly bigger and clearer as Twilight flew closer to it. She was ready to do whatever it took to save the little human, who she promised him she'd keep safe.

"If Chrysalis harms you in any way, Eric, she'll wish she never met Twilight Sparkle! Just hang in there, your big sister is coming!"

When I came to, I saw myself trapped in some kind of a magical green bubble, at the bottom of a very deep hole in a cave. Queen Chrysalis was standing on the edge of the hole, looking down at me, laughing. I couldn't get too good a look at her, but I could make out enough to tell what she was doing.

"Ah...you finally woke up. Oh, and while you were 'napping' I removed the mute spell, so you can talk again. I even threw in a bonus and recast the spell that was on you before, so your voice and ears are how it was before my...visit. I even improved your eyesight temporarily, so you can see a lot further than your size would normally allow."

Looking up, I sat up and yelled, "What's the deal, Chrysalis?! Why did you take me?!" Even with my voice back to "normal," I still had to yell because of the distance between Chrysalis and me.

"I told you before, it's because you're friends with that insufferable little Unicorn."

"I take it you mean Starlight Glimmer? We're gonna have to agree to disagree on that 'insufferable' part, but what are you gonna do with me now?"

"Well...let's just say things will get...hot for you soon," Chrysalis chucked.

I almost didn't want to ask, "What do you mean by that?"

"I'll get to that. But first, I'll tell you a little secret."

"Okay, what is it, Chrysalis?"

"Well...I'm sure that Princess Twilight Sparkle told you a 'Nightmare Prevention Spell' is why you're in Equestria, right?"

"Yeah, she did. What about it?"

"And I'm sure that she and Starlight Glimmer think it's their fault, right...?"

"Well, yeah, but what does that...wait --" I stood up, clinching both my fists and raised my right arm up towards Chrysalis and pointed a finger"-- did you have something to do with it 'vanishing', Chrysalis?"

"Yessss, and let me explain."

Pacing back and forth in classic villain fashion, Chrysalis told me what really happened. When Twilight and Starlight cast the Nightmare Prevention Spell, Chrysalis used a long-distance spell of her own to make it out-of-control, and that was the reason it "vanished" when Twilight and Starlight were chasing it. She also explained that she knew a lot about the idea of a Multiverse, much more than even Starlight did, and even knew that a being from another world would get bought here if that type of spell went haywire. I was just the unlucky one to be affected.

And the reason: To make Starlight think it's her fault and she tortures herself with guilt, which she did. Chrysalis would later go after whoever came to this world, which is, of course, me, to further torture Starlight with guilt. Then after Chrysalis had seen enough, she'd defeat Starlight directly. I was in obvious danger, but all I was thinking about at that point were two things.

First was how bad Starlight blamed herself for me being in Equestria the last three weeks. AND IT WASN'T EVEN HER FAULT AT ALL!

And if that weren't enough to get the blood boiling, there's the second thing I was thinking about, even more. Twilight's feeling worse than I could ever imagine over shaking me because I just couldn't tell her the full truth. And because I didn't go back to her when I had the chance, I might have never gotten the chance to tell her how sorry I was that I hurt her by lying! It made me madder than I've ever been in my life! Both at Chrysalis...and myself.

"I'll get you for this, Chrysalis!" I waved my right fist at Chrysalis. "You'll pay for making Starlight go through that, and for hurting her!"

But Chrysalis just laughed. "You fool! What do you think you can do to me?"

Yeah...in my moment of anger, I forgot about my tiny size. And even if I were more her size, against her magic, there's no way I could take down Chrysalis. Once that sunk in, I put my arm down, sat back down and growled, frustrated.

"Fine, Chrysalis. Maybe I can't do anything, but Princess Twilight Sparkle and my other friends can! Just wait till they get here!"

"Ha! let them come. It'd be too late for you anyway."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I guess I'll honor a last request. Surrounding that barrier you're in, are a special kind of flammable rocks."

I stood back up, and took a closer look at what was outside the barrier I was in. Sure enough, just outside it, were a lot of green-colored rocks surrounding my barrier. Even though the rest of the cave was dark-brown.

Chrysalis got back to her monologue while pacing back and forth some more, just like a true villain. "I'm going to light a flame from where I am right now, and in about twenty minutes, the flames will reach you inside that barrier. But don't worry, you'll be out from the smoke in about fifteen minutes, so you don't have to worry about burning to death."

My heart sank. I didn't think that I'd make it out of there alive. I was stunned and my body felt numb, not just from fear of dying, but from the guilt of never getting the chance to apologize to Twilight. Or to even tell Starlight it's all Chrysalis's fault I'm here and she didn't mess up that spell, like she's been thinking the last three weeks.

"But I'll let you die in privacy, and I have a feeling you'll have company soon."

"What does that mean? Who's gonna be here?"

"You said your 'friends' would come, so you'll at least get to see them one last time. But don't think they'll be able to save you. The fire that will surround you can't be put out by anything until it dies down on its own. Not even spells from Alicorns can put it out, and only Changeling magic can last longer than a second in the flames. Teleportation won't work on you, if whoever does it is outside of that barrier you're in, so even Princess Twilight can't save you."

That also explains why I was in any kind of barrier at all. It'd actually protect me from the direct flames for a while, but it would also keep Twilight or Starlight from teleporting me out of here. To be honest, the MLP fan in me kinda wanted to admit to Queen Chrysalis that, this plan was good.

On one hand, I was glad I'd be able to see Twilight and the others one last time, so I can tell them I'm sorry. But that meant that if I couldn't be saved, they would see me die! I just looked down, not knowing what to do or say.

"Well, I think I've told you more than enough. I'll let you be alone. Oh, and if you must blame somepony, blame your 'friend' Starlight Glimmer, by turning my subjects against me and humiliating me, Queen Chrysalis! Farewell!"

Chrysalis gave her evil laugh again and while using a spark fired out from her horn, she lit one of the rocks surrounding my barrier on fire and left. The fire slowly began to spread around my barrier, and the cracking sounds of it spread with it. The barrier would protect me from the actual flames for a while, but not from the green-colored smoke, and it was gradually filling the cave. Maybe because it's a different type of fire, the green smoke was a bit more clear than smoke from "normal" fires, so it didn't block my view of the area too much.

I could do nothing but sit and wait to eventually pass out from the smoke. I was surprised that Queen Chrysalis would go this far, killing someone from another world that had nothing to do with her. Just to get revenge on Starlight.

But as I sat there, watching the fire fully surround the barrier I was in, hearing that cracking sound now come from every direction, with the air around me becoming warmer but not "hot", I thought that it actually made sense. If Chrysalis went after not just a friend, but a completely innocent being from a different world, to get back at her...oh boy. Starlight's heart would not be able to take it. She'd probably think that she's a danger to everyone, even to those in other worlds, just by living. I wanted to get out of there more than ever, not just because I didn't want to die, but to keep Starlight from going through that kind of guilt.

About five minutes after Chrysalis started the flames, I couldn't take being there anymore, and I wanted to see Twilight, bad. I yelled out to her, with all my might.

A voice answered back, "I'm coming, Eric!"

Yep, that sure put a smile on my face, and five seconds later, my big sister came into view, where Chrysalis was standing. It was hard to make out, partly because of the distance, but also because of the flames, but I could tell that she was turning her head rapidly in one direction after another, scanning the area, trying to understand what was going on, and was coughing a bit from the smoke.

I stood back up, looking up, grinning. I yelled, "Twilight! I'm so glad to see you!"

"Don't worry, Eric, everything's gonna be all right! I'm gonna teleport you out of that barrier!" Twilight's horn glowed, but nothing else happened. "What...? What's going on?! You should be on my head!"

Forgetting what Chrysalis said about teleportation I asked, "Twilight, what happened? Did you do the spell wrong?"

"No, I did it right! That barrier must somehow be blocking me from teleporting you to me!"

I then remembered what Chrysalis told me before about teleportation, and yelled, "Oh yeah, that's right, Twilight! Chrysalis said that teleportation spells won't work for anything in this barrier unless it's done in here! She knew you would try to do that!"

"That's okay, I'll just teleport myself in there, then get us both out!"

Her horn glowed again, but once again, nothing happened. Yep, that stupid barrier's blocking her from being able to do that too. Already at the edge of the hole I was in, Twilight formed a spherical pink barrier around herself with her magic and was about to jump in the fire to come get me directly.

But I warned her just in time, "No, don't do it, Twilight! Chrysalis said magic that's not Changeling magic won't last longer than a second in this fire. Your barrier won't last long enough to get me in time!"

Hearing that jumping in the fire in a barrier wouldn't work, Twilight dispelled her barrier. "Then I'll put out this fire, then get you out of there!"

Twilight fired a bunch of pink magic blasts, back to back, at the fire to try to put it out. But as Chrysalis said, it did nothing.

"That won't work either, Twilight! Chrysalis said this is some kind of 'special fire' that can't be put out with anything, not even with spells from Alicorns! So not even you are powerful enough to do it!"

"No, that can't be! I'll keep trying!"

Twilight gave it everything she had, desperately firing out more blasts. She even flew as close to the flames as she could, hoping close-range blasts might work. But, even after thirty close-range blasts, the fire still wasn't weakening one bit. Spent, she slowly flew back to the edge of the hole I was in with the fire, collapsed to the ground, and coughed some more from the smoke.

Seeing this, I thought that, despite being so powerful and was doing everything she could by herself, Twilight wouldn't be able to save me this time, so I felt that I needed to be a man and accept my fate. With the smoke starting to make me a bit light-headed, I would only last a few more minutes before passing out. I thought that if I didn't say what I needed to say to Twilight right now, I'd never will.

I sat back down. "Twilight? I need to say something!"

"Okay, but don't start thinking you're going to die! I'm gonna think of something, Eric, I promise! I won't let you die here!"

"No, Twilight, it's okay! I know you can't save me this time, and I'm not mad about it, or scared! But I want to tell you, I'm sorry for what I did!"

"Wait, what do you mean by what you did? It's my fault that you're in there!"

"No, it's not! And, Twilight, please, let me talk. I need to say this!"

Twilight lay on her stomach, stayed still and quiet, other than coughing a few times, and just looked down at me.

"All right, Twilight. First, Chrysalis told me that the Nightmare Prevention Spell went out of control because of her! So it's not your or Starlight's fault! You have to tell Starlight that me being in Equestria was never her fault! She's been beating herself up for the last three weeks for something that was never even her fault to begin with! And there's more!"

Twilight continued to stay still, and I kept on spilling it.

"Thanks to Starlight's help, I know why you shook me! It wasn't because you thought I was a threat, but because I was still lying to you! And I deserved it! Ever since you found me and saw I wasn't a bug, you've tried your best to help me get back to my world! And not only that, you took me under your wing, let me be on your head because I liked it, and you've been so nice to me. You even saved my life twice!"

I started tearing up. "You...*sniff*...even went as far as to become the big sister in this world that I needed so bad, with my family not being here! But even after that, I was still lying about how I knew about you and Equestria! I get why you were so mad, and if it were the other way around, I might've done the same thing! You trusted me, and I hurt you! I'm so sorry, Twilight! I didn't mean to do it, and I really was going to tell you the full truth before too much longer!"

Twilight looked to have been wiping her eyes as I kept on talking.

"It was an honor to be your friend! In fact...I shouldn't even be your friend, or to think of you as a big sister, Twilight, because I don't deserve you! You're Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship! You deserve the best friends, not a lying idiot like me!"

I finally just looked down, thinking I didn't even deserve to look at Twilight.

Yelling a bit softer, but still loud enough for Twilight to hear me, I kept going, "I know I'm done for, and I'm ready! Don't worry, the smoke will kill me before the fire gets to me, so I won't die painfully! Just tell the others I love them, and I'm sorry I lied to them for these last three weeks! And please tell Starlight I said to try not to blame herself too much for this! And I said thank you for all she's done for me, and for putting herself in danger, even got herself hurt, just for me! And I don't hate or blame her for this, and I love her!"

I had to push myself to keep going, as I was becoming faint.

"Thank you so much for everything you've done for me, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and I love you the most! I just wish I could be on your head one last time! But If you stay here much longer, you could pass out from the smoke! With you being so high up, it'll affect you a lot faster than it will to me, so you gotta get out of here!"

I kept looking down. But Twilight ordered me to look back up at her. I was weak, but I did my best to do what she said.

"Eric Reed, I know you think that you deserved being shaken and hurt by me! And that you don't think you deserve to be my friend or to think of me as your big sister! There's so much I want to say, but right now there's not enough time! But for now, I will tell you that I can never tell you enough how sorry I am for hurting you like I did! But, I can show it by what I'm about to do! You're gonna be able to tell Starlight and the others how much you love them yourself, Eric! I'm getting you out of there, or die trying! And I love you too!"

Twilight materialized some water over herself with her magic to pour on her, then put up a barrier around herself again. There's a way for her teleportation spell to get me out of the barrier I was in. If she could get inside it without teleporting herself in, she'd be able to teleport us both out, because in the barrier, her teleportation could work on me. And at that point, there was only one way for her to get there: by jumping in the flames, unprotected after the first second when her own barrier wears off, and passing through the barrier I was in. It would take her five seconds to get inside, thanks to some odd resistance of the fire that would slow the speed of her fall down.

I was about to learn, more than ever, why Twilight Sparkle is the Princess of Friendship, and why she deserves her Alicorn wings.

Chapter 11: Making Things Right, Part 2, Heart of Fire

Captured by Queen Chrysalis, I was trapped in a magical barrier, surrounded by fire. She left to let me "die alone", but with my time almost up, Twilight found me. But no matter what she did, she couldn't put out the fire, couldn't teleport herself in the barrier to get me out or teleport me out to her.

Prepared to die, I told her how sorry I was for hurting her by my lying, and that Chrysalis was the real reason I was in Equestria, not hers or Starlight's.

I tried to tell Twilight to get out of there, since she couldn't get me out, and she'd risk passing out from the smoke herself if she stayed. But my big sister wouldn't leave me, and instead jumped into the flames to get in the barrier I was in. She put a barrier around herself, but it'd only last about a second in the fire. If Twilight could withstand four seconds of being in it, with nothing protecting her but some water she poured on herself right before she went in, she'd pass through the barrier I was in.

The barrier wasn't a "solid" type of barrier you'd probably think about when you think about barriers, so Twilight would just fall through this one, like it's a barrier made of water. Then, she could teleport us out, since that's the only place her teleportation can work on me.

If Twilight still had the strength to do it. If she didn't, she would die in there with me.

Once Twilight entered the fire, with her barrier still active, I wanted to turn away, but at the same time, I couldn't, knowing she was doing this for me. But once her barrier disappeared, and her body was in direct contact with that fire, and completely engulfed by it, that pony screamed in a horrific tone of pure agony that I hope she'd never have to do again.

That's when I covered my ears, turned away, and mentally started counting, "One...two...three...four."

Once I got to "four," something extremely heavy crashed onto the ground I was on, just behind me, with the thud strong enough to knock me in the air by a few inches. And because I was only a "few inches" tall, it was like a six-foot-tall person being thrown seven or eight feet in the air by a huge thud. I landed on my stomach, unharmed, and looked behind me, and there was Twilight, lying down, badly burned, grunting in pain, but with her horn glowing.

The next thing I knew, we were outside, on the ground, and alive! Guess the spell Chrysalis cast to enhance my vision wore off, since everything seemed to be the correct size to me.

"We're alive! Thank you so much, Twilight!" I yelled in pure joy, but that feeling ended when it sunk in just how bad Twilight's burns were: some were even as bad as third-degree burns. I gasped, and asked, "Are you all right?!"

All that made me feel faint, as I was still lightheaded myself from the smoke and lay down on my back to try and rest. But I heard Twilight, still lying on the ground, say something that not only assured me she'll be okay, but made me even happier than I was before.

"*pant*...*pant* don't worry...I'll be all right, but...you see? I...promised you that I would think of something...and that I wouldn't let you die in there...didn't I...little brother?"

I looked at Twilight's face, with a big 'ol smile on my own face, and I almost did a high-pitch "squee" from hearing what she just said.

While in pain, Twilight had a weary smile on her, and she nodded at me. I'd said to Twilight before that she was like my new big sister, but she's never said I was like her new little brother. Until that moment. I wanted to hug her, but because she was burned, I didn't want to touch her and risk putting her in any more pain. Especially not after what she just did for me.

Right after that, I heard Rarity call out, "Twilight! Eric! Are you two okay?!"

"I'll be fine, but Twilight's burned bad! She needs help!"

Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash all ran to us, but they slowed down and walked slowly once they got close. They knew their hoofsteps would be like earthquakes for me on the ground if they kept running. Once got close enough to see Twilight's burns more clearly, they gasped, but didn't speed up their walking because of it.

"Twilight!" Pinkie screamed, and leaned her head down to Twilight with a big frown. "What happened to you?!"

To keep Twilight from trying to answer, and use up more of her energy, I quickly answered, "It's a long story, Pinkie, but we can explain once we get Twilight to a hospital."

With me on Rainbow's back -- it didn't feel right being on any other head but Twilight's -- and with Twilight herself on Applejack's back, we ran to the nearest hospital, and as soon as we got her in, Twilight got immediate treatment for her burns. Starlight was already there thanks to Fluttershy, recovering from her own injuries she got from the blast from Chrysalis.

In a waiting room of the hospital, with nopony else around, I now told Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Rainbow, and Fluttershy what happened to me in the caves with Chrysalis, and how Twilight risked her life by jumping into the fire Chrysalis set to save me. I also told them all I was sorry that I lied to them too, and they told me that they already figured it why I did, and they forgave me. Rainbow even liked the fact that those from other worlds had seen her "awesomeness". Ha, figures.

They also told me that they were sorry that they made me so nervous when they were pressuring me to talk; Applejack felt especially bad about it, and even had her hat off and held it when she apologized. They also apologized for not stopping Twilight right away after she picked me up with her magic, and that they really didn't think there was a danger of her actually hurting me, even if it was an accident. They felt really bad about that, but as bad as they felt, Applejack said that Twilight felt much worse, and I'd find out how bad she felt later on when she could tell me herself.

Because Chrysalis now knew where Fluttershy stayed (she probably took a page from Starlight's playbook, when she herself wanted payback on Twilight and the others) Applejack thought she should stay somewhere else, till we could build a new house for her, away from where she lived now. She decided to stay in Twilight's castle till it could be done. It also allowed her to keep an eye on me since I was still the Equestrian height of four inches, and I would be able to stay at Twilight's castle.

Three days after Twilight saved me from Chrysalis, Spike came back from the Dragon Lands. We told him all that happened while he was gone, and about me. Ha, safe to say he missed a lot! We became fast friends and got along great. Heh, I think he enjoyed not being the small one out of his friends anymore, which made him bond with me that much faster. Out of all our friends, he and I spent the most time at the hospital with Twilight and Starlight.

About a week later, in a well-lit hospital room made to fit one patient, I was alone with Twilight, who was laying on her side in a hospital-style bed, facing me. I was standing on a wooden table that was put right beside her bed, and it was meant specifically for me: Twilight's idea. Save for some places, like her mouth, eyes, a part of the top of her head, and a few random spots of her body, almost all of Twilight's body was in bandages because of her still-healing burns. However, thanks to the treatments given, she wasn't in any pain at that time.

Or she wasn't in physical pain at least. With her head tilted towards me, with big, sad eyes showing a lot of guilt, Twilight was about to tell me what she wanted to say right before she jumped into the fire I was trapped in to save my life. The only reason she didn't tell me sooner was that she wanted us to be alone, and this was the first time we were alone in the hospital. The room was quiet unless either Twilight or I said something, or she moved on her bed.

"Hey, Eric, I think it's time I finally told you what I was thinking back in that cave before I saved you."

"Oh, yeah, you said you had a lot to say, but you couldn't. What was it?"

"Remember when you said that you didn't think you deserve to be my friend or think of me as your big sister, and that you even deserved to be hurt by me?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"I want you to look at me in the eyes, and to promise that you'll listen to your big sister very carefully, okay, Eric?" Twilight asked in a more serious voice. She wanted me to make sure I listened to every word she was about to say.

I moved my face, so I was looking at her right in the eyes, just like she told me to do. "I will listen carefully, Twilight, I promise." I prepared myself for the waterworks from my big sister. Applejack and the others said this was coming.

"Okay. First, there was one thing you really were right about. I was hurt when I saw that you were still hiding a big secret from me, and I think that was why I acted the way I did."

Feeling a jolt of pain in my heart, I turned my head away from Twilight's eyes. "I know, Twilight, and I'm so--"

"Wait, Eric, please let me finish. I need to say this. And keep looking at my eyes."

I sat down, turned my face back to how I had it, so I was again looking in her eyes, and nodded. I wasn't gonna say another word till she finished.

"Now, it's true that I was hurt, but it wasn't until after Fluttershy left when I realized why you felt like you still needed to lie, thanks to Applejack, and I completely understand. Lying because you felt scared of what I might do, or wouldn't believe you, doesn't make you bad or an idiot. If anything, it's my fault for not making you feel safe enough. I should've thought more about how you could still feel nervous in such a huge world, tried harder to make you feel safer, and told you that you could tell me anything. I'm so sorry I didn't do it."

Part of me wanted to say that it wasn't her fault if I still felt nervous, but Twilight said to let her finish, so I stayed quiet as she kept talking.

"If you still have doubts that you're good, think of how bad you wanted to protect Starlight's feelings and cheer her up. In fact, back in those caves, you thought you were about to die, and yet you were thinking about how bad she would feel if you didn't make it. And all this came after Starlight tried to crush you, and you never once held it against her and it meant more to her than you know. I hate to admit it, but not even I can get fully over things that easily: just ask Discord or Trixie."

As I stayed still and quiet, tears were coming from Twilight's eyes.

"You do deserve to be my friend and to think of me as your big sister if you want to. I'm happy and proud that you do. In fact, maybe...*sniff*...it's me that don't deserve you."

I teared up too, hearing her say that.

"And -- this I want you to listen to the most -- you didn't deserve what I did to you, Eric. I know I was hurt by your lying, but the way I hurt you was way worse. I'm so huge when compared to you, and I will never forget how scared you looked, and...*sniff*...it was of me. That, on top of hurting you too, even if I didn't mean to, is...is something I'll regret forever, no matter how many times I might save your life. I should be the one pony to never hurt you or make you scared of them, and like I said in the cave, I can never tell you how...*sniff*...sorry I am..."

As she was talking, tears were just pouring from Twilight's eyes, and into the bandages closest to them. Then she just wept for several seconds. I've never seen Twilight, or anything, cry like that before. Starlight was right about Twilight feeling worse about hurting me than I knew, and seeing this Alicorn feel that bad about it, without a doubt, made any part of me that might have still been scared of her finally leave me for good. The only reason I didn't try to tell her it was okay was because she already said to let her finish, and she still wasn't done talking. After Twilight collected herself to stop weeping, she kept going again.

"But, I promise and...*sniff*...I will not forget or break this promise, that I will never, ever, hurt you like that again. I won't do it. At the very worst, I might yell at you but, no matter what, please, don't be scared that I'll try to hurt you, and please don't be scared of me. I know we've only known each other for only about a month, but with all the time we've spent together, you've really grown on me a lot, Eric, and I love you too much to even allow myself to harm you again. I'll even die before doing it again. Until I can send you back to your world, I want you to feel that you can never be hurt when you're near me, and that you can tell me anything you might have on your mind, all right? Can you forgive, and trust your idiot of a big sister again?"

"I already did, Twilight, and I fully trust you. I shouldn't have lied to you anyway, so I'm at fault too, and after what you did for me, how could I not forgive you? I guess I should've said this too, so I'll say it now. Part of the reason I still liked being on your head was because I felt I couldn't be hurt there, and I trust that you'll keep your promise, so I'll still feel safest there, and when just near you. And I'll help you keep your promise, by promising to try my best to never do anything to hurt you like I did again. I'm so sorry, Twilight. I love you too much to ever want to hurt you, and I promise to never do it again, okay? Not to my big sister."

Twilight smiled bigger than I'd ever seen her smile. "Thank you so much for telling me that, Eric, and I'm so happy that you feel that way, and I've already forgiven you too. I'll do my best to be a big sister you can be proud of, and I will do everything in my power to protect you. Not only that, but our friends will also protect you too, and especially Starlight will keep you safe. She really likes, no, loves you like how I do, even more than I thought she did. She hated how I hurt you and not long ago she gave me a big piece of her mind, and I deserved it. And, I'm sorry if I've been too bossy to you. I've just been trying to look out for you, and I might've overdone it sometimes. When I leave the hospital, I'll like you to be on my head as I'm leaving. Is that okay, little bro?"

"Yes, I'll love that, big sis."

This is where we would've hugged if Twilight weren't still so hurt from her burns. So we told each other that we'd do that later, after she's healed enough.

Two weeks after that talk Twilight and I had, Starlight recovered enough to leave the hospital.

Since she now knew the Nightmare Prevention Spell sending me to Equestria wasn't her fault, but Chrysalis's, and that I was happy, she was completely cheered up. She finally looked like the Starlight Glimmer I saw in the show...with one difference, which I'll get to in a second. Though she hadn't had any of the magical shenanigans she's known for, yet.

Because of the stronger bond between Starlight and me, very nearly on par with the one between Twilight and me, and the level of trust I gained in her, Starlight kept on feeling like a big sister. The only other pony I felt as safe as I did with Starlight was Twilight. I would sometimes even ask Starlight if I could be on her head, which she said she'd be happy to let me do, and she and Twilight were the only ponies I felt were my pony big sisters -- the others were more like my good friends -- so I never wanted to be on any other head but theirs.

But I only got on her head if Starlight and I were alone, with Spike, or with Twilight at the hospital. And she, Spike, and Twilight understood why I didn't want the others to see it. All other times, I would be on her back, or on something else, like a table.

About that "difference" I was just talking about. After how I was taken by Chrysalis right after she left Fluttershy's house, while she didn't show this right away, but Starlight soon became a lot more protective of me. She wouldn't want me to be too far away from her. Even when she wasn't yet fully healed, she would still sleep right outside my bedroom door like a personal guard and was often like a giant purplish-pink shadow I was stuck with: whether I wanted it or not.

Till Twilight got out of the hospital, Starlight acted like an overprotective big sister, and it did get annoying sometimes. It did beat the Unicorn being depressed at least, so I'd still taken the overprotective Starlight Glimmer over the depressed one, and at least I felt safe. But I did have to remind myself of that, a lot.

Five weeks after Starlight got out, Twilight recovered enough to leave the hospital. Not that I mind it, but I guess being an Alicorn meant Twilight can heal faster than "normal" ponies, because the third-degree burns she had normally require several months to heal from in my human world, though Twilight still wasn't fully healed. As she was leaving, I was on her head, just like we both wanted. It never felt so great for me to be there...and Twilight was the one to say that, but I was thinking it too.

Ever since we had that talk in the hospital, there was a change in how Twilight treated me. She was always really nice to me, so that part didn't really change much, other than maybe she was somewhat even nicer since we were closer than ever. But the real difference was that she started to make sure that I knew she now thought of me as her little brother. She'd sometimes call me "little bro" or refer to herself as my big sister much more often than she did before. Because she hardly ever called me her "friend" anymore, it truly felt like she meant that she thought of me as a brother; the pony wasn't just doing it to be nice, and she even seemed to embrace her role as my big sister. Knowing she was serious about it made me call Twilight "big sis" a lot more. Starlight, seeing Twilight do it, started doing it too. Though she didn't refer to herself my big sister or call me "little bro" as often as Twilight, and I called Starlight "big sis" too. If I were to guess, I started feeling like a little brother to Starlight when she was comforting me at Fluttershy's cottage.

And, as far as I was concerned at this point, Twilight Sparkle had never shaken or hurt me.

And in case you're wondering if Spike might get jealous, we were becoming like brothers ourselves, so that helped make him not feel like I was "taking his place" when it came to Twilight, because I wasn't. And both Twilight and I made sure that he knew it too.

By this time, Fluttershy's new home was built, and she was out of Twilight's castle. Since it looked just like her old one, she felt just as home in it, as she did in her old one.

With Twilight out of the hospital, Starlight finally stopped being so protective of me, but it was still there a bit, but not enough for it to sometimes be annoying.

For the first time, Twilight, Starlight, Spike, and I were at Twilight's castle at the same time, like one happy family. And boy, it felt so good not having to hold back or lie about what I knew about Equestria, so I felt happier now than I've been so far in Equestria. It also stopped being surreal here, and being friends with beings that I used to think were fictional. Even if they were still giants in my eyes. I even became quite used to being the Equestrian height of four inches tall too, though I still felt the safest when near Twilight or Starlight, especially when on one of their heads.

Twilight and Starlight were still trying to learn the counterspell to send me home, or at least to fix my size. I guess Starlight spoke too soon, since even knowing what I told her before, about me learning about Equestria from my world, she and Twilight still had a hard time learning the counterspell. They wouldn't be able to learn it anytime soon. But I didn't mind it, and I made sure to let them know that. I wasn't ready to leave them yet, anyway.

As for me missing my human family, I still did. But since my two human big sisters were always a little overprotective of me, having two somewhat overprotective pony big sisters, especially Starlight, did help it feel more like home. But after what's been happening anytime I was alone anywhere but my room, you can't blame them.

Twilight, though, would later think of a way to take her role as my big sister/best friend to another level, when she decided to have some "fun" with me, with a "big surprise". And I didn't see it coming.

Chapter 12: The Big & Little Surpise

It's now been a little over three months since Twilight saved me from Chrysalis, and four months since I found myself in Equestria. She's fully healed from the burns she suffered to save me from the flames I was trapped in. If she didn't jump into the fire to teleport me out of the barrier Chrysalis had me in, I'd died from the smoke.

Back at her castle, the two of us were in her library, alone for the time being. She was sitting in a purple-colored wooden chair reading a book, and I was in my favorite place in Equestria, reading one of the tiny books Twilight shrunk for me. Since I got to Equestria, while I liked to read some in my world, I started doing it more in Equestria and, at this point, I did it more than ever. I guess Twilight's rubbed off on me, huh? And just in case I need to say where my favorite place is, it was on Twilight's head, with Starlight's head being a very close second.

After a while, she set down the book she was reading and giggled to herself about something, and that's something she doesn't do very often. She asked if my arm was fully healed.

I put down my book beside me. "You mean my left arm, Twilight? Yeah, it's been healed well before you even got out of the hospital."

"And you're not in pain anywhere on your body, right, Eric?"

"Nope, no pain anywhere. What made you ask that?"

"I just wanted to give you a big surprise, that's all."

That got me excited and I smiled, asking, "Oh, a big surprise? What is it, Twilight?"

"Oh, you'll see." Twilight, chucking again, raised me off her head with magic, slowly put me to her chest, and carefully wrapped her right foreleg around me in a hug. Unlike Pinkie, Twilight always made sure she doesn't cover my head whenever she hugged me, and usually covers me up to just below my neck, as she did here.

"Oh, I get it. You wanted to make sure I wasn't still hurt, so you could give me a hug?"

With a surprisingly mischievous voice, Twilight answered, "Something like that."

Before I could ask Twilight what she meant by that, with a smirk on her face, she suddenly tightened her hug around me. It wasn't as bad as when Pinkie did it, but still, that giant pony's grip on me was a little too tight!

My eyes got big, and I squirmed pointlessly in her foreleg a bit alarmed...though obviously, I couldn't move much, except my head. I wasn't really "scared" but just surprised at why she was doing that. Looking up at her face, which was pointed down at me with a big grin, I yelled out, "What, hey! You...you're squeezing me too tight! What are you doing, Twilight?!"

"Who, me? I'm just having some fun with my little bro," Twilight said, in a very playful voice that I rarely hear from her. "Now, you were on Starlight's head before I got out of the hospital, so I have a question for you."

"Wait, you're not mad about that, are you?"

"Oh no, I'm not mad. She's your big sister too. I just want to know whose head you like being on the most? Mine or hers?"

"It's your head! Your head! Now let me go!"

Still looking down at me, Twilight shook her head. "Nope, that's not good enough. Say the name of the pony whose head you like being on the most."

"C...come on, this hurts! Ow! Cut it out!"

"Not until you say the name of that pony!"

"Ow! Okay, I will! Her name is 'Twilight!' Now stop it!"

She shook her head again. "Still not good enough. Say the full name of that pony!"

"Okay, her name is 'Twilight Sparkle!' There, you happy?! Ow!"

Shaking her head yet again, she teased, "Not yet! You didn't say 'Princess Twilight Sparkle', remember?"

"Ow, okay, okay, okay! The name of the pony that I like...ow...being on the head the most is 'Princess Twilight Sparkle!' And she's the best friend, sister, and princess ever! Now will you let me go?!"

Twilight turned her head up a bit, like she was thinking about it, just to milk it some more. "Well...I don't know. I'm enjoying this."

"Well, I'm not! Twilight!!"

"Okay, okay, I've had enough. Fun's over." Laughing, Twilight finally loosened her grip and raised me back on her head with her magic. And after that, I was exhausted!

Lying on her head on my back to catch my breath, I wheezed, "*pant*...*pant*...hey! Where did that come from?!"

"Hehe, I'm sorry, Eric. I just thought about how I never did anything to mess with you since we met. So big sis decided to change that!"

"Oh yeah, you're right. You never did anything like that. I never even saw that side of you when I was watching the cartoon with you all."

"Well, I guess there's more to me than you thought?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

Twilight, suddenly sounding worried, asked me, "But, Eric, I hope I didn't get carried away just now. I didn't squeeze you too hard or do that too long, did I?"

Hearing the way Twilight asked that, I started laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"Twilight, you sound just like my big sisters back in my world."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"They did stuff like that to me too, every chance they got. Then when they got done with me, like you just did, they'd ask 'Are you okay, Eric?' or 'Did I go too far, Eric?' and when I said I was okay, or that they didn't go too far, they'd sometimes do it to me again!"

"Really? They did?"

"Yep! Now it feels like home!"

Giving a sigh of relief, Twilight told me, "Oh, I'm glad to hear that! I was worried you might be mad that I did that. I should start doing more stuff like that sometimes!" Her voice became a playful one again. "In fact..."

Twilight again picked me up, put me back on her chest, and wrapped her right foreleg around me again. But before she gave her "big surprise" again, I gave my unexpectedly playful big sister a "little surprise" of my own. I dug my fingers into the hair on her chest and tickled her. Since she didn't yet pin my hands and arms down, I could move my fingers enough to do it. She felt it, let me go on the spot, and raised me back on her head, with us both laughing. Once on her head, I lay on my back again.

"Ha! Take that! How did you like my surprise, Twilight?"

"Haha! Hey, Eric, that's not fair!"

"Says the giant magical Alicorn that levitates me whenever she feels like it without warning."

"Okay, you got me on that one. But how did you think of tickling me to get free?"

"I forgot to say that, while I was putting up with those two goofballs for sisters and their 'fun' for eighteen years, I learned some tricks to turn the tables sometimes. And I can do it even to you, big sis!"

"Yeah, I see."

"Now, you wanna give me that 'big surprise' again?"

"No, no, Eric! I've had enough! I'm not giving you that kind of 'surprise' again!"

"Yep, I thought you'd say that. Oh, and no telling Starlight I did that. I want that to stay a secret, in case she tries to give me the 'big surprise' you just did."

"Deal, I won't tell her."

In a more serious voice, I said, "Twilight? This might not be possible even if you and Starlight learn the counterspell to send me back to my world. But, if this can be done, and if you wouldn't be stuck there yourselves, I would like for you and the others to meet my sisters and parents someday and to come to visit my world sometimes. If you can make yourselves the size of the ponies of my world that is, or at least not giants compared to humans there. Otherwise, you'll cause a panic!"

"Well, I don't know if that'd be possible, but if I can, I will."

"Thanks. And there is something else I want to ask you."

"What is it?"

"Is it okay if I call you 'Twi' sometimes?"

"You can, but on one condition."

"What is it?"

Twilight's voice tone became more serious when she ordered, "I don't want to hear you call yourself an 'idiot' again. Will you promise me that, Eric?"

"Okay, I won't do it anymore, I promise."

Hearing I wouldn't call myself an idiot anymore, which I guess she didn't like me doing, Twilight's voice went back to normal as she told me, "In that case, you can call me 'Twi' anytime you want. Just keep that promise, all right?"

"But in that case, can I ask you something else? Can you not call yourself an idiot again?"

"All right, I won't do it if you won't. Okay, Eric?"

"Okay, Thanks, Twi. I was going to tell the others this too, but I wanted to tell you about it first since you're the first one I met in Equestria. Since I knew so much about you, the others, and Equestria before I got here, I think it's only fair to tell you a lot more about my world that I still haven't told you yet, and as many stories about my life as I can think of. Do you want to hear some of it?"

"Sure, Eric, tell me as much as you feel comfortable telling me. You know how I love hearing things about your world."

I told Twilight -- or should I now start sometimes say Twi -- even more about my world, more about my family that I didn't tell her already or that she didn't ask about, and of the few friends I had. And as many stories about my life as I could think of. I hoped that, someday, I could bring Twi and the others to see my world.

A week after Twilight and I had our "fun", Starlight, Spike, and I returned to the castle after doing some shopping for Twilight. Since we were outside and could be seen by one of the others, I was on Starlight's back, not her head. On the way back, Starlight was telling us about some very interesting spells she's worked on and could even do on me, if I wanted her to.

But the three of us stopped talking about that, when we saw that Twilight wasn't in the castle. She said she'd be there. We dashed to the Cutie Map to see if she was called for a friendship mission, but it wasn't active.

Something didn't feel right, so the three of us searched the castle, but found no sign of her.

When we were really starting to get worried, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity all ran through the door, in a panic.

"Oh, we're so glad you're here!" Rainbow Dash was yelling, further proving that something was wrong.

"Wait, what's going on?" Starlight turned to Rainbow. "Do you know where Twilight is?"

"Just read this letter, Starlight!" Rarity shouted in a fearful voice, which I'd never heard from her before since I got to Equestria.

Rarity levitated a letter she was holding to Starlight, along with a map the letter was attached to. She read it to herself at first, after which her eyes got big, her horn leaked red smoke, and she gritted her teeth. She very rarely got mad enough for this to happen without her first having to be provoked multiple times, like how Trixie once did. So whatever that letter said, had to be bad news.

And oh boy, seeing Starlight like that, and how Twilight seemed to be missing, I knew that something serious happened. Starlight then signaled us all to do something, which, in itself, gave me a strong hunch on what happened to my big sister.

Chapter 13: The Redemption, Part 1, The Plan

Starlight, Spike, and I returned from shopping back to Twilight's castle, but Twilight herself was gone. She wasn't supposed to be gone, and the Cutie Map wasn't signaling her, so she wasn't off on a friendship mission.

As the three of us were becoming worried, Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Applejack ran into the castle and were in a panic. They bought a letter that Rarity found and brought it to us. Starlight had just read it, and as soon as she did, her horn leaked red smoke. Yep, whatever that letter said can't be good news, to say the least.

Before she said anything, Starlight raised a hoof in the air and kept it there. This was a signal for all of us -- including Starlight herself -- to lightly slap our cheeks three times. Afterward, Starlight put her hoof back down. After I was captured by Chrysalis, Twilight thought that we all should know, and do, some kind of a special motion that's only known to us. In case we'd need to prove we're us, and to give a non-verbal signal to do it. Raising a hoof, hand, claw, or whatever, and keep holding it up, was the signal to do it. We also told all the others, including Trixie, the CMC, Maud, Ember, Thorax, and even Discord about this too.

After we all did it, we all knew it had something to do with Chrysalis, and asked Starlight to read the letter out loud, and she did.

Dear Starlight Glimmer,

I have your little Princess of Friendship here in my lair. Since she ruined my plan with that little human, I took her instead. I've stolen her Alicorn magic, so she's defenseless. If you want to see her again, come to my lair. Alone. And no tricks, if you value the Princess's life. You have until noon to come, or she dies.

Queen Chrysalis.

Safe to say, we were all floored by this, and all our mouths dropped, except Starlight's.

"No! Twilight!" Spike yelled out.

"We gotta save her, guys!" I shouted.

"But what can we do? Chrysalis said for Starlight to come alone!" Fluttershy reminded.

"We should go tell Princess Celestia!" Rainbow ran to the door of the castle.

"But there's no time, Rainbow! We only have ten minutes till noon. Even if Starlight could teleport us near the royal palace, at this point, tellin' Princess Celestia what's goin' on, and then form a plan with her, could take too long. Then Starlight wouldn't have enough time to find Twilight in the caves!" As Applejack was talking, Rainbow stopped in her tracks.

Turning her head to Applejack, Rainbow asked her, "Wait, really, Applejack?"

"That's true, guys. Without knowing Twilight's exact location in the caves, I can't just teleport to her. I would have to walk through the caves, just like any of you would."

"Does that mean it's up to only us?" Pinkie asked.

"I think it is, Pinkie." Rarity put a hoof on her cheek.

"Well, we gotta come up with a plan y'all, and fast!"

After Applejack told us that, we tried to cook up a plan to save Twilight. True, Starlight's one of the most powerful Unicorns in Equestria and can even rival Twilight, despite that Twilight's an Alicorn. But if Chrysalis would be, or nearly be, as powerful as she was in the season two finale of MLP: FIM, even Starlight Glimmer would have no chance if she went alone, no matter how angry she'd get. It's highly likely that we'd never see her or Twilight alive again, and I even told them, since they knew how I would know this. And even if Chrysalis would be weaker, she could still be too much for Starlight on her own. So we couldn't just let her go by herself, but what could we do?

As they struggled to think of a plan, I thought of one.

"Guys. I think I have an idea,"

"You have one, Eric? What is it?!" Rainbow ran to me, and I was still on Starlight's back.

"What is it?!" Spike yelled at me, with a smile.

"Okay, this is a crazy plan, but it's the only thing I can think of that can work."

"Well, how crazy is this plan?" Pinkie hopped over to Starlight and me.

"Let me put it this way, Pinkie: this is a Starlight type of plan."

In other words, it's a crazy plan, and with spells. Starlight turned her head around and glared at me. Yeah, she didn't like that too much.

"Uh, no offense."

Starlight realized I had a point, so she sighed and responded, "None taken, Eric." She looked back to the rest of the group, and they were surrounding Starlight and me at this point.

"Well, what's the plan?!" Spike asked me again.

"I will, but I need to ask something first. Starlight, remember those spells you were telling Spike and me about before we got back to the castle?"

"Yeah, what about them?"

I pointed a finger at myself and asked, "Could you do all of them on me, and have them all be active at the same time?"

"What?! Why?" Starlight looked back at me, with her eyes wide open in shock about that idea of mine.

"Because my plan can only work if you can do it."

Starlight's eyes returned to normal, and she put a hoof on her cheek, and looked up a bit. "Well...I should be able to do that. But even if I can, together, most would only last about three minutes on you. And they still won't be able to give you a real chance against Chrysalis, if you're thinking of actually trying to fight her!"

"Wait, what are you two talking about? What spells?" Applejack asked.

"There's no time to go into the details, Applejack. But here's the very short version. With me hiding in her mane, Starlight will go to Chrysalis's lair. But before Starlight shows herself to Chrysalis, she would cast those spells we're talking about on me, and I'd wait for a chance to do my part of the plan. Working together, we're gonna save Twilight."

Now it was Applejack's turn to have the wide-open, shocked eyes, and yelled, "WHAT?! Are you crazy, Eric?!"

"Yeah! I mean, I know you want to save Twilight, darling, and I'm not trying to be mean. But...what can you do?"

"Don't worry. For one thing, I've watched your 'cartoon' enough to have an idea on where and how Chrysalis will keep Twilight's magic. If what I'm thinking is right, my plan will allow Starlight and me to free it. Then, with Twilight back at full power, she and Starlight together should be able to take down Chrysalis!"

"But if you know that much, Eric, why not just tell me, so I could just do it by myself?"

"Because this plan requires two of us, and even if I could think of a version that you could do by yourself, Chrysalis won't fall for it if you're alone, so it won't work unless we do it together. We gotta do something to throw her off for it to even have a chance. Plus, she also has a weakness that I think I can tap into better than you could, Starlight."

"Well, if you really think it can work--" Rainbow raised a hoof in the air "--then go for it, Eric!"

"And it's not like we have any other ideas," Pinkie said.

Applejack walked up to Starlight and me. "Well, we only have another five minutes till noon. If yer sure Eric, ya and Starlight should head off to where Chrysalis is keeping Twilight."

"Okay. Are you ready, Starlight?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Starlight replied a little bit nervously. "But what's the full version of your plan?"

"To save some time, I'll tell you as we go, okay?"

"Okay, if you say so."

"Good luck, guys! When you get back, I'll throw the biggest, greatest, most amazing party ever!" Pinkie told us while hopping higher and higher in the air smiling, then stopped once she got done talking.

"And be careful." Fluttershy gave a friendly smile, to show confidence in us.

"And please, don't get hurt, darlings."

"We won't, Rarity. We'll have Twilight back in no time."

"Let's go, Eric."

Starlight, with me still on her back, dashed out of the castle. After we were out of the door, Starlight levitated me on her head, and as I sat there, holding on to her mane, she ran as fast as she could in the direction of the caves Chrysalis had me in."

In the lair of Queen Chrysalis, in a different, bigger area of the cave she held Eric Reed in, about as wide as a sports stadium, Twilight Sparkle, without any magic, was pinned against a wall by Chrysalis's magic, with her back against the wall. Twilight was just off the ground by a few inches. Chrysalis held Twilight's magic in a pink ball on the other side of the room in the cave. Little dips of water on some of the walls could very faintly be heard, and the slightly cold temperature of the room only added to the tense atmosphere of the situation, for Twilight.

For Chrysalis, however, it was as perfect as it could be, as she was pacing back and forth, happily humming for Starlight Glimmer to arrive to try to save the trapped princess.

"Chrysalis! What are you doing this time?!" Twilight yelled.

"What do you think, Princess Twilight? I'm using you as bait to bring Starlight Glimmer to me, so I can finally get my revenge on that despicable pony."

"But what are you gonna do to her?!"

"Well, Princess, the first thing I'm gonna do is weaken her in battle, and when she's in a lot of pain, I'll kill you while she watches."

"What?!"

"Then, I'll take my sweet time finishing her off, and I'll have my revenge! Ha ha ha ha!"

"No! You can't do this! I swear, if you harm a hair on Starlight Glimmer, I'll make you pay!!"

"Ha! You sound just like that little human. I guess he got it from you."

"Who? Eric?"

"Yes, him! When I told him the truth about the Nightmare Prevention Spell, he made a pointless threat to 'make me pay' too!"

Twilight, seething in anger, scowled in the direction of Chrysalis but could form no words in her mouth. Without her magic, and herself pinned to the cave wall, she couldn't do a thing. She understood how Eric felt when he was captured, making her scowl even more, becoming that much madder.

"Well, it's about three minutes until noon, so your former student should be here any second. Enjoy the show, Princess Twilight!"

Chrysalis laughed evilly, while Twilight couldn't do anything, but wait.

With me now hiding completely in her mane, Starlight and I were almost at the caves just outside of Ponyville. According to a mark on the map that Rarity found, that's where Chrysalis held Twilight captive.

As we went, I told Starlight what my plan was, and what purpose the spells I asked her to act on me would be. She did not like it, being the slightly overprotective sister she can be to me sometimes. But since she couldn't think of anything better, Starlight said she'd trust that I knew as much as I thought I did. To be honest, I had some doubts about that myself.

Once we were about to enter the cave, I started getting nervous with chills going through my body, my heart was beating twice as fast, knowing I was about to face Queen Chrysalis again. But being with big sis Starlight, one of the most powerful Unicorns in Equestria, and believing my plan can work, helped ease me a bit.

As we moved through the caves and got near the entrance to the area of the cave with Chrysalis and Twilight, Starlight lay down on her stomach. I moved out of her mane, and she levitated me off her head on the ground, right against a wall of the cave. As for the first part of the plan, with me sitting down, she cast five different spells on me, back to back. She had to lose about a third of her magic to do them all, but it needed to be done, and she still had enough to do her part of the plan. We told each other good luck. I stayed where I was while she slowly walked into the room with Chrysalis and Twilight.

While nervous, if not a bit scared, part of me was happy for this chance. Ever since being in Equestria, Twilight's done all she could to try to learn the counterspell to get me back to my world. But not only that, she took me in, became my new big sister, and even saved my life more than once. She even jumped into fire and let herself get badly burned, just to save me.

However, I couldn't really do much for her in return. Not only that, I depended on Twilight a little too much. I've lost count of how many times I asked that pony "What do I do now, Twilight?" or "What do we do now, Twilight?" and hope that she'd do it, instead of just trying to figure out what to do myself first, then ask her if I really couldn't think of anything.

But now, she was the one in danger, and not only did I think of a plan to save her for once, and not ask somepony else what to do, but I could even do a part of it myself. I just needed to grow a pair and do my part. It was time for another redemption in Equestria: mine, for lying to her, Starlight, and the others for the first three weeks I knew them, by helping to save the life of Twilight Sparkle.

As Starlight went into the room with Chrysalis and Twilight, I said quietly to myself, "Hold on, Twilight. Your little brother is coming."

Chapter 14: The Redemption, Part 2, For Princess Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer

Queen Chrysalis was back again, still bent to make Starlight pay for ruining her plans in the MLP: FIM season six finale. After Twilight saved me from her three months ago, the Queen decided to make sure Twilight couldn't do something like that again, by capturing her! She gave Starlight an ultimatum: Come to her lair alone -- which was an obvious trap -- or don't come, and we risk losing Twilight.

I thought of a plan to save Twilight, but it was a crazy one. Hiding in Starlight's mane, we went into the lair where Chrysalis was holding Twilight and were at the entrance of the room the two were in. We started the first part of the plan: Starlight cast five spells on me, and I'd stay where I was and wait for my chance to do my role. As I waited, Starlight went into the room by herself.

Chrysalis gave her trademark evil laugh, as she saw Starlight slowly walk in.

"Well, well, nice of you to come, Starlight Glimmer!" She took a few steps towards Starlight but was still a good distance away. About, I'd say, twenty-five or so meters away.

"Starlight, it's too dangerous, just get out of here!" Twilight yelled out. Of course, Starlight wasn't gonna do that.

Starlight kept walking away from where she came in and stopped, forcing Chrysalis to turn away to Starlight's new position. She took a glance in Twilight's direction, then looked back to Chrysalis. "As you asked, Chrysalis, I'm here, alone. Now let Twilight go!"

"Why, why, so impatient, are we?"

"I'm serious, Chrysalis! let her go, now!"

"Well...okay, I'll let the Princess go...on one condition"

"What's that?"

Peeking from the entrance of the room, I was thinking for Starlight to remember what I said would come and stick to the plan. And hope that she wouldn't let her temper get the best of her.

"I'll let her go...if you die!"

"No! Starlight, look out!" Twilight yelled.

Chrysalis's horn glowed and fired off a powerful green beam at Starlight, similar to the one that put her in the hospital four months ago. But Starlight sidestepped out of the way before it got to her, making the blast hit the wall and cracked it.

"Clever, Starlight. But let's see you dodge these!"

Two more green blasts were fired at Starlight back to back, but she dodged both of them with more sidesteps, and they also hit and cracked part of a wall. She ran at an angle to let her both get closer to Chrysalis and get farther away from where she came in, and tried to go on the attack. But as Starlight's horn glowed light-blue, ready to strike back, Chrysalis moved right next to Twilight. Starlight couldn't fire her blast at Chrysalis with Twilight right by Chrysalis, so she relaxed, and her horn stopped glowing. By this point, Starlight was on the other side of the room where she came in.

"That's a cheap trick, Chrysalis! Get away from Twilight!"

Chrysalis's cocky mood changed, and she glared at Starlight. "You fool! Who are you to give me orders?! You should instead be begging me to spare the Princess's life!"

"No! Starlight! This is just too dangerous! Just get out of here to save yourself!"

"No, Twilight! I'm not gonna leave you!"

"I was going to wait to do this until you were in more pain, but I changed my mind. Now, unless you stay still, I'll kill the Princess right now. What will your choice be, Starlight Glimmer?" Chrysalis's horn glowed green again, and she pointed it at Twilight.

After Chrysalis said that, I gritted my teeth and prepared myself. Starlight made sure Chrysalis kept her focus away from where we came in the room, where I was.

"No, Chrysalis! Don't hurt her! I...I'll do whatever you say! Just leave Twilight alone!"

"Good girl," Chrysalis gloated, making me have to hold back my own temper. "You're smarter than I thought. Now stand still, don't move an inch and don't try any spells, or your princess dies!"

Chrysalis used her magic to pin Starlight to the ground, so she couldn't move, even if she wanted to. She charged up her horn to attack Starlight, with Twilight yelling at Chrysalis to not do it. This was what I was waiting for!

I ran in that room as fast as I could, and Chrysalis was turned away from me. I grabbed one of her legs, swung her around in circles and, with all of my might and a yell, I threw her into a wall on the other side of the room, which cracked it a bit, though Chrysalis didn't get injured by it. Still, I heard her grunt in pain when she hit the wall, so I knew she felt it, and after what she put not just me, but my two pony sisters through, it felt so good to finally let her have it!

And oh, boy, Twilight's eyes and mouth were wide open. She looked like she saw a ghost, as she stared at me...at her height!

Now, I know you're wondering how I could throw Chrysalis, and how I became as tall as Twilight, right? Well, remember those five spells I had Starlight cast on me?

The first one was a weak version of the counterspell. Yes, the counterspell, growing me to the height I should be here, which is that of full-grown ponies. Twilight and Starlight were able to finally master a proto-version of it the day before. It was still way too weak to send me home, but it could reverse the size effect that the Nightmare Prevention Spell had on me, for three minutes. We were actually going to try it out, once we got back to the castle, and ask Twilight to do it too. But a certain bug queen made our plans change. And yes, Starlight made it so it also grew my clothes and hat too, and they would shrink too when the spell wore off.

The second spell raised my strength, letting me throw the Queen like I did.

The third one was a weak speed spell, which raised my running speed by about four times my normal speed, letting me get to Chrysalis in time to grab and throw her. And as for the last two spells? Well, as Rarity would say, "No Spoilers!!"

Chrysalis stood up while shaking her head. "Wha...what was that?!"

"That was for Starlight Glimmer!" I yelled back. "There's a lot more where that came from, and I told you that I'd make you pay for what you did to my sister three months ago, Chrysalis!"

Chrysalis gave me a scowl. With a smirk, I glared right back at her, then I ran to Twilight to make sure she wasn't hurt. Because I was used to seeing her as a "giant", Twi now almost looked "tiny" despite her being more or less the same size as me.

"Twi? Are you all right?!"

"E...Eric?! Is that really you? How are you so big?! I didn't think Starlight could do even the weak version of the counterspell by herself!"

"Let's talk about that later, Twilight. For now, just hold on, and I'll take care of this!" I turned to Chrysalis.

"You're gonna what?! That's crazy, Eric! Just get out of here! I'm stuck here and I don't have my magic, so I can't protect you this time!"

"I'm not going anywhere, I'm gonna save you!"

"Eric, I'm serious! I'm your big sister, and I'm telling you to get out of here! Right now!!"

While we were arguing, a memory popped into my head. It was about that dream I had the night before I got to Equestria. The one where someone was telling me to do something, but I wouldn't do it. I remembered it.

And the kicker? It was about what happening now.

That "someone" what was telling me to do something, was Twilight!

That "something" I was refusing to do, was what she was telling me to do now: run away from there! It would've probably counted as a "nightmare" and according to Twilight and Starlight, the magic from the Nightmare Prevention Spell would've been in my world by the time I had that dream. It must have entered me soon after I went to sleep, and it made me forget about most of the dream. I could only remember it now because Starlight reversed the effect of the magic that was still in me.

It's also why I didn't have a single nightmare in Equestria, and because all of it went into me, the effect of not having nightmares didn't wear off after three weeks, like it was supposed to.

Because I remembered a bit on what happened next in it, it made me feel fully confident in my plan. But as I did, Chrysalis stood back up, facing Twilight and me, with her horn glowing, yelling, "You're gonna regret that, Eric Reed!"

I turned to Chrysalis, then spun back to Twilight, who was still screaming at me to run away. Making fists with both hands, with gritted teeth, I kept turning my head back and forth between Twilight and Chrysalis. Despite feeling confident in my plan, hearing Twilight yelling at me so hard to leave, I wondered if I really should just give up this crazy plan, and just do what my big sister's ordering me to do. Despite her yelling at me near the top of her lungs, I knew she was only doing it out of love.

I mean, at this point, from Twilight's point of view (or Starlight's too for that matter) one of the very worst things I could ever do to the Alicorn, is getting myself killed in front of her like this while trying to save her.

In fact, I even thought that Twilight would take it like she's the one that killed me. Even worse, if Twi couldn't get over "killing" me, she might have even taken her own life at some point, if she thought she "deserved" it. Given the choice, she'd rather die right there if it meant me living, and if I truly cared about her, I should respect her wishes and not die for her, because that's what my big sister would want.

I thought harder there than at any point in my life. This really was a time to not be an idiot, and I eventually made up my mind.

I relaxed my fists, stopped gritting my teeth, and turned back toward Twilight one more time. I took a deep breath, then looked her in the eyes. "Okay, Twilight. You really want me to run?"

"Well, yes! What did you think I meant just now, Eric?!"

"Alright. I'm gonna run away, okay?"

"Wait...I was too harsh, wasn't I?" Twilight asked in a softer, kinder voice, while frowning, and her ears drooped down. "I'm sorry about that, Eric. I didn't mean to yell at you like that, but I just don't want you to get killed, especially not over me. You're my little brother, and you shouldn't die for me. It should be your big sister that dies for you."

"It's all right, Twi. I know you couldn't bear to lose me, and that you care for me so much."

"Yes, I couldn't bear it, and I do care for you, so much! And don't worry about me, just promise me to take care of yourself, okay?"

"I will, and I'm gonna run now. And I'm gonna do it for you, Princess Twilight Sparkle, my big sister, okay? I love you."

A peaceful smile appeared on Twilight's lips and her ears perked back up, as she told me, "Thank you. I love you too, so much, Eric Reed, my little brother. And tell the others I love them too, all right? Especially Spike."

"I will if you really want me to, but I won't need to do it for you."

"What do you mean by that...?"

"Because you're gonna be able to tell them that yourself, Twilight." I turned my head towards Chrysalis, with gritted teeth. "I'm getting get you out of here, or die trying."

Yep, hearing me say that, Twilight's eyes widened to their limit, and her mouth dropped. "Wait, what?! NO!"

I turned away from Twilight and ran away, in Chrysalis's direction, but not directly at her and yelled, "Come on, Chrysalis! Try to hit me! If you think Starlight's 'insufferable', wait till I'm done with you!"

I also told myself to don't get killed here, for not for my sake, then for Princess Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer. Those two ponies couldn't bear to see me die, and I just had to make it out of this alive for them.

"No, please, Eric, Don't do this! You'll die!"

Starlight, still pinned to the ground by Chrysalis's magic, finally said, "No he won't, Twilight. Trust him, he knows what he's doing!"

"But...!"

Chrysalis's horn glowed green, and my eyes were locked-in on it. She fired a green blast at me, with Twilight screaming out of fear (for me) but planting my feet, I dived to my left, avoiding it, and it crashed into a wall behind me, cracking it like the beams she fired at Starlight did. Even at my true size, I'm not as agile as Starlight, or of any pony, so under normal conditions, I wouldn't be able to dodge Chrysalis's attacks like this. But thanks to the effect of Starlight's speed spell that's still active, I could move around much better, and even a little better than how Starlight could.

"Ha! You missed! You really need to work on your aim, Chrysalis!"

"I'll admit, you're a lot faster than I thought. But you can't win against me by just running."

"We'll see about that, bug breath!"

Chrysalis fired more blasts at me, and I was dodging them all with my dives. And yep, it's the same thing I was doing to avoid Starlight's hooves when she tried to crush me while thinking I was a bug. And at this moment, I was doing the very same tactic I used to try to save myself from her to save Twilight!

Man, and I thought it was weird when I first met Twilight and was small enough to hide in her mane.

Chapter 15: The Redemption, Part 3, Alicorn Worthy

It was time. I could finally pay back Princess Twilight Sparkle, my first friend in Equestria, and now my big sister, for all she had done for me the last four months. As well as make up for lying to her when we first met, by saving her life from Queen Chrysalis.

I was dodging Chrysalis's green beams with the same moves and dives that I once used to dodge the hooves of whom is now one of my two pony sisters. I was also working on the next part of the plan I thought up to save Twilight. Starlight cast a weak version of the counterspell on me before we started the plan, so I became my true height, the same height as most full-grown ponies. She also cast a spell to raise my strength as well as my running speed. There were two other spells she cast, but I'll get to those later.

I was running all over the cave we are all in, egging on Chrysalis, getting her madder and madder. As a result, her energy blasts were becoming more and more powerful.

I briefly stopped running and crossed my arms. "Hey, what's wrong, 'Chrissy'? I thought you were better than this!"

"Ugh! You're getting annoying, you pest!"

Chrysalis fired three beams back to back, and I again dived out of the way of each one, thanks to the faster speed I can move from Starlight's spell, and each one cracked part of the walls behind me.

To keep milking this as much as I could, while still running, I pretended to yawn as I mocked, "Seriously, Chrissy? Sweetie Belle can do better than this! And she's a filly!"

"That's enough out of you! I'm done playing around, so take this!"

An even bigger, faster blast was fired at me. I barely dived out of the way of it, by about four inches, and it blew away a huge part of the wall behind me with a bang, showing some more of the cave that was invisible to us, till then. A bunch of small "rocks", what was once part of that wall, blew in every direction, and a few "rocks" even rained down on me. If that beam had connected, it would've killed me before I even hit the ground, and in fact, having that dream about what's happening now just saved my life. The only reason I was even able to get out of the way of that blast was because it happened in that dream, so I was more ready for it.

As I stood up and looked back at that hole, and the "rocks" all around me, to be honest, it got me a bit scared. My mouth dropped a little and a chill went through me, knowing how close I just came to biting it. That was when it truly sank in that I was fighting for my life, and one slip-up could be fatal.

But when I looked in Twilight's direction, I again saw her still trapped there on a wall by Chrysalis's magic, without her own magic, and helpless. As I looked there this time, brotherly love kicked into overdrive and it made my blood boil, and I clenched my fists. No one treats my big sister like that and gets away with it. I thought that if she would dive into fire for me, I can dodge a few light beams for her. I was going to save her and survive this myself.

I only got more furious and growled when I looked at Starlight, my other pony big sister, pinned down with magic too. Now too angry to feel fear, I shook my head, and focused back on Chrysalis.

Twilight herself was getting frantic, and screamed, "No, Chrysalis! Please stop! Just kill me!"

Starlight wasn't as frantic as Twilight and wasn't saying anything, and she was trying to keep putting her trust in me. But after that last blast, I bet the slightly overprotective big sister part of Starlight was getting there, because she grimaced.

Chrysalis fired another huge blast, but I again jumped out of the way, but this time it wasn't because of anything I remembered in that dream, but because I just saw her use it. Good thing, because I didn't remember anything else from the dream at this point.

Panting, Chrysalis's horn stopped glowing, and she walked toward Twilight. At the same time, I moved to a different area of the room, but the space between us stayed around the same. I was getting a little tired too, but I did my best to hide it by panting quietly.

"All right, Reed, that's enough! I'll give you a choice --" Chrysalis turned her head toward Twilight "-- either you stay still, or watch Princess Twilight die, right here, right now!" Chrysalis positioned herself so Twilight was between herself and Starlight, so Starlight couldn't fire a beam of magic at Chrysalis to try to protect Twilight.

With tears pouring from her eyes, rolling down her cheeks, and to the ground, Twilight was just crying her heart out and was yelling, "Please, I'm begging you, Eric, just let her kill me! I don't want to see you die! I love you too much!"

Seeing Twilight crying like that was just killing my heart, and I was close to tearing up myself because of it. I hated forcing her to do it like this. But I had to do what I had to do. I made a mental note to apologize to her about it later after I save her.

"If I don't move, will you let Twilight and Starlight go?"

"Yes. I can always kill them later. Right now, I want you to die the most. No one makes fun of Queen Chrysalis!"

"Okay, if you promise to let them go, then I won't move. If you want, pin me to the ground so I can't move, then do your worst."

With Twilight screaming, "No!" Chrysalis used her magic to pin my feet to the ground. Then she charged up her horn.

I looked at Starlight, and she nodded.

With a sadistic grin, Chrysalis told me, "Now, prepare to die, Eric Reed!"

As the green beam was fired in my direction, Twilight closed her eyes and looked away. I closed my own eyes, and focused as hard as possible on a place near Chrysalis and Twilight.

Starlight also fired her own beam at Chrysalis's beam, slightly changing its direction, and into the ball with Twilight's magic, weakening the seal on it.

As for me, I popped up right between Chrysalis and Twilight. I again grabbed one of Chrysalis's legs and threw her at the ball holding Twilight's magic, breaking the seal, and she gave a painful grunt on impact. This time, my throw injured Chrysalis a bit.

I looked where I threw Chrysalis, and yelled, "And in case you need to know Chrysalis, that was for both my sisters!"

As I was yelling, Twilight's magic, now free, immediately went back to her. She herself was also freed and was unharmed. Starlight, who was pinned down by Chrysalis's magic, got released too and ran to where Twilight and I were.

Twilight was confused about how I did what I did. But at that moment, she didn't care. She just hugged me, crying, and I returned the hug, also with a tear or two flowing. Being so used to holding back most of her strength when she gave me hugs before, so the pony wouldn't hurt or even crush me by mistake, Twilight's hug here was very light at first. But she quickly tightened it once she realized she could now hug me at her normal strength.

For the first time, I could wrap my arms around my big sister. Starlight quickly joined in to make it a group hug and cried a bit too.

But as we broke it up, I spotted a green beam of magic come at us. I gasped and, out of instinct, pushed both Twilight and Starlight out of the way just in time, so the beam hit just me. On impact, a wave of pain went through my whole body, with the worst being in my stomach and I screamed. With my sisters screaming my name as they saw me get hit, I was sent flying onto the wall Twilight was just trapped on, bounced off it, gave a painful yelp with another wave of pain passing through me. I slammed onto the ground on my side, yelped in pain again and I rolled on my back. The blast fired at me was "only" about half as strong as the strongest one that was sent at me, so it didn't kill me. But it, plus hitting the wall hard, was enough to injure me pretty bad.

As I lay there on my back, groaning in pain, holding my stomach, Chrysalis laughed. I looked to where I threw her, and I saw her standing up, with some bruises on parts of her body from my throws.

"So, still think I need to 'work on my aim', Eric Reed?"

As she kept her laugh going, her horn glowed again. I tried to move, but the pain, especially in my stomach, hurt too much to even try to get out of the way.

But when I looked to my left, I pointed to where I was looking. Despite being in pain, I was still able to laugh a bit, as I warned, "If I were you, Chrysalis, I'd be more worried about them."

Chrysalis turned her attention to where I was pointing and...oh boy...it was a sight!

Princess Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer were both standing there, still about maybe five feet away. They were at first just staring at me, with their eyes and mouths wide open, still in shock. It took a few more seconds for it to fully sink in for them. I knew things were going to get real, and good, once it did. That in itself helped lower the pain I was in. I even found myself almost wishing I had some popcorn for the show I was about to see from Twilight and Starlight.

I, who they think of like their little brother. And who they promised to protect.

Was lying there.

Hurt bad, and in pain.

Helpless.

Right in front of them.

They heard me scream in pain a few moments ago.

And Queen Chrysalis was the reason I screamed and was hurt.

Once all that fully sunk in, my sisters' facial expressions changed.

They both gritted their teeth harder than I'd ever seen them do, and their horns glowed, with Twilight's doing it first. Twilight teleported me by her and Starlight. I knew Twi was the one that did it because it happened right before Starlight's horn glowed, and I was teleported slightly closer to her than to Starlight. To make sure it was the strongest they could make it, they made a protective pink barrier around me with their combined magic. Twilight was able to put more magic into it, so it took on her magic's color, which is pink.

After that, with their horns still glowing, Twilight and Starlight teleported themselves about ten or so feet closer to Chrysalis, but also in a position that put them directly between Chrysalis and me. And guys, with Chrysalis in the center of their views, those mares were mad!

Starlight's horn, as well as glowing, leaked red smoke. I'd never been so glad that powerful Unicorn's nice and on our side now.

Twilight slowly spread her wings out. She even had red smoke coming out of her glowing horn: something I never saw happen with Twilight. If you thought this Alicorn got really mad when she took on Tirek, you should've seen how mad she was here!

"Chrysalis, you're gonna pay for that! This is going to be for Eric Reed, our little brother!" Twilight threatened, in a very deep voice that had so much anger, my big sister almost scared me. Almost.

Chrysalis snarled, charged up her horn, then fired a green beam, about as strong as the one she just hit me with. Being tired and hurt, it was the best she could do.

Twilight and Starlight in turn fired out a beam of magic, with Twilight's being bigger than Starlight's by a little over a third. They fused into one pink mega-beam (Twilight's beam was bigger, so it took on her beam's color, even though Starlight's was light-blue) that collided with Chrysalis's beam. Their fused beam was bigger than Chrysalis's beam. Twilight and Starlight let out a yell as their beam pushed back Chrysalis's, eventually hitting her, sending the Queen through the cave wall, screaming, and flying out of the cave.

After this I glowed, as three of the five spells Starlight cast on me: the counterspell, speed, and strength spells, wore off. I shrunk back to "normal", with my clothes and hat also shrinking to how they were too.

After Chrysalis was sent blasting off, Twilight was able to calm down, and her horn stopped leaking red smoke. She then walked toward me very slowly, so the vibrations I'd feel from her steps wouldn't hurt me. Even at this point, because I was on the ground -- and truly helpless -- and she was a "giant" to me again, I looked away from her hooves as she got close. Her huge form gently lay down close to me, she told me I'd be all right, then moved her wing over me as close as she could without it touching me, so Chrysalis couldn't try anything sneaky. Not without going through her first. But Twilight didn't want to move or touch me yet, and the only reason she even teleported me to her a minute ago was because I was in too much danger for her to not do it. My sister wanted to get me close to her as fast as possible.

But while Twilight Sparkle calmed down, Starlight Glimmer did not. Using her magic to "fly", she shot out of the cave through the huge hole her and Twilight's fused beam made. In a semi-rage, with her horn still leaking smoke, screaming Chrysalis's name, she searched the area for her, and I didn't think she was trying to reform Chrysalis this time! But, she couldn't find her. Chrysalis got away.

Unable to find her, Starlight finally calmed herself down, "flew" back to the cave, with her horn not leaking red smoke anymore. She gently walked to me (from the painless vibrations I felt, I'm guessing Starlight did this: all I could see was the inner side of Twilight's wing as it was happening) and lay down in front of me, When Twi moved her wing away from me, Starlight was already lying on her stomach.

Grunting a bit in pain, I remembered that mental note I made earlier, and I looked up at Twilight's face. "I'm so, so sorry, Twi."

"Why are you apologizing, Eric?"

"Because I made you cry, thinking I might die in front of you. And because not even five measly minutes after promising you I'd take care of myself, I broke it and got myself hurt. I know you don't ever want to see me get hurt like this, and I should've known that Chry--"

Twilight placed the very edge of her wing over my mouth to quiet me. With a huge smile, in more of a motherly voice, she told me, "Eric, with Starlight's help, you saved my life, and you just protected us from being hurt. I can't be mad at you after what you just did, and at least you're still alive. I thought I was about to lose you."

"Yeah, Eric, you were so brave!" Starlight happily said. "As Rainbow Dash would say, 'that was awesome'!"

I grinned bashfully and replied, "Aw, shucks, it was nothing."

"Ha, 'nothing'? That was anything but nothing! In fact, if you were a pony and I knew how to do it, I would make you into an Alicorn if you wanted, because that was Alicorn worthy. I'm so proud of you, Eric."

Starlight didn't say anything, but she was smiling too, as if she felt the same way.

Knowing how much I made my big sisters proud, a warm feeling went through me, despite the pain I was in, and I just blushed. Though that also made me wonder about something. Had there ever been male Alicorns? Not counting that one time Big Mac "became" an Alicorn in a dream.

With Chrysalis gone, Twilight wanted to know how I just popped up beside her and Chrysalis, after I was pinned with her magic.

I asked Starlight to reverse the last spell she cast on me: the spell to keep my hat on my head, even when I was jumping and diving all over the cave. It was to hide what I just showed Twilight, and was what Starlight's fourth spell put on me, right before it wore off too: a small horn, similar to a Unicorn's. This allowed me to teleport, and we told Twilight what my plan was. And I guess I'll tell you too.

First, after casting the spells on me, Starlight would enter the cave, and get Chrysalis's focus away from where she came in. I would wait for a chance to run in, and with the power from her speed and strength spells, and being my normal size, I would get Chrysalis as mad as I could, run around dodging her blasts, and tire her out. Starlight can be sassy, but she didn't have the mouth that I do when it comes to talking smack. This was why I thought I could tap into a weakness Chrysalis has, her temper, better than Starlight could.

I knew Chrysalis would take Twilight hostage if I kept dodging her attacks, and threaten to hurt or kill her if didn't stay still, so I planned for it. I made sure I would be in front of the ball that had Twilight's magic, and I even thought Chrysalis would keep the magic in something like that. That was another reason I tried to get Chrysalis as mad as I could: so she'd get too worked up to notice I was in front of the magic.

I would then teleport out of the way to dodge the blast that would come later, and if necessary, Starlight would fire her own beam to "redirect" Chrysalis's beam to the ball that had Twilight's magic. It wouldn't be strong enough to move it completely away from me, so I'd still need to be able to teleport out of the way. If Starlight would need to redirect Chrysalis's beam, she wouldn't be able to teleport me herself, so I had to be able to do it on my own. For the record, I had to talk Starlight into doing this part of the plan, because she really didn't want to try it at first.

How did I even know how to teleport? Starlight "taught" me how to teleport without even knowing, when I watched the season seven "All Bottled Up" episode of FIM: you've probably seen it. I thought it could work the same if I focused on myself, not just an object. Even so, I was taking a gamble, and if it weren't magic from Starlight, a very powerful Unicorn that's mastered teleportation, it might not have worked. If I had, say, Rarity's magic, it wouldn't have worked, because she can't teleport.

This was why Starlight lost a third of her magic after she cast those spells on me. She gave it to me, so I would be able to teleport, then once the spell wore off, she got it back. Because I made Chrysalis so tired and then injured her by throwing her in the barrier that had Twilight's magic in a ball, it made sure that, after Twilight was freed and had her magic again, she and Starlight would be able to beat her.

I was too hurt to ride on Twilight's head, because the vibrations I'd felt from her hooves as she walked or ran would've been too painful. Trying to carry me in one of her wings would have been worse; the wing's grip alone would have hurt a lot, even if Twilight held me carefully. Twilight, as well as Starlight, would've had too much trouble trying to carry me in their magic, with the level of precision long enough to get me to the hospital, without me feeling any pain. Twi had never carried me while flying, so she didn't feel comfortable trying to do it now: Starlight felt the same way.

So, with Twilight carefully holding me in the air with her magic, Starlight simply teleported us near a hospital, then they carried me in.

To make it easier for me to be treated, both of them cast the counterspell again together to grow me, so it'd last much longer than three minutes. Twilight stayed, looking more like my mom than my big sister, while Starlight left to tell the others what happened, and to bring them to the hospital.

I didn't have any life-threatening injuries, which eased the worries of everyone, especially my two pony sisters, who were there with me the most. Not because they were the most worried (though they were) but because they would need to recast the counterspell a few times a week, to make sure I wouldn't shrink down, till I got out.

I guess humans don't heal as fast as Equestrian ponies, because I didn't heal like Starlight did when she got attacked by Chrysalis. I was only hurt slightly more than she was, and we had overall similar injuries, yet she healed much faster. But after about five weeks, I recovered enough to leave the hospital.

In case you thought I would be on Twilight's head, a surprise: I wasn't! The counterspell was still active, so I walked out on my own. Twilight was right beside me, though. She had a wing around me, affectionately, and the others were also with us.

Three days after I got out of the hospital, while in my true size, a special party was being thrown for me in Twilight's castle. I still wasn't fully healed from my injuries, but I healed enough to get around well enough. I was just finishing getting dressed up in my bedroom, and Spike knocked on my door.

"Hey, Eric, Twilight said Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadance are here. Are you ready yet?"

"One second, Spike, I gotta get my hat--" I grabbed the hat Rarity made me and put it on my head "--okay, I'm ready."

"You really like that hat Rarity made you, don't you? Can't say I blame you."

I laughed, and teased, "Ha, you're not jealous, are you?"

"N-no! Not at all! Rarity kissed me before, and she's never given you one, has she?"

"Nope, no she hasn't. So I guess you win."

Starlight came down the hall of the castle, and to Spike and me. "What are you two doing? Don't you know the Princesses are waiting?"

Hearing that, both Spike and I jumped.

"Oh, yeah, that's right, Eric! We gotta hurry!"

"Yeah, Spike, I almost forgot you said they were here! Let's go!"

Starlight, Spike, and I ran to the castle's dining hall where the party was. There were tables spread throughout the room, though there were none in front of us. All the Princesses, including Twilight, were standing side-by-side, near the wall of the room to my left.

In the room was a big crowd with Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy standing together. Mixed throughout the crowd were several of our other friends, including the CMC, Trixie, Discord (who was trying to brag that he "taught" me everything I knew) Maud, Ember, Thorax, Big Mac, and more. As Spike, Starlight, and I walked into the room, the members of the crowd moved either to the left or right to clear a path for me. Spike and Starlight ran over to Rarity and the others.

Out of respect to the Princesses, after I walked up to them, I bowed my head.

Twilight chuckled and asked, "What are you doing, Eric? You don't have to bow to us."

I, in turn, chucked, and with a smirk I answered, "But I wasn't bowing to you, Twi. I was bowing to the Princesses. You just happen to be there too."

Hey, Twilight didn't like me treating her like a princess, so I treated her like a big sister/best friend. And that includes me taking jabs at her sometimes.

"Hey, what does that mean?"

"You said you didn't like me using titles for you, remember?"

Ha, I had Twilight there, so she just chucked.

Princess Celestia began to speak, "Eric Reed, You have been in Equestria for only a short time, yet you have already done a deed a select few would have the courage to do. For putting your own life on the line to save the life of Princess Twilight Sparkle from Queen Chrysalis, I would like to present you with the Pink Heart of Courage."

The medal, which was in a gold case on a stand between Celestia and Twilight, looked very much like the one Starlight, Trixie, Thorax, and Discord all got before. Though, in the middle of it, was a small design of what looked like Twilight's Cutie Mark. Ha, I wonder whose idea that was?

Twilight picked the medal up with her magic, and started a speech of her own, but a longer one. "When I first met you, Eric, and I first tried to learn the counterspell to send you back to your own world, I never could've imagined anything like this scene would happen. That you would grow to become like my own little brother, or that I would owe you my life, or that I would be this proud of you. You have made some mistakes, and you'll probably make some more. But you have also proven to be one of the best friends, and brothers, that anyone could ever have. I am so happy to have met you, and to be able to put this Pink Heart of Courage around your neck. And Eric Reed, trust your big sister when I say that you've earned it."

With the crowd cheering, and Pinkie cheering the loudest (not because she's the proudest, but because she's Pinkie Pie) Twilight walked up to me and placed the gold chain that the Pink Heart of Courage was attached to around my neck. She had one of the biggest smiles I've ever seen on her, and she hugged me. I wrapped my arms around her, smiling bashfully. It was the proudest moment of my life.

Oh, and in case you're wondering why Starlight didn't get a medal with me, because saving Twilight was a team effort between the two of us: she told Twilight before the party that she didn't want another one, and wanted just me to get one. This was also why Twilight or Celestia didn't give a speech to Starlight too: she just wanted me to get any speeches that they'd want to do.

After the party was over, I was in one of my best moods in Equestria yet. Because Twilight and Starlight finally learned the counterspell, it seemed like going back home, and hopefully taking Twilight and the others with me to meet my family, wasn't too far away! They just needed to improve it more for the counterspell to do it.

However, Twilight would soon have to give me some...tough news. Even now, I'm still not sure if it was harder on her or me.

Author's Note

In case you thought Chrysalis might be reformed in this story, NO!

Edit on 10/16/19: The series finale showed that Starlight Glimmer does indeed have the mouth to do what Eric Reed did in this chapter. I didn't think the reformed Starlight still had it in her at the time I wrote this.

Chapter 16: The Tough News

It's been three days since I received a Pink Heart of Courage, for helping save Twilight's life from Queen Chrysalis five-and-a-half weeks earlier, and made up for lying to her and the others during my first three weeks in Equestria. I still felt a little sore from my still-healing injuries from Chrysalis's blast, when I protected Twilight and Starlight from being hit by it, but man it was g-l-o-r-I-o-u-s when my big sisters blasted Chrysalis after she hurt me! I still wish I had popcorn for that.

But, since Twilight and Starlight learned the counterspell to the Nightmare Prevention Spell, I didn't have to always be bite-sized, and they improved it so the effect could last up to three days. Though, since I was immune to nightmares in my four-inch-tall form, Twilight asked if I would want the counterspell intentionally inactive on some nights so I'd have no nightmares. I liked and did the idea, but I also wanted it inactive during the day sometimes as well, for a reason Twilight and Starlight were very familiar with.

How could I be on one of my big sisters' heads, if I wasn't small enough to do it? I still wanted that as a thing I only did with Twilight or Starlight, so I was never on the heads of the other ponies, which they all completely understood. I even started being on Starlight's head around the others, not just when we were alone, or only around Twilight or Spike, like I did at first.

But even better, the thought of returning home, and possibly even take Twi and the others with me to visit and meet my parents and sisters, put me in one of my best moods yet in Equestria! The counterspell just needed to be improved some more, so the effect creates a portal leading to my world, according to what Twilight said it would do.

Standing in a huddle in front of one of the green doors in the library in Twilight Sparkle's castle, Twilight, Starlight, and Spike, all with frowns, debated on the best way to tell Eric some tough news they discovered the previous day. Starlight and Spike wanted to tell Eric immediately, but Twilight hyperventilated over potentially breaking the heart of the human she cares of as her little brother. Thus, they decided to wait a day to give Twilight time to calm down before breaking the difficult news.

"Okay, Eric's in the library, right?" Spike asked.

"Yeah, he is. But--" Twilight blew a sigh full of sorrow "--oh my Celestia, how are we going to tell him? It's going to break his heart, and he's been so happy lately."

Starlight proposed, "Maybe it would help if just one of us tells him?"

"It could, but who's going to do it? You, me, or Twilight?"

Starlight rested a hoof on her cheek, and briefly lowered her head in thought. "Well, out of the three of us, he's the closest to you, Twilight, and you're the first one he met in Equestria. So maybe you should tell him."

"I think Starlight's right, Twilight. He might take it better if he hears it from you."

"I guess you're right, so I'll tell him. But I still don't know how I'm going to say it."

But thinking about the previous day, Starlight suggested, "Then again, maybe I should tell him. We saw how you hyperventilated yesterday over it."

"No, I think I'll be all right to do it."

"You need some time to think of what to say?" Spike asked.

"No. Even if I did, it might not do any good, so I'll just go in and tell him as gently as I can."

"Okay, good luck, Twilight. Spike and I will go check on something, but we'll be back to see how he took it."

Twilight took a deep breath to help steel herself to do one of the hardest things of her life. Then, she forced her hooves to walk toward the door in front of her, one hesitant step at a time.

On a purple couch in the library of Twilight's castle, near one of the bookshelves, at my "real" size, I sat relaxing, with a one-foot table sitting beside the couch and a half-filled cup of blueberry juice sitting on it. I was trying to think about how to introduce my parents and human big sisters to my pony big sisters, Dragon little brother, and pony friends. They never watched MLP themselves, so they had no idea who Twilight and the others were.

And then there were those bronies I had to keep in mind that, after they got over the shock that they exist, would get...ideas if they saw my pony friends and sisters. To avoid having to send them all to the moon my way if they were to try anything, especially to my pony big sisters -- with an uppercut to the jaw -- I was wondering if my family and I should keep them hidden.

Or for that matter, just keep them out of sight because of the chaos that seven talking ponies, three of which can use magic, and a small talking Dragon in itself might trigger in my world.

Anyway, as I was in thought about how to handle things, Twilight crept through one of the green double-doors and I turned my head to her. Twi's eyes were closed as she walked in, her ears were drooped, and she wore a frown showing something was wrong, but I overlooked it since I was in such a good mood.

As Twilight opened her eyes and walked towards the couch I sat on, I said, "Oh, hey, Twi. Funny you're here, because I was thinking about how to introduce you to my family back in my world. If the portal the counterspell will make will let you and the others pass through it, that is."

"Uh, about that--"

"Ever since the first night we knew each other, you loved to ask me questions about my world. Soon, you might finally get to see it for yourself!"

"Yes, I did ask a few questions about your world, but, Eric--"

"Ha, a 'few'? Twilight, you asked me like five hundred questions about my world since we met! Instead of 'Princess of Friendship' maybe we should call you the 'Princess of Questions'!"

"Okay, I get it. I asked a lot, but I really need to tell--"

"But I'm still gonna have to figure out how to explain you all, since ponies don't talk in my world and we don't have Dragons, but I told you all about that already."

"I remember, and how Unicorns, Pegasi, and Alicorns don't exist there, but still--"

"And not everyone in it knows about you and Equestria and especially not about the part that you exist. Maybe my family could hide you, or you could use magic to make yourselves invisible to everypony -- er I mean everyone -- but me and my family."

"I-I guess that might work, but it--"

"Oh, I've been in Equestria so long, now I'm saying 'everypony' without meaning to. But you're gonna love my sisters back home, and they'll probably try to teach you and Starlight new ways to mess with me. Though, try not to listen too much if they do--"

"ERIC!!"

That yell made my heart skip a beat, and I almost jumped off the couch! "Whoa! Hey, why did you yell at me like that, Twilight?! What did I do?"

Twilight gasped and much more gently said, "I-I'm sorry about that, Eric. I didn't mean to yell, and you didn't do anything wrong."

"Okay. But in that case, even if you didn't mean to, why did you yell?"

"I-I just wanted to tell you something, but you kept cutting me off."

"Well, what is it?"

Twilight sat down beside me, and the look in her eyes seemed to ooze sympathy. Because of how ponies sit on couches compared to me, my head was up to the upper part of Twilight's chest, so I had to look up to her face. Twi's face looked down to me. In a gentle voice, she started, "Okay. I'm glad you are sitting down, because--"

Before Twilight got any further, Rainbow came walking through the same green door Twilight did. "Twilight, Eric, there you two are!"

"Oh, hey, Rainbow. And yes, Eric and I are here, but can we have a--"

"Don't worry, Twilight, I won't be long. I just want to ask if you two wanted to watch my next Wonderbolt show? I got some new moves I can't wait to show you all!"

"Yeah, I would! I never got to see your shows in person, because" -- I looked in Twilight's direction -- "somepony kept putting her hoof down on taking me."

Rainbow laughed and added, "Oh, yeah. Twilight was too worried about you flying off her head if I or the other flyers came too close. And I thought Starlight was sometimes the 'overprotective' big sister."

Twilight sighed and said, "Okay, I get it, I overdid it sometimes when I tried to look out for Eric. But, Rainbow, can you give Eric and me a min--"

But Twi would get interrupted again. Applejack trotted into the library through the door Twilight and Rainbow used to get in. "Hey there, Twilight, I thought ya might be in here."

"Of course she is, Applejack. If egghead here isn't in her room, she's probably here in the library sitting on her favorite purple couch, but Eric's sitting with her this time."

"Ha! Rainbow, I still can't get over that 'egghead' nickname you like calling Twilight. Maybe I should've asked if I could call her 'egghead' instead of 'Twi'."

"Well, too late, because I already called 'dibs' on calling Twilight 'egghead'."

Not enjoying this nearly as much as Rainbow or me, Twilight groaned and rolled her eyes. "Okay, that's enough about me being an 'egghead'. I'm trying to tell--"

Now Fluttershy decided to come into the library. "Oh, there you guys are. What's going on?"

"Nothing, Fluttershy. I was just asking Twilight and Eric if they wanted to go to my next Wonderbolt show, since Eric's tall enough to not 'fly off Twilight's head' like Twilight was worried about."

"Oh yeah, Eric. Ya always did want to see one of Rainbow's shows, but Twilight wouldn't take ya," Applejack reminded.

Rainbow said, "And when Twilight saw Starlight trying to sneak you to it because you didn't stay completely in Starlight's mane, she lost it!"

With Twilight growling, I cracked up laughing as I thought about how furious she got at Starlight, when Starlight tried to take me to a show without Twi knowing. "And after you got done chewing out Starlight, she never wanted to try that again, because you were one mad pony, big sis!"

"Come on guys! I'm serious! I need to--"

Now it's Rarity's turn to interrupt Twilight and walk into the library! "Hello, darlings! What are you all doing in here?"

Applejack greeted, "Hey there, Rarity."

"And we're not doing anything. Other than asking Twilight and Eric if they want to come to my next Wonderbolt show."

With Twilight facehoofing, Rarity turned her head to face me directly and said, "Oh, that's right, Eric! You have never been to one of Rainbow's Wonderbolt shows before."

"And I can't wait now that I'm 'big enough' to go. I tell you, Twi, sometimes you remind me of my mom. In fact, you two would probably get along great because she likes making things organized almost as much as you do!"

"Really? Maybe instead of 'Twi' you could call Twilight 'Momlight'!"

I couldn't help breaking out of laughter at that nickname idea! "Ooh, 'Momlight', that's a good one, Rainbow!" I reached my fist out to Rainbow and we did a "fist/hoofpump" as we kept laughing.

Twi groaned even louder than the last time she did, because that pony was not amused! "All right, that's enough of picking on me for trying to be a good big sister! I have something very important to--"

Poor Twilight got interrupted again: Starlight and Spike came in, but both were frowning about something. Starlight's ears were drooped down, just like how Twilight's were when she walked in.

"Oh, uh, hey guys. Starlight and I didn't know you all were in here."

Starlight asked, "Did...you tell him yet, Twilight?"

"No, not yet, Starlight. I'm trying to, but I keep getting--"

And we can't leave out the party pony! But instead of hopping through one of the doors to the library, Pinkie popped her head out from under a green rug on the floor. "Oh, hey guys! What's going on in here? Ooh, ooh, are you planning a party? Because my Pinkie Sense's been telling me that somebody's gonna be needing one reaaaaaly soon. But, I don't know why, and why it's 'somebody'."

I knew not to ask Pinkie how she came out from under that rug, so I didn't. As Pinkie crawled out from under the rug, her mane was twitching, and I figured it was because of whatever her Pinkie Sense picked up.

Now at her limit, Twi gritted her teeth and, in her "Royal Canterlot" voice that forced the whole library to shake, screamed, "Okay, that's it! Can't you guys give me just ten seconds to tell Eric I won't ever be able to send him back to his world?!"

Yep, that dampened the mood. My mouth dropped and my eyes grew huge. I felt a punch in the gut, and another punch, then I felt nothing but numbness. I looked down at my hands, and saw them shaking from the shock. Thoughts about my family filled my head, and I was so excited at the chance to see them and my world. I was so ready to fish with my dad again, taste my mom's lasagna, which was my favorite food, watch my favorite movies with my sisters, and introduce them all to Twi, Starlight, and the others. And maybe even take them to visit Equestria. And suddenly, I knew none of that would happen.

Twilight had her mouth covered with her hooves. In a semicircle around the couch Twilight and I was on, everyone else faced Twilight and stood in stunned silence.

After five seconds, with me still in the biggest state of shock of my life, Rainbow, with a frown, asked, "Wait, you're serious? Didn't you say that once that 'counterspell' was strong enough, it would get Eric back to his world!"

Even though Twilight uncovered her mouth, she didn't say anything. She simply nodded her head with her eyes closed. She was serious. Never wanted her to be joking more than this moment.

"So what happened?!" Rarity questioned, which I was thinking in my head as well, but I was too stunned to form words in my mouth.

After taking a deep breath, Twilight explained, "Well...when Starlight and I were learning the counterspell, we thought we could make it strong enough to cast it in a way to make the magic still in Eric create a portal. But, it turns out the magic doesn't work like we thought it did, and the counterspell won't work on it in a way for it to create a portal."

"So how did that magic from that 'Nightmare Prevention Spell' even get him in Equestria in the first place?"

"Well, Applejack, that's something Starlight and I tried to find out. But, from what Eric told me, all the magic didn't enter him all at once, and the rest went in him when he was at the pond near his house. It seems like, when the last waves of it entered him as it made him fall asleep and shrunk him, in a freak accident, it triggered a portal that brought him to Equestria. And nothing I can find out can teach Starlight or me how to trigger a portal again."

"And the shrinking itself was a freak accident too, because the spell wasn't supposed to do that. But if Twilight or I try to guess how to use the counterspell to create a portal, we could kill Eric with it long before it's done correctly, if it's even possible. So he's stuck in Equestria, forever."

"Eric? Are you all right?"

I heard Fluttershy ask if I was all right while she stared at me with big sad eyes, but I couldn't say anything yet. The pure shock I felt was wearing off, allowing a flood of emotions to fill my body, and I could barely process the difference between them. Sadness. Anger. Disbelief. Disappointment. Frustration. It was so confusing that my eyes couldn't even form tears, despite definitely feeling upset enough to start the waterworks.

Still sitting on the couch I was on, Twilight turned her head to me with even bigger and sadder eyes than Fluttershy's. "Eric? I didn't mean to yell it out like that, but I--"

Somehow able to hold everything in, but with my hands still shaking, I turned my head to Twilight and, in more of a whisper, asked, "So...I'm really stuck in Equestria? And I will never see my world or family ever again?"

In what might have been one of the most painful things that Twilight Sparkle ever had to say, she solemnly answered, "Yes. And I know how you feel, but--"

I guess hearing that final confirmation was all it took to force out one of the emotions I felt: anger, though it came with tears. Twi reached for me with a wing to wrap around me, but with tears flowing from my eyes, I gritted my teeth, stood up from the couch fast enough for the wing to wrap nothing but air, faced Twilight, and yelled, "No! How could you 'know' how I feel, Twilight?! I know you once risked being trapped in that 'other' human world forever to stop Sunset Shimmer, but even so, you chose to do it! I don't have any choice at all! I...I really believed I would go back home eventually, because you kept telling me you would do it! But now...after all this time, now you're telling me you can't?!"

"I-I know I told you that, and I truly thought I could, and I'm so--"

"Just stay away from me. I need to be alone!"

"Wait, Eric, don't go! Please, just talk to me!"

I didn't listen and, with tears flooding down my cheeks even more than they were before, I stormed out of the library while sprinting between Applejack and Rarity to get to the nearest library door, and both ponies had their mouths open from the shock of my screaming. Once out the doors, I made a beeline down the hallways of the castle to my room. I bet I left a trail of tears as I did.

After the heartbroken Eric Reed fled the library in tears over never seeing his family and home world again, Twilight Sparkle and her friends stood motionless in shock. Most of all Twilight, who had her head down and forelegs over her face in guilt and sorrow.

Rainbow finally broke the silence and remarked, "Well, that was something."

"I can't imagine what Eric's feeling right now," Fluttershy admitted.

"I can't either. The poor darling has been so excited about going back to his world and take us with him, and the only thing he was 'worried' about was that we might not be able to visit him."

"And now, forget takin' us: he won't be able to go," Applejack finished.

"Okay, I know he's hurting, but did he really have to yell at Twilight?" Rainbow pointed a hoof at Twilight, who still had her head down and covered. "I mean, he should know that she did the best she could, and it wouldn't be her fault if that counterspell or whatever can't get him back to his world!"

With a deep sigh, Twilight corrected, "No, Rainbow. It is my fault."

"Huh? What do you mean 'your' fault, Twilight?" Spike questioned.

"Yeah, how can it be your fault? When we mastered the counterspell, we didn't do anything wrong and it just didn't work the way it needed to open a portal. But it wasn't your fault."

Twilight raised her head to face Starlight, while uncovering her face to reveal watery eyes as well as a frown filled with pure guilt. "No, I mean it's my fault that all this is happening to him."

"Hold on, sugarcube, why do ya think that?"

"Yeah, Chrysalis was the one that ruined that spell you and Starlight did, right? So why is it still your fault?" Pinkie asked.

"It's my fault because I got the idea to learn the Nightmare Prevention Spell. If I didn't, there would've been no spell for Chrysalis to 'ruin' so it's still on me. Plus, if I thought to be more careful, maybe I could've prevented it from happening."

Rainbow tilted her head down to think of something to ease Twilight's guilt, but she couldn't help wondering if Twilight truly had a point. "O-Oh, well, maybe. But s-still."

Fluttershy asked, "Does Eric know you feel this way?"

Twilight shook her head with her eyes closed in the process. "No, I never told him. He hated for Starlight or me to feel bad about things that have happened to him in Equestria. I didn't want him to become worried about me."

"Well, that sounds like something he would do because he loves you and Starlight. He hates to see either of you sad," Rarity admitted.

"Or anyone he cares about, like the rest of us," Pinkie chimed in.

With a sympathetic frown, Starlight walked to and placed a hoof on Twilight's right cheek. "But, I think he should know how you feel. You told him he can talk to you about anything, just like I told him he can tell me anything, and I bet he would want you to tell him anything that's bothering you." Starlight rested the hoof on Twilight's cheek back to the floor.

"Maybe, Starlight, and I was even going to tell him today, but he's hurting too much for me to do it now. You saw how he was, and I have never seen him act that way."

With a comforting smile, Fluttershy assured, "He was upset, but that was just anger talking, but he's not mad at you. He knows that you would do anything for him, and if you can't get him back to his world, it's not because you didn't try your best."

"And, sugarcube, if he knows how much yer hurtin', he might not feel quite as bad about himself. Plus, he needs ya right now."

With a frown full of concern, Rarity implored, "So go to him, Twilight. He needs you more than even he knows."

"And after you talk to him, Starlight and I will come and do what we can," Spike finished.

After a moment to think, Twilight nodded her head with a more determined frown. "Okay, I will. Thanks, guys."

Twilight Sparkle ran out of the green doors of her library and through the hallways to Eric Reed's bedroom. She needed to both be there for Eric and finally confess to him the pain she hid. Even Princess Luna advised Twilight, during a nightmare on the previous night over being unable to return Eric back to his world, to tell him how she truly felt.

As she trotted down the hallways, looking down at the trail of tears Eric left and believing that the pain ravaging his heart was all her fault, Twilight's determined frown again became one of sadness and guilt. She fought against her own tears, feeling that she failed as Eric's pony big sister.

Now in my room, lying on my stomach on my bed, I had my face buried in my white pillow that got wetter with each passing second, and just kept wailing. Considering how I was feeling, it was fitting that the blanket I lay on, that my hands clenched so tight, was blue. Sunlight shone near my bed almost like a ray of hope, but I needed a lot more than sunlight to cheer me up. No offense to Princess Celestia.

But now, along with the other emotions in my body about not being able to go home or see my family again, another emotion was attacking my heart: guilt over how I treated Twilight. I never snapped at my big sister like that before, and it was now how she was frowning when she came into the library sunk in. I just couldn't believe I missed it, and the anger and disappointment I still felt were aimed at me now. I felt like the worst friend and brother ever.

I un-clenched my blanket, but before I could get off my bed to run to and apologize to Twilight for going off on her, or even stop bawling, three knocks came from my bedroom door.

I kept on weeping as, from behind the door, a familiar voice full of compassion and guilt said, "Eric? It's me. Look, I know I let you down and you were right: I don't know how it's like or how you feel. I should not have talked like I did know it, and I am so sorry. I also know you said to leave you alone, but there is something else I need to say that's important, and then I'll let you be, so can I say it? Please?"

After I stopped weeping, I wiped my eyes and answered, "Yes," in a tone that Twilight probably barely heard.

"Thank you. First, I know you said that Chrysalis made the Nightmare Prevention Spell go wrong. But...even so, I'm the one that tried to learn it in the first place, so it's still my fault all this has happened to you. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have had to face the dangers of being so small before I could fix your size. Or felt the need to lie to stay safe during your first three weeks in Equestria. Or...or even be stuck in Equestria at all, and you would still be happy in your world."

I stayed quiet and still, and just kept listening.

"I...I never meant for it to happen, and I will never forgive myself for taking you from your home world and...how you almost got killed, all because of something I did. This is a reason why I have been a...little protective of you sometimes. It would be bad enough if I let something happen to you because I care about you so much, like how I care so much about Spike and my other friends. But...in your case, it would feel like...*sniff*...like I did it. You...*sniff*...never wanted Starlight or me to feel bad about you being unable to leave Equestria, so I never told you all this, until now."

That got my attention, big-time. I gritted my teeth and made a fist out of disappointment of myself over how the buck did I not figure this out sooner, despite already knowing it's partly why Starlight's sometimes a bit overprotective of me. The reason for the sighs Twi sometimes did, but refused to tell me why she did them, even though they became rare after she got out of the hospital, became crystal clear. With Twilight's voice breaking, and probably with tears flowing from her eyes if they weren't already, she kept going.

"I...*sniff*...know saying 'I'm sorry' wouldn't get you back to your world, even though I am so so sorry. And after how I...*sniff*...broke your heart like the worst friend, sister and pony ever, I will even understand...*sniff*...if you h-hate me now, but..."

My heart couldn't take hearing any more. I sprung off my bed, ran to and opened my door, and I gasped at the shape Twilight was in. She was shaking from emotion, which I never saw her do. Tears poured from her eyes to the floor, though her eyes didn't have the time to turn red. One of the most heartbreaking frowns ever was on her face, and her ears were drooped again. I wrapped my arms around my big sister and, while she wept, Twilight wrapped her forelegs around me.

"No, no, please don't think like that, Twi, and I'm sorry I yelled at you before. Even if all that you said is true, you busted your flank to help and protect me. Did...*sniff*...did you forget how you jumped into fire and got badly burned to save my life, because I didn't! You're my best friend and big sister that's been there for me since you saw I wasn't a 'bug', and I could never ever hate you! I...*sniff*...I love you, big sis!"

That got Twilight to stop shaking and weeping as she whispered, "You really...*sniff*...mean that, little bro?"

"Buck yeah I do! It's just I...*sniff*...I'll never get the chance to live my dream of becoming a professional Baseball player in my world, like I told you about before. Worse, by now, my family have to think I'm dead and I...*sniff*...I will never get to tell them how much I love them, or say good-bye, or even tell them I'm alive. I will never blame you or Starlight for this, but it's...*sniff*...it's just not fair, Twilight...*sniff*...what did I ever...*sniff*...did I do something gravely wrong...?"

As my own shaking from pure overwhelming emotion returned, and I wailed harder than I had ever done in my life, which even echoed throughout the hallways of the castle, Twilight entered "big sister" mode. She released her forelegs off me, used her magical telekinesis to break my hug on her and made me sit on the floor. Before I could ask why she did it, Twilight sat down and wrapped her forelegs and wings around me, effectively "cocooning" me. Because of how ponies sit, my head was at the height of the mid-part of Twilight's chest, so that's where I had my face buried, and the tears from my crying got some of the thin hair on her chest moist. Since she can "cocoon" me with her wings the best if I'm sitting or on my knees, Twi made me sit down before doing it.

In addition, Twi gently rubbed my back with a hoof, which reminded me of how my mom rubbed my back when I was upset. Added to the calming warmness emitting from her body, she really felt like a mom here, and I needed this side of her. It slightly calmed me down and made my wailing turn into "just" whimpers, but I couldn't stop shivering from emotion.

In an extremely soft voice tone that I rarely hear from Princess Twilight Sparkle, she reassured, "Shh, I'm here, and everything's going to be all right. I love you too, and listen to me: don't you even think that you did something so wrong to deserve the pain you're feeling, because you didn't, okay? I'm going to make up for telling you over and over I'd send you back to your world, then not be able to do it, I promise. I don't know what I will do or how. But what I do know is that I'm an Alicorn and the Element of Magic, and even if I must give up my Alicorn wings to do it, your best friend and big sister's keeping her promise."

Thanks to the vibes of safeness I felt while in my best friend's/big sister's forelegs and wings, how she told me that everything would be all right, and she'd do something, I stopped my shaking and whimpering to stay still, but kept sniffing. A second later, I heard hoofsteps, or should I say hoofsteps and clawsteps coming our way. Twi moved her wings to "un-cocoon" me, but kept her forelegs around me, though she stopped rubbing my back. I unburied my face from Twilight's chest to see Starlight and Spike running down the hallway to us. They had tears pouring from their eyes too and they joined our hug, making it a group hug.

Turned out, big sis Twilight stopped rubbing my back because it was big sis Starlight's and little bro Spike's turn to do it.

"And I'm sorry too, for also telling you I'd get you back to your world and now I can't do it, and I also promise to make up for it. I...*sniff*...I will even become an Alicorn if it means doing it."

"And I promise to...*sniff*...do my best to help Twilight and Starlight do it."

"Thanks. I love you guys."

We stayed in that hug for another minute before we broke it up. I felt a little better, but still wanted to stay in my room for the rest of the day. Twilight, Starlight, and Spike stayed with me for a while, before leaving me alone so I could have some space, though I made sure to say that I wasn't mad at any of them. Especially not at Princess Twilight Sparkle.

As for the others, I guess they thought it'd be best if only Twilight, Starlight, and Spike were with me, so they stayed away...mostly. At one point, when I was alone in my room, Rarity came to give me a pint of ice cream as well as a hug while she was there. Ha, makes sense that Rarity would know that ice cream could help.

But back to Twilight and Starlight: they became two mares on a mission. They were dead-set on keeping their promise to make up for being unable to get me back to my world. After a while, they found a way to do it. And it may or may not be what you think.

And Starlight Glimmer may or may not have gotten Alicorn wings to do it.

Chapter 17: The Talk and a Flight

After five months since I arrived in Equestria, I've been through a lot. From dodging the hooves of giant ponies to taking on Queen Chrysalis, it's been a trip to remember, to say the least.

But my trip to Equestria looked like it'd be a permanent trip. Twilight told me that she'd never be able to get me back to my world, because the counterspell would never be powerful enough to do it. While Equestria became like a second home, I still wanted to go back to my world and see my family eventually. So knowing it'd never happen put me into a depression.

Over the next week, partly in thanks to the party Pinkie threw the day after Twilight told me I'd never go back to my world, I would come out of my room, though I spent a lot of time in there and didn't want to leave the castle much. But the others tried hard to cheer me up and even Sunset came to Equestria to give it a shot! My two pony sisters and Dragon brother tried especially hard; Starlight might've tried the hardest, because the roles were reversed from when we first met, when I was trying to cheer her up.

On the fifth day of that week, Twilight took Starlight and me to Princess Celestia to see if she could help. But, like Twi already thought, because she once went to Celestia for help when she was still trying to learn the counterspell, even Celestia was stumped. At the very least, Celestia explained that I somehow gained a one-time premonition ability when the Nightmare Prevention Spell entered me. It was why I had that dream about protecting Twilight months before it happened for real.

Twilight or Starlight never even thought of doing this, but Celestia also told them to don't try to remove the magic from my body and wait for it to dissipate on its own. It would take a long time, and my body's gotten too used to it so it could damage my body, or even kill me, if it were taken away now. The counterspell only negates the magic's effect on my size for a while, but it doesn't remove it, so it can be done on me safely.

Out of desperation, Twilight and Starlight, with both Princess Celestia's and Sunburst's help, tracked down as much information about the Multiverse as they could. With Spike doing what he could, my pony sisters were dead-set on trying to find something they could do, and keep the promise they made to me. Starlight even tried to find a way to become an Alicorn, thinking the Alicorn transformation might power her up to let her do something for me that she couldn't do as a Unicorn.

Yep, Starlight trying to become an Alicorn was crazy, but something bronies and pegasisters should know by now about Starlight Glimmer: she's not above trying crazy ideas!

However, even if Starlight could've found a way to trigger Starlicorn, she wouldn't need to. A month after the battle with Queen Chrysalis, Starlight, as a Unicorn, and Twilight found that "something".

With me fully healed from my injuries from the battle with Queen Chrysalis, while feeling more cheered up, but still a bit down, Starlight suddenly wanted me to go with her in the woods just outside of Ponyville. I was at my real size, so I wasn't on her head or back. She wouldn't tell me why she wanted me to come, just that she wanted me to go, badly.

Starlight liked to spend some time alone with me every once in a while, and still does (Twilight does too) but she wanted me to go too badly, and was hurrying me along too much for it to be just that. That pony had to be up to something, and I hoped it wouldn't be one of her...Starlight plans.

"Come on, Eric! Hurry up!"

Running right behind Starlight about as fast as I could, but still unable to keep up with her so she was pulling away, I yelled, "I'm trying, Starie, but I can't run as fast as you, remember? Unlike ponies, I only have two legs!"

That made Starlight stop running on the spot and nearly made me run into her flank. "Oh, right. I forgot. I'm still getting used to walking and running around with you like this."

"Me too. It wasn't that long ago when I was always on your back or head. But why won't you tell me why you want to take me in the woods so bad?"

"Because it won't be a surprise if I tell you, would it?"

"Well, no, I guess not."

"But we're almost where I want us to go, so just wait another minute, and you'll see!"

Since I started calling Twilight "Twi" I thought that I should think of a nickname to call Starlight. I thought about just calling her "Star" but I thought that was too easy. So I came up with "Starie" and she really likes that nickname I picked for her. Spike calls Starlight "Starie" now too sometimes when he feels like it, but not nearly as often as I do. Most of the time, it's a name only I use for Starlight.

Walking at a normal pace, Starlight and I made our way through the woods, through some grass and over some branches. As we got into the deeper parts of it, where the grass was the thickest, just above my ankles, and the tall trees were partly blocking out the sun, we saw Twilight standing there waiting. Twilight had a big smirk on her face, which most of the time meant she was about to do something to mess with me. But it seemed odd for her to want me to go this deep in the woods just to do it, so I thought something else was up.

"Twi? What's going on?"

"Do you remember what happened in this area of the woods, Eric?"

I turned my head back and forth a couple of times. "No, I don't think I remember."

"Well, I do. This is where you and I first met, six months ago."

I bent down to take a closer look at the ground, and I noticed that this was where I first woke up in Equestria, and where Twilight found me. And where I thought she wanted to crush me with one of her hooves, thinking I was a bug. Of course, I wasn't gonna bring that last part up.

"Oh yeah, you're right. I guess I didn't recognize it from this height. But what's going on?"

Twilight's grin got bigger. "I got a big surprise for you, Eric."

Thinking about that "big surprise" she gave me three months ago, when she playfully squeezed me in her forelegs, I huffed and asked, "It's not like that last 'big surprise' you gave me, is it, Twi?"

"Oh no, it's nothing like that this time, I promise. Trust me, You're gonna love this surprise!"

Starlight, who was beside me, walked to and stood right beside Twilight.

Twilight stopped grinning and told me, "Just stay there, and be still, Eric. Okay?"

I nodded, and Twilight's and Starlight's horns glowed. A green smoke of magic came from their horns and it surrounded me. Once the smoke formed itself into a ball around me, Twilight said, "Now, Eric, while staying in that ball of magic, call out to either one of your parents or sisters in your world, all right?

My heart started racing, and I quickly asked, "Mom?"

Their horns glowed a bit brighter, and I heard a voice that I didn't think I'd hear ever again.

"Eric?! Is that you? Where are you?!"

It belonged to my mom.

"Mom?! Did you hear me, Mom?!"

I started to move out of surprise, but Twilight reminded me not to move, worried I might come out of the green smoke by mistake.

"Yes, Eric, I can. Where are you?"

Tears flooded from my eyes in pure happiness. I couldn't believe I was hearing my mom's voice again! I went on to try to explain what happened to me, and where I was.

"...And that's what happened. Right now, Twilight and Starlight are casting some kind of spell to let us talk.

"Wow, Eric. I can't believe that you've been through all that. But you sound like you've really grown up in this 'Equestria' you're in."

"Ha, yeah, I guess I have."

"But those two ponies you just said, uh, 'Princess Twilight Glimmer' and 'Starlight Sparkle', that are now like pony big sisters to you? Are they there right now, and can they hear us?"

"No, no! They're 'Princess Twilight Sparkle' and 'Starlight Glimmer'! And I'll ask them."

I looked over to Twilight and Starlight, and they both had annoyed frowns. I guess they didn't like my mom mixing their names up. Heh, touchy, aren't they?

"Did you hear my mom just now? She asked if you two could hear us"

Twilight answered, "Yes, we can hear her."

"Does she want to talk to you alone?"

"I'll ask her. Mom, did you hear what Sta--"

"Don't worry, Eric, I just heard them. And no, I just wanted to tell them thank you for taking care and protecting you."

"It's no problem at all, Mrs. Reed. He's not a pony, but Eric's just like our little brother now, so we'll do all we can to protect and be here for him."

"Yeah! Twilight and I are two of the most powerful ponies in Equestria, so he's in good hooves with us! He won't be hurt ever again with us around!

"Hooves...? Oh, yeah, I guess ponies would say 'hooves' in place of 'hands'. And thank you so much! Please be sure to watch over my boy, okay, Princess Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer?"

"We will, Mrs. Reed. And you can just call me 'Twilight'."

"And you can just call me 'Starlight'."

"But our spell's gonna wear off in about a minute, so you'll have to finish this soon," Twilight warned us.

"But don't worry, we'll be able to cast this spell again in a week and we can do it weekly, so we'll be able to do this every week, if you two want."

"Okay, you heard that, Mom? You want to talk again next week?"

"Oh yes, I do! What do I have to do?"

"You won't have to do anything, Mrs. Reed. Starlight and I will do everything. All you have to do, when Eric calls out, is just talk to him, like you're doing now."

"But this spell can only allow Eric to talk to one pony, uh I mean person, at a time. So he'll have to decide who to talk to each time we do this, all right?"

"Really, Starie?"

"Well, in that case, who do you want to talk to next week?"

"Uh...How about Erica? I'll want to talk to her next week. So can you tell her about all this, and be ready to hear my voice?"

"Okay, I'll tell her. And she, Jenny, and your dad will be so happy to know you're all right! We all thought we lost you when no one could find you! They'll probably think I've gone crazy, but they'll see I'm not crazy when they hear your voice!"

"All right, Mom! Tell them all I'm all right and safe, and I love them!"

"I will, honey! I love you so much! Try not to give Twilight and Starlight too hard a time like you do Erica and Jenny, okay?"

"I'll try. But they love doing it to me too, almost as much as Erica and Jenny! I gotta have some fun back!"

"Well, try not to have too much fun with your new sisters then, okay?"

"All right, that I'll do!"

"The spell's about to wear off in a few seconds guys!"

"Oh, okay! Twilight--"

"I heard her, and I love you, Eric!"

"Love you too, Mom!"

The green smoke around me vanished, and everything looked as it was before.

"See, Eric? I told you would love this surprise, didn't I?"

"Happy I dragged you out here now?"

Still pouring on the waterworks, I just ran to Twilight and Starlight. Since they were standing right beside each other, I hugged them both. They hugged me back, and it became a group hug.

"I...I don't know what to say! I didn't think I'd be able to talk to my mom or family ever again!"

"Well, now you can, every week! Because this is where you entered Equestria, it's the only place we can do this spell. That's one more reason why this is a special place in the woods: it's not just where we first met anymore. And didn't we promise you that we would do something to make things up to you?"

"Yep, and this is our promise to you! This is why I made you come out here with me and wouldn't tell you why. I know you were still feeling a bit down, so we hope this cheered you up!"

"...*sniff*...Oh yeah!" I released my hug on Twilight and Starlight to wipe my eyes, then I hugged them again. "Thank you so much for this, Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer! I love you two so much!"

Starlight rubbed my back a little while still hugging me. "We love you too, Eric. Your pony big sisters will always be there for you if you need us."

"And so will all our friends, so you'll never be alone. Okay, Buggie?"

"Thanks." I let them go from our group hug. "And I'll always be there for you too. And wait, did you just say 'Buggie', Twi?"

Twilight answered, "Yep. You call us by nicknames, so we thought up one for you! You like it?"

"Figures you two would think of a nickname like 'BUGgie.' You're just as bad as my other two sisters when it comes to that kind of stuff. But seriously, I do like 'Buggie', so can that be my new nickname?"

"Yep! All right, from now on, 'Buggie' will be your new nickname!" Twilight gave me a light pat on the head. "And we hope you'll become just as home in Equestria as you were in your world. We'll do our best to help."

Starlight's ears drooped down and she frowned. "We're just sorry we can't actually send you to your world. We tried our best to find a way to do it."

Hearing that made Twilight's ears droop down and frowned as well. "Even though I could do this much, after how I kept saying that I would send you back to your world after learning the counterspell, I still can't help but feel like I failed you as your big sister by not doing it. Like I said before, I truly thought I could, and I tried everything...I'm so sorry."

"It's okay guys. I know you did all you could, and after all you've done for me, you can never fail me, Twi. But I think I can grow to feel just at home here in Equestria. Scratch that: I think I already have, and I even got a wish just now."

Starlight's ears perked back up and she smiled again and was about to ask me something.

But Twilight, while still a bit confused, beat her to it, asking, "What was it, Buggie?"

"About three months ago, I said that I wanted you, Starie, and the others to meet my family one day, remember? And while you couldn't see her, you two just met my mom!"

Twilight smiled and perked up too, when I reminded her of that. "Oh, that's right! I didn't think about it like that, until now. I'm happy we could grant you that wish at least."

"Me too, Buggie! But Spike's probably has lunch about ready. You two ready to go back to the castle?"

"That sounds like a good idea, Starlight. Let's go home." Twilight looked right at me when she said the word "home", smiled a bit bigger, and nodded her head. That nod was her letting me know that, if I didn't already know, she's not just "letting" me stay in her castle in the same way she did at the very beginning. Her castle was, and still is, my home, too. Though I'd probably still call it "Twilight's castle" out of both habit and respect for Twilight. That castle was made for a princess, after all.

I nodded my head as well. "And I'm getting hungry too, so Twi, Starie, let's go eat!"

And my two pony big sisters and I headed back to the castle. Actually, no, I'm not gonna call them my "pony" big sisters anymore from now on. I'm just gonna say they're my "sisters/big sisters" or "Equestrian sisters/big sisters".

A bit later, I went to Rarity and asked her to make me another hat, and she was happy to do it for me. But it didn't have just her Cutie Mark. This one had, as well as Rarity's Cutie Mark, Rainbow's, Fluttershy's, Applejack's, Pinkie Pie's, and, near the top of the hat, Twilight's and Starlight's Cutie Marks.

The next day, Twilight finally agreed to do something that I wanted to do with her for a long time. In my tiny size of four inches, sitting on Twilight's head, holding on to her mane, with my feet on her horn to further help balance myself, we were just outside her castle, ready to do it.

"Okay, Buggie? Are you holding on tight to my mane or horn?"

"Yeah, I am, Twi."

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. I've always wanted to do this with you!"

"But if you get scared, let me know, okay?"

"I will, I promise!"

"All right. And remember, I'll catch you if you fall off my head. But try not to make me have to do it!"

"I know, Twilight! I'll hold on as tight as I can, so can we go now?"

"Okay, okay! I'm going to take off now!"

Twilight flapped her wings and, at a height of about as high as a five or six-story building in the "real" world, she flew around the castle in a circle. I was flying with my big sister for the very first time. I was a bit nervous at first, but that feeling didn't last long. It became all excitement!

"Wow, this is really fun!"

"How do you like the view? I'm not flying too high for you, am I, Buggie?"

"The view's great! And you're not too high, Twi. In fact, can you go higher in the sky, like when you usually fly?"

"Sure. Hang on!"

Twilight flapped her wings a little harder to fly higher up in the sky, to around as high as she usually would be when she flies.

"Wow...so this is how it's like up here. And before you ask, Twi, I'm all right!"

"You know me too well, you know that, Buggie?"

"Well, I probably should by now. Remember how I used to watch your cartoon before I came to Equestria? And that's on top of all the time I've spent with you."

"Oh, hehe, I keep forgetting about that 'cartoon' of us you said your world has."

"But if it makes you feel better, I still don't know everything about you yet. And can you take me flying like this again sometimes, Twi?"

"Sure, Buggie, ask me anytime, all right?"

"Thanks, I will."

Twilight would fly over Ponyville with me for a while before she got tired and came back down at the castle. This wouldn't be the last time Twi took me flying like this, far from it! Starie would do it too sometimes, since she can fly too using her magic.

And now that I was able to at least talk to my human family, even if it could only be just one person a week, I was fully back to my old self, and happier than ever since I got to Equestria. I'd made my peace about being in Equestria for the rest of my life, and fully accepted it. I could now fully enjoy being in my new home world with my Equestrian friends and family here. I had a lot of great times and misadventures with them.

To help it feel more like my former world as much as possible, Twilight thought to have us sometimes do some things my world has but Equestria doesn't.

Every once in a while, that Lord of Chaos/Trolling Discord would try to teach me "friendship lessons" in classic Discord fashion. Twilight still had her freak-out moments. Starlight had a few magical shenanigans, which I may or may not have been a part of. I once had a friendly(?) magic duel with "The Great and Powerful Trixie". We even had a few new Alicorns for a while.

It wasn't all fun and games, though. We all had our fair share of arguments. Even Twilight and I got into it a few times. However, she never once forgot her promise to never actually hurt me again, no matter how mad she got. And I sure never thought of trying to hurt my big sister. Of course, it was more than just love that kept me from trying anything. Even when I'm normal-sized, promise or no promise, that Alicorn could mop the floor with me and physically, Twilight's several times stronger than me, so she wouldn't need her magic to do it.

And while Twilight and Starlight were usually good at keeping the counterspell active as long as I needed it to be during the day, there were a few times it wore off too soon for one reason or another. On very rare occasions, I ended up being not just four inches tall, or even one-inch tall like I was at the very beginning, but ended up even smaller!! And...oh boy...let's just say what I had to go through before I got someone's attention was not fun. Twilight and Starlight are still kicking/bucking themselves a bit over it.

Well, that's it for my story, and I hope you enjoyed it. Like I said from the start, this really did happen to me. But if you still don't believe me, as I said from the very beginning, I won't blame you. But even if you don't, if you still liked it, that'll be good enough for me. Someday, maybe I'll tell you about those misadventures -- and mayhem -- I was just talking about. If you enjoyed this, maybe you'll enjoy those stories.

Till then, Eric Reed, over and out.

Oh yeah, one more thing. In case you're wondering how I can even write this if I'm really in Equestria right now...let's just say I've learned some things from Pinkie Pie. If you ever end up in Equestria, I can ask her to teach you how to break the fourth wall too.

Chapter 18: Lunar Advice

About a week after Twilight and Starlight mastered a spell to let me talk to one of my family members back in my old world once a week, I found myself in a terrifying situation. It's not the first time it happened to me since I got to Equestria, though. I wasn't even awake an hour here before a certain Alicorn put me in the first one by trying to stomp on and crush me, or I thought she was about to.

But this time it was different.

This terrifying situation was different, because it wasn't something that happened to me because of simple bad luck, or because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, or because I charged into it. I was intentionally bought into it, and it wasn't my choice. Because of something I did three months before.

I was in a dark area and was only able to see about ten feet in front of me, because it was too dark for me to see any farther than that. I couldn't even tell if I was in a cave, building, forest, or somewhere else. I was tied to a wall by green magic so I couldn't move. The one that put me there...was Queen Chrysalis herself, who was in front of me, just inside the limit of my sight range. She also seemed to be fully recovered from any injuries from being blasted out of the cave wall by Twilight and Starlight three months ago.

I yelled out in anger, "What are you up to now, Queen Chrysalis?!"

Chrysalis chuckled, and responded, "What do you think? I'm getting my revenge on you, Eric Reed."

I calmed down a bit. A bit smugly, I threatened, "Are we really doing this again? Don't you remember what Twilight and Starlight did to you when you blasted me three months ago? They'll be all too happy to do it again!"

Chrysalis grinned evilly. "Aw, that's cute, you haven't noticed them yet."

"What do you mean by that?"

Chrysalis's horn glowed, to allow me to see more of wherever we're in, though I still couldn't tell where I was. When I looked to my left, my mouth dropped and my heart sank at what I saw.

Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer, my big sisters, were both lying on the ground on their stomachs, right beside each other, and not moving a single muscle. Their manes and tails were ragged, like if the two were shaken severely, and both had small and medium-sized cuts all over their body. My sisters' faces pointed near my direction, but not directly at me, but to where someone in front of me by three feet would be, and the ponies' eyes were closed.

"What...what did you do to them, Chrysalis?! They're not dead are they?! If they are, so help me...!!"

Laughing at my panic and anger, Chrysalis gloated, "No, don't worry, dear boy. They're just unconscious. They're still alive...for now."

I felt relieved for a moment, but it didn't last long. They still might have been alive, but they were still hurt and defenseless. I was stuck on a wall, so I couldn't do anything for them. I had no idea if help would come in time. Or if help would come at all.

"But since you're awake, dear boy, it's time to get to the...fun part of this."

I gulped, and asked, "What 'fun' do you mean?"

"I could've already killed these two pests, but I wanted you to see it. To teach you a lesson on what happens if you mess and make fun of me, Queen Chrysalis!"

At that point, what was left of my defiant stance vanished. I broke down in tears and cried, "No, no, please don't do it! I-I'll do whatever you say, Queen Chrysalis. Just don't kill them! They're my best friends! My sisters!"

But all that was music to Chrysalis's ears. She wanted me to suffer, so the more I begged, the more she enjoyed it, as she walked slowly to Twilight and Starlight, who were still out cold.

"Yesss! Keep crying, keep begging. Beg me to spare your 'sisters' lives!"

I was only making things worse by continuing to beg and cry. But I was too freaked out to even notice it, as I kept begging Chrysalis to spare them.

Standing right over them, Chrysalis leaned her head down, with her still-glowing horn pointed at Twilight and Starlight, and it glowed even brighter.

"Now, take a good look, Eric Reed, but don't worry too much. You are going to be joining these two sorry excuses for ponies in the other world soon, so you won't be grieving too long for them!"

After giving that evil laugh of hers louder than ever, Queen Chrysalis fired a huge green beam from her horn, the biggest one she's ever fired, and it was about to hit its two targets, I just couldn't believe it. I was about to lose Princess Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer, my best friends, my two Equestrian big sisters, and thoughts of how much they have helped me, and all they have done for me, flooded my head. And yet, I couldn't do a thing to save them. I thought that this was how Twilight felt when she thought I was about to die in front of her.

It felt even worse than I imagined it did for her.

Crying and yelling louder and harder than I'd ever done, I looked away.

I heard nothing, and the wall I was tied on seemed to just vanish from thin air, but I remained standing.

I opened my eyes, and I found myself in a completely different place. I was standing in some kind of a clear "bubble". I was floating in what looked like the late evening sky, but more impressive than anything I saw before in the night sky. It had a dark-blue background, and there were a bunch of little white, blue, orange, and red points in every direction, like stars in the sky.

A calming voice asked me, "It is a breathtaking sight, isn't it, Eric Reed?"

Still sniffing a bit, I turned behind me, where the voice came from, and Princess Luna was standing there, in the same "bubble" I was in, smiling.

A bit starstruck, I asked, "Wait...Princess Luna? Is that you?"

"Yes, it is, Eric Reed. And I am sure that you of all ponies, er, people, know where you are right now, and why I am here."

And Princess Luna was right, I did. I was in the dream world. What "happened" with Chrysalis just now was just a dream. Or a nightmare I should say.

Feeling so relieved, I gave a deep sigh. "Whew! That was just a dream. I really thought I lost Twilight and Starlight."

"It must be fate tonight as one of the nights you chose to fall asleep with that counterspell still active, or you would not be here right now."

I put a hand on my chin. "Yeah, I guess so, Princess Luna. I guess I was more worried about it than I thought."

The last three days, I was thinking, and worrying, about how Queen Chrysalis was still out there, and probably wanted to get revenge on not just Starlight, but on me now too. To be honest, I wasn't too scared for myself, but much more so for Twilight and Starlight. If Chrysalis would go after me, and later Twilight, to get revenge on Starlight, she might try a similar trick if she wanted to get revenge on me.

She knew how much I love those two ponies, so one of the best ways to hurt me, is to hurt them. I didn't even let myself think that Chrysalis might go after the others as well, or even someone who had nothing to do with us. It might have overwhelmed me if I did. Just worrying about possibly losing Twilight and Starlight felt bad enough.

I thought about going to Twilight and Starlight and talk to them about it, but I wasn't sure if even they could say anything to ease me. I thought Twilight would tell me to try not to worry about it, and usually, when she says it, it works, and it's not like she overuses it. But, that only works if I'm worried about myself. Since I wasn't this time, and it was about her, Twilight telling me not to worry wouldn't have been much help, if simply thinking about the power Twilight has with her magic had no effect.

Starlight herself struggles with this kind of worry, and I wasn't even sure if she'd know how to handle it. Let alone be able to teach or help me learn how to do it, like she did when I was struggling with guilt over lying the first three weeks I was in Equestria. I thought telling her all this would do nothing but make her become worried over me.

This was a rare time I fell asleep at night before I shrunk back to four inches, so I wasn't immune to nightmares. Thus I had my first nightmare in Equestria. Lucky for me, Equestria has Princess Luna around to help those suffering from nightmares, and it was my turn to get it.

"Even if you never go to sleep with the counterspell active again and never suffer another nightmare, it would not change any worries or issues that are on your mind, Eric Reed."

"Yes, I know, but what do I do? Hearing Twilight tell me not to worry won't help me this time. And I don't know if Starlight would know how to tell me how to handle this kind of worry. In fact, I'd probably just make her become worried about me without her needing to be."

"Well, for one thing, how do you know that all Princess Twilight would say is not to worry, or that Starlight Glimmer would not know how to help you?"

"Well, that's because they, well..."

That forced me to think hard about how Twilight or Starlight might react. Thinking this hard, I wondered if how I thought they might react was for sure how they'd react. I mean, I don't know everything about Twilight, and there's still a lot about Starlight's past that I still didn't know. I still didn't even know how Starlight got her Cutie Mark! Maybe I was overthinking it.

Luna saw me looking more and more unsure of myself, and told me, "You see? They might surprise you, Eric Reed. And you are like their little brother, so you know they will want you to go to them for help for anything, if you need them. Just trust your sisters."

"You're right, Princess Luna. By now, I should know to always have faith in them, and for that matter, all of my friends, including you. I guess I was just overthinking things."

"I would now feel too bad, Eric. Princess Twilight does that too, so 'tis only natural that you would have some of her bad habits. She is your big sister, after all." Luna gave me a wink.

I chuckled and admitted, "Yeah, maybe I've hung around her a bit too much."

"But you have some of her good habits too. Thinking about others is also something Twilight does, which you have done many times too. Not only that, Starlight may understand it better than you think too. I gave her this kind of advice too when she was still nervous about going back to her village's festival, remember?"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. Okay, thank you, Princess Luna. When I wake up, the first thing I'll do is talk to Twilight and Starlight about how I was worried about what Chrysalis might try to do." I gave a bow.

Luna nodded and opened a portal, ready to leave my dream. "You would be surprised how much of those two I see in you right now, Eric Reed. It may be another reason why they have bonded so strongly with you, and as quickly as they did. However, try not to be too much like them. You need to be your own person. Plus, I would rather you not panic while with a third of Starlight's magic, and try to switch Princess Celestia's and my Cutie Marks like she once did!"

I laughed, and assured, "I'll try my best to do that, Princess Luna. But not the Cutie Mark part!"

After Luna chuckled, she went through the portal she opened.

The next thing I knew, I was in my normal-sized bed, but back to four inches tall. The counterspell must have worn off, right before I woke up. Because I might take naps during the day, I have both a tiny bed, and a normal-sized one in my room, so I can sleep no matter what size I was at during the time.

Like I told Luna I'd do, the first thing I planned to do was talk to Twilight and Starlight, and I waited for one or both of them to come into my room to cast the counterspell, to make me normal-sized again.

An hour later, and normal-sized, I told my big sisters about that nightmare I had, what I'd been thinking about the last three days, and what Luna told me.

Twilight smiled and, Instead of trying to tell me not to worry like I thought she might do, her horn glowed. A lot of sheets of paper rained down on us.

Looking at all the paper around us, I asked, "What's going on, Twi? What's with the 'papershower'?"

Twilight answered almost smugly, "Oh, these? These are just a few of the plans I've thought about to prevent what you've been worried about. I've been thinking about it too after since you and Starlight saved me from Chrysalis."

"A few plans, Twi? There's gotta be over a hundred sheets of paper here!"

"Well, for me"-- Twilight pointed her hoof at herself --"these are a few, when it comes to plans. I'm Twilight Sparkle, Buggie, remember?"

"Ha, point taken," I admitted and laughed. Twilight had me on that one.

Starlight cut and said, "Yeah, Buggie. After Twilight got captured by Chrysalis three times now, and almost lost you when you got captured, you really didn't think she would start coming up with plans to keep that from happening again?

"Guess I should've thought that you'll start making plans in case Chrysalis tries something again, Twi. Does Spike know about these plans too?"

"Yep, who do you think helped write these down? And I'm still not done making more, so Buggie, rest assured that I'm not going to let Chrysalis take me like that again, or anyone."

"And I won't either. I felt the same way as you, Buggie, so I helped Twilight with a few of those plans. And when I say a 'few', I mean what you or I might call 'a few'." Starlight gave me a wink.

"So just try to let your big sisters worry about Chrysalis, Buggie, and we'll make sure nothing like that happens to any of us again. That's why I didn't tell you about these plans: I didn't want you to think about the threat of Chrysalis returning. I'm sorry if it backfired."

After hearing that, I felt better, but also a bit guilty. I wanted to do something too to help.

"It's okay, Twilight, and thanks, guys. But I don't want to count on you two for everything, so can I at least help come up with a few plans too?"

Twilight came beside and wrapped a wing around me. "Sure you can, Buggie, if you want to. We're a team after all."

Seeing how Twilight had already made so many plans thought out to protect not just us, but others from Chrysalis, and with Starlight and now me helping come up with more, I felt much calmer again. I didn't think I'd need to worry about someone getting hurt because of Chrysalis's problem with me, because we're preparing on how to stop her, if we'd even need to. And like Starlight once told me: worrying or blaming myself over something, and not do anything about it, won't do me any good. I guess I just needed to relearn that lesson.

From how Twilight didn't tell me about those plans, I guess my sister sometimes tries to guess how I might react to things, just like I tried to do with her and Starlight. Because I have a few of Twilight's personality traits in me, it was probably why she didn't just say I had nothing to worry this time, but she said and showed it: she would've only calmed down that way too, if she were me. And like Princess Luna said, she's prone to overthinking things sometimes, like me, which was why Twi didn't tell me about the plans sooner: she thought it could make me feel worried if she talked about Chrysalis returning, and didn't want me to think or worry about it, instead of the other way around.

I guess I'll never know everything about her or my friends, or that they'll know everything about me. Heh, it's not a bad thing, though. It makes things even more fun.

But I did finally ask Starlight how she got her Cutie Mark. And it wasn't quite how I thought she might have gotten it.

Chapter 3: An "Impossible" Meeting (rewritten)

Author's Note

From this point on, the narration will sometimes switch from the first-person narration from the OC human character Eric Reed, to a third-person narration when his character isn't part of the scene, such as during nearly all of chapter 2. The switch will only happen after certain full scene breaks, and I will use two horizontal rules to show it. A "regular" full scene break that doesn't have a narration switch will have just one horizontal rule.

Chapter 3: An "Impossible" Meeting (rewritten)

I just couldn't believe my eyes! Princess Twilight Sparkle was in front of me, who from my point of view was a giant Alicorn that seemed to be over a hundred feet tall, but she still wasn't aware I was near her. I didn't want to do anything reckless, so I ducked back into the grass before she could spot me. With my back against one of the giant blades of grass, my head tilted down towards the light-brown dirt on the ground with a finger on my chin, I fought to decide what to do.

On one hand, I knew Twilight to be very friendly, and she wouldn't hurt anything if she didn't have to.

But on the other hand, if I ran up to and surprised her too badly, and she thought I was a bug, she could freak-out -- something I knew she's prone to doing -- and try to crush me if she couldn't hear or understand my voice. And the tremors from her footsteps, or hoofsteps I should say, that grew stronger with each step, didn't exactly help my paranoia. The thought of something so big trying to stomp on me was horrifying, and I shook from fear more than ever. I'm glad that I didn't really think about Twilight's ability to use magic.

As Twilight crept closer, at about four feet away, I made out what she was muttering about. "I know what I heard came from around here," she said. I thought that Twilight had heard my calls and was trying to find what made them, and I better just come out of the grass.

But as I thought more and more about her size, paranoia made me want to stay hidden. However, I remembered something that made staying put not an option.

When Twilight Sparkle looks for something, she can easily keep it up for hours. There was no place close enough that I could hide in and feel safe, so I didn't think I could try to wait her out. Not only that, if there's anyone -- er -- anypony, that could figure out how and why I ended up in Equestria, there were very few better options to ask for help than Twilight. If I didn't do it then and there, I might not have gotten another chance to ask her to help me.

With Twilight continuing to come closer and her hoofsteps still making the ground shake, I felt like I had no choice. Taking deep breaths, I gave my face a couple of slaps telling myself, "You gotta do this, you idiot!" I gritted my teeth, clenched my fists tighter than ever, and crept out of the huge blades of grass.

Twilight was only about two feet away at this point, so she saw me as soon as I stepped out of the grass. Her eyes widened, and she let out a loud scream and jumped backward before I even had a chance to call out to her. At my tiny size, Twilight's scream sounded as if a "normal" woman screamed right in your ears at the top of her lungs, but five times louder. As you could guess, it just killed my ears, and I put my hands over my ears as hard as I possibly could.

Then, what felt like an earthquake when she landed on the ground made me stumble back and forth a few times, with me waving my arms up and down very quickly, trying to keep my balance. I couldn't do it, and I just fell to the ground, face-down.

On my stomach, I lifted my head at Twilight again. Seeing her standing so close and now looking at me, with a facial expression showing disgust, a chill came down my spine. I froze, too scared to move or talk. She was almost like a living purple mountain that had me in her sight. Her hooves were big enough to crush a house with no problem. Let alone crush my bones into dust if she got any...ideas. Even thinking to myself that she was Princess Twilight Sparkle did nothing to calm me down.

Even so, staying quiet on my stomach wasn’t going to help. What to do now?

The obvious answer: try to talk to her, and hope that the words she and others said on TV are the same as what would be said here. Twilight’s shocked frown lessened, yet it felt like her attention on me sharpened, making me gulp.

I was willing myself to talk, but I didn’t get a single word out when Twilight started doing something. It was what I was afraid she might do. Towering over me, Twilight was lifting the hoof on her left foreleg off the ground. She was moving it in my direction, about to put it over me. A terror I had never felt before filled my veins. I didn't think this giant was trying to use that hoof to shake my hand.

My mouth opened wide to let out an almost inhuman scream. I pushed off the ground to stand and try to duck out of the way, but my left foot sank into a crack in the ground and got trapped, so it wouldn’t come out!!

There was no escaping the hoof that was still coming for me. I was a dead man, so I looked down and away from the inevitable. I clenched my teeth harder than ever out of pure terror and covered my head with my arms, even though I knew it wouldn't do anything to protect me from something so big stomping on me. I just cried, shook, and hoped that she'd stomp down hard and fast to kill me instantly, so at least I wouldn't have enough time to feel the pain of being crushed.

Of all the things I thought would happen if I ever went to Equestria, being crushed to death by a giant Twilight Sparkle WASN’T one of them!

But there was no bone-crushing stomp. Instead, something tapped most of my back, but my existence didn’t end. From how much of my back it touched, what touched me was huge, but its tap didn’t hurt, yet the shock of the touch made me shiver even harder from pure fear. Thought by heart might burst from it! A second later, Twilight asked, “Are you okay? I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.”

Her voice was -- compared to her previous scream -- much quieter. It was about as loud as someone talking in a raised voice, but not one of yelling. Tears still flowed down my eyes, I stopped shaking, slowly moved my arms off my head, lifted my head up, and saw that her left hoof was back on the ground and away from me. She was also bending down, staring right at me with big eyes, and her head only about five feet (to me) over me.

Seeing her huge face so close, out of instinct I yelled, "Don't eat me!"

Twilight jerked her head away from me and to its normal height. She took some steps back, making the ground shake, and rubbed the top of her head with a foreleg. The steps she made made the ground shake enough to free my foot, so I was able to pull it out.

I kept looking at her; she kept her eyes on me. Guess we both weren't sure what to say next. It was even starting to become awkward. At least I was now able to piece together that Twilight wasn’t trying to stomp on me before: she was simply reaching for me. Maybe it was to pick me up or something, or just check on me.

After I took some semi-deep breaths, I chose to finally try to talk to her. But after the screaming I did, my throat felt like it was on fire.

"Hello! Can you understand me?" I yelled, at about half my limit, and hoped she'd still hear me. She tilted her head a bit more, but didn't say anything. I yelled it again and waved my hands up at her this time, but other than maybe making her even more confused, it did nothing.

Wonderful.

I put a hand on my chin and tilted my head down, trying to think of another idea, then grinned when I got one. I lifted my head upwards, looked back up at hers and used a "come here" motion by waving an arm toward me a few times. Twilight could tell I was trying to get her to do and asked, "Are you asking me to come closer to you?"

Twilight didn't seem too confused now, but instead just interested. I nodded my head a few times, used the motion again, and kept doing it, so she'd know for sure that's what I wanted her to do. I knew that unless she did, Twilight wouldn't be able to hear me loud enough to understand me.

Lucky for me, Twilight could tell what I wanted her to do, and she went down on her stomach, leaned her head closer, about to how she had it before I yelled to don't eat me. She stared at me with huge eyes, making me lean away. I yelled one more time, "Hello, Twilight! Can you understand me?!" My throat was at its limit with how much it was burning. I rubbed it and thought I had to try to tough it out a little longer.

"Yes, I do," she told me and even gave a gentle smile, which greatly eased my nerves, as I felt a wave of relief flow through my body. I gave a deep sigh of relief too, knowing for sure that Twilight really wasn't going to try to crush me or something. But I still felt a bit tense, though; she was still a giant.

"Now, can I ask you who you are?

"I'm a h--!"

I suddenly had a new problem to deal with: my energy suddenly seemed to just leave my body. My head sagged, I fell to one knee, gasping for breath, and I held my head with a hand in dizziness.

Twilight's eyes got (even) bigger, and she leaned even closer to me. "W-What's wrong? Are you all right?! Say something if you are!

I tried to answer her, but before I could, everything went dark.

Back in Ponyville, Starlight Glimmer and Rarity had finished gathering their remaining friends, as Twilight requested, and now were waiting in the princess's castle.

Rainbow Dash, a light-blue Pegasus.

Pinkie Pie, a pink Earth Pony. Earth Ponies don't have a horn or wings, but they have more physical strength than Pegasi and Unicorns.

Applejack, an orange Earth Pony.

And finally, Fluttershy, a yellow Pegasus.

They had searched all over Ponyville and questioned every pony they could find. Not one pony had seen the still-missing magic, nor did they notice anything different since the previous day. The six friends knew it would very soon be time for Twilight to return to the castle, so they decided to wait there for her, in a huge room around a big circular table, that has a mini-map of Equestria. Pillars of a mix of dark-blue and light-purple crystals spread along parts of the blue-colored walls of the room, with some surrounding closed windows made of green glass. Double doors of a similar green color, surrounded by its own crystal stalagmite, were closed.

Starlight, who didn't have a chair, remained standing, but the rest of the mares sat in chairs surrounding the table, that each has a design of their respective Cutie Mark. Except for Pinkie, who was hopping in her chair, instead of simply sitting in it.

Starlight wanted to explain in more detail about what happened when she and Twilight performed the nightmare prevention spell the previous night, and why she's so worried.

"So, you say this spell that you and Twilight tried to do would keep ponies from having nightmares, Starlight?" questioned Rainbow Dash, scratching her mane.

"Yes, Rainbow Dash," Starlight answered, turning in Rainbow's direction. "Twilight tracked down the spell six months ago and if ponies breathe in the magic this spell produces, it'll block their ability to have nightmares for three weeks. We were never about to do it successfully until last night."

"Okay, but I thought Princess Luna was doin' a great job at fightin' nightmares," Applejack said while biting into an apple.

Fluttershy turned her head in Starlight's direction. "Hold on, is Princess Luna sick?"

"Maybe Princess Luna just wants to go out and have some fun on some nights?" Pinkie considered, still bouncing in her chair. "After all, fighting nightmares all night doesn't sound like fun one bit!"

"Maybe, but most ponies are asleep at night, and Princess Luna isn't exactly a 'ponies-pony' anyway," Applejack reminded Pinkie.

"And I thought she loved helping ponies with nightmares!" Rainbow exclaimed.

Applejack turned to Rainbow Dash. "Well, think about it, Rainbow. Sure, she likes doin' it, but it's still gotta be hard on her to do it every night. I mean, would you want to fly around doin' Sonic Rainbooms all day, every day?"

"Oh yeah, I get your point, Applejack. I guess I never thought about it like that," Rainbow said in realization.

"Exactly," Starlight said, turning her body in Applejack's direction. "That was why Twilight wanted to help Luna be able to get some nights off from fighting nightmares."

Pinkie stopped bouncing in her chair. "But why are you so worked up about this magic, Starlight? Can't you and Twilight just do the spell again?"

"We could, Pinkie, but that's not the point"-- Starlight paced back and forth --"because it's about what it could mean if it's not still on the loose."

"What do you mean, Starlight?" Rarity asked.

"If it isn't still free-floating, it can mean that it went into something"-- Starlight paced even faster --"and if it did, it could cause a lot of trouble. Or even worse, it could've gone into somepony, and if all of that magic went into them, it could be dangerous! And if somepony got hurt because of me, I--" Starlight's eyes became watery, and her voice was close to breaking.

Applejack assured, "Now don't worry, Starlight. I mean, think about it, sugarcube: if it really did go into somepony, don't ya think we'd know it by now?"

Starlight smiled at Applejack as she stopped pacing. "Oh yeah, that's right! I guess I was just worrying over nothing!"

"You see, darling? Twilight was telling you that you didn't do anything wrong," Rarity comfortingly told Starlight.

"Yeah, I know she did, Rarity but --" Starlight tilted her head upward "-- it's just that, whenever I try to help somepony, and especially when I do it with spells, most of the time, I just make things worse. I was just worried it happened again."

Pinkie once again hopped up and down in her chair. "Yeah, Starlight, you have messed up pretty bad when you used magic. Like that time yo--"

Applejack sped over to pop Pinkie on the head, motioning with her hoof to stop talking.

"Well, Twilight should be here any second." Rainbow stood up from her chair, stretching her hooves, yawning. "Hopefully, she found something."

I came to, lying on my back on the ground. At first, I thought I was waking up from the "dream" about waking up in Equestria.

But as I was rubbing my eyes, I rolled over to my left and I heard a loud voice asking if I felt better coming from my other side. I sat up from surprise and to cover my ears with my hands again. After a second, I spun my head to my right, and Twilight was there, sitting beside me and covering her mouth with her hooves. And still a giant. Well, she was one to me anyway.

We were right in front of the yellow doors of Twilight's castle, and it seemed like she was waiting for me to wake up. I guess she carried me there after I passed out. I thought it was odd that Twilight didn't take me in her castle, but I didn't say anything about it.

"Oh, I am so sorry. I guess I should talk quietly around you, so I don't hurt your ears. Are you okay?" Twilight asked in a much more quiet voice. She was probably truly talking in a whisper, but to my tiny ears, she sounded like she was talking in her "normal" voice. She also lowered her head closer to me, to about ten feet (to me) over my head, and stared at me with widened eyes. I guess Twilight was still trying to recognize what I was.

"I...I don't know..." I said in a low voice, feeling nervous because of her staring...which of course she couldn't hear at all. I took notice of Twilight's horn, making me remember that she could probably do something about my voice with her magic. With my throat still burning from my earlier screaming, though not as bad, I yelled as loud as I could that if she could raise my voice or something.

Twilight nodded. "Yes, I can cast a spell to do that if you want, and it won't hurt."

I nodded back, instead of trying to yell again.

"All right, just stand still for a second."

I stood still, and her horn glowed pink and fired a pink beam at me. It was wide enough to completely cover my body, so from my point of view, it looked like she shone a bright pink light on me, more like how the light from a slightly dim pink sun would look if you looked at it than a "beam" of magic. As Twilight said, it didn't hurt, but it did feel oddly familiar.

Twilight explained that the spell did two things. First, it raised my voice, so I could talk normally and she would be able to hear my voice as if I were her size, or even the size of a foal, as well as easing the burning of my throat as a secondary effect. The spell also affected my ears, making it so my new, far louder voice wouldn't hurt my ears. This would also allow Twilight, as well as others, to talk to me in their normal voices, without it killing my ears. Of course, there were limits to it: if Twilight or somepony screamed very close to my ears, it'd still hurt them.

I thanked her, told her my name, and I tried my best to explain what I was, I wasn't from Equestria, that I didn't know how any of this happened, and asked if she could help me. However, I had no idea how I could explain the part about her, and Equestria, being part of a cartoon I watched, and that they shouldn't even exist. So I just left that out.

As I talked, shivers went through my body as I became more and more aware of the size of not just Twilight, but everything around me and how vulnerable I was. The doors to the castle looked like they were several hundreds of feet tall, if not over a thousand. Small rocks were as big as me, and larger ones were simply bigger. Even though Twilight didn’t try to crush me, a different pony could try to do it if they saw me and thought I was a “bug”. I was just lucky Twilight isn’t the type to do something like that. A human such as me would be no match against an Alicorn, let alone a GIANT Alicorn!

And even if a pony wouldn’t try to step on me, something else might, or even eat me!

With the thoughts of the ton of ways I could easily be killed at this size in my head, more shivers flowed through me and I tried to keep from freaking out. I even started shaking.

Luckily, Twilight saw me shivering, gave a friendly smile, and carefully placed a hoof to my left side (closest she could come to placing it on my shoulder) and gently assured, "Try not to be scared, Eric. I promise I won't let you get hurt and will keep you safe, and I think I know how this happened. I'm going to take you into my castle and try to figure this out, but you will need to hide in my mane and stay quiet in it, for now."

I had no idea why Twilight wanted me to do this, and I asked, "Why do you want me to hide? Am I in some kind of danger?"

But Twilight leaned her head closer to me and pointed at the top of her head with a hoof. "I'll explain later, but for now, please just do it and trust me, okay? But it's not that you're in danger, so don't be worried about that."

I told her okay, and that I'd hide in her mane. Ha, it's not that I had much of a choice, and I figured she had a good reason anyway.

Twilight's horn glowed again and I felt myself being lifted off the ground and floated up in the air, surrounded by a pink aura; at the same time, she stood up. Alarmed a bit, I tried to flap my arms around at first, but I could barely move them. But once I figured out it was just Twilight lifting me with her magic, I stopped trying to flap my arms. But my heart sank and I gulped once I got to the height of Twilight's face; both from the height and from the sheer size of Twilight's face itself, even though she was smiling. Her eyes were more than four times as big as me. Once she sat me on her head, I quickly ducked in her mane, lay down on her head on my stomach, and feeling the hair of the mane surrounding me felt pretty good. Kinda weird, but good.

When I was in her magic, I thought that the sensation of it felt very much like what that odd "breeze" I felt by the pond was, before I fell asleep, then woke up in Equestria. The difference was that the "breeze" I felt came from one side, like, well...a breeze. But what I felt in Twilight's magic wasn't like a breeze: it was surrounding me, and it also made me feel weightless, and yet I couldn't move much. But the sensation itself, feeling like slightly warm air, felt nearly the same. This helped me confirm what I felt back then was Equestrian magic. But whether it was Twilight's magic, I couldn't tell.

With me hiding in her mane, Twilight walked right to the door, about to open it when her magic. "Now remember, until I tell you that you can, please, don't come out of my mane. Oh, and I guess you already know, but my name is Twilight Sparkle."

I could only wonder what Twilight wanted to do next, and why she wanted me to hide like this. But what I did know: I was somehow in Equestria and I just met Princess Twilight Sparkle, something that should have been impossible! And as if that weren't crazy enough, I was so small, I was literally riding on Twilight's head, hiding in her mane.

Man, could things get any weirder than this?