Fairies and Firelight

Chapters

1: Across Carpet Field
2: The Ascent of Mount Backpack
3: Music in the Backpack Caverns

1: Across Carpet Field

Sunset eyed the device before her warily. It was made of angular stainless steel and covered in wires, dials, gears, flashing lights, and who knows what else under the surface. Shape-wise, it vaguely resembled a teddy bear? Yeah, maybe if it was stripped straight out of a horror game! Wires ran down ever limb, two red lights shone from where it's eyes should've been, and a mess of gears and wires formed a demonic smile underneath. If she didn't know any better, she'd say it was something straight out of a haunted house, or a horror movie. The Curse of the Robotic Teddy Bear or something. It looked like it couldn't possibly function.

But on the inside, even without knowing anything about it, Sunset knew it was one of the greatest inventions the earth had ever seen. Why? Because it was built by Twilight freakin' Sparkle. You know, the person who built a device capable of sensing and draining magic, a feat that many equestrian artificers could only dream of. The only thing she'd heard of that could do the same was Tirek, and he was powerful enough to nearly take over Equestria! She built something like that without even knowing what magic was, in her high school's tech lab. Yeah, Twilight was the greatest engineer on the planet, and she hadn't even finished high school. Crazy as it might look, Sunset had no doubt this teddy bear was a marvel of engineering on the inside.

That didn't mean she trusted it. She couldn't shake the feeling it was watching her...

She shook the feeling off. "Okay, run this by me again, but without all the technobabble. What, exactly, is this supposed to do?" Sunset said.

Twilight grinned. "Okay, you know how, when we first met, I’d built a device able to detect magic through technology? Like, as a magical compass sort of thing. Well, that got me thinking, while I can detect magic, I’ve never been able to see it, more than the vague wisps. Certainly not what the equestrian magic within us looks like. So enter: the Mana Visualization Pulsar! It's like a magic X-ray machine! Well, it works nothing like an X-ray machine, but it's a good analogy. If everything goes well, it should emit a pulse of light, and any magic within 20 feet will faintly glow purple. Not only will this let us see residual magic in a given area, it will also glow through any organic materials, finally letting us see where the magic resides in our bodies! Can you imagine what we could do with that information? How does it flow through us, for instance? Does it flow through the bloodstream? Some sort of independent magical circulatory system? Or maybe it's concentrated all in one place. Sunset, we could be about to discover a whole new human organ used to regulate magic!"

Sunset laughed. "Okay, breath, girl. Don't count your Nobel prizes before they hatch."

Twilight adjusted her glasses. "Right, of course. But that just means we don't have any time to waste! Just back, relax, and I'll get ready to begin our first proper test!" With that, she got to work, digging deep into the device with a few crazy-looking tools.

Sunset watched Twilight work with the device, anxious to begin! Any moment now, and this was gonna be awesome!

Her hype faded slightly when Twilight was still working with the device five minutes later.

She wanted to stay invested in the experiment, really, she did! But you could only stare at someone jamming various wrenches into a demonic teddy bear for so long before it got boring. With her knowledge on the subject, the tools may well have been magic wands.

Twilight looked up for a moment, noting Sunset's bored expression. She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about the wait! This is it's first ever activation, so I'm still working through a few kinks. I'll be streamlining the process in the official showcase, but as is, it's kind of finicky to get to work. Could you try and be patient for me?" She quickly got back to work, jamming her wrenches in and out of the bear just a little bit quicker. Yep, this was gonna take a while.

Her stomach growled. Of course, the test run just had to take place during their lunch period...

To distract herself, she glanced around the classroom for something to do. She didn't know what she should've expected. It was a classroom, like every other one in the country. There were a few rows of desks, plain save for Twilight's device on one of the ones in the front row. A blank whiteboard on one wall, a few posters on the others. Patterned white carpet across the ground, her backpack sitting in the corner.

Her eyes settled on said backpack. Maybe she could grab her phone to chill while she waited? Nah, that would be a bit rude. It wouldn't be that much longer, anyways.

And this was no time to be negative. She was only as impatient as she was because she really was super excited to get a chance to see the mana channels in humans! It would be fascinating to compare them to her pony counterparts. And having a way to see ambient mana in the air, that would be super helpful in their future adventures. Really, she always loved learning more about magic, human or equestrian. Why else would she be here for the device's very first test run? She'd done some tests of her own in the past, even if they hadn't gone so well. If this worked, and knowing Twilight, it would, it really would be a massive breakthrough! So she would be patient, and everything would turn out okay.

Smiling again, she looked back at Twilight's pulsar. Twilight's terrifying, nightmarish pulsar. Somehow, she'd forgotten that detail. It's red lights for eyes seemed to eye her back unflinchingly. It was like it was challenging her to turn it on. Like it knew something she didn't. When she looked at it, every bone in her body told her to run. And suddenly, she had a lot of doubts on this whole operation.

She glanced back towards Twilight. "Are you sure this is safe? The last time I tried to investigate magic, it backfired. Hard. Maybe we should run more diagnostics first..."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Stop being so paranoid, it's a simple test. For one, I've ran diagnostics 12 times already, the 13th seems a bit redundant. And the circumstances are totally different. You were trying to measure magic. Not sure why that didn't work, maybe I'll look into it later, but that's now what I'm doing here. We aren't even interacting with the magic in any way, we're just making it visible. Worst-case scenario, nothing happens."

"Don't tempt fate, Twi."

"Don't be a baby, Sunset. Now be patient while I activate this thing."

Sunset grumbled. "I'd feel a lot more safe if it didn't look like a demonic teddy bear..."

Twilight cocked her head. "Teddy bear?"

Sunset froze. "Wait. No, you can't possibly tell me you don't see it. There are two red lights where it's eyes should be. A mess of wires forming a demonic smile. You mean to tell me that's an accident!?"

She looked closer. "Where, exactly?"

Sunset pointed directly into its glowing red eyes. “You can’t tell me that’s not a face.”

Twilight squinted. “So those are its… ears?”

Sunset gave an exasperated sigh. “Seriously!? You know what, forget I spoke up."

Twilight shrugged and continued fiddling with the device. A few moments later, finally, the red eyes turned green. Somehow, that didn't make it any less unsettling. But Twilight seemed satisfied. She grinned and stepped back from the desk. "Okay, that should do it! It's starting it's activation sequence. Just a few more moments, and we'll be able to see magic, at least for a minute or two! Are you ready?"

Sunset cocked her head, as if seriously examining the question. "Well, it still does look a bit creepy..."

Twilight sighed. "Fine, if it's that big a deal to you, I'll dress it up prettier for the showcase. You happy?"

Sunset laughed. "I'm just messing with you. You bet I'm ready!"

As if on cue, the teddy bear's green eyes flashed a few times. A white light built from the center of its chest, growing brighter and brighter. All her buried hype rushed back to her. Man, this was gonna be so cool! As it prepared, Sunset grinned and looked to Twilight. Ooh, she already could imagine the brilliant lines of purple shining beneath Twilight's skin! They were gonna be beautiful! And they would be magic, real magic! Besides, she knew she wouldn't need to imagine for long. The pressure within the bear finished building, and the device emitted a bright flash of light!

And everything burned. In an instant, every cell in her body lit up in unimaginable pain. She buckled to the ground, legs unable to support her own weight. She was melting, her entire body was dipped in boiling oil. Liquid fire flowed burned through her veins. She tried to scream, but no voice would come out. She started crying, but her tears evaporated as soon as they were made. In front of her she could see Twilight's silent screams. She clutched her head in agony, writhing on the ground. And Celestia, everything hurt. Every thought lead back to the pain. WHY!? WHY!?

She could see Twilight's mana circuits, beneath her skin. And they burned like the sun, a blood red bright enough to blind, streaming across her face like cracks of fire. Dimly, she raised her own hand and saw the same fire beneath her own skin. Sunset shut her eyes, to make it go away, but the burning red mana channels pierced through her eyelids, echoing Twilight's writhing form. She couldn't escape. She couldn't breath. Everything was fire. When she ripped her eyes open again, above the mana circuits, her skin was melting. Twilight's face was melting. Everything was melting.

Her vision blurred until the burning mana was all she could see.

And then she woke up.

She groaned, clutching her head. The pain... it had been like nothing she had ever experienced. Like she was being dripped in lava, like she would never feel joy ever again. And in an instant, it was completely, totally gone. Was that... some sort of dream? She cracked her eyes open and saw the familiar tiling of the classroom's roof, felt the softness of the carpet beneath her. No, she was still at school, same place as before. Besides, it was too real to be a dream. A premonition of some sort, maybe? Warily, she looked at her hand again, but it seemed normal enough, completely and utterly unmelted.

She glanced around the floor for Twilight. She should've collapsed right next to her... and she wasn't there. Her bleary eyes shot open. "TWILIGHT!"

From across what seemed to be a football field, she heard Twilight's voice. "I'm okay! Where are you!"

...What!? Why was she so far away? Her eyes narrowed. How was she so far away? They were still in a classroom, maybe 20 feet across. But distance of the call was easily five times that! For her to be so far away... how was that even possible? Had they been teleported somehow? It sure looked like her classroom. She finally took a better look around her, and... oh. Yeah, that would explain it.

They were still in the classroom, alright. But that room was massive. The desk that the teddy bear of doom was sitting on towered like a building, bigger than a house! The rows of desks formed a dense city block. The carpet was like a tangle of tall grass up to her knees. She unsteadily lifted her body off the ground, massive carpet shifting beneath her feet. Twilight somehow managed to accidentally invent a shrink ray, then? One with 'makes you want to die' as a side effect. Honestly, after the time loop, she wasn't even surprised. What's next, a cloning plot, body-swapping? Hopefully without the liquid fire next time.

Okay, one thing at a time. Meet up with Twilight first, figure out what's going on second.

Sunset trudged through the carpet. Okay, so far, so goo- oof! She faceplanted into the ground. The carpet cushioned her landing, but it wasn't pleasant. Yeah, the tall grass comparison didn't do wading through carpet justice. The loops of fabric tugged at her feet with every step, constantly threatening to trip her up if she lost focus for even a moment. She faceplanted a few more times, and lost her balance dozens more. Eventually, though, she did reach Twilight's position. She was still just looking around herself, shell-shocked.

"So, I'm not gonna be mad," Sunset said. "But when you were making the nightmare teddy, did you, like, incorporate any glowing rocks you found on the ground, or a stick that looked suspiciously like a magic wand, or-"

"N-no! Of course not! At least, I don't think so! I'm pretty sure I know how to recognize an equestrian artifact by now, and I'm sure as heck not stupid enough to use one on purpose!" She adjusted her glasses. "I'm pretty sure the pulsar worked, at least. It made our magic visible, just like it should've. But why would it cause our magic to burn out of control like that? I don't think that's what it should've looked like, anyways. By my calculations, it should've been a dim purple. It's safe to assume the pain came from the mana burning, but why would our magic becoming liquid fire cause us to shrink down? Your face was melting! If anything, we should be dead, not shrunken! Correlation isn't causation, I know that, but the instant our pulsar went off, the mana burned, and we shrunk down, that can't be a coincidence. Maybe the magic really did backfire because it was being tested on, like you warned me about. Oh, Sunset, I'm so sorry!"

Sunset held up her hands. "Woah, woah, slow down! No need to apologize, we couldn't have predicted this would happen. Whenever I tested magic, it might have shocked me, but never anything like that. Seriously, this isn't your fault, our magic is weird, this stuff happens to us sometimes. We were overdue for a magical mishap, really."

"But-"

"No 'but's! really, it wasn't your fault. You're working under a lot of assumptions already. There's no conceivable reason a mana visualizer would cause someone to burst into flames, and then shrink that someone down. Here's a hypothesis- maybe the pulsar activated a delayed curse or something! We have enough villains, I wouldn't be surprised if we had a curse or two lurking in our mana channels." She paused. Twilight still didn't seem convinced. She sighed. "Fine, even if we somehow definitively proved the pulsar caused this, it was clearly an accident. You didn't mean for this to happen, right? You had no reason to think anything bad would happen when you activated it. So, there's no reason to beat yourself up about it. Okay? Now let's stop playing the blame game and fix this!"

Twilight took a few seconds to breath. She was still a bit worried, but there was a bit more fire in her eyes when she spoke again. "Okay. Okay, let's do this. You have more experience than me with these magical adventures, where do we start?"

Sunset smirked. "Well, usually, you start at the source. And I happen to know a certain demonic bear that might be able to help us with that." She gestured towards the desk holding said device.

"...Bear?" Twilight blinked, staring for a few seconds. Then, her eyes lit up in recognition. "Oh, you mean the Mana Visualization Pulsar?"

Sunset stared at her. "You're still-!? You know what? Fine. Pulsar. I know a certain demonic pulsar that can help with that."

Twilight frowned at the word "demonic," but let it go. "It's a bit early to say it can fix us, you know. I don't even know what it did in the first place..." She trailed off and shook her head. "B-but it's definitely a good starting point! Maybe at our smaller sizes, I'll be able to find something we missed when I was bigger! Or maybe it'll just size us up! We don't know why we shrunk, it's always possible!" She gazed up at the monolithic desk before her. "Now, um, we still have to worry about getting to it..."

Sunset followed her gaze. Yeah... she saw the problem. At their size, the legs of the desk were as thick as a tree and completely smooth, and they would have to climb what amounted to 6 stories to get up! Judging their size against the chair's leg, they were probably two inches tall, give or take. They were both normally around 5 feet tall for an easy calculation, meaning they were 30 times smaller. So if the desk was normally two feet up, it would be around 30 times larger. So... around 60 feet. She frowned. "Yeah, that's a no-go. We're gonna have a hard time getting much of anything done at two inches tall. I think we'd better find a way to talk to our friends, if only so they can do big-people things."

Twilight shifted her weight. "I don't know Sunset. We're might be safe right now, but the rest of the school.... well, we're pretty fragile right now. One misstep, and we could be crushed like insects." She shuddered, clasping one arm in her other. "I-I'm sorry. If I didn't turn that thing on-"

Sunset put up a hand. "Hey! I thought we agreed, enough of that. It wasn't your fault."

Twilight winced. "Sorry. Let's leave it as a last resort. It would be easier if we could call them here. My phone isn't on me, I don't suppose yours shrunk with you?"

Sunset patted her pockets, then shook her head. "Left it in my backpack. I didn't want it to interrupt the experiment." She looked across the vast room towards her backpack, sitting in a corner. Well, on the bright side, at least she hadn't put it on a hook! It would be a journey to get there, though. "Not that it's a bad idea. Between the two of us, once we get there, we should be able to get a phone to work! It's far away, sure, but the cafeteria is farther, and it doesn't come with a risk of being stepped on. Besides, the backpack's made of fabric, should be an easier climb than the desk would be at least."

Twilight nodded. Their plan decided, they began to work their way across the Carpet Field and towards Mount Backpack.

Sunset couldn't help but smile. You know, compared to their last few adventures, this could be pretty fun! Yeah, they might be in a bit of danger in their small size, but they could be careful! And in the meantime, it would be pretty cool to explore a tiny little world! 'Mount Backpack,' how couldn't that make you smile.

She proceeded to trip and fall onto the carpet beneath her. This was gonna happen a lot, wasn't it? She chuckled and shook her head.

Twilight stared at Sunset in disbelief. She'd just been shrunken down to a few inches tall, capable of being killed by anyone with virtually no effort. Hell, she'd just faceplanted into the ground, and she was smiling!? Frankly, it was frustrating. Twilight had just shrunken them down, put them in a ton of danger, ignored Sunset's warnings, left them with no idea how to turn them back, and Sunset brushed it off like it was no big deal! Shouldn't she be angry at her? Sad? Worried? No, somehow, she was happy, as if to spite her.

But she couldn't stay mad, not because her friend was happy. To be honest, she wished she could have that kind of nonchalant attitude right about now. Twilight, she couldn't help but worry. What if they were eaten by a giant bug? What if they got lost in a forest so large they could never find a way out? What if someone stepped on them by accident, and nobody ever knew what happened to them? What if they were stuck like this forever, and it was all her fault? What if-

A sound bled into her thoughts, inturrupting her downward spiral. It was a distant ringing, or maybe a humming noise. She stopped, confused. She strained to hear it again, but when she did, she couldn't hear anything anymore.

Sunset glanced back at her. "You okay?"

Twilight nodded. "Yeah, I think so. It's probably nothing."

Sunset shrugged, and they kept walking. Her mind threatened to drift back into her worries, but she forced it down. She wanted to think positive, so think positive! Sunset could do it, she can, too. She instead focused on the distant noise. There was something familiar about it, but also different in a way. Like, it was closer than it should've been, and also so much further away. Was the noise itself distorted due to their size?

Actually, how would sound waves work at their size, anyways? Shouldn't their vocal cords have been too small to make vibrations in the hearable spectrum? At the very least, shouldn't their voices be higher? And on that note, if they'd shrunken down, how did they interact with air? Like, she could feel herself breathing, but if she was shrunken down at a molecular level, wouldn't the air molecules she was breathing in be comparatively too big? And if her atoms were deleted, or clumped closer together-

Distracted by her thoughts, Twilight's foot snagged on a thread of carpet and she faceplanted into the soft floor beneath her. "Oof!"

Of course, Sunset rushed over to help her back up. "Yeah, it's been pretty annoying. Keep your knees high and you should avoid the worst of it."

"Yeah," she grumbled. Stupid carpet. Whatever, take a deep breath, and move on. She nodded and continued walking again. After a few more steps, her mind drifted back to the mechanics of their new bodies. She spoke up. "Hey, Sunset? How do you think the shrinking works, exactly? Like, our vocal cords shouldn't-"

"Magic." Sunset cut her off.

Twilight visibly flinched. Sunset smirked at her reaction. Was she even taking this seriously? "Come on, 'magic' can't be the only answer! I'll grant that it's a mechanism for shrinking us, but once everything is said and done, the spell is finished casting, there should be some sort of physical, material explanation!"

Sunset pursed her lips at that. She looked up again. "Twilight, is there any way to physically view memories through physical contact?"

"Well, no."

"Make sprinkles explode?"

"No. And before you go on to all of our powers, I get what you mean. Magic can do amazing things. But... it should still follow some sense of rules! The magic shrunk us down, fine, I accept that. But now that we're shrunk, shouldn't the vibrations of our vocal cords be much smaller, and our voices be outside of an audible range?"

Sunset shrugged. "Maybe part of whatever spell caused this also lowers our voices."

Twilight trailed off for a moment, stopping in place. Well... that made sense, she supposed. But no, their vocal cords were just a symptom of the bigger problems, it didn't patch up the underlying issues. She raced to catch up to Twilight. "W-Well, that's not everything! We're clearly lighter than we were before, right? The shrinking didn't just squeeze our atoms together, then we would be far denser. That leaves two options: either the size of our atoms was reduced, or some of our atoms were deleted."

"Magic."

"No, you can't get away with that, not this time! You see, if the size of the atoms were reduced, then we shouldn't even be able to breath! The oxygen wouldn't be able to perform chemical reactions with out smaller atoms, the very protons and neutrons would be the wrong size. We would die within minutes, so that's out. But if atoms were destroyed to leave us this size, we have less atoms within out bodes now, and at that point our brains shouldn't be able to function! We would have a thousandth of our neurons! We'd be brain-dead! It's impossible, no matter how you look at it, Sunset."

"Magic."

She gritted her teeth. All that for a single word response. "Well, what about our gravity! At our size, we should be-"

"Magic."

"Our hearing! The vibrations on our eardrums-"

"Magic."

She stomped her foot on the ground. "No, that doesn't just work! Tell me what, specifically the magic does. And not just patchwork solutions. The magic might amplify our voices, or lower our weight, or increase the effects of gravity, but that's just giving tiny solutions to individual problems. That's not science, that's guesswork. What's happening overall? How are our shrunken bodies being sustained? Why? Give me a hypothesis. The magic shrunk us down, sure, but what does that mean?"

Sunset finally seemed to pause to think for a second. And then: "Magic."

"UUUUUUGGGGGGHHHH!" She began to storm off. After two steps, she once again caught her foot on the carpet and faceplanted into the soft floor. "This is stupid," she mumbled through the carpet.

Sunset was clearly holding in laughter as she helped her friend up. Twilight was still a bit frustrated. As she opened her mouth to speak, though, her worries rushed back at her uncontrollably, stronger than before. Images of being crushed, maimed, stabbed swirled in her head, and like a switch, her anger turned to sadness. Could she really be mad at her friend about something like this when she was the one who screwed up in the first place? She looked at the floor. "I'm sorry for getting so worked up about all that. I-if I hadn't made-"

"Hey!" Sunset cut her off. "No guilt trips! We talked about this. Not your fault, Twi. Come on, let's get going."

She opened my mouth to object, but Sunset was already walking. She sighed and followed behind her. She was already wishing this "adventure" would end. She'd screwed up, messed with magic when she shouldn't have. Sunset warned her, and she ignored it. And now she roasted her friend alive, forced her to walk through this miserable carpet, and who knows what else in the future. Plus, Sunset now had to babysit Twilight all the way. That smile was probably fake, just to try to make Twilight feel better. And it wasn't even working, Twilight couldn't even make herself feel happy. She was just slowing Sunset down. She couldn't do anything right.

As she stewed in her frustrations, she heard that distant humming noise again. Or was it buzzing? Whatever it was, her mind latched onto it. It was something, anything to distract her from her guilt. So what was it!? She was pretty sure it wasn't just a ringing in her ears. Straining to hear it, the sound also seemed to be getting louder. After a few moments, Sunset stopped as well. "Wait, what's that sound?"

Twilight blinked. "Oh, you do hear it! I was worried it was just me."

She nodded. "Yeah. It sounds almost like..." she trailed off.

"Like, something familiar, but you can't quite place?"

"Yeah. I'm reminded of some sort of airplane engine or something."

Twilight nodded absentmindedly. An engine. But there wouldn't be an engine in school, would there? Well, at their size, they wouldn't technically need an engine to fly. All they would need would be...

Her eyes widened. She looked around frantically. "THERE!" she yelled. "Sunset, duck!"

She didn't need to be told twice, she hit the deck. And not a moment too soon. A massive insect came barreling towards their location, the beat of it's wings as loud as a jumbo jet in such close proximity. They both ducked under it's swoop, but it quickly looped around and landed between the pair of them. Sunset quickly jumped up and took a fighting stance. Twilight, though... she froze.

I-it was a giant fly. A giant housefly. It's compound eyes were the size of baseballs, and there was hair everywhere. Nope. Nope. Nopenopenopenopenope. She couldn't move. She couldn't breath. This was everything she could have ever feared. They were being attacked by a giant monster out of their nightmares. The beast began advancing on Sunset. Twilight willed her legs to move, but nothing happened. This was all her fault this was all her fault

The beast lunged at Sunset. Twilight closed her eyes, tears filling her vision. She could hear Sunset's voice piecing the room. She couldn't do anything. This was all her fault, and she was so useless, and now-

Wait. Was Sunset laughing?

Twilight slowly opened her eyes. The fly had Sunset pinned to the floor. It had it's feelers extended, using them to 'lick' Sunset all over, much like some sort of dog. Judging by the laughter, it tickled more than it hurt. And... now that she looked closer, and her mind wasn't clouded by terror, the fly itself wasn't actually all that big, maybe the size of a dog. A small one, at that. They were two inches tall, not two millimeters. A housefly was still much smaller than them. It was a foot tall, maximum.

The silliness of the scene snapped Twilight out of her trance. She rushed forwards, flailing her arms. "HEY! GET AWAY FROM HER!"

The housefly, being the skittish being it was, instantly blasted off, the wingbeats fading into a background hum once again. Freed, Sunset rolled upwards, still giggling. "Man, what a rush! Never thought I'd ever be licked by a giant fly!"

Twilight didn't meet her eyes. "I'm sorry," she muttered.

Sunset cocked her head. "Huh? For what?"

"I froze! A giant... thing attacked us, and I just froze up! If that thing had been dangerous, that would have been it!"

Sunset waved her off. "Eh, don't worry about it. It was a housefly, anyways, they're not carnivores. There's no need to be ashamed about freezing up, either." She flashed a sunny smile. "Just be glad you froze up now instead of real danger. Next time, I know you'll remember that feeling of weakness, and be able to fight through your fear."

Twilight frowned. Sunset's advice made sense, but... it didn't sit well with her. Sunset could have been in real danger, why didn't she see that!? This was her fault in the first place, and now she couldn't even help defeat a one or two foot tall insect! She really was useless.

"Okay spit it out," Sunset said.

She stumbled, thoughts thrown into a loop. "Huh?"

Sunset rolled her eyes. "Listen, I can read minds, not that I'm doing that right now. Point being, I'd like to think I've gotten pretty okay at reading people. And right now, you aren't all that hard to read. What's got you down?"

Twilight sighed. No real use hiding it, then. "I don't know," she said. "I guess I don't get how you're so... this! We just got shrunken down to the size of a mouse, for goodness sake! No, even smaller! If someone steps on us, that's it, it's all over! The fly was okay, but what about a dragonfly, or a bird, or a bat or something! We're in danger right now and you don't even seem to see it! How do you do it? Is it to make me feel better? Is it because you think I can fix it? You seem convinced the Pulsar will be able to change us back, but what if it doesn't!?"

"And what if it does?" Sunset said.

Twilight balled her fists. "And what if it doesn't! Will you just listen to me!? It feels like every time I try to tell you what's wrong, you just brush me off!" She lowered herself to the floor and let out a breath. "I'm scared, Sunset. You've been trying to keep up the mood, believe me, I see that. I think, at a better time, I would appreciate it. B-but I can't help but think about it. My experiment went horribly wrong, and now we're both in danger. Don't even try to say it wasn't my fault again, because it was. I'm the one who made the device, not you, not anyone else. You warned me, and I brushed you off. And now, we could be crushed, stabbed, maimed, eaten, and nobody would ever know what would happen to us! We've already been roasted alive! And now I'm too much of a coward to be any help. All I've done today is make everything worse. I should be here alone. If I'd just tested it on myself like I should've, everything would be okay. Why did I need to include you at all!?" She dropped to the ground. "If I did it alone, you wouldn't be stuck here with me."

Twilight shut her eyes, not wanting to look at Sunset. Sunset placed a hand on Twilight's shoulder. She spoke softly. "Hey. Hey, Twilight. Look at me. Do I look mad?"

Twilight looked at Sunset's face. It showed nothing but a look of concern for her friend. "N-no, but..."

"But?"

Twilight curled into herself. "I don't know. You should be."

Sunset smiled and sat beside Twilight. "I'm sorry I didn't let you talk. I didn't want you blaming yourself for something that wasn't your fault, but obviously, I haven't been hearing you. I promise I'll listen better, Twilight. We'll be careful. And we will find a way back."

Twilight pulled away. "I still don't get it. How do you smile like that? We're in danger, even now. And you just... go on, like nothing's wrong. I thought you were just putting on a brave face for me, but... are you? And if not, why aren't you taking this seriously?"

Sunset gave a kind smile. "It's not that I don't see where you're coming from. I am taking this seriously. We got shrunken to the size of a mouse, so we're really fragile right now. Trust me, I understand that. If something went wrong, things could go south, fast. I'm prepared to pounce at a moment's notice." She grinned. "But you want to know why I'm smiling, regardless? Because there's something you haven't even considered: we got shrunken to the size of a mouse! How many teenagers could say that happened to them? How about two: you and me. We contact our friends, and bam, the danger just disappears. They can keep us safe while we work on a solution. And in the meantime? We could use a coffee cup as a jacuzzi, fly on the back of a bird, or sleep in a dollhouse! We could eat a giant strawberry, use a blade of grass as a hammock, play the word's best game of hide-and-seek! And that's just off the top of my head! Come on, how cool is all that!? You know what, unlikely it might be, if it does turn out this shrinking thing was on you, thanks for the magical adventure, Twi. I'm enjoying myself already."

Twilight's heart skipped a beat. She hadn't even considered that angle. Ever since they were shrunken down, every thought lead back to her guilt. She'd seen Sunset's cheerfulness as an act. But... it wasn't, was it? She really was just as happy as she seemed. While Twilight wallowed in all the bad things that could happen, Sunset was already looking at the bright side. Seeing that smile, Twilight wanted to do the same, so desperately. But every time she tried, her mind kept flashing images of that giant bug, and its much bigger counterparts that she knew were out there. Being trapped in an oven, destroyed by a massive foot. They were crushing. She began to cry through the ghost of a smile. "I'm sorry, Sunset. You're trying so hard, but I can't. We're just so fragile. If something goes wrong, i-if you get hurt, all the giant strawberries in the world couldn't fix that."

Sunset drew closer, placing her hand back on her shoulder. "Hey, hey, it's okay to be scared. You're fine, you're not in danger."

Twilight just lowered and shook her head. "I'm sorry."

For a moment, Sunset seemed at a loss on how to continue. But a moment later, an idea seemed to hit her. She gradually drew away, sitting in front of her again. "Hey, Twilight? Which do you think is scarier. Being trapped in a cage of vines at Camp Everfree, or being attacked by some random giant spider?"

Even in an emotionally distraught place, she could weigh the data. In fact, focusing on the data let her calm down a little, distract her from the fear. "Camp Everfree," she answered.

Sunset smiled. "Well then. With that, I think I can confidently say that I think this giant world is just as scary as you think it is."

Twilight blinked, baffled. "I'm sorry, did you just say it is scary?"

"You didn't mishear me. It's scary! For just about anyone, it would be rough. Giant feet trying to crush you at every corner, where a light breeze can take you down." She grinned. "But Twi, this ain't our first rodeo, and you're not 'just about anyone.' It's not that this world isn't scary. It's that you're scarier." She spread her arms. "We've both survived being turned into demons, we've both fought a few of them ourselves, and that's just the start line! From there, we got superpowers, got trapped in a magical realm or two, escaped from a sinking cruise ship, and got transported to a whole different world! Twice! Me, I've escaped a time loop and brought back all your memories on top of all that. So this? This is nothin'. If the giant spiders knew who we were, they'd run. So c'mon, until some dangerous, but ultimately misguided human reveals their dastardly plan, let's have a little fun! You with me?"

There. That boundless optimism made it impossible to stay scared. It was everything that made Sunset as amazing she was. With it, if only for a moment, all the darkness surrounding her heart seemed to fade away. As she described all the things they'd done, with those grand gestures for emphasis, goosebumps went down her arms. She'd thought about it before, of course, wrote a list or five, but when Sunset described it, it made her feel like some sort of superhero! They really had gone through a lot, and they'd triumphed through it all.

So maybe she did have a reason to smile. Maybe it would be okay. Especially with Sunset here, everything would be okay. Slowly, she untensed her body, and put on a slight smile. Taking it as a sign, Sunset scooched closer and gave her a hug. "Thanks, Sunset," she said.

After taking a few more moments to hug, Twilight reluctantly let go. Sunset got up and offered Twilight a hand. She hesitated for a moment, then took it.

Twilight wasn't "fixed," but... she was feeling better. The rest of the trek to the phone was a lot nicer, at least from her view. They still were tripped up by the carpet from time to time, but whenever she fell, Sunset was there to pick her up. There was another scare with a bug, but Sunset was there to help chase it away. Yeah, Twilight was still a bit scared, the darkness in her mind threatened to return every few minutes, but then she saw that smile, and her worries didn't seem so bad.

Maybe they were looking for a way to contact their friends, but right now, Twilight was happy Sunset was here, at least. She had already done so much. From the start, Sunset had been the one to reach out to her when she was in her darkest moment. With Sunset here with her... that already meant so much. Her boundless optimism, it always pushed her forwards. Her unswaying heart, it pushed her to be better. She really was amazing. So if she could keep going, then Twilight would as well. And she promised to herself, if Sunset needed her, she would be there.

The time flew by, and before they knew it, the pair reached their destination. They stared up from the foot of the mountain at the looming sight before them: the rippling cliffs of Mount Backpack.

Sunset smiled at Twilight, her face like a beam of sunlight. "You ready?"

She took that sunlight and held it in her heart, letting it light her path. She smiled. "You know what? I think I am."

2: The Ascent of Mount Backpack

Sunset was disappointed in herself. She thought that by making it clear this wasn't Twilight's fault, it would be enough. Clearly, that was a stupid thought. And then she brushed her fears aside at every opportunity! She was supposed to be all about reading people's emotions, and it took her how long to figure this out? She'd cheered her up alright for now, but she could see she was still struggling. Now that she was paying closer attention, every few minutes, she could see Twilight's face drop, if only for a moment. Whenever that happened, Sunset flashed her the brightest smiles she could muster. That did seem to help, but she wished she could do more. She needed to find a way to make it up to her.

After around 10 minutes of travel, they reached the backpack. They should've gotten there sooner judging by distance alone, but the carpet slowed the journey down. Now that they were here, the backpack was certainly looming. Even if it was shorter than the desks, it stretched upwards easily 40 feet. A rough climb on a ladder, and this would be far more tiring. Even worse - at a glance, the fabric seemed smooth. She frowned. She could worry about it being tiring later, how were they supposed to get up if there were no footholds?

She took a step closer and pulled at the fabric. Sure enough, at such small scales, the even weave had a bit of give, at least. It took a bit of work, but she managed to push the dense weave to the side just wide enough for a handhold. Okay, hands were good. What about feet? She tried kicking the fabric, and sure enough, like a needle through a blanket, it slid on through without breaking a single thread. On impact, the weave shook slightly, but it held. It was going to be a rough, tall climb, but she was confident they could get it done! She took a step back. "Seems safe enough. After you!" she said.

Twilight approached the backpack warily. She kicked a bit too weakly first, not breaching the weave. A bit harder, though, and she managed to secure a foothold on the side of the backpack, digging between the dense fabric. She took a moment to make sure it stayed steady, dug out a few indents for her hands, then began working her way up. She was slow to secure her footholds, but otherwise, she was making good progress. Sunset stayed on the ground for a few moments in case she needed help, but she was doing just fine. Satisfied Twilight was moving forwards, she grabbed onto the pack herself, taking a route up a few feet to her left.

From the first step, she knew it would be even harder than it looked. The handholds were easy enough to dig into, but her feet threatened to throw her off with every step. On the ground, kicking into the weave had seemed easy enough. From the mountainside, it was a lot less simple. Whenever she jabbed her foot into the backpack, it caused the nearby fabric to shake, threatening to throw her off. She had to brace for every kick, digging her hands deep into the fabric to ensure she didn't slip. She could handle it, though. So long as she was careful, she wasn't in that much danger of slipping.

But as their height rose, so did the tension. Thirty feet up, and the pressure of what would happen if she screwed up was starting to get to her. The fabric dug into her fingers with every kick, making it harder and harder to grip every time. She began wincing as she climbed. Unfortunately, at this point, turning back wasn't even an option. It would be more steps down than up. So, she just had to keep going. Each time she got a new handgrip, she clutched a little tighter. With each kick into the weave, she hit a little less hard, to lessen the impact. She wanted to avoid looking down, but it was unavoidable. It was a long drop already. She wasn't sure how their tiny bodies would affect a fall like this, but she knew if they were normal size, a drop from here would break bones, fabric at the bottom or otherwise.

She took another step upwards, jabbed her foot in, and... the fabric refused to budge. In her caution to avoid shaking the cliff face, she didn't kick hard enough to breach the layer of fabric! The force of the kick instead spread to the fabric around it, shaking it more than ever before. She held tight to the wall with her remaining hands and foot. Her hands pained from the effort, but held firm. Fortunately, her caution ensured she had a good grip.

"You okay!?" called down Twilight, a few feet ahead of her.

She didn't answer straight away. Instead, she took a moment to breath, hanging on with only the one foot. She took a breath, reoriented herself, and jabbed into the fabric again, harder than before. And this time, the weave gave way to a foothold. Position secured, she looked up to Twilight. "I'm okay!" she said.

Twilight looked down warily. "Okay. Be careful, though."

Sunset continued her ascent, heart running just a little bit faster than before. She could feel the pain in her hands, yes, but then she remembered the pain of being burned alive. And suddenly, this didn't feel so bad. So, with a final burst of energy, she managed to climb the last few feet, and pull herself over the lip. She collapsed on the flat surface, breathing heavily. She wasn't really all that tired, maybe due to the mechanics of being small, but she needed to give her hands and feet a moment to rest. Then, she let out a laugh. "Yeesh, we weren't kidding about 'Mount Backpack, were we?'"

Twilight smiled. "Yeah, it was a bit of a climb, wasn't it?" She paused and cocked her head. "Though, technically speaking, a mountain has to be above 1,000 feet. It's an arbitrary distinction, sure, but even speaking relatively, that was only around 40 feet, which isn't even close. It was more of a cliffside, really, or a steep hill."

Sunset sat up and looked her friend in the eye. She let the silence stew for a few uncomfortable moments before talking. "Twilight?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's make this clear. You tell our friends we climbed "Steep Hill Backpack" when we were shrunken down, and I might need to reconsider our friendship."

Twilight laughed. "Noted." She looked into the (thankfully unzipped) maw of the backpack. "So, what's the plan now?"

Sunset sighed. "Well, rest a bit for now. Then, I guess we'll need to climb down. My poor, poor hands."

Twilight's face fell. "That's not... exactly what I mean. You really should really take a look at this."

Wait, her phone was there, right? Confused, Sunset peered down into the abyss that was her backpack. It took her a moment to spot it, but yeah, it was right where she left it, off in a side pouch. She placed it there so it wouldn't get damaged in the bag proper proper. …Oh. It's screen was completely pressed against the fabric of the backpack, with no room for movement on it's other side. She could tell at a glance, using it from there would be all but impossible. Even if they managed to find a way to access the screen, with it's positioning, they'd be using it completely blind. If they wanted to contact their friends, they would have to get it out. And given its weight, that almost seemed harder than using it as is. She pursed her lips. "I'll be honest, I didn't see this problem coming." She looked to Twilight for ideas.

Twilight looked down the backpack's shaft. "Normally, I could try to whip up some sort of pully system, but I don't know where to get the tools to make it, let alone materials for it at such a small size."

Sunset nodded, looked to Twilight's left... then mentally facepalmed. "You know, this is normally when I'd turn to my other friends for help. Main problem being, the reward for solving this problem is getting our other friends' help. If I'd known I was shrinking down, I'd at least have put it in the main pouch..."

"Yeah..." They each began pacing back and forth atop the backpack. Sunset looked at the area around her. The problem was, they needed to lift an object several times their size from an awkward, cramped space. Even if they did have some sort of insectoid super strength, which they hadn't tested yet, it wouldn't help much if they couldn't grip the walls and push upwards at the same time. They'd already climbed this backpack once, she knew how hard it was. Doing that while trying to lift a massive weight? Utterly pointless.

Some sort of magic, then? Well, ponying up wouldn't do them much good, for one. Sunset didn't get much of note other than the ability to occasionally shoot friendship lasers. Twilight did get some wings, but she wasn't the skilled flier Rainbow was. She didn't have the lift needed to get the phone out of the pouch. Side note: she wished she remembered Twilight could fly before they climbed a mountain by foot. Could've helped them get to the bear, too. She would keep it in mind for later, she supposed.

As for their geodes, Sunset's abilities were useless here. What about Twilight's telekinesis? Immediately, she knew it was their best shot so far, no contest. It was also her least favorite plan by a mile. Twilight had never lifted anything even close to this heavy. Asking her to do this, it was just putting all the weight of their success on her shoulders. If it failed, it would utterly crush her spirit. Even if it worked, she'd be exhausted by the end of it. What kind of options were those? With everything she'd gone through, Sunset just wanted to give Twilight a break. She refused to even think about a plan that could hurt her friend. Fine, she would save it for a last resort, but until then, not a chance. And once they had their friends back, she would organize a feast among feast for Twilight's tiny body!

She glanced over at Twilight. Was she still doing okay? She hoped she didn't miss another one of her panic attacks while she was busy working on a solution. Thankfully, Twilight was still engrossed in figuring this all out, herself. Her eyes were laser-focused on the gap before her, trying to find her own solution to the problem. She was muttering under her breath, probably seeing what she could engineer with the tools provided. Judging by the frown on her face, though, she wasn't having any more luck than her. The more she looked at it, the harder it seemed to get. Would she really have to ask Twilight to...?

No. No, she wasn't going to give up so easily! She would find a solution, a real one! Any solution that hurt her friend was no solution at all! Maybe she just needed a new angle on this. Pulling the phone upwards was clearly impossible. Twilight was still working on that angle, anyways, another head wouldn't help there. So if they couldn't lift the phone upwards, what could they do? Yeah, that was the question, wasn't it. Again, she found herself wishing she'd just put her phone in the main pouch. Hell, at this point, she'd settle for wishing she'd left the backpack on it's side. Pushing it out would be hard, but at least it would be possible!

Wait. The backpack wasn't on it's side now, of course. But could they get it there? Hmm... easier said than done. The backpack was heavy, far heavier than the phone could ever be. They wouldn't have to lift it, but the amount of force they would have to expend to get it down, well, it just changed the problem from one impossibility to another.

Or... did it? The phone, it was stuck in a ditch. They would have to force it upwards with everything they had. The backpack, on the other hand, was leaning against the wall, practically vertical. If they were to push against the wall, they wouldn't have to push that hard to make it fall. After living on Earth for a few years, she knew how easily a backpack could fall when off-balance. So once they gave it a little nudge, gravity could to the rest! It might be a bit tough keeping grip, but manageable. This could really work! Sunset smiled. "Hey, Twi! Got an idea!"

Twilight looked up from her pacing, finally breaking eye contact with the backpack's gaping maw. "What is it?"

"Well, why don't we push the backpack over? Would be a lot easier to push the phone out than try to lift it."

Twilight's eyes widened. "Of course! Why didn't I think of it! The bottom of the backpack would act as the fulcrum to a lever, so we wouldn't have to work that hard to get it down, and pushing requires much less work than lifting. When it's vertical, it's all potential energy. Gravity does most of the work, while we do practically nothing. Sunset, you're a genius!"

Sunset scratched the back of her neck. "It's nothing. I saw you were laser-focused on lifting the phone, so I just thought you could use a bit of perspective, you know?"

Twilight grinned. "Well, it's appreciated. Let's do it!"

The pair lined up at the edge of the backpack, and with a bit of effort, got their bodies between it and the wall. Sunset clutched tightly to the backpack with her hands, feet bent towards the wall and ready to push. "On my mark," she said.

"Ready," Twilight responded.

"Three... Two... One... PUSH! And hold on!" In sync, the pair pushed against the way. The backpack pushed away from the wall. It moved outwards at a steady pace, but it was slowing. For a painful second, the backpack's decent completely stopped, too far away from the wall to push again! But just a moment later, gravity took over, and it started tipping, ever so slowly, towards the floor.

Twilight cheered. "YES! Wait, what do you mean, hold on?" She looked down, and her eyes widened. And she screamed. If Sunset wasn't clinging for her life, she would have facepalmed. Did Twilight seriously not realize until now they would be on top of the backpack as it fell? For someone as smart as her, she could be a bit stupid sometimes. Well, it was too late to warn her now!

The backpack tipped towards the floor, bottom-heavy weight ensuring it didn't fall too fast. At such small size, though, it was a RUSH! She felt the wind rippling in her hair as the surface beneath her shifted shifted from flatland to hill to sheer cliff! Her hands complained at the pain of holding the backpack, but this time, she didn't care! She was having a blast! She held on tight all the way. Twilight may have been screaming in fear next to her, but Sunset was screaming in exhilaration! This was like the best thrill ride she'd ever been on!

But all rides must come to an end. After maybe 5 seconds of descent, the backpack settled on the ground, carpet softening the impact. From there, Sunset dropped the last few feet to the ground. She looked at the sight before her in awe, backpack's opening forming the maw of a cave. And up at Twilight, who was still clinging on for dear life.

"You can open your eyes now, Twi."

Twilight peeked one eye open. She saw she was around a foot off the ground, and smiled sheepishly. She dropped the last bit to the ground, carpet softening even the small impact she might have made. "You could've warned me, you know," she grumbled.

Sunset chuckled, but said nothing. Twilight sometimes didn't seem to understand basic cause and effect very well. For now, she gazed into the mouth of the backpack, the opening to a massive cavern. It was impressive, really. At normal scales, the landscape hardly changed. You couldn't just tip over a building. But with little effort, they'd just terraformed a mountain into a cave! With the light now blocked by the backpack's top, the dark interior had an unsettling edge to it. Still, they had work to do. She ducked under the upper lip of the backpack, and made her way towards the phone.

Twilight jogged in after her. "Fine, ignore me, why don't you. It was scary, okay!?"

"To be fair, you really should've seen it coming yourself."

"Come on, really? I had, like, 20 seconds to consider the plan before we pushed it down."

"We were on the backpack. What did you think was gonna happen?"

Twilight scowled. At that, Sunset tensed up. Knowing Twilight's current mental state, she didn't want to hurt her any further. Fortunately, it all seemed in good fun. Twilight was a bit frustrated, maybe, but she wasn't stewing on it. So, she relaxed. Maybe Sunset was a bit too uneasy, It had been a good while since she'd seen Twilight have a rush of guilt. Maybe Twilight really was doing better, and she could let her be.

Or, a darker part of her thought, maybe she'd just gotten better at hiding it from her. Twilight was hurting worse than before, and Sunset didn't see it. For a moment, she was tempted to use her geode to check Twilight's memories, just to be safe, but... no, what was she thinking? Twilight was her friend, she had to have more faith in her than that. If she was hurting, then Sunset needed to trust that Twilight would tell her. And if she didn't tell her, then she had to trust that meant Twilight was okay. By that logic, Twilight really was feeling better. So she smiled, satisfied that her friend was happy.

They continued their journey, Sunset's spirit's risen. The phone pouch was strapped to the ceiling at this point, but that wouldn't be an issue. Her backpack wasn't otherwise empty, after all. She used a textbook as a sort of ladder-staircase hybrid, clambering on top of it to get closer. From there, she could reach the pouch above and pull herself upwards. It was a tight squeeze, she had to crawl her way through, but there was room. And it only took them a few more moments of crawling to finally, finally reach their prize.

It was big. Really big. The sheer scale was only more apparent in such close proximity. Pushing this thing, it would be like pushing a truck. For a moment, Sunset hesitated. Could they even get this thing to move at all? But she pushed away that concern. It was worth a shot no matter what. They'd gotten this far, no use stopping now! And you know what, people did push trucks, so they could push this dang phone!

It was hard getting a good position in such a small space, but she managed. She placed her back against the phone, and her feet gripped into the weave below. Twilight took a similar posture opposite her, nodding once in position. "On my mark," Sunset said. "PUSH!" She heaved as hard as she could, but the plastic didn't budge. Instead, the fabric beneath them gave, pushing backwards. Soon, even that drew taught, and nothing moved at all. She clenched her teeth. Okay, one more, now that their ground was stable! "PUSH!" She strained against the phone with all she had. Her legs shook, forced to brace against threads. And slowly, oh so slowly, the phone moved, inch by inch. Oh my god, they were really doing this! But after that little nudge, she lost traction, and their momentum stopped. Well, one millimeter down...

It was a slow process. They needed to be in perfect sync with every push, or they went nowhere. If either one of them lost their grip, the fabric's weave would work against them, causing their feet to slip clean through. Even if everything went right, they only moved forwards a tiny nudge at a time. But slow it might be, they made progress, bit by bit. And this time, it got easier as they went. The slope of the backpack bent to the weight of the phone, meaning they had to push a little less to get the phone to move every time, each step pushing a little farther. They were still tiny, tiny steps, but the fact that they were longer each and every time just spurred her to push harder!

And with a final push, after what felt like an eternity, the phone finally slid out of the last part of the pouch! She and Twilight pushed, and it just kept sliding, sloped pouch leading it into the floor below. With a soft thud, it landed on the soft backpack fabric below. It was still under the lip of the backpack proper, but at least it wasn't smashed against fabric on either end! They could actually use the phone. Sunset grinned. They did it! They really, really did it. She yelled in exhilaration, pumping her fist in the air. "YEEAAAAHHH!" For her part, Twilight was breathing too heavily to join into the cheer, but she raised her fist all the same.

After taking a few moments to catch her breath, Sunset hopped down to get a better look at their prize. She struck a triumphant pose, one foot on the phone, confident smile adorning her face. "We conquered the treacherous carpet jungle, fought the terrifying giant flies, climbed and spelunked the dangerous caves of Mt. Backpack, and pushed the immovable Cellphone! It's been quite the journey, but as the bearers of the elemental geodes and the magic of harmony, we made it through it all!" She turned to Twilight dramatically, leaning against the phone casually. "With our adventure complete, we only have one more thing to worry about. Call? Or text?"

Twilight completely ignored her grand posturing, instead carefully considered the question. "Well, each have their merits. Calling would be a bit awkward, since one of us would need to be on each end of the phone, one to talk, and one to listen. But for texting, it might be difficult to read the-"

Sunset cut her off with a sigh. "Twilight?"

"Yeah?"

"That was a rhetorical question. Like, a dramatic quote. The texting app is open. Unless you feel like navigating to the phone, we're using that."

"...Oh." They stared at each other awkwardly. "Well, the speech was cool, I guess."

She sighed. "No, the moment's gone. Let's just get to texting. Could you hit the power button? I'm gonna try to get facial recognition to-"

Creak...

The door to the classroom creaked open, for the first time since they'd arrived. Twilight and Sunset froze. A chill ran down Sunset's spine, and her skin constantly prickled. Something... something was wrong. But in an instant, Sunset brightened up. What was she worrying about!? If the door opened, that meant their rescuer was here! She grinned. "Hey, looks like we won't need the phone after all!" She began jogging her way out of the backpack.

Twilight grabbed the back of her shoulder, stopping her. "Hey, wait. This could be someone dangerous. Something feels wrong about this whole thing. I don't know if it's instinct, or a magical sixth sense, but I don't like this. What if this is who did this to us here to capture us? Worse, finish us off?"

Sunset hesitated. She had to admit, there was this tingling on her skin as well. Maybe they should be a little more careful...

"Hey, eggheads?" Rainbow's voice echoed through the room. "I finished lunch early, and wanted to check out your science thingy. How's the experiment going?" They heard the footsteps of her entering. "Hey, you hiding or something? Twilight wouldn't usually leave an invention of hers unaccompanied..."

Immediately, Sunset's fear faded as she smirked at Twilight. "Instinct, huh?"

Twilight grinned sheepishly. "It could still be some sort of shapeshifter?"

She rolled her eyes. "C'mon, what are the odds of that. I bet you're just mad all the work we went into getting the phone was for nothing." She began walking out of the backpack cave.

Twilight hesitated, but she shook her head and followed. "I guess you're right. I'm probably just being paranoid. Maybe it just seems too easy."

She spread her arms. "Sometimes things are easy, Twi! This doesn't have to be some massive adventure, it could just be an afternoon-long mishap. I just did that big old speech about all the stuff we did, isn't that all adventure enough for ya?" She giggled and breached the edge of the backpack, lifting its lip to make way for the pair, and smiled, even as the strange prickling on her skin intensified. She could ignore it, though. Her friend was right there!

Rainbow... the sight warmed her heart. Yes, she was currently turned away from them, looking at Twilight's Pulsar, but she recognized that hair of hers anywhere. After all this work, she was so close to getting her friend back. Her heart swam with all the pleasant memories they'd had together. Playing in the band together, going on their impromptu trip to Equestria with her and Twilight, playing sports together, and too many more to count! And now, she was just a few steps away. "HEY, WE'RE OVER HERE!" Sunset yelled.

Rainbow didn't even react. "Is this some sort of demonic teddy bear?" Rainbow said, poking the device before her.

Despite the lack of reaction, she couldn't help but grin. She pumped her fists. "Ha, in your face! Team Demon Teddy for life!"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "You know what, you guys can call it what you want. It looks like she can't hear us all the way over there. Seems our voices have gotten quieter, that confirms that hypothesis. Now, then, how do we get her attention?" She thought for a moment, and... Sunset could almost see the lightbulb go off over Twilight's head. "The phone! if we can get something playing on it, we should get her attention. Seems it wasn't as useless as you thought! Let's do this thing!"

Twilight darted back into the cave, but Sunset hesitated. If this went well, she would only be leaving for a few moments, and then Rainbow would find them. But she didn't even want to lose that much. She'd only been shrunken for an hour, but she didn't want to miss a moment more. This was one of her friends, the people who pulled her out of the darkest moments in her life. She just wished for nothing more than to see her, to be with her.

And Rainbow, perhaps spurred on by Sunset's wish, or maybe just by coincidence, turned and looked at Sunset's backpack.

Fire. Sunset's veins burned, painful as the when the Twilight first activated the Pulsar. Everything was pain. Blisters and scorch marks formed all over her skin, like her whole body was covered in an invisible fire. She screamed. She wanted to do more, to move, run, do anything, but she could do little except watch her friend look to the backpack, completely oblivious. And in every bone in her body, she knew. Somehow, Rainbow's gaze was killing her. Her friend was killing her. She started to cry, and her tears evaporated as she cried them.

Why?

And then, she felt a jerk from behind. With a single hand, Twilight pulled her back into the backpack, and the overwhelming pain disappeared an instant. All she was left with was that little tingling she felt when Rainbow first arrived, and a dull pain from the burns across her body. She lay on the ground, panting heavily, still crying. Harsh blisters covered her body from head to toe. Everything itched, everything was raw, but... she was alive.

From there, Twilight didn't hesitate. "Come on, there's no time to lose. We need to go in deeper to hide. She could have seen you. We can't let her see us again." Twilight grabbed Sunset's hand, pulling her behind her. Sunset barely noticed.

A million thoughts were swirling in her head. That didn't just happen. It couldn't. It was a coincidence. Rainbow had just hurt her. But she wouldn't hurt her. She couldn't. It wasn't in her nature. No, this wasn't happening. It was a dream. No, it was all a big coincidence. If she just went out there again, she could prove it. If she just saw her friend again, it would all be okay. She just had to go out there again. So, she stopped suddenly and shook off Twilight's hand.

Twilight looked back, confused. "What are you doing?" She whispered. "Come on, the further in, the better."

"I'm going back."

"WHAT!?" She yelled. She covered her mouth due to the noise and looked around, as if someone could have heard. Then, she continued whispering. "Are you crazy? We need to hide until she leaves."

She held her voice steady. "No. She's still Rainbow Dash. She wouldn't hurt me."

She recoiled in shock. "Are you serious? What's wrong with you!? Your whole body is covered in blisters, you wouldn't survive going out there again! Are you willing to risk that if you're wrong?? This is magic on our hands, who cares if Rainbow wants to hurt you or not!? Now, get back here!"

Sunset took a shaky breath. "No."

She tried to walk back towards the entrance, but she was stopped when Twilight gripped her wrist. "I promised you, I would protect you next time. I'm going to protect you, Sunset, like it or not."

Sunset stared her in the eyes. "Let go of me."

"No."

She bared her teeth. "Don't make me do this."

"Do what, huh!? Fight me!? I'll do it if you're not dead by the end of it! Listen to yourself!"

Sunset wrestled against Twilight's grip, but Twilight stood firm. Sunset's eyes flashed with rage. She raised a fist, ready to throw a punch. Twilight just turned her head and closed her eyes, waiting for the impact. Sunset held her fist in the air for a few moments.

Sweet Celestia, what was she doing?

She lowered her fist. Her rage faded to the fear hiding beneath, tears forming in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Twilight. I would never hurt you. I... I'm sorry." She sniffed. "I'll ask you nicely. Just let go of me, please. Do it for me. She's right there, okay!? You can stay back if you want, but she can help us! Please, let me go. Please."

Twilight held firm. "No."

"You don't get it, it was all a coincidence, okay!? Rainbow didn't cause it, she would never. It was just... an aftershock, from the initial blast! I can get her attention, and then-!"

Twilight snarled. "An AFTERSHOCK? Look at me, Sunset!" She held up her hand. The one used to grab her was covered in scorch marks, much like Sunset's whole body. "Does this look like an aftershock to you? She looked at you, you got burned. She looked at me, I got burned. I don't care how you feel about it, look at the facts, for goodness sake!"

Sunset squeezed her eyes shut. "No. No, you're wrong. She wouldn't hurt me. She'll help me, I just have to go out there, and everything will be okay."

"She can't help you if you're dead!"

"JUST LET GO OF ME!" she screamed.

SLAP

Sunset froze. Twilight... she slapped her.

Twilight pulled her closer in the moment of shock. "Get a hold of yourself! I can't protect you when you do everything you can to throw your life away. Please, Sunset. I don't want to lose you."

She looked back and forwards between Twilight, her blister-covered hand, and the mouth of the backpack cave a few times. "I just..." She slumped, collapsing into Twilight's arms and letting her tears run. "I don't want to be alone again."

Twilight hugged her close. "I'm here, Sunset. I promise."

"I'm sorry," Sunset whispered. "I'm sorry."

Author's Note

Hi! This is the first longform fic I've made in ages, and I hope you enjoyed the first two chapters! I made a few Steven Universe and Pokemon fics over on Fanfiction a few years back, but even then it's been a good while! I hope you all enjoy the fic, I put a ton of work into it. I'm gonna try to get chapters out weekly from here on out.

I hope you like the intrigue as to why the shrinking occurred! As I'm sure is clear already, it's a lot more complicated than "they got shrunk by magic lol." To be honest, unravelling the mystery of a strange new magic, it's kind of a trope of mine in my writing, and this story is no exception. I really enjoy writing about magical mysteries, and I hope you like its execution and eventual reveal here!

Also, if the tags and content of the story didn't make it obvious, there will be SunLight in the story, because that is the best ship in MLP canon, with the possible exception of FlutterDash. Fight me XD

3: Music in the Backpack Caverns

Twilight held Sunset close as she could, as long as she could. Sunset was bawling tears into her burned and blackened arms, completely scream-crying. And she didn't ever want to let go. Twilight had just seen any hope of help slip away from her, she couldn't lose Sunset, too. No, she couldn't afford to lose Sunset, period. After she'd watched her be attacked by a fly, she promised herself she would keep her friend safe. And before that, even, when she saved her at the friendship games, she promised herself she would make it up to Sunset every way she could. She was too important to go of again. Once was one too many.

Sunset, though... she just seemed to snap. She was fine, if shaken. Understandable, after burning alive for the second time in a day. And then, like a switch was flipped, she was rushing towards the entrance to the backpack! Back to the place she'd almost died! So Twilight held her tight, to make sure she didn't leave her again.

If there was a silver lining to all of this, it seemed Rainbow hadn't seen Sunset. After calling out for a final time, she left the room. The moment the door closed behind her, just like that, the tingling on her skin disappeared. They were alone once more.

Well, she couldn't hold her friend forever, much as she might wish she could. After another minute of relaxing into Twilight's arms, Sunset's tears faded to a light sniffling. Reluctantly, Twilight pulled back. Sunset wiped her face with a blister-covered arm to brush away a few of her tears. She didn't run, but she didn't say anything. She just curled up against the side of a textbook, crying lightly.

Twilight was crushed. Her mood had been improving, she'd been learning to have fun where she could in this massive world. Even when they had to push a massive cinderblock for minutes on end, Sunset was there, always smiling. That was enough to keep her going. The images her stupid brain was making, of being maimed, stabbed, crushed, they'd faded almost completely.

Now, those images were gone. No, they'd been replaced by the image she'd seen just moments ago. That scream. Sunset's scream pierced through Twilight's soul, a tale of pain so devastating it was unimaginable. There was no physical fire, but all over her body, blisters bubbled and black scorch marks appeared on her skin, her arms, her legs, her face. Somehow, Twilight managed to pull her back in, and in that moment, she felt a fraction of Sunset's pain, her arm left blackened and scarred because of it.

All because one of their best friends in the whole world looked them in the eyes.

The guilt came back a thousand fold. Her invention didn't just shrink them down, it sentenced them to death. Who cares if they could be eaten by a frog or crushed by a shoe, they'd be burned alive far before that could ever happen. They couldn't ask for help. Hell, if they left the room, they were dead. When class started in around an hour, they were dead. All because she wanted to know what magic looked like. She wanted to break down and cry, to scream into the heavens.

But she didn't. Because however much she might have been hurting, Sunset was hurting a hundred times more. If they both fell apart now, it was all over. So, she pushed her own worries aside, no matter how loudly they screamed in her ears. She would worry about her own stupid problems later. Sunset was hurting, and not just because of some invisible fire. She didn't need some sniveling crybaby. She needed a friend. She needed Twilight Sparkle.

She approached the sniffling Sunset. "Hey. Do you... want to talk about it?"

Sunset looked up from her scrunched-up form. Her face was red from the tears, and covered in blisters and scorch marks otherwise. She nodded in response to the question.

She waited a few more moments, but Sunset didn't say anything more. "You said you didn't want to be alone again, right?" Twilight prompted.

Sunset visibly winced. "B-but you're here with me, I'm not alone. I'm just being selfish."

Twilight placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you're not being selfish. It's okay."

She shook her head sadly and turned away, shaking off Sunset's hand. "No, it's not. I... I almost killed myself, Twi! You had to hold me back, take everything I gave you, and you were already dealing with so much. I almost hit you! You didn't deserve any of that. What kind of friend does that make me?"

She gave a kind smile. "Hey, you can't hog all the emotional burden. I stopped you because I wanted to, no other reason. And you know what, you didn't hit me. You had a moment of weakness, and you made it out the other side. And you're not gonna do it again, right?"

She shook her head quickly. "No! I-I would never!"

"Then I accept your apology. We're in a stressful situation. You were burning alive out there, I can't expect you to keep it together through that. You freaked out. And you won't do it again. We'll make it through this, together, okay?"

Sunset raised her head to meet Twilight's eyes. She did see a spark of hope in there, somewhere. But after a moment, she lowered it again. "No, you don't get it."

Twilight sat beside her, leaning against the textbook. "I want to. Talk to me, Sunset."

She looked Twilight in the eyes again. This time, the spark was gone, and they were filled with tears again. "Twilight, do you forgive me?"

She leaned in closer. "Of course I forgive you, Twi. I told you, you freaked out, it's understandable. If anything, I hit you! I should be the one apologizing, if anyone."

But Sunset pulled away and shook her head. "No, you don't understand. I mean... I told you about what I was like before, right? Before I met you, I mean. I was a bad person. A really bad person. When I entered this world, for years, I hurt everyone around me. I turned them against one another. I connived, manipulated, made their lives miserable, and for what end? I just wanted power, and nothing more. And in the end, it twisted me into a demon. Do you... forgive me, for that?"

Twilight wracked her brain. Up until now, she'd just been giving Sunset reassurances, the best she could. But this... it came out of nowhere. She knew the story, of course, but for the life of her, why mention it now of all times? Then, she realized. Sunset had almost punched her. She was worried she was going back on her old ways. She clenched her fists. "Sunset, I told you. You didn't hit me. I'm sure the old you wouldn't have hesitated. This is nothing to feel guilty over. You were scared, you were lonely. That doesn't mean you're not becoming your old self again, not even close. I promise."

At her answer, Sunset just averted her eyes. "No, that's not what I mean. Please, just answer the question."

That was even more confusing. If not guilt, then where was this coming from? If only for the lack of a better response, she decided to just give her honest answer the question. "You want to know if I forgive you for something I never even saw you do, then? Sunset, I've only ever known you as the confident, kind, amazing person you are today. Besides, I turned into a demon myself once, I'd be pretty hypocritical to hold that against you." She raised herself up and sat on the book's surface. "But I know the other girls have forgiven you. They love you like a family, and you hurt them most of all. I can speak for all of us when I say we forgive you, Sunset."

At that answer, Sunset finally gave a slight smile. The blisters on her face seemed just a little smaller than before. "Thank you, Twi. I-I needed to hear that. I agree with you, you know. I had a whole heartsong about that a while back. I'm not the mare I was before. Everyone forgives me. The people I hurt the most in the past are now my best friends in the whole world. My past is behind me." She wiped away a tear out of her her eyes, but as she did so, a few more started coming, faster than the ones before them. Her smile faded. "I'm forgiven by everyone I know. And then something like this happens, and I feel like the universe itself hasn't forgiven me."

"The... universe?"

She sniffed. "Every single time I think I'm happy. That I've made a place for myself in the world as Sunset Shimmer, monster fighting high schooler, savior of Canterlot High, friend to all. And then something like this happens, and I'm alone again. First, the memory stone took you all away from me. For three days, I saw your faces, and you looked at me like I was a monster. And not just you. Everybody. I was alone. Every person who loved and cared about me forgot who I was."

Twilight put a hand over her mouth. "Oh, Sunset..."

The tears were coming faster. "A-and I fixed that! Everything was fine again, people knew me, loved me for who I am, not hated me for who I was. But then I got trapped in a time loop. T-that one wasn't as bad, not at first. But nothing I did mattered. It was like you were all shallow reflections of your true selves, going on predetermined paths. I could change those paths, maybe. But no matter what I did, come the next morning, you were reset. I could have killed you, and none of you would have known. So what did anything I do even matter!? I hurt Pinkie, and the next day, she didn't even remember. Again, I was alone."

Twilight was tearing up. "Sunset, I..." She choked up, unable to continue.

Sunset took a shaky breath. "I can deal with otherworldly monsters. Giant magical storms, Human abusing a powerful magical artifact. B-but you girls are my everything. They pulled me out of the darkest part of my life, and you've become just as important as any of them. And then, like clockwork, they're gone. And I have to know... did I do something wrong? Was what I did so truly unforgivable that I have to suffer through all this again and again? Why else would I keep losing you?" She began full-on crying again. "And now we're here. We burn when out friends look at us, and for what? Just to make me suffer? Just to add one to the pile? I'm alone again, Twilight. And if we don't find a solution, I'll never be able to talk with them, never again. I'm alone."

Twilight began crying, herself. The resolve she'd built up crumbled away. "I didn't know! I'm so sorry!"

Sunset buried her head in her hands. "Sorry for what? It's just some sort of sick, twisted fate. You can't stop your memories from being stolen, stop me from being trapped in a time loop. There's nothing any of us can do."

"It was my experiment!" she blurted. "If I hadn't done this, you wouldn't be separated from your friends. This is all my fault!"

She looked up at Twilight, eyes red due to the tears. "Please, don't take the blame for something you had no control over, Twilight. It doesn't make anything better." She looked away. "It isn't going to bring them back."

That just made her feel worse. "I'm sorry," she said again.

Sunset sniffled. "I've never told you girls, but every week, I dream that I've woken up, and you're all gone. Not your memories erased, not lost due to a time loop, just... gone. And try as I might, I never, ever bring you back. For the rest of my life, I'm alone. And then I wake up in a cold sweat. And you know, I thought it might finally be over. Maybe, just maybe, I was safe, and my friends wouldn't be taken away from me again. And then my best friend looks me in the eye, and it sets me on fire. Let's say I survive this time, who cares!? It's just gonna happen all over again. What if, next time, every time I look at them, they burn away? What if I'm sent to the distant future and you've all been dead for a hundred years? What if I shatter your minds with my geode, and you're brain-dead for the rest of their lives? I can't do this, Twilight! I can't be alone again!" She was crying even harder than before.

Unsure on what else to do, Twilight hugged her again. She knew Sunset was hurting, but... this was too much. "I'm sorry, Sunset. For everything. But I promise, I won't let you be alone. I'm here." She didn't know what else to say. It was such a small thing compared to what she was going through. This was all her fault in the first place, anyways. Compared to that, this gesture was nothing. But she said what she could, and she held her close.

Sunset shook her head, still in her hands. "What does it matter? We can stick together all we want, it's not going to fix anything. That phone was our goal, out plan this whole time, and it failed. My- our friends are gone. We're stuck like this. And we're alone."

The pressure on her was crushing. On the inside, her self-doubts were screaming in her ears, telling her that Sunset was like this because of her experiment. On the outside, the person she trusted to help her through this, the person who would never falter, had given up. If Sunset Shimmer of all people couldn't make it through this, what chance did she have? She was weak. She'd crumbled within minutes of being shrunken down. She couldn't do this. She was supposed to be able to ask herself, what would Sunset do? But right now, she knew what Sunset would do. She would break down and cry. It was hopeless. They were going to die here.

Then, beneath the voices screaming in her ear, telling her to give up, Twilight heard a softer voice. It told her she was wrong. Sunset wouldn't break down and cry, not until it was all over. The Sunset she knew would never give up, never back down. And if Sunset disagreed, then maybe she just needed to remind her otherwise. And you know what, crying isn't what Twilight would do either. That voice, quiet as it was, told her to fight. It told her that, until the last bell rang, it was no time to be giving up. No matter the odds, it told her to push on to the end.

So with a confidence she didn't feel, she wiped away her tears. She took hold of that quiet voice and turned it into a roar. She jumped up onto the textbook before her, because she knew that's what Sunset would do. And she stomped her foot down on the hard surface beneath her. "N-no. NO! We didn't give up before, we won't do it now. This isn't over."

She looked up weakly. "What's the point? We failed. The phone's useless."

Her voice was shaky at first but it got clearer as she went on. "Oh, r-really? You didn't forget what our original plan was, did you!?"

Sunset blinked. "Huh?"

"We were never after the phone, Sunset. It was just a means to an end. Don't you remember?" She hopped down from the textbook, and opened the lip of the backpack to show the classroom beyond. "We were after the Pulsar! It brought us into this mess, so it's going to get us out of it! It's the key to this whole plot! So until we activate it again, don't you dare give up on me!"

She averted her eyes. "I-"

Twilight cut her off, a newfound strength filling her core. She struck another dramatic pose. "This isn't the Sunset Shimmer I know. The Sunset I know had her friends forget every positive thing she'd ever done, and she kept fighting. The Sunset I know got stuck in a time loop, and she kept fighting! She's shown me the light at the end of the tunnel over and over again. And she never, ever gives up! So are you gonna stay quiet, or are you gonna fight!?" She breathed heavily, not used to such grand posturing.

Sunset just stared for a few seconds. She looked at the ground, head turned away from Twilight. Twilight looked at the ground. She... she failed, didn't she?

And then, Sunset let out a light giggle. Twilight looked up at her again, but she was unable to see Sunset's face.

"Man," she said. "You look really dorky trying to give a rousing speech."

Twilight blushed. To be honest, she'd felt pretty dorky when she'd given the speech, too. She smiled sheepishly. "Well... did it work?"

She finally turned back towards Twilight. And yes, she was smiling again. "I think you're right, Twi. Until we turn on that bear again, this is no time to be giving up."

Twilight grinned, and she grinned wide. For once, she didn't even care that she called it a bear. Because Sunset was back. "That's my girl."

You know, Twilight didn't know why, but she was feeling better, now. More focused. Though she'd sought to sooth Sunset's fears, in the process, her personal internal haze seemed to fade. She still felt a little bit of guilt, but it wasn't so overwhelming anymore. A bit of fear, but a bit of hope as well. In helping her friend, she'd found what it took to push forwards, herself.

After all, now, they all knew the stakes. Maybe Twilight started this whole mess, but she could finish it, too. Get to that pulsar, and it would all be over. They may have been in danger of invisible fire, sure, but until class let in, there was no reason to be afraid. From here, there was no more time for playing around, or for wallowing in guilt. They had a goal, and so long as they focussed, they could do this. Get to the pulsar, and it would put this whole thing behind them. The pulsar would fix them.

It had to.

Sunset was ashamed in herself. She had just... given up. It had all been too much. She thought that, after everything she'd went through, she was better than that, but... this was too much. If Twilight wasn't here, she didn't know if she could have ever recovered, not until it was too late. But through the swirling thoughts and doubts, Twilight had stepped up and made a stand. Her speech was clumsy, awkward. Her posturing looked ridiculous, and she stumbled over her words multiple times. When she first started talking, she didn't even seem to believe the words coming out of her mouth.

And she glowed.

A purple aura surrounded her, friendship magic bursting at her seams. It washed over Sunset, and with it, a feeling of hope, companionship, and life. As the speech continued and Twilight's confidence grew, so too did the glow, washing over her brighter and brighter. And in that wonderful glow, she knew she wasn't alone. They still had each other. So yeah, maybe they had a plan, now. That was something to hold on to. But Twilight's heart is what dug her out of the pit she was in, not her words.

She glanced Twilight's hand, guilty that she'd forced Twilight to get burned for her. And... it was completely healthy. Wait a minute, what? She glanced down at her own hands, and her skin was flawless, not a scorch mark in sight! Had Twilight unlocked some sort of healing ability? But... no, now that she was back in her right mind, she noticed. The whole conversation, her skin had been healing, the pain fading. The process just happened to finish as Twilight gave her speech. What, so whatever magic burned them up, the burns were only temporary, then? Why? For that matter...

She shook her head. She needed to stay on topic. She could worry about the true nature of the spell later, they only had about an hour before the first kids would start arriving for class. If everything went well, they'd be back to normal by then, and they could talk about what happened all they wanted. For now, she needed to focus.

As if on cue, Twilight spoke. "So, what's the plan? I know I said we needed to get to the pulsar, but that's easier said than done. The desk's three times as tall as your backpack, and it's completely smooth."

Sunset smiled, though. She'd already come up with a solution to this particular problem. "That came to me while we were wrangling with the phone. So far, we've been solving all of our problems mechanically. Somehow, we managed to forget, we have magic! Twi, when you pony up, you have wings, right?" She cocked her head. "You know, considering you're still only a unicorn when we cross over, the wings seems a bit odd to me. You can fly with them, right?"

Twilight shrugged. "Long story short, yes. As for the why... I was confused on that point myself, to tell you the truth. I wrote Princess Twilight about why the wings appear in one form and not the other, but a lot of the magic stuff went over my head. I read it through a dozen times, and could barely make heads or tails of it. Something about a mutual connection to the elements of harmony?"

Sunset blinked. "Wait, you're telling me that a magical explanation from yourself went over your head?"

Twilight chuckled. "From what I can tell, all the years she put into researching the intricacies of magic, I looked into technology. When she gets deep into thaumic radiation and inherited magical wills, I'm as lost as anyone else. Any time I try to explain one of her inventions, it goes over her head just as hard, trust me."

...Huh. That actually made a lot of sense. Princess Twilight wasn't exactly an artificer, herself. It made her wonder, if she ever ended up meeting her own counterpart, how might their lives have differed? Would her counterpart be a scientist as well? "Interesting," she said. Then, she shook herself off. "Anyways, we can finish this conversation later, we're on a time limit here. Point is, you should be able to fly up there, yeah?"

She nodded decisively. "Of course, that shouldn't be a problem. Should've thought of it earlier, myself! I'm not sure if I could carry you, though, I'm not exactly a skilled flier."

Sunset shrugged. "Hey, you're the one who knows how to turn the device on. So long as I'm in the room when it goes off, I'm happy."

Twilight nodded, and raised her hand to the sky. "Okay, then! I'd better get started as soon as I can. Pony up, go!"

Absolutely nothing happened.

"...How do I pony up at will, again? We don't have any musical instruments on hand."

Sunset sighed. "Normally, it activates when we play music, or otherwise strongly show our emotional affinities. Like, if Fluttershy is particularly kind, or Rarity particularly generous." Then, her eyes narrowed. "Now that I think about it, why didn't you pony up when you gave your speech? That was one of the most harmonious things I've ever heard. Weird..."

Twilight blushed. "I'm sure you're giving me too much credit. I was terrified, myself."

"Twilight, you were literally glowing with harmony magic."

Twilight's eyes widened. "Wait, really?" She looked down at her hands, excited. She slumped slightly, disappointed the glow was gone. "Well, point taken, guess it was a pretty good speech. Harmony magic provides a pretty objective judge."

Sunset frowned, distracted. "Still, why no wings, no pony ears? There was enough magic it should've happened. Could it be another aspect of the curse? Or maybe the magic doesn't know how to form our bodies at such a small scale? It's weird, whatever the case...." She trailed off. It was baffling, really. Shrinking was one thing, but why wouldn't the transformation occur? It clearly wasn't blocking their mana channels, Twilight glowed just fine. What was different now?

Twilight seemed deep in thought, herself. After a moment, though, she shook herself off. "Okay, we need to focus. We haven't been very good at that, have we? Look, there's no use endlessly hypothesizing when we don't have the data to figure it out right now. Whatever the case, if what you're saying is right, we're gonna have to find another way up the desk. It pretty much means Ponying up's off the table."

Sunset shook her head. That was one possibility, of course. But without knowing why it wasn't working, they couldn't rule something else out. "Not necessarily," she said. "For now, all we know is that your output of harmony magic alone didn't do it, and we don't know why. Like you said, we don't have the data points. If we want to be sure, I suggest we go back to our origin: music. Even before the magic started manifesting when we showed strong emotions, music was the trigger. It's never failed us before."

Twilight cocked her head. "You sure it would make much of a difference? It might have been first, but doesn't the distinction seem a bit arbitrary? I feel like directly showing an aspect of friendship should be more powerful than strumming on a guitar..."

Sunset shrugged. "Well, music's at the core of equestrian magic, isn't it? Heartsongs are the one type of magic anycreature can use, from dragon to pony to griffon."

"Heartsongs?"

Sunset rolled her eyes. "When life becomes like a musical number." Twilight let out a little 'oh,' which Sunset took as a sign to continue. "Point is, music is special. While a unicorn can cast spells and a griffon fly, anyone can sing, given strong enough emotional resonance. And I mean anyone. With a tiny fragment of magic, even humans can join in! Friendship may be the most powerful magic of all, but music is the simplest. If I had to guess, that's probably why our particular magic responds most strongly to music. Magic responds to song for anycreature, under any circumstance."

Twilight hung onto her every word, fascinated. Finally, she cut in. "Oh my gosh, that's so cool! Could magic have some inherent musical property to it? Oh, or maybe song was the first magic, and all other magic is just an offshoot! Or-"

Sunset put up her hands. "Slow down, slow down! Weren't you just getting on my tail for getting distracted? Trust me, you're asking questions the greatest equestrian minds have been asking for thousands of years."

She froze like a deer in the headlights. She laughed nervously. "Right, sorry." She did one more 'squee,' then shook her head to clear it. "Back on topic, I totally see what you're getting at. Even if shrinking down changed our "race," so to speak, music should still help us focus our magic!" In an instant, her simmering excitement faded. She slumped. "Wait, that just brings us back to my first problem. We don't have any musical instruments. It might be due to our human heritage, but from what I've seen from the few experiments I've done, having instruments helps us channel the magic far more reliably than voice alone." She brightened a bit. "Then again... heartsongs, right? I've been in a few of those without playing an instrument, I think. Maybe we don't need them!"

But Sunset shook her head. "No, an instrument isn't optional, here. True, a heartsong forms when enough emotional energy meets in one place, and in that case, you'd only need your voice. But we don't have the time to wait for that to happen naturally. In order to force it, to direct the magic into a heartsong, a musical instrument is much like a magic wand, or a unicorn's horn. We really do need some sort of musical instrument to make this all work."

Twilight frowned further. She glanced around the backpack, not that there was much to find. Glancing around confirmed what she already knew: Sunset kept her backpack tidy, much to her current chagrin. "Well, that's kind of a problem. It might take me a while to get a reliable instrument working. I'm not sure I could get it done before class let back in. We might need to wait in here until class lets out again."

Wit all the talking they'd done, they had maybe 50 minutes left, now. Sunset pursed her lips. Waiting was tempting, but... "Not an option. We should be able to stay hidden in here pretty easily, but that's not the problem. Once class starts, there's no way that bear stays up there. Someone could take it to the lost and found, or worse, damage it somehow. When the others arrive, it's too late."

Twilight looked at the ground. "I could put together rudimentary I guess? I mean, it doesn't take that much to get an instrument to work. Put together a few cans and you've got percussion. But I don't even have that at this scale. I'd have to experiment what we could even make work at such small sizes. We don't even know how the soundwaves would work! I'll try my best, but it'll be cutting it pretty tight."

Sunset frowned. Even if this worked, they'd have to spend all their time on it. Building instruments from scratch, learning them, all in the off-chance it even worked at all! Was it really safe to put all their eggs in this basket?

On the other hand, what else were they supposed to do? Climbing the desk wouldn't be like climbing the backpack. There were no handholds, no footholds. Its surface was a smooth plastic all the way down. Music might be a long shot, but at least it was feasible! No, they needed to pony up. It was their only option. And considering Twilight's trepidation in making an instrument at this point, their best bet was to sing without instruments. It was still a long shot, but at least they had a chance to try something else if it didn't work. ...Not that she knew what else there was to try.

As she was about to say as much, her eyes settled on her smartphone. And in a moment, the answer hit her. She grinned. "Hold up, hold up. there's no need to make something, Twi. We've been focusing so much on what we can build that we forgot what was right in front of us! We put in all this work grabbing our own personal supercomputer, didn't we? And it's got a few instruments downloaded. What say we use it?"

Twilight stared at the phone as well. And her face filled with color again. "Sunset, I've said it once, and I'll say it again. You're a genius!" She ran forwards and hugged her friend. Sunset grinned and returned the hug. But in a moment, she broke it off. They had work to do, and not a lot of time to do it.

Sunset stepped onto the phone's smooth surface. From the side, while it took a bit of a push, Twilight managed to press in the power button, and it was up to Sunset to enter her passcode. The ease of which would depend entirely on whether or not her shoes would activate the touch screen. An uneasy step forwards and... whew, fortunately not. Her shoes blocked the magnetic charge of her feet, so she could easily walk across the screen without activating it, only registering a touch when she used her entire palm. It took a minute, but she entered her passcode and opened her phone.

"Can I look now?" said Twilight.

Sunset glanced over at Twilight. She was looking away from Sunset's phone, with hands covering her eyes. Sunset sighed sighed. "Yeah, because that's so important right now. Worrying about the preservation of my passcode. Yes, I'm done."

Twilight only looked when Sunset confirmed she was done. From there, she stepped up the side of the phone. "Well, I didn't want to look without permission."

Sunset rolled her eyes as she walked to the home button. She jumped on it to activate it, bringing her to the home screen. "I'm not worried you're gonna steal from me, Twi. In case you need to get in without me, it's 0753, Starswirl the Bearded's birthday."

Twilight nodded with utmost sincerity, like Sunset had entrusted her with some sort of state secret. It was cute in a way. After a few moments, though, the actual number hit her. "Wait, July 53rd!?"

Sunset laughed. "Different universe, different calendars." She placed a palm on the screen and began walking across to swipe to an adjacent screen.

Twilight tapped a folder labelled 'Music.' "You need to walk me through all the different parts of your universe sometime. We need more one-on-one time, seriously, I didn't realize just how many questions I have about your world! I think I know just about everything, and then you tell me that our very calendars are different!"

Sunset pulled up the 'Piano' app. Beneath them, the floor morphed into an uneven checkerboard of black and white. Sunset unfastened her shoes, and tossed them aside. Twilight did likewise. "Hey, when we make it out of this, you can pick my brain all you'd like. For now..." She spun dramatically, skirt twirling beneath her. She stopped and extended a hand. "May I have this dance?"

Twilight blushed furiously. "Huh?"

Sunset giggled. "We're playing the piano with our feet, aren't we? If that's not dancing, I don't know what is." She lightly stepped on a few piano keys, letting their music fill the air. She looked up and met Twilight's eyes once more. She still seemed uneasy. Sunset lightened her tone. "We've danced before, haven't we? Just do it again and it'll be fine. We've got this."

"Well yeah, but... it wasn't just the two of us before."

Stage fright, eh? Sunset smirked. Well, no need to treat her like a fragile flower, then. "This is for your own good, Twi." Without a second thought, Sunset grabbed her friend's hand and pulled her inward. Twilight stumbled slightly, playing a few notes on the way in, but settled in Sunset's grip, one hand outwards, one on her back.

"S-Sunset?"

"It's okay, Twi. Just follow my lead."

Sunset pulled Twilight across the piano, a simple set of steps. It didn't create any music, just a series of notes, but it didn't need to yet. Twilight was tense, but Sunset kept dancing. She didn't bother with the notes beneath her feet, just the rhythm in her step. She went from note to note, slow across the piano beneath her, pulling Twilight along. In time, Twilight untensed, dancing in earnest herself. A, C, A, C. Despite the lack of music, she felt on the brink of something, but she wasn't sure what. The phone wasn't all that big, not really, maybe the size of a large gym mat, but it was enough to make it work.

Twilight began pulling with direction, showing a will to take the lead, so Sunset let her. She was a bit clumsy, watching her feet with every step. She pulled them out of the established rhythm, instead stepping on piano keys with intent. Clearly, she was trying to turn their scattered steps into music, leading them from one note to another with purpose. But with the two of them together, she wasn't having much luck. The double-taps on every note were awkward, and she had trouble defining a melody on such an unusual instrument. She couldn't press notes quickly, and she couldn't change by more than a few musical steps in a single leap.

Twilight broke hand contact with Sunset and kept dancing, frowning as she did so. Losing contact with her friend, Sunset grew to a halt. To be honest, she was pretty sure Twilight was on the wrong track, but she would give her time. Unfortunately, even on her own, Twilight didn't do much better. Yes, Sunset wasn't in her way anymore, but she still couldn't play the instrument very effectively. She couldn't seem to make a melody work. Finally, she stopped altogether, frown on her face. "Clearly, this isn't working. We need to try something else."

Sunset took a step forwards. "But we were doing so well at the start! The dance felt... right!"

"Yeah, but it wasn't music, just some random notes. If we want to do this for real, we need more than that. Maybe another instrument might work better?"

Sunset sighed. "No, no, the piano's gonna be the easiest to play. What I mean is, didn't you feel that at the beginning, right before you took control?"

Twilight shifted her weight. "Maybe? But... that was nothing. Just a bit of adrenaline."

Sunset grabbed Twilight's hands again. "For both of us? No, it wasn't. It was magic."

Twilight stared. "But we weren't even playing music yet! I thought you said-"

Sunset cut her off. "Look, I don't play this card often. but this is magic, Twilight. I know it better than you. And I say, if we want to make a heartsong right now, we have to stop trying so hard to make a heartsong."

Twilight sputtered. "But... w-what!?"

Sunset pulled her close again. "Just follow my lead. Don't worry about making a song, just... dance, okay?"

Twilight looked between Sunset's face and hands. "O-okay. I'll try."

The pair began dancing again. The dance had a rhythm to it, but no music. Left foot, right foot. They weren't making any real music yet, just dancing while a few notes filled the air, echoing lightly against the cloth sides. Twilight was nervous at first, just like last time. But she began to untense after a few moments, letting herself be pulled along. And soon, she began to lead in turn, leading Sunset into a pirouette between the F and F sharp. She didn't try to pull them into a melody, just a simple series of steps. Still no music, but Sunset let herself get lost in the dance regardless. Soon, Twilight began smiling as well.

As they danced, their movements grew more fluid. Naturally at first, an extension of their sync. But as their dance continued, the magic of harmony began to flow through their bodies as well, little by little. It didn't puppet their bodies, it just seemed to point them in the right direction. A little half step further that way, a step back instead of forwards. And in a matter of moments, the random notes they'd been playing flowed together into a beautiful duet. Each step of the dance caused another note to fall into the tapestry of music. They would break up their dance to form two concurrent melodies only to join together again for the chorus. They would form harmonies without a word passing between them. Sunset closed her eyes and gave in to the music around her, letting her body move on its own. A few moments later, she opened them to meet Twilight's own. And across from her, Twilight began to sing.

I look across the piano and see
A pony, a human, friend.
Beautiful hair, beautiful eyes,
And a heart that shows me no end.
I should be fearing the vision-made searing
And the pulsar behind it all mine.
But I see your face, your wondrous smile,
and everything seems to be fine.

I've had regrets in the past, this I know,
For knowledge, a demon I spurned.
I did it again, messing with magic,
How much must this lesson be learned?
I hurt you, and yet you look me in the eye
And say you forgive and forget.
You let me see back into your eyes
And show naught but a grateful duet.

Sunset began to sing the chorus with Twilight.

I fear that I will be the one to blame,
It will be due to me that you'll meet your end,
But just for right now, in this moment,
I'm glad to be here with my friend.

I'm not alo~one.
We're not alo~one.
We're alone, together.

Twilight's voice faded as Sunset sang.

There once was a pony who wished to move on
And yet a curse followed her name
It trapped her, it hurt her, it left her behind
It watch-ed her wallow in shame.
But there followed a human, will strong as steel
Broke through the curse just to say,
"You won't be alone, not while I'm here."
And she was here to stay.

I look 'cross the phone, look into your eyes
Your glasses, the bun in your hair
A part of me thinks you'll be gone when I blink
But then I look back and you're there
I wonder if I'm selfish, to pull you along
Should I be glad you're burning with me?
But so long as we're not alone
A light at the end, I can see.

Twilight and Sunset sang together for the chorus once more.

I fear that I will be the one to blame,
It will be due to me that you'll meet your end,
But just for right now, in this moment,
I'm glad to be here with my friend.

I'm not alo~one.
We're not alo~one.
We're alone, together.

We're alo~o~one
Alone, together.

As the song faded, the pair locked legs at the center of the piano, faces inches away from one another. They were literally glowing with harmony magic. It radiated off of them, purple and orange light completely flooding the chamber. But no matter the beauty of the music, or the rawness of their emotions, pony ears and wings refused to appear. While they were glowing, though, she couldn't bring herself to care. She felt a kinship with Twilight. Both of them were struggling with taking the blame for something they couldn't control. Sunset worried her curse would hurt Twilight, and Twilight worried her inventions would hurt Sunset. And of course, they were both glad they had someone else by their side to help them.

Sunset finally broke the silence as the magic began to fade away. "So... that didn't work."

Twilight laughed. "Nope!"

She sighed, but she couldn't wipe the smile off her face. "Well, there goes that theory. And we only have around 40 minutes now. 30, if you want time to actually activate the thing. And to be honest, I got nothing. We might just have to wait until after class and... hope for the best, I guess. All that's left that I can see is climbing that desk manually, and I don't see a way to do that."

Twilight smiled, though. "Not so fast. You can't hog all the ideas. That song gave me a burst of inspiration." She smiled. "You've solved enough problems today, Sunny. It's my turn. Time to show you what a true scientist is capable of."

Author's Note

Huh, it occurs to me if Fimfiction had a hurt/comfort tag like Fanfiction, this would be the story to use it with! Not sure if "Drama" is quite right, though. Anyways, while I've frontloaded a lot of it, I'd prepare for a lot of heartfelt crying in this fic lol. Though, it'll be at a rate of less than one per chapter from here on out XD

The song's kinda meh tbh. If it were up to me, I wouldn't have written a song at all. Unfortunately, with the direction the story was going, I realized I couldn't really get away with not having a song there. So, I did my best. I basically rewrote it from scratch twice and it's still only okay. Meh, here's hoping it isn't narratively satisfying for a song to happen again in the future, or else you're gonna have to read my scribblings again lol.

Also, sorry for the month-long wait between chapters, life happened. At this point I'm gonna try writing more, but considering I couldn't keep a weekly release going for even a single week, I'm just gonna release chapters when I can lol