It had been a few days since the giant stormfront from Everfree had passed through, and everypony was doing their best to repair the damage it had wreaked. Twilight and Applejack were at Sweet Apple Acres, ready to test a new spell, that was supposed to make earth ponies stronger and less prone to exhaustion.
They both knew that the apples that had fallen from the trees needed to be collected, and Applejack wasn't up to the task if she worked alone, but everyone else was too busy repairing the damage to their own homes and businesses, and Big Mac was still in the hospital after a branch hit him in the head during the storm, so Twilight came up with a solution: use a spell she had read about. Applejack was hesitant, but realized that she needed some sort of help. She asked, “Are ya sure this is gonna work, Twilight?”
“Trust me, it's a simple spell,” Twilight said. She had taken a strange herb that Fluttershy said would relieve pain earlier in the day, and was feeling a bit off, but she dismissed it as shock and stress from seeing her basement flooded, and assumed that it wouldn't affect her spellcasting.
“Alright, I'll trust ya, but only because I need some help.” Applejack had always been a bit paranoid about magic being used on her, and, with Twilight's track record, she had good reason to be nervous now.
Twilight focused on casting her spell, but realized that something was wrong, when she heard something large being dragged on the ground. She stopped and looked, finding herself looking at a 50 foot tall Applejack. “This can't be good.”
Applejack asked, in a booming voice, “was this supposed to happen, Twilight?”
“No, something went wrong with the spell. It wasn't supposed to make you so big.”
Applejack looked down and realized how small everything was. “Well, reverse it.”
“I don't know how,” Twilight said, thinking about what would happen if Applejack were to start moving, “Stay put, I'll come up with something.”
“You better. I don't wanna spend the rest of my life this size.”
Twilight galloped back to the library, which was starting to smell a bit, from the flooded basement. She crashed into Spike, who was holding book on herbs and spices. He said, “I know what that herb Fluttershy gave you is.”
“Not right now, Spike. I need a book to help me reverse a rapid growth spell.”
“Did you take some of that herb?”
“Yeah, why?” Twilight asked, wondering why Spike was asking.
“Well, you might want to read this.”
Twilight took the book that Spike had given her, and looked at the page. There was a picture of the herb, and a lot of info on it. “Dragon's toe, this herb has been used for centuries by earth ponies for pain relief. It's a relatively safe herb to consume, but if eaten by a unicorn, it can cause magic and spellcasting to become erratic. For this reason, it is not recommended for use by unicorns intending to cast spells within three hours of consumption. Oh no.”
“So what do we do now?”
“I. Don't. Know.”
An hour later, while pursuing yet another book to find a way to reverse the spell, Twilight flinched as her door was kicked open, by Rainbow Dash, who was still grounded by injuries caused by the storm, and still not pleased by this fact. “Twilight, you know anything about the giant orange pony at Sweet Apple Acres?”
“That's Applejack. I was trying to use a spell so she could get all the apples that fell out of the trees herself, but something went wrong.”
“Well, reverse it.”
“I don't know how!” Twilight yelled, in frustration.
“What? Then what are we going to do?”
“I'll find a way to fix this, don't worry!”
“I hope so. If she starts moving-” Rainbow Dash said, before being cut off.
“I know, it'll be bad. I'm working as fast as I can.”
“Also, you sure you don't know any spells that could fix my wing?”
“I'm sure, and you wouldn't want me to cast it anyway. That herb Fluttershy gave me caused this mess. I don't want to know what it would do to you,” Twilight said, feeling nervous.
“What? Is it poisonous?”
Twilight explained her predicament, and Rainbow Dash's face contorted into a look of shock. “Dammit, Twi, why didn't you look it up before you went out?”
“Fluttershy assured me it was safe.”
Rainbow Dash sighed and asked, “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Just explain to everyone what's going on, and that I'm trying to fix things.”
“I'm on it.”
Twilight went back to work on finding a way to reverse her mistake, with Spike using a bucket to drain the basement. Eventually after another hour and a half, she found something that looked like it would get Applejack back to normal.
In the meantime, Applejack stood as still as possible, trying not to do anymore damage than Twilight's accidental growth spell had already caused. Unfortunately, the longer she held still, the more bored and fidgety she was getting. She started thinking that this was some cruel form of torture.
Eventually, Fluttershy, after hearing what had happened, flew over and tried to reassure the giant mare, Which Applejack liked, because talking would give her something to do, at least.
“Don't worry, Applejack, I'm sure Twilight will find something to get you back to normal.”
Applejack, now whispering, though still loud enough to be heard across Sweet Apple Acres, said “I hope so.”
“And I'm sorry this happened. If I hadn't given Twilight the Dragon's toe, her spell wouldn't have gone wrong, and this never would have happened,” Fluttershy said, landing on top of Applejack's head to rest her wings.
“Ah, don't worry about it,” Applejack said, then, wanting to distract herself from her predicament, asked, “I heard you and Rainbow Dash are together?”
“Yes. I thought a relationship would be worth a try.”
“Well, as long as you're both happy, though I never did understand why two gals would get together.”
They talked for a while about other things, like the damage caused by the storm, until Twilight, after having made sure her magic was back to normal by using a spell she had stumbled upon to create a magical pump for her basement, arrived on the scene, yelling up to the giant pony, “I think I've found a way to fix this.”
“Okay, try it.”
“Fluttershy, Are you up there?”
“She's on top of my head. Why?”
“If you shrink down in midair, that could be bad. I want her to be there to catch you.”
“Alright. Fluttershy, can you be ready to catch me?”
“Of course,” Fluttershy said after taking to the air again.
Twilight cast her spell, and hoped that everything would work out.
Applejack felt herself shrinking down, with her hooves dragging across the ground. Eventually, she was at eye level with Twilight, with Fluttershy landing near her. Twilight, seeing her friend was back to normal, rushed over and gave her a big hug. “I'm sorry it went so wrong. Can you forgive me?”
“It's alright. Y'all didn't do much more damage than the storm did, but no more spells for me.”
“Agreed. Now do you want some help getting these apples into the barn?”
"Of course, Twilight. Just keep your magic away from me."
"I'll be careful. Don't worry."
