Two Small Problems

Trapped!

"So, Twilight Sparkle, what brings you here? Is it something that drove you, something you fear?" Zecora asked as she let Twilight into her home within the Everfree Forest, a sense of calmness around them both. "Or are you upset with one of your friends? Remember, that path has no good end..."

Twilight smiled and couldn't help but giggle inwardly at the zebra's fancy method of speech. She stepped inside and wiped her hooves on the doormat, feeling the chill from outside being brushed off by a comforting warmth before stating her purpose. "Actually, Zecora, I just wanted to ask you if you think it's safe to study that plant my friends and I encountered awhile ago. You know, the Poison Joke one?" She reach her hoof inside her left saddle bag and pulled out a colored sketch of the blue plant, showing it to her.

Zecora immediately recognized it and nodded happily. "Of course, my friend, it is safe for your studies." She then turned her expression into one of warning. "But remember to keep it away from your buddies."

Twilight looked at her with the slightest bit of confusion. "Oh, so you mean it would be best if I only studied it by myself?"

Zecora shook her head. "Not only that, but you must be alone, to make sure of their safety, as well as your own."

Twilight nodded slowly. "Ohhhh, so you're saying that nopony can be in the same room as me?"

Zecora nodded, as well. "Yes, but also be sure not to touch, for silly things will come, you already know that much."

Twilight put the sketch back in her left saddlebag. "Oh, don't worry. I was already planning several different ways of transportation for it..." She then scratched her head. "...Which brings me to another question..."

Zecora invited her to have a seat at a nearby table. Twilight gratefully accepted, offering a smile, and took her place at one end. "I was wondering if it would be okay to use my magic to transport it. That way I could just levitate it or teleport it straight to the library." She could already see the zebra's discomfort in the way she shifted in her seat. "I-it's not, is it...?"

Zecora gave a look of worry and warning. "It can only be done if you're careful enough. The mess to clean up would surely be tough. I hear that you can be clumsy at times..." She then smiled reassuringly. "...But if you know where you're going, I'm sure you'll be fine."

Twilight was relieved to hear this. She smiled kindly and stood up from the table, despite the short time she had been sitting. "Thank you, Zecora. I'm so glad to have you as a friend."

Zecora stood up, as well. "Anytime, Twilight, if I have time to spend. And likewise, I'm glad to have you as a friend."

Twilight nodded. "Well, I'd better be going. After all, I do have other things to tend to, aside from wandering around the Everfree Forest and studying a magical plants." She slowly walked toward the door.

"If that is your wish, then be on your way. Be careful of things you encounter today." Zecora waved to her as she left.

"Will do! Thanks again!" called Twilight as she stepped outside.

(/)(/)()

On the cold and drizzly day it was, most ponies had chosen to stay inside for the majority of it. It was chilly, it was wet, and it was a little windy, therefore, it was not a bad choice.

But their better reasoning lied about two meters from the front door of the town library.

"Applejack, please... I'm serious! You don't have to do this!" begged Rainbow as she was dragged across the ground by her tail. "I'm not ready yet!"

Applejack grunted, tightening the grip she had in her teeth. "Coursh ya are," she said through her teeth. "Y'all've been waitin' ta do dish for a long time. Ish time, Raimbow."

The pegasus gave a small whine before looking for a last resort. "W-wait! I just remembered!"

"Remember what?" Applejack stopped walking, already convinced this was merely a way to stall or flee.

"Uhm... I, uh, have some..."

"No." Applejack began walking again, forcefully taking Rainbow with her. "Y'all shed ya'd do it today, an' Ah shed Ah'd hold ya to it. Yer doin' it today, Raimbow."

Rainbow groaned, pathetically letting herself be dragged to the library's front door. As Applejack raised a hoof to knock on the door, she hesitated, hearing an odd racket from inside. She didn't know what was, but to her, it sounded awfully similar to a spell gone wrong. Following was a combination of tableware and glass-breaking noises.

"What in tarnation...?" Applejack opened the door, startled to see a violet-shaded aura flying in the direction of her own face.

Meanwhile, Rainbow was busy entertaining herself by using her hooves to impersonate herself and the pony who was dragging her around. "Come on, Applejack," she said in her own voice, wiggling her left hoof. "You know I'm too awesome for this..."

"No ya ain't," she said in her best gruff, twang-toned, southern voice, wiggling her right hoof. "Y'all ain't nothin' compared ta mah apple-buckin' ways an' whatnot. Besides, ya said ya'd do it today, an' yer gonna."

"Oh yeah?" said the left.

"Yeah!" said the right.

"Well, guess what?" She made a fshew noise and shot her left hoof into the air as high as it would go, before hiding it behind her back.

"Oh, pony feathers!" cursed the right. "She got away! Now Ah can't--" She was rudely interrupted by a quick and frightful feeling of what seemed like shrinking. She pushed the feeling aside for a few seconds, but when it wouldn't leave, it began to make her feel unbelievably uncomfortable. She looked around her, making the observation that everything was becoming bigger. Buildings seemed taller, the ground seemed wider, the roads seemed longer! The feeling was so intense and scary, she couldn't take it anymore!

Just as she was ready to scream, somepony else had apparently thought of that quicker than she did.

"HELP!! Somepony!! Where'd everythin' go!? Ah can't see a thing!" came a very high-pitched, funny-sounding version of a muffled Applejack's voice. Rainbow turned around, seeing nothing but a giant cowpony hat.

"AJ!?" said Rainbow, startling herself with the same sort of high tone that was her own voice. "What the--... Why is my--" She looked around, hearing the few hoofsteps of passersby. She suddenly had a sickening feeling and a terrible fear of being stepped on. She could only hope that not many ponies were going to the library today.

"Rainbow! Is that you!?"

"Yeah, it's me! Where are you!?"

"Ah don' know! Ah can't see!"

Rainbow turned her head this way and that way, looking for her orange friend. She flew around for a little bit, but soon touched down again, having no results. Where was she? What happened? Why was everything so big? But most of all, why did she sound like a squeaky toy!? There was a countless number of things on her mind at the moment, but she could only focus on so many at a time. She couldn't have gone far...

"Rainbow! Can you see anything?"

"Yeah," she replied, taking in her surroundings. "I'm right next to the library with what looks like a giant version of your hat close by. In fact, everything's giant. It's kinda scary, actually. Applejack, I don't know how, but I think we've been shrunk."

"That so? Well, try lookin' around, please. Ah'd really love ta be able ta see again..."

Rainbow couldn't help but feel like her funny tone made the whole situation way funnier than should've been. She could tell that Applejack's voice coming from the hat now. "I already did, but hold on..." She walked up next to the hat. "Are you under there?"

"Under where?"

Smiling, Rainbow face-hoofed, stifling her giggles while shaking her head slowly.

"That ain't funny, RD..."

"Sorry, sorry..." she half-apologized. "The hat..." she clarified. "Are you under the hat?"

"Ah still don' know, cause Ah still can't see, ya hear?"

The hat seemed to be the strongest spot from which the voice came, and it would make sense, too, if she had been wearing it. She lifted it with as much effort as she could, eventually relying on her wings to pull herself into the air in hopes of freeing her friend.

"Well, now... There's a little light," said the trapped mare. Now that it was confirmed she was under the hat, Rainbow pulled even harder.

"Just a little further, Rainbow. Just a bit..."

Rainbow was determined to let her out, but then her thoughts got the better of her. If she left her in there, she wouldn't have to go through with what they were about to, just before they were turned small...

Looking down at the hat, she thought about it. Her hooves touched the ground again.

"What the hay, Rainbow! What happened? Where'd the light go? What'd ya stop for?"

Snapping out of it, Rainbow put her hooves back under the brim of the hat. "Sorry, I... got distracted..."

"Y'all thought about leavin' me, didn' ya?"

Rainbow hung her head. "Yeah, I did. But then I realized, my friends know I'd never do that. I'd never leave my friends hangin'. I mean, what if somepony stepped on the hat, and you were still in it? I don't know how I'd ever get over it... I'd be losing one of my best friends and fellow athletes..." She stopped and stared at nothing in particular. "Wow, did I really just say that?"

She could hear Applejack chuckle. "That was a might soft, RD..."

"Yeah, I know! Bleh!" She stuck her tongue out and pretended to clean it off. She then retracted it and readied herself. "Don't tell anypony I said that, alright?"

"Ah gotcha, Rainbow," Applejack replied, "but ya know, it's real good of ya ta stay an' help me out. It's mighty thoughtful."

Rainbow pretended to barf at the word thoughtful. She hoped that she would just drop it and hopefully forget about it later. "Okay, here goes..." She started by pushing hard off of the ground this time, gaining some air. She flapped her wings as hard and fast as she could, draining her energy much faster than normal. She could feel her pulse quickening through her whole body, her muscles beginning to stiffen. Her eyes were shut tight, and she began mumbling to herself.

"I... Am... Going... Too... Get... You... Out!"

"Whoa, Nelly! That's bright!" she heard from below. She looked down below and realized she had not only freed Applejack, but had also lifted the hat so it stood on the ground with its other end.

'Whoa. Oops. Heh.'

Rainbow effortlessly pushed the hat forward, causing it to fall on its top. There was a small thud and it caused a tiny gust of wind to breeze past the two. Rainbow flew over and landed next to Applejack, finding her to be sitting on her haunches, rubbing her eyes. "Golly, Rainbow, that was a might quick," she said through a sigh. "A little too quick, Ah'd say..." Rainbow shrunk back, feeling sheepish and apologetic. Applejack stopped rubbing and blinked her eyes a few times, before noticing her friend's look. "Not that Ah'm complainin', though. Ah mean, ya did do me a favor, after all."

Rainbow shrugged. "Well... There's certainly a few things to complain about..." she said, looking around at the enormous environment. Applejack looked around, as well, finding that everything was more than ten times the size it should have been. She then leaned back to lay on the hard ground and face-hoofed.

"Oh, shucks..." she groaned. "Not again..."

"I can totally feel your pain now," Rainbow commented. "Crashing everywhere was one thing, but this? Being tiny!? Ponies might not even know you're there, eventually leading to your doom of being squished, or maybe being eaten by an animal or something."

"Got that right, sugarcube." Applejack sat up lazily and then stood up, causing her untied mane to fall past her shoulders, hanging freely.

For a moment, Rainbow couldn't help but fix her gaze on her friend's loose hair, quietly observing it. In a way, she was obliviously mesmerized by it. Her eyes naturally wandered around it, seeing each of the separate strands hanging freely, as opposed to being kept in a less lengthy bunch. Each strand now went its own way now.

And it was beautiful. She was beautiful.

'Applejack is... beautiful?' thought Rainbow.

This happened to be the precise moment in which she realized what she was thinking about, thus realizing that she was also--

"Uh... Rainbow...?" Applejack cleared her throat. "What're y'all starin' at?" Rainbow quickly averted her gaze, intentionally looking in the exact opposite direction of the farm pony to hide her small blush.

"N-nothing..." she managed.

Applejack stepped forward and tried to see her friend's face. She took three steps and looked over Rainbow's shoulder curiously. "Is somethin' wrong, sugarcube?"

Rainbow shook her head repeatedly. "No! Nope! Nothing's wrong, I just... I'll tell you later..."

Slimly satisfied, Applejack backed away, eyes still locked the back of the Pegasus's head. "Well, alrighty then... But Ah expect ya ta tell me eventually, ya hear?"

Rainbow nodded, still looking the opposite way. She didn't want to be rude, but she still wondered what she was getting herself into.

Applejack turned her eyes to the still-open library door. "Ah guess we should find that librarian friend of ours to see what happened. I haven' a doubt it was caused by her..."

Rainbow recomposed herself and walked up next to her. She scolded herself for thinking the way she was, thinking about and staring her best friend's blonde mane. Her untied, free, gorgeous mane. The way it spread easily, swinging this way and that way when she turned her head. The Pegasus's eyes tried not to venture in that direction.

Rainbow shook her head lightly. Applejack noticed and tried not to ask this time. "Right," she said, hoping get her friend into better spirits. "Let's go then."

"Yeah, let's," Rainbow replied, her voice cracking on the last word, and her high, squeaky tone only made it sound funnier.

Applejack gave her best effort to not burst into fits giggles at this point, putting her hoof in front of her mouth and stifling her laughter.

"What?" Rainbow looked at her. "It's not funny!" Her voice cracked again at funny. Applejack bent down and leaned her front knees on the ground, hiding her face in her forelegs. She shook her head back and forth while the rest of her form shook with the rhythm of her stifled laughter. Rainbow observed her body for a mere second before quickly turning back to the door, catching her little eye-wander earlier this time.

"Ah'm sorry, RD, I just..." came Applejack's muffled voice. She stopped and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly with her lips puckered to a small O shape, before standing up straight again and smiling giddily. "Sorry... I just couldn't help it. Y'all jus' sound real cute when ya have such an adorable little voice like ya do now, Ah mean--"

"Cute!?" Dash blurted. "You think I'm cute!?

Applejack held up a hoof in defense, losing her grin. "Whoa, whoa... Don' let it get caught in yer tail, alright? Ah only said ya sounded cute. Sheesh..."

Rainbow backed off, still feeling a bit of resentment toward the orange pony.

"An' besides," Applejack continued, "wha's wrong with thinkin' mah friend is cute, anyhow?"

Rainbow didn't dare answer that. She was beyond feeling uneasy, and was ready to leave, but she couldn't. She knew she couldn't leave until they'd both found Twilight and fixed this little problem. "...Let's just go find Twilight and get this over with." She began walking toward the entrance.

Applejack followed her. "Ah got nothin' ta argue with that." The two tripped over the doormat simultaneously before clumsily walking inside.

Author's Note

Random joke:

What's brown and sticky?

...A stick.