Boy, Twilight and I sure had a mess on our hands/hooves. We attempted to hide me from Starlight, so she wouldn't discover how the Nightmare Prevention Spell she and Twilight performed had dragged me to Equestria. But our plan ended in a bust when Starlight found, came less than an inch away from stomping on and killing me, and she blamed herself bad, for everything. She even refused Twilight's help to figure out the counterspell, so she could do it by herself to "fix everything". But the poor thing wasn't in good shape.
Even so, other things were on my mind too. First, I had no idea how to tell Twilight and the others how much I truly knew without looking suspicious, and Applejack and Rainbow weren't exactly fully trusting me. And them being giants to me didn't make it any easier to fess up.
I thought about telling Twilight or Fluttershy, and telling Twilight at least would've been a no-brainer, if I weren't bite-sized. But knowing what the Alicorn could do to me with her size or magic, paranoia forced me to reconsider. I always struggled with paranoia, even as a little kid, and it became worse as I got older. Even if Fluttershy would have believed me, the others might not, so I figured I'd wait and try to come up with something.
And then there's simply the fact that I was so tiny and vulnerable. As well as adjusting to my new size, even without the danger factor.
Since Starlight wouldn't accept Twilight's help to learn the counterspell, after we left Applejack's farm, Twilight thought it'd be better for us to pick up from where we left off that previous night and strengthen our new friendship. We were already connecting well, despite the short time we talked.
However, since she only knew some about the "human world" Sunset Shimmer lives in, and with my world completely unknown to her, I had a hunch Twilight was itching to ask more questions about my world!
Now in Twilight's castle, in her library, since Twilight didn't want me on her head all day, she asked if I wanted to sit on one of her couches. I thought about it, but part of me didn't feel safe on a couch; I did not want to be accidentally sat on! Thus on a brown wooden table, Twilight created a small (to her) purple chair near the edge of the table with magic, and I sat there.
The table was truly three feet long and wide, but at my new size, it felt as long as a fifth the length of a football field, and it looked like there were seven feet left of the table ahead of me. There were some scratches on the table but, for me, they were cracks about a tenth of an inch wide, and one was in front of me. The bookshelves lining the walls of the library appeared to be as tall as the tallest skyscrapers, but the nearest ones looked perhaps four hundred feet away because of my tiny eyes.
On Twilight's head, things -- including Twilight herself believe it or not -- didn't seem as huge, thanks to the height of her head. But on a table, facing Twilight who sat on a purple couch, the size difference became clear again, despite her looking to be fifty feet away from me. Even though she didn't seem any "smaller" as she did when we talked in her bedroom, where she still looked as tall as a ten-story building (because of how ponies sit, Twilight might have well been standing on her bed) I felt calm in her room.
But after becoming a bit used to being on her head, the nervousness from her massive size returned. At least Twilight was smiling, so that helped her be less intimidating; not that my feeling intimidated was her fault!
Maybe sensing my uneasiness, Twilight made the first move and asked, "So, Eric, you told me some about your family and how you did in school, but I didn't get to ask much about your world because I got sleepy. How are some things different, compared to what you have seen in Equestria?"
And by "not much" Twilight meant she "only" asked twenty-three questions about my world; yep, I mentally counted them. But rather than joke about that, I answered, "Well, first, thanks again for not laughing about my bad grades. But, in my world, nothing can be done about the weather, so we just have to adjust to it."
"I see, so it's similar to how the Everfree Forest works, but the weather works on its own everywhere in your world but it's not because of magic. Maybe later on I'll ask Sunset if it's like that in the human world she's in. Are there any other differences?"
"Well, you might be interested in this one, and you already know that the Sun and Moon 'rise' and 'set' very differently in my world. But sometimes, when the Sun, Moon, and my planet, 'Earth', are all in just the right spot in space, at night, sunlight can deflect off the Earth's atmosphere in a way to make the moon look orange instead of white."
"Wow, really?! Your Moon can turn into other colors?! And it doesn't even need magic to do it?!" You have no idea how much Twilight sounded like an excited "little" girl, or "filly" in her case, when I told her how the moon can sometimes look orange! With a bigger, cuter smile, Twilight looked adorable, or should I say "adorkable"! It calmed me down to about how I was when we talked in her room the night before, so her size wasn't so intimidating.
"I guess you could say it like that. What else do you want to ask?"
"How about you ask me something this time? Is there anything you would like to know that you haven't asked me yet?"
"My turn, huh? Let's see..." I turned my head around the library and noticed Spike still wasn't around. Twilight brought him up before and told me he was in the Dragon Lands, but she didn't say how long he'll be gone, so I asked, "Yeah, I got a question. Where's Spike? I thought he lived here?"
"He does. But I guess I didn't tell you that he'll be in the Dragon Lands for another three or four weeks."
"R-Really?" That surprised me big time, but I hid it. The show's never shown Spike going to the Dragon Lands like that, let alone for so long! Heh, I bet Spike x Ember shippers would enjoy this bit of news!
"But back to you: do you have any hobbies?"
"Well, I love to play video games, and I like playing board games, such as 'Sorry' and 'Monopoly', though 'Sorry' is less popular among the two."
"Hmm. 'Sorry' and 'Monopoly' don't sound familiar, so Equestria may not have them. We do have something called 'Dragon Pit'."
"'Dragon Pit'? I've never heard of that. Maybe once I'm back to my real size we could play it before I go back to my world?"
I didn't know what it was I said, but Twilight frowned while tilting her head down and sighed.
"Uh...Twilight? Is something wrong?"
Twilight shook her head and, with a smile, lifted it back to me. "Oh, er, no, nothing's wrong, I'm just a little tired. But what else do you enjoy?"
From the show, and remembering about the other times she sighed, I knew that if Twilight sighs the way she did, no matter how hard she'd deny it, something is wrong. But prying would've just annoyed her, so I instead answered, "O-Okay. I love playing sports such as 'Baseball', and I like reading, and--"
Heh, it turned out I said the magic phrase to cheer up Twilight Sparkle: I like reading. The little sadness still in Twilight's eyes vanished as she perked up, spread her wings out as she does when she's excited about something and formed a huge grin. "Wait, you like to read?!"
"Yep! Well, I don't read too much, but--"
"Wow, I knew you didn't mind reading those books I thought you might be interested in, but I had no idea you truly enjoy reading!"
"Yep, and you sound excited about it."
"Well, yes! Rainbow Dash just reads Daring Do books and Starlight reads by herself in her room, so I don't have anypony -- er, I mean-- anyone to read with about much else. If you want to, we can read some more later!" I half-expected Twilight to hop around in circles and become even more adorkable! But she stayed on her couch.
"Okay! In that case, we could--"
We heard the doors to the castle open, making Twilight fold her wings back to her sides, like how she normally have them. Then, through one of the green double-doors to the library, came Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, with Pinkie hopping, and it even did the trademark springing sound effect. Pinkie's hopping made the chair I sat on feel like a vibrating chair, which I didn't mind! But I leaned back as she approached the table I was on, knowing how unpredictable she is. Even a "normal" sized Pinkie would've upped the nerves, let alone a giant Pinkie Pie that looked to be hopping another eighty feet in the air!
"Hey, Twilight, and, uh, Eric, I was wondering if I could borrow a Daring Do book?"
By how she said my name, I guessed Rainbow still wasn't ready to trust me, forcing me to feel even more uneasy. Then again, I was hiding how much I really knew, so I guess it was justified, but it wasn't making it any easier to start talking.
"And I came to give Eric my 'welcome to Ponyville!' song!" Pinkie hopped backward and, to my surprise, pulled out a red wagon out of her mane that was almost as tall as her. When she pushed a red button on its side, flag posts with purple, pink, and yellow flags, horns, and poles similar in appearance to candy canes, all poked out the wagon. With the wagon playing a cheerful tune, Pinkie hopped back and forth in front of it while singing the "welcome to Ponyville" song to me! That song's even more catchy in person than on TV!
After Pinkie got done with her song, I asked one of the dumbest questions I could have ever asked that pony.
"How did you do that, Pinkie?"
"How did I do what?"
As Pinkie resumed hopping in place, I facepalmed, more out of stupidity than anything else! But before I did something even dumber, such as questioning Pinkie Pie again, Twilight giggled and said, "Pinkie Pie does those kinds of things all the time, but you'll get used to it, Eric. And sure, Rainbow, you can read some of my Daring Do books. In fact, Eric just told me he likes to read too."
"Really? Don't tell me we have another egghead."
"Oh, no! I'm nowhere near an 'egghead'! I even told Twilight last night about how bad my grades were."
"Well, I guess I was worrying over nothing...assuming you're not lying."
I gave a sigh. How was I gonna tell them, and end up proving Rainbow's point? As I mentioned before, I wasn't even sure how Twilight would react.
But, hearing me sigh, Twilight, in a firm voice, defended, "Rainbow, leave Eric alone. It's bad enough he's trapped here in Equestria and so small because of m-- uh, the Nightmare Prevention Spell backfiring, and he doesn't need you making him feel worse or nervous."
"Uh...I guess you have a point," Rainbow admitted.
I forced a chuckle, and said, "Still, I might prefer this over my sisters ganging up on me during our prank wars."
"Hold on, you like pranks?"
Feeling calmer, knowing how much Rainbow loves pranks, I answered, "No, I don't like pranks, Rainbow. I love pranks! One time I painted a mustache on one of my sisters, Erica, when she was sleeping, and she didn't notice it till someone at school told her. But that was four hours after she got there, so the whole school saw her 'mustache'!"
"Ooh, that's a good prank! Maybe we should try that on somepony, Rainbow."
Twilight chuckled and commented, "If you do, make sure it's not me."
"But was your sister mad about it?"
"Pinkie, saying Erica was 'mad' would be an understatement! When she found me, I called her 'Mr. Erica', and she lost it, chased me in circles around our house for a full minute, screaming my name, before she gave up."
Pinkie stopped hopping and said, "On second thought, maybe we better not try that prank."
"Yeah, Pinkie, I guess we should think about it. But what else did you do, Eric?"
"Okay, another one was when I switched my other sister's, Jenny's, bottle of hair wash with the same kind of bottle filled with red paint, and when she poured it on her head...let's just say she gave a new meaning to having your face 'turn red'! She also chased me, but unlike Erica, Jenny caught me, pinned me to the floor, and poured the rest of the red paint on my head!"
"Wow, Eric, I didn't know you did that kind of stuff! When Twilight gets you back to your real size, maybe you could have a prank war with Pinkie and me!"
"Ha, if we do, be ready for a war because when I prank, I prank hard!"
Pinkie formed a big 'ol confident smile and leaned her head down to me. "Challenge, accepted."
"You know, Eric, I think it will be a good idea for you to get to know the others. You already got to know me, and we can talk more later when we read together."
After Twilight made that suggestion, almost on cue, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy walked through the green doors of the library.
"Hello! Is Eric here?"
"Yeah, Rarity, he's here on the table in front of us," Twilight answered.
"Do you want me for something?"
"Well, I didn't 'want' you for anything. But I thought about how you don't have more clothes besides the ones you are wearing, and I wanted to ask if you would like me to make you some?"
"Sure! If you don't mind."
Yep, Rarity's the Element of Generosity all right.
"It's no problem at all. My Unicorn magic is too weak to help you get back to whatever world you came from or fix your size, but I can at least help you look fabulous!"
"Thanks, Rarity. No one ever made me my own clothes, and my parents bought me the clothes I have."
"Well, you know what they say, darling: first time for everything. Or does your world have that saying?"
"It does, and with me here and this small, I guess it's more true than I thought, huh?"
Twilight giggled and advised, "But I'm glad you three came. I was thinking that maybe you all could get to know Eric some more."
"Oh? Well, you can talk to me for a while, Eric. Is there anything you care to ask me?" Fluttershy asked in an even gentler voice than she used on me the previous day. Knowing Fluttershy, she wanted to talk gently, so I wouldn't feel nervous from her size, and it worked.
I placed a finger on my chin to think, then came up with something. "I have a question. Twilight told me you can talk to animals, so do they sound like I do to you or something else?"
"Hmm...it's hard to explain. They don't sound the same way you and others do, and yet what they say is very clear to me. Is there anything you care to tell me about yourself? But, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
Heh, shades of the "old" Fluttershy there. But before I could answer, Pinkie said, "Well, he was telling us about some pranks he did in his world!"
Rainbow laughed and added, "And they were hilarious!"
"Oh, so we have another prankster, huh?" Applejack asked.
"Yep, because I love me some pranks, and there's a lot more than the two I told Twilight, Rainbow, and Pinkie!"
"Did any ever backfire on you or one of your sisters?"
"Usually, Pinkie, no one got caught in them because my sisters and I were good to prevent that. But as much as I loved to prank and how great I am at them, it never was like the time Rainbow overdid it and--"
Oops! I wasn't supposed to know about how Rainbow got carried away with pranks, because Twilight never told me that! I resisted covering my mouth because, if I did, I'd look worse. I just did and said nothing and my mind raced to think of a way out of this.
Applejack stared at me and, in a suspicious voice, asked, "Wait, how do you know about how Rainbow got carried away with pranks?"
"Uh, I-I was talking about another girl I know who's named 'Rainbow' and she often overdid her pranks, and she joined my sisters' and my prank wars sometimes."
Man, I don't know how I came up with that lie so fast!
"You sure?" Rainbow questioned while giving a stare of her own.
"Yeah. I mean, how would I know anything about Equestria before I got here? It's bad enough I can't see or talk to my family without worrying about--"
At first, I brought up my family to get Applejack and Rainbow Dash to lay off me. But then I truly thought about them. My mom and dad. My two big sisters. My four aunts and three uncles, and more. In addition to my house, my mom's cooking, fishing with my dad, the fun I had with my sisters. At first, I assumed Twilight could learn the counterspell, but now I seriously thought more about what she told me that, even with Starlight's help, it could take her years to learn it. Or at all, though Twilight didn't say she might never do it.
Usually, when someone said they'll do something for me, they did it and always did when it was something big, so having doubts about it was a first for me. And if that wasn't enough, once my family found I was missing, they would think I was at best kidnapped but alive somewhere and at worst...yeah. I started shaking on the inside and, for some reason, a sense of loneliness hit me. Being tiny, helpless, and looking out of place with my "real-life" appearance worsened the feeling. Even being a "brony" failed to help.
I leaned forward and covered my face with my hands and fought the tears, but no matter how hard I fought, I lost the battle and some flowed from my eyes. All I could do was keep my sniffing low, but I sniffed just loud enough for the others to hear it.
My sniffing, at least, got Applejack to back off and she more gently said, "Hey, Eric? I'm sorry about that, and I didn't mean to make ya feel down. It's just that it's weird for somethin' to pop up in Equestria, but it's nothin' personal. I don't know if Twilight told ya this, but I don't lie."
Rainbow cooled it too and explained, "And you seemed to know more than you say you do, but it's not that we just don't want to like you or be friends."
Going by the approaching hoofsteps I heard as I quietly wept with my face covered, Fluttershy walked to me, and then gently rubbed my back and the back of my head with a wing. "I know it's hard, Eric, but we will do our best to make things easier for you."
"If you need it, I'll throw a party to cheer you up!"
Thinking of a party by Pinkie Pie made me uncover my face. After I internally gasped from Fluttershy standing so close and looking to be five stories higher than the table I sat, and still had a wing on my back, I chuckled. "Huh, a party would be fun, Pinkie."
"And I promise I will do my best to fix your size and return you to your world as soon as possible. But until then, I will do everything I can to help you with your new height and Equestria."
I remembered how Starlight was dead-set on learning the counterspell by herself, sighed, and reminded, "If Starlight will let you help her."
"Oh, that's right," Rarity realized. "You two said Starlight felt so bad about that spell going wrong, that she won't let you help her learn that 'counterspell'."
"Well, Starlight's great at magic, so she might learn the counterspell by herself. But after a few days, if she still hasn't learned it, she may let me help. But, Eric, for now, just focus on getting to know all of us, okay?"
"Okay."
I went on to talk with and got to know the others some more. With how much she values family, and how I missed mine, Applejack really eased off on showing her suspicions. Still, I sensed she and Rainbow still had doubts, making me feel down, though I tried to hide my little sadness.
An hour later, once Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow left, and Twilight and I were alone, I admitted to Twilight about still feeling down. To try to cheer me up, she levitated me back on her head, and I cheered up a little because it was more comfortable, and also safer. With me on her head, Twilight and I talked some more, though she toned down the questions about my world and focused on cheering me up. After a while, we read some books together, some she read aloud. With the energy in her voice as she read, Twilight was more excited about having someone to read with than I thought. In fact, I had no one to read with about stuff I liked either, so it was something I had in common with Twilight Sparkle that I never knew!
But Twilight still needed to help me deal with more of the issues of my tiny size. In the castle's bathroom, she created a tiny bathtub for me with curtains around it to give me some privacy. We might be different species, but Twilight's still female! She gave me further privacy by staying out of the bathroom when I used the tub or porter-potty, and only walked in if I called her to get me. Whenever I needed to go to a different room, Twilight carried me there -- neither of us wanted me to walk on the floor(!) -- so I depended on Twilight heavily.
Since I didn't have to hide from Starlight, I had my own bedroom in the castle, with my bed on a dresser Twilight put in there for me.
A week later, I was cheered up. Because of this, after Rarity and the others focused more of their time to cheer Starlight and me up the past week, they focused more on Starlight, who was still down, plus what they usually did each day. Thus things didn't change too much for them just because of "little" 'ol me. Except for Twilight who, in addition to trying to help with Starlight, continued doing what she did for me, and our friendship was growing stronger.
However, with me in a better mood, Twilight resumed her questions about my world and at this point, partly because I spent most of the time with her, the number of them reached fifty-nine. Ha, she's Twilight Sparkle, so what did you expect that number to be? But Twilight sometimes sighed out of the blue and she wouldn't tell me why she did it, but insisted she was "tired" or something. Even so, I could tell something was on her mind.
I also wore the hat Rarity made for me almost all the time. The clothes she made (and of course Twilight shrunk them) were mainly white shirts and dark-blue pants and shorts -- I told her they were my favorite colors to have on them --- and they all had a design of her Cutie Mark somewhere on them. Heh, guess she wanted to make them all "Rarity specials" too.
Starlight would now let Twilight aid her with the counterspell, which she got nowhere on, and they spent around four hours on it the first day Twilight helped. The days before Twilight started helping, Starlight spent around five hours on it. I wanted to get to know Starlight more personally, so during a moment when she wasn't working on the counterspell and in her room, but wasn't tired, it was time for me to attempt to bond with Starlight Glimmer.
Riding on Twilight's head as she walked up one of the stairs of the castle, light-blue ones, and then through the hallways, passing by green crystal doors to our left and right, I asked, "Twilight? Once we get to Starlight's room, is there anything I should say to her first?"
After Starlight yelled at me when I tried to calm her down soon after we "met", even if she didn't mean to, I felt it might be smart to ask Twilight for suggestions on what to say (or not say) this time.
"All you have to do is just talk like you want to be her friend, because Starlight can bond with anypony -- er - anyone."
"Heh, I guess you and other ponies don't say 'anyone' or 'everyone' like humans do. But you can keep saying 'anypony' or whatever."
"We usually don't, but around you, I want to say 'anyone' or 'everyone', so you'll feel more at home."
"I guess it would, and thanks, Twilight. And thanks for being so nice and helping me so much. You're really making it easier for me, and...nah, forget it." I felt myself blushing as I was talking. If I told her what I was thinking, I was worried Twilight might think it was silly.
"What? What is it? You can tell me."
"I...okay, you might laugh, but I was thinking about how you started feeling like a new big sister to me."
In a bashful voice because of my little confession, Twilight asked, "I am? Why were you nervous to tell me that? I wouldn't laugh at that."
"It's because we've only known each other for a week. I thought it might be silly for me to feel this way about you, even with the time we spent together. I know, silly is it?"
"Oh, that's nothing to feel embarrassed or ashamed about, Eric, and it's not 'silly'. Not only are you stuck in a new world, but you miss your family. It's only natural for you to look for someone to fill that hole, and if you need it, I can fill it for you."
"You don't mind or think it's silly?"
"Of course I don't! So 'big sis' Twilight will keep doing what she can for you until you're back in your world."
"Thanks, Twilight." I wanted to say "Thanks big sis" but I was embarrassed enough about telling Twilight she felt like a big sister, so I called her that in my head.
"But anyway, we're near Starlight's door." Walking in front of Starlight's bedroom door, a brown one, Twilight knocked on it with a hoof. "Hey, Starlight? You in there?"
"Yeah."
"I have Eric with me, and he wanted to talk and become friends with you."
In a sadder voice than before, Starlight questioned, "Oh, you do, Eric? You sure you want me of all ponies as a friend?"
Well, with how sad she always looked whenever she saw me during the previous week because of her guilt, I knew this wasn't going to be easy. Still, I responded, "Yeah, Starlight, I do. Unless you don't want to."
"N-No! It's not like that! We can talk and become friends if you want."
"Well, Eric? Do you want me to stay or leave you two alone?" Twilight whispered to me.
"You can leave me alone with Starlight."
Twilight opened the door, levitated me with her magic on a dresser by Starlight's door, said, "Okay. Uh, have fun you two!" and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her with magic.
However, I didn't hear the sound of her hoofsteps walking down the hallway. I guess it was one of the first signs of Twilight Sparkle acting like a big sister by staying nearby, in case I'd need her to come back.
Starlight, sitting on her bed, at first was looking down and moved a hoof in circles on her bed. I said nothing either, so it felt awkward!
Struggling to think of a way to break the ice, I glanced around the room. I noticed the "anti-equality" sign by her door and behind me, though it looked like it hung eighty feet high up on the wall. I'm ashamed to say that I missed seeing it hanging in Starlight's room the first time I saw the "Every Little Thing She Does" episode of MLP:FIM. A picture of a butterfly hung on another wall, and kites lay around her room, with a red one by her bed. Five seconds after Twilight left, I complimented, "Uh...nice room."
"Thanks."
"Uh, it's much cleaner than my room, because it is a mess!" I joked with a laugh.
"Oh. I bet you wish you could see it again."
Strike one! I facepalmed and thought, Okay, Eric, talking about something from back home is o-u-t out! Talk about something she likes or good at!
"Uh, I've heard about your amazing magic skills. From what Twilight told me, few Unicorns can match an Alicorn!"
"Maybe, but I'm not 'amazing' enough to not mess up spells like the one that took you from your world."
Strike two, and I facepalmed again! Nice work you idiot, you should've known talking about spells would depress her! Maybe some jokes can help?
I had trouble thinking of a joke she'd understand, but I came up with one. "Hey, what do you call a box full of jokes?"
"What's that?"
"A 'jokebox'! Ha? You get it?"
That made Starlight chuckle, though her smile was short-lived. But I figured more jokes could cheer her up. "Uh, here's another one: why is six afraid of seven?"
"Why?"
"Because seven ate nine! Ha? You get it? Because 'nine' is 'six' upside down?"
"I do. Hopefully you won't get eaten by something."
I facepalmed yet again and this time I groaned. Oh, come on! Starlight, I'm trying to cheer you up and become your friend, but you're going to depress me if you keep this up! Maybe this was a bad idea.
But before I could ask Starlight if she wanted me to leave, Miss Sourpuss finally decided to make a move and asked, "Hey, Eric, do you like kites?"
I nearly facepalmed again, but because of how I didn't think about talking about kites! "Y-Yeah I do. But I'm bad at making them."
"Oh, well, I could try to teach you, if you want, and I can shrink down some things you'll need for it."
We were finally getting somewhere, and I cheered up myself. "We can, but I should warn you: I'm awful at making them."
"Don't worry about that, Eric. If you have too much trouble, I can shrink down one of mine if you would want to fly it later."
"Okay! Then let's do it!"
Starlight got up from her bed and, from the other side of the room, grabbed with her magic what we'd need to make kites with: some paper, two pairs of scissors, a bottle of glue, and thin sticks to glue the paper on, and walked up to the dresser I was standing on. Despite how Starlight, on her bed, seemed to be two hundred feet from me because of my size, it took her three seconds to walk "two hundred" feet to the front of her dresser. So the shocking speed she walked toward me, looking bigger and bigger, sent a chill down my spine.
Boy, once Starlight stood right by the dresser and looked down at me, as I stared up at her, I gulped. The dresser was half Starlight's height, yet I still had to look up at her like she was a five-story building. It felt like she was fifteen feet across since she was directly facing me.
While I grew a bit used to Twilight looking huge because of the time I spent with her, I wasn't used to Starlight looking so big or being that close to her; what happened the last time Starlight towered over me was...not fun. I forced myself to hide my quicker breathing and reminded myself that the giant pony won't try to hurt me. At least Starlight was smiling and stopped being Miss Sourpuss.
Starlight shrunk down some of the paper, one of the two pairs of scissors, and other stuff for it, and laid it beside me. She kept half of everything at normal size, so she could use it to show me what to do, and held a sheet of paper and the un-shrunken pair of scissors in the air with her magic.
After leaning her head halfway down to me, Starlight instructed, "Okay, Eric, the first thing you do is fold the paper like this, then cut off this part."
Trying to copy what Starlight showed me to do, I asked, "So I fold the paper like this?"
Starlight shook her head. "No, not that way. Like this."
"Uh, I think I got it. Like this, Starlight?"
"There you go! Now snip that part off, and fold the rest into a triangle."
"Got it, I hope. How's this?"
"No, not quite. You fold it like..."
This went on for a while, and Starlight and I started to become friends, like I did with Twilight when we talked in her room on my first night in Equestria. The uneasiness about her size quickly faded as we bonded, and Starlight being really nice helped a lot. While I got somewhere with her kite teachings, I couldn't make the kite quite right, but instead of frustrating her, Starlight found it amusing and even giggled about it. She then asked if I wanted to fly one of her kites and before we left, she shrunk it with her magic.
Around a minute after Starlight and I started talking about kites, I noticed hoofsteps walking down the hallway outside of Starlight's door. I figured Twilight didn't think she might be needed and went off to do something else.
Obviously, I couldn't walk to where Starlight flew kites: a small clearing, with mountains that had snow covering the very top in the background, so she carried me there on her back. I wondered about asking Starlight if I could sit on her head, but I didn't feel comfortable asking.
As she was standing while flying a large blue kite, with me still on her back flying a tiny red one, Starlight asked, "So, Eric, how do you like how my kite flies?"
"It's great! I don't know anyone in my world that made kites that flew this well."
"Well, I wasn't always good at making them as a filly, but I got better as I got older."
"That so? Hope I can get at least half as good as you."
"Don't worry. You'll get good at making kites if you keep trying."
Thinking about the trouble I had with the kite Starlight tried to teach me how to make, I said, "I guess, or at least I hope I'd stop messing up while making them. That was embarrassing how I kept goofing up!"
"It's okay. Maybe you struggled because you're still nervous about being so small."
"I guess, but I wasn't that nervous when you were teaching me."
"Well, once I get you back to your real size, I can try to teach you again."
"Okay, sounds good to me, Starlight."
"Me too...*sigh*..."
I knew why she sighed, so I didn't ask why, but Starlight at least felt better than before. While we were bonding great, and she even told me about her...dark past thanks to my "indirect" questions about it, Starlight wasn't feeling like a big sister, like Twilight did, but a friend. She did seem to really appreciate how I didn't care about what she did in the past, and just cared about the pony she was now.
But, I found myself feeling guilty over being too nervous to tell Starlight my "little" secret.
After two hours, Starlight carried me back to Twilight's castle. On the way, Starlight told me a couple of jokes, showing she felt better, but she still felt bad about me being tiny and stuck in Equestria.
Yep, we still had two problems: getting me to my real size and back to my world, and Starlight Glimmer's guilt over thinking it's all her fault. The Unicorn felt even worse about it than I thought, and she seemed to need a big hug, though obviously, I couldn't give her one.
But, while Starlight didn't get it, I would soon get a "big hug" from a certain pony...and it was not fun!