//------------------------------// // 1: Across Carpet Field // Story: Fairies and Firelight // by MLfan //------------------------------// 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."