//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: A Huge Glimmer of a Problem (rewritten) 
// Story: A Giant Adventure to Equestria 
// by ThePinkedWonder 
//------------------------------//

After being on Twilight's dresser and stupidly going to the floor in her room, I was hiding behind it with Starlight about to move it and find me. There was nothing I could do but grit my teeth, be ready to run, and if she started trying to crush me, dodge her hooves, and see if I could get under Twilight's bed. It was the only option I would have for survival.

Starlight slid the dresser over with her magic and spotted me. She screamed, jumped back, and yelled, "WHAT IS THAT THING?!"

That scream just killed my ears and it made the room feel like it was spinning. Then what felt like an earthquake when Starlight landed back on the floor made me stumble and fall face-down, the same way I did when Twilight landed from her jump in the woods.

This also wasn’t the time to take offense to being called a “thing”.

Recovering from Starlight's scream, I immediately got to my feet. I spun around to face Starlight. One of her hooves was already in the air, coming towards me. 

It was like time slowed down.

Maybe she was just reaching for me like Twilight was, but just in case, I planted my feet, dove to my left, and Starlight's hoof slammed onto the floor, just behind me. A shock wave even went through my body from the impact when I was still in the air.

That gave me the answer: Starlight really was trying to crush me like a...bug. Didn't have time to think much about it: another hoof was coming for me, but another dive got me out of the way, barely.

The hooves kept coming down, but at that moment I actually wasn't that scared. Wasn’t enough time to. All I was thinking about was dodging Starlight's hooves. Though I couldn't keep diving in the direction of Twilight's bed since I had to dodge and dive in a different direction each time I did. Maybe because she was freaking out, Starlight's aim with her hooves felt to be somewhat erratic, so I was always near the edge of where her hoof started to come down, allowing me just enough time to dodge and not be flattened.

We kept this "dance" going till I accidentally dove into the dresser I was hiding behind before. I fell face-up on the floor, dazed for a couple of seconds with my eyes spinning, so I couldn't focus on what was going on. By the time my eyes recovered and things became clear, but still lying face up, I gasped. My eyes could pick up nothing but purplish-pink. Starlight's hoof was right over me, and it was still coming closer. Being right under this giant pony's hoof, and with it coming down for me, Starlight seemed even bigger and more terrifying than before, and the hoof seemed to be inescapable.

An even stronger chill than before flowed through my body and my heart sunk, realizing I was really about to be crushed. And I couldn't do a thing about it. Filled with pure fear I yelled, "No!" turned my face away, closed my eyes, froze, and hoped she'd make it quick so there wouldn't be enough time for me to feel my bones being crushed. This was it.

“STARLIGHT, NO!!"

The ear-breaking scream snapped me out of my frozen state enough to reopen my eyes. It wasn't just purplish-pink I saw now.

Starlight was now further away from me, covered in pink magic.

Twilight was standing in the room’s doorway. If I weren't in such a terrified state, I likely would have noticed the sound and vibrations of hoofsteps coming toward the room. Or maybe she teleported there.

"What are you doing, Twilight?!"

"No, don't do it! That's not a bug, Starlight!"

Starlight stopped glowing -- obviously Twilight let her go -- and stared at me, with a hoof on her cheek. But she stayed where she was. In the state I was in, I was glad she chose not to come closer, for any reason. Apologies could come later.

As for that state I was in, I was fine, physically. But boy, emotionally, I was far from fine. Despite knowing I was safe, I was curled up in a ball, tears flowing, covering my ears because their (to me) ear-cracking voices were killing them! I was also in too bad a panic to notice the mini-earthquakes Twilight's hooves made when she ran close to me, so I didn't respond to them.

Twilight used her magic to pick me up from the floor, wrapped her right foreleg around and pulled me to her chest. I put my face in the hair on her chest, in the worst panic attack I thought was possible, and was almost becoming light-headed from gasping so deep and rapidly. The frightened little boy in me that I thought I had outgrown was out. The last time I wanted to be in a safe hug so bad was when I was chased by dogs when I was ten but luckily wasn’t bitten or mauled. Even so, I didn’t want my mom to let me go for almost half an hour. Twilight Sparkle might not have been my mom, but at this moment, she was close enough.

"Shh, it's okay, you're safe, I'm here," Twilight told me softly (to her) while very slightly rocking me, trying her best to calm me down. It wasn't quite like the "rocking" you would do to calm down a baby, but it still had just enough movement that I could feel myself being moved back and forth a bit, especially because of my tiny size, so I was more sensitive to it. It wasn't working much; I was in no shape to be in the same room as Starlight. Twilight was able to pick that up, levitated me from her chest to one of her wings to gently cover me completely in it, and carried me out of her room. Guess she thought I might calm down if I couldn't see Starlight, or anything. The wing was soft, but that didn't calm me down any.

While I was busy freaking out in Twilight's foreleg and wing, Starlight herself didn't say anything or even moved.



Four or five minutes later, in the huge room holding the Cutie Map, Twilight was sitting in her chair in front of it, still trying to comfort me. She had her right foreleg gently wrapped around me to hold me to her chest again, with the left side of my head leaning against it. I was more aware of the little expanding and contracting her chest did from her breathing than I was the first time she hugged me (maybe because the hug was much longer this time, so it gave me more time to notice that chest movement) and I'm still a bit surprised the hair on her chest didn't tickle my nose. Her chest felt somewhat warmer too. Twilight's head was turned down to me, with a frown, showing she was only thinking about calming me down.

However, Twilight herself was quiet, was barely moving, and had been like that for the last two minutes. During those last two minutes, she was mainly just trying to make me feel safe by hugging me, hoping it would help me calm down, especially because of our size difference. For me, because of her size, she was like a living, invulnerable, but friendly mountain protectively holding me, so it was working.

I was still a bit shaken up, but I wasn't in a panic attack anymore and was mostly calmed down. I was taking my normal breaths, but I still wasn't moving much or saying anything, so both of us were quiet. 

Or I should say that I wasn't trying to move much: Twilight was covering most of my body, up to about my neck, with her foreleg. Her grip on me was light enough to let me move my arms a little, which were still wrapped in her foreleg, I would have needed to ask her to loosen her grip, or just let me go, if I wanted to move much more. Though, I wasn’t planning to ask any time soon: I felt safe. 

Nearly being crushed to death sealed the deal that it really would be dangerous for me at this size. I was not going to be on the floor again if I could help it!

Twilight turned a hoof up from her left foreleg, loosened her grip on me from her right one just enough to lift me from it with magic, and sat me on the upturned hoof. Looking down at me, Twilight asked in her normal voice, "Eric, why did you come off the dra--"

I covered my ears and turned away. Without that spell she used to raise my voice and protect my ears from her voice, and I wasn't too far from her mouth -- about a foot I'd say -- even Twilight's normal voice was killing them. She gasped and immediately recast the spell. After that, she asked me again, "Why did you come off the dresser? Didn't you see that my spell had worn off?"

Still in a slightly shaken-up voice, I looked up at Twilight and answered, "I'm sorry, Twilight. I forgot she lived in the castle, and I just wanted to take a look around the room. I can't believe I did that. I'm such an idiot..."

Twilight put me back in a hug with her right foreleg and slightly tightened it, but not enough for it to hurt. "No, Eric, you're not an idiot. This is my fault. It was my idea to hide you. I should've known this wouldn't work, or that Starlight might come into my room, or that my spell might wear off before I got back, and to recast it before I left. Because of that, you almost got crushed in my room and I promised I would keep you safe. I'm so sorry, Eric. I’m doing a terrible job of keeping my promise."

Because I was calm enough to, I thought about why Twilight even wanted to hide me from Starlight in the first place, and why I was so willing to do it. I became scared, but it was for Starlight again. "Oh no, now she knows about me! Now she might feel even worse! Twilight, now what do we do?"

"You two could start by telling me what is going on." 

Twilight and I turned our heads to where we heard the voice come from. At an open door of the room, there stood Starlight, frowning, but not one showing anger. Starlight did try to flatten me into a human pancake with her hooves, but I didn't hate her and wasn't even mad at her. I knew it wasn't personal: she just thought I was some kind of bug. It's not like I've never tried to crush bugs, and she's a good pony, and I didn't want to make her feel bad. I was still trying to think of a way to not risk hurting her. Even though I knew the jig was up.

I lifted my head to try to look at Starlight's face with my mind racing. "Well, Starlight, you see, uh--" 

But Twilight cleared her throat to get my attention. When I looked up at her face, she shook her head, showing she wasn't gonna let me try it.

For a moment, I thought of protesting, but Twilight had a serious look on her face, with a frown. If I tried to argue, it would have done nothing but just annoy or maybe even make her mad; not something to risk doing. Especially not with her being as big as she was. I sighed and said, "Okay, Twilight."

Twilight released me from her hug and put me on her head again with her magic. We were about to fess up to Starlight, so Twilight didn't need to do that. She could have just put me on her hoof again, or put me on the arm of her chair. Maybe she did it as a sign of our new friendship, and she knew I liked being there or thought I might feel safer here. In fact, maybe Twilight herself was beginning to like having me on her head.

We both told Starlight all about what happened with the Nightmare Prevention Spell and me. Of course, I left out how much I already knew about her, the others, or Equestria.

Starlight didn't say anything and just stared at us.

"Starlight, are you okay?" Twilight gently asked her.

After a few more seconds, Starlight formed one of the most heartbreaking frowns I had ever seen. Tears just poured from her eyes and she yelled, "I knew it! I knew I messed things up with that spell, just like I always do when I try to help somepony!" Starlight then ran out of the room in tears.

Twilight tried to call out to her, but it did nothing. We both just sat there, sighed, and felt awful.

After about ten seconds, Twilight said that she should check on Starlight, and asked if I wanted to stay in the room. 

"No, I want to see if Starlight's all right too," I said.

"Okay, then let's go,"

We left the room, into the hallway of the castle, and in the direction Starlight ran off in.



Twilight and I ended up in the library, where Twilight and Starlight were doing the research for the counterspell, and we found Starlight. And boy, it was just a heartbreaking scene. She was standing by the table she and Twilight were sitting at when they were trying to learn the counterspell. She was sniffing, tears were still flooding from her eyes, and her ears drooped downwards. Holding up five books with her magic, Starlight was looking through them all, just desperate to learn that counterspell.

I didn't know what to say. But Twilight asked, "Starlight, are you all right?"

"No, I'm not all right, Twilight!" Starlight stopped reading to face Twilight but kept holding up the books. "I gotta learn the counterspell now and fix this!"

Twilight stepped closer to Starlight by a few steps, begging, "But, Starlight, at least let me help."

Starlight shook her head, hard. "No, it needs to be me to fix this!"

I finally said, "It's okay, Starlight, I know you didn't mean to--"

Well, guess I should have kept my mouth shut. All that did was upset her even more and she yelled, "No, it's not, Eric! If Twilight didn't stop me...if...if...*sniff* she had come any later, I would have killed you like you were nothing!!"

My mouth opened up wide, my eyes got bigger, and I just said nothing. Partly because I was worried about once again making her feel worse, but also because Starlight was right. How could I argue that?

After what felt like forever, Twilight sighed and just calmly said, "I understand, Starlight. If you really want to, you can work on the counterspell alone. But, if you want some help, let me know."

That, at least, calmed Starlight down. The tears stopped flowing from her eyes and her ears perked back up. "Thanks, Twilight. This is something I need to do." Starlight came closer and looked at me. "Eric, I'm sorry I yelled at you just now, and I'm so sorry for what I tried to do and for everything that happened. But I'm gonna fix this, I promise."

I just said, "Okay, Starlight, and thank you," and hoped I finally said something that actually made her feel better. She smiled, and I smiled back, feeling a little better myself. I finally did something right that day.

Knowing Starlight needed to be left alone for now, Twilight and I left the library. Twilight also gave a sigh, and I thought it was about Starlight, but something about it made it feel like it was about something else. But I didn't ask her why she sighed or what was wrong.



Twilight and I headed over to Applejack's farm, and Applejack was just finishing bucking her apple trees, filling a bucket full of apples. Rarity was also there watching and held a purse within her magic. We told them what happened with Starlight.

Applejack was quick to bring up how she warned Twilight and me and was letting the two of us have it! And to be honest, with how bad we blew it, we had it coming to us. And yep, I was still on Twilight's head.

"There, you see? What did I say? I tried to tell you two not to go through with that stunt!"

"Believe me, Applejack, we know!" Twilight looked down. "We feel awful."

"Yeah, and we should've listened to you, Applejack. But, I just didn't want to hurt Starlight if I didn't have to, and--"

"Well, Eric, ya did a great job at 'not' hurtin' her!"

Twilight raised her head -- I held on tight to her mane even though I wasn't in real danger of falling off -- and she looked at Applejack, coming to my defense. "Come on, Applejack, at least take it easy on Eric. He feels bad enough, and Starlight nearly crushed him while thinking he was a bug. He's been through enough today."

"Oh, yeah, that's right. Sorry about that. After what ya went through, I really shouldn't be so harsh. Are ya okay, sugarcube?"

"Yeah, I'm all right, Applejack, but I'm just worried about Starlight right now."

Applejack's face went from a concerned one to a suspicious one. She put her hoof on her cheek. "Hmm...yer supposed to be from another world right? Yet ya seem to care a lot about Starlight's feelings like ya already knew about her. Is there something that yer hiding from us?"

"Uh, nope, I'm not hiding anything! I can be hard on myself too and Starlight seemed to be the same way, so I probably would feel the same way as she is, if I were her."

For the record, that wasn't completely a lie: I probably would've felt that bad, if I were Starlight.

Rarity stepped in and said, "Oh, come on, Applejack. You are making it sound like Eric caring about Starlight is a bad thing. I think it's sweet that he does, the little darling."

"Uh, no, I didn't mean it like that. It just seemed like Eric's already met Starlight."

"Oh! That reminds me..." Rarity pulled out a white hat from her purse and showed it to me.

I leaned closer to it. "Oh yeah, you said you were gonna make me a hat. Is this it, Rarity?"

"Yes! This is a hat I made just for you, Eric! I even put a design of my Cutie Mark on it, so you'll always know it's a Rarity special! Of course, we might need Twilight to shrink it down so you can wear it."

Rarity moved it closer to me, and yep, on the side, it did have a design of her Cutie Mark. But as I looked at it, I frowned, thinking about Starlight.

"Thanks so much, Rarity. But...I don't know if I deserve this, after what I did to Starlight..."

"Oh, rubbish, of course you do, darling. If Starlight were here, she would say it too."

"Speaking of Starlight, we still have a problem, guys," Twilight reminded. "I haven't seen her this upset before, not since back when she still hated Cutie Marks. There must be something we can do."

"Yeah, but what can we do?" I asked Twilight.

"I don't know, Eric, but I gotta think of something."	



Despite how big a mess lying has caused, I was still doing it, by hiding how much I knew about Equestria. One big enough slip and things could get even worse. I was seriously thinking about just telling them the full truth. 

But how? How could I explain to these ponies that they're "characters" that some human writers of a cartoon created? Twilight or Starlight might have known about "cartoons" and TVs. But even if they did, I'm not from "Sunset's" world, so it still wouldn't explain how I could already know about Equestria, without it looking like I could be some kind of a spy, or possibly even up to something, so I was stuck one way or another. I also didn't know how they would feel about otherworldly beings watching them, so there was that too. Who wouldn't be even a little freaked out over something like that?

And even if I could explain it without looking like a spy or something, how would they feel about me, a being they didn't know existed two days before, not only knowing so much about them, but lying to them about it? I just didn't know what to do.