I was alone at Fluttershy's cottage when a pony I'd never seen before came out of nowhere, said Starlight was needed nearby, and Starlight left. After Starlight was gone, that "pony" revealed herself to be Queen Chrysalis herself! For some reason, she wanted me.
"Well, hello, little fellow," Chrysalis said, chuckling evilly, looking right at me. "I have plans for you."
"Wait, you're Queen Chrysalis!" I stood up on the couch I was sitting on, holding my left arm. "Why do you want me? What did I do?"
"Nothing, dear boy, except that you're friends with the pony I hate the most, Starlight Glimmer."
"What...what are you gonna do with me?!"
Chrysalis answered that question by levitating me to her, in front of her face, and looked at me with a huge smirk. Looking at her big face, her teeth almost as big as me, her horn glowing green, with no idea of what the giant was about to do to me, pure terror poured through my veins, and I was ready to scream for Twilight and Starlight. But before I could, Chrysalis's horn glowed brighter and I was hit with a green, painless, spell, and when I opened my mouth, no sounds came out. Uh-oh.
Doing the evil laugh she loves doing, Chrysalis took some steps out of, and away, from Fluttershy's cottage, still holding me in her magic. But a light-blue blast of magic came out of nowhere, hitting the ground in front of us, leaving a small hole in the ground, and stopped the Queen in her tracks. I turned to my right to see where it came from, and a big 'ol smile appeared on my face.
Starlight, gritting her teeth and with her horn glowing light-blue, was standing there.
"Well, you're back sooner than I thought, Starlight Glimmer." Chrysalis slowly turned to face Starlight, with an evil grin on her face.
Starlight's horn glowed even brighter, with the tip of her horn glowing the brightest, becoming a white color. "Let my friend go right now, Chrysalis. Or else!"
"Oh...ha ha...you want me to let him go? Fine."
Oh, Chrysalis "let me go" all right. She used her magic to throw me in the air, screaming at my limit in pure fear -- or I would've been screaming if not for me still being mute -- in Starlight's direction. With Starlight's eyes on me, Chrysalis fired a powerful green blast that hit her, completely off-guard, and Starlight screamed in pain as it knocked her off her hooves. The Unicorn landed on the ground hard on her side, slid on the ground while grunting, and was just barely able to regain her focus to use her magic to catch and sit me on the ground safely. But Starlight was down, hurt, grunting in pain, with her head turned to me.
I tried to yell Starlight's name, but that spell on me meant nothing came out of my mouth. Before I could do anything else, Chrysalis cast another spell on me, and everything went dark.
Meanwhile, back at Twilight's castle, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy had told Twilight all that Eric said, before they left him with Starlight, including the injury her shaking did to his arm. Thinking about not only the fear and panic she already knew her anger forced Eric to endure, but the pain that she unknowingly inflicted, Twilight briefly froze in place, before more tears than ever poured from her eyes. Her mouth opened wide from shock, and a nearly unbearable pain pierced the pony's heart from guilt.
"How...how could I have done that to him?! How is a pony like me the 'Princess of Friendship'?!"
Rarity took a few steps toward Twilight. "Please, Twilight, don't be too hard on yourself. You didn't know you were doing it."
"Yeah, Eric told us he's been hurt a lot worse before, and even he knows ya didn't mean to hurt him!" Applejack tried to assure. "It's not like he's in pain over there at Fluttershy's. He even said his arm's not hurt bad and would be healed in a week or two and that he'll still want to see ya. It's not that bad."
"But it is that bad!" Twilight yelled at the top of her lungs. "After all Eric's been through and nearly been killed more than once, all because of something I did and wasn't his fault and something Starlight's blaming herself for, he didn't deserve getting hurt like that too, and even worse, I promised I wouldn't let it happen! And now...*sniff*...not only did I let it happen, but I'm the pony that hurt him! I definitely don't deserve Alicorn wings, and I'll never forgive myself for putting him through that!!"
Twilight ran out of the room they were in, forming a trail of tears behind her, all the way to her own room.
"Golly, I've never seen Twilight so upset before guys!" Pinkie turned her head in the direction Twilight ran.
"Me neither, Pinkie." Applejack shook her head. "I don't think one of our pep talks would work this time, not with her that upset. I thought she might take it hard, but not this hard. She's never doubted if she should be an Alicorn before."
Rainbow tilted her head down and thought about the last three weeks. "You know, we have been thinking about how Starlight's been feeling really bad the last three weeks about Eric being stuck in Equestria. But now I think that Twilight's been feeling just as awful about it, no, maybe even worse, and it might be why she's been a little protective of Eric lately. Not just because she was becoming close to him, but because she was trying to make it up to him."
"And that could be why she lost it like she just did," Pinkie added.
"But if that's true, and she's just been hiding her pain from us, even from Eric, then how she just hurt that little darling might have just pushed Twilight over the edge, as Pinkie said."
"What do we do?" Fluttershy asked. "If Eric knew that Twilight's this upset, he'd probably want to see and talk to her."
"But we said that we wouldn't try to force him to see Twilight until he's ready," Rarity reminded.
"I know, Rarity." Applejack put her hoof on her cheek. "We can't tell him this to make him feel pressure to see her."
"Well, we gotta do something about Twilight, before she does something crazy!" Rainbow warned.
"Dear, I wish Spike were here. She needs him more than ever."
"Wait, what about Starlight?" Applejack bought up. "She's gotten close to Twilight, is more like her than any of us are, and she's been livin' with her for a while now. So maybe she could be a better help."
Fluttershy walked in the direction of the front doors to the castle. "I could go and get her."
An injured Starlight Glimmer struggled through the door, took a few weak steps, before falling to the floor with a thud and a grunt of pain. It took almost all her energy just to teleport herself near the door of the castle, and she needed to take a few steps to get through it. The five friends ran toward their injured friend and surrounded her.
"Starlight, what happened?!" Rainbow asked.
"It...it was...Queen Chrysalis!" Starlight answered as she struggled to catch her breath.
Everypony shouted, "What?!"
Rarity used her magic to levitate Starlight, slowly, to a nearby couch and called, "Twilight, get back in here! Starlight's back and she's hurt!"
Twilight, still sniffing, ran back into the room, and her still-watery eyes widened at the sight of Starlight lying on the couch, gasping for air and moaning in pain. "No! Starlight!" Twilight sped in front of the downed Unicorn. "Are you all right?! Who did this to you?! And where's Eric?!"
Starlight explained what happened to her, that Chrysalis took away Eric, and what direction she took him, towards some caves just outside of Ponyville. The friends gasped deeply and shouted at the same time, "What?!"
Rainbow spread out her wings. "It's bad enough that she hurt Starlight, but if Chrysalis hurts Eric in any way, I'll tear her apart!"
Rarity gritted her teeth. "Not if I do it first, Rainbow!"
"Okay, let's calm down. everypony." Applejack waved her hoof downwards in a calming motion. "We won't save him if we lose our heads. We gotta come up with a plan."
"Yeah!" Rainbow agreed. "And when we save Eric, we'll kick that bug queen's flank! Right, Twilight?"
The friends all turned to where Twilight was standing, but Twilight herself was no longer there.
"Wait, where's Twilight?" Pinkie swung her head back and forth around the room.
"Oh no!" Fluttershy cried out. "She must have run off by herself!"
"No, no! "Applejack yelled. "What was that pony thinkin'?! This is Queen Chrysalis she's up against!"
"She must think all of this is her fault," Rarity said. "But she can't face Chrysalis in the state she's in! She's too upset!"
"And even if Twilight's an Alicorn, I don't know if she can go head-to-head with Chrysalis," Applejack commented. "She could get herself captured, or worse!"
"Wait, 'worse'?!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"We gotta go after her before it's too late!" Rainbow ran to the front door of the castle.
"I'm in no shape to be helpful, so I can't go," Starlight admitted. "So please, save Eric, and make sure Twilight doesn't do anything crazy!"
"And I'll stay and get Starlight to a hospital," Fluttershy suggested.
"Okay, y'all, let's go!"
Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie all ran out the door, led by Applejack, leaving Starlight in the care of Fluttershy.
Feeling immense sadness, anger, and guilt, Twilight, once she heard Starlight say what happened to Eric, couldn't hold herself back for even a single second. Without even thinking about a plan, the emotional Princess sped out of her castle and flew in the direction of the caves Starlight said Chrysalis took Eric, without the others even seeing her leave. Too upset to think rationally, she wanted to save Eric alone. Twilight wasn't going to risk another friend getting hurt over something she thought was her fault.
"I can't believe I let this happen! Not only did I hurt Eric, but Starlight's hurt, and now Eric's at the mercy of Chrysalis! This is all my fault! I have to save him and make things right!"
Gritting her teeth, Twilight flapped her wings as fast as she could to pick up her flight speed to her limit, squinting her eyes from the wind resistance, wishing she could fly fast enough to do a Sonic Rainboom to get to Eric faster. Her eyes locked onto the top of a cave in the distance that became slowly bigger and clearer as Twilight flew closer to it. She was ready to do whatever it took to save the little human, who she promised him she'd keep safe.
"If Chrysalis harms you in any way, Eric, she'll wish she never met Twilight Sparkle! Just hang in there, your big sister is coming!"
When I came to, I saw myself trapped in some kind of a magical green bubble, at the bottom of a very deep hole in a cave. Queen Chrysalis was standing on the edge of the hole, looking down at me, laughing. I couldn't get too good a look at her, but I could make out enough to tell what she was doing.
"Ah...you finally woke up. Oh, and while you were 'napping' I removed the mute spell, so you can talk again. I even threw in a bonus and recast the spell that was on you before, so your voice and ears are how it was before my...visit. I even improved your eyesight temporarily, so you can see a lot further than your size would normally allow."
Looking up, I sat up and yelled, "What's the deal, Chrysalis?! Why did you take me?!" Even with my voice back to "normal," I still had to yell because of the distance between Chrysalis and me.
"I told you before, it's because you're friends with that insufferable little Unicorn."
"I take it you mean Starlight Glimmer? We're gonna have to agree to disagree on that 'insufferable' part, but what are you gonna do with me now?"
"Well...let's just say things will get...hot for you soon," Chrysalis chucked.
I almost didn't want to ask, "What do you mean by that?"
"I'll get to that. But first, I'll tell you a little secret."
"Okay, what is it, Chrysalis?"
"Well...I'm sure that Princess Twilight Sparkle told you a 'Nightmare Prevention Spell' is why you're in Equestria, right?"
"Yeah, she did. What about it?"
"And I'm sure that she and Starlight Glimmer think it's their fault, right...?"
"Well, yeah, but what does that...wait --" I stood up, clinching both my fists and raised my right arm up towards Chrysalis and pointed a finger"-- did you have something to do with it 'vanishing', Chrysalis?"
"Yessss, and let me explain."
Pacing back and forth in classic villain fashion, Chrysalis told me what really happened. When Twilight and Starlight cast the Nightmare Prevention Spell, Chrysalis used a long-distance spell of her own to make it out-of-control, and that was the reason it "vanished" when Twilight and Starlight were chasing it. She also explained that she knew a lot about the idea of a Multiverse, much more than even Starlight did, and even knew that a being from another world would get bought here if that type of spell went haywire. I was just the unlucky one to be affected.
And the reason: To make Starlight think it's her fault and she tortures herself with guilt, which she did. Chrysalis would later go after whoever came to this world, which is, of course, me, to further torture Starlight with guilt. Then after Chrysalis had seen enough, she'd defeat Starlight directly. I was in obvious danger, but all I was thinking about at that point were two things.
First was how bad Starlight blamed herself for me being in Equestria the last three weeks. AND IT WASN'T EVEN HER FAULT AT ALL!
And if that weren't enough to get the blood boiling, there's the second thing I was thinking about, even more. Twilight's feeling worse than I could ever imagine over shaking me because I just couldn't tell her the full truth. And because I didn't go back to her when I had the chance, I might have never gotten the chance to tell her how sorry I was that I hurt her by lying! It made me madder than I've ever been in my life! Both at Chrysalis...and myself.
"I'll get you for this, Chrysalis!" I waved my right fist at Chrysalis. "You'll pay for making Starlight go through that, and for hurting her!"
But Chrysalis just laughed. "You fool! What do you think you can do to me?"
Yeah...in my moment of anger, I forgot about my tiny size. And even if I were more her size, against her magic, there's no way I could take down Chrysalis. Once that sunk in, I put my arm down, sat back down and growled, frustrated.
"Fine, Chrysalis. Maybe I can't do anything, but Princess Twilight Sparkle and my other friends can! Just wait till they get here!"
"Ha! let them come. It'd be too late for you anyway."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, I guess I'll honor a last request. Surrounding that barrier you're in, are a special kind of flammable rocks."
I stood back up, and took a closer look at what was outside the barrier I was in. Sure enough, just outside it, were a lot of green-colored rocks surrounding my barrier. Even though the rest of the cave was dark-brown.
Chrysalis got back to her monologue while pacing back and forth some more, just like a true villain. "I'm going to light a flame from where I am right now, and in about twenty minutes, the flames will reach you inside that barrier. But don't worry, you'll be out from the smoke in about fifteen minutes, so you don't have to worry about burning to death."
My heart sank. I didn't think that I'd make it out of there alive. I was stunned and my body felt numb, not just from fear of dying, but from the guilt of never getting the chance to apologize to Twilight. Or to even tell Starlight it's all Chrysalis's fault I'm here and she didn't mess up that spell, like she's been thinking the last three weeks.
"But I'll let you die in privacy, and I have a feeling you'll have company soon."
"What does that mean? Who's gonna be here?"
"You said your 'friends' would come, so you'll at least get to see them one last time. But don't think they'll be able to save you. The fire that will surround you can't be put out by anything until it dies down on its own. Not even spells from Alicorns can put it out, and only Changeling magic can last longer than a second in the flames. Teleportation won't work on you, if whoever does it is outside of that barrier you're in, so even Princess Twilight can't save you."
That also explains why I was in any kind of barrier at all. It'd actually protect me from the direct flames for a while, but it would also keep Twilight or Starlight from teleporting me out of here. To be honest, the MLP fan in me kinda wanted to admit to Queen Chrysalis that, this plan was good.
On one hand, I was glad I'd be able to see Twilight and the others one last time, so I can tell them I'm sorry. But that meant that if I couldn't be saved, they would see me die! I just looked down, not knowing what to do or say.
"Well, I think I've told you more than enough. I'll let you be alone. Oh, and if you must blame somepony, blame your 'friend' Starlight Glimmer, by turning my subjects against me and humiliating me, Queen Chrysalis! Farewell!"
Chrysalis gave her evil laugh again and while using a spark fired out from her horn, she lit one of the rocks surrounding my barrier on fire and left. The fire slowly began to spread around my barrier, and the cracking sounds of it spread with it. The barrier would protect me from the actual flames for a while, but not from the green-colored smoke, and it was gradually filling the cave. Maybe because it's a different type of fire, the green smoke was a bit more clear than smoke from "normal" fires, so it didn't block my view of the area too much.
I could do nothing but sit and wait to eventually pass out from the smoke. I was surprised that Queen Chrysalis would go this far, killing someone from another world that had nothing to do with her. Just to get revenge on Starlight.
But as I sat there, watching the fire fully surround the barrier I was in, hearing that cracking sound now come from every direction, with the air around me becoming warmer but not "hot", I thought that it actually made sense. If Chrysalis went after not just a friend, but a completely innocent being from a different world, to get back at her...oh boy. Starlight's heart would not be able to take it. She'd probably think that she's a danger to everyone, even to those in other worlds, just by living. I wanted to get out of there more than ever, not just because I didn't want to die, but to keep Starlight from going through that kind of guilt.
About five minutes after Chrysalis started the flames, I couldn't take being there anymore, and I wanted to see Twilight, bad. I yelled out to her, with all my might.
A voice answered back, "I'm coming, Eric!"
Yep, that sure put a smile on my face, and five seconds later, my big sister came into view, where Chrysalis was standing. It was hard to make out, partly because of the distance, but also because of the flames, but I could tell that she was turning her head rapidly in one direction after another, scanning the area, trying to understand what was going on, and was coughing a bit from the smoke.
I stood back up, looking up, grinning. I yelled, "Twilight! I'm so glad to see you!"
"Don't worry, Eric, everything's gonna be all right! I'm gonna teleport you out of that barrier!" Twilight's horn glowed, but nothing else happened. "What...? What's going on?! You should be on my head!"
Forgetting what Chrysalis said about teleportation I asked, "Twilight, what happened? Did you do the spell wrong?"
"No, I did it right! That barrier must somehow be blocking me from teleporting you to me!"
I then remembered what Chrysalis told me before about teleportation, and yelled, "Oh yeah, that's right, Twilight! Chrysalis said that teleportation spells won't work for anything in this barrier unless it's done in here! She knew you would try to do that!"
"That's okay, I'll just teleport myself in there, then get us both out!"
Her horn glowed again, but once again, nothing happened. Yep, that stupid barrier's blocking her from being able to do that too. Already at the edge of the hole I was in, Twilight formed a spherical pink barrier around herself with her magic and was about to jump in the fire to come get me directly.
But I warned her just in time, "No, don't do it, Twilight! Chrysalis said magic that's not Changeling magic won't last longer than a second in this fire. Your barrier won't last long enough to get me in time!"
Hearing that jumping in the fire in a barrier wouldn't work, Twilight dispelled her barrier. "Then I'll put out this fire, then get you out of there!"
Twilight fired a bunch of pink magic blasts, back to back, at the fire to try to put it out. But as Chrysalis said, it did nothing.
"That won't work either, Twilight! Chrysalis said this is some kind of 'special fire' that can't be put out with anything, not even with spells from Alicorns! So not even you are powerful enough to do it!"
"No, that can't be! I'll keep trying!"
Twilight gave it everything she had, desperately firing out more blasts. She even flew as close to the flames as she could, hoping close-range blasts might work. But, even after thirty close-range blasts, the fire still wasn't weakening one bit. Spent, she slowly flew back to the edge of the hole I was in with the fire, collapsed to the ground, and coughed some more from the smoke.
Seeing this, I thought that, despite being so powerful and was doing everything she could by herself, Twilight wouldn't be able to save me this time, so I felt that I needed to be a man and accept my fate. With the smoke starting to make me a bit light-headed, I would only last a few more minutes before passing out. I thought that if I didn't say what I needed to say to Twilight right now, I'd never will.
I sat back down. "Twilight? I need to say something!"
"Okay, but don't start thinking you're going to die! I'm gonna think of something, Eric, I promise! I won't let you die here!"
"No, Twilight, it's okay! I know you can't save me this time, and I'm not mad about it, or scared! But I want to tell you, I'm sorry for what I did!"
"Wait, what do you mean by what you did? It's my fault that you're in there!"
"No, it's not! And, Twilight, please, let me talk. I need to say this!"
Twilight lay on her stomach, stayed still and quiet, other than coughing a few times, and just looked down at me.
"All right, Twilight. First, Chrysalis told me that the Nightmare Prevention Spell went out of control because of her! So it's not your or Starlight's fault! You have to tell Starlight that me being in Equestria was never her fault! She's been beating herself up for the last three weeks for something that was never even her fault to begin with! And there's more!"
Twilight continued to stay still, and I kept on spilling it.
"Thanks to Starlight's help, I know why you shook me! It wasn't because you thought I was a threat, but because I was still lying to you! And I deserved it! Ever since you found me and saw I wasn't a bug, you've tried your best to help me get back to my world! And not only that, you took me under your wing, let me be on your head because I liked it, and you've been so nice to me. You even saved my life twice!"
I started tearing up. "You...*sniff*...even went as far as to become the big sister in this world that I needed so bad, with my family not being here! But even after that, I was still lying about how I knew about you and Equestria! I get why you were so mad, and if it were the other way around, I might've done the same thing! You trusted me, and I hurt you! I'm so sorry, Twilight! I didn't mean to do it, and I really was going to tell you the full truth before too much longer!"
Twilight looked to have been wiping her eyes as I kept on talking.
"It was an honor to be your friend! In fact...I shouldn't even be your friend, or to think of you as a big sister, Twilight, because I don't deserve you! You're Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship! You deserve the best friends, not a lying idiot like me!"
I finally just looked down, thinking I didn't even deserve to look at Twilight.
Yelling a bit softer, but still loud enough for Twilight to hear me, I kept going, "I know I'm done for, and I'm ready! Don't worry, the smoke will kill me before the fire gets to me, so I won't die painfully! Just tell the others I love them, and I'm sorry I lied to them for these last three weeks! And please tell Starlight I said to try not to blame herself too much for this! And I said thank you for all she's done for me, and for putting herself in danger, even got herself hurt, just for me! And I don't hate or blame her for this, and I love her!"
I had to push myself to keep going, as I was becoming faint.
"Thank you so much for everything you've done for me, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and I love you the most! I just wish I could be on your head one last time! But If you stay here much longer, you could pass out from the smoke! With you being so high up, it'll affect you a lot faster than it will to me, so you gotta get out of here!"
I kept looking down. But Twilight ordered me to look back up at her. I was weak, but I did my best to do what she said.
"Eric Reed, I know you think that you deserved being shaken and hurt by me! And that you don't think you deserve to be my friend or to think of me as your big sister! There's so much I want to say, but right now there's not enough time! But for now, I will tell you that I can never tell you enough how sorry I am for hurting you like I did! But, I can show it by what I'm about to do! You're gonna be able to tell Starlight and the others how much you love them yourself, Eric! I'm getting you out of there, or die trying! And I love you too!"
Twilight materialized some water over herself with her magic to pour on her, then put up a barrier around herself again. There's a way for her teleportation spell to get me out of the barrier I was in. If she could get inside it without teleporting herself in, she'd be able to teleport us both out, because in the barrier, her teleportation could work on me. And at that point, there was only one way for her to get there: by jumping in the flames, unprotected after the first second when her own barrier wears off, and passing through the barrier I was in. It would take her five seconds to get inside, thanks to some odd resistance of the fire that would slow the speed of her fall down.
I was about to learn, more than ever, why Twilight Sparkle is the Princess of Friendship, and why she deserves her Alicorn wings.