It was time. I could finally pay back Princess Twilight Sparkle, my first friend in Equestria, and now my big sister, for all she had done for me the last four months. As well as make up for lying to her when we first met, by saving her life from Queen Chrysalis.
I was dodging Chrysalis's green beams with the same moves and dives that I once used to dodge the hooves of whom is now one of my two pony sisters. I was also working on the next part of the plan I thought up to save Twilight. Starlight cast a weak version of the counterspell on me before we started the plan, so I became my true height, the same height as most full-grown ponies. She also cast a spell to raise my strength as well as my running speed. There were two other spells she cast, but I'll get to those later.
I was running all over the cave we are all in, egging on Chrysalis, getting her madder and madder. As a result, her energy blasts were becoming more and more powerful.
I briefly stopped running and crossed my arms. "Hey, what's wrong, 'Chrissy'? I thought you were better than this!"
"Ugh! You're getting annoying, you pest!"
Chrysalis fired three beams back to back, and I again dived out of the way of each one, thanks to the faster speed I can move from Starlight's spell, and each one cracked part of the walls behind me.
To keep milking this as much as I could, while still running, I pretended to yawn as I mocked, "Seriously, Chrissy? Sweetie Belle can do better than this! And she's a filly!"
"That's enough out of you! I'm done playing around, so take this!"
An even bigger, faster blast was fired at me. I barely dived out of the way of it, by about four inches, and it blew away a huge part of the wall behind me with a bang, showing some more of the cave that was invisible to us, till then. A bunch of small "rocks", what was once part of that wall, blew in every direction, and a few "rocks" even rained down on me. If that beam had connected, it would've killed me before I even hit the ground, and in fact, having that dream about what's happening now just saved my life. The only reason I was even able to get out of the way of that blast was because it happened in that dream, so I was more ready for it.
As I stood up and looked back at that hole, and the "rocks" all around me, to be honest, it got me a bit scared. My mouth dropped a little and a chill went through me, knowing how close I just came to biting it. That was when it truly sank in that I was fighting for my life, and one slip-up could be fatal.
But when I looked in Twilight's direction, I again saw her still trapped there on a wall by Chrysalis's magic, without her own magic, and helpless. As I looked there this time, brotherly love kicked into overdrive and it made my blood boil, and I clenched my fists. No one treats my big sister like that and gets away with it. I thought that if she would dive into fire for me, I can dodge a few light beams for her. I was going to save her and survive this myself.
I only got more furious and growled when I looked at Starlight, my other pony big sister, pinned down with magic too. Now too angry to feel fear, I shook my head, and focused back on Chrysalis.
Twilight herself was getting frantic, and screamed, "No, Chrysalis! Please stop! Just kill me!"
Starlight wasn't as frantic as Twilight and wasn't saying anything, and she was trying to keep putting her trust in me. But after that last blast, I bet the slightly overprotective big sister part of Starlight was getting there, because she grimaced.
Chrysalis fired another huge blast, but I again jumped out of the way, but this time it wasn't because of anything I remembered in that dream, but because I just saw her use it. Good thing, because I didn't remember anything else from the dream at this point.
Panting, Chrysalis's horn stopped glowing, and she walked toward Twilight. At the same time, I moved to a different area of the room, but the space between us stayed around the same. I was getting a little tired too, but I did my best to hide it by panting quietly.
"All right, Reed, that's enough! I'll give you a choice --" Chrysalis turned her head toward Twilight "-- either you stay still, or watch Princess Twilight die, right here, right now!" Chrysalis positioned herself so Twilight was between herself and Starlight, so Starlight couldn't fire a beam of magic at Chrysalis to try to protect Twilight.
With tears pouring from her eyes, rolling down her cheeks, and to the ground, Twilight was just crying her heart out and was yelling, "Please, I'm begging you, Eric, just let her kill me! I don't want to see you die! I love you too much!"
Seeing Twilight crying like that was just killing my heart, and I was close to tearing up myself because of it. I hated forcing her to do it like this. But I had to do what I had to do. I made a mental note to apologize to her about it later after I save her.
"If I don't move, will you let Twilight and Starlight go?"
"Yes. I can always kill them later. Right now, I want you to die the most. No one makes fun of Queen Chrysalis!"
"Okay, if you promise to let them go, then I won't move. If you want, pin me to the ground so I can't move, then do your worst."
With Twilight screaming, "No!" Chrysalis used her magic to pin my feet to the ground. Then she charged up her horn.
I looked at Starlight, and she nodded.
With a sadistic grin, Chrysalis told me, "Now, prepare to die, Eric Reed!"
As the green beam was fired in my direction, Twilight closed her eyes and looked away. I closed my own eyes, and focused as hard as possible on a place near Chrysalis and Twilight.
Starlight also fired her own beam at Chrysalis's beam, slightly changing its direction, and into the ball with Twilight's magic, weakening the seal on it.
As for me, I popped up right between Chrysalis and Twilight. I again grabbed one of Chrysalis's legs and threw her at the ball holding Twilight's magic, breaking the seal, and she gave a painful grunt on impact. This time, my throw injured Chrysalis a bit.
I looked where I threw Chrysalis, and yelled, "And in case you need to know Chrysalis, that was for both my sisters!"
As I was yelling, Twilight's magic, now free, immediately went back to her. She herself was also freed and was unharmed. Starlight, who was pinned down by Chrysalis's magic, got released too and ran to where Twilight and I were.
Twilight was confused about how I did what I did. But at that moment, she didn't care. She just hugged me, crying, and I returned the hug, also with a tear or two flowing. Being so used to holding back most of her strength when she gave me hugs before, so the pony wouldn't hurt or even crush me by mistake, Twilight's hug here was very light at first. But she quickly tightened it once she realized she could now hug me at her normal strength.
For the first time, I could wrap my arms around my big sister. Starlight quickly joined in to make it a group hug and cried a bit too.
But as we broke it up, I spotted a green beam of magic come at us. I gasped and, out of instinct, pushed both Twilight and Starlight out of the way just in time, so the beam hit just me. On impact, a wave of pain went through my whole body, with the worst being in my stomach and I screamed. With my sisters screaming my name as they saw me get hit, I was sent flying onto the wall Twilight was just trapped on, bounced off it, gave a painful yelp with another wave of pain passing through me. I slammed onto the ground on my side, yelped in pain again and I rolled on my back. The blast fired at me was "only" about half as strong as the strongest one that was sent at me, so it didn't kill me. But it, plus hitting the wall hard, was enough to injure me pretty bad.
As I lay there on my back, groaning in pain, holding my stomach, Chrysalis laughed. I looked to where I threw her, and I saw her standing up, with some bruises on parts of her body from my throws.
"So, still think I need to 'work on my aim', Eric Reed?"
As she kept her laugh going, her horn glowed again. I tried to move, but the pain, especially in my stomach, hurt too much to even try to get out of the way.
But when I looked to my left, I pointed to where I was looking. Despite being in pain, I was still able to laugh a bit, as I warned, "If I were you, Chrysalis, I'd be more worried about them."
Chrysalis turned her attention to where I was pointing and...oh boy...it was a sight!
Princess Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer were both standing there, still about maybe five feet away. They were at first just staring at me, with their eyes and mouths wide open, still in shock. It took a few more seconds for it to fully sink in for them. I knew things were going to get real, and good, once it did. That in itself helped lower the pain I was in. I even found myself almost wishing I had some popcorn for the show I was about to see from Twilight and Starlight.
I, who they think of like their little brother. And who they promised to protect.
Was lying there.
Hurt bad, and in pain.
Helpless.
Right in front of them.
They heard me scream in pain a few moments ago.
And Queen Chrysalis was the reason I screamed and was hurt.
Once all that fully sunk in, my sisters' facial expressions changed.
They both gritted their teeth harder than I'd ever seen them do, and their horns glowed, with Twilight's doing it first. Twilight teleported me by her and Starlight. I knew Twi was the one that did it because it happened right before Starlight's horn glowed, and I was teleported slightly closer to her than to Starlight. To make sure it was the strongest they could make it, they made a protective pink barrier around me with their combined magic. Twilight was able to put more magic into it, so it took on her magic's color, which is pink.
After that, with their horns still glowing, Twilight and Starlight teleported themselves about ten or so feet closer to Chrysalis, but also in a position that put them directly between Chrysalis and me. And guys, with Chrysalis in the center of their views, those mares were mad!
Starlight's horn, as well as glowing, leaked red smoke. I'd never been so glad that powerful Unicorn's nice and on our side now.
Twilight slowly spread her wings out. She even had red smoke coming out of her glowing horn: something I never saw happen with Twilight. If you thought this Alicorn got really mad when she took on Tirek, you should've seen how mad she was here!
"Chrysalis, you're gonna pay for that! This is going to be for Eric Reed, our little brother!" Twilight threatened, in a very deep voice that had so much anger, my big sister almost scared me. Almost.
Chrysalis snarled, charged up her horn, then fired a green beam, about as strong as the one she just hit me with. Being tired and hurt, it was the best she could do.
Twilight and Starlight in turn fired out a beam of magic, with Twilight's being bigger than Starlight's by a little over a third. They fused into one pink mega-beam (Twilight's beam was bigger, so it took on her beam's color, even though Starlight's was light-blue) that collided with Chrysalis's beam. Their fused beam was bigger than Chrysalis's beam. Twilight and Starlight let out a yell as their beam pushed back Chrysalis's, eventually hitting her, sending the Queen through the cave wall, screaming, and flying out of the cave.
After this I glowed, as three of the five spells Starlight cast on me: the counterspell, speed, and strength spells, wore off. I shrunk back to "normal", with my clothes and hat also shrinking to how they were too.
After Chrysalis was sent blasting off, Twilight was able to calm down, and her horn stopped leaking red smoke. She then walked toward me very slowly, so the vibrations I'd feel from her steps wouldn't hurt me. Even at this point, because I was on the ground -- and truly helpless -- and she was a "giant" to me again, I looked away from her hooves as she got close. Her huge form gently lay down close to me, she told me I'd be all right, then moved her wing over me as close as she could without it touching me, so Chrysalis couldn't try anything sneaky. Not without going through her first. But Twilight didn't want to move or touch me yet, and the only reason she even teleported me to her a minute ago was because I was in too much danger for her to not do it. My sister wanted to get me close to her as fast as possible.
But while Twilight Sparkle calmed down, Starlight Glimmer did not. Using her magic to "fly", she shot out of the cave through the huge hole her and Twilight's fused beam made. In a semi-rage, with her horn still leaking smoke, screaming Chrysalis's name, she searched the area for her, and I didn't think she was trying to reform Chrysalis this time! But, she couldn't find her. Chrysalis got away.
Unable to find her, Starlight finally calmed herself down, "flew" back to the cave, with her horn not leaking red smoke anymore. She gently walked to me (from the painless vibrations I felt, I'm guessing Starlight did this: all I could see was the inner side of Twilight's wing as it was happening) and lay down in front of me, When Twi moved her wing away from me, Starlight was already lying on her stomach.
Grunting a bit in pain, I remembered that mental note I made earlier, and I looked up at Twilight's face. "I'm so, so sorry, Twi."
"Why are you apologizing, Eric?"
"Because I made you cry, thinking I might die in front of you. And because not even five measly minutes after promising you I'd take care of myself, I broke it and got myself hurt. I know you don't ever want to see me get hurt like this, and I should've known that Chry--"
Twilight placed the very edge of her wing over my mouth to quiet me. With a huge smile, in more of a motherly voice, she told me, "Eric, with Starlight's help, you saved my life, and you just protected us from being hurt. I can't be mad at you after what you just did, and at least you're still alive. I thought I was about to lose you."
"Yeah, Eric, you were so brave!" Starlight happily said. "As Rainbow Dash would say, 'that was awesome'!"
I grinned bashfully and replied, "Aw, shucks, it was nothing."
"Ha, 'nothing'? That was anything but nothing! In fact, if you were a pony and I knew how to do it, I would make you into an Alicorn if you wanted, because that was Alicorn worthy. I'm so proud of you, Eric."
Starlight didn't say anything, but she was smiling too, as if she felt the same way.
Knowing how much I made my big sisters proud, a warm feeling went through me, despite the pain I was in, and I just blushed. Though that also made me wonder about something. Had there ever been male Alicorns? Not counting that one time Big Mac "became" an Alicorn in a dream.
With Chrysalis gone, Twilight wanted to know how I just popped up beside her and Chrysalis, after I was pinned with her magic.
I asked Starlight to reverse the last spell she cast on me: the spell to keep my hat on my head, even when I was jumping and diving all over the cave. It was to hide what I just showed Twilight, and was what Starlight's fourth spell put on me, right before it wore off too: a small horn, similar to a Unicorn's. This allowed me to teleport, and we told Twilight what my plan was. And I guess I'll tell you too.
First, after casting the spells on me, Starlight would enter the cave, and get Chrysalis's focus away from where she came in. I would wait for a chance to run in, and with the power from her speed and strength spells, and being my normal size, I would get Chrysalis as mad as I could, run around dodging her blasts, and tire her out. Starlight can be sassy, but she didn't have the mouth that I do when it comes to talking smack. This was why I thought I could tap into a weakness Chrysalis has, her temper, better than Starlight could.
I knew Chrysalis would take Twilight hostage if I kept dodging her attacks, and threaten to hurt or kill her if didn't stay still, so I planned for it. I made sure I would be in front of the ball that had Twilight's magic, and I even thought Chrysalis would keep the magic in something like that. That was another reason I tried to get Chrysalis as mad as I could: so she'd get too worked up to notice I was in front of the magic.
I would then teleport out of the way to dodge the blast that would come later, and if necessary, Starlight would fire her own beam to "redirect" Chrysalis's beam to the ball that had Twilight's magic. It wouldn't be strong enough to move it completely away from me, so I'd still need to be able to teleport out of the way. If Starlight would need to redirect Chrysalis's beam, she wouldn't be able to teleport me herself, so I had to be able to do it on my own. For the record, I had to talk Starlight into doing this part of the plan, because she really didn't want to try it at first.
How did I even know how to teleport? Starlight "taught" me how to teleport without even knowing, when I watched the season seven "All Bottled Up" episode of FIM: you've probably seen it. I thought it could work the same if I focused on myself, not just an object. Even so, I was taking a gamble, and if it weren't magic from Starlight, a very powerful Unicorn that's mastered teleportation, it might not have worked. If I had, say, Rarity's magic, it wouldn't have worked, because she can't teleport.
This was why Starlight lost a third of her magic after she cast those spells on me. She gave it to me, so I would be able to teleport, then once the spell wore off, she got it back. Because I made Chrysalis so tired and then injured her by throwing her in the barrier that had Twilight's magic in a ball, it made sure that, after Twilight was freed and had her magic again, she and Starlight would be able to beat her.
I was too hurt to ride on Twilight's head, because the vibrations I'd felt from her hooves as she walked or ran would've been too painful. Trying to carry me in one of her wings would have been worse; the wing's grip alone would have hurt a lot, even if Twilight held me carefully. Twilight, as well as Starlight, would've had too much trouble trying to carry me in their magic, with the level of precision long enough to get me to the hospital, without me feeling any pain. Twi had never carried me while flying, so she didn't feel comfortable trying to do it now: Starlight felt the same way.
So, with Twilight carefully holding me in the air with her magic, Starlight simply teleported us near a hospital, then they carried me in.
To make it easier for me to be treated, both of them cast the counterspell again together to grow me, so it'd last much longer than three minutes. Twilight stayed, looking more like my mom than my big sister, while Starlight left to tell the others what happened, and to bring them to the hospital.
I didn't have any life-threatening injuries, which eased the worries of everyone, especially my two pony sisters, who were there with me the most. Not because they were the most worried (though they were) but because they would need to recast the counterspell a few times a week, to make sure I wouldn't shrink down, till I got out.
I guess humans don't heal as fast as Equestrian ponies, because I didn't heal like Starlight did when she got attacked by Chrysalis. I was only hurt slightly more than she was, and we had overall similar injuries, yet she healed much faster. But after about five weeks, I recovered enough to leave the hospital.
In case you thought I would be on Twilight's head, a surprise: I wasn't! The counterspell was still active, so I walked out on my own. Twilight was right beside me, though. She had a wing around me, affectionately, and the others were also with us.
Three days after I got out of the hospital, while in my true size, a special party was being thrown for me in Twilight's castle. I still wasn't fully healed from my injuries, but I healed enough to get around well enough. I was just finishing getting dressed up in my bedroom, and Spike knocked on my door.
"Hey, Eric, Twilight said Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadance are here. Are you ready yet?"
"One second, Spike, I gotta get my hat--" I grabbed the hat Rarity made me and put it on my head "--okay, I'm ready."
"You really like that hat Rarity made you, don't you? Can't say I blame you."
I laughed, and teased, "Ha, you're not jealous, are you?"
"N-no! Not at all! Rarity kissed me before, and she's never given you one, has she?"
"Nope, no she hasn't. So I guess you win."
Starlight came down the hall of the castle, and to Spike and me. "What are you two doing? Don't you know the Princesses are waiting?"
Hearing that, both Spike and I jumped.
"Oh, yeah, that's right, Eric! We gotta hurry!"
"Yeah, Spike, I almost forgot you said they were here! Let's go!"
Starlight, Spike, and I ran to the castle's dining hall where the party was. There were tables spread throughout the room, though there were none in front of us. All the Princesses, including Twilight, were standing side-by-side, near the wall of the room to my left.
In the room was a big crowd with Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy standing together. Mixed throughout the crowd were several of our other friends, including the CMC, Trixie, Discord (who was trying to brag that he "taught" me everything I knew) Maud, Ember, Thorax, Big Mac, and more. As Spike, Starlight, and I walked into the room, the members of the crowd moved either to the left or right to clear a path for me. Spike and Starlight ran over to Rarity and the others.
Out of respect to the Princesses, after I walked up to them, I bowed my head.
Twilight chuckled and asked, "What are you doing, Eric? You don't have to bow to us."
I, in turn, chucked, and with a smirk I answered, "But I wasn't bowing to you, Twi. I was bowing to the Princesses. You just happen to be there too."
Hey, Twilight didn't like me treating her like a princess, so I treated her like a big sister/best friend. And that includes me taking jabs at her sometimes.
"Hey, what does that mean?"
"You said you didn't like me using titles for you, remember?"
Ha, I had Twilight there, so she just chucked.
Princess Celestia began to speak, "Eric Reed, You have been in Equestria for only a short time, yet you have already done a deed a select few would have the courage to do. For putting your own life on the line to save the life of Princess Twilight Sparkle from Queen Chrysalis, I would like to present you with the Pink Heart of Courage."
The medal, which was in a gold case on a stand between Celestia and Twilight, looked very much like the one Starlight, Trixie, Thorax, and Discord all got before. Though, in the middle of it, was a small design of what looked like Twilight's Cutie Mark. Ha, I wonder whose idea that was?
Twilight picked the medal up with her magic, and started a speech of her own, but a longer one. "When I first met you, Eric, and I first tried to learn the counterspell to send you back to your own world, I never could've imagined anything like this scene would happen. That you would grow to become like my own little brother, or that I would owe you my life, or that I would be this proud of you. You have made some mistakes, and you'll probably make some more. But you have also proven to be one of the best friends, and brothers, that anyone could ever have. I am so happy to have met you, and to be able to put this Pink Heart of Courage around your neck. And Eric Reed, trust your big sister when I say that you've earned it."
With the crowd cheering, and Pinkie cheering the loudest (not because she's the proudest, but because she's Pinkie Pie) Twilight walked up to me and placed the gold chain that the Pink Heart of Courage was attached to around my neck. She had one of the biggest smiles I've ever seen on her, and she hugged me. I wrapped my arms around her, smiling bashfully. It was the proudest moment of my life.
Oh, and in case you're wondering why Starlight didn't get a medal with me, because saving Twilight was a team effort between the two of us: she told Twilight before the party that she didn't want another one, and wanted just me to get one. This was also why Twilight or Celestia didn't give a speech to Starlight too: she just wanted me to get any speeches that they'd want to do.
After the party was over, I was in one of my best moods in Equestria yet. Because Twilight and Starlight finally learned the counterspell, it seemed like going back home, and hopefully taking Twilight and the others with me to meet my family, wasn't too far away! They just needed to improve it more for the counterspell to do it.
However, Twilight would soon have to give me some...tough news. Even now, I'm still not sure if it was harder on her or me.