Man, talk about your strange days. First, not only did Starlight's counterspell wear off too soon, but it somehow made me flea-sized!
The good news: I wasn't all alone somewhere. I was with Princess Cadance.
The bad news: I was on her back and buried in her soft, pink fur. At my new size, her back looked like a huge thick pink forest, with the strands of her hair as the "trees" and, to me, looked to each be around a foot wide. They covered the "sky", so I couldn't see anything past the curly pink "trees."
And the worst news: I was too small for Cadance to hear me, even if I yelled as loud as I could. And for irony, the Alicorn was looking all over her castle, asking her guards if they've seen me, without knowing I was on her back.
I had to think of a way to get her attention. I only thought of one idea: get to her head, get as close to one of her ears as I could and, if I must, I'd...gulp...go in it, and yell her name from there.
But because she's running around, I couldn't keep my balance on her back, forcing me to hold on for my life to her hair/trees, desperately yelling, "Princess Cadance, slow down!" as I swayed in one direction after another. Cadance was also yelling my name and at my new size her -- to me -- ear-piercing voice killed my eardrums, and I couldn't even cover them, since I had to hold on to her hair.
After about two minutes, Cadance stopped running, told one of her guards to keep looking for me, and she'll stay where she was. After I heard the guard's fading hoofsteps, the Princess of Love became quiet and all but motionless.
With Cadance finally still, I checked my head to see if my white hat, with a design of my friends' and big sisters' Cutie Marks on it, was still on my head -- and it somehow was and it shrunk too, just like my clothes did -- then I took a minute to catch my breath. As I took some deep breaths, the ringing in my head from Cadance's voice gradually faded, till it was nearly completely gone. After that, it was time to try to find her head.
However, the curly "trees" of her "pink forest" overhead blocked my view of where her head was, or of anything outside of it, so I used the direction where her voice seemed to come from, when she was yelling, as the direction to go. It felt both weird and scary, knowing the soft "floor" under my feet was the skin of a living, "giant" pony. I guess I felt Cadance's body heat, because the air around me felt warmer than the room did, but not uncomfortable.
Looking up at the pink trees surrounding me, and I was able to only see about (to my new size) up to eight inches in any given direction, I thought to be at least glad that Cadance threw me on her back, not the floor. Or even worse: her mouth!!
Because of the running Cadance did, the "floor" was now...wet, and I had to force myself to not think about what I was standing on, and it smelt worse than you might think. My tiny size made it even worse, and I was close to gagging, even though I was covering my nose. Even gym socks didn't smell too bad, compared to this! Anyway, with one step after another, I made my way between the pink "trees" of the "forest" that was Cadance's back.
After about three minutes, I heard loud buzzing above me. I looked up and a black fly, that looked as big as a three-story building, landed on the "ground" right in front of me, bending the "trees" out of its way as it landed. It lowered its head, and I saw multiple images of myself in its green eyes, making a chill go down my spine. Then, it crawled closer, making me walk backward, keeping the space between us the same. But once that giant fly moved its feet faster to close the distance, and my back bumped onto a tree behind me, my heart sunk, and I was about to scream pointlessly for Twilight and Starlight, out of pure fear.
But just before I opened my mouth, a giant pink wall crashed in front of me, crushing that fly into a mush of green guts, and I let out a yelp. Then the "wall" vanished. The vibrations from the impact knocked me in the air by (to me) three inches, and then onto the...oh boy...sweat of Princess Cadance. It. Was. By. Far. The. Single. Grossest. Moment. Of. My. Life! But, it did beat getting crushed to death by her hoof. I stood up and stared at nothing in particular for a few seconds, as it sunk in the "pink wall" was Cadance's hoof. That pony saved me without even knowing she did! But, it also made me shiver, because that fly could've been me...gulp.
Trying to block out how Cadance could flatten me with her hoof by mistake at any time, I covered my nose, and of...other things, I got back to traveling through her pink forest.
About five minutes later, I heard loud buzzing again. I once again turned my head up, and another "three-story" tall fly landed in front of me, again bending the pink trees out of its way. I wasn't scared for long this time, though: a "pink wall" came down again after only a few seconds, and again made some fly mush. But, like the last time, the impact sent me in the air and onto...you know. Wonderful. Just wonderful. Not. Cadance must be by a window, because you would think her castle would be free of flies.
I stood up once again, and thought, If I don't get killed here, I am so going to get you for this, Starlight Glimmer!
Now around twenty minutes into walking on Princess Cadance's back/pink forest, I was panting and my throat felt so dry, because the air felt not "warm" but hot now: I'd say it felt like the air of a ninety-degree day, so it wasn't comfortable anymore. It was also getting really hard ignoring that's on me and its smell, even though I was still covering my nose.
However, the angle of the fur ahead of me pointed much more horizontally, but not fully horizontal, the "ground" the hair grew from tilted heavily upwards, and I couldn't tell where it ended. I guessed I reached the beginning of Cadance's neck, and it was time to get climbing.
Unfortunately, it wouldn't be easy. Not only would it be tiring (and I was already tired) but I'd have to uncover my nose, and I shouldn't have to say why I didn't want to do that! This would have been the part where I said to myself "You gotta do it, you idiot!" to psych myself up, but I promised big sis Twilight I wouldn't call myself an idiot anymore. She didn't like me calling myself that, so when I asked her if I could start calling her "Twi", she said I can, but I had to promise her to not call myself an idiot anymore. So I skipped that part, uncovered my nose, grimaced and struggled to not gag at the smell, then just got to climbing the more horizontally growing soft pink "trees" that was Cadance's hair. While soft, it was still sturdy enough to hold my weight.
While the human Eric Reed struggled to navigate the back and neck of Princess Cadance, Starlight Glimmer was in her friend Sunburst's home, with Sunburst himself and Flurry Heart. Starlight and Sunburst each sat in chairs in front of a round wooden table, on opposite sides, while facing each other. Flurry Heart, making quiet cooing sounds with her voice, sat in a crib beside Sunburst on his left, slowly spinning a doll, in the form of a snail with a green shell, in the air with her magic.
Starlight was briefing Sunburst on how she thought she discovered a way to raise the current three-day time limit for the counterspell to the Nightmare Prevention Spell's magic that's still in Eric, since he can't be at his normal height without the counterspell active. Two days before, Eric told her that he wanted to leave on a five-day trip in two weeks, so Starlight worked to see if she could learn how to power-up its counterspell, so she or Twilight wouldn't have to go with him to recast it during the trip.
After taking a sip of hot cocoa in a pink teacup held with his magic, with a single marshmallow floating on top of the drink, Sunburst asked, "So, you said you found a way to raise the three-day limit of the counterspell?"
Taking a sip of cocoa from an identical-looking teacup of her own, which also had a marshmallow floating in it, Starlight answered, "Yep! Eric really wants to take a five-day trip. But right now, either Twilight or I would have to go with him, so we can recast the counterspell at least once during the trip. Twilight and I don't want to go, so I tried it out earlier this morning to see if it could last four days."
"And it worked?"
"I think it did. I was a little worried it might have another kind of effect on him, but he seems fine so far."
"Well, that's good. But won't it mean he could have nightmares, since he's immune to having them when the counterspell is not active?"
"The risk is there, but he said he'll take the risk. It's not like he's scared of having nightmares and we have Princess Luna to help him if he does."
"Oh yeah, that's true. He can't be afraid of something like that, but how did you improve the counterspell?"
"I added some Pensuadarie for a stronger and longer-lasting effect."
Sunburst's eyes widened when he heard the name of the spell Starlight said and asked. "Wait, Starlight, did you say 'Pensuadarie'?"
Puzzled, Starlight replied, "Yeah, I said 'Pensuadarie'. Should I have mixed in a different spell?"
Sunburst stood up from his chair. "No, no, no! You can't add Pensuadarie to a spell like that!"
Alarmed, but still staying in her chair, Starlight asked, "But why? I thought Pensuadarie would be safe?"
"Not for a growth-fixing spell like the counterspell to the Nightmare Prevention Spell! That will not only end the growth-fixing property for it too soon, but reverse the effect!"
Starlight's eyes and mouth opened to their limit. "What?! REVERSE the effect?! Are you sure, Sunburst?!"
"Yes! I read about it before you got here with Flurry Heart!"
Starlight sprung up from her chair. "Well, where's the book you read it from?!"
Sunburst pointed his hoof to a bookshelf to his right and Starlight's left. "It's the red book over there in the right corner of the top shelf! It's on page twenty-five!"
Starlight teleported herself in front of the bookshelf Sunburst pointed at, picked up the book with her magic, and scanned through the page about the spell in question. Afterward, the mare gasped deeply.
"Do you see what I meant now?"
"Yeah, and you're right, Sunburst! With the amount of Pensuadarie I put in, it is gonna shrink him to the size of a flea! No, no, no, what have I done to my brother?!"
As Starlight paced back and forth out of worry and fear, Sunburst said, "Wait, hold on, Starlight. The shrinking effect might not have happened yet. Did he seem to be any different?"
Starlight stopped pacing and answered, "Hmm. I don't...wait, hold on."
"Well? Did he act odd earlier?"
"Before I came here, he was acting oddly shy of Princess Cadance, and even he said that he didn't know why."
"Uh-oh. Something like that would be an early sign that the shrinking is imminent."
"But that was almost two hours ago, Sunburst! By now it's probably...Eric!" With thoughts that the human she cares for like her own little brother could be in danger, or even hurt, filling her head, Starlight paced back and forth faster and faster, breathing deeper and deeper, entering a panic attack.
Sunburst did his best to settle down his panicking friend by advising, "Okay, calm down, Starlight. Panicking won't help. We need to find out where Princess Twilight and Princess Cadance are and remember, Eric is with them, so even if he did shrink, they would see it happen. Do you know where they could be?"
Starlight calmed down her breathing, ending her panic attack. However, she was still filled with great guilt. "Yeah, I do! But you need to watch Flurry Heart, so I'll go find them by myself."
Sunburst complied, and Starlight trotted out Sunburst's front door, leaving Sunburst alone with Flurry Heart.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Crystal Empire, levitating a red quill and a six-foot-long checklist with her magic, Twilight Sparkle trotted around the first floor of a large blue room, checking off tasks to help Pinkie Pie prepare for her party. As she walked, she passed by a few quietly speaking ponies sitting by one of many tables, covered with white cloths, that's spread throughout the room or were walking about.
But after Twilight checked off the last task, she stopped in front of one of the tables, which ten more checklists sat, also six-feet long, turned her head down and sighed, still unable to shake the feeling that something wasn't right with Eric. She wanted to go back to Princess Cadance's palace to check on him.
However, Princess Cadance's words of her acting like an overprotective parent kept her from going. The concerned Alicorn didn't want to be overprotective of the human she thinks of as her little brother, making her torn on what to do.
Pinkie Pie spotted Twilight deep in thought, hopped over to her and asked, "Hey, Twilight, what's wrong? I thought you'd be so happy to do so many checklists!"
Twilight lifted her face to Pinkie's and rolled her eyes. "Oh, Ha ha, Pinkie, I know I have a bit too much of an interest in making lists. But right now I'm just worried."
Pinkie tilted her head to the right slightly. "Really? Why?"
"Well, Eric felt sick all of a sudden, and I have a feeling that something else is wrong."
"Well, if you're that worried, why don't you go and see how he's doing?"
"I want to, Pinkie, but..." Twilight turned her head back down and sighed.
"What's wrong, Twilight?"
"I want to be a good friend and big sister to him and do all I can for him. But...I also can't hover over Eric every time he's ill like an overprotective mother if it's not serious. Eric's not a little foal, er, baby, and I don't even do that to Spike, who I've known since I was a filly and was my very first friend. I even hatched him!"
"Yaaaah. You don't want to act like that, Twilight."
"See? That's why I don't want to go running to him, plus Cadance went to see how he's doing anyway. But still, I can't shake my bad feeling--"
A panicking Starlight Glimmer sped through the blue doors of the room, turning her head to the left and right, yelling Twilight's name, and after spotting Twilight to her right, Starlight trotted to the Princess, panting heavily. While on the way to Cadance's palace, she heard from some ponies walking on the streets that Twilight wasn't there, and pointed her to where she went.
"Starlight, is something wrong?"
"Twilight, is Eric here?!"
"No, he's at the Crystal Castle right now. He wasn't feeling good, so Cadance let him stay there. Why?"
"Is he alone? And how long did he feel sick?"
"Well, yes, we left him alone to rest, and he felt sick not long after you went to see Sunburst."
Starlight gasped and took a few steps backward. Shaking her head, she shouted, "Oh, no! No, no, no, no!"
"Why? What's going on?! You're starting to make me worried, Starlight!"
"When I used the counterspell on him earlier, I added some Pensuadarie to it so it'll last longer, a--"
Hearing the spell "Pensuadarie", Twilight immediately knew what Starlight was about to say, and interrupted, "You WHAT?! Why didn't you tell me about that before doing it, Starlight?! I could've told you not to add Pensuadarie, and it wouldn't make the counterspell last longer anyway, or I would have already tried it! Oh no! Eric!"
"I know, and I am so sorry, Twilight! And he's totally alone?"
"Yes, he was! Well, wait, Cadance went to check on him for me, and she should've been there for a while now."
Starlight, feeling relief, smiled and sighed, "Oh, that's a relief! If she would be the first that went into the room, it should be all right."
Twilight, though, wasn't relieved, and instead became more worried and reminded, "I don't think we should relax yet, Starlight. Even if Cadance is the one that goes in the room he's in, she'll have no idea he could be that small and could overlook him. Because Eric would be so small, she won't hear him if he tries to call out to her!"
Starlight's short-lived smile vanished, and a frown took its place. "So he might not be able to get her attention?"
Talking more and more rapidly and nearing a panic attack, Twilight warned while pacing, "Yeah! She could accidentally throw him off the bed or something by moving the blanket I put on him! And if she does, he's not as durable as ponies, so if he doesn't land on something soft, that kind of fall would likely kill him! And even if he survives the fall, he'd at least get badly hurt from it, and would be too small and hurt to try to avoid Cadance's hooves if she came too close!!"
Hearing Twilight's worries forced Starlight into hyperventilating, even worse than when she did it at Sunburst's, and tears flowed from the eyes of the guilt-stricken pony. With her voice breaking, Starlight whimpered, "What...what have I done to my little brother, Twilight? I...*sniff*...I'm supposed to be there for and protect him, not do something to put him in danger! And, Twilight, if he dies while wishing that...*sniff*...I...were there, and I never came..."
Realizing she had made Starlight feel worse than ever, Twilight stopped pacing and attempted to backpedal by much more calmly stating, "Wait, Starlight, let's not think like that. Since we know now, we can go to Cadance, tell her what happened, and hope she got there before he shrank, but even if she didn't, we'll at least know he's on the bed, and Cadance may not even move the blanket he's on. Plus, Eric's smart, Starlight, so he'll know to go to a spot on the bed that's the easiest for us to see him, and wait. He's gone through a lot since he came to Equestria, so I doubt this would scare him much, so he'll stay calm."
Starlight's worried frown formed into a relieved smile. "Yeah, you're right, Twilight."
Pinkie interrupted to assure, "Yeah! And don't worry about the party, Twilight, I can handle the rest by myself."
"Thanks, Pinkie," Twilight replied and, with Starlight right beside her, trotted out of the building they were in, and the mares sped as quickly as they could to the Crystal Castle, hoping they wouldn't be too late.
Barely able to stand, and thirsty as buck, I finally made it to the top of Princess Cadance's head. It took me around ten minutes to do it.
But I still had a problem. I was under her mane, and the "trees" of it blocked my view of her ears, so getting there wouldn't be easy. Because I was so tired from climbing her neck, I sat down with my back against a pink tree to rest for a bit, before trying to find Cadance's ears and hope she wouldn't move her head much.
Still covered in sweat, both mine and Cadance's, and knowing this mess was because Starlight bucked up the counterspell, I was not happy! And if it happened because she tried something new with it, I was really gonna let that Unicorn have it once I got back to normal size!
But, as I was sitting there, looking at the pink "trees" over me that was Cadance's mane, I stopped thinking about Starlight blowing it and sighed. I became fully aware that I was on the head of a pony that wasn't Twilight's or Starlight's. Don't get me wrong, because I really do like Princess Cadance. She's really friendly, kind, and I think she's a great pony and Princess. But, no matter how nice Cadance has been to me, she wasn't one of my two Equestrian big sisters, Twi and Starie, and those two were the only ponies I would want to be on the heads of. Even if I was still sore at one of them at the time. So being on Cadance's head didn't feel...right. I don't know how I could explain it in a way to give it justice.
Anyway, it was time to tap into my inner Twilight, and come up with plans on the best way to talk in one of Cadance's ears without having to go in the ear. Then, if she still couldn't hear me, and I must go in, then think of the best way to do it.
Oh, and did I say I was gonna get Starlight for this?