"Oh, you poor, poor, filly. I can't imagine you having to go through such an awful time."
Sweetie Belle wiped herself off with a handy dishtowel that Fluttershy kept especially for tiny animals when it was their bath time. This was the umpteenth time the Sweetie Belle took a bath in a small cup after being soaked in both bunny and owl saliva. Before then, it took her half an hour to recoil from her terrifying experience with Owlowiscious and the rabbit from Tartarus, held in the gentle embrace of Fluttershy's hooves against her soft, snuggly fur. It took Sweetie Belle time to come back to her senses, but it was nothing that Fluttershy's soft shushing and reassurance couldn't help. All in all, this was the first peaceful hour the tiny unicorn earned on this rough and hectic day.
Sweetie Belle rubbed her towel vigorously through her drying mane which, when she took it off, looked like the hairstyle of Bride of Flankenstine before she shook her head and it reverted back to its usual puffy state. "Thank you for caring for me, Fluttershy," Sweetie Belle said somberly. "Really, I appreciate what you've done for me so far. But I think it's gonna take more than your kindness and a few weeks of therapy to clear this out of my head."
"In any case, I'm just happy that you're alive," Fluttershy said before she perked up with a thought. "Oh! I have to tell Rarity about your condition right away! If she really has been looking for you just like you said, then that means she must be worried sick about you! I can't stand to see Rarity like this! We have to go and find her!"
"Don't bother, Fluttershy. I'm pretty sure she's halfway to Appleloosa trying to find me," Sweetie Belle said, sitting on her haunches as she rested her head on her hooves. "Besides, even if we find Rarity, I might end up getting lost or eaten somewhere in between. All I want is to get back to my normal size so I can get on with my life."
Fluttershy tapped her bottom lip with her hoof, pondering any possible option that came to mind. "What about Zecora? I'm sure she can conjure up a potion that will bring you back to your size."
"No," Sweetie Belle said flatly with the wave of her hoof. "Zecora told me and the Crusaders that she was going some place very far away so she could get a refill on some rare and powerful potion ingredients."
"Oh? When did she say that?"
"On Wednesday, when we tried to get our Cutie Marks in potion-making using some rare and powerful potion ingredients."
"Oh, umm... okay..." Fluttershy once again tapped her bottom lip with her hoof and hummed, but perked when another idea struck her like an arrow. "I know! Why don't we go and see if we can find Trixie? I hear she's reformed and she's got magic that's identical to Twilight's magic. Maybe she can help you out."
"And end up as one of Trixie's new sideshow freaks?" Sweetie Belle interjected. "Thanks, but I'll pass."
"Oh. Okay, then. Never mind."
Sweetie Belle felt a shiver of realization run through her nerves as Fluttershy's idea of Trixie inspired the shrunken filly. "You know what? That actually brings me to my original plan," Sweetie Belle squeaked to the gigantic pegasus. "I was wondering, since you're the Element of Kindness and a close friend of Princess Twilight, that if it was possible you could bring me to Canterlot so Twilight can use her magic and help restore me back to my original size."
Fluttershy "eeped" with a volume of a screeching dragon to Sweetie Belle and hid her face behind her mane. "Umm... I'm sorry, Sweetie Belle, I can't," she said, her voice becoming quite timid. "The Royal Convention is strictly for members of royalty only. I'm not sure if getting inside Canterlot is possible, let alone a being friend of Twilight's. Please don't be mad at me..."
Sweetie Belle grunted, throwing her hooves down on the hard wooden surface. She got up on her hind hooves and started to pace around the table, stomping her hooves down with frustration. "But we have to do something! I can't stay stuck like this when there are ponies looking all over Equestria for me! We have to go to Canterlot!"
"I'm sorry, Sweetie Belle," Fluttershy apologized. "Even with my role as the Element of Kindness, the Royal Guards won't let anyone in unless they're a member of royalty. If they caught anypony else trying to sneak into Canterlot Castle, then Celestia might banish you, or lock you in a dungeon, or..."
"Or banish me then lock me in the dungeon in the place she banished me to," Sweetie Belle finished with a roll of her hoof and a grunt. "I know, I know, but there has to be a way for me to get to Twilight! If I have to stay at this size for another minute, then I might go crazy! I have to go to Canterlot!"
"No, not in your condition, Sweetie Belle. You barely managed to survive nearly being eaten by Owlowiscious," Fluttershy said with a firm yet direct voice. "If you go out there without me to protect you, then I'll be responsible for whatever happens to you. Don't you know how horrified Rarity would be if I told her about how you tried going into Canterlot at your size, all by yourself?"
"Of course I do!" Sweetie Belle retorted. "That's why I have to go! Rarity is putting herself in danger looking for me out there while I'm stuck here not getting anything done to get me back at my own size!"
"But Sweetie Belle..."
"But nothing, Fluttershy!" The shrunken stood up tall and puffed out her chest, her face etched with determination to give the appearance of bravery as an illusion of the waving CMC logo appeared behind her. "I am a Cutie Mark Crusader and we'll never give up, not on each other, not even on themselves! I've run through obstacles today that an average bug never lived to tell and I survived them! I saw what it was like for food to pass through somepony's tummy and I survived it, too! If I lived through all that turmoil, then I can sure as Tartarus survive the streets of Canterlot at my size!"
Fluttershy gasped. "Sweetie Belle! Watch your language, young filly!"
Sweetie Belle perked and cupped her hoof over her mouth, smiling sheepishly to the gentle scolding giantess. "Sorry."
Fluttershy cracked a smile. She gently scooped up the micro filly with her hooves and brought her to her face, giving her a ticklish nuzzle. "It's alright, Sweetie Belle. There's no way I can stay mad at you for using such language," Fluttershy said as she nuzzled Sweetie Belle with her snout, the size of a hay wagon. "Now, let me find someplace to keep you safe, Sweetie Belle. I can't leave you alone now that I can't trust Angel Bunny and Owlowiscious with you in your condition."
Sweetie Belle froze, eyes bulging and frown reaching her shoulders. "WHAT!?" The tiny filly threw her hooves down on the top of Fluttershy's nuzzle and looked at her with desperation glimmering in her eyes. "No! I can't stay here all weekend! I need to go to Canterlot so Princess Twilight can restore me to my original size! I have to go to Canterlot, I have to!"
"I'm sorry, Sweetie Belle, but I can't risk you going to Canterlot alone. You've been through a lot today and I have to keep you safe until I can find Rarity."
"But Fluttershy--!!"
"No buts, young filly. Canterlot is off-limits to civilians and there's no way we can reach Twilight, even with me being the Element of Kindness. We're going out into town so we can search for Rarity. Until then..."
Before Sweetie Belle knew it, Fluttershy lifted her face and gently trapped the tiny unicorn between her lips, like a mother cat did to her kitten. Next, Fluttershy reached over and took a small cardboard box, big enough for Sweetie Belle to fit with enough room for her to move around. Bringing the box up to her face with her hooves, Fluttershy deposited the micro-sized filly who landed on her belly with an "OOF!" Sweetie Belle rubbed her head and gently shook it before she looked up to see the buttercream-colored titan looking down on her like a goddess, slowly closing the lid to the box with air holes at the top.
"You'll have to stay here in this box."
"Fluttershy! WAIT!!"
The lid closed over the box, leaving Sweetie Belle in complete darkness, save for the circles of lights peering through the air holes. Sweetie Belle groaned and fell to her haunches, her ears drooped back to her head. She could feel her cardboard ground tilt and shift as Fluttershy gently placed the box into her saddlebag and trotted out of her cottage. Closing the door behind her, Fluttershy spread her wings and gently took off in the air like an elegant bird, flying out to Ponyville plaza in hopes of finding Rarity somewhere. Maybe then, Fluttershy would have to explain Rarity the dire situation involving her very little sister.
Sweetie Belle couldn't describe what she felt when she was trapped in the box, feeling her world being lifted up in the air. It felt like she was flying in one of those airships that rich ponies traveled in, or like the hot air balloon with magical propellers helping it move through the sky, just like Rainbow Dash's pet tortoise, Tank. Sweetie Belle didn't know what to think. Right now, the only obstacles between her and an opportunity for her life to restore back to normalcy was the box and the gentle giantess, Fluttershy. Only a little bit of light shone into the shrunken unicorn's prison which dimmed with the flap of the saddlebags closing over the opening.
Sweetie Belle prayed that Luna would somehow help her out of her current predicament. She was grateful that Fluttershy helped restore her nerves for the past hour, but she couldn't stay in this box. She had to get to Princess Twilight. She couldn't sit in a recyclable box, spinning her wheels while another potential danger came to her at her size. Sweetie Belle needed to get to Canterlot, even if she had to risk her mane along the way like she did with her entire fluffy tail.
The micro-sized unicorn hoped she didn't risk her life with her mane as well.
====
Fluttershy gently glided through the sweet Ponyville sky, her head dropped down low as she scanned the area for a white unicorn with a deep, curly indigo mane and spiral-like tail. Rarity wasn't normally all that hard to find. Everypony would know the whining over a tiny spot on her coat or the consistent paranoia of drizzling rain ruining her beautifully coiffed mane. Bu that pony was nowhere in sight. Rarity must've taken off into the Everfree Forest and possibly somewhere beyond.
If so, that only meant that Rarity was in somewhere in either the Flame Geyser Swamp, or in the swamp where the Cajun ponies resided. That was all the lead that Fluttershy needed.
Fluttershy gently turned left at the shape of a wide arc, careful not to tumble the tiny Sweetie Belle in her cardboard box. She didn't really mean to keep the shrunken filly in the box like a pocket pet. After all, she was just as concerned for her wellbeing, as she was with her friends and her animals. If something happened to Sweetie Belle, Fluttershy wouldn't know how to tell Rarity, let alone of how she shrunken and was almost washed down her gullet.
Still, Fluttershy had to keep Sweetie Belle away from any danger until she could at least be reunited with Rarity. Nopony ever knew when danger was going to strike next. It could come in the form of a thundercloud, a gust of wind, or a certain cross-eyed pegasus mare who was making an erratic beeline towards Fluttershy.
Cross-eyed mare?
Fluttershy looked up too late and gasped as she saw a blur of grey make a crash course with each other.
"AAAH!"
THWACK!
POMF!
At that moment, after the dust settled on the dirt grounds of Ponyville, two bodies of pegasus mares lied on the ground, their packages dropped and wings unfurled open from the impact. Fluttershy groaned as she tried to move her now aching body, each muscle in her body attempting to resist movement while she lifted herself from the ground. An equally painful groan was heard next to Fluttershy, one that everypony in Ponyville knew too well. To confirm her suspicions, Fluttershy turned to see the pony she crashed into.
Her suspicions were spot-on.
Derpy Hooves was the culprit who crashed into her by mistake. The blonde, cross-eyed mailmare of Ponyville was known for her clumsiness, her walled eyes and her obsession for muffins. Why, she even subscribed to fourteen different magazines about muffins, among them being "Muffins Digest" and "Muffins Today." Some of those magazines were scattered along with their own kind, adding in her official mailmare hat, sealed envelopes, most of them containing bills, a few packages and Fluttershy's cardboard box.
Derpy slowly rose from the ground and gently shook her head, blinking her abnormally-placed eyes before turning to face Fluttershy. A sheepish smile broke across the clumsy pegasus's face. "Oops. Sorry, Fluttershy, I just don't know what went wrong."
"Oh, umm... it's alright, Derpy," Fluttershy said. "Just make sure you watch where you're flying, okay?"
"Okay," Derpy replied. She gathered her fallen mail and stuffed them back, placing her mailmare hat on her blonde-maned head before taking off to the sky. Fluttershy smiled; Derpy was a good egg, but even Fluttershy had to agree she was a few blueberries short of a muffin. With a sigh, Fluttershy gathered up her fallen box and gently lifted the lid off to peek inside...
...only to realize that Sweetie Belle was gone!
Fluttershy gasped, covering her mouth with her hooves in shock. "Oh no! Oh no, no, no, no, no, no! Sweetie Belle's gone! At her size, she could be anywhere! She could be already hurt! She could be lost! Or stolen! Or stepped on!" Fluttershy shot up in the air, her breathing quickened with wracking nerves as she scanned the ground for any moving white dot with a hint of pink and violet. "I have to find Sweetie Belle before something awful happens to her!"
With that, Fluttershy flittered her wings and hovered a foot above the ground, searching closely for Sweetie belle, whom she suspected didn't go far.
What she failed to realize was that Sweetie Belle was already far from her slightly overprotective protector.
====
THWACK!
Sweetie Belle screamed as her body was knocked around the box that rolled from its saddlebag, which opened upon impact from two giant colliding mares. When the box stopped tumbling, Sweetie Belle found herself lying flat on the walls of her recyclable prison, her breath knocked out of her lungs. The filly coughed as she tried to restore oxygen to her her aching lungs. From all of the Crusading Sweetie Belle did with her friends, she could have been used to a little danger. With a groan, Sweetie Belle tiredly lifted her face as the blinding light of the air holes hit her eyes right in front of her.
Sweetie Belle perked.
The air holes were right in front of her.
Sweetie Belle's limbs wobbled, threatening to keep her down to the ground so she could have time to recover. However, the new spangled shard of revelations prompted Sweetie Belle to ignore the pain as she hobbled closer to the air holes. She carefully inspected the openings. Each of the air holes was about one-and-a-quarter, only big enough for Sweetie Belle's size to squeeze through.
With a wiggle of her blank thighs, Sweetie Belle reached her hooves through the hole and began with her head. The cardboard was actually soft as fluff, but it also made Sweetie Belle the obstacle to her freedom. Her horn kept getting tangled up in the soft, shredded fibers, but it was fortunate that she squeezed her head through like she would with a wool sweater.
"Note to self: Thank Mom for giving me those tight wool sweaters for Hearth's Warming Eve," Sweetie Belle thought to herself.
With her head now poked through the hole of the cardboard box, Sweetie Belle looked around the outside. She turned and saw the titanic yellow figure of Fluttershy, sprawled out what seemed like a mile from her. Everywhere she looked, Sweetie Belle saw many large white rectangles, large brown rectangular prism-shaped objects at a size similar to a row of small buildings and a giant blue blob with a cave and a black crescent-shaped visor sticking out from it.
Sweetie Belle drooped her ears back and deadpanned.
"Derpy. Why'd it have to be Derpy?"
Sweetie Belle wriggled her tiny body though the hole, only pushing on the outer walls of the cardboard in order for her to extract herself from her prison. Suddenly, Fluttershy's gentle booming voice resounded, sounding almost like a painful groan as the yellow hills began to rise on those monolithic pillars Sweetie Belle called hooves.
The filly gasped.
She needed to get out of the box quickly before Fluttershy could put her back in.
Digging like how Winona normally did when burying a bone, Sweetie Belle rapidly dug her hooves into the ground like two miniature shovels. She dug in and pulled herself, grunting as the effort of getting unstuck began to exhaust her. Looking over, Sweetie Belle saw Fluttershy's colossal body struggle, but she eventually made it all the way up, her wings spread at their full width until they furled back to her body. There wasn't much time left. If Fluttershy discovered Sweetie Belle's escape attempt, the shrunken filly would never reach Canterlot.
With an ounce of strength, Sweetie Belle pulled herself harder, her blank flanks slowly inching out of the hole. When the apex of her thighs slowly dragged themselves from the small opening, Sweetie Belle popped out of the hole and landed on her tummy with an "OOF!" The filly steadily rose to her legs and shook her head before looking up to see the giant shapes of Fluttershy facing the good-hearted, klutzy mailmare.
"Oops. Sorry, Fluttershy, I just don't know what went wrong."
"Oh, umm... it's alright, Derpy. Just make sure you watch where you're flying, okay?"
"Okay."
Sweetie Belle took the beginning conversation as a sign to quicken herself and hide. Scuffling up to her hooves, the tiny filly sprinted to the nearest gigantic object she could find. She hid behind the house-sized packages and peeked around the corer, only to discover the klutzy giant pegasus picking up her fallen mail. Sweetie Belle flinched with shock as she saw the package she hid behind being lifted up by a pair of grey pillars, bringing the brown-wrapped parcel up like a humongous crane and safely deposited it back into her mailbag.
Thinking quickly, Sweetie Belle ducked underneath a magazine...
...only to realize that the magazine was lifted away back into Derpy's mailbag.
Sweetie Belle covered herself with an envelope.
That, among the other envelopes were all inserted into the mailbag.
Sweetie Belle backed herself unknowingly into Derpy's hat.
Then her world was flipped as Sweetie Belle saw a giant gray hoof grab the hat and placed onto the wall-eyed giantess's head, making the filly scream while she fell into a dark blonde forest. The forest smelled like the autumn air, which overpowered Sweetie Belle's delicate nostrils as she landed on the soft soil of Derpy's scalp. The filly grimaced; the scalp was decorated with dandruff. She wondered if there was any muffin-scented shampoo she could give Derpy if she could make it out of her flight alive.
It wasn't that Derpy was a horrible flyer.
It was that Derpy's wall-eyes frequently altered her vision, thus making her flight path erratic and, in the case of fragile objects and the tiny unicorn, completely unsafe.
To prove this point, Sweetie Belle held on to a strand of hair, the size of a tall tree as her world felt going up like a supersonic express elevator, then zoomed off into the direction only known to Derpy. The pegasus twisted and turned in her flight path, making Sweetie Belle's experience comparable to a roller coaster with no restraints. Sweetie Belle's face became green as the ride for her life made her stomach do twists itself, threatening to release her morning breakfast out of her digestive system.
Five minutes passed, which, to Sweetie Belle's horrifying experience, was like five hours at best.
Then her world felt itself tilt downwards as Depry began to descend down to Earth, only stopping when her hooves gently landed on a wooden ground with a "CLOP!" Sweetie Belle was left shaken, taking a minute to process her feelings, followed with quick rapid breathing, all while her morning meal began to travel upwards into her esophagus. "I think... I think I'm gonna..."
With a quick puffing of her cheeks, Sweetie Belle lurched forward and spilled her contents, spewing it all over the grey fur and formed a humongous puddle soaking past the fur and into the scalp. Sweetie Belle wiped her mouth and gasped. Now she felt what an orange felt like when she squeezed the citrus fruit in the juicer.
"That's it," Sweetie Belle panted. "I'm never going to the fair again."
The dark, spacious cavern above Sweetie Belle shook as the hat was lifted off of Derpy's head. Daylight broke through and burned into Sweetie Belle's eyes, prompting her to cover them with her hoof. For a moment, Sweetie Belle's eyes adjusted to the light and blinked them to eradicate any blurriness from her vision. When her vision focused into a clear view, Sweetie Belle climbed at the top of Derpy's mane and looked around her.
She recognized where she was at.
This was also the intended destination that she had waited all day for her to arrive.
It was the Ponyville train station, loaded with busy passengers intending to take the train from Ponyville to the Crystal Empire, Appleloosa or to the prestigious city of Manehattan. Looking at the loading charts, Sweetie Belle saw, to her chagrin, every train to Canterlot cancelled on account of the royal convention. It didn't matter to her. She knew ordinary passengers would have to be dropped off here at the station, so long as they didn't happen to be a part of a nation's member of royalty.
That gave Sweetie Belle an idea.
It had risks to it, but it would be well worth it.
Sweetie Belle rummaged her way through Derpy's mane, traveling through the thick forest of blonde hair until she found a clearing, presumably being Derpy's nape of her neck. The brown strap from her mailbag was wrapped around that nape, giving Sweetie Belle and edge to her escape off of Derpy. Without a moment's hesitation, Sweetie Belle galloped across the neck and slid down the incline, only stopping when the foot-thick strap hit her tiny little hind hooves.
With that, Sweetie Belle rose back up on her hooves and climbed up on the strap, letting her rear hooves climb down the hard, woven fabric, letting her frontal hooves anchor her grip. Inch by inch, Sweetie Belle carefully climbed down, proceeding with caution, for fear of a six-story fall down to the hardwood floor, something hard enough to definitely end the micro-sized filly at her size. Dripping sweat threatened to lubricate her fur as Sweetie Belle made it to a slight twist in the strap, leading down to the top flap of the mailbag.
So far, everything went like Sweetie Belle planned. Derpy's hoofsteps jiggled the bag a little, making the grip on the flap a small challenge for Sweetie Belle. The tiny filly held onto the flap by clamping her full body on the top of the fold, both sides secured by her hooves and held down by her tummy. Sweetie Belle nodded; this was happening like she planned it to be. The next step was riding the flap down to the floor once Derpy began to make her rounds at the Ponyville train station post office.
That plan came to motion as Derpy turned and went into the mailroom of the train station. With her lowering muzzle, Derpy opened the flap, completely unaware of the tiny filly hitchhiking on her mailbag. Sweetie Belle whimpered as her world was turned upside down, her hooves slipping from their grip on the flap. The fold straightened and Sweetie Belle's hooves finally lost their grasp, causing the filly to fall at a height of a one-and-a-half story building. Quickly, the tiny filly turned and landed hard on her hooves, just like how Opalescence normally did with her paws.
Sweetie Belle winced from the pain at first, but she knew she could walk it off. With her tiny frame finally on the floor of the train station, Sweetie Belle cantered underneath Derpy's body, a safe passage to avoid her gigantic looming hooves each containing enough power to squash a bug. The filly shivered from the memory of those poor ants turned to bug paste under those two ponies' hooves.
With Derpy only moving her head to lower and pick up the mail in her mouth, Sweetie Belle darted out of the mailroom and into the outside world of the train station. Everywhere she went, she saw titanic ponies trotting about, fillies nearly the size of Canterlot Castle and suitcases as big as the biggest mountains, stretching as tall as the sky itself. Most of the ponies waited at the train's platform, waiting for the Friendship Express to stop and disembark their passengers so they would have to move on to Canterlot to drop of any royalty.
Galloping along the outer walls of the ticket office was as safe as Sweetie Belle played it. She managed to avoid the hooves, squeezed through and/or climbed over any luggage leaning against the wall. The stealthy running seemed to do Sweetie Belle wonders, as nopony saw her, nor heard her and mistook her for a bug. However, as Sweetie Belle rounded the corner, the tiny filly realized one very important obstacle: the open spaces where anypony could trot through and unknowingly step of her.
Sweetie Belle swallowed a lump forming in her throat. This was where the idea began to get difficult.
Bouncing on behalf of her hooves, Sweetie Belle launched herself into the open, only to fall in the path of an oncoming luggage cart. Screaming, Sweetie Belle ducked to her right, just under the cart as the wheels rolled on by. When the cart passed, Sweetie Belle ran to the platform, dodging incoming hooves that shook the ground like earthquakes and jumping away from the lethal black wheels of luggage carts just as they were pulled by the station's employees.
Next came the platform. Sweetie Belle felt intimidated by the looming maze of hooves blocking her way, followed with the flanks that threatened to fall and sit on the tiny unicorn. The dead ends were the suitcases sitting right beside those hooves, making the way through the hooves more difficult and challenging than the Royal Canterlot Hedge Maze. Sweetie Belle jumped in, navigating her way through the hooves, shaded by the ponies' tummies. Sweetie Belle turned around corners after corners. She ran straight into the suitcases that blocked her way to the platform. She bounced off of a few sitting flanks, thanking Luna she was not there earlier to be crushed underneath that excess pressure.
Sweetie Belle seemed lost in the twisting labyrinth of monolithic hooves, when at last, she spotted light peering through the hooves of a filly. Sweetie Belle galloped under a few ponies, past the filly's hooves until finally, she made it. The tiny unicorn gasped with awe as she saw the platform, the edge of the train station where the floor was painted yellow, a caution to those who want to attempt a dumb jump over the edge and fall on the train tracks.
And speaking of trains, the next one destined for Canterlot was arriving very shortly.
By Sweetie Belle's count, the Friendship Express would stop at the station in 3... 2... 1...
"WHOOOOOOOO! WHOO-WHOOOOOOO!"
Sweetie Belle jumped to the high volume of the train whistle's thundering blow. Coming in from the left was the Friendship Express, a steam locomotive pulled by four musclebound stallions all wearing blue-striped hats and aprons. The train screeched to a halt, which nearly shattered Sweetie Belle's eardrums to pieces. She was definitely gonna go deaf at an early middle age, what wit the noises and such.
The conductor opened his stopwatch, looked at the time, closed the watch and yelled, "All aboard!"
The doors opened.
As if a flood had passed through the gates, a crowd of ponies began to swarm, all of them forced off at the Ponyville train station as a detour or needing a place to stay, due to Canterlot being closed off to civilians only. Sweetie Belle's pupils shrank as a tempest of hooves began to fall on her. Sweetie Belle screamed as she frantically dodged every hoof that tried to crush her to oblivion, nearly being swept away by their tails into the paths of doom. One such stallion lifted his hoof to take another step, one that cornered Sweetie Belle to the point of becoming immobile with fear.
Sweetie Belle screamed.
The hoof came down.
Of course, the hoof would've come down on top of Sweetie Belle, had it not been for the gigantic filly she ran underneath. The filly's mother dragged her daughter away, the latter kicking her hind hooves away as she tried to back up from the swarm of tourists, not knowing that a pony her age was kicked forward by her hooves, bounced through the doors and under a seat as the doors closed. Sweetie Belle groaned with slight pain, but luckily rose up back to her hooves without further injury.
As she looked around, Sweetie Belle saw herself under a cot, all arranged in a row running along the aisles of ivory carpeting. Her ground was a hardwood floor, only painted green instead of the natural wood color. Everywhere she looked, Sweetie Belle saw different ponies lying on the cots, consisting of a few regal crystal ponies, a couple of royals from Saddle Arabia and an elderly zebra mare.
At that moment, Sweetie Belle realized where she was.
She was finally on the Friendship Express to Canterlot.
After hours of turmoil, stomachs and giant hooves nearly crashing down on her, Sweetie Belle was finally on the Friendship Express, the same train that would lead her to the end of her troubling days.
Next stop, Canterlot and Princess Twilight Sparkle.
====
What Sweetie Belle failed to notice, during the ruckus of crowded hooves threatening to end her short existence was a certain group of ponies, covered in mud, burns and bruises. The smell of the swamp gas nearly drove everypony mad, some of them gagging from the smell, others keeping their distances whilst holding their noses together. One such mare had spent the entire ride, deadpanning and arms crossed as her search for Sweetie Belle came up zilch and zero. Her friends weren't successful in their find, either, which nearly drove Rarity over the wall.
Their search led Rarity and her friends to the Cajun pony swamp, asking the locals for any sign of Sweetie belle, all receiving a solemn shake of their heads. Pinkie Pie and Applejack seemed to enjoy the trip; they were discussing with some of the locals how distantly related they were as cousins, while Rainbow Dash hid her shameful self from everypony, not wanting them to see the place where her fur and Cutie Mark was shaved off trying to escape the Ursa Minor.
When they disembarked from the train, Rarity felt a flurry of emotions twist inside her: anger, sadness, anxiety, stress. Not even Applejack's honesty and reassurance could calm her down, what with the thoughts of losing Sweetie Belle tormenting her mind. Sweetie Belle was nowhere to be seen. Rarity eventually had to suck it up and, when she could get the chance, tell her parents about her sister's disappearance.
Though, much of her relief waved upon her as she saw Fluttershy hovering above the ground.
"Fluttershy!"
The cream-yellow pegasus looked up from her gaze and saw a teary-eyed Rarity canter towards her, her kindness instincts acting on instinct. Fluttershy opened her arms and Rarity rushed into her friend's gentle hold, sobbing into her chest as the tears began to ruin her mascara. A weave of black flowed down her cheeks and a gentle hoof stroked the unicorn's mane, all while Fluttershy gave her comforting reassurance.
"Oh, Fluttershy! Thank goodness we found you!" Rarity sobbed. "Oh, it's so horrible, darling, just horrible! My one and only sister id gone! I barged into her room as she was performing a teleporting spell, and now she's gone!" Rarity flung her head back into Fluttershy's chest while the latter continued to stroke her mane, moving on to patting her back. "I've looked everywhere! I've looked in my house, around Ponyville, even in the Everfree Forest and the Flame Geyser Swamp! But we can't find her-her-her-herrrrr!"
Fluttershy shushed her distressed friend, smiling. "Rarity, its alright. Sweetie Belle's alive, I've seen her."
Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie gasped, but none as shocked as Rarity. She broke free from her hug and looked deep into Fluttershy's eyes, gazing at her like a psychotic mare. "Y-You've seen Sweetie Belle!? Where!? Where is she!?"
"Umm... Rarity, I think you need to calm down first before..."
"Keep calm!? How can I keep calm when you've finally found my baby sister!?" Rarity dropped Fluttershy and raised both hooves at the side of her mouth, like she was speaking through a megaphone. "SWEETIE BELLE, PLEASE COME OUT, LITTLE SISTER! I'M SORRY I DISRUPTED YOUR SPELL! I'M SORRY I NEVER BOTHERED TO GO TO FLUTTERSHY'S PLACE! PLEASE, BABY SISTER, COME OUT AND SEE ME!"
"Rarity!"
The five mares turned and saw Apple Bloom and Scootaloo riding towards them using the scooter and the wagon hitched to the back. Scootaloo veered her scooter to a halt, creating a skid line in the dirt before she and Apple Bloom took their helmets off and ran towards their sisters. "Apple Bloom! What in tarnation are ya doin' here!?" Applejack scolded, her eyes narrowed with disappointment. "I told ya ta stay at the farm unless Sweetie Belle found her way back! Now yer gonna get it, missy!"
"Hold on, Applejack, Scoots an' I have somethin' ta say!" Apple Bloom piped.
"Yeah! We've both seen Sweetie Belle, too!" Scootaloo added before being grabbed at her arm pits and brought to Rarity's face.
"WHERE! WHERE HAVE YOU THREE SEEN HER!?"
"Hey, calm down, Rarity! That's no reason to go all-out on the little squirts!" Rainbow Dash shouted, grabbing Scootaloo from the unicorn's clutches and into hers.
Pinkie Pie nodded. "Yeah! I mean, it's not like they're not gonna say they didn't see Sweetie Belle who must've been shrunk down to an itty-bitty pea size and she's trying to go to Canterlot to see if she could get Twilight to magically restore her back to filly size so we could all live happily ever after except when she gets stomped on, sat on and swallowed up like a little bug along the way!"
The mares looked at Pinkie Pie blankly.
The pink pony raised an eyebrow in response. "What?"
Suddenly, Rarity began to giggle softly, each giggle turning into a fit of laughter, which followed with an unlady-like cackle escaping her lungs. The cackle attracted the attention of ponies around them, all looking at Rarity with confusion before shrugging off and getting on with their lives. When the final giggle was released and the tear wiped away from her eyes, Rarity cleared her throat, expunging any remaining giggles trapped in her windpipes.
"Oh, don't be silly, Pinkie Pie," Rarity said, waving her hoof down skeptically. "There's no way that could've happened to Sweetie Belle, right? Right?"
Rarity continued to stressfully giggle, turning to the two Cutie Mark Crusaders and the Element of Kindness all looking at her with solemn stares. Rarity moved her eyes back and forth from Fluttershy to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, tiny trickles of sweat pouring from her head as she tried to debunk the supposed joke. A lump in her throat being swallowed, Rarity turned to the only mare who knew the answer and how she could deliver it in her state.
"Fluttershy, what happened to Sweetie Belle?"
Fluttershy gently fluttered to Rarity, gently clutching her hoof as she led her back to the Carousel Boutique, the mares and the fillies following closely behind.
"Rarity, there's something you have to know. But first, let's get you settled back at your home."