Starlight was a foal again.
Her mind couldn't wrap around this truth. She inspected her tiny hooves several times while the mare named Trixie got scolded to no end by the zebra named Zecora. On and on their conversation went with how, 'irresponsible Trixie had been,' to which the mare responded with, 'it wasn't her fault'. Eventually the conversation boiled down to Trixie having to take Starlight and find out where she came from. All the while, Starlight wondered about what this thing called poison joke was the mares kept talking about.
After a while, Zecora left, leaving the two unicorns alone in awkward silence.
The blue mare sat at the end of the room staring at Starlight. The mare now turned filly gripped the blankets and held them tightly around herself. Several times the two averted their gazes from the other only to turn back to meet eye to eye again and turn away. Tired of this exchange, Trixie walked over to the bed and sat beside the filly, giving her a smile. The filly smiled weakly back, feeling very small and vulnerable due to her tiny size.
"So, Starlight was it?"
"Mmhmm."
"Where are you from? Where are your parents?"
The little unicorn responded with tears in her eyes and a low choked sob. "My-m-my parents are dead. *Sniff*."
She tried hard not to cry, but, for some reason, she felt the urge to cry. She got over her parents' deaths long ago but now, for whatever reasons, she was finding it difficult to keep her emotions in check. It probably had to do with her being a filly again, she concluded in her mind. Trixie offered her a warm hug, pulling the pink filly close and holding onto her like she was the last pony on the planet.
"Don't cry little one. I don't have parents either," Trixie admitted openly.
"*Sniff* "Did your parents die too?"
"No," the mare sighed, and then pulled a picture out from under her hat and held it close so Starlight could read it, "I was disowned by my parents, or rather my father. My mother was to afraid of him to speak against him."
"That's awful."
"Yeah it is. But don't worry child, you have Trixie now. Do you have a home to return to? Perhaps you live in an orphanage?" Trixie asked trying to be sensitive to the filly.
Star's ears perked up at her comment, "Actually I live in Ponyville Castle."
Trixie raised an eyebrow in shock. "You do?"
"Yeah! I'm the Princess' student! Starlight Glimmer, student of friendship under Twilight Sparkle!" The filly proclaimed proudly, wiping her tears away.
This news seemed to shock Trixie, "You have a very powerful friends filly."
"Actually, I'm a grown mare," the filly claimed.
Trixie thought long and hard about this claim, the gears in her head turned and turned. Then it all clicked. The poison joke pollen she had collected. Somehow this poison joke must have made Starlight into a filly when she ran into her cart. Now the mare was a filly and she could use this to her advantage. Her reputation was still in shambles from her taking over Ponyville. Now she had been given a golden chance to jump start everything by returning Princess Twilight's student to her. It was the perfect plan to get her hooves in the door!
Proud of herself, Trixie jumped off the bed and pulled off the sheets revealing Starlight, who tried covering herself again. The azure unicorn rolled her eyes and lifted the filly up with her magic and placed the tiny pony on her back. Leaving her cape and hat on a coat stand, Trixie marched proudly outside while Starlight whimpered, trying to bury herself in Trixie's mane.
This irritated the older mare, "Stop that nonsense would you?!"
"Sorry! I'm just scared. The ponies here are-"
"Don't worry, for you have the great and powerful Trixie at your side!" the mare boasted with her inflated ego, "Nothing can go wrong-"
"Hey is that Trixie?!" a familiar voice called out.
Starlight immediately recognized the angry gruff voice, "Oh no..."
The azure unicorn looked around seeing a large yellow earth pony with emerald eyes and a puffy mane and tail. Her anvil cutie mark contrasted well to her strong, toned body, which was surprisingly curved from Trixie's point of view. She didn't recognize the mare, but had she noticed the terrified filly on her back she might have reconsidered trying what she did next.
"Greetings Ponyvillian! I am indeed Trixie Lulamoon. Who might you be?" the mare asked as nicely as possible. Starlight quivered on Trixie's back, curling up as small as she possibly could.
"Yeah I know who you are. And you're not welcome here," the voice of Amber Anvil called to her.
Trixie glowered at the mare lighting up her horn saying, "You wanna bet on that? Trixie does as she pleases, you foal!"
"You have no right to be here after everything you've done," Anvil called out to Trixie. She lifted her hoof and waved it mockingly at her. "What will you do? Bet you can't do anything on your own, since you're useless without some cursed amulet to assist you."
"Trixie needs no amulet to take on the likes of you!"
Not missing a beat, Trixie fired a stun spell at Anvil missing her as she side stepped. Now terrified, Starlight was shaking, making it hard for Trixie to concentrate. That's when it happened. In her irritated state Trixie couldn't hit the elusive mare and fueled by her anger she craned her neck staring back at the terrified filly with the most intense glare she could. Then Trixie felt something warm on her back. Before she knew it the terrified Starlight wet herself fully on the mares back and was lifted off quickly. Now visible to the world Starlight was helplessly hanging in the air while Trixie scolded her.
"Why?! WHY IN CELESTIA'S NAME DID YOU DO THAT STARLIGHT?!"
Now completely in tears Starlight covered her face with her hooves and cried feeling ashamed of herself. "I'm so-s-sorry. I didn't mean too."
Now aware of what was going on Amber Anvil looked at the filly floating above Trixie. It was so odd that she had the same look as Starlight Glimmer but she was clearly a foal. Way too young to be the same mare she was looking for. The resemblance was striking though. Then she thought back to what Trixie did with the age spell when she had the Alicorn Amulet and was sure she had done something similar to Starlight.
"How fortuitous."
The mare charged forward tackling Trixie while she was distracted by Starlight's accident. The impact sent all three of them to the floor. Trixie lost concentration and flung the tiny Starlight into the air. Instinctively Starlight used her magic and slowly hovered back to the ground but was exhausted by it. Her body seemed to regress dramatically in every way possible it seemed.
A few feet away, Trixie was half standing and half on the ground with Anvil on her back. The mare caught the unicorn off guard, but Trixie was surprisingly strong as the earth pony found out. The two quickly got up and charged head first into each other. Trixie's horn cut Anvil's forehead and she in return ended up breaking the unicorn's nose from the impact.
Starlight took the opportunity to run away from the fight, having succumbed to her childish fear. She ran down the narrow alley ways and hid among several boxes and crates. She hid under a tiny box that was just her size and curled into a ball covering her face with her tail. Shivering under she heard the sounds of hoof steps running close then stopping. She lifted her box just enough to peek under it and saw Trixie's hooves and tail. She smiled and was about to throw the box off when the unicorns next words caught her off guard.
"Where is that filly? She's my ticket to getting a better life."
"Huh?" stopping mid motion, Starlight let what was said sink in.
The sounds of shuffling boxes and crates echoed in the alley she hid in and all Starlight did was listen while Trixie searched about, missing the tiny box at her hooves.
"Where is the little brat? Trixie needs to find her so she can return her to Twilight and get rewarded for her services."
Hearing this the little filly had a fresh set of tears in her eyes. She thought Trixie was a nice pony, but all she wanted was to use her for her own ends. The shuffling stopped and Anvil's voice echoed down the alley making Starlight jump, but not enough to reveal her hiding spot.
"There she is! Get her!"
"Crud!"
The sounds of an angry mob of hooves and voices rang down the alley and as quickly as they came they were gone. Star used the horn to poke a set of holes in the box so she could use them a eye holes. She then poked a hole for her horn and slowly began tip-toeing back to the castle. Along the way she would occasionally stop as ponies passed by her or took notice of her. Many laughed at her, thinking she was so sneaky. A pair of ponies, Lyra and Bon Bon, watched her 'sneak' past them and giggled at the filly who thought she was cleverly sneaking past while whispering praise to herself.
"Oh Bon Bon, isn't that the cutest thing?" Lyra asked her friend.
"Oh yes. Were we ever that young?"
"Yes, we were."
The two laughed as Starlight's tiny box made a break for another alley where she bumped into a pony and stopped dead in her tracks.
"Sorry!" was all she said, trying to walk around the pony, not paying attention to who it was. The pony she ran into watched her round another corner and followed her until she come to a dead end.
Turning around, Starlight gasped to see the pony she bumped into had followed her and hid in her box, hoping the pony wouldn't notice her. The sound of heavy hooves clanked closer and closer and little Starlight could feel her body shake with fear. She was about to be exposed and nothing she could do would help. Desperately she tried powering her horn ready to blast the pony back with her signature barrier expanding spell. Firing it once the pony was close enough to her, all she only managed to rip the box apart and startled the large pony. Taking advantage of the distraction Starlight ran past the pony only to be grabbed by a large hoof and was lifted to face to face with, "Th-Thunderclap," the filly weakly smiled a the frowning mare.
"Starlight Glimmer?"
"Uh, hi?" the tiny unicorn waved weakly at her.
"What happened to you?" the mare asked in a worried tone. "The Princess has been looking for you. What happened?"
*Sniff* "Why do you care?" the filly asked.
"Hey! Just because I don't like you doesn't mean I want you to get hurt!" Thunderclap growled back at her, making Starlight squeak. "I've been looking for you since the mob showed up at the castle looking for you. Something about Roseluck getting her flowers ruined?"
"But that was an accident! I didn't ruin the roses on purpose!" Starlight yelled loudly hurting Thunderclaps ears. "I was walking and I ran into her. An accident!"
"I know Starlight Glimmer. Rose and her friends, as cute as she is, they're some of the most overly dramatic ponies I've ever known."
"Really? So, you're not mad?"
"Really. I can't stay mad at you when you're this cute." The guardsmare replied smiling to the filly. “Gosh she was cute when she was small,” the mare thought lifting her on her back. "Now come along, we need to get you back to the castle. The Princess will want to see you and your... condition."
Nodding, Starlight sat on the mares back and held onto her neck so she didn't fall off while they traveled back to the castle. For the first time since she awoke Starlight truly felt safe. Even if they had fought earlier, somehow Star knew that she was in good hooves with Thunderclap. Knowing this she rested her head on the mares neck and closed her eyes to rest, falling asleep as she did.