For what seemed like hours, the six shrunken ponies walked along the dense, jungle-like landscape of the grass. But when they heard the clock tower chime noon, they realized they had only been walking for five minutes.
Twilight paused, and then stopped. "You guys...do you hear that?"
"Hear what, darling?" Rarity turned around.
"It's not...something...that could eat or crush us...is it?" Fluttershy squeaked.
"I don't know..." Rainbow Dash frowned. "What'd you hear, Twilight?"
"Tell us please, Sugarcube." Applejack prompted.
"What is it, Twilight?! What'd you hear?!" Pinkie bounced in place, excited and frightened, though it was hard to tell on the latter.
"I think it was...singing!" Twilight blinked, and looked ahead of them. "Look!"
An enormous, to them, little Unicorn filly was passing them. The white coat, then the soft pink and purple mane and tail curled at the ends, revealed to be none other than Sweetie Belle. The little filly then sat down nearby on the grass, giggling as she peered through her saddlebags. She was also the source of the singing.
"It's Sweetie Belle!" Rarity cried. "Oh, my darling sister!! I must reach her at once!"
"Wait, I have an idea!" Twilight said.
"What are you thinking of, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash cocked her head to one side.
"Rainbow Dash, we'll need you to fly up to Sweetie Belle's ear and tell her what happened! Then she can help us out!" Twilight said.
"NO!" Fluttershy yelled, surprising everypony. "We are NOT having the girls go through the Everfree Forest! Not after what happened before..."
"BEFORE?!!?" Rarity cried, her eyes going wide upon hearing Fluttershy's statement. It did not sit well with her in the least. "What?!?!"
"Never mind! No no, I wasn't going to suggest that." Twilight assured. "No, we're going to have her to take us to somepony who can bring us to the forest!"
"...I don't know if that'd work, Twilight." Rainbow Dash hovered above the ground, forelegs crossed. "See, me and Fluttershy watched this movie, where these fillies and colts got shrunk by their dad's shrink ray, and the parents couldn't hear them, even if they were right above them."
Twilight raised an eyebrow for a moment, but then shook her head. "That's true...I suppose it would be hard...but even if you went even IN her ear, just a little?"
Before she could go on, this was when things were turned right to Fluttershy, as both Applejack and Rarity were now barring on her with surprise and stern anger. Everypony grew quiet, especially since the tension in the air was now so thick, as if you could slice with with scissors, it made them all uneasy, but knew they could not avoid it.
"Fluttershy, what d'ya mean, not after what happened b'fore?" Applejack stared at the timid Pegasus. "Ya best tell me what happened right now. Ah don' like ta have no secrets where mah little Apple Bloom's involved."
Fluttershy lowered down to the ground, her eyes full of tears and shame. "When I was looking after them for the first time...they snuck off into the Everfree Forest while I was sleeping. ...I went after them...and they nearly got attacked by a cockatrice...."
"WHAT?!" Rarity screeched in shock. "My darling Sweetie Belle, nearly turned to stone?! Why did you never tell me?!"
"I...I was...it was all over...I didn't want to worry you..." Fluttershy whimpered, now cowering away from her.
Rarity was fuming, her eyes narrowing dangerously. It was a wonder someone so ladylike could have gotten that intense. "WORRY me?!?!! Well, you certainly did a good job of that until now!"
"Fluttershy, Ah don't ever wanna hear of you keepin' a secret from me like that again, y'hear?" Applejack snapped, her eyes hard. "Mah little Apple Bloom could'a been turned ta stone, an' Ah ain't never would'a known it!"
"Hey, take it easy, AJ! It's not Fluttershy's fault!" Rainbow Dash stood defensively in front of the cowering Pegasus. "It's not like she TOLD the squirts to go trotting off into the Everfree Forest! They did it on their own! You should know how they are!"
"Be that as it may, she still should have told us," Rarity's tone was cold, but calm. "I would still have wanted to know."
"I...I'm very sorry...I should have told you both...you're right..." Fluttersy managed to look up a bit, toward Rainbow Dash, and then the other two upset ponies. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before...but if by chance anything should happen again, I promise you I will tell you....."
Rarity sighed, nodding. "All right. I forgive you, Fluttershy. ...Just please don't ever scare me like this again...I couldn't bear it if something happened to the girls. Please, I don't want to have to feel I can't trust you with Sweetie Belle."
"Same goes fer me, Sugarcube." Applejack nodded, agreeing with Rarity. "Yer cottage is one of Apple Bloom's fav'rite places ta visit, an' Ah don' wanna have ta feel like Ah cain't trust y'all ta take care of mah li'l sister, unnerstand?"
"Of course," Fluttershy murmured with a nod, still looking ashamed. "I understand, and I promise never to withhold information such as that ever again. You deserve to know what happens when it comes to your sisters and Scootaloo."
"Thank you, dear," Rarity looked a bit relieved. She looked forlornly toward her sister, and then sighed. Getting her attention was going to be useless at this point, considering their size. "Well, I suppose we must be going then."
"I'm glad you girls managed to settle this." Twilight smiled a bit. "I suppose that would make a great letter to the Princess..."
As they went along, Fluttershy whispered to Rainbow Dash, "Thank you...for sticking up for me...but they were right to be upset with me."
"I know." Rainbow Dash whispered back to Fluttershy. "But they didn't have to be so harsh about it. Like I said, you didn't tell the squirts to go wandering off into the Everfree Forest, did you?"
Fluttershy shook her head. "Oh, no. But..they had been insisting on it almost all evening...and when I fell asleep, then realized it was too quiet...I knew they had gone. ...One of my chickens went into the forest, so they went after it."
"So that's what happened?" Rainbow Dash blinked. "I'd never heard the story at all, so I didn't even know."
"Oh, no? ...It must never have come up..." Fluttershy said sheepishly. "Well, I went after them in the forest, and then I found Twilight...but she was turned to stone. That's how I knew there was a cockatrice on the loose. The girls found Elizabeak, but the cockatrice as well! But thankfully, I managed to scare it off by...well, staring it down. It tried turning me to stone, but I managed to stop it."
"So you used The Stare on the cockatrice, huh?" Rainbow Dash smirked, nudging Fluttershy in the ribs, lightly. "You can be pretty intimidating when you want to be, pal."
"Well, that young man was turning others to stone, and I didn't appreciate that." Fluttershy blushed, gigging.
"Heh! That's my gal, always putting the creatures in their places!" Rainbow chuckled, throwing a foreleg around her shoulders. "And now including Angel!"
"Well, I've learned my lesson with him..." Fluttershy smiled.
"Good thing, too." Rainbow Dash smirked. "It was beginning to seem like Angel was the master and you were the pet! No offense, though."
"None taken." Fluttershy assured with a smile. "You were right, I had been too nice and too lenient with him. But I'm thankful things have worked out better now."
Both mares shared a quiet moment, before their attention was brought back to their friends.
"Oooh, oooh! What about Winona?!" Pinkie suddenly piped up. "I saw the movie that Dashie was talking about too, and they got their doggie to bring them to where they needed to go!"
"Well Ah don't know..." Applejack frowned. "Then again, Winona, bein' a dog, has extra sensitive hearin' and smell, Ah guess it'd be worth a try. ...Well, shoot! That means we gotta go to Sweet Apple Acres! An' that's mighty far from here an' the Everfree Forest! We'd have to get somepony ta bring her here." Applejack frowned a bit.
"What about your new farmpony?" Pinkie suggested with an excited grin. "She could bring Winona, couldn't she?!"
"...True, she could..." Applejack mused. "Ah suppose. but we gotta find her, first!"
"So let's go find her!!! Come on, everypony!!!" Pinkie called out, already bouncing away from the other ponies.
"Ah sure hope this'll be easier than it sounds..." Applejack muttered.
"Well, if she can help us, I guess it's worth a try! But the question is, where is she?" Twilight wondered out loud.
"'Bout this time, she should be workin' the fields." Applejack said thoughtfully. "'Course, Ah think t'day Big Mac an' Ah gave 'er a day off, so she might be somewhere 'round Ponyville."
"Then let's start looking!" Pinkie said.
"I hope so....it might take a while to find her, since everything is much bigger than us now. It'll take us hours to cover any ground, but I thnk we can do it." Twilight said, trying to be optimistic.
"Oh, I do hope I remembered to keep my dear Opal inside..." Rarity wondered out loud.
"Why?" Pinkie blinked at the fashionista Unicorn. "Would it be a bad thing to have Opal outside?"
"Considerin' we're no bigger'n the size of 'er toy mouse, Ah'd say so." Applejack pointed out.
"Worse, we're smaller than it, as well." Twilight swallowed hard.
"Indeed, so I do think it best if we try to avoid going near the shop for now." Rarity confirmed.
"Oooh, you're right, that would be bad! Badder than bad!" Pinkie chattered nervously. "Good idea to avoid the dress shop, then!"
"Eeyup." Applejack nodded. "C'mon, everypony. Let's get on over ta town square. She might be 'round there, somewhere."
"Right." Twilight nodded, and turned to Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie, do you feel anything at all from your Pinkie Sense?"
"Mmmm..." Pinkie stood still for a moment, unblinking. "Nope! Nothing, Twilight! Why?"
"Okay, just making sure." Twilight said in relief.
...Until she noticed her tail twitching.
"Oh no, your tail's twitching! That means something's going to fall!" Twilight realized.
"Twitchy tail?" Pinkie blinked, and then saw that her tail was twitching. "Hurry, everypony! Take cover!"
They did, keeping their eyes skyward for anything that was going to fall.
A huge, squarely-shaped dark shadow fell over them then, to which they all ducked.
Something fell over the grass, but didn't reach them, due to the blades being high up and supporting the object enough, but it did shade them and obscure the path. When they looked up, with what little light there was, they could see it was an envelope.
"An envelope!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Must be that feather-brain Derpy delivering the mail." Rainbow Dash muttered, staring at the giant envelope. "She never gets it in the mailbox."
"Phew! It was just an envelope!" Pinkie smiled. But then her tail began twitching again. "Uh-oh! Twitch-a twitch!"
"Again?! Take cover, everypony!" Twilight yelled, ducking behind a small rock.
The others all took cover in the taller grass, as a large, oddly-shaped object fell to the ground, crumbling apart upon landing. There was a light tremor, but it soon died down as the item settled. When everypony managed to feast their eyes on what fell, they came upon something huge, broken...and smelled very nice, like blueberries and oats.
"What IS that? Pinkie Pie, it seems to smell of food...can you identify it?" Rarity said to the confectioner pony.
"Okey-dokey lokie!" Pinkie chirped, bouncing over to the massive fallen object. She took a tentative sniff, before breaking a piece of it off with her hoof and nibbling on it. After a moment, her eyes lit up. "It's a muffin! Blueberry, to be exact! Yummy!"
"A muffin?" Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "I guess it's no surprise Derpy would keep a muffin in her saddlebag. It's all she ever eats! At least from what I've seen, anyway."
Twilight looked sheepish as her stomach rumbled. "Well, I AM hungry... maybe we could take a few bites."
Fluttershy was already ahead of them, taking a few bites of what looked like a large piece of it that landed near her.
"A little hungry, pal?" Rainbow Dash laughed, biting off on a piece that had broken off near her.
"Yes..." Fluttershy looked sheepish, giggling a little. "It has been a while, I suppose I can't help it..."
"Can't say I blame you! This is awesome, as always!" Rainbow grinned, nodding in agreement with the others.
"Well, I suppose we could..." Rarity levitated a piece that hadn't fallen to the ground and ate it. "Mm! Simply divine! I believe she bought it from Sugarcube Corner!"
"Of course it's from Sugarcube Corner, silly!" Pinkie grinned. "I remember baking these and then selling her a few this morning! She always stops for a muffin before starting her mailmare's rounds!"
"Mmm-mmm! Ah reckon this was made with Flower Valley berries!" Applejack noted, eating off another large piece that had broken off and landed on the ground.
"Ah, just as I thought!" Rarity nodded with approval. "Well darling, just as always, amazing and quite delectable!"
"It sure is good!" Twilight agreed, levitating another piece toward her. "It'll be good for us to eat a bit before we continue."
"Thank you!!!" Pinkie beamed with pride, biting into a piece of the muffin, herself. "Yummy in my tummy!!! Mmm-mmm!!!"
They continued eating the muffin, filling their tummies with some much-needed nourishment. Considering it was so huge compared to them, it was no wonder there was more than enough for all of them. It would even last them for a day or two if they let it at this size!
Twilight paused a moment, considering an idea. She turned to Applejack. "I think I have an idea! Can you bring down some blades of the grass?"
"Sure thang, Twi!" Applejack winked, producing a rope and twirling a lasso with her mouth. She threw the rope, catching it on a few tall blades of grass. "Good 'nuff fer ya?"
"What do you need grass for, Twilight?" Pinkie blinked at the Element of Magic with curiosity.
"With some of the thicker blades...then a few thin ones..." Twilight's magic manipulated the blades of grass just so, twisting them and forming them, then using some bits of leaves, along again with some thin grass blades. Once finished, she showed them the prototype. It was a makeshift saddlebag.
"So that we'll be able to carry any rations we can find!" Twilight explained.
"Hey, not bad Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said with a grin. "There's more to you than just being an egghead, isn't there?"
"Impressive, Twi!" Applejack nodded her approval. "Who'da thought ya'd know how ta make an improvised saddlebag?"
"Well, when I was a filly, Cadance took me camping for a weekend in the mountains a few times, and she came to teach me some basic survival tips when you're roughing it." Twilight explained. "So I'll make one for each of you and then we'll be on our way!"
"Oh, how wonderful..." Fluttershy smiled. "This will surely help..."
"Indeed, darling! Surely one of us must know advice such as that!" Rarity agreed.
"Weeelll, doggie! Seems yer foalsitter was somethin' else, Sugarcube!" Applejack remarked. She lassoed more grass blades and pulled them down so Twilight could use them.
"And here, I'd have thought that's something you'd learn from your brother!" Rainbow Dash grinned, impressed by the Unicorn's knowledge of survival skills.
"That's super-duper-ultra-extra-coolie, Twilight!" Pinkie declared, bouncing all around in excitement.
"She did learn quite a bit of it from my brother, but she knew pretty well on her own too! Shining Armor wanted to teach me, but Cadance just about begged him and my parents to let her do it, and so here we are!" Twilight giggled at the memories. She then got to work once more on making the makeshift saddlebags.
"I only learned a thing or two after I discovered the ground." Fluttershy confessed. "But it was wonderful you had somepony to teach you, Twilight."
"You're lucky you had an awesome brother AND an awesome foalsitter, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash agreed.
"Yeah, totally! I wish my sisters could be that kind of awesome!" Pinkie smiled.
"Don't be silly, you guys, you all had ponies in your lives who were and are wonderful in their own ways." Twilight smiled. "Sure, I was lucky having a brother and foalsitter like Shining Armor and Cadance, but of course you guys must've been lucky, too."
"I was not quite as fortunate, but I do believe to have hopefully been one to Sweetie Belle before I left home!" Rarity beamed.
"I never really had anypony teach me things....well...almost..." Fluttershy's eyes drifted discreetly to Rainbow Dash.
"Ah had mah big brother showin' me the ropes of runnin' the farm." Applejack grinned. "An' Ah'm doin' mah best ta teach Apple Bloom how ta run thangs, too!"
"She may not be my sister, but that squirt Scootaloo looks up to me, so I guess that's close enough." Rainbow Dash smirked, winking discreetly at Fluttershy.
"You see? And even so, you can all still be that special pony to somepony else!" Twilight smiled.
"Quite true, dear, I for one still try to be one to Sweetie Belle!" Rarity smiled.
"An' Ah always try ta be there fer mah li'l Apple Bloom!" Applejack winked and smiled.
"That's wonderful!" Twilight beamed. She looked down at her work, managing to have created five more makeshift saddlebags. "There we go! They're all done! Let's saddle up and we'll keep going, everypony!"
The girls all nodded in agreement, each taking a makeshift saddlebag and strapping them onto their backs.
"All right, so let's take some bits of the muffin that we can hold for later. It's not much, but it'll help." Twilight said, gathering some pieces of the muffin.
"It certainly will help, not leaving us to fend for what little we could achieve with how small we are!" Rarity lamented, gathering some pieces of the muffin with her magic.
"It's a great idea, at least we'll be able to ration some food." Fluttershy said.
"Yeah, 'cause who knows where we'll find something to eat that we CAN actually eat!" Rainbow Dash agreed, gathering up some pieces of the muffin.
"Sure 'nuff!" Applejack nodded, collecting some pieces of muffin also.
"Yupperroonie!" Pinkie nodded, doing the same as the other girls.
Once they gathered some bits of the muffin into their saddlebags, the group continued on their trek into Ponyville. It was quite a timely journey, especially with how little they had in terms of speed, but they managed. Despite their brave faces, it was becoming more and more apparent that this was indeed going to take a while before they would change back to their normal sizes. Though rather than mope about it, they knew that they had to do something in order to get this to work out.
Twilight walked alongside closest to Rarity, sometimes casting wary glances toward the other Unicorn. She worried about her a little more, considering she wasn't the kind of pony who enjoyed getting dirty or in messy situations. But, she was proven time and time again that Rarity could hold her own and overcome her peeves in order to come through for her friends. She had faith in her, despite her worry.
At the same time, she worried for everypony, hoping that this wouldn't take a huge toll on them ever so great. Her stomach churned nervously, but she kept it down, keeping her composure as much as possible.
Applejack trotted alongside Pinkie Pie, mildly surprised that the pink party pony was actually relatively calm during all of this. She'd half expected her to be frantic and galloping around out of control. But instead, Pinkie was quite composed, and acting surprisingly rational about the whole ordeal.
It was a pleasant change, to say the least.
Rarity felt nervous, especially since she was completely out of her element with this entire thing going on. But then again, what adventure with her friends didn't somehow bring her out of her element? She just hoped she would be able to brave the dangers okay. The fashionista Unicorn noticed Twilight's wary glances toward her, and instead smiled in reassurance. She was going to be just fine, that much she hoped to assure everypony.
At least Twilight, the very one who seemed to hold them all together, was calm as could be and using whatever resources available to help them out. She knew she could count on her, they all could.
But Rarity still hoped they would return to their normals size soon. Her worries for her shop, her sister, and her designing had begun to eat at her mind relentlessly.
On the outside, Pinkie Pie looked calm, cool and collected. But on the inside, she was frantic! How had this even happened?! She knew Twilight couldn't be clumsy with a spell, she was always so careful! Whatever the reason, she'd decided to brave it with a smile on her face, much like she tackled any situation she and the other girls occasionally found themselves tangled up in.
Besides, this was like a whole new adventure! Pinkie had never seen the world from the point of view of an insect. She thought it'd be fun, and at the same time, exciting! She bounced alongside Applejack, humming a cheery little tune to herself, to keep her spirits uplifted.
Fluttershy, as per usual, was scared out of her mind. Being the size of a very small insect was not helping any, either. The way the blades of grass rose above them like trees was just about terrifying to her, especially since everything and everypony around them were now big enough to crush them to death. She wasn't even sure she wanted to run into one of her animal friends or an insect...the fear of getting eaten alive or crushed by them was terrifying to her. But she knew she couldn't just back down and cower away like a mouse. She had to endure this, for herself, for her friends, for her animal friends if she ever wanted to get big again.
A mosquito, now slightly bigger than them, flew by her, making her squeak in fright, nearly freezing her in her tracks. But then she felt a gentle nuzzle along her snout, which immediately relaxed her.
Rainbow Dash flew alongside Fluttershy, going at a mild pace so her timid best friend could keep up. As much as she chided the creamy-yellow Pegasus about being so timid and lacking confidence, she realized, in certain situations, it may not actually be such a bad thing.
Hearing a terrified squeak from the pink-maned animal lover, Rainbow nuzzled her gently in reassurance, even giving her snout a little lick to calm her down and let her know that everything would be all right.
A little blush coated Fluttershy's cheeks, but she relaxed all the more and nuzzled back in a way to thank her.
Twilight, noticing as she looked up at them, smiled at the sight. So did Rarity, who even giggled very silently in approval.
Applejack nudged Pinkie in the side, nodding to the two Pegasi. Both Earth ponies giggled, winking to each other knowingly.
"Do you guys see anything up ahead? Where are we at?" Twilight called up to them.
Snapping out of her mild lovesick stupor, Fluttershy cleared her throat and looked ahead of them. She could see they were some ways away from the town plaza, it seemed. "Um...not far off from town...from the plaza..."
"Well, we'd better be careful! It's bound to be swarming with ponies at this hour!" Rainbow realized.
"How shall we take cover?" Rarity voiced her concern aloud.
"We could keep closer to the walls of buildings...but then that also means having to be careful of doors, especially since Pinkie's Pinkie Sense will tell us about opening doors...but we wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time at this size." Twilight mentioned.
"That's true, ain't it?" Applejack nodded. "Pinkie, keep that there Pinkie Sense sharp, y'hear?"
"Okey-dokey lokie!" Pinkie nodded.
"I guess it could be worse...we could be near the reservoir on Tornado Day." Twilight quipped.
"...True..." Fluttershy murmured, a little smile crossing her features. But then faded into a look of fear. "Oh no! Wind!"
"What? What do you mean, wind?" Rarity queried.
"Rainbow...didn't the rest of the weather patrol schedule a very windy afternoon?" Fluttershy asked in fear, her eyes wide.
"Oh, feathers! I completely forgot about that!" Rainbow Dash nodded, her expression equally fearful. "And I should've remembered, because I was supposed to lead them off!"
"No time ta worry 'bout that now, Rainbow! We gotta find us some shelter!" Applejack exclaimed.
"Oh no! Too late!" Pinkie cried, looking up at the sky.
"What?" Twilight now looked up, and could see a team of the weather patrol Pegasi were already setting forth the strong winds. "Oh no! Hurry, everypony, we have to try to find cover somehow!"
It was indeed too late, considering the wind currents were already growing stronger by the second. Then again, considering the size of the six ponies, they felt as if they were standing amidst a powerful tornado. All that was missing for it all was the town's warning siren going off.
Knocked back by the force, Fluttershy screamed in fear and grabbed onto Rainbow Dash tightly, despite that it did her no good for support. If anything, she didn't want to be blown away all by herself.
"TWILIGHT!!" Rarity now grabbed onto Twilight's tail tightly with her teeth.
"AAAAAIIIIIEEEEE!!!!! AAAAAPPLEJAAAAACK!!!!!" Pinkie cried out as she was swept up by the powerful currents.
"HOLD ON, PINKIE!!!!!" Applejack cried, already twirling her lasso and tossing it around the pink Earth Pony.
"HOLD ON TIGHT, FLUTTERSHY!!!!!" Rainbow Dash shouted over the wind, hanging onto her fellow Pegasus.
But it was too late. The six of them were all swept up like dust in the breeze all around them, lifting them into the air and sweeping them across the land. For a time, they went within the same direction, but it wasn't long before the wind currents carried them off away from each other in pairs. Rarity and Twilight, with the former holding onto the latter's tail ended up going one way. Applejack, holding Pinkie Pie in her lasso, went another way. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, holding each other, were going another way, both of them already airborne as it was.