• Published 21st Jan 2019
  • 8,794 Views, 147 Comments

A Giant Adventure to Equestria - ThePinkedWonder



A young man, who is a fan of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, finds himself in Equestria. It's a huge world for him, in more ways than one: here, he's a bug-sized human.

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Chapter 4: Bonding With Twilight (rewritten)

Hiding me in her mane, Twilight Sparkle took me into her castle and headed to the room with the Cutie Map. She told me to hide in her mane, and she'd explain why later. It wasn't bad in there though. In fact, it felt good in her mane, and I was able to peek out a bit to see a little of what was going on while still staying safely hidden. But the vibrations from Twilight's hoofsteps really nailed down the fact that I was on a living being's head, making it also feel weird.

And Starlight Glimmer was right: Twilight's castle really is bigger on the inside than it seems on the outside. Especially if you're one-inch tall. The purple and blue crystal stalagmites in parts of walls and surrounding the doors to the castle of the castle looked even more impressive in person.

Once in the room with the Cutie Map, we saw Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Starlight waiting as they greeted Twilight. Seeing them as real beings, let alone as giants, felt so surreal and a bit scary. Despite being in Twilight's mane, I was still able to see more of the purple and blue crystal stalagmites that are on the walls and doors to the room. And on the ceiling, the trunk of what's left of the tree of the now-destroyed Golden Oak library, with blue, pink, and yellow lights hanging from its roots like a chandelier, was a sight!

Starlight ran up to Twilight, asking if she found anything out about some "missing magic". But Twilight said that she wanted to rest for a while, and asked if Starlight wanted to rest too.

Starlight lifted her head a bit, rolled her eyes up, then back down to Twilight. "That's okay, I can just hang out down here, Twilight." It didn't seem like Starlight wanted to waste a second for some reason.

"Oh, well...if you're not tired, Starlight, why you don't go kill some time by flying some of your kites?"

"I guess I could, but Maud's not around, and I've gotten used to flying kites with somepony."

As this was going on, the small (to Twilight) movements of her head, which felt like the movements you'd feel when a car turns to the left or right to me, made the hair in her mane rub against my face and tickled my nose, and I couldn't resist sneezing.

"Achoo!"

"Wait, what was that?" Rainbow said, and all six of them looked right at Twilight with a tighter gaze than before. Uh-oh.

"Oh, uh, that was just me!" Twilight pretended to sneeze in a deep voice. It was the worst fake sneeze I had ever heard! I couldn't help giggling.

"Did that come from you, Twilight?" Starlight came a bit closer to us. I stopped my giggling and completely hid in Twilight's mane so Starlight wouldn't see me. "That laugh sounded weird."

"Oh, It uh...did? Maybe I'm...uh...catching a cold?" Twilight stuttered. She was stuttering badly, making me chuckle.

"Okay, that didn't sound like you. What's going on?"

"Uh, I...I guess I'm more tired than I thought."

Twilight cleared her throat loudly, as if she were telling me "Quiet!!"

And it worked.

"All right, if you say so, and I guess I could see if Trixie wants to practice on her spells again."

"Oh yeah! You go do that! I'll get you when I'm done resting, all right?"

"Okay, I'll see you later, Twilight."

It was too risky for me to peek out, but it seemed like Twilight was pushing Starlight out the green door to the room.

As soon as Starlight was out the door, Twilight asked me to come out, and I did, slowly.

I waved a hand, too nervous to say anything. And everyone, uh, everypony, was pretty shocked seeing me, with their mouths open at the sight of who/what was on Twilight's head.



We introduced ourselves, and I pretended to know nothing about them. Then I told them what happened to me, but just like I did with Twilight, I left out the part about me already knowing about them and Equestria, or how.

With how we "met" Twilight thought I'd feel nervous on the floor, and she wasn't wrong. I'd gotten comfortable on her head, even if it still felt a bit weird, so I asked Twilight if she'd let me stay on her head for now. She told me that she'd be fine with letting me stay there for a while.

Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy more or less believed my story, but Applejack and Rainbow weren't completely buying it.

"I don't know, Twilight. His story sounds kinda fishy. How do we know that he's not up to somethin'?" Applejack got out of her chair, walked up close, and looked at me carefully.

"I'm not, I promise! Look at me! Why would I lie about this?" I spread my arms out, trying to show I'm harmless.

"Beats me, but I got a feeling that you know more than you say you do." Rainbow pointed a hoof at me but stayed in her chair.

Twilight jumped to my defense and said, "No, I think Eric's telling the truth. If I'm right, he's here because of the magic from the Nightmare Prevention Spell. When it 'vanished', it must have somehow leaked into his world and brought him here."

Pinkie got out of her chair to stretch her forelegs. "And my Pinkie Sense told me a visitor from another world would come!"

Rarity changed the subject and asked, "Wait, why didn't you want Starlight to see Eric, Twilight?"

"Remember how she kept blaming herself for the magic vanishing, Rarity?"

"Well, yes, but what does...oh, I get it." Rarity put her hoof on her cheek.

We all got it. Emotionally, Starlight isn't the toughest pony. If she's part of this "Nightmare Prevention Spell" Twilight was talking about, it's why I ended up in Equestria and so small...oh boy. She wouldn't take it well. No wonder Twilight didn't want her to see me.

Applejack gave Twilight a warning and explained, "Still, if yer gonna be helpin' Eric in here, ya can't just keep hidin' him from Starlight. You know how lyin' always makes things worse, Twi."

"I know, Applejack, but it won't be for long," Twilight replied. She sounded like she knew this wasn't a good idea, but just didn't know what else to do.

I felt the same way, so I decided to back Twilight up and told them, "I don't know anything about this 'Starlight', but it sounds like she's nice. I won't mind hiding if it'll help her not feel guilty."

"You're really okay with that, Eric?"

"Yeah, I'm sure, Princess Twilight," I assured. It suddenly felt like I should call Twilight "Princess Twilight" till she said that I don't need to.

But Applejack rolled her eyes and sighed, "Okay, if you two're sure about this."

"Oh, Eric, you are such a little sweetheart! When I leave, I shall make a custom-made hat, just for you, darling!" Rarity said, giving me a little wink. Heh, hearing Rarity call me "darling" and giving me a wink really made my face turn red.

"Thank you so much, Eric. Oh, and you can just call me 'Twilight' okay?"

Heh, and there it is! Didn't take Twilight too long to tell me that I can just call her "Twilight".

"Well, I guess we should let Twilight do her thing," Rainbow suggested, but gave me a glare. She still had doubts about me, and she wanted me to know it. I would have done it anyway, but that was one more big reason to stay on my good behavior.

"But if you need our help with something, let us know, Twilight," Fluttershy came close and looked right at me. "And if you need something, Eric, feel free to ask me, all right?

Both Twilight and I told Fluttershy, "okay," and they all left, leaving Twilight alone with me.



Before she did anything else, Twilight raised me off her head with her magic onto an arm of her chair to take another look at me very closely, again trying to figure out what I might be; being stared at by something so huge wasn't exactly comfortable. She soon noticed that I looked like the "beings" she met in the "human" world where Sunset Shimmer still lived, and she then remembered they were called "humans". It didn't click right away because I had a "real life" appearance far different than anything she'd never seen before.

Understandably, Twilight thought that maybe "Sunset's" world was where I came from. Of course, it wasn't, but I had to pretend to not know that and, for the time being, just go with whatever she thought was best and wait for her to figure out I wasn't from there on her own. It wasn't like I had many other options.

Twilight even tried to take me through the portal to "Sunset's" world, but for some reason, it wouldn't let me pass through. That sealed the deal for her that I came from a totally different world, it's truly because of the "Nightmare Prevention Spell", which she now explained to me in full. She thought that passing out earlier was a late effect it had on me, and it must have somehow been blocking me from going to "Sunset's" world.

She then thought that there was only one way she could get me back to wherever I came from: she'd try to come up with a "counterspell" to the Nightmare Prevention Spell. She thought that it could return me to my world if she used it on the magic in me correctly, or at least it could return me to my normal size here, given it was why I was so small. In fact, she even thought she could do it that same day. But because Starlight could have come back to the castle at any time, Twilight let me be on her head again, in case I'd need to quickly hide.

We went in her library in the castle, and with her magic, Twilight lifted a lot of books from the bookshelves to a brown table near it, sat down on a chair in front of it which faced away from the shelf. She then started one of her favorite things -- doing research and reading books -- to figure out how to do the "counterspell". She had to focus hard on reading, so she couldn't talk to me too much, though she did want to. However, the pony didn't just ignore me, and she also shrunk down some books with magic that she thought I might be interested to read, so I wouldn't get bored.

Boy, this was embarrassing, but I asked Twilight what to do if I needed to...go, since I was too small to use a...normal-sized toilet. She said she'd magically create a type of porta-potty for me if I needed it. And did I say that it was embarrassing to ask her that question?


After a while, when Twilight sat down one of the books she was holding with magic, she gave a sigh. She turned her head downwards a bit, but not enough for me to possibly slide off, though I would have slid onto her horn anyway. Before I could ask what was wrong, Twilight's horn glowed and I jumped from it happening unexpectedly. Next thing I knew, I felt myself become weightless and was levitated off Twilight's head, then floated slowly onto the middle of the table she was reading on. I lifted my head up to Twilight's, gulped at how huge she looked -- maybe a ten-story building -- but saw that her eyes were watery. Her ears were also drooped down and had a big frown on her lips.

"Eric, I should have told you sooner, but I am really sorry about this. I had no idea anything like this could happen when Starlight and I tried to do that spell, or I would've never tried to do it. I can’t imagine how nervous, if not scared, you must feel right now."

Should have known this was coming. Twilight’s the type that loves to help others, so knowing she caused something like this to happen to me likely hit her even harder than it would most.

I was never the type to hold grudges easily, and trying to stay mad at Twilight would not have done any good anyway. Plus, as well as knowing the kind of pony she is -- a good one -- I also needed her help. So, I just picked to say something to cheer her up, not start thinking she’s “worst pony” or something.

“It’s okay, Twilight, and things could be worse for me, I guess. Besides, I was thinking today was going to be nothing special. Was I wrong!” I admitted with a laugh at the end.

Twilight’s ears perked up and she gave a cute giggle. “I’m glad to hear that. Many in your place would be mad at me. But, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” I rubbed my hands. No reason why, other than nerves of still being so small.

“When I reached out my hoof to see if you were okay, did you scream?”

“Scream?” I set a hand on my cheek, but what she was talking about should have been obvious. I didn’t want to say that it was a scream she heard and why I did. However, I didn’t see a reason to hide it -- I was already hiding a lot from her -- so I chose to spill it.

I rubbed my neck and said, “Well...when you were reaching to me, I thought you were about to crush me and so I--”

Twilight gasped and her eyes widened. She pointed at herself and shouted, “What?! You truly thought I wanted to do something like that?! I would never!”

I jumped from her shout, my nerves and heartbeats going into overdrive. Being yelled at by a giant you just met will do that. Even if you knew who she was already. “Oh, w-well, I did, but I-I woke up like this, s-so I wasn’t--” I was so rattled, I lost my balance and fell on my face, but sprang right back to my feet. Add feeling embarrassed to that nervousness.

Twilight gasped and covered her mouth with her hooves. After a moment, at the same time I was springing back to my feet, she uncovered her mouth and more softly said, “Wait, why did I do that? It’s not like you could know everything about me just by seeing me one time, and it wasn't like I acted like something to not fear when I saw you. I wouldn’t do such a thing to even a bug, but it’s not like no pony would if they saw you on the ground and--” Twilight gasped and covered her mouth again.

Points for trying to stop herself, but Twilight had already said too much, making me both shiver and feel a big ‘ol sinking feeling in my stomach. She just had to confirm that while she wouldn’t, another pony might get ideas! Just what my paranoia needed. How I found myself stepping back even let Twilight see that she shook me up again.

“Oh, Celestia, I am not making things any less frightening for you, am I? I’m sorry!”

Her words calmed me and the ‘ol nerves down, but I hoped she wouldn’t keep feeding my paranoia that I might still end up under some pony’s hoof! I rubbed my hands again to help further relax me. “I-It’s fine. But...think you could not remind me how I could be...underhoof again, at least not until I’m back to normal size?

Twilight nodded and gave me a cute smile. “You got a deal. Although, even if a pony saw you and got too freaked out, it’s not like they’ll try to crush you like a bug if I’m around and I wou--”

Cue more shivers going down my back, cue Twilight gasping and covering her mouth again. This was NOT her best “Princess of Friendship” moment.

“Okay, not counting when I first saw you, that's three times I did something like that, and I am so sorry, Eric! Uh, how about I just do this instead to assure you’re safe with me?”

Twilight’s horn glowed and I again felt weightless. This time, I found myself being pulled toward Twilight’s chest with magic. Once there, she slowly wrapped a foreleg around me. I'll admit, I felt nervous when her huge foreleg was about to touch me, but it ended up being a gentle hug she gave me. I hugged her back...well as best as I could, with the huge size difference between us. The hair of Twilight's coat, which is much more visible in "person" than on TV, made the hug feel a little warmer than if she didn't have it.

That hug felt both really nice and yet really weird. Not only was there a giant pony wrapping one of her forelegs around me and hugging me to her, but she was Princess Twilight Sparkle! Heh, Twilight fans in my world would've been so jealous if they could have seen this!

I’d also MUCH rather her give me hugs than hear her go on about how I can so easily be crushed in my bug-sized shape.

After we got done, Twilight loosened her grip, lifted me with magic again, and raised me back on her head.

"By the way, I just thought of something," Twilight suddenly started, sounding a bit confused. "You were calling me 'Princess Twilight' earlier, but how did you already know I'm a princess? I never told you that."

Oops...that's right. Twilight only said that her name was Twilight Sparkle, but she didn't say she's a princess, so I shouldn't have already known that. I gasped and my mind raced to think of something.

"Oh, uh, I heard some ponies talking about you in the woods before you 'found' me and they were calling you 'Princess Twilight'."

"Oh. But how did you know what I looked--"

Before Twilight could grill me anymore, a voice called out, "Hey, Twilight, I'm back. Have you rested up yet?"

It was Starlight.

Twilight didn't have to tell me this time: I quickly ducked in her mane and I covered my nose, so it wouldn't tickle it again.

Not risking trying to peek out, I stayed still as Twilight replied, "Oh hey, Starlight. Yeah, I'm rested now. Sorry I didn't go look for you, I just wanted to get a head start on finding a counterspell for the Nightmare Prevention Spell."

"Wait, why do we need a counterspell, if we didn't find...wait. Did you find out where the magic was?!" Starlight shouted excitedly.

"No, not yet, but I thought we should prepare it for when we do find it."

Starlight's excitement dropped down after hearing that, but asked, "Oh, I see. What do we do now, Twilight?" She walked beside Twilight and pulled up a chair with her magic to sit down in. At least, I think Starlight did it, going by where her voice and hoofsteps came from, and by the sound of something being sat on the floor, like a chair, but I couldn't actually see this.

"Well, I found these books on the spells we'll need to combine for it, but it won't be easy as I thought it would be."

Twilight and Starlight went through book after book, talking about one hard-to-pronounce spell after another, for the next five hours. Twilight even seemed to forget that I was in her mane, and since I couldn't even read any of the books she suggested for me to read, I got so bored! But it was at least comfortable in her mane, though being in the mane of a giant pony, let alone it being Twilight Sparkle, still felt a bit weird.

But much worse, they were struggling to figure out a way to do the counterspell at all and I became worried. Up to that point, I just assumed Twilight could do it. I mean, she's Twilight Sparkle! She always figures this stuff out! If she couldn't, and I'd be stuck in Equestria for a long time, or even forever, at this size, what would happen to me? How would I adjust? Might animals try to eat me?! If I were at least half the height of a foal, I probably would've been more excited about being in Equestria. Or at least not had been so nervous. But being what felt like an inch tall here kinda killed the excitement.

And then there's Starlight. How long would I have to hide from her? Would we ever be able to tell her about me? What would happen if I end up on the floor, she finds me, thinks I'm a bug, and Twilight's not there to stop her if she starts stomping away?!



Eventually, Twilight made a quiet gasp, then told Starlight that she was too tired to keep going. Starlight said that she'd keep it up by herself for a bit longer.

With me still hiding in her mane (obviously) Twilight went to her room. She sat on her bed, used her magic to move a drawer closer to it, raised me off her head, and onto the dresser.

"I'm sorry, Eric. I was so busy reading, I forgot I still had you in my mane!" Twilight formed a big embarrassed grin. "I hope you weren't too bored."

"Oh, it's all right, Twilight, it actually felt good in there." I stretched my arms up in the air while yawning. "But I guess you changed your mind about only letting me stay there for 'a while' huh?"

Twilight laughed, but then frowned. "But I'm sorry to say, but that counterspell's way, way harder to create than I thought, even with Starlight's help. I know I said that I could do it today, but now it looks like it could take us weeks, months, or maybe even years! I'm so sorry, Eric, but I'm trying my best to do it. "

"Oh, okay"-- I walked back and forth on the dresser --"and I know you're doing all you can, Twilight. But if you can't do it anytime soon, what do I do? I have nowhere to go and I can't sleep outside, especially not this small. Something might step on or eat me!"

"Don't worry, Eric. Until I can send you back to your world, you can stay here in my castle."

"Okay, thank you! But what about Starlight?"

"Oh yes, Starlight." Twilight gave a sigh, looked up in thought, then looked back to me and smiled. "Well, I'll think of something tomorrow. For tonight at least, you can sleep on this dresser, and I'll make you a bed and cast an invisibility spell to hide you, but I'll do that later. You gotta be hungry by now, so I'll get you some dinner, okay?"

And I was pretty hungry at that point, since the last thing I ate was breakfast before I ended up in Equestria.

After I ate, Twilight literally made a tiny (to her) bed for me on her dresser with her magic. We talked for a while, since we couldn't do it much earlier, she asked a bunch of questions about my world, and we really started to become friends. It did still feel a bit surreal, knowing that I was actually talking face-to-face with Twilight Sparkle, let alone that she was a giant. Eventually, she cast the invisibility spell and went to sleep.

Lying in my new bed, I thought about my family, and if I'd ever get to see them again. Worrying about that, I had some trouble falling asleep, but I eventually did.


The next morning, I woke up, and Twilight was already gone. Her invisibility spell had worn off too since I could now see myself in a mirror on the dresser. I crawled out of the bed to walk around on the dresser.

Being the idiot I can be sometimes, I forgot that Starlight lived in the castle too, so I thought it'd be safe to come down from the dresser and walk around the room. I saw a purple pillow on the floor and jumped down on it to get to the floor safely. Whether Twilight meant to have it there or not, I don't know. As soon as I got down, my ears picked up the sound of hoofsteps coming, and a voice. It wasn't from Twilight, but Starlight. As soon as that fact sank in, I ran behind the dresser.

Starlight opened the door and boomed. "Good morning, Twilight! You ready to try to work on that counterspell again?"

I covered my ears. Great. It wasn’t that loud before she came in, but how Starlight’s voice just did a number on my eardrums proved it wasn’t just Twilight's invisibility spell that wore off.

But, since Twilight wasn't in the room, I thought Starlight would have left.

Noooope. Instead, she saw the tiny bed that Twilight had made for me, and went to take a closer look at it.

For me, her hoofsteps, as she was coming closer, were creating mini-earthquakes and I had to hold on tight to the edge of the dresser to keep from falling. She wasn’t talking, so at least I didn’t have to cover my ears.

"That looks like a...bed. Why does Twilight have that here?”

Her voice wasn’t ear-cracking this time, “just” loud. That bit of good news was offset by Starlight noticing that the dresser wasn't where Twilight usually kept it. Wanting to be little(?) miss helpful, she thought that she'd move it to its usual spot...which would expose me!

Because I knew she wouldn't be looking in the direction I was at that moment, I peeked from behind the dresser to look at her.

At first, I was trying to think about how I could explain myself, because I still didn't want to make her feel guilty about what happened. The fact that she wouldn’t hear my voice unless her head was close to me left my mind to parts unknown.

But my priorities changed when all three of these facts about the situation fully sunk in: Starlight's size, I was on the floor, and Twilight wasn't around. Like how Twilight's legs did, Starlight's legs looked like they were fifty feet tall, and that she herself was well over a hundred feet tall, even if she actually wasn't that tall.

Twilight already nailed it in my noggin that other ponies might...get ideas if they saw me and freak out. Add that to being in a bedroom, not outside, making Starlight more likely to just stomp away if the sight of me freaked her out enough...uh-oh.

I was in trouble.

My heart pumped so hard, I almost thought it might burst. A strong chill went down my spine. I stopped being scared for Starlight, and became terrified of her! And it nearly paralyzed me. I never thought I'd be so scared of the reformed Starlight Glimmer if I ever met her.

As Starlight was about to move that dresser with her magic, I gritted my teeth, willed myself out of the paralysis my fear put me in, and thought to myself to get ready to run. And, if she would do what I was SO worried she might do, dodge this giant pony's hooves.

And hope Twilight came back in time to save my tiny bug-sized butt!