"How about a healing spell?" Celica suggested.
"Good idea," Boey chimed in, "some of us are still hurt from the last battle."
"Just your stupid foot, Boey." Mae snickered.
Crossing his arms, Boey looked away from her. "It's just a bit sore. Though I'm sure it's nothing compared to your rumbling stomach."
"Rude! Not my fault we ran out of food," Mae huffed.
The inch-tall Palla smiled from her younger sister's hands. "Very well, this should be a harmless test."
Pointing a tiny finger towards Boey, a white ball of magic flew out of Palla's finger and drifted towards his foot. Upon contacting his foot, it glowed softly then faded.
"Whoa, that feels much better!" Boey marveled, rubbing his foot. "Thank you, Palla!"
"You're very welcome," the tiny woman squeaked.
"Why waste magic on this bozo?" Mae huffed.
"Oh, dear. Shall I see if there's a spell for hunger?" Palla offered.
"Yeah, why not?" Boey agreed, "Mae clearly feels left out. Why not try a spell on her?"
"Very well," Palla agreed, pointing towards Mae.
"Wait, I'm not sure that's such a..." Mae trailed off, seeing a small green sphere of magic floating towards her. She sighed, deciding she may as well see what the spell does. The magic hit her, and she briefly glowed, but nothing else seemed to happen.
"... Nope, still hungry." she eventually said.
"I see. So this isn't a hunger-fixing spell..." Palla mused.
Looking to Mae, Celica said "I wonder what it..." before stopping as she saw her friend's pink pigtails descending.
"Wha?!" Mae squeaked, seemingly noticing something was wrong. She looked down to her body, then up at her friends, seeing them rapidly getting bigger. Before long, the tiny mage had dwindled to no more than an inch tall!
"You've got to be kidding me!" the miniature Mae squeaked, looking at her giant allies with wide eyes.
"Haha, this is perfect!" Boey laughed. He knelt down and grabbed the mini mage.
"Hey! Let me go!" Mae protested, tiny fists pounding against her fleshy prison. Her efforts only tickled Boey, who laughed again. He unfurled his hand near his face, his now tiny tormentor tumbling over and landing on her behind.
"This is so not fair," Mae huffed in protest, only making Boey laugh more at her hilariously high-pitched voice.
"You're not such a big pain in my side now!" Boey taunted.
"You...!" Mae began, but Boey laughed again. She blushed in embarrassment, not appreciating the relentless mocking. Looking away, she saw Celica was laughing at their antics as well.
"My apologies, Mae," Palla spoke to the tiny mage, "I think this will change you back."
Before Mae could protest, a red ball of magic hit her. She immediately started growing in Boey's hands. Panicking, he quickly placed her on the ground as she expanded back to normal size. She wasted no time in punching Boey in the arm.
"Take that!" She shouted.
"Okay, okay! That was the most fun I've had in ages!" he sniggered.
Palla smiled, glad she was able to fix her friend. Before she could think about what to test next a giant finger roughly ruffled her green hair. Hurt, she turned to see the grinning face of her younger sister.
"You're just too cute like this!" Est beamed, "I can't resist!"
"Oh really?" Palla smirked deviously, "perhaps you need to be cut down to size!"
Before Est could respond, Palla had cast her shrinking spell at her sister. Est gasped, smaller by the second. Palla jumped from her hand, magic allowing her to float gracefully to the floor. She joined her sister, who quickly shrank to the same height.
"Well? Glad to be the smallest again?" Palla taunted her slightly smaller sister.
"Hey, no fair!" Est pouted, crossing her arms, "at least make Catria join us too!"
"What?" Catria looked down at her tiny sisters, not liking where this conversation was going.
"Very well." Palla agreed, starting to like her strange new powers. The blue haired pegasus knight quickly dwindled to an inch tall. She merely sighed.
"What's gotten into you, Palla?" Catria grumbled, "you're meant to be the sensible sister..."
"Why, I just wanted to be the big sister once more," Palla smiled, "speaking of which..."
Palla pointed to her forehead, casting the reversal spell on herself. But nothing seemed to happen.
"Odd, seems like I'm stuck at this size." She sulked. Swiftly firing off two more spells, she returned her sisters to normal size.
"Yay, back to cute Palla!" Est cheered when back to her full height.
"Don't make me shrink you again," Palla warned her.
"It might be good to be small when exploring places," Celica pondered.
"Might be good for dodging attacks when timed right, too," Boey suggested.
"Maybe Palla knows more spells?" Celica asked.
"I know at least a couple more," Palla chimed in, "how about this one?"
The tiny green-haired lady raised both of her arms. Blue light flooded the room, shining over all of her allies. The magic took hold of Mae, Est, Catria and Celica. The four ladies began shrinking, bewildered by the magic display. In no time at all they shrank to an inch tall. To an outside observer, it would seem that the room was empty save for Boey and Saber, who were unaffected.
"Back to tiny size..." Catria sighed.
"No! Make me big again Palla!" Est cried.
"So this is what it's like to be tiny..." Celica said to herself, admiring her surroundings.
"Hey! How come Boey gets to still be a big jerk!?" Mae protested.
"I don't know," Palla answered, "perhaps it's similar criteria to how pegasi choose their riders?"
"Careful now, lass." Saber said to Celica, "Wouldn't want our great leader to be squished."
Celica was deep in thought. "Was this the power the villagers spoke of? Or maybe a trial..."
Mae gulped. "Hey, Celica? What are you talking about?"
"Maybe there's a secret passage hidden somewhere in this room, that only tiny people can use." She walked to the statue. Concentrating for a moment, she noticed a light draft coming from it. She looked up to Saber. "Saber, could you try lifting that Mila statue?"
"Sure, Celica." Saber agreed, being careful to step round the tiny ladies. He picked up the statue, revealing a tiny staircase.
"Amazing, Milady!" Boey marveled, "Of course you would figure this out!"
"Great, a creepy tiny passage for tiny people," Mae grumbled, "Celica, are you sure this is a good idea?"
"We should at least have a look," Celica insisted.
"Sure, but not sure how much help us guys will be up here," Saber said.
"You could at least guard us," Mae suggested, "would be difficult to fight zombies with tiny magic."
"How exactly will we do that? We can't fit in there," Boey pointed out.
"Well, I think I can grow us to normal size if there's any trouble." Palla volunteered.
"We could fall back for now," Catria piped up, "and come back with more allies who could come with us."
"Good idea," Celica agreed, "it shouldn't be too difficult to find this place again now that we know where it is."
"Up to you lass." Saber said. "What do you say?"
