//------------------------------// // Section 1 // Story: A Small Issue 2 - An Internal Conflict // by Lukington17 //------------------------------// PROLOGUE “There’s a reason dark magic is left untouched. And there’s a reason why some magic would be better off left untouched. That’s what the past week has shown me, as my shrinking magic exposed my friends and I to dangers no pony should be subjected to.” Yours faithfully, Twilight Sparkle P.o.F. Twilight sighed as she nodded to Spike to send the message, and with a burst of green flames it was off. “Ugh, I hope Celestia is understanding. This has been quite an ordeal.” “Well let’s just be glad it’s over, Twilight” Spike offered assuringly, as Twilight looked up to the evening sky, spotting the first star of the night, and the two of them sat in the grass and mused over what had happened over the past few hectic days. Meanwhile in Canterlot, Celestia had received the scroll by her fireplace. She opened it and proceeded to read the vast amount of text Twilight had written. With weary eyes she began to read, picturing in her head the exact events unfurling. CHAPTER 1 It had been well over a month since the events following Twilight Sparkle’s development of a potion known as Zeromac. Twilight and Spike had managed to forget about their microscopic adventure and move on with their busy lives, but poor Rarity had found the discoveries inside Rainbow Dash’s body very scarring. In fact, on this particular morning she and Spike had discussed it briefly over their breakfast in Ponyville’s town square. “…and it was genuinely the most hideous dress I have ever seen, Spike.” Rarity moaned. “I’ve seen…nostrils that are more elegantly constructed than that hideous ensemble!” “You’re right, you have. So have I” Spike winked at her, but the fashionista frowned. “Honestly Spike, I don’t know what to do. The whole thing was so unpleasant, I really can’t look at poor Rainbow Dash the same anymore…how can we go on and never tell her?” Spike held up a claw. “Come on, Rarity – you know we can’t do that. We made a promise to those microponies. It would destroy them, and it would change Rainbow from the confident pony she is.” “Where is she, anyway?” “She’s off with Twilight and Pinkie at the moment - something about pies, I dunno.” “Oh Spike, I feel awful.” “You just have to put it out your mind, and focus on other things. I won’t mention it again.” Rarity offered a smile as the two hugged and enjoyed the rest of their morning chat. A few weeks had passed since that meal, and Rarity had now overcome her PTSD to the extent that she had gone to Manehattan and worked on a seasonal line of headpieces in her new boutique. It had been a very successful time for her, and she had loved it! Spike, on the other hand, had been assisting Twilight in daily chores in the Ponyville castle, even looking after it whilst she had been off antiquing with Sunburst as well. A few nights ago they had held a sleepover at the castle, and the girls had come and shown Starlight Glimmer the fun of a slumber party. Rainbow Dash had made them play truth or dare, Fluttershy had gone to bed early, and Pinkie Pie had even made a cake for the occasion – it had been a blast! However, Twilight had recently been getting agitated out of the desire for a new challenge. Her royal duties at the moment didn’t extend to the thing she loved most: magic. The pair were in the library reading one morning when Applejack and Fluttershy came in to see them. “Hi girls, what’s up?” Twilight turned. “Um, hiya Twilight. We wanted to ask y’all for an opinion” Applejack said. “Okay, what’s wrong?” “We um…well, have you noticed Rainbow Dash behaving differently recently?” Fluttershy muttered. “A little bit – she seems more quiet than usual. Has something happened?” “Shoot no, but we’re two of her closest gals and we don’t like seein' her look so down and moody, it ain’t like her” Applejack insisted. Concerned, Twilight walked over to them and offered a reassuring smile. “Have you tried asking her what’s troubling her?” “Well I asked if she was okay the other day – she was sittin’ on one of them rainclouds and lookin' down on us all with a scowl. So I asked if she wanted to go for a run, but she darn ignored my sassafrassin’ question!” Applejack grumbled. Fluttershy looked down sadly. “Um, Twilight? Last night there was a Wonderbolts exhibition in Cloudsdale for the Mayor, and Rainbow Dash was supposed to lead the squadron at Spitfire’s request.” “So?” “Well, she didn’t turn up.” The other two ponies gasped. “Now I think she’s on probation... So I tried asking if she wanted to go for a sandwich like we used to when we were fillies, but same again –she sighed and flew off.” Twilight frowned. “That’s too odd. I’m going to go and have a talk with her.” With that, she headed for the door. “Good luck getting a word outta her” Applejacked called out to her glumly. “Rainbow Dash!” Rainbow looked up from the cloud she was sat on, and saw Twilight calling her. Reluctantly, she flew slowly down to the ground to respond to the Princess of Friendship. “What’s up, Twilight?” Twilight smiled kindly. “There was an amazing event on last night in Cloudsdale, why weren’t you there?” Rainbow groaned, “Because I wasn’t.” Twilight frowned. “Okay, I wasn’t there because I was tired.” “Rainbow Dash, since when has your laziness gone so far as to get in the way of –“ She was cut off by the realisation that the cyan pegasus had started flying slowly away. Spike had come to see now, and suggested to Twilight that she use science to understand the flyer’s bad mood: smiling at the prospect of using her magic and love of science, and having Rainbow as a test-subject, she caught up with her. Hearing a moan of annoyance from Rainbow’s mouth, Twilight thought for a moment, then tried her approach. “Soooo…I’m conducting this awesome experiment in my lab in the castle later, do you want to come and help out?” A slight chuckle emerged from Rainbow. “No offence Twilight, but science is so just totally for nutty eggheads.” And with that she was gone. Visibly hurt, Twilight returned to Spike. “So what happened?” the dragon asked. “I don’t know, Spike. But something’s really upset her I fear.” --- Later that day, Twilight summoned her friends – minus Rainbow Dash – to the castle throne room, and they held an indignation meeting. “Alright girls, listen up. Our friend Rainbow has been a bit moody lately, so I thought we’d all try and brainstorm why she’s acting so weird.” “She’s totally completely utterly being the biggest meanie in town!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “I’ve known her for so long, she’s never been this dismissive” Fluttershy thought aloud. “This is just dreadful. Rainbow Dash is a loose cannon” Rarity said, reclining on her trademark stress sofa. Twilight hushed them. “I realise that Rainbow has been behaving rudely, but maybe something’s happened to cause her to feel like this. Something’s obviously not right.” The ponies fell silent for a moment, as they contemplated Twilight’s point. Finally Applejack spoke. “No, I’m sorry y’all. She’s meant to be loyal, and she knows that we’re all here for her whenever trouble’s a-brewin.” Pinkie Pie nodded, remembering her recent bust-up and valuable lessons with Rainbow about dishonesty and pies. Twilight rubbed her chin slowly as the ponies were quiet again. “She’s just…I want our Rainbow Dash back!” Pinkie cried. “What is going on in that pony’s head?!” Rarity said dramatically; Twilight snapped her head towards her as her eyes lit up. “I guess we can’t really ever know what she’s thinking,” Fluttershy said sadly, as Applejack nodded. “No, wait; we can…” Twilight intervened. The girls looked up at her, confused. “I mean, erm…I think I have an idea on how we can cheer Rainbow up, but I’ll need a bit of time to work by myself on it.” “Ooooh, another Twilight spell - she never stops!” Pinkie said cheerily, as the five ponies left Twilight to get on with her work. “So…what’s this all about, Twilight?” Spike asked her once they were alone. “Don’t you see, Spike? What Rarity said: ‘what’s going on in that pony’s head? We’ve been there.” Spike looked nervous. “Twilight, if you’re talking about what I think you’re talking about, we vowed never to use that magic ever again.” “I know, Spike. But we need this. I certainly do. It’s out of loyalty to our friend - she’s the Element of Loyalty, Spike! In the name of friendship, we must return to the City of Rainbow Dash!” Spike face-palmed slowly, and massaged his temples. “Okay, firstly – I don’t think anyone who was involved wants anything to do with this magic again - Rarity, Luna…Discord even… secondly, Princess Celestia and Luna decommissioned the research of Zeromac after 'its potential as a potion was labelled a significant threat to our welfare'.” “I still have the formula, silly. Making it will be the challenge but also the fun!” Twilight said, but Spike was worried. Twilight had that crazy look in her eyes, the kind seen before when this studious alicorn got too wrapped up in her magic. She had been craving some sort of adventure for a while now, and so Spike sighed heavily and accepted it. “Okay, fine. But we should really think about our strategy before we do this.” Twilight stroked his head. “Ah, Spike – what a good and useful helper you’ve grown up to be…” --- “Absolutely not.” “Come on, it’d be doing everyone a huge favour.” “No way, sorry.” Rarity crossed her hooves and stuck her snout up in the air, turning away from Spike and Twilight. The pair looked at each other in despair. “Really Twilight, I was just getting over that horrendous affair before you brought this up again. It was disgusting and wrong, and I still feel awful for Rainbow. Why do you even need me?” “Because, as one of the initial…pilgrims…your experience could prove valuable with whatever – or whoever - we encounter in there. You know what to expect.” “I’m sorry Twilight, but I just don’t think it’s necessary for me to join you. I can only offer you…the best of luck – oooaahh” she burst into tears as she spoke, clearly upset at the idea of the Zeromac once again. Sweetie Belle poked her head round from the door of the room quietly. “Rarity, Rainbow would do this for you if it meant helping you get better.” Spike said, once she’d calmed down a bit. Twilight thought and then added, “What if you didn’t have to stick around for too long?” Rarity looked confused. She explained, “if you just accompany us as we first go in, once we’ve seen what the problem is, we’ll let you go back out and be done with it.” Rarity sniffed. “I suppose Rainbow has…always been supportive of my fashion endeavours. Even though she has no idea about ‘la mode’. I could teach those City Hall fools up there a thing or too about it!” she managed a smile, as Spike cheered and hugged her. “Thank you, Rarity. Your generosity really knows no bounds.” Twilight said calmly. By the time it had approached evening, Twilight had managed to convince Princess Luna to accompany her to the castle once she had raised the moon. The princesses headed into the lab and, once more, Twilight explained the purpose of her mission, and how she would desperately need Luna and her magic. To her surprise, Luna barely even argued; she simply shrugged and said: “Once I’ve got everypony’s dreams going for the night, I think we should be able to carry out this task. But remain silent before my sister; for she would seldom permit the use of dangerous potions like Zeromac.” Twilight had smiled and thanked her as they began preparing to make the potion, but Luna had protested that she could obtain the developed version of Zeromac Discord had concocted, currently stored in the Canterlot Royal Laboratories from last time, whilst all the guards slept: this potion could not only shrink an entity to microscopic size, but also regrow the test subject. They agreed to meet up later with the assembled crew, when they would carry out their mission. As the time drew closer, Twilight and Spike were slowly walking through the town back to the castle. “I can’t risk Rainbow doing anything damaging to her insides whilst we’re in her body,” Twilight muttered, “so I’m going to have to ask somepony to keep her distracted.” Spike broke a sweat. “That will sound very suspicious…” “I may have to bend the truth a little, Spike. You go back to the castle and wait with Rarity.” Twilight sighed, and went to go find Fluttershy. The shy pegasus was in her cottage, making a cup of tea. “Fluttershy, you’re Rainbow’s oldest friend – so her condition should mean a lot to you, yes? I am about to tell you something extremely secretive and private, nopony is to hear of this conversation - understood?” Startled by this sudden visit and ominous tone, Fluttershy cowered. “Y-yes, Twilight, of course. What i-is it?” “You remember my potion Zeromac? Well I’m going to use it to enter Rainbow Dash’s body, and try and literally pick her brain to see what she’s so upset about.” Fluttershy gasped. “Oh, are you sure that’s wise, Twilight? Spike was almost killed the last time we tried this - Rainbow nearly digested him, accidentally!” “Spike will be safe, don’t worry. He might come with me, he hasn’t decided. What I need you to do, Fluttershy, is keep Rainbow Dash busy tomorrow; make sure she doesn’t do anything too brash or reckless – it could make things hard for me in there. Can you do that?” Fluttershy nodded slowly, deeply disturbed by the whole idea. With an appreciative hug, Twilight gave her a tracking device – to be used discreetly – and returned to her assembled crew in the throne room, thinking… Now I have my crew, the next step is only a small issue… CHAPTER 2 “Okay guys, stand back.” Twilight prepared her horn and Luna joined too, as they used their magic to hoist the beaker of potion up, hovering above the huddled foursome. Just as the two alicorns began pouring, the door of the room swung open and Scootaloo came rushing in with her camera round her neck. What in Equestria? “WAAAIITT!” Scootaloo yelled as she hurled herself into the huddle – and before anyone could do anything about it, they had vanished from where they stood. All around them, the microscopic universe was as they had remembered: dust particles were the size of buildings, a groove in the wooden ground was like a stretching canyon, and the horizons went far beyond their tiny eyes could see. Twilight turned to Scootaloo, her eyes glaring with fury. “Scootaloo, what on Earth do you think you’re doing here? What have you done?!” Scootaloo looked down. “I had to come…Sweetie Belle told me she overheard you guys talking about saving Rainbow Dash from something, and I just…well, she’s like my big sister, I can’t stand by and do nothing while she acts weird like this.” “She’ll certainly be a big sister for you now” Spike muttered, as Rarity nudged him quiet. “Scootaloo, dear – this is a very dangerous thing you’ve done” Rarity explained soothingly. “We’re about to embark on a journey you may be unable to either assist us in or tolerate.” “I may know more about Rainbow Dash than you think. Inside-out.” Scootaloo said suggestively, receiving quizzical looks from Luna and Rarity. With a sigh Twilight rolled her eyes, accepting the situation. They turned and the two alicorns produced a magic bubble within which they were able to travel in the air to Rainbow’s Cloudominium. “It’s a good thing Discord developed the Zeromac further, so one’s magic is no longer limited by it” Luna observed, as Twilight nodded. Rarity herself tried using her magic to brush her hair, much to Spike’s amusement. Rainbow Dash was fast asleep, snoring loudly in her bed. She could never have seen the tiny purple orb floating towards her, for even as it approached her closed eyelids it couldn’t have been much bigger than a breadcrumb. It hovered towards her nostrils as a massive snore erupted from her open-hanging drooling mouth below. “Jeeez, Twilight, we could’ve used some ear protection!” Spike said from within the orb, as the others held their ears in equal discomfort. “Um, princesses – why don’t we go in through her mouth?” Scootaloo asked innocently. Twilight turned, “because, Scootaloo, the way she’s breathing would make oral entry futile; we’d get exhaled right away. This way allows the nose hairs to protect us and secure ourselves in there.” Scootaloo simply shrugged as the tiny lilac-blue orb approached the left nostril of Rainbow Dash’s immense nose before them. They flew in, immediately engulfed by the darkness…for now. As they came deeper in they were greeted by the otherwise-peculiar sight of streetlights dotted below them on the nasal passage’s floor. To the gang, it was merely expected: they’d all been here before. Scootaloo seemed to be unimpressed even, as if it was something she’d also seen times before. A vast highway meandered its way through the nose-hairs and various alcoves of the passage, traffic strewn about in an ongoing mess of cars. Rainbow’s snores could still be heard, and as air came rushing in behind them it almost seemed to boost them further in. Eventually they passed the obligatory billboard: Welcome to the City of Rainbow Dash! Scootaloo was amused by this, and began taking pictures of some sights as they hovered past: a construction site labelling one route of the nose ‘blocked’, a shopping mall built into a sinus, and a wind farm of giant turbines presumably deriving energy from the gusts of air. The gang looked around as they begun to pick up something more unsettling: there was an unpleasant vibe about the place, and everypony seemed either sad and quiet or aggressive and violent. As the alicorns steered their orb to the brain, they got closer to some of them. They were the same as before, cellular ponies with almost transparent bodies, but their demeanour betrayed their otherwise-friendly appearance. Breaking the magic orb, the five of them set foot on the ground for the first time since entering the city. Spike giggled as Twilight sighed, panting from the spell: “I’m certainly getting the run-out I needed for my magic studies!” They stood before City Hall, with its building rising high up into the massive brain that dominated this neighbourhood ominously. The neighbourhood, on the other hand, had clearly seen better days. They gasped as they observed cracked and decaying buildings, derelict houses and incomplete developments; graffiti and vandalism were everywhere, and streetlights flickered if they weren’t already out entirely. “I know things shut down at night but this is ridiculous” Twilight muttered, as Luna simply stared open-mouthed beside her. Even the brain above them seemed to have dimmed the lights which dotted all over it, and the nerves which shot out in all directions were void of any indication of the transportation systems which flowed through them with such vibrancy. As they looked around, a passer-by shoved Rarity out the way, to which she huffed before Spike ran after them and stopped them. “What gives?” “What do you want, kid?” “How come this place is so run-down? And why is everybody behaving odd?” He grunted. “Why don’t you ask our new Mayor…” and with that he carried on his way into a dark street. Spike frowned and turned to face Twilight. “New mayor…” Twilight’s face twitched. “Discord…” she said - to Rarity and Scootaloo’s gasps – “he always said he had a plan for this place.” “Discord was here?” Scootaloo asked, “How can you tell?” Ignoring the question, Twilight set off towards City Hall angrily. “Let’s find out what really is going on in this pony’s head.” She set off to the doors and they were greeted by some of the microponies who recognised them from their previous visit months ago. Even Marjorie – the previous mayor’s secretary, still there – offered them a warm hello. She proceeded to intercom the Mayor and he replied to let the visitors up to see him. They boarded the elevator and stood in silence. They walked slowly into the office, which was promisingly the exact same as it was: the walls were vast glass panels which spanned ¾ of the length of the round room, offering those magnificent views over the district; various monitors and screens depicting body parts flickered and hummed around the desk. The Mayor stood up to greet them and they gasped: he was not a micropony. Really, the gang didn’t know what he was. He resembled a stallion, built and muscly, but his body was more curved, and he had immense transparent wings which were tucked behind him. He had two antennae protruding from his head, which ended at nasty-looking points. Honestly, he looked like a Breezie gone wrong. “Welcome to the City of Rainbow Cra...Dash, how nice to have some unexpected visitors turn up spontaneously in my busy office” he spoke with a gravelly accent, and his sarcasm exuded a sense of cockiness almost befitting a pony like Rainbow Dash. Whilst Rarity looked shocked at this inhospitable comment, Twilight cleared her throat: “Mr. Mayor, how could you let such a good city fall into disrepair and look so dishevelled?” “Oh, citizens having their various arguments is hardly any of my concern…” he stretched, and lay back in his chair lazily. “All I need from them is cooperation” he laughed. Scootaloo blurted, “Rainbow Dash is my sister! You can’t just act like nothing’s wrong!” The Mayor sat up, “My my, what a feisty one we have here – darling, nothing is wrong...hmm sister, eh?” He pressed an intercom, "Marjorie, get me somebody from Family Archives." “But –“ Luna protested. “I’m sorry,” he held up a hoof, “but you’ll appreciate that I’m extremely busy: this city never really sleeps anymore.” He reached for the intercom and buzzed Marjorie: “Marjorie dear, escort these ponies out of my office…like, now.” Presently the elderly mare came in and they reluctantly followed her out. “Marjorie, what in Equestria has happened here?! What happened to the old mayor we knew?” Marjorie sighed as they boarded the elevator down, “Oh, Action Tremor - he hasn’t been seen for a while. He just sort of disappeared when the new guy came in…think he moved somewhere quiet.” With that, she bid farewell and saw them out the building. The gang stood in the plaza wondering what to do. A clock displayed on an old building told them that the sun would be coming up shortly, and sure enough a few unlucky microponies began to appear and start their early days. They then noticed one of those strange Breezie-like creatures floating down a sidewalk. Again, it behaved rudely – not looking where it went, bumping into pedestrians and rudely gesturing at them; spitting on the pavement, and even laughing as it scratched the side of a cellular building to wear it down. Twilight frowned as she turned to Rarity. “Rarity, you may have got your wish sooner than you expected.” “Whatever do you mean?” “I mean that you must return to the normal world. I need you to deliver a message.” Rarity looked surprised but couldn’t contain her happiness, relieved of her duties sooner than she’d thought. “Okay Twilight, what must I do?” “Luna and I will try and use our magic to teleport you out of the city. We can’t use this tricky spell too often, so we’ll have to get it right first time.” Rarity gulped, but the princess pressed on: “Find Fluttershy; she might be with Rainbow Dash later so try find her before then. You need to ask her about this Breezie business – ask her if she’s heard of such thing as a ‘bad’ Breezie. When you find out, find a way of getting the message back here into Rainbow’s body – hidden message, signs we can see through the eyes or something.” Rarity nodded and looked nervous as the two alicorns summoned their magic. With a snap, Rarity was gone, and the quartet looked at each other nervously, hoping the spell had worked. It had. Rarity blew a sigh of relief, dusting herself off in her bedroom, and she headed out the door into the morning sun. CHAPTER 3 Fluttershy had woken up early this morning. She had a job to do, and she wasn’t going to let herself be the reason why Twilight couldn’t carry out her mission. She wanted to keep Rainbow Dash preoccupied as long as she could, and so she set off to Cloudominium to pick her up; she already had something in mind. As she flew over the quiet streets, she could have sworn she heard somepony call her name from below, but she shrugged and continued to Rainbow’s. Flying through the window, she nudged her sleeping friend. Rainbow groaned. “Uuugh, what is it, Fluttershy? I’m trying to sleep.” “I know, but I have something really exciting to show you that I just know you’ll enjoy.” Rainbow tried to turn in her sheets, but it was no use - the sun was up, she was awake now, and Fluttershy was adamant. “Fine. This better be good.” They set off before Rainbow had even time to brush her mane or teeth. They flew up to Cloudsdale and eventually arrived at the performance arena. Rainbow rubbed her eyes tiredly as a presenter began speaking to the small audience assembled there. “What's going on, Fluttershy?” “Well, Zephyr Breeze’s hair salon didn’t work out, so he’s trying to become a racing flyer. He’s about to audition – I thought you could offer him some valuable advice, or at least stay for moral support.” “Why should I do that? He’s always putting the moves on me, and he’s a failure.” “He’s only a failure when he does something I can’t offer help with – at least my closest friend can help with this endeavour.” With a grunt Rainbow crossed her arms and slumped back. “Fine, but don’t blame me if I go back to sleep.” With that, she produced a pair of headphones and put them over her ears. When Zephyr’s turn came, he crashed into a bush far down below, and Fluttershy and Rainbow flew down to check on him. Before they could return to the arena, Rarity yelled Fluttershy’s name. She turned and saw the white unicorn racing towards her. “Rarity! What’s going on?” “Oh Fluttershy, finally – I need to ask you a question…urgently” she glanced at Rainbow, who was engrossed in her music, oblivious of this conversation – or that Rarity was even there! “Fluttershy, are you aware of a Breezie being evil?” The Pegasus gasped, “a bad Breezie? That’s impossible.” Rarity let out a small gulp as she broke a sweat. At this point Rainbow Dash opened an eye and removed her headphones. “What’re you guys talking about?” Rarity dashed off before any response was offered, and Rainbow scowled. “Erm…Rainbow Dash? I don’t suppose you’ve ever heard of an evil Breezie before?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow, but Fluttershy explained, “I mean, can something as good or innocent as that really turn bad or change?” Rainbow Dash frowned, “oh, I see what you’re doing. Why? Think you’ll get an inside story from me?” Thinking her cover had been blown, Fluttershy cowered. "Oh gosh Rainbow Dash, I'm sorry...I didn't mean to - " “It’s fine” Rainbow interrupted, “I actually have heard of them. They’re called Eevies. I had this totally weird dream once where I was fighting these things when Princess Luna came and told me about them. They’re an ancient species, descendants of Breezies, who were very advanced; they wanted to use their technology to conquer all of Equestria, then the planet blah blah blah. They came from a forest near where Griffinstone is today, and Luna says she and Celestia fought them for ages until they finally wiped them out shortly after dealing with Spike’s attempts to behave like a princess in Canterlot, haha. But, apparently a small remainder managed to shrink into like, a really small size and freeze themselves. Luna says they buried themselves underground near where Sweet Apple Acres is I think, and were never seen or heard from again.” Fluttershy paused and soaked in this new information. She realised that this could be directly related to a potential discovery from Twilight into Rainbow’s behaviour – if only Rarity had stuck around! “Thanks, Rainbow…um, did you want to have another nap by any chance, catch up on your beauty sleep? Or I think Scootaloo was looking for you earlier… I just have to go feed Angel before we go and relax like you wanted to do.” Rainbow suspiciously raised an eyebrow. “Okay…you’re acting a bit weird Fluttershy...but I guess I could do with another nap. I’ll see you by the lake.” “Phew,” Fluttershy sighed, swiftly bolting over to Applejack once she saw her in the street, pinning her down. “Applejack, have you ever dug deep underground on the farm?” Applejack was startled and spoke through her shock: “Well, a couple years back Applebloom and I had a picnic here with Rarity and Rainbow Dash and their lil’ sisters, and we were playing this ol’ game Applebloom and I love – y’all gotta dig a trench as part of the game.” Fluttershy shuddered. “And…how was the picnic?” “A hootenanny of a time! Applebloom and I made us some of ma trademark apple-peanut butter sandwiches!” Fluttershy backed off. “Oh, erm, thanks Applejack.” And she ran off, leaving Applejack scratching her head bemused. Those Eevies must have somehow got through to Rainbow! I have to tell Twilight, but now how can I get her attention from inside her? The shy pegasus thought hard, and decided to find Rarity. Rarity was decorating tapestries in the castle throne room, and once again Fluttershy charged her and asked if she had heard from Twilight. Rarity looked around nervously. “Ahem, Twilight sent a message to me via…alicorn magic! Yes, I was able to read her urgent message in my head clearly, she must have quite a telepathy spell!” she broke a sweat as she fumbled her lie. Fluttershy responded, “Well we have to find a way of getting a message back to her!” “Message about what?” “The Eevies! The evil things, they might have affected Rainbow Dash!” Rarity’s eyes widened as she understood what they had to do. She remembered one of Twilight’s suggestions and presently used her magic to bring a quill and scroll to her, upon which she wrote their findings down. She then placed it in a bottle, and extracted a droplet of the potion from the floor there. She was able to shrink the bottle to a tiny size – not quite microscopic, but about the size of a poppy seed – and using her magnifying glass she showed it to Fluttershy. “Do you think you could get Rainbow Dash to swallow this?” Fluttershy winced, “I guess I’ll have to.” --- Rainbow Dash was sitting on her sunbed by the lake, her black shades covering her eyes, and was slowly sipping on a straw of an appetising smoothie. When she heard hoofsteps, she lowered her sunglasses and saw Fluttershy approaching. Taking out her headphones, she laid back on her sunbed and asked, “Is Angel happy now?” “Yes.” “Good, now you can properly chillax, Fluttershy.” As the two lay there, Fluttershy waited until Rainbow turned her head to one side, then she dug up the tiny bottle, so small she could barely see it. She had balanced it delicately on her nose, and now proceeded to drop it into Rainbow’s drink. “Your smoothie looks nice and thick.” “Huh? Oh yeah, it is. You wanna taste?” “Oh no, I couldn’t – you enjoy it.” “I will. It’s so thick a straw doesn’t even help.” With that, Rainbow removed the straw, tilted her head back, and downed the remainder of the glass as Fluttershy looked on and checked the tracker Twilight had given her, allowing the slyest of smiles to spread across her face.