“Say aaahh”
“Aaaaahhh…”
“Hmmm” Doctor Horse took a step back from Rainbow Dash’s open mouth. Twilight sat nearby, glancing back and forth between the doctor and her friend with a worried expression.
“What is it, doc? Can you tell what’s wrong with her?” she asked nervously, twiddling her hooves.
“I’m afraid there’s no sign of irritation in the throat at all, Princess Twilight” Horse shrugged. “I’m sorry, all the symptoms you describe do not seem to be present at the moment.”
Rainbow closed her mouth, then spoke: “But doc, you’ve gotta believe us! I’ve had like the worst things all in one go!”
“I don’t doubt that, Rainbow Dash” the Doctor replied calmly, “flu one day, fever the next; headache one morning, poor hearing by evening…whatever you have contracted, my dear, it is not something I can offer a diagnosis on properly - at least at this moment in time, because it’s not something I’ve encountered before.” The two young mares looked dejected, so he offered more consolation: “What I’ll suggest is that we keep a close eye on you this week. For the time being, take these strong painkillers twice a day. Come back in a week or so.”
With that, the Doctor saw them off, and they headed back to Twilight’s Castle, where Rainbow had been staying recently whilst feeling unwell. As they walked through the streets, they tried taking their mind off Rainbow’s pain. “…and he acted as if he was actually with her as it happened!” Twilight laughed, recounting an earlier encounter with Quibble Pants.
As the two laughed, Rainbow sighed. “It’s gonna be nice to get into bed, I’ve been totally having a bad headache today….and the sore throat! Why does none of it show?”
“I don’t know just yet, but we’ll figure it out. Let’s get you to bed…” Twilight helped her friend to the castle lounge, and as Twilight left her friend on a sofa momentarily upon seeing Spike, the cyan-blue pegasus started winking at her randomly. “Um, Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?”
Rainbow struggled to control her own eyes, “great, now I’ve got random eye movements too?! Ugh!”
Twilight looked disturbed, “w-why are you doing that, Rainbow?”
“I can’t help it…maybe it’s a reaction to this stupid illness.”
---
THREE DAYS EARLIER
The City of Rainbow Dash was enjoying a vibrant, cheery afternoon. Citizens were in bright-spirits and the whole metropolis was filled with an upbeat mood. Rainbow Dash is such an active and vibrant pony herself on the outside that life inside her body was always going to be along similar lines. In the Downtown district, two affluent ponies – Penelope Popliteal and Mary Pulmonary - were having a catch-up in the beachside park, overlooking the lake of stomach acid as boats floated on the distant horizon.
“So yes, that’ll be in a couple weeks’ time” said Penelope.
“Well I really hope you enjoy it, I’ve heard Fluttershy is a fantastic relaxation getaway.”
“Indeed. I dare say life here hasn’t been too easy recently, and Mike can’t wait to retire. Circulatory transit management has just got too intense for him”. The two mares turned their attention to RainbowVision, proudly displayed on the large screen just outside the park.
“Oop, she’s found Gilda again…” Mary observed.
“Ah well, at least she’s having fun at the market. Gilda will hopefully keep sensible.”
At this point, the conversation on the outside was picked up by the screen as the citizens listened in:
“Come on, Dash, what’s the big deal?”
“Well...it fell on the floor, Gilda. In this puddle.”
“Why waste a nice cob?”
“Give me yours then.”
“No Dash, I wasn’t clumsy enough…chicken!”
“Oh, that’s it!”
A huge groan erupted from the audience as they all expressed their disappointment at their host giving in to the pressure. Sure enough, a klaxon warned citizens off the beach from the impending arrival.
“See what I mean?” Penelope urged. “Complete laziness. The new mayor’s trying hard but it’s simply not the same anymore for us.”
Mary nodded silently as a huge pile of chewn-up, yellow mush came splashing into the stomach, complete with full kernels of sweetcorn. “She loves that stuff, even if it’s covered in grime and illegal immigrants...” Mary thought aloud, and the two mares turned to the sound of breakdown units, border control teams and patrol boats setting off from the docks to conduct their respective duties, encircling the lump of mass as it slowly sank into the acidic waters.
Queen Chrysalis rose from the mess, shaking her mane of the salivary corn, and turning to the germs surrounding her. “That was indeed a fun ride, fellow troublemakers – and now to carry out my brilliant experiment.” A few of them seemed curious, but she remained coy and simply laughed at them. “Twilight and her ‘friendships’ may have ruined my hive - but this time I will surely get my revenge - now go! Spread your havoc as you informed me you would!” With a sinister laugh she watched as the various germs from the puddle licked their lips at the foolish pegasus’ decision to allow them entry; they jetted off in various directions and immediately confused the border control staff, but not as confusing as Chrysalis found these citizens' existence. “What in Equestria?” Chrysalis observed these microscopic ponies, coming onto the mound in their various teams, and noticed the unmistakable outline of buildings in the distance. Puzzled, she flew towards the shore rapidly – her appearance so bug-like that any passer-by would have suspected that dear Rainbow had merely swallowed a fly.
The queen stopped in the pier’s park and tried to hide inconspicuously behind a cellular tree. I can’t believe what I’m seeing she thought, completely captivated by the bizarre beauty of this unthinkable place, a fully-functional metropolis of microponies within somepony’s body. The swooping sides of the stomach rose up in the distance like evening skies, and the buildings were so intriguingly designed to fit this unseemly location. It was at this moment that she was spotted by someone.
“Hey, you there – are you spying on us?” Mary demanded to the figure behind the tree. Both she and her companion gasped as Queen Chrysalis slowly stepped out of the shadow.
“W-what are you doing here…?” Penelope asked nervously; startled as a fresh lump of chewed food splashed into the stomach in the distance.
Chrysalis looked upwards, inhaling into her nostrils the strange smells of almost-artificial landscape and sweetcorn. “Well,” she began, “ever since Twilight Sparkle and her friends successfully ruined everything in my latest attempt at revenge, I have been trying to revive my hive once again...now, from here I can execute a most spectacular punishment on that foolish alicorn and her friends! Mwahahaha!”
“But-“
“But nothing!" The two mares shuddered, gathering their things and turning away. “Not so fast!” Chrysalis called, and zapped them with her horn. The poor duo froze, engulfed in a purple haze which disappeared in a flash, dropping them to the floor and turning them into a pair of tiny changelings! “Success!” Chrysalis cheered, laughing evilly as the two changelings looked at each other and then faced their leader.
Chrysalis continued to dart around the park, zapping citizens and watching as they all transformed into newfound followers. A couple of strolling RDPD officers saw this eventually, but in trying to subdue the queen they were easily zapped too. Chrysalis glanced to survey her work: the changelings were scattered around the foliage and park, towered over by the skyscrapers of the harbour nearby, all looking at each other in slow understanding of their existence. Some of them were even sophisticated enough to adopt the micropony disguises they’d previously lived as. Excellent, now some of them can resume their jobs in this place - albeit terribly, mwahaha!. With a smirk, Chrysalis turned her attention to the pier and set off for it.
---
City Hall was a tense place. All afternoon, reports had been coming in of some sort of outbreak, an invasion of a species previously thought to be too large to infiltrate their borders – as a result, politicians and journalists were rushing about, TV crews setting up equipment everywhere, and reporters doing their best to catch vital snippets from the Mayor’s Office. City Hall were well-aware of the impending threat of the changeling queen causing havoc in their precious city. Indeed the Mayor, the cabinet ministers, city council and all the esteemed military personnel, had gathered to discuss the possibility of recruiting help from the outside world, namely Twilight Sparkle; their own defence forces were unable to overcome Chrysalis in their numbers due to her constant moving-around. Who better to vanquish the threat of Queen Chrysalis than the pony who’d done it so many times before? To get Twilight Sparkle’s attention, they had to send out an S.O.S – bear in mind that communication between cities was like seeking political protection – and so contacted the control centre in Rainbow Dash’s eyes, located in the remote Lens, to send out a hopeful Morse code message of winks to Twilight.