Twilight, fretting over Discord’s disappearance, had decided enough was enough. She was going to go in and find the conniving creep; she had been very clear about their plan. Twilight went up to her friend's guest room, to explain that she was going in after Discord, but was stopped in her tracks when she saw something happen to the blind pegasus on the bed in-front of her. For about a split second, her wings took on the form of changeling wings - it lasted a nanosecond, and Twilight told herself she was imagining things. However, she then saw closer-up that Rainbow had a black mark on her forehead - at least, she thought it was a mark. "Rainbow Dash, is your head okay?" She asked. Rainbow duly felt around her forehead and touched the strange mark.
"Aaaah Twilight, what the heck is that?!"
Twilight looked closer. "It...looks like the surface of a shell...how bizarre..."
Rainbow panicked: "Oh Celestia, am I turning into Tank?! Is this some sort of horrible curse where my pet and I swap forms? I've already lost my perfect sight like the old fella..."
"No Rainbow, I don't think it's that - but I want to find out what it is." Twilight tried to console her friend, and checked for a temperature that far exceeded a fever after her accidental chili-pepper ingestion. A frightened Rainbow put on her sunglasses in shame to hide her altered face as Twilight hugged her; the poor rainbow-maned pegasus felt completely broken, humiliated and shaking back-and-forth in fear. She turned to Twilight and started sobbing, “Twilight, what if the eyesight never comes back? What would the Wonderbolts do to us?! Please… PLEASE let us see again, Twilight!” Twilight sat sadly at her friend’s side, until she realised something. ’us’? Why would she refer to herself as ‘us’?. Immediately, Twilight understood what was happening. This was a last-resort SOS, coming direct from Rainbow’s brain…as controlled by somepony within, with a voicebox over-ride. She tried to calm her friend once more, but couldn't get out of her head the image of Rainbow's changeling wings, and how her faded eyes had turned blue.
"Don't you worry, Rainbow Dash...hold still. Whatever has happened to Discord, I assure you I won't let it happen to me. No one knows you like I do." The friends smiled at each other, although Twilight knew there was a whole micro-civilisation who would argue that they knew Rainbow better than her. Smirking to herself, Twilight applied the newly-developed Zeromac and flew rapidly up into Rainbow Dash’s nostril.
“Ugh”, the sunglassed Rainbow Dash sniffed, rubbing her nose.
---
Unbeknown to Rainbow, Spike and Starlight Glimmer had been lurking outside the doors. They had been listening intently amid concerns for their friend. Of course, Spike knew where Twilight was going now, and was eager to help her again. He couldn't just leave Starlight in the dark now about what was going on; she might even want to help. He turned to her and explained about Zeromac and their previous adventures. "...So you see, we have to venture inside Rainbow Dash’s body, because if we can’t fix it from the outside…”
“…You’ll fix it from the inside.” Starlight finished the thought, and stroked her chin.
Spike replied, "Exactly - you should come too though!" Starlight gasped, but he pressed on: "Think of it as a major scientific study for you. Twilight will be so touched that you came in to help! And soon I’ll be more of a hero there than I am in the Crystal Empire!”
Starlight thought about it, and eventually smiled. Spike added, "You’ll surely have a stronger stomach than Rarity, she couldn’t really handle it.”
With a wink, Starlight replied: “Let’s hope Rainbow’s stomach can handle me!”
The duo headed quietly over to the desk, beside the couch where Rainbow was now sleeping loudly. On the desk remained a remnant of the Zeromac which Twilight had left behind, a vague attempt to cover it having been made by a few loose sheets of paper and letters. They moved over to the couch, leering over the snoring Rainbow, and huddled up together as Starlight used her magic to pour the potion over the two of them, measuring the amount from the marker Twilight had etched into the beaker. Instantly they felt a weird sensation - the sort of head-rush felt from orthostatic hypotension when getting up too fast - and Starlight even screamed in fear. Terrified that she’d woken up Rainbow Dash and given themselves away, she zipped her mouth shut immediately as Spike held a hoof to her mouth. It was only when all was quiet that they took in their surroundings.
The entire room was still there, but it went far, FAR beyond their eyes could see. In fact, the roof might as well have been outer space. The walls and curtains raised high up into the heavens, and they could make out all the particles of dirt and dust around them. “Woooah” Starlight exclaimed, “Where are we?” They looked down: the surface was soft and made of felt, but each lump of the felt was almost a thousand times the size for them now, the size of a sofa. And that’s when they realised where they were: the sofa. To be precise, they were perched on the top of the sofa’s backrest, and swooping down their horizon led them to their goal: Rainbow Dash’s face. Her enormous head was resting on a cushion right below them, facing upright, her glorious rainbow-mane flowing over her muzzle slightly, sunglasses still intact. The shrunken pair could practically make out their reflections in the gleaming blackened glass. The pair held each other tight and braced themselves. Spike looked down with excessive excitement as Rainbow’s immense mouth opened wide - he was sure one of her teeth looked oddly sharper than usual - and it let out a snore. The soundwaves practically shattered their ear-drums this close - and besides the faint smell of spice left in their noses, their ears were ringing as they hurled themselves down the sofa.
Starlight grimaced in fear and hesitation; Spike rolled his eyes at her as the inhale from the mouth allowed for them to be dragged on-target, falling into Rainbow Dash’s mouth as the uvula wiggled teasingly at the back with the intake snore.
---
“Are you okay?” Spike asked, as they picked themselves up from a rather bumpy landing. And boy was it bumpy: all around them, massive lumps of pink soared upwards into the dark sky. The ground below them shook and shifted upwards slightly as gusts of air whooshed over their heads.
“Just about…” Starlight steadied herself and took in the surroundings; now in a more closed space, their view was slightly improved. They were standing on the tongue, having landed on it as it curled in a favourable way for them. To either side, the enormous molars – which still took up most of their view – acted like pivots of the jaws in front, which hung open and allowed the light of the outside room to pour in. The jagged lines of Rainbow’s front teeth acted like a frame for this view outside. “Amazing…” Starlight thought aloud, marvelling at these sights, and then wincing when she noticed some dark staining and cracks on a few teeth. Yikes, she may be awesome on the outside but I think she needs to see an awesome dentist... she thought to herself. With saliva dripping from her wet hooves as she moved, she turned to Spike. “Eeww…okay then, where in tarnation are these tiny ponies you were so excited about? I knew there couldn’t be such thing as a microscopic city – no organisms could sustainably construct an artificial habitat in the conditions of the -"
“Freeze! Don’t move!” Came a gravelly voice from somewhere behind. The pair stood absolutely still in fear. “You have entered the City of Rainbow Dash,” it continued, “and as unauthorised entrants, are required to present proper documentation.” The speaker eventually revealed himself, a shabby-looking brown pegasus stallion wearing a hardhat and hi-vis, accompanied by two other pegasi behind him. The pair noticed the trio's uniforms were labelled BORDERS – MSD DIVISION , but they blushed innocently and held up their arms, unable to show any documents. “Right, you’re coming with us…” the brown stallion said, and the workers hoof-cuffed the pair and picked them up, heading along the tongue’s surface to the back of the throat. It was noticeable how the loudness of Rainbow’s snores seemed to be drowned out here, almost muffled and somehow contained. As they flew along the surface, Starlight saw a team of four tiny ponies having an argument around several sore taste-bud that had various incisions in them.
“I told you that wasn’t going to work!”
“You never said that – all you did was act all high and mighty without offering any suggestions”
“Well don’t you start, you said that lingual papillae were the easiest to fix!”
“Don’t look at me, I’m not the one who’s supposed to be from Spice Control…”
“Oh yeah? I’m just from Enamel Care, how do you think I feel?!”
Amused and still shocked by the discovery of these microscopic pony organisms, Starlight sniggered, in spite of their situation. Spike's recounting of the tale had been rushed and so it was all a lot for her to take in! The stallions now soared up away from the tongue, heading towards the uvula suspended high up in the throat, like a starship lingering ominously in space. Indeed, as they got closer, the control centre on its base came more into view, indeed looking like an under-hanging spaceship attached into the uvula’s flesh. A bright red beacon flashed regularly off the lowest pole on the apparatus. Eventually, the stallions carried them to a gangway and led them through the doors at its end. After a lengthy walk through various offices and elevator rides, they reached the round and grand observation platform-deck, with its glass panels swooping around almost entirely in a circle. This room was the busiest so far, with various ponies in lab-coats running around and taking notes at the monitors dotted around the room. Spike realised that, as well as being slightly hot and muggy in here, none of the lights in this room were on; it was relying solely on the outside light shining into the open mouth.
A beige mare turned around from her chair and walked towards them. “Release them,” she demanded, and with a huff the stallions untied the duo and walked out the room.
“Spike, how nice to see you again. And this must be the new friend of you and Twilight. Pleased to meet you, welcome to the City of Rainbow Dash! My name is Oovla, I’m the Head of the Mouth Sanitation Department here in the Mouth & Throat District. We were expecting Twilight in the city today but not you two fine visitors.”
“Pleased to meet you, ma’am” Starlight said with a respective bow of the head.
“I’m afraid you’ve arrived at a very bad time, Spike. The city is suffering a blackout, and much of our equipment has been affected.”
The dragon looked saddened, but then Starlight noted: “I saw some ponies fighting on Rainbow Dash’s tongue.”
Oovla let out a slight smile. “Yes, well – for whatever reason, City Hall authorised consumption of a chilli pepper which we weren’t prepared for at all here. There were fires around the city because of the heat, but the taste-buds here suffered badly, and I’ve had to ask some of our Dental Hygiene Unit to help us repair the buds’ damage – those things are sensitive, you know!”
The pair looked puzzled. “How can such chaos be happening?” Spike asked. “Surely someone or something is responsible…Discord…”
“No, it’s not Discord. In fact, he was apparently seen in the Brain trying to interrogate pedestrians.”
“Pede- why?” Spike looked puzzled.
“We have a changeling infestation.” Oovla sighed after the dramatic reveal, and the pair gasped.
"Oovla, we have to find Discord – and Twilight! She’s supposed to be helping here too!” Starlight said determinedly. “Which way to the Brain?”
Oovla hushed them and handed them both VIP passes from her desk, warning them to keep those visible. She then summoned some pegasi workers to escort them to the Brain. “Take these lovely visitors to the Brain if you can. Go quickly; we have to prepare for a yawn here in 2 minutes.” As if on cue, a countdown timer announced this fact. The pair thanked Oovla and then the waiting pegasi lifted them up once again, allowing them to ride on their strong backs as they flew with torch-fitted hardhats. Apart from the streaks of the torches' lights, the sights were all lost in darkness: all that the pair could make out in the dim city were the imposing silhouettes of buildings against the various walls of Rainbow’s body; the nervous transit system lay dormant, its flowing pipes and tubes no longer illuminated and filled with the sounds of rushing vehicles. In an effort to get a better sense of this place, Starlight used her horn to illuminate their path better, showing the buildings around their brightened radius. Spike was reminded of his last visit here, when he and Scootaloo had bonded over the fun urban exploring. He felt an immense sadness come over him, only imagining the pain and confusion that Scootaloo's idol must be experiencing outside. As they passed by some foreboding grey structures, they heard their voices being called desperately.
“Spiiiiiiiiiiiiike! Starlight Gliiiiiimer!”
“Wait!” Spike haulted their escorts, and headed towards the outlines of a gate in the darkness. The pegasi aimed their torches at the gate to show that they were at the Correctional Institute. The voice called out once again, and the four of them noticed a small light flashing from a window.
“It’s me - Discord! Get me oooout!”
Spike gasped. “It’s Discord! We’ve gotta find him – hold on, Discord, we’re coming!” The candle-lit security guard saw their passes and opened the gate, guiding them to the cell Discord was detained in. The MSD pegasi had to return to their posts back in Rainbow's mouth, so they left the pair here. A changeling guard strolled on a walkway above them with a flashlight, and Starlight gasped at this sight. Trying not to get scared, she peered into the cell lit by her magic, and Spike held her tight. The draconequus sat looking rather dejected.
“I failed Twilight, I was supposed to come in and help and in reality, all I am is damn useless…” he grumbled remorsefully, but the pair helped him up and led him out his cell.
“Come on, we’re getting outta here, Discord” Spike said, checking the coast was clear. "I wish I had Thorax with me..." he added, remembering the changelings' reformation he had pioneered as he considered the evil changelings he had seen in here. For now, the changeling guard had vanished, so they hurried out through the darkness as fast as they could, using the darkness to their advantage as they zoomed past the gates unnoticed. Once they felt they had travelled far enough from the prison, they stopped and caught their breath. It was still incredibly humid where they were.
“Discord…” Starlight panted, “You are one of the most important folk around here right now! You’ve been here before, right? You know this place like the back of your…hand, claw…? Now show us the way to City Hall and let’s give Twilight the help we know we can all give her!”
“And kick some changeling butt!” Spike added, even making Discord smile now. He then proceeded to pull out a faded map of the cellular city, shining his little flashlight on it and leading them to one side.
---
Twilight had entered the nostril before Spike and Starlight had walked into the room, and had found almost immediately that not only was something not right; she couldn’t even see! The nasal passage’s highways, usually illuminated by bright streetlamps soaring high above the traffic, were all but imposing shadows and monstrous outlines curving and rising over and around the snotty surface on which this was all built. Using her horn to illuminate the way, she had managed to navigate her way further down the passageway, eventually heading past the sinuses and Olfactory Bulb, and arriving in what felt like a big, open space. Suddenly her lit horn did not seem to cover that much area, and although a few tiny dimly-lit lights appeared off in the distance somewhere, the inky blackness immediately surrounding her made her very nervous. This doesn’t feel right...clearly there’s been a power-cut across the city. Pretty serious. She thought to herself, trying to calm herself a bit. Her attempt was short-lived, as she suddenly became very aware that she was being watched.
"Yaaaaaaaah!" She screamed as she felt some unseen force grab her leg and drag her off to one side. The sound of a familiar sinister laugh echoed around her - and upon seeing a pair of green eyes in the darkness, she yelled out. "Chrysalis - I know it's you! Reveal yourself!"
The changeling queen stepped out of the shadow and basked in the glow of her horn's eerie light. "Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes," she chuckled. "Funny, isn't it? A changeling spell can still work at this size."
Twilight wrestled the unseen force that was still pinning her down. "N-no...impossible...what are you on about this time?!"
Chrysalis growled and gestured to two more changelings who appeared, holding down Twilight as the queen leaned in to her. "You and your damn ‘friendships’ have thwarted me too many times, I will fight these friendships one-by-one by turning them into the very thing you overthrew!"
Twilight gasped as she began to piece together a horrific picture. "Surely you don't mean..."
Chrysalis cut her off, perhaps consumed by pride and arrogance: "Of course I do. The other day I found an ancient Changeling Spellbook in a deserted castle formerly belonging to one of my predecessors, out in the barren lands, and found in it a spell which can conjure changeling ‘essence’, energy, from one organism to another, bit-by-bit."
Twilight interrupted, "You have a spell that can transfer Changeling energy to any organism, even at this tiny size? A spell which can turn cells into changeling cells?!”
Chrysalis laughed. "Just look around you! Even these two here, formerly of the RDFD and one from the Spleen. Now they are mine!" Twilight moved to protest, but the self-absorbed queen continued: "I might as well tell you since you will not be interfering with my plan this time, Twilight Sparkle. I will see to it. With the spell perfected I then decided to target one of your closest friends, Rainbow Dash, with the intention of applying this spell from within. Obtaining that stupid shrinking potion in the Canterlot labs was easy; those guards didn’t suspect a thing from ‘Luna’. What I didn’t suspect was an entire city of microscopic citizens in here! This discovery, however, makes things a lot more interesting…yes, I have most certainly used this to my advantage.”
Twilight tried to wriggle free in vain: "What are you going to do to my friend! Leave her out of this, your issue is with me!"
Chrysalis laughed as she began to walk off: "Oh Twilight Sparkle, this isn't just some small issue between you and I anymore. No, I've been caused enough grief. And soon, there won't be a 'you and I' anymore! Mwahaha!" Her laughs faded as she disappeared into the darkness - but the changelings holding her suddenly picked her up and headed off somewhere. They glared at her as she shifted around in their grasp, but they did not break their stride – they both seemed rather strong. They were using a similar illumination spell, as Twilight could see after a while through their light that they were on Ureter Avenue – she was confused and began to shift around uncontrollably in the grip of the changelings. “Let me go! Get your dirty hooves OFF me!” Around this time, they were nearly blinded as almost every light in the city came on at once. “Aaaoooow!” she and the changelings cried as their sensitive eyes were burned with the brightness, and all around them various citizens moaned in similar pain as they began to emerge from their respective homes, vehicles and hiding places. They were all too busy to notice the changelings drag Twilight down a side passage marked 'URETHRA (Sanitation Department Staff only) - STRICTLY NO ADMITTANCE'. The changelings were muttering about how ‘they must have fixed one of the eyes’. Confused by this, Twilight - still rubbing her eyes - realised they were in a narrow shoot, and had now been joined by another changeling – and also a micropony! Surely they weren’t causing citizens to be defecting?! They stopped at a small platform, with a control panel to one side – and an immense drop below it, leading down to a vast river of… well, Twilight knew they were in the Urinary Passage, not just by the smell. This immense tunnel seemed to be channelling the waste fluids down, and practically right below their platform, the river suddenly dropped – indeed, there was a large waterfall where the cascades descended into the external sphincter of the urethra. The sound of gushing waters filled their ears as it tumbled downwards, and the four captors tied string around Twilight’s wings. It was a very humid and damp climate in here, and all five of them struggled to conceal their sweating.
“Right, off you go!” One of the changelings prodded her to jump.
Twilight tried to use her magic, but the changelings rebuffed it almost immediately with counter spells. With tears in her eyes, she turned to the micropony. “H-how could you? This is your city, how could you let it crumble before you?”
The micropony sniggered and revealed itself to be nothing more than a changeling, albeit in a convincing disguise. Twilight gasped and then tried to formulate a plan quickly. Smiling to herself, she asked: “Say, do I get a last request?”
“Fine.”
“I would like an ice cream.”
Some of them sniggered. “An ice cream?! From where?”
“Oh I sorta want an ice cream now she’s said it…”
Twilight stayed calm: “down there, can’t you see there’s a vendor right there?”
“Huh?” All four of the changelings peered over the ledge down to the bottom, and Twilight seized all her power and might to wallop their backsides in one go, knocking the surprised quartert over the railing and plunging into the waters. “Uuuugh! Gross!” They cried, trying in vain to flap their inferior wings. Due to the sweaty conditions, and their soaked bodies from the waste fluid, they were unable to propel themselves out, and tumbled over the edge and down the waterfall, screaming out in anger. Twilight sighed with relief as their shouts faded away, and then she turned to the control panel, shaking her ropes off. A bright green button had a picture of Rainbow Dash’s body outline with an arrow pointing out from her nether regions. Shrugging amusedly, Twilight pushed the button and looked down below as a whirlpool began to drain the pool at the bottom.
--- “Aaaaw, man!” Rainbow Dash groaned as she was awoken by a sudden need to use the toilet, and sleepily stumbled over to the bathroom, too tired to realise she had regained her sight.---
---
Twilight charged back up the passageway and into Ureter Avenue. She headed up towards the kidneys and recalled that the last time she was in this city, she had made a new friend in this district. She flew as fast as she could through the city, heading back towards the brain via the spinal cord. She flew along the highway and soon enough passed a sign marked “Exit 74 - Neck Hill North”. She knew she was nearly there, but at this moment she was suddenly pulled off the freeway and sent tumbling into somepony. “Hey, what’s the big de-“ Twilight stopped as she realised she had crashed into Starlight Glimmer, Spike and Discord. “W-wha?! Am I going crazy now?"
Starlight sniggered and hushed her friend. “Sorry, I guess I yanked you outta there a little hard. Spike was adamant we should come and help you, I couldn't say no." Twilight looked at Spike, initially with a frown but then a heartfelt and accepting smile. Starlight continued, "We were waiting here for ages hoping we’d see you on the main highway. How are you, what in Equestria happened?!”
"It's Chrysalis - she's somehow found a spell which can turn the cells here into changeling cells, one by one! It seems they're already affecting Rainbow's appearance on the outside now...Chrysalis is clearly trying to change every cell here which would mean that Rainbow altogether would become a..." She paused as she realised the horror of Chrysalis' evil plan, thinking also of how she threatened to attack all her friends. "We have to stop Chrysalis; it won't be long before she reaches the Brain, where she'll be able to 'install' the changeling ability to morph - if she does that, I fear we may lose Rainbow for good!"
Starlight and Discord exchanged glances and recalled the time they had overcome Chrysalis to save Equestria, so Starlight gave her friend Twilight a confident look. "Don't worry, Twilight - we're here for you. We'll kick Chrysalis back where she came from, 'cos we're here to help. Are you okay though, where have you been?" Twilight recounted her escapade inside Rainbow’s bladder, and Spike couldn’t help but laugh at the gross ending for the captors. Twilight then shot a furious glare at Discord, about to lash into him - but Starlight explained: “Wait, don't attack him. Spike and I were taken into the MSD office in Rainbow's uvula when we came in. As we were heading to find you, we found Discord in a prison, hence his lack of communication…we rescued him though! This place is amazing! It’s like…a groundbreaking scientific discovery! We have to share it with the Canterlo-“
Twilight booped her friend’s mouth shut. “Nopony’s sharing anything, certainly not until we figure out how to save this cellular city. Rainbow's life as she knows it depends on us now."
Spike spoke up: “Twilight, we bumped into an old friend you should come and see…”
Twilight gasped, “You saw her?!” Twilight's worst fears flew round her head: Have I just been tricked by the damn changelings? Did I just escape for nothing? Are all three of my friends here just illusions, changelings in disguise? After Starlight shook her head and reassured her it wasn't a betrayal, Twilight looked excited. “Oooo is it Minuette? Moondancer?” Spike shook his head and they led Twilight into Neck Hill, the affluent district for the rich and elite citizens. A lot of politicians lived around here too, being so near City Hall. They rang a doorbell at a rather impressive mansion, waiting until a familiar face answered. “Action Tremor!” Twilight wrapped her arms around the stallion, who smiled as he hugged her back. The former Mayor welcomed Twilight as Starlight and Spike followed in with Discord.
“Woah, this is much nicer than that old barge down in the bloodstream!” Spike remarked, receiving a stare from Twilight. After having a pleasant catch-up over tea, they overheard on the television that the Optic Nerve Highway had been completed after emergency sectioned back-up lighting was authorised by City Hall, and that Rainbow Dash had been taken to Zecora’s Hut by her friend Fluttershy. Their host was still suffering from slight delusion after the blackout, and the Department of Vision was depleted still. At least the sections of carapace had been successfully removed by an RDFD team.
They then tuned into a slightly wonky RainbowVision and observed as Rainbow herself wearily observed the strange décor of the hut, ranging from medicine bottles to frightening tiki masks.
At this point Twilight had a sudden thought, having grown in anxiety over the developing changeling epidemic spreading through the city. “Action Tremor – is there a way of actively controlling Rainbow Dash’s dreams? I have an idea.”
Action Tremor nodded slowly. “Sure, the Memory Department. Been a while since I set hoof in there; I’ll have to see if I can get us in.” They presently headed off for Brain Central, Action Tremor driving them in his luxury cellular car. They headed towards the Memory Department, which was a large and dark-coloured office block on one side of a quiet square off one side of the main plaza, incorporating a Bank and cinema opposite. They parked and headed into the governmental office reception, unaware that all around the plaza, changelings were lurking on the sidewalks and gesturing to one another to slowly encircle the building. After murmuring at the desk with the deadpan mares behind it, Action Tremor smiled and gave a smile of encouragement to his waiting friends. They rode an elevator several storeys, coming out in a dark corridor and walking down it. Numerous closed doors on either side of them seemed to have light coming out from under them, with muffled sounds of clips and reels apparently being screened within them. Twilight and Spike were reminded of their first venture into the city, when Discord had tricked them into starting a fight in the department cinema’s screening room of Rainbow Dash’s dream that night. Now however, Discord was behaving behind them and they were being taken to the ‘control room’ studio.
They entered the large room, full of control panels, monitors and cameras everywhere, and two microponies so engrossed in their work that they didn’t even stop to look at the newcomers. Action Tremor explained: “This is the control room here at the Memory Department. Here is where the dreams themselves are constructed, before being sent to the cinema for screening. As you can see, it takes a lot of meticulous planning to make sure we get the dream exactly right and fuse the right memories together, allowing for some…imaginative creativity I suppose.” The gang watched as the microponies busied themselves with all sorts of documents and files, talking into their earpieces. Fluttershy and Zecora had tucked Rainbow in bed and so she was actually sleeping now, so this was a relatively quiet period since the dreams had already been dispatched for the night.
Twilight approached one of the workers and struck up a casual and friendly conversation, eventually prying with a bold request: “Is there any way you would be so kind as to let us over-ride tonight’s dream? It’s urgent - the city is in grave danger and I need to infiltrate the dream.” The worker looked in disbelief, so she pressed: “need I remind you that I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow’s friend.” The worker hurriedly grabbed his co-worker and Action Tremor.
“Little Miss Sparkle here wants to over-ride the dream. Can we even DO that?”
“Yeah who cares, Cody - just do it.”
Twilight squeed happily as she was shown how the machinery worked, and a message was relayed to the cinema to halt their screening. She looked visibly excited to be exposed to new scientific apparatus – she then mustered her magic and focused long and hard, as the assembling camera-crew and workers watched on from various doorways. She moaned in pain as her horn glowed brighter and brighter in a white glow. Eventually, Twilight zapped the console and a stream of white flowed into it, appearing on the monitor. When Spike nervously asked what she’d done, she explained quietly: “I remember Princess Luna showing me how Rainbow loves to kick ass in her dreams – not sing with sunflowers, remember? So I’ve initiated a dream sequence for Rainbow which will bring her into this city to kick changeling ass!”
Spike stared open-mouthed. “Are…you…nuts?! What are you thinking?”
Twilight had that worrying look of excitement mixed with crazed perseverance, perhaps an adrenalin rush caused by the spell. “Isn’t it great?!” She exclaimed. “I’ve managed to create a spell which breaks the laws of physics – she’ll be inside her own head! I should get down to the square, she’ll be here any minute!” Spike and Starlight were helpless to stop her as she zapped herself out of the room, and the crew all shrugged and looked as the monitor showed Rainbow’s eyes slowly waking up to a very familiar location.
Rainbow Dash rubbed her eyes slightly as she slowly adjusted to her surroundings. “Huh? What’s going on?”
“Hi Rainbow Dash!” Twilight flew towards her.
“T-Twilight?!”
"Yeah! Look out, changeling at 2 o'clock!"
"Huh?" Rainbow turned and saw two changelings advance towards her in the square, and she proceeded to kick them away and punch them in typical Rainbow Dash awesomeness. Twilight pointed at more changelings incoming, and again Rainbow kicked and threw punches, banged heads and eventually a pile of defeated changelings had risen higher than a building nearby.
"Yeah! Woooo!" The cheers erupted from the studio and also the cinema nearby, as the citizens watched the unfolding events of their own host making history, despite her complete ignorance of it for the moment.
Rainbow continued kicking changeling ass until with an almighty bang of the head she knocked the last one out cold. The entire place shook slightly for some reason, and as Rainbow rubbed her head she sat down and panted. "Whew...we're safe now, Twilight! Where even are we?"
“Look around, silly! Welcome to your brain!” The alicorn had a deranged tone in her voice that betrayed the friendly expression she wore.
“My what?” Rainbow looked around properly and gasped. An enormous brain soared high above her eyes in the distance, electricity flying out of it high above. Down here between her and the brain, there were buildings of strange cellular matter, gelatinous ponies walking around the large plaza they were now stood in. She shook her head and chuckled with sarcastic amusement. “Haha very good, Twilight, nice joke. You might be trying to pull the wool over my eyes, but I’m not blind anymore… I sent you up my nose to cure me, not to play pranks on me.”
As she laughed at Twilight’s apparent ‘joke’, Starlight and Spike had managed to catch up to them in the plaza. Action Tremor and the crew of the Memory Department were watching from the studio in disbelief. “I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash – but this is no joke.” Twilight said, suddenly adopting a serious tone; by now Discord had joined them.
“This really is the inside of your head,” Starlight added, as Spike nodded.
Rainbow looked around again, stopping her laughter: a young newspaper-colt shouted the headline ‘Rainbow Dash taken to witchdoctor’; businessponies deep in conversation headed into the grand entrance of a building marked CITY HALL at the base of the brain; posters on a bus stop with her own face on them; television monitors in a shop talking about ‘fine weather forecast for the stomach’s beachgoers tomorrow, lunch-permitting’; a ‘dream cinema’ to one side; and, right in the centre of it all, a large statue of herself with the plaque: “Rainbow Dash: our city, the perfect specimen”! As she stood stupefied, a few microponies noticed her and began to gather around her, including several rushing out of the cinema for some reason. Even the news anchors on the monitors seemed to have stopped talking to watch somehow.
“Is that…?”
“It can’t be…”
“How can she even…”
And even a rambunctious young colt ran to her: “I never thought I’d meet you, please sign my pet globule! I’m Tubette from your colon!”
Rainbow Dash was panting in fear, panicking, until she let out a yell and tried to run away; Twilight went after her. “Rainbow Dash, these citizens are counting on you – I know you love to beat up changelings in your dreams, so I thought-“ her words were not listened to however, as the freaked-out Rainbow crash-landed, overcome with fear and disillusion.
Distorted images of these strange cellular ponies’ faces began to infuse with tiki masks and changelings that laughed at her tauntingly. She cried out and begged for it to stop, shaking her head in denial and curling up in tears, refusing it to be possible. Twilight saw this and snapped out of her own delusional mindset. “Oh sweet Celestia, what have I done?!” As Starlight and Spike were torn with what to do about their dejected and traumatised friend, Twilight flew back to the studio and shouted to the crew.
“Snap her out of it, snap her out of it now! Get her out of here!” Almost in tears, she bellowed her order to anypony who would listen – Action Tremor had to shake himself out of a state of disbelief at what he’d just witnessed, and ordered the crew to end the dream immediately. Sure enough, the cameras switched off, the monitors went black, and Rainbow Dash instantly disappeared from the spot she was curled up in. As everything calmed down for a minute quietly, the whole city seemed in a state of bewilderment. Echoing from the monitors dotted around, a news anchor bravely spoke up and continued his news casting: ”We interrupt this story to provide some breaking news: Rainbow Dash has just entered…Rainbow Dash! Yes, our host has just been seen in Brain Central plaza, attracting crowds of-“ “Turn that off,” Twilight interrupted, and the screens in the studio were duly shut off. “Great” she muttered sadly, “now everypony will know about my huge mistake.”
Action Tremor put a hoof on her shoulder. “Not necessarily,” he offered. “We’ve had bad dreams here in the past. There is a way to eradicate such problems.” Twilight looked up at him with the faintest of smiles, and he in turn spoke to two workers near the back. “Harris, Clemence – you know what to do. Code violet.” The two microponies scuttled off, and Action Tremor explained to Twilight: “they are going to fog up the memory of the dream. If it’s successful, it should generate a shockwave through the city that removes it from even our own recollections, not just Rainbow's. It’s something we only ever do in an extreme emergency – but I think we can all agree that THAT was as much of an emergency as we’ll ever get.” A few ponies nodded, and Twilight managed a smile of thanks as the workers hesitantly got back to work. Twilight wanted to cause no more damage, and so they left the building with Action Tremor and the four of them stood in the square. A couple of minutes later, there was indeed a red warning light flashed across the square, and a large wave of purple surged through them all.
---
“Are you okay, Rainbow Dash? I heard you shouting.”
“Ugh, I think I’m okay Fluttershy, thanks. I had a nasty dream and it just woke me up” Rainbow rubbed her head slowly. “Can’t remember what happened, that’s weird…I just had it. Oh well – good, I guess.”
Fluttershy looked nervous, “oh dear, whatever illness you have, it seems to be sneaking into your subconscious, Rainbow Dash.” With that, she headed out the door.
Rainbow scowled and turned in her bed, thinking to herself well DO something about it!. As she tossed and turned in her bed, struggling to get back to sleep, images flashed through her mind as she muttered to herself. “Ugh….brains…statues….”
---
Twilight Sparkle ran straight back into the Memory Department after watching Rainbow begin to piece her dream together on RainbowVision. She stormed into the studio and shouted: “Harris and Clemence, where are they?!”
“We’re right here, Twilight Sparkle” the two of them replied in monotonous voices, almost zombified in their posture.
Twilight bore down on them. “Are you NUTS?! What kind of job do you call that? You clearly aren’t wearing the uniforms you deserve…”
“You’re right, we don’t…” And with that, they both transformed before her eyes into the sniggering changelings who’d stolen the identities. “Unlucky, Twilight Sparkle. It seems your mistakes are gonna cost you this time.”
“No!” Twilight dodged their incoming grasps to capture her, and fighting back the tears she ran out the building, sitting on a bench and hiding her face. Spike found her and perched next to her; she told him about the infiltrated workers.
"It's okay, Twilight. Somepony will properly remove the dream from her memory - maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon enough that this will all be forgotten. We need you though, Twilight. Come on, don't give up just yet. Look, Starlight came all this way just to show you how much it means to her that we work together to help our friend get better!"
Twilight sniffled and looked up. "I suppose...this is only a mistake if I choose to make it a mistake...I can still get Rainbow to help us, I know it. I might have screwed up on my methods, but something tells me there is a way." Spike hugged her as the two sat, watching the citizens slowly recommence their daily activities.