The gang were trying to get some sort of reaction out of Twilight, but she simply stared off into the distance and offered little sign of mental stability at this point. In fact, her eye twitched slightly and Spike noticed her lips moving a tiny bit; she was muttering to herself. Action Tremor informed her that the Memory Dpt. were working on re-erasing the bad dream, but it got no reaction from the alicorn. Just as Spike was about to poke her, she suddenly turned and addressed them all, sending the dragon reeling backwards in surprise. “Listen to me. I can’t pretend to be okay because I’m not. I just did something incredibly reckless, and now I need to put it right. I’m not used to my plans backfiring, everypony – I feel like I’ve let you down, I’ve let Rainbow Dash down, and I’ve let myself down.” Starlight moved to console her, but she waved it away and continued: “I may have made a mistake in summoning Rainbow into a world she was not ready for yet. However, I might be of sound mind. Look - Chrysalis is out there with an evil plan, and we need to stop it. I know Rainbow could help us help her…so, I need to do something. First, I need to make sure Chrysalis is in this city and only in this city.”
Discord remained tight-lipped but Action Tremor spoke: “What are you gonna do, Twilight?”
Twilight gave him a reassuring smile. “I have to…try something. On myself. Stand back.” As the group backed away, Twilight conjured up her magic, summoning all sorts of glows and auras around her body as she suddenly enveloped herself in a bright white glow. When the glow faded away, the group looked puzzled as Twilight still remained there, but static – she was like a robot, dormant and motionless, gazing off into the distance.
“What did she do?” Action Tremor asked.
“Twilight? Can you hear us?” Starlight prodded the alicorn.
Spike pieced things together: “Hang on guys – that was almost the exact same spell that Twilight used to bring Rainbow inside her own head…so that must mean…”
“Twilight has gone inside her own head!” Discord suddenly exclaimed, then apologising for his outburst as a few passers-by gave him a weird look.
The others nodded slowly as they stared at Twilight’s unresponsive body. “Wow, inside a brain whilst inside a brain…that’s Twilight alright” Spike sighed. Carrying Twilight with them, they headed into an abandoned cafe having decided to take cover from the lurking changelings.
---
Twilight, meanwhile, had cast the spell on herself partly out of guilt, partly out of duty, and partly due to her scientific curiosity. She had been plunged into a void of bright lights coming from all directions, unable to keep her eyes open from the bright light she seemed to head towards. At this moment, she collected her thoughts. What if Chrysalis has already contaminated my own body? How will I overcome the dilemma of internal conflicts and win over myself, the way poor Rainbow Dash failed to do just now? If I can do that, perhaps I can then use it to get Rainbow’s cooperation, possibly without her ever knowing...? She was snapped out of her thoughts, as in a sudden flash everything went quiet, and she opened her eyes cautiously.
She looked up and saw an immense brain, again buzzing with electricity near its summit, and all sorts of veins and nerves shooting off. Something was wrong. There was no City Hall at its base. Curious, she looked around more, turning on the spot. There was nothing but a vast expanse of matter, cellular shapes moving around past her; there were no protoplasmic buildings, no microponies walking around. Everything seemed as her biology books from elementary school had told her: empty biological structure, organs and anatomical matter all in check. She couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Are these micro-civilisations selective on their domains, only settling in a few bodies? She knew for a fact that both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie unknowingly hosted internal cities, yet hers was completely empty and void of ‘life’! How could this be? The only thing she could not account for was the inexplicable light which illuminated this cerebral locale. Giving up hope, she turned and took a few steps as she craned her neck to observe one last time. Did I do something wrong with the spell? How come it worked with Dashie? As she took another step, she suddenly felt something bump into her – something that moved, and something that made a gasp. “Whaa?!” Twilight exclaimed. “Who’s there?”
Right on cue, and to Twilight’s disbelief, a micropony suddenly manifested herself, coming out of some form of camouflaged spell in an almost pixelated manner. “A changeling, I knew it!” Twilight yelled in a rage, and moved to attack the pony, but she cowered before the princess and pleaded.
“Please don’t hurt me, Princess Twilight! I’m not a changeling!”
“How can I tell?”
“Um…the first thing you ever fed Spike was the trapiche emerald from your gemstone collection!”
Twilight reeled back in shock. That was a fact that only she and Spike could have possibly known. “Oh sweet Celestia…then that means you’re…there’s a…”
“Yup” the mare stood up, and shook Twilight’s hoof. “My name’s Aurelia, I work in your cochlea. Might I say it is very surprising to see you here?!” With that, she pressed into her own chest slightly, emitting a red glow somehow – and all of a sudden, the world around them changed. City Hall instantly appeared; towering and impressive buildings soared upwards; and hundreds of microponies appeared and stared in the direction of this unexpected encounter. Twilight couldn’t help but stare in awe at the inside of her own head – the architecture was sleek and modern, glass structures jutting out and swooping curves, high-tech transportation systems and screens - all giving the impression of an advanced and futuristic city. The sanitation was impeccable; everything looked clean and looked-after. It was amazing how many contrasts there were here to the run-down look of Rainbow Dash’s brain plaza. As some of the citizens gathered around her, the initial fear she felt - just as Rainbow had done - was soon washed away as she engaged in conversation with them: she was amazed to discover their impeccable intellect, for they were more than capable of maintaining sophisticated and academic discussions with her beyond merely behaving like a star-struck fandom. Aurelia even explained to her the camouflage spell, and the way to deactivate it across the city with the use of their chests.
Twilight thought aloud to herself, “I’ve been alive for years, studying all sorts of cultures and communities, and yet I never even knew that I was the host to a civilisation of my very own…” A few of her citizens laughed happily, and Twilight noticed the majority of these ponies were unicorns. “So, how does my magic work?”
A black stallion near the front spoke up with the answer: “Your horn gets its magic from the Magicians Institute built within it. Through receptacle tubes the spells are sent out to the horn which emits the spells out into the open – think of it as a downsized transmitter, and the Institute make up the ‘generator’!” A few other ponies cheered this, clearly members of the aforementioned department. Twilight simply beamed with pride and awe at all this, until the stallion noticed something.
“Wait a second…” he said, “I was just there at the Institute. Remember the Transvisceral Deposit, fellas?” A few of them nodded, but he explained to Twilight: “that’s the spell which transported Rainbow into her own head – boy did that take it out of us! Well, none of us knew or researched how to make that spell work for the self…we weren’t aware of an incentive effectively to cast the spell on our own Institute!” He turned away in his thoughts, “How could she do something without us knowing? Ah my head, I can’t even…aaah!” Almost driven to the point of insanity, he ran off to the amusement of his colleagues, but a few ponies were musing over his point too.
“I suppose I’d better go and see the Mayor,” Twilight pondered, and Aurelia offered to escort her. Again, City Hall was almost identical to that of the City of Rainbow Dash – the only differences being inside: sleek desks, high-tech equipment, futuristic interior design. Aurelia opened the door to the Mayor’s Office and said goodbye for now; Twilight thanked her and walked in slowly. The chair behind the desk had its back to her, as if the Mayor was looking out over their city through the surrounding glass windows. Twilight couldn’t help but feel a little bit unnerved to see television monitors showing her own head and body’s outline this time, with various lights flashing and indicating different things. The chair spun slowly and was revealed to be empty, but she heard a voice call out ‘surprise!’ to her, and suddenly the Mayor de-camouflaged himself sitting in the chair. He was a short unicorn, bespectacled and wearing a rather elaborate gown; his overall appearance resembling that of a wizard.
“Gotcha! Ah, Twilight it’s so good to see you – I never thought I’d get the chance!” He hugged her tight. “I’m Swirlestio, the Mayor of your wonderful city. It’s an honour to have you here.”
Twilight thanked him and they sat and had a civilised discussion about the city and its infrastructure, the small issue in Rainbow Dash, and the sources of magic here. Swirlestio revealed himself to be a masterful magician, skilled in all schools of magical thought. This was chiefly due to his life in politics - having had a father who was also a popular Mayor, and hence provided with premium exposure to the lessons from Celestia which Twilight was going through in her early years. When the question of the incredible camouflage came up, he explained: “Our camouflage spell was developed to disguise us from intruders, like a sort of spring-attack or method of ambush. Naturally, I’ll be happy to teach you the spell. You see, no city has ever been visited by one of our citizens; we are very ‘recluse’ since we have no reason to visit anywhere else when we live in scientific perfection! As a result, we have developed a special potion called “COGNITUM” for use on immigrants; it has the ability to extract unnatural essence and reveal organisms’ true forms – think of it as a highly-efficient border control! Last week we used it on some germs attempting to pass off as pathogens – I suppose the irony is that it could be used on our own camouflage spell!”
This gave Twilight an idea. “You guys must know the task I’m currently engaged with, then – curing Rainbow Dash, ridding her body of microscopic changelings?”
Swirlestio nodded, then lowered his head. “And we were not thinking straight with the Rainbow dream idea. Great shame. Let's share the blame...” he offered a slight smile.
Twilight was moved and also inspired by the sudden thoughts that crossed her mind, thoughts of mind and body working in tandem: my 'mind' is my own autonomous thinking, and 'body' is these microscopic helpers! Thinking back to Rainbow Dash, she spoke up. “I may be able to put it right, Mr Mayor. If you explain the camouflage spell to me, and give me the formula for Cognitum please, we can defeat those pests.” It felt very weird to her, basically negotiating and reminiscing with her own brain.
Swirlestio stood up and thought to himself, before eventually nodding in agreement. “You know what, Twilight? We thought we were the most advanced magicians around. However, your presence here has no doubt disrupted the space-time continuum and also defied the laws of physics – something which, quite frankly, only someone like you, Twilight, would ever do. Although most ponies’ bodies do incorporate a slightly independent subconscious from the City – that is, folks like Rainbow Dash have an inherent conscience not regulated by us – you have acted completely autonomously separate from us, from me and my teams…quite astonishing! We are all very proud of you.” He then pressed his intercom and sent for the Cognitum formula.
Twilight felt a tear of pride run down her cheek, assured and given a welcome boost by this. No matter what she did, she would always have this inner belief and support from a loving civilisation that was almost independent from her own thinking. It made her feel like nothing she ever did alone would truly be done ‘alone’; that she would never be alone as long as Swirlestio and his public were with her. Smiling, she realised she could now trust herself from inside, and, thanking Swirlestio, she readied her spell again. If I can learn to trust ‘myself’ from within, I must try to get Rainbow to learn to love and cooperate with her own internal community.
---
Rainbow Dash opened her eyes slowly, the weight of slumber lifted from her weary eyelids, but immediately she was given a startle as a massive tiki mask was staring her right in the face. “Aaah!” she cried out, until the mask bent down and Pinkie Pie revealed herself giggling. Rainbow sighed, “Pinkie Pie?! What the heck are you doing THAT for?”
Pinkie chuckled, “come on Dashie – laughter is the best medicine!” And she proceeded to distort her face through the glass of the beakers and tubes lying around the room, making silly noises and faces.
Rainbow did not seem amused. “It’s not helping, Pinkie...at least I can see again, thank Celestia! But my neck’s been itching all night, I must’ve caught a skin irritation from this silly blanket!” She rubbed her hoof on the back of her neck, and tossed the itchy blanket onto the floor. Pinkie bounced away into the hut’s main room, and Rainbow got up slowly. She looked in the mirror with weary eyes but was grateful to see that there was no shell-like texture to her skin nor fur, but her heart skipped a beat when she was sure her wings took on changeling form for a moment. She stared at them in the reflection, daring them to do it again until she was shaken out of it from the pink pony calling for her.
“Dashie! Breakfast time!”
Rainbow walked slowly into the room and found Fluttershy and Zecora around the cauldron. “Morning, Rainbow Dash – Zecora here has made an elixir for you to try, since Dr Horse's pills don't seem to have worked” Fluttershy said innocently, and Rainbow shot a disappointed glance at Pinkie for luring her in with the promise of breakfast.
Zecora walked up to Rainbow and said: “If your condition we are to heal, you must drink this elixir with unfailing zeal.” With that, she raised the small cup of green liquid and pryed Rainbow’s lips open. Rainbow muttered her complaints but was powerless as Fluttershy held her mouth open wide for Zecora, who presently poured the trickle of green into the cyan pegasus’ throat.
Rainbow swallowed hard and wiped her lips. “Eugh! There better be some waffles or something to get that taste outta my mouth.”
---
Back inside Rainbow’s brain, Twilight had undergone the same transition from her own mind back to where her statuesque physical form was befuddling her friends. Indeed Starlight, Spike and Discord all jumped when Twilight suddenly shook her head vigorously and groaned in discomfort. “Okay I’m back, sorry for leaving you like that…listen to me – I think I know how we can defeat the changelings here.”
“Wait Twilight” Starlight interrupted. “We just heard from City Hall that an unscheduled intake of liquid just reached the stomach – apparently it was some kind of medicine, do you think we should go check it out? Action Tremor had to leave by the way, he said he was sorry.”
“How do unauthorised things like that even happen?” Spike murmured.
Twilight heard this and snapped back the answer, “if you all let me finish, I’ll tell you everything Spike. The reason there’s a voicebox-override for the Mayor is because sometimes Rainbow Dash does things on her own. Like going rogue, okay?”
“Oooooh…” the foursome gasped together, and Discord raised an eyebrow of intrigue.
“Anyway, as I was saying. I know how we can get rid of the changelings. Yes, I visited my own brain – and yes, there’s probably a microscopic metropolis in all of us” – she was careful not to compromise the disguise of her own city – “and while I was in my brain, I was able to get the formula for a potion which will help us. It was stored in my brain, but I didn’t know about it – I literally didn’t know I had it in me!” She laughed as she proceeded to explain to them the Cognitum potion for which she now had the formula, and the camouflage spell which might be useful. They decided to rush to City Hall so Twilight could explain to Wellwisher her discovery, aware of the need to rush because Chrysalis could be anywhere by now - they had to get to City Hall before she did. The seven of them reached the plaza altogether, looking like a frenzied tourist group, and stormed into the building, bulldozing past a few lazy security guards and entering the Mayor’s Office. “Mayor Wellwisher!” Twilight bellowed from one end of the room, hurrying towards the desk as the Mayor’s chair turned around slowly, and Twilight locked eyes with the intense green ones staring at her.
“Yes Twilight?”
“I know how to defeat the changelings!” Catching her breath, Twilight steadied herself on the desk as the others did the same behind her.
“Well, how do I know you’re not a changeling in disguise? We’ve had hundreds of reports of mistaken citizen identity today…”
“I could say the same to you!” Twilight retorted, and so Wellwisher radioed her chief of police, who duly told her that Chrysalis had been sighted in Neck Hill, storming ponies’ houses and demolishing the neck's inside lining in the process. “Right. That’s cleared up, then...” Twilight proceeded to explain to the Mayor about the Cognitum and the camouflage potion, and Wellwisher pressed on her intercom.
“Get me the DAA Generals and the Science Deans from the University, immediately”. As the eight of them sat in tense silence, the door opened within about 10 minutes and four glum lab-coated ponies trudged in, accompanied by three military officials. Wellwisher described Twilight’s discovery and addressed the scientists first, showing up the Cognitum formula: “Listen up, this is the recipe for a potion which we are to administer across the city via the Respiratory air exhausts. We need to know who the changelings are, we need to be able to separate them. And you, officers – pay close attention to Princess Twilight. She has a spell for your soldiers to learn.” Twilight cleared her throat and showed the generals how to cast the camouflage spell. Two of them were unicorns and nodded in understanding; the scientists turned away with their formula – one of them even grumbled about ironically working for a giantess ‘city’ who consistently referred to their own profession as ‘eggheads’. Just as the gang smiled at the unfolding plan, one of the scientists burst back in quickly.
"Ma'am, there are some ingredients to this formula which we couldn't possibly obtain!" The blue stallion exhaled in panic as Wellwisher looked deflated.
"What are these ingredients?" She asked.
He re-read the list aloud. "Poison Oak, from the Everfree Forest; apple pips, and natural yeast." Wellwisher sighed at this, knowing the inhibitions of each: the forest was too dangerous for microscopic species such as themselves to venture into; apple pips always digested rapidly upon hitting the stomach acid; cultured yeast was hard to find and would probably be in the Canterlot labs. She sat back in her chair and rubbed her temples.
"Ugh this means we'll have to instruct the Wings, Muscles, the Vision teams, everybody! Nobody can work so intensely in these current conditions..." Just as she was about to reach for a phone, one of the scientists had a spasm and lunged for the Mayor, knocking the phone onto the floor and breaking it. The generals quickly detained the mad scientist, who revealed himself to be a changeling. He was dragged out of the office, laughing maniacally as if still in character. Wellwisher slunk back in her chair, a little shocked and even more at a loss now; with no means of direct communication to her teams in the various departments required, it was going to take forever to get the orders across!
It was at this moment that Starlight had an idea. "Twilight, I've got it!" Twilight turned to her sharply; as did Wellwisher. "You were saying how you knew Rainbow would be able to help us, right? This is the time to try again, to amend the earlier error of the dream, and get Rainbow on our side! I mean, she knows you and Discord are in here, so she'll be dying to know what's going on!"
The remaining scientists gasped, and Twilight's jaw dropped slowly as the validity of the idea sank in. "It's...perfect - if we can somehow get Rainbow to get the items herself, all we have to do is find a way to get them into her body for the scientists to use." She turned to Wellwisher, "is there some way in which I can speak to Rainbow Dash? Has that ever been done before?"
Wellwisher thought long and hard, "Hmm I don't think it's been done before, but I don't see why not - we have sound amplifiers in the ears; we can have them connected through to hear so if you speak loud enough into them, she might well hear you."
Twilight beamed, and sure enough the message was sent to the Hearing Dpt. to wire up the amplifiers. The team put on their earphones, turned the giant amplifiers to face the outer ear canal, and plugged in the cables that would send the input through to the microphone in the Mayor's office. She thought for a moment, and said to Spike: "Can you go down to the MSD and warn them to station some ponies in the throat, because we can't risk any of these ingredients getting disintegrated in the stomach? Tell them to make sure they catch the items as they pass down the throat." Spike nodded and headed off immediately. Licking her lips, Twilight switched the mic on and said softly: "Rainbow Dash?"
"Huh?" Rainbow Dash looked up from her comic, having finished breakfast and returned to a couch.
"It worked!" Twilight said excitedly to the others, forgetting the mic was still on.
Rainbow was even more puzzled, "Twilight...?"
"Yes! Rainbow, it's me, Twilight! Listen to me very carefully. I need you to- "
"Woah woah woah" Rainbow halted her, "where are you right now? Are you still in my head?"
"Of course I am - now listen, I'm afraid there's a rather nasty infestation in here and- "
"Now I remember...I dreamt about you last night, Twilight!" Rainbow interrupted again, and Twilight froze in fear at this as the others looked at her in horror. "Yeah, something about a prank, and a colon...but the important thing was I kicked some changeling butt, so thanks for that awesome dream!"
Twilight sighed. Okay, she hasn't remembered too much of it. Once more trying to speak, she began: "There's some annoyingly familiar organisms floating around in here, Rainbow Dash. I'm afraid if we don't do something soon, you could become a changeling yourself! No no, don't freak out - I know how to defeat them. We can do this together; you're gonna have to help me here. I've found Discord too."
Rainbow closed her eyes and breathed slowly, "okay, okay I can do this. I got this. We got this together, Twi. I'm not letting some changeling take over my mind!"
At this point Pinkie poked her head in to Rainbow's room: "who are you talking to, Dashie?"
Rainbow blushed, "Oh erm, no one...I guess this disease is making me more delirious....ooooh!" She faked a faint and laid dramatically down as Rarity might. Pinkie left with a shrug and Rainbow whispered now. "What do you need me to do, Twilight?"
Before replying, Twilight marvelled at Rainbow's independent responses to Pinkie. It has really developed now; Swirlestio was right - some ponies can be more autonomous from their inner-cities than others. She then replied to her friend: "We need you to get some stuff for us. The first is one of those blue flowers out near the hut - remember the one that nearly made you swallow Applejack?"
Rainbow Dash frowned, "yeah I remember it - and I'm getting pretty sick of having ponies inside me! But Twilight, won't those flowers curse me and my wings again?"
One of the generals shuddered behind Twilight, presumably scarred by the aforementioned events. She explained to her friend: "No it won't, because the magic the flower contains is being extracted for a different purpose. Don't worry about it. Now let's go!"
"Okay...here goes, I guess..." Rainbow opened the hut's door and walked into the forest, looking at her hooves on the ground until she - and indeed the ponies occupying her brain and watching RainbowVision - spotted the Poison Oak. "How do I...how do I give it to you?"
"Just swallow one."
"Ugh, fine!" Rainbow broke a sweat as she stood on the edge of the flowers, bending to pick one up with her mouth. Clenching it with her teeth, she tugged it out of its root and tossed it into her mouth. Inside the throat, Oovla watched as the giant blue flower came sliding down towards the uvula; she radioed her team, comprising about 30 ponies, stationed in the throat that it was incoming. The team eventually saw the huge flower surging down the throat, roaring its way slowly down with a 'gulp' from Rainbow. As it passed them, the MSD team fired industrial-strength grappling hooks into it, guiding it down to the stomach sphincter and carrying the large thing through and safely towards the harbour and populated area. The scientists were waiting there, and they flew up, extracting as much essence as they could from the giant blue petals that swayed around them. They finally gave the nod to the MSD team, who took the flower back to the lake of acid, and released the hooks - sending the now poison-free flower splashing into the acids. They radioed the Mayor's office to inform them of the first successful step.
"Nice work, Rainbow!" Twilight said encouragingly; she could hear numerous citizens outside cheering the same thing. "Now, can you see any apple trees nearby?"
Rainbow Dash looked around, leaving the forest now and heading into a field where, sure enough, a small orchard of apple trees grew. "Yes I can," she said smugly.
"Okay, just eat the apple."
"That's it?" Rainbow asked, but shrugged and ate the apple. When it was down to the core, she asked, "now what?"
"Discord and I need one of those pips. Think you can get one to us?"
Rainbow managed to extract a pip from the core, holding it up to her face - her massive eyes gazing down at the tiny thing in her hoof. "Yeah I guess I ca- aaah!" She stopped when she realised she had accidentally inhaled the pip into her nostril. "Aaaah get it out!" She tried to blow it back out her nose.
"No, don't!" Twilight urged, nodding to the scientists: the Nasal Passage might not have been expecting a giant brown zeppelin-like object to hurtle its way into the cavity, but it had lodged in the ground and so the scientists went off to extract what they needed. Again, when this was done, poor Rainbow was finally allowed to forcefully blow it out her nose - with the help of some tiny industrial jet-fans inside her nose. "Now the last thing we need is some yeast."
"Oh pfff easy, I'll just ask Pinkie for so-"
"No, Rainbow Dash - it's got to be natural yeast. That means it is undeveloped and the yeasts have not been- "
"Yawn, spare me the egghead lecture, Twilight - just tell me where I can get it... OW!"
"What happened?"
"I dunno, I just got a sharp pain in my leg...ow it really hurts..." Rainbow moaned, unaware that Chrysalis and some of her entourage had deliberately felled a musculatory column to make it harder for Rainbow to walk. Wellwisher intercommed for an Emergency Unit to be sent there immediately, accompanied by DAA and RDFD teams too.
"Don't worry, Rainbow - we'll take care of that. Now, do you think you can get to my castle lab?" She turned to the others and explained that she recalled she probably had some lying around in her lab; Spike nodded to confirm that she did. Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, gave a nod of compliance. "Great, let's go!"
As Rainbow was walking towards Ponyville, she asked: "So is it, like, totally weird in there, Twilight? What can you see?"
Eager not to affect her host's mentality, she tried to calmly dodge the question: "I can see exactly what you see, Rainbow Dash: we're nearly at the main street, and my castle's just off to the right." Rainbow walked into the castle, finding the lab under the occasional guidance of Twilight's directions. A tense few minutes ensued, as Rainbow was unable to locate the yeast, and Twilight couldn't remember where it was. "My log book!" She exclaimed, telling Rainbow to check the back pages for 'yeast' - and sure enough, they were able to find it on the shelf, a small jar of the yeast bacteria. "Now go ahead and swallow some of them."
"Eeew, I forgot yeast are tiny living things..." Rainbow moaned, put off the idea as she held the open jar. "I'm not sure I like the idea of loads of tiny thingies inside my stomach, Twi."
Several of the beachgoers in the stomach gave ironic cheers and laughed as this comment emitted from the RainbowVision screens, but Twilight pressed her friend on: "Come on Dashie, this is the last one and then we can kick these pests out once and for all."
"Okay, okay...here goes. Bottoms up!" Rainbow stuck her tongue out and wriggled some of the yeast out of the jar onto it. Inside her mouth, Oovla and co. watched as the enormous tongue slowly lurched back in, the closing jaws sealing the little yeast bacteria in their unexpected fate. With a gulp, they were lurched down the throat - only this time, the scientists had deployed giant nets to catch the yeasts in. The tiny yeast bacteria, round cylindrical fellas, writhed around and some even appeared sentient, shouting 'hey what's the big idea' and trying to squeeze through the net. An under-developed bacteria was picked up and the scientists' team extracted what they needed.
"Way to go, Rainbow! Now we can help the Mayor get rid of- ...I mean, now we may get rid of the germs here and have you back to your normal self! Go back to Fluttershy and rest with her for now." Twilight blushed at her slip, hoping it wouldn't cost her too much. She had been tempted to recall Rainbow back into her own brain, to try the dream once more - but only this time the entire area would adopt the camouflage spell with those red chests that Aurelia had told her about - until she decided it would have been too much of a risk and potentially damaging and undoing all their hard work so far.
"Thanks, Twi - I hope everything's okay in there...be careful with me, I'm too awesome to mess around with!" She allowed herself a cheeky chuckle, and Twilight simply shook her head with a smile. Silly pony she thought, and making sure to switch off the microphone the amplifiers through to the ears were cut. Wellwisher gave her a grateful hug, and some of the press down below congratulated Twilight on a superb 'broadcast' to the host.
20 minutes or so later, the scientists bulldozed through the crowd of media and press and hurried into the office, reporting that the Cognitum was ready and had been successfully tested. And so, the plan was set: there would be a citywide application of Cognitum, released into the Respiratory system pipes’ exhausts and thus emitting everywhere, separating the changelings from the citizens for good, and enabling the changelings to be overcome by the DAA, who were to be camouflaged to launch surprise attacks from numerous posts.