A Small Issue 3 - A Sight for Sore Eyes

by Lukington17

Chapter 5 - Working out a Workout

Later, citizens were enjoying an afternoon in the park, making the most they could of their city’s state. Having experienced sweltering heat the night before, they were happy to cool down in Upper Dermis Street Gardens along the interior of what was Rainbow’s left front leg. Here the temperature was being regulated after earlier vasoconstriction monitored by the S.w.e.a.t. Team – and with the weather now cooled, members of the public had braved the streets to relax. Similarly, beachgoers in the stomach had been greeted with pleasant conditions for surfing, with no food expected after an earlier intake of a syrupy waffle. In Neck Hill, repair crews had been sent to assess and restore property damage from the changeling assaults. Even the Optic Nerve thoroughfare had been restored to sufficient normality. All around the body, the citizens were doing their best to get on with their daily lives, ignoring the troublesome and growing changeling community among them. There was thus a surprisingly peaceful ambience. This all seemed in threat once again when the numerous pipes and tubes which swooped over their heads began seeping a gas through their vents. “Oh my god, it’s Chrysalis! She’s gonna kill us all with poison!” the citizens in the Gardens all shrieked, running for shelter and covering their mouths. (Poor Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, began to feel faint from all the veins' secretion of the potion around her body, and slumped in the sofa with a moan as Fluttershy sat with her).

However, the citizens’ suspicions were soon quelled when they saw some of the ponies fix in their tracks – as the substance crept around them, they appeared to crack like shells, in some discomfort: then a changeling was revealed underneath! As citizens and policeponies gasped, the changelings were left confused and looking around, exposed and uncovered. Almost as soon as this happened, a barrage of shouts came from a sweat gland nearby, and about 20 soldiers suddenly appeared, charging at the few changelings and covering their horns, cuffing them up and detaining them before they could do anything. The citizens cheered on their officials, confused by what had happened yet nonetheless delighted by the encouraging and speedy response to the gaseous emission. In the stomach, DAA troops had sprung up from under the pier to attack the exposed creatures, with the help of a multitude of locals. Neck Hill front yards were suddenly filled with soldiers, appearing from their camouflage and attacking the intruders on the streets. One particular unit were surprised to see one of their own soldiers break down into a changeling; they didn’t even hesitate to detain him. Several germs were also spotted across the body, their disguises as blood cells or pathogens and the like, being removed and revealing their illegal access into the city. All around the body, citizens and civil servants did their part in capturing the unwanted changelings. There were effectively two levels to the Cognitum now: the first layer revealed changelings in disguise, whereupon they were seized; the second layer of the potion would extract their changeling essence. Citizens whose identity had been stolen by a changeling presently returned back to their true cellular form once the changeling essence had been extracted by both the potion and forensic units of the RDPD; the changeling essence, bestowed by Chrysalis' earlier spell, was able to be contained and sealed.

Queen Chrysalis, who with an entourage had been nearing City Hall’s doors and was outside the Plaza at this point, was subdued by about one hundred soldiers positioned around the plaza, each one of them eager to be the one who placed that magic-nulling ring around her twisted horn. “What in Equestria is this madness?!” She yelled, struggling relentlessly as the DAA toppled onto her, her magic redundant. The five or six changelings with her were also snatched up before they could make a getaway, and again their changeling essence was extracted, revealing the poor microponies underneath, all confused. A flash of light whooshed over them and this prompted most of the soldiers to give way and allow Chrysalis to see – albeit tied down by various chains held by six soldiers each. Two enormous tanker trucks pulled up into the plaza; labelled Hazardous Chemicals - Keep Clear and Warning - Dangerous Specimens. The driver ponies got out and appeared to be readying their pipes at the rear. It was at this point that the floor nearby suddenly opened up like a hatch, and out popped Discord’s head. “Discord! What have you done, I demand to know?!”

“My my, you are hardly in a position to demand anything, Chrysalis” Discord replied smugly, as Twilight and Starlight burst out of the secret panel behind him.

“Enough, Chrysalis!” Twilight boomed, surprising herself with how commanding she sounded. “Your brief reign of terror is come to an end.”

Starlight smirked, “yeah like, I give you a 4/10 on the 'enslaving a community' scale…”

Twilight kept her gaze on Chrysalis, who squirmed slightly but tried not to show it, instead tugging at her chains in vain. Spike had returned from the MSD now, but Starlight and Discord moved so that they formed a triangle with Twilight around the changeling queen. “Ready Starlight? Ready Discord? Now, as we rehearsed…GO!” The three of them combined their magic as a great orb of yellow hovered over Chrysalis. The changeling suddenly felt herself being lifted off the ground and the soldiers duly let go of their hold on her; the orb clearly had her in its powerful grasp.

“Nooooooooooo!” In a flash, the big black creature was sucked into the orb’s centre along with her fading scream, and the tanker drivers opened up their pipe-valves. An almight roar of teal liquid came gushing out of the pipes, getting sucked straight up into the orb and following in after its creator. Indeed, every changeling's essence was slowly dragged into the orb, as if some sort of dystopian rapture were occurring. Microponies nearby watched in disbelief as the liquid jetted into this strange orb – which did not increase in size despite all the filling – and with one final surge and thrust from the three creators, it zapped itself into oblivion with a loud BEWP! Microponies emerged from their hiding places and clapped and cheered, not entirely sure what had happened but quick to surround the panting and exhausted Twilight.

“She zapped them to another dimension – they’re all gone!” Spike squeed to a neighbouring micropony.

Twilight added, “Remember the Pinkie clones, when Rainbow Dash helped me with the paint-drying test? We had to use a more powerful rendition of the same spell; Chrysalis and her changeling essences have gone to another dimension!” This was met by cheers of jubilation, and Wellwisher emerged from the ground hatch now, with two bodyguards, and hugged Twilight happily in front of the Rainbow Dash statue.

With their city rid of the infestation and being restored to relative normality once again from the various departments, citizens all around the group cheered in a chant: “Loyalty pays off! Loyalty pays off!”

---

Rainbow Dash sat and rubbed her head gently with a pensive frown, “hmm…changelings...d-dream...city?”

Fluttershy turned to her friend beside her, “Do you not feel any better, Rainbow Dash?”

“Actually, I do…” Rainbow said, “I mean, my head hurt a couple minutes ago but now I totally feel no pain at all!”

“Way to go, Dashie! Way to go Twilight!” Pinkie Pie cheered happily, erupting confetti from her spontaneously-appearing cannon. Hearing Twilight’s name made Rainbow smile slightly, as she thought of her selfless friend somewhere inside her body right now. Hopefully she knows too that she’s beaten it, whatever it was… Rainbow thought to herself, gently massaging her temples and stretching her limbs. With the three saying thanks to Zecora, they set off back for the town – and Rainbow even flew for the first time since getting her sight back, laughing with her friends.

Applejack bumped into them in Ponyville and noticed Rainbow’s recovered health. “Hey y’all – nice to see ya pumpin’ on all cylinders again, Rainbow Dash! Feel like hittin’ the gym later?”

Rainbow smiled broadly, “totally – I’m back to my awesome best now! Oh, but maybe I should wait for Twilight to come out."

Applejack raised an eyebrow, "Come outta where?"

Rainbow blushed, "oh er, nothing - just lemme go and freshen up at home first!”

---

The celebrations had continued throughout the city well into the afternoon, with all sense of time gone out the window. Every hub, every district, was filled with street parties, loud music and joyous festivities – even effigies of Chrysalis were being burnt in Lower East Side – and through RainbowVision monitors across the city, citizens watched happily as their host enjoyed the company of her friends without feeling pain of some sort! Twilight and her friends were on the beach inside Rainbow’s stomach, enjoying the beach party and sharing drinks at a poolside bar nearby. They even met Penelope Popliteal and Mary Pulmonary, happily restored back to normal and eager to spout their 'traumatising tales and experiences' to a rather bored Spike. This was suddenly interrupted when the RainbowVision screens blasted the sound of Rainbow Dash talking. "Twilight? Twilight! Come ooon, answer!" But Twilight was too busy out in the water, enjoying a fun stomach-acid snorkel and dive with some of her new friends. She saw various shipwrecks and food morsels, and even spotted the large half-digested flower sitting at the bottom of the belly. Just when Twilight resurfaced and paddled towards the shore, as several microponies were about to tell her what she'd missed, the screen belted out again: “Oh come on, again with this?!” All the startled microponies on the beach anxiously looked at the screen on the pierside hotel’s façade. Rainbow was looking in a mirror with her mouth open, and some of the citizens hugged each other and felt pride upon seeing their host’s face in the reflection. As the broadcasters zoomed in on the monitors, it was revealed that Rainbow had spotted graffiti on her uvula once again, right at the back of her throat.

Twilight emerged from the water and trudged up towards Discord with a growl, “go up and clean that right now!” Discord laughed innocently and headed towards the giant chute of the throat, chuckling at his own mischief.

Spike chuckled, “Oovla will be happy to see you again, no doubt…”

Over the course of the next 20 minutes or so, the group noticed various microponies wearing athletic gear, carrying gym equipment, going for jogs and such. The stomach’s lake of acid became a little bit sloshy and the beach was presently cleared; a nearby café’s TV reported news of Chesterton’s industrial productivity in the past 20 minutes, as locals busied themselves in their customary workout - and then the traffic update announced that the Circulatory transit system was experiencing no delays and a good trans-metropolitan service. “Rainbow Dash….is working out!” Starlight said excitedly.

She looked at the RainbowVision screen above them and saw an exercise bike in Rainbow’s line of vision, and sighed.

“What’s wrong, Starlight?” Spike asked.

“Well, I hope all these citizens get to party still and not worry about Rainbow hurting herself so soon after being ill.”

A familiar policepony walked past and offered a warm smile, “no ma’am, that is not a problem here. This city is just as awesome as she is; we’re always prepared for working out here – it happens often enough!”

Spike and Starlight laughed and trotted into the nearest gym on the boardwalk, joining in the fun on a treadmill as lots of other cells and microponies were busy exercising too. They even started a conversation with a filly micropony next to them, who chatted about life in the city as a youngster. Meanwhile, Twilight had met Action Tremor once more and the two strolled casually on the promenade when a klaxon sounded and a gush of liquid came pouring into the stomach acids, prompting a few ships on the horizon to unleash jubilant fireworks. The intake caused the waves to crash up against the shore – Twilight noticed the previously-corroded pier had since been rebuilt and bettered – and the smell of apples wafted into the two ponies’ nostrils. “Cider…” Action Tremor said, as Twilight rolled her eyes, noting a stain in the distance on the stomach wall, caused by excessive wearing from the acidic drink. They then listened in on the conversation as Applejack and Rainbow conversed between exercises, sweating and out of breath:

”So did ya hear about Trenderhoof?”

“No – you mean that show-off fashion guy Rarity and you fell out over?”

“Yup. He’s comin’ ta Ponyville again.”

“Oh…who cares?”

Rainbow Dash seemed uninterested, but her insides told a different story: the heartbeats increased, the adrenalin department were called to action and the Lust Team of the Emotions Department rushed past Twilight and Action Tremor whilst fixing their uniforms, having been enjoying a day off here at the beach. It seems some hormones had to be regulated. Inside the gym, Starlight and Spike cooled down and had also been watching the RainbowVision TV mounted on the wall. “Huh, who would’ve thought?” Starlight mused with a smile, as she and Spike reflected on the apparent crush Rainbow Dash kept secret. At this point, they saw Twilight walking past and they joined her, pointing at an amusement park further down the pier eagerly. With a sigh Twilight led them onwards as Spike bounced around happily.

“Looks like Rarity has even more competition for Trenderhoof’s attention!” Spike chuckled, as Starlight couldn’t hide her snicker too.

Twilight, however, looked pensive. “I dunno you guys, I feel bad for discovering poor Rainbow’s secrets like that…”

Starlight offered a hoof on her shoulder, “come on now, Twilight – don’t forget, we just saved Rainbow from a very threatening situation.” Twilight gave a reassuring smile, and the six of them presently arrived at the ‘Rainbowland’ amusement park – sure enough, the roller-coaster entitled ALL YOU CAN HURL was aptly named, as Starlight and Action Tremor both found their own stomachs couldn’t handle this ride within a stomach!

When the time came to leave, Mayor Wellwisher personally bid them farewell from the pier, with a whole load of citizens waving them off. An RDPD helicopter flew them up the throat after an authorised burp was summoned in the stomach. “Once again, I cannot thank you enough. What you have done for us, this city, and your friend Rainbow Dash – it cannot be expressed enough. You will always be welcome here and hopefully this city will stay safe for a long time yet! Who knows, maybe we will start to work in tandem with Rainbow herself from now on!” This was met by cheers and support from the public, and she hugged Twilight and waved goodbye. Meanwhile, the Breakdown team had created a bubble to slingshot them up to the mouth.

“Now remember our plan – once the bubble bursts outside, we’ll head straight back to the castle and we will re-apply the Zeromac’s counterpotion. Once we do that, there is to be absolutely no mentioning of what happened in here to anypony. Don't talk to Rainbow Dash about it - leave that with me. Okay?” They nodded, and they all disembarked the helicopter and penetrated the bubble as they rose slowly, thanking the pilot. As the burp came closer to the throat, they noticed the uvula above – and a snarling Discord in his hi-vis as he scrubbed his graffiti away, waving at them regretfully as they soared past towards the opening jaws of teeth. Discord tried to follow their bubble, but his ropes tangled and a laughing Oovla shook her head from behind the glass of her office within the uvula. She then told her assistant Toby to give the all-clear for the gaseous emission, and the mouth opened wide and the enormous tongue lowered slightly. With a massive BUUUUUUUUURP, the bubble was shot out of Rainbow’s mouth. Discord sighed to himself as he scrubbed his graffiti, wondering to himself: Why can I never resist?