MLP Endo: A Small Issue Part 4

By Lukington17 and hmhmh6532
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Chapters 9-10

Chapter 9 - Lukington17

The Mane Six arrived swiftly into Canterlot as the train steamed in. They hurriedly disembarked and ran through the city to the castle gates, where the two Royal Guards stationed opened the gates upon seeing the Princess of Friendship running towards them with her friends behind. Soon enough, the six ponies and Spike found themselves being ushered into the Throne Room where a waiting Celestia and Luna were sat in their splendid and ornate princesses' thrones. "Princess Celestia, Princess Luna! I came because I had to hand something over to you!"
          "Calm down, Twilight" Celestia said assuringly. "We have plenty of time to discuss things so don't feel you need to rush!"
It's not like we ever see you doing anything remotely political or assuming roles of authoritative responsibility , Rainbow thought to herself.
         Once Twilight had caught her breath, the ponies sat and Twilight opened her side-satchel holding up the two potions with her magic. The two sisters looked confusingly at them, whilst Twilight began: "These two potions have the uncanny and proven ability to alter the size of any object. This slimey one on the left, Zeromac, can reduce anything to a smaller size, down to about the size of a poppy seed. And this one does the opposite - almost a remedy, if you like - by increasing anything in size, limits to which are as yet unknown. I've spent months trying to perfect these potions, and it took me until only this morning that I tried them. The reason I'm showing you them now is not to brag, but rather for you to do me a favour, if you would. You see - these potions are extremely dangerous. In one day alone, we've had several ponies almost killed, crushed on, digested - the lot! This was -"
         "I was practically digested, I spent enough time in there!" Spike interrupted.
Twilight threw him a harsh stare and continued, "This was because I wasn't able to successfully control the potion dosage being applied, and then lost track of the experimental subjects...on top of that, Discord decided to show up and make things harder by messing around as usual! I can't possibly continue to develop my research on these potions with all this having happened, and in jeopardy of happening again. Thus, I ask you to take them, lock them away, dispose of them or something, because I've proved to my friends and myself that I'm not ready to use these potions."
         After this expositional spiel, the sisters looked at each other before asking if they could take a closer look at them. Promptly, their own magic took over Twilight's as they examined the curious liquids carefully. "Don't touch the liquid itself" Twilight added urgently.
"Okay Twilight Sparkle: here's our thinking" Luna began.
          "We will not dispose of the work of my most faithful student, no." Celestia added.
Luna continued, "I will take these to the Royal Labs downstairs and do my best to research methods of their containment under the strictest security. Are there any substances upon which these potions are ineffective, so that they may be touched safely?"
         "Not to my knowledge; I used my magic" Twilight admitted.
"Not to worry, Princess Twilight. We'll have this dealt with effectively and academically" said Celestia smoothly, before nodding to Luna who began to head off with the potions. As she did, an evil chuckle was heard from the stain-glass window of Discord, whose depiction came to life once again, pulling himself out to reveal himself in the room centre. He hadn't been seen since Pinkie had disappeared off Fluttershy's back.
          "Ahaha, now come on Twilight Sparkle, we've had an absolutely WHIMsical day of fun, I'd say!" he laughed to himself, as the Mane Six frowned at him angrily.
         "I thought you'd 'had enough' of these tiny escapades, to quote you yourself..." Rarity said sarcastically.
"Well you know what Rarity?- I had. I had but then I thought to myself how much more fun I can make for myself with these potions!" Discord reached for the potions but Luna protectively turned away.
          "Discord!" Celestia called. "This matter is of no interest to you, you will leave now or suffer consequences"
Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked ready to pounce on the master of mischief as he looked visibly hurt.
          "Oh well fine then, apparently some people can't appreciate someone's efforts to lighten the mood" he began, appearing to turn away, before he quickly spun and snatched the potions from Luna.
"Hey!" Twilight ran towards the struggle as Applejack and Rainbow Dash launched themselves onto Discord. Twilight tried using her magic to force the potions in Luna's favour, but in vain: the potions flew up into the air. Discord managed to shove Applejack and Dash off him as they were sent flying; Fluttershy and Pinkie watched from the sidelines as Rarity tried to assume some authority.
"EVERYPONY STOOOP!" She cried, as the potions seemed to take forever to come back down. In these fatal seconds, Discord snapped his fingers and vanished, whilst the potions' test tubes were caught just in time by Luna. However, the Zeromac spilled out and drops of it splashed onto her, as well as Twilight who was beside her, and then right into Rarity's wide open mouth as she was shouting. Within seconds the three of them had disappeared and the others all groaned as they knew all too well what had happened.

Celestia panicked, having not seen this before. She got up and frantically walked around asking repeatedly where they had gone. "Princess Celestia, don't move; you'll crush them!" Pinkie Pie yelled. Celestia presently flapped her wings and floated up, looking innocent.
          The tiny trio of ponies shook their heads as they looked at their new environment. Twilight sighed with annoyance whilst Rarity cried her eyes out. Luna, meanwhile, was impressed. "Fascinating. Twilight Sparkle, you've really outdone yourse-"
         "Look out!" Twilight screamed, moving Luna out the way as a huge gold & white column came soring from above and crashed down onto the tiled floor before them. "Princess Celestia..." Twilight recognised the fancy golden hooves of the princess as they came smashing down on the ground in a frenzy until the three were eventually caught underneath Celestia's front left hoof. The trio thought they were dead, but they had been caught in the groove of the princess' hoof. Soon enough, they found themselves hovering above the ground. "She's flying! Thank Starswirl we're safe for now until she steps down again..." Twilight said.
          Luna was in a state of shock as her voice came out muffled from her sister's underhoof.: "We...mst...alert...thmm". To her horror, her magic was redundant, just as Discord had discovered much earlier.
         Celestia, meanwhile, offered the remaining guests to afternoon tea in the next room, and carried all five of them with her. As she sat carefully on the chair, manoeuvring her legs awkwardly under the table, she watched the ground around her chair but never thought to examine her hooves; her wings flapped back inwards, catching the trio from under her hoof. The tiny trio screamed as they were sent flying in the air and tried flapping their wings frantically, but since Rarity had no hope in hell, the two alicorns had no option but to try and hold her up as well. They looked down and saw as they fell helplessly towards a tea cart being brought in by a maid. They landed with a *thunk* in the open jar of sugar laid out.
          "No, no, no, please no!" Rarity cried out, as the sugar granules - which were only about half their size - poured around them like sand.
"Well my sister doesn't take sugar, that eliminates one outcome..." Luna chirped hopefully, but their faces turned into frowns when they watched as the jar was slowly tilted down, and they began to slide out with a heap of sugar. They splashed into a cup of freshly-brewed tea, which wasn't exactly pleasant.
          "Ugh, Canterlot Chai tea, really?" Rarity voiced her displeasure.
"We've got bigger problems, literally" Twilight replied, as she gestured up towards the holder of the tea cup: Fluttershy. The sweet and innocent animal-lover tilted the tea cup towards her mouth, and opened wide. "Quick, grab the rim of the cup!" Twilight bellowed, as the trio did so. Rarity looked down into unaware Fluttershy's gaping mouth, the cavernous black hole behind her uvula symbolising certain doom.
         "So this is how poor Avery Ant must've felt" Rarity remarked sadly, as the trio fought for their lives against the current.

"STOP!" Spike yelled, as all the ponies put their cups down. He climbed onto the table and began searching in each cup in turn, eagle-eyed and calling out his friends' names. "Twiiiiliiight!" Eventually he reached Fluttershy's cup, and gasped. "Twilight! Princess Luna, Rarity!" A tiny cheer came from the cup as Spike extracted them from the hot liquid. Whilst Spike and the others went to tend to the poor trio cradled in the dragon's hand, Fluttershy cried in the corner as Applejack consoled her. "I'm gonna get you guys taken care of" Spike said, "so direct me to the labs, Princess Luna". Celestia gave him vague directions as Twilight cast the spell she'd used before to allow Spike to hear her voice in her head. Thus, Luna told Twilight and she relayed the path to Spike. As Spike made his way twisting and turning through the castle corridors - having flashbacks to the similar passageways of Rainbow Dash's brain that he'd explored earlier - he kept the trio cupped in his hand and reached the labs when, all of a sudden, the pathway was blocked as Discord magically appeared.
          "I think you know all too well what I want, Spike" he spat menacingly.
"Enough, Discord. This isn't a game anymore" the feisty little dragon replied, attempting to swerve his way past. But Discord was not to be beaten, and he forced Spike's hands open as the three little ponies were exposed. Discord plucked one from Spike's palm and produced a novelty-sized magnifying glass to observe his catch.
          "Ah Luna, so good of you to offer to assist me in my little experiment" he laughed, skedaddling into the door and slamming it shut behind him, but not before sticking a sign outside saying 'Genius at work'. The sound of bolts and chains on the door followed. Spike sighed and bowed his head, but Twilight assured him.
         "Don't worry, Spike, you were so brave. Let's go back to the others and get ourselves sorted out." Spike smiled meekly, and rushed back into the dining all to join the others.

Chapter 10 - Lukington17

"You're toying with things you can't possibly comprehend, Discord"
         "Oh, try and establish within yourself some sort of rational adventurous streak, Princess Luna" the master of mischief retorted, as he examined the minute princess on the lab table before him. "As soon as you co-operate, you are free to leave" he added, summoning a vision of a pair of handcuffs evaporating in front of Luna. Luna spoke into a loudspeaker that Discord had magically produced and placed in her civinity.
"And just what exactly is it you want?"
          "Simple - all I need from you has already been concocted for me. My good friend Twilight Sparkle has seen to that. All I'm asking is for any trace or drop of the Za-Ze-Zeromac is it?- upon your person and I'm out of your way."
         Luna frowned. "Why might you want that, Discord?"
"All in good time, your majesty" he replied snidely.
Luna reluctantly gestured towards a small drip of the potion oozing its way down her tail. With a magnifying glass Discord gleefully extracted it with a small pipette - which seemed like a 10-story building to the poor princess of the night - and began to analyse it excitedly, while Luna huffed as she sat helpless. "You have what you asked for, release me" the princess ordered. But Discord would not be dissuaded. He sealed the princess in a cage the size of a Smint, and began stirring a cauldron of potion of his own, having squirted most of the drop of Zeromac into it. Soon enough he picked up the pipette once more, and placing himself on the table, he injected himself with the traces of what was left of the Zeromac in it. Eventually he was stood right by the bars of Luna's cage, no bigger than her now. Luna was extremely confused. Sensing this, Discord produced two potions: one red, one purple.
         "You see, Luna, as luck would have it I've been spending the past months trying to perfect my own such potions with similar effects, but it seems Twilight Sparkle has beaten me to it. She even used me as her test subject! As a result I've spent one of the most interesting days of my life - and that's saying something - looking at the world through tiny eyes from someone else's magic! Nevertheless, I have triumphed as ever! It was merely a case of finding that final necessary ingredient, which the princess has provided now."
         "Thief" Luna called, but Discord held up a hand.
"The world of scientific research is constantly full of deceit and competition" He responded. Is it? Luna mused. Discord continued, "anyway, this red potion here will shrink us down to a size which Twilight Sparkle couldn't reach; a size which truly goes beyond what the eye can see: the size of the microscopic universe!" Luna didn't offer the applause clearly expected by Discord at this point. He humphed, "Well like it or not, you and I are going to be the first to explore this world! Now this purple potion is an improvement on Twilight Sparkle's growth potion; this potion simply returns the subject to its standard size." And without a moment's hesitation he joined Luna in the cage, held her tight and dropped the red ooze over their heads.
         "Unbelievebale. It's truly an outstanding spectacle" Discord and Luna observed the microscopic world now around them. Dust cells on the table surface circled them, whilst molecules in the air floated around and the cage now towered over them. They must've been the size of half a grain of sand - absolutely minute.
          "Discord, I have to say, this is breathtaking, this...innerspace" Luna admitted, unable to tear her eyes away. Suddenly, following a tingling sensation, Luna felt the microbes around her disappear and the cage decrease in size, until she was standing on the table. Discord was there, too, waving around the purple potion teasingly in front of her.
         "Our little field trip is over, sorry!" he said patronisingly. "You and Celestia were right. This potion needs to be studied more deeply. I can only imagine the ways this power can be abused..." he chuckled to himself, clearly hiding a sinister plan.

Spike was still on his way back to the hall when he and Twilight decided to stop. "We have to help Luna, it's not right to just walk away from that" Twilight urged. He sighed as they turned back towards the lab.
         Spike swung open the door and began, "Discord, we're - " But as he spoke, Discord, almost as if expecting their arrival, slammed the door shut in his face. Spike had to be careful as the tiny Twilight and Rarity still sat in his palm. "Hey! Careful!" He yelled, before barging the door down this time, and, finding a strange and tiny cage on the table, he placed the duo next to it. Luna called out to Twilight and they were happily reunited, as Luna began to reveal Discord's scheming. Discord saw this and instinctively grabbed Spike, taking the tiny trio in his other claw, and cursing Celestia, he poured the red potion dramatically over Spike, him and his claw.
         "What the hell?! Why did you do that, you imbocile?!" Luna shouted, whilst the others looked around in bewilderment at this new world around them.
          "I had to stop you squealing to Twilight, princess. You see, if you tell anyone of my doings, I shall throw this purple potion away once I apply it to myself and leave you in this miniature universe all to yourself. You'll accompany me if you know what's good for you"
         "Your 'doings' are a little bit out-in-the-open now, wouldn't you say?" Luna scoffed, unfazed by his blackmail.
"Ahem!" Discord exclaimed, "you know not of my real intentions, hahaha...." He snapped his fingers and Twilight's satchel containing her own potions floated over to him, which he was quick to strap to himself. With a chuckle he headed for the doorway, leaving the others no choice but to follow him. They climbed over mountainous lumps of dirt and canyon-sized cracks in the floor for what felt like hours, until they eventually reached the doorway and out into the corridor.

Meanwhile, the gang were getting nervous where the others had got to. They had since even eaten dinner, which Celestia's staff had brought to them - a hearty vegetable casserole and sweetcorn soup with bread rolls.
"I hope they come back the right size" Fluttershy chirped, only just getting over her earlier near-trauma with the tea.
         "How can they not?! Twilight has the Growth Potion with her, it's just a case of them applying it and comin' back" Applejack said, although a slight quake in her voice implied she was trying to reassure herself just as much as she was the others.
         "We can't afford to take any risks, it has been well over two hours they've been gone" Celestia thought aloud, "perhaps someone ought to go check"
         "I'll go, princess! I can be there and back in a flash" Rainbow Dash piped, readying her wings.
"Ooooh, I love exploring creepy castle labs!" Pinkie added, and with a sigh Rainbow turned and waited for Pinkie before the two of them set off. They reached the labs and stood in the corridor outside. "That's super weird," Pinkie said, "seeing as all they had to do was apply Twilight's potion thingy just like they did when we all came out of you!" she pointed at Rainbow, who did not look amused to say the least.
          "Don't even remind me, I've had enough for a lifetime" the Pegasus said irritated, but Pinkie was excited, jumping around the corridor, bouncing off the walls.
         "Yay! Detective Pinkie called up! This has been the most exciting day EVER!" As Pinkie spoke, she released party poppers that partly cracked and broke a window pane very close to Rainbow.
         "Watch it, Pinkie!"

"Look out!" Luna screamed, as giant shards of glass came smashing down towards them, shards the size of mountains. "What are these?!"
          "It looks like the sky above just decided to rain glass!" Spike said worringly, as Twilight cuddled him for comfort.
"Perhaps if we climb to the top of this glass mountain here we'll have a better view and can see where we are, and what this giant blue column is" Twilight looked up at Rainbow's immense leg that towered over them into the heavens.
          "Time to go climbing!" Discord said happily, magically producing mountain-climbing gear for the gang. A few minutes later, they reached the peak, with Discord planting a flag with his face on it and taking a selfie with the unamused gang. Sadly, their view was not improved by much.
          Meanwhile, Rainbow and Pinkie were arguing about what could possibly have happened to the others. When Pinkie suggested they go back to have an open discussion with Celestia, Rainbow agreed and turned on her hooves to walk. "Ow!" Rainbow cried, as she lifted up her hoof slightly to reveal that she had stepped on a piece of broken glass. "Nice going, detective Pinkie, there's one extra casualty" she remarked, displaying her cut hoof.

The gang screamed as the blue column collapsed on top of them, and the shard they were on - instead of crushing under the pressure - simply pierced through the strange surface of the column's base. The world around them became an array of reds, as they suddenly found themselves travelling at fast speed down a large tunnel, with strange scarlet discs gushing around them. "What's happening?!" Spike screamed to the others, who were just as clueless. Their curiosity only increased when the discs around them - as well as themselves - came to an abrupt stop as what appeared to be a tiny policepony ushered another set of discs from a different tunnel. Was this some sort of motorway junction?! And surely that can't have been another pony at this size?. As they resumed their journey, Discord appeared to be smirking to himself as he made notes on a sheet of paper.
          "Discord, what have you got us into?!" Twilight belted at him, but he simply shrugged, thinking 'or who' to himself. That was when thing began to get really bizarre. The tunnel began to fill up with tiny cars and ponies, all forming a traffic queue! What WAS this place?! On closer inspection, these ponies had a surreal look to them; they were transparent and assumed the appearance of being almost gelatinous in texture. They were talking and shouting as normal, but how could they have found a way to shrink this much as well? As they listened closer, they overheard some of the conversation:
"Come on, what's the freaking hold up?
"Typical, I got a meeting in the left kidney in 20 minutes..."
"I heard there's congestion in the aorta again"
"That's the fourth time today! Put the traffic news on"
         The gang were beginning to piece together a most unlikely of realities. Discord simply rubbed his hands together as they moved slowly through the traffic. Eventually Discord piped up, "Enough time-wasting, let's take a detour!" and, pulling into a side slip road, they disappeared down another tunnel at an extraordinary pace.
         "Okay Discord, enough games. What is this place?" Luna demanded.
"I know no more than you, princess. But if you use your royal little brain you might deduce that we are in somepony's BLOODSTREAM!" A gasp of final realisation struck the gang, as they passed under a sign titled 'Circulatory Line - Junction 17: Spleen & Pancreas, exit left'.
          "It's not possible..." Rarity buried her head in her hooves. The tunnel continued for what felt like ages until eventually they came into an immense opening that had them looking up in awe. An enormous brain dominated the sky, as nerves and neurons came in and out of it which gave the illusion of a lightning storm overhead. An entrance to the brain resembling a building was entitled 'City Hall'. Twilight assumed charge, determined to find out what was going on. They walked towards the doors, as all around them these strange cellular ponies went about their lives. "LOOK!" Rarity gasped in horror as she pointed to a statue in the square in-front of the building: it was a statue of Rainbow Dash. Beyond puzzlement, the gang went up to it and saw its plaque that simply said 'Rainbow Dash: our city, the perfect specimen'. At this point Spike stopped one of the passers-by and held him tight.
         "What is this place?!"
"Why, this is City Hall - everything happens here, kid!"
"What city?!"
"The glorious City of Rainbow Dash of course son, what's your problem?" And he hurried away.
         Spike turned and related what he'd established to Twilight. The gang marched into the building and demanded to see the mayor. Upon their entrance, they were surprised to see all the cellular ponies bow in respect. "It's her, the Princess of Friendship..." one of them whispered, as their request to see the mayor was immediately granted and they were escorted up the brain in an elevator. The mayor welcomed them to his office, which was round and offered impeccable views over the...city? All around were complex screens depicting various parts of the body, such as stomach, eyes, hoof, wings, etc.
         "Princess, this is an unexpected surprise. Welcome to the City of Rainbow Dash! I'd imagine the Princess of Friendship would be eager to understand her friends better, but I never would've thought you'd go this far!"
         "Mr. Mayor, we have no idea where we are and a bit of context would do us a great deal of help" Twilight replied.
"Oh, oh I see - well, put simply, you are currently inside your friend Rainbow Dash's body, where since her birth we the citizens have maintained the upkeep of her body from the inside! You see, we are a fully-functioning city which serves to help Rainbow in everything she does. We've stuck with her through everything, which is how we all know who you are." A long silence followed as the gang absorbed this enlightening news. It was Spike who realised something.
         "Well hang on a minute, if Rainbow's 'controlled' by you all, then you'd know that we've already been in this brain, albeit at a larger size" he pointed out, to which Rarity nodded in agreement.
         The mayor frowned "Oh that was you, was it? We had some monstrous intruders this morning and it's cost us a lot of damage and repair maintenance crews' time"
         "Well we really didn't mean any harm - we had no idea of your city's existence and will help with anything we did to upset the flow" Twilight said hopefully.
         The mayor smiled reassuringly, "That won't be necessary, Princess. You've done so much good for Rainbow Dash already. Please feel free to explore our city; you have my blessing for freedom of access."
         The gang expressed their gratitude and left the office. The first sight they saw was a map showing Rainbow's brain split into various departments as if it were a mall: the 'fears' section was familiar enough for Spike, reminding him of his earlier exploration when discovering these, and he noted how the narrow tunnels he'd earlier explored were like vast openings within this extraordinary place. Also on the map were a section manifesting Rainbow's subconscious desire not to disappoint her friends, a large section simply labelled 'awesomeness', a section which appeared to feature Tank and pet-care, and a significantly big section devoted to 'loyalty' - Twilight found this reassuring and nostalgic since Rainbow had displayed this virtue when they first met. There was also a cinema showcasing 'memories'; they sat and watched as the screen depicted the camping trip where Rainbow had comforted Scootaloo about a ghost story that frightened the young filly. When Rainbow and Scootaloo embraced in a hug, the whole cinema cheered and cried out "Rain-bow! Rain-bow!" It seemed everything Rainbow had accomplished was partly due to these citizens. It was only when they were finding their way out that a cellular filly pointed at Discord and said, "Look mummy, he looks like the great picture on the west wall!" Twilight looked at Discord with a frown, awaiting an explanation. Following signs to the brain's west wall, they found an enormous mural of Discord alright, a crude sketch but untouched by the citizens.
         "I couldn't resist drawing a picture, I thought it'd be hilarious" he said for himself, almost regretful once he saw the cellular ponies walking past it with the mix of disgust and appreciation that often comes with looking at graffiti.
         "I bet Rainbow would be pretty upset if she found out we were in here again..." Rarity thought aloud.
Spike snapped, "How do you think she'd feel knowing all of these guys are in here, never mind us?!" Twilight chuckled as the gang sat on a bench with their backs up against the squishy brain wall as they took it all in.

Rainbow and Pinkie were back in the dining hall, having told the rest of the ponies the situation. "I'm so worried about them, I just can't get them off my brain" Rainbow said, rubbing her head. Celestia smiled at this and initiated a discussion which quickly descended into an argument as people shouted at each other. Rainbow looked around nervously as shouts and insults were hurled across the table as Celestia tried to maintain order.
          Inside Rainbow's brain, flashing lights and klaxons warned the townsfolk that all was not right, and soon screens set up around the square flashed the words 'Nervous attack: citizens brace for action'. Whilst the gang tried to work out what that meant, citizens began rushing around in various places, and the gang overheard one particularly puzzling conversation:
         "Hey, are you gonna go to the stomach to watch the show?"
"Yeah of course, the last one was entertaining enough!"
"A few times today, not surprised"
"True that, hopefully everything's alright"
         Rarity looked at her friends bemusedly and stopped one of the cellular ponies who'd been speaking. "Just what exactly happens in the stomach at this point in time?"
         "Don't you remember? Rainbow gets hungry when she's nervous"
Rarity harrumphed as she recalled all-too-well when Rainbow had been munching on popcorn when Applejack was victim to the potions, as if it were a show. How ironic, she thought, that in reality her stomach really IS hosting a show. She explained to the others and they decided to follow the crowd.

Rainbow Dash knew the value of loyalty to her friends and was determined to help find them. Her attempts to steady the argument had proved in vain as even Celestia was growing impatient. Rainbow was nervous too but was also fighting against showing it, so as not to appear weak; instead she found a chocolate biscuit left on the table from tea next to the central flower decoration and felt her tummy rumble.

The gang had reached Rainbow's stomach. It was an extraordinary scene; her stomach, to these cellular inhabitants, was a beachside resort and harbour, with the stomach acid playing the role of the lake / sea, and a coastline formed by built-up undigested and chewed food, above which lay a boardwalk and pleasure beach. There was a massive shaft above that was presumably the throat which lay ominously quiet. The acid nearer the shore had been nullified by a large machine nearby which appeared to be draining the corrosive elements from this cordoned-off stretch of water; the remainder of the stomach was a vast lake upon which boats and yachts sat in the distance. The gang joined the crowd on the boardwalk as Rainbow's stomach walls tightened and the lake churned up slightly; promptly a siren started sounding a warning to stand back from the shoreline and evacuate the beach.
          "So, you guys can swim in the lake?" Spike asked a cellular pony nearby.
"Only in this bit nearer the shore that they clean. Otherwise we'd dissolve just like the food!"
"What about the food? Isn't it so big that it causes tsunamis?"
"No, the stomach lifeguards are experts at wave control."
"There's a lot of food in here at the moment"
"Yeah, she's been chowing down today! Haha. I just watched the dinner show, casserole looked delicious"
"There's so much sweetcorn in here...."
"Rainbow's favourite food! It's always in here, those damn kernels. Takes the Breakdown team ages on those"
         At this point the sound of chewing could be heard from above and the citizens hushed with excitement. Presently a massive brown lump came flying down and splashed into the acid, causing a wave that luckily died down by the time it reached the beach. A few boats in the distance set off a few fireworks in celebration as it rose almost triumphantly to the surface. The Breakdown team instantly launched off in boats with all kinds of gear for breaking it apart. Discord turned his head and saw a large information board on the stomach wall which he told the others to look at. It would seem that the stomach was like an internal airport: the board displayed 'Arrivals' - under which 'biscuit' and 'pollen' were written - and 'Departures' - which showed 'casserole', 'sugar: connecting journeys to insulin central and Circulatory Line', 'popcorn', 'apple pie', and more interestingly, 'unidentified objects: disclaimer'. Discord deduced these 'objects' must've been him and the others earlier that morning. "Fascinating..." he exclaimed, again making notes. As the crowd began to filter away after the board announced 'Attack averted: stay cool, citizens' , it was then that he noticed a rather unpleasant-looking mark on the far-side stomach wall near a large gate labelled 'Small Intestine Toll, Route 101'. He stopped a passing policepony whose badge bore the initials RDPD and inquired, "Pardon me officer, but what exactly is that delightfully nasty-looking thing on the wall over there?"
         The officer shrugged. "Oh, we've had a lotta trouble with that recently. Damn cider, it's so acidic itself that it corrodes even our city's stomach walls! Ours! Rainbow Dash has the best guts out of anypony - we see to that - but she can't get enough of that cider!" Even as he spoke, Discord squinted and saw a construction team with scaffolding set up along the wall where they were applying various substances to the staining. Again he made a note.
         Twilight was confused and asked the policepony her own question now. "Don't you recognise these guys?! They were in this place earlier today!"
         The officer frowned, "We had some abnormally large objects come in and caused a horrible storm in here earlier; Rainbow Dash got a stomach ache because of it! That was you?!" He looked disappointed as Spike bowed his head and Discord avoided eye contact. "Oh well. Strange times indeed this morning. I just wonder how you did it at this size" and he walked off.

The gang looked around at what was happening around them. A massive group of tourist cells was being ushered down a tunnel from a building labelled 'Liver Tours'. A large screen on the side of a boardwalk building, proudly displaying a neon sign 'The Churner Hotel', seemed to be depicting Rainbow Dash's own eyes and hence what she saw, and the screen was labelled 'RainbowVision'. Incidentally a small park was filled with spectators watching the screen like an outdoor cinema. A group of workers ran past the gang, wearing uniforms that stated 'Mouth Sanitation Department' - they appeared in an urgent hurry as they boarded a helicopter that presently set off up the throat. "Hmmm, that could be interesting" Twilight suggested, as she spoke to the helicopter groundcrew about the Mayor's blessing and the pilot presently spoke into his radio:
         "Get me a chopper to the mouth, beachside in 5 mins" The gang waited until the chopper came, which had the striped livery of Rainbow's mane running along its side and a logo of an open mouth with 'RD-MSD' inside. As they all sat in uncomfortable silence, they watched as the beach below became smaller and they were eventually in Rainbow's throat. They passed by the turning-off that Spike had seen earlier when Rainbow had swallowed him, a turning to the lungs labelled 'Route 1: Exit 2 Lungs via Windpipe'. At this point the pilot spoke up.
         "Any of you folks been up to mouth county before?" They all shook their heads but Spike and Discord exchanged glances. They didn't want to incur the wrath of anymore workers so stayed quiet. "Basically it's a dangerous environment; we only send experienced cells here and it's generally off-limits to the public. It's our strictest border; not much gets through unnoticed. Luckily for you we have a report of inactivity for the next 15 minutes. We have one public observation platform, on the base of the uvula, which is where I'll drop you off with a colleague of mine, but first I'll show you around." He then pointed out Rainbow's vocal chords as they soared over them; the gang looked out the windows curiously. Eventually the helicopter rose to the back of Rainbow Dash's throat. It was a sight Spike didn't think he'd see again, but it nevertheless remained a cool concept to him to be inside his sporty friend. The chopper flew past the tonsils - the pilot explained, "the DAA - that's the Dashies Antibodies Army - recently won a battle against the pyogenes bacteria that had tried to cause tonsillitis here, but we got 'em good!" He laughed to himself and headed towards the teeth at the front of the mouth. Here Spike and Discord recognised what they had seen before - the various cracks and general uncleanliness of Rainbow's teeth, and the pilot explained how the Dental Hygiene Unit (DHU) had been depleted following a strike due to City Hall's neglect to have her brush her teeth before bedtime. As he said this, the chopper flew close to a molar which had a cave in its gumline marked outside 'Danger: open cavity'. It was being guarded by two policeponies in conversation with a member of the DHU. As they flew close to the competitive pegasus' neatly-aligned but poorly-kept teeth, they noticed pieces of pie, crumbs and popcorn shavings wedged between them; DHU workers were trying to pry them out with massive sticks. The pilot flew low over the tongue and its mountainous taste-buds and flew towards the tonsils, passing the immense water reservoirs a.k.a. salivary glands, then rising to the uvula from behind. There was a small walkway to the uvula's interior which the gang crossed after thanking the pilot, but being exposed to the mouth's interior at microscopic size meant they picked up on every scent molecule in there, to which Rarity almost gagged at once the smell of apples mixed with casserole wafted up. Once inside the uvula, they were greeted by a MSD officer who escorted them into an elevator. They descended to the bottom level and the door opened to reveal a round observation platform, literally forming the base of Rainbow's uvula. There was even a see-through floor in one place where they saw evidence of preparation for the dark environment: a flashing red beacon light at the base of the uvula warned incoming traffic and also the vast hole of the throat had streetlights along the sides in places. Twilight wondered if the red light was visible from the outside world. All of a sudden, construction crew on scaffolding outside made themselves heard when they cursed loudly and shouted at each other. Luna went to the floor-to-ceiling glass window and asked them what the problem was.
          "It's this damn graffiti - some bastard thought it'd be funny to spray this stuff at an unbearably large size."
"What does it say?" Luna asked.
         "We had to look from a distance to read it fully. 'Discord was here'. 'Dis-cord' can piss off, frankly. This ink just won't come off. The Pegasus herself even noticed it..."
          Luna turned to Discord with a furious stare. "You go out and you help those poor cells, Discord. Now." The workers couldn't hear the conversation inside, but they watched as a strange draconequus creature appeared to be being equipped to join them outside. Eventually that's exactly what happened. In his helmet and cleaning uniform Discord didn't say a word in response to the MSD workers' many questions that followed, but simply scrubbed in silence with an annoyed face behind his visor. Rarity couldn't help but chuckle. The ponies and Spike decided to leave Discord to his punishment whilst they went off to explore further. From the uvula they boarded the Nervous Line transit system and headed to the wings, changing onto the Muscular Line.

As they disembarked in a plaza there was a map of Rainbow Dash's entire body outline - similar to the one Discord had used earlier - showing the various transit systems and a 'You are here' indicated at the wingbase. Twilight and Luna were in awe as they looked at their own wings, marvelling at how they worked from within now. There was a museum to one side, the 'Daring Do Adventurers' Exhibition' attracting a large queue of cellular ponies, and opposite was an attraction called 'Rainbow Dash: Wonderbolt Legend's Walk of Fame'. This appeared to be a walk-through showcasing various accomplishments of Rainbow Dash's flying career. Naturally there were tons of citizens and visitors around here, taking pictures and queuing up. The plaza they were all in had numerous gyms and fitness centres and a statue at its centre, this one showing a pair of wings with Rainbow's cutie mark imprinted on them. Its plaque said: "City of Rainbow Dash: Proud Creators of the Sonic Rainboom'. The gang opted for a behind-the-scenes wings tour exclusively given to them at the Mayor's request - it was, after all, this city's crowning achievement - offered by specialist muscle-expert cells: these guys were hench themselves. "Our beauties", one began, kissing Rainbow's immense muscle beside him. "We've worked extra hard on these babies; ever since her birth we've had an academy for fitness cells like us to ensure they exceed expectations." They walked past a framed picture hung up on the side showing these fitness cells with many others like them, all sharing drinks at a party where a banner above them showed that it was commemorating 'RD First Sonic Rainboom' followed by the year it happened. The cells became teary-eyed with pride and joy as the gang stopped to look at it. "Moving on", they said, moving the tour on.
          Meanwhile, back in the mouth, Discord had relieved the two MSD workers and laughed to himself as he simply re-wrote his graffiti onto unsuspecting Rainbow's uvula. "They'll get what they deserve for abandoning me." He chuckled as he firstly chucked his graffiti cans down the throat aggressively, and then pulled out his notes and a map of his own: a map of Princess Celestia's outline.

Rainbow Dash sat at the table and spluttered as she felt a strange taste of ink in her mouth, whilst she conversed with the group at the table completely unaware.


Part 5: http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/2095608-MLP-Endo-A-Small-Issue-Par...
Part 3: http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/2074249-MLP-Endo-A-Small-Issue-Par...
Part 2: http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/2056720-MLP-Endo-A-Small-Issue-Par...
Part 1: http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/2056108-MLP-Endo-A-Small-Issue-Par...