MLP Endo: A Small Issue Part 3

By Lukington17 and hmhmh6532
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Chapters 7-8

Chapter 7 - hmhmh6532

Pinkie, filled with determination, was squishing her way down Applejack's oesophagus. This ride was even more cramped then her experience inside Applejack's mouth. It was in no time at all when Pinkie plopped out into the farmgirl's stomach. She was thankful that the stomach acids were still not effecting her. Pinkie's ears perked up as she heard Applejack's heart beating right outside of the stomach, way faster then usual. That could mean only one thing. "Oh no! She probably knows I'm here!" . "Oh well. Time for some exploring! I'm sure I'll be able to figure out what her favourite choice of apple is by the time they think of a way to get me out of here."

The contents of Applejack's stomach were no surprise to Pinkie. The entire area had the aroma of apples of all kinds of variety: Red Delicious apples, Golden Delicious apples, Caramel apples, Apple Brown Bettys, Gravenstein, Stayman. There were mushes of apple paste digesting as far as the eye can see. Pinkie felt as if almost a half hour had gone by already. It would probably take hours for Pinkie to decipher which apple was most prominent.
          Pinkie suddenly came to a terrifying realisation: who's to say that the foods she'd been taking down were the "favourite" type? She was just picking foods out at random! She must've sounded like an insane pony in front of Spike for suggesting this escapade. Just what was she going to accomplish by sitting in here? She had to get out! Using her tactic that she used to get out of Twilight's stomach, Pinkie rocked the walls back and forth with all her might; her being at a bigger size would be a guarantee at her escape.
          .......Nothing happened. Pinkie couldn't understand why there was no reaction to the stomach churning. Maybe Applejack just had more resilience to gas in her stomach. Pinkie had been told that she had a stronger stomach than the rest of her friends, but that might have been an understatement. She was trapped! There was no escape! Pinkie's only hope was for her friends to find out a way to rescue her, and fast. She slid down the stomach wall, putting her hooves over her chest as she listened to Applejack's heart beat along with hers.


All of the Mane 6 were gathered in the Apples' living room. Applejack had to send Apple Bloom off to her friends' since this was a matter that the young filly shouldn't get involved in. The instant Applejack had warned the group of this incident, Twilight was in deep thought. After a few minutes, she told everypony that she had an idea and raced out of the house without saying a word more; all they could do was sit and wait for Twilight's heroic return.
          Rarity was comforting Fluttershy, who had recently had a mini breakdown, Spike was reading one of his comics, and Rainbow laid down on the sofa looking at her throat with a mirror, struggling to imagine what Pinkie, Spike, and Discord had been doing in there. In the midst of her inspection Rainbow noticed something off-putting at the back of her throat. Opening her mouth wider, and squinting her eyes, Rainbow discovered that her uvula had the words "Discord was here" scribbled on it in black ink. "Oh that two timing-...!" She threw the mirror across the room in a fit of rage, startling the entire room. "Discord graffitied insideme! I mean who does that?!" She got up and flew upstairs where the sounds of a door slamming and running water were soon heard.
         Rarity had a look of concern on her face. "You don't think..." She began saying, looking over towards the mirror herself.
Fluttershy stifled a few sniffles, though a few tears were leaking from her eyes. "Rarity, I'm sure D-Discord wouldn't do a thing like that t-to you. He might not have had the time. He was probably f-f-frightened. Right Applejack?" Fluttershy gestured her head over to the farmgirl, but she was still showing no signs of movement. "Applejack?"
          This was the first time anypony had noticed Applejack since Twilight's departure. Ever since she sent Apple Bloom off, Applejack has been sitting by herself in the corner of the room with a dead look in her eyes. The very thought that she had allowed her friend to enter her body had put her into a state of shock. Spike rolled up his comic and was the first to try and comfort her. "Aw Applejack, there's no need to worry. You remember what Twilight said: the potion has made Pinkie completely stomach acid-proof, or something like that." Applejack turned her head towards Spike, showing a first sign of movement since Twilight left.
"I just can't believe it, y'all. How could I let my guard down so easily, after I promised y'all that I wouldn't? I knew I shouldn't have stayed up last night countin' the apples in the southern orchard. Some friend I am..." She sank her head down into her hooves. It hurt Spike seeing Applejack in this kind of distress, what with her being the headstrong pony of the group and all.
          Rarity was just about as affected as Spike was. She decided that it was her turn to speak her mind to Applejack. "Now dearie, we all make mistakes from time to time." Rarity glanced over to Spike, "Some...very grave mistakes. But we're all friends here, and we will always forgive each other no matter how heinous our actions are."
         These words seemed to have also encouraged Fluttershy a bit. "Yeah," she spoke out. "we can't learn lessons if we don't make mistakes."
Applejack slowly looked up from her hooves, being quick to wipe a tear that was escaping her eye. "You know what.... y'all are some darn good friends" she said with a smile.

The sound of rushing water stopped as the bathroom door was heard opening. "Jeez. This ink just won't come off! Who knows just what else he did in there." Rainbow zipped down the stairs, zoomed across the room and grabbed the mirror which she had previously tossed and started to examine herself once again. She began examining her ear canals, nostrils, then gums, tongue, and each individual tooth, checking for any signs of tampering. "Hey Applejack, d'you think Discord did anything else in there? I swear if I find out that he did something stupid like paint a picture of himself in my brain, he's totally turning back to stone." Rainbow looked up from the mirror and noticed everypony giving her a stern look. "...What? Did I miss something?"
         Just then, the front door swung open. Twilight was back, brandishing a satchel by her side. Applejack's attention switched from Rainbow to Twilight in an instant. "Twilight! Thank heavens you're back."
          "Sorry for the wait, everypony." Twilight quickly said, removing her satchel and placing it on the table. "Now Spike, I need you to stand front and centre." Everypony was surprised by Twilight's sudden entrance and commanding tone.
          Spike, being the one addressed, spoke first. "Twilight, what took you so long? What's in your bag?"
"Our solution," Twilight said triumphantly. Opening the satchel, she revealed just what the content of the bag was: it was the Zeromac shrinking potion. A shrill gasp was heard.
"It's that revolting concoction that started all of this!" Rarity exclaimed, "Why in Equestria would you bring such a horrible thing here!?"
Applejack was just as nervous. "You don't think shrinking me is gonna get Pinkie out, do ya? I don't know that much about the laws of physics, but I'm sure that ain't gonna do nothin'."
          "No, YOU aren't going to shrink." Twilight looked over to Spike. "HE is."
Spike's eyes filled with terror. "What do you mean 'I'm' gonna shrink?! Didn't I already say that I've had enough fantastic voyaging for today!?" He crossed his arms in anger and turned away from Twilight.
         "Whoa whoa whoa" Rainbow piqued in, "Are you seriously considering shrinking Spike and putting him inside Applejack? I totally thought you were gonna bring a doctor over or something."
Spike turned his head to her. "Why don't you shrink?"
          Rainbow looked at Spike as if he had just issued a one-star rating on the newest Daring Do book. "What?! I'm already super grossed out at having you inside me! You think I'm gonna subject myself to that horror!?" Rainbow felt Rarity giving her a menacing look. "Ummm, I mean I...could just stay here and be here for moral support...you know.... 'Go Spike'" she said apologetically, as she waved a miniature flag with Spike's face on it.
         "Oh how could you be so insensitive?" Rarity spat and turned her nose up at Rainbow.
Twilight ignored the feud and calmly explained her reasoning. "Spike, you've had more experience with the pony body than any of us at this point. It would only make sense if you were the one to go inside."
          Spike thought for a bit, trying to find flaws in Twilight's undesirable plan. He came up with one real quick. "How will I get out? If I go inside Applejack's stomach, won't I just be in the same situation as Pinkie?"
         "Oh that's easy." Twilight displayed what appeared to be a thin wispy wire out from her horn and levitated it over to Spike's chest, where it made contact and disappeared. "It's called a Telepathy Tether. Once you find Pinkie, you can just pull on the tether and I will reel you both back in. It's like fishing! You like fishing don't you?"
          "So...I'm bait, is that what you're saying?" Spike mumbled. He could only think of one other hole in her plan. "...Wait a minute. Didn't you say that the growth potion made Pinkie bigger? Wouldn't that mean I would be way smaller than her? How can I drag something out that weighs a million pounds to me?"
Twilight closed her eyes and let out a huge sigh. "That's what took me so long. I had to contemplate this for a while." This statement seemed to scare Spike a bit. The alicorn opened her eyes and pulled a second bottle out of the satchel: the growth potion. "You need to take the growth potion with you, and grow yourself inside Applejack's stomach."
          "WHAAAAAAAAAAAT!!?" Screamed Applejack, startling the room. Rarity swooned over and passed out. Rainbow held her up while Fluttershy fanned her. "Are y'all seriously saying that Spike needs to grow inside of me?! And then what, let him rip my stomach to shreds?! Gosh Twilight, just what kind of cockamamie plan is this!?"
          Twilight knew that Applejack would react this way. "Applejack, it's the only way for Spike to get Pinkie out of there. We just need to be quick in extracting them. I went over the numbers at the castle, and if we are fast enough the probabilities of Spike causing you to explode is 0.56%!. That's less than 1%."
          Applejack was still unsure. "What about Rainbow's suggestion? Can't we just find a doctor and have him perform surgery on me or something?"
"Oh well that will be a fun time," Twilight crudely said, "having to explain how one of our friends shrunk and is now trapped in your body. I can't let anypony else know about these potions yet; they're still too dangerous. Who knows what would happen if they landed in the wrong hooves?"
She had a point. Applejack had no choice but to agree. "Fine, but your fancy mathematics better be right."
         Twilight smiled and turned back to Spike. "So, Spike. Will you go? For Pinkie's sake?"
Spike thought in silence for a full minute about this. He could find no other way around this. "Ok. For Pinkie. But only on one condition: I want you to extend my bedtime up a whole hour."
          Twilight giggled and hugged him, nodding. "It's a deal."


Twilight and Spike stood in the center of the room with all the ponies clear. Fluttershy was shaking with her hooves over her eyes. Applejack looked on with a tentative glance. Rarity was still passed out and lying on the sofa. Applejack caught Rainbow Dash munching on a bag of popcorn. "Just what in the high hills of Las Pegasus are ya doing?" Applejack glared, "This is serious, not some kinda hoofball game!"
          "What? I get hungry when I'm nervous." Rainbow retorted as she stuffed her mouth with more popcorn.
"Spike, are you ready?" Twilight asked.
The growth potion in his side pocket? Check.
The invisible Telepathy Tether on his chest? Check.
About to lose his lunch? Check. "I'm ready. ...I guess." Spike sighed.
          As Twilight sprayed him with the Zeromac, Spike closed his eyes and felt the same uncomfortable sensation that he felt since that morning. As he opened his eyes, he was once again at the same height he had hoped never to be again. There was nothing but wooden floorboards and dust as far as the eye can see. Just then, Spike's sky filled with his absolute worst fear: a giant pair of purple lips. The lips parted as all the inside of Twilight's mouth engulfed Spike's entire world. He watched in fear as a bit of dust flew upwards in the wind and disappeared onto her giant tongue. Twilight had betrayed him! It's all over!! However, the lips soon closed. A brief flash of purple later and Spike's view turned to the biggest eyeball he had ever seen. Spike had never appreciated just how flamboyant Twilight's eye color was. Deep seas of purple, white, and black was all Spike could see for miles.
          "OH! THERE YOU ARE SPIKE!" Twilight's massive voice boomed out of her strong vocal chords as Spike keeled down in pain, covering his ears. Although Twilight couldn't exactly see what Spike was doing, she instantly realized her mistake. "OOPS! I KNEW I FORGOT SOMETHING!" The voice boomed again as Spike noticed Twilight's purple colored magic was forming around his head. "There. Better?" Twilight said again, but this time it came clear inside of Spike's mind. Opening his eyes, Spike looked up at the two giant pillars reaching up to the heavens that were Twilight's hooves. Spike couldn't even see the rest of her body due to how long her legs are - must've been hundreds of feet high to him.
          "Yup! I hear you loud and clear!" Spike shouted to the hundreds of purple hairs across Twilight's legs. But to no avail; Twilight couldn't hear him.
"I will just assume you said yes." Twilight's voice filled Spike's ears. Spike watched in awe as the giant purple pillar to his left lifted up, revealing her under hoof. Spike could make out the thousand mile mazes of the grooves that marked around Twilight's hoof. "Alright Applejack, you can come over here now." The hoof came down, sending a shockwave of dust flying directly at Spike. He had to close his eyes to prevent blindness. As soon as Spike opened his eyes, he found himself zooming between two hairy purple walls. Twilight was levitating him up between her hooves up to her chest, almost like some kind of elevator. Spike entered what looked like a dark forest of purple hairs and stopped at the pink fleshy wall of her chest. Twilight kept Spike here while she informed Applejack of her role. "I want you to keep your mouth open while I levitate Spike in there. You can't close it no matter what." Spike bounced up and down as Twilight's heart beat heavily against her chest. Despite appearing to be calm, her heart was pounding against Spike like a jackhammer. Must be the benefits of being an alicorn. That or Twilight had a genuine deep concern for Spike. He couldn't listen to it long though, as he was zoomed out of the furry forest and found himself facing a giant pair or orange lips. "Now Spike," Twilight explained in his head. "I can only levitate you towards Applejack's throat, as you walking there would take too long. Once I drop you, you'll be all on your own from there on out."
          "Got it." Is what Spike wanted to say, but he knew no pony could hear him.
"Ready Applejack?" Spike heard Twilight's voice for the final time. Spike noticed the orange lips beginning to come apart, and knew exactly what was coming.
"I GUESS!" Rang out Applejack's voice all around him. He covered his ears and closed his eyes as a waft of her apple-scented breath came over Spike. The smell seemed to have calmed his nerves a bit, but when Spike opened his eyes his face couldn't have gotten any greener.

He was once again in the world that he didn't want to be in ever again: the dark caverns of the mouth. Spike gazed at the saliva-covered walls and the farmgirl's strong and well-used teeth. He looked down and saw nothing but the orange mounds of Applejack's taste buds below. He'd seen enough ponies' mouths today to feel like a dentist... He looked straight ahead and immediately regretted it: he had reached Applejack's throat quicker than he would've liked. The air pushing out from beneath him was incredibly humid. The tonsils inflated and deflated like party balloons. The aroma of apples which had once calmed Spike now made him sick to his stomach. He wasn't sure if he would ever eat an apple the same way again. Directly below him was the oesophagus, as it dilated and contracted with Applejack's breathing patterns. As Spike loomed over the fluttering vocal chords, he took notice of the pink hairs that were gently balancing on the epiglottis. It was then, seeing that hair, that Spike realised he was the only hope of getting Pinkie out alive; there were no other alternatives to safely get her out. What if he himself pushed up daises while inside Applejack's body? Spike's own heart beat wildly with a burning sensation in his chest. There was no turning back now. Flipping his view to the front of the mouth, Spike's outlook on life switched from dread to hope. All the way at the end of Applejack's open jaws of teeth and parted lips, were a pair of purple eyes glaring at him. It was a pleasant sight to see after having to experience the horrors of the pony's mouth. Spike hoped that this wasn't the last time he would see those eyes. Taking a deep breath, he readied himself for the fall. Twilight's magic left Spike, as he was thrown down into the unknown depths below.

The smooth walls of Applejack's oesophagus massaged Spike as he made his way towards the stomach. The rapid beating of Applejack's heart and the quickening breathing from her lungs was getting louder and louder as Spike made his decent. Soon, the cacophony of Applejack's organs pounded against his eardrums. He knew this would be a long and uncomfortable journey down. Hearing Applejack's organs working into overtime, Spike felt bad for Applejack. Having just swallowed two of your friends seemed like a huge weight on one's shoulders. Hopefully after this huge debacle, everypony can live their lives in peace without having to worry about gulping down other ponies...hopefully. Spike knew he was about to reach the stomach once the beating and breathing left his ears. Squeezing his way out of the oesophagus's exit, Spike ended up once again free-falling down to the bubbling acids, a sensation he'd first felt in Rarity's stomach that now felt an eternity ago. Spike landed with a splash into the green lake, and made his way up to the surface. Spike gasped for air as he observed his surroundings. Just how was Spike supposed to be able to find Pinkie in this labyrinth of acid and apple mushes? He swam up to one of the tallest apple mushes he could find to use as a vantage point. Climbing up, he hoped he would be able to spot a pink spec from the view up there. Once Spike reached the surface, he flopped onto his back and took a deep breath. "Okay," he said out loud to himself, "if I was a hyperactive bouncing pink pony in here where would I be?" Just as he was about to landscape the stomach, he noticed a tremendous shadow looming over him. What could possibly be causing the shadow at this height?
          "...Oh, that's where I would be."
It turns out Pinkie was significantly bigger than Spike had thought. Her mane was deflated and fell out over the sides of her head, similar to when Spike saw her at her last birthday party. At this size, Spike should easily be able to get her attention. Spike cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted, "Pinkie! It's me! Spike! I'm here to get you out!"
          "Oh, it's hopeless!" Pinkie's voice sent Spike over onto his back as the smell of apple left his senses and was replaced by sweets. "They probably forgot all about me. I'm never getting out of here!" Pinkie hadn't noticed Spike! He was going to have to think of a different tactic to get her attention. "Okay Pinkie, calm down. You can get through this. Just do some deep breathing and you will be okay."
         Spike scratched his chin with his claws. "Maybe if I climbed up to her mane and pulled on a few hairs, I would be able to-" He stopped mid thought. "...Oh. I think I know what's about to come ne-" Before Spike could finish his sentence, Pinkie's mouth became a giant vacuum as she inhaled, as Spike was swept up in the air and headed towards the maw. He tried to stop by grabbing on one of Pinkie's front teeth, but slipped off. Spike was once again back in a mouth just as quickly as he had left one. There was so much bad luck going on that today must've been Friday the 13th...Thankfully he was much bigger proportionately, but that also meant it was much more cramped. Surely she'll feel me in here, I'm the size of a tennis ball! Spike tried to grab onto Pinkie's tongue as he was continually getting sucked towards Pinkie's throat, when just as he reached the end of the tongue, Pinkie stopped breathing as her jaw locked painfully. Had she just inhaled an apple seed or something?! She started coughing and hacking uncontrollably, causing Spike to fly out onto the apple mush covered in spit and phlegm. He was going to need to take at least ten bubble baths when he got home.
          "Okay. That's enough breathing exercises for the day" came Pinkie's voice as she rubbed her Adam's apple. Spike sat up, knowing that Pinkie was out of her funk.
          "Pinkie!" he shouted.
Immediately Pinkie noticed the off-colored green and purple dragon in the puddle of spit, and a smile spread across her face as her sagging mane regained its color and bushiness. "SPIKE!" Pinkie exclaimed as she swept Spike up with her hoof and brushed him against her cheek, getting her own saliva all over her fur carefree. "I can recognize that face anywhere! I knew you guys wouldn't have forgotten me!"
          "Yeah," Spike said, trying to push himself away from Pinkie's fuzzy cheek, "except you didn't recognize me at all when I got here. You just inhaled me!"
         Pinkie's eyes widened as she set Spike down. "I...I'm sorry Spike. It's just that I was so super super sad that I thought you guys had abandoned me..."
Spike knew that Pinkie wasn't at fault here; frankly he pitied her at this point. "It's alright Pinkie. I forgive you." Pinkie's head came down and nuzzled against him.
"It's great to be reunited, Spikey!" Pinkie raised her head, "but how're we gonna get out of here? You didn't happen to bring a really long ladder with you down here did you?" Feeling satisfied that he had done his job quicker than he had anticipated, Spike proudly took out the growth potion from his pocket. Pinkie looked at the bottle with confusion. "Hey...isn't that the shrinking potion? How is that gonna...oooooh! Are you suggesting that we shrink ourselves down to a super-ridiculously small size that we just break the scales on how small we are and...umm...reverse back to our original size?? I don't really know all of that sciencey mumbo-jumbo Twilight usually says, but that sounds like something she would say." Pinkie concluded with a grin and a squee.
          "It's not the Zeromac; it's the growth potion." Spike said as he sprayed himself with it. He could feel himself slowly growing already. Putting the potion back in his pocket, Spike looked back at Pinkie who had the most dumbfounded expression on her face.
          "WHAAAAAT!? You're going to grow out of Applejack's body!? But that would tear her to a million billion trillion zillion pieces!!" She clasped her head with her hooves in terror.
         Spike was quick to correct Pinkie, who looked like she was about to have a panic attack. "Relax, Pinkie - I have to make myself slightly bigger than you so that I can take you out of here with this 'Telepathy Tether' that Twilight put on me. After we get out, we'll apply the growth potion to you and we can all live happily ever after." He hoped that would've calmed Pinkie down a bit, but she was still staring at him wide-eyed and shivering as he continued to grow. "Well, hopefully you understand" he added feebly. "Alright Pinkie. Let's go!" But Pinkie didn't respond. She couldn't respond. The thought of Applejack's stomach exploding seemed to have sent her into a state of shock. "Um...Pinkie? We need to get going, like...right now!" Spike shouted. He got increasingly worried as he continued to grow. He was now about double the size of Pinkie. Spike tried to pick up Pinkie in his claws, but she was somehow magnetized to the apple mush. "Okay, this is totally not good!" Pinkie was refusing to cooperate as he was growing steadily. Just how was he supposed to get Pinkie out of Applejack's stomach at this rate?!
          And that is when Spike got another incredibly dangerous and stupid idea.
"Once again, I'm sorry about this Pinkie." Spike bent down and held Pinkie in his jaws. He had to control his instinct to swallow as he pulled on the Telepathy Tether. Almost immediately, the tether reappeared on his chest as it pulled him up towards the oesophagus. The jerk was so rough that Pinkie fell further into his mouth, praying for his life that Pinkie wouldn't wander too far down. His ascension up Applejack's throat was getting more and more cramped by the second. What if he didn't make it? What if that 0.56% Twilight promised was false? Such thoughts filled his brain as his heart beat faster than ever, with the burning sensation now stronger in his chest. He better not burp fire now, not with his passenger; he kept his mouth open and tilted his had down. He felt a feeling of sweet relief as light started to enter his view. His entire being felt a big push as he was back inside Applejack's mouth. His legs, however, were still stuck in Applejack's throat.


"C'mon Twilight, pull harder! I can see him!" Rainbow Dash's voice came from the blinding light beyond the gaping jaws of teeth. The tether lunged forward as Spike felt his head hit the hard wooden floor of the Apples' house. Feeling as if he had blacked out for a minute, Spike rubbed his head as he turned it to be greeted by a pair of purple eyes.
          "Spike!" Twilight shouted happily, as he gave a weak wave back. Fluttershy cheered, Rainbow whooped and Applejack coughed and hacked into a nearby bucket: everypony was expressing their own sense of satisfaction at Spike's triumphant return - all except for Rarity, who had just begun to wake up from her faint.
          "Whuu? Who?" Rarity muttered as she regained consciousness. "NO! SPIKE DON'T GO! IT'S TOO DANGEROUS!!"
"Um Rarity. Spike's been in and out. You slept through it." Rainbow remarked.
          Rarity turned red in the face. "Oh. Well, at least I didn't have to subject myself to the horror of watching Spike getting eaten." She concluded with a nervous smile, while Spike muttered to himself that she'd already subjected herself to that earlier and seemed to have recovered pretty quickly from eating him herself. He, meanwhile, was still growing to his resumed normal size.
          Applejack finished her coughing spree as she wiped her mouth. "Nuts, Twilight!" she said, taking in deep breaths, "that was WAY too close. I think y'all might've pulled somethin' in there."
          Twilight gave her a reassured smile. "At least no pony got badly injured." She turned to Spike. "Which reminds me - where's Pinkie? Is she in your pocket? On your spines?" Twilight began giving Spike an all-over body inspection.
          Gasps were heard all around the room as everypony figured out what Spike had done. Being quick, he opened his mouth and began retching, as if trying to burp out a fire message. Luckily, Spike's earlier prayers came true as what felt like a fuzzy ball on his tongue rolled out, revealing a now-pebble sized Pinkie.
          Rarity fainted once more. Applejack however looked amazed, "Spike...wow. I'm kinda impressed."
Spike had a heroic smile on his face. "Yup. Pinkie wouldn't budge so I had no choice but to scoop her up in...well...there." Spike pointed to his mouth, "Thankfully, I managed not to swallow her." Tiny erratic shrieks came from the pink pebble, but they were indistinguishable to pony ears. Spike laughed at the squeaking pebble; Twilight however, looked very stern.
          "Spike. I'm not going to lie to you. That was a very risky move you tried." She noticed Spike lowering his head, looking dejected. "...But, you did succeed in rescuing Pinkie, and used your initiative." She levitated Pinkie up to her eye. "And she appears to be okay. So I guess no harm done." More squeaks came from Pinkie, causing Twilight to laugh. "Alright Pinkie, we'll grow you now."
         Spike couldn't believe at how smoothly the whole plan worked out in the end. Besides the whole "Pinkie almost swallowing him and him almost swallowing her" thing, he was pretty satisfied with his rescue operation. He let out a sigh of relief that all this was behind them. For now.

Chapter 8 - hmhmh6532

Back at the castle, everypony was having a mini celebration. Pancakes and cider were spread out all across the table underneath the Golden Oaks chandelier. Spike was digging his claws in the delicacies since he hadn't eaten anything all day. Pancakes flew everywhere as Rarity continuously handed everypony napkins. However, not everypony seemed to be in the celebratory mood - Pinkie was staring down into her cider looking pensive. Applejack caught wind of Pinkie's behaviour and decided to intervene. "Hey Pinkie," Applejack leaned her head in towards her, "it's nice to have ya back here and all. After the day you've had, I'm surprised y'all aren't scarfing down that cider. Then again, I guess you've probably lost your appetite after your microscopic adventure." She winked.
          Pinkie gave Applejack a reassured smile. "Oh no no, your cider is super-diddly scrumptious! It's just that... well, what happened today was mostly my fault. Oh who am I kidding, it's ALL my fault! I shouldn't have gone off on my own like that. I bet you're all mad at me." She sighed, lowering her ears.
          Applejack let out a chuckle. "Mad? Are you kidding? You think after all the stunts you pulled in the last few years, you think this would be the straw that broke the camel's back? Maybe this day would've been easier if you hadn't have gone off like that, but you can't blame yourself for everything that's happened."
          Pinkie sighed again, "I just don't know how to control myself at times. There was that time where I accidentally caused a herd of buffalo to attack Appleloosa. Then I cloned myself and practically destroyed half of Ponyville. Then I almost ruined Rainbow's Birthaversary party with that Goof-Off. Then I made Fluttershy cry when I was just trying to cheer her up. THEN do you remember when I put an X in that top square where I should've put it in the bottom one! Then I -" Applejack pressed her hoof against Pinkie's lips.
          "What did I just say? None of that stuff matters. It's all in the past. As long as you're sure of yourself that y'all can learn and get over all of that nasty stuff in the past, you're sure to have a bright future. We can't learn lessons if we don't make mistakes."
          Applejack was relieved to see Pinkie's ears perk back up. "Well," Pinkie thought, "there are those behaviour management classes mom pointed out to me last time I visited her. Maybe I should apply - tomorrow though; don't want these delicious pancakes Twilight made for us to go to waste!" She raised her knife and fork into the air.
          "Oh Twilight didn't make these." Rainbow said, gulping down her seventh cup of cider, "I just grabbed all of the stuff in her fridge. It's nothing but pancakes for some reason."
          Spike wiped his mouth with one of Rarity's napkins. "That reminds me, where is Twilight? I thought I saw her coming with us on the way here."
Fluttershy swallowed a small bite of pancake. "I remember that too. She should be here with all of us. I don't really see what else she could be panicking about now..."

The door to the dining hall burst open as Twilight flew her way over to the table. Spike fell backwards off his chair in surprise. "Come on everypony, why are you all just sitting here!? The train leaves in ten minutes!" She exclaimed loudly.
         Spike pulled himself up to the table. "Train?!"
"What train?!" Rainbow, Applejack and Fluttershy confusedly asked in unison.
          Twilight reached into her satchel and pulled out both the shrinking and growth potions. "Remember what I said back at the farm? These two potions are incredibly dangerous to have just laying around. What if Discord or somepony else nabbed these? The results could be cat-a-strophic! That's why I can only trust these potions in the hooves of Princess Celestia and Luna."
          Spike face-palmed. "Are you kidding me!? Canterlot?! We're not even done yet?! After everything that's happened today, how can there be more to do?!"
          Rainbow let out a disgusted sigh. "I'm with Spike on this one. This day has been exhausting! Why do we all have to go?"
"Well, it's just that I'm kind of nervous approaching the princesses with this. It would mean a lot to me to have you all for moral support."
"Um..." Fluttershy piped in, "I...I agree with Twilight. Those potions are pretty dangerous. I wouldn't want those to come into contact with any precious little animals." She shivered as she imagined an army of huge mutant rabbits and birds destroying her precious house.
          "Oh, easy for you to say," Rainbow said, "since unlike most of us you haven't had your body PENATRATED! No way, I'm not explaining that to Celestia..."
          "Well, there was that one time I accidentally swallowed Avery Ant when he was in my sugar jar. I tried to get him out"
          "Yawn, it's not the same as what happened to me" the flyer retorted.
"Well?" Twilight interjected, "Are you all coming or not?"
Everypony exchanged looks sheepishly, as a solitary awkward cough was heard from somewhere. After a few seconds, they all looked towards Twilight and gave her a nervous nod. "Well then let's go. We've got eight minutes before the Canterlot train departs." Everypony left the table and galloped out of the hall, leaving Spike sitting there in a state of disbelief. Why can't this day just end already?
          "Spiiiike!" Twilight called from the entrance hall. Letting out a very frustrated sigh, he lifted himself up from the table before being surrounded by Twilight's magic and dragged out the doorway.

Little did they all know that a lone draconequus was peaking his head out from behind the tree chandelier, having heard everything. "Canterlot, eh?" Discord laughed to himself, as, with a snap of his fingers, he vanished.


Part 4: http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/2091281-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...