PinkieSpace
Techorse Series #1
By Spirals95
Twilight finished the last bite of her vegetable sandwich. “Thank you so much for treating me to lunch, Tech.” she said with her mouth full.
“Don’t mention it, Twilight.” answered her coltfriend. He had earned the nickname “Tech” from his closest friends, and enjoyed being called that from time to time. The waiter came by, and Tech paid the entire tab plus a decent tip of about 18%.
“I’m sort of wondering what job you have anyways, now that you’re settled here in Ponyville.” asked Twilight as she looked at the pile of coins.
Techorse answered, “I’m selling some of my inventions to anypony buying. After an order is made, I pay Derpy Hooves to deliver it through her boss’s shipping business. He and I are on pretty good terms now.”
Twilight asked with curiosity, “What sort of inventions have you sold?”
He replied without missing a beat, “A solar-powered fruit and vegetable peeler. You see, my slogan is ‘designed with hooves in mind’. It’s amazing how difficult it normally is to peel fruit and vegetables with hooves, so I simply created one that makes it easy. It’s my best selling product, sixteen thousand units sold and counting.”
“Wow!” exclaimed Twilight, “what do you do with all that money?”
“Investment, donations, payments to green organizations to pay for my mining permit, and taking you out on dates.” he answered.
Twilight smiled and thanked him again. “I have to go back to the library now and check up on Spike.” she said, “Do you want to come and study for a while?”
“As much as I’d love to, PAL and I have been working around the clock to clean up the castle.” he answered before finishing the last sip of water in his glass.
“Why?” she asked him.
He said, “Well, the castle hasn’t been approved for safety due to the mining probes gathering materials from the mountains, and the fact I have a science lab in it. So, princess Celestia wrote me and said she would come this afternoon to inspect it.”
Twilight went into nervous shock mode, which she always did whenever the princess was to arrive in Ponyville.
“What?” she said with a hint of whimper, “everything must be perfect for her arrival, and you’re out here? Get back to your castle and get to work, I’ll be over in a minute to help you!”
Techorse rolled his eyes and said, “Relax Twilight, PAL and I have got everything under control. But if you insist, just drop by in a bit.”
Twilight and Techorse parted and headed back for their homes. When Techorse got back to his castle, he opened the large wooden front door. The young inventor had made a major modification since the castle first arrived, the door was split into two, and the double doors now opened horizontally. This was much more inviting than a single ominous drawbridge. The male pony walked into his home and was met by his robot creation, PAL.
“Welcome back master, how was lunch with Mistress Sparkle?” he asked cheerfully.
“Great, but she’s all upset that the princess is coming here this afternoon. Maybe you can convince her we’re all ready.” Techorse replied.
“Ah I see.” spoke the machine, “I have already done my best to ensure the castle is ready. Everything’s been cleaned, washed, or dusted. I have our snacks for her majesty baking in the oven now.”
“Thanks for taking care of everything while I goof off.” said Techorse while looking up at his robot.
The humanoid machine kneeled down and patted his master on the head, “don’t mention it, sir.”
There was a ring at the doorbell of the castle. “I got this PAL. Take a break to have some fun.” said Techorse.
“Alright!” cheered the robot. He uploaded his programming to the main computer and began a fun game of Thermonuclear War. “Dang, tied again!” exclaimed PAL as he ran through another scenario in the blink of an eye. Techorse shook his head at the machine’s “stupidity” and went to answer the ring at the door. He expected it to be Twilight Sparkle. However, turning on a small television screen to see who was outside, he found himself looking at a light pink pony with dark pink fluffy hair.
“Oh. Hi, Pinkie Pie.” said Techorse over the intercom, “what’s up?”
Pinkie Pie said sadly, “I don’t feel so good. Can you take a look?”
Techorse took a bit of compassion on the normally happy pony and answered, “Of course.” He hit a lever, and the doors opened up. Pinkie Pie dragged herself into the castle, her expression gloomy. “You really don’t look good. You’re never this sad.” said Techorse in surprise of his friend’s condition, “I’m getting you to the medical lab”. Techorse took his friend to the medical room. All it was really was storage for medicine and a small doctor’s examination table. Tech lacked real medical equipment, and so all he could do was ask his friend questions. “So, what hurts?”
Pinkie Pie replied as she sat on the table, “Nothing hurts.”
Techorse continued his questions “are you feeling nausea? Having problems sleeping?”
“No, no, nope, nuh-uh” came her response every time.
Techorse got a little frustrated and asked, “Then what’s the matter?”
Pinkie Pie dragged Techorse closer and whispered into his ear, “I’m scared of Dr. Caltrops.”
Techorse said with disbelief, “Pinkie Pie that sounds like the name of a comic book villain.”
“Oh no.” she continued while shoving her face into his, “He’s a real doctor pony! But he’s not nice at all, in fact, whenever he finds a sick pony, he writes about it and publishes it in his books, making an example out of them. It’s so embarrassing!”
Techorse tilted his head a bit and asked with confusion, “Wait, so you’re asking me for advice on how to avoid ending up in a medical journal?” Pinkie Pie nodded and stared at him with her big light blue eyes. He chuckled and asked, “Well, what are you worried about? You’re in great shape.”
Pinkie Pie whispered to him, “I’m afraid I might get… dialbeetlus!”
Techorse said, “I’ve never heard of that disease.”
Pinkie Pie said in frustration, “It was in a book I borrowed from Twilight. You get it from too much sugar in your blood. Diabeetlus!”
Techorse got the message, “Ohhh! You mean diabetes Pinkie Pie.”
Pinkie Pie said in panic, “Yes! The book said if I have too much sugar, I’ll get it! Once I do, Dr. Caltrops will write me down in his book and embarrass me in front of everypony in Equestria for sure!”
Techorse smiled and assured her, “Pinkie Pie, anyone who would write about you getting diabetes is a messed up being. That’s just wrong to write about the misfortunes of happy ponies like you.”
Pinkie Pie sighed with depression, “Yeah, but even if he doesn’t write about me, I still don’t want to get it.”
The colt put a hoof on her and comforted her, “Listen, you have no chance of getting diabetes. Sure you eat lots of sugar, but your hyperactivity, all that hopping and running around, uses up all the sugar in your blood and prevents you from getting the disease.”
Pinkie perked up a bit, “Really?” she asked, “so if I keep doing what I do best, I won’t get it?”
Techorse nodded, “Keep exercising the way you do, and eat some healthy food in-between the cakes, and I’m sure you’ll do fine.”
Pinkie Pie needed one last measure of comfort. “Ok” she said, “But isn’t there anything else you can do to make sure I’ll be fine?”
Techorse answered, “No, not really. I’m not a doctor Pinkie. Go see nurse Redheart if you need any more help medically. No pony but a doctor or nurse should give you an actual examination.”
She begged him for additional assistance, “Pleeeeease?” Techorse remembered one thing he had and answered, “One thing.” He returned with a small metal box with an LCD screen and a small pin.
“Hey Pinkie, look over there!” he said.
Pinkie Pie turned her head to where he was pointing. “What? OUCH!” Techorse pricked her with a pin. “Why did you do that?” she asked as she rubbed the tender spot. Techorse took the drop of Pinkie’s blood from the pin and dripped it into the machine.
“I’m testing your blood sugar.” He said, “I needed a sample, and I know how much you hate needles.” The LCD screen read, “Blood sugar content: normal.” “See?” he said as he showed Pinkie the screen, “you’re as healthy as a horse. No pun intended.” Pinkie Pie was relieved to see her sugar levels were healthy, and jumped off the exam table and started skipping around in joy.
“This is what I mean” laughed Techorse, “your activity is what’s keeping you healthy.” Just then, the doorbell sounded in the medical room. “That must be Twilight.” said Techorse, “Are you going to head home, Pinkie? You’re welcome to stay for the princess’s visit if you want.”
Pinkie Pie said quickly, “OOOH! The princess is visiting of course I’ll stay can I help PAL decorate please?”
He answered, “Of course, just hang around ok?”
Techorse left Pinkie Pie in the exam room and went back upstairs to answer the front door. This time, it was Twilight, and Techorse let her in.
“Alright” she said before he could say hello, “Let’s get this place straightened up. I don’t want one thing out of line.” She then gasped and said, “Like this picture! It’s crooked!”
PAL walked up to the painting, measured it with a laser beam of some kind, then adjusted it and said, “Very good eye Mistress Twilight, it’s exactly 2.4531 degrees off level.”
“Mistress Twilight?” she asked with suspicion while turning to stare at Techorse.
“Remember how I told him you were his master too? He sort of picked a title for you. Not my idea.” said Techorse with embarrassment. He went around a corner of the castle for a second and emerged wearing his battle saddle.
Twilight looked at the device on his back and noted, “Hey! You fixed your saddle up!”
Techorse said, “Yep. Took off the cushioning from the top, made a few other minor adjustments, and added two new utilities, but they’re a secret for now.”
“Ok.” said Twilight, unsure how any more gadgets could possibly fit in the small saddle. Devices would pop out of the two panels on the sides of the machine as they were controlled by Techorse’s very thoughts.
PAL said, “Pardon me master, but your laboratory has been cleaned thoroughly. You may want to throw blankets on anything you don’t want the princess to mess with.” Twilight Sparkle’s pointed ears dipped down in panic as she thought of all the accidents that could possibly befall Celestia, being eaten by a bioengineering project, getting melted by chemicals, and possibly even being cut in two by a particle accelerator.
“Tech, lock down and shut off anything in your lab!” demanded Twilight.
Techorse led her to his laboratory in his castle. The lab was actually a pretty nice place, not really that scary. The machinery was well kept, the tables were clean, and on the wall was a tube hanging from the ceiling that supplied Techorse with any parts he needed to build things. If he needed a circuit board for example, he simply typed it up on a computer, and the machine would produce the part from resources collected by his mining probes. Techorse took out a couple of tarps, and with Twilight’s magic they laid them over the various pieces of equipment Techorse had been working on. Nothing seemed too unordinary, a couple of kitchen appliances “designed with hooves in mind” were scattered around the lab on the tables. One table in particular had a sink built into it, on which a cupcake rested on the edge of the sink. Next to this table, one invention caught Twilight’s eye in particular. It really looked like something out of a 70’s sci-fi film. The device was mounted on a tripod and looked like a large movie camera with a red coil of some kind wrapped around it.
“What is that?” she asked.
Techorse answered, “A shrink ray!”
Twilight rolled her eyes and said, “My coltfriend, the mad scientist!”
Techorse continued, “I’m not kidding. Turns out you can shrink things, but to a minimum size.”
Twilight asked curiously, “Really? How does it work?”
Techorse answered, “Well, the atoms in all matter are held together by bonds. The shrink ray temporarily reduces the length of the bonds to squeeze matter together as tightly as possible, thus shrinking it from our point of view. There’s a minimum size in that the bonds resist against this force. Generally, the smaller you shrink something with it, the shorter you have before it returns to normal size again!” Techorse demonstrated by pointing the ray at a book and activating the device. A glowing beam shot from the ray gun and made the book slowly shrink in size. It stopped when the book was about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Techorse’s battle saddle’s panels opened up, and out snaked the robot arms with human-like hands he used to manipulate objects. Picking up a magnifying glass from the table the book was on, he held it in front of the miniscule object.
Twilight looked through the magnifying glass and could see the tiny book. “Now that’s what I call fine print!” she joked.
Techorse laughed and let Twilight hold the glass in place with her magic and said, “This book can only remain that size for about 2 hours. It’s exponential, the unshrinking shock, meaning if I were to make it half as small again, it would stay that way for only 1 hour.” Techorse fired the ray again, making sure he used the nanocontrols on the ray to target the book exactly as a miss would shrink the table. The book disappeared out of sight from under the glass. Techorse turned off the ray and said, “At the size I just shrunk it to, it has about 10 seconds before it comes back.” After that amount of time, Twilight watched in awe as the book quickly returned to full size in only a few seconds.
“This is amazing!” she squealed.
Techorse said, “Yeah, but it’s really dangerous. I’ve already promised Fluttershy I would never test things on animals, so I don’t know what it would do to living creatures.”
Twilight walked away a bit and returned with a couple of household objects, a hammer, some tape, a cork, and a piece of wood. She placed the objects with her magic on the table, making sure to not put a lot of distance between them. “We should shrink ourselves and study objects up close! I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be tiny and study things from that perspective!” she suggested.
Techorse warned, “Twilight, I just said I’m not sure what it does to living things. It could hurt us. Besides, you don’t want us to miss the princess’s visit would you?”
Twilight answered, “I don’t, but this is too good of an opportunity to pass up. You did say the shrinking effect’s time limit is based on size, right?”
Techorse said uneasily, “Well yeah, but…”
Twilight continued, “So, just make us small enough that we only have 2 hours, like the book. The princess gets here about then, and we can greet her.”
Techorse thought about it and caved, “Alright Twilight. Let’s step up on the table here.” He jumped on the table and pushed a few buttons on the ray. “Before we go.” he remembered. Techorse picked up one of two plastic walkie-talkies on the table. “I’ll take this with me. It’ll still work with the scale difference. That way if something happens, we can call for PAL’s help.” Techorse hit one last button on the shrink ray. “Hold on” he said. Twilight looked at the beam excitedly; she couldn’t wait for the chance to see things from a small scale. The beam fired and wrapped the friends in its glow. They started shrinking quickly, and by the time the beam finished firing, they were about the size of a grain of rice each. Twilight looked at the humongous objects around her in amazement.
“This is too cool!” she said happily, “look at the size of these things.” The friends began their tour of the objects around the table, leafing through the book, popping their heads into the cork’s pores, examining the structure of the wood chunk, and even listening to themselves in loud voices from across the table by talking into the walkie talkie. Pinkie Pie heard this as she rummaged through Techorse’s refrigerator, consuming as many vegetables as she could get.
“I hear them laughing in his lab!” she said, “They must be having lots of fun getting ready. Maybe I should go check it out!” She then skipped off for the lab.
Twilight looked at the large chocolate cupcake overhanging the sink. It was wrapped still in a red paper, and had a large swirl of white icing on the top. “That really makes me hungry again.” She said, “We haven’t had desert yet you know. Let’s try eating through this cupcake at this scale and see if when we re-enlarge, it doesn’t cost us more than 1 calorie.”
Techorse grinned and warned, “Don’t make yourself sick.” Techorse turned on his turbofans and flew up to the cupcake’s wrapper. Using his teeth, he pulled the wrapper down to the table level. Twilight ran forward and took a bite right out of the gigantic cupcake.
“Oh this is great.” she said as she chewed. Techorse also tore a chunk out and started to eat it. They ate their way into the desert, cutting a small indent into it. But they managed to tunnel downwards a bit, leaving only a small bit of light to mark their entrance. Twilight finally gave up and said, “Whew, that’s enough. I haven’t eaten this much in one sitting since Applejack’s family reunion.”
Techorse added, “And I never thought I’d grow tired of chocolate cake, but I have now.” The friends laughed and looked around at the chocolate cavern they were sitting in. Just then, Pinkie Pie entered the lab and began looking around at the place.
“Funny” she said with a flick of her ears, “I heard them laughing in here. Where did they go?” Pinkie scratched her head with a hoof and looked around for where her friends may have gone off to. She then spotted the shrink ray and approached it. “Is this a camera?” she wondered aloud. Pinkie Pie then noticed the partially unwrapped cupcake on the table. “Oh, tempting.” She said licking her lips. Looking around, she figured, “After all those vegetables, I’m sure one little cupcake isn’t going to hurt me!” Pinkie Pie quickly took the wrapper off the rest of the cupcake and shoveled it down without chewing.
Twilight and Techorse were confused as they were thrown into complete darkness. “What’s going on?” asked Twilight as they started tumbling around.
“Oh shoot, that cupcake was balanced on the edge of the sink.” groaned Techorse. “Chances are we ate so much, we tipped the cupcake and made it fall down the drain!”
Twilight said with distress, “Oh no. We’re going to end up in the sewers, aren’t we?”
Tech replied, “Yes, but at least when we re-enlarge, the sewers are big enough for us to fit. Escape will be easy.” The tumbling movement of the cupcake had stopped, so they decided on exiting it and having a look around. Techorse’s saddle sprouted two headlights, which provided beams of extremely bright light to make it easier to see.
“Yup it’s definitely dark in here like a sewer” said Twilight. Her nose twitched as she complained, “Smells like it too. Yuck.” Techorse and Twilight climbed out of the hole.
“Oh yeah, it’s definitely the sewer, see the foul liquid down there?” he said as he pointed the headlights down at the floor. Techorse and Twilight climbed to the top of the cupcake and sat on the ledge, where there was enough space between them and the icing to sit down and plan their next move.
Twilight said, “Use that walkie talkie and call for PAL. He’ll help us out.”
Techorse replied, “Thanks for reminding me. Almost forgot about this. Now I’ll have to switch to robot arms, so use a light spell, ok?” Twilight nodded and her horn glowed to provide illumination in the darkness. Techorse took out the walkie talkie and turned it on.
Pinkie Pie turned to find her friends, when the walkie talkie turned on. “Hello? PAL? Can any pony or person hear this?” came Techorse’s voice from the radio.
Pinkie Pie grabbed the device and switched it on, saying, “Hi Techie, how did you get inside this tiny box?”
Techorse rolled his eyes at his other nickname and said, “Like you’ve never seen a walkie talkie before.” Pinkie Pie giggled at the little joke. Twilight looked down and noticed the sewer water was moving a bit as she heard Pinkie giggle over the radio set. Techorse said softly, “I’m just glad you’re there Pinkie. You see, me and Twilight were working with a shrink ray. I bet you can see it.”
“Oh that thing, I thought it was a camera!” said Pinkie, glad to know what the device was.
“Did you shoot it at anything?” asked Techorse. “No!” shouted Pinkie Pie in offense, “I’m not that stupid. I know your lab’s full of weeeird and dangeroooous things!”
“Well Pinkie” continued Techorse, “me and Twilight shrunk ourselves with that to study tiny objects.”
Pinkie Pie looked over all the objects and said, “I can’t see you anywheres. How small are you guys, ant sized or something?”
“Just about that.” Answered Techorse, “but I know we’re not on the table anymore.”
Pinkie Pie asked, “Well, where the hay are you guys? I’m getting bored being big and having my friends be the size of bugs!”
He answered her, “Pinkie Pie, this is very important. We think we fell down the drain. Do you see the sink there?”
“Yeah!” came her reply.
“I want you to gently turn on the cold tap water.” answered Techorse.
Pinkie Pie replied, “Okey-Dokey-Lokey!” and then turned the cold water on for a second.
“What’s that going to do?” asked Twilight.
Techorse replied, “We haven’t moved very much, so we should hear some water entering the sewer tunnel.” After a minute, Techorse heard no water flowing, so he said, “Uh Pinkie, did you hit the tap?”
“Yup, just like you asked!” came her cheerful reply.
Techorse began to fear something, but scratched out the idea as impossible. By the look on Twilight’s face, she probably was considering the option too. Turning on the two way radio again, he said, “Pinkie Pie, I’m going to go off radio for a moment. Just leave it on so we can talk later.” He switched off the radio with a sharp plastic click.
Twilight comforted him, “At least Pinkie’s there to help. We’re not completely doomed.”
Techorse switched to his headlight system and said, “Twilight, I’m going to look straight up. I need to see the ceiling.” Techorse and Twilight illuminated the ceiling of the sewer tunnel together. The ceiling and walls of the sewer were an odd color and texture, not unlike raw meat. In addition, the walls were rippled and distorted in several places.
Twilight gulped and asked fearfully, “We’re not in a sewer, are we?”
Techorse replied, “We might end up in one though if we’re not careful.” He switched back to the robot arms and walkie talkie.
“Hey Pinkie Pie,” he said slowly, “how’s about you take a drink of that water?”
Pinkie Pie asked, “What for?”
Techorse replied slowly, “Um, for science?”
Pinkie Pie thought about it and humored him, “Ok, for science!” Pinkie Pie moved back her hair with her hoof and turned on the water again. She took a good long sip from the flow. Techorse and Twilight heard water flowing, and Twilight illuminated the direction with her horn. They saw a small waterfall enter their location, and then stop suddenly.
Twilight said in a panic, “Oh dear. I know exactly where we are now!”
Techorse tried to remain calm and said, “Pinkie Pie, did you see a cupcake on the way in to my lab?”
Pinkie Pie thought Techorse was trying to call her out on her sugar habits and lied, “No.”
Techorse said sternly, “Pinkie, the truth.”
Pinkie Pie huffed and admitted, “Yeah I saw one.”
Techorse said, “Did it fall down the sink, Pinkie Pie?”
“Yes!” she declared, trying again to trick him.
Twilight took the walkie talkie and shouted, “Pinkie Pie! What really happened?”
Pinkie Pie said happily, “Oh hi Twilight! Me and Techie are arguing about the cupcake I found. You see, he said I should eat a little less sugar and more healthy food.”
Techorse took the walkie talkie back and said, “Tell me, what happened to the cupcake.”
“Alright” said Pinkie Pie slowly, “I ate it.” Twilight shut her eyes and screamed in panic at the news. Pinkie Pie heard the shriek over the walkie talkie and pulled it from her ear. The shock caused the pony to exaggerate her movements, and Pinkie jumped. The cupcake lifted into the “air” for a bit, then smashed down. To prevent falling off, Techorse grabbed Twilight and pushed her onto the side of the now lying-down cupcake. “Twilight!” said Pinkie Pie, “don’t shout like that when somepony else is talking, it’s rude!”
Twilight repeated to herself, “This is not happening!”
Techorse said over the walkie talkie, “Pinkie Pie, you still there?”
“Of course I am.” she said.
“Good. Do not put down the walkie talkie. Listen very carefully. When Twilight and I shrunk, we went over all the objects on the table. Once we got done, we decided to have a snack. We ate a hole into the cupcake that was on the table, but we didn’t leave in time before you found the cupcake. We’re inside your stomach, Pinkie Pie.”
Pinkie Pie gasped, and Techorse quickly shouted, “Don’t make any sudden movements! We might fall into your acids. We can’t survive in them for more than a few seconds at this size. As it is, the cupcake is slowly disappearing. I see you’ve also been eating some carrots and lettuce, but we can’t use them as a raft because you’ve chewed them too well.”
Pinkie Pie wailed, “I’m a cannibal! Waaaaaaah!”
Twilight heard her friend’s crying and took the walkie talkie, “Don’t cry Pinkie, it won’t help. Besides, you’re not a cannibal yet. We’ll find a way out of here.”
Pinkie Pie prepared to shove a hoof down her throat. “I’ll just throw you up.” she said.
“Don’t do that.” said Twilight, “We might not survive the trip up. We might drown or get splattered.”
Pinkie Pie thought up a new plan almost immediately, “I know! I’ll eat a whole bottle of ponylax! Then I’ll just…”
Twilight interrupted quickly, “That won’t work either. This isn’t the cartoons Pinkie. We can’t survive the um, trip...” Twilight clenched her teeth in disgust at the thought.
Pinkie Pie got upset and said, “What do we do then? I can’t simply leave you guys in my tummy! The princess will be here any minute.”
“Oh no, I forgot about that!” panicked Twilight, “she’s going to be here soon and figure out we’re stuck inside Pinkie Pie! Then she’ll have her dissected to get us out, then banish us forever because she had to dissect Pinkie Pie to save us!”
“Dissect me!?!” shrieked Pinkie Pie.
Tech removed the walkie talkie from Twilight’s shaking hooves and said, “Twilight has forgotten how merciful princess Celestia is again in her panic attack. Pinkie Pie, it is possible to remove us via a surgery which won’t cost your life. However, I don’t have the medical tools to perform the procedure. We must do it however, before time runs out.”
Pinkie Pie said, “Well let’s see. It takes about 5 hours to get hungry, so that’s how long I have before I digest you.”
Techorse sighed and said, “Not what I meant. I meant the time limit on the shrink ray. Our very atoms are forcing against us, trying to make us grow to our full sizes while we’re still inside your stomach.”
“So?” asked Pinkie Pie, “it wouldn’t be that bad if that happened! It’d be like being pregnant with twins, like when Mrs. Cake had her foals! Oh, I’d learn what it’s like to be a mother with twin foals on board, how exciting!” She then giggled at the thought of maternity.
Twilight pulled back the radio and said angrily, “Pinkie Pie, first of all, foals aren’t literally in their mother’s stomach before being born. You know that, right? Second of all, we’re not the size of foals! You’ll explode into a million pieces of pink confetti if we re-enlarge down here!”
Techorse took the device back, it was tug-of-war with Twilight. “We probably have one hour or less left Pinkie, so we must work quickly. Get to PAL, tell him what happened, and he can take you to nurse Redheart to perform the surgery.”
Pinkie Pie said, “Alright, here I go!” and started hopping away to find PAL. This caused the two inside her to bounce around, and they desperately fought to stay on the cupcake and out of the hydrochloric acid surrounding them. By working together, they managed to remain undigested. Pinkie Pie left the lab and found a sign that said “Central computer.” She knew she had to find PAL, and maybe he was uploaded to the core. However, a ring at the doorbell distracted her. Pinkie Pie rushed to go answer it. Inside, the cupcake was tilted upwards 40 degrees from the velocity.
Twilight screamed as she started to slide towards the acid, but Techorse saved her by grabbing her hoof with his saddle’s robot arms. “I have to tell her to stop moving like this, or we’re finished!” he said.
Pinkie Pie opened the doors to the castle, and standing there was Rainbow Dash.
The Pegasus pony said with surprise, “Hi Pinkie Pie, what are you doing in Tech’s castle?”
Pinkie Pie replied, “I’m helping to get it ready for the princess, right after I have a surgery.” She said happily (she didn’t know what surgery meant).
Rainbow Dash did though, and she asked her friend with deep concern, “A surgery? What happened?”
Pinkie Pie asked in confusion, “What do you mean?”
Rainbow Dash walked past her friend and said, “I’m an athlete, not a doctor, but a surgery is when they cut you open with a knife to fix something wrong with your body.”
“Cut me open!?!” screamed Pinkie Pie. “No!”
Rainbow Dash shook her head at Pinkie Pie’s drama and waited for her to calm down before saying, “Forget it Pinkie. Do you know where Techorse is?”
“I ate him.” replied Pinkie Pie plainly.
“Very funny.” said Rainbow Dash crossly, “seriously, I need to talk to him.”
“I’m serious.” said Pinkie Pie, putting on an annoyed expression, “I did eat him.”
Rainbow looked at Pinkie Pie and said with great sarcasm, “You sure put on a lot of weight after gobbling him up, Pinkie.”
Pinkie Pie picked up the walkie talkie and ran in front of Rainbow. “Really! Just listen!” she said turning on the device, “hey guys!”
“Guys?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Yes, guys. I ate Twilight too.” answered Pinkie as she waited for her friends to respond.
“Hello?”, came Techorse’s voice over the device.
Rainbow smiled and laughed, “Techie, guess what? Pinkie Pie here says she ate you. Can you believe how random she is?”
“Oh, Rainbow Dash, good to hear from you.” said Techorse, “However it’s entirely true what Pinkie Pie said. Twilight and I are inside her.”
Rainbow Dash’s expression changed to annoyance as she said, “Hey, is this some kind of a prank you’ve teamed up with Pinkie Pie to do? Cause if it is, it’s actually a pretty good one. Now, where are you guys hiding?”
Techorse shouted, “We are inside Pinkie Pie’s stomach! I’m not lying at all, Rainbow, now are you going to help us or not? Pinkie Pie needs to find PAL, get to nurse Redheart, and get us out of here with surgery before we grow to full size and blow her to bits!” Rainbow remembered that Pinkie Pie had legitimately worried about the surgery, so she realized in horror that her friends were telling the truth!
Rainbow Dash panicked initially, “Oh no, you really are in Pinkie Pie! What are we gonna do?”
“Calm down Rainbow”, came Twilight’s voice over the WT, “we really need Pinkie Pie to go get the surgery.”
Pinkie Pie said angrily, “You guys didn’t tell me I’d get all cut open to get you out!”
Techorse said, “Yeah, but I promised you’d live, Pinkie Pie. You’ll be ok, just some stitches, I promise.”
Rainbow Dash poked Pinkie Pie’s stomach and asked, “How on Equestria did you end up in her belly anyways?”
Twilight answered the question, “We used a shrink ray in Techorse’s lab to study objects on a small size. We ate into a cupcake to get some dessert and then it happened.”
Rainbow Dash then peered with disgust at Pinkie, “Pinkie’s greed got the better of her and she gulped you down.”
“Pretty much.” sighed Twilight, “now we need to get out of here before the princess shows up to inspect Techorse’s castle.”
Pinkie Pie shouted, “There must be a better way besides getting carved like a cake! I’ll get you out of there before I go to the nurse!”
Twilight turned to Techorse and asked him sadly, “We’re going to end up exploding Pinkie, aren’t we?”
Techorse said, “She’ll either overcome her fear of undergoing surgery, or die trying, literally.”
Pinkie Pie tried dozens of wacky things to get her friends out of her, including holding open her throat and having Rainbow use a (thankfully new) toilet plunger on her mouth. But of course, none of her silly ideas worked, as biology tends to fight against crazy plans.
Pinkie Pie said sadly, “What’s the use?”
Rainbow Dash was extremely concerned and spotted the shrink ray in the lab. “I’m going in.” she said.
“What?”
Rainbow Dash continued to elaborate on her plan, “Shrink me, then let me fly inside you and rescue them!”
Pinkie Pie shouted happily, “Oh great idea, Rainbow! Let me call them up first and see if they’re ok with that plan.” “Hello?” came her cheerful voice over the walkie talkie.
Techorse answered, “Ready to go to the nurse?”
“NO! I mean, Rainbow Dash wants to shrink down, fly inside me, and save you!”
Twilight took the WT and said cautiously, “That’s a bad idea, Pinkie Pie. Your throat is not simply a well things fall down, there are two valves which seal off your mouth and stomach to keep stuff from coming back up. Rainbow Dash might get crushed on one of those. Techorse can fly with his turbofans, and if that would work, he would have done it already.”
Pinkie Pie said, “Nuts. Sorry Rainbow Dash, they say it won’t work!”
Rainbow Dash thought carefully and said while ruffling her wings, “There’s got to be a way to get them out that won’t hurt them or you.”
The doorbell rang ominously throughout the castle. “Oh no” said Twilight sadly, “it’s the princess! We’re toast.”
Techorse ordered, “Pinkie, answer the door and keep this on, if the princess has any questions, I can answer them. Do not let her know we’re in you, or Twilight’s going to go insane.”
“I am not!” shouted Twilight in protest. But she knew she might lose it in reality. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash walked over nervously to the door and opened it.
Princess Celestia looked at them and said, “Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie? What are you doing here instead of Techorse?” Jools and Jops, Celestia’s guards, eyeballed the two ponies carefully. They weren’t trained to detect lying, but could sometimes tell if it was obvious enough.
Rainbow Dash bowed gently and then said, “He, um, got caught up in a terrible…”
Pinkie Pie finished, “Science thing! Yeah, these science guys wanted to talk to him and he couldn’t make it back in time. He told me to tell you that he’s sorry, but go ahead and look at the castle anyways.” The two friends visibly were sweating, but the guards never actually said much unless it was necessary, so they didn’t alert the princess.
Celestia could sense they were hiding something, but said politely, “That’s too bad. I’m only here to check how safe the building is. I was hoping he could give me the tour.”
PAL arrived in the lobby in his robot form, and said, “Ah! Your majesty, it is splendid to see you again. Allow me to give you the full tour in my master’s absence.” The robot led princess Celestia around, and she ordered Jools and Jops to wait at the sides of the door. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash nervously went into the kitchen and waited for PAL to get the princess out of the castle. They hid behind a counter and sat there in near silence.
Eventually though, Rainbow said, “Pinkie Pie, we’ve got to tell the truth and get you to the nurse.”
Pinkie Pie said, “Why? I don’t want to get all cut up!”
Rainbow Dash begged in desperation, “Techorse promises you’ll be ok. Besides, if you don’t, it sounds to me like you’re going to be blown up instead! Which is worse, being cut or exploded?”
Pinkie Pie swallowed hard. She had to make the choice. Inside her, Techorse noticed Pinkie Pie’s sphincter to her esophagus opened up in response to her swallowing action. Twilight said to him, “Those are the muscular valves I’m talking about. We can’t just fly through those, or we’ll be squished.” Techorse said, “I know. It would take more than magic to get past those.”
Twilight realized something and said, “Oh wait a minute, duh, I could just teleport us out of Pinkie Pie. Easy.”
As her horn started to glow, Techorse shook his head and answered, “No, don’t do that either. If you teleport us at this size, you could end up moving us very high off the ground somewhere. I don’t want to end up as a pancake.” Her tail shivered in response to the thought of that happening.
“You’re right” she said sadly, “unless Pinkie Pie stops being afraid, we’re going to end up destroying her.” Twilight started sobbing, “And it’s all my fault for wanting to study things on a small size. How could I have been so dumb?”
Techorse hugged her and said gently, “We couldn’t have known this would happen. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
Outside, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash had located the princess and PAL, just about to finish the inspection. “Ok, when they’re done, we tell PAL” said Rainbow.
Pinkie Pie said with determination in her voice, “Okey-dokey-lokey. I’m not afraid anymore, I have to save Twilight and Techorse.” The princess turned to leave the castle, and Rainbow Dash approached PAL.
“Um, PAL, there’s something Pinkie and I would like to tell you.” said Rainbow.
“What is it, Mrs. Dash?” asked the robot.
“Well, Pinkie had sort of an accident.” said Rainbow Dash, nervously looking at the leaving Celestia.
“What kind of accident?” asked the robot “was it serious?”
Pinkie Pie inhaled deeply, then spurted out, “I accidentally swallowed Tech and Twilight when they shrunk themselves and ate their way into a cupcake I found it on the table and scarfed it down without thinking now they’re stuck inside my stomach and have less than 15 minutes now to get out or they’ll grow and I’ll blow up at first I didn’t tell you because I’d have to get surgery and I didn’t like that. But now I want to save my friends, so take me to nurse Redheart to cut them out!”
PAL, being a machine and able to listen at infinite speed, heard every last word of Pinkie Pie’s run on sentence. “The shrink ray!” he shouted in terror as he grabbed his head with both hands, “Oh, I told master it was a bad idea to build one!” Celestia was starting to leave the castle, but heard Pinkie Pie’s long winded cry for help. She turned around and walked back into the castle.
“Pinkie Pie?” she asked, “did you say you accidentally swallowed Twilight Sparkle and
Techorse?” Pinkie Pie nodded.
Celestia smiled and asked, “She’s really tiny, right?” Pinkie Pie nodded again. The princess moved her head down to Pinkie’s eye level and said, “I’m proud of you for wanting to go through with an operation to save them, but there’s a better way. A long time ago a similar thing accidentally happened to a unicorn I knew. Let’s take you to the nurse, and see if what we did to fix his problem will work the same for Twilight.”
Pinkie Pie and the others went to nurse Redheart and sat the pink pony down in a chair. Inside her, the cupcake was almost completely dissolved, and Techorse knew they were almost out of shrink time. After talking with the princess about the plan, the nurse entered the room carrying a plastic tube attached to a pump. After putting a mask over Pinkie Pie, the pony drifted off to sleep. The nurse then calmly slipped the tube down Pinkie Pie’s throat.
Rainbow Dash turned on the walkie talkie and said, “We’re sending down help, guys. Hang in there.”
Twilight said with a puzzled look on her face, “They’re sending down help?” All of a sudden, a gigantic plastic tube emerged from the ceiling.
Techorse said, “A stomach pump! If the nurse doesn’t turn it on in the fluid, we can climb inside without drowning.” Techorse deployed his turbofans, grabbed Twilight around the middle, and carried her into the plastic tube’s opening. “You’re not in any liquid, turn on the pump.”
Techorse radioed to Rainbow.
Rainbow relayed the message to the nurse, who turned on the machine, let it run for a second, and then turned it off. She removed the tube out of Pinkie Pie, then opened a plastic collection bin on the side of the pump and dumped its contents onto her examination table, two ant-sized ponies. Pinkie Pie recovered from the sedatives and looked sleepily at the table. Twilight and Techorse started growing back to full size again. After a minute, it was complete and they were back to their old selves.
Pinkie Pie said with glee, “We did it! I’m not blown up or cut up!”
Twilight said happily, “I’m so glad to be out of there! At least today wasn’t completely ruined.” She then looked at princess Celestia, and her ears dropped. “I spoke too soon.” She said.
“What’s wrong, Twilight?” asked the princess gently. Techorse answered for her, “Princess Celestia, I made a terrible mistake today. I invented the shrink ray, and abused its potential. What happened today was my doing.”
Pinkie Pie said, “No wait, it’s mine actually! I got greedy after I was told to take better care of myself. I ate the cupcake, it’s my fault!”
Rainbow Dash said proudly, “I did nothing, so don’t blame me!” She then received a look of disappointment from the princess and Rainbow let her ears and wings droop in shame. Twilight then said, “I guess I messed up too. I wanted to study things as a tiny pony and didn’t think about the consequences.”
“It’s ok to be curious, but you need to set boundaries for yourself to avoid trouble.” said Celestia. Twilight accepted her mistake and cheered up a little. “Before I go, can you give me your friendship report?” asked the princess of Twilight.
Twilight nodded, then smiled gently and said, “Today, I learned that overcoming fear can be vital. Pinkie Pie overcame her fear of surgery and disease, and as a result saved herself and us. I think it’s really amazing how she chose to accept the consequences of her actions. Even though she didn’t get cut open as she feared, I think we can all take away that it’s important to take action, even when we’re afraid, in order to help our friends.” Techorse nodded in agreement.
Princess Celestia thanked Twilight and then said to Techorse, “Techorse, your castle passes the safety inspection with flying colors, except for one teensy part.” At the word “teensy”, the princess winked at him.
Techorse took the hint and said knowingly, “The shrink ray. I’m destroying that infernal thing once I get back, and from now on, I’ll make sure each invention is tested and used carefully so that I never put anypony at risk again.”
“Exactly” laughed Celestia, “I think you’ve learned not to mess with unsafe sciences like that. Stick with your safer inventions, like that brilliant produce peeler.”
Techorse asked in surprsie, “How did you know about that?”
Celestia looked to the side a bit and answered sheepishly, “Well, I heard about them and bought one. Everypony else in Canterlot was talking about how great they were, and I thought it might make my chef’s life a bit easier.” Then they all had a good laugh about the coincidence and the day’s events.
The end
