Sadness stared out the window and came up with an idea. “How about we wake her up?”

“Sadness, that’s ridiculous,” Joy said. “How could we possibly…” She followed Sadness’s gaze and saw what she was staring at: Dream Productions. “How about we wake her up!” Joy said.

Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong hopped off the train and quickly made their way over to Dream Productions. The busy studio was full of action and excitement. Actors in all kinds of costumes walked around sipping coffee and carrying scripts, grips pushed rolling sets, and golf carts zipped from stage to stage.

“Whoa!” said Joy, taking in the scene. “This place is huge.”

“Yeah, it looks so much smaller than I expected,” Sadness said.

Joy almost fainted when they walked by the star of a majority of Riley’s dreams: Rainbow Unicorn. “She’s right there!” Joy whispered in awe, pointing at the unicorn casually sitting in a director’s chair.

Sadness walked right up to her. “My friend says you’re famous,” she said. “She wants your autograph.”

“No, no, Sadness, don’t bother Miss Unicorn, okay?” Joy said, grabbing Sadness. “Sorry,” she said to the unicorn. “She’s from out of town. That was so embarrassing, right?” Joy awkwardly pulled Sadness away. Then she popped her head back toward Rainbow Unicorn and squealed, “I loved you in Fairy Dream Adventure Part 7! Okay, bye! I love you!”

Dashing away, Joy caught up with Sadness and Bing Bong. They had reached one of the stages and were just walking right in. The dream director was addressing the cast and crew. “Today’s memories are in,” the director declared. “We’ve got a lot to work with here. Riley dumped her best friend, had a miserable day at school, and quit hockey.”

Joy, Bing Bong, and Sadness hid behind some production equipment and watched the director pass out scripts. Then they sneaked over to the costume area. “Okay, how are we gonna wake her up?” Joy asked.

“Well, she wakes up sometimes when she has a scary dream. We could scare her,” Sadness offered.

Joy didn’t like that idea at all. She thought Riley had been through enough and didn’t want her to dream of anything that would make her uncomfortable. “Sadness, I know Riley. We’re gonna make her so happy that she’ll wake up with exhilaration. We’ll excite her awake!” said Joy.

“That’s never happened before,” Sadness said as she watched Joy rummage through the costume racks.

“Ooh, Riley loves dogs,” Joy said. “Put this on!” She threw half of a dog costume to Sadness.

“I don’t think that’ll work,” Sadness said, but Joy ignored her and turned to Bing Bong.

“Don’t let anything happen to these,” she said, handing him the bag of core memories. Bing Bong promised to keep them safe.

The dream director checked the monitor and asked the cameraman to put on the reality distortion filter. The filter made the phony-looking set and actors look completely real! “Love it,” she said, then reminded everyone to play to the camera. “Riley is the camera!” she barked. “Makeup, get out of there, we are on in five, four, three…”

The makeup artists finished powdering an actress playing Riley’s teacher and the Sleep Lights flashed on. Magical-sounding harp music played, signaling the start of the dream.

Inside Headquarters, Fear was drinking a cup of tea as he sat at the console, watching the dream unfold. He was not happy to be stuck with Dream Duty, but with Joy gone, he had no choice.

“Man, she is one bad actress,” Fear said to himself, watching the teacher unenthusiastically talk about a pop quiz. Then the teacher called on Riley to introduce herself. As the camera rose to look like Riley was standing at her desk, one of the students said, “Ew, look! Her teeth are falling out!” Teeth rained down in front of the camera.

“Teeth falling out,” Fear said, scoffing. “Let me guess, we have no pants on.”

Another student spoke. “Hey, look! She came to school with no pants on!” The camera tilted down, revealing Riley’s bare legs.

“Called it!” Fear said.

Joy and Sadness waited off camera at the stage in Dream Productions, wearing the dog costume. “Ready?” Joy whispered.

“I don’t think this happy thing is going to work. But if we scare her—” Sadness tried to explain, but Joy didn’t let her finish.

“Just…follow my lead. Here we go!” Joy yanked Sadness onto the set, dancing and barking like a dog.

The dream director flipped through her script, confused, as she tried to find the current scene. “Who is that?” she whispered to herself.

Joy and Sadness continued to run around in the dog costume, barking, licking students, and acting cute.

Joy looked at the sleep indicator—the needle was still on the Sleep side. She signaled Bing Bong and he released bunches of colorful balloons that poured down onto the classroom set. “Woo!” Joy yelled. “Let’s party! Let’s dance! Woo!” Then Bing Bong fired a confetti canon and a storm of confetti covered everything!

In Headquarters, Fear perked up. “Hey, a party!” he said, watching the dog happily running around in the balloons and confetti.

“Joy, this isn’t working,” said Sadness.

Bing Bong danced around offstage and knocked into a light, causing the backdrop to come down. Then the dog costume ripped in half! Joy chased after Sadness on the set. “Sadness, what are you doing? Come back here!”

Fear spit out his tea as he watched the startling sight on-screen: through the reality distortion filter, it looked just like a real dog split right down the middle!

On the screen, it looked as if half a dog were chasing its other half. “It’s just a dream, it’s just a dream, it’s just a dream,” Fear chanted, trying to soothe himself. He turned a knob on the console which caused Riley to stir in her sleep.

The dream director watched in horror. “They’re trying to wake her up! Call security!” she yelled.

Joy grabbed Sadness’s arm and scolded her. “You are ruining this dream! You’re scaring her!”

“But look, it’s working!” said Sadness, pointing at the sleep indicator. The needle was starting to move toward Awake.

“Whoa!” Joy said.

But before they could do anything else, security entered. The dream director pointed to Bing Bong, Sadness, and Joy. “They are not part of this dream! Get them!” she yelled.

Sadness saw the guards and grabbed Joy, pulling her backstage. “Stop right there,” a security guard called after them. A second guard got Bing Bong and tackled him to the ground.

“Ow! Hey!” cried Bing Bong.

“Pan away! Pan away!” shouted the director. The camera operator moved the camera away from the disaster happening on set, revealing Rainbow Unicorn eating at the snack table in a mystical unicorn forest set.

Fear shouted at the screen. “Boo! Pick a plot line.”

Joy and Sadness watched as the guards dragged Bing Bong, holding the bag of core memories, down toward a massive, scary-looking door.