Twilight trotted down the hallway towards her own office in Canterlot Castle, a sense of apprehension causing her hooves to fall against the floor harder than they normally would. It was almost a year ago that Princess Celestia had... eaten Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. Twilight wasn't sure that she'd ever forget that day.

After having failed to find her two friends anywhere, Twilight had tracked down Princess Celestia to her personal office. She was slightly surprised to find that the Princess wasn't hard at work, but merely sitting there behind her desk, as if she had been waiting for her. Twilight asked if she had seen Pinkie or Rainbow anywhere, and Celestia launched into a ridiculous story about how, over a thousand years ago, ponies used to offer themselves up as food to the princesses. Celestia and Luna used to actually eat ponies! She then finished her absurd story by saying that that's what had happened to Pinkie and Rainbow; she had eaten them, and that she would bring them back in a couple of days.

Twilight was sure that the whole thing, Celestia's crazy story and her friend's disappearance, was some kind of elaborate prank that they had organized against her. It wasn't until her former mentor stood up and stepped out from behind her desk, revealing her massive belly, that Twilight realized that it wasn't a joke. She had been rooted to the spot with a mix of fear, anger, revulsion, and shock, and was on the verge of screaming as loudly as she could and blasting Celestia in the face with her magic. The only thing that kept her from completely losing it was years worth of trust that Celestia would never willingly do anything to bring lasting harm to her subjects.

Without saying a word, Twilight had slowly stood up, turned around, and walked out the door. She made it all the way back to the room she was staying in before collapsing into a whimpering pile of pony on the floor.

She had spent the next three days going out of her way to avoid Celestia, and the only thing she told the rest of her friends was that Rainbow and Pinkie were going to be gone for a few days. It wasn’t until the third day, when she saw her two friends whole and alive again, that she told everypony else what had happened. None of the rest of her friends would have believed her if Pinkie and Rainbow hadn’t backed her up.

In the following months, things only got even stranger. Somehow, against everything Twilight would have thought, Celestia managed to bring back that old tradition she had talked about. She had somehow managed to find a pony that was willing to be devoured, and they were only the first.

Twilight had been there to watch that second time as a stallion she didn't know had willingly, eagerly even, allowed Celestia to consume him. She had forced herself to silently sit there and watch as the solar diarch slowly swallowed him down, whole and alive, until the only sign that he had ever been there was a bulge in her stomach. She had continued to observe Celestia over the next two days with a mix of scientific fascination and primal horror as the princess digested the pony within her, the bulge in her belly slowly shrinking into nothingness until she looked perfectly normal again. And then she had been there when Celestia cast the Spirit Reformation spell, and the same stallion that she had watched disappear down Celestia's maw slowly materialized before them, unconscious but very much alive and well.

She had never felt more confused in her entire life.

Some small part of Twilight had still refused to believe all that Celestia had told her, despite having seen her massive belly and hearing the story from Rainbow and Pinkie. But she couldn't ignore what she had seen with her own two eyes: Princess Celestia really had eaten a pony whole, digested them, and then brought them back to life.

On one hoof, it apparently truly was an overall harmless process for the pony devoured. The stallion had been, as far as she could tell, exactly the same as he was before, and even claimed to have found the whole thing enjoyable. Like Rainbow had said, no harm, no foul, right? And the rational part of her mind was forced to agree.

But there was another, more primitive part of her mind that couldn't stop cowering in a corner and screaming in terror because the Princess was eating ponies! That was something that manticores and hydras did, not one of the rulers of Equestria!

And to add to her confusion, it actually caught on. More ponies came forward to offer themselves, and only a few months later Celestia and Luna were both devouring at least one pony a week. Even Cadence got in on the act during a visit to Canterlot, and was considering starting the same tradition over in the Crystal Empire.

Twilight was now the only Princess who had yet to participate, and her time was up.

Twilight slowed as she approached the door to her personal office. Her horn glowed and the door opened. There, sitting on her desk, was the source of her current anxiety. It was a simple letter she had received a few days ago, but what it asked was not so simple; not for Twilight. It was a request by an earth pony mare from Ponyville named Sunny Shores, who wanted to... offer herselfto Princess Twilight Sparkle. Twilight actually knew the mare in passing. She ran a small shop in Ponyville where she sold sea shells and other beach related goods.

And now, in only a few minutes, Twilight was going to consume her alive.

She easily could have declined, of course. But her sense of scientific curiosity had compelled her not to. She had to try this for herself, at least once.

She trotted behind her desk and sat down on a cushion on the floor. She tried to calm herself, but the mere thought of what was going to happen was almost enough for her to start hyperventilating.

It wasn’t that she doubted her capabilities to actually perform the deed. Celestia had assured her that, as an alicorn, she should have no trouble swallowing a pony whole. Curious, Twilight had acquired a large watermelon just the other day. Much to her shock, she had been able to stretch her mouth around the entire thing with no trouble at all, something she was fairly certain that she wouldn’t have been able to do back when she was just a unicorn. The experience had weirded her out so much that she hadn’t attempted to actually swallow it, but somehow, she had a feeling that she would have been able to do so easily enough, and that a pony wouldn’t be that much more difficult.

She wasn’t worried about being able to cast the Spirit Reformation spell, either. It was a very complex spell, but she’d had plenty of practice with it thanks to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. It seemed that every other time the pegasus had a few free days on her schedule, at least once a month, she’d wind up inside Pinkie's belly. Even Celestia wasn’t quite sure why Pinkie was able to swallow a pony whole, since as far as she knew, it was an ability unique to alicorns. But Twilight had long ago learned not to question how Pinkie Pie did things she wasn’t supposed to be able to do. What really bothered her was how quick the rest of Ponyville had been to accept that Pinkie was eating another pony on a semi-regular basis.

No, what was causing her such anxiety was that it was happening at all. Even after almost a year, she still wasn't used to the whole idea of eating ponies. It still caused her no small amount of discomfort when she needed to talk to Celestia or Luna and they had a pony shaped bulge in their gut, and she hadn't been able to look at either of them quite the same way since this whole thing started. And that was her other reason for doing this besides scientific curiosity. Part of her hoped that experiencing it for herself would make her more comfortable with it in the future when her fellow princesses were doing it.

A knock on the door broke her musings. This was it. Twilight swallowed nervously, then quickly opened one of the desk drawers and tucked the letter inside before looking back up. “Come in!”

The door opened and a Royal Guard poked his head inside. He went back out, and a moment later, Sunny Shores entered and closed the door behind her. She looked just like Twilight remembered. She had a coat the light blue-green of a tropical lagoon on a sunny day and a dirty blond, wavy mane and tail that reminded Twilight of sand dunes on a beach. On her flanks was an image of a wave crashing down onto the shore.

Twilight automatically launched into a standard greeting. “Hello, Sunny!”

“Hello, Princess Twilight,” Sunny replied with a bow of her head.

“I haven’t seen much of you since I’ve been in Canterlot so often! Er, not that I ever saw much of you back when I was still in Ponyville, either…” Twilight struggled to think of anything else to talk about. “You have that shop that sells sea shells, right? How’s that going for you?”

“My business is doing very well, thank you for asking.”

“Good! Good, I’m glad to… glad to hear it…” Twilight trailed off. This was easily one of the most awkward conversations she had ever had. What exactly was one supposed to talk about to somepony that they were about to eat? Her gaze drifted downwards. For that matter, what kind of things were going through the minds of somepony about to offer themselves up as food?

“Why?” Twilight said quietly to herself.

“I’m sorry, did you say something, your highness?” Sunny asked.

“What?” Twilight’s gaze shot back up to Sunny is surprise, not realizing that she had said that out loud. “Oh, it was nothing! I was just… It’s…” Twilight trailed off again for a few more moments before she finally decided to just speak her mind. “…You really want to be eaten?”

Sunny raised an eyebrow. “That’s why I sent that request, isn't it?”

“But… why?” Twilight asked with a confused look on her face.

“Why?” Sunny repeated, not having expected such a question. “Well, I have some friends who were eaten by Princess Celestia, and they tell me that it’s one of the most unique things that they’ve ever experienced, that there’s no other experience in Equestria quite like it!” she explained happily. “And, since that spell you can cast brings us back perfectly safe and sound, I decided that I’d like to experience it for myself.”

Somehow, Twilight got the feeling that that wasn’t the whole story. “But why me, then?” she asked. “Why not Princess Celestia or Luna?”

“Because…” Sunny said as she looked to the side and her cheeks started turning red, “you’re my favorite princess…”

“I am? Really?”

Her gaze shot back to Twilight. “Of course!” Sunny exclaimed. “Almost immediately after coming to Ponyville, you saved us all from Nightmare Moon and brought back Princess Luna! And you and your friends have done such more for all of us since then!” Her face had turned bright red by this point. “I already really looked up to you and your friends as a amazing example of what we can all accomplish together if we embrace harmony like you have, and then you even became a Princess!”

“You’ve been a real inspiration for me, Princess Twilight, and I’ve always wanted to find some way to give back to you… but I didn’t know how. I’m just a simple mare that runs a small shop, and you already had princesshood and the best friends a pony could ask for… but then this whole thing happened! I did a little research, and found that nopony else had offered themselves up to you yet. I finally had something that I could give you that nopony else could, your first pony meal!” She bowed her head towards the ground. “Princess Twilight, I would be honored to be your dinner for tonight.”

Twilight’s eye gave a small twitch. She didn’t know if she’d ever get used to ponies referring to themselves as food like that.

Regardless, Twilight could also clearly hear the sincerity in Sunny’s words. She wasn’t just jumping on the proverbial bandwagon, which she knew was the case with a lot of the ponies that Luna and Celestia ate. She really did want to be here and she really did want to give herself to Twilight.

Twilight was honestly touched. “Wow, I had no idea…” she said after a few moments of silence. She knew that she had accomplished some incredible things in her life along with her friends, but she had never really thought of herself as an inspirational figure before. “But, Sunny, you don’t have to feed yourself to me just give back to me. Simply knowing that you look up to me is more than enough.” Sunny looked back up. She still was still smiling, but Twilight also thought she saw a bit of disappointment on her face. “But if you really do still want to be my dinner, then…” Twilight fought back another eye twitch, “then I’d be glad to eat you.”

Sunny’s face lit up and she nodded her head excitedly. “Yes, I really do! Thank you so much, Princess Twilight!”

“Please, Sunny, just call me Twilight. All of my friends do.”

Sunny’s eyes widened in shock. “You mean…”

Twilight nodded. “I think I’d like to get to know you a little better after we’re done here. Maybe introduce you to the rest of my friends.”

She didn’t think that Sunny’s smile could get any wider. “I would love that!”

Twilight smiled back. Seeing other ponies so happy made her happy as well. She could understand how Pinkie Pie would be so obsessed over such a thing. However, the thought of what she was about to do put a damper on her mood. “But first, I… guess I have a meal to finish, don’t I?”

“Right!” Sunny said. Then, much to Twilight’s surprise, she hopped up onto her desk. She quickly tucked her hind legs beneath her as she lay down on the flat surface with her forelegs stretched out and dangling over the edge of the desk towards Twilight. “I would like to go down head first, please,” she said, then lay her head down between her legs.

“...Of course,” Twilight hesitantly said after a few moments, caught off guard by Sunny’s initiative. She looked down nervously at the pair of hooves dangling in the air before her. She brought her head down lower until she was face level—or to be more appropriate, mouth level—with the table and the pony laying atop it. She grasped Sunny’s hooves in her magic and lifted them until they right in front of her muzzle, and then paused there and stared at them. Was she really about to do this? Was she really going to devour another living, breathing, thinking pony, whole and alive?

“Is something wrong, Twilight?” Sunny asked.

“Huh?” Twilight looked up in surprise, having zoned out slightly. “Oh, no, it’s just… It’s nothing.” She looked back down to the pair of legs in front of her. Before she could second guess herself any further, she closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and engulfed Sunny’s hooves.

Twilight was immediately struck by how unique Sunny, or at least her forelegs, tasted. She wouldn’t exactly call her delicious, but she wasn’t bad, either. It almost reminded her of a seaweed dish she had had at a Cantoneighs restaurant she had once visited, but it wasn’t quite the same. There was something else there that she couldn’t quite put her hoof on. Twilight wondered if this was what all ponies tasted like, or if it was unique to Sunny. Did everypony have their own, unique taste?

She put the question aside for later and used her magic to gently pull more of Sunny's legs off the desk and into her mouth. In no time at all, she felt the pair of hooves press up against the back of her throat. This was it. If she continued past this point, there would be no going back.

Twilight opened her eyes for the first time since starting. She was nearly nose to nose with Sunny, who was smiling back at her. Twilight could see the excitement in her eyes, and it was obvious that she really was looking forwards to this. Seeing her like that, Twilight decided that she didn’t want to let her down.

Twilight swallowed, pulling Sunny’s legs into her throat and her muzzle past her lips.

She was surprised at how easy it was. She had been prepared to fight back a gag reflex, or at least experience some discomfort, but there was nothing. It was no more difficult than swallowing normal food.

Sunny had closed her eyes, so Twilight did the same and gave two more tremendous gulps, pulling the mare’s head fully into her mouth. With Sunny’s neck and chin resting against her tongue, Twilight found that she had an urge to move her tongue across more of her pony meal. The thought gave her pause, however, as she hadn’t the slightest clue what kind of table manners applied when eating a pony. Would it be appropriate for her to lick and lather Sunny’s face and neck with her tongue? Or was she just supposed to keep it where it was at the bottom of her mouth? Becoming a Princess meant that she had had to learn all the proper etiquette involved in eating a meal in a high class setting, but this was clearly another matter entirely. Twilight already felt strange enough about the whole thing as it was, so she finally decided to keep her tongue right where it was.

She gave a few more gulps, sending Sunny’s head down her throat and engulfing her shoulders. Twilight's neck felt incredibly stretched out, and though it wasn’t exactly uncomfortable, she instinctively brought a hoof up to feel it. There was a large bulge in it, and to her surprise, she could actually feel right were Sunny’s head was through the stretched out skin. She experimentally swallowed a few more times and followed the mare’s head with her hoof as it moved down her throat. It was a strange sensation, to say the least, though not exactly unpleasant. She swallowed again, and lost track of the distinctive bulge as it passed into her barrel.

Twilight opened her eyes again, and was met with the sight of the back half of a mare sticking out of her mouth.

The enormity of the situation hit her all at once. She had managed to keep her anxiety under control so far by keeping her focus on only one thing at a time, but seeing half of Sunny sticking out of her mouth like that was too much. She was actually doing this. She was actually eating a pony whole, and it was easy. She closed her eyes again and began hyperventilating.

But as soon as she did so, her impending panic attack was sidetracked by another thought. Twilight had no idea how she was even able to breath right now, let alone hyperventilate. She knew that her windpipe should be completely blocked off with her throat stretched out as it was. She calmed down significantly as she spent a few moments mulling over that thought. It was now more obvious than ever to her that becoming an alicorn involved a lot more physical changes than just a pair of wings. She filed that question away in a corner of her mind to look into later.

Knowing better than to open her eyes again, Twilight resumed using her magic to pull more of Sunny off the desk and down her throat. She could feel her stomach beginning to stretch out, and moved a hoof to her belly for physical confirmation. Another gulp, and her tummy already felt as big as when she had first met Applejack and the entire Apple family had shoved a veritable apple based feast down her throat. That particular event had left her feeling terribly bloated, but this time she wasn’t feeling any discomfort at all. Not yet, at least. She knew that she still had a ways to go.

Another few gulps, and Twilight’s lips reached Sunny’s flanks. Curiosity finally overcame her better judgement, and she opened her eyes again. The mare’s cutie mark was a few swallows away from disappearing into her mouth, and she was surprised to find that she was actually able to see both of Sunny’s cutie marks on either side of her rump at the same time. It was an odd visual experience, with only one of Twilight’s eyes able to see one of the cutie marks, and it distracted her enough to keep her from experiencing a panic attack like last time. She continued swallowing, and watched Sunny’s cutie marks as they vanished past her lips.

There was only a pair of legs and a tail sticking out of her mouth now. As she kept gulping Sunny down, she kept one hoof on her throat and one on her growing belly, the better to track the mare’s progress inside her. Her stomach was already hugely distended, much bigger than she ever thought it could get normally, and she still wasn’t finished.

With Sunny’s hind legs on their way down her gullet and only her tail left, it struck Twilight as odd that she wasn’t completely disgusted. She had always hated finding other pony’s hair in her food in the past, and thought that having a mouth full of nothing but hair would be terrible. Yet somehow, it wasn’t so bad.

The rest of Sunny’s tail vanished into her mouth, and a few more gulps later, the bulge in her kneck entered her stomach. Her throat finally empty again, Twilight let out a huge sigh of relief. She had done it. She had actually swallowed a pony whole.

Her gaze drifted downwards, and her eyes bugged out of her head when she saw her massive belly. It was nearly as big as she was! Celestia and Luna never looked this big when they ate a pony! Which, as she thought about it for a few more moments, made sense. They were both still much bigger than she was, and bigger than the ponies they ate. Twilight, on the other hoof, was more or less the same size as her meal. She wrapped both of her forelegs around her tremendous gut, and her hooves were barely able to touch each other. Looking at the indistinct bulges in her belly, she could almost mentally picture how Sunny’s body was positioned inside of her.

Her gut suddenly shifted to one side of it’s own accord, causing Twilight to jerk her head back in surprise. It took her a moment to realize that it must be Sunny moving around within her. “Sunny? Can you hear me?”

“Yes, I can, Twilight.” came the muffled reply from inside her. “Thank you for doing this.”

“You’re… welcome?” Twilight replied confusedly. She never in a million years would have thought that somepony would thank her for eating them. “How... What was it like?”

"It really was the most unique experience I've ever had," Sunny said. "I really enjoyed it. Your throat was so warm and tight, and I could feel it pressing all around me every time you swallowed. It was like... like I was getting a full body massage all at once while sitting in a hottub." A bump appeared on Twilight's belly. "And it's very nice in here, too. It's still warm and tight and soft... Though, I wish your stomach would massage me like your throat did..."

On an impulse, Twilight moved her hooves across her belly to where she thought Sunny's back was and began rubbing.

"Ooooohhhh... Yes..." came a satisfied groan from inside her. "That feels so nice and relaxing... Please don't stop..."

Twilight smiled and gladly continued rubing her gigantic, pony filled gut. She didn't know what it was, but she was actually finding it enjoyable as well. Something about it just felt... good. She sat there for a few minutes with a stupid grin on her face, enjoying the simple pleasure of rubbing her enormous belly.

"Sunny?" Twilight asked, wondering if the mare would like to be massaged elsewhere. There wasn't any response, and Twilight's smile turned to a worried frown. "...Sunny?" she asked again, concerned that something may have happened to her. Her worry quickly evaporated, however, when she realized how silly it was to be concerned for the well being of a pony that she was going to be digesting over the next day or two. Twilight was pretty sure that it was still too early for Sunny to have passed out from a lack of oxygen. Most likely, she had just fallen asleep.

The thought of sleep made Twilight suddenly realize just how tired she was. Between the emotional turmoil leading up to her meal, the physical exertion of swallowing an entire pony, and the sleepiness that generally came with a belly full of food, she was more than ready to collapse into bed. She slowly stood up to make her way to her room, but immediatly realized that that was going to be easier said than done.

Her stomach was so big that it was actually pushing her legs out to the side when she stood. Walking wasn’t going to be easy. She spread her wings and gave a few experimental flaps but, as she expected, having another pony inside of her made her far too heavy to fly anywhere. Her mind immediately turned to teleportation, but even that gave her pause. She didn’t have the slightest idea which of her teleport spells she was supposed to use. Would Sunny still count as a separate entity from Twilight, requiring a multi-target teleport, or did having the second pony inside of her mean that she only had to do a self-teleport? She knew that choosing the wrong one would have some negative consequences. A multi-target teleport with incorrectly chosen targets had a very good chance of backfiring on her with disastrous results, and if she did a self teleport when Sunny still counted as a separate entity, then Twilight would effectively teleport herself out from around her meal, giving the mare a very rude awakening.

She gave a defeated sigh and began awkwardly waddling towards the door. Twilight was acutely aware of her belly, and the pony inside of it, gently rocking back and forth as she walked. She remembered how Sunny had described it inside of her, and couldn’t help but try to imagine what it was like inside of her own belly. Warm, soft, snug, and gently rocking back and forth? She had to admit to herself, she was more than a little curious to experience what the whole thing was like from the other side, as the pony being eaten.

But such a thing would have to wait for another day. Right now, all she cared about was making it back to her room and sleeping off her meal.

Author's Note

I wasn't really planning to do much more with this story, but then I read this comment made by Rathalos122 and things just kind of went from there.

so yeah, have some super eager prey and reluctant pred.