It was late one evening in Ponyville, the stars just beginning to flicker into view as the sky finished its transition from a post-sunset red to a deep violet. Ponies all around town were hopping into bed for the night, and before long the lights in each of their houses were extinguished one by one. The only light outside came from the occasional street lamp and the faint glow of the moon overhead.
One of the last buildings to be cast into darkness was the Golden Oak Library. Inside the great tree, Twilight Sparkle was secretly scoping out the main room, her extraordinary sneakiness expertly hidden behind a mask of nonchalance. She paced back and forth, hovering around the closet door. "Spike, almost time for bed!"
"Yeah, yeah," Spike muttered, emerging from the kitchen a few seconds later. He made for the stairs before taking notice of the alicorn's calm, totally-not-suspicious behavior, quirking an eyebrow questioningly. "What are you doing?"
"Why, nothing!" Twilight replied in a level voice that definitely did not crack from her not-nervousness. She put on a very believable smile and blinked at him. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, you've been standing in front of the closet for like, two hours." He turned on the first step to face her, folding his arms over his chest. "If I knew any better, I'd think you were hiding something."
"Pfft!" Twilight snorted and waved the dragon off with a hoof. "That's silly. You're silly." Spike's skeptical glare didn't ease off. "Uh... time for bed!" She hurried closer, nosing him up the first few steps. "Go on, get your rest!"
Spike stumbled a bit, pushing the mare's snout away with a claw. "Fine, fine, jeez." He slowly ascended the stairs, Twilight's eyes following him the whole time, until he eventually made it to the next floor and moved out of her line of sight.
"Phew." Crisis averted. Twilight let out a long sigh of relief and quietly opened the closet door, pausing to glance back upstairs for any sign of Spike. No movement caught her attention, so she stepped inside, the door closing behind her with a quiet *click*.
A few moments of rustling and bumps and muffled grunts later, Twilight came out of the closet (yes, ha-ha, now shut up) and made her way over to the front door. Just as the glow of her magic surrounded the knob, a voice called out behind her, definitely not making her shriek like a filly and spin around so fast she tripped over her own hooves and fell flat on her face.
Definitely not.
"What's with the suit?" Twilight turned, very calmly and gracefully, to see Spike standing at the top of the stairs, dressed in a set of pajamas and holding a toothbrush in one claw. His eyes were narrowed, taking in the sight of the librarian clad in another black bodysuit similar to the one she'd worn during the whole "future Twilight" incident.
Twilight cleared her throat a few times, quickly coming up with a response. "Ehem, just uh, going for a walk!"
Spike blinked, still considering her appearance. "...In that?"
Twilight bit her lip, glancing down at her spandex-covered hooves. "Yes." Spike opened his mouth to reply, but she cut him off. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"
Spike's nose scrunched up in a little frown before he turned and walked back to the bathroom to finish. "Fine, fine."
"See you in a little while!" She turned and opened the front door, taking a deep breath of fresh air. "Aaah, what a beautiful night for a princess to take a stroll around the block and not do anything else!" She commented loudly to no one in particular. The muffled sounds of brushing and gargling met her ear from inside the library, so Twilight closed the door, worked her wings through the slits in the sides of the suit, and set off into the night. Destination: Sweet Apple Acres.
Traveling across town, Twilight went into full-stealth mode, darting from one roadside bush to the next. The darkened windows and utter silence all around her did little to deter her from exercising her sneaking skills, and she left a trail of giggles behind her as she zigzagged down the streets.
Just as she emerged from a bush close to the edge of town, she nearly tripped on the branches when her stomach let out a low growl. A scowl formed on her muzzle. "Ugh, I'm taking care of it, now shh!"
Soon enough, Twilight came to a patch of trees that signified the outskirts of her friend's apple orchard. Slinking between the trees, she followed under the faint glow of the moon until she reached the large farmhouse where the Apple family resided, currently asleep. She grinned. Perfect. The purple ninja crept around the house and pressed herself against the wall of the small barn next to it. Slowly sliding along the wall, she peered around the corner and glanced at the quiet house before creaking open one of the large barn doors and slipping inside.
A quick spell lit up an oil lantern hanging overhead, and the interior of the barn was cast in a yellow-orange glow. Comfy-looking bales of hay scattered around, a pleasant warmth and the faint stench of apples mixed with sawdust gave the space an unexpected coziness, made all the more perfect by the rows upon rows upon rows upon rows...
Twilight's stomach rumbled once more, snapping her out of her daze. A wide smile began to bloom on her face as she took in the sight of at least a dozen tall stacks of red boxes. There you are. Reaching up with her magic, Twilight gently plucked the very first box off the top of a stack, floated it down in front of her, and popped it open, her eyes dilating ever-so-slightly as she beheld its contents.
Inside the box sat a single pie. Not just any ordinary pie, no; it was an Apple apple pie, a pie so unfathomably exquisite that she valued its taste nearly as much as she valued the ratio of its circumference to its diameter. Just the sight of the flaky, undisturbed crust and the faint scent of apples brought back painful yet fond memories of her first time meeting Applejack, as well as the countless other members of the Apple family, followed by the most horrific display of gluttony she could ever have imagined herself at the root of. Rarity would have chided her endlessly had she been there to see the mare stuffing herself to the gills. But who could say they would have done any differently? Nopony could possibly have resisted the allure of all those tantalizing apple-themed treats!
Well, maybe most of them. But the one that stuck out most in her fuzzy recollection of that day was not the common apple fritter, nor was it the delicious apple cider all the ponies in this town raved about. She'd tasted at least a dozen other dishes at the farm—all of them, as Applejack would say, "hoof-lickin' good"—yet none had ever measured up to the perfection that was the apple pie. Each week, Twilight visited Applejack's market stall and purchased one.
Okay, okay, fine. She bought three. And she went twice a week. But, she reasoned, she did share them with Spike, so it wasn't all that terrible.
Gingerly lifting the pie tin from the box, Twilight pushed another spell into her magical hold, and before her very eyes the crust began to darken. She eagerly cut out a rather large piece with a precise slice of magic and lifted it to her nose. The aroma of apples, cinnamon, and just a hint of lemon wafted into her nostrils, and her mouth almost immediately began to water. The warm, flaky, perfectly-crisped golden brown crust seemed to glow in the faint light of the barn.
Twilight stretched her neck out towards the pie and took a dainty little nibble of that dry, crumbly shell meant to shield her from the true essence of the pastry. She licked at the underside, the buttery crust leeching the moisture from her tongue and leaving a dusting of flour in its wake. Another brush of the tongue dislodged a few granules of sugar from the sides, dissolving them on contact. Chewing gently, she worked the morsel into an almost oatmeal-like consistency before swallowing it.
Twilight's wide eyes never left the slice of pie in front of her, and she wasted no time in pulling it close to her and taking a large bite. This time, before she could even taste the crust, her taste buds met a gush of thick apple filling. She chewed once, her teeth slicing into a few succulent apple chunks whose juices oozed out and joined with the gooey sauce, mixing into a slightly-tart blend of apples, honey, cinnamon, and sugar that surely could melt anypony into a puddle. Her ears fluttered as though in a stiff breeze; were her eyes still open, she had no idea what their orientation might be. She could have sworn she heard a faint hum; absently, she wondered what it might be. A harp? A chorus of angels?
After stirring the mouthful of heaven around with her tongue for a few moments more, she finally began to chew it up into a mush, gulping it down hungrily. She reopened her eyes in a daze, her magical hold on the rest of the slice wavering slightly.
Oh sweet Granny Smith, that was better than sex, was the first thought that raced through her mind. Not that an innocent, impressionable young mare like herself would know anything about that, of course!
She couldn't, however, imagine anything on the face of Equus that was more otherworldly than this. Except maybe the next bite. Or the one after that. Eager to see if her guess was right, she quickly sunk her teeth into the slice again, tearing off another, even bigger, chunk. A quiet moan escaped her as she chewed with half-lidded eyes, and no sooner was this delicious mouthful pulled down her throat than the alicorn was already cramming the rest of the slice in after it.
Finishing off the slice, Twilight shivered and let out a delighted giggle. It's even better before it leaves the farm! She glanced at the remaining pie in the pan and licked her lips, simply levitating the whole pie out and returning the tin to its box.
Twilight immediately went to town on the rest of the pie, each big bite only being chewed for perhaps ten seconds before the next mouthful pushed it out of the way and into her throat. Table manners tossed out the window, the hungry mare noisily and unabashedly munched her way through the rest of the pie in a few minutes.
"Mm-mm~!" Twilight grinned, slowly opening her eyes and trailing them up the nearest tower of pie boxes. So many delicious pies... and only one in her stomach. It probably felt pretty lonely in there all on its own. And it'd just be unthinkable to leave those stacks uneven, what with her obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Setting her horn alight, Twilight snatched the first box from each of the other stacks (15 in total, but who was counting?) and set them all in a pile in front of her.
Randomly choosing a box, Twilight opened it up and lifted the pie out of its pan, set the box aside, and channeled some heating magic into the pie. Once it was sufficiently warm, she opened wide and took a sizable hunk out of the side, noisily crunching through the thick crust. Another bite, and another, and another, and soon enough it was all gone.
Another box. Open, discard box, zap the pie, eat the pie, repeat. The princess tore through this pie as well, and soon another one, letting out plenty of om's and nom's as she chowed down on the tasty pastries. As one after the other made its way down her gullet, she took no notice of her full belly slowly rounding out beneath her.
Soon enough, Twilight found herself chomping into the last of the small feast she'd reserved for herself, devouring the last scrumptious pie in a few huge bites. Her cheeks bulging and covered with crumbs, she slowly ground her aching jaws together, finishing off the rest with a forceful *gulp*.
"Urf..." She let out a quiet, uncomfortable mumble and reached down to grab at her midriff, surprised to find it significantly more pronounced than usual—nearly twice as big as it'd been after that first Apple family brunch she'd attended, if she had to hazard a guess. "Well, this is sure a strange sense of déjà vu..." Twilight let out a weak chuckle and smacked her lips, plunking down heavily on the floor.
As she took a gander at the rest of the barn, she rubbed her tongue against the roof of her mouth, the surface feeling thickly caked-over with crust. Eventually her gaze settled on a few large unmarked barrels with what looked like faucets stuck in the sides, and, tugging open a cupboard embedded in the wall above, she withdrew a tall wooden mug and held it under the spigot to fill it.
The mug floated over to her, and Twilight tossed her head back to chug the cider down, smoothly washing the remnants of pie down as it rushed past. The alicorn swiped a hoof over her mouth, wiping off some crumbs and froth from the drink. "Aah..." She sighed happily, shifting around a bit on her rear. "Oomph— *hic* I think I've had enough..." She felt a rush of heat spread across her face as she tilted her head down and gingerly poked at her distended gut, despite the absence of any other ponies about. The bodysuit did make the evidence of her meal a tad less obvious, but it was awfully tight.
Heaving herself to her hooves, she paused to allow her stomach a moment to settle before gathering up all the empty containers and ambling over to the door. When she reached out a hoof to push on it, however, she paused. "Gosh, that sure was good, though..." She peered back over her shoulder at the mountain of red boxes, the bright red color practically crying out to her. She turned and took a tiny step towards them. "And... and I'm sure Applejack wouldn't mind if I just took a few..." She blinked and shook her head vigorously, as though to rattle herself awake. "F-For later, of course!" After spending a long moment twiddling her hooves and biting her lip, she nodded minutely and mumbled, "Yeah, I guess that would be okay. It'd save me a trip to the market tomorrow, at the least." She swept a few new boxes off the tops of the stacks, stacking them in the air beside her. Hm, I should probably get back to the library now... She nodded to herself and turned around, once again coming to an abrupt halt.
"Oh, shoot! I forgot to bring payment!" Twilight stamped her hoof on the ground, her stomach jiggling gently underneath her as it worked to process the mass of sugary treats. With an annoyed sigh, she cast out her magic, reaching it all the way back to the library. Fortunately for her, the boost in magical energy that had accompanied her ascension rendered her more than capable of medium-distance retrieval through teleportation, at least with small objects. After a few moments of scanning, she finally detected a small pouch lying on her nightstand, and with a *pop* the purse appeared in front of her. She withdrew the appropriate amount to cover Applejack's usual market price for the pies, plus a tad extra for dropping in unannounced, and levitated the money over to a nearby desk where she set it down in a neat pile.
As she turned to leave, Twilight found her eyes drawn to the unopened boxes floating tantalizingly in front of her. Allowing herself a quick peek into the topmost one, she arched her neck down to take a long whiff of the cooled pie; the scent was slightly different than it was when the pie was heated and sliced—the faint hints of apples and cinnamon were overpowered by the sweet, floury crust—yet it was no less alluring. The alicorn's mouth didn't hesitate to start watering like crazy, even going so far as to allow a trickle of drool to escape her parted lips. She quickly wiped it away with a sigh.
"Oh, apple pie," Twilight whined, "why must you smell so good? Why now?" She stared at the pie as though waiting for a response. She, of course, received none. Glancing left and right, she let her gaze trail back to admire the masterfully-crafted pie's smooth surface and pinched edges. "Well, I... I suppose just one more slice couldn't hurt."
Lifting the pie from its box, she reheated the tin and cut out a slice, gobbling it up rather quickly. She stared longingly back at the remainder of the pie before brightening up a bit. "Well, there's no sense just letting it get cold again now that I cooked it..." Now set with good cause to continue, she levitated the rest of the pie out and finished it off in a few large, messy bites.
One might think that at this point, an upstanding, level-headed pony like Princess Twilight Sparkle would realize the path she was set upon and scold her own loss of self-control, then resolve to go home immediately without eating even one more bite. Well, in that case, they'd be wrong.
"Hm..." Twilight contemplated the other four pies hovering next to her. "Well, I suppose I only need to bring three home. That's how many I usually buy, anyway." She separated one pie from the rest, heated it up, and quickly devoured it, leaving just the right number to bring home.
"Although..." She muttered to herself. "We do tend to have extras left over when I go for my second weekly visit. Maybe I'll just take care of that one now." Another pie was swiftly cooked and consumed before Twilight could stop herself.
"Oh, wait! I was planning on having Fluttershy over for a visit tomorrow! She'll probably want some pie, too." A lavender glow pulled one more pie from the nearest stack. "Wait a second. When has Fluttershy ever wanted anything other than tea? Silly me." Twilight rolled her eyes with a little smile, opening the latest box she'd added to her small stack, and promptly disposed of it via maw.
"Oh, and Spike will be out collecting gems with Rarity all day tomorrow, and then joining the Cutie Mark Crusaders for a camp-out the next day. So I'm guessing he won't be needing this." A few rapid bites, one pie remaining in her grip. She considered this for a moment before frowning thoughtfully. "Hmm. Only one?" She tapped a hoof to her chin, her small smirk just barely noticeable. "Well, I suppose I might as well just have it now. Save myself the trouble of carrying it home!"
Twilight practically shredded the last box, diving into the pie with gusto. "Mmf..." As her tummy expanded just a tiny bit with each swallow, the dull, bloated ache was gradually replaced by a pleasurable fullness. As soon as she'd finished off the pie, she reached for a few more, fetching them from the abundant stock in the corner. While she flicked the tops open with her magic, the mare settled down on her belly, causing it to billow out to the sides, forming a makeshift pillow beneath her. And a damn fine one at that, if she did say so herself.
As Twilight continued to munch on more pies, the cushion under her only continued to grow increasingly soft and cozy, the spandex serving to keep it bound tight enough that it remained firm enough to support her weight. Eventually, though, something would have to give.
Almost fifteen pies into the future, Twilight let out a muted yelp upon hearing an unexpected tearing of rubber, along with a sudden shift in pressure in her midsection. She scanned herself over and spotted a small rip in the side of her suit. It was only a few inches long, but it was significant enough that a spot of purple bulged from the hole. Blinking in alarm, Twilight hastily stumbled to her hooves with a strained grunt of effort.
"Oh... oh dear." She reached under her dangling belly, hefting it up with her hoof, then let it fall back to its natural position, where it just barely brushed against the ground. I... I have to stop. I need to be able to walk home, after all. Disappointedly, and with no absence of shame, the alicorn started to make her way towards the door, waddling awkwardly to accommodate for the squishy mass pressing on her legs.
She took a moment to consider her predicament, absentmindedly rub-rubbing her abdomen. It was certain to be a long trek home by hoof, not to mention the strange looks she'd receive if she was seen by anypony. Not to mention how comfortable I was... she thought, peeking over her shoulder at her previous spot on the floor. Surely it wouldn't be the end of the world if she spent the night here?
She considered this, gazing longingly at the pies and the hay bales on the floor, appearing quite inviting at the moment. Looking back at herself, she fixed her eyes on her wings and smiled a little. "I guess I could just fly home." It was apparent the decision had already been made, as a few more red boxes slowly floated down from their stacks. She excitedly ran/stumbled/rolled into a particularly lush mound of hay, nestling in with a satisfied little purr, and before long she had already resumed, for lack of a more refined phrase, "stuffing her face." Pies disappeared into her wide-open mouth in about five bites apiece, which soon became four, then three, until she was steadily cramming pies into her maw by the half.
Deciding to test her capabilities, Twilight licked her lips before stretching her mouth as wide as she thought was possible, and a flicker of magic sent an entire pie soaring into the small open space.
With her cheeks filled to their limits, she struggled get in a few powerful chews before swallowing hard, the large mouthful slipping down her throat and making her neck bulge out obscenely around it. *cough* "Gah! *hack* Okay, not trying that again. What a waste of a perfectly good—!"
Her thoughts were cut off by her own muffled moan, a jolt of pleasure shooting through her as the large load dropped into her stomach, which swelled out noticeably and gave a faint gurgle in protest. Only one thought remained in her mind as she began shoveling slice after delectable slice into her mouth:
More.
"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"
Twilight groaned with satisfaction in the dim light of the barn as she swallowed another decadent morsel of pie. Although her girth increased only negligibly, she panted hard as her already-stretched skin and the tattered material wrapped around it grew even more taut, thick rolls of purple poking out of the numerous holes torn in the bodysuit. She levitated the pan to her mouth and licked off the remnants of filling that had been left stuck to the bottom, then let it float away to join the immense mound of empty containers. Bringing the several-times refilled mug to her lips, she guzzled down the rest of the cider.
Twilight came to notice a building pressure from the gas in her churning stomach, and she suddenly let out a long, rumbling belch. The escaping air allowed her bed-sized paunch to shrink ever-so-slightly, and she sighed in relief, relaxed her muscles and sank into the soft, fuzzy mass contentedly.
*hic*
The mare let out another blissful sigh. The warmth of the pies radiating from her stuffed belly seemed to envelop her, and she drowsily stretched out her legs, lazily wriggling in place. She couldn't think of a time in recent history that she'd been so utterly comfortable. She let her eyes wander over to the mountain of pies that...
Oh. They were gone. She turned her head, looking all over the room, but she couldn't find anything aside from empty boxes, tins, and her mug. Feeling a tinge of panic rising in her chest, she flung open every cupboard in sight; no luck. They were all empty, save for the one she'd already checked for drinking glasses.
Her eyes grew wide. Oh, Celestia. She had cleaned out the entire Apple stock. She looked down at herself, prodding her squishy form, and squeaked as her hoof sunk in and vanished up to the shoulder. "W-what... just came over me? Th-this has never happened before! I'm skinny!" Her voice rose into a wail.
Seeing as she no longer had much reason to stay—other than to own up to her actions, which she was not prepared to do—she began to make her way over to the door. At least, that's what she would have done.
"Mrrf!" The pony wiggled her legs and rolled forward, setting her forehooves on the floor, her lower body resting against her belly. "Guh... phew..."
Her eyes suddenly landed on the dim slivers of sunlight shining through the doors, and her ear picked up faint voices and the sound of hoofsteps. They were getting louder. She raised her head to stare anxiously at the barn door. Uh oh.
"I'll get 'em outta the barn, hold yer horses."
Twilight's ears flattened against the sides of her head upon hearing her friend's familiar accent. I've got to get out of here! Applejack will kill me! She flapped her wings frantically. "Nngh... come... on...!" Sadly, the poor pony was far too weighed down by her massive gut to fly, which she estimated was glutted with at least a hundred pies.
All too soon, the barn door creaked open. Twilight braced herself as Applejack walked in and shut the door behind her, turned her back on the scene before her, and rested her head on the wooden planks with a tired sigh. Had AJ not noticed her in the early-morning haze of sleepiness? Twilight didn't move, didn't dare to make a sound, lest she reveal—
*hic*
Well, so much for that. Applejack's ears twitched and she spun around, opening her mouth to holler at whatever intruder was awaiting her. What she saw, however, was one of the last things she could ever be prepared for, and she gazed at Twilight with an expression frozen in shock.
Twilight's ears folded back as a nervous laugh escaped her. "Eh, he-hehe... M-morning, Applejack!
The farmpony didn't move, simply stared at her, unblinking.
Twilight's horn lit up in a fierce white-purple glow. "Sorry about the pies gotta go bye!" Just as she finished speaking, Twilight vanished in a flash of light, leaving Applejack alone in the barn.
"What was that, sis?" Applejack's eyes fluttered as Big Mac sidled up from behind her. "Ah saw a light in 'ere."
"I..." Applejack shook her head lightly. "I don't rightly know, big brother." Her forehead creased in a frown as she surveyed the mess of empty boxes in the room. "But I reckon someone's got some explainin' ta do."
By a great stroke of fortune, Twilight reappeared back in the library. After hearing a loud *snap*, she opened her eyes to see her bed a few feet below her. Before she could realize her luck, or have a chance to celebrate, the overstuffed pony plummeted from the air like a ton of bricks. "W-whoa!" The impact of her belly with the bed caused a shift in the contents of her stomach, making it slosh loudly. "Nmf...!" Twilight frantically clamped a hoof over her muzzle to hold back the rush of air, but it was no use.
UUUUUURRRP!
Twilight flinched as she heard a few objects crash against the floor, dislodged from their usual positions by the bone-rattling burp. Cheeks aflame with embarrassment, Twilight groaned and mumbled sleepily, burying her muzzle into her plush tummy. "Never... again..." Her eyelids gradually slid closed, her tense body relaxing as she allowed the churning and gurgling of her stomach to lull her to sleep.
I'll just have one slice next time...
