Rainbow Dash grounded her hooves hard to the ground and skid across the messy forest floor. The wall of fog was just feet away when she first noticed it. She skidded to a stop just within a nose’s length of it, her heart beating furiously.
“Careful, Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy called out hoarsely as she finally caught up behind her. “Oh my. Why would there be fog during a sunset?”
Rainbow Dash took a few steps backward. “We gotta go in.”
Fluttershy’s eyes went to the fog, and she gulped nervously. “Are you sure?” Although there was a little bit of orange light that still peeped through the trees, the fog in front of them seemed to have its own glow, pale and unsettling and immune to the sun’s rays.
“We can’t leave a single leaf unturned, Fluttershy!”
The hard-headed pegasus galloped straight ahead and disappeared into the fog. Fluttershy squeaked and quickly followed her in. “Rainbow, I don’t think,” she coughed, “we should just,” she coughed again, “run in without a—.”
She broke out into a wild fit of coughing as she followed the outline of her friend’s rump through the fog. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash stopped running and spun herself around. Fluttershy slowed down her pace and stopped in front of her.
“You okay, Fluttershy?”
“I’m—,” she coughed, “fine. I hope. I think the fog has some kind of aroma to it.”
Rainbow Dash lifted her snout and sniffed the air. “Whoa. This fog smells amazing.”
Fluttershy sniffed lightly, and her eyes widened. “Hey, you’re—you’re right. Why, it’s like we’re in the kitchen at Sugarcube Corner—,” Fluttershy gasped when her eyes went back to Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow, I don’t think you should be doing that.”
Rainbow Dash lifted her head off the ground, carrying a little pink-petal blossom between her teeth. Fog was steaming out from the center of the blossom, its heavenly aroma floating right into Fluttershy’s face. She couldn’t help but stare desirously. When Rainbow Dash swiftly chomped it down, Fluttershy’s heart fell. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, smiled widely. “These taste awesome! Better than they smell. Seriously!” Her head dived down and came up with four more flowers hanging out of her lips. “Try them for yourself!”
Fluttershy looked at her hooves and saw those same steamy pink flowers. She angled her eyes low towards the edge what was visible in the mist and realized that the whole ground was covered with them. She took another light whiff. It overpowered her initially, but now she understood. It really did smell delicious.
Rainbow Dash still looked healthy, thought Fluttershy. She lowered her head down and cast a strained look at the tasty little blossom. Suddenly, she bit off a petal. But as soon as she felt the taste of it on her tongue, she couldn’t prevent herself from chomping off the whole flower. Her whole mouth tingled with delight, and when she swallowed, she felt sweet satisfaction as if it had been the sweetest treat she had ever eaten.
The ponies seemed to have completely forgotten themselves. They crawled in ravenous circles, heads in the flowers, munching inconstant paths like living lawnmowers. Eventually, they slammed headfirst into one another and fell aching on their stomachs.
“Ow! Watch where you’re going, Fluttershy!”
“I—I’m sorry,” Fluttershy replied weakly, snout in the ground as she rubbed her bruised forehead. “I’m just so hungry.”
“Me too.” Rainbow Dash collapsed on her side, revealing a heaving, bloated blue belly. She opened her mouth to continue her complaining, but her eyes flew wide open and her hoof pointed excitedly. “Fluttershy! Look over there!”
Fluttershy lifted her head up and turned towards what her friend was pointing to. She blinked her eyes confusedly at first, but the object in front of them still stood there. A cake was sitting there in the midst of the fog. It was probably the most amazing cake they had ever seen. It towered above them in six delectable tiers, dressed in alluring pink icing the same color as the flowers that grew at its base. Both of their mouths began to water. In a flash, Rainbow Dash was standing at the base of the towering dessert, gazing at its peak with ridiculous bliss.
“Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy called out meekly, “I don’t know about you, but this looks really suspicious.”
“Well, what am I supposed to do? Starve to death?”
“But…well….” Fluttershy wasn’t sure how to express her thoughts. As she watched Rainbow Dash fawn over that amazing cake, it somehow seemed cruel for her to try to keep her from it. Fluttershy’s stomach was growling with high expectation while her eyes feasted on what her tongue could not. But cakes don’t just grow out of the ground. It probably belonged to somepony else.
Rainbow Dash finally licked the cake. A light giggle boomed from somewhere, making her double back for a moment. “F-Fluttershy…was that you?”
A now-trembling Fluttershy shook her head. “N-No.”
“Why did you stop? Aren’t you hungry?”
The ponies froze. In dreadful realization, they turned to the cake and stared in awe.
“The cake….” Rainbow Dash started laughing. “The cake is talking to us!” She fell flat on her back, laughing maniacally. Fluttershy stared at her friend in disbelief. She guessed the idea itself was funny, but the fact that it was actually happening seemed far more frightening than funny as far as Fluttershy was concerned.
The blue pegasus rolled back onto her hooves, breathing out a few final giggles, and then immediately shoved her snout back into the icing.
“Mmmm, oh yes. That feels wonderful, Rainbow Dash!”
Fluttershy watched helplessly. Rainbow Dash’s tongue was lapping up much of the icing at the cake’s bottom layer. All the while, the cake was moaning in comfortable bliss. Was it seriously the cake making that noise, wondered Fluttershy. Despite its sultry tones, its bubbly, girlish voice sounded vaguely familiar.
“Oh, Rainbow Dash,” cooed the cake, “make that tongue dance. Make it penetrate my spongy cake pores.”
A big splotch of fine yellow cake was revealed by Rainbow Dash’s ravenous tongue acrobatics. She eagerly stabbed her tongue into the cake and began digging out chunks for her to swallow. The cake gasped, and in another breath it rumbled into a contented purr.
“Fluttershy?”
The yellow pegasus stiffened. Somehow the cake knew her name.
“Oh, Fluttershy. Why’re you all by yourself? Aren’t you hungry?”
She awkwardly rolled her eyes. “Um…I, um….”
“Don’t be bashful. I see you salivating.”
Fluttershy’s tongue quickly flew back into her mouth, her cheeks reddening.
“Why would you do that, Fluttershy? I want your pretty little tongue to all over my body. Don’t you?”
“Om nom nom.” Rainbow Dash turned her head for a moment. She was drenched in frosting and bits of cake. “Come on, Fluttershy! She likes it, and it tastes amazing!”
Fluttershy couldn’t keep her tongue in check. It flopped out of her mouth, moist and dripping. Her belly rumbled. She couldn’t understand why she was so hungry all of the sudden. Although with the alluring aroma that was coming from the flowers and from the cake itself, it certainly would have been a tragedy if she weren’t hungry. She began to trot towards the cake.
“Yes. That’s right….”
She leaned in toward the cake’s base, hesitant. Finally, she girded up a brave face and chomped down on it.
“OH!” cried the cake. “Oh, you like to get down, huh?”
Fluttershy chewed on the chunk of cake in her mouth, tongue poking and swishing it around into properly digestible mush.
“Mmmm,” moaned the cake, as if it were the one actually eating cake. “Yesss…let that tongue break me down. Ooh…I see you’re not afraid get messy, hmm, Rainbow Dash?”
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash wasn’t really bothering to chew her food carefully like Fluttershy. She was stuffing her face and swallowing everything like a little munching machine. She had carved a little cavern on her side of the cake, digging with her hooves and her tongue simultaneously.
“I hope you’re eating over there, Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash called as she raised another cake-covered hoof to her lips. “It’ll be all gone in seconds flat!”
Fluttershy’s head flew into the cake and she began munching her own cave. She was ravenous, animal-like in her hunger. Her mane was sticky with icing and cake.
“Oh, yes, yes, yes! Take me inside you, take me inside you! Oh, munch! Oh, munch! MUNCH! MUNCH! MUNCH! OH MY GOD, EAT ME!”
Random cherry.
Fluttershy saw the little red thing sticking from the roof of her cake cavern. “Ooh,” she whispered in curiosity. Drowning out Rainbow Dash’s obnoxious “OMNOMNOM”’s and the cake’s crazed screaming, she stretched her tongue towards the cherry and licked it gently. She placed the tip of her tongue between the edge and tried to push it in.
“Yes! Yes! Pop my cherry! Pop my cherry!”
Fluttershy pushed her tongue as hard as she could. It felt oddly juicy between the cake and the cherry. It was a very tasty juice, she noted. Harder. Harder. Her thoughts or more of the cake’s raving’s, she couldn’t know.
“That tongue! Oh! OHHH! MUUUUUNCH!”
Her tongue felt the back of the cherry. She bent her head sideways and pulled. Pop! It fell into Fluttershy’s mouth. “Eep!” she jumped. In her shock, she swallowed the cherry whole.
“DON’T STOP! KEEP MUNCHING, PLEASE!”
Fluttershy rejoined Rainbow Dash in chomping on the cake. This most delicious, most generous cake of cakes. They were so caught up in the deliciousness, that neither pony noticed the shuddering and shaking that accompanied the cake’s “UUUUUNGH! EAT ME!”’s. Before they could realize, both of their tasty caves collapsed on top of them. Their heads were swallowed whole.
***
“Halt!”
Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity stopped in their tracks behind Zecora. It was the middle of the night in the Everfree Forest. The stars and the moon were invisible beneath the trees. Yet the fog in front of them seemed to give a faint, rosy aura.
“What kind of fog is that?” asked Applejack.
“It is no fog, Applejack,” said Zecora. “In fact, the wisest thing to do would be to turn back. But since these are dire circumstances, it seems we have no choice but to take our chances.”
“W-What is it then?” asked Rarity.
“It is a powerful fume exhaled by a flower called the Eat-Me-Please, and beyond this misty wall lies an entire grove of these. The fume carries a delicious aroma that is impossible to resist. It causes one to go mad with hunger, and even have illusions of food-related bliss. It is somewhat like the Poison Joke, but I assure you that the effects are no joke.” Zecora groaned with a fearful tremor. “If any two ponies were to somehow walk into this…oh, you would not like what you would see, not one bit.”
Twilight walked up beside the zebra and looked at her determinedly. “We have to do this. We can’t leave a single leaf unturned.”
Zecora nodded. She bent her neck back and dived into her saddlebag. She reappeared with four large leaves held in her teeth. She approached each pony and passed one out to each. “Hold these leaves tightly to your snout. Don’t worry, they only smell foul. I am sorry, but the only way the flowers’ spell can be beat is by immersing yourself in the Funky Fern’s stink.”
The three ponies all looked on the verge of throwing up, but they kept their faces firmly covered. Courage to face anything gleamed through their eyes.
Zecora smiled. “Good.” She lifted the last fern over her own snout and turned towards the fog. In a muffled tone, she said, “Now let us hope they are not in here, or have mistaken each other for food.”
They tread cautiously into the rosy mist. They cast searching eyes through what little they could see. The pink blossoms on the ground smoked with the dreaded aroma. They noticed, however, that long curving swaths of ground were free of flowers.
“Over there!” cried Rarity, eyes watering from the stench in her nostrils. “I see something!”
They hurried across the grove to where Rarity’s eyes pointed. It was an awkward dash with them only running on three legs, but they made it without slipping any of their grips. At first it just appeared to be a shadowy mound in the distance. Without much preparation, however, their fevered pace completely broke down. Their hearts froze when they saw a shadowy mound become an obscene spectacle.
Applejack was the first one to stammer, “W-W-What in the….”
Zecora’s eyelids slammed shut in shame. “We are too late.”
It had all started with Pinkie Pie saying she needed to go into the forest for some reason. She had been gone for an awfully long time, so Rainbow Dash apparently took it upon herself to go look for her and somehow managed to drag Fluttershy along. The other three ponies didn’t learn about this until a long time later. In the middle of the night, they decided to form a search party with Zecora who knew the Everfree Forest better than any of them.
They had finally found them. Most of them.
The fluffy pink mane—what was left of it—marked the pony in the middle as Pinkie Pie without any reasonable doubt. Therefore, the bones that were shown under the swaths of missing flesh were Pinkie’s. The mangled trachea that hung down her chest like a necktie was also Pinkie’s. Her face was nearly torn completely off. Her cheeks were no longer there, so they had full view of the inside of her mouth, dentures gaping as if frozen in a shout, half of the tongue torn off. Her left eye was wide open, yet had long since rolled behind its socket. Her right eye socket was just a gaping bloody hole where a lone optic nerve sprouted and stuck to her skin.
Rainbow Dash’s heaving form was clinging to Pinkie’s abdomen. There was nothing that remained of the pony’s muscle or fat tissue on her front side, so the pegasus dozed with her face deep in her small intestine while her right foreleg idly fiddled with the organs poking through her shattered rib cage. There was so much blood and other fluids on her head that it was hard to recognize the “rainbow” part of her identity. She twisted her head sideways, revealing one end of the oozing pink intestines still clutched in her teeth. Suddenly, she tried to slurp it up like pasta, but she was too weak to do so in her sleep.
Pinkie’s entire right foreleg was sticky, yellow bone. Sleeping Fluttershy had her own forelegs wrapped around it, and her tongue was licking the horseshoe as if it were a lollipop. Like Rainbow Dash, her face was also blood drenched, as was her vast pink mane. She rolled over on her back, revealing a bloated yellow tummy. She belched loudly, and something flew out of her mouth. The sound of her own burp instantly made her dart upright. She was panting furiously, but then she looked around her, smelled the delicious scents of the flowers, and smiled contentedly. She looked down beside her with thoughts of grabbing another flower to eat when she noticed the thing that had flown out of her mouth sitting on the ground next to her.
“Oh! I thought I’d swallowed you!”
The three ponies and the zebra watched in horror as Fluttershy lifted the eyeball up to her mouth and placed in daintily inside. The crunch it made in her teeth seemed to echo through the entire grove. When she finally gulped it down, she smiled contentedly with filthy red teeth. When she let her eyes float upwards and she discovered her friends were there, however, she squeaked in fright. “Oh! Uh…” She glanced beside her at the mess she and Rainbow Dash had made. “Fluttershy, you pig!” she whispered. “You should’ve saved some for your friends!”
