Uniting a Nation

“Rainbow Dash!” screamed Scootaloo, as she buzzed down the street on her scooter. She kept looking up at the sky, but there was no sign of her idol – there were no pegasi at all, which was weird. “Rainbow Dash! Hey, Sparkler, have you seen Rainbow Dash?”

The unicorn peered at her, looking up from her picnic lunch. “Shouldn’t you be in school?”

“Cheerilee let us out since the world’s ending and all,” Scootaloo said. “I’ve got to find Rainbow Dash!”

“All the pegasi flew to Cloudsdale,” Sparkler said. “Some sort of big contest. Didn’t you see the flyers?”

Scootaloo frowned. “But Rumble and Featherweight were in class.”

“Well, yeah. Twilight and Cheerilee were supposed to take care of the foals.” Sparkler stood up. “I was wondering how they were going to eat you all, but I figured it was a princess thing. Wasn’t really paying attention. Do you want me to eat you?”

“No! I want Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo said, zooming away.

Sparkler snorted. “Good luck with that, kid.”

“Raaainbow!” She dashed down street after street, but while she saw lots of ponies – many of them bloated with the aftereffects of their own pony meals – there was no sign of Rainbow Dash.

“Scooter! Scooterloo! Over here!”

Scootaloo saw the little filly waving at him, and slid to a stop by Dinky’s house. She didn’t know her very well – Dinky didn’t go to school very often. “What do you want?”

“Rainbow’s in here, eating my mom,” she said, pouting.

Before she could even finish the second part, Scootaloo was already inside the little one-room hut. Sure enough, there on the bed, was Rainbow Dash struggling and squirming and trying to fold down the grey wings of a pegasus who looked like she’d flown headfirst into her mouth and gotten stuck.

“It isn’t going so well,” Dinky said.

“Derpy, stop flapping!” Scootaloo said, hopping up onto her back and trying to help Rainbow Dash fold down her wings. There was a muffled reply from inside. “You have to fold your wings or Rainbow can’t eat you!” She spread her own wings for balance, as Derpy jerked and kicked, trying to shove herself in despite Rainbow’s lips already being wedged against the base of her wings.

“Come on, Dinky, help!” Scootaloo said, grabbing onto the panicked pegasus’ left wing with her teeth. Dinky slowly walked over, and looked up as Scootaloo was hit in the face by Rainbow’s flailing hoof.

“Oowee,” Rainbow Dash said, trying to talk around the mass in her mouth.

“But I don’t want mom to get eaten,” Dinky said. “I’ll be all alone!’

“She wants to get eaten!” Scootaloo said. “She’s just no good at it. Come on, we need your help!” She rolled her eyes. “Look, I came here to get Rainbow to eat me, but if you help me with Derpy I’ll eat you first. Then you won’t have to be alone. Sweetie Belle’s already in there.” She patted her belly, which was already almost back to normal. It was kind of weird that she’d burned off an entire pony that fast, but she had been working really hard buzzing around town, and getting lots of exercise.

Dinky wasn’t a lot of help, but she made a token attempt. Maybe Derpy recognized the touch of her hoof, because when she reared up to help fold down the wing, the crazed flapping calmed down and Scootaloo and Rainbow were able to get enough of it inside Rainbow’s mouth that it couldn’t flap anymore.

The other wing was up against the wall, so Dinky had to climb onto the bed with Scootaloo to help fold it. Once they were both in, Rainbow Dash slumped in relief, her throat muscles working to slowly pull Derpy further inside, while for her part Derpy kept kicking against the head of the bed to push herself deeper in.

Dinky leaned on her mother, and sniffled. Scootaloo rolled her eyes, and bit down on Dinky’s tail. “Come on, there’s no time for that,” she said. “Do you want me to eat you or not?”

Dinky sat down, smacking Scootaloo’s head against the wall, and sniffled some more. “Okay.”

Scootaloo hissed, and grabbed on to the little pink unicorn with her hooves, and gobbled up her tail, as quickly as possible, trying not to hiccough as it slipped into her throat. She stretched her jaws wide around Dinky’s behind, lifting her up a little so that her chin could slip under her legs, already folded forward from how she was sitting.

It wasn’t like eating Sweetie Belle at all. Sweetie had been chatty the whole time, and while both of them had been a little miffed that Applebloom had gone off and gotten eaten without them, it had still been a lot of fun and Sweetie had described everything to her with plenty of enthusiasm. Dinky just sort of sat there like a lump, crying and pressing her hoof against her mom’s cutie mark, until it vanished into Rainbow’s maw and they couldn’t really reach each other anymore.

So once she had a good grip, both hind legs most of the way into her mouth, Scootaloo buzzed her wings and tilted herself back, letting gravity help slide Dinky the rest of the way inside. Even that was worse than with Sweetie – Sweetie Belle had tilted her head so that her horn could go down smoothly, but Dinky let it scrape against Scootaloo’s throat, all the way down. She pressed her hooves against her neck to try to shove the point of the horn into a better position from outside, but Dinky started struggling and that just made it worse.

But finally, it was over, and she groaned in relief as Dinky settled back into her ‘like a lump’ state in her stomach. “So glad that’s over,” Scootaloo said. “Could those two be any more of a pest?”

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash said, rubbing her own stomach, with Derpy inside. “They can still hear you, you know.”

“Yeah, but they can’t do anything about it,” Scootaloo said.

“Sorry!” Derpy said in a muffled voice. “I don’t know what went wrong!”

“You kept flapping!” Rainbow Dash said. “I told you to fold down your wings but you kept flapping!”

“I couldn’t help it! I’m sorry!” she sounded like she was almost in tears.

Rainbow Dash sighed. “It’s fine, Derpy, it all worked out. Just… get some rest.”

“And you’ll take care of Dinky?”

Rainbow Dash gave Scootaloo a look. How could she not know? “Yeah, Derpy, Dinky’s taken care of,” she said.

After they were both rested enough to move, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo rolled off the bed and headed outside, waddling a bit with the still-very-solid ponies filling their tummies. “So what’s up, squirt? You said you wanted me to eat you?”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo said. “I mean, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom are already gone, so you’re all I have left. And if you could eat me that would be the best thing ever!” She bounced happily, buzzing her wings.

“What about your folks?” Rainbow asked.

“They’re boring,” Scootaloo said. “I want you, Rainbow Dash!”

“Well…” she seemed to be considering it. “Hey, wait – you said Applebloom got herself eaten?”

Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah, when she heard Applejack was going to get eaten, she just sort of gave up.”

“Bwa ha ha ha ha!” Rainbow Dash rolled over on her side, flailing her limbs as she cackled. “Oh, Celestia! When Applejack hears that she’s going to –” she rolled back up onto her feet, and tried to crouch down so that Scootaloo could get on her back, although Derpy sort of got in the way. “Come on, we have to get to Sweet Apple Acres before it’s too late!”

Scootaloo happily scrambled up onto her back, her wings helping her make up for Rainbow’s inability to crouch. Dinky was sort of getting in the way too, so Scootaloo had to sit up on Rainbow’s back, like she was Spike or something. “Too late for what?” she asked, reaching down to steady herself with her forehooves as Rainbow started to move.

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, grunting a bit and straining with the weight of four ponies, but managed to get some lift after a few seconds. She’d carried that many ponies before, and two of them were foals this time. “She made a bet with Filthy Rich, about whether Applebloom or his daughter would last longer. I’ve got to see her face when he comes to collect!”

Rainbow’s flight faltered for a second, as Derpy squirmed around inside her. “Can I see too?”

“No, Derpy, you’ve already been eaten,” Rainbow Dash said patiently. “You can listen, though!”

===

“I’m not sayin’ you’re a liar,” Applejack said. “I’m just sayin’ that there’s still plenty of time for Applebloom to show up.”

She was standing in front of her house, talking to Filthy Rich while his daughter and her friend stood nearby, smirking.

“I’m not sure what exactly you expect me to produce as proof,” Filthy Rich said. “I have my daughter’s word that Applebloom was eaten by miss Spoon, here, and you know I’d never cheat on a deal like this. It’s bad for business.”

“Like that’ll matter,” Applejack said. “Once we’re gone, who’ll call ya on it? Who else even knows about the bet?”

“And that’s my cue,” Rainbow Dash said, dropping out of the tree she’d snuck up and perched in while the two of them were arguing. Scootaloo gave a loud grunt as she dropped to the ground beside her, her wings providing even less lift than normal with Dinky still weighing her down. “Sorry, AJ, but you are a loser.”

Applejack glanced over at Rainbow Dash and narrowed her eyes. “Shouldn’t you be eaten by now?”

“The only other pegasus I could find was Derpy, and she kind of forced herself into my mouth before I could even say anything,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ll probably go join the big contest up in Cloudsdale, maybe get into the semifinals and get eaten by a Wonderbolt or something. But that’s not why I’m here!”

“Then why are you here?” Filthy Rich asked.

“To see the look on her face when she finds out she lost her bet!” Rainbow Dash said. “Sorry, AJ, but Applebloom is toast.”

“More like soup,” Silver Spoon said, jiggling her tummy.

“Wait, you ate her?” Scootaloo asked. “Why would she let you eat her?”

“Because it was better than being eaten by a stupid blank flank pegasus who can’t even fly?” Diamond Tiara suggested.

Scootaloo scowled, spreading her tiny wings. “Better than being eaten by a stupid mean bully who can’t even think up her own insults!”

“Please stop fighting,” whimpered a voice from inside her.

Scootaloo growled, then settled down. “Sorry, Dinky,” she said, rubbing her stomach.

“Oh. My. Celestia. Diamond Tiara, was that Dinky?” Silver Spoon stalked over towards Scootaloo.

Diamond Tiara joined her, and they started circling around their target. “It was! Scootaloo ate Dinky!”

Silver Spoon laughed. “First Sweetie Belle, and then Dinky Doo. She’s really scraping the bottom of the barrel.”

“Well, where else would a little flounder like her feed?” Tiara asked.

“What?” Scootaloo said.

“Oh that’s perfect!” Spoon said.

“I know! Isn’t it?” Tiara replied. “Bump bump sugar lump rump!” They did their little victory dance, and both started laughing.

“I’m not a flounder,” Scootaloo said.

“You flounder in the air, and now you flounder on the ground, too,” Silver Spoon said. Then, together with Tiara, they chanted, “Flounder flounder flounder!”

“Stop calling me things I don’t know the meaning of!”

Meanwhile, Applejack was standing near Filthy Rich and Rainbow Dash, her head lowered, her hat held over her chest. She wasn’t crying, but she wasn’t saying anything either.

“Huh,” Rainbow Dash said. “That is not the look I was expecting.”

“What, did you think I’d be happy?” Applejack snapped.

Rainbow shook her head. “I thought you’d be a lot angrier, and a lot less depressing. What’s the big deal?”

Applejack threw her hat at Rainbow, who cringed back and blocked it with a wing. “My sister’s dead!”

“So?” Rainbow Dash said. “We’re all going to die. We’ve got, what, a week? Maybe two? You’ve let her out of your sight for longer than that before.”

“And I missed her something fierce,” Applejack said. “But I kept on knowing that when it was all over and done, she’d be back home waitin’ for me. Now all that’s left is missin’ her, and there ain’t no homecoming.”

Filthy Rich put a hoof on Applejack’s shoulder. “That’s why we made our bet, isn’t it, Miss Apple? Neither of us wanted to carry on without the ones we love.”

Applejack took a deep breath. “I reckon that’s so. Mister Rich, you have my permission to eat me.”

Filthy Rich stroked her face. “And you have my forgiveness for not taking me at my word. It’s obvious that this is a very painful thing for you to face – anypony would have been in denial.”

“Yeah, yeah, I shouldn’t’a doubted you,” Applejack said. “Just get on with it already.”

“Actaully, my dear, if you don’t mind I’d like to attend to Granny Smith. The two of us go way back, and I’d like to be there to put her to rest,” Filthy Rich said. “Diamond Tiara! Silver Spoon! Stop playing with your little friend and come join us, we’re discussing the disposal of the Apple Family!”

Applejack narrowed her eyes at the two of them, then at Filthy Rich, raising an eyebrow.

“What?” Diamond Tiara said. “Do you think I can’t manage it? I can eat anypony you put in front of me!”

“Even Big Mac?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Ha!” Diamond Tiara grinned. “Yes! I’ll eat Big Mac, and Silver Spoon here can eat another Apple.”

“Smile, Applejack,” Silver Spoon said, wiggling her tummy. “You’ll be with your sister soon!”

===

After laying out a blanket, since she didn’t want to get all dirty, Silver Spoon sat down behind Applejack and took one of her hooves into her mouth – them immediately spit it out again. “Ew! Applejack, when was the last time you washed?”

“Sorry if I didn’t get up this mornin’ planning for somepony to eat me,” Applejack grumbled. “Do you want me to go wash up so I’ll be fit for your refined palette?”

“Could you?” Silver Spoon asked.

“Wow, you’ll make any excuse to get out of this,” Scootaloo said. “Are you that scared of eating her?”

Silver Spoon made a face. “She tastes like sweat and mud!”

“Everypony’s hooves taste like mud,” Scootaloo said. “Just don’t lick them.”

“What, you’re the expert now?”

“I’ve eaten more ponies than you,” Scootaloo replied.

Silver Spoon stared at her, then looked away, lifting her nose into the air. “Fine. One mud-covered farm pony surprise, down the hatch.”

Once again, she put Applejack’s hooves gingerly into her mouth, grimacing at the taste, and started to swallow. Her ears flattened against the sides of her head as her neck stretched impossibly around the two muscular limbs, the hooves clearly outlined against her coat as they slowly worked their way down into her barrel.

And then, her lips at mid-thigh, a few inches short of Applejack’s body, she stopped. “Mmph!”

“Oh, for pony’s sake,” Applejack said. “I think she bottomed out.” She shifted her hind-legs, getting another squeak from Silver Spoon. “Yep, I can feel my hooves squishing around in her stomach.”

“It’s fine,” Rainbow Dash said. “She’ll stretch. Come on, squirt, let’s give AJ here a little push.”

The two of them moved to Applejack’s hips, bracing their hooves against her cutie marks and shoving, but although Silver Spoon didn’t seem to be in pain, she went slipping backwards across the blanket instead of taking Applejack in any more deeply.

“This isn’t working,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Maybe if you bent your legs like you were sitting down?” Scootaloo suggested, trying to picture what Applejack looked like inside Silver Spoon’s body. “Like, sit down onto her face.”

“Worth a shot,” Applejack said, and sure enough as she flexed her legs, Silver Spoon’s belly bulged outwards with the clear prints of two hooves, and Applejack’s thighs slid steadily down into her muzzle. Silver Spoon whimpered as her nose ground into the larger pony’s rear end, wedged under her tail, and after a few seconds of laughing at her, Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash slipped it down to feed into her mouth more comfortably. Soon, Applejack was in a proper sitting position, with Silver Spoon pinned underneath her, her head and neck stretched tight over her rear half like a very strange pair of trousers, the filly’s tiny legs jutting every which way as she struggled to move, or do anything.

“So now what?” Scootaloo asked.

“Maybe we could saw you in half, and she could eat the rest of you later?’ Rainbow Dash suggested. As Applejack gave her a death glare, she quickly added, “Kidding! I know it won’t work if you don’t get eaten alive.”

“Actually…” Applejack said. “I think she’s still makin’ progress. I can feel her slipping up my body, bit by bit.” They leaned in close, and sure enough – the progress was slow, but it was there. One gradual, grueling inch at a time, Silver Spoon was still swallowing Applejack. “Huh,” she said. “This actually feels kind of nice.”

“Yeah…” came a voice from inside Rainbow Dash’s tummy. “It’s nice. I want to get swallowed every day!”

“Derpy, you can’t get eaten more than once!” Rainbow Dash said.

“I don’t care if that’s the rule,” Derpy said. “I just won’t tell them I already got eaten. You won’t tell, will you?”

“It’s not a rule,” Rainbow said. “It’s a law of nature.”

“Promise you won’t tell nature!”

Rainbow Dash just sighed. “Fine, Derpy, I promise not to tell the laws of physics that you were already eaten, once you’ve been dissolved into goop.”

This was answered by a faint, “Yaaay!”

With Silver Spoon’s lips now approaching her shoulders, the filly sliding up over her like a giant, stretchy sock, Applejack frowned at Rainbow Dash and Derpy. “Are you sure it was right to eat her?” Applejack said, in a low voice. “The girl’s not right.”

“Somepony had to,” Rainbow Dash whispered back. “Did you really want her making the new world?”

“I just wish she’d hurry up and digest already,” Scootaloo said, ignoring the looks the adults gave her. It wasn’t fair! Rainbow Dash was supposed to eat her, and now she was delayed for hours. Hours! Waiting for Derpy to finish melting away, just because she’d jumped in line.

“Well, Rainbow,” Applejack said, lifting her front hooves and squirming to stick them into Silver Spoon’s mouth, stretching her out even further, the outlines of her forelimbs clearly visible against her cheeks and throat, “I guess this is goodbye. See you in the next world.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Not likely. I know Twilight tried to sweeten the pot with her ‘can’t be sure of this’ and ‘can’t rule out that’, but it was pretty obvious she was just making all that up. Whoever’s in the new world will be somepony totally new. If they’re even ponies at all.”

“But you’ll be making the new world, right Rainbow?” Scootaloo asked. “Can’t you just make sure to put us all in it?”

“Maybe!” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m going to give it my best shot, but let’s be honest, squirt. The odds are against me. I’m awesome and all, but there are plenty of ponies that are way more stubborn than I could ever be.”

Scootaloo shook her head. “No way! You’re the best at everything!”

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“Fine, you win,” Rainbow Dash said. “I give up.”

Scootaloo gave a smug grin at her victory, and was completely baffled as to why Applejack and Rainbow Dash were both laughing at her.

And then Silver Spoon’s lips were sliding over Applejack’s ears, moving faster now, and Applejack let out a breath, staring one last time into Rainbow Dash’s eyes. And then the lips slipped over her eyes, as well, and her mouth vanished into the little filly’s muzzle, and with a final, audible gulp, Silver Spoon’s head and neck shrank back down into something resembling the shape they were supposed to be, and it was all over.

Sort of.

“So now what?” Applejack asked.

Silver Spoon moaned. “Please, please, just be quiet, I can’t take any more of your hick accent and your inane banter with your insipid little friends.”

“Is… is she going to be able to move?” Scootaloo asked. It was a good question – while Applejack was indeed completely enclosed in Silver Spoon’s belly, said belly was much, much larger than the rest of the filly put together, and it didn’t look like there was any angle she could roll to where more than one of her legs would be touching the ground at a time.

“There’s a wagon in the barn,” Applejack suggested. “Might be a good idea to go check on how Diamond Tiara’s getting on with Big Mac, too.”

To their surprise, they found Diamond Tiara already in the wagon – filling most of it, with her tiny pink legs poking out in all directions as her body was stretched out insanely around Big Macintosh’s massive bulk. His collar was off to the side, discarded.

“Ah,” she said, trying to look smug even as lay there, unable to move. “The help has arrived. Pull me around front to wait for daddy, will you? We might own this farm now, but I’m not going to spend the night in a barn. Some of us have standards.”

Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash looked at each other, then turned around and walked out. “Sorry!” Rainbow Dash shouted in Silver Spoon’s direction. “The wagon’s full!”