Uniting a Nation

It wasn’t a long walk, so they walked.

“So Fluttershy’s still around?” Scootaloo asked. “I thought for sure she’d want to get eaten right away.”

“Well, we all said we were going to get eaten right away,” Rainbow Dash said, as they meandered down the path that wound along the edge of the Everfree, from Sweet Apple Acres to Fluttershy’s cottage. “Because of the Rainbow Power. It’s easier to say it than to actually go and do it though.”

“Rainbow Power?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yeah,” Rainbow said. “Basically, we’re too awesome to live. Each of us is draining magic out of the world as fast as, like, five normal ponies.”

“You’re worth a lot more than five normal ponies,” Scootaloo said.

“Yeah, I know,” Rainbow Dash grinned. “Still, it’s kinda selfish. Not as bad as the princesses, though. Each of them was, like, a hundred thousand ponies. So they had to go. And as long as Twilight was going, it was hard to stand there and say ‘You run off and get eaten, I’m going to try to win’.”

Scootaloo frowned. “Twilight said it was because they didn’t want ponies to feel like they had to let the princesses eat them.”

“Oh, right,” Rainbow Dash said. “It was supposed to be a secret. Don’t tell anypony.”

“If you eat me, then you can be sure I won’t tell,” Scootaloo said, eagerly. “Come on, Derpy’s got to be gone by now, right? Dinky hasn’t said anything in a while.”

“What?” came a faint voice from inside Rainbow’s stomach.

Scootaloo grumbled, and kicked at the dirt.

“Look, Scoots,” Rainbow Dash said. “You’ve eaten two ponies already. You’re good for the night. Why don’t you stick around, keep me company?”

Scootaloo didn’t look at her. It made sense, on the face of it. She did like spending time with Rainbow Dash, and as long as they were hanging out together she wouldn’t be bored. But what she didn’t want to say was what she knew was the only sure thing about spending time with Rainbow – sooner or later, Rainbow would leave. Probably without warning. The only way they could be together forever was if Scootaloo was inside her. “Okay,” she said, instead. “But you have to promise you’ll eat me eventually.”

“Yeah, yeah, I promise,” Rainbow said, waving a wing.

“Pinkie promise!”

“I don’t think that’ll do anything,” Rainbow Dash said. “Pinkie’s probably been eaten by now. I mean, all of us said we would, but she’s always so bouncy, she probably bounced right into the first pony’s mouth that she thought would be happy for a meal.”

“Do it anyway,” Scootaloo said, glowering.

Rainbow Dash cringed. “Do I have to?”

Scootaloo stared at her, and kept staring.

“Ugh, fine. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Rainbow Dash awkwardly went through the motions. “Satisfied?”

Scootaloo nodded, and they continued down the path.

===

“I can’t believe they just left me here!” Silver Spoon said, as she lay helplessly on the scrunched up blanket in front of Applejack’s house. “Tiara? Mr. Rich? Anypony?!”

“What did you expect?” said Applejack’s voice from inside her. “It’s Rainbow Dash. That girl’s harder to pin down than a whole pile of piglets.”

“Ugh. Thank you for that image,” Silver Spoon said. “Can’t you just keep quiet and die already?”

“Well, it’s comfy and all,” Applejack said, shifting around a little, “but I’m already feelin’ a bit restless. Don’t suppose you could start digesting me faster, somehow?”

“Believe me, if I could, I would,” Silver Spoon said. “My legs, like, literally can’t touch the ground. Which is so unfair! Your taste is still in my mouth.”

“That bad, huh?” Applejack asked.

“I think I’m going to throw up,” Silver Spoon said, sticking her tongue out and faking a gagging motion.

“Well, don’t,” Applejack said. “I’m already partly melted, I’d probably look like a fright if I was back out in the world.” She squirmed around a bit, then kicked her hind hooves, lightly. “Maybe if I move around a bit, it’ll help speed things along?”

Silver Spoon winced as she felt something soft prod her from inside, and felt a warm stream of liquid squirt out of her and drip down through her fur to pool around her belly, soaking into the blanket. “Oh, gross!” she whined. “I think you kicked my bladder.”

“Ah, sorry ‘bout that,” Applejack said. “Gotta do somethin’, though.” She stopped kicking, but kept squirming around, using her hooves to poke at herself. “Fur’s all gone, at least.”

Silver Spoon gave a heavy sigh, and tried to think about something pleasant – like how they’d have the pick of any of the fashions and accessories in Manehattan, after they’d eaten everypony in the city. Hopefully, the Manehattanites wouldn’t be so squirmy, because it was… it was just weird.

“Woah!” Applejack said. “Woah, nelly! I did not expect that!”

Silver Spoon gritted her teeth, and asked, “What?”

Applejack laughed. “My leg just popped off. Right off! Didn’t even hurt none.”

Silver Spoon tried to imagine that happening to her, and couldn’t help but imagine herself in Diamond Tiara’s belly. Obviously, Tiara would forget about her as soon as she was out of sight, but still… to be that close, that intimate… that would be so much better than having to eat all these ingrates. “What’s it like?” she asked.

“It’s all slimy and goopy,” Applejack said. “And yeah, that sounds like it should be gross and nasty, but it just feels right, you know?”

“Not really,” Silver Spoon said. “It sounds gross and nasty.”

“Yeah, it does. Especially the bit where I’ve got one of my forelegs flopping around in front of me like a big slimy worm or something.” Applejack nosed at it, and pushed it out of the way. “But it don’t feel like that at all. It feels right. It’s not gross slime, ‘cause the slime is me. And I’m going to melt away, and not have any more cares… and give everything to somepony else, even if that pony’s a rude little ingrate who thinks she’s better than everypony else.”

“I am better than everypony else,” Silver Spoon said. “I could pretend to be humble, but it would be dishonest.”

“Not asking you to lie,” Applejack said, poking at her belly with her remaining foreleg. “Just asking you to be quiet about it sometimes, ‘stead of always complainin’. Be patient with the pony folks when they’re being silly, and learn to love ‘em anyhow, ‘cause the world is chock full of silly ponies.”

“Not for long,” Silver Spoon said.

“Heh,” Applejack said, then chuckled more. “Heh. Hahah. Bwa ha ha ha ha!” Her body shook as she laughed, sending quivers all through Silver Spoon, until suddenly there was a ‘popping’ sensation, and Silver Spoon’s bulging belly squished out to the sides, lowering her hooves towards the ground tantalizingly before bouncing her back up out of reach.

“Ahh!” Silver Spoon flailed around, trying to steady herself, and managed to squish the whole huge bulging sack of her belly out of the side, letting her put two hooves on the blanket, at least. “Applejack?” she asked, realizing that the mare had suddenly gone silent. “Applejack, are you okay?”

The voice that came back didn’t sound much like Applejack. She could barely hear it, like a gurgled whisper. “Woah, nelly,” it said. “I think that about did it… my belly split open, just like a balloon.”

“Did it hurt?” Silver Spoon asked.

“Nah,” Applejack croaked. “It’s gettin’ hard to talk, though. Tongue’th goin’ all thticky.” There was a long pause. “Thould make ya’ ‘appy.”

“Not really,” Silver Spoon said. “I hate this. I hate all this. It’s not fair!”

“Yeah, ‘t ain’t,” Applejack said, even fainter than before. “yer a g’d kid.”

“The best,” Silver Spoon said, smirking. When Applejack didn’t reply, she poked at her belly with her stranded legs, feeling around for any sign that the Apple mare was still around, but all she could feel was her own squishy flesh, and sloshing liquid inside.

“Second best,” she said, glancing towards the barn where Diamond Tiara was digesting her own meal, once she was sure that nopony was left to listen.

===

The first thing they noticed, when Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo finally approached Fluttershy’s house, was that all the animals were missing. There were no squirrels in the trees, or songbirds perching on the branches, and even the chicken coop was deathly quiet.

The cottage itself didn’t seem deserted – the door was shut, the windows shuttered, but there was a merry little line of smoke floating up through the chimney.

So, they knocked.

“Is that a pony at my door?” came a familiar voice – familiar, but not Fluttershy. “I fear my pot can hold no more.”

Rainbow Dash slammed the door open, and said, “Zecora?”

Indeed the zebra was there, having cleared out the center of Fluttershy’s living room to make room for her giant cauldron, in which a thick greenish liquid was bubbling away.

Rainbow dashed towards it, hooves outstretched, but Derpy’s softening mass inside her slowed her down enough for Zecora to interpose her giant spoon, blocking her attack. “Let Fluttershy go!”

“Quiet your rage, colorful one. Fluttershy’s tale is not yet done.”

“Not until you finish cooking her, you mean!” Rainbow Dash said, glaring back at her.

Zecora smiled. “This stew is made of ponies, yes, but the exact contents you have not guessed.”

“I thought you had to swallow ponies whole, not cook them,” Scootaloo said.

“She can’t swallow anypony, because she’s not even a pony,” Rainbow Dash said. “Discord’s spell only works on ponies.” She turned back to Zecora, suspiciously. “So what are you really doing here?”

Zecora shook her head. “Discord’s spell does not work on zebras, this much is true, but it works on the ponies that I cook in my stew. I boil them to goo, and reduce them to jelly, and then slurp their magic into my belly.”

There was a splashing noise behind her, and what might have been a pony head poked out of the churning liquid, followed by a second. They were covered in green goop, and didn’t seem to have any ears or mane. “Zecora?” one of them asked, in a pony’s voice. “Why did you stop stirring?”

“Don’t worry,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ll get you out!”

“Oh, it’s far too late for that,” the other pony said. “We’ve been hypnotized by the evil enchantress, and now want nothing more than to be cooked in her soup!”

“The horror,” said the first one. “The horror!” As one, they lifted goo-covered hooves to their foreheads, and then fainted, sinking back into the pot.

“Oh,” Rainbow Dash said, backing off. “Those two.”

Zecora smiled, as she turned and started stirring again. “They seemed surprised to find me here, but some ponies like to feel fear. I play the part they ask of me, for how else would I fill my belly?”

“And you’re sure Fluttershy’s not in there?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Getting melted without having to get eaten sounds like something she’d do.”

“Indeed, she invited me here, because to be swallowed filled her with fear. She desired to quietly melt away,” Zecora said. “But another came to spirit her away. Rarity took her to Canterlot, where fancy ponies like to trot. ‘Come with me!’ she said, ‘you must. You must! And we shall dine with the upper crust!’”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “I guess we might as well get going, then. C’mon, squirt.”

Zecora glanced back at them. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay and eat? Pony stew is quite the treat.”

“Nah,” Rainbow Dash said, sloshing her belly a bit. It was sloshy, now, and Derpy wasn’t making any more complaints. “I already ate. I’ll probably go check on Pinkie Pie, then head up to Cloudsdale. They’re having some big contest.”

“And you’ll take me with you?” Scootaloo asked.

“No, I’m taking you home,” Rainbow Dash said. “You should be with your folks.”

“But they’re booooring!” Scootaloo whined.

===

The sunlight was dim and red by the time they got back to Ponyville proper. The streets were nearly empty, everypony left having headed home ahead of the dark. Something else seemed off, however, besides the relative lack of ponies on the street. After a few minutes, Scootaloo realized it was the lack of shadows. The sun was dim and red, but still high in the sky, shining down from directly overhead.

Of course. There were no princesses to move it, anymore.

While they were gloomily contemplating that, they almost literally ran into another pony nervously watching the sky. Rainbow Dash held out a hoof to hold her back, and Mayor Mare looked down, and gave one of her trademarked phony smiles. “Oh, Rainbow Dash! Shouldn’t you be in Cloudsdale, with the rest of the pegasi?”

“I had a few things to clean up, here,” Rainbow Dash said. “You know me, always busy.”

The mayor laughed, nervously. “There’s so much to do – with the princesses’ absence, all sorts of problems that they used to handle are being left in my in-box. I haven’t even had time to eat.”

“You haven’t eaten anypony?” Rainbow Dash asked, concerned. “You know that everypony’s supposed to either eat or get eaten by nightfall. We went over that at the meeting this morning. YOU went over that at the meeting this morning!”

“I’m just so busy,” Mayor Mare said. “And it’s not mandatory.”

Rainbow Dash fluttered up in the air, waving her arms, “Well, it should be! You have to eat somepony, right now!”

“Huh?” came a voice from behind them. It was Sparkler, getting up from where she’d been dozing all day in the park. “Why?”

“Because night is coming!” Rainbow Dash said. “Everypony had horrible nightmares last night, and that was with the princesses protecting us. Tonight’s going to be a hundred times worse!”

“Well, then,” the Mayor said, glancing nervously between Rainbow Dash, Sparkler, and Scootaloo. “Would one of you –“

“Sure, I’ll eat you,” Sparkler said, trotting over to join them. “I was meaning to eat somepony, but I kind of lost track of time.”

“No no no, I need somepony to eat,” the Mayor said. “I have too much work to do to get eaten! Somepony has to keep Ponyville organized, or it’ll be chaos. Sheer chaos!”

“Well, I’m the best organizer in Ponyville, now that Twilight’s gone,” Sparkler said. “You can leave it all to me.”

They stared at each other for a bit, then the mayor turned to Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash, could I… perhaps… impose on you to…”

“No!” Scootaloo said, pushing her way between them. “You can’t eat Rainbow Dash!”

“Sure she can,” Sparkler said. “She eats Rainbow, I’ll eat you, and then we’ll both be around to keep things chaos free tomorrow.”

“Nopony’s eating me except Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said. “So neither of you can eat her, or me.”

“Yeah, she’s kind of been looking forwards to it all day,” Rainbow Dash said, putting a hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulders. “Seriously, it’s all she talks about. Can’t you, I don’t know, flip a coin or something?”

“This isn’t the sort of thing you can leave up to chance,” Mayor Mare said. “The business of bureaucracy is too important!”

“I’d be a way better mare for the job than her,” Sparkler said, glaring at the mayor, who met her gaze and glared right back.

Scootaloo shifted from hoof to hoof impatiently. This standoff was making her nervous – that they might get caught outside when night fell, and worse, that Rainbow Dash might give in and let these crazy ponies eat her. Suddenly, she had an idea.

“I’ve got it!” she said. “I know where you both can find ponies to eat, that nopony will ever miss!”

“Really?” the Mayor said. “And they’d let us eat them, willingly? You’re sure of this.”

“Yeah, yeah, just say that they have to, and they’ll do anything you say, since you’re in charge,” Scootaloo said. “They’re always totally obsessed with the rules.”

A few minutes later, Sparkler, the mayor, and Rainbow Dash followed Scootaloo up to a familiar house. “Scoots?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Isn’t this your place?”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo said. “And my folks are way too boring to eat or get eaten by anypony on their own. It’s perfect!” Before Rainbow could stop her, she ran up to the door and flung it open. “Mom? Dad?”

“Yes, dear?” came a voice from inside.

Scootaloo grinned and turned to them. “Told you. Come on in!”

Scootaloo’s parents certainly didn’t look like anything special. Sparkling Watermelon was a pale red earth pony mare with a purple mane done up in a bun, and a cutie mark of a watermelon wedge. Tomato Ring was a bright orange earth pony stallion with a bright red spiky mane, that looked like it had never been brushed, and a cutie mark of a slice of tomato. They kept an orderly home, with a clean carpet and well-dusted furniture, and were quick to add an extra leaf to the weathered wooden dining room table, and set out extra plates for their guests. A few minutes after everypony was seated, Sparkling Watermelon brought out a dish of warm casserole from the oven, and started spooning a bit of it onto everypony’s plate.

“I’m afraid we won’t have enough for seconds,” she said, smiling as she dropped a slithery lump of noodles and veggies on Scootaloo’s plate. “We weren’t expecting guests tonight.”

“Yes, well,” the mayor said, adjusting her ascot. “As lovely as this casserole is, I’m afraid we didn’t come to eat.”

“Yes we did,” Sparkler said.

“What do you mean?” Tomato Ring asked, as his wife returned to the kitchen to put the casserole dish in the sink. “Are we in trouble?”

Scootaloo nodded, grinning. “Big trouble!”

Mayor Mare glanced at her, then hardened her smile into a serious, grim line. “I’m afraid Scootaloo is right. Is it true that neither of you has yet to devour another pony?”

The empty casserole dish clattered to the kitchen floor.

“Well, um,” Tomato Ring stammered.

Sparkling Watermelon stormed back into the dining room. “You can’t be serious? We thought that announcement was a joke.”

“Right,” Tomato Ring said. “Eating another pony? How would that even work?”

“You just kind of stretch,” Scootaloo said. “It’s not that hard.”

The mayor shook her head sadly. “I’m sorry, Scootaloo, but the deadline has passed. I’m afraid there’s only one thing to do at this point. Your parents will have to pay the penalty.”

“What – what penalty?” Sparkling Watermelon asked.

“It was clearly outlined in the announcement this morning,” Mayor Mare said. “If you didn’t want to eat another pony, then another pony would have to eat you. Sparkler and I have been designated to carry out that sentence.”

“Please…” Sparkling Watermelon said, kneeling down.

“She can eat me!” Tomato Ring said.

“No… Tomato – you should eat me… I can’t – I couldn’t –“

“Oh, enough with the waterworks,” Sparkler said. “It’s out of your hooves at this point.”

The mayor nodded. “It would set a very bad precedent if we started breaking the rules this early in the process,” she said. “Please, for Scootaloo’s sake, I urge you to cooperate.”

“But… but who’ll take care of her?” Sparkling Watermelon asked.

“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo said, bouncing up onto the table.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’ll take you to Cloudsdale with me.”

“See? I’ll be fine!” Scootaloo said.

===

Once Scootaloo’s parents accepted their fate, they moved into the bedroom and lay on the bed, facing each other and gazing into each other’s eyes, while Sparkler and the Mayor started to take them in, rear hooves first. Tomato stroked his wife’s face with a forehoof, wiping away her tears, and they kissed.

“I know we’ll be together again,” he said. “Somehow, somewhere…”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at that, but she was off in a corner of the room, out of their line of sight. Scootaloo, for her part, made gagging notions at the sappiness, which continued unabated as their legs and tails vanished into Sparkler and Mayor Mare’s mouths, and then the two ponies’ mouths gaped wide to engulf their rear ends.

“I’ll never forget you,” Watermelon said, as Mayor Mare’s lips slid up over her cutie marks.

“And I’ll never… never…” Tomato Ring started to pant, and drool, as Sparkler’s tongue slipped between his legs.

“Honey? Honey, what are you doing?” Watermelon asked.

“I’m sorry, but her tongue is… it’s right… ooooh,” Tomato’s eyes rolled up in his head, as Sparkler’s throat convulsed around him, pulling him deeper inside her. Her expressions were somewhat limited with her mouth spread wide around her meal, but her eyes were sparkling mischievously.

“Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare –” she glanced aside at Scootaloo, who was looking on at the scene, confused. “Scootaloo, leave the room! Leave the room now!”

“Yeah, squirt, I think we’re done here,” Rainbow Dash said, covering Scootaloo’s eyes and ushering her back into the main room. As they closed the door behind them, they could hear Tomato giving a long, sensuous moan.

The two of them sat together on the couch, not saying anything, and definitely not listening to the muffled screaming and arguing coming from the bedroom. The firefly lanterns that would normally provide light were empty, so there was only the gradually dimming sunlight, filtering in through the windows and painting everything in shades of red.

Rainbow Dash was a colorless silhouette as she rose from the couch and headed for one of the windows. The noise from the bedroom was quieter, by that point, but hadn’t died out completely. She tsk’d as she looked up at the sun. “This is cutting it really close. I hope we’re not too late for them.”

There was a loud fizzle, and a deafening ‘pop’, as the sun suddenly exploded in sparks, and everything went dark.