Author's Note

This chapter has some stuff in it that isn't really soft vore. Cooking, mostly. If that's going to bother you, you should probably stop reading when they go into the spa.

Ponyville Pony Fest

Cheerilee waited until Carrot Top was a softening mass of flesh in her stomach before moving on. Like she’d noticed before with Twilight, most of the extra weight quickly vanished as she moved around, her tummy gradually shrinking as the pony’s body was completely absorbed, without leaving behind the massive layers of fat (or equally massive bowel movements) that would have been inevitable if she’d eaten an equal mass of ice cream or cake. By the time she reached Ponyville proper, she looked like her old self.

Ponyville was decorated for a festival – balloons everywhere, and streamers in the clashing riot of colors she remembered from her youth, before Rarity took over most of the decoration. An enthusiastically painted banner proclaimed that this was the ‘Ponyville Pony Fest~~iv~~’, the last two letters crossed out after the ponies painting the banner had run out of space. Crude stick figures of ponies cavorted randomly around the margins.

Most of the remaining ponies seemed to be gathering in the town square, so she headed there to join them. Mayor Mare and Sparkler were up on the front porch of Town Hall, once more converted into a stage, looking like they were preparing to give a speech. Nearby, the Ponyville Spa and Sugar Cube Corner both had signage indicating that some sort of special deal going on, and all the standard carnival games had been dragged out of storage. There was no sign of the creepy puppet pony who’d visited the town earlier, but perhaps a puppet show wouldn’t be needed.

The crowd waited impatiently. Cheerilee spotted a couple of mares she knew, and worked her way over to stand with them. There weren’t as many ponies crowded in the square as there normally would have been, but everypony was still trying to press forwards to get a good spot near the stage, so the crowd was as dense as ever.

“Cherry Berry! Berry Punch! Glad to see the two of you made it through the night,” Cheerilee said, with a friendly smile.

“Surprised to see you up and walking around,” Cherry Berry said, staring at her suspiciously. “Where were you when the mayor was running around in a panic drafting ponies to set up all the decorations?”

“I was probably busy eating breakfast,” Cheerilee admitted.

Cherry Berry nodded. “Anypony we know?”

Cheerilee tilted her head. “Did you know Carrot Top?”

Berry Punch, who’d stayed silent, smacked her lips a couple of times, and then put a hoof on Cheerilee’s shoulders. “I’m starving,” she said. “Can I eat you?”

“I’d really rather you didn’t,” Cheerilee said, taking a step back.

Berry Punch smiled. “Sometimes it works.” There was an uncomfortably long pause. “So, do you want to eat me?”

“Maybe… later?” Cheerilee suggested. “I’m sure Mayor Mare will be starting things any minute now.”

“I’ll eat you,” Cherry Berry said. “Come on, get in my belly.”

Cheerilee watched in morbid fascination as Berry Punch lurched unsteadily towards Cherry Berry, her eyes unfocused. Cherry Berry raised a hoof and held it up to Berry Punch’s chin, steadying her and pulling her head around to look her in the eye.

“How much salt has she had?” Cheerilee asked.

“I don’t think it’s salt,” Cherry Berry said. “I found her like this in what was left of Octavia and Scratch’s house. It must have been one hay of a party, since nopony else was around.”

“It was one HECK of a party,” Berry Punch said, grinning, and sticking out her tongue to lick Cherry Berry’s nose. “Can’t top it. Not even gonna try.”

Cherry Berry pulled her chin forwards, then spread her lips, taking Berry Punch’s muzzle into her mouth. The somewhat incoherent mare made a cooing noise, and nuzzled her way in further. Cheerilee, and the rest of the ponies nearby, had to dodge to the side as the two of them lost their balance, and fell to the ground.

“You’d better get started. They’re eating each other out there!” Sparkler said from the stage, quietly enough that it was probably only meant for the Mayor, but the crowd was small enough that everypony could make it out.

“Alright, alright,” replied the Mayor in a similar voice, before stepping up to the podium. “Fillies and Gentlecolts, your attention please!”

Cheerilee shifted half her attention to the stage, but couldn’t help but watch as Cherry Berry’s lips slowly moved down Berry Punch’s neck, her forelegs tugging at her meal’s shoulders to drag her deeper inside, since she was too out of it to assist.

Did it even still count as consent if the pony being eaten was too high on salt to figure out what was going on? Apparently the answer was ‘yes’, at least according to Discord’s spell. That could end up being a good thing or a bad thing – good for Equestria’s chances of ‘uniting’ in time, bad for the conditions that ponies might have to live with before then. On balance, therefore, a good thing, since all the pain that might be caused by ponies drugging each other to get their ‘consent’ would be forgotten.

Regardless… she glanced at the other ponies nearby, and saw that many of them were watching Cherry Berry’s efforts with the same look of fascination that she probably had on her own face. She hoped that they were just enjoying the show, and not planning to reproduce the conditions that led Berry Punch to volunteer.

She tried to pay attention to the Mayor’s speech.

“If the spa ponies’ treatment sounds too conventional, then I’d appreciate it if you’d give a thought to our other featured venue. Pinkie Pie, from Sugar Cube Corner, promises something exciting and unique, for anypony that wants to join her in her baking! She’s seeking ponies of all flavors for what she promises will be a masterpiece, remembered fondly until the end of the world! Finally, if neither of those tickle your fancy…”

Cheerilee’s mind wandered, imagining a row of cakes with blinking pony eyes, being swallowed whole one by one by Pinkie Pie’s insane cake-devouring abilities. Would she have been able to swallow a pony whole, even without the spell? She couldn’t rule it out. Certainly, Pinkie Pie wouldn’t linger on it like Cherry Berry was, although it was probably not a matter of choice in her case. Berry Punch had gone completely limp, and her limbs were sprawled out in all the wrong directions.

“Do you need any help?” she asked. Cherry Berry shook her head, slightly, and forced herself onto her belly, letting her get both forelimbs into position to work on helping her swallow her seemingly unconscious meal.

There was a cheer from the part of the crowd not distracted by the spectacle, which must have meant the end of the Mayor’s speech, since ponies started to disperse, most of them heading for the carnival booths, although a few headed towards Sugar Cube Corner or the spa. Cheerilee saw Sparkler and Mayor Mare talking to each other in low voices, and with a last glance at Cherry Berry, hurried towards the stage to talk to them.

“Cheerilee!” said the Mayor, looking up as she approached. “How wonderful to see you joining us at last!”

“Nopony’s seen you since you sent the students home from class early yesterday,” Sparkler said. “We all thought you’d left town.”

“Really?” Cheerilee asked, forcing a smile. “I would have thought the first thing ponies would assume was that I’d been eaten.”

Sparkler snorted. “I heard how nervous you were in class when you thought Twilight was going to be the one eating you.”

“Not that that’s anything to be ashamed of,” the Mayor quickly added.

“Yes it is,” Sparkler said. “Everypony’s afraid, but they’re getting eaten anyway. Everypony needs to get eaten. Having a high-profile member of the community acting like it’s something to avoid is devastating to morale.”

“I’m sorry if that’s the impression I gave,” Cheerilee said. “Are things really that bad? Morale doesn’t seem to be devastated.”

“Where have you been, though?” the Mayor asked. “We stopped by your house this morning, but there was no sign you’d spent the night there.”

“I was looking over Twilight Sparkle’s notes, and lost track of time. When the sun went out I was caught completely off guard.” Cheerilee paused. “I was planning to do a census to see if Ponyville was on track, or if we needed to work harder to get everypony to cooperate, but it looks like you’re already doing everything you can to encourage ponies to let other ponies eat them. If you’d like, I could monitor the festival and see how many ponies are actually getting eaten?”

“We’ve got this,” Sparkler said.

“We could always use more data,” Mayor Mare said. “But everything seems to be under control at the moment. So if you find yourself tempted by any of the options available, you are highly encouraged to participate.”

Cheerilee nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.” She turned to go, then looked back. “If you don’t mind me asking, how do the two of you plan to go about getting eaten, when it’s your turn?”

“Oh!” the Mayor said. “We’ve been much too busy to worry about that.”

Sparkler rolled her eyes. “We’ll figure it out when the time comes. There’s plenty of time.”

“There might not be as much time as you think,” Cheerilee said. “In order to keep Equestria as a whole on track, small towns like Ponyville need to be reduced to a small handful of ponies no later than the end of the third day. At the very least, you should be planning to move the survivors to one of the larger cities by then.”

Sparkler narrowed her eyes. “We’ve got this.”

The Mayor smiled back at Cheerilee. “Don’t worry, we’ll take your recommendation under advisement in our future plans.”

Sparkler waved her off. “Go get eaten already.”

Cheerilee sighed loudly, and headed back towards the small knot of ponies surrounding Cherry Berry. She arrived just in time to see Berry Punch’s cutie marks vanish into Cherry Berry’s lips. Things were going faster, now, with most of her meal inside her – and awake again, now, her hind legs kicking randomly, as if she was struggling against being eaten.

“Let me out!” came a faint voice, muffled inside Cherry Berry’s stomach.

“Bit late for changing your mind,” said one of the bystanders. “You’re already mostly eaten.”

“I didn’t change my mind! I just have to goooooo.”

Cherry Berry’s eyes went wide, and she tried to let Berry Punch out, struggling to reverse her throat’s instinctive convulsions, to no avail. Cheerilee and Junebug dodged the blind kicking and grabbed on to Berry Punch’s legs, trying to pull her back out, but it was no use – between Berry’s wiggling, and Cherry Berry’s swallowing, she sank inexorably deeper and deeper into her throat. Cheerilee let go when she ran out of leg to hold on to, and stepped back, watching the hooves vanish between her lips.

Cherry Berry gave a strangled squeak, her throat still too full to speak, and looked faintly green.

“Ahhh….,” came a voice from inside her. “Never mind. I’m good.”

===

“I can still taste it,” Cherry Berry said, a few minutes later when she felt rested enough to walk. “And I think she threw up inside me. Twice.”

“I’m not sure why it matters,” Cheerilee said. “All of that was going to be in your stomach eventually, wasn’t it?”

“It matters because it’s gross,” Cherry Berry replied. “And just thinking about it makes me feel sick. Do I have a fever? I feel dizzy.”

Cheerilee rested her fetlock against her companion’s forehead. “Hmm,” she said. “You don’t feel feverish. Do you want to find the nurse?”

“Ha!” Cherry Berry gave a bitter laugh. “I know exactly what they’d prescribe. They’d tell me to get eaten.”

The two of them were walking around the square, where ponies who were putting off deciding whether to eat or be eaten were playing various carnival games instead. One of the ring toss booths had a live pony hogtied and hanging from the ceiling, among the other prizes. Cheerilee stared at him, and he gave her a nervous grin. “Want to try to win the grand prize?” he said, while the attendant dealt with a customer. She rolled her eyes, and they moved on.

“I’d do it,” Cherry Berry said. “I’m not some selfish jerk who’s planning to live forever. But I’d probably just make whoever ate me as sick as I am.”

“Well, probably not quite as sick,” Cheerilee said. “It would be diluted. Eventually, a pony could eat the pony that ate the pony that ate you and not be sick at all.”

“Are you volunteering?” Cherry Berry asked.

Cheerilee frowned, as their circuit took them near the spa, where one of the twins – Aloe, was it? – was out by the door smiling and waving ponies inside. “I’d rather not,” she said. “Why don’t we check out the spa? Maybe they’ll have something in there for you.”

Cherry Berry chuckled. “I guess I could go for some soup.”

“Soup?” Cheerilee asked, as they headed for the door.

“It’s more of a stew,” Aloe said, smiling. “I take it you two are here to eat? I hope you’ll consider sampling our other services.”

Inside, they could see that there were several lines. There was a line for the sauna, with a few ponies waiting their turn. There was a longer line for the hot tub, which was surprising since it was usually something that many ponies could use at once – but it was, indeed, completely full, and Cheerilee could count a dozen pony heads sticking out of the water, although it was hard to make out who was who through the clouds of steam, since the water inside was literally boiling. There was space for a line for a ‘super-deep bone-crunching tenderizing massage’, but it didn’t look like anypony was in a hurry to find out what exactly that meant, not when the masseur was a giant brick of a pegasus that didn’t look like he should be able to fly, which would explain why he hadn’t headed up to Cloudsdale with the rest of them.

“You should line up for the hot tub,” said one of the ponies in that line. “I know the line looks longer, but it moves a lot more quickly.”

“I was actually hoping to get something to eat, to settle my stomach,” Cherry Berry said. “This doofus in here doesn’t really agree with me.” Berry Punch shifted around a bit inside her, but didn’t say anything in response.

“Oh, if you’d care to wait over here then?” Lotus said, and led the two of them over to a set of couches off to the side. They were already occupied, but Cheerilee and Cherry Berry sat down next to them, joining the crowd waiting to eat. “The first pony from the sauna should be ready shortly. I do hope that the result is edible… the hot tub is already so crowded,” Lotus said.

Cheerilee watched as Lotus got the giant pegasus to come with her, over to the sauna. The two of them put on thick protective gear, and she could still see them recoil as they opened the door. A strangely tantalizing aroma wafted out into the room, turning every head.

What emerged had once been a unicorn mare. Her form was still intact and pony-shaped, but her eyes were closed and she wasn’t moving. Her mane and coat and the hair on her tail were all missing, and the skin underneath was a very unnatural color – a rich golden brown, like a loaf of bread. She didn’t smell like bread, though. She still smelled sort of like a pony – what a cooked pony smelled like, presumably.

While the pegasus dragged her across the room, the stone slab she was resting on scraping against the floor tiles, Lotus took out a set of clippers and started shaving the next pony in line, who laid down on another slab to let her work.

Cheerilee and the others stared at the steaming pile of pony flesh set before them. “So… we each take a piece?” Cheerilee asked.

“Yeah!” the pegasus said, loudly.

Cheerilee leaned forwards, and gingerly set her teeth against the pony’s skin, on her shoulder. It had already started to cool, and she was fairly confident that she wouldn’t get badly burned. She bit down, like she was biting into an apple, but it was more like biting into a roasted eggplant – the skin was tougher than expected, but not tightly attached anymore, and a torn piece of it came off in her teeth, while the soft flesh beneath it mostly stayed in place. She slurped the skin into her mouth and chewed.

Everypony else looked at her expectantly. “It’s… odd,” she said, after swallowing. She leaned down and took a bite of the muscle from the spot she’d exposed. Hot juices filled her mouth, and she had to worry at it a bit to get a piece of it to come loose. Once it was in her mouth, though, it almost seemed to melt, covering her tongue and filling her senses with the taste and smell of pony flesh, far more intense than what she’d tasted eating ponies whole.

“It’s definitely edible,” she said to Lotus, when the spa pony came back over to see how they were all doing, after shaving the next pony and shoving them into the massively overheated sauna. A few of the other ponies nodded in agreement, having followed Cheerilee’s lead once it was obvious that the experience hadn’t killed her, or been so disgusting that she wished she was dead.

“The meat is edible, I see,” Lotus said, looking over the bite marks that they’d left in the pony’s legs and hips. “But what about the organs? The bones?” She placed her hooves on the roasted pony, and pushed her over onto her side, then tore open her belly with her teeth, like she was opening a gift-wrapped package. Steaming coils of intestines spilled across the slab and onto the floor, the rounded lumps of organs swimming in them like breadballs in a plate of spaghetti.

“I hear from the griffons, that the liver is a prized morsel,” Lotus said, poking around in the mess until she located the large dark mass. Reddish slime coated her hooves as she held it up to the others.

“I think… I’m going to be sick now,” Cherry Berry said, staring at the gruesome display.

Nopony else seemed to be in a hurry to eat it either.

Lotus sighed. “Oh, I was afraid of this,” she said. “I suppose the inside bits will have to go into the stew.” She walked over to a cabinet, retrieving a giant bowl half as large as she was, and started scooping the pony’s innards into it wholesale.

Cheerilee stared in fascination at the parts of a pony she’d previously only seen in an anatomy textbook, and leaned down to take another bite.

===

Cherry Berry excused herself from the feast around the time the third pony came out of the sauna. Cheerilee and the others were still working on the first pony – there was a lot of meat on a pony if you didn’t swallow it all at once. Eating roasted pony flesh – all rich and greasy – hadn’t done anything to settle her stomach, and even after Berry Punch dissolved into goop she still felt light-headed and slightly ill. She didn’t feel up to being swallowed whole, and the line for the hot tub was longer than ever.

Cherry Berry walked over to the pegasus, who was still minding his empty line. “So, big guy,” she said. “This massage of yours.”

“Yeah!” he said, posing for her and showing off his pectoral muscles.

“I’ll be dead at the end of it, right?” she asked. “Ready for somepony to eat? Like those ponies that got roasted like carrots.”

“Yeah!” he said, cracking his wrists.

Cherry Berry looked him over. “And it won’t hurt?”

He shrugged.

“Hah,” she said. “Fine, do me.”

The pegasus flipped her up onto his back, and before she knew what was happening he’d dragged her off into a back room, where he dumped her on her belly on an ordinary looking massage table – except for the straps. “Safety first!” said a poster on the wall, that she had time to read as the pegasus pulled her legs down one at a time and fastened them in the restraints. It had a picture of a smiling pony being strapped down onto a table, much like she was. “Unwanted movement during a deep tissue massage can lead to back pain, dislocated joints, or loss of function. For your safety, stay still and relaxed while your masseur works her magic!”

“Oh Celestia, this is going to hurt, isn’t it,” she said, as her fourth leg was strapped down tight. The restraints were not comfortable – they were too tight, and had sharp edges which bit into her skin. Her belly was still bloated, and having it pressed so tightly against the table wasn’t comfortable either. But the worst part was still the anticipation. She cringed and clenched her teeth, her eyes tightly shut.

A pair of hooves like hammers slammed down on her hips, driving them against the table. Cherry Berry gave a strangled squeal as they kept pressing, pressing and pressing and not letting up, until with a series of cracks and pops her hip bones shattered. Even after that he didn’t let up, kneading and massaging with impossible force, the bones inside the loose sack of skin that used to be her hindquarters crackling like popcorn, until everything was ground into powder.

And it hurt. It hurt a lot. Not as much as it should have, she realized, as the pain started to fade. It hurt like a really intense massage. And now, the parts that he’d crushed felt impossibly relaxed. If only they didn’t ache so much, it might almost feel good.

“Keep going,” she gasped. This had been a terrible mistake, and she was going to die in intense discomfort, instead of the gentle passing that most of the other options offered, but it was too late to stop now. If nothing else, he was going pretty quickly, so it would all be over soon.

The hooves came down on the middle of her back, next, and she heard her spine shatter. The impossible pressure from the masseur’s impossible strength bore down on her abdomen, and she felt something burst –

===

Cheerilee kicked at the skull of the pony she was eating with her hoof a second time, and this time managed to shatter the bone. She pried off the sharp little shards, exposing the brain. There wasn’t much meat left on the pony, and she’d even eaten her tongue (a tasty little morsel), and sucked out the squishy little eyeballs (which had been disappointingly flavorless and watery).

She hadn’t said anything when Cherry Berry had gone off and left her, partly because her mouth was full at the time, and partly because she didn’t really know Cherry Berry that well and the time she’d spent with her whining, sarcasm, and general bad attitude made her realize why they’d never become closer friends.

But she still wondered what was happening to her, and she looked up as she saw the door to the back room open. The pegasus inside gingerly poked his head out into the room, a rather sad expression on his face. Lotus noticed as well, and walked over to speak to him.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said, looking like he was about to cry.

“Let me see,” Lotus said, with a sigh, and he stood aside as she poked her head into the room. “Oooh, I was afraid of that,” she said. “I’ll get a mop.”