Applejack sat on the bed in her room nervously rubbing her hands together. She glanced out the window to see the moon rising into the night sky. She knew should be have gone to sleep hours ago, but she was too anxious. She hadn’t even taken off her plaid button up or her jeans. They had spent a month training Winona on a new method of dealing with nighttime intruders, and this was the first night they were putting her training into practice. It was unlikely that anything would happen, but if something did…

Her head shot up when she suddenly heard barking from out in the orchard. Applejack could instantly tell it was Winona and as she listened for a few more moments, she realized it was the certain type of barking that they had trained her to use to let them know that she had caught an intruder.

Applejack veritably lept off of her bed and raced out of her room, barreled down the stairs and out the front door. She couldn’t see very well in the dark, but Winona’s continuous barking was enough to guide her. She quickly found her beloved pet and a wide grin crossed her face. There she was, suspended nearly three feet off the ground atop a massively distended belly. “Good girl, Winona!” Applejack shouted as she rushed up to her dog. Sure enough, that massive gut of hers was writhing about with the struggling of whoever she had caught intruding on the farm. “I knew you could do it, Winona!” Applejack said as she started scritching under Winona’s chin and scratching behind her ears, “Good girl!”

“AJ! AJ, is that you!?” came a muffled voice from inside Winona’s belly.

Applejack’s face scrunched up and she stopped lavishing attention on her dog. It was hard to tell coming from inside her dog, but she was sure she recognized that voice… Her eyes shot open and she kneeled down to put her face besides that massive, fuzzy belly. “Rainbow Dash?! Is that you?”

“AJ, you gotta help me! Your dog just devoured me!” came Rainbow’s voice from inside.

“Well yeah she did, that’s what we’ve been training her to do to nighttime intruders!” Applejack replied. “Didn’t I tell ya about this?”

“No!” came the quick response.

Applejack blinked. “Huh, I must’ve forgotten…” she said under her breath to herself. “What the hay were you doing on the farm this time of night anyway?”

“I was just going to set up a prank! That’s all!”

“Well you sure picked a fine night for pranking!” Applejack let out a heavy sigh. “I sure am sorry ‘bout this Dash. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. At least now we know Winona’s training worked like a charm.” She gave a hard pat against Winona’s massively bulged gut. “Thanks for being a guinea pig for us, Rainbow!” She reached back up and started rubbing the back of Winona’s neck. “Good girl, Winona! Catching that nasty nighttime intruder like that!” Winoa barked back at her, tail happily wagging back and forth.

“W-wait, what!? You are going to let me out, aren’t you!?” came the panicked cry from inside Winona’s belly.

“And how the hay am I supposed to do that? Cut Winona’s belly open?” Applejack shook her head. “Sorry, Dash. You were a good friend, but now it looks like yer just dog food.”

“What!?” Rainbow shouted, “Applejack, please, you can’t be serious! You have to get me out! Applejack!”

But Applejack wasn’t paying attention to her anymore, instead focusing on Winona. “Such a good girl, doing exactly like we trained you to do!” she said as she pet her dog’s back, Winona’s tongue hanging out of her mouth as she enjoyed the attention. “I bet you want to go inside and get some rest while your belly works on taking care of that intruder, don’t you?” Winona gave a quick bark in response, getting a smile from AJ. “That’ what I thought! Than let's go, girl!”

Winona whined as she helplessly waggled her legs back and forth, suspended well out of reach of the ground by the pegasus filling her belly. “...Huh, that’s something we hadn’t considered…” Applejack said to herself as she watched Winona flail about for a few moments. “It’s nothing we can’t fix, though! C’mere, girl!” Applejack leaned down and wrapped her arms around that massive furry belly, picking up Winona to carry her back inside. Winona appreciatively licked her face, causing Applejack to chuckle. “Don’t thank me yet, girl, we ain’t back home yet!” It was a heavy load to carry, but nothing that Applejack couldn’t handle. She ignored the continued shouting and pleading of Winona’s midnight snack as she made her way back, a task that became easier as more and more gurgling and churning started to drown out the words.

Before long she stepped back inside the farmhouse. Big Mac was there, standing at the bottom of the stairs rubbing his eyes. He had clearly just woken up and only threw on a pair of jeans, leaving his well developed chest exposed. “Applejack? What-” His widened and his face lit up and she took in the impossibly stuffed form of the family dog. “Winona caught someone?”

“Sure did!” Applejack said as she put the giant ball of fuzz with a dog on top down on the throw rug in the middle of the living room.

“Great!” Big Mac said as he walked up to Winona to give her some attention. “Anyone we know?”

“That’s the regrettable part. It was Rainbow Dash.” Applejack replied.

“It was?” Big Mac asked, taking a closer look at the bugle in their dog’s belly.

Applejack could hear the disappointment in her brother’s voice. “Yeah, sorry, Mac. I know you kinda had the hots for her.” She said, resting a hand on his shoulder. “But now she’s just gonna be fertilizer.”

Mac let out a loud sigh. “Least we know her training worked,” he said.

Applejack nodded. “Yeah, that was my thinking, too.” A large yawn suddenly forced her mouth open. “I dunno about you, but wasn’t able to sleep at all with how worried I was about Winona. Now that she’s all situated, I’m gonna hit the hay.”

Big Mac nodded. “I’ll be doing the same.”

They both turned towards the stairs, but spared a moment to look back. “And goodnight, Winona!” Applejack said.

Winona yipped back in response, then rested her head against her huge belly. The shouting and movement inside her gut had stopped now, replaced entirely by gurgling and sloshing. The sounds were enough to help the canine drift off to sleep.

Author's Note

story idea inspired by a conversation with Rusticpony!

speaking of which, here's the promised image to go along with it!