“Hoo, boy! You’ve really let yourself go! You should probably wake up now and…try not to freak out?”

Whatever that voice was, Starlight was too busy trying to open her heavy eyes. Dabs of chocolate and sticky, fruity sweets covered her mouth and even licorice stick was stuck in her mane. She used the back of her hands to rub her eyes and attempted to pull herself up…she was permanently pinned.

“What in Equestri—AAAAAAHHH!!”

The Spellcaster’s womb had been busy during her sleep, as the shape she saw stretched upward like a mountain. Her body had become massive. Her womb stood tall, possibly as big as a doorframe while her over-swollen breasts had been soaking her witches robe from the amount of nutrition she had been producing. She heard gurgles, sloshes, groans and for some reason a strain, all coming from her body.

“Sh-shadow! Wake up!”

The shadow was already awake as its lowest pitched voice echoed inside her.

“Wha-what-what time is it? BESOM??”

The broom flew around her shape looking at her expression and opened the shutters. Starlight’s eyes widened as she saw the sun starting to touch the edges of the landscape. The birth was imminent.

“N-need to…need to get downstairs…”

Without warning, her entire, heavy body was lifted into the air. She looked down at her widened shadow where dozens of large limbs picked her up. Besom started bringing back down the pillows and sheets one trip at time to rush the situation. Starlight slowly levitated to the staircase but now she was too large to head down.

“We’re stuck! How are we going to get me do—“

BOOM!!

The concrete walls were blown to make room for Starlight. She’d have to take care of the property damage, but her path was clear. The limbs traveled down the stairs to the fourth floor. Once again the next staircase was blocking her path down.

BOOM!!

Another opening was made and Starlight’s levitating body reached its destination on the living room floor. The creature set her on her knees back on the rug, kneeling in front of the mirror that could no longer hold her entire shape. The straining noise continued, but Starlight minded no attention to it. She finally caught her breath after the shock and got to work prepping the birth.

“Water buckets and cloths.”

The limbs reached out and levitated the supplies to her. Starlight took the warmer bucket and a dry cloth to clean her face, as well as pull out the licorice stick still in her mane. She used the cloth to clean her hands from the leftover candy and tossed it aside once she felt sure she wasn’t sticky anymore.

Her throat had been dried severely from the candy she consumed. Taking the cold, drinking bucket by hand, she lifted its contents and started chugging down the water.

The straining noise started becoming louder and louder until finally…

“RRRRIP!”

The Spellcaster’s rack burst out from her robes and free from its bra, but her breasts were still held up by her enormous belly. Milk freely leaked from her nipples and down her ripped robes. When she brought the bucket back down, she paid no mind her exposed cleavage. She had to stay focused on what was to come. Besom brought down the last of the pillows and blankets as the creature inside her brought them all together, lifting its host up and lied the pillows and sheets in a comfortable position for her. She levitated back down, her stomach now angled in a way for the birth.

“…now all we can do is wait,” Starlight said, closing her eyes tight in hopes this moment would pass as quickly as possible.

Outside, the sun slowly sank under the horizon. Its rays of sunlight touched the bottom of the castle and climbed up to the third floor where Starlight was.

For the briefest of moments, everything silenced. The howling wind outside no longer blew through the window. Her stomach no longer groaned or kicked. The dead silence began to frighten the Spellcaster as she wasn’t sure what was about to ha—

“I’M BAAAACK!!”

Starlight screamed as the deafening silence abruptly got interrupted by the return of Ponk—

“PONK!”

Whatever.

“Whoa-ho-ho, when you really wanted a shadow, you really meant it.” The spirit commented, flying over to her face being blocked by her own body, “I’ve never seen such a bond between a mother and demon thing.”

“What…what do you mean?” The Spellcaster questioned, trying to get over her heart attack from the spirit’s appearance.

“That incantation I placed upon you made you swell the more you bonded with your creature. Must have had a good time with it, huh?”

“I-I don’t—“

“But hey, who am I to judge, Ms. Plotting Plot? Maybe you’re still thinking about your plans tonight.”

“What are you—“

“ANYWAY, enough chatting, you brewed your drink and now you get to drink it! You ready?”

What other choice did she have? The Spellcaster hesitantly nodded, prepared for whatever the spirit had in mind.

“Alright,” the spirit said backing up and posing her hands like she’s taking a picture, “…spread ‘em.”

“Wait, wha—“

Legs already spread, the spirit floored it and jumped into Starlight’s opening! The Spellcaster’s face blushed a hard red from the feeling of being violated in such a supernatural way. Her belly began to squirm again but this time it was being caused by a pink glow swimming inside starlight’s body.

“Man, you two sure had a party in here,” the spirit muffled from inside Starlight’s body, “I’ve never seen so much candy in one place before.”

The Spellcaster’s dumbfounded expression summed up her current situation pretty well.

The spirit then poked her head out of Starlight’s belly, staring at a leftover piece of candy lying next to her.

“Hey, is that a licorice stick?” she questioned and quickly grabbed, taking it inside with her. The audible noises of the spirit playfully eating the candy could be heard inside the belly.

“Alright, now where are you, shadow? You up here?—

SMACK!

The Spellcaster’s left breast jumped and milk spurted out and dribbled down the side of her body.

“Nope, you’re not it.”

The spirit continued to ride inside Starlight’s womb with her playful antics until it finally stopped somewhere underneath the belly button.

“Aw, there you are. Now don’t be scared, I’m here to get you out of here! Take my hand. Come on!”

Starlight tapped her fingers, still holding the flabbergasted expression on her face.

“Alright, here we come!”

The pink glow returned back to Starlight’s opening. The spirit came out first, gesturing whatever was inside the Spellcaster to come out, but nothing came.

“What’s that? You’re stuck? No worries, let me help you with that!”

The spirit jumped back inside Starlight’s opening without any warning. This situation was just too bizarre for Starlight to handle.

“All this to summon a bigger, scarier shadow demon,” she thought to herself, “What was I thinking??”

“Gotta be a way to let you slip out easier,” the spirit said, still squirming inside Starlight’s belly, “Oh, what’s this? I think this should do it. Alright, hang on!”

Sounds of water pipes and water valves could be heard outside of Starlight’s body. Now this spirit was just toying with her. After hearing several “valves” open…

Pop!

A gush of fluids poured out of Starlight’s opening. The birth had finally begun, starting with a loud scream for the Spellcaster herself.

“Alright, now!” the spirit called to whatever was inside her. “See that bright light? Head on through! Hey, Witchy! Now’s your time to push! Count to ten and rest! Trust me, I have a diploma in nursing!”

Starlight did what she said and began her first push. She screamed from the pain as sweat beads began forming on her head. After ten seconds, she rested to catch her breath. Besom, who had been hiding in fear from all this finally came in, dabbed a cloth into the cold water using its handle, and lied it upon Starlight’s head. But it didn’t want to stick around and find out what would happen and he zipped away downstairs.

“Ok, go again!”

The Spellcaster pushed again, gritting her teeth to fight off the pain and get this job done. Another ten seconds passed and she rested again. The pain was unlike anything she’d experience. The most done to her was a spell misfire that accidentally scorched her back and even then, this paled in comparison.

“Ready. And. GO!”

The third push began.

“WHAT AM I GIVING BIRTH TOO?!!” Starlight screamed.

“What you bargained for, remember??”

Another rest. Starlight felt like dying than finishing this painful process. But something near her opening was squirming around. Something wanted out.

“This next one should make some progress. PUSH!”

The pushing and screams had suddenly birthed out a visible, shadowy arm from Starlight’s opening, clawing into the floorboards. As the Spellcaster caught her breath through the pain, she felt the arm squirm from her opening. She never had felt more scared than she did now.

“Push! Push! PUSH!”

The scream she yelled had to have echoed across the Foal Mountains as a second arm burst out of her opening, followed by a round head with no facial traits.

“Nearly there! Just two more pushes!”

The more Starlight pushed, the more the creature freed itself from its mother. Meanwhile, the womb that carried her creature in shrank down in size, her belly slowly returning back to its original shape. Her breasts, on the other hand, were another story.

“Seal the bargain with one last push! GO!!”

With one last scream, Starlight pushed with all her might as the tail of the shadow finally escaped her mother’s womb. The Spellcaster lied motionless on the ground, her forehead damped by her sweat and eyes covered in tears of pain. Her witches robes became rags and her pillows and bedsheets were covered in fluids.

When she had the strength to open her eyes, she looked upon her inner creation. The creature she had been waiting for all day. It coated half of the room in a black fog as yellow, menacing eyes appeared from the darkness. Starlight, using whatever strength she had left pushed herself away to make room for whatever she conjured. When she touched the wall, the creatures’ massive arms jumped from the darkness and landed side by side in front of the Spellcaster. It reached its head forward, and bared glowing smile to accommodate its stare.

“M…my…my baby…” the only words Starlight could speak as she reached a hand out to its master. She now possessed the means to clear the town of all its candy.

The physical shadow reached a clawed finger to its mother’s hand. They were millimeters away from having first physical contact when—

POOF!

…the shadow turned into a giant, empty sack.

“WHAT.”

“Hey, my pillow sack!”

The spirit appeared and grabbed the massive sack, phasing it through the tower’s wall. It traveled up to the top floor and phased in. And using a comical vacuum suction, stole all the candy from the Spellcaster’s treasure room! Emptied out, she brought entire sack back the center floor.

“Aw, man, this was an awesome trade! You need to get pregnant more often!”

Anger and confusion filled Starlight’s emotions.

“What. Are. YOU. DOING?!” This was not part of our deal!”

“Sure it is! I provide you with your personal shadow creature in exchange for a pillow case full of candy!”

“THAT’S BIGGER THAN A PILLOW CASE!!”

“Hey, you made the rules. I just follow them.”

“But-but-but-but my shadow! What did you do with it?!”

What did I tell you? I gave you what you wanted, didn’t I? Look, I’d love to stay and chat, but this candy isn’t gonna eat itself! Toodles!

With a mighty grunt, the spirit phased through Starlight and the damaged tower wall with a giant sack of candy in hand.

“POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK!!!!!!!”

Her angered voice echoed throughout the mountains for this night, Starlight Spellcaster, swindler of Hollow Shades, had been herself, swindled.

The spirit carried its heavy contents all the way down the mountain. All the way down to the village that had been pilfered of their candy every year. There, the citizens cheered as the spirit rode in with the heavy bag setting it in the town square.

“Well, I’ll be,” the mayor of the town proclaimed, “After all these years, every last piece of candy stolen from us; returned from that dreadful witch’s tower.

“Er…not ALL of the candy, the spirit corrected, “Had to make SOME sacrifices to bring it all down.”

“Think nothing of it!” the mayor shrugged, “Tonight calls for a celebration! In honor of your services, we shall distribute every last piece of candy across all of Equestria!

“Well, you don’t have to thank me,” the spirit said, floating towards a pony with her own extra gravid shape, “I’m just the roommate.”

The spirit had disappeared inside the pony she floated into. The mare’s belly glowed before returning to normal.

The mare patted her stomach where the spirit entered. She wore a fortune teller’s outfit with a turban upon her head.

“Hey, I shouldn’t take all the credit, PONK! We’re both in this together. In more ways than one, of course.”

“Madam Pinkie…” the mayor started, taking off his hat, “From the bottom of my heart, we here thank you for your services here in Hollow Shades. You and your, uh, unusual, spiritual friend inside you.

“Yeah,” Pinkie confessed, rubbing her belly, “she might be a handful but we both still love our tricks, especially ones that benefit like this. It was nice of PONK! to drop off that pink spellbook in a convenient spot on her bookshelf. Who would’ve thought she went for it on the first try?

“Madam Pinkie?” questioned a small filly, “Shouldn’t we worry that the witch will come back for all of our candy?”

“I doubt it, kiddo,” Madam Pinkie assured the child, “I think the bargain PONK! held will keep her busy for a long time to come.

Back inside the tower, a partially nude and defeated Starlight Spellcaster laid on the ground of her living room, cold, embarrassed and humiliated. Besom lied in the open broom closet, giving her the much needed space her master deserved.

As Starlight wept in sorrow, she noticed something squirming in the back of the living room. Curious, she lifted her weakened body and limped to the squirming sheet. It wasn’t wet like the others and it certainly didn’t look like one of her own bedsheets. Starlight cautiously lifted the sheet off whatever was squirming inside.

“GAAHH!”

She fell over as she discovered a tiny, black creature with saddened blue eyes and a ghostly shape squirming on the ground. Starlight gathered her courage and got closer to the tiny ghost. She hesitantly reached out and placed a palm on its head. The ghost felt like a thick pile of clouds as the Spellcaster lifted its body up with both hands and sat on the couch, holding it close to her swollen chest.

The tiny creature looked up, scared and afraid of what was happening. But Starlight rocked it calmly back and forth to calm its fear.

“What did I tell you? I gave you what you wanted, didn’t I?”

The spirit had kept her part of the bargain and delivered the Spellcaster her own shadow creature, just not as big and scary as she had hoped. She tossed the complaint aside and played with her new baby shadow.

“It appears, I’ve been blessed with a little Shade”, she quietly told herself.

She spotted something else left behind; a small bag of candy lying on the couch. She grabbed a piece and unwrapped a lime gummy. The baby saw it and grabbed the piece with both hands, consuming it quietly while its mother looked on in astonishment. With the piece of candy consumed, the baby shadow closed its eyes and drifted asleep.

As Besom walked over and looked upon the tower’s newest guest, Starlight decided to abandon her swindling ways for now she had a new treasure to protect; her own Shade.

Author's Note

And end scene. This story took a while to conjure together (ha, Haloween joke) and I'd say the work put in was definitely worth it. Hoping to see some comments tell me what they loved, hated, praised, or criticized so I can work harder to be a better writer.