As the warm summer sun beamed down on the seaside city of Vanhoover, the earth pony known as Verdant Range was happily walking along, enjoying the beautiful weather as he trotted towards the grocery store, hoping to get a great deal on hay-bacon strips.

“Verdant!” the familiar voice of High Gear rang out, making the stallion halt and sigh. Turning around to face the running mare, he saw the hornless unicorn skidding to a halt.

“And I was hoping I wouldn’t need to be eaten again after that whole Pony Ranger thing we did,” Verdant muttered as he faced High Gear.

“What makes you think what brings me here requires you getting eaten?” The bespectacled mare only received a flat look and silence from the white-muzzled earth pony. “...Alright, it is.”

“Of course,” Verdant rolled his eyes as he came up to the mare’s side. “So, what’s the issue this time?”

“Well, the dragon lord, Ember, is in town for a diplomatic visit, but it seems the minerals and gems have caused a potentially dangerous case of constipation,” High Gear’s words made the shamrock stallion wince as he hated nearly every word she said.

“Is there seriously no other way to clear this? Like, irrigate her colon, or give her a laxative, or operate on her to get it out?” Verdant felt a shiver run down his spine as High Gear shook her head side-to-side.

“No dice. Irrigation didn’t work, the laxative didn’t work, and we don’t have surgical implements that can penetrate a dragon’s scales.” High Gear tiredly rubbed the bridge of her snout as the two trotted along. “Basically, the waste has formed a solid rock that refuses to budge.”

“Can’t you get Beta to break it up?” Verdant asked, tilting his head quizzically.

“One, her regular sized body’s not done being replaced. Two, nanotechnology’s not my field of expertise. Thirdly, there’s no way I could fit her brain into something that small, even if somepony else built it.” High Gear sounded nearly exasperated in her explanation.

“Don’t you have some sort of gizmo that could break it up with soundwaves or something?” Verdant asked nearly pleadingly, as if holding out hope for any chance to avoid getting eaten again.

“No. Al says that Ziggy’s analysis says that would end up killing her,” High Gear answered.

Verdant’s right eyebrow rose in surprise. “Al? Ziggy? What are you talking about?”

“Uh, he’s a scientist working on a project and Ziggy’s… Um, a zebra! Yeah. Either way, they would know what they’re talking about, so we can’t use it,” High Gear said somewhat nervously. “Fortunately, I’ve got something that should help you with this.”

“And what would that be?” Verdant asked as the bespectacled mare reached into her saddlebags and pulled out what looked to be a skintight white bodysuit with a blue visor, green lower hind legs, bands on the forelegs and a collar on the neck.. “Is that another Pony Ranger thing you made?”

“No. This is a suit that I’ve been working on. Using the analysis of your past teleportations, I’ve made this prototype suit that should shrink you down while allowing you to retain your earth pony strength,” High Gear replied as she tossed the suit to the earth pony. “Once the suit’s on, twist the right foreleg cuff to the right to start shrinking down. It also has a two-way communication system so we can keep in contact.”

“Uh, and how do I get back to normal size?” Verdant asked as he looked over the body suit.

“I’ll save that for after you’re out,” High Gear said before nudging the earth pony. “I don’t want to have something like Ant-Mare vs. Nightmare Moon or The Colts happening to the dragon lord, now get in the suit so we can get to the hospital.”

“Alright, alright, yeesh,” Verdant replied before taking off his vest and starting to slip into the suit. After nearly a minute of struggling, he’d managed to get the tight bodysuit perfectly into place.

“Perfect, now shrink down so I can take you to the hospital quicker,” Gear said as she pulled out a bottle filled with what Verdant hoped was apple juice.

“Uh, what’s the juice bottle f-”

“Just do it! Time’s of the essence!” High Gear barked at the shamrock stallion, making him stumble back.

“Alright, I’m doing it!” Verdant quickly responded as he twisted the right foreleg cuff. In a matter of seconds, the world around him turned colossal. Soon, he saw the juice bottle was now at least twice as big as his house while High Gear looked like a fuzzy kaiju.

“LET’S HURRY UP! High Gear barked as she twisted the cap off the bottle before picking up the shrunken stallion and dumping him into the sweet drink.

Verdant was disoriented by High Gear’s quick movements, made worse by her shoving the bottle into her saddlebags and darting off.

“Can you hear me, Verdant?” The minuscule mammal heard the mare’s voice in his ear as he tried to keep his lunch down. “I’ve set up a two-way communication system in your suit, along with an oxygen recycler so you’ve got plenty of breathable air. Can you hear me?”

“Yeah, I hear you, but could you please slow down?” Verdant asked as he was tossed about in the juice.

“No time, we need to get to the hospital as soon as possible!” High Gear sounded very winded. “Now, hold on. We’ll be at the hospital shortly.”

***

Within a sparkly clean doctor’s office, an alabaster unicorn with a short orange mane adjusted her violet glasses as she looked over a medical chart while the dragon lord sat on her examination table with a mix of discomfort and impatience. Over by the door, Pixel Flash was nervously pacing about, wondering what was taking High Gear so long.

“I hope your High Gear friend arrives soon, Twilight,” Ember said as she rubbed her sore belly. “This has to be the most undignified reason to be hospitalized.”

Pix slapped a hoof against her own forehead before sighing and glaring at the dragoness. “I keep telling you, my name’s Pixel Flash! I’m not Twilight Sparkle!”

“Sorry, I’m terrible when it comes to telling purple ponies-” Ember was interrupted by High Gear bursting into the room, skidding to a halt and huffing as she sat on the linoleum floor.

“Ah, perfect timing, Doctor,” the white-coated mare said as she stepped up to the puffing mare’s side. “My name’s Dr. Rainbow Remedy and I’m rather interested in seeing what this sonic disruptor of yours can do to this blockage.”

“Not… an option…” High Gear slowly rose off the floor as she tried to catch her breath. “I’ve got… something else…” The blue mare weakly reached into her saddlebags and proffered a bottle of apple juice to the dragoness.

“You’re going to clear my bowels with… a bottle of apple juice?” Ember tilted her head in disbelief. “The laxative and several bottles of water I took earlier just left me feeling even more bloated, to say nothing of my intestines being unable to absorb the liquid. And now you want me to drink even more?”

“Trust me, this will really help,” High Gear said as Ember took the bottle from her grasp. “This isn’t just some ordinary apple juice.”

“Hmm… Very well,” Ember rolled her eyes before she stabbed a talon into the bottle cap to pry it off before opening her jaws wide.

***

Verdant was feeling extremely sick to his stomach as Ember picked up the bottle, thanks to High Gear’s running as fast as she could carry him. The shamrock stallion didn’t even have time to get his bearings as he saw the dragon’s digit penetrate the bottle cap, making him fear the massive claw would crash straight into him.

Less than a second after piercing the cap, the claw shot back upward, tearing the cap off the bottle like a tornado ripping the roof off a building.

“Holy shit!” Verdant exclaimed just as the bottle was quickly tilted, sending the lake’s worth of juice pouring into the dragon’s razor sharp, fang filled maw with him following quickly behind it.

Despite having been swallowed so many times, Verdant still felt sheer terror run through him as he saw himself drifting towards one of her sharper-than-a-sword fangs, only to be knocked away by a sudden movement from her tongue that sent him flying towards the back of her throat.

Verdant bounced against the uvula before smacking into the back of the dragoness’ throat, falling into the raging current of the apple juice before she swallowed him down. As he descended into the dragon’s innards, the shrunken stallion felt a heat far greater than what he was accustomed to feeling inside someone’s body.

After a few moments, Verdant and the apple juice waterfall dropped into the dragoness stomach. The drop was short thanks to the gastric chamber being nearly full of liquid.

“Okay, maybe it’s a good thing Gear gave me this scuba suit,” Verdant muttered to himself as he gazed around the flooded chamber. It was as if the entire chamber was a massive pool to help deep divers practice.

“Verdant, can you hear me?” The emerald earth pony heard High Gear’s whispering voice in his ear. “Have you safely made it into her stomach?”

“Yeah, I’ve made it here without any real issues,” Verdant replied as he looked around the stomach, spotting the valve that would lead to the intestines before he started to swim downward.

“Good. Make your way down to the blockage and start pounding it to smaller pieces. Once it’s all broken up, the liquids Ember’s ingested and her natural bodily functions should be able to push it out,” Gear whispered once more.

“DOCTOR,” the dragoness’ voice boomed out, just as Verdant reached the valve near the flooded chamber’s bottom. “WHAT ARE YOU MUTTERING ABOUT?”

***

“Doctor, what are you muttering about?” Ember asked from her spot on the examination table.

“Oh, nothing. I was just going over what the juice should do to help with clearing the blockage,” High Gear stated somewhat nervously as she turned about to face the dragon lord. “Basically, the slight acidity of the juice, along with your body’s natural digestive processes, should be able to clear the problem up soon.”

“How long will it take for this to finally be over?” Ember asked before sighing. “And anything else I’ll need to do once this is done?”

“Well, we’ll need to analyze the cleared blockage once it’s out, so we’ll need you to… well, defecate into a container instead of a toilet,” High Gear answered as she rubbed the back of her neck.

“In other words, I have to shit in a bucket.” Ember rolled her eyes before she slid off the exam table. “Will I at least have some privacy?”

“Of course. We’ll provide you with not only a container, but also a bathroom so no one will be watching,” Gear replied before Pix put a hoof on her shoulder and started to pull her away. “Oh, if you’ll excuse us for a moment?”

Once High Gear and Pixel Flash were out of the office and the door was closed behind them, Pix’s right eye twitched as she looked the now nervous High Gear in the eyes.

“Gear, what’s going on? Why aren’t you using that sonic disruptor to break up the blockage? You said when you were heading to the lab that you’d get it to take care of this problem lickity-split,” Pix took two steps closer to the hornless mare, backing her against the wall.

“Well, I did some reassessment of the situation and I figured it would be too dangerous to use. The risk of causing damage to her internal organs would be far too high,” High Gear stated as she wiped some of the sweat from her brow.

“So instead of using the disruptor, you’re using Verdant?” Pix asked in a harsh whisper as she leaned in closer to the bespectacled unicorn.

“Wait, how’d you know I sent Verdant into her?” High Gear asked, tilting her head in surprise.

“Because this involves you and a digestive tract, so of course Verdant’s involved!” Pix replied. “Heck, him not being involved would honestly be surprising.”

“Look, it was just too dangerous to use the sonic disruptor. It would just be so much safer to have Verdant break up the blockage, save Ember’s life, and then I can leap outta here,” High Gear whispered back in exasperation.

“Wait, what?” Now it was Pixel Flash’s turn to tilt her head in confusion. “Leap? What are you talking about?”

“Nothing, nothing,” High Gear muttered before rubbing the bridge of her snout. “What matters is Verdant’s the best bet we have. We just need to let him get to the blockage and clear it.”

With a tired sigh, leaned against the wall. “When did our lives get so weird? Remember when I used to work on designing arcade games and you were building engines and robots?”

“C’mon, Pix,” Gear said as she placed a foreleg on her shoulder and started to lead her away. “Let’s hit up the cafeteria. I figure it’s gonna be a while.”

***

Within the bowels of the dragoness, Verdant swam about through the flooded intestines. The slow pace of his swimming allowed the shrunken stallion to take in the sight of Ember’s villi wriggling about. The movements of the digestive tendrils were almost mesmerizing, though he was seeking anything to distract from the intense heat.

Are all dragons like this on the inside? Is it because they’re able to breathe fire? He pondered as he wandered, going deeper and deeper.

After nearly twenty minutes, Verdant came upon something besides the similar looking fleshy tunnels. It appeared to be a dark stone mass that filled up the entirety of the tunnel.

“Hey, Gear. Do you read me?” The shamrock stallion asked as he reached the rocky mass. “I’ve arrived at the blockage.”

“Good job!” Verdant heard High Gear speaking in between what sounded like her taking bites of a sandwich. “Now, the first thing is to start punching through the blockage and tunnel through until you reach the other end. After that, you burrow back through with another section the other way. This should help accelerate the erosion of the blockage and hopefully the pressure should help force it through.”

“Copy that. Make a turd tunnel, repeat as necessary. Will call back after I’ve done the first one.” Taking a breath to steady himself, Verdant jabbed a foreleg at the rocky blockage. When his hoof hit the stone surface, the rock started to crack with small chunks breaking off and starting to dissolve.

With another strike, the chunks started to break off and fall away into the mixture of digestive and apple juices. Verdant soon had started to make a tunnel in the center of the stone, knocking the smaller stones into the juice.

As he worked through the dark stone passage, he was beginning to ponder if he’d somehow wandered off his intended path and was going either higher, lower, or heading towards the intestinal wall.

His muscles were starting to feel sore when, as he pulled his hoof away from the freshly struck tunnel wall, he felt a light pulling towards the wall and spotted a small amount of light coming through. With another few strikes, a chunk of wall broke away, causing him and a torrent of liquid to pour into a drier, empty section of the intestine.

“Good news, Doc!” The small stallion exclaimed as he skidded to a halt and turned his attention back to the punctured wall, where he saw not only juices pouring into the dry area, but more pieces of the rock were breaking off and landing on the other side. “I’ve got a tunnel bored through and I’m about to try to make a second.”

“Excellent,” High Gear’s voice rang in his ear as he started towards the wall. “Are more pieces of it breaking off?”

“Yep. I saw and still see more bits eroding off,” Verdant replied before he began to punch the stone wall once more. “Hopefully I’ll get this next one done in about a half hour or so.”

“Best of luck with the turd, Verd,” High Gear’s comment made Verdant roll his eyes as he continued to chip away at the blockage.

After nearly ten minutes of smacking his hooves against the intestinal clog, he was feeling very sore. He was starting to wonder if his hooves were beginning to bleed from how much they ached. The only thing that could provide some distraction were the sounds of Ember’s digestive tract and the sound of liquids rushing above him.

Not much later, one of his blows caused liquid to start pouring in through a crack that quickly started to expand. The shrunken stallion barely had time to turn around when the cracked wall burst, sending him and a collection of broken off stones to be carried away with a raging torrent into the clear portion of the intestine.

Disoriented, Verdant rose back to his hooves and tried to shake off what liquid he could from his suit.

“Got the second tunnel finished and I’m about to start working on the third,” Verdant said into the comm system as he rubbed one of his sore forelegs.

“Great job, Verdant,” he heard High Gear answer back. “We’re gonna have Ember drinking more water to try to speed up the process. Keep on going.”

“Roger that, but I’d better get overtime and a sandwich point for this,” Verdant shot back as he slowly trudged along, coming back up to the blockage once more.

***

In the doctor’s office, Ember let out a sizable belch after she’d emptied a water cooler bottle, letting it fall to the floor. “Doctor, I’m starting to wonder if you’re trying to give me a case of water poisoning.”

“Trust me, Your Lordship,” High Gear reassuringly said. “This will help you clear that blockage or my name’s not Dr. Jam Packet, er, I mean High Gear.” The sky blue mare began to have a cold sweat cascading down from her forehead.

“That’s not a reassuring slip, Doctaaah!” Ember winced as she grabbed her swollen belly.

“What’s wrong?!” Pix nearly screeched as she could hear a sloshing sound coming from the dragoness.

“Doc, it’s heading out! Now!” Gear heard Verdant screamed from the other end of the comm as Ember hopped off the exam table.

“Bathroom, now!” Ember barked, making Pix quickly shove a plastic container into Ember’s claws before she rushed out of the room.

“This is not gonna be pretty,” High Gear muttered as she heard a door slam shut.

***

Within the dragoness’ innards, Verdant gave the blockage wall a hard buck, not wanting to harm his forelegs any more than they already were.

The strike smashed through the wall, leading a raging river to crash into the shamrock stallion, sending him hurtling back into the cleared section of the intestine.

Hopefully I’ll be done soon. Verdant felt weak as he got back onto his hooves. Wishing to take a break, he leaned up against Ember’s intestinal wall when he started to hear a loud cracking noise.

“Uh-oh…” Looking ahead, he saw that the rocky blockage had large fissures spreading over it with water starting to spray through the gaps.

Terrified about what was to come, Verdant pulled an about face and started to hobble along with what little strength he could still muster.

It was for naught as soon the intestinal dam burst, the pieces all shattering with the force of the water that sent them further through her with Verdant caught along in the raging tsunami.

“Doc, it’s heading out! Now!” Verdant screamed, hoping he’d survive the torrential river and rocky chunklets that were smashing into one another.

Despite the dizzying speed, Verdant could still see that he’d exited the small intestine and was now being shot through the large.

In less than a minute, the rushing waters made its way through the digestive tract and started to fill the dragoness’ cloaca. The amount of liquid was so great, Verdant was sent upwards into Ember’s reproductive tract. He repeatedly smacked into the oviduct walls and even caught a glimpse of her ovaries.

It was then the waters started to drain away, forcing the sore and shrunken stallion to give chase after the receding liquid. While he was in a good deal of pain, he figured he’d be in for a world more pain if he stayed in the sex organs of the dragon lord.

Pushing himself as hard as he could, ignoring the fiery agony in his legs, he chased after the water that was outspeeding him. Soon he reached a bend in Ember that went straight downward. Mustering up the last ounce of strength he could, Verdant leapt and freely fell, letting gravity pull him along like a shooting star.

From his fall, Verdant witnessed the last of the water and stone fragments fall into a plastic container that would have to act as his landing pad.

Turning about in his fall, Verdant took one last glimpse of Ember’s internals before he fell out of what his friend Hat Trick would likely describe as a “weird lizzer hole” before he saw it clench shut and he splashed down into the container.

“AHH… MUCH BETTER.” The dragoness sighed in relief before she rose from her titanic squatting position and walked away. “THANK YOU, DOCTORS. I’M FEELING MUCH BETTER NOW.”

A few moments after the dragon lord left, Verdant soon saw High Gear and Pixel Flash approaching and staring into the container of draconic waste.

“EWW… THIS IS SO GROSS,” Pix muttered as she held her nose. “THIS IS WORSE THAN WHEN CELESTIA POOPED US OUT.”

“ALL CLEAR, VERDANT. YOU CAN CHANGE BACK,” High Gear tried to whisper, but her words were still like thunder to the tiny pony. “JUST TWIST THE RIGHT FORELEG CUFF BACK AND YOU’LL BE BACK TO NORMAL.”

Acting quickly on the doctor’s words, Verdant twisted the cuff and he rapidly expanded, sending a wave of waste water out towards the two mares. High Gear and Pixel Flash quickly leapt back to avoid getting splashed.

“You did a great job today, Verdant. We were safely able to clear Ember’s blockage. Who knows what could have happened if we failed,” High Gear said before she started to cover her snout.

“Frankly, I’m just glad it’s over, that Ember’s safe, and that I’ve gotten one point closer to getting another sandwich,” Verdant said as he stepped out of the container. “Now let's get me hosed down and out of this suit.”

“Right,” a wide smile graced her lips as she started to walk away. “One step closer to a sandwich…”

To the perspective of High Gear and her alone, her body began to brightly glow blue as a familiar sensation fell over her.

“And hopefully, one leap closer to home.”

Author's Note

Happy Vore Day, everyone. I'm glad to be back with this long awaited chapter.

As for why it took long to get to this chapter, there were a lot of things that slowed me down. Working on other projects, helping my family with stuff, as well as getting addicted to Persona 5 Royal. Suffice to say, there was a lot.

Well, for the first time in a very long time, we have a poll for you to pick from.

1. Swift Snort (AP): Verdant is training with his fellow soldiers on Butterfly Island and we see one of the misadventures there.
2. Dating Delights: Verdant goes out on a date with a fancy mare he met during a dating service and things seem to go swimmingly... until he learns she's a cannibalistic serial killer with a shrinking fetish.
3. Betty: The Last Cutesaur: Verdant is recruited by Daring Do to explore an island full of long lost flora and fauna, only to encounter a creature that supposedly went extinct eons ago.
4. Bibinba's Inside Story: While playing Marinara Party with some friends of his, Verdant accidentally lands on the wrong space and finds himself staring down an imposing longma.
5. Double Trouble in the Fire: A teleportation accident ends up sending Verdant to another universe where he meets Dr. Overdrive and a green mare with a white muzzle named Shamrock Meadow. When the two try to get him back home, things go awry and the emerald pony pair end up in the kitchen of Spitfire.
6. Dragon of the Wastelands: In the wastelands that were ruined by mega spells, a small band of ponies wish to reach the town of New Griffonstone. To get there, they hire an odd unicorn mare who goes by the name of Verdant Range.
7. Dog Day Afternoon: On a day out, Verdant finds himself stumbling upon a patch of Shrinking Violets... and a rather hungry Diamond Dog.
8. Happy Hearts & Hooves Day (AP): Verdant wants to give Erica a wonderful Hearts & Hooves Day. After learning she has a fetish for shrinking and vore, he knows what he'll do to make his special somecreature happy.
9. Beanstalk Busts Out (EG): Set after "Into the Sunset", Beanstalk volunteers to try a candy made by a member of the science club with a supposed cheap substitute for mint. Too bad Molly Cule didn't see the plant she was using sparking or the paid attention to the fact it was blue.
10. Tales from the Mirrorverse - Digestions & Dragons: Set after the events of "Antacid's Creed", Verdant is assigned to Celestia's elite privateer, Magic Barrier. His first assignment: recover the treasure from a hibernating dragon's stomach.
11. A Changeling Among Us: Verdant and several others are taking a cruise to a tropical vacation hotspot, but something is going around the ship and killing the others on the boat. It seems that they'll have to keep the boat operational while finding whoever's the changeling imposter that's devouring the rest.
12. Sailing into the Blue: In the war with the griffins, Captain Barrier comes up with a plan to allow them to infiltrate the Griffin Kingdom and turn the tide of the war. All they need is a boat, Verdant's knowledge of anatomy and a lot of Shrinking Violet potion.
13. Ponies and Portals: Verdant is poached by a mare who is competing against High Gear's project by working on creating long range portal spell. However, things go wrong and Verdant finds not only is he shrunk, but his body has become a strange creature with weird appendages and clothes... along with being in a package of peanut butter and crackers.
14. A Bright and Sunny Day: It's a beautiful day in the Earth Pony town of Maretime Bay. Verdant is getting ready to start his work at the flower shop when his sister asks him to try a potion she's been working on. What follows is Verdant going on a wild trip as he finds himself shrunken, stuck to a dandelion seed and heading towards the mouth of the crazy mare that runs the smoothie stand.
15. Downsizing with the Wonderbolts: In a universe where Verdant was born a pegasus, his friends have arranged for him to try for the Wonderbolt Academy. Unfortunately, they recently had to deal with a terrible business deal which cost them heavily. Fortunately, they've found a way to reduce costs.
16. A Real Pain in the Butt: Verdant ends being teleported into the medicine of a unicorn with a cold. Unfortunately for the both of them, that medicine is a suppository.
17. Pretty, Yet Poisonous (TFH): In the world of Fœnum, a pony named Verdant Range works at a trading post on a small family owned patch of land called the Range Range. One day, something that looks like a coin appears in front of him. Once he picks it out, he finds he's not only shrunken down, but stuck to a donut with strawberry frosting and sprinkles about to be eaten by a hungry, black coated unicorn.

Remember, only one vote per person. Also, from now on, votes that only have a number will no longer counted and even deleted. I'm sorry if this seems harsh, but I did this since it makes tallying the votes easier for me.

Next time, we're gonna explore an alternate ending for Lovely Night & New Beginnings. See ya then!