“So you see, when the earth ponies pollinate corn by hoof, we get the big yields, even in small rows where self-pollination is low,” explained Withania.
The green earth pony stood in her garden next to a short row of corn stalks, showing the tassels to a young deer. Her friend was visiting almost daily, learning about the plants and growing techniques of Equestria. Epoch was native to the city of Thicket, but a fascination with pony kind had called her far away from home.
“Ooooooh,” cooed Epoch, leaning in close, “That’s how they do it. Back in Thicket any corn field smaller than a house won’t produce – and we don’t really have space for open fields.”
“A little pony magic helps as well,” admitted Withania sheepishly, “But there’s a theory to it. Let me show you my wheat cross-breeds…”
Withania lead the deer into one of the green houses and proceeded to show her various wheat samples in the nursery. The earth pony normally kept her garden closed, but it was exciting to have a visitor as enthusiastic about plants as she was. Epoch was kind and sweet, however it was the fact that she was a deer and not a pony that made Withania more comfortable around her.
They talked late into the afternoon, only noticing the passing of time once the final rays of sunlight faded and the greenhouse fell into a warm twilight from the lamps over the nursery and workbench.
“Wow it’s getting late,” observed Epoch, looking up at the darkened glass roof, “I should get going, thanks again Withania, I’ll be back tomorrow okay?”
Withania bade her good evening and watched the deer reluctantly trot outside and over to the garden’s back gate. She breathed a happy sigh, before turning her attention to her workbench, where a large and complex distilling apparatus bubbled quietly.
H’mm… thought Withania, inspecting a beaker at the end of the system, There’s one dose there, but I should build up a stock in case of emergencies…
The deep purple liquid was a concentrated magical potion that could hold a spell dormant in a pony’s stomach for twelve hours – Withania had already infused this one with the reformation spell responsible for her previous ‘adventures’. Now she had the means to experiment on her own.
The question was what other predators were around that she could try? Wild animals weren’t such a good choice, since she might get hurt. She could ask the other cook at the bakery - he seemed to go both ways, as she’d previous discovered. Maybe she could try being a predator? Finding prey would probably be easier than finding a predator. Who would agree to it though? It had to be someone smaller than her, she didn’t feel brave enough to take on a bigger pony.
Epoch.
“No, I couldn’t…” she said aloud to the greenhouse as the thought entered her mind. Epoch trusted her, and the feeling was mutual. Perhaps that made it perfect? Who better to ‘experiment’ with than a friend in her own home?
Unless Epoch wasn’t interested. But then she could put a drop of strawberry diethyl in her tea and the little deer would be out for the night. She’d wake up in her bed unharmed and none the wiser. That was fine, right? No one would ever know.
“Let’s see if we can bring her round to the idea,” she whispered to plants in front her, brushing their leaves gently of dust, “I don’t think we’re so different, she and I…”
***
The following evening Withania auto-piloted through more conversations about plants, trees and herbs with Epoch. They were sitting in Withania’s living room, curtains drawn, books spread out all over the floor as the earth pony shared more of Equestria's unusual nature with the deer.
But despite this being her favourite topic, her mind was elsewhere. Now the notion of playing predator was in her brain, she couldn’t shake it loose. It wasn’t something she’d ever considered until the night before, and now her curiosity burned like a fresh-lit match. That sense of power over another pony, their body and will reduced to food being processed by the involuntary muscles of Withania’s body. Gaining energy from it, sustenance. Body mass.
“Withania?” Epoch’s sweet voice cut into her daydream like a knock at the door of her imagination.
“Huh? Oh sorry, I zoned out for a moment… What were you saying?”
“The animals… How are they affected by the ponies managing nature like this? Surely they become dependant on ponies to survive?”
“Well, nature survives without ponies, we just optimise it really,” explained Withania, scratching the back of her neck with one hoof, “So animals just do their thing. The food chain is still part of Equestria - there’s plenty of wild animals and fell beasts that will happily eat up a stray pony.”
“Really?” said Epoch, her eyes widening suddenly, “The Kingdom is closely managed to keep everything in balance. To make sure that everything can coexist?”
“We do tend to micromanage things to our own advantage, and sometimes that can leave some unhappy creatures that will happily gobble you up.”
“Does… does that happen very much?”
Withania narrowed her eyes, avoiding Epoch’s intense gaze. The little deer seemed oddly fixated on this particular topic. From what Epoch had told Withania, the Kingdom of Thicket was carefully managed by the Deer folk, where balance was absolute. Equestria must have seemed anarchic and untamed by comparison, as well as its sprawling fields and open lands a stark contrast to the black forests Epoch grew up in.
“Not really...” said the earth pony slowly, “But… there are some who like to, play out certain roles, as it were. Magic has made it possible to, how should I say it… explore things that a pony wouldn’t normally indulge in.”
Epoch cocked her head, her enormous eyes slowly piercing through Withania’s coyness. The earth pony sipped her tea nervously, pretending to look into the mug for stray leaves – but really she was watching the deer, gauging her reaction. Clearly Epoch was all ears, but it was hard to tell if her fascination was based on disgust or envy.
“You mean, ponies eat other animals?” she whispered, “I thought you were herbivores?”
“Sometimes we eat each other,” whispered back Withania, now trying to reboil the tea with the intensity of her stare. Epoch’s front hoof covered her mouth, however her eyes still didn’t seem to display revulsion.
“Have you ever done this?” she asked, speaking above a whisper again but still timidly.
“There’s a place I go to sometimes,” admitted Withania quietly, “Where I am eaten by a unicorn, and then later on a magic spell reforms me.” Her heart thumped as she said this, having never spoken of it outside that strange circle of friends.
“What does it feel like? Doesn’t it hurt?”
“No, I mean, not if you’re swallowed whole. It feels… well, amazing. Your body gets changed and transformed in a way that would normally be terrifying, but because you know you’ll be okay, it just feels incredible, being just food to someone, and becoming part of them.”
“But you’ve never… done the eating?” pressed Epoch.
“No. But I was thinking of trying it some time… curiosity gets the better of us all!” she said, suddenly laughing nervously.
The deer didn’t say anything, however Withania could see Epoch out of the corner of one eye looking at her slightly larger and more bulky body, her green coated flanks and nightshade cutie mark.
She’s not going to say it, she’s too timid to ask, thought Withania, If I want to try being a predator, I have to take control…
“Would you like to try it?” asked the earth pony, eyes looking sideways at the deer, “I could eat you. We could do it here where it’s safe, and you’ll wake up in your bed, unharmed.”
Epoch said nothing, her eyes alert, her lower lip trembling slightly. It was at this point that Withania realised she could have never gone through with drugging her friend. Despite knowing that she would come to no harm, Withania craved the sense of surrender that came from the act, even if it were under duress. Just taking, or being robbed, didn’t stoke the fire in the same way.
“Yes,” said Epoch suddenly, still barely above a whisper, “Make me your prey, Withania.”
Those words rang in Withania’s ears as she mentally processed what she was getting herself into, a strange mixture of the pleasure from having somepony submitting to you, but also a sense of responsibility. It was now up to her to make this happen and keep Epoch safe.
“Wait here a moment, I’ll be right back,” she said, and trotted through the kitchen and out the back door. Trembling slightly in the green house she swapped the beaker under the brewing apparatus for an empty one and carried the fresh potion back inside. “Drink this. It’s a magic infused potion that will protect you.”
Epoch obediently took the flask and up-ended it down her throat in one. “Sorry about the taste - sickeningly sweet is an improvement over its natural flavour I assure you…”
“So… how do we do this? Should… should I lay down?” asked the deer.
Withania shifted so she was sitting immediately in front of Epoch and with building confidence placed a forehoof just under the deer’s right ear, gently pulling her into a kiss.
“Let’s just try this, and see where it goes…” whispered Withania.
She kissed the deer gently on the lips, going slowly, waiting to see how her friend reacted. There was no pullback, so Withania carefully opened the kiss with her tongue, pressing her chest onto Epoch. The deer did not press back, sitting with a somewhat inexperienced stiffness, however was not objecting. Withania continued to lead the foreplay, waltzing with her tongue, moving her head and letting Epoch follow her to stay in the kiss.
She patiently waited for the deer to loosen up, slowly drawing her into a closer embrace, and then pulled out of the kissing to take a breath. Epoch had her eyes closed and instinctively leaned forward - straight into Withania’s wide open mouth.
Withania took the deer’s muzzle into her own and paused for an awkward moment, unsure of exactly what to do next. She’d had a front-row seat for this several times now, but hadn’t put a great deal of thought into the process. Her mouth was wildly salivating, drenching Epoch’s fuzzy face slick. Screwing her eyes shut, she hugged Epoch firmly and pressed her head down on the deer’s, her lips pushing back the ears and shutting off outside sight and sound.
Epoch let out a muffled squeak, tensing up, which Withania responded to by rubbing her back. The earth pony’s cheeks bulged out, her throat following suit, and her heart began to race in her chest.
I’m doing it! It’s working!
Her nostrils and trachea were cut off by the deer-sized mass stretching out her neck, but the feeling of her body starting to expand in a seemingly unnatural way overpowered everything. It was like discovering a new sense, or hearing a new instrument, it made her wonder how she’d never felt this before. She was beginning to stall however, reaching Epoch’s shoulders and realising she had so far to go still. But the deer was twitching slightly, unintentionally providing little jogs in Withania’s throat that kept pushing her boundaries, letting her body adjust to the size of her meal.
The taste was indescribable, it couldn’t be compared to any food or drink she’d encountered. It was a sensation more than a flavour, in the same way that spices triggered heat receptors, the flavour of her prey was firing her senses in a full throated roar, her consciousness begging for more.
She heard, or rather felt, a moan from Epoch. The deer had gotten past the initial shock, and was catching up with the situation, her lustful vibrations reverberating in the earth pony’s chest. She had positioned her forelegs lengthways down her front and Withania could feel her pushing with her hind legs, seeking to go deeper into her host, to surround herself in the warm wet embrace. Withania let her hooves slide down Epoch’s sides to her thighs, feeling the soft tenderness there, and lifted with all her strength.
Much to her surprise - owing to most of the deer’s body now being in her throat - she successfully lifted the rest of her meal up off the ground, and remembering the techniques she’d already seen, she leaned back to get Epoch up above her head and let gravity assist the next part.
Epoch instinctively stretched her hind legs out behind her, narrowing her hips and smoothing her entry into Withania’s engorged neck. Her head had reached the stomach, and now her hips entered her host’s engorged maw.
Withania found her tongue no longer pinned to the bottom of her mouth as the mass of her friend’s body gave way to the divide of her rump and legs. To her immense relief, there was just enough of a gap for her to breathe - awkwardly with her throat jammed open - but enough to release the tension in her lungs.
Inside her the deer felt the pressure on all sides grow and wane as Withania’s lungs got back to work, then in an unexpected but not unwelcome surprise, the earth pony’s tongue lapped up into the folds of her labia. She was already on edge from the experience of being swallowed whole, and now the burning embers in her loins roared into fire. She couldn’t see for the lack of light, and her body was still pinned in the pony’s esophagus, leaving Withania free to do as she pleased.
Withania had leaned back against the armchair behind her, lapping with her tongue while her hooves went to work massaging her swollen chest - and also her own sopping flower. She almost couldn’t believe what her body and muscles were telling her, until she opened her eyes again to see two deer legs sticking out in front, twitching and flexing involuntarily from the attention she was giving to her meal. It was Withania’s pleasure as much as Epoch’s - the slick, salty taste filled her mouth around the soft cheeks of the deer’s rump, and her own excitation fueled her body with the energy she needed to keep going.
Epoch was close, Withania could feel her tensing up again. She abandoned her own honey pot and with a slicked hoof pressed Epoch’s exposed clit in her mouth. The sudden switch from soft tongue to solid hoof tipped her prey over the edge, eliciting both a far more audible moan and a shudder that Withania felt through her entire body. To seal the deal, she pressed firmly and swallowed hard, dragging the last of her friend down her throat.
“Epoch?” gasped Withania, taking gulps of air into her now clear throat, “Are you there?”
“Wi… Withania?” replied the deer, muffled from inside. Withania could feel her entire insides moving as her guest explored her confines. She could make out rounded shapes of a hoof here, a hock there, even the crown of a head moving across the surface of her huge belly.
“Tell me what it’s like in there Epoch,” she said, reaching her hoof around her rounded middle to her begging pussy.
“It’s… warm, and soft, all I can hear is you breathing and your heart, and your voice… it’s just, you, all around me…”
Withania rubbed her clit while using her other hoof to massage the lumps in her stomach. She could feel the fluid squelch as her body got to work on its meal. She knew exactly what it was like in there, but hearing someone else say it from inside her own body was exhilarating. Epoch was hers now. Inside her body, to be claimed by her organs. There was a tiredness brewing as her energies were diverted to processing her meal, but she wasn’t ready to sleep yet, she pushed the tiredness back, basking in the glow of her crescendo.
“Withania?” came Epoch’s faint voice again, “I- I’m melting, it’s amazing… Did I taste good? Do I feel good?”
Withania’s breathing reached a frenzy as she listened to this, her hoof working furiously to release the heat from her pussy in glorious climax.
“You, you were incredible,” she panted, “I can feel you squashing together, it’s… it feels like I’m hugging you- aaaahhhhh!”
Withania clenched as she orgasmed, her flower squirting milky fluid onto her hoof, and she spread her legs in all directions, breathing heavily as the rush cascaded through her trembling body. She felt fuller than after the largest meal she’d ever eaten, including seconds and dessert, but unlike that Hearth's Warming eve she didn’t feel like she’d overeaten. She felt inflated, like a small pony in a giant body, her size and movements exaggerated.
She lay back for a few minutes, her breathing slowly returning to normal, licking her hoof and then her lips in lewd self-indulgence.
“Epoch?” She didn’t have to call out or speak up, the deer’s entire world was Withania now, a pulsing envelop of warm wet flesh pressing into her from all directions, massaging her into a paste. There was no response. Withania could feel faint movements, however - Epoch was feebly pushing this way and that, wallowing in her dwindling solidity.
Withania sat up, thinking about her previous experiences, and staggered to her hooves. Her belly hung below the barrel of her chest, swaying slightly under its own weight. She felt enormous, heavy. Not encumbered, but bulky. Sticking her tongue out slightly she lowered herself down and lay on her belly, feeling her sides stretch out like a beanbag, their contents pressed flat under her body weight.
Sighing with pleasure she rocked back and forth, feeling the melted body of her friend bulge and stretch out inside of her, the sounds from her belly become wetter, and trapped air escaping from her mouth as hiccups. Finally, she lay down on her back, hind legs out, forelegs resting on the mound in front of her, and closed her eyes.
When she reopened them the clock has passed another two hours. Looking down at her midriff, Withania saw that her belly had reduced significantly in size. She could feel a great pressure deeper in her midriff, causing her to sit up and assess herself.
Her indulgence was evident, as both her thighs and flanks had ballooned in size, her body recycling her meal and distributing it across her body. She reached out and pressed her cutie mark in, watching the nightshade shape deform as her new deliciously soft marshmallow hips gave way to her massaging hoof. She could feel their weight as she lifted one leg up.
Marvelling at her new curves she sat on her rump and spread her legs as best as she could, feeling her fresh padding squash under her weight.
“Oh Epoch,” she said aloud, “I almost wish I could keep these darlings…”
She knew that Epoch was beyond hearing anything, but from past experience, she also knew that somewhere in her body, the deer was probably enjoying the sensation of her expansion as much as she was.
“Let’s take this to the bedroom…” added Withania in a sultry voice, getting up with an exaggerated sway of her chubby new hips, and sauntering up to her bed.
The bedframe creaked as she clambered onto it and starfished, sinking into the mattress and feeling it hug her curves. The event of eating her friend had passed in a whirl of out-of-control pleasure, and now the house was silent, and it was just her alone, idly stroking herself.
Only she didn’t feel alone. She’d never felt more alive, the absent deer had become her augmented body. As Withania had transformed Epoch into fat on her flanks, so had Epoch transformed Withania into something more. It wasn’t hard to imagine why other ponies made a habit of this. She dug her hoof into her hip again, marvelling at the sensation of being so soft and cuddly, and wondering if this was how other predators felt after eating somepony.
Was it a power play to them? Or did they secretly just want to be loved in the way that she had connected to Epoch?
Or maybe, the thought, recalling another scene she’d walked in on not long ago, Maybe the prey doesn't matter at all, and it’s just a desire to feel full and fat...
These thoughts circling around in her hormone-addled brain, Withania slowly fell asleep again.
***
A sharp knock at the front door shook Withania awake. Opening her eyes she squinted at the bright mid-morning sun pouring around the sides of the curtained window. She sat up hurriedly, her hooves reaching for her abdomen and thighs alike. Her sturdy earth pony hips were back to their normal selves. Lighter and strong, but she missed the silky softness of the previous night already.
Remembering the knock, she stumbled downstairs, blinking the tiredness away and opened the front door. Epoch stood on the doorstep, biting her lip in anticipation, and as soon as the door was wide enough she threw her forelegs around the earth pony’s neck and drew her into a tight hug.
Neither of them said anything, they both knew full well what had happened, and how wonderful the experience had been for predator and prey alike.
