Hay Fever

The Everfree forest was a never the same for more than a moment. Everywhere things where growing, dying, evolving. The forest did not notice prey being consumed by a predator – that was just part of the daily flow of life. The predator hunkered down for a few hours as the rain set in, drizzle dripping down from the canopy in patches, soaking into the plant life, rotting fallen branches and deadwood such as itself.

The Greater Timberwolf had to potter out from its rest eventually however, and in an alcove between the trees it squatted and left behind a suspicious pile that seemed to be moulding leaf mulch and sodden moss. Amongst this waste remains was a large brown lump the size of a pony’s hoof, with a lined texture that tapered to a point like a chestnut. The rain trickled off of the trees overhead, bedding the seed into the the fertile soil, and as the last of the day light faded, the seed took root.

Too slowly for anything to take notice, but fast enough to measure, a v-shape of flat, pointed leaves emerged from the ground. Between their protective guard a stem followed suit, the compressed ball of nitrates and magic at its base fueling its ascent, and the overwhelming desire to reach up and extend its body inspiring its haste.

With a body of its own, the plant stretched up and outwards with remarkable speed, growing from a pencil-sized sprout to a tree-sapling in the space of a few hours. It felt its roots deep in the soil drawing in food and water, building cells and pushing out leaves and the stem until a bud formed of pure white, almost luminescent in the gloom of the night. All effort when into the new bud, its density growing and weighing down the stem, but providing a safe and dry haven inside until the original seed in the soil had been depleted, and the centre of the plant lay within the flower bud waiting to bloom.

While sleeping animals staved off the long hours of the night, the strange white flower surpassed the rest of the forest in the blink of an eye, and as the cold glow of morning light touched its tightly clenched petals, the drip-dripping of dew pattered down from above, disturbing something inside.

An ear twitched as she felt drips running off of her petals and rolling down her leaves into the base of her stem. The fresh water was cool to the touch, while rays of sunlight stirred her limbs into action. She wanted to stretch wide, to turn and embrace the morning light. Her petals moved of their own accord, unravelling to expose her open face in all its glory.

As the sunlight hit her eyes, she clenched them, a frown forming on her muzzle - and somewhere deep in her mind, her consciousness shifted. Her eyes opened and she saw the forest canopy above, framed by the half-bloomed flower in which she sat, cradled as softly as a pearl. She looked down and saw that she had hooved legs, a fern green coat, a terracotta mane and tail. Somewhere in her extremities she could feel her grip deep in the soil, holding her upright and standing proudly against gravity.

Withania shook her head, the familiar strand-like vines mixed into her mane rustling in her ears.

Oh, she thought, I’m in the Tegmen.

But the tegmen was in a forest, not her garden. And it seemed smaller. And she could feel every part of it, as if it were an extension of her body. She carefully got up and peered over the rim of the flower she’d slept inside of. The Everfree Forest surrounded her. She remembered entering the forest, but not leaving it - something had happened.

Just as she turned to hop out of the flower she felt a tug from between her legs - the tendril connecting her, once again from the centre of the flower to her own deepest reaches. Gritting her teeth she held it down with a hind hoof and stepped forward, feeling the connection sever inside, and the end of the vine slip out from her nethers. She gasped in shock as she abruptly lost all sensation of the plant she was standing in - she had been dimly aware of every part from petals to roots, but the sudden departure of all of this nearly caused her to faint. She suddenly felt incredibly small, as if a tiny part of herself had detached to leave the greater whole behind.

The plant immediately began to droop, and Withania quickly jumped clear. She was only a foot or two off the the ground, and turning to look she saw what was more or less a dwarf version of the Tegmen Flower, short in the stem, all of its growth concentrated into the flower. And now the entire plant was wilting before her eyes.

It was me, she mused, I was the plant… and now I’ve detached from it, that part of me is wilting.

She’d been eaten, she remembered. Eaten by that huge timberwolf and digested into a paste. How had she survived? She closed her eyes and thought about the dream she’d had. After every sensation had left her, all she was aware of was a tiny, incredibly tight confined space, and the wish to find ground and stretch out. A seed, some part of her had remained that the wolf had passed, and then she had literally regrown into a flower overnight.

She felt slightly sorry for the collapsing flower that had been her salvation, but then she realised that it was merely a shell. The flower had grown and served its purpose, and now she shed it like a snake shucking its skin.

But heavens, was she tired… Regrowing in a night had left her exhausted and hungry. She needed to get out of the forest - find the sunlight. And probably some real food as well. Sunlight was good to sustain her, but she now knew that in times of exhaustion she needed something far more substantial to get back into shape.

Stretching her joints out, Withania began to trot away from the sun rise, heading east to Ponyville.

Flitter and Cloud Chaser were on morning weather patrol. The rain clouds had received reinforcements from the Everfree, and rather than try to bust up clouds that were constantly forming, it was easier to just shove them all back over the forest. Cloud Chaser lazed on her back in mid-air pushing clouds vaguely in the direction of the forest, but not really helping, while Flitter dutifully did the real work. The air was still, making the fluffy clumps of water vapour stubborn and resistant to moving.

“Hey, who’s that?” said Cloud Chaser, her eyes spotting movement from the edge of the woods. A green earth pony wandered out, head low and hooves dragging. She stepped out from the shadows under the overcast sky above the forest and dropped onto her haunches, looking up at the sun with her eyes closed.

“I think it’s that pony who has the big garden with the greenhouses in it. The one who sells herbs and that. I think her name was… Wither Lampshade?”

“Willow Nightblade?”

“Something Briarsong?”

“No there was a ‘knight’ in there somewhere… Or ‘shade’, one of the two… Wishing Heightshade?”

“Winifred Night… ty?”

“Nightingale Whiteshade.”

“I have no idea what her name is,” admitted Flitter.

“We’ll have to wing it…” agreed Cloud Chaser.

Withania Nightshade jumped slightly as she heard two pegasi land on either side of her. Light lilac coats and sky blue manes - it was the two sisters from the backup weather team. Maybe sisters. She wasn’t actually sure, they were together all the time. They could be partners… but she didn’t want to get that mixed up with siblings… she’d have to wing it.

“Uh, hello! Sorry I was just catching some sun…” she said.

“What were you doing in the forest?” questioned Flitter, not unkindly, but with the tone of a gossiper.

“Also what’s with the vines and spots? You look like you’re on your way to a really fancy party!” asked Cloud Chaser, leaning in and stroking Withania’s coat - and the fresh pale green petals dotting it. “Wow, they’re petals… how’d you get them so perfect all by yourself?”

“Umm…” The earth pony backed up slightly from the pair so that they were in front of her rather than on either side. “Yea I was just trying it all out, uh, Zecora was helping me, and I was coming back from her place and- oh nettles… I forgot…”

Having still been leaning close to gaze at the delicate green tendrils woven into her red mane, the sisters - or good friends - paused dead in their questioning. Flitter sneezed suddenly, and then continued to looked confusingly at Withania - while Cloud Chaser moved in, sniffing her neck, her chest, working her way down Withania’s body and making her stand up in alarm.

“That scent…” said Flitter slowly, “it’s amazing… let me smell it, what is it?”

A voice in Withania’s head was telling her to run before this situation got out of hand like the flower shop, to get back home to the safety of the greenhouse where she wouldn’t be bothered… But I’m so tired, her conscious brain responded, Why not just let these two fuss over me? They seem to be enjoying themselves already…

Her muzzle scrunched up while Flitter invaded her personal space, sniffing her face and her nose to take in more of the strange scent she was emitting.

“I- pffftp! I shouldn’t…” she said, trying to evade the pegasus’ snuffles. She backed up again - only to find Cloud Chaser’s head wedged under her hind leg. She gasped in alarm as she tripped and landed squarely on top of the other mare, while Flitter sized her opportunity to dive into a tongue-filled kiss. Cloud Chaser seemed entirely unphased- rolling onto her back and wriggling to get her head under Withania’s tail, her forehooves wrapping around the underside of the earth pony’s body to balance the flustered mare.

One drunken mare Withania had already dealt with, but getting tag-teamed by two of them was her limit - especially when she was already thinking about plants from the night she’d just had. The lure of enveloping Flitter, softening and suspending her body in nectar, granting them both unparalleled bliss was just too much.

Prompted by Cloud Chaser finding Withania’s twitching love passage and burying her nose into it, the earth pony opened her mouth wide and surrounded Flitter’s muzzle. The pegasus suddenly stopped fidgeting, and moaned sensually as she felt the slick nectar around Withania’s mouth and tongue sink into her fuzzy face, her compact hind quarters sitting down submissively as she immediately switched from avid curiosity to simply giving herself to this strange alluring garden pony.

This is a lot easier now I don’t need to breath… thought Withania, remembering the other time she’d played this part. Arms around your prey, hug them close and press down, your jaw will stretch...

“Ga… Gardiana, have me!” mumbled Flitter’s muffled voice. Withania obliged and using Cloud Chaser’s rhythmic ministrations to set the pace, she steadily gulped down Flitter’s head, followed swiftly by her shoulders. Wrapping her arms around the pegasus’ half-open wings, she hugged the pony into a tight embrace whilst letting her mouth travel down the light, streamlined body.

Cloud Chaser was fairly oblivious about what was happening at the other end of Withania, until she felt the earth pony’s weight on her chest increase considerably. Pulling out from her effort to swallow as much of Withania’s more concentrated nectar as possible, she looked under the fern-green thigh around her head to see a rapidly expanding belly bearing down on her, soft and moving with something inside of it. She nuzzled in to investigate, just as the point of Flitter’s nose poked at the bottom of Withania’s stomach, moving this way and that as she explored the confines she had been so eager to entrap herself in.

Withania let out a loud moan of pleasure as the delicate hind hooves of her catch slipped down her slick throat, and then began to coo gently as she felt the other pegasus she was sitting on begin to rub her engorged belly, feeling out the pony inside. Stars above, she feels amazing in there! I can feel my nectar pushing into her - and her body responding! No wonder the Tegmen flower likes me so much!

In front of Withania, Cloud Chaser’s hind legs stretched out, bobbing up and down as the pegasus sought to press herself into Withania’s lower body as much as possible. Without a second thought, Withania scooped the two legs together and stuffed them into her mouth, guiding them into her throat with ease. There was a gasp from under her sagging belly as Cloud Chaser was pulled forward, and the earth mare plunged her mouth over a second pair of cutie marks, her tongue finding its way between the smaller, but still soft hips.

Cloud Chaser’s gasp quickly turned to squeaks as a honeyed tongue began to lap at her folds, pushing sticky nectar into her passage faster than her body could counter with its own lubricants. Withania waited until she felt Flitter beginning to settle down in her stomach, lungs flooded with her sweet juices, and then used her forelegs to stuff more of Cloud Chaser into her mouth. The other pegasus was flopped over her rounded belly, rubbing her face with the smooth fur and petals, whilst the bottom half of her body disappeared into Withania’s maw to the wet slurp of gulps and swallows.

Still taking her time, Withania fumbled under the huge mass of pegasus in front of her until she found Cloud Chaser’s forelegs, and pushed them into her mouth alongside her folded wings. This had the effect of pulling her prey’s shoulders back, so that the lavender pony was raised up. Withania pivoted back on the huge round ball of her belly to support the home stretch, and Cloud Chaser descended into the yoga-ball sized barrel filled with all the sweet sauce that she could ever drink. And Flitter.

“Hooooooooooo!” cooed Withania, settling her chest and forelegs over the huge round belly underneath her. She could feel Cloud Chaser tracing her hooves down the stomach walls, feeling out the space available, finding her other half suspended next to her. Within only a few moments there was a kick as she ran out of air and started breathing in the nectar they were both drowned in. The earth pony lay over the top of them, pressing their bodies together, joining them in their bath.

Her messy marehood, left wound up but unfinished by Cloud Chaser begged her for more attention, but she couldn’t reach it. Pouting in frustration, she fumbled for grip with her hind hooves, and began to gently press her hips into the soft ball of pony belly in front. She clenched her folds open and shut, imagining them to be filled by something long and round - and discovered that holding her pussy shut quickly built a pressure of the thicker nectar secreting from deep within.

Sensing her guests inside reacting to both their own libidos and her influence, her efforts were rewarded with a surge of pent up energy sweeping her off of her hooves. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth, dripping golden saliva onto the grass, her marehood leaked profusely, and her hind legs gave way to her slouching over her overstuffed gut. Her mind fogged over entirely, drifting into the sensations of the two ponies inside of her, their mouths, marehoods, and every other orifice pumped full of her nectar, flowing from one end and out the other, lulling them into lustful sedation - until Withania herself dozed off, back and legs spread in the warmth of the sun.