Tummy Tussle

Cup Cake slowly began to open her eyes. She closed them and tried to fall back asleep, but the setting sun shining through the window across her face prevented that. What a pity; she was having the nicest dream. She dreamt that she was lost in an endless plain and very hungry. She remembered in the dream that she had swallowed a pumpkin cake whole.

Even then, she was hungry for more and walked for a time again until encountering a pound cake with wings. The pound cake was a slippery devil; dodging Cup Cake’s attempts to grab it. This went on for a while before it stood still long enough for Cup Cake got the drop on it and swallowed the wriggling culinary concoction whole like she did before with the pumpkin cake.

Another thing Cup Cake remembered in the dream was the cakes seemed to be alive, or at least, had living beings trapped inside them. When she ate them, the cakes seemed to be struggling, the pound cake especially, as if they were a recently consumed prey.

The thought she had become an unintentional predator to two unsuspecting victims terrified Cup Cake and she would have tried to think of a way to get them out, had it not for a sudden sensation of tiredness overcame her. She just layed back down on her back and found herself enjoying the movements of the two ‘cakes’ she devoured. It was strange, maybe, but at least she would find the time to get them out later.

The remainder of the dream had Cup Cake wondering why the gravity in her stomach went haywire. When she was standing on all fours, the two whole cakes she swallowed felt as if they were lying down closer to her spine. A sensation which she was sure it should feel if she’s was laying on her back. It even stayed that way when she layed down the second time.

Overall, despite eating two innocent creatures alive and her stomach’s weird malfunction, Cup Cake thought it was a nice dream.

With a yawn Cup Cake stretched her lips and then moved to sit up. As she did so, Cup Cake realized two things: one, her lower abdomen felt much, much heavier than what it felt like prior to her nap; and two, her soon-to-be first set of twins were missing from their playpen.

Motherly instincts kicking in, Cup Cake forgot her doubled weight and forced herself up onto her haunches.

“Pumpkin Cake? Pound Cake? Dearies, where are you,” Cup Cake gently called out? Silence was the only answer she received.

Cup Cake felt a slight flutter of movement in her stomach but thought it was just her second set of twins waking up with her. She got off the couch and immediately felt her hooves aching, more so than usual. Her heavier midsection didn’t help as it pulled down on her lower back and bulged out wider than it should.

It was here Cup Cake noticed just how big she was. In addition to her gravid womb and wide waistline, her stomach was bigger and with two distinct mounds bulging out. She felt as if she had eaten a whole buffet and was showing for it. Cup Cake thought that perhaps her dream wasn’t just that.

When she was pregnant with Pumpkin and Pound, there have been instances when Cup Cake had an inexplicable case of cravings in her sleep. As a result, Cup Cake had begun to suffer, as she and Carrot Cake labeled it, “Sleep-Craves”: sleepwalking while indulging herself with a midnight snack of an entire cake or other treats from the kitchen. Cup Cake’s first phase of “Sleep-Craves” occurred during the early months of her pregnancy, and made a second, short-lived comeback in the weeks closing in on her due date.

Given the fact that Cup Cake was ten and a half months into her second pregnancy, and how full she felt, she must have had an episode of the “Sleep-Craves.” While she was sleep-eating she must have seen what she was eating in her dreams. She was eating for two so it made sense.

Or, perhaps, her foals had a sudden growth spurt? No, that’s ridiculous. Silly pregnancy brain, always making her imagine funny fantasies.

Cup Cake shook her head. She needed to find where her younger foals went and quickly, not gaze at her massive middle all afternoon.

After she did a full search of the living room Cup Cake decided to look in the kitchen. Her “Sleep-Craves” often left the kitchen in a mess so thought of cleaning it up after she found her foals. Another reason for searching the kitchen was Cup Cake thought Pumpkin and Pound must have grown hungry and have made their way there to get something to eat.

However, when she reached the kitchen Cup Cake was stunned to find it was spotless. Not a single spoon or tube of icing out of place.

Cup Cake rubbed her eyes, convinced she was seeing things. After looking to see her eyesight was working perfectly, Cup Cake continued her search, calling out her foals’ names to see if they would answer. Cup Cake made a mental note that every time she called out Pumpkin and Pound’s names she felt that flutter in her stomach. Cup Cake shrugged it off as her foals were trying to help find their older siblings.

By the time the sun set over the horizon Cup Cake was nearing a state of panic. She had searched the entirety of Sugar Cube Corner; from every nook and cranny in the attic to all unturned stones in the basement. The moon was beginning its ascension into the sky when Cup Cake was exhausted, her body aching like Tartarus and begging for a rest. She had worn herself out looking for her foals and was about to collapse.

Eventually, Cup Cake gave in to her heavy body’s demands and fell back onto the living room couch where she had begun her search. Breathing heavily, she dragged her hooves up off the floor and placed them by her sides. Despite her drive to keep looking Cup Cake knew it was bad for her to over exert herself, lest she’s endanger her foals health or her own. Worse case scenario, she would induce an early labor with no pony to aid her.

Cup Cake ultimately decided to rest and think; go through the facts as she understood them and figure out where her foals could be. The front door and all windows were locked so they couldn’t be outside, every other door in the building was closed except for the living room and the kitchen so the only rooms they could be were the upstairs hallway or the main eating room for customers.

However, Cup Cake took into consideration that the playpen’s door was still closed. That lead her to believe Pumpkin Cake and Pound Cake had gotten out by magic or flying, respectively, and wandered about. With Pumpkin's magic and Pound’s flight they might have gained access to the other rooms in Suger Cube Corner. But since Cup Cake had already done a full sweep of the building she surely would have found them by then. It didn’t make any sense.

Cup Cake let out an exasperated sigh and put her hooves to her enlarged tummy, rubbing it with care. “I hope you two don’t make as much trouble as your brother and sister do. I know they love to have fun, but this little game of hide-and-seek is not as enjoyable as it should.” Cup Cake paused for a moment. “They must have taken a few pointers from Pinkie Pie. She knows how to pop in and out of nowhere, and I do mean nowhere. Although her antics can get to you at times it’s just what makes Pinkie Pie... well, Pinkie Pie.”

At that thought, Cup Cake paused again. Now that she thought about it, Pinkie Pie’s recent antic, her “Tummy Tussle” boxing ring, was just that: one of Pinkie Pie’s harmless antics. Well, mostly harmless. She felt one of her foals kicked at an area of her skin that was still sensitive from one of Pinkie’s foals bucking her and placed her hoof on it to ease the pain.

As a result of the “ Tummy Tussle” match, Cup Cake grew upset and resentful of Pinkie Pie. She may seem like a second daughter to her but this time her shenanigans went too far. She put their foals at risk of hurting each other and some of their mothers’ vital organs. Then again, whatever caused their foals to act that way couldn’t have been conducted by Pinkie Pie for she was just as surprised as Cup Cake was. Perhaps it was all the sugar from their confectionaries that made their foals wrestle like that? Maybe, but that was a mystery for another day.

The more Cup Cake thought about it, she may have been too hard on Pinkie. She was only trying to help, and at the same time have fun. Pinkie Pie was also right about something she said before: that night will certainly be a good story to tell her foals about when they were older.

“Pinkie Pie can be unbearable sometimes, yes, but she is just as much a good pony as you two will be one day. Once she returns from visiting her family I think an apology is in order. It will make things a lot less awkward once Carrot and Cheese Sandwich come home.

“That “Tummy Tussle” scheme was only an attempt of trying to help the both of us out, after all. Believe it or not, that wasn’t the most mind boggling thing Pinkie Pie has done. And Celestia knows things will get even more chaotic around here when Pinkie’s foals arrive. Oh, boy. The amount of diaper-changing will be through the roof!”

Cup Cake chuckled to herself, happy that she was able to forgive Pinkie Pie. “The moment Pinkie returns,” Cup Cake said to her belly, “I am going to give her a hug, tell her I’m sorry for being cranky, and then forgive her for that night.”

Cup Cake was about to say more, when something happened that made her heart skip a beat.

”Yay!”

That muffled “yay” was followed by the top portion of Cup Cake’s mountain of a belly bulged out, with two hoof-shaped bumps stretching her skin out in a painful way before being retracted back into its round shape.

To say Cup Cake was speechless would have been the understatement of the millennium. This wasn’t happening, was it? She did not just hear her daughter’s voice, from inside her stomach, followed by what felt like something alive in said stomach push out at the same time she heard the voice. She was beginning to think Pinkie Pie’s behavior was rubbing off on her, for she came up with a disturbing theory on what just unfolded before her...

Cup Cake’s dream had run parallel to events that happened in the real world as well. She did have a “Sleep-Crave,” she did have a pumpkin cake in her sleep, later followed by a feisty pound cake, and she did wake up feeling she had done so. However, the two “cakes” she consumed weren’t the kind she was dreaming of.

No, that’s preposterous! Cup Cake couldn’t possibly eat her own foals alive! Not only was that cannibalism but it was also impossible. How was she able to swallow them whole without choking?!

Before Cup Cake went into a frenzied panic she quickly remembered some breathing exercises taught by her mother in order to calm down. Once she was in a more stable state of mind, Cup Cake felt she needed to confirm her outrageous theory about where her foals currently were. She took a deep breath and placed her hooves over the upper part of her gut.

“P-P-Pound Cake? P-Pumpkin Cake? My d-dearies? *gulp* I hope I’m wrong, but if the two of you are indeed inside Mommy’s belly, each of you tap my hooves three times. Cup Cake waited about five seconds for her foals to reply before she felt something nudge both her hooves, three times.

Cup Cake was about to pass out like her husband often did, but controlled herself as to not frighten her accidental passengers. She was tempted to ask them what they were doing in her stomach but that answer was self-explanatory.

Instead, Cup Cake tried to think of a way to get them out. She could try regurgitating them but that ran the risk of Pound and Pumpkin drowning in the bile. She could ask Pinkie’s friend Twilight to teleport them out but she felt that could be risky as well.

After a few minutes of feeling both sets of twins’ internal movements while trying think of ways to get the first set out safely, Cup Cake gave up and layed her head back. She had only one option left in order to ensure her foals would come out.

Wait until Pinkie Pie returned to help.