Empty Barn, Empty Stomach's
"Phew! Finally!" Applejack said with relief as she pushed the last crate of apples out of the bright cloudy sky and into the family barn. She had spent the morning moving some thing into the house from the brand new barn the family had built together. It was hard work, but she was able to get all the food and other supplies into the home so they could use them. With a little help from her sister Apple Bloom, of course, who was bouncing happily alongside her.
"Ha ha! This was great, sis! We got all the hard work done! And together!" She said excitedly.
"'Together'? Ah was the one who did all the work! You just lazed around and watched in the shade the whole time!" Applejack said, looking angry, which then turned into them both throwing their heads back and laughing.
"Alright, alright, let’s go tell Granny we’re all done." Applejack said, slipping off her hat and tossing it aside. At that moment, her stomach started to growl loudly. Apple Bloom giggled as her sister placed a hoof on her rumbling belly and chuckled. "And not a moment too soon. Sounds like ah better get some food in mah tummy."
Apple Bloom laughed and then blushed as her own pudgy belly let out a few growls of its own. "No surprise the two of us of all ponies would get hungry after all that work. We ain’t even had breakfast yet. Ooh! Maybe Granny will finally let us have some of the new pear treats Grand Pear gave her last week."
The sisters both thought of the foods they might have for breakfast as they walked into the house. But as they entered the kitchen, where Big Mac was already eating pancakes, Granny Smith held out a hoof to stop them. "Now wait just a gul-dangled minute, youngin's! Did you make sure you brought out everything from that barn?”
Applejack nodded. "Every last one Granny. Well, maybe we left a few things in there, but they’re important, in case of emergency." Granny stared at Applejack like she was speaking Old Ponish. "Now, Applejack, thinking ahead is all well and good, but you know that when your Granny tells ya to do somethin', you know to do it! And right now that somethin' is bringing in everything from the barn, which-"
Granny’s incoming lecture was brought to a sudden halt by the sound of Applejack and Apple Bloom's empty bellies growling, as loud as timber wolves. She looked surprised as they both patted and rubbed their respective stomach's. "Yikes! What in tarnation is goin' on in there? You both must be starving!"
"We are, Granny!" Applejack said with a sigh as she patted and showcased her growling gut. "We were just out working in the sun for a few hours- well, one of us was, and now we’re really hungry, so could you please just let us have some breakfast?"
"Please, Granny? I’m so hungry ah could eat a whole entire cow!" Apple Bloom said as she sat and stroked her grumbling belly. "Aw, alright, alright, you two go out and bring in those last few thingamajigger's, and when you get back ah'll have a nice big breakfast waiting for you two. Capeesh?"
The two sisters sighed with relief and thanked Granny as they turned and ran back outside to the big barn on the top of the hill. "What do ya think she’ll make, sis? Pancakes with baloney? Bacon and eggs? Waffles and fruit?"
Applejack laughed, feeling her tummy gargle and churn inside her as she ran. "Wait until we get inside to start talkin' 'bout food, Sugarcube!"
***
The inside of the barn was dark and quiet now with everything moved out. There were no windows to give off any light. Just the dusty old floor and walls. Apple Bloom grew nervous as she watched Applejack trot in In to move the final few boxes, which looked mighty heavy. "Uh, maybe ah should just head back to the house and eat."
Applejack laughed and shook her head. "Nice try, sugarcube. Ah think it’s time you actually did some work this time." She saw how nervous and scared her little sister looked as she slowly moved into the barn, and heard her hungry stomach growling, and decided to cheer her up with a little game.
"Heh, besides. I’m pretty sure AH am way hungrier than you!" She said as she hopped over to Apple Bloom and jutted out her brown grumbling tummy in her face as she patted it. "Hear all that growling? Mah belly is sayin' "Hey, Applejack, feed me already!" It’s so empty, cause it just can’t wait to eat!"
Apple Bloom laughed and pushed out her flabby gurgling belly for her sister to hear. "Well, mah stomach is 10 times as hungry as yours is right about now! Maybe even the hungriest in Equestria! It just wants food, and it won’t be quiet until it gets some!"
"Yeah, well I’m so hungry ah could eat a-" Applejack suddenly stopped and even her empty stomach fell silent as she suddenly looked behind Apple Bloom and noticed something in the sky. Dark storm clouds were creeping in from the horizon. They were flashing with loud booms of lightning, and heading straight for the farm.
"Apple Bloom, quick! Get inside, now!" Applejack cried as she pulled her sister inside the barn and closed the big barn doors. "Hey! What gives?" Apple Bloom said, as she put her hooves on her hips and her petite stomach shook and growled. "Ah'm so hungry! Ah wanna go outside!"
Applejack frowned and briefly opened the doors so Apple Bloom could see the huge storm raging outside, and she screamed and slammed the doors shut herself. "Never mind, ah'm good."
The two sisters huddled together, pressing their tight burbling tummies against each other as they growled and rumbled for food, oblivious to the danger and fright their owners were in.
Soon, heavy rain began splattering against the ceiling, and huge gusts of wind slammed into the walls. The sisters held onto each other tightly as they listened to the noise. "Ah hope Big Mac and Granny Smith and Winona are okay." Apple Bloom said worriedly.
They had no idea how long they were in there, but it was apparently a very long time, as soon they were getting sleepy. The sky was no longer shining as brightly through the cracks in the door as it had before, but the storm was still going strong, and the barn was creaking like it was threatening to let itself be ripped off the ground.
Applejack and Apple Bloom held onto each other for the whole time, with one small exception when Applejack pressed a hoof against her aching roaring belly and whispered, "Be patient, tummy. You’ll be fed when this is all over."
The next morning, Applejack woke up and blinked a few times, expecting the whole frightening experience to have just been a bad dream. But she realized the minute she woke up that she was still in the barn, laying on her back on the floor. Apple Bloom was still with her, and her stomach was still empty and growling.
She patted it tenderly as she climbed up and stretched out her hind legs while looking around at the barn, though there wasn’t much to see as the absence of windows and other openings to the outside world made the whole place seem very dark and dreary. Spooky even. But Applejack wasn’t afraid of anything- unless it was just her and he little sister and they were both was really, really, hungry.
She suddenly noticed how bright it was outside, as she could just barely make out sunlight peeking through the cracks in the middle of the door. "Oh, thank Celestia! The storm's stopped." She walked over to the door and tried to buck it open, but instead of the doors flinging open, it stayed put. "What in tarnation?" Applejack said, a little irritated as she gave her growling belly a few soft rubs as she kept trying to buck the door open, unable to see outside, where a gigantic tree had been knocked over by the storm, and it had conveniently fallen in front of the door, keeping the sister's from escaping.
All the noise eventually woke up Apple Bloom from her slumber. She sat up and rubbed her eyes with her hooves, before licking her lips and moving them fine to her aching tummy. "Mornin', sis! I can’t believe it’s been a whole day already! Mah belly can’t wait another minute to eat! Let’s head inside!" She moved towards the door but Applejack pushed her back.
"Uh, sugarcube, the thing is, we may not be able to go inside for a while." She said, rubbing her front hoof nervously. "What, why? Why not, sis?" Apple Bloom asked, making an adorable pouty face up at her sister and patting both hooves on her flabby gurgling belly.
"Uh, because ah think we should do a little, uh, exploration if the barn, y'know, since we just built it and all." She said, lying through her teeth. She hated it, but she and her sister were both starving, and now they were both trapped with nothing but those weird boxes for company. Her midsection gargled and growled and she rubbed it, a little harder this time. "Besides, it might take our minds off how hungry we are."
Apple Bloom shrugged. "Well, aright." As she skipped off further into the barn, Applejack wore a fake smile until she was out of sight, and she then turned to the door worriedly, and tried to see out to the farm through the cracks as she rolled a hoof over the surface of her sagging, moaning belly. Where In Equestria are Big Mac and Granny? They should have rescued us by now! And fed us! Celestia, I’m so starvin' ah could eat all the food in Equestria, like ah said earlier! She wondered if they were okay. They were probably stuck in the barn right at that moment, with nothing to do but gorge and gorge on the endless foods they had in the kitchen. All the pancakes and French fries and cakes and spears and apples and pies and...
"Applejack, I’m really really hungry." Apple Bloom said sadly from right behind her, making Applejack and her growling stomach lurch. She placed a hoof on it to ease its tremors as she looked down sadly at the little filly aa she leaned against the barn doors. She didn’t deserve to go through all of this. Applejack sighed. "Ah, know, sugarcube, ah know. Heh. Ah really wasn’t kidding earlier when ah said I couldn’t wait to eat!"
Apple Bloom giggled and reached out a hoof to feel her big sister's bloated bubbling belly as it churned and growled for food, almost as loud as her's. "But ah still think MY tummy is the hungriest! Just listen!" She sat on the dirty floor and pushed out her plump aching tummy with her hooves, which grumbled and rumbled in response. "Mah stomach hasn’t eaten anythin' in over a day, and I’m so hungry I could eat an apple that’s been burned and left out in the sun to rot for a year!”
Applejack patted the stretch of her stomach as she sat down and continued to rub it where Apple Bloom could watch. "Well, I could eat seafood! Rotten, disgustin' seafood that’s been thrashed around in grease, manure, and dirt, and served with a side of stinky fish!” Her tummy whined in response like it was actually hungry enough to devour that.
Apple Bloom grinned and shook her little belly around so her stomach acids churned around and made all kinds of awful squelching sounds that made Applejack feel guilty. She looked down and rubbed a hoof over her engorged, yet empty, stomach.
She then looked back up at her little sister and thought she was hallucinating as she saw that she was no longer a pony: she was an apple. A big, red, shiny, tasty, apple, wearing a big red bow.
Well, yeah, she WAS hallucinating, but she didn’t know it yet. "Oh mah gosh..." Applejack whispered as she licked her lips and slapped her roaring tummy as he gazed at the delicious looking meal in front of her. "You’re lookin' mighty tasty today, Apple Bloom."
"You too, Applejack." Apple Bloom simpered and stroked little circles over her bulbous tummy as she hallucinated the farmer pony as a yellow, juicy pear. She hadn’t eaten a Pear in so long and thought of all the ones they had in the house. And this one was so big, she smacked her lips and wondered what it might taste like...
***
The last thing Big Mac and Granny Smith expected to see when they were finally able to leave the house the next morning and bucked their ways into the barn was to see Applejack and Apple Bloom rolling around on the floor, their drooping bellies growling loudly, trying to nibble on each other's ears.
"Quit biting, you damn apple!"
"Get in mah big belly, you silly old pear!"
"What in the name of Bright Mac and Pear Butter put together has gotten into you two?" Granny called out from the open doorway, snapping Applejack and Apple Bloom out of their hypnotic states at the sound of her voice, as they realized they had been trying to eat each other.
"Aw, shucks. You were that apple? I’m so sorry, sugarcube." Applejack apologizes as she placed a hoof on her gurgling tummy.
"Ah can’t believe I thought you were a pear!" Apple Bloom said, and looked down at her empty misshapen gut miserably. "I’m just so damn hungry, we haven’t eaten in DAYS!" She complained, suddenly noticing Granny and Big standing in the doorway.
"Oh, thank Celestia you two found us!" Applejack cried, and she dragged her starving corpse over to them and latched a trembling hoof around her big brother's front hoof. "Please, ya GOTTA feed us now, Granny. Can’t ya hear how hungry we are?" Her and Apple Bloom's tummies were roaring as loud as mountain lions by now, and she was too exhausted to even touch it at this point. "Just an apple or two to fill our tummies, Granny." Apple Bloom pleaded, clutching her sore hollow belly. "Please..."
"An apple! Pfft! You two have lost your minds!" Granny said. "Why, ah have a whole feast waitin' for ya back in the kitchen. Been waitin' for ya's for quite a while now."
Applejack and Apple Bloom's eyes lit up. "F-food?"
"Well, I suppose if you’re ready, Big Mac could carry you girls down to the house and-" Granny didn’t get very far as the two famished ponies blazed past her and tore across the fields, and didn’t stop until they had reached the kitchen and were feasting on the spread Granny had laid out for them on the table. They ate and ate until their bellies were full and bloating out impossibly. They didn’t even care that some of it had gone cold by now. They were just happy to eat.
"I’m never taking food fir granted again!" Apple Bloom said happily as she drummed her hooves on her gargantuan stomach. "And ah am NEVER stepping hoof in that barn again!" Applejack rubbed her full stomach and nodded as if to agree.
"Well, I don’t know about that." Granny said as she stepped into the kitchen like she didn’t care about the new monstrous brown and yellow stomach's before her. "Ya might have ta to go out there one last time."
"Aw, why?" Applejack whined.
"Well, in all the commotion, ya forgot to bring in those boxes! Aw, never mind, Big Mac's doin' it for ya." Granny said, as she watched Big Mac push the boxes into the room with his head, and pull them open to reveal their contents, boxes and boxes of sweet apple pie.
"WHAT!? Ya mean we could have eaten that the whole time?!" Applejack said with a burp.
"Ha ha! Ah knew you two not bein' very curious ponies was gonna bite you in the flank one day!" Granny said, and she threw her head back and laughed, as the two sisters looked at each other and started laughing too.
