Tragic Tales of Hindhoof Fallout

Reed was going through the shelves as fast as he could. This little convenience store was the last place in the abandoned city he hadn’t checked for food. Everything else had been picked clean. Either by raiders or by him. The few things he was finding were too moldy to eat. He hoped he would find something. Anything to eat.

He was the last survivor in the city. Some had left to tackle the silver wasteland alone or in a group. A handful had left to join the Omseh cult. Most had stayed and tried to rebuild some semblance of civilization. It worked for a little while. Now he was the only one left. An entire city, and it was occupied by just him. Well, he wasn’t entirely alone.

The ground shook a little. A light rumbling could be heard in the distance. Chapto was coming. Reed grabbed his bag and ran for the door. He stopped. He was already inside a building. He looked over to the front display window. He got down so he was under the windowsill. The wall was mostly there. There was a hole in the wall. Barely big enough to fit his hand through. Big enough to see through however.

The shaking was getting more intense. He could see rubble on the ground shaking. Chapto was definitely closing in. Reed had been on the run from him for awhile. He had been careful so far. Only moving at night, when his adversary was asleep. This morning’s hunger made him desperate. He hoped it wasn’t a mistake.

He was snapped out of his thoughts. A massive blue hoof slammed down on the street. It nearly made him jump. He had to fight his instinctual urge to make any noise. He just had to remember what got him here so far. Slow breathing. No sudden movements. Into view came the tip of a nose. It twitched, and sniffed.

“Come on out little hoomin.” Chapto said. He could never pronounce human correctly. No one ever survived long enough to correct him. “Your smell is so strong here, I can almost taste you.”

The giant pony sniffed around some more. He was the reason Reed was the last human in the city. Chapto was a giant pony that fed on the comparatively tiny humans. He could easily fit two humans in his mouth. Some tried to fight him off to no avail. He just ate everyone that came at him. The Omseh cult said that he was the punishment for nonbelievers. Reed often wondered if they were right.

“You’re the only tasty hoomin left.” Chapto said between sniffs. “I bet you’re the tastiest.” Reed wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or a taunt. This blue pony was hungry just like he was. Although Reed’s hunger would be sustained by food. Chapto’s would be sustained by him. Getting eaten was not how he wanted to leave this silver wasteland.

The sniffing came to a stop. Chapto raised his head. His hooves tapped the ground in frustration. “I’ll find you eventually tasty hoomin!” he grumbled. The big blue pony stomped away, shaking the ground with his grumpy attitude.

As the stomping grew distant, Reed breathed a sigh of relief. It was a brief panic, but the problem was gone. The trip yielded no food. A loss. The close encounter was a bit too much for today. He would have to skip a meal. Try again when the giant pony was asleep.

Reed made his way to the door. He carefully looked outside. Chapto was nowhere to be seen. This was the time to move. The hungry pony went left. He went right. He had to make his way to his home in the city’s subways. The big predator couldn’t go underground. The streets were eerily quiet. Even the distant rumbling had stopped.

As he approached the end of the block, a loud boom made him nearly jump out of his skin. A massive blue hoof landed right in front of him. He fell to the ground. Towering above him. A puffy yellow mane. A wide grin. “Silly hoomins always fall for that one.” Chapto said.

Reed stood up to run, but it was too late. A powerful force swept him off his feet. Rather than land on the ground. He was on something soft. His hands touched a wet surface. It was soft. He knew where he was. Before he could scream in horror, the mouth closed. Chapto had plenty of practice eating humans. His massive tongue made quick work of Reed’s clothes. He could only watch as all of his belongings disappeared down the pony’s gullet. He was naked, on a giant tongue.

It seemed the man-eating pony was in a playful mood. The massive tongue began to push Reed around. Like a bully pushing a nerd in the hallway. He found himself pushed into the extremely soft inner cheeks of his captor. He was rubbed around for a bit before being shoved below the massive tongue. It laid down, pinning him with no effort. All this pushing would continue for a few more agonizing minutes.

With his vision blurred by saliva, Reed failed to notice where the tongue was pushing him. When the space suddenly became a tight fit, it was too late. A hard gulp was felt all around him. The tight, saliva slickened throat would carry him for a moment before dropping him into a dark, wet space. There was a thick water-like liquid rising around him. Things started to feel hot. Like really hot water was poured on him. It was getting hard to breathe. When the hot turned to burning, it clicked. Now Reed was screaming.

***

Chapto didn’t mind sitting down to enjoy his snack. It felt so satisfying to catch the last human in the city. He wasn’t filling by any means. The satisfaction came from a long hunt that paid off. Now the blue pony wanted to relax, and enjoy the human’s last moments.

The human had already struggled down his throat. Now he was kicking and screaming in Chapto’s stomach. The pony couldn’t help but press his left forehoof against his stomach. Every punch, kick and thrash. It was faintly felt with the pressed hoof.

He wasn’t sure when the urge to eat humans came from. He figured it came from the lack of food that made him desperate enough. His first human was actually an accident. He was walking in the city for the first time. He had yawned when a human had fallen off the wreckage of a building above him. Slid down his throat too fast to stop. The sensation of a living thing having the life choked out of it by stomach acid was far more enjoyable than he expected. After that, he just wanted more. Chapto never expected to become a predator. The silver wasteland worked in mysterious ways.

His reminiscing was cut off by a loud boom. On the silver horizon, something had landed. Was that a new city? Chapto immediately stood up. A new city meant new humans. It wasn’t too far. Maybe a day of travel. He thought about the human in his stomach. He wanted his meal to last at least long enough to get there. The blue pony thought for a moment before having an idea. He swallowed a few times. He was gulping down some air. Hopefully it would keep the human around long enough for the walk. The exercise would probably melt him away, but thinking wasn’t Chapto’s strong suit.

Hunting humans was.

***

Tom shuffled off his saddlebags in the kitchen. Getting groceries at his size was surprisingly manageable. It was one of the few things that didn’t require any help from ponies of a different size. The nearby farmer’s market actually grew food just for ponies of his size.

As he slipped off his hoofshoes, he felt a great relief. He looked over them. He could’ve sworn he picked up another pebble. Something was poking him on his walk home. He could never be sure since the pebbles in question were to small. His marefriend Nugget had been telling him to clean his shoes. Maybe she was right.