Author's Note

Content warnings: Micro/macro vore, belly expansion, and regurgitation

There and Bat Again

Midnight trotted down a well packed path heading out of the apple orchards and back into town. As he moved he listened carefully for any sign of other ponies nearby. It would be easy enough to explain his small size as the result of a backfired spell, but his bedraggled state was another matter. He looked and felt like a drowned rat, and more than likely smelled like an outhouse.

After travelling a good distance without any incidents, the orchard gave way to the rolling fields that surrounded Ponyville. Ahead of him the path ran down a gentle slope before meeting an intricately worked stone bridge spanning a wide stream and entering the town.

It was midmorning by this time, and the streets were milling with ponies going about their business. Fortunately the area leading up to the bridge seemed clear, so it was possible he could make it to the water without being spotted. His size would play to his advantage in this regard, a single pro among a long list of cons. In addition to being unfortunately snack-sized, it had turned the normally moderate walk from Sweet Apple Acres into a grueling march.

By the time Midnight reached the bridge he was exhausted. His legs burned and sides heaved as he made his way down the bank. Without a second thought he shoved his head in the cold crystal clear water and drank greedily. Icy relief soothed his parched mouth and throat as he gulped down as much as he could hold.

Finally satisfied, it was time to take care of the next pressing need. Looking around, he found a small shoal nearby that formed a shallow pool of lazily swirling water. Considering it protection enough to keep himself from being washed away, he walked over and carefully stepped in one hoof at a time. He sighed in relief and shivered as he waded in up to his head. Still feeling his hooves contacting the sandy bottom, he dunked his head under and began scrubbing himself as thoroughly as he could, running his forehooves through his mane and tail.

When Midnight's head breached the surface he spat out a fountain of water and laughed. He was finally clean!

Making his way to the bank, he shook the water off like a dog, splashing tiny droplets in every direction. His mane and tail poofed out in a frizzy mess, and he almost laughed again when he saw his reflection in the water. He looked ridiculous! A nice hot bath (with lots of soap) and some time with a brush would be needed when he made it home.

"Heck, a little attention from the mares at the sauna wouldn't be be a bad idea either," he mumbled to himself.

Even better. When this was all over he'd install a jacuzzi in his tower, thinking, There's an idea... Magic powered jets, temperature control, maybe even bath salts and a water purifier!

Making his way back up to the bridge, Midnight looked across to see ponies still out and about in the town. The closest of them were just an easy trot away.

Finally! he smiled, breaking into a gallop. His journey was at an end!

All he had to do was flag one of them down, and they might be able to help him back to his tower. Then all he'd have to do was dig out a potion to dispel what remained of the shrinking spell and he'd be his normal self again!

His hooves made tiny clicks on the stone bridge as he galloped across and hit the far side. He lit his horn as bright as he could and waved.

Suddenly he skidded to a halt, his blood turning to ice in his veins from the sudden rush of sheer terror. Not five hooves away from him, planted right between him and the ponies stood a fluffy white cat easily three times his size. It was hunched down, rear end wiggling as its emerald eyes followed his every move.

"N-nice kitty..." Midnight whimpered, backing away slowly. "Pretty kitty!"

He stumbled, falling onto his rump, and the cat pounced.

Midnight closed his eyes, covered his head with his hooves, and waited for the inevitable. Suddenly the ground shook and he heard the cat let out a surprised yowl. He opened his eyes to find a shadow had fallen over him. Massive dark gray pillars towered over him on each side. Distracted for only a moment, the cat turned back to him, still intent on its prey. Suddenly, Midnight covered his ears as an ear piercing screech pierced the air.

"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

The cat ran off, its tail frizzy with fear, and Midnight looked up to see a giant face staring down at him, split in a massive toothy smile.

"Found you!" Specter crowed, causing Midnight to flinch. "You know, something seems different about you. Get a haircut or something?"

"Ha-ha, very funny..." Midnight replied, rolling his eyes with sarcasm.

"Seriously though, what happened?" Specter asked as he bent down to get a closer look at Midnight, his rump in the air while chin rested on his forehooves as he marveled at how small Midnight was. "I figured you were working on shrinking magic when I saw your notes, but this seems a bit extreme. I've been looking all over f-"

"Specter! Maybe we can catch up somewhere else," Midnight cut him off, nodding toward the street.

Specter looked up to see many ponies had stopped to stare questioningly at the lunar pegasus crouching down at something on the pathway over the bridge. They hadn't seen Midnight yet due to Specter blocking their view of him.

"Heh, my bad, dude, just a sec," Specter said, and before Midnight could say another word he reached down to grab Midnight by the scruff of his neck like a kitten, careful to avoid stabbing him with his sharp fangs.

Like this is any less conspicuous... Midnight thought as Specter trotted through the small crowd of ponies, who were now gawking at the tiny unicorn stallion Specter carried with his teeth.

He took a few turns onto various crossroads, turning into a secluded alleyway and finally setting the rabbit-sized unicorn down gently, before laying down across from him.

"So...what happened?" Specter asked again with a tilt of his head. So Midnight went on to recount the previous night, glazing over some things, and leaving the most embarrassing moments out entirely (like how he got out of Big Macintosh). By the time he finished the lunar pegasus was staring at him with an incredulous look on his face.

"I'd say that's hard to believe, but..." Specter sniffed and teasingly smirked at Midnight while covering his snoot, "You do kinda smell like shit, dude. So, how do we get you back to normal?"

"That should be easy enough," sighed Midnight, disgruntled but knowing he must reek was true, despite his earlier washing off in the nearby stream. "If you can get me back to my shop I should have a potion on the shelf that'll cancel out the spell."

"Easier done then said!" Specter replied, scooping him up again and trotting out into the street.

After ten minutes or so making their way through town, Midnight breathed a sigh of relief as he finally saw his tower peeking out over nearby buildings, now only a few blocks away. Finally, the nightmare was just about over; things were going his way.

Going his way that is, until Specter jumped.

***************************

As Specter was trotting along, Midnight hanging from his mouth, he brayed in alarm when suddenly he felt something land on his backside, sharp claws digging into his rump. Without thinking he tossed Midnight away and bucked the weight off his back, sending it flying the other way. He turned around to see the same white cat from earlier slink off into an alleyway with an angry hiss. With a relieved sigh he turned back to see Midnight was nowhere to be found.

"Up here!" yelled a tiny voice somewhere above him.

Specter looked up, with a confused "Wha!?...ummph!"

His question was cut off as Midnight lost his grip and fell off a wooden sign he had been clinging to, landing headfirst into Specter's open mouth. His head and front legs wedged in Specter's throat with a wet 'plop,' leaving only his hindquarters laying on the tongue, and only his tail was visible from the outside.

Specter gagged as the tiny pony was dragged in deeper. His own throat seemed to work against him as he did everything he could to cough him up. Hind legs kicked, trying to find purchase on anything they could, but the motion only helped to drive the tiny pony deeper. Specter's throat seemed to stretch impossibly as a massive lump traveled downward, and he felt a slight tickling as Midnight's tail dragged across his tongue before being sucked down after him.

As Specter felt the lump disappear into his chest, his earring began to tingle and vibrate in its warning of magic being used against him. As this happened his gut groaned and shifted painfully as it began to expand. What started as a small squirming bulge ballooned out, swelling past his knees until finally stopping just above his hooves, occasionally brushing the ground as its occupant kicked and squirmed.

The sudden drop of considerable weight into his gut caused the lunar pony to fall back onto his butt as Specter's eyes crossed and he let out a resounding 'BUUUURRRPP!!!'

"Oh... buck!" Specter cursed as he felt the squirming increase. Immediately he started gulping down air as quickly as he could until the struggling finally started to slow. "Shoot! Sorry, sorry sorry!"

Specter looked down at his belly, and could make out a faint outline of the pony within, hooves pressing out through his coat as he appeared to be curled up in a tight ball with his muzzle poking out near the bottom. As Specter cocked an ear he could hear muffled curses coming from within that made even him blush. It took some effort but Specter managed to stand back up, though he felt the swaying of his bulging belly beneath him as his "passenger" continued to struggle, more in frustration than panic.

Struggling to take each step, Specter continued towards the tower. As he walked down the street a trio of mares with flowers for cutie marks spotted him and immediately fainted, falling to the ground with dramatic girly screams. Carefully, he picked his way around them and continued on tiredly.

Though he was glad to still be in one piece, Specter felt it was so strange. He should have been blown to pieces when Midnight had suddenly expanded inside of him, but not only had his body somehow stretched to accommodate the full grown stallion, but he felt no pain at all. In fact the only thing he really felt was an overwhelming feeling of fullness.

The kind of full Specter felt after eating a good meal that left him pleasantly satisfied, and he blushed a bit at finding this predicament somewhat arousing. Though he kept that to himself.

"Don't worry buddy, we're almost there!" he reassured his bulging gut with some pats. "I sure hope you have a potion for this."

"I do! Hurry up and get in the shop, I can talk you through it,"replied a very muffled voice from within.

Finally making it to the door of Midnight's shop, Specter dragged himself inside, barely fitting as his bulging sides brushed the frame. Making his way behind the counter, his eyes scanned over shelves set in a glass case full of bottles and vials of various sizes and colors.

"Okay, we're here. What am I looking for?" Specter asked as he sucked down a few more gulps of fresh air.

"Okay...ow..first go to row 3 on the main floor. There should be...argh...a small green vial there. Please hurry, it's starting to get uncomfortably tingly in here!" Midnight urged over gurgles and squelches getting louder.

Specter waddled over as quickly as he could, almost knocking a shelf over as his side bumped against it. Scanning over the neatly organized containers he quickly located the described object and snatched it up. Pausing for a moment, he removed his earring and set it on a shelf. He didn't know if it would interfere with the effect, but now was not the time to take chances. Uncorking it, he gulped it down, grimacing at the unpleasant flavor that reminded him of soda fizz but tasted flat and stale.

"Ick! What was that?"

"Just a strong antacid. That should buy us some time." Midnight explained before instructing, "Now go to the case behind the counter. It's got a magical lock coded to me, but since we're...sharing the same space...at the moment, it should open for you."

The gurgling was already settling down, taking some of the urgency out of Midnight's voice as Specter followed his instructions. As expected, the case opened for him, and he looked over the items in front of him. Okay, this time...there!

Picking out a large purple flask of purple liquid, Specter asked,"Okay, what's this one for?"

"It'll make your insides much more flexible so you should be able to cough me up. Normally it's used to assist with foaling....but it should do just as well for this."

Specter downed the contents, finding it tasted better than the antacid, sorta like a faint creamy taste, and within moments a shiver ran through him, and his belly drooped lower, now resting on the floor. Okay, just one more thing.

Making his way back to the shelves, this time Specter picked up a mundane-looking bottle with a puking pony printed on the label. Hah, this one he actually knew. His school nurse had used it on him when he was a colt after he had swallowed some loose change on a dare.

Not my proudest moment... he thought with a wince, before removing the cap and downing the contents.

Almost immediately his stomach lurched and shook, making a series of rolling gurgles and gassy grumbles, as if angry at being denied its meal. He coughed and hacked, sending spittle flying everywhere. His stomach gave a massive heave, and very slowly a massive lump began working its way up his throat, forcing him to fall forward as he retched and gagged.

Now laying on his belly, Specter could see his reflection in the glass of an elegant display case in front of him. He watched as his throat opened wide, and his jaw seemed to unhinge like a snake as Midnight's sodden head emerged. It wasn't long before the rest of Midnight followed, sliding out in a series of wet 'schlicks.' One final long gag from Specter and he was out, slimy and soaking wet with gastric juices and traces of potions, but out.

For a long time they both lay there panting. No words were shared as they were both too exhausted for any meaningful conversation.

Eventually, Midnight got to his hooves, simply stating with a flat demeanor, "Well, if you need me....don't, because I'm about to take the hottest, soapiest bath of my life."

"Sure... urp!" Specter turned over onto his back, his tongue hanging out of his mouth before asking, "Can I have something to eat?"

Midnight ignored him.

*Several Days Later*

Specter sat in Midnight's personal library, located in the third floor of his tower. He kept perfectly still as he was surrounded by a turquoise blue aura. Midnight stared at him intensely, only looking away to periodically scribble down some notes and consulting some books he had floating around himself. After several minutes the glow cut off, and Midnight set his notes and quill aside before sitting in front of Specter.

"Okay... so here's what I've uncovered", Midnight began, appearing to settle in for a long lecture. "There seems to be an interesting....anomaly in your innate magic. It appears to effect your entire digestive tract, allowing for an incredible amount of expansion and a significantly more efficient digestion process. This of course would explain why you didn't explode when I abruptly returned to full size inside of you. Cross referencing these details with some old references on lunar ponies, I believe this may have been something that came about in the era before the rise of Nightmare Moon."

"Wait... are you saying... lunar ponies can...?" Specter was beginning to put the pieces together, but Midnight continued.

"It seems some time after Princess Luna brought about the creation of the lunar pony variant, she may have intended to create some as soldiers that could live off of meat if they had to. This is a trait that we still posses in some capacity, though this seems to be much more extreme. My only theory, is that, just as she made dreamwalking an uncommon power among our kind, she intended a certain subset to be able to actually consume other ponies whole. For what reason I'm not entirely sure. Perhaps as a way for isolated soldiers to sustain themselves for long periods of time without supplies. Or, perhaps as a bizarre way of taking prisoners, or even carrying passengers."

"But wouldn't... prisoners and passengers get digested?" Specter brought up.

"Not unless the lunar pony with this ability was trained to be able to control their own digestive tract," clarified Midnight before he continued. "Further study will be needed either way, but what's even more interesting is that I tested myself and confirmed that I possess the same ability, though I estimate it to be quite rare. As Dreamwalking seems to manifest in less than one out of every ten lunar ponies this ability would probably appear in maybe..." he checked through his notes briefly before nodding, "one in one hundred."

But those were all just theories for now.

Yes... Midnight thought, looking over at Specter as the lunar pegasus let out a long yawn with a subtle devious smirk.

Further study would definitely be needed.