Pinkie shrugged. “I’m stretchy,” was the simple answer. She slowly turned back around, her mumbling bulge brushing the floor as she did so. “So, who’s next?” she asked.

Twilight’s pupils dilated upon hearing those words. They were like a confirmation of their imminent doom, bringing with them an overloading sense of fear and helplessness. There was no way out of this, not until Pinkie had swallowed every single one of them.

Applejack wasn’t satisfied with her answer. She pointed a glare at Pinkie Pie, one filled with more fury than she had shown any other pony before. Glancing between Pinkie’s gut and the happy expression on her face, Applejack slowly plucked up the courage, and was swiftly beaten to the punch.

Pinkie wobbled for a moment, wincing in pain from the strike to her cheek. Rarity stood on her back legs, forelegs held out in a strange pose, ready to take her on. “Mofos in the room, get behind me! Rarity’s ass ain’t gonna suck you up, or get sucked up!” Twilight immediately did so and backed herself into the very corner of the shack behind Rarity, seeking protection from the pink monster.

Applejack found herself left at the other side of the room, with Pinkie Pie in between her and the rest of her friends. “H-hey, Rarity? I’m sorry I called you a Changeling before! So why don’t we try and take her on together?”

Rarity turned her nose up at the apology. “Changelings’ve got the glue part down, sure you won’t mess up n’ set us out for Pinks to do whatever the fuck?”

“I… glue? Yes, I… think? Wait, what?”

“She’s asking if you’re going to betray us again,” Twilight translated, a frown coming over her face. “I saw what you did; you just let Rainbow Dash go!”

Applejack suddenly felt very alone on her side of the shack. Especially with the hungry look Pinkie was giving her. “W-well… that was because of… you…”

“Relax. You couldn’t have pulled her out of me even with Twilight’s help,” said Pinkie, giving her gut another pleasurable push. From the outside, the outlines of Rainbow’s legs could be seen occasionally pushing against the walls of her fleshy prison. Her throbbing wings tickled Pinkie’s insides, and her moans were just audible past the chaos going on outside.

This isn’t a good situation, she thought. I’m stuck between Applejack and Rarity now. Rainbow Dash may have momentum on her side, but Rarity still has more physical strength than her. And with what the Diamond Dogs did to her, I doubt she’ll have any trouble letting loose her full power compared to last month. In comparison, Applejack looks reluctant to do much of anything, making her an easy target. Now wouldn’t be the right time though. And yet if I go for Rarity I’ll be in for a fight, and Twilight might decide to freak out if I get too close…

“No it wasn’t, Applejack!” Twilight exclaimed. “I don’t know if you realize this, but you’ve been acting weird for a lot longer than Rarity! You say you don’t trust us, but I say you’ve lost the ability to trust us!”

“Now how could that be true?” Applejack asked, half laughing at Twilight’s claim. She ran the sequence of events through her head - Rarity was kidnapped again by the Diamond Dogs a month ago. Twilight stopped using her alicorn powers half a month or so before then, making rescuing Rarity impossible until she walked out of the den all on her own. A week ago Celestia visited town and was followed around by Pinkie Pie for the entire day - Applejack frowned. What had changed? She had begun to feel uneasy around her friends during the days just before the visit, but what had tipped her off to what was to come?

“I can’t get us out of here because penetrating Celestia’s forcefield would be a breach of The Agreement on the Fair Use of Magic 4559!” Twilight continued. “I can’t attack Pinkie Pie because that would be in violation of Celestia-knows how many edicts and laws! Heck, I can’t even-”

“Why’re you tellin’ me this?” Applejack asked. She cast her gaze to the floor in guilt, knowing Twilight was right in the end, just like always.

“Because I’m incapable of fixing things on my own - that’s how it’s always been! I have no idea what Celestia originally had in mind for this ‘Special Party House’, but the only way to stop Pinkie Pie from doing to us what she did to Rainbow Dash is by showing her that we don’t need to be reharmonized!”

Rarity’s new, hardened gaze bore into Pinkie’s. She could see that she was in the middle of making a decision on who to go for. “It doesn’t matter,” she replied, surprising Twilight. “That isn’t the look you wear on your face when you got a common goal behind it.” Her horn glowed and her hooves were cloaked in a set of magical, sapphire-coloured boots. Her scowl turned into something only a dog could love. “That’s the look of a predator!”

Pinkie made her decision, and Applejack quickly found her vision filling with a giant, pink monster. Pinkie placed her forehooves either side of Applejack, leaving her with nowhere to go as she ran her tongue across her hungry lips in preparation. The simple farmer crouched to the ground, unable to summon the strength to run or fight back; she had given up on the inside.

I did just let Rainbow Dash go… Her eyes drifted to the form of the pony sloshing around inside of Pinkie’s stomach, and she felt a great surge of guilt and terror filling every part of her body. Maybe I should just give up. I’m clearly not worthy of being her friend. Pinkie Pie opened her maw wide enough to engulf Applejack’s entire head in one go. The act revealed Twilight at the other end of the shack, just visible past the widening jaws.

“-don’t need to be reharmonized!” “F-fine then. I guess I have been a pretty bad friend late-” Applejack’s vision went black as something shoved Pinkie against the wall, burying her chosen victim’s head in the back of her soft, slimy throat.

“Uurrgh…” Pinkie groaned. She picked herself back out of the shattered wall and noticed that Applejack had slipped out of her mouth, and was fumbling on the floor in a daze. She tried to look round at her attacker, only for the same thing to happen again. This time her chubby cheek impacted Celestia’s shield as the wooden boards broke away.

“Err, Rarity, maybe not the best angle you could have-”

“Can it, Sprinkle Whips!” Rarity snapped as she leaned back into position. “A dog fight calls for an unbarred, unrelenting assault, and a complete lack of common sense!”

---

Outside, Fluttershy flinched as she heard the faintest of cracks from within the barrier. She leaned around the side to see that a portion of the shack’s wall had been broken down. “What’s going on in there?” she asked, turning to Celestia.

“The fight has begun,” the Princess answered with a small smile. She gently pulled the pegasus away with a short wave of magic. “Come, you mustn’t interrupt them.”

---

Twilight watched as the former fashionista threw another punch at Pinkie, sending her rolling to another side of the room. With the danger out of the way for now, she came to Applejack’s side and picked her up. She had been dazed from the impact, and had a big bump on the back of her head. “Come on, Applejack, stay with me!” Twilight shook her awake.

Applejack opened her eyes and responded with a pained moan. She immediately felt at the back of her head for the odd bump. “I-I’m not… there’s nothin’ weird goin’ on back there, right?” she asked.

“No, it’s just the injury you got from hitting the wall. Stay here,” She looked to the hole in the wall, the light of day spilling through. “I’ll do my best and see if I can get the attention of anyone outside.”

As the sounds of the various smacks of hoof against coat, and the cries that came alongside them went on in the background, Applejack looked on into Twilight’s eyes. “Wait,” she said. Twilight stopped and looked back at the orange hoof being held against one of her own. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry that things’ve turned out this way, all because of me.”

Twilight frowned. “What do you mean? None of this was your fault, Applejack.”

“But it was, wasn’t it? I’m the one who changed, and because of that, everyone else started changin’ as well.” She let out a weak chuckle and slowly pulled herself upright. “Heck, the whole reason you visited the Royal Library, the day you stopped using your magic, was because I was feelin’ too closed-up to talk to anyone. Granny had a coughin’ fit that day that really… really scared me.”

Before her friend could say anything else, Twilight wrapped Applejack in her arms. “I understand,” she replied. “But this isn’t the time… we’ll talk about it once we get out of here.”

Applejack gripped her shoulders, a desperate look of hope appearing on her face. “Then you’ll-”

“But, I’ll get us out of here without using my magic.”

The feeling faded, if only slightly, and Applejack simply chose to nod in acceptance.

With the spark of rebellion firing up in her eyes, Twilight turned to see Pinkie Pie having caught Rarity unawares. The stylish hooligan had launched a badly timed karate kick that had landed squarely in Pinkie’s plot hole. She was now trying her best to dislodge herself from the clamming, gooey depths with an angry look on her face.

“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight called, stomping a hoof on the ground. “I have a few questions for you!”

Pinkie paused for a moment, pondering on what to say. “Hmmmm…” She pulled Rarity’s back hoof in past the ankle, causing its magical fighting boot to dissipate. “Nah, that sounds like it’ll take too long! I have a schedule to keep up with.”

“Wh-what?” Doesn’t matter, she’s trying to throw you off! “What were Celestia’s original intentions for this place?”

Rarity’s face started to pale as her knee began to vanish from view. She could feel the muscles within Pinkie’s rectum clamping around her leg, smothering it in a cloistered, slimy sensation that was well on its way to ruining her perfect coat.

A twinge of pleasure ran through Pinkie’s body as the knob of Rarity’s knee was sucked inside. “I built this shack to serve as my personal hunting ground in cases of dire friendship emergencies,” she calmly explained. “Celestia’s in on the whole thing, that’s why she’s trapped you in here with me!”

“What!? That’s ridiculous!” Pinkie pointed at the hole in the wall, through which the barrier was visible. Twilight swallowed a lump. “That’s… that doesn’t make any sense! There’s no way she would be a part of this! There’s no way she would allow you to do this to us!”

“Hey, Twilight? I need a hoof over here,” said Rarity, starting to sound worried.

Pinkie giggled, and Rarity felt her sensitive regions coming into contact with one of her captor’s butt cheeks. “Mmph~ You feel really good, Rarity! You’re sorta muscley, but still so smooth!” Pinkie exclaimed, ignoring Twilight once more.

Finding herself rapidly running out of options, Twilight felt the scattered fire of frustration welling up inside her. “Fine then! Explain to me how this will help to ‘reharmonize’ us!”

“Twilight, just use your damn magic!” Applejack shouted from behind her. She was leaning against the wall to support herself; her vision was swimming and the back of her skull felt like it was on fire. “She ain’t gonna listen at this rate!”

“Here’s a question I’m definitely willing to answer; what’s it like inside my butt?” A scary grin spread across Pinkie’s face, and she once again turned her attention to Rarity, giving her muscles a little pull. She didn’t want this to end so soon.

The fashion gangster glared at her from beneath her eyeshadow. “What do you mean by that?”

“I’ve never had more than one of my own legs in there before today, but man was it wet, and it smelled really funny, too!”

Rarity’s forehooves started to grapple against the wooden floor, trying to gain some leverage as her back end stretched Pinkie’s hole. Her currently free leg was forced to bend forwards in a motion that would have likely been painful for anyone less bipedal.

“You probably know that smell pretty well, don’t you Rarity? I can’t imagine it smelled too pretty down in the Rambling Rock mine shafts. Too many dog musks clogging up the air.”

Rarity growled. “Why would this bitch care about a stench like dogs? They track the smell of stupid wherever they go!”

“Yeah… I can imagine what they smell like. Doubt it would cling much though, and smells can’t ruin your coat, either.” She smudged a hoof against the side of her fat plot. “But in here…? Oh man, I don’t know what kind of weird fetishes Rainbow Dash has hiding up her butt, but she really enjoyed the trip into my stomach. I swear it smells like someone farted in there!”

A strange look came over Rarity’s face; fear. Not fear like the new Rarity would show it, as a serious, rebellious expression, but like the old Rarity would. Her thoughts again drifted to the sensation of the walls of Pinkie’s rectum clamping down on her, gradually sliding her in, giving more than enough time for every ounce of bad smell to rub itself into her hair and skin. Her perfect white coat was visibly starting to darken thanks to the excretions coming from deep within, and her perfectly styled tail had already been rendered a tattered-looking mess.

“Oh.”

“Oh yeah,” Pinkie continued, “and I should probably mention that I ate a boatload of hay burgers just before I got here, so I apologise if I accidentally fart on you during your trip.”

“Oh god no. No.” Rarity’s eyes widened all of a sudden, as if a panic switch had been flipped. “Twilight, please get me out. Please pull me out, right now!”

“Pinkie Pie, stop this already!” said Twilight, starting to panic herself as she watched her second friend starting to vanish. “We get what you’re trying to do! Can’t we just talk this out like normal ponies??”

“Twilight!” Rarity screamed as her shapely flanks were suddenly pulled in. She could feel Pinkie’s muscles eagerly squeezing at them like some plaything. “Get me out, now! Use your magic, please!!”

Twilight still had a number of questions she could ask, and pleas to try and convince Pinkie Pie to stop what she was doing, but the situation forced her to finally use her last resort: breaking the law. She stood in front of Rarity, a crushing mental weight making itself known in the form of the rules she had discovered surrounding the proper use of magic. “Rarity, do I have your consent?”

“Wh-what? Just get me out, please!”

“No, I need your legal consent first, otherwise by using my magic on you, I’ll-”

Rarity suddenly lost traction and felt Pinkie’s butt cheeks brushing up against her neck. “YOU HAVE MY CONSENT! YOU HAVE MY CONSENT!! GET ME OUT!!!”

“We’ll have to sort out the paperwork later.” With that, Twilight’s horn glowed for the first time in weeks and she wrapped Rarity’s body in a simple levitation spell. She frowned in confusion. “Wait, why can’t I feel anything past the entrance??”

Pinkie giggled, shivering at the sensation. “I’m naturally resistant to magic! You can only hold onto what I don’t already have inside me!” She pulled Rarity in past the base of her neck, eliciting another scream of terror from the unicorn. “And I think we both know who’s going to win this tug of war!”

In desperation, Twilight grabbed a hold of Rarity’s hooves and pulled as hard as she could. Her magical grip was quickly failing as, inch by inch, the unicorn vanished into the bottomless depths of Pinkie Pie’s body. It took a moment before Twilight noticed the blue light shining through her eyelids, closed with the strain of it all. She opened them to see Rarity staring her straight in the eyes with her horn glowing brighter than ever before. The expression she wore was full of fear. Gone was the rough attitude and the vulgar language; the original Rarity had returned.

With a sudden, blinding flash, Rarity fired something into Twilight. It was a very small, quiet message for how powerful the spell must have been. It was a feeling, a silent apology and an admission of guilt. For that one moment, all the fear had been pushed aside for the sake of giving Twilight an untarnished “I’m sorry”. Rarity didn’t think she would coming back.

Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes to find her hooves empty, and the hole closing tight to seal its latest meal within. Pinkie Pie looked as happy as ever, but she eyed Twilight, as if expecting her to say something. The little alicorn stepped away, unable to tear her eyes from the giant stomach, now containing two ponies.

“Even if everything I try to do is in vain, at least answer me this: Are you going to digest us, or hurt us in any way?”

The perverted smile on Pinkie’s face faded into a smaller, calmer one. “Of course not, Twilight. I’m all ok with freaking everyone out and stuff, but I’d never hurt any of you!” she replied.

Twilight paused. “Good. And are you planning on letting us out?”

Pinkie patted her tummy. The muffled whimpering of Rarity could be heard coming from within. “This is all just a means to an end, Twi. A very easy, very fun - for me and Dash - way of putting you all back into the proper order.”

“Yeah right,” Applejack piped up from across the room. “Like I’ll believe for a second that some kind of freak of nature like you is going to tell the truth. You just want to put us into a false sense of security so that you can gobble us up!”

Pinkie held up a hoof to make a point. “The only lie I’ve told you all thus far is what my insides smell like. My intestines were never truly the same after I tried to use icing as lubricant," she lamented. "Don’t do that by the way, it’s a terrible idea. I thought my body temperature would keep it all mushy and flowy, but it all solidified while it was inside me! On the plus side I ended up with a perfect 3D replica of my large colon once I got it out!”

Applejack just glared, her sense of humour and patience completely spent.

“Want me to show you after all this is over? I’ve still got it somewhere in my basement!”

“No! Don’t you dare start talking like there’s going to be any ‘after’!” Applejack bit back. She stomped a hoof forward. “Me and Twilight are going to end this, and then we’re going to get our friends out of you before you do anything to them!”

With a momentary glance to Twilight, coupled with a silent “Ready?” nod, Applejack charged at the bloated monster. Once again her vision suddenly filled with pink, but this time Pinkie Pie stayed put. Twilight had placed a forcefield between them.

Choosing to ignore the furious and terrified look she was receiving, Twilight stepped behind the field. It was a single plane of magic, thin and not very wide. “I get it now,” she began. “I get what all of this is.”

Applejack stepped back, subconsciously aiming for the impassable exit laying behind her. “Twilight… what the hay are you doing?” she growled.

“The right thing. I hope,” the little alicorn admitted. Behind her, Pinkie watched with interest. “This whole time, Pinkie says she’s been doing… this to reharmonize us, and that’s exactly what she just did.” The forcefield vanished, and Twilight pointed to whichever bulge she thought was Rarity. “Because of me, Rarity’s been stuck in a state of hating us all for a whole month, and she expressed that in her change in style. When I looked into her eyes, in that moment before she went in… I saw the old Rarity again. Terrified not of the idea of getting digested, but of simply… err…”

“Getting covered in poop?” Pinkie suggested.

“Yes. E-exactly.” Twilight looked back to Applejack, who was now only pointing her glare at Pinkie Pie. “It may have been done in the weirdest way imaginable, but Rarity was turned back to normal all the same, and that’s what Pinkie intends to do to us as well.”

“Sorry, Twi. You’re making sense, I’ll admit that much, but I just can’t bring myself to trust something I don’t understand. Ain’t in my nature.” Applejack narrowed her eyes once more. “Speakin’ of which… just what exactly are you, Pinkie Pie? No pony I ever saw was capable of the things you’ve done today…”

Pinkie thought for a moment. “Well… how to explain this? I’m mostly a normal pony; I have a mom and a dad, just like everypony else…”

“... And?”

“And…” Pinkie left a long pause. “Somepony needs to master their Element of Honesty before I’ll reveal that little bombshell, sorry!”

“That’s… about as much as I expected to hear,” Applejack admitted. She stomped a hoof and looked at Twilight, preparing herself to charge once again. “Twi, you won’t stop me if I say ‘no’, will you?”

“It would be wrong of me to stop you,” Twilight replied, eying the hole in the wall. “You have to be the one to trust Pinkie Pie, after all, otherwise we’ll never get out of here.”

Applejack gave a hollow smirk at that. “Sometimes, Twilight, I don’t think even you understand what comes out of your mouth.”

And with that, she charged.