It was a fine summer day when Verdant returned to the laboratory. While he certainly didn’t wish to have a repeat of what had happened last week he had found that the pay more than made up for the risks.

“Hello, Dr. High Gear?” Verdant called out as he poked his head into the lab.

“Right here, Verdant!” High Gear replied as she pulled herself up from behind her console. “Just giving all the parts a quick once over before we start. Just about everything’s all set for test two.”

“So, will I be headed for Baltimare this time?” Verdant asked as he stepped onto the pad.

“Not this time, bud.” Gear answered as she pushed up her glasses. “I thought this time, we’ll be sending you to your house, just to be a bit more careful. You said your address is 982, Sunbeam Street?”

“Yep,” Verdant said as he sat down on the pad.

“Perfect.” The blue mare smiled as she started to punch some numbers into the console. Just as she finished, a violet unicorn mare walked into the room.

“Hey Gear!” the mare called out, a pair of paper bags carried in her white magical light, along with a large soda she took a quick sip from. “I got us lunch from the 4D’s.”

“D’aww, that’s sweet, Pix.” Gear smiled as she gave the unicorn a rub of her pink, yellow and blue mane. “Verdant, this is my girlfriend. Pixel Flash.”

“Hi there!” Verdant gave a wave.

“Nice to meet you,” Pix smiled before taking another sip. “So, this your current guinea pig?”

“Indeed,” Gear replied as she started to activate the pad. “Now, you may want to stand back. I don’t want to spill anything on this baby.”

“Oh, relax.” Pix dismissively waved as the pad under Verdant began to glow. “I’m not gonna-” Her hoof accidentally smacked her soda, causing it to spill out onto the console and resulting in a blindingly bright flash. When the light died down, Verdant had vanished.

“...Pix…” Gear looked dumbfounded at the pad.

“Yes, dear?” Pixel Flash nervously started to back away.

“If I still had my horn, I’d be shoving it RIGHT UP YOUR ASS RIGHT NOW!!!” the blue mare bellowed, her teeth gritted as she faced her with a look of fury that could kill a cockatrice.

“...Well,” the lavender mare brought a hoof to her chin as she looked away. “I have been interested in experimenting with-”

“Oh Faust dammit,” Gear grumbled as she slapped a hoof against her forehead. “C’mon, we need to see if Verdant got home in one piece.”

In a flash, Verdant had found himself falling from the sky. He barely had a chance to scream before he landed in a tall patch of grass, clinging onto one of the long blades.

“Oh great,” Verdant grumbled as he struggled to pull himself up. “Where the hay did I land this time?”

“BUCK-AW?” A loud cluck boomed from behind the shamrock stallion. Nervously swallowing, he slowly turned around and saw a massive golden bird with fluffy feathers that covered her eyes.

“Pizza!” he called out to his now massive pet. “Can you hear me?”

To the tiny pony’s relief and delight, the right big chicken nodded at his question.

“Good girl!” Verdant smiled at having grabbed her attention. “Listen, I need you to go get help! Get Bea over here!”

The hen raised a wing in salute before running off towards his neighbor’s house.

After a minute or so, Pizza returned, leading a large cow over to Verdant’s patch.

The cow was mostly white with some black spots on her back, eyes and neck. Her brown hair bounced against her short horns as she looked around the yard.

Her name was Bea Florinda Wellington and she had been Verdant’s neighbor since he’d moved to Vanhoover. They had quickly become friends and soon after became ‘heat friends’ when spring and estrus rolled around.

“WHAT IS IT, GIRL?” Bea asked as she looked about once more, not seeing what was bothering the bird.

“BUCKA-BUCKA!” Pizza squawked, pointing towards the patch of grass before her.

“HMM?” the confused cow hummed as she leaned closer to the patch, giving the shrunken stallion an extremely up close view of her pink muzzle and violet eyes. “OH! I SEE!”

“Good to hear, Bea!” Verdant shouted as Pizza nodded.

“VERDANT MISSED THIS PATCH WHEN HE WAS MOWING THE LAWN AND IT WAS DRIVING YOU CRAZY!” the oblivious bovine said, the tiny pony blending in too much with the grass for her to see him.

Pizza slapped a wing to her face while Verdant did the same with his hoof along with an accompanying sigh.

“NOT A PROBLEM. I’VE GOT THIS.” Bea said with a smile before opening her mouth and snapping up the blades of grass, pulling the tiny pony into her mouth.

While Pizza angrily squawked like mad at the cow, Verdant was bounced around the bovine’s cavernous maw.

“Bea, stop!” Verdant shouted before he landed on a massive molar. Looking up, he saw an upper tooth coming down to crush him. Acting quickly, he leapt away, getting only the smallest bit of his tail’s hair bitten off.

“For the love of Faust, stop!” the stallion screamed as he tried to stand on Bea’s gigantic tongue. Unfortunately for him, the tongue suddenly rose, sending him tumbling towards the back of her throat. He was so disoriented by the quick movement that he was unable to resist being swallowed down with some of the chewed up grass.

Verdant felt himself being squeezed so tightly by Bea’s throat that he was afraid he might be crushed. He was glad for the brief moment when the crushing force stopped, only for him to drop into a massive chamber with a splat.

“Urgh… son of a…” the small stallion slowly started to stand. “Why do I keep ending up in stomachs?”

When he got to his hooves, Verdant started to glance around his friend's stomach. The first thing he noticed was that this was much larger than any other stomach he’d been inside. Taking a step forward, he saw that he was walking atop some lightly chewed bits of food. Grass, shredded wheat, and a few pieces of fruit.

“Guess I’ll be stuck in here for a while.” Verdant sighed before he started to walk about the fleshy chamber.

“Alright, Pizza,” Bea cheerfully said as she wiped her mouth off. “Problem solved.”

The bovine girl was rather surprised when the chicken angrily squawked and flew onto her head, giving her a series of hard pecks.

“Ow! Knock it off!” Bea started to run, knocking the chicken off and bouncing Verdant about her belly. “I know I don’t get it as even as a mower, but I don’t have a key for Verdant’s shed.”

The grumpy chicken repeatedly smacked her own head in annoyance, growling at the cow.

“Well, sorry that you don’t like it, but I have to get going,” Bea replied over her shoulder as she trotted over to the front gate. Just as she crossed the threshold, a pair of ponies came running up and skidded to a halt in front of her.

“Excuse me,” a blue mare with purple hair in a white labcoat said as she tried to catch her breath. “Have you seen…” (huff) “Verdant?”

“Sorry, but not for over an hour,” Bea said and drew closer. “Why? Is something wrong.”

“Crap…” High Gear said as she looked over the lawn. “He should be here somewhere.”

“Wish I could help you guys look for him, but I’ve got an appointment to keep. Sorry.” Bea started to walk away, leaving the two mares leaning against the fence.

“Hey Gear,” Pixel Flash said as she looked over the property, seeing a strange looking chicken bashing its head against the trunk of a tree. “Think your thingy turned Verdant in a chicken?”

“Not a chance, Pix,” Gear grumbled as she looked down at the grass. “If anything, it would have shrunk him down to about the size of a pea.”

“Yikes…” the lavender mare said as she looked out at the fairly large yard. “We’re gonna be here for a while…”

Verdant sighed as he trotted about the stomach, looking for the orifice that’d take him to her intestine, but to no avail.

“Where the heck could it be?” He muttered to himself before something clicked in his mind. He recalled a chat he and Bea had some time ago, where she told him about how her species have four stomachs.

“Great, so not only do I get to see one stomach’s insides today, I might get to see four.” The speck of a stallion said before the massive stomach started to move about, launching him and a fair amount of Bea’s previous meal upwards before they were squeezed into a smaller fleshy sack, burying him in the digesting material.

“Well, that’s two down.” Verdant rose up from under the mess. “Two to go, then I’ll end up seeing the unpleasant part of Bea’s butt.” The puny pony grumbled before sighing.

“KIKO?” Bea’s voice boomed, forcing Verdant to wince and cover his ears at her shout. “WHERE ARE YOU?”

After a few minutes of walking, Bea had arrived at the Vanhoover airport, where several airships looked all set to take off. She started to look about, trying to spot someone, only to find no trace of them.

“Kiko?” she called out as she walked by the bathroom. “Where are you?”

She came to a halt when she heard a voice singing in reply to her coming from the ladies room.

“She poopin’! She poopin’! She poopin’! This girl’s takin’ a shet! She poopin’! She poopin’! She poopin’! And isn’t finished yet!!”

“Gross, Kiko!” Bea winced in disgust before she heard a flush coming from the room.

“So says the girl that regularly throws up in their mouth to rechew their food,” the voice replied as a light brown goat emerged from the bathroom.

She had a white muzzle with a tiny beard on her chin and her eyes were a greenish yellow with rectangular slits for pupils that still creeped Bea out a bit, even after all these years. Upon her head was dark brown hair with a pair of bent horns sticking out from them.

“One, cud is a normal thing for my species,” the bovine replied with a roll of her eyes. “Two, you’re the one that’s wearing mountain climbing gear when you’re about to go on an airship, for no real reason.”

Bea had always been confused when creatures would wear clothes for no real reason. This meant Kiko’s ensemble was especially strange to her. She had a white t-shirt underneath a red jacket with black sleeves rolled up past her knees. Her lower body was covered by a set of black tights, blue jean shorts and a pair of hiking boots.

“There totally is a reason, Bea.” Kiko smirked as she struck a dramatic pose, standing on her hindlegs with one hoof on her hip and another behind her head. “It makes me look cool.”

“And you’re going to have to take it all off to put on your skydiving outfit.” Bea gained a smug grin while Kiko’s smile suddenly fell.

“Craaaaaap.” The goat gal fell back down to her hooves as Bea started to chortle. “Anyway, you want to hit the bathroom before you get on the ship? Don’t want to mess the suits. They’re expensive.”

“Nah, I took care of that on the way over,” Bea said as she regained her composure. “Now c’mon. We don’t want to make the others wait. Got the tickets ready?”

“Right here,” Kiko replied as she took two tickets from her jacket. “Another plus of wearing clothes is having pockets.”

A few moments later, the two had boarded the airship where a bunch of ponies had either taken seats or were slipping into skydiving suits.

“Good afternoon, everyone,” A mare’s voice rang out, drawing everyone’s attention to the front, where they saw an orange pegasus with a red mane. Upon her flank was the image of a black and yellow circle. “Thank you all for signing up for this skydiving tour. I’m Sky Crash, but don’t let the name fool you. Me and the other pegasi here will make sure you’re all safe when the diving starts.”

“First up, everyone get your gear from the overhead compartments. There should be a suit, a parachute pack, and a set of safety goggles in there. Once you’re all suited up, I’ll go over what we’ll be doing one last time before the jump.”

Bea quickly reached for the overhead compartments while Kiko started to strip herself down. After a few minutes, the two and managed to get themselves into their rather snug suits.

“Alright, everyone’s set up.” Sky Crash nodded as she walked through the room, making sure everyone had taken proper safety precautions. “Once we’re four thousand meters up, we’ll start jumping. When you jump, count to ten before pulling your cord. Should that cord fail, pull your second emergency cord. Should both fail, don’t panic. We have a team of pegasi all right by you to grab onto you and fly you down to safety. Any questions?”

“Right here!” Kiko stuck up a hoof, drawing everypony’s attention. “What will happen to any clothes or other items left on the ship?”

“Any and all items can be retrieved once the ship has landed. Any other questions?” Crash was met with silence from the assemblage. “Right. It’ll be a bit until we’re high enough, so I suggest you all take a seat while we continue to climb.”

The gathered all took to their seats with Kiko and Bea taking seats with a window between them. Turning her head, Bea looked out the window to see the coastal city starting to disappear below them. She nervously gulped before she heard a rumbling coming from her belly.

“You holdin’ up alright?” Kiko placed a hoof on the cow’s shoulder, drawing her attention away from the window.

“Yeah.” Bea gave her friend a smile. “I’ve just a bit of butterflies in my stomach.”

“Oh, I wish!” Verdant shouted upwards at the bovine’s words as he stewed in what was slowly becoming a stew. “What did I ever do to end up being a snack sized pony more than once?!”

“Heads up, everyone!” Sky Crash bellowed, drawing everyone’s attention. “We’ve reached jumping altitude, so let’s get ready to dive!”

“Showtime, Synergy,” Kiko whispered as she gave Bea a gentle elbow to the ribs, unknowingly sending Verdant face first into some stomach slurry.

“Right, here we go.” Bea got to her hooves and started walking to the airship’s doors which were slowly starting to open.

“Us pegasi will be heading out first,” Sky said as some of the pegasi in flight suits started to fly out, trailing behind the ship. “Once all of them except me’s out, you guys can start jumping one at a time, on my cue.”

When the last remaining pegasus took off, Sky Crash smiled and started to wave jumpers over.

“Right, you can do this, Bea,” the cow whispered to herself as she saw everyone jumping from the ship one at a time. After a few moments, it was Bea’s turn to step up.

Kiko gave her an enthusiastic slap on the back, making her finally move from her spot.

“Alright,” Sky Crash said as Bea stood by the edge of the platform, seeing some ponies falling through the sky while some parachutes were lower in the sky. “You’ll be all clear to jump… now!”

With a hard swallow, Bea sprung forth, taking to the open sky.

Bea wasn’t the only one that nervously swallowed as she prepared to jump. Verdant was nervous as the massive cow got ready to jump.

He felt the massive fleshly chamber shake before he felt everything around him start to enter freefall. His entire body started to float upward as some of the more liquid stomach contents started to join him.

“No! No! No!” Verdant screamed in a panic as his limbs futilely flailed about. “Earth ponies weren’t meant to fly! EARTH PONIES WEREN’T MEANT TO FLY! WE’D HAVE WINGS IF WE WERE!”

Verdant was suddenly slammed back down into the slurry from the sudden jerking caused by Bea pulling her cord and unfurling the parachute.

“WHOAOOOAA! THAT WAS THE GREATEST TRIP EVER!” Bea exclaimed in delight, nearly deafening the shrunken stallion.

“Speak for yourself, Bea!” Verdant grumbled as he slowly and sorely pulled himself from the settling mush.

After a few minutes of dangling from a parachute, Bea finally landed, gently on her hooves. She gave a “whoot!” of victory as a pegasus guided her away from the landing zone. “That was fantastic!”

In a matter of moments, Kiko landed and shakily wobbled over to her bovine buddy.

“Well, that was more exciting than I expected.” Kiko sat down at Bea’s side. “How about you?”

“Phenomenally!” Bea shouted as she and the goat walked away from the landing area. “That was amazing!”

“Glad to hear you had a good time.” Kiko replied. She had a big smile on her face until she saw something rising up her friend’s throat. ‘“Eww. Are you about to chew on your cud?”

“Yep,” Bea answered through a mouthful. “And it tastes pretty good.” Her chewing suddenly stopped with a wince when she felt a sharp pain on her tongue.

Verdant was tossed about from Bea landing on her hooves, eventually coming to a halt in a pile that was slowly growing softer from the digestive process.

“WHOOT! THAT WAS FANTASTIC!” the cow’s voice boomed like thunder, making the minuscule mammal wince and cover his ears.

“Do you really need to deafen me while I’m in here, Bea?” Verdant grumbled as the reticulum started to churn more.

“PHENOMENALLY! THAT WAS AMAZING!” She shouted once more before the second stomach’s movement forced him and the food within upward.

Verdant felt like was being squeezed like the last bit of toothpaste as he was sent up Bea’s esophagus before landing on her massive tongue.

Bea began to chew on the regurgitated food, moving it about her mouth. Verdant valiantly clung to the slippery surface of the tongue to avoid being chewed to bits.

“YEP, AND IT TASTES PRETTY GOOD.” Bea’s voice echoed about more, forcing Verdant to grit his teeth.

“Only… one chance…” Verdant bit down on the tongue, hoping to somehow get Bea’s attention. To his relief, the chewing suddenly stopped.

A moment later, Bea’s massive maw opened up and the tongue stuck out and curved upward. Verdant slammed his eyes shut from the sudden change of lightning while holding onto the tongue with every ounce of strength he could muster.

After a few seconds, his eyes started to adjust to the light of day as he looked over his shoulder. He saw that the bit of tongue he clung to had risen up over the edge of Bea’s nose, letting him see into her lake sized eyes.

“VAHDAN?”

Sometime later, at the Vanhoover laboratory, Verdant emerged from one of the rooms, now restored to his proper height once more. As he walked out of the room, he spotted Bea and Kiko chatting by the elevator.

“Hey girls,” Verdant said, drawing their attention to him.

“Verdant!” Bea began apologetically as she ran over and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. “I’m so sorry! I feel like such an idiot!”

“It’s fine, Bea,” Verdant wheezed and patted her on the back. “Besides, it could have been worse.”

“Still weird to think you were in her stomachs that whole time,” Kiko chipped in as Bea let Verdant go.

“Would you believe this sort of thing has happened before?” Verdant asked as he trotted over to the elevator’s button and pressed it. Looking over his shoulder at the pair, he saw stunned looks on their faces.

“I… I just… wow…” Kiko sighed as the elevator opened up. Verdant held the door open as the two got in before slipping in last.

“So, what were you two talking about?” Verdant asked as Bea pressed the floor button.

“Well,” a smile crossed Bea’s features as she leaned closer to him. “I was thinking about how to make things up to you.”

“You don’t have to do anything for me,” Verdant replied.

“Oh, but you will like this.” Bea chuckled as she leaned against his side. “Since heat season’s starting up soon, I decided to do something special for us.”

“Oh…” Verdant blushed and nervously glanced at Kiko, who was chuckling at his expression. “I’m surprised you’re being so... open about this in front of someone.”

“Oh, but why wouldn’t she?” Kiko smirked as she leaned into the blushing stallion alongside the cow. “After all, my heat’s starting soon and she gave me an invite.”

“Whoa, wait, are you-” Verdant frantically looked between the smirking pair.

“Oh yeah.” Bea wore a smirk similar to her goat companion. “Interested?” She gave him a wink, making his emerald coat change to a ruby red.

“Yes!” Verdant’s voice cracked before he coughed into his hoof. “I mean, yes. I’ll gladly help you two with your heat.”

“Oh, yeah. This is gonna be good,” Kiko said as she and Bea both slung a foreleg over his shoulders. “By the time we’re done with you, your hips are gonna be sore for days.”

Author's Notes:

Hey there! Welcome back and happy Independence Day for my American readers. Great to have you back.

Fun Fact: Pixel Flash's mane is dyed. It's normally a dark purple.

Now, time to vote on the chapter after next.

Swift Snort (AP): Verdant is training with his fellow soldiers on Butterfly Island and we see one of the misadventures there.A Mid-Summer Night's Tasty Dream: Verdant volunteers for a long range teleportation experiment, only to end up tiny and in the cabin of Fluttershy, who thinks she's having a very nice/private dream.Dating Delights: Verdant goes out on a date with a fancy mare he met during a dating service and things seem to go swimmingly... until he learns she's a cannibalistic serial killer with a shrinking fetish.Betty: The Last Cutesaur: Verdant is recruited by Daring Do to explore an island full of long lost flora and fauna, only to encounter a creature that supposedly went extinct eons ago.Verdant and the Beanstalk: Returning to the teleportation lab, Verdant prepares for another try, only for something to happen on the floor below.Bibinba's Inside Story: While playing Marinara Party with some friends of his, Verdant accidentally lands on the wrong space and finds himself staring down an imposing longma.Deep Into Darkness: Princess Luna has become a powerful being of darkness named Nightmare Moon, making her too fast for Celestia to blast with the elements. However, the princess has a plan involving the skills of a certain green stallion.Strawberry Sweetness: Another teleportation test brings him to Strawberry Sundae. Not the restaurant, but it's owner who's about to have some private time with her lovely wife.Dog Day Afternoon: On a day out, Verdant finds himself stumbling upon a patch of Shrinking Violets... and a rather hungry Diamond Dog.Twilight Tour: After an accident with a flower cart, Verdant owes his friends a favor. Now Verdant has to go on a special roller coaster designed to teach ponies about anatomy. A roller coaster ride through Princess Twilight Sparkle. - Based on a piece of art by PonyThroat. Used with permission.Tales from the Mirrorverse - Antacid's Creed: In a world where everypony's evil, Verdant wants to get himself a high ranking position in Celestia's forces. What better way to prove he can sneak into anywhere than sneaking into the princess herself?Not a Snack-Sized Stallion, But a Micro-Sized Man: Verdant's enjoying his little job of mowing his history teacher's lawn when suddenly, a pot with a blue flower in it appears from the sky and smacks him in the face. Now the teenage Verdant is just a speck when Barrier's niece, Twilight Sparkle, comes to visit.

Remember, only one vote per person. At any rate, see you next time when we have Verdant take on a special assignment from Princess Cadance in "Lovely Nights and New Beginnings". See ya then!