Celestia grimaced as she looked down at the numbers on her bathroom scale. It had been over two weeks since her birthday in which she had been gifted many delicious cakes by her guests.

She learned that either those cakes were more fattening than she thought, or she had indulged herself much more than she had thought in those days. Even when she tried to space out the tasty treats, she had somehow managed to gain over three-hundred and fifty pounds.

With a depressed sigh, she fell onto her flanks and gazed down at her bulbous belly.

“I’ve got to do something about this,” she whispered before giving her belly a poke. “Maybe I’ll feel better after a hot bath and some time spent with Madame Frog.”

The alabaster alicorn’s horn flared a brilliant gold as the crystalline taps turned, rapidly filling the tub large enough for a family of four ponies. After a few moments, the tub was sufficiently filled for the plump princess.

Celestia flared her wings wide as she lifted herself into the air and hovered over the steaming pool below. Slowly, her wing beats decreased in speed, gently lowering her into the hot water, starting with her hind legs.

“Aaaahhhhh…” Celestia merrily sighed she sat down in the soothing bath. “I needed this. My hooves were starting to kill me.” She leaned back against the walls of the tub, letting the warmth just melt her troubles and stress away.

A small rumble which came from her rotund belly broke the blissful silence.

“Hungry again already? Dinner was barely an hour ago.” The confused princess gazed upon her grumbling gut. “Still, I guess a little dessert won’t hurt.”

With a quick flash of golden light, a bowl full of chocolate covered strawberries appeared at Celestia’s side. As she brought a piece of the candy-coated fruit to her face, her right foreleg slid across the surface of her submerged stomach, slowly approaching her nethers.

Celestia licked her lips as Madame Frog met up with Lady Lovetunnel and the beautiful berry drew closer to her maw. Sighing happily, she tossed the treat into her mouth, letting the chocolatey treat dance across her tongue.

The chocolate coating started to melt from the warmth of Celestia’s body as the berry slipped along the fleshy organ before the two reached the back of her mouth. With a soft swallow, Celestia sent the first bit of her snack down to her belly.

Verdant Range sighed as he fanned himself. The heat of the fleshy chamber that was Celestia’s stomach grew warmer from the heat of the bath.

The poor stallion was slowly growing used to such living conditions since the princess’s birthday, the cake that once housed him had long since dissolved and passed. Since then, the princess’s stomach had become his new quarters. Her sweltering innards keeping him constantly warm and shaking him about with every movement she made. Flying was the worst for the princess’ passenger.

This is worse than when I was living in a damned tool shed. At least then, I didn’t feel about a ton of alicorn squishing down on me when she sleeps on her belly.

The tired earth pony felt a warm trickle on the top of his head. Looking up, he saw the esophageal valve pouring down some melted chocolate followed by a whole strawberry which bounced upon his nose before he caught it in a fore hoof.

At least the food’s free. The green stallion sighed before taking a bite out of the spit-coated strawberry. Just wish the food wasn’t 99% ABC’d.

Verdant laid back as he heard the princess start to moan, resigned to his fate.

He had once considered calling out to the princess for a possible escape, but he instantly remembered a lesson his mother had pressed upon him since his youth.

“If you ever encounter the royalty, do not speak to them unless spoken to. They are far more important ponies than us so we should not bother them outside of official business.”

Verdant could only gaze around the cramped chamber that had become his bedroom, kitchen and bathroom.

Maybe someday, Princess Celestia will either eat a lot of bran or get food poisoning. Then I’ll be free.

Several escape attempts had been made when the alicorn slept, but they had all failed. When he tried to go back up her esophagus, the valve had refused to open. It seemed the only time the esophagus would open wide enough for him was when she was sending down a large amount of high-class food that would nearly bury him before sealing up once more. When he tried to go for the back exit, he could barely fit half of his foreleg down.

If this keeps up, that valve will end up becoming my girlfriend. The tired stallion snorted as more chocolate and strawberries rained down upon him.

There’s no way this can keep on going. Something’s going to have to change and soon.

The morning sun shone brightly through the grand windows of the throne room. Princess Celestia sat upon her throne with Raven standing diligently to her right, taking notes.

“Morning court has concluded, your highness.” Raven smiled at the towering princess, checking the final box on her clipboard.

“Excellent, Raven.” The princess smiled for a moment before it morphed into a concerned frown. “Has there been any update on the missing gardener?”

“N-n-no, Princess,” Raven nervously stuttered with sweat upon her brow, looking away from Celestia’s visage. “Verdant is still missing.”

“That’s terrible.” Celestia frowned as she leaned back in her cushioned throne. “The poor pony… He always planted moon lilies just the way I liked them. What could have happened to make him just disappear?”

“A-at any rate, Princess,” Raven slowly pulled away from the princess, drawing her out of her worried thoughts. “I’ll be taking my bathroom break. Once I return, I’ll take your lunch order post haste.” The white unicorn then dashed away, keeping her hind legs close together as she bolted out the door.

“Thank you, Raven!” Celestia called out, hoping her thanks reached the mare’s ears. “Now, what to have for lunch…”

The princess rubbed her gold clad forehoof against her chin as she pondered. “Hmm… I do still have a fair amount of cake left over from the party…”

Down in her belly, Verdant rolled his eyes at her words.

For Zacherle’s sake, you’ve had cake every day for the past two weeks. I should know since it’s been becoming a regular part of my diet!

“Well…” The princess’s words echoed throughout the stomach. “We do still have quite a lot of cake… and it would be rude to let it go to waste.”

Verdant’s eye twitched violently at the princess’s ponderous words.

Are you kidding?! Every day’s been the exact same for your meals! Pancakes for breakfast, cake for lunch and salad for dinner! I’m trapped in here, forced to live in what’s basically the world’s smallest port-o-john, likely for the rest of my damn life because you eat like a pig! You nearly squish me like a bug whenever you go to sleep, I barely get to sleep when you decide to play with yourself, and I have to survive by eating the exact same partially digested junk everyday day for lunch until I die! That tears it! I will not stand this anymore! Etiquette be damned! The line must be drawn here and no further!

“Hey,” he called out, his voice shocking the alicorn greatly, “Could you send down a bran muffin? Or maybe at least something other than cake?”

Celestia was dumbstruck by the voice from her bulging belly. After a moment of stunned silence, she came to the only conclusion that made sense to her about these strange circumstances.

“My stomach is talking to me!” Celestia exclaimed, making her prisoner slap a hoof to his forehead. “I have no choice but to obey it!”

Is this really the mare who’s saved Equestria so many times over? The mare who’s probably going to rule over us until the sun burns out? Verdant sighed and rubbed his temples. However, his pupils dilated in an instant as a thought occurred to him.

Wait a second… The princess said she has no choice but to obey me... Slowly, a wicked grin stretched across his muzzle as he leaned back. Oh, I’m gonna milk this cow until I can fill an ocean.

“That’s right, Celestia,” he called out to her once more. “It’s your stomach talking and I’m getting really sick of all the cake you’ve been giving me to take care of; not to mention all the times you’ve slept on top of me.”

“B-b-but… How?” Celestia craned her neck down towards her stomach in befuddlement. “How is it possible that you’re able to speak and think?”

“I don’t know,” Verdant replied, quite annoyed. “You’re the immortal alicorn that’s been practicing all sorts of power magic for centuries. I’m just an organ for digesting whatever I’m filled with. You tell me.”

“This is insane.” Celestia pulled her head back; chuckling to avoid confronting the wild premise she was being presented. “Th-this has got to be a prank… Somepony’s just throwing their voice to trick me!” Her eyes scanned the room, looking for any sign of her phantom prankster, only to find not even the slightest trace. “Okay my little pony, the joke’s run its course! Come out now so we can both have a laugh!” She called out, only to be met with her own echo.

“You haven’t snapped, Celestia. I’m talking to you!” Verdant shouted up her esophagus before giving her walls a series of quick jabs, making her belly quake to her shock.

“I… I see, my stomach…” the princess sighed and accepted the insanity of her talking stomach. “So, you’d like a bran muffin for lunch?”

“That’s just a start, Celestia.” Verdant triumphantly rubbed his hooves together. “I’d also like a pizza. A stuffed crust one with…” He paused, trying to recall what meaty topping a griffin friend of his introduced him to. “Pepperoni! Yeah, a pepperoni stuffed crust pizza.”

“You want me to eat meat?!” Celestia’s eyes bulged out before grabbing her gut and giving it a shake. “Why in the name of me would you have me eat meat?!”

“Because like it or not, Celestia,” Verdant glared upwards as he answered, incensed by the quake. “You’ve had way too much cake in the last couple weeks. You could really use some protein.”

“I guess you have a point,” Celestia grumbled like a small filly as she leaned back in her throne. “Anything else you want me to put in you?”

After a brief moment of consideration, Verdant thought of what to order next. If I’m going to play the part of a princess’s stomach, might as well get something classy. “How about a bottle of red wine?”

“You want me to drink during my lunch break?!” Celestia shouted, giving her belly a jab that hit the pony within in his eye. “Why the hay do you think this would be a good idea?”

“Well, y’know how some doctors recommend an average pony drink a glass of wine every day for a healthy heart?” the green pony spoke up as he rubbed his swelling and darkening eye.

“I vaguely recall something along those lines…”

“The key word being average pony. You’re a lot bigger than them, so it stands to reason you’d need more wine. I figure a whole bottle works for a mare your size.”

Silence reigned for several seconds before the snow-colored mare huffed.

“Alright, Stomach. You win. I’ll have the wine with my lunch.”

“Splendid!” Verdant grinned like a foal in a candy store just as the throne room doors were pushed back open, Raven quickly trotting up the steps to the throne.

“Greetings, Princess.” The spectacled mare bowed as she reached the top of the steps, clipboard at the ready. “What would you like to have for lunch today?”

“Well, Raven,” Celestia leaned closer to her trusted aide. “My stomach said I should have a bran muffin, a pepperoni stuffed crust pizza and a bottle of red wine.”

“Alright, I’ll j-” Raven stopped as she went back over the princess’s words once more. “...My apologies, princess, but did you say your stomach talked to you?”

“Yes, Raven. I did.” Celestia quickly shifted her head back and forth, scanning the room to ensure they were truly alone. “It started talking a few moments ago because it’s apparently pretty upset over my recent diet.”

“I… I just… This doesn’t make any sense!” Raven exclaimed, punctuated with a stomp. “There’s no way your stomach could be talking because it doesn’t like what you’re eating.”

“Are you sure about that, Raven?” Verdant’s quizzical voice came from the royal belly, much to the unicorn’s shock. “Do you know what else could possibly make me talk?” The stallion bit his lip to keep from laughing. Even with the thick wall of flesh separating them, he could tell Raven was sweating bullets.

“Um…” Raven slowly started to back away down the steps. I can’t tell Celestia that Luna and I made her eat a stallion! That would make things worse than saying Tirek broke into her bathroom to pull an upperdecker! “I guess I was wrong then, Princess. Heh heh heh…” She chuckled nervously as her dilated pupils remained fixated on the big belly. “I’ll go place your order and be right back ASAP.” Once she reached the bottom, the unicorn mare bolted out the door, faster than she had ever done in her entire life.

Well… Verdant thought to himself as he gently leaned back against the stomach wall. This isn’t exactly an ideal situation, but I think I’ll be able to make it work.

The verdant stallion grinned as Celestia leaned back in her throne, making the stomach sway like a hammock in the breeze.

Yeah, I can definitely get used to this.

In the middle of a large apple orchard, an orange earth pony mare fanned herself with her stetson.

“Well,” the mare smiled as she placed the hat upon her head before wiping away the sweat from her brow. “It was a hard day’s work, but Ah managed to beat mah apple buckin’ record.”

Taking the gorgeous sight of all the trees with their delicious fruit harvested, a sense of pride swelled within her.

“Now this calls fer a—” The orange mare paused as she saw a trail of dust on the horizon bolting towards her at lightning speeds. As whatever was approaching got closer, a voice started to reach her ears.

“AAAAPPPPLLLLLLLLEEEEJJJJAAAACCCCKKKK!!!” the voice screeched before the source of the dust cloud came to an abrupt stop mere millimetres away from the orange mare’s face, revealing it to be a bright pink mare with a curly pink mane.

“Pinkie, what in the hay’s gotten into you?” Applejack inquired as she gently shoved her friend further away from her face.

“The problem’s not what’s gotten into me, the problem’s what’s gotten into Scootaloo!” Pinkie answered urgently, hopping about on tippy-hooves. “She was dared to eat an unripe zap apple, and now not only is her coat and mane sticking up like something out of Rarity’s nightmares, but she’s shooting out electricity too!”

“What?!” Applejack was stunned by Pinkie’s news, pupils becoming the size of gnats. “Why in the hay would she ever do somethin’ that damn crazy?”

“Because the writer really wanted to justify a terrible pun title!” Pinkie grabbed the farm pony by the shoulders and frantically shook her like she was the world’s second biggest snow globe.

“Wait, what was that about a—”

“No time to answer!” Pinkie exclaimed before tossing Applejack into the air and catching the disoriented mare on her back. “We’ve gotta go help Scootaloo, now!”

And with that, Pinkie dashed off like a shot with Applejack clinging onto her shoulders for dear life, praying that she wouldn’t be meeting up with her parents that afternoon.

Author's Notes:

Hope you enjoyed the chapter after the long wait, folks. Special thanks to Sober and anonymous once again for the edits.

Next time, we learn why everypony in the multiverse named Verdant Range gets eaten alive in "Curse's Genesis".