It was a bright and beautiful day in the Crystal Empire as a pair of ponies disembarked from a crystalline train. They were Twilight Sparkle, heroine of Equestria and her boyfriend, an earth pony named Verdant Range.

“I can’t wait to see Shiny and Cadance again,” Twilight Sparkle said with a wide grin on her face as she trotted along the city streets. “It’s been so long since we were last here!”

“Well, it’s been a long three months, for sure,” Verdant replied as he tried to keep up with the excited unicorn. “Feels longer when you have to spend a chunk of time in a crazy bug lady,” the shamrock stallion muttered and shuddered.

“What was that, Verdant?” Twilight looked back that the stallion.

“Just wondering if Cadance and Shining Armor will like my recipe for sweet and sour stir fry,” Verdant quickly answered to cover his slip.

“Oh, I know they will, Verdant.” Twilight gave the earth pony a nuzzle which he quickly returned.

“Thanks, Twilight.” Verdant smile before he and Twilight shared a quick kiss. “I hope Spike doesn’t mind sitting for Pizza and Owlowiscious while we’re here.”

“Well,” Twilight lightly chuckled as they walked along. “Since you left him with a pile of gems that was bigger than he was and gem filled pancakes in the fridge, I’d say the worst thing he’d have to deal with might be a tummy ache.”

“Alright, and soon we’ll be able to have a nice quiet night together,” Verdant leaned closer to the violet unicorn. “Just you, me and a… what the hay?”

“Hmm?” Twilight looked over to where Verdant was facing, seeing that right outside the entrance to the royal palace, two pairs of ponies were tossing food at each other, blocking the way in.

“Take that, you fast food shoveling hacks!” One mare angrily exclaimed as she tossed tomatoes and lettuce at the ponies across the way.

“At least we can take somepony’s order and have it finished in under two hours!” Another mare shouted back while chucking watermelons and cheese wedges.

“Oh well, this isn’t a big deal,” Twilight said as she placed a hoof on Verdant’s shoulder. “Once we drop our bags off, I’ll take care of this friendship problem in under a half hour.”

“Sounds like a plan, Twilight, but how will we get…” Verdant stopped as he saw Twilight’s horn glowing with a magenta light. “Oh, right.”

“We’ll be past that in just a-” Twilight was cut off by a pepper shaker the one mare at tossed flying overhead, its contents making the unicorn’s nose twitch. “Ahhh...ahchoo!”

With a loud sneeze, Verdant and Twilight vanished in a bright flash of magenta.

Verdant and Twilight found themselves in a dark metal tunnel, being rushed forward along by rapidly running water that filled the entire tunnel. The two would occasionally smack into each other or the smooth metal walls.

Soon, the pair went around a bend and plummeted down a rough waterfall before plunging into a deep lake below.

Verdant and Twilight swam towards the surface as quickly as they could. Eventually, the pair breached the surface and took deep breaths of air and coughing.

“Where,” Verdant coughed into his hoof as he tried to catch his breath. “Where are we?”

The two looked around, taking in the strange sight of where they had ended up. The waterfall seemed to be pouring down from a massive pipe in the sky. Above that, the sky was a shimmering white. All around them were thick clear walls that were covered in a light blue glow that seemed to encircle the lake they were in.

“I don’t know, but I’ll-whoa!” Twilight was cut off as the lake was suddenly shifted away from the waterfall and pipe. “What was…” Twilight looked upwards, now seeing in the center of the sky was the snout of a pregnant pink pony princess.

“Oh, dear Celestia, we shrank and are in Cadance’s drink!” Twilight shouted at the glass was levitated up in Cadance’s magic, coming closer to her plush lips. The pair tried to swim away to the far side of the glass as Cadance started to tip the glass and open her mouth.

Twilight strained, trying to make her horn ignite, but to no avail. All that came from her horn were a few faint sparkles.

“Twilight, grab onto my back!” Verdant called out as he swam closer to the unicorn mare, but it was too late. Cadance had tilted the glass too far up and now the current was carrying them into the alicorn’s mouth.

Waves dragged the two further into the princess’s mouth, over her whale sized tongue and towards the whirlpool at the back of her throat. They paddled for all their worth, but the rushing water made them pass under her dangling uvula and dragged them under just as Cadance swallowed.

Verdant and Twilight were pushed along the flooded tube of flesh, squeezed through her esophagus by muscles with dragonesque strength forcing downwards.

The two heard the loud thumping of Cadance’s heartbeat just before a valve opened up below them, dropping the pair and a torrent of water into the alicorn’s stomach.

Twilight and Verdant fell onto a piece of celery, gasping for air and coughing after their terrible tumble into the acid filled chamber.

“Did…” Twilight let out a hard cough, clearing the water out of her airways. “Did Cadance really just swallow us?” she weakly said as she tried to stand up on the partially digested hunk of vegetable.

“Seems so,” Verdant wheezed as he rolled onto his belly. “At least we’re in one piece.”

“Oh Faust,” Twilight whispered as she looked around the pulsating chamber. All around them were chunks of vegetables what she assumed was pasta of some kind, all mashed up and dissolving in the thick, bubbling lake of acid. The stench of the acid and digestion made her eyes sting while all around her, the sound of Cadance’s heart filled the digestive sack while more water poured in from the hole in the ceiling.

“I… I’ve killed us…” the lavender mare softly as she felt a hoof softly fall upon her shoulder. Looking over, she saw Verdant with a kind expression on his face before he gave her cheek a nuzzle.

“No, Twilight. You didn’t,” he comfortingly whispered into her ear. “This was just a terrible accident. If it weren’t for the pepper, we’d just be in the palace instead of in your sister-in-law.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, Verdant,” Twilight bit her lip and looked away glumly. “But we’re going to die in here.”

“I have doubts there, Twilight,” Verdant patted her on the back. “First, remember what you told me Cadance taught you.”

“Right,” Twilight said as she stood up before extending her foreleg back and forth and taking deep breaths. “Thanks, dear. That made me feel a tiny bit better.”

“No problem, Twilight,” Verdant smiled at her before he glanced around the chamber. “Now, let’s take stock of what we’ve got to work with.”

“Well, my magic’s not much of option right now,” Twilight answered glumly before she gritted her teeth and strained. Her horn managed to spark briefly before it sputtered out, making her gasp for breath. “I think that the teleport and shrinking spells used up most of my magic. I can’t really do much right now.”

“Alright, that’s one thing,” Verdant replied as the water flow finally stopped and he looked around. “Do you think after you’ve rested, we’d be able to teleport out of here?”

“That would be really dangerous,” Twilight said with a swallow. “A blind teleport from inside somepony could cause all sorts of horrible stuff to happen. We could materialize inside a wall of flesh or bone, or end up stuck in a blood vessel and cause a lethal arterial clog to Cadance, or we could-”

“Okay, teleporting’s not an option,” Verdant quickly cut her off, trying to keep her from conjuring the mental image of what horrors could occur. “Are you acid proof?”

“What?” Perplexment was clear in Twilight’s tone as she tilted her head. “No, I’m not acid proof. Nopony is.”

“Actually, I am. See,” Verdant casually said before dipping a foreleg into the bubbling brew.

“Verdant, stop!” Twilight screeched, grabbing his foreleg out. “Who knows what… you’ve…” her words died as she examined his foreleg. He should have at least be suffering from chemical burns and the hair on his leg dissolving, but it was completely unharmed. A few droplets of acid dripped off the leg. The droplets made a hiss and foamed when they made contact with the celery.

“How… how’s that even possible?” Twilight said in bafflement at the earth pony. “How did you know you’re acid proof?”

“Well,” Verdant clicked his tongue as he looked away from her. “I’m not really at liberty to give details, but I will say that this isn’t my first time in a stomach.”

“This… certainly is a surprise…” Twilight raised a hoof to her chin in thought.

Before either pony could say another word, the stomach trembled as a thunderous boom echoed all around them. The pair covered their ears with their hooves until the roar died down. Once the ringing in their ears stopped, they heard a loud voice in the distance.

“PARDON ME.”

Princess Cadance gave a sigh of relief as she made her way into the the palace’s kitchen. A long day of court had finally come to a close and the princess was parched.

With the day’s affairs finally taken care of, she could finally just relax and get off her sore hooves that had become even sorer in the past three months, even though she was barely showing.

Humming a little tune to herself, Cadance lit her horn; pulling a glass from a cupboard and and turning on the faucet.

The alicorn princess stuck the glass into the stream, not seeing when a pair of minuscule specks fell into her drink.

With the glass filled, Cadance began to trot away, taking a long swig of her quenching drink. As she walked down the hallway of her palace, she took in the sights of all the flowers, both outside in the gardens and inside in crystalline vases.

As she started to turn a corner, the princess felt a bubbling in her belly and something heading up her throat. She tried to cover her mouth, but it came too quickly, making her unable to suppress the loud belch.

“Pardon me,” she said to herself and started to trot away, only to pause when she heard a chuckling coming behind her.

“Oh, I don’t know, dear. It’s seems like behavior somewhat unbecoming of a princess,” a voice teasingly said as a white unicorn stallion came around the bend, drawing a chuckle from the princess. “Honestly, what would your husband say?”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure he’d be jealous since he knows he could never beat me in a belching contest.” Cadance grinned as Shining Armor joined her at her side. “So, have Twilight and Verdant arrived yet?”

“Not yet, Cadance,” Shining Armor sighed as they headed down the hallway. “It’s weird. The train arrived on time and ponies saw them disembark. I know Twily would have checked in with us as soon as she could.”

“Probably just a minor obstruction keeping them up,” Cadance gave her mate a soft pat on the back. “For all we know, Marinara and Heavy Cream got into a food fight again and she’s trying to solve their friendship problem.”

“Yeah, I could see that.” Shining Armor smiled as he shook his head. “Hope they won’t be too long.”

“I’ve got a gut feeling that says we’ll see them soon, dear,” Cadance replied as they strolled along, only to get a strange feeling in her belly a few steps later. “Uh-oh…” she whispered as she set her glass aside.

“Well, thanks to that gaseous expulsion, we probably have a lot less air to breath,” Twilight sighed as she looked towards the stomach’s upper valve.

The lavender unicorn’s ears perked up when she heard a loud splash behind her. Snapping to look, she saw Verdant was now swimming around in the stomach juices.

“Verdant, what in Zacherle’s name are you doing?” Twilight asked as the green pony kept paddling about, using a piece of noodle as a pool noodle.

“Well, a tiny part of me’s hoping that if we can shake things up enough in here, the stomach will get upset enough that she’ll throw us up,” Verdant answered as he paddled a bit closer to Twilight.

“I’m pretty sure that at our size, the most you’ll be able to do with that would be probably just making her burp again.” Just as Twilight had finished, the stomach walls rapidly starting to convulse and clench, tossing its contents around as well as bouncing the green pony back onto the celery.

“Which is why the main reason why I was doing this was trying to kill time until Cadance was hit by a certain side effect of pregnancy.”

Verdant and Twilight grabbed onto each other as the churning grew worse and worse. Suddenly, they felt a massive shift from Cadance starting to run before the stomach clenched and launched them upwards.

The pair’s screams were drowned out by the alicorn’s heartbeat and the rush of the geyser below them as they rocketed up her throat.

The two quickly passed by Cadance’s dangling uvula and were headed toward her open mouth, where they could see a potted plant outside.

Me and my big mouth. Why did I have to say gut feeling?! Cadance felt a deep, intense swirling down in her belly, one she knew she couldn’t hold back.

“Cadance, are you okay?” Shining Armor reached a hoof out to Cadance, seeing her face starting to turn a sickly green. Before he could reach her, the princess bolted down the hallway, running towards a potted plant.

The alicorn’s cheeks bulged out as she grabbed the sides of the pot while Shining Armor looked away.

“BLAURGH!!!” the sickening sound echoed throughout the halls as the stallion slowly approached his wife, keeping his eyes clenched shut tightly.

“Urgh…” Cadance groaned as she tried to catch her breath. “Damn pregnancy. I really didn’t need to taste my lunch a second time.”

“There there, Cadance,” Shining Armor gave a comforting whisper as he placed a hoof on her back and started to rub her back. “I’m sure we’ll get you a better meal that you can keep down and you’ll feel better a lot real soon.”

“Thanks, Shiny.” Cadance grinned as she starting to pull back, only to pause upon seeing something. “Honey, I think I found Twilight and Verdant.”

Night had fallen upon the Crystal Empire by the time Magic Barrier found himself traversing the palace halls, looking for any sign of the prince or princess.

The charcoal stallion sighed and took a swig from his flask as he turned a corner.

“All my years in the guard and I have to play delivery boy for the princesses,” he mused aloud, stowing the flask as he spotted Twilight Sparkle and Verdant Range headed down a hallway, soaked to the bone and trying to dry themselves off. A moment later, Princess Cadance followed behind them.

Quickly lighting his horn, Barrier had teleported closer to the alicorn, catching her uttering repeated apologies to the pair.

“Princess Cadance,” he broke the princess from her apologies and pulled a small package from his saddlebags.

“Ah, Barrier. Surprised to see you,” she said as she tried to sound cheerful, though she seemed somewhat upset despite that. “What brings you here?”

“What was up with Private Range and Twilight?” He casually ignored her question as he looked over her shoulder, seeing the drying pair entering one of the guest rooms.

“Oh, well they used up all the hot water in their rooms so they had to use one of the guard showers to clean themselves off after they were drenched because of their time inside me.” Cadance’s answer made Barrier’s eyebrow rise a tiny bit.

“Beg pardon?” Barrier flatly asked, making Cadance have to use all of her will to keep from grinning or laughing.

“Oh yeah, the two had quite the time inside me. The two got completely drenched because of this,” the pregnant princess coyly said as she forced a blush to her face. “You should have seen the look on Shiny’s face when he saw it.”

“So,” Barrier smirked at the pink pony, “You’re the latest creature to eat poor Verdant.”

“Ah, poop,” Cadance grumbled as she gave Barrier a glare. “You’re no fun.”

“Too old to be fun,” Barrier chuckled as he levitated the small parcel onto Cadance’s back. “Princess Celestia told me to give that to you or Shiny. Didn’t tell me why, just not to look. If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a long train ride back to Manehattan to the mates and kids. Goodnight, Princess.”

The now fully dried Twilight Sparkle let out a tired sigh as she flopped face first onto the guest room’s bed. “I’m so sorry about this, Verdant,” she muttered through a face full of pillow.

“Hey,” Verdant softly said as he hopped onto the bed beside her. “Don’t feel so bad about this.”

“How can I not?” The mare asked as she lifted her head up, not looking the stallion in the eye. “I nearly got us both killed with that botched teleport. And then we got covered in…” she shuddered before Verdant gently stroked her side with his hoof.

“Twilight, none of that was your fault. It was an accident.” He leaned in closer and gave her cheek a nuzzle. “The teleport was messed up from that mare throwing that pepper around. If it weren’t for that, things would have gone perfectly."

“Still,” Twilight looked down at the stallion before slinging a foreleg around him. “I feel bad about this. It really messed up our trip.”

“Oh, trust me Twilight,” Verdant’s tone subtly shifted, but the unicorn could hear the sadness in his voice, “This is far from my worst trip to the empire by a very wide margin.”

“Verdant,” Twilight’s grip around the stallion tightened, pulling him closer.

“Besides,” Verdant’s voice became much happier as he pulled back, looking Twilight in her amethyst eyes. “Things are much better since I have the world’s greatest mare beside me.”

Twilight chuckled as a faint blush came to her face before she lit her horn, pulling the blanket out from under them and gently draping it over the two.

“A brilliant and powerful mare who’s one of the greatest heroines Equestria’s ever seen. A mare who’s caring, considerate and willing to do everything she can to help ponies.” Verdant hugged her softly, which the unicorn quickly returned.

“Thanks, Verdant,” Twilight said before leaning over and giving his a quick peck on the lips. “And I’m glad I have a wonderful pony like you by my side.”

With a brief display of magic, the lights in the room were turned out as the two snuggled closely together.

“Goodnight, Verdant.”

“Goodnight, Twilight.”

In the final moments before the need for sleep overcame them, the two spoke in harmony.

“I love you.”

Author's Notes:

Hey there everyone and happy Thanksgiving to my american readers. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Next time, we'll have a surprise chapter. Who will be eating Verdant then? You'll just have to wait and see. Until then, have a great time.