Story 1 (August 2017 Theme: Starlight Glimmer as Pred, Prey, or Both): Everypony's Equal As Food. Warnings: Hard Vore, Cooking
Fluttershy sat alone in solitary confinement with the brainwashing loop on full blast. Had she succeeded in her spy mission she wouldn’t be in the house all by herself, but she had made just a bit too much noise when she found Starlight Glimmer’s secret about her cutie mark. Fluttershy barely had time to get to the ground before the guards had been called and she was captured. So she sat in a house on the edge of Our Town with no help to fight the brainwashing.
In sameness, there is peace. Exceptionalism is a lie. Free yourself from your cutie mark. Choose equality as your special talent. Difference is frustration. To excel is to fail. Be your best by never being your best. Conformity will set you free. Accept your limitations, and happiness will follow. You're no better than your friends.
The others weren’t faring much better. Morale was low when Fluttershy hadn’t returned after the mission. It was critical that she returned with the cutie marks, or at least a way to escape. But while Twilight was worried about Fluttershy, the brainwashing loop wore on her mind.
In sameness, there is peace. Exceptionalism is a lie. Free yourself from your cutie mark. Choose equality as your special talent. Difference is frustration. To excel is to fail. Be your best by never being your best. Conformity will set you free. Accept your limitations, and happiness will follow. You're no better than your friends.
However, while the loop was working on Twilight and breaking through to her, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were doing their best to resist the brainwashing,
In sameness, there is peace. Exceptionalism is a lie. Free yourself from your cutie mark. Choose equality as your special talent. Difference is frustration. To excel is to fail. Be your best by never being your best. Conformity will set you free. Accept your limitations, and happiness will follow. You're no better than your friends.
Time slowly had no meaning for either the group or for Fluttershy. While they could keep track of when the sun rose and set, it was difficult to keep count of how many days had passed. Fighting against the words piped in at all times of day and night took more concentration than they had realized. Hours began to run together, then days. The only consistent thing seemed to be two ponies bringing them food at what they assumed to be the same time each day. This continued for nearly two weeks until one day, early in the morning, Fluttershy awoke to the sounds of the loop again. This time, however, she was unable to push any of the brainwashing from her mind. When the ponies came to bring her food they could see the pony was ready. They left Fluttershy to her food and immediately ran off to tell Starlight Glimmer.
Fluttershy was too hungry to notice the ponies had left, nor did she notice any passage of time. When the door opened up again, Starlight Glimmer strode in and looked over Fluttershy. Silently, Starlight Glimmer beckoned her to follow. Obediently, Fluttershy stood up and followed after Starlight, leaving behind her solitary confinement and half eaten breakfast. No words were exchanged as they approached the town square, where two groups were already gathered.
On one side were the citizens of Our Town and on the other, the rest of the mane six. It was a familiar site for all. Every few days the ‘new recruits’ would be trotted out and asked if they were ready to join their little community.
Fluttershy seemed well rested, while the rest of her friends had varied expressions ranging from tiredness to worry to agitation. Finally, Starlight motioned for Fluttershy to stand before her between the two groups before breaking the silence with her words.
“Gather round, friends, gather round! We have wonderful news today. Fluttershy has decided to join our nice community, isn’t that right, Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy enthusiastically nodded her head. “Oh, yes! Now I know that I’m not better than anypony else and that I shouldn’t try to better myself. My best self is how I’ll be once I’ve joined your nice little town!”
“We shall perform the welcoming ceremony shortly,” Starlight continued before turning to address the others of the mane 6. “And now that Fluttershy has agreed to joined us,” Starlight continued, “We've also gathered you out here to ask if any of you are ready to join us! There are so many friends to be made once you realize you don't need your cutie marks or the talents that come with them.” The response wasn’t as enthusiastic as she had hoped, but it didn’t surprise Starlight in the least.
“Not interested!” responded Rainbow Dash .”You may have them now, but we're going to get our cutie marks back!”
Applejack’s response was about the same. “Y'all don't understand, do ya? You can't force nopony to be friends! It don't work like that! Isn’t that right Twilight?” There was a pause before everypony turned to look at Twilight with confusion in their eyes. “Twilight?” asked Applejack again, concern in her tone.
Twilight had taken a step toward Starlight and the crowd of ponies while Applejack was speaking. “If I agree to leave my cutie mark in the vault, I'll really be happier?” she asked with complete sincerity in her tone to the gasps and horror of the rest of her friends.
“Of course!” replied Starlight. “How stressful your life must have been, making so many decisions every day. You must have had many times you had to force yourself to look prim, proper and perfect when you felt lousy. All the pressure to be the best in the world. Life is so much better without all those worries!”
Starlight Glimmer motioned for both ponies to step toward her and embraced both in a hug. While embraced she turned to one of her guards and motioned to her house with her head. “Please go to my house and grab the two jars with their cutie marks.” The guard headed toward the house before Starlight turned back to the other 4 of the mane 6. “It’s a shame you haven’t decided to join us, but with two of you down it’s just a matter of time before you will be joining us as well. Take them back inside and lock them up again! We’ll have the ceremony shortly.” The others were led back inside the brainwashing cottage, all of them stealing glances as Starlight Glimmer led their other friends in the direction of the Cutie Mark Cave.
After a short trip the group approached the cave. Once at the entrance, Starlight Glimmer motioned for Fluttershy to stand with the guards posted just outside the cave entrance.
“Please stay here, Fluttershy, I’ll be along shortly for you.”
Starlight then led Twilight back into the familiar cave. Once the pair were near the Staff of Sameness, she motioned for Twilight to stop in the center of the cave.She removed the jar containing Twilight’s cutie mark from her saddlebag and set it down before she wrapped the jar’s lid in her magic. She slowly opened it and released the stolen mark. It hovered in the air briefly before zipping back onto Twilight’s flank. Twilight was perplexed.
“But… why? I thought we were giving up our cutie marks!” asked Twilight with panic in her voice. “I… I didn’t want it back! I want to give it up and-”
Starlight Glimmer shoved a hoof onto Twilight’s mouth to quiet Twilight before she could devolve into a panicked rant.
“We must return your marks. They had been removed in haste, not to mention multiple marks pulled at once. We must remove them properly so they can rest here in the vault.”
Starlight picked up the Staff of Sameness in her magic and targeted Twilight’s flank. Warm magic wrapped around Twilight’s mark; the pain from the removal was different this time. It didn’t hurt quite as bad as the last time. In fact, this time it felt rather nice and almost liberating.
At the same time, Twilight began to feel strange. As the mark slowly peeled off from her, her stomach began to feel empty. VERY empty. Empty enough to let out a loud, needy groan. She felt like she was getting hungrier by the second until finally, the mark was completely pulled off and placed in the vault. Both her and Starlight were surprised that in place of the cutie mark wasn’t an equals sign, but that of a stuffed pony.
“Well, that’s... different. I wasn’t expecting that to happen!” exclaimed Starlight Glimmer over the sound of the very loud growling from the alicorn’s stomach. Starlight called for one of the guards to enter and gestured to Twilight. “Bring her back to the village and put her in with the others until we get back. I’ll have to look into why her cutie mark didn’t change into an equals sign.”
The guard gave a single nod and motioned for Twilight to follow.
“We’ll go get something to eat right?” she asked, the answer fading away as the two left.
Once Twilight was led away, Starlight brought her attention back to the task at hoof. “Now then, bring in Fluttershy,” she called out to the guards. Fluttershy slowly made her way into the cave. “It’s time for your ceremony. Please step forward to the center of the cave and we can begin.”
Fluttershy stepped forward, though there was a little hesitation. She hadn’t overheard everything, but she had heard enough to be slightly frightened. What had happened to Twilight, the fact that the cutie mark hadn’t changed to an equals sign, even seeing how Twilight was reacting. “Oh… uh… ok…” she said softly, not quite as confident in what she was doing.
Starlight didn’t pick up on the hesitation at all. She was too preoccupied with levitating up the Staff of Sameness and aiming it at Fluttershy’s cutie mark. Starlight’s magic coursed through the staff and engulfed the mark. Fluttershy began to feel the warmth of the magic surrounding her mark as this time there was no pain. But just like with Twilight, something felt weird. As the mark pulled off, a tiny, nagging need began to grow inside of her. A need that grew stronger and stronger until her cutie mark was pulled fully from her and placed in the vault. And just as had happened with Twilight, a new mark appeared that did not resemble an equals mark at all. It looked more like a spitroast. Once free of the magic, Fluttershy found her voice again just as she turned to Starlight Glimmer and grabbed at her, needingly.
“Oh… Oh Starlight Glimmer! Please. I… you must… please oh please you must!” seh began to beg. Her words and ranting seemed to make no sense.
“Fluttershy, it’s much too late to back out now that the ritual is complete. Let us return to the village and we can set you up in a new-”
“No, you don’t understand!” she said hastily. “We DO need to get back to the village, but you must prepare me!”
Now it was Starlight Glimmer’s turn to be confused. “Wait. Prepare you? For what?”
“To be eaten!” she blurted out. “I… I don’t know how I know, but if something happens to the Elements of Harmony bearers, they get consumed by the Element of Magic to preserve the power! I won’t go back to normal if I don’t get eaten by Twilight!”
Starlight Glimmer grinned an evil smile. “I… see. And if all the Elements are not devoured? What of Twilight?”
Fluttershy shook her head. “She’ll continue to hunger until all of them are devoured. Nothing will sate her hunger!”
Starlight’s smile grew wider. “It seems I have a solution to two problems… very well. Let us return to the village and we can prepare you for a scrumptious feast,” she said with an evil chuckle.
By the time the pair of ponies returned to the village, there was a bit of a ruckus going on near the brainwashing hut. The guards were in the process of dispersing a crowd of citizens from the front of the hut; the reason for the crowd was immediately apparent: shouts and sounds of fighting from inside. Starlight Glimmer motioned for one of the guards to come over. “Please take Fluttershy to the food preparation hut. Since deciding to join us she must have a job, right?” she asked. “Toss her in one of the empty pantries and lock the door, I’ll be with her shortly for her orientation.”
The guard gave a simple nod and beckoned for Fluttershy to follow him, surprised with how eager the mare was to follow. Once the two were out of view, Starlight turned to the remaining two guards to address them.
“Would somepony like to explain just what is going on, here?” she growled, looking first at the guard on the left then to the one on the right. “They couldn’t have staged another escape attempt!”
“N-no ma’am! Not an escape attempt but it’s really bad!” came the hasty reply from the unicron on the left. “We brought Twilight back like you said and were about to close and lock the door when she pounced! Then all the noise started up and it drew a crowd! We closed the door quickly to keep the other ponies from seeing what was going on and when we finally could check… well, there’s a number of ponies that went missing and… well,” the guard looked nervous. “You probably need to see for yourself.”
Starlight Glimmer was on the verge of anger. Ponies didn’t go missing from her village! They certainly would disappear, but they never went missing. She stomped to the door then flung it open. She was greeted with the sight of a rather plump looking purple alicorn with a pair of orange hooves sticking out of her mouth. Before she could even process what was going on those hooves disappeared past Twilight’s lips and the bulge moved downward to join the bulk in Twilight’s midsection. This was followed by a very loud, crass, and undignified belch that shook the house and caused a large bookcase to topple over. Hiding behind the bookcase was the last of the other mane 6, Rarity. She spotted first the large Twilight, then the open door and Starlight Glimmer.
Starlight finally snapped out of her confusion and anger when she realized the pony prisoners hadn’t escaped. No, they had just vanished down Twilight’s throat and into her belly. Once her anger subsided she remembered what Fluttershy had told her. “Oh, yes, right, of course. No, there’s no problem here. Something about elements and eating, I wasn’t really paying attention to what my next meal-” she paused a beat. “I mean, Fluttershy was saying. All I remember is infinite appetite.” It was at that moment she saw Rarity cowering in the corner. She watched the mare tense up and ready to attempt an escape. Rarity took off in a mad dash just to have the door slammed in her face.
“No no no no! Let me out Twilight’s gone crazy!” came the panicked cries. The sound of magic could be heard, followed by muffled protests and a very loud gulp. The loud gulp was followed by a very loud belch. Starlight cracked the door slightly to look inside and grinned. She could see the fourth pony’s outline in Twilight’s stretched stomach as well as hear the telltale sounds of digestion. She smiled and closed the door again.
“We are to repurpose this building. It is no longer a welcoming room for new ponies, it shall be a punishment room for those who get out of line. What constitutes out of line will be left solely up to me. Now, return to guarding this shack, I have other business to attend to at the food preparation hut.”
Meanwhile, Fluttershy found herself shoved in a dark, musty, empty pantry. As soon as the door was closed she heard the telltale sound of a lock sliding in place. In response she stood up and bolted to the door. She began to pound on said door, and demanded that she be let out. But her words and pounding fell on deaf ears; the guard already left to continue his duties elsewhere.
Time passed. How much Fluttershy didn’t know. She spent the entire time trying to get out of the dark pantry. In fact, she was still banging and yelling when Starlight finally entered the food preparation hut. In the middle of one of her hoofs pounding on the door, the pantry was unlocked and the door opened. Fluttershy nearly struck Starlight Glimmer but with her balance thrown off, she only managed to fall forward and embrace Starlight in a tight hug.
“Oh! Starlight you’re here! It was so scary in there, all dark and lonely! You’ve… you’ve come to prepare me for Twilight finally?” she asked hastily.
Starlight Glimmer simply gave a nod and motioned for Fluttershy to let go of her and to approach the kitchen area. “But of course my dear Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy made her way to the kitchen area and looked around. Various cooking instruments were strewn about, freshly clean and ready for preparing the next meal. Her body shivered in anticipation as she glanced back toward Starlight Glimmer. “So…. how… how are you going to prepare me?” she asked, voice shaking slightly.
Starlight Glimmer gave no answer as her horn lit up. With two quick spells, fluttershy was devoid of her fur, mane, and all her feathers. Once satisfied with her work, Starlight pulled a large, deep pan over and placed it on the counter. She motioned for Fluttershy to step up into it. She watched Fluttershy climb up onto the table and settled into the pan, all the while as Starlight prepared various vegetables like onions, carrots, and potatoes to place on Fluttershy.
Once the vegetables were prepared, Starlight strode over to one of the large ovens. With a loud click she turned it on. Fluttershy watched as the heating elements inside began to glow a bright red. Her attention was brought back to the pan when Starlight slapped her nose with a carrot. “Come on now, we need your attention here, not at the oven yet! We don’t want to disappoint Twilight, do we?”
Fluttershy blushed lightly, drooped her ears, and gave a nod. “Oh. Um… I’m sorry. You’re right, I was getting distracted,” she apologized. “I just can’t help imagine getting all nice and cooked for Twilight.” Starlight began plopping the cut up vegetables on either side of Fluttershy. Once satisfied with the amount of vegetables in the pan along with Fluttershy, Starlight picked the pan and pony with her magic and carried them over to the oven. When the door was about to be opened, Fluttershy glanced back at Starlight Glimmer with a confused look on her face. Starlight noticed it immediately.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I don’t have any kind of baste or anything prepared. Once you begin roasting and sweating it’ll start to make a sort of gravy anyway, right?” she asked. She watched as Fluttershy’s expression turned to one of understanding. “Besides, I can prepare a gravy while you cook.”
“Oh, right, yes, of course,” came the reply.
Starlight then opened the oven door. Heat blasted the pair in the face as the air became wavy from the heat inside. “Now my dear, dear, Fluttershy, don’t you find it cold out here? Wouldn’t it be nice to be somewhere nice and warm?” Starlight asked. There was no surprise when Fluttershy nodded. She did feel cold without any of her fur. “Very good. In we go!” With those words she slid the pan with the pony into the oven and closed the door. “Now don’t go anywhere, I’ll be back to come check on you.”
Fluttershy watched through the glass of the oven as Starlight Glimmer walked away, leaving the pony in the high heat.
Time passed. Seconds into minutes. At first it was rather pleasant for Fluttershy in the heat. It was dark and warm inside the oven and at first it felt almost safe. It reminded her of the sauna back at the Ponyville Spa. But the longer she stayed inside, the more she began to sweat. And the more she sweat the more she found the heat cloying. Her wings, devoid of feathers, drooped in the increasing heat and her breathing became heavier in the heat. It continued to get hotter. More beads of sweat formed on Fluttershy’s nude body and dripped down into the pan below. She felt tired and drifted off to sleep.
Fluttershy then awoke with a start. An odd coolness wafted over her hot body, evaporating what little sweat was still on her body. How much time had passed? Fluttershy didn’t know, but It felt like hours had passed.
“Nnnnngh… h-huh? How… long?”
“Hush Fluttershy, I’ve only taken you out of the oven for just a brief time. Remember I told you about the gravy? Well I’ve had time to prepare some and I’m going to pour it over you.”
“Ooh…” came Fluttershy’s soft voice. “I’ll… be perfect… for Twilight.” The heat had sapped a lot of her strength, which made talking difficult and slow. She felt as the cool, at least to her, gravy pour over her nude skin. Spots were already looking brown but she was far from done. Once satisfied everything was ready, Starlight returned Fluttershy to the oven and closed it.
“The next time I come back you should be finished. Enjoy the rest of your sauna!”
More time passed in the heat; Fluttershy felt weaker and weaker. She eventually stopped sweating and her mind began to fog over. Three or four times she passed out as her skin became a deep brown. Patches of her cooked flesh caused her a slight pain with every tiny movement she made. And each time she felt that twinge of pain she was brought back briefly to consciousness then, she would pass out again. It was during one of the times she was passed out that Starlight came to check on Fluttershy.
Starlight checked the clock on the wall and smiled. Fluttershy had been cooking for a good 4 hours and should be ready to be pulled out. She opened of the oven and took a deep sniff of the now cooked mare. “Oh Fluttershy, you smell so delicious,” she complimented before carefully removing the pan from the oven and placing it on the counter. Carefully she grabbed the cooked pony in her magic and gently placed her on a plate. She then licked her lips and levitated over a large fork and carving knife. “And you look delicious too. I just don’t know where I want to start.”
She looked over Fluttershy’s cooked body as she poked different spots of it with her knife. Her eyes settled on the cooked mare’s cutie marked flank and she shrugged. “Well, guess I could start with her flanks. I was going to take them anyway.”
She took the fork and slowly slid it into the soft rump flesh. She then brought the knife over and began to slice into the flank. The knife easily sliced into the cooked meat. But as she was carving she heard a sound that slightly startled her. The soft, barely audible voice of Fluttershy herself. With no strength left to lift her head, Fluttershy tried her best to glance backwards with her eyes. “S-S… Star… light?”
Starlight jumped slightly at the voice but quickly returned to carving off Fluttershy’s cutie mark. “Oh, you’ve survived the cooking I see. Don’t worry, I’m just about finished preparing you.”
Fluttershy let out a very small, “Yay!” while giving a very small, nearly imperceptible wince of pain as her cutie marked flank was cut off. Starlight caught the piece of pony flesh in her magic ad walked around to Fluttershy’s other side. She made sure to walk right in front of her as she took a bite of the cooked pony flesh. Fluttershy watched weakly, thinking the bite was just a taste test. But when Starlight let out a pleased sound of delight as well as shoving the rest of the flank meat into her mouth and swallowing it down, Fluttershy realized what Starlight was up to. Though subtle, Starlight Glimmer noticed the change in Fluttershy’s expression.
“Oh? Didn’t I tell you? I prepared you to be MY dinner!” Starlight said with a delightful cackle in her voice. “These Elements of Harmony sound powerful. Too powerful to stay around. Twilight will stay hungry and devour anypony who defies me while you… you’ll end up as more flank fat and whatever is left, fertilizer for the crops.”
With those words, Starlight proceeded to Fluttershy’s other flank and sliced off her cutie mark on the other side and devoured it. “If it’s any consolation, you did turn out quite delicious.”
The next thing Fluttershy knew, she was being flipped upside down with her belly exposed. She felt as the knife Starlight was holding plunged into her. She felt as the knife slowly sliced through her belly and her cooked organs spilled out. The scent of cooked meat hung heavy in the air. Starlight used her magic to start pulling out the sweetbreads and set them to the side, taking bites randomly out of some of them. Pleased with the taste she began to eat more than she was setting aside until she was eating everything she could get her hooves on.
The entire time, Fluttershy was in agony, though her cries and groans were barely audible. Too weak to fight back, she could only feel each time one of her organs was grasped in the warm magic and yanked easily out. It felt unnerving to her to say the least. Though her thoughts were muddled from the heat and sweat loss from the cooking, a single thought bounced around. She wasn’t going to become part of Twilight and the Elements of Harmony would cease to exist. Equestria’s saviors were defeated.
It wasn’t until Fluttershy felt lips pressed to her own that her thoughts were broken. Slowly her eyes drifted to look Starlight Glimmer in the eyes. There was nothing but malice and an almost animalistic look in them. She pushed her tongue deep into Fluttershy’s mouth and wrestled her tongue into her mouth. Starlight bit down hard and severed the cooked tongue, ending the impromptu kiss quickly. A loud gulp echoed in the small room as she swallowed the tongue down. Already Starlight’s belly was rounder with everything she had been eating.
The next thing Fluttershy felt was the warm magic inside of her chest cavity again. The warmth gripped at her still barely beating heart. Fluttershy let out a small squeak realizing what was coming.
“Well, Fluttershy, I suppose it’s time to end you completely now. So sorry you didn’t get eaten by Twilight. I’m sure she would have found your taste as delicious I did.”
As soon as she finished those words, she yanked hard on the pony’s heart and pulled it free. Fluttershy quickly succumbed to the loss of her heart, becoming just a roast for Starlight to enjoy. And enjoy she did.
An hour or two later Starlight finally exited the hut. She sported probably the largest gut she had had in some time as she strode out. She carried a few picked clean bones as well as the stripped skull of the pegasus she had eaten. She made her way to the old welcoming hut and hung the two femurs on the door and placed the skull on a post nearby. A warning to any and all who would defy her or her ideals, or any arbitrary rule she put in place.
“Everypony will be equal as my food.”
Once satisfied with her work she plodded off to her own hut a loud belch echoing through the small town, followed by deafening silence.