//------------------------------//
// A Tasty Treat 
// Story: Ice Cream Time 
// by Autumnblazelover61 
//------------------------------//

The sun burned brightly one lovely summer morning over the small village of Ponyville. It was a particularly hot day in Equestria, especially in the area where Ponyville and the majestic city of Canterlot were. Even though Canterlot hung off the side of a tall mountain, it did nothing to stop the sun's glare from reaching the Ponyvillians down below. 

The weather ponies had tried hard to get some rain clouds in the sky to keep everypony cool, but even Rainbow Dash was unable to get a cloud to start raining before the sun absorbed all its liquids. "Aw, forget this!" She exclaimed and kicked the cloud in frustration, causing it to hit her with a bolt of lightning.

Everyone in the town was running around, fanning themselves like they were being set on fire. It was especially bad near Sweet Apple Acres, where Granny Smith already had Applejack, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom working hard to get enough apples for the upcoming cider season. 

"Phew. This sun sure ain’t givin' up anytime soon." Applejack muttered as she bucked a tree, knocking off all of its apples, and wiped the sweat from her forehead, turning to look at Big Mac. "Ah reckon we oughta take a break soon."

Big Mac was about to say something when Granny emerged from the bright red barn, wearing a headband to keep cool. "What? And miss out on all the harvesting? You any idea how cranky these ponies'll be when they show up for some ice cold cider and we don’t have any! Why, it’ll be MUTINY! So get your hind legs back to them trees!" Granny said angrily, all in one breath, before turning around and heading back inside.

The siblings all gave a collective sigh before returning to their bucking, with Applejack squinting off into the distance as she bucked another tree. 

From where they were on the hill she could just barely see the tip of Twilight's castle. "Huh, I wonder how Twilight's making out in this heat." She wondered, before an apple fell and bumped her on the head.

Unfortunately, even the Princess Of Friendship was unable to avoid the sweltering heat in her tall purple castle. She had put fans all over the castle, kept bags of ice ready in every room, and had tied her mane into a ponytail to keep cool. 

Yet as she trotted around the castle, Twilight still felt like she was being cooked like a piece of bacon. 

The school had already been closed so all the students wouldn’t have to sit around in their classes in the heat. Yona had even invited all her friends to Yakyakistan so they could cool off in the snow. Twilight wished she could have joined them-you know, to do "research" on the yaks- but she was forced to stay back in Ponyville for "important princess duties". 

What horseradish, she thought, smacking her lips. Man, I could go for something cold right now. Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud growling from her stomach. All this running around to avoid heat stroke was making her hungry. She rubbed her stomach and flew into the kitchen, pressing a bag of ice on her head in the process.

As she threw open the door, Twilight's eyes began darting around for something cold. "Where are all those Abyssinian cold cuts I ordered?" She wondered. She heard a sound behind her and turned to find Starlight seated at the table, eating the last sandwich from the fridge. 

"What?" She said defensively after gulping it down. "You’re always eating MY food!" 

Twilight groaned and flopped down on a fainting couch in the hallway Rarity had left during her last meltdown. "What’s a princess gotta do to get something cold in her system?" She cried. Suddenly, she heard a bell ringing in the distance and carnival-like music playing somewhere from outside the castle. Her ears perked up and her stomach rumbled as she realized what it was.

"Ice cream!" The princess cried and flew out the castle doors at top speed, looking around desperately for wherever the noise was coming from. Then she saw it: in the distance, Donut Joe was ringing a bell while standing next to a large cart with pictures of the delicious refreshing treat painted on the side. 

Twilight licked her lips as her empty belly did loop-the-loops inside her. She teleported over to the cart, nearly knocking over the poor pony as she threw open the door to the cart and pulled out her favourite, the pink strawberry flavour. "Yes! Ice cold refreshment!" She was about to dig in when she was pulled back by Joe.

"Hold it there, Princess! Royalty or not, you’ve got to pay the price... and, maybe wait until it’s on the cone first." He grunted, extending his hoof for some bits. 

Twilight groaned and passed him a small bag of coins. She sat down and waited, belly growling, as Joe veeeery slowly took out some ice cream and put it on the cone. She cursed herself and wondered how the royal princesses were handling the heat.

Unfortunately, things were even worse up in Canterlot. The immense heat had broken all the new security fans guarding the castle, and with Donut Joe in Ponyville, the citizens were unable to go to his shop for refreshments. And the princesses were eager to step in and help find a solution, right?

Of course not.

"Ugh, why is it so hot?" Celestia wondered aloud as she sat on her throne, fanning herself at a fast pace. "The ponies are cranky, the fan aren’t working, and all the cold food stores are closed. I ought to fire everyone at that ridiculous weather factory when this heat passes. There must be something I can do to pass the time!"

"Well, um, if I may say so, you’re Majesty..." A guard said from the foot of the throne as he and the other guard took off their helmets to cool off. "A lot of ponies are asking for you to cast a spell to try and block out the warm weather can cool everyone off."

Celestia sighed dramatically. "Alas, I am far too unable to perform such majestic spells in this poor condition. Now please, leave me to my thoughts. And maybe bring in some royal therapy hounds." The guards just rolled their eyes and left the room. "Told you she'd be useless..." The other one muttered.

As soon as they left the room, Celestia held up a newspaper and read through it to see if any other ponies had found a solution so she wouldn’t have to. Suddenly, a loud growling sound filled their ears. "Great, even the dogs are upset today?" Celestia asked as she lowered the newspaper, only to find that the throne room was empty. 

"Huh, that’s strange. I could have sworn I just heard-" Suddenly, she heard the ferocious growls again and she looked down and lifted her front hoof to see her stomach growling and shaking visibly. "Goodness, all this worrying has made me famished!" She said as she patted her roaring tummy, suddenly realizing her immense appetite. Then there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Celestia called out, and the tall silver doors swung open to reveal her sister, Princess Luna. "Sister, I’m afraid we have a situation." Her ears were twitching in annoyance as more growls could be heard escaping from her hungry stomach as the poor blue Alicorn rubbed her blue bubbling tummy. "What are we going to do about the food situation?"

"I don’t know, dear sister." Celestia said worriedly as she flew down to meet her. "I’ve checked the kitchen! The cooks are all on strike because of the heat, and they’ve run out of cake and pancakes and fruit, and, and, CAKE!" She licked her lips ravenously. 

For a minute the two didn’t say anything, they just paced around the throne room nervously, making no sound except for the echoing of their slippers and their grumbling bellies. Suddenly, Luna heard an extremely loud groan, and turned to look at Celestia. "Goodness, sister, you must be hungrier than I thought!"

The sounds hadn’t come from Celestia's stomach though. More like her mouth, as she turned to Luna with a fire in her eyes. "Oh, what do YOU care, you ungrateful bitch? I’m dying from the heat, and I don’t have anything else to do in this stupid castle, and you just care about your stomach at a time like this! Why can’t you just be quiet for one DAY! I could just BREAK you!"

Suddenly, orange flames began to surround Celestia, and she was slowly lifted into the air, where her regular yellow  roach disappeared and was replaced by an orange suit of armor appeared over her body, wings and head. She even gained those familiar orange boots where her crystal slippers once were, and her rainbow mane and tail were replaced by bright bursting yellow flames. She had become the nightmarish incarnation know as Daybreaker.

Luna wasn’t surprised, as this had happened before. In fact, she was becoming incredibly annoyed by how angry her sister was acting. She grew furious as blue flames formed beneath her hooves. "Oh, please. you made me spend a thousand years on the moon, and then you brought me back just to bitch at me some more. Why can’t you just be HAPPY for once?"

Luna was then lifted into the air as well, and soon morphed into her much more familiar form: Nightmare Moon! Except for this time, she looked s little different- she had crystal blue eyes, and a white snowy coat that looked like she had just trotted through a blizzard. Her body was now a dark grey with black tips on her wings, hooves, and ears. Even Princess Celestia- i mean, Daybreaker was confused.

"Hahaha! Really, Sister? Too hungry to even look scary?" She cackled. Nightmare Moon, or whatever you could call her, blushed and crossed her hooves over noisy belly. "Go easy on me, okay? Its been a rough day!"

"Oh, I’m not going easy on you, you brat!" Daybreaker yelled, and blasted a big ray of fire at the smaller princess flying across from her. Nightmare Moon dodged it and began shooting white rays of her own at Daybreaker.

The two began flying around the room, fighting with each other, either because they were really angry or just really hungry and hot, until their angry thoughts were penetrated by a loud knocking at the door. "Oh, who could that be?" Luna asked. 

"Yeesh, it’s probably that skank Cadance wanting to join in. Doesn’t she already have snow down there?" Daybreaker muttered. 

"Celestia! Luna! It’s Twilight Sparkle! I brought ice cream!" The voice shouted. 

The princesses angry expressions disappeared as they looked at each other excitedly and licked their lips and rubbed their hungry bellies. "Oh yes, Twilight, come in." Luna shouted. "Ice cream!" Was all Celestia could say as Twilight opened the door to reveal three large coolers of ice cream cones, one that was half empty. "Heh, sorry." Twilight said as she wiped some ice cream from her mouth. "This heat." Then she stared at the two in confusion. "Woah, what happened to you two?Do you get like this EVERY month?"

Soon the three were sitting down on the throne room floor, eating their ice cream cones, with Luna munching on a popsicle, and Celestia, who had calmed down significantly but still had her fiery appearance, was eating a five-scoop cone. She ate the whole thing in minutes and patted her belly, finally feeling relief from all the heat. "Ah, how delicious... I want some more!"

Twilight giggled and passed her mentor another quint scoop. "After we're done here I can bring this ice cream back to everyone in Ponyville, and Donut Joe will be back in his store."

Luna sighed with relief. "That sounds perfect, Twilight! Thank you." Then she started shivering. "Brrrr! Forget the heat. Someone point me to a sauna. I’m FREEZING!"

Twilight and Celestia looked at each other and laughed.