A warm breeze blows through the trees on a late Spring day in Serenity. It's a calm, cloudless day, and most folks are either at work or enjoying the pleasant weather. In the park, a few residents are out and about. Some are walking their pets while others hike or bike the trails. A few are wading in the various streams. Still more are relaxing on the park benches, content to take in the atmosphere around them.
Far along one of the trails, a pony named Eclipse walks at an easy pace, periodically stopping to look at the colorful flowers growing along the sides of the path. At first glance, it would look like he's talking to himself about the plants, but nobody bothers to question it – It isn't their business, after all.
In reality, though, the stallion is speaking to a tiny feline sat comfortably on his shoulder. Lysergia fell afoul of some Shrinklily in Eclipse's garden and shrank to a single millimeter tall, and while the pony has the means to grow him back to normal, it takes some time to prepare. The two friends used this as an excuse to get out of their homes and enjoy the day while spending some time together.
Ly listens closely as Eclipse talks about his favorite subject, happy to hear his equine friend so enthusiastically going on about flowers and other plants. While the feline doesn't entirely understand some of the more intricate and in-depth details, it still makes him smile all the same, knowing his friend is so passionate about the topic.
After some time of walking, though, an audible rumble reaches the cat's ears.
Eclipse pauses and chuckles, blushing softly. "Sorry, heh; I'm getting a bit hungry. Mind if we stop for lunch?"
Lysergia nods. "Not a problem – There's a grill up ahead; we can cook the chicken you brought."
This makes the stallion chuckle softly as he heads for the cooking spot. "What do you mean, 'we'? I'd like to see you try to cook something at your size."
"Oh, hush," Ly replies with a roll of his eyes and a giggle. "You know what I meant, you silly pony."
Eclipse snickers at this, soon coming to the grill standing beside a picnic table. He prepares the grill and lights it, letting it warm up as he takes off his backpack and unloads the lunch supplies. Two chicken breasts remain nice and chilled inside their insulated container, and the pony sets them beside the buns, condiments, and seasonings he also brought along.
He takes his time to salt and pepper the chicken before he places them on the hot metal. The meat sizzles atop the grill, the pony cooking the chicken nice and thoroughly. He isn't interested in contracting worms or diseases, after all!
As the meat finishes cooking, Eclipse lays out two bottom buns, then places one chicken breast atop each. After this, he squirts on some mayonnaise before adding a slice of lettuce and tomato. The wind picks up right at that moment, blowing at the perfect angle to knock the feline off-balance. He yelps as he trips from the pony's shoulder, falling down and onto the nearest sandwich – Just as the pony places the top bun atop it!
The cat's attempts to call out to the pony go nowhere, his voice too small to be heard when he isn't directly beside his friend's head, even if the bread wasn't muffling it even further.
Ly feels his surroundings shake softly; presumably, Eclipse picked up the other sandwich to munch on it. At least this will give him time to try and escape, the feline thinks.
He tries at first to move toward the edge of the sandwich, squirming between the slippery tomato slice and the bun atop it, but after a minute or two of this, he realizes it will take too long at his size to climb out. Instead, he figures it'll be faster to try climbing upward, through the bread.
Thankfully, it's soft and pliable enough that Ly can tear through it and pull himself through, burrowing like a mole in the ground as he climbs. It's a strenuous process, and he pauses at one point to catch his breath, but he knows he doesn't have long to get himself out of here, so he resumes his ascent once he's able to.
After several minutes, Lysergia notices the bread growing firm, and he realizes he's reached the crust! But when he tries to push through, he feels something solid in the way. A groan escapes him – He figures he's bumping against a sesame seed as big as he is!
Suddenly, the whole sandwich shakes; it seems Eclipse is ready to eat this one now!
"Wait, Eclipse!" Lysergia yells.
He rears back and lunges at the seed, pushing as hard as he can to dislodge it. It takes two tries, but the second push makes the seed fall from the bun, granting the cat access to the outside world once again.
Just in time to see the pony's midnight-purple mouth in full frame.
The cat pauses as he takes in the sight, looking past the stallion's blocky equine teeth at the rippling tongue, ridged palate, and flexing gullet, all coated in a wet sheen of saliva. The pony's uvula sways idly as he exhales, the fleshy bulb dangling almost hypnotically above the flexing esophagus.
By the time Ly comes back to reality, he's already inside Eclipse's mouth, those teeth coming down and taking a bite of the sandwich just behind him!
"Eclipse! I'm in-"
"Hm?" asks the pony as he chomps down, though he doesn't stop eating.
Lysergia tries to call out again, but before he can, the dark purple tongue pushes upward, pressing the food against the stallion's palate and smushing the cat back into the bun! The muscle dexterously separates the elements of the sandwich, tasting over everything as Eclipse chews it all up. The feline struggles to pull himself free, trying to dodge those teeth as they bite down and pulverize the food into little bits!
Then, the pony tilts his head back, sliding the food toward his throat. Ly scrabbles at the surface of the tongue, trying to keep from falling too – And much to his surprise, he's just barely able to hold on! He huffs, catching his breath as he tries to figure out how he'll climb back out of the pony's mouth.
Until some movement above him catches his attention. Something tan and round slides down the tongue, making its way directly for him.
Lysergia groans softly as he realizes it's a sesame seed – Specifically, the one he ran into earlier when he was climbing out of the bun.
"Oh, fu-"
The seed impacts the cat, knocking him from his perch. Much like a raft, it carries him all the way down the tongue and into the pony's gullet, just before-
Glllck!
The muscles tense as the pony swallows, pulling the mouthful of masticated food into the pony's esophagus, with the tiny feline along for the ride. A wave of peristalsis pushes the bolus deeper into his body, sliding down the muscular tunnel toward the stallion's waiting belly. Ly hears his friend's heartbeat and breathing as he passes through his chest, before his descent pauses momentarily.
Ly reasons he's reached the stallion's cardia.
This notion is confirmed as he suddenly drops, landing with a splash in the pool of green stomach fluids inside the pony.
Even with his natural night vision, it's hard to see anything with the midnight-purple flesh surrounding him, but he manages to pull himself atop the sesame seed. It's a struggle to keep his balance on something barely bigger than he is – And it's certainly not helped by the constant movement of everything within the chamber, thanks to the active squeezing and churning of those stomach walls!
Also not helping matters is the periodic splash of food falling into the stomach as Eclipse continues to eat his sandwich. Chicken, bread, lettuce, tomato, and mayo all fill the chamber more and more, the tall waves capsizing the feline's makeshift raft, flipping it upside-down over and over, and repeatedly dunking the cat into the fluids.
Soon, though, something clicks in Ly's mind, and he realizes it would be pointless to try to fight, for one simple reason: Equines can't throw up. He's trapped in here.
Fortunately, the swallows stop as the pony finishes his food, making things at least marginally more stable and allowing the cat to float atop his sesame seed – Or rather, it would, if the seed didn't completely melt away, dropping Lysergia into the stomach fluids once more, without any salvation this time.
Already, he can feel a tingling numbness spreading through his body as he begins to digest as well. "At least it doesn't hurt," he thinks as he lets himself start to drift away.
Faintly, behind all the groaning and gurgling of the stomach, Ly hears his friend speaking. "Mmmh, that was good…" Then, a much more confused tone sounds out as he asks "Ly? Where'd you go?"
A particularly loud rumble sounds from the pony's stomach, as though in response to the question.
Just before he completely fades out, the cat hears "O-Oh, oops… Uh…" before Eclipse chuckles awkwardly. "Well, I suppose you don't need that growth potion anymore, huh?"
