Long nights of study were nothing new to Moon Dancer, as the strenuous student seemed to always be in a state of study. The pony seemingly in a perpetual state of research, as she combed through the Canterlot archives in search of interesting information that might prove useful for an upcoming paper, intermixed with an occasional book that she would peruse for her own personal pleasure. The unicorn taking a deep delight in jotting down notes, and it was not uncommon for her to digest several old tomes from old Ponish into usable notes during a particularly riveting sitting.

The educated equine lapping up all the literature she could get her hooves on, though she would be lying if she didn’t have a distinct bias for non-fiction, as she simply found it more intellectually stimulating. This obsession resulting in her house becoming an organized chaos of dog-eared volumes and stacks of shoddy scrolls, as the mare fully leaned into her addiction to academia. The unicorn unbothered by the cluttered conditions, and she was quite content to spend the night trawling through forgotten texts into the wee hours of the morning if the need for sleep did not invariably claim her.

The only diversion from this recluse-like education was when Moon Dancer ventured from her bibliotheca to check out or return books at the Canterlot library. The mare seeing the prestigious place as a second home, as the facility's extensive archive could always offer a well-written solution to any holes in her understanding. Because of this Moon Dancer could often be found entrenched in one of the library’s many quaint poet’s corners, where the unicorn would be pouring over the more valuable volumes that the librarians would not let her take home like a happy hermit.

According to Moon Dancer’s well-planned schedule, today was one of those days, as the mare’s mistress for the evening was a first edition of “The life and times of Merari the maneless,” A book she had been craving to consume since she had flicked through the watered-down 3rd edition. The mare letting out a cheerful sigh as she took a seat in the far corner of the library, so that she could read without the worry of ponies constantly walking by to distract her. The mare just tucking herself away, and let the time tick by as she voraciously chewed through the chapters, only pausing to add a note or two to her journal for later revision.

It was during a particularly intriguing paragraph that Moon Dancer detected something might have been amiss with her normally snug sanctuary. The mare flinching as a wet drop of spittle slapped against the top of her head, causing the unicorn to freeze midsentence, unsure of how to react to the soggy splat striking the top of her head. The oily droplet oozing into the perplexed pony’s scalp, leaving the mare mystified to the origin of the stray drip, as the library like all royal buildings was so meticulously maintained that the possibility that the roof had suddenly sprung a leak was unimaginable to the disturbed equine. The fact the weather ponies had not scheduled rain for today cementing the oddness, and if it had been a bit later Moon Dancer would have been forgiven for thinking that her mind was playing tricks on her.

The pony about to shrug it off and continue reading, when another greasy dollop struck the page in front of her with a moist plop, causing the confused mare to look up in search of the origin of the drip. The mare going wide-eyed in horror at what she found, as in an instant her illusion of safety was shattered by a single glance at the monstrosity that had been lurking above her. The mare having just enough time to let out a meek yelp as something sticky slapped into her, and with a rude yank tore the mare from her chair. The hungry ambush predator just taking its panicking pony prey as easily as one might pluck a grape from the vine, as Moon Dancer had the unpleasantries of suddenly being face to maw with an exceptionally large barnacle.

The mare opening her mouth, a scream catching in her throat as with a forceful tug her head was pulled into the cavernous mouth of the colossal cirripedian. Moon Dancer starting to struggle, but in her suspended state the unicorn’s clumsy attempt to escape amounted to a swaying wriggle as she was reeled into the waiting embrace of the patient predator’s digestive system. The mare’s shivering skull slotting smoothly into the dank cavity, causing Moon Dancer to let out a weak whimper that swept through her body as a cowering cringe. Her mind going a mile a minute, matched only by the hammering of her heart, as in the heat of the moment the pony found her petrified, even as every fibre of the equine’s being begged her to summon a spell to save her.

It didn’t happen though, Moon Dancer blanking hard, as a lifetime of study evaporated with a hit of adrenalin. Instinct and reflex overtaking absorbed lessons, leaving the mare to quiver and twitch like a useless piece of disorientated mare meat, as her frightened figure overtook any rational attempt to escape from the creature consuming her. The mare thoroughly losing her cool, as she cursed herself for not being more observant and noticing the sedentary creature currently consuming her. Saliva soaking Moon Dancer’s fur, matting down her coat even as she fumbled and fidgeted against the beast attempting to bolt her down.

The mare finding herself unable to stop the carnivore engulfing her, as she simply slipped into its frictionless interior as though she were born to slide into the beast’s soon to be bloated belly. The peristaltic pulses pattering against the pony in a steady sequence, leaving the unicorn’s horn sparking as she attempted to manifest any magic to save her from being snarfed. The feisty tactileness only increasing the pace of the palpitations, as the creature contracted its tentacle as it tried to expedite the rate in which it was eating the equine sweater and all. The creature just responding the hot breath and frantic flurries of its quarry, as it used the same primitive stimuli that the mare had provided to rouse it from its slumber to commit to claiming her borderline convulsing calories.

The female flesh beneath Moon Dancer's woolly wrapper tasting palatable as it pulled her in, causing all manner of spittle saturated glugs and damp gulps to fill the air, as the barnacle broke all library etiquette as it sloppily snarfed on the struggling equine. The pony protesting, but it didn’t matter to the peckish predator, as shoulders and barrel soon slid into the throbbing threshold of the polyp’s gastric sleeve. The tendril tracing its way over the mare’s quaking figure containing her sad spasms, as at this point both predator and prey knew the pathetic noises the pony was making were pointless. If someone was coming to save her, they already would have, or at the very least she would have earned a “shush,” from her wailing outburst. Instead, as always, the restricted section of the library was empty, leaving Moon Dancer to fend for herself, as some ceiling dwelling fiend made a meal of the antisocial mare.

The unicorn’s impotent glowstick sputtering out a string of harmless sparkles, as her distraught faculties tried everything in her power to break away from the sucking seal slipping over her body. The mare knowing enough about barnacle biology to know that she could not shirk the slimy cilia wrapped around her floundering frame without terminating the specimen currently snarfing her. The mare fighting against her drowning inaction, as she knew that dallying would result in the barnacle barfing her up as a bolus of bones in the coming days, but with its vicelike grip on her glutes, she could only feebly wave her hind legs against the relentless advance of its lips.

The whole affair lasting about a minute, and with a final puckered pinch the entirety of the unicorn was entombed from muzzle to tail in the Barnacle's thrashing gut. Moon Dancer jerking and worming desperately, but from her folded-up fetal position, the mare’s muffled movements were barely discernible through the thick hide of the well-fed barnacle. The beast just waiting for the squirming to cease, and after a couple of minutes, Moon Dancer gave a final rattle as she suffocated and finally reluctantly went still with a clumsy jitter, that completed the unicorn’s conversion into a delicious deadweight. The barnacle barely noticing when the equine expired, as its simple anatomy was more focused on churning the curled-up chevaline within it into a more usable chyme. The opinion of the lively lump irrelevant in such matters, as its vocal meal would provide the same nutrients from her scrumptious base components regardless of if she was still breathing or not. The barnacle just giving a rustling waggle to reset its snaggled mandibles, before returning to its dormant state, so that it could devote all its simple systems to properly processing its most recent pony prey….

...............................

Moon Dancer wanted to spend a day studying in the Canterlot library. Unfortunately for her, a hungry barnacle decided to interrupt her study session with a quick snack of well-read mare meat....

My sixty-second sketch from  Silent_E 's patreon.

This studious snack was kindly coloured by my friend  plaguetyranno .

This image was voted for by my patreons. If you would like to support me and vote in upcoming polls check out my patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/doomfister


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