Bigger Is Better

As the sun crept over the horizon and bathed the town of Ponyville in soft early-morning light, the residents of Sweet Apple Acres were just beginning to stir to life. One pony in particular was just waking up from a particularly heavy sleep.

"Mruh... wha... urgh." Big Macintosh sat up in bed and sleepily rubbed one of his eyelids. The red earth pony's bed was a curious-looking affair. Rather than the traditional wooden bedsteads that were common in Equestria, his bed had been modified with sturdy steel bars that looked like they could survive a blast from a hoof grenade.

This was to accommodate his weight.

Ever since a (not so) little incident involving an experimental chocolate bar about a month ago, Big Mac had become, to put it charitably, overweight. In truth, he was a massive butterball of a stallion, weighing in at well over 400 pounds. He was huge. A serious fatso. Equus terrus maximus. His once svelte, muscular physique was long gone, replace by a great, jiggling bulk that bulged irrepressibly outwards. His big red tummy hovered just a few inches off the ground when he stood up, and slowed him to a waddle when walking. Soft, plump love handles had grown at the top of each of his enormous flanks, fading into the flabby rolls of adipose all along his back. His once thick and sinewy thighs were now wonderfully chubby, forcing his hind legs wider apart than normal. His belly and legs were both connected by an economy-sized plot, which looked like it was threatening to swallow up his tail. Moving along, his body tapered just a little at his chest, which merely served to emphasise the size of his lower half. Finally, his head and face sported a soft double chin and a pair of boyish-looking chubby cheeks.

Big Mac was far from the only overweight pony in the land, of course, but his predicament was unusual in that his weight gain was permanent. He'd never get back his former slim figure. While most other ponies would have been devastated at this news, Big Mac had taken it quite well. In fact, he had grown proud of his new body, choosing to let it all hang loose rather than holding it in. Sometimes, when he was alone, he'd take the opportunity to explore and lovingly caress himself with his hooves, running them slowly along his gargantuan gut and down towards his sizable-

"Mac! Are y'all up yet? C'mon, Granny Smith's got breakfast on the table!" Big Mac's sister Applejack's voice blared up the stairs. Big Mac's ears perked up -- he was starving!

"Eeeyup, I'm coming," he called back, before finally hefting himself out of bed and squeezing out his bedroom door, the floorboards creaking in protest under his bulk.

As Big Mac made his way downstairs, he greeted his little sister Apple Bloom, who was just passing the foot of the stairs. Apple Bloom tried not to stare at her brother moving down the stairs, but she couldn't help herself. The sight of his massive body lumbering through the narrow space reminded her of a video Cheerilee had shown at school once of a container ship sailing through the Panamane Canal.

Waddling into the kitchen, Big Mac greeted his family and took a seat in a chair that had also been specially reinforced to cope with his capacious rear end. Luckily for the family, Big Mac's new size didn't hinder him from his regular farm work that much. It had, however, given him a much larger appetite than he had previously -- fortunately, the Apple family's surplus of food meant that wasn't an issue. Big Mac's breakfast for that particular day consisted of: eight apple fritters, five helpings of apple-glazed hay fries, three slices of fried apple bread, two glasses of apple juice, an apple crumble, and a chocolate doughnut (compliments of Sugarcube Corner). It took him less than fifteen minutes to polish it all off.

As Big Mac was leaning back in his chair with closed eyes, a satisfied smile and a heap of dirty plates and cups before him, letting his belly hang comfortably like a deflated parachute, Applejack cleared her throat.

"Now, Mac," she said, "y'know today's the first day of applebucking season, right?"

Big Mac's eyes snapped open. Applebucking season -- two words that had filled him with foreboding. Although he could still make repairs and lug around hay bales with his new bulk, he had no idea how it was going to affect his applebucking prowess. Applebucking was a task that required a lot of muscle power, and with most of Mac's muscle converted into fat, things weren't looking as certain as he'd have liked.

"Eeeyup," he replied, trying not to show how nervous he was.

"You think yer up fer it?"

"Ah hope so."

"Well, c'mon then. We're burning daylight, an' ah don't want that gigantic plot of yours slowin' me down!" Applejack laughed heartily at her own joke, before heading out the door. Big Mac shook his head and smiled, and followed his sister.

After a brisk trot -- or, in Big Mac's case, a brisk waddle -- the two siblings came to the crest of a hill. Standing before them was the huge expanse of apple trees that Sweet Apple Acres got its name from. The trees spread out across the land like a great army, row upon row of them advancing almost to the horizon. Every one of them bore a bountiful load of sweet, ripe apples just waiting to be harvested.

Applejack turned to her brother. "So, d'you wanna take the first one? At least then we'll know right away if that gut of yours made any kind of difference."

Big Mac didn't take any offence to his sister's rather blunt phrasing -- it was simply her way. He looked at one of the trees just in front of him. "Sure, ah guess ah might as well," he said, before taking a deep breath and moving towards the tree.

Applejack didn't think it looked very promising. The sight of her brother puffing and wobbling towards the tree was almost comical. She hadn't said it to him outright, but she seriously doubted that he was up for this.

In front of her, Big Mac was echoing her thoughts. He slowly turned his back to the tree, braced himself, and bucked it as hard as he could.

Unfortunately, rather than a satisfying whack!, he heard only a hollow thud. The impact set his whole torso off jiggling like a big strawberry jelly, before precisely one apple fell and landed on his head, bursting open as it did so.

Spitting and wiping apple juice from his eyes, Big Mac turned around just in time to see Applejack collapse in hysterics. "PfffftAHAHAHAHAHAAA! Oh, that was just the f-funniest thing I've ever... dohohoho!"

Big Mac stared at his sister convulsing on the ground. "Are y'all quite finished?" he said flatly.

Applejack continued to giggle. "Ah'm s-sorry, Mac. It's just.. teehee..." She finally composed herself. "Alright, look, don't worry about the trees, okay? Ah can get the girls to help us out again. Celestia know ah know better than to try doin' it all myself."

Suddenly, a light bulb went off in Big Mac's head. "Hang on!" he said. "Ah think ah know how ah can still help with the harvest. But first, ah need to visit Sugarcube Corner."

"What?" Applejack said incredulously. "Mac, y'all only had breakfast twenty minutes ago!"

"It ain't for snacks!" Big Mac said irritably. "Ah just need to ask Pinkie for something. Can you keep bucking some of these trees until ah get back?"

"Uh, sure, ah guess. But Mac, what...?" But Big Mac had already turned and started moving down the path towards Ponyville.

As Big Mac waddled through town, his bulky body attracted the usual gazes from passers-by. The tubby stallion knew that his new body attracted stares from some of the mares (which he found flattering) and some of the colts (he wasn't sure how to feel about that...). Eventually, he came to Sugarcube Corner, and made his way in. "Howdy, Pinkie!" he called out to the pink party pony behind the counter.

"Oooooh, hi, Big Mac!" Pinkie called back happily. "What brings you in today? Well, that's a bit of a silly question, since this is a bakery! Whaddaya need? Doughnuts? Cakes? Pies? Maybe some more 'Sabor del Cielo'?"

Big Mac laughed. "Not just now, Pinkie. Ah need something a little different today..."

"Mac, will ya please explain your plan to me?"

Applejack was staring in disbelief at the twenty-foot-high diving board that Big Mac had inexplicably rigged up in the middle of the orchard (Pinkie kept several of them stashed all over town -- in case of diving board emergencies, apparently). This particular one had a small lift in lieu of a ladder, so Big Mac wouldn't have to worry about his gut slowing him down on the way up.

Big Mac snorted at his sister's question. "Ah'd have thought that was obvious," he said slyly. "Before, mah weight was working against me. Now, it's gonna work for me."

And with that, Big Mac stepped onto the lift, pressed the button, and began his ascent to the top.

"Hey, AJ, what's going on out here?" Apple Bloom had wandered to her sister's side. "And what in tarnation is Big Mac doing up there?" she added, staring at the diving board in confusion.

Applejack shook her head. "Dang if ah know. He just said something about-" Then the realisation hit Applejack like an anvil dropped on a cartoon bunny. "Apple Bloom," she said urgently, "get back."

"What? Wh-"

"NOW!" Applejack roared, before grabbing hold of her sister and racing to the safety of the edge of the orchard. They could still see the top of the diving board from where they stood, and they could also see the large form of Big Mac stepping onto the board. Mouths agape, the two siblings watched as Big Mac approached the end of the board, paused... and jumped.

Not a million miles away, in the Golden Oaks Library, Twilight Sparkle was busy studying a pile of books. "Spike," she called out, "could you bring me that copy of 'Interdimensional Travel for Dummies', please?"

"Sure thing, Twilight!" A second later, Twilight's faithful dragon assistant handed her a hefty tome. Twilight smiled and thanked him, then opened the book and began to read. "Transliminal passage of quickened objects or entities without the persistent agency of hyperagonal media is not possible, and even if possible, would result in-"

BOOM!!!

The lavender alicorn almost knocked over the table in her panicked leap. Racing to the window, she saw a massive mushroom-shaped dust cloud billowing over the outskirts of Ponyville.

"SPIKE!" she shouted as the sound of terrified screams from the rest of the town's residents started. "Take a letter! 'Dear Princess Celestia, Equestria appears to be under attack by an unknown assailant! Request immediate sending of a Royal Guard division to Ponyville..."

Applejack and Apple Bloom stared in utter shock at what had just happened. When Big Mac had hit the ground, he had created a shockwave that had blown the fruit off of every tree in a five-mile radius. The area around them looked like a war zone. The trees had had all of their apples blasted off, along with most of their leaves. Sitting in the middle of it all was a very pleased-looking obese earth pony, his excess blubber having cushioned his fall.

Applejack stammered, "Mac... how did you... wha... huh..."

Big Mac looked at his sisters, shrugged and smiled.

"You know what they say, girls," he said cheerfully. "Bigger is better!"