"I've gained five pounds?!" Butter exclaimed as the other three crusaders confirmed his weight on the scale.

"Ah don't understand!" exclaimed Applebloom. "We've been exercisin' and trainin' ya for two weeks and haven't seen ANY progress!"

"Maybe we're doing it wrong?" asked Sweetie.

"No way! I asked Rainbow Dash myself and she said that she gets stronger by running a lot and doing push-ups!" proclaimed Scootaloo. "...Even if Butter can't do push-ups yet."

"Or wing-ups," added Applebloom.

"I thought we agreed that it's because my wings are too small to reach the ground!" argued Butter.

"Right..." said Applebloom, rolling her eyes. "So...what could've caused him to gain weight?"

All three of the fillies thought for a bit before looking at each slowly and then at Butter. "...Butter?" asked Scootaloo slowly.

"Yes?"

"Have you been limiting your sweet intake?"

"...Do I have to?" he asked sincerely.

All three fillies groaned and put a hoof on their respective foreheads. "Butter, if you're gonna lose weight, you need to learn to limit how much sugar you have everyday."

Butter's ears lowered as his eyes widened. "I have to diet too?!" he asked in a mortified tone.

"Butter, it ain't that bad. Ya just have to eat vegetables once in a while and reduce how much candy and other sweets ya have," said Applebloom, trying to reassure Butter.

"Speaking of which, how much sugar have you had this week anyway?" asked Sweetie.

Butter rubbed his chin, trying to recall his sugar intake. "Well, so far this week I've had a few lollipops, couple of a cupcakes...oh, and I've had some ice cream sandwiches every night after bed."

"Well, maybe instead of lollipops and cupcakes you can have carrots or broccoli. And maybe instead of ice cream every night you can limit it to once every two or three days," suggested Scootaloo.

Butter gulped. "Do I have to?"

"If ya want to get rid of all that pudge," answered Applebloom, poking his side, making him flinch due to his sensitivity. Butter frowned a bit before Applebloom became serious. "Really though, it'd be best if y'all'd listen to Scootaloo on this one. You've already gained some weight even with our exercises. If ya wanna make any progress, yer gonna need to restrain yerself."

Butter sighed and looked into her eyes and then into the eyes of the other two fillies before finally answering, "Alright...I'll try my best to...mff..." Butter gagged a bit. "D-Diet..."

All three of them smiled, especially Scootaloo for whatever reason. "Thank you, Butter." She hugged Butter tight, making him blush in embarrassment.

Butter looked at her in confusion and tilted his head. "What's with the hugging?"

Scootaloo suddenly blushed as well and let go almost instantly. "Heh...s-sorry...I'm just so happy for you. It's touching even for me..." she said in an unconvincing manner.

Butter shrugged it off, however, and heard somepony open the front door. "Oh, that's Rarity. We better get out of here, she'd KILL us if she found out we used her nice scale!"

All three nodded in agreement and quickly ran out of Rarity's bathroom in fear that she would dramatically overreact to the situation.

Butter woke up to a loud alarm early in the morning. He instinctively slapped the alarm clock down on the ground, causing it to land on the snooze button. He groaned and sat up in his bed. Oh my Celestia, last night was HORRIBLE, he thought to himself. Dinner was terrible with all those vegetables. AND NO DESSERT! He growled a bit in annoyance, cursing himself for letting the fillies coax his mom and dad to making him put on a diet. But he had a plan, and by Luna's moon it was going to work. He looked at his clock as it displayed "7:00." He smirked and thought to himself again, Perfect. Sugarcube Corner is always open early on Sundays. No foal would dare wake up at such an earlier hour, especially not Applebloom, Sweetie, or Scootaloo. The plan was just too perfect to fail.

Butter reached under his pillow and pulled out a five bits, his emergency money. He thought for a minute, wondering if it was wise to spend his money on a few sweets. The growl in his stomach answered for him as he nodded to himself. Well, I am starving. I guess this does count as an emergency. He got up out of bed and slowly made his way down the stairs, the stairs eliciting wooden squeaks with every step. He walked to the kitchen and opened up one of the drawers, retrieving a pen and paper. He quickly wrote a note out with his the pen in his mouth and left it on the counter.

Went out running. -Butter

He looked at it to admire his beautiful penmanship. Well, beautiful wasn't the right adjective, as his writing consisted nothing more than a few random scribbles. Still, it was somewhat legible. He smirked again, knowing that this plan couldn't fail without a doubt. He put the pen back in the drawer and closed it. Leaving the kitchen, he sneaked out of his house and looked outside. He only noticed a few ponies walking around at this time, most likely going to work. He used the opportunity of few witnesses to slink his way towards Sugarcube Corner without being detected.

Not that any strangers would care. He just thought it looked cool.

When he got to Sugarcube Corner, he looked behind him, making sure nopony was watching. He entered the bakery, where a blue, stout mare with pink hair was at the counter, awfully concerned with his behavior.

"Um...are you alright?" she asked, watching him sneak around the walls.

Butter looked up at her and quickly ran up the counter. "I'd like two chocolate cupcakes please," he ordered quickly.

"Err...alright," she said. She turned around and walked off into the kitchen, leaving Butter to sigh in relief.

I knew this plan was gonna work! he cheered in his mind.

"Butter, what are you doing here?" he heard from behind him.

Startled, Butter spun around quickly and met face to face with a drowsy Sweetie Belle. He moved his a bit and saw Scootaloo and Applebloom with a grimace on their faces. "Oh...um...wait, what are YOU three doing here?" he asked.

"Ah had to wake up early ta do some chores for mah sister," answered Applebloom.

"Well I wanted to get a few rides of my scooter in at the skate park. I have to get there pretty early because it gets crowded in the middle of the day on a weekend," followed Scootaloo.

"Insomnia...I decided a nice walk would help me sleep..." responded Sweetie sleepily.

"We all ran into each other by chance on the way and decided to get ourselves chocolate chip muffins for breakfast. But the real question is, why are YOU up so early?" asked Scootaloo.

"Oh well...um..." Don't blow this Butter...this plan could still work!

"Little colt? Your order is ready," the blue mare from before stated, placing a place of two chocolate cupcakes on the counter.

Butter froze up, quickly trying to make up the best excuse he could. "I...bought you three some cupcakes!"

The fillies deadpanned at Butter as Sweetie spoke up, "There are only two cupcakes..."

Butter stood silent for a little bit longer trying to come up with another excuse before Scootaloo interrupted his thoughts. "Butter. Your plan failed."

Butter looked down at the floor in shame and sighed. "Alright...fine...I have a confession to make him. Guys, I can't do it. I can't lose weight."

"Why not?" asked Scootaloo.

"I...I just can't bring myself to diet. I mean, I can't eat vegetables all my life! They're disgusting! Plus I'm addicted to sweets and too reliant on them!" He sighed and continued, "Face it, I'm going to be fat all my life..."

Scootaloo moved his head up so that he faced her. His eyes moved up to hers as she began to speak, "Listen Butter. I know you're not that overweight now, but the sugar you eat will soon pile up. I hear in the news all the time of obese ponies dying at early ages like twenty or thirty. I know you're not at all at the point yet, but I'm just seriously worried for you. So please Butter, let us help you diet!" Her eyes glistened a bit and she looked like she was going to tear up. Butter bit his lip as Scootaloo added, "And if you need help with it, we can help you eat healthier as well as help you exercise!"

"Yeah, Butter!" said Sweetie.

"We're with ya all the way!"

Butter looked at his three friends and sighed, giving his final answer. "Okay. Do whatever you need to."

Scootaloo smiled again and wiped her eyes. "Agh, dust in my eye." She sniffed and looked at the two cupcakes on the counter. "You can have those two cupcakes, but after that you're back on the diet!"

Butter looked back at the cupcakes and then at Scootaloo before saying, "You know what? I don't think I'm hungry for cupcakes."

"Are you sure? These came from a pretty good batch," said the mare behind the counter.

Butter looked at the frosted temptation as his mouth watered. However, he didn't give in and nodded. "Yes, I'm sure."

"Alright," responded the mare as she picked up the plate of cupcakes and put them back on the kitchen counter for a later order.

Butter smiled a bit as his decision before his stomach growled again. "Oh right...that was supposed to be my breakfast."

Applebloom rolled her orange eyes and reached into her saddlebag. "Here, y'all can have this," she said, retrieving an apple from it. She gave it to him as Butter looked at it curiously.

"An apple?"

"Try it! Mah family grows the best apples in Equestria!"

Butter shrugged and took a bite of the apple. His eyes widened in surprise as the fruit actually tasted good...better than most cupcakes he's ever eaten! "Oh my Celestia, this is amazing!" he exclaimed.

Applebloom smirked. "Ah told ya! Nopony beats our freshly picked apples!"

"Mmm...do ya got any more?"

"Ah got loads of them! Applejack always puts tons in mah bag just in case of an emergency."

"Well, I guess this technically is an emergency," he chuckled at his own joke and then noticed than the other three remained silent. He blushed lightly in embarrassment and mumbled under his breath, "Guess it wasn't as funny the second time..."

"Anyway...if ya want to buy some, Ah think Ah can get Applejack to sell ya a bunch of them at a lower price. Best friend discount and all that."

"Wow...thanks, Applebloom," Butter said, smiling again.

"Don't mention it, Butter," Applebloom smiled. "But, next time ya decide to cheat on yer diet, we WILL tickle ya 'til ya can't breathe."

Butter's eyes widened as he gulped. "M-Message received."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and asked, "Alright, so do you guys wanna see some cool scooter tricks at the skate park? It's still pretty early in the day, so I don't think there'll be many ponies there."

"Alright. That sounds cool," Butter said. The other two nodded as Scootaloo led the way to the skate park, Butter eating the delicious apple on the way there.

Author's Note

Sorry for the extra chapters, I haven't been given a lot of time to write a proper sequel because of school work.

So thus officially begins Butter's road to getting thin. It's gonna be a hard couple of months for him.