It had taken an uncomfortable 5 hours to reach the end of the railway. By the time the mares had been unloaded, and began the long trek up the mountain, all of them were exhausted and hungry. While the hardy earth ponies began carting the six, heavy mares up to the giant tree that was the city of Griffonstone, Twilight came to a sudden, and horrible realization: there were no signs of griffons in the air.

Maybe the worst has happened. Twilight admitted to herself, wondering why a race that was gifted with wings seemed not to have anypony in the air. Celestia’s concern didn’t seem so odd now, even though the griffons were notorious for being very self-sustaining.

Twilight tried to keep her mind hopeful, despite the fact that she and her friends were being carted up a steep cliff very dangerously without any means to save themselves if the worse happened for potentially no reason at all. Twilight did her best to calm herself down, thinking pleasant thoughts of Spike being put on his new diet by the Cakes, who had promised they would make Spike follow it to the letter. Hopefully, Spike would be more like his old self by the time Twilight got back.

Lost in a happy fantasy where ponies began to return to their normal sizes, Twilight didn’t realize that they had reached the magnificent golden arch that marked the city’s entrance until she was practically underneath it.

Twilight had held visions of Griffonstone since she’d done research on it after Gilda, just in case. She imagined lovely cottages, a magnificent palace carved from the living tree itself, sparkling with stained glass, a magnificent library, and so many other things.

Those visions were dashed within a second. Cottages weren’t as quaint, or as intact as Twilight had hoped. The streets were little more than paths linking buildings together, and there seemed to be very little traffic. Thought the cause became very, very apparent.

The few griffons who were out and about, were fatter than the majority of Equestria’s inhabitants. Bellys held up with what looked like Belly Boards, wings buried in rolls of fat, rolling buttocks and spherical faces. All of this, and more.

Twilight stared at the morbidly obese griffons in horror, wondering if they were protected like the population of Equestria seemed to be, and saw why Griffonstone looked like it was falling apart. The griffons couldn’t do the labour needed to fix their home, because they were too fat to walk across a street without stopping to catch their breath.

“Wow,” Rainbow said, breaking the uneasy silence, “They look even fatter than the ponies back home.”

“So much for asking them for help,” Twilight murmured, “I don’t know if we’ll be able to help them.”

“We don’t...need any help!” Snarled a griffon who was dragging herself along. Twilight didn’t use the word ‘drag’ very often, but no other adjective described how the griffon was moving.

The griffon in front of the group of ponies had multiple Belly Boards under her at different points of her body, trying to keep the sagging fat off the ground. They were failing miserably at their job, barely lifting any of the griffon’s mass at all.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight said brightly, trying to be as upbeat as she could be, “What’s your name?”

“I’m Greta,” The griffon wheezed, blowing some emerald-tinted feathers out of her eyes, “I’m...leaving. Ponies are...lame.”

Twilight watched as Greta laboriously clawed at the ground in front of her flabby chest, tried to pull herself along with the aid of her back legs and the Belly Boards. Slowly, her body began to inch forward, covered in sweat, and groaning in protest at the rough treatment. Her breath came in and out in horrible, wheezing gasps.

Twilight watched in equal parts horror and fascination as Greta continued to move forward, barely mobile. Her body wiggled and jiggled with every slight movement, her limbs beginning to be encased in their own fat, barely able to push past her massive, dragging stomach to keep her moving. It wouldn’t be long before the griffon would become completely immobile, it was clear to see.

Twilight turned away from the horror show moving before her eyes, “We need to find the king, figure out what’s going on-”

“There is no...king!” Greta called back, “Talk to...Blue Skies...he’ll tell you...what happened.”

Twilight nodded wordlessly, then remembered, “Where?!-”

Greta lifted one paw off the ground, and pointed to the palace, “New...building. Can’t...miss.”

Twilight nodded, “Well then, let’s go everypony. Thank you Greta!”

There was no reply, but Twilight and her friends were carted away before Twilight really noticed. They were carted past crumbling buildings, with the inhabitants immobile within their homes. Peering through windows as they passed by, allowed Twilight to see why there were so few griffons out and about: the majority of them were immobilized by their own fat, imprisoned in their own bodies.

Twilight swallowed nervously. Did they attack here first?

Twilight was brought to a newer looking cottage, and came face to face with a blue pegasus helping a griffon get onto a Belly Board. The pegasus was wearing a coat, and looked chubby rather than fat, the coat obscuring the majority of his figure. His wings looked flabby, and ill-used, and Twilight wondered if he bothered to fly at all. Dark circles ringed his eyes, and he looked barely able to stand up because of how obviously exhausted he seemed. When he saw the group of ponies, his eyes lit up.

“Ponies?” The stallion looked shocked, “Thank Celestia, I was wondering if anypony was going to get here. Are you okay now, Gavin? On properly this time?”

The obese griffon nodded, giving a tired smile, “Thanks Blue Skies. Wouldn’t have been able...to get home...without this.”

Blue Skies smiled, “It’s okay. You know I’m only here to help. Now go on, if you see the team, let them know we finally have some help.”

The griffon nodded, and began to waddle away, not looking back at the group of ponies.

Blue Skies turned his attention to the ponies, and his eyes grew comically wide as he examined them for the first time, “It spread, didn’t it? Whatever this is.”

Twilight nodded, “Yes, but we thought Equestria was the only place afflicted.”

Blue Skies shook his head, “I was flying here to deliver some mail, and I found the griffons basically like this. They couldn’t help themselves, or do anything beyond cry. It looks like they fell into some sort of sleep spell, and woke up to find themselves obscenely fat and without food for winter. They saw me flying, and called me until I heard them. I’ve been here since, trying to give them as much help as I can,” Skies smiled sheepishly, gesturing to his obviously pudgy self, “I-uh, kinda fell in with their habits somewhat. It’s inevitable, really.”

“You mentioned a team?” Twilight asked hopefully.

“Oh yes, I contacted a group of ponies that were scouting the area, and they agreed to stay and help. Since we’re so isolated, and we can’t leave long enough to go back to Equestria, we’ve just been trying to help any way we can by ourselves. There are ten ponies in total, and a couple of griffons who are still mobile enough to go door to door to help. Between us all working shifts, and trying to do what we can, we manage to keep everything going.”

“That’s a lot of work for such a small group,” Applejack said quietly, clearly in awe.

“It is, but it’s worth it. We have the griffons deliver food, while the pegasi do their best to control the weather. The unicorns grow the food, with the help of the one earth pony we have, and I try to keep everything organized.”
“That’s amazing,” Twilight murmured, “I’m surprised you haven’t passed out from exhaustion yet.”

“If we stop, the griffons will die, and we can’t have that,” Skies’ smile turned almost sinister for a moment, before turning back to normal, “We’ll be fine. We’ve been doing it all like this way for months. We’ve got it all figured out. Still, it’ll be nice to have the help. Come on in, don’t worry about the doors, they’re all super-wide to accommodate everypony who can still move.”

Twilight and the others were rolled into the cottage, barely able to contain them, plus the fat horses pulling them. The stallions unharnessed themselves, and sat down, breathing hard.

“Thank you so much, gentlemen,” Rarity said, smiling and batting her eyelashes, “We appreciate this so much.”

“Not a problem, Miss. Rarity,” They all replied in unison.

“You ponies must be hungry and thirsty. It’s such a long way here, and everything. I’ll get you some water. Honey Night and the others should be back soon, and then we’ll fill you in on what we’ve managed to do here. Can you tell me what happened to Equestria?”

“Of course. It all began when I invited the girls over for tea…”

Less than an hour later, and the story of what had happened to Equestria was told to Blue Skies, as he listened in obvious distress, “So quickly? I-I can’t believe it. At least everypony is healthy. Maybe...maybe what happened here was just a test? Since the griffons keep to themselves and all.”

“That’s what I’m thinking,” Twilight agreed, “I just hope they won’t suffer heart attacks or anything-”

“They don’t. I always thought it strange, but nopony here does.” Skies’ face lit up suddenly, “I have something to show you, but I can only take one of you in at a time, the house is too small now. I should show you our fattest resident. A lot of griffons here blame her for what happened here.”

“Why? What’s her name?”

“Gilda. She was a baker...do you ponies know her?”

“Maybe,” Twilight admitted, “Though I’m sure there’s more than one griffon named Gilda.”

Skies nodded, “There are. If you ponies will follow me, it’ll be easier to show you rather than explain.”

The stallions harnessed themselves again, and pulled the six mares back into the street, following as Skies led them down the street, and over a few blocks. They came upon an intact house on the ground, with the door wide open. Smells of baking wafted out, and Twilight couldn’t help but drool at the smell.

Twilight was pulled into the house first, and was struck dumb at the sight in front of her. Oh my goodness.

The house room was very big, with a metal trough along one wall, and a doorway leading into another room on the right side. The floor was wooden, and the room was almost depressingly bare except for a few newspaper clippings and awards of some sort near the door. None of these things grabbed Twilight’s attention.

It was Gilda who did, because now Twilight knew it was the Gilda that had been to Ponyville almost two years before. That Twilight knew with certainty, but she wish she didn’t know. Twilight wished she could be back in Ponyville, without seeing the sight in front of her.

Gilda was so fat, that she could be described in one word: blob. Any definitive body parts were lost in roll, upon roll, of thick fat that coated the griffon in such thick layers that Twilight couldn’t begin to guess which body parts were which.

Gilda’s face was almost overtaken by her own fat completely, the only thing telling Twilight that it was a face at all was the beak, squished open by the fat of her cheeks. Gilda’s back was so fat that it had swallowed her wings completely in its depths, flowing into her massive backside. Gilda’s tail was had the circumference of a small tree, and looked about as immovable as one. It was hard to guess where Gilda’s gut ended, and her legs and backside began. Her legs seemed to be completely encased in their own fat, hanging uselessly in the folds of whatever fat body parts they were next to, all completely unseen by anypony in what was probably a long time. Her chest oozed from between her front legs, sliding along the floor to stop nearly a metre in front of Gilda’s body, eventually expanding upwards to help Gilda’s neck rolls prop her head up.

All this, and much more. Including the sudden realization that Gilda was obviously blinded by her own fat, the fat cheeks that melted into her neck poofing up to cover the majority of where Gilda’s eyes should be located.

Twilight gaped, silent, then gave the signal to be taken back outside, even if to only stop hearing the horrible, gasping wheezes of Gilda’s breathing.

What happened here? Twilight wondered. How is she still alive?

Even Twilight couldn’t think of an answer, nothing other than the generic word magic. Twilight didn’t answer anypony’s questions, instead allowing them to go into the room with Gilda and see for themselves. A few minutes later, everpony had seen the massive griffon inside.

“What happened?!” Rainbow demanded, looking at Skies, “Why do they blame her?”

“She made griffon scones, something that was supposed to be a delicacy in the ancient days. Apparently, they weren’t very good, just hard and rocklike. Somepony came into town, no one is sure who, they don’t remember, and showed her how to make them better. They quickly became the best things served in town. Gilda bought this bakery here, and hired a few griffons to help her meet demand.”

“That doesn’t explain-”

“I’m not done,” Skies soothed, “Anyway. The griffons found them delectable, and couldn’t get enough of them. Demand rose, and she baked more, demand rose, and everypony ate more. Soon enough every griffon here was beginning to pack on the pounds from Gilda’s baking alone, much less meals and stuff they were making at home. Gilda gained more weight quicker, probably because she could bake them at home too.Gilda hired more griffons, and then the blackout occurred. When everyone woke up, Gilda’s scones had replaced most of their currency, and she was the richest griffon in history. She was also immobile, and could barely talk. She claimed that she didn’t remember what happened either. They also realized that the pony who had stayed to watch Gilda’s bakery flourish had vanished too, they still aren’t sure what happened to him.”

“So why not blame him?” Twilight asked.

“They do, but they think Gilda became a partner of his or something, and that’s why she’s reaped so many benefits from the whole thing. The bakers that work there only do because it has to be done, and now that Gilda is how she is, they can sneak scones out for themselves.”

“Wow,” Rarity breathed, “That’s...odd.”

Twilight nodded, “It is. We need to tell Celestia about this. We’re gonna need help.”

Twilight tried to ignore the curl of Skies’ lips, hoping that he was just trying to suppress a smile.

“I think you’re right, Twilight. We need help,” Skies’ face suddenly blanched, and he swayed, leaning against the wall of the house, “I’m sorry, but I think I need to go get some sleep. If I see the team, I’ll send them here. You all can sleep in my house if you want to spend the night.”

With that, Skies stumbled off to his house, leaving the six friends confused, worried, and wondering what in Celestia’s name they were going to do.

Author's Note

Here we go, another chapter!
Thanks once again to PhealGud for his help. Honestly, it's unlikely this story would still be going if he hadn't stepped in to help me a few chapters ago.

Please let me know what you think in a comment, or in a private message. I hope to hear what everyone thinks soon!

And before you ask, no, the pony who made the scones better wasn't Pinkie Pie.