Celestia had been laying in the space where her throne used to sit, her stomach being her mattress, when Discord teleported into the room, breathing heavily.

“They've found them!” Discord reported, “They were dropped off in Ponyville sometime last night.”

Hope rose, and Celestia offered a genuine smile, “Thank goodness. Tell them to come straight to Canterlot, we have to get to the bottom of this-”

“Celestia,” Discord interrupted, making the hope die in Celestia's heart. Discord very rarely ever used her name.

“They're not dead, are they?” Celestia asked softly.

“No, nothing that extreme,” Discord replied, “They're...well. Like you.”

Horror rose in Celestia, “Immobile?”

“Yes. In varying degrees. It looks like they have been...fattened over the entire period they were held captive,” A chuckle, strained, escaped, “it's almost funny.”

Celestia leveled a glare at Discord, “It's not.”

“I said almost,” Discord returned, “Do you want me here?”

“No. Do your rounds, keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. We don't know what they've been through, and I want to limit the amount of exposure they get to the populace at large.”, “

Discord nodded, snapped his fingers, and teleported out of the room once more. Celestia sighed, feeling her heart sink into her stomach, “Guards! Send a team to Ponyville for transport, and please get me my lunch!”

(LINE BREAK)

Twilight used her magic to help the guards sent to bring her and her friends to Canterlot. The guards, once so fit and strong, were now in various stages of obesity, panting and sweating under too-tight armour. Eventually, the Mane Six and Spike, who was little more than an orb of fat himself, were loaded onto the heavily reenforced beds and were magicked to Canterlot.

The magic made Twilight dizzy upon landing, but she shook the effects off easily, and was surprised at the sight of Celestia, laying on her stomach much like Twilight herself, seemingly immobile. Celestia offered a hesitant grin, dimples forming in her fat cheeks.

“Hello, Twilight.”

“Princess!” Twilight offered her own smile, “What do we do?”

“I was hoping you'd have an idea,” Celestia admitted, “Everyone has been trying to figure out who's behind all this, but we haven't found anything out.”

“There's more than one of them,” Twilight offered, “The pony who held us said he worked for his employer, and he mentioned there were more working.”

Celestia nodded, “We thought as much. Discord has been unable to find anything at all, even with all his magic and power.”

“Seriously?” Twilight deadpanned, “Nothing?”

Celestia nodded, her chins wobbling, “He's fat now too, Twilight. He's not happy about this at all.”

Fluttershy, who's large butt had finally pinned her down sighed in relief, “Thank goodness. I was worried something had happened to him, if he couldn't find us.”

Celestia offered a soothing smile, “Everypony is fine. Just in various stages of obesity. We don't know how it happened. Our winter food stores have been left untouched, but ponies have mostly run out of freshly harvested food. We've all had to turn to the pre-packaged food that we have that's not part of our stores. I'm worried that if Equestria keeps heading down this road, we may face famine before winter, and during winter, if our current rate of consumption continues-”

A laugh sounded from one of the doors behind Celestia. Despite the fact that the laugh was no longer distorted, it sent chills down the spines of the six mares positioned in front of Celestia. A night blue unicorn, far thinner than anypony had seen for quite a while. His bright eyes sparkled with malevolence.

“Aren't you finally happy to put a face to the voice?” The unicorn laughed again, long and loud as the seven ponies looked at him in horror.

Author's Note

Hey guys! long time no see. Sorry for the delay, and the short chapter, but university is a pain. I promise the next chapter will be longer, and will delve into the mystery a little.

And a special thanks to Elsaack, who has been providing many good ideas for this story. I hope you continue to do so if you have them!