A few days had passed since the start of Twilight's experiment. She unfortunately hadn't seen much of Rainbow Dash lately, but from what she heard from others everything was still progressing nicely. It seemed that her appetite-increasing and metabolism-slowing spells, while both losing full effect after a few hours, were both leaving small residual effects that were building up the more she used them. Many of Twilight's other friends had talked about Rainbow Dash eating a lot more than usual the past few days and seeming to have less willpower whenever tempted with food.

Today Twilight would have a chance to observe the effects for herself, as the entire group was gathering together for a picnic just outside Ponyville. It would be good opportunity to continue pushing her experiment forward, as well as take note of any physical changes Dash might of gone under so far. Her saddle bags were full of high calorie sweets and other delectable desserts, it was her contribution to the picnic. Although she already had a good idea who'd be eating most of what she brought.

Twilight met up with her friends at their usual picnic spot. Everypony but Rainbow Dash was already there,and the picnic blanket had been laid out and covered with baskets brought by the others. Twilight levitated her own basket of food next to the others and set it down. "Has anypony seen Rainbow yet?"

Rarity should her head in response,"Not yet,dahling. I'm sure she'll be here soon."

It was only a few short moments after when Pinkie began shouting with excitement,"Here she comes! Now we can get started!"

Rainbow Dash swooped down from the sky and landed in the middle of the group, panting a little as she greeted them, "Sorry everypony, I've just been flying a little slow today. I think the extra exercise from the past few days must be wearing me down a little," explained Dash as she walked over to examine what food items had been brought.

Dash's explanation was certainly a possibility. Although the more likely answer was the apparent extra twenty to thirty pounds that was on her body. The usually athletic Pegasus now had a bit of pudge on various parts of her body. Her mid-section had lost any definition of tone, and now formed a soft pouch that stuck out a couple of inches. There were slight bits of fat on other parts of her body too, however the majority of Dash's gain seemed to be centered towards the back of her body. Her back legs had thickened considerably. Meanwhile her plot had rounded out and was now soft enough that it jiggled slightly as she walked. Twilight found herself strangely enticed as she watched that blue flank bounce a little with each step.

She shook her head, "Keep it professional Twilight," she thought to herself. Staying professional was a key part to any experiment, but Twilight's interest was starting to turn much more private. She focused herself and carefully timed the casting of her spell, making sure that Dash was hit with a ravenous appetite just as she opened a basket full of snacks. Dash seemed to be in her own world as she devoured numerous cookies, cupcakes, and other assorted junk food. Meanwhile her other friends merely looked on in shock. It was impossible not to notice Dash's new eating habits, and Twilight was sure the others had probably noticed the extra weight on Rainbow as well.

A sudden smirk came over Pinkie Pie's face as she walked over behind Rainbow Dash, "Careful Rainbow, all that sugar might go right to your FLANK!" To emphasize the last word Pinkie Pie landed a mischievous smack on Dash's flank, causing it to shake on impact.

Rainbow Dash jumped in surprise before turning around and glaring at Pinkie, "Why you little, come over here!" Rainbow Dash began chasing Pinkie all around the picnic area. The two circled around quite a few times before the chase came to a stop. Dash was quite unsuccessful in catching Pinkie Pie, and soon collapsed on the grass and started panting for breath,"Ugh..I must be more worn out than I thought." Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie just giggled at having gotten away with her improvised prank.

A look of concern crossed Rarity's face as she approached the winded Pegasus laying on the ground,"Dahling. I hate to sound insensitive, but have you thought that the reason you're running out of breath might have something to do with a little bit of weight that you've gained recently?"

Rainbow Dash looked herself over as she stood back up, "Yeah,yeah, I've gotten just a little bit out of shape. It's no big deal though. A few pounds are nothing for a pony like me to shave off. Now, don't we have a picnic to get to?"

It was nearly a half hour later and the picnic was still in full swing. Most of the six ponies gathered were full at this point and were just relaxing, all except for Rainbow Dash. She was still scarfing her way through the tremendous amount of food that had been gathered. Applejack shook her head slightly as she sat down next to Twilight, "Ah tell ya Twi, if Rainbow keeps eating like this she'll be as big as a barn by the end of the month."

"I'm sure she'll be fine. Everypony packs on a little bit of extra weight at some point," Twilight responded casually. Although there was a bit of truth to Applejack's statement. In just a few days Dash had already gone from the lightest of her friends to the heaviest, not by much though. Rainbow looked only slightly heavier than Pinkie, who was the next largest of the six. Although if she continued growing at her current pace it wouldn't take long for her to far surpass all her friends in weight.

Twilight continued to cast her collection of weight gain spells on Rainbow Dash until all the baskets of food had been totally emptied. At that point she had lost any hope of tracking how many calories her friend must of consumed, and her train of thought was derailed as Rainbow Dash leaned back to reveal her rounded, overstuffed belly.

Fluttershy double checked all the baskets, seemingly finding it hard to believe that Rainbow would of managed to go through so much food. "Oh my, well...at-least we don't have to deal with any left-overs this time."

Pinkie Pie, in contrast to the others, seemed more impressed than shocked,"You're getting pretty good at this Dashie, you should try competing in some professional food eating contests. I bet you'd knock them out of the park!"

Rainbow Dash paused in thought, "I don't know, I think I've been eating a little too much lately. I'll sleep on it for awhile. Anyways, that was a great picnic everypony, but I have a few things in town I need to do."

With that Rainbow Dash stood up and began walking back to town. All Twilight found herself able to do was stare at Rainbow's jiggling plot and think about how it was only going to get bigger from here on out...

Author's Note

This is all that I've written so far. I plan to start work on Chapter 4 soon though.