Of all the hangouts in the city of Los Pegasus, few are as popular with either the tourists or the locals as Veneighce Beach. A beautiful stretch of sand lined by the promenade on one side and the glittering South Luna Ocean on the other, watched over by the famous Santa Maneica Pier with its huge Ferris wheel and amusement park, the beach seems miles away from the commotion and noise of downtown Los Pegasus. It is a place where everypony goes to kick back and relax after a long week of hard work, and this Saturday was no different.
Everypony, from blue-collar labourers to white-collar office drones, was down on the beach taking full advantage of a sweltering ninety-five degree afternoon, Celestia's sun radiating heat from a clear, denim-blue sky. Sounds of shouting and laughter could be heard from the surf as children and parents played, while others lay sunbathing on the sand or chatting with friends and colleagues at one of the many cafes or food stands that lined the promenade, accompanied by the bleeping of arcade machines. Thanks in part to LP's liberal atmosphere, quite a few of the mares had opted to go topless, which had lured a great many adolescent colts away from their video games and computers. The only hint of trouble was on the street beyond the promenade, where next to a black and white cruiser, an LPPD officer ignored the protests of a young stallion as he wrote out a speeding ticket. It was a quintessential Los Pegasus scene, the kind one sees on a postcard.
In the crowded parking lot next to the pier, a large red pickup truck sat facing the ocean, while the driver sat inside talking into a cellphone. Button Mash, programmer at Cyclone Gaming, was on the phone to Dawn Dreamer from QA—and things were not going too well.
"Dawn, I don't know what else to tell you," Button sighed, placing a hand on his forehead as he closed his eyes. "We're trying to hit a solid sixty frames per second with Demon's Destiny, but it just keeps tanking down to single digits whenever combat comes up. If I knew what was causing it, I'd tell you, but I don't. Nopony does, and we probably won't know until next week."
"But what are we supposed to say in the press release?" Dawn replied edgily. "We're supposed to enter beta testing by August, for Celestia's sake! This is the sort of thing you devs should have cleared up in alpha!"
Button gritted his teeth. That was so damn typical of QA. They always saw the developers as some kind of omnipotent miracle workers, and either couldn't or wouldn't understand that bugs just slipped through the cracks sometimes... "Dawn, we're as eager to clear this up as you are, believe me. Look, I can put in overtime at the office when I go back on Monday, and I'll see if I can sort it out, okay?"
"You'd better, Button," Dawn said darkly. "Because if we end up shipping a buggy product, it'll be both our heads on the chopping block."
"Duly noted," Button said, snorting. "Look, just relax for now, okay? I'll talk to you Monday."
Button hung up and sighed, placing both hands on the steering wheel as he gazed out at the sparkling blue ocean. So much for getting away from work for a while. At least Dawn hadn't called him in a panic at four in the morning, like she had the week before. Contrary to what she'd said, Button wasn't worried about getting fired. Dawn was a notorious drama queen, always shrieking about everything from long loading times to unstable online servers. None of them, as she'd often claimed they would, had spelled death for the company yet.
Button forced himself to push Dawn and work from his mind. Right now, it was Saturday afternoon, and he intended to enjoy the weekend relaxation he'd worked hard to earn.
The door of the truck opened, and Button squeezed his 270-pound frame out of the vehicle. He'd only bought the truck about a week ago, but had already begun to see it as his baby.
"A big truck for a big stallion," he said to himself, chuckling.
Button certainly was a big stallion—the salary he earned as a game developer allowed him to keep himself very well-fed indeed. He'd opted to go shirtless for this particular day, meaning that his wobbling belly, B-cup moobs and flabby rolls and folds were on full, bouncy, jiggly display. He paused for a moment to adjust the waistband of his brown floral-pattern shorts, stretched almost painfully tight over his huge butt, a pair of thick love handles bulging over either side. He then set off for the promenade, the flip-flops on his pudgy feet making a plack sound with every step.
As Button trundled along, his belly bounced ponderously in time to his slightly lumbering steps, almost like his gut and his legs were dancing to the same internal beat. Button whistled tunelessly as he happily and aimlessly wandered down the promenade, enjoying the feeling of the sunlight soaking into his fur. He could almost imagine it being bleached white if he spent too long in the sun. And it certainly didn't hurt that there were a lot of pretty young topless mares around, their ample chests and wide hips on full and proud display.
Walking in that sort of heat quickly built up a thirst, and Button started looking for a source of refreshment. All the drinks stands which stood at intervals along the promenade seemed quite crowded, but he eventually found a vending machine that dispensed sodas. Licking his lips, he fed some money into the machine and pulled out a can, relishing how deliciously cold it felt as the moisture on the can dampened the fur on his hands, before pulling the tab and watching the fizzy goodness inside froth out.
As he turned around, however, he found himself distracted by one mare in particular—a smoking hot pegasus who looked to be in her early twenties, her body as slim and lithe as a fashion model's. To top it off, she was topless, her D-cups bouncing hypnotically as she walked and chatted with two hangers-on. Button swallowed as he felt his "joystick" stir to attention at the sight, and tried to get as good a look as he could without openly staring.
In his distracted state, he found himself accidentally walking straight into something hard. With a yelp, Button fell flat on his ass, his gut sloshing up towards his face and his moobs bouncing as the soda can fell from his grasp and bounced off along the hot pavement, spraying cola as it went, until it was picked up by a very pleased-looking dog.
Button felt his cheeks flush a deep red as he heard giggling come from the mare and her friends, who had seen the whole thing. Great. Just great. Fatty makes a fool of himself...
"Oh man, sorry about that!" came a voice from above him, as a grey hand reached down to help him up.
"Eh, my fault," Button replied, taking hold of the stranger's hand as he shook his head to try and clear the stars from his vision. To his surprise, whoever his good Samaritan was had no trouble lifting his bulky frame off the ground.
Button dusted himself off, before smiling at the stranger. "Hey, thanks for..."
His eyes widened as he saw just why the guy hadn't struggled to lift him up. He hadn't walked into something... he'd walked into somepony.
Standing before him was a muscular grey unicorn stallion. No... no, "muscular" didn't cut it. This guy was ripped. Button realised that the thing he'd run into was the guy's rock-hard six-pack abs. Above those, a pair of tightly sculpted pecs bulged out, looking like they alone could crush a pony's skull with enough flexing. And his arms... sweet Celestia, they were massive! Huge biceps bulged out almost obscenely, surging into mountains of muscle at even the slightest flex, with veins and tendons sticking out alongside them. Down below was a pair of thick, corded legs, bulging with muscle and sinew wherever you looked. On top of that, the guy was easily six foot three, compared to Button's height of five foot ten. And rather than a pair of baggy shorts or swimming trunks, he was wearing a Speedo. A bucking Speedo, of all things! Despite his size, Button suddenly felt very small as he looked at this hulking slab of muscle.
The stallion blinked, looking concerned as Button gawked at him. "You okay? You didn't hit your head, did you?"
"Um... n-no, no," Button mumbled, trying desperately not to stare. "I'm just a little shocked, is all. I, um..."
"Muscles caught you by surprise, huh?" the stallion grinned, flexing his arm slightly, causing his bicep to surge outwards, rippling with raw physical strength. Behind them, two other mares were staring openly, along with a stallion. All three of them seemed to really enjoy what they saw.
"How did you know?" Button asked, before blushing. "Um, not that I was, you know..."
"Let's just say you're not the first pony I've taken by surprise with my body," the stallion chuckled. He extended a hand for Button to shake. "Name's Shooting Star."
"Button Mash," Button replied, wincing as he felt the stallion's vice-like grip. "What brings you around here, Shooting Star?"
"Just call me Star," Star smiled. "I just finished up a workout, was going to get something to drink. Say, you wanna join me? Least I can do is buy you another soda."
"Ah..." Button blinked, then smiled back. "Sure, why not?"
And thus was how Button found himself sitting outside the popular Playa Cafe with Shooting Star, two empty drinks before them. Button had had a large soda, while Star had an energy drink. Button was feeling very self-conscious as he felt his butt bulge over the sides of his chair. It was hard not to, when he saw how perfectly sculpted Star's own ass was—two firm, round glutes that had come straight out of a Mr. Equestria contest. Button decided to ease the tension by striking up a conversation.
"So..." Button asked. "Where are you from, Star?"
"Anahaym," Star replied. "You?"
"San Ferneighndo Valley." Even as he said it, Button felt himself swell slightly with pride. It was well known that living in the Valley meant you had really made it in life.
"San Ferneighndo?" Star whistled. "Woo, high roller! So what are you, a banker or something?"
"No!" Button laughed. "Celestia, no. I'm a developer at Cyclone Gaming in Spurbank. What about you?"
"Me? I just got out of prison," Star replied casually.
Button almost choked. Oh sweet Celestia, what had he done? From the size of Star, he could have been the kind of pony who'd break your legs if you...
Then he realised that Star was doubled over laughing, pounding the table with the flat of his hand. "Oh man, the look on your face! Priceless!"
"Wh-what?" Button stammered.
Star took a moment to compose himself, before smiling warmly at Button. "Nah, don't worry. I work at San Palomino Detention Facility. You know, San Pal? I'm the head doctor there."
"Oh!" Button said, relief flooding over him as he began to laugh himself, his belly wobbling with mirth. "Oh, okay... wait, a doctor?"
"Yep," Star replied.
"Oh. Um... no offence, but you don't exactly have the build I'd expect from a doctor," Button noted.
"Yeah, I know," Star nodded. "I'm a self-confessed fitness nut, but there's brains as well as brawn. Brains runs in the Sparkle family, you know."
Button gasped. "Sparkle? As in, Princess Twilight?"
Star smiled proudly. "My cousin. It's not something I like to make a big deal of, though, so don't go shouting it around."
"Ah... I won't, don't worry."
"Is something wrong, Button?" Star asked, frowning slightly. "You're acting kind of edgy."
"No!" Button grinned, before sighing. "Well... yeah. I mean, um... how can I put this..." He groaned. "I mean, look at you, the picture of physical fitness, and then you've got me..." He patted his belly and smiled. "It's hard not to feel a little jealous."
"Hmm..." Star paused, before smiling back. "Hey, don't let that get you down, okay? There's one rule I've learned you need to follow if you want to be happy in life—love yourself first, and screw anypony else."
"But you're so ripped!" Button protested. "Surely that's something you do to-"
"Impress others?" Star finished, snorting. "No, Button. I look the way I do because I love exercise and sports. As far as I'm concerned, that's all the justification I need. I don't need to explain myself to anypony, and you shouldn't, either."
"Wow..." Button smiled. "You're not just smart, you're wise, too."
Star chuckled. "Another Sparkle family trait, I suppose. You know, Button, you seem like the kind of guy I'd really like to get to know better. As a friend."
"Really?" Button said, feeling touched. It wasn't that he didn't have any friends, but somepony saying that to him did all the right things for his self-esteem.
"Sure. Here, let me give you my number." Star scribbled down a number on the back of their receipt, before handing it to Button. "I'll be doing some cardio at the beach gym next Sunday, and I could do with a spotter. You wanna meet up then?"
"Um... sure, that sounds great," Button smiled. "Maybe we could meet up for a drink some time."
"I'd like that," Star said, slapping Button on the shoulder. "See you then."
As he walked back to his truck, Button felt very happy indeed. Not only had he gotten some life lessons, he'd made a new friend, too. Star seemed like a real stand-up guy, and meeting him had put Button in high spirits. As he clambered into his truck, he felt like all was right with the world.
He'd just put his seat belt on when he felt his phone vibrate. He picked it up and looked at the display.
Dawn Dreamer Calling
Button groaned. "Crap."
END
