A study of cartoon physics

Cirrus tightened his scarf with a grunt and resumed trotting in place in front of the door, his breath clouding his vision in the freezing winter air. Hurry up, he grumbled silently, snow-white hooves gently clip-clopping on the stone porch. At long last, the door swang open with a gust of warmth, and the stallion was hurriedly ushered inside.

“Hey!” Pepper bumped her snout gently against his, recoiling from the touch of his chilled fur. “I won’t keep you, I know you gotta go. Stay right there!” Not allowing so much as a word of response, she darted off into an adjoining room. Cirrus tapped a hoof on the floor impatiently, noticing after a moment the way his hooves sank into the plush carpet. Glancing downwards, he grinned at the sight of a small, light-green rug set neatly before the door; locks of a white, lime green and blue mane curled over the edges, and the word “Welcome” was scrawled across ~~him~~ it in black ink. The pegasus made sure to wipe his hooves (as any polite guest should) before stepping forward onto the wood floor.

“What’s going on, Pepper?” Cirrus called, and after a moment, the mare peered around the corner at him.

“I knew you had a performance tonight, so I made you a special little dinner to-go!” She chirped.

“Oh.” Cirrus blinked, his lips curling into a little smile. That had been awfully thoughtful of her. “Well, I did eat about an hour ago, but I guess I’m still kinda hungry. I didn’t have time for anything fancy.” He tilted his head, tail swishing gently behind him. “What’d you make?”

Pepper disappeared once again, and after a few seconds of silence, she stumbled back into the room on her hind legs, carrying… something really big. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a burrito – one that was at least as large as his torso. Cirrus wondered momentarily if it was simply a very realistic body pillow, but the strong, spicy scent quickly dismissed that thought. His eyes flickered between the burrito and the eager smile plastered across his friend's muzzle, marred only slightly by the obvious strain of lifting what had to be at least sixty pounds of food.

“Uhm.” He opened and closed his mouth a few times, wings fluttering nervously at his sides. “Th-thank you, Pepper, it… it looks delicious.” Pepper’s smile widened, and she waddled closer, hefting the wrap over a shoulder to point it at him. “What’s in–”

His question was abruptly cut off as she strode forward and thrust the front end of the burrito into his face. The tightly-wrapped tortilla proved to be quite tough, slowly prying his jaws apart as Pepper jiggled the other end up and down like a screwdriver. His mouth stretched wide, wide open, beginning to ache as the meal finally slipped inside. The floury tortilla slid over his tongue, sapping the moisture from his mouth as Pepper guided/crammed it into his throat.

The stallion tried to relax his jaws and allowed his teeth to sink into the thick wrapping, and a flavorful, soupy mixture seeped through, washing over his tongue and running down his throat, further aiding the burrito in its descent. Pepper’s voice rang in his ears then, his view of her blocked by the tower of food protruding from his muzzle.

“…in it? Oh, y’know, the usual burrito fare: some beans, broccoli, plenty of cabbage for those vitamins, a few dozen more pounds of beans, a tub of sour cream, and a gallon or three of melted sharp cheddar – your favorite cheese, if I remember correctly.” There was a note of pride in her voice, and she braced herself against the back of the burrito, pushing with heightened vigor. Cirrus cringed, already regretting the havoc this ridiculous combination of ingredients would no doubt wreak on his digestive system.

After a minute or so of choking, gasping, and a slowly-mounting tummyache, Cirrus found his weight nearly doubled, his stomach churning and gurgling like mad as it worked over the sudden overload of food. The stallion rubbed his jaw and moaned, falling back onto his haunches with an unusually heavy whump.

“So? Did you like it?” Pepper leaned in close, her eager eyes dancing with no lack of amusement.

“It–” He coughed, smacking his lips with a grimace. “It wasn’t bad…” He leaned back and cradled his gut, wincing as a particularly noisy squelch met his ears. “I’m not sure it’ll agree with me so well, though…” He prodded his distended belly, prompting another loud gurgle as the contents shifted. Was it bigger than it had been a moment ago? No, he was probably just imagining it.

*BWURRRP*

The sudden release of air caught him off-guard, and Cirrus flinched, his face feeling uncomfortably warm. “’Scuse me,” he muttered. It took him a moment to realize there was no one nearby to hear him, and he glanced around the room curiously, rising to his hooves. A tremor of unease raced along his spine as he felt the fur of his belly gently brushing the cool wooden floor. “Pepper?”

“Right here!” Pepper bounded into the room, delighted little smile ever-present. One of her wings was curled tightly against her side, clutching an odd grey object he couldn’t quite identify. “I heard that, by the way~” she sang, sending another wave of warmth over the stallion’s cheeks.

“Yeah, ye–” *hurp* A hoof shot up to cover his mouth, and he had to swallow another belch that was following close behind. He glared down at his midriff with disdain, receiving only a strangled groan in response. No, it was most definitely more bloated than it had been a moment ago; in fact, it seemed as though it was slowly swelling outwards before his very eyes, accompanied by a steadily-mounting pressure deep in his lower abdomen. “Ugh… Pepper, you know full well that those foods are volatile and extremmEEP!”

Cirrus’s voice rose into a squeak as there was a sudden and powerful jab below his tail, and the tip of a large, cone-shaped rubber plug slipped into his rear; he could swear he heard a sound not unlike that of a champagne bottle being corked up.

“Of course I do! But I came prepared.” Pepper patted the stallion’s flank and walked around in front of him, dragging a blue feather over his belly as she passed. “We can’t have you all gassy on stage, can we? That’d be pretty embarrassing.” Cirrus’s scalding blush went ignored as he felt a renewed pressure rising in his throat, and his mouth was forced open by yet another burp, only for it to be stifled by a light blue and white hoof. “Ah-ah,” Pepper chided, waggling her other forehoof from side to side, “none from this end, either!”

“Mmp!” The stallion whimpered into her hoof, and Pepper withdrew her foreleg from his lips.

“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t get you anything to drink.” Pepper turned and once again left Cirrus alone in the room, and he took in a strained breath. Wriggling in discomfort, he felt a surge of alarm as he felt his haunches roll from side to side. He craned his neck to peek behind him, and his ears flattened against the sides of his head as he took in the state of his formerly lithe body.

His backside was starting to rise into the air, lifted by his ever-growing belly. He kicked his rear hooves, finding them no longer quite able to reach the floor, and winced as they thumped gently against his bloated tummy. He exhaled sharply. His stomach felt like an overinflated beach ball, his intestines like a balloon animal. And were his forelegs always so thick?

A loud hiss startled him from his thoughts, and he turned his head forward again to find an open bottle right under his nose. Pepper pressed the bottle to his lips and tipped it, sending a deluge of soda into his mouth. The stallion took quick, powerful gulps, racing to keep up with the steady stream of liquid – a plain diet cola, he idly noted. Not exactly the tastiest beverage, but not bad for washing down a rich meal; it was sweet and plenty fizzy.

After nearly a minute of guzzling it down, the bottle withdrew from his lips with a tug and a pop, and before he could even think to open his mouth, there was already a pair of hooves clamping it shut. The soda bubbled and fizzed noisily, and his cheeks bulged as the gas surged up into his throat, but the vice-grip on his muzzle allowed none to escape. With a pained swallow, he sent the air back down into his stomach, and Pepper released her grip, falling down onto all fours.

“There, better?” She asked, shouldering the empty bottle – it was nearly as big as she was! Did they even make bottles in that size? He shook his head, trying not to estimate how many gallons of soda had just been dumped into him, and especially trying to ignore the restless churning in his ballooning stomach.

“N-not real–” *hic* His skin felt taut and stiff, not only around his midsection, but… everywhere. His back, rump, and chest felt tight as they, too, began to expand outwards. For the first time he could remember, his thighs brushed together, and despite spreading his legs as wide as possible, he was soon unable to separate them. Even his wings had begun to swell up, and motion was becoming increasingly difficult as his limbs were slowly swallowed up by his rapidly growing torso. He scrabbled his hooves for purchase – none of them could quite reach the floor anymore.

Pepper pulled away, scrunching her muzzle up and waving a hoof in front of her face. “Hoo, your breath!” She trotted over to a desk against the far wall and rooted through one of the drawers for a moment, returning quickly with a package of mint candies. “Do us all a favor and have some of these.” Yanking his mouth open like a mailbox, she dumped the entirety of the bag inside and re-closed his jaw with a click. Cirrus sucked on the mints for a few seconds until their harsh flavor began to make his eyes water and quickly gulped them down.

As soon as the wad of candy dropped into his stomach, a loud whoosh emanated from within, and he could feel a strange vibration in his belly as his stomach rumbled and fizzed furiously. A warning look from Pepper was enough to make him swallow the belch that threatened to escape, and he moaned quietly as the pressure throughout his body continued to build in intensity.

“Oh!” Pepper’s voice cut through the haze of discomfort clouding his mind, and he blinked at her. “You’re gonna be late!”

Late? Oh right, the concert! Vinyl would be expecting him… a few minutes ago. His eyes flicked downwards to gaze despairingly at his now next-to-useless body. He could barely wiggle his hooves, his swollen legs almost completely immobilized by his blimp of a torso. His belly was massive, squeaking like a balloon with any attempt he made to move, and he could feel the telltale groaning and churning deep within as his meal continued to digest. His back had expanded in kind, rounding out his body into a shape resembling a sphere.

Pepper took advantage of this, placing her hooves against her friend’s fluffy chest and rolling him towards the front door. “Better hurry along!” Cirrus felt a wave of nausea as the contents of his stomach sloshed around, the angry hissing of the soda never ceasing. He was far wider than the doorframe by now, and Pepper braced herself against his gut, ramming her shoulder into it several times before the poor balloon of a pony finally slipped through. She wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead and waved into the near-darkness at the retreating white sphere. “Have fun now!”

Being rolled a few feet to the door had been nothing in retrospect; Cirrus’s head spun as he tumbled down the short flight of steps leading up to Pepper’s front porch, his earlier meal being tossed about within his stomach. He eventually came to a stop in the front yard, his balloony body barely making a dent in the snow. The fizzing and gurgling in his gut was deafening, agitated by his bumpy descent down the stairs. He lay there, wondering what was to come next, as his body continued to bloat further and faster. The pressure in his abdomen was unbearable; he couldn’t decide what was worse – the carbonation trapped in his stomach due to the soda, or the seemingly immense volume of gas filling his intestines as a result of his friend's fiendishly-constructed burrito.

It was getting hard to see, both due to the darkness of late evening and to how his neck had been completely engulfed by his expanding midsection. He could no longer so much as wiggle the stumps that had once been his hooves, completely immobilized by his own tightly-stretched body. His flanks were each nearly as big as he had been a mere half an hour ago, trotting up the steps to Pepper’s house, and his cutie marks were horribly warped over the curve of his ballooned butt. He couldn’t even feel his wings now, the appendages most likely hidden entirely within his blimped-up torso. Yet the storm in his gut raged on, his body continued to swell, and his skin grew more and more taut by the second. An image materialized in his mind of a bright red balloon, growing and growing and growing until–

The pegasus flinched and hurriedly opened his mouth, trying to coax a burp out of his stomach to grant him some momentary relief, but none came. Every part of him felt far beyond full. He flailed with all his strength, only succeeding in rocking gently from side to side and tiring himself further. He panted with exhaustion; even breathing had become a struggle, and it soon became impossible to open his mouth, his chin digging into his enlarged chest. His cheeks quickly filled as well, his lips puckered in a futile attempt to expel some of the air.

Throughout it all, his gut never relented, continually churning and bubbling as it worked down the partly-digested food, all the while fueling the helpless pony’s gaseous expansion.

Cirrus whimpered through his nose, screwing his eyes shut in anticipation before they, too, bulged outward in opposite directions, the pony’s vision going out of focus. His head felt fuzzy… All he could really do at this point was wait.

Pepper frowned, pressing a fuzzy blue ear even harder against the front door. It was awfully silent out there… Awfully, disappointingly silent.

Just as she was reaching for the doorknob, a muffled, high-pitched squealing pierced through the quiet, and her ears perked up.

*PAF*

The mare’s face split into a wide grin, and she bounced over to the window to peer into the front yard. A dusting of white confetti was scattered across the yard, nearly indistinguishable from the fallen snow underneath. A cloud of bright white feathers drifted slowly to the ground, swirling around in the slight breeze, and a still-knotted purple scarf rested near the edge of the yard, slung carelessly onto the surrounding fence.

Pepper turned away from the scene and pranced back into the kitchen. “I’d better call Vinyl and let her know he’ll have to reschedule.” He’ll probably need to take a vacation until the snow melts, she added to herself with a giggle.