"Hrrrrrngggh.... nnnnghh... gruuh!"
Dusk Shine gasped for air, his lavender face turned the same shade as an eggplant from the strain he'd been putting himself through, his mane damp with sweat. Gritting his teeth, he looked over his shoulder at the mirror in the corner of his room. What he saw caused his face to flush even deeper—not from strain this time, but from embarrassment.
About halfway up Dusk's meaty thighs sat a pair of white boxer shorts, the same ones which he had been struggling for the past five minutes to get all the way up his legs. Above them, hanging over the waistband at the bottom, sat a pair of huge, trembling, fat-laden glutes, way too large to fit in anything but the widest pants Elusive could make him... and even then, they stretched the fabric and bounced and wobbled like there was no tomorrow. His short-cut tail did next to nothing to cover it, either. Little dimples of cellulite appeared around where flesh met waistband, forming a series of divots on his cheeks.
Above Dusk's butt was a wide, fleshy back, with numerous rolls and folds forming little creases and valleys of fat all down between his thick neck and his plump, jiggling love handles. Although not visible in the mirror, if he'd turned around, he would have been able to see his well-fed, wobbling gut with its deep navel, his full, plump B-cup moobs, and the second chin nestled comfortably beneath his round, flabby face.
Dusk had never exactly been the kind of pony to put much stock in exercise. Back in Canterlot, that hadn't been too much of an issue. Sure, he rarely exercised due to being so wound up in his studies, but he tended to eat the bare minimum amount of food required to sustain himself for precisely the same reason. It was not uncommon for the nerdy bookworm to survive on one meal a day quite a lot of the time. As a result, Dusk had always been a skinny scrap of a stallion—thin enough for his ribs to show.
That, however, had changed once he moved to Ponyville. If there was one thing they did well in that town, other than being friendly and fighting off the odd monster attack, it was food. Between Bubble Berry's utterly delectable pastry treats or Applejack's hearty homestead-style cooking, Dusk had found himself enthralled. One meal a day soon became three, which soon became five or even six. His nonexistent exercise regimen, however, remained... well, nonexistent.
The inevitable result of this, of course, had been Dusk utterly ballooning in weight. At approximately 280 pounds, he was still some fifty or sixty pounds lighter than Butterscotch, the heftiest pony of them all, but he was still a total butterball in his own right. His magical prowess, fortunately, meant that his extra padding hadn't been too much of a struggle. He still felt pretty sheepish about it, however. Usually when he realised he couldn't see his feet... or get his pants on.
"Well," he muttered, shaking his boxers off and watching his ass bounce free, "looks like I'm going commando today. Note to self: get Elusive to make some larger underwear for me."
Sighing, he took a look at his gargantuan rear end in the mirror, watching as it bounced and wobbled. Even the slightest touch was enough to set it off trembling like so much Jello these days. He waddled over to his wardrobe, pulling out a huge pair of sweatpants and hooking them over his wide hips and ass. As the waistband snapped into place, his love handles almost immediately bulged over it in the form of a muffin top. Honestly, he didn't own any pair of pants that didn't produce a muffin top these days. Still, he could breathe in them, and that was all that mattered.
Next up was an enormous Canterlot U T-shirt. Custom fit for him, it was large enough to cover a five-year-old filly. In Dusk's case, it was also large enough to cover his torso enough that he wouldn't be arrested for public indecency. Thus, suitably attired, he opened the bedroom door to find Barb waiting for him with a tray containing a steaming mug of coffee.
"Nine a.m. on the dot," Dusk noted, smiling as he enveloped the mug in a magical aura. "I swear, Barb, I could set my watch by you."
"Hey, if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing right," Barb replied, puffing her chest proudly. "Expect no less from your number-one assistant, Dusk."
"Oh, I would never," Dusk replied, taking a sip of coffee. "Anything scheduled for today?"
"Let's see..." Barb produced a clipboard, which she examined critically. "You've got a taste testing at Sugarcube Corner at 11:30, lunch with Elusive at 12:30... what else... lunch with Butterscotch at 1:30, and a cider tasting at Sweet Apple Acres at three o'clock."
Dusk raised an eyebrow. Four engagements with his friends, all food-related. That was another thing... he couldn't shake the feeling that his friends had deliberately been fattening him up. Heck, the very first interaction he'd had with Applejack and his family had ended with him stuffed to the brim with pie. Dusk still remembered the smile Applejack had given him as he'd staggered away, clutching his distended abdomen and feeling like pie filling was going to start leaking out of his ears at any moment.
In the months and years since then, it seemed that his pals had wasted no opportunity to feed him when he was around them. With how good the food here was, he'd been powerless to turn down one of Bubble's cakes, or Applejack's pies, or even Elusive's dainty sandwiches. And the calories had just kept creeping up... and the more they crept up, the more food seemed to be on offer.
Of course, he was probably reading way too much into it. Most likely, they were just being hospitable. Still, though...
"Say, Barb," he said, biting his lip. "When you get the chance, fire off a letter to Elusive. Tell him I... need larger underwear."
Barb smirked. "Say no more, O Rotund One," she quipped, making a note of it.
"Watch it, you," he warned, but smiling as he gave her a playful clip around the head. As he did so, the sound of a doorbell chiming echoed through the castle halls.
"Huh? Who could that be?" he pondered, grunting as he squeezed out of the bedroom door. He made another mental note—get doors widened.
Dusk's belly bounced beneath his shirt as he waddled through the castle halls, puffing slightly as he went. The slaps of his bare feet on the crystal-tiled floors echoed off the walls. Reaching the front door, he turned the knob with a doughy hand.
Standing in the door frame with a smile on his face was Rainbow Blitz. His figure could not have been in starker contrast to Dusk's. Blitz was all lean muscle, with a toned six-pack showing beneath the white muscle shirt he was clad in. In his arms was a stack of three cardboard boxes.
"'Sup, Dusk?" he asked cheerily, reaching out and giving Dusk a loose handshake. "How's it going?"
"Going good, Blitz, thanks," Dusk said, smiling back. Blitz's demeanour had a manner of being contagious when you were around him. "What's with the boxes?"
"Oh, these?" Blitz asked, looking genuinely surprised to find that he was holding three boxes in his arms. "Yeah, Applejack asked me to give you these. Said it was to thank you for helping him out with getting rid of those raccoons in his grain silo."
Dusk shrugged. "All I did was cast a vermin-repelling barrier around the silo. I don't see how that's worthy of special thanks."
"Yeah well, you know AJ," Blitz said, smiling knowingly as he set the boxes down by his sandal-clad feet. "He's not one to let a good deed go unrewarded, no matter how small it is."
"That's true, I guess," Dusk nodded. "Alright, thanks, Blitz."
"Anytime, egghead," Blitz said, giving Dusk a cheeky salute before taking off with a flap of his powerful wings. Dusk waved him off, before picking up the boxes and taking them inside. Quite an enticing aroma was coming from them, he noted, his mouth watering slightly.
"Whatcha got there?" Barb inquired as he entered the living room, setting the boxes down on an end table.
"Present from Applejack," Dusk explained, opening up the boxes. "Said he wanted to thank me for..."
Dusk paused when he saw what was nestled within the boxes. Sure enough, his sense of smell hadn't betrayed him. Within one box was an apple pie, glistening with glaze, bits of apple filling oozing between cracks in the pastry. It looked positively fit to burst with flavour. In the second was a stack of apple fritters, looking just as appetising. And in the third...
"Oh, sweet Artemis in a moon bounce," Dusk breathed, drool running down his chins. "He... he actually made some apple fondue for me?"
Dusk's stomach growled, loudly. Barb giggled. "Oh yeah, he's definitely fattening you up, Dusk."
Dusk paid her no heed. He was already busy carving out a slice of pie with his magic, eyes wide with desire, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. Maybe Applejack and Bubble were trying to fatten him up, but... eating was just so good! He couldn't help himself!
A large slice was carved out, and then dipped in glistening fondue. Moaning softly, Dusk closed his eyes and took a deep sniff of the utterly intoxicating aroma of baked apple and pastry. Grinning, he flopped onto the couch, the springs creaking and jangling beneath his bulk, resting his feet on the coffee table before him.
Then, finally, he took a bite. The heady, rich flavours of apples, sugar and cinnamon flowed across his tongue, causing him to screw his eyes shut and moan with near-ecstasy as he chewed and swallowed. Another slice was dipped in fondue and devoured, chased by a couple of fritters. Dusk squeezed his thick legs together slightly. Merciful Solaris, he could actually feel himself reaching half-mast from the flavour alone!
More and more apple treats were devoured, tumbling down Dusk's throat and into his welcoming belly. He stuffed his face with two fritters, wiggling his porky toes in pleasure as crumbs fell onto his chest, coating his T-shirt in a light dusting of crumbs. As he ate, Barb stepped silently forward and brushed the crumbs off with a claw, shaking her head at the spectacle.
"Try not to leave too much for me to vacuum, would you, Dusk?" she asked, a tinge of acid in her voice.
"'orry," Dusk apologised through a full mouth, flushing slightly. Barb stood back and watched as he swallowed mouthful after mouthful of exquisite, calorie-laden treats.
Eventually, Dusk reached over for yet more food, only to discover that there was none there. He blinked a couple of times, blushing deeply as he realised what had happened.
"Oh Solaris," he groaned. "I pigged out again, didn't I? In front of..."
"In front of me," Barb finished, grinning. "Hey, don't worry on my account. I'm just glad to see you enjoying your morning without being a tangled bunch of nerves for a change."
Dusk chuckled, his chins and belly shaking. "That's true, I guess." He placed a hand to his mouth, suppressing an apple-flavoured belch. "Oh man... what time is it?"
"Quarter to ten," Barb replied. "Just under two hours until your taste testing with Bubble. You think you're up for that?"
Dusk's mind wandered to Bubble's baking prowess. He had promised to help with tasting those new doughnuts... and Bubble's doughnuts never disappointed.
He smiled. "I think I'll make room somehow."
END