Author's Note

This is the first chapter out of three. It was fun to write, and I hope everyone likes it.

The next chapters are alternate endings to this one, be warned.

Wishes

When Sweetie Belle woke up, she scrambled to her hooves and started her day. It was Saturday, and more importantly it was her birthday. As Sweetie went through her morning routine, she couldn’t help but feel herself grow more and more excited.

There was going to be a party later today, but until then Sweetie had the day to herself. Which was exciting and good, because Sweetie had been looking forward to this day for weeks.

All because of the stupid nutrition month at school. For three weeks, it had been nothing but healthy foods and demonizing anything remotely tasty. Rarity had heard what was going on, and had listened to Cheerilee’s instructions. No breaks, nothing. Nothing but healthy things for three weeks, and it was driving Sweetie nuts.

Today would be different, because it was her birthday and birthdays meant cake, candy, sweets, and all other forms of junk food. Sweetie finished brushing her mane, while using her magic to groom her coat. She’d lost weight from the diet, which Rarity was complimenting her on. Sweetie wasn’t sure how to feel about it, not really caring so long as she felt healthy.

Sweetie wasn’t sure why being thin was so popular, if she were being honest. There were all sorts of ponies in Ponyville with all kinds of body types. Why did it matter if you were thinner? Thin didn’t automatically mean healthy. Diamond Tiara was thin, but she wasn’t as active as Applebloom who was heavier. The whole thing didn’t make much sense, and Sweetie was getting sick of it.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity called from downstairs, breaking Sweetie’s thoughts, “Breakfast!”

Sweetie, smiling wildly, ran downstairs to start her day. She could smell something sweet and delicious downstairs, and her imagination was running wild with all the food she hadn’t had since Cheerilee started the nutrition unit. All Sweetie could hope for was a day packed full of treats, fun, and friends..

Several hours had passed since Sweetie had gotten out of bed. She’d eaten a large pancake breakfast, smothering everything in butter and syrup and whipped cream. Then Rarity had let her open a few smaller presents before they went around to Sugarcube Corner for Sweetie’s birthday party.

Most ponies had been invited. Adults and children alike. They’d played games, opened presents, had an amazing lunch. Now, it was drawing to a close with what Sweetie had been dreaming about for weeks: the cake.

Sweetie looked around at Sugarcube corner, smiling at her friends and family. The cake was the pièce de résistance of any birthday party, and Sweetie’s was no exception. The lights dimmed, and Sweetie fidgeted in her seat as Pinkie came out from the back, singing happily. The crowd joined in, and the cake slid in front of Sweetie.

Sweetie’s birthday had been amazing. Sweet, savoury foods like she hadn’t had in weeks. Sweetie’s teeth and head buzzed from the sugar but it was totally worth it. She’d gorged herself all day, not sure when she would get her next chance to indulge.

The cake was huge, four tiered. Sweetie needed to stand on the chair to reach the candle, she paused, mouth watering at the sight. It was covered in sugar flowers and intricate designs. No doubt Rarity’s influence.

“Make a wish!” Pinkie beamed, clearly as excited as Sweetie was.

Sweetie inhaled a huge breath, thinking. I wish we could all eat junk food like this every day, no more healthy food! Sweetie blew, extinguishing all the candles in one go. People cheered, and Pinkie started cutting the cake.

Sweetie dug into the hefty slice of cake, part of her aching for the deliciousness to end. After such a day of treats, then the promised dinner back home, Sweetie didn’t want to be stuck eating salad until the next birthday.

The next morning, Sweetie awoke to a smell she hadn’t smelled since before Cheerilee started the nutrition unit. Sweetie ran downstairs, confused and excited. Her stomach was growling, and she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing.

Rarity had made breakfast, and not the healthy breakfasts she’d been making. Gone was the healthy cereal and toast. Chocolate chip pancakes decorated the table, accompanied by all sorts of sauces, whipped cream, and some fruit. Greasy hashbrowns accompanied the pancakes. Sweetie sat down, and Rarity piled her plate high with food, just how Sweetie liked.

Sweetie was puzzled, but didn’t want to question. After all, if Rarity made it then it was fine, right? As Sweetie ate, she realized Rarity seemed to be eating a lot of breakfast too, so much so that between the two of them they cleared the table.

“Go get finished getting for school, Sweetie,” Rarity smiled, licking her lips, “I need to clean up here.”

Sweetie nodded, waddling back upstairs slowly because of her overfull stomach. She got ready for her day, then came back downstairs. Rarity had her lunch pail packed and ready, so all Sweetie had to do was get it on her way out the door.

Walking to school, slower than usual because she was still overfull, Sweetie started to realize something. It was early, and ponies were milling around. Not too weird, since ponies had things to do. What was odd was what they were eating. And how much. Most seemed to be eating pastries an sugary treats.

Sweetie mentally shrugged. A new store could have opened up, or perhaps everypony was getting sick and tired of the healthy foods like she was. After a while, Sweetie eventually made it to school.

Entering the building, Sweetie was struck with another difference. The food pyramid was gone, replaced by something familiar yet utterly alien. It was choc full of unhealthy foods, like chocolate and popcorn and sugary cereals. Where the day before it had been full of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

Sweetie got to her desk, and couldn’t help but stare at it. She remembered her birthday wish, and had a sudden inkling that maybe it had worked. It would explain this...oddness around food, at any rate.

Sweetie shook her head. Of course the birthday wish didn’t work. They never did, it was just a superstition, right?

By the end of the school day, Sweetie had figured out that her birthday wish had to have worked. There was no explanation for ‘Junk Food Education’, nor was there explanation for all the junk food they’d eaten in class.

Sweetie didn’t mind, she was ecstatic. No more rabbit food, no more tasteless meals. Sweetie was in heaven, and she hoped this never ended. Making her way home, she wondered what delights Rarity would have for her.

One Month Later…

Sweetie couldn’t believe what was happening. In the month since her birthday, nopony seemed to notice or care that they were eating nothing but junk food. Nopony cared that they were putting on weight.

Even the Apples didn’t mind they had to bake all of their apples into delicious treats just to get them to sell. Pies, fritters, and so much more left their farm by the week it was almost a miracle that Sugarcube Corner was still in business. Which it was, and was very popular. Everypony wanted to eat everything they could get their hands on, and they all seemed so happy to do it.

Cheerilee had continued Junk Food Education, and it was everypony’s favourite class. It wasn’t really even a class, if Sweetie was being honest with herself. It was just an excuse to eat as much free treats they could, while under Cheerilee’s supervision.

It was weird, but Sweetie liked it. Ponies were happy, even if they were putting on weight. Even she wasn’t immune, she’d noticed. All the weight she’d lost while ‘proper nutrition’ was still going on was put back, plus some. She jiggled and wiggled when she walked, and now sported a double chin.

Heck, most of Ponyville was the same. Nopony had escaped the weight gain, not even Rainbow Dash or Applejack. There was some fluctuation obviously. Ponies who were more busy and active hadn’t gained as much, but ponies like Cheerilee and Mrs. Cake had put on a lot more weight than Sweetie would have thought possible in just one month.

No matter. Ponies were content, and so was Sweetie. That was what mattered right? Everypony was happy, and everything was tasty, and life continued.

As Sweetie got ready for yet another day of school, she couldn’t help but wonder what life would be like in the near future.

8 Months Later...

Sweetie Belle woke to the sounds and smells of something frying downstairs in the kitchen. Smiling widely, Sweetie didn’t even notice the difficulty she had trying to roll out of bed. It took her near twenty minutes to put her hooves on the floor, and when she did she was coated in sweat and panting for breath.

The slim filly of 9 months previous was long gone, buried under what had to amount to several hundred pounds of excess fat that was really starting to make moving around difficult. A third chin had joined her second, and a fourth was on its way. Her entire body had swollen with so much fat that she bore a collection of rolls and folds that threatened to break her school bag with a wrong move. A sagging belly hung well past her knees, and made walking a chore. Her thick hindquarters hung over her hocks, stretching out her cutie mark so much it was difficult to tell what it once was. All of Sweetie’s body hung and bulged out, succumbing to gravity and the constant barrage of calories she subjected her body to.

Wheezing, Sweetie waddled her way downstairs, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. She was greeted by the same sight that had awaited her for the last month: Rarity laying out in the main room of the boutique, completely immobilized by her own girth.

Rarity, and a lot of the wealthier unicorns in town, had packed on pounds a lot easier than the others. Mostly because they didn’t need to move to meet their daily needs. Rarity, even, used her magic to sew new ensembles for ponies and didn’t need to wiggle a hoof. The lack of exercise had made itself abundantly clear in Rarity’s case, as she’d eaten more than Sweetie had ever seen her older sister eat.

Rarity took up a large portion of the floor, her stomach, hindquarters, and drooping fat rolls spread across the floor. Rarity was lost amidst her own sea of fat. Her limbs were gone, more like pillows strapped to her sides than actual, useful limbs. Rarity was a blob. A fat blob that seemed to take up more and more of the room she was in with every day that passed.

Rarity smiled at Sweetie’s entrance, her chins and jowls squishing together, “Good morning! Chocolate waffles on the table.”

“Thanks!” Sweetie chirped, moving to the kitchen to find a wonderfully fattening breakfast awaiting her. Chocolate waffles, hashbrowns, and fried eggs. It was lovely, and delicious, and Sweetie took no time in eating it.

She grabbed her lunch from the fridge, then left for school. It was a long, agonizing walk. The walk to and from school being the extent of her exercise. It was for most of the other children as well, at least those who could still walk.

Panting for breath, and wheezing as she went, Sweetie couldn’t help but watch as the ponies of Ponyville went about their day. They were varying sizes. Generally, pegasus ponies were lighter by virtue of needing to fly. Unicorns were heaviest, and earth ponies fluctuated wildly. It depended on lots of factors, mostly wealth.

There was another eating contest being held in town square, Sweetie noted. Applejack and Rainbow were competing and seemed to be tied for how many cakes they could eat.

Rainbow was one of the heavier pegasus’ around, mostly because of her competitive nature. She was on the edge of immobility, her wings useless and covered in so much fat that Sweetie wasn’t sure she could open them anymore. Rainbow’s body wasn’t as covered in rolls as Rarity’s was. The fat had distributed mostly evenly, and so she had huge sacks of fat rather than multiple little rolls. She was on her third chin already, and Sweetie could be sure a fourth would be coming soon if the current trend of eating contests continued.

Applejack was a little smaller than Rainbow. Her stomach was legendary though, because she’d always eaten a lot even before this. Mostly she was still mobile through sheer stubbornness and hard work, refusing to let her bulky proportions get in the way. She’d gained mostly in her hindquarters, hind legs, and stomach. This left her chubby front legs to shove food more easily into her gaping maw, unlike Rainbow who simply shoved her face into the cakes in order to devour them.

Sweetie moved on, catching sight of Diamond TIara’s house as Sweetie waddled by. The curtains were open on the front window, allowing Sweetie to peek in as she laboriously made her way forward. Both Mr. and Mrs. Rich were immobile, trapped in place by their gargantuan bodies. Sweetie could see servants tending to them, feeding Mrs. Rich pastries of some sort.

Sweetie Belle’s stomach, though still full from breakfast, growled at the thought of more food. Her mouth watered, and she used her magic to fish out one of her snacks from her bulging saddlebags. Chewing happily at the candy bar, Sweetie finally made it to the school.

She had to angle her hips through the doorway to fit. Even then it was still a tight squeeze. The seams on her bags creaked alarmingly, but they didn’t give up. Panting, coated in sweat, Sweetie lumbered to her desk, and sat on the floor. Trying to catch her breath, she was oblivious to the remaining mobile students trudge their way inside.

Not a chair remained unbent or unbroken in the schoolhouse. This was why Sweetie was sitting on the floor, and why the rest of her classmates joined her there. The number of students dwindled with each week that passed, as more and more students ate themselves into immobility.

Applebloom had been gone for two weeks, finally succumbing to the consequences of being a quality tester in Sweet Apple Acres’ baked goods. She wasn’t the only one missing either. Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, Twist, and a hooffull of others were gone as well, disappearing when they couldn’t get out of bed anymore.

Even Miss. Cheerilee had changed. Her desk was gone, moved into the yard to give her body more room to grow. The schoolhouse had been receiving free food since all of this had started, and she had taken advantage of any leftovers and extras that was sent. Her knees had given out the previous day, and as far as Sweetie knew, Cheerilee hadn’t tried to get up again. Laying on her stomach, it was clear why Cheerilee’s legs refused to hold her weight: between her stomach and hindquarters it was probably amazing it hadn’t happened earlier.

Sweetie opened one pouch of her bags, and started eating. There was a long day of eating ahead, but the deliveries wouldn’t arrive for another 15 minutes or so. As the savoury potato chips satisfied Sweetie’s palette, she couldn’t help but wonder if this would continue.

An unknown amount of time later…

Sweetie didn’t know what day it was. She didn’t know what the weather outside was like, or even what season it was. If there even was still seasons outside, with so much of the population being too fat to move under their own power.

Sweetie's mobility had ended innocently enough. She’d laid across from her sister, on a pile of pillows and blankets in order to eat a proper dinner with her sister one Friday evening. The dinner turned into a stuffing Sweetie still couldn’t remember. It had been like something possessed her to keep eating, even when it felt like her stomach was going to rupture with how much food she was cramming into it. By Monday, Sweetie had gained so much, and had such a full stomach, that she hadn’t been able to get her hooves under her enough to go to school.

Sweetie had hoped she would be able to make it if she curbed her eating, but she hadn’t. Hadn’t gone to school, and hadn’t curbed her eating. She’d only gained more, and more, until she was a fat blob that did nothing but sleep and eat.

At first, it had been amazing. She spent as much time with her sister as she’d wanted, ate what she wanted when, and didn’t need to worry about working up a sweat for anything. She could sleep when she wanted, for as long as she wanted, and it didn’t matter when she woke up anymore. Nopony could tell her what to do for the first time in her life, and it was freeing.

As time went on, though Sweetie began to resent her new life. She was constantly hungry, and every moment she wasn’t sleeping, she was busy trying to satiate her endless hunger. She missed her friends. She missed moving. She missed having a life.

Sweetie had been unable to move anything aside from her head in what felt like a long time. Even then she couldn’t really move her head much. Her fat cheeks, huge neck rolls, and drooping forehead fat were encroaching on her vision, and further hindered her already limited mobility. She could glance around the room, and if she had to she could turn her head a little to the sides. Aside from stuffing her face and moving her jaw, that was it. The extent of her movement.

Sweetie couldn’t really get a good description for how large she was. She hadn’t looked into a mirror since before she’d lost her mobility, so she truly wasn’t sure what her proportions were anymore. All she knew was that she was too fat to move. Fat preventing her joints from bending, and weighing her down enough that every breath was a struggle.

The other thing that got Sweetie down was the lack of reaction. She didn’t seem to mind herself being immobile, or Sweetie. Nor did any of the ponies who were still mobile enough to visit them. It was starting to drive Sweetie nuts. Nopony cared, not even as they lost their mobility or had other health issues.

Thinking about it...it had felt like a while since she’d seen anypony outside of Rarity. Sweetie had no concept of time, so it could have been days, or weeks, or maybe even months since she’d last seen somepony else, and she would have been none the wiser. Some part of her wondered if everypony had succumbed to immobility, or if there were still ponies around thin enough to walk under their own power.

Sweetie’s thoughts were interrupted when a huge cake settled in front of her, placed there by Rarity’s magic. The cake was large, modeled after a traditional wedding cake. Five tiers, heavily iced, and decorated with sugar flowers and candles. At one point it probably could have fed a lot of ponies, but Sweetie knew she could eat it all herself if given enough time. Sweetie inhaled, smelling the scents of chocolate and sweet buttercream icing.

In spite of herself, her mouth watered. She looked around the cake at her now colossal sister, somewhat curious. Why the big cake?

“Happy...birthday...Sweetie,” Rarity panted. Her voice was weak, the strength being crushed out of it because of all her weight pressing into her lungs. She’d lost all definition a long time ago. A blob with a head, really. Just endless rolls and folds of fat that a thin filly could lose herself in if she wanted.

Sweetie used her magic to bring the cake closer, and inhaled as deeply as she could. She blew hard, but only succeeded in blowing out one candle. Panting weakly, tears welled in Sweetie’s eyes. She tried again, but didn’t even getting another candle put out. She was too heavy, too weak to blow them out by herself.

Sadness, dread, and a mix of other emotions swirled around her gigantic body. This was all her fault. She couldn’t fix this, couldn’t wish it away. If she’d left well enough alone she’d be playing with her friends, and having a real birthday party. Now, she was an immobile, wheezing mess. She resigned herself to this life. Of endless eating, endless sweets, and endless gaining. She couldn’t do anything to change it, as much as she might wish otherwise. Please, please I wish for everything to go back to normal.

Extinguishing the last of the candles with her magic, Sweetie plunged her fat muzzle into the cake. She would eat until she passed out, and maybe, just maybe things would be better in the morning. She could dream, right?

Sweetie woke the next morning, dazed and confused. She was in bed? When had that happened? She rolled over onto her feet in a practised motion, before she realized. She could move. She wasn’t dragging around several hundred pounds of excess fat. She was like she remembered before the wish. Sweetie spun around in a circle, disbelief and hope and a bunch of other emotions running throughout her body. A bout of joyous, pure laughter escaped her.

“My wish worked!” Sweetie shrieked, “It worked! Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou!”

Still laughing, Sweetie ran downstairs. She was so excited. She could see her friends, walk around town, go to school, learn-

Sweetie’s train of thought ended when she saw Rarity. She launched herself forward, wrapping her forelegs around her sister. Rarity was like she’d always been before: prim and trim. Sweetie squeezed hard. She’d forgotten what it was like to hug her sister, and she didn’t want this to end.

Sweetie, tears streaming down her face, thanked every power in the universe for giving her a second chance.