Competitive Eating

As it turned out, the rock candy necklaces really did do the trick with Maud. To Dashie, it was truly awesome to witness the harmony and joy that would come about when the 5 of her friends and herself joined forces to do something nice for somepony else. It made bad feelings wash away and made the next day a little brighter.

So why was she so…twisted up inside?

That morning, Rainbow Dash woke up in her bed and did a long, tranquil stretch with her hooves and wings. Then, almost out of instinct, her right hoof drifted down and landed directly onto her stomach. Her flat, hard, athletic stomach. And she winced.

“I don’t…this makes no sense! It’s just gone?! All that candy, and I only get to feel that tummy for a day?! Ugh. So unfair.”

Dash crossed her hooves over her chest and huffed, her brow furrowed. Then she snapped upward in her bed, her face twisted into one of confusion and alarm.

“Wait. Why do I…want to feel that way?”

She stood up out of bed and trotted over to her bedroom mirror. She stood with her body perpendicular to the reflection, showcasing a strong core, powerful flanks, muscular legs, and the same fantastic wings that had carried her on countless adventures and through her harshest challenges.

“I’m awesome, fit, and at the top of my game! Yesterday I was just…fat.”

She practically spat out the last word, trying to convince herself the whole thing was a mistake. Just her being caught up in the heat of the moment. She thought back to AJ’s stuffed belly…how glorious it was…and the pleasant way her hooves glided over the sphere of her own gut…when she had one…a gut.

“Mmmfff”

A tingle between Dash’s legs fought for her attention, but she finally took a deep breath, burying these thoughts and setting her attention elsewhere: a rumble of hunger in her stomach.

“Seriously? I do NOT need to be reminded right now. And besides, how can I be hungry after what happened…ah…” the thoughts came back and she flinched, “yesterday?”

Rainbow Dash spent that morning’s breakfast thinking more about how little she should eat rather than what she wanted to eat. In the end, a few hoof-fulls of oats and a glass of water finally silenced her grumbling stomach, but she couldn’t shake the hunger. Every time she felt hungry, images of bloated tummies of orange and cyan flashed in her mind. And every time those thoughts flashed in her head, she felt hungry. It was like being cursed, and it was not a good day to be cursed in this particular way.

Of all the days to have a serious panic about eating or not eating, it was the one where Pinkie Pie – in her never-ending quest to get as much sugary baked goods into the stomachs of Ponyville citizens as possible – threw an entire festival dedicated to pie.

Sure, back when Pinkie had shown up at Wonderbolt Academy with a massive, rainbow-colored pie pastry, Dash wanted to save her figure for the start of the long hiatus. But now she faced an ironic, paradoxical problem that she couldn’t have predicted or possibly have explained: she wanted that whole pie and then some. So why was this the exact one day in all of Equestrian history that Pinkie Pie insisted Rainbow Dash eat some pie?

Dash did her best. Pawning the treats off, hiding them, destroying them – anything to keep the sinister calories and the constant grumbling in her stomach at bay. She finally felt like she had gotten away with it until Pinkie showed up like a madmare, her eyes bloodshot from keeping them open so long, practically forcing the treat in her mouth that Ranbow Dash finally began to cave, pondering aloud:

“Should I take a small bite? Or a big bite?”

The sudden realization that she could – and always did – have the option of going full-on glutton and stuff herself silly struck her like a thunderclap. She tried playing it as cool as she could manage, keeping the temptation bottled up inside, finally taking a millisecond of clarity to tie the pie to a balloon and let it float away.

The illusion came crashing down, predictably and quite literally as the pie fell flat on Pinkie Pie’s head.

What Dashie didn’t notice – or rather – manage the mental energy to consider was that Pinkie had taken this long escapade and convoluted situation to mean that Dash – of all things – hated her pies. After a round of self-exploration and apology, Rainbow Dash was finally able to reconcile with her friend and put the incident behind her…by ordering more baked goods from Sugarcube Corner than most mares get for a wedding. Pies included.

Rainbow Dash found herself back in her home, goodies delivered, boxes covering the counter space in her kitchen and filling the refrigerator. The svelte, blue mare paced in her kitchen, thinking hard with a particularly tasty cupcake jammed in her mouth.

“Mmmpfrfff….oh wow, okay, okay, I can handle this! It just takes self-control and discipline. It’s like…the opposite of a workout regimen.”

She reached over to another box and grabbed a doughnut. Chocolate with chocolate icing. Then a glass of milk.

“So maybe one box of doughnuts and that wonderful pie to start. Milk to wash it down. And then tomorrow, I take a break! Yeah! Can’t just do this all the time, right?”

Her stomach growled and her mouth watered as she began to imagine what all of this food would do to her. She let out a high pitched laugh at the thought of it.

“Better make that two boxes of doughnuts. Wouldn’t want to miss out.”

Rainbow Dash retreated upstairs into a nest of gluttony that would have made one of Rarity’s model ponies faint. Comfy cloud pillows arranged like a gigantic armchair, a stack of Darring-Do books, and enough desert for a party of four. With her tiny frame planted squarely in the middle of it all, she set to work, chomping mouthfuls of delicious, fluffy doughnuts or warm, flaky pie with every gesture. Interspersed between bouts of chewing and swallowing, Ranbow Dash made sure to follow it up with a gulp or two of ice-cold milk. She knew better than anypony that the key to good training is getting into a rhythm, so with her focus split between the book in front of her snout and the desserts quickly entering it, she let the minutes tick by.

It was only half an hour later that her pace slowly waned, a distinctly full feeling emanating from her stomach. After meticulously crafting her own dramatic self-reveal, Dash finally closed her book and placed it to her side. Holding her eyes shut and slowly dropping her gaze, she finally peaked at what she had been working to achieve.

“There you are.”