Competitive Eating

“It’s like the whole world is conspiring against me, including ME.”

Rainbow Dash’s tail drooped and she hung her head low as she regarded the lovely (and impeccably written) invitation from Twilight Sparkle to join her at her new castle for pancakes. That morning, she thought her heart would burst as she approached the mirror. That trial by ego promised to make this day the worst she’d ever experienced. But it wasn’t so bad. Sure, the blue mare had a little bit of flub to her legs and butt. And sure there was some extra softness to her stomach. But it wasn’t world ending. Noticeable. A bit complimentary, in fact.

“Well, it’s not like I’m immune to gaining some weight during the break from Wonderbolts. I’m definitely…ugh…flabbier but…”

She took a moment to experiment with flicking her belly flab with the tip of her hoof. It was elastic, bulging ever so slightly atop her regular toned frame. As she sat and hunched over, it was more obvious: a deepened belly button and the first showings of a single roll.

“It’s not so bad. I can work this off in ten seconds flat!”

She proudly exclaimed her new goal, her new routine. But there was something gnawing at her: a feeling she struggled to place amidst the harsh self-condemnation over getting even a little chubby. Something like…regret.

“It really isn’t so bad.”

She pinched and squeezed tiny hoof-fulls of chub that she discovered all over. Her legs, her thighs, her butt, her stomach – all coated in the same excellent little softness that made her feel warm and cozy, like being wrapped in a cotton blanket. A flashing spark of temptation entered her mind.

“I wonder…”

Her hooves gestured outwards to encompass a swollen belly that was no longer there.

“No. NO. I’ve had my fun, and I’m going to stick to my bucks on this one!”

Then came that invitation. In the middle of another boring, healthy breakfast, a plea from the outside world. No doubt it would be unusual for Rainbow to ignore such a request. She hadn’t been outside her home in three whole days, and her friends were going to be there. A conspicuous, empty, rainbow-engraved seat at the throne room would surely raise some eyebrows. Maybe Dash could fly under the radar on this one. No way her friends would comment or speculate when one of their good friends added a bit of extra fluff. That would be impolite.

Her mind made, Rainbow Dash joined her friends for the breakfast. Her abs tensed in an attempt to retract the chubbiness back to nothing. Her eyes darted around and mind raced to avoid any comment or wayward glance. The conversation with Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy was jovial and warmhearted. Though Twilight seemed to be drifting back to sleep. It seemed to Rainbow that her friend was weirdly…unkempt? Maybe moving to a new castle all of a sudden can be hard on a mare, even an alicorn like her. But such thoughts were driven out of the hungry pegasus’ mind, as the main event took center stage: a hearty pile of steaming blueberry pancakes, glazed in syrup, and topped with whipped cream towered before her.

While her face was all smiles and thanks, inside a screaming argument occurred within her mind.

“What IS it with that mare? First the pie incident and now you and Twilight suddenly ‘decide’ to make more pancakes than Celestia herself could eat? ‘Kept asking to try more?!’ Who avoids their own house by baking? Twilight is asleep in her plate for crying out loud! She doesn’t need more (maybe she does, she’d get so round – purple belly). ACK. Okay. Don’t panic. It would be ungrateful to just…not eat them, right? I’ll just have a little bit. All my friends are here. They don’t need to see me going crazy but…it’d be easier to do this if I hadn’t spent the last week practically training to go crazy. Just a little bite. I’ll say I’m full after- after-“

Dash reached forward with her teeth bared and took a hearty chomp of the stack of pancakes. Then another. Then another. Each one was supposed to be the last, but then there was another. Again and again. Then there were seconds. And thirds. Pinkie Pie said they had made loads, so what was the harm, really? So much food compressed into so little time had stretched Dash’s stomach, and her bewitching fixation on there being ‘more’ slowly eroded her better judgement.

Rainbow Dash’s friends were mostly concerned about Twilight’s bizarre habits over the past few days, but a far more peculiar event had captured their attention: namely the fact that their cyan compatriot had just eaten more food in twenty minutes than most of them could manage in an hour. Pinkie was the first to interject.

“Wow, Rainbow Dash! You must’ve been staaaaarved!”

As if awoken from a trance, Rainbow stammered to attention, suddenly shamefully aware that she had just stuffed herself silly and her belly now pressed on the edge of the map table, cold crystal parting its mass into a top roll and a bottom roll.

“Ugh…”

Rarity echoed her friends’ exclamation.

“Rainbow, darling, are you alright? You seem a little…oh what’s the word? Transfixed. I haven’t seen a scene like that since the last time Sassy Saddles cheated on her diet.”

Twilight chimed in, helpfully.

“I’m pancake! I mean…awake! What’s…what’s going on- oh my goodness!”

Applejack interjected.

“What in tarnation are you up to girl?!”

Rainbow Dash heard these voices from all different directions and squirmed in her seat. She scoured her mind for an explanation that didn’t involve her constant, insane fixation on getting fatter. A quiet comment from Fluttershy joined in.

“I’ve seen my animals do that, but they were usually getting ready to hibernate.”

Finally the she found an excuse, eyes beaming with relief.

“A contest!”

A chorus of what’s and hum’s resounded from the cavernous castle dining room.

“I’m entering an eating contest in Las Pegasus! There’s lots of…um…training involved. And I figured that while I was on leave from the Wonderbolts, now would be the time to do it!”

She offered a proud smile to conceal the ocean of guilt and worry within her mind.

“But why would you ever want to do a thing like that? At the rate you just went, you’re probably going to win. It’s going to be very tricky getting back into shape for the Wonderbolts.”

Rainbow Dash stammered at Twilight’s annoyingly accurate critique. If this was ‘training,’ the result was ‘getting in shape.’ A distinctly un-athletic shape at that. She flapped her wings to scoot back in her chair, alleviating the pressure of the table from her swollen middle.

“I was kinda hoping…you might have a spell for weight loss?”

Rainbow felt like an imaginary hoof had smacked her into stupidity. Her ‘plan’ – at this exact moment – rested on the idea that somepony like her would risk getting desperately, ludicrously chubby before asking the magical purple pony for a way to undo it.

“Weight loss? Hmmm.”

Rainbow braced in her seat, resisting the temptation to rub her belly again. It really needed it.

“Unfortunately, that sort of magic is more alike to things like mane restoration. It’s always tricky to alter a pony’s physical body after something non-magical is done to change it.”

This was bad. Dash’s mind resumed the race for solutions.

“But…this is, like, the ONLY thing I’ve never tried to be good at. I’ve kept my body in peak flying condition for years, and I’ve never had the chance to just pig out! Not that I…uh…want to get fat or anything. But there’s gotta be a middle road here!”

“Well Rainbow Dash, of all the magic that is waiting to be discovered, I’m pretty sure a ‘weight loss’ spell is pretty high on the list! I will look into it if it helps you. I’m sure ponies all over Equestria would be overjoyed to find such help. I mean, it’s so hard to lose weight as is!”

“Oh, I know! I mean, one time I had a photoshoot in Manahatten that went poorly, and my comfort ice cream only helped me plump up before the next one in Phillydelphia!”

“I know the Apple family is known for our treats, but some of those holiday pounds make applebucking more of a chore than it already is. I could make use of a thing like that.”

“As it turns out, preparing for hibernation can be a bit…infectious.”

“I’ve actually never gained weight! I think I move too fast and too often…or something!”

The round of support and encouragement finally put Dashie’s mind at ease. The guilt over hiding the true reason would have to weight.

“Thank you so, so much. Even if it means a lot more work down the road, I want to keep true to my commitment and be the best pony I can be! I will warn you though: it’s entirely possible you’ll see a lot ‘more’ of me soon enough!”

Giggles surrounding the conflicted mare filling her chair finally offered some respite, but Rainbow Dash knew, there and then, that she had created a horrible dilemma for herself: 1. There needed to be an eating contest for her to go to in Las Pegasus and 2. She needed to LOOK like she was “training” for it.