Competitive Eating

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh~”

She sat within the displaced pillows on her cloud bed, a wide pair of cheeks decorating her smile. Hooves laid squarely on top of a bulging cascade of flabbiness that the content mare had, long ago, belovingly titled her belly. It was the permanent, dominant fixture of her body. Fattened behind, flanks, and legs sat nestled into soft, cloudy cushion to mirror the straining cloud mattress. These two hemispheres now came to define her shape, more ‘mound’ than pony. Vibration under the mare’s mass tickled and titillated her, the clever positioning ensuring that on top of the pleasure of a fat belly; fat thighs; fat face; and the grotesquely indulgent pastime of uninterrupted eating, she still had the opportunity to fill the hunger between her legs.

Of course, it was necessary to buy and position – or rather have the delivery ponies haul up to her room (their funny blushing cheeks, she wasn’t just “chubby” anymore, was she?) – a wall-sized mirror to fully convey the wall-sized mare. At first, while she was merely fat, this was aspirational. She took ample time to gaze at herself and play with her growing appendages, lying in bed, fondling her flab, fantasizing about how large a pony could truly be. This wasn’t even going for the gold medal anymore. This was seeing how far she could take it. She wondered what the reaction would be when she finally revealed just how far her ‘training’ had gone.

Little did she know, five ponies were on their way to find out. When each of the remaining mane six had described their growing friend, Twilight only had a faint memory of the bulging cyan mass in her throne room. Pinkie described a cute little pot belly poking out and thought little of it. Fluttershy described a voluptuous mare who could probably get away with it in the right company. Rarity spoke of a bulbous mare who could barely fit in regular clothes. And Applejack made it sound like she was practically competing with a barn in sheer size. Stories taken apart, shocking but not an emergency. All together? The implication was clear.

“Rainbow Dash? Are you in here?”

“Where else could she be?! She’s not exactly hard to miss now-a-days.”

Soft voices at Rainbow’s doorstep alerted her and finally got her mind off food. Her attention suddenly shifted to how indisposed she truly was.

“H- hey! Don’t come in. I’m not…”

Dash’s eyes and mind stared at her body with a newfound sense of concern. The gigantic mirror was finally befitting her proportions. She was massive. Goodbye fat stage, hello debilitating obesity. Hiding in her gluttony cocoon all this time had kept her mind off the reality of being seen by another pony. It was a harmless, amusing fantasy. Until now.

“I’m not ready!”

When would she have been?

She shifted her girth and tried to climb out of bed. She was not sure if she had locked her door. Then again, clouds don’t make the most reliable barriers to entry. Even with her wings batting at her sides, ample grunting, and swaying motions to use momentum to carry the massive amount of weight pinning her to the spot, she couldn’t get out of bed. She had eaten her way to immobility.

Clopping hooves downstairs informed her that at least help was on its way – duly shocked, judgmental help.

“Rainbow Dash, we know you may be uncomfortable right now, but we’ve been worried about-“

The door to Rainbow Dash’s bedroom opened and five pairs of eyes locked onto her. She wasn’t exactly inconspicuous. But the shock caught the word in Twilight’s mouth. It slowly drizzled out with a mix of concern and confusion.

“-you?”

“Uh, hey guys. What’s up?”

The five of them trickled into the room, each taking in the staggering scale that their friend had ascended to. Of course, it made sense. Their friend would vanish for days at a time, then come back bigger. And bigger. Each time for some better, more expedient way to ‘bulk up,’ as it were. Then she stopped coming back. There really was only way this was going to end.

“Goodness gracious Rainbow! Do I even need tah state the obvious?”

“I thought you were going to sample my oats, not make them your only food source.”

“Hehe, you’re like a big, blue butterball. Guess rescheduling that contest for Ponyville was the right call after all. If it were still in Las Pegasus, we’d need a crane and an airship and another crane-”

“I’m not so sure that contest is such a great idea anymore Pinkie Pie. Just look what the thought of it has done to our friend. Dash, what is going on? You’re no stranger to competition, but this? This isn’t like you.”

Twilight was like weaponized sympathy sometimes. Something about her tone and choice of words just made it harder to lie. Dash sighed, her bulbous form sagging slightly.

“I guess there is no hiding it. How could I hide with all of…this?”

She gripped her excess flab in her forelegs, now comically inadequate for rubbing its entire mass. It gave her just a bit of extra confidence to deliver the truth.

“Girls, I’ve been gaining weight on purpose. I like it.”

“You what?!”

“I made up the eating contest as an excuse for why I was eating so much at the pancake breakfast. I had been struggling with it…even before that. Ever since we did Maud’s rock candy necklaces. Something about it. Something about getting all stuffed and big…”

She gestured to Applejack.

“Seeing her get all stuffed and big. It was nice. It feels good. Something…broke in my head, and I wanted to…control it. But I just kept going. And then this grew.”

She shook her belly.

“And this grew”

She reached down to touch her bulging cutie mark, her tone wistful.

“And it was so pillowy and soft and warm. I think I just…stopped trying to stop. And now I’m like this. I can’t even get out of bed. Something is wrong with me. I’m sorry I spent all that time asking you for ‘help’ when I wouldn’t tell you what you were even helping me do.”

Rarity recalled her years of experience with models and fashion.

“Actually darling, I think you may be righter than you were before.”

All five ponies turned to her with confusion.

“I’m serious! I work with models all the time. The relationship some ponies have to eating can get…mmmm…twisted up. They’ll starve themselves for days just to make a good impression on clients or managers and then ‘click,’ like a light switch, they spend a month binging on everything they’ve deprived themselves of and put on double their body weight. You do it for long enough and some…well…come to ‘enjoy’ being fat. Some flaunt it, some go plus-size with their modeling. But they always seem to admire themselves and other ponies like them. I think that’s what you are, my dear: a fat admirer. You’ve been one all along. You just never had the chance to express yourself!”

Rainbow Dash silently appreciated her discretion for omitting the actual definition of that ‘enjoyment.’ She felt a bit more at ease. And sweet Celestia, at least her toy was hidden today.

“I think Rarity is correct, Rainbow Dash. I’ve read up on different psychological phenomena, and most ponies at some point in their lives develop some form of psychological and physiological fixation on the anatomical components of themselves or other ponies. Some like hooves. Most like flanks. It’s natural!”

“Pardon my tone Twilight, but this ain’t exactly ‘natural.’ I’ve never even a pony get this fat before, and I bake nothing but dough, apples, and sugar for my family every holiday!”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t help herself.

“Ha! Guess that means I’m better at gaining weight than anypony you know!”

“Rainbow Dash, I’m not in a laughing mood. And I don’t think your ‘prowess’ is even in question this point. Think about your health. For crying out loud, you try to one-up me on everything. Don’t you want to fly again? Compete like you used to? As an athlete?

Dash’s attempt at levity gave way to a solemn slump.

“I do. I was kind of banking on there being a way out. But I think I stopped caring about that somewhere back at the chubby stage.”

“The chubby stage?”

Rainbow Dash laughed.

“No, yeah! I’ve given this a lot of thought: it goes skinny, thick, chubby, fat, and then whatever this is! I’m thinking…’living cloud.’”

Rainbow gestured with her hooves to count the stages, subconsciously picturing herself at each stage, and spread her forelegs wide to emphasize her current milestone of fatness. It felt so good to her to be talking with her friends candidly about this. She really had been good at it. Clearly. No harm showing off a bit. Even if it was a little…unconventional. Rainbow smiled and felt some relief as her theatrical categorization did prompt some light chuckles from her friends. Twilight stepped forward to more closely inspect her bloated friend.

“You have given this a lot of thought!”

“Go ahead Twilight! Give it a poke!”

A purple hoof reached forward and pressed against the arch of Rainbow Dash’s stomach.

“Gosh.”

She looked back up at her.

“That is…really soft.”

“Right? You gals may not get it, but something about it! It feels good on me. I’m so plush and comfy. At first, I was scared of it. I wanted to hide. I was mad at myself for even a hint of flabbiness. But then it became a part of me. It kept growing and radiating happy thoughts and yummy goodness. Come on ya’ll try it out!”

Rainbow’s other friends obliged, sticking their hooves in and grazing their hooves atop her bouncing belly. Each of them touched a little differently. Twilight inquisitive and considerate. Fluttershy light and gentle. Rarity dainty and theatrical. Pinkie Pie bumping and quick. And after some stubborn hesitation, Applejack firm and strong. The fact that Dash could categorize and distinguish reaffirmed her sensation of largeness. The expanse of her was her. And she could sense the slightest poke and prod with blissful satisfaction. The only downside was that she was the only one who got to feel that way. Dash briefly wondered if there was some way to share it. All six plumping up together, as friends.

“Yeah, it’s soft. That’s what happens when ya get fat.”

“Oh c’mon AJ, it’s nice! I bet if you gained a bit of weight, you’d know what I’m talking about!”

“I have gained weight before! But I can’t afford to be too heavy. I got work to do!”

“That may not be such a problem anymore.”

Twilight’s announcement came as a shock to everypony in the room.

“I perfected the weight loss spell. I didn’t want to mention it at first. I thought Rainbow Dash was depressed or getting carried away with competitiveness. I had not considered it could be…intentional – that becoming fat was the goal.”

“What, were you trying to therapist me by making it seem like I was going to be a land whale forever?”

“No! It just…hadn’t come up.”

“Honestly Twi, that maybe should have been the first thing out of your horn when we found miss piggy right here.”

An orange hoof slap landed on Rainbow’s chub. Rainbow was glad it was hers.

“Hey, only I get to call myself fat! It’s impolite when you do it to somepony else!”

Rarity primly corrected with a smile.

“I’m fairly certain that applies more to a few unwanted holiday pounds, not complete immobility.”

“Fair enough. So, what’s that mean Twilight? You can make me my old athletic self again?”

“It is entirely possible there could be residual side-effects. The spell certainly won’t eliminate your newfound, ahem, ‘attitude’ about food and weight gain, so it’s entirely possible that you could end up getting this big again. Over time, of course.”

Rainbow Dash could practically hear the metaphorical lightbulb turning on above her head.

“Say Pinkie Pie, you already ordered everything for the eating contest, right?”

“Abs-so-lutely!”

“Think you could cancel it?”

“But why would I want to do that? I got cakes, pies, muffins, flan, scones, doughnuts, cupcakes and-“

Rainbow Dash salivated at the thought. It had been a few minutes since she last ate something, but she maintained her patience.

“Exactly. We wouldn’t want to waste all of that amazing food. When the six of us keep it for ourselves! I’m paying for it, for crying out loud. My party. My decision.”

Her friends turned to her with raised eyebrows and quizzical murmurs.

“But first, could somepony pleeeeease lend me a hoof so I can move again?”