Twilight continues to memorise everything written about the insatiable hunger, but comes to the decision that she needs to intervene when the book says that it can be incredibly stressful, overwhelming, and anxiety inducing, as it can feel like a complete loss of control — which is the worst nightmare for those suffering from the disorder.

In extreme cases, the psychological stress can cause not only a relapse, but also make them seek out extreme measures to put a stop to the hunger in their desperation. Extreme measures, which Twilight is absolutely horrified by the very idea of ponies doing this to themselves.

She is once again reminded that this disorder is very dangerous, even deadly. What she hadn’t considered until now, was that the recovery process could cause even more suffering than it already has.

She only manages a brief goodbye to Spike before working her rarely used wings to quickly fly to the Wonderbolts Compound, while her mind is already going through all sorts of worst case scenarios that she might find when she arrives…

Meanwhile…

Rainbow barely makes it to the end of the training session. By the time they’re all in the showers, she’s ready to eat a bar of soap if she didn’t know that they’re minutes away from eating lunch.

The extreme desire for food just would not leave her alone, no matter how many times she tells herself that she’s not hungry, can’t be hungry, her brain and stomach refuse to listen.

Sometimes, for a brief second or two, a thought borne out of her rising panic and paranoia, tells her that Twilight must have done something to her. Put a spell on her in her sleep, or magiced a pill to cause this.

But as quickly as the thoughts of doubt appear, they also disappear, pushed away by rationality. Because why would Twilight do that to her, and then wonder and question Dash about being hungry?

Of course, there is also the possibility that the alicorn was just playing dumb. But let’s be real here: that egghead would, and could, never do that.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I am hungry as a horse.” Spitfire remarks jokingly, putting up her towel to dry.
The other female ‘Bolts agree.

Dash finds that she hasn’t even fully dried herself off yet, unable to focus on such a task when there’s finally food.

“Coming, Crash?” The leader asks, waiting by the door for a moment.

Not wanting to seem too eager and be viewed as the seemingly bottomless pit she has become, she just nods, shakes off the last bit of moisture, and follows the yellow pegasus to the canteen.

Without being able to pay attention, Dash only realises that she’s, once again, eaten much too quickly around her teammates when she looks up from her empty plates.

You’re not just a bottomless pit, but a bottomless pig. The voice in her head hisses in disgust.

Luckily, no one feels the need to point out her gluttony this time, but it doesn’t help that she still felt like she could eat a second serving. Maybe even a third-

She felt completely out of control.

And that is when the full anxiety set in, because this was so much like all those nightmares she’s suffered. Nightmares of uncontrollable gluttony, and she knows exactly what follows.

Any second now, she’s going to turn into a giant ball of lard, bulldozing everything in her path.

That has to be it. This is just another one of those dreams. But where is Luna? The Princess of the Night would usually be here by now.

“Hello? Earth to Rainbow Dash?” Spitfire’s amused voice brings her back to reality.

“Uhh… huh?”

“You’re drooling.” The leader points out, and when Dash looks down, sure enough, she’s been dripping on her tray.

“You okay, Rainbow Dash?” Soarin asks, his eyebrows in a worried frown.

“Yeah, you seem kinda.. out of it, today.” Fleetfoot adds, for once not in a mocking way but actually concerned.

Dash remains speechless, because this doesn’t feel like a dream anymore. And honestly, if it had just been a dream, it wouldn’t worry her this much, because that would have explained the constant eating.

If this is reality, then….

“Is this just from the feather flu you had?” Spitfire offers, and then all of a sudden, the pegasi watch in horror as Dash’s chest begins to rapidly heave in near hyperventilation, before their cyan teammate jumps up and runs outside. “Hey- wait!”

Rainbow runs straight back into the changing/shower rooms, figuring that maybe she could fill up on water until her stomach had no other choice but to accept that it wasn’t going to get any more food, at least for the time being.

As much as she wishes to never eat again, she knows perfectly well that that was simply not possible.
But then again, she also feels like she is absolutely losing her mind over this. And even if she couldn’t explain it, she felt like she completely and utterly failed — at what exactly, she doesn’t even know.

“I understand nothing anymore…” she mumbles to herself after possibly drinking half her weight in water. The added pressure in her stomach only makes her feel even more ill, which quickly makes her regret her decision.

The worst part happens when she glances at one of the mirrors, previously fogged up from their showers. She looks, and feels, like a pregnant mare, and is thrown into a whole new hell.

Look at what you’ve done! You’ve ruined everything! You are disgusting! The voice yells, and she could feel her already racing pulse get even faster, the beats harsher and stronger, to the point that it’s becoming painful in her chest.
The pain mixes with the discomfort of her stomach, her breaths coming faster and faster, and suddenly she’s throwing up the water she’d drank only moments earlier, back into the sink.

She’s coughing and spitting, holding on for dear life as a horrible dizziness makes her head spin, by the time Twilight finds her.

“Rainbow!” She calls, horrified that she’s already too late. “Rainbow, stop, come here-” she pulls the pegasus away from the sink, causing her to collapse into the alicorn in her weakened state.

“Please make it stop..!” Rainbow begs in between sobs, before burying her head into Twilight’s mane. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me…” she cries.

“I’ve done some research while you were here. It’s called extreme hunger, or insatiable hunger, and it’s a normal stage that can happen during recovery.” The alicorn informs her softly.

“How long before this will go away?” Rainbow asks, separating from her friend and sniffling.

Twilight bites her lip. “Could be days, could be weeks... In some cases, it can even last months. The body is just trying to repair itself from the damage.”

She’s hoping that this will go away as quickly as it came, since Dash is no longer so scarily thin.

“Months?!”

Twilight sighs. “Listen.. you don’t want to hear this, but the only way this will go away is to honour it.”

Dash tilts her head in confusion. “Honour it?”

“You have to keep eating.” Twilight clarifies. “These hunger cues aren’t simply there to annoy you or distress you. Your body needs it.”

“But.. you said that my body is repairing itself. I already had to moult all over again, what’s there more to repair?” Dash asks, opening her wings and pointing to the shiny feathers for emphasis.

“The organs, bones, hair…” Twilight lists off. “Just to name a few. Everything suffers when we’re malnourished, because the body has to take the strength and vitamins from itself, to give to the vital organs, to keep us alive.”
She’s very careful to keep the pronouns neutral, as it’s easier to explain the facts when it doesn’t sound like she’s trying to scold her friend for something that was out of her own control.

“So I’m not…. binge-ing, out of control?” Rainbow asks hesitantly, still feeling a sense of deja vu about her nightmares. She definitely feels like she is losing all control over her eating.
She looks down at herself, before quickly turning her head away and screwing her eyes shut.

Twilight shakes her head, laying a hoof on Dash’s shoulder to get her attention again. “I know that this is distressing, but I can tell you that you are unlikely to even gain weight from this. Your metabolism is even faster than normal.”

“Really?”

The alicorn nods. “So don’t hold yourself back.” She pauses, and they both hear approaching steps outside. “I know that this is important to you, but are you okay to continue here, or…”

“Princess Twilight? What are you doing here?” Spitfire asks when she enters. “Is everything alright?”

Rainbow hangs her head in shame, immediately reminded of her sudden exit and convinced that the other Wonderbolts think so much less of her now.

Twilight takes over. “Rainbow was just feeling a bit under the weather. She hasn’t been feeling well this morning, so I figured I would check in on her.”

“Still recovering from that feather flu?” Spitfire asks gently.

Twilight blinks in puzzlement, before realising that that’s what Dash must have told them. “Probably. It was a bad case, lost all her feathers. She’s been living with me for a while.”

Spitfire seems almost distressed at the news. She steps directly in front of Dash, giving her another once-over. Eyes still glossy and red from crying and getting sick earlier, her nose a bit stuffed and runny that she keeps sniffling.
“Go home. Rest up, and then we’ll see if you’re doing better tomorrow.”

The words of stern concern only make her want to cry all over again. She’s being sent home, all because she’s constantly hungry.

It feels even more like eating equals punishment.

Dash painfully swallows her shame and other ill feelings towards herself, and leaves the Compound with Twilight.

Throughout the flight back, she refuses to utter a single word.

Author's Note

September is national suicide awareness month. 1 in 5 deaths caused by anorexia is suicide. You are not an exception, you deserve to recover. Please do not wait until you are worse to get better, you deserve to recover the minute you even think about recovery.