Hangry

Investigating the knock at her door, Rarity was pleasantly surprised to see the face of Sunset Shimmer in her peephole, now more cherubic than ever.

Rarity dusted herself off, straightened her blouse, then opened the door for Sunset, putting on a neutral face like she was just now finding out it was her.

Rarity gasped.

“Goodness, Sunset! You look so... red! Why, you must be sweltering from that heat!”

Surprised by this assertion, Sunset felt her cheek. She did feel a little warm, but she assumed that was just from the walk to the boutique. It was barely halfway through Spring, after all.

“I... didn't even notice!”

“Oh my, that’s not a good sign at all! Come in, darling, do cool off!”

Rarity barely gave her a chance as she grabbed her pudgy wrist and pulled her inside, practically dragging her past the boutique’s storefront to the rec room fashioned into a living area, where one could find a kitchenette and a sofa in front of a flatscreen TV.

“Here, rest!”

The momentum of Rarity letting go of the poor girl practically catapulted Sunset onto the seat cushions -- she had to say, they were rather comfy, not to mention refreshingly cool after the walk that was apparently giving her an invisible heat-stroke, though not until after her blubbery butt flopped on them so hard that her feet lifted into the air.

“Go on, kick off your shoes, take off your vest!” Already, Rarity was in the process of tugging Sunset’s vest off of her, and in the moment, Sunset felt obliged to let her. She had the feeling she would be strangled by her own textiles if she didn’t. “I’ll get something for you to cool off with.”

Using her arm as a coat rack for the vest, Rarity went and cracked open the freezer. Aside from the obligatory ice pack shoved into the corner, it was crowded almost solely by cartons of ice cream in every flavor Rarity could find, from vanilla bean to rainbow sherbet to something called “Cloudy Cotton Dreams”, which was supposedly cotton-candy-flavored with chunks of bubblegum and softened white chocolate. She set aside two full-sized cartons, and grabbed a spoon from the drawer next to her, closing it with a bump from her hip.

Sunset’s hands rested in her lap, which was widened by how far she had to part her thighs. Her belly had escaped her skirt yet again -- it was really getting to her, how often that happened -- and her thumbs brushed against it without even trying. She looked at her arms -- really looked at them, for the first in a long time. They never did have much definition, but her memory of them looked like twigs. And as far as she knew, muscle growth did not create such an acute inwards curve in one’s wrists. They were definitely softer.

“Rarity...?” Sunset nearly got up to face her host directly -- she had a fairly serious question to ask, after all -- but Rarity tutted her for it.

“No more strenuous activity for you, I only want you standing up if I’m taking your measurements!”

Sunset slumped back down to the couch with an audible puff. Rarity nodded.

“That’s more like it. Now, do you want rocky road or orange sherbet?”

“Rarity?”

“Never mind, I’ll get you both.”

Rarity elbowed the freezer shut and brought Sunset the cartons and spoon. She was in the process of peeling away the plastic wrapping when Sunset asked:

“Rarity, do you think I’m... fat?”

Rarity looked at her like she was crazy. She brought two fingers up to Sunset's forehead, still freshly cold from the ice cream.

“Yep,” replied Rarity. “Definitely overheated.”

Rarity handed her the rocky road, now opened with a spoon jammed inside. Peering at its bumpy, chocolatey contents, now slightly raised by the intrusion of a foreign object, Sunset smiled and shook her head. ‘Oh, that Rarity.’ She took a bite.

Then another.

And another.

And another.

Then she stopped and realized that Rarity was sitting next to her, not on the couch itself but on the arm of the couch, resting her head in her hands and watching Sunset eat like she was the most gorgeous creature on Earth.

“Don’t stop on my account!” said Rarity. “If anything, you’re the only one keeping me from eating it all myself.”

So she took another bite.

Out of all the lies Rarity had told thus far, this was the biggest: while she had been prone to snacking on frozen dairy and chose it over all other snacks precisely because it was her go-to vice, the reason her fridge was so full of it now was because of Sunset. If anything, Rarity was snacking more because there was so much of it in front of her all the time, and she always kept it restocked for when Sunset came around.

“So, I don’t look bigger to you?”

“Not from where I’m sitting,” Rarity said, having about a foot of height over her from sitting on the couch arm.

“And you don’t think I’ve gained any weight?”

“Why? Are your clothes not fitting? Because you know they can shrink if you wash them too eagerly.”

“I don’t think that’s it. See, I was talking with Twilight yesterday--”

“DON’T BELIEVE ANYTHING SHE SAYS!”

Now was Sunset’s turn to stare. Realizing her error, Rarity coughed and recomposed herself.

“Continue.”

“--and she didn’t say it outright, but she said something about me being, well... big.”

“Maybe it just looks big. Any figure can be flattered or not if one can only find the right clothes for the job. Perhaps what you need...”

Rarity could hardly contain the excitement in her smile.

“...is a new wardrobe!”

“I thought you said you wanted me standing if you were gonna take my measurements.”

Sitting on her knees in front of Sunset’s seated calves, Rarity stretched a piece of yellow tape from one side of Sunset’s thighs to the other.

“Only some measurements, darling, not these ones.” Rarity smirked. ‘Besides, I want you more comfortable sitting down than standing up by the end of this.’

Sunset looked around, shifting in her seat.

“Uh, where's my vest?” She noticed it was gone not long after Rarity had left her to get her measuring tape... for a half-hour.

For a while now, Rarity had been reading up on how to handle leather, how to properly cut and hem it without causing any noticeable damage, and in that half-hour she was gone, she was busy exactly that to Sunset’s leather vest, adding an entirely new piece to the back to bring it up a couple sizes. From then on, whenever Sunset was distracted in her house, she could replace it as many times as she’d like. It was visibly different from how it used to be, but only in a place Sunset wouldn't be able to see it very well.

“I set it down in my workshop, now stand-- uh, hold still.”

Rarity leaned forward and threaded the dummy end of the tape into the space between Sunset’s buttocks and the couch, then reached around her to grab it with her other hand. Once there, her two hands shifted, but did not move. She pressed the side of her cheek into Sunset’s tummy, clenching her arms around and savoring those swollen globes that were so supple to begin with, now made plump and juicy by her hands. It almost gave her the same satisfaction as seeing one of her dresses on someone: ‘I made that. Me. I made this beautiful thing happen, and now I get to witness its full potential being realized.’

“Uh, Rarity?”

“Not now, darling, Mama’s busy.”

“Psht! ‘Mama’?”

Rarity tried to look up at Sunset’s face, but her bust obscured most of her face from where she lay. She wanted to be spicy, not comical.

“Just... something I say to Sweetie Belle,” she fibbed.

“Glad to know you see me as a sister.”

“Riiiight.”

This was now becoming unbearable for both of them. Done pretending to have lost her own hand, Rarity finally moved to see the measurement.

“Mhm. Now, lean forward,” Rarity said, and Sunset did so, allowing her to take her waist and bust sizes. Seeing all of them together nearly took her out.

‘That much!?’ thought Rarity. It brought a smile to her face so wide and conspicuous that she was glad to be out of Sunset’s line of sight. ‘I can’t wait to see what it will be...’

With those measurements taken, she walked right back into her workshop, leaving Sunset to wonder if she had more measurements to take or she was just too busy to give her so much as an ‘all done.’ The suspense made it all the more surprising when Rarity came in with a nose-high stack of clothes in her arms.

“Here, try these on!” She tossed them at Sunset, who did her best to catch them all at once. “I’ll be just outside, come out when you’re ready.” And just like that, she was gone again.

Rarity would have loved to see Sunset’s full, blossoming figure in the half-nude, and them both being girls gave her every excuse to stay, but she had her limits. She may have been a pervert, but she wasn’t a creep.

Sunset modeled one set after the other, shirts and blouses and skirts and shorts, each one fitting her like a glove. There were some crop tops here and there, mostly paired with high-waisted bottoms, but no belly was peeking otherwise: ‘a sacrifice for the greater good,’ the seamstress assured herself.

Rarity said they were all a size Small/Medium, but the tags all said ‘Large’. Sunset brought this up with her.

“It’s still a size S/M,” Rarity fibbed again, “just not for that brand. You know how, in fashion, different distributors have different systems for these sorts of things.”

“But... aren’t these all your clothes?”

“Nonsense, darling! All that standing must be getting to your head! Here, I’ll fetch you some more ice cream...”

She sought to stuff her until that satiated feeling drowned out any doubts about her good friend Rarity that she might have had, and it worked only because Sunset wanted it too -- eating was so much easier than arguing, especially when it was Rarity’s ice cream that she was eating. Whether for clothes or for food, that Rarity sure knew how to shop!

With the pile all sorted through and most of them making the cut, there was one last ensemble Rarity asked her to try:

Sunset came out a minute later wearing what Rarity had given her: a dark maroon midi skirt, maybe an inch too big but which amusingly brightened -- shimmered, even -- into a dark green as it moved, and a long, elastic orange shirt that clung to her like it was just her size, but hung over her skirt like it was a few too many. The top had an interesting design: a red-and-yellow sun -- Sunset’s signature insignia -- radiating a gradient of orange, maroon, and sky blue from where it sat on the abdomen, just over her belly. If she didn’t know any better, she might say it was there for emphasis.

“Rarity, are you sure about this?”

“Tuck it in!”

Sunset tucked her shirt into her skirt, et voila: the sun hid behind her waistband and became...

“...a sunset? Rarity, you shouldn’t have!”

The skirt felt more snug as well, now that something was behind it.

“Not my best work, but I must give credit where it’s due.”

Another fib. Rarity thought it was her most ambitious ensemble yet: as Sunset widened, the outfit would stretch, the sun in the design would rise and the pleated skirt would unfold to reveal a green field, like the Sun was lighting it up. Literally poetry in motion. It tortured her that she couldn’t reveal this all straight away.

Rarity checked her watch.

“Hmmm, the weather should be as hot as it is now for a while. You should stay!”

The checking of her watch was a farce, of course. Anything to keep the girl right where she wanted.

“Are you sure?” asked Sunset. “I mean... I should probably be getting back,” said Sunset.

“Where to? I can call ahead, if you need.”

Though pressed for an answer, Sunset had none. She had things she could be doing, but nothing that urgently needed doing. She simply felt that the party was over.

She frowned.

Rarity pouted.

“Sunset! If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to avoid me.”

Sunset laughed. “No, nothing like that! I just don’t want to take up too much of your time.”

“Too much!?”

Rarity grabbed Sunset by the shoulders -- marveling for a microsecond how even those felt more plush than they used to be.

“Too much is never enough! You are a confident, resilient, spirited girl and I shall have my head before I see you debase yourself as anything other than worthy of my time! That is...” She weakened her voice, suddenly afraid that she might come off too strong. “...if you’ll... have me.”

Somebody had been reading one too many romance novels, and Sunset could tell; yet, in a strange way, she felt flattered.

“Heh, alright,” she relented. “But only for a bit!”

“Wonderful! Now...”

Rarity brought her back into the rec room, walking her over to the couch that was already branded by the heavier girl’s buttocks.

“...you simply must try this new flavor I bought! It's called ‘Cloudy Cotton Dreams’.”

Sunset’s chubby neck perked up.

“I’m listening.”

She ate much more than the Cloudy Cotton Dream. She inhaled the Mango Meringue, butchered the Birthday Bash, slurped up the Freezer Burn, and crunched on the Moose Tracks until all that dairy had reduced Sunset into a cold ball of gas on Rarity’s couch. Rarity had the honor of easing her through it, moving her hand across Sunset’s chilled belly in slow and cradling strokes, savoring the feeling of tenderness beneath her fingertips because while Sunset’s belly was always stretching tighter and tighter, it could not hope to catch up to the buildup of adipose cushioning it from every side with every new meal. All Sunset had to do was lay her arms lazily at her sides and let every hardy burp and bout of gas flow through her unrestrained. And with each squeeze and slanted push against the core of Sunset’s body, Rarity asserted that she was the boss of it.

That wasn’t to say she was alone in her excess: Rarity had gobbled down two and a half cartons of her own before giving the melted remainders of the last one to Sunset. In a sense, they were both on that couch for the same reason, the same crime of passion, same modus operandi.

‘This is making me fat,’ a part of them thought, ‘I know it is.’ But another part of them -- or maybe it was the same part -- just didn’t care.

They sat there, most importantly Sunset, letting TV rot her brains until her eyes finally wandered to the window and wondered about the time. She was surprised when Rarity let her know how late it was. Her knees crackled and creaked from disuse as she heaved herself up, and Rarity -- relenting that it was cool enough to go back outside on this fine Sunday evening -- said her goodbyes and gave her her vest back. The thing was warm to her touch, much to her surprise.

“It’s still warm from when you came in today!” said Rarity.

In reality, it spent all this time under a lamp in Rarity’s workshop, but of course she didn’t tell her that.

Sunset began to question just about everything. Was it really that hot outside? Was she really that hot, earlier in the day? How could she be in such danger and not realize it?

“Oh, wow! That’s... intense.”

She left with a slight unease.

“...and anytime you need a new shirt or a dress, come over and I’ll make sure those clothes fit you right as rain!”

As Sunset made her way down the street, Rarity waved and gave a satisfied smile. Her gatelight -- her invitation to enter as she wished -- was now most assuredly on for Sunset, which she would most likely take as the place had been forged through deceit and debauchery into a safe haven for her. All was going according to plan.

Well... mostly.

Sunset returned not just the wave 'goodbye', but the same cheeky smile.

‘Well,’ thought Sunset, ‘if I am getting fat... at least I’m not the only one.’

She looked back at her host, and at the small fold of pearly-white skin resting subtly atop her bedazzled belt.