Twilight Vs. Flashbacks

"Adventure!" Pinkie Pie beamed, and she spoke for the both of them since they now had renewed strength and renewed spirits. Pinkie Pie had learned from her mistake the day before and instead walked as opposed to skipping around mindlessly. The unicorn made sure to keep their stride and to not fall behind schedule; Twilight was good at keeping things to a schedule.

"If we walk at this pace for the next forty two hours we could get to the nearest town." Twilight stated using her knowledge of maps and the position of the stars in the pre-dawn sky.

"Which is?" Pinkie inquiried, thinking of the many cities in Equestria.

"If we choose not to climb to Canterlot, which is totally impractical. The next closest town is Hollow Shades." Twilight announced, causing the pink pony to look at Twilight in confusion. "Since you haven't brushed up on your geography in a while, Hollow Shades is the city in the woods. You know, the other gateway to Fillydelphia."

"Sounds like a nice place," she guessed, thinking about the city. The earth pony thought of it as a town situated in the trees. Homes were tethered to the trees and suspended bridges connecting the buildings together.

"Twilight, what are ya gonna do when we get to Choco-con?" Pinkie asked.

"Get myself a chocolate sundae," she answered fantasizing a large dish an ice cream drowned in chocolate sauce.

"Sounds nice. Me, I'll just eat the first thing I see, and it doesn't matter if I could buy it or not."

"You know what we could use?" Twilight asked, trying her best to straighten her mane.

"What?"

"A nice relaxing bath." Twilight answered, wiping the dirt and mud off of her purple coat.

"With warm water," the pink one added happily. They were counting down the seconds until they reached the nearest city; both of them eager to rest. Pinkie would begin to hum ballads, queuing the unicorn to join in every once in a while. Pinkie was the one who would often spark conversations, ranging from their friends to books that either of them have read before.

"What do you think they did with the luggage we left behind?"

"They probably sold everything inside." Pinkie answered in a straight forward tone.

"In just a day?" Twilight asked unconvinced. "The train probably hasn't even finished its course."

"Just being positive." Pinkie chided, balancing herself on the railroad tracks.

"So how was your childhood like? You know, growing up on a rock farm." Twilight asked.

"Boring." Pinkie summed up. "Everyday was just harvesting. The rocks just never stopped appearing."

"How about your family?" Twilight pried, imagining a filly Pinkie Pie harvesting rocks.

"They were nice, and my sisters were pretty cool, but the rock-farming life wasn't for me, so I left." Pinkie stated.

They stopped talking and continued their trek after Pinkie made it clear that she did not want to talk; a first for the pink pony and the unicorn. They stopped the moment when they heard the sound of running water.

"Please tell me that's Neighagra Falls," the lavender pony begged, wishing that the journey was at least halfway done. Twilight looked towards the ground, not wanting to spoil the surprise.

"No," the other answered, "It's just the Canterlot mountain." Twilight groaned at the news, and hung her head lower than before.

"Crud."

"And to your right you'll see the wonderful Foal Mountain chain!" Pinkie said, faking a tour guide's voice. The former rock farmer nudged her friend to assist in ending her boredom.

"And Clouds Dale is North-East, and I say it looks wonderful today!" Twilight chimed in, joining Pinkie's next attempt at mild entertainment. "And in two hours, thirty-two minutes and twelve seconds, we'll finally get to Neighagra Falls."

"What's up with you and Neighagra Falls." Pinkie Pie asked, noting the mentions of the waterfall during their walk. Twilight didn't have anything to hide, so she wanted to answer her friend's question.

"Nothing, it's just the halfway point to Fillydelphia. I just like keeping up with the schedule. It's also where we'll be spending the night." Twilight answered, earning a look of understanding from the filly.

"Makes sense," the baker replied.

"So what about you? Surely you had some great experience growing up in Canterlot."

"Meh, it was nothing but a lot of self-aggrandizing ponies." Twilight admitted.

"Like you?" Pinkie Pie teased, noticing Twilight insult her own hometown.

"Sort of," she bantered. The purple pony did like her childhood, but she felt that she needed to seem as self-loathing of her past as Pinkie Pie.

"You didn't answer my question." Pinkie Pie pointed out.

"What was it?" Twilight dodged. It was obvious that she was faking her forgetfulness.

"Your childhood." Pinkie reminded, looking at the unicorn.

"Fine." Twilight agreed, "I was fourteen, and I was beginning to grow a little... Portly."

"Nice," the element of laughter joked, giggling all the while.

~~

"Hey Twilight, do you want the usual?" Donut Joe asked politely, looking at the somber unicorn. The fact that she was referred to by name and had a "usual" didn't help her problem, so she sighed in discontent. The stallion noticed her change in attitude, and he racked his mind for something to help brighten her spirits.

"No just get me a chocolate doughnut. Extra sprinkles." Twilight ordered quietly, emphasizing her need for sprinkles. Joe nodded and went back to work, calling the names of ponies who had ordered food. Twilight sat back in her booth in the corner, sniffling quietly to herself.

"Is something wrong?" Joe asked, prepping the doughnut. The stallion began to pour her a glass of chocolate milk as a simple way of cheering her up.

Donut Joe placed the drink in front of her, and he walked away to serve another pony. Twilight muttered a thank you and began eating her treat. She would have liked to say the teasing had stopped after lunch, but it didn't and the constant gossip about her began to dig itself into her thoughts. Twilight used the thought that they were just jealous of her as a way to console herself. The idea was conceded, but it was enough to make her feel better. Twilight stifled an urge to cry out in public, so she took solace in the chocolate sprinkled doughnut and chocolate milk.

The purple unicorn let the sweetness of the fried good melt on her tongue; the bookworm chewed it slowly, cursing herself on her irresponsible snacking habits. It wasn't her fault that she would gourge on the chocolate, and she told herself if she wasn't deprived of the sweets as a filly she would have been better off. She pointed out to herself that he was being childish for blaming her problem on anypony but herself. She knew she had to admit it was her problem, but she found it hard to admit she had a problem.

"And you still ate it?" Pinkie questioned, raising her eyebrow at the unicorn.

"Well yeah, I was hungry. Plus it was free." Twilight reasoned.

"And you're still paying for it." Pinkie remarked snidely, and she smiled innocently after the comment to make up for the joke.

"You're not overweight sweetheart," the student's mother consoled; Star had seen the distress in the little filly's eyes, and she knew she had to cheer up her depressed daughter.

"I'm a portly pig! A Bloated Blob! Tubby Twilight! Fat Fu-" she was caught up in her unneeded anger, and she forgot about who she was talking with. Almost swearing in front of her mother.

"Woah calm down Twilight," she interrupted, forcing the frustrated filly into her forehooves. "It's okay, and with a little dieting and exercise you'll be back to your slim self sweetie. It's all about moderation."

"So I am fat..." Twilight countered, forcing her mother to feel a sense of guilt; Twilight didn't mean to react like that, but she had a certain thing in her mind that forced her to be brash to other ponies.

"No I didn't mean it like that!" Star retracted, knowing she was just making things worse. "I was j-just!"

"It's okay mother," she forgave quickly.

"We'll run every morning." Start Sparkle suggested, hoping to remove the sad look on her face.

"Okay," she agreed apathetically, nodding her head.

"So were you fat or not?" Pinkie asked.

"I don't think so, but I think I slimmed down after that point."

"One scoop of cherry chocolate sundae please," the purple filly ordered happily. The ice cream server smiled warmly, and she scooped up the chocolate ice cream, giving it to the waiting Twilight.

"You didn't learn anything."

"Nope, not at all."

"That's definitely different." Twilight sighed in discontent, peering down at the scale. Her weight had increased a bit more than the last time she checked. Her heart sank as the needle had surpassed the number of her previous weight. Her efforts in losing weight had failed, not exponentially, but it was enough to ruin her day. Twilight groaned to nopony in particular, slamming her head against the wall in despair. "Why. Can't. I. Stop. Eating. Chocolate!?" The Princess' student walked out of the bathroom; the unicorn checked the date and knew it was time for one of her weekly learning sessions with Celestia.

Twilight sprinted past the halls of the castle, hauling herself around to make sure she wasn't late. After a minute or two, she began to lose her pace, sweating and panting heavily. The filly finally reached Celestia's study, only to find Celestia sipping tea calmly. The princess' looked at the exhausted unicorn with a stunned expression.

"H-hi Princess," she greeted anxiously, breathing deep breaths after talking.

"My Twilight... You've... Grown." Celestia stated calmly, hiding a smug smirk behind her tea cup. Twilight on the other hand didn't know what to do with the comment made by her mentor. Twilight decided against making some sly come back and instead she chose to sit across from her. The princess began to demonstrate certain spells, lecturing the unicorn on the proper stances, the origin of the spell, and eventually, how to perform them. Hours passed, and Twilight found herself enjoying the time she spent with the princess. Twilight took specific notes, ad Celestia seemed to have been writing her own notes as well.

"I guess this will conclude our session." Celestia said, rising from her seated position. "Feel free to practice here if you like." Twilight nodded in understanding, and she looked back at a set of notes she had prepared during the lesson. Celestia left the room, and Twilight couldn't help but stare at the spell book across from her. She studied her spells before looking up at Celestia's spell book that she had left behind. Twilight would glare from her notes to Celestia's book, sliding closer to the edge.

"One look couldn't hurt," she reasoned; the curiosity finally getting to her. The unicorn trotted towards the open book; she saw the spells she had learned earlier along with an extra spell written in the bottom right corner.

Diet Spell

"A diet spell?" asked the slightly overweight pony. She thought back on her earlier experience since her recent promotion to a higher grade. The unicorn liked the idea of showing up to school skinnier than before, but she wanted it to be noticeable enough. Twilight knew it was better to lose weight in small installments instead of losing as much as needed like an irrational pony might have done, but she began to fight herself on deciding whether or not it was right to do it.

The unicorn thought to herself that it might have been left for her on purpose, and another half of her knew it was wrong to take the easy way out. Maybe it was another test from Celestia, or was she just trying to help? Twilight thought back on her teacher's comment and figured out that it wasn't a mistake.

She weighed the risks and the rewards, finding the rewards much more worth the risks. Twilight read the instructions carefully before writing it down in an isolated page in the notebook. Twilight made a mental note to thank the princess if it worked.

"What could possibly go wrong?" Twilight asked nervously.

"When are you going to learn?" Pinkie Pie sighed, knowing exactly what was coming next.

Author's Note

If you haven't noticed, I'm a really big fan of alliteration.