Soarin’s eyes popped open at her request, the tips of his ears snapping upward. A blush threatened his cheeks as heat built up in his ears. “Uh… wh-what?” he asked.
Rainbow Dash looked at him, one eyebrow cocked quizzically. She reclined on her cloud as it gently made way for her considerable girth and placed her hoof on her belly. “You heard me,” she said. “I want a belly rub.”
The heat in his face skyrocketed. Soarin was full-on blushing now. “C-Can I ask… why?” He mentally kicked himself for the mewling kitten his voice came out as.
The fat in her face dimpled adorably as her lips—those perfect lips of hers—curled into that cute smile he knew he’d always love. That look in Rainbow Dash’s eyes, teasing and fun, tickled Soarin in tender spots he wasn’t aware he had. “Well, the way I see it,” she said as her hoof continued to lazily run the length of her plump middle, “it looks like it’s gonna take some time before I can shed all this weight. If I’m gonna be fat for a while, I might as well enjoy some of the perks.”
It was hard to argue Rainbow Dash’s point. There wouldn’t be any harm in simply making the best of a bad situation. Not that being fat was a bad situation in Rainbow Dash’s case…
That word—“fat”—struck Soarin in the face the moment it cantered playfully through his head, making him blush even harder. His mouth crumpled into a line that couldn’t make up its mind on whether it expressed defeat or confusion. Rainbow Dash giggled at his puppylike perplexity.
“Yes or no?” Rainbow Dash asked.
After a second, Soarin finally snapped back into the present situation. “Uh… sure.”
Rainbow Dash had already reclined in her cloud, but now began to stretch, her movements reshaping the white fluffiness beneath her. Her limbs climbed in four directions, pulling the pronounced, perfect roundness of her belly into an almost ovular shape before she put her forelegs behind her head. Her body relaxed, her belly settling back into the perfect roundness from before. She motioned her head to signal she was ready.
Almost shyly, Soarin fluttered over to his… his what, exactly? He’d never felt this excited over so innocuous a demand before. The prospect of settling a hoof into Rainbow Dash’s soft fat switched on every light in his mind, electrified every nerve in his body. She couldn’t be just a friend to him anymore—a crush, perhaps?
He placed his hoof onto her belly slowly, taking in his first contact with Rainbow Dash. It didn’t cross his mind until now, but he’d never so much as touched Rainbow Dash before this. Not even a hug or a pat on the back in congratulation for her awesome performances, or in encouragement for the training he was putting her through. This first contact was therefore something special, not just the slight sinking of his hoof against her fat belly: it was the initial connection of Soarin to Rainbow Dash. He looked up and saw, in her eyes, that a similar realization likely crossed her mind too. She turned her head and coughed as she began to blush.
Soarin smiled, taking that as his cue to really get started. His hoof glided over the fur of her belly, slowly tracing a circle around her heft. The heat in his face flared up as he marveled at just how soft Rainbow Dash was. How soft and how smooth—like a warm goose-down pillow.
His other hoof pressed itself against her belly now, tenderly stroking Rainbow Dash’s generous girth. He felt her belly expand a bit—Rainbow Dash inhaling—and then contract a little—Rainbow Dash exhaling. Her new body even made the simple, everyday act of breathing magical.
He’d seen a million overweight ponies, how their fat seemed to act with minds all their own. How gross and disgusting, with bodies that were nothing but flaps and bags of flesh all battling each other for dominance with every movement.
Rainbow Dash was a different beast, though. Despite her eagerness to lose this extra weight, she kept her fat under her command at all times. She was perfectly round where it counted—especially her belly and her flanks—and her body would only jiggle and bounce when she wanted it to. Soarin found other fat ponies to be gross, but Rainbow Dash?
Rainbow Dash was beautiful.
There was no other word he could think of, cliché as it was.
Should he say something? Soarin couldn’t think of anything that didn’t sound stupid. Even an honest admission of Rainbow Dash’s beauty would probably make her want to call this whole thing off. He elected to say nothing his hooves could not—increasing the speed of every gentle glide around her voluminous barrel.
Soarin began to get into it now, his hooves starting near the top of her belly before travelling lower, then curving back up with small, circular motions. Rainbow Dash relaxed a little more, breathing a contented sigh through her nostrils while her eyes fell into a dreamy, half-lidded trance. The pleased smile on her face excited Soarin even more. It took more willpower than he thought he had to not take Rainbow Dash right then and there.
“Hey,” Rainbow Dash said suddenly.
Soarin snapped back up. He’d been too hypnotized by how soft she was to notice she’d probably been looking at him for a whole minute. “Y-Yes?” he asked.
Almost ten seconds ticked away before Rainbow Dash breathed deep. Soarin’s hooves, still on Rainbow Dash’s belly, were given another helping of that magical breathing. “Can you, maybe, uh…” Her eyes darted as she blushed again. “Can you go a little… lower?” She smiled, her confidence beginning to shake like a cup full of dice. “That would… be totally awesome.”
Soarin gulped, but retained his smile. The beads of sweat on his forehead began to crawl down his face as his hooves slid further down Rainbow Dash’s stomach—down until each one rested at either thigh, her flanks rippling upon the gentle impact. Then he brought them back up, and around, encompassing the entire width of Rainbow Dash's belly, before bringing them in low again, then repeating.
Soarin must have been blushing something awful, because he heard Rainbow Dash snicker. “What’s so funny?” he asked.
“You,” she said. “You act like you’ve never touched a mare before.”
Soarin didn’t know how to answer that. His ears lowered. “I… haven’t, actually.”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened before she burst out laughing. “Really?” she said. “Mr. Vice-Captain of the Wonderbolts himself has never been with a mare?”
“OK, so that came out wrong,” Soarin said with a smile. He continued to stroke her plush paunch as he explained. “I mean, I’ve never… given a belly rub before. I’ve massaged mares. I’ve kissed and snuggled and fooled around a little, yeah, but never a belly rub.” He seemed pensive for a moment. “Nothing all that serious, either.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Nothing serious? What, you mean you’re… still a virgin?”
The belly rub stopped. Soarin snorted, then laughed as he blushed sheepishly as he reluctantly said, “Well… yeah.”
“No way!” Rainbow Dash laughed. “I don’t buy that!”
Soarin’s good humor dissipated almost instantly, his smile deflating into a defeated smirk. “Well, whether or not you’re buying, that’s what I’m selling until the right customer comes along,” he said quietly. His hooves once again glided about Rainbow Dash’s belly, like ice skaters on a rink.
For a moment, Rainbow Dash was terrified she’d offended Soarin. Before she could offer an apology, Soarin started speaking again. “Groupies often offer to take it, you know,” he sighed. “But I know they’re only in it for my costume. For the badge on my uniform. Maybe that’s good enough for some of the Wonderbolts… but not this one.”
His hooves traveled lower, again resting at Rainbow Dash’s ample thighs. He lightly pressed his hooves into either side of Rainbow Dash’s chub, pushing into her belly before letting it return to its original shape. His hooves began slowly drawing circles into each side, going down, then up. “So I tried dating other celebrities. Some of the mares on the team, a few musicians. Even one or two actresses.”
Rainbow Dash was only half-listening at this point, enchanted by how “into-it” Soarin’s belly rub was. She nodded—celebrity dating, other Wonderbolts, musicians, actresses… “So… you tried dating Spitfire?” she asked.
Soarin looked Rainbow Dash in the eye with a mischievous smirk. “Well, that was before I found out she’s a lesbian,” he said.
Rainbow Dash blushed. She imagined that must have been awkward. “How about Fleetfoot?”
Soarin slid his hooves from her sides to her front now. He made slow, gentle pulling motions away from the center of her belly, teasing her fat into spreading a little before bringing his hooves back towards the center and repeating. “She’s hopeless,” he chuckled as he continued to roll her roly-poly belly. “She’s in love with some…” One hoof left Rainbow Dash’s middle and was waved dismissively. “…Some… guy—I don’t remember his name. The way she talked about him, I don’t think he even knows she exists.”
“How do you know?” she asked.
His emerald-green eyes were curtained by mischievous eyelids as his smirk twisted some more. “Because Fleetfoot and I have been friends forever, even before we joined the ’Bolts. I know when she’s full of it.”
He focused his attention, once again, on the baby blue belly below him. He mixed his movements up a little, his hooves rubbed and rolled its roundness, Rainbow Dash’s fullness squashing and stretching beneath his touch. “Tried getting together with some other celebs. Turns out most of ’em are weirdos or losers—not that I’m much better. But they were pretty outta my range anyway.”
Some silence. Soarin's eyes flicked up to her face and he suddenly wanted, for a moment, to touch it. It was round, full—like the rest of her now. Her wide, magenta eyes possessed not just the courage he became attached to, but a flurry of different emotions. Her sensitivity. Her joyfulness. Her plump cheeks had gone red, her lips pressed tightly together. Her eyes darted away the moment she caught Soarin staring at her. “...Yeah?” he asked.
Rainbow Dash continued to look away demurely for a second before meeting Soarin’s eyes again. “Soarin? What do you think of me?”
A train wreck of different things he could say collided and meshed within Soarin’s mind. He could tell her the truth—she’s fat, but she’s beautiful—and he could tell her even more of the truth—I admire your tenacity and courage and I want you by my side forever. But he had to word it carefully; Rainbow Dash had already angsted about her ample proportions, and he'd been insensitive about it before.
He sighed deeply before answering. “Why does it matter what I think of you?”
Soarin never wanted to facehoof himself so hard until that moment. Of course she cared. He just got through saying that other celebrities were losers—which was way out of line to begin with (way to go, genius!)—and he suddenly said his opinion didn’t matter and—ugh!
But instead of meeting his answer with scorn or confusion, Rainbow Dash merely scratched at her ear as her blush deepened. “Well… like… um…”
That was about when it finally hit Soarin. The crush was mutual. Had to be. But no! Wait, wait, wait, don’t act on it! Don’t ruin this!
If he ruined it, Soarin ruined it like a pro. His lips were on Rainbow Dash’s before she could properly articulate her thought. Their lips mashed for a bit before Soarin’s tongue poked at Rainbow Dash's mouth, asking to be let in. Just as shyly as her failed declaration of love, Rainbow Dash opened her mouth and Soarin’s tongue, rough and masculine, entered and courted hers. Their two tongues danced under several waves of hot breath.
Their kiss was sweet, but short. Rainbow Dash squeaked as she shot up, throwing Soarin off her. She stood up, gravity taking hold of her impressive belly and pulling it down. Her wings pumped, achieving lift astoundingly well for somepony her size. Her normally-cyan face was by now a deep tomato red, her eyes shimmering with tears. “I-I’m sorry, Soarin, this is—I gotta—but—no—I—gah!”
Soarin ran a hoof through his mane. “No,” he said with a wave of his hoof. “Rainbow Dash, that was my fault. I-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have... done that.” He looked aside to see Rainbow Dash wiping the tears from her face. With a quiet flap of his wings, Soarin darted over to her, putting his forelegs around her and burying his face into her neck. “I’m so, so sorry if that’s not what you wanted,” he said, his voice muffled by Rainbow Dash’s body. “I didn’t mean to scare you!”
Rainbow Dash returned the hug. “It’s not your fault, I freaked out. I just… I feel so ugly, and now you’re all into me and I…” Her back hutched with a sob. “…and I look like this!”
Soarin pulled away from her with a look of concern. “Rainbow Dash, don’t you dare say that!” Rainbow Dash held a gasp. His voice was… commanding again. Passionate. Confident. “Don’t you dare think anything less of yourself. There’s a... a deep and significant difference between being fat and being ugly—and you’re hardly what I’d call ugly!”
He put a hoof to her face, stroking it just as gently as he had stroked her belly. “Rainbow Dash, you... are... the most beautiful mare I’ve ever met,” he said. “I realize now, you were beautiful when you were skinny. And you’re beautiful now that you’re fat—and that’s difficult for anypony to pull off. You know why you’re beautiful no matter what shape you are?”
Rainbow Dash sniffed. “…Why?”
“’Cause you’re you. It sounds really cliché, but so long as you never lose your courage and determination, so long as you never change on the inside—you’ll always be beautiful.” Soarin’s vision began to swim. “…To me,” he finished, his voice a boyish whisper.
There was silence, save for the occasional chirping of birds. The warm sunlight cascaded upon them as if approving their mutual feelings for one another. Rainbow Dash and Soarin shared another look before diving into a second kiss, this one much more passionate and long-lasting.
“...So. That’s how you two got together?” Twilight asked, clapping her book shut.
Rainbow Dash—now her original, aerodynamic slimness after such a long and brutal regimen—trotted across the library floor with a big grin on her face. Her wings fluttered proudly. “Yeah,” she said before stopping. "We've been steady ever since." Her smile slipped a little.
There was a pause that Twilight didn’t like. “...Something wrong?” she asked.
A second or so passed before Rainbow Dash gave a shrug. “Well," she sighed, "it’s complicated.”
“But I thought everything was going great for you two,” Twilight said. “What’s wrong?”
Rainbow Dash frowned as she continued to trot about the library. “Well, the thing is… I don’t think I’m impressing Soarin much these days.”
“Why? Because you aren’t fat anymore?”
An unsure shrug. “...Maybe.”
Twilight shelved some more books. “Maybe you should bring this up to Soarin?”
“That's the thing,” Rainbow Dash said as she leaned against a wall. “I did. You know what he told me? He said, ‘Rainbow Dash, I don’t want you throwing away your dreams of being a Wonderbolt just because I have some silly fetish.’”
Twilight looked at her friend more closely. “He said that?”
She nodded. “Yeah. That's Soarin for you, though… you know, he just…” Rainbow Dash met Twilight’s eyes. “He puts me first in everything he does.” Twilight caught a warped twinkling in Rainbow Dash’s eyes as her voice tightened. “Like... everything. And that means a lot to me. You know? I just wanna impress him like how he impresses me every day we get outta bed.”
Twilight pressed her hoof against her lips in thought, weighing in the details she'd been given. “So… he’s attracted to ‘chubby’ you, but at the same time, he respects you enough that he has no desire to control you to benefit his new-found fetish.”
“In a nutshell, yeah.”
A second or so of silence. Twilight smiled. She looked this way, that way—as if making sure nopony else was looking in. Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow as Twilight’s horn shimmered and a book was pulled down from a nearby shelf. Its cover read, Shape Changing Magic: From You, To Something New! Twilight flipped it open as her smile became more mischievous. Fox-like.
“Well,” she said as she held the open book out to Rainbow Dash. On it was written a spell that could transform a thin pony into a fat pony. “I think I can help you indulge him a little.”
Rainbow Dash's lips split into a smile just as mischievous as Twilight’s. “I knew there was a reason we were friends!” she laughed as she playfully punched Twilight on the shoulder.