//------------------------------// // Stress Vacationing // Story: Solar Vacation // by Gladiolus //------------------------------// Princess Celestia, regal and commanding, paced the throne hall in a way that one could hardly call pacing. Instead she strode, and her long slender limbs had a confidence and poise to them that only an Alicorn Princess could muster. Her subjects gazed upon her with respect and awe- and some of them with attraction. The Princess adored it all and turned to them to give her wisdom. So perfect and wise was she that they didn’t question her words, and followed loyally as if the thoughts had been their own… It was then that Celestia awoke and blinked her eyes open to find the mayor of Ponyville glowering up at her. She did not look too amused, and Celestia could see the emotions swirling inside her. The mayor took a sharp breath before speaking, and clearly had to moderate her voice as she did. “Princess Celestia,” Mayor Mare started, and slowed her words to manage her tone, “I’d like to request we resume this discussion at a… more opportune time.” Celestia got the hint quickly enough. She’d fallen asleep listening to a petitioner, and that was not exactly the most regal of things. Despite the embarrassmet and shame, Celestia remained composed and as confident as possible. The snickering of the door guards did not help, and a slight blush grew on Celestia’s face. “That would be… acceptable,” Celestia returned. “Come back in a weeks time.” The solar princess sighed, and looked to the clock. It wasn’t even three in the afternoon and Celestia was exhausted. Mentally, physically, the alicorn princess’ batteries had been draining so rapidly lately. While Celestia reflected on things, her stomach growled softly and beckoned her to find a meal. She rubbed it softly, and quickly realized it had barely been an hour since she had last eaten. Her appetite was starting to get away from her, and the stress of her position was not making it easy to manage. It was time for a vacation, Celestia knew. The mayor of Ponyville was escorted out, and then Celestia slipped out of her throne. Doing so was an arduous task that required her to stick out her fat forelimbs and use the leverage to pull herself forward past the weight of her belly. Once her chest and head were out she could then pivot on her belly to land her forehooves on the stone before her chair, and only then was it possible to get her enormous rump up from a sitting position. Celestia closed her eyes and imagined for a moment if she had better control of her appetite. She thought of the mare in her dream and knew that she was no doubt at least twice her mass- and three times her width. The same genetics that had blessed Celestia with an eye-catching rear had left her with one that didn’t fit into most chairs these days. The alicorn looked to her right and frowned at her reflection in the stained glass. curvy one might say charitably, but obese was the more proper term. Celestia’s wings, which couldn’t even bare her weight, seemed almost shrunken against her expanded barrel. The cutie mark on her flank was no longer a true circle, instead it had been warped into an oval by her adipose. Luna did not fair much better. Despite Celestia’s not so polite insistence over the past few months that she cease her gluttony, Luna had ignored her and by this point outweighed her. Try and she might, Celestia’s own failed diets left her as hardly a good role model and the princess was aware of that. In the dining hall Luna took her third lunch of the day, and as usual it was an almost experimental affair of random dishes. So many new dishes had come into being while she was exiled, and the mare had become eager to try them. What had at first been a simple habit of heavy meals had developed into a significant eating problem. Between the Mane Six and the Night Guard fulfilling nearly all of what the tasks had busied herself with in ancient times, she was left with plenty of idle time and not too much to fill it with. Refreshing herself on history and exploring modern Equestria had been fun to her, for a time. Clearly Luna had more fun with eating. Some had started to wonder if Princess Luna was some sort of masochist. Her meals were long and rarely ended without her stomach groaning in pain and her chubby face some colour of green, and then barely an hour would pass before the next. Boredom and idle laziness left Luna eating her days away. It had a marked effect on the Princess’ body. Her once slender limbs had become buried with fat, and her body had swollen to four times its previous mass. Unlike Celestia, the center of Luna’s mass was on the enormously fat gut that swung between her legs when she walked. To those that knew her, it seemed only a matter of time before that bag of fat became too large for her to move. Her chins had merged into the fat of her neck, and a bulging chest stuck out from her body. Luna’s face retained it’s elegant feminine core, but it was buried by two chubby cheeks that seemed perpetually swollen as if she was a chipmunk. Celestia often wondered if her sister would even notice if she lost mobility. She found Luna in the dining hall as expected and entered with what grace her obese body could manage. The same stride that had given her a casual sexuality once instead left her ass bouncing now, and it left Celestia always feeling naked in her own body. Clothing didn’t do much good- she always tended to rip it and that was a problem in itself. Luna greeted Celestia with only a curt nod as she laid on her pillows, and her fat neck squished as she did so. “Sister.” Celestia swept up a pastry with her magic, and despite the enormous quantity of other food Luna scowled at her. “Luna,” Celestia returned, and met her eye before biting into it. Luna rolled her eyes, “Get your own meal, this is ours and we intend to eat it.” Celestia parked herself across and gathered two chairs in her magic to sit. “All this?” Celestia questioned. “There must be twenty pounds of food here, you’ll get sick.” Luna glowered at her sister, and then huffed as if challenged, “It would take more than this, sister.” The white alicorn leaned on her hooves and looked out to Luna, “You’re cute when you’re greedy,” she teased, and swept a cupcake up with her magic. “But I didn’t come here to tease you.” Luna’s magic greedily grasped at the cupcake, but Celestia’s was stronger by far- a sure sign that Luna’s obesity outdid her own. Inwardly, Celestia sighed softly with worry. Luna’s obesity always left her concerned. “That would seem to be a lie,” Luna accused, and pouted when Celestia ate that cupcake. Celestia shrugged, “Perhaps a half truth,” she giggled, “Anyhow, I’ve come here with a simple proposal.” Luna had a brownie stuffed into her face when Celestia spoke and could only question her with a tilted brow. “You and I are going on a vacation,” Celestia declared. The brow remained tilted. The next day was a gleeful flurry of announcements from Celestia. Firstly, she summoned Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer to the castle. Somehow, she was able to suppress the giggles in her voice when she informed the two they would- together- be running the country for a week. It would start right then, and she left the throne room with the two royal seats marked with the pairs cutie marks. Twilight Sparkle’s face had been priceless. With that accomplished, Celestia made her way to the apex of the castle to meet her sister. They would be taking the airship out for a cruise, as it seemed the best way to get away from things. It would be just the two of them, and their most trusted and unquestioning servants. The alicorn princess was not ready for the stairs. The sheer weight of her body was something Celestia had become comfortable with over time but walking up the long stairway of that tall tower reminded her how far out of shape she was. Despite several breaks, Celestia was entirely winded by the time she reached the top and her legs held for only a few moments before she trembled and fell. Celestia gasped and huffed for air, and her vision was red and foggy as she laid there in exhaustion. The two guards that would be protecting them, a tall stallion built like a truck and a slender Pegasus mare, looked down upon her with eyes that said what their words never would. Celestia, the Princess of Equestria, was helpless under her own fat and too out of shape for stairs. The ponies might respect her wisdom, but they could hardly respect her body- or self-control for that matter. The cynical part of Celestia’s mind went further: It wouldn’t be long until she lost their respect altogether. Behind the guards, however, she saw something else: Princess Luna, borne by a floating carriage. Celestia’s eye twitched as she realized what he sister had done. That fat slob of an… overfed oversized pampered cow didn’t even TRY the stairs! Celestia used all of her strength to get herself back on her feet, and gestured away the two guards, “I’ll be fine. Please unfurl the sails, we’ll be leaving shortly.” The guards saluted and took up the ramp to carry her order out, and Luna stepped out of her carriage. Despite her markedly shorter stature, Luna’s body was clearly more massive than Celestia’s. A gentle and quiet fat-muffled bubbling came from her if Celestia listened closely as well. This was the groaning churn of a stomach worked to its limits. “Suns above Luna, I can hear you getting fatter.” Celestia chided. “I’m going to work on my weight while we’re out, and I think you should too.” Luna rolled her eyes, and as if taunting her sister swayed herself slightly to exaggerate her stomachs noise. “Has Equestria grown so shallow that a mare is expected to conform to fads? We are who we are, sister- which presently is fat- and so are you, for that matter,” Luna taunted, and poked her taller sister in her fat-thickened chest. Celestia blinked, and a blush came across her face, and she shrunk slightly into herself as he neck bowed, “That’s not…” Luna smirked back at her sister, “I brought along my favorite chef, I’d quite like to share a few meals with you, sister- as long as you eat from your own plate,” Luna offered, and stepped past her up the ramp. Luna halted moments after setting foot on it and hearing a deep distressing creak from the wood. Her horn sparkled soon after and she immersed herself in a blue field before levitating herself up and dropping herself inside the airship. It dipped, ever slightly, from the sudden added weight. Celestia followed on shortly after, and the two made way for wherever the winds guided them. That evening Celestia watched from the stern as they departed Canterlot, and charted a path along the outer edge of Equestria. The view would be spectacular as long as the weather held, but this high at night the air got cold past sundown. So once she had lowered the sun, the mare went back down below deck. Princess Luna had shifted the main observation and state room below the stern into a dining hall. A single large table, covered in food and constantly being cleaned or refilled, made up the bulk of the space. Luna sat behind it upon a large collection of pillows. Her belly, bigger than any of those pillows, billowed out of her. Celestia gazed at her, staring at her own sister for a moment. Such rampant obesity was quite something, and the way Luna’s body jiggled with every swallow and her chest rose and fell with her breaths was almost hypnotic. The way her large, deep, and openly displayed belly button seemed almost sexual caught her attention too. The mare caught her own thoughts and closed her eyes before taking a breath. Suns above, Celestia. Luna does not make it ‘look good’. You’re making excuses for yourself. Luna eventually caught her staring. “Somffing won?” she asked. Celestia took a moment to realize what Luna had said through the half-pound of chocolate cake stuffed into her face and then shook her head, “N.. I mean yes.” The white alicorn stepped forward and swept the closest plates away from Luna before slapping food out of her hoof. Luna gasped and glared up at her, but Celestia glared down strongly enough to quiet her for the moment. “Look at you! Luna you’ve become so obese that I could fit my forearm down your navel, and all you ever do is eat! What about your health, and what about what our citizens think of you…” Celestia glanced down and realized her weight on the table was causing it to bend. A tear welled up in her eye, and she pivoted away from her sister. The alicorn mares thickened rear end clapped when she did, and she grit her teeth as anger and frustration welled up. “What will they think of us?” she started, and Luna remained silent at least for now, even as she slowly dragged her plates back. “What will they think of my lack of self-control? Who would follow a Princess that can’t even keep to her own diet? By the sun I can’t even fly. How’s Twilight Sparkle supposed to look up to a Princess that’s such a fat lazy slob she falls asleep during court?! Sun above, what am I good for like this?!” Celestia ranted, and her voice stammered while the pain of sadness burned in her throat. Luna opened her mouth without putting food to it, which was a rare thing, but before she could speak Celestia’s stomach growled. The white alicorn whipped around and swept up a few plates of random food with her magic and, with tears streaming off her face, departed the room at the best pace her overweight body could manage. Princess Celestia slept fitfully that night. The same dream as before came to Celestia’s mind while she slept. That of her, slender and beautiful, taking court and dispensing with her wisdom. It proceeded as it usually did, but after a time the throne room seemed to darken subtly, and then the mayor of Ponyville spoke up. “Why should I do what you say?” the mare questioned, “When you can’t even control your own appetite?” Celestia blinked at the harsh words and looked down. With a gasp of shock, she realized that she was so incredibly obese that her body consumed and flowed over her own throne. The paunch of her belly was like a huge pillow that swelled down the stairs and into the room itself, and when she tried to look behind her she found her head was wedged in place by fat. The mare could, however, feel the breeze outside behind her on her cheeks. The Captain of the Guard looked down at her as well, and he and the mayor of Ponyville seemed somehow impossibly tall and with a strange perspective towards her. “Why should I protect you? You’re an alicorn, and you can’t even move- some savior of Equestria. You should just give up, let someone that’s worth it sit on that throne.” “What throne?” the mayor giggled, “She crushed it under all. Of her. FAT.” Celestia started to feel her chest burn and her horn sparked. She didn’t know how, but she could feel her arteries harden and her heart struggle to pump blood throughout her massive body. The two looking down at her were soon joined by a third- herself. She sneered and looked down. “Better you die than ruin my perfect body. Pathetic, you might as well just keep eating until your heart stops, it’s all you can do,” Celestia sneered to herself. “You’re weak, worthless…” “CELESTIA IS MORE WORTHY THAN YOU’LL EVER KNOW.” Suddenly, it all vanished. Celestia couldn’t even register her shock before she felt a sharp slap to her cheek and then blinked. She found herself floating in a strange abyss- one she recognized. This was the dreamscape, and Princess Luna- despite her obesity- was held aloft by her wings before her. Before Celestia could speak she found herself being embraced. Luna flew at her quickly, and wrapped Celestia’s body up with her wings while she pushed her large, and quite soft, body into her sisters. “I should have known to talk to you sooner,” Luna whispered. The lunar princess pushed away from her sister, and put a hoof to her lips to quiet her. “I had thought, perhaps, you were simply taunting me with your comments on my weight. I should have been wiser and understood the… projection. My dear sister, we’ll have to speak in the morning.” Luna’s eyes started to glow, “For now- sleep.” Celestia’s dream repeated, as it always did, except she remained at her usual size- and was respected all the same. When Celestia awoke that morning, she awoke with a pounding headache that reminded her of some of the nights she had gotten into the wine in her youth. The source of this was soon apparent when she gazed upon her bed. It was full of both one-part obese solar princess, and one part the remains of a sugar-fueled binge that had left her in a food-coma for the sun only knew how long. Celestia blinked. The sun. With commendable speed for her size the fat alicorn scrambled out of bed and rammed the door open with her head. She sped into the hall, and then whinnied loudly as she reared up and kicked her forelegs into the air while her wings flapped open. The blinding intensity of the sunlight she ran into had surprised her, and with a fleshy plop Celestia’s heavy rear pulled her down on her ass. The sun, apparently, was not a problem. When Celestia’s vision recovered she found that her guard was looking at her questioningly, and Celestia relaxed into herself, and her useless wings folded at her back. Groaning that she had to, she held out her forehoof, “Please help me up.” Something tickled at the mare’s mind, and she paid close attention to how the guard reacted. He paid no mind to Celestia’s request, and Celestia noticed a lack of judgement in his eyes. The cynical part of her mind told her that, of course, this was a loyal guard- she could well be a blob and he’d still do what she said. That same part of Celestia’s mind made her ask herself what he thought of her behind closed doors. With a grunt of strength, he helped Celestia on all four, and then Celestia took a moment to collect herself, “How do I look?” she questioned. The stallion stepped back and looked at her for just a moment before rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “W… well you look like you just woke up from a night drinking, your highness…” Celestia’s stomach soon growled and made any thoughts of tidying herself up be thrust to the back of her mind. “Very well, get my mane brush and you may fix that while I have breakfast.” The stallion saluted and stepped past her, and Celestia suppressed a giggle and bit her lip. She did so enjoy having her mane brushed, it made her forget the stress of her weight for a moment. When Celestia returned to the ‘dining room’ Luna was already there and was as usual eating. Today however there was a pile of pillows across from her on the other side of the table. Out of the window, Mount Aris stood in the distance and the sun gleamed off it. Curious hippogriffs flew close to their airship, keeping a respectable distance but clearly interested in the floating pleasure vessel. “Good morning, Sister. I hope you don’t mind but I adjusted our vessels heading,” Luna spoke, and magically fluffed the pillows across from her. “Have a seat, join us.” Celestia hesitated. “How long have we been… here?” Luna shrugged, “Long enough.” “For what?” Celestia questioned in return. “Sit, sister,” Luna directed instead. “Questions after food.” Celestia’s stomach growled again and directed by the internal desire for food she did as both her sister and her instincts ordered. Breakfast was surprisingly healthy for Luna, consisting of as much salad as it was chocolates. Celestia took to the salad, and Luna continued to stuff her face with chocolate. “This voyage was a wonderful idea. If I had thought of eating and exploring I would have departed Canterlot months ago. Queen Novo is quite a delightful conversation partner.” Celestia nodded, and without realizing herself stuffed a chocolate muffin into her lips, “She is quite a…” Celestia blinked, and then coughed and hacked as she quickly swallowed down her chocolate. “Queen Novo isn’t…” Celestia coughed, “Not now…” The pegasus-accessible door to the room was soon pushed open, and as if she had received some sort of coded signal Queen Novo herself entered. Celestia, despite her personal confidence that she usually displayed shrunk into herself and looked down, not wanting to be seen by such a beautiful and elegant hippogriff such as her. Celestia’s chin was raised by her own sister, and the white alicorn had to pull her face into a forced smile when Queen Novo sat herself beside Luna. The hippogriff was astoundingly beautiful. Her wings were large and even folded at her back were elegant and pretty. Her body was slender, but well curved enough to send the right signals to the male sex. There was silence, and then Celestia swallowed, “Queen Novo! I shouldn’t… be seen like this, it’s not proper for a Princess.” Queen Novo tilted a brow, and then soon giggled, and then laughed. “Why would I expect you to be at your regal finest when on a private voyage with your sister? Frankly, there’s something comforting about knowing even Princess Celestia herself gets bed-head.” Celestia’s composure was broken for just a moment, and she betrayed her confused. “I… well of course I do, but it’s nothing a good mane brushing can’t fix.” Despite Celestia’s best attempt at control, as soon as that guard started to brush her she neighed softly and relaxed. “Please, Princess- you’re the very icon of beauty and wisdom. I would give half the pearls in my collection for even a third of the respect you command, or for that matter to have a sister as caring as you do.” Luna blushed and shoved a brownie into her face. “Turn around,” Queen Novo directed. Celestia hesitated, but soon did as told. “Now get up and look out the window.” Celestia again did as directed and did her best to ‘suck in’ her fat ass. She felt so ashamed to be at such a weight before her slender visitor, and all it did was leave her tense and stressed. “What am I looking at?” Celestia questioned and gazed out towards the spots of hippogriffs looking back at the airship. “Respect,” Queen Novo started, “Perhaps even worship. Envy, jealousy. There is not a hippogriff in that sky that wouldn’t lay themselves down to protect you- Not even I get such reverence.” Queen Novo huffed, “Now, do you think a single one of them cares you’re overweight?” Celestia glanced back and glared at the Queen, and the hippogriff in return simply tilted a brow. “Well, what? That’s the point isn’t it. You’re a mother to your people, and their guiding light- I hardly think they mind you have some junk in the trunk. Did you know my wings are larger than they should be?” Celestia could only blink and look to those wings when Queen Novo splayed them open. “If anything, Princess, having a vice… makes you more relatable. None of us are perfect, and your people will always respect you for who you are: Princess Celestia,” Queen Novo spoke, and pushed a plate across to where Celestia was sitting. “Now sit, eat. There’s quite a few stories I think we can share…” For the first time in over a year, the stress melted off Celestia, and when she sat with a smile on her face and conversed with Queen Novo, laughing and enjoying their conversation, she felt truly safe and secure in herself.