Autumn time had come to Equestria as the ponies were preparing for the approaching winter. The many farms were conducting their final harvests before the snow arrived, the Running of the Leaves now happening. As for the other holidays, Nightmare Night was only a month away, Heartswarming right after that.
And as these events were coming on the horizon, a certain pony in the Carousel Boutique was busy storing her summer clothing lines, ready to make room for the winter wear. Years of experience had helped Rarity learn when exactly the best time to start selling the changing line, mainly the fashionable coats and thermal clothing.
As for today, she had to hurry since she was planning to meet Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie for lunch. Luckily, she had help. "Here you go Rarity!" Sweetie said as she levitated a mannequin into the room, only for it to bang its head on the doorframe.
"Careful!" She scolded as her horn lit up, gripping the statue as well, "Sweetie...what did I tell you about your magic?"
"Sorry..." Sweetie muttered as Rarity placed the mannequin down next to the rest. She then removed the rest of the clothing, putting them on hangers before storing them in an oversized closet for future sales.
"That's the last of it," the fashionista proclaimed once the last dress was on its hanger. "Thank you, Sweetie. I'm sorry for yelling at you. I just want you to be more careful."
"It's fine. I'm happy to help." Sweetie then blinked at the wardrobe. "What the heck are you gonna do with all that stuff?"
Rarity shrugged at this, "Who knows? Maybe a pony will show up looking for something like it for some unknown reason. Its always good to be prepared, as that's the first rule of business."
"I thought the first rule of business was the customer's always right."
"Well...it is."
"Or give before you take."
"Yes...although-"
"Or surround yourself with the best. Or build on your strengths and hire for your weaknesses." Rarity turned to glare at her sister, only to see a big cheeky smile on the filly's face, "To be honest, you've told me so many first rules of business that it's hard to keep track of them all."
"Oh, off with you. Don't you have crusader things to do today?!"
"Yes, I do." With that, the unicorn filly ran out the door, Rarity shaking her head at the sight. She placed the last dress into her closet, sighing as she stared at all the dresses she hadn't sold, alongside her personal collection. The mare then took out one of her favourite dresses, the one she had worn at her first gala.
Taking a glance at the clock, she saw it was eleven o'clock, forty-five minutes before she was to meet her friends. Plenty of time. She then took the dress out and began to put it on, but something was...off. "Excuse me?" She asked herself as she attempted to do the belt around her waist. But as she tried, she saw the links couldn't reach. "Come on...why can't I...fit into this..." she flinched as she her horn flared, magic aura covering the dress as she kept trying to fit into it. But as she did this, her eyes shrunk as her brain told her one thing. "Oh no..."
Quickly removing the dress and putting it back in the closet, the unicorn ran into the bathroom before her eyes fell on the worst device in her house. One that existed only for dread and terror: The weighing scales.
Trotting up to it, she gulped before closing her eyes. Her heart beat a mile a minute as she opened her eyes, her pupils slowly descending down. And as she did this, a loud scream echoed throughout Ponyville. The screech shook the earth, a barrage of birds flying out into the distance thanks to the terrifying scream.
Meanwhile...
In a long winding stone corridor that looked like something out of a Daring Do book, a certain yellow unicorn named Lightning Blitz was running down the rocky place. His cape and necklace were missing, his eyes darting everywhere as sudden holes appeared in the walls, summoning a bladed pendulum. As it swung, Lightning managed to pull himself to a stop before leaping over a lower hole to dodge the blade.
After this, he began hopping like a rabbit, his hooves grazing several spiked sticks shooting out of the walls. As they did this, he dodged each impalement, quickly getting out of the chamber, only to come to a halt again. There he found himself now in front of a large chamber that had no floor, instead having a bunch of floating platforms hovering over a pit of lava.
A small gulp later, the unicorn began to leap around, keeping his footing as he hopped onto each platform. And as he got to the final one, he found himself falling short, now gripping it with his front hooves. Clenching the edge with his backhooves, he groaned as he scraped up and caught his breath. After this, he leaped again, now getting to a podium that had a big red button on it.
"Almost there..." he whispered before taking a deep breath, soon charging at max speed. But as he did this, movement in his peripheral vision made him jump to the side. A dart hit the ground next, followed by a volley of others, Lightning dancing around as one of them skimmed his shoulder. And as he felt the scratch, he leapt at the button, slamming his hoof into it.
"DONE!" He yelled as the darts froze in midair, the whole place now dissolving into the castle training room. Flash, Springer, Iron and Wild were sitting on a bench off to the side, Lightning turning to them. "What's my time?" Springer held up a stopwatch, which he took in his magic. "Let's see...three minutes and thirty-four seconds! Yes!"
"That was awesome bro!" Wild cheered, his puppets dancing at the same time.
"It was twenty-nine seconds," Flash told him. "Had to add five seconds since you were hit by that dart."
"It skimmed me."
"Which is why you got five seconds instead of ten," Iron countered. "Not only that-"
Lightning rolled his eyes at this. "Yeah yeah...that's why magic is forbidden in this, as this is physical only. I know Iron. Now, where does that put me?"
"One second after Flash," Springer replied while pointing at Iron, "You beat me by eight seconds and since Iron didn't finish..." this made the earth pony grumble since he fell in the lava. "Flash is still faster than you, at least without his wings and your magic."
"Oh yeah!" Flash cheered as he started doing a victory dance, the other three rolling their eyes.
Lightning then shined a cheeky grin, "Just wait Sentry, I'll catch up to you yet. And I won't rest until I do."
"Too right you won't," Wild added.
"Too right, too right."
"So...mind if I give this badcolt a try?" Wild asked next, only to get four surprised looks back, "What?"
"You do know this isn't the kind of thing the average pony could do, right?" Iron responded, only to get a shrug from Wild.
"Well, I'm not your average pony. Besides, ever since the gala incident, I've been wanting to learn a few combat skills. Gotta be able to protect what you love, right?" The others shared a glance, Wild chiming in again, "Let me use basic magic then? You know, if you're that worried."
They nodded in agreement at this, resetting the room as Springer got the stopwatch ready.
Meanwhile...
Rarity was now sitting outside of the café with Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie. They had all arrived at around the same time, chatting up a storm until the waiter arrived. It was Savoir Fare, pulling out a notepad as he asked, "Is everypony ready to order?"
Rarity turned to him first, "I'm not that hungry. I think I'll just...have an ice tea."
Twilight nodded in agreement, "Me too. My stomach feels kind of full."
"I wanna ice tea too!" Pinkie added as she tapped her hooves together.
Fluttershy looked down as she said, "I um...uh...want an ice tea. Herbal please."
"Very well." Savoir scribbled a few notes before walking away, the four blinking at the leaving figure before Rarity turned to her friends.
"Well...seems we're not eating much today, hmm?" Rarity chimed in, only for the three to look away.
"Yeah...I guess so." Twilight responded while twiddling her hooves. "I mean, I know I'm not hungry."
"Same here." Pinkie chimed before slumping over, "I uh...I've been..."
"Your drinks." Savoir interrupted, placing the glasses on the table. They all gave their thanks before Rarity took her drink in her magic. As she did this, her eyes jumped from one mare to another, seeing each handling their drinks differently. Pinkie was continuously sipping hers down, Twilight levitating it around but pushing it away when it got close to her lips. As for Fluttershy, she just stared at hers with an increasing frown.
The sight made Rarity want to sigh, her voice's tone soft as she spoke up, "Excuse me girls," they all turned to her. "Apologizes in advance for asking this, but....is everypony here...on a diet?" As those words left her mouth, Pinkie spat her drink out, Twilight's horn now flickering as the glass began to fall out of her magic. But when Rarity glanced at Fluttershy, her heart shrank as she saw tears begin to fall down the pegasi's face. "Oh dear..."
One transition to another location later...
After leaving the café, (They made sure to pay despite not drinking the tea) the four soon found themselves in the town square. Twilight and Pinkie were sitting on a bench while Fluttershy and Rarity opted to stand. Twilight spoke up first, her voice shaking as she admitted, "Between the gala, Fantasia Festival and the wedding...well, I think we might have been over-indulging ourselves a bit when it's come to unhealthy foods."
Pinkie nodded in agreement. "Though this might seem to be coming out of left field for some ponies who might be listening, since they probably weren't there when we were eating."
Rarity turned to her in confusion. "What in Equestria are you talking about, darling?"
Fluttershy then spoke up before Pinkie could comply. "What she means is that everything's so delicious, you can't help but over-eat."
"I have to agree," Rarity replied with a long sigh. "I myself have gained-"
"Greetings. It has come to our attention that most girls take issue with having their weight broadcast. Since these girls include a magical prodigy alicorn, a seamstress that could weave a suit out of your own blood, a pegasus with animals like tigers and bears for friends, and...well...Pinkie, we will not be announcing their actual weight and using certain censors for the time being. Until then, and after we made sure to build a bunker for safety, we will be showing the censored words.
Now, back to your scheduled reading."
"Fashion pounds."
"Oh please, you're fine." Twilight grumbled as she looked away, her face turning red, "I discovered I'm up to bookshelf pounds. Ugh...its so embarrassing."
Pinkie's hair went flat at hearing this, "Well, I've gained cupcake pounds." She turned to the last of their group, "Fluttershy?"
The Pegasus shrunk back, trying to hide her face behind her mane. "I um...I uh...last I checked, it was...puppy pounds, I believe."
All four's eyes shrunk at this, now seeing the horror that was this new reality for them. As they thought about this, Twilight crossed her hooves as she whimpered out, "Gosh...I never would have guessed this would happen. I mean, what if the boys found out?"
The others all gasped at the suggestion, a giant imagination cloud appearing over their heads. It showed Spike, Wild and Flash running through town, screaming their heads off.
"This is an emergency!" Fake Spike screamed, "Rarity has put on fashion pounds!"
Fake Wild clutched his head and cried out, "And I can't believe Pinkie has put on cupcake pounds!"
"It's horrifying!" Fake Spike continued, "We can't let anypony find out about this!"
"NOOO!!" Pinkie yelped as she went up and swatted the imagination cloud with her tail. "Bad imagination cloud! Bad!" She then turned to the others, now seeing panic on their faces. The sight made her gulp, "This is bad..." Pinkie pulled a bag out of her hair and started hyperventilating into it. "They'll...never...be able...to keep the secret."
Fluttershy's eyes began to tear up again, "Oh dear...what would Iron think?"
As they saw both now shiver like leaves, Twilight and Rarity exchanged glances before Twilight said, "I guess that settles it. We gotta lose this weight and quick."
"But how?!" Rarity asked as her lip started quivering, "You don't happen to have a spell that makes you burn off a hundred calories with each step you take, do you?"
Twilight shook her head, "No. I checked and there's nothing."
They all sighed at this, Fluttershy whimpering out, "It's so unfair. I surprised Iron with a big home-cooked meal a few days ago. He loved it and ate about three times as much as I did..." Tears began to go down her face, "So why am I the one who gained weight?!"
Twilight slumped over with a sigh, "Flash is the same. I've seen him eat enough food to feed Manehatten, but he never seems to grow any wider."
"That's because of all the intense exercise they do," Rarity added with crossed hooves. "Whatever they eat ends up getting burnt off because they're constantly active, just like Rainbow and Applejack. They probably eat just as much but work it off on the farm or during Wonderbolt practice." The fashionista blinked at her own statement, only to tap her hooves, "That's it! That's what we need!"
"To work on a farm?" Pinkie asked.
"To become Wonderbolts?" Fluttershy followed.
Rarity shook her head, "No! We need an extensive training regiment. We need to cut out anything fattening and push our bodies until they're back to their regular dress size."
Twilight and Pinkie blinked at her, their eyes shrinking at the idea, "Um...are you sure that'll work?"
Rarity nodded back. "We won't know until we try. How about it?"
Twilight and Pinkie shared a glance, only for Fluttershy to speak up, "I'll do it!" They turned to her, only to lean back as they saw the tears now gone as fire burned in her eyes, "WHATEVER IT TAKES TO LOSE THIS WEIGHT!"
Pinkie shined a big grin, "Then I'm in too! Whatever it takes to slim down!"
Twilight did a small gulp, but nodded anyways, "Alright. I'm on board too."
Rarity nodded and held out her hoof, "Right. Then let's all take the pledge." They all brought their hooves together, "We're gonna burn it all off!"
Together, they all announced the same thing. "WE PROMISE TO FIGHT TILL WE'RE RIGHT!"
One trip out of the town square later...
Now having their declaration of war against weight done, the girls all headed off to find their trainers. It wasn't long till they reached the castle, the group making sure to avoid the kitchen. "If I know them, they'll be in the training room." Twilight commented as she trotted down a hallway.
As she said this, the defenders walked out of the room, Flash seeing Twilight as he asked, "Oh, hey girls. You here to study the training room again?"
Twilight shook her head, "No, we need to talk to you all about something."
"What?" Iron replied, now seeing Fluttershy look away.
"Well..." the pegasus started to shift her hoof into the floor, "We were...um...wondering if you...uh..."
"We wanna train with you guys!" Pinkie chimed in, Fluttershy backpedaling as she hid her sigh of relief.
The boys all blinked in confusion, Wild now speaking up. "Why?"
His puppets repeated the question, Twilight this time replying. "Well...you all do it all the time, and...we thought it might be a great way to build our relationship. You know, understanding something what your other half does most of the time. To uh...you know, understand you better."
They watched as the boys all exchanged glances, both groups having different mental conversations. After this, Flash turned back to the girls and said, "I...guess that makes sense. I mean, I'm fine with it." They sighed in relief, only for Flash to stare at Twilight and add, "But are you sure about this Twilight? We've done this before. You know, the whole body swap we ended up doing a while back."
"Well...that was different, and I'm an alicorn now." Twilight replied, her eyes darting away for a split-second.
But as this exchange happened, Lightning turned to Rarity. "Wait...what are you doing here? You're not dating anypony here, and the last I checked, you were allergic to your own sweat."
"Oh, ha ha." she growled while rolling her eyes. "Is it so hard to believe I wanted to try something new with my friends?"
"It is if it involves the kind of serious physical exercise." Lightning flatly replied, "Seriously Rarity, are you sure you wanna do this?"
Iron nodded in agreement, "He's got a point. This might not be something you girls can handle."
This statement caused the girls to all frown, Fluttershy trotting up to her boyfriend with a glare, "Are you saying because we're girls we can't do anything you can do?!"
"No! Of course not!" Iron instantly replied as they shook their heads, "I'd be saying that if you were all boys! Er...I mean uh..."
Flash came to his rescue, "He means that our level of training isn't something you can just jump into."
"But you do it every single day," Pinkie pointed out.
"Yes, but that's only because our bodies have been conditioned from years of training. You're trying to do something like uh...Twilight trying to use the most difficult spell she knows, but while she's still a filly."
This made the girls all gulp, glancing at each other as Iron spoke up, "Right. We're not saying you can't do our training, as you probably could...but it could take weeks if not months of smaller exercises to get to that level."
Flash nodded in agreement. "I mean, when I first became Grand's apprentice, he didn't have me instantly train on the level that the guards trained. Most of the time it was studying, alongside simple exercises that helped build my stamina and muscles."
"Which were slowly made more intense over time," Iron continued. "You get the picture now?"
They all nodded at this, Rarity gritting her teeth at that. Taking a deep breath, she stepped in front of the girls, "Alright then, we want you to give us everything you think we can take. Put us through the most difficult regime you think we'll be able to handle."
"Yeah!" Pinkie added while bouncing up and down, "Push us to our limit!" Twilight and Fluttershy also nodded at this.
The boys all shared glances, Flash twiddling his hooves, "Well..." Rarity gestured to Twilight, the alicorn walking up to the defender in response, batting her eyes. Fluttershy and Pinkie did the same with their boyfriends, the three squirming under their gaze until- "Alright, you can train with us."
The mares cheered, all pulling the boys into a hug. That is, except Lightning as he rolled his eyes, "Pushovers." A small laugh made him turn to Rarity, the mare giving him a huge smirk. "What?"
"I look forward to training with you."
"Say that again after the first day. You probably won't last the first ten minutes."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, that's so." Lightning replied, only for a bulb to go off over his head, "In fact, tell you what...I'll make a bet with you."
Rarity raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Go on..."
"If you can get through a whole week of training, I'll agree to do anything you want me to do for a whole day without complaint."
Rarity shined a big grin at this, "Oh, I like the sound of that. Thought...you really think I can't last that long?"
"I'm certain of it."
"And if I don't last?"
"Then you have to do whatever I ask for a whole day without complaint. So, you still up for this?" He held out his hoof, Rarity blinking at it before thrusting her hoof and gripping it.
"It's on," Rarity replied with a shake. As this happened, everypony watched with raised eyebrows, surprised at the exchange.
"Alright..." Flash turned to all four girls, "You all better rest up. Starting tomorrow, your training begins in earnest."
"Can't it begin in Ponyville?" Pinkie asked, "I don't like the cupcakes they make in earnest." A series of laughs followed this, everypony giggling before leaving the castle.
The next morning...
As soon as the sun rose the next morning, the girls were up and at the castle. There, they found the defenders standing behind the castle, which the girls started to do stretches in preparation. Pinkie was wearing a yellow tracksuit shirt and blue shorts, a blue headband, yellow leg warmers on her back legs and smaller striped ones on her front legs. The others were just wearing headbands and leg warmers.
They weren't the only ones there, as Spike, Rainbow, Applejack and the CMC had all heard about this little experiment and knew they just had to watch. Rainbow and Applejack were invited to join, but both chose not too since they got plenty of exercise in their day to day lives.
"This should be fun." Spike said while snacking down on some popcorn.
"Glad I brought a camera," Sweetie added while she held up the device. "I can't wait to see Rarity do this."
"I'm gonna want a copy of that," Rainbow told her next.
"Me too," Spike and Scootaloo said together.
However, Applejack was the only one not excited. Instead, she was sitting there with crossed hooves, glaring at the mares as she whispered, "Ah just don't get it. What are they up to?"
"Alright girls," Flash declared as he walked in front of everypony, "First off, are you sure you're properly stretched out? Trust me on this, you'll regret forgetting a muscle later." The girls all nodded as they stood in a line, Flash pacing in front of them like a general. "Then we'll get started. Now you wanted to be pushed to your limits, so we'll do just that...but if at any point you feel like you can't go on, just say the word and we'll quit. Alright?"
They all nodded again, remembering what the goal was. The girls had a very light breakfast, trying as best as they could not add any more calories to the pile they needed to burn off. As such, Flash continued, "Alright...Lightning will be doing your warm-up while the rest of us are on patrol. After that, the serious training begins." With that, Flash, Iron and Springer walked away, giving Lightning a knowing nod before leaving.
"Alright ladies," Lightning stopped when he saw Wild now standing beside Pinkie. "And stallion. Let's begin our warm-up. We'll start with...how about three whole laps around Ponyville?" This statement caused Wild and the girls to all go wide-eyed, only to see a big grin appear on the unicorn's face, "You've got an hour before the guys come back from patrol. Anypony who hasn't completed all three laps in that time won't get to rest, and they'll have to do push-ups instead until they show up."
"Isn't that a little...extreme?" Twilight squeaked out, her memory of being Flash back then not even suggesting something like this.
"You asked to be pushed to the limit," Lightning then smirked at Rarity. "Unless you wanna admit you can't handle it."
"We'll do it!" Rarity declared as the other girls glanced at her for a second, only to nod in agreement.
"Then let's go ladies. Follow me!"
Lightning began into a sprint, the mares and Wild quickly following as Applejack commented, "And so it begins." As she said this, Rainbow took to the air with Sweetie so they could follow, the rest sitting back and waiting to see who would be the first one back. Twenty minutes later, they got their answer when Rainbow and Sweetie floated down with Pinkie appearing on the horizon with Wild on her tail. As they reached them, Twilight and Rarity appeared with Fluttershy just behind them with Lightning by her side. Exhaustion was already on every non-defender face, Spike and Scootaloo sharing glances as they began their second lap.
"That's not a good sign." Spike commented as he finished his popcorn.
"Yeah...that looks pretty rough." Scootaloo added.
It was twenty-five minutes before they showed up again, Pinkie and Wild having now dropped back so they were now running beside Rarity and Twilight with Fluttershy and Lightning on their tails. "Come on girls!" Spike cheered.
"You can do this!" Sweetie screamed, the four nodding to show they had been heard as they began their final lap.
"You think they'll make it?" Apple Bloom asked Applejack, who just shrugged.
"Twilight might make it considering how she was back at the Running of the Leaves. Still...they only got fifteen minutes left."
They waited and watched with baited breath, ten minutes passing with no signs of the girls. With each minute that ticked by, it seemed more likely that the girls wouldn't be able to do it. But just as the last minute began, Lightning appeared in his traditional flash of light before picking up a stopwatch he had started almost an hour ago.
"What are you-" Spike didn't finish, as in that moment five different colored blurs appeared on the horizon and were coming up fast. With thirty seconds remaining, the girls pushed themselves as they shot past where Lightning was standing.
"Time!" He said, Wild and the girls all collapsing on the ground panting. Spike rushed over with a tray of water bottles, as Lightning checked the watch. "Three seconds under an hour. You just lucked out." The five sighed in relief before slurping down the water, Pinkie just throwing hers on her head. "Catch your breath and wait until the others show up. Then we can begin the real training."
They all froze as they remembered this was just a warm-up, Flash and the others returning just a few minutes later. Wishing the boys had taken their time on patrol, they felt a chill go down their spines as they saw Iron take over coaching, "Alright, time for some muscle-building exercises. We'll start with pushups." The boys got in line with the girls before they all got down, each having different levels of success. Pinkie and Wild seemed to be having no issue, but weren't going as fast as the defenders, Wild being a tiny bit quicker. Twilight and Rarity were much rougher around the edges, Rarity in particular letting out long pants while Twilight tried harder to regulate her breathing. Fluttershy was having the most issues, her body barely moving up and down. Seeing this, Iron turned to her. "You can do this Shy. Don't try to keep up with everypony else in this. Ignore 'em and do as much as you can do."
"Thank you Iron." she whimpered out as she now stared at the ground, her body refocusing. The animal caretaker's speed increased thanks to this, but it was still miles behind the others.
Eventually, Spike yelled time, making Iron get up and change to the next exercise. This time, they split into boyfriend-girlfriend pairs to perform sit-ups. Lightning and Rarity paired off as Spike announced for them to begin, half the group beginning the move while the other half held down their hooves. It wasn't long till they switched, the mares wishing it was longer time for the boys. That's how it went for the next hour, with the group performing multiple different exercises together. Inchworm, plank jack, mountain climber twist, plank to knee taps, corkscrews, wide mountain climber and the old favorite of the burpee.
By the time Flash called an end to the session, Wild and the girls were not in the best condition. Even the defenders were looking a little winded, but the others looked as if exhaustion had teamed up with pain to torture them. Despite this, they all gave determined stares as Flash cheered, "Well done. You girls all did great!" As these words left his mouth, his ears picked up a loud cough from a certain unicorn, "And you did great too Wild."
"Thanks..." he moaned as he laid back while Pinkie rest her head on his stomach. "I can't believe you do that every single day. Respect."
"Respect, respect."
The defenders all turned to one another, Springer now speaking up, "Uh...girls? That was just part one of today's training."
They all went wide-eyed at this, looks of horror covering their faces. Lightning laughed at the sight, kneeling down next to Rarity, "What, you already done?" This made the unicorn almost growl as she picked herself up, her legs shaking like jelly.
"I'm ready when you are. What's next?"
Lightning chuckled at the sight, backpedaling as shined a small smirk, "That's what we like to hear. Because of that, we've come up with a little challenge for you all to try. Follow me." The unciorn turned and walked into the castle, everypony except Springer heading inside. However, Wild and the girls found that they had to almost drag themselves, only to find that they were going to the training room.
Stepping inside, they found that the place had been morphed into what looked like a high school gym. On one side of the wall were a bunch of cannon-like devices that the defenders stood behind. "Welcome, to extreme dodgeball." Flash patted the cannons with a small grin, "These bad boys will fire high-speed balls at you. Your job...is to not be hit by them. If you're hit, you're out of the game."
Iron nodded while punching his hooves. "The game will last thirty minutes. Anypony still in by the end of it gets a special prize." He then saw the truly scared look on Fluttershy's face, making him walk in front of the cannons, "And before you think this is dangerous, its not. We're not gonna do something painful like this. Its about reflexes and agility, not pain endurance. Here, watch." Flash fired the cannon at Iron, a red ball smacking his face. However, as soon as it touched the tip of his nose, it exploded into a million specks of light that quickly faded away. "See? Perfectly safe." This made Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief, only to feel somepony land right beside her.
"Oh, I am so getting in on this," Rainbow added as she shifted beside Fluttershy, Spike, Applejack and the CMC all doing the same.
"Same. Let's do this thing," Applejack continued, the others nodding with big grins.
"Alright. And before we begin..." Flash turned to his lover, "No magic." Twilight rolled her eyes at this, only to see Flash switch the first cannon on. A ball shot out, the group scattering as it hit the wall behind them and exploded. The defenders all started their cannons as well, balls flying everywhere as they now began to bounce off the walls and floor.
At the start, the cannons weren't firing at fast or hard rates, making it easy to dodge. But with each passing minute, they began to increase in speed and power, Lightning summoning an extra cannon at the three minute mark. However, it wasn't until the five-minute mark that they had their first elimination, that being Spike as one of the balls bounced off the wall and rebounded into the side of his head.
"Whoa!" He cried as the ball exploded against his temple, knocking him off balance.
"Spike, you're out!" Flash yelled as he saw the pouting drake go to the side. He then turned back to the girls, a huge grin appearing on his face, "One down. Who's next?!"
Sweetie and Applebloom were next, both getting hit about the same time. Then Wild was eliminated, as Pinkie jumped to dodge a ball, only for it to bounce off the floor and hit him in the chest. Pinkie apologized after this, Wild not minding as they let him leave the field. After that was Scootaloo, getting hit in the back by a rebound from a ball hitting the wall.
Only the mane seven girls were left, ten minutes now passed as the balls began firing at max velocity. Despite this, the girls remained untouched...except a certain athlete, "HA!" Rainbow exclaimed as she dodged three balls at once, "I could do this all day!"
But as these words left her mouth, the universe decided otherwise as several cannons suddenly pointed in her direction and fired a volley of balls. "WHOA!" She yelped as she began making weird body shapes in the air, unable to fly out of her current spot. But as she did this, a ball clipped her wing, exploding.
"You're out!" Flash announced, Rainbow growling back at him.
"What?! That thing just clipped me!" She yelled, only for another ball to hit her face, "Blaugh!"
"Leave Rainbow. You lose." Flash replied, Rainbow grumbling as she floated down and walked off the field. "Now...who's-"
"Yeehaw!" Applejack cheered as she spun around, practically breakdancing to avoid a volley of spheres. But in that moment, Rarity spotted a ball incoming and gasped before ducking, the projectile flying over her head and straight for Applejack. The farm pony also saw it and instinctively did a matrix style backbend, though she had to use one of her front hooves to keep her balance. The ball went flying right over her stomach and head, passing by as she pushed herself back up. "Oh yeah!" She celebrated, only for the ball to bounce off the back wall and strike her head, "Yow!"
She fell over from the blow, everypony flinching as she mumbled into the floor, "Aw, donkey butter..." The farmer then picked herself up and joined the others.
"And then there were four," Flash said as they watched the girls continue to jump around the room.
Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy all felt like they were gonna collapse any minute, Twilight now thinking, "This is so hard."
"I don't think I can last much longer," Fluttershy was close to tears as her body moaned.
"So hungry...need food." Pinkie mentally groaned as her stomach kept yelling at her about the small breakfast.
"This'll be worth it in the end," Rarity assured herself. "I...I have to keep going!"
The minutes continued to pass as the four remained untouched, Flash checking the time and announcing they only had to last one more minute.
"I am gonna do it!" They all mentally screamed.
"Five, four, three, two...one!" The cannons stopped firing as the girls dodged the last ball, only for them to all collapse, dropping like rocks.
The training room returned to its normal state as everypony else ran over, claps and cheers following as Spike said, "That was amazing girls!"
"Dang. You actually beat me," Rainbow added as she put her hooves behind her head, "You must have really wanted to win that prize."
In actuality, the girls had forgotten about the prize. But as they remembered this, their ears perked up at a new voice, "Special delivery from Sugarcube Corner!" Springer announced as he arrived with a tray holding four cups. He placed the tray down and revealed it had four gorgeous looking sundaes with chocolate, whipped cream and other random toppings. The girls could feel their mouths watering at the sight, their very empty stomachs growling.
That is, till their brains all said in unison, "If I eat this, all that exercise will be a waste."
Tears tried to appear in their eyes as Twilight said, "Well...thanks for the offer..."
"But we don't want them," Pinkie added, only to see everypony else go wide-eyed.
"Uh...Pinkie? Are you okay?" Wild asked, "You never say no to sweets." He then put a hoof on her forehead, "You don't seem to have a fever."
"I'm not sick," she replied while looking away.
"Then what's with saying no to these things?" Rainbow asked as she picked up the sundae and held it up to Fluttershy's face, the mare doing everything in her power to not look at it.
"We're just...not in the mood for them."
"That's right," Rarity nodded as she picked up hers and levitated it over to Sweetie, who licked her lips as she took it. "We're just here to train, that's all."
"That's fine..." Flash told her with a raised eyebrow. "But you know, there's nothing wrong with a little carrot to go with the stick."
"We're fine," Twilight assured him before handing hers to Spike. "So what's next?"
Lightning raised his hoof at this, "That's it for today. We don't want you girls overdoing it. Rest for today and be ready for tomorrow." The girls sighed in relief, only for Lightning to say, "Though you've still got to do a warm down. You know, or else your bodies will be completely dead tomorrow." The girls all moaned but did as Lightning instructed.
A little later...
The girls were now at the spa, all four now in the hot tub. "Haaaaaaaah..." Twilight breathed as she lowered herself, her hooves feeling the water soothe her aching limbs. The Ponyville Spa was quiet today, which was perfect for them. "I knew this was gonna be hard, but I didn't think it'd be this hard."
Fluttershy nodded in agreement. "It's only the first day and we're already completely burnt out."
"But at least we'll lose the weight..." Pinkie pointed out, only to flinch as she felt the water prick her hooves. "Owie…"
"We might even lose a little extra. Trust me, all the pain and suffering will be worth it." Rarity added as she slumped over, now remembering her bet with Lightning. "Oh yes...that's gonna be fun." She whispered as she closed her eyes, "I can't wait. I have a whole range of new outfits I intend to have him model for all to see..."
"I just hope we can survive long enough," Twilight finished as she sank deeper into the tub. "And I really hope I can move tomorrow."
Tomorrow...
Turns, they were still able to move. Granted, it was while their muscles were screaming in unending agony, taking an hour before they could even get up to start the training. This made Lightning's warmup of running three laps around the town almost unthinkable, the girls now finishing the laps five minutes after the time limit. Of course, this meant they were forced to do push-ups until the others showed up, only to immediately go into sit-ups.
Once done, they headed into the training room for another challenge. This time it was an obstacle course, though they used foam padding and rubber balls, all replacing the spinning blades and projectile arrows that they usually used in these kinds of exercises. Rainbow, Applejack, Spike and the CMC joined again in this venture, each taking turns for the best time. Unlike yesterday, the girl's scores were not as good as Rainbow barely managed to take the top spot from Applejack, even with her not being allowed to user her wings.
That was how each day went, warm-up jog, muscle training and then the training room challenge. There were some minor changes along the way, such as Lightning adding an additional lap to their warm-up on the fourth day and Iron increasing the amount of time they had to do each exercise. The biggest changes were the training room challenges, one being laps in a pool, (Applejack was the winner, Fluttershy being a close second due to her experience with marine animals) another day was over competing how many barrels they could pull up a hill with a cart. (The CMC won this, as they were allowed to do it as a team due to their age.)
Before long, the sixth day rolled around and the girls were at their limits. As such, Rarity was once again at the spa relaxing in the hot tub. She had hoped the others would join her, but the training meant that the last few days had put their day to day chores to the wayside. Twilight had now received an old tome from Celestia that needed translating, Pinkie had to prepare for a colt's birthday party and one of Fluttershy's bird friends had arrived saying that an animal had been injured and needed looking after.
So now, the fashion designer pony that didn't have any urgent work to do, was alone in the tub, washing the pain away. Her body wasn't as sore has it had been before, but she still felt like she was at the end of her rope. There was also her stomach, which seemed to be constantly growling now. "One more day..." she moaned why patting her belly. "Then you can eat the way you usually do."
"I knew it." Rarity almost screamed at the sudden voice, turning to see Lightning leaning against the doorframe of the room. A smirk adorned his lips as he stepped inside. "I knew there had to be more to this than you just being interested." He saw Rarity's face began to turn red, most of it now hiding beneath the water. "Let me guess, you and the others put on a few pounds and now you're trying to lose it as quickly as possible."
"Maybe..." she muffled out, the water blocking the words.
"And I'm guessing you haven't been eating as much the last few days to help this." Rarity said nothing, making Lightning chuckle as he took off his cloak and hopped into the tub, sitting opposite Rarity. "You know, crash dieting isn't healthy."
Rarity glared at him, her head slowly lifting out as she hissed, "What would you rather I do?! Stay fat?!"
"I wouldn't call you fat. And even if you were, is that really so bad?"
"Of course it is!" Rarity growled, looking away, "Who's going to want to date me if I'm overweight?"
Lightning raised an eyebrow, "Is that what this is about?"
"Its not just that." Rarity mumbled as she started to sink into the water again, "I won't be able to fit in any of my old clothes if I don't lose some weight." Tears began to try and form in her eyes as she continued, "But yes, I do want to be...in a relationship. I mean, is that so wrong?! Most of my friends all have lovers! It's just me and Applejack who are single, and she's more focused on her farm than her love life....but I'm not opposed to courting somepony."
Lightning let out a snort, "Courting? What is this, the middle ages?"
"You know what I mean."
"Yeah yeah, I get it. You're jealous that everypony else is pairing up and you want it to be your turn."
Rarity whimpered at his statement, "Everypony's always saying how pretty I am, but nopony asks me out...I'm gonna end up an old maid."
Lightning rolled his eyes at that, "Well I doubt it's because of your weight. I mean, being overweight doesn't mean nopony will find you attractive. Look at Mrs. Cake. She's married with kids and she's a little on the plump side."
"I'll tell her you said that."
"The point is that if somepony's only gonna like you because of your looks, then they're not worth your time."
Rarity grit her teeth at this. "So you're saying if a me as I am now and a me that's three times my weight were to come up to you and ask you out, you'd pick the fatter version of me?!"
Lightning looked up at the ceiling, trying to think of a response, "Uh...I guess I'd probably say yes to the first pony that asked me."
"And if we ask at the same time?!"
"Then I'd agree to go out with both of you," He looked back down to see a blank glare from Rarity, "What?! There's no rule saying you can't go on a date with two different mares! You're not in a relationship yet!"
"That still sounds like you don't care!"
"I do too care!" Lightning barked back, "It's the best way to find out which one's the better fit for you!"
"Oh? And which would you pick?!" Rarity hissed. "You'd obviously pick the one you find more attractive."
Lightning let out a sigh, "Yeah...you're probably right. And if you had asked me back when I was my...naïve self, I probably would have picked the slimmer you." Rarity's eyes narrowed at this, only to see Lightning shrug, "But I'm not that shallow anymore."
Rarity raised an eyebrow, her expression slowly shifting. "Why not?"
"I've been all over Equestria, and everywhere I went, I saw families of ponies living happy lives and most of the couples were completely different. There were ponies I'd call good looking in relationships with ones I...wouldn't say that. Heck, when I was working in Applewood, there was this one gorgeous actress who was married to the nerdiest pony I'd ever seen. Glasses, bucked teeth, polka dot bowtie...the whole package. I asked her what she saw in him and you know what she told me?" Rarity shook her head, "She said it was because he made her laugh."
Rarity hummed at this, only for Lightning to say, "So yeah, I learned that being with somepony you find attractive doesn't mean you'll be happy."
The statement made the mare sigh, "Hmm...maybe you're right. I do want to be in a relationship, but not one that's held up by just my looks. Besides, being beautiful hasn't helped me thus far."
"Eh, it's probably hurting your chances more than anything," Lightning said without thinking, only to then see Rarity's turn to a scowl, "Uh...I mean um...I'm not saying it's a bad thing!"
"Oh?! And why is it hurting me?!"
"Well...it uh...gives off a certain vibe. You know, it makes ponies think...you're out of their league. Like you're...unobtainable."
Rarity's scowl disappeared, making her blink at Lightning as she replied, "Wait...really? You think I'm like that?"
Lightning shrugged again, "Yeah. It's like...Princess Celestia. She's considered beautiful, and she's not married."
"You don't think that's more to do with being a thousand years old?"
"Nothing stopped her when she was our age...probably. But she's a princess now, so most common ponies would probably think they don't have a shot with her."
"I see..." Rarity sighed as she looked up at the ceiling, "So I'm cursed to be...unobtainable."
Lightning's face now showed a small frown, knowing his words didn't go where they should have. "Rarity...I'm sure that somepony will one day gain the courage to ask you out. And if push comes to shove, you can just ask them out."
Rarity glanced back down at that, "Lightning, its usually the stallion's job to ask a mare out."
"Eh, who cares," Lightning replied while waving his hoof, "I'd rather have a mare ask me out. I mean, could you imagine a pony having the guts to ask me out? That would be some mare..."
Before Rarity could reply, Lightning lifted himself out of the tub, magically gripping a towel. "Anyways, I gotta go. Do yourself a favor and eat something before you pass out. And stop worrying about your weight. Heck, with all the training you've been doing, you've probably gained more weight in muscle then you've lost in fat."
Rarity said nothing as she watched Lightning finish drying himself off, staring at his body as he grabbed his cloak and headed through the door. She could feel her face heating up again as she turned back around, putting a hoof to her mouth as she whispered, "Ask a pony out myself..."
The next morning...
The final day of the girl's training was done. They had done the laps around the town, now up to five and just managing to make it in time, and were able to pass the endurance exercises. However, the final training room challenge was a grueling one, this one being a boxer style challenge. The ponies would be doing a series of punching bag routines, with a final weight lifting competition. (Spike and the CMC refused this one, the latter saying they've already tried boxing and weight lifting cutie marks) In the end, all four girls tied, unable to surpass each other while Rainbow and Applejack kept daring each other to do more heavier weights...only to both pass out way before anypony else.
Now they were all laying in the training room, Pinkie speaking up first as she moaned, "I can't...believe...we did it."
"No kidding. A whole week of intensive exercise," Twilight finished as Flash stood above her.
"So...what do you think?"
"I think I don't give you enough credit," Twilight groaned as she closed her eyes. "Oh...it still hurts..."
Fluttershy glanced up at Iron, "Do you really do this every week?"
The Metal Guardian just shrugged before helping her up, "More or less. Sometimes it's harder and sometimes it's not. Depends on what's going on in town." Fluttershy just leaned up against him, letting out a sigh of contentment.
Lightning smirked as he saw Rarity looking at her stomach, chuckling as a thought popped into his head. "You know, you girls have probably burnt off a ton of calories after what you've been through."
This caught the girls attention, all but Rarity giving him a look of hope. She just gave him a pout, knowing what he was getting at as Twilight picked herself up and moved over to the control crystal, "Let's see just how much we've lost." A quartet of weighing scales appeared on the floor, three of them wagging their tails at the sight.
Flash raised an eyebrow at this, "Does it matter? You look fine to me."
"Yeah. Who cares how much you weigh." Wild added, only to get a gasp from Pinkie, "What?"
"You...don't care about how much I weigh?"
Wild tilted his head at this, "Not really."
Iron then turned to Fluttershy, seeing an expectant look on her face, "Uh...I mean, as long as you're not unhealthy. I honestly don't really see what's so bad about being overweight."
Fluttershy blushed at this, only to look back at the scales as Twilight spoke up, "I'd still like to see what all our efforts got us." The four all stepped onto a scale, their eyes closed as it calculated their weights. And as they opened their eyes, their faces freezing with dropped jaws.
All the boys shared a glance as Spike asked, "So...how's it look?" They watched as the four got off the scales and turned around, their eyes filled with happy tears.
"I made it!" Pinkie sobbed.
Rarity nodded in agreement, wiping her eyes, "It was really tough, but it was worth it."
"I set a goal and I achieved it!" Twilight cheered, Fluttershy now pulling them all into a hug.
"I'm so proud of myself!"
"You should all be proud of yourselves," Iron told the hugging quartet. "You didn't give up and kept pushing on, no matter how hard it was."
"Yeah. You survived training that would crush a normal pony." Flash added as the girls ended their hug. But as they did this, they saw a huge grin appear on the defender's face, "Time for a reward."
"And we're not letting you say no to this one," Wild finished as he gestured to them. "Follow me."
One small trip out of the castle later...
The reward turned out to be an all you could eat lunch at Hay-Burger Queen.
"Everypony, eat up!" Springer announced as Wild placed a massive pile of burgers down on their table. "After everything you've been through, go ahead and eat up! Our treat."
Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy's hearts all stopped, their stomachs yelling at them. Their guts were all screaming in pain, constantly reminding them about the week-long starvation. That and they were now watching Spike, Rainbow, Applejack and the CMC all now enjoying the feast, the defenders just chuckling at the sight.
"Mmm..." Scootaloo moaned with each bite, "This is sooo good."
"Thanks for letting us join in," Rainbow added as she gulped down a second burger.
"You should have some Twi," Spike replied while holding up a burger to Twilight's face.
As the smell of the burger wafted into the girl's noses, the four mare's eyes twitched in pain as they stared at the mountain of food. The very sight made their brains shake like crazy, the gray matter battling their stomachs as a new imaginary cloud appeared above their heads, this one showing a space ship.
The alarm was blaring on the S.S. Diet, Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie all sitting at their stations while Rarity slumped over in the captain's chair. On the screen was the image of the hay-burger mountain, with the whole place shaking as Fluttershy spoke over the alarm.
"The hunger meter's approaching max! It may blow!"
"Batten the hatches on the port side!" Rarity ordered, tears pouring down her face.
"The third line's been breached!" Pinkie cried, biting her mane as she squirmed in her seat.
"We're done for! The fourth line can't take the pressure!" Twilight screeched as her console blew up, "It's over! We can't hold out any more!"
"Bare down ladies! We just have to get through this meal!" Rarity finished, only for the S.S. Diet to explode in space.
And as the ship exploded, the imaginary cloud faded as the four just sat in frozen terror. Before anypony could even remotely react, the burger mountain vanished as the four mares began stuffing their faces. All were devouring at neck break speed, even Rarity, as everypony just watched in shock.
The only one not surprised was Lightning, who just rolled his eyes at the sight. "I told her to eat more." he whispered as he leaned back and put his hooves behind his head. "Here's hoping they don't do any more crash diets."
Later that day...
As the sun and moon began to switch places, Lightning was trotting through town for his evening patrol. The setting fire sphere illuminated the streets in an orange glow, not a single pony choosing to be out at this time. This had lead to a pretty calm patrol, which Lightning was all too happy to have.
But as he turned onto his street, he spotted somepony standing outside his and Wild's house. "Rarity?" The mare shined a big grin as he approached her, "What are you doing here?"
Rarity's smile began to grow, "What do you think? I'm here to collect on our bet, Mr. Blitz."
This made Lightning's eyes to go wide, trying to hide a gulp as he replied, "I...don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes, you do." She tapped his chest as she leaned up to his face, her grin still getting bigger, "I survived a week of your training and didn't give up. That means I won our bet, and that means you have to do anything I tell you to do without complaint."
Lightning started to backpedal, fear now consuming his mind as he saw Rarity's mischievous smile. Despite this, his brain told him to come to a stop, the unicorn letting out a sigh as he looked down at that ground, "Fine...you won the bet. I won't deny that." He glanced back up, a frown now fully on his face, "What do you want me to do?"
"Oh? You don't wanna run away?" Rarity asked while batting her eyes.
Lightning shook his head, "No. I'm no coward. But...before you tell me what you want me to do, can I say something?" Rarity did a small nod, making Lightning rub the back of his head as he replied, "Um...I just want to say I'm sorry about starting this bet. I uh...shouldn't have made fun of you so much."
Rarity leaned back at this, putting a hoof to her mouth, "Is that all?" Lightning nodded this time. "Oh...then you're forgiven. In fact, I'm glad you did the bet."
"Because you won?"
"Much more than that. Let's start my reward, shall we?" Rarity added as Lightning did one last gulp. That is, till Rarity tapped his chest and said, "You, Lightning Blitz, have to ask me out on a date."
"HUH?!" Lightning gasped, his eyes now as wide as dinner plates.
"You heard me. You can't say you're not interested, especially since you've asked me out before."
Lightning opened his mouth to reply, only to facehoof, "Yeah...that's true. And sorry for that back then. I was a sleaze and-"
Rarity interrupted him by putting her hoof over his mouth, "Just ask me out."
Removing the hoof, Lightning did a tiny nod before taking a deep breath, "Okay...Rarity, would you like to go out on a date with me?"
The mare let out a giant gasp, "Why Lightning, this is so sudden." The defender growled back, the mare giggling at his response, "Well...I accept. But I should warn you, a date with me isn't cheap."
"I figured that." Lightning grumbled as Rarity turned around and put her tail up to his chin.
"I'm free this Saturday. I'll meet you at my house at eight." she then started to walk away, looking back and giving him a wink. "Got it?"
"Got it..." Lightning replied as he watched her walk away, now whispering to himself, "What did I just get myself into?"
But as she disappeared into the night, both carried a smile on their lips. They both knew one thing for sure, that this Saturday was gonna be a truly interesting event like no other.