“Well… thishh is juuussht great…” a low, muffled grumble emanated across the rolling black landscape of blubber. Its source, a large cavernous hole, created by rings upon rings of neck and back fat. Within, the scowling face of the Changeling Queen, encased in folded, blobby lard. Well, it looked like glaring. Facial expressions were rather difficult to figure out, considering she possessed cheeks the size of small houses, with a stack of chins that melded with her neck lard, creating the impossibly bloated visage only able to see glimpses of the sky. Not to mention that she had lost the ability to turn her head a long time ago, courtesy of said lard. The only source of light that pierced through the shadows was her protruding horn, crackling and fizzling with immense arcane might.
Her body, her beautiful skinny body, was drowned under thousands of tonnes of adipose. As much as she wanted that to be an over exaggeration, it might have been closer to the truth if she called it an understatement. Simply put, the Badlands had a new landmark unceremoniously crushing it for the past few weeks. Her body was inconceivably big, better measured in kilometers than meters.
Her belly was a force of nature. Formed of innumerable rolls and folds, each slab was easily as tall as a cliff. Stacked atop one another like a pile of waterbeds made for Dragonlords, their sheer size and weight crushed everything before it. The mesas were little more than bumps as her body rolled over, crushing the stone with all the ease of blowing a house of cards down. Still, the gelatinous flesh, stacked hundreds of metres into the air, was just as soft as it had always been, giving her subjects a place to live.
Subjects just like herself, utterly enormous mounds of quaking, undulating lard, ranging from the size of carriages, up to sizes that rivaled some of the largest pony buildings. And even so, they looked like ants compared to their ruler. Whereas they could be quantified in terms of conventional buildings, she overtook an entire section of the map. Everything there, gone, wiped from existence with her almighty girth.
Behind her, two immense orbs of ovular lard composed what was once her plot. Like everything else on her body, they were little more than just collection points for magically generated adipose and cellulite, criss-crossing her butt in many dimples and folds. The result was that they had become the size of mountains, the pair of them easily able to smash aside everything in their wake. The furthest points were busy invading the jungle directly behind her.
Aside from these features, the rest of her anatomy was indistinguishable. A collage of adipose blending together, resulting in it being difficult to distinguish which parts of her were where. Limbs had been sucked into concentric, podgy rings, the ends swollen over, leaving her fore and rear legs as immense hill sized pillows. Aside from the colouration, there was little to distinguish her species, sharing more in common with an amorphous mass of gelatinous, ash grey dough than a stealthy, nimble creature. And to top it all off, the weight pressing against her throat had made her voice as deep as an Ursa Major.
Ever since she’d been unleashed unto the world, no one had tried to stop her. No one that was successful, anyway. The day she’d broken out of her hive, the Equestrians had launched an assault upon her. An assault which had ended in bitter failure. Expecting their steel blades to slice into her, the guardsponies were surprised when their weapons instead bounced off, unable to leave so much as a scratch upon her flesh. Even the ballistae with their hefty projectiles just deflected off with comical sloshing noises. Finally, the combined power of Twilight, Celestia and Luna was brought to bear as one all-powerful beam of arcane might. Still, it left naught but a very slightly discoloured blotch on her right shoulder area, which healed almost immediately.
Scant seconds later, Chrysalis responded with an intense blast of green sickly energies. Like a volcanic eruption, the shot rocketed through the sky, slamming into the ground with a deafening ‘crump’. Her body recoiled from the shot, jiggling from the sheer force. Fliers were swatted from the air as an enormous shock wave hit them in the blink of an eye. Ground combatants, closer to the epicentre, were bowled over in short order. Seconds later, a volley of beams lanced past, missing the army. The shots instead smashed into one of the vast mesas, blowing off house-sized boulders with each detonation that wracked its flanks. Dozens more uncontrolled shots buzzed overhead, reducing the ancient sedimentary structure to rubble.
One shot out of a cascade of rounds had decimated more than half of the Equestrian forces. And so they retreated, utterly stumped by their immobile adversary.
Days later, a second attempt that focused on containing her, rather than fighting, was put into motion. Even with the short time frame, she’d more than doubled her size. The rate of expansion increased continuously, allowing her body to maintain its growth. The Princesses created an immense dome of a shield, encasing the entire basin. Yet, this moment of hope that her growth could be stopped died. As she pressed against the barrier, initially her progress was halted. For days after, an immense battle of magical strength vs unstoppable weight ensued. Pressed flush against the transparent walls, Chrysalis’s body was smooshed more and more, forcing her fat upwards. In the end, though, her growth was continuous and the Princesses tired.
Heralded with ominous groans and shrieking wailing that sounded vaguely electronic, Luna collapsed, her magic dispelling a second later. Like a crystal ball hitting the floor, the construct fell apart in an instant, the shards of magic falling like snowflakes, dissipating upon the now unleashed Queen. So compressed for such a long time, her form oozed forth like a tsunami, crashing upon the land and enveloping the basin in its entirety.
For the unfortunate Princesses, their chosen spot had been much too close. As Luna collapsed, the encroaching fat quickly smothered her body. In a panic, Twilight and Celestia dove under, suddenly feeling like they had been swaddled in thick winter jackets. With the hard ground beneath and the heavy blanket of adipose above, they waded their way under, fumbling around. By luck, Celestia grabbed Luna’s hoof. With heaving, hard-fought breaths, the Night Princess was dragged out. From then on, nopony had dared to attack or stop her. It was… so utterly tedious.
Pouting through her thickened lips, she wondered just how vast she’d become. Objects felt through kilometres of flesh really didn’t make for a good scale of distance. Thinking for a second, she lit her horn, conjuring up an unusual spell she remembered. Closing her eyes, she felt disoriented as her vision suddenly moved forwards and through her eyelids. A glowing pair of eyes materialised and hovered in front of Chrysalis’ face, the orbs blinking a few times as she got used to them. An ‘Out of body’ spell she’d heard it being called, allowing a magic user to see from an outside perspective.
With a silent command, the pair of eyes shot away from her face at great speed, rising higher and higher. A generous cloud layer had formed, wispy banks developing across her highest points. She watched in amazement as the landscape of folded, sagging mass filled her vision. Still speeding skyward, Chrysalis could finally see anything other than herself, the land beyond revealed. Stunned, she was able to get a grasp on just how large she was, the only time prior being when she’d gazed at herself in her throne room.
A clump of amorphous mass, stretching from the ocean to far inland. The familiar colours and structures of the Badlands are no longer visible anywhere. Instead, all around are a mixture of lush greens, desert browns and cool blues. Amongst those, the forms of cities still definitely stood stalwart, even against the unstoppable force of her belly and butt. To her northeast, she could feel the form of large, boxy concrete structures toppling one by one,
As far as she could remember, the closest city in that direction was Baltimare. Zooming forth, she flew over to the city, her immense power allowing the projected scry to reach the city in moments.
From there, she watched what she almost mistook for a festival or parade. No. It was no event. She watched the smattering of equines moving together in a multicoloured stream. Mostly Earth Ponies and some Unicorns, among other creatures that hadn’t been gifted with the power of flight. They all moved and suffered as one. Stallions had embittered and weary expressions plastered to their muzzles, essential items strapped across their bodies in an odd patchwork as they angrily marched along.
Mare’s eyes were shrunken, clear fatigue creasing their features, as they encouraged fillies and colts to follow. The young ponies were on the verge of tears, clutching what few possessions they had to their chests as the seething mass of equines funneled its way through the streets. The only thing which kept them from wailing being their curiosity towards Chrysalis herself, somehow exceeding the fear she induced.
Among them, several guardsponies helped usher them away from the towering behemoth. Some lucky few could pile onto great ships moored along the docks. Anything from fishing boats to pleasure craft were used, leaving but a few flimsy rowing boats that the desperate took a gambit on. One by one, they cast off, shouts from those unfortunate to get a place thundering after them.
Most hurried along the roads, cobbles and paving slabs worn by the hooves and carts of generations that had once called this city home. Those left behind flooded onto the train station’s platforms or hoofed it along the roads out of the city. From where Chrysalis hovered, she could see her body in the distance, a constant presence on the horizon, like a mountain range that inexhaustibly drew closer by the day. From this, a dense shadow was cast over the city, the sun obscured even in the afternoon. To coincide, her vast pit of a stomach produced numerous gurgling and rumbling noises that echoed like distant thunderstorms. Each one would cause the civilians to glance back, the sounds of destruction following soon after.
Feeling her form ooze over another skyscraper, she dissipated the spell, returning to the warm, dark cave. She sighed. Even in her blackened heart, pity and regret bubbled up, making her wish this whole fiasco would just end. Alas, what had happened, happened. She could only hope that some greater force would stop this from escalating any further. And yet, with how much the situation had devolved, she too knew this was pure fantasy.
“Whhhhattt evvvahh shhhalll I duuu? Staare att thsh skyyee or at myshelf? Choishes, choishes…” This was her life now. Noling was close enough to talk to her anymore. Pharynx had once been positioned close to her bulbous cheeks. But like a boat floating away on the sea, he had gradually been pushed further from her face. He’d become lodged in one of her neck rolls, which was hundreds of metres away. “Ohhhh… who amm I kiiidding? This ish, intolerable… this isn’t life.” She sighed, feeling her continually expanding form rolling over another house, the thick logs composing it snapping like twigs.
Sure, she hated ponies, and really any other race that opposed the Changelings, but this went far beyond even that. No longer a creature anymore, so much as a cataclysmic disaster unfolding and smothering the land. Unable to even communicate properly, as she’d attempted to do when a group of ponies came to talk with her. She’d tried to tell them, pleaded with them to remove the Heart. Alas, all that came out was muffled whines and stutters.
Her subjects, nestled within creases and splayed across pillowy rolls, were as helpless as newborn larvae, only surviving thanks to the abundance of energy literally distorting their figures. Like it or not, she was the sole cause of all this. Her raid upon the Crystal Empire to secure her people a future, left them only with soft, blubbery despair.
Cadence, Princess of Love and the guiding light for the Crystal Empire, peered out of the great windows of the Crystal Citadel, her eyes marred by large bags. Through them, she looked down upon the once quiet streets, now packed with refugees, either taking shelter amongst the houses or passing through as they prepared to make the journey east to Rainbow Falls and Griffonstone. The realm she was trusted with protecting, yet she felt utterly defenseless against the devastation of the world she once knew.
She’d heard it all before. Losing the Heart wasn’t her fault, circumstantial events had led to it being taken, nothing she could have foreseen. And yet her heart was aching constantly, a pit of guilt embroiling in her stomach. Turning around, she looked back at the conference table. A smattering of various leaders gathered around, trying to come up with a plan.
Her aunts, Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor, Prince Rutherford and the recently appointed Dragon Lord Ember threw a myriad of plans back and forth, most being unfeasible or just plain ridiculous. One involved an ambitious plan to settle on the Changeling herself. The lack of resources, constant trembling and the stifling heat dissuaded them from pursuing the idea. There was a lot of shouting about how ‘Yaks will smash them!’, followed by repeatedly stressed responses about how it wouldn’t work. There was only so much that Cadance could handle per day. At least she no longer had to worry about maintaining the shield anymore. That was one less burden to carry at least.
The reason was because the harsh blizzards and snowstorms the North was known for had ceased to exist. The culprit, as was so often these days, was Chrysalis herself. It turns out that a perpetually expanding Changeling weighing billions of tonnes would eventually impact the planet itself. Having an almost matt black blob that rivalled continents for sheer size absorbed significant amounts of solar energy.
This energy then heated up the air around the mass of blubber, causing more and more hot air to spread across the planet itself. So large was she that she generated her own air currents of scalding, dry air. Global temperatures soared, leading to utter devastation of the tundra that composed most of the Frozen North. She shuddered, remembering when the Empire partially flooded from the amount of runoff created. She didn’t dare think how hot the temperature must be above the Changeling. It already felt like a pleasant summer day in Canterlot, becoming harsher every time the sun rose.
Another twinge juddered down her spine. Canterlot, the place she’d grown up in, amongst the beautiful spires and cool mountain breeze. Yet, just like almost every city south of the Empire, the historic seat of Equestrian power had been wiped from the map. Though, not everything had been decimated. The mountain it had clung to, the Canterhorn, still poked up above the roiling mass of ashen adipose. Like an island in the ocean, blubber lapped and squeezed itself ever higher, placing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of force on the isolated peak. It could still be seen on the horizon, desperately trying to stay rooted.
The rising temperature wasn’t the only issue. That Chrysalis weighed so much was literally crushing the continent. Not surprising, when her highest point reached far beyond even the tallest peaks surrounding Yakyakistan. The citizens of Luna Bay reported that their quays had been completely submerged, the sea engulfing them with little effort; the goods stored in the warehouses ruined by the saltwater. The culprit being that the Equestrian continent itself was being pushed down into the planet, causing the already rising sea level to become just that bit more problematic as they sank down. Those places inland, unfortunate enough to be built on low ground, suddenly found their homes flooded. The Changeling blob, however, was unphased by the water. After all, a good portion of the right side of her gut had been floating in the Celestial Sea. Almost like a volcano, with the basalt black flesh expanding like new land.
She gave a mirthful laugh. The planet itself was suffering just like its inhabitants, slumping under the stress much like she had. “How about this… what if we free Tirek and use his magic draining powers to negate or reverse Chrysalis’ growth?” Twilight’s voice wafted over to Cadence, a snort leaving her nostrils.
“No. Plain and simple, no. Even if he could absorb all the magic from Chrysalis, he would be just as big, and would have a near bottomless reservoir of magic to decimate everything on the planet. So once he’s been released, and if he can stop her, we would have an entirely new problem.” Celestia thumped her hoof against the table, her normal mask of calm dissipating as Twilight shrank.
“Yak still say we smash…”
“YES, WE GET IT RUTHERFORD!!!! CAN YOU PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY PLEASE SHUT THE BUCK UP!!!” Cadence screamed in a pseudo Royal Canterlot Voice, all the creatures attending staring at the fuming pink alicorn in shock. “We’ve been talking for days on end, and what do we have to show for it?! Nothing, that’s what!”
Fury in her eyes, she marched over to the table, slamming her hoof down on it, causing various pieces of stationary to fall off. “Now… we either come up with something sensible, or nothing at all… wait... what is that rattling?” She stopped, the crystal floor below her hooves trembling, growing more intense with each second. Each leader shared a look, all eyes now fixed on Chrysalis, the great wall of blubber remaining as still as it always appeared.
A deafening crunch and cracking of stone came from the opposite direction, right behind the group. With dread swimming in their bodies, they about-faced. Like dough rising in a tin, the land buckled and fissured as it rose up and up. Then the surrounding land collapsed, the chunks landing with concussive booms. Where there was once just flat land, instead a great mass of black was busy pushing itself out of the earth. Great juicy smacks rang out as rolls of fat landed upon the ground. Bit by bit, the Changeling continued to grow, forcing the surrounding ground to split and a great number of cracks to criss-cross through the earth.
The destruction radiated from that point. The land beneath the old tundra was filled with a number of caves and voids. The sudden fracturing causing the unsupported slabs to fall. The rail tracks, the fastest transport for those heading east, suddenly split, the ballast scattering as the sleepers were torn apart from each other, breaking the connection in an instant. Then came the yells of terror. The cacophony of distress reached all in the room, despair etching their way onto all their faces.
As the hidden Changeling continued to bulk up with tonnes upon tonnes of lard, the most influential and powerful creatures in all of Equestria could only watch on, unsure what they were going to do now. Time, however, was already slipping by. Chrysalis’ belly blorping once more, several thousand tonnes accumulating in seconds. A deafening crack followed this, as the Canterhorn finally fell. Its impact softened by the kilometres of flesh surrounding it, rushing in to fill the void it left. Inexorably, her belly crawled forth again, coming ever closer to the Empire.