A light swish along the floor denoted the end of Fluttershy's stay at the hospital. A soft layer of snow covered all but the road. She trotted slowly, admiring the glistening hills of ice and snow. Foals and fillies skittered around, playing in the cold, throwing snowballs and making snowponies. The cobble was cold and made more of a click sound now. It must have been really cold, she thought. Fluttershy slowly moved towards a trot and slowly made her way home.
“Angel! You awake?” The house faintly echoed with her voice. She paced around slowly, searching for the white rabbit. She lowered her voice to a sort of whisper and called out again. “Angel, are you there?” She headed upstairs to her room to find the ball of fluff sleeping in her bed. She smiled and watched quietly. A calm exhale lead her back to what she was looking for. She stared at the desserts on her bedside. She grabbed the entire batch and walked downstairs to set them on the table.
Fluttershy rubbed her hooves together excitedly. She quickly grabbed two and unravelled them, the still fresh scent raiding her nostrils. The feeling almost instantly overwhelmed her as she quickly scarfed it down, still not hesitating when she devoured the second. Her mouth began to water, reacting heavily from the sensation of the cupcakes. As she sat back, she grabbed a third and slowly licked the frosting around making a smooth mound on the top. She took off the wrapper and bit into the fluffiness of the cupcake. This time, every bite was savoured. She finished off the treat rather quickly anyway, but the taste of it all was enough to send her sky-high with excitement and glee.
The front door swung open as the yellow pegasus galloped out of her home, now sporting a thick, light blue scarf. The door closed behind her as she made her way into the town, streets already being adorned with festival décor. The colours beamed and practically glowed as she trotted down the cobblestone road to Twilight's house. The lights were beaming as well and the leaves on the tree swayed to and fro, the snow mysteriously still clinging on. Her hoof tapped against the door and she was greeted warmly.
“Oh, Hi Fluttershy! You're just in time!” Fluttershy trotted in and the door closed behind her as the purple unicorn continued. “I thought it'd be nice to spend some personal time together. I would have offered Pinkie the job, but she can be... You know, sporadic. You see, I've been reading this collection of holiday foods to make, buying at least three books of each unique holiday! And since the upcoming holiday is Hearth's Warming Eve, I figured we could start of with that. I've been searching through this book...”
Twilight's words slowly faded as Fluttershy stared at the pages flipping. She could see the wave of each individual page flow together with the next. The pages suddenly stopped and an image of a mouth-watering dessert appeared.
“This is what I want to make,” Twilight announced. “I figure if I can learn how to...”
Twilight's voice drifted off and she hurriedly gathered supplies. “Nevermind, let's bake!”
Fluttershy snickered and the two conjured up a mess of flour and batter droplets all over the area whilst in a giggling fit. In the centre lied the mix for their delicious treat. It was swiftly tossed into the oven and the two stared at the messy home. Flour was in their manes, batter speckled on their faces, and little candies scattered on the table and surrounding floor. Twilight levitated a pair of brooms and they each took one.
"Ready?" The purple unicorn shot a glance to the yellow pegasus. The two nodded and proceeded to sweep and clean. Nothing was heard but the swishing of the brooms. The room slowly became spotless, but more antagonising towards Fluttershy's vision. She soon expressed her frailness and stumbled, slowly coming to a crawl on the floor.
"Fluttershy? Are you alright? Do I need to bring you to the hospital?"
"N-..no.. I just need to lie down.."
"Well.. Okay, then. I'll take it from here."
The swishing began once more and faded in and out. The grooves on the floor of the tree constantly multiplied, returned to one, and waved about. The frail pegasus slowly sat up and watch, becoming more alert. The walls and floor slowly waved as a whole. She silently slipped her tongue and lowered herself back down to the ground against a wall.
Twilight returned to her carrying a small box of juice for each of them and the two proceeded to ramble about their favourite holidays, events, and cultural aspects. The unicorn slowly became distracted while Fluttershy continued to speak. The pegasus's frame had definitely changed, though not too noticeably.
"Is something the matter?" The voice caught Twilight off guard.
"What? Oh, no. It's just something about you.. seems.. different. I'm sure it's nothing, though."
Twilight resumed to ramble on about the winter season, Fluttershy appearing a tad more alert. She hadn't noticed anything different about herself. She's still the same pony she's always been, albeit a tad “out of it” at the moment. A faint dinging sound came from the oven.
“It's ready!” Twilight exclaimed. Fluttershy watched as the unicorn took the dessert out to cool. Already it was captivating, causing them both to dribble at the mouth. “So how shall we decorate it?”
“Spread some white frosting on it and sprinkle candy chunks over the top with gummy candy on its side?” Fluttershy saw Twilight lick her lips, confirming the suggestion was to be set in action. The unicorn opened cupboards with her magic, levitating several bags of hard and gummy candies. The dessert was slowly lifted out of its container, being a tad more managable now. Twilight opened the cabinets near her feet and pulled out a few small containers of white frosting. She lifted a knife that rested on the countertop as the lids magically lifted off the containers, along with the aluminum seal underneath.
“Will this be enough?” Fluttershy took a knife from a drawer and grabbed a container of frosting. She took a glob of it and gently put it on top of the cake and smoothed it along with Twilight, who was working at the cake's sides.
“I'm fairly confident, yes. If not, there's plenty more in the cabinets.”
“How much more?” Fluttershy watched the frosting glide across the cake top, moving her knife in a slow waving motion.
“About three times as much as we have now.” Twilight was very focused on her side, seeming to apply it all effortlessly. Their conversation flowed into each other, talking about everything and nothing. By the time they finished their cake decorating, cleaning, and in the middle of their conversation, the clock struck. The evening was almost over.
“Could I get you something to eat for dinner, Fluttershy?”
“Oh, uh. Sure, what do you suggest?”
“Well, I could make a salad, all sorts of sandwiches and variations of them, maybe some sort of burger...” Twilight's list seemed endless.
“Uh, I think I'll just have a burger and a small salad?” Fluttershy spoke, cutting off the neverending menu.
“Sure thing!”
Twilight trotted back to the kitchen, where the smell of cooking vegetables and sound of some being washed were emitted. Fluttershy's stomach began to growl as she watched the ceiling. The waving has stopped, but the colours of the house were more saturated than usual. Within a few minutes, Twilight reappeared, placing the food beside them. They continued to talk the evening away, until it was long into the night. Twilight had slowly dozed off during a conversation about Fluttershy's flight camp experience. She stood up and took the blanket from Twilight's bed, wrapping it around her shoulders. She walked to the kitchen and grabbed a couple of frosting containers and took them with her as she left for her house for the night.
Angel was the first to greet her, impatient. She sat on the couch and opened the containers talking to Angel about her day while eating away at the frosting. The rabbit grew bored and hopped away halfway through a story and Fluttershy's second container. She quickly ate the rest in large clumps before heading to bed.
The sun suddenly greeted the yellow pegasus as Angel opened her window blinds as quick as he could. His food bowl lain at the side of her bed.
“You're always so eager to get your food,” Fluttershy grumbled, not noticing the harder clop of her hoof on her floor. She was too tired to really care for it at the moment. Angel continued to push her along to get food. Even passing her mirror, she hadn't noticed the bit of pudge that was growing on her frame. She grabbed a handful of lettuce, carrots, and radishes and put them in Angel's food bowl, filled a dish with water and set it next to him. She returned to her room, to make her bed and fix her mane.
On her nighstand still rested six cupcakes. She sat atop her bed and excitedly bit into the desserts. Each felt softer and tasted more rich than the last. A light cream from both the frosting and cupcake itself practically blessed her tastebuds. She left two beside her bed to eat tomorrow. She tossed the wrappers aside and layed back, stroking her stomach gently.
It was then she noticed the pudge she was getting. Her belly squished a bit as she poked into it. Her hips had widened a tad, having a squish but still being firm. He chest had a light layer of pudge and her legs were a tad thickened. I couldn't have possibly been eating that much, she thought. She walked over to her mirror to examine herself further. Sure enough, her figure was evident of eating excess calories. She viewed herself from different angles for a few minutes, before getting lost in herself, finding fun in her reflection.
She fluttered her wings a bit and trotted out the door, soon taking flight, something she doesn't normally do for leisure. It was mid-morning, nearing noon. The sky was bright and the clouds looked extra fluffy. The ground below her looked similar, being covered in even more snow than the day before. Several pegasi were also seen about, playing with snow clouds. Lost in the excitement, Fluttershy eventually found herself in Cloudsdale. She walked around, watching some ponies play and others work. Distracted, she bumped into someone.
“Sorry! I'm so sorry about that, I don't usually bump into others. Are you okay, did I--...” Her voice trailed off at the sight of seeing the pegasus. A light-muscled, fair, cyan pegasus with their mane in an assortment of different colours. Their hip sported a lightning bolt from a cloud, looking as strong as the pony it belonged to.
“Rainbow Dash?”