//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: The Pudge 
// by Justanotherbrony 
//------------------------------//

It was midday, and the centre of Ponyville was alive with activity.  The town was the busiest it had been all week.  In the market quarter, crowds of ponies milled around the stalls, buying and selling.  Foals played games in the street, and even the elusive sheriff of Ponyville had stepped outside his office to speak to the citizens who supposedly lived under his protection.  

On the wall of nearly every building, there was a wanted poster.  Upon it was a colourless portrait of a wall-eyed female Pegasus pony, wearing an undersized bowler hat and a domino mask which obscured most of her face.  It read; ‘‘Wanted:  The Mad Muffin.  Severely Beaten Up Or Alive.’’  It then went on the list the numerous charges against this miscreant.  Muffin theft, muffin fraud, muffin evasion, impersonating a Muffin shop sales assistant, impersonating the Duke of Hoofington, fridge raiding, home invasion, criminal damage, cheeking the Royal Guard and sticking her tongue out at the Mayor of Ponyville.  The award for her capture was 10,000 gold bits and a carrot.

Twilight Sparkle finished reading the wanted poster, rolled her eyes at the stupidity of the world she lived in, and made her way towards Sugarcube Corner slowly, with her head held low to the ground.  A dozen thoughts were racing through her mind at once.  She was so caught up with them, she barely even noticed Rainbow Dash plummeting into the back of an applecart in front of her.  It was only due to the displaced apples scattering onto the ground in front of Twilight that Rainbow Dash managed to catch her attention.  She looked up to see the Pegasus with the multicoloured mane thump the side of the cart in frustration.

‘‘Hi Rainbow Dash.  Still can’t get the hang of that new stunt I see?’’ Twilight mused with a slight smirk.

‘‘I’ve nearly got it.’’ Dash replied in annoyance.  ‘‘Just can’t get the timing right is all.  If I pull up too soon it’ll ruin the whole run, but if I leave it too late well…’’, she broke off, holding out her hooves to highlight the cart she had landed in.  ‘‘Oh well.  As they say, practice makes perfect.  Anyway, what are you doing today?  Magic stuff?’’

‘‘Pretty much.  But right now I’m too hungry to even think about magic, let alone practice it, so I’m off to Sugarcube Corner.  You want to come with?’’ said the purple Unicorn.

‘‘Sure.  I’ve worked up a pretty good appetite.’’ smiled Dash.  But then, she looked troubled.  ‘‘By the way Twilight, speaking of Sugarcube corner, have you, erm…seen…Pinkie Pie lately.’’  Twilight sighed at the thought.

‘‘I have, yes.’’

It had been almost two months since Pinkie Pie had returned home from her parent’s rock farm.  In that time, not much had happened, except for an incident involving a beautiful mirror possessed by the spirit of an evil witch donkey which stole ponies away and replaced them with evil clones made entirely of glass.  Luckily however, with a little help from the Doctor, Twilight managed to defeat that evil braying witch and rescue Rarity from the mirror verse.  The enraged fashionista then vanquished her evil clone with a single sharp kick to the face which shattered it into a thousand pieces.  It had been a highly disturbing scene, only made worse by the blood curdling scream the copy had shrieked out as it slowly cracked and fell apart.  Twilight Sparkle shuddered at the memory of it. 

In the course of that adventure, Twilight had learned how to spot the warning signs for when a friend might have been replaced with an evil copy, and Rarity learned that when a mirror that old, beautiful and gem encrusted turns up in auction at such a bargain price, it’s probably best to ask why that might be before purchasing it.  Overall, it had been an enlightening, and terrifying, experience for all concerned.  However, one thought plagued Twilight’s mind more than any evil mirror ever could.  

It was her friend Pinkie Pie.  She had gained a lot of weight during her time at the farm.  Initially, Twilight had hoped that a return to normality (by Pinkie’s standards anyway) back here in Ponyville would have solved the problem.  However, this had sadly not proven to be the case.  In fact, if anything, Pinkie’s problem had only gotten worse.  She was eating more sweets than Twilight had ever seen her eat before, which was quite a feat in itself.  But critically, she wasn’t burning it off.  And Twilight could swear that Pinkie’s girth was still expanding.

It seemed to Twilight that due to her excessive weight, and decreased levels in physical fitness, Pinkie had lost her ability to constantly remain active.  Rather than hopping, skipping and dashing around Ponyville as she used to, Pinkie instead could only waddle around at a trot, often whilst binging on cakes and snacks.  Worryingly, she seemed to become short of breath very easily these days.  Although Pinkie was still as fun loving and outgoing as ever, it was clear that her weight problem was having an adverse effect upon her.

‘‘Hello!  Equestria to Twilight! You still with us or what?’’ said Dash.  She had cupped her hooves over her mouth and was talking directly into Twilight’s ear from the cart, the better to get her friend’s attention.  Twilight snapped out of her train of thought, and turned her attention back to Rainbow Dash.

‘‘Oh, yes, sorry Dash.’’ Twilight said, her mind zooming back the present moment.  ‘‘I was just thinking about Pinkie Pie.’’  Her face dropped as she continued.  ‘‘I really had hoped that she might have noticed her…problem…by herself, by now, and taken steps to resolve it.  But…I was wrong.’’  Twilight paused, and sadly turned to face in the direction of Sugarcube Corner.  ‘‘And now I’m starting to get really worried.’’  Dash hoped out of the cart and came up beside her, scattering more of it’s contents all over the street.  Smashed and squashed apple remains were stuck all over her rear.  She brushed them off, and as she did do, said to Twilight;

‘‘Y’know, if this is such a big deal and all, maybe we should just do what AJ says we should do, and tell Pinkie Pie what we think.  I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?  Hay, you know Pinkie.  She might not even care about being fat.  She still seems pretty happy to me, now that I think about.  But at least we’d have this monkey off our backs.  And who knows, maybe she will do something about it if we tell her.’’

‘‘And what if we do hurt her feelings?  What then huh?’’ Twilight replied.  Dash stroked her chin in thought.  After a brief moment, she just shrugged.  ‘‘Well, we’ll just have to play it by ear then.  I don’t Pinkie Pie would be too mad if we said something, and even if she was, I’m sure it wouldn’t last too long.  Remember her last birthday, when she got mad at us for ditching her all day?  She did forgive us pretty quickly.’’

‘‘Well, yeah, but that’s only because we didn’t ditch her.  Not really.  We were trying to keep her birthday party a surprise, remember?  There’s a pretty big difference between keeping a friend’s party a surprise and just outright telling that friend that she’s fa…overweight, straight to her face’’ Twilight replied with a frown. 

‘‘Oh…yeah…yeah that’s…right’’ Dash said with a chuckle.  As she looked away in embarrassment, Twilight noticed the bump on her head for the first time.  She shook her own head, and continued.

‘‘But maybe if we put it delicately, and tell her that we’re only saying this because we’re very worried about her, she might understand, and not be offended.’’

‘‘Well, whatever.  I still don’t think she’ll care anyway.’’ Dash replied.  ‘‘Now, we going to get some food or what?  I’m just starting to realise how hungry I am myself.’’

‘‘Yes.  Let’s go eat.’’ Twilight said.  The two ponies set off towards Sugarcube Corner.  Twilight walked at a quicker, more upbeat pace than before, while Rainbow Dash hovered overhead.  As they came to the Corner, Dash turned to Twilight before they entered.

‘‘Hey, if we see her, are we going to say something now?’’ she said.  Twilight noticed that she seemed apprehensive.  This made Twilight feel worried herself.

‘‘I don’t think we should.  Not now.  I think it would be better to talk it over with the others first.’’

‘‘Oh, OK.  Good.  Not that I wouldn’t be up for…you know…doing it now, or anything.  But yeah, let’s talk it over with the others first.’’ Dash said.  She seemed slightly relieved.  They nodded in agreement, and entered the shop.  The bell ring as they opened the door.