Discord and Pinkie take over Sugarcube Corner while the Cakes are away. Weight gain ensues.
Discord and Pinkie try out a new recipe for cupcakes and well...when Twilight returns from Canterlot she finds herself in a Ponyville she can hardly recognize. The Crusaders return from a camping trip to find their sisters and idols beyond obese.
As their friends and family fatten around them, Trixie and Starlight are the only two left who can navigate this broken world and try to find a cure.
What started off as a couple of one-shots set in the same universe is transformed into an apocalypse story. Who knew.
Princess Twilight Sparkle touched down in Ponyville, just outside her crystal palace. She’d been away in Canterlot for a few weeks, and while she and her friends had been in constant contact, she’d still missed her home.
Flexing her wings to ease the ache that came from flying over such a distance, Twilight inhaled the clean, Ponyville air. I’ve missed this.
“Oh! Princess Twilight! Welcome home!”
Twilight spun around, turning to face the familiar voice of Discord. She’d seen him just before she’d left, something about him helping Pinkie with Sugarcube Corner while the Cakes were out of town, and he’d been as she’d always known him. Twilight was shocked into silence, however, when her brain finally registered how fat Discord had become in the weeks since she’d left.
Discord smiled widely, creating dimples in his cheeks. Somehow, he was standing upright, which Twilight wasn’t sure would be possible if he didn’t possess his powers. What had to be hundreds of pounds of flesh oozed from everywhere on Discord’s body. A thick, multi-rolled belly hung down to his legs. His limbs had bloated with flesh, wide and swollen so much that he shouldn’t have been able to bend the joints. But there he was, smiling and waving at her.
“Oh, hello Princess! It’s so good to see you back? How was Canterlot?”
Twilight’s mind spun. Was this a test? A joke? Judging from the grin and the glint in Discord’s eyes, she could only assume so. Standing a little straighter, Twilight met Discord’s gaze. She was in no mood to deal with his tricks, so she would ignore the obvious.
Twilight smiled, “It was good. All of the treaties have been signed, and relations with the other creatures have improved immensely.”
Discord stared at Twilight for a second, clearly still expecting a reaction. Then he shrugged, “Oh good! Did you manage to try the cupcakes Pinkie and I sent you and the Princesses?”
Twilight shook her head, “No. I left early. I was too excited to come back here.”
“Well, that won’t do!” Discord shook his head, his chins and jowls squishing together, “You need to try some. Everypony in town loves the new recipe Pinkie and I created! Mr. and Mrs. Cake will be so pleased when they come back!”
Twilight nodded, “I’m sure.”
Discord’s eyes narrowed, “If you’ll excuse me, I have to go help Pinkie. I’m sure she’s busy helping our happy customers!” With a snap of his fingers, Discord teleported away.
Twilight sighed, shaking her head. Hopefully the Cakes had a business to come back to when they did return. Turning around so she could get home, and hopefully have a hot bath, Twilight ran into somepony. A very fat somepony. Twilight managed not to fall, but she was stunned at the impact.
Blinking, Twilight’s jaw dropped when she saw who she had run into.
Fluttershy had piled on the pounds while Twilight was away. Her once model-thin body was obliterated, disappeared under hundreds of pounds of fat that clung to Fluttershy’s body. Fluttershy’s stomach hung to her knees, her flanks were three times the width they’d been when Twilight had last seen her, her legs were thick and ill-used. Even her wings, so slender and graceful, were lost amidst pounds of flesh, as well as the rolls of fat that had collected on Fluttershy’s back.
“Fluttershy?” Twilight managed, her voice a hoarse whisper.
“Was that Discord I saw with you, Twilight? Did he give you any of his cupcakes? They’re the best thing ever, and I’m so hungry!”
Twilight blinked, a stray thought wondering if Fluttershy had been eating nothing but cupcakes while she’d been gone, “Erm. No, Fluttershy, he didn’t.”
“But he said he’d give you cupcakes!” Fluttershy didn’t sound...angry per say, just frustrated, “He told me he would. Where are you hiding them, Twilight, I promise I won’t eat them all.”
“Honestly, Fluttershy, I don’t have any. Look, no trays around me or anything. Wouldn’t have I dropped them when I ran into you?”
Fluttershy’s fat face puckered in disappointment, “Oh...I’m sorry, Twilight. It’s just I’m always so hungry, you know me.”
The Fluttershy Twilight remembered ate like a rabbit, not like the obese mare she was now.
“Well, if you don’t have any I need to get some from Discord,” With that, Fluttershy side-stepped Twilight, and started lumbering her way into town, wheezing and her stomach audibly gurgling as she did.
Twilight couldn’t help but watch Fluttershy walk away. Even her graceful walk was gone, replaced by an awkward, lumbering waddle that showed off how flabby Fluttershy had become.
Twilight eventually pulled herself from the shock, springing into the air and flying into Ponyville proper. Surely, Fluttershy and Discord were the only ones made fat. Discord because, well Discord was Discord and he liked to play jokes. Fluttershy because Pinkie had made her a taste-tester or something.
With several months hard work, Twilight and the other girls could help Fluttershy get rid of the excess pounds, surely-
Twilight landed in the town square, and saw what she hadn’t been able to from the sky: Discord and Fluttershy weren’t the only fat ones around town. Lots of ponies were what Twilight remembered, but a fair number had piled on the pounds.
“Twilight! You’re back!” Twilight twisted around at the sound of her name, and was immeasurably pleased that Starlight and Spike seemed normal.
Spike was perched on Starlight’s back, waving enthusiastically. Starlight beamed wide, clearly Twilight had been missed more than she’d thought.
“How was your time away, Twilight?” Starlight asked, “You didn’t say much in your letters-”
“No time for that, haven’t you guys realized that something’s wrong!?”
Starlight and Spike shared a curious look. “What are you talking about?” Spike asked flatly.
“Something is wrong! I’ve only been gone for a month and suddenly a lot of ponies are obese! This can’t be possible.”
“Who’s suddenly fat?”
“Fluttershy!? Haven’t you seen her today-”
“Twilight, Fluttershy has always been a bit on the heavier side. So maybe she’s packed on a few pounds since you left, what’s the big deal? She helps Discord and Pinkie out a lot. She still seems like she’s having fun.”
“Yeah, Twilight. Are you sure you’re not just tired?”
Twilight shook her head, “I got lots of sleep last night! I’m fine. We need to get to the bottom of this.”
Spike slid off of Starlight’s back, “Well Starlight has plans with Trixie. Why don’t I come with you.”
Twilight nodded, and Spike scrambled into his favourite spot on her back. His weight was reassuring.
“Thanks, Spike! I’ll...um I’ll talk to Trixie, see if she’s seen anything weird,” With that, Starlight was off. Teleported somewhere, likely.
Twilight sighed, deciding to take a walk around town as she did so. Things seemed mostly the same. By the time she and Spike had returned to the Town Square however, she realized something.
The town square was different, and she hadn’t been gone more than an hour or so.
Restaurants lined the sides of the square, and more ponies seemed fat. Ones that had been fat when she’d seen them last looked twice their weight. Twilight’s head was spinning.
One building hadn’t changed though. The Carousel Boutique was still the same. Trotting inside, hoping that maybe she was just tired, Twilight was relieved to see Rarity was still the same as she’d always been.
“Oh, hello, Twilight! How was-”
“No time for that, right now! Rarity, have you noticed anything strange going on here?”
Rarity shook her head, setting down her sewing needle, “Not that I know of, darling. I’ve been busy. Lots of orders coming through now with Canterlot Carousel and Rarity for You. Now, I’m headed to Sugarcube Corner for a break. Would you two like to come with me? My treat.”
“No thanks, Rarity.” Even though Twilight was hungry, she needed to get to the bottom of what was going on, “I’ll see you later.”
“Of course, darling. Stay as long as you like, I probably won’t be long if you’d like to chat after,” Rarity left, and Twilight stood for a moment, unsure of what to do.
“Twilight, are you okay?” Spike asked.
Twilight sighed, leaving the boutique, careful to shut the door behind her, “I’m not okay, Spike! Something is going on here, and I want to know-”
Twilight’s jaw dropped. Again, things have changed. Doors had expanded, benches had been widened and reinforced. The Sofa and Quill shop had turned into another restaurant, something like the fast food restaurants springing up in Canterlot judging from the grease smells.
Wandering the streets, staring at the new changes, Twilight began to realize some were happening before her eyes. One building shifted, growing outward. Looking through the glass windows, Twilight could see the restaurant was full of obese patrons. Clearly, the old size wouldn’t fit that many ponies inside.
But no one seemed to notice, not even Spike. Not even after she pointed out the changes. “It’s always been like that, Twilight.”
Still hungry, Twilight’s hooves eventually carried her towards Sugarcube Corner. It hadn’t escaped the changes either, looking twice the size Twilight remembered.
“Oh, hey Twilight!” Twilight turned, relieved to see Rainbow Dash unchanged.
Then her eyes recognized the cart Rainbow was pulling had a pony in it. Not just anypony, it was Fluttershy. Fluttershy, who had been mobile less than two hours ago, had once again ballooned.
The yellow pegasus was now resting in a gargantuan wooden cart, clearly immobilized by her fat. Her front hooves were visible, but just barely. Sleeves of fat hung from her joints, threatening to cover her hard hooves with the fat. Her wings weren’t visible either, buried deep in the fat of her back. She looked almost like an overfull breadpan, oozing over the tops and sides of the cart.
She looked jovial to see Twilight, though, “Hello, Twilight! I’m glad you could join us at Sugarcube Corner after all.”
“Oh, Twilight you changed your mind!?” Twilight turned to the door of Sugarcube Corner, and her jaw dropped again.
Rarity, who she’d seen minutes before, was now half as fat as Fluttershy had been when Twilight had first seen her. Rarity made her way down a ramp (the stairs to Sugarcube corner were gone now), with a dozen boxes floating in her magical grip.
“Here you are, girls! Just like I promised!” Rarity levitated two of the boxes to Fluttershy, and one to Rainbow, “Can Spike have some, Twilight? He must be famished!”
Twilight nodded, the words not really registering. A box rested in Spike’s geedy paws.
“How about you, Twilight? You must be hungry from your flight over.”
Twilight shook her head, still trying to process what she was seeing. A constant stream of what is going on?! Was circling around Twilight’s brain, and she still couldn't process what she was seeing.
Rarity opened one of the boxes she still had, and Twilight spotted cupcakes inside. 13 to be precise. They looked like Pinkie’s cupcakes, except the frosting was made of different amalgamations of colours and sprinkles. Clearly that was due to Discord’s influence.
Almost in unison, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow snatched cupcakes from their boxes and started eating. The changes were instantaneous, and Twilight couldn’t get any words out of her mouth from the shock.
Fluttershy’s body expanded to where Twilight though the cart would break. Like magic, the cart changed to metal of some kind, and seemed significantly larger. A shelf appeared near Fluttershy’s face, where the boxes of cupcakes rested. Fluttershy’s hooves disappeared under the mountain of fat they were now buried in. Her legs no longer looked like legs, resembling fluffy pillows more.
Rarity had exploded in weight as well. Clearly, she was close to immobility but not quite there, as she was standing on her own hooves. Her magical aura was wrapped around her expansive stomach, lifting it from the ground by about an inch. Clearly, this was why Rarity wasn’t in a cart yet.
Rainbow’s body had lost all of it’s muscular definition, inflating with fat. She looked much like Rarity had before the cupcake had disappeared into her mouth.
Mouth agape, Twilight was silent as Rarity spoke.
“I see why you went into a new cart already, Fluttershy. This one is so sleek and stylish. I’m still trying to find one. I know this spell won’t keep me mobile for long now, not at all. What do you think, dear, should I get one like yours? I know it’ll be too big for me, but I know your’s is very sturdy. I’m surprised it hasn’t broken on your yet!”
Fluttershy seemed too intent on getting a cupcake off her shelf, it was too low for her to just reach out and snatch it with her mouth. As such, she was using what was clearly the extent of her mobility to try to lean down enough so she would reach. She didn’t reply. Twilight wasn’t even sure Fluttershy had really heard Rarity.
Suddenly, Twilight felt as if someone had placed a mountain on top of her back. Her legs buckled, and it was only her quick reflexes that allowed her to teleport out from under Spike before she hit the ground.
Panting, hurting from the sudden weight increase, Twilight sees that Spike has begun to dig into the cupcakes with gusto, not even pausing in his consumption. Before her eyes, his weight explodes as well. Until he is in some mechanical scooter, chewing the last of the cupcakes thoughtfully. Clearly immobile, Twilight is certain she won’t be able to carry him on her back again. Darting past Rarity, Twilight entered Sugarcube corner. Angry, and scared, she ran to the counter, uncaring that she had cut in front of 20+ ponies. All of them were in the throes of obesity, just at different stages.
Pinkie was behind the counter, so fat that she was taking up all of the space between the counter and the back wall. Her immobility hadn’t dimmed her personality, though, and she beamed when she saw Twilight.
“Twilight! ...Did you...come for...cupcakes?”
Twilight realized Pinkie’s weight was so huge that she was clearly having some difficulties speaking. Which honestly shouldn’t have surprised her, not with how big Pinkie had gotten.
“No, Pinkie! I’m here to talk to Discord!”
“You sure?”
“Yes, thank you Pinkie!”
“Discord...Twilight...wants to...see you!” The second the last syllable left Pinkie’s bloated lips, Twilight felt Discord’s magic wrap around her and teleport her.
Twilight looked around. She was in Sugarcube Corner’s kitchen. It was massive, with at least a dozen ovens all baking at the same time. Trays of cooling cupcakes and other goodies were everywhere.
As she watched a baked tray of cupcakes slid out of the oven, and a waiting batch of uncooked ones slid into the awaiting oven.
Her gaze was finally drawn to the middle of the room, where Discord sat. He was easily double or triple his size from before, now clearly more than immobile. He caught sight of her and smiled again, “Ah, Twilight! Would you like a cupcake? They’re still warm.”
“No, Discord I don’t want a cupcake!” Twilight shouted, “Tell me what is Celestia’s name is going on here!?”
“What, you don’t like what I’ve done with the place?! It was the only thing to do to keep up with demand.”
“Discord, that’s not what I meant and you know it! Tell me what is going on? What’s with these cupcakes?”
“They’re a new recipe Pinkie and I made, that’s all. We just added a touch of chaos magic, and I think they’ve turned out wonderfully. Don’t you?”
A little pop, and a cupcake appeared in front of Discord. He ate it happily, and his flesh oozed across the floor several inches outward.
“Don’t you see what you’re doing to ponies? To yourself?”
“I’m making them happy, my dear,” With obvious effort, Discord lifted his lion paw and snapped.
In the blink of an eye, the pair appeared in the seating area of Sugarcube Corner. They didn’t appear visible to anypony else, but they could see the goings on. Massive ponies sat at massive booths, eating a wide variety of baked goods, drinking milkshakes, and chatting happily. Not one frown could be spotted.
“They all seem happy, don’t they? And look at Pinkie, I’ve never seen her this happy before. She may be immobile but she sees everyone she loves everyday. Isn’t that just precious?”
Another snap, and they appeared in the town square again.
The scene was mostly the same. Ponies were driving their own electric carts, or were being pulled by mobile ponies. Even the cart-pullers seemed happy, chatting with the ponies they were pulling. Some were waddling around, others eating. Everypony seemed happy.
Another snap, and the scene wildly changed. They were in the palace, where Celestia and Luna were devouring cupcakes by the dozens, countless boxes near their bloating frames. They seemed pleased, moaning and talking about how lovely the cupcakes were as they went. All the while, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the palace was shifting in decor and functionality around them.
“The others are happy too you know.”
Snap! Spike was a ball of fat, outgrowing his earlier cart and sitting happily in one that offered more room. He was chatting happily to Rarity who was now in a steel like Fluttershy’s meta one, overflowing it a little. She was using her magic to eat, and they seemed deep in a discussion.
Snap! Rainbow was seated on a bench, happily munching away at what appeared to be several fast food meals at once. She was wide enough to take enough room on her bench as six of her could have when she’d been thin. She was humming to herself, apparently immensely pleased with herself.
Snap! They were teleported into Fluttershy’s cottage, where she lay on the floor, taking up most of the room. Clearly, she was too big for carts. She was hooked to a machine that was feeding her, while someone behind her that Twilight couldn’t see was talking. Twilight realized that the fat of Fluttershy’s face had finally covered most of her eyes, making her squint in between her sagging forehead fat and encroaching cheek fat.
Another snap, and they’re back in Sugarcube Corner’s kitchen. There, in front of Twilight, is a floating cupcake. Looking perfectly good, smelling amazing, and just being there.
“It’s yours if you want it, princess. Don’t you want to be happy, just like your friends?”
Twilight sighed, shutting her eyes. All of her friends had been very happy. And the cupcaked did look good. I’ll just have one if nothing else.
Twilight took the cupcake from Discord, and popped it into her mouth.
Weeks (or was it months?) later, Twilight lay in her throne room, happily munching on an endless stream of cupcakes that appeared whenever she finished the last one. Each one was better than the last, and Twilight didn’t even mind that she hadn’t been able to move under her own power for a long time.
Twilight was a blob, for lack of a better word. Her stomach was like a mattress, spreading out all around her for several feet before it stopped. Her hooves and wings were buried, all lost amidst her plentiful rolls of fat. Twilight could still see, and could still talk, but why would she?
Her friends were all here, in her massive throne room. All of them like her: fat, happy, and eating. They talked sometimes, but the cupcakes were really what they wanted.
Twilight was too lost in bliss to realize when she’d eaten enough for her flanks to press into the wall behind her. When her stomach finally cried for a rest, Twilight obliged, her eyelids heavy with exhaustion.
“How awesome were the falls?!” Scootaloo repeated for what felt like the millionth time as the class made their way down the main road to Ponyville.
“Very!” Sweetie exclaimed, “It was all so pretty!”
Applebloom sighed, “We’ve-”
“Been over this many times, girls,” Cheerilee interrupted, “The overnight camping trip to the falls were amazing, and I’m glad you fillies enjoyed yourselves. How about you save some of that energy for telling your families about what happened?”
The three fillies calmed down somewhat as they approached Ponyville proper. Well, until they saw Caramel wave at them. Caramel, who had been fit the day before, was well into the throes of obesity. The wave caused the fat of Caramel’s body to sway and ripple with the movement. Caramel didn’t seem bothered, nor did he seem to notice what was different about himself.
The group of fillies, colts, and Cheerilee halted at the sight. Beyond Caramel, they could see other ponies. Some as they remembered, others somewhere on the sliding scale of fatness. Some were chubby, some fat, some obese, one or two seemed barely able to waddle around town square.
“Miss. Cheerilee, what’s going on?” Apple Bloom asked.
“I don’t care!” Diamond Tiara yelled, “I’m tired, and I’m going home!” With that, she ran off. Into the curious crowd of ponies.
Now they could better see Ponyville, Cheerilee spotted other changes too. Chain restaurants, larger furniture, mobility scooters. All having some Ponyville charm, but somehow not looking brand new.
Silver Spoon, after a moment of stunned silence, followed after Diamond Tiara. With two of the students gone, a lot of the others followed suit. They were scared, and Cheerilee didn’t have answers.
“I need to find Applejack!” Apple Bloom cried, “I’ll see you guys later!”
“I need to find Rarity!”
“Rainbow Dash will know what to do!”
The three fillies ran off like a shot, all toward their respective destinations. Leaving Cheerilee to stand outside of town square, looking shocked and confused.
__
Apple Bloom burst into the house on Sweet Apple Acres, sides heaving and coated in sweat from the frantic gallop over here.
Applejack, who was standing near the oven, looked like her normal self. She turned, “Hey Sugar-”
“Applejack! What’s going on?” Apple Bloom launched into an explanation of what she’d seen in town.
All the while, Applejack looked more and more confused, “Sugarcube, a lot of ponies have been on the heavy side! Caramel has been fat since he was a colt! Your imagination must be running wild, after all that fresh air and time with the others. Right Big Mac?!”
Apple Bloom turned at the sound of heavy, shuffling footfalls from the next room. The world tilted on its axis, and she felt the blood drain from her face as Big Mac slowly shuffled into the kitchen.
Big Mac was fat, like a lot of the townsfolk she’d seen while on the way home. He was mobile, likely due to his years of farm work, but he was moving very slowly. The fat hung off of him in multiple folds and rolls, hanging downwards. His roll-ridden, wide back had an open box on it which had cupcakes in it.
“They from Sugarcube Corner?” Applejack asked, “I’ve heard lots of good things about the new recipe they’ve been using.”
“Eeyup,” Big Mac replied, sliding the box onto the kitchen table.
“Can I have one? They look so good, and I haven’t had breakfast yet.”
“Eeyup,” Big Mac nodded, his chins and jowls squishing together at the movement.
Applejack took a cupcake and began to eat it. Apple Bloom watched with dawning horror as Applejack’s body began to change with each bite of the cupcake swallowed. Tight muscles vanished under pounds of fat that suddenly appeared all over Applejack’s body.
Apple Bloom, feeling suddenly very small in comparison to her siblings, backed up a few steps before turning and bolting out of the house. Her breathing and heartbeat covering up any shouting that might have been her siblings calling after her.
As she ran, Apple Bloom realized something was different with the trees too. They were still apples, but they were somehow coated in candy of all types. Panting, full of disbelief, Apple Bloom continued to run along the road back into town. She needed to go to Sugarcube Corner. It seemed to be the cause of all this.
Across town, Sweetie finally managed to make her way to the Carousel Boutique. It had taken her a while, mostly because of the sudden influx of fast food places making it difficult to tell where in Ponyville she was sometimes.
Opening the door and slipping off her saddlebags with a relieved sigh, Sweetie shut the door before turning to face the inside of the boutique.
The sight made her scream. High pitched and shocked.
Rarity was working on some kind of dress with her magic, which was normal. What wasn’t normal was the fact that Rarity had blown up in size overnight. Two or three times the size of Caramel outside. She was resting in a steel cart that seemed to be groaning with her weight. Which Sweetie could understand, as her sister’s fat was spilling over the sides of the cart like an overfull loaf pan.
Rarity dropped the dress, and Sweetie felt herself being engulfed by her magic. Sweetie floated to Rarity’s head so Rarity could nuzzle her in greeting, her fat face pressing into Sweetie’s felt..odd.
“Welcome home! I’m sorry if I gave you a fright! I’ve just had the cart repainted. Do you like it?”
Sweetie didn’t really even know Rarity was speaking to her. From her new vantage point, she could see that Rarity’s head was nearly as large as her entire body. The fashionista was squinting around bulky cheeks and sagging forehead fat, but it didn’t seem to bother her any.
“Wh...what happened?” Sweetie squeaked, “Why are you so fat?”
Rarity blinked, confusion clear on her face, “I’m not that fat, Sweetie. You know I’m skinny in comparison to some of the others.”
Sweetie wanted to protest, but a loud rumble from Rarity’s stomach made her jump. Rarity sighed, setting Sweetie onto a plush roll of neck flab, “Sorry, darling. I haven’t had third breakfast yet. Don’t worry though, I got these amazing cupcakes from Sugarcube Corner.”
Rarity levitated a confection box full of cupcakes onto her work table, “Would you like one?”
“No thanks,” Sweetie managed, not wanting to move or do anything that could cause the neck roll to shift underhoof.
Rarity hummed in acknowledgement, and levitated a cupcake out of the box. In seconds, she was tearing through it in a way Sweetie had never seen from Rarity before. Scarfing the first, second, and third of a dozen cupcakes in meer moments.
The cart let out a truly terrible groan before Rarity and Sweetie plummeted several feet because of the cart finally breaking under Rarity’s weight. The neck roll Sweetie was standing on expanded suddenly, pushing Sweetie to the mattress of a stomach Rarity now possessed.
Scared and worried, Sweetie ran back into the now-unfamiliar streets of Ponyville. She needed to find Sugarcube corner. They had to know what was going on here.
Several blocks over, around the time when Sweetie returned home, Scootaloo found who she was looking for: Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo was frozen in place, part of her trying to tell her to run away while the other part couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
Rainbow Dash was heavier than a lot of the ponies Scootaloo had seen thus far. So large she was in some sort of motorized scooter. Her massive stomach was dragging along the ground on either side of the floor of the scooter. Rainbow was in the middle of the street, unmoving, as she was struggling to reach the handles of the scooter over her bulging stomach.
“What happened to you!?” Scootaloo cried.
“What are you talking about, squirt?” Rainbow looked genuinely confused, “I know I promised I’d get a new scooter by the time you came back, but I’ve been busy! Speaking of, do you have any food for your favourite competitive eater? I just ate my last cupcake from Sugarcube Corner!”
Heart pounding, all Scootaloo really registered was that Rainbow had mentioned the bakery. Surely there would be an explanation there, right?
Rainbow grunted, shifting her stomach a touch lower to the ground. This allowed her to finally reach the handles, and got it to go. It was pathetically slow, inching toward Scootaloo with constant creaking and groaning.
This was too much for Scootaloo, making her turn and flee towards Sugarcube Corner to see if she could find an answer for this madness.
Panting, from three different directions, the three scared fillies found each other at Sugarcube Corner. The building was twice the size they remembered, probably bigger.
Without talking, they entered the building together. All wanting to figure out what happened to their town, family, and friends.
The place was packed. Their class was present, all of them eating cupcakes and gaining dozens of pounds with each mouthful they swallowed. Other residents, adults and larger ones, were also there. Not all were eating cupcakes, but they were all eating.
Cheerilee was in a cart, fashioned with a shelf, so she could eat. She had grown so large that she couldn’t move her hooves, and was overflowing her cheerfully pink cart like Rarity was. With each swallow, the cart became more and more overflowed with her fat.
Diamond Tiara was at a table with her mother, both of them overflowing custom-made steel carts. They were relying on obese servants to feed them. It was absurd to see.
Pinkie was eating cupcakes too from behind the counter. Her massive body filled the space between the counter and the wall behind it, and was even large enough that cracks in the wall were starting to develop.
Scared, worried, but craving answers, Apple Bloom led the way to the counter.
“What’s with these cupcakes, Pinkie!?” Voice high pitched and terrified.
Pinkie’s mouth was full of cupcake, more rolls and folds appearing by the second. It took a moment for her to clear her mouth, “Discord,” she wheezed. Then went back to the cupcakes, and began to pile more pounds on.
Before they could respond, they were teleported away. Outside it looked like, in the extra wide streets. Discord was there, smiling like mad. Four or five times the size of the last time they’d seen him. He was mind-bogglingly huge, pinned to the ground by his own fat.
Sweetie and Apple Bloom seemed to be in shock. Scootaloo cleared her throat, “You need to stop making these cupcakes!”
“Why...stop him from...making something...so good?” The three fillies spun around to face a barely mobile Princess Twilight Sparkle waddling over. Out of breath and coated in sweat, “Everypony...is so...happy.”
Discord snapped his lion paws, and Rainbow, Rarity, and Applejack appeared beside Twilight, “How do you feel about the cupcakes girls?”
“They’re absolutely amazing!” Rarity said with a dimpled smile. A cupcake appeared near her muzzle and she snatched it out of the air and ate it in a swallow. Her body bulged out of the cart a little more with a sudden jolt of fat. Her hooves now submerged.
“I think they’re just swell! And he uses our new apples!” Applejack said. Another cupcake appeared before her. Applejack ate it like she hadn’t eaten food in weeks. In seconds, she had gone from mobile to relying on a scooter.
“They’re awesome! They help me keep in top shape for competitive eating!” A third cupcake, and a quick eating. Rainbow was suddenly in a cart, her wings sinking into her back rolls.
The girls were spun around again to face Discord, where he had three cupcakes hovering in the air need them, “Come on girls, it’s just a matter of time.”
In unison, the girls opened their mouths to refuse. That was their mistake. The cupcakes flew into their mouths, and the girls had no choice but to chew.
(Unknown amount of time later)
The three fillies were in Twilight’s castle, tiny blobs in comparison to their adult companions. They loved their life: no school, arguments, responsibilities: just eating delicious cupcakes and other goods.
Trixie had set up her wagon outside of Sweet Apple Acres, on a patch of unclaimed land near the orchards. This had come somewhat as a surprise to Starlight, but she didn’t mind the trek out of Ponyville.
Trixie spotted Starlight coming and waved, Starlight waved back, beaming. Then frowned a little, “Hey, have you talked to Twilight lately? She was telling me this morning that something was going on, but then just disappeared.”
Trixie frowned, “Starlight, of course something is going on! Are you blind!?”
Starlight blinked, “Trixie, I’ve been puzzling it over all day, and I can’t figure out what’s wrong. Don’t be so dramatic.”
Trixie’s brow furrowed, “You’re kidding right? So much is different! Come on, we’ll go see Applejack. You’ll see what’s wrong.”
Starlight rolled her eye, “Okay, whatever you say. I still don’t see what’s wrong.”
They walked the short distance to Sweet Apple Acres, and Trixie couldn’t help but wince at the prominent sight of Big Mac who was laying outside the barn, immobilized by his fat so much that his hooves disappeared into the sleeves of fat hanging off his limbs.
Applejack was using an extra large mobility scooter, needing to stretch a little to reach around her stomach to control it. It was going slow, slow enough that a nearly immobile Apple Bloom could waddle quickly enough to follow behind it with little difficulty. She was reaching around her stomach to touch her hooves to the ground. They both seemed to be heading toward the house from the fields as Applejack’s scooter’s basket was full of candy apples.
“See what I mean!?” Trixie said, gesturing to the scene ahead of them.
“What do you mean?” Starlight’s brow furrowed.
“They’re so fat!”
Starlight rolled her eyes, “No kidding, Trixie.”
“They haven’t always been this heavy, Starlight!” Trixie was growing frustrated now, “Last time I was here they were thin and athletic, now they’re so fat they can’t move!”
“They’ve put on a little weight, but they haven't gained that much!” Starlight protested, “You should see some of the ponies in town! They’ve always been on the heavier side.”
“Well then, look at the trees! The apples aren’t normal! They’re all sorts of candy and chocolate. Sugar covered, caramel! Look at them all.”
“Trixie that’s why they’re called Sweet Apple Acres. They specialize in candy apples!”
Trixie brought a hoof to her face, groaning in frustration, “Wait, you said Twilight noticed things were weird right? Why don’t we go check with her?”
“Fine!” Starlight groaned. The pair turned around, and began the journey back into Ponyville proper.
Along the way, Trixie would stop and point out ‘changes’. Changes that seemed non-existant to Starlight. The number of restaurants, the size of buildings, the size of furniture, the weights of various ponies. How the ponies around town seemed barely mobile.
Starlight had answers. Ponies liked having a lot of choices for food, buildings needed to be bigger to hold more ponies, how fat was the in fashion thing to be. How Canterlot was fatter over all. All simple, all matter of fact.
“Why are you and I the only skinny ponies around, then Starlight!?”
“We’re not from Ponyville or Canterlot so of course we’re not like the locals.”
Trixie groaned, but fell silent as they approached Twilight’s castle, “Oh no, it’s changed too! The door is twice as wide, and look there’s a ramp instead of stairs.”
“It’s always been like that,” Starlight said dryly.
They entered the castle together, and it was eerily empty.
“Princess Twilight?!” Trixie called, the sound echoing.
There was a moment as the call ricocheted, and a faint call came back, “Library!”
Trixie rushed ahead, Starlight scrabbling to keep up. Toward the library. Trixie flung open the doors, and froze in place.
Twilight and Spike took up a large portion of the room. Spike was in the center, resting on a collection of pillows. He was easily as wide as three of Trixie’s put together. Most of the weight settling around his hips and stomach, leaving his marginally thinner arms to shovel piles of gems into his open mouth.
Twilight was off to the side, in between Spike and Trixie. She was still mobile, but was using four belly boards to keep her belly off the floor. Her stomach was still overhanging the boards, threatening to touch the ground anyway.
Her front half was smaller by comparison, using them to move more than her hind legs. Her hind end was the largest part of her, rolls and folds making it hard to identify specific parts. Her Cutie Mark was overblown and stretched out. Trixie couldn’t imagine Twilight had the strength to move her hind legs.
Trixie stared openly for a moment, before Starlight pushed her from behind. Swallowing dryly, Trixie approached Twilight.
“Starlight said you mentioned some things were wrong? Could you explain more?”
Twilight stared at the two mares for a moment, “What weird things?”
“You were telling Starlight weird things this morning!”
“Oooh!” Twilight said, “The food delivery is taking a long time today, I’m hoping Derpy didn’t eat it all again.”
“No there’s got to be something else!” Trixie shouted.
“Are you okay, Trixie? You’re acting weird.”
“She’s been like this all day, I don’t know what’s wrong.”
“I’m not the weird one!” Trixie snapped, “It’s everypony else who’s acting weird! I thought Twilight could help, but she won’t. I’m going to prove this!”
“Trixie, please calm down,” Starlight tried to soothe, resting a hoof onto Trixie’s shoulder.
Trixie, using her magic, shoved Starlight away, “I don’t need to calm down!”
The shove was harder than anticipated, sending Starlight stumbling into a bookshelf. The shelf rattled, and a heavy tome fell off a high shelf and onto Starlight’s head. There was a shout and Starlight rubbed at her head, tears streaming down her face.
“Creators, I’m so sorry Starlight!” Trixie exclaimed, checking over Starlight’s head, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah I think so,” Starlight said, rubbing at it, “It’s okay, Trixie. It happens.”
Starlight sighed, blinking away tears and then looked over to Twilight. Starlight screamed, jumping, “What’s happened to you?! How are you so fat?”
“It’s about time!” Trixie said, “Finally!”
“Is this some kind of joke?” Twilight asked.
Starlight climbed to her hooves, and was flooded with memories. Ponies eating cupcakes and gaining weight by the mouthful, Twilight coming back from Canterlot and trying to tell her things had changed, how all of the changes seemed normal. Duplicate memories. Ones where ponies were thin, and another set where ponies were fat.
“Twilight this isn’t a comedy routine,” Starlight said, trying to convince her mentor.
Twilight rolled her eyes, reaching over her pigeon chest to try to drag herself into a more comfortable position, “Starlight this is ridiculous.”
Starlight caught sight of a heavy book on the table. Desperate, head still spinning she used her magic to throw the book at Twilight’s head. It connected, since Twilight couldn’t duck. “OUCH! Starlight what is wrong with you!?”
“Why didn’t that work?! It worked with me!” Starlight stomped a hoof in frustration.
“Maybe it’s because she’s eaten these cupcakes and you haven’t?” Trixie suggested.
“We need to fix this, Trixie. Let’s go! We need to go to Sugarcube Corner.”
Twilight wanted to call after them, but by the time she got her mouth open they’d already gone.
“Think they’ll bring back cupcakes?” Spike mumbled around a mouthful of emeralds.
“I hope so,” Twilight said. “Keep your claws crossed.”
Spike nodded, his chins and jowls rippling at the movement, “Okay.”
____
Sugarcube Corner was full of ponies, ponies Starlight had grown to care for over the last few months. Rainbow and Scootaloo were seated at a table, perching on the remnants of mobility scooters. Immobile, but still eating. Their massive rolls of flesh were squishing against each other, making it clear to see they’d been seated like this for some time.
Cheerilee, Diamond Tiara, and Spoiled Rich were taking up a large portion of the dining area with their massive bodies on destroyed carts.The Rich’s had servants feeding them, using his magic to ensure food entered not only his employers mouths but into his own as well. Locked into his body by his own fat. Cheerilee was relying on a student’s magic to put endless pastries into her mouth, eating happily whenever she had enough room free in her mouth.
Pinkie had grown so much that the display counter was gone, either removed magically or crushed under her weight. Her hind end spread out over the wall, eclipsing even her head in terms of height. Her Cutie Mark was unrecognizable, beyond overblown and stretched out. Nearly blind, most identifying parts of limbs no longer visible, Starlight could just catch sight of Pinkie rolling her eyes when Starlight and Trixie burst through the door.
There was a pause as the two mares took in the scene. Pinkie took that time to let out a loud wheeze, one that could have been a word or an exasperated sigh. Starlight opened her mouth to say something, but Pinkie’s mouth opened.
Quiet, weak, wheezing, Pinkie spoke, “Dis…”
Starlight didn’t hear the rest, but she felt the magic tug at her. She and Trixie were teleported in front of a house-sized fat blob. On instinct, Starlight threw up a magical barrier, blocking two cupcakes from flying at her and Trixie’s heads.
There was a wheezy laugh, and that was when Starlight realized this thing was Discord.
“Discord, what are you doing?” Trixie demanded, clearly catching on as Starlight did, “You need to stop this! Fix things right now!”
Another wheezy chuckle, and Starlight could finally see where Discord’s head should be.
“Why...ev’yone who has m’ c’pc’kes loves ‘em. Only one who d’nt are the ones who h’vn’t had ‘em,” Speech was slurred. Because of Discord’s fat lips? The fat around his muzzle restricting movement? Starlight couldn’t be sure.
More cupcakes appeared, but Starlight had never lowered her barrier. Blocking them again, “We’re going to stop you, Discord! We’re going to find a way to stop you, and we’re going to be back.”
Using her magic, Starlight teleported Trixie and herself away before Discord could launch more cupcakes at them.
They arrived outside of Sugarcube Corner, where they saw Mr. and Mrs. Cake outside their packed establishment, panicking. They looked normal. They’d been out of town, hadn’t they?
Mrs. Cake caught sight of Starlight, and the look of relief on her face was like a blow to the stomach, “Oh thank goodness! What’s going on, dear? Everything is so different? What happened here?!”
Trixie launched into an explanation of what they knew. Discord, the cupcakes, the effects they had on ponies, their determination for a cure.
“We have to escape now, while we can,” Starlight concluded, “The cupcakes are already everywhere here and we need to get help.”
The two earth ponies looked conflicted, looking up at their livelihood. Mrs. Cake broke down into tears, earning a hug from Mr. Cake. After a moment where Starlight didn’t know what to do, Mr. Cake began to lead Mrs. Cake away.
“Come on, honeybuns. We need to go. We can help Pinkie better this way if we can help find a cure.”
“My wagon is near Sweet Apple Acres,” Trixie said.
“Trixie, can you clear out some of your magic stuff? I need to go back to the castle and find some books. Mr. and Mrs. Cake, you can pack up some things from upstairs. Clothes, toothbrushes, that sort of thing. We’ll meet outside Sweet Apple Acres on the south side of the orchards in half an hour?”
No one looked excited about that, but they went off in different directions to do as instructed.
Starlight turned her attention back to the castle, mind spinning with ideas and possibilities. She would need books, some other science equipment, some basic necessities. Hopefully some of the canned food in the castle’s kitchens had been left alone. She’d need bits too-
Starlight shook herself, starting to gallop towards Twilight’s Palace. She could think when she got there. She didn’t want to keep the others waiting.
It had been-it had been...Starlight didn’t know how long it had been since the cupcakes had overtaken Equestria. Days blended together after a while for her and the others. As Starlight and Trixie wandered across Equestria, they found themselves with other survivors. Aside from Mr. and Mrs. Cake there was Mrs. Harshwhinny, Coco Pommel, Sea Shores, Marjoram, and Carnation.
As Starlight and Trixie had directed the group to Canterlot, they’d found Mrs. Harshwhinny and Coco Pommel traveling the road. Once in Canterlot they’d found the others, all working together to try to break anyone out of their cupcake induced stupor. Since everypony had found each other, they vowed to stay together and try to find somewhere the cupcakes hadn’t hit. Or find a cure. Preferably both. So far they hadn’t had any luck.
Canterlot was...hard to see. For everyone. Guards that were still able to patrol now did so in mobility scooters or carts, too fat to even hold their weapons. The countless shops and businesses had all turned into restaurants-all of them large and packed full with obese patrons.
The few businesses left that weren’t restaurants had their workers and/or owners trapped inside, immobile. The one that was the most shocking to Starlight was Sassy Saddles, resting on her mattress of a stomach in the middle of the showroom floor, completely immobile.
Where they had found Marjoram, Carnation, and Sea Shores had been the palace. Which was the most affected by the cupcakes. Servants were immobilized, relying on unicorns to bring them the food they desired. The halls dilapidated and surfaces dusty. Esteemed guests were much like the servants, immobile and helpless.
Luna and Celestia took up most of the throne room, even though it had expanded from the cupcakes’ magic. Servants and the like always said that the throne room had always been huge, but in reality it had nearly tripled in size. They were mostly blind, only able to see a sliver over the fat of their faces. Their horns, when not directing the sun and moon, were focused solely on bringing an endless supply of food and cupcakes to their mouths.
Starlight had tried to talk to them, had even ‘booked an appointment’, but they only said to come back after lunch. The only problem with that was they never stopped eating.
After a couple of days, the group decided to leave Canterlot. Starlight enchanted Trixie’s wagon to make it large enough for everypony while not increasing its weight. It was larger on the inside, with enough space for her lab, some more cots, bedding, and other storage. It was still a little cramped, but it became home as they traveled from place to place.
It had been...a while since Canterlot, Starlight mused, staring up at the early evening sky. Coco was inside, creating some sort of outfit that would make any protection to the muzzle seem less conspicuous. Trixie was asleep after long day of scavenging a nearby orchard of whatever fruit was available. Marjoram, Carnation, and Mr. Cake were still preserving the fruits. Apples, somehow still untouched by the curse the cupcakes wrought.
Mrs. Cake and Mrs. Harshwhinny were near the fire, sitting in silence. They’d seen an immobilized family in the farmhouse up the road. It had been disheartening for everypony but those two seemed particularly touched.
The next town was Appleloosa she thought. They’d been heading south, parallel to the now defunct Friendship Express. Appleloosa, then maybe northwest to Vanhoover. Or perhaps east to the Dodge City. They’d need to discuss it before they reached Appleloosa, in case the city was already overtaken, but Starlight thought they could use a break. Plus she couldn’t handle Mrs. Harshwhinny right now. The mare was stubborn, but her experience in travel was invaluable. She had a map in her head, which is why they weren’t hopelessly lost.
“Starlight?” Marjoram’s quiet voice never failed to startle her, mostly because she could never hear him coming.
Sitting up a little straighter, Starlight turned to look at him. Tall, skinny, golden-coat with a white mane and tail, Marjoram was physically different from a lot of ponies. His golden eyes were tired though, and he looked triumphant.
“We got the canning done. Didn’t take long, not with my magic. We have them stored in the chest like you wanted. I uh...was just wondering what we’re planning on doing.”
“What do you mean?” Starlight asked. Harshwhinny seemed intent on making the decisions, not letting Starlight make them. Starlight, while better with authority than she had been, didn’t begrudge the older mare for this mindset.
“I mean we can’t afford to stop like this every time there’s food,” Marjoram explained, sitting himself down. He had a necklace of sorts around his neck, the metal and plastic of an inhaler reflecting the light of the fire. Childhood illness or something , if Starlight remembered correctly.
“We’ll need it,” Starlight defended. Though Marjoram had a point. They’d been here a while. Using a nearby stream for water and washing, and eating their fill of what apples hadn’t rotted off the trees or hadn’t been canned. She was getting a little sick of apples, really, “It’ll be good to have now, especially since we don’t know how long this will last.”
“Exactly, which is why we can’t spend all our time in the countryside,” Marjoram replied evenly, “We need to go into towns sooner rather than later. For uncursed food, medical supplies, books you might need, anything and everything else. We can’t keep staying out here. It’s going to be hard to see everypony like this, but we need to face reality.”
“I know, I know,” Starlight murmured, watching as Mrs. Cake and Harshwhinny seemed to start up a discussion, “Harshwhinny wanted to stay here though.”
“Harshwhinny isn’t in charge. It’s you that’s going to find a cure to this, not her. You that’s going to need to direct us for materials and other things. Not her. You’re the one that should be in charge.”
Starlight shook her head, “She’s kept us in food so far. I don’t envy her for that.”
“Rationing is only logical,” Marjoram sighed, “and I suppose we can’t expect everything from you. Not yet anyway. You’ll make this work, I’m sure you will.”
“Thanks,” Starlight replied, feeling oddly touched. She didn’t think Marjoram had spoken this much since they’d met, “It’s appreciated.”
Marjoram offered what she hoped was supposed to be a comforting grin, “I need to sleep. Don’t stay up too long. We need you.”
Starlight nodded, “I won’t be much longer.”
Marjoram left, leaving Starlight to stare up at the sky and hope.
___
Carnation screamed.
Starlight had been sorting out what food they’d found in Appleloosa when she heard the scream. Dropping a box of pasta, she sprinted toward the sound. Both seeing and hearing Sea Shores fly above her, looking down in between the apple trees to pinpoint her adopted daughter.
When Sea Shores descended, Starlight rounded a large tree and froze. She wanted to scream, but didn’t have the voice for it. Her mouth agape from shock.
Mr. and Mrs. Cake were surrounded by apple cores. Which was...understandable considering recent events. They all went hungry nowadays. Maybe not starving, but not comfortable either. The apple cores wasn’t the surprising thing. What was the surprising thing was the fact that the couple were completely immobilized by fat. Clothes had torn and shredded from the sudden inflation, leaving them both naked. Cutie Marks were overstretched and barely visible because of their faded nature.
Carnation was leaning into Sea Shores’ grasp, sobbing heavily. She’d spent a lot of time with Mr. Cake while helping cook up what food they had. This hit her hard.
Starlight circled the pair, finding them still eating apples. Much like the cupcakes, they bloated a little more with each swallow. Upon closer inspection, the apples looked like Sweet Apple Acres apples but more subtle. The candy coatings and extra toppings not so noticable.
“It’s spreading,” Starlight murmured, more to herself than anything. She inched back a little as Mrs. Cake’s mattress of a stomach expanded again, overtaking some of the discarded apple cores and coming very close to touching Starlight’s hooves.
“We’ll need to be more careful,” Shores said over the sounds of heavy breathing, audible chewing, and quiet sobbing, “They wanted some more apples for us to can. They must have gotten overexcited.”
Starlight nodded, swallowing past a lump in her throat. She needed to keep herself together. This was hard, but they could make this work.
“Okay. Now we know to be careful,” Starlight said slowly, moving back towards Carnation and Shores, “This is upsetting but we can move past this. We found a bunch of food in Appleloosa’s general store and-and..well, we have two fewer mouths to feed.”
Shores nodded, and Carnation seemed to get ahold of herself.
Starlight nodded, leading the group back to the wagon. They’d need to break the news. Today was a bleak day. Hopefully Dodge City would be better.
_____
Coco Pommel was a quiet mare, one that generally kept to herself unless she was excited about a new fashion idea or got pulled into a conversation. Marjoram was much the same, keeping to himself. He always made sure their first aid kits were stocked though, and knew how to do all of the day to day first aid they needed.
Harshwhinny was still trying to be in charge, and Starlight respected that. Without her, Starlight felt she might be a bit too controlling on their food rations. With Harshwhinny around, they rationed but it was a bit flexible. Whoever pulled the wagon got a bigger share, followed by foragers/scavengers, then everyone else.
It didn’t seem to matter. They were all losing weight in spite of their best efforts. They gained muscle too, taking turns pulling the wagon. Except for Marjoram, who lacked the physical strength to do so. He usually walked alongside though. The group could afford to take up the roads since no one else was travelling them. Too fat, too lazy to travel outside of their local area. Except for the group.
Dodge City had been disappointing. They’d found another survivor, some relative of Applejack or another, but they succumbed quickly. They’d fallen in a bakery on some foolish run for something or another. The stallion had gotten only a few crumbs of a cupcake, but a few crumbs was all it took.
Dodge City was a smaller settlement, and had had so little food that they’d only stayed for a day. Long enough to scavenge what they could and refill their water supply. After losing someone they’d just met, they couldn’t bare to see him pile on the pounds like they’d seen all over.
____
Carnation could sing and play guitar. Not as well as Applejack, but it helped ease tensions while on the road. Especially at night, when there was nothing but silence. It helped dull the memories of endless chewing, made it easier to remember what they were fighting so hard for.
Harshwhinny had succumbed to a cupcake in Vanhoover. Stress, they figured. Stress and an aching belly. Uncursed food was still hard to find, and even though they hadn’t really appreciated her while she was their, the conspicuous silence around the fire was keenly felt. Her constant travel knowledge was missed too. Thankfully Marjoram had looted those maps from the pharmacy. They knew where they were going still, but they missed the trivia and fun facts Harshwhinny always told.
Food was harder and harder to find as time passed. Fruits and vegetables, uncursed ones anyway, rotted in their fields. They needed to rely on food they could scavenge from stores, but they were harder and harder to find as their owners destroyed them from the inside out or had been turned into restaurants. Canned food seemed to be the highest survivors of everything, managing to survive even after being under hundreds of pounds of fat. There was a variety at least.
The group had lost even more weight as the rationing got stricter. Marjoram, who had been unhealthily skinny even before all this, seemed nearly skeletal now. Starlight happily gave a portion of her own food to keeping him going and she knew Shores and Carnation did the same. Trixie had relegated herself to pulling the wagon, and it was this endless exercise that stopped her from giving food over.
They’d been on a hillside outside of Ponyville, hoping to scavenge what they could out of everywhere they hadn’t thought to check last time, when Cloudsdale finally hit the ground.
Unbeknownst to them, as Sea Shores had stayed close to scout out towns, villages, and fields for them, the increasing weight of the pegasi residents had weighed the clouds down over time. Making it lower and lower to the ground as time passed and more weight piled on.
They stayed near Ponyville for several days, finding ample food in spite of the pain seeing the town in such a state. As they watched, the clouds touched down in a field near Sweet Apple Acres. By the time the group was ready to pack up and leave, the clouds had been smothered underneath the residents that had once lived on them.
After that they’d gone to the dragon lands, hoping for a miracle. Ember and the others were much like what Spike had become. Endlessly stuffing cupcakes and jewels into their mouths, laying wherever they’d been when they’d first been cursed. All so fat that their scales were constantly shedding. Unable to grow properly because of the fatty flesh oozing between the scales.
Even Ember, one of the smaller dragons, had turned into something that resembled a faceless blob than anything else. Her pale blue flesh poking out between her scales. Shed scales, empty sacks, and empty cupcake wrappers formed a carpet underhoof around her, and was starting to pile up around her like a landfill. It had been disgusting and terrifying. The group hadn’t stayed there long.
Coco Pommel succumbed there. She’d seen the mighty dragons, known for their bravery and spirit, and couldn’t take it anymore. She’d eaten four cupcakes before anypony could stop her. Laying on the piles of Ember’s trash, rapidly becoming immobile with how quickly she used her magic to shovel cupcakes into her waiting maw. Crying all the while, though she didn’t seem to remember why once the first round of cupcakes passed her lips.
It had been a stroke of luck that opened the way to the Zebra land. Enchanting the wagon to become a boat was honestly the hardest part. That and Carnation and Marjoram’s motion sickness, but that could be dealt with.
They’d hoped that the zebras would be safe because of their isolation. They’d been wrong.
Huts and buildings had been destroyed. Centers of knowledge and magic crushed underneath massive stripey blobs. Unseen magic kept them constantly eating, bringing food to their mouths. Starlight wasn’t sure if it was because of the zebra’s inherent magic or if it was Discord or something else.
They’d found some food at least, made it worth their while. Mostly dried fish and preserves, but they counted. Certainly better than nothing. They’d found books for Starlight’s research as well, and some harder to find ingredients. Marjoram had improved too, somewhat. Clearly finding what joy he could in the remnants of the Zebra culture.
It was so hard to leave. Mostly because they could see some of the blobs-that-were-zebras from the dock. Made it hard to leave ponies that were suffering but they needed to. There simply wasn’t enough resources.
They’d found another couple of survivors on their way to Griffonstone, but they’d taken one look at the fat griffons and had succumbed to the bounty of food. Shores and Carnation had looked tempted, while Marjoram had simply been staring at a pair of griffons that were so fat that their beaks were the only thing visible on their faces.
They’d found more food though. Still not enough, but for the core group it worked out better than they’d hoped. Especially with the others now succumbed to the curse.
They wanted to help survivors, but Starlight couldn’t focus on finding a cure if starvation was the first thing she thought about when waking up. Five ponies to care for was enough, any more than that was quickly bordering on impossible.
They’d decided to check on the changelings on a whim on the way back to Equestria proper after Griffonstone. There they found hope and despair in some strange, twisting mix that was almost as hard as seeing Canterlot or Ponyville.
The Changelings weren’t as bad off as some. Possibly because of the restricting chitin they all still had over their bodies. Colourful and bright now, not black, but still. Restricting all the same until they could be shed. Some were immobile, their chitins unable to grow back because of the weight being gained every day. A lot of them relied on mobility devices, looking uncomfortable in their own skins. The group didn’t stay long.
They’d found Starlight’s village almost by accident sometime after, bereft of other familiar landmarks except for the distant mountains, Starlight had a breakdown once she saw the state everypony was in.
Sugar Belle and Night Glider were bigger than any of the houses still left standing, endlessly fed by the now-somewhat familiar streams of magic that never stopped. Their faces gone, the only thing that made them identifiable was their colouring and what was still visible of their Cutie Marks.
Starlight had cried while Marjoram and Carnation went off to find supplies. They’d been lucky. They’d been wearing one of Coco’s earlier designs. The mouth covering had saved them from an onslaught of cupcakes. They’d been aimed at their mouths and heads, the frosting and crumbs had been evidence of that.
After that, after sprinting across the whole of Starlight’s village after a lengthy supply run, Marjoram’s body had had enough. He’d collapsed, finally out of what energy he’d had.
Carnation spent a lot of her time with him now, trying to distract him from the fact they were losing more and more weight with every day that passed.
After a few more weeks of travel, Carnation and Shores had reached a decision. They’d looped back around to Vanhoover from Starlight’s village, following what was left of the overgrown tracks. Trixie pulling the wagon, they’d come to a stop to view what was left of the city.
Carnation had been crying off and on since Marjoram’s body gave out, and Shores hadn’t been much better. On a quiet evening, they told Starlight their plan.
If they kept going like this Marjoram was going to die. Sooner than they wanted to think about. With his health problems, the lack of food and proper care was killing him quicker than being fat could. The curse may be destructive, but it was keeping everycreature alive, even when it had no right to.
Starlight promised to give Marjoram a dose of the cure as early as she could make it, even helping them pick their way over the crumbling concrete of the city so they could find a comfortable place to grow fat together.
If Marjoram was going down, so was Carnation. Shores didn’t have the heart to leave her children alone, even if it meant being brainwashed and fattened beyond all recognizability. Starlight and Trixie helped get them all settled and retreated back to the wagon before they could see the fattening begin, even though they could hear the echoes of the three ponies tearing into cupcakes all the way back to the wagon.
It took them a while before they forgot about the echoes of that ominous chewing.
The Crystal Empire was a welcome sight after the frozen wastes of the north. Even with ponies the width of streets making it hard to maneuver around, it was warm here. Warm and somewhat comforting, even with all the destruction.
They were dressed in covering clothes. Not wanting to risk exposure. Not after everything. They’d managed to work their way toward the palace, hoping to raid what was left of its kitchens, but hadn’t been able to get inside.
Cadence and Shining filled the royal courtroom making it impossible to enter through that way. A pony in the kitchen was blocking the back door with stomach fat alone, much less the other non-visible residents of the castle.
Sunburst was like everypony else they’d found. Eating himself literally out of his house, chewing mechanically on an endless stream of cupcakes.
Starlight tried to talk to him, even shouted and screamed and cried. All he did was chew in return. It took Trixie to get her to leave him be. Probably because Starlight had been staring longingly at one of the cupcakes for a little too long.
The pair were able to scavenge some though. From houses and other businesses. It was hard going, trying not to step on the growing masses. In some spots, especially near the Crystal Palace, it was impossible to go anywhere without having to crawl over some massive body part. Starlight wasn’t sure what was worse: having to do it, or knowing that the people they were using as a road didn’t care.
Squeezing between two ponies, walking between the fat-packed space between their heads, Starlight could observe the endless stream of magic that fed them all. Cupcakes mostly, but other foodstuffs too.
As she climbed over the fatty remnants of somepony’s face, she suddenly realized how close she was to one of these magical streams. She only realized when her horn connected with one of the cupcakes. Ending the magical spell over it, the cupcake fell onto Starlight’s head. Part of it impaled on her head, part of it slid down her hood and onto her cloth covered shoulders.
Starlight froze, her aching legs suddenly feeling like they were made of jelly. She could feel the pieces of the cupcake falling down around her, and as she began the tricky descent to the actual crystal street below her, she couldn’t help but feel clench her jaw and press her lips into a tight line. She wanted desperately to get the bits of cupcake off her, to throw away her clothes, but she couldn’t. If she took them off, the merry dancing lines of cupcakes would start flying towards her.
Panting for breath, wheezing and trying not to cry, she could have collapsed into tears. She couldn’t risk it though, if she swallowed a crumb that would be enough.
Shaking, clutching at the road like a lifeline, panic and anxiety finally washed over her. Sobbing, close-mouthed, tears streaming down her face, she half expected for a tiny particle of cupcake to enter her mouth. She froze, still crying. Half expecting to fatten up or start eating uncontrollably.
After a few moments, she started to calm. Looking down at the spilled frosting and crumbs around her. Then looking up to Trixie, who somehow hadn’t noticed Starlight falling behind. It...hurt to see Trixie like this.
Trixie had always been slim and athletic, mostly from traveling and performances. Now she was bordering on unhealthily skinny. Not there yet, not with the muscle she’d packed on during their forced march, but close. Her bones were starting to be visible, especially the ribs and hip bones.
Slowly climbing to her own hooves, not wanting to lose Trixie, Starlight couldn’t help but look at her own body. Well as much as she could without a mirror. Her legs were slimmer. On instinct, she raised a hoof to touch at her face.
Starlight had never been athletic, not really, but she’d never been fat either. She’d always been somewhat softer than Trixie, but this was a new level of thinness for her. Her cheekbones and jaw were more prominent now, lacking the softness she’d always possessed before.
Looking around as she walked slowly after Trixie, all Starlight could see was the peaceful ponies around her. Peaceful, unafraid, maybe happy. It was hard to say exactly, since most faces were so bloated with fat that they couldn’t emote anymore.
Starlight came to the sudden realization that she missed those peaceful emotions. Missed them so much that it brought a lump to her throat to realize she couldn’t remember when she’d felt all of them at once. Couldn’t remember when she’d felt safe and secure and that was almost worse.
Glaring up at the cupcakes, she couldn’t help the bitter bile that rose up in her throat. All of this was their fault. Why they needed to crawl through crumbling towns and over fattened blobs. Why they were starving and afraid.
A blast of magic knocked a cupcake from the stream, and Starlight raised a hoof to crush it. It wouldn’t fix her problems, but it would be cathartic. She froze, her emotions swirling in her gut like the constant edge of her hunger.
But...she lowered her hoof, setting it on the ground beside the cupcake. The pain, fear, and anxiety could disappear. With one bite everything could be okay again. “Starlight?!” Trixie yelled, finally realizing Starlight had fallen behind. She turned around, coming back to stand in front of Starlight and the cupcake, “What are you doing?”
“I-I…” Starlight broke into tears again, unable to speak.
Trixie wrapped Starlight in a hug, doing her best to comfort her friend, waiting for an explanation.
“I just want it to stop,” Starlight sobbed, “I’m tired, and hungry, and I don’t want to do this anymore!” Starlight tried to continue to talk, but her sobs prevented her from doing so.
Trixie tried to break through to her, but was unsuccessful. After a few moments, needing to yank them away from the blob of a pony Starlight had crawled over because the flab was encroaching closer, Trixie finally had enough. A slap to the face knocked Starlight free of whatever panic she’d been dealing with.
“You can’t give up!” Trixie yelled, “You can’t leave me here alone!” Voice edging into hysteria, “I need you Starlight, and I won’t last without you! If you give up so do I! You’re the only reason I’m still sane.”
“What are we supposed to do?!” Starlight snarled, her sadness and fear rapidly spinning into anger, “We’ve been trying for months! We don’t have much we can do!”
“We should give up trying to find a safe place. We need to focus on finding a cure. We can’t keep travelling like we have been, Starlight. Not unless we can guarantee more food.”
Starlight leaned into Trixie, her breath still hitching in her throat. She nodded, “Okay...okay. It’s worth a shot. But you need to promise that if we can’t find a cure that we’ll both just eat a cupcake and join everypony else.”
There was a lengthy pause, during which the two mares had to get going. Starlight despondent and Trixie full of nervous energy. As they picked their way out of the Crystal Empire, Trixie sighed.
“Okay, Starlight,” She said reluctantly, “We’ll eat them together, promise?”
“I promise,” Starlight nodded. They shook on it.
“Well...where are we going to set up?”
“I was thinking outside of Ponyville. There’s a lot of places we haven’t scavenged for food there yet. And if we do have to leave to get more food it won’t be too long to get anywhere,” Starlight replied. “To Ponyville then,” Trixie said as the pair walked into a blizzard raging outside the Empire’s magic.
___
It took them almost a week to reach Ponyville. During this time, they’d used back roads and cut through wilderness to find what wild food they could before reaching Ponyville. The closer they got to Ponyville, the more things seemed to change. Reflecting on it later, Starlight couldn’t help but feel irritated that she’d been surprised. At the time though, she’d been vulnerable, and watching the world descend even further was a scary thing to see.
The sky became less and less blue as they got close, changing into a cotton candy pink. Clouds, thick and overgrown the last time they’d been here, were gone. Replaced by endless spirals of cupcakes. Streams were coming from the edges of the spiral, showing a constant state of moving cupcakes.
Getting closer and closer to the town proper, it became clear that the streams were going to individual townsfolk. Not surprising, given what they’d seen elsewhere. What was surprising though was the fact the unicorns weren’t directing the cupcakes. Not anymore.
Standing atop a hill outside of Ponyville, the two mares watched as the blobs they’d once known as friends continued to expand. Fleshy bodies creeping slowly to cover everything.
“It must be Discord,” Starlight said after a few minutes.
“No kidding,” Trixie replied dryly, “This is where all this started. Makes sense it would be the first place to go absolutely crazy.”
Even from a distance, they could see the ponies were gigantic. The smallest of their number literally breaking out of houses and buildings to spill flab outside of broken out doors, windows, and walls. Other homes were destroyed completely, leaving the oblivious blobs covered in wreckage.
Some ponies were so large they couldn’t really be identified as anything other than ‘blob’. Heads, hooves, tails, manes-anything that could make a pony a pony was gone. There seemed to be...well a hole of sorts where heads had disappeared into. At least that’s what Starlight hoped. Streams of cupcakes were streaming into these caverns endlessly.
After a few minutes more of watching, the pair got dressed in protective clothing and made their way into town. It was horrifying, but they needed to see the scope of the damage.
Mayor Mare had destroyed Town Hall completely during their absence, and was now filling up the entirety of the Town Square. It took them near an hour to crawl across her shifting, expanding body to find the remnants of Sugarcube Corner. Or what they thought was Sugarcube Corner.
In it’s place was Discord, armed with an armada of floating ovens. As they watched, still perched upon some part of Mayor Mare’s anatomy, the ovens opened. Cupcakes left to join the streams and unbaked ones replaced them.
Discord was...Discord’s limbs were all so submerged into their own fat that they were no longer visible. He was very similar in stature to Mayor Mare. In fact, Starlight could see where some of their fat was pressing together.
“They’re so big,” Trixie managed, staring up at the four separate streams that were going into the rolls that she hoped was where Discord’s head lay.
“Gigantic,” Starlight agreed. They continue on, needing to crawl their way over Discord in the hopes of reaching Twilight’s castle.
Nothing could have prepared them for the sight of Twilight and the others. Nothing they had seen since all of this had started was even a fraction of what was required to believe what they were seeing. Not Mayor Mare, not Discord, not Ponyville.
Twilight’s castle was gone. Crushed and demolished by its residents. Leaving the six mares, one dragon, and three young fillies completely exposed to the elements. All ten figures were keenly visible, even from a distance.
Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were the smallest. The size of small houses each, only a couple of streams going to each of them. Pressed together because of their fat. Squeezing them into a more upright position than the sprawling ones they’d seen in Mayor Mare and Discord.
The others though, Twilight and her friends, were...well they were mind-bogglingly huge. Trixie and Starlight had to pause to look at them, and even when they resumed their journey, their minds refused to truly comprehend what they were seeing. It seemed impossible. They were basically mountains of pure flab. It had been them that had crushed the castle, and they towered over everything.
How Trixie and Starlight hadn’t seen them before now, they weren’t sure. Wishful thinking? Not being able to truly comprehend this sight? Being too absorbed in the sights of Ponyville? Starlight didn’t want to know. There was no way to adequately describe them, but she didn’t want to look that closely. But they needed to.
As they got closer, Starlight started to pick out details. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were on the smaller end of ‘mountain’. Rarity and Twilight were in the middle, with Pinkie being larger enough for there to be a noticeable difference.
Fluttershy was easily double Pinkie Pie. Squished in tightly between her two friends, raising her up so high that she would be level with clouds. If there were clouds around.
Meanwhile, countless streams of cupcakes were flowing into each pony (and dragon) present.
“We need to get to work, Starlight,” Trixie breathed.
Starlight nodded, struck dumb by what they were seeing.
“We need to finish this before...before Fluttershy’s size becomes the new lowest weight for ponies,” Trixie continued.
Starlight nodded again.
Even with the building sense of urgency and panic, the two friends watched for a few more minutes before turning back and going back to the wagon. They had work to do.
___________
More time had passed, Starlight noted. As per usual, she couldn’t begin to guess how much time.
The pink sky had spread, all the way past the still visible Canterlot. The end of it was no longer visible to Trixie or Starlight, and the vortexes and streams of countless cupcakes had followed.
Ponies were still eating and growing, even the lighter ones finally breaking out of their houses. Everypony was left without shelter, and without walls. Without barriers.
There were a few...well, growing problems that Starlight couldn’t begin to guess at solutions for. She didn’t know what to do.
Firstly ponies were running out of room. For instance, Mayor Mare had grown past Town Square and was starting to grow onto nearby ponies (or beings like Discord), who owned businesses or homes near the square. She hadn’t completely covered sompony yet but it was clearly only a matter of time.
Fluttershy was another example of this as well. She was higher than the vortexes of cupcakes, and her rolls were starting to really sag down onto Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. Those three were doing the same to Applejack and Rainbow Dash, while those two were starting to overtake the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Spike.
Starlight wasn’t sure if the magic keeping everypony alive would be enough to stop a death by suffocation. That was something she didn’t want to test if she could help it.
Secondly, and just as worryingly, the foundations of Canterlot were starting to buckle under the weight of everypony. The mountain town wouldn’t survive much further expansion. Not without extensive reconstruction anyway. Not a job the two mares could hope to undertake by themselves.
Just the other day, while they’d been washing their clothes in a nearby pond, they’d heard a terrible crack and looked up in time to see one of Canterlot’s support beams break and fall down the mountain.
As if trying to find a cure wasn’t stressful enough for Starlight.
Thankfully, she’d made some progress in spite of the lack of resources, outside help, and extensive collection of books. Starlight worked on it every day in spite of the dwindling supply of food, the sleepless nights, and the lack of help from Trixie. Trixie simply didn’t know enough about this kind of thing to help. Progress was made, but it was made in baby steps.
The biggest problem was the fact they couldn’t test anything Starlight hoped would work. Mostly because of Starlight’s own misgivings about what cold happen. If it just freed somepony mentally from the cupcakes, that would just be cruel. Anypony they ‘freed’ would be beyond helpless, and potentially cut off from the magic keeping them clean, alive, and comfortable.
They’d tossed the idea around of one of them eating a cupcake and then trying the cure, but at best that would give them two chances at a cure. It also went against their agreement, and was struck down fairly early on.
They’d settled in the Castle of the Two Sisters. Mostly because they were far enough away that they didn’t need to move camp everynight to avoid the ever-expanding, crushing waves of fat. The forest offered some protection as well, which was good. It gave them more time while still being fairly close.
Starlight was resting for now, exhaustion weighing heavily on her mind, eyes, and in her bones. From the room they were using, they could see Ponyville adequately enough with a telescope to track ‘progress’ in ponies’ gains.
With a resigned sigh, Starlight decided it was time to check. Using the telescope, Starlight oriented herself using the best marker now available: Fluttershy. It was hard to see some of the smaller blobs, and impossible to see some, but Starlight still liked to try to look at all the blobs she could and remember the ponies that were buried under that much fat. It was hard, but it kept her hopeful for a cure.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Starlight couldn’t help but pray for the nightmare to end. Either by cure or addiction. She didn’t care which by now. She just wanted to be able to stop worrying all the time.
A door opened, and tired hoofsteps jolted Starlight out of her thoughts. She turned as Trixie entered the room, two ragged sets of saddlebags slung over her back. Trixie discarded the protective clothing, slipping the bags onto the ground. Starlight couldn’t help but wince.
Trixie looked like somepony who was starving, which was true. They were starving. The outline of her bones were starting to become prominent now, the muscles she’d built over the early weeks and months finally starting to be eaten away. Her eyes were sunken with dark circles under them, cheekbones protruding. Ribs were easily visible, and her stomach was concave now.
Trixie was smiling though, which was odd. Scavenging trips were becoming less and less fruitful, which made the two mares even more testy.
“Did you find anything good?” Starlight asked.
Trixie used her magic to empty out the saddlebags on the floor, “Not much food, but I found so much that could help the cure! Herbs and books! From...well Zecora. She burst out of her hut, and I took as much as I could. Look, I even found some canned peaches.”
Starlight stood on shaky legs, using her own magic to put the cans with their meagre food supplies. One pony could maybe survive on them for a week. With two, it would last a few days. Some dried hay, one jar of preserved apples, three cans of peaches, a half-bag of potatoes, several bags of potato chips, and a can of beans. Plus their water supply.
Starlight’s stomach growled, a sharp pain running through her. She rubbed at her own stomach, feeling her bones underneath her skin and fur. Starlight squeezed her eyes shut and grit her teeth. No. She ate breakfast.
Grabbing a can at random, she handed it to Trixie, “Here. You’ve done a lot today.”
“Starlight, I can’t,” Trixie protested, trying to give the can back. It was peaches, “You need to find a cure and you can’t do it on an empty stomach.”
“And you can’t keep scavenging on an empty stomach!” Starlight protested, “You’re doing so much more physical work than I am. You need this!” She shoved the can back at her best friend.
Trixie stared at it for a moment, then sighed, “Okay, but you’re eating something tomorrow morning.”
Trixie pulled out their well-worn can opener, and before Starlight could turn away, was muzzle-deep in the fruit. Slurping up like a mare starving...Which they were.
Starlight busied herself with the telescope as Trixie ate the whole can, licking the lid and can clean so to get every last calorie possible.
The sun began to set as the two cleaned up and got ready for bed. Somehow, Celestia and Luna were still doing their jobs. Which was a blessed thing, really.
Starlight climbed into her sleeping bag trying to ignore her growling stomach. It felt like her stomach was trying to eat away at her spine, and it was hard to sleep while in such pain. Even though she was beyond exhausted.
As she finally drifted off, Starlight realized she was to have her nightmare. Again.
It started off as it always did: at a party in Ponyville. One of Pinkie’s town-wide parties in the Town Square. Everypony is there, from Ponyville and a few ponies from elsewhere.
Starlight is having fun, dancing and drinking punch and laughing with her friends. Until a cupcake falls from the sky. Starlight looks up to find a pink sky and a swirling vortex of cupcakes. Cupcakes beginning to rain down.
Ponies start eating them. Off the ground or snatching them out of the air. Starlight is frozen for a crucial moment before she starts to panic. Ponies were getting fat, and that was not a good thing to be stuck in the middle of. Running around the square, trying to find a way out. Half-blind from terror, she only stops when she runs into something. A soft something. It was Trixie, who was fat and was eating another cupcake. Increasing her size.
“What’s the matter, Starlight?” Trixie asked, her stomach touching the ground with another swallow, “Aren’t you hungry?”
Before Trixie could do or say anything, Starlight started to run again, but was stopped in her tracks by Twilight who waddled up to her, cupcake floating in front of her like an offering.
Starlight tried to run again, but was struck with the sudden realization she couldn’t escape on hoof anymore. Growing ponies surrounded her, blocking off any exits she might have used. Starlight tried to teleport, but her magic refused to work.
Panting, shaking, trying not to cry, Starlight continued to try to find some way to escape. As the space got smaller, Starlight found herself more and more unable to move until she was starting to get squished between the growing ponies.
Sobbing, crying, screaming, she couldn’t help but panic more as their growing increased in speed. She wasn’t just squished now, she was getting smothered by the fat around her.
A roll covered her completely, leaving her in darkness. There are several heart-stopping moments of terror where she can’t see or move or use her magic until she can no longer breathe.
Starlight woke with a strangled screech, panting and sweating and shaking, twisted up in her sleeping blanket. She shot up, trembling and crying. It took her a few moments to be free of the bedding, where she immediately went to the telescope.
The nightmare was out here too. The real world in which she lived in was like her nightmare. The blobs and mountains having visibly grown since she checked on them last.
Trixie, somehow, was still asleep. Snoring heavily. Which was fine, she needed all the rest she could get.
Starlight caught sight of one of the books Trixie had found. Knowing she wouldn’t be able to fall asleep again, Starlight settle herself against the window so she could read by the light of the moon.
____
The books Trixie had found made all the difference over the next couple of days. Starlight had found several interesting remedies in them, but needed more books. Between the remains of Twilight’s castle and Zecora’s hut, they found more books with more remedies.
Independently, they wouldn’t work, but with a mixture of different ones Starlight figured they could make a cure that had all the potential to work. They searched high and low for ingredients, and now Trixie was doing some housework as Starlight brewed.
Things were desperate now. Food was so scarce they had maybe a day left. They’d searched while they’d been looking for books and ingredients but they hadn’t found anything. Nothing at all. No cans, no bags, just cursed food.
The cure Starlight was brewing would be their last-ditch effort. It it worked properly, it would cure and prevent whatever magic was in the cupcakes from being so addictive. If it worked, they could eat the cupcakes and everything else without risk. It would be a win/win.
After a few more hours of brewing, Starlight figured the cure was ready. A thick, purple potion that smelled like sticky grape soda. Starlight had wanted to test it on one of them, but Trixie demanded they test it on somepony else first. Somepony already effected so they could see the effects right away.
Starlight filled several flasks and filled them with the potion while Trixie got their clothes ready. After packing their saddlebags they were ready.
They knew their target, and they knew where they were going. They were going to climb up to Fluttershy using Spike, the Crusaders, and everypony else along the way and somehow get her to drink the cure. If Fluttershy could be okay, that would mean the cure would work on anypony. Hopefully any creature.
“Explain this...to me again,” Trixie panted as the two mares made their way up to Twilight’s castle.
“If the cure...works,” Starlight repeated for what felt like the millionth time since they left the ruins, “Fluttershy’ll...slim down and won’t be...addicted...We can’t have...her completely...cover somepony.”
The pair lapsed into silence as they got closer to the castle. It was shocking to see them up close. The smallest was Spike, but he still towered over Trixie and Starlight. It was going to be a hard climb, and a long one.
Starlight and Trixie rested for a while before starting to climb up the mountains of flab. Starting with Spike, trying to move carefully so not to step on the irritated scales. Like the dragons back in the Dragon Lands, Spike was growing so much that his scales had separated and were constantly shedding. The last thing he needed was for them to get a scale stuck in between his rolls and folds. That would be painful.
The climb was hard. There was some firmness to the fat, but Starlight and Trixie still sunk into it somewhat. The shifting, soft mass was hard to crawl across and even harder to maneuver around.
After a while, they transitioned onto Sweetie Belle as she’d started growing onto Spike. After that they went onto Rainbow, then Twilight. It had been at least an hour, probably two or three, just to make it to Twilight.
Trixie called for a break, and the pair rested on an expansive fold. What part of Twilight they were at, Starlight wasn’t sure. It was so hard to tell. Panting for breath and wheezing, it took longer than Starlight would like to admit before she started feeling better.
Fluttershy still towered above them, and Starlight could tell the climb would be harder. Trixie looked wiped, and Starlight had to admit she felt the same. Sleepless nights, long hours, and food deprivation had finally left its mark. Their bodies didn’t have much left to give.
“I...don’t think...we’ll make...it to...Fluttershy,” Trixie wheezed, dragging a hoof over her sweat coated forehead.
Starlight nodded in agreement.
“What do we do?” Trixie asked a few minutes later, after some more rest.
“If we get up their, we won’t have the energy to get back safely,” Starlight said, “There should be a bit of a time delay, but not one large enough for us to get down her without magic.”
“Well we need to cure somepony else,” Trixie replied.
“What if they get smothered to death?”
“Do you think we could teleport them out?” Trixie asked, “Between the two of us, we should be able to manage, right?”
“Once they start to shrink down,” Starlight said, “We don’t want to risk teleporting somepony this size otherwise. That might kill us before the starvation will.”
Trixie nodded, “Alright then. Who do we cure?”
“Twilight,” Starlight said without a moment of hesitation, “We’re already here, and she could help us make more cure.”
Trixie nodded, “Okay.”
After a few more minutes rest, the pair set about finding where the stream of cupcakes leading to Twilight’s face was. Once they’d located it, Trixie pulled out a long rope from her saddlebags, “Here, so I can help pull you out,” she explained as she tied one end around Starlight’s barrel.
Starlight slipped off her saddlebags, holding a flask of the cure in her mouth. She nodded at Trixie before crawling across what was probably chins to enter the tunnel of fat that the cupcakes were going into.
It was dark and warm, so dark that Starlight needed to use her horn to see. Crawling across rolls and folds, trying not to think of her nightmare whenever the tunnel tightened up a little. Dragging herself along, her legs and muscles aching and shaking with the exercise, she tried to ignore the feeling of cupcakes bumping into her from behind as they tried to squeeze past her to go to Twilight.
All along Twilight’s skin folds was crumbs and smears of frosting. Somehow not rotting or stinking. Starlight was careful to keep her mouth closed tightly around the flask. She couldn’t be lost now. Not here.
She had no idea how long it took, but it felt like an hour. As time passed, the passageway got tighter and tighter. Making it hard to crawl her way through, but Starlight did her best. She could now hear this horrible high-pitched whistling sound. It sounded almost like Marjoram when he’d had one of his attacks, and Starlight hoped the noise was just Twilight trying to breathe.
Starlight continued to crawl on, the noise getting louder and louder. After what could have been another eternity, Starlight finally came upon Twilight’s face. It was unrecognizable. Twilight was blinded, her eyes hidden behind all the fat. Her muzzle and fat lips were the only things really visible amidst the fat of her cheeks, chins, and forehead. Which probably made up the tunnel Starlight had used to get here. Twilight’s horn was barely visible, and there was wisps of her mane visible. That was it.
Starlight pulled the cork off the flask, “Here, Twilight. Drink this,” She stuck the flask into Twilight’s mouth, and Twilight guzzled it greedily. Removing the flask and recorking it, putting it back into her mouth, Starlight waited. Now or never. Would this cure or kill?
Please work, please work, please work. Starlight hoped, waiting and watching for anything to happen.Nothing did. Just the sounds of Twilight’s horrible breathing, soon accompanied by choked whimpers as Starlight did her best not to cry. Taking the flask out of her mouth again, Starlight sobbed.
“I just want my friends back,” She said, “I just want all this to stop. I miss everypony. I want things to be back the way they were. I need you Twilight. I don’t know how much longer we have. Please.”
No response. Not even a snort. Nothing. Just an open mouth, clearly unused to the lack of cupcakes. This made Starlight cry harder, “I don’t know what to do, Twilight. Please.”
Nothing. Heartbroken, Starlight put the flask back into her mouth and pulled on the rope twice.
Helping when she could, Starlight felt Trixie pulling her out of the tunnel of fat. It was hard with the rolls and folds, but after a while, Starlight was pulled out. Trixie looked hopeful, and Starlight could only shake her head. Spitting the flask out, letting it fall to the ground or get caught in fat, Starlight began to make her way down Twilight’s vast form.
Trixie followed after, “Starlight?...” She asked questions and talked the entire way back to the nearest lake for Starlight to wash the sweat and cupcake from her body. Well she did when she had the air to do so.
All the while, Starlight refused to say a thing. They ate the last of their food, and still went to bed hungry. Both were quiet in the hopes the other was sleeping. Neither of them were.
___
The next morning, the pair found themselves in the destroyed foyer of the ruins. No food, only a little water left. They’d been arguing all morning about what to do. No food and at a dead end in their research, Starlight just wanted them to finalize their pact and eat a cupcake. Trixie didn’t want to, feeling hopeful they could still make it work.
Now though they were resting. Tired and starving. Starlight yawned, trying hard not to doze off. What little sleep she’d managed to get had been tainted by her nightmare, but now had the added effect of Twilight’s awful breathing. The sound still haunted her if she was being honest.
Both mares jumped when there was a knock at the door. They shared a look, jumping to their hooves when there was another knock. Both Trixie and Starlight worked to open the door.
They were shocked at the sight that greeted them. A floating, purple blob.
“Starlight! Trixie!” Twilight called! She was clearly out of breath, panting and wheezing. She was no longer the mountain she’d been, now simply small enough to be immobilized, and was using her magic to lift her body and allow her to move.
Twilight released her magic, and landed on the ground with a dull thump, still panting.
After another moment of stunned silence, Starlight tackled her mentor into a hug, laughing and crying tears of joy, “YOU’RE BACK! YOU’RE BACK!”
Trixie still stood near the door, mouth agape.
“What happened?” Twilight asked as Starlight hugged as much of Twilight’s enormity as she could, “Last thing I remember was enjoying some cupcakes and then they stopped. Then..you. Talking to me. I remember...talking to Discord about what was going on and being thin, but I also remember always being fat. Which is real?”
Starlight hastily launched into an explanation of the cupcakes and how they caused fake memories. Explaining how things had happened and the cure. Twilight listened with rapt attention. When Starlight was done, Trixie cleared her throat.
“This is nice and all but shouldn’t we go cure everypony else?”
Thus began several weeks of hard work.
The cure wasn’t perfect but it was passable. Ponies lost a lot of the weight they’d gained, but most were still immobile. Some gained their mobility back into their forelegs and head, allowing them to start the weight loss process if they so wished.
When Discord was cured, he tried to help by snapping his paws but nothing he did had any effect. He claimed ignorance as to why things weren’t working. He had theories, mostly that the cupcake’s influence had absorbed so much chaos that it was affecting his powers. Starlight didn’t believe him, and continued to cure those she could. Including herself and Trixie.
____
It had been a year and a half since Starlight had found the cure. During this time everycreature had started and continued to rebuild what was lost and destroyed. Creatures were still fat, but more and more were becoming mobile by the day.
As Starlight checked over her appearance one more time, she couldn’t help but think about the changes her body had dealt with over the last year and a half. She’d put on weight, Trixie had as well, finally able to eat the cursed food without any side effects. After starving for so long the pair had allowed themselves to enjoy the overabundance of food more than they should. They were chubby, and compared to everyone else they were still stick thin.
Twilight and Fluttershy were still immobile. Fluttershy has lost the most weight out of everypony Starlight knew, but considering she’d been one of the fattest to begin with, she was still immobilized. Her front hooves had just become visible a few weeks before and she could wiggle them a little bit. They were like little nubs, but they were progress. She could even speak more than a word at a time before needing to stop to breathe.
Twilight hadn’t lost much weight at all after the initial cure. Starlight couldn’t be sure, but it was possible that Twilight might have gained some weight back. Mostly because Twilight was so focused on helping rebuild civilization.
Rarity was mobile with a belly board. She’d lost weight initially, but had actually started piling it back on once she as more mobile. With fatness still being so common, it had become fashionable. “The fatter the better” was a common slogan that magazines used to help sell, and Rarity was doing her best to capitalize on that and build her brand.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash were mobile, more mobile than a lot of ponies, but they tired quickly and sometimes opted to use mobility scooters. Usually though they toughed it out to burn more calories.
Pinkie was an anomaly, even now. She was like Trixie and Starlight: merely chubby. She’d lost almost all the weight she’d gained, and actually weighed less than Starlight and Trixie did.
Starlight, pleased with her appearance, began to make her way to the tent that Twilight had requisitioned for this important meeting. All the while thinking about the changes that had occured.
The Cutie Mark Crusader were mobile again, Spike too. The Crusaders were constantly going out and helping fillies and colts lose weight in an effort to get back to normal weights. Spike was helping the dragons, and helping keep the communication between Equestria and the Dragon Lands. They were all doing their small parts to help things, and it was amazing to see.
Today was the day that many leaders and important people came together for a progress report. The tent Twilight had got was a circus-sized. With a large table with a map on it.
Starlight entered to find Trixie already in her seat. After Starlight settled, Twilight and her friends joined.
Princess Luna arrived in a special cart. She hadn’t lost much weight after being cured, her hooves little nubs in their sleeves of fat. Celestia following after, barely able to waddle around with the help of four belly boards.
Princess Cadence arrives shortly after on an extra large, specially made mobility scooter that seemed seconds away from breaking down. The basket on the scooter was packed full of fast food, and evidence of her constant eating was evident on her face, cheeks, and hooves. She smiled brightly at everypony. Bringing her scooter about to hug at her aunts and Twilight as best as possible considering the fat, carts, and other mobility devices involved.
Ember arrived in a cart, so fat she could barely bend her talons. Trying to feed herself but even this task was proving too much for her bloated limbs. She settled herself between Spike and Rarity, happy to let the two talk.
Gilda represented the griffons. She’d lost a considerable amount of weight, though she still needed a belly board. She was stubborn however, and refused to ‘waste her bits’ on something she thought she wouldn’t use for long. Thus her entrance was long, slow, and painful. She needed to drag herself across the ground, her stomach was rubbed raw and furless from friction. She settled herself beside Rainbow where the two began to talk.
Thorax was next, looking like he did before the cupcakes. Regal and colourful. From his letters though, Starlight knew he was using his shapeshifting abilities to hide his real size.
Queen Novo of the Hippogriffs was last. She was similar to Fluttershy, needing a cart to move and so fat she was beyond mobile. Most of it was due to her focus on helping her people rebuild.
It was too dangerous to get the yaks from Yakyakistan until they slimmed down more. Otherwise they could cause massive avalanches. It would be a while yet, but the Yaks were doing what they could.
The Zebras, after the initial cure, kept to their isolationist policies and were working towards their own solution.
Once everyone was settled, Celestia and Luna began their meeting. Comparing the twisted history that everyone remembered but hadn’t truly lived. Speaking briefly about countless feasts from the morning when Celestia would raise the sun until Luna raised the moon at night.
This opened up a larger discussion about the altered memories as a whole. Rainbow saying she remembered eating a lot because her parents pressured her to be the best competitive eater. Rarity because she wanted to be the most fashion-forward. Applejack because eating was akin to loving her family and farm.
Thorax opened his mouth, probably to chime in with another memory, but there was a pop and Discord appeared over the table, “Sorry I’m late everycreature! I was busy helping some of the immobile ponies move around a little, I’m sure you understand.”
Discord was like Pinkie. He’d lost almost all the weight he’d gained, retaining only a pot belly and a second chin. He was as lively as ever, and smiling happily. He snapped his talons, and boxes of cupcakes appeared on the table. Similar to the cupcakes that had caused all the problems.
“It’s safe to eat them since you’ve all been cured, but I hoped I could reinstate everyone's’ love of Pinkie Pie’s favourite dessert!” Eyes twinkling, “It’s a new recipe, and I’m curious to see how you all like it.”
Starlight wasn’t hungry, having just eaten. So she watched as everyone else took a cupcake and started eating.
The reaction was immediate. The fattening more intense than the previous cupcakes.
Rarity’s belly boards snapped, Twilight and Fluttershy gained so much weight they were blinded again. Applejack, Cadence, and Rainbow’s scooters were crushed under their owners. Luna crushed her cart, and Celestia was immobilized.
Starlight watched, dumbfounded as her friends dug in, getting fatter by the second. She turned her gaze to Discord, “Why?”
Discord shrugged, “It was so fun the first time, I thought I could make some improvements. Especially on a run where nopony will stop me.” The smirk wasn’t friendly anymore, “I think I’ll fix things again in a few years but who knows?”
“Could I be mountain sized this time?” Pinkie asked. She was eating too, but since she was smaller than just about everypony it was taking more time for her to reach such larger sizes.
Discord laughed, “You might be the size of a continent when I’m done!”
Starlight’s brain tried to register that mental image, but it was very much like seeing the mountain-sized Fluttershy for the first time. Her brain simply didn’t accept it. She looked around the room to each growing creature, her eyes locking onto an already immobilized Trixie.
The cupcakes used to hold so much fear and anxiety, and all she could feel clawing at the back of her throat was envy. Starlight didn’t-couldn’t deal with this again. Not alone. Without any more hesitation, Starlight began to eat. Eat the rich pastries that had once made hr cower in fear.
After a few moments, she could feel Trixie and Twilight’s fat press into her, almost like in her nightmares. This made her eat faster, even as she grew heavier and heavier, until her legs gave out completely.
As she ate, the memories began to change. She hadn’t taken anypony’s Cutie Marks. That would be ridiculous. She’d simply wanted everypony to be immobile so they would all be equally grounded. Both literally and figuratively. Eating had always been a part of her life, and it came as naturally as breathing.
Starlight had a mountain of cupcakes to eat, so of course she couldn’t let any of them go to waste.
__
Outside of the tent, several hundred meters away, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were busy helping Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and Gabby a workout. Only the Crusaders were mobile, but they focused on using what parts of someone could move. Head, feet, hooves, tails, wings-anything burned calories so long as you were working hard!
After a grueling workout, Sweetie called for a break. Doling out water and helping keep everyone happy was important after all. After a few moments of panting, Scootaloo squinted at the distant sight of the tent.
“Um...Is the tent getting destroyed?” Scootaloo pointed, looking at the multi-coloured blobs emerging from the ruins.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie turned in time, mouths open to question or say something. Cupcakes popped up in front of everycreature and shot into their mouths without hesitation.
Within seconds, a year and a half of hard work was done. Leaving a rapidly growing population as Discord’s magic allowed the cupcakes to recapture the creatures it had once held.