Untitled Discord Story
Chapter 1: Twilight Sparkle
Twilight grumbled softly, the alicorn stirring from her slumber for not the first time that night.
The past days days had been hell. Following the announcement of Celestia and Luna’s impending retirements—an event that necessitated Twilight’s ascension to the throne of Equestria—she had been wracked by nightmares and stress headaches day and night.
She didn’t want to open her eyes. Heavy bags of lost sleep kept them pushed closed, and she didn’t need to be awake for hours yet.
Unfortunately, they were torn open with a loud yelp as what sounded like a pair of cymbals crashed right next to her head, accompanied by an all-too-jovial “Rise and shine, Princess Twilight!”
It was still mostly dark. Celestia’s sun barely tickled the horizon outside, casting only a pale light across Twilight’s bedroom. It wasn’t enough to compensate for the blurriness of her still-tired eyes, but the voice… the voice was familiar.
“Discord…?”
She tried to lift a hoof to her face, but it wasn’t forthcoming. Moving it was like pushing against a strong river current; it was slow, unyielding, and surprisingly heavy. In fact, so were her other hooves.
Clued in to something different, she was quickly overcome with the same sensation. All of her felt like a force was dragging her towards the floor, a million invisible threads tugging away at every inch of her body, each of them toward the ground.
Her horn glowed as she lit each of the lamps, casting the room in a bright, warm glow. After a few more blinks her vision started to clear, eventually revealing Discord standing hunched over in front of her, a pair of cymbals in his mismatched hands.
“Discord!” Twilight shouted gruffly.
“Princess!” Discord excitedly shouted back. “Thank goodness you’re finally awake. You wouldn’t want me to have used these again, would you?”
The cymbals disappeared in a puff of magic. Twilight eyed Discord curiously, he looked… different. All of his myriad parts were still there, he was just…
He was fat.
Discord’s once slender, serpent-like body had gotten round around the middle. Extremely round. He could have swallowed a giant medicine ball and even that wouldn’t account for all of his newly added mass.
“What happened to you?” Twilight asked.
Discord tutted. “My my, princess. Ponies in crystal castles should know better than to throw stones.” A tall mirror appeared in Discord’s hands, which he faced toward Twilight.
She gasped. She was immense! Her lavender barrel billowed out below her like a giant bean bag, bulging between her front legs and almost overflowing the princess-sized mattress below her.
Atop it, two thick forelegs hung down, each horseshoe barely poking out from the waterfall of rolls cascading from above them. She tried to move one again with more trepidation, managing to move it in a wide arc before letting it collapse back onto the shelf of belly fat where it had rested previously.
Her cheeks were round and sagging, dimpled from where they slightly pushed against the sides of her mouth.
Behind her head, her cutie mark was stretched across both wide flanks, each of them bloated enough to be visible even from this angle. Her rear hooves didn’t even come close to touching the ground, instead resting atop a thick roll of her own stomach.
About the only parts of her left unscathed were her horn, her mane and her wings, though she doubted the latter had anything left to offer.
“WHAT DID YOU DO?!” Twilight screamed, the vitriol rising in her voice as she stared at Discord.
“Who, me?” Discord grinned, “Why princess, you should be more grateful. A little birdie told me that you’ve been apprehensive about the upcoming coronation, so I thought you might like a little change of pace. Go out, relax, have a nice meal or twelve! No one here will care that their princess looks like a pig.”
“And why is that?”
Discord stepped aside. Behind him, blocked from view by Discord’s rotund figure this whole time, still sleeping soundly, was Spike.
Twilight gasped. The baby dragon was massive, every part of his body had swollen with inches of fat, but his scaled gut had taken the brunt of it. It was the dominant feature of his physique. Even as he laid sleeping, it spread across several feet of the floor around him like the world’s thickest weighted blanket. He was almost like a scaled down version of her. Twilight doubted he could still walk.
Discord snapped his fingers and Twilight was ripped away from Spike. She was now in a square near the centre of town, Discord standing beside her.
There were few ponies around at this time of day, but those who Twilight saw were similarly afflicted. Earth ponies and pegasi alike wandered through the square sporting anything from low-slung stomachs to ground-dragging guts. Few paid Twilight any mind. If not for their weight, it could passably be a perfectly normal morning in Ponyville.
She shivered as she felt the cold morning breeze brushing across her rolls and ample rump.
“What’s going on? What is this?” Twilight asked softly.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Discord chuckled. “There are still some things even the much acclaimed ‘Princess of Friendship’ has yet to learn about leadership, and I know how much you adore a lesson.”
A portal opened up next to him and he began to step through it.
“Discord!” Twilight shouted, “I don’t want this!”
She tried to hold him in her telekinesis but he waved it off like a bad smell, waddling into the portal.
“The test never ends, Twilight Sparkle.” Discord teased as he disappeared from view.
The portal closed, leaving Twilight just laying there, a great, purple whale, beached in the glow of the rising sun.
Her mind raced. Was this a dream? Another dimension? Another time? Had Discord just ripped her reality asunder and remade it entirely just to teach her some nonsense ‘lesson’? And Spike! Was Spike okay? He was so large. She was so large! Oh Celestia, how was she supposed to trot anywhere like this?
Panic and anger and embarrassment and fear all amalgamated together in a torrential stream of anxiety. She felt immobilised, figuratively and literally. Where could she even start…?
“Princess?” A meek voice broke through the stream. “Are you okay?”
Twilight stirred. Beside her, a minty green unicorn mare had appeared, who she recognised as… Lyra? Lyra was huge, just like all of the ponies Twilight had seen since waking up today, but Lyra was particularly large. She was clearly immobile too, her hooves lifted well off the ground, though she was still far from matching Twilight’s sheer size. Twilight briefly wondered how Lyra had even gotten here.
Twilight gulped some air, trying to compose herself. “Good morning! Yes, yes, I’m fine, thank you Lyra. Just… catching some of the morning breeze.” She grinned awkwardly.
“If you say so. You’re gonna be late for Sugarcube Corner opening if you keep that up!” Lyra said. Her horn began to glow and, with a steady acceleration, she sped away across the square.
Twilight looked agog. Lyra was laying on some kind of cart, but one unlike Twilight had seen before. It was flat and wide, placed low to the ground with short sides to help contain the overflowing flab of the unicorn riding within it. On the sides were thick wheels, more like rollers or logs, really, which Lyra’s magical aura now encased, pushing the whole apparatus across town at a brisk pace.
The alicorn looked down. Discord had been nice enough to furnish her with one such cart of her own. She hadn’t noticed it before. A reasonable excuse, she thought, when she felt like everywhere she looked was filled with her own billowing fatness.
She directed her thoughts to the cart and imagined pushing it along. As her horn began to glow, she rolled forward a couple of inches before stopping, she rolled a few more and within seconds was underway.
Chapter 2: Pinkie Pie
As she trundled across the square, she contemplated returning to the castle to check on Spike, but if this version of Spike was anything like the one she knew, he would still be asleep for a few hours.
There were books there, maybe one of them could provide insight into whatever this was? It rarely seemed to work that way when Discord was involved, but it was always worth a try.
An alternative idea struck her as Sugarcube Corner slowly rolled into view. Pinkie would surely be there for the opening, having spent the early morning preparing goods for the day ahead.
Twilight was wise enough to know that any solution to this problem would require the help of her friends anyway. If she would need Pinkie’s help, might as well get it now to save on making a return trip.
She rolled her cart to the back of the queue that was waiting outside. There were only a few ponies there—Lyra included—but they had around them an aura of anticipation. She could understand why, the air outside smelled powerfully of warm, baked goods. It was intoxicating. She noticed herself salivating, maybe some breakfast—
No. The last thing she needed right now was food. She was only here to get Pinkie’s help, that was it.
There was a brief murmur as the doors to the bakery finally opened and the queue filed their way inside. Their movements were slow and breathless, only Twilight and Lyra seemed capable of moving at any sort of speed thanks to their carts.
She slid through the doors easily; they were wider than she remembered. The entire interior of Sugarcube Corner was far more spacious than she recalled it being, actually. Even with her increased girth she had ample room to manoeuvre without getting in anypony else’s way.
“Hiiiiiii Twi-liiiiiiiiight!” A familiar voice rang out.
Twilight had barely a moment to look around before a large tray had been placed before her, wedged precariously on the shelf of her stomach where it met with her lowest chin, loaded up with cupcakes larger than regular cakes and an assortment of flaky pastries wider than her face.
“The usual order for my favourite purple princess pony friend in the whole wide world! Actually, you’re my only purple princess pony friend, but you’re still my favourite!”
Past the pile of food, Twilight just about glimpsed Pinkie’s chubby grin before the earth pony moved away.
“Pinkie, wait!” Twilight shouted.
She turned her head, then the cart, to try and track where Pinkie had gone to. She kept catching glimpses of a pink blur dashing from counter to table to kitchen to customer, never stationery quite long enough for Twilight to catch her attention or stop her in her tracks.
Even burdened by several hundred pounds more mass, Pinkie remained as defiantly hyperactive as ever. For a pony whose stomach seemed to be in constant, protracted contact with the ground, it seemed like she could move faster than most others.
The smell, though. So many baked goods, some of them still warm, wafting a potent perfume of cinnamon and sugar directly beneath Twilight’s nose.
She shouldn’t.
She couldn’t.
She was just about to close her lips around one of the oversized cupcakes when Pinkie’s chubby face re-appeared in front of her.
“You’re normally ready for seconds by now! Is something wrong? Did I mix up the sugar and salt again? They just look so similar and there’s so many things to make for everypony and—mf mmmffrr mmrrffrrfrr mrrf.“
Pinkie finally stopped talking. Twilight released the spell holding Pinkie’s lips closed.
“Pinkie, I need your help—”
“You know we don’t hoof-feed customers, Twilight.” Pinkie interrupted.
“Not that! Something has happened to Equestria, maybe to all of reality. I’m not supposed to be like this. We’re not supposed to be like this!”
“What, horses?” Pinkie queried.
“_Fat._” Twilight corrected.
Pinkie snorted and laughed. “One of the pudgiest ponies in Ponyville, a princess, thinking she shouldn’t be fat! Good one, Twilight!”
“I’m being serious!” Twilight protested, wrinkling her snout. “Wait, what do you mean ‘_one of_ the pudgiest’?”
Pinkie’s voice softened into one of confusion. “Geez Twilight, when was the last time you visited Fluttershy?”
Twilight had a moment of pause. She had presumed herself to be the largest pony in town. What twist of fate could have made Fluttershy, the most docile and demure member of their group, into such a mountain of mare?
“Fluttershy?” Twilight said aloud, coming back around. Using her magic, she unwedged the tray of food from her folds and returned it to Pinkie. “You’re right, I should see Fluttershy.”
She revved up the wheels of her cart and rolled outside back onto the streets of Ponyville. Pinkie’s shouts about Twilight forgetting her to-go bag steadily faded into the distance as she sped away towards the edge of the Everfree Forest.
Chapter 3: Rainbow Dash
Twilight had only traversed a couple of streets before she spotted a familiar blue hue on the path up ahead. The cutie mark that stretched across the pair of wobbling flanks would have all but confirmed it if the multicoloured tail and mane hadn’t given it away first.
“Dash!” Twilight called out as she rapidly pulled up alongside, a mix of relief and joviality in her voice. If any of her friends would want to help fix this perturbingly obese timeline, it would be the athletic and loyal Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow’s physique appeared to agree. The pegasus still looked like a pastry that had been overfilled with whipped cream, unusually puffy and bloated looking compared to the ponies that Twilight knew. Rainbow’s rounded gut swung close to the ground, hoisted up by the straps of the saddlebags wrapped around her middle. Her forelegs and flanks swollen with both flab and the muscles needed to carry it.
Despite it all, she might actually be the thinnest pony Twilight had yet seen today. Twilight swallowed a gulp at what that observation likely meant for the rest of her friends.
“Oh, hey Twilight,” Rainbow replied nonchalantly. She didn’t stop walking, firmly moving onwards at a steady trot. Twilight observed that even at this pace, she was working up a bit of a sweat.
“So… uh, not flying today?”
“I only fly for competitions and practice. Equestria’s greatest athlete can’t risk getting bedbound by wing strain again.”
Rainbow glanced towards Twilight, an eyebrow raised in suspicion.
“You should know that.” She said pointedly.
Twilight grinned sheepishly. Her defences had crumbled the moment the wrecking ball named Rainbow Dash had encountered them. She sighed.
“Look, Rainbow. Time has been altered somehow. Equestria isn’t meant to be like this! Ponies aren’t meant to weigh hundreds and thousands of pounds! I think Discord might have had something to do with it, but I need my friends to help me fix it!”
There was a few seconds of silence, broken by the trundling of Twilight’s cart as she rolled alongside Dash.
“Alright, I’m in.” Rainbow said.
“Wait. Really?” Twilight said in astonishment.
“Of course! You’ve never misled us before and, well, I am the Element of Loyalty.” Rainbow smiled. “As it happens I’m making a delivery to Fluttershy and Discord right now, so—“
“Discord is with Fluttershy?!” Twilight gasped. She wasn’t sure why she didn’t make the connection earlier, but now the comments about Fluttershy being even fatter than Twilight were beginning to make sense.
“Uh, yeah?” Rainbow responded before she was unceremoniously lifted into the air by an aura of purple magic. Twilight pumped her remaining magic into the wheels of the cart, carrying both of them rapidly towards the edge of the Everfree Forest.
Chapter 4: Fluttershy
Rainbow looked more than frazzled as she was finally set down at the front door of Fluttershy’s cottage. Twilight could only ponder whether Dash had actually ever moved so quickly in this timeline.
They gently knocked on the door only for it to be answered by the white bunny rabbit Angel (looking a little overfed, but within reasonable range for a rabbit). Angel directed them both to the living room, to which they followed.
Twilight gasped softly as she squeezed her way inside.
Fluttershy wasn’t just bigger than Twilight was, she was probably double the size. Twilight just looked up at her, mouth agape. This was Fluttershy?
Her head and swollen, round forelegs sat atop a miniature mountain of pale yellow fluff, a thick, wide mattress that occupied the majority of the room. The rest of her body was barely visible, obscured by her own bloated collection of rolls.
“Got your breakfast order.” Rainbow said without missing a beat. She detached the saddlebags, the contents of which were quickly lifted by some invisible force towards Fluttershy’s mouth.
A cacophony of ravenous chomping and gnawing sounds emanated from atop the pile. Not even a minute had passed before the stocks had apparently been exhausted, the sound of eating quieting down before climaxing with a short but loud “BWUUUURRRP!”
“Oh thank you —hic— Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy’s hushed, soothing voice was seemingly mostly unchanged. “I hope it’s not an imposition —urp— but, um, I think my tummy still wants a little more…”
“Please, allow me.” Discord’s voice echoed throughout the room. The obese dragonequus appeared suddenly alongside Fluttershy, laying against the soft slope of her immense gut.
At a snap of his fingers, dozens more pastries flashing into existence in a little line, marching themselves single file through the air and into Fluttershy’s mouth. The sounds of voracious gnashing resumed in earnest.
“What have you done to Fluttershy?!” Twilight shouted accusingly. She wobbled violently as she did, only registering afterwards that she had vainly tried to take a bold step forward. Rainbow looked at her curiously.
“What have I done?” Discord sneered. “Fluttershy eats what she wants and when she wants, I simply help her fulfil her potential, like any good friendwould.”
Twilight looked over to Rainbow. Rainbow just shrugged, evidently more than familiar with this set of circumstances.
Discord remained laid against Fluttershy’s side, affectionately tickling one of her several chins with a talon whilst she continued eating. He had that mischievous grin on his face that Twilight hated seeing; it meant he had the upper-hoof, and he knew it.
Twilight flinched, swallowing her frustration.
“Can I talk to Fluttershy?” She asked, calmly. “Alone.”
“Very well, Princess,” Discord acquiesced. “But don’t keep her for too long, it’s almost time for our brunch date.”
He gave Fluttershy another affectionate chin scratch before snapping away, the parade of pastries disappearing with him. Fluttershy took a moment to adjust, gulping down the remnants of what was in her mouth before huffing for breath.
Twilight approached her. “Are you okay, Fluttershy? You can tell me. Be honest.”
Fluttershy didn’t immediately respond, apparently still recovering from her meal.
Rainbow piped up to fill the silence. “She’s been like this for yeeeaaaaars, Twilight. Pretty much ever since she left Cloudsdale.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Oh yes.” Fluttershy interjected. ”When —bbBLLLLUUrpp— I got here from Cloudsdale —uRRPPPhhhh— all my little animal friends were so —hRRffff— generous giving me their delicious —hic— snacks, and then Rainbow started helping and now Discord… —ooouRRRRRrrp— I admit I become a little bit of a —HHRRph— greedyguts.”
Fluttershy’s stomach let out a thunderous grumble. Twilight couldn’t be sure if it was a sound of hunger, digestion, or both.
“I came here to try and get your help to fix this timeline, to restore Equestria to the way it was, but how are you supposed to help when you’re like this?! With him?!” Twilight groaned. She’d be putting her face in her hooves if she could still lift them.
“She’s from another dimension where ponies are thin or something.” Rainbow filled in, casually.
“And Discord! Discord changed reality or history or, or something to make this happen.” Twilight rambled aloud.
“Ooooh,” Fluttershy acknowledged quietly. “I’m sorry, Twilight. I’m —GUUURRRRPpp— not sure I can —bLUURPppp— help you.”
Another loud, long grumble echoed throughout the room.
“Do you —bROARp— want to stay for brunch? —hic— Discord makes the most —BBBLUUAAARrpp— delicious eggs Florentine!”
“No!” Twilight said firmly.
“Sure!” Rainbow responded simultaneously.
Twilight stared at Rainbow accusingly.
“What?” Rainbow said. “I barely ate anything for breakfast today! And Discord does make some awesome eggs.”
Twilight sighed in resignation. “Fine, you can stay here until I need you. I’m going to find Rarity and Applejack.”
“Applejack will be at Sweet Apple Acres. Rarity spends most of her time up in Canterlot these days.” Rainbow affirmed confidently.
Twilight had barely started making her leave when Discord re-appeared by Fluttershy’s side, grinning slyly as dozens of dishes appeared in the air around them and Rainbow.
The sounds of gnashing, gluttonous mouths resumed as Twilight departed the cottage, as Discord’s voice echoed from behind her.
“Au revoir, princess. You’re going to need all the help you can get.”
Chapter 5: Applejack
It would be a long, bumpy journey across the southern edge of town to get from Fluttershy’s cottage to Sweet Apple Acres.
Twilight had considered trying to teleport more than once today and the uncomfortable ride was making her consider it again, but it felt too dangerous.
She had little concept of how much she actually weighed or how large she actually was. She couldn’t even turn her head back to see. All she knew is that gravity felt strong, doorways felt small, and even her magic seemed unable to fully compensate for all of her weight.
Not knowing the extremities of your own body was hazardous when teleporting. Cast it too wide and you take a chunk of the ground with you, cast it too narrow and you might be missing your hooves on the other side.
Twilight grimaced at the thought. She’d stick to using the cart for now.
At the very least it allowed her a moment of quiet. Ponyville had gotten busier as the morning had worn on. Even here at the outskirts there was never less than a dozen other ponies in her vicinity, waddling around and starting on their days.
Some ponies waved a flabby hoof her way in greeting, it not being difficult to recognise their bloated princess from afar. She would shout back to them awkwardly, the interactions only reminding Twilight how she was too obscenely fat to wave in return.
Things got quieter again as she approached the farm. The buildings gave way to hundreds of apple trees, each abundant with fruits. The paved road degraded gracefully into a dirt path, the uneven surface jostling Twilight’s body around, making her wobble violently with each minor bump.
Out in the orchard she spotted Applejack. She was… surprisingly skinny. Twilight had come to assume all of her friends had become food-addicted fatties, so seeing Applejack still in the fields and bucking trees was a cause for optimism.
“Applejack!” Twilight stopped and called over. There was a fence dividing the road and the orchard, and Applejack was probably better equipped for overcoming it.
Applejack’s ears perked as she heard her name. She looked over and paused for a moment, picking up a bushel of apples before trotting over to the fence.
As she approached, it was clear that Applejack was more affected than she seemed. There was more chub to her face and her distended stomach swung from side to side with each step. The weight didn’t seem to hinder her at all, however. Twilight figured there must be a lot of muscle underneath all that accumulated bulk.
“Howdy Twahlight! What can ah do you for?” Applejack acknowledged, dropping the bushel next to her.
“Applejack, I need your help! Please…”
Gosh, even Twilight could hear the rising desperation in her voice. She read off the same story as the others. That Discord had altered time and she needed to fix it, or created some alternate dimension that Twilight needed to escape from, that she didn’t really know what to do other than try to gather her friends, and how that plan was so far going terribly.
Applejack heard her out quietly, her smile slowly melting into a look of concern as Twilight rambled on. She eventually interrupted. “Twahlight, ah think you outta talk to the other princesses about all ah this.”
“You don’t believe me, do you?” Twilight sighed.
Applejack grimaced. “Honestly, ah’m not sure. It sure sounds like the kinda thing Discord would do, but as much a jackass as he is, his heart’s usually in the right place.
“If he’s wanting to teach you a lesson of some kind, well, ah think Princess Celestia’s best student oughta discuss the curriculum with her teacher.”
She placed a hoof against Twilight’s front reassuringly.
“Besides, ah gotta lot of apple trees still to buck. Ah can’t be pracin’ off to Canterlot for goodness knows how long in the middle harvest season!”
“Harvest season?” Twilight queried. “But didn’t we just wrap-up winter last week?”
Applejack chuckled. “I don’t know what it’s like in whatever timeline or dimension yer from, Princess, but every season is harvest season ‘round these parts.”
She turned and started walking back into the orchard. “And take them apples with ya! Yer lookin’ famished.”
Twilight trundled her way back into the centre of town, a bushel of apples now reluctantly suspended in her magic as she went.
Maybe Applejack was right, maybe she should go see the Princesses and talk this out. Her attempt to bring her friends—the Elements of Harmony—together for her mission had seemed a summary failure.
Whatever time or place this was, everyone’s lives seemed to revolve almost entirely around food; when not eating it, then growing it or selling it.
Twilight hummed to herself. Maybe Applejack had a point. Maybe if there was a lesson that Discord felt she needed to learn, she should seek guidance from the pony that had spent so many years teaching her. The Celestia of this world, with all her millennia of wisdom and experiences, would surely know why things had become this way.
She turned herself back towards her castle. Perhaps a trip to Canterlot was in order.
Chapter 6: Spike
Twilight returned to the castle to find Spike was awake, but either confined to his bed—as she had initially suspected—or had just not bothered to get up.
“Uuurrrp~ Hi Twi…” He muttered as she rolled into the room, his eyes immediately latching onto the bushel of apples she was carrying. Twilight dropped them in front of him, the dragon hungrily grabbing a couple of apples and swallowing them in a single gulp.
Twilight meanwhile prepared some saddlebags. She wasn’t sure why, this had always just been her routine before going back to Canterlot. Prepare some books to read on the train; parchment, ink, and quills for any notes or thoughts she had along the way; snacks for Spike; the key to the family home…
Her thoughts drifted to her brother. Was Shining Armor an immobile blob like she was? Her weight in this world had done little to affect her proficiency with magic, but Shining’s entire life would have diverged if he was never fit enough to become a royal guard.
She broke herself away from that line of thought. For now they was all hypothetical questions, ones that would be irrelevant when she returned to the Equestria she knew, at that.
She hoisted the saddlebags onto her back, quickly realising that there was little chance of fitting them securely around her gargantuan gut. She begrudgingly settled for wedging them into a fold between her back rolls.
“I’m heading up to Canterlot to see Princess Celestia.” She said to Spike plainly.
“Without’sh me?” Spike mumbled back through a mouthful of apples, perking up slightly
Twilight paused. It was true that normally they would go everywhere together, but she hadn’t even thought of bringing Spike with her until now. He was an obese, immobile whale of a dragon, more likely to slow her down than help…
Then again, she was hardly one to talk.
“Of course you can come! If you want to?” Twilight relented.
“Alright!” Spike cheered. “It’s felt like forever since we last visited Rarity!”
“Wait, Rarity’s lives in Canterlot?” Twilight queried.
“Well, yeah. She’s running the Big & Beautiful Boutique there.” He tilted his head. “You should know that.”
Twilight groaned just thinking about having to repeat everything all over again. With a flash of her magic, she transformed the bed beneath Spike into a wheeled platform and started manoeuvring it towards the door on his behalf.
“C’mon, I’ll explain everything on the way.”
The train ride up to Canterlot was pleasantly uneventful. Railway gauge in this timeline was apparently quite a lot wider than in the Equestria that Twilight knew, and the carriages provided ample space for her to park herself and Spike facing one another with some room to spare.
She explained everything she could to the young dragon. Her upcoming ascension to the throne, the dealings with Discord that placed her into this alternate timeline or dimension, her difficulties persuading her friends to stop obsessing over food for long enough to help her.
Spike took no persuading. He believed her immediately.
“Just…” Spike hesitated a little, pausing to munch on one of the several cupcakes he’d acquired from the buffet trolley. “Ponies here have always been large. Any history book could’ve told you that. Why see Celestia about it?”
“The history books can only tell so much, and you know how historical study can be. Half of it was written according to the norms of the time, ignorant of the advances in science and magic that were to come, and the other half was written by ponies who had never been there and are just repeating stories they’ve heard elsewhere.
“Princesses Celestia and Luna have lived long lives. They’re primary sources for events that took place centuries ago! If anyone knows how this Equestria ended up this way, the princesses ought to.”
Spike’s brow furrowed. “How does that help you get back to your Equestria?”
“Discord said this was some sort of lesson in leadership. If I know what caused everypony to get so fat, maybe I can fix it! Show how good of a leader I am by helping everypony in Equestria!”
Twilight smiled widely, but Spike looked unsure. Her smile drooped.
“What is it?” She asked.
Spike bit his lip nervously. “Maybe, what if… hypothetically, of course… some creatures… kind of liked being this large?”
Twilight seemed broken for a moment as though stumbling over her own thoughts.
What? What?! Spike wants to be an immobile blubberball?! The Spike she knew loved to eat, true, but this was totally different! Some dragons had a tendency to hoard things, which in turn made them grow larger. Maybe that desire was just being expressed differently? Spike just wanted to grow into an adult dragon. That makes sense, right?
She took a deep breath to compose herself. “You’ll always be my number one assistant, Spike, no matter how fat you get.”
Spike smiled weakly but didn’t respond, choosing to help himself to another cupcake instead.
Chapter 7: Rarity
Canterlot seemed… different, and it didn’t take Twilight much time after disembarking the Express to figure out how.
The ponies in Ponyville were large, but with only a few exceptions, most had still been mobile. Here, everypony with a horn and a hint of magic was propelling themselves around on intricately decorated carts, indulging on stockpiled treats whilst their swollen hooves hung uselessly at their sides.
The city of demure unicorns had become the city of immobile, hedonistic gluttons. Twilight suddenly didn’t feel quite so… oversized anymore.
“Was Canterlot always like this?” Twilight asked.
“Yuuuuuup,” Spike responded casually.
“We should find Rarity. Maybe she can help us— ARGH!” Twilight yelped as a rotund, yellow pony suddenly appeared alongside her, shoving a tray of baked goods towards her face.
“Princess Twilight! Care for a cinnamon roll? Only 10 Bits a dozen!”
Another pony rolled up next to Spike, another tray accosting the dragon’s personal space. “For you, we’ll make it two dozen! Only 18 Bits! Whatd’ya say?”
Twilight grunted, shoving the trays away with her magic just as Spike was about to grab a roll.
“Flim and Flam?! What tricks are you trying to pull this time?” She snarled.
“A scam?!” Flim said, feigning insult. “Why we’re honest sales ponies just looking to sell our wares to the good ponies of Canterlot.”
“Suuuure, these cinnamon rolls are probably actually…” Twilight sniffed one suspiciously. “Well, they smell like cinnamon rolls, but I’m still suspicious of you two!”
“Twilight!” Spike hissed, voice lowered. “I don’t know what it’s like where you come from, but here, the Flim Flam brothers are good ponies.”
“The kid is right!” Flam interjected. “All our produce is rejected stock straight from Canterlot’s finest restaurants and bakeries. We sell it at a knock-down price to help stop it going to waste.”
“And the stuff we don’t sell doesn’t go to waste either!” Flim piped in, playfully jabbing a hoof tip into the fold of his own swollen barrel.
This place just got even weirder. Flim and Flam are honest ponies? Their business is legitimate AND they’re actually doing something useful for society?
“Urggghhh!” Twilight finally groaned. Wordlessly, she pulled 18 Bits out of her saddle bag, dropped them onto Flam’s cart, and took the trays of cinnamon rolls, depositing their contents atop Spike’s gut before pulling both their carts away.
“Thank you, Princess!” One of them sing-songed from behind her.
“Pleasure doing business!” The other added.
The encounter did make her ponder, though. The Discord of this world was a trickster, for sure, but also had a pleasant domestic life in Ponyville. Flim and Flam were still sales ponies through-and-through, but their ventures were honest.
Was Trixie not a showpony, but a big-headed competitive eater instead? Was Tempest Shadow too heavyset as a filly to ever go near that Ursa Major lair? Did Starlight’s insecurity ever manifest into Our Town, or did she drown her sorrows in ice cream instead?
She was still lost in thought when Spike waved one of his claws off to the side and awkwardly shouted “Warity!” through a mouthful of cinnamon roll.
Twilight looked up and, yep, that was unmistakably Rarity. Her cutie mark stuck out like a billboard, despite the elaborate, figure-hugging clothing that surrounded it.
“Twilight! Spikey-wikey!” Rarity called back, magic surrounding her cart as it beginning to trundle over to them.
“How are things back in Ponyville? I do hope Fluttershy is doing alright, she was terribly… gassylast time I visited.” She grimaced slightly at the memory.
“I don’t think much has changed there… How have things been in Canterlot?”
“Oh darling, it’s non-stop! Being one of the city’s premier clothiers has me run off my hooves, I work all day and attend soirées in the evenings. One must network to stay ahead, after all! What brings you to the city? You should have told me you were visiting!”
“I’m here to see Celestia,” Twilight answered. “You aren’t too busy heading to another soirée, are you?”
“Oh Twilight, for you, Prince Blueblood’s buffet social can wait!” Rarity smirked. “I know a delightful little café nearby, we can talk there.”
It only took a few minutes of rolling to get to Rarity’s recommendation, but it wasn’t the quaint little coffee shop Twilight had been expecting. Le Petit Bijou was a large, bustling establishment with an expansive outdoor terrace, filled with tables at which similarly expansive ponies had parked themselves.
Twilight really shouldn’t have been surprised by now. Just glimpsing at the platters of food being delivered to customers pegged this place as more of a bistro than a café.
Rarity quickly claimed one of the few free tables and motioned for Twilight and Spike to join her. She was already busily perusing the menu when they arrived.
“Just a few small plates for the table, I think,” She said aloud to no one in particular. “I don’t want to ruin my appetite before the social.”
“I don’t think we have time to stop for a meal, Rarity.” Twilight protested.
“I could eat.” Spike piped up. Twilight scowled at him before noticing the crumbs scattered across his front. He’d just demolished two dozen cinnamon rolls and was still hungry?!
“Food it is!” Rarity announced. She called over a waiter and ordered a few different dishes before turning her attention back to Twilight. “You had something to talk to me about?”
Twilight sighed. Repeating the story was getting tiring. She was from some other universe or timeline. Discord had something to do with it. Ponies as she knows them were never meant to be this rotund. She was going to see Celestia for… well, a lot of things: answers, advice, anything.
Rarity listened in silence until it was clear that Twilight was done. “So you’re saying that you’re from another universe where there’s a different, thin version of everypony—everycreature, sorry Spikey—we know?”
“Or an alternative timeline,” Twilight corrected. “But yes.”
“And the Rarity you know is…?” Rarity prompted.
“Oh! Well, err, thinner, of course. But she’s still a successful fashion designer and has a boutique here in Canterlot. You seem very much like her, just… much larger.”
“Oh thank goodness,” Rarity sighed in relief. “I was worried I’d been a failure! I would hate being unable to support Sweetie Belle in her endeavours.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “She’s still trying to get her cutie mark?”
“What?! No, she got that aaaaages ago. She’s won the Little Miss Canterblob competition the last four years!” Rarity said excitedly. “She’s the heaviest filly in her grade and a most excellent performer. That level of success is rather high maintenance, unfortunately, but I’m proud of her.”
Spike leaned over slightly. “Sweetie Belle likes being fat, kinda like I do.” He blushed softly.
“Oh Celestia,” Rarity said, “Don’t tell me that your version of Sweetie isn’t the Belle of the Buffet?”
“She isn’t.” Twilight said plainly. “She goes to school in Ponyville. She’s a Cutie Mark Crusader with Applebloom and Scootaloo.”
Rarity seemed aghast. “A cutie mark… what?!”
“A Cutie Mark Crusader. They helped each other get their cutie marks, and once they did, they started helping other fillies and colts get theirs too.”
“I… I’m not sure what to say to that.” Rarity muttered. “_My_ Sweetie Belle has never set hoof in Ponyville, she was too focused on her pageantry efforts to join me during my sojourn there.”
“Wait, you’re not from Ponyville?” Twilight asked abruptly.
“Not in the slightest! I lived there for a few years whilst an apprentice, which is when we first met, but returned to Canterlot to open my first boutique.”
“Wow. It turns out you’re actually quite different to my Rarity.”
“Well, should you be staying in this universe, I hope we can remain friends.” Rarity smiled softly.
They were interrupted as a hazy magical aura deposited a number of plates onto the table. Twilight went bug eyed at the ‘small plates’ Rarity had ordered. Each one was larger than an entire meal where she had come from, but they looked and smelled delectable.
Twilight’s stomach grumbled loudly. It was almost sunset now, and it occurred to her that she hadn’t eaten anything all day.
She caught herself salivating. She couldn’t let herself fall victim to mindless gluttony. Not like all of her friends had today. Not when she was so close to maybe getting some answers.
“I… I think we should go to the castle now…” Twilight stuttered.
Rarity perked up. “You’re not going to eat anything?”
“No.” Twilight said stiffly. “Thank you, Rarity, for your generosity, but I need to see Princess Celestia before it’s too late.”
“But it’s barely dusk yet?”
“That’s not what I mean…” Twilight muttered hesitantly, turning herself away from the table. “We’re going, Spike.”
“Twilight, wait,” Spike interrupted. “Can… can I stay with Rarity for a bit?”
“I would like some help polishing off these dishes,” Rarity added. “I’ll make sure our little Spikey-wikey meets you at the castle when we’re finished here.”
Twilight sighed in resignation. Another two friends choosing food over helping solve her present crisis. “Yes. Fine. Stay here and eat.”
She quickly rolled herself away.
Chapter 8: The Princesses
“Hello, I’m here to see the princess.” Twilight asked at the castle entrance.
The guard pony looked down at her, the stallion’s physically imposing stature only emphasised by how much of his gut pressed into the ground around him.
“Which one?” He asked pointedly.
“Celestia. Luna. Either!”
“Do you have an appointment?”
Twilight furrowed her brow. “I’m the princess of friendship, why would I need an appointment?”
The guard pony’s eyes widened. He slightly shuffled to the side, looking down the length of Twilight’s body.
“P-princess! My sincere apologies. I couldn’t see your cutie mark past your glorious excesses. Of course you may enter.”
He hastily waddled to one half of the castle door, pushing it open.
Twilight rolled inside, depositing a sarcastically upbeat “Thank you!” as she did so.
“Apologies again, princess!” The guard responded, closing the door behind her once more.
The throne room was thankfully not far to go, and Twilight knew the layout of the castle like the back of her hoof. It was only a few more minutes until another guard was opening a door for her and…
Oh.
Oh sweet Celestia.
There were no thrones in the throne room. Instead, the far end of the room was filled by the bodies of the princesses. Two great hills of white and dark blue lay next to one another, bulging together as they encroached upon the walls and one another. Twilight had thought Fluttershy was large, but each princess was at least a dozen times larger.
A hoard of unicorns were working on levitating food up to the princesses mouths, buried between thick, bloated cheeks. If not for their cutie marks, you wouldn’t think they were ponies at all.
Twilight just stared at them for a few moments, watching them guzzle down days worth of meals in moments, before regaining her composure. She moved herself closer to the princesses.
“Celestia. Luna. I seek guidance in a moment of need.” Twilight announced clearly to the room.
There was a loud glk like sound, followed by a swallow. The flow of levitating food to Celestia stopped, the already airborne dishes returning to the trolleys they had been lifted from.
“Twilight?” Celestia’s voice rumbled. It sounded different—lower, clumsier—but it was unmistakably hers.
“Yes, it’s me, your humble student. I need your help. Both of you.”
The dark blue blob grumbled, the dishes serving Luna also reversing course. “Yes, Twilight?”
Twilight took a deep breath.
“This morning I woke up in this version of Equestria, having been brought here by Discord. The Equestria I know isn’t like this. Ponies are thin, athletic, and eat normal amounts of food. Discord said he brought me here to teach me a lesson, but I don’t know what it is, and every friend I’ve asked for help has submitted themselves to gluttony instead.
“I’m lost. I don’t know what to do or what I’m supposed to be learning from this. I just want to go back to the Equestria I know. As my teacher—my teachers—I need your help. Please…”
Tears welled in her eyes. Until she put it into words, she wasn’t aware of just how desperate things had become and how alone she felt in all this.
There was a moment of silence.
“My dear Twilight,” Celestia started. “Try to calm down, and have something to eat.”
Twilight’s voice cracked. “I don’t want to eat, I want to go home!”
Celestia’s voice remained resolute: “Please.”
“Twilight,” Luna interjected. “What is your version of Equestria like? Do you fight? Do creatures live in poverty?”
“What does that ha—?”
“Answer the question.” Luna interrupted.
“Well… yes. We have some of those things. Me and my friends have saved Equestria from extinction several times. From the Changelings, the Storm King, Nightmare Moon, lots of creatures. Places like Griffinstone have had better days. Sometimes the old pony tribes can—“
“Let me stop you there,” Celestia interrupted. “This Equestria, our Equestria, has never suffered the issues of which you speak.”
“What? How?!” Twilight gasped.
“Ever since the three pony tribes first came together, we have been at peace. Banishing the wendigos gave ponykind control over the weather. Farming prospered, and every year since has provided a harvest even more bountiful than the last.”
Luna continued. “In the first few years this allowed us merely to survive, but soon we were flourishing. We could use our excess crops to barter for peace with every creature, and those that resisted could eventually be coerced with a little bad weather of their own.
“It has guaranteed us a millennia of peace in these lands. No pony in our borders and no creature outside of it wants for food or suffers for war.
“You may find our weight excessive, Twilight, but as representatives of Equestria, it is only appropriate that we princesses embody how bountiful our kingdom has become, don’t you think?”
Twilight sat, her brain still trying to process all that she had seen today and all that she had heard just now.
This Equestria, the one where everypony is a gluttonous fatass, is devoid of all war and suffering? Where even those outside of their borders has benefitted from the development of a practical utopia? This Equestria?
“This is why I ask you, once again, to eat with us.” Celestia chimed in.
“I…” Twilight started. She was hungry, and a large meal suddenly didn’t seem like such a bad idea.
“Ii…” Was this part of Discord’s lesson? Was she supposed to hold her will, resist even the advice of the princesses and forge her own path?
“Iii…” She was a princess of Equestria, successor to the mountainous mares sitting before her now. Her mentor and her role models, both imploring her to join them for the good of the kingdom.
“Iiii…” The scent of the dozens of amassed dishes hit her nose. Her stomach let out a loud, pained grumble. Saliva was dripping from her maw. What if she was stuck here forever? She would have to eat eventually.
“Okay, fine!” She concluded.
In an instant, a Black Forest cake was levitated to meet her lips. She began to take a bite, but the moment her lips parted the cake was forcefully pushed into it. She let out a muffled yelp, eyes widening as another cake was already at her lips, waiting impatiently for her to chew and swallow the last.
“Wai–“ she began to protest, but the second cake forced itself into the opening as well, straining her cheeks with sponge, cream and icing.
Quickly recognising the pattern, she rapidly chewed and gulped down the doughy mass before trying to speak again. “Please slow dow-nnpph!”
A whole carrot cake was unceremoniously pushed into her face. Twilight paused, pondering her next move, but was quickly enamoured by the taste of the cake. It was flawlessly moist, sweeter than the sweetest carrots she’d ever tasted, the cream cheese applied in such precise quantity as to perfectly accompany the sponge without overpowering it…
The royal bakers of this Canterlot were far more skilled than her own.
She chewed it up and swallowed, surprised at how easily an entire cake could fit down her throat. A thin sliver of saliva swinging from her lip as her mouth opened again, welcoming in the next sweet treat being presented to her.
The torte that filled her cheeks was just as delicious—rich and chocolatey, with the tartness of the raspberries cutting through the richness in just the right way.
After a whole day of resisting, being able to indulge herself felt so relaxing. Her worries and frustrations could take a back seat for a while, noise to be drowned out by an assault of delicious cake.
She’d lost track of how much she’d eaten by the time Spike and Rarity arrived, her attempts to greet them muffled by the diligence of the serving staff.
Spike flashed her a wink and an OK hand sign, before he settled in to be fed himself—his appetite seemingly insatiable.
Rarity spent a few moments loitering, looking longingly at the castle’s plush furnishings before a watchful Celestia invited her to take a seat and share in their bounty too.
It was an indeterminable time longer before Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack also waddled into the throne room. Dash was loudly congratulating herself on rallying the gang to come to Twilight’s aid. “…She said she needed our help! So I, as the Element of Loyalty, answered the call! We’re here for ya, Twilight!”
Twilight could only give them a brief groan of acknowledgement before she got lost again in the sensory overload of fine food and drink. A lifetime of anxiety and self-control had evaporated in what felt like moments.
“Hello again, Princess Twilight,” an obnoxiously familiar voice sang out.
A lifetime of anxiety and self-control flooded back, a forcefield of her magic shoving away the waiting queue of cakes and treats. Through a half-chewed mouthful of crumbs she managed to shout:
“_Dishcord!_”
Chapter 9: Discord
“The one and the same,” Discord grinned softly. The obese draconequus was positioned much as Twilight had last seen him, laid casually against his makeshift throne of a bloated, belching Fluttershy.
“I don’tsh kno—“ Twilight paused for a moment to swallow. “I don’t know what kind of lesson you’ve been trying to teach me here, but I’ve had enough! Return me to my Equestria immediately!”
Discord laughed. Twilight began to protest, but before she could make a sound a feedbag flashed into existence upon her face, food appearing inside of it at an alarming rate. In less than a second, a cacophony of foodstuffs were forcing their way past her lips. She tried to take it off but her magic just slid off it, unable to grasp it properly.
Her cheeks began to bulge out as she resisted eating, but the pressure within her face just kept building. Eventually forced to acquiesce, she stared down Discord as she reluctantly began to quickly the unrelenting stream of garbled foods.
Discord took this opportunity to monologue. “I very much doubt you’ve had enough, Twilight Sparkle. Why, just a few seconds ago you seemed positively starved!”
“And why would you want things to end now? I’d have expected the ‘Princess of Friendship’ to enjoybeing surrounded by her friends.” He motioned to those sat around them. “They’re happy here. Equestria is in a golden age of peace and prosperity!”
Discord suddenly passed through the forcefield, blinking to within inches of Twilight’s face, his chubby snout almost pressing against the feedbag as he stared into her eyes. “What’s stopping you from being happy here too?”
Twilight’s eyes darted as she looked around the room. She saw her closest friends, her role models, her most trustworthy assistant—all of them were here, with her, now. They had never given up on her, she had given up on them. And they were happy.
It was her. She was the problem.
All day she had been nothing but angry at her predicament, frustrated at her friends, and always trying to find a means to escape instead of enjoying the company of those around her. All evidence pointed to this Equestria being better than her own, she just didn’t want to believe it because she was… well… she was fat.
Discord cracked a sly grin as he saw the realisation blossom within her. “Very good, Princess.”
The feedbag blinked out of existence as Discord backed away from her face. Twilight lowered her forcefield, allowing the castle staff to resume their feeding duties upon her.
This may not have been her Equestria, but it was anEquestria. An Equestria that she was still a princess of, and one that she was still the ruler-in-waiting of. If she were to be here indefinitely, she would need to accustom herself to the role.
As the first of the resumed treats was floated up towards her maw, she took a hearty bite out of it.
Chapter 9: Discord
Twilight awoke groggily. She wasn’t sure where she was or how much time had passed. It was a few more moments before her eyes adjusted, finding herself within one of the castle’s many guest rooms. Outside the window it was now clearly night time.
Across the room was Spike, a mess of crumbs and icing still smeared across his cheeks, sleeping peacefully and snoring as loudly as any adult dragon.
She felt full. Very full. How much had she eaten? She tried to move herself but found her wheeled cart to be gone, replaced by a plush bed multiple times her size that she had sank well into the middle of.
“Good morning, Princess Twilight,” Discord’s voice greeted her once again. She looked around briefly before noticing his head was above her own, the dragonequus weightlessly laying atop her like she was an overstuffed cushion.
“DiscooOOUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPppp!!”
Twilight blushed hot red.
“An unsurprising outcome, given how much you indulged yourself last night, Princess. I’m sure the castle staff will have heard that you’re ready for breakfast.”
“What do you want, Discord?” Twilight moaned. She felt so lethargic, she just wanted this to be over with already.
Discord laughed, but his tone was warmer now rather than the antagonistic streak it had taken on the previous evening. “You passed my test.”
He continued before Twilight could interrupt him. “You may not have wanted to fit into this version of Equestria, but you eventually came to accept what your role here demanded of you, for the good of everypony else.
“A good leader must recognise when the best interests of their subjects trump their own. That relentlessly pursuing a personal agenda whilst disregarding the thoughts of others only harms the people they—you—are sworn to protect. This is my coronation gift to you.”
Twilight looked agog. “I… I have to admit… Discord, that’s a pretty good lesson.”
“Consider it my application to join the School of Friendship’s faculty.” Discord chuckled sarcastically.
“The only question that remains, Princess, is do you want to stay or return to your original Equestria?”
Twilight was suddenly forced to ponder the nature of quantum entanglement and temporal causality. If Discord had created this place just to teach her a lesson, would her leaving destroy this place for good? Would she be condemning these ponies to nonexistence?
“Wha– what happens to this Equestria if I leave? They’ll all be okay, right?” Twilight asked.
“This Equestria will get their Twilight Sparkle back and their lives will go on exactly as they did before. I promise.”
“And the lesson is definitely over now?”
“This lesson is over.” Discord said, conclusively.
“Alright… send me back to my Equestria.”
“As you wish, Princess,”
There was a snap and a moment of blinding light. Twilight was back in her own castle, in her own bedroom. It was the break of morning, though of which day she wasn’t sure.
Spike, once again a petite baby dragon, was sleeping off in the corner of the room.
She was still an immobile blob of purple-furred blubber, pinned by her own weight against her now far too small bed. Unable to move but to uselessly wiggle her hooves and flutter wings that could never lift her.
“What the hay, Discord?!” Twilight yelled.
Spike yelped to awareness, blearily looking towards her before his mouth fell agape. He tried to pinch himself to see if this was a dream of some kind.
Twilight, for her efforts, just heard a whisper of Discord’s voice echo in her brain. “Well it wouldn’t be a very good lesson if you didn’t have some homework!”
