Rarity funneled magic into her sewing machine, the needle bouncing up and down as it stitched together two pieces of particularly beautiful, soft fabric. A dress-like shape was beginning to form as swath after swath was added and stitched down.

And yet, Rarity didn’t look relieved as the dress came to fruition. Instead, she simply looked tired and worn. Her hair was frayed and the bags under her eyes turned darker as the night wore on. Rarity let out a heavy sigh as she finished the somewhat simple dress. Floating it in front of herself to look it over, she found it free from errors and folded it telekinetically, setting it aside inside of a box with many similar styled dresses.

She glanced at her schedule - it was loaded with deadlines and due dates, of which she’d only crossed off a small portion of.

One down. Dozens to go.

Rarity set to work on cutting fabric for the next outfit.

“Oh. Applejack.”

“Ah... hey there, Sugarcube.” Applejack smiled wide and leaned forward, setting the basket she was holding in her mouth on the doorstep. “Jus’ wanted to come by an’ check on ya. A couple of us were kinda worried ‘bout ya when ya didn’t show up at the park with Opal earlier...”

Rarity shut her eyes, silently berating herself in her head. She’d completely forgotten about the little event her and her friends went to on a weekly basis - they’d bring their pets and let them play with each other, and everyone had a good time. Worked to an extreme, the days blended together after a while. “Oh! I’m sorry, Applejack. I didn’t intend to worry anypony. I’ve just been so... so busy.”

“Ah, yeah, I noticed.” Applejack glanced around Rarity’s side, looking into the boutique. Which, at the moment, was a complete wreck.

“Yes... sorry about that, as well. I haven’t had any time to clean. But, ah, please.” Rarity shook her head and stepped back, allowing Applejack to enter. “You’re welcome to come in.”

“Yeah, sure. If ya don’t think I’d be a bother.” Applejack bent down and lifted the basket she’d brought with her, following along behind Rarity as she entered.

“Oh, darling, you know that none of you are ever a bother here.” Rarity took a curious glance behind her, eyes landing on the basket in Applejack’s mouth. “What’s that you brought with you, hm?”

“Well, Ah figured ya’d be wantin’ somethin’ ta maybe give ya break or... somethin’... so I fried ya up some apple fritters.” Applejack smiled wide and set the basket down on the boutique’s front counter, pushing it closer to Rarity with her nose.

“...Apple fritters?” Rarity immediately broke her attention away from any sort of work involving dresses, turning towards the basket and trotting over to it with an excited bounce in her step.

“Yeah. I figured ya’d like ‘em.” Applejack wasn’t able to finish the sentence before Rarity had torn the cloth from the top of the basket, exposing the fritters to the boutique air, and stuffed one in her mouth telekinetically. “Ya know. Considerin’.”

Rarity narrowed her eyes as she stared at Applejack, glowering as she finished off the first of the fritters. “What’s that supposed to mean, hm?” She angrily floated and bit into another.

“Er, nothin’! Ah didn’t mean that. ‘S nothin’, don’t worry ‘bout it.”

“You mean my weight, don’t you?”

Applejack gulped. She’d been meaning to tread around that social landmine, only to stumble and trip right over it. “Rarity, that ain’ what Ah meant. An’ ya know that. Those were y’all’s words, not mine. Don’t... don’t start doin’ this.”

Rarity huffed and plopped her widened rear down on the boutique floor as she bit into another fritter. There was really no hiding it - the pearly white unicorn had put on weight recently. A good deal of it ended up in her hind quarters, and most of the city had noticed the fashionista piling on pounds. Her flanks widened considerably, her already generously curved rear legs becoming more so. Her stomach, too, was more pronounced - what used to be a slim, easily covered belly was now poking out below Rarity, rounded and bouncing the slightest bit between her legs as she walked.

Even still, she couldn’t help it. While some ponies turned to alcohol or drugs to solve their stress, Rarity turned to food. She was, as she learned, a stress eater. And a fairly severe one, judging by how fast she’d ballooned up.

“No, maybe not. But it’s what you were thinking.” Another fritter quickly found its way from the basket and to Rarity’s mouth.

“It is not what Ah was thinkin’. Not at all.” Applejack shook her head, walking next to the pudgy unicorn. She lowered herself down onto her haunches, sitting next to Rarity. “Ah jus’ wanted to do somethin’ nice fer ya. Ah know ya been busy with work an’ all, an’ Ah jus’ figured ya could use a friend. Someone ta lean on while yer stressed.” Applejack shrugged. “Ah mean, Ah know we’ve had our differences. Even an argument - or a hundred - before. But yer still a friend.”

Rarity pawed at the floor with a hoof for a few moments before she let out a heavy sigh, biting into another fritter. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t bite your head off like that.” Rarity nodded, leaning to her side to press against Applejack. “You didn’t do anything wrong. And I do appreciate the treats, despite me being on a diet... or, supposed to be on one.”

Applejack smiled as the unicorn leaned against her, feeling Rarity’s pudgy side squish against her. Feeling brave, she raised a foreleg up and wrapped it around Rarity’s shoulders, hugging her in closer. “Diet? Bah. Ya don’ need one.”

Rarity scoffed, wrapping another fritter in magic. “I don’t? Please, Applejack, you don’t need to lie to me. I know I could use one.”

Applejack snickered. “Yer bein’ hard on ya’self. Yer fine.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow, turning to glance at the orange pony to her side. “You are saying that to make me feel better. Which is fine... I’ll take it. I can use the cheering up.” Rarity shrugged, biting into yet another fritter. She’d lost count, and couldn’t see from where she was sitting how many were in the basket. Rarity had little doubt that she wouldn’t devour them all, no matter the number.

“Now, why would ya go an think Ah’m jus’ sayin’ that?” Applejack leaned farther against the unicorn, squeezing her into the foreleg hug harder. “Ah’m bein’ honest. Yer way too hard on yaself, Rares.”

Rarity stuffed the rest of the fritter into her mouth, tugging another one out of the basket with her magic. “I am not too hard on myself, I am just honest. I can’t exactly go out looking like...” She huffed, jabbing herself in the soft flank with a hoof. “Like this.”

“Why?”

“W-well, because!” She gulped down a bite of the fritter, pausing for a moment. “Because.”

“Because why?”

“Because, it’s... ah...”

“...It’s...?”

Rarity dropped her eyebrows, growling to herself as she finished off the fritter and scooted her back hooves to the sides, giving her growing stomach a bit more room to hold the next treat that was being floated up already. “I hate it when you’re right, you know that?”

“Ah’m jus’ sayin’, Rarity, there ain’ nothin’ wrong with bein’ a bit... fuller figure, ya know?” Applejack shrugged, giving the pudgy unicorn a squeeze with her leg. “Yer still just as pretty as ya were. Ain’ nopony gonna tell ya otherwise.”

“I can think of one,” Rarity said, grumbling to herself as she dropped her head slightly, the comments a particular Rainbow Dash had made running through her mind again. Though it was meant in light hearted fun, the unicorn had taken it very, very personally and run off, cheeks wet with tears. Nobody saw her for over a day afterwards.

“Rainbow Dash didn’ mean it like that. She didn’ know it was such a soft spot fer ya.” Applejack nodded. “Honest ta Celestia, Rarity, the poor girl was a wreck when ya stomped off cryin’ after her comment. She’s been meanin’ ta come by an’ apologize, but I told ‘er tah jus’ give ya some space fer a bit.”

Rarity sighed, dropping her head farther. Regret knocked any kind of anger out of her, Rarity’s face softening from its contorted, frustrated visage. “Gah. I’ll have to talk to her later, then. She came around to the boutique earlier today... I shut the blinds in her face. I figured she was coming to taunt me more.”

“She ain’t doin’ nothin’ like that, naw. But, hey.” Applejack gave Rarity a nudge. Rarity picked her head up, looking over. “Now, don’ take this the wrong way... but if ya really bothered by ya weight and want some help with it... why don’ ya come by the farm sometime? We’ll set ya ta work ‘round there, buckin’ trees or somethin’.”

Rarity chuckled a bit at the offer, shaking her head as she magically fed herself another fritter. “You want me to work? On a farm?” Rarity raised an eyebrow, glancing over at Applejack. “Come, now. I’d get... dirty and sweaty.”

“Well, yeah. Ya would. But, ya keep gripin’ about yer weight... we’d knock those pounds offa ya real quick like!” Applejack nodded.

“But what about the others? Everyone will make fun.” Rarity pouted, lower lip sticking out farther as she took a bite. “Having let myself... go like this is bad enough. But everyone watching me try to work on a farm? Just... ugh.”

“Ain’t nopony else ta watch.” Applejack nodded, smiling wide. “‘Cos they’re all off sellin’. Gonna be gone fer a few days, at least. It’d be just us, an’ ya know I ain’ gonna make fun of nothin’.”

“Well... that does sound better.” Rarity gave a little shrug as she floated another fritter her way, biting into it. Rarity briefly wondered how many there were in the basket - she was starting to feel pretty full... but they were just divine. “Alright. I’ll come over tomorrow. Early morning. I’ll help, I can use the exercise.”

Applejack smiled wide and nodded! “Alrigh’, Rares! Ah figured you’d be up fer it. I’m lookin’ forward to it, then! This’ll be fun!”

Rarity nodded, shuffling herself backwards to release herself from Applejack’s foreleg hug. “Yes, I think it will be. We don’t spend nearly enough time together, Applejack. You’re a good pony.” Rarity, now standing, snuck her snout into the basket and snagged another of the fritters even as her swollen middle swayed from the motion. She was hit with conflicting emotions about this being the last in the basket, but it didn’t stop her from wolfing it down.

“Aw, thank ya much, Rarity. Ya are too. Anyway,” Applejack said, standing herself up and giving a tip of her hat. “I’ll be seein’ ya bright and early tomorrow.”

“Rarity! Good! I was hopin’ ya’d come by right around now.”

Rarity’s nose was already being flooded by the scents of an absolutely amazing meal. Her head was pushed into the doorway, nose pointed up and sniffing at the air. It took a moment for Rarity to realize that she was pushing Applejack farther and farther to the side to catch the whiff, stopping and pulling herself out of the door with a slight amount of red rising up in her cheeks. “Ah...”

“Heh, it’s alright!” Applejack smiled wide, showing a genuine nonchalance. “There’s plenty fer you, too.”

“Oh, good!” Rarity stepped forward, pushing herself into the doorway again. This time, however, Applejack stepped to the side and allowed the squishy unicorn to enter, snickering to herself as she followed her nose straight into the kitchen.

“Hungry, huh?” Applejack asked, following right behind Rarity as she was led around by the aroma.

“Well, I didn’t eat breakfast. I figured we’d just have a few apples, but... well, this is much better than I expected! What... what is that smell, anyway?”

“Why don’ ya see for yerself?” Applejack snickered again, pushing a hoof against the door leading to the Apple family dining room, exposing the breakfast feast to Rarity.

“By Celestia,” Rarity said, eyes widening in response to the table loaded with calorie-laden food being revealed right in front of her eyes. As if in a trance, Rarity stepped forward towards the food, eyes flicking back and forth over everything that was waiting the pair.

There was probably enough food laid out across the table to feed the entirety of Sweet Apple Acres - but the amount didn’t concern Rarity (after all, it never did, until she had eaten far too much and was berating herself for it). Begging with her eyes, Rarity turned around to glance at Applejack. “May I?”

“Aw, of course, sugarcube!” Applejack gave a wide smile, nodding in response along with her words. “Dig right in! It’s here for eatin’, go right on.”

Letting out a happy squeal, Rarity trotted right up to the table. A soft magical glow gripped one of the empty plates set out alongside the meal, levitating it up as her telekinesis gripped food next. In a flurry of magic, the plate Rarity held was quickly filled with a slight bit of everything - in no time at all, it was loaded down by pancakes, waffles, french toast, several spoonfuls of scrambled eggs and last, but not least, a very generous helping of hash browns.

She floated her literal mountain of food down to the table, the plate resting with a heavy thump on the wood. Eager to dig in, Rarity plopped herself down on the ground by the table, flanks first. Finally seated, Rarity floated her utensils up into the air, fork stabbing and knife cutting into her first target: the pancakes.

Ready to devour, Rarity floated the fork loaded with more than a mouthful of pancakes up to her open mouth... only to pause. She froze in place as her eyes glanced down at the plate in front of her. Pancakes, french toast, waffles, eggs, hashbrowns...

No apples. Not a thing on her plate, on Sweet Apple Acres, prepared by Applejack herself, had apples in it. There weren’t even any on the table.

“...There somethin’ wrong, Rarity?”

“Are you feeling okay?” Rarity asked, her eyes glancing up from her food for the first time since she entered the home. “There’s... no apples. In anything.”

Applejack laughed, grabbing a plate with her mouth and setting it down before speaking. “Rarity, just ‘cos I wanted somethin’ that ain’t got apples in it don’t mean anything is wrong. I eat them all day long, sometimes I want a break from them.” She gave a wink, jerking a hoof towards a jug sitting on the table as she mouthed a spatula to serve herself some pancakes. “Though, try the syrup.”

Rarity cooed as she gripped the heavy jug in her magic, drizzling a healthy coating of it onto the pancakes speared by her fork before levitating the food - finally! - into her mouth. Almost instantly, Rarity’s eyes rolled up, moaning as the strong, yet delicious, flavor rolled over her tongue and coated her mouth. “Apple cinnamon...”

“Hehe... yup.” Applejack let a sly grin pass over her mouth as she finished serving her own - and much smaller - plate. “Of course I was gonna have somethin’ with apples in it. I mean... come on. It’s me we’re talkin’ about.”

“I knew you were up to something,” Rarity replied, giggling to herself the slightest bit as she turned the jug of apple-y maple syrup almost entirely upside down, drenching everything on her plate in the sugary topping. Nothing on her plate was spared in the attack - every last bit of food in front of her getting drenched in the onslaught of sweet.

Her plate looking more like a pool for breakfast foods than a meal, she finally turned the jug upright and set it aside.

“Gosh, Rares. Want some pancakes with your syrup?” Applejack teased, grinning as she pulled the much lighter jug towards herself, gripping it between both her hooves to turn it over on its side, drizzling her own food with a much lighter application.

“Quiet, you. It’s your fault for making it so delicious.” With a grin, she forked another large bit of the slightly soggy pancakes into her mouth, eliciting the same moan the first mouthful did.

“Glad you like it,” Applejack said, lowering her head down to munch on her own food at a much more reasonable pace than Rarity had.

Rarity was a unicorn on a mission - or so it seemed as she rapidly devoured the plate in front of her. While still managing to keep herself completely clear of gluttonous debris, she piled forks high with the heavy breakfast before eagerly stuffing them into her mouth. To keep from coming across uncouth, each mouthful was met with a dab of a napkin across her lips even as her cheeks bulged from her pace.

In a record pace, the pancakes had fallen before Rarity’s enlarged appetite, every last one of the syrup bathed breakfast cakes having disappeared into Rarity’s stomach. Her hind legs already began shuffling out to the sides to make room for the incoming food as her glowing utensils attacked and sliced into the french toast, next.

Applejack stared ahead with a raised eyebrow, slowly eating at her own plate. She remained silent, mostly out of awe from watching her usually picky friend simply plowing through breakfast like she hadn’t seen food in a week. A small chuckle rose up as her friend knocked over the tower of french toast like it was nothing, turning her attention onto the defenseless pile of eggs resting where the pancakes had taken up space before.

Half way through the eggs, Rarity’s breakfast onslaught paused briefly. Reaching a front hoof down lower, she pawed lightly at her stomach. Her belly had expanded enough to push her back legs even farther apart, the bloated paunch dangerously close to resting on the ground. She stifled a small, dainty burp with the hoof, turning away from Applejack with a blush on her cheeks, rubbing at her lips with the napkin again. “Ah... sorry.”

“Sorry?” Applejack asked with a mouthful of eggs, a small chunk of yellow spraying from her mouth when she did so. Catching herself before she made an even bigger mess, she swallowed before speaking again. “Fer what?”

“I’m... this...” Rarity huffed, shaking her head, curled mane bobbing along with the motion.
Her hoof set itself back on the ground with a clop. “I’m behaving so... rude. Like... like a glutton.”

“Oh.” Applejack tried to keep the smile she felt rising up off of her face, but she was powerless to prevent it. The corners of her mouth pulled up, and she couldn’t help but giggle. “Ya ain’t behaving rudely, Rares. Eatin’ this much of my food? It’s a compliment, really. Ah mean, we both know yer usually a pretty picky eater, so... I’m kinda impressed - and flattered - that ya like my cookin’ so much.”

“A... complement?” Rarity mulled the idea over in her mind several times, bouncing the thought side to side. Exploiting the revelation to further her own goals, - in this case, more delicious breakfast food - she latched onto the idea. “Well, if you are taking it that way... I was worried I was offending you.”

“Offendin’... oh, Ah know you know me better than that!” Applejack laughed out loud, pounding a hoof lightly against the table as she did. After only a few seconds of Applejack’s mirth, Rarity found the frown on her face being flipped upside down, and quickly found herself giggling right alongside her friend. “Yer gonna have to try a lot harder than liking my food to offend me, Rarity.”

“You’re right. I do. I... was being silly.” Fears dispersed, Rarity focused her attention back onto the cooling food on her plate. Too much longer and the waffles would start to fall apart from the syrup bath they were submerged in, and that would be a simply tragic waste of food. Rarity’s fork once again found itself loaded with a barrage of breakfast foods, aiming for her mouth which was eagerly accepting more.

“Thank you, by the way,” Rarity said between bites of eggs.

“Hm?” Applejack pulled her glance up from her own plate, setting her eyes back on Rarity. “What for?”

“Just... all of this,” Rarity said, waving a hoof at the bountiful breakfast laid out in front of them. Between sentences, Rarity managed to finish the eggs as well, gulping down the last of them before her fork speared the soggy waffles. “And, you know... being there.”

“Aw, shucks, Rares. It ain’t nothin’.” Applejack shrugged as she bit into another of her own waffles. Lacking magic - and so the use of utensils - she gulped it down one bite at a time before she spoke again. “Yer a friend. This is what friends do. Yer stressed... I don’t mind helpin’ blow off some of that steam.”

Rarity nodded, the big smile remaining plastered across her face as she gobbled up the waffles. Her gorging finally slowing down, she only nudged with her fork at the remaining food on her plate: the hash browns. Having devoured, so far, everything else, even Rarity was feeling full.

Slouching forward a small bit, Rarity cringed as she felt the lower swell of her overfed stomach nudging the floor beneath her. She knew she’d already eaten far more than she should - hay, she’d eaten far too much after the first few pancakes - but the remaining hash browns, coated in the simply divine apple cinnamon syrup called to her. Though her stomach protested being filled farther, Rarity found herself forking the chopped potatoes into her mouth.

Applejack wasn’t complaining. She’d finished her own meal minutes ago, and was staring silently at the mare across the table, stifling her giggles as she watched Rarity’s own battle of the bulge take place in her head.

The tall pile of hash browns fell quickly before Rarity’s seemingly unending hunger. With a groan, Rarity forked the last bit of the potatoes into her mouth, slumping forward fully after they were swallowed. Plate clean, Rarity’s chin rested against the table as her stomach rested against the ground, the bloated belly stuffed to its maximum.

“...Full?” Applejack asked, teasing Rarity.

“Ergh. Stuffed,” Rarity barely edged out, shutting her mouth immediately after to keep an uncouth burp from rising up out of her overfed stomach.

“Heh. Kinda figured.” Applejack stood and grabbed her own empty plate in her mouth, walking around the table to set it atop of Rarity’s syrup bathed dish. She couldn’t help but steal a glance down at Rarity’s stomach as it came into view, quickly pulling away her gaze before she had a chance to notice she was staring.

Applejack nudged at Rarity’s flank as she stacked the dishes higher. “We’ll get to the apple buckin’ soon, Ah gotta get these dishes washed up first. Couch is out in the livin’ room, take a breather. Much more comfortable than the table.”

Too full to even muster a response, Rarity pushed herself to her hooves. From a standing position, her belly still had quite a bit of room before it hit the ground, but she was bloated enough for it to give her problems while walking. She took careful steps forward. Each step with her back legs gave her stomach an uncomfortable nudge.

Applejack bit her bottom lip as she stood in the dining room, Rarity’s pudgy flank swaying with an exaggerated arc as she attempted to walk without jostling her enlarged stomach too much. As the pudgy unicorn broke her line of sight entering another room, Applejack caught herself and couldn’t help but smile, glancing at the empty plates.

Everything was going according to plan.