Karyn left early for the school cafeteria and picked up her customary Sunday breakfast for two. The workers were friendly and teased her about having a secret boyfriend, and questioning if that broke school rules. She always responded, “I eat very little the rest of the week, so I need to build my energy now.”

She carried two Styrofoam trays filled with pancakes and condiments back to her dorm. When she opened the door, Derpy was in the process of appearing.

“Perfect timing,” she said.

“Yes, I’m just getting back.”

“And the food will be the hottest I could eat it. Unless I went invisible and came with you. But that would be a silly risk for a few degrees of heat.”

Karyn set up her card table and placed plastic knives, forks, and napkins. She even found a vase with a single flower in it. “There. That makes it look a little more formal.”

“I guess, but let’s eat!”

Derpy slathered two packs of butter over her pancakes and watched it melt. Karyn just enjoyed watching her use the utensils with her hooves. Tearing open the syrup packs with her teeth, Derpy held them high above and put her head down, watching it drizzle all over. Then she picked up her knife and fork and cut a large chunk.

“Hungry much?” asked Karyn.

“Ravenous.”

Karyn paced herself and enjoyed the cakes, which were very thick and made with buttermilk. They stuck to her ribs and made her very full very soon. Derpy by contrast ate with reckless abandon, finishing quickly and sitting back with a satisfied pat of her belly.

Since Derpy was done, Karyn decided to put down her own fork and digest. They kept their conversation going, and Derpy kept eyeing Karyn’s plate. Finally she could take it no more. “Go ahead and finish mine,” Karyn said. “I can tell you want to.”

“Are you sure? Really? I wouldn’t want to put you out well all right then thanks.” Derpy slid Karyn’s plate over and finished the second stack.

“Ready to hit the town?”

“You bet. Anything fun going on?”

“Nothing specific that I saw,” said Karyn. “But we’ll go and check out the main drag and maybe do some shopping.”

“Sounds good!”

Karyn put on a coat and hat while Derpy went invisible. “Are you going to be all right? It’s pretty cold out there.”

“No worries. I go out in winter all the time. Furry coat.”

“So cute it blows my mind.”

“Huh?” Derpy had her confused face on.

“Never mind.”

They made their way outside. Patches of snow on the ground made everything bright in the mid-morning sun. As they reached the town, they saw workers dragging ladders out of trucks.

“What’s going on?” asked Derpy.

“Don’t know. Oh, I see. They’re taking down the last of the holiday decorations. All the trees and things probably came down right after New Year’s, but a few wreaths and garlands and lights are still there.”

They had already cleared some of the wires, and the two girls watched the work. Karyn explained a little about power lines, although she was no expert.

“Probably they obscure the landscape,” she said, “but I remember lying in the back seat of my dad’s car sometimes, just watching them dip and arc from pole to pole. It’s kind of hypnotic when you’re moving and they’re still.”

“What are those?”

“Where? I can’t see where you’re pointing.”

Derpy tried to phrase it without visuals. “Third line down, about halfway across.”

Karyn looked and saw a sight that, while not an everyday occurance, was familiar to her. “Yeah, sometimes you get people throwing shoes up there. For pranks mostly. Steal some poor soul’s sneakers and tie the laces together, then toss them straight up and let the momentum wrap them around the lines. Rather childish.”

“I’m going to take them down.”

“Be careful. I know that birds can touch power lines because they’re not connected to the ground, but you never know when something can go wrong. And try not to be seen.”

Derpy took a deep breath. “If I do it fast enough it’ll just look like a favorable gust of wind. Be prepared to catch them.”

Karyn stood to the side and tried to look nonchalant. Out of the corner of her eye she saw one shoe flip over the wire and land with a shorter string than before. Just like untying the twist-tie of a loaf of bread, she thought. You always pick the wrong direction first. The shoe flipped the other way and then again. One more time and they were free, descending fast toward her. She took them in hand and looked around. No one had noticed anything out of the ordinary.

“Nice work”

“Yeah, I” Derpy huffed and puffed as she spoke. “I got them. I was completely the wind.”

“Mmhm. Hey, Derpy. Can we head back for a minute? There’s something I want to see back in the dorm.”

“Sure. . . Karyn.” She was still out of breath. “It’d be. . . nice.”

They returned the way they came, Karyn taking the time to deposit the shoes into a clothing donation bin that sat in a diner parking lot. Once back in the room, Derpy threw off her invisibility and collapsed backward on the bed. “Whew. Maybe it is a little cold out there.”

“Mmhm,” Karyn said skeptically. She rummaged in her closet, finding a box that she had playfully labeled “Secret Derpy Stuff.” Digging through it, she quickly came up with a small white square.

“What have you got there?”

“Do me a favor, Derpy? Go stand against that wall.” Karyn pointed to one end. “This was the picture I took of you when we were playing with my camera a while back. I want to do a before-and-after.”

“What for? I haven’t changed.”

“I think you have. Oh, yeah. Derpy, you’ve put on a lot of weight.”

Derpy snorted. “I have not!”

“Look at the picture and then look between your hooves.”

“Give me that.” Derpy snatched it out of Karyn’s hands and looked. She was standing against the same wall, and could see a foot or two of wall beneath her. Trotting back over, she tried to measure from the bottom of her belly to the floor.

Karyn rolled her eyes. “Trust me, your belly has grown. Small wonder, I’d say. You took seconds at that Apple Family reunion, and—“

“It wasn’t a true reunion, just a get-together.”

“Don’t change the subject. And you’re always finishing my meals. You have a problem, Derpy.”

“I do not!” said Derpy, stomping her hoof. But beneath her, she felt her belly jiggling. How did she not notice before? “Well, maybe I’ve gained, but I’m not a young filly. Everypony puts on a few pounds at my age.”

“Ponyfeathers!” said Karyn. Derpy spread her wings and looked at them. “No, I mean that you’re trying to cover up the fact that you have a problem. I’m serious, Derpy.”

“I don’t see—“

“And I’ll bet that’s the reason you’ve been having insomnia lately. I mean, look. I don’t know anything about pony anatomy. Maybe you can weigh as much as you like and have no ill effects. Maybe unicorns have a spell that can zap you to the perfect weight without any effort. Maybe there’s no such thing for you as heart attacks and arthritis. All I know is that you’ve changed, and for the worse.”

Derpy scowled and wanted to argue some more, but she saw how worried Karyn was, and the image of the picture versus her own figure was stuck in her head. “I guess I have. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize. All you have to do is work to correct it. There’s a human saying that the first step to solving a problem is admitting that you have one.”

“I would think that the first step would be to do something counter to what the problem is.”

Karyn nodded her head. “Well, it’s a weird expression. Anyway, you’ll try to lose weight?”

“I’d like to, but how do I do it? I’m not a mare of willpower. Have you ever had to diet?”

“Not personally. A side benefit of being a vegetarian in the human world. Oh! But my father has. He lost about fifty pounds. I should call him and ask him for tips.”

“Would you?” said Derpy, beaming. “I really don’t want to do this on my own.”

“It’s no problem. But my father is very much into video chatting, so you’ll have to stay out of the way.”

“You got it! How’s this?” Derpy slipped to the side of Karyn’s desk and sat unmoving.

“It’s fine, but don’t stare at me like that. You’ll make me laugh.”

Karyn got on the computer and looked to see if her father was online. She texted him to call her with the chat, and a moment later her speakers gave a beep. From Derpy’s perspective she couldn’t see his face, nor could she remember what he looked like.

“Hi, Daddy!” said Karyn.

“Hi, Pumpkin. What’s going on? Everything all right at school?”

They made small talk for a minute, then Karyn brought up the subject. “So, I was hoping you could help me out with something.”

“Shoot.”

“Well, I have a friend, and she needs to lose weight. I told her how successful you were, and maybe you could let me know how you did it.”

Derpy didn’t hear Karyn’s father respond immediately, and she wondered if the connection hadn’t been lost, but then he said, “Wait, I get it. This is really about you, isn’t it? Pumpkin, you don’t need to lose weight. If anything, you’re too thin as is.”

Karyn rolled her eyes. “Dad! I’m not asking for me.”

“Prove it. Let me see you eat something right now.”

“I don’t have any food around the dorm at the moment—“

“Aha!” her father said.

“But I’ll call you back at dinner and you can watch me eat if that’ll make you happy.”

“Well, all right, but you’d better not forget.”

Exasperated, Karyn said, “Now do you have any advice for my friend or not?”

“I kept a notebook with all the little motivational ideas I had when I was on my diet. But I’m not sure where it is. I’ll get back to you when you call me later.”

“Is there anything you can tell me in the meantime?

“Let me think,” said Karyn’s father. “Is she a student like you?”

“No, she works.”

“That’s actually good. When you’re working five days a week, you want to get into a routine where you’re eating less than what you normally would. Then on weekends and holidays, if you backslide, it’s not so bad.”

Derpy smiled at that, and Karyn reached for a pen and pad to write down what her father was saying. “Sounds good. What else have you got?

“Well, I can give you some tips on my own, or you can get diet into from books and web sites. But don’t do that.”

“Why not?”

Karyn’s father’s tone shifted to one of annoyance. “Diet advisors don’t ever want you to indulge. Their attitude is that you should eat nothing but vegetables and fruits and good stuff. If you listen to them, there’s no reason for a doughnut shop to even exist, because it might as well be selling heroin. It’s just not realistic. We all like tasty food, food that’s bad for us, and you have to know how to integrate it while still being responsible. I would read them for recipes and information on things like calories and carbs, but don’t take them as gospel.”

“Maybe you could write your own book.”

“Ha, I wish. Let’s see. I mentioned calories. That’s really what it’s all about. You can play around with carbs and proteins all you want, but calories are the bottom line. The reason things like Atkins work is that carbs make you hungry. That’s why Italian meals use pasta as an appetizer. If you can count calories and work within the daily limits, you’ll lose weight. But most people don’t want to hear that, so they need tricks to fool the mind into thinking it’s getting enough food. Fortunately they have all those nutritional information labels on everything.”

Karyn looked over her computer at Derpy. “Hmm. My friend eats a lot of fresh foods, very little packaged stuff. I’m not sure she has that information.”

“Well, it’s all on the Web. Although if she’s eating fresh, that’s a good step to begin with. Learning to cook is another.”

“I know she bakes.”

“Well, that’s a little more suspect,” her father said. “Anyway, speaking of steps, you remember how I did walking for exercise every day? I know you girls are into going to the gym and all that, but really walking is enough. Exercise has diminishing returns. It’s more important to do some at all than it is to do a lot of it. Unless you want to build muscle, which would let you eat more. But that’s easier for men.”

Derpy waved to get her attention. She had picked up a notebook of her own and written on it “Can flying work instead of walking?” Karyn had to stifle a laugh.

“Thanks, Dad. It seems like a lot but I’m sure my friend will be appreciative.”

“Good. Of course, so much of it is about motivation. That’s what I had in my little notebook. I’ll definitely work on finding it and I’ll call you back again tonight. You should call me more often though. I miss you, all away at college like you are.”

Karyn rolled her eyes. “Talk to you later.”

They signed off, and Derpy came back out into the room. “Well, he gave us some good information, but this is still going to be difficult.”

“I guess so. But we’ve got to start somewhere. Come on, let’s go back outside. Yes, I think that flying will be a fine substitute for walking, so we’ll go for a mile this time. Then you can increase it a little more each day.”

“But we were just outside. And I fly so much every day on my route.”

Karyn thought about that. “Yes, but that’s flying you do normally, not for exercise. It has to be over and above your normal routine.”

They went back out on the same route they had before. The workers had finished their takedown and the town looked a little barer than it had been. Karyn eschewed her usual window shopping in favor of keeping a brisk pace for Derpy to follow.

“There it is,” Derpy said. “There’s the wire that had those shoes on them. Betrayer!”

“Huh?”

“If I hadn’t have gone to pick them up, you never would have noticed that I was too heavy. I could have gone on in blissful ignorance.”

Karyn put her hand to the Bluetooth and lowered her voice. “Do you really think that would make it better?”

“No, of course not.”

“Come on, keep pumping those wings.” Karyn tried to be more encouraging than reproachful. Nopony likes hearing that they have a lot of work ahead of them, she thought. “As soon as we get back we’ll have lunch.”

“In that case, I’ll go extra fast!”

A few blocks from the dorm stood a health-food store. Karyn liked the food, but it was the opposite direction from most of her classes, so she didn’t visit it often. That day, though, she bent their route toward it. “Wait here,” she said. “I’ll pick up lunch for both of us.”

She came out a few minutes later with two small, brown cardboard boxes and they walked the rest of the way to the dorm. Karyn set up the card table and handed Derpy her box. She took one look at it, and her face fell.

“This is it?” The box contained a bed of garden greens, a few plantain slices, and a sliced egg.

“If you limit yourself to that now, you can have a snack halfway between now and dinner.”

“Why don’t I have the snack now?” asked Derpy.

“Because then you’ll be even worse then. Besides, that has a lot of protein, and like my dad said, it should make you feel more full.”

Derpy munched on the small salad, trying to make it last longer. Even so, she finished it quickly. “I’m still hungry.”

“You have to give it some time to hit your stomach and for it to send the right signals to stop the hunger.”

For Derpy, it was one of the longest afternoons she could remember. She constantly checked the clock. Karyn had told her she could have the snack at 2:30 and dinner at 5, but time was moving slowly.

“Even if I wait ten minutes, the clock only goes five!” she shouted at one point.

With a half-hour to go, Derpy broke down. “I’m never going to make this. If I can’t do one day, how am I going to stop eating long enough to actually reach a goal?”

“We’ll find a way, together, the same way we always do. Two friends can accomplish anything, right?”

“Maybe, but you can’t do my exercise for me, and you can’t do my not-eating either.”

Karyn looked at her room and saw her purse hanging on the bedpost. An idea hit her. “All right, Derpy, I’ll make a pact with you. If you write down everything you eat, I’ll write down everything I spend. We’ll both agree to cut down, and we’ll help the other one where she needs it. Is it a bargain?”

Derpy wiped the tears from her eyes. “I guess we’ll have to try.”

While Karyn was away getting dinner from the cafeteria, the computer signaled that her father was trying to reach her again. Not knowing what to do, Derpy clicked answer and then flew out of sight.

“Hm,” he said. “She must have auto-pickup or something. I’m not sure I like that.”

Karyn came in a minute or so later and saw her father already on the video chat. “Oh. Hello there.”

“Good, you’re here. Now eat your dinner like you promised.”

Surreptitiously sliding the second box behind her monitor to Derpy, Karyn made a display of eating her sandwich. “Happy now?”

“Looks more like a lunch than a dinner.”

“Well, I was supposed to be eating with my dieting friend, but she’s a little late. I have fries too.” She displayed the box.

“All right, all right, I guess you don’t have an eating disorder.”

“Did you find what you wrote during your diet?”

Derpy managed to slide the box to her and open it. She was inclined to agree with Karyn’s father that it wasn’t really a proper supper. She listened to him as she ate.

“You won’t believe how little you can eat and not starve. You look at a meal that’s only four hundred calories and you think that it can’t be enough. But all the nutritional charts say it is. So you do it, and you’re amazed. Just put something in you, enough to absorb the acid that’s in there, and it’ll be enough.

“But of course your rational side still has to deal with the actual hunger pains. Well, there’s a couple of things you can do about that. The first is to enjoy them. I used to pretend that every grumble of my stomach was churning away a little fat from my waist. That gave me the impetus to hang on to the next meal or snack time. I found also that if I stuck to the diet, the pains lessened. When I backslid and indulged for one meal, I’d be extra hungry for the next. That’s not fair, but it’s true.

“Ultimately it’s about what you want more, to lose the weight or to keep eating. That sounds like motivational crap, but it’s true, and it’s not meant to be rhetorical. Your friend might not be ready. She might want to keep eating more than she wants to be healthy. You have to live with that and not press her too hard. Forcing someone to make a choice is always a temporary solution. Because you can’t take care of someone their whole life. Once they’re back in charge, if they haven’t made the choice, they’ll go back to their old ways.”

Derpy wanted to fly out in front of the monitor and argue, but even if it wouldn’t put her secret at risk, she couldn’t. He was right. She just wished he weren’t so blunt.

“Of course,” he finished, “all this was what worked for me, and I have a very direct view of the world. Since your friend’s a woman, she might need a different outlook, not so cold.”

“Thanks again, Dad,” said Karyn. “It’s been a big help.”

“Yeah, well, I also wanted to keep you on long enough to make sure that you digested the food and didn’t bring it up.”

One more eye-roll and a good-bye later, Derpy was able to come out. “I guess I have a lot of work to do.”

“You do, but I’ll be there for you all the way. We have our pact, we have our plan, and we have time.”

They hugged, and started together on their journey.

Author's Notes:

Preview ahoy!

“Ooh, I’ll send her a tube of horn wax. She’ll like that.”

“What does that do?”

“It makes a unicorn’s horn waxy and shiny.” Derpy ran into the bathroom and got the tube.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hello yourself, whipper-snapper. What’s that you got there with you? Some kind of baby dragon?”

“No, she’s my friend. She’s called a human, and her name is Karyn.”

Granny Smith looked down at her knitting. “Well, if she’s a friend, I guess that’s all right. And you are?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Derpy took a look at the dried apples. “Sweet Apple Acres, huh? I didn’t think they sent much to Canterlot.”

“This was sent by a special train.”

“Really? Cool. What’s the occasion?”

Look forward to it!