Soon enough, the massive period of waiting had started. Starlight stayed put in her current position, stuck in a tight spot for a really long time, waiting for her body to get thinner. But the other girls would arrive to make sure she wasn’t too alone or she wasn’t exactly starving to death. Sunset would give her a small portion of a certain food for every meal. One day, she gave her one half slice of toast for breakfast, a half slice of a cheese sandwich for lunch and a few slices of orange for an evening meal, along with a small glass of water each time. The food given was slightly different every time though. She would later receive half of a lettuce and tomato sandwich or a few slices of apple.

Sunset and her friends would often come by and keep Starlight company for a period of time. On Monday, Rarity showed her the sketches she drew for the latest display in the boutique in town. Starlight knew they wouldn’t interest her that much, since she hasn’t lived as a human for too long, but she was hoping Rarity could please her boss, Prim Hemline. On Tuesday, Fluttershy came along with a pet she borrowed from the animal shelter. The pet she borrowed was a cat and he loved being stroked by Starlight. His adorable behaviour made her smile warmly. On Wednesday, Pinkie told her a whole lot of jokes, even though most of them weren’t really that funny.

“I told him ‘Hey, I know a guy with a wooden leg named Smith’. Then he asked me ‘What’s the name of his other leg?’.” And then Pinkie was lying down on the ground laughing hard. Starlight only thought.

“I... don’t get it.”

On Thursday, a construction worker by the name of Hard Hat, along with a few other builders, came to fill up the crater Rainbow unintentionally created. Starlight watched as they made numerous mixtures of concrete and poured them into the hole. Once they had finished the job, they wrapped striped tape around the crater and around the portal statue to let the concrete dry. They also put up a sign to warn the other students: Danger. Wet Cement. Do not cross.

On Friday, Rainbow and Applejack were entertaining Starlight by competing each other in loads of arm wrestling games. Applejack was the stronger one of the two (even without her Geode’s power for help), but Rainbow didn’t want to give up without winning once. Eventually, after 12 more tries, Rainbow managed to win a game, mainly because Applejack managed to kill off her arm strength at the last moment, since she didn’t feel like carrying on with this any longer.

On Saturday, Sunset told Starlight one of the many suburban adventures she and her friends had been up to. “So then, I tried to tell her a clearer message by taking a leaf of a nearby plant and biting into it. Little did I know that there was a guy standing right there, watching the whole thing.” They both chuckled.

“And I thought Countess Coloratura’s fail was embarrassing enough.” Starlight giggled. And on Sunday, Twilight came with her tablet and she and Starlight both watched the first Mary Potter movie. Starlight was really interested in the storyline and was blown away by the special effects.

But, during this period of waiting, the weather constantly changed. Some days were sunny, other days were rainy. Sometimes, the wind blew softly, other times, the wind blew in strong gusts. In case it ever did rain or get too blowy, Rainbow had already built a shelter out of bricks. It only took her 15 seconds.

But, at long last, the day finally came. Starlight felt like she was stuck in the portal for an eternity, when in reality, it had been up to 5 weeks. Sunset walked up to Starlight once again with Applejack and Rainbow alongside.

“Okay.” Sunset said to her. “Today might be the day and I think you’ve been stuck long enough.” Starlight sighed in agreement. Sunset pulled out her journal once more and wrote to Princess Twilight to come and give Starlight another push. “Alright, let’s do this.” Sunset grabbed hold of Starlight’s hands, Rainbow grabbed hold of Sunset’s waist and Applejack activated her Geode’s power of strength before grabbing the tip of Rainbow’s hoodie with her pinky finger. Meanwhile, Princess Twilight received the message, rushed down to the library and placed her front hooves on Starlight’s bottom once more.

“Okay.” Sunset called to the others, “On the count of three. 1. 2. 3. PULL!!!” And so they did. Sunset and Rainbow pulled as hard as they could, while Applejack only pulled her pinky finger slightly, so is not to hurt anyone like before. At the same time, Twilight was throwing all her weight against Starlight’s still huge plot. She kept pushing forward, using up all her current muscle. Sunset and Rainbow were still pulling hard, they weren’t about to give up just yet.

“I DONT THINK THIS IS WORKING!” Rainbow yelled to Sunset.

“WE HAVE TO KEEP TRYING!” Sunset cried. “AJ, WE KINDA NEED YOUR HELP HERE!” Applejack was still tugging with her little finger when she heard Sunset’s words.

“Oh, right. Uhh, SORRY!” she replied. “HOLD ON!” she then grabbed Rainbow’s legs and used her Geode strength to help pull Starlight out. They all pushed and pulled, pulled and pushed harder than ever. A few moments later, Sunset could feel herself jerked back a little.

“HEY, IT’S WORKING!” she called to the others. “KEEP GOING!” They continued to pull as hard as they could, Starlight getting further out of the portal, slowly but surely. “COME ON! ONE! MORE! PULL!!” And then, as if by magic, Starlight’s massive body came bursting out of the portal. Princess Twilight managed to fall flat on her face, while Starlight was flung forward onto her fat stomach. Rainbow and Applejack were flung back so far, they both ended up in a heap.

“Sorry. Are ya legs feelin’ alright?” Applejack asked, worried she might’ve hurt her from all the pulling.

“Heh, don’t worry. They’re fine.” she replied “I’ve honestly felt worse.” Starlight soon managed to lift her head up and realised something of which she never thought would happen, just happened.

“We did it. We did it!” she said excitedly. “I’M FREE!”

“But I’m not.” came a familiar voice, but in a muffled tone. “Can you please get off me?” Starlight quickly realised her big fat belly was sitting right on top of Sunset and she immediately climbed up onto her feet.

“He-he. Sorry.”

“That’s okay.” Sunset sighed with relief. “The most important thing is that you’re now out of the portal.” Then Starlight realised something.

“But, the question is, how am I going to get back to Equestria?” she asked. “After all that, I don’t think I can go back the way I came.”

“I think I’ve got the perfect idea.” Sunset said with a smirk. Starlight looked a little concerned as Sunset opened up her journal and said her written words aloud. “Twilight, you wouldn’t mind if Starlight can stay here in the human world for a few more months? Starlight and Rainbow have quite a lot of work to do.” Starlight had a worried look on her face as Rainbow placed her left arm around her shoulders and grinned. They both knew what she meant. Exercise. Endless fitness and exercise. Starlight swallowed nervously.

A few moments later, Twilight replied. “Alright Sunset, she can stay. I say this will give her her just desserts.”