There was a knock at the door of Ivory’s. She had been expecting him.

“Hello Red...oh? That’s rather unusual of you.” the mare said with a small amount of sarcasm as she opened the door to her tubby stallion. He blushed a little and with a bit of wiggling, managed to reach his hooves to his mouth and pluck the rose from it. He struggled to keep a hold of it though, before a small drone took it from his grasp.

“Put it in water, you know you don’t have to romance me anymore. We’re on good terms Red.” Ivory said casually, inviting him in. The blush started to dissipate from the stallion’s cheeks.

“Well, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try.” he said, watching as the drone placed the flower in a vase that had several others from him already. It was looking quite full.

“Well it’s sweet. Sorry I didn’t mean I didn’t appreciate it.” Ivory said, moving her pad a little closer so she could give him a bit of a snuggly kiss. “So, you had an idea for a date?”

“I do - somewhere in town that I found. It’ll mean a bit of piloting to get there, but we’re both experts now huh?” he said with a small smile. “Plus it means you don’t need to cook, not that I don’t love everything you make in that kitchen of yours.” Red said, already turning his pad and opening the door, beckoning Ivory to follow him.

“You know you were nearly in hot water there...I’ll let it slide.” she cooed, giving the stallion a slight slap on his rear that made him yelp a little in surprise. No matter how frequent that sort of thing was now becoming between the two of them, he always let out a little noise that was somewhere between excitement and shock.

“So what is this place? I assume somewhere to get food.” Ivory asked as they travelled.

“Even better, you’ll see.” Red said, they travelled exchanging a few words. The usual stuff. How their weeks had been, anything new that had gone on. It was becoming routine. Both ponies were now comfortable in each others company enough for that sort of small-talk not to be a point of worry. As they rounded another bend, Red stopped his pad.

In front of them was yet another new eatery that had opened towards the town centre recently. A modest building, exclusive entry by booking only. Being new, they had a look of bookings. A small line of ponies on pads were queuing up outside. There was a short wait to get in, as long as your name was on the list. The outside didn’t look to fancy as Red and Ivory took a place in line, just a sign above the door that said The Vat.

“I got us a booking.” he said proudly, immediately Ivory’s face went to a sort of excited scrunch, she couldn’t believe it.

“W-what? How? This place is the hottest new thing in town! They’ve been booked for months in advance! I tried to get something last week and they told me to try again next year!!!” Ivory squeaked in excitement.

“Just a little perk of the job.” was all Red said. That was a half truth, that had helped a bit. It also helped he kept a very close eye on upcoming food developments on the colony and had booked this place months ago before it had even opened. The concept of this place was certainly interesting.

When Red and Ivory finally made it to the front door, all he said was “Red Roller, I have a reservation.” and the doorman let him in where they were guided to their table by a less hefty server than Red, although they had their own pad. They were both parked at well...nothing. This place had no tables, just a small device with a number of round holes between the pads that stuck out a little.

“Welcome to The Vat.” the server began to say, before he could finish, Ivory butted in a little and asked a question.

“Any relation to The Trough? I love that place!” she said, obviously still a bit excited.

“Same owners actually, just trying something new.” the server said. “You’re both new first timers so I’ll explain how it works. You pay by selected gain. Punch how much you want to bloat by into the terminal and you’re charged appropriately. Maximum of ninety nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine pounds from the terminal but if you put that in well...expect a bill as big as you get. There are three hoses. Strawberry, vanilla and chocolate. Again pick which one you want and just press a button under where the hose is to choose a flavour. I must inform you, one hose at a time. We’ve had a few greedy ponies try multiple ones already…” the server sighed. It was a new place, so customers taking advantage somewhat was to be expected. “When you’re done, just press the top button on the console and I’ll ring you up. Enjoy.” he said, scooting himself away to help new arriving customers.

“Huh?” was all Ivory said. She didn’t know much about this place, but this was surprising. “Red can you explain? That went totally over my head.” she confessed, looking confused.

“It’s the ultimate gaining restaurant! You put in what you want to gain, take a hose and chug until you’ve gained the size you put into the terminal!” Red said excitedly, he was already leaning forward as much as he could to grab the strawberry hose.

“Wait what, so you just punch in a gain size and it gains you that much?” Ivory said. This was a novelty. Blubber King had something like it but they didn’t just deliver food through a hose. She watched as Red put the strawberry hose to his mouth and clamped the rubber strap around the back of his head. She didn’t even see what weight he punched in on his side the terminal as immediately the pump surged to life and he seemed to relax, sucking down whatever was in the tube.

Ivory pulled out the vanilla one, one of her favourite flavours. She didn’t know what Red had put in but she assumed he was paying. She decided to try to be modest and keyed five hundred pounds into the pad. Immediately she felt her mouth filled with what she could only describe as a vanilla milkshake, but much richer and thicker than she was used to. The mare had no trouble however sucking it down. It tasted absolutely delicious. The liquid being pumped in as well as the ability to just sit on her pad and suck it down was rather lovely.

She wasn’t sure what Red had decided to go for, but he had clearly gone for a gain more than she had put into her side. Those massive flanks of his were ballooning out with each minute that passed. The fat stallion was getting even fatter, not that she cared. The bigger he got the more she was falling in love with him and his size. She’d ask once the meal was over.

Red was keeping quiet, just focusing on gaining. He was right to book. No silly chewing, not even any movement. Just pure indulgence, pure gaining. You said what you wanted to gain and you gained it. He had a goal, he was going to indulge himself whilst he was here. Every moment he was sat he could feel new folds forming and pounds and pounds being added to his already sizeable frame. It was wonderful, plus the thick, creamy mixture was lovely too. If he had more money he could easily sit here and become Equestrian sized or larger, but he didn’t have the pad for that. For now he stuck to something more sensible, but still a hefty gain. The stallion felt his stomach bulge and his flanks widen, cheeks puffing out even more than they already were. His face as well started to form new folds around his neck, body searching for anywhere it could place the new pounds forming doughy layers of flesh all over him. His head began to sink slightly into his neck, the show of a real fatty. He began to wonder if one day he’d end up like those real massive ponies, where your head started to form a small hole in your gigantic, flabby body.

Apart from ponies coming and going and the server hovering by every so often to ask if everything was okay the restaurant was actually very quiet. None of the diners with hoses shoved in their maws could really speak. In fact the only real noise was from some pretty standard jazz playing on the sound system that was quite relaxing. When the server returned again, both Ivory and Red just did their best to indicate they were both very happy.

About twenty minutes in, Ivory’s pump stopped and she unstrapped the hose from her mouth. She took a moment to collect herself, five hundred pounds of gain was nothing small. She let out a rather loud “U-Uuurraaappppp!” which filled the air for a few seconds before dissipating. Her body felt much heavier, new fat folds having formed where she had gained in size. It had been rather lovely. The display of five hundred still showed on her screen.

A moment later, Red’s finished too, shutting off he pulled the hose off himself, which retracted back into the small centre console. He however let out an even louder “BWWAAAARRRRRPPPPPPP!” which made a few ponies look over, and the server also come to attended to his and Ivory’s needs. The noise meant they didn’t need to summon him.

“How was it?” he asked, working on a total.

“Wonderful.” Red replied. “If I can get another booking we’ll both be back.”

“And you miss?”

“Very nice, a limited menu but certainly doesn’t leave you lacking for feeling full.” she said. It was the truth, Ivory felt absolutely stuffed and huger than she had ever been. She was about to ask Red what he gained, but the waiter answered for her.

“A total bill for two and a half thousand pounds of gain between you.” he said, as Red paid Ivory’s jaw dropped. She had watched him grow. He had certainly gotten a lot bigger but she wasn’t expecting two thousand pounds worth of gaining bigger. It was amazing he had packed away four times as much as she had in the same time. She didn’t question it, only tried to pull her jaw back up to its usual spot as Red paid the bill and they left.

“Two thousand…so by my count, that’s seven thousand pounds you weigh now?” she asked.

“...more or less.” Red replied. He was still recovering a little from the massive meal.

“Mmmm, well when you’re recovered properly, back to my place for some fun. An extra two thousand pounds deserves some attention.” she cooed. As per his normal reaction, Red blushed. The two of them made their way back to Ivory’s place, the stallion getting accustomed to his new size as they went. Hopefully the bed wouldn’t break under him…