Rarity waddled down the dirt road of Ponyville leading to the village’s gym. Just as with the library, spa, and her gorgeous boutique, there was one and only one in the whole village.
Rarity held her head high, even as the rest of her threatened to drop so low it would scrape the ground. That wouldn’t happen, but Pinkie Pie had joked about it once and it had stayed in her mind ever since. Rarity huffed a little, and returned her attention to her flawless body. She looked back at herself and smirked, just a little, at her ability to turn heads even in her current condition, heavy with twin foals. Her attention lingered on her rear, spilling out of her long exercise socks just a little too much. Still, her body seemed less flawless, a little more like a marshmallow lately, which was her reason for visiting the gym this morning. She had her mane tied back in a ponytail, her tail curled a bit differently to help keep it out of the way, and these adorable exercise bands for her forelegs didn’t really help at all but they looked positively gorgeous. Her designer saddlebags didn’t hug her body as tightly as they once had, laying on her back more than hanging on as they should, but they held on well enough for moving about.
Rarity’s attention went from outward to inward as she took inventory of her precious cargo. The two foals slept in her belly, rocked to sleep by her walking, and hopefully they’d stay that way. She wanted her sleep schedule to sync up with theirs, for once.
Her fellow unicorn Twilight Sparkle had given her a pair of magical dampeners, or whatever they were called, to place around her belly to prevent magical outbursts, but they looked ghastly. They resembled the ugliest pair of earmuffs she’d ever seen. It would be one thing if she could wear them underneath a dress, but dresses weren’t appropriate gym attire. It would be another thing if they had them in her coat colour, but they only came in a drab black for some reason. It would be one final thing if they could comfortably hang underneath her belly and be just a little more discreet, but she could only get them to stay on if she laid them over her back before cupping them to both sides, where everypony would see them before her gorgeous mane and everything else.
She didn’t need them anyway. The twins were always such darlings on her morning stroll. She had eaten only a light breakfast this morning, and they were still asleep.
Unlike her weekly visits to the spa, Rarity had never set hoof in the gym before, despite Rainbow Dash’s repeated insistence. She had always been more of a dieting pony, a move around and stretch kind of mare. Well, moving around and stretching was only going to get harder if she continued sitting on her rear and sewing the day away, as fun as it was and as adorable as the little outfits for her darlings were.
She opened the gym doors, and retched at the stench that hit her. She had been prepared for musk, being around ponies like Applejack and Rainbow Dash for long enough generally prepares a pony for it whether she wants it or not, but it was already a hot day, and there were quite a few ponies in the gym presently. She should just leave and go for a gentle stroll in the fresh air instead.
“Hey! Rarity!” That was Rainbow Dash’s voice. Rarity could now see her unfortunately nearby, hovering in place with what looked like a very heavy weight held in her hooves. Rainbow gently breathed as she lowered herself to the ground, and set the weight to rest. She exhaled, and Rarity noticed she shook off the sweat rather than use the rag right next to her for the purpose. “So, you finally came to the gym.” Rainbow Dash eyed Rarity’s form up-and-down, once or twice. “Well good for you. I won’t give you any guff for waiting so long. So, what routine are you planning on for today?”
“Routine?” Rarity was planning on a nice lunch afterwards, but that wasn’t what Rainbow meant. “Um, I thought I’d have a look around first.”
Rainbow Dash got uncomfortably close, throwing a sweaty hoof over Rarity’s back as a kind of hug, and to guide her attention. “Here, why don’t you use one of the treills as a warmup? The watering trough’s over there in the corner.” Rainbow Dash was back to her routine before Rarity could gag at the mere thought of using the watering trough.
Still, the treill seemed like a good idea, although she couldn’t figure out why somepony would use it when walking around town was more scenic. Well, she was already here, and walked over to one. Her magic lifted her saddlebags and gently set them on the floor; she hovered a water bottle out of her saddlebags and into her mouth, taking a sip before setting it back down. The treill was very simple, mechanically. It had a hoofometer for measuring how far she walked, and not much else besides a button to reset the distance, a dial for speed, and a tiny slot for a magical crystal to start it. Rarity knew she could zap it as a unicorn and avoid spending any bits on a little crystal, which is exactly what she did after setting the dial to its lowest setting.
The tread moved slowly, and she found it effortless to keep up. It was too slow, really. She turned the dial two notches. Now she had to move quickly enough to feel herself jiggle and sway with each step. She inconspicuously looked around the gym, pretending to look at the equipment but really nervous that anypony were watching her; nopony seemed to be paying her much mind, and she sighed in relief, but was also just a tad disappointed. She shook that silly thought out of her head. She shouldn’t be putting on shows for anypony but her husband anyway. A kick knocked these thoughts out of her head, and she looked to her right side to see some foal movement.
She chuckled. “Sorry, little darlings, but you’ll just have to deal with it.” She kept walking. By now, she really felt like she was getting a workout, and thought about taking a break soon. She could feel some soreness building up in her rear back, and her horn was feeling stuffy for some reason. Just a little while longer and she’d rest.
“Whoa, watch out!” Rarity turned her head at some stallion yelling, and nearly fell off the treill at what she saw. A unicorn had taken a weight and was swinging it around magically, with ponies running and crouching out of the way. Rarity was about to turn the machine off and make her way outside to safety, when she noticed the treill was getting faster.
The same unicorn, or one with a very similar magical glow, was turning up the speed; Rarity followed the magical trail—it didn’t occur to her to wonder why there was a messy trail of magic at all—to get a look at the horrible unicorn doing this, only to see the trail make its way in her side. She gulped, and saw one trail coming out of her back near her rear, which explained the odd sensation from earlier. She now noticed yet another weight and her water bottle were also held in the same messy magical grip.
It didn’t occur to her that she could turn the treill off with her magic. Her horn wasn’t behaving itself right now anyway. Certainly everypony in the gym was watching her fat butt on the treill now.
“Hold on, Rarity, I’ll-” Rarity winced as a weight was thrown right into her gut, sending her flying back in the worst sense. “Ow.”
By now, most everypony had fled, leaving Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and a few stallions and mares left to withstand the chaos. Rarity huffed; her legs ached, her back ached, her horn ached, everything ached; Rainbow Dash was up and about by now, but most concerned with avoiding the remaining weights, one of which flew by and got stuck in a wall.
Eventually, the treill slowed on its own, due only to a lack of magical power. Rarity hopped off the treill, or rather she set one shaking hoof after another until all four were on the floor again; her rear collapsed to the floor, and then the rest of her fell so that she was lying on her side. She should’ve listened to Twilight and taken those stupid earmuff things with her. Rarity’s head shot up. She had taken them with her, they were in her saddlebags. Now the problem was getting to them. She channelled magic through her horn, and managed to focus on the pocket containing them. She stuck out her tongue in concentration as she felt around, certain she had found them, but unable to pick them up. They kept falling through her magic. She seemed to recall Twilight telling her they’d do that, now that she wondered why. “Ah, Rainbow Dash, ah, darling. C-Could you be a dear and give me those delightful earmuff looking things in my bag?”
“You’re worried about fashion now!?” Rainbow Dash was able to duck and crawl over to her.
“Um, about that, they actually go around my, um, my, oh how should I put this?” Rainbow Dash was about to yell again, so Rarity blurted out the first phrasing that came to her mind. “Just put them around my gut and they’ll stop this!”
Rainbow Dash nodded, fished in her saddlebags for a moment to find them, kept herself short as she walked over to Rarity with them in her mouth, and adjusted each cup end around her belly. Instantly, the magical trails began to dissipate, dropping the weights and everything else they were holding onto the floor. Rarity’s water bottle shattered as it hit the ground. Rainbow Dash wiped some sweat from her face with a hoof. Rainbow looked at Rarity to notice she was about to start crying. “Um, cheer up, or something. Don’t cry or anything.” Rarity tried her darnedest not to wail, but tears ran down her face regardless.
In the end, nopony was hurt, except for Rainbow Dash. Rarity’s pride was also bruised. She looked at the ugly magical dampeners, and how they clashed with her perfect white fur. She looked at the ugly gym walls with holes in them, and how her fashion sense had indirectly caused them. Their father would be delighted to know they had such strong magic, and aghast at the property damage she’d racked up.