Blitz Tale and the Pony Pox Predicament

 

The stallion on the floor raises his head and tosses off his helmet. His gray coat is barely visible under the glow of dark magic swirling around him. No matter how hard he tries, the dried blood wont leave his eye. “N-Never...ponies are counting on us to save this kingdom. Victory...or death.”

 

“HA!” Drak'tharr laughs as he slams the bottom of his staff against the ground. The wounded stallion gasps as the magic around him clings to his neck. “So you have chosen death! Say hello to the gatekeepers of Tartarus for me, you insect!”

 

“RISE AND SHINE, URSINE! RISE AND SHINE, URSINE!”

 

A blast of music fills the bedroom as the nearby alarm clock chants and shouts. “UAHHH!” The gray stallion leaps from his bed and thumps against the ground. “Jeez....” He blinks for a few moments before crawling over to his alarm clock and switching it off.

 

“I gotta stop going over the Ogres and Oubliettes rule books before bed. What a dream.” Satisfied that he was awake, the gray stallion properly rose from the floor and dragged himself to the bathroom. “Duty calls in the worse ways...” He mumbled as he started his daily rituals. A quick shower, a bit of mane styling and a quick brush had the weary stallion looking like new. Sure, his fetlocks were unshorn and his tail rather simple but his dull yellow mane was nice and tidy.

 

One last thing was in order as he grabbed an apron hanging from the wall. He quickly tied it behind his back and sighed before looking into his mirror and forcing a smile. The name Blitz Tale sat upon a weathered name tag near the collar of his uniform. “Another day at Filthy Rich's salt mines. Yipeee...”

 

Blitz Tale dragged his hooves out the door. “Man...I need to invest in one of those book carrying harnesses so I could at least read something on my way to work.” The distractions of Ponyville were all fine and good but nothing could capture Blitz's attention like a fantasy rule book or anything involving knights and fair maidens.

 

Instead, all he could think about was the boring day of work ahead of him. That and the dull ache of hunger bubbling in his gut. The motivation of a snack in the break room hurried his pace a little. Soon, the markets were in view with all the hustle and bustle a small town could muster. Blitz Tale rushed by the Apple's stall and swiped a red delicious before turning right and heading towards Barnyard Bargains.

 

“Attention ponies! Attention ponies!” A tan stallion with slicked back hair stood in front of Barnyard Bargains. “Attention, our doors are closed for the next two weeks! Please understand and thank you for shopping at Barnyard Bargains!”

 

His gaze snapped towards Blitz Tale and his eyes widened. “Blitz, what in Equestria are you doing here? Didn't the night manager tell you about the pony pox?”

 

Blitz Tale shrugged. “Nah, just to hurry up with my stocking before it was time to close. What's this about pony pox, Mister Rich?”

 

The tan stallion shook his head. “Shoot. Sorry to have you come all the way here for nothing, Blitz, but the store is closed until I can get a crew of professional cleaners to come out and scrub down everything.” Mister Rich sighed as he looked at his store. “A traveler stopped by a dozen shops yesterday and ended up giving pony pox to half the town. I've been trying to get things under control but the town's best sanitation crew is booked for two weeks due to how many other stores need their services.”

 

“Oh dang, no work for two weeks?” Blitz Tale gave a weary reply. “That would be a shaaame, Mister Rich.”

 

“Blitz, knock it off. I know stocking isn't as glamorous as you want it to be but it pays the bills, right? Just head on home and hopefully when two weeks are over, you've had a bit of an attitude adjustment, mister.”

 

“Okay, okay. See you later, boss.” Blitz Tale turned back towards his house with a smile. “Oh my gooooosh a free two weeks off? Maybe I can finally get some serious backstory done on my O and O characters or even get a minute to write some of my friends.”

 

His stomach growled, interrupting his thoughts. “Gotta get a proper meal, though. I'm still starving!” Blitz Tale walked with a skip in his step as he rushed to his favorite diner.

 

“Closed for cleaning? Aw man, not this place, too. Better swing by the one place that NEVER closes...” Blitz Tale made a detour for the nearby Hayburger and grabbed himself a heavy bag of breakfast burgers. His mouth was watering already, daring him to grab one from the bag and eat right there in the street.

 

How he made it home without opening the bag is a mystery. Blitz Tale yanked off his apron as soon as he got home and tossed it on the floor. “No need for that dumb thing for a while. Time to relax!” He sat down at his writing desk with a smile. A breakfast burger was already in his hooves. It didn't last more than a minute. “Okay, now that I've taken care of that, lets see here....Oh yea, I was working on Steel Glint, my warrior last night. Hmmm...”

 

Blitz Tale picked up one of his pencils and got to work. The groove came naturally to him as the fast paced scratches of graphite filled the room. His speedy pace was only disturbed by his gluttony as Blitz Tale reached over for another burger. “Mmm, these are pretty good. A stallion could get used to having the time to enjoy a meal before work.”

 

As the day waned and night fell to Ponyville, Blitz Tale continued to write without a care in the world. At least, until his stomach growled again. He reached back into the nearby bag once more. “Huh?” Blitz Tale mumbled as his hoof hit the bottom of the bag.

 

“Aw man, out of burgers.” Blitz Tale finally looked up from his writing to see the moon staring down at him. “O-Oh...whoops. Guess its dinner time.” Blitz Tale sighed as he gathered up the wrappers around his desk and dunked it all in the trash. “What IS for dinner anyway?”

 

Blitz Tale opened up the pantry and peeked inside. The shelves were bare, save for a few sweets and half full bags of chips. “Oh...right...today was grocery day after my shift. Meh.” Blitz Tale peeked in the fridge knowing full well there was nothing inside. “Gah, I hate to do this but better call for a pizza.”

 

It was a relief that the local pizza shop wasn't closed. Blitz Tale placed an order and grabbed one of his books. He sat on his bed and tried his best to ignore his noisy stomach. “Ugh, I really do need to be careful about writing for too long...and to learn how to cook for myself instead of just buying snacks all the time.”

 

DING DONG

 

Blitz Tale rushed to the door and grabbed his pizza. “Ahh, now to really relax.” He laid back in his bed, book in one hoof and pizza slice in the other. The first slice was gone in seconds, second and third gone just as fast. Blitz Tale read on, letting the midnight oil burn as his hunger slowly ebbed away.

 

“Just....a few...more....paged.” Blitz Tale yawned as he talked. No matter how hard he tried, the page wouldn't come back into focus. His wandering hoof knocked the empty pizza box off his bed, jolting him from the gentle grip of slumber. “Aww....probably a sign I should go to bed.. I'll just re-read the chapter and finish tomorrow.” The sleepy stallion set his book down on his bedside table and turned off the light. He still had another thirteen days to have all the fun he wanted.

 

Blitz Tale made sure each day was as fun as could be. Endless books, endless writing and endless food. The morning hayburgers were too good and so easy to eat as Blitz Tale let the wrappers pile up in the trash can. His love of pizza meant a new pizza every night, happily munching along during the nightly reading.

 

The trash wasn't the only thing growing every day. Blitz Tale's indulgent diet was adding a very soft layer of padding all over his body. Each lazy bite of hayburger thickened his legs and made them wobble as he walked. The constant assault of pizza was widening out his hips and softening his rump, making it sag down and nearly scrape his thighs and squish hard into his writing chair.

 

Blitz's big, bloated belly was constantly full of something sweet, savory and fattening. It was the heaviest of all as it sagged low into his lap as he wrote or was the grand mountain of gray blubber as he read his books. The big boy didn't seem to notice at all, too enthralled with his fantasy worlds to notice his belly wobbling and blorping bigger and bigger.

 

“Mmmm....what a nice sleep.” Blitz Tale sighed as he slowly woke up to greet the late hour. “Breakfast time.” He moaned, rolling out of bed and eager to get back to snacking.

 

With his bits ready for a bit of shopping, Blite Tale waddled over to his front door. He reached for the handle and greeted the day and his boss primed to knock on said door. “Oh, Mister Rich. What brings you here?”

 

One look at Mister Rich was all Blitz Tale needed to know. The angry stallion cleared his throat and slicked back his hair. “Blitz, the store opened yesterday. Two weeks has up and gone, my boy. Care to tell me why you skipped your shift yesterday without notice?”

 

Blitz Tale felt his heart sink into his jiggly stomach. “O-Oh, we opened back up already?”

 

“Well, MY store opened up. When you are ready to be a part of it, get cleaned up, don your apron and show up on time today, please.” Mister Rich softened his face a little as he turned to walk away. “I count on you to do a good job, Blitz. Please don't disappoint me, okay?”

 

“Y-Yes sir!” Blitz Tale gave a little salute. He closed the door and rushed to his bathroom to clean up as quickly as he could. “Oh jeez....” Blitz Tale blushed as he noticed a bit of tomato sauce still stuck to his face in the mirror. “Better make sure I'm presentable for Celestia sake. Why did I let myself get this bad?”

 

Blitz Tale washed his mane and tail twice and brushed his hair as nice as he could. “Okay...just gotta find my apron and I'm good. No worries.” He scooped up his forgotten apron and flung the straps behind his back. “Huh?” He muttered as the straps refused to even touch. Blitz Tale turned to the mirror and his blush returned ten times stronger than before.

 

“Wh- Where did all this flab come from?” Blitz Tale asked. His belly grumbled at him as if to ask why wasn't it full of hayburgers yet. Carefully, the big stallion poked and prodded at his body, biting his lip and pressing his ears back in embarrassment. “Guh....I've always been a bit chubby but this? Oh man...I'm gonna have to ask for a bigger apron...”

 

Blitz Tale hid his face with his hooves. “Gosh....This is SO embarrassing....and Mister Rich already saw me like this! Aaaaaahhhhhhhgggg!” Blitz Tale cried out as he slumped down onto the floor, defeated. “F-Fine...guess I better face the music. Can't just sit in my house all day...b-b-being a fatty...”

 

His belly gurgled in complaint. “M-Maybe after work, I can get ONE more pizza...and some ice cream since the shop is open, now...”