Dinner that night wasn't anything special. Just roast beef, mashed potatoes, and green beans. There was also the choice of dark brown and light brown gravy. Food was placed on Rarity's plate for her since she hesitated to do it on her own.

   "You need to eat your dinner, dear," Pearl, Rarity's mother insisted. "You skipped breakfast when you went out the door and I don't know if you ate lunch or not."

   "I will, mother," Rarity told her. Rarity picked up her fork and began to cut her beef and move pieces of it around the plate to make them look smaller and eaten. One of the many tricks that her mind manual gave her to convince her parents that she was eating.

   "Guess what happened at school today?!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

   "What?" Magnum, Rarity's father asked.

   "Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and I finally impressed our science teacher!" Sweetie Belle squealed with excitement. "He usually cringes everytime we go to the front of the room because he's afraid something will explode, I guess, but today he smiled and gave us an A on our project!"

   "That's great!" Magnum told her. "Did anything exciting happen for you, Rarity?"

   Rarity bit her lip. "Well... I guess there was sign-ups for the design club. They'll be designing the uniforms for all of the other clubs and teams."

   "Wow, that's right up your alley, sweetheart!" Magnum said with a chuckle.

   "Yeah, you're an amazing designer, Rarity," Sweetie Belle added. "I can't wait to see what the uniforms are going to look like!"

   Rarity tittered lightly at her little sister's excitement. It warmed her heart to see her parents and sister so happy as they ate and talked. However, the voices inside her head started to protest every time she thought about taking a bite of her dinner.

   'Don't do it!', they'd scream. You were doing so well! You want to stay thin or you'll never get that job.

   Rarity could not feel the happiness the others in her family were radiating around the room. She shivered as a chill shot up her body. She'd been feeling so cold and weak as her health declined. Rarity knew the reasons why. She wasn't blind as to what she was doing to herself.

   I know I could die, Rarity thought to herself as she continued to cut her food and move it around. I've seen the statistics. But I just can't... bring myself to eat. Why is that?

   Finally, Rarity gave into the voices and sighed. Magnum and Pearl were starting to wash the dishes and Sweetie Belle was finished with her meal. When they weren't looking, Rarity carefully slid her meal into the garbage can and walked over to place the empty plate in the sink.

   "Thanks, dear," Pearl said.

   Rarity smiled and nodded at her mother before excusing herself to go to her room. She had to check her weight. Rarity knew that she had lost herself to the fear and guilt. Though, it wasn't just fear anymore. It was an obsession.

                                                                                            ***

   Rarity barricaded the bathroom door behind her before she stepped onto the scale, her heart pounding in her ears. She waited in anticipation for the number to show up on the scale. '130.05'. To Rarity, that was far too much weight. Her heart sank and she stepped off of the scale in shame.

   Rarity lifted her shirt just enough to see her midriff and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Rarity's mind warped her self-image every time she gazed into the mirror. Despite herself nearing dangerously thin for her height, Rarity didn't see that in the mirror. She saw extra fat and flab on her stomach that wasn't there.

   Rarity rolled her shirt back down as tears filled her eyes. She couldn't do this anymore. She needed a quicker way to shed pounds.

   Pulling out her phone, Rarity quickly typed a question into the search engine: 'How do I lose weight quickly?'. The first article that pulled up read healthandfitness.org (A/N: Not a real website. Don't look to it for weight loss advice). Rarity clicked on the link and the title of the article read 'How To Lose Weight Quickly'. Rarity smiled. Just what she was looking for. She began to read the article:

Losing weight can be a frustrating process. It takes a lot of patience and commitment. However, there is a way to speed up the process a bit. It still takes patience and hard work, but the result is worth it. Here are the ways to help yourself burn those calories and lose the weight faster:

Watch your diet. Make sure you're eating regularly and healthily. Making smarter choices with your food will help strengthen your body's immune system and help it to burn calories more quickly. Especially eat a breakfast with high protein and cut back on artificial sugars and starches.

   Rarity frowned. She could skip that step. She didn't like it when people told her that she had to eat. She continued to read the article:

   2. Exercise. Make sure not to overexert yourself, but exercise regularly. You should get        approximately 30-60 min. of exercise a day. Make a workout routine, jog, run on a treadmill, get to the gym, go swimming, dance, whatever makes you happy! Exercise can release endorphins (a natural happiness chemical in the brain).

   Rarity thought for a moment. If I need to lose weight even quicker than what it says, what if I did an extra half hour? Instead of sixty minutes, I can do ninety minutes of exercise. Rarity made a mental note to herself to make a workout routine when she got home from school the following day. She continued to scroll through the article and the rest was about eating choices. It talked about carbs, proteins, and even healthy fats. Rarity frowned as she got to the bottom:

   DO NOT starve yourself to lose weight. Your immune system will deteriorate and your health will decline. You could weaken important muscles in the body and cause organ failures. People who die without food usually die of disease or infection before they actually starve. This is a dangerous route. If you or a loved one is suffering from an eating disorder, call the Eating Disorder Hotline: 800-931-2237 (A/N: This is the real number for the Eating Disorder Hotline, so you can call it too).

   Rarity read the paragraph over and over, but the voices in her head kept telling her that she was doing exactly what she wanted. They kept telling her that soon she'd have the figure she wanted.

                                                                                        ***

   Finally the weekend arrived. Rarity had made a ninety-minute workout routine and often overworked to the point where she felt nauseous, dizzy, and even vomited on occasion. However, for some reason, she kept telling herself all the suffering would be worth it.

   Today was the day her friends had planned to see a movie together. They were going to see the new movie that just came out, 'Daring Do and the Forbidden Towers'. Rarity remembered how she and her friends had been extras in the first live-action Daring Do they made. Rainbow Dash and Twilight had been excited for the second movie ever since it was announced.

   After she got dressed and did hair and makeup, she stepped onto the scale to weigh herself. '125.09'. Still not enough, Rarity told herself. Even though she had lost five pounds in less than a week, Rarity's mind still tricked her into this vicious cycle. Resist food, exercise, repeat.

   Rarity stared into the mirror and took a deep breath. This is the career path you chose, she thought. You can't gain back the weight.

   After convincing herself that what she was doing was for the best, Rarity rushed out of the bathroom to grab her purse and ran out the door. Her friends were waiting for her in a large, red pick-up truck. Rarity knew that none of her friends owned a pick-up truck, so she stepped into the back of the car in confusion. "Whose truck is this?"

   Applejack patted the steering wheel from the driver's seat. "Big Mac's. My Cadillac ain't big enough to fit all of us, so ah asked Big Mac if I could borrow it."

   "Ah," Rarity realized. She sat down and put on her seatbelt. "Well off we go then."

   "Aw, yeah!" Rainbow Dash cheered. "Daring Do movie, here we come!"

   The rest of the girls laughed. Rarity felt the hollowness in her stomach grow numb and forgot about the hunger.