Sleipnir Colony - A Short Story Collection

“Hello sir, welcome to the showroom. Are you looking for anything in particular?”

It had been a long time coming, Red Roller was finally, finally getting his own Grav-Pad. No longer would he have to struggle waddling on his fat hooves to get home and around the site every day at work. He would be able to ease his plump, jiggly body round with little effort and best of all, his massive rear would finally have a comfortable cushion to rest on, not that it wasn’t its own soft and wide cushion but it would be good to not have to carry it around like a weight behind him.

Foundy had been grateful for his actions on the site, and he didn’t need to spend all night under the house, just a few hours until they could get it sorted out. In the end he was a little sore, but nothing too bad. For his selfless actions she had arranged a “Substantial bonus payment.” As she had put it. He had been saving for his own pad for a while and was nearly there, but this had meant he had been able to finally invest in one.

His mind flittered back to the salespony who had greeted him at the door. The showroom was quiet, a few staff milling around on pads of their own and some customers looking at the available models. He smiled at the pony in front of him, a little surprised she was not sat atop a pad of her own.

“Yes, looking to buy actually. Can you show me the range? I’m interested in what you have available.”

The salespony smiled. He knew why, that was the magic words - he wasn’t here to waste their time to look at stock or didn’t know what he wanted. He had an idea, but he wanted to be treated a little to some of the spiel before he made up his mind.

“Absolutely! Follow me sir.” The salespony waddled herself in front of him into the vast showroom, and it really was vast. One of every model on display, going from the smallest to the largest. She started him at the smallest first. “Our base model, supports up to 3000ibs. What do you weigh?” She asked.

“Oh, 2300ibs. So it could support me but I’m looking to expand beyond that. As you can see…” He blushed before continuing and putting a hoof to his forehead in a nervous manner. “Most of my weight is behind me.”

Again the salespony smiled, nothing she hadn’t seen or heard before. “Yes I did take note of your more than average flanks when you waddled in sir, are you comfortable with sir?” Again a sincere question, he decided to let her drop the formality.

“Names Red Roller, but just Roller is fine.” He said, waddling onwards behind her. She took him to another part of the showroom, beyond the base models.

“We do have this line available.” The salespony pointed to a few pads hovering quietly in front of them. “Slightly different, they have a wider rear portion for ponies of your body type. Trust me you are not the first to ask for such a thing, there are some ponies who even push their rumps to bigger sizes on purpose.” She said, continuing her little sales pitch. “There are two of these models available. The base again, supporting up to 5000ibs with optional extras. The top model supports 6000ibs, again with optional extras.”

Roller thought about it for a moment, seemed like the top model was the way to go, it could support over double his weight. Plenty of room to expand. He only had one question.

“What about the new pads? 6000 was the maximum up until recently right? What does your biggest support?”

The salespony once again smiled, but wider this time. Bigger pads meant more money, and she happily waddled him over to a section of the showroom with more glamorous furnishings and decoration, clearly done so to show off the top of the range models.

“We have a number of models available here, but there are two that may interest you. Firstly this is our new modular pad.” The pony pointed a chubby hoof at a very small, single pad that occupied a tiny space in front of them. “The advantage of this is that each module supports 1000ibs each, and more can be added to support weight. A maximum of eight blocks, in a stable configuration advised in the manual. Up to 8000ibs.”

“These are the new ones that support more weight yes? Just released? The one the Governor has been showing off?” He asked.

“Well, yes and no.” The salespony replied, an honest answer for once. “His was a prototype, these are the production models. Here is the other.” They both shuffled along slightly, a much bigger pad now in front of them, this one was rather huge, one massive surface area that took up the most space in the showroom. “This one supports the same, up to 8000ibs, but it is one large unit rather than interlocking modules. The benefit is a slightly stronger structure combined with more optional extras.” Finally the sales pony finished her pitch.

“Just give me a moment to think please.” Roller replied, he was still all eyes on the pads.

“No problem, just come and find me when you’ve made a choice. I’ll be just over there behind my desk.” She said, waddling herself off to leave him be.

Roller stood in deep thought, he loved the idea of the pads suited to ponies more his shape, but the biggest only supported up to 6000ibs. If he was going to invest in a pad that would last him it would need to support more weight. He was getting on for 3000ibs now, half of what the pad could support. It did look like a very comfy pad for his enormous rear, but the two in front of him could support even more weight, more room to grow...for him to gorge himself and get fatter and fatter...he’d overtake his boss, be the biggest pony on the site. They’d respect him more, nopony would mess with his immense weight. It would take most of his money, but he knew what he wanted, and waddled his fat body over to the salespony.

“How much is the interlocking one, and how much is the largest one, without anything extra?” He asked, parking his rear on a cushion at the salespony’s desk.

“Well, the interlocking one starts at 500 bits for the first module. After that every bolt on module is 400 bits, we offer a slight discount. With all eight modules you are looking at 3300 bits. The large pad is 3500 bits. There is a reason for the higher price…” Her voice trailed off, Roller raised an eyebrow and looked at her square in the eye.

“What does an extra 200 bits get me? Aside from the sturdier structure.”

“Well, the interlocking model will at most support 8000ibs like I said, there is no room for any extra, due to the design we have to make allowances. The rigid top line model however supports the stated 8000ibs, plus up to 10,000ibs, but no more. The structure allows it to, at that size however the thrusters will struggle to keep a pony aloft.” She confessed. It was that confession that allowed him to make up his mind, and also enquire a little further.

“How much for the top line with a large plush cushion for my rear? I’d also like it in purple to match my mane.” He said, the salespony’s eyes widened, and she quickly turned to her holo-screen to do the calculations.

“A top line model...large plush cushion...purple paint job. For that sir 4000 bits, there is an optional 200 bit extra for 3 years warranty, if anything should happen to the pad we repair it free of charge. We can also offer breakdown cover? Again if the pad should go wrong somewhere and you are out, we can send a replacement until yours is fixed, a courtesy pad. That is 20 bits per month.” She said, not hiding the fact she was trying to push a big sale.

Roller grinned, and simply said “I’ll take it. All of it.” And watched the salespony’s eyes light up. She smiled back, even wider than him.

“Perfect! Well I can see today was well worth coming in for...can I take some details? All I need to do is advise that you keep at your current weight for a little longer until your pad is ready. The largest model you’re about to purchase are built to order due to lower demand than the rest, we also need to give it your request paint job and fit the large cushion. Production time currently is just under two weeks. I expect your looking forward to growing into it?” She winked at him.

“Oh don’t worry, I plan to really take advantage of what sort of weight it can support. Believe me.” He blushed slightly, but it was lost by the salespony as she started to go through the details of his purchase. He finally had one on the way, and it could support four times his current size at a push. Already Roller was starting to dream of the weight he could start to put on, how big he would be. His flank would be the envy of the entire colony, he’d been teased about it before, but no longer. It would be his time to show it off, to really go all out. The forthcoming meals, the immense gluttony...his mind started to wander as he half paid attention to the words being spoken to him, already lost in thoughts fattening his already huge body even further.