Sleipnir Colony - A Short Story Collection

The classroom was usually a solitary place for Vast Knowledge during breaks, student were always far too preoccupied with whatever was in the menu in the school cafeteria and getting their fill. It wasn’t as if she didn’t eat herself, but there was only one larger break in the day when she could leave the room to join her fellow teachers. The rest of the shorter breaks she whittled away her time in the classroom munching on a snack or two while she waited for her students to return, usually a book in hoof.

For that reason it was rather unusual for her to get a knock at the classroom door which she opened with yet another control. Everything was automated, ponies were never expected to even lift a hoof anymore to get things accomplished. It was simply the way of things they were all used to.

“H-hello, miss Knowledge?” There was a timid voice from the door as it opened to reveal Booster Rocket, one of her pupils standing there and looking rather sheepish.

“Come in dear, you know my door is always unlocked for my students. Something wrong?” The teacher cared greatly for her students, like a mother almost. She beckoned her forward with a hoof and the filly waddled her way up to the front of the room and took a seat in one of the forward desks.

“Can I talk to you miss? It’s um...I don’t know.” The filly said, her eyes darting back and forth in her head as she struggled to bring a subject up she wasn’t quite sure how to handle. Vast Knowledge did her best to ease her tension.

“Booster you know I don’t judge my pupils, you can tell me anything. Does this help?” The teacher replied, pressing a flabby hoof back on the controls and shutting the door so they were alone. “The rooms are mostly sound proof, I’m the only one that will hear what you have to say.”

“G-good...because. Um… I don’t like being fat.” The filly confessed, almost as if she had dropped a huge chunk of forbidden knowledge on her teacher. It surprised her greatly when the chubby unicorn that is her teacher simply smiled and leaned forward a little in her chair.

“And why is that dear? I told you I don’t judge. But I’m sure you have a good reason.”

There was an uncomfortable shuffling and suddenly, as if the young student had been holding back a torrent of feelings it came flooding out as she teared up slightly.

“I HATE it! I hate hate HATE IT! I-I hate how heavy I feel! I hate that I struggle to get around! I hate that I have to eat all the time! I don’t want to eat! I want to j-just play with my dolls and be me! But t-this isn’t me! I feel like I’m wearing the body of another pony! I only do it because everypony EXPECTS it! I-it’s like C-Cosmic Trail in the class. He’s the lightest! Everypony makes fun of him! I-I don’t wanna be made fun of…” She trailed off and her tears flowed down her face as she tried to keep herself from shaking and stuttering much more as she spoke, but she seemed to be finished.

Vast Knowledge got up off her chair and came round to her, embracing her in a hug that made the two squish together slightly. She was still smiling as she cuddled her closely while trying to comfort her with a motherly hush.

“My dear, in all my years of teaching you are not the first pony to tell me something like this. Really, it’s fine. Let it all out.” She reassured, with another hug for her student. She felt her bury her head slightly in her flab and then pull it back, looking up.

“R-Really? B-but everypony is fat! H-how?” Booster blubbered slightly in her embrace hoping for a positive answer.

“You pay attention in my lessons right? I know you do, you’re a good student Booster. You know ponies were never the sizes we are these days, it’s perfectly natural to not want to be a walking mass of lard. You know there are ponies in the empire that are still the sizes we used to be all those years ago. They are few and far between but they are around.” She said, just trying to work a little bit of knowledge into her to make her feel better at the same time.

“B-but I’ve never seen any! Y-you could be telling me t-that just so I stop c-crying!” The young pony wailed a little more.

“I’m not dear really. And you’ve never seen any because we live on a colony obsessed with eating. There are other colonies out there not so obsessed, although the vast majority are. I won’t lie, thin ponies are somewhat rare. You may never see one unless you leave this planet. But I assure you there are many out there living good lives.”

“O-okay… but don’t they get teased?” Was all Booster managed to reply as her tears started to abate a bit. She clearly felt a bit better for coming to see her teacher.

“Sometimes dear, but the real world isn’t school. And you’d be all grown up by then, it wouldn’t be so bad. If you want to lose weight I’ll support you - whatever my students do I’m here for them.” The teacher said as she gave Booster another little hug to show her sincerity. “Do your parents know about this?”

“N-no...I haven’t said anything...they’d be upset…” The young pony replied.

“Well, if it helps one evening I can come home with you and explain all this. Would that help?”

“Y-yeah, that would be great miss...you’re the best.” Booster said, her tears stopping as she gave her a hug herself.

“Well you just take your time okay? And let me know when you want the help. You’re in my class, if the other students tease you because you’re suddenly thin I’ll put them straight. Being fat isn’t everything my dear.” Vast Knowledge said and moved herself back, she looked at her watch and realised break was nearly over. “Do you want to stay here with me or spend the last five minutes of break with your friends?”

“Stay, please...I just wanna sit and talk miss.” The young pony replied.

“Then stay and we can talk a little more.”

“That would be great, so I um...what’s it like being thin? I don’t remember being thin except when I was much younger, and it didn’t last very long. My parents started feeding me treats from an early age…”

Booster continued to chat to her teacher as she listened. This would make perhaps the third of fourth pony now in her care over the years that had told her things like this. It was a rather heavy expectation of the whole of society to put on young ponies. Of course some of them didn’t like it, you never got absolute conformity to an idea. Regardless, as with the rest Vast Knowledge would do her best to help her student. She never particularly relished the talks about this with parents. They all reacted in different ways, but she would have to see. For now she just listened, the next lesson was coming up.