Sleipnir Colony - A Short Story Collection

Fireflash was nervous. Everything was fine up until now, it had just been talking. Talking was easy, talking didn’t necessarily involve anything hard. It was the promises you make while talking that led you to trouble.

He was only here simply because he didn’t trust Striving Step, or any of those ponies involved at the pad company. He had to see this through himself and make sure the job was done.

It was 1:30am, and he was currently sitting his fat self on the pad that had been provided for him, his own to keep. A top of the range one that could support his current weight easily and allow him room to expand if he wanted. The town was quiet, there wasn’t anypony else around, although he observed a few ponies on pads passing by overhead. He had heard the really hungry ones often went out for a midnight snack.

His ears pricked up as the gentle and unmistakable hum as three pads hovering in unison came towards him and three other lardy ponies all appeared and parked in front of him at the designated meeting spot. They were all clad in black rubbery suits, standard heist clothing. Just a small space for their eyes to peer out of the hoods. By the body shapes he assumed two stallions and one mare.

“You Fireflash?”

“Uh huh.”

“Good. Put this on. Here’s your drill.”

The stallion who spoke to him passed over a black suit of his own to wear and leaned a very large drill on the edge of his pad, which compensated for the weight of it. He took the suit in hoof and looked at it.

“Fine, hold on.”

Five minutes of struggling later Fireflash had managed to get it round his lardy body, it hugged him tightly, not really leaving much to the imagination. At least whatever smooth material it was made from was cool, zipping it up around him as best he could he spoke through the mask that covered his head. The rest had just watched with smiles as he had donned the suit.

“So, names?”

“Not important and makes us easier to identify if we’re caught. Just call us Hefty, Blubbery and Fatty.” The lead stallion replied. Fireflash scowled, they could know his name but he couldn’t know theirs?

“Alright, call me Tubby then.”

“Suit yourself. I’m Hefty, Blubbery is the other stallion. Fatty is the mare. We’ve been given the plan, seems simple enough. There’s a lockup that I’m transferring the location of to your pad now. We can drop the stolen pad there.”

“Alright. Let's get going shall we? We’ve got about twenty minutes before the optimum time to steal this thing.”

“You’re the boss Tubby, lets go.”

The four ponies piloted their pads down the streets, making their way towards their prize. It didn’t take very long to get to Blubber King. The meet location wasn’t too far from it anyhow.

“Final check on the equipment.” Hefty said. Each of them tried the drills, all working perfectly. “Let’s go.”

The four ponies flicked a control on their pad panels. Maximum Thrust - High Burn. Use for 10 Seconds Only. It read. That was all they needed to be up on the roof.

The four put the plan into action quickly, turning on their drills and starting to chip away at the roof. It was solid, very solid in fact. At first the drills struggled. Looking up Fireflash could see the concern on some of their faces, but that was quickly relieved.

CRUNCH!

Fatty’s drill broke through the top layer, and more crunches from the others drills did the same. They had broken through and were now chipping away at the roof panelling to get it off.

“CAREFUL. DON’T WRECK THE PAD!” Fireflash, ahem, Tubby yelled over the noise of the drills working away. They had been at it maybe a minute and he was sure the noise was going to attract police attention sooner rather than later.

Another layer broke through, easier now. The main obstacle was getting through the top of the roof, everything from here on down was just piping and other stuff that ran the place. Further down they got, when suddenly a metallic box appeared from under the debris as they drilled more to clear it out.

“THAT’S IT, IN THERE. KEEP GOING. CAREFUL!” He yelled. None of the others responded, putting their drills around the edge to now pry open the case.

Within about twenty seconds, the outer casing came off, revealing the prize beneath. The three who had been hired for the heist gave a small cheer, while Fireflash just looked at it with disdain. It brought back painful memories of that day it carried him home, but it looked rather harmless now. Just sitting in its no longer hidden compartment. The drills went off and he looked at the surrounding houses, some lights on. If they weren’t heard before they sure were now.

“Hook each of yer pads via the cable onto a corner and lets haul this thing out!” Hefty said, the four of their pads locking on and attaching a grapple to a side. “Now this is the tricky bit! We gotta all raise it out together and then make for the lockup! On Three...One...Two...Three!”

“What!???” Fireflash tried shouting above the commotion of the heist, but heard the command to set his pad to thrust up too late. He felt the other three take the strain and scrambled at the controls to match them and failed. Hitting them after the others had already started lifting. He felt his pad rise beneath him but tilt way over to the left as it tried to compensate against the other three, quickly feeling his body start to tilt over.

The pad came up, out of the roof. However Fireflash, did not, and with a rather loud yell he slid completely off his own pad and crashed through the ceiling below down into Blubber King. If the stallion wasn’t so fat it would have been painful too, but his cushion of blubber protected him from doing nothing more than squishing belly first into the floor below. There was a bloorrppp! in protest from his tum as he hit the deck.

“O-owww….” Unable to move and flat on his back he tried to collect himself, only being able to look up back through the massive hole he had come crashing through, partly made by the heist and partly by himself. He could hear the others talking.

“Leave him! There’s no way we’re getting him back on his pad! I can hear sirens! We gotta split!”

“Sorry Tubby! Looks like it’s game over for you! We’ll enjoy your cut!” Blubbery yelled down into the store.

“Wait!!” Fireflash yelled back up, but it was too late. Now without his own pad and the stolen one in the hooves of the hired help he was completely stuck. He heard the pads powering up and the sound of them hovering off into the distance as it suddenly went very quiet.

Flopping back the stallion couldn’t do anything but try to collect himself, too fat to move he had totally resigned himself to whatever fate was about to befall him. This was exactly what Striving Step wanted, him out the picture and the tech of the stolen pad all for himself. His mind raced, trying to put those ten seconds of him falling into place where it had felt like an eternity. He shouldn’t have come, it was the perfect opportunity to put him out of the deal. His ears folded as he heard the unmistakable sound of sirens getting closer, switching off as they came to the scene of the crime.

CRASH!

The front doors practically exploded open as a fat police officer, their pad armed with ramming bars at the front made their way into the store. It didn’t take long to find Fireflash, his belly stuck in their air and the stallion still on his back in the middle of it.

“Freeze!”

“Is that a joke?” He replied.

“Standard procedure for criminals. You ain’t going anywhere.” The officer replied, parking himself next to the disabled Fireflash.

“Again, is that a joke? Of course I ain’t going anywhere!” His shouts turning to sobs of the reality of the situation hit him. He was going to jail, no doubt. Oh gosh, jail...they only gave you three meals a day! And it wasn’t even good food! That was what kept ponies law abiding mostly, jail food was well...unspeakable.

In his anguish he hadn’t noticed the second officer, a mare, come looming over him on her own pad.

“Well well, seems one little piggy didn’t quite get away.” She said with a grin. “I’m sure you know you’re under arrest. What do you weigh fat boy? A good couple of thousand pounds? We’ll have to get a pad in for you.” Her attention turning to her radio and getting one sent from the precinct. “Then you can tell us all about how you managed to make a hole bigger than yourself in the roof and how you got stuck without a pad.” She said.

Fireflash didn’t respond, he just lay there. He had no idea what to do. Rat out the company and his accomplices? Keep his mouth shut? He had no clue. He just shut his eyes and bawled like a baby until he could be taken away.