Sleipnir Colony - A Short Story Collection

Even on Sleipnir things had to be kept in check, the colony wasn’t one big happy eating family.

Fireflash was discovering this after a week stuck in the colony holding cells after the pad heist had gone wrong. The accommodation was lacklustre at best, but this was a prison. Still he had never been inside before, he wasn’t sure what to expect. The tales of the terrible food and lack of meals seemed to be true though, he swore he had gone down around ten pounds already.

Over his tubby belly he could about make out cells of varying sizes, some empty. Some containing other ponies. Various bodies had been shuffled in and out during his stay. He couldn’t move, the pad had gone with the other robbers and the one they had used to get him here had been taken away as soon as they had dumped him inside the cell. With a grunt he tried to shift his massive weight, but to no avail. He wasn’t going anywhere unless they decided to bring a pad back for him.

“Pssttt.”

Through the wall next to him he heard a voice, somepony was trying to speak up.

“Yeah?”

“So uh. Watcha in for tubby?” The reply came. That seemed all the ponies in here were interested in, he couldn’t even see the pony speaking.

“You assume I’m fat?”

“Course ya are lardass. We all are. You’re in the morbidly obese wing of the prison. I’ve been in a few times, I should know.” The voice said with a snicker. “Names Double Glaze. I got busted for stealing a whole load of donuts for like the twelfth time. You don’t gotta point out the irony with the name either.” The voice through the wall said.

“Oh uh, Fireflash. I got arrested in Blubber King for trying to steal their employee pad.”

“What ya didn’t have one of your own?”

“Had one, lost it in the heist. It’s how I ended up here.” He said with a sigh. Double Glaze picked up on the melancholy in his voice.

“Ay I won’t press ya man. We all did somethin’ scummy to deserve being here. I just can’t stay away from donuts, even ones I can’t afford ya know? They’re just so good…” Fireflash swore he heard an audible drooling noise as Double Glaze started to think about his favorite sweet treats.

There was a familiar click as a door opened at the other end of the cell block. One of the prison guards was coming in, Fireflash saw him make his way towards his cell as he craned his neck over his flabby gut. The guard himself was obese, but not to the point of immobility. His fat hooves pressed on the release mechanism for the door and he guided the pad under Fireflash to pick him up. The pony suddenly felt himself moving.

“W-where are we going?”

“Interview. Warden wants a word.” Was all he said.

“Hey put in a good word for me fatass! I haven’t had any donuts for over a week, I’m going crazy in here!” Double Glaze yelled out.

“Pipe down lardy! You’ll get your just desserts…” The guard yelled back, ratting a nightstick along the cell bars, but it wasn’t a clean chinking noise as he did so, almost as if the stick was hitting something. Fireflash was finally able to crane his heard to see his fellow prisoner as he was hauled out. He couldn’t make out a head, they must have stuffed him in the largest cell they had. Fat was pressed up against the balls and seemed to fill the square block with nothing but blubber almost perfectly. It explained why the stick didn’t make more noise against the bars. He almost felt sorry for him, two hooves wiggled through the gap in the bars as the immense size of Double Glaze pushed up against them.

“Heh, he’s a repeat offender. Bet he told you he just stole a bunch of donuts right?” The guard said.

“Y-yeah…”

“Try a whole ships worth down at the dockyards. That pony has some appetite.”

“O-Oh man…”

It was a quick trip to the wardens interrogation room. Fireflash had been debating it in his head all week. What to say, how to go about it. Anything that would get him out of this hell would be preferable to being stuck in a cell, but it depended on what they had on him.

He was dropped off the pad, his fat body hit the ground with a large amount of jiggling as it came to rest, behind him an almost girder like block rose from the floor and pushed him upright, at least he didn’t have to crane his neck to see the pony opposite him.

The warden was a mare, although that wasn’t surprising. It was her size, she was relatively thin. Apart from some pudge around her middle the mare trotted into the room with ease. There was even a chair at the table that was placed in the middle of the room with some paperwork laid out on it which she sat on. A unicorn, her magic worked to flip through the pages and read his notes.

“Fireflash?”

“Yes?”

“Warden Lethal Force, I assure you the name fits the bill.” She said dryly. “Now then you’re in for what appears to be a robbery. Due to go on trial in a week, if found guilty life imprisonment for theft of the highest calibre here on Sleipnir. Companies do not take their personal property being stolen lightly, especially ones that invest a large sum to keep it hidden from the public eye. There are a number of witnesses that saw you and some other ponies attempting the heist. The store owner and corporate management are pressing charges, however…”

Her voice went silent as she got down from the chair and made her way over to the immobile Fireflash, he just looked at her, sweat pouring down from his forehead. He never did well under pressure, this was a lot of it.

“We arrived after the robbery. Your accomplices got away. If you just let me know where they are and where the pad went, this’ll all go nice and easy for you. The company will drop the charges and you’ll only get a considerable fine instead. Rather light for what you’ve done, that all of course depends if you help us.” She said, giving him a little pat on the head and then returning to her chair.

“What’s it gonna be?”

The sweating and scared Fireflash took a moment. He weighed up the consequences. If he said nothing, he’d be in prison likely for life and none of what he had would be worth staying quiet for. If he spoke up, he’d at least get out. Some other ponies would likely end up in jail but if they were smart they’d have fled the colony by now and Striving Step would have long covered his tracks. They’d have nothing on the company. All things considered, he knew what he was going to do.

“F-fine, I’ll tell you who they were and what we did it for, but I want your assurance I only get a fine and I get out of this place. Okay?”

“You have my word.” The warden replied, pressing a hoof on a table button that said RECORD.

“I uh, I got fired from my job. I was upset, angry. I didn’t feel I deserved it although I probably did. So I wanted to get back at them, maybe make a bit of money on the side too. The pad they used to get me home was advanced, I thought if I could steal it. Sell it to the only pad company on Sleipnir they would gain out of it while I’d get a payoff and some revenge.”

“Keep going, there’s more isn’t there? Like how we found you flat on your back on the floor of your former employer huh?”

“Y-yeah, it went wrong. The plan wasn’t as solid as I thought. I fell off my pad, through the roof. The three ponies I was with, I don’t know names, they used code names. But they likely went straight back to the pad company after with the stolen one and my own. They basically said tough luck and took off. Then you guys arrested me.”

“Interesting, gives us some new light on the situation.” The warden replied. She turned off the recording facility. That was all they needed to get over to the pad company and start making some arrests, or at least get a warrant to search it for the stolen goods.

“You’ll go back to your cell, I’ll have more questions later but I can see you’re not a tough nut to crack Fireflash. A pony out for themselves huh? Like the rest on this bloated, fat colony. They only care about where the next meal comes from.” She said with disdain. Although a little hefty herself it was clear the warden didn’t like it.

The pad returned, Fireflash was placed flat on his back and the warden sent him on his way. Some more arrests were coming soon, and Lethal Force relished the chance to put a dent in what seemed to be the squeaky clean reputation of the pad corporation. She needed more though, Fireflash would get another round of questioning tomorrow.