Sleipnir Colony - A Short Story Collection

Di had been sat in her office all day.

She had come in early to think. What the heck was she going to do? The Marketeers had left a few days ago, her staff no longer felt on edge which was a good thing. But they had left her a very stern warning. The one they left every time they finished with a failing chain.

“Make sure we don’t have to come back, you won’t like it if we do.”

So Di had locked herself in thought for hours, but it wasn’t going anywhere. Perhaps it was the darkness of her office, or the constant smell of food being cooked that was distracting her. She had to get out, get some fresh insight. Powering up her pad, she left the room and made her way over to Sunny who was on fryer duty.

“Can you look after the store for an hour? I just need to run an errand. I’ll be back, don’t worry. You have my number if there’s an emergency or something you can’t deal with?” she asked.

“Of course Di, where are you off to?”

“I just need to make a visit somewhere.” was all the hefty fast food mare said, turning her pad around once more and going out the back exit. She left Sunny a little confused, it was the first time since she had known her that Di had left the restaurant mid service. Whatever it was, it must have been important.

She knew that business was down at Plump Palace, but when they opened up, they had crushed them. Di had tried the weight gaining competitions, the refurbishment. Somehow though none of it was ever quite enough to recover what they had lost. She had ordered their food before, it was good. But only take out. Perhaps a visit to their place would make her see why the competition had done so well so quickly.

It was a quick trip to where Plump Palace was situated in town. She remembered watching the broadcast not so many months back. The building still looked impressive, ponies weren’t queuing up to get inside but there was a steady stream of customers going in and out of both floors. She hoped nopony knew who she was as she headed inside, opting to go into the ground floor section.

Again as she remembered back to the broadcast her mind was refreshed. The interior looked slightly worse for wear, having now catered to the tubbies of Sleipnir since it opened all those months ago, but the steady stream of customers had kept it afloat. She didn’t really want to think about what the Marketeers might have done to drive customer numbers down.

The first thing Di noticed about the interior was clearly the owners of this chain were gunning for an already fattened populace. No seats anywhere, just tables with ample pad parking around them. Those few ponies that entered under their own power she noticed were provided with a large cushion to sit their rears on whilst they ate. The next thing she noticed was, there was no counter at all. She wasn’t sure how she was going to get her food until she was greeted by a pad bound server pony, dressed in the Plump Palace uniform.

“Greetings! Welcome to Plump Palace! First time?” she asked.

“Sort of, I’ve ordered your food take out but never been into the store. Was just passing by and thought I’d come in.” she replied.

“Ah okay, well please park yourself at a table. If your pad doesn’t have the Plump Palace menu available, just use the easy reach tablet at the table.”

“The what? Menu? I think when I ordered before I just called.” Di replied.

“Ah, well if you’ve got a pad, it should have downloaded as soon as you entered. Take a look at the screen but call me if you need anything!” the server replied, before scooting away to look after more customers.

Di indeed looked and on the small screen her pad possessed, there was a new icon that just had a PP on. She opened it up and browsed through the menu. She was trying to think back to when she ordered before. There was now a Plump Porker Burger XL and Quadruple Stuffed Pizza Feast on the menu. Seems the brand had upped their portion sizes too. She opted for both, XL’ing a shake she ordered too as well. Might as well stick to what she liked, but this time she omitted the onion rings.

Whilst she waited, she could see one of the staff in particular eyeballing her.

Roaring Thunder.

She remembered now, his large physique, back from the broadcast. He was indeed hefty. Double her size at least, fat practically spilling over his pad. He seemed due for a new one. She had no idea he had stayed on the colony however, it was unusual a company owner didn’t move with the business. She thought they had big plans to expand. All she could see him doing though was expanding his waistline.

A minute later though, her looks towards him were distracted by her food arriving. It was lightning fast, not brought out by a drone though like her establishment. This was delivered by the same pony that had greeted her.

“Here’s your order!” she said cheerfully, pushing the tray of food under Di’s snout. “Your payment has already been taken through your pad, enjoy your meal!”. Di was just about to question her, but she hastily made her escape to deal with other customers. She started to unwrap and eat the food.

Without making it seem too obvious she was enjoying herself, although the hefty blush might have given it away, Di started to chew on her order. It was just as good as her previous orders. If not better, she could practically feel her arteries slamming shut as the ultra rich and delicious food added pounds of fat to her frame. In fact she was so into the meal that she hardly noticed Roaring Thunder had parked himself at her table.

“Good food?”

Di jumped a little, looking up for her meal and noticing the massive pad bound stallion parked opposite her. She finished her mouthful off.

“Oh! Yes, thank you. Very good.” she replied, trying not to give too much away.

“Diamond Dozen right?”

Di froze, clearly he knew who she was. That explained the stares. She thought she’d play the stallion a little at his own game.

“Yeh, Roaring Thunder? I’m surprised you’re still on the colony.”

“Oh we’re still here, alive and kicking, despite what Blubber King is trying to do to us. I know that little stunt of sending a pony in to clear us out had something to do with you.” he said, rather forcefully in an upset tone.

“No I meant I didn’t realise you ran this chain, from the broadcast back when you opened I got the impression you were planning to expand rapidly. I thought you’d have been straight off to another colony.” Di said, finishing her burger and moving onto the pizza and taking a sip of the shake. “Or was that smoke and mirrors?”

“Let’s call it a little bravado for the cameras shall we?” Roaring Thunder replied, his tone a little more calm. “We’re expanding, just not at the rate we’d like. Blubber King is a force to be reckoned with, but we think there’s a market for our food. With the issues here on Sleipnir I’ve had to stick around, sort it out.” he said. “I must say I’m getting a huge kick out of seeing you enjoy our food, it’s rather satisfying.”

“I’m here to research. We’re not doing as well as you think we are.” Di replied, the stallion raised his eyebrow in response.

“Oh?”

“I won’t deny sending that pony in was something to do with us, that would be insulting if I did. We were getting desperate, the chain on this colony was on the verge of collapse. It was a bit of a drastic measure. I like it here, believe it or not. I don’t want us to close.” she explained.

“I see, and you think coming here will help?” the stallion asked.

“I just wanted to see what it was about this place that made us lose so much business so fast. You do things differently. No seats for a start.” Di said, observing the ponies around her.

“Why have seats when 95% of your customers bring their own?” Roaring Thunder said, referring to those in the store that were pad bound. “And we make provision for that remaining 5%.”

“So I see. But no counters? What do you do if your system goes down?” she asked.

Roaring Thunder simply laughed, it was a hefty belly laugh that made his who massive frame jiggle and wobble. His pad dipped slightly trying to support his shift in weight.

“It has never gone down my dear. My my, you still use counter service? Extraordinary.” he said.

“Drones deliver our food though, but yes. Counter service. Sometimes ponies like a personal touch.” Di said.

“Why do you think we have servers like the mare who greeted you?” he replied. “And we encourage them to gain, it shows how much they like our product.” the stallion said with a smile. “You seem to do what we do but backwards, your ordering is slow but I imagine your delivery times via drone is about the same and twice as expensive.” he mused. At this point Di had finished her meal. She was ready to leave.

“Well this has been educational, are you sticking around on Sleipnir long?” Di asked.

“Until the next branch opens.” he replied, powering up his own pad. “You know you’re welcome any time. Let me know in advance though, we can prepare something a bit more special than what’s off the menu.” he said. Turning away with a final word. “Oh and Di, if we’re going to be competitors. Step up your game. I know you’ve already made inroads with those two shady looking ponies. Don’t think I didn’t see them snooping around, but at the end of the day corporate espionage is no good. The food is what will kill you.” he said, piloting himself into a back office.

Di left and headed back to work. He was right, no amount of silly gimmicks or promotions would sustain a business. They were just things that might keep it afloat a few more months until ponies tired of it and moved on. The food, the food was what was important. As she piloted herself back to work the gears in her head turned. She had to talk to her staff, get them excited about change. She had a plan, a plan that involved lots of cooking and a lot of eating.