Chapters “For pony’s sake…”
Rain lashed down outside the small but over-crowded lab of Stellar Gaze, who had been working now for months on the mixture she had been tasked to produce. Sometimes being an overworked and vastly overpaid scientist was more taxing that she liked to admit. The illusion of being underpaid however and keeping to a small lab kept ponies on their hooves.
If it wasn’t for the location and generous job offer she probably would have given up long ago, Planet Chrion was the perfect bustling colony to put the concoction to the test...when it was ready. Far from Equestria and generally prying eyes she found that the security was laughably lax for such a massive overpopulated planet. The whole colony, aside from a few massive public open spaces was basically a concrete jungle of epic proportions. If you looked at the planet from one of the many incoming orbital shuttles leaving the interstellar liners you’d think it was some sort of grey dystopian nightmare you were descending towards, but after you cleared the cloud cover that all washed away. The vast metropolis and its tendrils mingled into your mind and quickly any fears were abated. Probably why there was very little in terms of law enforcement, although there was some. Ponies here just seemed to get along, despite it being so vast and overwhelming.
It had not taken long for Stellar Gaze to find work after touching down, browsing the cybernet once she had managed to get hooked up at a local access point the job listings were awash looking for those with skills in science. The automotive industry, pharmaceuticals, you name it she probably could have applied for it. It made a change from the last colony she was on for sure. Then something had caught her eye…
A listing against a food corporation. In fact it boasted it was the largest and most profitable fast food chain on Chrion . At first she had gawped, but looking around from the access point which was situated like a small phone booth on the street corner she instantly spied a branch with ponies entering and leaving at a rapid pace. Well, as rapid as the larger ones could manage to waddle. That was another thing about Chrion.
The residents were big. It was extremely easy to tell an off-worlder from those that lived there. For a start, a pony like her who had recently arrived could still walk. She had observed quite a few on one of the bustling streets in the city as she had wandered in. She could only really describe the mode of transportation they used as an upgraded cart. Four wheels, a small control panel at the front but completely open top with four small walls hemming the driver in. Oh boy did some of them need to be hemmed in, if it wasn’t for the little walls around the edge of the vehicle their massive bodies would have easily spilled over causing a huge problem.
Stellar had enjoyed a moment when one had hit a pothole in the road, and been amazed at the incredible suspension employed by the vehicle. As it had bounced slightly the whole ponies body had taken the impact as if a bowl of jello had been dropped on the floor. Flab wobbled, a tidal wave of fat had washed backwards as the shock had rippled its way through the obese mare driving it. Amusingly as the cart bumped through the pothole, her body reacted to the shock as the mare let out a huge “BUUURRRRPPPP!” which made Stellar cringe a little, but the driver didn't even seem to notice. She had hardly batted an eyelid as she continued on her way, her fat body trying its best to escape the cart and utterly failing. The only thing that had really caught her attention seemed to be when some of her chubby neck rolls had squished upwards towards her face, quickly bouncing back down to their rightful position.
It was what had prompted Stellar to look into the listing further, clearly the food industry was massive on Chrion and working for a company that had a big stake in what went on here would be profitable. Maybe it might even include a pension plan…
The chain itself had advertised they were looking for not one, but several scientists to work on an exciting new project to captivate their target demographic and offer their clients something new . When she replied to the ad with her resume, to her surprise, in moments been contacted back with the request of a e-interview she had pressed further on the project.
The job had sounded simple, an additive formula for use in the fast food that the company, Mamba Burger produced. For such a massive company Stellar was amazed the CEO, one Scarlet Song had interviewed her. It had been short, sweet and just the sort of gig she was looking for to set herself up.
“So reading the ad the pay was seventy thousand bits per year, you provide me with a lab and as long as I submit a report on my progress each day you’re happy? Usually companies want me to work in their own facilities.”
“Let’s just say the nature of this project requires discretion, we also find a lab of the scientists choosing is a much more productive environment from past experience.”
“Past experience. I thought this was a new project?” That had made Stellar a little worried, which was quickly dismissed by Scarlet.
“Yes, we’ve been trying for a number of years to perfect the formula, the groundwork has been laid but we have a number of issues to overcome. Making it tasty and still producing the effects we want for a start. You’re not our first scientist and there are others already working for us. If you’re not quick they’ll solve the problems and perfect the formula before you. New is relative, it will be new when it hits our stores.”
So it was a race, to perfect the formula really. That made it even easier. Finding a spot to work had not been too hard, smaller built abodes were rather cheap and easy to come by as the bigger residents of the colony needed bigger housing to suit their needs. Stellar had got to work immediately and had made good progress, working for just over two months on the project. Her bosses had seemed happy with her daily reports. So far none had come back with queries or rejections.
But back in the present it was late, Stellar had spent most of the day working now and well, the past week trying to crack the taste issue with no luck. Usual tricks weren’t having the results she had hoped for which is why she assumed so many now had given up. She had already heard a couple of her colleagues which she never saw had already packed up and given in.
“For pony’s sake…”
She repeated it again, but this time put the vial she had been staring at down gently. Too easy to let your levitation spell off early and see it smash on the bench as it fell those last few inches down. Her weary eyes were beginning to droop as she yawned. She would have to continue her work tomorrow, there was nothing a tired brain could do this late, especially with that awful weather distracting her outside as the rain still crashed against her window. A quick report as was needed daily then off to bed.
‘Day 54. Work continues on the formula, like many others I am vexed about the taste issue…’
“ VERMILLLLIIIIIOOONNNNNNN!!!!”
The thunderous roar came from where it always did, Scarlet Song’s office. Her bedraggled assistant, Vermillion Rose looked up from her desk and winced. Yelling rarely meant anything good.
Vermillion did as she always did and took a moment to breathe before the oncoming assault, always having to work up the courage to face Scarlet face to face. Eventually she managed it and with her hoof, tentatively opened the door to her office.
“Yes Scarlet? You called?”
“Sit down Vermillion. Look at this.”
As instructed the earth pony sat at her bosses desk and a report was pushed under her snout, which she read through in about a minute.
“Well, it’s another report from one of our scientists. Still struggling with the taste issue…”
She heard Scarlet grumble before speaking. “This is killing us. Years, untold millions of bits spent trying to develop this formula and the taste is what’s wrecking it! The taste of all things! We need this solving soon, It’s becoming a real hassle trying to hide it from the accounts department.I can only put so many things under expenses.” Scarlet said rather candidly. It was no secret the development was only shared between a select number of ponies, Scarlet had just let Vermillion in on it because she was her loyal assistant who was desperate to keep her job. It didn’t hurt to have somepony to complain about it to either.
“Well, maybe one of them will have a breakthrough soon? Some are very good, one of the newer ones…” Vermillion flicked through her notes. “Stellar Gaze looked promising!” She said rather cheerfully. Scarlet just frowned back in response.
“That’s who the report is from you ninny! Even she is stumped!” The CEO sighed. It had been a long and arduous road to get this thing developed. There was no question of its effects anymore, that had been established a while ago. It was just the taste. Every pony scientist they had employed to try to suss it out had come up short, it was really starting to grate on her patience.
“I see, well. Perhaps a deadline before the plug is pulled? If it is becoming such an issue?” Vermillion suggested. Scarlet just snorted in response.
“It’s too late for that Vi, I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place as it were. I’ve already had questions from accounts and the only thing that will save me is the successful development of this formula. You wouldn’t want your dear boss to lose her job would you? It might turn out very badly for you.” Her words curled around Vermillions ears and made them twitch, the meaning stuck clearly in her mind.
“I’ll um...see what I can do to help the project along.”
“Good girl. Now get back to work, I have some private grumbling to do.” Her boss said, giving her a wave of her hoof to signal her back to her desk.
Vermillion went back and sat for a moment. Not as bad as she thought it could have been, apart from the prospect of losing her job. She prayed one of them came through soon, just by sheer luck. She was no scientist. Perhaps a gift to them of some sort to push them along? Something nice might help morale. She opened her cybernet connection and put in a few orders. It was the most she could do at this point…
A few hours later a still stumped Stellar Gaze heard a knock at her door.
‘Huh, not expecting any deliveries…’ She thought, putting her work down and trotting towards the door. A rather obese and gruff delivery pony greeted her.
“Delivery from Mamba Burger HQ. Sign please.” He said, his fat hoof extending a small pad forward for Stellar to sign on. She looked at his massive size, it was a wonder the pony even managed to deliver anything. He was wearing overalls, or so she thought. His massive bulk had rather comically started to chew them up, bits of the material disappearing into his hefty body. She withheld a smile and took the package, watching as he turned and waddled back to his delivery van. Stellar shut the door behind her.
It was a rather innocent looking thing, a small but tall crate constructed of balsa wood. It didn’t take long for Stellar to get it open. Inside nestled on a small amount of hay to cushion its transport was a rather nice looking bottle of red wine, as well as a small note.
From your employer at Mamba Burger, may your discoveries be as tasty as this gift!
She sighed, she knew what they were doing. Plying them with freebies now to push development along? It was a cheap tactic, but that didn’t stop her from opening the bottle and enjoying a nice drink.
She sniffed the contents before pouring it into a spare beaker she had on her workbench, not elegant but she was hardly the pony to keep wine glasses. The bottle stated an ABV of 14%. Reasonable for a wine. Stellar gave a rather sarcastic “Cheers!” before taking a sip. She had to admit it was nice.
A few hours passed, well, she thought it had been. Stellar had lost track of time. The wine bottle was...nearly empty for some reason. Had she drunk that much? Magic was no use so a wobbly hoof went for the bottle and somehow managed to grab it to try to pour out the remaining alcohol. Annoyingly it only filled half the glass.
“Bah...more!” Stellar looked around, she didn’t keep alcohol either. Couldn’t be bothered to leave and walk to a store. A quick drunken rummage in the fridge revealed all she had in terms of liquids was prune juice. Hardly fitting.
“H-hmm..maybe?” She was babbling to herself now. The mixture she had been working on, being so distasteful was the only thing in the lab left she could tip in. In her drunken stupor she grabbed a vial and tipped it in.
The wine, although the taste was diminished was palatable. Annoyingly the concoction seemed to have wiped out the alcoholic content too. Even though she was intoxicated Stellar knew she wasn’t getting anymore so.
Then it hit her. The mixture...well it wasn’t tasty, but she wasn’t trying to spit it out or wash her mouth out like she had been the past few weeks trying to get it taste edible. Of all the things she had never thought try alcohol.
More tests would be needed, and her report was also due. She hoped she could write something in her drunken state, getting onto her hooves and wobbling slightly to make her way over to her terminal to write.
‘Day 55. Eureka! Sort of...more testing is required but purely by chance I may have stumbled onto a solution to the taste issue…’
A week later after the initial report and a little more testing, Stellar found herself at Mamba Burger HQ. It had cost her a shuttle ride around the planet, but a rather urgent cybernet message had summoned her to present her findings to the pony who had interviewed her.
A quick book in at reception and the mare was on her way up, up and up. All the way to the top floor. Made sense the big cheese worked on the top level. Another receptionist greeted her and pointed a hoof down the corridor where she took a seat next to a door with CEO SCARLET SONG stamped on it. It didn’t take long to get seen.
“Ah, miss…” The CEO started to say.
“Stellar Gaze.” The scientist replied, taking a seat.
“So, you’ve solved our little taste problem!” The CEO excitedly replied. Stellar observed she must be rather fond of her companies own food, she was rather a large pony. Double chins, verging on triple if she ate much more. Her fat folds pushed her blubber up against the desk she was sat at and the chair just about supported her weight. All the while Stellar’s ears twitched as they hunted for the source of a low pitched whirrr .
“I’m sorry, I have to ask, what’s that noise?”
“Ah, my suit.” Scarlet Song replied. “It’s air condition, keeps me nice and cool and professional looking. One moment.” The rather hefty pony pressed a button on her desk. “Vermillion, a couple of drinks please.”
A voice on the other end just replied “At once miss Scarlet!” before cutting off.
“Anyhow, you solved our taste issue. I hear it has something to do with wine?” The boss asked curious.
“Well, essentially yes. I accidentally mixed a vial with a gift of wine from well, your company actually. It was quite by chance.” She confessed.
“Hmmm, I don’t remember authorising any bottles of wine to go out…” The CEO replied a little perplexed. “But no matter, a happy accident has solved an issue we have been trying to sort out for a rather long time.”
At that moment Vermillion entered with a couple of tall plastic cups and placed them on the desk. Scarlet took one and offered the other to Stellar. “Our top brand cola, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. Vi before you go…” She turned her attention to her assistant. “Did you happen to send out any bottles of wine to our scientists?”
The assistant, although not moving seemed to freeze. “Um...er. Yes! Yes I did!” She replied. “I uh, thought a gift might motivate them. It always helps me..” Her voice trailed off, she thought she had really put her hoof in it this time.
“Well done! Looks like you get to keep your job after all. I know it wasn’t intentional but you’ve hit the jackpot here. Now on your way.” Her boss said, the assistant disappearing back to her desk.
“Keep her job?” Stellar asked.
“Don’t worry about it.” Scarlet just replied. “Now, I think we discuss payment. Obviously you’ve only been with us a short time but effectively that is the end of the research. This was the last hurdle we had to jump. You’ll get what we would have paid you if you had done a years worth of work and we’ll be sending you to a nice vacation spot on the planet too for a few weeks all expenses paid and undisturbed so you can relax. You’ve earned it. When you get back we can probably find you a position somewhere else in the company.” Scarlet said with a smile and leaned back in her chair, her gut lifting from the table as she pushed her body back. Stellar observed the flab wobble slightly as she heaved it up and it heard the thick fat make what should only describe as a glorrsshhh as her innards did their best to support her movement, the CEO taking a gulp of her drink before she let out an “Uuurrrpppp!”
“Oh excuse me, rather gassy as you imagine.” She said, also rubbing her belly with her hoof a few times to make her satisfaction obvious.
“Uh yeah. So a trip? That wasn’t mentioned in the contract.” Stellar asked.
“Well think of it as a little bonus for your efforts. I’m sure a pony like you could use some sun being always locked away in a lab. The Palm Beaches are your destination - you’ll love it! Sun, sand, plenty to eat. I think we have a branch there…” Scarlet trailed off as her mind started to think of food, a small droplet of drool forming from her maw as she became distracted. Stellar continued the conversation to bring her back to reality.
“Well that’s uh, very generous. When do I leave?”
“This evening! Shuttle is all booked and we’ve sent all the hotel booking details to your cybernet account. Enjoy! Now if you don’t mind I’m extremely busy.”
“Well, thanks. I’ll be seeing you.” Stellar said, getting down from her chair having not touched the drink. The door to the office shutting behind her as she left. As she started to make her way out a rather worried looking Vermillion caught up with her.
“Wait!”
“Oh, Vermillion right?” Stellar said, putting a hoof out to shake it. Vermillion ignored it.
“She’s sending you away!”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“I heard her talking to one of the other directors earlier today! The trip is a ploy! They just want you out the way whilst they deploy what you’ve made into the food! Don’t go, please! I...I think it’s going to go badly wrong.”
“Are you kidding? This is what they paid me to do. I don’t care what it does.” Stellar replied rather candidly.
“But...aren't you scientists supposed to have principles?”
“Not me, besides. I need a vacation.” Stellar said before getting in the elevator to leave a rather panicky Vermillion behind. She had only been on the colony a short time but she had been moving around here, there and everywhere. She’d get back to the lab, pack her bags and wait for the taxi to take her to the shuttle. A remote place to lie on a beach sounded nice.
What did the assistant know anyway? All she did was bring drinks and send cybermail all day. She did wonder though, Stellar had kept it to herself but once she had drank the wine with the mixture in she had noticed she had suddenly felt...hungry. If it hadn’t been for that sandwich in the fridge she would have immediately gone out and gotten some fast food. Best keep that to herself though, but it made it easy to guess what the formula was meant to do and why a large fast food chain was developing it. No matter, her work was done and she had to get home.
Back in her office, Scarlet was already on the line to her lab workers that were down in the food technology lab.
“And you can replicate it in large batches and lace it into our products?”
“With no doubt. All we do is make it here and distribute it around to the packing plants. It’s a liquid so easiest form of delivery into the product would be a sprinkler system above the conveyor lines. That way we don’t slow up production.” A large pony on the other end said.
“Excellent, excellent. I’ll meet with the investors this evening and announce that I’ve implemented something that will drive up profits, get on the line to marketing too. I want this hitting our stores as soon as possible.” She said, ending the call. Arrangements needed to be made. A whole marketing campaign, before long Mamba Burger would be the talk of Chrion. Scarlet could see it now, ponies queued outside the doors to all their chains. Ordering again and again, money flowing in like water. She rubbed her hooves together in glee. There was no doubt she was about to be very, very rich.
“Vermillion?”
“Yes miss Scarlet?”
“Another round of cola and can you bring me some burgers too?” Scarlet said through the intercom. She was starting to lose track of how much she had drunk and eaten today, but for some reason she just couldn’t stop.
It had been about a week since the formula had been added into well, everything they made. It made it extremely easy to add in as a liquid, ponies didn’t even really notice the almost wine like taste. Some had even said their food tasted even better now, sort of fruity. Aside from having to meet with the investors to convince them to buy up massive stocks of wine to push her plan forward, the whole thing had basically gone off without a hitch. Profits had gone through the roof, waistlines too. The company had made in five business days what would normally take a month. The lines of ponies queued up outside each store had been very satisfying for Scarlet to watch on the news.
One report had been rather amusing. The news reporter had gone into one of their stores, interviewing customers. One mare in particular had commented “This is my fifth order today! I can’t get enough!” as she had stuffed a burger in between her wobbly lardy cheeks. Scarlet had to double check the picture, she knew ponies on the colony were big due to overeating but this mare seemed to almost fill the screen with her size. The camera added ten pounds but in this case it looked like about two thousand. She swore her entire body took up the booth she was sat in, and squished into it as well.
Vermillion came in causing her to break from her daydreaming with a tray of cola and a number of burgers which Scarlet immediately dug into, her greedy fat hooves hardly pulling the wrapping off to eat them.
“This if from the clean batch right?” She asked casually, taking a bite.
“Well, yes - but I had the chefs add some of that new mixture. Ponies are raving about the taste. I thought you’d enjoy your success a little more.” Vermillion replied.
“W-wait what. You...You…” Scarlet stuttered a little. The reason why she had been hungry all day suddenly became obvious.
“YOU GAVE ME FOOD AND DRINKS WITH OUR NEW MIXTURE IN?!?!?” She almost screamed at her assistant. “No wonder I’ve been STARVING all day!” She shouted. Her massive flabby body wobbling in response as Vermillion trotted back a little, her boss’s clothing ripping a little with her movements didn’t help matters either, the hapless Vermillion getting a button straight on her noggin as the suit gave way a little and it pinged off under the stress of her moving body. She gave a little yelp and rubbed her head to recover.
“Uh...should I not have? What does it even do? I thought it just made our food taste extra nice…” She mewed.
“Kppfftt... Oh my gosh Vermillion you really are as dense as you look. Do you seriously think I’d have spent millions in company funds, years of R&D on this if all it did was make our food taste nice?” She asked, trying to calm herself a little. It was hard though knowing what she did.
“Well, what does it do?” Her assistant asked rather innocently.
“It’s addictive Vermillion. Once you have some you just want more. You know, like cigarettes? That’s why the taste of it was so important. It had to go virtually undetected into our food. That was why I asked you to get me that drink this morning that was unsullied with it! Now I’m addicted! No wonder I’ve eaten like ten burgers and had twelve drinks already, and it’s not even noon!” The fat CEO said, panting a little. “I...I need to contact that scientist. Stellar? She must have a cure, any scientist worth their salt develops an antidote alongside the main concoction, get me her cybernet number and another burger and drink Vermillion! Your job isn’t looking so safe after all…” Scarlet grunted as Vermillion rather quickly trotted her way out to try to contact the scientist they had sent off on an all expenses paid trip. The low pitched whirrr of the fans of Scarlet’s cooled suit got louder as they worked harder to keep the hefty boss cool as her body heated up due to her increase in size. A good day was very quickly turning into a bad one for Scarlet Song.
She needed five minutes to herself, just to relax. But to her horror as she flicked on the TV in her office she just sank further into her chair as she watched the breaking news report.
The news pony wasn’t even at the camera this time, it had been left static on the sidewalk as he had gone to join the horde so it was hard to make out what was going on, but it was obvious to Scarlet.
The formula was working far too well. She could see the remains of one of their branches, utterly destroyed by the landwhales that had assaulted it in search of food. The building itself was a shambles as the ravenous customers had seemingly broken into the premises to get themselves into the kitchens to get at the food. She was about to flick it off, she couldn’t watch anymore, but suddenly pony of mammoth proportions filled the screen, quickly blocking out any more of the shot.
Scarlet couldn’t believe her size, she had gotten that big that fast? Her meaty body wobbled and quivered with every little movement, it was utterly incredible she could move herself at all. The pony was verging on immobility. Her fat hooves reached round the lense and in a moment of light comic relief, completely squished against her head and almost encapsulated it as she tried her best to reach up. The remains of a burger fell from her jaw as she simply yelled into the camera.
“MOREEEE!!!!”
Scarlet was then treated to the lovely sight of her maw opening wide as she attempted to eat the camera, the screen going black and the airwaves filled with munching sounds before the feed cut out. She just shut her eyes and took a breath. What else could possibly go wrong?
A knock on her door really made her wish she hadn’t thought that. It was Vermillion.
“Any luck with the scientist?”
“Um, we’ve tried her cybernet number, mail, even the hotel. We just, can’t get hold of her at all.” She said rather meekly.
“WELL KEEP TRYING. DON’T DISTURB ME UNTIL YOU GET A REPLY. ” She barked back at Vermillion, who slammed the door behind her and scuttled away.
But try as they might, they’d get no response from Stellar. She had cut all connection when she left, really wanting a holiday. No disruptions, just some time for herself. The trip was two weeks of paradise and cocktails, she was going to make the most of it. She had left her phone back in the lab, instructed the hotel to tell any callers to her that she was unavailable and pretty much tied up any loose ends to contact. Aside from somepony actually turning up of course. As far as anypony else was aware, she was MIA.
Back in the cities, the two weeks would prove to be very trying indeed.
Scarlet Song was the least of the problems, simply doomed to suffer and gain like the rest of the customers to her corporation. At least she had a nice cozy office she could hide in, well, until she filled it with her mass that is. There wasn’t much hiding after that.
Vermillion continued to bring her food as instructed and Scarlet continued to eat. First she broke her chair, easily done. Then she crushed her desk, that went with a CRUNCH! Finally that special suit she had, the only thing keeping her immense body cool finally gave in with a SHRRRIIIPPPP!!! As the material came apart under her size and the fans inside died with a little whimper, no longer able to cool the pony who was spreading herself all over her office. Vermillion, the ever loyal assistant still carried on bringing her whatever she desired all the while. It wasn’t long until Scarlet had practically become the office, occupying a large portion of not only the floor, but her fat body pushing up against the walls too. Being so high up in the building, the massive bay window would have given a rather lovely view over the city, if her gigantic and overblown ass wasn't pushing against it. The reinforcement was the only thing keeping it from breaking out into the sky, however under the enormous pressure of all that blubber the reinforced girders were starting to take the shape of the chunky rear that was pressing against them, almost forming a window shaped tush.
The cities that criss-crossed Chrion just slowly descended into chaos. It wasn’t helpful that the colony was already full of a large proportion of gluttons, already rendered too large for most things. Mamba Burger had outlets practically everywhere, their coverage was huge, much like their customer base who with the new formula to fuel their feeding, just became massive.
Outlets could keep up with orders thanks to a central delivery system, but it struggled to keep up with the customers. Ponies weren't just requesting one burger when they ordered. They wanted two, then three, then five. Suddenly orders for ten or more burgers at a time were hitting the registers, alongside mountains of coke and fries. Then within twenty minutes the food had been devoured and they wanted more. Customers were sitting in the store practically eating all day and only leaving when they were shutting up, even them some of them were refusing to budge. It didn’t help that their manners were disappearing also, with a number starting to use the eateries as they would their homes. Belches and other bodily functions echoed throughout the store as they stuffed their faces.
The populace quickly gained, collectively across the colony hundreds of millions of pounds of mass must have been put on in a very short time. The widest roads gave way to the carts that used to support the biggest ones, no longer even close to being able to hold the massive size of what was now considered modestly big ponies. They had given up on trying to use transport to move themselves around, but the addictive nature of the formula was enough motivation to shift ponies of any size if they really wanted to eat, which they did now - constantly.
Any clothing was quickly cast aside, for one thing it just restricted gaining. Back to being naked was the way to go, those that did keep clothes quickly found themselves ripping out of them. It didn’t take long though for anything that might have been considered uncouth to be covered in flab. Across the colony as ponies gained clothes were quickly destroyed, and in some cases they were so famished the clothes were then consumed by the wearer afterwards. No fabric was safe, millions of pants, dresses, tops and t-shirts being torn apart by ever expanded flesh as it broke out of the fabric prison that contained it when their wearers got just far too big.
Even housing became a problem, most ponies occupied reasonably sized blocks of apartments in the city, with the richers ones owning houses in the suburbs. Whilst the blocks were built to take ponies of a heftier nature, they could only take so much. Without even considering the problem of their now larger occupants getting wedged in doors the flooring just wasn’t built to take the weight. Alongside news stories of ponies practically attacking Mamba Burger outlets there were peppered reports of residents of these towers crashing through the floors and in some cases, smothering the poor occupants below. Some ponies were getting a face sitting whether they wanted it or not. Bursting out of apartments was becoming all to common, in fact if one were to observe a block from below you could probably see somewhere between ten to twenty fatty bodies poking out of what once was windows. Their fat, flabby bodies looking for any space to expand out, and often it was now outside into the open air. They would have complained, but their warm and chunky sizes kept the extra fat one from really feeling any ill effects of having their bodies burst beyond the buildings.
And they just kept getting bigger. Infrastructure to support the gaining populace was failing. The leaders just weren’t prepared for a size gain of this size this quickly. Before the formula, the heftiest ponies had been around one thousand five hundred pounds, maybe a little bigger in rare cases.
Now that seemed small, the lightest who hadn’t been affected so much by the formula due to their biology having a natural resistance to the addictive effects, but not quite able to resist it totally, weighed around two thousand.
The unlucky ones who had absolutely no resistance had ballooned to immobile sizes. Four thousand pounds or more was rapidly becoming almost normal. Their massive immobile bodies just cried out for more food as they continued to eat their way to colossal sizes. Faces and heads were bloated, getting lost in blubbery bodies that jiggled endlessly as they often pressed up against their neighbours own hefty bulk, some even failing to see what was below their enormous bellies that occupied a large portion of their vision. Fat hooves struggled to reach the next portion of food as they ate. Unicorns obviously seemed to be gaining a little faster than the rest, no problem for them to just levitate the food towards them. The largest of them were all magic users as the rest continued to gain behind their magic using counterparts. The fats epidemic had quickly taken hold.
In this time of exponential gaining, Stellar had boarded her shuttle back to her lab, the trip over she needed to make her way home. Luckily the resort had mostly been isolated from the problem, only horrified staff watching the news were really aware. But as Stellar had specifically asked not be disturbed, none of them had informed her of what waited her back in the cities...
The shuttle to bring her home touched at the districts central zone and the taxi she had boarded had stopped a few blocks away from her lab. The driver muttered something about needing to stop here as it was the closest to a branch of fast food joints he wanted to get to. Stellar and him both abandoned the taxi at the same time as he waddled off and she started to walk.
She looked around, the city looked fine but something was definitely...off.
There wasn’t that many ponies on the streets but the ones that were, oh my gosh. She actually put her hoof over her mouth in shock as she observed their size.
Stellar was stood on a sidewalk, she was the only one. The ponies passing her were trying their best to waddle their way down the road, and they took up all of it. All of it! The same roads but a few weeks ago were bustling with carts and other modes of transport, there was nothing moving now along the roads but the ponies themselves. They all seemed to be heading in one direction too, she didn't even want to guess what they would have done if two had come up against each other. The carts would have been utterly laughable now, if any of these massive mares had tried to enter one, they’d have simply collapsed under their weight in seconds. She had to hazard a guess that whatever it was making them move without the comfort of a vehicle was worth it to put in all that extra effort.
As one tried to round a bend at the end of a crossroads, their huge rump squished into a streetlight. As the gigantic tush pushed into it and passed, it flew back up with a rather amusing twang! The gluttonous pony hardly noticing the damage their ridiculously oversized body was causing around them. Other ponies were brushing their huge bodies against buildings as they tried to pass, their gigantic mass squishing and squeezing along the street as they tried to reach their destinations, fat jiggly bodies wobbling as the buildings did their best to fight back against them.
The scientist had to steady herself slightly, it wasn’t hugely noticeable, unless you were stood in one place for a good while but the ponies were so massive, every step they took was causing the ground to shake almost violently. Their huge sizes causes mini earthquakes as the planet underneath them fought back against the weight of them. Each step there was a small thunk! Their fatty hooves coming down on the ground hard and causing a small tremor as thousands and thousands of pounds came into contact with the concrete which was cracking beneath them. A building in close proximity was audibly groaning as it tried not only to keep contained the massive fatties inside, but fight against the micro earthquakes outside. Strained already Stellar heard a spectacular crash as the earthquakes and occupants proved too much for the stressed infrastructure, a number of fatties plummeting through the building to a soft landing below.
Stellar was just engrossed, utterly in what she was looking at. How did ponies get so fat? She had observed some before but they were simply obese, these ponies were mountainous. In fact to Stellar it was like watching a mountain of blubber shuffle its way along a street with varying success. The pony had already passed her, but she assumed there was a head buried somewhere in that mountain of flab that jiggled and quivered with every step she took, which looked like a huge amount of effort to move a body that massive. For a start sweat was pouring from every orifice she could make out around her body, the force needed making the lardy beast ooze liquids. The jiggling was almost hypnotic, Stellar was so fixed on what was passing her she only snapped out of it when a rather soft but forceful bump into her side knocked her to the floor.
“H-hey!” was all she managed as she felt her frame stumble to the ground before a massive shadow covered her body.
“Looks like we got a thin one boys!” The mare heard a shout from a stallion, presumably the one that knocked her to the floor.
“A thin one?” She sputtered back, only to be restrained from getting up as a gigantic soft belly pinned her to the floor to prevent her escape, she was completely squished against the blubber that was pressing into her, its warm softness keeping her at bay.
“Search her!” The stallion squishing into her shouted to another two equally lardy compatriots. These ponies weren’t quite as big as the ones on the road but they were still extremely large nonetheless, as they went to search her Stellar observed them jostling for space between each other.
“What do you want? My phone, keys, money???” She blurted out, to see if she could get them to get off her and make a dash for it, she would have easily outrun them no question. Alright there was no phone but they didn’t need to know that.
“Gah boss, no go - this one ain’t got no food!” One of the stallions rifling through her baggage yelled out in dismay.
“Aw seriously? Usually the thin ones are the hungriest! Bah, Ballistic Buns get off her.”
The pony that Stellar could only assume was Ballistic Buns shifted his belly off her body, finally freeing her. She gasped for a moment a tried to catch her breath.
“Y-you’re robbing me for FOOD?” She stammered, almost in disbelief.
“What else would we want? C’mon fellas lets get outta here.” The leader said, the three stallions waddling away and leaving Stellar flat on the floor to pick herself up. Something was very wrong indeed. She had to get back to the lab. Her phone was flat most likely now, even turned off back in her lab the batteries for some reason never held a charge. A plug in and quick search of the cybernet would let her know what was up.
As she trotted on at a rather hurried pace she just took in more and more. A look up at a crossing point on a road led her eyes to some blocks of flats. Were those...yes it was. Ponies literally hanging their mass out of the windows. She wondered if it was on purpose to cool off due to their bulk, or more likely they had outgrown the apartment they were living in. Visible cracks were appearing in the walls around the tums and butts that poked out what she presumed once were windows as they struggled to contain the growing masses inside. She looked back down and crossed once the light changed.
On the corner of her street she had to stop again, this time to observe something a little more lewd.
Two lardy ponies, a stallion and a mare were putting on a bit of a public display. Locked in each others eyes, although apart from heavily kissing each other Stellar was struggling to see what they were doing. Then it became a little more obvious as fat arms and flabby hooves reappeared.
They were just toying with each others size, loving every second of it. Hooves were caressing mountains of blubber and gently wobbling each other to and fro. Stellar could almost feel the lust the pair were feeling for one another as the stallion worked his hoof up the mares gut and gently raised her fat folds to jiggle them. She blushed as he did so and in return squeezed his own making him wince slightly. Again due to their immense size both were sweating slightly, the wet mixture only serving to almost lubricate around their bodies as blubber practically pulsed in pleasure as each one of them touched one another all over. The stallion suddenly stopped, noticing they were getting stares and locked a beady eye on Stellar, who could only think of one appropriate thing to say.
“Get a room!”
“We could if we’d fit in it!” He yelled back, immediately overcome by his desire to pay attention to the fat mare with him and go back to caressing and cuddling her folds. Stellar just sighed and moved on, home was close.
Her lab was situated at the end of a small alleyway, but she immediately smelled a rat when she noticed a police shuttle parked at the end. Rather than walk down the alley she passed the entrance on the main street and looked down, a police officer, chunky like the rest was stood in front of the door. As innocently as she could she passed by and continued to walk. Home was no longer an option.
The company though...she was sure they had something to do with it. Vermillion’s words of “They’re sending you away!” echoed in her head. Perhaps she could find her, maybe even her boss to find out what the hell had happened whilst she had been gone.
The elevator to the top floor of the Mamba Burger HQ was as smooth as ever, Stellar found the ride to be a little eery though, whereas before the building had been bustling with employees it was now mostly deserted, save the lardy receptionist who seemed to have tripled in size since she last saw her letting her in. She seemed to be well plied with food behind the desk which her whole body nearly covered.
Eventually she reached the top floor, which whereas before it had been full of rather slender ponies going about admin duties, all she could see was one mass...Vermillion seemed to have remained behind. She had grown too, just not as big as most of the others. Obviously the boss had ordered her to stay smaller to continue to fetch her whatever food she desired, but she had still ballooned a fair amount.
“Uh, Vermillion?”
Stellar tried to get her to speak, but the assistant simply looked up, almost in a haze. Clearly a bit confused, she just waddled her way to a store room, her frame squishing against the walls as she did so. Stellar just watched her go, returning a few moments later with a tray of burgers and coke. She must have mistook the ask from Stellar for her boss wanting more food in her dozy state.
She didn’t even respond to seeing Stellar there, and opened the door.
Inside was just a huge mass of flesh. Every wall was covered in flab. All Stellar could see very close to the door indeed was a head buried in blubber. She assumed this is what had become of Scarlet Song. She must have stayed in her office continuing to eat until her entire body had filled the room with its increasingly expanding size. Vermillion left after a grunt of “Put it over there.” from Scarlet, who seemed to be focusing her attention on a number of small screens planted directly in front of her face, projected by a small cube like item resting on her triple chins. The reinforced outer girders to her window had long given way, her gigantic tush was hanging freely out the window along with a large portion of her thighs and belly. Stellar wondered if she gained much more if she’d simply slip out at some point.
As Stellar entered the room she was overcome by the smell, it was horrendous. She guessed that Scarlet, unable to leave the office hadn’t bathed in weeks. Not that she could, she’d need a swimming pool to wash in. This was backed up by a small parp! The unashamedly sloppy CEO let rip a small fart to clear herself out a bit. After a moment she looked up, finally noticing Stellar.
“Nice of you to show up.” She simply said.
Stellar immediately looked perplexed. “What are you talking about?”
“Two weeks, two whole weeks we tried to get hold of you. I actually gave up yesterday…” The CEO replied, still watching her screens like a hawk.
“Oh well, you said a holiday. I took full advantage of it.” The mare replied.
“I know, no matter now, it’s too late for an antidote. I assume you’re here because you saw police at your lab?” She asked. “I can see them right now, going over everything you own, bit by bit…” Her voice trailed off again as Stellar simply shouted “WHAT?” and scrambled up her bulk to look at what she was.
Sure enough her lab was being crawled over by police ponies. Very fat police ponies, but police ponies nonetheless. They must have been the only ones left on the colony who actually had any clothing on, even then it was struggling to stay on their massive girth. Stellar realised the CEO must have planted cameras to monitor her employees so she could check in with them when she felt like it, she wondered why sometimes she’d get a cybermail asking her if she needed motivation on those days where she was slacking a little. It was almost as if they knew , well now she knew they did. She was being watched from the start.
“They’re looking through your notes, everything. Soon they’ll pin it on me, you and this entire company. If you’d kept your phone on we could have sorted this but, too late.” She said, sounding defeated and reaching for a burger, pushing it between her greedy lips. “All those years wasted, for it to come to this.”
“You know you could have gone to my lab yourself.” Stellar said, a little snippy now realising what was happening.
“Please, I was far too busy eating. I thought about an antidote at first but, I quite like it now.” Scarlet said, her body growled from under her as she consumed the food. Stellar scrunched her nose as she heard another little frrrttt! from somewhere behind her.
“So now what. We just wait for them to come arrest us? Well, arrest me probably. You’re not going anywhere, you have a prison of flab already.” Stellar snorted. Scarlet just looked at her with a pair of big lazy eyes.
“I suppose, what else can we do?”
“I have a plan.” Vermillion who had waddled up behind them spoke for the first time in a little while. “Scarlet all you need to do is crash directly below to the bottom floor, there’s a speedboat in the sewers below the building, positioned directly below you. Me and Stellar can make our way there via the lift and then wait until we hear the crunches of floors shattering. That’ll be you on your way down.” She said with a little smile. “You’re massive Scarlet, I’m pretty sure some jiggling will make that floor beneath you give way, as well as the rest. It’s already heavily sagging.”
The plan was absurd, but Stellar didn’t argue. Instead she just grabbed the ditzy Vermillion by the hoof and pulled her towards the elevator as time was short. There was no way this was going to work. For one thing, she was sure Scarlet, if she even did make it down, would just flatten the boat. Behind her, Stellar heard Scarlet begin to jiggle her body as best she could. The motion of all that blubber rocking back and forth and almost bouncing up and down meant that the building started to struggle under the pressure, Stellar could feel the floor underneath her start to give way and she pulled Vermillion along faster to reach the elevator just in time before bits of flooring started to come apart.
It was a bit of a squeeze in the elevator, it wasn’t made for ponies of the larger disposition. They reached the bottom and got out, waiting for what was coming.
Stellar’s ears twitched. She definitely heard a crunch, then another, more and more in quick succession. Once Scarlet had broken through the top floor, the rest were simply crumbling under her massive weight.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
Louder and closer together as the speed increased, the two waiting ponies took a step back from where they thought she was coming through.
As predicted it was a bad plan, although Scarlet was absolutely enormous, the bases of buildings were a lot tougher than Vermillion had given them credit for. A final ear shattering CRUNCH! saw the blobby CEO land on the ground floor, completely cushioned by her size as her elephantine body just squished to absorb the impact of the fall. It was incredible to watch, her huge size seemed to spread as she hit the deck, her body going flat like a pancake and then springing back up as it absorbed the impact and did its best to deal with it. Apparently being hugely fat was a recipe for surviving what would normally be a killer fall.
The two gave it a moment before the jiggling of her flab stopped and to allow the air to clear, finally making it over to the rubble where Scarlet had come to rest. She seemed rather unphased as Stellar approached but, clearly the fall hadn’t done nothing to her body. She watched as Scarlet’s chubby cheeks bulged slightly as she tried to keep something inside. The noise of her stomach making blorps and gurgles was hard to ignore. Finally relenting, she opened her maw to let out what Stellar could hear gurgling and building up inside.
“UURRRRRPPPPPPPPPPP!!!”
“Uh, you okay?” Stellar asked.
“Fine, but I don’t see a speedboat…” She said.
“I just see cops.” Vermillion said. At that moment a number of police cruisers and shuttles appeared in the sky on what looked like a course towards the building. It was game over.
“I..I’ll give myself up.” Stellar said.
“Well, I’d give myself up but like you said, I don’t really have a choice.” Scarlet replied a little sarcastically. She still had some of her wit in her.
“No I mean, look. Perhaps if I cooperate, you’d have been wasting your time. I never made a cure, or anything to remove the effects of it. But if they give me a chance I could make one.”
“I figured as much, but why now? What’s the point? The colony is already in chaos. Ponies are already hugely obese. You can’t undo the damage.” Scarlet said, taking a bite of a burger, of course she had held onto those as she had crashed through the building.
“No but, I can at least stop a small apocalypse if I can cure ponies of eating like they are and maybe the colony can recover.”
“Well. Seems you have some principles after all Stellar.” Vermillion said with a little smile.
“Yeah, I guess so…” She said. Her voice low and almost at a whisper as the police arrived, she had to make it right. Somehow.
After explaining everything, as expected Stellar was arrested immediately. Scarlet and Vermillion were both put under guard until as such a time that Scarlet could be reasonably moved to a facility to handle her. Vermillion was tasked with looking after her, which didn’t help much. Any ponies that could be arrested at the current time were mainly placed under house arrest as the police had no choice really.
After being interrogated and listening to Stellar, the police of Chrion allowed her to carry through her plan of developing a cure. It was not quick, but building on the work of the original formula the scientists was able to develop a cure in a little under a year.
Unfortunately for the colony, by that time the effects had completely taken hold. The cure proved worthless as even though it was administered to ponies, they had gotten completely used to and depended on the taste that the formula gave to food. Any ponies who ate food with it removed found it to taste disgusting, tasteless or even made them puke. The powers that be made a decision that it was better to live fat than to feed their populace nothing and let them starve.
In the end, the cure was for nothing.
There was no point holding Stellar anymore, she had tried to sort out the problems she had caused and after reviewing the evidence the police force put the majority of the blame on the company. They were issued the biggest penalty fine available for gross business misconduct and key members were placed under arrest. However like the cure this would prove to be for nought, as they had made so much money selling their product that the fine was a spit in the bucket amount to pay.
Stellar left the colony a mere few months later, the guilt of her conscience utterly wracked by her actions. Yes she was working under a corporation but she had solved the issue. If it wasn’t for her, none of this would have happened. She disappeared into the void, the last ponies who knew her heard she had bought a one way ticket to a tiny, hardly developed planet on the perimeter of the colony worlds. Shortly after her departure Chrion was closed off to new entrants or visitors to the colony, except those with special permission granted. It was deemed unsafe for new ponies to enter and become one of the addicted populace.
Mamba Burger continued to soldier on, now no longer merely a fast food chain - it had a duty to feed the colony. It seemed in a way Scarlet had achieved her goal, any competition had been crushed and the company was making more money than she had ever dreamed of, but with the way things were it seemed a rather hollow victory. It was even more hollow now that in her state and stuck in the lobby of their headquarters after the failed escape attempt that the board of directors had punished her for her actions by promoting Vermillion to her role, looking after the main interests of the corporation.
Scarlet now served as a constant reminder for anyone who came into the lobby to see her what happens when you dabble unethically in things you shouldn’t try to control. At least one thing good had come out of it all, despite Vermillion now being her superior. She still had to feed her, the massive mare getting meals multiple times per day from her now boss. She had heard some grumbling from her about her delegating it to one of the peons, insisting she was now far too important to be doing this herself, but Scarlet insisted harder than she did. She liked reminding her that she was still number one, despite losing the title. Besides Vermillion was still a bit of clutz, it didn’t take much to persuade her to keep it up. In fact Scarlet had made some suggestions, piping for a start to feed cola straight to her. If she hated feeding her so much, why not just allow the food to come to her?
Scarlet already mostly filled the lobby, visitors having to clamber over her mass to reach the elevators. If she had grown this much in just a year of Vermillion continuing to feed her, she would continue to grow much, much more, beyond the building itself, more persuasion was clearly needed to keep Vermillion feeding her as well as push other methods forward. With even more to add to her mass, she could become the building even, why only grow outwards when you could grow upwards too? She couldn’t wait to see her she could achieve with even more at her disposal. The formula had done its work, the former boss just forever wanting more, forever wanting to be even huger than she already was.
