A Sleipnir Tale - The Home Roost
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A Sleipnir Tale - The Home Roost

Although hardly mentioned due to the vastness of The Equestrian Empire, ponies were not the only ones who had taken to the stars.

The culture of Equestria was still extremely diverse with the different creatures that called it and its borders home. Whilst ponies as always dominated the culture, political system, worlds and infrastructure there were still those races that worked alongside them as long time allies. When space travel became something of a norm, many had set out into the stars to look for a new home.

Ponies had expanded rapidly - not just for the sake of their seemingly never ending appetite but mainly for the frequent need for more space due to their immense sizes. Some races had followed this, smaller in number and needing fewer worlds. Some however, decided not to adhere to this doctrine and had instead taken but a few star systems and were quite content with what they had. These races still lived similarly to their ancestors before the great lust for eating had become the norm. Technology advanced and they (mostly) kept up with other races, or managed to remain at a similar level through trade programs or other less legal means.

Gryphons were one of these races. As soon as space travel had become a viable option for them, they had settled but a mere clawful of star systems which back then was far from the borders of Equestrian space on the end of one of the galactic spiralling arms of the galaxy. Countless miles from their pony counterparts, they had quickly developed a life of solitude as they had enjoyed back on Equestria. The difference being now that they had a number of planets to themselves and only had to deal with their own species (who were intelligent) as a result. For hundreds of years they had prospered, enjoying peace and mostly unaware of the events transpiring in the galaxy around them, save for a few diplomats who sometimes bought news from the nearest colonies which were a number of jumps away. There were those that back when they had first migrated decided to stay in The Empire. However, little contact with these gryphons was made and the two had separated long ago.

As time advanced however and ponies colonised more and more worlds, the distance between The Equestrian Empire and the small pocket of space the gryphons held got shorter each year. Whereas one hundred years ago a diplomat might have to travel for several weeks worth of spacial jumps to reach a pony world, this was now just under a week. It was no surprise when the general population voted heavily in favour to pass a law that meant through a treaty ponies were unable to colonise any space around their sector within a two thousand light year radius with the understanding that no gryphon would either. This agreement had held, for the time being at least. With a closer proximity to The Empire more news stories and information filtered through every day to the immense ponies gluttony. It was quite the talked about topic among all gryphons. From the complete truth of ponies being so large on some worlds they didn’t even have houses anymore, just plots of land to lay on and fatten up even more, to the downright insane hearing that ponies had gotten so big they now could support smaller ones living on their bodies as micro colonies themselves. Most laughed things like this off, but a few wondered if there was a small grain of truth in it.

As already mentioned, gryphons still kept to a somewhat similar lifestyle they had when they lived on Equestria. Although things now were certainly easier and technology for them had advanced to a point where life was comfortable they still retained similar, slim figures. Soft, rather small bellies that hardly even came close to the floor was what most of them sported on their bodies. gryphons, unlike their Pegasus counterparts, still retained full use of their wings for the purposes of flying. In a lot of ways, it was advantageous to be thinner and smaller. Less materials to build things, less food needed to feed a slimmer population.

The gryphons themselves however occupied five planets in total over just three systems. Three of the five were in the first system they had settled known as Opinicus, the cradle system. The capital world Roost, the agricultural world Highpeak and the border colony Talon. The other two systems held one world each with a specific function. Shirdal held the small world of Chimera, a world focused totally on technology, starship manufacturing and mainly quality of life things but also had a military arm. Anzu had only the world of Gallarus, a small mining colony that provided much of the resources used to build their fleets and cities in their small pocket of space. These five worlds provided everything they needed. There had been some rumblings in Government recently about starting to colonise a sixth within the systems they already had to devote it purely to military development with the borders seemingly closing in. However this had been dismissed once the two thousand light year no colonisation treaty had come into effect.

Whilst all these planets and systems were almost exclusively populated by gryphons, there was a small contingent of other creatures. Mainly ponies, but there were also yaks, some dragons dotted here and there with a smaller number of other races too. All of them here with purpose as the gryphons tightly controlled their borders. Talon was the only (legal) way in and out of gryphon space, with their only jump gate connection with The Empire starting and ending here with a very heavily patrolled gate and tightly regulated border which was monitored by the border patrol. Ships entering the Opinicus system not scheduled on a daily roster were either immediately turned back or worse, blasted to pieces if they tried to make a run for one of the planets. The system itself also had a vast ring of border patrol stations to ensure no ships tried to slip in via any other methods bar the gate.

There were however always pleasantries to deal with regarding treaties. Each culture wanted to make a show of their acceptance of one another, no matter how ironic it was they had just signed a treaty to stay apart and with the gryphons being so solitary it had been decided that Roost would send an ambassador to a nearby pony world for a year as a show of good faith that despite this, gryphons were able to conduct themselves accordingly in a pony dominated galaxy. They also wanted one that had been involved with the treaty to answer any queries they might have and not rely on having to constantly send ambassadors back and forth between systems. Of course whoever got the job would be treated very well, but it was not a task that any gryphon was really willing to accept. At least, by choice.

The mood in the room had shot from relaxed, calm discussion to one of outright rage. Avery Gullwing was not a happy bird.

Avery was by the standards of Roost, a very well respected and quite important gryphon. The youngest son of the Planetary Governor Gullwing he was high on the pecking order and the cocky bird knew this well. Often, he took full advantage of his status. Being young and having money to enjoy oneself is something that birds talk about. He was known for throwing rather lavish parties with no expense spared, something his father detested. The bird was also completely obsessed with his good looks, spending a small fortune on keeping himself well preened ensuring that his off-white and grey feathers were kept in tip top shape. He also spent a lot of time making sure his beak was perfect. He wasn’t exactly in shape by gryphon standards, but by pony standards he would have been excessively underweight as all gryphons they encountered were, with Avery merely having a rather small amount of pudge that barely lapped his knees.

Right now however, one of the things adding to his current rage was how his temper was causing all that perfect preening to quickly get out of shape as he tried to slick back the feathers on his head and calm himself which he was failing to do.

“WHAT? Father, why me!? Why not one of the others!” he protested. He had just been told he’d be leaving Roost for a whole year and he had no choice. Freaking out would be the appropriate way to describe his current mental state. He had a very comfortable life here, giving up at the snap of a claw would be unthinkable. As he sat on the other side of the desk to his father, his brain swirling around terrible thoughts in his head, Planetary Governor Gullwing carried on explaining. He was not an uncaring father figure, but he expected all his children to contribute. It was the somewhat lack of this recently that made him choose Avery for the task.

“Because Avery the others are all preoccupied. You are the only option I have unless I go myself, which I can’t. I have been well assured by the Equestrian ponies that whoever I send will be kept in their highest standard of comfort. Not that it matters to you but they are sending us an ambassador as well, so we have to entertain one of them. You were on the board who came up with the treaty, you are more than well suited to answer their questions and keep them happy. For the sake of Roost I ask that you take this matter as seriously as I would. A spell off-world would likely do you nothing but good…” his father said, waiting to hear the inevitable protest spurred on by vanity that was about to assault his ears as Avery obviously accepted his reasons but was unhappy about it.

“I hope so! I can’t even imagine going more than a few days without a visit to a top class preener. I hope they have one on whatever dump you’re sending me off to.” Avery retorted to his fathers less than enthusiastic eye rolls.

“Hengroen. A mere two weeks travel from here, so a little within their empire and not right on the edge. It’s one of their larger and more progressed colonies. You’ll be in their capital city there. It is closest to one of their larger banquet halls and diplomatic halls.” his father explained, watching the anger on Avery now turn to disgust.

“Banquet halls? Trust such a bloated race of fat assed blubber lords to put down as a consideration the travel time to a banquet hall to choose where to place me.” Avery scoffed.

“The idea is that this isn’t just about answering their questions about the treaty, but a cultural exchange. In some capacity you’ll be expected to entertain. I thought you’d relish the chance to do so with all the parties you throw here. In any case.” his father continued. “We have agreed to each send ambassadors to prove that as a people, we are more than willing to work alongside our galactic neighbours. The ship for Hengroen leaves in two days. Say any personal goodbye’s you have to and be there at eight o’clock sharp for its departure. The ship will be well stocked so don’t bring hundreds of preening supplies, please.” Governor Gullwing groaned.

“Fine, but I shan't enjoy even one second of my time on this awful planet. I hope you’re happy father, when I return I don’t expect to be asked of something like this for a very, very long time.” Avery retorted, getting up and storming out the room, leaving his father only to sigh and attend to the next pressing matter.

The trip to Hengroen had been, well, boring.

His father had not lied, the ship had been well stocked. Avery had all the comforts of home at his disposal. However being cooped up in a star ship for two weeks with little to do he was going a bit spare in the head trying to find something to occupy his time. He had actually taken to spending several hours of the day combing the news channels not just to keep up with what happened back home, but it was rather funny to him comparing Equestrian news to gryphon news. The gryphon news reported on fairly, at least to him, mundane daily happenings. Things like a new ship had been launched from the shipyards at Chimera, a gryphon had been robbed after a night out, there had been a small outage at one of the planet's power plants for several hours. That sort of thing.

Equestrian news was well...food. It was all food. You had to go looking quite deep for actual events that would politically affect the populace. With an empire as vast as their’s a lot of it was more localised as well. Passing various worlds he got small snippets of information as the ships systems picked up broadcasts from the settled colony in that part of space as his ship exited one jump gate and travelled sub-light to another. The best story he had read that was top of the list of most important headlines in the sector and most read was that a large multi-world chain of fast food restaurants were, to keep up with the demand of their ever fattening customers, now introducing tube feeding stations at selected outlets for a trial period. The response from the comments was overwhelmingly positive in favour of introducing this across all their outlets. It just made him grin.

Hengroen was no different, the ship now having picked up on their local news as it approached. He swiped to the most read article on the ship's holo-projector he was using to read all this information.

Top Ten New Eateries Of The Week

This was followed by several other food related articles. He eventually found a very small, very short article announcing he was to arrive on the planet which also explained about this exchange they had agreed for a year. Apparently the pony selected to go by the Equestrians was most concerned that his gryphon hosts would keep him well fed and that he assured them he would return ‘Twice as heavy, if not heavier than when he left, to show that gryphons could feed ponies just as well as ponies fed themselves.’ was a part of a quote they had from him. This time Avery laughed out loud.

The ship started its descent into atmo and through the windows, Avery could observe the planet. It was quite different from Roost. Whereas gryphon architecture was quite restrained and sleek, Pony architecture was almost rambunctious in its design. Very much utilitarian to make maximum use of the space they had available so as not to waste capacity to grow.

The ship touched down at the local spaceport, not far from the main city. As the hatch opened from the ship Avery spied a pony stood at the end of the steps. He might have to rethink what standing was, as this one hardly could keep his massive gut from invading the space where on the ground his hooves occupied.

“Avery Gullwing?” the pony asked as he approached. Avery observed the stallion more. He was a Pegasus, but wings now far too bloated and fattened to fly. Even if they weren’t they never would have lifted his body even an inch off the floor. His body was a light yellow colour, with a mane and tail that was a mixture of green and dark blue. A cutie mark of a very simple scroll adorned his flanks. Avery could not quite put a claw on why ponies had physical things that sat on their butts that magically appeared once they reached some sort of epiphany about themselves. In the meantime he shrugged it off. The pony was staring at him expectantly.

“Yes?” Avery simply replied, showing his identification.

“Ah! Welcome to Hengroen!” the pony enthusiastically said, trying to lean forward a little to shake one of his fattened hooves into Avery’s outstretched claw but quickly realised this would put him off balance, so he resorted to a smile. “I’m Docket, your corporate sponsor assigned assistant! Or well, maybe just assistant is less of a mouthful.” he said with a smile still on his face. “We’ll have your luggage unloaded and brought to your lodgings as soon as possible. In the meantime, I thought it would be best if we travelled there together so I could acquaint you with some of the city, then I’ll give you a full tour tomorrow.” Docket explained, leading Avery down a small walkway towards the edge of the spaceport and to a rather large car. At least, to Avery it looked like a car, except it had no wheels - it hovered a little off the ground. There was a chauffeur at the front who just nodded at Avery and the two climbed into the back. Docket took up most of the room.

“We’re very excited to have you here, I don’t think I’ve ever met a gryphon!” Docket started to say as the car pulled out of the spaceport towards the city.

“I haven’t really met many ponies myself, just a few who have visited Roost for diplomatic purposes.” Avery replied. He was curious however. “What kind of car is this? We don’t really have ones this advanced back home.”

“Oh uh car? Oh - car! With wheels. Yes I read some races still use those for transport. These are Pads! I guess they’re like cars but they float, it’s the main mode of transport for ponies. Most have their own and usually don’t have seating like this.” Docket explained.

“Wait, no seating? How uncomfortable.” Avery said, a little surprised. “Do they all have chauffeurs too?”

“Oh no, only the really big ponies get those, or ponies on Government business. Or rich ponies…” Docket said. “Most regular citizens fly their own.”

Suddenly it hit him after what Docket had said. Avery had to ask the question.

“You mean...you’re not one of the big ponies?” he asked.

Docket laughed. “Oh no, in fact I am quite small! I have to, to maintain my position. It is important I have mobility still. Although...these days that is getting harder to keep at a size where I can still trot.” he confessed.

Avery had heard the stories like all the other gryphons, but as the pad got closer and closer to the city, Avery was for the first time getting a real life glimpse of just how massive some ponies were. He assumed all the others he had met before had been like Docket, for the purposes of official work they had to be mobile. As traffic got heavier, Docket and himself started to join other pads going into the city. Except mostly, these pads were utterly buried by their occupants. Avery could tell they were all piloting varying models of the pads in some fashion, but in a lot of cases the pilot was so gigantic it looked as if a blob was moving with thrusters simply attached underneath their gargantuan bodies, fat spilling out over the side. Rolls upon rolls of blubber dominated his vision as ponies that didn’t even resemble anything like the few he had met actually made him gag a little. ‘I knew they were huge, but these ones are MASSIVE.’ he thought, with Docket looking at him with some concern.

“Can I offer you some soda? For the cough.” he asked, pulling a plastic cup from one of the compartments in the pad.

“Water, if you’ve got it.” Avery replied, still coughing somewhat.

“Oh one second. I think we have some...usually ponies don’t ask for water, it doesn’t add anything to their weight.” he said, rummaging in the same compartment but eventually bringing out a small bottle which Avery eagerly drank from. He signed, leaning back in the chair as the two continued their journey.

“Something wrong?” Docket asked.

“No...Maybe...Um.” Avery said, his usually big and inflated ego had been punctured. He wasn’t sure what to say, so he thought he better come out and say it. “Look I had heard stories of just how large ponies are. I’ve even met ponies similar to yourself. But I thought that was it. I had absolutely no idea a creature could be well, the size of a house and still function. I thought those were just hoax stories!” Avery blurted out, pointing at a pony on a pad in the lane next to them and continuing to stutter. “I mean what is that!?”

“Well, it’s a Unicorn I don’t personally know, she’s probably going out to eat.” Docket replied unphased.

“How can you even tell it’s a Unicorn - she’s so fat you can’t even see the horn. Wait, how can you even tell it’s a she? There’s no genitals visible.” he said.

“I suppose after a while of being around all the larger citizens you can just tell. There are certain giveaways. I might have to coach you on that so you don’t accidently call a stallion a mare, or vice-versa.” Docket said, now lost in thought.

They were close to where they were staying. Docket had explained to introduce him, the higher dignitaries of the planet and other important figures were holding a banquet in a few days' time to honour his visit. Avery asked him if there would be eating involved.

“Probably more eating than you’ve ever seen occur in one room in your life.” was all Docket had replied.

“You know, the tuxedo isn’t really necessary. In fact most of the attendants won’t be wearing anything at all, they’re all too large.” Docket said, watching as Avery once more straightened his collar.

Two days. He had only spent two days on this world. In that time he had observed things he just never thought possible, especially by creatures as massive as the ponies he had encountered here. It had been quite the culture shock to adapt. It wasn’t just the ponies, everything was built with their size in mind, at least as much as they could accommodate. His quarters for example he was staying in during the visit. As beautiful and stately as his home back on Roost. But everything like doors, windows, couches. All much, much bigger to support bigger creatures. He could still use everything, it was just...amusing. He assumed because generally it would host ponies, maybe from other colonies.

Getting back to the question at hand from his assistant who he had gotten to know quite well over the past two days, he decided to answer.

“I’d like to make a good first impression at least.” he replied.

“I’m sure even naked you would, you’re so well groomed…” Docket trailed off. Over the past few days it was clear the lardy stallion was somewhat fascinated by not only the fact that Avery was a gryphon but just how clean he kept himself. One one occasion he had quipped “Most ponies well...they’re not exactly the cleanest. It can be difficult to stay washed properly at larger sizes.” but was quickly assured that high society kept cleanliness in high regard.

As described, it was a very short distance to the banquet hall. In fact it had been one of the first landmarks Docket had pointed out when he had given Avery a tour of the city. The rest were, unsurprisingly, also food related.

They were there at the allotted time. Strangely, only a few other guests seemed to be going in the large entrance towards the front of the building.

“There’s fewer ponies here than I imagined.” Avery said.

“Oh, there’s another entrance on the other side of the building. Most will be using that, it’s much larger.” Docket replied.

After a quick check of the invitation, the two were allowed inside.

Entering there was a small lobby with rather lavish decoration. It seemed rather underutilised. The giveaway was how little the carpet had been worn. A large space like this should have a lot of hooves going in and out. Clearly that wasn’t the case here.

Through another set of doors, the full space of the building was finally revealed as the two entered the main banquet hall. To Avery, it reminded him of a sporting stadium with no seating for fans. The space inside was immense, yet, even with it all - much of it was occupied.

He observed around the edge a number of pocketed entrances and exits clearly far too small for the ponies eating inside.

“Those lead to kitchens, either ponies my size bring out food or they send out a drone with the food loaded on it to the table.” Docket said as he noticed Avery once more in awe of his surroundings. “We have an allocated space, not too much of a trot.”

The guests there had already started eating. As the two made their way around the table to find their spots all Avery could focus on was the intense smells of not only the food, but sweat from his hosts. This was also permeated by the constant sound of smacking lips and belches as wasting no time for everyone to arrive, the mixture of mares and stallions present were already filling their bellies. These ponies to Avery were something else to the ones he had observed around the city. The lardiest and jiggliest of the lot. He assumed being high society they just spent most of their days eating. All of them were wider than they were tall and with so many fat layers every single one was very wide and very tall.

“Most of the guests here have five figures and are proud of it.” Docket said.

“Sorry, five figures of what?” Avery asked.

“On the scales, in pounds. All of them weigh over ten thousand.” Docket said with a smile. “Oh, here we are.”

They had reached the head of the table, with two seats - the only ones there as all the other guests were still mounted on their pads. A slightly larger one for Docket and a gryphon sized one for Avery. It wasn’t until Docket pressed a small button on a display in front of his seat that the eating ceased and the largest pony at the head of the table, head buried almost completely in mountains of neck rolls, spoke.

“A-Ah! I am informed our esteemed guest from Roost has arrived. Mares and gentlecolts I’d like to introduce Avery Gullwing, our ambassador from Roost for the year who is here to not only advise us on the treaty - but entertain!” the largest pony exclaimed. All Avery could think was oh dear as now he knew he was expected to entertain. He’d just do his best. The large pony carried on speaking. “I am Planetary Governor Crimson Sky and I welcome you to Hengroen. I do hope you enjoy your time here and leave with a better cultural understanding of ponies and that we too may learn from you more about gryphons. As our honoured guest tonight, please.”

Avery watched as fat rolls jiggled, he was sure that the Planetary Governor was trying to indicate via a hoof gesture that it was his turn to talk, but he was so fat and blobby that his hooves were hardly even visible. All the motion made his body do was slightly wobble from side to side. In any case Avery decided to stand up and speak.

“My new friends, firstly, I would like to thank you for offering me the opportunity to spend time learning about your culture.” Avery lied, putting on an act rather than deciding to spoil things and tell the truth. He decided it was better to play along rather than upset his father and return to Roost in shame. “I am sure the treaty will be beneficial for both pony and gryphon alike. Whilst gryphons are a solitary race, hence the treaty, we as a people are very much open to opening channels of communication and trade with our pony neighbours. As honoured guest, I will do my best to uphold the values you hold dear. Thank you.” Avery said, sitting back down on his seat. There was a moment of a mixture of sounds that formed some laboured applause, mostly jiggling and a few belches as the banquet guests of the evening went back to eating. As Avery sat down, a gigantic plate of food that was easily four or five times as large as any plate he had eaten before in his life was dropped off in front of him at the table, to which he just stared at.

Docket, not one to pass up a lavish meal was eating himself but stopped when he noticed Avery was just staring at the meal placed in front of him. He leaned over slightly.

“Pssttt, hey! Start eating! You’re the honoured guest! It’s your job to show good manners and eat like we do!” he hissed through a half-full mouth.

“W-What? Eat? All this? There’s enough here to feed a family of gryphons for an entire week!” he protested back.

“Listen. If you don’t eat they’ll think you’re rude. It would be a terrible first impression as the honoured guest of a large banquet in your name not to eat!” Docket continued to whisper. “It’s like anything! Starting is always the most difficult part, now hurry up before they notice.”

“They’ll notice? I’m surprised they notice anything except food going into their maws.” Avery joked, which was only met by a frown from Docket.

“Fine, fine - I’ll eat.” Avery said. There wasn’t even any cutlery. He observed how ponies around him were eating as they were all so gigantic none of them could possibly use their hooves. Unicorns were mostly levitating the food in, others had devices and small robots to feed them. A few even had...hoses? Those looked to be connected to a tank. Oh well, Avery thought he had better make a start so as not to cause any upset. He leaned forward, simply picking the food up in his claw and starting to eat.

He wasn’t even sure what it was as he chewed. Not meat, but he couldn’t identify it as a vegetable either. The taste was....complicated. It was as if someone had mashed together a whole heap of savoury flavors to make something that tasted like everything and nothing all at once. Perhaps this was some sort of special gourmet food? In any case, it wasn’t unpleasant. Avery was able to stomach quite a few bites before he was starting to struggle. That little belly of his had bulged somewhat, but hardly budged an inch.

“Are you full already?” Docket asked.

“I’m not used to eating like this…” Avery said, rubbing his gut a little which had somewhat developed a small ache. The surroundings either weren’t exactly helping. The air was filled with constant belches as the blob like guests ate their fill. Avery thought a lot of them were wearing some sort of shiny see-through suite over their bodies until he looked closer and noticed many were simply drenched in practically a river of sweat, their huge and bloated bodies trying to keep them cool as they ate. The tux that Avery was already feeling tight against him, this sort of clothing wasn’t built to take such rapid expansion.

“You’re an ambassador, you can take this.” Docket said, giving him a slight push to keep going. “I mean, what a perfect opportunity to show up everyone at home.” he started to say.

“What do you mean?” Avery replied.

“I was briefed by your people. I know you’re not here by choice.” Docket said through a mouthful. “The way I see it, you should embrace this. Imagine going back to Roost not via the ship you came, but in a lavish cargo hauler because you’re just too fat hmm? That doesn’t sound appealing to you?” he teased, watching as Avery’s face become more perplexed at the suggestion Docket was making.

“I don’t see…”

“Come on Avery! Imagine the look on your fathers face when rather than majestically walking into his office to give him a report on your time here, you’re rolled in by several of your helpers back home. How impressed not only your father, but your brothers would be if you showed them that gryphons were capable of being even bigger gluttons than ponies!” he continued.

“Well...I suppose.” Avery said.

“You suppose? You know I’m right. Besides, haven’t you ever wondered what it would be like to be our size? You must be slightly curious.”

It was something he couldn’t deny. He would have in the first few hours, but after spending a few days here, Avery had somewhat gotten over the constant belching and being accidentally bumped into all the time by ponies too big to see what they were doing or ones that just had no idea of their width. He wondered if his body would start sweating like theirs did…

“It would be good to show that fathead up by being even fatter than he is…” Avery mused.

“Yeah! So if you’re gonna show him up - start eating!” Docket encouraged. “The food here is made for maximum gaining, so it might look like a lot, but it’ll quickly start to slip down and you’ll have no trouble.

Eating more was...difficult. But Docket wasn’t a liar. As Avery continued to eat the food in front of him he was finding the more he ate the more he was able to eat. Each bite started to vanish inside him faster and faster. His body started to take it all in, he could feel his thighs getting larger as they pushed sideways into the chair as his growing body squashed up against the sides. With a large belch, he had to push himself out of the chair and lean on his growing belly bed for support - an act met with belches of appreciation and jiggles from his hosts. They were more impressed when the tuxedo buttons popped off. The more he ate, the more he could tell that the attention of the evening was on him.

It wasn’t long before he had finished all the food on his plate, Avery leaning back with a mighty “UURRRAAAPPPPP!!!” as he let loose an almighty belch, stuffed full. Without asking, a drone dropped off another plate of food in front of him.

“That’s the spirit, good show ambassador.” Docket said, enjoying his own meal.

“I’m only just getting started.” Avery replied, leaning back forward to take another mouthful of food.

A few months had now passed since Avery had arrived on Roost. In those few months, he had become a completely changed bird.

It had all started with that welcome banquet. What a night, he had eaten more than he had ever eaten in his entire life and he had loved it. Sure back on Roost he had held parties and indulged in the finer things, but this was pure indulgence on a whole different level to anything he had ever experienced. With Docket, he had only been encouraged not to upset the ponies he was there to entertain and talk to - talking being very minimal because the majority of the time there was food involved. Every time they met with someone and a plate was presented Avery had been pestered by whispers of “You don’t want to upset your host, do you?” and he had quickly given in. After a few weeks, the whispers had stopped because he was eating without requiring any prompting.

The only fault was that now he was so interested in eating that there was little else he seemed to care for. His immaculately preened feathers were no longer kept spotless as that was funds wasted that he could be spending on meals. Clothes were a thing of the past as nothing really fit and Hengroen tailors weren’t really equipped to craft specially made gryphon clothing. He had decided to just go au naturel for the remainder of his visit. The other thing was that some of the visits had just become pure excuses for eating. Whereas on his first few he had tried to give detailed replies to questions, now he just gave as short an answer as possible to lessen the delay he had to push another claw full of food into his beak. Some hosts had seemed to be a bit disappointed in his short responses but had just accepted them.

In any case, it was mid-morning and Avery was just coming to. It was now far easier to get out of bed since he broke it a few days back. During a particularly heavy session where he had indulged even more than usual he had quickly learned that flopping into bed with his now huge weight was a terrible idea. The mattress now like him, laid on the floor.

He managed with some effort to haul himself up onto all fours, the event last night had been so dull. Some dining soiree put on by another large pony, he tried to remember. Was he the owner of a fast food chain? Or a chain of shops? Whoever he was, he was a boaster. He had spent the entire evening droning on and on to Avery between bites of his meal about the “Glorious history of The Empire.” and telling him all about how ponies had discovered being bigger was always better. He had at one point even tried to insinuate that with the gryphons isolating themselves, they had missed out on years of eating and pleasure. Avery had just nodded and eaten, he was sure he had managed to pack away more pounds than his host. He was still feeling the effects of the meal even now, he had come to love how his body felt as it digested all that food - just hours of pure bliss as it turned calories into pounds over a prolonged period.

As he now waddled over to the other side of the room, massive gut dragging along the floor (Avery being quite pleased it was nicely carpeted so it didn’t hurt) he decided to check his weight on the large scales in the bathroom. As the digital counter ticked up, it made him smile when it finally came to a stop on just over one thousand pounds. At last, Avery was rather satisfied than in just a few months he had managed to hit that magical four figure number. He was convinced he was now the largest and fattest gryphon in existence or in fact that had ever existed, but he still had a ways to go if he was really going to impress everyone back home.

The eating though was not just taking a toll on his body in terms of his now impressive size. He decided to call on Docket to see if there was anything he could suggest to remedy the situation. The stallion was still mobile, but having eaten with Avery now for a few months he was starting to hit that point of immobility. Wheezing from the effort of having to travel to the room, Docket appeared in the large lounge area.

“You called Avery?” he asked.

“I need some...huff...advice.” Avery replied, leaning his body on the wide sofa which creaked a little. “This is all wonderful, I’ve really embraced the lifestyle but...oohhhhh…”

His stomach rumbled and Avery gripped it. The pain. Every time he ate he was finding that there was this huge pain. He could push through it but the bigger he was getting the worse he was finding it. He had to ask for some advice.

“Do ponies get this? ...burp!... It hurts.” Avery asked, pointing to his belly which was still rumbling somewhat.

“Oh? Yes - at least when we first start. It’s normal. Whilst your physiology isn’t built to take being so large it can do so. It just uh...protests a little.” Docket said. “Ponies are less affected by it these days from centuries of being huge. I imagine however you’re experiencing it as bad as the first of the big ponies.” Docket said. “I can recommend an all natural remedy.” he said.

“Oh really...what?” Avery asked, keen to hear any idea that might remove the pain or even reduce it a little.

“This.” Docket said, putting a hoof on Avery’s belly and gently starting to rub it. “I must say, with feathers your body isn’t as smooth but it's still rather rubbable.” he said with a smile. “But I think you need a heavier dose than just me. Wait here.” the stallions said, leaving the room and Avery to sit a little flummoxed as to what exactly had just happened. When he returned, with him were two similarly large stallions who were dressed in rather sparring clothing, save for a belt that apparently held what looked to be tools but instead it was equipped with sponges, loofahs and other soft things.

“Uhm, who are ...huff... they?” Avery asked.

“Names for these two are not important. Their role is to attend to those stomach aches. Ponies still get them from time to time and there are services that provide relief.” Docket explained. “I’ll leave them to work their magic, oh, and some advice. It’s much more fun when you’re being fed as well.” he teased, before shutting the door behind him, leaving Avery alone with the two obese stallions.

“Well...get to...urp!... work.” was all he said. The two just grinned, kneading their hooves into his large belly and starting to work their way around his rolls. Almost immediately, Avery felt relief. The stomach ache started to subside as the two attended to his now most delicate area of his body. He huffed slightly, quite a few times they were coming a bit too close for comfort to his cock, which was starting to twitch at the attention his body was getting.

For a moment, Avery closed his eyes - just enjoying being rubbed all over. Not one, but two personal assistants to do this? Such a delight. When he felt a hoof gently open his maw and push in a large slice of cake, he didn’t even protest or act the slightest bit surprised. It seemed not only were the two paid to ease his discomfort, but make him feel most attended to as well.

Being fed and rubbed was making him blush, huff and let out little chirps of delight as he felt his cock stiffen up at the attention. Sweat started to coat his body as he struggled to stay under control, bits of cake coating his body as he began to eat so quickly he was failing to get all of the food in his break. He saw the two stallions notice and just continue their work, paying all their attention on his belly and taking alternate turns to feed him slices of cake to ensure his beak was full at all times. With the stomach ache eased, Avery could freely eat as much as they could feed him and eagerly ate whatever they pushed down his maw quite happily. He wanted nothing else but to be fed and attended to like this for the rest of his visit, the next ten months would be rather wonderful. It felt so good.

Departure day.

He knew it was coming and that his time was limited, so Avery had made sure to make the most of his time

There was little resembling the Avery that had landed on Hengroen twelve months ago, apart from the fact he was still a gryphon.

Whale. Yes. Whale. That aptly described him. He had given up weighing himself, well, when the scales had become too small for him to fit on. He had forgotten the number now, it had been several months ago. His blobby exterior spoke for itself. That once smart, perfectly preened and attended to physique had become utterly corrupted by almost endless, bloated rolls of fat that jiggled and wobbled as he moved. Sweat constantly dripped off him, now at such an immense size Avery seemed to be sweating a small river of fluids. Ten times the size he had come here as, maybe even more. Every day had been an eating session with the goal of really showing up his family back home. When Docket had brought the personal eating assistants, well, he had just given in completely to the gluttony - spending most days at home being fed and rubbed and toyed with until he exploded in passion from all the feeding and attention.

Last night's session had been particularly wonderful. As a parting gift the two ponies who had been attending to him all this time had brought some special Equestrian treats to fill his stomach with before he was sent home. Avery swore he had bloated up even more being fed this food, but how much more? Who could say.

He tried to get up from the remains of the bed. He covered all of it now, broken so long ago but he had still used the mattress for comfort. He hadn’t moved from this spot in so long or even tried to for that matter that Avery hadn’t even realised he had crossed the boundary into immobility some time ago. His useless legs and even more useless claws wiggled around, buried in fat, he gave up. Luckily as ever, Docket was there to see to his needs. The stallion had kept eating himself but when he crossed into immobility, procured a pad. It had allowed him to stay on as Avery’s assistant for the rest of his stay.

“I thought this might happen.” Docket said with a grin. “Luckily, I’ve come prepared.”

Avery suddenly felt at first, cold metal under him. This changed quickly to a rather plush and soft material, much nicer and comfier than his bed. As he was brought up off the floor he groaned, trying to adjust to his new permanent placement.

“Is this a ...urp!... pad?” he asked.

“Yes, one of the best of course for you. It’s the only way we’ll be able to move you to your ship and well, for you to move now period. I’m afraid you’re far too large to take the same one home so we’ll need to send you in one of ours. Don’t worry, its hold is packed with food.” Docket said with a smile, leading Avery out as Docket controlled not only his pad, but Avery’s from his controls. “I’d say you made quite an impression, in the first few months for your diplomacy and in your last few for how you’ve shown us that you could indeed keep to the values we hold dear. Avery you’ve a body worthy of the fattest of us.” Docket said, pleased.

“Just… BUUURRRPPPP... doing my best.” Avery replied, feeling his folds and fat jiggle around him as the device moved him out of the building and towards the spaceport to head home. The bloated bird felt his breathing was laboured, it had become so much more difficult to do it at the size he was. Almost as if it was no longer a voluntary action. This was only punctuated by belches that constantly now seemed to erupt from him maw due to the fact his body was almost non-stop processing huge amounts of food. He had a little time to talk to Docket before they parted ways. “You’ve really opened my ….huff…. eyes...and my mouth I suppose.”

“It was what I intended to do from the start to help you fit in. Don’t you agree now gluttony is better?” he asked.

“Mmmm...very much so. I want you to pass on my contact information to your superiors. I could never be fed like this on Roost. I want ...UURRRPPPPPP... shipments of only the finest pony foods to be sent to Roost as soon as possible. Whilst I am ...BWAARRRRPPPP... intending to eventually show the population the benefits of being big, ....huff…. I firstly want to make sure my own needs are attended to.” Avery said.

“More than understandable. I am sure with some cooperation from yourselves we could start trading immediately.” Docket replied.

“Good …burp!... good…” Avery said. The two continued to talk until they arrived back to the spaceport. Avery had done it, when he returned to Roost as the biggest gryphon ever, they’d have to see just how beneficial this exchange of foods could be. It wasn’t like father could protest or even do anything, Avery could simply crush him under his massive, gargantuan belly. He wondered how quickly he could go through the ship's supplies. Rather than browsing news articles on the way back, he intended to do nothing but eat. Avery was determined to make sure himself and eventually the population of Roost would do nothing but grow.