The town they had come to was not well stocked. None of them ever really were except the bigger ones that had lots of traders passing through. Hopevale was not such a town in the Equestrian Wasteland. Situated in the middle of nowhere, to Desert Glow and Spanner it seemed like a sleepy town that relied on farming to feed its very small population.
The two were having a break. They had been travelling for a number of days to the next large town up the road to trade and hauling a caravan was heavy work. Although over the years Glow had done what she could to make pulling it less work (there was some useful tech she had come across scavenging that helped pull the wooden beast) she still wanted to take a break here for a day before travelling on. Besides, it was always safer in a populated area than stopping on the road where anything out in the Equestrian Wasteland could sneak up on you in the night.
Being a caravan merchant as well as a scavenger Glow was quite familiar with her usual trade routes, however recently they had been somewhat slow. Ponies trying to get whatever they could for an absolute bare minimum amount of caps. That was always the way but in the last few months it seemed to have gotten worse. Spanner had suggested perhaps they should try a route they weren’t familiar with to see if it yielded better results. Having a hungry belly could persuade ponies to do things they wouldn’t normally, so Glow had agreed to the idea.
The day was drawing to a close. Scavenging had proved...somewhat better than normal, is how Glow would describe it. A new route brought with it new places to find old tech. Their old regular routes she and Spanner knew all the best spots and some of them were starting to dry up. Picked clean not just by them two, but others who had stumbled upon them as well.
It was the last customer of the day that would prove to be the most interesting. Glow and Spanner hadn’t quite sold everything (other items had been traded with no caps changing hooves) and had gotten just enough money together to buy a meal from the town's only kitchen. Being a town of mostly farmers, Mutfruit was pretty much all that was on the menu. Glow was just packing away when she felt a tap on her shoulder.
“Excuse me, miss?” came the question.
“We’re closing up.” Glow said, packing up another box into her caravan. “But one more sale wouldn’t hurt. You buying or selling?” she asked.
“Selling.” the pony replied.
“Selling air?” Glow sarcastically responded. Apart from a rather ragged shawl on the back of the mare she was speaking to it wasn’t obvious that she had anything of value on her.
“No, information. The location of a Stable.” the mare responded.
Glow tilted her head to one side, she saw Spanner’s ears prick up at the mention of the word.
“Stables are all over the place lady. Most picked clean by now or closed off to the outside world. Don’t even get me started on the horrors some contain.” Glow said, putting a few more crates away. “How do I know you’re not just gonna sell me some hooey and trot away with my caps?” she asked.
“Look I’ve known about it for quite some time, just kept the information to myself. I came across it while looking for better, more fertile land to farm from. Times are rougher than usual and I need caps, or heck even bits, to last over the winter. Crop harvest hasn’t been too good this year. I need money, knowing the location of a Stable if I can’t do anything with it is useless to me. Maybe you can make use of it? We get so few traders in Hopevale. You’re the first in weeks.” the mare explained.
“Give me a moment.” Glow said, vanishing inside her caravan and giving Spanner a hoof gesture to follow her. Once inside, Glow just sighed. She wasn’t sure what to make of it.
“What do you think?” she asked Spanner.
“Well...she hasn’t said anything about it. Like you say could be picked clean, sealed off or something else terrible. But she won’t sell us the location or give us more until we pay her. If we’re lucky, we could find a treasure trove. Or we’re going to get scammed.” Spanner replied.
Glow looked out the window of the caravan at the mare waiting outside. She could see she was stick thin. Poor thing probably hadn’t eaten in days. There was something about her expression though and the way she spoke that conveyed desperation to Glow. Like she wouldn’t be doing this unless she had to. She turned back to Spanner.
“Well, only one way to find out. But I’m not paying her more than ten caps. Any more than that and we can’t eat ourselves.” Glow said.
“Alright, I agree.” Spanner replied. The two exited the caravan.
“What do you want for the information?” Glow asked.
“Twenty caps.” she said.
“Sorry boss, can’t do more than ten. Otherwise we’re going hungry tonight as well.” Glow responded. She saw the mare fidget and weigh up her options.
“For Ten caps...and the spark battery you got there and I’ll show one of you the way.” she said, trying to sweeten the deal. “Does it have any charge?”
“Enough to probably power wherever you live for a month or so.” Glow replied. She wasn’t fussed about the battery, she and Spanner had found it today. No idea if it had any charge or it was dead. If it was dead and this information was a dud, she’d consider it a fair trade. “I’ll throw it in.”
“Deal.”
The two shook hooves and Spanner gave her the ten bits and the spark battery, which the mare quickly hid under her shawl. “So what do you know about this Stable then?” Spanner asked.
“It’s not far, I guess you’ll be the one joining me. It’s maybe a few hours travel from town to the east. I’ll lead you there at sunrise tomorrow so we’re not spotted heading for it. As for its condition, it’s sealed. You’re going to have to find some way of opening the Stable yourself. Got anything in your caravan?” the mare asked.
“Probably something. That’s not really your concern. Just lead me there and we’ll call it even okay?” Glow interjected.
“Okay.” she replied. “I’ll see you tomorrow bright and early.” the mare said, turning on her hooves and heading home, leaving Glow and Spanner at their caravans.
“So what do you think now?” Glow asked Spanner, who was packing away the final boxes.
“I think a sealed Stable is bad news.” was all she said. “I don’t like the idea of you going alone without me.”
“Well, we’ve survived worse out here. If it looks bad, I’ll come get you. We’ll see what happens tomorrow. Now let's get some food.” Glow said, locking her caravan door. The two headed into the tiny town, eager to get something after a day of scavenging and travelling.
-
There was a rapping at her caravan door. Glow yawned. She was used to early starts but the sun was still just about cresting above the horizon line. She opened one eye lazily and looked out her window. The mare from yesterday was outside, already waiting and looking around rather nervously.
“I know you said sunrise but the suns hardly up yet.” Glow ventured as she opened her door, still yawning.
“Ponies in this town get...suspicious of outsiders, especially if townsfolk leave with them.” she explained. “Best to do this whilst they’re all sleeping still. They won’t think much if you’ve vanished by the time they’re all awake. Traders leaving for an early start to get to the next big place? That’s normal. They might just question why your friend has stayed behind. I slipped a cover story through her door.” she said.
“Fine, just give me five minutes to hitch up.” Glow said, she was too sleepy to argue and she was here. Best to just get on with it rather than send her away and waste ten bits. In five minutes as promised she was ready to go.
“We’ll stick to the main road for a little just in case. They might have heard me knocking on your door and be watching.” the mare said.
“Lovely. You lead the way.” Glow replied.
Glow didn’t recognise the landscape, having not really travelled here before. She was quite happy to stick to the main road for a while. After about thirty minutes of trotting, caravan in tow, the mare pointed a hoof to her left and abruptly cut off the beaten path into the desert. Not having a choice, Glow followed. Hauling a cart off road was always more of a chore and the couple of hours that the mare had talked about to get there turned into most of the morning. When they finally arrived, the first thing Glow did was survey the Stable door from a ridgeline. There didn’t seem to be anypony for miles. Once happy, the two of them made their way to the entrance.
“I’m amazed nopony else has found this. It’s not exactly well hidden.” Glow remarked. The entrance despite being in the middle of a desert was only really obscured by the ridge line and some small outcroppings. The entrance itself was set into the side of a small hillock. She figured anypony with eyes would have seen the shiny silver door from a fair distance away.
“I came across it a few months ago. Like I say, I was out here trying to find more fertile land.” was all the mare said. “Look I need to get back to town, otherwise they’ll notice I’m gone.”
“Fine you can go, we’re even.” Glow said, unhitching herself. Without even saying goodbye the mysterious mare vanished back into the desert leaving her alone at the stable entrance.
“Well she was a strange one.” Glow remarked to herself.
Glow had heard tales of Stables like everypony else in the Equestrian Wasteland. This one looked exactly as they were described in stories. A whacking great circular door almost cog-like in its design barring entry with only a small computer monitor nearby to get in. Nopony was getting inside without some serious firepower, or the pass code. Glow observed it. The numbers 89, badly faded, adorned the door.
Glow wasn’t just a scavenger, she was rather an adept hacker. She approached the console for entry reading the instructions on it.
STABLE 89.
ENTRANCE CODE:
That was all it said. No options to do anything else. Rather than try to brute force her way in Glow went back to her caravan. She had a rather nifty device she had put together years ago that was perfect for hacking doors. Maybe it could hack a stable door too.
She hooked it up the entrance console and watched as it connected, the screen flickering slightly as its software plowed through the ancient computer mainframe that kept ponies who weren’t meant to be inside, out, to find the right password. She sat, watching the screen occasionally jump about as it did its thing. The huge string of possibilities began to lessen down. Clearly, the creators of this Stable weren’t very password conscious and she grinned a little when her device inputted the code of 8989 as the four digit password.
ENTRANCE CODE ACCEPTED.
There was a rumble as the door rolled back, vanishing inside the entryway and off to the side. Dust that had lay untouched for centuries fell to the floor. Glow had one final cursory look around to make sure she wasn’t being watched and then headed inside. If she went to get Spanner she was worried somepony else might stumble upon it before they could return. Best to check it out now and see what treasures or disappointment the facility held. The door slid shut behind her, if Spanner wanted to get in or came looking, she knew enough about the device attached to the door to run the passcode cracker again.
Not having seen the inside of one herself before she was very surprised when she trotted in, turning a flashlight on as she did so. Most Stables, from what she understood, were rusted useless old things that hardly functioned. Technology and facility abused for decades by the ponies that dwelled inside or just simply from the fact they were abandoned and left to be scavenged by ponies such as herself or raiders from across the Equestrian Wasteland. Apart from the dust though, everything inside looked untouched. Almost like a time machine to back before the war. Nopony clearly had made it to this Stable. She assumed it was never reached due to its remote location and then had automatically sealed itself. But everything was here, just waiting for ponies to occupy it. Apart from the dust, she was already finding a veritable treasure trove of items she could sell with Spanner. As long as she marked the Stable’s location and sealed the door each time this place could keep them in caps for years. Or heck, they could even move in.
There was only one problem, it was dark. She was currently observing all these goodies with her flashlight. The power was off. Poking in further, she decided the first thing to do was to see if she could restore power to the Stable.
There was always something eerie about an abandoned facility like this. Stables in particular held a fascination with the ponies of the Equestrian Wasteland. So many stories. As Glow explored, she tried not to let her mind wander to the more unpleasant ones.
Coming across the diner, she made a note that the food supply was fully stocked and still sealed in ration like packs and the nearby underground hydroponics bays despite unused looked in good condition as well to start production once the initial supplies ran out. She couldn’t help herself though, a find like this in itself was utterly amazing and Glow helped herself to a meal before carrying on.
Further down, finally the mare made it to the lab level which also from memory of what she knew about Stables housed the reactor as well. The labs looked similarly untouched as the rest of the facility, passing through she eventually got to the reactor.
Despite having sat idle for hundreds of years, the reactor started up and slowly lights came on. Cool air started to circulate throughout the Stable. Glow breathed a small sigh of relief. She felt safer with the lights on and fresh air to breath rather than the stale air that she had been choking down as she explored. A quick check of the reactor console showed all systems working as normal, it seemed time had not done any damage or caused any of its parts to cease up amazingly.
Heading back to the lab, she decided to try to find out what was going on with the Stable. All Stables had some sort of purpose. Most were Megaspell shelters but others functioned not only as shelters but more. She wondered if this was one that fell under the but more category.
There were several computer terminals in the lab. The room was laid out clearly with the idea of having somepony in charge and the rest working as assistants to whoever ran the lab. Therefore, she went for the terminal that looked as though it was the most important one at the head of the room separated from all the others.
With power now restored to the Stable, all she had to do was flick the on switch. The machine was silent for a moment and then whirred on and started to go through a boot up cycle. Glow had her suspicions confirmed that the facility was never staffed or occupied as the device went through a first time boot up sequence. Glow watched as the machine flashed checksum tests to make sure everything was as it expected before loading in to the main screen. Thankfully, she was somewhat familiar with these types of machines as they were used outside of Stables for other purposes.
She was disappointed. The machine obviously held no logs or any records that explained the function of the Stable, having never been used. She had hoped there were some pre-set instructions on the device but there wasn’t even that. There was only one thing of any interest that sat on the desktop.
START EXPERIMENT: EVERLAST.
Perhaps now she should get Spanner? But thoughts of having the Stable discovered before they could make use of it ticked over in her mind again. What was life without adventure? She pressed on the icon.
To her left somewhat pressed into the wall that she had failed to notice before a small door opened. Getting up from the terminal she trotted over. Behind the door was a rather inconspicuous chamber. There was a light hum, as if the facility was waiting for it to be occupied. Glow had gone this far, she figured she may as well see if stepping inside would do anything.
As soon as she did, the door slid shut behind her. The interior of the chamber had no buttons or seemingly any way that she could stop what was happening. She’d have to hope the ancient program hadn’t developed any problems in all the time it had been switched off and see it through. The hum vanished from her ears, now to be replaced by a hissing instead. A lightly coloured gas started to fill it, sending Glow into a panic as she banged on the door looking for a way out. Eventually, she couldn’t even see outside the door through its tiny window, the gas obscuring her vision as she coughed and spluttered breathing it in. It filled her lungs, her whole body in fact. The taste and smell was not very pleasant. Just as Glow thought she was going to pass out from the lack of regular oxygen, the hissing faded and the gas was sucked away through vents as the door opened. Glow stumbled out, still coughing.
The mare rushed to the medical clinic which she had spied earlier, just not stopped at. Very afraid, she ran as fast as she could to get there. She knew they had a machine to just give a general health check of overall pony fitness in Stables. She hoped this one had a similar device.
Finding the clinic and following the instructions for the machine, she panted waiting for the test results to be spit out on screen. All it displayed right now was LOADING.
“Hurry damn you!” she blurted out, watching the bars slowly creep up as the device loaded in its test results.
TEST COMPLETE. NO PHYSICAL ABNORMALITIES DETECTED. ACCEPTABLE LOW LEVEL OF RADIATION IN SUBJECT. OTHERWISE HEALTHY.
Glow breathed the biggest sigh of relief she had done in her life. The gas as far as she could feel and the machine was telling her had been harmless. She had no idea what its purpose even was. To see how long ponies could stand not breathing? What a strange experiment. The computer had no logs or explanation on what that Everlast thing was, she had double checked. Perhaps the lab had more though? She started to make her way back to find out.
On her way back, she passed the diner she had stopped at before. This time though, it caught her eye. It was different.
Glow had to make sure in her head, but it was. One of the walls, previously bare, no longer was. Its once blank space was now occupied by small metal platforms along the bottom that housed terminals above them. She could only assume that as the Stable was active, these had appeared from behind the wall when the facility was powered up. Beneath and around these terminals, there were also a number of small hatches.
She stepped on one of the platforms and felt it move slightly under her weight. When she did so, the terminal in front of her that aligned with the platform came on. On the screen after a small load up sequence, it displayed her weight. Glow never knew how much she weighed so this made her smile, it was somewhat of a novelty to see.
There was something else though. The terminal also displayed the Stables stored food supply. She started to read down the list. Fancy Buck Cake and Honey Drops were some of the things that caught her eye. She decided to press the button next to the Fancy Buck Cake to see what would happen.
She heard something mechanical presumably happening behind the wall of the terminal, but shortly after she pressed the button one Fancy Buck Cake appeared from the hatch below. She stepped off the scale and the terminal shut down, with Glow picking the cake up and taking it over to one of the many tables in the diner.
She figured it was a bad idea to waste what the terminal had given her, taking the packaging off and sniffing the food the cake seemed to have been well stored over the years. There wasn’t any visible mould and it smelled like...food. Glow took a bite. It was indescribable. She had never tasted something like this in her life. Sweet foods just didn’t exist really anymore, so to actually taste it was something else. Within minutes of starting to eat the cake it was gone. Glow licked her lips in satisfaction. A machine that served up sweet foods just at the press of a button? Absolutely marvellous.
There was something Glow didn’t know however. The gas in the chamber was a chem that had invaded her body. The medical computer wouldn’t have picked up on it because of its composition. Being the first variant of the experiment and never improved upon, it wasn’t quite perfect. Although Glow didn’t know it yet, that cake she just ate would turn into a craving. A craving for high calorie foods to be specific. Perhaps if the Stable had been occupied the ponies who were supposed to work on it in the lab could have stopped it being imperfect, that’s what they would have been there to do - but now long dead and with only the first iteration in the Stable it was going to start affecting Glow. She just had no idea. It was flawed. The chem slowed her metabolism and that craving for high calorie foods was just going to get more intense.
-
Having eaten and not knowing how big the cake supply was, Glow decided that she had best start making an inventory of sorts of the Stable. What was useful, what they could take to sell and what they couldn’t. Just something rough to take back to Spanner so they could discuss it. A salvage list, so to speak.
She decided to start back at the lab, not daring to go anywhere near the terminal she had used to access the chamber or the chamber itself. There were plenty of high end, basically pristine computers here that could be sold as is or even taken apart and their components used to fix other things as well as a plethora of other items. Luckily it also had quite a lot of clipboards with paper and pens readily available. There was a gentle hum of magic as Glow levitated the pen in the air and made notes as to what was in the room. Actually making an inventory of all this stuff was hungry work and before Glow went on exploring the actual depths of the Stable, she made another stop at the diner.
Everything was still there. Once more the mare stood on the little scales in front of the terminal. It now displayed her as a few pounds heavier than before. She dismissed it as just being that her body wasn’t used to such foods having survived all her life on the scraps of the Equestrian Wasteland. Perhaps all food back before the war was this indulgent? She had no idea. She never knew the world before it all. She had only heard tales of those wonderful green verdant lands that were now long gone and lost to history. In any case, another cake wouldn’t hurt. She pressed the button on the terminal and waited a few moments like before for another of the cakes to appear. It was presented to her via the serving hatch and she happily ate it before heading back to her archiving.
Near the diner was a number of living quarters as you’d expect to find in a stable that was meant to keep ponies in comfortable conditions. She started with the closest, finding the door unlocked. Of course it was rather sparse looking. Just a bed, some storage space and a few of the bare essentials. Glow made some more inventory notes. There were a few things in here of value, if very little. In any case, that was another room and she wanted another cake. Perhaps one of those cakes between rooms would be okay? It might slow her progress sure, but it’s not like she had anything but time to explore the facility. Spanner would be okay back at town until she came to get here anyhow.
And so it went. Explore a room, inventory, trip to the diner, eat a cake.
Explore a room, inventory, trip to the diner, eat a cake.
Explore a room, inventory, trip to the diner, eat a cake.
The Stable was large. Beyond the living quarters, Glow also guessed it would have the standard sort of rooms that Stables were known to have. She expected she’d find a command centre, guard stations. Perhaps even an Overmare’s quarters and office? It was going to take her some time to make a note of everything. Why leave? Obviously she was a little worried about Spanner becoming concerned for her being gone so long but the Stable had everything she needed. Food, somewhere to sleep and it was warm. Importantly it was also safe, nopony knew she was here apart from Spanner and it was very unlikely to be found by others being so far from anything.
Glow decided to herself that she’d spent the needed amount of nights to get everything in the Stable of value inventoried properly. She wanted to make sure that her and Spanner could get as much out of this place as they could. It was worth spending the extra time to do so. Plus the diner was conveniently located near a cross section of the Stable that meant she had to pass near it from time to time to access other parts for her inventorying. As the week went on and Glow continued to work her way through the facility, she found she was finding more and more excuses to stop at the diner and reasons to just ‘head that way’ if needed. Each time she did, the scales she stepped on to almost magically make that cake appear read her weight out on the display. She watched with each stop as it climbed. She was always a little underweight simply due to her world. Before the first cake, the scale had read one hundred and forty eight pounds. Now she was on her third day of work and it was reading just under three hundred. Those little cakes were small but they certainly packed a calorie punch that added pounds. The trouble was, Glow was finding she couldn’t stay away from them.
As the week continued, Glow was noticing her clothes were starting to become tight as well. The mare was rather normally dressed for an Equestrian Wastelander. Just some simple leather armour, pauldrons. She would have had her saddlebags, but with her caravan outside she had left them there. Periodically she went to check it was still there but every time she did there was no change, just the desert having whipped away the tracks of the wheels from it in the breeze. If anypony was going to find her, it wasn’t by following her caravan's trail now.
But back to the more pressing point. Her clothing was becoming rather tight the more of the cakes she consumed. She probably could have had the whole place inventoried in a few days but progress had been...somewhat slower than she was hoping for, mainly due to the frequent stops for more food. Her added weight was also hampering progress too. She was finding it harder to move down the narrow corridors and through doorways to get to new rooms. Thank Celestia she was a Unicorn and could levitate the inventory pad rather than using her hooves. Despite being slow, it made the work easier.
After the fifth day and making use of yet another room (this one appeared to be the Overmare’s room, being better furnished better than the rest) to sleep in, Glow had groggily not taken in much of the surroundings apart from seeing the large comfy bed and using it to sleep on. When she woke up, she noticed the room had a number of differences to others and magically grabbed the inventory list to take note of the items. One thing on the wall was a mirror. In the Equestrian Wasteland, these were generally old, dirty and the glass hardly showed anything unless you squinted. This one was full length, almost spotless (apart from the usual dust) and for once, Glow could properly see herself.
It wasn’t hard to see just how much she had gained. Her stomach sagged low under her body's frame and was pretty close to touching the floor. The rest of her had bulked up too. She wasn’t aware ponies could have such thick and bountiful flanks and thighs. She watched in the mirror as her own face went rather red, embarrassed at just how much she had indulged herself while working to gain so much weight. The thing was, it didn’t stop her going for more once she trotted away from the mirror and in fact her first stop was the diner to get some breakfast.
A big breakfast. She had a plan to do more inventorying today and be done with it. Two cakes...hmm. Would the terminal allow her to order two? She stepped on the scale. Her displayed weight now pushed five hundred pounds. Only glancing at, and then choosing to ignore the numbers she tried tapping the button twice with her hooves. At first as per normal one cake appeared which she quickly ate. As soon as she removed it from the hatch, there was another one waiting. It seemed there was no limit to how many she ordered.
In any case, on with the work. There was a room towards the end of the living quarters she had not managed to get to yet. She’d start there.
As she approached, her ears pricked up. There was a noise she didn’t recognise as some part of the facility. The air system, heating etc all made a regular noise. But this was different.
“Hup, hup, hup, hup!”
It sounded like a pony, but more metallic. Less...real. As she got closer the hup, hup, hup, hup! continued in a sort of rhythmic fashion but not quite as regular as an automated machine. To Glow’s surprise, when she did get to the room she found it was a fitness facility. Some machines in here she had seen before but severely altered in nature to some other more useful purpose. Everything however was laid out neatly, apart from one machine at the end of the room that appeared to be bobbing up and down on the spot.
It had no legs to speak of, just a ball body and a number of metal arms that were moving with it so it could keep balance. Clearly, it was not a pony, but it was responsible for the noise she was hearing. It also appeared to have three eyes. One split evenly apart from the others on the body they occupied. It looked like a Mister Handy, she had seen them....rarely, but like most things in the Equestrian Wasteland they were rusted and often quite badly run down. This one looked brand new, like everything else in the Stable. Glow peeked herself a little bit around the corner of the entrance she was observing it from slightly more. Damn! She had forgotten her rifle. She was just about to sneak away to get it when the machine noticed her.
“Ah! A resident! Here for some fitness!? Hup hup hup hup! Come in, come in!” it said, before going back to bobbing up and down.
Well, it seemed harmless. It had rather pleasantly invited her into the room. Glow decided now she had been spotted it was best to approach and try to deal with the thing.
“Um, not exactly. Are you a Mister Handy?” she decided to ask it just to confirm her suspicions.
“Indeed, indeed!” the robot enthusiastically chimed back. “Assigned to this Stable to help keep the residents fit and healthy! Speaking of...my dear, you look like you’re in dire need of my services.” the robot quipped, extending its metal arms and pushing at her fat stomach which jiggled slightly at the prodding. “Oh dear, too many Fancy Buck Cakes hmmm?” it asked.
“Hey! You know for a robot you’re pretty judgemental.” Glow snapped back.
“Part of my programming dear. If I don’t judge, I can’t make you feel bad about being overweight can I?!” the robot answered matter-of-factly.
“Do you even have a name? Or are you just Mister Handy?” Glow asked.
“Officially yes. But for the purposes of this Stable, Robronco designated me as Richard. Rich if you prefer for familiarity.” the robot replied.
“Very well...Rich. Anyway look. It’s a long story, I am not a Stable resident. I’m just here to take inventory of everything. I can see you’re clearly very busy…” Glow started to trail off in an attempt to leave, but found that Rich was already pushing her towards a treadmill, unable to resist his strength now at her bloated size. Quickly, she found she was trotting on it.
“Busy!? Never too busy to help a pony in need such as yourself. You are a porker madame, clearly life on the surface must be very good indeed.” the robot carried on.
‘He clearly has no idea what’s happened to Equestria. But if I tell it, it might go crazy. Best to just play along and slip away once the ‘workout’ is over…’ Glow thought to herself. She decided to ask another question as she trotted on the treadmill to figure out if the robot really had no idea what had happened.
“So uh, Rich. How long have you been active?” she asked.
“Oh, only five days! It was the darnedest thing you see. The Stable was, as far as my programming tells me, meant to be active long ago! But with no power, I couldn’t function! When somepony turned the reactor on, do I have you to thank for that? I was activated! I’ve just been prepping the gym waiting for arrivals since then.” it blabbered. Clearly the robot was a small font of information and Glow decided to push it a bit further as she was forced to work out which was very hard work at her size. In fact the ancient treadmill seemed to be struggling a little as her hooves hammered down on it with such force due to her heftiness.
“Only five days huh? And your purpose is just to keep residents fit, nothing else?” she asked.
“That’s all I am programmed for! There are ponies to fulfil the other functions!” it replied.
“I see...can you tell me anything about this Stable?” she asked.
“Well nothing I doubt you already know, you found it clearly!” the robot replied, giving her a helpful push on her flanks with its metal arms to encourage more trotting. Glow felt them squish somewhat behind her.
“Indulge me.” Glow asked. “While I trot.”
“Very well. Stable Eighty Nine. Remote testing facility, built to house one hundred ponies. Mostly scientists, although you don’t look much like one.” the robot commented. “In fact your clothes are quite alien to what I’d expect. In any case. Most files are restricted, I can only tell you that we’re here to test something and that keeping all you scientists in tip top shape for doing so is my priority!” he finished off.
“And nothing else?” Glow asked.
“That’s all I can tell you miss, any other information is above my access clearance.” the robot replied.
“Fine, well thank you Rich. That was most...invigorating. Listen I have some urgent uh...testing to do.” Glow scrambled at words, trying to think of a good excuse to get out of the gym. “So I’ll be back later for another session! Can you leave the gym?” she asked.
“Oh no miss, limited to just being in this room! I can only leave if the Overmare orders it.” the robot explained. “Yes, do come back as soon as possible. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pony quite as big as you! Well, I’ve never anypony before...but that’s besides…”
Before it could finish blabbering on, Glow waddled her way out the gym and shut the door to it behind her, sighing as she did so. She had never really had a chance to talk to a Mister Handy before. Were they all such blabbermouths like that one? In any case, she made a big note on the clipboard.
GYM - MISTER HANDY (RICH) - FIND HOW TO DISABLE.
She then from memory listed the other equipment in the room. What a nightmare. As she sighed, she let her weight sag. A faint pop was heard as the buckle holding her belt on her waist decided she was now far too big for it and snapped off.
“Maybe he had a point…” Glow conceded. She sighed. There were more rooms to inventory...and more cakes to eat.
-
Glow had made an effort to avoid the gym for the last two days it took her to finish up. She wondered if that chatty robot was still hovering about in the room, probably wondering where she was.
She had taken residence now in the Overmare’s quarters. It had the best bed after all. It had been seven days since she had started her work and there was just a few more rooms to do. Finally she could head back to town and tell Spanner about all the caps they’d get for the place, they’d be able to live like Equestrian Wasteland queens for the rest of their days.
The mare dragged herself out of bed. For the past couple of days she hadn’t paid attention to her weight on the scales when she had stopped at the diner for another Fancy Buck Cake. Once it had gone over seven hundred pounds she had somewhat lost interest in the climbing number.
Her mobility was...well vanishing. She could still move around but it was becoming increasingly harder. That snapping belt a few days ago seemed like a somewhat fleeting memory. Her leather clothing had stretched to its limit. Leather didn’t have much stretch anyway and some of it she had been forced to take off to accommodate her increasingly massive body. First stop was breakfast though. Glow licked her lips, by chance, she fancied some Fancy Buck Cakes.
The mare dragged her now floor bound belly to the diner, pushing it up onto the scales which groaned somewhat as they protested the increased weight they had to put up with. Glow glanced at the scale. Clearly whoever had programmed the terminal hadn’t taken into account ponies could get bigger than three figures. The terminal read nine hundred and ninety nine pounds and went no higher. She assumed she was heavier than this as it went straight to the displayed readout and no higher. Glow didn’t really care. She just wanted cake.
Pressing the button multiple times she decided she didn’t even want to bother with the formality of a table this morning. She simply leaned her greedy maw down to the hatch and let it slide the cake right into her waiting open mouth (of course, removing the packaging first). One hoof on the button ready to press as soon as she devoured a cake Glow treated herself to a monster breakfast of the Fancy Buck Cakes. Thirty minutes later she was done, letting out a rather loud UUUUUUUURRRRRPPPPP! to signal her satisfaction as such a hearty meal.
“Hnnng!”
Glow was rather...well, she could pull herself off the scales but that was it. She had eaten just a few too many cakes. Puffing and panting at the effort of just pulling her massive stomach off the scales she came to rest on the floor of the diner. No matter how hard she wiggled her legs or tried with as much effort as she could muster, there was no movement. She was so fat, mobility was no longer an option for her. This was a concern. She started to panic a little.
“Rich? RICH!?” she yelled, trying in vain to call out to the robot. Annoying as he was, he was the only one about who could help her. But then she remembered his programming. No leaving the gym unless the Overmare ordered it. Darn. The door to the gym was shut too so it was unlikely he could hear her yelling. Perhaps she could contact him via the terminal?...
“Glow!?”
There was a response. Not one she was expecting. It was the voice of Spanner.
“Spanner!? Down here! I’m in the diner…”
Spanner appeared before her. Glow watched as her jaw nearly hit the floor and then Spanner remembering what manners she had, quickly closed it again.
“What the heck happened to you!?” Spanner asked. “I’ve heard horror stories about these stables but never a pony ending up like you!”
“It’s uh...a long story.” Glow said. “How did you find me?”
“Well after you didn’t come back after a few days I decided to come looking. I couldn’t follow your caravans trail, all the wind in the desert blew sand over it. I had no money to ask the same pony to show me where the Stable was. I just started...trotting, every day out in the desert hoping to find you. Lucky I did.” she said.
“Yes, very lucky. I’m uh, as you can see a little stuck.” Glow grinned, trying to shift her weight and walk with absolutely no luck. Her belly made a light gloorrrpppp as she did, her fattened flanks bobbing about with the motion.
“I can see that. I mean Glow, I don’t mind you putting on some weight but this is a bit much isn’t it?” Spanner asked, observing her size.
“Look it wasn’t me! This Stable is weird, some kind of testing facility. I don’t know what. Rich wouldn’t tell me.” she said.
“Rich?” Spanner asked.
“Oh uh, there’s a Mister Handy here in the gym. He can’t leave, don’t bother going to find it. He’d be quite useless to help. The place looks like it’s never been used Spanner, look around. I was here so long because I wanted to make a list of everything we could sell. There’s enough here to get us enough caps to never work again!” she exclaimed, presenting the list to Spanner and levitating it towards her.
“I see…” Spanner said, leafing through the pages of inventory. “Enough cakes too?” she teased.
“Well...yes. These machines dispense Fancy Buck Cakes!” Glow said, pointing to a button on the terminal.
Curious Spanner pressed one. The screen flashed red and produced an error.
SUPPLY DEPLETED.
“Well not anymore, looks like you ate them all fatty.” Spanner giggled.
“Look I realised I might have overindulged somewhat. Can you get me back to town? I’m sure the townsfolk can help me.” Glow said.
“Fine, but we’ll have to come back for your caravan. I can’t push you and haul that thing.” Spanner retorted, getting behind Glow’s massive flanks and starting to push. With a lot of effort and a bit of wiggling of hooves, Glow started to move once more.
“T-Thanks Spanner.” she huffed.
-
It took a lot of effort and the remainder of the day to get Glow back to town. When she finally rolled in, Spanner explained to the townsfolk that she had come across a Stable. Seeing what it had supposedly done to Glow, they unanimously decided to stay away. It seemed to them the horror stories rang true and this was just another example of it. A Stable that made ponies the size of a cart? Awful.
With the help of the townsfolk and Spanner, Glow over a period of time started to lose the pounds. The chem effects wore off after a few weeks and Glow found that the cravings for food vanished. Not that it mattered, the townsfolk refused to feed her much more than a small meal a day and the Fancy Buck Cakes were all but gone. Slowly but surely, Glow started to return to what would be considered a regular weight. Spanner made trips back to the Stable. Once to collect Glow’s caravan and other times to get things to sell to tide them over whilst Glow worked off the pounds. Luckily being a farming town, they were all too happy to get her to work the land with the crops. It was manual labour, perfect for shedding pounds.
Spanner one day however was curious. Deciding to visit the aforementioned gym. Rich was quite an interesting character. Perhaps he would be of use to the two if they could figure out how to change his programming so he wasn’t weight loss obsessed and could leave the Stable. However that was a bridge that would have to be crossed some other time. Spanner decided best not to get into explaining the war and the Equestrian Wasteland. It was best for the moment the machine stayed ignorant of the truth. It could learn should it ever leave the Stable.
Once Glow was somewhat back to her normal self, Spanner decided to approach the subject of how they should proceed.
“Well...why don’t we run our caravans out of it?” Glow suggested. “It’s a perfect base, our stock is right here. We can load up, travel to a town, sell and return. Nopony can track us because the cart tracks vanish after a few hours in the desert breeze. We’ve got food, beds, warmth. We can probably live the rest of our lives out of this Stable. I think I’d just want to rig some auto guns outside the door just in case any other pony comes across it. And yes Spanner, those machines dispense more than just Fancy Buck Cakes. Plus there is a hydroponics bay.” she said.
“I don’t think I’d miss the travelling scavenger life that greatly. Although I suppose we’re still doing that.” Spanner replied. “Except now we’re just scavenging from one place.” the mare looked through one of the inventory lists once more. “Are you sure about this stuff? I mean there are things you’ve listed here we could sell and live for years on the caps they’d bring in just on their worth alone.”
“If it's on there, I saw it.” Glow replied. The answer was good enough for Spanner. She didn’t doubt that what Glow had inventoried was the truth. Still though, the way in which she had found her was concerning. Glow had explained something to do with the lab and a chamber in there that she had told Spanner to stay away from. Of course she was curious, but she was pretty sure it was down to Glow just overindulging in cakes. On the very rare occasion she had observed before she had noticed Glow could be a bit of glutton. The thought amused her, if she was a pre-war pony, she was sure she’d have trouble with her weight and regulating her food intake.
In any case, Spanner had agreed. It seemed perfectly sensible that Stable Eighty Nine should be their new home. So it was settled. For Desert Glow and Spanner they’d now use it as a base of operations.
There was just one thing that nagged at Glow’s mind, still sitting on that lab terminal. The purpose of the stable was not totally clear. An absence of logs or any other information elsewhere was concerning. What was Everlast? The name didn’t sound particularly menacing but it was something that rattled around her brain. One day, she’d find out.
