‘Ah, Lady Snow Veil, we’ve been expecting you. Please don’t mind the scan, it’s non-invasive.’
Snow, a unicorn of status, stood at the boarding gate to The Ends of Vacation. As the scan rippled over her body she shifted uneasily, she wasn’t a fan of anything that invaded her personal space, invasive or not. It started at her head, going along her golden coloured mane and peaking a little as it hit her horn. She blinked her emerald green eyes as the beam continued its path along her white coat towards the rear of her body. It finally finished up crossing over the back of her also golden (with a hint of yellow) tail and down along her thigh and cutie mark, which was a large flower (black outlines only with any colour). The beam finally finished and there was a zirt! noise as it faded.
The pony that had spoken to her was more of a greeter pony, but the stallion had been put in charge today of scanning any boarding passengers onto the vessel before it departed from dock. He was a pegasus, a light red in colour. Nothing stood out about his build. On a small screen in front of him the stallion tapped a few times with his hoof before he smiled. ‘You’re cleared to board, have a wonderful trip.’
Snow just smiled in return. She had no baggage on her, that had already been collected by some of the staff employed aboard The Ends of Vacation when she had arrived at the dock. She had been dropped off by a driver who had ensured her safe passage at least to the inner area of the dock itself who had then left her. She had specifically requested to be somewhat alone on this trip. No help or staff required. The mare wanted to have some time to herself to take in the sights and sounds without that feeling she was being chaperoned around. She wanted a little danger (without any actual danger of course) and felt that the trip she was about to embark on was exactly that.
The Ends of Vacation was Heavenly Cruises brand new flagship and this was its maiden voyage, the ship having been put through space trials in the previous months and deemed space-worthy with a crowning ceremony attended by Princess Celestia herself. Unfortunately the Princess was not aboard for the first trip, but the company had made a big deal out of royalty being interested in the vessel that they had sold out the trip rather quickly. It was something Snow was used to. Rich ponies (of which she was one, but didn’t really like to admit it or show off) cared about one thing, the ability to one-up themselves over anypony else at a dinner party. She could hear the conversations now. ‘Ah you vacationed on Tulpar again? Well we had a wonderful time cruising the very edges of known space all in fantastic luxury…’
The trip was going to be a month-long cruise at a leisurely pace around the ‘edges of known space’ (that had of course, all been charted) to show the passengers some incredible sights while they wined and dined their way around the universe. Highlights on the program that Snow had briefly looked over before disembarking was The Ice Fields of Sleipnir (supposedly extensive and like looking at floating diamonds in space), The Southern Lights (a light show that was generated by a number of gravitational anomalies leading to a unique experience) and Canter’s Hoof (A bright and newly formed, at least in relative age of the universe star cluster that simply wowed anypony who set eyes on it). She had of course planned to take in as much as possible. She made her way down a small tunnel which was rather nicely decorated which then opened out into the open air of the dock where she could fully appreciate The Ends of Vacation before setting hoof on board.
She had seen the vessel from some distance away but details were hard to pick out looking out the window of her transport towards the dock. Snow stopped and craned her head vertically upwards as best she could, but even then the gargantuan size of the ship was so large she couldn’t take everything in. Now she had the problem of being far too close.
The ship itself was just under a mile and a half long. It stood three hundred and seventeen decks tall (and that was just the passenger compartments, this did not count crew quarters, the bridge or any of the small docking bays it had itself peppered along the prow) and was a rather respectable dulled silver except in places it was embellished with a little gold and black detailing such as around welding points and entrances. The only way in was to wait for one of several lifts to take you up to the outer entrance towards the top of the vessel which Snow was currently waiting for. The entire thing looked like a somewhat lumpy arrow, with fins and thrusters mainly towards the back but again, others along the side where needed. This was on purpose and the tour brochure had explained the ship was ‘Expertly engineered, designed to be highly efficient and cut through space at a leisurely maximum speed of 30,000 clicks a second, but cruises at 10,000’.
In any case the lift arrived, operated by a member of the crew. This was part of the service and something Snow didn’t begrudge. With another ‘Welcome Aboard’ Snow stepped aboard, the doors shutting gently with a swish behind her, she was the only pony aboard but she could see others boarding on other lifts to her left and right. The ship was somewhat impossible to make out now except for those finer details. The lift travelled right along the outer hull to an upper level and the mare watched as they passed at great speed, speeding past several floors every second. Within a moment, they arrived at the disembarkation level. Snow stepped onto the ship and the doors to the lift closed behind her, the attendant obviously had more ponies to pick up.
First class service being the draw for most ponies on this trip, she was immediately met by one of the ship's crew upon her arrival on board. She was actually glad to see the approaching mare, she had stepped out onto an extremely large floor and whilst everything was signed she wasn’t completely sure where to go first. Generally it was standard practice to go to your room and get comfortable, anything happening aboard didn’t happen until later and it certainly wasn’t quite dinner time yet. The mare who approached was dressed in a very smart uniform. Mostly white, with some deeper golden accents around to show she worked for Heavenly Cruises. She wondered for a moment why the stallion hadn’t been dressed similarly but quickly dismissed it. The whole colour scheme of the clothing led to any scuffs or marks being particularly visible, but the mare's clothes were spotless.
‘Welcome aboard The Ends of Vacation ma’am. Do you not have any ponies with you?’ she asked Snow.
‘No I decided to come alone, my driver dropped me off.’ she replied.
‘Ah, then I will act as your guide when needed. My name is Stardew Wave. One moment.’ the mare replied, a small holographic device concealed under her uniform projected in front of her and she tapped away at non-physical controls. ‘May I ask your name?’
‘Lady Snow Veil, Snow for short.’ she responded. There was more tapping, it appeared as if the mare was looking through a passenger manifest.
‘Ah yes, I have you right here. Does room 315 sound correct?’ the staff member asked.
‘I am not sure…I must admit my own staff usually handle this sort of thing. I was going to look for some sort of reception to enquire.’ Snow responded. Stardew Wave just smiled.
‘Ah, well you’ve found it. I am reception so to speak and room 315 is just three floors down.’ she said, turning off the holographic device before pressing a few more buttons and then re-concealing it within her uniform. ‘I’ve sent my contact details to your Pony Device. You can call on my services during business hours from 8am until 6pm whenever required.’ Stardew Wave smiled, this was met by a frown by Snow. ‘Oh um…have I done something wrong?’ she asked.
‘No…I just didn’t bring any staff myself because I wanted some alone time on this trip. You’re not going to be by my side for the entire month are you?’ she asked.
‘Oh no no no.’ there was a small laugh from the mare. ‘I have many other duties to attend to. I am here to show you to your cabin, give a small tour of the ship if you like and then I shall leave you to it.’ she explained. This seemed to brighten the mood of Snow. To this end, Stardew Wave picked up the pace a little, she had dropped back when she noticed her displeasure.
‘That’s fine, I would appreciate a small tour actually. So I know where to find things.’
‘Of course, first please let me show you to your cabin.’
The cabin being only three floors down was on the premium floor for single travellers. The two floors above mainly contained amenities and places to eat, boutique shops. That sort of thing the wealthy traveller would expect to find wherever they set hoof down, somewhere they could spend a lot of money on fancy things that were ten times cheaper on a planet but it was the pride of saying they bought it on The Ends of Vacation that was worth the extra cost. ‘The floors are split.’ Stardew Wave explained to Snow. ‘Above are your two shopping, relaxing and dining floors. I’d recommend after we take off heading straight to the top floor for a fantastic view of the star system before we leave it, the entire roof is a large projector display mounted external view cameras, so you can see exactly as if you were looking out a huge window. Below you are floors for couples and larger families. This is interspersed with more shopping, dining and other facilities but these mostly mirror what is available above.’ Stardew Wave said as the pair trotted a short way down an extremely long corridor. ‘If you wish to get to the other end quickly, please use one of the interior ship lifts. These go along corridors as well as up and down levels. I’d not recommend walking the entire nearly 2 miles to get to the other end of the ship unless you relish exercise.’ the mare said, stopping a moment to point one of her hooves to a small access corridor set in between some of the walls. It was labelled ‘Ship Lift this way’ on the wall. Snow made a mental note to remember this. ‘Ah here we are, room 315. Access is with your hoof, the panel is calibrated to it. Only ship crew members and yourself can enter and we will always press the entrance bell before entering.’
‘Thank you.’ Snow replied. She gently tapped her hoof to the wall mounted panel and with a click, the doors opened themselves.
‘I’ll give you some time to settle in, just call me when you’d like the tour, okay?’ Stardew Wave said, with that she departed and left Snow on her own to look around the rather grand room.
The room itself was technically towards the outer hull of the ship, however if it wasn’t for the large projection screen on the opposite side of the door currently showing the ship still docked and taking on passengers you’d never have guessed it. Large space going vessels had virtually no outer windows. They were a structural weakness. Therefore even rooms on the edge were quite far away, likely several extremely large plates made of a material Snow couldn’t even pronounce, nor cared to, ensured she was quite safe while enjoying the view. This view of course could be changed to show anything nearly within visual range from the external cameras mounted around the ship. The room itself resembled a large state room that Celestia herself likely would have been most comfortable in. Plenty of gold all over the furnishings. There was as expected a rather large bed (which had so many pillows Snow was sure she could just use those as a blanket instead), a small dining area (for in-cabin meals which would be brought to her), a large wardrobe (complete with already measured dresses so she didn’t have to bring her own) as well as a number of sitting spaces and various bits of gadgetry. A number of doors revealed multiple bathrooms, storage spaces and also a small kitchen in case the guest staying had decided to bring their own chefs. The room was top class and perfect, Snow wouldn’t have paid for less.
Still though, she was relishing the sense of adventure and decided to call upon Stardew Wave to give her a tour of the ship. The vacation was already getting started and they hadn’t even left port.
Two weeks in, the trip had been lovely and Snow was enjoying herself. At the present time however, she was relaxing. There was only one thing on the itinerary for today.
With the help of Stardew Wave she had quickly found her way around the ship to whatever she needed. It felt…refreshing, to not have somepony with you all the time that waited on your every needs. She still afforded some luxuries of course, meals brought to her cabin and things but she had catered for herself on the odd occasion. Adventuring out to one of the many dining restaurants for a meal on some nights.
The ship itself was as incredible as the itinerary had described. Snow had not found herself bored for a moment, there was always something to do. The shops on board were impressively stocked, the areas for entertainment felt endless. Even two weeks in Snow felt that she had only managed to explore a small proportion of them and that was just the ones on the very upper deck that Stardew Wave had advised her about, she hadn’t even ventured further down the ship to any others.
Right now, she was sitting beside a large pool. The ship had several and this one was reserved for the more discerning clientele. Most ponies like her were relaxing with a drink on a very plush deckchair beside the pool itself, with one or two swimming leisurely within it. The service was top notch, as soon as she put her empty glass down it was swiftly taken away and a fresh one was brought to her which she kept on sipping on. The drink was a rather gorgeous sunset orange which mimicked the shade of the extremely small artificial sun which was currently hovering just above her on the ceiling mounted screens. This was bliss.
‘Ten minutes sir.’
Captain Portside checked his small, ancient timepiece. A tiny pocket watch which was chained to his uniform. He confirmed with the crewpony who had spoken to him.
‘Ten minutes yes. Slow us to 5,000 clicks and prepare for near full deceleration to 0.’ Portside said.
‘SLOW TO 5,000 CLICKS!’ the crewman yelled.
‘SLOWING TO 5,000 CLICKS!’ came a rather loud and electronic reply from a robotic pony crewing the controls. Portside shifted in his seat, he could see from a small gauge that they were indeed slowing down to the required speed. It was impossible to tell with the artificial gravity and no actual feeling of it however. He had to trust in the instruments which he had done so over all the space trials and the two weeks of the voyage.
As far as Portside was aware the trip had mostly gone without a hitch, at least from a Captain’s perspective. He had gotten wind of some small issues mostly related to the catering from some picky passengers but otherwise things had gone well. They were just nearing their first stop, The Ice Fields of Sleipnir. All of the ship's stops would be relatively close together, within a few days in fact before they began to head back towards civilization. Out here they were very alone and Captain Portside was quite aware of that fact. The utmost caution was to be exercised.
The Ice Fields of Sleipnir were a curious phenomenon. Ice fields themselves were actually that uncommon in space, however the difference between every other ice field and this one was the sheer size and beauty of it. Generally an ice field might cover an area roughly the size of a planet, maybe a little more. The Ice Fields of Sleipnir, at least on the viewscreen that Captain Portside was looking at, filled the entire screen and stretched beyond the edges of the system. It was as if the star system they were in was actually some form of intrusion into the ice field itself. When the initial survey team had arrived they had mapped what they could but the star chart of the system at each side where the ice field vanished (but presumably actually carried on into the null space between star systems) just read as ‘Unknown’ for the time being.
This was a simple stop, The Ends of Vacation was to anchor here for a day, a reasonable distance from the edge of the field itself. Shuttles would take curious guests closer to but not enter the field itself. They would be setting off tomorrow at 10:00 am sharp ship time in case the passengers wanted one last look in the morning. Right now it was just before 14:00 in the afternoon. They were supposed to arrive a little earlier but had been waylaid taking on passengers at their final stop before they exited the major shipping hubs (the ship had several stops to pick up passengers before the tour really began) and therefore were a little behind. This is where they would make up for lost time.
‘SLOW TO 0 CLICKS AND STOP!’ came a shout again from the pony crewmember nearby to Portside.
‘SLOWING TO 0 CLICKS AND STOPPING!’ the robot helmspony repeated just as loudly. Portside sighed, he knew they had to shout, it was protocol, but did they have to do it that loudly? The speed gauge showed they were slowing until the ship stopped. At that point Portside turned to speak to his immediate crew.
‘Switch the view screens to show the ice fields. I’ll make an announcement to the passengers, just give me the nod when it’s done. Oh and set the engines to idle, we won’t be moving and it’ll save on maintenance.’
Within a few moments, one of his crew who had been pressing buttons on the view screen control console gave him the nod and Captain Portside pressed on a switch that was strapped to his wrist and a holographic tannoy appeared, he began broadcasting.
The rather lovely sun that Snow had been enjoying was suddenly replaced, now what greeted her vision was huge lumps of floating ice. She frowned. There was then a rather distinct bing-bong! A noise she had come to expect when the ship's captain made an announcement. Judging by the vast amount of ice she was now staring at, they had arrived at their first destination.
‘Mares and Gentlecolts this is your Captain speaking. We have arrived at The Ice Fields of Sleipnir as your ship displays should now be showing. We have shuttle tours preparing to disembark from the shuttle bays to give you a closer look, several every hour. We will be anchored here until two o’clock tomorrow. If you decide to partake in a shuttle trip, please do have a wonderful time.’
Bing-bong! The announcement ended, short and sweet. Snow had a distinct impression that the Captain wasn’t a fan of the announcements he had to make. Still though, it confirmed her suspicions. They had indeed arrived at the ice fields. She was of course planning to take a shuttle trip, but not today. That would be tomorrow, today she was relaxing. Plus she’d miss the rush of all the ponies who went to see it right away. For now she was quite content to sit here sipping away. Her straw made that familiar gurgling sound when her drink was empty. It was swiftly refreshed.
‘Shuttles 3, 6 and 7 report ready for launch with mostly full loads sir. Shuttle 6 supports a minor blip with their port stabiliser on engine start up but the issue appears to have rectified itself. Do you want to delay their launch and dispatch engineers?’ a crewpony asked. Captain Portside just shook his head.
‘No, give them to go ahead. If they say it’s fixed there is no point in delaying. We want to make sure everyone enjoys the ice fields.’ he responded, relaxing a little in his chair. Heavenly Cruises guidelines were quite clear on this matter. ‘Top class service for top class clients.’ Unless it was a severe problem there would be no delays. Having worked for them on various ships for years, Portside was aware of the dressing down he’d get from his superiors should they even get a whiff they had run into any trouble, especially on the maiden voyage. He turned his attention to his own personal viewscreen which was split into several sections. One for each of the shuttle bays. He saw the small vessels leave The Ends of Vacation, like tiny fireflies leaving their home. The launches went off without a hitch. Portside felt that at this point he could take a break from his charge.
‘I’m taking an early lunch and stretching my hooves. Vector? You’re in charge until I get back.’ Portside said, leaving command of the bridge to his second. ‘Any issues just call.’
‘Right, enjoy lunch Captain.’ came the reply.
The Captain made his way off the bridge and summoned a lift, he was travelling down to the crew mess when his wrist blinked at him, someone was trying to contact him. He sighed and opened communications, the wrist device forming a small communicator holographically around his head to show he was on a call.
‘What?’ he asked gruffly.
‘Sorry sir. Shuttle 6 reports that blip again but once more it appears to have corrected itself. I thought you’d like to know.’ came the information from Vector.
‘And once more, leave them to it, unless the shuttle explodes, I don’t care.’ Portside replied, he killed the call. His stomach was rumbling and right now he was concentrating on getting a meal more than anything else. The lifts in the ship were quick, but apparently the frequency of incoming calls were quicker. He noticed the blinking again.
‘Seriously what.’ he asked.
‘Sir…shuttle 6. They’ve reported the same issue and it hasn’t fixed itself this time. They’re out of control.’ Vector said.
‘Well send a tug to bring them back in. I’ll have to explain to the higher ups this little incident I suppose.’ Portside replied rather unconcerned.
‘No sir, I don’t think you understand…’ there was a pause. In that time, Portside felt a light shaking. Nothing out of the ordinary but he felt the gravity shift beneath his hooves, he requested the lift stop its descent.
‘What’s happening? I felt a gravitational shift.’ Portside asked.
‘Shuttle 6 just crashed into the ice field sir. It’s…a total loss. We’re not receiving any response from their black box.’ Vector said, there was an edge of panic in their voice, this crept into Portside’s too.
‘Oh…shit.’ he simply said, quickly telling the lift to bring him back up to the bridge. ‘Gone!?’ he asked.
‘Visuals show…oh my Celestia.’ Vector replied.
‘What, for the love of everything, what on Equestria is HAPPENING?’ Portside boomed, now in full on panic mode. ‘I’m coming back to the bridge as quickly as I can. Hurry up damn you!’ he yelled, cursing the lift that it wasn’t going quicker.
‘Transmitting…’ Vector said. Portside’s headset vanished, it now resembled the small view monitor near his chair and showed a viewscreen that displayed images from the ships external cameras which he quickly took in. A gigantic ice shard, probably tens of miles across was coming towards them at speed. There was a small black mark on it, the remains of the shuttle which had careened straight into it, sending it on a collision course with The Ends of Vacation.
‘Start the engines, immediately!’ Portside screamed, the lift still travelling upwards.
‘We have sir! But they take ten minutes to warm up!’ Vector yelled back.
‘WHAT? I know that! But get us moving even with them cold! I’d rather live and get fired than be dead!’ the Captain screamed, the lift finally made it back to the bridge with the doors swooshing open. It was like a complete change, the whole structure was bathed in the red as the collision warning sirens sounded. Ponies frantically pressed at consoles and ran about trying to achieve…something. At this point Portside was well aware The Ends of Vacation had no shields, supposedly the super thick hull was made to absorb anything that might cause damage. He wasn’t sure about a giant chunk of ice however. Finally he made it back to his chair, bundling Vector out and taking a seat. ‘FULL BURN!’
‘FULL BURN!’ the robot helmspony yelled back. Suddenly the once loud, shrill voice it had sounded almost drowned out against the chaos of the bridge. Warning sounds blared to indicate the engines were still cold and therefore performance would be greatly hampered. The Edge of Vacation started to move…but not quickly enough. It would not shift out of the way of the ice in time. Portland and the rest of the crew could only sit on and watch in horror as the ice got closer and closer, until it filled the viewscreen.
The rather lovely view of the ice that Snow had been staring at suddenly turned a very worrying red.
‘ATTENTION PASSENGERS. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE SHUTTLES IMMEDIATELY. THIS-’ the announcement was interrupted, suddenly the ship careened to one side. Snow was thrown from her deckchair, her recently refilled drink spilling all over her swimsuit.
‘Oh for the love of…’ she started to say, more concerned about the state of her clothing. This was quickly replaced by fear when everything went dark, the power cut out. Emergency lighting kicked in rather quickly. She had no idea where she was or what was happening. Ponies around her were screaming and panicking, frantically making their way towards the shuttles. Fear kicked in for her too and using the low level lighting, she trotted as fast as she could towards the shuttles. She left the large pool area and down into one of the access corridors, she was mere inches from a waited open lift when a shift in gravity knocked her to the side again. She was thrown into a much thinner access corridor and two thick doors slammed down between her and the lift. ‘Hey!? What’s going on!?’
‘YOU ARE HERE FOR YOUR PROTECTION. BRACE BRACE BRACE!’ a shrill voice screamed back at her. Snow did just that. She braced.
It seemed like it had gone on for hours, endlessly loud scrapes, thumps and a cacophony of other noises that sounded like the world was coming to an end. Somewhere in all this, the artificial gravity had failed and Snow had started to get thrown around the small but apparently secure corridor she was in, catching a few bruises in the process. Even the emergency lighting had failed.
For some time now she had simply sat in the dark, panting while things creaked around her. She had no idea where she was or what was happening on the ship. She felt like it had stopped at least, gravity felt…normal. She had wanted excitement but this was far too much, something had gone catastrophically wrong. Plus they were out in the literal middle of nowhere with no help close by. Any rescue might be weeks away.
‘Hello? Can you hear me?’ Snow said, she tried talking to the computer which had told her previously she was here for her protection but no responses came. It was dead. As she stopped speaking, she heard shouting. There was something outside, quickly she shut her mouth. Already though, she had the attention of whatever it was. There was more shouting and then banging. The outsiders were trying to get the doors open. After some more shouting and then a lot of grunting, they succeeded.
The door was heavy so it slid up slowly. At first Snow observed hooves…but not familiar pony hooves. They were more rugged, not well kept. They were clearly not passengers on the ship. Frantically she started to look around for places to hide but there was none. Had they crashed on a planet perhaps? She could feel a cool air breezing into the corridor the more the door opened. It was light outside and the air was warm, wherever they were it was hot.
When the door finally did open and Snow’s vision adjusted she could see two…ponies? Looking at her quizzically. The creatures resembled ponies for sure. However, they were not very well kept. They wore nearly no clothing apart from loin cloths and necklaces, as well as a few other accessories. The two in front of her each had some sort of weapon that resembled a very crude lance. Their bodies were adorned in tattoos of various shapes in a simple black colour, like her cutie mark. These ponies however did not have them…unless their whole bodies were cutie marks.
Slowly they approached her, the lance-like weapons drawn and poised. Then they spoke.
‘Mobantanu to ner, narek?’ (Who are you, stranger?) one asked. They did not speak Equestrian and Snow had no translator device with her. She tried responding.
‘I am Snow, please, I am from a peaceful group of ponies.’ she tried to say, wondering if perhaps they might understand her. The pair stopped and looked at one another.
‘De narek tova kor yuvasi de horu fa bosari.’ (The stranger does not appear to speak our language) one said to the other.
‘Javao huv.’ (Look there) the second one replied. They pointed one of the lances at her cutie mark.
‘M-My cutie mark? Do you not have those here?’ Snow asked.
‘Kera to verapo ji cu de tora?’ (Do you think she is the one?).
‘Askith.’ (Yes).
The pair started to advance, lances raised again. Snow could go to the end of the corridor but instead she just decided to save the hassle and submit.
‘Okay, no need for that…take me to your leader?’ she asked, a little sarcastically. Anything to brighten the mood. She was led outside, one of each of the ponies, because she couldn’t think what else to call them, at her side. It was here she could finally see what had happened.
The Ends of Vacation was in thousands of pieces, wreckage stern across a desert landscape that seemed to go on forever. The ship had suffered some sort of catastrophic event that had broken it apart and sent it crashing down onto the planet she was now on. The system was not empty, the ice fields were not a great distance from a planet with a breathable atmosphere. If Snow knew anything about the charting records of the system, the planet she was currently on was marked ‘Home to native pony-like species. Uncontacted. Technology level: Tribal.’ but she was blissfully unaware of this fact. She could see no other ponies. Either they had made it to the escape shuttles and gotten away before this all happened or perished. It appeared she had been the only one to make it down to the planet and wasn’t sure whether that had turned out to be a blessing or a curse.
She wasn’t getting away any time soon though and was suddenly very aware she was still dressed in her swimsuit. She supposed it would have to do until she could find something else to wear, or go au naturel. Right now she was being led away from the desert and towards what appeared to be a lush forest that bordered it, somewhat of a juxtaposition. The two ponies behind her spoke again to one another.
‘Uvami horata de boscanra?’ (What about the supplies?).
‘Bi lara noeq yisa Recini kili fo veesa cohu.’ (It seems our new Queen will be well fed).
The journey into the jungle was tiring. Snow felt like she had been on her hooves for hours (when in actuality, it had only been about thirty minutes). She wasn’t really used to this amount of trotting. This was clearly a traversed path by these ponies. The jungle floor was beaten and dry where they walked with lush green plants trying to encroach on the path as best they could, but to no success. Eventually however, the path came to a small village. The entire thing looked ancient to Snow. The whole village was dominated by one giant wooden hut, clearly made from the local materials that sat directly in front of her. In front of that was a large fire pit where a number of other villages were sitting around, preparing food that looked locally caught or grown. It didn’t look that appetising. Beyond that, there were smaller buildings that clearly looked like homes and then some others that she couldn’t place. As she was brought into the centre clearly Snow was something of a curiosity as the others immediately looked up and started to pay attention, some even approaching. They were rebuffed by the two ponies who were escorting her. The whole structure of the place resembled a tribe, something she had learned about when she was younger.
They stopped, the pair making some hoof movements and then talking amongst themselves. The language was so different from Equestrian that Snow couldn’t even begin to guess what they were saying to one another. They seemed to get however that she couldn’t understand them and they couldn’t understand her as they resorted to hoof movements to try to get her to understand where they wanted her to go. They pointed at the large central hut and then walked with her up the steps inside.
The interior was a large open space inside, in fact there was actually precious little and what was there was mostly pushed up around the edges. Small bits of rudimentary furniture and the like. Towards the back was a modest seat on which a pony sat in more decorative dress than any of the others she had seen yet. Snow assumed this was their leader. It was a mare and she was flanked by two more guards who looked similar to the ones that had brought her to the village. The two she was with stopped just short of her and started talking, it was impossible to pick up on the words but the body language told her some things. At first the leader of them appeared unphased by the appearance of a similar looking but clearly different creature. She briefly got off her throne and trotted around Snow while observing her up and down, taking a moment to inspect the cutie mark. There was clearly some connection there but she had no idea what. The leader mare then went back to her throne and sat back down and more talking continued. Then a hand gesture motion from the two ponies to her side.
They were gesturing to the middle of the room where a carpet had been put down by some ponies Snow had not seen come in and leave. It was woven, not particularly comfy. The pair were gesturing for her to sit.
Now a number of the villagers seemed to enter the room. They were carrying what looked like containers that were far too advanced for anything they would have made. Snow recognised some of the markings on the side, they had been taken from the wreckage of The Ends of Vacation. They were food containers, just a small collection of many thousands that the ship had on board. They were for the lower class passengers who were served pre-prepared meals that were brought aboard before setting out and simply heated up and dished out to them, not the sort of fine dining she was used to.
Snow could feel herself finally calming down too, her adrenaline rush from the whole situation had kept her on edge and not feeling anything else. Now she was, nervousness started to creep in. She was in a foreign place, with nopony she could speak to. What was all this? Were they going to plunder the supplies and keep them for the village? Her mind was a whirlwind considering all the possibilities, that was at least until she felt something soft a gooey pressed towards her lips.
One of the guards was…feeding her? It was sudden and unexpected. Snow had been so lost in thought she had completely failed to notice that one of them had unpacked one of the many containers and removed a cake from it. An entire one, thankfully it was in slices and the pony was currently…feeding it to her. It was unexpected but she was nervous, the mare decided to quickly chew it down to try not to offend them. She was nervous but she was still hungry too, she hadn’t eaten in some time.
It was slightly odd then when another slice was quickly taken and pushed between her lips. This was followed by another and then several more, at the halfway point through the cake Snow was already feeling extremely full, her gurgling belly trying to protest. Saying enough! as she did her best to not seem rude to her captors.
She was surprised. Why feed her? Perhaps that is what all the conversation was about? Were these ponies just naturally generous (despite the escort and weapons pointed her way)? More and more of the containers from the remains of the ship were being brought in and placed in the room. They must have had a small number of villages bringing back what they could find and just going forwards and backwards between here and the various large bits of ship that had broken up across the desert.
In any case the food kept on coming and didn’t appear to be slowing down. Despite her stomach's protests the entire cake vanished and a new meal was unboxed from a container by another one of the ponies while others started to inspect what was available. It seemed they had some ability to discern food even though it was likely all of this was alien to them, or were they just picking what ‘looked’ right? Again Snow had no idea.
‘Please…I’ve had quite enough.’ she said, trying in vain to hold a hoof up and gesturing to her mouth and making a large X to try to say ‘No more.’ in a universal language. It didn’t work, the pony feeding her just smiled and pushed a slice of pie between her lips, which Snow ate.
The food on The Ends of Vacation was somewhat enhanced. It was made to be incredibly filling and you felt full after only eating a small amount. This was the case for the food for the lower class passengers. It was a mental trick in essence. Presented with what looked like a small portion that rich ponies ate but made with cheap ingredients, then pumped full of a special mixture of calorie rich…something, Snow didn’t know what exactly to make it taste amazing and fill your belly.
Right now her belly was feeling stuffed. Snow was not an athletic pony by any means but she was still rather slim, she kept a trim figure and tried not to indulge herself too heavily. You would think a lifestyle of being pampered would mean a naturally bigger frame but she was careful.
Right now that frame was starting to be tested. The fact that Snow was still only wearing her swimsuit was starting to become, at least to her, very apparent. She felt that material tighten as her body started to grow with every bite, every chew, every swallow. The material was stretchy but even it was somewhat being pushed just a tad. She prayed that she could find some excuse to get it off if this was going to keep up.
GlooooRRoooRRooooPPPPPpppp!
Snow’s cheeks went a bright red. The procession of feeding stopped for a moment, her stomach was now audibly digesting the food. It was struggling to keep up with the huge influx of calories and what would usually have been a gentle and rather inaudible noise resonated throughout the large space for what seemed like an eternity.
‘S-Sorry.’ she feebly mumbled. This only apparently elicited a grin and a greater haste to feed her from her captors. There was frenzied chatter among them, with more coming in to start to take food from the vast piles in preparation to push it down her throat.
She felt…heavy. Snow had seen larger ponies before. There seemed to be a trait amongst them that it didn’t just to one place, excessive weight was spread evenly and smoothly around their whole bodies. The stomach took the brunt of it first of course, but then it would start to go elsewhere. As her belly hit the floor with a light fwomp, she started to feel this take effect.
Her thighs and flanks were practically ballooning. The calories were starting to add up as the rear portion of her swimsuit (which was of the full body type) got even tighter. It began to ride up her rear as the material was slowly but surely swallowed by a fattening ass that didn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Her cutie mark was getting bigger along with the rest of her. This seemed to please the tribe of ponies, who brought more food to her.
Her floor-bound belly pressed up against her four legs, standing upright was becoming a chore. It was like her legs were a 4 post prison that was keeping her stomach from freedom.
GuuuGGuuuRRRgggllleee!
It seemed to agree with this sentiment. There was little point actually asking because of the language barrier so Snow just decided to do what felt most comfortable, using her now considerable cushion of an ass to be a comfortable seat. She leaned herself back, hearing the floor boards creeeeeaaakkk in protest at the massive orbs now firmly placed on them. As her weight shifted, she felt her stomach flop forward with a light blorp! and her legs splayed out as best they could. She relaxed more, apart from the swimsuit, she no longer felt quite as constricted.
‘Phew…’ was the only word she managed before leaning on her massive belly, one of the guards fed her more food. It was all sweet things, they must have plundered one of the dessert bays on the ship initially. She had not seen or eaten any sandwiches or the like. It was all cake slices, pies, fritters and other things laced with copious amounts of sugar. Her lips were quickly becoming stained with cream and flotsam of whatever she couldn’t quite shovel down quickly enough before something else was brought her way. The thing was, Snow was actually started to enjoy herself. The uncomfortable feeling of being full had long passed, as if her body had just given up trying to protest and decided to embrace it. There was very little she could do to stop it, or so it seemed. They were still bringing in food but now some of them were starting to take any empty containers away. She had never experienced such freedom (ironically while being captured). It was lovely to just indulge and be attended to in such a manner with no judgement. If she made it back to civilization, she’d have to remember to ask her staff privately to repeat it. Maybe just sans the large wooden hut.
She craned her head around to see what the leader was doing. Currently the answer to that was nothing, she was simply sat on her chair apparently just observing. There must be a reason for all this gluttony but Snow had absolutely no idea what it might be. Before she could get more of a look, her head was forcibly turned back forwards and another slice of cake was fed to her. She tried to protest at the unsolicited forcefulness of the move, but quickly sank into a lazy chewing as she went right back to
Her body continued to grow. She felt her rear hooves, now pressed under her belly as they gently wiggled with pleasure, start to become buried in belly fat. Her facial cheeks too were starting to take on a much more pudgy and rounded shape as thick orbs of facial fat pressed outwards from just below her eyes. Her stomach began to creep more and more into her vision as the mare, now vastly overweight, wanted to see just how much these ponies wanted to fill her. She was quite happy to keep being stuffed and it seemed now she had gained two permanent feeders.
The tribal ponies had seemed to figure out it was much easier to form a chain of them, so a number stood between her and the piles of food. Two had taken up more of a permanent position on her gigantic, grumbling belly and were taking it in turns to fill her greedy maw. As she ate another piece of pie, Snow felt something shift and she waved one of her now flabby hooves around to indicate she urgently needed a break.
“UUURRRRRAAAPPPPPPPPP!”
The belch was enormous, it rattled out her throat and erupted into the room. The whole thing made her massive body wobble and shift, the movement too much as the now string-like swimsuit finally gave up hanging onto her frame with a rather satisfying shrrippp!
This all happened in the space of about ten seconds. The ponies feeding her paused for a mere moment to let it all happen and then carried on, she felt another pony pull the remains of the clothing away from her, leaving her totally naked - not that much had been left to the imagination anyhow.
The floor underneath her creaked more and more. She had observed the hut had been built in low level stilts, to raise it up slightly above the other huts in the village. If she fell, she wouldn’t go far, but it would be a rather amusing short drop.
She was blushing again too, not because she was embarrassed from her outburst, but because she was enjoying so much the excessive overeating that it was driving her slightly wild. She hadn’t felt this good about herself in quite some time, she was admiring how her massive curves were making her feel. Snow felt like royalty, a stupendous figure that imposed on everypony around her. Her stomach filled half the room, her flanks the other. She swore any moment that she might start to feel her body press up against the edges if she kept on going. She was secretly hoping it would.
Her body felt amazing and looked it too, from what she could see. Smooth, massive thick rolls of blubbery jello that spread across the floor like butter were continually pressing outwards to fill the room. Her massive form only served to embolden her, she gave a look to one of the ponies in the line passing treats and beckoned them upwards onto her stomach as well as another. Now four of them simultaneously fed her, the greedy mare hardly even chewing at this point, massive hungry jaw swallowing down anything presented to her within an instant of it appearing at her lips.
Practically surrounded by her four feeders, Snow didn’t want this to end. There was still piles of food. The only trouble was she was devouring it all at a much faster rate than when she initially began and it was now vanishing between her lips quicker than it could be unpacked and brought from the wreckage. The large stacks of food were slowly going down as she was going up, expanding beyond her wildest dreams.
Titanic ass rocking back and forth, she felt the floorboards start to crack and splinter under her weight. Blorping butt a wobbling vision of white that had long since swallowed her tail, as if her ass were as hungry as her jaws. A tiny tuft of gold peeking up the top crevices of her cheeks as a somewhat long since lost reminder that her rear had once not been the thing that dominated her rear end.
Creeeeaaakkk!
Crraaccckkkk!
Crunnnncchh!
The floorboards shifted under her weight, her entire body dropping about two feet onto the bare ground beneath the building. For anypony else that might have resulted in injury, but her soft pillowy rear and belly easily absorbed the shock of the fall, sending her fat rolls jiggling that made her entire body tingle with delight. She now was planted somewhat with her body jutting up out the floor she had sat on top of previously, she just saw it as that little bit extra room to grow.
She tried putting her fat, greedy hooves under her belly to see if she could do anything with it. Lifting it was impossible but her massive ham-like hooves had plenty of power behind them with the added weight, it was easy to wobble her belly, let her gigantic jiggling stomach shift back and forth. It was like a panacea for pain, every time she did it, she felt amazing. The guards on top feeding her just added to the feeling of delight and her momentum gently swayed them back and forth while she gobbled down everything they offered up. It seemed her belly like it too, appreciative noises intensifying with the shift in movement.
Gloooooorrrrrrpppp!
Gurrrrrgglllllleeeee!
She was audibly panting now, the relatively small movements causing her body to verbally be exasperated. Between mouthfuls, gentle ‘Ahhhhh’s~’ to show her enjoyment were clearly audible, even without being able to understand one another it was a clear sign she was enjoying it. She didn’t want it to stop. Bigger…bigger…ever pound was an increase of pleasure, every bite of cake was a feeling of ecstasy, every time her monstrous belly shook and her fat, blorpy flanks wobbled Snow was reminded by her impulses that this was simply the best. She had never felt this good in her entire life. A new world had been opened up to her borne out of a tragedy but she was reaping the rewards. Her eyes closed, her mouth now, simply open constantly. The Goddess of Gluttony, the Queen of Quantity, she was a massive figure among the tribal ponies and cared not for what purpose they had done this. Only that they had done it.
She felt her body press into something, it was difficult to tell what. For a moment she decided to snap herself out of her lust filled gluttony spree to see what it was. It appeared it was the building itself, her stomach had made it to the front entrance where she had initially come in, her belly starting to press its way between the doorframe. Despite the fact she was filling the space, they were still going, still feeding her. Still making her grow. She cared not that her whole body was likely to burst out of a huge structure, it seemed only fitting it would be an accomplished milestone.
With the last inches of space remaining between the walls and Snow, she didn’t notice the leader and her guards vacate the building and step outside. She was concentrating far too much on her own body and lost in the cycle of eating, belching and satisfying her urges by shifting her blubbery weight as much as she was able. Her monstrous ass was her own throne now, towering orbs rising behind her head that were smooshing gently at first, then hard into the wall behind her, looking for a way to escape the building which was becoming a flab prison.
‘UUuurrrRRRaaaRRRPPPAAAAaaaa!!!!!’
The burps were coming thick and fast, huge long eating impeding belches as her body desperately tried to expel something to deal with the seemingly never ending tide of food that her stomach was failing to digest quickly enough. Everything now was pressing against something, her ass and head were pressing against the roof, her belly was heavily leaning on the walls and her flank was shuttered in against the walls. The ponies on her belly had pressed down as much as they could into her stomach to keep passing food up to her lips, which was contributing to the huge outbursts of belches.
Crrruuunnncchhhhhhhhhh!
The walls were starting to lose the battle against the heavy weight bearing down on them. The leader and villagers had gathered outside the hut, it was almost a comical-like scene where windows and doors were bulging with white fat that was the excessively large form of Snow. Cracks and splinters were appearing in the wooden frame that made it up, it wasn’t exactly a very hardy construction material.
It would have been convenient if all the walls came down at once but unfortunately it wasn’t to be so. Snow’s stomach, much bigger than the rest of her, pressed forward the hardest against the outer wall that faced towards the fire pit and the rest of the village. This crumpled first and then slowly as she gained a little more size, the remaining walls around her sort of just fell away. The roof was…a problem, the feeder ponies took a tiny break from giving her more food to push away the remains of it, which fell in large chunks down to the side of her.
Where once a rather (for these ponies) building had once stood, the space was now filled with a burping, wobbling, immensely big Snow who had quickly outgrown it. If she had kept going, she’d start to encroach on the surrounding huts and perhaps even the forest itself. There was a lot of panting as the scene had unfolded and now the utterly immobile, gigantic mare finally got a moment to rest, her huge form towering over the ponies below her, heads craned upwards to observe their work. Her body was still jiggling from its exodus from the hut, with her body now free she let forth one final incredible burp.
‘UURRRAAppPppPpPppPPPPRRAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaa~’
For a good five minutes, her body shook before finally settling. Snow was finally able to properly take in the outcome of her gluttony. She was now effectively the centrepiece of the entire village, the ponies eyes fixed upon her. Once more there was chatter among them. She knew what not they had planned, but for now she just wanted to rest her weary jaw. A wave of tiredness washed over her but she kept her eyes open. She was keen to observe what was going to happen next.
The leader among them stepped forward then turned around to the crowd and started to speak. It was something she didn’t understand but if she did, the leader said to the crowd the following.
‘Ah singhet, yarali opun girashi ten du viralis jor urisi Recini ist loru befina de op du skyriho. Ret hiscubi eset kirr vu os. Lorus ist loru ocu de u ofan norutis u beksar eq du aratai kilas pebonru. Jur hu wedas boorni ret coriusi…eta vees ret hos.’ (‘Oh faithful, after much waiting for the prophecy our great Queen has been brought to us from the heavens. Her flower mark tells us so. She has been fed to a size befitting a leader as the ancient texts instruct. Now we must heed her wisdom…and keep her fed.’) the leader spoke to the tribe. There was much nodding and general murmurs of agreement among the ponies who then carried on speaking in more hushed tones. Some of them vanished into the forest while others went back about their work. Due to her immense size, planted on her ass and not being able to move, Snow was able to observe everything quite easily. She could see a small procession off in the distance snaking its way through the forest and approaching the village. They appeared to be carrying more food storage units. She was unsure what had happened to the ones they had been using prior, she assumed she had eaten all the contents and then likely crushed them under her flab when she burst out the building. She could certainly feel the remains of things about that shape pressing into her. She smiled to herself, it seemed they intended to keep feeding her, maybe even making her bigger which she wouldn’t turn down. She had gone into this a bundle of nerves, now she felt more confident than she had ever been in her entire life. It seemed being a massive, towering figure directly tied in with that and she was quite enjoying herself. Civilization and even sleep could wait, the mare was starting to feel peckish again as she watched the procession get closer and closer, she scrabbled with her tongue to lick whatever she could of the leftovers from around her mouth to keep her satiated until they arrived. Her stomach gurgled indicating it wanted more.
GuuurrrGGGggggllleeeeEEE!’
Frenzied chatter, one of the ponies started sprinting out towards the procession to hurry them up. It seemed belly language was universally understood. She wondered if perhaps she could manipulate her stomach a little now and then. The ship had been packed with supplies, enough to feed thousands and thousands of ponies for months and the stuff injected into it to ensure it was filling would also ensure it would not spoil either. She was just one mare, but her increased appetite made her wonder how long it would last before running out, she must have eaten several hundred ponies weight in food just this session alone. Hopefully by the time it did run out however, a rescue party would arrive to take her home. It wasn’t exactly the adventure she had expected but it was certainly exciting, the company had certainly fulfilled their end of the bargain (at least, unknowingly) and as damages she’d only ask for say…a weekly food delivery to keep her satisfied. It wasn’t that she couldn’t afford it once she left, but why not milk them a little for all the trouble hmm?
For now, Snow just sank into herself, her huge rolls and fattened form a plush, soft and warm bed that she could take advantage of any time she liked. She was her own bed and her immensely soft body tingled, reminding her of just how amazing this size felt.
The procession approached the village, Snow opened her jaw, she was eager to fill her maw once more.
