“And that concludes today, does anypony have any questions?”

Vast Knowledge always liked to finish her day by giving the students an opportunity to have a query addressed. If they had any that was, usually it was rare for them to ask anything. After having their brains packed for a day with knowledge most of them were frazzled. As she expected, the class was silent. She usually timed her end quite well too.

Riiiinnnggggg!!!

The bell signalled the end of the day. She watched as her class heaved themselves up out of their seats, most having to use their little chubby hooves to move fattened bellies and other blubbery portions around their desks to get out. The school could only accommodate so much. As they did, Vast Knowledge returned to her desk and looked up at the now empty room.

Well, mostly empty. There was one pony left, Booster was still sat in her seat.

“Something you wanted to talk to me about dear?” The teacher pony asked her student.

“Well uh, yes. About the other day.”

“Oh, still thinking about what to do?” She smiled back at her.

“S-sort of. Have you got some time now after class? I met somepony, he said he’d help…”

“Oh?” Vast Knowledge was suddenly curious. “I don’t advocate talking to strangers. Fat ponies aren't that hard to fillynap you know.” She said with a small amount of concern in her voice.

“We met at the park, he’s nice! I swear!” The young filly retorted. “H-he’s waiting outside, I asked if he could come by.”

Her teacher merely raised her eyebrow, expecting more.

“I feel more comfortable talking to him than my parents...you’ll see why.”

Booster went out the door to the classroom and left Vast Knowledge sat wondering why the pony, whoever this mystery stallion was that she had met, would be more suited to the job of helping her than her parents. As soon as Booster came back and brought him in tow it was obvious why.

‘She must have found the only pony on the entire colony who isn’t a tub of lard.’ She thought to herself. This should prove interesting indeed. She watched as the stallion walked in, no great drama surrounding his steps. His body didn’t jiggle, wobble or bounce. He was by all accounts a pony that would have passed for extremely handsome before the rest of the species started to gain. He sat opposite her with no fanfare either.

“Miss this is um…” Booster started to explain.

“Jump Gate, but my friends call me J.G.” The stallion said. “It’s okay little one, you don’t have to talk for me.” He finished, and extended a hoof to shake the flabby one belonging to Vast Knowledge as he leaned forward over her desk.

“Oh um, please don’t put in the effort. Really.” The teacher replied as she watched him get up to reach her.

“No effort. I think you big ones forget sometimes that when you don’t have a huge body to haul around stuff like this doesn’t take much.” He said with a smile, finally shaking her hoof in greeting and sitting back down.

“Maybe when we’re done I can ask you a little more about that. I rarely get a chance to meet thin ponies. It helps me understand better, I’m mainly a history teacher you see.”

J.G. smiled at her. “Ah, I getcha. So you tell em’ all about how we used to be. Or how I am now.”

“Mostly yes. Booster must be lucky. I can’t remember the last time we had a thin pony on Sleipnir. What do you do? By your name I’d guess something to do with the space industry but I could be wrong.”

“Well you ain’t, I’m a pilot. Captain a ship called the Unity. We take ponies where they wanna go. It’s not a bad life. Also helps if you’re thin, not that the reset of my crew thinks so.” He replied. “Sleipnir is just our latest stop. I usually have a varying amount of days before we take off again. I just so happened to bump into this little filly in the local park. Believe it or not it was the only place I could find actual healthy food. She was there for the same reason.”

Vast Knowledge listened to what he had to say, well it seemed like it was an innocent enough meeting. The pilot genuinely seemed nice. Booster was very lucky indeed.

“So...she asked you to come along?”

“Sure did, and well. I explained to her how thin ponies like me get around. We do alright. Some jobs even require it. No way someone of your size could fly my ship...no offence.”

“None taken. Hmmm.”

“Hmmm?” For the first time J.G. looked puzzled.

“Are you here much longer?” The teacher asked.

“Well...not long. We try and stop on a colony maybe a week. No real schedule to speak of. Generally when we put down we refuel, reload with food and then put up a destination and see how many ponies wanna go there. Usually some askin’ around helps to figure out what popular destinations are. I’d say maybe a day or two at the most.”

“Hmmm.”

“Okay you say that way too much. I know you’re big but you ain’t slow to think.” J.G. said with a small smile.

“No it’s just, I’m wondering if you’d be willing to help little Booster here. She’s explained what she wants and why she’s having difficulty with it?”

“Oh yeah, and as per usual it’s the folks. I figure it might be.” He said. “Usually is anyhow.”

“Would you be willing to come with us? I already told Booster we’d visit them for a sit down and chat about it, but having an actual thin pony there to show them life isn’t what everypony presumes it to be being thin may help convince them easier than I could on just my own. Booster seems to like you a lot too.”

“Y-yeah, he’s really nice…” The young filly said. J.G. ruffled her hair a little in kind.

“Hmmm.”

Vast Knowledge blinked at him. “You’re doing it now.”

“Haha I know. And sure I can help, on one condition.”

“I thought there may be a price.” The fat teacher said with a grin on her chubby cheeks.

“Well, call it a fair trade. My services for something I can’t get much of elsewhere. You see we can load up the ship no problem with all the fatty, carb packed foods for the guests and crew of my ship but I always struggle to find something for myself. Fruits, berries and the like. Now one pony I came across in your park was trying to sell a whole lot of em’ and not havin’ much of an easy time of it, on account of everypony being fatties.”

“So, what do you want?”

“Just go out get me enough of those fruits to last me a month on my ship and we’ll call it quits. You can either buy them from her and support a local struggling business, or if you know where to collect them up yourself I’m happy for you to do that. Obviously one’s a little more rewarding and helpful than the other.” He said, and winked at Booster.

“Very well, I’ll have them for you at your ship in a couple of days before you leave. But we need to see her parents first.” Vast Knowledge said to her guest. “Can you come with me tomorrow after class?”

“Of course. I’ll be waiting here.”

“Great, well that will be the difficult bit. Convincing them. How many other thin ponies have you come across on your travels can I ask?”

“Not many. Usually I run into other pilots like myself at ports, but even these days newer more fancier ships are equipped to take a bigger pilot. It’s a travesty I think. I mean what are you gonna do if you knock the flight stick and send your ship into a flat-spin stall while taking off from a planet because your blubber got in the way?” He sighed and finished his mini rant on the subject. Clearly he was passionate about his job.

“Quite, well I’ll see both of you tomorrow. Booster you go home now.”

“See you tomorrow miss, see you tomorrow J.G.” The little butterball getting up and waddling over to him, giving him the best hug she could. Vast Knowledge watched him soften up a little. The stallion seemed to have a big of a soft spot for her, and Booster waddled her way out the door and left for the day.

“I’ll be going too, see you tomorrow miss…? You know you never did tell me your name. I only told you mine.”

“Vast Knowledge. Bit of a mouthful I know but I can’t find a shorter version. Vasty never sounded right to me.” She said with a small sigh.

“Well...do what I do, initials. V.K. sounds alright to me.” The pilot replied, before he turned and walked out.

The teacher sat at her desk and thought about the meeting, she had not been expecting that at all. It was little things that made up life. She hoped the meeting with Boosters parents would go a lot smoother with him there. If a living example couldn’t convince them, nothing could.