“Now then, let me show you around.”

The tour had started promptly at ten in the morning. It had at least given Rotunda a little chance to have a good snooze after the feast with Sundrop. There had been one condition, nopony apart from the workers and anyone given permission by Sundrop was allowed on the farm area of the property. Cherry had to stay behind along with Dewgrass back at the house. No matter, the two of them were perfectly capable of getting around on their pads.

Hovering her way behind Sundrop until they came to a small break in the fields, it seemed her friend had brought them to this part for a reason.

A small building occupied the space, too small for the two of them to get inside, but the workers were milling their way in and out. All hefty, but not so hefty that required pads to move. Rotunda parked herself next to Sundrop, she had to ask. “So why are we here?”

“To show you the effort that goes into bringing these miracle fruits to market my dear. As I said, it is not as simple as just plucking them from the plant and then packaging them up to sell.” Sundrop said with a small smile on her face. “Observe.”

Although they couldn’t fit inside, it was easy to see what was going on in the interior. The building had a large open door almost like you’d find on a barn to let the workers in and out of. There was also a few small windows. Inside, Rotunda could make out a production line. Each portion was manned by a number of ponies in Sundrop’s employ. The fruits were brought in and inspected first.

“Each one must be within a 2% tolerance of expected weight and size. Any worse than that well...that’s the ones the workers get, or perhaps myself. Not fit for sale.” Sundrop said, as she noticed Rotunda observing the first part of the chain.

“Indeed, very generous of you to only supply your clients the best.” Rotunda replied.

“That’s why our farms carry one of the highest reputations on Haizum.” was all Sundrop said back. Rotunda watched a few fruits were discarded to the side, not meeting the tolerance obviously. The rest made their way up a small conveyor to the next station. Here the fruits seemed to be inspected visually for any further imperfections. One or two more didn’t make it past this point either. Next, they entered a machine and came out unchanged the other side.

“What’s that for?” Rotunda asked.

“Interior inspection, we can’t look inside the fruits. We are looking for anything out of the ordinary that might not have been picked up in the last parts.” Sundrop said. “There is a very small strain of these that have a slight genetic deviancy from the rest.They don’t get picked up at the previous stages either, all within tolerance.”

This piqued Rotunda’s interest. “How so? What does it do?”

Sundrop turned her head to look at Rotunda. “Hmmm, perhaps I shouldn’t have mentioned it, but you did ask. There is a very low number of the fruit that have added punch to their weight gaining abilities. Again we can’t sell these, for one thing if they weren’t picked up by the machine you would notice as soon as you ate one. Do you remember the taste? Rather sweet?” Sundrop asked.

“I do, despite the fact you had to eat them whole, the taste of the skin and what little I could gleam of the inside was rather pleasant.” she said.

“Well these are not, as soon as you started to swallow it the taste would hit you, it has been likened to rotting cabbages.” Sundrop said, shuddering slightly at the mention of the foul taste, her whole body jiggled in disgust on her pad. “I had the misfortune once of trying one.”

“Why did you try one? Doesn’t the machine pick them up?”

“Indeed, but as I said, it has an added punch in its gaining ability per one of these deviant strain fruits eaten. Regular ones add around 150 pounds of gaining. These add double. Around 300 pounds. If you can stomach the taste well, you immediately see the increased size you gain just from one alone.” Sundrop explained. Her words only made Rotunda begin to think.

“And again you cannot sell these?” she asked, keeping what she really wanted to ask close to her chest for the time being. “What happens to them?”

“Tossed I am afraid. We can’t even offer them to the workers because of the taste. Very few ponies can stomach them. I tried one as I said, once. I would rather not again.” Sundrop said, her lips pursing slightly in disgust as her mind was brought back to the foul taste of the rare fruits.

“Hmmmm…”

“Hmmmm what?” Sundrop asked, looking at Rotunda.

“I have a proposition.” Rotunda said, turning her pad slightly away from what she was being shown to speak directly at Sundrop.

“But my dear, I believe you already appreciate the effort that goes into these fruits. I think we can squeeze yourself into the line up.” Sundrop said, turning her own pad to face Rotunda as well.

“I’m thinking I can be of even more help.” Rotunda started to say. “Look, I am a pony with an iron stomach. You can see I am not one to turn down an opportunity to gain more pounds either. What about a special contract. How often do you find one of these phantom fruits and pull them from your line?” she asked.

“So far little, perhaps one or two a week. But they seem to be getting more frequently found. I have a team looking into this. We can’t sell fruits ponies won’t eat.” Sundrop replied.

“What if I had them?” Rotunda carried on. “The taste may be terrible but as you can see Sundrop, gaining is my goal. I think I could stomach a little bit of bad taste if I could gain twice as fast eating one of these fruits rather than two of the regular ones. Plus it means you would no longer have to toss them, you could sell them on. A monthly shipment of around eight fruits would mean twelve hundred pounds of gaining alone, every single month.”

Her friend sat for a moment, clearly thinking about her proposal.

“I mean the taste is terrible, you can’t improve it you realise that. Any alterations made to these fruits ruin their gaining ability. I did tell you that though. You’d have to eat every one whole and stomach the terrible taste as it went down.” Sundrop said.

“I realise. Look how about you give me one before I leave, and we can work out whether or not it is worth going ahead with this?” Rotunda asked. “Otherwise happy to stick to the original deal.” she said.

“Very well, come back to the house. I think you’ve seen enough here.” she said, dialling into her pad to talk to Dewgrass, asking him to prepare one of the fruits for Rotunda to eat. They had pulled one out just a few days before, it was more than edible. Luckily not yet destroyed. When they made it back and into the main room, it was sitting on a dish, ready for consumption. Rotunda parked herself in front of it, Sundrop on the other side. Each pony was joined by their servants.

“It doesn’t look any different.” Rotunda observed.

“That’s why we have the machine dear, the first one we found we had no idea. It was a customer who complained about the taste and added weight that made us investigate. At least now we can identify them.” she said.

“Cherry, I might need some help with this one.” Rotunda said, her maid positioning herself at her side.

Levitating the fruit, Rotunda moved it towards her maw. As before it was difficult to digest, having to eat the thing whole. Immediately the taste from the skin that she couldn’t chew hit her. Rotting cabbage wouldn’t do it justice, it tasted absolutely foul. She started to gag, trying her best to swallow it as quickly as possible. This fruit was easily doubly as hard to eat, not only having to be eaten whole but having an awful taste to boot. Luckily Cherry came to her aid, using her own magic to force the fruit down as the obese mare struggled to swallow the large fruit. Within a minute though and much gagging it disappeared. Quickly Rotunda felt the effects, her pad weight counter registering up the added gain from her weight of 5800 pounds to just under 6100 pounds. Fat added to her body in seconds, she felt her rear fatten and her stomach sag more as the fruit did its magic. She’d have to get used to it, but she had eaten the foul thing.

“I’m impressed. Apart from myself I don’t know any other ponies who can keep those ones down.” Sundrop said. “So...shall we talk about delivering you some back on Sleipnir?” she asked, grinning from ear to ear.

“Indeed, I’m more than happy to discuss a contract for them.” Rotunda replied, already enjoying the added weight and giving her body little shifts from side to side just so she could feel it. As well as her other gaining, these fruits would be a huge boon. Sundrop joined her on her side of the table, and asked Dewgrass to fetch the paperwork. Hopefully, this wouldn’t take long.