It was all in place.

The warrant had come through in record time, less than an hour in fact. Lethal Force had made it more than plain to her superiors that she wanted this one quick and she wanted it bad.

Now she was outside the gates of the largest pad firm on Sleipnir. Her, some deputies and a contingent from the Rollup Division had parked their huge forms ready to do their duty. She observed the premises, trotting her large frame up and down the walls. It was nearly midnight. The gates were locked, all the interior lights were off. But she was sure he was here, she could almost smell it in the mildewy air of the night. The mare walked forward, the gates were huge. Those big wrought iron ones that meant business. She could just about stick her snout through the gaps to look around and see if there was any signs of life in the factory complex. But none, it was all as dead as the night.

Waddling back, she went around to one of the cruisers, her staff watching as she pulled out a megaphone like device for making herself heard. She only had one thing to say.

“STRIVING STEP. THIS IS THE SLEIPNIR POLICE DEPARTMENT. WE HAVE A WARRANT FOR YOUR IMMEDIATE ARREST. YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE TO COME OUT OF THE BUILDING WITH YOUR HOOVES UP, OR WE’RE COMING IN FOR YOU.”

She wondered if the tub of lard could actually get his fat hooves up if he wanted to, but it didn’t matter, she’d settle for his fat ass served to her on one of his own pads. Poetic justice really if he came out on a device that had gotten him into all this trouble.

But a minute passed, no change and no sign of Striving Step. Lethal Force made her next command swift.

“Rollup Division, you know what to do.”

The two massive stallions just nodded, the ponies of this part of the police department were highly paid for a reason. Their size, Rollup Division ponies were built like tanks, fed on a special diet of supplements that made them grow to thousands of pounds, but still be mobile under their own power. This was achieved by their shape, almost ball-like they could roll their bodies with great force at whatever needed to be broken through. As soon as they hit the gate, there was a clang as the iron bars flew open, followed by a massive crash as the two stallions continued their rolling motion into and straight through the front doors of the factory. It always did take a bit of a toll on the poor ponies though, the two of them coming to a stop just inside the doors and looking completely dazed, despite helmets and riot gear to shield them as best they could.

The rest of the division charged in, Lethal Force leading the way. As they squeezed around the two stallions now almost blocking the hall, she yelled a thank you and made her way as swiftly as she possibly could deeper inside.

Even with flashlights, in the dark it was hard to navigate. If it wasn’t for signs on the wall Lethal Force would have been totally lost. She frantically searched for the CEO’s office.

After a few minutes however she was in front of the door. She had waited for this moment for a long time.

Pushing her way inside, smashing the door off its hinges, Lethal Force got as far as yelling “STRIVING…” before noticing like the rest of the building, the office was totally empty. She sighed, what a shame. No movie style showdown. It seemed Striving was more clever than she had given him credit for.There was nothing there, the computer he worked at was shut down and there was no way that lardball was going to hide himself. She angrily kicked a fattened hoof at his desk.

“Damn...the rest of you fan out. Check the building. I want to make absolutely sure he isn’t here. Then we regroup out front and decide our next plan of action.”

The rest of her officers just nodded in reply, leaving the office. The mare herself was exhausted, she plonked her rear in one of the couple of seats for visitors in Striving Step’s office to take a moment to rest.

“H-Hello?”

The mare pricked up her ears, she could have sworn she heard a voice coming from the desk. She got up, trotting over to see a very, very small screen. Almost hidden and out of sight just under where if the fat CEO could, he would have parked his legs under the desk. Lethal Force was met face to face with the projected image of an extremely lardy pony. One that she didn’t recognise or know.

“Hello. Now who am I talking to?” Lethal Force asked.

“Um, my names Blue Ribbon. What are you doing in the factory this late? Who are you?” the enlarged face on the other end asked. Lethal Force observed her, this was one massive mare. Every time she spoke it seemed like a huge effort for her to do so, face so full of fat it was making her struggle.

“Sleipnir PD. We’re here to arrest your boss.” was all Lethal Force said, immediately she saw the face of the other pony fall.

“Oh...I guess that means no more gaining for me…” she sighed.

“Well that depends, if you can help us. Your boss isn’t here. He seems to have fled. I think he must have known we were coming. Also why are you here? The whole factory is shut down.” Lethal Force asked.

“I’m um...special employee. Pad tester, I live in the factory. A secret part that most employees don’t have access to.” Blue Ribbon confessed. “If you look behind you there is a bookshelf. Pull the copy of Cooking with Lilac on the third shelf down. You’ll see me soon enough.” the mare said, the screen flicking off.

Lethal Force didn’t like it, but she had no choice. This was their best and only lead. Doing as the pony had instructed she pulled slightly on the book and like one of those old mystery novels, the bookshelf rolled back to reveal a walkway. She sighed, this was so cliché. Not that she had any credit to give Striving Step for being anything but.

After a few minutes walking, the passage opened up into a huge space that seemed rather bare, apart from a huge locked loading dock door where she assumed items were brought in and out there wasn’t much in here. Her radio she noticed was dead too, seemed the building was shielded from radio waves for whatever reason. It was getting all too secretive. At the other end though, she could make out something in the dark.

As she got closer, it was obvious. It was the pony she had been speaking to. It had been hard to notice her in the darkness. She shined her flashlight over the quivering mass of fat in front of her, just trying to take in what she was seeing. It certainly was the same pony, but she was Equestrian sized...with no pad. Of all the places she could have used one, it was slightly strange she didn’t have one.

“Hello?” Lethal Force called out.

“Hello!?” came the reply, from somewhere around the other side of the blob in front of her, she made her way around, finally coming to small break in the blubber to see a buried head, surrounded by tons of neck fat.

“Blue Ribbon?” she asked.

“G-guess you found me, not that I’m hard to miss…” the pony replied.

“...What are you, why are you so massive?” was all Lethal Force could ask.

“Company pad tester...I was half this size, not long ago. But they fattened me up, wanted me for some big project Striving Step mentioned. It took a while, but they perfected it. They made pads that can hold all 25,000 pounds of me…” she said. Lethal Force gagged slightly, it was no wonder this pony was so huge. It made sense the company would need in their employ a pony of that sort of size to test their heftiest products.

“I see...look. You help me, I’ll help you. I think that project they made you so huge for and why I am here is related. Your boss stole a pad manufactured on Equestria and reverse engineered its tech. Well, he didn’t personally, but a poor pony languishing in my jail is. We got a confession out of him. If you can confirm that makes sense to you, you’re our best lead. Do you have any idea where he went?” she asked.

The massive blue blob of a pony was silent for a moment, seemingly attempting to summon up the energy to speak.

“...Sounds about right. I wondered why he visited me yesterday with no instructions. He just told me to keep my mouth shut and that he was vanishing for a while.” the lard of blubber replied.

“Damn, did he say where?”

“He said he wasn’t leaving the colony, but he didn’t say where he went…” Blue Ribbon said. “I-I’m kinda hungry, got anything to eat? Since the employees and him left, nopony has fed me…” her stomach rumbled, a massive blubbery rumble of a pony who very clearly needed a meal fit for her size.

“I’ll get some of the team down here to look after you. Will you be okay for a short while longer?” Lethal Force asked.

“I guess....but please hurry.” she said, wondering when the next meal was coming.

“I’ll be back soon. Stay put…” Lethal Force said, realising what she said was a bit of a redundant ask. That pony was going nowhere. As soon as she made it back up the passage and to Striving Step’s office she got on the radio, asking her team to meet back at the entrance. At least she knew he was still on Sleipnir somewhere, but where, that was the question. Blue Ribbon clearly had no idea. It seemed she had to track down either a former employee, or find somepony who knew where this pony might have slipped away to. Lethal Force had some work to do.