Di was mentally preparing herself in her office. Whenever something in the store changed, she usually needed a moment to herself to get ready for what she knew was coming. But it was finally here.

Meaty Monday.

Not only was it Meaty Monday, but it was the grand re-re-re opening (at least she thought that was right, she was starting to lose track of how many times the store had closed, been refurbished and then opened again) of Blubber King. She gave a rousing yet stern speech to her staff just as she always did. They were as prepared as they were ever going to be. She hoped the staff were ready to tackle table service, drive in orders and just dealing with the general chaos any sort of discount on food brought with it. Hopefully a few weeks in after the first one it would calm down.

The doors opened, as expected a huge queue instantly formed of ponies of varying size. Ones that waddled, ones that came in on pads. The staff were quickly drowning in orders that they had to deal with. Di was in full management mode, barking orders at her staff when she noticed issues like the fryer wasn’t being checked on and the fries were starting to burn or a customer had been waiting for their order for more than five minutes. This was meant to be fast food! She wasn’t going to let the grand re-re-re opening go wrong.

The only one she really left alone was Sunny, who seemed to have despite some issues the previous day taken well to her new role at the drive in window. The mare was taking orders in a pleasant tone and getting the kitchen to make what was required so the customers in the queue outside were getting what they ordered rather quickly. That was until, a familiar voice came through her intercom.

“Welcome to Blubber King, what can I get for you today?”

“Hello dear, it’s Farthest Reach. I see the re-opening of our colonies favourite fast food establishment is going swimmingly.”

Sunny froze for a moment, suddenly realising she was speaking to the Planetary Governor. Di had appeared behind her, trying to sooth her tensions. She had noticed he had joined the queue outside not long ago and knew he was coming.

“Answer the stallion Sunny, he probably wants to order.” Di said, watching as Sunny gathered her thoughts.

“Y-yes, thank you sir! Um...what would you like to order?” she asked, trying her best to compose her thoughts.

“One hundred meals please, whatever falls under your Meaty Monday deal. I just want to do my part to support the local business.” he replied. “Don’t worry, I know that’s rather a lot. I can wait. I’ll pull forward though, it can be loaded onto my pads trailer.”

“Oh um, of course! Just please stay where you are in the queue!” Sunny said, instantly panicking. Di was looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

“What did he ask for?”

“One hundred meals, but he said he didn’t care what, as long as it fell under the deal today. What do I tell the kitchen!?” Sunny panicked. “He wasn’t specific!”

“Just tell them that, one hundred meals on the offer. Doesn’t matter what just as long as it’s made fast. Anything else?” she asked Sunny.

“He said something about a trailer…”

Di peeked her head out of the drive in window, she was lucky Farthest Reach was too fat to crane his flabby neck around to see her looking. Indeed behind his own humongous pad was an equally large flat pad hooked to the back with nothing on it. Plain in design it just had some low metal walls presumably to keep what was in it from falling out.

“Okay, yeah has a trailer hooked to his pad you can load all the food onto. Sunny here is what you do. We explain to ponies ordering at the counter there will be a small delay whilst we sort his order out. They’ll be annoyed but hungry ponies being told to wait for food always are. We make the kitchen only work on what he wants. Use the side door and I’ll help you load up his pad. Then we ring him up and send him on his way. Alright?” Di explained, the nervous Sunny now calmed just nodding a yes in response. “Okay, let's get to it.”

Di went to the front and explained to the queue that was waiting there would be a small delay, angry groans, moans and rumbling bellies were the response she got. Exactly what she expected. Sunny meanwhile put the kitchen to work and work they did, churning out a new order for the gargantuan Governor at record pace. Sunny found she had hardly delivered and loaded up a meal onto his pad before waddling back and the next one was ready. With her and Di working in tandem within about twenty minutes they had filled the order. Di thought it was best she went out and got the bill from the Governor, leaving Sunny back at the window to deal with the next hungry customer and the rest of the staff to start filling orders again as they were. They had kept a cool head and dealt with it, but one hundred orders. That was a lot, mostly ponies were ordering one or two at a time then coming back for more.

“Your bill sir.” Di said, parking herself as close as she could get to Farthest Reach and waiting as his flabby hoof completed payment on his pad. Despite everything being half price he had bought more food than most ponies ate in a week.

“Thank you, are you the manager?” he asked.

“Yes, been on the colony well...since we opened.” Di said. She could have sworn she saw a grin through massively bloated cheeks on what she could see of a face that was fighting not to be swallowed by ever encroaching blubber that occupied the vast majority of the stallions gigantic frame which was, by this point, oozing fat over the edge of his pad.

“Good, you do good work here. I am no stranger to Blubber King, despite not being in my regular uh...circle of eatery choices I know how you’ve kept our colony fed. I may be back, depending on how delicious all this food is.” Farthest Reach said, making a small effort to move his head to the side slightly so he could see Di, parked next to him on her pad. “Come see me sometime, clearly the love of food is shared.” was all he said, turning on the pads thrusters and driving himself back home. Di went back inside, there was still the rest of the day left. It was curious though, she at least hoped next time he didn’t order so much. It had put a real strain on the kitchen.

“Everything okay?” Sunny asked, Di herself had hardly noticed her best employee waddle her way up besides her. She just smiled back.

“Yes fine, he says we’re doing good work. I think the large order may have been a test. He wants to see me.” Di said.

“Ohhh, well um. I’d maybe be a bit nervous but you should go!” Sunny said, making her way back to her station one flabby hoof at a time. “Might be good for business!”

“Hmm…” Di thought, it could be. It could be any number of things however, perhaps though it was worth investigating. She had too much to deal with this week, what with the grand re-re-re opening and the rest of the days coming up. Waddle Wednesday was next, at least tomorrow they had a respite though. She’d make an effort, perhaps at the weekend to make a trip up to the Governor's mansion. Everypony on the colony knew where it was, it was like a house in fat pony form, bloated and huge like the biggest ponies it stood out above everything else, you could make it out from some distance away above the rest of the buildings - almost like a shrine to obesity.

For now she just wanted to make sure the rest of the day went well, Di settled back into management mode. She had her staff and customers to attend to.