Di had been mulling over her decision for the past few weeks. She couldn’t help but think all this seemed a bit cloak and dagger.

Within a few days a number of Farthest Reach’s staff had started coming into the store, asking to see her. Obviously usually only customers came in and asked for the manager to complain, so the staff were pleasantly surprised when they were told they were here on business.

The staff didn’t seem too concerned when she got around to explaining what they were visiting for and what had transpired at the meeting with the Planetary Governor. In fact they seemed rather happy, it meant their jobs were secure and all the worry of risk suddenly evaporated much like the meals consumed by the customers. Di actually saw a morale improvement afterwards without her having to lift a single flabby hoof.

As expected though Farthest Reach’s staff had been to discuss changes to ensure that Blubber King met their end of the bargain.

Firstly, a slight change in the decor to more match the party political colours of the election campaign. Di just sighed and begrudgingly agreed to it, for the umpteenth time the restaurant was going to have a new look. At this stage it felt like it had a new makeover every couple of months or less. Oh well.

Secondly, no actual menu item changes but just changing the items to be named in some way after the colony or Farthest Reach himself. The largest item on the menu was now the Succulent Sleipnir Stuffer meal, with other items such as Reach For The Fries as sides which gave Di a small giggle, but again she just decided to agree to the changes.

There was no mention of what to do should Corporate start asking questions. She was only told that it would be ‘handled’ by Farthest Reach’s staff. At this point she figured she’d have no trouble from them unless sales figures dropped and they sent somepony to investigate and the Governor had ensured there would be no issue there.

The outside of the building was painted as well, it looked rather gaudy afterwards. They painted the building a mixture of orange, black and brown to match Farthest Reach’s body and mane colours. They even changed the logo to feature his face enjoying a burger. No matter, the name still read Blubber King.

All in all Di had just sat back, said “Yes” to whatever his staff had come at her with and let the changes happen around her this time. She was too old and too hungry to care. When it was done, the chain re-opened to the usual affair as it always did. Crowds lessened however with each one, the ponies getting a little less excited each time as it was becoming so commonplace. With this change however, the crowd was huge. Di suspected they were supporters of the Governor mostly. There was a huge applause when he arrived to perform the ribbon cutting ceremony. During the whole thing, he only gave Di a sly smile when he glanced in her direction at one point before leaving. Clearly he was a busy pony.

Then the customers began to arrive.

Farthest Reach kept up on his end of the bargain. Blubber King had a steady stream of customers every day it was open. But it was that, steady. Nothing Di and her team couldn’t deal with. There was some crunch moments but they cleared quickly. Everything was going rather smoothly.

“Di!”

It was Sunny who had knocked on her office door as Di attended to some paperwork. The mare looked up at her best worker and smiled.

“Yes?”

“There’s um, a problem with a customer - I think you had better come.”

“Hmm.”

Nothing she couldn’t deal with most likely, but she hadn’t expected to see what she saw. Clearly this was the penalty for getting involved in politics.

“Shills! Every one of you! You should be ashamed!”

A gigantic pony had parked himself right in the middle of the store, Di couldn’t guess weight but she had to assume it’s the fattest anypony could be before they had to use the drive through. It almost seemed planned.

The pony himself had taken up a space right in the middle of the restaurant and was just shouting obscenities. Then she saw why. Covering most of his middle but struggling still to do so was a shirt. Cosmic Compass - The Fatter Way In the middle in giant letters. It was a rival supporter of the competition.

“You think this will stop our fearless leader! Hah! Pathetic! If this is all Farthest Reach has to offer we’ll all be withering back to pre-blubber times where ponies didn’t even have access to fried food!” the stallion continued to yell. There was a few gasps from the patrons. This was a clear disruption, Di had to do something.

“Shills! Every one of you! I spit on your pathetic fast food! I-”

“Enough!”

The shout from Di was enough to stop him for a mere moment, but before she could speak again the stallion continued his tirade.

“Ohhh, look! The prime piggy herself! She can tell you all about how secretly Blubber King is actually healthy! What a farce of a fast food place. It’s all part of the secret plan to make you all thin again! Amateurs! I see through the lies! Cosmic Compass knows all about Sleipnir! She’ll be the best Governor we’ve ever had and we’ll all be fatter than Equestrians! You’ll see!”

Mid-way through the second tirade Di knew she couldn’t reason, leaving him to yell and blabber nonsense. Immediately she found a quiet spot and called the police saying they had a public disturbance and they needed a customer removing. Not the first time, but she hadn’t dealt with political backlash before.

Once the officers arrived, she made her way back to the front to see the stallion getting towed away by two of the Sleipnir P.D. to a cell. Probably only for a day, she expected he had been well compensated by Cosmic Compass for any time he spent in jail. Not before he managed a final political yell.

“I’m not the only one! Eat well fatties, places like these are numbered! We need mega fast food joints, hoses! Endless feeding troughs and no portions! Just as much food as you can eat twenty-four hours a day! Cosmic Compass can deliver…”

With that, he was gone. The staff relaxed and the customers continued eating. Di could see the idiot had made an impression on some of them though, ones that usually ordered fifth and sixth courses electing to leave instead.

“Do you think he’ll be back?” Sunny asked.

“Possibly, or just a different bloated nutcase. In either way if that happens again don’t wait to talk to me, call the police immediately. I’ll talk to Farthest Reach and let him know we have a problem.”

Di made her way back to her office. She wondered if the Governor had expected something like this and if he had any plans for it buried in those multiple rolls of flab of his.