“Fireflash.”

“Lethal Force.”

It was the same little dreary interrogation room he had been pulled into by her all those months ago when he first landed in here, the mare across the table as she had been previously. He’d say he was experiencing déjà vu but it wasn’t exactly the same. He knew this feeling.

“So, what brings you down here to see little old me and feel it necessary to drag me out my cell?” he asked. “By the way, I hope that new prison I keep hearing about is coming soon. I think most of my cell-mates are bursting out of their confines at this point. The mess hall gets quieter every day on account of them not even being able to get out of their cells.”

“Cut the crap Fireflash.” came the curt response, it was one of those days where she just wasn’t in the mood for his attitude. It wasn’t that Fireflash was mean. He just said things that rubbed her the wrong way every time he made some sort of snide remark about whatever topic he had decided to bring up.

“My my, we are short tempered today.”

“Every day. It goes with the work when all you deal with are the dregs of society.” was her own response. She grinned a little seeing the comment take a chip out of his usually confident attitude. “Anyway. The reason I’ve dragged you out of your cell is that I thought I’d give you an update on the situation with your case and also offer you a way out of here. Something has come up that we think you’d be suited perfectly for.”
“Oh?”

She had been hoping for a little more than that out of him at the prospect of getting out. Regardless, the mare ploughed on with what she had to say.

“Firstly, the pony that put you here in the first place is long gone. He escaped offworld and ended up on Equestria. Basically, at this current time we can’t prosecute the prime suspect so that means until we can you’re basically set to languish here for all eternity unless he gets some mad compunction to return to Sleipnir. That is unless…” she let her voice trail off, hoping to see the pony jump (if he could) at the opportunity to escape. All he did was raise an eyebrow. Even when he wasn’t speaking, he sure knew how to push her buttons. Lethal Force seethed a little before carrying on. “That is unless, you’re willing to help us and wear a wire.”

“A wire? Oh come on - really? With all the advanced technology we have you’re resorting to offering having me wear a wire so you can get some information? Haven’t you got like, I don’t know, little tiny pea sized drones that are undetectable and can get in anywhere?” he scoffed, not quite believing what he was hearing.

“We probably have more then you know Fireflash, but this requires a bit of a delicate touch. Plus a pony of rather well known standing on the Colony is involved and he’s not stupid. We suspect he has put in place measures to stop us just simply tapping his holo-calls and placing bugs in his business interests.” Lethal Force responded.

“And what are his business interests hmm?”

“Blubber King.”

That did it, she saw his face fall as he tried to let the little gears in his head turn and work out what exactly he was going to respond with. Eventually it came and started with a laugh.

“Ahahaha, are you SERIOUS? Of ALL the places you could possibly have me go, you’re going to send me there, to work I assume? I mean I knew cops were dumb but this is amazing. How do you even expect them to take me back and let me do my old job?” the stallion asked in a fitful of tears, his multiple chins jiggling almost non-stop as he let out a good belly laugh before eventually wiping a tear from his eye with a chubby hoof.

“We don’t.”

That got him again. Now he was really lost. “What do you mean you don’t?” came the reply with a very flat and serious tone.

“We expect you to be a customer.”

“A customer?”

“Exactly. We’ll brief you properly but the basic idea is you go in each day, every day and park your fat ass somewhere near the counter and eat. While you eat, we’ll be recording everything. The future of the colony is up for grabs and believe it or not we’ve heard your old employer has decided to take a bit of a political stance which through hearsay has been working out very well for them. Firstly we want to know why, secondly we want to know if there are any developments. The only way to do that is to have somepony there.”

“I see…” Fireflash considered his options for a moment. “This is the only way?”

“Think of it this way fatso.” Lethal Force started to say. “I get a cell back in an overstuffed prison, you get your freedom and as much food as you can stuff into that bloated thing you call a belly. We also get to hear any juicy information. It’s a win-win for both sides. But if you’d rather continue to eat prison meals on your lonesome in the cafeteria for the rest of your life, be my guest…”

“Fine.”

“Fine what?”

“Fine, I’ll do your dirty work. Anything I eat is paid for yes?”

“That’s part of it. Just don’t get so big you can’t actually get inside the place anymore, but like I say you’ll be properly informed tomorrow of all the details.”

“You know if it’s the same staff they’ll be suspicious of me coming back just to eat. What if they start being cautious and holding things back?” he asked.

“We don’t care about what the staff say, it’s what happens involving other customers while you’re there. Anything they might reveal or give away about what is happening is just a bonus. Besides, if there is something going on do you think they’d be blurting it out in front of customers anyway? It makes no difference if it’s you or Rose Pendant!” Lethal Force said.

“Rose Pendant?”

“I needed a name, don’t think too deeply about it Fireflash. You’ll see one of my officers in the morning who will get you out of your cell nice and early. In the meantime, enjoy your last meal here hopefully for a while, unless you screw this up. Then I can guarantee you’ll never set foot outside these walls again.”

“Until you transfer me to the orbiting prison right?” he said with a final smirk.

“If you make it there. See you around Fireflash. Oh final thing, we’ll provide you with a pad rated up to eight thousand pounds. Don’t exceed the weight limit. Eat slow if you have to, I don’t care. You might be there for months.”

And with that, two guards came in to take the stallion back to his cell. It was a long shot but with political office involved they just couldn’t risk trying anything that might make either Cosmic Compass or Farthest Reach suspicious of their own colonies police force. This had to be done the old fashioned way with as little reason to raise any suspicion as possible. Besides in a pony as fat as Fireflash a wire was easy to hide in amongst rolls of fat. Perfect hiding place for more than just snacks these days. The mare mused on their meeting for a moment before returning to her office. She had plenty to be doing.