Login

The Greatest of Wizards

by Ebony Horn

Chapter 1: Chapter One

Load Full Story Next Chapter
Chapter One

“Princess Flurry! Are you even listening?”

Flurry snapped to attention, her dreamy smile turning rather fixed. The long tresses of her pink-red mane fell over her shoulders as her head jerked up to face Sunburst. As her tutor stared her down from the chalkboard he’d been writing on, she instinctively moved to cover up the picture she’d been doodling on the paper. The glow around her horn went out, and her quill flopped limply to the desk.

“Yes,” she lied. “Absolutely.”

Sunburst regarded her for a moment over the tips of his horn-rimmed spectacles. Then he sighed and reached up a hoof to adjust his glasses back and forth in an adorably fidgety gesture. “Flurry,” he said, dropping the hoof with a little stamp, “I can’t understand why you seem so determined to play around.” She felt a tugging beneath her hooves, and quickly tried to grab onto her notebook—but Sunburst’s magic had already pulled it out from under her. He inspected it briefly, his gaze flicking over the doodle she’d made of a stylized Crystal Heart. “Pretty,” he said, “if not entirely accurate.” Flurry's cheeks burned.

Flurry winced as he placed the notebook gently back down onto the desk in front of her. Sunburst sighed again, pinching his nose. “As a princess and Heir Apparent of the Crystal Empire, must I remind you that much depends on your knowledge of magic, Princess Flurry? Your parents know how essential it is that you complete your training in the theoretical arts.”

“I know, I know.” Flurry wilted beneath his gaze. “I’ll try harder to focus. I guess.”

Sunburst snorted softly. “I pray that you do. Now,” he said, turning back to his notes on the board, “Gant’s Fifth Law of Elemental Transfiguration—“

Flurry tried to pay attention. She really did. Strangely enough for a seventeen-year-old schoolmare, she did actually find magical theory interesting...when she wasn’t cooped up in this tiny little study, at least.

She fidgeted in her chair, resisting the urge to open up her drawing again. Instead, she let her eyes wander until they settled on...Sunburst. Professor Sunburst, she reminded herself guiltily. Not that he didn't splutter about cutely and mutter about it being a correspondence course with Great-Auntie Tia, but that didn't exactly help matters.

A little tingle of happiness ran through her as her gaze settled on his body—a little twitch of delight that made her hooves want to wiggle with glee. Sunburst may not have been the easiest lecturer, but whenever he really got into a topic, he was incredible to listen to. In any case, Flurry thought with a smile, he was certainly nice to look at, too.

It wasn’t quite what anypony might have expected. At just under forty, Sunburst was hardly the kind of prize that a teenaged mare might have set her eyes on. All the same, there was just something about him that made Flurry Heart’s chest beat a little faster. Maybe it was the brightness of his eyes, the cute stammer that occasionally visited his voice, or the little bit of plush that he had around the middle.

Make that quite a bit of plush. Flurry tried not to stare, but she couldn’t help but eye approvingly the round band of flesh that hung below Sunburst’s barrel. It wobbled whenever he moved, and his thick thighs bounced a little every time he gave his excited little “eureka wiggle.” Other young mares her age daydreamed of big, hunky colts...but Flurry had eyes for “big stallions” of another type. He just looked so warm, so squishy, so soft—just like a big teddy bear.

She’d seen pictures of him when he was younger. Her parents had a few on the wall of their den—usually starring Princess Twilight, plus some purple unicorn she didn’t quite recognize. He hadn’t had that gut then—why, he’d been downright skinny—but he’d still had that adorable, dorky smile she daydreamed about. Something, though, told her that a decade of living in the Crystal Palace had taught Sunburst to appreciate the finer things in life. When she got the chance, she often found herself daydreaming about just what she could get him to appreciate.

He was incredibly smart—that was part of what she loved about him—and she knew that he had a habit of holing himself up in his study and reading for hours, if not days. It was little wonder, then, he didn’t keep an eye on what he ate, and with the Palace food being so mouthwateringly good, she honestly couldn’t blame him. She certainly didn’t mind the soft gut he’d grown, padding from perhaps one too many late-night studying sessions, accompanied by a hefty stack of savory, fattening snacks. So squeezy!  A soft layer of pudge covered his entire frame, and she longed to sink her hoof into the plumpness of his tummy, to feel it squish beneath her touch.

A blush tinged her cheeks. Biting her lip, she felt herself slipping into a daydream, unable to look away from his round, bouncy rump…

Flurry!”

She froze. She could feel the weight of Sunburst’s eyes on her, even if she couldn’t directly see them. Slowly, like a foal who’d been caught stealing cookies, she raised her gaze to meet his.

He was tapping his hoof at her—oh, darn it, now she felt guilty. “Could you explain to me,” he said, frowning, “just what it was that you were staring at?”

Flurry couldn’t speak. She just sat there, frozen like a deer caught in the Northern Lights, barely able to even stammer her way out of this. Because she had been staring...and even now, looking up at his stern, albeit concerned expression, she couldn’t help but want to stare more. She loved his cute little goatee, his chubby cheeks, the little jiggle of his chin as he turned his face down toward her…

She noticed that he was still waiting for an answer, and winced. Her mind raced for some of her aunt's legendary intellect, something to get her out of this mess…  “Um,” she said, trying to gather her thoughts. “I...was having some difficulty following the problem?”

Sunburst brightened. That little professorial spark popped into his eyes, and he pranced up onto the edges of his hooves—oh, how adorable he looked like that! “Why didn’t you just say so?” he said, stepping around the table. “Perhaps I can help.”

Crap. She didn’t even know which problem they were talking about. Hurriedly, she glanced down at the page he’d been going over. Nothing on it looked familiar. And what did those symbols even mean?

Sunburst was getting closer. Panicking, Flurry half-turned in her seat, ostensibly to grab for her notebook and flip to the notes she hoped she’d taken. What she managed to do, though, was kick out her right leg up into the air—just at the same moment that Sunburst was rounding the side of her desk.

Her hoof knocked into his knee; with a grunt, the portly stallion went tumbling forward. Flurry’s eyes widened, and she felt a protective instinct seize her. A blink of an eye later, she’d caught him, wrapping one hoof around his barrel and steadying herself with her hind legs spread wide.

She’d saved Sunburst from stumbling completely...but, she noted with a blush, she’d gotten quite close in doing so. Her hoof squished deep into his soft belly, her foreleg biting into his doughy, tender middle. Her side pressed against his, letting her feel his thick love handles folding over her skin. As an alicorn, she was taller than him by a good two inches—and, thankfully, hardy enough to catch him—but the realization that she was actually holding Sunburst’s belly left her almost flustered enough to drop him again.

Sunburst coughed.

Flurry instantly pulled back, withdrawing her hoof the second she was certain that he wasn’t about to fall again. “Sorry!” she said quickly. “Really sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Not the most uncommon occurrence,” Sunburst said wryly. He took a deep breath, likely to steady his nerves. He adjusted his wide-rimmed glasses, and blinked owlishly up at her. “Still… Those are some fast reflexes you’ve got there. Not to mention a good amount of strength.” He peered down at his gut, which was still wobbling gently beneath him from the impact. “I’m, ah, not the lightest stallion in the Palace, I’m sure.”

Flurry flushed. “Erm. Sure.” She turned back to the textbook, hoping that he couldn’t see the redness on her cheeks.

“So, having difficulty with the problem, hm?” Sunburst peered over her shoulder at the textbook below.

“Actually”—a hapless Flurry decided to take a risk, and just jabbed a hoof at the first question on the page, hoping that it was one they’d already covered—“I was looking back at this one, and was wondering if you could explain the procedure for it again.”

Sunburst tutted softly. “A basic concept question? Goodness, Princess Flurry—do I need to assign more vocabulary work?” She winced. “No matter. Let’s see…”

He began to explain the problem to her—a dinky little word problem about magical fields that she probably could have solved in her sleep if she’d been bothering to pay attention. She followed his explanation for the first few seconds...and then found herself immediately distracted when she heard the familiar crunch of a candy bar.

Barely daring to move, she glanced to her side, just toward Sunburst’s face. His words were slightly muffled, his cheeks puffed out as he chewed. An unwrapped chocolate bar hovered a few inches away from his muzzle, a few brown crumbs speckling the fur around his lips. He swallowed between sentences, then took another bite, this time wolfing down near a full third of the chocolate bar in one go. A shiver went down her spine as she briefly entertained the idea of licking those chocolate smears off his muzzle, of cleaning him up with a kiss.

Flurry was happy to watch him eat—happy to imagine that chocolate melting around Sunburst’s frame to leave him even softer, each candy bar he gulped down adding to his appetite, until he was so stuffed that his belly would have been big and taut enough to serve as a mattress... Her mattress? she wondered with a blush.

He swallowed the next bite of chocolate, paused, and then turned to face her. Then he glanced down nervously at the candy bar. “Oh, dear,” Sunburst said, his lips flecked with chocolate. “I do hope I’m not distracting you from the problem. Just was a bit peckish, I suppose.”

“No!” Flurry said—a bit too quickly. She shrank back, grinning, blushing. “It’s—it’s fine. I think I get it.” She patted her own stomach and chuckled awkwardly. “It’s almost time for lunch, anyway, isn’t it?”

Sunburst blinked owlishly at her, then levitated a pocket watch from a fold in his cloak. “I don’t believe so,” he said. “It’s only eleven-thirty.”

Flurry opened her mouth—and then found herself interrupted by a particularly loud rumbling noise. Both of them glanced down at Sunburst’s low-hanging tummy. Sunburst himself blushed, not quite meeting her eyes as the echoes of his hungry stomach faded.

He cleared his throat. “Perhaps, ah, a lunch break would not be out of order.”


The kitchen was enormous, gleaming with polished metal and well-scrubbed floors. Well, not entirely scrubbed—Sunburst stepped around a fallen puddle of gravy just moments before nearly colliding with a fast-moving chef. Their brush against one another sent him spinning, the lighter chef catching his balance easily. Sunburst just barely recovered before tumbling over completely; he tightened his grip on Flurry’s hoof, his face red as he glanced around the wide room.

“Is it—is it okay for us to be here?” he asked. He had to talk louder to be heard over the din of the lunch preparations around them. He peered through his horn-rimmed spectacles at a cluster of chefs clustered around some vast cauldron...thing, bubbling with something that both looked incredibly hot and smelled incredibly delicious. His stomach growled like a ravenous beast; it, at least, cared not one whit whether it was allowed to be there.

Flurry laughed as she all but dragged him along. “It’s fine!” she said. “I come here all the time for lunch. Sitting out in the banquet hall is so boring, and I hate making the servants march all the way up to my room. Plus, this way you get to taste-test everything!”

“Everything?” Sunburst eyed a tray of spinach pasties passing by in the hoof of an apron-wearing crystal pony. His mouth watered, his stomach rumbling all the louder as ten thousand delicious smells wafted into his lungs. Beyond the tray, a whole feast of scrumptious dishes lay out before them, teasing him and his empty belly.

“Everything,” Flurry said happily. Sunburst whined softly, his hoof going to his rotund middle as they passed a tray full of cheese danishes—one of his favorites. “Although,” Flurry added, “I think I forgot that some Saddle Arabian dignitary is visiting today. They must be going all-out for him.”

Sunburst could have died happy amongst that kingdom of delicacies. As it was, he was content to just slurp up a small trickle of drool, blushing as he hoped that Flurry hadn’t noticed. Goodness, but he was properly starved—and the dozens of delicious smells tinging the air just left him all the hungrier.

“And we can just…up and eat it?” he said. He noticed that his voice sounded bleary, dazed.

Flurry giggled. Oh, that filly had her mother’s laugh, all right. “Yup! The chefs love me, so feel free to just grab whatever looks good!” She winked down at him, stopping them before a polished steel island absolutely groaning with prepared dishes. Flurry nudged him gently with her withers, and he swallowed heavily. “I know you must be really hungry.”

“O-oh. Well, in that case…” Sunburst absentmindedly adjusted his glasses with the back of his hoof, then turned to look over the smorgasbord in front of them. He stared for a few moments, frozen, unable to follow one delectable scent over another.

Flurry appeared to notice his indecision. “Hors D'Oeuvres!” she hollered, waving a hoof over Sunburst’s shoulder. “Hey, Eggy!”

Sunburst startled as a tall, slender stallion appeared over his shoulder. He wore his mane neatly coiffed, and his moustache was curled into a well-angled swirl. A clean silk tie encircled his neck. Beside him, Sunburst felt downright dumpy, between his silly little cape, his scruffy goatee, and his—gulp—round, pudgy middle. He shrank back a little reflexively, trying to not draw too much attention to himself.

“Princess Flurry,” the stallion—Oeuvres, Sunburst presumed—said in a particularly strong Prench accent. “How many times must I remind you that Oeuvre does not mean ‘egg’? That would be oeuf.”

“But Eggy is a great name!” Flurry said. She grinned devilishly. “Anyways, I just wanted to ask what you thought was good today. Sunburst was really hungry, and we’re trying to find some lunch!”

“Lunch, mm?” Oeuvres tilted his head forward, first to inspect Sunburst, then toward the table. “The lasagna is particularly good today,” he noted, holding up a hoof and making an airy gesture. “The ricotta came in fresh just this morning.”

“Thanks!” Flurry beamed up at him; Oeuvres inclined his head stiffly, then trotted away. Sunburst watched him go for a few moments, but found his attention rudely jerked away when a mouthwatering scent begin to waft beneath his nostrils. He smelled tomatoes—cream—mushrooms…

“Here we go!” Flurry said. Sunburst’s eyes widened; a massive dish of lasagna hovered just beneath his nose, clad in the shimmering blue of Flurry Heart’s magic. His knees could have collapsed just at the scent alone. It looked beautiful—like a work of art.

And it was for him?

He licked his lips, very aware of just how much saliva was pooling in his mouth right then. “Erm... “ He glanced over his shoulder, wondering if anypony was watching. “It does look...delectable.”

“I know, right?” Flurry floated up a few sets of utensils and two plates from a nearby counter and shot him a grin. “C’mon! Let’s go grab a table in the back room. It smells delicious, doesn’t it?”

His knees actually did wobble. Fancy that. His belly did, too. Sunburst grinned back, albeit somewhat awkwardly. “Yes,” he said. “It certainly does.”


As he took his seat, Sunburst let his eyes flutter closed. He inhaled, taking in a deep breath of the lasagna before them. A few slices had been neatly cut for them; when he opened his eyes again, there was a filled plate floating before him.

“Dig in!” Flurry said. She had a plate of her own, and a set of cutlery floating in the air beside her. “I am so hungry.”

Sunburst could certainly empathize. His mouth watering, his stomach feeling monumentally empty, he could barely remember to place his napkin in his lap before diving straight in. A massive chunk of lasagna found its way into his mouth, speared on the tip of his fork. The second it passed his lips, he felt like he could nearly cry for joy.

So soft—so tender—so creamy. It was a celebration on his tastebuds, an explosion of flavor. He chewed it quickly, swallowed, and actually had to stifle a soft moan as it plopped down into his stomach. But that was a mere drop in the bucket—he wanted; no, needed more.

The second bite was already at his lips. Sunburst felt like he should be ashamed, but was far too ravenous—and the lasagna far too delicious—for him to feel concerned with his voracious appetite. It was only when he demolished the entirety of his first slice, and found himself reaching for a second, that he noticed that Flurry was staring at him strangely.

“A-ah.” Sunburst quickly dabbed a napkin on his lips and flashed her a smile. “Apologies. I seem to be remarkably hungry today.”

Flurry grinned back. “No worries,” she said, her mouth quirking at the edges. “I know just how tasty this food can be.” She patted her toned middle, and winked down at her own plate. “Delicious, right?”

“Oh, yes.” Sunburst patted his own gut, and blushed when he realized just how far his hoof sank. Still, there was a bit of tightness to it now; that lasagna had been incredibly rich and filling. But perhaps he could still have one more slice…

“So,” Flurry said, as he began on his second piece. “It’s weird that I’ve never asked, but what do you do when you’re not teaching me?”

Sunburst swallowed a heaping mouthful of marinara and creamy ricotta. Those mushrooms—why, he could have shivered with pleasure. Just sauteed to absolute perfection.

“Read, mainly,” he mumbled, taking a deep sniff of his next bite before digging in. His mouth full, he added, “Your parents were kind enough to give me full access to the Royal Archives.” He swallowed, his chubby chipmunk cheeks deflating as he gulped down that creamy ambrosia.

Flurry’s eyebrows furrowed. He couldn’t help but notice, as he helped himself to a third slice—oh, where had the second gone?—that she was only halfway done with her first. “Do you live with anyone?” she said. She waggled her eyebrows. “Did Mom set you up with anypony?”

Sunburst nearly choked. “No, no,” he said, dabbing at his lips with his napkin. Goodness; had he really been eating that messily? The clean white silk was smattered with globs of tomato sauce, and he noted, blushing, that a good bit of cheese had matted round contour of his belly. His napkin may have covered his lap, but his stomach had already been large before the meal, and filling it with three good-sized slices of lasagna had not helped matters. It pressed heavily against his thighs, and his blush deepened as he tried to wipe off some of the mess.

“She, ah, has not,” he said. He cleared his throat, not quite meeting Flurry’s eyes. “Sorry. It’s a bit personal.” He saw Flurry wince again, and instantly regretted it. “Though I don’t mind you asking,” he added quickly.

Oh, what was a fourth slice on top of another three? The lasagna tin was barely even a quarter empty by now; bulk orders seemed to be the norm down here. Sunburst helped himself to another two pieces, his stomach beginning to feel more than a little bit full.

“There was one mare…” He chewed thoughtfully as he pictured her. He could see Starlight’s face now: kind, smiling down at him as sparks danced between their horns. He swallowed, then hurriedly took another bite of the lasagna. It tasted better than his memories. Shaking his head, he added, “It wouldn’t have worked, though.”

Somehow, a good half-dozen cookies had managed to float their way off of a passing chef’s tray. Goodness, but as long as they were there…

There was an even odder expression on Flurry’s face now, as Sunburst wolfed down the cookies. He hardly paid it any mind, though. How did they manage to make the chocolate chips so sweet, so rich, so tender that they just melted the instant they hit your tongue? Had he been alone, he actually might have groaned with pleasure.

“Oh,” Flurry said. Her face shifted, becoming unreadable. Her cheeks did seem tinged slightly pink, though. And why was she chewing on her lower lip?  “Okay.”

Sunburst swallowed a final time—had he really finished all of those cookies?—and reached up to give his belly a pat. He found it much sooner than he expected. His cheeks burned as he felt his gut, bloated and round with filling, sitting heavily in his lap. It felt rather like a lead weight, squishing his thick thighs against the hard seat of his chair.

And the stains… His blush deepened. Hurriedly, he went to work mopping any sauce or crumbs off of his fur. He caught a glimpse of his cheeks and muzzle in a sink mirror, and quickly went about wiping those clean, too.

“Yes,” he finally said, letting his ruined napkin drop to the table. He felt something rising in his gut; holding a hoof in the air, he felt his breath catch—and then burped, a low, rumbling sound that made his every hair stand on end.

“Sorry, sorry,” Sunburst blurted. He covered his mouth with a hoof. As the echo of it faded, he squirmed in his seat, unable to keep his eyes from wandering back to the lasagna tin. How in Equestria had a full two-thirds of the thing disappeared? Surely somepony else must have taken some when he wasn’t looking…

For goodness’ sake, he was with his student! He must have had a little bit more self-control than this. Luckily, at least Flurry didn’t seem too disgusted with him, at least visually. Though Sunburst couldn’t help but feel a bit wretched nonetheless, his ears drooping lightly.

“Tremendously rude of me,” he said. “My apologies—and I seem to have taken a bit too much advantage of the kitchen’s hospitality.” He pushed his chair back, wiping his lips one last time as he slid onto his hooves. His big, rounded belly slapped against his thighs, and he cringed at the sound of it.

Flurry grinned slyly. Inwardly, Sunburst tensed up. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “They like knowing when somepony’s enjoyed their food. Why else do you think I can come here for lunch every day?”

Something stuck in Sunburst’s mind. “E-every day?” he stammered. “Do—do you think I could—“

“—come too?” Flurry looked thoughtful for a moment. “Hm. Yeah, I think I could ask about it.” She leaned in close, an impish smile crossing her face. She hid her mouth behind one hoof, as though she was about to share a particularly juicy secret. “After all, you’re the Princess’ personal tutor! They’d let you get away with anything.”

Sunburst chuckled, though a bit of professorial indignation flared up in him at the thought. “Mind your ego, young lady,” he said. “I won’t allow a student of mine to feel so much above anypony else.”

Still, though…

As they left the kitchen, Sunburst thought he felt his well-stuffed belly grumble while they passed a tray full of delicious-smelling apple tarts. He suppressed the urge to snatch one off the top of the pile.

Tomorrow, he told himself. After all, given the quality of food here, surely coming back for a lunch here every once in awhile couldn’t hurt. He shuddered softly. And that lasagna…

Well. It sure beat the hay out of a cold daisy sandwich. Next Chapter: Chapter Two Estimated time remaining: 54 Minutes

Return to Story Description

Login

Facebook
Login with
Facebook:
FiMFetch