Marjoram looked up from his book, to find the smallest residence of Queen Luna's harem staring at him. Again. While Marjoram had long ago learned to ignore the astounded gasps, long stares, and the jealous whispers, this type of intense scrutiny was beginning to grate on his nerves.

“Is there something I can do for you?” Marjoram said flatly, setting the book beside his flabby, useless left foreleg.

Sea Shores blushed, “No, sorry,” the young mare fidgeted a little, then lay down one a pile of cushions near Marjoram's massive body.

Marjoram sighed, “What's wrong?”

“How did you get so big?” Sea Shores asked timidly.

Marjoram sighed, “Well, there was the accident. I was playing around with trying to get more nutrients into food, to help the population after the war. I've never been able to quite figure out what went wrong. Anyway, I was skinnier than you were when you first came before the accident. I woke up and I was well over three hundred pounds.”

Sea Shores blinked, clearly shocked, “Wow.”

Marjoram offered a crooked smile, “Yeah. That's not what I said. Queen Luna had me sent here. She, well, she was going to eat me. However, through testing, it became clear I could weigh 2000 pounds and not suffer any health problems. She decided to keep me around, partly so she could see how big the average pony can get, and partly to help the newer ponies get motivated.”

Sea Shores nodded slowly, “Do you know how much you weigh?”

Marjoram pondered the question for a moment, “Last I checked I was near 700. I think. Probably more now, though.”

“Wow,” Sea Shores breathed, “That’s a lot.”

Marjoram smirked, “You’re telling me.”

Sea Shores offered a tentative smile, “Where do you keep getting those books from? Nopony else seems to want to read, and I’ve never seen anypony move you away from this spot.”

“Magic,” Marjoram replied dryly.

Sea Shores leveled a blank stare in Marjoram’s direction, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

Marjoram shrugged, the movement sending ripples and waves throughout his massive body, “It’s the truth. Want one? I find the ones about food history help you put on the pounds pretty quickly.”

“You have book about food!?” Sea Shores’ ears pricked forward in interest, “really?”

“Yes. I do. Here,” Marjoram concentrated, a harsh golden light surrounding the floor just in front of Sea Shores. Several stacks of books appeared where the magic had touched, and Sea Shores’ head swam with the possibilities.

“Why do you gain more weight when you read books about food?”

“I always get hungrier,” Marjoram replied slyly, “Others tend to, too. Most of these have illustrations to go along with recipes and things, it’s all very descriptive.”

Sea Shores’ mouth began to water in spite of herself, “Where should I start?”

“Wherever you’d like,” Marjoram smirked, his magic picking up the book he had been reading. Soon, he was lost in whatever world the pages showed, leaving Sea Shores with stacks of books.

Picking at random, Sea Shores found a book simply titled Gourmet, and began to read. Within minutes, her stomach began to rumble loud enough for the assistants to come running with platter after platter of treats. As Sea Shores read, they popped the chocolates and pastries into her mouth, so she could concentrate wholly on the book and the food she was eating.

Several days later, when she finished Gourmet, Shores had added another five pounds to her figure.

(LINE BREAK)

Queen Luna looked at her harem of fat ponies from the mirror she had enchanted. The large mirror that she had hanging in the main room of where her ponies stayed was enchanted to project a live view of the goings on of her ‘little’ ponies. Through intimate observation, the logbooks, photographs, and testimonials of the assistants, Luna chose who she was going to eat next.

Part of her craved for this newer pony, Sea Shores. However, the largest part of her brain recalled what Marjoram had told the younger mare only a week before.

“I've never been able to quite figure out what went wrong.”

Queen Luna still had science ponies working on the problem Marjoram had been tackling before his accident. As much as Luna enjoyed Marjoram, for both his intellect and body, Luna felt like she needed somepony else to reach an incredible weight. Somepony different from Marjoram, somepony more approachable and likeable. Somepony to encourage and befriend.

Sea Shores was going to be that pony. Now that Eternity was gone, delicious as she had been, Luna had to rely on a relatively small list of ponies to help her. With her magic, Luna rang a service bell and waited.

Soon, we will have you so large that you won’t be able to twitch a muscle. Luna mused, staring at the sight of the relatively small (when comparing Shores’ weight to Queen Luna’s enormity) mare. Queen Luna turned her attention to Marjoram, and smiled. Him too. Poor stallion, he’s plateaued recently. We can’t have that now, can we?

The puzzle pieces were falling into place, and Queen Luna knew that if she played her cards right, that in a very short time, that she could have what she’d always fantasized of: having other ponies weigh more than herself.

Author's Note

So yeah. I'm not dead, and I haven't forgotten this story at all.

As always, I thank PhealGud and SquishyLuna for their support and ideas.