Stuffed Starlight

It was getting well into twilight by the time Sunburst had finally arrived in the familiar parts of town, lugging the heavy suitcase alongside himself as he pulled it down the empty streets amid the softening glow of the setting sun.

By the time the train had arrived in the station, the sun was already kissing the horizon, and now it was verily feeling like proper nightfall and a new life was taking hold in the quiet streets of the Crystal Empire ad a dim, magical glow emanate from the dark corners, filling the space with soothing, humming din..

Normally, in the daytime, the Crystal Empire was resplendent, the most beautiful scene to imagine. It shimmered like a city of lights in the bright glow of the sun, but now, as the sun set and the moon took its place once more, it was like a whole different world was taking hold.

The night was peppered with multitudes of arcane glows and energies.He often wished other ponies could see it the same way he did—the magical lights, like fireflies, following the leylines into the sky, fed by the ever-present flow of energy from the stars and heavenly bodies.

It was breath-taking, and a shame Sunburst couldn’t spend the extra time to admire it further, as he was too busy mulling over what he had seen, trying to put logic to Starlight’s actions.

She insisted they would meet again. It felt so real, like they had rekindled the relationship he had missed and yearned for over so many years. Starlight was so eager to meet him again. Why hadn’t she hung around to see him off?

No, that wasn’t true. She had. She was there when he boarded the train, but then... All of his other, new friends had hung around to see him even to the last minute.

Why had Starlight vanished?

What had happened to her?

He heaved a sigh as he turned the next corner into an alleyway—a narrow street, slightly darker, extending deep into the residential sector of the Crystal Empire and closer to the place he called home. His hooves ached, and the strain of having to maintain his magic for this long were beginning to wear on him. Sunburst cupped his muzzle in his hooves and yawned.

Maybe there was something he was missing, he thought to himself... some reason Starlight couldn’t stay.

The silence of the night was only disturbed by the subtle buzzing of glowing gems and the muffled speech of residents in the houses he passed.

One in particular caught Sunburst’s attention and gave him pause. Raising an eyebrow, he ventured close to a windowsill. A dim glow illuminated the silhouettes of the ponies and furniture inside, though little more.

“Oh for buck’s sake, Diamond Rod—” Somepony, a mare by the sound of her voice, hissed between exasperated pants. “Hurry up! We’re going to be late for the Princess’s State of the Pony address!”

There was a sudden, very rhythmic knock, knock, knocking as something bumped against the far side of the wall which caused Sunburst to recoil in surprise. He almost yelped, but had the forethought to bite his tongue when another knock came, and another, and another.

Soon a continuous thump, thump, thump, thump like a clubhouse bass could be heard beating through the wall, accompanied by the creaking of stone supports and the grunting of some poor stallion.

It took a second, but when the realisation struck him Sunburst’s cheeks flushed red. His entire body grew hot, and he felt the need to pull his cloak closer around himself as he backed away slowly.

Better to pretend that this never happened, he silently surmised.

After that, Sunburst made sure to duck low whenever he passed a window. He scurried directly for his own home, careful to avoid getting too close to any other building.

By the time Sunburst arrived at the final house on the street, he could feel the telltale signs of his magical endurance waning. The green suitcase that once bobbed cheerfully beside him at eye-level had taken to dragging along behind him as he prioritised levitating the heavier items.

The barrel listed aside and Sunburst quickly corrected its angle for fear of it toppling over. The strain of the day was bearing on him, and he wanted nothing more than to get inside and relax. At least his erection from the earlier encounter was finally subsiding.

He growled and picked up the pace, utilising one final burst of energy to yank the barrel back upright. “Come on, just a little furth—”

“BAH!”

Something danced across his peripheral vision. The hairs on the nape of his neck raised and Sunburst whipped around to look, his eyes desperately attempting to lock on to the indistinct flying blur.

He ricocheted off of a plush ball that slammed into his face and sent his glasses flying. The eyewear clattered to the floor and skidded away out of reach, leaving the stallion defenceless. “M-My glasses!” Sunburst yelped.

Blinded and disorientated, Sunburst flailed and spun out of control. The barrel, with no guidance, sailed past his head and crashed into the ground whilst something else caught on his hooves and tugged with a mysterious force against his cloak.

Sunburst let out a startled yelp as his neck was pulled back, causing his entire body to instinctively rear up onto two legs. He emitted a loud “whinnnneeeehheeeyy!” as his legs buckled and, in one fell swoop, the ground attacked.

SMACK

—and the two suitcases and barrel body slammed him into the earth..

CRASH, SMASH, THWOMP

“...Ow.”

“Oh my Auntie! I’m so sorry, are you alright?” A pink blur hurried to their side and knelt. His mysterious assailant pushed the suitcases and books out of the way, then leaned down and offered a hoof to lift him from the floor.

“Um...”

He hesitated, eyeing the outstretched hoof suspiciously. Whatever pony had just attacked him couldn’t actually be helping him, right? He chose carefully whether to trust this pony or call for help.

Inevitably, his trusting nature of pony kind won out this fight. He rubbed the bump on his head—though, granted, the biggest bruise of all had to be to his ego—and then accepted the offered hoof, allowing himself to be yanked into a relative standing position. “Thank you, um…

He squinted.

“...Who are you?”

The blur levitated a pair of glasses onto Sunburst’s nose and Princess Cadance came into focus, with what looked like Princess Flurry Heart clutched against her chest. The foal had her stuffed snail, Whammy he believed it was called, clamped between her forelegs with a vice-like grip that was threatening to eject stuffing from the poor thing’s eyes. She had him fixed in her gaze with tears budding from the corners of her eyes.

“I’m so, so sorry,” Princess Cadance apologised vehemently. She gestured a hoof to her daughter and repositioned the foal against her side as she did so. Even then, Flurry’s teary eyes never failed to track Sunburst as his own, meanwhile, remained transfixed upon the plush snail even as it leaked cotton from between the stitching.

“Little Flurry here can be such a hoof-full”—Flurry’s lip quivered, a gesture that could have surely melted even a changeling’s heart—“She never meant to scare you like that.”

Blushing sheepishly, he adjusted his glasses, enhancing the Princess’s clarity. “O-oh-Oh, well...” Sunburst glanced at the pile of suitcases. Thankfully, the barrel seemed undamaged, having merely rolled to the side where it still lay, unopened.

Deciding little damage had been done, he smiled.

“Th-That’s okay?” Sunburst said. The words came out as more of a question than he intended, so he swallowed to clear his throat, and attempted to pry his eyes from the foal and her snail and instead focused on her mother. “F-Foals will be foals, right?”

He tousled her mane playfully, and Flurry giggled in response. “Wh-What are you doing here anyway?” Sunburst asked. Gradually, he felt his blush recede and his confidence restore. “I thought you were doing the State of the Pony address tonight?”

Flurry Heart released her Whammy, and allowed it to tumble to the ground, providing the battered snail a moment of respite, before immediately latching onto Sunburst’s foreleg instead.

Cadance glanced sidelong. “Oh, ha-ha!” She laughed nervously and rolled her eyes. “Funny you should say that... I need you to babysit at the castle tonight.”

Sunburst blinked. “But... It’s my day off...”

“Yeeeah...” She sucked air between her teeth. “Sorry. I know it is short notice, but it’s the State of the Pony and Flurry Heart is teething”—As if on cue, a sharp pang rang out through Sunburst’s hoof. A silent ow escaped through his teeth as he tugged his hoof back, tooth-marks and all whilst Princess Cadance, for her part, continued as if nothing had happened—“and I can’t hold her the entire time," she said, "Flurry desperately needs a babysitter.”

Sunburst broke away from glaring down at the foal to stammer: “But… but...”

Looking at the teeth marks in his goof and then around at the section of guards that had stationed themselves around his yard, Sunburst was flabbergasted. This had to be some sort of joke, right? She couldn't seriously be doing this to him right now, could she?

Even so, would Princess Cadance really have come to his home with an armoured guard in the middle of the night if it wasn’t something serious?

“B-But I’m the Royal Crystaller" He was grasping at straws. "It’s not the same as a babysitter!” Sunburst yelped, to which Cadance inhaled sharply.

The gesture that did little to console him, much the opposite actually, as Cadance whinged. “Is it reeeaaally, though?”

“Well—I...” He frowned. She was right, of course, though it didn't stop Sunburst from putting up a resistance. He glanced back towards his cottage door, the inviting embrace of home and a warm bed, but unsure of what to do, his gaze was and once more to the foal and her mother in front of him.

The first mistake: Flurry Heart's puppy-dog eyes bored into his soul and were immediately joined by the Princess' own as they both proceeded to shatter his defences. Celestia damn, but did she teach that filly well.

“Plea—”

“Okay, fine!” Sunburst facehoofed, ears dropping as his concession all but sealed his fate. “...When do you need me?”

“The State of the Pony is at midnight, in five hours,” he heard Cadance's voice calmly state. “The castle is five minutes away, and also…

There was a pause, and Sunburst sensed a change in tone all of a sudden. His hoof was pulled away from his face as Cadance grabbed onto his hock, giving it a reaffirming squeeze. Her regal countenance was all but transformed, replaced by a warmer, more familial smile as she brought her hoof closer to his chest, the two sharing the same space for a moment like an embrace only faltered by the foal cradled 'tween her breast. “Thank you, Sunburst, so, so much”—She straightened his ruffled mane back into place with a little of her magic—“I owe you for this.”

Sunburst felt a smile touch the corners of his muzzle, the slightest tinge of red making his cheeks feel warm despite the cooling night. He smiled. “O-Of course. D-Don’t worry about it, Princess. I’m the Royal Crystaller, after all!“ He puffed his chest. “It’s the least I can do. For The Crown.”

“Not for the Crown, Sunburst…” Cadance’s smile transformed into a sultry smirk. She pecked him on the cheek and gave him a wink as her voice dropped below a whisper. She spoke just loud enough to be heard by him and nopony else. “...for a friend.”

Then just like that, she was gone, and not a moment later, had the guards around them broken formation. Following the princess out of the driveway, they left him alone with his thoughts—where Sunburst stood frozen, surrounded by his suitcases and the books strewn across his vacant driveway.

"...a friend…"

He silently repeated after her, and as he did, those words sent shivers down his spine.

“A friend.”

~ ~ ~

...Starlight.

The door clicked shut behind him as Sunburst trotted, limped into the middle of his study. His hooves were dragging from exhaustion and there was sweat speckling his forehead as he struggled to keep his breathing under control.

The short altercation between him and Princess Cadance had, for lack of a better word, left him flustered—His nostrils flared, still picking up on the scent of a mare—or was it his imagination? Or was it an effect of his arousal clouding his better judgement?

Whatever it was, he had to get his mind distracted, away from the—unfortunate side-effects of his excitement currently growing between his legs.

It was already difficult to walk, he didn’t need a an extra leg making it all the harder to get from outside into his own home, and of course his usual choice of garment wasn’t helping—Sunburst inhaled as the tassels of his cloak brushed against his underside, eliciting a gasp and a trembling sensation to run all throughout his balls and up his back.

He stopped suddenly, squeezing his eyes shut as he focused on his breathing. The tip of his dick slipped out by a millimetre, and that was all it took—another breath and he could feel the rest of it slowly dropping down beneath him, almost long enough to kiss the ground.

He had to do something to distract himself, and fast—There was no way he could continue to think about—about—that—

Steeling himself, Sunburst opened his eyes and cast a little of his magic. He levitated his glasses into the air and brushed away the fog before replacing them on his nose and casting what little was left of his magical reserves to the corners of the room.

The first order of business was to get the lights up. Until now the only source of light to see by was his own magic, and though it was enough to see his own nose or read by, if he was going to be doing anything else he’d sooner find himself falling flat on his face—in a compromising position no doubt based on his luck.

Sunburst cast his magic to the three corners of the room, tendrils reaching out along the leylines in a practised pattern as they latched onto and poured energy into hidden pools recessed in the walls. There was a satisfying hum as the energy started to leave him in small amounts, and the air grew full with static—energised by a nearly imperceptible thrum of magic as several hidden gems sparked to life.

A dim arcane glow spread out from the corners of the room, bathing the space in a flickering yellow light—revealing the room to be a mess, as usual—Scrolls and papers were strewn across the floor as maps and bookshelves adorned the walls.

A yellow glow enveloped several items on the floor, and books and scrolls levitated onto the bookshelves one by one as Sunburst picked and jumped his way through the cluttered floor. He made his way to the middle of the room, a limp in his step as he struggled to deal with his still needy erection—every jerky motion he went through sent a new shudder through his body as the parts of his cloak continued to tease him in various ways.

A stray thread tickled his balls causing Sunburst’s erection to redouble its effort. Going from a half-chub to a full rod in just about a second, the shaft slapped suddenly against his underbelly, leaving a string of pre-cum connecting between the damp fur to the tip of his penis as Sunburst yelped and collapsed.

He rolled sideways onto his recliner. The chair creaked and groaned under his weight, and the books around the room froze on the spot, hiccupped, and then all tumbled to the floor, leaving Sunburst whining with his glasses crooked and unable to see.

Dammit

Why did Cadance have to do this to him?

No. It wasn’t her fault, not entirely—he didn’t have the right to blame her for being who she was. Cadance was the princess of lust, after all, she couldn’t control it—though a part of him did want to blame her for reminding him of—As he blinked, the vision of Starlight Glimmer flashed through his mind.

Not the Starlight—the mare—as he knew her, but a much older image. A young filly with pigtails, and an enthusiastic wonder and glee the likes one can only capture as a foal. She was smiling at him from across the small table, with a board game between them, and at that moment, Sunburst was back in their childhood home.

The memory had been reformed, made anew and more vibrant than ever—with no thanks to Starlight’s spell from earlier that day, so he had no choice but to remember the room exactly as it was. How he’d seen it, and never thought he would again.

There was a stirring beneath him and Sunburst’s eyes sprung open. He inhaled sharply, gasping for breath, and all at once he wasn’t in their childhood home any more, but in his lone little cabin—the student apartment he’d taken out after leaving Celestia’s school.

Though the room suddenly felt a lot warmer than before, and he was sure he could feel his cheeks burning, there was still a distant coldness to the place—like there was something missing.

Glancing around himself, his attention finally settled on his erection—a solid rod of flesh that towered from between his legs, poking from between the edges of his cloak like a certain undersea serpent coming up for air.

Why did this have to happen?

Sunburst licked his lips, feeling the taste of salt.

His cock had gotten about as hard as it could become—maybe even more so than that. He could feel the ache building in his balls as they begged for release, and almost out of instinct, but in part resigning himself to his fate, Sunburst’s magic grabbed at the corners of his cape.

He had to lift himself slightly to get it out from underneath him, but soon enough, he had plenty of loose cloth to drape around his shaft.

The contact gave a soothing tingling sensation throughout his shaft that made it tense up. The flare at the end pulse, and a drop of clear fluid dribbled from the opening, smearing down the side as he glided the soft fabric gently across the delicate flesh.

He still couldn’t get his thoughts away from Starlight, though. If anything, masturbating only made it worse—Though he might try to envision other ponies, like Princess Cadance—gods be cursed she would ever find out—His mind would always end up finding a path back to Starlight, to morphing the pony in his mind’s eye back into the mare he longed the most for—the old friend he hadn’t seen in almost forever. It was so close, and yet so far.

If only he could go back to that day

The memory of Starlight’s proposition flashed through his head—but it was tainted—The image of Starlight standing across from him, turned back into her filly form—but there was something different. She was missing that... spark.

It wasn’t the same. Not really.

His grip tightened and Sunburst pulled more of the fabric around his cock, forming a tight bond around the taught flesh—The soft silk was divine. The most gentle hold he could imagine without using his—

The precum was starting to wet the silk, making it glide effortlessly across his skin. It would nick against the rim of his flare, eliciting a slight hike in his breathing.

It was almost like the real thing...

Closing his eyes, Sunburst focused on his memories, though he couldn’t stop thinking...

She looked like his foalhood crush, but at the same time, the pony Starlight had become felt nothing like the same pony he had known and fantasised about for all of these years. She’d grown, changed—they both had—and now it felt like he had more in common with Starlight’s other friends than he did with Starlight herself.

That was all only put into starker relief when he remembered how Starlight hadn’t even been there with her other friends when he’d left the station. A pang of guilt struck his heart, and for a moment, Sunburst halted his ministrations. He opened his eyes, his vision straying to a particular corner of the room—slightly darker than the rest—where a lone trunk lay.

He snapped his vision back.

No

He promised he wouldn’t do that again. He’d mended his friendship with Starlight. They were in contact again. He didn’t need that, but at the same time...

His cock had started to soften, so Sunburst resumed his stroking, half paying attention as he worked his erection back up to full mast.

He had little in common with Starlight—they still had the boardgame, though. A board game? Really? Playing that game had been fun, and Starlight clearly cared a lot more about it than he, but...was it really enough?

He wasn’t satisfied with just a board game.

Sunburst huffed, gritting his teeth and narrowing his eyes, he picked up the pace. His cock twitched, leaking pre as he worked it into the cloth, spreading the lubricant across the rest of his length. His flare was starting to harden and his breathing was becoming stiff and mechanical.

He wanted her. He wanted his Starlight back. Not some new or fixed version. He wanted the original, his one and only true filly friend and crush. Starlight Estonia Glimmer.

The motions of his magic had grown erratic, imprecise. His release was drawing near and he could feel the tension growing in his balls—as a throb passed through his shaft’s length, Sunburst let out a hoarse cry—momentarily forgetting the tears beading at the corners of his eyes as he let out a frustrated cry that rattled the chamber around him.

It was getting more difficult to keep the package together. Even as he could see sparks of magic shooting off in the corners of his vision through his closed eyes, he scrambled to keep the spell together, to retain the tight sensation of the cloth pussy wrapped around his engorged shaft for just a tiny bit longer.

His entire body was going stiff as he shuddered, gasped in the cool air. His glasses, fogged and useless, were knocked askew by his thrashing as Sunburst bore down on his imagined lover’s hips. The cliff was nearly upon him—It was rushing towards him and it felt like the drop was an inevitability. His flare strained against the silk, stretching to its full size as his shaft flexed and pulsed, when, suddenly—

The first throb ran through his cock, staining the fabric, when his magic finally gave out and the spell faltered. All at once, the pressure around his shaft vanished as the bundle of folds turned again into nothing but a lifeless and unaffectionate piece of cloth.

The orgasm failed instantly and Sunburst, shuddering, rolled into the back of the chair. Gritting his teeth, he silently swore. “… fuck.”

Stuck and unable to finish, he clenched his teeth and shut his eyes, trying desperately to rekindle a little of what he had left—He tried to conjure back the image of the filly of his dreams, but the image was fleeting. Like I his orgasm, every time he tried, the herder he tried to chase it down, the more difficult and distant it became, until, finally the stallion sighed in defeat.

He slumped back into his chair, panting and out of breath, and started up at the ceiling. Nothing but the unforgivable crevices of some mason-stallion’s work was left to stare back at him—Sunburst silently cursed the Crystal Kingdom’s policy of every ceiling being adorned with Olde Equestrian sculptures of burly stallions doing lurid sex acts. Instead, he turned his attention forward—to the more immediate troubles.

His cock was still standing proud and to attention, the flare chiselled with veins protruding and throbbing with his arousal. As he watched, the flare was already starting to retreat, with the softening of his shaft, as a trickle of white peaked from the tip and dripped down the side.

It was then that something caught Sunburst’s attention—like an old memory as he glimpsed something out of the corner of his eye. Looking past his cock, he glanced to the back of the room.

In the very far distance, shaded in the dark and forgotten—nay, pushed out of memory, and covered in dust from neglect, was something that made Sunburst’s heart jump into his throat.

Almost immediately his cock started to harden again as he pulled himself upright in the seat—straightening his glasses as he did so. He gulped, the sound loud enough to wake a sleeping elephant.

In the far corner, nestled just out of sight, pushed between an antiquated lamp and doorway to the kitchen, and partially buried beneath the piles of books, was a trunk.

There was a tiny nudge in the back of his mind. A simple suggestion.

Just this once.

It’d been years since he’d heard that voice. Even longer since he’d contemplated opening that chest again. Slowly, he started to get up from his seat, but Sunburst stopped himself. Was he really that weak? One bad day, one case of pent up frustration, one ruined attempt to masturbate. Was it really enough to break his resolve?

Sunburst glanced at the chest again. Its presence, a gentle temptation seated itself heavy in the room. He snapped his nose away almost as quickly. “N-No—” The words felt weak, like they betrayed what he really wanted, but Sunburst persisted. “No. I’m not going to. Not again.”

No one will know

Again, the voice persisted and Sunburst found his gaze wandering back to the chest. He knew what was in there, what opening it would entail. He was already tempted from his seat, and had made the first of a few tentative steps in its direction—If he opened that chest, there would be no going back.

Sunburst inhaled, pushing the fogs of his arousal out of his mind—They were clouding his judgement. He couldn’t. Wouldn’t.

He tried to distract himself, pacing around the room, at first going the opposite direction of the chest. Several more books levitated themselves onto the shelves, slotting into their designated positions as Sunburst passed. He started to put plans together for the rest of the night. He had to eat something first, maybe draw himself a bath second.

Yes, he could draw a hot bath. What better to clear his mind that a hot steamy bath? A hot, steamy, soak. He could lie bury himself to his shoulders in the warm water and lose himself, just like how he’d bury his cock to the shaft in—

He huffed and his nostrils flared. Sunburst shook his head, suddenly breaking himself out of his thoughts. His erection was swinging between his legs, brushing against the fabric of his cloak, and it was only when he spotted the front door inches from his face, that Sunburst realised he’d done a full lap of the room and almost landed right on top of the chest.

This time, though, it’s calling was louder than ever. His nostrils flared, pulling in the distant scent of heat—or was it his imagination?—as that same voice called to him again.

Just this once. I won’t tell.

This time, Sunburst licked his lips. It was true. Who could possibly know? It wasn’t like he was a schoolcolt living in a dorm room any more. He was a fully-grown stallion, with his own home, complete privacy. Whatever happened here, it was nopony’s business.

And he… Oh, so, very much needed it…

And just like that, Sunburst let out a needy, desperate whimper as his resolve crumbled to dust. Taking the first step, deviating from his chosen path, he started towards the chest.

“M-Maybe just this once won’t hurt…”