Sunburst is coming to ponyville and Spike has a plan for him.
The crystal empire's newest Crystaller has been called by Spike under the guise of an important friendship problem. In reality, Spike plans to get Sunburst and Starlight together. This is going to get awkward.
Sunburst got off the train as fast as he could, bumping into a few ponies on the way out. When he exited, he saw Spike at the train station sitting on a bench. Spike noticed him and waved.
"Spike! What's the problem?! I got here as fast as I could!" Sunburst said frantically, looking around for any possible danger.
"Why are you so panicked? It's not like we have some big problem threatening Equestria," Spike responded calmly, standing up from his seat.
"But you said this was a friendship problem!" Sunburst said, worry in his voice.
"Oh yeah. You've never dealt with a friendship problem before. Don't worry, friendship problems don't usually threaten Equestria," Spike said trying to calm Sunburst down. "You'll be fine."
"Oh, well," he said recomposing himself. "What is the problem?"
"Follow me and I'll show you," Spike said, turning his back and walking towards Twilight's castle.
When they got to the castle, Spike opened up the giant crystal doors. Sunburst stood shocked to see this big out-of-place castle in the middle of this small little town. It actually quite reminded him of the one back at home that he had just started to get use to.
"So this is princess Twilight's castle?" Sunburst asked, still looking around. Spike gave him a small nod and continued to lead him up the stairs. "So this is where Starlight has been staying? She's mentioned, in her letters, that it's real easy to get lost in here. I'm starting to see what she meant."
"Eh, you get use to it," Spike said, nonchalantly. "Okay so the throne room is just up ahead. Last time I checked, Twilight was there so we'll just check in to show her you made it here safely."
Sunburst nodded as Spike opened the door to the big throne room. He saw the big round map in the middle of the room with seven crystal thrones surrounding it. In the throne right in the middle sat Twilight, talking away with Starlight Glimmer.
Sunburst looked at Starlight. He felt a desire in his heart to go to her and hug her right away, but he resisted. Ever since Sunburst started talking to Starlight again, he's grown this feeling of desire. He couldn't get the mare out of his head. She was smart, talented and it always felt nice to talk to her. Being the mature adult he is, he realized what this feeling was, it was love. But he couldn't tell her. He couldn't even tell her that he wasn't an important wizard back in the Crystal Empire. How was he gonna drop that bombshell on her?
Spike saw the face on Sunburst's face and decided to announce their presence. "Hey Starlight! I have a visitor for you," he said, pointing at Sunburst.
Starlight turned and saw Sunburst standing at the entrance, looking rather dumbfounded. "Sunburst!" Starlight shouted, as she ran towards her old friend. She pulled Sunburst into a tight hug. "How's it been? You didn't tell me you were coming to visit."
Sunburst tried to focus and form a coherent sentence but, to no avail. Thankfully, Spike bailed him out. "Oh I just called him today, and he's not technically here to visit. He's here to help with a friendship problem," Spike explained.
"Oh really? Do you know what it is yet?" She asked, pulling back so she could look right into his eyes.
Before Sunburst even had a chance to try to open his mouth and possibly make a fool of himself, Twilight stepped in. "Actually, his friendship problem is the same as your friendship lesson. You two will, umm, go and hang out in Ponyville for a while. This will help to really get you two to know each other better and become better friends."
"Really? You called me over for this?" Sunburst asked, finally able to form words.
"Look, I know this doesn't seem that important, but believe me when I say that this will really help you two grow as friends and possibly as ponies," Twilight told him calmly.
"Yeah, I'm on Sunburst's side here. This seems like a bit much to call him here from the Crystal Empire," Starlight said.
"Just trust me, this is important. I wouldn't have had Spike call Sunburst here if it wasn't. For now, please show him around the castle so he doesn't get lost," Twilight said soothingly.
"Okay, whatever you say Twilight," Starlight responded. She turned back to Sunburst and said, "well, come on. Let me show you around, Princess' orders."
Sunburst reluctantly followed the pink mare out the door and into the series of endless hallways and doors.
Spike watched as they left the throne room. As soon as the door closed behind them he turned to Twilight. "Really Twilight? That was the best you could come up with?"
"You know I'm not a good lair. I was put on the spot!" She replied.
"Whatever, they bought it. Step one of Operation: Starburst, complete. They'll be together in no time!" Spike said cheerfully.
"Do you really think this will work Spike?" Twilight asked him.
"What? Of course it will! Did you see their faces when they saw each other? They're totally in love! Trust me, I'm a love expert," Spike said confidently.
"One failed romantic relationship does not make you an expert," Twilight told him. "but I do see your point. There's definitely something there. They'll just need a little push."
"Leave that to me, Twilight. I've got everything figured out," Spike said tapping his claws together.
* * *
"And this is the spare bedroom I imagine you're going to be staying in while you're here," Starlight said as she opened a door up to a cozy room decorated with a bed, writing desk and bookshelf in the corner.
"Hmm this does seem pretty perfect here, it's right next to both the library and your room in case I ever need to speak to you," Sunburst said looking around the small room. "yes, this will do nicely. Thanks for showing me around Starlight."
"Nah, it's nothing. It's the least I could do for a friend." Sunburst could feel his heart die a little as he heard that word coming out of her mouth.
"Yeah, friend. That's all we are," Sunburst tried to say under his breath.
"What was that?" Starlight asked.
"What?! Oh uh, nothing! I didn't say anything!" Sunburst watched as her face held a look of confusion. "Look, it's getting really late so I should probably be heading to bed. See you tomorrow, Starlight!"
And with that Sunburst shut the door to his new room and sat in front of the door. When he heard her leave, he breathed a sigh of relief. "That was bad. I don't know how I'm gonna make it tomorrow without embarrassing myself even more," he sighed. "Oh well, I probably should get some sleep," He said before walking over to his bed.
* * *
Starlight stood at the door, wondering what had him so frazzled. She decided it was best left alone and just headed to her room. The one thing on her mind though, as she walked to her room, was how cute Sunburst looked when flustered like that.
Sunburst woke up the next morning, not feeling very well at all. Maybe it was because his bed was a bit too small for him. Maybe it was that food he ate on the train ride that didn't taste quite right. Or maybe it was the fact that he was here with Starlight for who knows how long. How was he gonna keep his feelings in check when he didn't even know how long he had to endure?
He looked out the window in his room and saw that Celestia's sun had just risen, painting the clouds outside in a beautiful orange. He opened the window to smell the fresh air, which calmed him down a little.
Just then, he heard a knock on his door. "Sunburst? Are you up yet? Twilight called us," Starlight's voice echoed through the room.
Sunburst quickly grabbed his glasses off the table and levitated them onto his face. "Yeah, I'm up. I'll be out in just a second." Sunburst got down from his bed and walked over to the chair where he left his usual robe.
After donning his wizard robe, he headed for the door. The door swung open, and Sunburst's eyes met with Starlight's. "Hey. It's, uh, good to see you up." Starlight looked away, blushing slightly.
Starlight was standing a lot closer than he had expected, and the closeness was causing Sunburst's head to spin. "Yeah, uh, good to see you too Starlight." Sunburst averted his gaze in a futile attempt to calm his nerves.
Get it together! Sunburst thought to himself. He was making a fool of himself, and it wasn't even seven yet. You're gonna need to work extra hard if you want to get through this time here.
"Sunburst? Are you okay?" A soft voice broke him out of his thinking. He looked back to see Starlight a bit farther away, but still looking him right in the eyes. "You sort of blacked out there."
"What? Who, me? No no no no. I'm fine," Sunburst stammered, trying to hide his blush. He saw the look on Starlight's face, and saw only confusion. "So, you mentioned something about Twilight needing us?" Sunburst needed to change the topic, desperately. Fortunately, that worked.
"Oh right. Yes, she called us to the library. Something about our first lesson together. She still hasn't told me exactly what we're doing, but I try not to question her." Starlight turned around. "So, should we get going?"
"Sure, uh, yeah. Lead the way," Sunburst followed up with a nervous laugh.
Starlight laughed slightly. "What's with you today? You've been acting so weird and nervous recently. It's just like when we were foals."
"Was I really that awkward as a colt?" Sunburst asked, as he followed Starlight to the library.
"Are you kidding me? When we first met, the only way I could get you to talk was to talk about magic," Starlight said, thinking about the good old days. The days before Cutie Mark stealing and time travel. "Back then we would talk about magic all the time. It only made sense you got your Cutie Mark in it." Starlight looked down, as if ashamed.
Now that he remembered, Starlight was on the dot. Sunburst never really was a social kid, and usually only spoke to his older sister. Then she left for magic school, and he was left alone, until he met Starlight. She was the only real friend Sunburst had after his sister left. Sometimes Sunburst wished he could see his sister again, but he lost contact a long time ago, and hasn't seen her since she left.
The two ponies finally reached the library entrance and trotted inside. Twilight was inside sitting at a table, reading some big book. She looked up, to notice the two ponies that had walked in, and waved.
"Hey Twilight. I got him. Now, why did you call us here?" Starlight asked, as she moved towards where Twilight was sitting.
"Well, like I said, this is your first friendship lesson together. So, I decided that we could work on how the bond you two share can help to empower the magic inside both of you." The two unicorns in front of Twilight just stood there with confused looks. "Huh. What I mean is, you're gonna help Sunburst to cast higher level magic with your new restored friendship."
"With all due respect, why would we need to do this? " Sunburst asked.
"Well, I heard from Cadence that, despite your vast knowledge of various spells and magic, you can't seem to cast most of it. That was why you dropped out of Celestia's school, right?"
Sunburst backed down and Starlight stepped up. "So you're saying that our bond will help Sunburst cast the magic he couldn't cast in school?"
"That's what I'm hoping for. After all, as a crystaller, Sunburst will need to do more than just talk about spells, but do them as well, in order to help teach."
"Eh, it's worth a shot." Starlight shrugged her shoulders and turned to Sunburst. "What do you think? Wanna try it?"
Sunburst looked at her with those big blue eyes of hers. It was true that they had grown a lot closer since they met up in the Crystal Empire through the near, everyday letters. Plus, it was because of her that he actually got his Cutie Mark in the first place. "I don't see why not. I guess we could give it a shot."
"Great! I'll leave you two to it!" Twilight said, exiting the room, levitating the book she was reading earlier with her.
"Wait what about-" Starlight started, but Twilight was already gone. "She could've at least given some sort of spell to start off with." Starlight turned back to Sunburst. "So, what do you think we should start off with?"
"Well, I'm not sure. What do you recommend?"
"I'm not really sure, I don't know what your limits are, so I don't know what to recommend. I guess we could start with trying to find your limits. Does that sound good to you?"
"Yeah, seems fine." That's what Sunburst said, but what he was thinking sounded completely different. In his mind he was saying stuff like, oh Celestia. I'm gonna embarrass myself in front of Starlight, and this is going to be a disaster! Sunburst was trying to keep a level head, but failing miserably.
"You sure? You're literally shaking," Starlight said, pointing towards him.
Pull it together! "Yes, I'll be fine, honestly." Sunburst finally stopped his quivering and stood still.
"You know you're awfully cute when you're nervous," Starlight said, toying with Sunburst.
That's not helping!
Just outside the door stood a small baby dragon with his head up against the door of the library. "Yes! Phase two is in progress!" Spike whispered, as he grabbed his checklist. He checked off "phase two" on the long list in his hand. The baby dragon stopped and looked at the checklist. "I've been spending way too much time with Twilight."
Sunburst collapsed, exhausted from the mental and physical strain of trying to cast a powerful spell that was far beyond his skills. It wasn't that he didn't know how to do them. That was never the case. His problem was trying to actually cast them. This was an ongoing issue in his life and was a big reason why he didn't pass magic school.
"Sunburst! Are you okay?!" Starlight shouted, as she ran to help him up. "Is this one too much for you too?"
Sunburst was able to get up on his hooves, with the help of Starlight. "It seems so," he said pushing his glasses up. "I just don't understand it. I know exactly what I'm supposed to do, but it just doesn't work."
"I don't know what to do. Twilight wants me to help you with your magic, but I don't know how!" Starlight sighed. She looked around the library, trying to find something that might help her. She didn't see anything that caught her attention.
The two Unicorns had been trying various spells, in the hopes that Sunburst would be able to cast them. He could do a few. He successfully was able to turn an apple into an orange. He could also teleport, sort of. Whenever Sunburst teleported, he would end up incredibly tired. Most of the other spells had just ended up with nothing happening or Sunburst collapsing from the strain and it was really getting to them.
"You wanna just call it a day? We're not getting anywhere," Sunburst asked walking to the window. He looked outside and saw that it was a nice beautiful day. "We've been trying for about four hours and we haven't learned anything."
Starlight sighed. "Sure, I guess." Starlight sat down at one of the various tables in the library and slouched. "I'm too burned out to think right now."
Sunburst walked over and took a seat across the table from Starlight. It broke Sunburst's heart to see Starlight so distraught. He wanted to do whatever he could to get her to smile, but that would require him casting a spell. So, he thought of the next best thing.
"Hey, you wanna go out and walk around Ponyville?"
"Like, a date?" Starlight asked.
Sunburst blushed as those words came out of Starlight's mouth. Sunburst hadn't even thought of it like that. "Um, No! I mean yes? I don't-"
Starlight cut him off. "I'm just kidding. No need to freak out."
Sunburst knew that was supposed to be a comforting gesture but he took it as the opposite. See it was just a joke. Why would she ever want to go out on a date with me?
"Sure. Let's go walk around town. I can introduce you to all of Twilight's friends!" Starlight said, leaving the library. She turned her head back to see that Sunburst was still standing in the same spot, deep in thought. "Sunburst, you comin?" She called out.
"Oh, uh, right! Coming now," he said, snapping out of his little mind battle with himself. He walked to the library door and followed behind Starlight to Ponyville, making sure to step over the sleeping dragon in the hallway.
* * *
Sunburst sighed as he finally got the chance to sit down at the castle. "You okay Sunburst?" Starlight commented, looking at her childhood friend slump down on the table in front of her.
Sunburst yawned loudly before replying, "I'm just a bit tired after today. Twilight's friends sure do have a lot of energy."
"Oh yeah, that. They were a lot more crazy today than usual. Sorry about Rainbow and Pinkie. I think they were just excited to have a new pony to prank." Starlight walked over next to him and rubbed Sunburst's back trying to comfort him. "Oh, by the way, how's your tail doing?"
Sunburst lifted up his slightly burned tail to see that it was still smoking slightly. "It should be fine. Nothing time can't fix," he told her. "But hey, at least I can't say meeting them was dull. It never is with you ponies."
"Yeah, that's true. I just had to save the most powerful ponies in Equestria from an evil bug queen with a stage magician, a Draconequus and a reformed Changeling last week. I threw out normal life the day I cast that stupid spell." Just mentioning that day with the time travel spell made Starlight's mood shift. Wanting to change the subject, she quickly asked, "So, I wonder why the Changelings didn't take you?"
Sunburst had often wondered that himself. The Changelings replaced everyone, even the baby! So why didn't they take him. Because you're unimportant. "I don't know. Who cares it's over now," he said quickly, trying to push those negative thoughts out of his head. "One thing I am happy about is that I got to spend a day with you again. We haven't been able to actually hang out with each other since we were foals."
Starlight had felt the same way. It was really nice to reconnect with Sunburst in person. It was almost like he had never left. "Thanks, Sunburst. It's good to know I can still entertain you. I really thought that you stopped contacting because you didn't like me or you got bored of me."
That's what she thought? No, that was never the case. I could never feel that way about you. "Don't worry about that," he said, wrapping his hoof around Starlight. "You found me, and I'm not going to lose you again."
"Since when did you become such a suave speaker?" Starlight asked, looking up at the orange pony above her.
Sunburst's brain was still taking a little time to process what Starlight just said. "What?"
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were crushing on me," Starlight told him, giving a cheeky smile.
CODE RED! CODE RED! ABORT MISSION! ABORT MISSION! "I, well, um," Sunburst stammered out. By this point, he had taken his hoof off of Starlight and fallen off the chair he was sitting on. As he said that, he had started to back himself into a wall, in a futile effort to escape. Starlight just looked at him funny as he had a mini meltdown.
"Just like when we were foals. Well, it's getting late, so I should probably start heading to bed. Tomorrow's another day of practice so we'll want a full night's rest. See yah tomorrow." Starlight said, waving, as she walked down a hall, disappearing into the maze that was this castle.
Sunburst sighed in relief, sliding down the wall he was leaning on to sit down. I'm not sure I can handle her doing that for much longer. If I'm going to survive this trip, I'm gonna need a plan. But first, I need to find out how to get back to my room. "Starlight? Twilight? Spike? Is any pony there?" Sunburst's voice echoed throughout the castle with no reply. Sunburst gulped as he tried to navigate the labyrinthine castle that he was now lost in.
"Ugghh," Sunburst groaned, as he slammed his head on the table in front of him. "Today was, yet another, disaster."
"Oh, it wasn't too bad," Starlight said, trying to cheer Sunburst up.
"Really? I ended up blowing up the kitchen?" Sunburst said, resting his hooves on the table and burying his head in them.
The two ponies were sitting outside at a small cafe near Sugar Cube Corner, with some empty cider glasses on the table. The two ponies were sitting across from each other.
"Oh, that happens all the time here. Heck, I don't think a day in Ponyville passes without a good explosion," she said, getting up to go sit next to him.
Sunburst looked up and gave Starlight an unamused look. "That's not really helping Starlight," he said, before he started to hit his head on the table. "Why. Am. I. Such. A. Screw-up?"
"Now come on, stop that. Here, look at me for a second."
"Why?" Starlight used her magic and turned his head towards her. Sunburst looked back, and it was like he was looking at Starlight for the first time in years all over again. The troubles of his day seemed so insignificant compared to her soft face and dazzlingly striped mane. Yet, her eyes were not locked on his. Instead, Starlight was staring at his lips. Sunburst didn't understand why. "What is it?" he asked.
"You've still got a little ash on your muzzle here, and it's been driving me crazy." Starlight tried to wipe away the smudge with her hoof, but Sunburst turned away from her, wiping the smudge with his own hoof. She noticed as his ears drooped slightly.
"I'm serious, Starlight. I can't seem to do anything right. This is just like magic school years ago." Sunburst looked down at the ground and sighed. Why is she even friends with me? It doesn't make sense. The perfect mare and the screw-up. Sounds like some cheesy love story.
Sunburst was shortly broken out of his thoughts by the warm feeling of a pony leaning on him. He turned his head, and his face grew bright pink as he looked down to see Starlight leaning on him and nuzzling his neck softly. "Well, I don't think you're a screw-up. To be honest, my time with you has been the most fun I've had in years. Sure, I hang out with the other ponies, but those are Twilight's friends you were my first friend. I know how capable and smart you, are and I would never think you're a screw-up."
Sunburst's face was now bright red, and he was struggling to not panic. What do I do? What should I say? His mind was running a mile a minute. Until he looked down and saw Starlight looking up at him. He didn't see that usual playfulness in her eyes. Instead, he saw sincerity. He wrapped his hooves around her in a tight hug, and despite how dry his throat felt he tried to choke out a response.
"Thanks Starlight. I didn't know you felt that way." His words were slow and shaky. Starlight started to return the hug. He had finally started to calm down and observe his surroundings. It was then he realized the small blush on Starlight's cheeks. He just stared at the small mare in front of him as time seemed to stretch on. The two sat like that for a little while.
"Hey! You two should kiss!" A random stallion from the left shouted out.
The two ponies slowly turned to see that a crowd of people had gathered on the street to watch them. They turned to each other, beet red, and ran as fast as possible.
"Hey! You didn't pay your bill!" Their waiter pony shouted out.
* * *
The two unicorns finally made it back to the castle, after returning to pay the bill, and collapsed to the ground. "Geez, that waiter was really fast," she huffed.
After taking a few minutes to catch their breathe, they moved to the library. "Well, at least we're back at the castle." Starlight said cautiously closing the blinds. She didn't want any ponies to try and watch them again. The townsponies were always trying to find ponies being romantic for some reason.
"Hey, uh, Starlight," Starburst mumbled out. She turned to him and her ears perked up. "I just wanted to say thanks again for what you said back there. Oh and what you did. I guess I just needed a hug to cheer me up a bit," even if I knew it was purely platonic.
"No problem Sunburst. Anything for a friend," Starlight responded. Those words again.
"Well, it's a good thing I have such a perfect friend," he said.
"Perfect? Perfect?! Really? Have you seen my history? I'm anything but perfect," she said, somewhat sarcastically. "Did you forget the time I enslaved a whole village and stole all their Cutie Marks? Or the time I went back in time and almost ruined history? Perfect, please."
"It was meant as a compliment," he mumbled, quietly.
"I don't really think it is. Perfect is boring, stale, no flaws whatsoever. I don't want to be that. I'd prefer to be myself and work through my issues like Twilight has been teaching me." With every word that came out of Starlight's mouth, he fell more in love with her. This is what he loved about her. Starlight's willingness to work towards bettering herself, something he tried to do every day but fails. But Starlight made it look so easy. "Heck, look at all the reformed ponies that Twilight helped. Nightmare Moon, Discord, Sunset Shimmer. They've done pretty well for themselves."
Suddenly, Sunburst's attention was focused on what Starlight just said. "What was that last one?"
"Oh? You mean Sunset Shimmer? Yeah, she was some previous student of Celestia who got banished to another world. Why?" Starlight asked.
"My sister was banished to another WORLD?!" Sunburst shouted.
"Wait! SISTER?!"
* * *
"Wait, so, let me get this straight. My sister is in a world where there's no magic, they aren't ponies, and tried to take over Equestria with an army of brainwashed teenagers?" Sunburst asked, trying to wrap his head around this situation. Starlight gave a simple nod. "How could she think she could use magic to manipulate others?" Starlight visibly cringed at his statement. "Oh, uh, no offense."
"None taken," she responded.
"Wow, she went even more nuts than I did. She always seemed so level headed as a foal. I'll have to ask Twilight if I can try and use that portal some day. I haven't seen her for a while," Sunburst said, rubbing his chin.
"Maybe I'll join you. I never got to meet your sister as a foal." Starlight smiled, happy to see Sunburst not thinking about being inferior to somepony. She hated seeing him like that. She knew how strong and confident he can be when it was needed.
Sunburst walked over to the window and saw that the moon was high in the sky. "Wow, it got late fast. We should probably get some rest. It's going to be a full day of failure tomorrow," he said, followed by a loud yawn.
And there it goes again. He's doubting himself. Starlight thought to herself. "Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow," she responded. And with a wave, he left the library to go to his room. Why? Why does he keep doubting himself? He was able to save the Crystal Empire, he was able to send Thorax to us when we needed him. Can't he see how much he's worth?
Starlight sighed and started walking to her room. She stared at the closed door to Sunburst's room for a few seconds before slowly entering her own and closing the door behind her.
* * *
"Well, crap," Spike said, looking at his empty checklist. Sunburst has been here for two whole weeks and he hasn't made any progress at all with Starlight or his magic. Worse yet, Sunburst has screwed up at every. Single. Turn. He completely bombed every conversation, avoided eye contact, accidentally animated a pie on a "date" and, worst of all, what just happened at the cafe. Sunburst was basically hopeless.
Spike sighed. "What do I do now? I've been trying to get them together indirectly but it doesn't work."
Spike looked over his list again. In hindsight, the steps on the list were very vague. He just expected every thing to fall into place once he got them to study magic together. However, love was more complicated than that, and Spike knew that most of all with all his past experiences. Spike remembered how his crush on Rarity turned out, an unrequited love.
"I need to start stepping in, if I want this to work out!" He said, thinking out loud. "Maybe I should give him some advice for Starlight! That could work!"
Spike ran out the room and decided to give the advice tonight. Giving Sunburst time to let his advice sink in. The baby dragon skipped happily as he went to go tell Sunburst what he had to do to win over Starlight.
Spike ran into Sunburst's room, without a second's hesitation. He quickly opened the door and slammed it shut behind him. Sunburst sprung up from bed and quickly looked around for what made the sound.
"Sunburst, it's me, Spike," he said, calmly.
"Spike? What are you doing here?" Sunburst asked, levitating his glasses onto his face.
"I've come to help you with Starlight!"
"Wh-what do you mean, 'help me with Starlight?'" Sunburst asked, nervously.
Spike gave Sunburst a doubting look, then shook his head. "I've come to get you two together!" Spike said, confidently.
"'Together?!''
Spike raised an eyebrow. "Come on, dude. I'm pretty sure everyone, except Starlight herself, knows you're crushing big-time on Starlight."
"Is it really that obvious?" Sunburst asked, sighing afterwards.
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure that the only reason she doesn't know, herself, is because she spent so much time hiding her own feelings."
"Look, Spike. I know that you're just trying to help, but Starlight doesn't like me like that. I don't see how she could ever like a screw-up like me." Sunburst hung his head, looking down at the bed below him.
"Come on! You've got to give it a shot. I just know you two are perfect for each other."
"How?" Sunburst asked, turning his head towards Spike.
Spike opened his mouth and raised his finger, but nothing came out. Spike's finger slowly went to his bottom lip as he tried to think. Spike raised his finger again, but almost immediately put it back down. Spike really couldn't think of why he thought that. It was just something he had a feeling about. "I really don't know. All I know is that we should at least try. Think of how much you'll regret it if you never tell her."
Spike had a surprisingly accurate point. Sunburst thought of years down the road, if he never did take the chance. "Do you really think I could win her over?" Sunburst asked.
Spike gave a simple nod and a smile. "Definitely. As long as you're willing to try." Spike extended his claw towards Sunburst.
Sunburst looked at the little dragon before him. Great, if I take his advice, I'm basically taking advise from a kid. Eh, what have I got to lose? Sunburst reached out and shook Spike's claw. "You do make a good point. I just hope you have a plan."
"Oh, of course I have a plan! Come with me!" Spike walked out the room and turned to the left.
Sunburst, reluctantly, followed Spike down the hall to the library, where Spike stood in front of a special bookcase off to the side.
"So, what's this plan of yours?" Sunburst asked, rubbing his eyes.
"This, is where we keep all our books about how to cast magic spells," Spike responded, gesturing to the bookcase behind him. "We're going to find a tricky, but useful, spell, and have you learn it. Then, once you've mastered it, you can use it to impress Starlight!" Spike stood there, smiling, and still gesturing towards the bookcase.
"Okay, what else?" Sunburst asked. "There's more to your plan than just that right?"
"Sure... there's more. I just have to come up with it."
Sunburst looked at Spike, dumbfounded. Really? This was his whole plan? "I'm going back to bed." Sunburst said, turning towards the exit.
"Wait!" Spike shouted, running in front of Sunburst. "I know it's not much, but it's at least worth a shot, right?"
"Look Spike, learning one spell is not going to get Starlight to fall for me."
"Well, how about I give you some advice about girls?"
Sunburst sighed. "Okay fine. It's not like I have anything better to do."
"Yes! Thank you! You won't regret accepting my help. Now, let's go pick a spell." Spike ran off to the bookshelf, and started pulling out random books.
I really hope not.
Four days later
Starlight woke to the sound of a loud crashing down the hall. From what she could tell, it sounded like it came from the library. "Oh, what is it now?" she asked, slowly getting up from her bed. "I swear, if it's another Ponyville disaster, I'm going to pull my hair out."
Starlight looked out the window in her room to see that it was still night time. Starlight huffed and left to check out the loud noise. The clock in the hallway read 12:30. As she walked to the library, she could hear what sounded like struggling and skittering. She sped up and ran into the library to find out what was going on.
When she opened the door, she saw Sunburst, stuck to the ceiling, wrapped up in webs. "Oh, um, hey Starlight," Sunburst said, shakily. "I've got some good news, and some bad news." As soon as he said that, Starlight heard a loud crash behind her. She slowly turned her head to see a giant spider behind her.
The spider towered over Starlight and stared at her with hungry eyes. "Yeah, that's the bad news," Sunburst called from the ceiling. "The good news is, my magic is getting stronger."
The spider hissed at her, and Starlight took off, screaming, farther into the library. The whole room was covered in spider silk, and Starlight could see the spider catching up with her. The spider dived at her, and Starlight levitated herself out of the way. The spider hit its head on a wall, and looked stunned. "Sunburst! What did you do?!" she screamed.
"Well, I was practicing my magic in here, because I couldn't sleep, and one thing lead to another, and I accidentally cast a growing spell on a spider that was in the corner."
"Well, tell me how to reverse the spell!"
"I... didn't get that far before this thing started attacking. But I did see the book I was reading over there by that table."
Starlight looked around and found a green book sitting on the table on the other side of the room. "Well, grab it and cast the counter spell." The spider was started to stir by the wall.
"Well, about that. It turns out that this particular species of spider has webs that absorb magical energy, and, well..." Starlight noticed that Sunburst's horn was covered in the sticky web. "Yeah, I can't really use my magic at this moment."
Just then, the spider got back up and turned around to see Starlight. "Oh, come on. Can't I just get a break?" The spider charged at her again and just barely missed Starlight as she ducked underneath it. She looked at the book on the table and ran towards it, with the spider in hot pursuit.
Starlight dodged out of the way of the spider's leg and tried to grab the book, but it was stuck to the table by some of the spider's web. While Starlight tried to grab the book off the table, the spider tried to take another bite at her, but hit the wall beneath Sunburst instead. The room shook, and the book came off the table with a rip. "Hey! I think that loosened up the webs a little! Do it again, and I might be able to help!" Sunburst shouted down to Starlight.
Starlight lifted the book up to Sunburst, and stuck it in the web so he could read it. "Here, you try to find the spell and I'll distract the spider." Starlight told him, before she ran the spider into another wall.
Sunburst's horn wasn't quite loose enough that he could levitate the book of turn the pages, so he was left with just his mouth. Every so often, Sunburst would feel another shake as Starburst kept trying to knock Sunburst down.
Finally, he found it, the shrinking spell! "Starlight! I think I found it!" Sunburst shouted out.
"Good! Now all we need is-" Starlight was interrupted by the spider swinging it's leg around and smacking Starlight against the wall beneath Sunburst. She opened her eyes to see the spider charging at her again, but this time, she couldn't move. She was stuck on the webs on the wall. Luckily, that was the final push Sunburst needed to come crashing down from the ceiling.
As Sunburst fell, everything seemed to move in slow motion. The spider seemed to move at a snail's pace and it didn't even feel like he was falling. Sunburst quickly read the spell from the book and got ready to cast it. He noticed that his horn was free, and started to focus. Starlight watched, as Sunburst's horn glowed with magic, and shot out a yellow ray that stopped the spider dead in its tracks. The spider shrunk and shrunk, until it was barely the size of a fly.
Sunburst opened up his eyes and realized that the giant spider wasn't there anymore. He tried to jump up in triumph, but remembered that his limbs were still tied up with spider webs and fell over instead. He squirmed pathetically to no avail, and just laid there on his side.
"Well, that was fun," he said, looking back at Starlight.
* * *
About an hour had passed since the whole spider incident, and the two unicorns, with the help of Spike and Twilight, had finally finished getting most of the webs out of the library. Twilight had just left, after giving the two a stern talking to about messing with magic alone, when Starlight decided she was finally going to confront Sunburst about what just happened.
"So, Sunburst, how exactly did you end up using that spell on the spider?" Starlight asked.
"Well, I, uh, I've been practicing that spell for a few days now, and I just couldn't get it right. So, I sort of got a little angry and cast it one final time. Unfortunately, the spell was a little too strong for me, and it went wild, hitting the spider, which would probably explain why the spider was so aggressive."
"Sunburst, why didn't you just tell me that you wanted to learn that spell? We could've practiced it together and avoided something like that!" What the hell was he thinking? He's knows magic can be dangerous!
"Well, I, uh,--" Sunburst sighed. "I wanted to impress you."
Wait, what? Starlight thought, eyes going wide.
"I look up to you, Starlight, and I wanted to show you that our practice hasn't gone to waste." Sunburst looked down at his hooves. "I know it was stupid, and I'm sorry for putting you in danger back there. I just wanted to show you that you've helped me improve, and I appreciate it."
All of that, just to impress me? Starlight pulled Sunburst into a hug. "Don't you dare practice magic alone again. You may not think so, but I care about you more than you think." Starlight said, sobbing.
For a while, Sunburst stood still, before slowly wrapping his hooves around Starlight. "Thank you Starlight, that means a lot." A few stray tears started to run down Sunburst's face.
The two ponies stayed that way for what felt like forever. As she stayed, cradled in Sunburst's hooves, Starlight couldn't help but think back to what Sunburst had said. He risked his life to impress me. Starlight couldn't wrap her head around that. She didn't know how to feel. She didn't know if she should be impressed by his determination, or scared because of how willing he was to put himself in danger. The one thing she did know, was that she was happy he made it out alive. Almost losing him made Starlight realize just how much Sunburst meant to her. Maybe that's why she didn't run and get help. If she tried to get help, Sunburst might be gone, but she didn't want to think about that. Right now, Starlight wanted to enjoy this hug for as long as she could. It was the one thing stopping her from punching him for his stupidity.
Starlight stirred slightly as her eyes slowly opened. The world around her felt warm, very warm, and soft too. One thing was bugging her though, why did her blanket feel so heavy? Starlight turned her head to see a familiar orange coat and scarlet mane. Starlight's eyes widened as her half-asleep brain pieced together who this was.
Why is Sunburst in my bed? Starlight thought. She looked around to notice that she was, in fact, not in her bedroom, but still in the library. It wasn't until now that Starlight noticed that she was laying on the ground, yet she was, oddly, still very comfortable.
Sunburst, in his sleep, had wrapped his front hooves around Starlight, and was resting his chin on her mane. A small blanket was placed on top of the two ponies. I guess that spider wore us out more than I thought.
Starlight looked back at the sleeping stallion next to her. She couldn't help but blush a little at the situation. Starlight, in the embrace of a sleeping Sunburst. For some reason, Starlight really liked being this close to him. She could never get away with this if he was awake. He'd just get embarrassed and run. But that was part of the fun.
Starlight started to turn around in his hooves. For some reason, she really wanted to snuggle up to Sunburst more. So she buried her head into Sunburst's chest and got comfortable. Starlight really enjoyed the feeling of Sunburst's chest rise and sink every time he breathed. It seemed alien to feel like this, being so close to another living being.
I haven't felt this relaxed since- her thoughts stopped as she remembered the last time she felt like this. It was back when she was still just a filly.
Starlight decided that it was a good idea to go exploring the forest near town. She didn't get too far before she heard a colt yelling out to her. Sunburst followed her, and wanted to try to convince her that the forest was dangerous, but Starlight didn't listen. Starlight ran off into the forest, with Sunburst trailing behind her.
After a while, Starlight got bored and decided that it was time to go home. Unfortunately, Starlight didn't know the way back, so the two foals spent the rest of the day wondering aimlessly. When night fell, the two foals were no closer to home than they were before, so they decided to sleep for the night.
After a while, it was clear that neither of them were getting any sleep. The forest was really cold at night so they had to huddle for warmth. It didn't make sense, but Starlight felt oddly relaxed as the shy colt wrapped his hooves around her. She never felt so warm; it wasn't long before they fell asleep. Thinking back, the only times she felt this relaxed were back then and right now.
Starlight was a little upset when she woke up to find that Sunburst was gone, leaving her lying on the cold grass. She started to wipe her eyes clear, when she noticed a large shadow towering over her from behind. Starlight froze, as she heard a deep rumbling.
"Ugh." Sunburst groaned, bringing Starlight back to reality. "Oh, what time is it? And why am I so warm?" Sunburst looked down to see the purple and blue mane of Starlight Glimmer, wrapped in his hooves, incredibly close.
Starlight looked up to face Sunburst, beet red and frozen in place. Starlight felt her face burn up as well, as she noticed that their snouts were barely an inch apart. She then suddenly remembered how close she had gotten and froze in place.
They stared at each other for a while before Starlight spoke up, "Morning..." Her voice was slow and careful.
Sunburst tried to open his mouth but all that came out was a light squeak. He decided to go with the much easier nod.
Starlight found herself at a loss for words, which was strange. She never had a problem with intimacy before, but now that Starlight looked up into those bright blue eyes, she couldn't get her mouth to work.
Sunburst was in full panic mode, his mind going a hundred miles per hour. But, he took a deep breath, gulped down the lump in his throat and finally spoke, "Starlight." He looked away, unable to look her in the eyes. He slowly released his grip on her.
Starlight was so confused. Why won't my mouth work? Why is my heart racing like this? I don't get it! What changed? Starlight slowly stood up from her position on the ground. All she could do is look off into space and question what was wrong.
"Starlight? Starlight?! Are you okay?!" Sunburst asked, waving a hoof in front of Starlight's face. She was able to snap out of her trance to see Sunburst's eyes, looking deep into hers. "Look, if it makes you feel any better, we can just forget this happened." Sunburst's face was still pretty red, but showed a lot less panic.
Starlight stepped back a little to catch her breath. "No, no, I just, need some time to think. Okay?"
"Uh, yeah, sure. That's fine. Take all the time you need. I- Woah!" Sunburst tried to play it cool, but ended up slipping on the blanket on his way to the table.
They both laughed lightly, before Starlight slowly turned around and headed down the hallway.
* * *
Sunburst gave a small smile as he watched Starlight leave the room. "That went better than expected," he said to himself.
"You bet it did!" came a familiar voice from behind Sunburst.
Sunburst turned to see Spike jogging up to him. "Spike? How much of that did you see?" Sunburst asked, scratching the back of his head.
"All of it!" Spike replied, cheerfully. "You did a lot better than usual. Honestly, I thought you were going to explode when you saw her that close."
"Thanks... I guess." Sunburst said, making a confused look. "Wait, 'better than usual?' How long have you been watching me and Starlight?"
"Oh, since you got here, but that's not important right now. I've got to get you ready for the next step."
Sunburst was a little upset to find out that he was being monitored, but didn't really want to argue how weird that is. "What do you mean 'get me ready?'"
"Well I need you to rehearse your lines," Spike replied. "Now, repeat after me, 'Hey, Starlight. I wanted to ask you if we could go out to dinner tonight? There's something I've been meaning to tell you.'"
Sunburst's face grew red. "You want me to ask her on a date?! I can't do that! I can't even look her in the eyes without getting tongue-tied."
"That's why we have to practice. If you ever want things to move forward with Starlight, then you need to make the first move."
"But I-"
"No buts! Do you want to be with Starlight, or let somepony else have her and live in regret?" Spike scolded.
Sunburst thought for a second. Do I really want this? Am I willing to risk my friendship with Starlight to take this first step? Sunburst remembered how happy he felt whenever she smiled. He remembered how good it felt to be near her, and how she would always brighten up his day. She was so warm and soft in my hooves. I felt like I could stay that way forever. He thought about never feeling that warmth again.
"Yes. This is what I want. " Sunburst stated, confidently.
"Then let's get back to work. Once you have this down, we're going to find Starlight and tell her immediately." Spike replied. "Now, repeat after me..."
* * *
The rapid beating of Starlight's heart had finally started to slow down by the time she was able to find Twilight. Twilight was sitting in the throne room with a colorful new Daring Do book, levitating in front of her.
Twilight turned her head and gave a slight wave. "Hey Starlight. How are your studies with Sunburst going?" she asked, lowering the book slightly.
"Oh, they're going great," Starlight said, with just the slightest sense of hesitation.
"Huh? Starlight, your face is all red. Are you okay?" Twilight placed the book down on the table.
"Actually, that's what I'm here to talk about." Starlight moved forward and took a seat in the throne next to Twilight. "Well, ever since Sunburst got here a while back, him and I have been getting a lot closer. At first, I thought it was just because we were old friends, but recently, I've started to see Sunburst very differently. "
"What do you mean by that?" Twilight asked, adjusting herself so she could better focus on Starlight.
"Well, up until a few days ago, I just liked hanging out with him, but now, I feel like I want to spend all of my time with him. But, I've also started to get a little nervous around him. That doesn't make sense right? Why would I get nervous around a person I want to be around?"
"Hmm. Okay, how did you feel when you last talked to him?" Twilight asked, scratching her chin.
"Well, um, earlier this morning, I sort of... woke up in his hooves. I felt so relaxed and calm, but when he woke up, my body went crazy. I couldn't think straight, my heart was beating so fast it felt like it would burst, and I couldn't get my mouth to work. I just- I don't know what this feeling is."
"Well, from the way you're describing it, it sounds to me like you might've fallen for Sunburst. Maybe it had something to do with how he saved you from that spider last night."
"You think I'm in love with Sunburst?" The idea rolled around in her head. It's not like she knew what love felt like. She spent most of her time all by herself. She never really had anyone to turn to growing up.
"That's what it sounds like to me." Twilight told her.
"Do you have any personal experience with this type of thing?" Starlight asked.
Twilight's face turned pink and she seemed to get a little nervous. "Well, no, uh. Not really..." Twilight went silent. "Look, what's important here is, now that you have an idea of what you're feeling, what are you going to do with it?"
That particular question, was a really good one, What should I do? I don't even know if that really is what I'm feeling. Love. It didn't seem wrong to her, it just felt strange to say. Starlight had never really thought of love before. "I don't know."
"Well, whatever it is you decide to do, I'm here to help." Twilight said, smiling at Starlight.
"Thanks, Twilight. I think I just need some time to think things through." Starlight stood up from her seat and smiled back at Twilight.
"I'm happy to help."
"I'll see you around, Twi," Starlight said, before turning to head out the door.
"See you later." Twilight called out before the door closed behind Starlight.
Sunburst woke up, feeling more nervous than he'd ever felt in his life. Today is the day. Sunburst was about to ask the mare of his dreams out on a date. Sunburst dreamed about this day, but never imagined it would come.
How should I do this? Would he try to play it cool? Or try to sweep her off her hooves? Only one way to find out.
Sunburst slid out of his bed and donned his usual cape and glasses. He walked out the door, only to stop as he realized that Starlight was right in front of him.
She wore a smile that seemed to falter the longer she stood there. "Hi, Sunburst. I'm sorry about yesterday. I just had to get a few things together and I forgot about our training."
"It's okay, Starlight," Sunburst replied, slightly stuttering. Now's the perfect time to tell her! Sunburst swallowed the lump in his throat, and prepared himself to let all his feelings out.
"How about I make it up to you with dinner? My treat. There's something I want to tell you," Starlight asked, deflating all of Sunburst's confidence.
"Oh, uh, sure! That's fine. I actually had something I wanted to talk to you about anyways," Sunburst trailed off.
"Oh, well that's good. I guess we can... talk then," Starlight replied, awkwardly.
The two stood in silence for a few seconds before Starlight told Sunburst that she had to go. Sunburst waved and put up a brave face until Starlight was out of sight, then proceeded to freak out.
"What just happened?" Sunburst whispered, to himself. "Did Starlight just ask me out? Right when I was about to ask her out?" Millions of questions were running through Sunburst's head as he tried to understand his situation. Did she ask me on a date? Or was it just as friends? Does this mean she likes me back? Why did she choose now to ask me out?
Sunburst growled, "Why are mares so complicated?!"
"Sunburst? Are you okay?" Starlight said, popping her head back to the hallway Sunburst was standing in.
Sunburst jumped a little and tried to regain his composure. "What? I'm fine. I didn't say anything."
Starlight gave him a half smile with a raised eyebrow. "Okay, whatever you say, Sunburst," she said, before disappearing, once again, down the hallway.
Sunburst quickly ran into his room and closed the door behind him. Sunburst stood on his hind legs, leaning on the door, trying to block it off. He put his hoof to his chest and started to hyperventilate. Calm down, Sunburst. Calm down! He slid down the door, leaving him in a sitting position. How does that mare always know exactly what to do to send me running?!
* * *
Starlight smiled as she saw Sunburst standing in front of a highly burnt target. He wore the biggest smile she had ever seen and was panting slightly. "Was that one better?!" he shouted, confidently. The two ponies decided to move their usual training outside, since they were trying more combat-orientated magic.
"Way better. You're really getting the-" Starlight interrupted herself by shooting a light blue laser at Sunburst. She saw him quickly react to the oncoming beam with a bright orange barrier. Here's the moment of truth! Starlight could see Sunburst flinch for a second, but he held his ground, as the blue laser dissolved into the orange barrier.
When Sunburst opened his eyes, he not only realized that he was still standing, but his barrier spell was still up. His eyes widened with exitement and he jumped into the air, shouting, "Yes!"
Starlight watched Sunburst celebrate his little victory as she thought about all the progress he had made. It turned out that the training not only improved his magic ability, but his form aswell. Despite all of Sunburst's magical knowledge, he had some pretty big casting issues. He would spread his legs too far, or he wouldn't lower his head enough, or he would hesitate. Things that were pretty common, but could be very damning if not fixed. He also seemed to lack confidence, but that issue seemed to be solving itself. Huh. A little friendship could go a long way.
Sunburst eventually made his way over to Starlight, still with that gigantic smile from when he stopped the blast. "Did you see that? The blast didn't even break the shield! Three weeks ago, my shield would've broken instantly!" Sunburst started ranting. "And what about the target?! I melted it! Normally one of my blasts would've bounced off it!"
Starlight had never seen Sunburst this excited. It was oddly cute. He was like a colt on Hearth's Warming. Or like Pinkie Pie on a normal day. "That was amazing, Sunburst! You've made so much progress!" Starlight chimed, her smile now just as big as Sunburst's. "You're on fire today." She turned her head to the smoking target. "Literally! Have you been holding out on me?"
The question made Sunburst scratch his chin as he thought. "No? Well I don't think so anyways," he questioned. "I guess I just have the right motivation now."
"'Right motivation?' What do you mean by that?" Starlight asked.
Sunburst hesitated, but went on to say, "Well, by that I meant... you. I just thought of how much I wanted to impress you, and suddenly my magic has doubled in power." Sunburst's face had turned to a bright shade of red as he spoke.
Starlight's heart started pounding faster than normal and her face started to heat up. "Why me? I'm nothing special," she said, nervously.
"'Nothing special?' You're the mare that got me off my lazy butt to save the Crystal Empire. You're the mare that's been helping me get back on my hooves. You're the mare who inspires me everyday, with her confidence alone! You may not see any of that as, 'special.' But, to me, that makes you everything." Sunburst was only getting redder as he spoke, but he didn't seem to care. It was almost like saying this was more important to him than getting embarrassed.
Starlight stood there, lip quivering, completely unable to respond in any way. "You inspire me everyday, with your confidence alone!" That's exactly what he said, back then. Starlight flashed back to the memory she had yesterday. Starlight turned around to figure out that the shadow was a giant dire bear.
The bear stood on its hind legs, with thorns poking out of it's body in random places. Black fur, and white claws, its eyes were red, and full of anger. Starlight found herself frozen in fear. The bear towered over her as she sat on the ground. The bear raised one of its huge claws and growled as it started to swing down at her. Time seemed to stop as she feared that this would be the end.
"HEY! YOU LEAVE HER ALONE!" a shrill voice called out. The bear froze and turned its head to see a small and trembling Sunburst standing not too far from it. "You get away from her or I'll... I'll..." Sunburst's voice was filled with fear as he provoked the bear.
The bear growled back at Sunburst and started to charge at him. Starlight tried to move, but her body just wouldn't respond. "Sunburst run!" she shouted out. But, despite this, Sunburst stood his ground. His wobbling knees straightened out and he planted his hooves firmly in the ground.
Sunburst closed his eyes, stiffened his body, and shouted, "Here goes nothing!" With that, Sunburst cast up an orange magic barrier around himself, just as the bear was above him. The bear scratched and bit the shield, but got no response. Sunburst noticed something on the bear from underneath the barrier. Sunburst cast an orange beam, through the shield, straight into the bear's belly, pushing it up slightly. It was then that Starlight found that she could finally move her body. She shot a sudden burst of energy at the bear, knocking it off the barrier and into a tree. Seeing this, Sunburst quickly lowered his shield and ran towards the bear. Before the bear could even take a swing at him, Sunburst removed the thorn from the bears left paw. The bear seemed to calm down, and slowly started to walk away.
"Sunburst! Why would you do that?! You could've got hurt!" Starlight shouted as she ran up to him.
"Well, I had to save you," he replied.
"But why?" she cried, hugging Sunburst.
"You inspire me."
"I do?" Starlight looked up at Sunburst with tear stains down her face.
"Yeah. You inspire me everyday, with your confidence alone! You make me feel like someday, I could be that confident. Plus, you're my best friend, I could never lose you." Sunburst hugged Starlight even closer, tears starting to run down his face as well. The two foals sat there, crying in each other's hooves, until they heard panicked voices calling out to them.
Starlight found herself back in the present with Sunburst's worried smile looking into her eyes. "Starlight? Did I say something wrong?" he asked, frowning.
"No. Not at all." Starlight felt tears start to roll down her face as she looked into Sunburst's eyes. Those big greenish-blue eyes that were always there for her when she needed them. The eyes belonging to her best friend. And the eyes she fell in love with. She smiled through her tears and hugged Sunburst harder than she ever hugged anypony before.
Sunburst's cheeks were now dark red, not just from the blushing, but from Starlight choking him with her hug. "Starlight... I can't... breathe!" he choked out.
"Oh! Sorry!" Starlight apologized, releasing her vice grip. "I was just so happy and I didn't now what to do, because no one's ever made me feel like that and I-"
"It's okay, Starlight! I'm fine," Sunburst told her, interrupting her rambling. "There's also something else I've been meaning to tell you."
"More?! Sunburst if you keep talking, I'm pretty sure I'm going to explode over here." Starlight said, not really lying. Every word Sunburst said made Starlight's heart beat faster and faster. She was at the point where she felt her heart was going to beat right out of her chest.
"Well, I have to say it. I was going to tell you at dinner but, I just can't hold it in any longer." Starlight started to get a little nervous as she waited for what he had to say. "When I was listing all the reasons I look up to you for, I might've left out one very important reason. You... are the mare... I fell in love with." Starlight could feel it. This was the exact moment her heart burst out of her chest and ran away down the street. She couldn't hold it back much longer. "I know this must seem weird to you. I mean, you're probably thinking something like 'Oh, how could you, love me?' but I think-" Starlight couldn't hold it anymore, she went straight in.
* * *
That's it baby! Yeah! Sunburst imagined a bunch of work ponies shouting, as if they had just pulled off the biggest job of their lives. He saw fireworks go off in his head. He felt like every dream he had ever had were coming true in front of his very eyes. He felt... amazing, as he realized what Starlight just did. Starlight was full-on kissing him! Never, in all of Sunburst's wildest dreams, did Sunburst think that it would be Starlight, who ended up kissing him. It was perfect. Time slowed down, as the kiss seemed to last a lifetime.
Starlight finally pulled back, only to say, "Sunburst, I love you too! I love you more than I've ever loved anypony! I know I haven't really loved anypony before, but you know what I mean!"
Sunburst was at a complete loss of words. Not only was she the one to kiss him, but Starlight said she loved him. Sunburst was unsure whether he was dreaming or not. "So, when you said that you had something to tell me-?"
"I was going to tell you exactly that," she told him. The two ponies pressed their foreheads together, as they stayed in each others embrace. "I only just realized it myself, but it hit me hard."
That made Sunburst think back to when he fell in love with Starlight. He couldn't remember exactly when, but he did remember a certain dire bear attack, when he started to see Starlight as more than just a friend. Maybe that's why I stopped talking to her. Maybe I stopped talking because I was confused. Oh, but who cares! She came back and loves me in return. "So does that make tonight a date?" Sunburst asked.
Starlight looked into Sunburst's eyes, and gave a short laugh. "Definitely," she said, resting her forehead back on his.
The two ponies just remained there, clinging to each other as if their lives depended on it. It was the happiest moment of Sunburst's life. So happy in fact, that he completely ignored the dancing bush with a purple spiked tail.
"Come back here, Flurry Heart! It's not safe to teleport around like that!" Sunburst shouted, as he looked around for the young foal. "You don't want your parents to start worrying about you again, right?!" he called, in an empty plea. Turned out that after the Crystalling, the Crystaller becomes a glorified babysitter.
Suddenly, Flurry poofed back in, right above Sunburst. She let herself fall onto Sunburst's back and he scrambled slightly to keep standing. Sunburst was able to keep his balance, then tried to grab the little filly with his magic. Flurry stopped this by puling on Sunbursts trademark cloak, slightly choking him.
When will I learn not to wear this thing around the baby? "Flurry, I told you, don't pull on that," Sunburst choked out. Flurry just laughed at the struggling Stallion below her. "That spell after the Crystalling was supposed to limit her magic. I guess that didn't work," Sunburst mumbled to himself.
"Looks like you're having fun with the baby," Cadence commented, with a small laugh as she trotted into the room.
"Oh! Princess!" Sunburst bowed on instinct. The filly just looked up at the pink Alicorn and giggled.
"I've told you Sunburst, you don't need to bow with me," Cadence said, soothingly. As Sunburst stood back up, Cadence put a hoof on Sunburst's shoulder. "You're practically family by now."
Cadence gave Sunburst one of her usual calming smiles and Sunburst couldn't help but smile back. "Thanks Princess," he said, softly. Suddenly, Flurry started pulling on Sunburst's cape again, causing him to gag. "Flurry please!"
Cadence laughed again and lifted the young filly with her magic. "Okay, Flurry. That's enough torturing Sunburst. It's only funny for so long," she said, putting Flurry on her back.
Flurry gladly grabbed onto her mother's neck and hugged her. "Momma!" she shouted out.
"Thanks for that," Sunburst said, getting a fresh breath of air. "Sometimes, I feel like the kid's trying to give me a heart attack." Despite his statement, Sunburst looked at Flurry with a smile. Sure, Flurry had made Sunburst angry and tired before, but he still loved her. Sort of makes me want my own kid... but not anytime soon.
"It's good to have you back, Sunburst. Flurry here, was asking about you," Cadence said, smiling at the filly on her back.
"She was? Did she say my name?" Sunburst asked, with hope in his eyes.
"No. But she kept teleporting to your room and pointing to your bed. It was really cute," Cadence replied.
"I wasn't sure if Flurry even cared about me. She's always waking me up in the middle of the night with her teleportation and won't eat for me," Sunburst said, slightly embarrassed.
"Of course she cares about you. Honestly, you probably see Flurry Heart more than Shining and I," Cadence admitted, with slight sadness in her voice.
Sunburst noticed the sadness in her words and got closer. "Well, that's not your fault. I mean, you have all of the Crystal Empire to run. Besides, it's pretty common for monarchs to have others raise their children," he told her. Cadence looked at him with a smile, and Sunburst smiled right back. "That's why I'm so happy you let me go to Ponyville on such short notice. I really thought you'd be mad when I didn't come back for two months."
"Well, there's a reason for that," Cadence told him. Sunburst looked at her, confusion in his face. "Come, follow me. It's time for Flurry's nap." Cadence turned around and headed out of the room with Sunburst close behind.
"What do you mean by that, princess?" Sunburst asked, trotting quietly next to Cadence.
"I knew exactly what the 'Friendship Problem' was for," Cadence told him, as she trotted on.
"Wait, how? I thought that it was Spike's plan?"
"Do you really think Spike was the one who noticed the spark between you two? I'm the Princess of Love, I noticed your feeling the moment I saw you with Starlight," Cadence explained, calmly. "However, I wanted to try my hand at matchmaking without spells. So I suggested that Spike try to get you two together."
Sunburst was dumbstruck. Sunburst could've asked any number of questions but he decided to go with the obvious one. "Why would you do that for me...?" Sunburst asked.
"Well, you've been a huge help with Flurry lately and I wanted to return the favor."
She did that for me? This was a weird feeling for Sunburst. No one had ever cared about him enough, except maybe Starlight, to do something like that for him. "Then... why didn't Spike say anything about you?" Sunburst asked, trying to focus his mind.
"I'm a lot more subtle than you think," Cadence replied, with a smirk. "He still thinks it was all his idea. I knew all you needed was a little time to spend with Starlight and it would eventually happen. So, I convinced Spike that you two liked each other and had him take care of it."
"I think you might be my favorite Princess now," he said, quietly. Cadence just gave him another smirk and continued walking toward Flurry's room. Cadence is a secret mastermind! That's both intriguing and disturbing.
By the time the two ponies got to Flurry's room, Flurry was already asleep on her mothers back.
"Oh, you've gotten so big, Flurry," Cadence whispered, as she looked back at her filly. "I'm not sure you'll fit in your crib anymore," she continued, looking at the small crib in front of her.
Sunburst looked at the small crib and back at Flurry. Now that he thought about it, the crib definitely was going to be too small for the rapidly growing filly. I guess you can't really expect a crib to last forever. Sure, it fit her last year when she was born, but Alicorns grow a lot faster than regular ponies.
Then, Sunburst got an idea. Sunburst's horn started to glow yellow as he readied a spell. He aimed at the crib and let the spell go, as it made the crib grow to the perfect size for Flurry.
"Oh, well that sure is useful. Thank you, Sunburst," Cadence said, before placing the sleeping filly in the crib. Cadence could see Sunburst trying to hold back his excitement, and smiled. "The better magic is definitely a welcomed side effect of your new relationship."
"You'll have to thank Twilight for that one. She's the one who thought that would work," Sunburst admitted, still brimming from the successful spell.
Cadence smiled. "Yeah, she's great," she told him. "Well, I've got to go find Shiny. He's got to help me out with a few things. I'll talk to you later, Sunburst." And with that Cadence walked out the door and down the hallway.
Sunburst watched her walk away, then turned to the sleeping filly. She was just about the cutest thing he'd ever seen, all curled up in a ball and sucking on her hoof. "I missed you too, Flurry," he said, lowering his head to give Flurry a kiss on the head.
* * *
Starlight stood in awe at the giant crystal castle in front of her. Sure, Starlight had been here before,but it still caught her off guard. She slowly raised a hoof to the door, and was about to knock. The door swung open, just in time for Starlight to jump out of the way of an orange projectile being flung out the door.
The object hit a wall and fell to the ground. Then it started moving. It groaned in a familiar voice.
"Sunburst?" Starlight asked, looking at the orange unicorn. Just then, she noticed a small pink blob cradled in Sunburst's hooves.
"Got you, Flurry!" he said, confidently. "Now, no more gravity spells!" Sunburst looked up to see Starlight, standing over him.
"That's not a very nice way to greet your new marefriend," Starlight said, jokingly. "I'd much prefer a simple 'hello' as opposed to you flying into my face through a door."
"Oh, um, hi Starlight. Wh-what are you doing here?" Sunburst asked, standing up with Flurry in his magical hold. "And why do you have so many bags with you?" Sunburst looked at the half a dozen bags Starlight was floating with her. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were moving in."
"Oh, I am." Starlight replied, matter-of-factly.
"Oh, okay, that explains the- WAIT WHAT?!"
"Yeah, Twilight said something about moving to the Crystal Empire and studying the magic of love." Starlight explained. She put her hoof up to her chin. "I'm pretty sure she just likes the idea of us as a couple."
"But-but where are you gonna sleep?" Sunburst weakly argued.
Starlight gave raised her eyebrow at him. "Sunny, it's a castle, there's tons of rooms," she pointed out. "So of course I'll be sleeping in your room! Okay bye!" she said, quickly, after planting a fast kiss on Sunburst's cheek and running into the castle.
Sunburst was stunned for a second before he realized what she said. He shouted and chased after her, still using his magic to hold Flurry. "I don't think that's such a good idea!" he shouted from behind Starlight, face deep red.
Starlight eventually lost Sunburst and ran into a certain pink Alicorn.
"Oh, hello Starlight. Twilight told me you were coming, but I didn't think you'd be here so soon," Cadence said, looking down at the unicorn.
"Hello Princess," Starlight said, with a short bow. "I was just looking for Sunburst's bedroom. Could you help me find it?"
"Oh, but don't you want to set down your bags somewhere before you talk to Sunburst?" Cadence asked.
Starlight was about to speak up, when Sunburst came bursting down the hallway. "Princess Cadence, tell Starlight she can't stay in my room!"
Cadence looked back at Sunburst, as a mischievous grin crept onto her face. "That's a wonderful idea, Sunburst. I think you two should share a room. It'll help you two get closer as a couple," Cadence said, turning back towards Starlight. "Here, I'll take Flurry with me, and you show Starlight to her new room." Cadence grabbed Flurry with her magic and floated the baby onto her back.
Sunburst was as red as Big Mac by now; as Starlight could practically see all the lewd and embarrassing thoughts running through his head.
Starlight walked over to Sunburst's side and wrapped one hoof around his neck. "Come on, Sunburst! Let's go to our new room," she whispered in Sunburst's ear, somehow making him even redder.
Sunburst gave a tiny squeak, but didn't move. Starlight looked into his eyes. Sunburst was completely petrified.
"I think I broke him," Starlight said, with a laugh. "Unfortunately, I think I'm gonna have to push you to our new room now. Oh well! I'll find it eventually. Let's go, Sunburst!" Starlight pushed her new coltfriend statue down the hallway, in search of her new room and new life in the Crystal Empire. Her happy, and awkward, new life with her best friend.
