He glanced at the piece of paper in his hand, and gazed up at the building in front of him.
This was it. This was the place. All of his searching for her led him here.
He gulped.
A part of him told him that this idea was insane, and that he should just turn back now while he had the chance. The other part of him urged him to enter, to go inside and see her.
He looked down at the paper and then up at the building half a dozen more times to double check that he had the right place, to ensure that he wouldn’t make a fool of himself looking for someone in a building that didn’t live there.
At long last, he took a deep breath, and exhaled. He adjusted the strap of his satchel, and walked towards the door.
Starlight Glimmer, dressed in a teal t-shirt and a light blue skirt, just took the first sip of her coffee when she heard a knocking on her door. She sighed.
‘Can’t I enjoy my Sunday in peace? Every other day is crowded enough.’
Starlight went to answer the door, and pulled the door open, ready to shoo away whoever was there. She opened her mouth to say something, but the words fell short when she saw just who exactly was at her doorstep.
She didn’t want to believe it. She wanted to believe that her coffee was making her see things this morning. She wanted to believe that her coffee was the reason why she was seeing him at her door.
Of course, she was a practical person, so she had to dismiss the outlandish thought that this was her coffee’s doing. She had to accept it really was him.
She had to accept that it was him- yellow skin, blue eyes, orange hair, and all. She had to accept that he was there, dressed in a pair of slacks, white shoes, a blue-green jacket covered in light blue stars, a brown satchel at his hip with the strap going diagonally across his chest, and silver glasses perched on his nose.
“H-hi, Starlight. Remember me? We used to be friends?” He asked softly.
Starlight felt her grip on her mug go slack, enough where it could slip out of her fingers if it wanted to, and her heart began to race.
“S-Sunburst?!” She inquired, her voice like a hoarse whisper.
Not fifteen minutes later, Sunburst was seated on Starlight’s couch in her apartment, and she came over from the kitchenette with a cup of tea in hand. She handed it to him.
“Thanks.” Sunburst took a sip, and set the tea on the coffee table as Starlight took a seat in a chair across from him. She picked up her mostly-cooled coffee, and took a drink.
She set her coffee down, trying not to break down.
It was unbelievable. She hadn’t seen him in how many years, and now here he was again, sitting right across from her in her apartment, drinking some of her tea. Once again, she had to accept this was really happening.
She looked him in the eye. “How, how did you find me? We haven’t spoken in years.”
Sunburst shrugged. “It wasn’t that hard. I did an Internet search, and your election campaign came up. After that, I made a couple calls, and asked around.”
Starlight nodded, “Oh.” She sat back, and twiddled her thumbs, letting awkward silence settle in. “So, what have you been up to?”
Sunburst took a drink of his tea, and waved a dismissive hand. “Oh, nothing much. After I finished college, I started working as a librarian for Crystal Prep Academy. It’s a nice place, shiny, has a good assortment of books. The students there work really hard. I can tell based on how many students show up in the library and check out so many books.”
“A librarian?” Starlight repeated. “I thought you’d have gone on to become a big scientist of some sort.”
“Me, a big scientist?” Sunburst replied, and snorted. “Nah.”
“But, when we were kids, you always seemed fascinated by science.” Starlight protested. “Remember when your dad got you that science kit that we played with a lot?”
Sunburst nodded. “I do, but I never really played with it all that much when you weren’t around. You were always so much better at that stuff than I was.”
Starlight frowned sadly. “But that’s not true! You always knew about everything, and made suggestions. If I didn’t do what you told me, I would’ve just blown everything up!”
“That’s why we made such a good team!” Sunburst exclaimed. “I relayed the information, and you did it all perfectly.” He sighed. “Without you, my science grades dropped dramatically.”
Starlight looked at him, astonished. “They did? So did mine! Whenever I did an assignment by myself, I always ended up doing it wrong, and whenever I worked with a partner, I refused to listen to their suggestions because I thought I knew what I was doing!”
“Really? That’s just… wow.” Sunburst responded in surprise.
“Yeah,” Starlight looked away, “that’s why I changed my focus from science to politics.”
Sunburst gazed at her empathetically. “Sorry you didn’t win that last election.”
Starlight waved off the concern. “That’s alright, I had a stupid platform anyway.”
Sunburst recalled what he had read about Starlight’s campaign, and bobbed his head. “Oh yeah, something about removing gifted programs, advanced classes, and no longer allowing prodigies to skip grades.”
“And that platform made me lose by a landslide.” She mumbled, and rested her face in her hand. “What was I thinking? Nobody would go for that.”
“Somebody did, though, otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten the votes that you did.” Sunburst pointed out. A silence hovered over the two, and Sunburst took another sip of his tea before continuing. “Just out of curiosity, what gave you the idea for your campaign?”
Starlight stiffened at the question, and hesitantly glanced at Sunburst. “I’m… not sure if I want to talk about that.”
“What? Why not?”
“Because I don’t want to.”
“Starlight, please-“
“I don’t want to talk about it, Sunburst-“
“Starlight, I’m sure whatever it is, it’s not that bad. Come on, please. Don’t push me away.”
Something inside Starlight snapped, and she whipped her head around to stare incredulously at Sunburst, who jumped at her sudden movement.
“Don’t push you away?!” Starlight exclaimed, and let out a scoff. “Hah! That’s rich coming from you!”
“What?! Starlight, where is this coming fro-“
“You’re one who pushed me away!” Starlight shouted.
Sunburst gaped at her. “Starlight, I didn’t push you away.”
“Yes you did!”
“When did I do that?”
“When you went off to that boarding school! Remember the standardized test we took? You got some of the highest marks our small town school ever saw, and were whisked off to a school for gifted students! After that, I never saw you, got a text or email from you ever again! I didn’t even get to say goodbye!” She ranted.
Sunburst frowned guiltily. “Starlight,” he reached a hand out to console her, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-“
“Do you know what school was like for me after you left?” Starlight continued to rant. “Without you, I was alone! When everybody saw I didn’t have anyone, the bullies started to pick on me! They said that nobody wanted me as their friend, and that nobody else would! I spent day in and day out, doing my schoolwork all alone unless I was assigned a partner. I studied as hard as I could, trying to become smart enough so I could score as high as you did and get sent off to the same school you did, but I never could because I wasn’t smart enough! I got into advanced classes, yes, but I could never reach the same level of accomplishment as you! I was alone because you were gone, living it up at the top at a fancy school on a scholarship!” She finished, panting heavily with tears in her eyes.
Sunburst gawked at his friend for a moment before narrowing his eyes. “Living it up? You think I was living it up at that school?”
Starlight’s breath softened as Sunburst got her attention.
“Starlight, I was nowhere near living it up at that school. I wasn’t living it up at the top at all! Learning at that school was really hard!” He began to ramble. “I was just a kid among teenagers. You think you had it hard? I arguably had it worse! I was small. Some of the guys at that school thought I was some kind of show-off, and tried to knock me down a peg by shoving me into a locker! I got shoved in a locker nearly every three days that first year, and that amount only increased the next year after that! Remember how I was having trouble in my science classes? Yeah, I almost failed those classes! I was so close to failing that I needed to see a tutor! I wanted to drop out, and come back, I did! But my dad wasn’t going to let me quit, and it sucked! I wanted to come home, but I wasn’t allowed to!” Tears welled up in his eyes.
Starlight hiccupped. “Why- hic- why didn’t you message me if you wanted to come home?”
Sunburst looked downward, not meeting her gaze. “I was so busy with the coursework- hic- that I forgot to keep in contact. I didn’t know what to say to you- hic- because we hadn’t spoken in so long.”
“If you didn’t know what to say to me,” Starlight pointed out, “why are you talking to me now?”
“I had to talk to you face-to-face. I couldn’t do it over the phone, I was afraid you’d hang up on me.” He admitted.
She sighed. “Considering the turn our conversation just took, I’d say you were probably right.”
Another silence fell over the room. Starlight glanced at the cups on the coffee table, and picked them up.
“You want more tea?” She prodded.
“Sure.” He answered.
Starlight took the cups into the kitchenette, and placed her coffee mug in the sink while pouring some more tea for Sunburst.
“Here.” She handed him the cup when she returned.
Sunburst accepted the cup with a nod of his head, and took a sip. Once he swallowed, he said, “I really wanted you there with me.”
Starlight gazed at him, touched. “You did?”
“Absolutely,” Sunburst sighed, “if you were there, that school would’ve been much more bearable.”
A small smile graced Starlight’s face. “I can say the same for our high school.”
Starlight’s smile caused Sunburst to give a small smile of his own. “We really did make the perfect team. You were always so confident.”
“And you were always right.” Starlight added.
“And the funny thing is,” Sunburst continued, “without you, I wasn’t always right.”
“Just like without you, I wasn’t always so confident.”
The two sat in silence, smiling at each other until Sunburst spoke up.
“I suppose this is where we hug?”
Starlight chuckled. “I guess so, we haven’t had one of those in forever.”
“And it’s been definitely way too long without one.”
The two old friends stood up, and met halfway, embracing each other. The moment they had each other in their grasp, they hugged tight.
“I missed you, Sunburst.” Starlight said into his shoulder.
“Missed you too, Starlight.” Sunburst replied fondly.
Still holding onto each other, they pulled back to get a good look at each other. Staring into each other’s eyes, they smiled until Starlight started to snicker.
“Nice beard.” She quipped, twirling a finger in her friend’s long facial hair.
“Nice hair.” He responded with a laugh.
Starlight frowned, and looked at Sunburst worriedly. “You don’t like it?”
“No, no, it’s good.” Sunburst hastily answered before carefully choosing his next words. “I just think it would look nicer if you swept it one way or the other.”
Starlight hummed in thought before giving a nod. “I’ll think about it.”
They smiled at each other, and went back to hugging.
Sunburst stared at the pictures on the wall, smiling.
The first picture he stared at was a newspaper article cut out and put in a picture frame. The article was titled ‘Starlight Glimmer Quits Campaign for Old Friend’, and the article went on to explain that Starlight dropped out of the election race to focus on rebuilding her friendship with a childhood friend, and that she promised she would return to politics when she was ready and had a chance to revise her campaign platform. The article also contained a picture of Starlight standing at a podium, her hand intertwined with that of a yellow-skinned man with orange hair and a curly beard.
Sunburst’s gaze moved to the next picture. This one was of him and Starlight hugging soon after their reunion.
He moved onto a picture of the two in their younger years, excitedly playing with a science kit.
Next to that one was a picture of them reading textbooks together as children.
The next picture showed them as adults, sitting in a shiny library, reading books contently.
Another picture had the two sitting at a restaurant, having a good time together.
In a picture at another fancier restaurant, Sunburst was shown on one knee with a ring in hand and Starlight looking at him in surprise.
The last picture on the wall was of Sunburst, in a tuxedo, and Starlight, in a white dress, standing at an altar.
Sunburst’s smile grew as a great wave of nostalgia washed over him while he was looking at that particular picture.
He lifted up his left hand, and looked at his fourth finger, which had a golden band on it.
“I’m ready to go.” A familiar voice said behind him.
Sunburst turned around, and saw Starlight standing in a casual dress with her hair swept one way as Sunburst had suggested.
“Great, let’s get going. Cadence and Shining Armor will meet us at the bowling alley.” He replied, grabbing his favorite star-patterned jacket and putting it on.
Starlight grabbed a jacket of her own off a hook near the front door of the apartment. “Do you know if they’ll be bringing Flurry Heart?”
Sunburst shook his head. “Nah, she’s staying home with her Aunt Twilight.” He grabbed the keys, and held the door open for Starlight. “After you.”
Starlight smirked at him. “Thanks, now let’s go show those two who’s better at couples’ bowling.”
Sunburst grinned at her, and followed her out, locking the door behind them.
