Starlight dashed along another bookshelf, quickly eyeing the subjects and tossing the ones that were potentially useful towards a large desk. There, Twilight performed triage with the efficiency born of her years around books, rapidly scanning for anything that could repair the Crystal Heart. Starlight had been working on all the lower shelves while Cadence flew along the higher ones. The library was ancient and had been organized in a way only clear to the original owner, which had made narrowing things down difficult.

All the while, Shining Armor, Spike, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie did their best to contain the newborn alicorn, who seemed to find all the panic exciting and had turned things into a magical game of tag, continuously flying and teleporting around the room with continuous giggles. They had been racing through the books for nearly ten minutes when Cadence called out. “What about this?” She flew over and put Trotter's Tomb of Reliquary on the table.

Twilight sped her way through the pages. As she was halfway through the book, her face brightened. “I think this is it! The spell of Relic Reconstitution.” She held it out towards Cadence.

“I can’t believe we found it.” Cadence declared, with a huge sigh of relief. At that same moment, the baby let out a huge sneeze along with a beam of energy. It ricocheted around the room, flying at Shining armor, then Star, who both reflected it instinctively, sending it towards Twilight and blasting a hole in the book.

“No!” Twilight grabbed the book and looked at the hole, bordered by singed pages. Everyone approached with a somber silence. “That was the only thing we’ve found that’s even close to what we need?”

“Do you think you can remember the spell?” Cadence asked.

“I only read it through once!” Twilight gasped back.

“Well if anyone can remember a spell just read, it’s you Twilight.” Rarity declared.

Cadence began to discuss evacuating the city as a contingency and Star took the chance to walk up to Twilight just slightly out of the other’s earshot. “Time for Lovebird to fall asleep. Focus deeply.” Twilight’s eyes closed instantly. “I need Lovebird to focus. Picture the spell in your mind, the one that you read in the book. You’ll feel how it becomes crystal clear and you’ll be able to write it down exactly how it was, line by line, word by word. You see it now clearly, don’t you?”

“Yes.” Twilight whispered softly.

“Good girl. Once Lovebird wakes up, you’ll find it’s easy to rewrite the spell. Three, two one, wake.”

Twilight’s eyes slid back open and she gave Star’s hands a squeeze. “Don’t worry Starlight, I can do this.”

“I know you can.” Star said encouragingly. Twilight smiled lovingly at her, then took a step back and picked up a quill and paper at the table. Star quickly glanced around and confirmed no one had heard the quick trancing. She just hoped the memory suggestion helped. In principle it should work just as well as all the other lessons in the book had so far, but she had only had reason to remove and fabricate memories till now, not make them clearer.

Twilight began to mark the outlines of sigils on a fresh sheet of paper. Her look made it seem that even if it came slowly, Twilight wasn’t struggling on replication. “I suppose we’re actually lucky there wasn’t time for you to see Sunburst. It could have taken a lot longer to find this book without your help.”

“I suppose it was for the best.” Starlight said with a little nod. “He’s a big important wizard and I’m relearning everything I thought I knew. We don’t have anything in common right now.”

“Sunburst?” Cadence asked. Star turned, realizing their conversation was no longer private. “I don’t recognize the name, but if he’s an important wizard, you should bring him here. Maybe he’ll know what to do if the spell fails.”

Star’s voice got caught in her throat and she stuttered “What? He...” She glanced at Twilight, thinking of the best excuse. Whatever she said, Twi would agree. But then she glanced at the hole in the wall created by the baby and the encroaching snow. Celestia and Luna were still outside fighting against the clouds. Star felt a dull pain in her chest as she admitted to herself that Cadence was absolutely right. There was no guarantee the spell Twilight was recreating would work. If there was the faintest chance that Sunburst knew what to do, she couldn’t ignore it.

“You’re right.” Saying anything more would reveal how shaky her voice was, so she quickly turned and dashed out of the library. The lumps in her throat and chest got larger. After all her careful work, hours of reinforcing the right suggestions, she was going to have to talk to Sunburst anyway. Lives could be on the line, and that overruled her fears, no matter how strong.

She was nearly out of the castle before she stopped and realized she’d been so lost in her own feelings that she’d never learned where Sunburst’s house even was. She turned and saw Spike behind her, brandishing the thick friendship lesson scroll with a slight smirk. “Twilight said you might need me to help out.” Star gave a rueful smile and let Spike lead the way.

There was half an inch of snow on the wizard hat shaped roof of Sunburst’s house when they arrived, along with everything else around. Star carefully walked up the steps and trembled slightly at the front door. Her back teeth tingled from the stress of what had to come next. She raised her hand towards the door, steeling herself to manage to knock.

“Wait!” Spike declared. Star spun around in shock and looked at him. “Knocking isn’t the next thing on the list.” Spike explained.

“Seriously?” Star grimaced, having all her built up courage dissipated. “We’re way past this being a friendship lesson. We’re not following any special steps.” She turned back and, after taking a long deep breath, knocked firmly on the door three times.

There was a long silence. Just when Star concluded that no one was home, the door opened a crack and Star saw someone staring at her through thick glasses.

“Sunburst?” Star said uncertainly.

The door opened a bit further. “Y-yes? What can I do for you?” It was him. His hair was longer and a bit raggedy and he’d grown a long orange goatee, but Star recognized him clearly.

Her voice caught in her throat. How would she do this? Did she just declare he was needed at the castle? She had to at least make clear who she was. “It’s me...Starlight.”

Sunburst’s eyes widened momentarily. “Oh goodness. Star…it’s been a long time. It’s a shock to...well I never would expect to see you here. How have you been?”

Star bit her lip and felt her heart thump weakly in her chest. “Y’know...a bit of this and that. Right now I’m here as Twilight’s pupil.” She said, planning to push into the problem.

“The Princess of Friendship? Wow. Well...I mean, congratulations. I’m really happy for you. You must be really busy with that so I won’t keep you.” He started to close the door.

Star pushed her hand on the door to keep it from closing and grit her teeth a bit. It made sense he’d still see her as inconsequential but she wasn’t going to let him dismiss her while things were in crisis. “Listen Sunburst, we need to talk. We need your help.”

“Talk?” He said, seeming to miss the second part. “I’m sorry. I’m being rude aren’t I? Please, come in.” He backed away from the door to let in Star and Spike. The door led directly into a study covered in books. Shelves, decked in spell books and scrolls, covered half the walls, even over the arch of the doorway to the next room. Even more books were stacked randomly on the ground with a prominent one next to a desk on which three different books lay open along with five coffee mugs and a couple plates sitting off to the side. It was clear to Star that Sunburst was so busy with his wizarding he even worked through meals.

Sunburst scrambled past the study into the next room which was just as covered in books along with a fireplace and dining table. He quickly scooped up the books on the table and piled them in a stack on the ground. “Make yourself comfy and I’ll make some tea.” He dashed off into the small kitchen nearby. Spike followed Star into the kitchen and stood against the wall while Starlight sat down at the dining table and looked around the room.

The fireplace hadn’t seen much use and was guarded by more of the stacks of spell books. It looked like the main thing separating Sunburst from Twilight was shelf space. She was sure if the two got together they would have a grand time talking about magic, their respective research, maybe even anecdotes about the Canterlot magic school. Those thoughts made the tightness in her chest get even worse and Star rested her head on the table with her arms wrapped over her head.

Sunburst dashed back into the living room and Star sat up suddenly. He set down a single mug for Star along with a teapot. “I can get a cup for your friend as well.”

“That’s okay.” Star cut in, wanting to just get this over with. “We don’t have a lot of time. You see, Princess Cadence's baby is an alicorn, and it broke the Crystal Heart, so the Frozen North is coming in and if we don’t figure out a way to fix it, it’ll be the end of the Crystal Empire!”

“What...but...that's crazy!” Sunburst muttered as he processed the avalanche of information. He stood up and walked to the window to confirm the falling snow. “Snow. That would mean…but why are you here talking to me?”

“To ask for your help, like I said. It just makes sense. You’re an important wizard and we have a magic problem. Come back with me to the castle and help Twilight with fixing the Crystal heart.”

“Right, right. Important wizard.” His tone was odd in a way Star couldn’t quite parse. Sunburst walked back to the table and leaned against it with his knuckles. He stayed silent for a long moment and Star was about to say more when he cut in. “No, it’s ridiculous.” He said incredulously. “I won’t…I can’t help with something like that. I wish I could. I’m sorry you wasted your time. You should go back and help the princess yourself.” Sunburst walked back to his study and started shuffling around his books.

Star sat in disbelief, her mind racing, trying to decide what to do. Should she trance him? It could take an hour or more to add the right suggestions to get his help. Maybe if she tried a different sort of deepener? Her thoughts started to blur, however, as the weight in her chest grew overwhelming like a rock in her chest pulling her down. It was the same feeling from when she sent her second to last letter to Sunburst, when she was kicked out of her village by Twilight. She couldn’t let herself fall into despair like that again. She steeled herself and felt as that sorrow was replaced with a growing anger. Had he not understood her? How could he say no to saving part of Equestria? She stood up from the table and took deliberate steps towards the study. "Uh, Starlight?" Spike said tentatively as he saw her expression.

Star walked behind Sunburst and stared at him with a twitching fury. He didn’t turn around and continued to fiddle with a random spell book. "I can't believe you're so selfish.” Star clenched her fists. “It's one thing to abandon me, but you don’t even care when it’s the princesses that need you?”

Sunburst put down the book and turned, glaring back at Star. "I never abandoned you! If you recall, you were the one who left without telling me where you were going."

"That isn’t where this started. That was me finally having enough of you for ignoring me and deciding I wasn’t going to take it any more."

"Ignored? I came home to visit every Summer Solstice and Hearth's Warming when classes were out. Everyone else would spend all that time with their parents, but I split my time in order to see you."

"Oh wonderful, two weeks a year I get to see you. And the rest of the time? You wrote to me almost every day when you first started magic school. Pretty soon it was once a week, then once a month. Eventually, I wouldn’t hear a word from you unless I pointed out how rarely you wrote me back. And every time it was the same excuse in those letters I had to force out of you. ‘Oh, things have been really busy. I’ve been under a lot of stress this month.’ You didn’t have an hour out of a whole semester to write to your best friend? Do you understand what’s it like to be left behind while you focus on your new life? You made me feel worthless, a cast-off that didn’t fit into your new life as a great wizard.”

Sunburst laughed bitterly. "Right, right. Except that I'm not some great important wizard Star. I'm not a wizard at all." He slammed his hand against his desk and tensed his jaw, holding back a wave of emotion.

Star paused and looked in disbelief. "What do you…I don't understand." Her anger subsided as she tried to process what Sunburst said.

“I failed out of magic school. I wasn't good enough. Not all of us end up achieving greatness. I know it might be hard for you to understand.”

But, you always knew so much about magic..." Star stuttered, "Look at all these books."

"Well, things don’t always work out how you expect. Reading about magic is one thing, but you don’t know what it was like at magic school. Every day I was doing everything I could just to keep my head above water. I was busy all the time because for every hour I managed to practice my magic there were four hours curled up in bed, shaking with worry about my grades. I’d lose sleep trying to keep up but when it came time for exams I could just never get it right. You don’t know how it feels to know so much and not be able to do any of it! It’s like your body is fighting against you. You know what to do and how to do it but then you just…can’t.”

“You never told me any of this.” Star whispered. “Not in letter, not in person. Why didn’t you ever tell me you were having trouble?”

Sunburst let out a long sigh. “I didn’t want to admit that I wasn’t cut out for being a wizard, even to myself, much less you. Besides, I didn’t want to drag all of my problems to you. My visits were the times I could let go of worries about school and be happy for a while. I wish it had been enough for you, but when I got your last letter, I saw that I’d failed with you too. I felt like I was the one who was being left behind.”

There was a long slow silence. Star felt a new kind of pain in her chest. “Maybe if I hadn't been so scared you were leaving me behind, I would have noticed that you were so troubled. I’m…I’m sorry Sunburst.”

“I’m sorry too. Maybe if I'd had the courage to admit to you how much I was struggling, you could have helped me some with school. Sometimes people will just drift apart even when they don’t want to.”

“I still don’t want to be apart.” Star said, reaching out and putting a hand on Sunburst’s shoulder. “I did everything I could to avoid seeing you on this trip. I said to myself that I didn’t want to see someone who had abandoned me in the past. But the real reason is that I did want to see you, but was sure you didn’t want to see me. Thinking about being rejected by you again was more than I could take. But if I hadn’t come, I never would have learned what actually happened."

Star bit her lip and looked down as the pain in her chest got stronger. She pushed past it and looked bac in Sunburst's eyes. "Let's just wipe the slate clean. No one has to be sorry. We can just start fresh and figure out a new friendship.”

He looked back at Star for several seconds, then put his hand on the one Star had placed on his shoulder. “I…I’d like that. We'll just need to take it a bit at a time.”

“We’ve done okay so far with hashing things out. Twilight will be so proud of us.” She chuckled.

“Well,” Spike said, pointing at the window, “If you want her to hear about it, we should probably leave now.”

Starlight looked outside where the snow had gotten significantly worse. The snow was nearly knee deep and the winds were picking up. “Oh no. We need to go! They’re evacuating the city. Unless you know some spell that could repair the crystal heart and drive back the Frozen North so the baby can have her Crystalling, you need to get to the train station.”

Sunburst blinked and looked over at his bookshelf. “The Crystalling…of course!”

*****

With Sunburst’s instructions, everyone worked together to finish the Crystalling and repair the Crystal Heart. In a flash, the shattered pieces of the Crystal heart fused back together and a wave of magic turned everyone translucent and glittering. The Crystal Empire was saved. Celesta and Luna started to work to remove the accumulated snow and everyone else decided to get some well needed rest.

“Not bad huh?” Star said to Sunburst as they walked down one of the castle hallways. They had each been given guest rooms to use. “You’ve become the baby’s Crystaller and got a compliment from Princess Celestia. I think there’s a wizard degree in your future. And I admit it felt pretty good to be the savior of a town this time.”

“This time?” Sunburst looked at her curiously.

“Oh. Yeah, there are a few things I haven’t mentioned yet. It can wait.”

They reached the end of the corridor and Sunburst opened the door to a bedroom. “Well, this is me. Star, I’m really glad we have a chance to become friends again. And this time we’ll make it work.”

“Don’t worry Sunburst. I guarantee that things will be different now. I’ve learned from my mistakes.” She held her hand out to him. Sunburst reached out to shake it, but at the last moment, Star reached out, grabbed his wrist, and jerked his arm while saying “Sleep.” Sunburst slumped into her arms and she held his shoulder, whispering in his ear. “That’s it, sinking, listen to my words and drift.”

Sunburst went limp in her arms as her voice made the handshake induction stick and he fell into trance. “Good Sunburst, drifting soft and peaceful. Everything will be fine now. We drifted apart because you weren’t able to be honest with me and held back your feelings. From now on you’ll be able to always be open and tell me absolutely everything.”

She slowly guided Sunburst to his bed and laid him down. “Resting now, so peacefully. We’ll be able to share this nice soft feeling again very soon, but I have an important opportunity with a princess that must come first.”

Star closed the door and made her way towards Cadence's bedroom.

Author's Note

The last year has just been a confluence of things to keep me from writing, including this chapter which feels vital and pointless in equal measure as I try to hem to Sunburst and Star's original story but make it feel much more real and show a more realistic breakdown of a relationship. Using personal experience of drifting apart with people in the past made it all the harder to write. Even now I'd like to go through several more passes but the need to move past it outweighs trying to get everything just right. If anyone ever wants I can talk about where I see their relationship from a further back perspective.

Later chapters should be easier, but my track record is pretty bad so, fingers crossed and let's see how this all works out