Sunburst the Superhero

Ever since Flurry Heart's Crystalling, the Empire's filled with more love than anywhere in Equestria!

Through Sunburst's words we start this story. A story about love, friendship and betrayal – okay, maybe not the latter.

But let's start from the very beginning, because as gone as the past may be, it will always have weight over our actions. Shall we begin already?

An unknown amount of time ago, in an unknown part of Equestria, lived an unknown colt. Although his name is well known to us, his story isn't. This is the story of a pony whose destiny was lost. This is the story of Sunburst.

"Oh, for analepsis' sake!" Sunburst exclaimed, stomping his forelegs in the ground. "Is all this dramatic balderdash really necessary?"

Legend has it, the sound of the fourth wall shattering could be heard all over Equestria.

Sunburst had always been a smart and helpful colt – a bright and beautiful beam of sunshine, his mother would say – always willing to lend a helping hoof. Never did he expect anything in return, on the contrary, he was grateful to be able to help ponies with his knowledge of magic. Smiles and friends all over, lil' Sunbie couldn't ask for a better life. Could anything bad ever happen?

Yes, it could. Oh, it could, and it did. Read carefully and you will find out what Miss Destiny had in store for our quadruped friend.

Cutie Marks can be real jerks, I tell you. They come into your flank fast as light and never wash off. Like, not even with bleach. Real pesky if you ask me, but that's just how ponies live. And you can imagine how happy Sunburst was when he got his, singing and bouncing and dancing all over the place, showing it to his parents and everypony in the village.

It was a very simple Cutie Mark: it depicted a sun with four beams, a sunburst, just like his name. Its meaning, however, wasn't quite as obvious. But everypony, including Sunburst, thought they knew what it meant.

Of course, knowing Sunburst's abilities and the way he got his Cutie Mark, it made sense that his special talent would be magic, and thus, he was sent to Canterlot to study magic in Celestia's School.

But school was a little more intimidating than Sunburst expected. Even more than that: it was terrifying. Really, being alone and surrounded by gifted unicorns wasn't something Sunburst liked. He had no friends, he had no family – his parents had to go back to their hometown to continue their weather labor – and, to make it all worse, he had no magical skills.

Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns isn't the best place to find such a harsh truth. But as ponies say, truth hurts, and words too. And Sunburst was attacked by both of them. And by paper planes.

Yep, it was clear. When it came to theory, he was a prodigy. But he couldn't do advanced magic. No matter what he did, everytime he tried he just ended up with an F, a headache and a whole lot of humiliation.

And that wasn't his only problem. The most important problem, maybe. Or an over-problem. Is "sub-problem" a word? Whatever. Sunburst had a lot of sub-problems. For example, he couldn't walk through the hall without getting teased. No matter how hard he tried to hide, ponies always managed to find him.

And despite that, he felt invisible.

Everything was different. Nopony needed his help, and there was nopony to help him. And he really needed help.

Thanks to his knowledge he managed to go through the first years, but as time passed, the spells they studied got harder, and harder, and harder.

There was no choice: Sunburst had to leave magic school.

Now, I believe you can imagine how bad Sunburst felt. Actually, he didn't feel "bad". How about "awful"? "Terrible"? "Like a worthless piece of trash that fell to the ground and was never picked up, left to decompose as years and years went by"? Yes, I think that's good.

The next years weren't exactly... relevant. He stayed in a small, neglected house in Canterlot, sending letters every now and then to his parents, telling them he was doing great. But he wasn't, and one day, he had to tell them the truth. That same day, when Sunburst was preparing to go back to his hometown, Princess Celestia made an important anouncement to all of Equestria.

Sunburst, of course, didn't bother to atend. He was too busy swimming in his own deep, dark thoughts and anxieties, plus he ditched all his mirrors a long time ago, so he didn't know if he looked decent enough to go out.

"I don't want to go back! I can't!" Sunburst yelled. "What will they–"

"Hey Sunburst! Did you hear the news?" a pony interrupted from the other side of the window.

Sunburst immediately recognised Moonlit Pride, one of the so-really-annoying unicorns who teased him at magic school, and still did. He walked to the window, cleared his throat and said, "No." Then he closed the window.

Sunburst read all he could read about the Crystal Empire, and the way out of his problems came like a slap to the face. Whatever a slap is for a pony. Since he heard the empire had reappeared out of thin air – and I apologize beforehand for what I'm about to say – the answer was crystal clear.

He didn't have to go back home after all, he could move to the Crystal Empire! He took a bag full of coins from a drawer, a "small gift" Princess Celestia gave him so he wouldn't say what happened to her protégé, and started planning his journey.

The Crystal Empire was perfect for Sunburst. It was beautiful, quiet, and most importantly, it was far. Also, there was no such thing as a crystal unicorn.

And so, Sunburst started a new life. Away from magic school, away from his parents, away from Moonlit Pride. Nothing could bother him. It was perfect, but even that couldn't stop Sunburst from feeling empty. Useless. Like a worthless piece of trash that fell to the ground and was never picked up, left to decompose as years and years went by. Deep down, he hoped that something happened, something that forced him to get out of his house and do something, even if he didn't feel capable of doing anything.

And eventually, that something came. In the form of an alicorn baby. And a childhood friend.

Oh, did I forget to mention Starlight? Well, you already know that story. And you also know the story about the crystalling of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor's baby, so I'll try to make it short.

It all started when Sunburst's first friend, Starlight Glimmer, appeared in his front door with her lizard pet and a list, spitting all kinds of nonsense. She said that she was Princess Twilight Sparkle's pupil, that the princess wanted her to be friends with Sunburst again, and that she believed he was an important wizard. Sunburst, not wanting to break somepony's expectations again, went along with it.

To be honest, Sunburst didn't remember who Starlight was until she was already inside his house. During the first months of magic school he was too busy to stay in touch with her, or maybe he was just too ashamed. And after all those years, he forgot about her.

But now she was back, and she was as beautiful as always– wait, that's not the word. She was as awkward and terrifying as always. Had she always been like that, anyway? Sunburst's memory of her was a little... blocked. He felt confused, uncomfortable, and sad. And I can't lie, he was a teeny bit jealous, too. Starlight's visit reminded him of everything he wanted to forget. The princess' protégé was in his house, asking for details he wasn't willing to reveal, not to a successful pony like her. She wouldn't understand.

Oh, and there was that purple dragon and his annoying list, too.

Starlight Glimmer soon left, only to reappear thirty minutes later, saying Princess Cadance thought Sunburst could save the Crystal Empire from... the baby?. Sunburst declined, saying he was too busy, but not long after, he had to confess.

There are no words to describe how Sunburst felt in that moment, unless we use the trash analogy again. But one thing was clear: Starlight could see how trashy he felt, and it seems like she didn't like losing the spotlight, because she started to cry – scream? – too. Starlight's nonsense seemed to make even less sense for a moment. She said something about turning into an evil equality goddess because of Sunburst, and something about traveling through time. Pretty cool, right? Starlight's disgrace made Sunburst feel a little less worthless, and recovering his best friend filled the void he felt inside at least a little bit.

The rest is history: Sunburst found a way to fix the Crystal Heart, crystallized the royal baby and turned into the Crystal Empire's new hero, much to green dog's dismay.

And since that very moment, everything changed for our orange-coated, white-socks-and-stripe-marked, five-variants-of-terracota-maned, star-cloaked, short-sighted unicorn.

Life in the Crystal Empire was a little... over-whelming. Don't get it wrong, Sunburst loved all the attention he was getting, but crystal ponies could get a little... overzealous. Does "Spike the Brave and Glorious" ring a bell to you?

One day, when Sunburst was walking to the crystal store to buy some crystal groceries, he was stopped by the sight of something huge, confusing and beautiful. In front of him stood a colossal sketch of a crystal statue of himself, and beside it, a crystal pony sculpting it.

"W-w-whaa...?" Sunburst stammered.

"Do you like it?" the sculptor said, getting uncomfortable levels of close to Sunburst's face. "I call it Sunburst the Great and Corageous!"

"I-I don't know what to say," he adjusted his glasses. "A statue... of me?"

"So you don't like it?" the sculptor quickly replied, frowning at Sunburst.

"It's not that!" Sunburst exclaimed to the near-to-crying crystal pony. "I just don't feel like this" – he pointed at the big piece of paper – "is me."

"Oh, don't be silly, of course it's you! It even has the goatee! Wait, no, I forgot that."

"No, I mean, I'm not great nor, nor corageous...!"

"But you ARE!" another crystal pony said, grabbing Sunburst's face.

Sunburst looked at him, his pupils shrunken and a few sweatdrops going down his face. "A-aaaaaah..."

"Sorry," the pony said and walked off the place.

Sunburst shook his head. "What was I saying?"

"Lies," the sculptor replied with a smile on her face.

"Oh. Right." Sunburst cleared his throat. "I mean, the whole 'saving the Crystal Empire' thing, it was just... good timing! I am not great nor corageous, I'm more..." he stopped for a second to adjust his glasses again. "short and coward."

The sculptor tilted her head.

In the end Sunburst couldn't stop the craftsmare from making the statue, but instead convinced her to make a much smaller one. Sunburst the Short and Coward, she called it. Sunburst accepted reluctantly.

Yep, that was life now for our royal crystaller. Everywhere he went there was somepony willing to ask for help, or even for an autograph, from Sunburst. Sometimes they even asked for a story about his life, and even though he wasn't exactly proud of many of them, he was almost happy to tell them. Maybe they would work as a lesson. I don't know how, I'll need to ask him personally the next time I see him.

Sunburst still felt bad sometimes, but he knew it didn't really matter. His life now wasn't what he had hoped his life would be once he grew up and graduated from magic school, but it was good. Really good. Smiles and friends all over, Sunburst couldn't ask for a better life.