Bits, Pieces and other Scrapped Ideas

Chapters

In Which Sunburst Realizes
In Which A Life Is Told Through Beds
In Which Sunburst is Trapped
In Which Starlight Glimmer Overreacts
In Which Sunburst is a Masochist
In Which Starlight Glimmer Isn't Perfect
In Which Sunburst Muses
In Which Starlight Glimmer Wakes Up
In Which Friendship is Discussed
In Which There's Allegories
In Which Starlight Glimmer is Angry
Thirteen Drabbles: Set Alpha
The Trivial Matters of the Heart
In Which Sunburst Takes An Art Class
In Which Sacrifices are Made
In Which There Are Seaponies
In Which There Are MORE Seaponies
In Which a Kiss is Stolen
In Which there's a Misunderstanding
In Which Sunburst Falls Asleep
In Which Sunburst Thinks About Her Smiles
In Which Sunburst Lies
In Which Names Are Discussed
In Which a Promise is Made
In Which There's an Indirect Kiss
In Which Four Kisses Are Given and One is Returned
In Which Starlight Glimmer Remembers
In Which There's a Crappy Proposal

In Which Sunburst Realizes

Author's Note

Summary: Sunburst notices that his wife is very quiet this evening, he knows that something is on her mind, but can't do anything but wait for her to speak up. Hopefully, he's ready for whatever she has to say.

Warnings: None.

A/N: Inspired, in part, by the adorable animation "Time for two" by Agrolchannel, and by the abundance of next-gen OC's on DeviantArt with these two as their parents.

In Which Sunburst Realizes

Sunburst was running out of ideas on how to make his wife happy this particular evening, and his wallet had suffered enough.

All along the fair, he had tried to indulge in what he thought would be her every pleasure, from ridiculous games with giant teddy bears, to foods that would make a nutritionist weep. While a smile would be on her face after such a gift, it wouldn't stay long enough, and she would revert back to her quiet contemplation. She didn't look unhappy per se... worried, perhaps? Guilty? Hesitant? He found it difficult to pinpoint what, exactly, since she was so reluctant to tell him what was on her mind. He couldn't stand to see her this way, whatever way it was, but the fair they walked now offered little to his imagination.

The night had fallen and Luna's moon was high in the sky, and the couple walked closely, their shoulders brushing, silent. They were the only quiet beings, as all around them games were played, music was made, and in the shadows of the neon lights were the whispered giggling of teenagers. Sunburst thought and thought and thought some more, until he felt a tug on his cloak, realizing that Starlight had stopped walking.

Turning to face her, he noticed that by the way she was fidgeting on her hooves, clicking her heels, and chewing on her lip that she was, finally, going to tell him what was going on. Or whatever it was that had been bothering her all day. She lifted her head to meet his eyes, and she sighed.

“Sunburst…I’m sorry for having been so…quiet, all day.”

Taking solace that at least she admitted there was a problem, he placed a foreleg over her withers and drew her close. “What’s the matter, Star?”

Her eyes went down, and it took a few swallows for her to work up the nerve to explain her situation. “Well…remember yesterday, when I went to the doctor, and I told you I was just getting a checkup?”

The panic began gripping at his throat, but he put on a brave smile and held her even more tightly, despite his shaking hooves. “Oh, are you sick? If you’re not feeling well, we can leave right now, and I’ll—”

“No, no, no!” Starlight interrupted, shaking her head hard, loving Sunburst for his automatic concern and sweetness, and annoyed at him for his inability to be more patient. “I’m not sick. I’m…huh, well, I’m…” She closed her eyes tightly, taking a deep breath and gathering all her courage, and then opened them again, meeting him head-on. “I’m pregnant.”

Somehow the words didn’t register right away in Sunburst’s head. Sure, he knew them well enough… ‘I’m’, a shortening of ‘I am’, indicating that she, Starlight Glimmer, was talking about herself, that she’s referring to something concerning her. He also understood the word ‘pregnant’, an adjective, used when a mare or a female creature is having a foal or young developing in the uterus. However, the combination of ‘I’m’ and ‘pregnant’, in the same sentence, with nothing in between, that was something he believed to be impossible. The words echoed inside of his head, trying to form some kind of logic.

“Huh,” he finally said. “Huh,” he repeated, the gears having slowed down to a screeching halt. “Huh.”

Starlight almost shrunk into herself, having dreaded this reaction all day. After all, she remembered back when they had just started dating, and during a nice walk through the park; she had nonchalantly mentioned she would love to have foals one day. The next thing she knew, Sunburst had tripped on a pebble and crashed into a tree. She had spent hours reassuring him that it was just a thought, nothing more, and he was certainly under no pressure to be a father so soon. Still, that little dream of hers never went away. She loved each and every one of her students in the Friendship School, but she had a deep and powerful desire to care for one of her own, a special being made out of the love she had for Sunburst. Son, daughter, a pony, unicorn or pegasi, a little princess or a little prince, neither gender nor quantity matter, for she knew she would give it all the care it deserved.

“Huh.”

She had firmly believed that Sunburst would be a wonderful father. The way he doted on Twilight’s niece when she was a baby, the care and discipline he had instilled on the young princess as she grew, there was a great potential inside him, yet he himself never saw it. So, she had planned to wait until he was confident enough with himself to bring this topic up once more, but it appeared her body was impatient, and here she was, pregnant. She was terrified of what was to become of their relationship, and yet…

“Huh.”

…Yet, she noted, the Sunburst before her wasn’t the same one who had driven his horn into an oak. That Sunburst had been a mess of nerves, frightened beyond comprehension, the ideal mascot for heart disease awareness. But the Sunburst before her looked more…confused than scared. In fact, now that she was looking at him properly, he didn't look frightened at all. Or worried, or sad, or angry, he was just confused. It was a step-up, she supposed. Then, to her relief, the next best thing happened. He smiled.

“Huuuuuuuuh.”

He didn't even appear to be aware he was smiling, yet it was all over his face, from one yellow ear to the other. Something was trembling and tickling his throat, ready to burst out, and then, it did. "Huuuuuuuuuu-ha-ha-ha-ha!" That laughter was the tidal wave to wash away all of Starlight's doubts, for that sort of loud, rambunctious, delighted laughter was not that of a stallion who didn't want its foal. He laughed long, hard, wildly, and hugged her tightly, his entire body shaking with sheer mirth, speaking rapidly.

"Are you serious? I, ah, gosh, Star, really? You're really...Ha! Really! Right in there! Why didn't you just said so!?"

She was about to remind him about the entire park incident, but he had already run off, jumping around like a colt, shouting at the top of his lungs to any and all nearby ponies on the fair.

"Hey! She's pregnant!" and while some stared and others congratulated, he was already done with them, jumping to surprise more ponies. "My wife is pregnant!" he ran along the dining tables outside of the food stands, "I'm going to be a father!", trying to get the attention of the game owners and players, "We're having a kid!" and then lifting the bushes and pushing the branches aside, scaring the living daylights out of the teenagers hiding there, "We're a family!"

Starlight was slightly embarrassed by all the attention he was getting, but couldn't help but smile at her husband's eccentricity. Now she felt rather silly for worrying, but who would have guessed he would have been so excited? She did her best to be patient as he continued to harass the other fairgoers with his news, until he suddenly and abruptly halted in his tracks, having realized something. "Hold on, what are we doing here? Starlight, we got to take you home!"

Her smile faltered, not understanding his panic. "What for?"

"For the baby! You can't just walk around dangerous places like this in your condition!" Now he was at her side, drawing her close, dragging her along.

"Dangerous?" She repeated to emphasize the ridiculousness, though allowed herself to be dragged to slightly humor him. "It's a fair, what's so dangerous about it?"

"Why, everything! There could be nails on the grass! And the food isn't healthy! There just so many hazards and...!" On he rambled, suddenly spotting a world of dangers now that his wife was carrying an additional load.

"Sunburst," she tried to reason with him, her embarrassment now doubled. "You do realize I'm not going to have the baby right this second?"

Alas, her pleas fell on deaf yellow ears. "And we gotta fix up a room for him! Or her! And we got to tell everypony! And we need to buy some toys and a crib, oh and books, lots and lots of books, and then..." It seemed Sunburst was continuously coming up with new ideas on how to make his foal happy this particular evening.

In Which A Life Is Told Through Beds

Author's Note

Summary: The life of Starlight Glimmer is told by the beds she's slept in.

Warnings: Some hints of adult content and major character death. Just mentions without going into detail.

A/N: Just a little Starlight Glimmer character study, with some StarBurst thrown in the mix, obviously.

In Which A Life Is Told Through Beds

They say that the life of a pony could be told just by the beds they had slept in throughout their lives, and every bed tells the story of a stage in their lives, a piece of their existence.

Forced to stay in her current bed, Starlight Glimmer didn't have any other distractions except the stitching of the quilt and her memories. A giggle escapes her muzzle because, during the course of her life, she had known a good number of beds...It sounded scandalous to say it like that, and her giggle turned into laughter...Keep your mind out of the gutter, please...

Starlight made an effort to remember her childhood bed because it was deeply connected to her mother's loving care. She had lost her so soon, too soon, and she could never remember her face, though she certainly imagined her as beautiful, if she closed her eyes, she could still feel the gentle caress of a strong hoof, checking for fever, or a gentle touch filed with love on her cheek. But out of everything, the smell of lavender and sheets dried in the sun was the strongest memory of all.

After that, Sunburst came into her life, when her mother passed and her father sought shelter from his grief in his books. Many nights were spent in his house, under forts made of blankets and pillows, reading stories of faraway places well into the night, practicing magic until each spell was perfected. It distracted her from her grief and the pain of living with an absent father, filling her head with the wonders of magic and the adventures to be had. It was then she understood why her father liked books so much. She had been so happy then. Then he got his cutie mark.

When Sunburst left her heart had been filled with bitterness, which she projected onto her room. Painting the walls with the darkest black she could find, hanging posters of tortured-looking singers, and her bed was a mess of dirty sheets which she rarely slept on. Most of the time she would fall asleep on her desk, reading books about magic, the nature of cutie marks, and if there was a way of removing them.

Once she was old enough, she left Sire's Hollow to follow her own destiny, one filled with uncertainty, with only a handful of coins and a wave of twisted anger that morphed into deluded justification. Her bitterness and her rage were the only warmth she had during those years, where she slept in awful and questionable places, with rock-hard beds and thin ratty sheets that didn't keep the cold out. If she was lucky to afford one. During those nights she would grit her teeth to keep them from chattering and closed her eyes tightly, telling herself to endure it for the sake of a brighter future.

Her stubbornness paid off in the end and she had a house and nicer bed all to herself, and most importantly, her philosophy was catching on. She went to sleep those nights dreaming of a world where no pony was better than any pony else...except herself, obviously, even if no one would be aware of that fact. As the town grew so did her responsibilities and soon she had a sizable community on her hoofs, each and every one of its citizens looking up to her, for advice, for guidance, and for the first time since she had embarked on this crusade, she could finally see her dream turning into reality.

And then—like the bed she tossed violently to the side as she made her escape—it was all ripped out from underneath her.

In her quest for revenge, she spent many sleepless nights on the road, perfecting her plan, researching, experimenting, until she had it. The battle that issued would haunt her nightmares for years to come; the fury that coursed through her veins like liquid fire, the glee she felt as Twilight Sparkle failed to stop her again and again, all that she was willing to sacrifice in the name of revenge: she just wanted to see the world burn. And she did. The dusty landscape that received her was what finally put the fire out of her soul, it made her pause, long enough to listen to Twilight's pleas, long enough to recall the incident that started it all.

After all was said and done, when Twilight’s compassion had finally reached her and a second chance was offered, she laid awake in the princess guest bed that night. For the first time in years, she wasn’t angry or bitter and it felt a little odd, now that her head was clear she didn’t know what to do with all that space, so she spent the night thinking and wondering: now what? She never got her answer, but as she fell asleep she thought about Sunburst, and not for the first time she wished he was there to tell her what to do.

Then, as if destiny had heard her, she got her wish.

She didn’t know what to expect when she knocked on his door, and she was still surprised. There he was; a little sadder, a little shyer, a little more disheveled than she remembered, but it was Sunburst, now an accomplished wizard, while she was struggling to relearn the basic rules of social interaction. How ironic, she had spent years dreaming of this moment, and all she wanted to do then was crawl under a rock just so he wouldn’t see what a loser she had become.

It turn out that it wouldn’t be the first, and certainly not the last, time she had been wrong about something in her life.

Much like her battle with Twilight—except with less magic and violence—honesty from both their parts was what it took to rekindle their friendship and save the day. With the Crystal Empire safe once more, they made a promise to keep in touch and she boarded the train back to Ponyville, a little sad for having to leave him behind but reassured in the knowledge that this wasn’t a ‘goodbye’, but a ‘see you later’.

Despite living in a castle, Starlight’s room wasn’t as grand and exuberant as many would think. She didn’t have a four-poster bed with draping curtains and satin sheets, or walls bedazzle in diamonds and gold with expensive portraits on the walls. None of that. Her bed in the castle was simple but just as comfortable as any other bed she had sleep in; and sure, the walls and the floors were made with some kind of enchanted crystal, but the stone wasn’t near as exuberant as the one in the Crystal Empire, so she didn’t feel bad when she covered the walls with personal items as the years went by.

It was this bed that witnessed her personal growth, her bouts of doubt, and her budding feelings for her childhood friend. She kept her promise and send him letters, opening up to him little by little with each correspondence, and he did the same, telling her about his life, his fears, his hopes, and dreams. Starlight treasured each and every letter that her friends sent her, but she appreciated his letters a little more than the rest, as selfish as it sounded, and when Trixie found out she used this fact to tease her on occasion.

Here she learned the true value of friendship, learned to be a better pony, and truly reached her full potential.

She cried in its pillow the night before she had to move away from the castle since there was nothing more for Twilight to teach her, but only a little. While she was sad to leave the place where she had learned so much, she understood that it was time for her to put her teachings to use.

After much deliberation, she decided to go to the Crystal Empire, thinking that spending some time with her oldest friend would help her give some insight into what to do next. Thinking that maybe if she reflected about her past, especially with someone from her past, it could point her in the right direction. Little did she know that no exciting journey awaited for her once she arrived at Crystal Empire, in fact, she wouldn’t leave it for quite some time, because she had unknowingly arrived at the place she needed to be all along.

Starlight had finally redeemed herself fully, and now she had a future to look forward to.

And finally, she arrived at the marriage bed.

The bed of innocence, where two inexperienced lovers learned the body of the other, tracing a map of the mysteries of carnal pleasure, of the most devoted kind. Where the sweetness was mixed with the passion, and where two souls become one.

The bed in this stage of her life was relatively small but big enough to not invade the others' space in their sleep. It was large enough that, if they were angry for whatever reason, they could ignore the other if they laid perfectly still. Luckily, Sunburst was not one of those to fall asleep if there was still a problem to be solved. And well...he definitely didn't let her sleep until the situation was cleared...

As time went on the bed proved to be too small, but they made it work in the stormy nights when their bed was filled with the proof of their love. Two little heads of purple, two fillies, and the eldest, a son that was the spitting image of his father. Sunburst would then speak, adopting the posture of a trained storyteller, and told them stories of faraway places, or of their mother's adventures before she got married, especially ones that involved a clumsy wizard, until little by little, the thunder went away and they closed their eyes.

It was in this same bed where she had first rocked her children to sleep, where she sang them lullabies that she didn't know that she knew, hidden in some corner of her mind, forgotten until the right moment. It was there where she would watch over their slumber when fever or disease put a halt to their rambunctious laughter.

There wasn't a day in her long life where she hadn't yearn for her most precious light, the one who made her love him with his gentle ways, the one who had always shined through in her darkest hours. But time takes as much as it gives, and she had lived a long life, a life filled with the coldest of shadows and the warmest of lights. She had loved and been loved. She had left her legacy and made her mark in the world, which her foals and grandfoals will continue. Now, laying on the bed of her twilight years, prisoner of her traitorous and tired body, she waits for the day where she reunites with her dearest light, the half of her heart—when she crosses the border of this life into the next.

Always waiting for her, Sunburst...

In Which Sunburst is Trapped

Author's Note

Summary: Sunburst, the often ignored son of a rich family, finally gets noticed, but in the worst ways.

Warnings: Comedic kidnapping and some slapstick.

A/N: I was trying to write Starlight as a better villain, but I failed and got this instead.

In Which Sunburst is Trapped

Sunburst was reminded of an experiment he tried as a foal.

He would time himself and try to memorize the layout of the mansion with his eyes closed. It wasn't successful, and he would be tripping and bumping into many things, but it had been an interesting experience.

This was...also interesting, he supposed.

The blindfold was tied snugly around his head, and he couldn't make heads or tails of anything around him. He tried to adjust himself into a better laying position, but so far as his hooves were tied over him he knew he'd never get comfortable. He heard the sound of a door opening, and he laid still, gulping audibly.

The clopping of hooves, then a strange male voice. "See, boss? I told you it'd be easy as pie. Now, all we got to do is wait for the ransom money, and the Royal family will pay us out the nose."

To Sunburst's growing surprise, the boss's voice was not only feminine but extremely so. "It feels too easy, Pharynx. Are you sure about this? He didn't have any bodyguards around."

"That's how rich ponies stay rich, boss! By being cheap! Trust me, having Sunset Shimmer here is like having a sack of gold!"

Sunset? What did Sunset have to do with...oh. Sunburst hesitated, then quietly asked. "Excuse me?"

They didn't appear to hear him, and the boss sighed. "Fine, but is the last job we pull like this. If you keep this up, you can find yourself another gang."

"Don't get your tail in a twist, boss!"

"Excuse me...?" Sunburst tried again.

"I don't need you commenting about my tail, Pharynx, and you can stop looking there too!"

"Sheesh, you ponies can take a joke..."

"EXCUSE ME!" Sunburst hadn't meant to shout it, but it came out anyway. After a gulp, he went on. "I, uh...I think there's been a bit of a...mix-up here."

A beat of silence, then the mare spoke. "What do you mean?"

"Don't listen to him, boss! He's just trying to wiggle his way out of here."

Sunburst shrugged helplessly. "I couldn't wiggle out of this if I tried. But, um, the thing is...you guys seem to think I'm someone I'm not. You see, Sunset Shimmer is my older sister."

Another beat of silence, and again, the mare broke it─but her musical voice could cut through steel. "Pharynx."

Pharynx's voice had an edge of nervousness as he replied. "Yes, boss?"

"Bring me the newspaper article you were looking at."

"Yes ma'am." The scuttling of hooves growing fainter.

...and then the slow canter of hooves towards Sunburst. Boss was looking at him closely, he could feel it, and she said, "If this a trick, you're going to be in a world of trouble."

"I'm no good at tricks, miss," Sunburst said easily enough. "I'm...not good at anything, to be honest. That's why the family doesn't care for me much. I'm a disappointment to them. Sunset's the head of the family...or, well, she will be, when mom retires. I'm just the spare."

Boss sighed deeply through her nostrils. "All right, enough with the sob story." But there was pity in her voice, no doubt about that. Perhaps even some understanding.

"I got it, I got it!" Pharynx returned, his voice slightly muffled but sounding more confident, and there was the rustling of paper. "See, right there, there's our meal ticket! I knew we got the right one!" Boss returned to Pharynx's side, no doubt to inspect it herself.

Sunburst had a fair suspicion of which article it was, as their mother had a tendency to cut all the articles pertaining to the family and hanging them on the wall. "Sunset's in the middle, she's the mare holding up the flag. I'm there too...wayyy in the right corner, behind the chairs."

"He's just pulling a trick," Pharynx insisted.

Sunburst didn't have much of a backbone, but when it came to memory, he had little doubts about it. "Look underneath the picture, it lists everyone's name in the order they're standing in from left to right. There's the Mayor, Dad, Sunset Shimmer, Mom, the Mayor's aide, then me...although they spelled my name wrong and put it as 'Sunblurt'."

A third wave of silence. Pharynx managed to get out an apologetic "Um" before the boss suddenly did something to cause him to howl in pain─and then kept repeating it. "OW! OW, OW, OW, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRYYYYY!"

"What kind of trouble did you land us this time, Pharynx!?" The Boss snapped. "I ought to skin you alive!"

Sunburst winced as he heard the sound of pain continuing, but as he did, the blindfold began to slip, and that's when he finally saw his captors. He was surprised to see a changeling, laying on his stomach and covering his head with his front hooves, groaning in agony as the boss kept smacking him with the newspaper. The boss herself was a unicorn mare...holy Celestia, 'Boss' was shorter than Sunburst was! A pretty mare, to be sure, with a dark purple mane and angry blue eyes, but how in the world was she able to command a changeling?

It was just his luck─his first time near a mare this good-looking, and she 'wanted' his sister. Typical.

Boss saw Sunburst staring, and Sunburst paled, trying to use the floor and shuffle the blindfold back into place. It didn't work. He sheepishly grinned. "...Oops?"

In Which Starlight Glimmer Overreacts

Author's Note

Summary: Sunburst is sick, and who better to nurse him back to help than his helpful marefriend? Well, he could think of twenty different ponies who could do a better job, but it's the thought that counts.

Warnings: None

A/N: It's okay Starlight, you tried, and that's why Sunburst loves you.

In Which Starlight Glimmer Overreacts

For her dates with Sunburst, Starlight Glimmer didn't have to do much.

All she needed to do was look presentable and stay out of trouble. Today, she didn't think trouble was even a possibility, as the plan was a picnic out in the park. So, aside from bringing a blanket, the only thing she needed to do was come up with a legitimate excuse to nibble on Sunburst's neck in public. As she headed for the door and wondered if 'I saw a piece of chocolate on your neck and was trying to wipe it away with my teeth' was plausible, she bumped into one of the Royal Guards at her door.

"A letter, from the Crystaller Sunburst," he said and handed her the note, giving her a quick salute before he marched off.

Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline, but she quickly opened the note and read its contents. Soon, her confused expression melted into one of horror and she gasped, dropping the piece of paper without a second thought and running down the streets as fast as her four legs could carry her.

Meanwhile, Sunburst was as miserable as he could be. After sending word to Starlight, he'd burrow himself under the couch with his warmest blanket, and brought along his favorite novels to pass the time, fully intending to stay there until his cold passed. He got comfortable under the covers and sighed, cracking open the first volume of Daring Do's adventures. His kitchen was stocked, he had a box of tissues by his side, and he knew that a day's rest was all he needed to get better.

His reading was interrupted─quite rudely─when his front door was slammed open, almost giving him a heart attack on top of his cold, and there stood his special pony, thoroughly exhausted and thoroughly upset. After taking a moment to catch her breath, she jabbed a hoof behind her. "Let's go! I got a carriage!"

Sunburst stared in disbelief, wondering if his fevered state was making him hallucinate. "...Starlight, what are you doing?"

"We got to take you to the hospital!" She ran to his side, trying to push him off the couch. "No time to waste!"

He managed to stop her by shoving her to the side. "Starlight Glimmer, you're being ridiculous. It's just a cold, nothing more."

"But what if it gets worse!" She tried to yank his blanket off, but he yanked it back. "What if starts like a cold, but then your ears fall off?! Or if you cough your lungs out?!"

Looking back on this, he would find her paranoia kinda endearing. Right now, it was annoying and the last thing he needed, he laid back down, indignant. "It's just a cold. Now go home and let me read my books." A sneeze escaped him, and he buried himself further under the blanket.

But she didn't move from her spot. Instead, she toed the carpet, her ears lowered in a pitiful expression. "...Isn't there anything I can do?"

Sighing, he looked up at her, taking pity on her saddened expression. "Well...I guess some tea could─"

"On it!" Just as soon as she arrived, she was gone, teleporting away in a flash of teal blue and, judging by the crash and a thud that he heard, landed on his kitchen table. Sighing again, Sunburst forced himself to stand, closed the door Starlight had left open, and then retreated to his couch. Though he was grateful for Starlight's concern, he almost rather not have it. Aside from her overactive imagination and tendency to blow things out of proportion, Sunburst wasn't a pretty sight to look at today. He wasn't vain by nature, but even he knew he looked terrible: baggy eyes, snotty red nose, matted mane, and fur, coupled with his sneezing didn't make him Equestria's most eligible bachelor at the moment. To put it simply, he look and felt hideous, and she was the last pony he wanted to be seen by in this manner.

But what can you do...once the tea was made, she'd leave, and then tomorrow he'd be his normal self again. Wrapping the blanket tightly around him, he focused his attention on his book, trying to get lost in its pages. However, in the midst of Daring Do heist of the dragon ruby, Sunburst couldn't ignore the clamoring sounds from the kitchen. From what he could guess, several appliances were being dropped, water spilling and Starlight had learned new swear words from Trixie. Clicking his tongue against his teeth, he called out. "Is everything okay in there?"

"Just fine!" she yelled, with a false tone of nonchalance. "You just rest!"

Something occurred to Sunburst, then. "...You do know how to make tea, right?"

The hesitation that followed was all the answer he needed, but Starlight spoke anyway. "O-Of course! You just...have to...boil water, and...um...well, experience is the best teacher, as Twilight says!"

"Oh, forget it." Sunburst pressed his face into the pages of his novel.

"Wait, hold on! I can still make something! I'll...I'll make soup! I definitely know how to make soup!" More noises followed as she desperately tried to clean up and change her priorities.

He realized then that Starlight wasn't going to leave him at all. Why did he have to date such a considerate mare? Why couldn't she just leave him until he was decent company again, inside and out? Biting back a groan, he went back to the land of fiction. Fortunately, the sounds of the kitchen quieted down, so perhaps her culinary skills were up to par. Granted, her usual masterpieces were done with the aid of her magic, and he didn't hear the tell-tale sounds of spells being used, but how hard could it be to make soup? Managing to reassure himself, he continued reading the part where Daring Do manages to escape the guards of the Dragon Palace.

When he eventually got tired of reading, Starlight reappeared, walking around the couch and holding a tray. "Soup's ready!" she chirped, placing it on the coffee table near the couch. "Vegetable noodle soup is the best thing for a cold."

Finally managing a genuine smile, Sunburst sat up, still hiding his body with the blanket. He was wearing an oversized sweater partially covered in snot, and it was not something he wanted her to remember. "Thank you, it looks..."

It looked absolutely disgusting.

"...Starlight. What is this?" He pointed at the foreign substance in his bowl, trying his best not to gag.

"Like I said, vegetable soup." The mare repeated, with a slight uneasiness in her voice. "What's wrong with it?"

Did she want a list? He picked up the spoon she'd place on the table, using it to lift up a pink floating chunk. "...You cut up my uncooked beetroot and tossed it in there."

"Can't have vegetable soup without beetroot."

"You took the noodles from my leftover spaghetti."

"Can't have vegetable soup without noodles."

"You put pepper in it."

"Can't have vegetable soup without...seasoning?"

Dropping the spoon back into the bowl, Sunburst had the idea to tell her there was soup in a can in his cabinet, but then grew terrified at the notion of Starlight handling a stove. "Actually...I'm not that hungry." Avoiding her disappointed look, he ran a hoof over his eyes. "Starlight, I appreciate you trying to help. Now get out of my house."

"No way! I want to help you! Pleeeeeease?" She leaned over him, almost tipping over the failed experiment in the bowl. "How about chores? You can't do chores when your sick, right?"

Why wouldn't she leave? Why was she insisting so much? He was absolutely hideous so there was no need for her to try so hard. It was boggling his mind. "....I did want to do some cleaning."

She saluted, happy to be of service. "I'll make this place so clean you won't recognize it!"

He made a vague gesture to the side. "The broom is in the closet." Off she went to fetch it, and as he heard the closet door click open, he bit his lip and closed his eyes tightly. Sure, she could write a spell to travel through time and perform other complex enchantments without so much as reading the material necessary to do them, but taking care of the sick? Sneezing again, he used up several tissues, feeling worse with each blow of his nose. Surely the longer she stuck around, the more gross-out she'd be at him. Trying to ignore his bout of self-loathing, he threw his attention back to his book, where Daring Do was close to unveiling the evil plot of the Historic Society.

Minutes passed, and when Daring Do was double-crossed by the handsome explorer she had an interest in, Sunburst heard something crashing and a yelp of surprise, knowing without a doubt who had screamed like that. He shut his eyes tightly, wondering if he could ignore this latest disaster. Since it only got worse, he knew he couldn't remain oblivious, and, growling, he sat up, looking behind his couch as the sound had come from there.

Apparently, in her effort to dust off his antique collection, Starlight had toppled over the display, she had an ancient jar balanced precariously in one hoof, holding the cabinet at an awkward angle in the other, and an impressive tower of knick-knacks piled up on her back while the broom kept sweeping the floor thanks to her magic.

Feeling an odd mix of love and exasperation for her, Sunburst stood up yet again, using the blanket to cover his body from the neck down. He shuffled his way to her and using his magic, he saved his collection from meeting an untimely demise. As he righted the cabinet and returned the items to their proper place, the lovers turned to face each other. The female had a sheepish smile, her cheeks pink with embarrassment, and the male's face was red out of fever. Taking a deep breath he announced, "I'm going back to bed, and you're going to leave my house."

The broom dropped with a clatter, not hitting anything besides the floor thankfully, and Starlight made her way towards him. "There's must be something I can do! Anything!"

"Starlight..."

"How about I make your bed?"

"Starlight..."

"Or I could read to you!"

"Starlight...!"

"I could cast a spell that─"

"STARLIGHT GLIMMER!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, stomping his hoof. "I'M ABSOLUTELY HIDEOUS, NOW GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

Surprise overtook her, more for the self-deprecation than the anger. She cautiously stepped over, placing a gentle hoof on his shoulder. "What are you talking about? You're not hideous."

He snorted and looked away. "Of course I am. I'm ugly and snotty, and I sound ghastly, and I haven't showered, and I'm wearing pajamas, and, and..." He felt worse for having listed his faults, yet, strangely enough, Starlight merely smiled.

She lovingly patted his cheek, trying to smooth his feelings. "Don't be silly. You're still as handsome as ever...just a little snotty but that's all." To prove that his illness hadn't deterred her affections any, she even laid a small kiss on his cheek.

Perhaps it was the medication kicking in, or being showered with her honest affections, but Sunburst decided to stop fighting her attentions. Resigning himself to his fate, he slithered a hoof out from the blanket and touched her foreleg. "So, you really want to help me?"

"I'm not going anywhere." She nuzzled him, a friendly reminder.

"Alright." Keeping a hold of her hoof, he decided to forgo the bed and returned to the couch. When he sat down, he tugged her hoof so she would sit as well, and once she had, he put the blanket so it was around both their shoulders. "They say the fastest way to get rid of a cold is to give it to somepony else." He mumbled, snuggling up to her, resting his chin on the top of her head, resenting her for her stubbornness, and adoring her for just about everything else.

Starlight snuggled up to him, breathing out a content sigh, relaxed. He opened his book again and continued reading where he left off, when Daring Do was making her escape with the Curse Crown of the Dragons, Starlight quietly whispered into her boyfriend's skin. "Hey, Sunny, I think there's a piece of chocolate on your neck..."

In Which Sunburst is a Masochist

Author's Note

Summary: Starlight waits for someone at the station and wonders about the future.

Warnings: Equestria Girls universe.

A/N: Inspired by the song Birds by Kate Nash, looped on youtube for hours, sometimes stopping to belt out the lyrics, it's such a cute song.

I apologize for Starlight's and Sunburst's out-of-character-ness, but I got an excuse. You see, in the Parent Map episode, we get a glimpse of Starlight's room and it shows she went through a Punk/Emo/Rock phase, I took that piece of info and ran with it. So this Starlight is still somewhat going through that, that's why she's a little more aggressive in this story. Sunburst is still Sunburst for the most part. They still grew up together, he's just a little older and wiser to her ways by virtue of knowing her for so long. Anyways, I hope you like it. :scootangel:

In Which Sunburst is a Masochist

It was times like these—when she tried so desperately to distract herself—which caused strange thoughts to drift through Starlight’s head.

Blurred, garbled announcements droned from invisible speakers scattered across the terminal. To amuse herself, she tried to decipher what the monotonous voice was attempting to say, but quickly grew annoyed with it. She was baffled that people could understand what those stupid things were supposed to be saying. It was a miracle people were able to glean any information from that disembodied voice. She wondered if it was some sort of language private to those scurrying adults that frequented the rails.

Everywhere she looked, people were rushing about: men running one train to catch the next one, women power walking after oblivious children who had wandered off. There was an air of hectic chaos beating in time with the stop and start of the trains. Tension covered the area with a nearly tangible presence, barely stringing everything together.

She wondered what would happen if that string were to be cut—if all the flailing puppets were forced to slow down and relax their tireless limbs.

A bright-eyed child caught Starlight’s attention. She was a pretty little girl, probably no older than six, clasping tightly to her mother’s hand. A much-abused (much-loved, Starlight corrected herself) pony toy hung loosely from the little girl’s hand. As she and her mother made their way through the crowd, an impatient man shoved them roughly aside. The mother continued to drag her daughter through the crowds. The little girl, however, was tugging on her mother’s hand and trying to go back the way they’d come. Her little pony, knocked loose by the encounter with the brusque man, lay on the terminal floor a little distance back.

When her mother continued to ignore her, the girl ripped her hand away and went to the aid of her fallen friend. She grasped the stuffed animal with a warm smile, that special, unconditional love unique to children lighting up her face.

Starlight smiled. She’d never admit it, but she loved children. No, she didn’t think she could be a very good mother, but she loved them all the same. They were so imaginative, so innocent, so trusting.

It was a shame that imagination was eventually stifled, innocence tarnished, and trust abused.

The little girl’s expression darkened slightly with the pain emanating from her mother’s too-tight grip on her arm. The frazzled woman was berating her child, and Starlight could hear shouted snippets of the reprimand from where she sat. Suddenly, the mother’s manicured hand rose from her knee and slapped the little girl straight across her face.

Next to her leg, Starlight’s fist curled subconsciously. Her eyes flashed angrily and sought to keep the parent and child in her sight, but both were soon lost within the tide.

She felt sick. Some people should never procreate.

An appreciative whistle cut through her thoughts, causing her scowl to deepen. She uneasily shifted her legs, all the while keeping a dangerous glare on her face. She didn’t see who the culprit was through the throng of commuters, which was probably a benefit for both parties. She certainly didn’t want to be taken up on assault charges.

A slight blush of embarrassment crept under the skin. That whistle had effectively de-distracted her from what she’d been trying not to think about. She really didn’t know why she’d done it (well, yes she did, but part of her still rejected it), but there was no going back now.

What had she been thinking, anyway? She’d known she’d probably have to wait for at least fifteen minutes, she’d be subjected to the public eye for fifteen minutes, so why had she done this to herself? She certainly didn’t feel comfortable right now. She almost felt betrayed by herself. What was she doing? She felt so…un-Starlight right now.

Where was the girl that didn’t care what anyone said? Where was the girl that acted first and asked questions later? Where was the girl that had more guts than any of the cowards that littered the schoolyard?

As uncomfortable as she felt right now, Starlight knew the girl was still here. She just happened to be dressed with more…femininity than she’s ever imagined.

Sunburst glanced at his watch one more time, sighing with impatience. He knew it was a little ridiculous to be so nervous, but he couldn’t seem to help it. It was crazy really. He’d gone through the exams in a relatively calm manner, even though he had crammed ten chapters of reading material into three hours (he loved reading, but for now he couldn’t bear to look at a book without grimacing a little). He’d suffered no breakdowns, no sudden laughing or crying fits during the exams themselves, and he hadn’t suffered a heart attack or stroke from the stress.

Now, however, he was sure his heart was beating at an unhealthy rate.

Subconsciously, he wiped his hands on his pants. His eyes flickered to the windows, watching as miles of tunnel swept behind him in seconds. Distantly, he noticed the other sounds of the train car: a young child making buzzing noises (no doubt flying an exploratory airplane through this strange land), a tired mother trying to soothe her cranky baby (they were both tired, but only one would rest), a man mumbling the headlines to himself (in disgust; where did they keep the real news?), the muffled sounds of music squeaking from a teenagers headphones (he’d been told many times that it would kill his hearing someday, but he never liked to look to the future).

No doubt all these people had pertinent reasons for being on this train car, and for disembarking where they did. Somehow, though (and he knew Starlight would have rolled her eyes if she knew of his selfish thoughts) he felt his reason was why the world turned.

She was the world for him.

Not that he’d ever tell her that, though. She’d probably just punch him in the arm. He chuckled at the thought, he’d missed her more than he’d thought.

So, as the station pulled into view, distorted colors solidifying into recognizable shapes, his eyes hungrily scanned the crowd outside for her.

He quickly slipped through the sliding doors of the train car, brushing shoulders with the other passengers as he did so. He still searched for her as his feet hit the solid pavement, and his eyes remained empty.

For a moment, his shoulders sagged. Would she really be here? Maybe he’d misunderstood her.

Disappointment would have to be put aside for now, though. He was approaching the ticket inspector now, pushed along by the crowd, and he struggled to maintain a façade of nonchalance. He tried to rid himself of any trace of suspicion, remain as invisible as possible as he slipped through the barrier, ticketless. He thought the ticket inspector might have done a double-take, but he didn’t look to be sure.

“Hey, Sunburst,” a familiar voice cut through the overwhelming chatter of the station, “forgot about me already?”

He followed her voice, grinning as he cheerfully shoved his way through angry and hassled commuters. His sense of elation, however, was dampened as he looked over his shoulder. The ticket inspector was gesturing in his direction to a security guard, yelling something that did not bode well for Sunburst.

Nerves shot with adrenaline, Sunburst waded through the remaining people that flowed between him and Starlight.

Despite his predicament, he couldn't help but stop for a moment, letting a silly grin creep onto his face. She was so…well, he couldn't describe it. It just made him warm to see her sitting there waiting for him, a sly little smirk shaping her lips.

He hastily took her hand, ignoring her past misgiving about affection and public places. “Star,” he began, knowing that she secretly loved the nickname, how it was something reserved solely for her, “you don’t know how much I’ve missed you, but right now we need to run.”

She looked at him, amused, as they dashed through the multitude of people. “Mind explaining this little adventure, Sunburst?”

He flashed her a boyish grin as he pulled her along. “I’m a poor college kid. Do they really expect me to pay for every little train ticket?”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re just as bad as Trixie.”

“Oh, not quite,” he argued between breaths. “After all, she would have thrown a smoke bomb behind us and made this all worse, just be glad I left mine at home.”

“So, I take college life hasn’t curved your tongue,” Starlight said slyly, looking at him from the corner of her eye.

Sunburst raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you trying to imply that I am no longer the epitome of physical prowess?”

“Well,” she said, not even bothering to hide her smirk. “You’re breathing pretty hard, Sunburst.”

He just laughed; she joined in, exhilarated, as they dashed around a corner and into the sunlight.

They stood panting for a moment, giddy smiles painting their faces. Sunburst’s eyes, after scanning the bustling streets for a moment, caught sight of a bus stop. Giving Starlight’s hand a gentle tug, he led them toward the circular sign and the bench beside it. Sunburst dug into his backpack slung over his shoulder, eventually finding a few old bus cards. As if the world was in tune with their scheme, a bus rolled through a green light down the road and parked next to the curb where they were standing.

Starlight looked at him skeptically. “You just happen to have travel cards for today?”

He winked at her. “No, but I do have some from last year.”

She looked at him, incredulous. “You can’t expect this to work,” she said, but she took the offered card anyway.

She made him go first, expecting him to be caught by the bus driver (and this one, she remembered, was particularly difficult). He ascended the stairs slowly, filing in alongside the other passengers. When his turn came, he flashed the travel card to the driver. The man just looked bored, hardly noticing Sunburst’s existence.

Shaking her head at Sunburst's luck and his general cheekiness, Starlight followed suit with similar results.

She squeezed her way through the crowded aisle, occasionally bumping a knee or elbow, as she made her way to Sunburst. He'd already chosen a seat near the middle, and his hand was laid casually, yet possessively, on the seat beside him.

Starlight felt a surge of appreciation as she scooted to the seat he had saved her. He'd known for a long time how much she hated crowds, especially in places like this, and her aversion for the people who frequented public transport. He'd given her a window seat. She and Sunburst let out a simultaneous sigh as the bus lurched into motion once more. They gave each other a questioning look before dissolving into silent laughter.

Sunburst's eyes lingered on Starlight's, and she noticed he'd taken her hand again. She watched as his gaze surreptitiously traveled over the rest of her body, taking in every aspect of her—right down to her shapely, skirt-covered legs.

Had it been any other man looking at her this way, Starlight no doubt would have ensured that man could never see straight again. With Sunburst, though…Well, a part of her still wanted to slap him across the face, but the other, skirt-wearing part of her wanted to do something else entirely.

"You look nice," he said suddenly, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"So, I don't look like I've just been abducted by a crazy guy with empty pockets?" she said sarcastically, trying to gloss over his compliment. Inside, though, she felt a rush of heat through her stomach. He thought she looked nice. That was the sole reason she'd ever even contemplated wearing a skirt this morning, anyway. She'd wanted to see his face when he finally saw her in something remotely feminine—when he realized she trusted him enough to do so.

"Not empty," he joked. "I've still got a lot of old travel cards left."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence after that, quietly enjoying each other's company, the warmth of each other's hand. Sunburst turned to study her, though, watching as her eyes flickered with the passing landscape. He still couldn't believe she'd ever agreed to date him in the first place, why she'd ever let him within her ironclad fortress. Those eyes had always been something akin to violet ice, but they seemed to flutter with all the passion of a river when he saw them now. For some reason, Starlight had decided to give him a chance, and he couldn't be happier. Sure, they weren't perfect (what was worth obtaining in a world that was perfect, anyway?), but they'd pulled through every fight with a stronger bond.

He'd like to think that he made her just as happy as she made him.

"What are you thinking about?" Starlight asked, a teasing suspicion in her voice.

He knew he was treading on dangerous ground, but he took a deep breath and explained, "I'm trying to find the appropriate words to describe you, actually."

"Oh really?" she said, a hint of warning implied in her tone. "Lay it on me, then."

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Sunburst asked lightheartedly, even though his own heart was heavy with impending doom. "I mean, it's probably going to get pretty sappy."

"Whatever," Starlight scoffed. "I had to babysit Flurry Heart last night. Five and a half hours of Disney movies and fairy tales have most likely made me impervious to any sort of sappiness."

"Okay then," Sunburst began, "Well—"

"Never mind," Starlight interjected quickly. "My sleep-deprived mind just processed what this conversation has been about. You are not allowed to start gushing about how my eyes are like rainbows or how I make unicorns dance around your brain or something," she threatened (only half-teasing).

Sunburst laughed. "Trust me, that's not what I was going to say. And," he interrupted as she opened her mouth to protest further; "you’re not allowed to stop me now. You, quite literally, asked for this."

Starlight clamped her mouth shut and raised her eyebrows with a silent challenge: Well, alright, go on.

Sunburst took a moment to gather his thoughts, staring at the street as their bus pulled up to a stoplight. "Okay," he began slowly, semi-lost in his train of thought, "you see all that outside? Do you see all the trees in the park and all the damage done to their bark and branches? Do you see all those people rushing down the sidewalk, but all the litter that's under their feet, all the broken glass and cigarette butts? All of that, all of that, is how much I like you."

Starlight gave him a bemused stare. "What?" She had no idea what he'd just said. What was he trying to get at? This was pretty cryptic, even for Sunburst.

"Sorry," Sunburst laughed softly, "I'll try and explain it better." He licked his lips nervously and studied the scene outside the window more thoroughly. He watched as a street vendor shooed away a sparrow with a rolled-up newspaper; the startled bird fluttered away hastily, flapping its wings in the face of an equally-startled pedestrian. Sunburst's eyes lit up eagerly.

"You're like a bird." Her puzzlement only seemed to deepen, so he hastily continued, "Birds can fly so high without even thinking about it; how many humans would kill just for that? That sense of height gives them power without them even realizing it. Most humans are uneasy around birds because we as a species have always had an innate fear of them. When you stop and look closer, though, you see how beautiful they are, no matter how frightening they might seem. And you know it might be easy to capture that beauty, to lock it up within a cage, but you'd never look at it with the same sense of wonder. It's the freedom of the bird that gives it a lot of its beauty, and it makes it that much greater when one flies down to you out of its own accord."

"Are you trying to say you're afraid I'm going to shit on your head someday? Because as funny as that would be, I don't think it's going to happen," Starlight asked offhandedly, trying to steer this away from where she thought it was going. Sunburst sounded so serious, so ardent, and it scared her. She really had no idea what to do.

"Not at all," Sunburst indulged her with a little chuckle, but the look in his eyes didn't change. He hadn't really imagined doing this here, of all places: riding a bumpy bus on year-old tickets while sitting next to a snoring man who smelled strongly of whiskey.

He was on a roll now, though, and he had to get this out while it was flowing so easily. "But that, what you just said, is one of the reasons I like you so much. I like that you're a star and not a lamp. I like how you can stand on your own two feet, how you could probably get along okay without me but you still stick around. I like how you never let anything go unquestioned, how you like to argue and banter about things. I love your sharp tongue, your quick wit, how you can wear a skirt and still look intimidating enough to scare off even the most confident hotheads. I love how you say exactly what's on your mind without censoring it, how you swear like a sailor when you feel like it. I love that you don't hide from the world because you fear you might get scars. You're like those trees in the park, with their scratched-away engravings, like the bits of broken glass that crunch under people's feet; you may not be perfect, but whenever I see you, I feel an overwhelming sense of life, and that's more beautiful than anything perfect in the world."

Starlight was just staring at him, stunned. Her mouth was slightly open, a testament to her current state of incredulity. She wasn't sure what exactly to think after hearing a speech like that, but something Sunburst had said had struck her. She really wasn't good with this mushy stuff; she'd only suffered through Flurry Heart’s Disney-fest by mocking the cheesy romance in her head. She'd always scoffed when other girls at school had gushed about their boyfriends, how they had told them they were lovelier than roses in the moonlight and other crap like that. She'd gagged at the cliché and promised she'd never let herself get choked up over some stupid line like that in the future.

She'd never expected to be compared to broken beer bottles, though.

"Love?" she finally sputtered out, almost without having meant to. "You kept saying…you loved things about me."

"Yeah, I did," Sunburst said seriously, not bothering to try and deny anything. "I do."

"You love that I cuss so damn much?" Starlight quipped.

"Well, I love you as a whole, but I love all those little things, too, yeah."

"What? What are you saying?" she demanded, almost angry.

"Things I've been trying to articulate for months."

The bus pulled to their stop, and several people in front of them began rising from their seats. Not looking at Sunburst, Starlight climbed to the aisle and began disembarking from the bus. She could hear Sunburst scrambling behind her, trying to catch up. As soon as her feet hit the sidewalk, she quickly began walking away from the bus stop, only barely noticing the skirt flapping against her legs.

Damn skirt, she cursed the article of clothing internally. You're what started this whole mess.

"Starlight!" Sunburst called as he fled the mass of people crowding the bus doors. He chased after the bolting girl desperately, terror lending speed to his steps.

She stopped at a crosswalk, clearly frustrated by the red, lit-up 'Don't Walk' sign. She paused to change direction only for a moment, but it was enough time for Sunburst to catch up to her.

"Starlight," he said, panicked. "I'm sorry, I—"

"Why did you have to do that?" she interrupted, not turning around to look at him.

"I just—"

"Things were going perfectly alright, and then..."

"Look, I'm sorry," Sunburst said, defeated.

Starlight turned around to him, letting out a long sigh. "What are you apologizing for? Sure, it was a little sappy, but it wasn't bad even for you."

"What?" he asked, bemusement (and a bit of hope) fortifying the word.

"I like you too, you idiot."

"You just…like me?" Sunburst said after a moment, his heart sinking. Maybe this was her way of telling him it was over. He was so stupid. Because of that emotional outburst he'd had, he might have lost her forever.

Starlight deciphered the look on his face easily, and she crossed her arms. "Don't make me say it," she demanded half-heartedly. Sunburst still looked so damn hopeless and confused, though, so she knew he hadn't caught on. He probably never would unless she spelled it out for him, the idiot. "Oh fine then," she acquiesced, a light layer of red staining her cheeks. "I love you, okay?"

"Oh. Cool," Sunburst stuttered, taken off-guard. He'd been so ready to hear a break-up speech from her that she'd taken him completely by surprise with her declaration. A feeling of warmth, of ecstatic relief, flowed throughout him. She loved him. Of all things he'd been expecting, that'd been the last thing he'd ever thought would come from her lips. As much as he wanted to just run around, screaming with joy, he just asked, with a little frown on his face, "Then, if you don't mind me asking, why are you mad?"

"Because…because now everything's so much more complicated!" she exclaimed, swinging her arms wildly. "Before, neither of us had any expectations. It was just nice, semi-mushy fun. Now that this is out, though, it makes everything so serious. I mean, I'm still in high school, Sunburst, and you're just starting college, and…and I don't want to be some sort of overstressed, crappy mom that slaps her own kid, okay? I'm not ready for that!" Starlight yelled, a frantic expression coating her face. She cracked her knuckles absentmindedly, displaying the nervous habit she'd yet to grow out of.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on there. How did we go from 'I love you' to 'Let's make babies?'" Sunburst asked, amused even despite Starlight's obvious distress. "Listen, nothing's changed," he assured her, prying her hands apart and taking them within his own. "I've loved you for a long time, and I think you're smart enough to have realized it was at least a possibility. Just because I've said it out loud doesn't mean our lives are going to flip upside down. We can still have nice, semi-mushy fun, I promise."

Starlight looked at him suspiciously, trying to judge whether he was being absolutely honest with her. After a moment of scrutinizing the older boy's face, her shoulders relaxed. He really did mean everything he'd said.

"Okay. But you'd better not mention the m-word if you know what's good for you," she threatened, her eyes narrowing.

"M-word? What's that?" Sunburst asked, genuinely perplexed.

"Don't make me say it."

Realization dawned on Sunburst, and a teasing smile made its way onto his face. "Mice? Macaroni? Mitochondria? M—"

"Marriage, you idiot," she hissed, uttering it as if it was the foulest curse to ever cross the lips of man.

He chuckled at the vehement look on her face. "Alright, I promise no m-word," he vowed, as much for his own safety as for her peace of mind. "Can I at least say the l-word?" he asked after a moment, a joking spark in his eyes.

Starlight, however, did not share the joke. She just raised an eyebrow at him, silently explaining: I know what you're trying to do, and I'm not falling for it.

"Aren't you going to ask me what the l-word is?" Sunburst persisted, letting go of one of Starlight's hands and starting to walk down the sidewalk with her.

"I'm not going to play along," Starlight said flatly.

"Love. Can I tell you that I love you, Starlight?" Sunburst asked jovially, a grin splitting his face from ear to ear.

Starlight just snorted impassively. "Whatever."

"Because I do," Sunburst continued, tightening his grip on her hand. "I love you, I love you, I love you…" he said blissfully, stretching out the phrase in varying ways, savoring the way it felt each time he said it.

"I’ll punch you," Starlight growled, ripping her hand from his grasp. She would have shoved it in her pocket, but she was reminded of the fact she was wearing a skirt; thus, no pockets. This only incensed her all the more, and she settled for crossing her arms defiantly.

"I lov—damn it!" Sunburst swore, clutching his arm comically.

"What, did you think I was lying? I told you I would punch you," Starlight said coolly, a smirk tugging on her lips.

"I know," Sunburst divulged, gripping his arm for more than it was necessary. "I was kind of hoping you would."

"Masochist," Starlight said, unable to prevent the little smile of affection that replaced her smirk.

"Well, I'd have to be one in order to love you, Star."

"You're going to be saying this every five seconds now, aren't you?" she groaned exasperatedly, rolling her eyes.

"Don't be so coy. You know you like it," he said mischievously.

Starlight just shook her head, laughing. He knew her too well. She'd never admit it, and as much as it scared her, she really did like his over-affectionate attitude. Well, sometimes she liked it. Sometimes it just got too damn annoying.

A thought struck her as she glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. "You know," she began casually. "You never did kiss me hello."

He raised an eyebrow and grinned at her slyly. "I didn't, did I?"

Even though she'd suggested it, Starlight was still taken by surprise when Sunburst wrapped his arms around her, halting her momentum and pulling her close. "We'll just have to rectify that, won't we?" he muttered against her lips, closing the distance between them afterward.

And for once, as Starlight's hand snaked around Sunburst's neck, she really didn't mind their display of public affection all that much. She didn't think it was vulgar to be standing here with the boy she liked (loved; there, she'd said it) and reuniting with him after a long year apart. She could find nothing disgusting about the way he held her so lovingly, so securely, as he tried to express just how much he'd missed her without words.

And, frankly, anyone who thought otherwise could go to hell.

In Which Starlight Glimmer Isn't Perfect

Author's Note

Summary: Starlight wasn't perfect, and anyone who thought otherwise was wrong, but he wouldn't have her any other way.

Warnings: None.

A/N: Could be considered a sequel to "Sunburst Realizes" if you want.

In Which Starlight Glimmer Isn't Perfect

“I hate the rain.” Starlight Glimmer complained.

He already knew that just as he knew that Starlight Glimmer hated any kind of weather that involved the cold and the humidity, among other things. Not to mention that he could see the seriousness and the solemnity painted on her face as she watched the rainfall.

But he just smiled at the imperfect mare.

“But the rain can be soothing.” As long as it wasn’t thundering, he supposed.

Anyone who proclaimed that Starlight Glimmer was the most perfect creature to have ever graced the earth, honestly, had no idea what they were talking about (and he would seriously question their sanity). She may look perfect, she may seem perfect, but she wasn’t perfect. There was no such thing as perfection in this world. Frankly, he believed that the word perfect and perfection, along with all of its synonymous, should be removed from the dictionary altogether.

However, Starlight Glimmer was beautiful. Her long purple mane with her characteristic green highlight was very fetching; ever since he could remember, ponies and other creatures would comment on it, some with admiration, others with envy. She also had very nice eyes, which were a lovely shade of blue, the kind of blue that poets and writers alike would rave about: blue like the sea, like the sky, like a pair of sapphires, and other sweet nonsense. Any stallion would gladly fall to her feet if they were the center of attention of those eyes, so intense and deep that they could penetrate the strongest of armors and stare right into your soul.

“The rain is…annoying.” His friend mumbled dryly.

She extended a hoof outside of their shelter, letting it get drenched in the rain before retracting it, shaking it, and sending little droplets of water in all directions.

He chuckled.

She may have the perfect appearance, but that didn’t mean her personality was.

Oh no. Miss Strong and Independent could be a real nightmare, she could drive anyone crazy if she choose to, complaining about the most mundane things and acting like the world was going to end just because something didn’t go her way.

Just like now as she watched the rain, looking at it like it had personally offended her, glaring at the grey clouds above them.

It clashed harshly with her apparently flawless persona, but that’s just who Starlight Glimmer was. She hated cold weather, she was good at magic, loved board games, and hated a lot of other things in this world.

One of her most annoying traits that he hated the most was that she was insanely good at board games, literally any board game, without knowing the rules or reading the instructions. Yes. If he had to pick a reason to hate her, it would be that. And still, she complained about something as inconsequential as the weather? It really sucked out the fun of being with her, but he was already used to it. Maybe at the beginning, when they had first reconnected, it bothered him, but after years of knowing her and dealing with her attitude, he now found it amusing.

“It’s cold…it’s wet…it’s depressing…”

Starlight glanced at the stormy sky with disdain.

His smile only grew. “But it can be soothing.”

“How can getting wet be soothing?” She asked cynically, lifting a perfectly trimmed eyebrow.

It was the look she gave him when he questioned his intelligence; the look she gave others when she was convinced she was right about something. He rolled his eyes.

And then when she gets sulky?

Right.

If there’s one thing that Starlight Glimmer was good at…it has to be sulking.

If they got into an argument, she’ll sulk. If she doesn't get his way with him, she’ll sulk. But only around him will she sulk. If it’s anyone else, she’ll wait until she’s alone with him before sulking. Do perfect ponies sulk? He doesn't think so.

“Why don’t you find out yourself?” He asked sweetly, his horn glowed and lifted part of the awning over Starlight.

They were standing beneath the marquee outside of the grocery store, bags filled with groceries on the ground while they waited for the rain to pass and contemplating what to do about it. And now Starlight stood there, rain pelting on her hair and coat, gradually soaking her. She blinked slowly and looked at him. Her expression was blank. He couldn't contain the chuckles that shook his frame.

She wasn't very bright either.

She may have excelled at magic, but when it came to other things, she wasn't the best or the most prepared.

As it was the case of understanding other ponies, and it took her some time to really understand him; that he was a stallion, and by default, a male, and that males of any species were simple and dumb creatures by nature. Even though she was probably the only one who really gets him, she didn't understand him completely, like the fact that he couldn't read her mind (well, he could, but that was highly advanced and illegal magic) and so many of her insinuations went over his head, unnoticed.

And she wasn't the best at showing affection.

She was definitely the least affection mare you’ll meet. In fact, if you came looking for comfort, you would not find it in her. Maybe he could, but not anyone else. She didn’t really comfort with words, she didn’t know how, but she make up for it with her actions such as holding him, or simply saying “It’s ok,” or “It’s going to be alright.” It wasn’t the best, but it was the thought that counted.

And such simple gestures from her meant all the world to him anyways.

…The point was that she was not perfect.

“That wasn’t funny.” She said, with a glare to emphasize her point.

He smiled cheekily.

“I mean, I can catch pneumonia,” she could be a drama queen if she wanted to. “And I could die from said pneumonia…”

He rolled his eyes dramatically. “Celestia forbid we let anything like that happen.”

She wasn’t the sweetest or the most affectionate mare in Equestria…

But he smiled and pulled out an umbrella he had left propped against the wall. He opened it and stepped out into the rain, lifting it over their heads. He had to stand really close to cover them both—which was hard, considering Starlight’s belly didn’t let them stand as close as they wanted to.

Starlight lifted her head slightly to gaze at him, and all of her grumpiness for being showered with cold, wet, and depressing rain left her mind. Nothing mattered when she looked into his eyes, when he smiled at her when they were all together: her, Sunburst, and their baby.

He put a gentle hoof on her stomach and smiled.

She watched as Sunburst lowered his head and gently nuzzled his nose on her stomach before kissing it, mumbling a hello to the life growing inside of her. Starlight sighed and rested her chin over his withers, examining the stars stitched onto his mantel.

“I love you,” murmured the stallion, but not to her, but to the baby. And she quietly whispered her love for it too.

Then he lifted himself up and kissed her gently on the lips, and he whispered his love for her. She responded in kind, between kisses and smiles.

They stayed embraced for a while, and then she smacked him playfully when he whispered in her ear:

“…So, can we have another baby after this one?”

She wasn’t perfect.

But she was Starlight Glimmer.

And at the end of the day he, Sunburst, decided to be with her, choose to be the father of her child, because he love her.

Because she was Starlight Glimmer.

And he wouldn’t have her any other way.

In Which Sunburst Muses

Author's Note

Summary: The reason that Sunburst notices all of Starlight's little quirks is much simpler than he thought.

Warnings: Equestria Girls Universe.

A/N: Here! Have some fluff!

In Which Sunburst Muses

There was many a reason for him to show up at her apartment building doorstep. He briefly reflected on this as he hesitated, finger hovering over her doorbell. He was freezing in the rain, but he didn't really think about it.

To begin, he thought, there were the little things she did every day, like hanging her socks on her doorknobs to throw him off. Most of the time she put the striped ones he'd bought her for the New Year's and they hung limply from her doorknobs all over her apartment, adding even more color than there already was.

That was another part of it. She sometimes emptied one of the rooms in her apartment and repainted it, spontaneously, in funky colors. She'd most often call him over, and only once he was there did he understand he was to help her out. She caught him off guard too well. If he had dressed too cleanly, she'd pull his shirt off and hand him another paint-stained one, then shove a paintbrush into his hands and shoot him a brilliant smile.

Then, of course, there was that complete obliviousness to his body. Which was a blessing but also a bit of a punch to his ego. It seemed the only part of him that interested her was his mind, and the mouth that spoke it.

There was that way she constantly and good-humoredly pushed off his attempts at seduction, laughing them off, uncaring, as though he was only joking. She'd playfully shove him off, without even glancing his way, smiling all along.

Her favorite card game was solitaire, and he could sit in front of her and watch her play for hours on end, never tiring of the play of her fingers on the cards. He'd observe the way she stroked the cards and never comment on her game, waiting for one of her defeats to request the traditional kiss on the cheek.

There was that tradition, he remembered, that left his cheek tingle and made him feel like he had won even though she had simply consented to kiss him every time she messed up a solitaire game. It only happened fifty percent of the time, considering she was just plain talented, but he didn't mind. Some decks just weren't good, and he blessed those.

There was that way she forgot her clothes on the line out in the rain and had to leave them out twice as long for them to dry again. She would shrug if someone commented on the fact that rain left streaks on the sheets. She said it made them smell good, and that was that.

There was that collection of kiddie cartoons she kept on tape and watched whenever she felt bored, all lined up on her shelf. They were from the time when children's shows were still intelligent and actually taught the kids something significant. She said it was no wonder the day's current preteens were quite so dumb. Just look at the shows they watch, she said, and he'd argue that maybe they just made unintelligent choices and maybe the television wasn't to blame. It didn't matter to her. She was a fervent defender of media as a source of influence. What could he say to that?

There was the way she kept that useless cooking pot on her kitchen wall. It was what remained of a disastrous attempt at preparing cheese pasta. He always told her that even a nuclear explosion could not clean the object, but she kept it anyway, saying she would get to scrubbing it whenever her schedule cleared up.

He'd retort that she could do it while watching her kiddie shows, and she'd shoot him a piercing gaze, huffing. He really knew nothing to art, she'd say, but he never missed that little teasing smile of hers.

There was the way she did her bed when she came home from work rather than as she left for work. It was the strangest habit, which she reasoned poorly. Ultimately, she had simply admitted that she did it in case a visitor dropped by in the evening and glanced inside. It was a logical explanation, but it still left the door wide open for teasing and suggestion.

There was that spiral carpet in her entrance hallway that she kept at all times and sometimes pulled into her living room to lie down on it, just like that. He had stopped counting the times he'd reached down from the couch to tickle her exposed stomach, and the number of times that pointless flower vase had almost broken from one of their violent tickle fights.

There was the way she always forgot her car keys and called him up at unearthly hours of the morning to pick her up on the way to work so that she could get to searching her keys at the end of the day and not be late. That, of course, forced him awake from blissful dreams of her and made him tumble out of bed in a groaning heap of sheets and boxers. He'd never miss an occasion to see her, though.

There was the way she listened to songs in a barely noticeable fast-forward, just fast enough that someone who tried to sing along would lose the beat and stop in an embarrassed mumble. She liked seeing people trail off into speechlessness as much as she hated people singing along to her favorite songs. Playing them in fast-forward seemed, to her at least, like the most effective way to provide her with satisfaction.

There was the way her face lit up whenever he brought her sweets. She favored ice cream, the very commercial kind, with the caramel swirls or with the brand chocolate chips mixed in. She would eat straight out of the container with a baby spoon, relishing in the way, she said, that her brain froze over. He didn't like her way of saying it, so he'd ruffle her hair and mimic warming her head up.

There was the way she laughed. There was the way the light danced in her eyes whenever she turned to smile at him. There was the way her cheeks flushed and the way she paled when she messed up and the way she sauntered around her apartment like she owned the place—well, she did, and it showed.

There was the way she'd cuddle up in front of her computer to read her mails, wrapped in thick bedspreads and warming her hands on a steaming mug of newly made coffee. It was, he mused, the only thing she succeeded in preparing without fail when in the kitchen. He loved the way the morning light played on her locks of hair, and the way her lips twitched upwards when she thought he didn't notice.

There was the way she yawned at the boring movies they went out to watch, and the way she hogged the popcorn he'd bought for her whenever he tried to steal some. There was the way she twirled her straw when they sat at a snack bar and had ordered soft drinks. There was the way she frowned at a dusty shelf and the way she ran her finger in the dust dubiously. There was the way she stumbled around her loft apartment with a rag and an aerosol bottle of cleaning products unenthusiastically, mumbling to herself about what she called "bloody dust".

There was the way she cuddled close to him when it was cold out. There was the way she offered him a beer whenever he came over, and always asked him to finish her second half, because she was, apparently, feeling dizzy. He never believed her; he accused her of trying to fuddle him.

There was the way she pinched his nose teasingly when he suggested that she had eviler intentions than her angelic looks gave away. There was the way she sheepishly asked him to open the marmalade jars and there was the way she hugged him in thanks, even when he'd merely spoken his mind and complimented her.

There was the way she hated crowds and secretly liked shopping and thought he didn't know. There was the way she hated but loved commercials, and the way she left her sappy romance novels lying around, reading a page from the one in the living room, then two from the kitchen, and so on, at random, according to her whim.

There was the way she had offered him to stay the night last week.

And the way she had frowned when he'd hesitated in shock.

There was the way she'd grown bright red in embarrassment, and the way she'd started apologizing loudly, without meeting his gaze and without allowing him a word. There was the way she'd pushed him out of the apartment, the way she suggested he probably wanted to be elsewhere.

There was the way she'd closed the door on his stunned, stumbling form, and the way she'd started sobbing against the pane when she thought he had gone, when in fact he was sitting on her hallway floor.

There was the unbearable silence that followed, that lasted for a painful week. There were the unspoken words between them; there was her humiliated face and his discomfited gaze.

And there was that desire to see her again, more than anything, he mused, that pushed him to her doorstep that night in the rain.

There was the unthinkable crime of leaving her for so long that hung in the air and pushed his finger onto the bell. There was the deep silence of impatience and the reflection of all their years in the water puddles at his feet. There was the strange scuffle of his foot and the shuffle of her hand as it picked the phone to her mouth to ask, "Who is it?"

There was the weak admission of his existence, and the familiar exchange of words she knew well, "It's just me."

He thought she'd scream at him, right then, from her phone into his face. But there was the buzz of her unlocking the front door. He pushed through and stood in the dark stairwell, dripping wetly onto the ceramic floor. He thought of turning the lights on, but there was the silence and darkness that told him secrecy and shadow were more appropriate.

He carefully made his way up the stairs to her floor. She stood in her doorway, and when she saw him, she moved away from the door and let it half-open. There was a strange silence to her. He entered her apartment and shut the door.

"Are you mad?" He asked.

"Are you mad?" She asked.

Am I mad? And there was the question hanging in the air. He noticed there was almost no light in her apartment. There was rain heavily hammering her windows, and there was the heavier silence of their unspoken pain. There was the large weight of their history and the constant reminder in their hearts of their previous arguments. There was, this time, the uncomfortable presence of desire and uncertainty.

There was, he then understood, a nearly physical stranglehold on their hearts, one that subdued all that which they knew and put their blood to silence.

Are you mad? They'd asked, and there was the answer in the air.

"No," he said.

"No," she said.

There was the sigh of fabric as she came to him, and the whisper of his arms encircling her waist. There was the shared relief; there was the clenching of their arms around each other and the single, steady heartbeat. There was her happiness in his blood and his feeling in hers. A single person was standing in the apartment, yet there were two individuals.

There was many a reason for him to show up tonight, he'd mused, but none of them were quite as convincing as the simple love he'd devoted her. That alone was the true reason for him to notice all that there was about her.

There was her smile. There was his grin.

There was his breathless whisper in her ear. "Can I stay?"

In Which Starlight Glimmer Wakes Up

Author's Note

Summary: Starlight wakes up with two ponies cuddled up to her in her bed and no memory of the night before.

Warnings: Surprisingly, none.

A/N: Something with my OT3, there needs to be more fics with these three with all honesty.

In Which Starlight Glimmer Wakes Up

Awareness came back to Starlight slowly. She was lying on her side, curled under blissfully warm blankets. Her whole body ached, as though she’d been at the receiving end of a nasty spell.

Again.

What happened? The last thing she remembered was going with Twilight and the others to investigate some strange incidents coming from the Everfree Forest, but this definitely felt like her bed. Starlight racked her brain to figure out anything else but was simply too tired to care.

She snuggled deeper into the warmth of the sheets and was almost back to sleep when the warmth shifted next to her.

Starlight jolted awake.

Part of the warmth she’d been curled up against moved away. Somepony had been in bed with her, she realized, and she had no clue who it was.

Slowly, Starlight pried her eyes open to see a pony standing by the window, wearing nothing. They had their back to her, and slowly her bleary vision dissipated and focused. They were too tall to be Twilight or any of her friends, their mane much too short and messy, but the carrot orange was strangely familiar. She debated whether or not to call out to them when they turned their head to the side.

Oh fiddlesticks.

She closed her eyes.

She opened them again.

Much to her dismay, Sunburst was still there.

Starlight’s heart sank to her stomach.

Sunburst turned around to the bed and smiled when their eyes met.

“Hey there, you awake?”

Oh fiddlesticks!

She tried to think of something, anything, that could possibly explain this, but between the hole in her memory and the soreness in her body, everything she came up with could be summed up in the words ‘not good’.

“Starlight?” he asked, getting a worried look on his face. He came back over to the bed, crouching in front of her.

“Starlight? Hey, are you alright?”

“Oh, sweet Celestia,” she whispered.

“What is it?” Sunburst put a hoof to her cheek, tilting her head to the side to look her in the eyes better.

“I swear it wasn’t me.”

“Starlight?”

“I swear I haven’t done a mind-control spell in ages.”

“What? Why would…”

He stifled a snicker.

“Oh Starlight, do you remember last night at all?”

“Huh…no?”

This time he laughed outright, looking almost…relieved?

“Well, I’m glad you’re getting a kick out of this Mr. Big and Important Wizard. You’re not the one who’s in trouble.”

“I assure you Starlight,” Sunburst said, resting his chin on his hoof. “What you think happened didn’t happen.”

“Then why aren’t you wearing your cape?”

“Because you threw up on him.”

Oh, right. That made sense…wait, what?

Starlight went stiff, realizing for the first time that the nice, comfortable, source of warmth pressed up against her back felt suspiciously like a mare’s barrel. From there she went on to note the very female hoof around her waist, and the very, very female voice breathing in her ear.

Sunburst laughed even harder, “That was mean Trixie. Oh, by Starswirl's beard, Starlight, the look on your face.”

Starlight levered herself up or tried to anyway. A sudden wave of vertigo struck her, and then she felt two sets of hooves steady her.

“Easy there, Star,” Trixie told her. She and Sunburst carefully leaned Starlight back against the head of the bed.

“You okay?”

“Um,” she looked back and forth between the two half-dressed ponies sitting on her bed, “Could somepony please explain to me what’s going on?”

Trixie shook her head, “You remember the trip to the Everfree forest?”

“Vaguely.”

“Yeah well, I don’t know all the details, but apparently the strange occurrence of this week was some sort of plant that release some sort of fear smell. You took a hit just before the others could take it out. You being you, told everypony that you were fine and left,” Trixie said, rolling her eyes.

“You then proceeded to disappear for the rest of the day,” Sunburst continued. “Twilight was really worried and looked all over the castle for you. Then Spike went looking for you in the basement…”

“And?” Starlight asked, not liking where this was going.

“And he found you inside of a magic shield, curled up into a little hyperventilating ball behind some boxes. Spike had to come and get us because you wouldn’t listen to him, even then it took us half an hour to calm you down enough for you to lower your shield.”

Oh.

That explained why they were each giving her a look. Trixie looked like she wanted to smack her, and Sunburst seemed one step away from hugging her.

“After that, we got you up to your room. Which is when you threw up on me.”

Starlight winced. “Sorry Sunburst. Though, that still doesn’t explain why you were both in my bed.”

“After we got everything cleaned up, I tried to get you to sleep, but you completely freaked out on me. You refused to calm down unless Sunburst and I were close by so…” Trixie shrugged. “That was that.”

“Sorry for all this you two.”

Sunburst sighed, “Sorry for scaring the living daylights out of us, or sorry for not being more concerned with your own welfare? Wait, don’t answer that.”

Starlight hung her head.

“I’d say just don’t let it happen again, but considering who I’m talking to, I’ll just have to settle for thanking the stars that you’re okay,” he said, kissing her temple.

“Alright,” Trixie said, as she got out of bed, “I don’t know about you, but the Great and Powerful Trixie is famished! I wonder what kind of Royal breakfast we can find in this place, or should Trixie say lunch?” She added after sneaking a glance at the clock.

“Sounds good,” Starlight replied, starting to follow her.

“Oh no you don’t,” Sunburst gently shoved her back down. “Trixie will get the food. You are staying right here in bed where I can keep an eye on you.”

“But—”

“No buts. If you think after last night that I’m letting you out of my sight, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“Just nod and say, ‘Yes Sunburst’. It makes life so much easier,” Trixie told her, giving her friend a one-hoof hug.

Sunburst shooed her away. “Food. Now.”

“Yes, Sunburst.”

Starlight giggled at their antics and leaned back against the headboard.

“I don’t deserve you two,” she whispered.

“Well too bad,” Sunburst whispered back, pulling her into a warm embrace, “Because you’re stuck with us.”

In Which Friendship is Discussed

Author's Note

Summary: Starlight isn't the only one who learns about friendship.

Warnings: None

A/N: Alright, these family one-shots are getting out of hand, I might as well make a separate story...if only I could think of a plot...sorry for the sudden silence, I just don't have much time to write these days, thanks for your patience

In Which Friendship is Discussed

"You're my best friend, you know that, right?" Starlight's voice was soft but carried far in the room. Sunburst had his eyes closed against the glittering light of the fire heating up the small home, but opened them when she spoke.

Starlight was laying on her side, hooves tucked up by her face and knees crooked. She was relaxed and comfortable, her face holding a gentle look as she watched the stallion across from her.

They were laying on their relatively new bed, enjoying the gentle, cooling breeze of an early spring night. Starlight had just moved in, ready to start her life again in the Crystal Empire a few weeks prior, so their home was bare and filled with minimal items. This didn't bother them, though. They knew that soon enough it would be filled with goods and food, and memories would quickly follow.

Sunburst had hung his robe in the small closet and he didn't bother to put on his pajamas. It was much too warm for that anyways. Starlight hadn't bothered either, and her mane flowed freely around her pillow, it didn't matter that it would be messy in the morning, she would always brush it to perfection.

In the morning, they would head to the store and get everything they needed, and some of Starlight’s items would arrive during the course of the days. But for now, they were as comfortable as they could be.

Sunburst watched Starlight carefully for a long while, the light dancing across her soft features. He could tell the years separated had rounded her body and her looks as she became more and more of a mare than a filly.

But the beauty she had was still her most prominent feature.

He considered her words carefully. He had never considered what they were. They had fallen naturally into a relationship with no definitions nor titles. Over time it had just become 'Sunburst and Starlight', and everyone saw them as a duo. Sometimes their friends and family would pry and ask questions, but mostly they were left to their own devices. Now that they were sharing a home, it was known they were to be married soon, although it was just a formality at this point.

Sunburst turned from laying on his back to face Starlight on his side as well. "Yeah?" he asked her. "Your best friend?"

Starlight nodded, her eyes sparkling, sensing the tease.

"Not your lover?"

Starlight smiled and coyly tucked her face into the bedding, peeking only one eye at Sunburst. "You're both." Her voice was soft and muffled but he heard her.

Sunburst placed his face down on the bedding right next to hers and blew air into her face. "I thought I was annoying." He smiled at her crinkled face. "Worse than Trixie ever was."

"Oh," Starlight said lifting her face to rest back on her hooves, "you are."

She blew air up to his ears, causing them to wiggle from the sensation. "But you're still my best friend."

Sunburst didn't respond at first. The room was filled with quiet peace as the two of them lay in silence. Sunburst looked at her, seeing the rosy cheeks and striking eyes of the mare who had knocked on his door all those years ago. He could still see the stubborn mare who had fallen from grace but picked herself up piece by piece and became stronger because of it. He saw the mare who cried for him, and never stopped believing in him even when he had given up on himself.

He saw the mare who paid no mind to what others thought if it meant doing the right thing. The same mare who had helped him build a family with strangers who welcome him with open hooves and saw his worth. The mare would proudly announce she was his best friend, so no one should mess with him.

He saw the mare who reached out for him when no one else would and asked for nothing in return.

It felt like an insult to her to call her his best friend. She was so much more than that to him. It was an oversimplification of their relationship. But he didn't know how to put into words what she was to him, so he went with it.

"You're my best friend, too." His voice was just as soft as hers had been, as if afraid to disturb their newfound peace.

"Daddy," little hooves pressed hard on Sunburst's cheeks as his daughter spoke with an absolute tone inherited from her mother, "you're my best friend."

Sunburst's eyebrows rose slightly, but he knew better than to laugh or questioned his little filly. At three –almost four– years old she was resolute in her knowledge of the world and very convinced she was right. Any questioning of her authority would be an unforgivable crime. So, he kept his face as straight as he could.

He had been picking vegetables from the store, along with other groceries he needed for dinner that night. Starlight, heavily pregnant with their second child, was on bed rest until the baby arrived, so Sunburst had taken their daughter outside to help him.

She had been happy with helping with the shopping but was now wanting a change of pace and conversation it appeared.

Sunburst put the checklist he was reading back into his saddlebag along with the other vegetables before placing his hooves on his daughter's cheeks, mimicking the hold she had on him. "Oh yeah?" he asked her. "I'm your best friend? I thought Flurry Heart was."

Patting her father's cheek, in a child's way of miming a parent's comfort, his daughter tutted at him. "No, Daddy." She pressed her forehead against his. "You're my bestest friend."

"What about Mommy?"

"Daddy!" his daughter exclaimed, tossing her hooves up in the air in exasperation. "Everybody knows that Daddies are their daughter's bestest friend! It's law of the land!"

Sunburst held back a snort at her comment and her outburst, dropping his hooves to the ground. She had the same fire that he and Starlight had acted on in their youth, but bottled up in a smaller form. Her new favorite phrase to use was 'it's law of the land!' having heard it from some of the town's ponies when discussing planting for the season. Starlight thought they should perhaps curb that phrase, but it amused Sunburst too much for him to make an actual effort to stop her.

"Law of the land, huh?" Sunburst stopped his snort, but he couldn't stop his smile. "Well then, can't argue with that."

His daughter nodded, planting her hooves on the ground and lifting her chin proudly. "Don't you forget, daddy. You're my bestest friend."

Sunburst responded, "You're my bestest friend too, sweetheart."

She looked at him, beaming from his statement. Sunburst opened his hooves to give her a hug, which she gladly took and ran into his embrace, giggling from excitement. Sunburst planted a kiss on the top of her head, right in between her yellow ears that marked her as her father's daughter. He cherished this moment with her, just as he did with every moment that he had with her.

Much like the conversation he had with Starlight years prior, when they were new to building their family and new to living together, it all felt like it barely scratched the surface of how he felt.

He could still vividly remember the first time he held her, so tiny and squirmy in his hooves. She had cried and screamed for the first months so much that Sunburst was convinced she already hated him. Starlight had soothed away his fears by assuring him that she was a baby and that babies cried. She didn't hate him; she was just a baby.

He could still remember the day she got her hooves under her and ran. She was fast, faster than he had expected, and took off with an alarming speed before he caught her. He was scared, but her giggles and laughs eased his worried mind and he laughed with her.

She was the most precious thing in his life, and so much more than words could describe. When he had found out he was going to be a father, Shining Armor had warned him that it would change his world forever, and the two stallions loved to regale stories of their daughters' antics to each other.

Sunburst stored this moment away in the back of his mind, wanting to tell Shining Armor about the law of the land that a father is his daughter's best friend. He was sure that Shining Armor would ask his own daughter about this 'law of the land', and would most likely be told she liked her mother much more.

Sunburst's daughter may be stubborn and unwavering in her stances on life, but Shining Armor's daughter had his mischievous streak that bested her father most days.

But for now, he would just live in the moment that his daughter loved him and he was her best friend.

Sunburst picked up the large stone pot from the fire and moved it so Stellar Flare could add the final touches to the soup. Starlight was bouncing their little boy with her hooves, listening with great amusement to the story their daughter was weaving about her afternoon with the princess.

Stellar Flare had invited the family over for dinner a few weeks prior, wanting to celebrate the birth of their healthy little boy. Starlight swore up and down that the second time around was so much easier than the first, but Sunburst still thought the whole process was a lot for one pony to endure. But they had a child from it, so he couldn't fuss too much.

Their son was a much happier baby than their daughter had been. He didn't cry nearly as much and was beginning to figure out how to smile much faster than his sister had, although it was still funny facial expressions and snorts.

Stellar Flare had showered both of their children in affection as soon as they stepped into her home, feeling great grandmotherly love for them.

As Sunburst put the pot before Stellar Flare, Stellar Flare touched his shoulder and told him, "You're a great stallion, Sunburst. I am grateful to have you as a son and a friend."

Sunburst blinked a few times, trying to figure out the meaning of her statement. Once again, he realized he had never really put much thought into his relationship with Stellar Flare. It just was what it was. But now that she had said something, he realized that she wasn't only his mother, but had become one of his friends, just as much as the others.

"What? Are you getting mushy in your old age?" Sunburst couldn't help himself from taking a light-hearted jab at her, but his smile was bigger than his bite.

Fatherhood had given him a bit of an edge.

Stellar Flare returned his smile and tossed the last remaining ingredients into the boiling soup before stirring it to cool it down before serving. "Maybe I am," she responded to his jab, "or maybe you don't give yourself enough credit."

"She's right, Sunburst," Starlight called from across the room, her daughter now preoccupied with entertaining her little brother who was screaming in glee at the attention.

Sunburst looked over at her, questions dancing across his face.

Starlight answered those questions, "You don't give yourself enough credit. You're a great friend."

Sunburst thought about what they were saying and looked at his children. They were the light of his life and more. He hoped they would always stay close to each other, and want for nothing.

He had never considered what he wanted most of his life. Chasing the wrong dreams, blind to his real talents and potential. Now that he was here, thinking about his life and what he wanted, he knew that there was only one thing he had ever wanted.

To have a friend and to be a friend.

Now, here he was, years later, surrounded by friends.

It was a great place to be.

In Which There's Allegories

Author's Note

Summary: She knew that one day he would meet his princess, for who would ever choose to be with a witch.

Warnings: Poetry, angst, and a happy ending.

A/N: Sunburst and Starlight and fairytales, enough said.

In Which There's Allegories

There is something achingly beautiful in the curve of Sunburst's cheeks when he smiles; in the crinkle at the corner of his eyes; the upward turn of his mouth. It is something that seems to reach out to you, mouthing words like hey and you and I and you don't understand. You're drowning, your vision blurred and ears blocked and water is a terrible conductor of sound because Sunburst's voice sounds so garbled and wrong.

Once upon a time, your mane falls over your eyes as you turn away. Once upon a time, there was a Prince who fell in love with a Princess. But the Princess was locked away in a tower of rags, guarded by dragons named Duty and Propriety, and an evil witch who only wanted the prince for herself. Sunburst is a Prince through and through in your eyes, with hair spun from sunlight and gentle cobalt eyes that look as if they had been plucked straight from the night sky. His Princess is a beautiful mare, with large luminous eyes that see through everything, and a laugh that is as contagious as a plague.

You cannot bring yourself to hate her; she makes him so happy—you can see it, clear as day.

Sometimes you think you might reach out and grab him, but your hooves always fall back to the ground halfway through. You have forgotten how to speak this language because you have given it up for power and bitterness and the need to hide from the pain of a lost childhood. You have forgotten how to smile without smirking. There is no kindness in your world, no compassion, only the cold words of ambition and lukewarm praise.

The evil witch was trapped as well, locked in her castle of obsidian in the forest of darkness. There was no light; what little light that pierced through the trees are swallowed up greedily by the witch’s eyes, hard and dark as diamonds. The witch built herself a throne on a castle turret and believed herself to be Queen.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, the witch spied the Prince and the Princess, walking through the grass of the palace. The evil witch smiled, and fell, and fell, and fell.

All the King's Horses, and all the King's Soldiers, you thought to yourself wryly, your lips twisted into something that is in disguise, upside down.

Your heart is empty: you had drained it and sold the insides like a pretty trinket to avoid the pain, in hopes for something akin to camaraderie and a step up the ladder. Your heart is empty and ever so fragile, for there is nothing inside to support the gauze-thin glass. You had given it to him the day you ripped off your Princess mask and became the evil witch, and he, ever the gentlecolt, held it carefully in his hooves like it is a jewel, priceless.

You had known; you had always known. You know that he will meet his Princess one day—no Prince will ever choose the evil witch, after all. You knew, yet—yet you had given him your heart, because, well.

If you did not give it to him, who else could you have given it to?

Your heart is missing, emptied, and fragile in his hoof. You had given your voice away for the icy fingers of power and wickedness cradling your soul. You had not given up—it is not possible to give up when one had not taken a step in the first place—and you had already decided that it is impossible.

One day, the Prince and his Princess visited the forest. They tripped over the tree roots, ran from the snakes and the beasts, and fought against the darkness with the brightness of their eyes and their hope. They stood close to the other, shoulders brushing, warm enough to fight the icy chill of the forest at night. They walked and walked for days, or perhaps years before they finally reached the obsidian castle where the evil witch lived (was trapped in).

The Prince reached out his hooves, and the Princess smiled. There was something in the light in their eyes, the witch realized, something that enchanted others more than her spells ever did or would. The Princess looked behind her and motion at something in the shadows, one by one ponies of different kinds walked into the clearing. They all wore gentle smiles, not one of them was angered or resentful, they simply gazed at the fallen witch and helped with what they could. But it was the Prince who had the final piece.

There was light.

Sunburst has not thrown her heart away; has not crushed it. He places it close to his chest, next to his own heart, and fills the empty, frail glass with love with every smile he gives you and every word he speaks. He holds you close, holds you dear, and this time his smile is like sunlight breaking through the water. You are still drowning, still gasping for breath, but there is a hoof.

You reach out yours.

The Prince held out his hoof for the fallen witch. The witch's eyes squeezed shut as the forest suddenly filled with bright sunlight, chasing all the darkness away. Animals and plants shook themselves, darkness and sorrow melting away like snow in spring.

The Prince's eyes were a brilliant blue, like twin suns. It almost hurt the witch, so used to the darkness, to look at the Prince, but she had to, for the Prince had taken her hoof.

"You're not alone," the Prince spoke, and he smiled.

The witch (no longer evil, for her robes turned a beautiful purple, like the sky before dawn) took the Prince's hoof and stood up. She took a step, then another.

Behind her, the castle of obsidian fell.

Sunburst returns your heart to you with a hoof over your withers and a small smile. You rest your head against his neck, your bodies pressing close together and his warmth permeates every inch of you, chasing the cold away.

The curve of Sunburst's cheeks says I miss you; the warmth and light in his eyes say I love you; the hoof on your neck says I want to be with you. It is a moment of startling recognition, and you can only ask—how could you have been so blind? Just like before, you had given up before you had even taken the first step; just like before, it is Sunburst who pulled you through. He leans in to kiss you, but misjudges the distance and ends up kissing your nose.

You laugh.

For the first time in your life, you can breathe.

In Which Starlight Glimmer is Angry

Author's Note

Summary: She just had to fall in love with him, the smartest and most oblivious of all the stallions in Equestria.

Warnings: SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 20 OF SEASON NINE!

Notes: I wrote this with the roles reversed at first, then I remembered that Starlight almost destroyed the world because of him...so I switched them.

In Which Starlight Glimmer is Angry

Of all the stallions, Starlight angrily thought, in all the world, she just had to be beset with the smart one. Of all the red-haired stallions in the world, she had to be stuck with the one who wittingly used his brains for evil —or at least, against her.

What kind of bad luck was that, anyway? What kind of sick fate could possibly come up with something that disgustingly…cruel?

She angrily kicked the door and banged with firm hooves, to no avail, of course.

Behind her, a few of the students had stopped to observe, bemusedly, the usually calm and good-nature headmare lose her grip on composure. Among them, a few were amused.

No one, of course, seemed worried. It was just her luck.

Starlight paused her constant knocking for the fifth time to turn to her admiring crowd, who half-recoiled at her frustrated glare.

Finally, she asked, “Where is he?”

It took a while for the onlookers to understand what she was so coldly demanding. Ever since Starlight had been given the position as headmare, she had become somewhat of an unwitting role model for the students, thanks to her understanding nature and always seeming to have the solution to any problem.

And here she was, openly admitting she had lost one of the most important members of her staff.

But Starlight didn’t care for the stun looks. All she could seem to focus on was that the stallion she was in charge of—the one who was currently missing. He was her whole life; he gave meaning to her existence, to a spirit that needed a goal. In fact, to say she was distraught when he asked for a vacation from work—dismissing his own security—was an understatement.

She needed him to define herself, and he wanted to just…drop her? For a whole week!?

It was ridiculous. She had, of course, outright refused. What sort of friend would agree to let their bookish friend go off on his own, in a shack somewhere in the wilderness, anyway? He was supposed to be a scholar, couldn’t he see how foolish his suggestion was? She spared no words trying to explain him.

But of all the stallions, she had to get the smart one.

“Where,” she grounded out for the second time when no answer came forth, “is he?”

It was here that Starlight regretted not listening to his suggestions further. It would not have changed her mind in the slightest, but at least she’d have more details of his actual plans. For instance, she might have known just where, exactly, he intended to vacation to. She’d have then set out for that particular spot, seeing as it was his most likely hiding place.

But she hadn’t listened, and he hadn’t taken no for an answer, and now she was standing outside the locked door of his office, unable to enter the room to search for clues. Banging on the door, at this point, just proved that he wasn’t anywhere near the school grounds.

Starlight was not pleased.

He probably left sometime during the night, with no word to anypony and no regard for her sanity.

This was karma, plain and simple, divine punishment for the mess she’d caused for toying with time and space. Whatever higher being that controlled fate was probably rolling around in their happy little cloud of amusement and laughter at her expense.

And of course, fate would derive sick pleasure from seeing her tormented. She was their plaything, after all.

But dammit, where was he?!

“Hey Starlight,” a cheerful voice said, and she turned sharp blue eyes on the mare, impatient. Trixie didn’t even flinch at her venomous look, just walked casually by on her way to her own office, “Didn’t he mention he wanted to see the skies in the Crystal Mountains?”

Something like dread crawled into Starlight’s stomach. Of course, he had, but she also stressed how dangerous the journey would be, hadn’t she? She described the precautions and dangers of traveling the snowy valleys and cliffs. And for Celestias’ sake, did he even own clothing warm enough?

It was bad enough already that Starlight lost her Vice Headmare, she was also beginning to worry that she lost him in a place measurably more dangerous than Ponyville.

All the students watched her stalk off, her posture tense and anxiety making her jittery. She’d have to gather warm clothes, buy an express ticket to the Crystal Empire, pack enough food for two, and get boots and blankets…

Dammit! Starlight gritted her teeth as she marched on.

Really. Of all the stallions in the world, she had to get the foolhardy one.

Stupid mountain. Stupid cold, stupid ice, stupid snow, stupid wind. Stupid mountain. The damn place was just barren and cold and just. Plain. Despicable.

He would probably disagree, she considered as she trudged through the snow, trying to spot the trail through the blizzard where she could attempt to locate his tracks. He would probably claim that the biting cold was a mere chill and that she had to stop seeing the bad things in life, that she ought to appreciate the power of nature, wonder at their fragility.

But trudging through a blizzard on hoof—the train could only travel the mountains during the summer months—made it all the more difficult to find her way.

Her boot sank into a snow pit; she stumbled, the snow came up to her stomach, and she cursed as she tried to pull her leg back out without getting too much snow down her boot.

He would probably laugh at her, his tinkling laugh light and capable of making her laugh too, brush everything off as amusing silliness, think the blistering cold a mere breeze, make her look through the snow and clouds at clear blue skies and crisp air.

But he wasn't here, was he? The wind howled around her, and she looked around, tears coming out of her squinting eyes from the unforgiving cold. She couldn't see anything. It made her heart swell with concern, and for a moment she forgot her anger. Worry was a foreign feeling, somehow. Never before had she felt so utterly incompetent.

This was all his fault.

She extracted her leg out of the hole and sat in the snow, looking around in growing despair and anger. This was all his fault. His fault that she was here, so frozen and so worried, his fault that the wind was so powerful, his fault that snow quickly covered any tracks she may have hoped to trail. The very picture of her sitting there, trying to catch her breath, limbs exhausted, as she hoisted her packs and tried to move efficiently in clothes too thick for her comfort. His fault, all of it.

Of all the stallions in the world…

Rather than sit and fume, she stood and used her energy on moving her heavy limbs. She wasn't even sure she was going in the right direction. Somehow she hoped against hope that he hadn't come this way because she knew there were precipices ahead, unforgiving crevasses of rock and ice, the kind she had nightmares about.

Something would be adding itself to her nightmares soon, though. The idea of him, falling down those precipices, would increase the horror tenfold. He could picture her foreleg and hoof too short to reach out and save him, her hooves keeping her from jumping after him to die at his side, his pleading eyes and lips mouthing words to her she was too scared to focus on…

And it would all be his fault. Her incompetence was his fault, even. If only he hadn't gone off and left her behind. If only he'd asked her to come along. She'd have gone with him, anywhere, anytime, for as long as he pleased. All he had to do was ask.

But he didn't ask. He told her to stop tailing him all the time, told her he wanted to be alone.

Starlight didn't like to be left behind. She couldn't stand it, couldn't stand the silence and that awful guilt. Worst of all, she couldn't stand the idea of failing him, of something happening to him and she not being there to save him.

But of all the stallions in the world, she had to get the one who thought he could handle himself without her help.

There were tracks here. Starlight almost discarded the information as too good to be true, but she paused to examine the rapidly disappearing hoof prints in the snow. They were evenly spaced, not hurried. He had walked, almost casually, towards the more dangerous reaches of the province.

Bloody wizards, always acting so confident and letting bad things happen to them…

If he had ultimately fallen into a crevasse, she'd just…

She preferred not to think about it. He wasn't dead. He couldn't be. Of all the stallions in the world, he had to be the most resilient, resourceful, and prudent.

A strong gust of wind nearly slapped her in the face, and the cold made her wince. She felt despair grow inside her, welling up like absolute terror, and she couldn't keep herself from wondering how his clumsier, weaker frame could withstand such gales, how he had braced himself against it, and why? Why?

"Sunburst…" She breathed, the sound whisked away by the wind and unheard, even to her ears. "Sunburst…" She stopped in her tracks, trying to make sense of it all, trying to understand why suddenly his trail turned into snow angels, how he could turn such simple things into a smile on her face, even despite her worry.

Why had he left? How could he do that to her? How could he expect her to wait patiently and not worry about him?

Where was he? Never before had Starlight wanted to find someone so much, never felt it pull at her insides with such desperation.

"Sunburst…" She weakly called. "Sunburst…! Sunburst!"

Her calls were pointless, she knew. If anything he was long gone, if anything her cries turned into howls with the distance. Howls of pain and despair.

There was no way she'd find him like this. She couldn’t use her magic in such conditions, and she'd have to rely on daylight, which was rapidly fading.

And then, she saw the shack.

It was more of a house, she considered as she found her way over. Snow had made trudging tedious, and from start to finish, the trek had taken almost half an hour. The sun was setting early beyond the mountains, throwing deep shadows over her. The house's stone was old, well settled, and she could see the windows were fogged up from the warmth inside. She could guess the glow of a fire; smell the faint scent of warm food. Her teeth were already clattering, and she couldn't feel her hooves in her boots. It was her white-hot anger keeping her warm and moving onward.

And, when she found herself in front of the door, her anger died.

He was singing. It was a low tune, she had to stick her head to the door to hear. A rendition of a song they came up as foals, a very low hum, one that he only used when he needed comforting, one she took as a signal to reach out and let him vent frustrations, one she took as his blind way of telling her he needed her.

And here he was, singing without her nearby?

The song died out, his voice falling into silence. Starlight felt something tear at her insides. Did he need her anymore? Had he ever?

A strong gust of wind pushed her, and she was unbalanced, and she caught herself by slamming a hoof against the door.

"Starlight?" His voice called out, loud enough for her to hear, and she pushed away from the door, surprised. His own surprise quickly turned to anger. "Starlight, if that's you at the door, know that I'm not going to let you in!"

Staring wide-eyed at the door panel, jaw hanging, the mare could only wonder how he knew.

"Starlight?" His face―so golden, so healthy, thank Luna―appeared briefly in the foggy windows, just long enough for him to spot her, just long enough for her to see his annoyed glare. His voice was muffled when he loudly declared, "You better head back to warmer climates, Starlight, because I'm not letting you in!"

"You said that already," she loudly replied, face rapidly flushing in anger, feeling foolish for screaming at a door while in the middle of nowhere, feeling the storm beat her from all sides. "But Sunburst, if you won't, I'll just―"

"I want you to leave!" He loudly said, voice oh so close to her, just beyond the panel of the door, just so close… "If you won't, you'll just… you'll just freeze to death! But I won't pity you! So leave!"

For Heaven’s sake! Of all the stallions in the world, she had to get the stubborn mule!

"I'm not leaving!" She angrily announced. "You left for no reason, without a word, and I won't let you get off that easily!"

"Well, I'm not coming out!" He screamed. "You can just sit out there like an idiot because I am not going to pity you!"

"Fine!" She spat, feeling his words sting and refusing to let it show. Instead, she loudly answered with, "I wasn't counting on your pity, stupid idiot! I can stand out here all day and night! I'm not leaving!"

"What do you want? You want me to go back? Short on staff? I won't return for a while, so get used to the idea!"

"You can’t run off like that! It's not safe for you out here. As I already told you, before you decided to ignore my advice and act on your own, without thought."

"Well, I'm the one inside by the fire and you're out there in the cold, right? Not bad for a stallion who doesn't think!" He was obviously miffed.

"Yeah, I'm outside, and I'll stay here as long as it takes!"

"For what?" He asked, in the same tone as hers.

"For you to come back!"

"Fat chance!"

"That's alright," the mare spitefully replied, trying to sound casual. "I can handle a little wait. I've got food for days."

"Good for you," he said, sounding a little worried by the information. "Because I'm certainly not going to share!"

She was silent for a moment. She wondered how their relationship could have degenerated to this. There had been a time where they had been friends. A time where they would laugh and be accomplices. A time when working with him had been more than just an honor; it had been a pleasure and a real laugh.

But that was before. Before she ever started considering love. Before he stopped needing her.

By the time she had helplessly fallen in love with him, he was already trying to distance himself from her, addressing her only when necessary, and then briefly. She wondered why, and every time it made her ache more. The idea that she was no longer needed, that he no longer considered her a friend —at the very least— was more painful than she liked to admit.

And perhaps she had withdrawn then, hoping that the injuries and rebuttals would not come as often as when she openly tried to be his friend. Perhaps, she rationalized, he felt he had a duty before friendship, and so…

And so, she set about helping him fulfill that duty to its fullest.

Yet here he was, dropping duty! Dropping her! Why?

"Are you still out there?" His voice sounded suspicious, cutting through her thoughts like he expected that she would try something sneaky.

At any other time, she would have. She'd have tried to open the window, teleport inside, perhaps even knocked the door down. She would have done it.

But this time, she just said, "Yes, I'm still here!" and plopped into the snow, sitting in front of the door, back to the panel, and eyes staring out at the snowstorm that seemed to be worsening by the second. Her eyes darted around and she considered building a snow fort to at least break the wind a little, but then she figured there was no point after all.

If he wanted her to catch her death in this cold, who was she to deny his wishes? He had, after all, gone to great lengths to lose her. If he really no longer wanted ―needed her, then why would she burden the world with her presence?

That would teach him, she smugly thought. Yes, he would feel guilty upon finding her frozen corpse on his doorstep tomorrow morning.

Well, it would serve him right. Of all the stallions in the world, she had gotten the one with the greatest propensity for guilt.

"You should leave," he suggested callously. "Because I'm not opening this door."

"I know you're not. See if I care." And, to further prove her point, she took her packs off her back and hugged them to herself, trying to keep her warmth from escaping into the night. Her teeth were shaking, but she resolutely ignored the fact. Her heart was leaping painfully in her chest, trying to keep her blood flowing to her frozen extremities. She curled her hooves in her boots experimentally to keep them warm and active and check they still responded to her commands.

"What do you want with me, Starlight?" He loudly asked, frustration making his voice shrill.

"I'll take you back or die trying!" She declared with feeling, perhaps a little overdramatically, she admitted to herself. Then again, it was true, the way things were going, that she'd die trying.

"Oh," he scoffed from within the warm confines of his little house, "that's how it always is with you, isn't it? You just have to take everything to extremes! To Tartarus with everything else!"

"No," she replied, irate that he'd presume to understand her motives. “If I do something, set out to do anything, I always give it all I got until I succeed and nothing will stand in my way."

"Well, that sounds like what I said!" He said, and she could see him in her mind's eye, flushed, crossing his hooves across his chest, eyes narrowed angrily.

The thought brought a wistful smile to her face until a strong gust of wind chilled her to her very bones. Teeth clattering, she curled over herself as much as she could and her smile turned into sadness and fear. "Why?" She weakly asked, her voice muffled by her thick sleeves, all anger evaporating into the frigid air.

"What?" He asked, still angry, and she considered that his voice was definitely not suited for anger.

"Why?" She asked, a little louder, but without animosity; only resignation and a tinge of hurt. "Why did you leave?"

There was a silence. She expected him to tell her to mind her own business or something equally rejective. At this point, she didn't care anymore. She was so cold that she could pretend the pain in her chest was caused by the glacial air in her lungs. But she would not leave. She would stay by his side, she’d already lost him once, and she was his friend first and foremost, even if he didn’t want her friendship. She was his until the end.

The night was falling fast, and already she couldn't see much, mostly because of the snow falling so heavily, swept by strong winds.

But Sunburst's voice, when he spoke, was much softer than before, "Why do you care? All you seem to think about is work and what I'm doing for the school. You don't care for me anymore. The truth wouldn't make sense to you."

Her eyes, which had been drifting closed ―she felt so tired―, snapped open again. Where did such an accusation come from?

Oh.

"I still care for you," she answered.

"Stop it, Starlight," he said, his voice softening into something she identified as hurt. "You only care about what I can do for you. We used to be closer than this."

"Until you started shutting me out!" She exclaimed, shocked to hear him take on her pain, turning around to yell at the door. "Do you have any idea how confusing that was? One minute we're the best of friends and the next, you want me to call you 'Vice Headmare' and 'Professor' and have me vow and kneel and beg!"

Distinctly hurt now, his voice sounded shaky when he said, so close to the door he could have been kissing it ―she could imagine him mirroring her own motions, pressing his forehead against the panel― "I couldn't ―I can't be friends with you, Starlight."

"It seemed fine to me at the time," she resentfully said. "But maybe I missed something, didn't I? Maybe I was just blind."

"I care for you," he breathed, and her spite died out again. "I needed to get away… You wouldn't understand."

"I wouldn't understand?" She incredulously repeated. "What is there to understand? Could you ever handle that I―"

"I was falling in love with you, Starlight!"

There was silence, and his shaky exclamation was followed by a brush of fabric. Perhaps he was wiping tears.

"What?" She asked, stunned.

"Oh, for the Celestias' sake, Starlight," and for a moment he sounded like he used to when he tried to teach her complex theories out of a book in his library and she would refuse to listen, "what else is there to say? I know you don't feel the same, so I decided to distance myself from you." He seemed to choke up a little, before adding, "I'm sorry, but I couldn't stay friends with you. I needed all or nothing."

"And you chose nothing," she concluded, wounded. "Without asking me what I wanted."

"Well," he snorted, sounding a little more sarcastic than usual, "can you honestly tell me you would have fallen in love with me, Starlight?"

Something about his disbelief stung like he couldn't fathom that she was capable of such love.

Of all the stallions in the world, she had to want the one who was blind to her hopes.

Begrudgingly, she hoarsely said, "I guess we'll never know, will we?" And she stood.

"What?" His voice was muffled, breathless.

"Well, professor," the headmare announced, louder, trying to sound composed, and hatching a test of both their wills, "I can tell you've been pulling this off nicely. You can obviously take care of yourself in these parts. I'm sorry I underestimated you. I'm sorry I treated you like an idiot. I can see now that you know perfectly well what you want.”

"Starlight, wait. What are you talking about?" She could hear his tremulous voice from just behind the door panel.

"I can see," she stated, "that you prefer loneliness to my company. If that’s what you want, I'll respect your decisions. Seeing as it's freezing out here and I'm not welcome… I suppose I'll return to lands where survival isn't quite such a hassle. At least over there I know I'm not burdening you."

It was hard, she found out, to keep the hurt out of her voice. She hoped he wouldn't let her do as she said, hoped that she was making the right choice, hoped she wouldn't be forced to give up.

"And if you ever change your mind and choose to return," she added, "I’ll gladly give you your job back...or a recommendation letter, whatever you need to move on. If you want nothing of my friendship, I will not burden you with it. There will be nothing to feed both our delusions."

She felt her heart hurting with those words, like it was being slowly, dully ripped apart. Her hooves sunk in the snow as she attempted a few steps forward and tried to find the best way down the mountain and out of the province. There was no way she had enough energy to find her way out before the storm engulfed her whole. She thought it would be strangely fitting for something so cold and emotionless to be her downfall.

But she didn't get very far. A sudden light drew her attention behind her and she saw him, in his doorway, wrapped in a warm blanket, cheeks pink and humid from tears. He looked cold, but the warm glow behind him told her he was still quite comfortable.

She wanted to tell him to close the door and return to the warm safety of the house, but she presumed he just wanted to get the last word; her advice would not be appreciated.

His voice, when he spoke, was weak, but it still carried over to her ears. "Don't go. It's too cold out there."

She knew he was right, of course. She was feeling the icy winds bite straight to her core, like her coat was a thin veil rather than warm lined protection.

"Oh, now you want me to stay?" She said as she turned back to look at him, trying to sound detached and cynical, but feeling hope and love surge at the mere sight of him.

"I don't want us to be friends," he daringly said. "I haven't been honest with myself. I want more. It was wrong of me to ignore your wishes, so now I ask you, Starlight: what do you want of me?" He had said it all in one breath, and now he was fearfully awaiting her rejection.

Of all the stallions in the world, she was beginning to think she'd made the right choice to fall in love with this one. He was more straightforward now than he had been in ages.

She shrugged and smiled. "At the moment? A warm fire might be good."

"And me?" He asked as she turned around and walked back to him.

"A warm fire and you," she confirmed. "Right now, I think I could live the rest of my life with just those two things in particular."

"What, then," he asked, raising a brow as they both felt the odd comfort of their forgotten discussions rekindled inside them, "becomes of me?"

She put a cold muzzle under his jaw and nudged him inside, smiling softly. "Nothing special, professor. Just that you can kiss your boss whenever you want. That's all."

He laughed as she closed the door behind them both.

Really, Starlight considered as she felt soft lips kiss her cheek sweetly, deliberately, the fates ought to be proud of her. Of all the stallions in the world, she had chosen one ―just one― and sworn herself to him.

And, judging by the way he was currently running his hooves over her mane, he had accepted her self-sacrificing offer.

"It's a pity," he said, "that I didn't think of getting another bed for you."

Her head rolled back against the carpet and she looked at him from under dark eyelashes. The bright glow of the fire cast his skin in tones of orange and peach. Liquid blue eyes peered down at her, kissable lips curling at the corners. So handsome.

"It’s fine," she lazily said. "I can sleep on the floor."

He seemed to ponder the suggestion, but ultimately pressed his lips together, frowned, and shook his head. "No," he thoughtfully said, "no, that doesn't seem like such a good idea. You might get cold."

"That's true," she conceded, then smiled and brought a foreleg around his waist, feeling the fabric of his cloak under her hoof. "I suppose you'll have to stay with me, then."

"Or we could share the bed," he said, raising both brows like she was forgetting the obvious solution.

"It might be a snug fit, don't you think?" She asked, furrowing both brows in mock thought.

"It might, but it's an experiment I'm willing to make."

Oh yes, she thought to herself as he stood from her and tugged her up from the floor. The fates would soon be very proud of her. And that higher being wouldn't be laughing as much at her incompetence tomorrow morning, she was sure of it.

"I forgot to pack my pajamas," Starlight said, holding on to his hoof.

Oh yes. Very proud. Of all the stallions in the world…

"That's a pity," he mildly replied, smirking.

She had fallen in love with this one.

"It seems I forgot mine too."

No wonder.

Thirteen Drabbles: Set Alpha

Author's Note

Summary: Part of an old live journal challenge that I decided to give it go. Each drabble is exactly one hundred words.

Warnings: Some hints of smutty content but nothing too severe.

Notes: hey y'all shippers COME AND GET YA JUICE!!!

Thirteen Drabbles: Set Alpha

i. Forgetfulness

When he opened his front door that morning, he didn’t recognize her at first. Sunburst wasn’t one to dwell on the past, his own history at least, he spent hours reading and researching and collecting pieces of others' pasts; but his own? He wished he could pack it neatly in a box and throw it out on the curb.

And yet there she was, a living, breathing part of his story that he couldn’t get rid of, asking if he remembered her, waiting for an answer.

In all honesty, he had almost forgotten about her, his childhood friend, Starlight Glimmer.

ii. Running Away

“Starlight dear! Could I have a minute?”

Starlight stopped and looked confusedly at her friend, who only shrugged and shook his head. Stellar Flare had stopped on the sidewalk and was waving Starlight over, since it was too late to feign ignorance, she obeyed the older mare and Sunburst walked ahead.

“Is something the matter?”

“No dear, I need to ask you something and I want you to answer me honestly,” Stellar Flare said and her expression turned serious, and Starlight’s nervousness increased tenfold. “What, exactly, are your intentions with my son?”

Now she really wished she could run away!

iii. Sunsets/Sunrises

The sun was barely rising when Sunburst made it home. The door to his house creaked as he pushed it open and stepped inside. He walked inside and set his heavy suitcase against the wall and moved past the living room.

Sunburst paused at the entryway, doing a double-take when he saw something on the couch, a familiar figure that he expected to find his bed. Instead, Starlight was sleeping soundly on his couch.

A warm feeling flooded his tired body, and he instantly forgoes his bed in favor of resting next to the mare that held his heart.

iv. Make Believe

Sometimes, when Starlight went out with Sunburst, she liked to imagine that they were a couple.

Hey, a girl was allowed to dream, right?

She and Sunburst hang out whenever they could, when their schedules allowed it, and she treasured each and every moment—though of course, she secretly wished for more. It was too easy to forget when it was just the two of them, but regardless of her wishes, she couldn’t ignore the boundaries of their friendship.

But as time passed and circumstances changed, Starlight didn’t have to pretend anymore.

Not when her deepest desire became a reality.

v. Blind

“Hey Sunburst, how do I look?”

Sunburst looked up, squinting at the purple blob that was his best friend.

“I don’t know, I can’t see.” He said unsmiling.

“Geez, I knew your eyesight was bad, but not that bad!” Starlight sighed and returned his glasses. “Have you ever considered contact lenses?”

“No way! I rather not stick strange things in my eyeballs.” He retorted as he pushed his spectacles up his muzzle. “Besides, how else are you going to tease me if you don’t have glasses to steal from me?”

Sunburst grinned and his friend rolled her eyes, blushing slightly.

vi. Old Sayings

Act one: one slow and lasting kiss that left them both breathless.

Act two: he leaves slow, lingering touches down her cheek, her neck, and then furtively delving under the satin of her dress.

Act three: touching her in the intimate way that only he could.

Act four: joining their bodies together, becoming one as their hearts beat in synchrony.

They say that the bed is the poor pony’s opera. And even though Sunburst couldn’t buy her expensive gifts, she never asks for any of those things. All Starlight ever wants is him, and he’s more than happy to oblige.

vii. Weird

“Hmm Cadance,” Shining Armor said lowly, “don’t you think Sunburst is acting a little weird?”

Cadance glanced at where her husband was pointing. The orange unicorn was reading a book, or at least trying to, he was currently distracted by a patch of light lavender crystal flowers growing by the window sill; he plucked one and gently twirled it in his magic, letting out a sigh that the Princess of Love knew all too well.

“I don’t see what you mean,” the Princess said casually with a knowing smile. “He’s acting just as he always does when Starlight goes away.”

viii. Undone

It was only when they were alone, after she walked closer and pressed her face against his cloak that she came undone.

Starlight didn’t scream or wail as he expected, she was much too proud for that, but Sunburst felt the tears seeping into his skin, the tremble of her shoulders as he drew her closer, the strength of her grip when she returned the gesture. In the quietness of the room, he was able to hear her gasping breaths.

“It’s alright,” he pressed a kiss to her temple, meaning every word he said. “It’s going to be okay.”

ix. Song

The soft notes of a piano, accompanying a strong but beautiful voice, was what drew Sunburst closer to the room, the song and voice familiar somehow. The door was wide open and he stopped by the door's frame, watching and listening.

The light came from a nearby window, illuminating the room and the singer in soft sunlight. Starlight hadn’t noticed him, devoted to the song she was playing and singing, and he loathed the idea of interrupting her.

Starlight finished her song all too soon and she looked up, her eyes widening when she realized who her audience had been.

x. Crowds

Starlight would forget just how crowded a small town like Ponyville could get, and she would be reminded each and every time Trixie put up a show.

She glanced nervously from behind the curtain, looking for a familiar head of vermilion. “Trixie, I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Relax Starlight! With that outfit, he won’t be able to take his eyes off you!”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Starlight grumbled, tugging at the sparkly and skimpy dress. “Maybe I should change—”

“It’s showtime! Let’s go!” Trixie said and shoved her best friend onto the stage.

xi. Done Away With

A fire was blazing in Twilight’s fireplace. Starlight sat in front of it, in her hooves a memento of a past she carried with shame.

The Staff of Sameness was only a piece of wood she found in the desert, but it was more than that now. She had ironically given it some power over her, for every time she looked at it, she felt shame and disgust at herself.

Staring at the fire blazing in front of her, she broke the staff in two and threw the pieces into the fire. She sighed; she was finally free.

xii. Wars

Sunburst narrowed his eyes.

“Starlight…” he said in a low tone he rarely used. “I’m warning you: I’m not going to go easy on you.”

“What a coincidence,” she said nonchalantly. “Neither am I.”

They stared the other down for a few long moments, and then Starlight made her move. She disappeared in a flash of turquoise, he waited and when he heard her appearing from behind him, the stallion turned as fast as he could and managed to catch her, much to her surprise.

He started to tickle her relentlessly and they fall to the ground with undignified giggles.

xiii. You and Me

For Starlight Glimmer there was nothing better than this.

Just her, Sunburst, and the night sky over them. No responsibilities and no end of the world crisis, just a tranquil moment in her tumultuous life, an oasis of peace that she never wants to part from.

She sighs and snuggles closer to him. “I don’t want this night to end,” she confesses in a hushed tone.

Sunburst's cloak lifts slightly to cover her better, he lays his chin over her neck, a comfortable weight, and she feels the baritones of his voice as he answers just as quietly: “Me neither.”

The Trivial Matters of the Heart

Author's Note

Summary:The marriage of Lady Starlight Glimmer and the Duke Sunburst Zenith had been arranged for them ever since they were foals. Now that they're old enough, their parents think it's high time they marry. Neither are excited by the prospect of marrying a pony they only knew briefly as foals, but neither of them opposed it, after all, with the wedding a year away it gives more than enough time to get to know the other, right? Understanding and compromise has been given under even stranger circumstances, perhaps love could also be found?

Warnings:None

Notes:This was supposed to be my project for NaNoWriMo, but I couldn't nail down the plot after this chapter and after some reworking the things that happen here are no longer 'cannon'. So now it's just a cute standalone.

The Trivial Matters of the Heart

“Thank you for your patience, the Duchess will be here to receive you shortly.”

Both father and daughter nodded at the maid, who bowed and closed the door gently behind her. There was beat of silence before the older stallion sighed, leaning slightly against the couch as his shoulders slumped with relief.

“Well, this is it Starlight, are you excited?”

Starlight Glimmer didn’t relax on the cushions like her father, but sat still and proper as she looked at him and smiled, but it looked more like a grimace.

“As much as I could be, given the circumstances.”

Her father looked sadden but didn’t try to counter her verbal jab, he simply reached out with his magic and the tea cup in front of him floated to his muzzled as he took a sip of the beverage. “Starlight,” he said gently, pausing for a moment as he gathered his thoughts and settled the cup on the table. “I know that this isn’t exactly what you wanted, but I…”

“It’s fine,” cut off Starlight. “Let’s…let’s just focus on getting through this.”

There was so much she wanted to say, but the words clogged her throat and made her head spin. It was a miracle she managed to choke out that small quip, if only because she couldn’t stand another pity speech from her father. His last one had been convincing enough to drag her for this “interview” and she didn’t want to give him any more leeway than she already had.

Firelight nodded and patted her hoof. “That’s my girl.”

Starlight didn’t answer and looked out the window. It was closed, the curtains were drawn apart, letting the natural light in and Starlight could see the gardens beyond. The place looked beautiful from where she sat and she longed to walk through it, wanting to see what kind of flowers were in bloom, if any at all. She only had a glimpse of the greenery when she arrived earlier that morning, she thought she saw gardenias or white roses in the distance, but she had been taken inside before she could look any further.

“I wonder what’s keeping her,” mused Firelight out loud and glance at his pocket watch, “I hope everything is alright.”

“Maybe she’s busy today,” Starlight said trying to keep the hope from her voice. “We should just go and come back at another time.”

“No Starlight, I know the Duchess, she’s very punctual and organized…sometimes to a fault.”

There was a slight commotion on the other side of the white wooden doors, it sounded like two ponies arguing, both trying and failing keep their voices low with harsh whispers, neither Starlight or Firelight could make out what was being said but the tone of voice used was unmistakably angry and annoyed.

There was a bit of scuffling of hooves, another harsh whisper and then a momentarily silence. There was a knock on the door and an older mare followed by a younger stallion walked in to the room.

Her father stood and bowed, Starlight following suit. “Duchess Stellar Flare, it’s a great joy to see you again after so many years.”

“Likewise, Sir Firelight, but please just call me Stellar Flare, none of this Duchess nonsense from my closest friend.”

Firelight smiled and nodded, reaching out a hoof to take Stellar Flare’s own and giving it a quick kiss. Starlight watched with barely contained curiosity, thinking if they were on such good terms, why didn’t they get married instead of pushing the responsibility on to their children? Speaking of which…

She risked a glance at the other stallion in the room, their gazes met for a moment before looking away, embarrassed by being caught by the other. She only managed to catch a hint of messy red hair and dark blue eyes.

“My, is this little Starlight?” Said the Duchess, Starlight look up just as the Duchess took her in with a hug. “Look at you! You’re so big now!”

The Duchess grip was tight and she barely managed to squeak out a reply. “I—uh— Thank you, ma’am.”

“It’s been years since I last saw you,” Stellar Flare said as she released her, looking at her and giving her a warm maternal smile. “You look just like your mother, when she was your age.”

The mention of her dear mother caught her off guard, prodding an old wound that would never fully heal, she swallowed the sudden lump in her throat and smiled thinly. “Thank you, did you know my mother?”

“Know her!? Oh sweetie! We were practically inseparable as foals; we got into all sorts of trouble and drove our poor parents crazy with our adventures! I was the one with the plans but your mother was a go-getter, nothing stood in her way when she wanted something, so when she set eyes on your father, well, the poor fellow had little choice in the matter, which reminds me…” Stellar Flare motioned for the young stallion to step forward. Which he did with great reluctance. “This is my son: Sir Sunburst Zenith! You two used meet up every summer when you were little, remember?”

Starlight did, even if those memories were hazy at best.

It was a happy time, anytime when her mother was alive and healthy was a happy time for her, regardless of what was actually going on. She recalled a charming cottage with a river and a pond in the yard, surrounded by tall pine trees with moss on their barks, and little paths that she would walk as she trailed behind a young pony.

The Duke in her memories was a small colt, even smaller than her for his age, who was soft spoken and always had a book with him, which he would use to hide his face from the world and ignore her. Maybe that was the reason she couldn’t remember him all that well and why now, years later, she was studying his features so unapologetically.

Obviously, he’d grown and she had to raise her head to look at him properly; he was taller than her now, maybe even a little taller than her father. His red hair was long and messy, though some attempt had been made to control the rebellious mop of hair, while his yellow coat had been brushed and washed until it reached a glossy sheen. Sitting on his muzzle were a pair of round glasses, something he didn’t need when they were younger, framing his blue eyes and completing the look of a scatterbrain scholar he’d grown to be.

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Sir Zenith.” Starlight said and bowed, breaking the eye contact as she lowered her head.

“The pleasure it’s all mine, Lady Glimmer.” He said, there was a nervous tinge to his words and Starlight wondered why.

With introductions out of the way, the group sat and discussed details for the upcoming engagement and wedding. Firelight and Stellar Flare leading the conversation while their children said nothing.

It was the parent’s idea after all.

Starlight watched the stallion seated in front of her, and when their eyes met this time she didn’t look away, simply offered a friendly smile.

Starlight knew that this day would come, ever since she was a little filly. Her parents made it no secret that she been promised to another, they told her before she even knew what “being promised to” meant, and by the time she did she couldn’t bring herself to completely oppose the idea. However, she kept her expectations low and tried not to have any romantic delusions, this was only another business deal, she told herself, like everything else her family did.

Her family was one of the few families that had made its fortune through hard work and smart business decisions, something that Starlight was immensely proud of, but her humble origins were look down upon by most of Canterlot’s high society.

Starlight didn’t care, even if it meant limiting her social circle to just a hoof-full of friends, but her father did. He worried about what would happen to his daughter once he was gone, even though he was confident that she could continue the family business, it would be hard if she was still unmarried and ignored by those that could help her. He’d seen it first hoof when he married Starlight’s mother, who had been born to a noble family and had to give up her title in order to be with him.

Back then his business was just starting and barely turning in a profit, and when they married and his trade took off his wife’s family still refused to acknowledge their union, even now that he was richer than all of them combine. The damaged was done and she’d been shunned by all those she once called family.

Her mother told her time and time again that she never regretted her decision, but maybe she wanted to protect her daughter from the backlash she’d suffered in the early days of her marriage, or maybe Firelight shared his concerns with her and found them valid, never the less, something happen that prompted her to message Lady Stellar Flare, one of the few socialite ponies that didn’t turn her back on her friend when she married Firelight.

At the time, Stellar Flare had just given birth to a foal of her own and she too was worried about his future. Her husband passed away some months before the birth of his son and she’d inherited his title and his lands…along with the massive debts he’d been keeping from her. She was forced to sell most of those lands to settle the debts, leaving her with little income, an empty title and a son who would inherit nothing if she didn’t do something.

Starlight wondered if it happened during a series of correspondences, or during one of the summers she and Sir Zenith were forced to play together, either way the head of each family came to a mutually beneficial agreement: Firelight promised his daughter hoof in marriage to Duchess Stellar Flare’s son, securing the future of both their families.

And now here they were, making good on the promise.

“Oh, Starlight, Firelight was telling me that you like my garden?” Stellar Flare said.

Starlight looked up, startled from her musings. “Yes, I saw them on our way here, it looked beautiful.”

“Why, thank you dear, that garden is my pride and joy, I love showing it off whenever I have the chance, but you will have to pardon me my dear, since there’s still so much to discuss, I can’t give you a personal tour.” Her tone was apologetic but Starlight could see a calculating spark in her eyes as she turned towards her son. “Sunburst, why don’t you show her the gardens? We will catch up once we finish discussing this matter.”

“Of course,” Sir Zenith said and stood up, and with great reluctance Starlight did the same.

She followed him out of the tea room into the wide corridor outside. The house was massive and she was partly glad for his guidance, with her being unfamiliar to this place she would’ve been lost on the first turn she took. Maybe now it was good time as ever to familiarize herself with this place, if she was going to marry the Duke, she would probably move here. The thought brought her disgust instead of joy. She felt like a leech, latching on to her husband-to-be only for his title, but wouldn’t that make him a leech also? Forced to play nice to her only because of her money? Do leeches suck on other leeches? She shook her head to dislodged those confusing thoughts and focused on walking.

She followed him quietly through the corridors, taking in the carpeted floor that muffled their steps, the large windows that let the summer sun in to house, and the occasional art piece that decorated the walls.

Sir Zenith didn’t even as much as glance at them, but Starlight would occasionally slow her steps to admire the art work. She wasn’t a connoisseur of the fine arts; she was simply curious of the bright colors and fantastical sceneries depicted on the canvas. Most of the paintings were of water gardens and she wondered at the Duchess fascination with them.

Finally, they reached a wall with a glass door in it, he opened it and let Starlight pass before following her and closing it behind him with a soft click.

“Wow,” Starlight said, once her eyes were accustomed to the sunlight. “This garden…it’s lovely.”

It didn’t look like any of the gardens that she knew, with straight path ways and perfectly manicured flora, it felt like she’d stepped in to a real forest untouched by pony kind. The trails were marked only because no grass grew on it and it had been cleared of stones, they didn’t cut through the land, instead they move with it, curving around trees and following the outline of the lake in the center of the garden.

The lake and the little island in the center of it was the main attraction of this garden, it was bigger than she expected and she wondered just how big this land actually was. There were water lily’s floating peacefully on the edges, and the water was perfectly still, acting like a huge mirror that reflected the blue summer sky and its fluffy white clouds. She felt like she was standing at the edge of a floating island, or at the borders of Cloudsdale.

“Mother will be pleased to hear that.” He said and watched her as she walked ahead, following silently as she explored the property.

The garden was beautiful and remained so no matter how far she ventured into it, but the experience was somewhat dulled by the company she was keeping. Unlike his mother, the Duke was not a chatter box, opting to silently follow her as they walked, which would’ve been fine if Starlight could find a way to ignore his presence. His steps were too loud, he was always visible from the corner of her eye and she could feel him watching her, making her feel self-conscious of every move she made. Starlight tried to say something to break the awkward silence, but she felt tongue tied and remained quiet.

Starlight turned to her left and spotted a little bench, shaded under the low hanging branches of a willow tree. She walked towards it and sat on the faded marble; she wasn’t tired but the privacy that the tree offered was the perfect place to talk.

Before she could gather her words, Sir Zenith beat her to the punch.

“This is awkward, isn’t it, Lady Glimmer?” He smiled at the mare beside him, he sounded apologetic. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Oh, it’s not like that, Sir Zenith.” Starlight said quickly, startled by his words.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Well then, we should discuss living arrangements and plan how many foals we’re going to have.” His smile faded as he spoke and his tone was serious. “I personally would prefer ten foals, but I would settle for eight.”

She blinked.

Then, Starlight’s face crumpled as she let out a laugh. “Alright, I understand, Sir Zenith, this is definitely awkward.”

“See?” He chuckled and looked out at the peaceful lake. “I know this is our first meeting, but I need to ask you some awkward questions, if you don’t want to answer them I understand, I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.”

Starlight smiled and nodded. “Alright, but only if I can also ask awkward questions of my own, and you promise me to answer them honestly.”

The Duke pretended to meditate his answer before nodding earnestly. “That sounds reasonable.” He paused for a moment before asking his first question. “Are you certain you want to move forward with this marriage? I mean, is there some pony else…like a boyfriend? If you want, I can speak to my mother to cancel the wedding.”

Starlight blinked and sat perfectly still, baffled that her groom-to-be would ask such a question.

It was true that this was an arranged marriage, something that had been pushed on to them, their thoughts and feelings never once taken into consideration, only the political and financial gain that such a union would bring to their families. She only knew the Duke as the heir to the Zenith family, but she would never had guessed that he was so…

“That’s very kind of you…” Starlight said with a gentle smile, touched by his thoughtfulness. Not even her father had asked her if she wanted to go through with this marriage. “And I thank you, but I don’t have a boyfriend, sorry to disappoint you.”

Now that she thought of it, the thought of breaking the engagement never crossed her mind.

The Duke smiled, looking somewhat relieved. “Why should I be disappointed? I feel like the luckiest stallion in Equestria.”

She laughed and asked her own question, “What about you? Any special pony I should be aware of?”

“If I had one, do you think I would be offering to break off this engagement?”

“Well, yes, I would like to know now in case I have to fight for your hoof in marriage on our wedding day.”

An image pops up in her mind of her dressed in a wedding gown, fighting a group of mares also dressed in wedding gowns, with the Duke sitting in the corner with a bucket of popcorn and watching the action unfold. They both laughed at the absurd scenario she conjured, and they took a moment to compose themselves before he spoked again.

“Yes, that’s a fair point. Alas, I’m afraid that no other mare has considered me as a suitable match.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, but that’s a relief for me, fighting in a gown is near impossible.”

They chuckled and the pair fell into an easy silence, the first one they experience that day. They couldn’t help but feel at ease with the other’s sincerity, the awkwardness between lessening until it was almost none existent. Starlight almost didn’t want to break it.

“How old are you, Sir Zenith?” She suddenly asked, ending the comfortable silence.

“I’m twenty-seven, and you?”

“Twenty-five.” Starlight said and tossed her mane over her shoulder. “Are you sure you want to marry a spinster like me? According to most stallions, I’m already past my prime.”

“Yes,” he said quickly, and Starlight looked at him with a look of surprise. “Honestly, I’m glad our parents waited this long for us to marry. I can’t imagine going through this when I was eighteen.”

“Why would you say that?”

He took a breath before speaking. “I was just an overgrown foal in many ways, fresh out of Magic School, with no direction or purpose…not prepared in any way to take on a wife.”

She did the math in her head and said. “And I would’ve been sixteen.”

Starlight vision herself at that age, recalling a young mare with more anger than sense, orphaned of mother, her father absent due to work, no one to guide her or stop her from making poor choices. If it hadn’t been for her friends, she didn’t know what would have been of her, if she would even be here today.

She pictured that angry mare being forced to marry, and the thought made her wince.

Maybe there was a reason why their parents had postponed the marriage.

“As long as we’re being honest,” Starlight said after a pause, gripping the last of her courage before it fled. “I confess that I’m still very anxious about all…this.” She gestured at the space between them.

“Do I make you uncomfortable?”

“I don’t know, and that’s just it: all my life, I’ve been told that I was to marry you, but all I know is your name and title, I don’t know anything about you.” She explained and her ears lowered slightly as she sighed. “Nothing terrifies me more than the idea of marrying a complete stranger.”

“Lady Glimmer,” Sir Zenith said gently. “If that’s what you fear, then ask me anything you want, anything you want to know, let me help you ease those doubts. I…I can’t promise that you’ll like everything you hear, but I can promise that I won’t be deceitful with my answers.”

Starlight watched him as he spoke. He seem a little nervous, but that just made him appear all the more sincere. To see him so anxious gave her a strange sense of comfort, it made her feel like she wasn’t alone with her fears or going crazy when those around were so collected. She smiled gently and let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“Thank you so much, Sir Zenith.”

He grinned. “What do you want to know?”

Starlight and the Duke continued on to lighter topics, like the weather, their favorite food, their favorite flower, their favorite color, etc. Time passed without either of them noticing until, when they were in the middle of a debate about Ponisagus impact on magical theory, they heard their names being called in the distance. They instantly recognize the voices of their respective parent.

“Oh my,” Starlight said, looking at the lake and sky tinged in the colors of twilight. “Look how late it is.”

“I’m really sorry Lady Glimmer, I should’ve realized the time.” Sir Zenith said hurriedly, standing from the marble bench, he turned to offer his hoof to Starlight, but she was already standing and dusting off the dust from her skirts.

He drop his hoof with a little reluctance.

“I better get going before my father thinks the worse.”

“Chipmunk cheeks! Where are you?!” Her father yelled in a desperate tone.

Starlight winced. “Too late, he already thinks the worse.”

“I’ll take the brunt of his anger, if it’s any consolation.” The stallion said, guiding Starlight down the path they came from, it was much darker under the cover of the trees so he stayed close at by her side in case she tripped. “But in all seriousness Lady Glimmer, if there’s anything I can do to diverge your father’s anger from yourself let me know.”

“Please don’t fret Sir Zenith, there are few things I can do that would truly upset him, he’s just worried.” She said, ducking under a particularly low branch. “I’ll speak to him, which should calm him down.”

As they walked, the sound of their parent’s voices got louder until they could see them just a few steps away. They were standing in front of the mansion, in the middle of the clearing that separated the garden from the building, with the light of the house pouring from the glass doors onto the ground, outlining their silhouettes.

The young pair stood somewhat hidden in the shadows of the trail. The Duchess spotted them first and waved, causing Firelight to turn and give Sunburst a serious look. The young stallion winced, steeling himself for the boxing his ears were about to receive and stepped forward, only to be stopped when a gentle hoof on his side rested on his shoulder.

“I want three.”

The Duke blinked and looked at Starlight with confusion. “Excuse me?”

“Three foals.” Starlight said, perfectly seriously even if her smile was coy like. “No more, no less.”

Starlight walked away to greet her father and her future mother-in-law; she didn’t notice the blush she’d caused.

“You’re getting married?!”

Starlight Glimmer winced, rubbing her left ear to stop it from ringing. “Could you say that a little louder, guys? I don’t think they heard you in Yak-Yakistan.”

Starlight had invited her three closest friends for their bi-weekly get together in her home in Shire’s Town. Since the four of them lead widely different lives it was rare for the group to be together like this, and Starlight was immensely happy that all of them could make it this time, even if her hearing would never be the same after this. Glancing at her friends sitting on the table with her, she wasn’t surprise by their reactions, never the less their expressions amused her.

Trixie Lulamoon was the funniest by far, being a show pony by heart she had a penchant for being dramatic, and she didn’t disappoint with her answer. She stood on her back legs, her forelegs braced against the table, knocking her chair over with a clatter. Her eyes were wide and her mouth hang open, looking at Starlight like she grown a second horn.

“You’re getting married?” Trixie repeated in a lower tone.

“Yes, is it that hard to believe?”

“Are you asking literally or figuratively?” said a monotone voice.

Maud Pie’s eyebrows rose a quarter of an inch, which was the most movement Starlight had seen in her face for the pass hour. She was the hardest pony to impress, since she rarely smiled or expressed herself, but she was painfully direct with her words, saying exactly what she was thinking in a monotone voice, making it hard to tell when she was joking and when she was being serious.

“Oh my gosh! This is so exciting!” Silverstream said, bouncing slightly in her seat while looking at Starlight with wide eyes. “Do we know him? When can we meet him? How did he propose? Was it romantic? Tell us everything!”

Starlight smiled at the young hippogriff, hating to be the one to break the idealistic delusions she had. Silverstream was young, optimistic and a romantic at heart, believing firmly in the power of true love and happily ever after’s, but she was also old enough to understand that not everyone got them.

There was no way to sugar coat this, she had to tell them the truth.

“Actually, Silverstream,” Starlight said, interrupting her romantic rambling, “this marriage was decided for us when we were very little.”

A beat a silence.

“WHAT!?” Trixie and Silverstream exclaimed; Maud Pie’s eyebrows rose another quarter of an inch.

“You’re marrying a guy you don’t love!?”

“You’re being forced to marry a guy you don’t know!?”

“This is terrible!”

“We have to stop this!”

“How can we help?”

“Trixie’s carriage is in the back! If we run now, we’ll be at the border in—”

“GUYS!” Starlight yelled, cutting through her friend’s desperate chatter. “It’s okay, I’m not being forced, I’ve known about it for years, ever since I was little.”

“For years?” Trixie said and exchanged looks with the others on the table. “Then how come you never told me—I mean, us, about it?”

Starlight smiled sadly and patted her friend’s shoulder. “I’m sorry Trixie, I shouldn’t have kept this from any of you, the engagement just seemed so far away and I didn’t want to alarm you with something I didn’t even had a date set for.”

“Then that means you got a dead line now?” said Maud after a beat of silence.

“The date,” Starlight corrected, giving Maud a pointed look, “is next spring, the engagement party is in two weeks.”

“But who are you marrying Starlight?” asked Silverstream loudly, interrupting the mares staring contest. “Is it some pony we know?”

“His name is Sunburst Zenith, we used to play together when we were foals, though last week was the first time I’ve seen him in years.” She said, omitting the detail about his noble title, she figured she already dropped enough bombshells on her friends for today.

Her friends went quiet, each of them thinking where they had heard that name before, if ever. After a few seconds Trixie gave up and took a sip of her tea, and nearly spitted it out when Silverstream gasped and jumped out of her chair.

“You’re marrying an important wizard!?”

“Oh, I thought I heard that name somewhere.” Maud said unconcernedly and ate another cookie.

“Wait—what? What are you talking about?”

The hippogriff sat back down with an excited grin. “His family is, like, super good at magic, or I think he’s really good at magic? Anyway, he’s written a bunch of books and Professor Twilight says he’s the authority when it comes to spells and stuff like that.”

Starlight looked just as dumbfounded by this news as her friends, probably even more since it never crossed her mind that her fiancé might actually have a job. The nobles she knew only talked about the parties they attended or the latest gossip, she saw from her first meeting with Sir Zenith that he was different in that regard, now she felt like kicking herself for not asking him one of the most basic of questions when meeting some pony new.

Maud set down her tea cup before adding: “Some say he’s the next Star Swirl.”

“In other words: he’s a nerd, my best friend is marrying a nerd.” Trixie said with a huff. “Well, I guess you could’ve done worse than marrying some boring book worm.”

“Yeah, funny how these things just happen,” Starlight laughed nervously and quickly changed the subject. “You can all met him at the engagement party and judge for yourselves, which you are all invited by the way.”

“But, Starlight,” said Silverstream with genuine concern. “It’s arranged marriage…are you sure about this?”

They all looked concerned and Starlight was immensely touched by it, but she didn’t want to explain to them the real reasons behind her engagement. She didn’t think that they would understand, not when they all had grown up with the idea that marriage was something done out of love and devotion. Mares like her couldn’t just marry the first stallion that catch her fancy, she had too much to lose in that regard. Besides, she could see how they would take it the wrong way, when she broke down the reason to its barest of essentials, it all sounded very shallow: He’s only marrying me for my money, and I’m only marrying him for his title.

She should just be happy that her husband-to-be was as gentle and thoughtful as he is, like Trixie said, she could have done much worse.

“I think I’ll be okay,” Starlight said with honesty. “He’s grown up to be a generous stallion, in fact…”

She told them how he was prepared to call off the wedding is she happened to have a boyfriend, they all seemed impressed by his kindness. At least Silverstream and Trixie were, it was hard to tell with Maud.

“If this is what you want Starlight, then we’re behind you one hundred percent!” Said the young hippogriff with a smile.

“Me too,” Maud added in her usual monotone.

They both turn to look at Trixie, who after a few moments finally cave. “Yeah, yeah, power of friendship and all that…just, promise to tell us if something happens? Like, if he snores or he’s secretly a jerk.”

Starlight grinned. “I promise to come to you if he so much as frowns at me, besides, who to better confide in than my own brides’ maids?”

Trixie and Silverstream gasped, and Maud finally cracked a tiny smile. “This should be fun.”

The conversation shifted into impromptu wedding planning, the mood had lightened considerably and Starlight was swept away with the others in their enthusiasm, then she remembered what Silverstream had mentioned and asked.

“By the way Silverstream, do you know the name of any of the books he’s written?”

In Which Sunburst Takes An Art Class

Author's Note

Summary: The art class Sunburst, a college student majoring in engineering, is forced to take just brought in a familiar muse.

Warnings: Equestria Girls/College Universe, some descriptions of nudity, but otherwise a very fluffy piece.

Notes: Happy Valentines day! Have these two being adorable to celebrate this day.

In Which Sunburst Takes An Art Class

He did not like this class.

He really didn’t, but his advisor said that taking a sketching class would strengthen his ability to draw schematics. Sunburst didn’t think there was anything wrong with his sketches in the first place, however—since he was on a scholarship—it was best for him to follow the suggestion.

So, here he was, in his thirteenth week of what was effectively a glorified art class.

This month’s project was to sketch a live muse chosen by the teacher herself Ms. Cadance. According to rumors, she was raised by a rich noblewoman and she majored in political science along with art history before working at Crystal University. Another rumor stated that she and Dr. Shining Armor, a Ph.D. in Psychology, were high school sweethearts and we’re getting it on after hours. But that’s another story. Sunburst opened his bag and took out his materials, pencils, and erasers, as he waited with the rest of the class for the muse to show up.

Many of his classmates were setting bets on whether Mr. Armor would walk in or not. He rolled his eyes and kept quiet. He adjusted the tripod easel to his stature, twisting the knobs and pushing the panes to accommodate the height and width of his sketch paper. As he finished securing the paper to the easel, the classroom door opened.

The person that walked in was much too short and thin to be Mr. Armor, in fact, it was a girl.

Her long purple hair was loose and covered most of her lower back, which swayed slightly with her every step, and he caught glimpses of turquoise hiding in her locks and underneath her beanie hat. She was dressed in tight grey jeans, with rips on her knees and going up to her upper thighs, and a dark green shirt with a black jacket slung over her shoulder. The girl’s black sneakers barely made a sound against the tile floor, she moved like she weighed no more than a feather. Her dark blue eyes looked over the room before they stopped on Sunburst. She smiled flirtatiously before turning away, leaving him awkwardly smiling in return.

She was one of those girls.

“Sorry I’m late, Mr. Armor wanted to go over my paper before I left.” Her voice cut through the silence like a knife as she threw her jacket onto an empty chair.

“That’s alright,” Ms. Cadance said before she turned to the class. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Starlight Glimmer and she will be your muse for the month.”

She gave a mediocre salute in the direction of the students. “Nice to meet you guys, just call me Starlight.”

“She’s a Psychology major and has offered to help us for the month.”

Ms. Cadance motioned Starlight to move towards the platform in the middle of the circle of easels. Sunburst could feel the anticipation from those around him, especially the guys, who sat a little straighter as they watched Starlight step up to the platform.

“So, I just stand here and look good, right?” She asked.

The room erupted in laughter, except for a redhead in the back. His glorified art class just got even worse.

“Yes, Starlight. Just stand there and look pretty, start stripping as soon as you get comfortable.” The teacher said before moving back towards her own easel.

“Alright,” Starlight took off her hat and her shirt, throwing both items onto the chair over her jacket.

She was standing in a somewhat profile position towards him, which gave him a clear view of her chest and abdomen. He was glad he was sitting in the back; it was easier to hide the heat of his cheeks as he looked down at his blank canvas. She wasn’t like, supermodel thin, but it was clear that she took care of herself—or at least blessed with a good metabolism system since her stomach was flat and toned, the skin free of blemishes and looked smooth to the touch.

He looked up just in time for her to take off her bra, reaching behind her back and unclasping the garment in one graceful movement. Some of the guys gave appreciative mumbles while the girls simply scoffed. Starlight kicked off her shoes while undoing her pants and letting them fall to the floor, along with her black panties. The entire class had at least a bit of pink on their cheeks. She gathered her clothes and dumped them onto the chair before stepping up to the platform, taking a firm stance, and looked off towards the wall, as if she was trying to ponder the reason for its existence.

“You may begin,” Ms. Cadance instruction brought everyone back to the work at hand.

Sunburst stared at the muse. The angle she was standing in made it hard for him to see her lines clearly. He sighed and let his eyes roam. If he was going to do this, he was going to do this right.

He’d never drawn anyone from an ecarte position before, but there was a first time for everything. After drawing the basic outline, he started with her head. The girl certainly had some great bone structure, her expression was serious, but her dark blue eyes had a sparkle of mischief to them. He then moved to sketch her shoulders and neck. There was a lock of hair curling around her shoulder and draping over her clavicle, and he wondered how her skin would feel if he could just reach out and smooth that lock back behind her ear. He dismissed that idea with a shake of his head. Sunburst continued his way down as he sketched, capturing every detail—flaw and perfection—onto the paper, while being as fateful as possible to the original.

His brows knitted in concentration as he worked, he didn’t even glance at the clock as it ticked by, he was starting to work on her knees when Ms. Cadance placed a hand on his shoulder. Normally, a student would stop what they were doing to acknowledge her, however, Sunburst was so immersed in his work that he didn’t even feel the teacher’s touch. The redhead continued to sketch the purple-haired beauty in front of him and it wasn’t until Ms. Cadance cleared her throat that he snapped out of his trance.

The teacher smiled. “You’ve got quite the talent Mr. Zenith.”

He lowered his head as he blushed. “Umm…t-thanks.”

“Class is dismissed for today. I will collect your final draft on Friday.”

With that, all the students gathered their things and Miss Model stepped down from the platform and started dressing. Everyone bolted to the lunchroom, this left Sunburst in the room alone with the object of his most recent sketches. He quickly made his way to the door, despite him having trouble closing the zipper of his backpack, juggling his portfolio under his armpit and his pencil case between his teeth, he was uncomfortable with the idea of staying in the same room with her any longer.

Sunburst had grown up in an insanely small town, where the craziest thing you could do was to eat the hard bread that the baker made and not break your teeth in the process. Never in his life had he seen someone naked other than himself.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. When he was younger, he would often bathe with his neighbor. He couldn’t have been older than eight at the time, and he can hardly recall those moments in the bathtub with…

As he reached for the doorknob, his jaw went slack. His pencil case and portfolio tumbled out of his grasp.

There’s no way that…

The sound of his belongings hitting the floor brought him back to reality. Cursing under his breath, he knelt down and picked up his pencils and papers. His portfolio was practically empty, as multiple drawings and sketches laid sprawled along the floor, forming a trail towards him. Frantically, he tried to stuff his most recent work into his folder, but before he could get to it, someone knelt down in front of him. She picked up one of the pages he was trying to hide, he looked at her from the top rim of his glasses.

How could he have missed it? Starlight Glimmer, his neighbor for seven years, his former best friend, his first crush. He used to bathe with her for crying out loud and have splash fights. Sunburst turned his head to hide the light blush on his cheeks. She definitely wasn’t the seven-year-old he had last seen all those years ago, she was all grown up now, tall and curvy in all the right places. She had been cute back then, but now she was the definition of gorgeous.

“These are amazing.” He heard her say.

“Thanks,” he mumbled taking the paper from her hand and stuffing it into his folder.

Sunburst stood up and went for the doorknob again. It would be for the best if he didn’t say anything. She probably didn’t remember him. It had been over ten years since they last saw each other.

“You signed it Zenith.”

“Yeah, that’s my last name.” He said, not looking at her.

“Your first name wouldn’t happen to be Sunburst, would it?”

He spun around to face her with wide eyes.

“I recognized you the second I walked in,” Starlight took a lock of her hair and twirled it nervously between her fingers. “You look great by the way.”

His shoulders relaxed. She might’ve changed on the outside, but she was the same goofball she was before.

“Well,” he placed a hand in the pocket of his star print jacket, suddenly more confident, “you’re not looking too bad yourself.”

They laughed in unison, the way they haven’t done in years.

“So…huh…do you have any lunch plans? I mean—it’s fine if you do! I just thought that maybe…we could go have lunch if you can…” She asked, avoiding his gaze.

The future engineer couldn’t help but laugh at the future psychologist’s rambles, but it was not out of disdain. If he didn’t laugh, he was sure he would grab her in a hug, because she was being too adorable for her own good.

“Relax Starlight, I don’t have any plans.” He reassured her with a smile.

He was supposed to meet up with his friend Stygian, but he was sure that the guy wouldn’t mind if he skipped out on just one lunch. The lie was worth the look on her face. Her eyes were wide and her grin even wider. She almost looked like she was glowing.

“I know this amazing café a few blocks down from campus. It has the best apple pie you will ever have the pleasure of tasting.”

“I can’t turn down apple pie, can I?”

“I think you might get arrested if you do.”

After catching up over lunch, exchanging numbers, and making plans to go out for a drink sometime, a thought occurred to him. Maybe this glorified art class wasn’t that bad after all.

In Which Sacrifices are Made

Author's Note

Summary: She'd been left to rust, a fitting penance for her failure. But it's not her Creator's hooves that bring her back – these warm, calloused hooves drawing life from cold mechanical limbs. He's her Saviour, and sometimes he makes her forget she is not of his kind

Warnings: Violence, Cyberpunk setting, implied character death, and unrealistic scientific mumble-jumble.

Notes: Heavily inspired by this picture and my imagination took it from there.

In Which Sacrifices are Made

Starlight knew war.

She knew it in the marrow of her artificial bones―knew it like an organic creature knows how to breathe and sleep and move. It resonated in every metal joint and arch, like the pumping of blood in coil-like veins―it was the very essence of her being. She’d been created for it, molded by it, and she lived for it. As much as an automaton could live, anyway.

Then he’d dug her out of the snow and ice, and learned a whole new meaning for living. It was his calloused hooves and gentle magic that brought her back together, his laughter a command unlike any she’d ever known, not ordering her but compelling her to mimic the quirk of his expressive mouth. His will was what brought her back from the brink, his kindness saw past her empty shell and found more than a machine whose sole mission was mindless violence and destruction. Her “Creator” gave her form, a task, a purpose in the form of warfare, but the mechanic―Sunburst―gave her life.

And for his sake, she would give it up in a beat of her mechanical heart.

“If we keep going down this way, we’ll be trapping ourselves into a corner―there’s no way out.”

Sunburst stomped his hooves as he paced, but the cramped space of the corridor gave him little room for his anxious pacing. He lost his tool belt along the way and he shuddered, restless without something to hold. He was no fighter, but even a mechanic would feel helpless going up against an army of killer-robots without some kind of weapon to use.

“He’s right,” Trixie said, strangely calm, but Starlight picked up the erratic pulse of her heart and the rigid lines of her withers betrayed her calm demeanor. “And if we linger here, they’ll catch up.”

Starlight looked through her memory data for a solution but found instead an impressive list of cuss words. She didn’t feel panic―she wasn’t programmed to, and for all of the adjustments he made, he hadn’t tampered with that. Though she didn’t feel it, she could understand the severity of the situation. If she had her old combat function, she could have blasted the concrete walls boxing them in, or even taken on the horde of droids heading their way, but she didn’t have her old weapons, and she couldn’t take on an army with weak magic and her bare hooves.

Regret was also a sentiment that wasn’t programmed into her, but she couldn’t stop thinking what would have happened if they hadn’t gone to the Cloud District―if they stayed in Sunburst’s workshop in the Crystal Empire. But her logic pointed out that there was no way they could’ve known there would be an army of changeling robots, also known as Droids, waiting for them when they arrived at Cloudsdale. They were chased down for a better part of the night by the Droids and the police until they found refuge in an abandoned mech factory, but there was the possibility that they were herded into a trap; there was no way for them to escape with what they had at their disposal.

Sunburst looked at her then, eyes wide and pleading for a plan she didn’t have, and she remembered the first time she’d seen him, though his eyes had been full of excitement then, a day a dig had been successful, and death hadn’t been hot on their tails.

“Starlight?” There was a tremble in his voice, one she’d never heard before, and she’d recorded and cataloged every pitch and lit of his voice since the first time she’d heard it.

“...this wire…”

“...if I attach...the circuitry is…”

Her sensors registered touch―warm, soft, careful movements, a persistent tug in her inner workings that sent a jolt of power through her system and her eyes flew open―

“Holy sh―”

“Sunburst, stand back!”

Her vision had been compromised, she switched to heat signature vision and her head snapped towards the source of the voices. Three ponies, by her estimation, probably more outside the room but her sensors weren’t fully operational, from the temperature she concluded she was inside a room, no windows, only a door behind her captors, soundproof, concrete walls, cement floor. But with her busted sensors and deactivated vision, she couldn’t conclude anything else with one hundred percent accuracy.

“Wait―no, wait, Shining, let me just―”

Her default vision connected and went back online, it registered with a jolt, and white light flooded her sensors―light, and something very yellow and red, and once her vision came into focus she registered a pair of blue eyes―real eyes, not made out of plastic or silicon, living and vivid and brimming with life unlike the cold unsympathetic gaze of a sentry robot pointing a blaster gun to her head―

“Hello?”

A warm hoof on the side of her face and she froze, not that she could move much, a quick scan told her that three of her four legs had been removed, the only one attached to her was hanging by a few measly cables. She was rooted to her spot by the power cables connected to her spine, suspending her in the air with her inner machinery exposed for the world to see.

She didn’t focus on that though, but on the eyes that stared back at her with no fear in them, only curiosity, with excitement brimming around the edges. She looked at the two figures behind them, giving them a brief scan for her to analyze at a later time, but her attention was mostly on the stallion in front of her, trying to decide if he was a threat or not.

“Can you understand me?” he asked then. “Do you understand Directive?”

The GLIM robot nodded, the command registered easily through her programming. They must’ve fixed her since the last thing archived in her memory data were the warning reports that her limbs had been disabled, her mission had failed when the enemy spotted her and she had been shot down and left for scrap.

Eagerness light up his face at her understanding. “We dug you out of a snowbank―you were buried quite deep and the ice did some damage on your circuitry, luckily there was no damage to your motherboard which is why I activated you in the first place, I fixed what I could and removed some functions to replaced them with new ones―oh, sorry! My name is Sunburst. Sunburst Zenith, I’m a mechanic and we found you on a dig. What’s your name?”

His face was flushed thanks to his enthusiastic speech, his eyes glittered behind his glasses and he was so closed she could feel the heat from his face. But his inquiry didn’t register in her programming. “Name?”

He frowned. “Yes, your name. What are you called?”

Her programming told her that he was asking if she had been given a distinct designation, she nodded and pulled out her system identification window, or would have if her holographic projector hadn’t been disconnected, so she read it out loud to him instead.

“Number 4415, series five of the Galloper Legionary Intelligence Model, or GLIM-S5-4415 if you prefer.”

She thought she gave a sufficient answer, but his brows furrowed as he stared at her.

“That’s...not much of a name.”

“My number is the only distinct designation they gave me.”

His frown deepened. “Maybe where you are from, but we do things differently here.”

She glanced around once more, wondering for the first time where she was, who he worked for. The facilities were too clean, the tools around her well maintained for a freelancer, unless he had access to some considerable capital. “We?” she asked instead, looking back at him.

He grinned. “Everfree Party. You must have heard of us, I recognized your...signature.” He fumbled with his words, and she wondered about the meaning of his wince, he should just call it what it was: her Creator’s Mark, the claim of ownership. “You were part of Chrysalis forces.”

‘Part of’ was not the correct definition of her involvement with the Changeling Organization, they own her in every definition of the word. They designed, sold, manufactured, and deployed thousands of robots like her every day, but he communicated with a whole set of terms that her programming wasn’t familiar with, and it threw her protocol off with every word he said. For starters, he’s implying that automatons have other designations besides their production number.

“Everfree?” She knew the name, of course, everyone knew it―automaton or not. A soft bunch, rumor has it. They treated their robots like actual living beings, like friends and partners instead of weapons. It was ridiculous and borderline insulting. She certainly wasn’t a real pony.

He nodded. “We’re a bit...different, compared to what you’re used to. I hope that’s not a problem?”

There was a sarcastic remark in her response box waiting to be issued―an idiosyncrasy she’d picked up from her previous owner. Why did he act like she had a choice? Like she had other options if she rejected his offer? He’d reprogrammed her, her scan revealed a whole chunk of missing data in her motherboard, he even removed all of her weapons and most of her combat functions. She was useless now, a glorified paperweight, or a coat hanger if he so chose. If he was a mechanic worth his salt, he should have programmed a function to shut her down if she so much as lifted her horn against him.

“It’s acceptable.”

He beamed, happily ignorant of her inability to reject him even if she wanted to. Then again, he behaved differently from the other organics that bossed her around, and being a coat hanger was probably better than being buried under ice and snow.

“Awesome!”

He turned and nodded towards the pair, a blue unicorn mare grinned back at him and hurried to the other side of the room, while a white stallion watched GLIM closely and the hardness of his expression was something she recognized all too well: distrust.

The mare pushed a cart covered in a white blanket, which she pulled away with an unnecessary flourish and a bow of her head.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie welcomes you to the Everfree Party! And as a show of good fate, she presents you with your new body!”

The blanket fell to reveal a pair of mechanical limbs, chrome color, and polished to a shine, cables running from the inner workings and standing to attention, waiting to be connected. Sunburst gestured to the left flank where a symbol had been painted on the metal, in the same position her previous mark had been. She concluded that it must be his Creator Mark.

“One of the reasons I woke you up was to see if you liked this cutie mark I designed for you,” he said pointing at the painted star. “You’re welcome to change it later of course, or if you would rather we connect you to your body first before you make a decision?”

Again, her protocol tripped and her programming was rushed to find a suitable answer, but there were too many variables and missing information to draw a conclusive result. “Cutie Mark?” She looked at him with wide eyes as she asked.

“We all have one and they are all unique to one another, the automatons of Everfree can change theirs whenever they like, though it’s uncommon they do once a design has been settled.”

She looked at the ‘cutie mark’ closely. It was much different from her previous Creator Mark, the princess crown with bug wings behind it had been replaced by an eight-pointed star with twin tails trailing behind it, reminding her of the paper toys the fillies and colts like to toss into the wind.

“It’s acceptable.” She said with a nod and turned to him. “But why didn’t you put your Creator Mark?”

“It’s not mine to give,” he said with a shrug of his withers. “We don’t claim ownership here, but we do offer partnership.”

He then held out his hoof, his white fetlocks smeared with oil, grime underneath his blunt horseshoes. She stared at it, uncomprehending, and she looked up to meet his gaze to see there was a question there; like he really believed she had a say in the matter.

“Will you be my friend, Starlight?”

“Starlight?”

She looked up at them then, both of them―odd companions who’d made space for themselves in her memory, who’d given her a name and place in their hearts, even though she wasn’t one of their kind. A wandering mare who love stage magic, half-equine and half-machine, and a mechanic with enough affection in his reckless heart to give a second chance to a weapon like herself. They were everything to her meager existence and looking at them, their fragile lives teetering dangerously close to the end and the enemy around the corner, Starlight knew what to do.

She looked at Trixie then. “Take him away.”

The showmare’s frown deepened but didn’t waste time arguing, though Starlight did not doubt that she wanted to. Instead, she nodded and without a word picked up Sunburst in her magic and pulled him to her side. “What―Trixie, what are you doing―” he yelped when his hooves left the ground, dangling uselessly in the air, but didn’t offer any protests, only turned to face her until he met her eyes. The confusion was evident in the furrow of his brows and Starlight wondered if he would ever forgive her for what she’s about to do.

“Starlight? What’s going on?”

“The wall is thick, but not impenetrable. A good explosion should make a hole big enough for an escape.”

He rolled his eyes at that. “I know that but we don’t have any explosives―” he stopped himself and the confusion melt away to understanding.

And then to horror. “No―”

Trixie’s magic held him in place as he thrashed, kicking and bucking for all he was worth, but he had never been physically strong and Trixie’s magic held him fast. “You can’t―you said you wouldn’t go back to being a weapon. You promised―”

“I’m not.”

She smiled―made her artificial muscles obey the memory of his patient tutoring, the fond roll of his eyes as he explained the practice of showing humor and contentment among ponies, the curve and quirk of a mouth that could mean so many different things. And she paid attention even when he wasn’t actively teaching her―fond smiles and excited ones reserved for when he found a new piece of machinery to take apart; patient smiles and other ones he reserved only for her. She cataloged them all and, aside from the color of his eyes, it was the one prominent memory she had of him, stored away where violence and battle had taken up so much space in her mind.

The breath went out of him. “You-you’re smiling.”

She shrugged, another gesture she picked up, but mostly from Trixie, who did an excessive amount of it in defiance to her gossipmongering and general meddling nature. “I’m not a weapon,” she said. “Not anymore.”

He shook his head, ready to protest, but she held out a hoof to silence him.

“This wasn’t an action programmed into me,” she said, hoping he would understand. “It’s a choice. You always told me to make my own decisions, that’s the protocol you gave me to follow.”

She changes the curve of her smile, turning it into a smirk, at least by his definition. The textbook one had been ‘the kind of smile that follows a wry comment, suggests self-satisfaction or smugness.’ She didn’t feel particularly satisfied at the moment but in another context, she felt she would have been smug at her own reasoning. It went to show how much she learned from him.

Sounds of approaching Droids broked the silence that had settled between them, and Starlight nodded at Trixie, a silent plea, but despite her reassurances, Sunburst still called after her to stop, come back don’t leave me don’t you dare leave me don’t you dare―

His voice grew faint as she put distance between them. She was a Galloper after all, and the speed of her model had yet to be outmatched, but there was a function shared by all models created by the Changeling Organization that made her especially dangerous. Her inner mechanisms were highly flammable―they were designed that way to ensure that company secrets were destroyed with their robots, so enemies couldn’t gather their parts or their memory discs. There’d be no putting her back together after this, Starlight knew―knew it like the truth embedded into her circuitry. It was designed specifically to destroy the part of her that made her operational, the part that made her who she was. If robots had a soul, or whatever the equivalent was, triggering the explosion would eradicate it.

Her mind went to the cutie mark she’d engraved in the metal plate of her flank, another secret, but this one all of her own. On the other side of the plate and underneath her mark, the one she’d carved herself when no one was watching. His cutie mark, like a Creator’s signature, but different. She was his, but by her own decision. She never got the chance to show him.

The steady thrum of the approaching mechs shuddered through her, a steady drum drum drum of Droids against the concrete floor, but she was hardly listening for it. As her programming went over the protocols, she played all the images and sound bytes she had of Sunburst―the concentrated wrinkle of his brows as he worked on a project, his laughter playing loudly in her ears, and his surprised shrieks when she hoisted him over her back and ran across the rooftops of the city. She let herself get lost in memories of him to drown out the warning chimes blaring through her system as her core overheated.

The blast would not only break the concrete wall but also take out several Droids with her, triggering a chain reaction of explosives as their flammable insides made contact with her flame. The blast would do it―it would have to, they had no other escape. Trixie would take him to safety, she knew, but this―this was her job. Starlight’s job, not GLIM’s. She left the title behind, and she was taking the new one with her to whatever afterlife awaited for her kind.

I’m sorry, Sunburst.

The heat melted away the last of her defenses and all she could see was light. Light, blinding, burning, searing, melting, scorching light. And in her mind, it tore apart the red of his hair and the endless blue of his grinning eyes.

In Which There Are Seaponies

Author's Note

Summary: Sunburst, a seapony tired of his life under the sea, longs to live in the surface among the four-legged ponies that make the wonderful things that he loves. But when he lays eyes on Starlight Glimmer he finally has the courage to pursue his dreams, despite the heavy consequences that his selfish desires may bring.

Warnings: PG-13 violence.

Notes: This is one of the versions of Swallowed in the Sea I wrote when I was trying to come up with the plot, this story is very close to the Disney version, almost annoyingly so. Some parts may seem rushed since I had to cut a lot of unnecessary scenes, but since it's so close to Disney's Little Mermaid I feel you guys can fill in the blanks of what happens in between, even so, feel free to ask questions if you want further clarification.

In Which There Are Seaponies

Entranced by those wonderful, explosive lights, Sunburst climbed up the side of the ship.

He tuned out the warnings of his brothers, determined to get a better look. Those lights were like nothing he’d ever seen before and that music! It was so strange and yet so wonderful, just like everything the earth ponies did that found its way to the bottom of the sea. He wondered if he could replicate the colorful lights somehow. But he wouldn’t bother with the music, he was a terrible singer after all.

He grabbed a thick rope that was hanging from the side and pulled himself up, finding a place to sit on the anchor. He peered into an opening between the floor and the railing and his eyes widened at the sight. Ponies on four legs gathered on the wooden deck, their hooves tapping and leaping to the rhythm of the jovial music. Musicians swayed with every note, never missing a beat. The lights glittered from their instruments and the spectators stomped their hooves and tipped their heads back in laughter.

Sunburst’s smile widened at the unique instruments, the way the dancers glided across the floor, their colorful clothing, and the delicious smells that floated his way, this was a sight waterlogged books couldn’t capture.

Spying a little pony approaching his spot, Sunburst ducked into the shadows. The last thing he needed was for the little one to cry when it saw him. After a few moments, he dared to peek his face into the light. He was met with a white face and blue opal eyes meeting his gaze. He tensed, waiting for the inevitable wailing and screaming that would occur, but instead she let out a giggle and petted his snout.

He flinched and tried to gently push the little pony away, but she was insistent and took it as a game, coming after him and laughing every time she missed. It seemed like she wanted his attention, highly unusual for a creature of the surface, but it wasn’t unwelcome. He smiled softly and lowered his head, just enough for the little one to play with the orange color fin on his head.

"Flurry! There you are!”

Sunburst held back a surprised squeal and ducked under the deck again. He heard hooves approaching his spot and a feminine voice giggling.

“Come here,” she cooed. “You can’t go swimming at this hour, what would your aunt say?”

The baby made an annoying sound and the pony responded with a mocking imitation. Sunburst held back a smirk. He waited for the steps to grow fainter before looking up. Leaning against the railing was a young mare. He could only make out her silhouette, but the light flared over the turquoise hues hidden in her mane. It was tied back by an intricate braid with green ribbons, but it was loose enough for it to sway with the ocean breeze.

Sunburst’s eyes widened, filled with curiosity.

“Starlight! Thank you for keeping an eye on my niece!” Another voice said.

Starlight, Sunburst mouthed his eyes on the dark silhouette framed by the warm light of the gathering.

“She was looking out at the water. I was making sure she didn’t decide to go swimming,” the mare replied, stepping away from the railing. At this, Sunburst rose on his perch, and...and the universe stopped.

The mare was small in stature but held herself high. Her coat was a soft purple color, reminiscent of the coral from his home, brushed to a shine with no hair out of place and it looked smooth to the touch. The dark blue dress she wore glinted and swayed with her every step, it was beautiful but he was too busy being mesmerized by the smile on her lips, lighting up her dark eyes with stars. Dark blue, like the ocean he was born in, and he wondered what secrets were hidden in her depths.

Unbeknownst to him, a smile etched on his face, his chin coming to rest on the wooden deck as he took her in.

She ran a hoof over the little filly’s head as a mare, much taller than her, with wings on her back and a horn on her head took her in with a hug.

“Starlight, are you okay? I couldn’t help but notice that you’ve been distant this whole evening,” she said, lowering her voice so none of the passengers would overhear their conversation.

“Starlight,” Sunburst murmured, committing the name to memory. He loved the way it rolled on his tongue.

“I’m sorry Twilight, I have a lot on my mind but I can’t seem to make sense of it,” she sighed. Averting her eyes, she turned to the darkened ocean. Flurry Heart wiggled from her grasp and flew to sit on Twilight’s withers, much to her disappointment. “But I am having fun, the music, the food, the fireworks, it’s all very lovely. Pikie Pie really outdid herself, then again, it is Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack’s big day."

“Well, sometimes, saying things out loud will help you better understand them. As it is to have a friendly ear listening to you,” Twilight offered, putting a wing over the mare’s shoulders. Her expression told Sunburst that it wasn’t the first time this has happened.

Starlight paused, looking at her hooves for a moment, then sighed before looking up. “It just seems like… everyone is moving on while I’m still, I don’t want to say stuck, just...in the same place?”

“Are you not happy with running the school?” Twilight asked, a worried frown on her face.

“No! I love my job! It’s hard but fulfilling, I got used to the workflow and Trixie’s been a great help...but lately I’ve been getting this feeling like something is missing, which is stupid because I have everything I could possibly want.”

“Do you know when you started having these feelings?”

“I guess it started when Pinkie got married, I was a little jealous back then, not at her, but at how happy and fulfilled she looked, and then today those feelings came back with a vengeance.” Her ears lowered with shame. “Seeing Rainbow Dash and Applejack exchange vows made me realize that I’m missing something, something I don’t think I deserve.”

“Hey, look at me,” the mare said gently. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You deserve to be happy just like anyone else on this boat, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting more than what we are given, it’s what pushes us to make changes and to be better ponies.”

At this, Starlight’s spirit’s lifted somewhat. The two walked to the edge of the deck once more. Sunburst sat on his ledge and dared to keep his eyes on her as she leaned on the railing. The wind graced her cheeks, messing with her hair and sending his heart fluttering. However, the melancholy in her eyes was hard to miss. He wished he could take her sadness and mold it into joy, like everything he repaired at home.

“I don’t want to sound ungrateful. I really appreciate all you have done for me Twilight, but I think it would be impossible for me to find a special pony in the same way the girls have,” she confessed. The loneliness in her voice made his heart twist painfully in his chest.

“Cadance always says that we are all deserving of love, you just have to be willing to look for it,” Twilight said, looking out to the sea. “How about you talk to her the next time she visits?”

“I don’t know, blind dates aren’t really my thing and I hate surprises,” Starlight said. “Is someone who takes an interest in my interests really that much to ask for?”

As he listened his mind drifted back to his home. He loved the ocean, his little cave filled with things from the surface and salvaged knick-knacks. He loved his father, his brothers, and his friends more than life, but it was often a lost cause to discuss objects and inventions from the surface with them. He would present to them a fascinating discovery only to receive blank looks, maybe a question if they were feeling generous. He much preferred to be on his own, but lately, his comfortable solitude had turned stifling, and his cave of wonders didn’t feel so wonderful anymore. What was the point of collecting these treasures if he didn’t have someone to share them with?

His fascination with the surface world was something his father didn’t approve of. Sunburst shouldn’t even be here, but his curiosity was greater than his fear of punishment, and his father’s warnings did nothing to deter his thirst for knowledge. He spent years going to shipwrecks and scouting the coast for useful things, often incorporating what he found into his personal projects. He wanted to learn everything he could about the surface, no matter the danger.

As if that wasn’t enough, another dream lay before his very eyes. He wouldn’t dare to break such a sacred rule to his kind: to never be seen by landlubbers, and yet his mind was working on ways to approach her. Maybe he could hide behind a boulder and talk to her. At least he could be her friend if nothing else, and she wouldn’t be so lonely…

Thunder crashed and roared over their heads, interrupting the conversation of the mares and snapping Sunburst out of his daze. Perhaps his father was still angry with him, they had been fighting more than usual and this last one had been especially bad. His fury rarely erupted, but underlying emotions still stirred the ocean’s waters.

The wind and the rain followed shortly, and the waves rocked the boat almost violently. Sunburst was flung off into the murky water. He resurfaced just a few moments later against his better judgment and watched in horror as lightning struck the vessel and it caught fire. All the guests were rushed into smaller vessels, Twilight and Starlight taking the lead in the evacuation.

The rigging to the last boat snapped amid the flames and it fell to the water with a splash. It landed unsteadily, but the passengers weren’t flung overboard. Twilight stood up and cried to the ship, the other passengers holding her back.

Starlight was still on the boat, using her magic to push away the heavy beam from falling over the emergency boats. With a scream she flung the twelve-foot beam away from the passengers and into the sea and, despite his horror of the situation, he couldn’t help but be impressed by the strength of her magic, but it was all for nothing when a large wave came and swept her away.

Sunburst dove under and swam like he never had before. The light of the flaming ship revealed her struggling form. The dress, beautiful on the dance floor, now weighed her down and dragged her further into the depths. A rope was tangled in her hooves and she was kicking wildly to free herself.

As Sunburst closed in, her horn started to glow brighter by the second, her eyes closed in concentration. Of course, she would use her powerful magic to free herself. Sunburst maintained his distance, exhaling through his gills.

The mast of the ship crashed into the water and Starlight was caught in the violent current it caused. She lost her concentration and the last of her breath. Her eyes were wide with fear before they closed in surrender.

Acting fast, Sunburst darted to her and used his own magic. He cut the rope and the heavy skirts with just a few flashes, making her light enough to float on her own. He wrapped a hoof around her waist and hauled her to the surface. He broke to the water with a gasp, and pulled her against his chest, keeping her head above the water. He looked around for one of the boats but found none among the tall waves.

He spent the rest of the night swimming to the nearest shore, doing everything he could to keep her alive, holding Starlight close as he protected her from the elements.

“It’s going to be alright, I’ll save you, I promise that nothing else will hurt you as long as I’m here,” he said, mostly to himself, knowing full well she could not hear him.

Sunburst pressed his ear to her chest, confirming for the dozenth time that she was still breathing, that her heart was beating strong. They reached the shore hours ago and she had yet to wake up. Despite his extensive knowledge of her kind, he was no healer and was at loss on what to do. All the books he read never mentioned a remedy for drowning, he just knew that she needed air in the same way he needed water. In the meantime, he would continue watching over her.

He hoped that she would be strong enough to walk on her own. There was a castle on the end of the beach, made of pink, blue and gold crystal, and he wondered who lived there and hoped that they would be kind enough to help her. Once she woke up she would return to her world and possibly never see her again, if his father ever learned of what he did.

Sunburst rubbed a hoof over his face, leaving her side for a moment to gulp water through his gills. The water trickled down his neck and a realization struck him. He wished that she would find that special pony she longed for, he wished so very desperately to be one she was looking for. He wanted to be there for her more than anything, but he couldn’t. He was a seapony and she was a unicorn, they’re union would be forbidden, not to mention impossible.

Lying by her side, he gazed at Starlight’s sleeping face. Her expression was peaceful and he wondered briefly what she was dreaming of. He wondered if maybe, just maybe, she was dreaming of him.

If they weren’t meant to be together, he could at least leave her a gift, a way to remember him even if it was only in dreams.

Sunburst was not the best singer, but even his voice carried the magic that made his kind so infamous. His song burst forth in a low but haunting melody. The sea grew quiet, the wind blew softly, even the seagulls kept to themselves as he sang. He poured all his love, his longing, and devotion into his voice, hoping that she would understand and hear his message.

He ran a hoof over her face, brushing a few strands of her hair from her eyes and he lingered over her cheek. She was soft and warm compared to his cold and placoid hoof. Starlight began to stir, letting out a light groan. He froze but continued to sing, it was impossible to stop a seapony’s song once it started.

Her hoof came to her cheek, resting on Sunburst’s hoof. Heat rushed to his cheeks and he berated himself for being so careless. His song was nearly over, he should leave now while he…

"Song…” she murmured. “So...pretty…”

His heart leaped to his throat. Her hoof was so gentle. He swallowed nervously and sang the final verses, his eyes never leaving her face, even when her eyes started to stir beneath her eyelids.

On his final note, her blue eyes started to take form, blinking in the pink light of the dawn. Sunburst held his breath, his hoof retreating from her touch. Her hoof fell to the sand as if she was reaching out to him and Sunburst sat up, gazing down at her. Dark blue eyes met the clearest blue they ever saw.

“OVER THERE! THERE’S SOMETHING OVER THERE!” A voice screeched from across the beach.

Sunburst scrambled back into the water. He inhaled the fresh saltwater, trying to settle his racing heartbeat. After a moment of quiet panicking, he gathered enough nerves to peer above the water, hiding behind a large boulder. A blue mare ran across the sand, followed by Twilight and they both tackled a still dazed Starlight to the ground, crying in joy and relief. After a few moments of crying and reassurances, they helped Starlight to her feet.

The tension on Sunburst's shoulders left him with a sigh. She was safe. She was among her friends. She would be alright.

The two mares stood on either side of Starlight, making sure she wouldn't fall as they walked towards the castle in the distance, but Starlight kept her eyes on the shoreline.

“Girls, was someone with me just now?”

“Not when Trixie saw you,” the blue mare shrugged, nudging Starlight to the right as she tripped over a loose stone. “Why?”

“It’s just...I heard some creature singing, and when I fell to the water I could’ve sworn someone was watching over me…” Starlight explained, putting a hoof to her head as it throbbed painfully.

“You've been through a lot Starlight, it’s normal to have hallucinations after such a traumatic event,” Twilight said.

“But it felt so real! There’s no way I just washed up here without some creature's help,” Starlight said irritated.

“Don’t get snappy, Twilight’s just trying to be reasonable, but Trixie admits that it sounds like a fairytale. If your ocean creature is still out there, Trixie will give them front row seats to her next show as thanks.”

“I didn’t know you cared so much,” Starlight said cheekily.

“Don’t get too sentimental, my dearest assistant. Trixie is just glad I don’t have to keep handing the princess more handkerchiefs, she ruined Trixie’s supplies with her tears!”

“As I recall you were the one crying inconsolably last night.”

“Trixie was not!”

The three mares continued on their way, slowly but steadily. Sunburst watched them go, his eyes never leaving her form. He remained there for a long time, feeling like his only chance of happiness had slipped through his hooves, wondering what would have happened if he stayed with her; if she only knew what he would risk for her.

When his brothers found him on the beach, he was softly humming to himself, lost in his own world.

“You made a deal with Sombra!?” Sun Glare yelled, pulling on the fins on his head with exasperation.

His little brother ducked his head, his mouth looking like it was nervously laughing. No sound came from his throat. Sun Glare could hardly believe that this stallion was once a seapony, but he had seen the transformation for himself. Even with all the physical changes, there was no mistaking the unique markings on his hooves and nose, white like seafoam over his golden coat, that carried over in this new form.

“Bro, I know dad was hard on you, but turning into a unicorn is crazy, even for you. What was your plan? Walk up to this female—who doesn’t know you exist—and tell her you love her with charades?” Sunglow complained. Sunburst was supposed to be the smartest among them, how could he do something so stupid?

Sunburst shook his head, then placed a white hoof over his neck, pouting his lips in imitation of a kiss.

“Oh yeah, that’ll get her to plant one on you.” Sunglow snarked.

“How long do you have again?” Sunshine asked, swimming around his brother to take in his new body.

Sunburst tapped the water three times. Grinning at his brothers.

“Three days?”

“Three weeks?”

“Three months?”

Sunburst pointed at Sun Glare and nodded his head.

“That’s enough time right?” Sunshine said hopefully, pulling at Sunburst’s new and hairy tail. Sunburst swatted Sunshine’s hoof away, feeling ticklish.

“Can’t we get dad to change you back? There’s no way we can keep him off your tail for three months,” Sunglow said, cringing at the thought of what their father would do to them when he found out about this

“He’s under contract. If he doesn’t get Starlight to fall in love with him, then he’s done for,” Sun Glare replied grimly. Then he saw his little brother’s determined look. If Sunburst didn't believe that he could do this, then he would never have taken such a risk. Sun Glare let out a sigh.

“We’ll help you, no matter what it takes.”

Sunburst beamed and jumped excitedly, sending him stumbling and tripping over Sunshine in the shallow water. He sat up, spitting out water and plucking seaweed from his red mane.

“Alright! We’re setting our little brother with a mare!”

“When you get your voice back, I’m going to choke it out of you,” Sunglow promised.

“Do you want to go to the antique store? I’m sure they’ll have something you like,” Starlight offered. The stallion looked at her as if she just permitted him to reverse engineer the tree of harmony. Starlight laughed.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Come along, book horse.”

She tugged at his hoof, sending a pleasurable current up to his leg. They spent just a few minutes in the store and Starlight was already feeling bad for the shopkeeper. The redhead was gathering every other book and knick-knack in his magic, if he kept it up the shopkeeper would have nothing left to sell. It seemed like he picked up every book he saw and he was ready to read them all. His hoof caught in a loose carpet and he tripped, sending his stash crashing to the floor and on top of him.

Starlight held back a laugh for his sake and kneeled by his side.

“Are you okay? Here, let me help you with this so we’re allowed to come back.”

They set to work gathering and neatly stacking the books. The stallion stole peeks at their content before shutting them when a particular word caught his attention.

Starlight blinked when she found an opened book held close to her face. She looked up at her newfound friend who stared down with wide excited eyes.

“These are pretty pictures, I always liked how the sun bursts through the clouds after a storm,” Starlight guessed, catching some of the text written underneath the pictures.

He shook his head and pointed at himself, mouthing something.

"Is that...your name?”

His eyes lit up and his hair practically waved at her as he nodded. Starlight stared for a moment, astounded by how expressive he was without a voice. She glanced at the picture, and then at the cutie mark on his side.

“That’s a really nice name. Now I don’t have to call you “hey you” all the time.” She shared an eager smile with Sunburst and extended her hoof. “It’s nice to meet you Sunburst, I hope we can be friends.”

He took her hoof without hesitation, shaking it eagerly. Starlight’s only regret was that she couldn’t hear her name coming from his lips. She would simply have to say his name enough times for them both.

During the day, Starlight tended to her duties as Head-mare. Whenever she could, she would stop by Sunburt’s office/workshop to bring him lunch, courtesy of the cafeteria. The school staff soon came to depend on his genius to solve many problems that aroused, especially Trixie and Starlight, who unintentionally started delegating jobs and duties that weren’t his to do but was really good at and, most importantly, more than happy to do for them.

Once in a while, she would try using her magic to break whatever curse was on him, but it was the strongest hex she had ever encountered and she made no breakthrough. Sunburst often got frustrated that he couldn’t express himself verbally, and while he could write his thoughts down, he was reluctant to tell her how he ended up the way he was.

He would apologize for not being more honest with her and Starlight would reassure him that it was fine and try not to pry. Starlight understood what it was like to have done something shameful and decided to wait until he had more trust in her. In the meantime, she slowly learned about his three brothers and father, and Starlight insisted on meeting them someday.

He was awkward and somewhat clumsy for a pony, he would fiddle with his books, walk into things, and was fascinated with every little thing around him to the point of distraction. Although his clumsy nature amplified whenever she was around, something that Trixie pointed out one day with a smirk and a wink.

His awkwardness vanished in the evenings. They watched the sunset together on the castle’s balcony as Starlight answered his many questions. He asked about her adventures and her interest in magic the most. She even told him about her past mistakes, about the angry filly that took too long to get her cutie mark, how she grew up to be a mare that almost brought the world to its knees, how Twilight made her see the light and how Trixie became her first true friend. Sunburst hadn’t said a thing after she finished her story, but the way he wiped her tears and the hug they shared spoke volumes about his understanding.

After that, Starlight found it natural to speak with him. Even without looking at him, she could tell when he was curious about something or when he found one of her quips amusing.

Being with him felt...right. Starlight hadn’t known this kind of connection could exist.

“Sunburst?”

He tilted his head, giving her his full attention.

“Thank you, for being here and just listening, it means a lot to me.”

Sunburst gave her one of his warmest smiles, spreading his forelegs for her. Like waves on the shore, Starlight crashed into him and held him close. Sunburst wrapped her in his embrace, burying his snout into her hair, his heart swelling with joy. He couldn’t wait to tell his brothers about this tonight.

His joy was cut short when he was reminded that he only had a few more sunsets before Sombra’s contract claimed him.

He had to ask her now.

He pulled away, looking into her eyes, his mouth opening out of habit despite no words coming from it. There was a knock on the door and Trixie burst in, telling Starlight that she was late for their weekly meeting of the school budget. Starlight apologized and bade Sunburst goodnight. He smiled and watched her go, promising himself that tomorrow morning he would tell her. Tomorrow would be the day he began his life with her.

“Well, that’s a wrap-up! Trixie is tired but will raid the kitchen for some late-night snacks to keep her company! Want anything?” Trixie put down her pen and stood, stretching her tired limbs.

A light ocean breeze came from the open window, the moon high in the sky and reflecting on the cold dark waters. Starlight’s room had an incredible view of the ocean, then again, all the rooms in the castle had an incredible view of the ocean, being magical and all.

“No thanks, I’m just going to head to bed.” Starlight said, closing the books and placing them in their respective drawers.

“Suit yourself. Don’t stay up too late.”

“Trust me, after the day I had, I just want some sleep,” Starlight sighed, “it was a long day that almost went horribly wrong, if it weren’t for Sunburst it would have ended in disaster.”

“Speaking of which, Trixie’s wondering if you want a magic show for your wedding,” she said teasingly. “It would be my wedding gift for you both!”

Starlight rolled her eyes, hoping that the low light would hide her blush. “Trixie, c’mon, he’s just a friend.”

“A friend that goes ga-ga over you every time you walk into the room,” the show mare said, and then her expression turned a little more serious. “He looks at you like he wants to know everything about you, and not in a creepy way, more like in a cute but sort of desperate-for-your-attention kind of why. It was funny at first, but now it’s just sad the way he trails after you. The Wise and Gracious Trixie says that if you really don’t want what he wants, you should let the poor guy know before the both of you get hurt.”

With a whip of her silver mane, Trixie strode away, leaving Starlight speechless at her desk with a stunned look on her features. No retort or comeback on her tongue.

Slowly she turned her head to the window, mulling over what Trixie said. She did not doubt that Sunburst cared about her, and she liked to be around him. But could their quiet companionship turn into something more? She hadn’t thought about romance or her loneliness for some time now, not since she washed up on the shore and Sunburst crashed into her life. Now when she looked at happy couples she didn’t feel jealous or contempt, she just looked at them with a fond smile and went on with her life, like she no longer had a reason to be envious.

She walked to the window and looked out of it, looking down at a small balcony that was underneath hers. A faint light glowed from the window. Sunburst was probably awake, reading through one of the books in his monstrous collection he managed to accumulate in just three months.

Clarity dawned on Starlight. She couldn’t imagine her life with any pony but him. The stallion that washed up on the beach and took to every little thing she showed him like it was a miracle of nature. The stallion who remembered the smallest details about her and her most well-kept secrets. The stallion who knew about her past and didn’t hold it against her and didn’t think she was lesser because of it.

She walked away with a determined step. She needed to see him, needed to tell him these feelings before her courage left her, and she prayed with all her heart that Trixie was right for once.

Her hoof was on the door when a voice carried through the crashing waves. Starlight paused, her ears turning to the sound with curiosity, the tune becoming clearer the longer she listened, and became familiar.

“I know this song…”

It was the last thing she said before a green haze fell over her eyes. Her hoof dropped from the door and a dark shadow approached her, laughing in a way that sent chills down her spine.

Harsh sniffles were the only sounds he could make. His entire body shook and shuddered with every gasping breath. At the end of the dock, Sunburst curled up on himself, hiding his face in his hooves. His brothers gathered around him mournfully, still in disbelief at the turn of events.

A stranger had appeared out of nowhere, a King from some foreign land claiming to be the one who saved Starlight from dying all those months ago. Starlight confirmed it and wished to marry him as soon as possible. In shock by her rash decision, Sunburst tried to approach her to tell her the truth, but the King’s guards prevented the stallion from getting close. The guards claimed that the King didn’t want a stranger near his bride.

Despite Sunburst’s efforts to learn more about the King, the strange stallion made sure he was always surrounded by other ponies, whether it was to plan the wedding or to discuss the future of the school with Princess Twilight and the other teachers behind closed doors. He never spoke as long as Sunburst was in earshot, so his subordinates took great lengths to keep him away. Sunburst couldn’t touch him.

And now, he was all but banned from the school and the town, Sunburst could only weep as the life he had built for himself crumbled around him. He lifted his head to take in the dying light of the sun on the horizon. The final sunset was inevitable.

Quick steps sounded on the dock. The seaponies dove under the boards with barely a sound. Sunburst didn’t lookup. He didn’t care who it was.

A hoof touched his shoulder, and something cold and hard was pressed to his hoof. The figure leaned down to whisper in his ear.

“The king’s room is on the third floor of the ship, near the captain's quarters. This is your last chance to find out anything that’ll cancel this wedding. I’m the maid of honor and I’ll delay the ceremony for as long as I can, but the rest is up to you.” Trixie whispered harshly, giving him a key, before she darted off as quickly as she came.

Sunburst’s eyes widened. Hope burned in his chest once more. His brothers appeared from the water and they nodded simultaneously. Sunburst eyed the boat in the distance and jumped into the water.

The red jewel lay shattered underneath Trixie’s hoof. The King was livid but dared not to speak with his true voice. Trixie smirked triumphantly, which turned into disbelief as a green wisp rose from the ground and floated gracefully towards Sunburst, who stood nearby as the smoke wrapped around his neck.

His song rang out and the crowd was mesmerized by the melancholy of the song. Starlight rubbed her eyes and shook her head like she was waking up from a dream. Looking down at the poofy wedding dress she wore, she couldn’t remember how she got there and what she was doing, but that was all pushed to the side when she saw the source of the music. She gasped. Sunburst was singing!

“Sunburst?”

“Starlight!” He said and he reveled in the sound of her name. She rushed to him, unknowingly leaving her place on the altar. The King tried to grab her, but Twilight held him fast in her magic, keeping him in place.

“You can talk! I can’t believe it!” She hugged him tightly. Sunburst let out a breath of relief, happy to have Starlight safe in his embrace. “And that song—”

“It was me! I was the one who saved you that night, I wanted to tell you but—”

His body seized. He fell to his side with a hard thud and Starlight screamed, holding him in her hooves as his body convulsed.

“Sunburst!” she cried. His head fell to her shoulder, his breathing growing harsher by the second.

A mocking laugh echoed through the ship, soon followed by shocked gasps and terrified screams from the guests. Starlight turned her head towards the source, and what she saw would haunt her nightmares for years to come.

The King’s body changed right before her eyes, growing taller and darker like a shadow in the night. His hair grew into a wild black mane, his horn was long and red like blood, teeth grew into sharp fangs, dark red eyes stared right at her soul. Lightning ripped through his body and tore his skin apart, revealing his true nature. He was nothing but a dark, oozing shadow shambling in the shape of a pony, sucking the light and the hope of the party.

His glinting eyes focused on Starlight. The corners of his mouth drew into a maniacal grin.

“It is too late Sunburst, you belong to me now!”

Her horn glowed with a blinding white light, throwing sparkles around her with the sheer power of the spell she was preparing to cast. She held on tightly to Sunburst.

“I would like to see you try to take him away from me.” She growled. Sunburst was no longer shaking, but he was still short of breath.

“Oh really? Would you still defy me once you see his true form?” The shadow teased.

Starlight realized that her hooves were touching something slippery and placoid. She looked down and nearly screamed when she spotted the long golden tail wrapping around her. She canceled her spell and drew away from Sunburst, tripping on his fishtail as she scrambled backward. Sunburst barely looked like a pony anymore, his horn was shorter but sharper, his coat was covered in golden scales, his red hair was now a redfin that started on his head and went all the way down his back.

The only thing she recognized was his eyes, they were the same shade of clear blue, and they stared mournfully at her.

“Sunburst, what…why are you...?”

“I’m so sorry, I wanted to be a unicorn for you so I—”

Sombra seized him by the scruff of his neck and pulled him away. Sunburst thrashed and struggled but to no avail.

“The sun has set. Time to fulfill your end of the bargain, you foolish pony,” he sneered. They crashed through the railing and plummeted to the water below. Before they hit the ocean, he could have sworn he heard Starlight screaming his name.

Starlight, Sunburst thought, trying to keep his mind from the incoming confrontation with his father. I’m sorry I couldn’t be the one to make you happy, I hope you’ll remember me as a friend and don’t feel as lonely anymore.

“My negligence and prejudice are what led us here,” Cosmos, the King of the ocean, said mournfully.

He was a massive seapony, as big as a great white shark and covered in battle scars, dwarfing the ponies around him with his sheer presence. But Twilight Sparkle only felt pity for the monarch as his dark eyes looked to the side.

She didn’t have to guess what he was looking at, because Twilight had seen it already. Sunburst and Starlight were sitting in a shallow pool of water on the beach, far away from the meeting so they would not be overheard, their backs to them as they gazed at the horizon, holding each other close for comfort. Her former student no longer minded Sunburst’s seapony form as she rested her head on his shoulder, her hoof wrapped around his waist while his foreleg rested on her shoulder.

Cosmos continued. “After my sisters put me in charge of Sombra’s seal I grew complacent in my duty after centuries of silence. I thought they had forgotten me and thus grew to hate the world they ruled over. I sought to protect my seaponies and my sons from the world above the waves, told them it was dangerous and that there was nothing for us there.

But Sunburst is the smartest of my sons and simple answers never worked with him. He wanted to learn more and I refused to tell him the truth, I thought I was protecting him but in the end, I just pushed him away, if only I had told him sooner about his heritage this mess could have been avoided.”

Luna and Celestia approached their estranged brother and wrapped him in their wings, tears in their eyes as they embraced him.

“I’m so sorry Cosmos, I have failed you as your sister and as your monarch,” Celestia said between sobs. “My pride has been the catalyst for all that’s happened, I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me one day.”

“We all make mistakes, your majesty,” Twilight said gently. “But what matters is what we do to fix them, and in this case, I think asking the most affected how they want to proceed is the best choice.”

“Wise words, my faithful student,” Celestia said, Luna and Cosmos smiling in approval. “It’s time we fix things.”

The group walked over to the couple. Sunburst and Starlight turned to greet them, bowing respectfully, but they looked uncomfortable. They held hooves as if they were preparing for the worst and they wouldn’t look at the monarchs directly in the eyes.

Cosmos looked down at his son. Sunburst had apologized for freeing Sombra and all but disappearing for three months. However, that part of him that had always been distant, the curiosity for the surface world, had been stolen by the young mare standing by his side. Cosmo was grateful to her for saving the lives of his sons when they were in peril, but he would have great difficulty leaving Sunburst with her when he just got him back.

The seapony laid a hoof on his son’s shoulder, who looked up and braced himself for his punishment.

“Do you truly love her?” Cosmos asked.

Sunburst blinked, taken aback by the question, but his shoulders relaxed and he turned to Starlight. The gentleness in his smile and the warmth in his eyes told the King all he needed to know even before Sunburst answered.

“Yes, without a doubt,” he confessed, looking into Starlight’s eyes. She smiled just as earnestly.

The King’s muzzle drew into a smile, relieved that his son was honest with his feelings for once. His home would be quieter without his chatter.

“Then, if this is truly what you want, you may go to her. As a unicorn,” the King said with a heavy heart.

Sunburst's eyes grew even wider, the smile on his face threatening to split his face in two. However, he paused when Starlight tugged at his hoof, bringing his attention to her. He looked down at Starlight as she put her hooves on his shoulders, so they would be eye to eye with each other.

“Sunburst,” she began. “I’ll admit that this whole seapony situation will take me some time to get used to, now I understand why you had so many secrets, but you don’t have to be a unicorn for me unless you really want to.”

“Starlight, I want to be with you and it would be much easier if I had four legs instead of two.”

“And I don’t want to take you away from your family, it’d be a hassle for you to transform every time you want to see them, and didn’t you say that the transformation was painful?”

“Well, I don’t think my father would mind transforming me back whenever I want to,” he paused looking at his father for confirmation, who nodded if a little unsurely. “And it is as painful as throwing me into a running engine. But I’m willing to do it if that’s what it takes,” Sunburst said with determination.

Starlight shook her head. “No, I won't have you get hurt for my sake, we can make this work just the way you are! We can modify the school to accommodate you, I can create a spell so you can move more freely—”

“If I may, Starlight Glimmer,” Princess Luna chimed in. “In the hooves of the right magician, transformation spells don’t have to be painful, or permanent. Sombra was just a very sadistic warlock who loved to make every pony that came to him suffer. Between me and my honorable brother Cosmos we can make your beloved’s transformation as painless as possible.”

Luna looked at her brother, who frowned a little in thought before the realization hit him and he laughed. “Of course! Why didn’t I think of it sooner! My dearest sister, you truly are a genius!”

Luna smiled, her chest puffing with pride. “I am Mistress of the Night, after all, the moon changes faces at my command, so I am more than familiar with the enchantments that change one's appearance.” Her hooves drugged in the sand and she pulled a little red seashell from the ground. “With my brother’s blessing and my magic, you won’t have to choose between your legs or your fishtail, for you will have both to use as you see fit. Use this gift wisely Sunburst, and become the bridge between the ponies of the land and the sea.”

“Perhaps we can discuss ambassador duties and treaties after I give my son his legs.”

Seeing as he was serious, Sunburst let go of Starlight to throw his hooves around his father, pressing his face against his scales. The ocean king pressed his son close, a great weight lifting from his chest. He had finally earned his son’s forgiveness.

Finally, they stepped apart. The horn on the King’s head glowed, focusing all of his magic into this spell.

“Are you ready to become a unicorn?”

“That’s why I made a deal with Sombra in the first place,” Sunburst half-joked.

The horns of Luna and Cosmos glowed, pouring all their power into the little shell. The red turned into a celestial blue, the symbol of the moon and the ocean appeared engraved in delicate gold on its side. Celestia even threw her own blessing into the mix by giving the seashell a golden chain to go with it.

"It may look delicate, but not even the strongest and sharpest sword will cut through this chain.”

And finally, Twilight took the magical jewel in her magic and slipped it over Sunburst’s head. “Equestria welcomes you, Sunburst.”

When Sombra had transformed him into a unicorn, it had felt like his tail was being cut in two with a rusty sword. But this time there was no pain at all, no discomfort beyond the scrapping of sand on his skin. It was like silk was unwrapping around his tail and falling away to reveal his two legs, which were strong enough from the start to support his weight.

He opened his eyes. He didn’t have to look at himself to know that the transformation had been a success, he knew everything he needed to know by just looking at Starlight’s happy expression, tears of joy brimming from her eyes.

Unable to contain his happiness, he picked up Starlight in his hooves and lifted her in the air, spinning around in circles standing on his two strong legs. Their laughter mingled with the cry of the seagulls and the splashing of the waves as if the world was celebrating with them. Finally, Sunburst set her down and pressed his forehead against hers, sighing.

“Marry me.”

“Of course, you dummy,” Starlight giggled.

Sunburst squawked, sending Starlight into fits of laughter. She would enjoy learning the many sounds his voice could make.

“I didn't, I mean, I-I forgot I could talk,” Sunburst mumbled, his face turning hot underneath his yellow fur. He’d mouthed that phrase sometimes when Starlight wasn’t looking, and while he was overjoyed that she had accepted him, he wished he had picked a more romantic time.

“Oh my! Treaties and a wedding, we will be very busy these next few days!” Celestia quipped.

“I think the charm we just gave Sunburst should count as a wedding present.”

“Beloved sister! You are as parsimonious as I remembered!”

“I hope you guys give me more time to organize the wedding this time around.”

As the royals argued amongst themselves about wedding planning and other details, Starlight felt a hoof wrapped around her own and she smiled, looking up at her fiance's eyes. She brought her face closer to his and placed a gentle kiss on his lips, Sunburst tugging her closer when she thought about pulling away, making the kiss more passionate. Leaning into his touch, she vowed to never let him go again.

His new lungs began to burn by the lack of air, but Sunburst reveled in the feeling. It was a sensation he was grateful to have and one he would eventually grow accustomed to. After all, as long as Starlight was by his side, she would always steal his breath away.

In Which There Are MORE Seaponies

Author's Note

Summary: Sunburst washes up to the shore and though he can't remember his own name, he knows that someone important is waiting for him.

Warnings: Inaccurate science mumble-jumbo, please do not take seriously.

Notes: This is the second story I was talking about. If some parts feel rushed is because I had to cut a lot of the background in order to fit into a one-shot format. If you have any questions or are curious about the world of this story, feel free to ask.

In Which There Are MORE Seaponies

The light burns my back, the sand grates my skin as if it was trying to peel my scales away. I can barely breathe. I can’t move at all. I lie there as the sun beats down on me. How did I get here? Blurry faces and faraway voices flash in my mind’s eye, but I can’t chase them. I’m so weak...why am I here?

“Papa!” A voice screams in horror.

Papa? What’s a papa?

“Flurry, go get your mother.” Another voice. Perhaps that’s Papa. “It’s alright. We’re going to help you. Poor thing. My stars, you’re sick.” Something cold touches my face. “We’re going to get to you out of here first. Spear Head! Get Big Mac and a few others to help me carry him!”

“You got it, boss!”

When I breathe it feels like rocks scraping down my throat, rattling my lungs as I cough. Something cold pours over me and relief is so sudden and welcome I start to cry, but I’m still too weak to lift my hooves to cover my face.

“My name is Shining Armor,” Papa says. “My home is nearby, I have a good doctor on staff and she’ll be able to take care of you. You’re lucky we found you.”

My eyes open and the sun blinds me, but I see a stallion with dark blue hair and a white coat, the horn on his head long and thin. He smiles reassuringly while pressing a damp cloth to my face.

Something important brought me here, I can feel it, even if I don’t remember. I have to remember. Someone is waiting for me, someone is depending on me, I can’t remember their face but all I know is that they’re important to me...I have to go back to them...to…

I hear voices, but not in my head, they are somewhere close to me. The sun is gone, the sand has been washed clean from my skin. Everything is dark and I’m wrapped in something soft and silky. I breathe in and something feels strange, off.

“For the time being, this will stop the spread of the infection. I’m working on getting the cure, but it’s old, and there aren’t too many books on seaponies or seapony health anymore.”

“Do what you can, I’m sure he’ll understand when he comes to. But I wonder how far has the infection spread?” I recognized Papa’s voice.

“I can’t say, but it must be bad if he washed up on shore, the poor thing is probably looking for help.” The other voice sounds female, it’s very gentle and filled with pity. “One of the symptoms of this illness is memory loss, so it may take some time before he can tell us anything.”

I push back the silky cover and it falls away easily, I look down and my body seizes with dread. My tail is gone, in its place, two strange sticks jut out of my torso. The wrongness turns into panic and I thrash in my resting place, looking for an exit, a way out of this dark place, I hit something and it falls with a crash, and I follow, landing painfully on my hoof and chin.

Light pours in and two creatures rush to me, helping me stand.

“It’s alright! You’re fine! Take some deep breaths,” Papa says soothingly. “It’s just a small spell.”

Pushing them away does nothing, I’m still too weak, and they guide me back to that soft resting place. The other creature leaves my side once Papa has a good hold of me and fetches me a container filled with something. She presses it to my lips and I’m forced to swallow, despite the funny taste I knew that it was water and the liquid soothes me, making me realize just how dry my throat was.

Once I’m done I slump in my seat, suddenly too tired to care about anything.

“What have you done to me?” I whisper.

“You’re very sick, I ask Shining Armor to cast this spell in order to treat you. It’ll stop the disease from spreading and give me time to whip a cure for you.” The mare has kind green eyes, her brown mane tied up in intricate braids over her head. “I’m Meadowbrook, and I’m going to help you get better.”

My body feels weak, but I’m able to lift my head a little higher. “I was sick?”

Meadowbrook sits beside me. “It’s an old disease that nearly drove the seaponies to extinction. There’s a cure, but I’m having a hard time tracking down the accounts of it. This sickness is affecting your memory, but you must tell me everything you can remember, in case any more of your kind are affected as well.”

“I don’t…” I struggle to even recall the smallest of ideas, but all I get are images. Blurry faces, places that make me feel at ease, small hooves reaching out to me, touching my face, making my heart swell with pride. I shake my head and clasp my chest, my heart beating dully. “I don’t know, I can’t remember anything.”

“It’s alright,” Papa says. “Meadowbrook’s medicine should take effect in a few days and things will slowly come to you.”

“By then Fluttershy will have found something for me,” Meadowbrook sighs. “You look strong and you’re young, I have no doubt that you’ll recover quickly with some good meals and rest.”

“Thank you…”

“Is there anything you need right now?”

I look down at where my tail used to be, lifting my new legs to inspect them. I can see a few white scales hidden underneath the fur, the markings on my legs are in the same places as they were in my tail, but they feel and move in a way that I found disturbing. I glanced back at Papa, his hair is long and blue, but for a moment I could’ve sworn it was short and red.

“Shining, the tea is ready if you want it,” Meadowbrook calls.

Papa’s eyes light up. “Would you like some?”

“I don’t know what it is.”

“I’ll let you try mine, and if you like it I’ll get you your own cup, it’s good for you and tasty,” he leaves for a moment, returning with a steaming mug in his magic. “Be careful, it’s hot.”

The strong aroma fills my nostrils as I look into the dark liquid. I take a cautious sip and the bitter flavor disgusts me until it settles on my tongue, leaving a pleasant aftertaste. “I’m not sure if I like it,” I murmur, “it tastes funny.”

His smile brightens and a glow comes into his eyes. “It’s an acquired taste but once you get it you’ll grow to like it.”

“Shining!” Meadowbrook scolds him as she walks into the room. “He doesn’t need tea! We don’t know how the herbs could affect him!”

“But it’s just chamomile tea, it’s harmless.”

“I said no!”

He rolls his eyes but takes the mug from me and drinks the rest in just a few gulps. Once he finishes he turns to the door as if he heard something, a moment later a little filly pokes her head through the open door.

“She wanted to make sure he was okay,” a new voice appears, female but much richer than Meadowbrook’s. “She’s been worried all day.”

“Miss Cadance,” Meadowbrook says and smiles with relief. “I need to speak with you.”

I couldn’t help but notice the way Papa’s face brightens when he sees the little filly. He doesn’t hesitate to scoop her in his hooves and hold her close, smiling gently when the little one giggles and laughs, more than glad to be held by him. “Hey there princess, our friend is awake but be gentle with him, he’s very sick.”

The filly nods and the way her curls bounced over her chubby face make me pause—an image appears, like a flash, a glimpse of a small, round face and high-pitched giggling, a pink and gold tail swimming ahead of me in the deep blue water.

“Is that your daughter?”

Papa looks back at me. “Yes, my Flurry Heart. She’s the one who found you, so if you must thank anyone, thank her.”

Wide blue eyes stare at me, she has messy, wavy pink hair with blue highlights that compliment her snow-white fur. She comes towards the edge of the bed and looks me over, she’s quiet for a long moment. There’s something about her that feels familiar, which prompts me to smile and speak gently to get her attention. “Your name is Flurry Heart?”

She nods.

“Nice to meet you, my name is…” I pause. “I can’t remember, but I like yours.”

She smiles shyly. “Thank you.”

The mare steps inside. “Meadowbrook said you have memory loss. I think I could help you.”

She’s beautiful in every sense of the word. She’s tall and graceful, with long pink and yellow hair falling on the side of her face and she stares at me with kind purple eyes. Part of me feels ashamed to be so close to her, I look down at my pitiful appearance and nervously brush my messy mane in an effort to make it look presentable, but I knew it was a lost cause.

“I need all the help that I can get…”

Papa picks up Flurry and sets her on his lap. That’s when I noticed that one of her wings is made of silver. “Cadance has a special gift, she can help you unearth your memories.”

“Is it alright if I touch you?”

I sit straighter. “I’m always happy when pretty mares touch me.”

“Hey now, that’s my wife,” Papa says warningly.

Cadance giggles and places a hoof on my cheek. It smooths up along my temple, and I close my eyes, trying to relax. There’s a pool of water in the back of my mind, the water surges the more I think of it, coming closer to me and it feels cool and familiar as I sink in. A voice is calling out to me.

Sunburst! Sunburst!

“Sunburst?” Cadance whispers. “Is that your name?”

I looked up. Her hoof moves away and I see purple scales appear on her hoof before disappearing like mist.

“It is,” I say softly but I don’t feel any doubt.

She turns to Meadowbrook. “It’s strange...I can see things but when I try to reach them there’s like some sort of barrier. I can hear them just fine, but I can’t feel the memories like I usually do.”

“Just like I expect it.” Meadowbrook sighs. “This disease is very tricky, I really hope Fluttershy gets back to me soon.”

“What did you do? It felt strange, but...nice.”

“I’m an empath,” Cadance answers. “Meadowbrook thought I could help you with your memory loss, but it seems we will have to take the long way.”

Over the next few days, I mostly slept, ate, and learned how to use my new legs. I’m not used to walking—let alone being out of the water—and I stumble and fall a lot, but at least I’m growing stronger every day.

Flurry Heart has also been a great comfort and motivator to keep trying.

“When I got my new wing, it was hard learning how to fly with it,” she says, sitting on the bed and serving me a glass of water to have alongside my medication. “But I practiced a lot, and now I’m taking flight lessons with auntie Rainbow Dash!”

I took the pills and the glass of water she offered me. “I should practice,” I conceded, looking down at the empty glass. “I have to challenge myself, but this place is so big, I feel like I could get lost.”

“Then I’ll show you around!” Flurry says excitedly, jumping off the bed with a flap of her wings. “The carnival will be opening soon, so we’re rehearsing a lot and making sure everything is ready.”

“Carnival? What is that?”

“It’s what we do,” her eyes light up. “But a carnival is, like, a lot of different things! There’s music, food, dancing, games, you know? It’s fun and the whole family works in it!”

“Family?”

Flurry smiles at me. “Papa started it a long time ago, everyone who’s in the carnival is here because of him, just like you, so that makes you family too!”

A face comes to me, lovely and soft, with dark blue eyes that are deeper than the sea, highlighted by the vivid lavender of her scales that cover her face. The sun glows over her skin and her scales glimmer in the dim water. “We’re going to be a family!” Her voice echoes in my mind and my heart pounds.

“Sunburst?” Flurry Heart reaches out and touches my nose.

I blink and the image is gone, but my heart takes a while to settle. I smile at her. “Sorry about that, lately my memories are returning faster than I can process them.”

“That is good!” Flurry exclaims, clapping her hooves together. “What do you remember?”

“Someone...important, I think.” Lately, I’ve been having visions of this mystery mare, sometimes she’s angry and dangerous, her mouth pulled back into a snarl as she swims away from me. Other times she’s delicate and sweet, leaning into my touch as I hold her close in the starlight.

I can’t remember her name but I knew she was important to me. My heartbeat jumps at the thought of her, of her smile and voice, and I always long to see her again.

Realizing that Flurry is watching me closely, I clear my throat before asking. “I’m hungry, where can we go to get something to eat?”

“You want to walk there?” She asks and squeals when I nod. Flurry slips off the bed and offers her hoof to me. I use her for balance as I stand, and she leads me out of Meadowbrook’s doctor’s tent. The sun is scorching when we step outside, I can smell the ocean breeze, and when I glance to my right I see the sea on the horizon. We are surrounded by colorful tents and ponies coming and going, but none of them takes notice of us.

“The cafeteria is over there.” She points to a white large tent in the distance. “Let’s see what they have for lunch today!”

“What are you in the mood for?” I ask to indulge her.

“Flurry, be careful now!” Meadowbrook comes after us, scolding at the little filly. “He’s very sick and shouldn’t be outside in his condition.”

“I feel fine, honest!” I say, stepping slightly between them. “I’m the one who insisted on going outside, a little exercise might do me some good.”

Meadowbrook raises an eyebrow, clearly seeing through my attempts to excuse Flurry’s behavior, but I stand firm. I hated seeing children scolded for just being children, and I wasn’t lying, I was tired of sitting on the bed and waiting for my memories to come to me. It made me anxious and exasperated the feeling that I was missing something crucial. So far all my memories of my previous life had been happy, why would I leave it if something horrible hadn’t happened?

The kind doctor sighs, and I’m struck with the familiarity of the motion. “Sunburst, you’re still recovering, you shouldn’t push yourself right now.”

I look back at her. “I can’t push myself, that’s not how it works.”

“You know what I mean,” she says but relents in the end. “Alright, go get something to eat, but you come right back after you’re done, clear?”

“I promise to bring him back!” Flurry Heart tugs at my hoof again. “Ready Sunburst?”

“Ready!” I say excitedly. I stumble for a bit but with Flurry’s help, we make it to the cafeteria tent. Inside I’m taken aback by the noise and size of the crowd, ponies and creatures of different shapes and sizes fill the space, their laughter and voices filling the room. The smell of food makes my stomach rumble, even if I didn’t recognize the spices used, it just smelled really good. If it weren’t for Flurry acting as my guide I was sure I would’ve been lost in a matter of seconds.

She takes me to the end of the tent where the ponies were standing in line holding metal plates and cups, we follow them, and Flurry squeals when she sees what’s being served. “Alright! It’s pizza today!”

“Pizza?” I stare at the platters of food. “They look like flatten sea-urchins covered in sand, are you sure this is food?”

“It’s supposed to look like that, it’s bread covered in cheese and tomato sauce, but every pizza has different toppings, that’s what makes it so good!”

I look down at her. “I have no idea what you just said.”

“It’s really good, you’ve had bread before right?”

“I think Meadowbrook gave me some,” I say, but the slice of bread she gave me looked nothing like the steaming circles of food in front of us.

“Well it’s like that, but much tastier,” she pouts at my incredulous look and sighs. “Here, just try it.” Flurry piles a bunch of ‘pizza’ on to our plates, but after some gentle insisting she picks other foods as well and we find a place to sit.

“You pick it up like this!” Flurry picks a triangle of food with her hooves and bites into it, pulling slightly when the white-yellowish substance stretches from her mouth to the pizza. “Careful, it’s hot!”

I imitate her with some reluctance and I take a much smaller bite with Flurry watching. My eyes widen at the explosion of flavors on my tongue. It’s nothing like I ever tasted before, but it’s so good! It’s salty but full of flavor, slightly crunchy but soft enough to chew without much trouble, and hot enough to burn my tongue, but it doesn’t stop me as I continue to eat the rest of the triangle.

Flurry grins. “I told you it was good!”

I nod but I’m too busy eating the second triangle. She is right! The toppings make all the difference and this slice was even better than the last one!

I’m so busy eating that I almost didn’t notice Cadance approaching us, but Flurry does and she smiles like she’s been caught doing something she shouldn’t. “Oh, hey mama…”

“Flurry, what have we told you about junk food?” Cadance says sternly.

“To not eat too much of it, but I wanted Sunburst to try it! He’s been eating a lot of boring food since he got here!”

“He eats healthy food so we can get better,” Cadance corrects her, turning to see my almost empty plate. “Oh dear, let’s hope he’s not lactose intolerant.”

“Lact-what?”

“It means that the cheese will make you gassy!” Flurry answers.

Cadance smiles at her, then back at me. A memory resurfaces and I see that mare again. Her long tail presses against my side and I can feel her lips on my cheek, she laughs. I shake my head and Cadance notices. “Is everything alright Sunburst?”

“There’s some pony on my mind,” I press a hoof to my temple. “I don't know who she is, but I know she’s important.” I close my eyes, trying to bring her image forward.

Cadance puts a hoof over mine, and the pool of water comes back, there in the back of my mind. I breathe softly as it starts to overflow. It grows and grows, turning from a pool to a lake to an ocean.

“My wife,” I whisper.

“You’re married?” Flurry looks up at me with wide eyes.

“Our daughter, she’s sick...so I had to go to…” I place a hoof over my ear. “I had to leave...there wasn’t...something feels strange, I can’t…”

“Something is coming out of your ear!”

Cadance stands abruptly, pulling me by my free hoof. “We need to take you to Meadowbrook, I think your memory is returning.”

We walk outside, and the sensation in my ear turns intolerable, I have to stop to clutch at my head. “I’m sorry, my head is killing me, there’s something in it.”

“Come on Sunburst,” Cadance pushes me, looking around nervously. “There are ponies not from the carnival, we don’t want to bother them.”

I rub my ear, making a face as it seems to be the only thing relieving my headache.

“He’s leaking more.”

“Just a swimmer's ear!” Cadance explains, laughing nervously at a pair of ponies looking our way. “Nothing to see here.”

The more I rub my ear, the more water starts to pour out. All at once, it’s like a waterfall, cascading out with such force that it splatters on the dirt and scatters the small pebbles underneath the soil. It doesn’t go unnoticed by the crowd and they start to gather, gaping at the water rushing down my ear.

“It’s such a cool magic trick!” Flurry says, standing and smiling cutely. “Right guys!”

The stunned crowd relaxes with Flurry’s prompting, and soon they’re laughing and clapping along. We somehow manage to push through the crowd and make our way to Meadowbrooks tent, the water pouring from both my ears when we push back the flap.

“Goodness,” the doctor says when she sees us, placing a bucket underneath me. “I didn’t expect this to happen so soon.”

“What’s happening to him?” Cadance asks, rubbing circles on my back as I clutch the bucket to my face.

“It’s the medicine taking effect,” Meadowbrook replies. “The disease is like a fungus, it causes the natural filters in the seapony’s body to retain more water than necessary. The water build’s up in their systems and it causes them to bloat. The water stagnates and becomes toxic to them, which allows the fungus to grow and fester, causing a multitude of problems. Once the water is able to drain, that means the patient can heal.”

I wanted to ask more questions but my stomach rebels and I throw up loudly.

Once I’m done, Meadowbrook trades buckets. “Fluttershy sent me the cure she found this morning, I didn’t expect it to work so quickly.”

“Well, that’s good news right?”

“That means we will be able to save his family?” Flurry asks.

“I REMEMBER!” I sit up fast, so fast that I accidentally splash Meadowbrook with the water pouring out of my ear. “I remember what happened! It was…” My legs give underneath me and I flop to the floor, passing out in a matter of seconds, the water in my ears muffling the sound of their panic cries.

The memories pour over me like a flood. I was happy. I was one of the elders of my colony, a position I worked hard for, and I was finally accepted amongst the elite circle. One of my first tasks as an elder was to deal with a small gang of outsiders that had been causing trouble for years. I agreed to meet with their leader face to face, which was a foolish mistake because she happened to be the most beautiful creature I’ve ever laid eyes on.

Starlight Glimmer was small for a mare her age, but she carried herself with dignity and commanded respect from her followers. I fell in love with her at first sight and resolved to court her, it didn’t matter if the elders disapproved or that I wasn’t the only one looking for her attention, my heart had decided she was the one. It took time and effort to get her to notice me, but Starlight fell for me too and we started our life together soon after that.

Starlight was still wild at heart, often taking me to places that were considered dangerous, showing me lands that not even landlubbers knew about. “Once our little one is born, I want to show her the world, I want us to travel and see all kinds of places, nobody will stop us, I want this one to have everything.” Starlight said dreamily.

Our daughter, Luster Dawn, was born prematurely. Tiny and weak, her tail growth was stunted, making her a weak swimmer and often required help to get around. But Starlight never gave up, she would practice every day with Luster, helping her to get stronger, learning how to use her small tail efficiently, and overall encouraging her to do her best. Luster’s tail was small but with her mother’s patient tutelage, she was soon swimming with the best of them, even giving me a hard time when we played our game of tag.

“I have some news,” Starlight said one day. “Luster, you’re going to be a big sister.”

I was overjoyed, Luster was a little confused but she celebrated with us regardless, and for a moment we were the happiest seaponies in all the seven seas.

Luster was one of the first to get sick. I first noticed it when she couldn’t remember where our nest was. She had always been tiny, but she grew weaker and frailer by the day, all that hard work going to waste. Soon our colony contracted the disease and the elders and I were working on a plan to stop it, none of our medicines were working, none of our healers knew what it was, our last hope was to seek help from the surface ponies and it was decided that I should be the one to go.

Seeing Starlight so ill was its own kind of agony, she couldn’t remember her name, but she could say Luster’s with certainty and she knew who I was, but her memory got worse every day. One day I couldn’t bear it any longer and decided to seek the surface ponies for help, despite the protests of the elders to think of a more detailed plan. I wouldn’t let my daughter waste away, my wife had suffered enough as well, I would crawl the desert if I had to if it meant finding a cure.

But as I swam away with Starlight screaming after me, a strange, heavy dread fell upon me. Where was I going? What was I doing?

I washed up on shore where Shining and Flurry found me. I must have been there for days.

I wake up with Flurry beside me, holding my hoof. Shining is there too, reading a book and drinking his beloved tea.

“I need help,” is the first thing I say.

“I know, Meadowbrook has been working all day on making batches of the medicine for you,” Shining says with a smile.

“Thank you,” I look at the ceiling. “My wife, my children…” I don’t even know if my second child has been born yet. I can’t remember how long I’ve been gone. “I’m desperate.”

“Once Meadowbrook is ready and the spell wears off, we’ll help you find your family,” his smile is reassuring and confident. “We have a boat and it’s loaded with all the equipment we need, you just tell us where to go.”

I look down at Flurry and stroke the top of her head while she sleeps. “Now I understand why she was such a comfort, she reminds me of my own daughter.”

Shining smiles. “I’m glad she helped you. I just hope she’ll be able to say goodbye.”

In Which a Kiss is Stolen

Author's Note

Summary: She got carried away by the atmosphere, by his closeness, and did the unthinkable. Now she has to wait and see his reaction or run away from the consequences.

Warnings: Teeth-rotting, diabetes-inducing, Christmas fluff!

Notes: This was requested by Allythegreat1 on AO3, posting it here for safekeeping.

In Which a Kiss is Stolen

It should not have happened.

But it did.

Starlight's hoof raised shakily to her mouth, hiding the expression of horror from the world, but she could do nothing about the guilt shining in her eyes. She tore them away too late, too late to keep from showing just how much this affected her, too late for Sunburst not to see her regret.

“Starlight…”

She turned away, looking down at Ponyville. It looked lovely, with the snow covering the streets and the rooftops, shining with soft golden light thanks to the fairy lights. The whole town was decorated from floor to ceiling with Hearth’s Warming decorations, and from Twilight’s balcony, it looked like a fairytale picture come to life. Starlight longed to be down there, to get lost in the lights and the cheer.

To get away from here.

“I’m sorry!” She said, wincing at how fake and saccharine her voice sounded. “I’m sorry,” she said lower, trying to sound normal. “I’m sorry.”

She was about to take a sip of her apple cider, then thought better of it and left it resting on the balcony’s railing. It was the drink’s fault, she told herself. She shouldn’t have indulged, she shouldn’t have gotten swept up in the party’s cheer, she shouldn’t have accepted the drink from Twilight when she pushed her towards Sunburst.

But she did, each sip making her chest feel warmer and fuzzier inside, and Sunburst kept talking and cracking terrible jokes, making her laugh and snort unattractively. She lost herself in her own little world with him, so much so she ignored the knowing smiles from her friends, watching from afar, she was more focused on his voice, his eyes, and his smile.

Which brought her to pay attention to his lips, something she never really noticed before. They were hidden slightly by his beard and looked chapped, like he never heard of lip balm, but she couldn’t stop staring. Staring and wondering if they were as soft and warm as their owner.

Maybe she started complaining about the stuffiness of the room, or the loudness of the party made it hard to talk, driving them away from the room, but somehow they drifted towards the balcony, not missing a beat of the conversation. Sunburst even held the door open for her, and she walked out without a second thought, too busy continuing her argument that the use of widespread teleportation would revolutionize the traveling sector in Equestria.

(Luna helped her, she always diverged to strange topics when she argued with him.)

The cold hit her like a slap when she exited. She gasped and shivered violently, her teeth clacking loudly, a painful reminder she left her scarf and earmuffs in her room.

“Geez, the weather department didn’t tell us it would get this cold!” Starlight complained, jumping in place to keep herself warm. “Wait for a bit, I’ll just go get my―”

Something light and soft fell over her withers, it was warm and smelled like sandalwood and grey tea. Her cheeks flushed bright red despite the cold.

“C-Come on, Sunburst, you don’t have to…”

“It’s okay,” he said quickly, nudging her towards the railing. “The room was too hot, I could use a little chill.”

“But you’ll get cold, or sick, or both!”

“First, I live in the Crystal Empire, this cold is nothing to me, and secondly, the temperature has little to do with the common cold, that’s a myth,” Sunburst said matter-of-factly. “And third, I’m healthy as...well, a horse!”

Starlight giggled, tugging his cloak closer to her. It was a little big on her, the hems just an inch shy of dragging across the crystal floor, and she wasn’t sure if the blues and greens really suited her (Rarity was the fashion designer in her group, not Starlight) but she never wanted to take it off.

Their front hooves took hold of the railing as they gazed down at the winter landscape. Starlight took advantage of the lull in conversation to take a sip of her drink, feeling a pleasurable buzz in her veins as she drank. She glanced at her friend, who was looking up at the stars, the light from the moon and the town interestingly framing his face, glinting on his silver glasses and blue eyes.

Blue eyes that turned to meet hers, blue eyes that were so different from her own. Sunburst eyes reminded of her summer, of childhood wonder, of lazy afternoons spent on the floor with a book and sleeping under sunlight, of home. He was looking at her gently, his smile open and curious, his messy red hair fell over his face and Starlight’s hoof reached out to brush it away, but it never made it to its destination.

Instead, it came to rest on his chest, over his beating heart, using him as support as she leaned forward and pressed her muzzle to his.

She was right, they were as soft and warm as their owner, and they molded perfectly to hers, yielding at the slightest pressure. The pulse under her hoof quickened and she felt him stiffened under her touch, forcing her to pull away and realize what she did.

It hit her like a snowball to the face, hard and cold, when she stared into his shocked expression.

“W-Wait!” Sunburst spluttered, but she wasn’t listening.

She hastily took off his cloak and tossed it back to him. “I’m sorry, please forget about this, I won’t do it again, please don’t be mad, I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m―”

His hooves found her shoulders and Starlight stiffened, expecting the worse. Was he going to yell at her, berate her? Celestia knew it was the least she deserved, after invading his personal space like that, betraying his trust, for letting her impulsive nature get the best of her again.

What she got instead was his chapped lips on hers once more.

It was winter and his kiss was clumsy as heck, but Starlight practically melted in his embrace. Sunburst grew more confident and pressed his mouth deeper into hers, and Starlight was more than happy to let him in. He tasted like the chocolate cake he had earlier, and his tongue swiped over her lower lip, tasting the cider lingering there. The world could have stopped and neither of them would have noticed, it was only the lack of air that finally forced them apart.

He pressed his forehead to hers, their horns crossing gently, as they both caught their breaths and their raging heartbeats. Her eyes fluttered open, staring into his sky-blue eyes for a moment before she gathered the courage to speak.

“So,” she said slowly in the silence of the night. “You’re not...mad?”

“Mad?” He chuckled, grinning from ear to ear. “How can I be mad when the mare I like just kissed me back?”

“And she’s about to do it again,” she said teasingly, pressing her lips to his in a teasing kiss.

Sunburst didn’t waste time in responding, he peppered little kisses all over her face, his beard tickling her skin and making her laugh. When she had enough she hid her face in his chest, nuzzling the golden fur and taking in his warmth. He hugged her back after he placed his cloak over her shoulders again, his hooves wrapping around her tightly and Starlight never felt so safe.

For a moment the world ceased to matter.

This was good because they were both unaware of the little audience they gathered, watching from behind the glass doors.

Twilight and Rarity squealed, hugging each other and jumping up-and-down. “She did it! She did it!”

Pinkie Pie was jumping excitedly around the group. “Woohoo! Go get your stallion, Starlight, go, go, go!”

“See, I told ya the Apple Family’s Apple Cider never failed!” Applejack said, nudging the hat on her head over a job well done. “Nothing like a little liquid courage to make a move on your sweetheart.”

“...You know what, I’m not even mad,” Fluttershy sighed, her smile soft and wide as she handed the three coins to Twilight and Rarity. “I’m actually glad to be wrong for once.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever!” Rainbow Dash fluttered her wings and stomped her hoof in exasperation. “If this means they’ll stop making googly eyes at each other and sighing like idiots then I’m all for it.”

“Oh, you silly Dash! The googly eyes are about to get much worse from now on!” Pinkie said with a giggle. “But at least the pinning is over and that I’m glad to see it go! Bye-Bye!”

“What!? Worse! Oh no, we got to stop them!” Dash took off and headed towards the doors, only to feel a yank on her tail and Fluttershy’s harsh eyes staring her down.

“Don’t you dare!” The usually shy pegasus said. “Starlight’s been through a lot, let her have this moment with her special pony.”

“She’s right sugar cube,” Applejack said after she spits Rainbow’s tail from her mouth. “And I reckon we butted enough into Starlight’s business as it is, we should leave those two lovebirds alone now.”

“You’re right AJ, c’mon girls let’s celebrate!” Twilight raised her hoof and the others cheered alongside her.

As they walked down the hallway, Pinkie chimed in again. “Say, what kind of wedding cake should I make? Chocolate Double Surprise Berry Chiffon Cake or the Strawberry Vanilla Angel Genoise Cake?”

“Oh! The Genoise Cake for sure! It would look absolutely divine with the wedding dress I have in mind for Starlight!” Rarity answered, her eyes sparkling with ideas.

“Huh, girls, isn’t it a little too soon to think of wedding plans?”

“Soon!? It’s never too soon to dream up your wedding day!”

“I don’t know, I think they’re too young to think about something so life-changing.”

“Young?! Sunburst got a beard and Starlight’s old enough to destroy time and space itself, but they’re too young to get married?!” Pinkie grabbed Twilight’s face in her hooves and shook her for good measure. “Come on Twi! Get with the program!”

By the time the girls managed to get back to the party, they were in deep discussion about what gifts they should bring to the baby shower.

In Which there's a Misunderstanding

Author's Note

Summary: Starlight can't take it when he looks at another mare like she wants him to look at her. She needs to get out for some fresh air to clear her mind, and maybe consider giving up on her feelings for him, especially since Sunburst's been avoiding her after her confession.

Warnings: None.

Notes: Originally written for the Quills and Sofa's panic fiction with "Rejection" as the prompt. Decided to post it here, since I feel it meanders in places and I don't think it's strong enough to stand on its own.

In Which there's a Misunderstanding

Starlight walked silently through a dark path, leaving behind the lights of the party while the shadows of the garden enveloped her like an old friend. The laughter and music grew fainter with every step, the sounds of crickets and the rustling of trees taking their places.

The clamor of nature was soothing and she took a deep breath of the night air, feeling a little bit like herself for the first time that evening. Her sanity had been strained to the breaking point, with the incessant music and mindless chatter. She liked parties just fine and could mostly handle herself in a crowd, but right then she regretted coming to this party in particular.

She had accepted only as a way to give Sunburst some prompting. Thinking of him only made her sigh and she leaned against the trunk of a huge tree, looking up at the branches in search of the sky.

She’d been crazy for that stallion for ages, an infatuation that refused to leave no matter how hard she tried to push it away. Their time apart had mitigated it, but now that he was back in her life it had flourished in her heart like a stubborn weed. The problem was that, as sweet as he was, and as lovable as he could be, he was oblivious to many things—her especially.

Everyone else could tell that she thought of him as more than a friend. Her blushing cheeks and her stammering, whenever he was around, gave her away almost immediately, and the knowing smiles and amused glances from her friends always let her know how terrible she was at keeping secrets.

Everyone knew, except for Sunburst. Starlight ground her head against the rough bark, hard enough that the coarse surface scratched her scalp as it passed through the cushion of her mane. She winced when she pulled away, some of the strands tangled in the tree pulling free from her head, and the jolt of pain brought her back to her problem.

She wasn’t in the mood for parties, but she knew deep down why she had to come to this one. This past week had been torture, and Starlight couldn’t take his silence anymore, especially since exactly seven days ago, she had confessed her feelings for him and had yet to receive an answer. She had expected many things to happen, but this silence—this complete shutdown of communication between them—had not been on her list.

She stomped forward a few paces, stopped, and lifted her rear legs to buck them against the tree as hard as she could, letting out a whinny of frustration. The bark gave a satisfying crunch under her horseshoes and the tree shuddered, letting loose a rain of leaves around her. She bit her tongue as she piped down the impulse to do it again, for she knew if she gave in, she would not stop until the tree fell over or her legs broke.

Starlight felt a grip on her chest, tightening little by little before disappearing, leaving behind a phantom pain over her heart. It had been happening a lot lately and she was getting sick of it.

That was why, when a stallion that had been flirting with her for weeks on end asked her to this dance, she had accepted. She wanted a distraction, wanted to bask in the attention of some pony else, when it was clear that all she would get from Sunburst was wavering gazes and uneasy silence—even someone as thick-headed as her could take a hint.

Her hair fell over her eyes and she blew air upwards, watching as her bangs danced in front of her face. She was overdue for a haircut. She couldn’t remember the last time she cut it. The last time she had done a major change in style was when Twilight took her in as her student, which got her thinking, maybe it was time for another change.

She had graduated and after spending years pining over the same pony, it was time for a radical change, a new beginning. A Starlight who was free from the shackles of the past, who walked the straight and narrow, who loved openly and freely, never to be tied down to a pony or selfish doctrines ever again.

She wanted to laugh at the ridiculous image she conjured, but it quickly turned into a grimace. Why did her eyes sting so much? She asked herself as she swallowed the lump in her throat. She needed to move, she could still hear the party if she stood still enough, meaning that she wasn’t far away enough from her problems as she would like. Starlight moved with a decisive step, despite never being at this house before, the gardens were big and sprawling enough for a pony to get lost in—something that she hoped for.

The plants swayed to the call of the wind, the moon her only guide in the dark garden. She shivered slightly and pulled her shawl closer, wishing she had brought a jacket along as the temperature dropped. It was getting close to May and the stray winter winds that the pegasi hadn’t caught yet still lingered in the atmosphere, appearing during the night to bring the comfortable temperatures down.

“What am I doing here?” she asked aloud, and the stray winds answered by ruffling her dress and hair.

She had escaped from the party when she thought she’d seen him. Starlight caught a glimpse of the back of his head as he leaned down towards a mare by his side, his date practically clinging to him as she whispered something in his ear. Starlight didn’t recognize her, and she didn’t care to know who she was, all she did was spare the couple a glance before she felt the need to get out of the room.

A room that was too small and hot all of the sudden, the crowd pressing on her on all sides, the foreleg of her escort felt like a metal band on her hoof, shackling her to this place. Blinded with panic, she obeyed the screaming voice in her mind ordering her to get out. It just…it felt so wrong to be there.

Starlight sighed as she kicked a rock from the path and watched it roll into the bushes. She continued onward, letting her legs carry her as she stared at the sky, her namesake shining down on her.

There weren’t that many stars so close to the city, something she lamented—she’d gotten used to seeing the stars so clearly in Ponyville, being such a small town—as she hoped that seeing some would ease her mind, offer some guidance.

She had no idea what time it was, or how late it was. Starlight could always leave, but that would mean that she would have to bother Trixie since they were renting a room together not far from here. Trixie was probably having the time of her life now and she didn’t want to drag her down with her own personal drama. Just because Starlight was miserable didn’t mean that she wanted everyone to be so as well.

It all came circling back to what she was trying not to think about. It was clear to her now. He’d come to this party—came with some mare—just to spite her, it was what she would’ve thought if she didn’t know him so well. He came here because he wanted to, because her feelings were meaningless to him, something he brushed off with the same ease he dusted his precious books. She wished she could move on with the same ease as him, wished she could catalog her feelings into a neat paperback, place it at the bottom of some shelf and forget about it for years to come.

She wondered for the hundredth time why he didn’t just simply tell her he wasn’t interested, especially after it took her all of her courage to tell him how she felt. She faulted him for that. Sunburst could walk on water as far as she was concerned, but what he was doing to her was beyond cruel.

Cruel to stall everything, cruel to drag this out when all it took was a simple yes or no. She would’ve taken a clear, harsh rejection over watching him smile at a mare in the way she wanted him to smile at her for years.

C’est la vie, as the Prench would say—it would be alright, eventually. This wasn’t her first tumble with heartache and she was sure it wouldn’t be the last. She would overcome this, eventually, and move on with a new chip on her shoulder for the world to see. She wasn’t sure if she could love again, it was much too soon to think about that when the wound hadn’t even begun to heal.

She smiled at her own nonsense. Had her drink been spiked? Since when was she a poet, and a bad one at that?

An unattractive snort escaped her lips, and that settled it. She was no longer in control of herself. If any of her friends saw her like this, they would certainly commit her to the asylum. Starlight wasn’t sure if she would disagree with that sentiment.

She shook her head, looking down at the grass before plopping down unceremoniously.

She was lost in her inner turmoil that she only just realized how cold she felt. It was late and with the unpredictable weather, she was not all too surprised to feel the moisture seeping into her back. She couldn’t bring herself to care.

But that was it. Starlight was done with caring. Done with him. She’d spent a good chunk of her life in love with Sunburst and all she had to show was misery. It was high time she changed that. She wasn’t all that sure how things worked in that department, but with the help of friends and all that, she was sure she would find a way out of her predicament.

The first thing she would do in the morning was to get a haircut. She recalled how, months ago, Sunburst had remarked that she looked cute with long hair, and she thought so too, but hearing him say it had sent her heart fluttering, it made her hesitant to cut it more than it was necessary. But it was time for a change. Rarity said that short manes and tails were in style this season, she insisted that Starlight had the bone structure to pull off such a modern look. Maybe it was time she listened to her.

Maybe she would start taking her friends' advice more seriously—they did have more experience than her when it came to relationships—maybe they could shine a light into the world of love, in which she was hopelessly lost.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a hoof on her shoulder, she jumped and froze in place when she saw a flash of red and gold smiling down at her.

“Starlight, what are you doing out here?” Sunburst stood by her side, leaning towards her. He was smiling serenely, his wide eyes focused on her alone.

Starlight just stared back, wondering if she was beginning to hallucinate. There was no way that Sunburst was outside, in the dark, leaning over her shoulder in the sprinkling rain.

There was just no way.

Sunburst’s smile faltered when she didn’t answer. Maybe it was the incredulous look that put him off, but he had prepared himself for her surprise when he found her in the garden.

“Y-You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he said awkwardly, shivering in the cold night. His smile turned to a grimace as his lighthearted comment fell flat between them, making the situation even tenser.

Something was wrong, he knew it, but didn’t know what to do or how to fix it.

His messy hair was starting to meld onto his neck, the wisps wet from the relentless but gentle shower falling from the dark sky. The passing clouds covered the moon and the stars, leaving them alone with their troubles. His eyes wavered when she simply sat there, unmoving. His neck was starting to feel sore so he did the next best thing, he sat next to her—uncaring of the cold, wet earth staining his cloak as he settled on the grass.

“You shouldn’t sit down,” she said but didn’t move to stop him. “I think the rain is going to get worse.”

He shrugged, crossing his forelegs comfortably and staring ahead. He didn’t know where her stare was fixated, but at least this way he could keep her company, even though she visibly withdrew from him, acting like he wasn’t there. He felt lost, and he wondered if he was making things worse by being here. Things were not going according to plan, but to be honest, Sunburst had no plan when he came to find her.

“You haven’t answered me Starlight, why are you out here?” He pressed when the silence turned heavy.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” she took her time answering, but there was an edge to her words and it made him hesitate.

Starlight watched him from underneath her long bangs. He seemed torn about something, and his saddened expression stirred some emotion in her, but she couldn’t say that she was as elated to be with him as would have been a couple of weeks ago.

“I…I really screwed this up, didn’t I?” He finally asked, but the way he worded it sounded more like a statement than a question.

Starlight didn’t answer, didn’t find the need to add to his words. The usual familiarity that they had was missing, and it felt like she was sitting next to a stranger instead of a friend. She couldn’t stand it, she had to leave before she embarrassed herself any further.

She stood up and started to leave. It didn’t matter what she had to do, but she had to get out of here. She would find Trixie first, even if she had to disrupt whatever fun she was having, Starlight was going to convince her that it was time to leave. Trixie would be disgruntled for sure, but she would understand, she always understood and would commiserate with her plight and help her figure out what to do.

Something yanked at her dress. His magical grip tightened before she could even take a step.

“Why are you leaving?” His tone was deflated, devoid of his usual tilt.

Starlight bit her tongue, what was she supposed to say? She felt like a message in a bottle, her throat, and stomach filled with words that he ignored and threw back at sea. He left her drifting for a week and now he wanted to make amends? The bitterness in her tongue made her grimace. The rain increased at that moment, but it only lasted for a few seconds, just enough to drench her withers and mane.

Sunburst’s head was hanging low, his messy hair plastered to his face and his cloak clung to him like a second skin. She felt a wave of concern for him—remembering how sickly he was as a foal—and her mouth opened, wanting to urge him to stand up and go inside where it was dry.

But her hurt twisted her words into something more biting.

“Why are you here?” Starlight threw back, evading his question. “Let me guess, you just wanted some air? Or were you looking for an excuse to ditch your date for a while?”

She couldn’t face him as the bitter words left her mouth, and she missed his shocked expression. Sunburst’s mouth hanging open, his eyes wide with incredulity. What was she talking about? What date? He was so dumbfounded that he couldn’t speak and he let go of her dress, in which she wasted no time to get moving.

Sunburst scrambled to stand, breaking into a canter to catch up to her. He couldn’t let her walk away without at least getting an explanation for her cryptid remark.

“Starlight, wait!” He called out, running ahead to stand in her way and block her. “What are you talking about?”

She glared and hurried her pace, looking like she was ready to trample over him, but she disappeared with a flash of magic and reappeared a few feet ahead, continuing with her fast stride. She stopped when she felt another tug on her dress, but this time the hold was surprisingly strong.

“You’re such a—!” Her insult was cut off when she found herself pressed against a tree, his forelegs caging her on either side.

Starlight was frozen in place, the hard bark of the tree against her back keeping her grounded, but the fire of his eyes kept her where she was. His glasses had slipped in the scuffle and she had an unobstructed view of his eyes, and Starlight couldn’t look away. His head was hanging low, his wet bangs dripping with rainwater and making his hair darker, some of the water dripped on her face and made her aware of just how close he was…just how appealing he looked.

She was torn between screaming and laughing her head off. It was absurd, she could knock his forelegs away from her without exerting herself (if he really wanted to stop her, he would’ve brought a small army) but she stayed, if only because her curiosity was piqued. Maybe he truly came out here to look for her, if he had dragged some pony else out here, they would’ve stumbled upon them by now.

“What are you doing?”

“I don’t really know,” he answered breezily, looking down at her with furrowed brows. It would’ve been intimidating if she didn’t know him so well.

“You know that if you slip, you’re going to fall on me.”

“I know,” he looked away, down at the wet grass, silently debating if he should heed her warning. That might break the ice, or earn him a black eye. Warmth spread to his face at the thought. When he lifted his head, Starlight raised an eyebrow at his blushing cheeks, and her incredulity spurred him on. “Fine.”

He didn’t slip, but leaned forward, making Starlight prophecy come true all the same, and kissed her. It was just a brush of their lips that lasted for a few seconds, but the shy contact was enough to make her heart go into overdrive. Her lips tingled with the ghost of his touch when he pulled away, and Starlight was suddenly thankful for the tree’s support, or she would have fallen on her rump with how weak her legs felt.

“I-I like you, Starlight,” he said, his voice low and soft, but loud in the silence of the cold night. “A lot.”

“Huh?” was all she managed to say.

“I’m sorry if I gave you the impression that I didn’t care.”

Sunburst knew all too well what had happened to him the past week. He clammed up like a shell whenever she was around and started to notice other things that were messing with his comfort zone, things he wasn’t sure he was ready to deal with. It had never crossed his mind that Starlight would be interested in him—until she had said so—and he was ashamed to admit that his insecurity had taken hold of him. What could she possibly see in him? Was this a joke to her? Maybe she had lost a bet? Wanting to get to the bottom of things, he spoke to his friends and they had no qualms in pointing the obvious to him.

For example: hadn’t he noticed that—while she was easily one of the most attractive mares in Ponyville—she never received much in terms of gifts on Hearts and Hooves Day? He was one of the few ponies that gave her anything for the holiday. He’d always thought that he was just returning the favor since she always went out of her way to give him something, but then it dawned on him that he simply hadn’t been paying attention at all. It wasn’t a case of her not having suitors, she had simply turned them all down along with their expensive and thoughtful gifts, but not him. She always took whatever he gave her, and no matter how small the token was, she would always smile and thank him from the bottom of her heart.

The more he thought about it, the more he noticed the other things he’d taken for granted; like the way her touch lingered when their hooves accidentally brushed, the way she smiled when their eyes met from across the room, and the way she blushed when he complimented her. And what was even more mortifying was the comprehension that he’d never minded those reactions, in fact, he came to crave those things from her. The realization was enough to turn him into a blushing, stuttering mess whenever she was around—heck, all it took was for someone to say her name to make him freeze and trip on his hooves.

For all his brilliance, it took him several days to process her confession and articulate an answer; he just hoped he wasn’t too late.

“I know I took too long to answer you,” he said as sincerely as he could, it was all he could do to make things right. “I never meant to drag this out.”

Starlight’s expression was impassive, and the longer he waited, the more his heart sank and broke. As much as it hurt to receive only silence, he figured it was only fair he suffered through it, at least now he understood what she felt for the past week. He pressed his lips into a firm line and he dropped his forelegs from the tree, setting her free, unable to look at her in the eye for fear of what else he would find.

“I’m sorry, I’ll leave you alone,” he walked away with a determined pace.

He had to leave, find a way to get back to his hotel, even if he had to walk all the way there, he would do it. Shining Armor was attending the party as well, maybe he could give him a ride? He did so earlier that afternoon—when Sunburst found out that Starlight was attending the ball after all—since the Captain was assigned to chaperon a young lady from Trottingham, he saw no problem in helping out his daughter’s crystaller as well. He has been very understanding of his plight, more than Sunburst thought he would, when his other guy friends would’ve laughed in his face had he gone to them for help.

He stumbled over an elevated part of the path, he caught himself, but not before he felt a familiar sting in his eyes. His heart rate increased and he sniffled; his throat hurt, constricted, and dry no matter how many times he swallowed. He closed his eyes to prevent the inevitable flood, at least for a moment longer.

He willed his hooves to move as he took a deep breath, then another, and another, in time with his walking. The smell of wet earth and freshwater chilled his lungs, but it calmed him down just enough for him to raise his head with more dignity—though there was little poise to be had when he was drenched from head to hoof, he found that he didn’t care.

He abruptly stopped, coming upon a figure he thought he left behind. How did she get here so fast?

Starlight stood before him, out of breath, and then proceeded to tackle him in a hug. They stumbled, but thankfully don’t fall, as Sunburst returned the gesture, confused but elated. He realized how warm she was, how petite she felt in his embrace, how right it was to hold her like this, and what an idiot he was for not realizing it sooner. He took a gamble and nuzzled her damp hair. She smelled like rain and lavender.

“Do you forgive me then?” Sunburst asked lowly, petting her mane.

“No.” His heart stopped, but Starlight held him tight. “If you want my forgiveness, you got to earn it.”

“How?” He asked, trying not to sound desperate and failing.

She pulled away, not enough to break away from the embrace, and said, “Kiss me.”

He hesitated for only a second, then pulled her in and kissed the daylights out of her. Her whole body tingled as his hooves settled tentatively on her shoulders and their kiss, though clumsy, deepened when she wrapped her forelegs around his neck. They parted much too soon for her tastes, both of them with red cheeks and pink lips. Sunburst leaned his forehead against hers, their horns crossed gently as they breathed in the night air, unwilling to let her go too far.

Starlight giggled gently, thinking of how ridiculous they looked standing there, soaked to the bone and their faces red. If anyone saw them it would be hard to explain, she knew they would have to, eventually, but for the time being, she just let herself enjoy his presence.

Sunburst brushed her wet bangs aside. “You need a haircut.”

This time she laughed out loud and ruffled his messy mane. “Look who’s talking.”

“My mane is a lost cause, but yours is salvageable.” He said with a grin, but it wavered for a bit when he spoke again, “So…am I forgiven?”

Starlight pretended to consider this, just to give him a hard time, she waited until his face pinched with worry before she answered and smiled gently. “Yes, you are.”

His whole body relaxed and he smiled, staring into her eyes and noting that she wasn’t looking away. She met his gaze without fear or doubt, the fire of her soul burning bright in her eyes, but full of tenderness and love. He realized that he would crave that look, that fire, for days, months, and years to come.

“You never did tell me what you were doing out here?” He prodded again, curious. He had an inkling as to why, but it was a great way to keep the light atmosphere going.

“I just needed a bit of air,” she replied, nudging him towards the house. “I should do that more often.”

Sunburst pushed against her, nuzzling her cheek, letting go of his doubts and indecision now that she was nearby. All that mattered was the future and his choice to be by her side. Suddenly going back to the house wasn’t as appealing now that she was beside him.

“You’re right, nothing clears the mind better than fresh air.”

In Which Sunburst Falls Asleep

Author's Note

Summary: Sunburst falls asleep on the couch. Again.

Warnings: None, just mindless fluff.

Notes: No plot, I'm just writing.

In Which Sunburst Falls Asleep

His voice rolled through his vocal cords in groggy waves, producing only a mess of incoherent words and sounds. One foreleg was draped over the edge of the couch, a notebook laying close to it, its paper edge just brushing the tip of his horseshoe, while his other hoof loosely clutched several papers. Thick textbooks laid out on the coffee table, all still open, bearing their information for the world to see. Of course, now the little black letters on their yellowed pages sat ignored, meaningless without a reader.

At least he was on the couch this time, Starlight thought, and not on the floor.

Sunburst’s chest rose and fell rhythmically. His lips lay parted slightly, if only to let out any words that still lay trapped in his throat, desperate to escape and unable to wait for him to wake up. They were supposed to be on paper, though. They were supposed to be part of his essay. Most of them, anyway. Some were unimportant to his work and were only coherent in his dreams.

He had been writing, with his mouth specifically. The feather quill dangled from his lips like a farmer chewing straw after a long day of work. There were ink blotches on his lips, staining them black and blue, that would have to wait until morning to be washed away. Sometimes, when he was really inspired, he would be writing two essays at once, sometimes three if he was particularly restless. One with his horn, the other with his mouth. He was thankful he was ambidextrous. His work would be hell if he wasn’t. Ideas come and go through his head like speeding trains, and he’s always running to catch them. It was how the world worked. Or perhaps, how his did.

The essay had been almost done, as it always was by the time he’d fall asleep. It took him too long to get it perfect far too often. His typewriter sat up in his room, waiting. He doesn’t hand anything he writes with his mouth if he could help it. His cursive is atrocious in his opinion. He hated that it leaned to the left, he wished it was more upright, centered, but he could only do that if forced himself, wasting precious time.

Starlight listened to the little snippets of his mind as they trickled out through his lips, if only momentarily. She supposed she should move him, put him to bed, but she didn’t want to wake him. After all, he might not fall asleep again for another two hours afterward. Then his alarm would go off at six and he’d only have gotten an hour and a half of sleep.

She should’ve gone to bed herself a while ago, she supposed. She had been working on her own reports as well, but she’d finished long ago or simply given up. She’d gotten used to staying up late, though. Her sleeping schedule was nonexistent, as was her best friend’s.

As the grandfather clock in the corner ticked the seconds away, Starlight wondered if she should attempt to move him. He slept like the dead and he was not sleeping on the floor, the couch was far better, even if it was the least comfortable one in the castle. At least Sunburst was laying down on something soft and warm. She reached over the top edge of the couch and pulled the papers gently from his hooves, plucking the quill from his lips with a whisper of her magic. His hooves twitched for a moment before they stilled.

Starlight walked around the couch and placed them on the coffee table. She felt slightly inadequate when she saw that he’d written six pages already when she’d only written one and a half. His writing much smaller and tighter than hers as well.

She wondered if she should get him a blanket. He’d done so for her, she remembered, several nights ago when she’d collapsed on the couch after a rather tiring day. It hadn’t been this couch, with its red leather and high, arching back and wooden armrests. Though it was beautiful with its Victorian essence, it wasn’t particularly comfortable, maybe that was why there were so many pillows on it, but she didn’t think they helped.

The other couch was in the living room, the one with the movie projector in it. It was her favorite even though Sunburst thought it was hideous. A simple brown recliner couch she bought when Twilight used to live here. There was nothing wrong with it, he simply found it unappealing. This was why it was in the living room, because he rarely went in there.

She moved softly out of the room and into the hall, deciding to return the favor after all. It had surprised her when he’d done so, too. She slept much less soundly than he did, a side effect of living on the run for so long. She’d stirred, she remembered, but had not gotten up. She hadn’t had the energy. He told her softly to go back to sleep and she did.

Her bare hooves were cold on the crystal floor in the hall. She trod as quietly as she could, it felt wrong to make any sound under the cover of the night, knowing exactly where she needed to go. The door to the closet clicked open and she winced at the noise. When she first moved here, she hadn’t even known where the bathroom was. It had taken her a long time to adjust to the grandeur. The places she used to live in were smaller, sometimes questionable, and there was no quiet to be found in those spaces. When she first moved here, Starlight had a hard time sleeping with the oppressive quiet ringing in her ears.

Starlight slid a blanket off the shelf and tossed it over her withers. She walked quietly back into the living room, glad for the warmth of the rug on her hooves, even if it was just a small rug. She remembered one time she’d invited Maud and Trixie over to spend the night, all three of them giddy at the thought of a sleepover, and Sunburst had surprised with the new rug. And it was new, not something he bought second hand, he got it just because he saw her eyeing it at the store the other day and figured out that she liked it.

She unfolded the blanket, still listening to his incessant mumbling. He said the oddest things in his sleep. She sometimes wondered what on earth he could be dreaming of, especially when he whispered, “…you can’t eat friendship…” practically through his nose. She just shook her head and spread the blanket with her magic. When she lay it over him, his eyelids fluttered, but he didn’t stir. She did, though, vaguely thought she heard him thank her.

Maybe it was just late.

She pressed her hoof over the lamp’s base and pressed the switch. It clicked and the warm light he’d read by was gone, replaced instead with the pale blue light of the moon. It turned his golden fur into silver and the blazes on his muzzle and hooves to porcelain.

She looked at him, in all of his peace, in such a rare state. Sunburst didn’t normally relax. He did not normally look so wonderfully calm. The easiness in the way he breathed and the way his legs were draped so naturally was great to her. She stared at his mouth as his lips moved just slightly with each muffled word. The only part of him that was not relaxed.

She brushed a strand of purple hair from her face as she bent down toward him over the wooden armrest. She looked at him, upside down in her eyes, for just a moment longer, before she silenced his rambling with a kiss. She held for several seconds before pulling away. His eyes fluttered again, this time opening fully. The moonlight glinted off them, blue like the sea on a starry night. He looked surprised.

“Just go back to sleep,” Starlight told him, voice gentle like a dream.

His eyes shut again without another word as he rolled over onto his stomach. He noticed the blanket and pulled it closer around himself. As she walked silently out of the room, she was sure that she heard him say thank you.

In Which Sunburst Thinks About Her Smiles

Author's Note

Summary: Through the years, Sunburst learns every smile that Starlight has.

Warnings: Cheesiness, fluff, with an extra side of diabetes.

Notes: Just two ponies being cute as always.

In Which Sunburst Thinks About Her Smiles

Over the years he’s cataloged every smile she has.

The oldest one he can recall is during a playdate as foals. It was small and dainty, like the rest of her had seemed back then, a little nervous and unsure as she pulled out a brand-new game called Dragon Pit and asked shyly if he wanted to play with her. But there was a slight narrow to her eyes, making them guarded and sharp like shards of sapphire. They miss nothing, taking in every little detail of their victim.

These victims tended to be strangers that don’t sit well with her. Not many ponies are at the receiving end of that guarded smile, but there is the occasional pony that she will interact with that would get that smile. When she’d first met his father, he became one of them.

There’s the one he’d seen only hours after reuniting with her. He wasn’t sure if it really counted as a smile, but she’d seemed awed, and surprise tended to stem from positive emotions. Her eyes had been clear and large, brows rising slowly to her hairline as he rattled off his theory to stop the Empire from freezing over. Gradually, her lips parted, her jaw hanging loose, and the corners of her mouth were turned up just the slightest. When she spoke, she sounded breathless.

“That’s amazing.”

If he had been less rattled by the threat outside, he would have taken a moment to analyze the way his pulse quickened when she uttered those words.

Once the Empire was saved, the smile returned in full force, now a true, joyful grin. It’d worried him and pleased him at the same time, still trying to process the events of the last few hours. The smile remained for a while after that, it grew less strained, but also less apparent. The corners of her mouth would tilt slightly at him, but there’d be a slight turn in of the lips that showed resistance. Almost like she was scared to smile at him.

No, scared wasn’t the right word. Worried? No, not quite. Cautious? Probably…

He promised himself to look into a dictionary later on, but he simply never got around to it.

He also didn’t confront her about her smile, as he rarely did at all. There never was a right time, he had no clue how to even start, besides, how weird would it be to tell her he'd been studying her smiles as closely as he studied his books and artifacts?

Time passed, a couple of visits and other end-of-the-world scenarios brought them closer…and then the map called them. While the map sent them on a mission to restore their relationship with their parents, in a way it also served to mend the last bit of awkwardness between them. Despite their blunders, there’s always been a tender place in his heart for her, one that never really went away despite all this time, and spending time with her had reminded him of that.

He told her about it, but he worded it differently so as not to sound too weird and…direct, he supposed. There was something about this feeling he couldn’t put a hoof on, and he decided to wait until he was home to meditate about this. But at the moment he didn’t want to look at it too closely and focused on Starlight’s face instead.

“I guess we make a pretty good team, huh?” She said with a happy, comfortable grin that showed her amusement.

After that, she never used the ‘cautious smile’ on him ever again.

He learned to recognize her sympathetic smile. The one that came with pity-filled eyes, pursed lips, and a quiet sigh, usually reserved when she talked about troublesome students. She used it on him sometimes, when he’s buried in his work and stressed out of his mind, it’s all she needs to get him to stop what he was doing and reassess.

There was the prideful smile that appeared when Twilight praised her or she had done a good job helping Trixie with her performances. He loved sitting in the audience and watch her when she stood in the spotlight and waved at the crowd as her eyes searched for him. He couldn’t be sure but he swore that her grin grew wider when she would spot him, what he was sure of was that he did his best to cheer louder and stomp the ground harder when she spotted him.

Sometimes, when she’s excited about something and feels the need to include him, she’ll put on this open-mouthed smile, grabbing his hoof as she babbled in her excitement, unable (or unwilling) to hide her exhilaration, and her cheeks would flush with her unhindered glee.

It was the smile that she used when she hired him.

After a while of living together, she’d started to pick up on a few of his habits, like biting on her pencil, though she never bit as hard as he did, and he picked on some of hers, like smirking. He could never hope to have the same contagious grin—the one that nicely showcases her wit and pushed her cheeks upwards as she tilts her head in the most adorable ways—but he tried and it never failed to make her laugh.

There was her grateful smile that he’d seen when the legion of doom had been defeated. At the time he hadn’t been sure why he was deserving of that smile, he hadn’t been there to help her when she needed him the most, she faced Chrysalis alone and almost lost. He had looked away, embarrassed, feeling unworthy of her praise, until she placed a gentle hoof under his chin and told him in no uncertain terms that he was as important as anypony else. He appeared just at the right time, he stayed despite the danger, and that’s all that mattered.

Her friendly, everyday smile is small and inviting, and while a little mundane, it manages to brighten any room she’s in.

There’s the smile she wears whenever he goes on a tangent in a classroom filled with bored students, it pulls to the right side of her face and spreads directly out. Her eyes shine with amusement and unspoken mockeries, and she crosses her foreleg over the other while she waits for him to finish.

(Though sometimes she’s too impatient and cuts him off, much to the relief of the classroom.)

She’s always had this maternal smile, a smile that managed to melt any defenses that ponies had up. Whenever he had a particularly long week or felt close to breaking down because of the pressure of responsibilities, she flashed him that smile, eyes gleaming with understanding and she’d invited him to do something to take his mind off his problems, or offer help or advice if he needed it.

The smile she wears during EEA meetings matches his cocky grin perfectly, though hers seems more professional. Her brows are set, furrowed down with determination and sureness. Her eyes two molten pools of blue fire and her grin seems almost strained, as though her opponent wouldn’t be able to handle the full force of her smile.

There were also the ones he didn’t like. The one she uses to hide what she’s feeling, the nervous one, the one that’s is so phony and big that she complains about how her cheeks hurt when they get home. The one she uses when she’s angry or he’s screwed up somehow, the one that’s impossibly large and bears all of her teeth like a warning. It chills him to the bone when he’s the center of her disdain, as rare as those occasions are.

But the ones that come after those, the relieved one, the one that’s full of forgiveness and love, are the best ones.

There’s the carefree smile that appears when she has the day off or she flies her newest kite whenever Rainbow Dash makes the wind blow over Ponyville. It comes with a light laugh, short and sweet, lacking any type of melody. The kind of laugh that pulls at the corner of his lips and compels him to make hot tea for the two of them, be it summer or winter.

The content grin mirrors his own when they’re sitting together on the couch, or when they get home after a long day of running a school to be greeted by the draftiness of the castle.

The challenging smirk she’d given him when she stated that he was a complete lightweight when it came to shots. When he stated that it was the other way around since she was so short, her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed, because she had understood the challenge underneath and knew it was a bad idea, but she was too stubborn and determined to prove him wrong. She seemed so eager to do something so exciting, even if it was something as mundane as drinking.

There’s the amusing smirk she bore the first time he saw her drunk. It was wobbly and she guffawed at him when he tried (and failed) to impress her with his dancing only to fall painfully to the floor.

There’s the smile she gave him the first time he kissed her. He leaned in and pressed his lips to her grin, his touch making her more flushed than the alcohol had, and her hooves ran through his ‘fluffy red mess’ that was his mane to pull him closer and make him forget about the party and the world in general.

In the morning, the small smile she showed him—partnered with the slight blush of embarrassment and relief—when he told her that he didn’t regret kissing her last night was the most adorable thing he ever saw.

Whenever she feels playful, childish like the pigtails she used to wear as a filly, she’ll stick out her tongue in defiance and wink an eye at him to let him know that he wasn’t imagining the teasing lift of her smile.

The one that comes with the light giggles he receives for pulling her from the brink of tears with a corny joke or a funny memory. One that she hides in his chest as he hugs her and runs a hoof over her back as she collects herself.

The tiny smile that he sees whenever she shows him her poetry. He’s her only reader so far, the only one she wants to share this with, and her eyes would close when he recited the verses back to her.

When she tried to keep her frustrations and stress from showing she flashed a strained smile, the tears shining at the corners of her eyes as she forced herself to laugh in front of others and say that she’s alright. She’s fine, she doesn’t need the extra attention.

“Please, I can do this on my own.” She lied.

There are so many smiles, he knows almost all of them, but he's sure that there are more to discover.

And today, as he tells her about each of her smiles and watches the tears pour down her cheeks in waterfalls, watches her chest shudder with each breath, he tells her:

“And today…today I see my favorite smile, I see a grin larger than mine, a face filled with joy and eyes glimmering with tears of happiness and love. This grin is going to be hard to beat Starlight, but I know that you will, because your smiles are what I’ve found myself living for, and I hope to witness every single one of them during our marriage.” He pulls the ring from his cloak and slips it over her horn. “I love you.”

She chokes back a sob and keeps herself from tackling him in a bear hug, just barely. She looks into his eyes instead, at the calm blue gaze that’s filled with adoration that mirrored her own.

Princess Cadance sniffles a bit, blinking back her own tears, composing herself before she recites the last bit of the ceremony now that the vows are over. “Do you, Sunburst Zenith, take Starlight Glimmer to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love and to cherish until death do you part?”

Sunburst nodded once, affirmatively. “I do.”

“And you, Starlight Glimmer, do you take Sunburst Zenith to be your lawfully wedded husband, to honor and to love until death do you part?”

She sniffled back her tears and answered with a choked voice and several nods. “I do.”

“Then, by the power vested in me by the Elements of Harmony, I hereby pronounce you husband and wife!”

They didn’t wait for the alicorn’s cue, Starlight practically jumped him and Sunburst was more than ready to catch her, their lips joining in a fervent kiss, laughing as Sunburst wiped her tears, even if his own face was blotchy with his own crying.

Cadance laughed and spread her wings. “Dearly beloved! It’s with the greatest joy that I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Zenith!”

In Which Sunburst Lies

Author's Note

Summary: This is what it must feel like to say the right things to the wrong mare—a drabble that has nothing and everything to do with Starlight Glimmer.

Warnings: Romantic drama and angst

Notes: Just a sad little drabble, enjoy!

In Which Sunburst Lies

“Sunburst?”

The wooden door slowly creaks open, and he feels her lightly step into his carpeted room. At first, he tries to even out his breathing—pretend he is asleep, hoping she’ll go away—but she only comes closer.

“Sunburst? You’re awake, are you?”

The quietest of steps moves toward him, and he mumbles something incomprehensible, wishing that she would just leave, but suddenly, he stiffens as he feels a cold hoof on his shoulder.

“Hey, dummy.” She lets out an angry huff—or maybe she is only annoyed this time—as she shakes him a little, pleading for him to look at her, acknowledge her existence. “I know you’re awake, so turn around. I don’t need to use my magic to tell, Mr. Wise Guy. Hey, are you d—?”

Twisting rapidly around to face her, kicking away his blankets—he doesn’t need distractions at this time of night, when he already has to face enough of them during the day—and looks up to see her gasp, pull away from him, eyes wide. Satisfaction floods his veins at his success of pushing her away, but he also feels regret, instant remorse at causing her fright, so he decides no more scares for tonight.

“Hey,” he softly calls out, so that she knows that he’s not angry. But she just stands there, stiff, until little by little her expression melts into something painful, something worried.

“Sorry,” tumbles from her mouth as she sits down by his bedside.

He lets out a little laugh—maybe because he is relieved?—before patting her head and, still chuckling, replies, “But you didn’t do anything. It was me.”

Yet her head shakes back and forth in a silent no.

“Did I frighten you?” he asks, as her hooves quickly search around for his, desperately—a bit too desperately, he can’t help but think—clasping them once they are found. She’s practically freezing, is his next thought, and he wants to pull away, but refrains from doing so.

She shakes her head, then gives another…before she nods reluctantly. “Sorry,” she repeats again, softly, her head bent down so that jagged bangs hide dull wide-awake eyes. “I thought that you were…” she pauses and searches for an appropriate word, continuing when it’s found; “…angry, I didn’t mean to upset you, it’s just…” He raises an eyebrow as she struggles once again. “I wanted to talk to you;” it sounds like she is forcing the words out.

“Well—” he sighs, “—then I should be apologizing.” He can’t help but reach out, raise her chin so that she sees his face, and give her one of his gentle, tender smiles. Nor can she stop the small one—barely visible, but to him, the only thing in his sights—from spreading across her face as soon as she sees him looking so…unlike his usual shy, reserved self.

“Um…” her smile disappears at this point, “…Sunburst, do you…I mean, would you mind if…” he begins to frown and must strain his ears to hear her next words, tiny and timid “…can I sleep here tonight?”

This is so predictable, he knows in his mind, along with what will happen next; but he is still taken aback. Pretending to be ignorant, slipping a careless expression on his face, he sits up—forelegs stretched towards the ceiling and the canopy—and yawns. “Yeah, sure,” his voice sounds blearily in the gloom. “I guess I’ll take the couch then.”

He sits on the edge of the mattress, as if he was going to slip off and out the door, but catches her downcast expression. Then, his body stops unwillingly, his head leans forward towards her without his mind’s command, and his ear catches the whispered words which he knows will say something similar to; “Oh, but…I want to sleep with you…”

Now he knows that there is no escape; he absolutely cannot refuse once those words are said. A sigh leaves him, and with it so does his previous, idiotic goal. Moving back to his pillow with resignation, he pats the place next to him and invites her; she innocently smiles at him, scrambling next to his warm body, and lies down. The choice made, decision set, covers are pulled over them and she snuggles into him, almost automatically.

Then, a foreleg wraps around her small body reluctantly; he wants to pull away, just to pull away and get out of here as soon as possible, but a small voice within (his?) whispers no, you promised, promised to stay; so, he doesn’t move and his foreleg pulls her closer, even though it’s shivering and cold and her body’s freezing and sucking all the heat—

“Sunburst, am I bothering you?”

“Hmm?” Becoming even sharper, on alert, his mind still forces his body to pretend—to continue moving around, adjust himself around her comfortably—yet it is futile, he knows.

“I am, aren’t I?” Playing on her face is a smile, and he has no idea how he can see that taunting almost-smirk through the tense darkness.

A “No,” finally comes out, but he knows it is too late. She knows, the smile transforms into a confused expression, and she buries her head into his chest.

He feels her take a deep breath—maybe to calm herself down, or just to inhale him and his scent—and when her head looks upward to him again, her voice is quiet but clear. “You don’t have to lie.”

It hits him hard, like a pound of bricks—like that time they were trying out a new spell, and he had been thrown across the room and smack-dap into a wall—he was speechless and is. Before anything else, though, he hears a soft sigh and feels her push away from him.

“It’s fine,” she grumbles under her breath, “I’ll sleep on my own tonight,” she prepares to sit up and leave, but then squeals as he catches her around the waist once again, tickling her slightly.

“Wait,” he whispers, almost desperately, “don’t go. Yet. Tell me how you know. I’m not lying.”

A thoughtful pause—or at least, he thinks that she is thinking. Then she turns around, beams at him, and, before crawling back into bed next to him, murmurs, “That was the same tone you used when you said that you loved me.”

Eyes widen in shock—he wants to jump up, push her away—because that actually hurt. She must sense this because she turns around to face him, the smile wiped off her face. But she isn’t angry; she knows what she’s doing.

“It’s fine if you don’t, Sunburst,” she murmurs quietly. “I…I understand. But since this is your last night here—possibly the last night we’ll ever spend together…could you just say it one last time? Pretend that you mean it? Please?”

Still dazed with the fact that she knows, how she came to realize something that he is just beginning to see, he nods numbly. I never realized…how good it feels to lie.

She sighs and turns around. “I love you, Sunburst,” he hears, feeling her close her eyes and drift to sleep.

Lies are necessary for survival.

“I love you too,” he responds, mustering every bit of feeling he has left and putting it into that one loaded sentence.

Lies cover up the truth we can’t handle.

He lays awake for what seems like forever, staring at the ceiling, long after his friend has dozed off. Thinking of the future…after tomorrow…what will happen when he leaves? Will everything turn back to normal?

What is normal anyway?

He shifts so that he is facing her, finally. “I love you…” he breaths out to the back of her head, when—in reality, in fantasy—he is saying it to the face of somepony else, to the past he thought he’d let go, to the mistake he thought he’d made when, truly, it was the only thing that had ever gone right in his life.

“I love you,” he clearly whispers to the pony who was always there but isn’t now.

“Starlight.”

In Which Names Are Discussed

Author's Note

Summary: All Sunburst wants is for his daughter to call him by his name, is that too much to ask?

Warnings: None.

Notes: It's been a while since I've written some StarBurst family fluff. Enjoy!

In Which Names Are Discussed

“Hey! No! This leg goes in this sleeve! Would you—stop it!”

Sunburst struggled to keep his hold on his toddler's flailing leg, the little filly’s giggles becoming louder as she twisted her body in unrelenting attempts to get away. He lost track of how many times he tried to shove her hoof into the onesie, fully aware that it shouldn’t have taken him more than ten minutes to dress his daughter, but it seemed that her mission today was to thwart his attempts on dressing her. He normally would’ve let her get away with it, but it was the middle of winter, and Luster’s natural coat was still too short, fuzzy, and soft, still smelled like milk and baby powder, to let her run around in just her diaper like she’s used to. So, the pink onesie it was.

It was his turn to get Luster ready for bed, and Sunburst would have probably finished by now, if he weren’t weak for her high-pitched laughter and her messy, blonde waves of hair that barely reached her chin, spilling on the carpet like a halo as she played her one-sided game and kicked his hooves away.

“Come on, we’re almost there! In the onesie! No, I’m serious! In. The. Onesie. Yes!”

The stallion raised his hooves in victory, and the toddler took her queue, rolling over to her stomach and running as fast as her little limbs allowed.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Sunburst grabbed her by the ankle and dragged her back along the carpet, flipping her over onto her back once more, hastily snapping each button close from her leg up. “I know we don’t normally wear clothes, but you really like to run around naked, don’t you?”

She giggled, squirming and kicking her legs around just to make his job harder. Not that he expected an answer from her, she was just a year old after all, and her favorite word, despite his fervent disapproval, was mama. Sunburst managed to finish the leg, and he brought her wiggling body closer to his chest, making it a bit harder for her to continue to fight him.

She gave him a huff, her mother’s attitude showing through and he couldn’t help but gloat at his victory. The little filly twisted her upper body, whining in protest as she tried to get away, but he kept her still, bending over to press his lips against her round tummy and blowing a sloppy raspberry.

She screeched, the high-pitched giggle hurting his ears but making him smile with glee as her tiny hooves flailed against his forehead, and Sunburst took advantage of her distraction to finish his job and close up her jammies. He let her go once he was done, helping her stand up on her hind legs until she could hold herself, and she reached out to grab his cheeks and squish them, something he often did to her.

“Mama.”

Sunburst sighed and nuzzled her nose against his own. “No, I’m papa.”

“Mama!” She laughed and waddled her way across the room to the mess of toys she’d been playing with. “Mama, mama, mama!”

“Luster, I know you can say it. You’ve said it before. Say, papa!”

“Mama!”

“I think she knows you’re jealous.” Starlight giggled from the doorway, leaning against the frame and dressed in an oversized green sweater for the night.

“I’m not jealous,” Sunburst argued, sitting up and crossing his forelegs in front of him. “I just want to be called by my rightfully earned name!”

“Don’t be offended, Sunburst.” Starlight laughed, walked into the room, and sat down next to her husband. “She thinks that’s everycreature’s name. She called the cashier at the grocery store mama the other day.”

His lips twisted into a pout, the jealousy on full display for the world to see, or just for Starlight in this case. She stifled a giggle, biting her lips and bumping Sunburst with her shoulder.

“I’m sure you’d be way more upset if she went around calling everycreature papa,” Starlight said. “Wouldn’t you, professor grumpy grumps.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said dismissively, fully hating how she was right. Innocent or not, it would bother him to no end if his little girl called any other creature papa, and Starlight knew how to get under his skin to see the bright side of things, whether he wanted it or not.

His wife giggled, shifting closer to place a kiss on his cheek.

“Say…do you have work tonight?” Starlight asked, her voice light and flirty. He arched his eyebrow at her as she tucked her head under his chin and pressed herself against him.

“I don’t think so, why?” Sunburst teased, grinning as Starlight smiled, wiggled her shoulders, and bit her bottom lip.

“Well, since you are free tonight, maybe we could…” She trailed off, but the way her hoof rubbed his chest gently and skim along the edge of his red sweater told him what he needed to know. He hummed in delight as he leaned in to kiss her, the gesture tender and soft as she tilted her head to give him a better taste.

“Alright,” he murmured against her lips, jerking away and clearing his throat. “Okay, Luster! Time for bed! Mama and I are making you a new sibling!”

“Sunburst!” Starlight gasped, grabbing a nearby stuffed animal with her magic and smacking him in the face with it.

“What? It’s not like she knows where foals come from,” he argued, yanking the pink, stuffed rabbit from her magical grip and hitting her back.

Starlight levitated a stuffed turtle by the foot of the crib and swung it at him. “She’s smart enough to talk; she’s smart enough to repeat that!”

“She refuses to say anything other than mama, I think we’re safe,” he said, using the rabbit as a shield against the flying turtle. “Alright, that’s it!”

He threw the toy aside, trudged ahead against the unrelenting flying turtle, and tackled Starlight to the ground, using his weight to pin her to the carpet. She pretended to struggle, laughing the entire time as she half-heartedly tried to push him away. Sunburst dipped down to kiss the crook of her neck, knowing full well how ticklish that spot was, holding himself taut above her as she flailed about, laughing uncontrollably underneath him.

“Stop, Sunburst!” She giggled, hunching her shoulders to shut off access to her neck.

“You brought this on yourself!” Sunburst pushed her flailing forelegs away, ducking straight down to kiss and tickle at her exposed neck.

“No! Stop!” Starlight thrashed around some more, laughing so hard her stomach began to hurt. “Okay, okay! You win! Get off me!”

“I’m sorry, what was that? I’m deaf from your screaming.”

“You win!”

A loud and angry shout caught their attention, and they both turned their heads just in time to see their angry toddler stomping toward them. She lowered her head and headbutted Sunburst’s flank with all her might, which hurt as much as the flying turtle had. Though initially shocked by her reaction, he was quick to play along, falling to his side with a dramatic cry of pain.

“Get him, baby! Get him! Show him whose boss!” Starlight encouraged her, sitting up from the carpeted floor as her husband rolled away from her.

Luster crawled on top of Starlight, hugging her chest while glaring at him, pouty lip and all. “No, papa!”

Sunburst propped himself on his elbows, looking over at his two girls, mouth agape and glasses askew. His wife snickered, hugging the little filly and hiding her smile behind her messy blonde hair.

“A-Are you kidding me?” He asked, his mouth hanging open. Nowshe says his name; when she’s mad at him. “She definitely takes after you.”

“Yeah, and that’s why you’re wrapped around her fuzzy, little tail.”

In Which a Promise is Made

Author's Note

Summary: First dates are supposed to be fun and corny, but when a perfect evening ends with twisted metal and smoke, Starlight and Sunburst will only have each other.

Warnings: Mentions of injury.

Notes: This one is kind of sad, but fluffy at the same time. It's a weird one if I say so myself.

In Which a Promise is Made

"Tell me about your sister."

The moon was bright behind the wall of trees that lined the tracks, the winds pushed about stray clouds. Thin autumn air hung low and mingled with the scent of smoke and metal. Any hint of pine was pushed back into the forest that surrounded them, and Starlight, not for the first time, shivered against the cold earth.

"I'm pinned under a train car and may bleed out on the tracks but you're concerned about my sister?"

"Yes?"

Sunburst snorted and the sound echoed about in the pocket of metal that both kept him safe and trapped. The train car they were riding in was heavily dented and curved around Sunburst. The train car was crushed between the one in front and the one behind it, bending it like a metal accordion before falling on top of the train wagon, effectively creating a metal cage that Sunburst had no chance of getting out of.

"Can't you get me out of here with your magic?"

"And risk hurting you more? Not a chance. I may be strong but even I can't push two railcars with my magic alone. I can't even protect you from a crash that's already occurred. I'm sorry, I wished there was more I could have done."

"You—"

"But then there's you, you absolute idiot. Pushing me off a moving train. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking a few scrapes and bruises would be better than getting crushed by a train."

"I still don't get why you didn't jump off with me?" She tightened her hold on his hoof that they had established through a small opening in the metal. It was large enough for their intertwined hooves, but her foreleg scratched against the metal and glass if she moved too much.

"As I said, I wasn't thinking."

"Ha," breathed Starlight softly, "and they say chivalry is dead."

"Well, almost dead. I could very well be dead if the medics—"

She squeezed his hoof tight enough to elicit a cry of pain. She felt bad and yet, couldn't find it in herself to be too upset about it. If Sunburst was lucid and joking, that meant he was okay, that the accident wasn't so bad.

That he was alive.

"Not funny, Sunburst."

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, let me go." She huffed and started to pull away. Her hoof had just left him when he snatched it back like it was a reflex. "I was kidding."

Starlight rolled her eyes. The wreckage of the train creaked as another gust blew through it and Starlight suppressed a shudder. "So...your sister?"

"I haven't seen her in years. Last I heard she was Celestia's student before she vanished. I guess I feel bad that I never bothered to get to know her better." Sunburst paused and sighed. "We are only half-siblings, but I always wondered what it would have been like to have a sister."

"You'll have a chance to meet her," Starlight said, looking at the opening surrounded by various shards of broken glass. When she looked away, it was an awkward craning of her neck down the tracks to where she knew the nearest town was. It had been her idea to leave Ponyville and head to the next town over for a kite exhibition. "They are sure taking their sweet time," she murmured. "You need to stay awake until help arrives, okay?"

"I can try."

"No. You are going to stay with me. They're going to get here and lift this Celestia-damn car off you and you and the other passengers will be fine!" Ah yes, the passengers. She had helped those she could and came across during her search for Sunburst, but she didn't stay to do more beyond that. She could hear the shouts of the survivors pulling the injured from the wreckage, ponies walking past her in their own search for their loved ones, the sound of crying and sobbing. A small part of her wanted to help them, but her mind and heart were with Sunburst first and foremost. The world could wait until he was safe.

"Ever the optimist," then, "I'm sorry."

Starlight glared through the dark hole she knew Sunburst was trapped in. His face was obscured and she could see a little bit of his leg peeking out from another opening. "Sorry for saving my life?"

"I mean, for all this, the accident. I never wanted this to happen."

"I know that."

"This is probably the worst date you've ever had."

"You'd be surprised," she said, "by the crappy things that happen on dates with me. Maybe I'm jinxed."

Sunburst went quiet. They'd never talked about her dating history besides the fact that she didn't go on many dates. Starlight wondered if he regretted asking her out. She thought the subject had been dropped before he said, "You're not jinxed. I'll take you on so many good and fantastic dates that you won't doubt yourself again...crap, that sounded way less corny in my head."

"It was corny," she sighed, whether it was from exasperation or relief, she didn't know for sure, "but it was sweet, thank you."

"Hmm, that is, if you want to go on any more dates with me."

"Dork," Starlight laughed fondly. "Of course I'd want to go on more dates with you. The night was going really well before...you know...this."

"That sucks."

"I know. If you weren't under several train cars, I'd kiss you."

"R-Really?" he choked out.

She hummed in agreement and grinned. "You earned it. Besides...it's kind of something I've been thinking about, even before you asked me out."

"That's...a really great thing to hear."

"I bet you're blushing," Starlight teased and she giggled at his denial. They lay in silence and when the sound of sirens finally became noticeable, Starlight allowed herself to speak again. "See? You'll be just fine."

"Starlight?"

"Yeah?"

"I think something is wrong."

"Wha—"

"I can't feel my legs, exactly."

Starlight forced down the mounting anxiety in her chest so he couldn't hear it in her voice. "You said you could earlier."

"Well, I can't really move right now, and I just realized that they were numb. Like, really numb."

"That's not good, Sunburst, I—"

She started to sit up, but Sunburst's grip remained tight and firm. "Don't go."

"I'm not leaving," she said. "I'll stay with you for as long as I can. I promise."

"But—"

She tried to look at him through the hole from which their hooves were connected. "Sunburst, do you trust me?"

"Of course."

"Then we'll be okay. I swear. I won't let go."

"Promise?"

"I promise," Starlight said as blue and red lights cast themselves upon the trees. They inched closer to the crash and she held his hoof with no intentions of letting go. "I promise."

In Which There's an Indirect Kiss

Author's Note

Summary: A plotless fluffy one shot of Starlight and Sunburst flirting during Nightmare Night.
Warnings: Tooth-rotting fluff ahead.
Notes: holy cow, I've written 65K words for this pairing in this fic alone, I know that I'm crazy and this just proves it :pinkiecrazy:

In Which There's an Indirect Kiss

This was the first time Sunburst wished Starlight would be just a little afraid of something.

The cliche always goes that scary movies are great opportunities for flirting. The mare would grab the stallion’s foreleg in her fright, or even try to cuddle into him for “protection” against the terror displayed on screen. All Sunburst had to do was make himself available, maybe even lean in and let their shoulders brush together. They’d be clinging to each other when the credits rolled with a perfectly valid excuse: “We were scared.”

There were a few problems with this. First of all: the movie wasn’t scary at all. Secondly, it was not that scary for ponies who’d spent their lives fighting magical disasters daily. Thirdly, Starlight was not a wuss. She’d seen some things that would make even the most battle-hardened pony shiver, and aside from the occasional sympathetic wincing when something that looked painful happened on screen, Starlight seemed more preoccupied with her popcorn and soda to feel fear.

Sunburst chastised himself for being—no, acting—so pathetic. A more confident stallion would’ve let her know that he was interested and wouldn’t care about being rejected. But Sunburst was not that brave confident stallion. Fears about how this might change their relationship dashed what little confidence he had to begin with, turning him into a puddle of insecurities.

Next to him, Starlight shifted in her seat and nudged his shoulder by accident. Sunburst leaned toward her, hopefully in a way she could not perceive, so their shoulders stayed in contact and he’d keep feeling her body heat.

He was taken slightly aback when she turned and smiled at him, finishing up with a sip of her soda.

“Want some?” she whispered, offering him the beverage. Sunburst stared at the straw.

Is this…would this be like an indirect kiss? Did she know that? Was she doing this on purpose? No, come on. Starlight was way too romantically obtuse for that kind of flirting…right?

She blinked. “No?”

Sunburst grabbed the drink a little more forcefully than he meant to. “No! I mean, yes. Sure. I’ll have some.” He took a long sip from the straw. “It’s good,” he mumbled, not thinking about the flavor of the beverage at all.

He handed it back. On the screen, something loud happened suddenly. He wasn’t even paying enough attention to be startled (what was this movie about again?), although Starlight jumped ever so slightly at the ruckus. Sunburst reached over and gently brushed the top of her hoof with his own. For one heart-stopping moment, she didn’t move, but then she grabbed his hoof in return.

He sighed under his breath. This should really not be a big deal. They had held hooves before, but there was something different about doing so in the heat of an adventure and doing so in a dark movie theater under no threat of a magical catastrophe. It was a mark of how important she was to him. Something had been brewing between them for a long time—since they met, probably—but taking the steps toward bringing it into the light made him a nervous wreck.

Ah, yes. They must be reaching the climax of the movie. There was lots of screaming and running and startling and considerably less suspense than before. He heard a terrified whimper come from Trixie, who sat diagonally behind him next to Mud Briar. Maud, the only one who hadn’t bothered to put on any Nightmare Night makeup, simply let out a monotone “Ooh.”

At that moment, Starlight leaned her head against his shoulder.

Eeyup, she was definitely using the movie as an excuse just as he was. She gasped as though scared, but he could tell it was forced, probably to distract from the potential awkwardness of the moment. His heart soared, and he leaned his head against hers.

There was a silent agreement between their small group of friends.

Sunburst noticed it a while ago. At first, he’d been afraid that he would be called out in front of Starlight if he outwardly flirted with her; that would make it near impossible to dance around the issue and approach it at their own pace.

But other group members had fairly obvious romantic attractions, too, and nopony ever said anything—at least, not in front of the wrong pony. It worked like this: Sunburst and Starlight would talk about Maud and Mud Briar behind closed doors, for example. Mud Briar and Sunburst would talk about Maud. Starlight and Trixie would talk with Maud about Mud Briar. Sunburst, Trixie, and Starlight would talk about Mud Briar and Maud—the list went on. But the point was that nopony would give any secrets, or talk about Maud and Mud Briar in front of Maud and Mud Briar together. It was a silent understanding, an agreement that nopony would say anything to make anyone uncomfortable. For as much as the two flirted with the other, the two earth ponies were as private as any creature could be.

Sunburst was incredibly grateful for this as he continued to walk closely with Starlight, shoulders bumping and tails brushing carelessly, on the way back to Maud’s cave at 11 PM. However, no one was safe from teasing, and he endured this on a daily basis now from his group of friends. He assumed Starlight probably did, too, as a willing participant.

Tonight they would be having a Nightmare Night slumber party. Things were already set up—everyone’s sleeping bags had been left there, and the cave had been decorated in a spooky manner with as many jack-o-lanterns, spider webs, and lights as they could fit in the space. They had considered having the party at someone else’s residence, but Maud insisted, saying that she wanted to host a proper party this time to make up for the party Terramar and Silver Stream had accidentally crashed.

Ponyville on Nightmare Night was absolutely beautiful. The residents were enthusiastic about pumpkin carving, and the glowing, leering, smirking, smiling, laughing, shouting, and grotesque faces appeared everywhere, like lanterns during a festival. They cast a generally warm glow across the town, in contrast to the chill autumn air that lingered in the night as winter slowly took over. Everywhere he turned there were foals and their parents dressed in every costume imaginable, plastic buckets filled to the brim with candy clutched between baby teeth or magic as they ran around the town, laughing into the night like little goblins on a sugar high.

This year the town decided to host a Nightmare Night festival, which was still open by the time they exited the movie theater, and no one in the group objected to the detour—Trixie was feeling much chipper now that the movie was over, and everyone was enthusiastic about the few rickety rides that had been brought for the event. Aside from games, there were also rows of sugar in various forms for sale—pies, cakes, candy, caramel apples, chocolate, and so on. Nearly everything was shaped like a pumpkin, ghost, bat, or cat.

“Heh. Nerd.” She grinned like a mischievous cat.

“Dummy,” Sunburst answered, pouting, but there was fondness in his voice.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is famished!” Trixie declared loud enough for anyone to hear.

Maud raised an eyebrow. “We just had dinner, and then you inhaled an entire bucket of popcorn at the movie theater.”

“Technically, most of that popcorn ended up on the floor because she threw it at ponies,” Mud Briar said dryly.

“Why don’t we get a snack while the others get on the rides?” Sunburst said, playing the part of peacemaker before Trixie could retort. “We’ll catch up later or just meet them at Maud’s.”

Trixie nodded. “Okay! Sounds like a plan! I see pie over there so let’s go!”

“Actually, I’ve been meaning to try some of that hot pumpkin spice cider.” Starlight gestured toward a stand right next to the one Trixie was so eager to try.

Before he could protest, the two mares were dragging him towards the stands. Sunburst protested with far more passion than he actually felt about the matter. In truth, he would have gone anyway; he just found it fun to give his two friends a hard time about it.

Maud and Mud Briar were already waving their temporary goodbyes as Starlight shot him one of those looks. She tugged him after their friend; he smiled because Starlight’s expressions were downright adorable, and followed wordlessly.

“...what?” Starlight asked.

“I said don’t worry about it. I got it,” Sunburst answered as he handed a couple of bits over to the stallion (dressed as a knock-off Tirek) manning the cider stand. In return, he was given an orange, bat-themed cup full of hot pumpkin spice cider, complete with a lid.

Starlight huffed. “You don’t have to buy me stuff.” In truth, this was her pride speaking. She resented the stereotyped idea that stallions are supposed to buy things for mares. Another part of her absolutely loved Sunburst’s chivalrous gestures, but she didn’t want him to think she was expecting him to pay for her stuff all the time because all she really wanted was him.

“I know, but I want to. You could pay me back later,” he suggested.

“Hmm, nah,” she smiled. “Too late. You didn’t get one for yourself?”

Sunburst shook his head. “No, I’m full. Can I just have a taste?”

“Sure,” Starlight answered. He took a swig from the little hole at the top of the cup, drinking longer and slower than was necessary. Then he handed the cup back, grinning.

Something passed between them at that moment—an understanding. If she drank from the same opening, this would be an indirect kiss. So he had understood what she was trying to do in the movie theater.

“How is it?” Sunburst asked.

“It’s good.”

Meanwhile, Trixie was chowing down on about nine different flavors of pie right in front of the cat-costumed mare working the pie stand while a crowd cheered her on.

Several mediocre carnival rides later, the group headed home. Sunburst decided to try one of the special giant chocolate peanut butter pumpkin cups and devoured it in about three bites.

“You didn’t even offer me some.” Starlight pouted.

“Uh, sorry,” Sunburst said, genuinely embarrassed. “I didn’t realize you wanted one.”

“You ate that pretty fast,” Starlight said, looking directly at him.

“W-Well, you know me, I’m not a picky eater,” Sunburst said sheepishly.

As they walked, Sunburst offered his hoof and Starlight couldn’t hold back her grin as she took it. They fell back a bit from Trixie, Maud, and Mud Briar, who weren’t paying much attention anyway.

“Hey,” she heard him say quietly from her right side as he tapped her shoulder.

When she turned to face him, she couldn’t anticipate what was coming next. Starlight assumed he was just going to point out something funny or say something about their friends. His face was a lot closer than she expected, and she barely had time to register what he was doing as he mumbled something like, “Well, you can probably still taste it on me so…” right before he pressed his mouth against hers in a soft kiss.

Then he didn’t say anything more, though he was bright red, and kept walking purposefully. Starlight was going to shout something at him, but the trio ahead of them came to an abrupt stop as Trixie rushed to the side of the street to throw up those nine pies behind some bushes.

Sunburst used this excuse to rush forward to assist their friend. If the others knew what they had been up to, it was quickly forgotten.

Starlight licked her lips. Okay, maybe there was a hint of peanut butter chocolate in there.

After such a hectic night, they all settled down around 2 AM. Sleeping figures turned into lumps of shadows and highlights in the moonlit darkness were scattered all over the cave. Unlit jack-o-lanterns kept a silent vigil.

Sunburst hadn’t said anything significant to Starlight since they got back—just the usual small talk; the ball was firmly in her court now. She waited until Trixie’s sleeptalk echoed in the cave, along with Maud and Mud Briar’s synchronized snoring, to take action.

She could barely see as she crawled her way in the dark, but Sunburst's red hair stood out even in the dead of night. Starlight crouched next to his bedroom, shaking his shoulder gently. “Psst, hey, Sunburst,” she whispered.

He groaned her name and stirred for a moment before realizing it was still the middle of the night. “Huh? Wha’s wrong?” he mumbled, blinking the sleep from his eyes.

“Shh, nothing,” Starlight assured him. Suddenly her heart and body were filled with nervous energy and she fidgeted next to him, feeling bashful. She felt like an idiot. No matter how many times they hugged, no matter how close they sat next to each other, even whether or not he’d stolen a kiss from her earlier tonight, she was still nervous and scared of messing this up somehow, by either going too fast or too aggressively.

But she came to do something, and if there was a right time, now would be it.

“Can I…join you?” she asked, a little breathlessly.

Sunburst looked confused for a moment, and then—his cheeks glowing pink even in the dark—answered. “Y-Yes, sure.”

Starlight scrambled into the sleeping bag, trying her best to minimize the awkwardness of her movements. After some shuffling and rearranging, there she was, lying eye-to-eye and chest-to-chest with her friend, all tightly wrapped up in warmth and softness. She held his hoof with both of hers.

“So…why are you in my sleeping bag?” he whispered. She felt his warm breath on her lips, still sugary from Nightmare Night sweets.

“You smell like peanut butter,” she said, moving her face just a fraction of an inch closer. She flexed her hooves; he squeezed her hoof back.

“Heh, and you smell like cider.”

“You’ve been…unusual tonight,” she continued, slowly and deliberately discarding the mask of ignorance they’d both been wearing to avoid making any risky moves that couldn’t be taken back.

“This has been going on for a while, right?” Sunburst asked, sounding a little dismayed. “I could’ve sworn you started it.”

“Huh? No way?” She hissed. “You started it!”

Sunburst snorted but quickly returned to seriousness. “But anyway. The important thing is…where do you want to go from here?”

Starlight leaned forward and brushed her lips against his. She felt his hoof flex with emotion. “Forward, if that's okay with you.”

“Yes,” Sunburst sighed breathily before leaning in and kissing her again.

Soon they weren’t holding hooves anymore. Running their hooves over each other’s shoulders and backs as their lips and tongues caressed each other. They tried as hard as they could to be quiet but with the feelings coursing through both of them, it wasn’t easy. It was not a large sleeping bag, but considering how close they wanted to be with each other, it felt like yards and yards of fabric between them.

Starlight reached up and ran her hooves through his hair as they held each other. They very nearly rolled over entirely off the bedroll, then his grasp wandered down to the small of her back and he pulled her as close as possible. She knew exactly what he wanted…but this was not the time, much less the place. She gave him one last deep kiss before pulling away and Sunburst relented with a disappointed huff, he still held her close though, as if to compensate for the interrupted lip-lock.

“Let’s go back to sleep,” she giggled as she cuddled against his chest and listened to his heart. And when he hummed his agreement, she felt his voice rumble, low and comforting, in her ear. She initiated a rather competitive game of hoofsie before they gradually drifted to sleep, the unicorns intertwined for the rest of the night.

The fresh, bright morning that woke Starlight was so dazzlingly that she felt like Nightmare Night was already a lifetime away.

The carved pumpkins suddenly looked out of place, she was fairly certain she never wanted to eat that much sugar again, and she could already barely recall the events of last’s night horror flick.

But most importantly, the spark between Sunburst and herself had finally ignited. The happiness that coursed through her veins energized her more than any sugary treat did, it made her want to jump, scream, dance, do cartwheels, and shoot a couple of fireworks into the sky for good measure, but she chose to nuzzle Sunburst's chest instead, grinning like a filly. She lay there relishing every sensation—the softness of the sleeping back, the warmth of their shared body heat, the gentle rise and falling of his breathing, even the slight draft coming from the hallway. It made her feel that much cozier all wrapped up in Sunburst and the smell of him and his soap.

Eventually, ponies started waking up around them. As Sunburst pulled Starlight up towards his face for what he hoped would be a subtle good morning kiss, the general consensus around the room seemed to be “About time!”.

In Which Four Kisses Are Given and One is Returned

Author's Note

Summary: The four times Starlight kisses him, plus the one Sunburst returns.

Notes: Just a little Valentine's gift for you guys, and to dust off this ficlet collection a bit.

In Which Four Kisses Are Given and One is Returned

Pretend

"Ugh, Sunburst! You're doing it all wrong!"

"Nuh huh, this game is just dumb!" The colt huffs and kicks a loose pebble, which tumbles and rolls away from the playground before settling underneath the shade of an old oak tree, the oldest one in the park. "Can we play something else? Please?"

He looked up at her with big pleading blue eyes and Starlight, sitting on top of the monkey bars, sighed dramatically. "Fine."

Her friend cheered and Starlight's lips wobbled as she tried to hold on to her pout. She liked seeing her friend happy, but she couldn't let him win that easily! Otherwise, she would be stuck playing some boring game! She made a show of climbing down to buy herself some time to formulate her plan, and by the time her hooves met the ground, she knew what to do.

While Sunburst rambled about the game he wanted to play, she approached him from the side and kissed him—if you could call smashing your muzzle to the other's cheek as hard as you can a kiss.

As Sunburst stumbled from the force of the "kiss" Starlight laughed and ran away.

"Sunburst got the cooties!" She singsonged while her friend screamed and ran after her.

First

Starlight's eyes are mesmerizing, and Sunburst can't look away.

His hooves shuffle nervously as he stands on the porch of Twilight's castle. The faint light from inside the castle comforts him; it helps him see her better and softens her features, making the atmosphere warm, hazy, and romantic. His throat is dry with anticipation, his hoof settled on her shoulder. He is ready, but he is also terrified to mess this up somehow.

Kisses are always the pinnacle of a date night—at least, that was what the romance novels he read in preparation had taught him.

But the execution of such a kiss...

"We can go slow, or...if you're not ready—"

"I want to!" Sunburst insists. "I really do. I have to...I'm ok...It'll be ok!"

His voice is too sharp for his ears, even Starlight winces slightly, but she nods and smiles patiently. His gaze softens, and he hovers closer, though hesitates once again. Not because of any second thoughts, but because of the many different scenarios that race through his mind, his imagination on fire.

Sunburst tilts his head back and forth, and he opens his mouth and shuts it again. What was the ideal position for this?!

"Sunburst."

Sunburst pauses. Their gazes catch once more and he melts. This time, however, Starlight carefully snakes a hoof on his chest until it catches on his cape, and she pulls him against her. Carefully, so, so carefully, she presses her body against his front. She kisses him.

Fireworks burst to life in his head and ring relentlessly. A small part of him is upset he couldn't bring himself to go naturally with the flow. The rest is washed away with the silky movements of her lips on his.

Firsts don't have to be perfect, but this was pretty damn close.

Storm

"Ready to go home?" Sunburst asks, popping the umbrella open.

"Of course! I can't wait to grade papers all evening." She says with a roll of her eyes, strapping her saddle bag in place.

While they walked down the sidewalk, the rain was relentless. Sunburst rearranges the umbrella hovering over them with his magic. When he believes he has it in the best position above their heads, a gust of wind blows, and he struggles to rein the umbrella's top back in.

"Curse this wind," Sunburst grumbles, checking to make sure Starlight is not getting wet.

Starlight hums. "Let me hold it."

"It's fine, I got it."

But Starlight plucks the umbrella from his magic with little trouble and twists it around. Quizzically, Sunburst looks at her and wonders why, but he shrugs. Starlight bumps against his side and there's a comfortable silence between them.

Before they continue their journey, Starlight pecks him on the cheek.

Sunburst side-steps into a puddle, his fetlocks are immediately wet and cold, but his face is on fire with giddy embarrassment.

"You were so close to me," Starlight says with a note of mischievous playfulness. "I just couldn't resist."

Tranquil

Sunburst is sitting on his desk, engrossed with a magic book. When he's done he pulls out a notebook and writes down what he learned, jotting down his ideas and theories. He's not one to only take a spell at face value, he's not content with only executing a spell—he needs to analyze it, dissect it, and pull it apart like a machine to see what makes it tick, and how it works. It has led to interesting discoveries in the past, other times, it led to explosions.

He loses track of time when he gets like this, a trance state that he won't break out easily on his own at least. Which is a problem for Starlight.

It's lunchtime and he promised her a date. If she rudely interrupts him it will put him in a sour mood for the rest of the afternoon, but if she lets him be, he will be there, chained to his desk until nightfall.

Starlight hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to approach him, when an idea struck her. She knocks on the door's frame—as expected he doesn't look up, but at least now he couldn't say that she didn't warn him—and walks in with a grin. Once she stands behind him, she wraps her hooves around him in a bear hug and kisses his cheek firmly, lingering for a few seconds to make sure he gets the message, before letting go with a wet smack.

Sunburst blinks, looking confused until he remembers and nods.

"Oh, right, lunchtime."

Dessert

"Wow, Sunburst," Starlight says, mouth filled with spongy dessert goodness. "This cake is amazing!"

Sunburst's body twitches in his chair. She's a vision of pure beauty in her wedding dress, cheeks flushed and hair a mess from dancing the night away. He wants nothing more than to drag her away to the honeymoon suite, but he doesn't, choosing instead to sit in this moment a little longer. After all, happily living the memory of his wedding day was unmistakably precious.

"Now you appreciate Trixie's impeccable taste!" Trixie proclaims loudly. She drags a chair to their table and sets her plate across from them. She stabs a fork into strawberry cream, a star made of frosting and edible glitter on top of her giant piece. "I helped choose it!"

"Sunburst picked the design," Starlight points out, waving her fork in her maid of honor's face.

"Presentation is important, but taste is what sends you over the moon!"

Starlight's cheeks puff out indignantly and Sunburst chuckles. He will not deny that, even after vigorous taste tests, they had given Trixie's opinion on the cake the most weight in their final decision. After all, a shabby cake without flair would not pass the test for her best friend's wedding day.

"Speaking of cake," Starlight gestures her fork at the place in front of Sunburst. "You haven't touched yours yet. What's wrong?"

"Absolutely nothing!" Sunburst says, shaking his head with conviction. The cake was easy to forget when he wanted to record Starlight's smiling face in eternal memory. Speaking of Starlight...a crumb of cake lingered on the corner of her mouth.

The DJ said something over the speaker, distracting Trixie long enough to give him an opportunity.

Sunburst pushes his chair closer without Starlight noticing. She turns and Sunburst leans in and wipes his tongue across the crumb on her cheek, before moving over the plush surface of her lips.

When they part, Starlight's eyes are wide. "Sunburst!" She blushes, the cake forgotten.

Sunburst grins. Second-hand cake is the best flavor.

"Trixie is right," he whispers. "It's paradise. I lept over the moon."

In Which Starlight Glimmer Remembers

Author's Note

Summary: Starlight has trouble remembering things after her accident, she only knows that she's waiting for some pony in this cafe. Is the stallion sitting across from her the pony she's waiting for? (Slightly Alternative Universe)

Warnings: Mentions of past injury, fluff and a little angst, but mostly fluff.

A/N: I should mention that these one shots and drabbles have little to no connection to each other, unless stated otherwise.

In Which Starlight Glimmer Remembers

She liked sweets, really, but even she had her limits. But she was waiting for somepony, and in the meanwhile, she put up with the strong, nearly suffocating smell of fresh pastries in silence.

A waitress humming a lively tune passed by, and she closed her eyes in concentration for a minute. Then she opened her eyes and blew out an angry sigh. It was as difficult to remember things as ever, and she found herself scratching marks into the steel edge of the table in frustration.

She pulled out a little flipbook then, and caught a whiff of sandalwood, like a cologne she had once liked on somepony. March 13: Tune from some pop song, she quickly scrawled in large writing, most likely from some popular artist. Her therapist had told her that writing down things that she couldn’t remember would help jog some memories, but it all seemed like a load of nonsense: it certainly hadn’t worked yet. She looked up for a moment at the empty seat across from her, then back down to her flipbook. Curiously, she shuffled a few sheets back, wondering what she had written a few days ago. She vaguely remembered her therapist reading the book aloud, talking about the odd things she had written.

March 9: My neighbor is trying to kill me, she read to herself, her brow subconsciously furrowed in a great effort to just remember, she brought me a tin of brownies to celebrate her birthday, but I can smell the rat poison she slipped into the mix. I know she wants my kites when I die.

The crazy things she had written, she corrected before she shut the book with a scowl. She was going crazy, losing her mind, seeing things that weren’t there, remembering things that had never happened to her—

The booth seat opposite her squeaked as a sudden weight landed on it. She looked up to see a stallion taking off a dark blue cloak.

She cleared her throat quietly, embarrassedly. “I’m sorry, I’m expecting somepony.”

Behind his large spectacles, he blinked his blue eyes at her and raised his eyebrows slightly. He broke the stare quickly and picked up the menu unconcernedly. “I won’t be a bother for too long.”

She looked back at him steadily, uncomprehending. He looked back up to meet her eyes. “I’m waiting for somepony too.”

A waitress with flaming red hair made way to their table, ending their awkward introduction, and twirled her pen enthusiastically.

“A plain bagel with daisies and hazelnut coffee, and a lemon pastry with a vanilla latte.” The stallion rattled off the order quickly, he had been here before.

The waitress scribbled a few words on her notebook and bounced away. The blue-eyed stallion turned his gaze back to her. “I ordered for you.”

She made a noncommittal noise from the back of her throat.

“Is that alright?” He asked, almost tentatively.

“I-huh, it’s fine. The lemon pastry is fine,” she mumbled, not looking away from the window. After a brief pause, “I like vanilla latte.”

He settled back into his seat, as in relief. A few minutes passed, and their order arrived on a round black platter. She picked up the hot cup placed in front of her and turned back to the window.

“Nice weather out today,” he commented offhandedly as he broke a piece of his bagel.

The sweet scent of her pastry wafted her nose, and she grimaced a little. “If you like that sort of unpredictable weather before spring sets in.” She ventured to take a sip, and the boiling heat of her drink scratched her throat. Wincing once more, she set down the cup and began to tap her hoof on the tabletop.

“It certainly can be charming in a picturesque way,” and here he ripped open the top of a sugar packet, “but it’s also terrible to move around. I had to hail a cab to get here, I was afraid of walking all the way.”

“I was in an accident last year,” she abruptly said. The stallion raised his brow in a silent prompt to continue. “It was bad. Still have the scar and all,” she traced the three-inch mark along her hairline with a ghost of a touch.

He gave her a sympathetic smile and blew over the surface of his drink impatiently. “I understand what you must be going through.” He took another bite of his bagel and proceeded to clarify, “My fiancée was in an accident last winter too.”

She felt a sudden, dour pang run through her at the mention of a fiancée, gathering that she was the one he was waiting for. “How is that working out for her?”

He bit his lip. “Oh, she’s coming along. Sometimes she isn’t entirely there, but I’m willing to hang around.” He played with his napkin for a moment and gathered himself enough to continue. “We were supposed to get married last summer, but her accident put a damper on things.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, as sincere as she could be to a stranger. He was quite handsome. “No pony deserves that.” At his lack of response, she continued. “Spring weddings are more ideal anyways.”

He raised his head with a jerk, his glasses nearly falling off from his muzzle. “You think?”

She shrugged, not expecting to be put on the spot. “You said you didn’t mind the unpredictable weather.”

“But what do you think?” he pressed.

She stayed quiet, unsure of what to do in the face of such intense attention. After a while, he finished off the last of his order and wiped his mouth on the napkin. “In any case, I think we’ll wait until this summer. Maybe the next. She’ll be better by then.”

She plucked up the courage to speak again. “It shouldn’t matter though.”

He looked at her interestedly.

She fumbled for the right words. “If you love each other, then it doesn’t matter if she remembers or not…She’ll feel it inside.”

He nodded pensively. “Even so, you only have a wedding once.” She opened her mouth to speak, but he interjected, “I’m not going to marry somepony else.” He sighed. “I really do love her, and so I’ll wait for her.” He stood up and began tying the straps of his cloak around his withers.

She watched him with surprise. “I thought you were waiting for your fiancee.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think she’ll be coming after all. Thanks for the company.” He pulled out his wallet, but she stopped him.

“I’ll pay. It’s no trouble at all.”

He smiled brightly at her. “Well then, have a good day.” He left the café in a flourish of fresh cologne and a jingle of bells, without a second glance backward.

She pushed her empty cup away soon afterward and pulled out her purse to fish out a coin or two. As she gathered the correct amount, her eyes fell on a picture tucked next to her identification. Realization hitting her like a kick to her barrel, she swore and slammed some money onto the table, pulling on her scarf simultaneously. She rushed out the door, not hearing the chimes that announced her departure, and swung her head both ways, trying to catch sight of a blue cloak. She found it then, amidst the mass of pedestrians waiting for the light to change. Galloping along the sidewalks at a breakneck pace, she shoved past handfuls of ponies until she reached him.

“Sunburst,” she panted as she spun him around and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Sorry, I’m late.”

In Which There's a Crappy Proposal

Author's Note

Summary: Sunburst tries to propose, too bad the birds in the park seem to have it out for him...

Warnings: Some swearing and a bit out of character.

Notes: What can I say? I love to pick on the sunshine boy :rainbowlaugh:

In Which There's a Crappy Proposal

This was it.

He had the brooch. Maud had even helped him sculpt it to be special—just for her. He had the perfect moment. This was her favorite spot by the lake, with the birds chirping happily overhead and bright sunshine pouring down on them. He had her attention, too.

How could he not, when he was down on one knee like a knight before a princess?

Sunburst had written down what to say many times. There were many crumpled parchments littering his wastebasket, all bearing various attempts at putting these feelings of his into words that he could recite to her. So that he could finally, after four long years, ask her…

Yes, now was the time. He would never be more ready than this, no matter how hard his heart was pounding and how frazzled and messy his hair was. It had to be now.

Sunburst swallowed, taking one short breath before he looked up into the endless blue of the eyes of the mare that he fell in love with.

He couldn’t remember the words. Now that the crucial time was upon him, they scattered like scared animals from a threat, completely out of reach. But he had to press on. She was waiting.

It had to be now!

“S-Starlight! I-I’ve been—What I mean is—Ah, this, will you—!”

SPLAT.

A series of tweets sounded from overhead and Sunburst went rigid with shock and embarrassment.

He felt it. Sweet Celestia, did he feel it. And just like that, the most important words all but flew away and abandoned him.

Starlight couldn’t seem to find any, either. She was staring, wide-eyed and speechless at what he already knew was plastered to his damned forehead and useless horn.

With a sudden, ugly lurch of anger and frustration, Sunburst reached up and swiped the disgusting splotch away before it could slide further down his face. He flicked the substance away with an angry whinny, his cheeks and ears burning from the embarrassment and utter humiliation.

This was unbelievable. He had been prepared for many things—most of all, Starlight’s rejection. And instead, he found himself in a completely unprecedented twist of events, as fate would have it.

A fate with a really sick sense of humor.

Sunburst had definitely not even considered that a bird would just happen to fly over his head and decide to go ahead and go right then and there—especially not at the crucial moment that he was about to ask the only mare of his heart to marry him.

Was this the damn bird’s way of saying that he wasn’t good enough for her? That this was hopeless from the start?

…Why was he even considering what the birds thought!?

“Never mind!” Sunburst yelped as he got to his feet. “Forget it, let’s go!”

He’d been wrong from the start. Listing off everything as being perfect was just like asking for a disaster. He was an idiot.

“Sunburst! Wait!” She stepped on his cloak before he could walk away. “Finish what you were saying!”

And now she was pressing him further. How in Tartarus was he supposed to deal with this!? He couldn’t just—get back on his knees and try to do that again. He must have looked revolting and he couldn’t even look her in the eyes after all that—

“Sunburst!” She yanked on his cape with more insistence. It was obvious that she was becoming irritated now. “You can’t just do all that and take me here and just—just say forget it!”

“JUST—” He raised his voice, but stopped before anything else slipped out. Yelling at her would just make everything worse. He needed to calm himself, just for now. He could ask her at breakfast tomorrow, or dinner, or something. It didn’t have to be now. As calmly as he could managed, he pulled her hoof away from his cloak with his clean hoof. “…Don’t worry about it.”

She frowned, immediately reaching back out to take his cape again. “How can I not worry about it when you won’t even tell me—”

“FINE!” he raised his front hooves in a shout, effectively shaking her off for the second time. All previous thoughts of holding back his temper snapped like twigs. “I was going to ask you to marry me! And then this damn bird decided to come along and take a crap on my head and ruin it! Happy now!?”

She didn’t reach for his cape again. As expected, she looked shocked. Sunburst felt his face flush further and looked away.

How could he lose it and let it out like that? Of all the ways to propose…

“Yes.”

His brows drew together as he glanced uncertainly in her direction.

“Yes!” she repeated, beaming brilliantly. All traces of her irritation were gone, flooded out by an elation that shone from every pore of her face. “You’re asking me to—you want to—to marry me? Really?”

“Y-Yeah, of course I do. You’re the only one I—”

Sunburst couldn’t even finish his flustered response before she was barreling right into his front, embracing him while she seemed to be bouncing up and down at the same time.

“Yes, yes, yes! Of course it’s yes!”

Giving her a one-hoof, awkward return embrace, Sunburst heard a familiar chirp and looked up into a nearby tree. A bird perched innocently there, tilting its head at him with another short chirp.

Somehow, he just knew it was the one.